Chapter Text
Kirishima was excited. He was getting to attend his first ever ball with the Moon Kingdom being present! They only happened once every ten years and the last one happened when he was still inside his egg waiting to see the world. He had been to balls before, but none where their neighbouring kingdom was present.
Since the last ball had taken place in the Sun Kingdom, this year it was being hosted in the Moon Kingdom’s castle of ice. The almost eleven years old had been excited for this for weeks. His Mama and Papa had been telling him all sorts of things about it and now the ball was finally here! They were in the carriages headed from their castle to the Moon Kingdom and he could barely contain his excitement.
His parents were on either side of the carriage and he was bouncing from one end to the other to be able to see out the small windows. He always loved travelling. He lived for new adventures. His parents told him it was the dragon inside him.
Kirishima knew that they were shifters; that they could change their forms at will from dragon to human and vice versa. He really wanted to know what they meant when they would say, “dragon inside him.” Was it like a voice inside his head? Was a dragon going to literally pop out of him and he wouldn’t be able to shift anymore? He just wanted to know. He didn’t want to have to wait until he was older to find out! He wanted to know now.
“What are they like Papa?” He asked looking over at his father, King of the Sun Kingdom.
“Who?” The man asked. “The people of the Moon Kingdom?”
“Yeah!”
“Well, I haven’t really met too many that don’t work in the castle or are part of the royal family. But the ones I have met are decent enough.” He explained.
“The Queen leaves a bad taste in one's mouth if you ask me.” He heard his Mama say quietly from her side of the carriage.
“Now my dear,” the king started to say with a slight chuckle. “You only say that because of what she said to you while you were pregnant.” His father said reaching across the space to rest a hand over hers.
“What did she say to Mama?” Kirishima was curious as he looked from his Mama to his Papa and back again.
“Nothing you need to worry about Eiji.” His mother said with a smile. “Why don’t we play a game to pass the time?”
If ever you needed to distract the young prince from something, the easiest way was to suggest playing a game. And as always, it worked like a charm.
“Eye spy!!” He cried out excitedly. “You play too Papa!”
With that, the prince was leaning halfway out of the carriage window to see what he could see for his parents to try and guess.
From outside, the driver could only chuckle at the prince. He had always been an excitable sort of child. As he got older, it hadn’t changed much, which made the driver happy to see.
Too often had he seen children get older and lose their spark and enjoyment for life’s simple things. He hoped that as the prince continued to get older that he would keep that joy and excitement. He feared that he wouldn’t as he was destined to become King of the Sun Kingdom when he was of age and his parents stepped down. He had seen the current king lose most of the joy as he got older, but miracles do happen.
When he had first seen his son hatch from his egg… the driver had seen that spark and excitement come back.
“I spy with my little eye…” The young prince started and then grinned widely. “Something brown!”
He moved so he could look back inside the carriage at his parents waiting for them to start trying to guess.
The queen indulged her son and joined him in leaning out of the carriage window. She looked all around them as they slowly made their way down the path that would lead them to the Moon Kingdom.
In her immediate line of sight, the only thing brown she could spot was tree bark. She knew her son had excellent eyesight, better than even her mate did. So, she focused as much as she could and then there, about a hundred yards into the trees and underbrush was a rather large form moving on ahead of them.
“Is it a bear?” She asked with a grin for her son.
“Yep! You guessed it Mama!” He cried out happily as he pulled himself back inside to look at his father. “Your turn to guess what Mama spies Papa!”
“Alright. Alright.” He said with a deep laugh that vibrated in the young prince’s whole body. He had always loved the sound of his Papa’s laugh. His voice in general if he were being honest. It was a voice that you could feel in your toes when he spoke. Deep, rumbling and joyful.
Some time later, when they neared the border of their lands the driver slowed the carriage. The two kingdoms had been on friendly terms for generations now, but that didn’t mean that bandits weren’t a possible threat as they crossed into the Moon Kingdom. Kirishima had never left his own kingdom so far in his short years and he was thrilled to finally be getting to.
He had heard the maids and cooks whispering amongst themselves that the Moon Kingdom’s lands held more wolves than any other kingdom around. He had overheard a couple of maids speaking in hushed tones of rumours that the people of the Moon Kingdom were wolves themselves. The moment he had heard that he’d gasped and ran for his mother.
Surely that wasn’t true! He knew that he and his family were dragon shifters, but did wolf shifters exist too?! He had to know.
“Papa do you think what the maids said is true?” He asked as they made their way further into the land of eternal winter, eyes full of wonder and curiosity.
“What do you mean?” He questioned as he looked down at his son.
“I heard them talking saying that they’re wolves!” The small boy exclaimed looking up at his father with wide eyes. “Do you think it’s true? That they can shift like us?”
“I don’t see why it couldn’t be true.” The man said. “We can shift from dragons to humans at will. I’m sure there’s a shifter that is part wolf out there somewhere.”
“Just don’t go around asking everyone you meet at the ball Eijiro.” His mother commented as she settled into the bench style seat comfortably.
“Awe Mama!” Kirishima whined as he pouted over at her. “I really wanna know if they can!”
“It’s not something you should just go around asking people at random baby.” She said. “You’re to be on your best behaviour while we’re here.”
“Yes, Mama.” He gave a heavy and dramatic sigh as he slouched into the seat.
Kirishima didn’t like having to keep his curiosity at bay around others. Everyone who resided in the castle and its grounds were used to his never-ending curiosity. They encouraged him to explore and find things out on his own. His tutors had even given him simple research projects at his request because he had so much energy and thirst for knowledge.
Kirishima was also the type to quickly get over things when he was sad or upset. So it was no more than five minutes later that he was back to smiling and hanging out the window of the carriage.
His curiosity was piqued once more as he spotted something moving in the trees on the side of the road. There were so many new smells, colours and sights for him to see.
A soft gasp escaped him as he spotted a small pack of wolves running not ten feet away from their carriage. There were four adult-sized ones and at least two smaller cub-sized ones running all together in the same direction as the Sun Kingdom royal family were going in.
He reached behind him and tapped his Papa on the arm a few times and pointed out the window at what he was seeing. The young prince had never seen anything like it before!
He had only heard stories of wolves and what they looked like. As he watched the small pack of them running along with their carriage he couldn’t help but notice how their colouring was different. He had always been told that they were primarily shades of grays and browns and sometimes black and red with some white working its way through their belly fur.
These wolves had much different colouring than he had come to expect from the drawings he had seen and stories he’d been told. One of the adults was pure white with no other colour in its coat. It was a thing of pure beauty. The other adult wolf was more of a cream colour with small bits of gray along its spine and sides.The smallest of the two pups coat was purely white while the other one’s fur was what caught Kirishima’s attention the most.
While he wasn’t fully grown, far from it in fact, he had the most beautiful coat of fur that Kirishima had ever seen. Would probably ever see in his opinion. The whole of the pups body was a soft cream colour. His ears were the only part of him where there was any difference. They made the young prince think of the caramel candies the chef would sometimes sneak him while his parents weren’t looking.
The pup turned its head for a few beats to look towards the carriage and Kirishima couldn’t have stopped the gasp from escaping his mouth if he tried.They were eyes that pierced right into his soul and he couldn’t help a second gasp from escaping him as their eyes locked. His heart started to beat a little faster in his chest as their eyes remained glued to one another for a few more beats before the wolf pup turned his head to face the direction that he was going.
“They’re beautiful creatures aren’t they?” His Papa said eventually.
“We don’t have anything like them at home do we Papa?” He asked not tearring his eyes away from the blonde wolf.
“We have wolves, but they’re smaller in size and don’t have coats nearly as full and thick as the ones from here.” He said in a quiet tone. “Our climates are vastly different. Wolves like these would have a pretty difficult time acclimating to our weather.”
“They live in the land of eternal winter.” His Mama said. “We have eternal summer.”
“Do you think there’s any at the Moon Kingdom castle I can see closer than this?” Kirishima asked as he kept watching the wolf pack run alongside them.
He was enthralled by the wolves as they ran along beside them. It was a feeling that Kirishima had felt before, but never on this scale. As they rode along, he could feel it building and morphing into something bigger as he continued to watch the wolves quietly. Any thought of games was forgotten as he tried to puzzle out what it was.
The longer he thought about it, the more he realized that it was a feeling akin to safety. These beautifully majestic creatures made him feel safe; that there was nothing in the world that could touch him. And as his attention was grabbed firmly by the young blond wolf pup, he tried imagining it morphing into the shape of a human and smiling at him.
He wanted so badly to be able to run his fingers through the fur along their backs and see if it felt as soft as it looked from his place in the carriage. They were a creature unlike anything he had ever seen and he wanted to know everything he could about them.
Sure he had seen his parents and other family members morph into their dragon forms, but it was common for him. They were nothing special. To his young mind, there was nothing more extraordinary than a wolf.
He knew that the moment they got back to their home that he would ask his tutors and parents to teach him all they knew about them.
“I wish I could feel their fur.” He said and if there was a touch of wistfulness his parents didn’t comment on it.
“They’re wild animals though Eiji. If you disturb their home or them, you could harm them.” His Mama said from her seat across from him. “You don’t want to hurt them, do you?”
“No, Mama.” He said, finally turning his head away from the small pack.
“Your Majesties, we are almost there.” The driver said. “We will be turning onto the road that leads directly into the castle grounds soon.”
Hearing that they would be turning off their current road had Kirishima worried. He was going to lose sight of the wolves! He wasn’t finished watching them run!
But a few minutes later as the horses were guided to make a turn to the right, the wolves followed them. Were they really following the carriage? Kirishima hoped so.
“Look! Mama! Papa! They’re still following us!” Kirishima said excitedly as he pointed to the woods.
“Don’t be too loud though. You might scare them off Eijiro.” His Papa said. “Wild animals like wolves spook easily, so be careful not to scare them.”
But as the king said that, the pack changed the direction they were running in and disappeared deeper into the forest. The prince pouted as he noticed them getting further and further away from him.
He had hoped that they would follow them right to the castle and reveal themselves as shifters who resided within the castle walls.
“Don’t be sad Eijiro.” His Mama said. “Most people never get to see wolves as close up as we were able to. Especially our kind. Even in our human forms like we are now, other creatures can sense the power of our dragons dwelling inside us, so they generally stay clear of us entirely.”
“We’re not dangerous though. Why would they be scared of us?”
Kirishima had never seen a dragon do anything mean or harmful toward anyone or anything before in his life. He didn’t understand what his Mama was talking about.
“Dragons can be very dangerous Eijiro, especially our kind of dragon. We are a possessive race and would hurt anyone who tries to harm what we deem as our own. We can breathe fire, unlike many other types of dragon who don’t have that ability. We can cause devastation unlike anything the world has ever seen. And most other animals, insects and even most humans have a sixth sense and can sense that danger inside of us.”
Kirishima looked over at his father as he spoke. Sure kirishima had heard stories of the dragons from years past, but he had only thought that’s what they were: stories. Made up tales meant to scare children into behaving.
“You’ve never done that before though Papa. You’ve never hurt anyone before have you?”
“That is a conversation better left for another day my son.” The king said as he settled back into his seat. “We will speak on it when I think you are ready.”
His mind going back to the wars he fought in his younger days where he had earned the nickname The Crimson Riot. It was before he had met his wife and was doing as he was the orders his king had given him. His father had not been a very just man during his reign as king of the Sun Kingdom.
Kirishima looked from his father to his mother and back again a couple of times before settling in for the remainder of the ride to the Moon Kingdom’s castle.
He would do as his father told him and leave the topic of hurting and killing for another time. But he would not forget his Papa said he would indeed tell him as he was a man of his word. He was a just and fair king. He would not forget his promise.
As the carriage approached the castle, Kirishima was back to sticking his entire upper half out of the window. The castle was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen; not including his own home. Looking up he could see twisting towers made of ice, each one made up of different colours. Some were gold and green, others blue and red while some even a turquoise colour and red.
As he turned his gaze from the towers, he could see that the main buildings of the castle had a more elegant look to them. The archways and doors had intricate designs carved deep into the ice and the sight of them had the breath catching in Kirishima’s throat.
He had never seen anything so beautiful and ethereal made purely out of ice.
The castle had quite a bit of height to it, more than his own did. The contrast between the two was what made it so beautiful to the young prince. He wasn’t sure he would ever see anything that held more beauty than the two kingdoms castles in his life. The gates swung open as they approached and Kirishima grinned impossibly wide.
“Even the gates are made of ice Mama! Look! Look!” He said bouncing on his knees. “Isn’t it cool Papa?!”
“It is pretty cool Eijiro.” His Papa said with a slight laugh to his tone.
“How do they build such cool things with ice Papa? Do you know?”
He turned his head to face his parents just as the smaller side gate a little ways down from the main one opened. None of the Sun Kingdom royal family or even their driver noticed as four wolves snuck in undetected. The gates closed and the four wolves shook their fur free of the snow that had started to fall not too long ago.
They shifted as they approached the carriage, the visitors being none the wiser to their arrival or secret. No one outside of the castle walls knew that they held the ability to shapeshift into their ancestral form.
“Behave the both of you.” The Queen of the Moon Kingdom said to her children. “And remember what we spoke about before leaving to meet them at the border.”
“Yes, Mother.” The soft voice of her youngest child, princess of the Moon Kingdom, said as she held on to her mother's hand.
“Katsuki.” The queen said in a warning tone. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes. I heard you.” The oldest of the children, and the wolf pup that had so easily captured the attention of the dark haired prince of the neighbouring kingdom, said with an annoyed tone.
He had run closer to the edge of the woods than he was supposed to. The boy hanging out of the carriage window with wonder and astonishment written all over his face had captured the attention of the heir to the Moon Kingdoms throne just as easily.
There was something about the boy with oddly sharp looking teeth and long black hair that the blonde prince couldn’t quite place. Maybe he would be able to figure it out during the ball that was to be held the following night.
As the visiting royal family left the warmth of their carriage, the servants of the Moon Kingdom castle were immediately at their side with furs that would help keep them warm as none of them were used to the cold that winter brought with it. Nor were they used to the snow.
The king and queen had experienced it on multiple occasions over the years, but this was the first time their oldest child had seen anything like this. He was looking all around him, trying to take in everything at once.
“You’re gonna get cold if you don’t put this on Son.” Kirishima heard from behind him.
He looked up at his Papa and took the fur pelt from him with a nod. He wrapped it around his shoulders and then finally saw the royal family standing not too far from them.
A wide smile spread across his face as he spotted them. He didn’t bother waiting for his parents to make his way over to them.
“Hi!” He said happily as he stopped a few feet away from them all. “I’m Eijiro Kirishima!”
The Moon King chuckled as he looked down at the boy. He inclined his head to the boy. “It’s nice to meet you, Your Highness.”
Kirishima made a face as the man used his title. He knew he was a prince, but he was never one to enjoy formalities. He guessed that the Moon Kingdom was more used to using the formal titles than he was. Even his parents didn’t really care about titles when they weren’t in public.
“This is my Mama and Papa!” He said, his smile widening as he looked back at his parents.
As they formally introduced themselves, Kirishima noticed just how much of a difference in height there was between his parents and the Moon Kingdom King and Queen. Were his people really that much taller than everyone else? He had never really noticed before. For most of the formal functions they had, he was only present for meals and then he was given permission to leave the table and go finish his studies or play with his sister and other children who resided within the castle walls.
For now though, Kirishima turned his attention to the boy that was standing proudly with his mother and father. He had a scowl on his face, but Kirishima refused to let that deter him from making a friend at this ball.
“You can call me Eiji if you want to! What’s your name?”
The frown deepened on the other boy's face, but he decided to humour the visiting prince and his questions anyways. “Bakugo Katsuki.”
“You have a nice name. I like it. Can I call you Kats?”
That question had the Moon Prince floundering. His mouth hung open and his eyes went wide as saucers. How could he just turn around and ask such a question?! They didn’t even know each other!!
“No.” He managed to get out eventually. He knew that his mother wouldn’t approve of them being so familiar so quickly. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about the other boy using his given name quite yet. “Bakugo.”
Kirishima gave a little pout at that, sad over the fact that he couldn’t use Kats. But he knew not to disrespect people’s wishes so he smiled at him.
“Okay!” He said. “You can still call me Eiji if you want to. If you don’t, Kirishima is okay too.”
“Come along boys.” Kirishima’s Mama said as they started to make their way to the castle itself.
Noticing that they had already started to walk on ahead of them, the Sun Kingdom’s crown prince took hold of the other prince's hand and started tugging him along.
Both boys could feel something strange at the touch but they didn’t know what it was exactly. It felt sort of like a spark of lightning shooting up their arms from the point of contact. They ignored it as best they could, but knew that they would be asking their respective parents what it could mean later on in private.
“Hey Bakugo?” Kirishima asked the blonde as they walked through the castle doors.
“Yeah?”
“How do you keep warm if everything is made of ice?” The dragon wondered as they turned a corner to follow their parents.
“Dunno. Just do.” Was the reply. “Something to do with magic maybe.”
“Magic?! Really? That’s so cool!” Kirishima said, unable to stop himself from clapping his hands together in his excitement. “I always thought magic was just something people made up.”
“It’s not made up. It’s real.” Bakugo said as they walked, both of their hands now kept firmly at their sides.
Bakugo knew that he couldn’t tell the visiting prince that the magic he was referring to was his ability to shapeshift into a wolf. The fact that his family was almost impervious to the cold didn’t even cross his mind. He wasn’t positive that the whole potions and magic spells of storybooks existed, but to him, his abilities were magic. He just couldn’t tell the other about it.
Something inside of him felt sad over that fact. He didn’t know why, but he would leave the thoughts and feelings for later when he was alone and he could brood.
As they followed their parents through the castle, Bakugo couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to truly hold the other boy's hand. He had heard stories of the Sun Kingdom and how their bodies ran at a higher temperature than theirs. He wanted to know if it was true and that, were he to grab hold of his hand, he would feel the difference.
He let out an annoyed noise as he tried to shake himself of the thoughts. What was he doing? Thinking about the prince like this made no sense to him.
“My favourite book ever is about magic. It’s about a bunch of witches being hunted down by people for being different. In the end the witches win out. They start their own coven of witches and hide in deep woods where no one can find them!” Kirishima said excitedly. “Have you ever read it?”
“My Mama and Papa don’t let me read storybooks that much.” Bakugo said and didn’t even realize that his sadness over that fact was evident.
“Oh.” Kirishima said with a frown but then grinned and clapped his hands excitedly. “I brought it with me to read on the way here! Do you want me to give it to you so you can read it?!”
“You’d just give me your favourite book?” Bakugo looked at the boy with confusion all over his face. “Why? You don’t even know me.”
“Well no, I don’t. But I’d like to. Something about you makes me like you right away.” Kirishima said and wasn’t entirely sure why his face felt hot as he admitted that to the blonde boy.
“Wha-? You can’t just-” Bakugo began sputtering as the other boy blushed. “You can’t just say stuff like that!”
“Why not?” Kirishima looked at him then with his head tilted to the side a little bit to show his confusion. “It’s the truth.”
“Because. You just can’t!”
“Boys!” The queen of the Moon Kingdom snapped. “Stop falling behind!”
Bakugo grabbed hold of the other prince's hand and pulled him along faster. His mother was already snappy today as it was. He didn’t want her actually getting mad at them. It never ended pretty for anyone when that happened.
Especially lately. Bakugo couldn’t really say what it was that was making her so short tempered, but he figured it had something to do with her scent being a little different than it normally is.
He let go of Kirishima’s hand when they had caught up with the adults and his little sister. He flexed his fingers as he did. He wasn’t sure why his hand had heated up the way it did, but he did confirm that the Sun Kingdom’s prince did indeed have a higher running temperature than his.
It was something that puzzled him. If their people were actually descendants from lizard people wouldn’t they adapt to their surroundings? Maybe it just took a little bit longer for them to get colder than most visitors to their kingdom did.
He would have to ask his tutors about it after all this ball business. He wouldn’t be able to ask his parents because he doubted that they would have any idea.
“What’s your favourite subject your tutors teach you about?” Kirishima asked out of nowhere after a few minutes of silence between them.
“I dunno.” Bakugo started with a shrug. “It’s all pretty boring. All politics stuff and how to run a kingdom and that.”
“Me, it’s our history I like best. The stories about how our kingdom came to be and what happened after it was founded.”
“Don’t they teach you the ways to run one though?”
“Well yeah, they do.” Kirishima said. “But I don’t find it boring. I like it! They’re helping me prepare to be king some day! How is that bad or boring?”
“You’re weird you know that?” Bakugo asked, giving him a look that matched his statement.
Kirishima gave him a smile at that. He didn’t mind being called weird. His baby sister always said he was weird. She said it the same way Bakugo had, with a hint of affection in the tone of their voice. The blonde prince hadn’t noticed it was even there to begin with.
Kirishima’s Mama heard it though and she turned her head a little to catch sight of them both. She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at that. Seems like her baby boy was indeed making a friend of the Moon Kingdom’s prince.
She also noticed the way that the blonde prince looked at her son. A mix of affection, confusion and awe was etched into his features. It was a rather adorable expression that was accompanied by a slight pout as well. She gave a soft laugh as they were led to the guest chambers in the castle by the resident rulers.
“What’s so amusing?” Her mate asked as Bakugo’s father slowed his steps. They were evidently nearing the rooms they would be staying in.
“I’ll tell you later.” She said in a soft voice laying a hand on his arm. She didn’t want anyone hearing. Especially the princes, as she was positive the Moon Kingdom’s prince would have words for her.
“Alright.” He said in reply and left it at that.
“You will be staying here in these rooms. There is a bed for yourselves and the prince as well.” The king, Masaru Bakugo, said as they all came to a stop in front of a rather large door made of ice.
Bakugos head snapped up as he heard what his father just said. The prince would be away from him overnight while they slept? He wasn’t sure why, but his heart sped up in his chest and slight panic rose in his throat. Separated? No. That couldn’t be. He had only just started to make a friend! They couldn’t do this!
“Why can’t he stay with me?” He demanded, earning a wide eyed look of surprise from Kirishima.
“Katsuki we already spoke of this.” Masaru said evenly. “You will see each other in the morning at breakfast. You’ll get to spend the whole day and the entire ball together tomorrow.”
“But…” Bakugo started only to be cut off by his mother.
“We said no, Katsuki.” She snapped crossing her arms over her chest as she leveled him with a glare.
“We don’t have to go to bed right now do we Mama?” Kirishima asked, turning to face his parents.
“Well no, but it would be nice to rest for a while before we join our hosts for dinner don’t you think?”
“I’m not sleepy!” Kirishima protested vehemently despite the glassy look to his eyes.
“You can play for a little bit together after dinner.” His Papa said. “For now, a short rest after the long journey we had.”
With a heavily dramatic sigh, Kirishima nodded. “Okay, Papa.”
*****
The moment Kirishima and his parents walked through the doors of the chambers they would be occupying for the next two nights, Kirishima gasped at the grandeur of it. The castle may be made entirely out of ice that never melts, but this was elegant and beautiful. Some walls had carvings in them and paintings hanging on others that weren’t carved.
In this first room, there were couches and rugs and a small writing table tucked into one corner. On one end of the room were two doors carved into the ice and Kirishima could only guess that they led to the bedrooms. As he approached the doors to go and take a look inside he realized that even the doors were carved. They looked like works of art.
The door on the left had a carving of mountains and trees and even wolves on the mountain peaks!
“Mama! Papa! Come look! Even the doors are carved up!” He cried out running over to them and pulling them by their hands. “This place is so pretty! Do we really have to go after two days? Can we stay for longer?”
“We do have to go home after the two days, Eijiro. We have to get back to your brothers and sisters.” His Mama said with an amused smile.
The small boy gave a pout. He wanted to spend much more than two days in this castle. He wanted to explore the entire castle as well as the grounds as well. He wanted to find all the hidden secrets they held!
“Awe Mama. But I don’t wanna.” He said trying to give her the sad puppy eyes to attempt to convince her.
“I’m sorry Eijiro. But our bodies couldn’t handle much more than two days in such low temperatures as this. We have to go home the morning after the ball.” She said.
“What do you mean our bodies couldn’t handle more?”
“We might be mostly impervious to the cold, but even we have our limits my son.” His Papa said. “The fire in our veins would eventually freeze up and will make us sick. You don’t want that do you?”
“Well no…” the boy said and none of them knew that a small blonde boy was outside the door to the chambers listening in.
“Fire in their veins?” Bakugo whispered to himself. “What does that mean?”
He pushed himself away from the door as he heard footsteps approaching him. He didn’t want to get caught by anyone eavesdropping on their guests. He’d be in for a hell of a disciplining for that one. He didn’t want to make his mama upset at him again. He still had the bruises from the last time he made her mad a couple weeks ago.
“Then enjoy all the time you have here while you can. Maybe you’ll get to come back another time.” His Papa said after a moment. “For now let's get some much needed rest then head for dinner with the royal family.”
Kirishima nodded and pushed open the door of the room he would be sleeping in for the next two nights. When he walked in he started to yawn, apparently he was more tired than he had realized. So much excitement was enough to tire him out.
He looked around the room and saw that the bed was indeed made of ice. It had many layers of furs on it though to keep the cold at bay. Kirishima saw his small travelling trunk set at the foot of the bed. He went over to it and upon opening it, pulled out a large blanket that his parents had given him before they left for their trip. It would help keep him warm as he slept and make sure that the fire in his veins never froze.
It was infused with magicks that he had never heard of. Kirishima was aware of stories and rumours of the Kingdom Witch, but it had never gone any further than that. His Papa said that the witch was a great help to their kingdom and that she did a lot for their family. She was to always be respected.
Changing out of his travelling clothes, Kirishima put on sleeping robes and crawled under the mound of furs and blankets that had been provided to him. When he settled under them all, he found that despite the bed being ice, it was a lot more comfortable and pliable than he had been expecting. Maybe the Moon Kingdom had their own witches that made this possible.
Kirishima decided that when he woke up from his nap he would ask his new friend Bakugo if they employed a Kingdom Witch as well as his people did. It was with that thought that the Sun Kingdom prince fell asleep with a smile on his face.
*****
“Papa how much longer until I can go see Kirishima?” Bakugo asked. “I wanna go play with him before dinner.”
“They just left to rest a few minutes ago Bakugo.” Masaru said closing the book he had begun to read. All royal duties were done for the moment so he was planning on enjoying the downtime before things started up again.
“Yeah but for how long?”
“Give them at least an hour and then we can go see if they would like a tour of the castle. How’s that?”
“Only if I can lead them around.”
“That’s fine. You can lead the tour.” Masaru said with an amused chuckle.
Bakugo gave a shout of victory and pumped his fist in the air. He grinned at his father and wandered off into the stacks of books the library held.
“Hey Papa?” He asked as he brought one back to where his father was sitting in a chair.
“Yes Katsuki?” He said putting his book back down again.
“What do you know about dragons?” He asked as he sat down beside his father, setting his book down on his lap.
Masaru looked at his son with a surprised look on his face. That wasn’t a question he’d expected to have his son ask him. To Masaru’s knowledge his son had never shown much interest in learning about mythical creatures of any sort before.
“I don’t know very much I’m afraid. Why do you ask?”
“Just wanna know. Mother won’t tell me anything.” The small blonde said with a scowl. “When I asked her, she just yelled at me to stop reading fantasy books and get back to studying.”
“Well I’m not sure I can tell you very much Katsuki. I never read much about them. Your grandparents didn’t like me reading about creatures that don’t exist.”
Bakugo gave an annoyed sound. Why was his family so boring? Why couldn’t they just be curious about things outside of ruling a kingdom? Didn’t they have their own personal interests? Things they liked to do or read about when they weren’t performing their royal duties?
“I know that they used to roam these lands freely like the wolves in the forest.” His father started to say. “There’s several different kinds of them as far as I remember from that one book I read when I was your age.”
“Different kinds?” Bakugo asked, his attention and interest piqued.
“Yeah. There used to be dragons for every season, and the elements were all represented as well.”
“So like fire dragons, water dragons, winter dragons and all that kinda stuff?” He asked as his excitement rose the more his father told him.
“Yep!” Masaru said chuckling. “The book may still be in the library here somewhere. With the books about direwolves. Want me to show you?”
“Yeah! Can you show me now?!”
Bakugo put his book aside and bounced up and out of his chair. He hopped from one foot to the other waiting for his father to get up and lead him to where the book on dragons was.
“What has you so interested in dragons anyways?”
“No reason…” Bakugo said avoiding looking at his father.
“You’ve heard rumours about the Sun Kingdom I'm guessing?”
“NO!”
Even to his own ears his response came far too quickly. Bakugo could feel his face heating up as he avoided looking at his father with more purpose now. He wasn’t about to admit to his father that he wanted to know about dragons because of the visiting prince.
“Well whatever your reasons are, Son, I’ll answer any questions you may have.” Masaru said with a smile. “Just keep in mind that I don’t know very much.”
After a few minutes of wandering through the shelves of books, they finally made it to the section they wanted. Masaru began looking through the books for the one he had told Bakugo about and gave a victorious cry as he found the one he wanted.
“Here you go Katsuki.” He said as he pulled the book free and handed it down to the prince.
“This is pretty small.” He commented, looking up from it to his father.
“Our people don’t know very much about dragons unfortunately. Even if they originate from our neighbouring kingdom.”
“Why hasn’t anyone asked the Sun Kingdom people about dragons then if they’re from the lands the dragons lived in?”
“I'm not really sure Katsuki. We haven’t always been on the best of terms with them. It’s only for the last few generations that we have had anything close to friendship with them.” Masaru said as they headed back to the chairs.
“Did we fight a lot with them before?”
“There were never any outright wars, but we also didn’t really support each other when one of our kingdoms did go to war with another kingdom.”
“We help each other out now though right?” Bakugo asked, looking up at his father.
He wanted to believe that there was a way for things to keep getting better between their two kingdoms. Bakugo didn’t really know why he wanted it so bad, but he would figure it out eventually. He always figured out things that were difficult. He liked puzzles. He was good at them. And this, to him, was definitely a puzzle.
As Bakugo was about to sit down and start reading his new book, the clock rang, tolling the new hour. And because he never forgot a promise, he was facing his father within seconds, an eager and excited look on his face.
“Come on! Let’s go get them for the tour of the castle!” He turned to his father with a wide grin spreading across his face.
Masaru stopped for a second as he saw the look on his son's face. It had been a little while since he had looked so excited over anything. The king smiled and headed out of the library with him.
“Just make sure not to lose that book okay?” He told him as they left.
“Of course I won’t.” He said as he held it tight against his chest like a treasure.
While the king and prince were headed to the guest chambers Kirishima and his parents were staying in, the young prince was just waking up from a short nap.
Stretching out on the bed he gave a loud yawn signaling to his parents who had been sitting in the chairs in the lounging area of the chambers, that he was awake. What they hadn’t been expecting though, as the prince walked out of the room, was for him to have shifted into his dragon form.
“Eijiro you need to shift back.” His Mama said as she spotted the small black scaled dragon trotting out and over to them.
Kirishima gave them a smile and rubbed against their legs in greeting and hopped on to the chair she was sitting in, giving her a lick on the cheek then repeated the same with his Papa. He had just finished shifting back to his human form when their chamber doors swung open reveaking the Moon Kingdom’s prince.
“Katsuki you have to wait to be called in before opening the doors.” Masaru scolded him gently as he saw the Crimson Riot wave it off.
“It’s quite alright. No one was indecent.” He said. “What can we do for you?”
“Want a tour of the castle?” Bakugo asked and was looking directly at Kirishima as he asked it.
“Can we Mama?!” Kirishima asked wide eyed and smiling as he faced his parents.
“The invitation is for you both as well. Katsuki is just forgetting his manners today it seems.” Masaru said.
They hadn’t even gotten halfway through their tour of the castle itself, when the queen’s personal maid found them and requested that Bakugo go get washed up for dinner as it was going to be served shortly.
“I guess we finish the tour tomorrow if we have the time.” Masaru said as he turned to look at the others. “We will send someone to bring you down to the dining room.”
“That would be much appreciated.” Kirishima’s Mama said with a slight bow of her head. “Thank you.”
“Your Majesty?” Kirishima asked as he approached the king.
“Yes?”
“Can Bakugo and I sit beside each other at dinner?”
Bakugo’s eyes went a little wide at that question, but he didn’t protest. He simply looked over to his father with his big eyes pleading for them to say yes.
“I don’t see why that would be a problem young prince.” The king gave a smile and ruffled his hair a little. “We’ll see you at dinner in twenty minutes then.”
Kirishima looked at him with a bright smile and seconds later turned it on his new friend. “This is great Bakugo!”
The blonde gave a small, slightly shy smile. He averted his eyes quite quickly as looking directly at the beaming look on the boy's face had his cheeks heating up and his heart speeding up in his chest.
It was only when he was positive that the others were well out of earshot that Bakugo felt he was safe enough to voice his question to his parents.
“Father?” He asked looking up at them both as they walked in the direction of their private chambers.
“Why does my heart beat faster in my chest whenever Kirishima smiles at me?” He wanted to know.
His father looked at him for a minute as they walked in silence. He looked ahead of him after a minute, not really sure of how to answer his son's question.
*****
The next day, there wasn’t much time for Bakugo and Masaru to finish giving their guests a tour of the castle. Kirishima was a little pouty over that fact, but he knew that once Bakugo’s duties for the ball were completed that they would spend the rest of the night together. They had decided upon it the night before during dinner.
Throughout their dinner Kirishima had found that the blonde was able to easily make him blush. Along with the fact that his palms felt sweaty and his heart raced in his chest whenever he would look his way.
He tried to figure out what it was that was causing these things to happen to him. So, in trying to find out, he went to his parents and asked them if they had any idea as to the reasons behind it.
His papa's response was that he was starting to become a man. Which, if Kirishima was honest, he didn’t quite understand how that would explain anything. His Mama’s response had him blushing pretty hard.
“You’ve got a crush on the prince Eijiro, that’s what happens when you’ve got a crush on a person. Your hands get all sweaty, you get nervous around them and you don’t know why. Your heart races and you can’t help but be fascinated with almost anything they say or do.” She had said to him with a grin.
When his parents explained to him what a crush was exactly, he had gone red in the face all over again. It was because of what his parents revealed to him, that he started wanting to show the Moon Prince that dragons did exist, even now after all the time that had passed. He knew that if he was caught, he would be punished pretty hard by his parents.
Kirishima was still debating what to do even after they had been announced into the ballroom. Should he show the prince his other form? Should he just try and tell him that he could? Should he not mention anything about it at all? He was so torn over it that he hadn’t even noticed Bakugo approaching them with his little sister until they were directly in front of him and his parents.
“My baby sister wants to know if she can dance with you Kirishima.” Bakugo said with a deep frown etched into his features.
“She wants to dance with me?” Kirishima asked, surprised as he shifted his gaze from Bakugo to his sister.
She was blushing pretty hard and avoiding looking at him, but she gave a quick nod of her head. “Yes,” she said in a soft shy sounding voice.
Kirishima looked up at his parents, silently asking them if he could. When they both gave a nod of their heads he gave the princess a nod of his own and a smile. “Sure. I’ll dance with you.”
She looked up at him with a wide smile, blush still staining her cheeks. Kirishima offered her his arm and when she set her hand in the crook of his elbow, he started to lead her onto the dance floor.
Watching the two children walk off, Kirishima’s mama smiled softly. It was a rather cute sight to watch. Her husband on the other hand, kept his gaze on the prince who had up until now remained quiet. He could see that his frown from earlier was deepening and his face was turning a light shade of red.
The Crimson Riot knew that look pretty well. The prince was jealous. He was angry and he was confused. And being an eleven year old boy, he had no idea what all those feelings meant when it came to this short and slightly chubby looking prince.
“Prince Bakugo is everything alright?” He asked moving to stand beside the boy.
“Yes!” He snapped. “Everything is perfect!”
The royal couple watched as he stomped away from them. They hoped that he was indeed alright, they didn’t want anything to happen tonight to ruin it for either their son or the Moon Kingdom’s crown prince. They had had such fun together the night before at dinner and afterwards when they had been allowed to go play. They had heard all about it from Eijiro the night before. They really wished that this whole visit ended on a high note and both boys had a new friend they could one day come to rely on.
As the blonde stomped away, he couldn’t understand why he felt so angry watching his stupid baby sister dance with the visiting prince. His stomach was all twisted up inside him, his face felt extremely hot; almost like when he got sick with fever. His palms were sweaty and his body temperature generally felt higher than normal.
His mind was racing a mile a minute, causing him to be unable to form even one proper thought. All he knew was that he absolutely hated the fact that he had let his sister convince him to ask Eijiro - wait. When had he started thinking of him as Eijiro and not Kirishima?
He hated that he had let her convince him to ask Kirishima to dance with her. It should be him dancing with the cute - hold on. Cute? He never found anyone cute at all. What made this stupid visiting prince so special?
Looking over to the pair who were still dancing, he could see his sister was no longer shy like she had been. She was smiling and laughing at something Kirishima had said.
That seemed to be the final straw for Bakugo. He clenched his hands into fists and stormed his way over to the two. An angry look maring his features that only deepened the closer he got.
“Your dance is finished.” He said as he stopped beside them.
“What? Katsuki, the song isn’t over yet.” His sister said and looked up at him confused.
“You’re done dancing.” He said again and turned his angry look on her.
She seemed to cower away from his look and stepped back from him. Kirishima had been struck silent the entire time. He hadn’t particularly wanted to dance with the girl, but he had agreed so he wanted to finish their dance. Another part of him however, had really wanted it to hurry up and end.
He could admit to himself that when Bakugo had approached him and his parents, he had been wishing that the prince himself was going to ask him to dance. And not ask on behalf of his shy, younger sister.
When it turned out that his hopes weren’t about to be realized, he had felt a little crushed. He had tried his best to keep his sadness hidden from the younger girl and so far he had been successful. At least he thought he had managed to keep it hidden from her.
“Bakugo?” He asked and he could admit that despite his slight relief, he was confused as to why the prince seemed so angry at his sister.
“You should be dancing with me. Not my sister.” He said as he grabbed a hold of Kirishima’s wrist and started pulling him away from the eyes of the entire ballroom. Both of their parents included.
Kirishima was gobsmacked at the prince's declaration. He stumbled after him as the prince was walking rather fast. Being a dragon, even a small child one, he wasn't known for his speed. Their sheer size and bulk made them move much slower even when in their human forms.
“Where are we going?” He asked of the blonde after a few minutes of them walking - speed walking - in silence.
Bakugo didn’t answer him right away. Simply led him to a set of doors that would lead them outside and to the gardens. He seemed to have been walking with no particular destination in mind. His anger and obvious jealousy made him blind to his surroundings. Simply moving based on pure instinct.
When they finally stopped, Kirishima tried to catch his breath as he had needed to run to be able to keep up with the prince's fast pace. Bakugo himself was breathing rather heavily as they stood there staring at one another.
Bakugo’s eyes looked a little wild as Kirishima trained his own on him. What had just happened? More importantly, why had it just happened - whatever it was.
“I needed to get away from everyone. Needed to get you away from my sister.” Bakugo said eventually.
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know really.” He said quietly, avoiding eye contact. “I just… I hated the sight of you dancing with her! She shouldn’t be dancing with you! It should have been me!”
Kirishima wasn’t sure why Bakugo was feeling all of this, but he knew that his wrist was still warm from where he had held onto it as they made their escape from the confines of the ballroom. He could still feel the warmth of the other’s hand and he knew that for whatever reason, he liked it.
“Bakugo?” Kirishima started. “Can I ask you something?”
“Ask me what?”
“Does your tummy feel all funny when you’re around me? Like excited but nervous at the same time?”
A blush started to stain his cheeks as he looked at the Sun Kingdom prince. How did he know?! Could he read his mind?! He didn’t answer verbally. He knew that if he did, his voice would surely betray him. So he simply nodded his head.
“And do your hands go all clammy?”
Another nod.
But as he looked up and at the prince, a wide smile had started to spread across his face. A bright one at that. As bright as the sun. And felt just as warm as Bakugo imagined that the sun could be.
“You have a crush on me!!” He said with his smile spreading impossibly wide.
Bakugo began to sputter and try to form a sentence to deny it. But as Kirishima approached him with his arms spread wide, he fell silent.
“It’s okay though!” He said, and was that a giggle Bakugo heard as Kirishima wrapped him in his arms? “I have one on you too!”
“How?” Bakugo demanded, but wrapped his arms around the boy. “We only met yesterday. And we’re only eleven.”
“Mama said it’s something to do with my heart and soul knowing which person has their other half.”
“Your soul?” Bakugo asked curiously as they stood there still holding on to one another.
“Yeah. Like soulmates.”
Bakugo stayed silent as he pondered what Kirishima had just told him. Did he have a crush on the other boy? Was this something that could one day turn into more?
Minutes passed in silence and they still held each other. Neither one of them seemed to want to break the embrace. And as they stood there, it seemed that the music from the ballroom could be heard even all the way outside in the gardens.
Kirishima liked the song that was being played by the band. It was a slow song that was easy to follow for beginner dancers. He pulled back from his hold on Bakugo a little bit and looked at him, a hopeful look on his face.
“Bakugo will you dance with me?”
The blonde's eyes widened and his mouth fell open slightly. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly closed his mouth and gave a slightly hesitant nod, a blush slowly creeping across his nose and cheeks.
Kirishima gave a bright smile and stepped back enough so they could properly get into position and within seconds they were dancing. They weren’t the best at it, having barely had a couple of weeks worth of dancing lessons, but they were enjoying themselves.
It was only as the song was coming to an end that they even realized that snow had started to fall. Looking up, Kirishima gave a surprised noise. It was beautiful!
“I wish we got snow where we live.” He said and his tone perfectly conveyed his wonder at the sight. “It would be so pretty.”
“What does the sun's warmth feel like?” Bakugo asked as he looked at the boy he held in his arms.
Kirishima brought his gaze back down to Bakugo and contemplated how he could best describe it. Instead of answering his question, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Bakugo’s. It was the only way he could think of that would help Bakugo understand what the sun felt like.
The kiss was a mere press of lips against one another and it barely lasted a few seconds, but it was enough for Bakugo and Kirishima both to come to a realization. Whatever it is that they were feeling right now, was something they needed to cherish. And with time it would blossom into much more than it already was.
“Eijiro?” Bakugo asked the other boy softly.
A gasp of surprise left Kirishima’s lips as his given name was used. His eyes had widened as well and the butterflies that had erupted in his stomach as he gave the blonde his first kiss intensified.
“Y-yes?”
“I'm going to make sure that when we’re old enough, that you and I get married.” Bakugo said and despite only being eleven years old, his voice held all the conviction of a king and Kirishima couldn’t help but smile and agree with his entire being.