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“Do you understand now, Katsuki?”
The bright golden necklace with a crimson ruby set in the center laid gracefully in Mitsuki’s smooth palms. The chains dangled as she adjusted her grip to let the gem stare at Katsuki’s similarly colored eyes.
“Our family has been protecting this necklace for centuries. That’s why it’s called an heirloom, as it has been passed down in our family for generations.”
Katsuki’s own small hands reached for the dangling necklace, his eyes drawn to the bright stone. Mitsuki let him touch for what seemed to be only a fraction of a second before yanking it away, her eyes narrowing at her son for getting too comfortable with his “dirty” hands.
“The gem is said to grant our family protection from all, and that includes from the dragons.”
Being so young, Katsuki still couldn’t grasp the fact that there were living, breathing dragons around the world. His eyes sparkled with fascination every time the magnificent creatures were mentioned in passing. Mitsuki noticed the physical change in her son when the creature was brought up and sighed.
“Katsuki, how many times do we have to have this conversation on why we seek to rid the world of the dragons?”
Now annoyed, the five-year-old Katsuki grumbled as he stood up to leave the room. Mitsuki called out for him to come back, yet the toddler ignored his mother as he stomped over to his room, his new, startling explosion powers tingling in his hands.
Once again, Katsuki felt lost.
Arriving at his room, Katsuki immediately ducked under his bed and yanked out a stuffed animal of a black dragon that his mentor, Aizawa, had given him. Hugging it to his chest, he ran over to the opening of his balcony and jumped on top of the ledge to his bay window. Gently, he pulled the dragon away from his chest to stare the stuffed animal in their eyes while mumbling to himself.
“I’m sure you aren’t a meanie, Mr. Dragon. I think it’s a super stupid misunderstanding!”
That night, Katsuki dreamt of riding a wild dragon into the stars.
———
The dummy in front of him was sliced to shreds, especially with the additional combo of explosive powers. Katsuki violently threw the sword he was using to the ground as he reminisced learning about the sacred heirloom.
“Shit was stupid anyway.”
Watching him train from a distance, Aizawa quirked his eyebrow suspiciously.
“What exactly was stupid? Also, pick up that sword again.”
Mumbling under his breath, Katsuki begrudgingly picked up the weapon he just threw. With a strong grip in his right hand, left hand arched for explosives, Katsuki began hitting the dummy in front of him. Aizawa sighed from the unresponsive prince and moved a bit closer.
“You do realize I am the only one you can talk to without repercussions, right?”
Katsuki’s movements paused as he released a big breath of air, his shoulders relaxing after getting a few hits. Turning his eye, the explosive prince made eye contact with his mentor.
“I was just thinking about the stupid ass heirloom that everyone in my family is obsessed with. It’s fucking annoying.”
“Language.”
Katsuki sent a fierce glare in Aizawa’s direction. The mentor smirked seeing the reaction he riled up as he walked over and crisply took the sword out of Katsuki’s hand.
“It’s the heirloom. It’s protected. It’s been ongoing for centuries. Your family can not just suddenly stop tradition.”
Katsuki grumbled in annoyance as he began to leave the garden he was training in. He heard Aizawa’s loud sigh as he headed back to the castle.
“Where are you going now?”
“My room, don’t fucking follow me!”
Katsuki released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when the door shut behind him.
Yeah, the heirloom’s purpose was stupid as shit.
———
Eijirou was rushing. He could physically feel his pulse quicken in his ears as he ran across his village to reach the village chief, his father.
A messenger had met Eijirou and spoke about how his parents requested his presence as soon as possible. Wasting zero time, Eijirou had sprung from the library he was in and bolted north.
Weaving and dodging through the crowd, he eventually made it to his parents, who were seated in their makeshift thrones.
“Mom, dad, heard you requested me!” Eijirou’s smile appeared easily on his face, making his parents' facades growl into smiles as well.
“Eijirou,” His mother began, “we’re glad to see you. Your father and I have a very specific mission we believe only you can pull off.” Her grin bloomed watching her sons face break out into surprise.
“Oh! That’s cool of you guys! What’s the issue?” The dragon hybrid walked closer to his parents who eagerly leaned forward as well. His father cleared his throat to direct everyone's attention to himself.
“Son, do you remember the heirloom? The ones the barbarians created to erase our existence?”
Surprised at the seriousness of his tone, Eijirou nodded sternly. His usual cheery personality dropped and was replaced with stern and focused eyes. Eijirou’s father nodded in acknowledgement.
“Eijirou. After countless days of discussion and meetings, we have decided it is finally time to rid its possession from the Barbarians. However, we believe this is something only you’re capable of doing.”
Eijirou held his breath. “What do you mean?”
“Your mother and I think it’d be appropriate to gift the heirloom to our elder to finally remove the prophecy.” His father’s voice was stern and serious, slightly leaning forward in his chair.
Eijirou pondered.
“How would I go about retrieving it?” He said.
“Sneaking in.” His father sighed.
Eijirou crossed an arm and brought the other to his chin. He stood thinking over every scenario that could take place.
After sitting in silence for heaven knows how long, Eijirou raised his head and held eye contact with his father.
“Yeah, I’ll do it.”
He couldn’t help but feel something in his gut, not knowing what could happen when he set foot in the castle of the Barbarians.
His parents dismissed him after telling him details about the castle and the Barbarians in general. Eijirou suddenly felt like an ant in his ginormous village. His gut was screaming at him about this mission. He couldn’t tell whether this was a good idea or not. Eijirou knew he already agreed, so there was nothing he could do besides to prepare for his adventure.
When he finally reached the Barbarians land later that night, however, he hesitated.
The black cloak hanging over his head and body flew from a gust, almost like the wind was trying to force him to continue walking. His wings, under the cloak, curled in around his body for warmth as he forced himself to keep walking closer to the castle.
Eijirou held his breath once he got close enough to the point where he had to start hiding. He took a quick look at his surroundings before crouching behind a bush, continuing to scan the area.
His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest once he found the opportunity to run past multiple guards, getting closer to his goal.
It looked as if he managed to maneuver to the side of the castle, where he noticed some gardens and training grounds. He thought about investigating for fun, but ultimately decided that he didn’t want to risk his life even more than he already was. Eijirou cursed at his mind.
The castle was crawling with overgrown vines. Eijirou tested the strength of the plants with a hard tug. Satisfied, he smirked as he began to climb the castle wall under the night sky.
While climbing, he mentally pictured the map of the castle his parents showed him. He squinted in concentration, trying to piece together where he’s climbing to.
Eijirou’s feet gently planted on the edge of a balcony. He scanned the area below and around him. His curious eyes locked onto an enormous tree a few yards away. Instinctively, he thought about how fast he could climb it before shaking his head.
Knock it off, Eijirou! You’re on a mission!
No one should be inside, except for a few guards, if Eijirou’s father was correct. At this time of night, everyone should be sleeping, which calmed Eijirou’s nerves a bit when he decided to enter the castle from where he was.
Eijirou prayed to the heavens that not every goddamn window in this castle was locked. With gentle hands, he reached and carefully pulled on a handle. The window slowly opened, making Eijirou release a small breath.
After opening the window, Eijirou peeked inside the castle. It seemed to be a massive hallway. The interior looked fancy, with pillars, unnecessary furniture, plants he didn’t know existed. Eijirou’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
One last look around the area and inside, he silently climbed into the castle.
He must’ve been too eager to get this over with, because his right foot landed with just a bit too much blunt force. Eijirou’s eyes widened while he very quietly winced. He remained still and listened with his enhanced hearing, preparing to hide if he heard any movement.
When he heard nothing, he bit his tongue and peered around more, preparing his next move.
Suddenly, his ears perked when he heard a very distant stomp. Eijirou froze, and waited to see if the stomps sounded as if they were getting closer, and they were.
Eijirou moved to hide, but it was too late.
———
Katsuki looked up from his desk when he heard a random thump from the hall. He stood up from his chair and gazed at the entrance to his bedroom.
It was quiet again.
Katsuki couldn’t feel the danger like he normally would, yet he still felt suspicious. Something was out there.
Did a guard fuck up? An animal got in?
He gently drooped his cape over his shoulders, still in his outfit from training earlier that day. Carefully, Katsuki tiptoed toward his door and opened it gracefully.
He stopped and listened again, squinting in concentration to hear.
Katsuki couldn’t hear anything, but he could feel something.
Annoyed, Katsuki ignored his thought to be silent and began to stomp his way down the hall.
Katsuki’s gaze moved from side to side, looking for anything suspicious as he scoured the massive halls. His stomps echoed as he felt himself getting closer to this feeling in his chest.
Turning a corner, Katsuki saw the back of what looked to be a man in a black cloak. His eyes widened, preparing to shout, until the man turned around and revealed his features.
Even with the moon being the only source of light, Katsuki immediately knew what he was looking at.
The man had short, sharp horns coming out of the top of his forehead. There seemed to be tips of wings peeking under the cloak that embraced the mans arms. One of the most noticeable features was the alarming amount of red scales that coursed over the mans entire body. Everything about him was red. His hair, his eyes, his wings, his horns, even the clothes underneath.
Katsuki was grounded to the floor, stuck as he realized he was looking at a dragon hybrid.
At the same time, both seemed to snap out of the trance they were in. Katsuki raised a finger accusingly and pointed it at the mans face. The man widened his eyes slightly, taking a step back. Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek.
“You,” he said.
“Me,” the man breathed out in a rush.
Katsuki, for one of the first times in his life, didn’t know what to do. For once, he didn’t sense anything bad about the guy in front of him. There didn’t seem to be any malicious intent. The man cleared his throat, disrupting Katsuki’s thoughts.
“What are you doing?” the dragon hybrid whispered.
Thrown off, Katsuki glared. “What?”
“Dude, you’re just pointing.” He snickered.
A vein popped in Katsuki’s forehead. “Come again?”
The man looked around, curious to what was going to happen. He huddled closer to himself and raised an eyebrow.
“Well, what’s going to happen to me? Am I going to be sent to the depths of prison now? Or, what about publicly declaring my appearance? Both sound a bit iffy to me!”
Katsuki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This guy in front of him sounded so terrified, yet could tell he was keeping an extreme front to remain calm.
“What’s your name?” Katsuki asked.
“In exchange for yours.” His eyelashes fluttered, genuine curiosity seeping into his voice.
If this was some villain in front of him, Katsuki would’ve turned a blind eye and threw a fierce fiery fist in the direction of their face. His gut was screeching to do just that, not used to something so different. Katsuki pushed that feeling down as he lowered the finger he was pointing.
“Prince Katsuki Bakugou. Fess up.” Katsuki’s ears perked as he heard a slight rustle in the distance, but kept quiet.
The man remained quiet, his own ears perking from the noise in the distance.
The rustle they both heard began to slowly and steadily grow louder.
Katsuki’s head moved towards the hallway, back to the guy in front of him quickly.
“Leave.”
Without ever revealing his name, the man jumped from where he entered, leaving without a trace.
———
Bakugou Katsuki.
Eijirou couldn’t get that name out of his head as he went into hiding for the rest of the night and the next day. He was planning to sneak in at the other end of the castle that night, not wanting to run into Katsuki again.
His heart ached, knowing he shouldn’t see the boy again, but was curious as to what he was doing.
Eijirou gulped, beginning to make his way back into the castle, planning to infiltrate deeper than the day before, when he suddenly saw a small flash of light out of the corner of his eye. His gaze followed where the flash was, locking onto big green hedges with flowers in them. It seemed to have come from the center.
Eijirou wasn’t dumb. He knew he should at least investigate the noise to make sure it wasn’t a guard who would see him climb the castle. His chest became warm, conflicted on what to do.
There was another flash of light, and Eijirou ultimately decided to get closer.
When he was finally close enough and could peak through the bushes, he saw Katsuki, who had small balls of smoke fuming from his hands.
Eijirou smiled, humming as he contemplated what to do. Apparently, he made too much noise though, as the prince’s gaze focused on where Eijirou was hiding.
“Red.” He growled.
Eijirou fully stepped out behind the bush and grinned at the man in front of him. Katsuki clicked his tongue at the sight of the dragon hybrid.
“Why the hell are you here again?”
“Mission. I’m sure you might be able to understand.”
“A mission at my castle, twice? What kind of shit is that?”
Eijirou’s right hand moved to his chin as he stroked it in thought. “It’s just how it is, dude.” His smile got wider at the sight of Katsuki’s left eyebrow raising curiously.
“I never got your name, Red.”
The dragon hybrid remained quiet, thinking over his choices before he came to a conclusion.
Eijirou cocked his head to the side. “Eijirou Kirishima.”
Katsuki hummed in acknowledgement.
The two awkwardly sat in silence. Katsuki kept glancing between his hands and the sky, while Eijirou was looking left and right. Eventually, the dragon hybrid cleared his throat and threw his hood off, exposing his short horns and slightly scaled face. Katsuki looked over at the sound, whose eyes widened very slightly before becoming generally curious about the man.
“Your face...” Katsuki’s eyebrows scrunched up.
Eijirou flushed at the sudden very close attention on him. He nervously laughed as he moved a hand to scratch at his neck.
“Weird, huh? Scales all over, horns kind of pointy, too.” He poked the tip of a horn with his unoccupied hand.
“Weird as fuck, definitely. Shit looks cool too, though.”
A beaming smile found its way to Eijirou’s face again at the compliment. He could sense that Katsuki meant no harm. Eagerly, he moved closer to Katsuki as he completely shoved the black cloak off of him, showing off the rest of his features.
Surprisingly, the two jumped into a conversation about the dragon hybrid and his appearance. Eijirou was always thrilled to present what traits he possesses, going into stories and rants about when they first appeared, his reactions, and more. Katsuki tentatively listens, occasionally dropping input or humming to let Eijirou know he’s listening.
They moved to sit on the concrete floor, comfortable enough to drop their guard a bit. Eijirou was talking about when his wings first started developing, how he would get stuck a lot as a kid because he’d forget they were there, when he snuck a glance in the prince’s direction. Katsuki’s eyes were closed as his head was facing the stars, but his ears were perking up in attention with every word that left Eijirou’s mouth. It made him feel wanted for once, and, yet again, he couldn’t help the grin that jumped to his mouth, even if Katsuki didn’t see it.
Before Eijirou could jump into another story, he cut himself off mid sentence as his ears picked up on a sound in the distance. Katsuki opened his eyes in sync as Eijirou cut himself off, hearing the sound as well. The prince’s gaze swerved towards the entrance of the garden and squinted prior to moving his eyes back to Eijirou.
“You need to leave, now.”
Without even a goodbye, Eijirou scrambled quietly yet quickly to grab his cloak off the ground and disappear into the bushes, leaving no trace behind.
———
Several nights later, Eijirou saw Katsuki again when he was climbing through a window into the castle--the same window where the prince had originally caught him sneaking in.
“What the hell are you doing?” Katsuki whisper yelled.
Eijirou quickly looked up like a deer in headlights. His shocked expression quickly morphed into a grin as he made his way towards Katsuki.
“Obviously, I’m here for another mission.” Eijirou crossed his arms.
“Your dumb ass is going to get caught, obviously.”
Katsuki gripped the top of Eijirou’s hood forcibly as he dragged him across the hall. Eijirou fumbled, almost losing his balance at the amount of force being used.
When Katsuki’s grip loosened, hand dropping, Eijirou looked up and didn’t recognize where he was led to. The prince steadily opened the door in front of him, and kept it open to tell Eijirou to follow. The dragon hybrid followed cautiously and closed the door quietly behind him.
Eijirou finally took a look around him and realized he was in the prince’s quarters. A neat bed tucked away in the corner, book shelves on every wall, a withered heavy used desk, patterned colorful rug, balcony that opened up to the dark, moon sky, Eijirou’s red eyes scanned every inch of the room before landing on the back of Katsuki, who was picking at the spine of a book.
Katsuki pushed the book back into place before his similar red eyes, Eijirou noticed, locked gazes with him.
“Your dumb ass was about to be caught. What kind of person goes through the same window twice?” Katsuki made a face of disapproval.
“Hey! I didn’t feel like looking around more!” Eijirou flopped onto the floor, legs crossed while throwing his cloak off.
Katsuki hummed in response, moving to sit in his desk chair and lean his head back to relax, closing his eyes.
Eijirou scooted closer to a bookshelf and grabbed a random book, flipping it open to a random page.
“What’s this?” He asked.
Katsuki cracked and eye open and eyed the dragon hybrid on the floor.
“One of my history books.” He mumbled.
Eijirou let out a sound of acknowledgement, interest flooding through him immediately. He flipped through the book excitedly, looking at all of the pictures and occasionally reading a couple of sentences.
Eijirou never learned about the history of humans that much. He was only ever told how awful humans treated dragons, the disrespect his ancestors had to endure for thousands of years.
His village had zero books about human history, everything he learned came from the elders of the village and their own experiences. Now, he can finally read things from a human perspective, and he was incredibly excited.
While Eijirou was distracted, Katsuki had moved onto the floor beside him and grabbed a couple more history books and laid them out. Eijirou focused back into the real world, blinking a couple times before noticing the prince and the plenty of books.
“There’s more you can look through.” Katsukj said, looking off to the side at the moon beaming on his balcony. Eijirou smiled as he grabbed a couple more to bring closer.
“Hey, Katsuki, question.” Eijirou flipped a book open that was set thousands of years ago.
“What?” Katsuki scoffed, eyebrows furrowing like he was annoyed.
“Do you think you can teach me a bit about human history? I was only told... bad things.” Eijirou mumbled the end under his breath. He noticed Katsuki’s ears perk up, catching the end of his sentence. Surprisingly, Katsuki didn’t mention it.
“I just fucking set books in front of you. You can read them.” Katsuki crossed his legs and rested his head on a hand.
“C’mon! It’d be fun if you taught me!” He beamed at Katsuki, hoping his bright smile would help encourage the prince
“Fine, holy shit. Here, let’s start with this one.” The prince reached for a different book on the floor, instantly flipping to one of the first pages. Eagerly, Eijirou leaned closer, their shoulders touching, to properly look at what Katsuki was reading.
Eijirou didn’t know how long he stayed in the prince’s quarters. In the end, they ended up going through multiple books, Eijirou staying engaged the whole time.
He’s cool, Eijirou thought, coming to the realization that he wouldn’t mind if Katsuki kept him around.
———
The council meeting dragged on for countless of restless hours. Katsuki could feel his tiredness seeping into him. Alas, he knew he couldn’t fall asleep just yet: He hadn’t gotten to train yet that day.
After saying goodnight to his parents and the council, Katsuki slowly made way to his room, rubbing his eyes.
When he opened the door to his bedroom, he was not expecting Eijirou to be laying on his back on his bed with a book hanging in front of his face. Katsuki had never closed a door so hard and fast in his life.
“Red, what the fuck are you doing?” Katsuki tried his best to keep his voice low.
“Oh, hey! I’m just reading!” Eijirou giggled.
The dragon hybrid sat up, disregarding the book as he set it off to the side. His wings stretch from underneath him, comfortable after being freed. Katsuki eyed them curiously before rolling his eyes and scoffing.
“How long have you even been in here?” He crossed his arms, slightly glaring. Eijirou shifted under his gaze.
“Probably, ah, an hour?” Eijirou mumbled in one breath.
“You’re fucking lucky I have shit to do right now. Otherwise, you’d be kicked out.” Katsuki grabbed a pair of gloves and made his way back to the door when he felt a hand on his elbow.
“Come on, dude! Don’t leave me hanging in here!” Eijirou whined, pulling on Katsuki’s arm.
The prince felt the tips of his ears heat up from the physical contact, but he ignored it and shoved Eijirou off of him lightly.
“Please! I promise I won’t bother whatever you need to do.” The dragon hybrid continued to plead. Katsuki clicked his tongue in annoyance before he turned to face Eijirou.
“I’m going to train a bit. I couldn’t earlier because of that shit ass meeting that took fucking forever. You better stay fucking quiet while we walk down to my area.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
At first, all Eijirou did was observe the way Katsuki was training by himself. He watched Katsuki remove his gloves, hands starting to pulse as he let off explosion after explosion, sparks flying in the air in a mix of red and orange.
Eijirou looked down at his own scaled hands and balled them in and out of fists, his nails creating indents in his palms. He hadn’t gotten any fighting action himself in a while; he must be incredibly rusty at hand to hand combat.
“Hey, Katsuki?” He looked up from his hands.
“What?” Katsuki paused, smoke coming out of his palms.
“I never asked, but how do you do explosions?” Eijirou pushed his hand out and mimicked the sound of an explosion, acting like the prince in front of him.
Katsuki scoffed. “It’s like you being a dragon. Hell, this world is fucking crazy. I’ve seen weirder shit.”
Katsuki goes back to training, making Eijirou frown at the attention loss. He goes back to the task at hand, beginning to throw slow, fake jabs in the air.
An idea sparks into his head, a smile beaming on his face as he yells despite himself, “Katsuki!”
Katsuki’s punch falls short as he eyes the dragon hybrid in the corner of his eye, his silence an encouragement to continue.
“Let’s spar!”
The prince’s body whipped in the direction of Eijirou, eyes widening for a quick second before a smirk appeared on his face.
“What, you think you can fucking take me?” Katsuki hummed.
“Dude, you haven’t seen how much my scales can handle!” Eijirou slapped scales on his forearm, trying to be intimidating.
The dragon hybrid stepped closer to the prince, their eye contact not breaking. Katsuki cleared his throat as he cracked his knuckles, shaking them out before taking a step back and getting in position.
“Go on, then.”
Eijirou grinned at the response, taking a step back as well. His wings relished in the cool air, out and wide as he flexed his hands, ready to take any blast thrown his way.
The two lunged at each other, immediately noticing how similar they were in their fighting styles.
They grinned to their hearts content.
———
Since he almost got kicked out last time, Eijirou sat outside Katsuki’s balcony on a tree instead of in his room. He was watching his feet dangle and occasionally his eyes would flicker to the entrance of the prince’s room, waiting for the fateful man to make his way out.
Over the past few days, Eijirou had completely disregarded the mission his parents sent him on. Now, it just felt like he was a kid again sneaking around to hang out with a friend.
Lost in his thoughts, a pebble was eventually thrown at his face, causing him to almost lose balance on the branch. Eijirou’s nails frantically dug into the bark, eyes eventually landing on a laughing Katsuki.
“Dude, not cool! I could’ve died!” Eijirou whined, leaning back on the tree.
“Die my ass, you’re a fucking dragon.” Katsuki walked to the edge of his balcony propped his elbow up, resting his head on a hand.
Eijirou scoffed, causing Katsuki to flash a smirk in his direction.
It caught the dragon hybrid off guard, ears flaring a bright pink as he lost his balance. His legs swung across the branch, and suddenly he was upside down.
Katsuki, surprisingly, thought that was the funniest thing in the world and bursted out laughing.
Eijirou felt his cheeks beginning to blush pink, but he crossed his arms and tried his best to glare.
“Hey, don’t laugh at me! This was your fault! What if I like, fell to the ground at super high speeds and broke something, then what?” Eijirou quirked an eyebrow up, waiting for an answer as he smiled, but his smile slowly fell.
Katsuki was laughing at the nonsense flowing from Eijirou’s mouth again, but this time, the most fond and genuine smile was thrown directly at Eijirou, all because of the situation they were in.
For the first time in a long while, Eijirou’s heart started beating quickly in his chest, all because of that damn smile.
Before Eijirou actually fell, he pulled himself up quickly with ease. He rubbed his face and turned back to face Katsuki, who still had some of that fondness in his eyes.
“What’re you staring at?” Eijirou teased.
“Oh, a stupid fucking idiot who almost fell out of a tree.” Katsuki snickered.
Eijirou growled as Katsuki barked out another laugh.
“Alright! Listen, can you let me in now?” Eijirou whined, shaking his arms violently.
Katsuki hummed, taking a step back from the balcony. “Come on, Red.”
Happily, Eijirou slowly got closer to the balcony and made a jump for it, landing successfully on the concrete pavement of the balcony. He brushed off any dust on his clothes. When he looked back up, the prince was staring at him again before averting his gaze.
Eijirou felt his cheeks tint pink again as he followed Katsuki into his room, filling the night with long, meaningful conversations.
———
Over time, Eijirou forgot about the mission in its entirety.
It was just like their own little secret, a dragon hybrid becoming friends with the prince and spending their nights together, talking, sparing, learning.
Eijirou eventually couldn’t help but notice how his heartbeat continued to quicken whenever he was around Katsuki. He began to notice the small things, like the way Katsuki scratched at his palm when he was itching to let off explosions, or how he scrunched up his face whenever he thought deeply.
He noticed, too, how he and Katsuki seemingly got closer day by day, delving into a couple topics that the two never thought they’d be sharing.
It felt right, but Eijirou knew it was wrong at the same time. If anyone were to catch the prince with the dragon hybrid, hell would break loose, and he’d have to say goodbye forever.
However, that never stopped them. In fact, all Eijirou had to do was look over at the man beside him.
They didn’t need words, they just looked at each other and smiled.
———
“Hey, Red.”
Katsuki watched Eijirou break his gaze from the stars in the sky, eyes shifting to face the prince. Their dangling feet over the balcony bumped into each other, making Katsuki look down.
“I hate this life.”
Eijirou remained quiet. Katsuki inhaled, holding his breath for a while before exhaling for a long period. He bumped his foot against Eijirou’s again.
“I hate this castle. I hate this lifestyle. I hate being a prince. I hate having to hide everything I do. I hate being forced to attend these stupid ass formal events. I hate being stuck to a schedule every day.”
Katsuki’s gaze lifted up back to the stars. He tried to distract himself by counting every sparkle in the sky, but a light shove in his shoulder snapped him out of it. His eyes landed on a smile brighter than the horizon in front of them. Eijirou beamed, encouraging him to continue without needing to use his words. Katsuki suppressed his own grin, looking down to his hands in his lap.
“I guess I just fucking want a change. Something that won’t root me down to this life, forever.”
Eijirou hummed. The dragon hybrid knocked their knees together, then tapped Katsuki’s knee with his finger. The prince bit his tongue lightly in surprise, body flooding with warmth at the touches of quick contact. Eijirou snickered.
“Surprisingly, I’m sort of the same way.”
Katsuki’s eyes widened, lifting his head to immediately lock eyes with Eijirou. His eyes were a silent plea to continue. Eijirou flashed a quick grin.
“As much as I adore my village, it seems like I’m constantly tied down to them. Sure, I can do my own things, but, in the end, my family still expects me to come home and listen to their requests.”
Katsuki felt warmth throughout his whole body once again, finally having someone that related to and resonated with him. He clicked his tongue as he lit a small explosion in his hand, wanting to relocate the warmth he was feeling to his palm.
He saw in the corner of his eye Eijirou’s careful gaze trailing from his face slowly down to the fire in his hand. It was exhilarating to know the pair of eyes on him became important to him over the course of all of their meetings.
Katsuki clenched his hand, fire completely disappearing as the area around them dispersed into darkness once again, the moon and stars being the only light source. He sighed loudly.
“Guess we’re both fucking stuck to these lives forever.”
The air around them was quiet and comfortable, not a slither was unwelcomed. All that could be heard were the quiet sounds of breaths going in and out.
Eijirou suddenly sat up straight and began poking Katsuki relentlessly in the arm. Katsuki’s eyes widened in shock before he furrowed his eyebrows in slight annoyance.
“What, why are you fucking— Stop poking me!”
Eijirou retracted his hand with a small giggle.
“Katsuki. We don’t have to be stuck.” He breathes.
“What?” Katsuki scoffed.
“Let’s leave. Both of us. I can help you get out of here.” Eijirou grinned.
Katsuki’s breath caught in his throat. He held it before shaking his head in disbelief.
“Are you fucking insane? What do you mean?”
Eijirou cracked his knuckles and let his wings spread out wide. He wrapped one around Katsuki, pulling them close together. Katsuki’s body exploded.
“Dude. With some planning, I can totally become a dragon and just, fly us out of these prisons far, far away.”
For once in his life, Katsuki believed his ears weren’t working correctly. He stared at the red head in front of him in shock, eyes trailing over his face to the wing that was still wrapped around him.
“I don’t, fuck, I don’t know.” He gulped.
“I know it seems stupid, ridiculous to hear right now. But I promise you, it seems like in the long run this might seem the best for us. It would make our lives so much better. Oh! We could even become adventure buddies! Let’s travel the world together, Katsuki!”
The only sound that would be heard was the chirping, late night birds as Katsuki’s thoughts scrambled around in his brain. He tried to process what he was hearing, but couldn’t keep up with it. The one thing that could keep, was his gut, and Katsuki knew that his gut was always right.
The prince’s gaze shifted back over to the dragon hybrid. The eye contact broke the silence.
“Alright. Let’s fucking do this.”
“Yes! Dude, this is going—“
“Wait, let me fucking get you that heirloom.” Eijirou’s eyes bulged out his head. “What? Don’t give me that shit shocked look. I’m not a dumb idiot, why else would your family send you here?”
Eijirou’s face flushed a bright red, and Katsuki found himself to almost like the sight of it.
“That ruins the point, Katsuki. The whole reason I was doing that was for my parents, and getting it would be adhering to their wishes.” Eijirou groaned, his wing leaving Katsuki and closing both in on himself, wrapping himself tightly.
“Then, I’ll fucking take it myself, so we can break it together, getting rid of that shitty dumb ass rule that my whole family thinks it has.”
Eijirou looked up, a surprised expression on his face. His wings spread, leaving his form and relaxing as they lay gently behind him. He scooted closer to Katsuki, knees touching. Katsuki felt electricity flow through his body.
Eijirou sighed, a small smile gracing his face. Katsuki found himself smirking at the sight as Eijirou began laughing.
“Let’s do this then!”
———
The next day, Katsuki found that getting the heirloom as the prince wasn’t as hard as he thought.
He talked with his parents, who were thrilled at the fact that Katsuki was finally interested in the heirloom of their kingdom. It was easy.
He walked through the halls, easily past guards, and eventually came to the locked vault, which contained many of his family’s riches.
Smirking, Katsuki went inside, and, with a relaxed air, snagged the golden necklace with ease, leaving the vault with no trace left behind.
Reluctantly, Katsuki wrote a letter before packing to his parents. He knew deep in his mind that Eijirou would be slightly disappointed in him if he left without any form of goodbye.
He also knew that, deep down, he couldn’t leave without saying something, but he knew he couldn’t face them properly. Katsuki angrily folded the letter he wrote, and left it on his desk, glaring somehow fondly at it.
He packed some bags, making sure to pack the heirloom, and waited for Eijirou.
———
“What’s up, dude!”
Eijirou stumbled onto Katsuki’s balcony, hand clutching tightly around a dark brown bag. He grinned at the eagerness at which Katsuki stood up from the inside of his room.
“Took you long enough.” Katsuki grumbled, shrugging his bag across his shoulder as he made way to the dragon hybrid.
Eijirou laughed. “Sorry, sorry. I just had a lot on my mind.”
His mind went blank as he reminiscenced his restless night, tossing and turning as he was left alone with his thoughts. He was contemplating the trip. He knew, without a doubt, that he wanted to do this, but it was the idea in his head that he wasn’t being honest with Katsuki, who would be becoming his adventure partner for presumably life.
The quick glances when the other wasn’t looking, fingers brushing against each other when they both reached to turn the page at the same time, talking for countless of hours about stories of their lives with undivided attention, and especially the small touches that had slowly become more frequent that sent electricity tracing through his body.
Eijirou shook his head.
“Ah, well, where’s the highest point of the castle? I’m gonna need quite a bit of room to change into a dragon.” Eijirou flushed at his own thoughts, looking away from Katsuki. The prince narrowed his eyes at Eijirou before humming.
“C’mon, follow me.”
For the last time, Katsuki snuck them around the castle and eventually led them to one of the highest balconies in the castle, which was connected to the library.
The duo bumped their shoulders together lightly as they stared at the bright moon high in the sky. Katsuki exhaled steadily as he threw his bag to the ground and reached in. Eijirou cocked his head to the side in confusion.
“Hey, what are you—“
Eijirou was stunned into silence as he watched Katsuki pull out a golden necklace. He could feel the power flowing from it.
“Is that—“
“Yeah, it is. We’re breaking it.”
Eijirou’s eyes widened quickly. He began to reach out for something, he didn't know what, but Katsuki ultimately grabbed his hand reflexively.
“Whether that shit ass prophecy was real or not, it’s still going to get broken for your sake, because I want to.”
Eijirou felt his face flush a bright red again. He steadily nodded, eyes gazing to the hold Katsuki had on his hand, warmth raging through his arm.
“You can do it.” Eijirou whispered.
Eijirou felt a very small squeeze in his hand before the hold was released. Katsuki stole his gaze, nodding as he stepped forward, heirloom in hand.
Eijirou had to hold back his laughter as he watched malicious intent fuel the prince’s eyes as he smirked at the heirloom. Katsuki gripped the necklace tightly, before taking a deep breath.
A big, colorful explosion exploded in Katsuki’s hand. Pops could be heard as Katsuki threw it to the ground harshly, his right foot coming down quickly on the necklace to stomp on it.
Eijirou ended up caving in, running over and nudging Katsuki to jump on it himself. Katsuki snorted, trying to hide the smile on his face, but Eijirou noticed it, beaming as he took one final stomp on it, looking down at the small pieces that were created.
They both suddenly felt the air get calmer, almost as if a curse was broken.
Silence washed over them comfortably. Eijirou looked back up, connecting eyes with the one boy who couldn’t leave his head, catching him staring. Katsuki quickly looked away to the horizon from being caught. Eijirou felt some of his nerves go away at the sight, and hyped himself up internally as he took a couple steps toward Katsuki.
“I want to tell you something before we go.”
Katsuki remained silent, an encouragement to continue.
“I’ve been thinking, a lot. About me, you, us, my family, everything.” Eijirou inhaled. “I guess I just don’t want to feel like I’m lying to anyone.”
Eijirou’s wings enclosed around him. He hid the bottom half of his face in a scarf he was wearing, feeling a blush creep up his neck.
He dared to make eye contact with Katsuki. He found those dark, red eyes burning into his soul. Eijirou took a deep breath, inhaling while closing his eyes.
“I want you. To be by my side, forever.”
He exhaled.
Eijirou opened his eyes after a beat, seeing a blessed sight of a flush creeping up Katsuki’s neck. It motivated him to keep talking.
Or, he at least attempted to.
“I came to the conclusion that I wanted to tell you how I felt before—“
“Oh my god, shut up!”
Eijirou flinched before realizing Katsuki had both of his hands over his face, hiding it from the rest of the world. A grin blossomed across the dragon hybrid’s face. Katsuki was spluttering.
“You can’t just, say that, right before we leave, holy shit, I mean, me too, but what the fuck.”
Eijirou laughed, his ears ringing pink as he began shuffling closer to the prince. He placed his chilled hands on Katsuki’s wrists, slowly pulling them down to reveal Katsuki’s face. The boy had his eyes closed with a bright, pink blush on his cheeks. Eijirou chuckled at the sight.
“I’m... sorry I guess?” He snorted.
Katsuki opened his eyes angrily. He slipped out of Eijirou’s hold, bringing their hands flush together. He squeezed once before releasing, storming off, back to Eijirou.
“Let’s just get this shit over with, Red. We can talk and do more shit later.”
“You’re cute.”
“I swear—“
Eijirou hadn’t laughed this hard in a while. He moved to ruffle Katsuki’s hair before taking steps towards the roof, squatting as he looked over the edge, Katsuki following. He hummed, doing quick calculations in his head.
“Alright, I’m going to sound crazy, but you need to trust me.”
Eijirou watched Katsuki squint his eyes suspiciously.
“What the hell do you mean.”
Eijirou grinned, rising back to his two feet. He winked as he pointed down.
“After I jump, you jump after me. By the time I turn into a dragon, you’re right there to land on me!”
The silence between them felt like it ran forever. Katsuki blinked a couple times as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He cocked his head to the side, as if he was saying, are you serious? Eijirou nodded his head.
“Red, you sure this isn’t a death mission?”
Eijirou snorted. “Course I’m sure.”
Katsuki hummed, looking down at how far above the ground they were. He grabbed onto his and Eijirou’s bags. His eyes shifted back onto Eijirou, and he nodded.
“Let’s do this then.”
Eijirou beamed. He instinctively grabbed Katsuki’s hand, pressing a chaste kiss to the knuckles before jumping off the building, realizing he never even counted on the fall down, but of course he knew Katsuki would follow through anyway.
A bright, white flash, and, suddenly, a massive, destructive, red dragon was in the air, surely alerting many around them.
Eijirou felt something, as faint as a pinch on his back. He heard distant yelling, realizing it must be Katsuki on his back. The dragon smiled, flapping its wings as it took off in flight in a random direction, high in the sky.
“... bastard, Eijirou! You cant fucking do that! You’re so fucking lucky my reflexes are fucking godly!”
Despite the screaming, Eijirou could practically sense the smile on Katsuki’s face as he spoke and took in Eijirou’s true form. He could sense Katsuki take a look around him, looking down at the forests they passed, looking as small as an ant. It was breathtaking, and he knew it.
They were both ready for this start of a new era, a new life for the both of them.
And in that moment, and for forever, they were infinite.