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He feels like a hero as he dives behind a jagged rock formation and adjusts the grip on his sword. Kuroo has always been destined for this—since he was just a boy and the rumors began to spread that the King and Queen were locking away the heir to the throne in a tower guarded by a dragon, claiming that someday the person who frees their previous Kenma will claim the crown alongside him.
Sure, Kuroo is a common man with no land or title, but he’s also monstrous with a blade in his hand and his mind is quick.
Furthermore, tales of Kenma’s beauty travel far and wide, and Kuroo is not immune to lust. Some say he’s like a feline, petite and soft with an edge, but some say he’s fierce like a wildcat with fangs and claws, raised by the dragon who guards him.
Either way, Kuroo wants to claim him and tame him, marry him and rule beside him to ensure the safety and comfort of his family.
That's how he’s wound up here, with a monster the size of a farmhouse trying to roast him like a piece of coal outside a tower. Kuroo is jumping and dodging wildly while streams of flame narrowly miss him and he only just avoids being taken out by the swing of a massive tail.
“I’m beginning to sense that you don’t like me very much!” He shouts at the livid creature, its eyes narrowing on him. “I promise my intentions are pure, I’m a nice guy I sw—” He falls to the ground as a claw swipes, almost taking his head with it.
Amidst all the chaos, the entryway to the tower has become open, but Kuroo worries that he won’t be able to outrun the creature. His mind works overtime, solving some kind of puzzle as he rolls under a pile of bricks and coal that seem to be the product of another failed battle.
“I think it’s in your best interest to retreat.” A pretty voice rings out from above and Kuroo spares a glance toward the source of the sound.
He’s perfect.
Pretty golden hair matches honey-colored eyes, so short that he’s quite literally hanging out the window to warn Kuroo, the most satisfying little grin on his pink, full lips. If Kuroo were a worse fighter, he’d have let himself be killed and allow Prince Kenma to be the last thing he saw, but now that he’s seen the angelic figure, he needs to have him for himself.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, My Prince!” Kuroo retorts, sprinting toward a better source of protection that will allow him a chance to look toward the window once more. He feels a pang in his chest, pride in his future when he sees such a perfect face looking back at him as if he’s watching a joust, so casual and entertaining. “Does my attempt at your rescue amuse you?”
“Yes, I think you’ll end up like him,” Kenma points to a pile of bones not too far from where Kuroo stood, ash and skull making him cringe and check his surroundings.
He feels the ground shake as the beast draws near, he stands at the ready with a shield in front of him and his sword drawn.
“Call your guard dog off and I’ll consider marrying you, My Angel.” Kuroo palms a chunk of stone and throws it at the menacing creature, missing it entirely.
Kenma’s laugh echoes, falling onto frustrated ears. Kenma has never had such consistent back and forth with any brave challengers, but he almost enjoys playing around with his dragon's food. “You may benefit from putting your full focus on survival instead of courting.”
Picking up another stone, Kuroo sucks in a breath and throws it, watching it bounce off red scales with no damage.
I need to find a weak point… and I need to look good doing it. He almost wishes he didn’t have an audience with Kenma while fighting for his life, but it’s only motivating him in the end.
“Why don’t you focus on packing your things, My love.” Kuroo searches for another stone, formulating a plan while passively wooing his future spouse.
Kenma can’t pretend he isn’t at least intrigued by the man. A head full of hair with no regard for gravity or its laws, a slender but toned and tall frame, muscled arms that looked far too comfortable wielding a weapon. Kenma wouldn’t mind being held in arms like those… “Come up here and make me! What are you, a blacksmith? Surely you don’t have a title.” The prince jeers, noting the raggedy clothes that the suitor dons.
Kuroo almost chokes on his spit, such a feisty young man with a face to match his wit. He runs around a pile of splintering wood, throwing one rock out to distract the creature, making its head turn just in time for him to pelt a chunk of rock right at its eye and blind it on one side.
“My title is your husband, the new king.” Kuroo celebrates his winning throw, pulling his sword to slay the beast, now that he has the advantage of a blindside.
“Stop!” A scream tears him from his focus and he looks up, but Kenma is gone from the window, nowhere to be seen. Kuroo wipes the sweat from his brow and retreats into a safe spot, out of the dragon's view as it growls and whines. “How dare you?!” The boy runs from the tower entrance and Kuroo is barely able to understand the situation before the small prince throws himself between the man and the dragon.
Kuroo would be much more puzzled if he wasn’t so mesmerized by the pretty little man and his intense glare. How can one be so golden? His hair, his eyes, and his perfect skin is pale but even so, it glows.
He forces himself to focus on the issue, raising his weapon in one hand and reaching for Kenma with the other, “Get behind me, I didn’t come all this way to watch you eaten in front of me.”
“She won’t hurt me, you animal!” Kenma shouts and turns to the whimpering creature who lowers its head and allows him to look closer.
It takes Kuroo a moment to understand what he’s seeing. Kenma tends to the dragon like a friend, like a pet and it hits Kuroo all at once that this boy is not trapped in a tower against his will.
“You’re joking.” The hero exclaims, “What are you two playing at?!”
Kenma ignores him at first, his focus is on clearing debris from his creature’s eye, but as soon as it seems clean enough, he turns his attention to Kuroo. “She’s protecting me.” He states it so factually, Kuroo almost feels inclined to apologize for even asking. “Do you know how many terrible men have come here?! How many power-hungry creeps have approached these tower doors planning to subject me to a life of misery?!”
Kuroo hasn’t quite considered such a thing. “So, you and the dragon are… friends?”
“Yes,” Kenma runs a pretty, petite hand along the auburn scales, “ten years we’ve been together and ten years she’s kept me safe.” He manages to clear out the debris, petting the dragon until it began to purr and nuzzle against him playfully.
Kuroo can’t help but recognize how lovely Kenma is up close—well worth the burns and scrapes. At the same time, he feels a twinge of annoyance at the situation. “Dearest Prince, I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but you’re implying that you could have called your pet off at any time and just let me up?”
Kenma furrows his brow and tightens his lips at the comment.
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“Because I’m charming, handsome, and respectful. I’ll make you happy and take you away from here.” The moment he finishes speaking Kenma begins to laugh, the dragon exhaling sharply as well, as if it is laughing along too. “Why are you laughing?”
Kenma sits himself down on the creature's large paw, “Because it’s humorous. You think that you are a good man.” His voice is so silky, even when it drips with disdain, Kuroo can imagine how pretty it would sound saying Good morning, My King, and all is well in his own mind.
“I most certainly am a fine man.” Kuroo insists.
“Oh?” The prince stands, much smaller than the suitor, but the way he carries himself is overwhelming in the best way. Kuroo is intimidated and it makes his heart flutter. “Tell me, honestly, If the rumors surrounding me didn’t claim that I am a fair young virgin and there was no reward or coronation involved in successfully completing this task, would you be here?” A straightforward question, one that Kuroo hasn’t considered. He has given little thought to his intentions, only knowing that the idea of being a king with a beautiful spouse sounded appealing. “If I were an old hag and had not a dime to spare, would you have come to save me?”
Kuroo opens his mouth to argue, but he can’t find the words he wishes to spit back at the smug young man.
“You’ve allowed your heroism to be overshadowed by selfishness. It’s a shame, too… you’re quite handsome and an excellent fighter. If your soul matched your face, I’d already be in your arms.” Kenma leaves Kuroo utterly speechless. He leaves Kuroo infatuated as he turns to kiss the side of his dragon’s face and reassure her that she was excellent in battle.
Kenma is perfect, Kuroo is convinced that he has already fallen for the boy who stands before him and calls his flaws as he sees them, fearing nothing. He needs that in a partner if he is to be king.
“You have found one of my many weaknesses and pulled at the threads to unravel me already, my prince.” Kuroo bows a little, opting for humility. “I’m afraid you’re right. I have an attraction to beautiful people and comfortable living, as I’ve never been able to claim either as my own.”
Kenma doesn’t intend to roll his eyes so hard, but the way his lashes flutter when he does makes Kuroo smile a little. He is so tough and opinionated, the future king is excited to see Kenma in the discourse during meetings, discussing laws and wars. Kuroo says these things within his mind as if they are sure. He will be king and Kenma will be by his side.
“Perhaps I should go save a poor village and then return?” He teases, flashing an unfairly perfect smile. “I could befriend an ugly old witch and she might gift me a concoction as a thank you, one to make you listen to me with an open heart while I confess that you, despite your stinging intensity, are the loveliest creature I have ever laid eyes on.” Riveting as he speaks, Kenma gazes at him with marked boredom.
“What is your name?”
“Tetsurou.”
“I see. I think you’re shallow. I believe that you let your pride guide you and it’ll make you a terrible king,” Kenma’s lips drop from a slight smile to something very dry and serious. “But I respect the terms of the arrangement. I understand that the initial rules required you to defeat my dragon and rescue me, but I would never forgive you if you harmed my creature, so I will offer a trade;” He sucks in a sharp breath, “You can be king and I will fulfill my duties as your spouse on the condition that my dragon stays alive and protects our kingdom, cared for and unharmed.”
Kuroo simply gazes down at the little prince and feels a warmth within his chest. Kenma is so pure of heart, willing to sacrifice his own comfort for a creature that seems so replaceable.
“I accept your terms,” Kuroo announces, chest puffing up with pride. “I will—”
“My dragon seems to believe you have a pure heart, despite your behavior today.” Kenma cuts him off, not too eager to hear what Kuroo has to say. “She is an excellent judge of character, she insists that you deserve a chance.” Kenma doesn’t seem to be thrilled to share such a revelation, but his dragon persistently grunts and noses at him to do so.
Kuroo finds this news thrilling, as the dragon seems to be the only being who has an opinion of value to the lovely Prince.
“I do!” He agrees and gives the creature a curt nod, “Your friend is right, I have no ill intentions. I wanted to rescue you and secure comfort for my people.” He pauses along the wooded path they have begun toward, he drops to one knee and adds with the most genuine tone he can manage, “I do not wish to force you into a loveless marriage.”
Saying the words makes Kuroo cringe at himself, he would be deeply hurt if he went through the trouble he had and there was no reward. He’d hate himself even more if he stole the joy from a beautiful young man by taking him as a queen against his will.
“Get off your knees.” Kenma rolls his eyes, “Do you want me, or are you here for the crown alone?” For such a small man, his tone can be very stern and intimidating, enough to make Kuroo shrink a little as he scrambles to his feet.
What a born ruler. He practically has cartoonish hearts in his eyes while he listens to Kenma with bated breath. “Prince, I have never once met a creature as lovely as you. I saw you up above me and I nearly let your dragon take my life right then because I knew that I’d never see anything so beautiful for the rest of my life.” He begins to run out of breath, tacking on a cheesy “I apologize, you take my breath away.”
It’s a marvel how stoic Kenma can keep his face, despite the jumping of his heart as the other confesses his deeply poetic feelings.
“What I mean to say is that I respect any decision you make regardless of my own feelings,” Kuroo takes in the small but powerful view once more, a little, perfect man and his beast, a package deal. “I only want to confess now that if I’m left to marry someone else, even someone who comes close to your beauty, I’ll spend the remainder of my life wishing that they had been you.”
A soft exhale comes from the Prince’s dragon and Kenma turns to see the expression of adoration on the creature’s face. He makes a thoughtful face and looks between the lovestruck man and the heart-warmed dragon.
“You two are teaming up against me.” He remarks, one hand on his hip, “You formed a silent coup.”
“No, Your Highness.” Kuroo hesitantly wanders over to the creature, praying that she won't bite his arm off as he makes a show of being very friendly to her. “You said yourself that she is an excellent judge of character. Besides, when I am king, if you choose to stay along with my new best friend here, I’ll have the most wonderful space built for her with room to run and food aplenty. I’ll keep your schedule cleared to spend as much time with her as you’d like. We can even eat with her, I’ll have a table for us built into her arena.” He makes promises of grandeur and he has every intention of making them happen.
The dragon nearly whimpers for Kenma and nods its head, tongue peeking out playfully.
“Why are you making a fuss when you know I’m going to marry him?” Kenma makes the most unamused face that Kuroo has ever seen toward his pet, although he himself is smiling bigger than he ever has in his life.
“You will?!” He goes to hug Kenma and then pauses, “May I—Could I… maybe…”
“I will not survive this marriage if you get weak and timid, be a man.” Kenma opens his arms with a bored expression, butterflies filling his little stomach and a slight blush on his cheeks.
He yelps a little, he’s expecting a hug, maybe a spin around, but Kuroo grabs his face on either side and pulls him close, looking into his eyes. “I will love you so deeply and completely that you never feel anything less than perfect for the rest of your life—and it will be a long, happy life.” He swears it with everything in him and presses his lips to Kenma’s, dropping hands to his waist and tugging him closer.
Kenma’s weaker in practice than in theory and his arms shoot up to wrap around his soon-to-be husband’s shoulders, fingers lacing around the back of his neck while he kisses back.
The only reason they manage to stop is the nosing of Kenma’s dragon, pushing between them as if to say ‘enough, that’s enough.’ Clear as day.
“I forgot myself,” Kenma says as an excuse, “It was… a sealing of the agreement… comparable to a handshake.”
Kuroo blushes and looks down, kicking his feet like a schoolboy. “Best handshake I ever had,” He hums, “Like to shake your hand a little more often.” and Kenma can hardly hide his own smile, tugging at the corner of his lips.
The dragon huffs and begins walking toward the kingdom, a spring in her step, never having seen Kenma so pleased.
“What if I got a dragon?” Kuroo gasps, his voice becoming faded as the softened beast leads the way and gives them space to flirt and shake hands as they please. She turns back and shakes her head with a sense of finality.
“She doesn’t like sharing.” Kenma conceals a smile, “except with you, apparently. My lucky king.”
And Kuroo thinks to himself that life couldn’t possibly get any better than that.