Chapter Text
Shoto was a well-known prince in the kingdoms, but apparently not well enough, ’cause the Esplosione (that’s explosion in Italian) kingdom didn’t notice him and his brother sneaking in as servants for the prince.
Why were two princes sneaking into a kingdom? Well, they were looking for their soulmates!
Everyone is born with a symbol or mark on their wrist, and their soulmate has a matching one. In order to get rid of it, you need to kiss your soulmate—then it will glow and disappear!
Pretty easy, right? Wrong! 43% of people don’t find their soulmates, and 35% are too afraid to talk to their soulmates—leaving a 22% chance of finding and talking to your soulmate. Which isn’t great, but not terrible, right?
⸻
“This is so stupid!! I really don’t care about this soulmate junk!” Touya crosses his arms.
“I agree. I’d rather have an arranged marriage. Going undercover in the enemy kingdom is a stupid idea. If we get caught, they will kill us,” Shoto says, staring at the road ahead. Their father insisted they walk to make them less suspicious.
“Uggghhh, I don’t wanna do this!!! There’s like a 1% chance I’ll find my stupid soulmate!!!!” Touya runs his hand through his hair, pulling it as he does.
“Calm down. It’s actually a 22% chance. And don’t pull your hair—it will damage it.” Shoto looks up and sees the castle. It was tall and not the nicest-looking, but it was a castle nonetheless.
“Right, but I don’t want to have to work for two brat princes!!!” Touya didn’t calm down, but he stopped pulling his hair, so Shoto left it.
“What are the princes’ names again?” Shoto never really mingled with other people, so he didn’t really know any names.
“There’s two, I think. They have never attended any of our events, so they don’t know us,” Touya said, staring at his soulmate mark. “Mine’s so ugly…”
“Why do you say that?” Shoto looked down at his.
“It looks like a little flame or something… it reminds me of Enji.” Touya pulls his sleeve down.
“I mean, mine looks normal, but…” Shoto stops himself. He runs his finger over the scars—small, thin, yet uneven.
“I know, Sho… it’s ok.” He put his arm around his brother as they approached the castle.
⸻
They walk inside and are immediately ushered to the training area.
“You must be Shoto and Touya. My name is Bethany. I’m the head worker here at the Esplosione castle. You came just in time—Prince Katsuki’s personal servant just quit…” Bethany looked frazzled, overworked, and she had dark eye bags.
“Ah, which of us is going to take their place?” Touya asks, smirking—probably happy he doesn’t have to be someone’s PA.
“Depends. How old are you both?” Bethany asks, rubbing her eyes.
“Shoto’s sixteen, and I’m twenty-three.” Touya was trying to hide his happiness knowing Shoto had to deal with the explosive prince.
“Oh, perfect! That means Prince Keigo can finally have a personal servant!” Bethany said, looking relieved.
“Wait, what?” Touya’s smirk was wiped off his face instantly.
“The older prince doesn’t have a personal servant. He’s, uh… quite picky,” Bethany said, laughing nervously.
“Oh, is that so?” Touya had a look that could kill.
Shoto stood there internally panicking about his job.
“Well, here’s your uniforms. The bunks are in the room on the left. I expect you here in 10 minutes.” Bethany smiles and hands them two pairs of uniforms.
The uniforms were made of a fancy white material that felt more like pyjamas than a uniform.
⸻
The two boys walk into the bunk room and saw two boys talking. One had yellow hair, which was being held back by a headband, and the other had messy purple hair.
“I mean, I’ll show you my mark if you show me yours,” the yellow-haired boy said, rolling his sleeve up.
“Sure, why the hell not,” the purple-haired boy said, shrugging and rolling his own sleeve up.
“Oh s-shoot, that’s the same as mine…” The yellow-haired boy’s face flushes, and he pulls himself up onto the top bunk. “Oh look at the time—the new people are here!”
Touya waves. “Hi, I’m Touya and this is my brother Shoto!”
Shoto waves.
“Wait, you’re the princes of the Flame Kingdom!!” the purple-haired boy says, looking shocked. “Why are you here?”
“To find our soulmates… it was our father’s orders. I don’t believe in this soulmate junk!” Touya says, chucking his uniform on a bed.
“Ah, well I’m Shinso, and the cutie up there is Denki,” Shinso says, smirking.
“Don’t call me that!!!” Denki chucked a pillow at Shinso, who caught it and put it on his own bed. “Thanks, I needed that back after you stole mine when you slept in my bed.”
“Ughhh, shut up!!!” Denki says, walking out of the room.
“So adorable… A-anyway, you’re both the princes’ personal servants, right?” Shinso asks.
Shoto nods, looking nervous.
“Hah! Good luck. Prince Katsuki is a nightmare to deal with. The last guy lasted 2 days,” Shinso laughs.
That did not ease poor Shoto’s mind… not at all!
“O-oh, is that so? W-well, I guess I should go get to work…” Shoto turns and walks out.
⸻
He makes his way up the stairs and over to the room with the beat-up-looking door and knocks on it softly.
“WHAT?!” he heard a loud, rough voice call out.
“Um, may I come in?” Shoto asks quietly.
“Ugh, fine!” the person says.
Shoto walks in slowly. The room looked… decent. There was a punching bag in one corner, some art supplies on a desk, and a stack of books not on the shelf… Shoto looked over to the bed where the prince was sitting.
“What, extra?! I’m busy!!” Katsuki says, looking annoyed.
“My name is Shoto. I’m your new assistant.” He bows—it felt weird bowing to someone who was the same ranking as him.
“Hah! Great, another one.” He laughs a mean laugh that makes Shoto feel even more nervous.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Shoto asks politely, trying to keep his voice steady.
“No! Just go sit in the corner ’til I need you!” he barks, which makes Shoto want to cry. He does as he was told and sits in the corner… on the floor… doing nothing.
He reminds me of my father. I hate it already. I feel like crying…
Shoto turns to face the wall, hoping the prince wouldn’t notice, and he let his tears fall silently. His face stayed the same—he had mastered the art of crying without people noticing.
“Oi! Servant! I want you to fix my bookshelf! And put my books in rainbow order!!” Katsuki shouts, which only makes Shoto more afraid, but he wipes his tears and gets up.
“Of course…” he makes his way to the bookshelf to do his job.
He sorted the books by colour, each colour by height, and it only took him 5 minutes!
“I’m finished… A-anything else I can do?” Shoto asks, his voice shaking a little.
Katsuki stares at his face. “Why were you crying?!” he demands.
“Crying? I wasn’t crying?!” Shoto said, trying to keep himself from bursting into tears right there and then.
“If you’re going to cry, at least wipe your eyes properly, dumbass,” he says with that same sharp tone that Enji used when he hit Shoto.
“I apologise. It won’t happen again, Your Highness,” Shoto says, staring at the floor, tensing up—waiting for a blow.
“Um, what are you doing?!” Katsuki said, sounding disgusted.
“It’s nothing. Again, I apologise!” Shoto was confused and panicked, but he kept his face and voice emotionless.
“Chill, it’s fine! Anyway, you can go now!” Katsuki says harshly, and Shoto nods and ran out that door.
I can’t do this. He’s too much like him…
⸻
Now let’s see how poor Touya’s doing.
Touya opens the door, not caring to knock. “Hey, I’m your personal assistant or something…” Touya stood there looking bored.
“Oh hi! I’m Keigo.” The prince smiled at Touya, and his heart instantly melted.
Oh no… why is he so… ugghhh!!! Dammit!
“Are you alright?” Keigo asks.
“Oh, I’m great,” Touya says, tapping into that subtly flirty voice.
“Oh, can I see your mark?” Keigo asks, sounding excited.
“Sure, I guess. But I don’t believe in that soulmate shit.” He makes his way over to the bed where Keigo was sitting.
“I think love is a thing you should find yourself.” Touya places his thumb under Keigo’s chin and lifts it up. “You shouldn’t let some mark control your heart.”
Keigo’s face flushes. “U-uh, yeah, well I… uh… agree. But I still wanna see your mark…”
“Fine. You’re lucky you’re pretty.” He rolls his sleeve up to reveal the flame-looking mark.
“Oh n-no way!” Keigo rolls up his sleeve to reveal his mark, which was the same.
Touya’s smirk disappeared. He jerked his hand away and got off the bed, backing away. “No… no, n-no. I don’t have a soulmate! You’re lying! You’re, uh… playing a dirty trick on me!” Touya started panicking.
“Hey! It’s ok!” Keigo rushes over.
“I don’t want this. He can’t win!!” He was gasping for air—then he stopped.
I can’t let him know. I need to calm down… remember Mom’s words… uhh… oh right: “My darling, my light… you need to breathe. Please don’t let him drown you.”
Touya calms down. “I’m fine now. I’m here to work. What do you need?” Touya asks coldly.
“Your hand in marriage?” Keigo says, sounding hopeful.
“Hah, no. Sorry, beautiful, but again—I don’t believe in this soulmate junk. And I’m trying to keep this professional…” Touya’s face flushes. He honestly did like Keigo, but he was too stupid to admit that.
“Yeah… sorry.” Keigo sits on the bed, looking for something.
Well, that was som—wait, is he pouting?! Holy shit. Get it together, Touya!!!
“Anyway, have you met my little brother? He’s quite explosive… We aren’t actually related. My parents died, and his were my godparents.” Keigo smiles, unbothered.
“Nope, I haven’t. But my little brother is his personal… whatever it’s called. And I’m pretty sure he’s already cried once.” Touya stood there looking worried.
“Hey, don’t worry, Touya. I’m sure he’s fine!” Keigo says, smiling at him reassuringly.
Ok, fuck not believing in soulmates—I want him bad!!
“I’m just worried about him…” Touya looks at the floor.
“And if Kats hurts him, I’ll just scold him!” Keigo says, sounding genuine.
“Thanks…” Touya smiles.
“No problem!” Keigo smiles back.
This is the life of my dreams!