Chapter Text
Hitoshi left in the early morning, when he thought no one would be awake to miss him. Eijiro pretended not to notice when the press of heat against his back faded into goosebumps and chills.
The sun rose with beams of purple and gold. Nearly as soon as it cusped the mountain, Izuku knelt beside Shoto from where he was sleeping on the floor and shook him awake. Once the consort was awake, Izuku untied him and led him out of the heat den and to his room. The alpha went without complaint, looking completely exhausted and stiff. Eijiro pitied him. He hadn’t been forced into marriage- in fact, he had nearly lost contact with all of his family over it. He was so head over heels in love with Katsuki and Izuku that it was an obvious choice. This alliance…
It wasn’t the first alliance marriage- Denki and Neito asleep on the bed beside him proved it. He wouldn’t give the two of them up for the world, but… While he had never gone through the hefty toll of marrying someone that he did not love, he had seen it so many times that it was quite frankly ridiculous. But they had eventually fallen in love. The King and the One for All of Yuuei just had that… enrapturing energy.
This was certainly the first time that he wasn’t sure if they would be capable of making someone fall in love with them.
He sighed. Katsuki was awake on the couch- he’d only slept on and off the whole night, Izuku curled up on his chest, though he wasn’t sure if the One for All was just dozing or pretending to sleep while waiting for something to go wrong. Eijiro frowned at him, his eyebrows furrowed, before glancing down at Neito beside him. He was curled up beside Denki, his face pressed into his neck.
“Spit it out, Kiri,” Katsuki mumbled, “don’t think I couldn’t feel you staring at me.”
Eijiro frowned, staring pointedly at his hands while he twisted his fingers.
“Neito’s not going to smell like you if you don’t bed him,” Eijiro said. Katsuki stiffened.
“That’s fine,” he dismissed. Eijiro’s head shot back to him, before he gulped.
“Kats, you just brought another alpha into the harem,” Eijiro tried, “the courts are already-”
“Screw the courts!” Katsuki yelled. Neito flinched in his sleep, and Katsuki repeated himself, much quieter, “Screw the courts. They don’t know anything.”
“They think you can’t perform your duties as king,” Eijiro said, “our rule is unstable. It’s not like King Toshinori-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Katsuki grit his teeth, “I don’t have enough of a call to the throne to even be able to call myself a Yagi, let alone go to a neighboring kingdom, burn it all down, and steal a young royal.”
Eijiro chewed on his lip.
“Besides, what does it matter,” Katsuki bitched, “Neito will be taking the miscarriage tea for the next month no matter if I bed him or not. Deku still has to be the first one to take. It’s a tradition. I can’t divorce him, and besides, Mei’s the next omega in the harem and I… I can’t do that to her.”
His words sounded strangely wobbly. To an outsider, one would wonder about the political implications about the divorce of the king and the One for All, and the subsequent power struggle that would follow. However, Eijiro was well aware of the truth: Katsuki loved Izuku more than he loved anything in the world, him included. Without him, he would waste away.
Eijiro frowned, staring at him for a long moment, before sighing.
“Izuku will be going into heat within the next two weeks,” Eijiro said, “you must bed him. There will be another scandal that you cannot afford if your first consort does not smell like you after his heat.”
“He won’t take,” Katsuki said, before curling up in a ball on the couch, “we’re cursed. It’s like the gods know and are punishing me.”
“Not for a lack of trying,” Eijiro said, frowning, tapping a finger against his lips in thought. Every alpha in the royal harem had tried to get Izuku to take, besides the newcomer, “You know how much Izuku wants a baby. He’s done so much in order to try for you- for us . Those weird induced dry heats, the drugs, the spells- all of it so that our family will have an heir.”
“I know,” Katsuki said.
They were silent for a long moment.
“I wasn’t fast enough.”
“Katsuki-”
“I wasn’t,” he said, “if I had been faster getting through the rubble and the fire, if I had found him sooner… maybe he wouldn’t have gotten so sick. Maybe he would be able to have the family that he dreams of having.”
Eijiro pressed his head into his hands. He hated when he got like this, “Katsuki, it’s not your fault.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that,” Eijiro replied, deadpan, “you were in a deadly attack, not even of age, trying to figure out where someone who had already passed out from smoke poison was. Kats… It’s ridiculous to think that was your fault.”
Katsuki didn’t say anything, and Eijiro knew that meant he was being stubborn and not believing him. He fought the urge to bang his head against the headboard, knowing it would do nothing but wake Neito up, which he didn’t want to get his dick ripped off for doing.
“I’m gonna go check on the prisoner,” Katsuki mumbled. Eijiro watched him leave, coiled and frowning, but unwilling to say a word more.
~
Shoto hadn’t gone back to sleep since the One for All woke him up at dawn. His new room was dark, meant to get the sun at dusk instead of dawn, rather large- though still half the size of his former room- with all necessary amenities and a new closet of clothing that looked to be a mix of Uian, Barbarian, and Tartarian, but set in the royal colors of Endeavor- red, gold, and white. He’d changed out of his clothing from the wedding, but hadn’t had the heart to dispose of it no matter its damage.
There was a knock on the door, and Shoto glanced over.
“Come in,” he said, thinking it was a servant, and regretting his words when the Barbarian King entered. He sighed, low, before curling himself more adequately over the desk.
“I’m surprised you weren’t at the door, heatstall,” Katsuki said, and Shoto growled, low in his throat, his lips pulling back to reveal his fangs. Katsuki bared his teeth in equal turn, and Shoto wasn’t surprised to see that his fangs were larger. He’d always had dainty teeth for an alpha.
“Not a heatstall,” Shoto grumbled, and Katsuki laughed.
“Really? Coulda pegged me for one,” Katsuki said, “Neito only really gets scared in heat. You’re lucky you didn’t do that to him normally, he’d have kicked your pansy ass.”
Shoto huffed, fighting the urge to glare at the other alpha by instead glaring at his twiddling thumbs.
“I mean if you think you’re stronger you can go right ahead,” Katsuki said, settling at the tea table.
“How many are there?” Shoto asked, before trying to remember what the announcer had said, “Thirteen?”
“You’re the thirteenth,” Katsuki said, “six omegas, two betas, and four alphas besides you.”
“That’s not a Uian tradition,” Shoto replied, and Katsuki hummed.
“It’s not,” he said, “but the only way to tame a dragon is to marry one.”
“And the others?” Shoto asked, and Katsuki grinned.
“Alliances,” Katsuki said, “just like I did with you.”
“How many children do you have?” Shoto asked, wondering how all of this information had escaped Endeavor’s eyes. They rarely interacted, sure, but certainly the ambassadors would have sent something back about this?
“None,” Katsuki said, and Shoto startled, his eyes wide.
“None?” he asked. He’d seen one of his omegas get mounted during heat, arguably he should have children. Were they all rendered infertile? How? What even was the point of doing so?
“Moving on,” Katsuki said, with graceless finality, “I only have two requests for you.”
“Yes?” Shoto asked, nervous now. Of course in some sort of buzzing margin of his head he’d realized that he was alone with a man who was apparently his husband, who hadn’t bitched him last night even though he theoretically should, but now it seemed more wild, more prominent.
“Maintain yourself: eat well and regularly, drink to your content, sleep as much as necessary. You have no work, no assignments. Your life is dedicated to one of hedonism now,” Katsuki said, “hedonism, and getting into the good graces of Deku.”
“Deku?” Shoto mumbled, “The One for All?”
“His next heat is in a couple of weeks. He is fairly regular every three months,” Katsuki said, “get an invitation to his bed, and I won’t be forced to look into less peaceful options for the end of King Enji’s reign.”
His red eyes were boarish, deadly, “And don’t think you can threaten him into anything. He’s a supernova. You’re not even a quarter of what he is capable of. If you hurt him, the Kingdom of Endeavor will be getting your head in a box.”
Shoto’s eyes widened, and he gulped, the collar harsh against his throat.
“Blessed be to the new consort,” Katsuki mumbled, and he was gone.