Chapter Text
The ride in the carriage is a bit bumpy from time to time and from the small windows you can see a bit of the woods they're riding through in a steady pace. It's a dark night, but the light from the lanterns inside and outside the carriage illuminate just fine.
Eijirou has never thought that he would be sitting in a carriage together with the royal Bakugou family. Well, a knight has joined them as well, whose piercing stare is hard to ignore since she is sitting right next to him. As if that wasn't enough pressure, with every small bump shaking the carriage a little, his knee would touch Prince Bakugou's knee, who is sitting on his left, pointedly looking out the window.
"Say, Kirishima," the king starts, pulling him out of his thoughts and breaking the awkward silence,"by no means do I want to offend you with this, but since Katsuki probably won't tell us, I was wondering why he choose you and how it happened. It's a curious case, really." He meets his son's frown and laughs, looking back to Eijirou,"To be honest, I was thinking he'd never choose anyone and we would have to give up."
Eijirou glances at the prince for a moment, not knowing what to say. But the prince stays quiet, not meeting his eyes. Eijirou decides to reply with what he has been thinking about for a while,"Well, our quirks are compatible... me with my Hardening and the prince with his explosions; I think we'd make a good team! That's probably it!" He finishes off with a smile.
"I see," the king smiles,"but that can't be all, right? I mean..." he trails off and looks at his son, his smile faltering a bit.
"But doesn't he tick you off? He's an asshole, you know," the queen speaks up, giving no chance to quiet. She seems pretty worked up about this. Well, okay, he is the first person Prince Bakugou chose but he hasn't expected it to be this much of a big deal. (Admittetly, it might not have been completely voluntarily on the prince's side.)
Eijirou tilts his head, genuinely confused,"Hm? Why would he? I mean sure he can be mean and loud, but that's just who he is. He isn't a bad person. Actually... he's really manly, don't you think? Though I don't know much about him..." He rubs his neck and laughs, looking down, when he feels the prince looking at him. With what kind of expression could he be looking at him? For some reason he can't bring himself to look up.
"That's a first!" Yaoyorozu blurts and slaps a hand on her mouth when she realises it,"I-I apologise. It's just... people usually think our prince is evil. Though it's not true, of course." Eijirou looks at her and sees her smile sadly to herself, completely different from her analysing stare from before.
The carriage rattles slightly.
"It doesn't matter what people think!" Eijirou grins in an attempt to cheer her up,"As long as he himself knows who he is, and you all know, too."
She looks up and her eyes light up,"I agree. Though he should probably try to clean up his attitude a bit before becoming king."
"Shut up, ponytail, I'll do whatever I fucking want!" the prince in question growls, making everyone laugh, before looking at his parents,"Instead of talking about useless crap, tell me why the fuck I'm not riding in my own carriage."
The laughter dies down, Eijirou is the last to stop because he doesn't know how the mood turned sour so quickly. To be fair, he is the only one who doesn't know what's going to come up now, so.
The queen frowns,"Take care of your damn attitude. I doubt you want to talk about it here, we didn't think there would be a guest riding with us. We can talk about when we're back in the castle, alone."
Eijirou looks worriedly between them, but decides to try and give them their privacy by looking down and trying to think of other things.
"He is my knight, isn't he? He can fucking hear it for all I care, just tell me already," he grits his teeth,"I got a gist, but with you two I can never be fucking sure."
So the prince actually accepted him? Ah wait, he wasn't supposed to listen!
"You two, calm yourselves at least in front of others," the king reminds gently, before continuing,"Alright then, since you seem to trust him enough, we shall talk about it here. Remember the Todorokis from the neighbouring lands?"
Eijirou perks up, still looking down though. Now he has to listen, but he shouldn't be too obvious about it. Not only would that be rude but it might seem suspicious.
"I knew it," the prince finally mutters, frowning and leaning back to create distance from his parents,"You want me to fucking marry their daughter, don't you?" Ahh, prince you almost had it.
"Close," the queen smiles, amused by her son's already obvious coming objection,"It's Todoroki Shouto, one of the sons, that we want you to marry. He is your age and has a powerful quirk, too. We will meet them soon, your attitude better be damn respectful."
Eijirou kind of pities the prince for a moment, because he can see behind that angry frown of his, he feels betrayed.
"It's not for sure, right? Both of us can decline, right?" Eijirou sees how the prince balls his fists in his lap,"You said you wouldn't do this kind of shit!"
The king crosses his arms, trying his best to tell his son gently,"That's possible, but without reasonable arguments it won't work. Katsuki, considering you have just now chosen a knight - and we thought you'd never - so we had to arrange a few things. You can't rule on your own when you're king, we already told you that, as much as you think you can do it all on your own. Respect our conditions."
"Think about the benefits, my prince," the knight speaks up in support,"their family is as well known, if not more, and as powerful as yours and your lands would double the size. The marriage would bring a huge part of Japan together."
The prince groans in frustration but doesn't say anything more. Of course, Eijirou thinks, he is a prince and he knows he has huge responsibilities he can't simply altogether ignore.
Besides that, for the whole silent ride back, Eijirou feels guilty. It's worse when he feels the prince's knee touch his.
When they arrive at the castle, though Eijirou can't see all of the castle's glory, he is awed by how magnificent it looks in the night and the limited light.
"You don't have anything with you?" the knight who was with him in the same carriage asks him, and he realises the royal family has gone already, the other few carriages emptying with workers and servants stepping out. Over the knight's shoulder, he spots Sero laughing with a pink woman in the cluster of people. He'd have to thank him later, kind of. He might not have gotten a better chance at getting to the prince, than the one Sero unknowingly provided him with.
The knight is still staring at him, expectant and serious. He shakes his head,"I, uh, left all my stuff back in the tournament area in the village. I kind of forgot, haha..."
"That's no laughing matter. But anyway, I shall show you where you can stay overnight," the knight guides him into the castle,"We knights get a place in the castle too, if we don't want to live outside of it. Since Prince Bakugou choose you himself, you should get a decent room to live in."
"Is there any way to see the prince again soon?" Eijirou questions,"I'd like to talk to him if possible."
The woman gives him a look borderline scrutinising,"I suppose you can find him tomorrow, it's too late now and he's probably tired. Usually he wakes up late and goes to the training field, if nothing else is planned. My name is Yaoyorozu by the way, I'm one of the three royal head knights. I forgot your name, sorry."
"Ah, it's alright. I'm Kirishima Eijirou. Thank you for telling me," Eijirou smiles, having to deflate her suspicion (he probably sounded a bit too eager to see the prince again),"He has chosen me, so I'd like to get to know him better and work on our battle dynamic, you know!"
Her gaze softens and she smiles, looking forward,"Oh, I see! I'm so happy for my prince. Please, serve him well in all loyalty!" Kirishima tries to give a good smile back, but Yaoyorozu doesn't seem to mind his wry expression as she is happy enough on her own about it all.
After a long walk down a couple corridors illuminated by lanterns, she finally opens a door,"This is where you will be staying. It's usually for the knights of visiting guests, but it should do. I'm sorry if it might seem too small; we don't have many visitors who stay overnight."
Small? To him, it's big and well decorated. If Eijirou didn't know better he'd think it's a room for royalty! But then again he is a simple man from a small village...
"If you need help or an escort, please ring one of the bells, which you can find next to the door. Other than that, I will send someone to pick you up for breakfast tomorrow. Good night, Kirishima Eijirou." Eijirou wishes her a good night too, still looking around the room and she leaves him alone.
He finds fresh clothes on a stool by a desk next to a large mirror; clothes to sleep in and clothes for the next day. Amazing how quick things work in a royal castle.
After preparing for a good rest, Kirishima throws himself into the bed. Soft and comfortable! He could get used to this, he thinks.
"It's been a long day..." he sighs and blows out the last candle on a nightstand. He wonders how his family and friends at home are doing and when Kaminari would contact him. He's lucky he is friends with a powerful mage who can contact him even now, though Kaminari gets stupid if he uses his powers for too much.
Before he can fall asleep, Prince Bakugou finds his thoughts.
He has known him for a day and has caused him so much trouble already, but at least he's getting somewhere. He feels guilt gnawing in his chest; guilt, for him to be the prince's first chosen knight.
(It's what he wanted, what he planned for, and yet...)
He falls asleep, wondering if the prince is okay. After all, it's been a long day for the both of them.