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Fandom π•―π–Šπ–›π–Žπ–‘'π–˜ π•­π–†π–ˆπ–π–‡π–”π–“π–Š {Kiribaku FANTASY AU: DISCONTINUED}

Kirishima freely laughed at Katsuki's struggle to keep his neutral face, not really bothered if others saw him laughing or showing emotion. He couldn't not do that, especially if he was trying to have a good time. There was a time and place for everything, and being completely serious for him was not a time for a place like a banquet unless it came down to it, like a few moments ago. He reached over, gently knocking Katsuki's shoulder with a first. "What! I'm just tellin' ya the truth, I would!"

He grinned more only to turn to where he looked at. He glanced back to Katuski as he seemed to hide behind them giving a look between the prince and the group of children. "Them?! They're the gremlins?!" He gasped, a sudden excitement filling his eyes and tone of voice. Children! Ei let out a soft noise, shiting where he stood. It'd been forever since he had seen a group of kids!! He stared after them for a moment longer until saw movement from his peripheral as the flower girl walked over. He tilted his head curiously, furrowing his eyebrows as to what Katsuki was doing.

He was somewhat slow in handing over the crumpled rose as if he was confused as to what Katsuki was doing. He made a face as aAtsuki apologized, eyeing the new, fresh rose in his hand as Kats handed it to him. His heart pounded in his chest as he felt the heat rise to his face slightly. Nervousness suddenly crashed over him as he let his mind wander to what he had promised himself minutes before. He swallowed, pressing his lips together as his breathing shook a little. Okay. He's got this. He needed to prove a point, but it was also so much more than that. He ...genuinely wanted to hand this rose off. He had since Momo mentioned it. Before Shinso had even challenged him that he wouldn't be able to hand off the rose and get Katsuki to dance. He just...just needed to work past his nerves.

But what if he rejected it? OR ... or...laughed at him? Closing his eyes, he shook away the thought and inhaled deep enough that his stomach sucked in. When he exhaled, he gripped the flower a little tight and then slowly held it out back to Katsuki. His eyes opened slowly as the blush on his face darkened. "....Keep it." His voice caught in his throat, breath hitching. Why was this so much more nerve-wracking than he thought it to be?! It was just a flower and just a dance! A dance... a dance only...a dance that only close friends or significant others did. Oh gods, oh gods he was already regretting this before Katsuki even had a chance to respond, feeling it creep up along with heavy doubt. Eijiro swallowed thickly, averting his own gaze to the side, staring at the floor. That was a really nice floor. Had they polished it before the ball? Wonder what kind of stone that was...it was pretty.
 
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When Eijiro told Katsuki to keep the rose, he actually short-circuited. His face remained impassive, neutral as he blinked at it for longer than was necessary. And then the blinking got faster and his eyebrows slowly came together as he processed. "I. Uh." He was having a really hard time speaking. He stuttered over a couple of different vowels and consonants before he inhaled and slowly raised his hand. "I'm confused." He genuinely had blanked. Was Eijiro refusing the rose? Did he not want it, or...

And then it hit him like a runaway carriage. His whole body went stiff for a moment as he was finally beginning to truly process what Eijiro had meant. And looking at his face...his averted eyes, the red on his cheeks. Oh bother...

"Wait." Katsuki's mouth was not yet caught up to his brain. "Oh. Are you, wait are you asking me to dance?" His nose scrunched up, but only out of genuine confusion and his two braincells attempting to piece everything together. His hand hovered near the extended flower the entire time.

For someone as intelligent as Katsuki, certain things could often go over his head. Sure, he had noticed Kiri blushing and sure the rose had a specific meaning. But what his brain had helpfully settled on was a safe answer: Kiri didn't really know anyone else. He clung to that answer like a lifeline as he slowly took the rose from Eijiro and held it up to his face, like he might smell it.

His eyes had unfocused as he looked at the flower, but immediately snapped up as he realized there would be eyes on them, interested in this once in a lifetime display. The muttering had already begun moments ago.

But Katsuki wasn't the kind of person who cowered before gossip, so he scoffed and moved closer to Eijiro, a silent acceptance to his request. He took his rose and reached for one of Eijiro's hands. "Pay attention." He placed the wilted one between his teeth so he could use both hands to gently slide the (thankfully, dethorned) other into Ei's sleeve, so that just the petals peaked out to rest against the inside of his wrist. When he was done with that, he took his own flower and did the same to himself, just to his hand opposite of Ei. When he was done, he nodded and met Kirishima's eyes once again.

"So the way this works, and listen, 'cuz I'm not repeating myself, is we're supposed to make sure the roses stay intact throughout the dance. Since that is out the window for one of them, the rules only half apply. Symbolism about...compatibility? I don't fucking know, I don't make the rules." He'd somewhat hissed out the words, nervousness making him seem irritable. He took Kirishima's hand in his and started to walk.

Once he'd lead them far enough into the ring of dancing, he turned back to Kirishima with a thoughtful look that quickly turned angry in that way it did when he was feeling slightly embarrassed. "...The person who asks gets to lead. I hope you're capable of following a group dance, because I am only doing this once." In all honesty? He didn't know why he was even entertaining the idea. It was just...the people who always asked him...they weren't Kirishima. They were always so horrible. And Kiri...well, was he supposed to say no?! He knew there was going to be a shitstorm because of this, but he pushed those thoughts away for tomorrow's Katsuki to deal with.
 
Shit shit shit shit! The longer Katsuki took to either react or take it, the more Eijiro was starting to regret his decision. His hand faltered a little, about to withdraw it and apologize, that he didn't really mean it. That he was just playing around and save them both the awkwardness that was guaranteed to come. It didn't help that he felt hundreds of eyes staring them, the back of his neck flaming up with heat as he realized they had an audience. Fuck.

He swallowed as Kats admitted to being confused. Now his hand really started to move until Katsuki mumbled 'wait.' His whole arm froze and he slowly shifted his eyes back to stare at Katsuki quietly. Swallowing, he numbly nodded his head a tiny bit. While that was true that he didn't know anyone here and didn't really want to get to know many people around here, he genuinely did want to... well... dance with Kats. Sure he wasn't the best dancer, but he could try.

He practically stopped breathing as Kats took the flower, held it to his face, and then moved closer to him. He gulped silently eyes wide in slight surprise that he had accepted. Unless,well.. unless he was just accepting because of the rules they had set before hand. 'Always accept what you're offered.' That was a bit disappointing if that was the case, but it was better than being rejected infront of everyone he concluded.

He pursed his lips together, watching as the rose was pushed down into his sleeve, and then watched as Katsuki did the same with the wilted rose. His head tilted curiously at this, having never doen or seen this before. It was all so new to him. He hoped and prayed the dance wasnt anything too complex, and maybe something universally known.

Ei locked eyes with the prince as he ordered for his attention. He gave it without question, digesting every word. Oh! Well yeah okay that made sense. A glance between both Rose's, Ei nodded in understanding, eyeing their sleeves. That was interesting and actually very thought out.

Katsuki's hand in his own was warm, and he allowed the prince to drag him to the floor, following behind closely. The blush still remained as dark as ever, unable to shake it off with the more the progressed with this idea. Hopefully he made the right choice here. ..

To everyone else, Katsuki probably did look angry and irritated, but Kiri knew better. Especially after their talks these past hours they had prior to this ball. He didnt take it personally, and esther gave a small encouraging smile to him. Even though the only one that needed encouraging here was probably himself.

Oh shit. He had to lead? Great. Okay. Well..

"Right...I'm uhm... I'm a bit rusty...in dancing... " he mumbled. A bit was an understatement. He hadnt danced in years. "So I'll try my best..." he mumbled, looking down sheepishly and embarrassed. "I'll try. Hopefully I already know whatever dance it is...dancing was a big thing in my village.' He admitted, glancing around the others around them as he nervously inhaled. Okay. Only once. So he couldn't fuck this up. Hed hate himself for the rest of the night if he did.

Calming his nerves, Eiji nodded. "Okay...alright...I'm ready I think."

He glanced to the band, waiting for the song to wrap up as they stood there. He cleared his throat a tiny bit, copying the posture of one of the others around them, moving his other hand hesitsntly to rest on Katsukis side, doing it slowly so the blond had time to object about his hand placement.

More people joined them on the floor, but kept a good distance away as the band slowly filled the room with their music.
Ei took a moment to watch the others trying to follow their movements with his eyes as he slowly started to follow along with small steps. He was a bit clumsy in the beginning, trying to learn as quickly as possible while trying to actually make it looks as nice. He tried leading Katsuki on. Hesitating with his movements at the moment. It was a lot more difficult than he remembered!
 
Katsuki waited patiently for Eijiro to figure himself out and didn't object to the hand on his side. He was used to not leading when it came to Momo, since she was always the one who asked. But with the children, well, they could only do so much while they were stepping on his feet.

He willed his expression to relax, to fall into his thoughtful frown as he watched Kirishima struggle a bit to watch the other dancers around them as a new song started. It was...cute. He couldn't help but think that. The Knight seemed so determined right now.

And then Kiri finally led him into a dance. He seemed to he having some trouble, but Katsuki was honestly impressed that he was catching on as quickly as he was. Though a nervous expression still clouded the Knight's face and he instinctively allowed himself to move closer, lifting his arms.

"Don't freak." He whispered, moving his arms slowly as he rested them on Eijiro's shoulders. "If I touch your neck, I'm sorry." His words were barely louder than their breathing, their faces too close to really talk at a normal volume.

"You're doing fine." He eventually offered, trying to maintain eye contact with Eijiro. His face was completely calm, save for a dusting of pink along his cheekbone and a somewhat nervous glint to his eyes. They stayed like that for a while, the dance getting smoother as they went, until Katsuki's braincells clicked and he got a wonderful idea.

The music had grown louder, so he leaned in to speak against Eijiro's ear, "Ya know. Maybe you'd prefer a different kind of dance. Something from your home, maybe? It's your banquet, Ei, you can do whatever you want." He glanced around the room, mouth still hovering near Eijiro's ear. Yeah, almost everyone was watching them. Momo was watching with a scheming look, Shinso kinda looked like he shit his pants, his mother had that perfectly neutral expression that spelled danger underneathe, and Aizawa had raised eyebrows like he actually couldn't believe what he was seeing. Right. Yeah, he was starting to remember that he didn't dance. But he couldn't back down now. Those eyes all said challenge. They were challenging him. And he couldn't say no.

So instead he completely ignored every stare and every whisper. This was Eijiro's banquet, like he'd said. The guy could have a dance if he wanted.
 
He was doing pretty well as Bakgo had pointed out, aside from the occasional missteps or extra steps he would take to try and get back into the flow of it. He was surprised himself he caught on quickly. He could be a fast learner in things that interested him, or if he set his mind to it, but he wouldn't have expected this. But now that he thought about it, dancing was just like battle maneuvers. So it made sense.

After managing to get what he could down, he let his eyes focus in on Bakugo as the other moved in closer. He swallowed as he felt his arms move up to his shoulders, but kept his body relaxed as they danced across the dance floor. He nods, quietly whispering back. "It's fine, I'm not gonna kill you or anything,..." He chuckled quietly amongst them, unable to help it as he teased. His neck was protected by the stiff collar of his jacket, so he wasn't too freaked over it if he was freaked out at all. Instead, he focused on how close they were, body and face wise. If he really wanted to, he could kiss Katsuki from here. His eyes went a little wide to his own thoughts, and he was quick to shove that idea back. There was no way he'd do that in front of hundreds of people, let alone the queen. He kept his gaze locked with Katsuki's, cheeks dusting some more to him encouraging him on his ability. The pink dusting Katsuki's face complemented his complexion and eyes. It was astonishingly beautiful...

Ei suppressed a shiver from feeling Katsuki's breath against his ear, his body twitching a little. He gasped and turned his head a little, though he could only stare at the blond spikes on the back of Kat's head. "I...I dunno, 'Tsuki,,, I'm... I'm not sure the band will know any songs..." he paused, hesitating on his next statement. "I'm not exactly from these parts....let alone this continent... " He swallowed, feeling a bit sick to his stomach at his own words. He had gotten over homesickness within the first year of being away from home., but that didn't mean he didn't have his moments. But he surely wasn't going to give a name or dwell into it. It'd be too much information. KAtsuki would figure him out quickly."I mean, I guess I could try? ... Hopefully it doesn't end in embarrassment though." he bit his lip a little at the thought, side-eyeing everyone as they danced, seeing all the people watching them with such awe and astonishment. He took one look at the queen and gave out a tiny nervous laugh, "Okay okay yeah, uh Your mom looks like she's contemplating my head right now." He whispered, averting his gaze from her direction. The breath of the other hitting his ear was really making it hard to think straight or think at all. His ears burned, matching the pink that dusted his sun-kissed skin. "Are you sure..I mean, as in doing what I want? I dunno.. I wasn't really filled in on customs or anything until you told me a few. . . " His voice was just as hushed as Kats as he too spoke into his ear to let himself be heard over the music.
 
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Katsuki huffed a laugh, leaning forward as he did and his nose brushing slightly against the spot below Kirishima's ear on accident. He quickly pulled away though and distanced himself just enough to look into the Knight's eyes, mouth in a neutral line but eyes singing mischief. "The Queen won't do jack shit because last night was the first night in about a month that I haven't snuck out, so I think she's just sitting there trying to figure out how that happened. Let her think." He shrugged, brushing his mother's stare off easily, even as it still twisted something inside of him. He had accepted a rose. He never accepted a rose. He could just imagine the private conversation they were going to have later...

But instead of dwelling on that, he snorted at Kirishima's question, leaning in close to whisper again, still holding eye contact. He honestly didn't even realize what it was doing to Kiri, too caught up in his own head, in the people around them, in his mother. He smirked, "The Queen would be considered ungracious not to tend to the guest of honor's whims, should he have any. Basically, do what you want, within reason. The musicians are good; they can learn a quick tune. If they can't, who cares. I can't imagine this is very fun for you. It's torture for me and I was raised on these dances. Besides," He tilted his chin up, lacing his fingers together behind Kiri's head and making an almost challenging expression, "If I'm letting you lead, you best make it interesting for me."
 
His neck, more specifically his scent gland, burned where Katsuki's nose brushed, a small trail of tingles going down his neck and where his nose had touched. He clamped his mouth shut, suppressing a shudder, but barely. He did shudder a tiny bit, but not as much as his body would have originally. Fuck, he forgot how sensitive those glands really were. Now his face really was red as he tried to push away the thoughts clouding his mind, the thoughts of wishing Katsuki would remain there and continue brushing his gland, and just letting him melt in his grasp. If he wasn't so aware of everyone watching and worried how Kats might react, he might've laid his head down on Kat's shoulder and just let him continue.

He was silently relieved--and also silently disappointed--when Kat's moved away, not too sure what would've happened had the prince remained there and was still breathing against his gland and brushing it with every shake of laughter. He swallowed, staring into the mischievous eyes of the prince, unable to help the corners of his mouth from quirking upwards. "Hey what can I say, I'm good at my job."Kiri's own eyes glinted with mischief and with a tint of playful dancing across them.

At this point, Kiri wasn't even focusing on the roses that remained up their sleeves. He was too caught up right now at this very moment to worry about them or their meanings behind them. To everyone else in the room, he had just confessed an interest in the prince. In front of hundreds of people. He could see why that would be such a big deal to everyone..especially if it was true that Katsuki accepted the rose when no one else could get him to accept besides the children and Momo. He was seriously wondering why he had accepted his rose though. He scratched his earlier idea of Katsuki accepting it just because it was offered because he had rejected it earlier from the flower girl.
So why was he different? A small bit of hope was blooming in his chest, and Ei couldn't shake it away. Not this time.

Maybe it was hope that he truly was getting closer to Katsuki and as genuinely becoming a friend.

He kept eye contact, listening to his breathless whisper against his sensitive ear. His breathing, he forced not to hitch by inhaling a little deeper. Katsuki had made a good point about it being boring. This song was pretty damn slow, even for him. He was used to upbeat things. He nodded slowly, taking it into just consideration at first. But once Katsuki locked him into a hold with his hands locked behind his head, and gave him that challenging look, declaring he 'make it interesting', Kiri knew he had no choice. He never backed down from a challenge. A smirk sprawled across his lips, showing off his sharp teeth as he returned the challenging stare. "As you wish, your royal highness" came the snarky and playful agreement, his hand on Katsuki's hip tightening a little.

As the music went on, so did their feet as Kiri led them on, waiting for the music to reach its end. It went on for a little bit of a minute longer, and then it promptly came to a halt with a small crescendo. Once it was over with, Kiri untangled their hands and arms, stepping away from Katsuki to go talk to the conductor of the band before he had a chance to start the next song. He spoke with the conductor quietly, whispering into his ear. The conductor seemed to be very pensive, and slowly nodding his head before he straightened, and nodded again. Kiri gave a grin, thanking him before he glanced around. He then grabbed the conductor's arm again and pulled him back down to ask him something again. The conductor's eyes widened and he glanced around. He beckoned to someone from the side, someone who notoriously sang at the banquets usually.

She walked over, looking a bit excited but questioning. Kiri introduced himself before asking her something. She seemed to pipe up, nodding vigorously, looking a bit shocked at a request. She scuttered around to the front of the band, as they seemed to perplexingly flip through some papers on their stands. They murmured for a moment before the conductor had someone rush out of the room really quick, and coming back in with a stack of papers in hand. They were passed around, instruments were messed with, and the girl was briefly looking over her own piece she was given. Kiri idly stood by, waiting for the approval from the conductor. He kept his hands behind his back while waiting patiently, eyes going around the room as people started to talk from the lack of music filling the hall. It made him a little nervous, wondering just what they were saying about it and why they kept glancing over as if he had just ruined the mood.

He finally got the 'go-ahead' from the conductor who settled his band down with a few taps of his baton. Kiri thanked him quietly and came back over to Katsuki, standing a little ways from him with his arms placed in the small of his back. "Just...follow my lead. It's not too hard to catch on with this." He voiced to him in a hushed voice, loud enough for him to hear as the conductor raised his baton. Kiri settled his nerves with an inhale as the music softly started up. He could see the people around them stop mumbling, silencing themselves as they now stared at the two in bafflement.

As the music started, Kiri made his way over Kats in small but timely steps that made him bouncingly sway side to side with each step. He reached out to rest on Katsuki's side, up towards under his arm. He was quick to guide Katsuki'sopposite arm to allow it to rest on the back of his neck on the collar of his jacket at the same time. He placed that arm back behind his back again as they turned in time with the lively and soft beat. And then, he took the freehand of Kat's with the one that had been resting on the other's side, lifting their arms above KAt's head and pulling them away from each other. Only for them to pull back together, depart, whimsically turn, and then step their way back to each other. He held Kat's hand in his while placing Kat's other hand on top of his own arm that was once again holding his side as they did a small waltz, that only turned into another slow twirl for Kats.

They remained connected with one hand for the next bit of the dance that was full of multiple twirls, or rather spins, on Kat's end.

As the girl from earlier began to sing the lyrics of the song, they came back together in the formal waltz positions, dancing across the floor. Some spins were thrown throughout the dance, as well as moments where they would turn without touching, only to come back together. The lyrics she spoke were of a different origin, another language that was native to Kiri's homelands. It sounded French almost with its own dialect spin to it.

"L'Γ’me en peine
Il vit mais parle Γ  peine"

At one point, Their arms crossed with one of Kiri's arms behind Kats, connected by one of Kat's hands while their other hands remained clasped together close to the front of their bodies. There, he very slightly dipped Kats, only to bring him back up and turn him. He kept his eyes trained on Katsuki, his own dancing actually fairly smooth and actually very articulated and timed this session. Like he had practiced it a hundred times or more. Like the movements were engraved into his bones. His eyes concentrated on Katsuki, helping him through the movements when it was needed.
 
When Kiri had looked at him like that, like Katsuki was either gonna regret challenging him or be really glad he did, well. Katsuki would be lying if he said his stomach didn't do a weird flip and the spot where Kirishima's hand had tightened burned. They went through the rest of their boring dance with Katsuki unable to make further eye contact and his face having trouble forming an expression that wasn't his 'slightly surprised and mad about it' one.

When the song ended and Kiri disentangled their bodies, going to speak to the conductor, he couldn't help but just stare after him before realizing what he was doing and feeling like an idiot. He had literally asked for this, he couldn't be getting cold feet about it now! When his eyes snapped back into focus on everything else that wasn't Kiri, he shuttered his expression again and sneered at everyone in the room. Most of them ignored his look, but some shyed away and pretended they weren't still waiting in anticipation for what was going to happen next.

And the Queen...He brought his gaze over to her, his face hard and his chin lifted in defiance. She stared right back. He sniffed. She grinned at him. He let his gaze snap away from her. Oh, she was gonna give him so much shit. He didn't even know where to begin with what he was going to say to her.

He didn't look at anyone else as the band prepared for whatever Kiri had asked of them. He simply pretended like he was above it all, chin lifted, posture stiff, hands locked behind him. A few people had actually attempted to steal him for a dance of their own and he had slowly looked at them, nose turned up and expression anything but welcoming. He hadn't even had to to turn them down before they were apologizing and backing away. This made Mitsuki's grin grow to a manic degree. It also made Shinso shit his pants a little more. But not that Bakugo would know those things, because no one else was existing to him right now. No one but himself, standing and waiting. And no one but Kiri, across the room.

When Kiri approached him again, told him to just follow his lead and it wasn't that hard, he thought alright. That's fine. But when they actually started to dance? He honestly did have a hard time at first, his hands stuttering as Kiri began to lead him into the steps. He kept glancing around, eyebrows furrowing as his gaze went from feet to hands to feet to- fuck. His expression started to turn embarrassed and frustrated, that pink still dusting his cheeks as he pursed his lips, eyes attempting to track every movement, body attempting to predict the next one.

At the dip, Katsuki's breath hitched a little and he tried to cover it up with an annoyed hiss, but knew he'd failed. After that, Kiri stayed behind him for a few steps, arm against his back. His face was growing more flustered by the second, even as he scolded himself for it because again! He had asked for it! He really had no right to scowl!

With every twirl that Kats got sent into, his face got even more constipated as he tried to settle the roller coaster of his insides. Momo never fucking twirled him! And then he was being dipped again, dipped and...and spun, oh lord. He instinctively reached up to grasp Kirishima's arms, feeling like he was going to fall for the hundredth time that night. His expression turned from slightly angry to fully flustered as he looked up at Kiri through his lashes. His breathing was getting slightly quicker and his pulse was not doing him any favors. But was it interesting? Well...

The next steps were easier as he actually started to catch on a bit, and once they had stopped twirling and putting Katsuki at a horizontal angle, he finally huffed out a, "Glad to know my Knight can dance." His words came out like gravel, his voice having a hard time making an appearance. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes slightly, "This is the most dancing I've done in..." He snorted and smiled in a way that said he was actually enjoying himself and he didn't know how to feel about it. "Don't get used to it."
 
Kiri's eyes never left Katuski. Even as he was turned away or spun or twirled. Everything else around them seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of them. Alone. In the room. Nothing else mattered right now except moving around with Katsuki in the traditional courting dance of his people.

Yes, that's exactly what this was. This song is what newly courting couples would dance to to announce to the public that they were courting one another and that the search for a mate was possibly over. But Kiri figured no one around here knew what this meant, considering their cultures were two of a kind. It was kind of a shame honestly, the humans could learn a lot and vice-versa.

Ruby red locked with crimson red as Katsuki stared at him through his blond lashes and half-lidded eyes. The flustered look completed with a blush made Kiri's own pulse speed up and his heart thrum in joy. His breath caught in his throat at the sight as he brought Katsuki back up to him from the spin as they grew close again. He couldn't help the small smile from Kat's grasping at his arms like he was going to drop him. There was no dropping Kats, not with how firm of a hold he had on him.

They waltzed, bouncing from side to side as they swayed with their upper bodies. He inhaled, Katsuki's warm scent embracing him, and strangely enough, it was like inhaling burnt caramel. It was addicting. The smell of the other alpha was starting to fade the longer Katsuki stayed near him. His own sweet scent seeped softly, filling the air around them as it mingled with Katsuki's.

He smiled more, his face soft like he wasn't even having to think about where his feet or hands were moving. "I like to think of it as a battle maneuver," he whispered his secret, his voice soft with his words. The low gravelly voice Katsuki gave struck him in the heart. It was honestly hot. He couldn't believe he was really thinking these things right now, finally admitting that he was falling for the prince, and at such a time too. It just all seemed to click. The words that Shinso uttered earlier melted away from his mind completely, completely forgotten about at this moment. Not to mention hearing Kats call him his knight? It made it sound like he was.... was his knight in shining armor! Like from the stories, the love stories of a princess awaiting her one true love! And honestly? He could get used to hearing that. He'd love that. A breathy chuckle came from Kiri before he mumbled back "Guess I should make it worthwhile then, hm?"

At that, he separated them, lifting their arms over Kat's head again as they had done in the beginning, pulling him away from him and then back again with one of their hands keeping them connected. The roses stayed touching. And then they passed hands as they switched sides. They did this a few times with Kiri rounding him from behind each time. And then the last time, he grabbed Kat's hand, encircling with his arms as Kat's body shifted into the crevice of his forearm. Both sets of hands stayed locked together, one in front and one behind. Kiri spun a little before they switched sides and repeated. Then Kiri rounded behind him, lifting both arms crossed above their heads. Then he gently turned him around, their hands falling away from one another.

Another waltzing set is what came up next as they smoothly danced across the cleared dance floor. Everyone else had given up on trying to keep up and simply watched in awe as they took over the floor. They both spun, Kiri one way and Kats the other as they remained connected yet again, released each other's hands, and repeated after waltzing for two steps. They did this one more time and completed that set with another moving waltz. He released one of Kats' hands, twirling him away and twirling him back quickly, holding Kats in the crevice of his arm. Capturing both hands again, Kiri leaned all his body weight to one side, dipping them both to one side. They straightened up, and he twirled him away again. It was like he was in a trance, unable to look away. They only mattered.

They repeated the whole spinning around each other and exchanging sides as their hands stayed together before waltzing into the next step. But then, right as they were to repeat that same step, without warning, Kirishima suddenly lifted Kats as he twirled back into his arms. lifting one of Kat's arms to wrap around his shoulders, he held his own arm across his back and the other hiking one of Kat's leg up, spinning them both while the music rose, peaking. Kat's practically weighed nothing at this moment as Kiri stared at him through half-lidded eyes, getting mesmerized by staring at him. He couldn't help but allow his smile to widen, his heart thumping ecstatically in his chest. His dragon purred in contentment, approving of the dance at last. Kats was simply stunning, and he was moving so well with the dance.

He gracefully set him down simply by moving his arm away, allowing Katsuki back onto his feet. And then after doing a semi-waltz sway, Kiri dipped him down low with one hand, brought him up, waltzed one last step, and then they both twirled away from one another, hand in hand, bowing. The music softly ended, and then as silence filled the room. Kirishima rose up finally, and the first thing he did was glance in Kat's direction.

Everyone was in awe, sitting silently as if waiting for more, before a series of claps and hollering came from the crowd, cheering at their surprising performance. A bubble of pride and joy Filled his chest to accompany his fluttering heart as he admired Katsuki with soft eyes, too caught up in the moment to realize.
 
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As the dance continued, Katsuki could feel his stomach filling with a gross amount of butterflies. When Kiri spoke to him, they grew in number. When Kiri lifted him? He was so surprised that he made a horribly unmanly sound (a high pitched gasp) and tried to cover it up with another hiss of discontentment. He felt like he was going to fall again, at least at first. And then he let his eyes catch Kirishima's, take in the way his Knight was looking at him. What the fuck was that look on his face? Why did it make the butterflies threaten to crawl up his throat, wanting to escape? Kiri was smiling at him, his expression something that Katsuki didn't wanna have to acknowledge and it was the worst (the best). Because people...people didn't look at Katsuki that way. Especially not people who barely knew him. And never people who did. He wouldn't allow it. But his control over those kinds of things seemed limited when it came to Eijiro, he was beginning to learn.

Katsuki could barely find it in himself to continue the dance once he was set down. Did he weigh nothing to Kiri? And when he was almost immediately dipped again, he clutched at Kirishima's arm again despite knowing he wasn't going to be dropped. He felt so foolish. When the dance was finally brought to a close and Kiri bowed, he hesitated before cursing and following suit, lifting his head again and trying to control his breathing, his eyes deadset on Eijiro. He didn't hear the clapping, he didn't hear anything. He didn't even hear the loud and annoyed groan from Shinso as the dragon stormed away, having moved closer to watch. He just looked at Kiri, making perfect and unbroken eye contact. And for once in a long time, he forgot to put the mask on his face and his eyes screamed that he was searching for something. His eyes said 'what was that?' and also 'who are you?', but mostly they were yelling 'why are you making me feel this?'. If someone were to ask Bakugo what the 'this' was supposed to be, however, he wouldn't be able to answer.

So he swallowed on a dry throat, chest slightly heaving from the dance and he kept that searching expression. And then he opened his mouth and moved forward like he was going to ask something, but he ended up stumbling back as something attached to his leg.

Eri was looking up at him with bright eyes, hugging his leg tightly, "KAT, THAT WAS SO COOOL!" She blinked up at him and then turned her attention to Kiri briefly before shying away with a blush and once again speaking to Bakugo. "Do you think you could do that one with meeee?"

Katsuki had to take a moment before he could actually respond to her, but he eventually came back to himself and huffed, leaning down to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, Eri, I don't know that one. You'll have to ask Kirishima."

Eri looked back up at Kiri, blanched and then turned back to whisper to Bakugo, tugging on his pant leg, "But he's so big, do you think he's mean?"

"Eri, don't be fucking rude." Bakugo hissed at her and put a hand in her hair, ruffling it and pushing her off of him. He turned her towards Kiri and gave her a small push. "You know damn well I'm the mean one. Ask him."

As she was walking up to him and finding the courage to ask, about five other kids swarmed over and started tripping over themselves to talk to Kirishima.

"I wanna fly like Prince Bakugo!"

"Wait, wait, I wanna twirl. Can you twirl me?"

"No, twirl me first!"

Eri blew up her cheeks and pouted, "I was here first, guys!"
 
Kiri couldn't keep back the brief chuckle he had released upon hearing Kat gasp at the lift. It was adorable and he could see right through his hiss. There was no covering that up, not when Ei's dragon was paying so close attention and knowing that Kat expressed the opposite of what he was truly feeling. He was learning to see through it all, and once again not take it to heart. He was simply struggling in expressing himself. And hopefully, Ei could maybe fix that one day.

Their locked eyes carried a heavy tension between them, but it wasn't a bad tension. Just one of realization and raw emotion. Ei drowned everything else around him to focus on just Katsuki and his own existence. That's all that needed to matter right now. Was them.

Ei was a tad bit relieved to see that Katsuki hadn't automatically re-built his walls so he could see how he truly felt about this. The questions that came from his stare made Ei's sot expression seize up with a look of understanding and content. His own eyes searched. Searched to see if he could find out if Kat was feeling what he was. Slowly, Eijiro straightened up, finally tearing his gaze away as the rest of reality caught back up to him. He stared down at the children that had suddenly crowded around him, taking him by surprise. He gasped out with wide eyes, his smile going wide and friendly. He looked gleeful at the sudden appearance of the children. Ei stole a glance between the children and Katsuki, catching a brief whim of the conversation he was having with the small albino girl at his leg. He watched as Kat pushed Eri towards his direction, only to have his attention caught by the shouting kids.

Kiri raised his arms up, his palms towards the kids as he chuckled down at them. "Whoa whoa whoa! One at a time guys!" his voice was cheerful, friendly.
"I can teach you all! " He smiled, crouching and letting his eyes fall on Eri, holding his hand out to her. "C'mon sweetheart, You can go first since you were the first over here, okay? Then I can teach you all how to fly!" His words were sort of ironic, and his dragon gave an unamused snort. 'Flying, that was NOT flying,' he heard the voice of his kin in his head and Ei forced himself not to roll his eyes. "What's your name, sweetie? You can just call me Ei or Kirishima, alright guys?"

Kiri was over the moon right now solely just talking with the kids, his bubbly personality showing full force.
 
Eri blinked up at him, down at his hands, and then up at him again. She was naturally shy and it showed. Her expression said nervous, but her eyes said she wanted too badly to 'fly' to care. So she carefully stepped forward and reached out to put her hands in Kirishima's, "O-okay." She looked back up at him with determined eyes and a frown of equal determination she seemed to have learned from Bakugo, "My name is Eri! It's nice to meet you! Prince Kat says you're not mean 'cuz only Kat is mean, which is 'probly true."

"You actually have no manners, I can't believe this." Katsuki facepalmed in the background, sighing heavily. If anyone looked closely at him, they would realize he was still a million miles away and his brain was barely catching up with the children. His head snapped up and he clicked his tongue, "Be nice, no shoving!" He pointed his glare at the mass of kids protesting against Eri getting the first turn. "You're all traitors to the crown. No one wants to dance with me now?"

At that, there was a pause, and then the children went into an uproar again, swarming Katsuki and yelling about how they're sorry and they don't wanna be traitors and that Kats never lifted them so it was only fair.

Kats, in turn, took a few of their hands, face calming finally as he put all his focus on the children. He knelt down onto one knee and raised his eyebrows, "What did I tell you all about studying the enemy?" His eyes narrowed as if he were speaking to a tiny army, "This is your chance to pay attention, so you'll know the steps and can do it better than the person before you. Who thinks they can do it the best?"

One child piped up, "I think I could do it better than you, Kat, you looked like a fish out of water!" There was another uproar from the children as they laughed.

Katsuki smirked and snorted, "That's traitor's words right there." He lunged for the kid who had spoken and wrapped his arms around his middle as the child squealed and tried to escape. "No, traitors to the crown get punished, so just accept your fate." He lost his balance slightly as the kids laughed and squealed, trying to get out of Katsuki's hold and the Prince toppled onto his back with an 'oof'. He then proceeded to tickle the shit out of the kid until he was wailing in laughter and the others were too.

While Kats was still wrestling with the kid on the floor and about two more had decided to form a coupe and jump on him to save their friend, Momo walked over and smiled down at the scene. She looked up and her smile got bigger as she took in Eri with Kirishima. And then she sighed and chuckled, reaching out to take the hands of the two leftover. "I'll dance with you without making it a competition. Come on, darlings." She led them a few paces away and shot Katsuki an amused look.

Kats didn't really hear or care because he was busy being beat up by three children. "You're all banished!"

"You can't do that, you're not the Queen!"

"The hell I can't!"

"No cursing! My mom says it's unbe-unbeco-."

"Unbecoming." Katsuki gently offered, before lifting the original traitor up into the air, "I'm just teaching you all the things you shouldn't do, so I'm actually doing a good thing, right?" His answer was total bullshit, but. Welp. He had a potty mouth he couldn't tame.

One of the kids leaned against his stomach and shook his head, laughing, "I don't think that's how it works!"

They went on like this for some time, Katsuki completely losing himself in entertaining the children. His bad hand twitched here and there, a bit pained, but he hid it well enough.

Eventually, one of the kids pointed at the rose tucked into his sleeve with wide eyes. "Are you and Kirishima engaged?!"

Katsuki barked a surprised laugh and sat up, pulling the flower from his sleeve, "No, dumbass, we're not engaged. Sometimes the flower can mean something else. You should learn that before you go and break any hearts, huh?"

The little boy pouted and then turned his attention back to the rose, expression turning confused, "But isn't that a courting rose?"

Katsuki was starting to feel interrogated, and by a little kid no less! His eyes shifted and he stuttered a little over his words, "Sure, but it, it doesn't always mean courting. Like it doesn't always mean engaged. But you don't need to know that alright, you're six and like liking someone is gross, right?"

The boy screwed up his nose in distaste, obviously agreeing, "Ew, do you like like Kirishima? You were looking at him like my mom sometimes looks at my dad, and-"

"Alright, we're done." He lifted the boy up and off of him, promptly getting to his feet and straightening out his clothes. "I am not having that talk with you, you goblin. Go bother your parents about it." The boy pouted at Katsuki until the Prince gave his hair a ruffle and then he seemed to accept the whole thing.

Kats, on the other hand, was fiddling with his glove again, face slowly returning to that carefully closed off expression. A mere child had called him out on his slip. He couldn't do it again. So he cleared his throat and watched as the little kids once again were mesmerized by Kirishima. He watched, too, holding his bad fist up to his mouth and biting down in thought, in the effort to keep himself in check, in line. He had already slipped so much tonight. His other hand was flexing around the rose that he was holding loosely at his side. Honestly? You could say he was a little royally fucked.
 
"Oh, that's a really pretty name!" He gasped, smiling at her as he gently took her hands. "It's okay to be nervous, I was nervous learning my first time, too!" He stood up only partially, that way he could keep her hands in his. He couldn't help but notice the little way she frowned the same way at Kat did. Like she was starting to become a small copy of the prince and not even realize it. He gave a brief laugh to her words, smiling. "Well, I'm certainly not mean! So maybe he's right~" He hummed a little, glancing up to look in Katsuki's direction as he spoke. He couldn't help but watch as Katsuki interacted with the kids, joking and teasing them about being traitors and whatnot. He fawned over it. Katuski seemed to be really good with kids, and he wondered if Kat even realized it. It was like he was talking to a little army as he yelled at them! Like he was training them to go into battle and defeat the mighty. It was fucking adorable! His dragon gave another hum of acceptance, taking note. 'He's doing well with hatchlings," came the low rumbling churr. Ei fought off a gentle sound, ignoring his dragon's words, trying to shush him up before he got any ideas. He knew what his dragon was doing.

He was pointing out the qualifications of Katsuki. His dragon had taken the courting dance into consideration, had approved, and was now trying to point out qualifications and everything about Katsuki that could benefit or destroy. Mainly the first one. And now, his dragon would never shut up about it. Kiri couldn't help but let out a laugh of amusement on his own as Katsuki tickled and fell, only to be swarmed by other kids. At this point, he tore his attention back to Eri and smiled.

"Alright, you ready Eri?" He questioned, listening as the band started back up with their usual music, though the dance floor stayed cleared around them due to the children running about. Pausing, Kiri seemed to remember the rose in his own sleeve and took it out to place it behind his ear for now while he played with the kids. The stem stuck out behind his ear, annoyingly long but he paid no mind to it. As the kids crowded around him again, he just gave them a smile and told them to wait their turns. Then he spoke with Eri as he walked her through the steps, most of them anyhow. He was trying to be as simple as possible with her, counting through the steps, the twirls and the dips. Then they did the actual dance once he finished going through the steps. He guided her through the dance, and then he lifted her, higher than he would've had she been an adult; careful not to drop her as he eased her back down and finished up the dance.

"See, now wasn't that fun, now who's next?!" He grinned, turning to the rest of the kids once he gave Eri a pat on the head.
He picked the kid closest to him to go next, going through the same process and trying to carefully teach them what he could. He stumbled over himself though, laughing with them as they teased him over it or exclaiming loudly that he had indeed done a lot better than Bakugo, because they 'prepared' for it. Some kids tried throwing in their own twist or turns to it, and Kiri was very supportive of it, trying to do it with them as best as could. He was so caught up in the children and entertaining them, feeling absolutely ecstatic at being able to interact with little ones again. It was euphoric for him, and he wasn't focus on anything else but them as they did the dance. They were even making up their own dances that involved Kiri lifting them various ways or even dipping them down to the point they were almost going below his legs. He was over the moon, and it showed on his face as plain as day! Kiri's giggles mingled with the children's, mixing right in with his warm and loud voice as he suddenly crashed down onto his ass. Some of the kids decided to all try and jump at him at once for a 'super dance move', as they had screeched out. He carefully tried pulling them off of him, but the were like little mice, squirming everywhere.

A little girl reached up, snatching the rose from behind his ear and took off, giggling. Kiri was baffled by it, blinking after her since he couldn't do much else with the way he was being swarmed. He heard a kid gasp suddenly and felt movement at his hip, only to look down and see one of the boys attempting to pull his sword out! Okay, they were getting a bit rowdy. "No no, don't touch." He said, quick to move the child's hand away.

"But I wanna seeeeeeeeee!!"

"That's not such a good idea little buddy! I don't want to accidentally hurt you guys!, and this blade is pretty sharp. 'Sides! Why don't you try and come up with some more dances? Wanna know my secret to dancing?" He was pretty good at redirecting their attention, knowing just what to say.
The kids gave a gasp, suddenly going hush as they all stopped what they were doing, getting in close to Ei, So close he could feel their breath.

"I like to think of it like a battle!"

"Like...a war battle that Prince Katsuki talks about?"

"Yep!, its all the same!"

They all gave a gasp, and then looked back and forth between the two before one little girl piped up, sitting down on Kiri's lap. She grinned and started to replicate what the little boy from earlier said.
"You two should get married, like Ryuz said!!"

"HHHaaaa?" Kiri's eyes went alittle wide. "What! no no, what makes you think that?! Heh, no, I'm just his knight!"

"You both like battles! That's a good reason to get married."

"Yeah!"
"And and you danced together!"

Oh no. Last thing they needed was the children of the court going around spilling lies that they were getting married, but his dragon purred in amusement and agreement.

Kiri just gave a heartfelt laugh, shaking his head. "It's not like that, kiddos! Promise! I'm sure Prince Katsuki has someone in mind!" He gave a promising smile despite his own words feeling bitter on his tongue, before suddenly feeling his stomach rumble with hunger. The little girl on his lap giggled, poking his jacket where his stomach was. "It sounds like a dragon!"

HA. If only she knew.
 
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Katsuki watched Kiri tussling and laughing with the children from a distance for a while. He wanted to join them, but his body stayed glued to his spot, his muscles rigid. The rose in his hand was still suffering from abuse even now as he clenched and unclenched his fingers. He really didn't think anyone could call it a rose any longer.

He tuned back into the children's boisterous yapping when they started pestering Kiri about the two of them getting married. Right...they were really too little to remember everything that happened...well. Before. He was lucky that no one else was paying much attention to them or he'd probably be receiving those looks. The ones that made him want to punch a hole in a wall.

He finally forced himself to move towards them with a 'tch' as they started thinking up all the wonderful little kid reasons why he and Kirishima should get married. Katsuki would never say it, but the idea of being engaged to someone within just a few days of meeting...his jaw clicked as he attempted not to grind his teeth together. He would never do that again.

"Prince Katsuki," He said loudly, bending down to pick one of the little girls up into his arms, "is not on the market. So sorry to let you down, you fucking goblins." At Kirishima's stomach, he snorted and bounced the little girl once in his arms before setting her down, "Alright, look what you did, you tuckered him out so much that he's starving now. How the hell is he supposed to protect me when he's about to pass out from hunger, huh?" He started shooing them all away.

They gasped and looked back at Kirishima with wide, apologetic eyes as they were sent towards their parents.

"I'M SO SORRY, KIRI!"

"WE DIDN'T MEAN TO PUT YOU IN DANGER, KAT!"

"Well, now, you're just gonna have to think about what you've done, I guess." Bakugo said dramatically, sending them off with a worn sigh that was entirely fake.

Eri had stayed behind and attached herself once again to Katsuki's pant leg, looking up and whispering, "I'm sorry, Kat. It just looked like a lot of fun."

Katsuki couldn't even pretend to be mad at her, squatting down and putting a gentle hand on her head, "It's fine, Eri-" He was interrupted by a looming presence behind him as he spoke. He knew exactly who it was, but ignored it as he continued to Eri with a genuine smile, "Go play with Momo now, okay? It's gonna be your bedtime soon." He took his fucked up rose and offered it to her, "This is always yours, remember?"

Eri had stopped focusing on Bakugo to look at the person looming over them, but her eyes shot back to the Prince when he spoke. She nodded her head vigorously, took the rose with a blush, called a goodbye to Kiri and ran off to find Momo.

Kats watched her go before sighing and standing back up. The looming figure that was Aizawa waited patiently for him to turn before he grinned and raised his eyebrows, "Prince Katsuki! A word?"

He wanted to say 'uhhhh fuck no?', but with his mother only so far away and watching his every move, he couldn't afford to disrespect her advisor and his longtime tutor. He nodded and then turned to Kiri, "You're the guest of honor, you get seated beside the Queen tonight. She's about to call for dinner to be served, so I'd make my way over there, now. I," He glanced at Aizawa and then looked apologetically back at Kiri before his face hardened, "I'll only be a second."

"Maybe more." Aizawa supplied helpfully as he held his arm out to escort Bakugo to a corner of the room.

Across the hall, everyone was beginning to take their seats and Mitsuki was speaking to a couple of guests who came to the main table to pay respects before going to their respective seats as well. Aizawa put a heavy arm across Bakugo's shoulders as they walked and seemed to be whispering in his ear. For whatever it was, Bakugo's face seemed to grow more and more closed off as his teacher spoke and at one point his nose scrunched up and his lip curled in a sneer, but he said nothing. Even as anyone could see the aggression in him building, wanting to be released, he allowed Aizawa to speak to him with no interruptions. It did in fact take more than a few seconds, but by the time it appeared the older man was finished with his lecture (all with an easy going look on his face), Katsuki's mouth formed exactly two syllables that looked a lot like 'I know'. And then he was shrugging out of Aizawa's grip and straightening himself out before gliding over to the main table like nothing had happened. He greeted his mother coolly and when he sat opposite her, his expression was that of someone who knew if they showed any ounce of what they were actually feeling, it would all spill out. So when he sat, it was with a stiff spine and eyes pointed forward and staring at nothing.

"You love making my life difficult, don't you, dear?" The Queen said without looking at her son, hands clasped together and her chin resting lazily upon them.

"Aren't you used to it by now." He didn't look at her either and his voice was monotone. "Old hag."

"Runt." She spat back, quiet so that only a few others close enough would be able to hear.

At that point, a swarm of servants had begun to filter into the hall and Katsuki watched as they approached the main table first, giving the royals and the advisors first pick of the food. Whenever something was offered to Katsuki, though, he would refuse with a hand up and a polite shake of the head.

His mother scoffed at him, "You're my son for fuck's sake, Katsuki, it's not a sin to eat first."

"Not to you." He mumbled and prodded his empty plate with his fork.

"You're not a child, stop acting like one."

He stabbed his plate a little harder at that, but didn't comment. Mitsuki scoffed and turned back to her own food, lifting her glass for more wine to be poured.

She turned to Kirishima here and leaned over like she was telling a secret, "Don't mind my son's royalty complex, he's determined to live like a peasant boy. Annoying little shit." She leaned away again and downed her glass of wine like it was water on a hot day. And once she was done with that and once it was refilled again, she swirled the wine idly as she watched the servants going around. Her voice was unassuming as she addressed Kirishima, though each word held weight.

"That was quite a spectacle you made of my son tonight. My musicians have never played that song for a party before. Something from your country, I take it? I didn't recognize the words."

Katsuki scoffed as he once again went about stabbing his plate.
 
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Kirishima looked up as Katsuki approached, a grin etching onto his face at his presence. He couldn't help but giggle at his words, though he hid his look of askance to his words as well. Yikes. But, that was quickly replaced as Katsuki took note of his stomach rumbling and fussing at the kids. Kiri grinned in amusement as they all ran away screeching. "Don't sweat it," he called after them.

Kiri stood up, brushing himself off and straightening his suit out while glancing over as he took notice of Aizawa walking up. He remained relaxed, glancing back to Kats and Eri, watching their brief interaction. It was adorable at how close the two were...

He waved after her, wishing her good night in a cheerful manner, and then focused his attention towards Kats. It was as if on cue that dinner was about to start, and he was an honorable guest? He had almost forgotten about that. . .he kinda did for a moment, actually. "Oh--... right, okay!"Kiri gave a pause, catching that apologetic look and returning it with a small look of questioning. Though it didn't last too long, his eyes landing on Aizawa as he guided Katsuki away.

Kirishima watched after them, swallowing as his thoughts ran through his head, trying to figure out what exactly he was being lectured about right now. He sighed to himself, turning around and making his way slowly over to the table to go position himself in the seat next to the queen. He greeted her with a soft smile, bowing at her presence, and then sitting down.

As he sat, waiting quietly, he shifted in his seat, trying to look across the room and keep his gaze on the pair. It was kind of hard to track him through the crowd as people busied about, and plus the distance between them only added more of a struggle, so Kiri just tried his best, furrowing his eyebrows until Katsuki made his way over to the table finally. Kiri released a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding once Kats was seated, but he took in his body language. He debated on saying something, parting his lips a little to do so, but decided against it as he realized the expression. He instead clamped his mouth shut and waited for whatever was going to come next.

Food. So much. fucking. FOOD! Ei's mouth practically watered at the sight and smell as it wafted in. He smelt it moments before it walked in, his dragon picking up on the scents from the hallway. A rumble came from the dragon, stirring again from the wondrous smells. By the gods, he'd forgotten how much he'd loved food.

He barely heard the exchange between the family pair as he focused on the servants that carried the foods. He noticed a few from this morning and was quick to straighten up, averting his gaze with a small clearing of his throat. He paused noticing the way Katsuki was turning down the food, and slowly blinked, trying to figure out if he was supposed to too.

Then he heard his mother scoff and comment about it, and he turned his gaze to the queen, then back to Kats as the gentle clinking of the fork on the plate caught his attention. He may or may not have flinched a little at the louder clink as it took him by surprise, but his eyes drifted up to stare at Kat directly. Slowly but surely, he looked back to the queen, leaning in a little so he could hear her better. He couldn't really comment, only gave a very tiny smile with closed lips. He sympathized with Kat a little here. Her words were pretty damn harsh. He wasn't acting like a peasant...he was just being considerate of others... at least that's how Kiri saw it. People were really cold-shoulder to any nice emotions here, huh?

The way she carried herself, reminded him of Katsuki. It was kind of scary. Scary that they were pretty much identical with the way they acted. He took whatever was offered to him, not really paying much attention to what was being put on his plate. The dragon perked up a little to her words and slowly nodded his head.

"Oh, thank you, your highness. It's a ...traditional dance of ours back home. Very common to do at events like this. So I felt...it was appropriate." He may have left some details out, and was being pretty vague, but he was genuinely focusing on his own words, carefully treading on them around the queen and prince. "The language is Dulvru," His tongue rolled smoothly on the 'lvru', dancing on his tongue with perfect articulation, "It used to be very common where I'm from, but they've leaned more towards the modern languages. Dulvru is practically ancient at this point." Which, was very true. And he knew he wasn't risking anything because the humans called his language something much different here. They called it the Eloic language or something along the lines of it. He wasn't too sure why, but legend has it the guy that was caught speaking was named Elo.

Kiri kept his gaze down on his plate, watching as it was starting to pile up with food. He ended up rejecting whatever came next, sheepishly embarrassed that he had let it pile up. There was no way he could eat this much in front of them.
 
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"Well, isn't that nice." Mitsuki commented, putting a stop to the food appearing on her own plate with a flick of her wrist. Her words to Kiri might have been genuine, if not for her natural biting tone. "I'm glad there's someone who can bring a little culture into my court, then. The crowd loved you."

Katsuki stabbed his plate loudly again at his mother's words and she visibly clenched her jaw, gripping her glass with white knuckled fingers. Kats ignored her, though, and finally began to accept food onto his plate as the servants began making second rounds. Though Bakugo was capable of eating quite a lot, he only allowed them to put small amounts of everything onto his plate and thanked them all personally, which seemed to make Mitsuki narrow her eyes in annoyance. She had simply dismissed them with hand gestures when she was through with them.

Aizawa showed up then, having taken longer to approach the table than Katsuki. He plopped himself on the empty side of Kirishima and his eyes made a beeline towards the food on the Knight's plate. "What, dancing make you that hungry?"

"I was so enjoying the sound of you not talking, Aizawa-sensei, could we please return to that?" Bakugo prattled on in his monotone, still stabbing the plate but now with the addition of food. He looked like there was something pretty bad bothering him and it was taking all his willpower not to explode.

"Don't say such things to your teacher."

"What? I asked nicely." He sneered back at her.

"Why are you literally two years old." She snapped.

"When are you gonna let me leave the castle?"

"So that's what your sour little mood is about, I see."

"Answer my question."

"Not anytime soon."

"Really, you couldn't have told me that yourself?"

"And interrupt your little display?" She seemed to forget Kirishima beside her. "Get over yourself."

"You have something to say, Mitsuki?" He bit out. He wasn't eating any of the food on his plate, simply moving it around.

"You're under lock and key until I deem you fit to be out in public." She nodded her head vaguely towards Kiri. "Your official orders were supposed to be discussed later, but since Prince Katsuki wants to ruin a nice evening with his tantrum, I'll let you know now. He can roam this castle and the castle grounds, but no further til I deem fit. The...people are not ready to see him as of yet. There's still quite a bit of commotion, wouldn't you say, Katsuki?" She hissed at him.

He didn't respond to that and instead continued to push food around listlessly. Now that the orders were out, his eyes looked faraway, like a dog being forced into a kennel with no release date in site.

"I'm really trying my best here to dig you out of this hole you've dug yourself into, you could try being the least bit grateful." If she hissed any more she'd be a snake.

Again, Katsuki didn't even look like he was listening. His eyes were like someone had taken everything from him. His posture was slumped and he now rested one cheek upon an open palm as he watched the food on his plate drift around.

And that's how it stayed. Mitsuki gave one last scoff and then just stopped trying, turning back to her food and her abundance of alcohol. Several people throughout the feast tried to come and speak to Katsuki, as was normal for an event such as this, but he never looked up from his plate. And then, when Katsuki deemed the food in front of him moved around to his content, he stood up without warning and bowed to the Queen.

"It's getting late. I'm going to say goodnight to Momo and Eri." His eyes flicked past her. "Kirishima, take your time." And then he was walking away. The Queen let him, only offering a halfhearted huff in response to his words.

Katsuki did in fact meander around in search of Momo and Eri and he did eventually pick them out of the mass of people. He went to each of their tables respectively and said goodnight, mostly just wasting time walking around, but when he was still speaking to Momo, someone approached him from behind. There was a tap on his shoulder and Shinso was standing there with a frown and a, "Are we gonna talk or what?"

He really had no choice.

"Oh, here we go." Katsuki bit out, but jerked his head towards the veranda. "Let's talk then."

They made their way outside together, turning a corner and walking to a secluded part of the outside hall. Mitsuki had watched them go, but said nothing. He wouldn't be sneaking out with Shinso in tow, that was for sure.

When they had reached a more private spot, Katsuki turned to face Shinso, who was glaring daggers at the Prince. "Were you feeling left out, Hitoshi?"

Shinso hissed and stepped closer, attempting to cage Bakugo against a wall, but instead the Prince simply didn't move and Shinso only succeeded in getting in his face. "What the fuck was that in there, huh? I know I said you move on quick, but for fuck's sake, did you actually have to?"

"I actually have no fucking clue what you're on about. So get out of my face." Katsuki's voice screamed fake calm.

"You have never fucking danced with someone, not since Midoriya-"

"Not everything is about Midoriya, you fuck!" Katsuki's tone took on am aggressive hint as he sneered in Shinso's face. Katsuki's sneer then turned into a challenging grin, "Are you jealous, is that it? You wanna dance with me? 'Cause we can dance, Shinso." He cracked his knuckles.

The dragon had to stop himself from growling, taking a step back just to attempt to keep his cool. His own face split with a grin, one a lot more sadistic than Bakugo's could ever be.

"No, no, Baku-san, you mistake me. Jealous? Bakugo, not even Midoriya wanted you, in the end." He moved closer as Katsuki simply glared at him at the words. "And now you're out here getting so cozy with that Knight of yours and it's been hours, Bakugo. Are you that desperate?"

"You're the desperate one. Crying for my fucking attention. I'm sorry your parents didn't love you, but there's no need to take that out on me." His words were like ice, thin and sharp and cutting.

At this, Shinso cocked his head to the side, manic grin ever present. "Why would I need their love, when I can just say a couple pretty things to you and you'll give it out for fucking free-"

"We're done, now." Katsuki started to walk around Shinso, but the dragon stepped in front of him and got in his face again. Bakugo stepped back simply so they wouldn't touch.

"What, you got somewhere to be?" Shinso's words were being grit out through clenched teeth now. He stepped forward again and Bakugo stepped back. Forward again. And back. "Off to find out how you can ruin this one's life, too?"

"You have no fucking clue what you're talking about, Shinso, I suggest you back off!" The first time his voice had raised during the entire argument. Shinso moved forward again and he moved back again. His back hit the wall and he mentally cursed.

"No, sorry, I'm just waiting for you to cower behind someone and let them take the blow for you."

"I'm fucking warning you."

"You know, maybe Midoriya would still be around if you weren't such a ticking time bomb. When are you finally gonna go off, Bakugo, hm? Or maybe you already have? When you-"

"Shinso." His voice leapt an octave and despite the aggressive undertone, it sounded pleading.

"-you fucking pulverized that guy, right? You fucking beat him to death."

"Shut your fucking mouth-" Bakugo was glaring so hard at Shinso, that it was surprising he hadn't done anything yet.

"You know, now that I think about it, I'm glad Midoriya realized he was better off without you. He knew he was just gonna end up dead. He was gonna end up dead protecting you or maybe," He huffed a laugh, "maybe you would have just done it yourself, right?"

Bakugo's face was twitching as he glared, sneered, ground his teeth together. A tornado of emotions from various times during the night were still swirling inside of him and he had been bottling them up the entire time. So when the next thing out of Shinso's mouth was,

"You still cry in your sleep for him, don't you, Kaachan?"

He couldn't stop himself from decking him. Right in the face. Shinso went down with a laugh and he followed him, sitting on him and pushing his face into the ground.

"You don't have the fucking right to say that to me, Shinso, you fucking piece of shit!" He punched him again and then lost purchase and suddenly Shinso had them flipped.

"Oh no, the poor fucking Prince has nightmares!" Shinso wrestled with Katsuki, trying to pin his arms, "You fucking deserve them!"

Katsuki kicked him in the stomach, sending him rolling with an 'oof'. He planted himself on top of Shinso once again and started hitting him without letting up. Nothing else mattered except getting his anger out. His vision swam and he was shaking, the beginnings of a panic attack. He attempted to push it down. Attempted, being the key word here. Katsuki swore if he started crying, he'd burn the whole castle down.
 
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Kiri managed a small smile, nodding graciously to her at her compliment. "Thank you. It's been a while since I've been able to do anything remotely familiar to home." He admitted, and then just stared at the food on his plate. He wasn't even sure where to begin. He jumped a little in his seat to Aizawa's presence and turned to stare at him wide-eyed. He glanced between his plate and Aizawa and gave a nervous laugh, going along with it.

"That and the kids! They really take a lot out of you! I can't imagine being a parent."He stared at the plate again, trying to make a choice. He'd add that he wouldn't actually eat all of it if he weren't afraid of offending the queen next to him. So instead, he kept that comment to himself and decided he would simply save what he couldn't eat for later! He took on eating some of the meats on his plate first, making sure he wasn't stuffing his mouth or acting like he hadn't eaten in months, that would be sloppy of him... But it was so. Hard. He seriously had to refrain himself, the food was so fucking good! Though he paused to Kat's comment, his chewing slowly as he stared between him and Aizawa, only to let his eyes shift from Kat and Aizawa to Kat and Mitsuki.

Kiri could feel the tension between them rising significantly as they bantered back and forth, enough to make him shift in his chair a little uncomfortably. Once he was addressed, he kept his gaze on Kats, his food-covered fork remaining on his plate as he took in his instructions. That made his heart pound for some reason. He tore his gaze away once she finished, opening his mouth as he gave a curt nod, but his words refused to form as his head swam. He wasn't allowed to leave the castle grounds? At all? That seemed a bit much and.... keeping him from the public. The public, they didn't want to see Kat? His eyebrows furrowed up pensively while he tried to piece it all together. What the fuck did Katsuki do to lose the trust of his own people? His thoughts were suddenly flooded with Shinso's words and he suddenly felt his stomach drop. Could what he have said been true?

No. He shoved them away. He wouldn't believe anything until Katsuki himself told him. And he could tell him on his own time. Whenever he wanted. And if he wanted to wait, that was fine. Now, Kiri stared down at his plate of food, the thickening silence taking over them making him feel uneasy. He slowly started to eat again, but his appetite wasn't what it had been whenever he first sat down, He was too concerned for Katsuki. That concern grew once the prince got up to leave and bid he and his mother goodnight. Once again, Kiri opened his mouth as if to say something but again decided against it. Why weren't his words working? Why couldn't he speak? He just gave a quiet nod, looking after him as he made his way through the room.

He visibly tensed in his seat the moment he took notice of Shinso making his way over, following the blond and confronting him. He bristled, even more, when the two walked out together. Kiri intensely stared at the shutting doors, a cold feeling going through his body. His dragon gave a threatening growl, feeling its possessive nature take over and cloud his mind. His dragon let out a growl, insisting Kiri follow and make sure the blond is okay, and to keep that purple-haired bastard away from him. Especially now that they had completed a courting dance. Kiri hadn't even considered the factor of his dragon playing into things when he chose the dance. Now his dragon was going to be extremely more pent up with possession and whatnot over the prince, and his dragon would even attempt to make claim on the prince if the dragon seemed attached enough.

It was one more thing he had to worry about, was being possessive over this man. He didn't mind it but. Katsuki, just as he stated, wasn't 'on the market.' And he didn't belong to Kiri either. Katsuki wasn't something to own. Katsuki wasn't 'theirs', no matter how much his dragon would try and make him believe that. Besides. Kiri, no matter how much he grew to know the prince or his feelings for him grew, he could never actually be with Katsuki. Not with his giant secret. Even if Guido was a fucking dumbass and a sleaze, he was right. Even if Shinso was a fucking dumbass when it came to his own breed, Whether they had known it or not. They were right. His time truly was limited. Even if Katsuki kept him around after his eighteenth birthday, once he himself was eighteen, he couldn't stay. He'd become of age and he'd have to leave. Dragons matured at the age of eighteen, and it was a painful and tedious process that lasted at least a week. He couldn't be around when that happened, or else they'd know for sure. It just wasn't possible.

Kiri shook it away, realizing he had zoned out watching the door. He couldn't worry about that right now. That was another topic for another night. He could dwell later on his sad story. Kiri promptly stood up, excusing himself to the Queen and giving her a bow, before briskly making his way to the set of doors. He was becoming wary with every step he took, a hand remaining on his hilt while his other gloved hand balled up into a tight fist at his side. He quietly slipped through the doors, glancing around with a searching look. Where had the two walked off?

Silently, Kiri began to make his way through the hall, inhaling deeply as he allowed his nose to pick up on the familiar smell of the prince, which was also mixed in with the tainted smell of the other male. He sneered, his nose crinkling at the smell, but was quick to follow it. The closer he got, the more he could hear voices that seemed to be steadily growing louder and louder. Until finally-,

"-- beat him to death."

What...? Beat who...? Kiri froze mid-step, his face burning with sudden shame as his mind told him to stop. To listen. But he wasn't' sure if he should interrupt either. He swallowed, quickly shuffling himself against the wall where the corner was, deciding to just listen in. He wasn't even supposed to be here anyhow, so this was his best bet without getting screamed at. Slowly he peeked over, his eyebrows pinching up as he frowned deeply, watching for a moment, and then promptly righted himself, flattening himself against the wall, holding his breath as he listened.

Kiri stared at the other wall, thoughts racing through him. Midoriya? Who the fuck was this Midoriya? Shinso kept bringing him up. Who was he and what significance did he hold in Katsuki's life, to the point Shinso was steadily holding it over him?! And then it hit him like a punch to the face. A realization that made his heart drop to his stomach and stop. Was he...?

His thoughts were interrupted at the sound of a slam. Kiri's eyes widened, hearing more of the shuffling and then the sound of the skin making contact with something hard, and then Katsuki speaking. Shinso laughing and taunting the prince with his nightmares. That bastard! His eyes narrowed, debating for a second if whether or not he should move, feeling anger rile up. It was happening all so fast. He wasn't sure if he should intervene. He willed himself to slowly move again, peering over the corner and his decision was made to the sound of more struggling around the corner. The fuck?

His eyes went wider than saucers, seeing what was going down right now. Katsuki ontop of Shinso, just going at it. Punch after punch. Turning the man below him into a punching bag and just beating the ever-living shit out of him with all his might. Blood was already staining. Despite Kiri feeling somewhat satisfied that Shinso was getting the fucking life beat out of him, he felt a pang of dread. Watching the way Katsuki just... kept punching. Like he had no self-control. He couldn't let him keep that up. He'd kill him. Just like . . .

Without wasting another second of thought, Kiri jumped into action. He tore himself off the wall and flung himself onto Kats, grabbing him tightly by the shoulders and trying to rip him off the other male, screaming.

"KATSUKI. KATSUKI, STOP! Get off of him!" Kiri gritted his teeth, keeping his grip on the prince tight, fighting against whatever struggle the prince may give him.

This wasn't good. That feeling of dread was just clawing at his chest now, Shinso's words once again forcing their way into his mind as he wrestled getting the prince away.

"Or maybe, maybe he'll just snap."
Fuck.
 
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Katsuki barely registered Kirishima's words at first. Katsuki barely registered his touch, at first. His ears were just ringing, all he could see was red. Red clouding his vision, staining his hands. Even as he objectively knew he wasn't hitting anything anymore, he kept swinging. And when he stopped swinging, he started to kick. He attempted to butt his head against Kirishima's face and screamed, not even really aware of who it was that was holding him. His mind couldn't process, so his body did it for him. And what it said was that something was stopping him from completing what he had set out to do. Which was beat that purple fucker's face in until he didn't have one anymore.

"GET OFF ME, GET THE FUCK OFF ME." He could feel hands trying to pin his arms down, but he fought against it and shoved his elbow back, hitting something, he didn't know what. The shaking was getting worse now and he could feel it, all of that shit just coming back up, climbing up his throat. "Talk shit now, you worthless fuck! You wanna call me a murderer, I'll fucking be a murderer!"

Shinso was slowly picking himself up, one hand coming to his nose to attempt to stop the bleeding. All he really did was cup a pool of it in his hands, however, and make himself look like even more of a crime scene than he already did. The bastard even still had it in him to grin, to laugh, "Oh, I'm sure you will, Bakugo."

"STOP FUCKING SMILING." His words finally started to break, that fucking SHIT coming up, he couldn't hold it back anymore. His voice was hard, but at the same time it was heavily laced with pain, with held back tears, an undertone of pitchiness there that indicated his throat was closing up on him. "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP, ALREADY. LEAVE ME ALONE." Katsuki came back to himself then, breath hitching on a hiccup, the involuntary stutter of breath someone gets when they're panicking. The hands once again registered to him and he lunged forward, attempting to twist out of Kirishima's grip.

"Let me go." He hissed. "Let me go, get your fucking hands off me you motherfucker, let me fucking go-"

Shinso was picking himself up, letting the blood drip freely from his broken nose now and staring Kirishima dead in the eyes. "You having fun, yet? Good fucking luck, the guy is insane."

Bakugo hissed through his clenched teeth and tried head butting Kirishima once again, rocking them back so the Knight was forced to lose his balance. "Get. OFF me." He was blinking rapidly now and his breathing was hitching to an uncontrollable level. His eyes, glassy with unshed tears, still glared daggers into Shinso as the other mocked him.

"Fucking told you he snapped."

As if proving Shinso right, he tried lunging again, but the hold on him was too solid. "Get out of my fucking sight."

"You're a danger to society, Katsuki." He dropped his given name with malice. "You need help. Do you even realize when you're hurting someone?"

It was those words that finally made Katsuki understand fully who was holding him. He didn't untense his muscles or stop straining against Kirishima's hold, but he immediately bowed his head, screwed his eyes up tight and demanded in a whispered, broken voice, "Eijiro, make him leave, I need him to leave. Right now. Please."
 
Every hit Katsuki gave, connected. He let out a strained grunt as he was elbowed in the gut, the air knocking out of him. He refused to let go, his tight grip only digging in. Kiri let out another noise as the top of Katsuki's head connected with his jaw and he could already feel it starting to welt up, the pain throbbing. He let out a curse, clenching his jaw tighter as he attempted to pull him back further, letting out a growl. The shakiness of the prince concerned him, and he was trying hard, so hard, to not release him.

The sound of Shinso laughing only pissed Kirishima off, just as much as it probably pissed off Katsuki, too. He glared at him over Kat's shoulder, his face hard in concentration and rage. If it weren't for the fact there were people leaving the room, the fact that Kiri was dreading the behavior Kat was showing, and if his dragon had anything to do with it, he'd release Katsuki. Let him finish what he started. Shinso wasn't helping in the slightest and he ended up yelling at Shinso as well.

"Knock it off," Came the snarl before he paused, momentarily distracted by the way the prince's voice overlayed his, sounding so...so hurt. So angry yet so hurt. He gave a struggled grunt, yanking the prince back against him as he tried to lunge to the purple-haired man. "Kats, kats calm down. Calm down, it's okay!"
His own heart pounded while he tried to diffuse the situation, starting to take a few steps with Katsuki against his chest, trying to put more distance between them. He locked eyes, growling again, this time the sound emitting from his throat loudly, his lip curling up. "YOU'RE NOT HELPING, SHUT UP-.! "

He was cut off with a grunt as his head snapped back from the sheer force of the headbutt, his jaw screaming in pain. He tasted blood, his tongue pulsing. He'd bitten his tongue from the force of the headbutt and he hissed in pain, losing his balance as Kats now thrashed backward against him. He stumbled back, barely catching his footing as his own back slammed against the opposite wall. His body tensed on the impact, momentarily frozen in shock. He was surprised his hold was still secured around Katsuki when the world around him caught back up. Kiri leaned his head to the side, spitting out the collecting blood and saliva onto the marble floor below, feeling some dribble down his chin as he turned his narrowed eyes back to Shinso.

He could smell the panic rolling off of Katsuki, and his grip tightened in a way meant to calm him down, arms crossing over his chest and pinning his arms to his sides. "Katsuki, breathe. Breathe." He murmured quietly into his ear, trying hard to block out Shinso's voice with his own for the prince. His body stiffened upon hearing the pleading tone of Kat as he voiced his given name in a whisper. It made his heart hurt, hearing how pained Katsuki sounded.

"I'll do you one better.." he muttered before moving his head to the side in the direction of the banquet hall, shouting with a sense of urgency, "GUARDS! SECURE THE KNIGHT, SHINSO, AND GRAB THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCE'S ADVISOR. THERE'S BEEN A FIGHT." He slowly turned his gaze back to Shinso, his eyes dilating a moment as he showed the pure rage on his face, but it only lasted a few seconds before they reverted back to normal.

The clanking of metal rushed over to their direction, two men with their swords drawn rushing Shinso. They each grabbed an arm, shoving Shinso's arms behind him in a rough grip, slamming him to the wall to secure him. The other two guards rushed into the hall, immediately bee-lining it to the queen's table, and approaching her after a brief bow. One leaned down, whispering urgently into her ear, while the other did the same to Aizawa. They straightened up, awaiting their next move of orders.

Kiri busied himself in keeping the prince steady, trying to murmur brief hushes and 'it's okay' into his ear to calm him, feeling his body shake and heave and tense against him. His eyes remained on the other knight, keeping locked eye contact as his own eyes screamed at him. He'd be fucking damned if Shinso thought he'd let him get away with this. He'd instigated. He'd pushed the other to the edge.

All for what?! This guy was going to learn one way or another. The beating from Katsuki was only the beginning.
 
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Shinso didn't go easily. Though he was overpowered by the guards dragging him away, he still managed to feign a lunge at Katsuki and then laugh as they tugged him and told him off, taking him around the corner and removing him from the Prince's sight and range of hearing. Meanwhile, Aizawa and Mitsuki were already rushing away, putting a swift close to the banquet.

"Not a day goes by, with those two..." Mitsuki muttered, waving an arm at the guards, "I want them in the throne room. Tell them to clean up first, I have no desire to see more blood on my son's hands." And then she was storming away, a jerk of her head sending Aizawa after her, a plea for Shinso already on his tongue. The banquet hall was clearing out now, people breaking off in their little groups, whispering to eachother and preparing for the next day's gossip.

Katsuki did not move for a while after Shinso had been taken away. His eyes stayed screwed up, his breathing refused to calm. It actually started to get quicker, the hitches becoming more frequent. And then he opened his eyes, staring at the ground, and the tears finally started coming. They dribbled down his nose and landed on the ground. He was clenching his jaw hard against the sounds he was making, but it didn't make them silent. And then he fell back against Kiri with all his bodyweight, finally losing the tension in his body, and completely slumping. He couldn't move his hands to his face because of Kirishima's hug, so he kept his face firmly turned away.

"He's a fucking stupid liar, he's a liar, Eijiro, please believe me. I didn't," A sob tore from his throat and then the silence finally came. Like he had let too much out, like that was the tipping point. The sound he made was cut off short and then there was nothing, because he'd clamped his mouth shut and stopped breathing. He couldn't cry if he didn't breathe. He was shrinking in on himself now, becoming smaller. The shaking just got worse until he was forced to gasp in a breath and then he just kept gasping after that. His cheeks were wet and the tears started falling on Kiri's arms.

"I had no choice." He croaked out. "I didn't snap, I'm not crazy. I had no choice."

The guards appeared, one of them opening his mouth, shutting it, and then trying again, "Queen Mitsuki-"

Bakugo hadn't noticed their approach and jerked hard in Kirishima's hold to hide his state from them, turning his head completely to the side.

"-requests both of you in the throne room. She said," He paused, "wash that off, first."

Katsuki didn't reply, but the guards were wise enough to give a bow and take their leave. He'd held his breath again and it whooshed out when they were beyond earshot. "I don't. Know what's happening." He'd never really experienced a full panic attack before. The ones in his sleep, from his nightmares, were never fully conscious. And the rest of the time, he couldn't afford to indulge the priviledge of feeling. Because then...well, bad things happened.
 
Kirishima's body shook with adrenaline, watching silently as they pulled Shinso away from them finally. His own tension seeped away once it was just the two of them, and he slowly started to relax his body, except for his arms of course. He was afraid of releasing him. Afraid he'd go after Shinso again and they'd be back to square one. Kirishima's own breath was heavy from fighting against the prince, his mouth hanging open as he leaned over to spit more blood out of his mouth. His face hurt. His tongue. And the dull pain in his gut was slowly starting to become less dull now that he was making himself aware of it. There was no doubt there would be bruises by tomorrow, especially where he'd been head-butted.

Kiri righted himself with a grunt, trying to sit up from leaning against the wall as the prince finally went slump in his grasp. The way the prince was breathing and shaking, not to mention the hiccups, he knew he was crying. His heart dropped. Katsuki was crying. Kirishima's face softened as he tried peering at the prince from behind his shoulder, his lips pressed together in worry and eyes filled with concern. "'Tsuki.." he mumbled gently trying to get his attention after he spoke. "Hey hey, listen. it's alright, I promise. I don't believe him. I don't believe anyone. Shh. Just breathe."

As the sob ripped through Kats, Kiri's hold tightened, pressing him to him as he gently reached up to Katsuki's face, trying to blindly wipe away any tears."Hey, no no, breathe. Kats Breath." He frowned further, noticing the shake of the other against him growing as he tried to hold it in, the silence taking over them. As Kat finally inhaled again and shakily spoke out to him, he reached up further to gently pet his hair. "I don't think you're crazy Katsuki. I don't. Just breath. Deep breaths."
Kiri was adamant to keep telling him to breathe, scared the other might just suffocate on his own accord. And he was NOT about to let that happen. With a grunt, he gently tried prying him off from resting against him, pausing at the sound of footsteps, looking over, and suddenly fumbling the prince in his grasp as he jerked. "Easy..." he mumbled and then stared at the guards and gave a silent nod to them. Kiri couldn't help but feel a bit of relief at their departure and continued on with what he had been doing. He needed to get Katsuki to calm down, and quick. He moved Kat's body away from him just enough so that he could turn Katsuki towards him, rewrapping his arms around him as he tightly embraced him against his chest. One of his hands went to the back of Katsuki's head, burying his stained glove into Kat's hair. He took the circlet of metal off his head first though, gently moving it to rest skewered on the hilt of his sword, letting it hang off his hip.

"You're okay, Katsuki. Just take deep breathes. Breathe, inhale, and exhale. Count to 10. You need to calm down, okay? You're alright. We'll set this straight." he whispered gently, rubbing small circles into his back. "You're panicking. I need you to calm down before you pass out on me. Just focus on me." Kiri gave a glance around, shaking where he stood, trying to find somewhere more private. They needed to get out of view once he could get Katsuki to calm down some. Surely there was a washroom nearby for the guests around here somewhere. And hopefully, he could get him to calm down with just his voice and words, or else he'd have to resort to calming him down with his scent, and that would only be a last resort right now. He couldn't risk that, but he would if it helped Katsuki in the end.
 
When Kirishima tugged him into a proper hug, Katsuki was so lost to his panic that he let it happen. He didn't hug back, his hands instead curling and uncurling. But he let Kiri pet his head and on instinct buried his face further into the dragon's chest. He could feel Kirishima's heartbeat, rapid, but strong. It centered him, along with the words being spoken to him. Despite all that, however, he couldn't quite make his panicked breathing stop. He attempted to count to ten in his head, attempted to even himself out. But his mind kept replaying everything, kept yelling Shinso's words at him. He knew he could make a puddle with the tears pouring out of him.

And then he started trying to speak, muffled against Eijiro's chest. His words came out as gibberish, so he lifted his head just slightly, not enough to show his face, but enough to make his voice heard. "I was just minding my damn business." He didn't give any context, just started talking. He needed to talk, needed to spill his guts about it. He focused on Kiri's heartbeat, eyes closed tight. "But not everyone likes us assholes that sit up in this place and throw these...these parties." His voice had steadied enough to talk, but started to crack again. His head was starting to ache, from it being slammed on the ground when Shinso flipped them but also from dehydration. He swallowed and didn't talk for a while, his breaths slower now. Not slow, but slower. "Throw these parties and...and wear these stupid clothes and..." He trailed off, finding it hard to collect his thoughts. He groaned. "He approached me, first. He'd recognized me. Most people don't. Didn't. Now everyone does."

He sniffed and his whole body tensed against Kirishima's, but still he refused to look up. His voice turned pained again as he started to whisper, like he was scared of someone else hearing. "He threatened her. You should have heard what he was saying. I," He swallowed, the shaking picking up again. It was like he had started to calm down only to revert, "You don't have to like my mother, you don't have to think she's fit to rule, you can hate her, I fucking hate her, I don't care!" His voice was steadily raising and he was burying his face again, hands still clenching and clenching, "But don't fucking. Threaten your Queen's life in front of her son and expect him to not fucking-" He had to cut himself off, anger taking over his distress, rolling off of him in waves. He was turning into a constant of ups and downs. "Kiri, I've had too many attempts on my life not to...not to...And now, it's 'Katsuki snapped' and my own fucking mother thinks I'm mentally incompetent and it's not like I can tell her, how do you tell someone that, how-" He tried holding his breath again, despite knowing it would just make everything worse.
 
His hand gently ran through the short locks of the blond hair, fanning the strands out between his fingers, gently massaging his scalp in an attempt to keep him grounded. He forced himself to calm down from the adrenaline coursing through him, his heartbeat growing steady, despite almost quickening as Katsuki buried his head against his chest. He silently rested his head on top of Kat's, his gaze looking nowhere in particular with half-lidded eyes.

He paused, shifting a little to move his head so he could properly hear Katsuki as he tried to form words. His eyebrows knitted upwards, waiting to hear where this was going. "It's okay..." he mumbled, in an attempt to keep him talking. If that's what he wanted to do, at least. He was a bit relieved to feel though that his breathing was starting to come down, but not enough for Katsuki to be considered calm. It took him a moment to realize what he was talking about as he continued on. His breath hitched, and he couldn't help but hug the other tighter, knowing this must be a hard topic for him to speak out about, especially while in the midst of a panic attack.

He silently listened, offering his comfort, tensing as well when he mentioned the man. He willed himself to relax for Katuski's sake as he too tensed up. "Shhh... You're fine, Kats." he offered before he finished, only to clamp his mouth shut as Kat explained what happened. Someone threatening the Queen to his face. Probably saying the most gruesome of things, one that would upset any child if anyone spoke about their parent. His hand on his back steadily rubbed, going from between his shoulders to down to his lower back and up again, and at some point, he even switched to using his fingertips to drag across his back and keep him calm. "Right.. of course. I understand.." he whispered, voice catching in his throat. He closed his eyes, grip around Kat tightening with the raise of his voice.

The smell of Katsuki's mood was enveloping him in a constant rollercoaster of emotions. Up and down. Distress, panic, sadness, anger, and repeat. It made his head swim, Katsuki's burnt caramel scent being tainted with all these negative feelings, it made his heart lurch. He wanted nothing more than pick him up, carry him to his room, and just scent him like crazy to keep him calm; to rid of those negativities clouding him. Not possible, he had to remind himself. No way in hell and that pained him to realize. "Shhh sh sh shshsh.. Katsuki, listen to me. You're not. you're not crazy. You had a right, a justified right. I would've too. You had every right, and no one would hate you for the truth. Trust me. Look... I... " He inhaled, his own breath catching. "Please, stop holding your breath. I seriously can't have you passing out. It okay. You can cry. I'm not going to judge you Katsuki. You've held it in long enough. You're not insane, your troubled."

He bit his lip and lowered his voice.

"I'm in the same boat as you, really...And I'm not saying this to pass your pain off as something stupid or or to say it's undermined because it's not. You have so many reasons to be upset about this here." He sighed heavily, lowering his voice more. "Kat, I was framed, just like you are now. I was.. I was stolen and sold at a young age from my home. Sold as a slave to work in a rich man's stupid fields, doing construction, and tending the animals." He swallowed, opening his eyes up as he lowered his head to speak softly into Katsuki's ear. "I and several others worked there. The guy was sick. Sick in the head. Mentally not right. He said and did so many fucked up things, Katsuki.. "he breathed out trying to search for his next set of words. It was hard. Hard bringing this up as the images of that day ran through his head, taunting him and pulling him in. Next thing he knew he was reliving it in his head as he spoke.

"There was a little girl. Her name was Viela. She was maybe...a year younger. Maybe 3 years younger. She was super young. She was meant to tend the animals early in the morning while us boys did the construction site. I'd forgotten my tools in the barn the night before and walked in on our owner yelling at her for having the tools, thought she stole them to try and kill him. He grabbed her. Hit her. Tried to do things one shouldn't do to anyone. I..." His voice cracked. "I ran in to stop him before he could do anything to scar her but. He freaked. He killed her. He killed her with an axe. I tried to stop him. I tried to take it away and he ended up letting go after the fact. And right as he did. Someone else came in, Guido. My owners best friend I suppose. Or maybe work partner. He saw me holding the axe. Saw me standing over her. He took advantage of it and beat me with the handle that same axe." Fuck. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach, "He would've killed me too if Guido hadn't of convinced him I was a borne fighter. Told everyone it was my fault and sold me to Guido after they covered it up. He had police records made up to use against me in case I tried to escape." He let out a shaky breath, blinking away the memories with teary eyes, sniffling a tiny bit. "I never understood how they could be so cruel to a child. She didn't deserve that. It haunts me. Knowing I couldn't do anything to save her. " Kiri took a moment to calm himself, to keep himself from breaking down, shoving it away for now. He couldn't panic while Katsuki was. There was no questioning it. He couldn't allow it to happen. His heart raced and he felt clammy all of a sudden, but he forced himself to speak, his own mouth starting to feel like it had cotton in it.

"Katsuki, My name may never be cleared from that, but yours can. I know... I know it's hard trying to tell everyone the truth whenever they want to believe the lies, but you're the only one who was there. They'll have to take your word for it if you just tell them. If... If you want," He hesitated, pulling back to try and look at Kat's face, reaching down with the hand in his hair to wipe at his face with his own sad look, " If you want, I can tell them for you. They don't have a reason not to listen. Especially now, with Shinso going around telling everyone. Why the hell do you think I was so pissed...? Rumours are lies. And I didn't want to believe anything unless it came from you. I trust you, Kat. And your mother, your mother would rather hear that than hearing that her son is a lunatic going around killing people. Because you're not. You're not crazy or out of control. You've been pushed to the edge. "

Kiri gently gazed at him, his eyes full of honesty and concern, with a tinge of sadness at this all. He couldn't believe they'd turn a monster out of him. Especially over something that would've triggered anyone to do what they thought was necessary to protect their family.
 
Katsuki listened to Kirishima talk without interrupting. He did stop holding his breath, once again focusing in on the dragon's heartbeat and the sound of his voice to keep him steady. Despite the topic, the longer Kirishima talked, the calmer Katsuki felt. It was like the fight went out of him. At least partially, because at the mention of this 'owner' (disgusting) and that fucking Guido guy, his pulse threatened to skyrocket again.

He said nothing though, being lulled by the hands touching him and not even fully realizing it. His gasping breaths turned into barely there hiccups as his eyes dried out, only to well with tears again as a new wave of anguish crashed over him. It wasn't as violent as the first, just enough to make him shudder and mostly spurred on by Eijiro's words.

His first thought was violence, when Kirishima had finished telling his story. And that just made him feel sick, so his second thought was comfort. But he didn't know how to do that, so he didn't do anything, at first. He felt Eijiro pull back slightly and instinctively tried to follow him, only pausing when he felt a hand on his face. He lifted his head begrudgingly, eyes still closed tight and face a little scraped from his fight. His expression and the tenseness in his face muscles said he wasn't accustomed to people touching him there, but he didn't bite Kiri's hand off. Slowly, one eye opened to just a slit. And then the other did as well. He made the first eye contact he'd attempted with Kirishima since the fight and it took him a moment to process the other's face. His eyes, which were tired and vulnerable, blinked rapidly and focused in on all the bruising and blood he'd left on his Knight.

"Oh, shit." He croaked out, frowning. He reached up with both hands to cradle Kirishima's cheeks, his face shuttering into an expression of self-loathing, but also one of deep concern. "You could have fucking hit me back, ya know." When his eyes landed on his hands and how they were covered in blood, he was getting it on Kirishima's face, the face he'd, fuck- He flinched back and stepped away, splaying his fingers and staring at them in slight horror.

And then he clenched them, reaching up to scrub at his own face with his fists, not caring that they left smears of blood. He rather be seen with blood on his face than to be caught with tears. Which brung his thoughts back around. He crossed his arms and stared at his feet. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I wish I could fix it for you. But I tend to make things hard for you, so I won't try." His self-loathing expression worsened. "I. I don't know why I even told you all that. Let's just." His face did something strange as he tried to force it back into his neutral mask. "Let's go clean up. And get this over with. Okay?" He was pleading here, under that question. Pleading for Kirishima to just let him put that mask back on and pretend nothing had happened.
 
Kiri was relieved Katsuki finally started to relax, despite the brief shuddering he gave. He gently wiped away the tears from his face, taking a look at his beaten face, trying to be careful so as not to pain him or cause him to move away. The look on his face told him comforting touches wasn't really a thing of his to be used to. He oughta get used to it though with him around, he thought. It was one of the only ways Kiri felt he could offer comfort. Sometimes he wasn't really good at saying things. He could fumble. He let a very tiny smile creep upon his lips and he slowly shook his head.

"No, I didn't want you to panic more. It's fine, I've had so so much worse" He let out a forced chuckle that was breathy. "It'll be fine, Katsuki." Katsuki's hands were sticky with the blood, but warm. He relaxed into the hold, his face instinctively pressing into Katsuki's hands. When Kat moved away, his face tried chasing the hands for a second before he frowned, his grasp from Kat slipping as the blond moved away from him, only to touch his own face and get more blood everywhere. A scowl gently took place over his features as he moved forward again to gently grasp at his wrist. The sight of blood really wasn't an issue for him at this point, he was so desensitized to it.

"It's okay, I'm not asking for help. I told you that to let you know, you're not alone in this, Katsuki. I know what it's like. And If I could beat the shit out of both of 'them', Guido and the owner, I would. But I've accepted it. I've accepted there's no clearing my name and it's fine. I don't need a clear name to live on with my life. I'm here now, and I'll remain here. They can't get me."
He sighed only to frown heavily, looking displeased with Katsuki. "You don't make anything hard for me, Katsuki. You've been fine, I've been able to be by your side this whole time, what about that is hard?"

He swallowed. No no, they were doing so well. He couldn't shut down now.

"Hey. No. You told me because you've held it in for too long Katsuki. You need to tell the truth. We're not going to shove this back, no matter how much you want to. I'm not allowing it. I'm not allowing people to keep making a fucking monster out of you. We're clearing your name with the Queen, tonight. And that's final. If you don't, I will. I'm the only one that's been able to actually get you to talk and I think they've seen that from tonight's examples. " He scowled, reaching up for his blood-stained face again, this time with both hands and ignoring the fact his white gloves were ruined.
"Don't. Don't give me that look and don't shut yourself or me out. Don't force yourself not to feel Katsuki. It's okay to feel things. It's okay to express. You've had it beaten into you that you can't, and it's wrong. It's bullshit. If we weren't supposed to show expression, the gods wouldn't have given it to us. It's communication just as much as words are. You can express the moment you're born. Words? Words take years. When all it takes is one look to tell how you're feeling." He stared sternly at him, yet gentle as he cupped his face, rubbing at his cheeks.

"We'll clean up, but we're not putting this behind this. I'm not letting you suffer through this anymore. People need to know. You need peace. Your mother would rather hear this. I guarantee it. You did nothing wrong but protect yourself and her. I'm sorry, plead all you want but I'm supposed to protect you. And that's exactly what I'm doing."

He offered a reassuring smile, hoping he could get through to him.
 
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