Shouto went to bed much later than he usually did that night. Most of the day was spent getting little beds made for the dragons, as well as meeting with the palace cook to purchase more meats for them, since there were now five more mouths to feed. He had gone into town to get little collars tailored for the dragons, so in case they ventured out, people would know they were royal property, not that Shouto saw them as his property.
He also made an announcement to the people of his kingdom, saying that he had acquired baby dragons, and thankfully for Shouto and the dragons, the response had been very positive. Many of the females were glad for the new extra protection the kingdom would be gaining while the men cheered, for in the future, they would see and fight alongside the fearsome dragons people spoke of in legends.
The prince woke up the next morning once again feeling heavy. He should've expected as such. When he was trying to get the dragons to sleep in their individual beds the night before, they all looked at him in confusion. He had tried to rip them off himself and place them on the small fluffy bed, but only for them to run right off it and climb back up his body.
Shouto sighed, shifting in his bed to try to wake them and watched as the little creatures slowly roused from a deep sleep, all yawing with small squeaks. The prince felt his heart pound. I love them so much already, they're so adorable. However, his face completely contrasted his cute thoughts by wearing his typical no-emotion facial expression.
The prince suddenly froze when he only counted four dragons. Kirishima, Mina, Kaminari, Sero.....where's Bakugou?
The prince was about to sit up and call out for Bakugou when he heard soft breathing, almost a snore, coming from his left. He turned his head to the side, seeing the forest-green dragon curled up in a ball beside his head on the pillow.
Oh, there he is. The prince thought in relief as he lifted his hand up and softly petted his hand on the dragon's head. It let out a quiet peep, before nuzzling into the young royal's hands.
Shouto felt his heart squeeze. How can something so dangerous be so adorable?!
The prince felt guilty that he was going to have to wake up the dragon from its peaceful sleeping, but today was gonna be a busy day. He gently nudged his hand against the baby dragon, watching as it's eyes slowly blinked opened. It let out a small shrill as it stretched.
Getting up from his bed, the dragon's watched from the bed as the prince dressed himself for the day.
"What's the master doing? He does this every morning and night." Mina asked, watching as the prince removed his nightwear clothes.
The black dragon shrugged, "I don't know."
"Is he like, shedding?" Kaminari asked with a tilt of his head.
Bakugou rolled his eyes at his clan, "You all are morons."
"Hah? How come? I don't see you coming up with any ideas." The rock-like dragon said.
"Well he's obviously not shedding! The things he's taking off himself don't even match his scales! They're different colors!" The aggressive dragon growled out.
"But aren't your scales like different colors too,
Bakugou?" The yellow dragon said with confusion, gesturing to the orange and black scales on Bakugou's sides.
"Oi! You trynna fight?!"
"W-What? No! I'm just say—"
Shouto finished buttoning up his formal princely attire when he heard a loud snarl, then a small yelp following after. What's going on? He thought as he turned around to face the dragons, only to see the green dragon had pounced onto the yellow dragon, the both of them rolling around on the sheets of the bed.
"Hey! Break it up, you two!" The prince said in an exasperated tone, lifting his hands up to pull the two dragons apart, "It's way too early in the morning for this, so stop— ow!" The prince yelped as he pulled his hands away.
Red liquid dripped onto the expensive sheets of the prince's bed, all the dragons stopping their movement when they smelt it.
Blood. They all thought at the same time.
They looked up at the prince and saw him cradling his finger, which had a small, but deep cut in it that was oozing blood.
Who hurt the master! The dragons all thought simultaneously.
"Wait here, you guys. I'm gonna go to the palace doctor to get something to stop the bleeding," The prince said, not at all worried, "I'll be right back."
The dragons all rushed to go with the prince, ignoring his words to stay, but stopped when they saw he closed the door on them.
"Who hurt the Master?" Sero asked as he made his way back to the bed from trying to chase after the prince.
"How dare they!" The pink dragon growled out, "When I get my claws on them—"
"Hey, Bakugou, you okay?" The rock dragon interrupted, realizing that the green dragon was kinda quiet, and that he usually was the one most protective of the prince, too.
The other three dragons looked to where Kirishima was looking. Bakugou was sitting away from the other dragons, as well as facing away from them.
Oh no, they all thought. He's probably pissed.
However, they were very wrong. The green dragon was actually falling apart, his world crashing down. He was staring at his left hand's claws, where one of them was covered in blood. It was me...I hurt him. He said to himself, wanting to scream and lash out, but couldn't find it in himself to do it.
____
Shouto made his way to the palace doctor's office room, who the kingdom called Recovery Girl, but on his way, ended up running into the last person he wanted to see.
"Shouto, what happened to your hand? Where are your dragons?"
The prince grimaced as he shielded his hand away from Enji's line of vision, "Nothing, now move. I've got somewhere to go." Shouto said as he made a move to go around the king.
The king sighed as he grabbed his son's hand, ignoring the prince's sounds of protest. He examined the injury, before looking into his son's eyes, "That's a deep cut. Was it the dragon's?"
The prince glared at him as he yanked his hand back, "And, so what if it was?"
"Are you okay?" King Enji asked, concern in his eyes.
Huh? The prince felt his brain shut down. Did he just ask if I was okay? Since when did he care?
"I-I'm fine." The prince stuttered out, not wanting to admit that hearing those words made a small spark of hope erupt in his heart, "Now move, please. I really do need to get this checked." No, stop that Shouto! Get rid of that silly hope of yours! The old man has done anything to change in the past, why would he change now?
The king stepped aside and let his child move pass him, glancing at his son from corner of his eye. It seems I'm going nowhere with him. What can I do to show him that I've truly changed?
_____
It's been a week since Shouto was injured. The prince didn't see it as a big deal, but apparently it was.
To the green dragon, at least.
The once clingy dragon was now distant towards the young prince. It wasn't as if he ignored the prince, but Shouto noticed the difference in the way he acted.
For starters, when they would go somewhere, the dragon didn't sit on top of his head like he used to. He would now walk beside the prince on the ground, while the others clung onto the royal's arms and chest.
When it was time to go to bed, he didn't sleep beside the prince's head on the pillow anymore. He would sleep on the little bed by the fireplace that the prince made for them.
They were currently walking towards the King's office, the king having summoned him. The four dragons clinging onto the prince's clothes looked down at Bakugou who was trotting beside them, easily keeping up with the prince's pace.
"Come on, Bakugou, why are you still acting like this? You know the prince doesn't hate you," Sero said as the green dragon looked at him before huffing and turning away.
"Yeah, I mean, the prince even said that it wasn't your fault. You don't need to keep beating yourself up like this," Kaminari added, "I think your hurting the prince's feelings, too."
It was quiet among the dragons for a couple seconds before Bakugou spoke, "You heard the master the other day when he named us. He called me dangerous. He's not wrong though. I hurt the master, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna be there for him anymore. I'll just keep myself a couple steps away from him so that I don't accidentally hurt him again."
He stopped before he continued, "I want to be by his side, but if that means it causes him harm, then I'll gladly sacrifice my happiness for his safety."
After that, dragons stayed quiet the rest of the way, no one knowing how to reply to that. It wasn't long before the group reached the King's office room. Shouto knocked on the door, walking in once hearing his father's come in.
"Good evening, father. What is it that you need me for?" Shouto asked upon entering the room.
The King looked up from reading a paper, "Shouto, I'll need you to go into the Town Square and retrieve something. It's your crown. They finally finished fixing it."
Ah, that's right. The prince thought. A couple days ago, the prince had tripped over one of the dragon's and fell over, his crown falling off his head and tumbling down the palace's grand staircase. When he had picked up it, it was bent it a couple of spots. Shouto immediately wanted it fixed, since it was the last thing his mother had given him before she had passed away.
The prince bowed before turning around to leave, stopping however, when the king called out to him, "Wait, Shouto, I almost forgot. Tomorrow, the King of the Western Kingdom and his son will be coming over. I want you to be on your best behavior, and make sure your dragons won't cause any trouble."
"Yes, of course father," The young prince said, but on the inside, he was mentally cheering. Yes! Midoriya will be coming over! It's been a while since I've seen him. My father usually declines King Toshinori's invitations for anything since he thinks that they some kind of rivalry. I wonder why he accepted now all of the sudden?
Shouto swiftly left the room, leaving in much more high spirits than when he entered.
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AN if there are any mistakes, I apologize. I'm too lazy to proofread rn so I'll edit this later
thx