~~~
It was cold. So cold.
The two of them shivered as they sat near the small fire they had lit up after what felt like hours of struggling. It was risky being out in the middle of the night, any sort of wild animals and monsters could lurk nearby and the cold didn't make it much better, but it wasn't like they had a choice.
Izuku's shaking hands reached out for the bag, deciding to look for anything that could help them in staying warm. Much to his luck, a small thin blanket laid inside, it wasn't much but they didn't have anything else.
Shakily laying the blanket over their seated forms, he then looked back at the fire, silence falling over them as they simply shivered together.
"U-Uraraka-san?" the boy whispers out, listening to the fire as he bit the inside of his cheek. "I-I think someone saw us," it had been bothering him ever since he ran away from the person and he knew it wasn't something that he should keep to himself.
"Saw us?" she questioned, her tone rather quiet as well. "W-Was it a guard? Does that mean the king knows you're gone?"
"I-I don't know, though I'm sure it wasn't a guard," his voice was shaky as he fiddled with his hands, eyes teary as he felt like everything was his fault, if he had just stayed quiet everything would be fine and he wouldn't have to worry like this.
"W-Was it a servant then? Did they say anything?" she questions further, stretching out her arms to warm her hands over the fire.
"I-I think it w-was one of the Todorokis," he suddenly utters out, not bothering to hold it in anymore as this wasn't a time for suspension. "A-And they just stared at me, I don't know if they saw me at first but they definitely heard me."
The brunette gives out a silence gasp as she thinks through his words, "are you sure?"
"Yeah, i-it's just their whole posture and everything, even their shadow looked like they came from a high class," a string of sentences leaves his lips as he mutters quietly, his old habit had resurfaced during the last few days and while it felt relieving to get out all his thoughts it was also very embarrassing.
"M-My prince," she giggles out, a smile spreading across her lips as she carefully lays her hand on his arm to bring him out of his own train of thought.
Heat travels up to his cheeks as he covers his face with his hands, cursing himself for doing something so embarrassing without realizing. "I'm s-sorry," he whispers out, suddenly thankful for the cold that cooled down his red cheeks.
"Don't worry, it's actually rather cute, my prince," she giggles further, watching as he slowly looks up at her and giving him a small grin.
"Uraraka-san," a satisfying feeling came over him as he realized he didn't stutter.
"Yes?"
"C-Could you please call me by my name?" his words were rushed as he felt nervousness bubble up, he knew it was stupid to be nervous over just a question but he couldn't help it.
"Midoriya-sama then?" she carefully asks, she didn't know what she had expected him to ask but it was definitely not that. "Or did you mean your first name..?"
"I-If you don't mind, of course you don't have to! I-I just felt like it would be wrong to call me by p-prince, you know, a-and you don't have to be so formal," sighing up, he sinks back, wanting to merge with the ground in embarrassment.
"I don't mind at all, I just don't want you to be uncomfortable with me calling you by that, and are you sure?" she looks over at him, barely able to make out his features in the dark.
Not trusting his own words, he quickly nods, sending her a small childish grin.
"Okay, how about Midoriya-kun, i-is that okay?" her pink cheeks reddened as she looked back towards the fire, biting the inside of her cheek as she hoped she wasn't getting too comfortable.
"I-it's good, thank you," his grin doesn't leave as he as well looks back at the fire, feeling a wave of tiredness fall over him.
It doesn't seem like he's the only one as a yawn escapes Ochaco's lips, her eyes drooping a little as a small nap seemed very welcoming.
"We should get going again or we'll fall asleep," she quietly whispers out, beginning to stand up only for another shiver to run through her from the lack of warmth. "It's too open out here, anyone could walk past us."
"R-Right," getting up as well, he stuffs the blanket back into the bag as Ochaco starts to extinguish the fire, making sure that it wouldn't spread anywhere as she throws water on it from a nearby lake.
"We just have to walk a little more before we get to an old abandoned cabin," she quietly informs him, taking out a map and silently cursing herself for putting out the fire, she results in using the moonlight to look at the map and make sure they were heading in the right direction. "According to Toshinori-san, we can take shelter there for the night."
~~~
The air seemed even colder as sun rise rolled in, waking them both up as they shivered, laying close together to hopefully be able to warm up. It probably wasn't a smart idea to just go to sleep without getting anything more than their own body heat and the thin blanket to warm them up, but they were just too tired to think and instantly regretted it now that they had woken up.
Izuku slowly sits up, his arms wrapping around his form to try to get some warmth back into him. His gaze is soon brought down to the girl beside him, her body shook as she sat up as well, leaving the blanket bunched up at their legs.
The orange hue of the morning light shone into the broken windows of the cabin, leaving it relatively well lit.
The girl tiredly stands up, straightening out her dress she had slept in as it would be way too cold to take it off. Taking out the map she had been given, she opens it up and lays it out on an old wooden table, trying to figure out the best path that they should take.
"We can't go through the town, but the other paths all would take at least two hours more," she mumbles out, rubbing her chin as she stares at the map, trying to figure out the best way.
"Alright!" her sudden voice startles the young boy causing his body to slightly jump up from his seated form beside their bag. "We should get going, we're still too close to the castle, and they're bound to know you're gone by now."
"Yeah, e-everything is already packed," he lifts up the bag as a gesture to go with his words and stands up, settling the sword on his waist and ruffling his wild green hair before pulling a hood over his head that he had conveniently found in the bag.
Together they walk out of the cabin, making sure to keep to more hidden paths and not the main one. Even with a map, they still had a hard time keeping on the right track, resulting in them accidentally taking the wrong path and then have to retract only to the same thing only minutes later.
~~~
"Again?!" Ochaco exclaims, tugging at her hair lightly in frustration.
They had ended up on the wrong path once again, and even worse this time as they needed to walk for at least half an hour to get on the right path again.
"I'm sorry, Midoriya-kun, I thought I was better at this but I'm clearly not," she sighs out, looking over at the green haired boy who simply gave her a sympathetic smile, patting her shoulder lightly.
"It'll be alright, practice makes perfect as Kayama-san used to say."
For what felt like the hundredth time, they begin to walk back the way they came from, constantly checking the map to make sure they didn't go to far.
So far they had only met an old lady who kindly gave them a few apples that she had recently picked and a knight who of course didn't see them but was too close for their comfort. And with the voices that was gradually getting closer and closer it seemed like they were meeting a few more.
Pulling the hood further down, they continue walking, expecting to meet a group of at least three people.
Though as the young boy looks up, trying to see who they were walking past, a pair of almost glowing red eyes met his, causing an audible gasp to leave his lips.
"What the fuck?"
Quickly, he pulls the hood down more and desperately grabs Ochaco's hand, beginning to walk away as fast as possible only for him to be pulled backwards.
"Deku?"
He's suddenly grabbed by his collar, the sudden force causing the hood to fall off. His eyes travelling around as to not look into the man's eyes, feeling an intimidating glare fall onto him.
"Bakugo?" a voice asked out that he assumed to be coming from one of the people that was accompanying the familiar explosive boy right in front of him.
Ignoring the voice, the red eyed man's eyebrow raise, pulling a little harder on Izuku's collar and almost lifting him off of the ground. "What the fuck are you doing here, Deku?"
He didn't know what to say though he felt as if he had to at least say something. But the boy in front of him was rendering him speechless. His gaze accidentally meets the man's and that certainly didn't help with his words.
"Fucking answer me, Deku! What the fuck are you doing here?" shaking the green haired boy, his grip tightens until he almost choked the boy.
"K-Kacchan, please don't yell," he chokes out shyly, relief washing over him as the man suddenly lets him go. It was only as he looked up at the blond in front of him as he realized it was one of the man's friends who helped him down.
"Are you okay?" his friend asks, who had a similar pair of red eyes as the blond. Ochaco, who had been visibly scared by the sudden confronting, walks towards Izuku a little hesitantly and makes sure he's okay as well.
"What the hell, Bakugo?" the other red eyed man exclaims, hitting the aggressive boy harshly on the back to try to beat some sense into him, which definitely hadn't worked in the past but it was worth a try.
"Hey, are you okay?" a feminine voice asks, walking towards Izuku while completely ignoring her aggressive friend. The first thing that stood out on her was her abnormally pink skin, her hair pink as well, it was quite obvious she didn't come from the Midoriya Kingdom as such an appearance definitely wasn't common there.
"Y-Yeah, thank you," he gives both girls a timid smile as he shyly looks towards the blond who seemed very confused, and frustrated as well.
The two groups stood there awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do as none of them knew what was going on in front of them.
Though the sudden drops falling from the sky and landing on their noses brought them out of their awkward stance, their gaze moving upwards only to fall upon the dark grey clouds that had taken over the clouds. "Shit."
"You should come with us, it's dangerous here when it thunders," the girl smiles brightly at them as the group she was with started running down the opposite way they were originally supposed to go.
"C-Can we trust them?" Ochaco warily whispers out, watching as the girl was beginning to walk away.
"Yeah, I'm sure we can," he begins to walk as well, a little slowly as he waits for her to catch up with him. Which after a few seconds, she does, deciding that if Izuku who somehow knew that aggressive boy and despite what he did, still trusted them, that she could probably trust them as well.
~~~
Sorry for the short chapter which definitely doesn't make up for the time it took to write it, but I have something planned for the next, so I hope you can look forward to it!
Feedback and suggestions/story ideas are always welcome!