When Ashido was made aware that Izuku and Uraraka didn't have suitable clothes for the ball, she made it her mission to style them with the temple's infinite resources. The adopted siblings stare awestruck around a large dome roofed room filled with extravagant costumes and glistening jewelry.

She took them to what the residents of the temple have deemed their 'Costume Lair'. It's where every fine piece of clothing goes after it's been worn. Dragons are notorious for ruining nice clothes if given a chance because of when they shift and when they train. So everything gets locked up and protected, only to be taken out for the monthly balls.

Izuku is drawn to a rack of suits near the back wall that range from black to any color imaginable and starts pawing through it. Even the fabrics range from silks to velvets and cottons. He's in the dark greens section enjoying the thought of his suit complimenting his hair and eyes.

His scared hands—a side effect of the accident—graze a dark pine jacket made of soft material, and he's immediately intrigued. The lining of the suit is snow white with intricate floral designs of the same green color. It looks about his size, so he grabs it, finding the matching pair of pants.

Ashido notices and glides over, looping her arm in his leading him to another section. It's filled with more jewelry than one could imagine, let alone afford. "Jewelry is a big part of your outfit at events like these. It's like a sigh of status, and now that you're a Dragon Master, your status has been bumped up."

The greenette blushes at the contact, and then his eyes widen as he takes in the large array of jewels. He spies some emeralds with gold accents, and he gasps softly, touching an elegant choker necklace that would complement his tan skin nicely. He also finds matching rings and a pretty ear cuff.

"Ooo, you should defiantly let me pierce both of your ears." Ashido smiles, pointing between Izuku and Uraraka as she drags her over.

Uraraka is holding a sleeveless pink gown with a cinched waist that fades to a lighter pink toward the bottom. The fabric was of the top was shiny, and the skirt had an extra layer of mesh. Izuku knows she'll look fantastic in it.

"Do you know how?" Izuku inquires as he spots numerous pretty earrings he can't wear unless he agrees.

"Yup." She pulls on her ear, showing all the jewels that go up to her cartilage. "I did all mine and everyone else here. Dragons like jewels on their body all the time, and they like seeing them on their mates. It helps with our primal hoarding tendencies."

While looking at the certain pair of pearl earrings in Ashido's lobes, he sees the faint image of the same pearls in the ears of the woman from his dreams. He's shorter, and she looks down at him with a bright smile that mirrors the one he's grown into.

Izuku takes a deep breath shrugging it off as the two girls in front of him become engrossed in conversation. He decides that's his cue to leave, grabbing what he needs to get dressed taking it back to his and Todoroki's room.

When he gets there, the room is empty, not that he was expecting to see his mate before the ball. He lays his suit and jewelry down on the bed gently as if handing it the wrong way would cause it to disintegrate in his hands.

Izuku sighs softly, trying to push away the tiny bit of disappointment he feels at that. He had only known Todoroki for a few days, yet he wanted the dragon's attention on him constantly. He had never felt this way with any past flings, but there was a connection between them. A connection that made Todoroki feel familiar.

The green-haired male took a deep, shaky breath and shook his head as he looked at himself in a long mirror on the wall. He took in his appearance, deciding he wasn't fit to attend a ball in only a few hours, looking like a dirty bloke.

To fix this, Izuku grabs a soft white towel and starts walking toward a hot spring in the temple Uraraka told him about. It was near the back of the temple, and it was like walking into a large cavern with a pool of water in the center. The ceiling was high, and the top was open, letting in warm sunlight.

"Whoa," the green-haired male's voice is breathless as he walks around looking up.

"It's not all that exciting once you live here long enough." Izuku jumps, head whipping around to see Todoroki seated in the hot spring.

The dragon is on the far end of the pool leaning back with his elbows propped up on the wall he's leaning against. There's a slight flush on his face that travels down his chest, and Izuku's eyes can't help but wander.

Todoroki is watching Izuku closely, shifting uncharacteristically under the other's lowering gaze. He can't help but like the attention from someone his dragon is so clearly interested in.

"Well, I've only lived here for a few days, so this place is like a wonderland to me," Izuku laughs softly as he starts stripping out of his clothes, acutely aware of the mismatched eyes burning a hole into his skin.

Todoroki clears his throat, ripping his eyes away when the smaller boy goes to take off his underwear, only daring to look at him again when he hears the water slosh. He stays on the other end of the pool, and he tries to ignore the slight pang in his chest.

The pair settles in the pool, just enjoying the natural warmth of the spring, trying not to focus too hard on each other's presence. Izuku's eyes slip closed as he melts against the wall feeling the stress of the last couple days slip away from him. He's so relaxed he doesn't hear Todoroki leave or see the way the bicolored man's eyes don't leave his body until he's out of the room.

Izuku stays in the hot spring for a while longer until he starts to feel overheated and lightheaded. When he opens his eyes, he's surprised not to see his mate, but he's also rather glad as he steps out of the pool naked, quickly drying off before slipping his clothes back on.

As he begins walking back to his room, he feels tight knots in his stomach, and his palms get clammy as he realizes the ball is only in a couple of hours now. Fearful thoughts start falling from his lips in mindless stutters.

The dragon master stops in his tracks only a few feet from his room, falling deeper into the hole he was digging until a warm, rough hand squeezes his shoulder gently. Izuku stops muttering and looks up to see Kirishima with a concerned gaze.

"Scared about the ball tonight?" His hand stays on Izuku's shoulder reassuringly. "I remember my first time going to one too. I was a wreck. But don't worry, I'll be there if you need someone to talk to."

Izuku almost wants to cry at the amount of compassion Kirishima has shown him since he arrived at the temple. He also can't help but be happy Bakugou has found a mate that can take care of him and make him a better person.

"Thank you, Kiri." The shorter man smiles as he takes a deep breath. "I'm just scared I'm gonna do something dumb in front of everyone there, and that Todoroki won't want to be seen with me."

Kirishima chuckles a bright smile that shows off his pointy teeth taking over his face. "That's it? Bro, you're gonna do amazing. Everyone is going to be fascinated by you. If I'm honest, everyone here thought Todoroki didn't have a mate with how he acts, but here you are. And he takes a while to warm up to anyone. It took me and Yaomomo years."

Izuku laughs lightly, completely relaxing. "Thank you again, Kiri. I'm gonna get ready now."

They wave at each other before Izuku enters his room; Todoroki nowhere to be seen again. His suit is still layer put smoothly on the bed, and he bites his bottom lip staring at it.

How was he, a commoner, about to put on a beautiful suit along with expensive jewelry and go to a ball thrown by the king of kings?

Izuku tried not to question it any further as he strips out of his clothes, throwing them into a basket in the corner of the room. He reaches for the pants, holding them delicately and putting them on even more so.

They fit his waist and thighs perfectly, ending tapered at his ankles. Almost like the pants were made just for him. He gives the billowy white shirt and suit jacket the same treatment as he pulls them onto his body. The whole outfit fits him perfectly, not just the pants.

He looks in the mirror, and a soft smile rises to his lips. He feels like he's a kid again playing 'Kingdom' in the backyard with Uraraka, but instead of his imagination, it's his real life.

His smile only grows as he takes the jewelry and starts putting it on. Once he's wearing it, it just adds to his feeling of princeliness. The emeralds glisten pleasantly against his tan, freckled skin and make him feel handsome for the first time in his life.

>< >< ><

Shouto sighs heavily as he looks around at his pack members, all dressed up in their fanciest garb feeling rather stuffy in his own. It reminds him of when he was still living in his father's castle under an iron boy fist. It makes the hair of the back of his neck stand up as bugs crawl under his skin.

The group is waiting for the last of the stranglers to come outside, one of them being Izuku. Shouto was never going to admit how curious he was to see his small mate dolled up and dressed with priceless gems.

Though when Izuku walked out of the temple with his sister on his arm Shouto wasn't expecting the actual image to almost have him on his knees. The greenette looked ravishing in green, and the gold of his jewelry against his skin made Shouto's mouth water.

He had to tear his eyes away in favor of glancing at Yaoyorozu, or he would've been magnetically pulled into Izuku's orbit.

Yaoyorozu was wearing a simple two-piece dress made of onyx black silk. To Shouto, the top looked similar to a bra, but the bottom went down farther, and it was made of lace. The skirt was simple plain silk, but there were two slits for each of her legs. The black complimented her porcelain skin and dark eyes. Her gem of choice was also genuine onyx with silver accents. She looked beautiful.

"Are we ever going to leave?" Shouto crosses his arms in distaste. "Aizawa doesn't usually drop the ball like this."

Yaoyorozu lightly smacks the male dragon's shoulder with the back of her hand. "Be patient. We have two new Dragon Masters, one of which is yours, who are new to this world."

She gives Shouto a once over, noticing his bouncy leg as well as the tightness of his jaw, and chuckles at the view. It wasn't usual to see the stoic bicolored dragon so tense and jittery, but ever since Izuku arrived, Shouto has seemed to be on edge.

"And you clearly want to go to him." The ravenette obtains a soft expression as she watches him steal a glance at his mate. "Didn't our talk last night help?"

"Even if we did talk, that doesn't mean I'm not still scared, Momo." Shouto looks back toward the female dragon. "What if I still end up hurting him somehow? What if nothing I do stops me from becoming him?"

Shouto's eyes are storming with contempt, and his jaw tightens even more, frowning. His fingers dig into the flesh of his arms through his dark blue suit as his logical and instinctual sides duke it out.

"But how will you know if you never give yourself a chance to be better?" Yaoyorozu frowns back at him, eyes harsh before she spots her pregnant mate leaving him there alone.

He never gave himself a chance because he didn't trust himself to be better. His father abused him since he was a child trying to ingrain his values into his child's very core. And who was to say those values weren't there but dormant until he gave into his mate.

Shouto never wanted to find out at another person's expense. Let alone his mate's.

Shouto only had to dwell in his dark thoughts for a few more moments until Aizawa clapped his hands and addressed the temple members, "Our carriages will be arriving in less than a minute, and the maximum capacity for one is six. I don't care who goes with who, but if I find any of you missing, I'm the one who looks bad. So don't."

That's all he says before carriages are pulling up outside the temple, something Shouto is used to by now. What he's not used to is someone coming up behind him and gently tugging on the bottom of his suit jacket.

Shouto turns around, and he's greeted with the sight of a blushing Izuku staring down on the ground fidgeting. "U-Um, Todoroki, I was wondering if I could ride down with you, maybe?"

Izuku peaks up at him with large doe eyes, and Shouto audibly swallows, his next word betraying him, "Sure."

On the outside, Shouto was totally calm, but he was mentally screaming at himself on the inside. Mostly at his dragon, who was rather pleased.