Finally opening his eyes, Izuku's vision was still pretty blurry thanks to the prior duel. He realized that he was now in his tent and wrapped up in a blanket with a dish filled with warm water and a towel had been placed at his side. He clutched his head, recalling what had happened a while ago, realizing that he now had a huge pounding headache. He propped his body up so he was now sitting up straight, and looked around the tent, only to see Shoto sitting by the folds of the entrance.

He coughed, barely able to say the words that he wanted to let out, "S-Sho..." He wanted to move towards him, but he couldn't pull himself off of the ground mainly since one of his arms was still healing.

The prince turned around with his attention immediately being grabbed by hearing his voice. "Izuku?" He brought himself closer to him and started to wet the towel, "You're finally up... thank goodness." His voice was rather quiet, but he had the tiniest hint of happiness in it, as he held the towel in his hand, searching for any new cuts that may have opened.

The greenette slowly moved Shoto's hand away, so that he could get a better look at his face, even though his expression looked over panicked. He smiled, seeming as if he regained the strength that he needed to do so, "I'm just glad I was able to get you back."

Placing the towel back down into the dish, he narrowed his eyes, trying his best to look disappointed. "That battle was highly unnecessary. Just look at yourself, you got hurt in many different ways, and I know you could have avoided that. I told you to come back for me, not get yourself injured. I understand that you wanted me back, but you should have talked it out, rather than.... Rather than doing such a reckless act. Your arm got dislocated, and it was painful just watching you get a single scratch. You're lucky Uraraka had anything with her that had healing properties." He bit his lip, trying to hold back some tears that seemed to have been forming in his eyes. "You worried me far too much, and that feeling doesn't really sit well with me. I don't understand your obsession with trying to impress me, but doing things like this will get you nowhere. All I want is a safe adventure with you, but now you're all bandaged up."

"I'm sorry, I just thought that—"

The prince put one finger over the knight's lips, "Say no more." He shook his head and stood up, making his way out of the tent, leaving Izuku by himself.

He blinked, seeing as he made the other male overly upset. Shortly after, Tenya came in and sat down to check up on him. "Midoriya, ah I see. So you are awake. It's a good thing you healed fast, we could probably get back on the road by tomorrow." He looked around the tent, seeing as the towel had been left in the water filled dish, and sighed. "You know, Prince Shoto was really worried about you. He sat in here with you for hours, waiting for you to wake up."

"Really?" He asked, his voice sounding a little happy, but not too much because he knew that he made him upset with his actions.

The other male nodded, "Of course. I realize how happy you make him. However, I agree with his words, the battle you had with Monoma back there was uncalled for."

"I did it for—"

"And your motive was not justified either." He cocked an eyebrow, interrupting his sentence telling him that he wasn't quite done lecturing him. "I don't want to have to keep delaying the mission because you were much too reckless to keep to yourself. Don't under any circumstance ever go into a battle unless it is completely necessary. It would be much better to talk things out rather than fight like that anyway. I know I'm going off a tangent, but as your friend, it is my duty to ensure that you don't get yourself in sorts of trouble that might get you killed."

He stuck out his lips in a disappointed manner, knowing that what he did was wrong in every way possible, "I know... I'm sorry, Iida..."

Smiling, the other knight fixed his glasses and stood up, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to plan out our path tomorrow. We were lucky to have been moving in the right direction this whole time." He started to walk out of the entrance before stopping and slightly looking back at the greenette, "Oh, and one last thing. I wouldn't recommend you do it... which is what I would say under any normal state of affairs. However, I realize a little bit more now, and I see that the plans of his majesty are inexorable no matter how much anyone tries to prevent them."

"I'm going to need a little bit more context than that.." he raised an eyebrow, unsure what Tenya was getting at with his words.

"Ah, I'm sure you'll figure it out." He shook his head, leaving Izuku to himself again.

"So we're just going to leave it at that...." His words sounded a little confused, but he giggled a bit nonetheless. He noticed how much his arm had been bandaged up, seeming how that was the most damaged part of his body for the time being, so he thought that he should be able to walk at least. Using his properly functioning arm, he pushed his body off of the ground slowly, trying not to hurt himself any further. Once he finally stood up, he walked out of his tent, and was immediately greeted by a worried Ochako.

"Deku! Oh my goodness you're finally up! Are you feeling any better? How'd you get out of bed? Are you still bleeding? Do you have a headache? Is your arm working right now?" The brunette continued to swarm him with questions, not giving him a chance to speak.

Laughing a little bit, he waved his arm in an attempt to calm her down, "I'm fine, Uraraka-San. I mean, I am standing up after all."

"I guess so, but I was just worried! I'm glad you're finally awake! To be honest, I didn't think the medicines I had prepared would be much help to your condition, but I'm happy that they did!" Smiling, she started to put away what she had in her hands, thinking that she had no use for them for the time being.

"Yeah, I'm glad too. But... do you know where Sho went? I need to talk to him, and I don't see him here." He trailed his eyes around a seemingly already set up campsite, however the prince was not present anywhere.

"Oh, yeah. Todoroki looked sad when he came out of your tent." She then pointed towards an opening of trees that seem to lead to somewhere really bright and shimmering. "He went over there, but he didn't really seem like he wanted to talk to anyone."

"Thank you! I just... need to tell him something. I'll feel bad if I don't, so I honestly think that the best time to tell him is right now."

"Ah I see. Go get him, loverboy~!"

His face grew red immediately, throwing his arms around in different directions, despite the pains in his arm, "U-Uraraka!"

"Whhaaatttttt~? Are you embarrassed~? Come on, you and I both know what you really want~." She wiggled her eyebrows in a teasing manner, and giggled a bit at the look on her friend's face.

Tenya was looking at Ochako in a mildly disturbed manner, but he tried his best not to say anything about it, as he began to prepare supper for the group. Izuku was still looking away, very embarrassed, "A-anyway, uhh... I'll u-uhm be r-right back!" The brunette waved a bit as he walked away, and was pulled away by a creeped out Tenya, who was asking for help.

Izuku quickly shuffled down the path to where the opening of trees had ended, only to see a beautiful river flowing at the foot of the hill, glistening with highlights due to the setting sun. He shaded his view by bringing his hand over his forehead, and scanned the area until he found the family colors of red and white, that stood out in any scene. He decided not to call after him, because it might scare him off, so instead sat down right beside him, looking over at the sunset.

Shoto didn't move his gaze, he only heard the movement of the other male. He took a breath in, as if something smelled pleasing to him, before starting to move himself off of the ground. Izuku shook his head and panicked, before grabbing his hand and pulling him back down. They didn't say anything to each other, their actions spoke for themselves. Shoto sadly looked down at him, but saw the pleading look on Izuku's face, so he sat himself back down, and this time closer to him.

They sat in silence for a while, as the wind whispered in their ears, and the rushing of the water against the river bed just made the scene more beautiful and perfect. The prince, not liking the silence he had created, sighed and finally started to speak, "It's Touya."

The knight, a little surprised that the other male had spoken first, looked at him from his side. "Touya?" He had never heard that name before, so he didn't know who he was referring to.

"Touya," He repeated bluntly, turning his head up towards the sky and closing his eyes. "That was my brother's name. He passed away when I was very young. He's the reason why I got worried for you back there." He then cupped his hand over his left eye, and didn't look bitter while doing so for once. "Not too long after that, my mother poured boiling water on my face, calling my left side unbearable. She was then sent away to god knows where. Everything important to me has been lost to me in life. And I didn't want another one just to fade away right before my very eyes once more."

"Sho... I had no idea... I'm so sorry." He just looked down at his hands, not acknowledging the last few sentences, only paying attention to his tragic past. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"I know. You were just trying to get me back, and maybe I overreacted a little bit, but I just want you to be unhurt." He looked back down at him, his gaze gentle, and his voice softer than ever. "You know, it's kind of weird. This is only the third day, yet some weird feeling has come over me. Maybe there's something wrong with me, but the strange thing is, it doesn't feel bad at all. It feels almost.... Wonderful."

"Do you have any idea what feeling it could be?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No. I've never felt it before, I know it. It's peculiar, really, but I'll figure it out." Izuku started giggling out of nowhere, and this just made Shoto raise an eyebrow at his antics, "What are you laughing at?"

Putting a hand on his shoulder, he pointed at a small rabbit that had been mostly white, with the slightest hint of red on its left side, hopping around, looking as if it had been lost. "Look, Sho! It looks just like you!"

He looked at it and laughed a little bit under his breath, just before seeing a green looking rabbit that had hopped by, and tackled the first rabbit into what seemed like a hug. "And that one looks like you," he pointed the next rabbit out, making Izuku smile widely.

Laughing, he followed the rabbit's lead, tackling the real Shoto into a huge hug, making him lay backwards against the floor. This caught the half and half male by surprise, however, he wrapped his arms around him gently, giving him a tiny smile. Upon seeing the other male's face close up, Izuku realized just how handsome he had really been, and his face grew red. He buried his face into his chest, trying not to show how flustered he got without having anything said to him.

"Izuku, you're wonderful. Thank you for everything. Thank you for lifting my spirits, and sparking hope within me. I think without you, I wouldn't have gone this far." He proceeded to play with the greenette's curls, smiling softly, though he wished he could see his face.

This only made the knight blush more, so he sunk his face in more, trying not to give him any sense that something may be going on with him. "Y-you're welcome, S-Sho..." his words were muffled by the folds of the prince's garb, however, they were loud enough to hear.

They both stayed, laying by the river bed, watching as the sun set. They didn't know what they were waiting for, but they knew how peaceful and how soothing it had been, just with each other. Before they knew it, Izuku had already fallen asleep on top of Shoto, but the prince didn't mind, the position was actually kind of comfortable to him. So, he made sure to greet him with a smile when it would be time to bring him back to the campsite later.

◇——◇————◇——————◇——————◇————◇——◇