Shoto opened his eyes, him still sitting on the log in front of the now unlit campfire. He wondered if he had actually spent the whole night here, until he felt a small weight on his shoulder. He looked to his right, seeing Izuku's peaceful face still asleep. He vaguely remembered the night before, where he asked him to accompany him. He smiled, making no movements, as to not wake the greenette.

He then looked off ahead. Just barely, he could see a small town. He sighed, remembering where this was. To him, it felt like so little time had passed since he left the palace. But when it came to Izuku, he felt like he knew him for an eternity. He clutched his new robes, but tried to calm himself down, not wanting to let himself get out of control again.

"Mmmmnnnn... Sho... is everything alright....?" Izuku had started mumbling sleepily, just barely waking up. He rubbed his eyes, but he knew that he had seen Shoto grabbing onto his garb as if something were troubling him. He realized that he had been leaning against the prince's shoulder and slowly pulled his head up, a blush on his face out of embarrassment.

He looked a bit disappointed that Izuku lifted his head, but didn't want to make it seem like he was being needy. "Everything is fine, Izuku.... it's just—"

Tenya came out of the tent in a panic, interrupting Shoto's sentence. "I apologize if the two of you were in the middle of a conversation. However, I need to inform the both of you of something terrible I have just discovered."

Shoto looked back at the blue haired male, watching as he walked to the front of them. "Did something happen?"

He cleared his throat, holding the bag that had been formerly wrapped around Guinevere. It was their rations bag, the one that was supposed to be for their long journey. He opened it, showing that it had been empty, except for a few apples that had been gathered for backup. "This is all of the rations we have remaining. I was fortunate enough to feed Guinevere, but this is all we have left for the rest of us. Only four apples."

Shoto and Izuku both glanced at each other. They didn't really know how to respond to this problem, and stayed silent for a bit. That was until the greenette stood up, "H-hey! Sh-Shoto and I can g-go to th-the town not t-too far ahead! Th-they probably have a m-market p-place that we can go and get them... a-and Uraraka and you c-can go on ahead a-and f-find our n-next c-campsite!" He mainly said it so that he could get more time alone with Shoto, and if Tenya agreed, then he would be happy.

"....I suppose it's only fair. You and Shoto kept guard of the campsite last time." He pushed his glasses closer to his face, sighing. He then distributed the apples to both males before taking one himself. He didn't eat it quite yet, however, because he was being polite and waiting for Ochako to wake up.

"Thank you, Iida!" He wasn't referring to the apple much, just about the approval to travel with Shoto to the marketplace. He then took a huge bite out of his apple, a wide smile plastered on his face.

The prince looked at the knight softly, but then decided to begin to eat the apple. He stood up, and began to speak after swallowing his first bite, "Come on. We should begin to head off then, right?"

Izuku nodded, standing up right after him, "Of course!"

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Finally arriving at the town entrance, they realized that this place had been bigger than they thought. Shoto looked at the sign at the entrance which read: Welcome to the Land of Earth! He was silent. This was exactly what he expected. They were right on the border of the two nations at the moment, but he guessed that the other entrance just at the other end had a sign that welcomed travelers to the Land of Fire.

Izuku was looking at the sign himself, but he didn't want to think about the downside to this small trip. "Hey, Sho, it's alright. Hey, uhm maybe going shopping will keep your mind off of it?"

The prince looked down at the other male. He liked the fact that he had been trying to get his mind off of the engagement. He smiled slightly, "Maybe it will." He thought that shopping wouldn't do much, but he thought that Izuku just being there was helping him.

The greenette blushed. It was nice seeing him smile, though it had been happening more often as the days went by. He looked down shyly, wondering what the reason for it was. But he shook his head, and let it be. It wasn't like he could just ask, for he never got a straight answer from Shoto.

"....You look troubled." He had stopped walking in order to make sure that everything was fine with Izuku.

His head shot up, and he accidentally hit Shoto on his chin. The prince himself had a sharp jawline, so the both of them got a little hurt on impact. Izuku rubbed his head, but then started to get concerned for Shoto who had fell on the floor. "AHHHHHH SHOTO, ARE YOU OKAY!?!?!" He started flailing his arms in a panic, not sure what to do.

That's when the prince began to laugh. Not quietly, but a genuine, loud, and happy laugh. Izuku's face flushed, He's laughing! Like actually laughing! It's cute. Wait... but why is he laughing!? Did I really hit him that hard!? AH! Izuku tried to help him up, as he shook his thoughts away.

Shoto liked the new feeling, it felt.... nice. He didn't take the hand that Izuku was offering for him, because he remained on the floor, looking up at him. "It's okay. Don't worry about me." Finally collecting himself, he took Izuku's hand and stood up. He rubbed his chin a bit. It didn't hurt much. He thought that maybe it was because he had gotten distracted by his laughter.

Izuku, rubbing the back of his head, smiled nervously, now being a bit more uneasy with his thoughts. He really wanted to tell him, but he didn't want to ruin a perfectly nice day. He shook his head, and turned back to the prince. "So... have you ever been to a market place, Sho?"

Shoto's gaze was directed down, as the duo began to walk again. The look on his face had returned to a vacant expression, the one he usually held. His eyes seemed to have a spark in it, a spark of realization, this time. He inhaled, "No."

"What!? Really!? Well then again you haven't been out of the castle... ANYWAY, we can use this day to do as much as you want! I mean, collecting rations shouldn't take too long, since we only need to collect materials for five days! If you think about it, we can explore this place, hang out, and make the most of this day, Sho!" He was jumping up and down with excitement, his face beaming with joy.

He glanced at Izuku, trying to meet his gaze, "Don't you think Iida would be disappointed if we return to the campsite late?"

He looked like his whole hopes and dreams had been crushed, "W-well.."

"I like it. Let's do it." He looked up again, starting to walk ahead of the greenette. "We can come up with an excuse later."

He silently rejoiced, but then realized that Shoto had been leaving him behind. "Ah! Wait for me!" He jogged over to him, and tried to match his footsteps, but nearly tripped over himself due to his longer legs. "Anyway, where should we start, Sho?"

"....we should probably start with purchasing materials so we don't forget later. Then we can do what you want to show me."

Izuku nodded, "Yeah... you're right. I do get a little carried away with these kinds of things." He laughed nervously, him rubbing the back of his head.

"That's okay. I actually like that about you." He said that with no regrets, hinting towards something. He started to open the bag that Tenya had given him, prepared to fill it up.

Izuku's face flushed again, "What!? Ah! You keep making me flustered, Sho..."

He raised an eyebrow, "Is that a bad thing?"

"H-Huh? N-no! Uhm... shoot I said that out loud UHMMMM... I should probably stop talking...."

"Please don't stop talking. Like I said, the sound of your voice is soothing."

"You didn't say that!!!" He was covering his face now, but still tried to see where Shoto was so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd.

"I didn't? Oh. Well then I guess now you're hearing it." He turned left, going from the town square to the marketplace.

He scurried to follow him, still not sure why he was saying the things that he was. "You're a little more open today.... is there a reason for that...?" He started fiddling with his gloves, just a usual gesture he did.

His lips were upturned, indicating that he had something nice in mind. "Maybe."

"Erhm.... uhm...."

"Is something the matter?"

"S-sorry... it's nothing...." He tried to change the subject, looking around. "T-there! That's perfect to go shopping at!"

The prince directed his gaze to where Izuku had been pointing. It was a small shop that had fresh produce as well as some foods that could be easily preserved. "There?"

He nodded his head rather fast, "Y-yeah! And then we can get bread after! How does that sound?"

"It sounds good." He then noticed more people had started to group up, and now really wanted to make sure the greenette stayed close. Before he got stuck in the middle of a few groups, Shoto took his hands, pulling him back over. "Be careful. We don't want to get spilt up, even if it is just a market."

"Oh thank you, Sho!" He then noticed that the half and half male had taken his hand, and now his face turned redder than the tomatoes in the food carts nearby. He covered his face with his unoccupied hand, looking away, not wanting the prince to catch onto him.

Shoto looked at him, seemingly already knowing at least a little bit of something. He cleared his throat, "You're welcome. But hey, maybe you should look ahead, you don't want to get stuck again."

He nodded, slowly turning his head. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It's okay, Deku. It's just Shoto. If you keep acting like this, you'll scare him away! You don't want that! You want him to fall in lov— no! Idiot, what are you thinking?? He is engaged! You can't just do that... but maybe if I get him to— WHAT NO!! He smacked himself on the head, trying to stop his thoughts. But then again if I tried hard enough... HAHAH NO STOP IT! But what if... ARRGGHH!!!

"....are you okay?" Shoto had stopped walking over to the shop, and started to get concerned for the knight who would constantly change his expression from calm thinking to clutching his head.

He snapped out of it, "AH!! SORRY! I WAS THINKING!! I MEAN NEVERMIND PAY NO ATTENTION TO ME!!" He yelled really loud, and now everyone in the marketplace had their eyes on him.

"Izuku, it's okay. You don't need to panic." He tried to help Izuku to lower his volume, wanting the judgemental stares of the people to die down.

Someone back in the crowd hadn't stopped, her gaze on the tall prince. She was hit with realization, "He's.... Uh oh... I can't tell Yaoyorozu.... Or wait should I tell her... crap... uhm... I gotta go." She sighed. This was something she had anticipated, but hadn't actually expected it to happen. The female jogged off, continuing further North to reach the castle she had departed from a day before.

"Sorry... I really need to calm down." Izuku laughed nervously, trying to stop himself from breaking down again.

"Am I the one making you panic?" Shoto raised an eyebrow, and was genuinely concerned whether or not he did something wrong.

"N-no! Of course not! I'm sorry, I just panic a lot... it's just a bad habit of mine." He looked down sadly, thinking that the prince was sad because of him.

"It's not a bad habit. Look I'm just worried, okay?" He gently took the greenette's cheek into his hand, holding it there as comfort. "And if something does bother you, please tell me."

OH MY GOODNESS, HE'S SO CLOSE! Wait he's been closer than this... BUT STILL! His hand is so gentle I— Stupid! That's what he was thinking in his head, but in reality, his eyes were swirled and his face was now glowing with blush.

He smiled and patted Izuku's head, "Now come on, we should go shopping before we stay in this same situation for too long."

The greenette shook himself up, and nodded, thinking that he should try and stop letting every little thing get to his head. That, of course, wasn't going to work, since it was very easy to fluster him more than anything. However, he knew that he should at least try to be his best around Shoto. He inhaled again, looking up at him, trying to calm himself down as they began to go shopping for goods.

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