Shoto and Izuku had been sitting at the fountain for a few hours. The both of them had gotten lost in each other's comments, though one was constantly getting nervous, and the other was constantly getting confused.

It wouldn't be best to stay there, and Izuku knew that. He tried to remember what was being held in this town. He then gasped, and looked at the other male with a look of excitement. "There's still a few more things we can do here! I heard that there was a small festival going on on the other end of town. If that's something you want to do that is." He was feeling a bit nervous to ask this of the prince, especially since it would be like a small date. He began to twiddle his fingers, his cheeks rosy as he waited for a response.

The prince wiped his face with the cloth that was provided to him. "Festival...?" He tilted his head, unsure as to what that was exactly.

"That's right! You've never been to one before. I really need to remember these things..." he muttered that last sentence but returned back to normal volume, as he attempted to get him to comply. "SHOOOOOOOO!!! LET'S GO!!! I PROMISE YOU'LL LOVE IT!! BASICALLY THERE'S FOOD AND OTHER STUFF THAT I CAN'T EXPLAIN BUT LIKE... FOOD!!!"

The prince had something else on his mind, contemplating something in his head. It wasn't thought through, but he thought maybe it would work if he just went with it. He wasn't paying much attention to Izuku's words, until the greenette caught him off guard and started to take his arm and shake it aggressively.

"PLEEAASSEEEE????" He started making puppy dog eyes, as if he was a toddler trying to make his parents buy him candy.

Shoto pat the greenette's head and stood up, making the shorter male snap out of his weird little kiddish moment, and look up in confusion. The prince began to stretch up his arms, reaching up towards the sky. "Come on then. We don't want to miss it, right?" He held out a hand, gesturing for Izuku to take it.

The knight blinked, but he then began to grin stupidly. H-he wants my hand? Our first step to marriage! ....Whelp I'm just going to pretend I didn't just think that.... He looked up awkwardly at Shoto and took his hand, "YEAH LET'S NOT MISS IT!!! I promise, I'll make it worth all the while!" He quickly stood up, beginning to drag the other male away as fast as he could.

He tried not to stumble on anything, though it was a bit hard since he was being dragged off. He wanted to ask Izuku something, but the knight was occupied at the moment. He shrugged the thought off for now, hoping that he would remember it later when he could bring it up.

The greenette turned the corner. First right, then left, then right again, until they manoeuvred completely out of the way of the marketplace and to the festival plaza. Shoto looked around. Everywhere he looked there were small stands with different varieties of food. There was a lot of noise too, but not the kind of noise that Shoto dreaded. Usually when he thought of the word, he would think of his father shouting his name, the voice echoing with every letter. He shuddered at the thought.

He returned to the present, not wanting to think about his father at the moment. Mostly because he was wondering what he would think if he knew what was on his mind at the moment. If he knew what his intentions were from this point on. If he had disobeyed him and started a war. He looked at Izuku. All his doubt and worries fade away whenever he looks at him. It was almost like magic to him. Just his presence made it seem like there was nothing to worry about. It made him feel fuzzy and warm, and he started to give a small side smile at a thought he had.

Izuku had still been holding onto his hand, looking for something that he should have the prince try first. He was humming a small song to himself, as he watched the happy children with their parents, all laughing and hanging out. It warmed his heart, but as soon as he saw a few couples laughing and messing with each other, he frowned a bit, his gaze trailing to Shoto for a split second. He wondered what it would be like to share moments like that with him. He sighed, telling himself that something so unrealistic could ever happen to someone as plain and simple as him.

The greenette then tried to shake himself off. He really wanted to tell himself not to think about the downside of everything, but it was kind of hard for him since he constantly second guessed his decisions. He tried to think nothing of his feelings, which didn't seem to work, but instead made it worse. He turned toward a small stand, which had been decorated with silk in different shades of rose. On top of the pleated sheet was fragile porcelain teapots, complemented with small designs of cherry blossoms and even some with waves. There were also some tea cups placed nicely on their saucers. He gaped a bit. These were really fancy and pretty compared to the dishes he had at his small home back at the Land of Lightning. He wondered how expensive these must have been.

Shoto noticed that the knight had been trailing off, and tried to follow his gaze. He noticed his expression was in awe while staring at the shiny porcelain bowls. He turned his head, directly his icy eyes back at the smaller male, "Did something catch your attention?" He asked that, but he already knew what he had been focused on.

Izuku turned around, his eyes seeming to beam with excitement. "Shoto! Shoto! Look! Look! Look at all those pretty bowls! And teapots! And teacups! Aren't they pretty, Shoto????"

The prince decided to look back at the table, his gaze trailing along every set of china. He shuddered when he looked at the teapot, recalling an incident with his mother...

"Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho!" Izuku managed to snap the taller male out of his trance, as he was jumping up and down, his curls bouncing along with him. "What about that vase? It's sooo big! And such a pretty shade of blue! Just like your left eye!"

"Yeah. It is the same color as my eye." He looked at the vase that Izuku had been referring to. It looked exactly like the one that he had seen his mother put bouquets of flowers in time after time. "Back at the castle, I always had porcelain dishes and a vase that looked quite similar to that one. It's not really anything new to me, but your excitement shows me that you've never been to a dinner with a royal family before. Is that correct?"

It was true. Even after being invited countless times to a dinner with King All Might, the knight would always refuse. He wanted to put time in to spend time with his mother, especially after long days of training. He wondered how his mother was holding up, especially since he had already been gone for five whole days, and five more to come. Now he started to worry. Maybe he should have returned home before setting off on this long journey. Would his mother be upset with him? He trembled at the thought. He meekly replied, "Y-yeah... I never got to even eat with A-All Might."

Shoto put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Maybe one day, you and I can have dinner together back at the Land of Fire. You know, when this whole mission is over, and the both of us don't have to worry about the arranged marriage anymore."

"...You won't forget about me even when you're a king...?" He stopped trembling, and began to tilt his head, his chin still angled up to look at Shoto's alluring features.

The prince gently placed a hand on the smaller male's cheek, and started to graze his thumb across his many freckles. "Of course not. I will make it my mission to keep you by my side, for as long as I can. Because I care about you more than anything."

Izuku's face became red. No one had ever said that to him, especially since he was always deemed as plain, and sometimes not even good enough. He looked down, but then forced his posture to be stiff and upright, "U-uh th-thank you, Sh-Shoto! I-I... I..." His eyes began to water, and tears began to roll down his face.

The half and half male froze. Seeing another person crying wasn't something that he witnessed before. "Uhm... are you okay? Please tell me you're okay... usually when someone cries it's not good."

The knight hadn't even realized that he was crying as much as he was. It was kind of uncontrollable, but it was pretty normal for him. "I-It's fine...! I-I p-promise.... J-just th-thank you...!" He smiled a shaky smile, as he attempted to use his white sleeves to prevent them from falling any more.

Shoto pat his head, unsure how to give him comfort, "I... you're welcome then? I'm confused. What did I do?"

The greenette managed to stop himself from drenching his sleeves in tears any further. He sniffled, his face a bit puffy from all the crying. "E-everything.... N-now come on, we have so much more to do!" He then began to look around again, his head turning quickly. "There!" he said, before taking Shoto's arm and running off toward another stand.

When they finally stopped in front, he raised an eyebrow. He was a bit confused as to what this stand was for, since there wasn't much on the table. The silk that was draped over the counter was white, patterned with both the emblem of the Land of Fire and of the Land of Earth.

Izuku looked at him, "Hey, look this stand is special! Right here! Here we can write something to each other, but we can't open it until we've taken a big step in life. I once went to one of these when I was little with my mother. We wrote one before I enrolled to become a knight, and we opened it when All Might accepted me as his apprentice, though I had no experience whatsoever. But I want to do this with you... see where life takes us! And see what we both said to each other before the big step."

He saw how much Izuku seemed to really want to do this with him, so naturally, he accepted without a second thought. "Okay. How do we do it then?"

His face brightened, and he turned toward the person running the stand, quickly asking them for two small kits. The owner kindly complied, and handed the greenette small boxes, two pens, two small sheets of parchment paper, and two red silk ribbons, to tie them up once finished.

He turned around, handing Shoto one of the kits. "Here! Now go ahead and write down what you want to say! B-but don't show me, it's supposed to be a surprise!" He giggled, and ran over to a bench, waiting for Shoto to find somewhere to settle down and write. Shoto couldn't help but smile a bit, but he decided to stay on the table since it would be easier to write.

At the same time, their pens touched the paper, writing down the same single sentence, without hesitation.

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