It was the dead of night. The sound his horses hooves as they clomped against the earth echoed in his mind, repeated over and over like a count down to his fate. He had pushed his horse hard to get here this quickly, but as soon s his destination was in sight, his heart felt heavy with trepidation. He slowed his horse to a gallop, then a trot, until he was just outside the door. He remained seated upon his horse, indecision weighing on him, until the wind picked up around him and his bodyguard got his attention.
Todoroki looked over his shoulder to see his Inasa's somber expression as he moved forward to take the reigns. "You haven't much time, my lord. Do you truly want to spend it out here instead of with them?"
Todoroki took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His guard was right, he couldn't really afford this waiting, this hesitating, and yet... He couldn't believe that he was about to do this. He opened his eyes and slowly dismounted. "Please watch over her, Inasa."
"Of course, my lord."
The response was expected. Todoroki was prince, Inasa would always do whatever he was commanded. To this day, he still had no idea how his personal guard felt about what Todoroki had been doing, what he'd come here to do. Perhaps that was his fault. Perhaps it was a fault of his station. And perhaps, even still, it did not currently matter and Todoroki should stop getting lost in his thoughts only to delay the inevitable.
He took a deep breath and he approached the house, using the key hidden under his clothes to let himself in.
The room was dim, lit only by a few torches at the corners of the room. The house was small, had always been so, but Todoroki had not been so aware of it since his first time coming here. Everything was no more than a few paces away. You were never more than a stone's throw away from whatever your eyes might land upon, and it was so very different than life in the palace. It was so very small, comfortable, claustrophobic...easy.
They were sitting around the table toward the back of the room, head's bent together as they spoke, only looking up once they heard his arrival.
Momo looked beautiful as ever, her hair down and cascading over shoulder, wrapped in her thick black cloak. She smiled at him shyly, even now, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear where it had fallen into her face.
Izuku was more nervous. He looked surprised before he looked pleased, and his smile seemed shaky and nervous. It was warm, though. Warm and welcoming. They were both happy to see him.
They might not stay that way for very long.
He closed the door behind him quietly as he moved to the table. Usually he would have greeted them by now, they would have engaged in small talk or banter as Todoroki removed his cloak and hung it by the door, a ritual he'd kept his his first time coming here. Manners ingrained in him since childhood compelling him toward formality rather than comfort. This time he completes the ritual in silence and the deviation alerted them to something being amiss.
Izuku looked to Momo, as if she would be able to discern what was wrong and inform him of it immediately. Momo watching him closely, as if her intention was to do just that. Neither of them spoke, allowing the heavy tension that he'd brought with him into the room to settle like a fog.
Todoroki went to their side, sat across from them at the table, and placed an envelop on the center of the table before them. The white card-stock stood out like a flame and was just as devastating, the thick black lettering mocking in it's simplicity, it's clarity. Izuku visibly flinched at the sight of it. Momo's eyes went wide, looking from it to Todoroki and back again with increasingly obvious heartbreak.
"I'm sorry," he told them softly.
Momo looked as if she would cry, shaking her head and pressing a hand over her mouth. Todoroki desperately wished that she wouldn't. He didn't want what could be his last memory of her to be of her in tears.
Izuku was the one to reach out and touch it, lifting the card up as if he was unwilling to believe it's authenticity before inspecting himself. His tone was flat in a way Todoroki had never heard it before. "A wedding invitation," he said, breaking the stillness of the room. The tension cresting like a wave as Todooki balled his fist beneath the table and Momo flinched and looked away from them both. "You're getting married."
"Father has decided this," Todoroki explained. Even compared to his usual speech, his voice sounded dead even to him. Devoid, like the joy had already been entirely sapped from him. "I am to be married to the Princess of the Kingdom of the West. It's... Politics." There was more he could say, about the hows and the why's, but really, who would that help? Momo was of noble birth herself, she understood political maneuvering, and Izuku... Izuku was smart. He couldn't have thought this would last forever, even if they wanted it to.
"When?" Momo's voice was small as she questioned. She was still turned away from them, sitting half out of her chair so that her back was facing them and her face was hidden. "I can't look at that... Tell me when."
Todoroki looked at Izuku, who was still holding the invitation. When he made no move to speak, Todoroki told her, "Two moons from now."
A wet gasp escaped her. She was definitely crying. Todoroki had never known how to deal with that, but it was even worse now, when there was nothing he could say to make the blow lighter. When part of him wanted to cry, too. "So soon?" she asked weakly. "Why?"
"I think father believes I may try to get out of it and doesn't want to risk allowing me to think on it too long."
"And are you?" Izuku questioned. There was a hope in his voice that wasn't in his eyes. They all knew the answer to that.
"I can't," Todoroki told them. "There's nothing I can do."
"We could run away together!" Izuku said, slamming his hands on the table as he stood. "Like we've talked about. Momo has money, you wouldn't need anything from the palace. I know people, we could go quietly."
Todoroki was already shaking his head to the idea. "People would recognize me. Father would have guards coming to seize me quick as he got word."
"There are dyes and paints that can alter your look," Izuku argued.
Todoroki gestured to his face. "The entire kingdom knows this scar, Izu."
"We can leave the kingdom!" Izuku insisted. "My father found work in the west, I can contact him. I can..."
"Inasa is right outside the door. Do you really think, loyal as he is to my father's kingdom, that he wouldn't try to stop us?"
"We can fight," Izuku said, but his voice was weaker now, losing the passion and vehemence he'd been able to work up. Water dousing a flame. Todoroki, cupping a candle until the light he'd stolen choked without air.
"With what power would you fight?" Todoroki questioned. "And Momo, she never engaged in this type of combat, she wouldn't have the time she needs to back you up."
"You would," Momo whispered. "You could fight Inasa, if you wanted to. You could be the tipping point in any battle we engaged in. But you don't want to fight... Do you?" She finally looked over her shoulder at him, eyes red and tears still in the corners of her eyes. "You don't want to fight for us."
"That's not true-"
"It is!" she yelled. "Because if you wanted to fight, you would."
"I'm a prince-"
"So what!" He had never heard Momo scream before. It rocked him to his core, to see her this way, gentle heart wrenched to pieces because of him. Because of his words, his actions, his...inaction... "You would fight if you wanted to. Look at Izuku. Do you know how disgraced he would have been if anyone had found out that he was dallying with the prince and a noble? Everyone would have had fun of him, accused him of trying fuck his way to a crown. They would have hurled names and insults stacked higher than the crown on your head! But he risked that for us. I snuck money from my coffers to buy this place, so that the three of us could met someone privately and steal very a few moments of happiness once a moon. We've fought for this, Shouto. Why won't you?"
"You knew this couldn't last forever," he admitted quietly. His eyes now set firmly on the table, unable to meet her watery but fierce gaze.
"But it doesn't have to end today," Izuku insisted. He rushed around the table to Todoroki's side, kneeling in front of him and taking Todoroki's face in his hands. "Dear god, Shouto, you want to end it today!"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry!" Izuku insisted. "Fight for us. Please." Izuku's grip on Todoroki's face tightened as his hands began to shake. He looked down as tears fell from his eyes. "Please, please, Shouto. I've never asked you for anything, but don't do this. Don't end this now, today. At least give us time..."
Todoroki placed his hands atop Izuku's, closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to bare witness to the pain he was causing any longer. "I'm sorry."
"Is that all you can say?" Momo questioned harshly.
He felt something thick and heavy trying to stick in his throat. He fought to push his words past it. Father will have me watched every moment until the wedding. I can't."
"You found a way today."
"Only because Inasa was understanding of my telling you goodbye," Todoroki explained. "I wasn't able to get out of his sight all day and it will only get worse. He'll assign more guards to watch me, I'm sure of it."
"Maybe Inasa will understand you coming once more then," she insisted.
He shook his head. "I'm..." he stopped himself from repeating the words again. "It just isn't possible."
Momo stood up. The sound of the chair scrapping against the floor causing him to open his eyes. "You're truly going to do this? To just give up on us as if we were nothing to you?"
"There is nothing more that I can do, Momo."
A rapping came at the door, making them all freeze in place. Todoroki was the first to recover. "That must be Inasa. I have to go."
Izuku renews his grip on Todoroki, clinging to him as he said once more, "Please. I love you, Shouto. We love you. Don't do this." His eyes were large and beseeching and Todoroki had to avoid them altogether to find the strength to strength to rise.
"I love you, too, Izuku. I promise that I do."
"Don't make anymore promises to us," Momo told him. "Not when you're leaving like this. Your love is a brand already, don't sear us further."
Todoroki leaned down to press a kiss to Izuku's lips, which wasn't returned and only caused Izuku to break down into tears as he leaned on his hands and knees. He approached Momo cautious, afraid that she would scorn him, but she held perfectly in place as he approached and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. She leaned into him, tears streaking down his face by the time he pulled away.
"Shouto," she whispered. "I'm begging you, don't leave us behind."
Knowing that his apology would be no good, he only repeated his earlier words. "I love you, Momo."
She closed her eyes and didn't look at him again. Izuku didn't look up from the floor and he sobbed audibly.
Todoroki forced himself to turn away from them to place one foot in front of the other and walk to the door. He hesitated. For a moment, one wild moment, he entertained the idea of doing as they asked of him. Of bursting open the door and fighting Inasa, fleeing into the night and trying to take refuge in the north. Hiding himself behind paints and dyes and hoping, praying, that it would be enough to keep him concealed.
It was a fool's hope though and he knew it. Too much could go wrong and his father wold never forgive him or them. Todoroki wasn't willing to risk exposing his lovers to his father's wrath. This way they would be safe. This way they would have each other.
Todoroki risked one last look at them, burning this heart torn image into his mind, before stepping out of the house.
"Are you done, my lord?" Inasa looked cautious, searching. Either he had their contemplation or he;d been expecting a fight from the start. He didn't get one. Todoroki went to his horse, mounted it, and rode off into the night, back toward the palace.