The heavy breathing boy didn't seem to be in good shape when he came across the tents on top of the mountain. So much that his hyperventilating and grunting woke up the young knight girl, and she peeked outside her tent to assess the situation.

When she saw him waddling over to Shoto's tent, she went into full protection mode, even forgetting about her armor, only taking her halberd, and lunged in front of the tent.

"Excuse me! Who are you?" she demanded, pointing her weapon at him.

"You.. don't need.. to know," huffed the man. The bottom of his red cape dragged against the dirt. Sweat beaded on his chest and bracelets littered his wrist. His ash blonde hair was unkempt but sparked her interest.

"You won't get near the Prince."

"Prince? What fuckin' Prince? I'm here to ta.. to kill the damn dragon on this mountain. I don't know anything about no goddamn Prince."

"Oh." (Y/n) tilted her head and lowered her halberd. "Then you need some rest. Dragons are no joke," she said as she lowered her arms.

"Like hell I do," the man sneered.

"What's your name?"

He stared. "Bakugo. And I don't give a shit about your name, so don't say it."

"Ok. Do you want a tent or something Bakugo?"

"No. FUCK. Yo-"

He didn't finish his sentence before passing out. (Y/n) rushed over to him and noticed a shallow cut on his back. It looked like some kind of branch had sliced him. She sighed and placed her halberd down on the ground.

Shoto stepped out of his tent and didn't expect to see (Y/n) laying over a bleeding man.

"Was he just another attempt at assassinating me?"

"No, he says he's here to exterminate the dragon on this mountain, but he got hurt while coming up..."

Shoto squatted next to him. "We can't afford to take in people now," he said.

"He was a bit of an asshole, so I don't really mind. But we can't just leave him bleeding like this," (Y/n) countered. Then she panicked. "Uh- well of course, it's not my choice-"

"Bandage him," Shoto said and turned around. "It's not my choice either, so.. just do what you think is right."

(Y/n) smiled at him as he began to walk back to his tent, feeling a bit of butterflies in her stomach. Then she diverted her attention to the bleeding angry man on the floor.

She felt him twitch. Then, he got up, smiled and lunged at the Prince, holding a pocket knife.

Bakugo didn't get even halfway through closing the distance between them before (Y/n)'s halberd was aimed in between Bakugo's eyes. "I knew that you were here for the Prince."

The blonde smirked. "Nah. But I wanted to see if you'd actually protect your little Prince," he said, and stepped away from the halberd. "I'm still here for that damn dragon, so toss me a bandage and I'll take care of my damn self."

"If you insist," (Y/n) growled, picking up the bag she was about to use to nurse him back to health and threw a wad of bandages at his face, which he caught.

Shoto scoffed. "So you're trying to be rid of the dragon? It's true then?"

"Of fuckin' course. Are you stupid or something?"

"Don't speak to the Prince like that," (Y/n) demanded.

"He obviously doesn't like being treated like a Prince, so shut the fuck up already," Bakugo said and angrily wrapped the bandages around himself, throwing the rest on the ground.

(Y/n) sighed. Maybe he was right.

"I think it'd be best for all of us to not have a dragon on this mountain. Let us join you in killing it," Shoto said.

"No."

"You'll die alone," Shoto insisted.

Bakugo was about to say something, probably a refusal again, but first he looked down at their wrists. "I was about to consider, but never mind. You don't have anything to even fucking defend yourselves with. You'll die and I don't need two deadweights by my side. Is that a good enough reason for you?"

"I have a halberd!" (Y/n) exclaimed and raised her weapon. "And Prince Shoto has a sword that he is very skilled with. What are you talking about?"

"You call those weapons?!" Bakugo laughed. "Against a dragon, those kind will serve no purpose."

Shoto hummed. "So those charms on your wrists are what you call reliable weapons against a dragon?"

"Fuck yeah. It's all I need."

"Then we'll be going back to sleep. Come (Y/n)," Shoto said, turning back to his tent.

(Y/n) stammered as Bakugo growled and turned away as well, muttering something to himself.

(Y/n) wasn't exactly against the idea of not fighting a dragon, considering her deathly fear of them, but she was definitely willing to fight one for Shoto's sake. But now that he changed his mind, she saw no point, and so, she went back to her tent.

The next morning. It's sunny on the mountain yet a bit cold. Shoto is the first to awake and is also the one to be (Y/n)'s makeshift alarm clock.

"Already...?" (Y/n) yawned. "I had the weirdest dream. Some asshole came talking about how he was going to slay a dragon and then he- Oh, wait."

Shoto nodded. "It's more than real. Come, you wanted to spar, correct?"

"Spar? A-Already?!" (Y/n) laughed nervously. "Well, I just woke up and-"

"So did I," said Shoto. The darkness under his eyes and his messy hair supported his statement. (Y/n) thought he looked pretty good like this. "There's actually a few hours before sunrise, but I couldn't sleep.. besides, fights are not planned. You must be ready for any situation. We can go back to sleep after this, if you'd like."

"Well..." She sighed. "Of course my- Um, I mean.. I guess so. Let's do it."

Shoto nodded. "Then, come whenever you're ready. But no longer than ten minutes. And no armor."

(Y/n) used those ten minutes to mentally prepare herself, although she knew that not even ten days would be enough to fight Shoto. She wondered, why had she ever proposed this idea?

She finally stepped out, to see Shoto impatiently tapping his foot against the grass.

"Finally," he said.

(Y/n) fiddled with her halberd. "Are you sure it's ok to-"

"Come at me with everything you've got," Shoto demanded. He took off his jacket and the blouse he had underneath.

(Y/n) took a deep breath. She tried so desperately hard to look anywhere, anywhere but his bare chest.

She lunged, aiming for the Prince's shoulder, and her halberd clashed against Shoto's sword instead. He was forced back as she swung three times.

"You're too aggressive, focus on defense," Shoto said. "It can get you killed in a real battle." He jumped back far out of her reach. (Y/n) didn't follow this time and waited for him to advance.

Shoto took the offensive turn. (Y/n) almost tripped after being pushed by Shoto's sword. "Your footwork is sloppy," Shoto said, and (Y/n) gulped. She focused on how and where she stepped, and adjusted her style to Shoto's criticism. She found herself flowing nicely within a few more seconds.

After a few easy blocks, Shoto said, "Your grip was fine before. Now it's way too tight."

(Y/n) loosened her grip; she hadn't even noticed how tightly she was holding her halberd. Shoto swung his sword once again, nearing the knight's neck. Just as it was about to cut her, she held her halberd up in defense just after Shoto swung upwards instead. "You fall for feints too easily."

She was sweating and Shoto was too. She couldn't help but stare right back at his bare upper body as the two took some breathers.

"Look at my sword as I swing, not at me," Shoto said.

"I-I wasn't-" (Y/n) stammered but was cut off by an attack. She looked away, holding her halberd against Shoto's sword, pushing each other. They were caught in a blade lock, and (Y/n) knew better than to stay in one in a battle. It never ended well.

"You've always had a habit of looking at me," Shoto continued. He deliberately drew out the lock.

"Wha... Well, don't I kinda.. have to for my job..?"

Shoto's pushes seemed to get harder to sustain against. "Not in that way. Obviously."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," (Y/n) said and shut her eyes, focusing all of her strength on pushing her halberd forward. He's just trying to distract her! She fought against her own thoughts more than she was fighting against Shoto.

"If you keep pushing, my sword will break," Shoto said. "So what will you do?"

The knight knew that wouldn't happen, and that it was just a distraction. Everything about Shoto was one big distraction. She felt a lump in her throat and a cramp forming in her leg. She was beginning to lose her balance.

"Just give it up."

(Y/n) growled and pushed a bit harder before forcing herself out of the blade lock. She swung one last time near his face, catching him off guard for once, but stopped short, unable to follow through with it. Instead, she ducked and attempted to trip the Prince. She didn't expect him to know exactly what she was planning, and jumped backwards just as she swung her foot under him.

"Smart," Shoto commended her. He pushed the tip of his sword into the dirt.

"Not as smart as you, Prince," (Y/n) said sarcastically with a chuckle.

"I noticed how you couldn't go through with that last swing. You must fix that in a real battle. Remember the things I pointed out, knight."

"Knight?" (Y/n) mumbled. "I don't like how that sounds."

"Then don't call me Prince," Shoto insisted like a little kid.

(Y/n) frowned. "Ok. Todoroki?"

"Shoto."

"Sorry. It just feels a bit weird, you know." (Y/n) coughed. "Ok.. Shoto. Sho-to. Phft. Feels like I'm committing a taboo or something. But it feels nice too. Thank you."

The teenage boy smiled. Actually, it was more of a slight curl of the lips which immediately fell down, but (Y/n) counted it as a smile.

"You look like you haven't gotten much rest so far," he said with worry.

"Of course not," (Y/n) sighed. "With all that dragon business.."

"Then sleep a bit longer," Shoto said. "I can.. attempt to get some food." He picked up his blouse and jacket and put them on, much to (Y/n)'s dismay, and holstered his sword.

Just as the knight was going to respond, they heard a familiar voice exclaim. "FUCKING DAMNIT!"

The two spun their heads around to see Bakugo, his cape tattered, his wound reopened and a fresh one across his arm, and it looked like a bite mark.