This week's song title isn't Oh Wonder :0, it's actually from Halsey song.

So, uh, my school cancelled classes for a month because of the coronavirus. That's just wild to me, but I guess it gives me some time to write? It's a very strange world we're living in right now.

The maid didn't speak as she braided his hair. She was stiff, careful, skillful. Impersonal. She was here to do her job and nothing else. She knew better. He sympathized with her.

Shouto didn't say anything in return, staring down at his hands to avoid his reflection and the woman behind him. They were red from the chill in the air.

He could still remember the feeling of Izuku's hands on his. How gently he had touched him after Shouto had been so stupid.

He shouldn't have told him. He should know better.

He dug his fingernails in his palms.

"Your Highness?" Shouto looked up slowly at the question, meeting the woman's gaze in the mirror. "Is this alright?"

The prince tore his eyes from her, feeling mechanical gazing at his own reflection. His hair was pinned back in a braided bun, bangs falling in his face. The scar tore across his face, interrupted the snow-colored skin with a charred red. His uniform was red with black accents, little coal buttons and charcoal lines.

"Yes." He answered, staring into his own eyes. "Thank you." He added at the end. He always tried to thank them, he knew no one else did.

"Your crown?" She asked, gesturing to the table in front of him. The prince looked down at the offender.

Black, gunmetal spirals rose from the frame. Rubies and scarlet diamonds were encrusted in the metal. A crown made of thorns.

Shouto hated it with a passion, but swallowed his thoughts and nodded. He had to wear it for these sorts of events, a stupid formality.

The maid reached forward, taking it and setting it atop his hair. She took out more pins, stabbing each one into his hair to keep it in place. She was trying to be gentle, but each one just felt like another push toward his demise.

She nodded, backing away from his chair and bowing. Her crimson skirt curled around her legs. "Have a nice party, my prince." She said, standing straight and disappearing out the door.

How ironic, Shouto mused, leaning back with a sigh. He stared up at his bedroom ceiling, tracing the intricate crown molding with his eyes.

He hated these damn parties.

"Excited?" Touya asked, leaning against the corridor wall and putting wrinkles in his black clothes. It looked like the maids had tried to lighten his scars, but to avail. They were still striking against his brother's light skin.

Fuyumi wore a red, medium-length dress. Her ice runes wrapped around her wrists in pale symbols. She wrung her hands anxiously, giving Shouto a small smile before she looked back to the tall doors where chatter seeped through. Natsuo looked more irritated about the situation than anyone else. He had a strong dislike for formal clothes. His arms were crossed over his chest and he absentmindedly picked at the stitched of one of his dark sleeves.

On each of their heads was a similar crown of dark metal. Each one was of various heights and builds, built by the same designer when each of their births were announced. They were all similar enough to linked them in their blood and status. No mistakes were made about where the four of them belonged.

"Stoked." Shouto answered, pausing in between Natsuo and Fuyumi. "What are we waiting for?"

"The asshole himself." Natsuo answered. "This is his stupid party and he's late."

"Natsuo!" Their sister scolded.

"Yeah!" Touya agreed, causing Fuyumi to raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Don't you know this party is for Shouto?"

The youngest prince rolled his eyes, glancing at the door. The kingdom's crest was engraved offensively in the wood.

He heard the distant sound of women talking. A familiar stiffness made its home under his skin. Shouto found these sort of things the worst, when they had to play the picture perfect family. At larger galas he could at least hide away from his family and disappear in the crowd. Here, however, everything always was perfect and if it wasn't, someone would pay for it later.

The heavy footsteps interrupted whatever his siblings were talking about and silence washed over them. His father appeared in his usual flaming glory. Sentinels followed him, dressed in charcoal black.

He didn't say a word to anyone, but walked past them and paused for them to fall into place and a pair of sentinels to open the doors. Shouto stood on his father's left on the other side of Natsuo. Their faces were stone, misleading. Even Fuyumi's unease had vanished, replaced by something hollow.

"Please rise for the Todoroki Royal Family." Some voice announced from somewhere in the room.

Shouto directed his attention to the ballroom before him. Late morning light filtered through the ceiling tall windows. Scarlet curtains hung at each one and the sparkling chandeliers clinked in tune with the sound of chairs moving and people moving to their feet.

A long table was in the center of the room, Shouto could identify each of the families that stood, linked by appearance and cloth. He had been forced to memorize all the members when he was younger, his duty as their prince. He avoided their eyes, staring at a floor tile instead.

The end of the table was vacant, five spots left empty for them. His father sat at the head and they filled in the rest of the spots. Shouto put his hand on the chair, fingernails digging into the wood.

"Please, sit. I would like to thank you for coming today." His father said, the ghost of a smile on his face.

Fake.

"As many of you know, in less than two months, my youngest son, Shouto, will be picking his fiancée. We're all eagerly looking forward to his choice." The prince felt everyone's eyes assessing him. He had to force a humble smile to his face. Honestly, he felt throwing up. "Today, however, he is still very much available."

There was scattered, polite laughter. That's all he was, a prize. A pawn.

Another step closer to the crown.

"I hope everything else is to everyone's expectations and without further ado, let us eat." The king sat as the servants emerged from the surrounding doors. Soon their plates and glasses were full.

Shouto poked at his food weakly. He didn't have an appetite, not with everyone's attention on him. He didn't dare look up, pretending to be incredibly interested in the food he didn't want. At least here he was still linked to his family, somewhat protected by his older siblings, but once the food was swept away, he'd have no where to run.

The second their plates were collected and the chairs were pushed in, Shouto was surrounded. It wasn't just the girls, but sometimes their parents as well. Mothers were especially pushy, shoving their daughters forward with knowing smiles and fluttering eyelashes.

He liked dinner parties better. At least then he could claim exhaustion and escape to his bedroom without raising too many eyebrows. He couldn't exactly say he was tired at one in the afternoon, even though he most definitely was.

There was an assault of questions. How was the food? How are you? How is your life? He struggled to answer something, just to pretend like he was listening, but he couldn't force the words out.

The prince felt fingertips touch his left wrist and he jerked away from the offender. She was honey colored, looking bashful at being caught. Another girl in purple scoffed on his other side.

Shouto gripped his wrist, the runes nearly searing through his sleeve.

"My apologies, Your Highness. I just thought-" She began, but he shoved past her.

"Excuse me." He gritted, hands clinched as he walked away. Shouto headed toward the balcony, the chill welcoming him. He noticed his father's glare as he walked past him, but the prince ignored him.

He needed air. The pressure was building around him, burning him alive. The crown he wore felt heavy. He wanted to take it off and toss it into the snow below him.

The prince sighed deeply, gripping the railing as he was finally left alone. The balconies were usually open for parties like this, but no one besides him had braved the cold today. Shouto welcomed the isolation, staring out at the frozen city below.

The icy wind tossed his hair, the pieces that escape his bun curling in front of his face. The distant roofs were snow covered, trees bare and frozen. It wasn't snowing, but it must have last night. The prince let go of the railing, relaxing slightly. He couldn't identify Izuku's home from the little white outlines. Shouto absentmindedly wished he was with him instead of here, surrounded by green instead of smoke.

"Your Highness?" Shouto stiffened, disappointed by the interruption. She walked up to him, pausing at the railing at his side. "It's pretty, hm?"

Shouto stole a glance, recognizing her easily. Her family was well known, popular in the court and in the people's eyes. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail, a few pieces of her bangs falling on one side of her face. Her dress was long-sleeved but low cut and he took note of the dark runes painted across her collarbone. Creation magic.

In her hand she held two glasses and she offered one to him like a peace offering. "It's water. You look like you need something stronger though." He didn't take it.

"I'm fine, Lady Yaoyorozu." The prince said curtly. She tilted her head, but set the other glass aside within his reach and took a sip of hers. Some of her red lipstick colored the edge. He frowned at her. "Do you need something?"

"Is that you asking if I'm going to try flirt with you?" Yaoyorozu hummed. "The answer is no, by the way. I'm not interested in the crown, nor you in that way. No offense."

"Why not?" Shouto asked blatantly. He watched her suspiciously.

The woman gestured behind her where a smaller girl stood by the door. She was dressed in the same colors as the Yaoyorozu family, a personal servant according the uniform. Her dark hair was chopped in a line at her shoulders and there were heavy lines of makeup below her eyes. She smiled at Yaoyorozu thinly, straightening her back.

"I'm already taken." The noble woman answered.

"Oh." Shouto said, blinking at the two of them. Surely something forbidden, but Yaoyorozu seemed shameless. He wondered how much her family knew.

"I was curious about something else, though." She continued. Shouto raised his eyebrows and she lowered her voice even though there was no one else around. "Midoriya's Apothecary. You visit there, often?"

He glanced back to the distant sounds of the party, panicked. "How do you-"

"I saw you." Yaoyorozu cut him off. She tilted back her glass, giving him a small smile. "It's a cute place, right?"

Dread filled the prince. He was too obvious, too stupid.

He didn't know Yaoyorozu and she certainly had no loyalty to him. She wasn't even interested in guilting him into marriage. Shouto counted in his head how many seconds it would take for her to walk up to his father, the words to leave her mouth and the click of her heels on the tile. He wondered how long it'd take him to jump from this balcony.

"What do you want?" He hissed through his teeth. The woman looked surprised from the aggression in his tone.

"Nothing." She argued. "I was jus- oh." Her dark eyes flickered toward the party. "King Enji doesn't know, does he?"

"Surely you're familiar how our kind of families work."

"Your kind." She corrected. "My family doesn't care where I go, nor who I spend my time with." She tilted her head discreetly toward her servant. "Kyoka certainly wouldn't be here if they did."

"How lucky."

"I don't want anything from you." Yaoyorozu sighed. "I only brought it up because you seemed stressed in there and I thought it was something we could talk about that wasn't marriage, since you don't seem too fond of that."

Shouto was still suspicious, but he ignored it for her sincere expression. "It's not that I don't want to get married. I just...don't want to marry any of them."

"Ah." The woman set aside her glass. "I see. Midoriya's very nice, from what I've seen of him."

Shouto felt his face heat, hoping it didn't look like anything more than the cold. From Yaoyorozu's smile, it did. "It's not like that." He mumbled.

"Right." She laughed. "Well, either way, if you ever just want to talk about it not being like that, my family's estate isn't far." She patted his arm, turning back to the open doors. Her shadow, Kyoka, she had said, followed a few steps behind her, but Yaoyorozu easily closed the distance as they rejoined the party.

Shouto stared at her back, disappearing into the party's crowds. He flexed his fingers, looking down to make sure they were still there. He couldn't feel them. His breath clouded his vision, the prince blinked a few times, imaginary snowflakes falling.

It took him too long, he'd get punished later. He was tired of being perfect.

The prince walked back into the party, feeling numb.

He was a ghost among the living.

Everything ached.

Shouto winced as he finally fell into bed, hugging his ribs. He hoped nothing was broken. His father went far, but usually not that far. He had been furious, but Shouto had expected that. Even as he braced through the pain, he couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

No one could piss off his father quite like he could.

The prince breathed slowly, staring up at the ceiling and ignoring the pulsing in his head. The left side of his face hurt more, a bruise forming under his scar. No one would notice the new wound, too distracted by the old offender, the king knew that. Everything else was hidden under his burned clothes. It'd be a waste of cloth if they didn't have the money to spare.

It couldn't be anywhere near time for dinner, but Shouto wanted to sleep. Everything felt hazy, blinking lazily up at the ceiling. The winter sunlight was nauseating.

He wanted to disappear.

There was a hesitant knock at his door. He didn't move. If it was a servant, they'd come back later. They all gossiped about what happened in their family, they knew better than to bother him.

"Shouto?" Not a servant. The prince huffed, then winced. He hoped she didn't hear that. "Can I come in?"

Maybe if he was quiet, she'd leave him alone, too.

She waited a minute, then said in a sterner tone, "Shouto, let me in."

"Please leave me alone."

She knocked again. "Shouto."

Against his better judgement, he grumbled to himself and sat up, pushing himself off his bed and crossing his bedroom to open the door. Shouto leveled his sister with a glare. "I'm fine."

Fuyumi was still dressed in her day gown, a wooden box in her hands. She gave him an unconvinced look. "Let me in."

"There's no need."

Before he could block her, her hand reached up and pressed against his cheekbone. The prince hissed, swatting her hand and backing away. His sister took the opening, pushing the door open wider and welcoming herself inside.

"He always hits you there." She said, tone softer than it was before. "Sorry."

"It's not a big deal." He could deal with it on his own, he was used to it.

"I can still patch you up anyway, since I know you won't let the maids do it." She answered. His sister set the box on his bed beside her and patted for him to sit. "Come on. Take your shirt off."

Shouto stared at her for a moment and the princess stared back. She wasn't as commanding as the rest of them, but she had a regal sort of stubbornness that allowed her to win any argument he had ever had with her. He sighed, eventually bending and shoving off his shirt, gritting his teeth through the pain.

The box was a collection of medical supplies she must have taken from the hospital wing of the castle. Whether she stole it or it was given, he didn't know. He didn't miss her frown when she looked at his burns, but she didn't say anything else, simply digging in the box and pressing her hand to the worst spot across his ribs. Her runes glowed and the air grew colder.

She looked the most like their mother, with ice colored hair and storm colored eyes. She was quiet like Mom, patient like she used to be. She fell into her role easily. When he was younger, he thought it was simply because they looked alike. Now he wondered if she enjoyed caring for them, or if she did it purely because no one else would if she didn't.

"Why did you do that today?" Fuyumi eventually asked, so interesting in the bandage she was wrapping that she didn't meet his eyes. "You knew what would happen."

"I couldn't stand it. I had to get out." He answered truthfully.

She laughed, short and bitter. "Shouto, you're going to go too far someday."

"I don't really care. He won't kill me."

She paused, pushing up her glasses. His burn stung where she touched it and he sucked in a breath. Finally, his sister spoke again. "You don't know that."

"You don't understand what it's like, you can go as you please." Shouto pushed. "It's not the same for you."

"I have an arranged marriage just like you." She argued.

"It's not the same. You're not stuck here."

Fuyumi sighed, staring at her current work.

It wasn't the same. She was engaged to the crown prince of Ingenium, had been since they were teenagers. Their father was wanted his children in as many foreign royalties as he could get and daughters were easier to bargain than sons. He was unlucky in that respect. They would get married when Prince Tensei was frowned king, then she'd have no responsibilities here anymore.

She visited Ingenium sometimes. When she returned home, she always seemed different those first few days when she returned. Like she had tasted a little of the outside world, but had been yanked back into the dark before she could escape. Eventually, she would be free, while Shouto would rot in these walls.

"I don't want anything to happen to you." She said.

"I think that ship has sailed."

"I mean something serious." The princess stated. "You're being reckless, more than usual lately...I just- I don't want- I-I don't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to Mom."

He stiffened, assaulted by the words. No one brought up her anymore, no one dared. Shouto looked at her, surprised to find his sister staring back. She looked concerned, frustrated. She wanted say more, but bit her tongue.

"I can't do this." He said, barely above a whisper. "There has to be some way out, I don't want to spend my entire life like this- feeling like this."

She gave him a strained smile. "If there was a way out, wouldn't one of us would have found it by now? This is simply what we were born into. There's nothing we can do."

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