Noble and Pride [Katsuki Bakugo x Shoto Todoroki]

Chapter 28 : Yamari

"It's a hot weather today isn't it?" Shoto greeted without thinking. 

"...It's fucking winter," Katsuki snarled. 

That was when they meet after exiting each other's room and Shoto didn't waste a second, immediately dashed from Katsuki's sight after realized the nonsense he just said. Katsuki was dumbfounded about what kind of conversation they had. Hot? How the fuck did that half and half call this freezing weather hot? 

Shoto was screwed. Totally. Ever since their confession and their intercourse yesterday, Shoto couldn't keep his chill. He was normal for the day until he saw Katsuki around. Especially when the alpha was shirtless. Fuck! Get a grip on yourself, Shoto! You saw him shirtless every day back then in Ryotatsu so what's the big deal?!  Shoto scolded himself, clasping his hands onto both of his cheeks for him to snap out of it. 

The prince was cleaning the vegetables in the basin when he caught Katsuki was staring. So Shoto didn't look back, simply turned in a different direction to avoid eye contact. The cooking session ended and when Shoto was washing his dishes after they finished having breakfast. Katsuki was next to him again, staring oh so deeply that made Shoto grew flustered and slowly turned to him. 

"What do you want?" Shoto asked, pretended to be calm. 

"Why are you ignoring me, bastard?" 

"I'm not," Shoto was indeed facing Katsuki but obviously, his gaze was on the window behind Katsuki's shoulder rather than the alpha. 

"I'm not stupid," Katsuki chided. "Fucking look at me-" 

"Oh, a cat," Shoto spoke out of blue and left his dishes, quickly went outside which left the ash-blond snapped. "Oi!" Katsuki half yelled. 

Katsuki followed over to see the prince crouched in front of a kitten, hand gently scratching under its neck. Shoto really wished Katsuki didn't follow him but of course, he did anyway. Shoto continued to play with the kitten but after a moment of realizing Katsuki was still behind him, he cleared his throat. "This cat is cute don't you think?"

"Heh. The one acting cute right now is you, halfie," 

Shoto coughed to that, instantly stood from crouching, and patted his pants, in case any dirt from the ground was stuck on it. He was trying really hard to keep his composure right now but his own body keep betraying him. His reddish face was the proof.

"You look red. You good?" Katsuki snickered. 

"I'm- I'm fine. Yes. Why would I not? It's a good day and totally not a hot day. I'm just, you know, sometimes cold can make you red too-" oh, he was just getting weirder the more he spoke. Just shut up, Shoto. Shut the fuck up. Shoto chided himself. 

"Oh my god. You're becoming Deku with all those muttering. Well if you're too cold, I can warm you up," Katsuki took a step closer and that made Shoto's breath hitched. The alpha casually hugged the prince, buried Shoto into his toned chest. This wasn't making Shoto calmer but he grew even worse, he grew further flustered and accidentally, activated his left side as some tiny flames appeared on his hair which made the ash-blond startled. 

"Goddamn. You're too hot, like literally. Are you really-" 

Shoto pushed away from Katsuki and nodded rapidly. "Alright. Yes, I'm alright. My apologies. I'll b-be back later, I wanna look if they sell a certain food I like in this village...you don't have to follow me, Don't worry," Shoto reassured and tried to walk normally into the house, but the speed of his walking pace said otherwise. 

Katsuki was bewildered. This was a new side of Shoto...and he found it amusing, adorable. He chuckled to himself as he watched the omega rushed somewhere else. 

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"Why are you like this, Shoto?" the prince grunted to himself, pinching his cheek hard as a punishment for being a cringe in front of Katsuki. Some passerby wondered to whom he was talking when they saw Shoto. After Shoto get changed to his feminine disguise, he met Ochako at the house entrance and he quite talked about this to her for a short moment. 

"That's normal, Shoto-kun. It's normal to feel like that when you're around someone you like," she giggled. "He won't call you a creep, no worries. You'll get over this soon," 

Soon. Shoto really hoped this will be away very soon. They've had sex...outside to be precise. They were lucky enough to not have anyone saw them. Then why was he so flustered now? Katsuki was only hugging him, was only looking at him, why was he so nervous? Shoto let out a heavy sigh and passed by people at the market, looked over to the stalls if any of them sell noodles. Especially soba. It has been months and Shoto hasn't been able to take a tiny bit of sniff on his heavenly meal. 

His gaze fell on an overly crowded stall and Shoto could sniff delicious food from it. Smells like beef broth and some more ingredients...can it be noodles with beef broth? Shoto tip-toed to look through but gave up after some failed attempt. He looked to the side and something else caught his attention. A person's hand was reaching for a woman's basket and he stole a small pouch from it, which Shoto suspected money. 

"Hey, you!" Shoto exclaimed and that man panicked, quickly escaped with the pouch, and Shoto slightly pushed through the people to go after him. "Stop! You-" 

The prince profusely chased after him, slipped through some people that walked. It was a market area there was filled with a lot of people so it was quite hard to focus both on the thief's direction and to not hit anyone in the way. Shoto was almost bumped into someone's horse, but he quickly dodged and continued his run. Ah damn, if he could use his magic he could have frozen the person's feet since they're now at a street with lesser villagers. Regardless, he can't risk exposing his magic. Especially after knowing who was here too. 

Once they were on a narrow path, Shoto sprinted forward and by each second, he got nearer to the thief and finally caught a clutch of his cloak. The thief attempted to get rid of his grabbed cloak and run away again but Shoto had quickly kicked on his knee, making the thief bend downwards and Shoto swung his leg, hitting the male's head with his boot. 

"You're not going anywhere. Give that to me," Shoto threatened. 

"What? No! You're just an omega, how dare you-" the thief with a visible bruise mark on his cheek after received Shoto's kick instantly got up and tried to attack the prince, which Shoto dodged by moved to his side at a fast speed. He grabbed his shirt by the collar, his foot swung to push the man against the bricked wall and the thief seemed startled. The thief seemed to be struggling, letting out more insults and Shoto grew annoyed, he hit the male's nape with his hand and made the thief drop on the ground, passed out. 

Shoto kneeled in front of the thief and dug through the pockets for the pouch. He pulled it out and looked inside to see it was indeed, filled with gold coins as he presumed. A tiny huff left the prince's lips. He took a moment to look at the thief's features, noticed his poor clothing. He figured he must be poor, desperate enough to steal other's belonging. So Shoto put the gold coins he brought to buy foods into the thief's pocket carefully. 

"You thief, you're under arrest!" 

Shoto's eyes broadened and he stood, raised his hands, and was about to utter his innocence but he became speechless. Oh no. Oh no, that person. The person before him was way more troublesome to face than the knights. The voice was so clearly his, why didn't Shoto notice it earlier? Having himself getting caught by the knights was absolutely better than being caught by this person. 

"I knew it, you're Shoto all along," The tall broad-shouldered prince exclaimed, grinning wide. 

"Inasa," Shoto gasped out.