Follow the River [Shoto Todoroki x Reader: Fantasy AU]

Chapter 2: Exterminator

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.