Shouto never really entered the west wing. Not because it was forbidden to go to, or something as ridiculous as that. It was just because with all of his duties as the next king and his father's (painful) sparring lessons, he hardly had any time to spare and go explore any parts of the castle he hadn't been to before.

But today he had a good reason to go.

The king was unusually foul-mouthed and bad-tempered today. That isn't to say he's ever been particularly nice, but today was far worse than any other day. Probably because Shouto had snuck into the library last night and discreetly set fire to some of the letters talking about possible betrothal between him and some far off princess. But whatever, the point was that the prince had all but fled to escape his father's enraged screams.

Shouto was sure that another hit would break him - their doctor, although the best one in the kingdom, could only treat so much. His skin was already littered with bruises. He didn't need more.

The west wing of the castle was surprisingly dark and dusty when he walked past the stone stairs and peered into the large and vast hallway. It was to be expected, he supposed. The castle was large, almost obscenely so, and no one bothered with the west side when the king obviously preferred the east.

Still, as he walked down the hall, his boots clacking softly against the concrete floor, he was filled with regret and also resentment when he saw the many portraits of the Todoroki lineage gathering dust among the walls. Of course his father wouldn't bother to honor their family - after all, to him, all that mattered was himself and the power he could gain.

Shouto doubted his father could even name any of the proud kings and queens standing in the portraits, while the prince could list them all off one by one. Enji was a dark stain in the Todoroki line, but other than his disgusting father, Shouto was proud of his family and what they accomplished.

It just astonished him how his grandparents, who had been so loving and kind, could sire a son as spiteful and hateful as Enji.

The rooms, as also expected, were just as dusty. That was disappointing. He reminded himself to tell the staff to start paying attention more to the wing. It was horrible to see his lineage wasting away because of his father's ignorance.

Shouto eventually came upon the last door of the hall, and he knew it led outside. He wasn't sure what would greet him - the gardens at the front of the castle were trimmed and proper, but he had no idea what was on the other side of the door because of the negligence of the servants.

He pushed.

He gasped.

The gardens, having been left unattended for so long, became wild. Great looming trees bearing sweet fruits towered over him, their branches straining to accomodate for the many apples or oranges hanging from the wood, bright with ripeness and ready to be picked. Vines crawled up the sides of the stone wall, and when he took an awed step closer, he could see the crooked and rusty iron gates to the once tamed garden. Vines that had wrapped around the bars of the gate were blooming small flowers, and bushes were overgrown with their own blooms.

The garden his father put in so much work for was laughable compared to the beauty of this one.

Shouto made his way past the iron gates, managing to squeeze himself through the rusty bars, and stumbled over himself as he was greeted with even more wildlife.

He fell to his knees, uncaring of the fact that his clothes were definitely going to get grass stains, and cusped a white rose in his hands. The thorns pricked dangerously at his skin, but he didn't care.

These roses, so beautiful and in bloom, were as pure and white as his mother. The gentle queen who had been corrupted by his disgusting excuse of a father.

He huffed, sat up, and continued wandering further into the overgrowth.

When he came upon a thick and long bush, he crouched, peeking under to see that somehow miraculously, the branches grew in an arc and created a perfect little tunnel.

His skin tingled with excitement and emotions he hadn't felt since the days his mother was with him and he played with his older siblings. Shouto shed off the red robe from his shoulders, tossing it carelessly to the side, doing the same for his glinting crown and wrapping his robe around it. No thief would dare trespass so deep into the royal grounds.

Shouto came to his hands and knees, and he began to crawl underneath the twisting yet arching branches, squinting his eyes to see the slowly getting larger light at the end that signified the exit.

When he finally crawled all the way through, he failed to see the slope that went down, and he tumbled on his side, surprised laughter somehow forcing its way past his lips and filling the air with his mirth.

He finally stilled, breathless, dizzy, and grinning madly at the sky while he tried to even out his panting.

Finally, he sat up, and looked around him.

The first thing that came to mind was that he was in a small meadow - the slowly setting sun was casting pink and golden rays of light onto the grassy land, and when he stretched his legs, he could see the many wild flowers growing underneath him. It was pretty, but in a different way from the garden above them.

The second thing that came to mind was that there was a statue right in the middle of it all.

Shouto rose to his feet, eyes slightly wide with awe, and he walked over slowly to observe the statue.

It was of a young boy - close to Shouto's age, just past the age of manhood. His curly and wild hair framed his soft, freckled face, his eyes closed as he smiled and cusped something that couldn't be seen close to his chest. Large, arching wings made of feathers graced his back, tipping up to the sky and pointing at something.

The statue looked almost alive in the dimming light of the now almost fully set sun.

Shouto climbed onto the pedestal with it, even smiling lightly at the fact that the boy, though his head was slightly bowed, was shorter than him.

The statue, he admitted to himself, was the most beautiful thing in the meadow.

Shouto placed a gentle hand on the boy's cheek, and even though the carvings were so lifelike, he could only feel hard and cold stone beneath his skin.

He swallowed through his disappointment.

"You will be my friend," he said out loud, and immediately felt silly. The boy was a mere statue, made of stone and not life.

This was immediately thrown out the window when, underneath Shouto's hand, the statue moved, and slowly, the boy opened his once still and closed eyes to smile shyly at the frozen and shocked prince.

"Really?"

The voice of a statue, Shouto thought vaguely, was not one that he would have expected. It wasn't grainy or rough, like someone with a throat of rock might sound like, but it was just normal. The voice of the boy was that of a regular person, smooth and lively and did he mention alive.

Shouto scrambled back so fast that his feet slipped, his back falling into the grassy ground and knocking a small "oof," out of his lips.

"Ah! Oh my god, oh my god!" The boy squawked frantically, his wings fluttering like a chicken behind him and his arms flailing even more wildly. "Oh my god, are you okay? Oh god Kacchan was right, I should really be more subtle! I'm so, so, sorry, I really didn't mean to, it's just that you got me so excited because I haven't had a new friend in a long time and I never saw you here before, who are you? My name's Midoriya Izuku, but you can just call me Izuku, because no one calls me Midoriya anymore since we all knew each other for so long that it's weird for me to hear that now - "

"Wait," Shouto finally managed to somehow say, and he slowly sat up, clothes frumpled and his eyes unwavering as he stared at the statue.

The boy - Izuku? Shouto barely managed to keep up with the speed of his words - seemed to get even more flustered. He curled a wing around him halfway and tugged at the feathers, his voice slightly shaky as he said, "ah, I'm so sorry! I tend to ramble when I'm nervous."

Shouto nodded slowly. "Right. Er, you said your name was Izuku."

The boy beamed proudly. "I am!"

"You're…" Shouto stared very pointedly at Izuku's body. "You're a statue."

"Erm," Izuku squirmed, his cheeks even somehow going a dark grey, almost black. Was he blushing? "I, uh, am. Yes. Yup. Made of stone."

As if to prove his point, Izuku raised his arm and knocked his knuckles on it - the sound was that of two rocks scraping against each other. Izuku smiled sheepishly at the prince. "I-I come alive when the sun sets, but then I go back to being a statue when morning comes. See? I don't think you realized it, but it's night time now."

Shouto raised his eyes, and true enough, the sky was inky black with stars twinkling down like little gems. The moon, bright and only a quarter full, was lazily climbing its way up, shining silver light upon both of them.

"Oh," Shouto simply said. Then he looked up at the statue, tilted his head, and quietly, he asked, "do you really want to be friends?"

"Of course I do!"

Shouto blinked, and Izuku's wings fluttered nervously, having realized that his enthusiasm made his voice louder than needed. Izuku fidgeted, and at a more normal volume, he said, "I always want more friends."

Shouto blinked. "I don't have any."

"What?"

"My father's philosophy is that I should focus on my duties," Shouto paused to pick absentmindedly at some flowers. "Friends are a distraction. That's his way of parenting."

There was silence.

"That's a load of bullshit!"

Shouto startled at the sudden curse, and he looked up to see Izuku staring with wide eyes at him, wings stretched out and his face leaning in close. "That's not a father, that's a dictator. You and I are going to be best friends, okay? I'll get you to meet all of my other friends, and then you'll have so many friends that you'll die - okay, maybe not die, please don't die - of friendship!"

Shouto's mouth was admittedly gaping a little as he stared at this stone angel. The boy's face was set with determination, and suddenly, he realized that despite him literally being made of stone, Izuku was far more compassionate than his father. His eyes sparked with life, and when he reached out a hand to help Shouto up, he couldn't refuse.

His chest thumped with warmth, something he hadn't felt in a long time. He laid his hand in Izuku's, the stone no longer cold, but almost soft and heated with life.

"You said the word 'friends' at least four times," the prince huffed gently, but his eyes were wide and honest as well as amused.

Izuku smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, then," Shouto said softly, and his lips twitched up slightly. "My name is Shouto."

"Nice to meet you, Shouto! Oh, um, well, can I call you Shoucchan?" Izuku blabbed, grasping Shouto strongly and lifting him fully to his feet. "It's just that since we're going to be best friends I want to give you a nickname, unless you don't want me to, but I think it's cute - n-not that I'm saying you're cute, NOT THAT I MEAN YOU'RE NOT CUTE - "

"Izuku," Shouto finally managed to say, his cheeks (mortifyingly) hot and the heat traveling suspiciously up to his ears. To be fair, the stone boy wasn't any better, his feathers roughly ruffled and his face almost completely dark with his own version of a blush. "S… Shoucchan is fine. I, um. I just never really had a nickname before."

"W-Well, now you do!" Izuku beamed.

Izuku clamored down from the pedestal clumsily, even somehow managing to knock Shouto in the shoulder with a gentle wing.

Many apologies and "it's fine, Izuku, really"s later, they were sitting on the grass, only an inch of air between them and laughing loudly - at least in Izuku's case - as they pointed out stars and their constellations.

"Are you really the prince of this castle?"

"Unfortunately."

"Oh."

"Mm."

"They should be getting here soon," Izuku hummed as his wing pointed out Cancer, thankfully dropping the subject of Shouto's royal blood alone.

"Who?" Shouto said, slurring his words accidentally. He felt peaceful for the first time in a long time - the nights spent in his room weren't focused on sleeping, for he couldn't. He was always fearful of his father bursting in as a surprise sparring session. After it happened so many times, he gave up completely on sleeping, and instead came to spend the night time taking short naps or working himself to the death with his latest lessons.

"Shoucchan," Izuku said in a sing-song voice, and Shouto merely rolled over so his face was looking at him.

Shouto had never felt this comfortable before, except for maybe when his mother was still with him. The air was filled with Izuku's slow breathing, the far away sound of crickets chirping quietly, and the warm summer night was making him so drowsy.

"You're a strange one, Shoucchan."

Tentatively, stone fingers brushed several wisps of red and white hair away from Shouto's half-lidded eyes. Izuku smiled nervously at him.

"You're weirder," Shouto said petulantly in response, but his tone was teasing, and his eyes fully slipped closed as Izuku's hand continued to fiddle gently with his hair. How was it that someone made of stone could have a touch softer than that of his father, who had warm skin? Maybe it was because underneath the rock of his body, Izuku had a far more tender heart than that of the king.

Izuku laughed at the semi-insult, and Shouto could feel his own lips pull up into a smile.

"Sleep, my prince. I'll be here when you wake up - my friends will be here in a little while, but I'm sure you'd appreciate the sleep." Izuku cooed gently, and oh my god, Shouto thought. Forget tender - Izuku's heart was made of actual gold.

"Father will be looking for me," Shouto whispered as he started to fall into the arms of sleep. "He will destroy this garden if he realizes what it means to me."

Izuku only laughed. "I'm made of stone, Shoucchan. I can handle whatever your dad throws at me."

"Hmm," Shouto hummed drowsily in response.

As Izuku kept threading his fingers through his hair, the boy made of stone began to hum gently, not really quite singing but the words half-murmured. It was a lovely song. The gentle melody was reminiscent of a lullaby, and before he knew it, Shouto was falling completely into sleep.

It felt like only a minute later, and Shouto woke up like it was a chore.

Hands that were warm yet firmer than normal skin were gently shaking him awake, poking at his cheek and then stroking his hair.

"Shoucchan."

Shouto merely groaned softly and curled up into a tighter ball, blindly groping with his hand for whoever was waking him up to continue moving through his hair. "Hmm."

"Deku-kun, are you sure we should wake him up? He looks so peaceful."

"Deku, who the fuck is this? Fucking humans entering our territory, I'll kill him!"

"Oi, Eijiro, control your boyfriend!"

"Katsuki, please be quiet. It's not manly to be so rude."

"... Okay."

"Whipped."

"SHUT UP, FRIZZY HAIR!"

"Shut up," Shouto mumbled, repeating the boy who had just shouted at the top of his lungs. Slowly, he blinked his eyes awake, focusing on Izuku's beaming face, who was hovering over him with hands outstretched in his hair.

"Shoucchan! You're awake," Izuku said, and oh god, Shouto thought. He was a lot cuter than he remembered before he fell asleep.

"How long have I been sleeping?" Shouto asked, accepting Izuku's hand and letting the stone boy pull him gently into a sitting position. Shouto yawned and rubbed an eye with his hand, grumbling at the drowsiness that still ran through his body.

"U-Um," Izuku squeaked, his eyes wide as he stared at Shouto with a blush on his face. Izuku cleared his throat before saying, "just an hour or two. I woke you up because, um, well my friends are all here now!"

Shouto blinked slowly, before fully processing what Izuku had just said. "... What?"

Izuku grinned (oh my god he had dimples), and made a sweeping motion with both his hands and wings. "Shoucchan, these are all my friends! Everyone, this is Shouto, he's the prince!"

"Wow!" A girl with short, brown hair and wide eyes said in genuine awe. Her voice was bubbly, and judging by her jazz hands, her personality was just as optimistic. "You're a real prince! Deku-kun, you really know how to pick them!"

"Ochako-san!" Izuku sputtered with a dark face.

Shouto's own cheeks were warm as the girl merely grinned and then bounced over to him, sticking out a hand. "Hi! I'm Uraraka Ochako, but just Ochako is okay. It's nice to meet you, Shouto-kun!"

"Um, yes," Shouto said faintly as he shook the girl's hand. He was just distracted by the rather large and see-through wings that protruded from Ochako's back, the appendages fluttering lightly in the warm summer wind. "You're…"

"A fairy!" Ochako chirped. "Yeah. I've got some magic, but I'm nothing compared to a lot of other people here."

"Shut the hell up, angel-face," a blond boy barked, his face irritated, voice even more so, and his arm swung possessively around another boy who looked like a cross between a human and a dragon. "Your magic's fuckin' fine. Stop spewing that 'I'm weak' bullshit."

"Aw!" Ochako said sweetly, and she laughed, her wings fluttering even more, emitting a faint pink glow. "Katsuki, you do care!"

"SHUT UP!"

"A-Ah," Izuku sputtered, moving closer to Shouto and waving his hands around a little frantically. "Sorry, I-I know they can seem overwhelming, but that's Ochako-san, and that's Kacchan, the guy she's arguing with, and next to him is Eijiro-kun - "

"It's awesome to meet you, Shouto! You seem like a real man!"

"And that's Tsuyu-chan…"

"Ribbit. Hello, Shouto-kun."

"Tenya-san's over there - "

"I am honored to meet you, my prince!"

There were quite a lot of names that Izuku kept listing. Shouto, though, was eager to learn them all. They were all so fascinating - for as far as the eye could see, he saw so many different and magical things about them. How Eijiro was apparently a dragon, Katsuki was a wizard with a knack for explosions, Mina was part-demon.

"I didn't know there were so many people like this in the world," Shouto said quietly, and he watched as the field grew in volume, all of them finding joy in each other and exchanging stories of what was recent in their lives.

"Oh, well," Izuku said shyly, and he sat even closer to Shouto, the tips of his wings just barely brushing against the prince's arm. Shouto tried to ignore the tingles that ran up his side - it didn't work. "We tend to keep out of sight, because, uh, you know. Sometimes humans can be…"

"Inhumane," Shouto finished before Izuku could finish. He raised a hand almost subconsciously to touch the smooth and shiny scar around his left eye. His father's face flickered into mind.

Shouto's face soured at the thought, and he said very quietly to Izuku, "your left side is unsightly, my mother said as she poured boiling water onto my face. It was her rejecting my father's blood, because he's a monster in human's skin. When I become king, I will erase any moment of his existence. He drove my mother to the point of breaking, and my siblings cower in his presence. I will never be like him."

Izuku breathed in for a moment, his tense shoulders somewhat relaxing, before he said, "I'm glad you aren't swayed by him. You're you, not your father, aren't you? I'm sure you'll create a legacy that'll be remembered than whatever forgotten one he made."

Izuku turned to him, grinning, eyes shining brightly in the moonlight and his wings fluttering with an emotion Shouto couldn't quite name. "I'll stand by you, Shoucchan! I know we only met recently, but I don't break promises. As your best friend, I will always be behind you, and I will try my best to help you. That's my swear to you."

Shouto's breath hitched, and in his chest and stomach, it felt as if a million butterflies made of stardust exploded and began to fly around nervously. His heart beat fast, too fast for it to be healthy, and he vaguely wondered if he was experiencing some type of illness. Izuku's hand was made of stone - it wasn't soft or even really alive, but when Shouto grasped it gently, the touch was far more gentle than that of anyone else he had come in contact with.

Izuku was magic. Not concerning the fact that he was made of magic - no, instead, he was lighting up Shouto's lonely world one candle at a time, all while smiling broadly and offering him soft touches. It was strange how this whole world of warmth and friends was hidden just beyond his reach, but now that Shouto had gotten a taste of it, he was going to latch on desperately and never let go.

Like Izuku said, they'd met only that night, but under the moonlight filled with the laughs and smiles of his - their - friends, Shouto finally allowed himself to let out the biggest and silliest grin he had ever let onto his lips.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Haha this is my first time writing for BNHA hope I don't mess up too badly.

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I update sporadically so I apologize in advance.