How many times had it been said? Sheep follow one's steps blindly, moving on for however long they are ordered to. It must seem like they lack a will of their own, traveling endless miles with their shepherd, who had no intention of keeping them, and eventually selling them for nothing but a few shillings per. The sheep were only used at the shepherd's expense. However, the sheep continue to keep flocking their way to the shepherd one after the other, a never ending cycle of a being's existence exploited.

Humans are quite similar, to say the least. People use others to their advantage, no regard as to whether or not they would like to fulfill their own desires. And others blindly follow, under the impression that the one they follow is all knowing, especially those with higher status. That's how it's always been, from the very beginning, to the very end.

Finding a person who stood out from the flock was quite rare. People follow crowd behavior naturally, it's how the body reacts. But if even one person tried to stand out, it always seemed like they were an odd one out in the group. These shepherds didn't really like this, and usually plucked them out like a child would when a bright yellow dandelion stood out in the many blades of grass.

Power. That's what they wanted. These shepherds were power obsessed, wanting nothing more than people to serve them. They wanted to be seen as superior, mysterious, and all powerful beings. And any who dared disobey would most certainly be taken care of.

And that's exactly how it was run in the Fire Kingdom.

The kingdom was run by nothing more than fear. People were too lost in the clouds to realize that. They thought the king wanted what was best for the kingdom, but it was actually quite the opposite: he wanted to rule it all.

One person couldn't have the world for themselves. It just didn't work out. Everything would fall into chaos. Yet, the king did not withdraw from his ideals, and continued on manipulating his citizens like they were nothing more than pawns in his game of chess.

Anything seemed better than living under his rule. Even being closed off from humanity, even being cast off to the side as a lowlife, an untouchable. But no, unfortunately for Shouto, amounting to anything as low as that would never be the case, especially when born as the youngest son of that king.

Yes, Prince Shouto Todoroki, the youngest son of King Endeavor, ruler of the Fire Kingdom. Not the position that he would like to be in, but there most certainly was no other way for it to be. That's just how it was written, and that's how it would stay.

Not that there was much of a choice. At the moment, the prince was stuck in yet another royal meeting, discussing matters that wouldn't even be solved by the Fire Kingdom for a second. King Endeavor didn't care, but Shouto, on the other hand, sure did. He was the only one who truly wanted to keep his kingdom under control, so he stared, stared directly into the turquoise eyes of his father, seeing right through his facade.

How many times had he stared daringly at his father, piercing holes right through his stone cold gaze? If you watched closely enough, this happened every time the two made eye contact, which was quite outstanding since no one else would ever be allowed to give such a look to someone like him. But alas, Shouto was an exception.

For being the youngest son, being the next heir to the throne was quite shocking to the rest of the royal families. The Bakugou bloodline didn't know how to take this, especially their only son, Katsuki, who seemed pretty pissed off whenever he was stuck in the same room as Shouto. However, whenever he complained, he was whacked on the head by Queen Mitsuki, completely ignoring the prince's useless bickering.

That was the only good thing that came from these meetings. Just the occasional snarky comment from Katsuki, and the quick-witted comeback from Shouto. That was all he had going for entertainment, other than that it was pure and utter boredom.

Couldn't the meetings go by any quicker? It wasn't like the problems were going to be solved anyway. At least the Crimson Kingdom did a better job of keeping their citizens at peace with each other. It was like the only thing that these meetings were accomplishing was wasting time. However, the royal court insisted they met at least every two weeks.

How annoying.

Shouto sat in his chair, pretending to be as polite as possible, but that was quite hard, especially since a pair of crimson eyes were eating away at his unreadable expression. He did his best to ignore it, but it was kind of hard, since whenever Katsuki did this, there was something he had to say.

The ash blonde, sitting with his legs crossed on the table, chair leaned back as he balanced on its two hind wooden legs. He seemed to have been biting at his thumb, not taking his gaze off of the dual colored male.

It had been five, almost six minutes since Katsuki put his gaze on him, completely ignoring the words that came from King Endeavor's mouth. It looked almost like he was angry at Shouto for something, but honestly, he hadn't done anything to him the entire time. So then what was his problem?

He must have gotten tired of trying to avoid Katsuki's gaze, because he finally opened his mouth and started to speak to the other prince. "Is there something you need? You've been staring for quite a while."

Katsuki seemed kind of relieved that Shouto decided to speak first, however, he furrowed his eyebrows to show disinterest. "Tch, I don't need anything from you. And so what if I'm staring? That isn't any of your business."

"It is my business if Queen Ryukyu has been calling your name for the past six minutes, and instead of listening to her, you decide to look my way." His head tilted in the Queen's direction. She hadn't looked irritated in any way, which was expected since she was an overall calm person. Queen Mitsuki on the other hand... not so much.

"Katsuki! Pay attention!" Katsuki looked almost identical to his mother, the champagne colored hair, the crimson eyes, that beautiful soft skin, the features that made them equally beautiful. Despite this fact, Katsuki disliked, no hated being compared to his mother. So, in turn, the prince would most always be caught making faces that resembled that of a constantly angry toddler.

"Shut up, old hag! The icy hot bastard over here decided to annoy the fuck out of me!" His words seemed bitter, like he had just been interrupted from doing something he liked. But talking to his mother like that was a horrible choice, given the fact that Mitsuki didn't tolerate talk like that to her.

Mitsuki grabbed her slipper, throwing it at Katsuki's head from across the table, "Show some respect, Katsuki, you're the one who started it with Shouto. Besides, Queen Ryukyu would like to speak to you."

This caused Katsuki to shut himself up, as he began to rub at his head. That hurt harder than he had expected, but at this point he was used to it. Truthfully, the prince was scared of his mother, but he was far too prideful to admit that to anyone else.

Queen Ryukyu only rubbed at the back of her head as she seemed a bit uncomfortable having to watch that all play out. She turned to Katsuki, clearing her throat, and began to speak. "Prince Katsuki, as the only son of the Bakugou family, I find it crucial that you understand your place as the next heir to the throne."

He rolled his eyes, the expression on his face clearly reading as 'Not this fucking conversation again'.

Despite the look on his face, she continued, "So the kingdom will be run under you in a few years time. Are you planning on marrying? Because I'm afraid that ruling by yourself isn't advised."

Katsuki looked over at Shouto who was sitting next to him, before narrowing his gaze back at the mustard blonde queen. "Tch, I don't want to fucking marry. It's fucking stupid." Each time he answered this question, it was always the same answer and the same gaze.

Mitsuki sighed, pinching at the bridge of her nose, "Katsuki watch your fucking language, we're in the middle of a meeting for fuck's sake."

The prince wanted so bad to bite back, especially since his mother was being quite the hypocrite at the moment. However, he saw that threatening look on her face, and decided otherwise.

He folded his arms, closing his eyes, "Look, I'll only marry if some shi—" He cut himself off, before daring to speak another expletive. "I'll only marry if someone catches my interest, which I find highly doubtful."

Mitsuki threw her other slipper at him, causing him to lose it. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"

The queen stood up from her chair, her hands supporting her as she leaned on the table. "If you don't mind, I'd like for both Shouto and Katsuki to step outside. Our next conversation doesn't concern them."

Ryukyu only looked at her, one of her eyebrows cocked up. She stayed silent, however, turning her head to look over at King Endeavor, who did, after all, have authority over this meeting.

King Endeavor sat there in the largest chair in the room. Flames licked his face, forming up into what looked like a beard and crown. He had his arms folded over his chest, his chin angled up as if to indicate his superiority. He didn't say anything, but only waved his hand a bit as if to dismiss the princes.

Shouto walked out the door first. He didn't need to be told twice to leave the room his father was in. He couldn't stand him, he even had better chances spending a whole day in a room with Katsuki, even though the two seemed to get along in different ways than most.

Coming up from behind him, the ash blonde prince stomped past him, "That old hag of a queen doesn't know when to leave me alone. And besides, what the fuck could they even be talking about that doesn't concern us? We're their fucking children for fuck's sake. Everything about this royalty thing makes me so fucking pissed."

He completely ignored the question, starting to run a hand through his dual colored hair. "I'm going to the balcony." And with that he began to walk off.

Katsuki paused, watching as the prince just walked away from him. "What the fuck— Get back here!" He quickly followed, watching as Shouto's footsteps quickened with each second that passed. It wasn't that he couldn't keep up, it was more like he was angry with the fact that the other male was obviously avoiding him.

After a few minutes of following Shouto across almost the entire castle, they were both brought to a halt as they arrived at the highest balcony, facing out just where they could see the town that surrounded the marble complex. The bi colored male leaned against the railing, looking off at the people he could see moving very faintly. The breeze blew through his soft hair, causing the open area to feel free, refreshing even.

They were silent for a moment. Even Katsuki hadn't said something for a good while. It was peaceful, and truthfully they both enjoyed it, since times like these didn't happen very often, having to deal with the kingdom's problems themselves.

The ash blonde inhaled. "Your dumbass isn't very good at hiding shit."

Shouto perked his head over at him. He seemed a bit confused, considering the fact that Katsuki wasn't yelling at him for once. "What do you mean?"

"Tch, you wanna say something. I've seen that stupid look on your face everytime we have these meetings. Why don't you just come out and say it already?" He scratched the side of his face. It wasn't everyday that he just came out and let someone speak like this, so obviously this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Shouto to say something.

He began to look at his left hand. Yes, there were things he wanted to say. Yes, there was something on his mind. However, opening up to Katsuki of all people didn't really seem right, especially since they argued quite a lot. On the other hand, they did spend a lot of time around each other, so they were used to the other's company at this point.

Well, he decided, no point holding it now. "Katsuki, do you ever wonder what our citizens feel like?"

"Yeah, I think about it all the time. What of it?" He poked at his spiky hair, pretending to seem disinterested in what Shouto had to say.

"Us as royalty... we get authority over our people. We give them orders, they obey us. Those who fall out of line are thrown to the back. Those in the back... they do whatever they please, because they already become disregarded. Unconfined by rules and regulations, cast to the side, and left to run on their own. Are those people, the people in the back, that is, more free than us?"

Katsuki stopped, folding his arms over the railing this time as he used it to support his weight. He didn't know how to answer that question, especially since his other royal counterparts always said that those castaways were to be disregarded.

"You remain silent. I find that you don't have an answer for me." Shouto sighed, stretching himself out skyward. "That's alright though, I wasn't expecting one anyway. I'll leave you alone now."

"Eh!? You spout some shit like that and expect me to let you leave? Keep your ass right here. What else are you going to do anyway?" He folded his arms, seemingly ready to block off all of the other male's exits.

"That was my mistake for saying something so out of the blue. You don't have to stick around with me, I understand how you get." The prince turned around, sitting down onto marble below him.

Katsuki sat down with him, his legs folding over each other, as he began to close his eyes. "I asked what was bothering you, so you can shut the fuck up. It was a simple question anyway."

"Then do you have an answer?"

He sighed, beginning to use his hands to force his legs against the ground. "Look, I'm pretty sure those so-called lowlifes are somewhat free to roam as they please. After all, we're the ones forced to stay in our castles and make sure our kingdom is in check. Not to mention how many problems we have to solve for them. Being a prince sucks, but I wouldn't go as far as to say they have more freedom than us. Just fucking imagine living poor, and your ruler doesn't even do shit about it, until you get captured because your dumbass did something against the rules. I wouldn't call that free, now would I?"

Shouto looked down, "I suppose not. I just feel like it would be easier to live a simpler life, you know?"

"I know what you mean. But you were born a prince and now you have to deal with it. Just be lucky you weren't born on the opposite side of things."

He paused, biting at his lip as he tried to think about what it would be like to live differently. "Hey, Katsuki?"

Katsuki stayed silent, absorbing the essence of the calming breeze.

Shouto looked at him softly, deciding not to engage this time. "Never mind. It's better to enjoy the moment anyway." He shrugged, looking off back toward the castle courtyard this time.

If only peace could last like this more often. But with a kingdom filled with a king and his sheep, that was the least common of any anomaly.

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