#but even if ryoma and hayato are meant to be friends I don’t understand why Ken wrote them having wives only to kill them off

[no1ryomafan]

Oh all the things I could possibly criticize or nitpick about the fact that ishikawa wrote ryoma having a partner just so takuma could have a justified existence the one smallest thing I will always critic is that while it could’ve just been a arc anime thing her name was revealed to be “Ryo” and while the mental image of “ah someone at a tournament must’ve said they’re names and that’s how they met” is really funny, apart from the how uncreative of a name this is for her I low key wish her name had “Taku” in it just so it’s clicks that “oh they really named their son after their ship name” instead of “we need a name that isn’t just Ryo because the wife took it”.

[yukiwrites]

Ryoma, Unmarried

Thank you so much for commissioning me again, @xpegasusuniverse! This was so much fun to write açksjdlasd I hope you like it! ;D

Summary: A few months passed after the war, and Ryoma is still the only royal left without a marriage partner. Or rather, the only person in the entire army! He feels ashamed and pushed aside. When he was about to choose an arranged marriage partner, a friend from the past visits and takes him out drinking...

Commission info HERE and HERE!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

The war against Nohr had ended and, with it, another unexpected battle: against the incarnation of a Silent Dragon long forgotten.

Corrin led the hoshidan army to defeat the possessed King of Nohr, Garon, as well as his remaining loyal forces. It was a hard-fought battle, one that would have been impossible to win without their strong bonds of love and trust.

Of their bonds of love and trust.

After the battle was over, Nohr crowned a new King: Prince Leo, who had signed a peace treaty with King Ryoma of Hoshido. From then on, both kingdoms would only know peace.

... Indeed. Peace.

Peace and bridge-gapping opportunities went very well together, as princess Hinoka said so, mere weeks after the war was over. She wanted her relationship with the nohrian knight to be known all across Hoshido and Nohr, so the people from both kingdoms could come to understand that the war was now a thing of the past: and that love could blossom from between them.

Without a reason to dislike nohrians as the new age of tranquility began, Ryoma could do nothing but acknowledge his sister's claims, publicly announcing her marriage to their people.

'The First Princess is marrying before her Lord Brother, the King? What's happened?' The tongues wagged whenever they had the opportunity, poking Ryoma at places he never thought they would. It was custom that the oldest sibling would be first to marry, then the second oldest, and so on, until the youngest.

And yet, Ryoma blessed not only Hinoka's, but Takumi's and Sakura's marriages both, while still being an unmarried King.

Mere months had passed since the peace treaty, and yet the people and the court already talked about King Ryoma's inability to conceive a heir or of finding a marriage partner.

'There are hundreds of noble girls eager to claim the position of Queen of Hoshido! What is King Ryoma waiting for?' Were their constant words, making the newly crowned King even more burdened with his siblings' marriages.

Of course, he should’ve been happy for them, but the circumstances of their relationships as well as how they conveyed their feelings to him... Still made him bitter to this day. He couldn't forget the shame he felt that fateful evening as he shared the same table of the siblings who kept their affairs from him.

He had always looked forward and only forward, never making time for his heart to find place with someone. He saw as each of his subjects found love, one after the other: Saizo took Mozu back to his village so she could learn how to be the wife of a ninja, as did Kaze and Kagero with their loved ones.

Corrin, his brother by heart, left for the Fire Tribe to undergo their rigid training in hopes to be accepted to marry Rinkah. Sakura herself left a short while after her marriage; to live with her young husband back at the Wind Tribe -- one that she would lead in the future, alongside Hayato. Hinoka brought Silas to live in the castle, though they also had a house at the border between Hoshido and Nohr so they could always be aware of the great step their relationship meant to both kingdoms.

Azura left with Kaden for the kitsune hamlet.

Every single one of the royal siblings had married before their King could even fathom finding something akin to love in his life. He wouldn't have been bothered about it if the circumstances had been different, but to this day he could not stop thinking about it. As a King, he had to find a partner so as to bring his subjects the peace of heart of knowing that he would deliver an heir to his rule. As a Prince, it was his duty to oversee his siblings' marriages and give them to their partners with a still heart and a smile.

As a brother, it bothered him to no end that his siblings worked behind his back to bring shame to him!

... No, that wasn't it. He knew his siblings only wanted to be with their loved ones. As a man, he couldn't help but feel betrayed because while he had his efforts focused on the war, his family found even stronger bonds than their brotherly ones. They each found someone more important to them than him.

The anxiety of having to meet his people's expectations as well as the utter feeling of abandonment made Ryoma battle a headache every single day.

He was already going through some of the noble women willing to rise to the crown. If he wouldn't marry for love, he would for convenience. Anything to stop feeling like this.

"Gah, what a sour face I come to find the day I decide to visit!" A familiar and disgusted voice sounded from the door, making Ryoma look up from his desk.

His shoulders sagged immediately when he laid his eyes upon the blonde woman giggling by the entrance. "Scarlet! You didn't tell me you were going to visit."

Scarlet never lost her smirk, entering the room without waiting for invitation. "Yeah, well, I didn't know I was gonna visit, either. I remembered I owed you something, so I just came here on a whim to give it to you!"

"Owe me something?" Ryoma frowned. "Scarlet, the one indebted to you is me. Without your help back then-"

"Ookayy, stop!" She raised her palm right in front of Ryoma's nose. "I said I was gonna give you something, but the moment I saw your sour face, I changed my mind. I mean, I'll still give it to you, but somewhere else! C'mon, come with me." She pulled him by the arm, making him get up from his seiza.

"Scarlet- I cannot leave right now, I still have many duties-"

"Isn't a Kingsly duty or whatever to receive foreign guests? There you have it. You're gonna show me around RIGHT NOW."

Ryoma felt the burden so long over his shoulders to dissipate. "I can never win against you, can I?"

The wyvern knight smiled widely, a faint shade of pink covering her cheeks. "That's right, ya can't! Although I asked you to 'lead the way', I already know where we're going -- I found a smashin' little bar just behind the western gate: it was a stand-and-drink thingy! You hoshidans are so creative with the small space you live in."

For the first time in months, Ryoma let out a heartfelt laugh. "Hah, very well, then, Scarlet. Lead the way. I'm eager to find out about this 'smashing little place'."

Scarlet snorted loudly, "even your tongue's too used to this flowery formal speech! Loosen up, you!" She slapped his back and laughed, quickly making her way outside.

With a smile, Ryoma followed. He hadn't felt this free in so long!

Only after setting foot outside did the King notice the time: it was already evening! How long had he been staring at those miai pictures for?

"C'mon, Ryoma, I can't pull you the whole night!" Scarlet's voice brought him back from his thoughts, her hand pulling his across the deserted corridors.

"How do you know these alleys? I assume this is the first time you've visited..."

"I'm used to alleys and stuff from back in the resistance, yeah? I'm just good at finding my way, I guess."

"What a curious skill to have. You'll need to teach me some other time." He chuckled, squeezing his hand on hers.

Scarlet felt her entire head explode from embarrassment after finally realizing she had been holding his hand that entire time. "W-what, you want me to visit even more? Or do you wanna know how to sneak out by yourself?" She tried to play it cool by not looking back, feeling her hand sweating.

"A little of both, I think." He admitted, "sneaking around is always a good skill to have."

"But you are pigheaded!" She choked on her breath, not believing at how dense a man could be. "Oh well, whatever, I came prepared for this, anyway."

Ryoma blinked in surprise. "Forgive me, did I offend you somehow-"

"Naw, don't worry about it. Lemme just get a bit of sake in my blood to loosen my lips a bit. Then we'll talk."

"A-alright..."

They arrived not too long after to the booth: it was indeed a stand-and-drink little place, with a few customers keeping to themselves at each corner of the counter.

Full of energy, Scarlet ordered the strongest soju they had, confident that she wouldn't be brought down to a hoshidan drink as opposed to the swill she was used to back home.

"Pwahh, this is some good stuff!" She slammed the cup on the counter, giggling. She could already feel her cheeks reddening from drinking only five cups. Maybe foreign sake was indeed strong even to her, after all.

Ryoma kept drinking modestly -- he was on his second cup -- and laughed by only looking at Scarlet. She was someone who could have fun with so little. If only he were able to be like that, then he wouldn't be so burdened.

"There you go again, making that sour face. Is my company that bad?" She poked on his forehead, in the middle of his furrowed brow.

Once again Ryoma blinked in surprise, downing his third cup immediately. "Pray, forgive me. I did not mean to worry you. This is just such a great breath of fresh air, I couldn't help but think of the things I still left unresolved."

Scarlet felt her heart thump, her hand reaching to her bag. "Yeah, about that stuff with your siblings, right? And... with you, too, I guess."

The King hardened his chin, his hands stopping midway to pouring himself another cup. "So you do know."

"Well, yeah, that's kinda why I'm here too. Remember the thing I was gonna give you? Here." She shoved her hand inside the bag, taking out a tuft of flowers and slamming them over Ryoma's chest.

"Flowers?" He tilted his head to the side, placing the cup and bottle on the counter so as to examine his present.

Scarlet chewed on her lip, the flush on her face not only because of the drink. "Yeah. They're daffodils. They grow around these premises, or don't, I don't know."

"That's... not very informativ-"

"Whatever, where they came from isn't important. But seeing as you didn't react as I knew you wouldn't, I'm also gonna give you this." Once again she shoved something out of her bag into his chest, but this time, it was a book. "It's a book that contains the meanings of the flower language."

"Scarlet, I'm-"

"I'm not done, sheesh, lemme talk 'till the end, alright? I just need some time to," she breathed in and out, psyching herself. "Alright, I'm good."

"R-right..." He looked around, trying to check if someone was watching them, but even the barman made himself scarce the moment Scarlet started talking.

"You remember back when we first met? You gave me something because you said that it was rude to meet without giving presents or whatever? It was a flower."

"Indeed, I found it only natural to give a beautiful flower to someone so strong-willed and gracious as yourself."

Scarlet left her mouth open in shock, midway to finishing her sentence. She cleared her throat. "Yeah, anyway. The flower you gave me, do you remember which kind it was?"

Ryoma looked up in thought, holding both book and flowers carefully. "Hmm, they were orange blossoms, if I remember correctly."

"Good, then you know." She smiled, then smirked. "Alright, your homework for after you go back is look up the meaning of orange blossoms and daffodil, you hear?"

"Homework-"

"Yeah, for later! Now, we drink our sorrows away!" She poured another cup for herself and for him, "be sure to tell me your answer tomorrow, ya hear? I'll be waiting!" She winked, then downed another cup. "Pwah, this is really some good stuff!"

Utterly lost about the entire conversation, but not about to deny spending time with his friend Scarlet, Ryoma placed his presents in his pocket, inside the haori he wore, and followed suit.

For the first time in months -- or rather, for the first time since he had last met Scarlet -- Ryoma finally loosened himself and smiled, the meaning of the flowers a secret to be revealed only later that night...