(Crossposted on AO3)

It was a comfort, Izuku thought grimly, that not many people had – to be able to pinpoint the exact moment their brains had given up and decided to go insane. It was a small comfort, but it was also the only comfort he could hold on to as he looked with horror past the smoke that faded just as quickly as it had come.

An abandoned tank top on the floor. A blue button-down shirt slowly falling through the air. Empty clothes, and no sign of Todoroki, nor of the loud blonde boy, but –

A yellow cat, and a red rat, both somehow looking much more exasperated than any animal Izuku had ever seen in his life.

Different thoughts came slamming into his mind after a moment of gaping – the loudest among them made Izuku smile despite the chaos around him.

Could this be my quirk?

Early morning of the previous day, just past sunrise

Izuku hoped his uniform pants wouldn't get too dirty as he kneeled outside his tent, checking that he had everything he'd need for the first day of senior high school in his bag. Summer seemed determine to hold on for as long as it could, Izuku noted with amusement, as he looked at the trees surrounding his current "home", all still defiantly green despite the creeping autumn chill. He slung his backpack on, and stood up, sighing at the forest around him.

If only I could be as defiant as these trees were when it came to the cold, he thought bitterly, pushing aside the sensations of a bubbling fever he felt inside. He'd have to try to find time to buy medicine for that – if he could afford it right now, anyway. Worries for later in the day, maybe when the weather wasn't tauntingly beautiful.

After one last look at himself to make sure he had everything ready (except his tie – he'd spent an hour trying and failing to fix it before just letting it hang loosely), Izuku started his trek to school, hoping the morning walk would cheer him up. The walk to school would be long, Izuku was sure, and he was just hoping he wouldn't get too lost along the way. This was only the second time he was making the trip, after all, the first having been just the day before, to try to test the trek out. It had been an absolute disaster, and he ended up roaming the forest for what seemed like hours before he ended up at some highway at the edge of town. Izuku hadn't always lived in a tent in the middle of a forest near the edge of Musutafu – he used to leave in the suburbs with his mom, but that was before –

His feet stopped abruptly as Izuku took a short breath to calm himself down. Breaking down in the middle of the forest wouldn't help him find his way to school any faster.

He wondered if he was even getting anywhere nearer the school to begin with. He took a few seconds to look at where he had chosen to stop.

I don't think I got here when I was exploring yesterday, he thought as he took in everything around him, from the large trees that only now started showing signs of fall, to the steep cliff a few meters to his side, which seemed to lead toward a –

Was that a house?

Izuku wasn't sure what to think – who would want to live in the middle of a – he stopped that thought as he recalled his own situation, laughing nervously. It seemed like a nice, large, traditional Japanese house. He wondered who lived there, and why; if they had the money to build such a nice house, surely, they could afford to live in the actual city, after all.

Glad that he left his tent early in anticipation of getting lost, he figured he had time to get a closer look at the house. Izuku smiled as he found a dirt path leading down the cliff, pushing aside any apprehensions of letting his curiosity get the best of him again.

He could see more of the house now, and he did his best to convince himself that that criminals and murderers wouldn't want to live in such a cozy looking house, right?

Right?

He was walking slowly along the perimeter of the building, marveling at how authentic it had looked – maybe a hobbyist lived here? Someone who liked history? – when his attention was caught by bright colors on the wooden porch. Izuku inched closer, smiling to himself as he could make out paintings scattered on the floor.

There were quite a lot of them here – Izuku counted twelve small rectangular frames of canvas – each depicting what seemed to be an animal.

"I suggest you don't touch those. The paint is probably still wet."

Izuku jumped at the stern voice, and would never admit to the small scream he let out. Leaning on one of the now open doors was a pale skinned man with long black hair, dressed in a dark blue yukata with black stripes. The man almost looked shabby, with unkempt facial hair, and eyes that looked like they hadn't slept in decades. His tired gaze bored into Izuku as he tried to find the voice that had seemed to lodge itself deep in his stomach.

"I – I'm sorry, I didn't m-mean to intrude," Izuku said with a polite bow. Izuku didn't dare look up too soon – the man's stare was frightening, if nothing else.

"You can get up now, before you give yourself a bad back," the man said plainly, with what Izuku might have imagined as a bit of amusement in his voice. Izuku followed, slowly rising from his bow, and only hesitating slightly before meeting the man's eyes. Izuku swallowed, his collar suddenly feeling too tight.

Had he been caught trespassing? Would he go to jail? No, minors don't go to jail, but he'd still be thought of as a delinquent, right? Would this affect his studies? Oh no – what if he misses his classes today, it'd be a horrible way to start –

"Please stop," the man grumbled impatiently. Izuku's hands raced up to his mouth as he realized his thoughts hadn't been as silent as he'd hoped. The man raised an eyebrow at Izuku, as if waiting for him to explain his presence, which was fair, Izuku thought to himself. Izuku's nerves were calmed slightly only by the fact that the man seemed more amused than alarmed at his intrusion.

"I just thought that –" Izuku gestured lamely at the paintings on the porch, "that th-these looked really nice, and…"

The man let out a soft hum, his lips turning into a small smirk. If Izuku had found the man's initially neutral impression scary, this new one was downright terrifying. The man didn't move or say anything for a few moments, and Izuku strongly considered just making a run for it and forgetting any of this had happened.

Before he could build up the nerve to do just that, however, the man spoke.

"They're paintings of the Chinese zodiac – are you familiar with that?"

"…oh…oh!" Izuku exclaimed, seeing the relationship between all the paintings now. His eyes swept the figures, and he could see them clearer now that it had been pointed out – one had a black dog, another featured a black dragon. "Yeah, my mom used to tell me stories about them," he clarified sheepishly.

"Is that so?" the man asked with what seemed to be growing interest. He slowly stepped toward Izuku, crouching down closer to the paintings drying on the floor. "Tell me, what stories have you heard?"

Izuku wondered for only a moment why this scary man would be interested in his childhood stories before deciding that indulging the owner of the property he's currently trespassing was a wiser option – not that he'd ever been particularly inclined to take the wise decision too often before.

"Well," he started, trying to recall the stories his mom used to tell him before they both went to sleep, "they say that a long time ago, God invited all the animals in his kingdom to great banquet to celebrate their friendship."

The man considered one of the paintings on the floor, and Izuku's eyes darted to it. It seemed like it was a…. rat? Only the rat was red. That's strange, Izuku thought, is this some sort of post-modern style –

"Do continue," the man said as he lifted the rat painting and stood back up, leaning on one of the wooden posts on the porch as he inspected the work. Before Izuku could carry on with his story however, he caught sight of a piece of paper that was hidden under the rat painting – it looked like a crude drawing of...something, something with four legs, and was made with what seemed to be a yellow crayon. Honestly, Izuku thought it looked like something drawn by a four-year-old – all bold and brave strokes, very much unlike the subtler style of the paintings that were –

"That's a cat," the man said plainly, answering the questions Izuku had muttered out loud rather than kept in his head, "drawn by someone who doesn't have the good sense to give up. Do your stories have anything about a cat?"

Izuku put his fingers on his chin, considering the man's question. He let himself relax just the slightest bit, as he tried to recall more of his mom's old stories. "Yes, actually – God tasked the rat with making sure that all the animals in the kingdom knew of the party. The rat hated the cat, however, and decided to play a trick on him by telling him the wrong date for the gathering. While all the animals were celebrating together at the banquet, the cat slept, dreaming of a party that he would never be able to go to…"

Izuku's voice drifted, as he looked away wistfully. He chuckled at himself a moment later, surprised he still felt a bit bad for the cat in the story. He turned toward the man, whose amusement was clearer than it had previously been. The man looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, a voice further in the house interrupted him.

"Aizawa, I'm going to head out now, what time do you – "

Izuku's face shot toward the hallway behind the man in the yukata – was Aizawa his name? He knew that voice, and it was only a matter of seconds before he found himself face to face with Shouto Todoroki.

It was at the start of their last semester in junior high school that rumors of a transfer student made their rounds. Strange, considering how close to graduation it already was, but that wasn't even the most interesting part of the rumors.

"They say he's the son of some rich business man," his friend, Uraraka – had said as she, Izuku, and their other friend, Iida, huddled by his desk before classes started that day. "I think his name was…Rokotodi? Todaroki?"

"You mean Todoroki?" Iida helpfully supplied. Izuku wouldn't have been surprised if Iida was familiar with the new student's family, since Iida's family was – had been - rich.

"Right! That's the name!" Uraraka cheerfully confirmed in what Izuku thought was too loud a whisper for someone in the business of gossiping.

Izuku considered the name for a few moments. "Todoroki…they're the ones that own the mall near the city square, right?"

"Yes, as well as a series of restaurant chains," Iida added. "They're business portfolio is quite…diverse."

Izuku hummed. "I wonder why he'd transfer to a public high school so late, though," he wondered out loud, but before any of his friends could offer their theory, the door to the classroom swung open, revealing their homeroom advisor – a plain looking woman in her late 50s – and beside her, a boy with red and white hair parted perfectly down the middle.

"Everyone, I'd like to announce that as of this semester, you'll be joined by a new student." The teacher looked at the boy. Izuku thought he could see some nervousness in the way she looked. She aimed a wobbly smile at the boy. "Would you care to introduce yourself?"

The boy gave a curt nod, and made his way forward. He faced the class – Izuku heard faint gasps and giggles from the girls behind him as they whispered to each other.

"My name is Todoroki Shouto," he began.

At least Izuku and the rest of his class thought he was going to continue…except he didn't. Izuku watched with curiosity as the boy – Todoroki – seemed to survey the class, and his gaze stopped right to meet Izuku's. There was a…something, some sort of sensation that built up, deep in his stomach, as if his own body was goading him to recognize the newcomer. But that was impossible – Izuku would remember if he had met the son of some local magnate. Emotion flashed on the boy's face, but it was too quick for Izuku to determine what it was – maybe he'd ask the boy later. Nobody else in class seemed to have notice, with all the girls chattering among themselves, and the guys no doubt trying to size the newcomer up.

"Do you have a quirk?" a boy shouted from the back of the class – Tsubasa – if Izuku remembered correctly. At this, the rest of the room froze, shooting their attention back to the boy. If Izuku were in his shoes, the attention would have made him sweat buckets at best, faint at worst, but the boy kept his expression steady, and nodded dismissively, not willing to expound any further.

Izuku couldn't blame him. Quirks were relatively new to the world – his generation was probably just the second or third since people had started to develop these strange powers, and they were only now getting more and more common. Izuku himself didn't have a quirk, and while it was never really a big issue, he was thankful he had been born now rather than later, when probably almost everyone already had quirks. After all, it's not like he needed one more reason for people to shun him.

The teacher was quick to try to diffuse the class' excitement and prevent any further interrogation of the new student. "Todoroki, you can sit over there," she said, pointing toward a chair just a few rows behind Izuku. Todoroki nodded (Was this his preferred mode of communication?), and quickly walked to his newly assigned seat, but not before shooting one last quick glance at Izuku.

Izuku squirmed in his seat as that first day went on, as if he could feel Todoroki's gaze burning a hole through his skull every few minutes. The first time it happened, he thought he might ask the boy about it, but now it was getting a bit too much and too intimidating for Izuku. Maybe he'd just let it be and wait for it to go away?

During that day's lunchbreak, he sat with Iida and Uraraka as he always did, on a table near the edges of the cafeteria.

"What do you think is up with that guy, he keeps looking like he wants to beat you up," Uraraka started, sounding a bit agitated at the thought. Izuku sighed to himself – it wouldn't be the first time someone would want to do that, and it wouldn't be the first time Uraraka sounded like she wanted to pre-emptively beat someone up for it – and let out a weak laugh.

"Maybe he finds my hair strange?" he mused to himself, thinking of how uncommon green hair was in the world.

"That guy is the last person to judge your hair style," Uraraka answered, clearly unimpressed. "Izuku," she moved a bit closer to Izuku, her voice softening, "you tell us if he gives you trouble, okay?"

Izuku loved Uraraka dearly. If it weren't for her, he probably would still be the butt of every bully's jokes. It only took sending a few of them flying without stop with her quirk before they were too afraid of her to keep picking on him.

Izuku smiled at her warmly, satisfied when she smiled back. "I will, don't worry." Izuku reassured her. They ate in peace for the rest of the break, talking about the homework they already had received, and how their winter breaks had gone, but Izuku could still feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising, and he had no doubt that it was due to the unreadable glare Todoroki was consistently sending in his direction.

Thankfully, as the days passed, he didn't have to take Uraraka's offer of help, as the staring from Todoroki got less and less frequent. Around a month or so into the semester, it seemed to stop almost completely. Izuku would still catch Todoroki sometimes glancing in his direction, but at those moments, Todoroki would quickly look away and strike up a conversation with the girl seated next to him – Yaoyorozu.

Come to think of it, she seemed to be the only person that Todoroki every really talked to. Todoroki never really engaged any of their other classmates aside from gruff one-word replies, or when he couldn't even be bothered to do that, grunts and nods. None of the boys had been able to goad him into revealing his quirk, leading to some rumors that he might have lied when he said he even had one. The girls would always defend him though, so smitten with what they saw as his brooding nature to consider that he might be lying.

Aizawa was the first to break the tableau that the three of them had frozen into at the porch of the house (Todoroki's house?).

"I thought that uniform he was wearing was familiar," Aizawa started, his eyes looking at Izuku's clumsily done tie and ruffled jacket. "I assume you know him from school then?"

Shouto shook himself out of his shocked silence (insofar as his almost unchanging expressions could show surprise), and nodded.

"Midoriya, what are you doing here?"

Unlike the other two, Izuku was rather more graceless in recovering from his surprise, mind still catching up with the fact that the house near his tent was his classmate's. Questions raced through his mind – why? For how long?

"…I'm sorry, could you say that again?" he said to the other two, giving them an embarrassed smile.

"You're at my porch. Why?" Todoroki probably didn't mean to sound so intimidating, but it came so naturally to him, with his deep, almost monotone voice.

Izuku considered the question. He wasn't entirely sure he should tell them he lives in a tent not too far away – that seemed like too much information; after all he hadn't even told Iida or Uraraka about his current situation, and he didn't plan to.

"I…uh…" he stammered, trying to swallow through the dryness of his throat, "…I live in the area, and happened to pass by?"

Izuku cursed himself – that wasn't the least bit convincing at all. He still prayed that his luck would hold (futile, considering how it never did), and that the two would leave it at that. Todoroki and Aizawa shared a strange look, and after a moment of suspense (at least for Izuku), Todoroki just shrugged. Aizawa put down the painting he was holding, and walked back into the house, chuckling.

Why was he chuckling? Why did Aizawa seem to be so entertained with Izuku, who was clearly caught trespassing on their prop-

His thoughts skid to a halt at the sound of Todoroki clearing his throat. Izuku looked up at him quickly, almost giving himself whiplash. He had never been this close to the other boy, never even really talked to him before, but now that he was able to get a look, something about Todoroki seemed less intimidating and more…familiar?

To his surprise, Todoroki was the first to break their staring contest, clearing his throat again as he looked at a tree behind Izuku.

"Well, since you're here…would you like to go to school together?" Todoroki almost sounded shy as he asked.

It took a few moments for the question to register in Izuku's mind (honestly, all Todoroki had ever done before was glare). When it did, though, he couldn't keep his expression from brightening into a smile.

"Of course, I would!" Izuku cheerfully replied, hoping he didn't sound over enthusiastic. The probability of getting lost decreased radically if he followed Todoroki after all.

"Let's get going then," Todoroki said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he made his way forward, seeming to expect Izuku to follow him.

Izuku did.

It was a while before either of them said anything, both content to just make the journey in complete silence. Izuku looked around as he followed Todoroki, trying to take stock of every turn he made so that he could get to school on his own next time without getting lost. As they got closer to what Izuku assumed was the edge of the forest area, more and more trees were showing signs of fall – leaves morphing from vibrant greens to muted yellows. It wouldn't be long until the entire forest would look like it was on fire.

Mom would have loved to see this place.

They eventually made their way onto a main road, with actual pavements and a few cars running through the streets. It was sunny, but it wasn't warm, much to Izuku's chagrin. He wished the high school uniform were warmer – at the rate things were going, the chill he was feeling inside him would turn into a fever before the day was up, and that would be nothing but trouble. He sometimes felt (more than saw) Todoroki taking quick glances at him whenever he would shiver, but if the boy noticed his discomfort, he said nothing.

Izuku, wanting to distract himself from the undue tiredness creeping in his body, tried to think of something to talk about. Maybe I can ask him how his summer break was? But then he'd ask me how mine was and I don't really want to talk about it…Maybe get to know him? What's something obvious about him that I can ask about? No, the scar on his face would be too rude, and asking him about his hair might make it seem like Izuku was teasing him –

"What were you and Aizawa talking about?"

Izuku sighed in relief when Todoroki was the one who thought of a topic first. Izuku smiled, recalling the conversation – it was strange, he supposed to start talking to a stranger about something so mundane, but he did like stories, especially those his mom used to tell him.

"He was showing me his paintings of the Chinese zodiac," Izuku started, recalling the delicate tones of each animal, "he's very good."

"Aizawa has been painting since he was a child," Todoroki said.

Izuku realized he hadn't really figured out yet who Aizawa was, at least in relation to Todoroki, so he figured it was as good a question as any to ask.

"You've known him for a long time, then?"

"He's my cousin. A distant cousin, anyway."

Izuku supposed…well, that made sense, though he would never have guessed they were family – there was simply no resemblance, so it must have been very distant. Izuku tried to recall more of his conversation with Aizawa to continue his chat with Todoroki.

"He asked me if I knew any stories about the cat in the zodiac." Izuku would have continued, but Todoroki abruptly stopped walking. Izuku stopped walking too, just a beat after, and looked at the questioning gaze Todoroki was shooting him just a few paces away.

Did I say something wrong? Maybe I should continue?

"I told him what I knew of the story…don't laugh at me, but you know, I always felt bad about the cat in that story," Izuku mused – he thought that would entertain Todoroki too, but as if to prove he knew next to nothing about the boy, Todoroki's face morphed into something much more expressive than Izuku had ever seen before – almost as if he was angry? Disgusted?

Izuku stayed frozen, watching as Todoroki schooled his expression back to the usual blank, and walked calmly past Izuku.

"Cats are horrible, angry creatures. They don't deserve your pity."

Well that…that wasn't at all something Izuku expected Todoroki to say. What had the poor animals ever done to him?

Before Izuku could make any further comment however, Todoroki's expression softened just the slightest bit.

"We're almost at school now, I hope you don't mind if I go on ahead. I'll see you in class."

Izuku looked on passively as Todoroki made his way past the school gate. He hadn't even realized that they were front of the school already. Izuku wondered if he'd get a chance later to talk to Todoroki again and ask him what that was all about, but he doubted it.

He sighed to himself as the sight of Todoroki's distinct hair disappeared behind the main campus doors. Izuku waited a few seconds before allowing himself to follow.

Autumn Leaves, Eva Cassidy: watch?v=xXBNlApwh0c

Part 1 of the Nightbird Series