Author's note: Later than I would have liked it to be, but this is the first part of a birthday fic for one of my best friends, babyvfan :) I hope this is going to measure up to your expectations, sweetheart, and happy birthday! This is also the first time I'll be attempting to write a TodoDeku fanfic, so I hope I won't screw up their portrayal too badly! *sweatdrops*

Warnings: Shouto's pov; Alternate universe, more precisely the Fae world; future slash; Fae Shouto; sort of medievalish setting? Oh and possible spoilers regarding a certain character, I suppose, though he doesn't have a major role in this fic

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia. Kohei Horikoshi owns it.

I hope you'll like this first part!

Part 1

There had been a time when Fae and humans had dealings with each other. Humans provided offerings such as fruit or anything else they considered to be valuable and if the Fae were in a good mood, they would be willing to help the humans with their request. It was a beneficial agreement for both sides and if some humans decided to be too rude, well, the Fae had no problems setting them straight.

As time went by, however, less and less people were gifted with the Sight. They started believing in other beings, ones which kept them from seeing the Fae folk, and the ability to See the Fae became so rare, the Fae might as well no longer exist anymore. While not dependent on the humans at all, this came to be known as the Time of Obscuration for the Fae. The world was changing for the humans and the divide between the human world and that of the Fae grew to be so big that the Fae no longer expected to be heard or seen. The Fae weren't that bothered by it, but for those accustomed to amusing themselves with humans, the change was rather jarring, even for beings able to live for centuries.

Todoroki Shouto was a Fae born on the cusp of the Time of Obscuration. He was old enough to remember vague interactions with humans, but still too young to actually experience a difference. His older sister Fuyumi often lamented that life had become slightly more boring now that she could no longer play pranks on the humans, but Shouto had no real experiences of his own and so did not miss the mischief his older siblings had been able to extract when humans still had possessed the gift of Sight. Unlike some other Fae he also had no interest in trying to see which humans still possessed the gift and who didn't. His daily tasks kept him too busy to explore the nearest human village.

All Fae were tasked with taking care of nature, of course, but Shouto was a unique case in that he was not bound by any season to perform his role. While most other Fae only had one season that invigorated them enough to take care of nature, Shouto's dual nature ensured he could be active throughout the entire year. The midst of a blazing hot summer? No issue for his fire element side. The depth of a winter when barely anything grew and the whole world seemed to come to a standstill? His ice element enabled him to check on the trees and the bushes, taking care that they still could feed themselves. Spring and autumn were likewise not a problem for him, which never failed to make some of the Fae jealous. Fae with dual natures were incredibly rare, but of course it was to be expected that the Todoroki clan would eventually bring forth such a Fae, the others whispered, when the clan contained powerhouses in their own right such as Enji and Rei, Shouto's parents.

Neither father nor mother possessed a dual nature, but their own elements – fire and ice – were strong enough to carry them through most of the seasons, even ones which should leave them more fatigued such as winter for father and summer for mother. Shouto's siblings had all inherited either father's or mother's element, making Shouto the sole Fae to inherit both. His parents were naturally very proud of that fact, but they never treated Shouto differently, reminding him just as they reminded their other children that taking care of nature was the most important task of a Fae, because without Fae, nature would collapse. They were the ones making sure flowers were brought to life so that bees could help them bloom. They ensured that trees grew tall and strong and that the river never stopped running.

Shouto had those lessons imprinted on him from the day he started learning how to take care of nature and more importantly, how to use his elements in order to have nature prosper. His dual element might make him a special case, but that hadn't made it easier to gain control over them. A particular forceful outburst when he'd lost control had resulted in a large burn scar covering the left side of his face. If it had been just regular fire he would have healed perfectly, but Fae fire was on a whole other level and therefore nigh incurable. The scar had faded somewhat throughout the years, but it might take many more centuries before the scar would completely fade away.

Shouto wasn't too bothered about that. It didn't hurt him and it didn't keep him from his tasks, which was the most important part. His oldest brother Toya sometimes liked to tease him with it, because he could be slightly cruel like that, stating it was a good thing Shouto had inherited their clan's good looks because finding a mate would otherwise be a horrendous task. That always led to both Fuyumi and Natsuo scolding Toya for it and if mother happened to hear it, he would receive a walloping on top of that, but that never really stopped Toya from teasing Shouto about his scar.

Perhaps he kept teasing him about it, because Shouto never reacted to it. He had no particular interest in finding a mate – to the utter disappointment of several Fae girls – so whether or not he was still good looking even with the scar was of no importance to him. He realised that made him quite the oddball: a dual nature, no interest in seeking out a mate even though he'd already reached the age of maturity a long time ago, no desire to seek out humans to mess with them … Yes, he was considered quite the oddball amongst the Fae, but he did not care. Why seek a mate when nobody roused his interest? Why torment humans when they had done nothing to evoke the wrath in the first place? He didn't even understand this strange interest a lot of Fae had with the human world. What was so intriguing about them when they couldn't even see the Fae?

Then, one day, he encountered one of the humans in the forest.

It was the sound of an unfamiliar voice talking that attracted Shouto's attention. He'd been lounging on a branch, awaiting the moment the rain would stop so that he could continue his way home. It wasn't as if rain would make it utterly impossible to fly, but his wings became uncomfortable heavy then and it took ages for them to dry properly. The curse of possessing large, beautiful wings, mother would always chuckle while helping him carefully pat them dry.

He'd inherited it from her side of the family, but the benefit was that he was also one of the quickest when it came to flying. Still when it rained like it was doing now, he preferred seeking shelter until the rain let up for the most part. He was already finished with checking his part of the forest anyways, so relaxing on a branch while listening to the 'plink, plink' noise of drops hitting the leaves wasn't that horrible. It was slowly inching into autumn, so rain bouts like this one would occur more often.

He was almost lulled to sleep by the sound of the rain, when his ears pricked, hearing an unfamiliar voice somewhere to his right. It sounded cheerful, but muted and he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He frowned and leant forwards, resting a hand on the bark between his legs, contemplating whether he should fly out and see who it was. It couldn't be anyone of the Fae. They all had their own territory to take care of in the forest and none of them would bother coming this deep to start with. Shouto was one of the very few assigned to this portion of the forest because it was so far away from their home and only the fastest and strongest Fae could handle making such long trips.

So if it wasn't anyone of the Fae, who was it then? A human? This part was already so far away from Shouto's home, it was definitely too far away from the human village, so if it was a human, what was it doing here?

He needed to investigate this. If it was a human, he would find out what he was doing and decide whether it required interference or not. If it was something else, a Fae from one of the rival clans, however, then he definitely needed to know about it, so that he could warn his family about the threat.

Bracing himself against the onslaught of rain, he pushed himself off the branch and spread out his wings, using a temporary current to give him an extra burst of speed. Some mice scurried underneath a bush when he flew over them and he took a sharp turn to the left when the voice started sounding clearer. He drew up short when he reached the edge of a very small clearing in which a human – it was definitely a human considering his size, though he looked somewhat young? Shouto had no idea, having no reference of how humans were supposed to look like as they aged – was crouching down, throwing some nuts of all things to a couple of squirrels. The human was cooing at them; the rain seemingly not bothering him as the drops collected in his green hair, glistening like those shiny stones Shouto often encountered on the bottom of the river.

"Collecting your food for the winter already, hm? That's really smart," the human was saying, carefully throwing out more nuts. The squirrels sniffed at them, their little noses busy as they studied the offered food before grabbing some nuts, nibbling on them. "I suppose mother and I should also start gathering for winter, but mother says we still have enough time. Katsuki-kun says I'm worrying about nothing, of course, but he's always done that …"

The human trailed off, looking at the sky for a moment. When Shouto silently flew closer, he caught sight of enormous green eyes and freckles dotting the human's face. Undeterred by the rain, the human turned back to the squirrels, smiling now. Shouto thought the human might be male like him, because the human didn't appear to have any curves around its chest area.

"I can come with more food tomorrow," the human said, resting his arms on his knees. "Mother and I don't like nuts that much to start with and it's better to give it to you. Or to birds, I suppose," he added thoughtfully, glancing at a coal tit idly pecking away at the earth a few feet away from him.

When the squirrels scurried off into one of the trees, the human rose up and stretched his arms. "All right, I see you guys tomorrow!" He waved cheerfully and turned around, wrapping his auburn coloured cloak closer around him.

He passed Shouto on his way and for just a few seconds their eyes seemed to meet and the human frowned. Before he could blink, Shouto had already flown higher, hiding in the leaves of a berk; his heart beating madly for the first time since he could remember. Had the human seen him? No, that couldn't be it. No humans with the Sight existed anymore; that was what all the other Fae kept saying. Since the human world had started changing, they could no longer see the Fae; that was a fact.

Yet the human lingered in the same spot for a moment longer, squinting as if trying to see better, before he eventually pursed his lips and sighed, continuing his way to his own home presumably.

Shouto remained hidden in the leaves for a long time after that, for reasons he didn't know himself.

For some unknown reason, Shouto became attuned to the human's voice ever since he'd encountered him that first time in the woods. Nearly every day without fail, he would be lured in by the human's voice, would fly through the woods in search of him. Every time without fail, he would find the human feeding animals. Some days the squirrels were enjoying the gifts, other times the birds benefited or even on a very rare occasion, some deer would feel brave enough to leave their hiding spots and would get close enough to snatch some of the offered food from the ground.

No matter the weather – rain, mist, sunshine, wind – the human would find himself in a part of the forest, chattering to the animals as if they were his friend. He always sounded incredibly cheerful, telling them about the happenings in his village, about another human named Katsuki, who was making his way to the top of whatever constituted the top in a human village.

"I tried seeking out an apprentice a couple of times, but they won't accept me," the human boy admitted one dreary afternoon. He sat on a rock, watching various birds twitter and flap their wings as they tried to eat as much of the food he threw them as they could. "They said I don't have the strength for it. I could train, but they said it's not worth the effort. Katsuki-kun thought that was funny, of course."

He sighed and shifted around on the stone. "He's so busy that we barely see each other anymore, but I'm glad he's so successful. If anyone deserves the apprenticeship, it's him, really."

In spite of the cheerful smile on his face, however, he sounded rather sad and Shouto tilted his head, crossing his legs on the branch he'd chosen to sit on. Honestly, this was such a peculiar human, it made him wonder whether all humans were like this. The human always smiled, but Shouto had come to figure out that not all smiles were equally genuine. He would give real smiles when talking about his mother or an elderly man he was helping out, but his smiles tended to become tinged with sadness whenever he mentioned this Katsuki human. Shouto couldn't figure out why, because why bother with someone if that person only caused you sadness? That didn't make any sense.

Just like it made no sense for him to keep seeking out the human. He knew who he was now, knew what he did this deep in the woods – feeding animals, always feeding animals, no matter the weather, which in a way was admirable, but also very strange – so there was no reason for him to keep scouting the human. If he did end up doing something that would cause harm to the forest, Shouto would know about it immediately, so there was no need to remain here and listen to the human until he deemed it time to return to his own home.

Yet that was what Shouto did nearly every day as soon as his ears caught the human's voice. There was something about the human boy that kept luring him out to him, even when he knew there was nothing to be bothered about. So what if the human decided that feeding animals this deep in the woods was something that needed to be done? It benefitted the animals and he was respectful of the forest, so there was no harm in that.

Something kept Shouto seated however, listening to the human rambling on about whatever popped up into his head. Sometimes the human reminded Shouto of Toya and the way his oldest brother could rant and rave about the most insignificant of matters, but there was no malice to be found in the human's rambling. If anything, he appeared rather lonely, seeking out forest animals instead of remaining in the village. Why, Shouto had no idea.

Surely there were other things he could be doing in his own village instead of feeding animals every day? Apparently not, however, because he was here nearly every single day, talking about whatever he'd been doing in the village up to arriving in the forest. He wasn't that bad to look at, Shouto decided, watching those green eyes shine with amusement when two sparrows started arguing with each other over a single corn piece. He had the biggest eyes Shouto had ever seen on anyone, though, and he thought he should find them weird looking, but there was something oddly mesmerizing about them.

Just as enraptured was he with the way the human tended to move his entire body when talking from tapping his feet to waving his hands around when he got particularly fired up about something he was saying. He didn't know why and when he'd become so interested in the human. It was just one human, like so many others apparently existed in the world. He shouldn't find anything special about that, not when they were so different, like night and day.

Yet here he was listening to the human boy ramble on about all the preparations he would need to make for the upcoming winter and watching him feed the birds. Perhaps he was even stranger than the other Fae already accused him of being.

"Is something wrong?" Fuyumi inquired, stretching out her wings carefully. She must have been taking a nap for her hair was rather messy and her wings looked slightly bent.

"Why would there be something wrong?" Shouto asked in return, blinking bemused. He had just returned from his last and final check-up of his territory for the day, after once again having listened to the human boy chattering to a couple of foxes.

The human had appeared slightly agitated, talking about an argument of sorts he had had with this Katsuki human. He seemed to have nothing but arguments with this particular human, which made Shouto wonder once more why the human kept bothering with this other human.

"I don't know," his sister said pensively, stroking her left wing. "You seem more … distracted lately. You've been returning home later than usual too."

He had? He hadn't even noticed that. "It's been raining more often than usual, so I've been trying to keep out of the rain as much as possible." Which was partly true.

She hummed, staring outside. "That's true. Mother's been complaining about it as well. I suppose I should be glad I didn't inherit those large wings of her," she smiled wryly. "Well, if you're sure that nothing is wrong, then I'm glad. Good night, Shouto."

"Good night," he murmured and made his way to his own space, where his nest was looking particularly inviting now that the wind was becoming rougher and louder.

He wondered how humans dealt with rough weather like this. Did they have protective homes of their own? He had no clue, having never once ventured out to the human village. There had never been a need for it, especially not since the Time of Obscuration had started. Now, however, he found himself wondering where the human went to after he left the forest. It had to be quite the long trek considering how deep into the forest he always was, yet he made the journey nearly every day regardless.

Such a peculiar human …

Autumn had firmly settled in, bringing with it even more rain, misty mornings and unforgiving cold wind. Already most trees had lost the majority of their leaves, colouring the forest floor in various shades of gold, red and brown. The animals were preparing for the upcoming winter, looking for food or a decent hibernation place.

Yet in spite of the rough, unwelcoming weather, the human boy kept showing up, bearing fruits and nuts and vegetables and the occasional piece of meat for the foxes. All he had to protect himself was a thick cloak, but that didn't deter him at all and he still had that ever present smile on his face, no matter how hard it poured or how violent the wind howled.

One late afternoon the howling wind had made way for just some soft pitter-patter of rain, barely audible, but still loud enough to make Shouto feel sleepy. He hadn't slept well last night, his oldest sister and brother having argued for hours about a Fae his sister was interested in and it was only when father had interfered – rather loudly as well – that peace had finally returned in their home. Loud nights like the past one often made him consider whether he shouldn't try finding a place of his own to build a nest in. He certainly had reached enough years to seek out a place of his own, but so far he had seen no need for it when he didn't have a mate to –

"I thought I was going crazy, but you really do exist, don't you? What are you?"

Without any warning – how had he even got so close?! – the human boy was there in front of the tree Shouto was lounging in; his big – so very large – eyes firmly trained on Shouto.

As if he could see him.

AN2: My first attempt at a new pairing/new fandom and I hope I'm not screwing it up too badly so far. babyvfan, I hope this is at least somewhat close to the idea you wanted ^^; I'll try my best to have the next chapter out soon!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next part! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa