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Kirishima Eijirou was a small time boy. He grew up in the suburbs with a handful of friends, played with the neighborhood kids from dusk till dawn from elementary school to middle school, but it wasn’t long until his moms’ relationship was found out by one of their workplaces.
No harm, no foul; there was no malicious threats, but she ended up being fired for homosexual tendencies and the family had to move to the country. Of course, being as optimistic as the Kirishima’s were, the move was treated like a road trip; they sang along to the radio as they packed, they played travel games all throughout the drive, and they held a “decorating party” when they got to the new house. His moms even took their son to a salon and got his hair dyed bright red like one of his favorite comic book characters.
For the first few months it was simple. Young Eijirou went to school while his moms sought out work wherever they could, and that was it. They were adjusting.
However one night at a comic club retreat, one of Kirishima’s best friends- Kaminari Denki, an electric blond that lived up the road from him- got onto the topic of local folklore after reading one of the aftercomics in their favorite series where the Hero, All Might, was scared of ghosts. Their resident hothead, Bakugou Katsuki, had dismissed his friend’s claims of the supernatural in their little town, claiming ‘that shit was for pansies,’ and ‘their town was not fucking haunted; it was just old.’ Only such claims were rebuttaled by their resident cutie and head gossip, Ashido Mina, and nothing got past her ears.
She told Kirishima about the local legends surrounding one of the forests across the way from his area, “The Midoriya forest is said to be beautiful- named for the hundreds of shades of green that can be seen filtering the sunlight through every day. Like, deadass, it is really pretty. If it weren’t haunted, I would want to have my wedding there-”
“It’s not haunted, Raccoon Eyes. Old hags just started rumors like that to keep shits like you from getting fucking lost,” Bakugou cut in dryly.
Ashido rolled her eyes with a sigh, “Sheesh. The only one of us to have an actual supernatural experience, and he denies its existence.”
Even Kaminari jumped on the fiery ash blond, “Yeah, dude, don’t you remember when you got lost in that forest as a kid? You met some weird creature and named it- what? Deku?”
Before Bakugou could defend himself, Kirishima’s eyes lit up, “Bakubro! You had met a ghost?”
“It wasn’t a fucking ghost! If anything it was a spirit, and I was a brat back then. There’s no way I was actually telling the truth about Shitty Deku. It was probably just my fuckin’ imagination or something,” he snapped back, shutting up the circle but only for a moment, because they all had loud mouths.
“But yeah, before spoilsport here cut me off-” Ashido and Bakugou glared at each other for a moment before she continued, “There’s a lot of people that go into that forest and don’t make it out, and, at night, it’s said that you can hear the cries of a little boy through the branches of the trees. Pretty spooky stuff.”
“Nobody’s ever found footprints or any traces of human life in those woods. Most of the shitbags that get lost either have no sense of fucking direction or they fall into the shitty ravines. Nothing fucking ‘spooky’ about it,” Bakugou cursed, rolling his eyes even through the tongues pointed at him.
“So you really think there’s nothing there?” it was absentminded; Kirishima wasn’t even aware he had spoken aloud, but the question wasn’t directed at anyone other than himself. Admittedly, the redhead found himself staring off into space for the good majority of the conversation afterwards, unable to think about anything other than the Midoriya forest.
Even after he got home, Kirishima was still caught up on the thought- no matter how much directed his thoughts at something else, they always came back to that forest. It got so bad that Kirishima couldn’t even settle down to do his homework- which he had trouble on a good day, but, in that moment, it was like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. He even ended up going back down stairs and telling one of his mom’s that he was going back out.
“Okay, Eijirou. Grab a scarf and be back before dark.”
He could do that, slipping a scarlet scarf around his neck, the redhead double checked his pockets in the doorway. He had a pocket compass that one of his middle school buddies gave him for Valentines Day instead of friend chocolate, a flashlight in case the forest was dark, his phone with a mostly charged battery, and two small snacks for if he got hungry… That was it, right?
Shaking his head, Kirishima set off, looking at the sun in the sky and jumping a little bit as a giddy curiosity surged through him. How cool was that! He was going to check out a haunted forest! Where one of his new friends had supposedly met a ghost! Well, Bakugou had called it, or rather, him a “spirit,” saying that he was definitely some sort of creature- just in the shape of a boy.
Arriving at the forest, it was just as beautiful as Ashido had described. The scenery glowed, even with the greens fading to reds and oranges, even with the yellows peppered across the sky; it was gorgeous- like something out of a painting or a picture that surely had to be doctored, but, no, it was real. It stood in front of him, looming like a storm cloud over a sunset; it was terrifying, at least it should be terrifying, but the colors made it impossible to tear his eyes away from the sight.
Kirishima found himself walking into the forest without a second thought, like he was being drawn in. The redhead had never been particularly lightfooted, but something in him warned him not to make a noise. Scarlet eyes scanned the ground in front of them, carefully watching where he stepped. There was a lot to watch out for- the random unease he felt stepping on flowers and sticks, actual wild animals that could be anywhere around him, Bakugou had mentioned that there were ravines he could fall into, and that wasn’t even taking into account the “Deku” creature that was rumored to be around.
Pulling out his compass, Kirishima made a mental note in which direction he came from, so, if all failed, he could just walk back towards it and hope for the best.
Of course, that didn’t really matter as he walked further and further in. The forest got thicker, although no less breathtaking, and it started to blur together. Maybe Bakugou was right. Maybe he did just make the whole story up and happened to be a brat with an active imagination. Letting out a sigh, Kirishima scanned his sights and found a small clearing where he could sit down at the base of a huge tree.
Almost no sounds filtered through the brush; it was quiet as far as the ear could hear. If he were born and raised in the country, such an occurrence would have struck him as odd, for there was no way a forest as large and as vast as the Midoriya wasn’t crawling with the noises of animals, of birds or squirrels, of footsteps or falling branches. Alas, there was nothing but the sound of Kirishima’s own shiver as a breeze rolled by. Minding the fact that the brush was so thick no draft could have made it so far inward, there was nothing ‘natural’ about the icy wind that tickled him.
The poor city boy had no clue what he had gotten himself into as he pulled his scarf up over his nose and mumbled a few grievances. Kirishima was quick to blame the night that he knew was falling fast, but he didn’t see the set of greens looking at him from across the way. There was no way his human ears could pick up the subtle sound of viridian ears flicking or fern grasses making way for gentle footsteps.
Sighing, “It’s getting cold… I guess I better get home,” Kirishima wasn’t expecting to startle the creature approaching him with such wary, nor was he expecting to look up and be faced with emerald eyes, shining with curiosity.
“D… Deku?” the human attempted, only remembering the conversation from earlier. However, seeing the look of almost disgust on the creature’s adorable face made him shake his head, “Sorry, sorry! I guess you don’t like that nickname,” Kirishima sheepishly scratched the back of his head, looking away and trying to think of something better, “Oh!”
The creature stepped back.
“Why don’t I call you Midoriya? Since this is the ‘Midoriya forest’! How does that sound?”
The creature nodded, but its eyes were fixated on where Kirishima was fiddling with his scarf. Confusion was clear on its oddly human face, bright emerald eyes were wide as they sat above a line of soft, brown freckles and below even softer looking curly, forest hair. He looked like a boy, around Kirishima’s age, too, with a defined, bare torso. The only thing off putting from the waist up was his ears. At first, it looked like he didn’t have any, but, looking closer, they were actually buried in his puffy locks. They looked like the same ears as a deer, and they were a green slightly lighter than the hair covering them.
“S-so, um, Midoriya…” Kirishima attempted to make conversation. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if the creature- Midoriya- he wasn’t even sure if Midoriya understood a word that he was saying, but he did see the way Midoriya fixated on his hands, stepping forward with his less than human legs.
His hooves, actually.
He stepped forward with his hooves. There were four of them, actually, all covered in a gentle clover colored fur with soft white spots across his back… well, the part of his back that looked like a deer. Kirishima obviously couldn’t see the human part of his back, since Midoriya was facing him, but he could see the cutest tuft of a tail whenever he bent down.
Neither of them knew what to do, observing each other with awe and wariness. Of course, it was clear where Midoriya’s focus was, seeing as, no matter what, he kept going back to Kirishima’s hands. Hesitantly, the redhead held one of them up, barely out of the way of his face. There were many things that the redhead was expecting. Maybe Midoriya would back up at the advancement. Maybe he would stare at Kirishima’s extended hand. Maybe he would freeze up.
Something he was not expecting was the feeling of fingers wrapping around his own.
Midoriya’s hands were cold- although that was to be expected by the fact that he was running around in this weather without a shirt on, but it still sent a shiver down Kirishima’s spine. From the first moment their skin touched, Midoriya seemed to lose his inhibitions, moving Kirishima’s hand without hesitance or restraint. In curiosity, Kirishima flexed his fingers, widening them before shutting them again just to see what kind of reaction he would receive.
The boy held up his other hand, mimicking the gesture before turning back to Kirishima with a look of sheer glee. He practically shoved his own hand in the human’s face, moving his fingers in the same way.
“Yeah, it’s pretty fun, huh?”
“Pretty fun, yes.”
Kirishima nearly leapt out of his skin. If he hadn’t been watching Midoriya move his lips, he would have claimed that he imagined it. The boy had a voice like bells, ringing through the air and blessing Kirishima’s unworthy ears. It startled the shit out of him, completely freezing up his body and brain. Of course, he expected Midoriya- or whatever the hell Midoriya was to have the ability to talk eventually, but he didn’t expect for him to be able to speak so fluently. That, and Kirishima hadn’t used the word ‘yes,’ so whatever the forest being was, he had prior human interaction and communication skills.
“Have you ever met another human before?” he tested.
“Human?”
“Uh- like me?” Kirishima pointed to himself, trying not to snicker when Midoriya replicated the gesture, “Have you ever met someone else that was like me?”
“Yes!” Midoriya declared proudly, holding up one finger like it was a trophy, “Kacchan!”
“Kacchan?”
“Kacchan like you! Mhm! Kacchan like you!” for a moment, Midoriya looked puzzled, dropping Kirishima’s hands and moving his own in a repetitive downward motion, “Kacchan like you…”
“Was he smaller than me?”
“Yes! Kacchan like you smaller!”
There was no way… ‘Kacchan’ wasn’t Bakugou, was he?
“Well, I’m Kirishima!” he happily supplied.
“Shima!” Midoriya tried, and it looked so cute Kirishima didn’t even want to fix the mispronunciation.
“Yep! That’s me! I’m Kirishima, and I’m a human, just like Kacchan!”
“Like Kacchan! Not small!”
“Big.”
“Big?”
“It means ‘not small’! I’m like Kacchan, but big!”
“Shima big!” Midoriya threw his arms over his head, and Kirishima was suddenly aware of how much larger the ‘spirit’- as Bakugou had called him- was. He might have even been taller than the redhead standing up, if he was being honest. Of course, the human only became aware of said fact when the boy in front of him crouched down, folding his legs beneath him in a position that Kirishima assumed was sitting. The moment he realized why Midoriya was sitting down, pride surged through him.
Midoriya trusted Kirishima.
Not only was he getting down on a level where they were equals, but he was also making it harder for him to run away- a fact that he only knew because his sensible friend, Sero Hanta, brought it up to make fun of Bakugou for always sitting on the desks during club meetings instead of in chairs or on the floor like everyone else.
At that memory, Kirishima couldn’t help but giggle. Bakugou was fuming at the comparison, saying that if he were a wild animal, he would rip everyone in the room to shreds. That ended up only making it worse because Ashido said that Bakugou reminded her of a Pomerainian a snotty couple at her old place had. If looks could kill, Bakugou would have become a mass murderer right then and there, but it was still funny looking back.
Midoriya, of course, had no clue what was going on. Wide eyes surveyed Kirishima up and down, making sure that he was okay. In his defense, the human had tried to stop laughing… it just wasn’t working very well…
After a moment, the ‘spirit’ seemed to understand, his face visibly brightening, “Joke!” He declared happily, like he had just discovered some undercover secret, “Shima! Joke!”
“Oh? Did Kacchan teach you that word?” he couldn’t help but inquire.
“Mhm! Kacchan love joke!” Yeah, there was no way this ‘Kacchan’ was Bakugou. Bakugou hated jokes and almost never laughed, so Midoriya wouldn’t have immediately put two and two together.
For a while, they sat like that. Kirishima would say anything he could to engage Midoriya, and the forest haired boy would happily indulge him, nodding along and sometimes mouthing the words along with him. It wasn’t until he started to see orange and pink filtering through the trees that the human remembered he needed to be back before dark.
“Ah. Shoot… I have to go…”
Midoriya’s eyes widened and the smile dropped off his face. “Go?” Whoever ‘Kacchan’ was, they clearly hadn’t left him with a good impression of the word, ‘go.’
“Yeah, it’s getting dark-” Kirishima explained a bit frantically, waving his hands and hoping that Midoriya would understand in some capacity.
“Oh. Kay,” Midoriya seemed to immediately calm at that, “Help out?”
“Do I need help getting out of the forest?”
“Yes. Help Out?”
Blinking rather dumbly, Kirishima nodded with a, “Yeah, if you don’t mind. I’d love some help.”
Midoriya stood up, brushing off his front side as he watched the human in front of him stand as well. Once they were eye to eye- well, almost eye to eye, since the ‘spirit’ was, in fact, a bit taller than Kirishima, despite his more boyish features- Midoriya smiled. The infection spread to Kirishima, too, who couldn’t help grinning as he dusted off his own pants with a cheerful, “Lead the way!”
It was interesting to watch Midoriya walk. Of course, he had hooves and four legs where the human had two legs and feet, but it was fascinating the way he jumped over logs and kept his torso engaged to balance himself out. Kirishima almost didn’t want to reach the end of the forest, but they did.
“Ah…” Kirishima looked out at the road in front of them. They weren’t close enough for either of them to be seen, certainly not in the ever fading light of evening, but the human had a feeling Midoriya didn’t want to get any farther from his forest. “I guess this is where we part?”
He got a confused head tilt.
“Say goodbye, ‘n stuff. You know? Leave? Go?” he explained with a slight frown, not wanting to go back home.
“Ah…” Midoriya repeated, frowning as well before suddenly reaching out and grabbing Kirishima’s coat, looking him in the eyes, “Back?”
“Will I come back?”
It hadn’t even been a question for him. Of course, Kirishima wanted to come back. What kind of dumbass wouldn’t? Midoriya was kind, adorable, interesting, smart, amazing- he was genuinely enjoyable to be around, as cheesy as that was to admit. Whoever ‘Kacchan’ was, they didn’t know what they were missing out on.
Midoriya was nodding frantically, avoiding Kirishima’s eyes as he fumbled with the fabric in his hands.
“Of course!” the human cheered, thinking for a minute as he looked over the ‘spirit’s naked torso, coughing and averting his own eyes. Unwrapping his scarf, Kirishima wrapped it loosely around Midoriya’s neck with a satisfied grin. “See? Now I have to come back!”
Midoriya beamed like the sun that had almost disappeared from the sky completely as Kirishima walked away. The moment he was out of sight, the human broke out into a sprint- both because he was going to get in serious trouble if he was much later than he already was, but also to hide the heaviness of his heartbeat.
If his dreams that night led to the flourishing of a new crush, well, who was any wiser? Who could even blame him?