Free Birds

《☆》

The red avian sat on the thick branch, his feet at the edge of the bar and knees nearly touching her chest. The wind teased his bare shoulders, cool enough to keep the heat of the late summer at bay. The air is crisp in the higher branches, he inhales deeply and enjoyed the view of the environment around him.

 Shouto stared into the water in front of him, enjoying the way it swayed and glistened in the late hours of the day. There wasn't much around here. Just trees, animals, and the rare body of water. Much less fauna thrived here than he was used to. He heard the familiar sound of his companion nearing him. The leaves around him chimed at every wing-beat and the tree creaked quietly.
He glances over his shoulder with a smirk. "Come here often, love?" Izuku scoffed as his feet landed on the thick branch, making it bob. " shut up, birdbrain." Izuku sighed, amused if not exasperated at Shouto's greeting.

 He moved to sit next to the taller boy, wings shifting and shaking from his flight. He flattened them and looked over the lake they sat above. Even at this elevation, it looked rather large. The water reflected the sky and trees, making it a blur of the warm summer colors. Izuku was half tempted to get closer to it, maybe soak in the cool water. But he knew that if he got in now he wouldn't be able to dry off in time to fly back to the school with the diminishing sun. He wished there were more hours in the warm part of the day.

 The greenette turned to his companion," it's beautiful out here," shouto turns to him as well "Yeah, it makes me think of home, almost, kinda, maybe.." izuku giggles, white wings flaring out in amusement. "Except there's less sky than land and the deer are more aggressive."

 Shouto scowls at him, upset that he brought up that unfortunate encounter,"...yes, Izuku, and the deers are more aggressive."

 Shouto huffs and turns away from Izuku, red wings going tense as he grumbles. The greenette laughs at his partner's expense but leans heartily into him. Shouto's large wings puffed out and he doesn't look at him.

 "Shoouuu! I didn't mean it, I was joking around!" He wines, hoping that his partner will forgive him.

 "You shouldn't have been." He huffs into the crook of his elbow, ignoring the trills coming from his older companion.

 They sit on the thick branch for many moments more bickering softly and (once Izuku is forgiven) looking down at the animals in the area.

 "Ooh! That's a fox! Look, look!" Izuku nearly shakes the red avian of their perch in the heat of the excitement. "I know 'Zu we saw one yesterday..." the smaller boy glared at him like he spits in his tea and called him a penguin. "But they're so cute and-" the dual-toned boy jumps off the branch they're sitting on to another one, significantly farther away. Rude. "Get back here you ass!" Izuku glides after him, successfully scaring the canine (and nearly every other animal) away.

 They ended up chasing each other around, spinning between obstacles and barreling into each other as soon as they had the chance. Shouto was much faster and graceful, slipping past Izuku and gaining distance in a matter of mere moments. Izuku was quiet, though, and built for endurance, swerving around corners unseen and running shoto down til' they were tired.

 They felt like crap after about the 20th round (doing the equivalent of high speeds arial gymnastics will do that to you).

They sat on the fine grass, panting on top of each other after a particularly rough takedown from Shouto. They smelled like earth and their bodies were smothered with dirt "I. win." The dual-colored boy heaved. His chest moving so franticly against the greenetes made it hard to breathe but it would be fine. "I think I won more than you." The cheeky tone was lost within his desperate gasps for air. Pity.

 "Whatever."

 His head thunked against Izuku's shoulder, cool breath giving the boy chills. He draped his arm over Shoto's back, gently playing with the red-brown wings that sprouted from his shoulder blades. Their soft, if a little gritty from forest dander and stray twigs "You know we have to go back to UA soon, right?" He just got a grumpy moan into his collarbone as a reply, wow.

 Shouto leaned more heavily into him. His chest no longer pushing erratically at Izuku's diaphragm, but resting on top of him calmly. Shouto's heartbeats against both of their chests, the greenette's likely doing the same. "I don't wanna go back to that stupid human school." He breathes out. "Too bad. That 'stupid human school' -that you decided to come to- " he pointedly poked the boy's ribcage, earning a grunt,"-has a curfew for their students, human or not."

 Shouto slowly raised his head, squinting at him like an idiot," We could just drop out and go back to your mom's house...? She makes great cookies." He just stared at him, yes his mother made amazing sweets that were (nearly) delicious enough to bring him back to the nest but they signed up for this dammit.

 "No."

  Shouto's head slammed back into his shoulder as he let out a long, dramatic groan.

 Izuku rolled his eyes, he struggled to his feet then turned to wrestle his companion to stand as well.

 They head back to the "human school", leaned closed together, and wrapped in each other's wings. They would come back to the forest area again on another day when they didn't have homework. Maybe they'd cone on the weekend so they could spend the night catching crickets and the morning sunbathing on lake rocks. But today, they have to go back to the campus so they can learn to kick some (human) villain ass.