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Soulmates were a very vague concept to a bunch of kindergarteners. They were often somewhat in pain - just small, sharp pain, even when they didn’t do anything.
Soulmates shared pain.
That was inconvenient with small children, who often fell and tripped, and barely had any concept about who shared whose pain.
Then one day both Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo cried out in pain, immediately covering one of their eyes reflexively.
Just a quick checkup was enough to discover that both of them were unharmed and Katsuki furiously wiped his tears while Izuku kept sniffing.
Of course that started the whispers between the adults that the two of them shared a soulmate.
And if they shared a soulmate that most likely meant that…
-
Thing is, Katsuki didn’t really want to hear of it, and as much as Izuku wanted to test the theory, how do you tell your friend you should hurt each other to check if you are soulmates?
You can’t do that, especially if you are Quirkless, and your friend isn’t.
But when Kacchan fell into the water, and Izuku yelped in pain, most of them didn’t even pay attention to it. He was probably a little crybaby as usual, nobody thought that Katsuki’s landing was a bit rougher than seemed, especially as Katsuki pretty much shrugged it off.
But from that point on, Izuku knew.
-
Katsuki didn’t say anything. At first Izuku tried to bring it up, bit Katsuki just scowled and turned away, effectively blanking him, seemingly not even thinking about the idea of what could this mean.
But Izuku noticed how Katsuki raised his fist against him and then stopped on his tracks, looking at Izuku, until Izuku raised his shaking fists further up.
“I won’t let you.”
He whispered, and Katsuki’s eyes narrowed, and still pushed him down to the dirt, and Izuku winced and Kacchan scowled.
“That was fucking nothing, Deku. How can someone be so weak?”
“Maybe” Izuku whispered, standing back up. “But I still won’t let you.”
-
Izuku didn’t know what to think of the fact that Kacchan still pushed him down, caused him bruises and scratches, when he himself felt those. Maybe he didn’t want others to clue in. Maybe he really did think the pain was nothing at all.
Maybe it was just fair game.
Of course sometimes still felt pain from elsewhere - pain neither of them had experienced, one or more people also bonded to them. It was impossible to tell.
-
One of the thoughts he last thought before passing out from the burning feeling of his lungs was I wonder what they are thinking, if they feel this.
Turns out, they probably did, judging from the fact that not much later, he felt the burning sensation again, and then he saw who was struggling with the monster again.
-
It was like an elephant in a room, something that was constantly in the back of Izuku’s mind at it was driving him mad.
Things got even weirder after the entrance exam though.
“What the fuck?!”
Katsuki grabbed him, pressing him up against a wall.
“What the fuck was that?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Kacchan…”
Of course he knew.
Katsuki stepped back, grabbing his right arm, yanking on it, as if proving a point.
“...it’s nothing, Kacchan.”
“You broke your arm and your legs didn’t you?” Katsuki hissed, narrowing his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you that you would get yourself killed?”
“...you know it might have been someone else, not me.”
“Might have been. But wasn’t. It was you, wasn’t it? Stupid fucking nerd.”
-
They went to UA, and got in the same class, because of course they did.
There were many others, someone with a burn mark on his face and he saw some others, like the tall, dark haired girl and the serious one with glasses were both sometimes eyeing him, Izuku was sure about it.
There was also a redhead boy with a scar close to his right eye, and Izuku couldn’t help but wonder, remembering the sharp pain around his eye when he was a child…
Of course he couldn’t jump on conclusions. Many people must have scars around their right eyes. Maybe their third soulmate didn’t even have a lasting scar. Maybe they had more than a third, they just simply had no way to know.
But when his finger broke during throwing the ball, and once he got away from Kacchan’s anger, he noticed the redhead guy clutching his own hand, looking at him, and Izuku really had to hold himself back from screaming out loud.
-
Okay so, maybe he was avoiding the redhead boy for most the time after this. He was aware it was more like Katsuki’s thing to do so, avoiding and ignoring things, and Izuku himself was probably even higher than usual on Katsuki’s list of Things That Piss Me Off, which admittedly, half of it was already taken up by Izuku himself, so he figured it would be a bad idea to ask that what did Kacchan think about all of this.
Then of course the Battle Trials happened, and things got even more complicated.
-
“Hey, Midoriya!”
Izuku stopped, taking a deep breath, as Kirishima walked up to him, and he knew what was going on.
“So uh, I’m not even sure how to start this, but…”
Kirishima looked very embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck, and Izuku realised he should probably make it easier.
As easy as something like this could possibly be.
“You felt it didn’t you?”
Kirishima glanced up, and Izuku fully turned towards him.
“When we slammed each other into the ground and the air got pressed out of our lungs. When my arm broke, when he burnt my other arm. You felt it all, didn’t you?”
There was a small, soft laugh escaping Kirishima’s mouth, as he shook his head.
“I never thought… I didn’t think there could be two of you, you know?”
It made sense.
-
Kirishima was nice, and he really did want to talk it Katsuki right away, but…
“Give him a bit of time” Izuku said in a soft voice. “He might already have an idea either way, or soon will. He is smart, you know, very smart. He just… has some things to figure out first. I don’t think he would react to this well if we were to talk to him.”
“Have you ever talked to him about this? I mean you two are childhood friends, right? So you surely have known…”
Silence, and Kirishima whistled a little.
“Seriously? Not even once?”
“Kacchan is… complicated.”
“Yeah, I can kinda see that. Alright, then. We do have a lot of time, don’t we?”
-
Izuku could see how Kacchan was actually slowly befriending Kirishima, and he figured it made sense. Kirishima was bright and strong, and wasn’t intimidated by Katsuki’s anger at all, and slowly but surely, the two of them started to hang out more and more, and Izuku couldn’t help but to feel a bit like…
Left behind.
Oh, Kirishima did not abandon him, at all. He was still hanging out with him too, trying to play mediator, but…
“I swear both you and Bakugo are the stubbornest people ever” Kirishima threw his hands in the air. “He would just scoff and ignore me and you would just mumble around how this is not the best time. When is the best time then, huh?”
“But it’s just isn’t!” Izuku flailed around a bit. “Wait… does this mean you talked with him about this?”
“Sort of, he said he doesn’t give a fuck. While obviously giving lots of them. Is there anything he isn’t in denial about?”
“His power levels.”
“Alright, point taken.”
-
They were in a stalemate for a while, but then the training camp happened, and…
“You want to save him too, right?” Kirishima’s hand shot out, grabbing onto Izuku’s hand, squeezing it. “You do, right? I know you do. You have to!”
Izuku looked into Kirishima’s eyes, and for a few moments it felt like the rest of their classmates weren’t even around, it was just the two of them, and the missing person, the one they were both horribly worried about.
So Izuku just squeezed his hand back.
When later Iida punched him, and Kirishima also reeled back, the rest of their rescue party didn’t even look surprised.
Izuku figured that they were actually kind of obvious, all things considered, the same was it was also obvious how Iida and Yaoyorozu kept gravitating towards Todoroki, and while people rarely talked about soulmates out loud, especially not while young, people kind of acted differently around each other.
So maybe that’s why their three friends, who were also finding each other were more inclined to come with them on their mission.
-
“It can’t be me.”
“This isn’t the time to be stubborn Mido--”
“I know” Izuku interrupted Kirishima. “I know this isn’t the time to be stubborn, but Kacchan would not give up his stubbornness. Not towards me, not ever, we have so much history, he had never taken my hand… even when we worked together, it wasn’t…”
Izuku remembered how every part of their bodies were aching, their own pain, and each others’, and Izuku felt like dying, but he kept pushing himself, because of course he did.
“...but he would take your hand. You are a fresh start, he would not push you away, the way he would push me away. It has to be you.”
And of course, Izuku was right.
-
They got Kacchan back, All Might’s power was lost, and eventually all of it imploded in a fight of screams and punches and kicks and explosions, and Izuku felt like screaming.
Fighting Kacchan was always like that, feeling the way Kacchan hit him the same way he felt the way his own kicks landed on Kacchan’s body, but Katsuki would never, ever slow down. He didn’t slow down while fighting Kirishima on the festival either, when he had to feel the same things there too, and didn’t slow down now either.
Then in the end, Katsuki won, and it was hard to breathe, and the thought Kirishima must be so confused and worried ran through Izuku’s mind, but then Kacchan leant down, and pressed an angry kiss on Izuku’s lips, in a way it was almost painful, and most certainly breathless, and then his next thought was I wonder if Kirishima is feeling this too, before all thoughts left his mind as he kissed Katsuki back.
-
“What have you two done?! Seriously, guys, this isn’t coo--”
Kirishima couldn’t finish it, because in a single moment Katsuki was gone, stepping forward, shutting him up with a hard kiss, and there was a small tingle on Izuku’s lips too.
Okay, so that was one question answered.
“I don’t feel like dealing with this shit Hair-For-Brains” Katsuki hissed, after letting up from the kiss. “We are under house arrest, so both of you fucks leave me the hell alone, I’m going to sleep.”
And with that, he was gone, storming off, leaving a completely baffled Kirishima, and a very tired Izuku behind.
“Did that… did that really just happen? Midoriya, what did you two do?”
“We had a fight.”
“I can see that!”
Izuku smiled a bit, shaking his head, stepping closer, pressing a smaller, much softer kiss to Kirishima’s lips.
“I guess we both let up from our stubborn behaviour a bit.”
Kirishima was a bit breathless, as he touched their foreheads together.
“About time, I’d say.”
And Izuku couldn’t help but agree.