Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In a world of incredible abilities, where everyday streets look like scenes from a comic book, the appearance of soulmates wasn’t a big surprise. After all, it wasn’t the biggest adjustment that humanity had to make, though knowing this didn’t make Kyouka feel any better about having her own.

Kyouka Jirou at age 15, is about to attend her first day of school in UA’s heroics course. As she gets ready for school, she carefully wrapps both of her hands in bandages up to her elbows to cover the four soulmarks she has on her arms. She’s been hiding her soulmarks from everyone since she was thirteen years old, and she doesn’t want to risk anyone at school seeing them today.

‘Alright, that should do it.’ She thinks as she checks herself in the mirror. ‘Now I’ll just have to make sure they don’t come undone at school.’

Kyouka finishes getting dressed, eats a quick breakfast, and checks the mirror one last time before heading out.

At the train station she met up with Denki and together they boarded the train that would take them to Musutafu. Denki has been her best friend since kindergarten, and to both of their excitement, they had ended up in the same class this year. They were happy to start the year off knowing at least one other person in their class. After they set their bags down and settle in, the train starts moving rocking gently from side to side as it rolls down the tracks. They sit in a comfortable silence until Denki catches sight of her bandages.

“So, you’re still hiding them huh?” he asks, gently taking her right hand and brushing his fingers against the bandages.

“Yeah, it’ll be better if nobody sees them. I don’t want to deal with all of the questions.” Soulmarks were often the subject of fawning and excited questioning, especially in school. He understood not wanting to be part of that, but he also knows that isn’t the only reason.

“I get what you mean, but won’t people start worrying that you wear bandages all the time?” Denki asks the question gently, not wanting to overstep her boundaries.

Kyouka shakes her head. “No, I’ve worn them every day for over a year, and nobody at my old school said anything about it. I don’t think it will be an issue.”

Denki, still holding her hand, slowly unravels the bandages to show the three soulmarks hidden underneath. A black one on the back of her hand shaped like a cat with bright red eyes, a purple moon with three stars on the inside of her wrist, and a bright yellow microphone with music notes coming out of it in the center of her palm. All three of them are large, indicating that they are parental bonds as opposed to romantic ones. Denki knows she has one more on the palm of her left hand, a large blue snake with silver eyes and shimmering scales, but he makes no move to uncover that one. He lifts his hand and brushes his fingers over her personal mark, a set of dark purple earphones sitting on her upper arm right next to a small black lightning bolt, Denki’s mark. His mark is the only one she doesn’t hide, she keeps hers hidden with a bandaid, just in case.

Kyouka lets out a soft sigh and pulls her hand back, tying the bandage back in place around her arm. “Denki, you know why I don’t let people see them. What if a soulmate is at UA? It’s just easier if I don’t know who they are.”

He gave Kyouka a sad look. Denki, having known her for most of their lives, knew why she kept her soulmarks covered. Still, he wishes that she wouldn’t feel the need to hide them. He has three of his own, a set of purple earphones on his shoulder matching Kyouka’s, a black cat with red eyes, and a yellow microphone with music notes. He and Kyouka share two soul parents. His own personal mark is a black lightning bolt on his collarbone. She’s the only soulmate he’s found so far, but he can’t imagine not wanting to meet the others. Then again, he’s never been abandoned by a soulmate either.

“I know the last time you met one of your soul parents it didn’t go so well, but who’s to say that the other three won’t be amazing?” He asks hopefully.

Kyouka looks down at her lap, seemingly on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry Denki, I just don’t think I could handle it if they left too.”

Denki decides to drop the subject. There’s no sense in making his best friend cry on the first day of school.

Slowly, the train pulls into the Musutafu station, they both climb off of the train and head towards UA. Kyouka looks up and notices the thick blanket of clouds covering the sky, she smiles.

“It looks like it might rain later, I hope we get a good downpour. Just as long as it doesn’t get too bad” Kyouka has always loved rainy days more than anything, the sound of raindrops hitting the ground never failing to calm her.

Denki rolls his eyes. “How can you like rain, but hate thunderstorms?”

Kyouka gives him a look of exasperation. “Because, some of us aren’t a fan of lightning or loud sounds. I just barely put up with you” she teases.

Denki sticks his tongue out at her as they walk through the school gates. “C’mon, let’s hurry and find our classroom. Don’t want to be late.”

She huffs out a laugh, “ Wow Chargebolt, I didn’t think you cared about being on time. In fact, I seem to recall you ditching half our classes last year.”

Denki gasps dramatically. “Betrayal! Betrayed by my own best friend! Kyo, how could you be so cruel?” The pair burst into laughter.

They continued down the hall towards their homeroom, or so they thought. They must have gotten very lost, because the next thing they know the bell has rung, and...“HEEEYY!”

Kyouka and Denki turned around to see Present Mic walking towards them from down the hall.

Chapter Text

Present Mic came to a stop in front of them, his smile warm and unthreatening. “What's up little listeners? What are you two doing all the way over here?”

Kyouka was about to answer, but froze as her eyes caught a glimpse of yellow under the neck of his jacket.

Right there on his collarbone, was a golden microphone with 3 music notes coming out the top of it. Denki, seeming to have noticed her panic, answers Mic’s question instead.

“We’re looking for classroom 1A, Sir. Sorry if we caused any trouble.” he says, bowing politely. Mic laughs.

“It’s no trouble kiddo. These halls can be really confusing until you get the hang of them. C’mon, I’ll show you where your classroom is!” He turns and leads them down the hall.

When Kyouka made no attempt to move, Denki grabbed her hand and gently pulled her behind him. She didn’t fight him, and kept her eyes fixed on the ground. Denki is worried about her strange behavior, and casts a concerned glance towards his friend, but she just shakes her head. If Mic noticed, he didn’t say anything.

Mic talked excitedly the entire way to the classroom, but not once did Kyouka’s eyes ever leave the floor.

Denki doesn’t seem to have noticed the mark, but she doesn’t want to say anything with Mic standing right there, so she waits.

Mic loves the first day of school. He’s always been a highly social person, and the new students are always fun to talk to, so every year since he started teaching, he walks around the halls to make sure the students find their classrooms.

This year though, he’s got another goal in mind. He’s hoping to meet at least one of his soul children. His soul marks appeared fifteen years ago, which means that his children will be starting highschool this year.

Realistically he knows it’s a long shot, but he’s hoping that one of them might walk through the UA gates as a student this year.

While figuring out how she’s going to tell Denki about the mark, Jirou becomes so lost in her head that she doesn’t realize they’re at the classroom until Mic’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts.

“Here we are!!” he says a bit too enthusiastically “Class is already in session, but I doubt your teacher will hold this against you.” He leans in a bit and whispers, “I’ll let you in on a little secret, he may seem like a big meanie, but he’s really a softie. You didn’t hear that from me, though.” He winks at the two before knocking loudly (some would say obnoxiously) on the classroom door.

The door opens to reveal a scruffy looking man with long black hair. He looks down at the two students, and then turns and glares at Mic.

“Hizashi, what have I told you about distracting the new students? Class started seven minutes ago.” He sounds (and looks) like he hasn’t slept in a
week, leaving the two children to wonder how he’s awake at all.

Mic doesn’t bat an eye at the glare he’s receiving, instead looking down at the two students and introducing the scruffy man as their teacher.

“This is the class 1A teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Though, you two probably ought to call him Aizawa sensei.” They both bow as a greeting, but don’t say anything.

Aizawa nods at them, then quirks an eyebrow turning back to Mic. “What was it this time, a picture or an autograph?”

Before Aizawa sensei can continue, Kyouka finally finding her voice, lets go of Denki’s hand and speaks up in Mic’s defence.

“Uh, sorry we’re late sir, but it’s not his fault. My friend and I got lost trying to find the classroom, Mic sensei was just showing us where it was.” Her voice is soft and uncertain, but she holds her ground against his intense gaze. After all, it wouldn’t be right for Mic to get into trouble for helping them.

Mic looks at her incredulously, not expecting that response. Shouta wouldn’t have actually been angry at him, but she didn’t know that. The fact that she’s speaking up in his defence against Shouta of all people… He smiles.

Most students are too afraid of the grumpy caterpillar to even speak. He could already tell that this girl had incredible potential for heroics. Aizawa must think so as well, because he can see him hiding a creepy smile behind his capture weapon as he speaks.

“Get your gym uniforms and join the rest of the class at ground beta. I want you two there in five minutes.” He gets a “yes sir!” from both students, and they head to their respective locker rooms. He doesn’t threaten to expel them, not yet anyway. Neither have given him a reason to believe that they aren’t taking things seriously, so there’s no need. Hizashi turns to him with a shit eating grin, meeting Shouta’s glare head on.

“Don’t say it.”

“Aww, but the way you smiled at her was adorable! You didn’t even threaten to expel them!” Hizashi squeals, and Shouta hides his face in his scarf.

“They weren’t goofing off, Threatening them would have been illogical.” He doesn’t mention the way the girl seemed frightened already. Threatening expulsion might’ve done more harm than good with her.

“Face it Shou, you’re a softie at heart-” Aizawa cuts him off by wrapping his capture weapon around Mic’s mouth.

“Don’t you have your own class to be teaching?”

Mic’s eyes widen almost comically as he scrambles to his feet and runs down the hallway to where his own class is waiting for him.

Aizawa sighs in exasperation at his friend's antics, it’s a wonder that he holds down three jobs with how easily distracted he is.

Aizawa checks his roster for the two students' names. Denki Kaminari and Kyouka Jirou. They seem to be close, soulmates maybe?

Kaminari had been holding Jirou’s hand when he opened the door.

And Jirou?… there was something about the way she held herself that concerns him.

She seemed afraid. He could tell that Mic saw it too, he’d seen the underlying concern in his friend’s expression.

When she spoke, she was cautious, like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed. It put Shouta in mind of the stray kittens he feeds on his patrol.

Skittish and ready to bolt at any given moment, but incredibly protective of those around them, hissing to keep attackers at bay. He’d have to keep a close eye on her. After all, speaking up for Mic like that despite the fear in her eyes?

The girl had potential.

Chapter Text

Morning classes go by with teachers handing out syllabuses and going over standards for the year, and all too soon they’re headed off to lunch.

They get their food, and Kyouka pulls Denki out of the lunch room to a secluded corner near the first year classrooms.

It was now or never.

She steels herself for the upcoming conversation, and before Denki can question her strange behavior, takes a deep breath and says, “Present Mic is our Soulmate.”

Denki stands there frozen, the words taking a minute to sink in properly. Kyouka doesn’t say anything else, wanting to give him time to process the information.

They sit there for several minutes in a stunned silence.

“A-Are you sure?”

“I saw his mark this morning.”

The shocked look on Denki’s face melts into concern. “Are you ok?”

Kyouka considers the question.

Was she ok? Finding their soulmate had been a shock, certainly, but it’s not like he’d tried to hurt them.

Mic hadn’t even seen their soulmarks, and after the last time she’d met one of her soulmates, she’s not thrilled at the idea of telling him. Would he even want to know, or would he reject them completely? And if he did want them, who's to say he wouldn’t change his mind later on? She doesn’t think she could go through that again.

Mic seemed friendly, but would that change if he found out that they were his soulmates?

Kyouka is brought out of her thoughts by Denki’s hand on her shoulder, and realizes that he’s still waiting for an answer. Deciding to tell him the truth, she takes his hand and grips it tightly.

“I’m scared.”

That's not all and Denki knows this, so he wraps an arm around her and waits for her to continue. It often takes her a bit to think through what she wants to say.

“I- it’s not- I mean- Shit, Denki. You know what happened last time, and I just don’t think I can go through that again.” She brings her knees to her chest and rests her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I remember. But, you know what? She was a bitch.” Denki revels in the shocked laughter that comment gets him.

“I know, you’re worried, but most people spend their entire lives looking for their soulmates. I’ll bet that he’s been waiting to meet us for a long time.”

“But what if he doesn’t want to meet us, Denki? I don’t want to make him feel like he has to.”

“Hey, telling him won’t hurt anything. We’ll just tell him up front that he doesn’t have to be involved if he doesn't want to be.”

Kyouka frowns, tapping her earjacks together. “I dunno, Chargebolt. I’m still not sure about this.”

“Well, why don’t we leave him a note?”

“I don’t understand. How does that make a difference?”

“We could leave it for him after school, and that way he could choose whether or not he wanted to meet us.” Denki smiles brightly, clearly proud of himself.

“I guess that could work. At the very least, we wouldn’t have to talk in person unless he wanted to actually meet us.”

“Alright, it’s settled then! Let’s write a note, and we’ll leave it on his desk at the end of the day!”

They spend the rest of the lunch period coming up with what they want to say in the letter. They don’t want to share too much information until they’re sure he wants to see them, so they don’t leave phone numbers or anything. Just their names, age, and the fact that they share his soulmark.

By the end of the lunch period, they have something they’re happy with, and all that’s left to do is give it to him.

Kyouka spends the rest of the day thinking about the letter, and what Mic will think when he reads it. By the time the last bell rings, she’s actually excited to find out, if still a little nervous.

The two of them wait until the rest of the class has filed out of the classroom, and then set the paper on Mic’s desk, being careful not to disturb anything else. Then they gather their things and leave.

Mic Stands at his desk in shock, reading and rereading the note left on his desk, unable to believe his eyes.

“ Mic-sensei,

Thank you for helping us find our classroom this morning, we hope that Aizawa-sensei didn’t hold us being late against you. Our names are Kyouka and Denki, and we’re 15 years old. We’re sorry to dump this on you on the first day of school, but we feel you have the right to know that the two of us share your soulmark.

We didn’t want to cause you any trouble by telling you during the school day, so we left this note in hopes that it wouldn’t draw too much attention. We apologize if you didn’t want to know who your soulmates are, and if this is the case please feel free to ignore this, but it just wouldn’t have felt right to keep this from you, so we decided it was worth the risk.

Sincerely,
Jirou Kyouka, and
Kaminari Denki

Mic stands there for a few more minutes, before taking the letter and sprinting to the staff room.

He slams the door open with a bang, effectively startling everyone who happened to be in there. “SHOUTA, WAke up!”

Aizawa glares at him from his sleeping bag, activating his quirk. “Hizashi, what the hell is wrong with you?! I’m sure they heard you on the other side of the city.”

“Look!” He all but shoves the letter into his face. “The two students from this morning left this for me!”

Aizawa takes a moment to read what’s on the page, eyes widening as he finishes. “Well then, congratulations.”

“Would someone like to tell the rest of us what’s going on?” Midnight’s voice comes from the staff room couch, where she’s been looking over student files. Thirteen is sat at the table, along with Snipe, Nedzu, and Vlad.

“It would appear that Hizashi has found two of his soul children.”

Midnight squeals. “Oooh, let me see what they wrote. I wonder who they are!”

Aizawa hands her the letter, while the rest of the teachers congratulate Mic on finding his soulmates. After all, it’s a big deal when you find those you’re destined to care for.

Midnight speaks up, and hands the paper over to those at the table. “Awww, they sound adorable! Although, the last bit is a little concerning. Why would they think you wouldn’t want to know them?”

“Rejection is a pretty common fear among soulmates, they’re probably just nervous.” Thirteen says as she finishes reading.

“I don’t know if that’s it, the girl was really skittish this morning. Although she did speak up against shouta when he wrongly accused me of making them late, she looked afraid that he would actually hurt me or something.”

“I thought those two might be soulmates, they seemed close. Though, their unease around other people is a bit concerning” Aizawa says, pointedly ignoring his friend’s theatrics.

“The best thing we can do is keep an eye on the situation. Mic, I suggest you talk to them tomorrow, hopefully that will put any fear of rejection to rest. Any speculation beyond that won’t help anything, until we know more about them.”

“Nedzu’s right. It won’t do us any good to worry, until we know there’s something to worry about.”

“Yeah, ok. I’ll try to catch them before class tomorrow, I don’t want the little listeners thinking I don’t want them.” Mic takes the letter back from Thirteen and leaves the staff room, receiving wishes of good luck for tomorrow.

As he’s closing the door behind him, he hears Midnight call out, “You’d better introduce us sooner rather than later!”

Chapter Text

Kyouka tosses and turns throughout the night, anxiety clutching at her stomach and refusing to let go. The note had seemed a good idea at first, but now she can’t help feeling like it was a mistake. She doesn’t get much sleep, and by the next morning she’s exhausted and extremely nervous.

Kyouka meets Denki at the train station like usual, and they ride to school together in silence. Denki, seeming a bit nervous as well, doesn’t say a word the entire trip.

Before long the train stops and the two teenagers are making the short walk from the train station to the school. Denki chooses then to break the silence, placing a warm hand on his soul sister’s shoulder.

“Hey, It’s gonna be fine. He’s a hero, remember?” He’s not gonna hurt us.”

Kyouka puts her hand on top of his, trembling slightly and trying her best to stay positive as she whispers back, “Yeah, you're right.”

“And if he does I'll shock him.” he says matter-of-factly, pulling a shocked laugh out of her. Denki grins and Kyouka smiles back as they continue walking towards the school feeling just a bit lighter than before.

Soon enough, they reach the school and make their way into the building and towards the 1-A classroom, luckily remembering where it was this time. As they enter their classroom they see that they are the first ones there apart from Aizawa sensei, who’s standing at the podium looking through some papers.

“Morning, Sensei.” the two say in unison. Aizawa looks up as they set their bags next to their desks and sit down, her pulling out her lyrics notebook and a pen, and Denki taking out an english copy of Romeo and Juliete to read until class starts as there’s still about half an hour left.

“Good morning Kaminari, Jirou. Glad to see you made it on your own today.” He says with a hint of a smile hidden behind his deadpan tone.
Kyouka looks down in slight embarrassment, while Denki huffs and makes some comment about the halls being confusing.

They sit in silence for a few minutes until the door slams open, startling the two students out of their seats.

“YOOOO ERAser-” Aizawa cuts Mic off with a quirk enhanced glare. “What the hell Mic? I told you to knock. Stop barging in like that!”

A quiet rustling draws both of their attention to the students now trying to regain their composure from the shock. There are scorch marks on the desk where Denki’s hands had let out a particularly strong bolt of electricity, although he doesn’t seem to have fried his brain this time. Kyouka is curled up on the floor, hands covering her ears and her eyes squeezed shut like she’s in pain. Denki is sitting next to her with an arm around her shoulders.

Both Aizawa and Mic rush over to them, observing both teens and the surrounding damage from the accidental quirk use. “Kaminari, are you alright?” Aizawa asks, crouching down to their level.

The boy turns his gaze to him with a wide-eyed expression. “I- uh, yeah I’m fine. I’m so sorry, Aizawa sensei, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright Kaminari, quirk accidents happen, It’s not your fault.”, he assures him. “What about you, Jirou, are you hurt?” He gets a pained whimper in response, she hasn’t moved her hands, but her eyes are open and watery.

“Kid, I need you to move your hands for me, ok? I need to check if your ears are bleeding.” He speaks softly trying to keep his voice at a comfortable volume. Kyouka reluctantly lowers her hands, and Aizawa gently takes her chin, tilting her head from side to side.

“There doesn’t appear to be any damage, You’ll probably just be a little sensitive for a while.” He pats her shoulder and stands up, offering each kid a hand to pull them up. Mic sends them an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, kids, I should’ve guessed there’d be someone in her with him.” He keeps his voice soft as well, not wanting to cause the girl any more pain. “Kaminari, can I check your hands? Looks like you might’ve burned yourself, kiddo.” Denki nods, hesitantly stepping closer to the blonde hero.

“I’m going to run by the support department for some noise canceling headphones. The first aid kit is under my desk, there should be burn cream in there. Mic, do you think you can manage not to injure my students while I'm gone?” He shoots Mic a look, which he returns with an eye roll, and walks out of the room.

Mic very gently checks for burns and blisters on the boy’s hands, only finding a few red patches around the palms. He makes quick work of bandaging them up, giving Denki an ice pack to help with the pain.

“Alright, Kiddos. Your classmates will be showing up pretty soon, so why don’t we get you guys settled in my office while we wait for your teacher, yeah?” Sending a text to Aizawa telling him where they’d be, he carefully guides them both out of the room and down the halls, coming to a stop at a door with the name Yamada on the sign next to it. He ushers them inside, sitting them down on the couch, and starting some hot water in an electric kettle.

Aizawa comes by after a few minutes and gives Kyouka the headphones and instructions for both her and Denki to take the morning off from classes to recover. He puts Mic in charge of watching them, telling him that Midnight would cover his classes and looking knowingly at him on his way out. The kids track his movements warily, still anxious of what's to come, he doesn’t seem offended by it though as he hands each of his children a cup of blueberry tea, and settles on the couch opposite them with a warm smile.

“Alright you two, It seems we have a lot to talk about.”