Chapter Text
Every night when your mom tucked you into bed as a kid, she would play with your hair and tell you about soulmates until you drifted into the world of dreams. Oftentimes, you’d dream of the day you met your soulmate, and each scenario was more romantic than the last. In some dreams you’d bump into each other and see your string while picking up your books, in others you’d be a hero fighting a villain and your soulmate would pop at the last second to help you with the battle. You of course could only dream of him until the day came when you actually met, but you hoped he was at least nice. Hell, you hoped you’d even get to meet him at all.
In the real world, while soulmates were fairly common, little is known about how and why the universe paired you up with your ‘perfect someone’. Even your mother, who works in a research facility that specializes in the science behind soulmates, could tell you very little about the natural phenomenon that blessed your world.
All the world knows about soulmates is,
- Whether you meet them in this lifetime or not, you have a soulmate.
- The string, while always there spiritually, is only revealed after you touch your soulmate for the first time.
- The string itself is quite flexible, it can stretch great distances and go through walls. The only people who can touch your string are you and your partner. This doesn’t mean the string always listens to your movements, unfortunately the universe is a mischievous little bastard and likes to put people who try to defy it in uncomfortable positions.
- After the initial touch, it takes most couples around a week for the string to fade. However, the string only fades when (and if) you and your soulmate are capable of bonding and accepting each other as soulmates.
- Soulmates aren’t always compatible right away. While it is rare, some couples aren’t able to figure out a way to fade the string within the first few weeks. “Right person, wrong time” isn’t just a saying here, it’s real and it’s painful.
Though it was her job, mom hated putting science behind soulmates, behind love. Originally, she thought she’d never get to meet her soulmate. At twenty-six she got tired of waiting to meet them and got married to the man that was your father. He wasn’t a bad guy, but since meeting his soulmate when you were six, he had left you and your mom to live on your own. Which was fine, and honestly the norm when it came to soulmates.
Having relationships with people that weren’t your soulmate wasn’t taboo like you think it would be, and those who have gave up on meeting their soulmate usually got married to someone who also hadn’t met theirs. Divorce in these types of couples is high because they either find their soulmate along the way or figure out they aren’t compatible because they aren’t soulmates. It was normal, but that didn’t mean it felt nice . You had always sworn to yourself that you wouldn’t ever marry someone who wasn’t your soulmate. But you still had your fears, what if when you met them they were awful? What if they chewed with their mouth open, or stuck gum under desks, or was mean to waiters about getting their order wrong when it clearly wasn’t their fault? These thoughts aren’t helpfu l, you’d remind yourself every time you started to worry. Whoever they were, they’re your soulmate, worrying won’t change a thing about how shitty they might be.
It had been a long time since your mom tucked you into bed, and these days you heard her ramblings about soulmate research less and less. She accepted a job overseas two months ago, but since you were a responsible kid she was letting you live in your apartment alone until she returned in a year. The plan was to go to UA, the entrance exam had happened a month before she got the job and you had already been accepted. She didn’t think it was fair to make you move so after much convincing she had let you stay. You had been so confident until the day actually came.
Because as you walked up to the gates of UA high your heart sank to your stomach. Not that you wanted your mom to walk you to school, you just wish she’d been there, at least to ease your worries about completely starting over. Middle school wasn’t exactly the best time of your life, but who actually enjoys middle school right? Nobody from your school had been accepted to UA but you, and the thought of being all alone terrified you. You’d have to meet new people and pray they liked you because you’d be stuck with them for some of the most important years of your life.
People either did well at UA and became top heroes, became irrelevant after they graduated, or died. And you so hoped you fell into the first category. Lost in thought, you didn’t notice you were too close until you bumped into a short boy with green hair. As you plummeted towards the pavement you braced for impact but the impact never came.
“I hope you don’t mind that I used my quirk on you two, but I figured you didn’t want to fall.” A girl with pink cheeks grinned happily at you and the boy you had bumped into as she slowly released you back to your feet.
Frantically, you smoothed down your uniform, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going, are you ok?”
The boy just laughed, “Don’t worry about it, thanks for saving us by the way.”
“No problem! I haven’t seen you all week how’s it going.” Shit, you thought to yourself. so they knew each other and you had just bumped into one of them and made things all weird before you could ever make friends.
“Oh… So you two know each other? I’m (y/n) (l/n).” You stuck out your hand, “It’s nice to meet you.”
The girl laughed as she shook your hand, it was a sweet, bubbly laugh that reminded you of the weightless feeling of her quirk. “Oh don’t worry, we met at the entrance exam but uhh.” Her cheeks reddened as she lifted up her hand. Their string appeared only for a moment, before fading back into nothingness.
“Yeah it was kind of a wild ride,” The boy, equally if not more red finished her sentence for her. “I’m Izuku Midoriya.” Though it was clear they were soulmates, they still seemed incredibly awkward around each other. Midoriya was practically sweating through his uniform.
“I’m Ochako Urakaka, it’s really nice to make a new friend already! I'm excited aren't you?” You shrugged. Ready as I'll ever be...
It felt as if the breath you didn’t even know you were holding, could finally be released. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad . The conversation continued as you got to the giant doors of your classroom. You started at them for a moment, drowning out whatever your green haired classmate was saying to mentally prepare yourself for what was behind those doors. Little did you know, all the preparations in the world wouldn’t have been enough to prepare you for what, or who, was on the other side.