Work Text:
'Kacchan!' Izuku exclaimed, spotting his friend on the other side of the playground. He wiggled his hand out of his mum's grasp and ran forwards, despite her shouting after him to wait a minute.
Izuku was excited though!
Over the weekend, his soulmark had finally appeared and he couldn't wait to tell Kacchan about it. When he had asked his mum about it, she had told him that soulmarks could appear anywhere and that they were unique to each individual - they also tended to reflect a person's quirk, which Izuku thought was super cool.
Of course, Izuku didn't have a quirk, so he didn't know what his soulmate's own mark would look like, but when he woke up Sunday morning and saw the orange mark of a detonating explosion bleeding across his forearm, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of person his soulmate was.
'Kacchan!' He panted as he ran. However, when his friend turned around, a manic smile plastered to his face, Izuku skidded to a halt and stared at him with wide eyes.
Kacchan faced him, hands held out in front of him, palms up as small explosions emitted from them. Izuku watched as crackles of energy danced in the air around them, and instantly moved to trace the soulmark covering his arm.
My soulmate is...
'Oh look, it's Deku.' Kacchan smirked. 'Guess whose quirk showed up over the weekend! Unlike you, I have a quirk and it's the best ever!'
To accentuate his point, he set off a flurry of explosions as the kids around him cheered with excitement and wonder. Izuku winced slightly at the sound, but gathered the courage to speak up.
'That's a really cool quirk, Kacchan!' He smiled up at his friend. 'I got my soulmark yesterday too! Did you get yours?'
Izuku hadn't meant anything by it - just childlike curiosity - but Kacchan scoffed anyway and looked at him with disdain.
'I don't care about soulmarks, they're stupid!' He put special emphasis on the last word and sneered at Izuku, before leaning in close to whisper in his ear. 'After all, they've got it wrong. If my soulmate is a quirkless nobody like the mark on my arm says, then I don't want him.'
Izuku trembled as he looked down at his friend's arm to find the slightest smudge of green poking out from under his sleeve.
'Ka- Kacchan…' He hated the way his vision had started to blur. He knew how much everyone already loathed him for being quirkless, but it still hurt to hear his best friend say such mean words.
'Also, from now on you're going to cover your arm, Deku.' Kacchan continued, wrapping his hand around Izuku's soulmark and squeezing hard. 'If anyone finds out that I'm connected to you in any way, then I'll burn the mark off myself.'
Kacchan pulled away then and returned to the crowd of awaiting children, showing off more of his quirk. 'Got it?!'
Izuku nodded quickly. When the blonde vanished into his sea of admirers, he swallowed heavily and looked down at his feet, until his mum finally approached from his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
'Are you okay, sweetie?' She knelt down and looked at him, concerned. 'I was just talking to Aunt Mitsuki, apparently Katsuki got his quirk. Did you tell him about your soulmark?'
'He said he doesn't care about that stuff.'
'Is that why you're upset?'
'I'm not upset!' Izuku tried to smile at his mum reassuringly, but he was betrayed by the large tears that started to fall from his eyes. 'I promise, I'm okay.'
'Oh, Izuku.' She whispered, wiping away his tears before wrapping him in a tight hug. 'Was he being mean to you again?'
'No.' Izuku lied, burying his face in his mum's shoulder as small sobs escaped him.
'Baby, I can't help if you don't tell me.' She urged him, stroking his hair. 'I can always talk to your teachers or Aunt Mitsuki or-'
'Please don't.' He whispered. It wouldn't help anyway; his teachers knew what was going on, and if Kacchan found out Izuku had told on him, then that would make things worse. 'I'm fine!'
Izuku pulled back and wiped at his red eyes, before flashing his signature All Might smile. 'Everything's fine! Heroes don't cry!'
His mum tried to smile back, but her eyes were sad. In the distance, he heard a series of explosions, followed by laughter.
Kacchan is my soulmate… But soulmates are meant to love each other.
'What’ve you got there, Deku?' Kacchan smirked as he shoved into Izuku and yanked his notebook out of his hands.
'Kacchan, don't!' He pleaded, reaching out to try and grab his second hero analysis book. 'Please give it back!'
His friend laughed and held it high in the air so Izuku couldn't reach. He tried to get past him, gripping onto Kacchan's uniform to try and pull the notebook towards him.
'Oh, I don't think so.' He spoke dangerously.
This wasn't the first time this had happened - Izuku was used to having his things stolen as he was mocked for trying to get them back. He had recently gotten to the point where he had just accepted that Kacchan wasn't going to return any of the items, so had stopped putting up a fight when it happened. He couldn't just do that now though. His hero analysis books were important! He needed it back!
'Please, Kacchan! Please give it back! I'm begging you!' He cried, fearful tears streaming down his cheeks.
'Hey, stop crying!' Was all the response he got before a rough hand wrapped around his wrist and he was pushed to the ground, small explosions shooting across his skin like needles. Izuku didn't cry at the pain though. He had long since gotten used to the feeling of his soulmate's blows. After all, he had the mark branded onto his skin to remind him.
He tried to scramble to his feet but was stopped by two of Kacchan's cronies, who had each put a foot on his arms to hold him down. He could do nothing but stare as his friend moved to stand over him, flipping open the notebook and scanning the pages.
'"The offensive strategies used by All Might and how it gives insight into the true nature of his quirk."' Kacchan huffed, before looking away to meet Izuku's gaze. 'What the fuck is this, Deku?'
'M- My hero analysis book.' He stuttered out. 'I'm writing down things about heroes and quirks, that's all. Please give it back. I'll do anything!'
The grin that appeared on Kacchan's face was enough to turn Izuku's blood cold. He swallowed heavily and stared up at him, apprehension evident on his face.
'Anything?'
Izuku sighed, resigned to whatever fate they chose for him, and closed his eyes.
'Yes. Just give me my book back, please.'
Smirking, Kacchan opened the book once more and ripped a page out, eliciting a cry from Izuku. 'Wait! What are you doing?! I-'
He was cut off when Kacchan suddenly crouched down and hovered over him, crumpling the page up into a ball and holding it out.
'Eat it.'
Izuku froze.
'W- What?'
'I said,' His friend began sweetly, 'Eat it, Deku!'
His companions sniggered from above. 'You want your precious notebook back? You're gonna get it back.'
Fresh tears welled up in Izuku's eyes as his mouth was forced open.
That evening, when his mum asked him why he was late home, Izuku said nothing; numerous paper cuts stung the inside of his mouth. Once he made it to the bathroom, finally allowing his nausea to consume him, he felt himself scratch at the soulmark mocking his arm.
Was his life always going to be like this?
'If you wanna be a hero so bad, there's actually a really good way!' Kacchan spoke from the door to the classroom. 'If you believe they're holding your quirk over in the next world, you should just dive off the rooftop!'
Izuku fished his ruined hero analysis notebook out of the pond. Really, he should keep his books at home, but he could never bring himself to do it - what if he missed something important because he hadn’t been able to write it down? Additionally, even after over a decade, Izuku’s love for documenting heroes far outweighed his fear of Kacchan, much to the latter's distaste.
'That's not food, stupid fish.' He sniffled as he pulled the book out of the pond, water dripping from the damp pages and trickling down his arm. Izuku winced as his wet sleeve stuck to him, before rolling them up as he fruitlessly tried to dry his notebook.
As he worked, the bright orange mark on his arm shone out of the corner of his eye, staring at him; judging him. Izuku tried to ignore it, but it was no use. He dropped the book onto the stone edging of the pond, watching as liquid seeped out from under it, before he sat down next to it. He held his arm out in front of him and inspected the soulmark that he had grown to hate even more than Kacchan.
We're not meant to be together, we both know it. He traced the raised skin, surrounded by actual scars left by Kacchan's explosions. The orange shone among the mass of silver.
I hate him. I truly hate him for everything he's done. No matter how hard I try, all he does is hurt me. So why? Why are you here? I don't understand. If this is meant to be a destined love, then I'm sorry but I don't want it. The moment I knew it was him, I didn't want it.
Izuku leant forward and held his face in his hands as tears streamed down his cheeks.
Please...
Shoto woke with a start, drenched in sweat from another nightmare. Instead of his father or whistling kettles though, he had dreamt of explosions, of singed skin and red eyes. He wondered what it had meant.
He panted heavily and blinked as he adjusted to the morning sun that illuminated his room.
'Fuck sake.' Shoto muttered to himself, raising an arm to block the rays shining directly onto his face. However, a dark shadow covering his forearm immediately caught his attention. Eyebrow raised and nightmare completely forgotten, he brought his arm towards him to inspect the mark. 'What the..?'
There was a fork of green lightning etched onto his skin, strings of crimson wrapped around the emerald like vines as the mark spanned the majority of his arm.
Shoto knew about soulmarks and soulmates - they spoke enough about it at school that the subject had been begrudgingly ingrained into his memory. He just… never expected to have a soulmark himself. His old man always told him that soulmates were a distraction and that it was a good thing that Shoto's mark never presented. Personally, he didn't have that strong of an opinion on the topic. After all, life had taught Shoto never to expect anything good anyway - or else he'd be greatly disappointed - so it made sense that he would be cursed to be alone as well.
He continued to stare at his arm as the fingertips of his other hand traced the bolts of green lightning with interest.
Would it be so bad as to hope that his soulmate was a kind person?
Izuku's back hit the wall with a loud thud. He trembled violently as Kacchan stood over him, his grip tight on his UA uniform collar.
'You bastard.' His old friend snarled. 'Not only have you been hiding your quirk all these years, but now you pull some bullshit and somehow manage to switch soulmates? What the fuck is going on, Deku?'
'I-' Kacchan was really asking him that? 'I thought you didn't want me for a soulmate anyway?'
'Like hell I do!' He yelled in response. 'I'm glad I don't have that ugly mark on my arm anymore, but I wanna know how you did it!'
'I didn't do anything!' Izuku begged him to understand. He really hadn't done anything. He had just woke up that morning, ready to start his first day at UA, when he realised that the orange explosion that had littered his arm was gone, replaced as if it had never been there at all.
Izuku remembered tracing the new mark, a silver snowflake that was half alight with scarlet flames. He had no idea what had happened for it to change, but he silently thanked whoever or whatever was responsible for it. As long as it wasn't Kacchan, Izuku didn't mind who he was destined to be with.
'Stop lying!' His friend suddenly exclaimed, causing him to jump. 'Show me your arm! I wanna see what-'
'Is there a problem here?' A new voice suddenly spoke. The grip on Izuku's collar loosened as Kacchan turned to regard the newcomer, vexed at having been interrupted. Curious, Izuku leant past the blonde to see who had spoken.
Stood in the doorway of the otherwise empty classroom was one of their new classmates - Todoroki Shoto, if he remembered correctly.
...
Who was he kidding? Of course he remembered correctly. The moment he had first locked eyes with the dual-quirk user earlier that day, Izuku had practically swooned. He was, in every sense of the word, gorgeous, after all.
Now though, that beauty, along with his cold stare, felt so intimidating that Izuku found himself unable to meet his eyes, even if the glare wasn’t aimed at him. Instead, he watched Kacchan, waiting for his response.
'None of your business, Icyhot.' He sneered. 'Deku and I were just talking.'
'Really?' A white eyebrow rose as their classmate looked on, unimpressed. 'Seems to me that Midoriya clearly doesn't want to be here. He certainly doesn't look keen to show you his arm either.'
Izuku jumped at that and found himself gripping at his sleeves defensively.
'I don't give a shit if he doesn't want to be here. I'm getting answers, even if I have to beat it out of him!' Kacchan let off a bunch of explosions from his palm to emphasise his point; Izuku winced from the proximity.
'I don't think so.' Todoroki stepped into the room fully. 'I think you're going to get your things and leave, unless you want me to go get Aizawa-Sensei, or maybe All Might.'
Kacchan stiffened at the mention of the two heroes. Sure, in middle school he had all the teachers wrapped around his little finger, but they both knew UA was different; Aizawa especially wouldn't be as easy to fool.
Izuku watched as the two stared each other down, before Kacchan finally tsked and pushed himself away from the wall.
'This isn't over, Deku.' He called as he sauntered past Todoroki and out of the door.
The moment he was out of sight, Izuku sighed heavily as his legs buckled beneath him. He slid down the wall and landed on the floor clumsily, legs extended out in front of him.
He heard Todoroki call his name, but he sounded so far away. It wasn't until a warm hand came to rest on his shoulder that Izuku realised how close his classmate had gotten.
'Midoriya.' Todoroki stared at him with dichromatic eyes that held so much emotion despite his stoic countenance. 'Are you alright? Did Bakugou hurt you?'
Izuku blinked dumbly for a moment, before shaking his head. No one his age had ever cared enough to ask him that.
'N- No, I'm okay.' Izuku assured.
I've had worse.
'Why-' Izuku began, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve. 'Why did you help me?'
'It's a hero's job to help, isn't it?' Todoroki replied, albeit his guarded look seemed to falter slightly as he considered his next words. 'Also… I wanted- I wanted to talk to you too, if you don't mind?'
'Wanted to talk? T- To me?' Izuku pointed to himself and tilted his head to the side. When Todoroki nodded, he found himself mirroring the action. 'O- Okay…'
Pleased with his answer, his classmate stiffened his posture as he prepared himself. 'I have no intention of making friends at this school. UA is merely a stepping stone for me to become a hero.'
Okay…
'That being said,' Todoroki continued to stare at him intensely. 'I can't simply ignore you, Midoriya. I saw the mark on your arm when we were changing into our costumes earlier.'
Izuku's eyes widened as realisation dawned on him. While part of his mind was screaming about the fact that Todoroki had watched him change, the other part was freaking out that he had seen his soulmark.
Before he could say anything though, Shoto rolled up his sleeve to show a fork of green lightning etched onto his skin. Sure, it could be Izuku, he thought, but only because it was green.
'I think we're soulmates.' Todoroki continued. 'My mark only appeared today, and Bakugou was bitching about how his had vanished. Plus, yours is pretty obvious considering my quirk is half hot, half cold, so...'
He trailed off, noticing how Izuku had started to tear up. ‘Midoriya?’
'You…' He whispered. 'You're…'
'Apologies if you're disappointed, but-'
In a moment of boldness, Izuku cut him off by throwing himself forwards and wrapping Todoroki in a tight hug. His classmate froze at the contact, arms glued to his sides.
'I'm sorry for not asking first.' Izuku mumbled, chin bouncing on his shoulder as he spoke. 'I'm just- I'm so happy. Thank you.'
'You don't even know me.' Todoroki murmured, confused. 'You might hate me. I could be a terrible person.'
'No, you're not.' Izuku laughed. 'You don't know me either, but you stepped in when Kacchan was bothering me. No one's ever done that before, I'd say that's a good start.'
He considered his next words. 'Plus, if the universe is giving me a second chance, I’d like to think they got it right this time.'
Several more moments passed, before Izuku realised Todoroki looked slightly uncomfortable and gingerly withdrew. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. 'Sorry about that.'
'No.' The slight blush on Todoroki's face was pretty, Izuku noticed. 'It's just… I haven't.' He sighed and scratched his cheek. 'That's the first hug I've had in a while. It was… Nice.'
Izuku beamed at that.
'Well, as your soulmate, you've won a lifetime supply of free hugs if you ever need them!'
The corner of Todoroki's lips twitched upward and Izuku silently thanked whatever force of nature was responsible for allowing him this unexpected happiness.
'I might take you up on that, Midoriya.'