Chapter Text
Bakugou saw Kirishima sitting on the quad lounging in the sun. As he got closer it looked like Kiri was talking to himself.
“Sup, Shitty Hair!” He said, dropping down next to his redheaded friend.
“Shit, Bakugou! You scared me man.” He chuckled, “I’ll talk to you later.”
Bakugou looked confused, “Who are you talking to man?”
Kirishima pulled a small device out of his ear and put it in a pod case.
“You got the SoulBud?!” Bakugou tried to whisper, but pretty much just yelled.
“Shit man, tell everyone why don’t you. But yeah, my moms got me a pair for my birthday.”
“Dude, your birthday isn’t for a week.”
“Yeah but last Friday was the closest day to my bday. It was this past Friday or in a month and a half. Did you know they were still that popular?”
Bakugou nodded to himself. A few of his friends had gotten the Soulbuds when they turned 20, the earliest you were allowed to get them. He’d assumed Kirishima was with him on not getting one though. The redhead’s 20th birthday had come and gone last year and no mention of Soulbuds were brought up. He thought Kirishima wasn’t falling into the trap of Soulmates. Bakugou now was the only member of the Bakusquad without a pair.
Bakugou was always skeptical of SoulBuds.
It was the newest way of exploiting the wavelengths that are sent between soulmates. Being able to hear your soulmates thoughts or feel their pain if they’re in an extreme situation has been recorded for ages, but when society developed radio, and being able to send sound over wires and eventually over radio waves, scientists developed a way to tap into that frequency, and boom Soulmate Connections started. Over the years it went from a very convoluted method of having radios and being able to dial them correctly to your soulmate, and only if your soulmate was also dialing in, to now basically the whole world had access to SoulBuds. They worked just like Airpods and if your soulmate had theirs in you’d be able to talk over them. Throughout the years they figured out a way to program them so your every thought isn’t sent. Basically you could have a conversation over them.
A lot of people have rejected the thought of soulmates. The science said if your frequencies were similar enough to connect then you will be soulmates. Outside factors can change ones frequency and so a large portion of the world have said that means it’s not foolproof, which then disproves the soulmates. It’s been a topic of intense discourse since the early 90’s when cell phones became an everyday item, thus improving the method of communicating with soulmates.
Growing up Bakugou’s parents were soulmates and were so opposite in nature he couldn’t understand how they had the same frequency. Their energies were so different it didn’t make sense to him. When he was in middle school he watched a family fall apart. One of his classmates' parents were torn apart because suddenly the mom decided to leave her husband for her soulmate, now that she could afford the device. He also saw a couple that claimed to be soulmates since high school have their frequencies change and had to get divorced. While his friend’s parents were still friends, it broke something in Bakugou to keep experiencing, no matter how removed, this devolution of soulmates.
“You alright man?”
“What- Oh yea” Bakugou needed to shake himself out of this funk. “So what’s your soulmate like?”
Kirishima blushed and looked away, “They haven’t really spoken to me yet.”
“But you were just talking to them! How do you even know there’s someone on the other side?”
“Well I don’t, bro, but like if they are just shy I want them to know that I’m here for them when they want. And if they don’t have it, I’d love for them to start out knowing that I’m out there waiting for them. It was a bit weird at first, but I’ve kind of been just talking about my day or random thoughts I’ve been having all weekend. It’s odd how quickly I’ve gotten comfortable with it, but it feels right. Does that make sense, man?”
Bakugou was staring at the excitement in Kirishima’s face as he spoke about this potential person he’s never even interacted with. He hated to think it but Kiri was almost glowing talking about his soulmate. He wished Kiri was talking about him that way.
“Whatever. I thought you didn’t fall for the soulmate thing?” Bakugou internally smacked his head as he was saying it.
“I mean I put off getting it, but I do think it works. Like Midoriya and Todoroki were matched.”
“And I could’ve told them that. They didn’t need some piece of technology reading their aura’s or whatever to tell them that they were perfect nerds for each other.”
Kirishima chuckled, “You got me there, bro.”
“Mostly my moms wanted to get them for me last year but you remember the accident. There were a lot of bills to pay for that, so they told me they’d have to wait until this year. I told them they didn’t have to get them for me. I could save up on my own, but they insisted. I had to do the manly thing and accept their generous offer.”
Bakugou was sucker punched. Or felt like he had been. “So you always wanted to get them?”
“I mean yeah man. Who doesn’t want to know who their soulmate is? It’s super awesome being able to find out who your perfect partner is, ya know?”
“Sure.” Bakugou fiddled with a clover he didn’t even realize he’d pulled from the grass.
“Anyway I hope they’re like really tiny but really active or-” Bakugou cut him off.
“Yeah you’ll need to have a fit girlfriend to keep up with you, huh? Can’t have some weakling following you around, that wouldn’t be manly.” He hated when Kirishima started talking about his dream girl. It only made Bakugou feel inadequate.
“I mean I guess. It doesn’t matter to me if they’re physically strong, I just want someone I can enjoy being out with. Like we do, man! I guess if they don’t like exercising it would be fine too. I mostly just want to hear their voice! I want to know what they like so I can learn about it!”
“I bet she’ll be everything you’re dreaming of. I gotta go to class. See you around, shitty hair.” Bakugou stood quickly and started stalking towards his next class. It wasn’t actually for 45 minutes but his head couldn’t take the shock he’d taken today.
“Yeah man, I’ll catch you later.” He vaguely heard as he stalked away. Kirishima had a soulmate and would meet them soon and forget him. It’s fine. Bakugou was fine. He didn’t need his stupid group of friends and their stupid Soulbuds. He’d be fine on his own. He was getting top grades and would succeed without any of them.
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Bakugou walked into his apartment with a bag of shitty chinese in his hand which he threw onto the coffee table. He dropped his backpack and definitely didn’t run into his bedroom to get into sweats as fast as possible. He dropped onto his couch and tore into his food.
He wasn’t sulking.
He definitely wasn’t upset about Kirishima meeting his soulmate.
He was pissed he was distracted and missed a question in his class. It wasn’t like him. He was the best!
Bakugou dropped his food back on the table and pulled his laptop into his lap. He started looking at the SoulBuds website. Apparently he was going to be the only one without a pair of the stupid invention. Maybe he wouldn’t feel so alone if he had someone to talk to. Kirishima had always been that person for him. When Bakugou was getting frustrated with the extras or had insomnia or was worried he’d fail. Kirishima was always there. He thought he was that person for Kiri, but apparently Kirishima needed someone else. He needed his soulmate. And that wasn’t Bakugou.
He looked at the scheduling for appointments for registering and syncing your SoulBuds. Kiri wasn’t lying. They were booked out for 2 months. He sighed and dropped his laptop on the couch next to him. Well screw them. Who needed this stupid program to tell him who his soulmate was. Who was supposed to fill this gaping hole in his chest. He didn’t want anyone else to fill that hole.
He started scrolling on his phone to distract himself. Then his phone dinged.
-RedRiot- Hey man, hope you’re okay. You rushed off pretty quick earlier.
-LordExplosionMurder- ...
Bakugou started typing and erased it five times before just sending
-LordExplosionMurder- Of course I’m great.
-RedRiot- Cool man
-RedRiot- Just because I want to find my soulmate doesn’t mean I’m not gunna be there for you bro
-LordExplosionMurder- Whatever man
Bakugou threw his phone and looked over at his laptop. He refreshed the scheduling page. There was an available space for tomorrow. It definitely wasn’t there before. Someone must have canceled.
Later he will say he was possessed, but he put that slot in his cart and checked out before he really knew what he was doing.
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“So you might not hear something right away. It’s very common for only one person to have the Soulbud currently. You’ll be able to send messages for them to have whenever they get their Soulbud. Or you might have some messages waiting for you. We recommend sending messages to your soulmate and so even if communication is sent when you’re not on, you’ll know that they also have the buds.”
Bakugou nodded. He had the bud in his ear but nothing was happening.
“How do I find out if I have any messages?”
“Oh that’s easy. Once the control app finishes downloading you’ll be able to see if you have messages and send ones of your own. If you hear anything while we’re still performing the setup, that means your soulmate is on now.”
“Well I don’t hear shit.”
“That’s totally fine.” The technician typed something into her computer. “So just for testing, you should hear a beeping tone. Let me know when you hear it.”
Bakugou knew his hearing was going, so as the technician kept staring at him he figured the sounds were happening.
“If you can’t hear it, it’s possible the device isn’t working properly.”
“I have moderate hearing loss in that ear, and severe in the other. If these things don’t work for deaf people then I’m fucking out I guess. I can’t believe they wouldn’t --”
“Oh, that’s no problem.”
“What?”
“Why did you mention that during your intake interview?” She started typing furiously. “Oh you got the vacated spot. I heard that happened, and they got a new person in the slot. So usually there’s an intake interview the week before. I’m honestly not sure why they just allowed you to grab the slot without the interview. Anyway, we have devices that are formatted as hearing aids as well as the soulbud. You’d probably want to wear it more regularly and we’ll have to have a longer process to fit you out with it, if you have more time I can get you one today though.”
Bakugou was kind of shocked.
“Do they look the same?”
“Oh no, the Hearing Aid Soulbud looks and acts more like a hearing aid. Is that something you want? If not we can calibrate the regular bud to use a higher volume with a range of sounds more suited to what you’re decibel range is.”
Bakugou had never gotten hearing aids. He knew it would probably help but he didn’t want to ask for the help. He knew he could succeed without it. But here he was being offered them on a plater. It was something he’d be able to walk out with today. And he could avoid telling the Bakusquad that he got a Soulbud. It could just be a new hearing aid. He didn’t have to have the extras asking if he’d heard anything or what his soulmate was like.
“How much more is the hearing aid one?”
“Well, it looks like we’re still under our monthly quota for them, so it would actually be free. The company is trying to get more positive publicity, so they-we’re donating 100 free hearing aid buds. It’s good for the companies image to reach out to the deaf and hard of hearing community with them. I know it’s an issue to have a device that lets you meet your soulmate but only if you’re hearing. I think they’re also trying to develop a cochlear version, but it’s hard since you’re interacting with brain waves. And look at me rambling on. So are you interested?”
“I’d be an idiot not to be, wouldn’t I?”
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Hours later Bakugou was finally getting home. He had a new pair of hearing aids and hell the world was loud. Everyone always said he was loud but honestly he doesn’t think he was loud enough to compete over everything he could now hear.
He pulled out his phone and stared at the new app.
They'd opened it to see if it connected properly but the appointment took so long that they didn't actually check if he had any messages waiting.
Now he didn't want to open it. This was it. Either he had a soulmate waiting or he didn't. He wasn't sure which outcome he was hoping for.
5 New Messages
"Hey, so I just got home. It's been a weird day." Bakugou froze as he heard a familiar voice ringing in his head. He was about to speak up when he heard his own name, "Bakugou seemed kind of distant today. Didn't really answer my messages. I hope he's not too mad I got these. Like I want to find my soulmate and really get to know you. I don't know why he would be against that. I hope when you meet you'll get along. It would suck if my soulmate and my best friend didn't get along. I know he's a bit of a pain though. Hopefully his soulmate has a lot of patience. Anyway, I hope your day's been okay. I'm trying to get in the right mindset to write this paper. This class is really kicking my ass. Maybe you're great at the subjects I'm terrible at and you could help me study or something. Well I guess I'm gonna go focus on my work. I really hope you get a pair of buds soon. I'd really love to talk to you."
Bakugou sat frozen in shock. Something in him hasn't let him speak up.
This was what he wanted, wasn't it?
But no, Kirishima has never expressed interest in him before. If they started something now, it would only be because some random act of fate pushing them together. Not because Kiri really liked him.
Bakugou decided; he's not going to say anything.
That didn't mean he's not going to torture himself. He pushed play on the first message.
"HI SOULMATE! My name is Kirishima Eijirou. It's nice to meet you. Or it will be when you get this message. I was told to make a short message to start with, so I'll leave it here for now I guess. I hope you get your Soulbud soon so we can get to know each other. Then you can get to know my friends. Although I hope Bakugou doesn't scare you off. Maybe you shouldn't meet him right away. I'm really excited to meet you! Okay have an awesome day!"
Bakugou didn't notice the tears slowly falling down his cheek as he pushed play on the next message.