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Nothing had ever been easy for Shinsou.
His parents slowly growing terrified of him the more they understood his capabilities, classmates not daring addressing him directly in fear of his quirk going off, not even being able to enter the hero course. Nothing had ever come easy for Shinsou.
Maybe he could have gone crazy by then, maybe he should have. Someone with a weaker mind surely would have. And maybe, just maybe, he would have gotten there if it was not for Denki.
Denki.
Denki, a sunshine in the latest hours of the night, a lightning of the energy Shinsou had lost along the way. A name on his chest, the lock keeping his heart untouched by the years of loneliness and hurt.
Denki, the love he had yet to meet.
---
The letters had been there for as long as Shinsou could remember.
While his peers had to wait for their 15th birthday, he had learned to read and write with the inscription on the right side of his chest. Receiving your soulmate mark earlier than average had not been unheard of, but even then, it usually appeared on the wrist or such place that was noticeable.
Shinsou didn't think it useful to make research on what it could mean — Denki Kaminari had been in his life for so long that, when he was old enough to even think about it being weird, it was already too much of a part of him.
Sometimes he wondered though. The mark had given him force, reassurance and comfort during the most trying of times, it had provided the push he needed to always strive forward and never give up — the name had helped him through so much already, could its holder really live up to it….?
But he quickly disregarded those thoughts as soon as his eyes laid on the grey lettering.
If all this really had to mean something, he was convinced it only promised the most beautiful love story the world had yet to be witness to.
---
After years of tears, struggle and hard work, Shinsou did it. He was officially entering his third year of high school as a hero in training.
While Aizawa had been the first person he physically thanked for his guidance and teaching, his thoughts immediately went to Denki when receiving the news. It was perhaps the first time in his seventeen years of life that he felt such a deep and almost painful longing to hold them in his arms, to share his tears of joy in their warm shoulder, to contain the flood of exultation in the palm of their hands.
To thank them for everything he had achieved.
And maybe he was going crazy because in the darkness of his room and the cradle of his comforter, it almost seemed like the thank you thank you thank you's passing his lips silently were answered by a warm and soundless breath in the hollow of his ear.
Always.
---
Even after finally making it into the hero course, Aizawa had insisted they continue his training — ("You lost a lot of time already and there will never be enough practice to make up for it.") — and that's how he found himself in the common showers of the third-years for the umpteenth time this week.
Shinsou had just put his pants back on when a knock resounded on the door, Aizawa's voice asking for his permission to enter.
"Shinsou, I forgot earlier but I needed to see something with you about—"
As he had advanced in the room, the teacher's eyes had automatically strayed to the mark on Shinsou's otherwise white chest and the student would not have thought anything of it if it wasn't for the double take the man seemed to do upon properly reading the name inscribed.
"Sensei ?", the teen asked in the stretching silence. He frowned. Aizawa rarely was rendered speechless and even then, the look on his face was new to Shinsou. He looked conflicted and almost….. Almost hurt. "Is something the matter ?"
The teacher seemed to regain enough of his bearings to avert his gaze and finally look the young man in the eye.
"Is this—," he stopped abruptly, blinked and let out a shaky exhale. "Is this your soulmark, Shinsou…?"
His tone, suddenly so soft and kind, made Shinsou tense immediately. What was going on? What was this dread taking hold of his stomach?
Where was this pity coming from?
At Shinsou's trembling nod, Aizawa closed his eyes slowly.
"I'm so sorry."
---
It was a stupid mission and an even more stupid mistake.
His breathing was short and his panting should have been loud in his ears, but all he could hear was his teacher's words.
The teachers didn't even see the villain coming, and we… We were so young….
His legs probably hurt but he could not stop running, he could not stop the movement of his legs that responded to the beating of his heart.
I don't know how it's even possible and I'm so so sorry Shinsou.
The lock was fracturing, each heartbeat pushing and pushing and pushing.
Denki Kaminari died seventeen years ago.
The lock finally broke.