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Izuku had to find Shinso, and he had to find him now.
His mind was buzzing with rapid speed as he ran around the stadium, eyes darting as he tried to find the purple haired boy. Kami, trying to find his soulmate, because that’s what they were, was near impossible at the moment. The flower on his left hip burned and Izuku just wanted to talk to the other.
“I don’t reject my soulmate, I don’t reject my soulmate, I don’t reject my soulmate…” Izuku barely realized he was whispering to himself. He found himself losing hope when he’d stumbled back to the 1-A seats. The rest of the festival continued on while he was searching, and some of his classmates were staring at him worriedly.
“Midoriya? Why are you crying? You beat Shinso!” Uraraka exclaimed, looking at him in confusion. He had several others trying to see if he was okay, but it was like he could barely hear them. His mind was stuck on the fact that he couldn’t find Shinso.
“I… I couldn’t find him.” He sat down beside her, huffing quietly as he tried to get himself back into the spirit of things. He’d missed two matches in his frantic search, Todoroki vs. Sero, where Todoroki won, and Kaminari vs. Shiozaki from Class 1-B, where Shiozaki won. Currently, the match was Iida vs. Hatsume, and Hatsume was putting on an advertisement.
He almost felt bad for Iida, or he would have if he was feeling anything but numb.
“Why were you looking for Shinso?” He glanced over, finding Todoroki staring at him in confusion. Izuku hesitated, debating on whether or not he wanted to explain to Todoroki, and therefore the rest of his class, about why he was looking for Shinso. He looked away momentarily before sighing.
Yes. Yes he was going to tell his class about his problem. Besides, maybe one of them could help him find Shinso, preferably Jiro or Shoji, but any of them would work.
“He’s… my soulmate. And he ran off before I could talk to him… I couldn’t find him.” Izuku was quiet, and he heard Uraraka gasp from beside him. He looked back at the ground as he heard Midnight announce that Hatsume had stepped out of bounds, her advertisement over. No doubt that Iida was going to feel upset by that win, having been used.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to find him, kero.” Tsu assured, patting Izuku on the shoulder gently.
“I hope so. I was so excited to have finally met my soulmate… but I’m more worried that he wants nothing to do with me,” Izuku shrugged. He knew that would be the case, having been told all his life that no soulmate would ever love him. He was quirkless after all, why would anyone want a quirkless soulmate?
He watched, with minimum enthusiasm though he really did try to get back into the spirit of the festival, as Aoyama lost to Mina, and later Momo losing to Tokoyami. All the fights were so interesting and exciting but…
He rubbed his eyes as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu’s fight began, trying not to rush back out to try and find Shinso. If the other wanted to be left alone, then so be it. He’d leave his soulmate alone for now.
“Midoriya,” He looked up, finding Aizawa at the doorway, a look of confusion on his face. What was their teacher doing down here? Wasn’t he supposed to be up in the commentator booth? He pushed himself up, giving a small look of reassurance to those who watched after him, and followed his teacher out.
“Yes Sensei?” Izuku asked curiously, trying desperately not to curl in on himself. It was fine, everything was fine. Sure he was alone with a teacher, but he didn’t think Aizawa would do anything to him. Not like Aldera.
“I’m telling you this so that you think carefully. Shinso is my son, and I will not have someone hurt him because they think his quirk is villainous.” Oh… oh… Izuku was getting a shovel talk. And Aizawa’s glare was terrifying, even more so than when he was trying to reign the class in every morning. This was a threat, not a warning.
“Sir, I was trying to find Shinso earlier. I am not rejecting him. I’m honestly more scared of him rejecting me.” Izuku told him, wrapping his arms around his stomach. He wished that he had someone waiting for him around the corner or something. Maybe this wouldn’t have been so terrifying.
Aizawa blinked at him, leaning back and staring at Izuku as if he was confused.
“You… tried to find him earlier?” He asked in surprise. Izuku nodded as the rest of his statement seemed to finally filter through whatever ‘protective dad instinct’ had been at the forefront of his mind. “What do you mean you were more scared of him rejecting you?”
“Sir, I don’t know if you remember, but I’m quirkless.” Izuku pointed out dryly. “UA is the first school that has ever put a stop to someone calling me a name, much less stop someone from bullying me.” He shrugged as Aizawa’s eyes widened just a fraction.
“I’ve been told more times than I can count that my soulmate would ‘never want a quirkless freak’ and would reject me on the spot.” Izuku leaned back, his shaking from where they gripped his gym uniform.
Aizawa was just a protective parent, he wasn’t going to hurt Izuku. Not right now at least. Aizawa backed up quite a bit more, finally seeming to back off as Izuku took a breath of relief, quiet as it was.
“I’ll send him to come talk to you, but-”
“I know, I know, he gets hurt, it’s on me.” Izuku interrupted him. Aizawa blinked at him again, before nodding and turning to walk away.
Izuku very quickly turned and ran back towards the stands, really needing to sit down before his legs gave out on him. Protective dad Aizawa was a terrifying Aizawa.
“Midoriya?” Izuku looked up again, finding the purple haired boy nervously standing in the doorway. The current fight going on was the tie breaker round, Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu. He jumped up before any of his classmates, namely Uraraka who was back from Recovery Girl’s office, could jump him.
The two boys walked in near silence until they were far enough away that he was sure Jiro or Shoji couldn’t hear them.
“I do not reject you.” The words were out of Izuku’s mouth faster than he could process what was happening. Shinso stared at him for a solid minute before snorting and shaking his head in disbelief.
“How long have you been waiting to say that?”
“You mean since I first figured out what the warmth in my hip was? The entirety of searching for you, and through your father threatening me.” Izuku shrugged, slowly growing anxious the more it wasn’t said back.
“I do not reject you.” Shinso murmured, and Izuku’s hands suddenly stopped shaking as his eyes brightened. “Now, wanna trade numbers so that we can get to know each other better?” Shinso asked, voice taking a hesitant note to it.
“Yes!” Izuku brightened, jumping in place once his phone was in hand.
“Oh great, a loud one.” Shinso snorted, watching as Izuku flushed. His small smile fell into a frown when Izuku immediately fell too quiet. “No, no, I like noise. Keeps me from having to talk too much.” He stated firmly. “Never apologize for talking, or being ‘too much’, understand me?”
“Yes.” Izuku squeaked, nodding his head quickly. Trading numbers wasn’t as much of a hassle afterwards, and they parted with easy smiles and excitement running through them.