Archive of Our Own

UA High School. Just where Shouta wanted to be.

But not exactly like this. He wanted to get into the hero course so badly but in the end, he came up short. His quirk was no match against androids they were supposed to defeat during a simulation of a jailbreak.

Yet he must’ve done something right because the next day after receiving the results, he and his parents were invited by the school’s principal and he was offered another chance. If he performed well enough in the sports festival, he’d be transferred from the general course into the hero class.

It’d been a month since then, Shouta having spent every free moment training, focusing on his strength workout and improving agility. His parents voiced their concern that he was overworking himself but they didn’t stop him; they knew how important it was for him to get into that class. They let him skip on his house chores for the time being and made sure he got enough food and sleep but otherwise let him be, for which Shouta was grateful.

It was paying off, too. He definitely noticed improvement during his training, which consisted mainly of weight lifting and parkour. He was a bit annoyed that he would have to scale back a bit since school started again; he didn’t want to fall back on the material since it would be detrimental to his future in the hero course.

And he had a future there and no one would take it from him.

It was now the third day of the school year, and Shouta was going towards the entrance of the school, entirely entranced in the fantasy book he was reading while walking. It was one small pleasure he let himself have before the sports festival; he knew if he put all of his energy towards training, he’d burn out easily, and that was the last thing he wanted. So every day, he spent a little time reading the newest book in the fantasy series he’d loved since early middle school. He found it hard to put it down, too; he was just getting to the climax of the story!

Suddenly, the book went flying from his hand when another student rushed past him towards the door. Shouta managed to not fall down and he glared towards the person who pushed him and didn’t even stop to apologise. He huffed through his nose and looked down at his book that was already being picked up by someone else; the boy had light hair and when he turned to Shouta, he was dumbstruck with the size of the boy’s eyes and a small smile on his lips. He dumbly took the book offered to him, and the boy opened his mouth when someone called from behind them.

“Yamada! Come on, bro!”

It was a tall boy, waving at the boy — Yamada. Yamada turned to him to yell back, Coming!!! and wow, he was loud. Then he looked to Shouta to offer him a brilliant grin before taking off towards his friend.
Shouta stood there, staring after the boy and his friend. The big beautiful eyes etched themselves into his memory and he couldn’t help but wish they could talk before the boy left. Yes, that boy’s voice was loud but it was also melodic and gave Shouta pleasant tingles at the nape of his neck. 

The warning bell pulled him out of his daze and he quickly went to his classroom. He didn’t greet anyone; he wasn’t planning on staying in Gen ed for too long and he didn’t have time for socialising and going to arcades after school.

What he did have time, apparently, was daydreaming about the boy, much to his dismay. He was just… so pretty. So bright. Just the memory of his eyes was enough to make Shouta flush a little bit and he found it difficult to focus on the classes. He had to stop himself from actually shaking his head in an attempt to get the boy out of his mind. He scowled at his notebook, trying to listen to the teacher.

By the end of the day, he was back to normal. He did his regular weight training and went for a parkour run after school, did his homework, wrote in his journal for a bit, and went to bed before 11PM. He was focused, determined in his single-minded goal and he fell asleep satisfied with a good day’s work. The next morning, he woke up refreshed and ready for more grind that came with classes and training.

Despite the initial reaction he had towards the boy — Yamada — he wasn’t thinking about him when he went to school. In fact, he had almost completely forgotten about their encounter the day before until lunch time. He decided to eat his bento outside, under one of the trees that surrounded the school; he was wandering for a moment, looking for a perfect spot. Almost every tree was already occupied by students sitting in the shadows provided by the branches, some in with their group, some with their boyfriends or girlfriends, making heart eyes at each other and feeding each other lunch. He was looking around, trying to find one place that would be free, when he made accidental eye contact with another student.

Big, beautiful eyes and that fluffy hair…

The boy’s eyes sparkled with recognition and his smile widened as he waved at Shouta excitedly. The mere idea that the boy remembered him filled Shouta with inexplicable dread and he ducked his head, heat covering his cheeks. He sped up, putting as much distance between them as possible.

He dropped under a tree by the back wall of the building and tried to calm his racing heart. He didn’t understand his own reaction. So the boy who helped him the day before seemed to remember him and waved him hello. He was just being friendly. There was nothing wrong with that, so why was Shouta’s reaction so visceral?

His brain reminded him of those beautiful eyes and bright grin, and his stomach filled with butterflies, and…

Oh.

Oh.

He… he started to crush on this boy, wasn’t he? His heart beating out of his ribcage, the blushing, the daydreaming… 

What the hell?

Shouta wasn’t a teenager who got crushes or thought about soulmates. Sure, he knew soulmates were real, not only in the matter of physical change — when your soulmate spoke to you for the first time, the grey world around turned colourful, apparently — but his parents were absolutely the most in love couple he’d ever seen, a proof that the system worked. It was nauseating sometimes, to be honest, how lovey-dovey they were with each other. He was neutral about finding his own soulmate at best; romance and spending his life with someone were low on the list of his priorities.

It also meant he didn’t get crushes! He didn’t have time for that, ok? And he’d seen plenty of his classmates (ok, plenty was an exaggeration, it happened like three times) who were dating someone, and then they met their soulmate in a school club or something, and then promptly broke up with their current boyfriend or girlfriend, leading to tears and misery. So why bother?

Not to mention that his generally aloof attitude meant he didn’t make friends easily, and made it almost impossible for someone to like like him, which suited Shouta just fine. Maybe made him a bit inept at human interaction but he could live with that.

And now he was getting a crush? Because a pretty boy smiled at him? He groaned and hid his still burning face in his hands. What the actual fuck.

He was so busy being overdramatic that he didn’t even open his lunch and the bell already rang throughout the school. Fan-fucking-tastic. Was that what having a crush was like? Ruining his meticulously planned schedule? If yes, then Shouta wanted no part in that.

Throughout the next weeks, Shouta did his absolute best to become one with the wall, hoping to avoid Yamada. Unfortunately, it seemed the boy had some kind of radar because they met at least once a day.

Ok, met might’ve been a sliiiight exaggeration; they usually were in the corridor, or going to or from school and Yamada would spot him and wave to him, always smiling that blinding smile of his. All Shouta did was look away with a burning face and heart running a mile a minute. He was still able to focus during training, the physical exertion purging his mind of all those unwanted feelings, but he found it increasingly more difficult to pay attention in class. He started spacing out, thinking about sparkling eyes, and doodling hearts in the corners of his notebook. At night, in his bed, he would hug his pillow, thinking about the boy.

And then the Sports Festival happened.

And then they were finalists.

And then Yamada told him, “Great match!”, smiling, brighter than the sun above, and Shouta’s world was no longer dull.

He didn’t respond to Yamada, too stunned to speak. He was overwhelmed with the colours that suddenly flooded his vision, the most prominent of them — the shade of Yamada’s eyes. Shouta couldn’t name the colour yet, obviously, but he stared into the boy’s eyes utterly mesmerised, mouth slightly dropped. He already thought his eyes were beautiful but… seeing them in colour… wow.

And then it hit him.

Colours.

Soulmate.

Yamada was his soulmate.

He didn’t have time to process that revelation because they were being ushered off the field to prepare the stadium for the award ceremony. Shouta stumbled undignified towards the hallway that led to the changing rooms, trying to get out of Yamada’s reach as soon as possible. He needed time to himself, he didn’t have the mental capacity to process two life changing events at the same time, not when he was physically and mentally exhausted after pushing himself to his limits to prove he was worthy of being a hero.

Unfortunately, Yamada kept babbling how amazing Shouta was, and oh gods, his face was absolutely on fire. Why did Yamada latch onto him like this?! They hadn't spoken to each other, they barely interacted, and he was following Shouta, singing praises, and Shouta was about 99% sure he was going to combust. Which would be a shame, since he just made it into the hero course.

Thankfully, the locker rooms were separated by classes so Shouta managed to slip into 1-C locker room and nearly slammed the door in Yamada’s face. He whirled around and leaned heavily against the door, scrunching his eyes and taking deep breaths, trying to regulate his heart.

It was fine. This was perfectly fine. He just got into the hero course (unless the principal went back on his promise), and the cute boy he liked was his soulmate. He was also getting an absolutely killer headache from quirk overuse, and all the colours and shades assaulting his vision were definitely not helping.

The room was empty, with the rest of his class in the stands, so he turned off the light and laid down on one of the benches, just to get a couple moments of quiet and darkness. He set up an alarm for five minutes and tried to enjoy the peace.

Not even three minutes passed and there was a knock on the door, and his homeroom teacher was calling him for the ceremony. He stood up with a groan and followed his sensei back to the field, already dreading facing Yamada again. He was so bright and kind. How was Shouta supposed to react to that?! He… wasn’t used to someone noticing him.

The ceremony passed in a blur. Shouta kept squinting, everything too bright, too colourful. He barely registered being given the first place medal, then his parents coming and leading him to the principal’s office. He remembered nodding as the principal explained he’d join the hero course starting Monday, and then the ride home. His parents were talking to him, he was fairly certain his mum was tearing up with emotions and pride but all he could focus on was the pounding headache and how much his eyes were hurting.

They finally got home, and Shouta was ready to collapse on his bed and sleep for the next two days. Thankfully, the entire school had days off for the three days of the sports festival, which meant he was now facing a four-day weekend. That was exactly what he was planning to do when he heard meowing from the living room, and he changed trajectory to greet their cat, Omuretsu.

When he saw her, he breathed in sharply.

She… he had no idea what colour was that but she was gorgeous, her fur light and warm looking. The colour of her eyes reminded him of Yamada’s (no, his ears didn’t burn at the memory) and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was absolutely beautiful. He pulled her into her arms and pushed his face into her fur, inhaling her sweet scent. She was so pretty and he didn’t even know until now.

His parents came up to him and patted him on his back. He lifted his head and started stroking Omuretsu’s back.

“What is the colour of her eyes called?” He asked hesitantly, knowing full well his parents would realise why he was asking.

Sure enough, both of them gasped.

“You met your soulmate?” His mum asked excitedly, while his dad followed with, “Are they nice?”

Shouta bit his bottom lip. “He’s nice.” He felt his face heating up. “Very nice. He was my opponent in the final fight.”

“Ooooh.” His mum cooed. “He is very pretty.”

And all Shouta could do was nod.

The weekend passed quickly. Shouta took it easy and limited his training to regain energy fully expecting the hero training to be a hell on Earth (and he couldn’t wait). But he did let himself laze around a bit, read his book and helped around the house during the day, and in the evening he sat with his parents for a movie night. On Sunday, he opened a book for new soulmates, which had colours and the names listed, to help navigate the new world the newly discovered soulmates found themselves in.

And then Monday morning arrived.

He was so excited he couldn’t sleep, so he left the house early and was at school good forty minutes before the first bell. Since he didn’t know which seat would be his, he sat on the ground in front of the classroom and opened his book to pass the time.

He was so engrossed in the novel he didn’t hear the steps from down the hall; he was rudely interrupted by a shout above his head.

Annoyed, he looked up, straight into Yamada’s beautiful green eyes (yes, his parents finally told him what the colour was named).

He choked on his spit and his face was burning; he immediately looked down on the floor, avoiding eye contact.

“Aizawa!” Yamada’s excited voice almost made him look up again but he persisted. “So cool to see you here!”

“What are you doing here?” The boy who came with Yamada, the one that was by his side since the first day Shouta saw him, asked. It turned out his hair was blue. Shouta was about to respond when another voice joined in.

“Aizawa is joining us as a member of Class 1-A, Shirakumo” a female voice said and Shouta looked up to see his new homeroom teacher, Ishida-sensei. She was smiling at him and Shouta nodded and got up to his feet.

“Come on, Aizawa, I’ll show you your seat,” she said as she opened the classroom’s door and Shouta followed dutifully, Yamada and the other boy — Shirakumo — behind them, chattering excitedly.

To Shouta’s chagrin, he was seated behind Shirakumo and to the right of Yamada. He knew he couldn’t complain but he really wished he was seated anywhere but next to his crush. Yamada took it upon himself to chat with him and tell him all about the classes they already had, and offered to tutor him.

Shouta’s poor heart wasn’t going to handle it, he was sure of it.

In the evening, he opened his journal.

On Saturday, after a grueling week, he slept until noon. He was grateful to his parents for letting him sleep in, and he made sure to put some extra effort into the Saturday house cleaning to show them his appreciation. And in the evening, after a trip to the beach with them, he sat down at his desk and opened his journal, keen on writing the new entry.

Before he put his pen down, he skimmed over the previous days, and he squinted as he looked at his handwriting. He had an odd feeling there was something off.

It finally hit him.

He hadn’t spoken to Yamada.

Not once.

Yamada had no idea they were soulmates.

Fuck.

Monday couldn’t come soon enough. Shouta was on edge the entire Sunday, annoyed with himself for letting his emotions cloud his judgement, and guilty that he was blaming Yamada for something that was entirely Shouta’s fault. He didn’t respond to Yamada once. It was a miracle Yamada didn’t think he was a jackass and was still making attempts at being friendly. Just… whenever he spoke to Shouta, or looked at him, Shouta’s heart started beating out of his chest, his palms were getting clammy, and he couldn’t get a word out. All he did was glare and grunt.

Why was he like this with the boy he liked?!

Finally, he was sitting in the classroom, waiting for Yamada and Shirakumo to come. They usually arrived about ten minutes after Shouta, before the rest of the students came in, which gave Shouta plenty of time to enact his plan. Which basically boiled down to gathering the courage to respond to Yamada with at least a single word.

Fifteen minutes after Shouta sat down, there was a ruckus outside the class, something he had learned meant Yamada and Shirakumo were approaching. Sure enough, they entered the classroom just moments later, Yamada lightning up at the sight of Shouta.

“Aizawa! Hey!” He greeted him brightly when he was by his desk.

This was the moment. He could do it. He just had to…

Hands fisted under the desk, he swallowed hard, and…

“Hi,” he said quietly and Yamada, who was already unpacking, whirled around to gape at him, shocked.

“He talks!” Shirakumo cheered but Shouta paid him no mind. His entire focus was on Yamada and his dumbstruck face.

Yamada looked at Shirakumo and inhaled sharply, his attention immediately going back to Shouta.

“You…” he whispered. “You… we are…”

Shouta swallowed and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Y-yeah… I’m sorry I didn’t…”

He was cut off mid-sentence by Yamada throwing himself at him and squeezing the living daylights out of him in the nicest hug Shouta had in his life.