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Shouto groans as he sits up off the ground, cuffs tightened around the villain in his hands.
"It's about time you got him cuffed," groans Shouto as he glares at Katsuki who snorts.
"Not my fault you couldn't get his ass," replies Katsuki as Izuku steps up next to him and holds out a hand to Shouto.
"Come on, Sho," says Izuku as Shouto reaches out his hand. "Did you get hit by his quirk?"
"I don't—" Shouto cuts himself off as a humming vibrates against his hand. "Dammit, what is his quirk?"
"Ha! Icy-Hot got hit with the fuckin' Soulmate quirk!" cackles Katsuki as Izuku tugs Shouto up.
"Basically that. I've told you about the red string of fate, right? Or has Denki?" asks Izuku softly as he tilts his head to the side, curiosity sparkling in green eyes and making Shouto scrunch his nose. "Don't do that with your nose, you know it makes Denki mad when he misses it."
"He'll live. I got hit with a soulmate quirk," grumbles Shouto as he throws his arms in the air. "This ridiculously red string is wrapped around my damn wrist, and it's thrumming a heartbeat. Steady, slightly faster than normal, and how the hell am I supposed to focus with this thing?"
"You're not going to have to focus on anything," replies Izuku seriously as he pats Shouto on the back, soft smile curving his lips in understanding when he glares at him in response. "Well you'll have to focus on filling out the quirk incident report as well as the capture report, but after that, you're going home. You'll be off-duty for the next couple of days until the quirk wears off as well, and don't even think about arguing. You already questioned how you're supposed to focus with it, so there's no way you're patrolling."
"You know I could handle it," huffs Shouto as he shakes his head before turning to the villain who is being loaded into a car. "I don't even know how he got me. Not once did he touch me. I thought his quirk was touch activated."
"I thought so too. You're certain he didn't touch you?" asks Izuku as his brows furrow.
"He definitely fuckin' didn't," says Katsuki with a hint of confusion in his voice as he looks over at the car too, making Shouto turn to him in surprise. But Katsuki is now glaring at the car, at the villain to be more specific, and he looks like he's steadily getting angrier. "Halfie only ended up on the ground because the idiot caught him with chains and threw him off his icy course. Dumbass didn't touch him at all. Which means that someone screwed up the registry, either that asshole, or the Commission. But either way, we need to know how his quirk is activated."
"I've got this," says Izuku as he turns his attention to the car before bouncing over there, stopping them from leaving.
"Do you see the end of that fuckin' thing yet?" asks Katsuki as he arches a brow at him.
"Nope, which means I'm going to be annoyed by curiosity too," sighs Shouto as he turns his attention to Izuku who is leaning into the car through the window, blackwhip appearing momentarily. "Tell me he's not about to get too violent."
"Nah, he won't pull any crazy shit. He's just going to make sure that asshat knows exactly who he's messing with," replies Katsuki with pride in his voice.
"I hate how proud you are of him doing that because I'm pretty proud too," grumbles Shouto as he crosses his arms over his chest, forcing himself to ignore the humming of that string.
"I got the answer!" hollers Izuku as he turns with a grin, jogging over to them.
"Let's head back to the agency, you can enlighten us there. We have too much paperwork to do because of him," says Katsuki as his hands spark, feral grin curving his lips. "See ya, losers."
He takes off in the air, and Izuku yelps, "That's cheating, Kacchan!"
Izuku takes off too, and Shouto snorts before he chases after them, ice moving and melting with him.
Izuku manages to beat Katsuki, too close for either of them to really be happy with it, but Shouto's the first one to their paperwork room.
He settles in his chair and waits because he knows those two are grabbing food and the papers, it's their routine. Usually, Shouto grabs drinks, but he doesn't have to because he put their drinks in their mini fridge before they left to patrol earlier. So, they're already in the room.
"Alright, let's get to filling out this paperwork," says Izuku brightly as he holds the door open for Katsuki who comes in with a stack of bentos.
"Fuckin' finally. Soon as this shit's done, we're heading the fuck home," huffs Katsuki as he sits the bentos down, sliding one across the table to Shouto who nods in thanks as he catches it.
"What was that villain's activation?" asks Shouto as he slides back in his chair to reach into the fridge and tug out their drinks.
Water for the night, even though he'd personally prefer coffee. He slides the bottles to them while Izuku passes out the papers.
"So, his activation is actually prolonged eye contact," says Izuku as he bounces in his chair.
"Prolonged eye contact? Well, that tracks. But that's fairly rare too," sighs Shouto as he leans back in his chair, arms crossing over his chest. "Well, okay, guess that's an update we need to do then."
"I'll update that myself, you two can just say that the quirk activation is wrong, and I'll handle rest," explains Izuku quickly as he leans forward, shuffling some papers around. "Oh, and Sho, I only gave you the quirk incident report. You can fill out the other report at home. I emailed it to you already."
"Your dumbass isn't staying here to do that. I'll grab your laptop so you can do that first, then we can deal with the paperwork," grumbles Katsuki as he kicks at Izuku's chair before standing and jogging out of the room.
"You better get to scribbling so you can actually get done with the paperwork at the same time as he does," snorts Shouto as he grabs his pen and starts working through the quirk incident report.
He hears Katsuki come back in, but he ignores it in favor of explaining the reason he got hit with a quirk while on patrol.
"You almost fuckin' done over there, Halfie?" asks Katsuki as Shouto taps the end of his pen against the table for the fifth time while reading over what he's written.
"Yeah, just going over it one more time to make sure I haven't missed anything," replies Shouto without looking up because he knows why the explosive blonde is asking.
He hates when Shouto taps his pen.
Shouto doesn't care because Katsuki taps his foot when he's rereading.
Personally, foot tapping is more annoying.
"Fuckin' great," huffs Katsuki as a chair screeches, and Shouto snorts as he looks up to find the blonde practically falling backwards out of the chair he's bending backwards. "Stop laughing and finish up so you can stop tapping that stupid pen and getting on my last goddamn nerve."
"Stop trying to break the spine of the chair, and your own spine, then," replies Shouto with a half-smile as he leans back and taps his pen three times in succession just to see the way Katsuki's eye twitches. "I'm done, Katsuki. Settle down."
"Asshole," grumbles Katsuki with an eye roll as Shouto slides his report over to Izuku. "How close to being done are you, Nerd?"
"Just one more page to go through, then a reread, Kacchan," replies Izuku as he taps his pen against the paper he's staring really hard at.
"Fuckin' finally," sighs Katsuki as he rolls his shoulders harshly. "Halfie, you need to get home, and don't let anyone see you being weird because of that damn string before you see the sparky dumbass."
"What does it matter if anyone sees anything?" asks Shouto as his brows furrow harshly in confusion. "And why does it matter if it happens before I see Denki?"
"Because we all know Denki is your fuckin' soulmate, so don't go getting lost or sidetracked before getting home to his ridiculous ass," huffs Katsuki as he looks at him like he's an idiot, which maybe he is because he still doesn't get it.
"What are you talking about? There's no way Denki would be stuck being my soulmate," says Shouto with his brows harshly furrowed in complete confusion.
"Deku, I'm going to explode his ass out the window," says Katsuki as he glares at Shouto like he personally pissed him off.
That tends to happen a lot though, so Shouto just turns to Izuku with a sigh and an arched brow.
"Shouto, you have feelings for Denki, right?" asks Izuku softly, tilting his head to the side knowingly.
"Everyone except Denki knows that, Izu," replies Shouto as he leans back in his chair.
"But everyone, except for you, also happens to know that Denki has feelings for you too," says Izuku slowly, eyes narrowing at the same time as Shouto's before his smile curves his lips again. "So, logically, it only makes sense that Denki would be your soulmate."
"Logically, I think you and Bakugou, and everyone else, are insane," replies Shouto with a harsh eye roll that actually leaves his forehead throbbing. "I'm going to head out before either of you spit more insanely unrealistic things."
"When he is your soulmate, you owe us something big and expensive, asshole," calls Katsuki as Shouto hurries out of the room, flipping him off as he went.
Ridiculous.
Shouto shakes his head all the way to his car and even grumbles to himself about it not making any sense why people would think he stood a chance with someone like Denki.
He's—
Denki Kaminari is fucking everything.
Which leaves him questioning everything because oesn't know what will happen if his soulmate isn't Denki. That is a possibility, and Shouto doesn't know what he'd do if it was a reality instead. How would he handle it? Things would— they'd change, but would they have to change all that much? Shouto doesn't think he could fall out of love with Denki just because he's not his soulmate.he d
He shakes his head, hard, when his visions blurs momentarily. Then he sighs deeply as he pulls into the parking lot of their condo and gets settled in his spot next to Denki's motorcycle.
Why he has a motorcycle when Shouto drives him everywhere, he doesn't know, but Denki loves it.
Shouto also loves it when Denki takes him on night drives on it.
Shouto shakes his head as the thrumming of the string brings his attention back to the matter at hand…
It's leading into his condo.
"Oh fuck," breathes Shouto nervously as he looks at the string, watching the way it stretches into the building. "No way. There's no fucking way. Oh heroes."
Shouto tries to shake off the thought that those two were actually right, but as he walks into the building, he sees the string leading up the stairs. He knows he needs to do this, confront this right now before he loses his actual mind, so he follows the string.
Steady steps with trembling hands and a string that's thrumming with that same unsteady heartbeat.
Shouto's heart goes fully into his throat until he gags on it as he stops outside his and Denki's door where the string is sliding underneath.
He knows Denki is alone.
He knows it.
But his mind is wondering if someone needed a place to stay.
He hasn't looked at his group chats, so he wouldn't know.
Fuck.
With the deepest breath he's taken all day, Shouto puts his key into the keyhole and twists it before twisting the doorknob as well.
The first thing he's greeted with is the low hum of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" as it plays in the kitchen, then the song pauses as Denki hurtles into the living room. Shouto barely has time to kick off his shoes before Denki wraps his arms around his neck and holds him tight.
He immediately stiffens as he feels the way the string shortens and thrums harder, vibrating his wrist.
"Is everything okay?" asks Denki as he pulls back to look at Shouto.
"Yeah, I just— I got hit with a quirk, and it's been a long day, that's all. Let me shower, yeah? I'll topple you afterwards," says Shouto softly, attempting to give him the reassurance he needs rather than an actual answer.
"Wait, how long is the quirk going to last? What is it?" asks Denki quickly as his head tips to the side, confusion swirling through his golden eyes.
"It's a twenty-four hour quirk, so I'll be off for the next couple of days. But it's nothing dangerous, just a distraction," replies Shouto with a half-smile that's more of a wince than anything, but Denki pulls away completely as understanding glosses over his face. "I'm going to hit the shower, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I'm going to get dinner ordered then. Take your time in the shower, Sho," says Denki softly as he pats a hand on his waist before turning and heading back to the kitchen where they keep their online ordering menu chart.
Shouto simply hums as he makes his way through their place to the bathroom. He gets lost in there, his head a mess of scattered thoughts as his eyes keep locking onto the thrumming string sending micro vibrations through his veins.
It's bad.
That Shouto knows the string leads to Denki.
He can't tell Denki.
It cannot happen.
If Denki finds out, and he doesn't feel that way, Shouto will have to move.
If Denki finds out, and he does feel the same way, Shouto's not sure he'll be able to believe the blonde.
Well, he probably could.
Denki's pretty straight forward about his emotions.
It's still ridiculous… the soulmates notion.
Shouto could never believe it, but the fact that it's Denki? That kind of makes him want to believe it because he's loved Denki for so long now.
By the time Shouto gets out of the shower, dressed in a loose tee and gray sweatpants, he's still beyond uncertain about what to do about this entire situation. But Shouto heads out of the bathroom, hair loose and mostly dry, and jumps as he sees Denki there, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," replies Denki into the phone before he pulls it away from his ear, thumb tapping automatically as their eyes meet, and then he slides the device into his pocket. "Hey, Sho, how was your shower?"
"Uh, it was fine… Got a bit lost in thought, but yeah… Did you get dinner ordered?" asks Shouto as his brows furrow harshly, something unsettling inching under his skin.
"Yeah, I did that already. Just went for the noodle shop down the road, so I didn't have to do much talking. It'll be here soon," says Denki easily as he pushes away from the wall and walks towards him. "You were being weird, so I called Kats. He told me what the quirk was, Sho. Is that why you're being weird? Because of the string?"
Shouto immediately starts mentally panicking because how does Denki know about the string? How does he— with a deep breath, Shouto reminds himself that Katsuki wouldn't tell Denki anything when he doesn't know it's a fact. All Denki knows is that he can see the string.
"Yeah, I— It's a bit weird to have it thrumming like that, so noticeable and there," explains Shouto nervously as he scratches at his neck. "I never really believed in that, you know, so it's— weird."
"That's totally fair, for sure, but Shouto, why would you be weird about it? We've all been hit by strange ass quirks," Denki's confused, enough that he's stepping forward again to squint at him.
"I don't know, Denks, it's just weird. But you said dinner was gonna be here soon? Is Soba's bowl filled already?" Shouto's trying to force a conversational shift. He knows it's not even slightly subtle, but right now, he doesn't care because he can see the damn string thrumming brightly between them, short and bright fucking red.
He moves, intending to walk away, hoping that will help change the topic enough that Denki will let them move on.
"No," Denki says it quickly before he gets his hands on Shouto's shoulders and gently pushes him back, back, back until he hits the wall next to the bathroom door. "We're going to talk about this for real. Why does the string quirk thing bother you so much? What do I not know?"
"It's not that you don't know anything, Denki," groans Shouto as he lets his head conk harshly against the wall. This shouldn't be as hot as it is, but at least he knows Denki won't take it that way. "It's that this whole situation is a mess, and I have a string that's thrumming and red and someone is attached to the end of it. Someone who is supposed to, apparently, supposed to be my soulmate. I just— you know me, Denki, does that really sound like something I deserve?"
"You know you deserve it, Sho, you're just not sure if you're ready for it," Denki is quick with his response, and Shouto sighs fondly, he's unable to stop it. "But Sho, you deserve to be with your soulmate. That's something you deserve, that and so much more, you know that. You may not be ready for it, just yet, but you deserve it regardless."
"You—" Shouto wants to argue, but then there's a whiny meow and claws sink into his thigh, making him jump. "Ah, Soba, down girl. What the heck? Why are you clawing at me? Are you hungry, baby? Is that it?"
"Oh damn," snorts Denki with an amused chuckle as he shakes his head. "She's not hungry. I fed her earlier since you said she didn't eat very well. And her bowl is still half-full, plus she got treats because Ei and Han came over today."
"Oh, so you got spoiled and still wanna whine, Soba? Did you miss me then, baby? Is that it?" asks Shouto softly as he kneels down, purrs echoing loudly from Soba as she rubs against him, butting her head against his hand to pull more attention from him. "Okay, Soba baby, let's go to the living room."
"Hey, we're not—" Denki's cut off by the sound of his own phone ringing, and Shouto takes that opportunity to try to escape into the living room with Soba attempting to trip him up on every step.
He knows he can't completely avoid the conversation, but it doesn't mean he won't take what he's given and run until he can't anymore.
But just as he's reaching the end of the hallway, Soba tries to climb him as he sidesteps her, and he has to adjust the string to be able to grab her.
A thud sounds from behind them, and Shouto turns, the string wrapping around his waist, and he watches Denki's hand move, the one that has the string attached to it.
He glances from that hand to Denki's eyes, and there's shock and understanding shining through them as he looks at him.
Shouto winces, he can't help it, in the face of his shock.
But then Denki speaks up and asks, "You and me?"
He can't deny anything, but he just kind of looks at him for a minute, unsteadily trying to gauge how the blonde feels.
"I— I mean, who else could it be?" asks Shouto softly, giving into the reality that Denki felt the tug, knows the truth, and deserves the confirmation. "It was always going to be you, Denki."
"Oh thank god because if you ended up finding out it was someone else, I was going to go all whey mode again," Denki sounds relieved as he walks down the hall, phone long forgotten on the carpet by the bathroom door. His arms wrap around Shouto's neck as he tugs him close, their noses brushing. "I love you, Shouto Todoroki."
"I love you too, Denki Kaminari," whispers Shouto as he nuzzles their noses together sweetly, breathless as he tries to comprehend the amazing thing that's just happened to him.
He's loved.
His soulmate is the one he's loved forever.
His soulmate loves him back.
Wow.
Denki pulls away just enough to look Shouto in the eye, and he wonders if the blonde is going to say something. Pink, distracting lips parting, but then there's a harsh knock on the door that has them springing apart like two kids getting caught doing something wrong.
"That— That's dinner, but I am getting my kiss, Sho," says Denki decisively as he looks at him, finger booping Shouto's nose gently as he smiles. "I've been waiting years for this, so there's no way I'm missing out on finally kissing you with the knowledge that you're mine. Because that's what this is, just so we're clear… You, Shouto Todoroki, are my boyfriend now, mine."
"You can kiss me as soon as that door shuts, Denki Kaminari, and let Soba know that I am yours because I've always known that," Shouto can't help the cheeky tone that escapes into his words, curving his lips into a half-smirk that's fonder than anything.
"Glad we're on the same page," says Denki proudly before he skips past Shouto, heading straight for the door with a grin that is definitely going to take a while to fade.
Shouto gets comfortable on the couch while Denki grabs their bag of food. It doesn't take long for Denki to join him, Soba following him over with a twitching nose and this look that say she's going to be her adorable gremlin self and try to get their food. But when Denki settles on the couch, their food bag resting on the side table next to him, he immediately tugs Shouto in by his shirt.
"Kiss me?" asks Denki softly as their noses brush in a nuzzling kiss.
Shouto hums before leaning in, their lips ghosting in the most chaste kiss he can muster, but then there's a zap that jolts him like flames finding more fuel. He leans into the kiss a bit harder, feeling Denki do the same, and their lips part to slot perfectly together. It's soft versus bitten, wet versus dry, a distraction that has Shouto slowly swiping his tongue across Denki's lips and smiling when a broken off moan escapes between them. His hands find Denki's thigh and side, meanwhile there are fingers tugging on his red and white strands just this side of too good.
"Fuck," breathes Denki between them as he pulls away just enough to form the word. "I love you, Shouto."
"I love you too, Denki," Shouto says it breathily, lips tingling from the first kiss he's ever shared with the man he loves.
Meoooow
They don't jolt apart, but they do pull away enough to turn their heads without hitting each other. Soba is there on the floor, biting at the bag's handle while harshly batting at it with her paws like she's going to magically get the food hidden within.
"Aw man, Soba," groans Denki with a shake of his head, far more amused than anything. "You've poked holes in the bag again. You better not have gotten holes in our containers, Princess, or I'm not giving you treats before my patrols for the next three days."
"You're going to end up giving her more just because you feel bad about threatening not to give her any," snorts Shouto before he can stop himself as Denki tugs the bag into his lap and undoes the shoddy knotting to reveal their noodle containers.
"Shuddup," Denki pouts as he looks up at him, until Shouto leans over to kiss those pouty lips. "You should do that every day, Sho."
Those golden eyes go all dreamy, and Shouto sighs at the sight.
"Don't worry, I will," murmurs Shouto as he rubs his thumb over that puffy bottom lip. "Soulmate."
Denki hums wistfully as he smiles at him, leaning his head on his shoulder momentarily before remembering what he was doing.
"Stop distracting me with your gorgeousness," huffs Denki teasingly as he leans into him with a gentle nudge of his shoulder.
"Right, I'm the distraction here," snorts Shouto as he shakes his head and settles back against the cushion.
Denki turns to him, after taking the noodle containers out and settling them on the coffee table.
"You're always the distraction," replies Denki as he leans over and brushes a gentle kiss against his cheek. "Goddammit, Soba! You cannot eat our noodles, stop that!"
Shouto chuckles as Denki picks Soba up, carefully extracting one of their noodle containers from her claws as he separates them.
"Let's eat, Denks, and we can talk first dates while we do," replies Shouto as he takes the container away from Denki while he sets Soba by her bowl.
"Fine, but if she tries getting into my container again, I'm going to lock her in your room," huffs Denki as he gets comfortable on the couch again, grabbing his own container while leaning into his side.
"Sure you will," chuckles Shouto as he relaxes next to him, amusement pouring off him as they start to eat.
"Okay, you're right, I won't," sighs Denki softly as he cuddles close to Shouto. "But I will think about it."
"Goofball," murmurs Shouto sweetly as he nudges his nose into blonde hair for a moment before going back to his food.
Laughter escapes them both as Soba climbs onto the table and tries to get into not only Denki's noodle carton, but also Shouto's… At the same time.
This is what it means to be in love with your soulmate, what it means to be happy, and Shouto is almost grateful for the quirk that hit him today. Even if that red string is still annoying to see.