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Shouto was young when he got his first message.
He was four, just two weeks after getting his quirk, when the scrawling orange font appeared on his wrist.
Hi .
That’s all it said. He had run to his mother, eyes wide. “Mommy, what’s this?”
Rei had smiled down at him. “That means you have a soulmate, Shoucchan. Just like your Niichan. She’d be better to ask about it than me honey.”
Shouto leaned up, kissing his mother on the cheek. “Okay, thanks Mommy!”
He raced to Fuyumi’s room, knocking furiously. She opened the door, eyes softening when she saw it was him. “Hey Shoucchan, what’s up?”
He held out his arm. “Fuminii, what’s this? Mommy said it means I have a soulmate! What’s a soulmate?”
Fuyumi beamed, pulling him into the room. She pulled out a pen, sitting on her bed. She patted the spot next to her. “Come on!”
Shouto climbed up next to her, watching as she scribbled on her wrist. The ink seemed to sink into her skin before vanishing. Shouto’s eyes widened. Fuyumi pointed to her other wrist, where bright red words were marching across her pale skin. Shouto gasped. “Fuminii! That’s what happened to me too!”
Fuyumi chuckled. “Yeah, that’s how it works silly. Do you wanna write back?”
Shouto bobbed his head. “Yeah! I wanna say hi back to them! I wanna know their name too! Can you help me spell?”
Fuyumi handed him the pen. “Yes I can! H-i, I-m S-h-o-u. W-h-a-t’-s y-o-u-r n-a-m-e?”
Shouto slowly wrote the words, and they disappeared as he went. “Fuminii, I wonder what color my soulmate sees! Cause I see orange, and you see red!”
Shouto felt his wrist tingle, and saw not one, but two lines etching into his skin. “Fuminii! Why’re there two? Red now! Red and orange!”
He bounced with excitement. Fuyumi took his hands. “Two people! Two soulmates, Shoucchan!”
The orange writer finished first. You can call me Kat .
Shouto was about to leave, when Fuyumi grabbed his arm. “One more important thing, Shoucchan. When you meet your soulmate, whether or not they know it’s you, as long as you know it’s them, you’ll start to feel a ‘pull’. You’ll want to be with them all the time , and the longer you’re apart, the more pain it will cause you. Maybe the universe made it that way so that soulmates end up together more often. I started feeling it when I met Rumi a few months ago. This is very important, Shoucchan. Don’t keep yourself away from them, you understand?”
Shouto nodded. “Why would I do something like that?”
Fuyumi smiled sadly. “We all have our reasons.”
——
Hi. I’m Shou. What’s your name?
Two? Wow! I’m Eiji!
Katsuki wasn’t really surprised when the light blue words were joined by the red. He was pretty awesome, of course he’d get two soulmates. He wondered if stupid Deku had a soulmate.
So his soul mates were Shoucchan and Eijikkun. Maybe one day he could meet them. “Mama! I have another soul mate!”
Mitsuki shouted from the other room. “Whatever, brat!”
Katsuki frowned. Stupid. It was okay, he had his soul mates. Who needed her?
—two years later—
Everything hurt. Shouto hated training. He hated when Father came home. Hated him, hated him. Shouto couldn’t write on his wrist. It was too bruised. Instead, he pushed up his shorts, and wrote on his thigh. Kacchan was quick to reply.
Hi guys.
Hi, Shoucchan.
Eijikkun was soon after, the words appearing just below Kacchan’s.
Why’d you write on your leg? Are you okay?
Shouto sighed. No, not really. It was just training, training was supposed to hurt. That’s how he’d become strong. Right?
I’m fine. Just saying hi, making sure you’re still there.
Of course we are, silly! :D
They wouldn’t leave. Not like Mommy. Not like Tounii.
——
“Ma! I got the best score in the class!” Katsuki held up his paper.
Mitsuki snatched it, squinting. “Why didn’t you get a hundred percent? You useless? You been hanging around that Deku again?”
Katsuki felt his eyes well with tears. “N-no, no, Mama! Of course not! I studied a lot! And I don’t talk to Deku anymore!”
Mitsuki tossed the paper away. “Whatever. Do better next time, kay’?”
Katsuki looked down. “Yes, Mama.”
——
“Mommy? Mommy what are you—”
Pain. So much pain. Screaming. He was screaming.
Someone grabbed his arm. He pulled away. “Your fault, Father! Your fault!”
He was let go, allowed to go to his room.
G’night guys.
He smiled. Orange meant Kacchan.
Night!
At least he had his soul mates.
—nine years later—
Eijirou was sometimes severely worried for his soul mates. They talked about their parents abusing them like it was no big deal. Eijirou didn’t like that. He even told his moms. “Mom, Mama, something’s really not right with my soul mates.”
His moms were soulmates. They could help. His mom ruffled his hair. “What’s bugging you?”
He pursed his lips. “Well, they keep talking about their parents. And how they hurt them. Mom, parents aren’t supposed to do that! Right?”
His mothers had gone pale. His mama shook her head. “No. No they aren’t. Do you know anything about them? Like full names, addresses?”
Eijirou shook his head. “No, Shoucchan’s mom made them promise when they were really little that they wouldn’t look for us until they were an adult. Something about their dad being angry. I dunno. I just want them to be happy, that’s all!”
His mama pulled him in for a hug. “I’m sorry baby. You’ll be in high school soon, maybe you’ll meet them!”
She was trying to be positive, he knew, but he couldn’t help but be worried.
——
Shouto frowned at the old man. He was standing in the corner of the exam room, watching him. Stupid. Shouto just wanted to talk to Eijikkun and Kacchan and the stupid old bastard wouldn’t stop staring at him. He locked eyes with the garbage human. “I can’t concentrate when you keep glaring at me.”
Endeavor looked away, finally, and Shouto scribbled on his wrist.
What’re you guys up to? I’m taking an entrance exam.
You’re taking an entrance exam for high school today too? I have an entrance exam starting soon!
I’m in the middle of mine, stfu stupid bastards.
Oh so am I. Lol.
Get to fuckin work then!
Shouto chuckled. Sometimes his soul mates were amusing. Back to his exam, then.
——
Katsuki smiled at the hologram on his desk. He grabbed a pen, writing on the skin of his bare forearm.
Got into the school I was taking an exam for the other day.
I got into my school too!
Oh. I was accepted by recommendation. This was just a placement test, I guess.
Of course Shoucchan had gotten into whatever fancy school he was going to by recommendation. He was really fucking smart, after all. Katsuki couldn’t help but hope that they’d all end up together, somehow.
He looked at the hologram, examining the scoreboard it was currently displaying. There he was, at the top. Right below him, a boy with sharp teeth and red hair. Eijirou Kirishima. Eijikkun? Maybe he was hoping too much, but it wasn’t illegal to want things.
——
Eijirou was halfway through a conversation with a blond kid in his class, Denki Kaminari, when he walked in. He bore a frown, glaring at anyone who dared look his way. Ashy blond hair stood up in spikes that Eijirou could only hope to achieve by using unholy amounts of hairspray.
Katsuki Bakugou.
Katsuki’s eyes locked onto another one of their classmates. Eijirou followed his gaze. The green haired boy. The one who’d scored rescue points in the entrance exam.
Katsuki approached the greenet slowly, grabbing him by the collar. Said green boy squeaked. “Kacchan, what—”
Katsuki was saying something to him, but Eijirou was too focused on the name the green boy had called him. Kacchan.
——
Shouto hadn’t been paying attention to his classmates until he heard the name.
Kacchan.
He whipped to face where it had come from, startling a few nearby students. Who cares. A blond, angry looking boy was holding a green haired boy by the collar, whispering furiously.
The green one spoke again as the blond one set him down. “Okay, Kacchan, I get it.”
The blond one grimaced. Grimaced? Shouto felt his wrist tingle, and looked down. Eijikkun.
You guys all in school?
Shouto wrote back an affirmative. The blond boy
Kacchan
sat down in front of the green one, scoffing. Shouto watched as he looked down at his wrist, checking to make sure no one was looking at him as he wrote.
Yeah. What’s it to you?
No. No way. It had to be a coincidence, right?
Just wondering. Still unwilling to give any personal info? :3
Shouto sighed. Was it okay now?
Yes. You sound like a stalker, Red.
Oh screw you. You know what I mean.
Shouto smiled a little. The blond boy was looking down at his wrist. He wrote again. Shouto’s own wrist tingled.
What do you want to know, anyway?
There was no way this was happening. Shouto quickly scribbled out a message.
I’ll bite. I’m enrolled at UA.
The blond boy whipped around. Shouto kept his expression neutral, fixating his gaze on the empty blackboard.
Thought you didn’t wanna be a hero?
UA has many courses. But I changed my mind.
What he left out was that he was only doing it out of spite. But that didn’t matter.
Really?!?! I’m at UA too!
That was a pleasant surprise. Now, to confirm his suspicions.
What about you, Kacchan?
Duh. I wanna be No. 1, remember?
Shouto smirked. Maybe he’d keep this one to himself, for a while. He looked at the door, which opened to reveal a greasy-looking man with long black hair. “Hello. I’m your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa.”
Shouto failed to notice that his wrist stopped tingling after that.
——
A while was a long time, apparently. Whenever one his soul mates asked a specific question, like what class Shouto was in, he just avoided it. For some reason, now that Shouto knew one of his soul mates (who didn’t seem to like him at all, quite frankly), he was scared to reveal himself. When he’d turned into a chicken, he did not know. What he did know was that the pull was getting harder to ignore. When he forced himself to look away from Katsuki, to move away, his head spiked with pain. One of these days he’d get taken to his knees because of a headache.
Yo! What’re you guys up to?
Nothin rn Red
Blue?
Shouto groaned just thinking about his soulmates. His head hurt so much, it was getting harder and harder to focus on anything else. He knew at some point he’d need to speak up, but for now it was fine how it was. He was fine.
Nothing much. Just wasting time
Phew, had me scared a minute Shoucchan! Good to hear from you again ^-^
Sorry ive been so distant lately
Whatever. As long as you dont go forever i could care less what you do
Kacchan! Be nice!
That WAS nice!
The playful banter between his soulmates never failed to lift his mood. Maybe someday he’d join in instead of spectating from the sidelines. He groaned again, laying his arm face down on his bed and ignoring the constant tingling. Whatever. It was better this way anyway.
——
The first term went by too fast for Shouto to keep track of it, and he mostly moved between a state of perpetual haze and one where he’d explode with rage. Both were...bad. And his headaches certainly didn’t help. It was alright.
The class eventually moved into the dorms, which was actually great for Shouto. Much better than the big empty house with too many dark places and too many rooms he didn’t want to think about.
He was lying on his bed when his wrist tingled.
Sometimes I wonder if you guys are right in front of me, and I’m just too dull to see it.
Shit. Eijikkun was onto him. Shouto still hadn’t figured them out yet, though. He only knew that Kacchan was highly likely to be Katsuki Bakugou.
Why would you think that?
I dunno. There are people in my class that sometimes I think, wow, that could be them. Maybe I’m just being silly, though.
I think it too.
I want to meet you guys :(
So do I.
——
Katsuki found Eijikkun first. Eijirou was always around him, so positive and so bright, and when Katsuki drew a star on his arm and an orange star appeared on Eijirou’s, he knew. Eijirou cried, and hugged him, which he found he didn’t mind too much.
Now, Shoucchan.
The stupid blue (honestly the colors of the words didn’t seem to have much to do with appearances, except maybe eye color) bastard was always fucking cryptic about their whereabouts. Maybe they were still worried about their dad or some shit. It was getting annoying though. Katsuki was ready to beat the guy up for Shoucchan, but he couldn’t do that unless they let him find them.
“Ei- Shitty Hair!” Katsuki kept slipping up.
“Yeah, Kacchan?” Eijirou didn’t care if people heard. If Denki could do it, he could too. Katsuki was more likely to strangle Denki for it, though.
“I’m so tired of Blue’s shit.” He ran his hands through his hair, letting himself fall back onto his bed. Eijirou laid down next to him.
“Yeah. I wish they’d let us find them. Sometimes I worry, ya know?” Eijirou leaned into Katsuki, resting his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. Katsuki would never admit it, but he liked the contact.
“Don’t we all?” Katsuki sighed. Maybe someday.
Eijirou pulled out a pen. Katsuki lifted his wrist to watch.
Shoucchan, you doin okay?
Yeah, why do you ask?
Just checking on you. I hadn’t heard from you for a few hours, so I got worried. Glad you’re okay.
Oh.
It was as if no one frequently told Shoucchan they cared about them. Their reaction was usually a long pause before responding, and then the response was shit like this. Katsuki grabbed the pen from Eijirou.
You fucking sure?
Yeah.
Fuck this. Katsuki knew when his soul mates were lying. Shoucchan was even more obvious than Eijirou, and Katsuki could see the redheaded idiot’s face when he was lying. Whenever Shoucchan wrote one word answers, or didn’t try to keep the conversation going, it was a telltale sign that they were hiding something.
Shoucchan, you’re a terrible liar. Now, are you okay?
The response took awhile.
No. I’m scared.
Eijirou inhaled sharply. Katsuki handed him the pen.
Scared? Can I help? What’s scaring you?
It’s silly.
Shoucchan, we’ve been over this. None of your problems are silly.
Eijirou sniffled, burying his face into Katsuki’s arm. “I don’t want them to be upset! I want to make them happy, Kacchan, but they won’t let me!”
Katsuki took the pen. “I know, Eijikkun, I know.”
It’s kind of dark.
Is your fucking light on?
Yeah. Not literally dark. I just feel...dark.
Katsuki knew that feeling.
Would you please tell me where you fucking are? I can’t help you as well as I could if I could see you, dumbass.
You know it’s not that easy.
Oh, Katsuki could play this fucking game. He’d done it before, he could do it again.
Why fucking not? You scared of us, or some shit?
No response. Well, fuck.
——
Shouto let the pen drop with a clatter. He took a shaky breath, heart racing as he looked at the orange words on his wrist. No. No. Was he?
Was he scared of his soulmates?
No, that wasn’t it. Sure, Katsuki was scary, but Shouto knew he cared about Shoucchan. Shouto knew Katsuki cared about him . So why was he so nervous to go to him? He wanted to be able to touch Katsuki, he wanted to be with him, he wanted it, he really did. So what was stopping him?
He stood up, reaching for the door. He’d march right over to Katsuki’s room. Two doors down, that was all. But just as he touched the doorknob, he froze, the gears in his brain screeching to a halt as his body stiffened. What if Katsuki would be disappointed to know it was him? What if Katsuki didn’t want Shouto to be Shoucchan? Emotionally repressed and closed-off Shouto. That’s not who Katsuki wanted, right? Shouto sat back down. No, he wouldn’t meet Katsuki today.
He slowly picked up the pen.
I don’t know what you mean. I’m taking a nap.
Shouto turned off his light with a click, and crawled into bed without changing. He ignored the tears dripping down his cheeks, ignored the part of his brain saying, go, go to him, and went to sleep.
——
He was awoken later by a gentle tapping at his door. “Todoroki-kun? Are you in there?”
He jolted up, running his hands through his hair. Good enough. He opened the door, squinting in the light of the hallway. He locked onto the green-haired boy in front of him, putting his hand on the door frame to steady himself. “Midoriya.”
Izuku smiled. “Hi! Um, we were gonna watch a movie, if you wanted to join us!”
Shouto blinked once. His wrist tingled. Izuku’s eyes swiveled to it before Shouto could pull it away. “Woah! You have a soul mate?”
Shouto nodded, looking down.
I’m lonely :( come cuddle with me
Izuku blushed. “Ah, so you’ve already met them then?”
Shouto slowly shook his head. His wrist tingled again.
Eijikkun, you dumbass, we cuddled for an hour earlier
Izuku gaped, looking at the two colors. “You have two .”
Shouto nodded again. “Yeah.” His voice was quieter than he wanted it to be.
Izuku looked up at him with big eyes. “Todoroki-kun, why don’t you find them?”
Shouto looked away, shrugging half-heartedly. Izuku reached out, before dropping his arm against his side. “Look. I know you may not think it, but it’s better to be with them.”
Shouto watched as Izuku pulled out a pen, scribbling onto his own arm. Soon, purple letters danced across his skin.
Omw.
Shouto frowned. He was happy for Izuku, but that didn’t stop him from being a little jealous. God, he was awful. Jealous that Izuku had contact with his soulmate, while Shouto sat and brooded over both of his? Stupid. “You have one too.”
Izuku nodded, beaming. “Yep! He actually goes to school here!”
Shouto hummed. “I know for sure that one of mine does. I’m guessing the other one does too considering that they’ve been in contact.”
Izuku swatted his arm. “Come on! That easy and you’re still not reaching out? Silly! Go to them already! I know you want to, keeping yourself away only causes more pain. I know you’ve felt the pull, because I have too.”
Shouto hated to admit it, but Izuku was right. The amount of times that Shouto wanted to tackle Katsuki to the ground and just hold him was too many for him to count. It was a struggle being near him, so he just avoided the ashy blond boy as much as possible. Maybe Katsuki thought Shouto hated him, but it was just that he cared about Katsuki too much.
Izuku smiled sweetly. “Okay... so who is it? The one you know for sure~”
Shouto knew that this was coming. “Bakugou.”
Izuku sputtered. “K-Kacchan? I knew he had a soulmate, he just never talked about them much! I can’t believe it’s you! How did you know?”
Shouto looked down again. “Well, on the first day of school, you called him Kacchan, which is how he introduced himself to me and Red, so I tested him. I kept writing to my soul mates, and every time I did, he looked down. And every time I saw him write, the words showed up on my arm. He also said he went to UA. It’s not 100% though. They could be someone else-”
Izuku grabbed his arm. “We’re going to Kacchan’s room right now! You don’t have a choice! Either that or you can meet Toshikkun! I’m sure he’d love to talk to you about avoiding your soul mates!”
Something in Izuku’s tone made Shouto not want to talk to Izuku’s soulmate about this. “Fine.”
He hated how his voice wavered when he said it. “Can I at least change?”
It was obvious that Izuku had just noticed his disheveled appearance. “Oh! Sorry, yeah!”
Shouto went back into his room, closing the door behind him. Shit. He was actually doing it.
Shit.
What if Katsuki flat-out rejected him? Shouto would understand, they were basically rivals. Yes, it was Shouto’s fault they were rivals, avoiding people would do that to a relationship. But that didn’t change the fact that they were nowhere near friends, and Katsuki probably had a bad image of Shouto. Shouto didn’t line up with Shoucchan, so what would Katsuki think?
All Shouto could do was hope that Katsuki wouldn’t turn him away.
——
Katsuki was expecting the knock at his door. “Get in here, Shitty Hair. What took you so long?”
Except, it was not Eijirou who poked his head in. “H-hi Kacchan.”
Katsuki sighed. “What do you want, Deku?”
Izuku wrung his hands. “W-well actually—”
Hitoshi poked his head in the room. “Yo. If you don’t mind I’ll be taking my boyfriend now. I dunno why he’s talking to you again but whatever. Peace.”
Katsuki hated the stupid purple head. Whatever. Izuku was forcibly yanked away. “H-hey! I wasn’t done talking to him!”
Hitoshi’s voice sounded farther away. “I don’t care.”
Izuku called back. “Good luck, Todoroki-kun!”
Wait. Shouto? Why was he here? “Half n’ Half? Ya need something?”
Shouto opened the door farther, standing awkwardly in the hall. “Hi, Bakugou.”
He fidgeted. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He sighed, pulling a pen out of his pocket. Katsuki got up off his bed. “What’re you—”
He stopped when he felt his wrist tingle. He slowly lifted his arm.
Hi.
Shouto let his arms fall to his sides, lips pressed into a line. “I get it if you don’t want me—”
Katsuki frowned. “Why the fuck wouldn’t I? I’ve been trying to get information out of you for months , Shoucchan.”
The use of the name made Shouto’s stomach flip. “Well, I’m not really anything like the Shoucchan you know in person. I’m just...me. And I get it if I’m not enough.”
Katsuki’s frown deepened. “Shoucchan. I get that. People have sides, we aren’t one fucking thing. Have you seen me? I’m guessing you thought ‘Huh, Kacchan’s a hell of a lot nicer in writing’. That’s because I am , okay? Fuck, feelings aren’t easy. And that’s just how it is.”
Shouto tilted his head. “I never once thought you were meaner in person. You’re still just Kacchan to me.”
Katsuki smiled a little. “And you’re just Shoucchan. I don’t care if you come off as some sort of ‘ice prince’, or whatever. I know you, or at least I think I fucking do.”
Shouto nodded. “Yeah. I just thought because I’ve been avoiding you, and we’re kind of rivals that maybe you’d turn me down—”
Katsuki stepped closer, resting a hand on his arm. “Oh, shut the fuck up. You’re spending too much time around Deku, starting to sound like him. Can I—fuck this is harder to say than to think—can I hug you?”
Shouto tensed up. “I—”
Someone barreled down the hall, crashing into them and basically forcing them together. “Hey, don’t leave me out! I was the one who wanted to cuddle!”
Eijirou. Shouto was still tense. Katsuki noticed, pulling himself away. “Shitty Hair.” He gave a pointed look to Shouto.
“Oh, sorry!” Eijirou reluctantly followed suit, releasing the other boy.
Katsuki dragged both of them into his room, slamming the door. “Took you fucking long enough, Shitty Hair, jesus.”
Eijirou smiled sheepishly. “Sorry! I got caught up watching Denks lose at Mario Kart. Serobro is really good.”
Katsuki turned to Shouto. “How long have you known it was us, goddammit.”
Shouto looked away. “I didn’t know about Kirishima. I had my suspicions, but I couldn’t prove it because I couldn’t get close to him since he was always with you.”
Katsuki’s palms sparked. “Fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
Shouto flinched. “I’ve known it was you since the first day of school. I thought if I avoided you, I could make the pull go away. It didn’t work. It just hurt.”
Eijirou looked horrified. “You ignored the pull for half a year?!? Holy shit, Shoucchan.”
He came closer, reaching out. Shouto didn’t stop him. Eijirou wrapped his arms around Shouto, and the taller boy leaned into him, closing his eyes. The dull pain that constantly sat in the back of his head fizzled out at last when Katsuki took his hand. “I don’t know why you fucking waited so long. Why? Why would you do that to yourself?”
“I thought you might not like me,” Shouto mumbled into Eiijrou’s shoulder. He was warm. It felt nice to be held.
Katsuki barked out a laugh. “Bullshit. You’re full of shit, Icy Hot. Now, weren’t you here for cuddling, Eiji?”
Eijirou perked up. He pulled Shouto over to the bed, flopping down without hesitation. Katsuki laid next to him, using his stomach as a pillow. “Come on, Shoucchan!”
Shouto laid on the other side of Eijirou, somehow feeling like a foreigner and right at home simultaneously. But when Eijirou pulled him into his side, wrapping an arm around his waist, he couldn’t help but feel like maybe it would be okay.