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Izuku is four when it happens. An odd feeling creeps up his wrist, as though it's fallen asleep. Then a warmth fills the limb and he ends up shrieking in shock, his mom running into the room a moment later.
"Izuku? What's wrong, honey?" She drops to her knees, biting her lip. Izuku stares at his arm, still. Whatever is wrong with his arm isn't that bad, really. Just surprising and weird. He thrusts it out.
"I dunno, my arm feels funny."
His mom grasps his arm and turns it slowly before gasping. Her fingers shakily trace something on it, but he can't really feel whatever it is she's tracing. The arm she's holding is still tingly and numb.
"It's your soul words, Izuku," she smiles softly at him and he stares at his arm in wonder, “They've come in, sweetie."
The knowledge of soul words that Izuku has is small. His mom has some on her back that he's never seen. People in general do not show their soul words or marks, as it's considered private. He knows it's connected to your soulmate, which is something like a best friend?
He thinks it's something like that, at least.
Izuku squints at the words. The words are pink, gleaming bright against his skin. There's obviously something about their quirk, but he can't read the rest of it. The words on his skin are not something that Izuku knows yet, no matter how hard he glares at them.
"What'd they say?" He shakes his arm a little, impatient. His mom just laughs, a little wet from where she's tearing up.
"They say, 'Are you okay? It's my quirk.'" She turns his arm a little before releasing it, "I wonder what that means?" The most frustrating part of the whole mysterious soul mark phenomenon is the lack of context, Izuku thinks. His mom goes over what he alreadt knows; soulmates are important, it's best to keep the words private, and he's going to have to have an appointment for a specialist where he'll get a cover for his own.
"All Might has a wrist mark," Izuku shouts with excitement, once he realizes what the band on All Might’s wrist means. His mom chuckles and pats him on the back.
Izuku can't stop running his fingers over the pink lettering. Someone's out there with his words on their arm. Someone out there besides Kacchan, who will be by his side when he becomes a hero. Will his soulmate want to be a hero too? Will they be in support, or a civilian? Whatever they want, Izuku decides then, he'll be by their side one hundred percent, because what else would he ever do?
Izuku sits in the room of the soul mark specialist with his mother, swinging his feet. The waiting room has a shop sectioned off, with colorful bands and ribbons. Izuku isn't a fan of pink, usually. There aren't many heroes with that color scheme, but he thinks he could skip on the usual All Might colors for this. Even if the words are private, Izuku wants the world to see the pink of the lettering on his mark.
The exam only takes a little bit, with the doctor testing his reflexes and asking a bunch of questions while poking at the mark. Izuku tries not to be offended by it. He's doing a perfectly normal thing, no matter how protective Izuku feels over the words.
"The place your mark is on is lucky, young man," the doctor says. "The wrist is between the 'reaching' of the forearm and the 'obtaining' of the hand. Whoever your soulmate is, they'll help you reach your dreams for sure." He pats Izuku's hand briefly before leaning back.
Now that he has a free left hand, he can't stop waving it around, proudly. Izuku feels so full he could burst. He feels suddenly so close to his dreams. The doctor chuckles, lightly with good humor.
"Well, it looks like a perfectly normal soulmark. When you finally meet whoever it is, you'll know. The feeling is unmistakable," the man states, "Additionally, when you do both make contact, you'll be able to share a limited amount of emotions with each other. It's very exciting!"
Izuku nods frantically. He wants to meet his soulmate now. Everyone in his life is great, of course, but special things they could share...it's overwhelming to think about.
"We'll get you set up with a covering and you'll be free to go," the doctor smiles once more, then leads the pair out.
Izuku skips, emotions overflowing. A wrist soulmark means all that? It feels right, though. He can't imagine not doing his all to help whoever is on the other side of these words. It's what a hero would do, after all.
He ends up picking the pink cover after all.
The tap of his pen is the only sound in the room, currently. He isn't trying to work out of Hero Analysis for the Future #13, but a more...personal book. Labelled 'Soulmate', it contains all of his theories on what, exactly, his soulmate's quirk is going to be. Considering the only hint of his soulmate is their quirk...well...
It's frustratingly little, but at the same time it's more than most get. Izuku can at least confirm that they are, unlike him, quirked. The theories he's come up with range from a healing quirk, to some area of effect emitter one, similar to Midnight, or even something protective.
The pink satin of the wrist cover feels cool under his finger as he traces the words he knows are under it. Thinking of his soulmate is easier on some days.
All he gets for his dreams, Izuku thinks, is disgust or pity. Supposedly there's someone out there who will help him reach his dreams. Someone who won't laugh or cry when he says he wants to become a hero.
There's a saying, it says that a soulmate is what you make of it. Soulmarks simply are a sign that two people have a connection. What one makes of that connection, however, is up to the individual.
What science can make of soulmarks are mostly centered around positioning. A wrist mark like Izuku's is considered one of the more fortuitous. His mother's, one that is on her left shoulder, is usually a sign of friendship. Kacchan's mark is over his heart, signifying a strong bond. The meanings may be similar, but it's the minute differences that really do matter.
He's scared, just a bit; that his soulmate will treat him just like all the other kids at school, with derision and disregard. Like the teachers that ignore or pity him. Izuku has to believe in a soulmate who will support him, though. Just like he has to believe that he will become a hero. He just has to meet them.
The air is thick and heavy with humidity. Izuku lays in the sand, the grains sticking to where his sweaty skin touches the ground. The itch of the sand used to bother him, but now it's just one more thing he's gotten used to since starting his training with All Might. What's a little sand compared to the full body ache he's experiencing right now?
Not much, that's what.
However...some sand has gotten underneath his wrist cover, which is more annoying than usual. The skin underneath is more sensitive and the itch is a bit unbearable. As he digs under the soft covering a drink appears in his peripheral vision.
"All Might!" Izuku scrambles to sit up. They don't often get to do this; relax after a day of training. All Might usually has villains to apprehend or has some other hero-related thing to attend to. It's surreal, these moments, when All Might can stay after.
"You doing okay there, my boy?" the skeletal man asks, handing over the drink. "If you need to take off your cover, feel free, I won't look."
Izuku gasps, scandalized, "I didn't think you would! It's just weird....taking it off in public..." He moves to take it off though, brushing off the sand stuck to his sweaty skin with relief. Izuku glances at the words fondly, tracing them gently before covering his wrist once more.
"May I ask if you've found your soulmate yet?"
Izuku glances up, All Might is staring into the distance, at a patch where the beach has been cleared so far.
"It's okay, All Might," he says softly. "I haven't yet...but I'm hoping that at UA I would." He pauses, thnking of how to ask All Might about his own.
"Have you met yours?"
All Might hums a bit, sipping slowly on his drink. His eyes are distant now.
"Yes, it was my mentor...the seventh holder of One for All."
There's a solemness to the statement and Izuku knows not to ask more. He stares at his can in contemplation.
"You know," All Might says, looking back at him. "It's alright if you don't meet them, but I agree that you probably will. Most hero students do."
"Really?"
"Ah...yes. Due to the nature of the job, most hero students are matched with other students or heroes. But don't worry overly much, my boy! When it happens, it happens. Just focus on becoming the hero you were meant to be and things will fall into place!" All Might nudges his shoulder lightly, smiling.
A tension releases from his shoulders that he wasn't aware of until now. It had been another expectation he'd had of himself, but that wasn't entirely true, was it?
He needs to keep his eyes on the future. His soulmate will come when needed, like for everyone. This is truly one part of his life where he is at the starting line with everyone else.
Izuku can feel it, this is the beginning of his dream, the beginning of him as a hero, the beginning of his....
Oh so this is how he dies, he thinks as he trips and falls.
Suddenly, there's a soft slap on his back and he's...floating?
"Are you okay? It's my quirk. Sorry for stopping you, but it'd be a bad omen to trip and fall!"
A spike of warmth courses around his wrist, followed by a sharp tingle. Those are the words, those are the words!
The girl who releases him is short, with brown bobbed hair and a round face. She's painfully cute and Izuku can't move, can't even begin to think of what to say. The quirk he was thinking about for so long as well...a gravity based one was not what he expected.
His arm is still warm.
The girl is gone.
His soulmate is gone.
He didn't say anything.
Izuku is going to die.
Of idiocy.
His soulmate spoke his words to him and left with a cheery smile while he stood around stunned. He heads into the examination area with a heavier heart than before.
Confidence is at an all time low right now for Izuku. The written exam itself hadn't been too bad, it was everything after that that was cutting into focus. First, the matter of his bungled first meeting with his soulmate.
Then robots of all things were the practical, which was...intimidating, to say the least. Lastly, some tall boy had called him out for his muttering to which people had laughed. If he could gain an additional quirk to sink into the ground, it would be appreciated.
He takes a deep breath, grounding himself. Just before he can get into some sort of peaceable zone, he sees her again. She's tapping her fingers together, something to do with her quirk, or maybe just general nervousness?
His body is moving before he knows it, heading towards her. What will he even say? It's a bit boring, to have just left a thank you on her wrist, but it's all he can think of in the moment.
A hand grips Izuku strongly before he can do any of that, however. The hand belongs to the blue haired boy from the orientation and he immediately starts in again.
"You there! Are you trying to sabotage the other examinees!"
"Ah-no..I was just..."
The boy makes a sharp gesture in the air.
"Don't bother her!"
Before Izuku can muster the courage to say anything else, Present Mic is getting in position. And then he's running. The robots are much bigger than expected, towering over him. It seems like every time he gets close to one, it's destroyed by someone else. The explosions, the clanging of metal, the robotic voices; it's so incredibly disorientating.
He's failing, Izuku knows this. His heart is racing, hands trembling slightly. He can't fail here. He can't let All Might down, not here, not now.
Out of nowhere there's a deep rumbling. He's thrown off-balance and an absolutely enormous robot charging down the streets. Izuku turns to run when he sees her.
The nice brown-haired girl. His soulmate. Trapped underneath some rubble. Directly in the path of the zero-pointer.
He's running before he realizes. Feet pounding on the pavement. He's not going to make it. Her words are running through his head. He can't make it.
Unless.
One For All courses through his legs as he leaps directly into the path of the zero-pointer. It takes one smash and the giant robot is down. But...
So is Izuku. There is. So. Much. Pain.
But he's falling and has only one good limb. He's preparing to try another smash to cushion his fall when he gets smacked across the face.
The familiar feeling of floating hits him and he glances sideways. His soulmate is floating on the rubble.
"Release!" she cries tiredly, pressing her fingers together. They both drop the small distance.
Izuku groans in pain. There's people speaking around him, but he can't focus on them. His head is swimming and all he can do is focus on the in and out of his breath.
"Oh, dearie," says someone, very close by. He feels better almost instantly after a slight pressure on his head. He feels so incredibly tired, all of a sudden.
Izuku opens his eyes to see Recovery Girl standing over him, smiling.
"Ah, Recovery Girl! Thank you!"
"It's no problem, but please try to be more careful in the future," she reaches in a pocket to pull out some...gummies?
"Eat these, and wait here. Those were some serious injuries and I want a second look!" She gives him a nod and moves on. It's a bit exciting but...
"I got zero points...."
All of sudden the feelings that have been building all day burst free. He'll never regret saving the girl, but before that...couldn't he have done more? He froze and ended up too slow for any points. He feels so dumb and useless.
Marinating in his misery for a second, Izuku lets the exhaustion from Recovery Girl's quirk wash over him.
Izuku jerks awake.
A quick glance around shows that it hasn't been that long since he fell asleep. There are still a few examinees in the area but...
The brown-haired girl is gone. Of course she is, she had no idea that there was any connection between them.
His arm is still warm, just a bit around the letters. Great, another thing he's failed at today. Recovery Girl shows up a few minutes later, to drag him to a small tent and check on his arms and legs again. He's fine, thankfully, but she sends him off with a few more gummies.
The way home is a blur to him, as is dinner. Izuku goes to sleep earlier than usual, heart heavy.
The passing weeks before the exam results come in function similarly. He's aware that he's worrying his mother, but there isn't much else he can do. Izuku is distant in his own head, running through the motions so he can run from his own failure.
When the results do come, in his mother's shaky hands, it's both a relief and a curse. Izuku snaps back to himself abruptly, but with it comes an unbearable anxiety. He grabs the letter and rushes to his room. He needs to do this alone, no matter how much he loves his mom.
The envelope is much heavier than expected and when opened, a large disk flies out.
"This is a projection!"
"All Might?" Izuku gapes. "Coming to teach at U.A.?"
"Even if you pass the written portion, getting a zero in the practical naturally results in failure..."
"Oh no..."
"But that's not the end of the story! Please watch the screen."
A screen behind All Might's projection lights up. On it is his soulmate, the brown-haired girl!
She left so early because she wanted to give him her points...Izuku is so touched he could cry.
Then he does start crying when All Might announces his acceptance into UA.
Being at UA is overwhelming. The school itself is so big. That also includes the doors, oddly enough. Izuku pauses outside of class 1-A's door, hesitant. His palms are sweating and he prays Kacchan or the tall glasses guy aren’t in there.
Of course, when he opens the door, there they are. Figures. But at least Iida apologizes! Even if he has the totally wrong idea about Izuku…
“Ah! That curly hair! The plain-looking boy!”
There she is! Standing there in an UA uniform, his soulmate, smiling just as cheerfully as the day of the exam.
“You got in! Just like Present Mic said!” She punches the air, “Makes sense though! That punch was awesome!”
The words slip out before he can think about them, bowing he blurts, “No! I mean…! I have to thank you for speaking on my behalf!”
He glances up out of his bow before realizing.
I just said my First Words to her!
Her mouth is parted, large eyes wide.
“You’re- You’re my soulmate!” She shrieks, throwing her arms around him. He flushes, so hot he might explode. No one but his mom has hugged him in years.
Tentatively, his arms come up around her to hug back. Joy wells up in his heart, so much that he could start leaking it at any moment. More joy than he could possibly have over this.
Oh.
These are her emotions.
His mark tingles again.