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In a world where superpowers were the norm, the strings of fate were one thing that was hardly talked about in current day even though they were around long before quirks.
You had your purple strings that represented familial bonds, yellow strings that indicated platonic bonds and, the one people talked about most, the red strings that indicated romantic bonds.
Izuku had many, many yellow strings. Even if none of them connected to his current classmates except for Kacchan. He also had a couple familial bonds, one with his mother, and three others he had yet to find connections for. But Izuku had one that he looked forward to. His singular red string.
Of course, Izuku would love all of his strings, that’s just who he was, but the fact that there was one person out there meant to love him romantically? Sure, he may never find that person, but the fact that they existed gave him hope that he could be loved that way.
When he finally entered U.A. he was shocked to find out that all his yellow strings except one were his new classmates. That one that wasn’t he would find out to be Hatsume Mei from the support course later, but there was still no sign of his romantic string. It was definitely shorter though, he could tell that much, which meant they were at least in U.A. He also found his other two familial strings, the three total other than his mother being Yagi, Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei.
Izuku entertained the thought of looking for his fated, but in everything he had read about them it was considered bad luck to search for them. So, Izuku decided he would wait until the day the fates decided they would meet.
Then the USJ happened, putting most of his thoughts about the red string aside in favor of keeping himself and his classmates safe. Then there was choosing their hero names, and preparation for the sports festival.
Needless to say, by the time the sports festival had come around, all thoughts about the red string came to a grinding halt. At least until they met during the 1v1 battles.
Izuku had heeded Ojirou’s warning and didn’t speak, other than a small gasp of surprise as he saw the connected strings.
He wanted to speak to his fated so badly, but he needed to win this fight so he could help Todoroki.
“Not gonna talk, huh?” Shinsou deadpanned after throwing a few insults to try and bait him. “Guess even fateds hate villainous quirks.”
“That’s not true!” Izuku argued before falling under Shinsou’s quirk. It was… nice, comforting even under his quirk. He was surprised when he was saw the ghosts in the stadium entrance only to be forcefully dragged out of Shinsou’s quirk by one of them breaking his finger just before he could toe the line.
Izuku immediately turned, surprising Shinsou. “I’m sorry Shinsou-kun, but I have to win this. We can talk after, I promise.” Izuku said before forcing the boy out of bounds before he could get another word out.
Shinsou gave him a look that didn’t bode well to Izuku before stalking off the field, Izuku following suit but in a more sedate pace but fast enough to keep a few feet behind the purple-haired boy.
“Wait! Shinsou-kun!” Izuku called, having to jog a little bit to actually catch up with his short legs.
“Why, golden boy?” Shinsou scoffed, “You’re just going to be the same as everyone else, why even entertain the thought of us being fated.”
“Just, wait, please,” Izuku said, finally grabbing the boy by the wrist to drag him off somewhere more private. Shinsou couldn’t really fight him, not with the strength Izuku had even without using his quirk. Izuku wound up in the same hallway he was just in with Todoroki earlier in the day, ironically, but it was secluded so Izuku could actually talk with his fated.
“Your quirk is so cool, Shinsou-kun.” Izuku started, tone firm. “I don’t understand why you called it villainous, it’s one of the most ‘heroic’ quirk that I’ve heard of. Just think of all the things you can do without a situation escalating to violence.”
Shinsou stood there silently, leaning against the wall of the tunnel, eyes slightly widened by the spiel Izuku ended up continuing about his quirk.
“Okay, okay, I get it, you think my quirk is cool.” Shinsou said once he felt it went on long enough, a light embarressed blush covering his cheeks. “That still doesn’t mean you’ll understand. You have a perfect heroics quirk, you’ve probably been praised your entire life about how good of a hero your quirk will make you” He added, bitterness in his tone.
“It really isn’t nice to make assumptions like that, Shinsou-kun.” Izuku said with a sigh, rubbing his crossed arms in a comforting manner. “I was… a late bloomer.”
“So? You got your quirk around the age of seven or eight, my point still stands.” Shinsou argued.
“No… I was a, uh, really late bloomer.” Izuku muttered, almost embarrassed. “My quirk manifested on the day of the entrance exam… during the exam.”
Shinsou seemed to be putting the puzzle pieces together as a look of horror and surprise dawned over his face. “They thought you were quirkless all that time?” He asked, voice raising slightly in pitch at his surprised confusion.
Izuku grimaced, but nodded. “My quirk has a very specific activation requirement that kept me from activating it until it was met. I happened to meet it while going at the zero pointer and broke both my arms and legs trying to save Uraraka-chan.”
“So you do get it,” Shinsou muttered, mostly to himself.
“I do.” Izuku replied easily, a rye smile forming on his lips. “Why don’t we start over? I’m Midoriya Izuku, Heroics Class 1-A, and your fated red string.”
Shinsou’s eyes widened slightly, but agreed softly at the suggestion. “Shinsou Hitoshi, General Education Class 1-C, Hero hopeful, and your fated red string.”
Izuku gave a bright smile, “I look forward to getting to know you better, Shinsou-kun.”