Archive of Our Own

Denki is four years old when his mother wakes him up with a gasp and a light tug on his arm.
The sun is too bright, rudely blaring through his window, so he turns away with a grumble and a determination to get back to his vaguely exciting dream where he left off.

He isn’t sure what to think when his mom then whispers, “Oh, Denki…”, followed by a shout for his father in a voice that is both excited and sad. When he hears his father coming into his room, Denki opens his eyes blearily to see worry lines on his mother’s face.

“It happened! He’s got a writing mark – it looks like the first words variation, but…” She trails off and just looks at his dad, and he must see the conflict in her emotions, too, because he rushes forwards to take Denki’s arm.

This time, Denki sits up to see what all the fuss is about.

And, well, that weird squiggly stuff on his wrist definitely wasn’t there yesterday.

“It… It means he’s going to get-”
Denki’s mom then glances at him, with somewhat of a reassuring smile, before continuing talking to his dad.
“He’s going to get H – U – R – T in the future. Is he going to be OK? What if it happens when he’s still a kid? What are we going to do? Can we prevent this?”

At this point, Denki is looking between his parents, about to ask what she means, when the door slides open loudly to reveal his big sister.
Hey eyes are wide.
“Denki’s gonna get hurt?”

“I’m gonna get hurt?” Denki repeats, staring at the new mark on his wrist and wondering if it’s one of those scary diseases his teacher always warns him about when he plays in the mud.
What’s going to happen? Is this why his mom looks so worried? Is he going to have to take medicine?
He hates medicine!

“You’re a lousy bunch of worriers, the lot of you.”

They all glance up at Denki’s father as he chuckles with an easy smile on his face and a hand on his wife’s head.
“You’re turning our children into little worry warts, just like you.” He tells her, but he doesn’t look angry in the slightest.

“I’m not a wart.” Denki’s sister grumbles indignantly from behind them.

“Worry warriors, then.” He corrects himself, before turning back to Denki. “Son, it’s going to be okay. Actually, this is a good thing!”

He takes Denki’s arm once more, running his thumb over the mark.
“We all get hurt now and again. You scrape your knees every day and get right back up, don’t you, buddy? You’re a real trooper, you are.”

Denki puffs out his chest and nods enthusiastically before his father continues.

“Well this mark, right here, says that one day, you might get hurt. But, it also means that your soulmate, someone who will love you forever, scraped knees and muddy hands and all,” he adds, pinching his son’s cheeks, “will be right there to help you. They’re gonna make sure you’re safe, buddy. And that means that it’s going to be OK.”

Denki blinks up at him in wonder and then stares at his wrist, moving it into the path of sunlight shining into his room.

He’s then brought into a large hug with his parents, his mother’s worry replaced by pure, unfiltered love as she smiles up at his father.
And for the first time, Denki notices the way his parents link their pinkie fingers together reflexively.

Soulmate, he repeats in his head.

The word makes him feel safe.

Denki is six when he first understands exactly what’s written on his wrist.

Stay still, I think you have a concussion

A concussion is a bad head injury that happens when you hit it too hard.
Now he understands why his mom once tried to make him go to school with a helmet on.

He understands soulmate connections a little better now, too.

His sister can’t see the colour blue, and won’t be able to see it until she meets someone with blue eyes who can’t see the colour yellow – the colour of her eyes.
His parents have an invisible (to everyone but them) red string of fate, connecting their pinkie fingers at all times. Apparently, that’s a common connection to have.

And the first words that Denki’s soulmate will ever say to him are, “Stay still, I think you have a concussion.”
Denki’s first words to them will also be written on their wrist.

He hopes it’s something coherent. Concussions can cause confusion and slurred speech, after all.

Denki is twelve when he is flicking through the TV channels and lands on an old RomCom movie about soulmate marks – specifically the same type that he has.

“I can’t believe I’ve had to walk around with a cheap pickup line written on my ankle my entire life because of you!” The leading lady yells at the leading man as he stares at her in awe.

Denki laughs.

“Oh no.” His mother says, watching him.

“Oh no, indeed.” His sister repeats quietly.

Denki is fifteen when he enters UA for the first time, ready to launch his master plan on whoever his unsuspecting soulmate may be.

He was gonna meet them here.
He could feel it.

And as soon as he enters his classroom, he nearly faints then and there, because all these people are so damn attractive and he doesn’t know how he could ever handle it if one of them was actually his soulmate.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna go for it, though.
Future Denki could deal with being a disaster in front of his soulmate. Yeah. He can do this.

“Are you a parking ticket? ‘Cause you’ve got fine written all over you.” he quips confidently to a short, punk-looking girl taking the seat to his left.

She takes a few seconds to look him up and down probingly, before her face changes and she snorts with laughter.
“Did you literally google cheesy pickup lines before you got here, or something?”

Ok, she’s not his soulmate. She’s got a sense of humour, though.

“Maybe.” Denki responds with a grin.

She rolls her eyes.
“Lame.”

Denki then clocks a very pink girl with wicked eyes take the seat on the other side of him. He wastes no time in turning to her, recovering his confidence.

“There must be something wrong with my eyes, I can’t take them off you.”

She cocks her head at him, makes eye contact with the punk girl behind Denki, and then cups her hands around her mouth before booing him loudly.
She seems amused, though. And she looks fun.

But, third time lucky, right?

Denki checks behind him and spots a boy behind the punk girl, adjusting his uniform around some big-ass elbows.
Wait, are those… tape dispensers?

“Dude, do you have any tape? Because it looks like you’re ripped.” Denki flirts effortlessly, sliding his seat closer to the boy, drawing his attention.

The dude takes one look at him, and he barely takes any time to process the pickup line before he begins blinking wildly and mockingly fanning himself.
“Bro, are you my phone charger? Because without you, I’d die.”

“…Bro.”

Denki, in that moment, decides that his soulmate quest can wait just a bit longer. This guy right here is going to be his best friend, whether he likes it or not.

It takes a day and a half for Denki to go through the entire class and find out that not one of them is his soulmate, which is a bit of a bummer.

OK, so, maybe he didn’t go through the entire class. But that’s just because the red-haired guy, Kirishima, whom he was about to flirt with, instantly gasped and pointed shakily at an angry blonde dude upon entering their classroom for the first time.
Angry blonde dude looked just as taken aback, too.

Turns out they were soulmates who were seeing every colour other than red for the first time. Kinda like the opposite of Denki’s sister’s soulmate connection.

Denki was really, really happy for them.
(And he was glad he’d dodged the bullet of trying to flirt with angry blonde dude.)

It leaves him feeling kinda empty, though. His hunch lied.
He’d just have to keep coming up with new pick-up lines.

It takes the aftermath of the USJ incident for Denki to consider what his soul mark says, really consider it, and just start laughing. Because, of course that’s gonna be his soulmate’s first words to him. Of course. He’s a walking disaster in the class with a target on each of their backs.

“Fine. If nobody else is gonna ask, I will. Kaminari, why are you laughing at your arm?” Jirou asks bluntly as watches him from across the lunch table.

Mina slams her hand down on the table in excitement.
“Oh, oh, that ribbon covers your soul mark, right? Or do you have a shared sensation connection in your arm? Are they tickling you right now?”

“Have you even found your soulmate yet, drooly?” Bakugou teases, and Kirishima elbows him with a muttering of “Don’t be rude.”

Denki just grins at his new friends, or, dare he say it, squad.
God, does he want them to become a squad.

“Alas, I am still on the hunt for my soulmate. And if it’s taking too long, I can always just give one of you a baseball bat and ask you to treat my head as a ceremonial piñata. They should show up soon after that.”

“Dibs.” Bakugou calls bluntly.

“That answers literally none of my questions.” Mina adds, bemused.

Denki shrugs and begins unwrapping the ribbon around his wrist, deciding easily that he trusts these people enough to show them his soul mark.
“It’s their first words. It kinda just made me laugh now because-”

“Oh my god, of course.” Jirou interrupts him, looking up from his wrist and rolling her eyes.

“Of course, indeed.” Denki agrees with a finger-guns gesture.

Kirishima snorts.
“Happy to see you’ve accepted your fate with grace, my dude. That’s super manly.”

Suddenly, it’s Sero’s turn to slap the table, garnering everyone’s attention.
“Wait, hold up, Kaminari, you have a first words soul mark.”

Denki raises an eyebrow and nods.
Sero’s face resembles the calculating woman in that meme. Denki can almost see the various mathematical formulas surrounding his head as he reaches some sort of grand conclusion.

“Bro. I thought it was just you being you, a massive trashy flirt,-”

“Hey!”

“But… no.” Sero continues dramatically, pointing accusingly at Denki, “You do it on purpose, don’t you? You always greet people for the first time with pickup lines.”

Denki doesn’t know what to do about the exasperated stares now directed at him. In the end, he just winks and finger-guns at them.

And surprisingly, it’s Bakugou, of all people, who bursts out in laughter.
“Holy fuck Pikachu, you’re such a dumbass.”

“Hey, if my soulmate’s gonna have something written on them for the rest of their life, it’s gotta be something that gives them a boost of confidence, right?” Denki argues. “Imagine having ‘hi, nice to meet you’ written on you. I think I’d die of boredom just looking at it.”

“The aim of soul identifying marks is to find your soulmate, not to vandalise their body, you egg.” Jirou chastises him, trying to hide her smile. “Like, I gotta admit, your logic is worryingly sound. You do have the power to dictate what’s written on them, but normal people just go with the flow, you know? The situation and circumstance should dictate the soulmark, not some prankish idea.”

“Jirou, babe, honey, I need you to know, and I can’t stress this enough, that I am an abnormal disaster and they deserve to know that straight-up. Like ripping off the band-aid.”

“I don’t know, guys. It’s your soulmate, right?” Kirishima directs the question at Denki, and shrugs. “And that means that they’ll probably love it. Because they’re gonna love you.”

The sudden change from jokey to sincerity gives Denki whiplash.

He feels his eyes moisten, just a bit, upon hearing that.
“Bro.”

“That’s a good point. And you know what? I, too, would ask if you had a concussion, depending on how bad the pickup line was.” Mina adds sincerely.

“Bruh.”
Denki’s now holding his hand to his heart, clutching his chest.

“For the record, dude, in hindsight, I would’ve been totally cool with a tape-based pun written on my wrist for my entire life. Would’ve set the mood, you know?” Sero adds.

And Denki realises, there and then, that he has the most supportive squad, yes they were now a squad, fight him, in the world.

“Nope.”

“Aww, come on bro, he’s hot. In, like, a tired zombie kinda way. I have a zombie-based pun loaded and ready to go. Let me just rule him out, real quick.”

“Get your head in the McFreakin game, Kami. You can flirt with him later.”

Denki goes slack in Sero’s arms and glares at him.

“Actually Kaminari, I think, just for this time, it might be best if you… uhh-” Midoriya splutters, evidently trying not to sound rude, “Can you try it later? I think that he – Shinsou – could really do with focusing completely on the exercise, is all. Is that OK?”

Denki sighs dramatically. He can’t say no to that.
“For you, Midoriya, anything. I guess.” He concedes, taking one last glance at Shinsou.

Midoriya’s right. He does look pretty focused. And judging by the mask of no emotion he’s currently sporting, he’s either hiding overflowing confidence or a whole lotta self-doubt.
He’s going up against the hero class in order to be bumped up from gen studies to the hero course.
So Denki’s willing to bet on the latter.

“Isn’t that the guy who brainwashed you during the tournament, though?” Sero asks Midoriya, also glancing towards Shinsou.

If Shinsou can feel the multiple sets of eyes staring at him, he doesn’t show it.

“Yes. We talked a bit. I’m just rooting for him, I guess.” Midoriya responds simply.

“He has a villain’s quirk.” Mina says, cocking her head.

“Mina!”
“Not cool.”
“Bruh.”

Her eyes widen and she puts up her hands in surrender at the sudden outcry.
“Whoa, whoa, not my words! I don’t actually think that! I just meant, like, he’s probably had to face a lot just to get here, right? So we should support him, and like, not distract him.”

Denki nods, and notices that they’re now getting split into teams.

Sero doesn’t quite have to physically restrain him this time, as he’s walking quietly next to Shinsou towards the battleground, about to go up against him.
But it’s a close thing.

It takes Denki a few seconds to figure out what happened.

He’d been in the middle of a plan with Todoroki, watching him melt some ice to make water so that Denki could electrocute anyone who stepped into their genius trap – when they heard some noise.
They went to hide, watched as that class B mushroom girl walked into the trap, and just as Denki was about to run forwards, already leaking electricity and ready to direct it, before she could take advantage of the moist environment…

It must’ve been that manga kid, right? The one with the speech bubble head.

He went and entirely destroyed the building next to Denki, cutting off his path, and then something skimmed against his head before he could duck and cover-

Oh.
Denki knows what he’s gonna see before he brings his hand away from his temple. He can feel it running down his face.
He doesn’t feel a lot of pain, though. Head wounds just bleed a lot, right?
Ah, and his brain’s a bit muddled after expending electricity and not really getting the chance to direct it elsewhere. Nothing he hasn’t dealt with before, though.

He’s about to stand up when he sees a figure, skidding around the corner.

It takes a while for Denki’s slow brain to really register who it is.
When he does, the realisation comes to him ever so slowly that, right now, he’s the competition.

Denki attempts to jump up, suddenly on high alert, electricity already lining his arms. But, in true Denki style, he only succeeds in banging his head on a protruding piece on concrete above him that he didn’t realise was there.

So much for impressing the hot gen ed kid.

He half expects Shinsou to capture him then and there with a quip about how stupid the hero class are, and how he deserves a spot way more than Denki ever did.
Right now, clutching his head and cursing his clumsiness, that’s how Denki feels, in all honesty.

But, then, Shinsou approaches him slowly.

Denki peeks up to see that he looks… conflicted.

His eyes are darting around, as if looking for direction, or an order.

He then bends down next to Denki, bundles up his capture weapon, and gently presses it against Denki’s bleeding temple.

He’s frowning.

Denki forgets he’s on a battlefield. He’s suddenly lost in those eyes.
They’re… soft.

Shinsou frowns deeper.

“Stay still, I think you have a concussion.”

…Oh.

Denki’s wrist burns as he continues staring, frozen in place despite the fireworks and screaming going on in his head.

Shinsou is his soulmate.
Shinsou is his soulmate.

He fucking called it. Bakugou owed him money after betting it wasn’t a UA student! Ha!

Denki’s not sure what sound leaves his throat, or what shows on his face.
Shinsou looks downright bewildered, though.

“Is… am I just supposed to capture you now, or something? Even if you’re concussed and this is just an exercise? Is that what you do in the hero course?”

Denki doesn’t know how to respond to that.
He doesn’t know how he’s ever going to be able to make himself speak coherently in front of this guy, his literal hot as fuck soulmate, let alone respond to questions like that.

Does Shinsou really think that looking after an injured classmate will possibly disqualify him from the hero course?

And if he does, then… well… he’s still here. Applying pressure to Denki’s head wound. Looking into his eyes, in a way that makes Denki’s tongue feel heavy, but it’s probably just to check the dilation of his pupils.

Suddenly, he can’t deny it. Denki’s already just a bit in love.

His brain then takes the opportunity to remind him that… now’s the time.
Now’s the time to say the pickup line, like he’s been planning for years.
Right here, right now, he has the power to dictate exactly what will have been written on Shinsou’s wrist since he was a child, and will continue to be there forever.

Hell, he could say a swear word, and Shinsou would just have to live with it.
That would be hilarious.

But.
For the first time in his life… it doesn’t feel right.

Why?

Because, maybe, a pickup line now just feels too shallow for the man in front of him.
He deserves the boost of confidence, something special, sure, but deeper. He deserves a message that would have kept him going up until this point, through the setbacks and discrimination. He deserves to know exactly how Denki is seeing him, right now.

To know…

“You’re going to be a great hero, someday.” Denki finds himself saying as he beams up at Shinsou.

Because it feels right.

Shinsou flinches.
His widened eyes dart to his wrist, covered by fabric, and the pressure leaves Denki’s wound as Shinsou grabs his own arm to bring it to his chest.

Denki is fast to replace the pressure on his temple and sit up, putting a calming hand up.

“I mean it. I don’t even have a concussion, I think - my quirk just fried my brain a bit and the bleeding is just a flesh wound. Thanks, though. And for the record, rescue points count in this course so, uh, you didn’t do anything wrong by trying to help.”

Shinsou’s just staring at him.
Denki’s mouth decides to keep moving.

“You’ll have another chance to show off your fighting skills though, right? Not that I think you won’t get in. You’re amazing. Full homo. We’ve been needing some purple in our class anyway, after our old resident purple boy was kicked out of the hero course. You‘re a nicer shade of purple, anyway. What do you call that colour, by the way? Lilac? Amethyst? I guess it looks different in different lighting. Good different. You’re very attractive-”

“You – you’re my…”
Shinsou looks unsure as he pulls up his sleeve and unties the leather cuff over his wrist.

Denki sees exactly what he knows will be there.

You’re going to be a great hero, someday.

He nods slowly and mimics Shinsou’s action, taking off his ribbon.

A large, shaky breath leaves Shinsou’s mouth when he sees the writing on Denki’s wrist.
And then he smiles.

Denki’s not sure he’s ever seen anything more beautiful.

“I’m sorry. I kinda wish I’d said something more heroic, now.” Shinsou says awkwardly, glancing at where Denki’s still holding pressure on his temple. He looks nervous. His hands twitch, as if they want to resume holding Denki’s head, but he’s not sure he’s allowed to.

Denki gently gestures for Shinsou to take it again. He does so, and his hands suddenly feel like home.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Shinsou. It was nice always knowing that someone would be there to take care of my dumb ass when I messed up.”

It earns a laugh from Shinsou, who then looks back at his own wrist.
He doesn’t say anything. But when he glances up at Denki, his eyes speak for him.  
And Denki doesn’t know exactly what it meant to Shinsou, having that written on his wrist since childhood.
He understands, though.

Denki then realises something.
“Wait, dude, soulmate, love of my life, whatever, aren’t we supposed to be, like, fighting?”

Shinsou jolts when he realises that Denki’s right.
“That does put a damper on our relationship, doesn’t it?”

Denki laughs at that.
“It doesn’t have t-”
And he doesn’t know exactly what’s happened, or why he’s now frozen, but he does know that Shinsou’s looking at him with a shit-eating grin.

“That’s for planning to put a cheap pickup line on my wrist permanently. Your reputation precedes you.” He says dryly, adjusting the material on Denki’s head to check whether he’s stopped bleeding.

Denki, in this foggy state, then notices how Shinsou’s eyes are moving, taking in Denki’s eyes, his hair, his lips.
He’s almost thankful for the brainwash, keeping him standing and not outwardly freaking out, when Shinsou leans in and brushes his lips gently against Denki’s forehead.

“And that’s for changing your mind last second.” He whispers.

Denki loses the exercise, that day, along with his team.

It’s Todoroki, of all people, who clocks the rolled-up sleeves of the two boys as Denki is brainwashed to walk towards the ‘prison’ for captured students.
He wastes no time in grabbing Shinsou’s wrist from inside the prison and scrutinising it.

“That’s a pickup line?” he asks curiously.
It’s a genuine question.

And, Shinsou has to reign in a sarcastic response from leaving his mouth. Because, in all honesty…

“It might as well be.” He concedes with a knowing smile.