Work Text:
The first mark appears when he’s ten.
It’s a simple thing, a few lines detailing puffs of smoke coming out of three wing-shaped engine exhaust pipes, but to Izuku, the knowledge that the universe isn’t completely against him, the fact that there is someone out there destined for him? To Izuku, it’s everything.
The only thing that bothers him slightly- he had no idea when or how it happened. He doesn’t recall meeting his soulmate. And that’s not necessary; after all, everybody knows that you only have to be within a ten-foot vicinity of your soulmate for a bond to be forged and a mark to appear. He knows he went to the mall that day, so he certainly encountered plenty of people and most likely one of them was the soulmate, but still, he wishes he could have had a chance to speak to this person who will someday mean the world to him instead of having to wait for what’ll probably be years more before their next meeting.
Still, they already mean so much. SImply looking at his mark, his lifeline to another human on the planet, fills Izuku with immense joy every time.
~
The second mark appears when he’s fifteen. It’s a green bow with webbing reminiscent of a frog’s hands, appearing on an ordinary school day. He notices it on his arm, pale but very much present, when he arrives home to change out of his uniform and into a plain T-shirt. The second mark is right next to the first. Izuku stares at it in disbelief for a good half hour, unable to comprehend that he would have not one but two people fated to be this important to him. Not one but two people who would presumably care for him with all their heart as well.
He still doesn’t know who it is, though. No idea at all.
~
The third mark appears when he’s sixteen, on the day of the UA entrance exam. It’s a much shorter time between the second and the third, and Izuku can’t quite believe his eyes when he spots the light pink flower with very familiar round pad-like circles on each of its petals. This time, he has a pretty good idea of who it may be. It makes sense. It doesn’t make it any less shocking, though, and once he says goodbye to Ochako, he goes home and screams into his pillow until his voice goes hoarse.
It’s surreal, actually meeting one of his destineds. She’s arguably the first friend he’s had in a long time. He’s glad it’s her.
~
As his friends (family) grows in number, so do the soulmarks.
The fourth and fifth marks appear on his first day attending UA High School. He almost doesn’t realize, too caught up in the excitement of meeting new people, but when it’s time to change for the Quirk Assessment, there are two more new marks: a bright white-and-gold gemstone that seems to glow off his skin like a laser, and a crystalline block with a tiny orange flame in the middle. There’s no mistaking where they’re from; Izuku’s really only interacted with his new classmates today, and the marks match Aoyama’s and Todoroki’s quirks perfectly. He’s not quite sure how they’re going to get to know each other, especially with Todoroki’s ice-cold personality, but he supposes the universe knows something that he doesn’t.
At the same time, he notices that his first two marks, the engine and the frog-like bow, seem to have… evolved? They’re larger now, the colors stronger, as if he’s strengthened their connections. He supposes it could be Iida and Tsu, but he’ll have to check when they first got their marks to be sure.
And Uraraka grins at him, like she knows that he knows that they’re soulmates.
It feels nice.
Really nice.
~
One night, Aoyama comes to his room and they find that they have quite a lot in common. They bond over lonely, uncertain childhoods; odd, unsuitable, destructive quirks; silly, niche hobbies.
The laser soulmark glows a little brighter from that day onward.
~
At the Sports Festival, Izuku and Todoroki fight. Something snaps inside of him; he’s not sure if it’s Todoroki’s anger or his own.
Todoroki uses his fire.
Something shifts between them. And the soulmark, formerly a flame caged in what Izuku now knows to be an icy prison of sorts, blossoms into elemental duality, fire and ice both shining with power.
~
He never would have dreamed of having this little extended family. For all his fantasizing when he got that first mark, he never could have imagined the happiness that came with having not just one, but so many people to whom he meant the world, and for whom he would take on the world, and with whom he would stand until forever came.