So I just watched My Hero Academia and I think I'd die for Tododeku so here we go. This my first fic for this fandom, it's a soulmate AU. I'm thinking I'm probably going to continue this, but I'm going to post this now just in case I get lazy and decide not to. Enjoy!
Shouto had heard about soulmates his whole life. They were as prominent as quirks in their society, everyone had a quirk and a soulmate. Although his father only entertained the idea one of these things.
Soulmate connections had developed alongside quirks and were just as unique. Some were obvious, simple like a mark where your soulmate would touch you for the first time, or just their name written on your wrist. Others were more complicated, like a telepathic or empathetic connection.
Shouto was still unsure of his connection. He didn't have any strange markings and he didn't hear any voices in his head except his. Still, he remained hopeful. Everyone had a soulmate, surely he had would have one too. People often said that soulmate connections could take years to become clear.
His father said that soulmates didn't matter, Shouto would have a quirk marriage just like his parents did. Any talk of soulmates was immediately stopped, so Shouto was left to whisper questions to his mother and his siblings in the dark.
His mother's soulmate connection was a simple black band around her right wrist. She said that she didn't know what it meant, and she had never met her soulmate to find out. Fuyami had a sentence in dark blue ink scribbled on her wrist and Natsuo had a neat red string tied to his pinky that stretched far past the horizon. He always said he would go and find out where it ended one day, but he was still here.
One night, after a rigorous all-day training session with his father, Shouto collapsed in his bed covered in burns and exhausted. He promptly fell asleep. He hoped these training sessions would stop soon, he missed playing with his siblings.
The boy found himself in a dreamy courtyard. It was misty, the corners of his vision permanently blurry and unclear, no matter how hard he tried to focus. The courtyard seemed small, all he could really make out was the cool grey concrete bench directly in front of him. Even so, the courtyard seemed safe, like being in his mother's arms. Shouto noticed that his aches and pains had left him, but he didn't know if that was because he was dreaming or the nature of the courtyard.
With nothing else to do, Shouto approached the cement bench and sat down, his feet dangling over the edge. He was about to get up and try to wander around when he was suddenly no longer alone. Someone else was there, just on the edge of his blurry vision. He could feel them so strongly, it was as if they were sitting right beside him.
A voice called out, but Shouto couldn't make out what they said, it was like they were a hundred feet underwater. Everything was so far away. The boy climbed off the bench and started walking toward where he thought the voice was. There was sidewalk beneath his feet as he walked. Suddenly the voice seemed closer, although no less distinguishable, and Shouto couldn't help the smile on his face. He was so close!
The boy reached out a hand into the nothingness and he suddenly felt a touch on his fingertips. He saw a flash of green and his heart filled with a warmth that paled in comparison of the flames of his quirk. Then Shouto woke up.
It startled him enough that he let out an audible gasp. He sat up, glancing around his nearly empty bedroom, searching for the green from his dream, but was only met with harsh sunlight. Despite his newfound loneliness, Shouto wasn't deterred and nearly grinned with excitement as he climbed out from under the blankets.
His soulmate.
That was his soulmate, he just knew it. There was no other answer. That must have been his soulmate.
Shouto had to keep himself from bolting down the corridors to his mother's bedroom. He remained silent as he searched for a sign of his father along the way before finally deeming it safe and sneaking inside his mother's room, buzzing with excitement about his discoveries.
From quiet and secret research, Shouto learned that he and his soulmate has a dream connection. It wasn't incredibly unusual, but still rare. Most sites said that it meant that both he and his soulmate had powerful quirks. They said that over time he and his soulmate could actually have conversations in their dreams, but it would probably take years to develop that kind of skill.
Despite that knowledge, Shouto was still happy, he would practice and maybe someday he would get to tell his soulmate his name. Then they would be able to meet in real life and they could fall in love and live happily ever after, like the movies Fuyami watched that he sometimes was able to sneak peeks of. Then he wouldn't have to have a quirk marriage like Father said.
His training continued, ruthless and painful. His father continued to push him until he was throwing up or crying or both, but he was getting better at hiding it and just baring through it. Shouto didn't like how his mother cried and begged his father to stop until he just threw her aside. He could keep it on the inside if it meant his mother wouldn't get hit like that anymore. Besides, he could hold out until the night when he, bruised and burned, could finally curl up and sleep and escape to his dreams.
His dreams were very slowly becoming more vivid. He could just see the green grass on either side of the sidewalk now and there seemed to be a tree behind the concrete bench, but the leaves were still just a messy green blob. Although the constant white blurriness had taken on a new shape, his father's flames. Shouto wasn't sure if his soulmate could see the fire licking at the edge of his vision, but it made him afraid. They were too close to the real thing. It made him wonder if his father knew about his soulmate connection. It made him wonder if his father would start keeping him awake to stop his dreams.
His soulmate had gradually become more constant and clear as well. Of course, Shouto still couldn't make out a face or even their hair or eye color, although he often saw flashes of green when his soulmate was around. Their voice was still muffled and undistinguishable, but there were other things.
His soulmate was often wearing some kind of All Might patterned pajamas, which Shouto admired, since he could never get away with wearing anything like that in his home. His soulmate was a little shorter than him and liked to bounce around and although Shouto could never see their face, he guessed that they were always smiling at him. It made his insides bubbly when he thought about that.
They never were able to touch though. He always woke up when their hands met. He wondered with enough practice, maybe he could hold their hand, just for a little while.
Their shared dreams were getting better, even with the added flames, sometimes creeping too close. Always creeping too close, making Shouto flinch when he felt the heat. He sometimes woke up with charred sheets on his left.
Despite that, they were making progress. Shouto believed that someday he would be able to say something in his dream and hear the words clearly and maybe one day the garbled voice of his soulmate would answer back just as clearly.
Then his mother poured boiling water on his face.
After that Shouto spent several weeks in a dreamless, painful sleep. There was a constant aching in his head, especially on the left. He couldn't see out his left eye for days even after they took off the bandages and his face hurt. It always hurt.
It kept him awake and when it didn't it was the memory of his mother's face when she had turned around to see him standing there. It was the memory of his father's fiery fist, hitting again and again and again and never stopping. When he did sleep it was restless and always ended it him waking up either burning hot or freezing cold. When he did dream they were nightmares, full of boiling tea kettles and fire and no way out.
There was no way out anymore.
It wasn't until nearly a year later, after he had decided that he would reject his father and his quirk, lying awake in the dark, did Shouto finally realize.
His dreams had stopped.