Summary:

Izuku loved his Soulmates. They were the only ones he could count on in a Quirkist world. Even though they couldn't interfere, their presences comforted him.

Shouto didn't hate his Soulmates, but he definitely mistrusted them. What was the point of having them around when they weren't able to protect him?

In a world full of Soulmates, everyone has an opinion. Some people live their lives waiting for their Marks to turn to color. Others try to ignore their Marks as much as possible. So what happens when people with opposite opinions on Soulmates are paired together?

Main Pairings: TodoDeku, EraserMic, KiriBaku, Hitoshi/Denki

Hi everyone! This is my first MHA fanfic. I'm pretty new to this fandom, having binge-watched the series this past spring, but I absolutely love it!

This is a soulmate AU, and as of right now I plan on making it a canon rewrite with a fair amount of changes beyond the soulmate bit. I have a lot planned for this, so please stay tuned!

The title for this comes from Starmaker, the opening song during the School Festival Arc. It's the English translation (according to the MHA Wiki) of some of the lyrics.

Here's the prologue! I apologize for it being super short, but I promise the actual chapters will be much longer (still not sure on the length yet, I'm still working on it).

I have a few notes on how soulmates work in this AU, but I put them in the end notes to prevent spoilers.

TW: references to child abuse (Shouto) and references to bullying (Izuku)

Chapter word count: 956


Shouto had always had complicated opinions on the existence of Soulmates.

Like everyone else, his Soulmarks appeared on the morning of his fourth birthday. Unlike everyone else, he'd spend the night before begging the universe for his wrists to remain bare.

But the universe never gave him what he wanted.

When Shouto woke up on his fourth birthday and saw the Marks, he immediately went to Mother in tears. He'd seen the burn scars on Touya's wrists. He knew the same thing would happen to him.

Mother held him as he cried, and when he was calm she stretched Shouto's arm out by the wrist and held up her phone. Touya was lucky that Mother wanted to mark the appearance of his Marks by taking pictures. Now she did it out of need.

The photo stayed in a cloud account that Endeavor did not know about, along with photos of his siblings' Marks. Shouto would be given the account information when he got his own phone. This happened a few months after Mother left.

Touya gave him the information that night, showing him how to hide the app in folders where Father wouldn't be concerned enough to look.

It was a good thing he did. Touya too disappeared not three months later.

~~~SYMC~~~

Izuku loved everything about Soulmates.

He loved the idea that there were people out there who loved him despite not knowing him yet. He loved that one day he would share everything with them. And he loved that someone would still care about him despite the fact he was Quirkless.

But those were the thoughts of 14-year-old Izuku.

Morning-of-His-Fourth-Birthday Izuku checked his wrists the moment he woke up. He gasped in delight when he saw a starburst explosion on his right wrist. That had to be Kacchan!

But Kacchan's wasn't the only Mark he had. There were so many! He had to ask Mom and Dad to help him count. He and Mom had cried when they were done. Fifteen Soulmates! They'd never heard of someone with so many before.

He couldn't wait to meet them.

Mom took so many pictures of his wrists, of Izuku proudly holding them up with a smile. They had katsudon for lunch like they did every year on his birthday, followed by a visit to Kacchan's. Auntie Mitsuki answered the door, Kacchan by her side. Izuku was immediately tackled by his best friend.

The second the boys wrapped their arms around each other, they both felt a pricking on their wrists. They were both delighted when they saw that each of them now had a Mark that was colored in: a starburst on Izuku's wrist, and a lion on Kacchan's.

If only they knew the trouble their Marks would bring.

~~~SYMC~~~

The first time his Soulmates interacted with Shouto, he asked them to point to their Marks. As each of them did, he committed each presence to memory.

The blazing heat that matched with the tiger on his right wrist. The poise and confidence that came from the cup of tea. The silent strength of the stern cat. The playfulness of the smiling one right next to it. The gentle breeze he would come to associate with a pair of glasses. The roughness yet kindness from the starburst explosion.

The electricity that seemed to originate from the Japanese apricot on his left wrist. The pure power that seemed to follow his romantic Soulmate everywhere they went.

He would only enjoy these presences for a short while.

Just hours later, as Mother treated the third-degree burns on his wrists, Shouto decided in silent tears that Soulmates were more trouble than they were worth.

The next day, when Father struck him during training for being distracted by Smiley Cat, Shouto decided that Soulmates were best ignored.

The next week, when Touya grabbed his arm in training, aggravating the barely-healed burn, Shouto decided Soulmates only cause pain.

And the following year, when his Soulmates were unable to do anything to prevent The Accident — even though he could feel them and knew they tried to pull him away — Shouto decided that he would never be able to count on them.

~~~SYMC~~~

Izuku had yet to be diagnosed as Quirkless when his Soulmarks came in.

Years later, he would realize that his Soulmarks were probably what saved his friendship with Kacchan. That something as small as a starburst on the inside of his wrist could change his entire life.

Between his fifteen (fifteen!) Soulmates, there was hardly a day that Izuku didn't feel the presence of at least one. Some, like the bubbly presences of Phoenix and Gear, were always there to play with or hug him. Others, like the protectiveness of Eagle and Stern Cat, always made him feel safe if he was scared.

But one of his Soulmates, Game Controller, made Izuku nervous. They never touched him, but Izuku could feel their presence. He could feel that they seemed mad about something, but if they were mad about Izuku he couldn't tell. He only wished he knew.

His favorite, though, was his romantic Soulmate, the one whose Japanese peony was on his left wrist. They were somehow hot and cold at the same time. They seemed unsure of Izuku, even though he always was excited when he felt their presence.

It was a good thing he had his Soulmates because after that doctor's appointment he didn't really have anyone else.

Everything changed with one word: Quirkless. As soon as that happened, all the other kids at school shunned him, and what started as ignoring him quickly turned to taunts, then bullying.

Only Kacchan stayed by his side, resilient and strong. From then on, his Soulmates were the only ones he could count on.


A few notes about how Soulmates work in this AU:

- Marks appear on a child's 4th birthday
- Marks for romantic Soulmates appear on the left wrist, platonic Marks on the right
- romantic Marks are flowers, platonic are anything else
- Marks appear as a ring around a person's wrist, each about the size of a dollar coin
- if a person has more than 6 Soulmates the Marks wrap around their arm
- when Soulmates mix blood, they "walk" through each other's lives
- before you touch your Soulmate, the Mark is just a black outline

There's more, but I don't want to spoil the surprises or info-dump

Please tell me what you think of this fic! I'm not sure how quickly I'll get to update this (getting a PhD is hard) but I have a LOT of plans going forward. As in the outline of the fic is 11 pages long. And I just finished Hosu