skygem: Figures that it would take a worldwide pandemic for me to return to this site. Anyways hey waddup everyone, it's ya girl, back at you with a fic that I'm cross-posting from my ao3 account. I hope you all enjoy it and please do leave a review letting me know what you thought! This fic is six chapters long and will be updating daily until complete!

11/03/20 UPDATE: Hey guys I've been getting reviews from people saying they can't see any of my updates after chapter chapter one, despite getting the update emails. I've looked into it a little bit, but it seems like this is a problem that a lot of people are having on this site and not just with my fics. I'm sure the staff are working on fixing it, but I don't know how long that will take. If you're one of the people who can't see anything past chapter 2, this fic is posted in its entirety on my ao3 profile, which is under the same username, so feel free to check it out there! I'm sorry I can't give you more answers than this.

Izuku was four when they first found out that he had a soulmate, so his memories of the event were honestly pretty fuzzy.

The way his mother told it to him, though, was that she was at the stove, cooking dinner for the two of them while Izuku sat at the dining table, colouring in his brand new hero-themed coloring book.

It was a quiet, unremarkable afternoon in the Midoriya house, like many others that had come before it.

But then, there was a quiet gasp from behind her, and the sound of tiny hands smacking against the table to get her attention.

"Mom! Mom! Look!"

Reaching over to turn the heat down, Inko then turned to see what had gotten her son so riled up, and saw him holding out one of his small freckled arms to her.

Her eyes first went to the shaky yellow, blue, and white stripes her son had drawn at his wrist, likely meant to mimic the sleeve of All Might's hero costume. Then, in a steadier hand further up his arm, was a simple flower drawn in what looked like blue pen.

She was absolutely floored. While not completely unheard of, the number of people in the world with soulmates was rather small, with just five percent of the entire population reported as having one. Not much was known about the bond, and she honestly hadn't even considered the possibility that her son might have someone out there in the world who was destined just for him.

It took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts, a moment of quiet as she tried to think of a simple way to explain what was going on to her son. Before she could say anything though, there was a delighted noise from Izuku, and her eyes went to his other arm, where she could see a small line of neat handwriting appearing.

"Mama? Papa?"

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline at the sight of the neat handwriting, obviously not written by another child. Whoever her son's soulmate was, they were obviously a good deal older than Izuku, and they seemed to have realized that fact as well.

"Can I have your arm, baby?" she asked, smiling sweetly at him, and Izuku put his hand obediently in hers, staring up at her in confusion.

"Have you heard of soulmates?"

Izuku shook his head, looking even more confused, and as Inko gently took the marker he still had clutched in his other hand, she explained.

"A soulmate is someone that the universe picked for you," she said, and Izuku's mouth dropped into a little 'o' of surprise. "It's someone who will always love you, no matter what."

A grin spread across Izuku's face at these words. "Like mama!" he exclaimed, pointing at her, and Inko couldn't help but grin back.

"That's right, baby. And you see these words here?"

Izuku nodded.

"It's your soulmate talking to you. They want to talk to your mama or papa. Do you want me to talk back to them?"

Izuku started nodding immediately, his grin giddy as Inko put the blue marker to his skin and started writing back.

"My soulmate can read?" he asked, looking amazed.

"That's right," Inko replied as she continues writing her response. "That means they're older than you."

"I'm his mother. Who are you?"

She pointed at her words when she was done, and explained what she'd written to him.

Izuku stared at his arm, practically vibrating with excitement as he watched the reply start to form.

Then there was a little "oh" of surprise from his mom, and he looked up at her questioningly.

She pointed at the new characters. "He's a pro hero," she explained, and Izuku jumped to his feet with a shriek of excitement.

"Really? Really?" he demanded. "Who? Who is it?"

"It's a secret," she said, and Izuku drew up short at the abrupt change in her tone. Until now she had been gentle and encouraging, but now her voice had taken on a firm tone she used whenever she explained to him why he wasn't allowed to get any closer to the villain fight they had stumbled upon on their way home from the market.

"But whyyyy?" he whined.

"To keep both of you safe," she said. "If a villain finds out he has a soulmate, they might try to hurt you."

Izuku started to complain, to say that he would be fine, that no villains would find out that they were soulmates, but his complaints fizzled out at the expression on his mother's face.

"Izuku, do you want your soulmate to get hurt?" she asked.

"No!" he answered immediately.

"Then you don't ask him who he is, alright baby?"

Izuku hesitated, frustrated at the unfairness of it all.

Inko's face softened then, and she reached out a hand to caress his cheek. "It's not forever, honey. Just until you get older, okay?"

"Okay…" Izuku replied glumly, looking away.

"And you can still talk to him, but no writing on your hands or face, okay?"

Izuku brightened up a little at knowing that he was still allowed to talk to his soulmate.

And from that day, he threw himself into learning his characters with a passion that baffled his teachers, and made his mother smile at him with exasperated fondness."