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"Just pass me the fucking scissors Deku" Bakugou complained pointing urgently to the giant set of hedge-trimmers sitting on top of the wooden bench in the support department. Izuku sighed at his relentless persistence. Already, a series of explosions, a vicious tug of war and a chainsaw had not cut through the thing. Izuku therefore had reservations about how well a set of scissors would cope. They had destroyed a perfectly good chainsaw for this.
Despite the obvious fact that this would not work, Izuku passed Bakugou the scissors; hoping that his explosive friend would take his anger out on the task at hand rather than the boy he was attached to. It appeared to be nothing less than the red string of fate that attached them together. A long red string, no thicker than a strand of hair but apparently stronger than All Might.
It wasnt the first time they had come into contact with this particular sign from the universe. Last time it had been loosely tied around both their wrists and stretched a couple of metres between them. With the assurance that recovery girl was in the building, Bakugou had snapped his own wrist to pull the "fucking-wirey-handcuff" off. It remained attached to Izuku for a few days afterwards considering he had already broken the bones in his hands and arms enough times without adding that to the list.
This time however, it appeared the universe had gotten smarter. The string was only a meter and a half long, keeping them close together. It also appeared to be significantly brighter than last time: presumably the universe was trying to signal to their classmates for help in this ridiculous situation. But the most telling difference that the universe was pissed, was the fact that the string was tied around their necks rather than their wrists. They may as well have sent the message "Ahah! You cant snap your fucking neck Bakugou Katsuki!"
At this point, Izuku wouldnt rule that option out. "Fuck!" Bakugou complained when the scissors fell apart to land in a pile of metal slates and nails. "Kacchan- there's no way-"
"SHUT UP!" There was steam coming from his ears in small puffs of dark grey smoke which Izuku was starting to find ridiculously endearing. He was like a child pulling a strop, with folded arms, pouted lips and steam pooling out of his (bright red with anger) ears.
Izuku decided'(against his original instincts) to just ignore the situation and wait for Bakugou to come up with a solution or for one of them to die. The option of Bakugou actually accepting the 154th sign from the universe that they should drop everything and be together was about as likely as Lida going streaking through the classroom on a Monday morning.
Instead he pulled out the notebook he had been keeping specifically for this kind of thing. "The Hanging" he labelled this particular friendly-nudge from the universe and sketched down the basics while Bakugou attempted to set fire to the string.
It had been years since this had begun and so far Bakugou had done a considerably good job at keeping the whole thing a secret. However, despite his efforts, Izuku was pretty sure both of their parents, Aizawa and Todoroki knew of their situation.
His mum had figured it out when Izuku's hair had turned stark blonde for the weekend while Bakugou's turned green. That very same weekend, their eye colours and heights had also swapped which was what ultimately gave their secret away to Bakugou's parents.
Most of the time at school, they could pretend to be sick or if that failed, Bakugou could blow up the classroom and drag Izuku into an empty room to conduct a plan to cover up whatever was going on with them on that particular occasion. It was something of a game at this point. Kacchan versus the universe. Izuku could picture a stressed-out conductor of the universe glaring through a globe, sending one sign after another.
He assumed Aizawa and Todoroki had figured out what was going on during training over a month ago. Every time Izuku had been knocked down during combat training with Todoroki, Bakugou flinched from the pain of it. Aizawa did not breathe a word about it, but he did halt their particular fight and set Bakugou and Izuku against each other instead.
That had simply ended up with both of them in extreme pain and collapsed on the ground from the combination of both their quirks and punches.
Izuku flicked through the pages of his notebook, which was nearing its maximum capacity after years of this bullshit. "Okay think about it logically Kacchan- how have we gotten out of these things before?" Izuku asked, hesitating over the pages which held similar details to their current predicament.
"The fucker has gotten smarter" Bakugou complained, dropping the blow torch onto the table and collapsing onto the stool infront of him. Izuku nodded and continued flicking through, smiling at page 28. The time that bruises and ink on one persons skin was transferred to the others. Izuku had never had so many obscenities written over his stomach in his life. Of course not his arms or legs, out of fear that their secret would be exposed. That had lasted a few days, during which they could have entire conversations just by writing on the skin. Bakugou hadnt been particularly enthusiastic with replying until Izuku started writing his messages directly onto his forehead.
"I have an idea" Bakugou announced very suddenly, snapping Izuku out of one of the few fond flashbacks he had of their time spent defying the universe. He stood up abrupt, dragging Izuku by the neck(literally), over to the other side of the room.
Bakugou had pulled him into the support building after school when the string had prevented them from leaving the classroom without beheading their classmates. 2 hours had passed since then.
"What are you doing?" Izuku asked cautiously watching as Bakugou jumped on top of a chair to pull at one of the metal tubes running across the roof which presumably carried gas into the workshop.
"Stand up there" he directed, pointing to the opposite chair and Izuku obeyed quietly, eying the frantic look Bakugou had plastered across his face. "What's the plan Kacchan?" He laughed nervously as Bakugou pulled the red string over the pipe before securing the pipe segments back together.
Suddenly, Bakugou's ridiculous plan, right down to its inspiration clicked together. "No way!" Izuku complained as Bakugou smirked at the rooftop like he was directly challenging the conductor of the universe once again. "The universe wont let us die over this shit." Bakugou attempted to assure but Izuku wasnt particularly convinced. 'The Hanging' was what he had labelled it as and Bakugou had apparently taken that as a suggestion rather than a giant exaggeration of their situation.
"We jump on 3" Bakugou announced, edging his toes off of the corner of the chair. "Wait Kacchan- this isnt like a rope, its a wire. We wont hang from this, our necks will be sliced off!" Izuku complained, pulling at the wire which responded with a thrumming sound to support his argument. "1" Bakugou started anyway, completely ignoring Izuku's warning.
From the current height they were standing, even if Izuku didnt jump, the height Bakugou would have to jump from would force him out of his chair to hang above it.
"Kacchan!"
"2"
He was actually going to die like this. This soul mate game would cause his death and it wasn't even his fault. If Bakugou would just accept these signs rather than attack them with explosions, fire, saws and the threat of their death, Izuku could live a happy life.
"3!" With that, his feat left the chair for a brief moment, before his entire body fell to the ground in a heap leaving a sharp line of pain around his neck and adrenaline coursing through his entire body.
"Told you that would work" Bakugou wheezed through sliced vocal chords. Frantically Izuku scratched at his neck, but other than a slight dent from the wire digging in, it seemed to still be functioning: the red wire was absolutely nowhere to be seen.
***
"You guys do realise that it is monsoon season?" Kirishima asked, warily scanning the two boys over. "What team of assassins are you hiding from, Mr Celeb?" Kaminari questioned flicking at the baseball cap on Bakugou's head.
That morning it appeared the universe decided to enhance another one of its previous signs as Izuku had woken up with blonde spiky hair and red eyes. The universe was getting better, Izuku observed. The fine details of the blonde explosion of spikes that normally stuck out of Bakugou's head at all angles, were now protruding from his own.
An angry call from Bakugou that morning confirmed that he was facing a similar problem. However, the universe was not done.
By the end of first period, the name "Bakugou Katsuki" was floating across his skin from his feet to his forehead like the Dvd sign on a standby screen. Therefore, every inch of skin was covered and his clothes dripping from the rain outside that morning. A pair of giant-set sunglasses were pushed on to his face by Bakugou and a baseball cap shoved on his head to disguise the blonde.
Predictably by the end of the day he had a raging cold and hair that vaguely resembled Todorokis only it was split between blonde and green.
***
"Morning Kacchan" Izuku greeted as Bakugou stumbled over to the shoe lockers as though he hadnt slept more than 2 hours last night. Izuku couldn't blame him, for the last 4 days it appeared they had been seeing each others dreams. None were particularly interesting but distinctly not their own. For some reason the idea of someone else seeing Izuku's dreams seemed ridiculously invasive. Despite the invasion of privacy, neither of them had had any personal or revealing dreams yet. Although, it appeared the risk of it was beginning to keep Bakugou up at night.
"Yeh" Bakugou responded, leaning over Izuku to reach for the top shoe locker, not bothering to push him out of the way. Izuku was not prepared for the feint pinkish glow that blurred his vision following the action. It took a few moments to piece together what happened and Bakugou had already jumped back. "Come here" He demanded, his eyes darting around the empty entrance room.
Izuku hesitantly took 3 steps closer so that there was only a meter between them. Immediately a feint glow forced its way through both of their school shirts. Another step forward intensified the light while 2 steps back killed it completely.
"Kacchan, how far away are out desks in class?" Izuku asked, glaring at the roof, hoping to kill whoever was inflicting this on them with a single glare. He doubted that would work as Bakugou had already tried it a couple of thousand times. Bakugou gritted his teeth as he stormed down the corridor, towards the classroom.
"Eh hem. Bakugou, what do you think you are doing!?" Lida complained as Bakugou walked calmly to the back of the room with his own desk above his head. "None of your fucking business four-eyes" he spat back, roughly dropping the desk onto the floor and sitting down as if the whole thing was normal.
To be fair, Aizawa didnt even notice Bakugou had moved at all.
Their peace didnt last long. They deliberately walked far apart on their way to the p.e building and stuck to separate ends of the changing room while they were switching into their gear. However, that easiness was short lived.
Soon it seemed that the further away Izuku moved from the human strike-match, the more pain he felt in his stomach. Just to test his own theory, he jumped a little closer to Bakugou who looked ready to throw up. Immediately the pain lessened and Bakugou seemed to regain some colour. One glance was enough to mutually decide to stand exactly 2 metres apart. Avoid the flashlights that would erupt from them if they got closer and avoid the pain that would crumble their insides if they got further apart.
Aizawa took one look at the way they were walking perfectly in sinc, with Izuku exactly 4 steps behind Bakugou before deciding today would be the perfect day for a 10km run with the aid of quirks.
"Keep up with me dipshit!" Bakugou complained as intense waves of pain rippled over their stomachs. "You keep blasting ahead!" Izuku defended, desperately trying to keep up with Bakugou's random fits of explosions. Currently the 2 of them were in the middle of the class rankings which wasnt particularly unusual for Izuku considering his quirk didnt greatly increase his speed. However, Bakugou was usually in the top 3 with Todoroki and Lida, a few dozen feet infront of everyone else. Annoyed at the idea that it was his fault Bakugou was falling behind, Izuku forced more power into his legs. That of course resulted in both of their chests bursting to light, temporarily blinding Uraraka who was running a few steps behind them. Bakugou lept forward into the sky like he had been shot from a canon, leaving only a smoky outline of where he once stood and an all-consuming pain.
Izuku collapsed to the ground, almost biting all the way through his bottom lip and clutching at his stomach. He could imagine Bakugou was in a similar position about 30 feet away.
"Deku, are you okay!?" Uraraka yelled but to make things even worse, the colour seemed to have completely drained from Izuku's sight. At that moment, he didnt feel even vaguely embarrassed at crying.
"Oi Deku, gim'me your hand" Bakugou demanded from the bed next to his in Recovery Girls room. Recovery girl had seemed more than a little perplexed by what was wrong with them, especially when their symptoms seemed to disappear completely when they were moved a little closer together.
The beds were far enough apart to avoid both of them lighting up like luminous road signs but close enough to keep the pain in their stomachs to a minimum. The more pressing problem now was that neither of them were seeing in colour.
Izuku obeyed and lifted up his arm weakly to let Bakugou grab onto it harshly, making him flinch. The harsh motion was immediately followed by the world exploding into colour.
Izuku let out a defeated sigh while Bakugou growled at the air around him. "We can go without colour for a while?" Izuku suggested, assuming that would be Bakugou's immediate thought process.
"Are you guys okay!?" Kirishima yelled, bursting into the room which was plunged back into black and white as Bakugou ripped his hand free from Izuku's. "Yeh we're fucking fine" Bakugou spat back at him but Kirishima just smiled in response.
The glowing disappeared first. At the end of the day the two of them had been shoved against one another in the corridors but there was no magnesium-lit white light that followed. Instead the two of them had breathed a sigh of relief before calmly stepping away.
However, Izuku didnt share Bakugou's smirk when it had disappeared. No, the universe didnt just give up on one plan out of courtesy. It was planning something and it didnt take long to figure out exactly what that was.
The black and white world seemed to become more and more hazy as the outline of objects blurred together. Despite the world slowly fading away around them, Izuku and Bakugou calmly put on their shoes sitting next to each other as the pain of sitting apart trumped the strange looks that they were receiving from their classmates.
"Kacchan" Izuku whispered as they walked home as a group. It wasnt atypical for kirishima, uraraka and kaminari to walk them home however Izuku had his suspicions that they werent entirely convinced that there wasnt something going on between Bakugou and him.
"Everythings blurring together" he whispered and that wasn't a lie. Their friends legs merged completely with the pavement beneath them, and their hair moulded with the sky as if his black and white view was being condensed together.
"Ignore it and it will go away" Bakugou gritted, rubbing at his eyes as if that would make any difference.
Bakugou's advice was completely correct. Izuku ignored the fact that his sight was blurring everything together into one grey blob and then- as Bakugou promised- his sight disappeared completely.
Izuku stopped in his stride, shaking his head but the entire world around him was pitch black. A pain in his stomach followed indicating that Bakugou was moving away from him. "Deku?" He heard infront of him and he followed the voice a few steps forward to walk directly into Bakugou. He knew this because suddenly he could see, and what he could see was a facefull of blonde hair.
"Are you guys okay?" Kaminari asked hesitantly. Izuku took a step back but kept a hand on Bakugou's shoulder, not willing to pretend to see.
He hoped desperately that Bakugou wouldnt force him to walk home blind and for once his wish was granted as Bakugou didnt immediately jump away. "Eh yeh fine" Bakugou muttered, his eyes darting around desperately trying to find a solution or an excuse for them to walk home this close together.
Maybe Bakugou was scared of the dark. Izuku had to admit, the complete blackness around him left nothing but distant sounds of cars and of course the pain in his stomach should he move too far from his soulmate.
"Actually I feel a little feint" Izuku murmured, hoping Bakugou would catch on. "Maybe we should take you back to recovery-"
"Its fine, I'll walk him home." Bakugou interrupted Kirishima, offering an arm for Izuku to hold onto.
"No really, its fine Bakugou. I can take more of his weight if I make him float" Uraraka insisted but before she could take another step towards them, Bakugou had lifted Izuku onto his back; elbows hooked under Izuku's knees and head tilted to the side to let Izuku see over his shoulder.
"If I feint, Bakugou is the only one that knows the way to my house" Izuku tried, forcing himself to look frail and nearing unconsciousness. "Oh okay" she laughed warily, taking a step back and clearing the path for them.
"Well this is our turn" Kaminari announced awkwardly, pointing at the break in the road and eying Izuku cautiously. "Really I'm fine Kaminari" he assured but the three of them still looked suspicious. "See you guys tomorrow" he wished when Bakugou begun marching down the opposite street not bothering to wish his friends goodbye.
"I'm not scared of the dark or anything Deku" Bakugou pointed out when they had rounded the corner with Izuku still lying over his back. "You usually just tell me to pretend-"
"If we can't see. The universe could be playing all sorts of tricks on us. They could change our hair or bring the fucking red string back or start writing our names across our faces and we wouldnt notice" he explained, glaring at the ground.
"Oh- thats, thats actually quite smart"
"Of course it is dipshit!" He yelled back, suddenly back to his usual level of 'enthusiasm.' Izuku shook his head and sunk further down on Bakugous back, resting his head on his shoulder. This sort of opportunity wouldnt come around again- well, unless the universe had other plans.
***
Izuku's alarm clock had never been particularly reliable for a light sleeper like himself. His mother had attempted to set it up months ago but accidentally set it to emit a high pitched sound every hour on the hour.
Over the years he had learned to sleep through most of it, but occasionally it would wake him up in the middle of the night.
It was 3am this time and Izuku was just relieved he could see without having to search around in the darkness for wherever Bakugou was lying on the ground. He could apparently sleep through the hourly complaints of the alarm clock.
Bakugou was sprawled across his floor, snoring loudly and taking up almost the entire space with long limbs reaching opposite sides of the room. Izuku had explained the situation to his mother and she didnt hesitate with insiting Bakugou should stay over. It wasn't the first time after all.
The last time Bakugou had been forced to stay over was because the two of them would sleep walk towards each other in the middle of the night. Bakugou's father had found them in the middle of the park one night, still sleeping, collapsed together on a bench with no recollection of how they had gotten there.
The next night Izuku's mother had followed his sleep walking path directly into Bakugou in the middle of the street. She had walked both of them home and forced the 3 day sleepover upon them.
Bakugou's mother had also insisted on keeping both of the boys indoors overnight the time that neither of them could move unless they were near each other. Although Izuku had his suspicions that was only so that her son didnt have an excuse not to do his maths homework. That had been a particularly strange one since it happened at school when they were in completely different buildings. Izuku had collapsed in the classroom onto the hard floor beneath like a dead weight. He imagined it was something like feinting while still being completely conscious. Tokayami had fussed over him until Todoroki appeared in the class with an immobile Bakugou being dragged beside him.
Shaking his head at the ridiculous memory, he reached for his bag, retrieving the journal from inside it. Trying to write as silently as possible, he jotted down the events of that day, one friendly soulmate hint at a time. By the time he was finished, he was too awake to even attempt to fall back asleep. Instead he opted for flicking back through the years.
The first couple of entires were as simple as names appearing on the back of their necks, or the other ones date of birth spiraling round their wrists. It progressed from there.
The time that they could feel and taste whatever the other was eating. Bakugou had spent his entire saturday with doughnut dusting on his lips which he was unable to wipe off while Izuku had to deal with the sizzling hot taste of curry throughout the night. An act of revenge: Bakugou knew Izuku couldnt handle spicy food.
Amongst the earlier entries Izuku found the time when he had seen Bakugou's memories in his dreams. It ranged from watching his own younger self get thrown into a river to Bakugou accidentally blowing up a section of his floor. To this day, a rug covers any evidence of that particular incident in Bakugou's bedroom. He had never gotten round to asking what extracts from his own memories that Bakugou seen.
Another few pages in was the time that any music the other played was blasted through their skulls. Izuku was met with track after track of incomprehensible rock and punk music while Bakugou was met with pop and piano music. Despite his original hatred of the obnoxiously loud songs, half of Izuku's songs had spawned from that particular occasion.
By the time they entered UA, the entries became more and more frequent with more than two logged for each day. He was thrown back to the time that by simply looking through a mirror he could see exactly what Bakugou was doing. That of course ment he wasnt able to check his own reflection for 4 days so he was constantly walking around with dirt or food on his face. His only saving grace was that Bakugou had the exact same problem.
There was the time that there emotions flipped so Izuku spent 24 hours dealing with waves of intense anger while Bakugou walked with a skip in his step.
Izuku had continued to feel angrier throughout the day which reflected the intense frustration Bakugou must of been feeling the entire day from being stuck humming radio tunes merrily.
There was the time that if they so much as brushed arms it would leave an ugly pink burn mark across their skin. Izuku walked around with a hand print across his face for the entire day while Bakugou had a tiny patch of his hair scorched off.
The time that their hair had followed the other one around like a compass arrow. Even a hat wasnt enough to keep the mass of hair in check as it had been thrown to the ground. Bakugou had spent half the morning in a bathroom stall with him attempting to gel his hair down which he had apparently learnt to do on his work experience week. Izuku didnt want to know exactly why he had learned that skill but his hair did stay in place.
Izuku's hands hovered over page 120, a smile lingering on his face from all of the previous reading material. "Truth or Dare" it was labelled as. That day any lie the other one spoke was written across their arm. Of course that particular sign was paired with a game of Truth or Dare with the rest of the boys in the class.
Bakugou had lied about having ever failed a test. He also lied about having had his first kiss. He had lied about having no one he would class as a friend. He also lied about having a soulmate, although Izuku had to lie on that one too. Later he found out Bakugou had actually once failed an English test, he had never kissed anyone, he classes Kirishima and Kaminari as his friends and despite all of his ridiculous efforts, he acknowledges (though doesnt accept) that Izuku is his soulmate.
That day he had also figured out Bakugou's favorite colour was red and that he had a substantial amount of comic books stashed away under his bed. Bakugou had deducted that Izuku did, at one point, have a crush on Uraraka and that he would consider everyone in class 1A as his friends.
A couple of days after that, they had been given the gift of telepathy with one another. Bakugou had spent that entire morning insulting Izuku and the rest of their class with that inescapable voice in his head so Izuku had retaliated in the only way he knew how. He began to recite the theme tune to every anime he had ever watched in his life. The songs lasted all the way through to lunch before he ran out of songs to sing and the insults seeped through once more. By the end of the day Izuku was just emitting a scream through Bakugou's head.
"What the fuck are you laughing at Deku?" Bakugou complained, suddenly behind him and leaning over his shoulders to read the journal at hand. Bakugou knew he had been keeping notes the entire time so at least he couldnt be angry with Izuku. Instead he smirked at the page it was flipped open to. "I remember that. You screamed in my fucking head for 2 hours" Izuku nodded and shuffled over on the bed to create a space for Bakugou who harshly grabbed the book from him.
"What was this shit?" He asked pointing to page 132. "That was the one when anything I touched exploded"
"Anything I touched would end up crushed" Bakugou responded apparently remembering that particular sign. "You had to walk around with your hands bunched together" Izuku recalled, remembering how Bakugou pitifully attempted to pick up a piece of chalk between his fingers without snapping it. "You went through 6 pairs of gloves" Bakugou also recalled. The gloves served as a minor defense against whatever was about to be blown to pieces.
"What about that one?" Bakugou asked, flipping backwards and forwards through pages. Smiling at some and completely ignoring others. "Oh- that one was confusing. I think the things that we said that hurt the other appeared on our skin"' Izuku recalled vaguely. There was a few signs that he did not particularly understand but did his best to summarise. That was one of them. "What appeared on your skin?" Bakugou questioned frowning at the page.
"You'll never learn Bakugou- I think that was Kirishima. And 'You two would make a great team' - I'm not sure who said that" Izuku remember, rubbing at the spot on his arm where the words had appeared. "What was on yours?" Izuku asked. They never really got the chance to talk about easy signs like those. They could be concealed by simply putting on a long sleeved shirt and pretending it wasnt happening.
Izuku was expecting a generic response: "I dont know" or "like I'd fucking remember that" so he was surprised when Bakugou actually answered quickly. "I'm not doing this- leave me alone" Izuku frowned. Bakugou had probably said that at some point that day. If he had the journal in his own hands, rather than where it was currently being crushed in Bakugou's, he could check exactly what had driven Bakugou to say that. An annoying sign from the universe that had driven him beyond frustration. A sign that had forced him to give up and walk away rather than just accept there was no escaping it.
"I'm surprised you remember" Izuku laughed nervously, waiting for Bakugou to move off the page but his hand remained still and his jaw set. "I thought those were going to be your last words" Bakugou whispered, blinking at the page. "What?-"
"You hear about that sign a lot you'know. People have their..y'know partners first words or last words tattoo'd. I thought those would be your last" he admitted, snapping the book shut and jumping back onto the floor.
Izuku didnt speak, only stared as the blonde glared at the floor. "I didnt mean to say that. I ment to tell you I couldn't fucking remember but the words changed" he complained, shaking his head in his hands. "Deku!- how many All Might posters have you got hidden from me in that drawer?" Bakugou asked, now on his feet and pointing at the set of drawers where, truthfully, Izuku did have all of his posters hidden but Bakugou didn't need to know that. 'None' he tired to say but the words left his mouth on their own. "11 and I treasure them all" Izuku slapped a hand over his mouth.
"We cant lie" Izuku whispered. "Just go to sleep, dont say anything else" Bakugou demanded, roughly pulling the sheets over his head like a child hiding from the light. "Okay" he squeaked, copying the childish action on his own bed. Hopefully this would disappear by tomorrow. "Good Night Kacchan" he whispered. "Shut up" Bakugou whispered back although the hostility was slightly reduced compared to normal. Izuku was just glad at this point he wasnt being made to speak his thoughts. He couldn't lie, but Bakugou would never know how much Izuku thought about every little thing he did.
***
By their third lesson the next day Izuku had deducted that it was only Bakugou that he could not lie to. He had managed to quite successfully lie to Uraraka that morning about the whole feinting situation the day before. So, as long as he didnt attempt to lie to Bakugou, the day would pass smoothly.
Yes- that was naiive. Because of course, the gods of the universe had allied against him. The one thing he wished to never happen, happened. Just as they approached the end of their third lesson, he could hear Bakugou's thoughts and from the sharp shift of the desk behind him, it appeared Bakugou could hear his too.
'Fuck can he hear my thoughts? If he does he should give me a fucking sign or some shit. Shit!' Bakugous thoughts yelled in his head and so Izuku bent his arm round to tap on Bakugou's desk.
'Oh great, this fucking nerd can hear my thoughts all day' Izuku dropped his head into his arms. This was going to be a long day.
***
They almost made it the full day. Almost. Aizawa couldnt have more than 20 minutes left of whatever speech he was giving when their internal argument suddenly reached its tipping point. That was the thing about having an argument with your thoughts. There was no filter, no hesitation to make your words carry meaning or make yourself sound smarter or stronger. The words they were hearing came straight from the source.
"You keep getting in my fucking way!" Bakugou yelled, jumping away from his desk and glaring at Izuku as his thoughts mirrored his words. "No I dont!" Izuku yelled back before his thoughts could answer for him. "You keep putting me IN your way Kacchan! There are other people just as strong or even stronger than me in this room with you! But you're so focused on me, you cant even see them!" The two of them had moved to opposite sides of the classroom to yell at each other as if the distance could stop their thoughts being ripped from their heads.
"I cant fucking help it! You keep fucking winning and its not fucking fair. You were just fucking lucky-"
"Its not I win, you lose Kacchan! Its we win! We! You just cant see that"
When Izuku glared up at Bakugou who had braced himself against the back wall, he had bright green hair. 'everyone can see us, there's no way he can get us out of this one. Maybe he'll finally have to accept-' his thoughts were abruptly cut off by a yell. "Its not right! The universe was fucking wrong and you know it!" By the time Bakugou had finished yelling, his eyes had switched to Izuku's own colour and the thoughts from Izuku's head were dancing across the exposed skin on his arms and face.
"You dont know that! You haven't even given it a chance. You're so hellbent on hiding it from everyone that you wont give it a chance!" He yelled as pain in his stomach forced him to clutch at his chest and take a couple of steps forward. "I cant accept it because its fucking you. You've taken enough of my fucking life already. You're always-" His sentence faded off as he took a step forward, wincing in pain and clutching at his stomach. "You're always there! You used to just stay behind me when you were a quirkless good-for nothing. And I wish you'd fucking stayed there!"
"Why do you care!? There are dozens of other hero's ahead of you. Focus on them! Just ignore me like you used to! Ignore me like your ignoring all these stupid signs from the universe!" Izuku yelled, ripping at the red string which had wrapped around his wrist and was pulling him closer to Bakugou. As it pulled him closer the pain in his stomach slowly reduced and his vision flickered between greys and colours with every breath he took.
"I cant ignore you." Bakugou admitted between pained breaths as he took another step closer, led by the arm towards Izuku. "You're not like the pro-hero's that I can beat one day. You havent surpassed me! But you arent falling behind me either!" He yelled, now directly in Izuku's face in the middle of the classroom. Izuku could see the feint glow from both of their chests and feel their hair fusing together above their foreheads which were pressed together.
"You're always there, right next to me. And the universe is trying.." he let out in one breath. "The universe" he spat a little more strongly. "..is trying to keep you there" he finished, the anger draining from his voice and his shoulders dropping.
Izuku could feel the burn on his forehead from where their skin met. He could feel the strain on his wrists, ankles and the back of his body from where red wires were digging in and keeping him closely pressed against Bakugou. "Why don't you let it? We'd make a great team. Someone said that months ago and it hurt you, right? Why?" Izuku asked quietly.
"Because- its not like its me pulling you forward so that we can stand next to each other. You just keep getting fucking stronger, and I refuse to be known for holding you back."
"You wouldn't-"
"No, you wouldn't think I was holding you back. You'd just fucking smile and say how much you admired me when you were little. But you've fucking changed. Other people would see you trying to pull ahead of me-"
"- I am not the only one that has changed, Kacchan. When people say we would make a good team, its not because each of us are individually strong. Its because we force each other forward" Izuku risked a glance directly into Bakugous eyes which were flicking between red and Izuku's own green/blue colour in waves.
"When one of us improve, the other one follows. I know you might still want me to be the quirkless good-for-nothing but-"
Izuku's sentence was cut off completely when Bakugou's lips met his own. A set of hands immediately cupped his face, burning through his skin which burnt away any tears that even thought about jumping free from where he was hiding them.
Then, all at once, the heat disappeared; the glow all around them faded; the colour of the world shifted back to normal; his skin was wiped clean; his hair fell down infront of his eyes as curly green locks; the red string that was tying them together disappeared and Izuku's thoughts became his own again. Leaving only Bakugou's lips on his own and the crushing realisation that they were in the middle of the classroom, with all of their friends watching.
"Finally!" Kirishima yelled as the two of them jumped apart, frantically running their hands over their skin and through their hair to check it was all fully authentic. "You knew!?" Izuku asked, nervously glancing at Bakugou who looked just as shocked and confused as Izuku felt. "Of course we did" Kirishima answered confidently, smirking at Izukus flushed expression. "Since when..?"
"That time the two of you swapped eye colours for the first time" Lida answered. Entry 78, Izuku recalled. "That time you both collapsed when you were apart" Tokayami admitted. Entry 124. "That truth or dare game" Kaminari announced. "That time you had each others birthdays on your foreheads" Jirou answered next. "The time your hair followed each other" Momo admitted.
"Right we get it. You are all at the fucking hands of cupid" Bakugou cut them off harshly. "Kirishima has known the longest" Todoroki pointed out, nodding his head towards Kirishima who had his feet kicked up on the desk in front.
"How did you know?" Izuku asked, shying away from Kirishima's gaze.
"I'd love to say that it was simply the way that you looked at one another, but you glare at each other all the fucking time. The reality is, you both have a mark on the back of your necks" Kirishima explained. Bakugou didnt hesitate in grabbing Izuku by the shoulders and forcing him to turn around. "That wasn't there before" Bakugou whispered, rubbing his thumb over the base of his neck, presumably where the mark was.
"Yeah I thought it was strange that you didn't try to cover them up with a plaster. I mean, Bakugou stares at the back of your head every day during class."
Izuku turned around to face Bakugou, pushing him by the shoulders to turn him around and find whatever mark they were talking about.
"We figured out, it was only those that accepted you were soul mates that could see it. That way, as each of us found out, we started to see them. Where as you two, didnt even know they existed"
Izuku traced his hand over the crown shaped mark on the base of Bakugou's neck.
"You should've fucking told us" Bakugou complained. "But it was so entertaining to watch you try to cover it up" Kaminari said through laughter which was abruptly cut off as Bakugou lunged for his throat.
***
"You cant send a message back to the universe Kacchan" Izuku lectured smiling at the sky. A smile that would not crack with another stupid sign that would be thrown his way. No, this was genuine hope.
"I can send a fucking message with my words" Bakugou gritted, tightening his grip on Izuku's hand. "I think you did that enough while the universe way trying to get us together. I think it understands your gratitude"
"Well I'm not sending a fucking thankyou note" he defended rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. A bad habit that he had picked up since discovering there was a mark there in the first place.
"I think they deserve a thank you note" Izuku laughed wishing he could send some sort of mental participation award to the conductor of the universe.
"The universe had its chance. Its the worlds turn to deal with us now" Izuku pointed out, clutching the application form in his hands.
"There'll be a new fucking top hero-team around here" Bakugou announced, raising their intertwined hands above their heads, lifting Izuku completely off his feet.
In Izuku's opinion, the universe deserved a little more than a winners badge. But what could he offer to the universe? All Izuku had to offer was the entertainment of getting them together in the first place.