Red Strings: A My Hero Academia Soulmate AU

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"Move out of the way, extras!"

You shuffled closer to the wall, moving out of the way of the group of hero course students making their way down the crowded hallway. They were different, more confident than normal teenagers as they sauntered through the halls, heads held high. Hero course students were a different breed, oozing charisma, as they passed by the regular teenagers. The student leading the pack was correct, albeit rude, in his statement. In a world of heroes, you were an extra, supporting cast, a side-character at best.

"Why do you just move aside whenever they walk by, Y/n? It's not like they're better than us just because they're in the hero course," your friend from class scoffed as she stood next to you, watching them walk past.

You shrugged in response but, in truth, you had always felt a little inferior, like someone who was on the outside looking in. In a world where people had extraordinary abilities, your own quirk seemed substandard and average. You could hear well. Not enough to be of actual help to anyone, just better than the average person. It was kinda lame. And if that wasn't bad enough, while most of your friends had been born with marks tattooed on their bodies or strings tied to their fingers, you had nothing. It didn't necessarily mean you didn't have a soulmate, but that you would have to wait to find out.

While the lucky ones had visible identifiers from birth, some people had strange phenomena occur to help them find their soulmate, but they usually didn't kick in until a person's 16th birthday. You were impatiently waiting for that day, praying you didn't turn out to be someone without a soulmate.

The day of your birthday started fairly uneventfully. You didn't experience anything out of the ordinary as you walked from your dormitory toward the main campus. Your morning passed by much the same. Lunchtime came and your friends tried their best to cheer you up. Your birthday was meant to be a happy day but it was turning into the worst day ever. You couldn't help but think that nothing happening was some sort of concrete proof that you were meant to be alone. But that afternoon, everything changed.

A sudden pain in your arm had you leaping from your chair and crying out. It felt like you had been slammed into a wall. And that was just the beginning. Phantom pain began to hit your body at random intervals. Your teacher quickly released you from class but not after wishing you happy birthday and congratulating you...sort of.

"Go rest up L/n. It looks like you drew the short straw when it comes to soulmate markers. From what I hear, you get used to it. But hey, at least you know you've got a soulmate out there somewhere."

A week in and the only thing you knew was that your soulmate got hurt a lot. Walking down the hallway toward the cafeteria, you were shuffled to the side as the hero course students passed by in their usual rushed manner.

"Hey, maybe your soulmate is a hero course student," your friend said, eyeing the students that had just walked past you. "It's always the same time of day right? In the afternoons? Isn't that when the hero course does their training?"

She made a great point, but that didn't excite you. A hero for a soulmate and you were cursed to feel the same pain? That sounded miserable. What if he was in an extremely dangerous situation and badly hurt? All of your research said you didn't receive the same injuries, only felt the pain. So it's not like you would bleed or bruise or anything...it just hurt like hell.

It had been a month and you weren't any closer to discovering who exactly your soulmate was, but you were pretty sure your friend's assessment was correct. You were positive he was a hero course student. You had tried studying them closer whenever you passed in the halls but it was next to impossible to figure out. Until the day the leader of their little group was in an extra bad mood.

"You extras are crowding the hallway! Move!"

He had only slightly shoved another student out of the way, but that boy tripped and knocked into you, sending you off balance and falling into the locker beside you. "Ow, that stings," you groaned. You checked your arm, a bruise forming where you had slammed into the combination lock. It was an odd feeling, being actually hurt yourself instead of the weird phantom pain from your soulmate's injuries.

You weren't sure if it was because of the angry blonde or not, but some of the hero course students were arguing. And your slightly elevated level of hearing allowed you to pick up on what they were saying.

"Seriously, I didn't do anything. It was Bakugo! Why are you always stabbing me, Jiro?"

"I didn't touch you, Kaminari! When I stab you you'll know it!" The girl with purple hair flung something at the boy beside her, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Quit it!"

Your other arm felt a sharp jolt of pain. You reached a hand down and rubbed it and realized your actions were mimicking the boy about twenty feet away from you. No way. Could it be? You turned to your friend. "Slap me."

She looked at you like you were crazy. But gave in when you demanded a second time. She slapped you across the face, not very hard, but hard enough to be felt. And the same boy from earlier also whipped a hand up to his face.

"What the hell is going on? Who slapped me? Is Hagakure playing pranks or something?"

At his protests your friend finally realized what was happening. Grabbing your hand she pulled you closer to the arguing hero course students. "Sorry to interrupt, but I think it's your soulmate bond," she said, pushing you forward. She turned to you with a cheeky smile. "Sorry, not sorry, Y/n," she said before tugging a strand of your hair.

It must have been a comical sight, both you and the boy in front of you making identical movements, bridging your hands up to your head to soothe the sore spot. You stared at him in disbelief for a moment, shocked that this was finally happening, yet happy that it really hadn't taken that long. He stared back, his mouth opening and closing, as if whatever words he wanted to say had left him.

"I'm Y/n. I'm in the general studies course."

"At least tell her your name, dumbass!" The angry blonde reached up and smacked your soulmate on the back of the head, causing you both to flinch.

"Dammit. I'll have to find a new punching bag now. And no more stabbing him, Ears."

As you stared into his bright amber eyes, he managed to come to his senses. "Denki. My name's Denki." You smiled when he took a step forward and reached for your hand. "Let's grab lunch together, yeah?"

You nodded and you and your best friend were instantly enveloped into the group of hero course students. Although you couldn't help but be confused and give a questioning look at the angry blonde boy when you heard him mumble under his breath.

"Let's pray the poor girl doesn't go dumb when he does."