MHA Stories i find on Ao3

Where Flowers Bloom

By: daylightbreaks

  Izuku hated flowers.

He didn't always hate them, of course. In fact, one of his earliest happy memories was of flowers, before they'd been tainted by his hatred of them. He remembered a conversation with his mother, even before he'd been diagnosed quirkless.

"Mama," He'd said, gently holding her hand, "You have a flower!"

"That's right!" Inko had smiled, holding out her wrist for him to see. There, adorning what looked like a tattoo of vines, was a vibrant freesia flower. Izuku didn't know its name but Inko would tell him one day. "That's my special flower just for your papa!"

"Special flower?" Izuku asked, tilting his head. He was still little, just learning to speak in full sentences. Inko just nodded, bopping his nose with her finger.

"That's right! A special flower. You'll get one too when you're a little older, baby. Everybody has one. These flowers mean you have a soulmate!" She said, a bright smile on her face. Izuku's eyes went wide with wonder, hearing his mother describe the concept of soulmates to him. He'd never heard of such a thing before, and it was exciting.

Izuku learned that around the time quirks came in, people also developed two thin bands of tattoo-like flower buds. On the left wrist, romantic flowers bloomed, and on the right, platonic and familial. One bud represented each soulmate, and the bud would bloom when you met the person it represented. Izuku thought that was nearly as cool as heroes.

Izuku's mama just had one on her left wrist, a delicate white freesia flower that represented his papa. And on his mama's right wrist, she had an unbloomed bud and two fully-bloomed flowers, one for Auntie Mitsuki and one for Uncle Masaru. No wonder she was best friends with them, Izuku thought!

Izuku loved his mama's flowers, and he looked at them longingly, wondering what his would be like. He had hoped his flowers were as pretty as his mama's. If only he knew he'd grow to hate them in only a few years' time.

Izuku's soulmarks appeared in the middle of daycare. Kacchan's had appeared only a few days earlier, and the other boy had been parading them around proudly. Izuku thought they were so cool! Just like everything Kacchan did, really. Kacchan had one little bud on his romantic side and five on his platonic side! Izuku had never seen five before! That was so cool.

Kacchan said his soulmates would be the best, the coolest of the cool. Izuku agreed, of course, because anybody around Kacchan would be cool by association.

Izuku had been coloring in an All Might coloring book, listening to Kacchan talk about one of his flowers. Apparently his parents had taken him to a specialist, so now he knew what flower each of his buds were. His romantic one was a peony, Kacchan had said. It was peaceful and routine, talking to Kacchan like that, when suddenly Izuku's wrists started itching.

He scratched absentmindedly at them, and then he realized the itching wasn't going away. He looked down, and his eyes went wide as saucers. Right before his eyes, his soulmarks were appearing! He gasped as he watched the marks form.

It started out on his left wrist and then spread to his right, the vines slowly meandering their way down his arms. The vines on his left circled once, but the vines on his right circled twice, wrapping around like bracelets. He couldn't believe it! By the time it was done, there were... there were so many buds on them! He ran up to the teacher and tugged on her long skirt.

"Miss! Miss, look! My special flowers! I have lots of them!" He said, holding his arms out to see. The teacher gently examined his wrists, gasping when she saw all of the buds that had appeared on them.