#ojitooru

Ojiro absentmindedly played with the colorful string attached to his pinky finger. Class had started winding down, Aizawa giving a broad recap of the day's lesson. He'd grasped the topic pretty well so the repetition wasn't really engaging. Behind him, Kaminari had started tapping his pencil on his desk. It seemed Mashirao wasn't the only one getting bored. He signed internally and gently plopped his tail on Denki's desk. The tapping was sure to annoy their teacher, so it was better to give his friend something soft to play with. Kaminari happily left his pencil in favor of Ojiro's tail.

The boy thought no more about it. He glanced over to his side. Behind Shoji, Hagakure sat and listened to Aizawa's lecture. She looked cute thr way she was focused. She looked cute all the time, but that was beside the point.

Ojiro felt his face flush as he looked away, committing most of his attention to his fidgeting hands. He'd wrapped the twine around his right ring and middle fingers then back towards his pinky. They teach that the string connects you to your "soulmate", but Ojiro never really gave it much thought. He untangled the thread from his fingers.

The rules of the string were fairly simple. A person was born with a loose thread tied to their dominate hand's pinky finger. It appeared to that person as the colors of their soulmate's physical features. In turn, their partner's string was the colors of their features. Other people couldn't see your string unless it was deliberately being shown to them. Both soulmate's threads would connect and turn a bright red when they touched during what the pair considered to be a special moment. A thin, red ring appeared on your pinky for all to see. The thread would show whenever one of the partners interacted with it, visible to anyone who happened to be around.

Mashirao's string was an assortment of bright colors. He had to really stare at it to figure out what all the different hues were. Standing out the most was a springy yellow-green chartreuse, but there was an assortment of others. The more noticeable strands included a soft, rosy pink, pastel aqua, muted light green, and bright turquoise blue. Harder to spot but still present shades consisted of a canary yellow, pale orange, and a tinge of dusty lavendar. Every shade was undeniably beautiful and unique. One thing was for sure, the vibrance would make finding his soulmate easy. There was no way he could miss such a bright, outstanding bunch of colors like that. They reminded him of a field of wildflowers.

The boy felt a soft pang of guilt when he thought of his soulmate's string. Surely they weren't impressed with the dull golden blonde of his hair or jet black of his eyes. How could they be when he was so plain, especially in comparison to them? Mashirao wrapped the thread around his left index finger. He'd never been overly determined to find his soulmate, but he still hoped they wouldn't mind him the way he is.

"That's the bell" Aizawa's words interrupted the student's train of thought. A few seconds after he spoke, the bell rung. Ojiro was always a little baffled by his teacher's ability to call the bell right before it chimed. His best guess was that he knew the timing because of how long he worked there. Denki reluctantly released his friends tail as he stood.

"I was gonna loose my marbles if Mr. Aizawa kept droning on about... whatever." Kaminari laughed. "And thanks for your tail, man. You're a real lifesaver."

"Not a problem." Ojiro smiled. The two started walking out of the classroom, still

"I wanted to ask, what were you playing with? I couldn't see anything." Kaminari looked genuinely interested, so Ojiro grabbed the end of his string and held it out for him to see.

"Just my string. I was thinking about it a little."

"Woah dude, that's really bright!" He exclaimed. "Wanna see mine?" Before he could answer, Kaminari had already raised his hand. Instead of one string, two wrapped around his pinky finger. One contained a neutral sandy blonde, light steel blue, and another blue slightly darker than the first. The other featured multiple shades of purple and indigo.

"I didn't know you could have two soulmates."

"Heh, I guess I'm just that cool." Denki gave a smug grin. "But for real, I looked it up a while ago and it's a thing." He seemed ecstatic, gently tugging on the loose end of the purple string. "Anyways, imma see you later. I've got some plans with Kiri and Bakugo. Nice chatting with ya!"

"You too. See you later."

With that the two parted ways and Ojiro headed for the training grounds. He'd always been a hard worker, and he wasn't going to slow down just because he got into U.A. Of course, that didn't take into account the fact that he enjoyed exercise.

After a short walk he settled into his favorite indoor training facility. It was a fairly small room and practically had the same setup as a marshal arts studio. He lowered himself to the grey mat that took up most of the floor. There were a few weights and punching bags around. Mashirao figured he'd use those later.

At he stretched his mind wandered back to the soulmate threads. People had adopted the name "red string of fate" for them after the color they turned once you united with your partner. He'd noticed a few fine red rings on the people around him. There was rumor that Mrs. Midnight had been seen wrapping Mr. Vlad in their shared thread at the end of a hallway once. From time to time he would catch a glimpse of a string connecting Bakugo and Tsu as they walked back to the dorms, even if they liked to deny it. The two pairs seemed happy together. Mashirao guessed that's why they were soulmates. He hoped his partner would be as satisfied as the others seemed.

"Want a partner?" An excited voice behind the young hero in training made him jump.

"Hagakure! I didn't know you were here. "Ojiro didn't have a problem with her being there. It was the opposite really, since he really liked the girl. She was hardworking and cheerful. It'd be fun to train with her.

"I didn't know you were here either." She giggled. "Sorry I startled you."

"Dont worry about it! Anyway, I'd love to train with you."The boy answered honestly. Tooru sat next to him, mimicking his movements. There was a comfortable silence for a moment.

"Feel ready?"

"Mm hmm" Hagakure hummed as she stood. "What do you wanna do?"

"I was going to run some drills. Did you want to do that?"

"Sounds great!" In agreement, the two worked some drills Aizawa had taught them the week before. Idle chatter filled the room as they worked. They smiled and laughed as they moved through different organized motions. It felt so natural to Ojiro, like the two had known eachother all their lives. Slowly they closed the distance between one another.

Tooru glanced over at Mashirao and grabbed him by the arm. Her soft hand gently corrected the boy's pose. He felt his ears go red. He didn't know she had been paying any attention to what he was doing.

"I noticed you keep getting this one wrong, so I thought I'd..." She didn't finish her sentence. Ojiro was about to ask what was wrong when he saw it.

The thread on his finger had changed colors, the vibrant assortment of hues had shifted into one: a bright red. He followed the new connection with his eyes. The girl's hand still held his arm but it didn't obscure his view of her pinky. A thin red line was newly present on her finger. He looked up to face her. Even though he couldn't see Tooru's face, he could feel they were making eye contact.

"You're... it's you." Hagakure spoke slowly. Ojiro couldn't believe it. He loved being with her. The two being soulmates made him so happy he thought he might cry. The only problem was that he couldn't tell what she was thinking. What if she wasn't happy as his partner? What if she had wanted someone more exciting then him? The idea weighted heavy on his chest.

"You're my soulmate!" She squealed as she pulled him into a tight hug. Startled, it took the boy a short second before he reciprocated. When he did, he made sure to hold her close. Relief flooded his body. Her reaction wasn't one someone who was disappointed would have.

"I can't believe it." He gently pulled away from her, intertwining their fingers instead. He gazed at their string and then looked to at Tooru.

"You're my wildflower."

Divider by @/animatedglittergraphics-n-more