Archive of Our Own

“Class 1-A” Group chat

10:02 AM

Pikachudouble: HOLY SHIT! YOU GUYS NEED TO GET DOWN TO THE COMMON ROOM RIGHT NOW!

Musicallyinclined: What is it? Whats going on?

Pikachudouble: I CANT JUST dkjfhrakldjfbglkjadhlsukhi

Pikachudouble: @everyone GET DOWN HERE!

Bonehurtingjuice: On my way

Bonehurtingjuice: Is something wrong?

ClassPrez.: I am on my way as well, could you please inform us as to why we need to gather in the common room?

Pikachudouble: dkjhgladjfgdhjzgjhlifzqpgiujbflsfbdl

Pikachudouble: SOUL ANIMALS!!!

Youracidreflex: WHAT!!

Rockhard: NO WAY ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!

Jampackedwithexplosives: Are you fucking shitting me right now??

Floatyoutothestratosphere: How many are there?!

KermitxPepexReader: Who do you think they belong to?!

Invisibilitysnotmyonlysuperpower: What type of animals are they?!

Musicallyinclined: WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO SOONER?!

Pikachudouble: WELL SORRY IM JUST FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW!

Pikachudouble: It’s hard to get a good count with them all moving around!

Musicallyinclined: Well try to get a count and im omw

Pikachudouble: I think there is about 19?

Pikachudouble: Wait no 20! One of them is invisible!

Tailasoldastime: OMW!

Theshadowsarewhereihide: On my way with Shouji

Sugarhigh: omw with Koda

ClassPrez.: @everyone Anyone who is not already doing so should make their way to the common room immediately, it seems that everyone’s soul animals have appeared.

Todoroki looked around the common room, it seems he was the last person to get there, but that wasn’t what caught his attention, what did were the animals that were everywhere. Animals of all types, sizes, and colors were in the room. Some of them were running around the room, some were playing with each other, and others were lounging on the couches lazily.

Todoroki wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He looked over to his classmates to maybe get some advice, (he may be new to social interactions and normalcies, but they weren’t) only to find that they too seemed frozen in shock. That was when he realized that this was new to all of them, none of them had gotten their soul animal before.

Soul animals were animals that would show up in your life sometime between the ages of 15 and 21. The animal was a representation of your soulmate, it even had their quirk. Despite everyone in class 1-A being 15 or 16, none of them had yet received their soul animal, but now 20 of them, one for each student, had shown up all at once. It was overwhelming.

Iida was the first to break from the shock. He steeled himself, and carefully approached one of the animals that was lying on the couch. It was a black and white Cocker Spaniel, it looked primed and proper, newly groomed, not a hair out of place. The dog raised its head to watch Iida as he got closer, the rest of the class was silent, watching with bated breath.

When Iida was only a few feet away, the dog finally moved. It didn’t show any aggression, it simply stood and hopped off the couch, only to hop back onto another couch a bit further away from Iida and lie back down again.

Iida looked around to find the next animal closest to him, his eyes landed on an adorable little pink pig lying next to the coffee table. The only thing distinguishing it as a soul animal and not a normal pig, was its extra-long and springy looking tail, almost like coil, and its oversized floppy ears. Iida slowly approached the pig, only for it to get up and move a little ways from where he was before lying down again.

Iida sighed and straightened from his slouched, unintimidating position. He looked to the rest of the class who were hanging out against the wall, for their input.

Kaminari scratched the back of his head. “Maybe they didn’t want to go near you because they weren’t your soul animal?” Murmurs of agreement came from the others.

“I don’t know,” Kirishima said. “I mean we’ve been standing here for a little while now and none of them have tried to approach us.”

“Actually, I’ve read about something like this before,” Midoriya said. “Well not quite on this level, it was only 5, but the people had to wait awhile before the animals would come near them, whether it was their soul animal or not. Even representations of themselves wouldn’t come around them for a little while.”

Yaoyorozu hummed. “Then I propose we push all the furniture against the wall and sit in a big circle around them. Then we can just wait for them to approach us.” Everyone voiced their agreement, and they excitedly began moving the furniture.

As they moved around the room, the animals moved as well, never getting closer to them than 5 feet. The animals that were on the furniture moved to the floor and soon enough everything was against the wall. Then, maneuvering carefully to make sure all the animals stayed in the middle, they formed a large circle and sat down.

Todoroki found himself sitting with Tokoyami only a few feet to his right, and Midoriya a few feet to his left. It was only once he was sitting that the novelty of what was happening really hit him. Everyone’s soul animal was here, including his. One of these animals would represent his soulmate, the person he was meant to be with. He was excited, but the voice in the back of his head kept him on edge. What if his soulmate wasn’t who he was desperately hoping it was?

He began observing the animals that were in front of him and quickly noticed a lot of them shared characteristics with his classmates. One of the biggest animals was a pink Jaguar that had black sclera, yellow irises, and even two curly horns on its head. Another animal was a purple wolf that had ear jacks hanging from its ears, and from the sounds of it there was an invisible but chatty bird somewhere in the circle.

Then he saw it, a deer sleeping next to the Cocker Spaniel and pig from earlier. The deer had fur that was perfectly split down the middle, the left side red and the right side white. It was his soul representation, which meant someone in the class was his soulmate!

He looked hopefully toward Midoriya. Please, he thought, please for once in my miserable life let me get what I want! He turned back to watch the chaos as animals ran about. Above the circle a crazy looking pink owl with brown crosses in its eyes flew after what could only be the invisible bird. The invisible bird chirped playfully, while the owl hooted.

At one edge of the circle, a raven sat next to an… octopus? Todoroki had to blink a few times before he believed it, but sure enough, a brown and dark blue octopus sat next to the raven. Todoroki had never heard of an aquatic creature being a soul animal, but then again, he didn’t know much about soul animals in general, so he decided to ignore it for now.

On the other side of the circle, a hedgehog with bright red quills was nudging a very grumpy looking Pomeranian with its nose. The Pomeranian growled and began barking, more like yipping, at the hedgehog. The hedgehog didn’t seem to mind though, he just kept nudging the Pomeranian.

A squeaky chattering drew Todoroki’s eyes across the room to a blond raccoon that was laughing at the other animals around it. It was watching a yellow mouse running and weaving through the legs of a light brown and yellow pony that had large pointy horns on its head.

A blue skunk, monkey, and otter, were running around the room playing what seemed to be a game of tag. The monkey was winning, using its tail to move quicker, and catch the skunk and otter off guard.

A floating speck of green caught Todoroki’s attention it was a frog. The frog wasn’t alone, a pink and brown sugar glider was floating with it. The frog kept using its tongue to both keep them together and guide them in different directions.

Then a green mass of fluff caught his eye. It was a small green sheep. It was also the fluffiest thing he had ever seen, with poofy curls of green wool covering its body. It had green baby doe eyes that could melt the heart of anyone it came across, and its cheeks were covered in freckles.

Todoroki knew without a doubt that it was Midoriya’s soul representation. That meant that someone in the room was Midoriya’s soulmate, and he prayed to whatever god was out there that it was him. He wasn’t sure he would be able to handle it if he had to watch the sheep go to someone else.

Looking around at his classmates, Todoroki noticed that some of them were staring at specific animals like he was. They must also have someone they hope is their soulmate then.

“Look at the pig!” Ashido squealed. The pig had rolled onto its back and was wiggling around to scratch itself. Its large ears flopped everywhere as it moved. Some of his classmates laughed at the sight.

“It’s so cute!” Hagakure said.

“I like the mouse!” Kaminari said, pointing to where the mouse was still weaving through the legs of bigger animals.

“Just look at that little guy go!” The mouse paused and turned to look at Kaminari. Lightning flickered across its whiskers, before fading away. It turned and began to run again.

“Whoa! Kaminari, it’s an electric mouse! That has to be your soul representation!”

Kaminari’s eyes widened. “You think?”

“Well, who else would be represented by a yellow mouse with an electricity quirk?”

“And look!” Ashido exclaimed, pointing at the pink jaguar with horns, “That has to be my soul representation!”

“The invisible bird is definitely mine!” Hagakure shouted.

“I suppose the monkey is mine,” Ojiro said, scratching his chin. “It seems a bit too obvious that mine would be a monkey, but hey, it fits!”

“And what about you Todoroki?” Asui croaked. Todoroki looked up from where he had been watching the sheep.

“Hm?”

Asui pointed at the half red half white deer, “That one is your soul representation.”

“Oh,” Todoroki nodded, “yes, I believe you’re right.”

Then it happened. The deer stood from where it had been resting, and slowly walked over to Todoroki. All of his classmates watched, curious to see what would happen. All the other soul animals had stopped what they were doing and quieted down to watch as well, almost as if they were waiting to see if this was their que to start approaching their humans as well.

The deer stopped right in front of Todoroki, and now that it was so close, he could see more details. The deer’s eyes were the same miss-matched colors of his own, and well it did not have a burn mark over its right eye, the antler on its right side was singed and charred. The points were stunted, and it was only half the size of the other antler. That antler was a pearly white and didn’t have a single imperfection.

Todoroki slowly stretched out a hand to try and pet its head, but the deer pulled back before he could touch it.

“Umm, Todoroki?” Midoriya said, “He isn’t going to let you touch him, at…at least not yet I mean! The first person to touch a soul animal is always the person it belongs to. Once that happens, depending on their personality they may let others touch them. Of course, their favorite person is always the one they belong to, but the person they represent is never far behind! W-What I’m trying to say is, you just have to wait for the person he belongs to to touch him first, then you can.” Midoriya tapered out of his rambling at the end, but Todoroki got the point.

He nodded, fighting back the heat rising in his cheeks and let his hand rest back in his lap. His soul representation came a bit closer again, seemed to study him a bit, then laid down right in front of him.

The other animals took this as a sign that it was not yet time to find who they belong to and began playing around again.

It was another ten minutes of watching the animals, before anything happened again. The sheep, that Todoroki had been watching carefully since he first set eyes on it, left from where it had been interacting with the other animals, and began coming closer to the edge of the circle.

Everyone, including the animals, once again silenced as they watched the sheep get closer and closer to the people. It slowly began to approach Uraraka, only stopping when it was just out of reach of her. Uraraka smiled and squealed, “You’re so cute!” but made no move to try and touch the sheep. This must have pleased it because it gave one short Baa. And looked as though it was smiling, before trotting over to greet Asui, who was sitting next to Uraraka.

They watched, as one by one, the sheep stopped in front of them to greet them with a short Baa. Not one of them tried to touch the sheep, in fear of ruining what was happening. The sheep even stopped in front of Bakugou, though unlike the others, it didn’t make any sounds, it just stared at him for a moment before moving on.

Todoroki leaned toward Midoriya a bit. “You know that’s your…” He didn’t finish he sentence, but Midoriya was already nodding.

“Yeah…”

They watched as the sheep continued making its rounds, until it finally got to Todoroki. The sheep couldn’t get close to him like it had all the others, because Todoroki’s soul representation was laying in the way. Even then, the sheep didn’t try very hard to greet Todoroki, it met his eyes for a split second, before skipping him completely, and going to greet Midoriya. Todoroki’s heart sank. What did that mean?

The sheep spent a bit more time greeting Midoriya than anybody else, but Todoroki thought it was fair considering it was a representation of him. Midoriya and the sheep stared into each other’s eyes, which were exactly the same shade of green, and taking in one another. Then finally, the sheep let out its signature adorable, Baa! then turned and walked back toward Todoroki.

Yes! Todoroki thought. He crossed his fingers hidden in his lap. Please come to me! But it only took a second for him to realize the sheep wasn’t headed for him, but the deer that was laying in front of him.

The deer, sensing the sheep approach, lifted its head and made a soft sort of mewling noise, that Todoroki didn’t even know deer could make. The sheep softly baaed in response and rubbed his head against the deer. The deer did the same and the sheep curled up right against the deer, resting its head on the deer’s neck. Then together the pair fell asleep.

Todoroki’s cheeks burned hot, and he knew he was blushing red from the roots of his hair to all the way down his neck. He could feel all the eyes of his classmates on him. He risked a glance toward Midoriya. Their eyes met for a moment, they both looked away quickly in embarrassment.

In the back of his mind Todoroki registered that Midoriya was blushing just as hard as him, but he chose not to think about it. He couldn’t get his hopes up now, the sheep and deer might just be really good friends, much like Midoriya and Todoroki were.

“Well that just happened,” Asui broke the silence. A few people around the circle laughed.

“Midori!” Ashido whined, “How can your soul representation be so cute? I didn’t think any soul representation would be able to grasp your cuteness, but I was wrong. That sheep is on par with you!”

More laughter echoed throughout the room. Midoriya covered his face with his hands, still blushing brightly while trying to deny the other’s statements. Todoroki’s blush had thankfully died by then, though it may have helped a little that he used his quirk to cool himself down.

The animals had once again begun to play. The frog and sugar glider were still floating around, though now the electric mouse had joined in on the fun. The monkey, after winning the game of tag with the blue skunk and otter, was now playing a game of catch the invisible bird. He wasn’t nearly as good at that game as he was at the last one.

The pink jaguar was playing with the yellow pony which was an… interesting sight, but soul animals never hurt anyone or each other unless the owner wants them to, so Todoroki didn’t worry about it too much. Otherwise, the animals would have attacked, or eaten each other long ago. That poor mouse would have never stood a chance.

The pink owl had taken to flying around the raccoon, which was clearly annoying it, but he did nothing but yowl at it. The red hedgehog had given up on the Pomeranian and was playing with the blue skunk and otter, while the Pomeranian walked around grouchily. The small pig with floppy ears, and extra springy tail, was snoozing away with its legs in the air. The octopus and raven had not left their spots at the edge of the circle, watching all the other animals.

The Cocker Spaniel, had finally gotten up from where it was resting and was sniffing at the purple wolf with ear jacks. The difference in size between the two animals was daunting, but the Cocker Spaniel did not let the wolf’s size scare it.

By the time the two were done sniffing each other, they were both wagging their tails. The wolf crouched and barked, ready to play. The Cocker Spaniel barked to, much higher pitched then the other, but did not crouch in a play stance. Instead, part of its fur glowed, and a long rope tug-of-war toy came out.

“Yaoyorozu!”, a few people called out.

“Yeah,” She said a bit dazed, “I saw it.”

The Cocker Spaniel picked up one side of the toy in its mouth and shook it. The wolf clearly got the idea, because it picked up the other side of the rope, and the two began to play a game of tug-of-war. You would think that it would be an easy and automatic win for the wolf, but the Cocker Spaniel was surprisingly strong, and managed to stand its ground despite the size difference.

Todoroki and his classmates watched the animals play for minutes more, and while it was amusing to listen to Ashido and Kaminari’s running commentary on the different things the animals were doing, Todoroki was beginning to grow restless.

The group had been sitting with the animals now for at least an hour, but not a single one of them had approached their owner yet. Todoroki was beyond anxious to find out if the sheep sleeping in front of him was his soul animal or not.

Looking around the circle, Todoroki could tell many of his classmates felt the same as he did. Bouncing their knee, biting their nails, patience was beginning to dwindle.

15 minutes later it happened. The Pomeranian, looking as mad as ever, was clearly as tired of waiting as the rest of them. The Pomeranian gave its loudest yip, accompanied by a small explosion, and ran across the circle diving straight into Kirishima’s lap.

“Oh my God!” Kirishima exclaimed, “This one is mine!” He held up the little Pomeranian for all to see, and the Pomeranian yipped, which was followed by another explosion.

All eyes turned to Bakugou.

“Dude, that is your soul representation, no doubt about it,” Kaminari said. Bakugou glared daggers at him.

“You’re saying my soul representation is a puny little Pomeranian!” Explosions went off in his hands. He was so distracted that he barely noticed something crawling into his lap. He looked down, ready to throw whatever creature had touched him, only to freeze at the sight of the red hedgehog. It clearly wasn’t bothered by Bakugou’s explosions, because it had used its quirk to harden itself.

Little red eyes stared up at Bakugou, Bakugou stared back.

“What I was trying to say,” Kaminari continued, “Is that this mean Kirishima is your soulmate!”

The hedgehogs little red nose twitched, but it didn’t look away from Bakugou. It had deactivated its quirk and looked as though it grew softer in Bakugou’s lap.

Bakugou silently, without breaking eye contact, reached down and pet the hedgehog’s quills. The quills looked stiff, probably not one of the softest things Bakugou had ever touched, but then the hedgehog stood and let Bakugou pet its underbelly. It looked much softer, and the hedgehog clearly enjoyed it.

Bakugou to the surprise of everyone, smiled. “I’ll call you… Quilton,” Everyone in the room froze.

“WHAT?!”

Bakugou scowled at them all but didn’t stop petting Quilton’s belly.

“What, do you have a problem with my name choice?”

“N-No Kacchan! It’s just…” Midoriya started.

“It’s such an unexpected name from you!” Yaoyorozu finished.

“Well deal with it!” Bakugou growled. “Quilton doesn’t need a weird name to help instill fear into the hearts of our enemies, he deserves a real name!”

Quiet murmurs followed Bakugou’s statement, but no one pushed the issue again.

“Well then,” Kirishima held up his Pomeranian, it made a few more explosions. “I’ll call you Bomber!”

“What?” Bakugou growled at him. Kirishima put Bomber back in his lap and put up his hands. “Hey, he’s mine. I get to name him whatever I want, and I decided his name is Bomber. It suits him.” Bomber only proved his point, by yipping and making more explosions.

Bakugou scoffed. “Tch… Whatever shitty hair,” that was the end of it. Everyone knew they would have to have a talk later about being soulmates, from the looks of all the soul animals, all lot of them would, but for now, Bakugou and Kirishima decided to focus on their new soul animals.

With two soul animals finally claimed, excitement filled the room again. The animals had clearly taken Quilton and Bomber’s claiming, as a sign that it was time to start finding their people as well. The first soul animal to act on it, was surprisingly the octopus.

They all watched mystified as the octopus pushed itself up on its tentacles and ran. Todoroki knew he had dropped his jaw open, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, besides, many of his classmates had their jaws dropped too. The octopus was running. RUNNING! He didn’t know octopi could do that!

The octopus’s run came to an end, when it ran into Tokoyami’s lap.

“Ah,” he said, just as mystified as the rest of them. Hesitantly he reached down and pet the octopus’s squishy head.

“I welcome you to the darkness my brethren. I shall call you Kraken,” Kraken didn’t make a sound, but he did stare Tokoyami in the eye. Tokoyami shook his head “What a mad banquet of darkness,” The octopus once again didn’t make any noise, Todoroki didn’t even know if Octopi could make noise, but it did wrap a tentacle around Tokoyami’s wrist. Todoroki was pretty sure that meant Kraken was agreeing with him.

The next soul animal to approach their owner, was the adorable pig. It got up from where it had been sleeping earlier and sniffed around the circle, walking around it three whole times, before finally coming to a stop in front of Sato. Then it slowly walked up to him, until it met Sato’s cautiously outstretched hand.

From there, the pink pig let out a small “Oink!” and jumped into Sato’s lap. Sato pet the pig with a large smile on his face, and the pig squealed in laughter.

“I’ll call you… Pigelope.”

Laughter erupted around the room.

“Pigelope!” Jiro laughed, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “I wondered if you were going to go along the pun lines, but I didn’t expect that!”

“Yeah!” Kirishima said, still petting Bomber in his lap. “I thought you would choose something more like Porky or Bacon.”

Sato gasped, scandalized, and put his hands over Pigelope’s ears. “How could say that? Pigelope doesn’t deserve that! She is my soul animal, not food!”

“Friend, not food,” Hagakure said. Todoroki didn’t get it, but the others began laughing.

Sato snorted, but held strong. “That’s right, friend not food. I won’t have you implying that she is going to be eaten!”

“Alright, alright!” Kirishima put his hands up in surrender.

“Still, Pigelope is a pretty good name!” Uraraka laughed. Then abruptly stopped when a frog landed on her head. Uraraka’s eyes went wide, and she froze. A new wave of laughter roared through the room, and Todoroki noticed that Asui had frozen much like Uraraka. Before Uraraka got a chance to do anything, Asui let out a shocked ribbit, the floating sugar glider landed on her arm.

Uraraka and Asui looked at each other and smiled. Uraraka gently took the frog off her head, it sat on one hand and with her other hand she gently tapped the frog’s shoulders. “I dub thee… Ribbette.”

Asui laughed and did the same with her sugar glider. “I dub thee… Bubble.”

Both girls laughed, and Todoroki couldn’t help the small smile that snuck onto his face. The girls were happy, they had clearly gotten the soul animals they were hoping they’d get, and a little more selfishly, he was glad Uraraka was out of the running for the sheep. She was one of the ones Todoroki thought would be most likely to have the sheep as their soul animal.

Now six soul animals had been claimed, leaving fourteen without soul animals. There were thirteen people who the sheep could belong to. Watching the sleeping sheep and deer, he hoped the sheep would eventually come to him.

Make that thirteen without soul animals. The raven had just landed on Shouji’s shoulder.

“Ingram,” he said. “I’ll call him Ingram,” With a caw from the raven, it was finalized.

Shouji and Tokoyami then, Todoroki thought. They had to be soulmates, and from the looks of it, they both knew, and were just choosing to ignore it for the time being.

The blue sunk was next to approach their owner. While it had been very happy to play with the other soul animals, its approach to its owner was very slow, nervous, and shaky. It paused in front of Sero but wouldn’t get any closer to him.

Sero smiled and leaned down toward the sunk, but didn’t try to touch it, instead leaving his hand out in front of him for the skunk to see.

“Hey there little one,” he said, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sero.” The little skunk didn’t try to move any closer to Sero, but didn’t move away either, instead just shaking nervously while observing him.

Todoroki didn’t know Sero could be as calm as he was acting right now. He had always been loud, and loved playing pranks with Kaminari and Ashido, but now he was acting so calm with the nervous skunk. Which was good, a scared skunk was a bad thing, they tended to stink places up.

Which is why Todoroki was startled when then sunk released a blue gas that quickly spread through the room. He expected a terrible smell, or maybe for his eyes to start tearing up from the gas, instead he was met with the smell of daffodils, and was overcome with the feeling of anxious excitement.

The feeling was already there of course, how could it not be, when he was about to get his soul animal and find out if Midoriya was his soulmate? But the blue gas sent a new rush of the emotion through him, he could feel himself beginning to shake with it. The others around the room were shaking to, both soul animals and his classmates. Even the ones who had already gotten their soul animal, and had nothing to worry about, were shaking.

In front of Todoroki, the sheep and deer were awoken from their sleep, shaking with emotion as well, they cuddled closer in an attempt to calm down. Watching them together made Todoroki’s heart melt, but the anxious excitement did not go away. Please… Please, let me have that with Midoriya.

“W-What was that?” Ashido exclaimed still shaking.

“I-I don’t know. I-It must have been the skunks quirk,” Sero replied. The skunk had finally touched Sero’s hand, and was now hiding, shivering, in his lap. Eyes turned to Midoriya, the local quirk expert.

Midoriya trembled a bit more under all their eyes. “U-Uh… Y-Yeah… I-It looks like an e-emotion quirk. The gas emitted from the skunk h-has an effect on the emotions of the ones who smell it. B-But the question is, can it only induce onto others the emotion it is feeling at that moment, or can it make others feel any emotion regardless of its own emotions? A-And how strong can the effect be? How long does it last? Are the effects different on people who are already feeling the emotion or not?”

Midoriya began to lose himself in mutterings about the skunk’s quirk, and in the process, Midoriya’s shaking had stopped. Todoroki smiled a bit, he found Midoriya’s ramblings endearing, and interesting to listen to. Something he knew not many others did.

“Alright man, that’s good for now. Thanks,” Sero said, interrupting Midoriya.

“Oh…” Midoriya broke away from his mutterings and blushed, rubbing the back of his head. “Uh- Yeah, y-your welcome.”

Sero smiled widely. “Alright then…” He flipped the skunk over in his lap quickly, before returning it to its original position. “…girl, I’ll name you Flora.” Todoroki couldn’t see the sunk very well from where it was hiding in Sero’s lap, but he did hear the small squeak she made at the name.

After the whole emotion inducing quirk, the animals became too nervous to approach, and it once again became a waiting game. The soul animals who had already been claimed did not leave their new owners, almost as if they were worried they wouldn’t be able to find their owner again.

“It’s unfortunate, but I think the rest of the soul animals are too nervous to approach us after the use of Flora’s quirk,” Iida said.

Sero grimaced, still petting Flora from where she was in his lap. “Sorry about that guys…”

Yaoyorozu sighed. “It’s alright, she was just nervous. She was fine with the other animals before though, so I think she is probably outgoing with people she knows but gets really nervous with anyone new.”

Sero nodded. Iida clapped his hands to get the others attention. “Well, whatever the case may be, I do not think the animals will be approaching any of us for a while, so I propose we use this opportunity to take a break and make lunch.”

“Wait, lunch!” Hagakure exclaimed. “It’s already time for lunch?”

Todoroki pulled out his phone to look at the time, and sure enough it was a bit passed noon. They had been with the soul animals for a whole 2 hours already.

“How about I whip something up then, and when we’re done eating, we can get back to this? Hopefully by then the animals will feel comfortable again.” Sato said, getting up off the floor and beginning to walk to the kitchen. Pigelope followed after him.

“I’ll help.” Koda signed.

“I’ll help to!”

“So will I!”

“Me four!”

Soon enough a whole group had taken over the kitchen. Todoroki stood and stretched, his muscles had gotten sore with how long he had been sitting there. Midoriya walked over to him.

“So, what do you think Todoroki?” He asked.

Todoroki raised a brow. “Think about what?”

Midoriya fiddled with his hair. “Well, all the soul animals! I’ve never heard of something like this happening before! Normally they come by themselves to the person they belong to and approach them pretty quickly. Having this many soul animals show up at the same time is… unheard of!”

They watched as the Cocker Spaniel and wolf began to play tug-of-war again. The otter was chasing after the monkey, and the owl was sitting on the pony’s back while it trotted around the room with the jaguar.

While the other animals were interesting, Todoroki’s eyes kept returning to the deer and the sheep. They were finally done sleeping and were stretching, much like Todoroki and Midoriya were now. The two then trotted off together to go play with the other animals.

“They must be good friends huh?” Midoriya said, surprising Todoroki a bit. He turned to Midoriya, but he was watching the deer and sheep play with the other animals, an unreadable expression of his face.

“Yeah,” Todoroki replied.

Midoriya smiled and turned to him. “I never thought your soul representation would be a deer, but seeing it now, I don’t know how I could have thought it would be anything else.” Todoroki smiled.

“And yours is a sheep. He’s adorable… It suits you,” Both of them flushed red and looked away from each other.

“Yeah well-” Whatever he was about to say, was cut off by Iida yelling from the kitchen.

“Midoriya! Could you do the salad?”

“Oh-Uh sure!” Then he was gone, off to the kitchen.

Todoroki sighed and sat back on the floor, because the couches and chairs were still pushed up against the wall and pulled out his phone. He began flipping through some articles about soul animals, he knew little about them, so he might as well read up a bit on them, he would have his by the end of the day after all.

He was halfway through his second article, when Yaoyorozu sat down next to him. She sighed, and Todoroki put his phone down.

“You hoping the wolf will be yours?” He asked. Yaoyorozu flushed red, but still nodded.

“Well, if it’s any constellation,” he said, “I’m fairly certain Jiro is hoping for the Cocker Spaniel. She’s been staring at it since it used your quirk,” Yaoyorozu flushed even darker.

“Oh, like you have any place to talk. Everyone noticed you eyeing that sheep. And Midoriya isn’t exactly being subtle about watching the deer either,” It was Todoroki’s turn to flush red.

“What? No… Midoriya doesn’t…” he sighed, “I’m really that obvious?” Yaoyorozu laughed and nodded.

“Well, then lets both hope we get the soul animal we want.”

For the rest of the time, the two sat talking about what they knew of soul animals, which was surprisingly little on both ends considering how big a part of society they were. The reason Todoroki knew so little, was because Endeavor saw no point in them. He wasn’t allowed to talk to his siblings, and his mother, the only one who could tell him about them, was in the hospital.

He had never met his mom’s soul animal, her soulmate had died before his mom could get her soul animal, so it just never appeared. His father’s soul animal on the other hand, was a blue crane that was completely aloof to people and was no use in combat. Endeavor didn’t care about his soulmate, as seen when he forced a quirk marriage with Todoroki’s mom, and he didn’t care about his soul animal because it couldn’t help him beat All Might.

Todoroki thought it was lucky that his father’s crane seemed to care just as much about Endeavor, as Endeavor did about the crane. At some point Endeavor had a garden and pond installed in their backyard, and the crane was free to come and go as it pleased. The saddest part, Todoroki thought, was that despite knowing about and seeing the bird for years, he didn’t know its name, if it even had a name beyond Crane.

Yaoyorozu on the other hand, Todoroki knew had a very sheltered life. She was completely homeschooled before UA, so the topic of soul animals had just never come up much.

A little while later, food was finished, and they all ate quickly so they could get back to the soul animals. Only the ones who already had theirs were relaxed, but even they were anxious to see who each animal belonged to.

When the food was eaten, and the table was cleared Iida chopped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Now it is time for us to see if the soul animals are ready to continue. We should make a circle around them again, though thankfully during our time away they still stayed in the area.”

Iida had his hands out in front of him, waving them up and down like he always did when he spoke.

“Remember that you should not approach the animal, the animal should approach-”

The pink owl landed on one of Iida’s stretched out arms. The owl stared, Iida stared back.

“Whoo Whoo!” The owl said.

“Uh… I think that means they’re ready,” Ojiro said. The owl turned its head in a 180 to look Ojiro in the eye and hooted.

“Y-Yeah,” Iida agreed, a bit in shock. The owl turned back to him and hooted again.

“O-Oh, right… you need a name. How about Dr. Whoo?”

“Whoo?” The owl asked tilting its head. Everyone laughed.

“I didn’t expect you to give a name like that!” Uraraka laughed.

“Dr. Whoo is a sophisticated name for an owl!” Iida argued, careful not to move his arms like normal. “During my search for owl names, that is the one I liked-”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Shinsou smiled. “When did you have time to search for owl names, or even know that your soul animal was going to be an owl?” Iida flushed.

“W-Well I didn’t know I was going to have an owl. I was just being prepared. I have a name for every single animal you can think of so that way, when the time came, I would have no trouble finding a name, as I would already have one.”

They all stared at him.

“Iida…” Midoriya started.

“That’s so you!” Uraraka finished, and began laughing, Ribbette seeming to croak in laughter with her from where she was sitting on Uraraka’s head.

Iida sighed, giving in to the fact that what he did was a little strange.

“Well, no matter!” He started again. “Dr. Whoo coming to me lets us know that the animals are ready to start approaching us again.”

Not wanting to wait any longer, Todoroki and the others moved to once again sit in a circle around the soul animals that had yet to be claimed. Almost as soon as they had all sat down they heard a chirp from where Ojiro was sitting. Todoroki noticed Ojiro was crossing his fingers, then his tail twitched, and he smiled.

He moved his tail in front of him and smiled at it. There was nothing on it, or at least it didn’t seem like it until they heard the chirping. The invisible bird must have landed on his tail.

“How about Kiko?” He said and began petting the space on top of his tail. Todoroki knew he was petting Kiko but is looked strange.

The bird chirped happily in response.

“Kiko it is,” Ojiro smiled.

A few seconds later the yellow monkey had approached Hagakure. She squealed in delight as the monkey came up to her, and the moment it touched her knee Hagakure scooped up the monkey in a hug.

“Oh what is a good name for you?” She asked out loud. She put the monkey down and went silent. Todoroki couldn’t see her face, but he imagined she was staring at the monkey intensely.

“Oh! I got it. Your name will be Abu!” Abu clapped his hands and climbed onto Hakagure’s shoulders.

Hagakure and Ojiro were both clearly ecstatic that they got each other’s soul representations. Now if Todoroki could just get the sheep…

The blonde raccoon, clearly tired of not having the spotlight on it, squeaked loudly to get everyone’s attention. Only once it had everyone’s attention, did it begin walking toward its owner. It walked with its head stuck up high in the air, like it was better than all the other animals.

It walked all the way over to Aoyama and prepared to sit on his lap like a throne, however it clearly didn’t go to plan, as the second the raccoon touch Aoyama, he scooped it up and squeezed it.

“Ah, la vache!” Aoyama rubbed his face to the raccoons, the raccoon didn’t seem very pleased by this and looked very relieved when Aoyama set it down in front of him.

“Now what do I name you? How about sparkle?” The raccoon squealed in indignation. Todoroki would have been surprised by this if it hadn’t been for the article he had just read. Apparently soul animals were much smarter than normal animals and often times were able to understand and respond to what people said. The raccoon clearly hated Aoyama’s name suggestion.

“What about shine?” The raccoon shook its head rapidly again.

“Croissant? Shimmer? Souffle? Heureux? Amoureux? Glow?” Name after name the raccoon shook its head defiantly. Aoyama was beginning to get discouraged.

“I’ve used up all my names… You are quite the stubborn raccoon,” Or it just doesn’t want a stupid name or one that’s in French, Todoroki thought.

“You’re going to be quite trou-” Aoyama paused and looked at the raccoon, a glimmer in his eye.

“Rififi. Your name will be Rififi.” The raccoon began to shake its head again only to pause and nod. Aoyama laughed. “Rififi it is then, just so you know, that translates to trouble in French.” Rififi squeaked in outrage, but it was too late, once a soul animal accepts a name, it cannot be changed. Everyone laughed that name seemed to already fit the raccoon, and Todoroki couldn’t help but wonder about the person it represents.

In the middle of the circle the sheep was starring very intently at the wolf who was whimpering and shaking its head. The sheep baaed, it was almost as if they were having a conversation. The deer just watched from where it was lying down as they conversed, then the Cocker Spaniel came up to the wolf and brushed its head against its flank.

The wolf looked down at the Cocker Spaniel, they starred at each other for a moment before the Cocker Spaniel finally let out a “yip!” The wolf put its head to the Cocker Spaniel for a moment, then turned and began making its way to the edge of the circle.

Todoroki saw both Jiro and Yaoyorozu tense up. The wolf was making its way in their direction. He hid a small smile, he already knew where the wolf was going. It didn’t take very long for the wolf to reach its destination. It stood in front of Yaoyorozu, who was staring at it with wide eyes, trembling like a leaf. The wolf looked just as nervous, but instead of touching its owner like all the others had it bowed its head and waited for Yaoyorozu to touch it instead.

Yaoyorozu reached out her hand very hesitantly, but when the wolf didn’t move, she finally touch the wolfs head. They stayed like that for a moment, neither one moving.

“Sakata,” Yaoyorozu said abruptly. The wolf jumped a little and looked up at her. She flushed a bit but kept her confidence.

“Your name…. It will be Sakata,” Sakata barked and licked Yaoyorozu’s face. She laughed.

“I take it you like the name?” She barked in agreement.

“Okay! Okay! Sakata settle down!” she laughed. Sakata followed the command and backed off and lie down with her head resting in Yaoyorozu’s lap. Yaoyorozu smiled and pet Sakata’s head, not so subtly looking at Jiro, who was blushing at the sight of them.

The Cocker Spaniel watched as this all happened, and once Sakata had been claimed and calmed down, it began making its way toward Jiro. She was quick to spot the Cocker Spaniel’s movement and blushed heavily, but held out her hand anyway.

The Cocker Spaniel looked at Jiro nervously for a second, before placing its snout against her hand. Jiro smiled and pet the dogs head, it licked her wrist.

“If you like it, I think you should be named Kainaat,” Yaoyorozu blushed at the name. The Cocker Spaniel yipped in delight, and it was set in stone.

Jiro and Yaoyorozu shared a smile and scoot themselves closer to each other until they were side by side. Blushing, they held each other’s hands and watched Sakata and Kainaat curl up together in front of them.

Six animals remained inside the circle. The pink jaguar with horns, the otter, the yellow electric mouse, the pony, the deer, and of course, the sheep.

Of his classmates left without soul animals, (Ashido, Shinsou, Kaminari, Koda, Midoriya, and himself) Todoroki thought the most likely to get the sheep would be Shinsou. He and Midoriya were close friends, right? They could easily become more, or maybe they already were more and hadn’t told anyone. Or they both liked each other, but just hadn’t gotten the courage to confess, but getting each other’s soul representations would put their fears to rest and they would get together and Todoroki would have to watch them be all lovey dovey and eventually he would have to watch them get married-

His fears were immediately put to rest when the otter crawled into Shinsou’s lap and lay down on his leg. Todoroki let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and caught Yaoyorozu smirking at him out of the corner of his eye. She shook her head at him, and Todoroki quickly looked at his lap and tried to will away the blush that was creeping onto his face.

“An otter huh?” Shinsou said, petting it softly. “I’ve never thought of otter names before, and you look like a normal otter so how about… Ottermon Empire…”

Midoriya snorted. “Shinsou… why…” He laughed.

Shinsou looked at him blankly. “It was the first name I thought of,” The others around the room laughed. The otter snuggled up to Shinsou happily, content with the name.

“Well it’s too late now! Ottermon Empire has accepted his name!” Uraraka said.

Todoroki looked at the remaining animals and an epiphany hit him. The deer was his soul representation, the sheep Midoriya’s, the mouse Kaminari’s, and the jaguar Ashido’s. The pony was the only outlier, it was not a soul representation of anyone in the room. That meant it couldn’t be his soul animal, in fact there was only one person it could belong to.

He was proven right seconds later when the pony approached Koda.

Koda smiled widely and the pony nudged his hand, he immediately began petting it. “Hi, my name is Koda.”

That was the most Todoroki had ever heard him say, and he was suddenly overcome with the feeling of jealousy. The soul animals were smart and would be able to understand almost everything he and his classmates said, but they would never be able to respond back, not in words at least. But Koda, he had the perfect quirk for soul animals, he could talk to all of them, even have full blown conversations! Todoroki would love to be able to talk to the sheep… if it turns out to be his soul animal.

“Do you have a name you want me to call you?”

The pony shook its head.

“Okay then how about…” He paused to think for a second, “Snickers?”

The pony flicked its tail.

“Okay, you want something sweet but not that one?” It blinked.

“Custard?” It shook its head.

“Sugar?” It snorted.

“Honey?” The pony stared at Koda.

“Close but not quite right. Then Honey…dew. Honeydew.”

The pony whinnied, Koda smiled. “Honeydew it is.”

Honeydew laid down and placed her head in Koda’s lap. He began running his fingers through her mane.

Todoroki turned his attention back to the four animals left in the middle. His heart began to pound harder in his chest. This was it, the next animal to go to their person would determine who the other three were going to go to.

There was still a possibility he could be Kaminari or Ashido’s soul mate, he cringed at the thought. It’s not that he had anything against either of them, but they were just… too much. They were loud and a bit crazy. They did stupid things sometimes that made Todoroki want to scream. Kaminari put a fork in the wall socket last week effectively electrifying himself, and somehow short circuiting the whole building. They were without power for a full two days. Ashido had dared him to do it.

They were constantly pulling pranks with Sero, which quickly got on his nerves. It was annoying to make your tea in the morning only to realize the sugar had been replaced with salt. They had pulled a prank on Midoriya, putting dye in his soap making his skin blue. He had come to Todoroki crying, and he would have gone on a murder spree if Midoriya hadn’t talked him down. When the three had found out what their prank had done, they apologized profusely and luckily it only took a good two washings to get it off.

The one-time Todoroki had been on the receiving end of one their pranks… well they’ve been extra careful to avoid pranking him since.

So yes, the thought of getting either of them as his soulmate was not a pleasing one.

The mouse was lying on top of the jaguar, and the sheep and deer were lying together again, though they were watching everyone now instead of sleeping.

The mouse abruptly sat up and squeaked. Lighting crackled across its whiskers. It hopped off the jaguar and began running along the edge of the circle.

Todoroki held his breath. All eyes were trained on the mouse as it skittered around. The pounding in his ears was so loud it was like a drum.

Come on… Come on… He begged for the little mouse to go to Ashido.

The mouse raced past him, past Midoriya…

Todoroki’s eyes were wide and his breath caught in in throat.

The mouse jumped into Ashido’s lap.

Shivers ran up and down Todoroki’s body and he looked at the sheep. It was staring right at him.

“Yes!” Ashido exclaimed. “I’m gonna call you Pikachu!”

“You can’t do that!” Iida yelled. “Hero’s often use their soul animals in their work, think of the copyright infringement!”

Ashido scoffed. “It’s an electric mouse Iida! There is only one name for an electric mouse! Plus, look, he already accepted the name anyway, it’s too late to change it.”

Todoroki’s eye’s never left the sheep. The sheep was his and that meant…

“Yes! The jaguar’s mine!” Kaminari yelled. “I’m gonna call you Alien Queen!”

“Oh my God, yes! The name will live on!” Ashido squealed.

There was a pause.

“Wait this means…”

“We’re soulmates!”

They high-fived and their classmates began congratulating them. Todoroki barely heard any of it, his eyes were still on the sheep.

Todoroki breathed shakily; his entire body was trembling.

He watched as the sheep got up, leaving the deer behind and began making its way toward him.

His heart was pounding so hard it almost hurt. The sheep stopped in front of him, it was staring deep into his eyes. Todoroki raised a hand toward it, his hand was trembling so hard he could barely control it.

The sheep baaed and met his hand with its head. The world around Todoroki froze. The sheep was his.

The emotions welling up in him were too much for his emotionally stunted brain to handle. In seconds tears were pooling in his eyes, almost instantly spilling over, and he was smiling so widely it hurt. He didn’t think he had ever smiled like that before.

He pulled the sheep into a hug, burying his face in its green wool and- oh god it was the softest thing he had ever touched. And it was so warm and comforting, and the sheep was his and no one else’s, and this sheep was Midoriya’s soul representation which meant Midoriya was his soulmate!

Midoriya was his soulmate, his wish had come true, and it was the first time he had gotten what he wanted so desperately and-

He pulled back to look at the sheep again. It looked him in the eye, it almost looked like it was smiling. It baaed and started licking the happy tears off his face. Todoroki laughed. Its tongue tickled, and it licked him relentlessly. It didn’t stop until he managed to bury his face in its soft wool again.

Todoroki felt like a weight he never knew was there was lifted off his shoulders. He would never again have to worry about who he would end up with in the future. If he would like them or if they would like him. He wouldn’t have to worry about Endeavor forcing him into a relationship he didn’t want just so he can have powerful offspring, because his soulmate didn’t want to be with him. Midoriya liked him, he knew he did, even if it didn’t turn out to be in the same way Todoroki liked him. Midoriya would stay with him if he thought that would keep him safe from Endeavor.

Endeavor wouldn’t be able to get to him in that way, because there are certain things even he had to comply to. Breaking apart soulmates was against the law and taboo. Endeavor would have to bow to it. Todoroki would never be forced to be with someone he didn’t want.

He sniffed into the sheep’s wool, his tears and laughter finally dying down. The sheep was rubbing its head against him comfortingly. His smile never left him. The sheep was too good for him.

“Todoroki.”

He looked up to see Yaoyorozu staring at him. In fact, everyone was staring him. His mind came to a screeching halt as he thought over everything he had just done.

“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” Hagakure whispered to Ashido, who eagerly agreed. He looked over at Midoriya who was staring at him wide eyed, face completely red.

Midoriya had seen all of that.

His face was suddenly burning.

“Todoroki you’re on fire!” Yaoyorozu yelled.

He slapped his right hand onto his head, a mound of ice already in hand. He heard the hiss of the ice as it put out the fire, but no amount of ice could put out the heat in his face.

He looked to Yaoyorozu, one of her hands was holding up her phone and the other doing a poor job of containing her laughter.

“You’re so red,” She laughed.

Todoroki groaned and buried his face back in the sheep’s wool. His face burned more at the laughter of his classmates.

“Todoroki!” Iida called, “you need to give the sheep a name.”

He sat up just enough to look at Midoriya, who’s blush had yet to fade. He barely had to think about what to name the sheep.

“Hero… I’ll call him Hero.”

Just like that the classes laughter turned to awes and coos. Midoriya’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. The sheep baaed accepting its name.

Midoriya looked away from him only to be greeted by the deer standing in front of him. The deer mewled and licked Midoriya’s face where tears were beginning to stream down, just like they had for Todoroki.

“Hey there,” Midoriya said, a large smile stretched on his face. He reached out and pet the deer.

“Would you like to be called Snow Fall?” The deer mewled and licked his face again. Midoriya laughed.

“I’m glad you like it!”

“And done,” Yaoyorozu said, pressing something on her phone.

“Done with what?” Kirishima asked.

“Oh nothing, just recording Todoroki and Midoriya’s reactions.”

Todoroki and Midoriya looked at each other, they both went red. Dings went off around the room.

“And I sent it to everyone,” Todoroki willed himself not to catch fire again.

Iida clapped his hands together. “Well now that all the soul animals have been claimed, I suggest we all take a bit to talk and get to know our soul animals a bit. I will start moving all the furniture back. Can we all meet back here in thirty minutes?”

Everyone agreed and soon enough the newly deemed soulmates were pairing off to talk. Iida and a few of the others that didn’t need to talk to their soulmates, began moving all the furniture back to normal.

“Todoroki, can we go talk in your room?” Midoriya asked shyly, Snow Fall standing right next to him. Todoroki nodded wordlessly and let Midoriya pull him up. The walk to his room was quiet, though Todoroki did find it amusing how Snow Fall and Hero were walking right behind them. It was something new that he would have to get used to.

Only once all four of them were safely inside Todoroki’s room, did they finally talk.

“Um… I-I’ve never seen you smile or laugh like that before Todoroki,” Midoriya’s face was red again.

Todoroki blushed. “Well… I was kind of overwhelmed.”

Midoriya smiled, “I could tell.”

They stared at each other in silence for a minute, unsure of what to say. Hero nudged Todoroki’s hand.

“Um… Like I said, I was overwhelmed because… I’m glad you’re my soulmate… I was kind of hoping you would be…” Todoroki was red by the end and so was Midoriya.

“I like you Todoroki!” Midoriya shouted.

Todoroki looked at him wide eyed. “You-”

“I was kind of hoping that you liked me too after seeing how you acted when you got Hero. And I-”

“I do.”

 Midoriya paused. “You do?”

Todoroki nodded. “I’ve liked you since the Hosu incident.”

Midoriya gasped. “That long?” Todoroki bit his lip and nodded.

Midoriya laughed, “me too.”

“What?”

“Me too,” he repeated and then they both were laughing.

“We’re so stupid!” Todoroki said between laughs.

“We could have been together this whole time!” Midoriya exclaimed.

When their laughter finally died down, Todoroki looked at Hero, he had an idea.

“Hey Midoriya, I need to do something before we meet back up with everyone else.”

Midoriya smiled and nodded. “Okay that’s fine, I need to get to know Snow Fall better anyway. But um… before I go… we are dating now, right?”

Before he had a chance to react, Todoroki leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Midoriya’s lips.

“Yes.” Todoroki said, they were both red again.

“Oh, Okay… good!” He looked to Snow Fall. “Come on,” He said before turning back to Todoroki. “Um… I’ll see you in a bit, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled and turned to go. Snow Fall clearly did not want to leave Hero, but with some nudging from Midoriya he finally went, he didn’t want under any circumstances to be parted from his person.

Hero clearly did not like that Snow Fall left him either and began cuddling up to Todoroki. He smiled and pet his fluffy head, he still couldn’t get over how soft it was. He thought he knew how he could cheer Hero up. Together they made their way to Yaoyorozu’s room.

Fifteen minutes later everyone was gathered back in the common room. Hero and Snow Fall immediately found each other in the group, much like the other soul animal pairings. From the moment Hero entered the room, he began eliciting laughter from the others.

“Oh my God, Hero’s so cute!”

“Nice!”

“What a cute idea!”

“And he really seems to like them.”

“What? What is it?” Midoriya asked when he noticed the laughter. Shouji pointed to Hero and Midoriya went red.

“Todoroki!” Hero was walking around sporting brand new bright red shoes that fit perfectly onto his hooves. They looked exactly like Midoriya’s custom made ones.

Another round of laughter filtered through the room. Only once it died down did Iida call for everyone’s attention.

“Alright, in light of the situation, I called Aizawa-sensei. We will all be needing to go to the soul animal store to get things, he should be here any minute.”

Right on que Aizawa entered the building.

“Iida, why did you call me he-” The words died on his throat as he looked out at all of his students and their new soul animals. He let out a very long, very tired sigh.

“I see… and I assume you all need to go to the soul animal store now…” They all nodded.

Aizawa nodded again. “Alright, I’ll have to get another teacher then so we can take two buses. Your soul animals won’t leave your side yet, especially with them all being so new. It would be too much to take you all in one. I’ll go find another teacher and be ba-”

He stopped talking when his eyes landed on Hero and his bright red shoes. He pinched his nose and breathed deeply. Todoroki was pretty sure he heard him say something about now having to deal with trouble sheep as well.

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, make sure you’re all ready to go by then,” Then Aizawa walked out the door. The room broke out into laughter.