~ M H A • O N E S H O T S ~

💨💨InaTodo❤️🤍

Requested By:kuma_kage

Shoto swears the ringing in his ears is Inasa Yoarashi's fault.

It only adds the burning heat in his veins, scowl deepening when his father picks him up from the recommendation test.

"How did you do?"

"I don't know."

Beside him, Endeavor lets out a low grunt of disapproval.

"You should know. That's your future."

Shoto doesn't bother to reply, still staring out the car window as the driver takes them home. He doesn't want to think about the future; not when his father makes it seem like a chore. Nothing is comforting about meeting a soulmate and going down his father's path. Fate seems stifling and unnecessary, fists clenched so tightly in frustration he swears he'll spark a flame.

When he looks down at his white-knuckled fists, the faint outline of loose curves forms a brand on his inner wrist.

A soulmate mark, he thinks belatedly, too shocked to say anything.

Endeavor doesn't notice it over his lecturing; something about more training, but Shoto's tunes it out over the dread that fills him.

This doesn't feel like a joyous occasion. It feels like a prison sentence.

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"Inasa?"

"Huh?" He turns to his mother, shoulders still slumped in defeat over Shoto Todoroki's cold attitude. The boy barely reaches his shoulders, but those sharp eyes cut deep. It stings the extraverted part of Inasa that yearns for friendliness, too pure for his own good.

"Honey, your wrist!"

Inasa's confused hum turns into a squawk of surprise, following his mother's line of sight to the faint outline of a snowflake. It's all he can make out, desperately trying to pull his skin to make the image clearer.

"Inasa, don't do that, it'll irritate your skin. Your soulmate must be too far away for it to be clear."

Soulmate. It's a word Inasa's been excited about since he heard it in preschool. Dashing fairytales of fateful romances and exciting first meetings have left him starry-eyed and hopeful. Even now, when most boys detest relationships, Inasa fondly smiles over the faint outline.

"Does that mean I met them somehow?"

"You must have crossed paths," His mother reassures with a smile. "How exciting! They must want to be a hero too."

"A hero..." Inasa repeats, daydreaming of standing alongside someone who also wants to protect, to make the world a much brighter place in their own way.

In comparison, Shoto Todoroki doesn't seem so important anymore.

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Friends shouldn't be this overbearing, Shoto thinks. Inasa keeps asking him about his favorite color, what his favorite movie is, and how Shoto likes the weather. They're total opposites, the difference only made more painfully obvious when Inasa's excited shouts leave Shoto exhausted.

His shoulders sag with every question, quietly muttering, "Don't force it," when Inasa swears they'll become best friends. It's no use when all he gets is a low laugh. Inasa brightens, more enthused by Shoto's introverted streak, each interaction only making Shoto curl further and further into his shell.