Work Text:
This world has always had the concept of communication with your fated soulmate by writing on your skin.
It was simple enough. Whatever you write on your skin shows up on your soulmate, exactly at the location where you wrote it. For example, if you write it on your right wrist, it will show up on your soulmate's right wrist.
Now, nobody knew how exactly two people are designated as soulmates. It was completely random. Fated, as some would say.
It was, of course, easy enough to find your soulmate, as one would expect. After all, one can start writing to theirs as soon as they learn how to read and write. Sometimes, paired soulmates live thousands of miles apart. But they can also be neighbour. It was fate; who knows how it works honestly?
Once you meet your soulmate, there's no rule as to what happens next. It's common practice to be romantically involved with your soulmate, but some choose not to do so, opting to find someone they actually love instead. Most people just end up falling in love with their fated person anyway.
One random day, the topic of soulmates was brought up amongst Armed Detective Agency members.
It was Kenji who first mentioned it, a part of his usual musings, "I wonder if everyone has a soulmate? Could there be someone who doesn't have one?"
Kunikida, who was writing in his journal nearby, looked up, "Studies show that 95% of the population have confirmed soulmates. As for the other 5%, it is theorized that their soulmates just choose not to respond. Or maybe the inked part of their skin is covered, and they fail to see it."
Tanizaki asked curiously, "How long do the inked soul messages last?"
Kunikida shrugged in response, "An hour, maximum."
Yosano raised her eyebrows at the ginger male, "You've never talked to your soulmate?"
Tanizaki shook his head, "Not really. I didn't feel the need to reach out, and they didn't either. Why, have you, Yosano-sensei?"
Yosano stared off into space for a second, deep in thought, before facing her co-worker again and responding with a light laugh, "I have. Don't ask who it is; I'm not gonna tell you."
Ranpo, bored of the book he was reading, decided to join the conversation, "Lame! Well I'll have you know that I've spoken to mine and we've decided to remain anonymous to each other for the time being. It's, of course, so I can continue to work here with no unnecessary hassles."
Kenji nodded sagely, "I agree! I know a lot about mine, and we've met a few times too! She's from my village. But we chose to stay friends."
Yosano nodded at him in approval before turning to the idealist in the room, "Kunikida-kun, what about you?"
Kunikida simply pushed back his glasses, "I have chosen to avoid contact with them for four more years."
Yosano snorted, "Of course. I'm not even surprised. Atsushi, what about you?"
Atsushi, startled at being called up suddenly, replied hastily, "Oh! No, I haven't spoken to them. I tried to reach out but they never wrote anything back."
Before anybody could say anything else, Dazai, the great nuisance, walked into the room.
He took a look at the sight of all his co-workers assembled near Kenji's desk and grinned at them, "Good morning, fellow detectives. What are we talking about today?"
Kunikida muttered under his breath, "It's afternoon, you lazy bastard."
Of course, everybody ignored that. Atsushi proceeded to answer his mentor's question, "We're all talking about soulmates, Dazai-san."
Ranpo spoke in a bored tone, "Nobody here has pursued anything with their soulmate. Some haven't even met theirs. How lame."
Yosano reminded him, "You haven't pursued anything either."
Ranpo shot back with a flare of his hand, "And that's acceptable because I'm a great genius."
Tanizaki cleared his throat in question before an argument could break out, "Anyway. Dazai-san, have you met yours?"
Dazai offered them a secretive grin, "But of course."
Yosano's eyes widened, "Wait, seriously? What's the situation then? You can't be in a relationship with them, of course."
Dazai pretended to be offended, "How rude, Yosano-sensei! I am perfectly capable of being in a relationship, thank you very much."
Atsushi asked timidly, "I'm curious too; what's the situation with your soulmate then, Dazai-san?"
The bandaged detective raised a lingering finger to his lips, "Maybe I'll let you guys find out sometime."
And of course, that's how it all began. The five steps through which Dazai Osamu let his co-workers find about his soulmate, and exactly what kind of relationship he had with them.
1. constant contact
The first thing the Agency members found out about Dazai and his soulmate, was that they were in constant contact. Of course, they didn't figure it out or anything. Dazai just let them know about this little fact.
It started when, one day Kunikida was trying his best to lecture Dazai, and the latter was busy fiddling with something or the other. Eventually, he just fetched a marker and started writing something right above his wrist.
Of course, everyone gathered around him as soon as they realised what was happening. Dazai was sending a message to his soulmate! The detective actually wrote really neatly, in tiny, compact handwriting. It seemed that he was trying to fit everything in a small portion of his skin, right above his left wrist.
Of course, he had unwrapped the bandages on his arm a little to do so, which was a surprise in itself.
'I stubbed my toe on the office desk :('
That was all the message said at first. The reply came within seconds, on Dazai's right wrist. As the Agency members realised a little later, the tall detective had already unwrapped a portion of his bandages on his left wrist.
Between a group of detectives, they could make out two things. One, Dazai's soulmate was probably left-handed, considering they wrote a reply message on their right arm. And two, Dazai knew exactly where to expect the message.
'Good. I hope you hurt your nail on the office desk too <3'
'How rude!'
'Nothing you don't deserve, asshole.'
'Why do I put up with u, oh darling soulmate of mine'
'I would be very happy if you fucked off right now'
The conversation was quick and bizarre, to say the least. Everybody also couldn't help but notice how efficiently Dazai carried out the conversation. He rubbed off the message he had written on his left hand as soon as he got a reply on his right, and the soul message on his right hand disappeared as soon as he finished writing a message on his left.
He obviously had an established system of communication with his soulmate. As Atsushi noticed on taking a closer look, Dazai was using a special marker for his soulmate communication purposes. It was quick-removing marker; it disappeared if rubbed by a little water or acetone, for a cleaner effect.
Kunikida also noticed that this was the very marker that Dazai fiddled with constantly. He carried it everywhere. Now that Kunikida thought about it, Dazai always had that marker on him. Either in his hands, or tucked away in one of the pockets on his outfit.
This made one thing clear. He constantly contacted his soulmate. It had to mean that they were friends, at the very least.
A while later, Dazai stopped writing on his skin, his soulmate being the one to get the last word in. How Dazai knew that his next reply would remain undelivered, was a mystery nobody could figure out. But they all saw the lingering message on his left arm.
'Idiot we can actually text right now. This is stupid."
Ah okay, then. Dazai knew not to reply via soul message because him and his soulmate were switching to texting instead. Wait. What?! They were on texting terms?!!
2. regular meetings
The next thing Dazai let his co-workers know is that he actually met his soulmate in person pretty often than what they would expect.
Dazai was being forced to talk to Kunikida and Yosano about a mission. Apparently Tanizaki had managed to get hurt again, and this time they were suspecting foul play. If you ask Dazai, he thought it was probably just a harmless prank or something, but that's exactly why nobody asked him anything.
Seriously, how did Tanizaki get hurt so often? It didn't make any sense. Dazai had his money on sexual hazards, and he would easily admit it to anyone. A menace, that's what he was.
Anyway, Yosano was in the middle of giving a surgery report to Kunikida, when she stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes were trained on Dazai's right hand, specifically the back of his palm. Kunikida followed her line of sight, his eyes widening on reaching what his co-worker was looking at.
Dazai jerked up from his slouch and blinked, "What happened? Why'd you stop?"
Yosano pointed at his hand, "You have a soul message."
For a change, Dazai looked genuinely confused at receiving a soul message on the back of his hand. He murmured under his breath, not unheard by the other two in the room, "That's an unusual place for a message."
He tilted his hand so he could read the message; of course, this allowed Yosano and Kunikida to read over his shoulder as well. He wasn't making any effort to hide it, so it was clearly his way of allowing them to read the message. They wouldn't intrude on anybody like that otherwise, of course.
'When are you coming over for dinner? Also answer my texts damn it.'
Dazai quickly scribbled back a reply, "Usual time, right? 8?"
'K', came the curt reply.
This little soul message exchange was quick to give Kunikida and Yosano new information. Dazai really wasn't trying to be subtle, huh? It was going good for his co-workers, at least. If this continued, they'd soon find out about Dazai's soulmate and what kind of relationship they had. It was obvious that they knew each other, if nothing else.
One, Dazai met his soulmate for dinner often enough to have a 'usual time'. That was a clue big enough. Two, he went over to his soulmate's house for dinner. If nothing else, they at least had to be close friends!
After all, Dazai never visited anybody's house, no matter how many times he'd been invited. And Atsushi had invited him a few times, asking him to join him and Kyouka for a meal. Dazai had always smiled and said he'd join next time, but he never did.
So, if he was going to this person- his soulmate's- house, they were either very close even without their connection as soulmates, or Dazai really believed in soulmates. Somehow, nobody could see the latter being true.
So, the Agency members knew two things by now. Dazai was in constant contact with his soulmate, and they met in person for dinner rather frequently.
3. mutual hate?? love??
A few days later, the Agency came to the realisation that Dazai had the weirdest relationship with his soulmate.
The path to this realisation began when they watched Dazai declare a 'Prank Wars' on his soulmate on one fine day. He was in the office, but not doing anything as usual. He was simply lying on the couch with his book when he suddenly decided it would be fun to mess with his soulmate.
He trotted off to the bathroom and drew a moustache on his face. Of course, his co-workers were staring at him in confusion, and he proceeded to ignore them.
The acceptance of his challenge came in the form of a message written right across his forehead.
'You're on.'
For the next few hours, the Agency members watched as the exposed portion of Dazai's skin came to be incessantly covered in drawings. Some of them were random doodles, some were specific graffiti arts made specifically for his embarrassment and others looked somewhat cool, like tattoos.
Of course, Dazai kept drawing on himself too. Since his soulmate made no sign of removing any of their scribbles, he just drew right over him, making an absolute mess on his skin.
The Agency members also noticed how Dazai never rolled up any of his sleeves or bandages, in expectance of a soul message. It was as if his soulmate knew exactly which part of his skin was exposed, and they would make sure to write embarrassing shit on there. This continued throughout the first half of the day.
For example, when Dazai and the others were at Café Uzumaki, their usual waitress stopped while serving their food. Her eyes were fixed on his neck. Now, since Dazai wore a lot of bandages, he was used to stares from strangers.
But the waitress was supposed to be used to it by now. So that couldn't be it. The only other explanation was that a soul message had suddenly appeared. Sure enough, his colleagues snickered when they saw the message on his neck, and Naomi handed him her pocket mirror.
'Would you like to commit a double suicide with me, waitress-kun?~ No? UWAH HOW CRUEL'
Dazai couldn't help but crack a smile when he saw the message.
His co-workers, of course, were on high alert and noticed new details from this incident. For one, his soulmate knew that he would be at the restaurant right now. It was possible that Dazai had texted them, of course.
Two, they seemed to know Dazai's personality very well. It seemed like they could do a perfect in-person Dazai impression effortlessly, to be honest. Thirdly, the two of them seemed to have a rather playful sort of relationship.
Yosano was the one who spoke up first, "Your soulmate knows you pretty well, huh?"
Dazai hummed, "Yeah. We've known each other for years after all."
Kunikida raised his eyebrows, "Oh?"
Dazai simply smiled in affirmation before standing up and going to the bathroom. Everyone, of course, automatically assumed that he was going to scribble something on his body in response.
An hour later, when Dazai was once again laying on the couch, his face slowly came to be covered with doodles. Flowers, hearts, butterflies, you name it. It was even more hilarious, because the detective was too engrossed in his book to realise what was happening.
Atsushi, who happened to walk past him, stopped to stare just for a second. Of course, that was more than enough to alert his mentor.
Dazai looked up lazily, "Is something the matter?"
Atsushi pointed to the other's face, "Um. Your face is growing flowers and butterflies."
Dazai groaned as he brought out a mirror to check the damage, "God fucking damn it."
He then proceeded to scribble back a message in response on his left arm.
'I fucking hate you.'
The reply on his right arm came almost immediately.
'Don't worry, asshole. I hate you too.'
So uh? Dazai and his soulmate had mutual hate for each other? Is that what their relationship was? It didn't really make sense to Atsushi. If they hated each other, why did they constantly talk? Why did they meet for dinner?
Dazai and his soulmate contradicted their statements from before during the second half of the work day. All the Agency members were together in the office, when suddenly all the soul messages on Dazai's person began disappearing one after the other.
As expected, everyone stopped in their words to stare. Not impolitely, of course. Dazai got the memo soon enough, and pulled out his borrowed pocket mirror without asking anyone what was going on. It was pretty clear now, after all.
His hands noticeable stilled when he saw the soul messages disappearing, a frown playing on his lips immediately. He didn't bother writing out a message this time. He just brought out his cell phone and called someone, who everyone assumed to be his soulmate.
Dazai spoke softly as soon as the other person picked up after the second ring, "Hey. Everything okay?"
He spoke again after a minute or so, "Oh. Oh fuck. No yeah, I'll take care of it. Yeah. Jeez, don't worry. Yeah. It's fine."
Then he stopped talking for a bit, clearly allowing his soulmate to speak to him. Then he spoke one last time before hanging up the call, "Sure. See you later. Yep. Bye."
Yosano asked in soft concern, "Is everything okay?"
Dazai stood up, fetching his things, "Yeah. Everything's fine. Nothing too bad, at least. I'm gonna go now. See you guys later~"
Of course, he was already out of the office before Kunikida could realise that he was using his soulmate to skip out on work. But he let it slide just this once. After all, they did have new information. As it turned out, Dazai, the most manipulative schemer to ever exist, seemed to deeply care for this person.
They were close to the final reveal; it was a feeling everybody had.
4. dating, at the very least
It didn't take very long before the Agency members found out that Dazai was actually in a romantic relationship with his soulmate. And this time, it wasn't exactly Dazai who let them know. Or maybe it was. One could never tell with him.
He probably left out his phone on purpose, his soulmate's contact name changed in order to hide their identity from his co-workers. After all, who would save their soulmate, whom they have known for years, as 'Soulmate' in their contacts?
But that is what happened. Dazai had very conveniently left his phone out on his desk, face upwards. A text popped up from 'Soulmate' when Dazai was away from his desk, and most of co-workers were around it.
'Oi, Dazai. We're going to that wine exhibition I told u about tomorrow. Can you believe they are making it a couples-only event? This is actually really fucking stupid.'
Another text followed up that one.
'This is the only reason I'm in a rotten relationship with you anyway. So I can get into exclusive events like this.'
'Wait. WAIT. I THINK I FORGOT TO GET OUR PREMIUM TICKETS FOR THE EVENT'
'DAZAI I SWEAR TO GOD. WHERE THE FUCK DID U FUCK OFF TO DURING SUCH A CRISIS?'
Clearly, Dazai wasn't the only dramatic one in their relationship. The Agency members weren't quick enough to avert their eyes as Dazai flopped back down on his seat.
He took one look at his phone screen before nodding knowingly, "Ah. You all saw that."
Atsushi apologized, "I'm sorry, Dazai-san. Your phone kept lighting up with texts and-"
Dazai cut him off with a wave of his hand, "It's fine, it's fine. You can continue to look at the conversation if you like. Nothing too incriminating."
Yosano looked at Kunikida before offering him a high-five, which the blond obliged. Score! They were actually getting permission to read Dazai's conversation with his soulmate. So, for the next few minutes, Yosano proceeded to read aloud the texts for everyone else to hear too.
Dazai: Yes yes I'll go to the stupid wine event with you
Soulmate: Teme?! You dare call my wine event stupid?!! You're stupid fuck u
Dazai: Aww fuck u too <3
Soulmate: Shut the fuck up before I poison your dinner, asshole. Anyway it looks like all the tickets to the event sold out :/
Dazai: What a shame~ I won't have to go to a stuffy wine event of all things~
Soulmate: Yeah. Next time I guess :/
The Agency members stared at Dazai suspiciously as he grinned at his phone before pulling up a screenshot and forwarding it to his soulmate. In the minute it took his soulmate to go through the screenshot, his co-workers couldn't help but notice he looked rather proud of himself.
And happy. Even though he was discussing going to a wine exhibition, when he didn't even like wine, he seemed genuinely happy to do so for this soulmate of his. It was surprising, to say the list.
Anyway, the reply to the screenshots came soon enough.
'No way. You booked tickets to the event beforehand?! What the fuck. Who are u and what have u done to my shitty beanpole of a partner?'
Everyone in the room collectively gasped. Partner?! Did that mean what they think it meant? That Dazai was in a romantic relationship with his soulmate?!
Dazai sent a reply back, still grinning at his phone.
"How rude. Is this how you say 'Thank you, love of my life. I will cherish this gift forever just like how I cherish your love and trust'. This is cruel!"
His smile widened further when he saw the next text from his soulmate.
'Yeah yeah. Thanks bro, I love you.'
'Not the bro- Yeah. Love you too bro.'
Yosano smirked at her bandaged friend, "Bro?"
Dazai laughed, "He's a menace."
And that was all they got before Dazai promptly stood up and left the office. But holy fucking shit, they got a truckload of new information this time! They already knew that Dazai deeply cared for this person, but now it was obvious that he loved them.
They also now knew that Dazai's soulmate was a man. Or at least, they use he/him pronouns. More information! The Agency members were also convinced that they were definitely in a romantic relationship. Nothing about their whole interaction screamed 'yeah, we're just friends.'
Plus, his soulmate referred to Dazai as his partner. What else could that possibly mean?
5. living together
The next revelation was neither by soul messages, nor by texts.
It was a regular enough day, and everyone in the Agency was busy with their own work. Dazai and Yosano were standing near the infirmary door, merely gossiping like they usually did. Their friendship wasn't very obvious to most people, but they were actually got along pretty well.
Yosano was telling Dazai about her latest surgery when his phone suddenly went off.
He pulled out and gave Yosano an apologetic look when he saw the contact name, "Sorry Yosano-sensei, I need to take this."
He picked up the call once Yosano nodded in affirmation, "Hey, hatrack. What's up?"
Yosano could hear his soulmate as he was speaking rather loudly, "Stop calling me that already, asshole."
Dazai laughed teasingly, "Okay hatrack~"
The person on the other end of the call groaned, "I truly despise you. Anyway when are you coming home tonight?"
The detective hummed in response, "I don't know; usual time?"
"So like six-ish?"
"Yeah. Why?"
His soulmate replied, "I was thinking of making a nicer dinner than usual."
Dazai beamed, even though the other couldn't see him, "Crab!"
The other laughed through the phone, "Yeah, okay. Get home in one piece, alright shitty bastard?"
Dazai hummed, "Yeah. See you later."
His soulmate said his goodbyes before hanging up too.
Yosano pounced with her questions immediately, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but he said 'home' right? He asked you when you're getting home. You two totally live together!"
Dazai chuckled, "Are you sure you're not a detective, Yosano-san?"
Yosano rolled his eyes at him, "Asshole, I'm a doctor. The detective thing is more of your, Kunikida and Ranpo's thing."
Dazai waved his hands, "Yeah, yeah. But yes, we do live together."
Yosano commented, "You're actually dating him, aren't you? And his voice sounds really familiar. I can't place it though, ugh."
Dazai raised a finger to his lips secretively, "I suppose so. Anyway, see you later, Sensei." He then quickly slipped away before the doctor could stop him.
So, Team Agency had another clue about Dazai's relationship with his soulmate. They were in a romantic relationship, and they lived together. Plus, Yosano might actually have met his soulmate before. The Agency members were going to get the full picture soon enough; they could practically feel it.
+1. oh fuck, it's the gravity manipulator
Their instincts were absolutely right. The very next day, the full picture came into view.
The day started with an important announcement from President Fukuzawa. All ability users of the Agency were required to attend a very important meeting with the President and a Port Mafia executive in the meeting room.
So, exactly at eleven a.m., Kunikida ushered all the other members into the meeting room. Other than the President, Mafia Executive and gravity manipulator Nakahara Chuuya was already seated in there.
Kenji went up the executive at once, "Good morning, Nakahara-san! Are you having a good day?"
Chuuya grinned at the younger blonde boy, "Good morning, kid. And yeah yeah, pretty good day. What about you?"
Kenji clapped his hand, "Oh wonderful! I harvested my carrots today actually! Would you like some?"
Chuuya blinked once before laughing, "You don't have to."
Before Kenji could insist on giving the mafioso his carrots, Kunikida cleared his throat, "Anyway, I believe we should get started on the meeting."
The President agreed, and hence everyone took their seats around the long table. The meeting was about crime rates and their graphs or something equally as boring like that. So, it didn't take long for everyone to get bored. Within ten minutes, Kunikida was the only one who was still completely paying attention.
Halfway through the meeting, all the Agency members came to notice something rather interesting.
Dazai, who was seated right across Chuuya, kept scribbling on his left arm. Now, the Agency members had gotten used to Dazai talking to his soulmate randomly by writing on his skin. So, that wasn't the suspicious part.
What was interesting was that Dazai kept looking at Chuuya after he wrote a soul message on his skin. That's when the Agency members started observing Chuuya throughout the meeting too. It didn't take them too long to notice than Chuuya was constantly scribbling on his hand too.
He was left handed, and was hence writing on his right arm, right above his wrists, where his gloves ended. Funnily enough, he kept looking back at Dazai too, whenever he stopped writing something on his arm.
Whenever the two of them made eye contact, Chuuya hid in face in his arms, clearly trying not to laugh aloud. Meanwhile, Dazai shamelessly snickered under his hand. They were truly lucky to be seated away from the President.
Of course, the group of detectives were quick enough to connect the dots.
As soon as the President left the room after politely saying goodbye to the mafia executive, Yosano stood up, letting her hands bang on the desk, "You two!"
Dazai looked up at her innocently, "Who, Yosano-sensei?"
Yosano glared at him, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Chuuya!"
Chuuya finally burst out laughing, unable to hide his amusement anymore, "What about us?"
Atsushi looked around the room hesitantly, "Um, what's going on?"
Ranpo was the one to answer, "It's easy enough. Mr. Fancy Hat here is Dazai's soulmate."
Kunikida, who had been too focussed at the President's data to notice anything during the meeting, exclaimed immediately, "Wait, what?"
Atsushi, oblivious as usual, widened his eyes as well, "What? Dazai-san is this true?"
Tanizaki just looked at his superiors in concern and Kenji had already fallen asleep, missing out on the final big reveal.
Dazai grinned at his co-workers, "Took you guys long enough. Of course it's true, Atsushi-kun!"
Chuuya grinned, "Come on, Yosano-sensei. You heard my voice and all too."
Yosano banged her hands on the table again, "I know! But in my defence, I've spoken to you once and it was in a fight, alright?"
Ranpo said lazily, "The wine exhibition should have been a dead giveaway to you guys."
Dazai nodded as he slipped his arms around his partner's shoulders, "Exactly."
Tanizaki asked feebly, "Nakahara-san likes wine?"
Dazai snorted, "Likes is an understatement. Chibi here is addicted."
Chuuya obviously smacked him in the sides, "Stop calling me an alcoholic, bastard. besides, it'd be your fault if I was one anyway. You've been a constant headache for seven years, damn it."
Dazai poked his soulmate's cheeks, "Yes, but they were the best seven years of your life, weren't they?"
Chuuya screeched, "HA?! Oi, are you actually delusional?"
Dazai mumbled, tightening his old on the short mafioso, "You're cruel."
Chuuya snorted, softly holding Dazai against his back with one arm, "You deserve it, shitty beanpole."
For the next minute or so, everybody just stared at the newfound couple in the room.
Finally, Atsushi asked, "So um, Chuuya-san. Are you two dating then?"
Chuuya replied right away, a fond look on his face, his arm still supporting Dazai against his back, "We're married, but yeah. Same thing."
Yosano whistled, "Whoa. I can't believe none of us knew Dazai was married."
Chuuya laughed, "Yeah, well. We've been married four years."
Atsushi pointed towards Chuuya's shoulder, "Um. Chuuya-san. I think Dazai-san fell asleep on you."
Chuuya's eyes widened as he raised his unoccupied arm to feel his husband's face, "Ah. Yeah, he's definitely asleep. I'll take him home."
Kenji, who was awoken by Tanizaki, offered with a smile, "Do you need any help? My ability makes me really strong!"
Chuuya shook his head, "Thanks kid, but I got it. I'm used to carrying this bastard around anyway. I'll see you guys later, alright."
Five minutes later, Chuuya had said his goodbyes to the Agency members and had deposited his beanpole of a husband on the passenger's seat of his car. The detective was actually fast asleep, dead to the world. He hasn't been getting a lot of sleep lately, Chuuya realised.
The mafia executive had a fond smile playing on his lips as he leaned forward to kiss soft brown hair before starting the car.
Five minutes into their ride back home, a bandaged hand found its way to a gloved one; their fingers intertwining as Dazai allowed himself to sleep without any apprehensions.