Work Text:
I think back to the moment I first found out. It was a few months ago the day that I properly met him.
I run my hand through my hair and it catches slightly on my antenna, as always. I groan, my appearance only makes the entire thing worse. Fate has a cruel sense of humor.
Ironically, while I’m sitting there my Soulmate Mark activates and I begin to see through my Soulmate’s eyes.
He’s flying right now, which is rather common, probably on his way to work. The mark doesn’t let me feel the wind or the cold, but I know that he’s feeling the whole sensation of flight and loving it . Even hearing him talk about it in passing it’s easy to tell how much he enjoys flying.
After all, if you have the ability to fly, why would you ever walk? I don’t walk unless I barely have anywhere to go or if I’m inside. Of course, his version of flying is different from mine. We both have mutation quirks, but his wings are a bird’s and mine are a dragonfly’s.
He flaps his wings until he’s above all the buildings and then picks up the pace. He’s rapidly approaching a building that I can recognize now as his Hero Agency. Nicknamed “The Nest” by some of the agents and sidekicks that work there, including me.
Yeah, fate must have a cruel sense of humor. I have worked as a sidekick to my Soulmate for two years, but I only met him a few months ago.
It was the first time that I was getting a truly important mission and I was incredibly excited, and being briefed for it by the Number 2 Pro Hero wasn’t helping to calm me down. So when my soulmate mark activated and I ended up staring across a desk straight at myself, I couldn’t believe it.
My mark deactivates and once again I’m staring at the floor of the office. I already miss the sight of the city from up above.
Sure enough, the Hero Hawks is my soulmate. He can’t tell when I see through his eyes any more than I can tell when he sees through mine, so as far as I’m aware he still has no idea that we’re soulmates. I’d like it to stay that way.
He’s a Pro Hero and I’m a sidekick. More specifically, I’m his sidekick so it wouldn’t be smart to continue being his sidekick while also trying to be his soulmate.
Unfortunately, fate is also a stubborn asshole and doesn’t care about my responsibilities. Recently, while on a simple patrol, Hawks got into more trouble than he had been expecting and I abandoned the rest of the sidekicks to catch up with him and help. Since I can fly incredibly fast — faster than even Hawks — I got there quick enough to help finish the fight.
It was quite literally the most unprofessional moment of my career as a sidekick. No one else saw it that way, but no one else knew that I had been panicking the entire time at the thought of what might happen to Hawks. Not because he’s my boss, or one of the most efficient Pro Heroes, or even just because we’re friendly with each other. No, it was because we’re soulmates.
That’s why I sent in my two-week warning. I need to not work so closely with him. I see nothing wrong with continuing to work toward my own Hero Agency, but I’ll have to do it somewhere else where I won’t be worrying about the person who is supposed to be the love of my life while I’m beating the shit out of criminals.
Right now though, I’m waiting in his office. I don’t actually work today, but I was called in personally by him to “talk about the notice” that I submitted yesterday.
I’m not entirely sure why he wants to talk about it. I can’t think of a good reason that he would want to keep me at the agency but I also can’t think of anything I’ve done wrong.
I already made sure to open the window of the office for when he gets here, that way he won’t have to try to open it from outside while flying in place. It’s easy for me to do that sort of thing, but he’s a bird and birds don’t fly in as calculated or direct a way as dragonflies do.
When he flies through the open window as a blur of bright red it surprises me enough that my wings buzz for a moment.
“Morning.” I say as he takes off his goggles.
He shoots me a quick smile before sitting down across from me at his desk. The whole thing reminds me of the day we met.
“Good morning,” he says before cutting to the chase. “Would you mind explaining why you don’t want to work here anymore? Did you lose interest in Hero work?”
“Of course not!” I say, shaking my head. I can’t imagine not wanting to be a Pro Hero. It might be a kid’s dream, it was mine for as long as I can remember, but I’m willing to be called both a dreamer and childish if it means I can save people’s lives.
Hawks looks a little concerned. “Then is it something else? Something going on with the other people working here?”
I’m becoming more and more confused by the conversation and I’m sure it shows on my face. “No, nothing’s wrong.”
I’m not lying. Nothing is wrong. I’m not upset that we’re soulmates, but it’s a complication that isn’t necessary and that I think would be smart to avoid.
Hawks also looks confused now. At least we’re in the same boat, I guess.
It would be smarter to explain halfway than to have him keep guessing incorrectly. “Hawks-san-”
“Neither of us are technically working today, you can call me Takami.” He tells me.
I blink. That’s not unheard of, there are a handful of other people he lets call him his actual name, but I didn’t expect to be included in that.
“Alright, Takami-san,” I nod to him and smile. “There’s nothing wrong with any of the people here or the schedules or anything like that. There are just new personal complications that make it a good idea to work at a different agency — if I can find one, that is.”
“I’m sure you’ll have no trouble getting hired,” he says confidently, “You’re an amazing sidekick and I’m sure you’ll be a great Pro Hero. It’s just too bad that we’ll lose you.”
I wasn’t expecting a compliment like that to be given so casually, especially from him to me. “Thank you.” I say quietly.
“Is there anything I can help with? I know you said it’s personal, but if there’s a way that I can keep you on the team then I’d like to hear it.”
I hesitate. This conversation is just full of surprises. That’s another big compliment, but I don’t think I’m worthy of it. Not to mention we’re getting dangerously near to the point where I can’t walk the line between being polite and lying anymore.
I opt for the polite path. “That’s not necessary, thank you though.”
He raises an eyebrow and smiles again. “I don’t think you know how good you are at what you do. You think you’re replaceable, don't you?”
I end up waiting longer than I maybe should before responding. “Most sidekicks are replaceable, Takami-san. Society is structured that way.”
His smile doesn’t falter. “Most sidekicks won’t become Pro Heroes either, and many never intend to.” He leans forward on the desk. “You have what it takes, Goya-kun. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to talk it over before I just agreed to the two-week notice.”
My eyes are wide, this feels both like I’m being scammed and like I’m being given a pep talk.
“Some sidekicks are easy to replace,” he nods, “But there are some who are more like Pro Heroes no matter how new they are. The reason I kept you on patrols for so long before giving you a mission wasn’t because you couldn’t handle it. It was so that you knew you could handle it and you wouldn’t go overboard or get nervous.”
I realize that my lips have drifted apart in shock from this little speech when my fangs prick them just a touch. Apparently, Takami notices the fangs.
“Your quirk, for example. It’s incredibly powerful. You can move faster than any other Pro Hero right now with those wings, you have six arms and enhanced strength, spider silk coming from the tips of every finger, fangs with paralyzing venom, antenna for sensing movement behind you, and insane eyesight.”
His smile widens into a grin. “Tell me where I’m going to find another Dragonfly-Spider?”
I can’t help but grin back at the use of my Hero name. “Good luck.”
His grin fades and he sighs quietly. “If you want to leave, I understand. I just want to make sure there’s absolutely nothing I or the agency could do first, that would make you stay.”
“Well-” I start but he’s not finished.
“If it helps at all, if you decide to stay then when you become a Pro Hero, The Nest could turn into a Team agency.”
I stare at him. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
“I’m saying that even when you become a Pro Hero I want to keep working with you. You’re good at teamwork, you don’t have many weaknesses, and those that you do have I can pick up for.”
“You are saying what I think you are.” I’m in disbelief.
“Now you see why I don’t want you to leave?” He asks.
“I do. You have plans already.”
He shrugs, almost sheepishly. “Then are you willing to tell me what made you turn in that notice?”
I take a deep breath. I can tell a partial truth and get his opinion, right? I mean, if I’m right and he has no clue that we’re soulmates then it can stay a secret no matter what he ends up thinking. If I’m wrong and he somehow does know then his opinion is rather evident. No matter what, if I end up leaving he won’t know that we’re soulmates and if I end up staying then he’ll understand that my emotions might get in the way of my performance.
“Well, Takami-san, I have a soulmate.” I start with that, the easiest thing.
“I already know that.” He nods.
It’s put in permanent files whether someone has a soulmate or not and when we first met when my mark activated it became glaringly obvious. When the mark activates the body relaxes before the mind shifts to its soulmate’s perspective so during the briefing I just suddenly leaned back in my chair and seemed to fall asleep mid-sentence.
I nod. “Right. The problem is that they work here.”
He nods with me, understanding.
“I thought it would be fine and that I would be able to handle it since I don’t know them very well, but it’s not as easy as I had imagined it would be.”
He tilts his head. “What isn’t?”
“Well,” I shift a little uncomfortably in my seat. “Even though I haven’t talked to them very much, I already care about them and it’s begun to interfere with work.”
“Ah, I see now.” There’s a pause while he thinks. “I’m assuming that they’re aware you're soulmates? Uh — real quick — can I ask their gender?”
“He’s a man,” I tell him. “But I don’t actually know whether or not he’s figured it out yet. I’m not sure that would be better.”
“I’d like to think most people are smart enough to know their soulmate when they meet them, or at least learn it quickly if you work together. But I don’t see why it would be a bad thing. If he knows then you two could handle it together and find a way for things to work, right?”
I decide that telling Takami that I don’t really want my soulmate to know my identity is a bad idea. If he asks why then I’ll have to tell him that it’s because I can’t imagine anyone ever being happy with the idea of having me as a soulmate.
“That sounds like the best possible outcome.” I say instead.
“What do you think is most likely?”
“I genuinely have no clue.”
“What about the worst possible outcome?”
I don’t answer at first, but he waits extremely patiently.
Finally I say, “I suppose him being disgusted would be the worst possible result.”
Takami’s eyes grow wide. “Disgusted? Why would he be?”
“I have seen a mirror before.” I deadpan and then immediately regret it. “It doesn’t matter.” I say, shaking my head. “Please, ignore that. If you think that it would be best to tell him then I can at least try.”
“I’m not going to ignore that, Goya-kun. But I will let it slide for now.” He says that part seriously before continuing more calmly. “I do think it would be best that both of you know.”
When he says that, I see something sort of flash in his eyes. Like amusement or contentment. That’s when I realize that he’s known this entire time. Of course he has. I wonder when he found out.
First, I begin to freak out. Then I force myself to calm down. Ultimately, I decide that this is the best possible outcome. He’s here, ready and willing to talk to me about it so that we can work something out. He wants me to keep working with him, not because I’m his soulmate though that might have a part in it, and he understands the problem I’m having with the idea.
“Oh,” I say. “Well, I don’t think that’s a problem actually. Now that I think about it he definitely knows.”
“Good. That makes things easier, doesn’t it? So when will you talk about it?”
I give him a complete smile of mine, which is always crooked to accommodate for fangs. “Well, neither of us are technically working today, so we’ll probably just fly somewhere to talk about it during lunch.”
He grins back at me. “That sort of sounds like a date.”
“It’s whatever we make it.” I say. “Actually, I didn’t have breakfast so let’s make it brunch and go now.”
He stands up. “I like the way you think.”
“Well good. If you hadn’t you just would’ve had to put up with it because if I have any say in how life goes from here on out, I’m not going anywhere.”
He hands me an extra pair of goggles and puts his on as he climbs onto the windowsill. He glances back at me before tipping sideways and falling out of it, I jump out after him.
Neither of us need to explain anything, everything just makes sense when we fly side-by-side.
If this is what life’s going to be like from now on then I couldn’t be happier.