Chapter Text
Soulmates were always a topic Chuuya had always heard about during his years. The one true person who will be with you for the rest of your life, the one who will stay with you and will love you to their heart’s content.
He never found an interest in it.
Dazai used to make fun of him because he couldn’t see colour yet, and neither did he. Chuuya believed Dazai would never find a soulmate or was put with a soulmate because of the way he is.
That was until recently Chuuya found out Dazai had found his soulmate after he defected the Port Mafia four years later.
It was then that Chuuya began to think about soulmates more than he would like to.
His vision continued to consist purely of the spectrum of black, grey and white. He was never bothered by it, he was fine with what he saw but somehow seeing Dazai, someone he truly felt was unable to obtain a soulmate, seeing colour made him feel slightly uneasy.
During a small talk with the Black Lizards, Chuuya came and hung around with them and took a break from doing paperwork.
“Do you think this will suit me, Gin?” Higuchi asked as she showed something on her phone to Gin, who was sitting beside her, “be honest with me.”
“I think it would be better if you went with a more colourful one. Why are you even looking at clothes?” Gin asked back with a raised brow.
“It’s nothing!” She turned her attention to Chuuya, “Chuuya-san! You’re good with fashion! What do you think about this on me?
The redhead turned away from his conversation with Tachihara and stared at the screen. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, “Uh… mind telling me what colour that’s supposed to be?”
“Eh? You don’t know?”
“I… can’t see colour.”
“Wait! You can’t, Chuuya-san?!” Tachihara exclaimed, shocked at this newfound information, “you haven’t found your soulmate?!”
Chuuya scoffed, “No. I can’t, and no, I haven’t.”
“Let’s be honest, if it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have found out on your own, Tachihara,” Gin replied and turned to the executive, knowing it was a sensitive topic for him. “Don’t worry Chuuya-san, you’ll find them soon.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t even want to find them,” he said back, briefly closing his eyes.
Higuchi raised a brow, “Why not, Chuuya-san?”
“If they’re not going to try to find me, why should I do it?”
“Why give up? You’ll eventually find them! Don’t give up, Chuuya-san!”
“It’s been 22 years already, I don’t think there’s much of a point to try,” Chuuya waved his hand dismissively, “besides, it doesn’t affect me, I’m fine with not seeing colour.”
Everyone fell silent.
“I don’t need your pity, it’s alright.”
Higuchi looked back at Chuuya, “Don’t you at least want to know who your soulmate is?”
“Not really.”
Not if they turn out to be extremely unlikeable, I don’t, Chuuya thought.
Hirotsu walked inside the tense room.
“We should probably get back to work now,” he said.
“That’s only because you finished smoking, gramps,” Tachihara replied but stood up, along with Gin and Higuchi.
Chuuya got up as well, “See you guys later.”
The three stared at him and nodded their heads, a little stiff but Chuuya didn’t notice while he left first through the doors. Tachihara and Higuchi took a sigh of relief after he disappeared into the distance.
“What happened?” Hirotsu asked.
“Soulmates,” Gin replied.
“Oh. You mentioned it to him?”
“It was an accident!” Higuchi exclaimed, feeling guilty after that, “I didn’t know it was a sensitive topic for Chuuya-san!”
“I think Chuuya-san’s used to it. I’m sure he’ll be okay…” Tachihara murmured.
- - -
Finishing off a last-minute mission, Chuuya suggested to his subordinates he’ll treat them to a drink at their local bar owned by the Port Mafia for their successful mission today.
“Chuuya-san, thank you!”
He grinned, “No worries, drink up everyone, the bill’s on me.”
As his subordinates drank together, Chuuya sat a little further away from them with his glass of whiskey. He rolled his eyes every time he tasted the flavour of it, he usually went with wine but wanted to get drunk faster at this point.
Probably a very bad decision but he can deal with the aftermath later.
One of his subordinates looked over to Chuuya who was downing multiple shots and looked like a complete disaster over there.
“Uh… should one of us stop Chuuya-san?”
“Usually we just leave him be.”
“I’m not taking him home by the way. The last time I did, it traumatised me.”
“We’re supposed to respect him.”
“I do but not when he’s drunk. Anything but when he’s drunk. You’ll understand when it’s your turn to take him home.”
The executive swayed over towards his men, “Guys…! L…Let’s toast… for a good mission!” he slurred his words as he lifted his glass while his subordinates were concerned by the amount of alcohol he was consuming.
“Chuuya-san—”
“Shh! You don’t want to face that side of him. Go along with it!” One of them whispered.
Chuuya eyed the sheepish subordinate and began to approach him. The other men gave him stares of good luck and stood behind Chuuya.
“Say… you…” the executive muttered, “do you have a… soulmate…?”
He jumped and pointed to himself, “Me…?”
Everyone behind Chuuya shook their heads in unison.
“Uh…” he darted his eyes up to them and back to Chuuya, “no… I don’t.”
The mafioso grinned at his response and hooked his arm around the man’s neck, “Great! Who needs shitty soulmates anyway? They’re a fucking nuisance! Why did I ever think that I would be jealous of that ugly mackerel!”
“Chuuya-san?!”
Chuuya dropped the glass of whiskey in his hand and was beginning to lose consciousness, “Screw… soulmates…” he muttered before someone caught him.
“Uh… should we call it a day?” One of them suggested.
“Yeah,” they all agreed.
- - -
“Mm… fuck soulmates…” He softly whispered.
Chuuya slowly opened his eyes to find himself trudging back to where he thought was his apartment. He regained consciousness but it wasn’t like things were processing through his brain.
“Are you alright, Chuuya-san?” One of his men asked, helping him get back home.
He let out a small groan, “Fine…”
“You shouldn’t drink so much.”
“Does…n’t matter…” he replied, glancing over to the side while walking through a shortcut that was nearly deserted, “are we there yet…?”
“Nearly.”
Chuuya rested his eyes for a second before opening them again as they exited out of the shortcut to a busier part with more people around.
His barely open eyes caught someone else’s eyes from the opposite side of the road.
A dark shade of purple from what he can see but he was unable to see the rest of the person’s appearance.
… have really pretty eyes…
He blacked out soon after.
- - -
The morning rays thread through the gaps of the closed curtains and shine over Chuuya’s ginger hair sprawled over his pillow. A string of saliva ran down the side of his mouth as he tossed and turned, waking up.
Rubbing his eyes, a yawn escaped from his lips and his eyes opened up to the light beige walls. He looked over to his nightstand and grabbed his phone, opening up to a picture of his favourite movie, the Boy and the Puppy.
The soft pastel colours of blue, green and pink greeted him.
11:57… It’s not too bad…
Chuuya set his phone aside and noticed how dry his throat was, forgetting he was knocked out drunk last night.
Slipping on his red slippers, he opened the door and entered the kitchen.
Opening up one of the cabinets and grabbing his favourite cup, he closed the brown cabinets and poured water into it.
Chuuya glanced over to his couches.
Something is strange… Did I get into the wrong apartment?
He swore those couches were different from the previous times he had them. He ignored it, eyes shifting over the windows.
Sky’s nice today… nice shade of…
He froze.
The sky was blue. A nice light blue while the clouds drifted by while he could see the buildings in a less dull colour. The traffic lights were no longer three different shades of grey.
They had their own established colour.
Red. Orange. Green.
He could see colour.
He could see colour .
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
- - -
“Chuuya got drunk again?” Kouyou sighed. “I’m not surprised. Don’t be surprised if he shows up late or doesn’t show up at all. That boy doesn’t know his alcohol tolerance.”
“ANE-SAN!”
The doors burst open with Chuuya there, panting and out of breath.
She spoke too soon, “Oh. Perhaps he will show up after all,” she said, placing down her cup of tea.
“We need to talk.”
Kouyou raised a brow and gestured to her women to give them some privacy. She turned her attention back to Chuuya, “Something happened on your way?”
He sat down, it was too unordinary to see Kouyou in full colour. He didn’t get used to his own hair colour but he had to deal with it for now.
It wasn’t like he could undo this.
“I found my soulmate—”
She smiled, “That’s wonderful, you’ve always had trouble with that topic—”
“But I have no idea who they are.”
The other executive stopped herself from celebrating. She stared at him for a few more seconds before asking, “I’m sorry what, lad? You don’t know who they are?”
“I know, I know, it sounds fucking crazy.” Chuuya ruffled his hair in distress, “but look, I was drunk and I made eye contact with this person but I don’t remember what they look like. I don’t remember anything after stepping into the bar.”
“And now, I can see colour but I have no idea who they are.”
Kouyou pressed her lips together.
“Surely you’d remember their eye colour?”
He shook his head, “I don’t—”
Chuuya flinched, remembering something from last night suddenly replaying through his mind.
Kouyou patiently waited for him to recollect himself, “So?”
“They had really pretty eyes…” he subconsciously mumbled back with a light blush on his cheeks.
Kouyou nearly facepalmed when she heard him but kept it inside. “Lad, that doesn’t really help either of us.”
Chuuya felt more embarrassed after she pointed it out.
He flushed red and darted his eyes somewhere else, “I know! That’s all I remembered, alright?!”
Of course, he had to be drunk when he met his soulmate, his only opportunity. How on Earth was he supposed to find them again? Some sort of luck that he didn’t think he would be able to possess.
On the verge of giving up, Kouyou pitched in with a small spark of hope.
“Your soulmate would remember you,” she said, “unless they were as drunk as you, they are probably searching for you as well. You have already made eye contact with them.”
Chuuya frowned. He had many doubts about what would happen.
“But what if they don’t want to see me? Ane-san, I don’t see how that’s going to help—”
Kouyou interjected without a second thought, “Have you thought of going back to where you first met? You start from there, Chuuya.”
“But—”
“Don’t you want to see them? It is once in a lifetime to be able to meet them,” she said as Chuuya noticed the melancholic tone in her voice.
Unlike Chuuya, Kouyou met her soulmate many years ago, before he even knew her. She loved the idea of soulmates but currently was permanently cursed with forever seeing the monochrome spectrum.
Once your soulmate dies, you will revert back to seeing the lonely world you used to see.
Her soulmate’s life taken away by the previous Boss caused her to despise soulmates just like Chuuya. She experienced the feeling of being in a soulmate’s warmth but Chuuya has not.
An opportunity slipping out of his grasp was what Kouyou was trying to convey to him.
“Yeah…” he uttered back a few seconds after.
She lifted her cup towards her lips with a smile on his lips.
“Then go.”
And so Chuuya did.