Soulmates
Rating: Gen Characters: Hida Iori, Takaishi Takeru Relationship: Hida Iori & Takaishi Takeru Word Count: 2,347 - Completed Oneshot Authors Note: This was written for @noromogiftexchange Subverting Romantic Expectations Prompt Week 2026 day one - prompt/trope: soulmates. I hope I did a good job not focusing this too much on romance as I do really see Takeori as a queerplatonic relationship. But, soulmates can be anything, can't they? Summery: Iori never believed in soulmates. That was until he met a boy named Takaishi Takeru Read on Ao3 - Fanfic below cut
Iori didn't believe in soulmates.
Well, he didn't believe in many myths and stories his mother and grandfather would tell him as bedtime stories. He knew many did, and he didn't particular care that they did- but he just didn't.
They were so fantastically. They didn't follow logic or reason. They were either supernatural or too odd to be true.
So when his mother told him about soulmates, the idea that out there, somewhere in a large world there was someone just for you.
Someone who was made just for you. Who could understand you better than anyone. Who would be the sun in your life and revolve around you like the moon to the earth. Iori didn't believe it.
It almost sounded too good to be true.
That someone out there was made for you, the perfect yin to your yang.
Iori would humor his mother when she talked about it when putting him to bed.
It would only be years late when Iori realized she thought like this because she loved his father, her husband, so much that she couldn't bare love another. Even with that knowledge, however, Iori didn't think he would have been swayed back than.
Later, when he met Miyako, he would humor her as well.
She loved the idea of someone out there being just for you. Someone to stand by your side through thick and thin.
Miyako talked about it a lot more than his mother did, but Miyako was his first real friend so he would listen to her. She knew how Iori thought about these myths and tales, but that never stopped her from trying.
"One day, you'll meet your soulmate and I'll get to say 'I told you so', just wait", she would always say.
Iori would either ignore her or stand his ground in what he believed in. Nothing would change his mind.
Iori knew love existed. It came it many forms, and any one of those forms could lead you to your soulmate. That no one form of love was true love, and no matter what type you felt it was there. That love was a powerful thing that could drive people to do and think amazing if not also stupid things.
Iori knew that love was what drove people to believe in soulmates, and he knew love was a powerful emotion but his denial of soulmates was more than that.
He believed you could find someone you loved more than anything, but he didn't believe they were made for you. That out there in a large world, someone was just waiting for the day you would meet.
That some divine power decided who you would spend the rest of your life with. That your hearts were intertwined from the day both of you were born.
It was too mystical, too magically, and too illogically.
Iori didn't believe.
No matter how many those around him tried to convince. Iori just didn't believe in soulmates. He believed in love, but not someone out there that was perfect and made for you.
Whether that someone would become your friend for life or your a romantic partner, or maybe something in between.
No matter which one it was, Iori didn't believe there was a soulmate for each one. Iori was happy to live his life like this, even as his mother and grandfather still told him stories and Miyako gushed over meeting her perfect one. Iori was happy to believe that soulmates didn't exist.
Till he met Takeru.
Nothing was weird when he first saw the blonde behind the elevator doors.
Maybe they stared into each other's eyes for a little too long. Something in Iori telling him that this wouldn't be the last he'd see of the boy named Takaishi Takeru.
He seemed like a good person as he greeted him and Miyako. He agreed to Miyako's invite to walk to school with them and he made small talk in the elevator.
Takeru seemed like a funny yet kind person. Iori had only known him for minutes before they went their separate ways, but he had decided that from what little he knew he liked Takeru.
His heart told him he could trust him.
Than Iori got his D-3, met Armadimon, and became a Chosen Child. Joined a team of people that would protect and save both worlds, human and digital.
So much happened, and with all of it, Takeru was right there.
They never spoke much, never hanged out with each other outside of the Digital World, but Iori felt close to him anyway.
Iori just felt like they were friends, even if no one would ever call them that from an outside perspective.
It confused Iori. Takeru confused Iori.
Why did Takeru get so angry at the powers of Darkness so much? Why could he go from angry to calm so quickly? Why did Takeru act the way he did, think the way he did, why was Takeru Takeru?
Iori wanted to learn more, and he didn't understand.
Ask him why he was so obsessed with Takeru before, and he would have said it was because they needed to Jogress Evolve to help the others.
Ask him now, and Iori would have said Miyako was right all those years ago.
It was Iori's heart wanting to know more about Takeru.
Know more about his soulmate.
It was Iori's heart wanting to know more about Takeru and not because they had some duty to do it as the Chosen Children, but because Iori just wanted to know more about the blonde boy.
Iori wanted to know more about Takeru because he wanted too.
Iori would have said it was duty back than, that they had to do it to save both worlds, but he knew better now. Knew better after their hearts started to beat in sync.
Iori didn't believe Daisuke when he said he could understand Ken's heart.
It didn't make any logical sense, and it didn't help when Daisuke swore he could hear Ken's pulse and feel their hearts beat as one.
It was too fantastical. It sounded to similar to those myths and tall tales his mother and grandfather told him. To close to the red string of fate Miyako would wish was real so she could find her soulmate.
Than it happened to Hikari and Miyako.
Iori was still hesitant to believe. The Digital World was a weird place, however. It defied all logic that Iori knew so maybe it was true.
Iori still didn't fully believe.
He didn't think his friends were lying, but maybe they didn't understand. The way they would talk about feeling like they were one. That they could understand each other at a glance. It sounded too fictional for Iori to fully believe.
Till it happened to him.
Till he could hear Takeru's pulse in his ears, slowly feel as their hearts started to beat together till they sounded like one heart. Impossible to tell who heart's was beating as they beat together as one.
Iori had been so happy with it he basically jumped into Takeru's arms.
The feeling of Takeru hugging him made it feel like his body as on fire, fireworks went off in his stomach. Iori didn't want to let go. Hugging Takeru made him feel complete.
When Jogress-Evolution stopped, Iori could still faintly hear Takeru's heat beating alongside his. Iori could feel what Takeru was feeling. Understand his emotions and feelings at a single glance.
The others were right. It did cause them to almost become one like the Digimon.
This connection would be with them for the rest of their lives. A faint heart beat always besides Iori's no matter what he did or where he went.
Iori learned to love it.
The feeling of peace and just pure completeness that came when Takeru was by his side.
The way Takeru could effortlessly make Iori smile or cheer him up. The way his heart always called out to be Takeru and how lonely he would feel when the blonde wasn't with him.
How Iori could understand Takeru better than anyone could. How he could look past the mask on his face and look past the lies in his voice even before they Jogress-Evolved but it only got better after.
The same could be said for Takeru. Takeru understood Iori better than anyone. Able to see past the blank face and monotone voice and know what Iori was truly feeling.
They shared a bond that was unbreakable. One that they shared with no one else. Even if he and Takeru seemed so different, Iori knew they were perfect together.
It was almost like they were made for each other.
You'd think Iori would have realized it back than.
That the stories his mother told him to fall asleep, his grandfather would recite after kendo, Miyako would gush about on walks to school, were all true.
He didn't.
Maybe he was still in denial. Even after his heart started to beat in sync with Takeru's. Even after they spent so many years by each other's side. After they proved time and time again that they belonged together.
Maybe it wasn't the same as the stories everyone told him.
It was Iori and Takeru that made their bond together.
They decided that they were going to reach out to each other and despite their differences, fight together side by side. It wasn't some higher being that brought them together, but themselves. They chose to be partners, not because fate told them to be partners.
Maybe Iori just didn't realize it back than, way to many other things had taken up his mind.
He should have realized, I mean, if the Digital World and Digimon were real than maybe those myths and stories of soulmates were.
It wasn't until a lot of years later when he and Takeru were hanging out that Iori realized that.
Spending time together was something that both of them cherished with how busy they were. Takeru laid out on Iori's lap, writing away on his laptop with his arms propped up by the bed.
Iori's arms resting on Takeru's back, hands open as he read a book to the peaceful sound of the keys. It was in this peaceful moment that Iori let his mind wander, and he remembered the stories his mother told him.
Even if had been years since Iori heard them, he remember them clear as day.
That somewhere out there, there was someone made for you. Someone who would understand you better than anyone. Someone who would always be there for you. Someone you couldn't help but love with your whole heart.
Someone that was your soulmate.
Iori had paused his reading. Eyes going wide and heart racing speeding up a little as he connected the dots.
Takeru was his soulmate.
Okay, maybe Jogress-Evolution and the bond it made wasn't exactly the same as the stories of soulmates Iori's heard. Yet, it was close enough.
Takeru understood Iori better than anyone. Takeru was always there for Iori, no matter what and even if he wasn't he always made up for it. Iori loved Takeru with his whole heart and more.
Takeru was Iori's soulmate.
Iori heard Takeru call for him. He looked down, seeing Takeru's bright blue eyes looking back up at him with confusion and concern.
Takeru was Iori's soulmate.
Soulmates can be anything and anyone.
Iori loved Takeru so much that maybe soulmate was the only answer for their bond. Love can be anything and anyone as well. Iori couldn't tell how exactly how he loved Takeru, but it didn't matter because the love was there.
Love was love, and Iori loved Takeru and Takeru was his soulmate. It didn't matter how you described their love. It didn't matter if friend, boyfriend, or even partner didn't fit their bond but soulmate did.
They belonged together.
The red string of fate led Iori to Takeru, it connected them together. Takeru was Iori's yin to his yang, two forces that were opposite but needed each other to live. Takeru and Iori's moon to his earth, revolving around each other since the beginning of time and till the end of time.
Maybe Takeru and Iori weren't made for each other, but they found each other and grew together. They became their true selves with each other.
They chose each other, in a way, and isn't that better than some divine power choosing them for each other?
Iori just shook his head, silently tell Takeru that everything was fine. Takeru seemed to take that answer, but he didn't go back to writing.
He closed his laptop and his eyes, moving so his head was in Iori's lap and resting. Iori smiled down at Takeru, putting his hand in Takeru's hair and playing with it.
A small smile rose to Takeru's face, and Iori moved his book back. Now reading it with on hand as the sound of Takeru's small snores fill the room.
Iori couldn't focus on his book, still thinking about his realization.
He could almost hear Miyako's voice in his head telling him 'I told you so' and it almost made him laugh as well. Guess she was right all those years ago.
Iori should have known that, she stopped all her talk about finding her soulmate the moment she Jogress-Evolved with Hikari.
Iori wasn't sure if he was going to tell her he realized she was right. He didn't feel like getting it rubbed in his face for the rest of his life, as much as he valued Miyako as a friend.
However, she was right.
As was Iori's mother and grandfather with every story they told him.
Every story of soulmates Iori would disregard and say was fake. All those myths and tall tales were true after all. Soulmates did exist. Maybe not for everyone, and maybe you had more of a choice in it than fate does, but they were real. Takeru was Iori's soulmate.
Guess Iori does believe in soulmates after all.