Soulmate fic idea and recs

[alias_sqbr]

I don't normally like soulmate and soulmark fic: where two characters are Fated For Each Other and know it. I am a big fan of uncertainty and pining in romances, which these tropes tend to undercut. I've enjoyed some trope subverting fics set in soulmate worlds, but tend not to enjoy fic that play the tropes straight.

But recently I read two soulmate fics where the relationship was so messed up that knowing they were soulmates still left room for a hell of a lot of angst and uncertainty and in some ways just made everything worse. Which was interesting!

Below the cut: Spoilers for Knives Out and Heaven Official's Blessing, also these two fics.

what's in a name by rurinas, Heaven Official's Blessing, He Xuan/Shi Qing Xuan

In a world where people are born with names written on both wrists, where one is their soulmate and one is their worst enemy, Shi Qing Xuan has the same name written on both wrists: He Xuan.

The canon context is that He Xuan uses a false name to befriend Shi Qing Xuan as part of a centuries long revenge plot against them and their brother. The moment in canon when Shi Qing Xuan realises their best friend is He Xuan is VERY INTENSE AND ANGSTY. Adding a lifetime of wondering about this "He Xuan" on top of that just makes it more fraught, and the two of them knowing they're soulmates fixes nothing. I don't usually like sad endings but somehow here it worked for me.

The second fic I didn't like as much overall, but enjoyed when I thought it was doing something different.

If I'm Haunting You, You Must Be Haunting Me by mardia, Knives Out, Ransom/Marta

It seems horribly fitting that when Marta’s soulbond arrives, it’s in the most absurdly ridiculous, horrible way imaginable.

So in canon Ransom is a charming asshole, played charismatically by Chris Evans, who unexpectedly helps the good-hearted protagonist Marta when she's in danger of being arrested for murder...and then turns out to be the murderer and attempts to kill her.

In the fic, he doesn't end up murdering anyone but the soulbond connection means she can tell he absolutely thought about it and is generally very dangerous. So at first she's horrified and scared. But as the fic progresses, being around her softens him, and she finds his charismatic assholeishness useful when it's working in her favour. She actually enjoys being a bit of an asshole herself sometimes. (Also it gets enjoyably femdommy >.>)

And for a while I thought they were leaking into each other and she was going to realise and be horrified but also like...kind of into it. But eventually I realised it was just him becoming nicer because He Just Liked Her That Much etc.

So now I want to read a fic where that does happen. Where a nice person/murderer type couple are genuine soulmates who connect despite their differences, but also start leaking into each other through the bond and are very uncomfortable with that. I'm not sure how I'd want it to end but it's certainly an interesting place to start. Also there's gender stuff it could be fun to poke at if they're not both the same gender at the start. I'd like some ambiguity: are they leaking into each other through the bond? Or are they just finding the people they always were deep down?

Comments

[waterscroll]

In a world where people are born with names written on both wrists, where one is their soulmate and one is their worst enemy, Shi Qing Xuan has the same name written on both wrists

I like that premise a lot.

[makamu]

Both of these look really neat and interesting, although I don't know either fandom (I plan to see Knives Out ; generally, I feel the same way you do about the trope and my favourite soulmmark fic - An Ever-Fixed Mark by AM Marguerite (Pride and Prejudice, teen and up, 191k words, locked to AO3)- tends to be more deconstructive than straight.

[skygiants]

I wrote a short story a bit like that once, playing with the 'drift compatible' trope and how it feels to realize that the person who's the best partner for you might still not be a person whose worldview you can countenance, and the fear of losing a part of yourself that you value in the bond. I've never been able to find a home for it, though; maybe I'll try revising it into something different one of these days.

[sami]

*finds this fic for you*

It's not what you're asking for here, but it's one of the best versions of that trope I've seen: facing the devil (and the deep, blue sea)

It's a Marvel Cinematic Universe I encountered in my deeply bitter roaming through Team Iron Man fics. It does the thing I wish more fics on that trope would do, which is consider exactly how people would think about that, that there would be whole philosophies about it.

Also has the notion that you get two names, your soulmate and your worst enemy, and you don't necessarily get to know which is which.

[alias_sqbr]

Ooh, sounds interesting! The Pride and Prejudice fic recced elsewhere in the comments has some really interesting worldbuilding, especially how the very rigid society of regency England would deal with soulmates not remotely respecting class/gender etc distinctions.

[lea_hazel]

I think about ways to subvert this a lot, where soulmates are A Thing but they're not always A Good Thing, kind of like... romantic relationships... in real life.

[alias_sqbr]

Exactly! I mean afaict the appeal for those who like the trope is avoiding all that messiness, which I understand intellectually. But for me the messiness is part of the fun :)

[lea_hazel]

Yeah, I enjoy fictional messiness because it relieves my anxiety about real-life messiness. Like, I wouldn't want to *be* in a messy relationship, but reading about them satisfies a certain self-destructive urge. Meh, IDK.