Rimlaine

Rimlaine is the slash ship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine from the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

Canon
Given the limited on-screen appearances of both characters, it is entirely unknown what their relationship would have been like prior to Fifteen's plot or how they met. However, in both the light novel and the anime, Arthur alludes to Paul. Arthur mentions that Paul was his teammate during his mission of espionage and infiltration of the Japanese ministry's laboratories in order to capture Arahabaki. Arthur also mentions, during his fight against Chūya and Dazai, that Paul in addition to being his teammate was also very close to him. Although the two of them had lost contact after the Arahabaki incident.

The fight ends with Arthur's murder at the hands of Dazai and Chūya. The impact of the blow gave the ex-spy a few seconds of lucidity in which he was able to recall more accurately the details of the incident. With Arthur's words before he died, apparently during his escape eight years ago, Paul ended up betraying him. After his betrayal of Arthur, Paul seemed to be deeply in denial over his feelings towards him, claiming he was glad his partner was dead.

However, after the incident with Guivre was resolved, the ex-spy reveals that his goal after that fight was to absorb Chūya's ability in order to recreate his memories of that fateful night when Arahabaki went out of control, a night that culminated in Paul's disappearance and Arthur's memory loss. Arthur explains that in that way he would be able to understand the events of that night and would be able to know Paul's current state. And, had he survived, to be reunited with him. At this point, Paul admitted he cared about Arthur and was extremely remorseful for his actions, apologizing over and over again. After that, Paul allowed himself to be detained by the mafia, having nowhere he wanted to go and no one he wanted to see besides Arthur, who was now dead.

"How strange... I'm not cold in the least. The world that should have been so cold... Paul, you also... felt this warmth... in the... end."

- Arthur's last words.

Some time after Arthur's death, in the additional document of Fifteen it is narrated that Paul infiltrated the Port Mafia base. After cold-bloodedly murdering some guards and reading the documents written by his deceased ex-partner, Paul takes the hat that once belonged to Arthur and disappears among the buildings of Yokohama.

Fanon
is a rare pair within the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom. This is due to the fact that the anime didn't really show all the development their relationship had in the visual novel. And also due to the fact that they are not main characters in the visual novels. Fans of the ship often see a link between their real-life counterparts, and wish the romantic part of their relationship could've been explored. The ship currently has 150+ works on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, the real-life poets which both characters are based on, were lovers in real life.
 * Paul Verlaine, in real life, collected Rimbaud's poems. In fact it was he who published "Illuminations", a book that compiles a large number of poems written by the young poet throughout his life. Curiously enough, Rimbaud's ability in Bungou Stray Dogs is based on this book and is called "Illuminations".
 * Arthur Rimbaud's hat was actually Paul Verlaine's.