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Soulmates.
Tim often tried to forget that he had one out there in the world somewhere, preferring to spend his time focusing on his case load. Sometimes, when he'd get a new scar, he'd wince and send a silent apology to whomever was on the receiving end of a new tattoo because of it. Sometimes he'd be getting out of the shower and notice a new tattoo of his own and silently curse his soulmate for giving him yet another flower blossom that could identify him if anyone else ever saw it.
Luckily for him, all of his tattoos were covered by the Red Robin suit.
Unfortunately for him, the same couldn't be said when he was Tim Drake. Tim Drake had a very distinctive tattoo that all the world could see since it started at his left hand, went up his arm and managed to go halfway across his chest. The flower buds were vining in the tattoo, looking like a lightning strike. Tim had no idea what had happened to his soulmate to cause a scar like that, but it couldn't of been anything good. And now Tim had to live with the tattoo from whatever it was.
As soon as the tattoo had been discovered, the press had been all over him trying to get a full picture of it to try and match it to someone else, even though he was a minor at the time. It had become Tim's own personal nightmare that Bruce had done his best to shield him from, but he wasn't Tim's guardian at the time and there was only so much he could do.
Currently, Tim was sitting in the library. Normally he'd be working at home or at the WE office, but he had wanted a change of scenery. Plus it had the added benefit of him being unable to take phone calls so that he could just focus on his job for a little while.
After a while, a man came and sat in the seat next to Tim. It likely was the only spot still open at the desks since this time of day the place was full of university students. At first, Tim didn't pay him any mind, focusing instead on the things he needed to get done. After a while, though, Tim couldn't help but glance at the other and then do a double take.
The man next to him had a line of flower buds across his throat in the exact place that Tim had a scar from when Jason slit his throat. What were the odds that...?
"Sorry," Tim said, causing the man to look at him and, oh, he was really handsome, "I couldn't help but notice your tattoo on your neck…"
"Oh uh, yeah," the man flushed a little and shrugged, "Soulmate thing, you know?"
Tim did know, that was the problem, "Right. Have you met…?"
"Ah, no, not yet," the man said awkwardly, "Listen-"
"Did you have something happen to you four years ago?" Tim cut in and the man went perfectly still, staring at him in surprise.
Tim held out his left hand and the man inhaled sharply, "Oh shit I was hoping that didn't transfer since I died."
"…you what?" Tim asked in response.
"Hey, you're the one with a throat injury, you have no room to judge."
And, well, that was fair, Tim had to admit. And he wasn't really sure how to explain it either but, "What happened?"
"Electrocuted," he answered simply and, yeah, that tracked with the pattern of the flower buds on Tim's skin, "You?"
"…fight with my sibling," Tim offered blandly and the man raised an eyebrow.
"One hell of a fight."
"You have no idea."
"I'm Danny," the other offered Tim his left hand and, ah, that explained some things. Tim took the hand.
"Tim."
"Wow," Danny said and then laughed a bit, "You uh, had a rough few years."
"So did you," Tim said without hesitation. Danny gave Tim nearly as many tattoos as he was sure that he had given Danny over the years.
"Yeah, you could say that," Danny muttered, running a hand through his hair nervously, "So uh… what do we…?"
"I have no idea," Tim murmured in response. He hadn't expected to just randomly run across his soulmate in the library.
"I uh, have an essay to write so um…"
"Yeah," Tim agreed, obviously Danny was there for a reason and honestly so was Tim. He paused for a moment before pulling out his phone, "Give me your number and we can get coffee or something later when we have free time."
"Yeah, alright," Danny agreed, giving Tim his number. Tim texted the number and heard the quiet ping from Danny's pocket, "Later then?"
Tim nodded, closing his laptop and gathering up his stuff. He needed to get back to WE and talk to Bruce, "Yeah, later."
~~~~~~~
Tim's hand still felt like it was tingling from the contact with Danny by the time he made it back to WE. He dumped his laptop and jacket in his office with little care before crossing the hall to Bruce's office. He didn't even bother to knock, letting himself into the office, causing Bruce to look up at him in surprise.
"Tim?"
"I think I met my soulmate."
Bruce was out of his seat in a heartbeat, coming around the desk and leaning against the front of it, his arms crossing across his chest, "Think?"
"He has a tattoo across his throat…" Tim traced the faint scar that was still on his own throat in response and Bruce sucked in a breath. He reached out and grabbed the hand that Tim had traced his throat with and Tim looked at him in surprise, "What-?"
"The blossoms," Bruce said, still looking at Tim's hand.
Tim looked away from Bruce and toward his hand to see what Bruce meant. The flower blossoms had bloomed. Tim took a breath before turning back to Bruce with wide eyes, "He's my soulmate."
Bruce nodded in agreement, dropping Tim's hand and crossing his arms again, "We're going to have to meet him. To tell him…"
"I know," Tim murmured, not looking forward to either of those things, "We're supposed to meet up to talk later…"
Bruce nodded a bit, "You're taking some time off."
"Bruce-"
"It's mandatory and you know it."
Tim gave a sigh, but nodded a bit.
"Leave the laptop here so I know you're not working from home."
"That's just cruel."
~~~~~~~~
[Tell me about yourself]
Tim blinked, staring at the text from Danny, uncertain just how to answer such a request. Though, getting to know each other over text while they were working to meet up wasn't a terrible idea.
[What do you want to know?]
[Well, all I know is that your name is Tim so there's plenty of options there]
[Wait, did you not recognize me?]
[Should I have?]
[Tim Drake-Wayne?]
[You're kidding]
Tim snorted. Of course his soulmate didn't know who he was. Go figure.
[I'm not. So that should tell you a lot about me]
[Actually, all that it tells me is that you're a Wayne. I don't follow tabloids at all]
[What about you?]
[What about me?]
[Tell me about yourself]
Tim watched the typing bubble appear and disappear multiple times before a text finally came through.
[Wow, why is that so hard?]
Tim laughed a bit, laying back on his bed with a hum.
[That's why I asked for specifics. What about family?]
[One older sister. Scientist parents]
Tim tilted his head a bit. There felt like a story there, but he let it go for now.
[Only child, but with the Waynes I have 3 brothers; 2 older, 1 younger]
[Guessing that there's a reason you're with the Waynes now]
[You haven't gotten to the level to unlock that backstory yet]
[That's fair enough!] Tim smiled [Have you always lived in Gotham?]
[Born and raised. What about you?]
[I'm from Illinois. I'm here for school]
[Gotham U?]
[Yeah, for aerospace engineering]
[I dropped out of high school, got my GED and then started working at WE]
[That sounds like the easier way to go. College has been brutal]
[I can imagine] Tim paused, chewing his lip [When do you think you'll be available to meet up?]
[Day or two, pretty slammed with classes this semester but I have tomorrow afternoon free?]
[I can do that. What time?]
[Say 3?]
[It's a date]
~~~~~~~~
Tim was playing with this cup of coffee as he anxiously waited for Danny. He had shown up early, too wound up to wait to leave any longer. Curse Bruce for putting him on leave so he didn't even have work to distract him. Tim glanced up at the sound of the bell above the door ringing and couldn't help but inhale slightly at the sight of Danny.
He had no right being so handsome. Tim supposed that it wouldn't really work out with them being soulmates if he didn't find Danny attractive, but that wasn't the point. Tim gave a small wave and Danny turned toward him before offering a crooked smile and making his way over to him.
Danny set his bag on the back of the chair before looking back at Tim, "I'm going to grab a drink."
Tim nodded and watched Danny head over to the counter to order his drink. Looking away from him, Tim, instead, focused on the bag on the back of the chair. It was obviously abused and well worn at this point; possibly the same bag Danny had used through high school. It also had a cute little ghost charm hanging from the zipper.
Tim looked up as Danny returned with his drink and smiled at him. Danny smiled back and took a sip of his drink before clearing his throat, "So uh, soulmates."
"Yeah," Tim agreed, looking at the bloomed flowers across Danny's throat, "So how should we…?"
"I mean, I live on campus," Danny said with a small shrug, "I'm on a Wayne Grant so I don't really have a way to contribute much of anything to anything."
"I have my own place," Tim admitted, biting his lip as he thought about all the secrets he kept in that place, "But um, we could just… date like normal people for a while and worry about that sort of thing later?"
"Yeah," Danny agreed, relaxing a little, "Dating sounds good. I still don't know a lot about you and you don't know much about me either."
"Right," Tim agreed. How did people do this all the time and not make it awkward, "How much school do you have left this semester?"
"Couple more weeks," Danny took another sip of his drink, "But one of those weeks is finals week so like…"
"Mm," Tim agreed, chewing his lip. A habit he thought he had broken himself of, "Well I've been put on leave so I can work around your schedule."
"On leave?" Danny echoed.
"Yeah, it's a mandatory thing at the company that when you find your soulmate, you have to take time off to be together."
"Oh," Danny blinked a bit, "I guess that's… considerate of them."
Tim offered a smile, "My point was that I can meet up whenever. I have nothing else going on so…"
There was an awkward pause before Danny spoke again, "So, Wayne siblings, huh? Which one was the one who…?" He touched his neck tattoo lightly.
"Oh uh… Jason," Tim said and rubbed his face, "It was an accident." Kind of. How did you even begin to explain a sibling coming back from the dead and dealing with pit rage?
"What did you electrocute yourself on?" Tim asked instead and Danny hesitated.
"A uh… portal to another dimension?"
"You just… have one of those laying around," Tim raised an eyebrow.
"It's a long story."
"I have time."
Danny took a breath, "Well, when I was fourteen, my parents built a very strange machine…"