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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 5: What would it feel like?

Category: Gen

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teamverse

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary: Tim was the only one without a soulmate. Even if no one knew, it was lonely.

Word Count: 1 862

AN: Hola everyone. - Ok so while I enjoy reading Soulmates AU because of the variety of different kinds of soulmate AUs in fandoms, I have a hard time writing about predestination 'cause I don't believe in it. Especially not in any kind of romantic/Platonic format. As far as I believe soulmates are simply souls that have met several times and recognize each other (ofc that's only if you think reincarnation is possible).- I think Red String of Fate is more of an East Asia thing than an Asian thing in general but I couldn’t remember and don’t have the time to do research rn so that’s that and I’m going off the idea that by the time Tim’s grandpa died, it had spread around.Anyway, Enjoy

Prompt: Soulmate AU - Hurt/Comfort

To read it on AO3

It was strange.

Tim could see marks on people. Sometimes it was timers, other times it was symbols, they could be static or moving, it could also be just matching lines separated in green, red and purple. Sometimes it was just writing or drawing that would disappear for some reason like erasable ink. More sadly, sometimes people share scars or pain. He only realized what he was seeing when he saw the picture of his grandparents whose pinkies were linked with a red string. His parents didn’t talk to him much about family traditions, he just knew that one of his great grandparents was Vietnamese and his mother had mentioned something called the red string of fate once. So he just did a quick internet search and tadaah. He knew what it was.

The question though was why he could see them when no one, not even metahumans could see them considering he was neither magic, a meta human nor an alien.

Or why he didn’t have one either.

Maybe it was simply a matter of not being able to see his own Soulmate. Or maybe it was in a place he could not see (which…he was torn between hoping for and not).

Or maybe he just didn’t have a soulmate.

But…aside from him everyone had a soulmate, their soulmarks might not always be visible but he could feel them, even if it was about sharing emotions. Was the fact that he could see the marks due to him not having one? Or did he not have one because he could see them?

It was rare for Tim to stop and think about that.

Despite his pretty great intelligence, if he dare think so himself, he was not the type to think too much about things that had no immediate effect on him (no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise). So thinking about soulmates was not very interesting. People were linked to each other; he wasn’t linked to anyone or he was and couldn’t see it. The only thing he learned from that was that your soulmate didn’t have to be a romantic partner. So he wouldn’t have to feel bad if one day he wanted romance…for some reason.

Either way Soulmates didn’t concern him. So he usually didn’t think about it. To him soulmarks were like eye or hair color. Just a thing that was there.

But once in a while, when he was alone on his own, he thought about it. It would be nice to have someone else. Someone with whom he could share a part of his soul and know it would be accepted.

It hadn’t happened since he had met Bruce though. Because he was almost never completely alone even though his father was still comatose. Or maybe because of it. He really didn’t want to think about that.

It was the first time in a bit more than a year since he thought about it actually. And he didn’t know why as there was nothing in his current life that warranted it. There was just this strange warmth. That made him wish.

- - - - - -

Then he met Ari and Steph and he knew he wasn’t their soulmates but he knew soulmates didn’t have to be romantic so he tried.

- - - - - - -

A year passed and he met Superboy for the first time. And he could feel it. Even The Kid had a Soulmate. Apparently his soulmark wasn’t a visible one, but it was there nonetheless. How unfair. Well not really. It was just further proof he was his own person as Superman’s soulmark was a pen on his left arm.

He had talked to Batman about his “ability” once when he talked about someone’s soul mark allowing him to recognize a perp. He could have lied and said it was a tatoo but since Batman couldn’t see it, it was useless. Granted that’s what he thought afterward, he hadn’t even thought of lying when it happened. The only reason he hadn’t told Bruce in the first place was because he hadn’t thought about it. According to Zatana it wasn’t due to magic nor was he tested as a metahuman and he was human. Apparently he was just more sensitive to this wavelength just like some people were weak against electronics and others to sounds.

- - - - - - -

He had met St

- - - - - - -

Months passed.

He and Superboy became friends. Good Friends. Or as good as they could be with Tim being unable to reveal his real identity.

Which is to mean that soon enough it also started going badly. Granted the first time was because of Match, it doesn’t change that Kon felt hurt and started becoming distrustful over Tim’s identity.

But if anything, Kon was perceptive even if he didn’t always know how to draw the right conclusion. He knew Tim had issues, and he had his own so he saw the dots….he just connected the wrong ones together.

Still. They bonded, even if a part of their relationship was deteriorating (and boy did it deteriorate once they were on Apokolips) there were slightly more normal parts that helped when they were just hanging out. Of course Tim’s ID was in the way but now he could show his face and joke and just…hang out. He always felt better after hanging out with Kon, except when he was being insufferable. It was a 50/50 on which one would happen but Tim was always ready to risk it.

Until the war. He understood where Kon was coming from but…He couldn’t deal with it so he left. It felt cold. Because Kon was literally the last person he wanted to talk to. As in if he had anyone he wanted to be the last person he thought of or talked to, he wanted it to be Kon. As if that wasn’t surprising enough.

- - - - - - - - -

Stephanie died. So did his dad. Being near Conner was comforting. His presence helped even if it didn’t solve anything. Just being near him helped him believe he could burry his pain. Granted the man himself refused to let him do so. Because he was his best friend.

How do you tell someone you know they have a soul because they have a soulmate? Well you just tell them. Everything. And it helped, for a bit. But then Luthor took over and no matter what Tim said, Conner’s guilt was in the way. It might have helped if his guilt hadn’t gotten in the way. Also their trip to the future felt like a proof Tim was mistaken. Because what if his “soulmark” was just a pale copy of Clark’s. Enough to exist but not enough to copy the mark. And Tim could understand this point but he just didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe it, not until Raven proved him he had a soul. Tim felt a bit miffed but he understood how Conner felt even if for different reasons.

- - - - - - - - -

Then Conner died. The warmth left. More importantly he left. He was taken away. And Tim was left again.

It’s the first time Tim thought that maybe he had a soulmate.

He never felt as heartbroken as he was now.

- - - - - - - -

More than a year and a half passed. Tim was still grieving. He didn’t know what to do. All his loved ones just kept dying and he just felt so cold. Stuff happened.

Conner came back. He wasn’t so cold anymore but he just…He had something to do. He had to find Bruce. Even for Conner he couldn’t stop.

He didn’t have to. Conner found him. He was really there. And he was the only one who believed him. And Tim knew it was really him because the warmth was back tenfold. He felt so much alive again.

If Conner believed him… It renewed his hope he could find Bruce.

- - - - - - - -

After a while the Status Quo came back and Tim came back to the Teen Titans. After Conner and Cassie broke up. It wasn’t easy. He felt like a buffer sometimes. But he didn’t care. Even if Conner and Cassie had issues, they usually were fairly mature about their break-up. Probably more for Tim and Bart’s sake than anything else but Tim wasn’t gonna complain.

- - - - - -

And then one day Tim got badly hurt on a Titans mission. It was rare for Tim to be really hurt when he was on a team mission and usually it wasn’t anything Conner couldn’t help with his TTK, but this time Tim was badly hurt to the point of fainting and Conner couldn’t not hold onto him. He needed the reassurance his best friend was gonna be okay.

Which is when he felt both pain and comfort. Tim opened his eyes for a second in what looked like surprise but fainted again. He looked like he didn’t feel as bad though. Maybe Conner had a new power? He didn’t know…or really care. At that point all he wanted was to get Tim back to the tower so he could get help and hope that he was relieving his pain if only a little bit.

- - - - - -

When Tim woke up, he felt like he was in a cocoon of warmth. He was so comfortable he almost went back to sleep. But that wasn’t normal. So he opened his eyes and felt Conner’s eyes on him. The boy immediately went for a hug but then seemed to remember Tim was still hurt….Even if he didn’t really feel hurt. Huh.

After a few second spent taking in the other’s state, Conner started:

“You’ve been asleep for the past two days and you’re supposed to stay in bed for the next three days after you wake up. Doctor’s order. Which I’ll make sure you follow so no funny business.”

Tim cracked a smile and nodded.

“So you’ll be my nurse?”

Conner nodded, seriously.

“Apparently I can reduce your physical pain when my skin touches yours. And it’s not a new power. I tested it on Rose. It’s only you.”

Tim froze. So it was true. He actually….

“We’re soulmates aren’t we? You told me some people had pain or emotion based soulmarks and that’s what we have right?”

He actually had a soulmate. It wasn’t just wishful thinking. It was Conner of course. Who else. There was almost no one he loved as much as Conner and definitely no one he loved more.

“Hey Tim….You’re crying. I mean I know I’m probably not the best person you could hope for but, I mean at least now you know you have a soulmate too…”

Tim jumped in Conner’s arms and hugged him as tight as he could without injuring himself further.

“Idiot. I’m so happy your my soulmate! You have no idea. I’m just overwhelmed”.

“Oh”.

- - - - - -

So…It turns out Tim had a soulmate. It turned out to be his best friend, the person he loved more than anything.

And while he could feel Bruce judging him all the way from Gotham when, after he told him, Conner could be heard from the other side of the door, He was probably the happiest he had been in years.

AN: Hope you enjoyed it ! As you can see it can be read as either friendship or romance. It their case it's intertwined and I don't have the time to try and push it further in the realm of romance right now.In this the warmth Tim feels is mostly due to being sensitive to soulmates bond. So when he feels his at his most powerful (since it's skin touchbased, the closer Kon is, the better) he feels all warm and Tingly 'cause his and Kon's soul just...keep trying to be in the other's close relationships circle. No matter the life.

#TimKon Week #TimKon #Tim Drake #Conner Kent #Kon El #BrOTP: TimKon #OTP:TimKon #Young Justice (1998)#Teen Titans v3 #Angst & Fluff

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