Chapter Text
There was a tug.
Tim didn’t actually notice it at first, his attention was elsewhere Just a little tug didn’t faze him when he was currently following a truck that was filled with illegal weapons.
He ran over the rooftops, jumping between them, rolling off of them and swinging towards the next building with his grappling gun, landing on the truck. Right now, Red Robin was busy. He had no times for a tug.
But when he landed on the truck, there was another one. He ignored it because from below people were shooting up. He could hear the rumbling from the truck when— Tim fell backward, he almost fell off the truck if he wouldn’t have held onto the edge.
"Shit!" Tim cursed under his breath. He looked at his hand and— there it was. The red string that was tied around his ring finger didn’t have an ending anymore. It didn’t disappear in the air, it was there. A long, thin string pulling him back and really distracting him. It pulled again and this time it was really hard for Tim to hold onto the truck.
The door to the truck opened and two men stood there, starting to shoot at him. Tim pushed himself off of the truck and used his grappling gun.
"Red here," Tim said into the comm, "I need backup."
"Everything all right?" Oracle asked.
"No, it’s my—" The stupid string pulled him back so hard, Tim had to swing back to another building, "my string. Send someone else to handle them."
"Copy that. Blue Bird’s close."
Tim pursed his lips. He wasn’t exactly happy about Harper taking over this because he had been working on this case for weeks now and tonight was the night where everything was supposed to go down. But his soulmate was in the way.
Tim wondered if the force of the red string was so strong for everyone else too. It was tugging at him, pulling him towards a location.
He couldn’t fight against it, so he followed it. Should he change out of his clothes? He couldn’t present himself to some stranger and say, "Hi, I’m your soulmate. Yeah, I’m Red Robin. No, I can’t tell you my actual name."
"Uh, Red…" Barbara said.
"What? Something happened with Blue Bird?"
"No, she’s fine. I sent Signal on the way too," Barbara explained. "It’s just… You don’t have to change out of your costume."
"What does it mean?"
The string tucked again, this time really hard and Tim fell down the building he was on. He reacted quickly, shooting his grappling gun to land gracefully. At least, that’s what he had planned until he crashed into someone right before his feet could touch the ground beneath.
Tim fell backward, landing hard on the ground. It hurt like hell.
"Fuck!" the person he crashed into cursed. Tim looked up.
"Hood?"
Jason was across him, also lying on the floor, propping himself up on his elbows. Tim blinked, then took a glance at his string. The string, that connected to Jason’s hand.
"Fuck," Tim whispered as it clicked.
Bruce’ lips were pressed into a thin line. His gaze was uncomfortable for Tim, as it was on the red string between him and Jason.
"This is… a surprise," Bruce said.
"Tell me about it," Jason said. Tim glared at his so-called soulmate.
"Do you think I wanted this? I was in the middle of something."
"Yeah, do you think I wasn’t? I was with the fucking Black Mask when it happened. Now the fucker knows I found my—" Jason stopped. He didn’t say the word out loud and Tim was thankful for it at least. He still hadn’t processed the fact that Jason Todd was his soulmate.
"You’re both benched for the week," Bruce said.
Immediately, Jason and Tim protested, shouting at the same time. "What the fuck? No!" "You can’t do that!"
Bruce held up his hand. "I can’t let you go out on the streets like this."
Jason grunted. "Fuck you, you can’t tell me what to do."
"Red Week’s starting for you," Bruce said. Behind him, Alfred turned up.
"I have what you asked for, Master Bruce."
"Thank you, Alfred."
Alfred handed Tim and Jason a pamphlet over. Tim blinked as he stared at the red pamphlet.
"Is this a joke?" Jason asked.
"No," Bruce said. "You need to be informed about what it means to have found your soulmate. Since you’re legally dead and you can’t have an appointment at the info center."
Right, that was how it usually went. Once you find your soulmate, the person at the end to your red string, you were supposed to make an appointment at the city’s Red String Info Center. They’ll document you as soulmates, talk to you all about it, explain things, you’re excused from work for a week, and provide you help when needed.
Jason threw the pamphlet away. "I don’t need it," he said.
"Me neither," Tim agreed. "I already know everything."
They’ve had learned about it at school several times too. They had made it seem so boring and dry, finding your soulmate. So different from how movies talked about it, where finding your soulmate was something special and mind-blowing. The moment you met it was like everything fit together in a puzzle and you get your happy ever after.
What Tim went through was neither boring and dry, nor special and romantic.
There were cases where people have known their soulmate forever but the string only revealed themselves later, like it was the case for Jason and Tim. Those cases were rarer but totally possible.
"Exactly," Jason said, "we’ll break the string right now."
Tim snapped at Jason. "Are you kidding me?"
"Jason." Even Bruce seemed to disapprove.
"What? You want me to be his soulmate?" Jason laughed and held his hand up, showing Bruce the string around his finger. "This is bullshit. You don’t want me to be the replacement’s soulmate either. Can’t have your biggest mistake be all over your precious son, right?"
Tim cleared his throat. "Of course, he doesn’t. I don’t either. But you know what happens to people that break their string before Red Week is over."
Jason rolled his eyes. "Bad luck, I know." Bad luck was an understatement, sometimes it led to deaths in forms of accidents. At least, it always ended badly. "I’ve died before, how bad can it be?"
"Soulmates in our line of work are…" Bruce hesitated, "not ideal. But at least, you’re both vigilantes and understand it. You only need to leave it for a week, we can break it afterward."
Jason eyed Tim. "I can’t stay with him for a whole week."
Tim felt anger rising in him. "Fuck you, Jason," he snarled at him. "I don’t want this either. I have things to do. Work, cases, my own life. But it’s just a week."
A really long week, but just a week nonetheless.
"You do know what this means, right?" Jason asked. "You say like it’s so easy. We have to live together. We can’t go apart from each other for more than thirty feet."
"It’s just a week," Tim repeated.
Bruce nodded at Tim. "Tim is right. It would be careless to break the string and deal with its consequences just because you can’t put your differences to the side for a week."
Jason huffed. "Right, how did it go in your Red Week with Selina? I’m sure you just spent it in bed the whole time."
Bruce sighed, ignoring Jason. "Where will you two stay?"
Right. "At Tim’s place," Jason immediately said.
"What?"
"I’m not letting you into my place," Jason explained.
"Who said I want you at my place?!"
"You could stay in the manor," Bruce suggested.
"We’re staying at my place," Tim immediately responded which earned him a smug grin from Jason. God, he made Tim so angry. There was no way Jason could be his soulmate, whoever was up there controlling the strings just wanted to fuck with Tim and torture him by putting him with Jason Todd out of all people.
"Good. And try not to argue too much, you know what will happen," Bruce told them.
"That’s going to be a problem," Tim said. "Jason can’t shut his mouth."
"What the hell. You’re the one that can’t shut up. I can be civil. I don’t even want to talk to you."
Tim rolled his eyes. "Of course. You like to hear yourself talk just as much as Dick—"
Immediately, the string between them shortened, pulling their hands together until they almost touched. Bruce just raised his eyebrows at them with a look that said 'I told you so'.
Tim and Jason were so close to each other now. Tim glared at the taller man again. "Just don’t say anything," Tim said.
"Good."
"Fine!"
The string shortened again and their fingers brushed against each other. Tim jerked back at the sudden touch but the string pulled him closer. He let out a deep breath. Okay, no fighting unless he wanted the string to shorten.
"Let’s go to your place first and get your things," Tim suggested.
He was already looking forward to Red Week to end and him to finally walk free again without an annoying soulmate at the end of his string.
Tim tried hard to put on a poker face and not let himself show that he was actually disappointed. Not because it was Jason, but because… deep inside him, he had somehow wished meeting his soulmate really would be like it was shown in books and movies.
Romantic, with love at first sight where his soulmate gasped and smiled, so happy on finally finding him. Tim knew it sounded cheesy but he had just wished he would find his soulmate and stay with them.
Too bad, his soulmate was Jason.