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With an exaggerated groan Tim sits down and rests his head on the table in front of him. Not looking up he complains, “he’s an asshole and I hate him.”
The silence which follows his statement speaks a thousand words and Tim knows he's being judge in many different ways, eventually a scoff sounds out and his best friend speaks up from her position next to him. “Okay I’ll bite. Who do you hate and why are they an asshole?”
Tim pushes himself up and leans back in the chair, he rolls his head to the side so he could glare at Steph who is sat there painting her nails egg plant purple. “The guy that keeps appearing in my dreams repeatedly. I’m 87 percent sure he’s my soulmate but I can’t confirm that. However I can confirm he’s 100 percent a dick.”
Steph unhelpfully hums in response, Tim’s not even sure if she’s paying attention to him, she seems pretty focus on her nails. In retaliation Tim shoves her in the shoulder and causes her to mess up her painting, her head instantly snaps up and she’s glaring at him with a furious expression. “Tim!”
“You aren’t paying attention to me!” Tim doesn’t whine, he doesn’t, but he does cross his arms over his chest petulantly. “I don’t know what to do.”
Grumbling underneath her breath Steph grabs her makeup remover and starts correcting her mistakes. After she’s got a clean nail again she looks up at Tim and levels him with a stare. “I was actually listening you impatient git, I was just thinking of what to say. Soulmates and dreams are unknown territory Tim, you know this. There isn’t much I can say that’ll be useful to you.”
Tim scratches his head and sags against the chair even further, feeling defeated. There’s a large lack of understanding when it comes to how Soulmates and their links to people’s dream work. Scientists have for years been trying to figure it out but they’ve never been successful, there’s no telling on why two people consistently meet in one another’s dreams and how it’s these two people who are apparently so compatible with one another that they’re deemed as soulmates.
There's no logic or pattern behind the appearances in dreams. Sometimes it starts when those two people are in their teens and other times it can start when they’re middle aged. The appearances can come and go, it may happen once a week, once a month or bi-monthly, or it can be every day for a solid year.
What is consistent though is the fact that the soulmates can never get full knowledge and details of who the other person is. They each appear distorted in the dream, and while they can communicate upon waking up in the morning they can never remember what the person sounds like, what their name is, where they come from or even where they currently are. Small details of the person and the dream shared can be remembered, but anything significant will be forgotten.
All in all, it’s a massive fluke if you actually meet your soulmate in reality. Those who have met say that a feeling of rightfulness and familiarity hits you when you meet. They also mention that after you meet your dreams become clear and you can see them for who they are and remember everything when you wake up.
“Just ask him to be polite.”
Tim’s taken out of his thoughts and looks at Steph who’s now finishing her nails. “Huh?”
Fanning her hand to dry the paint Steph rolls her eyes. “If he’s being a dick, just ask him not to be. Why’s that so hard?”
Tim snorts. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” All Steph does in response is lean over and grabs one of his hands and begins to paint his fingernails, thankfully she chooses a dark red colour otherwise he would have stopped her. “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to be compatible, we’ve been appearing in dreams for a month solid at this point and we still don’t get along. Every morning I wake up remembering feeling how annoyed I was. That can’t be right.”
“Like I said, I don’t know what to suggest Tim. I haven’t experienced it so I can’t advise you on what to do.”
Nodding Tim sighs, knowing she’s right. “I know, but thanks for listening to me ranting.”
Steph glances up and beams at him. “Anytime.”
That night, unsurprisingly, Tim meets his soulmate in his dream again. Or it may have been his soulmates dream this time, sometimes he can never tell who’s it is, however the distinction becomes clear when Tim gets a good look at his surroundings.
He’s stood by a large pond which is surrounded by beautiful countryside, there’s nothing else in sight other than miles of green and yellow fields, bushes and trees. Along the edge of the pond, not too far away from where Tim is, there’s a wooden platform that stretches out over the water and on that platform there’s another body. Tim instantly knows it’s his soulmate. He's sat there at the end with his legs dangling over the edge and a fishing rod held tightly in his hands.
Tim blinks at the image. This is certainly different. Going with it Tim makes his way over to the platform and walks to the end of it, only stopping once he’s stood next to his soulmate.
Before Tim could say anything, the other guy is speaking up. “Y’know I would be so confused right now if I didn’t have a long and thorough conversation with my Pa about fish today.” The guy pauses before continuing, all without even looking up at him, “I’ve always wanted to go fishing.”
Tim couldn’t help but snort. “That’s so random, why would you want to go fishing? Out of all the sports to try and you’d want to do this.”
Despite his words Tim sits down at the edge of the platform and joins his soulmate. Wordlessly the guy holds out a fishing rod that’s materialised out of nowhere and Tim grabs it. Not knowing how he knows, Tim sets it up without a thought, he attaches some bait onto the hook and casts off and sits back letting fate decide if he catches something or not.
His soulmate turns to him, and Tim finds himself (not for the first time) disappointed that he can’t make out any of his features.
“There’s just something serene and peaceful about it that makes me want to try it. It’s away from the busy life of a city, you’re surrounded by countryside and wildlife and there’s no pressure in order to be successful in it.”
Tim hums. “Each to their own I guess.” He glances to the side to watch the other man as much as he could. While their dreams give off weird perceptions of what they’re like in real life, Tim still couldn’t help but pick up on the fact that his soulmate seems off that night. He’s not being his usual snarky self that drives Tim up the wall.
“Are you okay?” Tim finds himself asking.
The question seems to jolt the guy. “I’m fine. Why? Are you okay?”
Tim narrows his eyes in disbelief. “I’m okay. It’s you who is acting out of character, not me.”
“Well nothing’s wrong,” his soulmate shrugs, “just enjoying the calmness of this dream for once.”
Tim has no idea what is going through the guy’s head but Tim has five adopted siblings so he’s learnt to pick up a bullshit lie when one is told, and that’s exactly what his soulmate is doing, lying to him about being okay. However since Tim doesn’t know him he chooses to drop the subject, he doesn’t want to push the subject and make the atmosphere uncomfortable for the both of them considering they have no choice but to be here. He looks out over the pond again and enjoys the views.
When Tim wakes up in the morning he instantly grabs his little dream diary and a pen and adds a new bullet point to the slowly growing list that covers the pages. Ever since his soulmate started to appear in his dreams Tim keeps a list of the little things he remembers about him upon waking up. The points are never anything significant but he has little hope that over time he may be able to one day piece together enough information about his soulmate so he could go and find him for real.
The new bullet point he writes is: He wants to go fishing.
It’s certainly not enough to be able to reduce the millions of people on the planet but it’s a small character quirk. He has other points of similar fashion, there’s; if he had a superpower it would be tactile telekinesis; he likes flannel; he loves beaches and the sun; hates winter; adores the tv show Wendy the werewolf stalker; he doesn’t bruise easily. Random things that don’t mean a lot but it’s the small details that slowly make up his soulmate.
Another week passes and another seven times Tim sees his soulmate in his dreams. After that fishing dream his soulmate seem to have returned back to his annoying self which Tim was glad about but also thrown off by because why did he care so much about this guy’s wellbeing? Sure they’re soulmates but they don’t know one another, they may never even meet in real life so why would it matter?
When Tim opens his eyes after going to bed, he finds himself in another dream. Almost instantly, as if it’s now second nature, he’s glancing around to see if he could find his soulmate, however instead of finding the guy who’s been invading his mind for almost two months he finds himself caught in a dream that looks horrifyingly familiar.
When people talk about their soulmates appearing in their dreams, they never mention that they can also appear in their nightmares. And that is what this is, a nightmare of a memory.
He’s stood in the middle of what appears to be a living room, however it’s an absolute mess. There are papers scattered everywhere like they’ve been chucked carelessly, there’s furniture knocked over, there are shattered remains of ornaments on the floor, the TV is flat on the ground with a cracked screen and the biggest thing that catches his attention is the bloody marks on the carpet. The blood appears to be drag marks and they head in one direction which Tim knows is where the kitchen is.
As he takes in the surroundings he’s mildly aware of his soulmate appearing at his side. Tim has half a mind to curse the fact that his soulmate is about to relive one of the worst moments of his life with him.
“What kind of dream is this?” His soulmate sounds both curious and fearful. Tim doesn’t answer him. He’ll find out soon enough.
That’s when the next part of the memory happens. The door of the living bursts open and followed by someone, a young boy, screaming out for his father. The boy runs into the room and pauses as he takes in the wreckage that is the living room. After a moment he notices the blood on the ground and screams again, he instantly takes off following the bloody marks until he enters the kitchen.
With his heart heavy in his chest and tears welling up in his eyes, Tim silently follows the boy’s path, his soulmate trails along beside him not saying a word.
They enter the kitchen and find the boy in hysterics on the ground cradling a middle aged man in his arms. The kitchen is in the same state as the living room except there’s more blood covering the countertops and the marbled flooring.
“What on earth happened?” His soulmate breathes out his question, like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. “This is awful.”
That’s one way of putting it. Before Tim could come up with a response he’s distracted by seeing another man entering the kitchen, Tim watches as this newcomer examines the room before his gaze lands on the still crying boy. The man approaches carefully and mutters something low to the boy, either trying to console him or get his attention, maybe both. Tim and his soulmate watch as the man cautiously gathers up the blood-covered boy into his arms and as he holds him tight.
That's when the scene before them starts to fade to black and Tim knows that for the night their time together is coming to a close. He looks over at his soulmate and wonders what he must be seeing, how his memory is being perceived by him, by someone who can’t see all the details.
His soulmate turns to him. “This is you right? I’m going to guess the boy was you and this is a memory. I’m so sorry this happened to you…”
While the words sends a small wave of comfort to his heavy heart, Tim doesn’t want the sympathy.
“I hope you don’t remember any of this in the morning.” Is what he says before everything turns black.
More days and nights pass and without fail Tim sees his soulmate each night. They begin talking about anything and everything, as time goes on he begins to realise that they’re forming a tentative friendship. They, or rather Tim does, begin to tolerate one another and Tim realises that his soulmate isn’t as bad as he originally thought. All the times he had been complaining to Steph, he realises, were just dramatic moments.
Thankfully his soulmate has said nothing about the nightmare of a memory he witnessed and Tim can’t work out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Since it hasn’t been brought up Tim isn’t willing to be the one to do so, he happily stays quiet about the incident and allows life to continue on.
As time goes by Tim gets so used to seeing his soulmate in his dreams that he doesn’t really question it anymore. Tim gets on with his work during the day, working at his adoptive father’s company until he decides what he’s doing with his life, and then at night he gets to talk to his soulmate.
That’s his routine and one he’s been following for a couple months until one day it changes.
Tim’s at work, slouched on his chair with his feet up on the desk idly playing with a pen with his fingers as he stares blankly at the computer screen in front of him. This excel spreadsheet is driving him nuts, all of those numbers and data scattered everywhere is going to send him to an early grave.
Since he’s so busy staring at the screen and lost in his thoughts, he doesn’t realise someone had walked into his office until a hand slaps down on the table startling him back into reality. He jumps and the pen he had been fiddling with goes flying, it lands on the floor a good foot or two away, and Tim looks up to find his adoptive father giving him a pointed look.
With a sigh, Tim grudgingly takes his feet off the desk and straightens up in his seat. Once he's up right he points to the desktop. “I’m doing work!”
Bruce doesn’t look amused. He narrows his eyes at Tim before stepping to the side (Tim knows for a fact if they weren’t at work Bruce would have rolled his eyes) and gestures to the two people Tim is now only noticing.
“We have guests.” Bruce states indicating to the two men standing in the doorway of his office.
They look similar to one another and Tim wonders if they’re brothers or perhaps father and son, if they’re even related at all, one is definitely younger than the other so it’s reasonable query. They each wear button up shirts, trousers that accompany their tops, the older has smart dress shoes while the younger wears trainer styled shoes, the older is wearing thick framed glassed with his hair gelled back while the younger is free of glasses and has left his hair free of product which gives it volume itself.
Feeling embarrassed that he got caught in such a position he plasters on and sends the two strangers his best smile.
“This is Clark Kent and his son Conner, they’re from the Daily Planet.”
Tim blinks at the introduction, he sends Bruce a sideways glance with a frown. “I didn’t know we were having reporters visit us.” Tim’s a little miffed at not knowing beforehand, he would like a heads up when it comes to reporters, they can’t be trusted and are often vulture like creatures, he needs to mentally prepare to be around them.
“This is off the books,” Bruce cryptically tells him. His response only raises Tim’s suspicions, he glances at the two men lingering in the doorway and wonders why they get special treatment.
He shakes his head and clears those thoughts. Looking back up at his adoptive father he says, “Okay, you do what you need to, I’ll be in here if you need me.”
Bruce clears his throat and gives him another look. “Actually Tim that’s why we’re here, I want you to show Conner around the building while Mr Kent and I deal with business.”
Tim pauses as his mind catches up with what’s being asked of him. When he comes back online he scowls at Bruce not impressed with the request.
Instead of replying to him, his dad turns to their guests. “If you men wouldn’t mind just giving us a moment. We’ll be out shortly.”
The Kent’s look confused on why they’re being sent out of his office but they go without complaint and Tim sees them hanging around waiting just outside. Tim turns back to Bruce.
“You want me to babysit?” He demands. “I know what it looked like when you came in Bruce but I am in fact working!”
“Tim.” Bruce cuts in firmly and makes sure he’s got Tim's attention before continuing. “I know but this is a good chance to meet someone else your age, you need more friends son. I know Clark personally and Conner’s a good lad.”
“Oh well that just sells it doesn’t it,” Tim snarks, “I don’t need friends, I have plenty thank you very much.”
Bruce stares at him for a beat before letting out a sigh and shaking his head as if it wasn’t worth the argument. After that he starts heading for the door. “You’ll show him around the building no matter what.”
With that Bruce exits the office and a moment later Conner Kent walks back in wearing a rather stoic expression. As the guy comes and stands before Tim’s desk, Tim gets a funny feeling wash over him, there’s something about this stranger that’s giving him vibes but he can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. He knows they haven’t met before but weirdly it feels like they have… Tim can’t describe it. Maybe it’s déjà vu. Since they’re reporters perhaps he’s seen them at past events and just never took notice of them before.
He can’t deny that the man before him isn’t hot though.
Before his mind could dive deep into the gutter, Tim’s pulled from his thoughts when Conner speaks to him. “If it’s really too much of a hassle I can show myself around, no need to strain yourself.”
Tim’s eyebrows raise at the sarcastic comment. He hadn’t expected that much hostility towards him, then again maybe he should have, he wasn’t exactly welcoming to begin with.
Biting his tongue and holding back his own retort, Tim chooses to keep up a professional front. Getting to his feet he walks around to the opposite side of the desk until he’s in front of the other man and holds his hand out politely. “I apologise for my behaviour earlier, I hate being caught off guard. As Bruce said, I’m Tim Drake, it’s nice to meet you.”
Conner blinks at him, probably judging the sincerity of his words, and from this distance Tim could see how blue the guy’s eyes are. He finds himself captivated by them and again he’s hit with that funny feeling. Why do they seem familiar?
In the end Conner shakes his hand, gripping tightly as he responds. “Sure. As Mr Wayne introduced me, I’m Conner Kent.”
Tim would have immediately responded to the man but he ended up getting distracted by their hands. They’ve stopped shaking but their hands are still grasped together and weirdly neither of them are in a rush to let go. Tim notices how Kon’s hand nearly engulfs his but it doesn’t feel overbearing, instead it feels right, it feels safe…
Tim frowns to himself, feeling off kilter with those sudden thoughts. He quickly lets go of Conner’s hand and takes a step back before glancing up at the man to find him staring back with a fixed look on his face.
They stare intensely at one another for a long moment before Tim gets himself together. Shaking his head and clearing his throat, he fiddles with his shirt before heading towards the office door. “If you’ll follow me I’ll show you around.” If Conner picks up on the hoarseness of his voice he doesn’t comment on it.
With his mind distracted by taking Conner through different areas of the building Tim doesn’t think about the strange connection between them until they’re back in his office once again. Tim settles in his desk chair while Conner takes the guest chair opposite him.
They sit in silence and as the minutes go by it only grows more tense. Tim attempts to distract himself by going through his email on the computer although he couldn’t help but keep glancing over at Conner who’s playing on his phone. Tim isn’t the only one because Conner keeps looking his way too, several times they make eye contact before one of them quickly averts their gaze.
This goes on for far too long however the cycle is eventually broken by Conner who straightens up in his seat and slams his phone down on Tim’s desk. The action makes Tim jump and he blinks at Conner wondering what he’s up to.
“You feel it too right?” He asks rather assertively. “This thing between us, a connection or whatever.”
Tim swallows, he glances at the computer screen before looking back to meet Conner’s intense gaze. “You mean the feeling of familiarity between us despite having never met before? Yeah I feel that.”
“You know what that could mean right?”
Sighing Tim leans back in his chair. Yes, he does know what that means. It’s the potential chance that Conner Kent is his soulmate. The man he’s been seeing in his dreams non-stop for several months now. The guy he’s got a notebook full of bullet points about.
Instead of saying any of that he merely nods his confirmation. This time it’s Conner who averts his gaze, Tim spies how he bites his bottom lip, clearly he’s thinking about what he's going to say next. When he does speak he still isn’t looking at Tim but rather down at his desk so he isn’t making eye contact.
“Okay, so me being here isn’t by chance. Or what I mean is that I purposely asked to come and not because of work-related reasons.” Conner admits in a low voice. Tim doesn’t react to the admission, he sits back silently waiting for Conner to elaborate further.
“I wanted to meet you because I had a feeling you were my soulmate,” Conner finally looks up and Tim meets his piercing blue eyes with his own. Tim could feel how his heart has started to rapidly beat, his mind and body reacting to the possibility of this actually happening.
“I convinced Clark to set up a meeting with Mr Wayne and for him to let me tag along with the possibility of meeting you at the same time. I wanted to know if meeting you would confirm that you were really my soulmate or not.”
Despite knowing the answer Tim asks, “and your verdict?”
Conner sends him a contemplative looks, though there’s a small smile tugging at his lips, “odds seem to be in your favour.”
Tim couldn’t help but snort at that. He shakes his head and really thinks about the situation he’s found himself in. This is his soulmate. He's actually met, meeting, his soulmate. It would explain those strange feelings and vibes he got when he and Conner first greeted each other.
This man is supposedly Tim’s ultimate match. Someone who would be by his side for the rest of his life no matter what. It makes Tim want to laugh because their first meeting a few hours ago wasn’t exactly friendly and all that enlightening, a lot of hostile feelings were shared between them. Then again, Tim thinks, they didn’t always get along to begin with when they first met in their dreams, Tim’s spent hours complaining to Steph about how much of an asshole his soulmate was, but over time a friendship had formed. Could that happen to them in real life too? When they would be able to remember absolutely everything about one another.
There is one thing though Tim needs to question Conner about…. “What made you think I was your soulmate? Out of all the people in the world to choose from and somehow you hit the nail right on the head when it came to choosing.”
Conner suddenly looks sheepish and his face turns a lovely pink colour. “Uh, well,” he clears his throat and starts again. “There was one thing I remembered upon waking up one morning and it was so strange that I remembered this particular thing. I remembered there being a boomerang.”
Tim instantly feels his stomach drop and he suddenly feels nauseous. He knows from that alone what’s coming next and all the steps Conner would have taken to finding him. Whatever is showing on Tim’s face it’s enough to get Conner to hesitantly ask if he's alright. They both know the story, Conner’s giving him a way out from hearing it but Tim doesn’t take it. He shakes his head, takes a deep breath to steady himself and waves for Conner to continue.
“If you’re sure. As I said I remembered there being a boomerang and because of the oddness I found with that object I started researching into it. My initial thought was that perhaps my soulmate is Australian, it was a long shot of course but one could never know.
“The more I researched into boomerangs the deeper I got into it and Google decided to chuck all different kinds of things at me. Something that cropped was an article about how a boomerang was used as a murder weapon here in America. I looked into the story and I discovered you, Timothy Jackson Drake.
“It sounds stalkerish I know but I looked into your profile and as soon as I saw a photo of you, that familiar feeling, the rightness of it, hit me and that’s when I had the feeling that you were my soulmate.”
Tim huffs in disbelief. Of all the things that could have been used to identify him, it’s his father’s murder weapon that does it… unbelievable.
“That’s some story,” Tim says with a tight smile, “I honestly hoped you remembered absolutely nothing of that nightmare. Clearly not.”
Kon sends him a sympathetic smile and it doesn’t feel fake like it would be coming from anyone else when Tim discusses his father’s death with them. “I’m sorry for what you went through. I only know what the papers say so it’s probably twisted but no one should have been put through that.”
Tim takes a deep breath and promptly stops any tears from falling. He doesn’t want to cry in front of his soulmate at their first meeting. He shrugs instead, playing it off. “It’s in the past.”
Thankfully Kon seems to have enough initiative to know when to drop the topic. Finding himself not wanting to go back to the tense silence Tim strikes up a new conversation. “So we’re soulmates? Where do we go from here?”
A playful smirk graces the man’s face as he leans back in his chair. “Well, I have to admit a feeling of rightness wasn’t the only thing I thought of when I saw your photo. You’re pretty hot dude.”
Tim’s caught between wanting to shy away from the compliment and acting smug about it. In the end, while he can’t do anything about the inevitable blush on his cheeks, he lets his own playful smile appear on his face.
“You’re not so bad yourself.” Tim comments, making it an obvious display as he look the man up and down from what he could see. Is his hair as soft as it looks? Before Conner could reply Tim continues, “if it’s not too forward of me, how long are you staying in Gotham for? Perhaps we could go for dinner and a few drinks.”
Conner looks pleased with the suggestion. His whole face lights up and he straightens up looking eager. “I think I could be persuaded to stay another night or two.”
Knowing the attraction is two ways, despite how they started off, Tim feels excitement grow inside of him. He bites his lip to stop a full blow grin from stretching out across his face which would undoubtably make him look like a maniac.
Reaching across his desk he grabs one of his business cards and writes his personal number on the back of it. Standing up Tim makes his way around the desk so he’s stood opposite Conner, their legs purposefully press against one another as Tim leans back on his desk holding out the card towards him.
“Here are my details so we can set up this… arrangement.” Tim says trying to act somewhat professional, however the smile threatening to break out across his face ruins any professionalism he’s achieving.
Opposite him Conner isn’t deterred. He meets Tim’s gaze with a seductive look and stands up, pressing in close he takes the card out of Tim’s hand and Tim finds himself locked in Conner’s orbit, unable to look away from the man. He’s finding their height difference a turn on and from this close he can really see how piercing blue his eyes are. Unable to help himself Tim glances down at the man’s lips and imagines what it would be like to kiss them.
“Thanks,” Conner says, his voice low and husky, “I’ll make sure to be in contact by the end of the day.”
Being pressed together this close Tim could feel the other man breathe, their faces are centimetres apart to the point where they’re sharing the same air, and Tim couldn’t focus on anything else. Not that anything else actually mattered there and then.
After a few beats Tim swallows thickly and manages to croak out a reply. “I look forward to hearing from you.”
Conner hums and Tim feels it vibrate through him. His hands find the man’s waist and he grips his hips tightly, not caring that he’s crinkling the shirt, and when Conner steps in closer, now pressing him against the desk firmly, Tim tilts his face up wanting the man to finally kiss him but not going for it himself.
The kiss never comes.
Before he knows what is happening Conner has stepped away from him and is walking towards the door of his office. Once Conner’s weight is gone Tim feels his legs crumple underneath him and he slumps against the desk to keep himself up right. Taking a deep breath Tim tries to try and get himself together as Conner watches him from the other side of the room wearing a cocky expression.
“You’ll be hearing from me soon Mr. Drake.” Conner announces sounding not at all affected by whatever just happened between them. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Then just like that Conner leaves his office, shutting his door behind him with an audible click. Tim blinks. Then blinks again. His mind takes a while to process what just happened. Once it does he lets out a laugh, completely caught off guard by the huge tease that was Conner Kent, his soulmate.
Straightening up on shaky legs Tim goes back around his desk and falls into his chair, knowing there’s only one thing he could do he reaches for his phone and dials his best friend.
“Steph, you will not believe what just happened….”