Chapter Text
You have no idea how he lives with it. You pour your fifth cup of coffee and take out some more homework. It had been three days since you were last able to get a good night’s sleep. The rest of the time you had to make due with one to two hour naps that your soulmate gave you sporadically throughout the days. The fact that your soulmate is a chronic insomniac has been the bane of your existence lately. You’d normally get through the rough patches by being heavily caffeinated, and knowing that your soulmate was also up with you helped, but this time it was entirely too long and you swore that you were starting to see things.
It also didn’t help that when your soulmate did decide to grace you with the ability to sleep, it was usually in the middle of the day, which left you with fumbling for some sort of excuse or running out of class so that you can find the comfiest spot within 100 feet of you to curl up and take a desperate nap while you had the chance.
Soulmates came in many forms these days and you definitely got the short end of the stick there. You couldn’t help but be jealous of your friends who got some pretty words on their skin, or songs stuck in their head. Hell, you’d probably even take pain sharing at this point. You’d literally kill right now for a dream-sharing soul bond, even if it meant you’d be alone all the time at least you'd be able to get some sleep.
There was one good thing about sleeping the bare minimum for brain function (you’d looked up that number, fearing that your soulmate’s poor choices might kill you) and that was that you had ample time to get shit done. You’d completed two bachelor's degrees in three years while taking both day and night classes, and were starting on a master’s. You could be productive with your time as long as you drank a disgusting amount of coffee and energy drinks.
Speaking of coffee, by this point you were finishing the cup, and were fully intending to start the sixth when you realized that you were out of beans. Cursing, you debated the merits of going out for more beans or just roughing through the tiredness. Neither of the options seemed appealing. The streets of Gotham were notoriously dangerous at night, even with the bats patrolling. They couldn’t be everywhere. But still…
In one of your worst ideas of the year, you found yourself grabbing your keys and heading out into the night, homework in tow. There was a 24 hour coffee shop/diner not too far from your place. It was known for housing the only clientele awake and daring enough to be out in Gotham at his time. Naturally, there were a couple of university students and gangsters already there when you finally walked in. Everyone looked up warily at your entrance, but quickly realized that you weren’t a threat and went back to whatever they were doing. You walked straight up to the bar and nodded at the barista. Julia. She knew you well enough to know what you were going to order already and started making it. You got your coffee and set up your work. Walking through dark Gotham streets twice in one night was just asking for trouble, so you could wait here until sunrise as long as you kept ordering specialty coffees, which was your plan anyway.
You got a few hours of peaceful work in. The sun was just barely peeking out when you were startled out of your daze by a voice right next to you. You visibly jumped and then turned to see most likely another student. He looked to be about your age, tall and thin with black hair. He was talking to the barista so you couldn’t see half of his face, but you could tell that he was undeniably handsome. You blushed and looked away. At least you can blame it on the lack of sleep. You blamed a lot of things on lack of sleep since it was a very convenient excuse.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone actually order more caffeine in one drink than her,” Julia commented with a laugh and gestured over to you. You smile tiredly at her, then turn to the guy next to you.
“Rough night?” he asks, offering you a tired smile back. You realized that he probably actually looked more tired than you, which momentarily stunned you.
“Rough life,” you say back nonchalantly, then go back to chewing on your pen. A bad habit of yours.
“Are you a student?” he asks after a moment, probably looking down at the careful notes that you were taking from the book on the table. You were honestly surprised. Most people in Gotham were too wary to strike up conversation. Particularly around these parts late at night. He probably wanted something from you.
“Yeah…” you said a little suspiciously, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, cool. What are you majoring in?” he asked, still seemingly oblivious, but he looked genuinely interested. You got the feeling that he wasn’t around other people much, but not in a bad way. In the sort of naive way that said that he still trusted random people on the street to not beat and rob him. It was kind of cute if you were being honest. You rattled off your degrees and what you were working on. He seemed impressed.
“Wow, you seem a little young for all that,” he said without thinking, then visibly looked like he regretted it.
You laughed and said, “It doesn’t take that long when you have 30 plus credits per term.”
“30?! Is that even possible?”
“It is when I get about one night of sleep per week,” you say, then raise your cup to him and take a deep drink.
“I hear that,” he chuckles and takes a drink of his own drink. It’s silent for long enough that you feel the need to either say something or blow him off completely, but he seemed nice enough.
“What about you?” you ask, aware that it’s a pretty open-ended question.
“I’m not a student. I just have a job that keeps me up a lot,” he confesses and that catches your interest.
“What sort of job is it?” you asked immediately and he seems startled by your question. You realize that you sounded pretty pushy and then feel a strange urge to explain yourself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry there. It’s just that I know my soulmate doesn’t get a lot of sleep and I’ve been trying to figure out why.”
“How do you know that they don’t get a lot of sleep?” he asks curiously.
“That’s our bond. I can’t hit REM sleep unless they’re also asleep. So the doctors say. Literally all that I know about him is that the guy has some serious issues with counting sheep,” you say dryly and take another sip of sweet sweet caffeine.
“Huh, I’ve never heard of a bond like that before,” he says thoughtfully.
“Yeah, it’s not even that uncommon, but it’s usually not a problem because people usually sleep eight hours at a time even if they’re in different time zones, but not this fucker. I got like 20 hours of sleep in July, and then there was September where I swear it was all just thirty minute naps every 2 hours. If I ever find this asshole I am strapping him down to a bed, and not in the fun way,” you started babbling and then realized what you had just said and closed your mouth tight. You swear you could feel your entire face turn red all at once.
But he just laughed, and you couldn’t help the fact that you noticed how handsome he was all over again. When he could stop laughing he looked at you and said, “Well, he could be a cop or something. They’re always up at odd hours and there’s plenty of work to do in Gotham.”
“Maybe. Are you a cop then?” You weren’t entirely convinced that any cop in Gotham was going to have the dedication to stay up like that for the job.
“I guess you could say so. I work with them,” he said, not really giving an answer, but you weren’t about to push again. Then he cocked his head to the side, like he was listening to something while you watched him curiously. “Well, I gotta go. Duty calls. It was nice meeting you…?”
“Y/N,” you supplied helpfully.
“Tim.” He shook your hand and gave you one last smile before he strode out of the shop. You sighed and got back to your homework, wishing idly for the billionth time that someone would just punch the lights out of your soulmate so that you could finally get some rest.
---
Tim climbed into the car that Dick had pulled up to the coffee shop, still thinking about the conversation that he had with the girl. He hadn’t ever really thought too hard about his soulmate, or lack thereof. There were never any obvious signs that he even had one, but sometimes the bonds that form were so obscure that people never found them, so it wasn’t really anything that he was too worried about. He was far too worried about his work and keeping Gotham safe than he was about finding his soulmate to be honest.
“Whatcha thinking about, babybird?” Dick asked him after a moment of silence.
“Have you ever heard of a soul bond where they can only sleep when the other one is?” Tim asked.
“Yeah, those aren’t terribly uncommon. Though, it’s really not a good one for finding your soulmate I’ve heard. Not enough information to go on. Why?” Dick asked conversationally, though it was obvious that he was curious.
“I just met a girl in the coffee shop who’s bond is like that.” Tim shrugged. There was no real reason for him to be fixating on this like he was. He just couldn’t get her light laugh out of his head. Or the way she looked when she had blushed furiously at her own words. Or all of her dry comments about her soulmate. He was just going to chalk it up as lack of sleep and call it that.
Dick seemed to have other plans, though, as he immediately stopped the car in the abandoned street.
“Whoa, what if that was your soulbond?” Dick asked excitedly. Tim’s seeming lack of interest in even figuring out what kind of bond he had had always seemed to confuse Dick, since he was happily dating his soulmate, Kori. His had been easy, though. Her name had been written on his wrist since birth and there’s really not a lot of people out there with that name.
“It’s not. I’ve never had trouble sleeping when I want to,” Tim said dismissively.
“But let’s just think about this for a second. You sleep like maybe twice a month. Maybe you don’t have trouble sleeping because they’re just about as dead on their feet as you and will take any sleep that they can get. They’re not going to be the ones to be keeping you awake,” Dick argued. “What if you just met your soulmate in there? Eh?”
Tim sighed, “The chances of that are--”
“I know you know the math, but it happens, right? We should go back and--”
“No. I have like 20 leads to catch up on tonight and then I’m going to the WE meeting tomorrow morning, with patrol with B tomorrow night. I don’t have time to waste on a ‘probably not’,” Tim insisted stubbornly and finished his coffee.
“That poor, poor girl,” Dick muttered, but then didn’t press the issue and drove straight home.
As per his words, Tim stayed up doing research on leads until it was time to go to the board meeting. He kept a continuous stream of coffee going throughout the entire thing, but by the time that he was suiting up again for patrol that night, he found himself yawning deeply. Bruce, of course, didn’t miss this.
“If you need to sit out of this one I’ll go ahead without you,” he said, voice gruff.
“No, I’ll be fine. Just a little tired. Nothing to be worried about,” Tim responded, kicking himself for letting it show.
“Alright.” Bruce was never one for a lot of words.
Patrol that night was mostly uneventful. That is, until they found themselves stumbling into an all out gang war. They had heard the tip from some small time arms dealers that they had shaken information from. There was something big going down in old town Gotham. When they arrived, it was to a giant gunfight in the middle of one of the buildings. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if not for the many squatters inhabiting the building. People were screaming and grabbing their children, trying desperately to get out of the way of the violence. Batman and Red Robin sprung into action.
“Civilians.” Batman didn’t have to say anything else to let Tim know what to do. He immediately headed out for the ones struggling in the middle and pulled them out of the line of fire, blocking a few bullets with his cape. After that he turned and took care of a gunman who had the bright idea of sneaking up behind him. Honestly, they were so untrained he probably could have done it with his eyes closed. Actually, closing his eyes did sound really good about now…
No. Tim shook his head to clear his thoughts and wake himself up. Losing focus during a mission was one of the best ways of getting yourself killed. He zoned in on throwing more birdarangs at the attackers that had by now all switched their focus from trying to kill each other to trying to kill them. Tim continued to shield the civilians as they retreated and they were almost all saved when he realized his mistake.
The building, which had already been old when it was the heart of Gotham city, was taking too much damage from the bullets that were being shot wildly in hopes of hitting him or Batman. Tim should have been thinking of this, should already have planned for it and gotten out of the way, but he was almost dead on his feet from fatigue. He spotted one last woman scrambling to get out of the building, but she was running into the part that was already groaning in protest and threatening to collapse into itself. Tim didn’t waste any more time thinking and sprung into action. Using his grappling hook on the sturdiest bit of roof that he could find, he swung over, catching the woman just before a large beam could fall on her and shoved her outside of the building, but he was just a second too late.
The building came down with the sounds of groaning wood and sharp crashes. Tim was completely engulfed in debris and through the burst of sound and the ringing in his ears he distinctly remembered one single crack that sent pain blossoming up his right arm. He didn’t really even have time to register what happened when Batman was there, lifting a large beam to get down to him.
“Robin!” He heard Bruce cry out in alarm and he struggled to turn over and assess himself. All things considered that could have been a lot worse, he thought to himself. Bruce came to grab him with that same look of terror in his eyes that he always had when Tim got hurt. Nobody wanted another Jason. Tim felt vaguely guilty, he should know better than to go out tired and get hurt on the job.
“I’m okay,” Tim said, through clenched teeth. “The woman?”
“She got away fine,” Bruce answered, helping Tim up and looking him over. Tim gingerly felt his right arm. Yep. Definitely broken. He was not going to hear the end of this.
“Let’s go home.”
Three hours later, Tim was laying in bed, with a full cast on one arm, several stitches over the rest of him, and a headache that could split rocks. Back at the cave, Dick and Alfred had worried over him like he was still a child, while Bruce had done his silent brooding thing that happened whenever one of them got hurt. Damian had rolled his eyes and told him that he was stupid, while Jason had just shrugged and left the room. The girls had been out on another mission.
Tim was still beating himself up over the whole thing. It should never have happened and now he was going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks at least. Dick had basically dragged him into the bed and commanded that he go to sleep. Tim wouldn’t even be surprised if Dick was still standing outside, making sure that Tim was following orders. He groaned in frustration, but finally let himself close his eyes. Sleeping was supposed to make you heal faster, after all.
For the next two weeks it seemed like he did nothing but sleep. Or lay in bed worrying about the increasingly large to do list that he was putting together in his head. Everyone was telling him to relax and let them handle things, but he trusted them with his work about as far as he could throw them, which was exactly zero in this stupid cast. They even shooed him out of the office when he tried to do work that wasn’t even dangerous. Bruce had taken over his jobs at WE, probably still feeling guilty that he had let Tim go out on patrol. The result was that he was going out of his mind with boredom. Curse having a family that cared about his well-being.
He guessed that the one upside about this whole thing was that he was well-rested for the first time in about a year. He had almost forgotten what that had felt like. It was nice, but he was certainly itching to get back to his old life. Back to actually feeling like he was making a difference and helping people. That restlessness was what had him going out, insisting in his head that he needed fresh air away from all of them to keep healing. He was almost there, just a few days away from getting his cast off. He snuck into the garage and was picking a car when he heard footsteps behind him.
“Going somewhere babybird?” It was Dick. Tim immediately wanted to hit something in frustration. Nothing was secret when you lived with all of the world’s greatest detectives.
“Just out for a drive. I feel like I haven’t seen Gotham in forever,” Tim tried to sound innocent and then sighed. As soon as he had heard the footsteps he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to get what he wanted.
“Great! I’ll drive then!” Dick chirped happily, not giving any room for argument as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “You can’t drive with a broken wing.”
Tim sighed again, but got into the car.
“Anywhere in particular you wanna go?” Dick asked, glancing at him from the side. Tim immediately became suspicious.
“I didn’t have anything in mind,” Tim finally answered. Dick usually got his way. With everything. And you usually couldn’t even be mad about it because the guy was so likable.
“Great. I know just the spot then!” Dick pulled out of the driveway and raced down the streets of Gotham.
---
Three weeks. You had gotten three weeks of blissful, uninterrupted sleep. You thanked the universe for this good luck, and hoped that your soulmate had finally realized the error in his ways. Just in case he didn’t, though, you took every opportunity that you had for naps and sleep, knowing that at any time you could go back to the old pattern of late nights and too much caffeine.
It was too late for you on that front, though. You’d cut back on the coffee in favor of sleep, but you were still hopelessly addicted to it and found yourself back at the coffee shop more than you would like. Oh well, it was a good place to get some neglected homework done while your soulmate was still awake. Also, the barista usually didn’t care if you put your head down and slept. Not that that was a great idea in Gotham, especially in the evening like it was now. The place was surprisingly crowded for a Wednesday and that made you on edge. The crowd tonight looked rougher than usual too and something about the unease in the room had you packing up your things before you even had your second coffee. In Gotham, you learned to trust your instincts like that.
You were saying goodbye to Julia and you pulled your bag tighter over your shoulder when two new customers walked in right in front of you. You all stopped in shock and stared each other down for a moment. You were about to brush by and keep getting the fuck out of there, but then you realized that you knew one of them. Well, sorta. You wouldn’t even have recognized him, except for the fact that you remembered how handsome you had found him when you first met. You had found yourself thinking about the not-quite-stranger from time to time. You chastised yourself for that, but held back your blush and greeted him, wondering if he would remember you.
“Tim, right?” you asked, then looked over at his companion and groaned inwardly. He was just about as handsome, but clearly older. He was looking between you and Tim with a polite smile.
“Right… Y/N,” Tim cleared his throat and said, then turned to give the man next to him a murderous glare. The other man just shrugged, then gracefully offered you his hand.
“It seems you two know each other already. I’m Dick Grayson,” he introduced himself.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” you laughed awkwardly. “We just ran into each other once. I think we were both so tired that it was a miracle that we got through a whole conversation.”
Tim finally stopped glaring at Dick long enough to give you a better look. “You look a lot better,” he commented without thinking. You looked confused for a moment when he decided to add, “As in, like you finally got some sleep. Did you end up tying your soulmate to that bed?” He seemed like the one off-balance this time. You could swear that you saw him turning red. It was actually adorable. Dick seemed like he wasn’t paying attention for a moment, looking at something behind you.
You blushed as well, but then threw your head back and laughed. “Of course you would remember that. No, I don’t know what happened, but I’ve been finally able to get some sleep for once. It’s really weird.”
Dick seemed to focus back into the conversation. “You’re the sleep soulmate girl, huh? And you say you’ve actually been getting some rest lately? Huh, seems like a pretty big coincidence. Tim here has gotten more rest in the past three weeks than he has all year too. Ever since he got this.” He tapped the cast around Tim’s arm that you had somehow failed to notice until now.
Tim actively rolled his eyes and glared at Dick again. You started to understand what was going on here. Dick obviously believed that Tim was going to turn out to be your soulmate. As if you’d ever get that lucky.
“Y/N, I’m really sorry about my brother. He gets these ideas in his head--”
“What time did you wake up this morning?” you asked, interrupting him, and they both seemed shocked. “What? Might as well confirm, right? Nothing like interrogating a random stranger about being your soulmate,” you laughed and gave them a wink. “But like seriously, the chances of that are--”
“7:30. My alarm rang then. I’d gotten 8 full hours on the dot,” Tim answered, also smiling and obviously humoring you. You narrowed your eyes, remembering waking up then and wanting to sleep in more.
“Okay, common time, but then I took a nap around 2 or so,” you said. There was no way…
“And that lasted about three more hours until I got bored,” Tim continued on in a quiet voice. You both stared at each other for a moment of stunned silence. Dick’s smile kept growing by the second.
"That's when my alarm rang. I have class at 5:30 that I needed to get to." Another stunned silence.
“Coincidence?” You offered, still not wanting to believe it.
“No way. See, Tim? I told you that it happens,” Dick basically sang, he seemed so happy. You noticed dryly that he seemed like he was enjoying this the most out of the three of you. Wait, something just occurred to you.
“Fuck,” you said out loud before you could stop yourself. They both looked at you questioningly. You sighed and continued, “I was so happy when I was getting enough sleep, but if it’s only because you got hurt then I am such an asshole.”
Dick belted out a laugh and Tim glared at him again like he really wished that his older brother wasn’t standing right here for this. You couldn’t blame him. Then he turned and smiled guiltily at you and said, “Don’t worry about that. If this is real then I'm probably the asshole for keeping you up all the time. I swear I don’t have problems with counting sheep, I’ve just been really busy.”
You blushed, remembering your stupid rant that you had gone on about how much you hated your soulmate. “I’m sorry--”
You were interrupted by a loud crack. It took you a second or two to realize that it was a gunshot. It took way less time for Tim and Dick, though. It seemed like you were shoved behind them before the sound even ended. It had been close, your ears were ringing. You looked up from where you were standing to see that someone from inside the shop had the barista by the wrist, pointing a handgun right in her face. The first shot must’ve been a warning shot straight into the air. You watched as several other customers in the place pulled out similar looking guns and were waving them around as the rest of the people cowered in their seats. The man holding Julia began to talk.
“If you don’t have the money to pay off the Triads for their generous protection, then we’ll have to take it from your dear customers. Everyone line up against that wall. No funny business or--” he looked down at her nametag, “Julia gets it.”
You were still in shock, but you felt a tug on your arm and you realized that Tim had been holding it. Probably how you had ended up on the other side of him. You took a breath and looked him in the eyes. You probably seemed scared, because he looked at you like he was trying to reassure you. He gave you another gentle tug and the two of you plus Dick were walking slowly to the wall that the thug had indicated, with your hands up, like the rest of the people in the shop.
When you got to the wall you saw that one of them was going down the line with a bag, and everyone was reluctantly putting anything they had of value into it. Getting robbed in Gotham was just another Tuesday to most people, but you had managed to avoid this up until now. The man was going to reach you first.
“Everything you have, right here darling,” he drawled when he was in front of you.
You made sure to keep your breathing even, though your heart was beating a million times a minute when the gun in his hand was trained on you. Beside you, you felt Tim stiffen. You pulled out your wallet with shaky hands and dropped it in. You didn’t have any more than a few bucks in there, but he didn’t have to know that.
“That everything? What’s in that bag of yours? Looks heavy,” he asked, stepping closer. He pushed some hair out of your face with the barrel.
“Unless you want textbooks and paper, yes, that’s everything,” you said, just wanting to get him out of your space. It came out a little more sharply than you had intended. He narrowed his eyes and looked like he was about to say something, but then he caught sight of Tim and Dick standing beside you.
“Whoa this might be our lucky day fellas. Take a look at this,” the guy called out and immediately the entirety of the shop was focused on them. The lead guy let go of the barista and walked over to see what was happening. He paused and then smiled evilly when he saw who was in front of him.
“Well, if it isn’t the Wayne boys. What are you doing this far south, your mansion is uptown,” he teased, though now he looked excited. “I’m glad you stopped by for a visit tonight, you can help these poor people pay up their debts for a year. Call it a part of your generous Wayne charities. Give all you’ve got. Now.” He pointed the gun right in Tim’s face and you panicked. That would be just your luck to meet your soulmate and then watch him die within the hour. When you glanced at him, though, he didn’t seem all that concerned. He reached into his pocket and then took out a wallet and handed it to the man, who opened it greedily. He took out all of the cash and then threw the wallet over his shoulder. Then he did the same with Dick.
“Hmmm, so much for the famed Wayne generosity. This will hardly cover what we came here for in the first place. I know you can do better than that,” the man said, shuffling through the bills. More money than you’d probably seen in your lifetime. You idly wondered why they were carrying so much cash with them in Gotham like idiots.
“Let’s take them. I bet daddy will pay whatever we’re asking to get them back,” another man said, sounding excited now.
“Nah,” the leader said after a second of deliberation. “Too much trouble.” You let out a sigh of relief that it didn’t seem like they were going to hurt Tim, but then you felt his large hand wrap around your arm and yank you forward into him. “Let’s take their girl. Easier to control.”
You attempted to step back from him, but his hand was like a vice. You lifted your head to see him smiling down at you. He smelled like liquor, cigarettes, and sweat. “And at least then if we don’t get our pay, there are other methods of compensation.”
Your blood ran cold at the way that he was staring at you, and you heard a disturbance behind you. You twisted as much as you could in his grip to see what was going on.
Dick was holding back an enraged looking Tim. It looked like he was ready to fight all of the thugs in the place, even with one arm in a cast. You silently thanked Dick for protecting him from what was surely suicide. How had you not realized that they were the Wayne brothers? Especially when Dick Grayson gave his full name.
“Don’t worry. You’ll see her again soon,” the man drawled and then began dragging you away from them. “As long as you follow the instructions that we give you.” You didn’t struggle, just turned one last time before leaving to get a good look at Tim, just in case. He looked livid. You gave him what you hoped was a brave smile before you left. There was no saying what was going to happen next.
---
Tim started struggling again as soon as you were out of sight, but Dick held him tight. There were still others in the shop holding guns to them, probably making sure that their leader got a clean getaway. They didn’t want to get anyone innocent killed, and they definitely didn’t want to reveal their identities. For now they’d just have to sit tight for a moment and wait for the thugs to leave. Dick didn’t blame Tim, though. Watching someone drag away your soulmate from you was one of the worst feelings in the world. Especially when she was just a civilian and didn’t have any way of defending herself. Dick didn’t have to worry about that with Kori, but that must’ve been torture for his little brother.
After what seemed like forever, the rest of the gunmen all left, having gotten what they came for. Dick let go of Tim and they both ran outside and jumped into the car that they came in.
“B. We’ve got a problem,” Dick said into his comm.
“B’s not at the phone right now, may I take a message?” Jason’s voice came back. It sounded like his mouth was full. Tim looked like he wanted to tear Jason’s eyes out. Dick put a calming hand on his shoulder. They didn’t need to waste any time right now.
“Where is he then?” Tim asked through gritted teeth.
“Whoa, hold your horses there replacement. He got called out by the League. Something about blowing up the sun. You know, the usual.” Jason was not helping.
“Jason, we’re coming to you. There was a kidnapping at the coffee shop we were at. Triads. They took Tim’s soulmate,” Dick said, figuring that they might as well get that over with. Tim shot him a glare, but still said nothing.
“They took who?” It was Damian. He must be there in the cave with Jason.
“No one. Drake doesn’t have a soulmate, because he doesn’t have a soul. He uses coffee as a substitute,” Jason says through the comms.
“Shut up, asshole. This is serious,” Tim snapped in a way that actually made them all silent for a second.
“What was the bond?” Damian asked, sounding like curiosity got the better of him.
Dick looked at Tim, who now had his face in his hands. They knew that he had to tell them one way or another or they would never get anything done.
“It was a sleeping bond,” Dick finally said when Tim remained silent.
After a shocked moment, Damian began laughing and Jason just let out an appreciative whistle and said, “Poor girl.”
“Can we focus here?” Tim asked into the comms.
There was a grunting sound and then Damian stopped laughing. Jason probably punched Damian to get him to stop. “Why’d they take her?” Jason asked and Tim was relieved that they were finally going to take this seriously.
“They recognized us and wanted money,” Dick explained. “Keep an eye out for ransom demands.”
“We know where the Triads hang out, we should go there now,” Tim complained.
“Not without a plan, supplies, and a pretty big distraction. If they get wind of something wrong then I don’t like Y/N’s chances,” Dick said dryly, giving Tim a hard look. They didn’t need to be charging in thoughtlessly right now.
“Fine,” Tim said, crossed his arms and was silent for the rest of the ride back to the manor.
---
As soon as you were out of the shop, they stuffed a bag over your head and loaded you into a car. You just focused on taking deep breaths and telling yourself that there was no use panicking now. You needed to focus on surviving. And possibly escape. In that order. If they were actually the Waynes, which you were pretty sure they were, they could probably afford whatever ransom the Triads asked of them, but on the other hand, you had met both of them for probably a grand total of twenty minutes. You didn’t know them well enough to know whether they would pay up, soulmate or not.
You were silent for the entire ride, which seemed just fine for them. When you got to your destination you were none too gently forced out of the car and led into what you assumed was a building. You still had the bag over your head so it was hard to see anything. They ripped it off when you stopped and you had to blink a few times to regain your vision in the light. When you did, you saw that you were in what looked like a repurposed warehouse. There were shitty couches all around a big TV and pool tables and workout equipment. A fully stocked bar and a few black vans. Basically everything you thought of as a stereotypical bad guys base.
“Let’s see if you got anything interesting, baby,” the leader said and let go of your arm only to pat you down roughly. It was actually less of a pat down and more of a pawing. He took his sweet time and you turned your face away, feeling absolutely disgusted, but not allowing yourself to say anything in fear that it would only make him angry. If you had nothing nice to say…
“Why so quiet babe?” Another man said, opening up a beer right behind you and almost gulping it down in one swig. “We don’t bite. Much. Normally they’d be screaming and fighting by now. It doesn’t do anything, but at least it’s entertaining.”
“Cut it, Snake,” the leader said. “Put her in the usual spot. No one touches her without my say-so. I’ve got a few calls to make.”
The leader and a couple more men led you to a support beam in the middle of the open room. There were already chains around it and they roughly shoved your hands into handcuffs at the ends. You could stand up and move a little bit, but the cuffs dug into the skin of your wrists.
“No one’s gonna pay for me. I’m not ‘their girl’ so you can just forget it,” you called after the leader, who turned to walk up to you, fury in his eyes. You regretted saying anything and were rewarded with a sharp slap across the face. It surprised you more than hurt, but you tasted blood on your lip. You tried not to let anything show, but you felt tears leak down your face involuntarily. You sighed and sat down with your back to the pillar. There was not a lot to do now but wait. And the later it got the more tired you were getting now that you were used to full nights of sleep and had failed to have your usual amount of caffeine. You let yourself wonder, just for a little bit, what Tim was up to.
---
“Alright, everyone got their parts?” Dick asked one more time, making everyone groan. They were all professional vigilantes, of course they could remember a plan. Especially a simple one like this. They had gotten the ransom call hours after Dick and Tim had gotten home. Tim had been pacing, wound tight the whole time like he was going to snap any moment. When Dick had suggested that he get some rest while they were waiting Tim had just shook his head and just said, "She's not sleeping." That had shut Dick up. Of course the gang was asking for a big chunk of change from the Waynes and to not go to the police, but they had no intention of doing either of those things. Instead, Damian strapped on his katana while Dick put on his domino mask and Jason assembled the last of his guns. Tim flexed his fingers under the cast and cursed his broken arm for about the millionth time. He still had an important part to play, though.
They all left the cave at the same time, though through a couple different vehicles. Tim was driving one of Bruce’s more expensive cars to put on a show. He was going to be the distraction. Pretend to pay the ransom, then the rest would go in and he would grab her and get the hell out of there. The plan was to get there a little late though, to give the rest of them time to strike positions and to make the bad guys sweat. For once, Tim almost agreed with Jason and Damian when they suggested that they just kill everyone inside quick and easy. The little smile that Y/N had tried to give him as she was being dragged out of the place kept replaying in his mind. There was no way that they were going to take his soulmate from him. Not when he just just met her.
“Arriving now. There’s about five armed guards outside. I’m climbing up to the second story window to get a better look inside,” Jason’s voice came through the comm. Tim continued to drive slowly, though it was just about killing him.
“I’m around back. There’s three more out here, but they’re already distracted. Shouldn’t be a problem,” Dick’s voice chimed in.
Damian, probably trying to be like Batman, just grunted to let them know that he was in position, causing Tim to roll his eyes.
“Window’s open, I can get audio,” Jason said and then they heard the sound of pacing. “There’s our girl, right in the middle. She’s way too pretty for you, Red.”
“Guards?” Tim asked impatiently, wanting to get to the point.
“There’s 11 in total. A full house. Not all of them have weapons on them, but I can see a pretty big stash in the corner. Couldn’t your girlfriend have the decency to get kidnapped by a less supplied gang?”
Tim chose to ignore that. They all listened in when the audio started.
“What, are they late or something?” It was her voice, sounding a little bit shaken, but steady.
“Shut up,” a familiar voice commanded. The leader who had taken her.
“I told you that no one was going to come. I literally don’t know them, we just happened to be in the same coffee shop at the same time. Nothing that would make them want to pay the large ransom that I’m sure you asked for.” As she talked it seemed like she was getting more confident.
“I said shut the fuck up. Do you have a death wish or something? If no one pays for you then you’re obviously as good as dead,” the man drawled, sounding agitated.
“No, I think that you should let me go in that case.”
The man barked out some surprised laughter and the sound of footsteps stopped. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because you have nothing to gain from keeping me here.”
“Oh really?”
Jason made a sort of low growl that Tim interpreted as ‘you don’t want to see what just happened’. He drove a little faster. There was no way that she was going to be able to talk her way out of this.
“Really. I’m not just some runaway that can disappear without a trace. I’m a top student at the University. People will notice that I’m gone. Hell, a whole coffee shop watched the Triads take me out of the place. It’ll make Gotham U look bad, which in turn will increase the funding for student security, which will tighten patrols along your turf. I can see the headlines now: ‘Top Student Disappears, City Funding District-Wide Manhunt for Criminals Responsible’. I bet that if the Waynes are feeling guilty they might even help fund it. Famous Wayne generosity.” There was a sort of ironic sarcasm dripping from her tone when she said that. There was a moment of silence where it seems like everyone was stunned. That was actually an okay argument, as begging for your life went.
“Damn, this girl’s got some balls, I’ll give her that,” Jason murmured through the comms. “You here yet, Timbers?”
“Almost,” Tim said, ignoring the casual use of his name over the comms. It really sounded like she didn’t believe that anyone was coming for her.
“Not good enough? Well, how about this one. If I am connected to the Waynes like you seem to think, then you’ll be in even bigger trouble. Everyone knows that Bruce Wayne has connections to the Bat,” she said after the silence had stretched too long. Damian made a slightly surprised breath that they could all hear.
“What?” the leader sounded baffled, like that was the last thing that he expected to hear. To be fair, it was the last thing that any of them expected to hear too.
“Well, anyone with eyes I guess.” Tim could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “Is it really worth it to get tangled up with him? You should just let me go so that we can all forget that this thing ever happened.”
“You…” The man sounded unsure, like he was debating about actually letting her go.
“Up there!” There was a random shout, followed by gunshots and the sound of glass breaking.
“Shit!” It was Damian. He had probably been spotted. The kid was good, but too new and reckless. Tim gunned the engine, taking the car the last bit of the way at top speed as the sounds of fighting filled his ears. He skidded to a stop right outside the warehouse door, ducking to avoid the bullets hurled his way by the guards out front. With very little concern for his own safety, he barreled into the building.
Jason was standing in front of the pillar with Y/N handcuffed behind him. He had both guns out and was shooting kneecaps and arms with a marksman’s precision. Y/N was staring at his back, obviously terrified. A bullet bounced off the pillar, near her head. She screamed and ducked down, her eyes locked onto something in front of her. Tim followed her gaze to see the leader, on the ground clutching his leg and screaming in agony. A flash of light caught his eye though and he saw what had her so focused. The pair of handcuff keys hanging around his belt.
Tim took off running, counting on the others to have his back. He reached the pillar in record time and was immediately jumped by the leader, who had gotten over the initial shock of being shot. There was a short struggle, but it wasn’t too hard to wrestle the larger man to the ground and give him a good kick that would send him straight to unconsciousness. He deftly reached down and grabbed the keys off of him and turned to his soulmate. She was looking at him with wide eyes, her lips formed his name, but no sound came out. He got to work uncuffing her.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his hands closing gently around her now-freed wrists as he studied the mark on her face. She shook her head, still too shocked to speak. “Let’s go, then,” he commanded and pulled her to her feet. A quick scan of the room showed that the majority of the fighting was going on near the front exit. He pulled her toward that back, confident that Dick had done his job and cleared that out for their escape.
It was all going well until Tim felt Y/N yank on his arm, enough to throw him off-balance. He immediately turned toward her, fearing the worst, but as he turned he saw a large throwing knife buried deep into the crate behind him, where he would have been. He looked behind her to see a henchman that Dick had apparently missed, aiming another knife. Tim was faster, pulling out two birdarangs that he had concealed on him and flicking his wrist to throw them. One buried itself deep into the man's arm, causing him to scream in pain and drop the knife. The other one was deflected by the knife and clattered to the ground, skidding back toward them. He could tell that she had gotten a good look at what it was when she murmured, “Well, that explains that.” He just tightened his grip on her arm and pulled her back into a run again, not letting her catch her breath.
They broke out of the warehouse and into the early morning air. They ran past a couple more unconscious men, courtesy of Dick, and didn’t stop until they were at the designated safe spot. When he finally let go of her she immediately bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing harshly. He wasn’t sure if she was going to throw up or not. Either way, he moved closer to her and gently rubbed her back in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. In reality he was just keeping the contact with her, almost as if assuring himself that she was real.
“That was crazy,” she eventually said once she could form words. She stood up straight and looked at him. “You’re-- You just-- But--”
“Slow down and breathe, Y/N,” Tim said. She was obviously in shock. He wished he had a blanket or something to wrap her up in as she shivered in the chilly air. Tentatively, she took a step toward him, and when he didn’t move away she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. He was surprised for a moment, but then returned the hug. He could feel her face wet with tears. She was obviously letting all the fear and pain of the night out and he was content to let her.
“Whoa, we’re not interrupting anything here, are we?” It was Dick’s voice. All three of his brothers turned onto the alleyway.
“Nope,” Tim said, still just enjoying the feeling of holding his soulmate for the first time.
She pulled back from him with a small “sorry” and rubbed at her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. When she opened them, it was to Damian pointing his katana at her threateningly.
“How did you know that Bruce Wayne is Batman? Who are you working for?” he demanded. All three other boys groaned.
“Bruce Wayne is Batman?” you repeated, a little shocked. Then you looked around at them and nodded. “I guess that makes sense, doesn’t it.”
“But you told him that you knew--”
“That Bruce Wayne was connected to Batman, not that he was Batman, you little shit,” Jason said.
“It’s not that hard to figure it out, really,” she said. “Not if you think about it for a little bit. Anything goes wrong anywhere near the man, and about ten vigilantes spring into action.”
“Well, she’s not wrong,” Tim said, dryly, still a little disappointed that she had pulled out of the hug. Being near a soulmate had been described to him many times, but it wasn’t until now that he really understood. “I figured it out when I was five.”
“Oh man, he’s got like 15 years on you. Feel smart now, miss ‘Top University Student’?” Jason teased, and she was looking at him like she was trying to figure out who he was. Tim realized that he hadn’t taken off the helmet yet. That was going to be a fun one to explain. After a second she seemed to give up.
“Oh, the shame. Now I know that I must take up a life of crime and be forever locked in a battle of wits with Timothy Drake to prove who is superior,” she said dramatically. There was a second of silence where everyone just stared at her warily. She looked around and then just groaned. “That was supposed to be a ridiculous joke.”
“I’ve seen weirder things happen, it’s Gotham,” Dick said, nonchalantly.
“Same.”
“Same.”
“Same.” They all agreed.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Your guy’s lives are crazy.”
They all just shrugged.
“So, babybird has a soulmate now? How exciting! Welcome to the family, kid!” Dick said fondly and ruffled her hair. She threw a confused look at Tim and he just looked helplessly back. There really was no changing Dick.
“Speaking of soulbonds, how the hell do you survive on this idiot's sleep schedule?” Jason asked curiously. Somewhere in the conversation he had lit a cigarette.
“With lots of coffee,” she answered. “Though I suppose that as excuses for nearly driving your soulmate insane go, being one of the ‘Saviors of the City’ isn’t terrible.” She shot Tim a look that clearly said that that wasn’t a good excuse, either. He swallowed guiltily.
“Let’s go back to the manor. Get some rest. Oh! You have to meet B. I’m sure he’ll love you,” Dick chattered and they all went toward their different vehicles. Tim grabbed her hand to let her know that she was with him. She still seemed really overwhelmed by everything and he couldn’t blame her. She had, within the span of one night, found her soulmate, been kidnapped and held for ransom, been saved by vigilantes, and learned all of their secret identities. He thought she was taking it rather well, all things considered.
---
“And here’s the upstairs guest bedroom that you can use,” Tim said, opening the door to a room basically as big as your entire apartment. You had only gotten the brief tour of the manor from Tim, but every room had taken your breath away. You didn’t feel like you belonged at all here, so you’d kept a tight grip on Tim, reminding you of why you were here at all. He didn’t seem to mind. Dick had somehow convinced you to stay until the next night at least. You made a mental note to be careful around that one or else you’d be swept into his current. “There’s a shower and I can lend you some clothes… if you want.” You didn’t even need to look at him to know that he was turning red.
“Maybe in a bit.” You yawned. “I’m actually thinking that a nap sounds really good right now. A night of getting kidnapped can really tire a girl out.” You sat down on the bed.
“Right. Sure. Of course,” Tim said, then turned to leave, but caught himself and turned back, rubbing the back of his neck. “Right, you need me to also…” You honestly found it adorable how awkward the billionaire vigilante was being around you now.
You grabbed his hand again and pulled him down onto the bed with you over the covers and then scooted over so that the two of you could lie face to face. He seemed to be drinking in every detail of you with his eyes and you smiled softly at him. You could no doubt also feel the invisible draw to your soulmate that had been described to you. You wanted to bury yourself into him and never let go. There were a few things that you needed to talk about first, though. Or you would if your eyes weren’t already drifting closed.
“We really need to talk about how often a person needs to sleep,” you murmur softly. He gives you the most adorable guilty look.
“Yeah, I actually get that a lot,” he says quietly, and you just close your eyes and chuckle.
“I’m sure you do.”
“Listen I’m sorry. If I’d have known—“
You cut him off with a frown, opening your eyes a fraction to get a look at him. “Don’t lie,” you whispered and he somehow managed to look even guiltier than before. “I get it now. All the odd hours and the late nights come with what you do. And what you do is important, it’s just that,” you bit your lip but continued on, “I was so angry with you. I couldn’t think of a possible explanation for what you were doing to me and now I can’t be angry anymore. Now I’m just... worried.” You decided that you could blame the extra sappy honesty on the fact that you could barely keep your eyes open.
He reached a lazy hand out to trace his fingers lightly down the side of your face. “You don’t have to worry about me. I can think of a couple good reasons to come back and get some sleep now.”
Your resulting smile was swallowed up by the light touch of his lips to yours and it felt like electricity was going through you all the way down to your toes. You leaned into the kiss and he threaded his fingers into your hair, tilting your head slightly back so that he had better access. He moved to deepen the kiss, but you pulled away and then snuggled your face into his neck.
“Nap first,” you murmured and he just chuckled and wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in closer. The arm cast was a little uncomfortable, but you could forgive him for that since that ended up being the best four hours of sleep that you ever got in your entire life.
Three Years Later
You padded down the hall in nothing but one of Tim’s old t-shirts, some light sleeping shorts, and murder in your eyes. You passed Jason as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. He looked up and saw you and let out a low whistle, looking you up and down.
“Don’t give me that, Todd. Where is he?” You snapped and he put up his hands in surrender.
“I don’t know, I swear. Check the cave.” You continued walking without another word. “Wouldn’t want to be him right now,” you could hear Jason mutter as you left the room.
You went straight to the nearest cave entrance and shivered as you descended the steps. Summer or not it was always eerily cold in the bat cave. Bruce probably made sure of that.
Sure enough, you found Tim sitting in front of one of the computers, still in full uniform, looking at about 10 screens at once and typing at full speed. He was so focused that you got right up behind him without him even noticing, though Dick, who was packing up the last of his gear, gave you a wary look. You crossed your arms and loudly cleared your throat.
Tim startled and turned the chair to look at you. “Oh, um, hi Y/N. I, um, didn’t hear you come in.”
“Get your ass out of that chair and go to bed with me, now Drake,” you commanded and he flinched.
“Now‘s not really a good time. Riddler is out again on a murder spree and I know I can figure it out if I just—“
“And there’s going to be another murder right now if you don’t come with me. I have my thesis defense in the morning and you’ve been promising me that I could get some sleep for three days.” There really must’ve been a scary look on your face, since Tim looked absolutely terrified.
“But babe—“
“Babybird, when a beautiful woman wants to take you to bed you really shouldn’t keep her waiting,” Dick cut in with a wink. When Tim still didn’t look convinced, he sighed and continued, “I’ll take lead on this Riddler thing.”
“Thank you, Dick,” you said, keeping your focus on Tim.
Tim was looking between the two of you helplessly as you ganged up on him. He realized that there was no winning right now and slowly stood up and stretched. You didn’t have time for this bullshit and grabbed him by the arm mid-stretch, yanking him away from the computer before he had a chance to come up with another reason to stay.
“The answer to the first one is candles. And I’ve already looked into the zoo, it’s clean. And don’t fall for the obvious trap with the coloring books,” he called at Dick as he let you drag him away. You heard Dick chuckle as you closed the door to the cave.
“Get some, Red,” Jason called after you as you passed him in the hallway on the way to your room.
“Fuck off, Jason,” you both called at the same time in the same exhausted tone.
When you got to your room Tim began the long process of stripping off his uniform, his fingers fumbling as he finally realized how tired he really was. You eventually took pity on him and helped. He collapsed onto the bed with a groan when you were finally done, then cracked an eye open after a second when you didn’t join.
“Coming?” He asked. Your lips turned up in a mischievous smile as you pulled off your t-shirt, swung your legs over him, and placed your hands on either side of his head. His hands jumped to your hips in surprise and you lowered yourself so that your bodies were pressing together, your lips just barely brushing.
“It’s my turn to keep you up. And give you a thorough reminder of why you should come here more often.”
He swallowed audibly. This was going to be fun.