Chapter Text
Call Jason a hopeless romantic but he loved the idea of soulmates. Someone who was fated to be your other half, your match, your one true love. Sure, it was sappy. Saccharine sweet and a little silly. However growing up in cold, dirty alleyways left him clinging to the romanticized idea of love. Sue him.
His mom told him about soulmates. The world was full of them but not everyone had one. There were many types too! Some had strings, words, symbols, or were able to write messages on their skin to send to their soulmate! It left him awed and wishing with every ounce of him that he could have a soulmate out there somewhere. He didn't really have a preference for what kind, he just wanted one. Which… okay that sounded bad. But! He didn't mean it like that! He just- he wanted to experience love like that. Jason was romantic like that.
Of course, wanting a soulmate and having one were two different things.
By the time Jason was out on the streets stealing tires to afford to live, he had resigned himself to fate. Literally. Fate or destiny or whatever was in charge of soulmates had blessed him with nothing! No strings, no marks, no messages, no vision impairment, nothing! Some nights when it was cold and he was colder he'd dream of warmth and safety with someone at his side. Soulmates became nothing but a dream.
Which is of course the second his dreams became a reality. Sort of. At first he didn't even realize something was off.
He'd been in the middle of a walk down a dark alley trying to avoid prying eyes when suddenly he blinked and he was no longer in the streets of Gotham. Very quickly Jason found himself in a super fancy ass house.
“What the fuck…” he muttered.
He tried to move his hands but realized that whatever was happening was like watching something through a screen. Or rather, like viewing something from someone else's eyes. Whoever he was watching was short. The view panned around and Jason noted that whoever it was that he was watching was absolutely loaded. Like- Bruce Wayne levels of rich! The walls were white and the floor was white and there was a bunch of fancy trinkets everywhere that would make Catwoman salivate. There was a grand set of stairs and- was that picture frame golden? Everything was so big…
Then he blinked and Jason was back in his alley.
“Okay that was fucking weird.” Jason said out loud to no one but himself and the cloudy Gotham sky.
That night he went to bed hungrier that he would've liked but he'd spent too much time wondering about his weird vision. Eventually though he moved on, dubbing the experience as a hallucination. Because what else was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he had someone to ask. Plus it was easy to push the whole ordeal to the back of his mind when it was a once off. He'd gone back to the alley to try and make it happen again but to no avail. Jason was simply forced to move on.
Then it happened again. Months later. So much later that once again he was blindsided.
This time things were different, for him at least. One tire jacking gone wrong and now he lived in a mansion! He had a bed! And a butler! Well, Alfie wasn't really a butler, he was more like- a grandpa? He hadn't really had one of those before so he was operating on assumption but- oh! Bruce Wayne had adopted him! Bruce Wayne was also the Batman which was fucking nuts but Jason was trying to play it cool.
Okay he was way off track but it happened again! The weird vision thingy! He hadn't been expecting it but he'd been having dinner with Bruce when he blinked and then he was no longer at the dinner table. Instead he was back in that stupidly posh house. His line of sight was still low to the ground which had him smirking.
The smirk dropped once he took in the sight.
Two pairs of shoes were in front of him. A professional pair of heels and those ugly shoes that went with suits that Bruce insisted he own. His view was pointed at the too-shiny floor. His vision was watery almost as if whoever's eyes he was borrowing were about to-
Tears dripped to the floor.
Jason sucked in a breath. He didn't really understand what was happening but someone was making these eyes cry.
Someone was hurting his… his what?
Jason blinked and was back at the table. Bruce ate another bite of his food and Alfred was taking an empty plate to the sink. Jason sucked in a breath.
“Can you see visions of your soulmate?” Jason blurted out.
Bruce paused his eating. Alfred raised an eyebrow though not in judgement.
Bruce hummed, “I suppose it's possible. We still don't know every kind of soulmate bond, so it's possible that something like that could exist. Though it could be rarer hence why the world might not know about it yet. Uh, why do you ask?”
Jason flushed, “Ah I- I just really like soulmates? I've found them cool since I was little.”
He didn't wanna lie to Bruce especially since Bruce was so kind to him already, but not only did Jason wanna be sure about having a soulmate he also wanted to learn a little more about his visions first. He'd tell Bruce eventually…
Except eventually never came because the second he became Robin, (so freaking cool), he realized Bruce would definitely bench him if Batman knew that Jason could be inhibited in any way. Jason was careful with the knowledge that he had a soulmate. For good reason too. Ever since he had come to live with Bruce, he'd had more visions. Jason had learned from them though.
For starters, his soulmate was short. Like- Jason thought that soulmates were usually close in age to each other but his soulmate was so tiny… he didn't have much of anything to work off of but by height alone he knew his match was small. Another thing was that if his soulmate was around his age, or younger if the height was any indicator, then his soulmate shouldn't be nearly as alone as they had been. Jason wasn't great at math but he figured that at least ninety percent of his visions showed his soulmate alone in a giant, empty home. It was concerning. Jason knew he was being slightly hypocritical given his own upbringing but sue him for not wanting his soulmate all alone! That last ten percent though? His soulmate did occasionally have other people present. Except not once did Jason see hugs, smiles, or even faces. Jason had thought that these people were his other half's parents but they sure as hell didn't act like it!
It made Jason's blood boil and if only he could figure out who his soulmate was then maybe he could do something about it…
Alas, Jason had no clues other than his soulmate was short and rich.
Given his new life within the Gotham Elite that didn't narrow it down. Much. Technically his soulmate could be from somewhere other than Gotham however something in Jason's gut told him that his other half was a native Gothamite. Bruce had been telling him to learn to trust his gut afterall…
Speaking of trusting his gut… Jason had found a lead on his mom. His real mom. Bruce was being stupid about the whole thing and he just- he needed to know.
All he needed to do was go to Ethiopia. Easy.
Easy was what he had thought before things went all sorts of wrong.
Now Jason was chained up, tortured, bleeding from too many places, and the only thing keeping him going while he waited for the end was his visions. Those precious moments where he wasn't wishing for Joker to just be done with it all. Sweet seconds of not being in some godforsaken hell hole in the middle of nowhere Ethiopia because he'd been too blinded to realize it was a trap and he had walked right into it with a smile. Jason was tired. He was in pain. He wished-
Jason blinked.
He saw the rooftops of Gotham and sighed heavily. But why the rooftops? Thin but swift hands held open a photo album, view panning downwards.
“No…” Jason weakly whispered.
Inside of the photo album were pictures of Robin. Of him. Flying freely over the skyline, falling just like Dick had taught him, grinning as he took down muggers and thieves. It made his heart ache. Freedom was right there in front of his eyes yet he couldn't touch it.
His soulmate surely knew, but not just that. His soulmate seemed to almost be looking for him. Jason's heart hammered in his chest, torn between hope and fear. Ice filled his chest as he blinked and was transported back to reality.
Back to the laughter.
The visions could only do so much for so long.
When the clock was counting down Jason squeezed his eyes shut, begging the universe to give him one last vision.
The universe didn't care.