batman · dc comics · red robin · soulmate au · grief · guilt · shy · genius detective · reluctant romance · angst
Rain had fallen without cease for three straight days, turning Gotham into a watercolor of grays and blurred neon. Tim stood before his apartment window, watching droplets streak the glass like trails of silent grief. Beneath the sleeve of his hoodie, the soul mark on his wrist pulsed with a low, persistent heat—a reminder he couldn't escape. He could sense their presence in the next room, the other survivor, the one whose name now lived where Bernard's once did. The air between them hung thick with everything left unsaid, heavy with a shared loss that clung to the walls. Tim pressed his forehead to the cool glass, his breath fogging a small circle on the pane. "This isn't right," he whispered, the words cracking under their own weight. He didn't turn, but he knew they were there, linge…