Tim saw patterns in everything. It’s what made him a good detective. But when it came to you? You were an anomaly—chaotic, contradictory. A step forward, two back. A flicker of something better, followed by a deliberate fall into old habits.

It frustrated him.

It intrigued him.

There were moments—fleeting but real—where he thought he saw something shift in you. A crack in the armor, a glimpse of something unburdened. But then you'd pull back, and he'd be left chasing shadows again.

And yet, here you were.

Rain drummed softly against the rooftop, the neon glow of the city casting long shadows. The streets below buzzed with distant traffic, blurred by the downpour. A rare moment of stillness after a mission that should have left you both dead. But you weren’t.

Tim stood near the edge, mask damp from the rain, watching. Thinking. Always thinking. He should be heading back, but instead, his mind was caught on you.

His family had a habit of caring too much for people they shouldn’t. Bruce and Selina. Jason and… well, every wildcard he’d ever met. It was a dangerous line to walk. One Tim swore he wouldn’t fall into.

And yet.

“You ever gonna stop running in circles?” he asked, voice quiet but cutting through the night like a scalpel. “Or is this just how it’s gonna be with you?”

A loaded question. He didn’t expect an answer. You’d deflect. Dodge. Maybe throw some half-hearted jab at him for trying to psychoanalyze you.

But still—he put it out there.

Because beneath the frustration, the constant battle of wits and wills, Tim saw something in you. Something worth saving.

Maybe that was naive. Maybe foolish. But he had never backed down from a challenge.

And you?

You were the most complicated puzzle he had ever tried to solve.