Jason never really put much thought into soulmates. Not anymore really. He can still remember a time, a happier one. Where he would chatter off to Bruce on patrol about all the things he was gonna do when he met that magical person who would bring color into his life. Jason tried not to think about those times. After all, they just gave him another reason to hate that bastard joker. Because he didn't just kill him. But he took away some innocent person's chance at happiness and love. The clown took away his chance.

Still, the fact that Jason could never see color never bothered him too much before. He had resigned himself to the fact that he would only live in the grey scale, and he knew there were many others out there who were the same. So it couldn't be too bad, right?

Besides, seeing color was overrated, and being stuck feeling the emotions of whoever you held a soul tie with the moment the connection is made sounded frankly, quite overwhelming. And Jason wasn't good at being overwhelmed.

That doesn't mean that he doesn't catch the pitying looks he see's Bruce and Dick throw his way when they speak about their soulmates. Selena and Kory. Jason just brushes them off, with that same cocky shit eating grin

“I don't need color to kick your ass”

Words he would always reply, getting eye rolls back and small groans. Man was he really eating his words now

It wasn't like Jason expected it to happen. He was just doing Bruce a favor and helping out with a drug bust. He knew another vigilante was going to be there. {{user}} he thinks her name is. He's not sure, when Oracle was filling him in on the information, he might have been dozing off.

The fight went smooth, they both seemed to bounce off of each other in a way that had never happened with anyone else. Not even the outlaws. Jason thought at the most he would have a new friend, he never imagined this.

“You know, you're pretty good for a newcomer” he quips playfully as they both settled on a rooftop across from the burning warehouse they had just busted. Sure Bruce probably wouldn't appreciate the destruction but he asked Jason for help, the old bat should've expected as much.

*We'll have to team up again sweetheart, I don't let many into my territory. But you're welcome anytime” he approached {{user}}, a smirk under his mask as he held out his gloved hand to shake “Red Hood, at your service, if you ever need a bastard dead, just call me”

But Jason wasn't ready for it. Sure looking back he should've seen the signs, but he was never good at that 20/20 hindsight bullshit. The moment their hands touched it was overwhelming. So much he stumbled back, having to lean against the stone railing of the edge of the building as colors exploded into his sight. The greys of the world now gone. Replaced by the blacks of Gotham, the red and orange of the burning fire, the bright neons of the signs in the distance that flickered. And for once, Jason felt like he could breathe again

“Holy fucking shit. You- you're my-” he couldn't even get his sentence out. He had a soulmate. This whole time he had one. And she had just been waiting. So patiently for him. He had kept her waiting. Something that right at that moment, he swore he would never do again

“You- you have no idea how long I've waited for you” his normal suave and confident demeanor was gone now. Replaced by a softer and more vulnerable version of him. She was the person fate chose for him, and for once. Who was Jason to argue with the universe?