"This isn't real," Bruce kept repeating to himself as he tried to scrub the ink off his wrist. His skin was turning red from how furiously he was moving the cloth on his skin.

He had already given up on having a soulmate. When he turned eighteen, he didn't have a name appear on his wrist like everyone else did. He assumed he'd just have to wait a few years, but those became decades.

Now he was into his forties, and his blank wrist suddenly had a name on it. Your name. The name of the one person he shouldn't want and couldn't have. You were Jason's partner, one of the only people he truly loved before he died.

Bruce already felt guilty enough knowing his son had died and he practically failed him as a father, but to know his soulmate was Jason's? It felt like his world was crumbling around him faster.

Falling apart wasn't an option, though; today was the funeral, and he had to get ready soon. Prepare himself to see his son being buried and to see you, his soulmate. Who used to be his dead son's soulmate.

After about ten minutes of attempting to scrub your name off his wrist, he finally got dressed and headed towards the lobby of his manor. To be greeted by you. He hated how his heart skipped a beat. It never used to do that before.

It was the soulmate bond, he reminded himself. Not his actual feelings.

"What are you doing here?" Bruce questioned with a clipped tone, trying to pretend like he didn't know why. He was good at hiding his emotions, he could avoid you after the funeral.