Title: A Soul inslav'd so many wayes (Reference) (4 drabbles) Fandom: DCU Era: Pre-Infinite Crisis Summary: Various diabolical masterminds hit on soulbonds as the première offensive weapon. Notes: I read a story today in a different fandom that all of a sudden developed a soulbond as a sure sign of OTP truth. I reflected on how poorly that trope would work in this fandom. Pairings: Tim/Kon, Dick/Babs, Bruce/Dick, Bruce/Jason (each mutually exclusive) Blame: Zee, Betty, Katarik, and myself Tim stares at Kon. Kon stares back, then hugs Tim. Then backs off ten feet, smacking into the temple ceiling. "Sorry. Man -- sorry -- I felt that --" Tim puts his head in his hands. "Yes. I'm sure you did. You're -- loud." Kon floats back and touches his hair. "I don't know how that stuff fits in your head." Tim laughs. "Problem solved." "You think it's --" "Permanent," Tim finishes his sentence. Kon frowns. "I'm not sure that's cool." "It could be valuable." "And fucking scary." "That, too." Tim spreads his hands. "You wanted to kiss me. Here." "Sorry." "Too late for that." * "It's not true," Dick says for the eighty-ninth time. "You're beautiful." Barbara glowers at him. "I know what you see. I can practically see myself through your eyes right now." Dick reaches toward her and she smacks his hand away. "You're not really hearing me, then. I know who you are, and I love you." "You can get a hundred yards away now. Go." He gives her a hurt look, then touches her cheek so quickly she can't dodge. -- Batgirl, a grinning teenager, Oracle's mask, Barbara in a wheelchair -- smiling -- "Stop!" She's shaking. "Don't touch me." "I love you." "Go." * When Jason Blood says physical intimacy is necessary to stabilize the bond, Dick laughs because otherwise he'll cry. Soul death, ETA six days. That's before they're home. Before he touches Bruce's hand and stops breathing, lost in the flood of need -- stronger than desire -- and realizes in a million glimpses of himself the difference between "didn't want to" and "didn't." "Oh." He shakes his head. "I thought --" Three thousand nights, alone and not alone. Faces with and without masks. "-- oh, god, Batman." "It would have been wrong," Bruce says. How many dark fantasies -- not only his -- "Not now." Bruce smiles. * "I thought you were smarter than this," Red Hood says. "Then it's all been a lie." Batman shrugs. "Jason knew me." "I hardly knew myself. Crazy fucking bastard." Red Hood takes three deliberate steps and drops off the roof. Batman doesn't need or want to catch him. But the tug of the enchantment pulls too strongly. Makes it necessary to follow him, as if they're tethered together. To kiss him, to hold him against the wall and fight him for breath and sex. "I hate you," he gasps. They both do. It doesn't make the next kisses any less necessary.
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