soulmate au?????
Soulmate Au where things that people love/hate appear tattooed on their soulmate’s body. If they love it it’ll be on their front, and if they hate it it’ll appear on their back. The more important it is the closer it is to the heart. They can also move around/disappear over time.
Tim Drake is two years old when he receives his first soulmarks. There are two: the names Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain are found in elegant script over his heart.
He was alone when he’d found it, attempting to learn how to button up his shirt, and they’d sprung from his skin. He didn’t bother crying. He’d long since lost hope that someone would come for him if he did.
Instead, he’d waited for a maid to come into the room on her rounds and called her over.
The woman had smiled kindly as she explained soulmarks. How they were actually a good thing. How they meant that he was going to fall in love one day and one day he could get married! Like his mommy and daddy!
He’d seen how his mom and dad were sometimes. He wasn’t all that impressed.
Tim decided that the whole ‘soulmate’ thing could wait. He had a shirt to learn how to button.
~
On the other side of the world, however, Marinette Dupain Cheng is born without any tattoos on her body. Her parents don’t think much of it. She was just older than her soulmate, then. Or maybe she didn’t have one. That was fine.
But then, three years later, a computer appeared over her heart.
Marinette didn’t even notice until she was pulling off her shirt for a bath.
She hadn’t been shocked or scared like Tim had been, instead she’d beamed and waddled over to her mother with the widest grin on her face.
“Maman! Maman! Look! I have a soulmark!”
Sabine had smiled and turned to look but, much to Marinette’s confusion, it quickly morphed into an anxious expression.
Then her mother brought the smile back and she figured it must have been her imagination. The woman had reached out to ruffle her hair.
Marinette had finished getting ready and gotten in the bath, and her mother looked her over for a soulmark as she cleaned her. But there wasn’t one. There wasn’t one on her back and, outside of the one that had just formed, there wasn’t one on her front.
Then what was going on? Even abused kids tended to have their parent’s names somewhere on their bodies. But there was nothing.
The next guess was that her soulmate’s parents were dead. Usually, orphans had their housemates’ names on them, so the kid would have to be on the streets. Could a street kid really get enough access to a computer that it appears over their heart?
Sabine finished toweling off her daughter and pressed a kiss to her head after pulling her shirt on.
“Want to watch Pere bake some?”
The little girl’s eyes lit up and she nodded.
~
Whoever Tim’s soulmate was, they were really good at making friends. His chest was littered with names by the end of their first year of school.
And then there was one name on his back, right over his heart: Chloe Bourgeois. He frowned when he saw it.
For the first time since his first soulmark had appeared, he found himself curious about what was going on.
He pulled out his computer and looked up the name, not expecting to find much.
But, it turned out he did. After running an article through google translate (which didn’t work great) he managed to gather that she was the daughter of the mayor of Paris.
So... his soulmate was French.
(Unless they just had a vendetta against a random 3-year-old. Unlikely, though.)
He pulled up a new tab. It never hurt to learn a new language.
~
Their likes and dislikes slowly cropped up on their bodies as time went on.
Tim had smiled despite himself when he saw the pictures cropping up. A whisk was found on his shoulder, and then a video game console popped up on his stomach, and then a sewing needle and buttons could be seen under their parent’s names. On his back, he could find what appeared to be homework and broccoli. Whoever his soulmate was, their life seemed quaint and pleasant.
Marinette had been happy to see all the little things popping up over herself as well. A circus tent on the sole of her foot, a skateboard on her neck, a camera by the computer. On her back, she could see what looked like playing cards. She thought all their hobbies sounded cute (if a bit random). She was just concerned about the distinct lack of names on her body; she hoped that they were at least getting enough social interaction.
~
When she was twelve, it finally happened: a name appeared!
She stared at the script that had displaced the computer and her eyebrows knit together.
Batman.
Maybe a pet’s name? Human names tended to give a first and last name, so...
She typed it into her phone to try and translate it to French and her eyes widened when it actually gave information on someone in this place called Gotham.
A vigilante?
She laid back in her bed and frowned to herself.
In order for a person to show up as a name, there had to be a personal connection. If there wasn’t, like a celebrity crush, it would show up as a picture. But this was text, so…
Well, she hoped that her soulmate was safe.
Over time, more names appeared. They were all just as odd.
Nightwing?
Batgirl?
A simple google search showed they were vigilantes, too. She frowned slightly.
As long as they were okay, she supposed she should just be happy that they were talking to good people.
Besides, being friends with vigilantes seemed kind of cool. She could understand the appeal. She wished that Paris had something like that.
~
When he was fifteen a polka-dotted yoyo appeared over his heart, displacing their family’s names slightly. He stared at the yoyo for a minute in the mirror and then snickered to himself.
“Damn. They must really like yoyos.”
He laughed to himself and glanced at his back to see if anything changed, and was surprised to find that Chloe’s name had been moved away to make room for…
Was that a butterfly?
“And hate butterflies, apparently.”
~
She stared at the tiny bird over her heart.
Computers, skateboards, circuses, photography, and… birdwatching?
Whoever her soulmate was, their hobbies had range.
~
Tim had been changing out of his Robin costume when the names started disappearing.
Panic filled him. He’d heard before that, when your soulmate dies, your tattoos start to disappear.
But a few stayed, as did their hobbies.
He looked over the remaining names.
Their parents were still there, right next to the yoyo. Their family life was okay…
He stared at the other name and his eyebrows knit together.
Who names their kid Chat Noir?
He shook his head slightly. Maybe his soulmate had a black cat and wasn’t good at naming things.
Tim checked his back, mostly out of habit more than anything, and frowned to himself.
The butterfly had disappeared, and in its place were two names:
Lila Rossi and Hawkmoth.
~
She grinned as she twirled around in the dress she’d made. She was rather proud of it, it had a nice red and black color scheme.
She started taking it off, only to realize something.
Everything was gone.
She looked over her skin, running her fingers over where all the tiny tattoos had once been and felt tears form in her eyes.
Her soulmate was…
And then, slowly but surely, something appeared on her chest.
She wiped her eyes and looked at it, only to frown.
A gag gun that said ‘BANG’.
Nerves rattled around inside her. Something was definitely wrong, she could tell. But how could she fix it?
Maybe she could convince Master Fu to give her the horse miraculous? She could drop into Gotham as Ladybug for a little while and check up on them? Sure, she had no idea who her soulmate was, but she knew who they hung out with. She should at least make sure they’re okay.
A few hours later she was dumped unceremoniously onto a Gotham rooftop.
She looked up at the portal Master Fu had dropped her through and made a rude hand gesture, then pushed herself to her feet. She walked to the edge of the roof, dusting herself off as she went, and looked over the side.
Wow, this place definitely looked like the most dangerous city in the world. She could see a guy holding a gun while walking an old lady across the street it was so bad.
She pulled out her phone and looked up a picture of the vigilantes that she’d seen on her chest. Nightwing… Batgirl… Batman…
Man, did they have to wear such dark colors? It was night! How dare they do the smart thing and make it hard to see them!
Fine. Time to wonder around and pray, she supposed.
She had been considering detransforming and seeing if she could buy a coffee when she heard a click behind her head.
Ah. Fuck.
~~~
Part 1/21, 34k words in all
Next
The version on AO3 was edited by me to make it better (in my opinion) but this is the original version if you'd prefer that
You didn’t really give me any specifics so I’m sorry if this didn’t turn out like you wanted. You were probably expecting fluff but uhhhhhh,,, don’t know why you were asking ME for that --
