Chapter Text
Three hours.
The timer read three hours.
Sightless eyes stared down at the countdown, at fate ticking away on a pale wrist. The timer had been blank for so long- but then it wasn't, the screen had flashed and the timer had begun its countdown at-
He didn't know what to do with himself for three hours. Take another shower, maybe? Brush his teeth again? He checked his breath. It smelled fine to him.
His phone rang. He fumbled with it and dropped it onto the ground before he managed to answer it, "Burkhardt."
There was a body.
Hank's smile faded when he saw him. "What happened?"
"Why do you say it like that?" Nick shoved his hands into his pockets to keep himself from checking the timer. He’d nearly crashed on the way over.
"I know that face. Something big is going on."
Nick shrugged and followed him into the convenience store. "When is something big not going on?"
"Not gonna tell me then?"
He'd kept enough from Hank, but this wasn't news he wanted to share at a crime scene. Nick waved him off as Wu approached. "Later. What've we got, Wu?"
The seconds ticked by, each slower than the last. Nick tried to focus on the dead body, on Wu's jokes, on Hank’s deductions, but the metal in his wrist felt unusually heavy and he caught himself rubbing it with his thumb several times.
Hank wanted food. Nick picked at his burger, let Hank steal his fries.
"You okay?" Hank garbled behind a mouthful.
Nick pulled his sleeve back down. "Yup. Just got something on my mind."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
He blew out a sigh. This was his partner. Nick flashed his timer at him and immediately flushed as a face-breaking grin cracked Hank's mouth wide open.
"I knew you'd find them one day! How long does it say?!"
"Shhh, Hank..." Nick couldn't help but match his grin. He peeked at his wrist.
Thirty minutes.
"Oh no."
"What? What's wrong? Did it turn off?" Hank hunched over the table, nearly knocking over their drinks.
"Careful!" He let out a shaky sigh and presented his wrist. Hank let out a low whistle.
"You think it’s someone at the precinct? We gotta go back."
"Where else would I meet them?"
"Maybe it'll be Harper." He laughed and Nick chucked his napkin at him.
Hank did not let up with the speculations the entire drive back to the precinct, but Nick got into it and the butterflies flitting about his stomach lessened considerably. They returned with a vengeance the moment Hank turned the car off. "Ready?"
Nick shrugged. "As I'll ever be."
Hank patted his shoulder with an easy smile and Nick followed him up to the bullpen, his head on a swivel.
The timer read five minutes.
His hands shook where they hovered over his keyboard. Five minutes before he met his soulmate. His gaze darted around the bullpen. Most of the people had already met their soulmates, or had properly working timers.
Four minutes.
Hank threw a crumpled up piece of paper at him and pointed at a suspect. Nick scowled and threw the paper back.
Three minutes.
His phone rang. "Monroe, I can't really talk right now."
"Grimm business?"
"Of a sort. I'll call you back."
Two minutes.
He could not keep his eyes on his computer. Wu sauntered up and leaned against the desk. "I've got a body for you two."
Hank shook his head. "You are way too chipper about that."
Nick fiddled with his pen. Less than a minute, now. The numbers ticked – ticked – ticked down. He threw the pen onto his desk and rubbed at the tiny screen on his wrist. "Where is it?"
"Up by the lake. I'm guessing Nessie wasn't happy with the trespasser."
"Burkhardt. Griffin," Renard called out. "A word in my office, please."
Nick turned around.
Their eyes met.
Two sweet trills rang out in the bullpen.
Nick yanked his sleeve back. His timer read zero. He looked back up. Renard had also pulled his sleeve back, and his wide eyes met Nick’s. "You-"
"You're-"
"The Captain?" Hank mumbled beside him and Wu might’ve said something but a high pitched ringing blocked everything out and he couldn't breathe-
"Oh, God." Nick surged up from his chair and bolted out of the bullpen, ignoring the calls from Hank and Wu as he dashed to the bathroom. The door banged open and he lunged inside and slammed it shut behind him, leaning up against it, his chest heaving.
His boss was his soulmate.
Renard was his soulmate.
He squeezed his eyes shut. After everything Renard had done, after everything they'd been through-
No, it couldn't be. The timer had to be wrong.
Someone pushed on the bathroom door.
He stumbled away, his cheeks burning, and quickly began washing his hands in the nearest sink as it opened.
Renard stepped in. He cleared his throat. "This is... unexpected."
Nick hunched over the sink, scrubbing each knuckle vigorously.
"Nick, I know this isn't what you wanted-"
"Isn't what I wanted?!" He turned off the water and aggressively dried his hands. "You're my soulmate! How could I not want that?!”
"Look, I know things haven't always been... good between us-"
"But this suddenly changes things? Is that it?" Nick snapped. He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them and clenched his fists by his sides. "Just because our timers went off at the same time doesn't mean-"
"Doesn't it, though?"
And it did and it wasn't fair because of course fate would stick the Grimm with the bastard prince. "Since when do you have a timer, anyway?"
"Since this morning."
"But why now? After all these years?" He’d spent his entire life staring at that blank screen, begging for the numbers to show, grieving over a soulmate that didn’t exist and thinking that he was one of the few that would never find his person despite the technology.
But he did have a soulmate. Renard just hadn’t wanted him.
Renard held his gaze, and it was Nick who had to look away. "Recent events have made me... aware of time."
"So you're having a midlife crisis?"
"I died, Nick," he said, his voice soft. "I realized a few things when I came back."
Nick stuffed his hands into his pockets just to have something to do with them, his stomach in knots.
Renard had died for Nick.
Renard let out a quiet sigh when he didn’t say anything. "I know I'm not who you wanted-"
“No- that’s-”
Renard's phone rang and he looked at it before turning it off with another sigh. "I have to go. Why don't we talk about this over dinner instead of in the bathroom?"
"Are you... asking me out on a date?"
The faint hint of a smile teased the corners of Renard's lips up. "Yes."
Nick fiddled with the coins in his pocket. Should he go on a date with Renard? With his boss? It would change everything.
But everything had already changed.
Renard's smile dropped. “We don't have to call it a date. But we should talk about this."
One date couldn't hurt. They were supposed to be soulmates, after all. "Fine. One date."