#and I mean it would make sense that Batman took longer to get replaced than the Robins I mean they were all children
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OBVIOUSLY UNOBVIOUS T.D.
Request: I have a request ! It's kinda angsty but what if tim and y/n work together(maybe your like second in comment at WE), and y/n knows his secret, y/n is also very strong(powers or not up to you ) and Tim manages to convince her to join the Titans.y/n likes him , and she can't help but be jealous of him and Cassandra's friendship.y/n tries not to like cass but fails Bc she's just that good of a friend
Sorry it's a Tim request! Where Tim and y/n are unaware of their feelings for each other. So Tim asks cass to be touchy, more friendly, and y/n is unaffected but on the inside she's boiling , so she asks Bart to be extra flirty, and it's just one big hot mess.
Request for Tim falling for the new member of the Titans , y/n the protege of green arrow/black canary , Tim bring mad protective/jealous every time Bart flirts with her, yn being oblivious as hell
Warning: fluff, mentions of blood,
A/N: I combined three requests because they were all kinda simliar in the bart/cassie making reader jealous so I hope you don’t mind.
Word Count: 4k
Joining the Teen Titans had not been your idea. At all.
Tim pestered you for months to join his silly little band of sidekicks. You met him not long after he 'saved' you from a night of patrol gone wrong. New to Gotham and not quite understanding just how much of a hell hole it was. Avoiding Batman was easier than you thought - but Robin? Not so much.
Robin was kind to you, unlike his mentor. He always had a boyish smile for you, some explanation of the new tech he got excited over, and he never questioned who you really were. You knew that he knew your entire identity, how could the great Batman let his sidekick cohort with an unnamed masked vigilante?
You found yourself seeking his company more than seeking criminals at night. It wasn't just having someone watch your back, it was even if you didn't know who was hiding under the mask you felt like you could trust him. Robin quickly became the one person you could constantly rely on.
Robin was somehow always there when you got yourself into a tight situation. Cornered by goons that outnumbered you by a landslide, an unexpected amount of hired guns at a drug bust, even when you stumbled upon higher up criminals did he managed to be there just in the nick of time.
The reliance became almost unhealthy. Any time you were stuck in a rut you told yourself he would be there, he would always be there. And then he wasn't. In the moments that you needed him most, he wouldn't show up at all. Bloody and bruised, you'd barely make it out alive because you believed that he would show up.
It was your own fault for putting faith in someone you didn't even know the name of. Batman and Robin had their own issues, their own battles to fight - they didn't always have the time for yours.
A freezing Saturday night Batman had found you barely breathing in a dark alley. Ganged up out of the blood, trauma to the head that left you dazed and barely able to fight. It was a small gang that you thought you had taken down months ago - turns out they were just hiding in the shadows and waiting to attack.
They left you half-dead in the alley, hoping that you would have learned your lesson to not mess with them again. Instead, it made you angry - furious at them, at yourself for messing up like this. Revenge was the only thing on your mind while you tried to push yourself up to move again.
Truth was, if it wasn't for Batman showing up, you weren't sure if you would have ever made it back home alive. He took you to the infamous batcave, tended to your wounds like his own sidekick. He was silent, just as he always was whenever he saw you and Robin together. The quiet made it painfully obvious that Robin wasn't there that night.
You woke up in the early hours of the morning, still in the cave and with an unfamiliar face at your side. Dark tufts of black hair that stuck up in every direction, sharp cheekbones that could barely be seen from the hand resting on his face. He wore shorts, despite the cold that lingered in the air.
Your eyes flickered to the Robin costume that was displayed in a glass stand. Bright reds and greens that always stood out in the night and made it oh-so-easy to spot. A mask that covered only the eyes and the sculpted cheeks bones of the boy hiding beneath. It was Robin that was sleeping in the chair beside your bed, maskless and vulnerable to someone he didn't even know.
"You're awake," he spoke without opening his eyes. Sleep was heavy in his voice. The usual pep that he had was replaced with a hoarseness that had you taken aback for a split moment. Bright blue eyes met yours. You always wondered what color they'd be, but you never expected them to be so vibrant - so full of life.
"How could you have possibly woken up from that, I haven't even moved," You tried to joke. A pain rippled through your whole body. Bruises dark in color splattered against you and a tight wrap was around your ribs where surely half of them were broken or cracked. You could feel the swell in your lips, the metallic taste of blood that lingered in your mouth even hours after you were defeated. Without needing to see yourself, you knew that you were looking rough.
"You were making noises in your sleep, they stopped when you woke up," Robin informed you. Whimpers and whines from the pain that ached throughout you echoed through the cave for hours. He knew of getting his ass handed to him, and he knew just how you felt that moment. "How are you feeling?"
Tim felt guilty. He tried his best to watch over you in the ferocious Gotham life, but sometimes he hadn't made it in time. You were lucky to be alive, and if that wasn't the case he wouldn't be able to live with himself, not when he was on some stupid team-building exercise in San Francisco.
There were tons of descriptions that you could have used to describe how you were feeling. Enraged. Embarrassed. Vengeful. "Sore," you settled with. Tim nodded, by the hesitance you had he wasn't sure if that was going to be your final answer. You rubbed a hand down your face, mixed feelings running through more than ever.
The familiar feeling of bare skin met your path. No mask, no covering your identity. No surprise that Batman did so. You paused a moment before sticking that same hand out for Robin to shake. "I presume you already knew long ago, but (Y/N) (L/N)."
Tim accepted your hand, surprised at the sudden grip that you had on him in your weakened state. "Tim Drake, I assume you already put together that I'm Robin," he mocked your words. "It's nice to officially meet you, (Y/N)."
Months of trying to convince you that joining the Teen Titans was the best thing that could happen to you. Not only would you get the additional training you needed, but you would have the resources and a team. You'd get friends - and most importantly you'd get to be near Tim more often.
As annoying as his pestering was to get you to join him, it was far more adorable. He'd get this little pout on his face, bottom lip sticking out that made you just want to kiss him. You knew the reason - or thought you knew - why he wanted you to join. He was scared for you. That night in the alley when he wasn't even home terrified him.
He was going to make sure that it never happened again. Tim would be there to protect you, and if he couldn't then his friends sure as hell would. Months of bribing, swaying, hangouts, and patrol, Tim finally convinced you to join him. The time you spent together had brought you closer together as friends.
It also brought unwanted feelings that kept you up at night. The little amount of sleep that you usually got dwindled as your thoughts and dreams became consumed by Tim Drake. He was more than a friend, a partner, a teammate - he was someone that you could love for the rest of your life. Yet, he had no idea.
Joining his little band of heroes didn't help either. You spent far more time with him. Training, missions, just hanging out in the lounge of the infamous Titans Tower. He became your every living moment - along with his friends. They weren't all easy to get along with. Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg, they all acted like they controlled your each and every move.
Conner Kent, Superboy, as nice as he was whenever he spent time with Tim you couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Bart took a while to get used to - just as Tim had told you it would. He was nice to you, but his literal sense of being all over the place drove you nuts. Cassie? Well, she was the one that got on your nerves the most.
Whenever Cassie and Tim were in the same room together, she hung off him like a leech. No matter what was going on she was right at his side. She made it impossible to hang out with him and you had no idea why she was so possessive of him. It seemed impossible to enjoy her presence.
It was also impossible to hate her too. Whenever the two of you worked alone, she was always so incredibly kind to you. She would help you when you messed up or offered words of advice from her own mistakes. Cassie wasn't afraid to admit to you that she's messed up far more than you had. It was confusing why she changed so much around Tim.
It was annoying to see his stupid little smiles every time you were visibly frustrated with them together. It was even worse when their hugs lasted a little longer than they needed to be. Your jealousy of Cassie was getting out of hand, and that would only mean that bad decisions would be made.
><
You stood with your fist raised, ready to knock on the door in front of you. Maybe this choice was petty, maybe you were more scared to admit your own feelings than you were fighting monsters. Truth was, you just wanted to see Tim react the same way that you did when he was around Cassie. What better way than to use one of his own friends to do it?
Kon was too loyal to Tim to keep a secret. Victor and Gar wouldn't agree to it in the slightest - them being the 'responsible leaders' that they were. That left Bart Allen. Speedster. Kid Flash. As kind as he was, you didn't know him well enough to know if he would even agree to this ridiculous plan of yours.
The more you thought about it, the more ridiculous it even was. Why waste time trying to make Tim jealous when he probably didn't even think about how Cassie acted around him? Why not just tell him outright that after over a year of working together, you had caught major feelings for him?
Before you could change your mind about this whole thing, Bart's door opened. He looked ready to run out to do god knows what but stopped, confused, when he saw you standing there. "(Y/N), hey, uh," Bart scratched the back of his head. You never stopped by to see him. "What are you doing here?"
"Can I talk to you?" Your gaze turned to the end of the hall when hearing footsteps. Black and yellow cape, green shirt, of course, Tim remained in uniform even in his downtime. He met your eyes for a moment, a smile making it's way to his face before realizing that you were talking to Bart. His gaze turned to a glare when seeing how little of a space was between you and Bart.
Seeing his small change in facial expression had just confirmed that you liked seeing him jealous - if that's even what his emotion was. You smiled his way before grabbing Bart's hand and leading him back into his room. The door slammed shut before Tim could even reach it.
"What-" Bart tried to ask.
"I need you to do me a favour," Bart's room was a mess. Clothes were strewn all over the floor, unmade bed, food wrappers, and pizza boxes covering every inch of furniture. The difference between him and Tim was astounding just by looking at their living spaces. "I need you to help me make Tim jealous."
><
Surprisingly, Bart was quick to agree with your little plan. He too noticed that since your arrival to the tower, Tim and Cassie were closer than ever. If he was to notice, then surely there had to be something going on, right? Either way, it just fueled your desire to make him jealous even more.
They were small actions at first. You'd make sure that Bart would enter your room just as Tim was walking by, only to leave again moments later when he was gone. Always being quick to pair up with you for everything, only for Tim to argue that his pairing with you made more sense. Lingering hugs, watching movies together, sharing food.
Tim was quickly annoyed with Bart's presence whenever you were with him. However, he didn't bring it up. His glares, huffs of annoyance, and cold behaviour were all obvious though he never asked about your sudden interest in his best friend.
Kon, the only one that wasn't involved, but invested, quickly picked up on what happened. Tim got Cassie to be touchy the first day that you arrived. You asked Bart to do just the same. It was obvious what was going on to everyone besides you and Tim.
As funny as it was to watch, he was also getting annoyed at the lack of communication between you. According to Tim, you and him were best friends before you decided to join the team. Now, it seemed that you had never been farther apart because of your ruses.
"You and Bart got close since you've arrived," Tim was leaning against the door of your room. It had been days since the two of you had talked alone and you missed him. Keeping this fake-touchy relationship with Bart was exhausting. It didn't even seem to be worth it - until this moment.
"Yeah, he's a good guy," You peaked above the book you held in your hand. Tim invited himself into your room and sprawled across the bottom of your bed. He didn't want to hear about your relationship with Bart, but the words slipped his mouth before he could think of anything else. It drove him nuts seeing the two of you together. "Made this place feel like a home."
He didn't, at all. Truth was, you wished that you were back in Gotham, back where you didn't know you had to share Tim with anyone besides Batman. Now, with all his friends, you felt like you never got to see him at all. As much as you learned, and as thankful as you were for everything that you learned, you missed what your friendship used to be with Tim.
"You never told me you and Cassie were so close," You hesitantly spoke as a silence washed over you. Tim remainder stotic. He and Cassie were great friends, but they were never as physically close as they were now. She had been reluctant to agree to his pleas of acting closer than they really were to make you jealous. His efforts seemed all for null with your new fondness of the speedster.
If Tim were Bruce, he'd probably be able to pick up on the jealousy in your voice. Right now, he was too caught up in your own thinking about the hours that Bart spent in your room, laughing so loud that he could hear it from his room. He loathed the idea of you and Bart together.
"Yeah." Yeah. That's all he had to say? All their time together, nothing more than a single word to talk about the woman he clearly cared deeply about.
Another silence. A painful, heart aching silence that never used to happen before you joined this stupid team. It seemed that arriving had pushed you and Robin farther apart than ever before. You hated these moments, hated it felt like you knew nothing about one another, like you hadn't nearly died together half a dozen times.
It seemed that your silence in the middle of a mission was louder than these moments.
"Tim?" You asked. He was staring up at your ceiling and you couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on in his head. No matter how close you were, or thought you were, he would always remain a mystery.
"Yeah," he repeated.
What if I moved back to Gotham? What if I asked you to stay there with me? What if I told you everything with Bart was a lie? What if I told you my feelings for you were undeniable? What if the reason I want to hate Cassie is because of you? What if...
"Nevermind." There was no point in dwelling in what if's.
><
Kori always promoted training with teammates. It was a great way to hone in on your skills, and develop a further relationship among your team. Kon was back in Smallville, Beast Boy and Cyborg were off working for their previous leader Nightwing. That left just the four of you - two of which you could barely look at.
You were infuriated with Tim. The entire week he had been brushing you off, ignoring your messages, it was like he was avoiding you completely. To make matters worse, Cassie had been glued to his side the entire time. They didn't part ways for anything it seemed.
Now, you and Bart were fighting against Tim and Cassie. Though the speedster and Amazonian had no issues with each other, it was clear that they knew to stay out of yours and Tim's way during the spar. It seemed that just as you were frustrated with Tim, he was with you.
The clashing of staffs was almost as loud as Bart's cackling as he ran around the training room. Tim didn't hold back, not at all. He wasn't surprised to see you do the same, however, he was shocked to see how much you had improved since your time in Gotham. As good as you were, you could rarely hold your own against him.
You didn't need to see beneath his mask to know that he was angry. It was only a matter of who it was directed at. Bruce, maybe. Dick. Kon. You could only dream that it was Cassie but you knew damn better than that. Likely, you were the one to have done something wrong - which was probably why he was ignoring you.
"If you've got something to say, Robin, you should say it," You gritted out as you narrowly missed the staff swinging your way. It was beyond frustrating fighting with him. Tim was impossible to get a hit laid on him, and he was constantly on the defensive with you - as if he didn't want to hit you or something similar.
"Do you really think now is the best time for conversation?" Tim flipped to miss your swing. As he landed, he knocked your weapon away in a single move, leaving you defenseless against him. The fight, as if it wasn't already, became completely unfair in his advantage. Conversation was the only thing that was going to get your the upper hand.
"Well you refuse to talk to me any other time."
His strikes became harder, faster. You needed to get his staff away from just as he did to you before he landed a hit. Tim cried out as your heel slammed against his hand. The force of it knocked the staff out of his hand and it rolled away in the opposite direction of your own.
Tim nursed his throbbing hand for a moment before raising his fists. "Didn't think you'd notice with how much time you're spending with Bart." He jabbed at you, hitting your forearm instead of his intended target of your face. You could see the two other heroes fighting from the corner of your eye - both of them getting just as frustrated but for completely different reasons.
"You're the one that invited me to this team, Drake," your foot jutted towards his chest. It barely impacted him - even though he was quick, he wasn't quick enough. "It's like the moment we left Gotham you were ready to drop me."
"Is that seriously what you think?" Tim was barely able to dodge your oncoming throws. Punch after punch you had still missed them all. He managed to grab your fist. "You obviously don't realize-"
"You wouldn't know obvious if it punched you in the face!" You exclaimed as you wound your free arm back. Tim was so taken aback that he didn't have time to prepare for the hit. Your knuckles collided with his cheekbone and the force of it had knocked him flat on his ass. A loud thud echoed through the room - enough for Cassie and Bart to stop in their tracks.
Tim's cheek was red from where you had hit him. He didn't look angry with you - it was a spar after all. He looked disappointed, more at himself than you. Was there more to this whole situation than he had originally thought there to be.
Robin, world's second greatest detective - he should have been able to see right through everything. Just as he had asked Cassie to be affectionate when you were around - maybe you just done exactly the same thing with Bart. What kind of mess had he gotten himself into?
You stood above him, hands still in fists. In that moment you made up your mind. Staying in this damn tower was draining you and you couldn’t take it any longer.
"I'm going back to Gotham."
><
"You were right."
Tim caught you packing your bags for your return back to Gotham. To no surprise, he managed to sneak in without you even knowing. You were frozen, hand in your bag after shoving in a handful of clothing at the sound of his voice.
"I don't hear you say that very often," you snarked. He leaned on the edge of your desk, arms crossed over his chest and mask peeled off. He never wore it anymore when the two of you were alone. He trusted you too much not to. Then again, maybe you were just the only one that knew the real him under that mask.
"That's because you rarely are," he chuckled. Now wasn’t the time for his joke. "I'm sorry, for everything. Apparently, I wasn't able to see the truth until it hit me in the face - literally. Bart told me what happened, what you asked him to do. I... I-"
"Asked Cassie to do the same," you cut him off. Tim's mouth parted with shock. How could you have figured it out? Defeated, you sat on the edge of your bed. You felt like a fool for going through with such an elaborate plot to gain his affections. "She just left my room. Don't know whether I'm surprised or disappointed in both of us.
"Great minds think alike, huh?" Tim shook his head. Only a fool would have gone through such a process - and a fool he was. "What were we thinking? You're my best friend (Y/N), I know I can trust you with everything, and yet- and yet I was scared of what you would say."
"We really played ourselves, huh?" You chuckled. Tim pushed himself off your desk to take the seat next to you. He grabbed your hand, pulling it into his own lap and intertwining your fingers. His warmth crawled up your arm and spread across your entire body.
What were you thinking with this stupid plan? More importantly, how did neither of you figure out the truth sooner? Tim felt just as much of an idiot as you did.
He smiled at the sight of your hand in his. He was so caught up in trying to get silly reactions out of you that he forgot the reasoning behind it all. Tim adored you, he wanted you to be his and he should have just told you outright instead of being the scared little boy he once was.
"Come back to Gotham with me? Please?" You asked suddenly. The two of you needed a break away from the team, you needed time to figure out what these past few months were really for. Mostly, you wanted Tim all to yourself, even for just a little while.
"There's a great burger place that I found with Dick one night on Patrol. Ate so many that I could barely move the rest of the night," Tim smiled at the memory. "Go with me? On a date?"
Tim's eyes shone with hope for your answer. After going through this entire mess, he only assumed you would be willing to go on a date with him. You leaned towards him, lips barely brushing against his but aching with anticipation for more. He pressed himself into you, lips molding to yours like he was made for you.
"If it wasn't obvious, I'd love to."
@pricetagofficial @mora-miserium @babymango-writes @redrobin-yumm @simp-is-what-i-am @catsofsmoke @subtleappreciation @officiallydarkgeek @spiitfiires @pinkdiamond1016 @childish-kiwi @givetimdrakeacoffee @gunnedrobin @local-fandom-trashcan @bikoncon @foenixphire
#tim drake#tim drake x reader#tim drake one shot#Tim drake fanficition#tim drake x y/n#tim drake x you#tim drake imagine#red robin#red robin imagine#red robin x reader#red robin x y/n#red robin fanfic#dc one shot#dc imagine#dc#dc comics#dc fanfic#bart allen#cassie sandsmark#kon kent#teen titans
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From Replacement to the Original pt.1
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: Batman - All Media Types
Relationships: Tim Drake & Selina Kyle, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Characters: Tim Drake, Janet Drake, Selina Kyle, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Tim Drake-centric, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake Gets a Hug, Good Parent Selina Kyle, Somewhat good parent Janet Drake, Bruce Wayne is Tim Drake's Biological Parent, Selina Kyle is Tim Drake's Biological Parent, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, Past Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Child Neglect, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Was Robin, Protective Selina Kyle, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe
Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne had just woken up on his once-a-month mandatory rest day when he saw that the Drake Family Lawyer contacted him about a contingency letter left by his mother. Apparently, word of mouth travelled fast that he had come back from his supposed soul-searching trip around his parent’s favorite dig sites.
Mr. Fletcher had asked him when he was free to come get the letter his mother had left for him. Tim had wanted to get out of Gotham as soon as he could so he set up an appointment for that afternoon.
Tim had whipped together a quick breakfast and taken his antibiotics before he spent the rest of the morning finalizing his 2 weeks’ notice since Bruce had been able get back into Wayne Enterprises for the week. It had just been a little over a month since Tim had brought Bruce home from the Time Stream and while Tim had expected things to change, he had hoped it would be for the better.
Bruce hadn’t even blinked at the sight of Damian wearing the Robin suit. Hell, he had congratulated Dick for the way he had managed to keep Gotham and everything in line. Bruce had even found the time to fix up his relationship with Jason before he talked to Tim.
He didn’t even bother to thank Tim for saving his life and for taking over his family business. Instead, they talked business and acted as if nothing was wrong in front of the WE employees. If it wasn’t in business suits, then it was in the other suits when he called in Red Robin to help with a case. Tim hasn’t stepped foot inside the Manor in months.
If this was Bruce’s way of saying he didn’t need Tim anymore, he got the message loud and clear. After all, he was just the replacement, right? The pretender who forced his way into their lives and refused to go peacefully so he had to be kicked out. Well, here he was, bowing out silently out of their lives.
Tim had planned meticulously for how he would be able to leave without them noticing. In a week, he would submit his 2 weeks’ notice to Lucius Fox before heading on business trip to Japan to finalize a deal. He would be spending the next week there before heading to Austria for another week for another business deal. After, he would simply go wherever he wanted to go.
He preprogrammed a message to be sent to each of the Bats, as a farewell of sorts because even if they didn’t think of him as family, he still loved them as if they were his family. He had even prepared a message for the Titans in case they would ever need him again. They were the only ones Tim trusted enough to keep in contact with. Everyone else, even Alfred would have to be left behind.
Tim viciously pushed these thoughts to the side as he decided to enjoy a quick lunch before he made his way to talk to Mr. Fletcher. As he mindlessly prepped ingredients for a simple salad (because his immunity was shot so he needed all the help he could get), he wondered what would be in the letter.
His mother was not the touchy-feely type. She wouldn’t put something about them loving him. Most likely, it would be business instructions to ensure that Drake Industries would still be the empire that it had been under his mom’s command. Unfortunately for his mom, his dad had been the one to wreck the empire.
Tim had thought about reviving Drake Industries but had ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it. The amount of time that went into running a business wasn’t conducive to being a teenage vigilante and Tim wanted to be free to pursue the things he wanted in life. He had more than enough money to live off on and he had invested his money wisely so it had been turning a profit since he had left Gotham the first time.
Even if he continued his vigilantism, he had more than enough money to support himself. He didn’t need their help anymore, just like they don’t need him anymore. As he started cooking his breakfast, he marveled at how he had gotten to this point of independence from the Bats.
Ever since he came back with Bruce in tow, the rest of the Bats didn’t even bother to contact him unless it was for patrol or for a case. Oracle only kept in contact for business. Dick basically ignored their issues and tried to pretend they didn’t exist. Damian liked to act as if he didn’t exist. Jason was, oddly enough, the only one he could stand even if they did only work together for cases. Cass was still in Hong Kong.
If he was being honest with himself, Tim desperately missed being home at the Manor but after everything happened, it was clear that the Manor was no longer his home. Home used to be with the Bats and occasionally, with the Titans. Now, Tim would have to find a new home for himself, hopefully away from Gotham and the Bats.
Tim ate his salad mindlessly while he let his mind wander on his active cases. He would need to tie up his loose ends before he left without the bats taking notice. He popped his next dose of antibiotics into his mouth after and finally decided that he’s wasted enough time to start getting ready for the appointment.
After a quick shower and change of clothes, Timothy Drake-Wayne was ready and presentable to the public again. Tim debated bringing his motorcycle but the address of the office was only a couple of blocks from his apartment and he could use the walk to clear his head and get some fresh air.
As he left his penthouse, Tim’s mind debated again about what his mother could have possibly written about. His inheritance had already been secured since he was born so it couldn’t be that. The business had already sunken and drowned under the guidance of his father. It didn’t make any sense for Janet Drake to write a contingency letter and yet, here it was.
Tim didn’t know why but every step felt like it was weighed down with lead and his stomach dropped as he got closer and closer. By the time he was at the office, Tim’s mind was buzzing about theories as to what could have been so important for him to know that his mother, famed Iron Dragon of Gotham wrote a letter just in case she died.
Mr. Fletcher must have been eagerly awaiting him by the looks of it since Tim had scarcely knocked on the office doors before it was opened. It’s been a while since Tim had seen Mr. Fletcher given that he had retired before the Drakes passed.
“Timothy, you’re early!”
“Mother taught me that it was better to be early than to waste other’s time. It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Fletcher.”
“That does sound like something Janet would preach. I wished we’d met again under more ideal circumstances but you’ve grown into a fine young man. Your parents would be proud.”
“Thank you. Your email mentioned a letter from Mother?”
“Ah yes! As you know, ever since my son took over my position at the firm, I had relinquished all of my active duties to him but this was more of a request made by your mother to me as a confidant and friend. Jacob, my son had been cleaning out my office a few days ago when he found the envelope. He contacted me immediately about it and I remembered what it was about. I made the trip out here because I had to give it to you before I forgot again. I owe your mother that much.”
“What do you mean, Mr. Fletcher?”
“I think it’s best for you to read it, Timothy. I already know what it contains but I’m here to answer any of your additional questions.”
This suddenly seemed like a much bigger deal than Tim originally thought it would be, especially since Mr. Fletcher had left his retirement in Metropolis to give this to him in person. With bated breath, Tim opened the sealed envelope and began to read.
~~~
Dearest Timothy,
If you are reading this, then there are two possible options. Either I have passed on before your 18th birthday or I was too much of a coward to talk to you about this in person and I gave you this letter instead. As I write this, your father is asleep, holding you after a nightmare from today’s ordeal at the circus. I have tried to sleep but my mind will not be quieted about the possibility of that happening to us before I could tell you the truth so I decided to make this contingency letter just in case. By the time
you’re reading this, you will have grown into an intelligent young man who I know is capable of so much more than Jack and I could have ever dreamed of, partially because you are more than Jack and I could ever produce.
Timothy, you are not our biological son. I had gotten pregnant but the child I had borne was stillborn. Jackson Timothy Drake hadn’t been able to take his first breath before it was taken away. Luckily for me, your father was out of town on business and I rushed to Gotham General against my earlier wishes and they had stuck me in a room with another woman who had given birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy, you.
You were both born on the same day, in the same room, with different fates. Your mother was a young woman from the seedier side of Gotham and your father was out of the picture, or so she said. She was planning to give you up for adoption anyway and so I made the only impulsive decision I have ever made since marrying Jack and I told her to give you to me. I told her I would give you the life of luxury you deserved and that you would never want for anything if she gave you to me. She agreed on one condition: I tell you the truth about your parentage on your 18th birthday so that she could have the opportunity to get to know you too.
She didn’t even let me pay for her hospital bills because she didn’t want to be indebt to me even though I was forever indebted to her for giving me you. I had John rush over to Gotham General and make a contract for both of us because I could not allow Jack and the rest of Gotham High Society to find out about this. The only ones who knew about you being adopted were me, John, your mother and the medical staff who helped us. Since Gotham General was severely underfunded prior to my intervention, it was easy to get them to change the records to make Timothy Jackson Drake be born and for Jackson Timothy Drake to disappear. I had gotten the staff involved to sign NDAs and to make sure that none of this got out.
As I write this, I have seen you grow into this absolutely marvelous and intelligent child, talented in ways I could have never expected. It is bittersweet for me because as I see you grow, I cannot help but think of what my biological son could have been had he survived. Would he be as smart and as capable as you? Would he be different compared to you? Would I have taken you in had he survived? I have never regretted my decision to adopt you but I could not stand to watch you grow when I know my biological son never will. I know I will most likely grow to be distant from you and I already regret it but I cannot stop myself from seeing my dead son in you.
However, I can already tell you will be stronger than I ever could be. You take to your lessons like a duck to water and you see a magic in the world that I could never see. I want you to know that even if you are not mine biologically, I still love you even if I cannot show it. I love you even if you cannot feel it. I love you but I also love the son that I lost and I cannot help but mourn for him while I watch you grow. Your father does not know so his love is genuine and pure for you.
I want you to know this, Timothy. I took you in on an impulsive decision but I have never regretted it. Sure, I wish with all of my heart and mind that my son had survived but I was able to have you and you more than made up for it. I know that this does not excuse my future actions, my possible neglect of you but I hope you understand why I cannot bear to be close to you. I love you even if I do not show it. I love you even if you cannot see it. I love you and I hope you can forgive me for not telling you sooner.
Love,
Mother
~~~
Of all of the possibilities Tim had considered, this was not one of them. This explained so much but also left so many questions but the only thought passing through his head was the fact that, even at birth, he was a replacement.
“I assume you have questions?”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, to be honest. You’ve known the entire time?”
“Yes. I was the one who made the contract for your mother and she swore me to secrecy.”
“So, let me get this straight. I was just a replacement for her son who died?”
“No! Of course not. Timothy, I know it must not have seemed like it but your mother and father truly did love you as if you were their own. Your mother has some leftover problems from her childhood that negatively impacted her ability to show her love even if she does. She would have never bothered to put in the effort otherwise.”
“I’m trying to believe that but my recollection of Mother is not that different from the Iron Dragon of Gotham.”
“That’s because she fought to give you the best education and care possible which she knew was not her own. That’s why she constantly changed your nannies and tutors because as soon as she felt they inadequate for you, she was searching for the next best thing for you. Janet didn’t really care in the normal ways, Timothy. I know it’s hard to see but she really did love you and take care of you in her own way.”
“I just. I never expected this.”
“I knew this day would come but I was honestly hoping your mother would be here to explain her side of the story before she told you who your birth mother was.”
“Do-do you know who my birth mother is?”
“It’s not written in the letter?” Mr. Fletcher seemed genuinely surprised at this.
“No. Mother didn’t include her name, just a vague description of her. Can you tell me who my mother is?”
“I guess by the time Janet wrote it, she had forgotten the name. I think I have the contract hidden here. Let me look for it.”
What followed was the tensest five minutes of Tim’s life. He didn’t even know if his biological mother was still alive but he wanted to find out. After all, his birth mother had wanted to reconnect when he was older. Maybe, she wanted to have him in her life, just like Mo-Janet had apparently wanted him in her life.
Maybe, she would be there with welcoming arms. Maybe, she was one of the many civilian casualties of their nighttime escapades. Maybe, she had gotten lost in the seedier side of Gotham and she had never been able to make it out. There were so many maybes that Tim wanted to figure out what was true and what wasn’t.
“Aha! Here it is. According to this, your birth mother is Selina Kyle.”
Holy shit. His mother was fucking Catwoman.
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Finding Us chapter 23
At last I have managed to sort out this latest chapter, and I am now presenting it to you fine readers! I hope you guys enjoy it! This one's featuring Jason and a round table "Ah ha!" kind of moment.
AO3 Link
~
“Are you planning to stay there all day?” Bruce asked, as Jason dropped a sky blue pencil and replaced it with a green one.
Jason looked up from his place on the training mats and grinned at his dad, “Yep.” he answered, popping the ‘P’, “I did ask you if you wanted to join, and you said you were busy.”
Currently, he was laying across the training mats on his stomach. His new coloring book thanks to Cass and Tim was splayed out in front of him. He’d filled in random parts of a page as he picked and chose colors in a dance of chaos he was sure would have Damian’s hair on end if the kid had been watching him.
He was doing his best not to get kicked out. But from Bruce’s tone, and almost constant swivel between Jason and the computer’s loading screen Jason figured his luck was running thin. So far though, Jason had been immune to Bruce’s ability to shoo every other one of his children out of the cave.
They had a truce and a tiny part of Jason’s mind was interested in seeing how far he could push his dad’s patience. Another part of him --the part that had brought him downstairs in the first place-- just wanted to make sure Bruce wasn’t pushing himself too hard. There was really no reason for B to have planted himself in front of the computer other than because he was punishing himself. For missing the signs Tim was being stalked, for just not keeping a close enough eye on his sons, or for a hundred other things Jason could think of.
“You are still welcome to color in a picture of a teddy bear, or a swear word that has all the important letters turned into symbols, which really? Is a waste of a perfectly good swear word.”
Bruce snorted. Jason counted that as a win.
Jason shifted a bit, and pushed himself a little higher on his elbows watching Bruce, “You know, sitting there won’t change the wait time the computer gave you.”
“I’m working.”
“On what?”
Bruce grunted and shrugged his shoulders at the computer. The message was clear: Stuff. Things. Batman related work.
Jason rolled his eyes and threw his green colored pencil at his dad. It clattered to the ground about halfway between them. He hadn’t expected it to land, and really didn’t know why he’d thrown it in the first place.
“Jason.” Bruce’s tone was long-suffering. A father pushed almost to his limit.
“ Dad .” Jason said, pushing a little further.
This, at last, got Bruce to look over at him. Jason wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the way Bruce looked at him when he called him Dad now. When he’d been a kid Bruce would look warm, happy, kind of like Jason felt whenever Damian or Tim decided to lean on him.
Now, he looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights. Like he still couldn’t believe he’d heard that word from Jason. Like he’d just found his son again. And honestly? Jason didn’t blame him for the surprise. He hadn’t been sure they’d ever get here either. But after their talk in the study Jason was trying it out more and more. And it felt good. Right. Like home.
The surprise faded after a moment as Bruce’s face softened, letting in that breath of warmth he’d used to have.
“Join me, and let the computer do its job. No one will blame you for moving a few feet away for half an hour. No one blames you for missing what Timbo was so obviously trying to hide.”
“I am not going to lay on the floor.”
Jason grinned, “I’d be happy to move to a table.”
He shifted the coloring supplies to one of the work tables, his elbows and knees grateful for the reprieve from laying on the floor. Jason shoved the fallen green pencil in Bruce’s hand and left his dad to start working on a page of his choice while he made some tea on the cave’s little stove. No need to call Alfred down for something they had all the supplies for down here.
Bruce’s shoulders had just started to relax when the computer beeped indicating it was done running whatever program Bruce had set it to work on. The next instant, B was up from the table, pencil clattering onto the forgotten book and striding over to the computer.
Jason was a few steps behind him, his stomach churning. On the screen, Bruce had pulled up an image of a man who looked remarkably like Damian’s sketch. The kid was really good. As Jason took in the man’s face, his fists curled. The stalker or not, this guy was at the very least in cahoots with the person bothering Tim, and for that Jason wanted to take him down a peg or two.
“Get the others.” Bruce said, “I’m pulling up known associates now.”
Bruce didn’t have to tell Jason twice. He spun on his heel and made his way back up to the manor. He caught Dick hovering by the entrance and sent him down straight away. Then found Cass and Steph with Alfred playing cards. It took him longer to find Tim and Damian. He’d assumed both would be brooding in their rooms and came up short when he didn’t find either of them there.
Tim’s laptop was gone from his room, and so Jason assumed the kid would have probably moved to work on it somewhere else in the house. He went for the library first and cheered internally at his good luck. Both boys were together.
“Hey Short Stacks, we figured out who Dames met earlier. B wants everyone downstairs.”
Both boys looked at each other and then back at Jason, nodding.
“Excellent. It seems everything is beginning to coalesce.” Damian said, standing.
Tim looked at his laptop for a long moment, as if trying to decide if he wanted to take it or leave it. He settled on leaving it, and soon followed Damian around the desk.
“Did he say who it was?” he asked.
Jason herded them out the door, “I didn’t memorize the guy’s name. Besides, B had already moved on to looking up his partners. Hopefully you’ll spot someone you know.”
He paused and added, “Not that I’m hoping it’s a friend of yours or anything--you know what I mean.”
His brother waved off his concern, “I get it. We’ll find him a lot faster if I can give one of the associates an I.D.”
When the three of them made it down to the cave, they walked into a room full of chatter. Someone had dragged a few chairs over to rest by the computer. Alfred was planted in one, with Steph in another. Cass was perched on the desk by the computer, and Dick was leaned against Bruce’s chair. The big man himself hadn’t seemed to have moved from where Jason had left him.
Tim crowded up next to Dick, with Jason following close behind. He noted that Damian was hanging back just a bit. Probably because he’d already seen the guy in the flesh.
“Alright, we’re all here. Spill the beans, B-man.” Jason said.
Bruce grunted, but then after a moment he began to speak, “The man Damian met is named Mark Sherman. He’s got a criminal record, mostly for low level stuff, no stalking or kidnapping on his sheet though.”
After a few clicks the man's image was back up on the computer for everyone to see. Below his name, Jason could read his basic criminal history, and some general information about him like his age and height. He didn't seem like the worst that could come out of Gotham. Definitely someone who would hand over a creepy letter for enough money though.
“That is the man I saw.” Damian confirmed, with a sharp nod.
Bruce clicked something else on the computer. “Here’s the list of his known associates. I’ve narrowed it down to the most likely suspects. Tim, or any of you, let me know if they seem familiar.”
Jason watched carefully as six men and women’s images showed up on the screen. After less than a minute Dick, Tim, and Stephanie all three pointed at one of the men on the screen.
“Harry Ferst.” Dick said.
“But wait, he currently works for Wayne Enterprises.” Stephanie said, finger shifting down to aim at the information listed under his name, “What’s he got against Tim?”
All eyes turned to their second youngest.
“It might not be him?” Tim shrugged, “He could be another guy working with--” he sighed, “It’s probably him, but I can’t remember why he’d be so mad at me he’d stalk and threaten me.”
“Think harder, then.” Damian snapped, “You must have done something to incur his wrath.”
“Like I did something to incur yours when you arrived?” Tim shot back.
Jason expected Damian to return another volley, instead his mouth shut and he crossed his arms. He turned to glare at the computer screen.
“What does the man’s reason even matter? He is worth checking out at the very least. If he is not Drake’s stalker then he may be another lead.”
Tim snapped his fingers, “That’s it! He was up for promotion, back when Bruce was lost in the timestream. Except I was taking over certain things back then and more than one application was denied in all the restructuring. If he feels like his work doesn’t matter, and sees it as my fault--”
“That could be the source of his anger.” Jason nodded, “Especially if he was banking on that promotion or if he’s been passed up even more times after that.”
It made sense, Bruce had been the source of the same type of anger often enough, Lucius Fox too, and really anyone with any high ranking at the company. Tim mixing things up while Bruce had been gone was totally enough to put a target on him, one that would flare up into blame if something else incited Harry’s anger.
Bruce nodded, “I agree.”
Jason blinked, having almost forgotten the man was there. Bruce had let them sort it out together, which was nice. And looking at him now, Jason knew the man had already figured out the same things they had, but he was proud all the same. That stupid quirk of his mouth proved just that.
“So, who gets to go after him?” Jason asked.
“I--” Tim spoke up only to be interrupted by Bruce.
“You are staying home.”
Tim glowered at him and crossed his arms, “I’d like to go after the guy who’s been stalking me.”
“And we’d like you to stay safe.” Dick pointed out.
“I’ll be Red Robin!” Tim argued, “He’s not going to see me and go ‘Oh look Tim Drake my arch nemesis who’s also apparently a super hero!”
Jason snorted and crossed his arms, “I think we all want a piece of the guy who's been stalking one of our own. Unfortunately, he’s not exactly the type that really needs the whole family to take him down. I think our energies are best spread out.”
“Jason’s right.” Bruce said.
“Oh?” Jason perked up, “Are the cameras recording this because a miracle has occurred!”
Bruce ignored him and continued, “Dick and I are going to take care of Ferst. Jason you’ll be back up in case we need you, but until then I want you back on reconnecting with your Alkali contacts. Girls, I’d like you patrolling close in the area. Damian--”
“I will stay behind.” Damian said.
Jason dropped his arms, “What?”
There had to be some trick to it. Damian didn’t just stay behind. Ever.
The kid rolled his eyes, “You wish someone to keep an eye on Drake correct? He will stay because he does not wish to face Father’s wrath if I am caught sneaking out and I will stay because I do not wish the same if he is.”
The room was staring at Damian now.
“What?” he glared, “I am not an idiot. I know the way this family works, and I know my own tendencies. It was the obvious decision.”
Jason laughed, “Kid’s got a point.”
“Fine.” Tim declared, “You all win. Damian and I will stay here and be useless .”
“You’re not going to be useless,” Bruce said, sounding tired, “Barbara told me you’d been working on decrypting Alkali files. I want you to keep working on that.”
“You have been spearheading that part of the project.” Dick pointed out, “It’d be a shame if someone else figured it out before you did.”
Tim and Damian looked at each other. It was a brief glance, one that neither seemed to realize they’d even done. Jason frowned, cataloging it with their weird reluctance from earlier. Something felt off about it, but he couldn't quite place what it was.
Then Tim was shrugging, “You all will let me know the moment you’ve got the guy right?”
“Of course.” Dick nodded.
“Right then.” Tim said, “Let’s all get to it.”
#finding us#jason todd#chapter 23#precious posts#this chapter feels a little short#but it's a good bridge chapter#and hey at least it's not two pages like the chapters in a book I read reccently#fanfiction
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Marinette: Blood Of Steel
Another Quick one-shot. It’s Marinette in the world of Young Justice. I loved Young Justice. Connor was my favorite. And I thought what the hell
Marinette had always known she was adopted. Mostly because she wasn’t born. She was created in a laboratory with a boy she would later call her brother. But unlike him, Marinette was a mistake. She was near perfect, but that wasn’t enough.
She was meant to be a clone of Superman. Someone to seemingly replace the man of steel without anyone noticing. She couldn’t do that obviously being female.
Gina, a woman she now called her grandmother, was a scientist on Project Kr. She had given the tasks to destroy the clone. Marinette had been biologically she was 10 weeks old, physically she had was she was ten-years-old. Gina couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill a little child, no matter who’s DNA laid her blood. Not that she had a problem with Superman, having just been in it for the love of science.
So she fakes the clone’s death and stole her away. She gave it her son and daughter-in-law who had been struggling for a child for nearly a decade. Gina made them promise to avoid anything related to Lex Luther, as he was the main benefactor of Cadmus and the source of the baby girl’s human DNA. She warned them of the powers the girl might develop and to keep them of the down-low.
Tom and Sabine Clara Marinette Dupin-Cheng, after the known name of the alien superhero Kal-El. They called her Marinette for safety.
When Marinette was eleven-years-old, physically, she met her brother; Superboy. He had found her. Marinette thought that it was because technically, they were twins; that he could sense in the same way she could sense him. She had known the moment he had been broken out of Cadmus. She didn’t know how but she did know.
They had met on the rooftop of the bakery. He was had been at Cadmus longer and was sixteen. He had looked confused, lost, and hurt.
“Connor,” He said gruffly, eyeing the small girl.
“Clara,” She introduced herself back, deciding then and there, that unlike everyone else in her life, he would be allowed to call her that.
Marinette took him by the hand and led him to the living room. She gave him cookies and milk and watched TV together until they had both been lulled into a sense of security.
Then Marinette told him how she came to live in France and all about her life. Connor told her he had always been awake for a few months and just gotten a name. They talked for hours.
Much like Connor, Marinette’s powers were limited. Marinette could fly and had laser vision. Connor had super strength, superhearing, and infrared vision. They both had super healing and invulnerability. Neither had the superspeed or any other powers Superman possessed.
Connor ended up staying with the small family for a few weeks; having been more welcomed there than he’d been anywhere in his entire life. Tom had shown him how to bake pies. (Connor loved pies). Sabine took him shopping. Marinette taught him video games, and reminded him every day that she was his sister, he was her brother, and they were family. It was nice. It was easy. He wished it could last forever. But nothing good in his life seemed to.
One day, Connor heard him, Superman, flying over Paris, speaking with Watchtower, about finding him.
With a sigh, Connor told his little sister had to go. He decided he wouldn’t reveal Clara's existence without her permission so he found himself in the desolate area and called her the Man of Steel.
Superman landed in front of him with a disappointed look on his face, “We were worried.” Then he was blasted thirty feet back into the trees. When Kal-El looked up, he saw a little dark-haired girl, in a red superman shirt, with glowing red eyes.
She had followed Connor to meet Superman.
She floated above him, “You should be worried,” She hissed at him. The red slowly faded from her eyes leaving startling blue orbs, identical to the boy standing next to her, like Superman’s own. “My name is Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You were mean to my brother. You were negligent. You were a bad dad. And if you keep it up, I’ll be the one to end you. Not Connor.”
The laughter of Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Black Canary, from where they watched from the Watchtower, filled Superman’s earpiece.
Marinette landed in front of Connor, and stood protectively in front of him, with her arms on her hips. “Do better,” She orders Superman. “Be better.”
Superman stood up and eyed the clones… No!
His children; his son who, Clark now knew after reviewing video of his clone’s time with the young justice team, had inherited his sunny disposition, and his daughter, who radiated righteous fury that she got from the Superhero.
“I’m… sorry,” Clark blurted.
Connor blinked in surprise. Marinette just nodded stiffly, “I don’t care if you don’t want to be apart of our lives. But you will not treat us like monsters.”
A long conversation later, and peace was made between the three. Clark was brought to meant Marinette’s parents, who were quick to chastise the hero and make the offer of letting Connor live with them.
But Clark had already decided before he flew to France that Connor would live with him. He would have liked Clara or Marinette, as she was called, to live with him too but he wouldn’t take her away from her family.
Instead, plans were made for the young girl to train every weekend with Clark and Connor, as a family.
A few weekends later, Clara was introduced to the Kents who marveled at their new granddaughter.
The next year, Marinette spent the entire summer split between Metropolis and Smallville. Clark also took her and Connor to the fortress of solitude where the two children were given their Kryptonian names.
Connor Kent was called Kon-El.
Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng was called Klara El.
Unfortunately during this time, Lex Luthor had paid special attention to his old friend, and on and of again nemesis. He knew who Connor was, and had for quite some time. Lex had always known and would always know where his son was.
However, the sight of a dark-haired, blue-eyed girl in a red superman shirt flying with Superman brought up a few questions for him.
It didn’t take long for Lex to uncover the seemingly failed female clone of Superman; all evidence said the experiment had been destroyed.
As Lex stared at the picture had of Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a Parisian girl who just turned thirteen, dressed in pink with the same blue eyes and dark hair of his rival, he knew that the data was wrong.
Less than forty-eight hours later, the bald man walked into the French bakery. Cool blue eyes man green, as Marinette eyed her… other father suspiciously from where she stood behind the counter.
Luckily the bakery was having a slow day, and it was empty.
“I come in peace, Clara,” Lex smiled. “I mean you no harm. There’s no reason to worry. Or alert the big man in blue or the league. I have a talk with my daughter.”
A slow smirk spread across Marinette’s face. It reminded Lex so much of his own that he briefly wondered if the backup he’d brought just in case would be enough.
“Oh,” Marinette practically sang as her eyes narrowed in a challenge. She wouldn’t use her powers against him. She was smarter than that. She’d gotten Lex’s intelligence, after all. And she knew things that the Light, LexCorp, and Cadmus had done their best to hide. Lex came into the bakery thinking he had the upper hand and would get whatever he wanted with just a bit of blackmail. But as far as Marinette was concerned this was a business meeting and negotiations were just about to start. “I’m not the one who should be worried.”
She was clearly the daughter of the Man of Steel. However, by the end of that day, no one would ever forget, she was Lex Luthor’s little girl too.
#ml fic#Young Justice#clark kent#Superman#lex luthor#Marienette Dupain Cheng#marinette dupen chang#Marinette deserves better#connor kent#superboy
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Fallen Bird
Make the World Bleed Chapter 1: Fallen Bird
Fandom: DC Comics/Red Robin/Batman/Young Justice
Pairings/Characters: Conner/Tim/Jason, Bruce/Clark/Diana, Core Four, Cassandra & Tim, Dick & Tim, Dick & Damian, Bruce & Tim, Tim & his Assassin Trio
Summary: The Core Four have a bond that will never break, will never fade. When one of their own is hurt by someone who should be family to them the other three respond in force. When Tim's line is cut and he is seriously injured Conner, Bart and Cassie are ready to declare war against anyone who stands in their way of helping Tim, even if that means making a devil with the Devil himself, Ra's Al Ghul.
Author Notes: Written for the @badthingshappenbingo my prompt: falling from great heights. I love stories that deal with Damian cutting Tim’s grappling line and the fallout and aftermath that and my love of the Core Four turning into their dark selves this because one of their own is injured by someone is supposed to be family.
You can also read it on AO3
There were few things Tim Drake loved more than flying through the Gotham night sky as Robin and even though he was no longer Robin, something that still left a deep ache he refused to let the loss of Robin take away his wings and he was finally finding his place soaring as Red Robin.
Gotham was once a place that Tim called home. Once he thought he had found a family but the feeling of home and family were nothing but seemed in the distant past.
No longer could he call Wayne Manor or the Penthouse home. Nor could he call the other Bat's family.
He had realized that the hard way that he no longer belonged or he had never really been a part of the Wayne family.
Tim could feel himself on the edge there was only so much more he could take from Damian, only his team, Cassandra and surprisingly Helena saw how much the abuse was getting to him and the fact that he was just to turn the other cheek was slowly breaking him.
None of them could understand why the adults in Damian's life never once thought to take him aside and explain why he can't treat Tim the way he does. Not one of them set bounders for him. They reprimanded Tim because as the older of the two he should know better. And it was getting to the point that even Raven and Gar, who Tim didn't want them to get involved due to their strong bond with Dick, were reaching their breaking point. Several times they had to stop Raven from tossing the Bat-family into a hell dimension in their underwear.
Helena, Conner and Bart had been all for that idea and it was only because Tim begged her not to did Raven back down.
"If they keep placing the blame on you for Damian's actions I will do it," Raven warned, her normally warm eyes blazing with rage. Raven's vow whispered through Tim's mind.
No, shoving those thoughts to the back of his head Tim lost himself in something he loved.
Tim loved flying between the buildings it was one of his favourite things as a hero. His grapple line gave him a sense of freedom.
Freedom from the tension in the cave.
Freedom from the feeling that he didn't belong in the cave.
Freedom that he had lost a second family.
Then he heard it, something that shouldn't be happening not with a Bat-approved grapple the snapping of his line.
Tim only had seconds to hear the snap before he was falling. "Conner!" He knew that he could count on him, his best friend who kept his promise that he would always be listening to his heartbeat.
But deep in his heart, he knew that it was going to be too late. 'Please Conner don't blame yourself.' Tim pleaded before darkness claimed him.
The pure terror in Tim's voice will haunt Conner 'Kon' Kent for the rest of his days as will his guilt for being a second too late in catching Tim. Looking at the broken boy of his best friend Conner felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.
Pressing his comm to the rest of the Titans, "Guys you need to get to Gotham." Conner didn't care that his voice wobbled there was no way that he could stay strong or even pretend that everything was alright, nothing would be alright after this.
"Dude, what is wrong Conner? You are scaring me here." Bart's worried voice came over the line. It wasn't often that Conner would suggest that they break Batman's no meta in Gotham's rule. There was only one reason he would do so.
Bart's worse fears were confirmed when Conner whispered, "It's Tim, he's hurt badly."
Only the movement of his hair alerted Conner to Bart's arrival.
"Oh god." Bart felt like he was going to be sick at the sight he arrived at, he and the others had always been protective over Tim as he was the only human on their team but the one time he truly needed them and they failed him.
"I'm going to kill whoever did this." Bart snarled out, Tim was family and he would do everything in his power to keep those he loves safe.
"First we need to get Tim's help." Whoever did this will pay but getting Tim's aid comes first.
+******+
It was no secret among the Bat-family that there was a rivalry between the two youngest sons Timothy Drake-Wayne and Damian Wayne.
Richard "Dick" Grayson had hoped that they would grow out of it, he couldn't understand why Tim couldn't see that as being Damian's older brother he was to not let Damian's words get to him. Damian had come from the League of Assassins and his abusive upbringing was all he knew. Of course, he was going to lash out and Tim to Damian was an easy target.
Tonight Tim had let Damian get to him once again and stormed out of the cave, Dick only hoped that when he returned he was willing to apologize to Damian.
Jason Todd was fighting the urge to slam some heads together and at the top of his list is Dickie and the smug brat Damian. He had heard from Cass and Helena that things were pretty bad when it came to Tim and Damian and how Damian was allowed to get away with everything while Tim took the blame.
Yeah, he had tried to kill the kid, something that Jason hasn't forgiven himself for. He had allowed Talia to twist him up and he took it out on the one person who didn't deserve his rage. Tim might have forgiven him but he did and Dick sure as hell didn't. So he couldn't understand why Dick was allowing the demon brat to emotionally, verbally and physically abuse Tim and stay silent when he saw it first hand or got angry when Tim defended himself.
'For someone who claims to love family, he sure has proven that he can only love one brother at a time.' Jason felt for Tim. He was trying to be there for Tim but it was a work in progress.
It just baffled him and pissed him off that Bruce, Dick, Alfred, Stephanie and Barbara never once questioned why they allowed Damian to get away with treating Tim like he was trash. Why they never spoke up when Damian time after time told Tim that he wasn't wanted, that he wasn't part of the family. Why Damian sought to kill Tim and only Tim. Jason just hoped that they would wake up before it was too late.
It turned out it was too late.
For all of his skills, Damian found he couldn't move as the speedster kept him pinned to the wall, one hand wrapped around his throat the other vibrating right above his heart, "One wrong move and I vibrate my hand through your chest and into your heart." Bart Allen hissed, his happy-go-lucky personality replaced by a hardened man with no mercy left.
Damian refused to show any fear for that was a sign of weakness and he was anything but weak.
No help was coming as Cassie Sandsmark had Stephanie wrapped up in her lasso, she looked every inch of the Amazonian warrior she is.
Richard had his hands full with an enraged Superboy who was out for pure blood and Raven along with Huntress were keeping his father and Todd busy.
'I always knew that she was not to be trusted.' Damian thought bitterly at the betrayal from someone that was supposed to be one of their own. "I have no idea what you want but I suggest that you let me go and vacate the cave as well as Gotham and I might not seek revenge."
Bart's eyes burned with untamed rage, "Of course you would threaten violence for all the claims that you have changed you still fall back on old habits and isn't hurting Tim tonight enough for you? Or do you wish to stain your hands with blood some more?" Bart hissed at him.
Dick who was close enough to hear was confused, "What happened to Timmy?"
"Don't act like you don't know! You let this happen!" Conner snarled as he felt his eyes heating up and oh how he wanted nothing more than to unleash his heat beam on those who had harmed his Tim.
"Conner, I need you to calm down. I'm sure that Damian didn't mean for this to happen." Dick pleaded he needed to make Conner as well as himself believe that was true that Damian hadn't meant to hurt Tim. "I'm sure if we could talk to Tim we can clear this all up."
"Lies!" Conner hissed out, "This isn't the first time that little demon has tried to kill Tim and because he was never told by you Bruce or Alfred that killing Tim was wrong he found it acceptable and kept trying and now he has succeeded in seriously harming Tim. You are to blame as much as he is because you never took the time to explain that Tim is very much as a family as he is and Tim has the right to feel safe in his own home! Tim is fighting for his life right now because none of you had the balls to tell that demon spawn that killing is wrong!"
Damian froze a flicker of fear as Conner's words vibrated around the cave and all moment stopped.
Dick was sure that for a second his heart had stopped beating, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that Tim screamed my name as he fell knowing that I would always be listening for him if he needed me. I found my best friend's broken body laying on the ground. Bart found the cut zip line and Helena got Vic to look at the footage and what he found proved all of our fears Damian cut Tim's line, he fell because of him!"
Cassandra Cain was torn, she loved her family but Tim, Tim was special he was her little brother, her little bird, the one who never gave up on her and the first one to trust her.
"Hurt brother. Cannot forgive. Cannot trust. " It hurt Cass to say those words but she knew deep in her heart it was true.
Nodding his head Jason crossed his arms over his chest, "I agree with princess here. I knew this family was messed up but hell letting me then the demon spawn tries and kill replacement without consciences is a new low. At least I did my best to make amends with Timmy, and for some reason, he found it in his heart to forgive me."
"You were his big brother, the first one to believe in him and you turned your back on him." It was Helena's words that cut Dick to the core.
"Don't bother looking for Tim, he is somewhere safe and you will never see him again," Conner growled. Bart and Cassie stood united with him. They had once seen a future where they turned dark, where they crossed lines and for Tim, they were willing to do that now.
If it meant taking on Batman, his family and the whole Justice League they would do so in a heartbeat to keep Tim safe.
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The Golden Rules (from the Golden Boy Himself)
Summary: Dick tries to teach Tim how to be a good brother (as well as a semi-normal human) through love and affection
Dick had called an emergency meeting of Robins, which meant that it was just him and Tim sitting in the living room with a tray of Alfred’s cookies.
“Tim, we need to talk,” Dick was surprisingly serious, which was not comforting coming from the person who never learned to be serious outside of his masked life. Tim knew that something bad must have happened. What had he done this time? Was he going to get kicked out of the Robin mantle?
Dick looked at him, and frowned, “Tim we have a problem.” Oh no, he knew it. He was getting kicked out of the mantle and he didn’t even know what he did. “You are way too serious.” Wait… what? Tim glanced at Dick trying to puzzle out what he heard. Surely he must have heard wrong.
“Tim, you are like what? Ten?”
“Twelve,” Tim said indignantly.
Dick plowed right through like he hadn’t heard. “No ten year old should be as serious or reserved as you. It’s not healthy.”
Sooo…. Tim wasn’t getting kicked out? This was only an intervention! He couldn’t believe that Dick would call an emergency meeting to tell him that he needed to be less serious.
“So, I thought that I will teach you how to be less serious.” Because he was the perfect example of less serious of course. Still out of respect for Dick and not wanting to hurt his feelings, Tim stayed.
“Great! Now, lesson number is one everyone always needs a hug. You can never give too many hugs.”
Tim frowned at Dick. He knew that Boy Wonder was much more knowledgeable in the area of physical contact, but he clearly remembered Batman’s face last time Dick tried to hug him. “Are you sure about this? Bruce never seems to like it when you hug him.”
Dick pouted at Tim. “Tim… you don’t trust me?”
And there were those stupid puppy dog eyes. Why did Dick always pull those puppy dog eyes on him? Any why did they work every single time? Tim sighed, and Dick gave a gleeful squeal and hugged Tim as if to prove his point.
After few weeks of not so subtly drilling this lesson into Tim’s head, Dick watched from a distance as after a long patrol, a exhausted Tim Drake shuffled over to where Batman was sitting in the cave and gave him a hug that might have been more of a collapse than a hug, but still, it was progress.
The first time Tim had tried Dick’s advice, Dick remembered watching Bruce stiffen like a board under the tiny boy’s embrace. It took a week and much encouragement from Dick for Tim to try it again. Dick might or might not have given many lectures to an emotionally constipated bat behind the scenes, but Tim did try again, and this time Batman did not stiffen. From then on it was smoother sailing. And Tim had begun hugging people on a much regular basis. Now even the emotionally constipated bat was getting use to the idea that it was not only Dick that gave hugs and that maybe normal people hugged each other more than just on their birthdays.
Now that stage one was completed, Dick decided that it was time to move on to step two.
Tim sighed as Dick called another emergency meeting. He wondered if this one was an actually emergency. Knowing Dick he doubted it, but he still went anyway, if only to humor Dick.
“It is time for lesson two,” Dick said in all seriousness. So no, it was not an actual emergency. Figures. “You need to know how to cuddle.” Was he serious? But knowing Dick, yes, unfortunately he was completely serious. “Cuddling on the couch is important in everyone’s life, so you need to get acquainted with it.” Dick decided to work on cuddling while watching Lilo and Stitch, which if Tim was honest, he wasn’t opposed to.
Dick felt a surge on glee as one night after he had convinced Tim to watch another movie with him, Tim plopped right down next to him and curled up like a kitten next to Dick. The child was finally learning!
Soon even Batman started noticing that Tim was becoming more like Dick, but at first he saw nothing wrong with it. The problems started when he found Tim dangling from a light fixture eating a bowl of cereal. That is when he called in Dick to reign in these ‘lessons’.
“Oh come on B, don’t you like having a more friendly, slightly more normal child around instead on a miniature version of you?”
“I do not mind that you are teaching Tim to be more socially interactive, but I do not want to see you teaching him your unhealthy addiction to cereal or to risk his neck my dangling from places that are not meant to be dangled from.” Dick sensing that he was not going to get anywhere by arguing, agreed. However, Bruce never said anything about discontinuing the lessons…
That is how Bruce got stuck with another, smaller Dick Grayson.
Tim had heard that Jason was back. He had heard that something was very wrong inside his head, but he still hoped that maybe now, he could finally meet his predecessor, and brother that he never had. Of course he had been warned to stay away, and he would never break Batman’s order, so he didn’t try to go hunting for Jason, but if he happened to patrol a little later than normal or stray closer to Crime Alley than he did before, who could stop him?
This strategy of ‘avoiding’ Jason finally paid off when three shots came whizzing past Robin on one of his slightly longer patrols.
“Greetings from the dead, Replacement!” IT WAS JASON! Tim would recognize that voice anywhere, even though it was slightly distorted through the red mask Jason was wearing.
“JASON!” Tim squealed before launching himself at the vigilante. Jason who was not expecting this, took a moment to shake off the child that was… hugging...him?
“Get off me, you rat!” Tim only clung on harder and climbed further onto him with Dick-like agility.
“Ican’tbelieveitisreallyyou!” The miniature Dick rambled. “I have wanted to meet you since forever, and now you are here, and alive, and RIGHT HERE! I can’t wait until you get to go back to being Robin! You will kick so much bad guy derriere!” Who was this kid, and what had Dick done to him? This kid should not be allowed next to any sugar. Jason would make sure to warn Alfred, but knowing Alfred, he already knew and had locked all of the sugar in a bat-proof safe.
“Look Replacement, I don’t do all of the hugging and touchy feely things, okay?” He peeled the kid off of him and pinned the boy’s cape to a nearby wall.”
“Nightwing says that everyone always needs a hug. It is rule number one.” Even behind his domino mask, Jason could tell the kid’s eyes were unnaturally bright. And of course it was Dick’s number one rule. Jason would make him pay for corrupting this child.
The child suddenly changed the subject. “Are you aware of the breakout at Arkham?” And before waiting for a reply, he plowed on. “There were no major ones that escaped but a few of the lower ones did and I am trying to track them. I was wondering if you could help me?”
Jason knew exactly what the little vermin was doing. Nightwing had already tried this tactic on him MULTIPLE times. “Why isn’t the big old bat helping you?”
“I think that he is away in a JL mission and Nightwing is away at Bludhaven.”
“So they left you here to deal with it alone?” Jason couldn’t tell if he was impressed by the kid’s guts or furious at the bats for abandoning one of their own? Maybe a little of both? But no, he was not going to be roped into helping any of the bats.
Then the rat delivered his final blow. “Okay that is fine. But could you get me another cup of coffee? I haven’t been able to get enough sleep since the breakout.”
He would strangle Dick if he ever got his hands on him again. No remorse. In fact he was thrilled about the fact. Him and his manipulative little clone.
“Replacement,” Jason growled in warning. He was not going to be manipulated into helping this accursed family. “Go home.”
“I really shouldn’t. Who knows what these villains might do while they are loose?” He gave a tired smile and was about to leap away, when Jason grabbed his arm.
“Fine, Replacement, I will help! But don’t think I don’t know what you are doing!” The little rat would be the death of him.
Tim grinned as he watched his predecessor kick some bad guy derriere. It was nice to have Jason back home, and Tim would make sure that he comes home permanently. Maybe then Dick would have someone else besides him to teach his rules.
Jason had finished with the bad guys now, and with a sidelong look at Tim, he silently agreed to just truss them up for the police to handle.
“Now Replacement, go get some sleep and leave me alone.” Tim grinned again and let himself sag to the floor. He really was tired and Jason had never brought him that coffee. “Aww, I didn’t mean here!” Jason said plucking Tim up from the ground, but Tim was already on his way to dreamland. The thought of maybe this is what Dick’s rules were really supposed to be used for, flitted through his head before the sleep took over. The last thing he heard was Jason grumbling about having to drop him off, and with one last smirk, he was asleep.
He woke up a few hours later back inside the mansion with a slightly puzzled Dick hovering over him. “What happened out there last night?”
Tim smiled up at his big brother and replied, “I used rule number one.” Then he scooted off the makeshift bed and walked out of the room, leaving a still very confused Dick behind.
It wasn’t like Jason came over any more than normal, but if the bats got into some trouble, there was always someone who would miraculously save their bacon right in the nick of time. Now who this guardian angel was, who could guess….
……….
Then along came Damian, the demon spawn. He was the one that really challenged Dick’s rules. Maybe this was the one person that truly did not like being hugged. But that couldn’t be true because he let Dick hug him. What was up with that? Tim frowned at his little brother who was sitting across the cave. If the rules worked for Jason, surely they would work for this child, so with a deep breath, he walked towards the demon child.
“What are you doing, Drake?”
“Just coming to say hi, you know like a good brother would do.”
“We are not brothers, Drake,” the little brat was sure not making it easy.
“Okay, but will you be willing to come watch a movie with Dick and I?” Tim felt sure he could rope Dick into watching a movie. He loved stuff like that.
“Tt, I assume Dick is going to force me to do it if I refuse.”
Knowing Dick, he probably would. “Yes…”
“Fine, Drake, I will meet you up there.” Tim looked at Damian warily. Well that just happened. Tim assumed that it had been a victory for him, but one could never tell with Damian. After all, the assassin child could be plotting his murder at that moment. After a moment’s hesitation, Tim retreated to find Dick.
…
“Hey Dick,” Tim poked his head into Dick’s room. “Would you mind watching a movie with Damian and I?”
“Oh sorry Timmy, you know how much I would love to, but B has me working on this case, and I don’t think I can take any time off. You know how he is.” Dick did look apologetic, but all Tim could think of was how dead he was going to be once Damian found out. This time there would be no stopping it. He was going to die, and knowing Damian, it would not be pleasant. But maybe he could turn this situation in his favor. Yes, he had been meaning to get some sleep sometime, and dying in your sleep was always better than being tortured. And if he didn’t die, there was always the benefit of getting more than two hours of sleep at one time. Maybe Dick’s rules could come in handy after all...
...
When Damian showed up to watch the movie with Grayson and Drake, he found Drake sitting all alone on the couch. Of course Damian knew right away that this meant that Grayson could not have come to this ‘bonding’ session, but for some reason that completely escaped him, he walked over and sat down anyway.
After a long moment of silence, Damian broke the silence. Just out of curiosity of what Drake would say he asked, “When is Grayson arriving?”
Drake visibly gulped and replied without looking, “Soon, but let us go ahead and start the movie.” It was said way too quickly. Drake might be an expert at lying when he was under the mask, but in familial situations like this he was less than competent. Still, Grayson would prefer it if Damian participated in this ‘brotherly bonding’, so he pretended to be blind to Drake’s obvious lie.
“Do you want to watch Star Wars?” Tim asked as he held out the whole collection with a pride that was something to be ashamed of.
“What would Grayson want to watch?” Damian couldn’t help himself. It was quite amusing to watch Drake squirm as he tried to figure out a way to justify a decision that Grayson would clearly dislike.
“Well…… he isn’t here right now, and I would prefer to have a movie marathon right now.”
Damian didn’t care one way or another what they watched, so he gave his consent. Though he did vaguely wonder why Drake would want to watch a marathon. Usually he did not want to hang out with Damian if he could help it.
However, it did not take him long to figure out why Drake was so keen on the marathon because not even five minutes into the film, he was sound asleep. Wrapped around a very stiff Damian.
That sly little manipulator, Damian could almost not help but be impressed with Drake’s skill at masterminding this entire scenario just so he could get some sleep. Drake must know that Grayson would never allow Father to take Drake away from a “bonding” experience with his brother. He also knew that Grayson would never forgive Damian for waking Drake once he was finally getting some sleep, so Damian was stuck with an unconscious brother for 9 hours.
Drake would pay for this later, but Damian admitted that he needed the sleep, so he waited out the movie.
When Dick finally managed to take a break from the case, he was surprised to still hear noise coming from the living room. He quietly peeked his head and and laid eyes of something that he had only dared wish for in dreams. Not only was Timmy finally asleep, but he was asleep on Damian. And Damian wasn’t trying to kill him! The worst thing about this scene was Damian’s scowl, but there was not blood or knives, so Dick didn’t worry too much.
There was no way he was going to interrupt this progress, so he quietly stole some of Alfred’s cookies and headed back to the cave.
Tim awoke to find that he wasn’t dead. That was good at least. Damian was no longer in the room, but Dick sat on edge of the couch.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he grinned. Catching Tim’s questioning look around, he said, “Damian had to go to school. You know, we have to keep up the appearance of a semi-normal family.” Tim gave a small, sleepy nod, and rolled out of bed.
“I am really glad you taught me those rules.” Dick didn’t bother to think about Tim’s sleepy ramblings, so he just grinned and caught Tim when he tripped over a stray blanket.
……….
This time Tim didn’t even mean to use the rules. It wasn’t even his fault. He was just tired and had a bit too much work to do. The rest of his family shouldn’t have even noticed, but somehow they managed to catch wind of his perpetual exhaustion decided to do something about it.
Dick suggested that they hold an intervention because those had worked in the past. Jason suggested they knocked him over the head and carry him to bed. Bruce wasn’t there as usual. No one would let Damian give his suggestion because no one wanted another dead Robin (except Jason at times, but those were becoming more rare).
This meant that the bat brothers spent the afternoon arguing about whose idea was better.
Damian rolled his eyes at Grayson and Todd. Sometimes his predecessors were fools. If Damian wanted Drake dead, the whole world would know, and that mechanical fraud would already be dead by now. However, Drake was an asset to the team, as long as he didn’t kill himself through exhaustion.
His brothers were obviously incompetent to handle the situation, he snuck out of the room to handle it himself.
Now where would a sleep deprived Drake be? He wouldn’t be in the cave because Father had banned him after Drake had collapsed mid lecture from Batman for lack of personal care. Probably then Drake would be holed up in his room. Sure enough, Damian could hear low moans coming from said room that could possibly resemble some form of language. The locked door was only a small inconvenience, and within seconds, Damian had the door opened.
“Demon Spawn?” a slurred voice asked hidden under a canopy of covers. “What ‘re you doin’ ‘ere?”
Damian pulled the covers away to find a haggard Drake surrounded by piles of papers. “Tt Drake, I am here to make sure you survive the next few hours.”
“I’m survivin’ great,” the slurred, slightly delirious voice responded.
“Grayson says that we need to have some ‘brotherly bonding’ time. He says that we need to watch a movie called The Guardians, and he has sacrificed some of his favorite chocolate milk for this.”
“But… I need to finish this for Bruce…” Drake stared blankly at the papers surrounding him.
Curse Drake and his stupid lack of self preservation instincts. But Damian needed to convince Drake to go along with this, not force him because Drake would only dig his heels in if he thought this might be some kind of trick. “Do you want to disappoint Grayson, Drake?”
“Well...no…”
“Then we need to have this ‘brotherly bonding’.”
Drake looked suspiciously at Damian. “Why ‘re you insistin’ on this? ‘Re you gonna kill me again?”
Damian replied as gently as a former assassin could. “No, I just want to assuage Grayson’s constant naggings.” Apparently that was enough to convince the sleep deprived Drake of his sincerity because Drake shoved some of his papers aside to make room for Damian on the bed. Damian quickly set up the movie and moved nest to Drake on the bed. “Here is Grayson’s chocolate milk.” He handed Drake a mug of the milk he had swiped for this occasion. Grayson would not mind his donation once he found out what it was for.
Drake clung to the milk and gulped it all down in only a few seconds. Damian was almost impressed with how he didn’t choke. Once the movie had started, Tim curled up against Damian, and within five minutes he was sound asleep.
Damian quickly scooted off the bed and collected the stray papers. He then gathered the discarded mug and made his escape.
Damian then went down to where his predecessors were still arguing. “The matter has been dealt with.” He said matter of factly as he interrupted their heated discussion. The both turned towards him with identical looks of horification. “I did not kill him, if that is what you are thinking.” Again, both faces sagged with relief.
“Then, what did you do?” Grayson asked hesitantly.
“I tampered with his chocolate milk.”
“Chocolate milk!” Grayson exclaimed. “My chocolate milk?!?” Todd promptly hit him in the head for being an idiot. “Okay fine, I guess that is okay.” Grayson grumbled.
“Drake will be asleep for at least 24 hours,” Damian reported.
“Good work,” Todd said, almost sounding surprised and possibly a bit relieved.
“Tt, of course, Todd. Unlike you two, I was able to get the job accomplished.” Damian took that opportunity to escape before things could get sentimental.
#Tim Drake#Dick Grayson#Damian Wayne#Jason Todd#Fix-it#Small Tim Drake#Jason Comes Home#damian needs a hug#Tim needs sleep#Protective Tim Drake#Protective Damian Wayne
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Not the One You Were Meant to Find (Pt 2)
Title: Not the One You Were Meant to Find (Pt 2)
Rating: T
Word Count: 2544
Warnings: none
Pairing: Damian x fem!reader
Notes: Find Pt 1 here There’s shifting character POV here and it kind of changes the tone a bit. I’ve been trying to tweak it, but it’s still bothering me no matter what I do. So I’m just going to post it and hope it doesn’t disappoint. There are at least three more parts coming on this one.
Tags: @vigilantesarethebest (as the original requester) & @this-is-what-makes-us-fandoms
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You’re sitting in the café on campus, furiously typing out a paper that you had forgotten was due the next day when a familiar owl mask was dropped down next to your coffee. You would never forget the beautiful mask, the voice that had come from beneath it’s cream colored feathers would forever be burned in your memory. You just wish you had known who it was underneath it.
Looking up, you find yourself frozen in place for a moment when you see none other than Damian Wayne standing there looking like the work of art he was. Seriously, genetics were not fair at times. You didn’t know what his mother looked like but of course Bruce Wayne would produce an heir that rivaled his own good looks. And not to mention the beauty of the other three adopted brothers.
“I don’t…” You frown and look back down at the mask, wondering what your response was supposed to be. Had it been Damian that night? You had never spoken to him before, so you had no reference point for his voice. And up until this moment, you had only seen him from a distance.
“May I sit?”
So, it was him under the mask that night. Dumbly, you nod your head and move your hands to push aside your papers strewn all over the table, so he has room. Room for what, you have no idea. You’re just looking for something to do instead of stare stupidly at his beautiful face.
“Did you know who was beneath that mask?” Shaking your head, you look at him.
“Not until you spoke just now.” The tilt of his head would have made you chuckle, if you weren’t practically shaking from nerves at the moment. He reminded you of a dog.
“Truly?”
“I’ve only ever seen you from a distance and I have never spoken to you before. How would I have known?” You watched his shoulders drop just a fraction of an inch and his body lean back into the chair he occupied. “How did you know it was me?”
“Paranoid brothers.”
“Is that supposed to make sense to me?”
“I’m thrilled it doesn’t, actually.” You just furrow your brows in confusion and look at him, hoping he’ll explain. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Okay…”
“But I cannot say I didn’t hope to figure out who was under that elegant mask.” That made your cheeks warm in response, causing you to break eye contact and look down at the mess you had on the table still. “What are you working on?”
“A paper I stupidly forgot I had due. Natural selection vs human interference in the animal kingdoms of the world.” You laugh softly, shaking your head at yourself. “The gala distracted me. Another reason why I am constantly telling my father I don’t want to attend.” You notice the slight tensing of his body when you mention your father. And though you want to ask if he knows the man, you decide to just leave it alone. He wasn’t a good subject, no matter who you were talking to.
“And what conclusion have you come to for the paper?”
“That if we have the power and resources to help, then we should. Even more so when we are the ones who have endangered them to begin with,” you tell him honestly, with conviction.
“And do you have the means to do something?”
“Not personally. Not really. At least not monetary. But I have my time.” He smiled at that and you find yourself wishing he would do that more often. It made you want to melt into a puddle at his feet. He probably got that often.
“I work with the endangered wildlife group here in Gotham. We are always looking for volunteers.”
“I have been trying to do so for months,” you shrug a shoulder and his smile vanishes, a frown replacing it and you don’t like it.
“What do you mean?”
“I applied for a spot as soon as I came to Gotham last year. But they turned me down without explanation. I volunteer at the three animal shelters instead.” You watch the frown deepen on his face and wait for him to say something in response. It takes a moment, his eyes watching you from the opposite side of the table in an almost calculating way.
“I will look into it.” That makes you frown in return. “My father’s company owns the establishment; I am being groomed to take over operations. I will look into it.” There’s a determined set to his jaw now and you can’t help but wonder what he’ll be like as a businessman when it’s time for him to fully take over.
But for now, you wave a hand and act like the situation is no big deal. “I have plenty I’m doing. I’m more just curious why I got turned down.”
The look in his eye is sort of telling and you wonder if he knows what you have begun to suspect about your father. Or if maybe the people who run the foundation currently do. But it didn’t matter in the end, or at least it shouldn’t. He was your father, not you. Being the unfortunate recipient of his genetics wasn’t your fault. But it seemed like you were to be punished for it.
“But I would like to know why it happened. Especially, when I am constantly being told we need more help.”
“Perhaps they’re just looking for specific kinds of help?” His eyebrow raised in question and you shrug in response. “Perhaps my pockets aren’t as deep as they’d like.” He has the nerve to look somewhat offended by that remark, but then schools his look back to a neutral expression.
“That would completely against everything we should be standing for.”
“That’s easy to say when it’s not a problem you have ever encountered.”
“So, you are not fond of the wealthy?” You shake your head and glance at your laptop for a moment before closing the lid and stacking your papers on top of it.
“I’m not fond of people who think they are better than others just because they have large cash reserves.”
“Hmm.”
“You don’t agree?”
“On the contrary. But I have heard many people say things like this to me, but usually they are grounded in much more hate.” He leans forward and folds his arms on the table top that has been cleared of your belongings. “But you are not angry. You are…I’m not sure the proper word to use.”
“Indignant.” That causes him to chuckle and you wish you could hear him laugh in the fullest sense.
“Not that word either. Passionate, perhaps. Convicted, even.”
“Experienced.”
“But your father has deep pockets.”
“And how do you know who my father is?” He looks slightly unsettled by the question and you remember him saying his brothers were paranoid and that was how he had figured out it was her under the peacock mask. “Brothers again?”
“They’re very good at it.”
“And what did they discover?” The frown makes its way onto his beautiful face again and you wonder if he’ll bother telling you anything. Maybe he can confirm what you’ve been suspecting but could never prove. Your father was a monster among men.
“Would you like to go for a walk?” He says instead and it catches you off guard. With a silent nod, you place your things into your bag and stand up with him. He takes your bag without even bothering to ask and allows you to walk toward the door first, only rushing ahead to open it for you before you can do it yourself.
“Thank you,” you say instead of the biting reply that your mother would expect of you. But she didn’t have to know that her daughter liked when a man treated you with respect. But you could still her the angry feminist voice of your inner mother complaining.
You follow his subtle lead down a path that winds down the outer edge of the campus, one of the quieter paths. It’s a beautiful part of the school that you have been in before, just to clear your head. But you suspect he wants to avoid as many people as possible. So, you wait until he speaks, since this was his call.
“Do you know what he does for a living?”
“I know what he claims to do for a living. But it only took me two weeks to figure out it’s a flat out lie. But I haven’t figured out what he actually does.” Looking from the path to Damian, you find him watching you. “He’s very good at covering his tracks and I’m not terribly good at this kind of thing.”
“What do you suspect?
“Nothing good. I suspect that he’s into something I would hate him for.” You stop walking when Damian stops and turns to face you fully. Tilting your head in question, you wait for him to speak. It takes a few moments, longer than you thought it would, but eventually he seems to figure out the right words.
“It’s not safe for you to be near him.” That you had already figured out. But there wasn’t much of a choice in it for you. He was still your father, even if he was a horrible person.
“I’m not exactly in a position to just move out on my own.”
“I could help. My father would help. But your father has his hands in some very ugly things and it’s only a matter of time before the Bats get their hands on him.” That was startling. The offer and the threat, or sort of threat.
“There are much bigger threats then my dad, surely.”
“All crime is a threat in this city.” You didn’t know what to say to that. He was right, of course. But that didn’t make hearing it any easier. What would happen to you if your father was taken into custody by Batman and company? Would Red Hood kill him? Had he done anything to bring it to that point.
Thankfully the sounding of Damian’s phone made it so you didn’t have to respond. He pulled his phone out and looked at the screen. Without glancing at you, he typed out a reply to whatever was on his screen before pocketing the device again and looking back to you.
“I have to go, but will you promise to consider what I said? Will you think about accepting my help?”
“Why do you care?”
Handing your bag back over to you and letting you slip the strap over your shoulder; he took a step back and looked away.
“I’m not sure yet. But I do and I would like to make sure you’re safe. If you’ll allow it of me.”
“I’ll consider it. That’s the best I can do,” you tell him softly, drawing his gaze back to you. He considers you before nodding and reaching out to brush his fingertips along your cheek bone, leaving a burning trail in their wake.
“I’ll see you soon.” You watch him walk away before turning and heading back to where you had parked your car for the day, deciding to just take your work back home instead of going back to the café you had left behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you do it?” Damian glanced at Tim as he made his way into the Cave and nodded, refusing to say it out loud. It had felt like a betrayal, slipping the tracker onto the bag he had held for Y/N when they had taken their walk. It left him feeling something he wasn’t quite willing to unbox.
But thankfully, Tim didn’t require verbal communication and was back to the computer. Damian watched as he pulled up the tracker and zoomed in on the location. A residential area for the middle-class. She was home. They had a starting point.
“I’m going to turn on the audio, you sure you want to hang around for this?”
“Just do it Drake. I’m not some simpering fool,” he complained, rolling his eyes at Tim’s attempt to being understanding.
“He’s just trying to be kind, Little D.” Of course Dick was loitering around. Crossing his arms over his chest, Damian just looked at Dick and said nothing. “It’s okay to not be okay with this. We all know you were against it, but we have to know for sure.”
“I know, Grayson,” he stated. “I know we have to be certain she isn’t aware of her father’s nefarious activities before we help her.” Dick watched him for a moment longer before nodding and moving to stand behind Tim and watch the screens over his shoulder. The audio came on with a crackle and a soft melody of classical music came filtering over the speakers. Of course she liked classical music.
He ignored the glance Dick gave him over his shoulder.
Over the music, the faint sound of hands on a computer keyboard could be heard and Damian knew she was probably back to working on her paper. It was a few moments longer until they heard the sound of someone calling her name. A male, deep voice that drew Damian to stand next to Dick and grip the back of Tim’s chair.
“Y/N, shall you join me at Ocelot this evening? I have some business to handle, but I would enjoy your company.” The name of one of the Wayne owned establishments in Gotham sent Tim into motion, setting up the camera and security systems to be watched now that they knew he’d be there.
“No, sorry. I have this paper I forgot to do and I need to finish it. I got a little behind thanks to that gala.” Her voice was distracted but Damian wished he could see her face. He wished he could see if she was worried or afraid.
“You know, I am starting to wonder if you even like your old man. You hardly ever spend time with me.”
“I’m just busy with classes and extra curriculars. You know how much this all means to me.”
“Hmmm.”
“Dad…”
“Of course, Princess. I’ll leave you to your paper. My reservation is at seven, should you change your mind.”
“Okay.” Silence met the sound of fading footsteps before the slight woosh of a deep breath being let out. Damian’s hand tightened on Tim’s chair in response.
“She sounds scared.”
“She is. I saw it at the gala and I saw it today. I am certain she has no idea what he’s up to, but she isn’t blind enough to not know it is bad,” Damian responded to Dick, looking over at the elder.
“Can we slip in there and get some surveillance, you think?” Tim asked distractedly, separating the audio to try and isolate any other noise that might be coming through at the moment.
“Send Hood to scout it out. He’s the best at that.” And Damian trusted Jason to know the difference between spying on the girl and spying on the father. Tim grunted in agreement as he sent off the message to Jason and waited for the other man to respond.
“Dami you up for Ocelot with me tonight then?”
“Absolutely.”
#filled request#ani writes stuff#ani creates#batman#batman au#batfam#batfam au#dc#dc au#damian wayne#damian al ghul#damian al ghul wayne#damian wayne x reader#damian wayne x you#robin#dick grayson#tim drake#jason todd#nightwing#red robin#red hood
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Stars as Sharp as Knives
Read it on AO3
Prompt: stabbed
TW: Violence, PTSD, Disassociation
Summary: Tim remembered getting stabbed in vivid detail. The images were horrifying on their own, but together they formed a sick film that played on loop in Tim’s mind. Even after waking up the next morning, and the morning after that, he kept wondering: why am I alive?
Tim remembered getting stabbed in vivid detail.
In a job like this, where you either saved the day or ruined it all, he was used to cuts and scrapes and wounds. He anticipated them even, which the first aid kid he kept in his utility belt could attest to. But getting stabbed that night in the desert was something else.
The sound of steel through flesh. A cruel whisper. Blood, warm and sticky. Sand in his nose and eyes. Cool near-winter wind that ruffled through his hair. Dirt under fingernails. The weight of a body dragged behind him. Brick walls with metal stairs. A soft bed, with downy pillows stained rust.
The images were horrifying on their own, but together they formed a sick film that played on loop in Tim’s mind. Even after waking up the next morning, and the morning after that, he kept wondering: why am I alive?
This was a question he’d been asking himself for longer than he cared to admit. He was alive because no one had managed to kill him yet, and no more. If the universe had its way, he would be dead eight times over. Tim was just lucky, he supposed. But not lucky enough to escape the nightmares.
He remembered while attempting to sleep in the lavish jail cell Ra’s al Ghul concocted for him. He remembered while training with high level assassins, every time they went for a jab at his stomach. He remembered when Tam hugged him, and his reflex was to make sure she didn’t have a knife. He remembered on his first night back in Gotham, when he had to update his medical records to say “Patient has no spleen after a traumatic injury to the abdomen.”
The nightmares were the worst. They played out the scene in gory detail, each time with a new sort of reverence for Tim’s suffering. It wasn’t always the Widower who stabbed him; sometimes it was his father, or Jason, or Damian, or the mugger that killed Bruce’s parents. On bad nights, it was Bruce. On worse nights, it was Stephanie.
The nightmares persisted long after he defeated Ra’s al Ghul at Wayne Enterprises, long after Bruce finally returned and Tim was welcomed home with open arms. No, they lasted for months--every night a sick remembrance.
____________________
The first time he sparred with Dick after ending Ra’s plot, he used the new skills he picked up at the Cradle. At first they traded blows lazily, wearing down the floor by walking the same steps of a familiar dance. Then Tim dared to spin out--try one little move--and the game was afoot.
Tim didn’t pretend that he was better than Dick--he knew he wasn’t. But he had more range and was the better strategist, so at least their spars were interesting. They danced around the mat, neither submitting. Like all of their practices, it went until someone gave in or passed out. The Waynes never called out.
Dick went for Tim’s shoulder with his escrima sticks, which Tim blocked with his bo staff. By the time he registered the other stick moving toward his stomach, it was too late.
Forgoing all sense of etiquette, Tim roared and swung out with his staff, trying not to relish in the feeling of it connecting with Dick’s head.
“Jesus, Tim, what was that?” Dick’s voice floated from somewhere above. “I know we didn’t specify ‘no headshots’ but it seems like a giv- holyshitareyouokay?” It was then that Tim realized he was sitting on the ground, his head between his knees and his hands protecting his neck. In a way, he looked like the tornado drills they made him do at school, even though Gotham never had tornadoes. His body didn’t feel entirely real, like instead of inhabiting it like always, he was merely borrowing it for a second.
Dick’s voice, no doubt saying something reassuring, murmured in his ear. The words all blended together in a soup of pleasant sounds, one that Tim didn’t even attempt to decipher. Somewhere in the haze, he heard the telltale click of the comms, followed a few minutes later by heavy footfalls.
Bruce’s gruff voice took over for Dick’s soothing one, asking him questions that he didn’t know how to answer. Even if he could, he wasn’t entirely sure his mouth was still a mouth, let alone one that could form words. Instead, his brain gave him a front-row seat for the premiere of his least favorite movie in existence, where Dick stabbed Tim in the abdomen, his face contorted into something evil and totally unlike Dick. The Not-Dick didn’t stop after the first time, of course. Instead the scene rewinded over and over again, like a broken film from a museum about the tragedies of war.
Tim didn’t remember anything past that.
____________________
Tim woke up in his bed at the Manor, his heartbeat thunderous but slow. He opened bleary eyes to see Bruce sitting in the armchair near his window, reading a copy of the Wendy the Werewolf Stalker comic tie-ins Bart had given him last year for Hanukkah.
“Good morning. Or, should I say, evening. You almost slept for a full day,” Bruce said warmly, closing the book.
Tim didn’t return his tone. “Why are you here?” He demanded, clutching his blankets where they fell on his lap.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” Bruce avoided the question with trained ease, something Tim saw much too often in himself.
“I- Yeah. A little.” He remembered Dick stabbing him, but that couldn’t be Dick, right? They were in the desert, and it would take at least a day to get from the Syrian Desert to Gotham. His hand wandered over to his stomach. No open wounds or bandages, but there was a long scar.
“You disassociated. Do you know what that means?” Bruce asked, and Tim nodded mechanically. “We think that something during sparring practice triggered a trauma response.”
Tim heard the words, but he wasn’t sure his brain was following all the way.
“I’m fine, B. I just freaked out a little. No big deal.”
Bruce leveled his dad-stare at Tim. “Tim, with all due respect, that was not ‘freaking out a little.’ You were curled up in a ball on the mat, refusing to speak to us. When we managed to coax you into a sitting position, you attacked me. We had to put you in a safe hold until you calmed down.”
Tim opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“I think we need to talk about this. I understand if you don’t feel safe yet, you’ve been through a lot over the past year. I love you and I want to be here for you, but if a professional would help, we can do that too. Dick knows this guy in Metropolis-”
“No!” The word was out of Tim’s mouth before he could stop it, followed by a torrent of others. “I don’t need a shrink. I’m fine. Can I leave now? Or are you going to keep me prisoner like he did?”
“Of course not,” Bruce said, his voice heartbreakingly gentle. “This is your home, Tim. You can come and go as you please. However, I think we need to talk about-”
“Cool. Later.” Tim rolled out of bed and tugged on shoes and a jacket as Bruce tried to reason with him. They both knew that he could try to keep Tim here, either with logic or the threat of getting grounded, but neither would work. At his best, Tim was tenacious. At his worst, he was stubborn.
Tim traipsed down the grand staircase as Bruce followed behind him. Damian glowered at him from the sitting room, but at least he didn’t say anything. Dick was nowhere to be found. Tim pushed his way out of the manor, a small smile of satisfaction crossing his face when the door slammed and cut off Bruce’s pleas. It reminded him of every bad teen movie he’d ever watched, except the exhausted dad and pushy mom were replaced by Batman. Wasn’t that every kid’s dream?
____________________
He wandered through Bristol township, avoiding the spots he knew the paparazzi liked to frequent. Wouldn’t that be a million-dollar picture: Bruce Wayne’s high-school-dropout-turned-CEO son walking through the sea of McMansions in converse, a kid’s tracker bracelet, pyjama pants, and Cass’s purple NorthFace.
He was on some cul-de-sac where every house looked the same when he heard the telltale swish of someone following him. He didn’t turn around, just kept up his leisurely pace. Either they’d announce themselves, or they wouldn’t.
He got his answer when a hand snaked over his chest and a body pressed against his back, stopping him in his tracks.
“Hello, Detective,” Scarab whispered in his ear, and Tim’s veins turned to ice. Her hand cupped his face, and she slid around to his front. Tim didn’t believe in God, but he had no doubt that she was Satan incarnate.
“I have a gift for you,” she purred, her hands tracing his sides and back. He didn’t dare respond. “It’s from your friend.”
Tim swore his heart stopped. Ra’s al Ghul didn’t send gifts, he sent warnings. And threats. And death. Which is why he wasn’t entirely surprised when Scarab drove a knife into his chest with a sort of tender ruthlessness. She guided him to the ground, left a ghost of a kiss on his temple, and stepped out of view.
Tim lay gasping on the pavement, trying not to bleed out. His fingertips brushed the bracelet, weakly holding down to send out a tracking signal. If he was lucky, they’d see it. If not, then he’d die. It was that simple.
The stars here were dimmer than the ones in the desert. It was all the light pollution, he knew. Same stars, but an altogether different sky. There was a metaphor there somewhere, but he had lost too much blood to focus enough to find one.
His eyelids felt heavy, and it took everything in him to keep them open. Bruce would be here soon. He had to be. He was Batman, that’s what he did.
As Tim staggered through each breath, he couldn’t help but remark the irony of it all. He’d spent all this time worried about one old wound that he hadn’t seen the next one coming.
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I'm home
Fandom: DC comics, Batman
Pairing: Jason Todd x Timothy Drake (JayTim)
Rating/Tags: JayTim Week 2020 - Day 4: Free Day, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Developing Relationship, Getting Together
Other(s) links: AO3
Jason knew no matter how hard they tried, the cave was no longer his home, nor was the manor. It might sound sad, but didn't matter how many lies they told him or deals made with him to bring him back to the family, such places were no longer considered his home for a long time. However, of all of them, the relationship with his replacement was the one which seemed to have improved the most, and as the comfort and trust between each other had increased, it was obvious his relationship had changed too, they were... Well… He wasn't sure what they were yet.
But Tim being adorable when he slept didn't help him at all.
OR:
5 times Jason saw Tim sleep and 1 time Tim did.
I'm home
I.
That night, if Jason were in the batcave, it was because he had no choice.
He wanted that to be recorded. Don't get him wrong, the relationship with the bats was improving a minimum, for once both parties had agreed to try to resolve their differences and fix years of roughness and conflict between them. However, this didn’t mean that some tension wasn’t yet present in their interactions, and much as his first instincts as see them wasn’t taking out a gun, it was still a bit awkward to act as if nothing had happened.
Everyone knew that it was a process and they had to take time, so sharing some simple cases, and not killing each other’ during these were the first steps to take in the right direction.
Of course, sharing such cases meant that Jason sometimes had to put a feet int the cave to get a more detailed update or pick up something he needed for, like right now.
This time Grayson had forgotten to send him the entire update of a case that they had right now, reason why he had been forced to appear there to demand it. Although if he thought about it, maybe Dick would have done it on purpose to drive him out of his mind and see him in the cave, forcing him to go there and socialize.
Good strategy, bastard. He'll be punched later in the mission with some vigilante excuse, like "you had something on your nose" or "Batman told me to do it," Or better, he could punch him right now without hesitation, who would stop him? moral? fraternal love? Bullshit.
No matter how hard they tried, the cave was no longer his home, nor was the manor. It might sound sad, but it was so, and it didn't matter how many lies they will tell him or deals made with him to bring him back to the family, such places were no longer considered his home for a long time.
So, he started to search Grayson's stupid ass not to waste any more time. But it was then when he walked through the batcomputer and something else caught his eye.
If there were things that he knew about his replacement, other than that their relationship was still somewhat tentative and strained -but cordial-, is that the guy barely rested, and he was fucking crazy. He was smart, yes, but he sacrificed himself for simple missions to insane points, he didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat well, he worked as CEO of Wayne Enterprise by day, as a vigilante at night, he also had online classes, and his diet consisted of energetic bars, coffee and Monster in industrial quantities.
Yeah, as he said, fucking crazy. Jason didn’t know how he was still alive, even after having survived all attempts on his life, of his courtesy, of course.
So, the sight of the boy asleep above batcomputer’s keyboard wasn’t as surprising as it should be.
He was wearing Green Lantern pajamas, Wonder Woman socks -like his- and the cup he was holding while he was asleep was white with a message that said "there’s still no vaccine for stupidity." His shiny black hair was very tousled, his skin was very pale and his face had some dark circles that didn’t disappear even after sleep, he could almost hear him snoring, he was drooling on the keyboard too, and his cheek crushed against it was writing a deep and interesting report titled "fhidsgbobvhuyfdvashufso".
Jason didn't know whether to feel pity, compassion, or amusement at such a spectacle. It was a mix of all of the above.
In the end, he considered if the boy was exhausted enough to sleep under those circumstances, it was better to leave him as he was, he owed him. So, he did, turned around and left.
When he punched Dick a few minutes later and he started to yell at him, he said:
“Shh. The replacement is sleeping.”
The punch he received back was silent, but effective.
II.
Alfred's excuses for bringing him into the manor were a thousand times better than Dick's or Bruce's.
He went on, and was going to go on, never considering the place as his home again. But Alfred's tricks had something the other two pedants didn’t: Alfred's food. Whether they wanted it or not, it was a real plus and a compelling reason to put aside their grudges and deign to step on the place.
Although as much as being lured with delicious food like a wild animal was a good explanation why he was now wandering through the carpeted hallways of the Wayne Manor, he had to admit that the approaches he had been taking with the family had been having its effects, there was less tension now.
They were still assholes sometimes, but with less tension and a little more understanding or appreciation on both sides.
Of all them, the relationship that seemed to have improved the most and that was a pleasant surprise for everyone, including him, was with his replacement.
The one who he found when he entered one of the most remote rooms of the manor.
He didn't even bother saying hello, but rolled his eyes, this time with amusement.
At this moment, he had spent more time in the place, and he discovered along with the third Robin that they worked very well together, starting to take more and more team missions than they should. Another thing that he had also noticed is that Tim could fall asleep anywhere and under any circumstances, he didn't care.
It wasn’t a surprise looking at the rhythm of life he led, but Jason had found himself appreciating the fun and entertainment provided by being able to find the boy sleeping anywhere. Without realizing it, it was already something he had begun to expect every time he was there, giving him a kind of routine and a sense of normality that he didn't expect to enjoy.
This time Tim was on the sofa, his legs still on the floor but his torso lying on the padded surface of the furniture. He would bet the boy had an early conference call judging by the laptop on the table, or because his pants were the ninja turtle pajamas, but his top was the typical jacket, shirt, and tie you could attribute to the CEO, Timothy Drake-Wayne.
It was hilarious, stupid. Made Jason snort with fun and approach to look like the other slept peacefully, murmuring in his dreams and hugging one of the cushions on the sofa tightly.
This time what he felt was simple relief to see him sleep, since he would need him at his 100% for their mission tonight.
And although his first instinct was to leave again, he stopped to think for a moment, considering that he was starting to realize how difficult it was to repair interpersonal relationships, so he forced himself to try. So, he walked over, scooped up his feet as gently as he could to get him properly on the couch, grabbed one of the blankets on the end of it, and covered him, so he wouldn't catch a cold or something. He didn’t know, but since he slept for once, at least he could be more comfortable than usual.
When he finished, he tried to convince himself that the way Tim had smiled softly in dreams hadn’t affected him at all.
III.
“I'm fine…”
“Shut up.”
“But I'm fine…”
“I said shut up.”
He already knew he was fine, fuck, he didn't have to repeat it. Jason was the first to know that he was fine, who was treating the wound? Eh?
On top of that the gremlin had the audacity to raise his head and look at him in a kind of pout, like a sad puppy or something. He certainly looked like it with those huge eyes and those long eyelashes, he was regretting giving him those painkillers to ease the pain.
The red team had completely killed it this night, like all the others during the last months. Undoubtedly, discovering the good team they made had been one of the best surprises among the Gotham vigilantes, though not so much for the villains who were kicked in the ass, of course.
Precisely because of one of those villains, quite spiteful in his opinion, they were in this situation.
They hadn't expected the little ambush across the corner at the end of the night, so they were caught off guard, and they took a couple of unplanned injuries courtesy of some thugs already on the way to jail.
Jason didn't like that punch in the face, or the stab Tim had received in the shoulder. The last in concrete hadn’t liked him at all, had angered him, very much, maybe more than normal. He almost took out the real bullets again to make it clear that if anyone had the right to stab Red Robin in Gotham without any repercussions, it was him and Robin.
So no, he hadn't liked that attack on his partner. Nothing at all. He could have been angrier with the attacker but leaving the scene and treating the other was more important after knocking out that guy.
So, without wasting a minute he carried the other, fled the scene and ended up in the bathroom of one of the Red Hood safe houses treating his injuries.
Tim, the little shit without a sense of survival and self-preservation, insisted it hadn’t been that bad, it didn’t matter the desperation with which he had swallowed the painkillers and the points that he had to apply to close the wound, he was convinced that it had been a slight injury.
He will teach him what a slight injury is, the stupid shit.
Although when he finished closing and cleaning carefully the wound on his shoulder, Jason realized that he had no explanation for the annoyance and anger that he carried with him about the whole thing.
Yes, Tim was now his partner in Gotham, they were starting to be feared as a team, and maybe, maybe, out of the vigintalism work he could have realized that he likes the nerd more than he had originally imagined. After all the little bird shared his acid and sarcastic humor, caught his literary references, played more with gray and twisted morality than others thought, he was one of the most attractive men in Gotham, and he also liked chilli-dogs. So yes, Jason wasn’t a stone, it was true he was taking a certain fascination with him. One whose reach didn’t want to start thinking about, because although they don’t always come out unscathed from every patrol, Tim was right in saying that the wound he had acquired tonight wasn’t proportional to his reaction.
He didn’t want to give him the reason, Jason wanted to convince himself that the discomfort on his chest wasn’t because he was worried about him or anything like that because that would mean that he cared for Tim a lot. And he doesn't, right?
His plans for constant denial went to hell when he finished cleaning the wound, and he felt a light and soft brush on his cheek, courtesy of Tim's fingers that had startled him.
“What?” He asked, looking at him confused but agitated.
The painkillers seemed to have worked, judging by how the boy was leaning tiredly against the wall and looked sleepy, almost asleep. With those baby blue eyes cloudy and looking at his face as he tried not to close them.
He ran his fingers down his cheek to his cheekbone, touching where Jason still felt a little numb, surely where they had punched him and was beginning to have a bruise.
“You are hurt too…” He whispered, clearly falling quickly into the dream world.
“Tch. Just a punch.” He said, finishing his task and shrugging.
“But you're hurt...” The smallest frowned, almost seemed annoyed, but he had already closed his eyes completely.
“Who cares?” He teased, snorting with amusement.
There it was again, that boundless kindness Tim possessed and intrigued him so much. It had never stopped to amaze him, really. By now, Jason couldn't help but wonder how anyone could be so generous after all he’d been through, especially Tim.
He was fascinated by the way he gave everything for someone, everything. He just gave, gave, and gave, and gave without stopping, without reservation, gave all of himself and what he had with such force and intensity that it even frightened, regardless of the consequences. And even after receiving betrayals, stabbings, and disappointments in return, he was still there with a stab wound in his shoulder, lying in his bathroom, and worrying more about him and the punch in the face he had received.
It was admirable.
“Me…” Tim muttered.
Jason felt his chest sink, almost surprised.
“Yeah, sure” He said sarcastically and snorting.
As if he were to believe that. The medication had to be working a lot for him if it was making him forget that not long ago the one who was stabbing him was him. He shouldn't matter to Tim; he was the last person Tim should care about. But a part of him told him that the medication didn't matter here, Tim would keep thinking the same thing because the way he had forgiven him so easily indicated it, and Jason didn't even want to start thinking about how that made him feel.
“I care…” He whispered weakly, almost asleep. “I care about you, you're my Robin.”
He dropped that while Jason was keeping things in the medicine cabinet absently, making him froze and wondering if he had heard correctly or not. The weight and the annoying feeling that had been installed in his chest twisted, and he looked up uneasily to realize that the other had already fallen completely asleep against the wall.
He had dropped the bomb and retreated.
The thing was that maybe he wasn't even going to remember it in the morning, but surely those words, along with the tender touch of his fingers, and the way his heart jumped listening to it was something Jason wasn’t going to forget, how to do it?
He always thought he had been the least loved, least valued Robin in Gotham and the community. After all he was just the violent street boy that had to fill the shoes of the amazing and perfect Richard Grayson. He didn't do much either, he was like Robin for a short time and it was his career as Red Hood that allowed him to help Gotham from another perspective, also he died of reckless. Why would he be anyone’s favorite Robin?
Apparently, he was Tim's, if he could trust his wounded drugged words.
But it was that the moment and the place where he realized that it wasn’t worth trying to fool himself, because his chest continued to twist, but this time in a more pleasant and warm way, his discomfort was gone, and when he recognized that maybe he was a little more fascinated by the other than he realized, he felt a certain weight disappear from his shoulders.
He looked at his partner asleep, leaning on the wall in his half-worn suit and with a bandage covering his shoulder. He noticed the way he wrinkled his nose like a cat, his relaxed expression so different from when he was awake and constantly alert, his long eyelashes, and the scars that completely covered his body, narrating a life of sacrifice and danger.
With an exhausted sigh, Jason decided to pick him up off the floor with care and allowed him to sleep in his bed that night.
Before going to sleep on the couch, he smiled because the way the other had instinctively wrapped himself like a burrito in his blankets definitely was adorable.
IV.
They didn’t even watch half of the movie when Jason felt a weight light fall on his shoulder.
The Jason Todd from a year ago, would have simply bothered, overwhelmed, and pulled away, perhaps pushed the other. Now he just smiled, almost touched, and settled better on the couch so that the body of the other wasn’t seen in a bad posture after a while.
Tim had finished his last assignments that afternoon, concluding his semester. Apparently, the Wayne Enterprise board looked like to have behaved well this time too, so when the meeting ended, the current CEO sent Jason a text to plan a movie marathon to honor the occasion.
Of course, not was the first time they did something like this, Jason was more than sure what was going to happen. So, he didn’t flinch when Tim fell asleep against him.
Seriously, it was ridiculous.
If someone had told him long ago that he would end up having marathons of the Lord of the Rings with the boy whose blood he tried to write on the walls, maybe he would have shot them. However, against everything, he had found himself enjoying and longing those nights.
There were always quiet nights, when the patrol had ended, or they needed to hide from the world together. They weren’t aware at what point they managed to find so much comfort in each other's company, but surely between healed wounds -like that stab in his bathroom- and completed missions, they must have realized that not only did they get along, but they liked, complemented, and helped each other in more ways than one.
As ironic as it sounded, Tim and his boundless goodness got kept the Lazarus Pit's anger at bay. Not in an exaggerated way, since its effects kept inside him and it was clear that they were not going to disappear, of course it was something he would have to live with now. But Tim, so smart, kind, and perceptive as he was, had learned to read the signs, to interpret them. Soon as he started to get along with him, he could sense when anger appeared, he had learned not to stoke it, not to push it, and give him space when he needs it.
He hadn't said it, of course, because he was a little self-sacrificing shit that did those kinds of things without wanting recognition or anything in return, but Jason had noticed it and inadvertently began to return the same care and caution with which the other surrounded him on his bad days. Without realizing it, he saw himself cooking so that he didn't only eat energy drinks, he canceled some of their joint patrols too when he noticed that Tim wasn’t particularly in the mood, and sent him to sleep when he was too tired. And when he didn't want to, he would play a movie and within a few minutes he was snoring.
Like now, for example.
Jason looked aside and the tender smile he had kept until then grew. No doubt Tim had shown up at his door with popcorn, drinks, and was ready to spend the night awake with laughter and his favorite movies, he had to give him that credit. But knowing him, he had slept rather little to be able to finish all his assignments on time, so the moment he was wrapped in a blanket, comfortable, warm, with the lights off and the television in the background, it was impossible for him not to fall asleep.
Now, he was completely leaning on Jason, lying there placidly while breathing slowly and not even worried by his surroundings, with his guard completely down. As if falling asleep on top of the Red Hood was nothing special.
Jason felt that amusement turn into affection, devotion, even pride as he realized how safe he had to feel around him, so he could sleep like this without reservations. The boy was ridiculous, but he was even more ridiculous for being at his mercy without resistance. Because being so close he could smell the citrus scent of his hair due to his shampoo, as well as feel his small body completely leaning against his. He couldn't see his face, but in these cases, he didn't know if it was better that way.
While the comfort and trust between each other had increased, it was obvious it was because his relationship was now... Well… He wasn't sure what it was. Indefinite, if he had put a name on it somehow.
They flirted, joked, were close, had dates (or something like that) and saw each other when they could.
They hadn't talked about it, but Jason wasn't dumb, and Tim wasn't either, he knew they were both aware of the change of attitude, but they didn't mention it. It isn’t as if they were doing nothing about it, on the contrary, rather he felt that they were letting it develop on its own, to follow its natural course.
Eventually they would speak about it, because at the rate they were going to, they would have no choice.
For the moment, Jason settled on the sofa wrapping the blanket that covered them, put his arm around the little one's shoulders to keep him by his side and after thinking about it for a few seconds, he kissed his hair while he was squeezing it a little and inhaled his scent. Then he looked again at the TV.
When he fell asleep, he felt that this was something he could call home.
V.
When Jason returned from patrol, he didn't even bother turning on the lights.
He entered to the room through the window, like a good with serious problems to remember that doors existed for something, and he started to remove his armor immediately, snorting and boiling of frustration in silent.
The night had been disgusting. Not because something serious had happened, if not because it had been the typical patrol in which he had only encountered pseudo villains who thought they could aspire to something more, and people believing they were dangerous when they were actually rookies with guns trying to rob an unfortunate gas station. He had also had to cover part of Cass's territory in Chinatown, which coincidentally had been the best of the night, because a kind lady gave him coupons and discounts for her restaurant after helping her with the little mob that was trying to intimidate her.
Tim would very much like to take advantage of these discounts this weekend, so with the coupons in hand, the hassle, and boredom, the desire to return home were more powerful than ever, and he headed there in a hurry.
When he took off his armor and looked comfortable enough to go to sleep, he went to bed to find what he wanted so badly to see: The Tim-burrito.
He had convinced his boyfriend to take the night free after an especially busy project in WE, one that had kept him two days awake and working nonstop. When he suggested a break, his little bird had no will to refuse to rest, so finding him in their shared bed sleeping and almost drowned between the oversized blankets, was a complete victory.
He couldn't even see him correctly, because all that was in sight was his soft black hair, tousled and poking out between the sheets, but it was enough for Jason to smile tiredly and lie down next to him carefully.
Settling properly next to him so as not to disturb his sleep or undo his nest, Jason sighed and felt the discomfort he had felt all night slowly disappear as he was near him. It had taken some time, many attempts at emotional conversations, and certainly tentative steps to get to the point where they were not, but without doubt he couldn’t regret it when he now had his warm presence at his side, being able to listen to his soft breathing and the way he murmured in dreams sometimes, seeing his face with that expression serene that he adored so much, and above all, being right at his fingertips.
If Tim didn't want him to hug him while he slept, then he shouldn’t be that adorable in the first place. Because Jason loved holding him in his arms, he liked feel how his smaller body fit perfectly against his, loved to squeeze him and listen to those small and sharp whining of his, or kiss his head, hear his laugh, smell his hair, feel how he smiled on his skin.
He loved his babybird and his strange sleeping habits, or nesting, or stealing shirts, he liked too how little by little he looked willing to take care of himself a little more, to value himself just like he deserved. So, nobody could blame him if he got close in the mattress and tried to cover that Tim-burrito with his arm.
He was on his side and his face half covered, Jason was convinced he was completely asleep, but when he put his arm over his covered waist to bring him a little closer, he heard a snort and a weak moan from him.
Slowly and wearily, Tim opened those blue eyes a bit to scowl at him and churning in his cocoon of blankets. Jason smiled sadly but at the same time moved by this.
“Sorry Babybird, I didn’t want to wake you up.” He whispered, raising his hand to stroke his hair fondly. “Go back to sleep.”
The smallest sighed and closed his eyes numb with the caresses, but before fall asleep again, shook his head and shifted, pulling the covers away from him to get closer to Jason with an intelligible grow. Jason snorted amused and allowed it, hugging him tighter this time while he settled on his chest and intertwined his legs. When Tim was finally comfortable enough, he raised his face and leaned down to kiss him despite being half asleep, and because of that he ended up kissing his chin instead, but Jason soon kissed his lips slightly while laughing.
“Welcome home.” Tim murmured as they parted, each word tinged with love and adoration, hiding then his face in his neck to keep sleeping.
And there, with the other clinging to him and his heart about to explode from everything he felt for that man, Jason realized that it was true, he was at home.
Extra:
When Tim returned from the office, he noticed that everything was silenter than normal.
He knew Jason was home, today was his day off, and he had texted him asking what he wanted for dinner. But unlike most times than that happened, the kitchen was empty when normally there was Jay muttering and singing under his breath while cooking, so Tim soon started to look for him around the apartment.
When he found the other, he relaxed and sighed with relief, smiling at the sight.
Jay had fallen asleep reading on the sofa, head down, leaning to one side with the loose book in his hands. The last few days he had been involved in difficult cases that required too much vigilance until late, so it wasn’t surprising that he was so tired.
Without much thought, Tim dropped his briefcase from work, undid his tie, and approached him to pick up the book that lay forgotten on his lap, a collector's edition that he gave Jason for their anniversary and had made the tallest smile at him with intensity.
Leaving the book on the table, he looked at his boyfriend tenderly, and he settled him on the sofa as best he could so that he didn't hurt his neck, then covered him with a blanket and kissed his cheek, then his temple.
“I’m home.” He said, happier than he ever imagined.
#myfic#jaytimweek#jaytimweek2020#jaytim#timjay#dc#dc comics#batman#tim drake#jason todd#red robin#red hood#fluff#free day
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The Story of The Red Hood
(A/N): This is something I wrote a long time ago but didn't post because I felt like it was too unfactual. This is my version of Jason's backstory.
Jason telling his story on BuzzFeed Unsolved channel anonymously, not even the staff knew who he was. It was just audio and they put a few diagrams in the actual video to make it better.
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"I'm The Red Hood and this is my story. I lived in Crime Alley which was formally known as Park Row in downtown Gotham. It's the hood or ghetto whatever you call it, there was a lot of projects around there, we lived in some but they have since been knocked down. My earliest memories are of my mom and dad arguing, a lot of times it would end in physical violence against me and my mom. My dad was a piece of shit to keep it short. He was a drug dealer and alcoholic, my mom ended up getting addicted to what he sold. I don't know what type because I was 4 when I noticed she was changing. It was pills of some sort.
So it was a repeat of yelling, beatings, going hungry and mom being high for about 2 years. One thing is my dad was a drug dealer but he wasn't a good one. It ended when my father got arrested and sentenced for a very long time. I was 6 and all I knew was that he was gone and that maybe things would get better, but they didn't. My mom didn't have a job and I was basically keeping us both alive at the age of 6. I knew how the hood worked, people out there were the only people I'd ever known. So I somehow kept us alive for another year and a half. Until one day I came home from school because I was in school at this time, can't tell you how I got there. But I called out for my mom and she didn't answer, I assumed she was high again so I searched the apartment and found her on the bathroom floor. She OD'd while I was at school, she was cold so she'd been there for awhile. So I called the ambulance and gave them the address then hung up.
I already knew I didn't want to be in the system or an orphanage so I grabbed some stuff in a little backpack and left. I'd rather be a street kid then in the corrupt system. I was a smart kid, I knew not to get mixed up in gangs and drugs. I was about to turn 8 when I first got on the streets. It was rough, I was already small and malnourished because we were broke and didn't eat often. After the first few months of being on the streets I had to prepare for winter and Gotham winter's are no joke. But I found out my dad was killed in prison, I wasn't upset, he deserved it after everything he'd done to people including me and my mom. But that meant I was the last of my family, I didn't know my Grandparents and I'm pretty sure my parents didn't have siblings so I had nobody left.
So I was on the streets for just over 2 years. The streets were probably better then my home with my mom and dad to be completely honest. One night I was in an alley and I saw the batmobile, I saw his wheels and in my head I was literally like "those will go for a lotta money down at the shop". So I started taking the wheels off, I got one off and was going to go for the other one but there was a deep voice behind me that said "what are you doing?". I turned and Batman was behind me and in my 10 year old brain I thought I was dead because he looked scary. I grabbed the tire iron I had and hit him in the gut to try and get away but it didn't work. I tried to apologise but he didn't let me and just asked a question "are you hungry?" Is what he asked me. I nodded and he took me to get burgers and we ate at a random place. He gave me a place to stay and it was scary at first because I didn't think I could trust him. I found out who he was, obviously I can't tell you that information, and I got even more skeptical about him. But he ended up adopting me and those first 3 and a half years were amazing.
I became the second Robin at age 12, I was trained by him and he was the father I never had. I truly considered him my dad, still do but don't tell him that. His somewhat dad was there too and he is like a Grandfather to me, he is the only other person in that family I will admit I love with all my heart. We call him Agent A. He's awesome. But everything went kinda bad when I turned 14 and was starting to see more of the shitty things people do. I got to reckless and if anyone knows that Batman or any other hero, unless they're like me, they have a strict no killing rule. So it got close many times with me, Batman and I started arguing a lot. It drove our relationship apart and he benched me from being Robin. So I wasn't allowed to patrol or do missions anymore because I was getting to reckless.
I didn't have anything to do and I don't exactly remember how I found this out but at 15 I found out my mom was alive and in Ethiopia. My mom who was dead wasn't my actual mom, she was just my dad's wife but she took care of me when she could. Before all the drugs, I mean I don't remember much but I have a few memories of her being a mom to me. So it was a complete shock to find out that my mom wasn't really my mom and that my real mom was in Ethiopia. So I told Bats and he said he knew so we got into another fight. So I did probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. I decided I would go to Ethiopia by myself so I did. How I got there and what I did when I got there isn't important.
I found my mom and went to her. It was good for a few hours then the Joker showed up. I was familiar with the Joker because I was Robin, I knew how crazy he was. So I was trying to protect my mom but she stabbed me in the back like a lot of people have. She was working with Joker and basically lead me to him. This is where my story gets really complicated. We both ended up tied up in a warehouse with him beating us with a crowbar. Mostly me because he wanted to teach Batman a lesson. I was going through this for months, I was in the middle of a warehouse being beaten to death with my mom by a deranged clown with a crowbar. He killed my mom at some point then he left the warehouse one day because he knew Batman was close. He told me to tell Batman 'hi' but he knew I wasn't going to make it to then. I tried to get the door open but he locked it on his way out and as I leaned up against it I saw the bomb. I knew I wasn't gonna make it and I didn't.
I know that's very confusing and the only way you'll understand is if you listen. The bomb went off and it burned for a few seconds but then it was cold and peaceful. You're at peace and it's nice, especially if you had such a life as I had. But it didn't last long to me, it lasted for what felt like a few minutes before I woke up underground. I was dead for 6 months, no pulse, no heart beat, I had an autopsy, I still have the scar. I woke up in my coffin at 16, I was calling for Batman but by his real name. I realized no one was coming and I freaked out and clawed my way out of the coffin. I wasn't all the way there, I was dead for 6 months so I had a good bit of brain damage and don't remember much from after I dug myself out of the coffin except that I broke a couple fingers, it ripped my nails out and I was bleeding all over my hands. After that I somehow ended up with a whole organization of assassin's. This woman who is very significant in a few of the bats lives was apart of it and was trying to nurse me back to health but it wasn't working.
The amount of brain damage I had was to much to fix so she threw me in something called the Lazarus pit. It's basically a fountain of youth except it can bring people back to life as well. Her father who was the leader of the assassin's discovered it and kept it secret. Most of them are destroyed now but I think there's one. The pit was painful, I remember that, it feels like you're burning alive and it does for a few minutes after you get out. Then you're extremely disoriented and crazy full of rage and anger. I still have some of that running through me but it's a lot better than the first few years. At this point in my story I'm 17, I started training with the league and the woman to get my memories back because most of those were still blank. I still have a few gaps in my memory but most of it is from before my dip in the pit.
In this training I was learning about Batman and Nightwing who was the first Robin and is kinda my older brother. We weren't close when I was Robin because him and Batman weren't on great terms so we didn't hangout much. I regained my memory at some point then I was told Bruce had another Robin, who is now currently Red Robin, and the Lazarus made me angry about it. I felt replaced but what made it worse was the fact that Joker was still alive. I was never mad at Batman or blaimed him for my death, the reason I was so angry was because after everything Joker put me through he was still alive. I felt worthless and it was even worse because I felt replaced as well.
I ended up leaving the assassin's base a month or so later. I was set on tormenting Batman, I was going to try and kill him, Nightwing and Robin. It was definitely the anger because I'd never put a kid in a situation I put Robin in now. I got to Gotham and started killing the bad people, like rapists, murderers, drug dealers, abusers, pimps, just anyone making another person's life a living hell. The reason I started doing it was because prison wasn't working for them. The drug dealers not as much as everyone else but I still killed some of them. I never killed the innocent, that's something I never did or ever will. So eventually I got Batman's attention and it took a couple months for him to figure out it was me. I wanted it to take longer but I made the mistake of saying his name. So because no one really knew it at the time it made things make sense but it didn't at the same time, because in their head I was dead.
So about a week later we ended up in another fight but he was holding back because he figured out I came back to life. But I had this whole plan to have him choose between me and Joker. Unfortunately it fell through and he didn't choose either of us, we were in and apartment building in a random apartment. I had Joker and we had a talk I guess you could say. More of me being angry and having a few choice words to say to him then anything else. I gave him choices but he didn't really choose. There was a bomb and it had like 10 seconds left and I shot at him. He had his back turned but he's Batman so he dodged it, with a few seconds left he grabbed me and Joker and jumps out the window so we're not caught in the blast. It was still kinda close but I left before he had a chance to register.
Let's just say I wasn't okay after that. I have PTSD, Anxiety and Depression from what Joker did to me so it was hard to except that I didn't mean anything more to Batman then Joker did. So I was a wreck, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, all I did was drink, I was about to turn 19 and definitely should not have been drinking. I became a bit of an alcoholic just like my dad and I hated that. I eventually got a grip on myself even though it was only a little. I left Gotham because I wasn't in the right state of mind to stay there. I traveled all over the place and in my travels I ran into Arsenal and we became best friends. Still are. We started working together as Red Hood and Arsenal, we were broke as hell. Eventually we ran into Starfire and we kinda just decided we'd become a team after hanging around each other a lot. Then The Outlaws was formed.
That was probably some of the best and worst years in my life. Best because I had those 2 by my side and they are still my best friends. Worst because my mental health was at an all time low. I couldn't sleep, I was having very bad PTSD episodes, my Anxiety was through the roof, so was my Depression. Arsenal had his own problems, so did Starfire and all we had was each other to lean on and it was all we could ask for. Just people who cared and understood. We did missions pretty often as a group and we would get paid by people who requested the jobs but it wasn't much. We've slept in the worst places, most of the time not sleeping at all. But our own lives kinda pulled us away from each other. Starfire went off world back to her planet, Arsenal and I stock together for awhile until he went back to Star and I went back to Gotham. I was in a better place, wasn't killing as much, the Lazarus through my system calmed down a lot. It still effects me but no where near as bad.
I was laying low in Gotham but the Bats found out. It was only 4 of them at that point, Batman, Nightwing, Robin 3 and Agent A. It was all good until I tried to kill the Joker. It was in another not so good state of mind but I wasn't able to kill him because the bats came. I was planning to kill him the same way he killed me, beat him with a crowbar and blow him up. I was 22 at that time. They got me away from Joker and took him into custody and I left to one of my safehouses. We eventually crossed paths again but it was awhile before I could actually talk to them again. So me and Nightwing ran into each other we ended up having a talk and we kinda made amends. It wasn't anything crazy. It took a long time for us to be okay with each other again. But eventually I was able to call them family again and I visit the house Batman lives in to see them.
But as time went on we added new people, we became a bigger family as you can see. Robin became Red Robin, then the current Robin, then Orphan, Spoiler, Batwoman, Signal, Bluebird and Bluebird's brother who isn't a Vigilante. I'm pretty much cool with everyone, no one I really have a problem with except Batman because we've been through so much together. I'm 25 now and things are better, I still have my struggles and family issues but that's my family. As much as I pretend to not care they're my family and I love 'em. So this was a less detailed version of my story and look how long it is. But anyway I don't really know why I did this but I did so bye I guess.
Oh and before you ask I am not the rapper NF. I actually really like and relate to his music because we've been through similar things but I'm not him. I know someone is going to ask that question."
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The NF joke was just that a joke, don't come for me I love him lol.
#jason todd imagine#batfam imagine#batfamily imagine#red hood imagine#red hood fanfiction#red robin#tim drake#story time#harper row#cullen row#roy harper#starfire#catherine todd#willis todd#Jason Todd#red hood#alfred pennyworth#dick grayson#nightwing#bluebird#bruce wayne#Batman#the story of the red hood
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Teen Pregnancy - Wally West x Reader - Part Two
Part One
Warning - Childbirth
Requested by Anon - I need another "Teen pregnancy", please~ Or at least, part 2, please~ Pretty please with 🍒 on top~ Pleeeeeese ~
Requested by Several Anons
***
“Breathe in and out,” the instructor said as she walked around the room. You took slow deep breaths, following her instructions. The room was quiet except for the sound of everyone breathing.
“Do I breathe too or do I just keep supporting you?” Wally asked. You rolled your eyes, leaning back into his chest as he sat behind you.
“Yes, you breathe too.” You closed your eyes. Your breaths slow and deep. “I imagine it’s harder to do this when you’re in pain.”
Wally snickered. “I’ll be there to help you.” He started taking deep breaths with you. You did your best not to laugh. It was at that moment that the baby kicked you. You kept breathing, but grabbed Wally’s hand to let him feel the kick. “Our little kangaroo.”
“Please don’t call our kid a kangaroo,” you whispered as the instructor passed by.
“Focus please,” the instructor warned. You gave her a sheepish smile, going back to breathing. Wally just hid his face in your shoulder.
You took a lick of your ice cream cone, leaning back on the park bench with a frown. It was tradition for Wally and you to get ice cream after Lamaze class. Wally sat down beside you with his jumbo sized milkshake. He took a sip and studied you.
“I think she doesn’t approve of us,” Wally mumbled into your shoulder. You hummed in agreement as you focused on your breathing.
***
“Something bothering you?” Wally asked nervously. “Is it the baby?” Wally’s voice cracked.
You chuckled. “No, it’s not the baby, you dope.” Laying a hand on your bump, you gently rubbed it. A older couple walked by with a disapproving look on their face. You swallowed hard.
“Come on, tell me.” Wally wrapped his arm around your shoulders. He took a sip of his milkshake before offering you a sip.
A tiny smile broke onto your lips as you took the sip. The milkshake was good, but it didn’t make your thoughts go away. “I just hate the looks I get,” you admitted. You offered Wally a lick of your cone. “It’s like everyone is judging me.”
Wally took a lick. “No one is looking at us now.” He glanced around to make sure.
“Yeah, but that old couple gave us a look.” You frowned before taking a reluctant lick of your ice cream. Your appetite was gone. “Is it going to be like this my whole life?”
Wally pursed his lips, debating what he should say. “It’s not going to be like this forever, besides I’m here with you. When you’re being judged, I’m being judged right beside you.” He grinned and wrapping his free arm around you.
You sighed. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
Wally grinned. He pressed a kiss to your cheek before glowing a raspberry into it. You shrieked in surprise. Your arm jerked up and your ice cream smashed into Wally’s face.
“Oh,” you gasped, barely containing your laughter while Wally froze to comprehend how ice cream was suddenly on his face. You pulled away the cone only for Wally to suddenly kiss you on the lips. The cold ice cream got on your face and you could taste it on his lips.
“You are so mean to me. What will our baby say?” Wally licked his lips. You handed him a napkin to clean off his face. Your phone beeped with a text from Dinah, telling you to meet her for a ride home.
“I got to go,” you said, forcing yourself to your feet. Your feet ached already even though you haven’t walked at all. You laughed when Wally licked at the ice cream in the napkin. “I love you.”
Wally pouted. “I love you too.” He hopped up to kiss your cheek. “I’ll walk you.” He offered you his arm, tossing the napkin away in favor of sipping his milkshake. “Are you coming to the cave tomorrow? M’gann said she was making your favorite cookies.”
You smiled, slipping your arm through his. “Yeah as long as Dinah says it’s okay. She’s becoming more nervous as my due date comes closer.” You sighed, taking a lick of what was left of your ice cream. “If I’m being honest, it’s freaking me out too. It’s going to hurt, and I keep thinking that something might go wrong.”
“Take it easy today, (Y/N). Come home the moment you feel weird,” Dinah ordered when you sat down for breakfast. She poured you a glass of milk. You grabbed a muffin from the box on the table.
“Nothing’s going to go wrong, (Y/N). Your doctor says you’re good, we have plan A, plan B, and even a plan C for the delivery. It’s going to be fine,” Wally reassured you with confidence. He stared straight ahead, not looking when you eyed him. You wondered if he would be so confident if it was him giving birth instead of you.
***
“Yeah, don’t spar with anyone,” Oliver said from behind his newspaper. He peeked out at you to see you smile.
“Like they could beat me anyway,” you laughed, taking a bite of the muffin. Dinah tried to hide a smile, but failed. She turned to put the milk away.
When she turned back, her smile was replaced by a worried frown. “Maybe you shouldn’t go today. You’re so close to your due date.”
“Dinah, I want to see the rest of the team. M’gann is even making me cookies.” You pouted. The muffin no longer seemed as appetizing in your hand.
Oliver folded the newspaper. “Come on, Dinah. (Y/N) will be okay. Besides, Batman will be there. I’m sure he can handle it if anything happens.” He grinned. “I’m making my special chili for dinner.”
“No, it gave me bad heartburn last time,” you protested.
“Oliver, don’t you dare make that again,” Dinah added at the same time. You both shared a look while Oliver frowned. Dinah sighed. “Okay, (Y/N). You can go to the cave today, but I want you back early.”
You went back to your muffin now that you knew your plans for the day were set. “Thanks, Dinah.”
You pursed your lips as you looked at your nails. Artemis and Zatanna whispered to each other across from you. The three of you were waiting in the living room for the boys to get out of their rooms. M’gann and Conner had left to get supplies.
“Why does no one like my chili?” Oliver asked. Both you and Dinah hid smiles, refusing to meet his eye.
***
Your back ached a little from the couch. You tried to get up, but couldn’t with your belly.
“Here, I’ll help you,” Zatanna offered, coming over to take your hand and help you up.
“Thanks.” You gave her a tight smile. Zatanna smiled back at you.
“Hey, Z. Let’s go check out the hanger bay,” Artemis said coldly. She got up and left the room without a glance at you. Your heart dropped a little.
“You can come with us, (Y/N),” Zatanna said, sensing you were hurt. Pursing your lips to hold back a frown, you shook your head. Zatanna followed Artemis out. You wrung your hands nervously before heading into the kitchen for a drink of water.
Your hands shook as you filled your glass. The water threatened to splash out when you brought it to your lips. “She’s just jealous,” a voice suddenly said from behind you. You jumped, dropping the glass into the sink. It shattered.
“Oh, hi Dick,” you said quickly. Your cheeks burned as you moved to clean the shattered glass out of the sink.
Dick chuckled, coming to help you. “Is your jumpiness a sign that you’re going into labor?” You gave him a glare that could kill. Dick just laughed a little harder. “Okay, sorry. I have a bet with Kaldur that you will have the baby this week.”
“I’m glad you’re profiting from my misery,” you growled, tears stinging your eyes. You turned away to throw the glass pieces in the trash. “Is Artemis in on this bet?”
“No.” Dick came up behind you to dump the rest of the glass. “I told you. She’s jealous of you.”
A humorless laugh escaped you. “Really? She wants to be a teen parent, huge, and have her mentor pretend she doesn’t exist...” A sob slipped past your lips as a tear slipped down your cheek. “Oh, and she wants to cry at a drop of a hat. Does she want that?! She can have that! I’ll happily hand it over to her!” You turned to face Dick only to find him staring back at you in surprise. Much to your embarrassment, you started full out bawling.
Dick reached out to hug you, but you flinched away from him. “I’m sorry, (Y/N). I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Dick bit his lip, not knowing what else to say. “Please try to stay whelmed. I was just saying she’s jealous because you live with Dinah and Ollie. I mean they talk about you all the time.” You sniffled. Dick handed you a paper towel and you tried to mop up your face.
“What the hell has been happening in here?” Wally asked, appearing in the doorway. You didn’t look at him, trying to hide your embarrassment. Dick looked at Wally with his mouth open to speak. Wally cut him off before he could. “Did you make (Y/N) cry? Why did you make (Y/N) cry?”
“I didn’t mean to make them cry,” Dick protested. Wally came over to pull you into his chest.
You let him, leaning into him with a sigh. “He didn’t mean to make me cry. It’s just the crazy emotions,” you said, hiding your face into his shoulder when you saw Kaldur coming around the corner.
Wally rocked you back and forth as you composed yourself. Kaldur cleared his throat. “M’gann and Conner are on their way back. We should meet them in the hanger bay.”
Dick quickly left with Kaldur following behind. “Kaldur to the rescue,” you whispered, knowing Dick had gladly taken the excuse to leave.
“So what happened? You don’t cry like that even with the crazy emotions.” Wally pulled back to look at you.
“It was nothing. Just stupid stuff.” You turned away to blow your nose. Wally didn’t need to know why you cried. He would just blow up at Artemis and you didn’t want to make a bigger mess out of it than it already was.
Wally raised an eyebrow. You threw the paper towel away before washing your hands. “Come on, tell me.” He came up behind you and pressed a kiss to the back of your neck. You sighed, leaning back into him.
“Dick is betting with Kaldur on when I’m going to have the baby,” you said. A half-truth if anything. “It just made me feel like an animal or something.”
“I should see if I can get in on that action. I mean you have a feeling on when the baby’s going to come, right? We’ll be rich,” Wally teased, spinning you around to face him.
“You mean the adults are gone everywhere?” you exclaimed as Dick turned on the tv to reveal the empty news anchor's chair. “So this wasn’t just an attack against the league?”
You laughed. “Quiet, lover boy.” You took his hand and pulled him out of the kitchen to join the others. “Besides if I knew when, I would have placed a bet already.” Wally chuckled, following you happily.
***
“No, it doesn’t look like it,” Dick said worriedly. Wally wrapped his arm around your shoulders. He kissed your cheek, hiding his fear and worry.
“I’m calling my mom,” Artemis said, leaving the room with her phone. Zatanna sank down in a chair limply.
Kaldur held up his hand to get everyone’s attention. “Let us keep calm. If the adults have truly disappeared, then there are children in need of help.”
M’gann stepped beside Kaldur. “Kaldur is right. We should go out and try to help people while we can.” The others began to discuss what to do. You tried to listen, but you were focusing on Zatanna. She was pale and staring blankly at the wall.
You pulled away from Wally, who was discussing with the others. Sitting on the armrest of her chair, you laid a hand on Zatanna’s shoulder. “He’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out,” you soothed.
Zatanna looked at you with tears in her eyes. She gave you a half smile. Artemis came back into the room, glaring at her phone. “I couldn’t reach my mom,” she said, hiding her worry behind frustration.
Kaldur took charge. “Robin, Zatanna, and (Y/N) will remain here to find answers. Meanwhile the rest of us must go help the children.” The rest of the team nodded.
“Hold on a minute,” you snapped, pushing yourself to your feet. You almost fell with the weight of your belly. “I can help you guys. Robin and Zatanna don’t need me here.”
Kaldur opened his mouth to reply, but Wally beat him to the punch. “No, not in your condition.” Wally glared at you for even suggesting the idea.
“I’m pregnant, Walls. Not injured.” You silenced him with a look. “You need all the help you can get, and I won’t be much help here.”
Kaldur shared a look with Wally. “Let them come,” Artemis said. You gave her a surprised look. She refused to look at you as she continued. “We do need all the help we can get. There will be a lot of kids who need help.”
“Fine, (Y/N) will join us,” Kaldur said, leading the rest of you out of the room. Wally glared at you before turning to march off ahead of you. You knew you would have to deal with him later.
You walked beside Artemis. “Thanks,” you whispered to her. She eyed you and you caught a hint of guilt in her eyes.
Hours later, you and the team met up in the cave to discuss what to do to solve this problem. Wally was still not speaking to you, pouting at the fact you had been allowed to help. You hung back behind everyone, gently rubbing your lower back. When you were out helping kids, you felt something pull in your lower back. You thought you pulled a muscle or something.
“You’re welcome,” she said sharply. Shortly after, you were on your way to help the abandoned children.
***
“Woah, it worked,” a young boy said behind you. You turned with the rest of the team to find a kid randomly standing in the middle of the cave. The others rushed over to him with Kaldur demanding how the kid got here. You were about to follow them when a sharp pain rocked through your abdomen.
Pressing your hand over your mouth to suppress a gasp, you touched your belly to feel the baby kicking wildly. You remembered the signs of labor as you felt your water break. “Not now, not now,” you panted. The others hadn’t noticed you. You slowly moved out of the room, heading to your old room.
Once inside, you knelt down beside your bed. You took deep breaths. “Why now? This is literally the worst time.” Your heart threatened to pound out of your chest, but you kept breathing just like you did in Lamaze class. You didn’t have any pain yet except for the initial one. It was only a matter of time.
Some time passed until you felt another pain. You muffled your gasp into the bedspread, rocking gently on your knees.
“(Y/N), where are you? We found a way to contact the adults. It turns out Captain Marvel is actually a kid,” Wally said, just outside your door. You heard the door open, but you kept your face pressed into the bedspread as the pain subsided. “(Y/N), what’s wrong?” Wally zoomed to your side. His hand rubbed your back. “You pushed yourself too hard, didn’t you? You shouldn’t have gone out with us, babe.”
There was a hint of satisfaction in his voice. You suppressed a smile at the fact you were going to burst his bubble. “Walls, the baby is coming.” A deep sigh escaped your lips. The pain was gone for now. You turned to look at Wally only to find his face pale white.
“Now?” he squeaked. You had to bite your lip to keep from laughing.
“Yeah, now.” You reached back to grab his hand in yours. The smile slipped from your face. “I know this is the worst time ever.”
Wally struggled to compose himself. “What are we going to do? I don’t know how to help you have a baby. I doubt anyone in the world right now knows what to do.” He ran his free hand through his hair.
A tear slipped down your cheek. Any joy you had gotten from ruining Wally’s sense of superiority was gone. “Please don’t leave me.”
He squeezed your hand. “I’m not leaving.” He let go of your hand. “I got to talk to the others, but I’ll be right back.” He zoomed off. A wave of despair came over you. You started to sob. It was funny, but the only person you really wanted right now was Captain Atom aka your ex-mentor. You hadn’t seen him since the news of your pregnancy broke.
Wally skidded into Conner as he started to panic. He could keep himself calm when he had to reassure you, but now that you were nowhere in sight, he was freaking out. “What’s wrong with you?” Conner said, glaring at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” You buried your face back into the bedspread.
***
“(Y/N)...baby...now.” Wally was speaking so fast it was gibberish. The rest of the team shared looks.
“(Y/N) is having her baby?” M’gann asked, gently reading Wally’s mind to catch up. Wally swallowed hard before nodding. “And you left her alone?!” M’gann quickly flew down the hall to join you.
“Woah, (Y/N)’s going to have her baby now. I hope it’s a boy,” Billy said excitedly while the rest of the team shared looks of horror.
Kaldur cleared his throat. “Billy, go tell Batman (Y/N) is in labor,” he ordered. Wally was shaking so badly, he was a blur. Billy shouted Shazam and disappeared in a flash.
“Do you think we’ll be able to bring the worlds together and get the adults back before she has the baby?” Dick said with a frown.
“We can’t leave (Y/N) alone,” Wally exclaimed, panting heavily. He got a crazed look in his eye.
“We won’t leave (Y/N) alone,” Kaldur said sternly. He blushed. “Does anyone know anything about childbirth?”
Conner, Dick, and Kaldur looked to Zatanna and Artemis as if they should be experts. Wally collapsed on the floor to try to calm down.
“Hey, just because we’re women doesn’t mean we know about childbirth,” Artemis retorted.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves for assuming that,” Zatanna added with a glare. Dick swallowed hard while Kaldur simply looked away. Conner just blinked.
Wally jumped to his feet, panic overtaking his sense of reason. “What are we going to do?!”
Artemis stepped up and slapped Wally across the face. “Man up.” She stared him straight in the eye. Wally went still, stunned. “This isn’t about you. Stop making it about you. This is about (Y/N) and their baby and you’re just making this harder.”
A moment of silence passed between the teens. Dick cleared his throat, opening his wrist computer. “Stay whelmed. I’ll see what I can look up online, but someone is going to have to be the one to actually deliver the baby.” Another long silence passed with the team simply eyeing one another.
“Why don’t we let (Y/N) decide who they want to help?” Conner suggested. Everyone sighed in relief except for Wally who was still frozen from Artemis’ slap.
Another lightning bolt struck as Billy returned. Billy looked a little green. “Batman gave me instructions,” he whispered.
About three hours later, you were lying in the medical bay. The machines beeped around you, keeping track of your heartbeat and the baby’s. M’gann was sponging your forehead with a wet cloth. Wally was holding your hand as he helped you breathe through another labor pain.
“Good.” Kaldur took charge. “Then we better get to work.”
***
The pain passed. Wally pulled his hand out of yours to shake it. “I think you broke my hand,” he whined. You glared at him.
“You aren’t the one in labor, Wally. A broken hand is nothing compared to this,” M’gann said, giving Wally a glare of her own. Wally swallowed hard.
“I’m going to see how far along you are, (Y/N),” Artemis said, slipping on a rubber glove while she read the instruction Dick had printed. You chose Artemis to be the one to help you deliver, because you felt she was able to keep calm. Ideally, you would pick Wally. However, Wally wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Wally jumped a little when she snapped the glove. “You know what you’re doing, right?” he asked worriedly. Artemis glared at him.
“Do you want to do this? If not, shut up.” Artemis moved between your legs. You grabbed Wally’s hand again when you felt her hand somewhere you really wished it never had to be. “Sorry,” she said, smiling sheepishly at you. “But you’re seven centimeters, so not long now.”
“I feel bad,” you moaned as another pain came. Artemis took off the glove and went back to reading the instructions. “You guys should be going on the mission, not here with me.”
“Don’t worry about that, babe,” Wally soothed, grunting when you squeezed his hand to death again. “We’ll go on the mission once you’re okay.”
“It’s killing me just to be sitting here,” Dick exclaimed from his seat at the kitchen table. “I wish we could just head to Roanoke Island now.”
M’gann placed the wet cloth on your forehead. “Breathe, (Y/N). Let’s just focus on this.” She breathed with you. Wally joined you. You smiled before focusing on part of the wall you were using as your focal point.
***
“Batman said we have to wait. We’ll need everyone,” Kaldur said, taking a sip from his glass.
Conner winced. “The baby should be here soon.” The others looked at him in surprise. “I can hear them.” He blushed, wincing again. “(Y/N) is screaming a lot.”
Dick and Kaldur blushed too. Zatanna just stared down at her drink, lost in her own thoughts. “Why would (Y/N) be screaming?” Billy asked with his mouth full. He had made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Billy had been ordered to stay in the kid world in case something happened with the birth. M’gann was ready to send him a message through the mind link at a moment’s notice.
“Because it hurts like a motherfucker,” Conner replied stoically. Billy’s jaw dropped at the swear word.
“Conner, do not use such words in front of...” Kaldur nodded over at Billy.
“I heard (Y/N) say it when Wally asked how much it hurts.” Conner blinked.
Billy laughed a little. “Superboy swore.” He smiled in satisfaction before taking another bite of his sandwich. Kaldur sighed, rubbing his eyes.
Dick had to hold back a laugh. He glanced over at Zatanna to see if she was listening only to see she was still staring off into space. “Hey, you okay?”
Zatanna looked up, eyes wide. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She glanced over at Kaldur who was attempting to explain why Billy shouldn’t say motherfucker. Dick laid a hand on her arm. She looked back at him. “I’m just worried about my dad. What will happen if we don’t bring the adults back?”
“Hey, stay whelmed. We’ll bring the adults back as soon as (Y/N) is in the clear,” Dick said, rubbing her arm. He smirked at her. “So if it’s a girl, I’m going to win the bet. Maybe I can take you out for a movie with the winnings once everything back to normal?”
A tiny smile came to Zatanna’s lips. “I think I’d like that.”
“I hear crying,” Conner said suddenly.
You gazed down at your daughter as she slept in your arms. “So perfect,” you whispered to her. “My beautiful angel.”
“Hey everyone, it’s a girl,” M’gann said over the mindlink. Smiles broke out on everyone’s lips. Dick winked at Zatanna knowingly. Zatanna giggled at the sight.
***
“(Y/N),” Wally said from the doorway. He was in his Kid Flash suit, ready to go save the world. You gave him a bright smile. “We’re going to leave now.” He came to sit down on the edge of the bed. You handed him his daughter when he held out his arms. “I don’t want to leave.”
“I don’t want you to leave either, but you have to.” You sighed, smiling as Wally gently rocked your daughter. “She’s perfect, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she is. Gets that from you.” Wally looked at you. The love in his eyes made your skin tingle with delight. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Actually, Dinah and Ollie will probably beat us here.”
You laughed. “I’m sure they will.” You took your baby back when Dick, dressed as Robin, appeared in the doorway.
“Walls, we got to go,” Dick said before coming in to take a quick look at the baby. “Is there anything else you need, (Y/N)? Artemis said you should eat.”
You eyed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Billy had made for you. “I will.” You glanced back down at your daughter. “Now go save the world.”
Dick laughed, leaving the room. Wally leaned forward to kiss your lips. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised, looking into your eyes.
“We’ll be waiting.” You pressed another kiss to his lips before pushing him away. “Go.”
Wally hesitated. “I love you.” He zoomed off like he knew if he stayed much longer he wouldn’t be able to leave at all.
Wally was first off the bioship, heading straight to the medical bay. “(Y/N), are you okay?” he said, skidding to halt when Dinah suddenly appeared in the doorway just when he was about to enter.
“I love you too,” you whispered to the air. You looked back down at your little baby. “And I love you.” Your daughter opened her eyes and you were filled with a sense of peace.
***
“Hush, Wally. (Y/N) and the baby are sleeping,” she said sternly before letting him in. Wally tiptoed inside. His heart skipped a beat when he saw you fast asleep. Oliver was holding the baby while sitting in the chair next to you.
“They’re okay?” Wally whispered to Dinah. Dinah smiled, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
“Yes, they’re both good. They just need to rest.” Dinah led him over to you. “You did a good job, Wally.”
Wally blushed. “I didn’t do much. It’s was all (Y/N) and Artemis with some help from M’gann. I just gave (Y/N) my hand.” Oliver perked up.
“Artemis was the one to deliver the baby?” he said in surprise. Dinah looked surprised as well, but Wally just nodded and moved to lay down beside you.
“Walls, I hope that’s you,” you mumbled before slowly opening your eyes.
“No, it’s Dick.” Wally grinned. “Can’t you tell by my dark hair and annoying personality?”
You barely held back laughter. “You saved the world.”
“Of course, how else would Ollie and Dinah be here?” Wally pressed a quick kiss to your lips. The two of you whispered to each other, sharing kisses.
“Love birds,” Dinah said, coming over to peer down at the baby from over Oliver’s shoulder. “She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Oliver hummed in agreement.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. All four of you looked to the door to see Captain Atom standing there with a bouquet of flowers. He looked uncomfortable, not saying anything.
A slow smile pulled at your lips when you saw him. With Wally’s help, you got up and hugged him tightly. You started to cry, babbling how happy you were to see him. He hugged you back, apologizing over and over again.
“Did you know he was coming?” Oliver whispered to Dinah. Dinah shook her head, but smiled.
“I knew he’d come around,” she said before taking the baby from Oliver to bring her over to you and Captain Atom. Wally came up to wrap his arm around your waist as Captain Atom held your little daughter. With a deep sigh, you knew it was finally going to be okay.
#Wally West#wally west x reader#wally west imagine#kid flash#kid flash x reader#kid flash imagine#dc comics imagines#dc reader insert#young justice imagines#yj imagine
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Scandal! For the 40 questions meme: 7, 20, and 23 if you please 😘😘😘
7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
This was very hard. All my favorite writing is the angstiest stuff I’ve done so I just went and reread a bunch of stuff that made me cry 😂
And then it was still hard to narrow down because I different things for different reasons. Therapy, Requiem, and Matter of Life and Death are probably my actual best pieces of writing.
But I’m going to mention the opening of Batman Doesn’t Smile. Featuring an extremely rare pair of two smaller characters (Duke Thomas and Luke Fox) and with a whopping 300-something hits, don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of it (the general you, not you specifically, stevie 😉).
It’s a fun PWP idea and not really my best writing but I’m proud of the opening because I was so anxious about it that I was physically sick and almost took it out, just to be safe.
I read this excerpt easily 30 times before I posted the fic. I read it so many times that the words stopped making sense.
Because the premise is that Duke has recently taken over as Batman. And Batman’s cowl shows half his face. And I couldn’t find any way around the fact that Gotham’s criminals (and even really anyone in Gotham used to seeing Bruce) wouldn’t make comments on how Duke “wasn’t the real Batman” because of the very obvious difference in skin tone.
And just to be clear, this is just Duke teasing a criminal for commenting, for saying he obviously wasn’t the real Batman. We’re not talking about groundbreaking, earth-shattering, or edgy insights here.
But here I am, super duper white, writing about Duke and Luke (god it’s so unfortunate that their names rhyme) and specifically calling attention to their skin color, desperately trying to make sure I’m not accidentally insensitive or rude or anything.
So, I almost deleted it, just to be safe, just because it was easier. Almost tried to come up with a different beginning so I wouldn’t have to address it at all.
But ultimately that felt... wrong and after reading it a million times I decided that it was more important to keep it. I knew I have a few extremely supportive followers who are POC and would let me know if I stepped out of line. Which... looking back, rereading this now with more experience... it was probably a lot smaller risk than it felt at the time.
Anywho. Now that I’ve over explained...
Batman Doesn’t Smile, excerpt -
“Why would you say I’m not the real Batman? I mean, what gave you that impression? I knocked your buddies out in under twenty seconds, in the dark, with batarangs and fists. That’s pretty Batman-y.”
Three of the would-be kidnappers lie strewn across the expansive office while the two still standing, freshly disarmed and no longer a threat, exchange sheepish glances and stumble over a weak explanation of “you’re too chatty” muttered under their breath.
Luke snickers louder from behind his big, modern glass desk. He hadn’t even bothered to move, didn’t even pretend to be a frightened CEO and fake-cower in the corner. He just sat back in the ergonomically perfect chair he had designed and watched the show.
Even when the lights conveniently went out, Duke is pretty sure Luke managed to see everything.
“Are you sure?” Duke asks with obviously false sincerity, “I didn’t say anything until the end when I told you to drop your weapons. I’ve got the symbol, the tech, the moves. Maybe my cowl is the wrong shape?”
He can’t help the amused smile that tugs up on his lips as the crooks turn red when he purposefully draws their attention to the only spot where his skin is exposed, and their gazes quickly drop to the floor. Since officially accepting the mantle Batman from Bruce a few months ago, he’s had a lot of fun at the expense of Gotham’s criminal element when they can’t resist commenting.
“Just cuff us, man,” one of them finally huffs.
There’s a snort of laughter from the other side of the office while Duke takes out the handcuffs and starts restraining the kidnappers, the buzz on his belt letting him know the police are on their way up.
“I’m just screwing with you guys,” he says playfully, “I know it’s because of my dazzling smile.”
This time it’s one of the crooks who gives an amused snort just as the police make their entrance.
20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.
A comfy seat, a laptop (I’ve been less productive since I replaced my laptop with a tablet and have to choose between that and my desk), music for background noise, someone has locked me out of all social media, including Discord, and they’ve graciously cleaned my house so I don’t have to. Plenty of snacks, mostly like fruit and crackers but some chocolate as well. And a thermos of coffee that refills itself.
But seriously, my house when it’s clean and I have a laptop so I can sit on the couch with my dogs is the perfect place to write when I can just get myself to zone in and not let things distract me.
23. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?
Ummmmmmmmmmmm..... Maybe Finders Keepers? Because I really like the idea and, even though I just reread it a couple days ago and it wasn’t as bad as I remembered, I still think it could use some work.
Not a revision, because I love Therapy the way it is, but I am planning on rewriting it for a Gen audience. Just because I feel like there are a lot of valid points in the fic that are inaccessible to people who don’t want to read BruJay.
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Lake Trip
By: SassyShoulderAngel319
Fandom/Character(s): Young Justice - Jason Todd/Robin
Rating: PG-11/T-
Original Idea: Just came to me in the shower.
Notes: (Masterlist)(By Character)(About Me) Takes place sometime between S1 and S2, after Kaldur’s “betrayal.” ( @what-even-is-thiss coined the term “Mud Fic” for a piece of fic that has no context, and that’s what this is.) Also I will admit I didn’t realize how long this was until I finished it and highlighted it all to bring over here... 1,932 words...
@welovegroot @jason-redhood @jason-todd-squad
^^^^^
“Robin!” I shouted, watching the second boy to take up the mantle fall off the tube being pulled behind the speedboat in the lake.
Conner raised the orange flag, signaling to other boaters not to come near because there was someone in the water. The boat slowed down, under Nightwing’s careful driving skills, and started to turn to circle back to Robin.
“Wait. Where is he?” Artemis asked.
Robin’s head wasn’t bobbing around.
After a moment, his life jacket—the one with the worn-out straps that Conner had advised against wearing and Robin had retorted not to tell him how to live his life—popped to the surface.
“He’s still under,” Garfield said, voice shaking a little.
Nightwing swore under his breath and as Conner moved to hand the flag to Artemis and take his shirt off to dive in.
From my position at the bow of the boat, I jumped to my feet, moved the window out of the way, ran down the boat, jumped up the back bench like it was stairs, and launched myself over the two-and-a-half-foot aft deck, diving in.
I hit hard. The angled plane of my chest smacked into the surface hard due to the angle I dove in on making my chest parallel to the water. The impact knocked the breath out of my lungs as I plunged deep under the surf, wasting no time in heading in the direction Robin had gone under. Once my entire lower body was underwater, the violet scales of my tail appeared from under my skin. My two legs melded together and turned into my tail. With a high-pitched, dolphin-like whistle, I used my echolocation to look for Robin in the murky lake water.
I got a hit a moment later, ahead of me. I pushed harder, trying to reach him.
The rest of the team knew I was Atlantean. They just didn’t know about my tail. Kaldur had legs and lived in Atlantis—so they didn’t even suspect that I wasn’t a biped one-hundred-percent of the time.
After mere seconds, Robin’s unconscious form emerged from the murk. His ankle was caught in some sort of aquatic vegetation—the freshwater variety that I wasn’t familiar with.
With a twist and a flick of my tail I was down at Robin’s ankle, freeing it from its tangle with the plant.
I swam back up and held his back to my chest, hauling him so his head could break water.
By the time we both broke surface, I pretended to take a deep breath of air. They knew I could breathe underwater but they also knew the transition between breathing one to the other could be a little rough.
“Aquamarine!” Nightwing called. I never told him my actual name since he’d never told me his. So he was Nightwing to me and I was Aquamarine to him.
I shook my hair out of my face. “He’s not breathing! He got caught!” I shouted. The boat was getting closer off to the side. I looked around wildly. If I pulled myself onto the aft deck of the boat, I would reveal my tail to everyone. Which I wasn’t sure if I was ready to do yet. “I can’t give him CPR on an unstable boat. He needs solid ground… I’ll take him back to shore. It’s faster than the boat.”
“You want your life vest?” Artemis called.
“Nope! I’m Atlantean!” I kept Robin in the lifeguard hold, his chin cupped in my hand to keep him abovewater. “I’ll meet you guys at the shore nearest the cabin!” I gestured behind us at the shore. It was a half-mile away at least. I could still swim that faster than the boat could get back to the marina. Even with Robin braced against my chest. “And I’ll try to call an ambulance while I’m at it!”
“Just be careful!” Nightwing called. “That’s my brother!”
“I know. I will be!” I started backstroking away from the boat with one arm, fighting the minor current caused by the boats.
“Here!” Conner called, throwing the orange flag at me. “Keep that up if you can. So you don’t get run over.”
“Sure thing.” I took it in my hand and raised it. Using my tail, I started swimming toward the shore. Robin in one arm, on top of me, and the flag in the other arm. The boat sped off when I’d swum a safe distance away.
A half-mile swim was nothing with my tail and my powers. I urged the current to aid me rather than fight me and a decent wave washed Robin and I ashore in a few moments. When my legs were no longer submerged, my violet tail vanished. I dumped the flag in the rocky sand and rolled Robin onto his side. His two mirrored curls on his forehead dripped to the sand.
I used my hydrokinetic powers to draw the water out of his lungs. “C’mon, Rob, breathe,” I pleaded while also grabbing my phone from the bag I’d left on the beach.
He didn’t move. His pulse was weak under my fingers when I checked it.
“Fine,” I muttered, pushing him onto his back and starting chest compressions with one hand, the other dialing 911. Thankfully Atlantean muscles were dense to withstand the pressure of deep water, so I was strong enough to do compressions with one hand until I could plant my phone between my shoulder and my face. While it rang, that was exactly what I did. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“Hi, I’m at Happy Harbor Lake and my friends and I were out boating and one of my friends flew off the tube and smacked the water hard enough to knock him out. His ankle got caught in some plant life underwater and it held him down. He inhaled some water. I got him to dribble it out and I’m giving him CPR but his pulse is weak. He and I are alone on shore for the moment because we were close and I couldn’t do CPR while on a rocking boat. I think we need an ambulance. He’s not breathing. Our friends had to get back to the marina first. I can give you the address of the cabin we’re staying the night in that I can literally see from right here.”
“Alright.”
I recited the address while still doing chest compressions. I took a moment to breathe into his mouth when the dispatch lady was talking, confirming that the ambulance would be sent ASAP.
My hair was sopping wet and I was probably ruining my phone but I had to stay on the line. I could get a new phone, but I couldn’t get a new Robin.
^^^^^
Jason woke up with a huge pain in his chest. He groaned.
“Oh. Yeah. I had to separate your ribs from your sternum,” a familiar voice said.
He peeled his eyes open. Aquamarine, the Atlantean who replaced Kaldur after his betrayal, was sitting in the uncomfortable wood chair of a hospital room with her legs crossed, looking tired.
“How come?” Jason complained.
“You weren’t breathing and your pulse was weak. I had to do CPR. It’s just cartilage. It’ll reform and you’ll be fine.”
“Where… where’s Batman?”
“On his way. Nightwing and the rest of the team are in the waiting room. But since I’m the one who did all the work in saving your life, they figured I should be the one to be in here with you when you woke up.” Aquamarine threw some of her hair off her shoulder. “Sorry about breaking your ribs off your sternum. I’m stronger than the average human and it’s also necessary for proper CPR.”
“I know,” Jason said with a small grunt of pain. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.” He paused, holding his ribs. “Thank you. For saving me.”
“It’s no problem. That’s what we do as a team. We look out for each other.”
^^^^^
I smiled at Robin gently. He looked pretty bruised from the impact of falling off the tube and me giving him compressions, but I knew him. He was a resilient kid.
He grunted as he shifted on the hospital bed, holding his ribs.
“Hey, try not to move, Rob,” I said. “Your ribs and sternum are separated. The cartilage needs to reseal them.”
Robin settled. He had a cute face under the sunglasses and mask and swim goggles. I’d never seen his whole face bare until entering the hospital room. “Sorry, Aqua,” he said. “Just—” He winced. “—tryin’ to find a—more comfortable position.”
I made a face. “Should I go get Nightwing?”
“No!” Robin’s exclamation made him clutch his ribs but wasn’t loud enough to be heard from the waiting room. He shook his head. “No. Don’t call Nightwing. Please.” His eyes—sharp blue—bored into mine.
“Okay. I won’t call Nightwing,” I said.
Robin relaxed. “Thanks.” He winced again and held his torso.
There was a long stretch of silence between the two of us during which I stared out the window toward the sky.
“Hey, Aquamarine?” Robin asked, breaking the silence.
“Hmm?” I looked away from the window.
“I dreamt about you while I was out,” he said.
“That right?” I smiled.
He nodded. “Yeah. I dreamt you had a mermaid tail. Probably because you’re Atlantean. It was purple. That’s how you saved me so fast,” he said.
“Huh,” I said. “Interesting.” I rubbed the back of my neck. That probably meant I’d have to tell him that I actually do have a mermaid tail sometime soon. When he didn’t come back up and his life jacket was broken, I shouldn’t have been so reserved at keeping my little secret from the rest of the team. I still didn’t know what I was so afraid of. An emergency like Robin possibly drowning could have been a fine moment. But I’d resisted. For no good reason.
“Yeah. Anyway…” He reached up and touched his face. “Oh. My goggles are gone.”
I nodded.
He shrugged. “Welp. If I stayed on this team much longer you’d find out my name anyway. ‘Sup? I’m Jason.”
I smiled and gave him my name in return. “Nice to meet you, Jason.”
“You too.” He shot me a wink.
The door to the hospital room burst open—and a very familiar man burst in.
Bruce Wayne.
Wait. Bruce Wayne?
Batman was Bruce Wayne?!
Why did that make so much sense?
I didn’t know a whole lot about the cultures of the surface world yet, but I knew who Bruce Wayne was. The team talked about him a lot.
“Jason!” Wayne exclaimed. Then realized I was in the room. “Oh. Aquamarine. What are you doing here?”
“She saved my life, B,” Robin—Jason—said.
Wayne looked between me and Jason, blue-grey eyes settling on me. “You did?”
“I’m Atlantean,” I said. “Swam him a half-mile to shore in a lifeguard hold, drew the water out of his lungs with hydrokinetic magic and gave him CPR until the rest of the team came to give me a break and the ambulance picked him up.” I stood and held my hand out for him to shake, giving him my name.
“Thank you. For saving him,” Wayne said.
“It’s what a good team does for each other,” I replied, looking past him to Jason, whose crooked grin made his eyes twinkle with mirth and mischief. “Look out for one another.”
#Lake Trip#Jason Todd#Jason Todd imagine#Jason Todd fanfiction#Young Justice#young justice imagine#young justice fanfiction#YJ#yj fanfiction#YJ imagine#Red Hood#red hood imagine#red hood fanfiction#Robin#robin imagine#robin fanfiction#DC#DC imagine#dc fanfiction#BatFam#batfam imagine#batfam fanfiction
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Appetence [1/?]
AO3 Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/20251420/chapters/47997634
Blanket Disclaimer
Summary: Red Robin is investigating the disappearance of a friend and stumbles into a spot of supernatural trouble. He doesn't expect to be saved by Jason Todd, miraculously alive five years after his death and now with the inexplicable ability to commune with the dead. Meanwhile, when Jason returned to Gotham he meant to maintain a low profile and not get involved with Bat business. That was before he found out how hot his Replacement is.
Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)
JayTimBingo Prompts This Chapter: #cemetery #haunting #relics
Canon-Compliance: Alternate Universe; Jason still died but was not found by Talia when he was resurrected. All other events mostly follow the same chronology as New Earth continuity, with mentions made to events in New 52
Author’s Note(s): My attention span was really terrible today and I couldn't focus on either of my two other fics even though the next chapters of both are completely planned out. So I'm posting the start of the third (and final) story that I'm doing for the JayTimWeek/Month challenge. Also, I'm really excited about this one. I spent more time planning this than either of the other two and I can't wait to hear what you guys think!I've got work stuff to do tomorrow so there may not be anything updated until Friday.
Beta Reader: I’ll get back to you on that.
________________________________________________________________
The Bat-Signal cuts through the dark and hazy clouds lingering above Gotham City, and for a split-second, Jason Todd has the urge to drop everything and race for the roof of the GCPD Headquarters. It’s hard to ignore the nervous jump of excitement in his stomach, the phantom sensation of a domino mask on his face and the heavy drag of a cape at his shoulders.
Which makes no sense, since it’s been at least five years since I even wore that shit.
Taking a drag of his cigarette, the smoke mixing with the familiar summer smog, Jason turns his back on Gotham’s literal beacon of hope and steels himself against nocturnal threats of his own. The city is for the caped crew—because apparently, the Bat has a posse now, he thinks with only a hint of a bitter sneer—and Jason has been fighting in a different arena for quite some time now.
He takes a final drag of the cigarette, and then grinds it beneath his boots, and shoves his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. It’s a weathered and worn thing that reminds him of one Willis Todd wore in one of the few memories Jason has of him that doesn’t involve alcohol or fists. He thinks it’s less pretentious looking than a trench coat and probably gives off fewer ‘creepy motherfucker’ vibes like the sartorial choices of certain other people. It’s also less likely to snag on things when he needs to make a quick exit while digging up graves.
Yeah, it’s a thing in his line of work.
Gotham Cemetery is a sprawling necropolis, as dark and forbidding now as it was the night he dug himself out of his own grave. Half a decade of Gotham-style tender, loving negligence has left the somber green hills overgrown and the majority of the old tombstones fallen or rotting.
You’d think in a city with the highest homicide rate in the country, the mayor would spring for better maintenance. Then again, it’s Gotham. The dead don’t pay taxes, so fuck ‘em.
Which…enough said.
Gotham and the world think Jason Todd-Wayne is dead and has been for five years now; in a way, it’s the truth. He’s no longer anything like the boy that was beaten to death by a psychotic clown, no longer the shrimp who fastidiously dyed his hair black and jumped into someone else’s cape and pixie boots just so he didn’t have to be his own screwup self anymore. He outgrew wanting to be Dick a long time ago, outgrew wanting to be Bruce, too, and embraced a whole new other set of skills to put him apart from them.
Most occultists and even homo magi need to put conscious effort and intent into calling up or even seeing a spirit. Ever since Jason died and then mysteriously got better, the dead appear to him as blatantly and a solid as the living.
John told him he was a fool to come back here.
“Someone with your gifts, they’ll drive you bloody mad,” his mentor warned him when he left London. “And I ain’t talking about the dead ones, neither.”
“You’re just saying that because Batman wouldn’t hold your hand that one time,” Jason retorted, shrugging off the concern. He is Gotham born and bred, his blood is in those streets, and he has always wanted to come home, even if it wasn’t necessarily to a stately manor or its inhabitants.
He clenches his fists.
Inhabitants that wasted no time in replacing him after he died. Jason was rotting away in fucking Arkham, and Bruce was shoving another kid into the tights.
If it didn’t involve seeing him, I would hunt him down and break his jaw.
He surveys the graveyard proper. The everyday observer considers cemeteries to be places of peace and eternal rest; quiet, if a little bit spooky. To Jason, they’re as gruesome as any major battlefield.
Spirits pack the way before him; some of them look relatively normal if dated by their clothes; many others are disfigured and bloody from whatever killed them, whether natural or unnatural. They clamor and crowd, eternally shouting to be heard, or screaming as they relive their deaths in their own personal purgatories.
In the beginning, that din almost drove Jason insane. Bruce’s teachings kept him rational as long as it could in the months after he woke up, and then John’s training helped him temper his own awareness further. By now, he can function almost normally, automatically filtering the voices out as he goes about his daily business; it’s only in places like this, where the dead outnumber the living, where it’s harder.
Jason reaches up, adjusting the noise filters in his ears—mechanical devices that need regular winding but are still more reliable than anything running on electricity of batteries. They’re like steampunk hearing aids, only instead of magnifying sound, they drown out the constant moan of the ghosts when he can’t do it himself. Just one of many methods of protection he’s learned over the years. Some are physical, like the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist or the bottle of holy water in his pocket; others—spells and symbols and mantras—are carved all over his body in tattoos and blood writing. Anything to keep the otherworld away.
“Personal space is a key to a medium’s sanity,” John told him once. “That and a good bottle of single malt scotch.”
Jason ignores the moss-covered path that winds through the larger and more prominent mausoleums. He deliberately doesn’t search out the one in the distance bearing the Wayne crest—
(Still remembers the feel of his fingernails splitting against the wood of the coffin, choking on clumps of soil and insects.)
—and instead seeks a small structure much farther away. It’s in the furthest part of the cemetery, the shabby section almost hidden by overgrown willows. Half of the name above the doorway is obscured by vines, but it’s easy for him to make out the name etched into the stone with bold letters.
HAYWOOD.
According to the public record, Sheila Haywood’s body was returned to Gotham at the same time as Jason Todd’s. Bruce paid for her funeral and internment, which was just as well since she had no other family, and then she was promptly forgotten about.
By everyone except Jason, it seems.
It took some doing and a few weeks tracking down everyone that had worked at the same refugee camp as his mother, but he’d finally managed to collect what possessions she left behind. A colleague of hers had put them aside when there appeared to be nothing of actual monetary value in them.
A gold coin, small bone carvings of stylized animals, dainty trinkets of garnets, amber and lapis lazuli, a compact mirror, some seashells, a decorative fan, quartz paperweight, and a brightly colored feather. There was a picture of Willis in there, too, young and almost Jason’s double. No picture of Jason, though, but he hadn’t expected it.
He kept the picture but left the rest in the small wooden box, which he now removes from his messenger bag and sets down in front of the stone bearing his mother’s name. He follows that with various tools and ingredients. Black candles arranged in a star shape around the box, a chalice, a jar of detritus—teff seeds, driftwood and soil, all from the place where she died—that he sprinkles around in a circle, a handful of smooth obsidian stones to mark a pentagram joining the candles, the dagger John gave him for his last birthday, vials of oil and holy water.
Murmuring a few protection oaths, he shrugs off his jacket, leaving his arms bare, and then digs out a pack of matches to light the candles; flickering shadows dance across the mausoleum walls. He takes up the chalice to combine the water and oil, and then reaches for the dagger.
Hate this part.
Training to ignore pain doesn’t mean it goes away, and he grits his teeth a little as he draws his blade across his forearm, not deep enough to nick anything vital, but enough that the blood runs easily into the chalice. Without bothering to bandage the wound, Jason holds up the chalice in front of him and centers himself.
“Phantasma inrequietum, te voco,” he intones. “Eloguiorum mei audi: Sheila Haywood, te nominas!“ The stagnant air in the mausoleum starts to pick up. “In nominee creatricis, te impero, hic locum decede.” Hand over the top of the chalice, he swirls the liquid within, and then tips it into the open keepsake box. “Per sanguinem hominis et per sanguinem filii tui, non remane et apage! ”He strikes a match and lobs it into the box, not even flinching as the whole thing flares into flame; he intends to watch it until it burns to nothing.
“That’s not going to work, you know.”
“Jesus fuck!” Jason explodes, whirling to the right and glaring at the interrupter. “What did I say about sneaking up on me? Or just—showing up around me in general?”
The apparition in front of him doesn’t look impressed.
Sheila is still beautiful—or, at least, the side of her body that isn’t covered with third-degree burns and sections of pulverized bone—and still sharp. Cold, untouchable and self-interested.
But unlike the way she was before, she’s all-too present in Jason’s life now.
“Goddamn it,” he snarls, and against every lesson John has ever given him, lashes out and knocks the candles and detritus hard enough to send it skidding across the floor. “What the hell. I’ve done everything. You had last rites, your body was cremated, I just torched the things that had any value to you, why the hell won’t you just move on?”
“You’re asking the wrong questions,” Sheila replies, as always.
Jason scowls. “And of course, you can’t just tell me.”
She gazes at him balefully, and he runs a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Sheila, we’ve been over this. You can’t stay here. One, you know spirits that stick around past their time go Dark Side, and I really don’t want to have to exorcise your spectral ass. Two, it’s fucking creepy for a twenty-year-old guy to be followed around by his mother wherever he goes. What the hell is keeping you here? What more do you want from me?”
“Your forgiveness,” she tells him patiently.
“I already forgave you. Years ago.”
“You still call me Sheila.”
“That’s your name.”
“I’m your mother.”
“Who sold me out and got me murdered.”
“See? You haven’t forgiven me.”
“I have. I’m just stating a fact, Jesus…”
“Apparently the cosmic balance doesn’t agree enough to let me move on,” the ghost says dryly. “And to think, I used to be an atheist.”
“This is total bullshit,” Jason snaps, grabbing his jacket and stalking out of the mausoleum in frustration.
Three years of this mediumship crap, and neither he nor John have ever been able to figure out why the ghost of Jason’s dead mother won’t stop haunting him. Wards and sutras that keep even the nastiest spirits away from Jason don’t even phase her, and she’s inexplicably coherent.
And persistent.
As Jason stalks back through the cemetery, he can sense her in his periphery, gliding along beside him, unconcerned with his irritation.
“Can you just…stay away from me? Like you did in the beginning?” he grumbles.
“You were just learning how to communicate without going insane. I wasn’t about to disrupt that.”
“How considerate of you.”
“I try.”
“Look, I’ve had enough of the ghost-stalker thing for today. I went out of my way for this, you know. I didn’t even want to come back here. And now I’m back to the fucking drawing board.”
“It may not have been a waste of a trip,” she replies and vanishes.
“Oh, you can fuck off when it’s convenient for you,” he grumbles, though he already senses what she was speaking of.
Several yards away, a small boy, maybe eight, is clinging forlornly to an angel headstone. Translucent tears stream down his cheeks, but every now and again his face shifts, like a television caught between two channels, and his mouth widens into an unnatural smile.
Jason could have gone the rest of his life without seeing that smile again.
Still, he sighs and heads toward the kid.
“Hey,” he says, keeping his voice low and maintaining a safe distance from the boy, whose head whips up to stare at Jason in sudden fear.
“Who are you?” he asks, voice thick with tears.
“I’m Jason. You okay, kid?”
“I can’t find my mom,” the boy murmurs, wiping at his face. “I keep going looking, but I forget the way home. And then…I always end up back here.”
He sounds on the verge of tears again; it’s something Jason can understand.
With the puzzling exception of Sheila, who appears to come and go as she pleases, most ghosts are stuck in certain patterns and paths when they die, frozen in an infinite loop until they break themselves out of it or until some arbitrary higher power decides they’ve suffered enough. And for some reason, Jason can break them out of it.
“You could always try again,” he suggests. “I think you’ll manage it this time.”
The boy shudders. “There’s scary people here.”
No arguing with that.
“I know. I see them, too.” Jason glances at the headstone, scanning the name and dates. “Your name’s Cole?”
“Yeah.”
“If you’re missing, there are probably people looking for you. They might have posted something online about it. I’ll check it out, but it could take a bit.” He holds up his phone, glad to see it’s at full charge and bars; that’s hit or miss around so many ghosts. “Can you hang around here until I’m done?”
The boy nods, silent, face flicking back and forth between sadness and the unnatural smile.
Fucking Joker…
Jason does a quick search of the kid’s name, pulling up obituaries in the Gotham Gazette in the past year. It doesn’t take long for an article to pop up concerning the Joker’s latest escape and a list of the dead.
He narrows his eyes, startling the kid.
“It’s fine,” he lies. “The internet is just really slow.”
“Or our phone is really bad,” Cole tells him with the blunt honesty of a kid that grew up constantly surrounded by functional technology.
“Everyone’s a critic…”
Another quick search for the parents, phone lists and social media, and he’s got an address. Crime Alley, of course. He brings it up on his map and enables a view of the street, holding the phone out to the boy. “Is this your house?”
Relief settles and settles over his face. “Yeah.”
“What if I helped you find your way home?”
Cole makes a suspicious face. “I’m not supposed to go anywhere with strangers.”
“Which is really smart. But you see, I’m not really a stranger.”
“Oh yeah? Why not?”
“Well, I’ll let you in on a secret.” Jason bends down, conspiratorial, and Cole’s eyes gleam the way any kid gets when hearing a secret. “When I was a little older than you…I was Robin.”
The boy gapes. “Like…Batman and Robin?”
“Exactly.”
“No way!”
“Way,” Jason smirks, crossing his arms. “And I’ll tell you all about it on the way to your house. Including the time that I stole the wheels off the Batmobile.”
“No way!”
Despite his scandalized disbelief, the kid is obviously hooked.
Jason’s heart clenches a bit at the open curiosity on Cole’s face, the reality hitting him that this boy will never have a chance to do anything mischievous or fun ever again.
From one dead boy to another, this sucks…
As he leads him out of the cemetery, Jason starts to tell the little ghost about his life. He edits out the less pleasant bits, like dying and returning to life half brain dead with the ability to see and hear ghosts.
He figures a good story is the least he can do for the boy.
⁂⁂⁂
Next Chapter
#jaytimweek2019#jaytimweek#jaytim#jaytimbingo2019#fanfic#jaytim fic#jason todd#tim drake#prompt: supernatural#romance#drama#mystery#angst#cemetery#haunting#relics
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1.5k Followers Milestone Drabbles 9/10
Zantanna anon here: I'm here to get Terra to write more Z stuff bc she's so good at it. More adventures with Z and her civilian s/o. Maybe her s/o stays with her at the base after their apartment is wrecked by a villain? Just cute awkward interactions with the team and protective Zatanna. Bonus points if: They get startled by a bat family member appearing out of no where. Drabble would be great if it's still open. -Anonymous
Z anon I dearly love you. I also love this series. At least I think at this point it’s a series. Anyway this would be set sometime after the first drabble from the Halloween event that you can read here! I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the Watchtower doesn’t have permanent residence options or it’s just that no one lives up there. Either way I gave it some rooms that are just for temporary use in order to make this drabble work -Terra
Tags: @ljblve @loverbug1123 @aworldwideapart @wallywestie
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You gripped the mug in your hand, the warm liquid seeping through the ceramic into your fingers which gripped with a determined force as you willed the rest of your body to not betray your fear. You were lost inside your own mind, your eyes wide and blank as they stared into the contents of your drink. As if the faint steam rising from the surface would have given you the answers you sought, or the comfort you wished you still felt in your home.
There was movement around you. Footsteps echoing off the walls, the sight crunch of a boot on broken glass that had the corners of your mouth tighten as you fought off a wince. Your apartment was in utter shambles: pictures lay strewn on the ground, torn off the walls with broken frames and shattered glass littering the floors, most of your furniture was either pushed over or destroyed, cabinets were left hanging open with most of their contents joining the glass. At some point, you dimly registered the dip of your tattered couch as your girlfriend, Zatanna, sat down beside you.
“Whoever was here is long gone.” Batman’s voice broke you out of your own thoughts. You felt your stomach drop, knowing that they would just keep coming back until they were caught.
Zatanna noticed your frown, one of her arms coming to rest on your back while the other rested on your forearm. “Don’t worry, we will find them. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.” You didn’t really feel that much at ease from her words, your eyes taking stock at the destruction that was once your home.
“What happened to the protection wards you had placed around the area?” Batman was addressing Zatanna directly, but you could still feel his gaze on you from underneath his cowl.
“They were destroyed. No wards are perfect, anyone with a high degree of arcane ability could have gotten around them.”
You felt your attention drifting as they continued. Part of you knew this would have happened at some point, but it didn’t make the situation any less terrifying for you. Someone had been in your home, looking for you, or looking for Zatanna. Both options fueled the fear churning deep in your gut. Zatanna had always been careful, always tried to look out for you, to keep the bad parts of her job far away and distant from you. But now everything felt so real, so prevalent. The dangers were real, and you had been a fool to think that you would always be insulated from them.
Someone dangerous had been inside your home, and you knew that you were no longer safe there. You would have to move, but to where? You didn’t have the funds to pick up and change locations, your shitty, minimum wage job didn’t leave you much in the way of extra funds after bills. You could move in with Zatanna? You mentally shook your head. Maybe you were ready to take that next step in your relationship with her, but you weren’t sure if Zatanna was, and you wouldn’t dare force something as big as that on her in a situation like this. But in truth, what other options did you really have? You couldn’t stay with family, if the person who did this was after you, it would only put them in danger too.
You were so wrapped up in your own mind, that it took Zatanna several tries of calling your name for you to finally notice. “Hey, are you okay?” Her face was furrowed with concern, and you felt a pang in your own heart at seeing her poorly hidden guilt. This wasn’t her fault, despite how much she might think it was in this moment.
You placed one of your hands over hers. “I will be, I’m just a little shaken up right now.” You gave a small smile as she squeezed your hand, though it quickly went away as you continued. “Where am I supposed to go now? I can’t stay here.”
“We were just discussing that.” Zatanna said. Her grip on your hand tightened. “We believe that until we can be sure you’re no longer in any danger, that the safest place for you right now is among the rest of the League and the Team.”
You frowned. “I thought Mount Justice blew up, and the Hall was decimated?”
“They did and were, but you wouldn’t have been staying there anyway. To ensure your protection you’d need to be in a place where you’d be most protected, where the League could keep a constant watch for your well-being.” Batman began, coming around to stand in the center of your field of vision. He looked taller in the moonlight emanating from your sliding door to your balcony, illuminating his silhouette.
Realization washed over you, your eyes growing wide. “You mean…”
“Yes. You’d be staying in the Watchtower until we could be sure you’re no longer in any danger.”
You felt the air rush from your lungs. The Watchtower? You stared at Batman in pure disbelief at what you heard come from his mouth. Perhaps your look came off more as panic than the shock that currently paralyzed your body and thankfully replaced your fear, because Zatanna was quick to speak up.
“You wouldn’t be staying there alone of course! I’d be staying there too when I’m not looking for the person who did this. That way you wouldn’t be on your own.”
You nodded your thanks, gaining some control back over your body. “Sorry I was just…surprised I guess that I’d be staying in the actual Watchtower.” You felt a little embarrassed in the moment and tried to quickly move on. “I should probably start packing what’s left of my things.” You started to get up, and Zatanna followed you to your room.
“I’ll help you out. Some of the other Leaguer’s will be here later to bring what we don’t take with us the first time.” You nodded and made your way to the remains of your room, stepping around the glass on the ground. You picked up a few of the salvageable pictures as you went, some of friends and family, others of you and Zatanna. You set them down carefully on your bed as you searched for a suitcase. You went to open your sliding closet door, and shirked when it came off the track, falling to the ground with a loud thud and making you jump back.
“Oops?” You said as you looked over to your girlfriend who had whipped around when she heard the noise. She was on the other end of your room seeing what clothes she could salvage from your dresser. She just let out a small chuckled and turned back to her work. You did the same, still trying to clam your racing heartbeat. Thankfully, your luggage was relatively in the same corner of your closet and largely undamaged. You set them down on your bed and began the long and careful process of picking through the remnants of your belongings and packing them away.
The first rays of dawn would begin to appear over the horizon by the time you and Zatanna had finished your task. In the new light, you felt your heart sink some more in your chest as you could more clearly take stock of the damage that had been done. Zatanna placed her hand in yours, as if sensing your thoughts.
“We’ll get through this, together.” You just nodded and squeezed her hand in yours. She gave you a small smile, and then moved to grab some of your luggage. “We should start getting everything to the Watchtower, unless we’re forgetting something?”
“No, I think we have everything that survived ready to go.” She just nodded and handed you a few of the suitcases, following you out the door of your apartment for the last time. On your way you passed by the rest of your belongings piled up by the door, remembering that Batman said the rest of the League would stop by later to bring the rest. It was strange for you to see that pile, all that remained of your things. This apartment had been your first, and even though it wasn’t the best one by far, it was still the first place you could call your own. In a few ways, it hit you hard to know that this was how that first chapter of your life had ended, a few boxes and suitcases being all that remained.
On the journey to the Watchtower, you spent most of it lost within your own head. Still, you were reeling from the events that brought you to this moment. The whole time, Zatanna was right next to you, some part of her always touching you in silent reassurance. That small warm feeling you felt within your chest was welcome. In truth, you weren’t able to process much by the time you actually did arrive to the orbiting station. The ride up in M’gann’s borrowed bioship had been silent, letting your exhaustion catch up to you and hold fast. Racking your brain through the haze, you realized it had been more than twenty-four hours since you had last slept.
Zatanna had murmured something to the person waiting when you two walked off the bioship, his skin was dark with black tattoo’s running up the length of his arms. Cal? Kelder? You frowned as you tried to remember all the times Zatanna had talked about her hero friends, and match the descriptions to the names. Before you had a chance to ask, he turned around and left after giving you a respectful nod.
“I asked Kaldur to wait and hold the introductions until after you’ve had a chance to rest. I know you’re probably exhausted.”
You nodded, grateful, and let yourself be led down a separate hallway. The room you ended up in was actually rather cozy if you were in more of an alert mental state to take note of it. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small enough to feel cramped in either. It had just enough space for a couple dressers, a closet, a bed, and a small attached bathroom with some space between everything to walk around. Across from the door there was a large window which showcased quite the breathtaking view of the cosmos and Earth. Through bleary eyes, you could just barely register where the bed was as you let the artificial gravity do its job and let you flop onto the soft blankets. There was a chuckle above you, and you wasted no time in pulling back the covers and making yourself comfortable.
Before you could drift off, you felt your girlfriend place a light kiss onto your forehead. “Sleep well, I’ll see you later okay?”
Wait, no. You didn’t want her to leave you alone. “Zeeee.” You knew you sounded whiny, but you couldn’t care less. She turned around to look with an eyebrow raised. You held up the end of the covers in invitation. “Please?”
She sighed but had a smile on her face “Only because you said please.” You pulled her into your arms once she laid down and finally succumbing, drifted off.
Hours later when you finally opened your eyes, you were thrown off by the unfamiliar surroundings. You sat up and looked around the room, your eyes widening in shock when you looked out the window and saw your whole ass planet filling three quarters of the glass. That’s when the events of the previous night came flooding back through your mind. You felt your heart rate start to pick up and had to take a moment to force yourself to take a stabilizing breath before you could freak out. You felt the bed move next to you and you glanced down to your right to see your Zatanna also in the process of waking up, you felt a little guilty about moving now that you remembered she was next to you.
“Mmh. Morning.” She mumbled, bringing one hand up to rub the sleep from her eyes.
“If it was morning when we fell asleep, I think it’s more likely that it’s turning night before anything else.”
“Good point.” She sat up in the bed and wrapped her arms around you, looking up at you from where she had her head resting against your shoulder. “How are you holding up.”
“I’m still kind of processing everything, but I think I’ll be okay.”
She nodded in understanding and moved to stand up. “I’ll let you get ready, and after that I’ll take you on a tour of the place, so you know where everything’s at. Sound good?”
“Sounds good, but don’t you also need a shower?”
She smirked, and you knew exactly what was coming. “ekam em naelc!” There was a shimmering aura around her body for a brief moment and when it disappeared, it had her clothes and hair looking a lot fresher than they had been a moment before.
You huffed. “Using magic is cheating.” She just laughed and blew a kiss at you as she started to walk out of the room, mentioning about being right back as soon as she had a chance to talk to Kaldur about something.
True to her word, she was back in the room and waiting for you by the time you emerged dressed and ready from the small bathroom. As you let Zatanna lead you out the door and begin the tour, you could feel the pit of anxiety in your stomach start to grow. Just around the next corner could be anyone from Superman to Robin and every kind of hero in between. You were just an ordinary civilian who happened to be dating one of them, you didn’t really think you had much business being right in the middle of their HQ at all, yet here you were being shown the place that would be your home for the foreseeable future.
By the time the tour was over you were struggling to remember all the different hallways and the places they led. You completely forgot about the fact that you would be meeting the Justice League’s covert team that you would be sharing a floor with until you turned the corner and saw them all gathered there in the middle of the grove that lined the bottom of the station. You felt your heart flutter in apprehension and tried to keep your gaze down as you were led over. Thankfully, the uneven ground as you transitioned from metal floor to grass was a good enough excuse to do so.
Before you could even get a word out in the way of introductions, the sudden appearance of a teen in a bright yellow and red suit on your right had you shrieking and tripping over and exposed root, falling (very gracefully) onto your ass in front of everyone.
“HeynicetomeetyouI’mtheoneandonlyKidFlashandohnoI’msosorryhereletmehelpyouup-”
“Bart.” Zatanna’s voice was firm and he looked up at her with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, didn’t realize superspeed would have them feeling the mode.”
“I’m fine, really.” You said, standing up and dusting yourself off. “You just… caught me off guard. I’m not exactly used to this kind of stuff all the time.” At a much slower pace, the rest of the team came up and introduced themselves, making your mind spin more as you did your best to also remember the faces to the names. By the time you two made it back to your room hours later, you were mentally taxed by all the information.
Seeing your state, Zatanna chuckled and kissed your forehead. “I know it’s a lot of information to take in all at once, but I’ll be here with you the whole time, and the Team is here to help too so don’t be afraid to ask them if you need it okay?” You made a noncommittal noise and let yourself be positioned until the two of you were cuddling on your bed. “We’ll start looking for places for you to move into tomorrow okay? We’ll find whoever did this before long, and I want to make sure you’ll have a place lined up for when you’re ready for it.”
You smiled and kissed her goodnight before allowing yourself to drift off once again.
The days started to blend together, and most of the other introductions to the team went a lot less chaotic than the first one, a fact you were thankful for. Bart seemed to actively go out of his way to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally scare you with his speed again, making sure to deliberately not use it if you were in the same room as him. Mainly, you found yourself hanging around the some of the older members of the Team, the ones who had known Zatanna the longest -and the ones less prone to making you jump out of your skin, even accidentally- and some of the younger members of the League who got along well with Zatanna. Dr. Fate had approached you at one point, and awkward wasn’t an adequate enough word to describe how that went. Zatanna had told you all about what happened to her father, the deal he had struck with Nabu to spare your girlfriend from that fate, and you felt uneasy whenever he was around, knowing how much emotional pain Zatanna still experienced over the whole thing. Thankfully, Nabu seemed capable of taking a hint, and made it a point not to stick around you if it could be helped. When Zatanna wasn’t out looking for the one responsible, she was practically glued to your side. You weren’t complaining, this was the most you two had ever seen each other in go and falling asleep with her next to you every night was equally as good, though of course the circumstances could have always been better.
Each day she promised you she was getting closer to ending this so you could work on moving into the new apartment she had helped you pick out, one that you were assured would actually be kept safe. The question to ask her to move in with you had been on the tip of your tongue ever since, but you still hadn’t worked up the courage to actually ask her yet. Every single time you thought you would actually get to ask her, you’d back out at the last second, mentally kicking yourself for being so afraid to ask.
“Hey you must be Zatanna’s girlfriend it’s nice to meet y-“ Robin stopped his sentence in his tracks when you jumped and let out an embarrassingly loud shriek. You hadn’t heard him come in. As it was you had your hand over your chest to calm your racing heart, taking deep breaths to aid the process.
“I’m sorry! You just came out of nowhere I didn’t hear you.” You were quick to sputter out an apology when you had calmed down enough to see that your newest guest looked a little guilty.
“It’s okay, if anything it was my fault. There’s kind of a thing going around that us bats have a tendency to just ‘show up’ and I guess it’s kind of true.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sorry for almost giving you a heart attack.”
You let out a small laugh. “Yeah well in all honesty, I’ve been told that I’m just a little bit on the jumpy side.” The conversation lapsed into silence, both of you unsure of where to go from there. “So… you’re… Robin?”
At the mention of his codename, he seemed to jerk back into awareness. “Huh? Yes, that’s me. Nice to meet you uh…”
You quickly gave him your name and shook his hand when he offered it. Minor heart attack aside, he seemed to be just as slightly awkward as you were when it came to social interactions, something you were admittedly thankful for as it quickly became a bonding point between the two of you.
That’s how Zatanna found you some time later. She darted into the room, calling your name with a certain glint in her eye and a wide smile that had your interest piqued. She was just a hair on the breathless side as she spoke. “I got him! You’re not in danger anymore!”
“I’ll give you two the room.” Robin said, nodding to the two of you before slipping around Zatanna and disappearing around the corner.
“Really? Who was it?” You were smiling now too, happy that you wouldn’t have that vague sense of looming danger over your head anymore.
“Wotan actually, but don’t worry I made sure he won’t be willing to pull that kind of stunt again. I also made sure he wouldn’t have the means to track or find out where you’ll be living.” You pulled her into a hug, relived that you were no longer in any kind of danger. On the other hand, you had grown accustomed to the bustle of the Watchtower and had also grown to like having the other members of the League and the Team to talk to. Talking to them helped you feel closer to your girlfriend in a way you didn’t even know you were missing out on until now, being a spectator to an aspect of her life that you hadn’t really known too much about before.
Most of your things had already been moved into the apartment when you had secured the lease, all that was left was to pack up the couple suitcases you had been living out of during your stay on the station. Saying your goodbyes to the Team was a little harder than you’d ever thought it would have been when you first got there, but you were able to placate most of their upset with a promise to visit, and have some of them over at a later date. Whereas the ride up to the Watchtower had been silent, with you lost in your own head, the ride back to Earth was full of lively conversation, both you and Zatanna talking about anything and everything as you used to before this whole thing had happened.
The apartment was way nicer than the dingy shithole you had originally rented, and you weren’t even paying that much more than you were before, managing to secure a miraculously good deal for an apartment that was practically twice the size of your old one. Zatanna wouldn’t mention how she had managed to get a deal so good, and you weren’t quite sure you wanted to know. The only information you had been able to get from her was that she had help from a “friend in Gotham.”
You left your suitcases by your bedroom door, taking a moment to relax on your crappy, temporary furniture with Zatanna. Your thumbs stroked the glass in your hands. The question was still there, lingering, just waiting for you to finally finish taking the plunge. “You know, this place seems pretty big. I think I’m going to feel lonely here all by myself.” You caught met ger gaze as she looked back at you, her eyes asking if you were saying what she thought you were saying. You took a deep breath; it was now or never. “Though I wouldn’t be opposed to sharing it with you… that is… if you wanted to.” You were nervous as you waited for her answer.
She pulled you in for a passionate kiss. “I thought you’d never ask.”
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Text
TimKon Week Day 3
Prompt: Hurt/Comfort
This is the final chapter to The Key to Tim’s Heart. I will be writing a separate story for the last two days.
You can also read it on AO3
Wally West watched as his partner paced across the floor like a nervous bird. "Babe, this isn't helping. I know you are worried about how this weekend can go."
Dick stopped in mid-pace to glare at his boyfriend only for his effort to be ruined as sadness filled his blue eyes, “You don't understand! If we mess this up we could lose Tim forever! I messed up big time with Tim and I never noticed. I turned my back on him when he needed me the most and destroyed his credibility with the rest of the heroes. I need to tell him how sorry I am and hope that someday he can forgive me and let me back into his life and heart.”
Wally knew that Dick carried a deep sense of guilt once he realized how Tim had been pushed to aside, left adrift without anyone to hold onto until Conner and Bart returned.
"Tim found Bruce and I wanted to send him to Arkham! I ripped Robin away from him and gave it to Damian, who needed it but I should have talked to Tim about it first instead of him walking in to see Damian in his uniform." Dick plopped down onto the couch beside Wally and allowed his partner to pull him into his arms.
"Dick, it isn't me that you need to be telling this to but Tim. Tim is the one who needs to hear all of this." Wally spoke gently to Dick.
"I know I just need to gather the courage to do so."
+****+
Damian Wayne didn't understand why his father was making him do this or why it was such a big deal that Drake be brought back to the family. He didn't hesitate in saying so.
"It is that kind of attitude that needs to change when it comes to Tim." Bruce had gotten a stern lecture from Alfred, he wanted his grandson back and he made it very clear that Damian's treatment of Tim played a big role in why Tim didn't feel welcomed.
"And the fact that neither you or Master Dick have taken the time to address Master Damian's attitude problems. Yes, I know that he has overcome much since he first arrived but he still believes that his last name gives him the power to look down upon people and his belief that because he is your only blood son that makes him more important than your adopted sons needs to be addressed. As an adult, you have to take him aside and explain why emotional and verbal abuse is wrong as is trying to kill his brother. Master Damian has already taken Master Tim's role as Robin and his older brother."
Bruce carried Alfred's words with him and he looked back onto how Damian treated Tim and saw that his father figure was right, he had allowed Damian to undermined Tim's placement in the family to the point that his second youngest son no longer considered them family. His treatment of Tim didn't help matters. When Tim first came into his life, a bright and shining beacon of light and hope, something that Batman had needed to pull him from the darkness but he had kept a barrier between him and Tim, he made sure that he knew they were partners and only that. He didn't want another son and he let Tim return night after night to an empty home. He knew that Tim was neglected but he still let him go back instead of offering to stay in one of the manor's many rooms.
It wasn't until Jack was dead, Jack who ignored and he had a slight feeling that abused Tim, did Bruce finally start to think of Tim as his son.
"I made my fair share of mistakes with Tim as we all did. It is time to make amends and to show him that we are truly sorry and want him to be a part of this family. If you can't do that, if you can't show Tim even the smallest amount of respect then you can stay home. But I will expect you to think long and hard about how you will feel if you were treated the way Tim was by us and by you. I know that you are just a child and it fell to me and Dick to explain to you how you acted was wrong." Bruce explained gently. He loves his sons, all of them but Alfred was right he should have talked to Damian long ago.
Damian let out a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest, he still saw this as pointless but he could see how much his father and Grayson longed to bring Drake back into the family. "Very well I shall accompany you."
Bruce knew that there was no talking his youngest out of this once he made up his mind he wouldn't change it. "Very well. Just think about what I said."
"I will father."
+*****+
"Baby bird is finally going to talk to Goldie and B. The demon brat might even be there," Jason announced as he cleaned his guns.
Kory and Roy exchanged a look before glancing before looking back at their partner. "And are you okay with that?" Roy asked he knew that once Jason got himself free of the pit madness and away from Talia's hatred of Tim he had come to see that Tim wasn't his replacement, he had earned his place in the family.
Jason had been enraged when he learned that Tim was gone, had left not only Gotham but no longer considered himself a part of the family. He knows now that his actions towards Tim were wrong and that he wanted to make amends for nearly trying to kill him more than once.
Kory took a seat next to Jason, "Are you going to be okay?"
Jason gave a nod, "I will be after all this isn't about me but Baby Bird. I owe it to him to make amends and I can only hope that someday that he can forgive me for what I did to him."
Kory beamed at him before placing a kiss on his lips, "You are a good man Jason Todd and Tim knows this. After all, you are his Robin. I know you can make things right with him."
Roy grinned as he clapped Jason on the back, "And don't worry we will be there to make sure that you don't say anything stupid."
Jason glared at his other lover, "Thanks I don't know what I would do without you," Jason drawled out.
"Don't worry you'll never have to find out. You're stuck with us."
+******+
Tim was nervous, oh he didn't show it but Conner knew his lover well and he could see it.
Wrapping his arms around Tim Conner pulled him back so Tim's back rested against his chest. "Hey, it is going to be okay. I am here for you and I'm not going anywhere. If you need me to I will toss them out if things get too out of control." Conner found himself promising.
Tilting his head back Tim raised an eyebrow at his lover, "You are going to throw Batman out of the tower?"
"Okay maybe not Batman but the rest of them are fair game." Conner doubted that even Clark would be able to get Batman to move when he was on a mission to get his son back into his life.
"Are you sure that you don't want Cass or the others here?" Conner asked quickly changing the subject.
"No, I know that they will mean well but Cassie and Bart are too protective. I don't want Cass, Raven, and Gar to be put in the middle of everything, after all, they care about Dick and Bruce." The last thing Tim wanted to do was to make his family feel like they had to take sides.
Tim's expression turned soft, "Besides I have you here with me and that is all I need."
Conner felt his heart fill with love for the amazing man in his arms, "I love you pretty bird."
"I love you too." Tim rested his head on Conner's chest enjoying the feel of being in his soulmate arms.
+******+
There was a tension in the tower as the Batfamily plus Wally, Roy, and Kory arrived at the agreed-upon time.
Tim took a deep breath as he looked upon his family that he had walked away from and he felt a pang of longing in his chest, he missed them deeply.
"Well let us get this farce over with." Damian scoffed outcrossing his arms over his chest.
"Damian!" Dick growled as glanced at his younger brother. Alfred, Cass, and Wally had sat him down and explained or showed in Cass's case how he let Damian get away with things that he shouldn't. That yes while Damian was a child it didn't give him a free pass to attempt to murder someone or belittle them. And that words could leave deep scars and words were one of Damian's greatest weapons.
"If you can't add anything positive to this conversation brat then feel free to leave." Jason glared at Damian.
The youngest huffed out, "I have every right to be here just like you all do."
Wally nudged Dick gently and Dick took it as his cue he was one of the few people who could get through to Damian. "We are here because we want to make amends to Tim and prove to him that we love him and want a chance to earn back his trust. If that isn't why you are here then maybe it would be best if you waited in another room."
Damian couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're choosing Drake over me!"
"I'm not choosing anyone over anyone. I love you both, you are both my younger brothers. I made a mistake with how I went about in making you, Robin. I don't regret it you needed it but I went about it the wrong way." Dick turned his attention off of Damian and onto Tim.
Tim's breath caught at the sheer agony in Dick's eyes as he approached him.
"I should have talked to you baby bird. I should have explained why it was time you moved on from Robin and spread your wings. I should have explained why Damian needed it and that you were ready for more. I most certainly should have never let you go off and search for Bruce alone, I should have never tried to send you to Arkham." Dick poured his heart out to Tim.
"You did what?!" Jason roared and it was only Kory and Roy's hold on him that stopped him from lunging at Dick.
"I know I did wrong. And I'm so sorry Tim. I'm sorry that I tried to convince your friends you were crazy and that had the hero community turn their backs on you. I'm so sorry that you had no one to turn to when you needed someone the most. I should have been there for you when you needed me. I'm sorry that I was a horrible big brother to you."
It took a second for Tim to absorb everything that Dick was saying to him. "I'm not going to lie Dick you hurt me, deeply. I needed you and you turned your back on me to focus on Damian. I understood Damian needed your guidance and he is doing much better now. It's just I had lost everyone, losing Conner's death destroyed me, and losing Bruce was the breaking point. When I lost Bruce I lost you as well." Tim didn't bother to hide the tears that were falling from his eyes.
Dick moved even Conner's glare didn't stop him as he clutches Tim's arms, "No, no that is the last thing I ever wanted you to feel like. I am here for you Tim always. I know I have done a horrible job in showing that to you and I swear I will do better. If you just give me a chance."
"Why didn't you offer me Nightwing?"
Tim's question took everyone but Conner off guard.
Reeling back Dick stare at Tim, "What do you mean?"
"If we were equals shouldn't that have meant I could have been the next Nightwing? You had taken on the cowl with a new Robin, you could have offered me Nightwing so why didn't you?" It was something that had been bothering Tim for so long.
Dick knew that Tim had a point. "I wasn't ready to let go of Nightwing. I made it no secret that I never wanted the cowl but Batman was needed. But Nightwing was mine, no one else's, and even though you would have done me proud I wasn't ready to let it go. I kept a hold of it, something to cling to when the weight of the cowl became too much but I should have offered it to you."
"If you had I might have never gone looking for Bruce and you would have still be stuck wearing the cowl that made you unhappy. I would have turned down Nightwing because it is yours but it would have been nice just to be considered." Tim explained gently.
"Can you ever forgive me, Timmy? For being so blind?" Dick asked everyone in the room could tell he was itching to hold Tim in his arms again.
"With time I think I can. I just want my big brother back." Tim admitted in a soft voice.
Dick took a step closer, "That is all I want as well to be a big brother worthy of you."
Conner knew what was going to happen before anyone else as Tim moved to embrace Dick. A soft and knowing smile appeared on his face as he watched both men cling to one another, opening crying as they fell to the floor.
"You're good for him."
Conner nearly jumped as Batman commented from his side, he hadn't even seen the man move. "I try to be. Tim deserves to be loved and knows he is loved." Okay, so Conner couldn't resist that little dig.
Jason waited until Dick let Tim go. "Okay so while I won't be as mushy as Dickwing here I will tell you this. I was wrong in how I treated you when I first returned. Sure I was upset about being replaced and by someone who wore the Robin better than I could ever dream of," Jason held up his hand when Tim opened his mouth, "I'm not done baby bird. It wasn't until I was free of the pit madness and Talia's grasp that I started to see and with Kory and Roy's help that you were never my replacement. There is only one Jason Todd just like there is only one Tim Drake-Wayne, we both did the Robin suit proud. So I'm sorry for trying to kill you and I would like a chance to get to know my little stalker and my biggest fan and maybe someday we can call each other brothers."
Tim felt his cheeks heat up at the reminder that he had stalked Jason and that he was his Robin. "I'd like that."
"Good. Maybe you and clone boy can join us on an Outlaw mission, I'm sure you could kick some ass with us." Jason offered with a grin.
"Sounds like fun." Conner returned his grin. "What? You can't tell me you aren't considering it?" Conner asked when Tim shot him a look.
Tim couldn't deny it so he said nothing instead of choosing to focus on Bruce and ignoring Roy and Jason exchanging a fist bump and Kory smile lighting up the room.
Silence fell over the room as Bruce and Tim stare at one another.
"I have never been good with words and I will never find them to explain how you saved me, Tim. Not just from being lost in time but from the darkness that threatened to consume me when I lost Jason. You pulled me back from the shadows and brought light back into my life when the darkness threatened to overwhelm me. I can never thank you enough for all you did for me." Bruce took a step towards Tim. "I tried to keep a distance between us because I couldn't let another person get close to me only to lose you again. I thought I was doing the right thing because you had parents, even though they weren't really parents. It wasn't until Jack took you away from me that I realized you were my son and I lost you."
Bruce took a step closer to Tim, "I lost you again when I did nothing to stop you from leaving after you saved me. I thought that you needed time to heal and find your place as Red Robin, I should have known that you didn't need or want the independence that you already had too much of that. What you needed was to know that you are a part of our family and so deeply loved and wanted. All I can ask for a second chance to prove I love you, my son."
Tim's breath caught as he smiled at Bruce with fresh tears shining in his eyes, "I love you too dad."
Bruce moved and pulled Tim into a huge, one that Tim sank into. It was like the hugs that Dick used to tell him about, the kind of loving hugs Bruce gave before he lost Jason.
Damian had stayed quiet as he listened to the rest of his family speak from their hearts when it came to Drake. "Drake, while we will never be close. But I have to admit that you have your talents. I would like to get a chance to get to know one another. We might never be as close as you are to Todd, Grayson, and Cain but for the sake of our family I would like to try." Damian offered.
That was more than Tim expected from Damian and he knew it took a lot for the younger boy to make such an offer. "I would like that as well."
"Good." Damian nodded.
"Great now that is settled where is the food? I am starving!" Wally clapped his hands together.
Tim shook his head, the tension in the room easing as Wally pouted at them. "I call Bart and let him know that the others can come back and Bart will have enough food to feed both you and him," Tim promised.
"Great! I can't wait to catch up with Bart." Wally all but beamed.
+******+
Bruce and Damian was the only ones not to stay, they didn't leave until after Cass hugged Bruce and to no one's surprise, she also managed to get one from Damian as well.
Wally, Roy, Kory, Dick, Raven, and Gar were catching up and exchanging stories while Jason and Cassie exchanged stories about Wonder Woman and Jason made sure to slip in the talk about treating Cass right and seemed to take great delight in Cassie blushing. Cass was helping Bart set out all the food, they needed more than usual to feed everyone as well as two speedsters.
Conner and Tim stood off to the side watching everything, "You know that this changes nothing. My home is wherever you are." Tim admitted softly to Conner.
Conner grinned down at his boyfriend, "Same goes for me pretty bird. You are my home and that will never change."
"I love you, my clone boy," Tim whispered.
"I love you to my Robin." Conner pressed his lips against Tim's and he meant every word Tim was all he needed and he would make sure that he knew everyday how loved he was.
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