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Tim hated it when the weather got like this. When it was sweltering and it felt like every part of his body was sticky and gross. This year it seemed like the Gotham summer was out to get him personally. It was even hotter than it had been on the night that he and Jason had their first kiss, almost a year ago now.
Normally Tim would just power through the hot weather. He never let the weather stop him, but this time it was different.
It was the worst heatwave of the century.
Tim wasn’t the only determined person that was being undermined by this weather. Activity in the city had gone down dramatically, and that included the crime. There was no information to be brokered or stings to plan because nothing was going on. Every sane – and insane – person was making themselves scarce.
It was so bad that even the Drake mansion was warm. Tim made sure to have the air conditioning on high, but it didn’t make a difference. Not unless he was sitting under the air conditioning unit itself in just his underwear. They were working overtime and it still wasn’t giving him any relief.
Luckily for Tim there was one place that he knew for sure would shelter him from the heat.
He packed up as much as he was willing to carry in this heat – which wasn’t much more than his camera, laptop and a set of clothes – and got into the car his parents’ had gotten him for his birthday this year. There was no way that he was going to walk up to Wayne manor. It didn’t matter how short the distance was, Tim wasn’t going to walk in this weather.
The air conditioning of the car took a few minutes to work, and by then he was already on the driveway leading to Wayne manor. It was a small blessing that Tim was happy to take.
Tim pulled into the garage and noticed that the town car was gone. That meant that Alfred and Bruce were out for sure, with a chance that Jason was out with them as well depending on the errand. Not that it mattered. Tim had long since gotten an open invitation to the manor. He typed in his code into the alarm system. Not only would this let him go inside, but he wouldn’t be attacked by the various defense systems that Bruce had set up either. An alert would still go out to Bruce, and Tim made sure to set the security system on again when he was inside. He wasn’t planning on staying in the manor itself. Even it was still just on the side of uncomfortably warm.
He made a beeline to the study and the grandfather clock inside. The hidden door swung open after he set the time on the clock and Tim hurried inside. When the door shut behind him Tim let out a relieved sigh. The Batcave was always so cold. Sometimes he would curse at it, but now it felt like sweet release.
Tim’s skin tingled as he went deeper into the Batcave. The sweat was quickly starting to dry and it was uncomfortable enough that the first place that Tim went to were the showers. The extra clothes came in handy because his gross ones could go into the laundry.
Once that was taken care of Tim felt like a new man. Fresh, clean, and nice and cool. It was all he could’ve wanted.
It would always be weird to be the only one in the Batcave, but that was something that Tim was easily able to push aside this time around.
“Long time no see,” Tim said as he went to the main computer. There had been no need for him to be here as of late. He settled himself in front of the computer and hooked up his laptop. It was always nice to work off of a bigger screen, no matter how high tech his laptop was.
Any other person might feel unnerved with the bats chittering above them in places unseen, but Tim liked it. He was never one that worked well in complete silence. The bats were used to people being in the cave. It wasn’t like they were going to do anything to Tim – as long as he didn’t do anything to them. It was a mutual agreement.
It wouldn’t be too long before the Batcave was filled with more occupants. Tim was sure that more people were going to show up sooner rather than later.
He pulled up one of the case files that he had been going through the last time that he was here. It was a case that Bruce was having issues finding information for. Whoever was the head of the operation was smart. The lowlifes that Batman had gone after knew next to nothing. Not even the names or appearances of the people that they were working for. It was smart and it was done surprisingly well.
Bruce hadn’t exactly asked Tim for his help just yet, but Tim had already been working on it. His eyes on the street were keeping tabs on possibly connected activities to the operation. Nothing was sure as of yet, though. It was slightly infuriating, but fun at the same time. It wasn’t often that Tim really had to exert himself like this. If he didn’t have any new information by week’s end, then he would go out himself.
Unless this heatwave kept on.
Tim wasn’t going to take a step outside if he had anything to say about it.
He tied his hair back and got to work. There was a lot of information that he still needed to gather and sort to cases.
Jason always said that Tim was a workaholic. Even more so than Bruce at times. Tim tended to disagree with him. He claimed that there was a difference between obsession and dedication, but Jason would always scoff at him. Once he’d actually pulled out an honest to god dictionary to read out the definitions to Tim.
The dork.
Tim had listened, of course, but as soon as Jason was done with his little speech, Tim just shrugged and walked off. That led to Jason chasing him through the halls and being caught making out on the couch in the living room by Alfred.
Not the first time that it had happened and certainly not the last either.
It didn’t take long at all before Tim got engrossed in his work. He finished sorting all of the information that he needed and he started datamining other things that he had set aside as well. There was always a lot of work to be done and it wasn’t hard to get lost in it.
Tim was trying to clear up a garbled sound file when he heard a sound that was out of place. He lifted his head and looked around. There was nothing around and nothing that gave him any indication that there was something out of the ordinary.
He peered around for another moment before going back to the computer. There wouldn’t be any reason for Tim to be worried about anything either. The Batcave was one of the most secure places in the world. The chance that someone who might have it in for him would actually be in the Batcave with him, was near nothing at all.
Tim was ready to forget that he’d heard anything at all when there was another soft sound. He wouldn’t even have heard it if it weren’t for the fact that he was slightly alerted from before.
Tim reached down to grab a short staff that he knew was under the desk. There was such a thing as being too comfortable, after all.
“Who do you think you are?”
That was a voice that Tim had never heard before. He almost grabbed the staff before he realized that it wasn’t only someone he didn’t know and, not only that, but he was pretty sure that it was a child. He turned and was surprised that his suspicions were true. There was a kid standing in the Batcave along with him and no one else was around at all.
“I think that’d be a better question for you.” Tim had no idea who the boy was, but he looked stuck up. A scowl on his face and wearing some kind of black and white bodysuit.
The boy bristled at his words. “I demand you tell me, interloper!”
What a weird kid. He was talking like he was an old person telling Tim to get off of his lawn. There was no way the boy could be any older than eight. “I was here first.”
“You-”
Tim hadn’t been too worried about the boy until he reached behind him and suddenly pulled out a katana. “Computer, override Tango Delta five-four-nine!” He managed to get his fingers around the staff and got out of the chair just as the lights shut off.
Tim darted away, just in time to hear the clanging of metal against the chair. Holy shit. This kid was legitimately trying to hurt him! The emergency lights came on as he slipped behind one of the larger display cases. The lighting was just enough to vaguely make out the outlines of objects, but if you didn’t know your way around the Cave, then it was hard to navigate it like this.
Of course, he did know about emergency protocol and stuff like that, but Tim was mostly just worried that the kid didn’t know as much as he did. Considering that Tim had no idea who the kid was, he was hoping that his decision had been right.
There was some cursing in a language that Tim didn’t immediately recognize. Perhaps something Middle Eastern? It was soft and hard to make out though.
Dammit. There were more important things to think about. Tim held the staff at the ready. It didn’t sound like he was being approached, but he knew that should the kid find him, that he would have to defend himself.
How had the kid gotten into the Cave in the first place? From the direction that he came from, it had to have been from the manor itself. Which raised even more questions than before. Why would a kid, of all people, be able to find the Cave through the manor entrance? How had he gotten past the security? Tim knew for sure that he’d engaged it when he’d parked in the garage. It was just second nature by now. He did it without thinking. So if that wasn’t it, then how had the kid broken in? Some hacking? No, there was no way Barbara’s code could’ve been cracked without setting off an alarm.
Perhaps the kid was from the League. He certainly looked the part, with the katana. He had a slight accent as well, as if English wasn’t his first language.
“Your tricks won’t save you, interloper! I have been trained in the way of the shadows!”
Yeah, definitely League.
Tim was able to protect himself from thugs and brawlers, but he didn’t know how long he would be able to keep himself from getting injured against an assassin, even though his opponent was a kid.
He looked to the side. There was a chance that he could make a run down to the vehicles. Lock himself in the Batmobile. It would take a few seconds for the door to open and close though. Just enough time for the kid to close distance between the two of them. Just enough time for him to get him close enough to seriously injure Tim. Maybe jumping down into the water then. The only thing was that the water was already hard enough to see with the lights on. Tim risked major injury from miscalculating his jump and smacking into the rocks.
There was a loud clang. It was closer to him this time. The kid was looking for him and trying to get Tim to move from his position by spooking him. That wouldn’t happen – Tim wouldn’t let it. He knew that now that the kid was closer, his chances of running somewhere safer were decreasing.
Think, you idiot. Don’t let a kid be the end of you after everything you’ve been through. Tim tightened his grip on the staff. Something to throw the kid off then. He held his breath as he bent at the knees, feeling around on the ground. Despite Alfred’s best efforts, the Cave was never truly clean and there had to be-
Tim’s fingers bumped into something small. Maybe a pebble or a broken piece of something. Either way, it would work. He stayed down low and tossed the pebble, listening to it skitter over the floor. There was the sound of shoes thudding the floor as the kid ran in the direction of the sound. “Incompetent fool!”
Now was his chance. Tim made a mad dash towards the Batmobile. “Unlock, Tango Delta six-nine!” He shouted out and he heard the hissing of the locks disengaging so the door could open.
There was another curse and a skidding sound. The kid was turning and heading over to him.
He was close. Tim’s fingers brushed against the door as he prepared to jump in and just as he was pushing himself off, something slid under his shoe and he tripped. It was the kid shouting out that made Tim turn with the staff out first and he barely managed to deflect the katana.
However, his balance was still off and he fell on his ass.
In the low light, Tim could see the outline of the boy, who stalked forward with a growl and he lifted his katana up over his head.
“Light engage, Bravo Whiskey one-one!”
The lights immediately switched back on, flooding the Cave in bright light. Tim flinched, closing his eyes and curling up with his hands on the back of his head so the kid didn’t have a direct lethal target.
“Damian! What are you doing?”
The boy, who was apparently called Damian, just managed to turn and the katana skittered over the door of the Batmobile instead. “Father!”
“Father?” Tim asked out loud as he lifted his head.
Bruce came over and he bypassed Damian to walk over to Tim. He held him arm out and Tim took it. “Are you alright?”
“I’m confused,” Tim said.
“What is the meaning of this?” Damian hissed out and moved in closer to them.
“Ditto.” Tim really didn’t know what was going on and he could already feel a headache threatening to creep up. The sudden bright lights weren’t helping with the head rush either.
“Damian, this is Tim. Tim, this is my…son, Damian,” Bruce said.
There was that headache. Tim ducked his head down and started rubbing his forehead. Of course any son of Bruce’s would be like this. So confrontational and strong headed.
“And who is this Tim?” Damian asked.
“That Tim happens to be my boyfriend.”
Tim immediately grinned and moved away from Bruce when he heard Jason. He really was a sight for sore eyes at this point. Damian scoffed as Tim walked passed him, but he didn’t make any move to attack him again, which was a good thing.
Jason wrapped his arm around Tim’s shoulders when he came in close. “Got you covered, Timmy.”
“My knight in shining armor.” Tim pinched Jason’s arm. There really wasn’t any reason for him to be acting like this at all. Even if he was trying to show off to Damian.
“What are you here for?” Jason asked.
“Escaping the heat.” Now that he was thinking about it, his fingers actually felt cold. Tim knew that the cave was quite a bit colder than any other place, but he hadn’t expected to feel this chilled. Still, it was better than feeling like he was going to melt.
Tim would rather have cold over warm any day.
“It still does not explain why he thinks that he is allowed access to the Batcave!” Damian shouted out from his spot beside Bruce.
Jason shook his head and rolled his eyes when Tim looked up at him. “He’s the Informant.”
“I hate that name.”
“You never told anyone to change it.”
Jason was right, and Tim hated it. If he had known how easy it was for things as simple as names to stick, then he would have gotten on someone’s case as soon as possible. On the one hand though, Tim didn’t really like the attention. If he’d actually gone out of his way to try and correct people, it would have roused much more suspicion and attention than he wanted to have.
There was a reason why no one knew a lot about him and why he’d gotten such a straight forward moniker. Tim didn’t work under it, but it was just what people called him.
“Him?” Damian’s voice increased in pitch. He clearly didn’t see the connection.
“Let’s go,” Tim muttered, pulling on Jason’s arm. He didn’t want to be around this judgemental brat any longer than he had to be. It was a relief when Jason let himself be pulled back upstairs. There was the uncomfortable feeling of leaving a cold area and going into a warmer space, but Tim ignored it. All the wanted was to get as far away from Damian as possible.
“Tim, babe…” He could just see in his mind how Jason was frowning with his eyebrows pinched close together.
“Shush.” Tim didn’t stop or look back as he walked through the manor and up the stairs to Jason’s room. He let go of Jason’s hand when they were finally in the safety of his room.
Jason closed the door. “We came as soon as Bruce got the alert that your emergency override had been triggered.”
“Thanks.” Tim finally turned to look at Jason again. It was still such a relief to see him. If they’d been a few seconds later... Well, Tim didn’t really want to think about it.
His boyfriend moved in closer and pointed to Tim’s side. “You can let go of that now.”
His hand flexed in response and Tim noticed that he was still holding something. It was the staff. He was still holding onto it with a death grip.
Jason smiled at him and he grabbed Tim’s wrist, getting massaging it and the back of Tim’s hand before Tim finally let the staff go. The staff was set aside. “There we go.” His voice was soothing and Tim practically pitched himself forward, his head bumping against Jason’s collarbone. To his credit, Jason didn’t react at all to the hard bump and he just wrapped his arms around Tim. “You’re okay.”
A hoarse laugh escaped Tim. “I almost got decapitated by an eight year old.”
“He’s ten, actually,” Jason said.
The next bout of laughter that came from him sounded a little hysterical to Tim, but Jason – bless him – didn’t say anything at all.
Jason just held onto him through it all as Tim compartmentalized what had just happened to him. After a solid minute Tim spoke again. “A ten year old assassin. Bruce’s son.”
Jason’s chest expanded and contracted, moving Tim’s head as he heaved out a heavy sigh. “Yup.”
“A kid from the League?” How did that work? Tim didn’t even know. It didn’t make sense. Bruce would never… Then it hit him and Tim’s head snapped up.
Right into Jason’s chin.
Very smooth, of course.
Tim heard the clacking of teeth and the back of his head hurt, but he ignored all of that. “Holy shit! Bruce and Talia had a kid?” The shock of his realization lessened when he saw Jason’s face as he rubbed his chin. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh please, you’ve done worse, Timbo.” Jason opened his mouth and flexed his jaw. Tim couldn’t see any blood or chips in Jason’s teeth. That was good. “How about we lie down?”
“In bed?” Tim looked at the bed distastefully. With the blankets and sheets, the bed looked like a very unappealing place to be.
“Yeah. The AC should kick up any minute now, so stop trying to burn my bed down, sheesh.” Jason let go of Tim and stripped out of his shirt and pants.
Tim let himself look at Jason’s bare back and slim waist and beautiful thighs for a few moments longer than he probably should before he stripped down to his underwear as well. He settled down on the bed against Jason, who wrapped an arm around Tim.
“There. Is this so bad?” Jason asked.
“It’s the worst. My boyfriend is hot.” Tim shifted to get more comfortable.
“It’s why you stick around,” Jason said.
His eyes met Jason’s and held his gaze. “You know that it’s not.”
Jason smiled down at him. “I know. I’ll always be around to be your knight in shining armor.”
Tim snorted, poking Jason in the side and chasing it as he tried to pull away. “Please. Bruce is the one that saved me.”
“Hey!” He even had the audacity to sound offended.
Tim kissed the red spot on Jason’s chin. Hopefully Jason wouldn’t bruise. That would be an interesting injury to have to wave off. “Knight in shining armor or not… I love you.”
“Wow. And you call me sappy.”
“Jason! You’re ruining the moment!”
“Ow! Hey, stop prodding me with that bony elbow of yours!”
“Oh yeah? I’ll show you bony.”
Tim straddled Jason and stopped Jason’s laughter by kissing him. Large hands held onto his hips, making Tim shudder. He ran his lips over Jason’s lower lip and he was about to delve in further when the bedroom door slammed open.
“Todd! Father has sent me up here to-” Damian screamed, no doubt at seeing them in an intimate position, but Tim kept kissing Jason. He held onto Jason to keep him from pulling away to face the little brat. He wasn’t worth the distraction.