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Among the many things Tim was grateful for was having Bruce Wayne take him in as a ward. Some people may say that its not the best thing that can happen to a child, despite the billions to the name Bruce was still seen as a somewhat tragic figure, but Tim is not some people. Being Bruce Wayne’s ward gave him access to incredible opportunities he would have never been able to have, even as a Drake- one of them was being a member of the BatFamily. And being Batman’s, well, okay, “sidekick” gave him even more incredible, otherwise inaccessible opportunities- mainly being Batman’s sidekick, but as well as meeting other heroes. He would not have met Connor, for one thing, if he was but regular person Tim Drake. Connor, “Superboy”, was currently finishing up detailing his long wish list over a video call as Tim half-listened, half-decrypted code on his laptop.
“So that’s tenth. Oh, and hopefully get to go to a theme park this year.” said Connor, who finished his list with a smile. “What about you, my guy?”
“Hm?” Tim answered, distracted over a particular sticky string of code.
The smile turned to a frown. “Hey, you weren’t listening were you?”
“Yeah, I was.” Tim turned to look at the camera on his laptop, face serious. “You said you wanted to go to a theme park this year.” He had, like all the Robins, mastered the art of multitasking, and lying by repeating the last sentence you heard. Connor knew this, and looked unimpressed.
“What did I say before that?”
Tim schooled his face to remain impassive as he hastily tried to recall the one way conversation he superficially engaged in for the last twenty minutes. “That you wanted to get Clark to go on a date with just about anybody after the divorce.” He guessed with a level voice.
“Nope. It was I hope we can have a ‘sleepover’ this weekend.”
“You what?” Tim blushed, knowing what Connor meant by sleepover. Neither was at an age when sleepovers meant innocently going to a friend’s house to stay up late reading with a flashlight and telling ghost stories. Connor’s serious face broke into a grin.
“Haha, no you were right- I did say I want Clark to move on from the divorce. You should see your face!” Connor laughed again, the video shaking as he moved from his seat at a table and he flopped down on his bed. He laid down with one hand behind his head, inadvertently showing off a bicep, and looked up at the camera on his phone. “Hey, you still there?”
Tim had taken a pillow and hid his face with it, decryption all but forgotten. “Yep, still here.” came his muffled answer.
“Then why am I talking to a pillow?”
Face still tinged pink, Tim sullenly pulled down the pillow. Connor laughed again, a deep rumbling sound that was both so pleasing and tormenting to Tim’s ears. He stuck out a tongue childishly, and Connor returned it in good humor.
“Sorry, Timbo, was just teasing.”
Leave it to Connor to give him a nickname that was longer than his actual nickname. Tim managed to roll his eyes even though he knew he still had remnants of a blush on his face.
“Tell me why we have to keep this on the down low again?” Connor asked, brows furrowed like an insta-model. It absolutely drove Tim wild, both ways, when his boyfriend does that face. He knew a part of it was unconscious, but ever since he pointed it out it seemed to happen more and more.
“Because my family... can be a bit unpredictable.” Tim answered, looking back to his coding, to make the conversation seem like its not a big deal. He knew it was. He just didn’t know how to deal with it yet.
“I’m sure they’re not bigots...” Connor started, and Tim immediately cut him off. “Don’t even think that.” Connor pouted and continued, “... then why? You always say ‘unpredictable’. What kind of reaction from them are you most afraid of?”
Tim frowned at the lines of code, pretending to be hard at work even though it had been decrypted several minutes ago.
“Timbo... babe. What are you afraid of? What do we have to be afraid of?”
“It’s just...” Tim sighed, put the laptop on a pillow careful that he can still be seen on the screen, and then rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms. “We’re not a showy kind of family, you know? And... I can’t guarantee how Bruce, Jason and Damian would react. Odds are one out of three would perform some kind of violence on you.”
Connor smirked. “They can try.”
Tim gave him a look. “We have kryptonite, you know.” At that Connor’s smirk was gone to be replaced with a thoughtful look.
“They wouldn’t... would they?”
“That’s what I’m telling you, I don’t know. Relationships are... hard. When you’re from this family.”
Connor pouted again. “It’s not hard when we’re together.”
Tim smiled. “Give me some more time. I’ll come up with a plan. I promise.”
“Okay. Well, gotta sleep. Have to be up early tomorrow morning to help with Pa’s chores. And I know you still have to finish hacking that database or some such. G’night babe, love you!” Connor made kissy faces at the camera, and it made Tim laugh a bit before answering, “love you too.”
*
And so, when during dinner, Bruce casually announced that he was dating Clark, all Tim could do was nod at his father. Inside, he was panicking. How can he ever tell the family now? He schooled his face to be impassive, but then Bruce gave him a slightly worried look, which meant he was being too impassive, but then it was too late to change it, and anyway Bruce’s attentions were now diverted by an animatedly exuberant Dick planning a wedding and a fuming Damian swearing vengeance by the sword.
Later that night, he just kept nodding dumbly all throughout his video call with Connor that the latter offered to drop by and check on him. That broke Tim’s stupor, and he quickly shook his head.
“No, no, no... it’s... I’m fine. I’m fine! Just...”
“What is it babe?” Concern etched on Connor’s face, ready to race to Gotham at a moment’s notice.
“Hey, just when Clark comes to talk to you, keep an open mind?”
“What?” Concern was now mixed with confusion.
“Oh, nothing. Just... tell me when he tells you okay?”
“Tell me what?”
“I have a headache... I’m going to bed. Good night.” He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘babe’ and ‘I love you’. Not to his... step-brother? God. He closed his laptop at a protesting Connor, and ignored the call on his phone. He texted though, he wasn’t that heartless.
‘It’s fine. Going to sleep. xx’
He then ignored the many messages that kept his phone sounding the whole night, and tried to get some sleep.
*
Two days later, Connor was knocking on his window.
Tim opened it cautiously, and a furious Connor barged in, pushing him right into his bed.
“You could’ve given me a heads up!”
“Well I did!”
“What, you’re cryptic bullshit about Clark wanting to talk to me and then radio silence for two whole days? Do you know how... I can’t even begin to... you don’t know what...” Connor was shouting as he paced in agitation, his hands clenching and unclenching. Then he settled for clenched hands and an “aaaauuugh!!!” during which Tim tried to shush him in futility. Any minute now Tim was sure Damian or Bruce was going to come knocking, and he had no excuses for why Connor would look like he was ready to punch someone in the middle of Tim’s room. When minutes passed and no one came asking, Tim sighed a breath of relief, but only just. Connor was still in the middle of his room, fuming. But, at least he was no longer pacing and shouting, for which Tim was thankful for at least.
“I can’t believe...” Connor started, stopped, then took a deep breath. He continued in a more subdued tone, but there was still a hint of anger. “I’m happy for them, don’t think I’m not. It’s just... why does it have to be them?”
They stared at each other, and then Tim shrugged. Connor closed his eyes and let his head hang back, shoulders slumped, defeated. “Hey,” Tim said, and when Connor looked at him he patted the space beside him with an apologetic smile on his face.
“You know what this makes us right?”
“Mm.”
“If they get married, we’re gonna be step-brothers. I know Clark. They’re gonna get married. Then I’ll have been dating my step-brother! I can’t be dating my step-brother!” Connor said, words muffled as he had his face in his hands as he sat beside his boyfriend. Tim gave him a commiserating look, and then laid his head on Connor’s shoulder. This comforted Connor somewhat, and he took the hands off his face and laid his head on top of Tim’s.
“You know, you were just wishing for this to happen a few days ago.”
“I was not!”
“Remember, ‘I want Clark to go on a date with just about anybody after the divorce’, that was the tenth on your wish list.”
Connor’s face crumpled with so much mixed emotions, and he crossed his arms in a huff.
“I did, didn’t I? But when I said that I didn’t mean for him to date your dad! And for, like, two years now he said!”
“Well... we’ve been dating for much longer.”
“You think that’d go over well?”
Tim shrugged again. Connor sighed.
“Guess we’re gonna find out.”
*