Chapter Text
He’d hoped to disappear quietly into the night. To pack his bag and leave his room barren for Bart or Kon to find when they went looking for him to join them for movie night in a couple hours. But when he opened the door, he was met with a scowling face.
“Cassie, hey, movie time already?” He tried to position his bag behind his body. He could make this work. Go to the bathroom and never come back, although that wouldn’t give him the head start he had hoped for, it could work, Tim was nothing if not adaptable.
“You’re leaving,” Cassie said bluntly.
There was no use keeping secrets from her. “Gotham emergency, I don’t have a choice,” Tim said.
“You aren’t planning on coming back,” Cassie said.
Tim let his bag slide off his shoulder. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re trying to sneak away without even telling Conner, and you’ve gutted your room,” Cassie observed.
It was true. Tim had stripped the walls of their metal posters and hidden his collection of pictures of the team in his bag. “This is different.”
“Anything we can help with?” Cassie asked.
“No, it’s bat business.”
“How much can you tell me?”
“Not much, I don’t have many details myself, but it’s really bad, Cassie,” Tim said. Cassie waited for a proper answer. “It’s Batman, he took a hit, Oracle wants all hands-on deck, they don’t know if he’ll ever be able to bounce back from this one, he might never be Batman again, he’s too old for this, he can’t take the hard hits.”
“They aren’t asking you to step up,” Cassie asked.
“I don’t know,” Tim confessed. “I know who I’d rather take the cowl, but if he asks me to, I can’t just say no.”
“Dick can’t do it?”
“He’s set on retirement, he’s got a baby coming, no one’s going to ask him to put his family in danger when there’s so many of us, and Jason isn’t an option for obvious Jason-related reasons, Damian’s too young, he isn’t ready for it, Duke doesn’t want it, full stop, we’re low on options,” Tim said.
“That kind of sucks,” Cassie said. She knew how her friend feared how closely he resembled his mentor.
“I just hope he’s okay,” Tim confessed.
“What does this mean for the team? You’re going to start running with the Justice League instead?” Cassie asked.
“I hope not, I’m not ready for Batman, let alone the League,” Tim said.
“Well, whatever happens, remember, you aren’t Batman, you have friends.”
“I know.”
“You need to say goodbye to Kon and Bart too.”
Tim’s face contorted, like Cassie had presented him with a green vegetable. “Cassie, I can’t.”
“You have to, they’ll be breaking down every door in Gotham if you try to disappear on them,” Cassie said.
“But if I talk to them, they’ll make me want to stay, and I can’t stay, even if I do really want to,” Tim said.
“You can always say no,” Cassie said.
“No, I can’t,” Tim said, “I’m sorry, Cassie, the others are waiting for me, I really need to go.”
Cassie sighed and stepped out of the way to let Tim lift his bag again and leave Titans Tower for good. He tried to be logical. He wasn’t a teenager anymore. Teens had turned to just calling themselves Titans, and they’d had a good run. But it was time to grow up, and if Tim had to be the first to do so, so be it.
“Tim!”
He was on the roof, ready to climb into his jet when there was a gust of wind and his best friends stood in front of him, blocking the way.
“Are you really leaving without saying goodbye?” Bart asked.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Conner asked.
“Cassie told you,” Tim said.
“I sure did.” He turned to see she was trailing behind him as well.
“You thought you were just going to disappear on us without saying anything?” Conner asked. He was mad.
“I didn’t want to ruin the day,” Tim said.
“The day’s pretty ruined,” Conner said.
“Why would you quit? We’ve always stuck together,” Bart said.
“Cassie told you what happened in Gotham?” Tim asked.
“Batman’s hurt, you’re volunteering as tribute,” Bart said.
“No, I’m not volunteering, I’m just expecting him to ask me,” Tim said.
“Tim, you don’t want to be Batman, you’ve never wanted to be Batman, every time we’ve seen you as Batman in the future, you’ve been evil,” Conner said.
“I know that,” Tim said.
“So, where do you think you’re going?” Conner asked.
“I can’t just leave him,” Tim said.
“He left you,” Bart reminded.
“That was years ago,” Tim said, “he’s my dad, if he asks me to stay, to be Batman and protect Gotham, I’ll stay.”
“And if we ask you to stay?” Conner asked.
“You wouldn’t do that to me.”
“I am.”
Tim sighed and let his bag drop to the ground again. “Conner, guys, I don’t know what’s going to happen over there, but one way or another, things in Gotham are about to change, and they’re going to need me there, whether it’s as Batman or not, I don’t know, but I can’t just let it all fall apart, I can’t let my dad kill himself trying to fight crime if I can do it for him, don’t ask me to choose between families.”
Conner sighed.
“We can’t stop you, but we really do wish you would stay,” Cassie said.
“I can’t.”
“I want to throw a party,” Bart said.
“What?”
“If you’re leaving, we need to throw you the biggest going away party in the world,” Bart said.
“Bart, I’m sorry, but I’m kind of on a tight schedule, my mentor’s been badly injured, remember?”
“Eidetic memory, I’ll remember for longer than you,” Bart reminded.
“He gets badly injured every other week,” Cassie said.
“This is different, I’m really sorry, but I need to go now.”
“Then we’ll throw a party later,” Bart declared, “pick a day, we’ll throw a big party.”
“When things settle down, sure, we’ll have a party,” Tim agreed.
Bart threw himself around Tim. Tim couldn’t put into words how relieved he was that their resident speedster had never grown much taller than him. They were close enough that they bickered about it often. Bart knew he had that half an inch, and he was proud of it, but Tim swore up and down that it was Bart’s obscene hair. Either way, they were both short, but with fully grown Conner and Cassie standing as giants at 6’2” and 5’11” respectively, Tim appreciated that there was one person left on the team who didn’t need to lean down to hug him.
Bart’s hugs were tight and warm and fast. He let go and held Tim at arm’s length.
“You’ll call? Or text?”
“Of course,” Tim said.
“We’re going to miss you,” Cassie said. Her hugs were strong, they crushed a little bit and lifted his feet millimeters off the ground.
“I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t need to, you know that,” Tim promised.
That only left Conner.
He was still scowling.
“Kon—”
“Don’t,” Kon said. “Nothing sappy, just bring it in here.”
Conner’s hugs were Tim’s favourites. Warm like Bart’s and strong like Cassie’s. And Tim could bury his head between Conner’s neck and shoulder while Kon folded over him placing his face in Tim’s hair and the two of them could just stand there wrapped around each other. They were the reason Tim didn’t want a proper goodbye, Conner could make him want to stay in one spot, in one moment forever.
“Don’t forget about us over here,” Conner whispered.
“Couldn’t if I tried, Titans together,” Tim whispered back.
“Titans forever,” Conner agreed.
He let Tim go and Tim went to his jet and flew away.
Two weeks later news spread across the costumed crimefighting community that, to everyone’s surprise, Cassandra Cain would be the next caped crusader. The silent knight was joined by the world’s greatest detective, her brother who all but vanished off the physical map, only existing inside rumours and quotes. A month later Batwoman joined the Justice League to fill the hole Batman left. It took a couple months for the Titans to completely disband to focus on their solo work. Flamebird and the rest of the Teen Titans were more than capable of defending San Francisco themselves. Two years later a new Robin rose to grace Gotham’s streets.
It was three years later. Tim Drake still hadn’t called for that party.