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Tonight was the annual Wayne Foundation Gala, one of the bigger social events hosted by Bruce Wayne. It was also one of the more well-known galas (although all the events were infamous amongst gothamites).
Which meant that all of Bruce Wayne's children would attend, two of which had their very own performances planned for the evening.
All except Tim.
Tim hadn't been adopted by Bruce, and had two very alive parents. Despite this he was often referred to as another little brother, and obviously well accepted into the family.
So unfortunately, Tim wouldn't be able to attend the event with the Wayne family.
Though he would be attending with the Drake Family, unknown to them.
Now, this wouldn't be a problem at all, right? He got to see his sisters perform and he got to spend the night with his family. How could any problems arise from this?
It's complicated, Because the Wayne family knew Tim, but they didn't know Alice.
The easiest way to explain it was that Tim was trans. Earlier this summer, he had come out to his parents, and expressed how he had felt this way for a while, enjoying it more as a boy rather than a girl. He felt happier like that. He felt happier as Tim, not Alice, and he felt happier when people didn't know Alice, or know that he was Alice.
So of course he hadn't told the Wayne family about Alice. He hadn't even given them the slightest reason to believe he could have been Alice. Besides Bruce Wayne of course. He wasn't the World's greatest detective for nothing. Though he hadn't pried, so Tim wasn't sure how much he knew either.
His parents had reacted awfully to this, and decided that instead of giving unconditional love and supporting Tim in what made him happy, they decided their love for their "daughter" was too great and thought it would be a great idea to force him into playing his part as their daughter.
What better way to do it than dress him up in cocktail dresses and show him off to rich people? That won't mentally scar him at all considering he knew quite a few people there who didn't know he was trans. Nope. Obviously not.
He should have just ran away. Just begged Bruce to let him stay at the manor, or begged his parents to let him stay at home. He would rather be in a dress at home all the time then face this public humiliation. But he hadn't.
As Tim looked into the mirror in front of him, he didn't see himself. All he saw were vague shapes and ideas that suggested something that looked like him. Something with shoulder length fluffy black hair that curled around his face and over his shoulders. If he hadn't known it was hair he would have been cautious at the way it spiked out. Whoever this was, it wasn't him. Even if he was dissociating from himself, he wouldn't have even thought that the imposter in the mirror could have been him.
Tim usually had the shortest part of his hair, his bangs, out of the loose bun he used to tie the long annoying parts. He figured out a way to make the loose hanging hairstyle look more like a man bun than something feminine. Which was a pretty big accomplishment because no matter the hair style, his face was relatively rounded in a feminine way.
Fluttery eyelashes and weak maroon eyeshadow that dusted his eyelids and lips tinted a dark dull pink with a gloss over then that made them sparkle in just the right light. Smooth skin tinted with bronze and blush instead of his natural pale tone.
This wasn't him.
Maybe if he didn't know there was a mirror in front of him, he might have been charmed by the girl standing in his place. He might have been shocked by her pretty little dolled up face.
But he wasn't. Because he knew it was himself. But at the same time, he knew it just… couldn't be.
The short woman who was dusting his cheeks with itchy powder, and curling his hair into a stylish mop worked around him quickly. She had been tasked to help Tim look pretty. To pick up where he had been lacking for a while.
She scooped up his breasts into the fitted bra, pushing the corset up making them stick out more than they should. Where his relatively flat chest was normal, was now filled with two uncomfortable lumps. The urge to hunch over and stop existing became painfully large. He grimaced when she laced up the corset, now making slouching, or any movement that wasn't the embodiment of a wooden board, quite impossible. It all made him want to throw up.
"How about we get some pretty rose gold jewellery into your ears instead of this… amalgamation of colour, hm?" She smiled tightly, not waiting for a response to start replacing the rings that hated his ears.
She decided on a boat-necked scarlet dress that draped over his body smoothly. He liked the figureless man better than he did when the lady tied the matching ribbon tightly around his waist. The dress was pretty, he had to admit. Maybe if his relationship with femininity wasn't already so fragile, he might have liked to have worn this in his own free time.
The dress had been embroidered with dark pink roses along the hem, and a pretty pink and green floral pattern that dances along the edges and races up the dress. Along the poufy long sleeves that drape from his shoulders, ending in a simple lace with the same patterns as the rest of the dress. The dress hadn't always had these sleeves, he recalls. When they had first gotten it for Tim, the sleeves were short, but apparently they had been tailored differently, to "hide the fat on his arms".
Tim knew it was muscle, and he barely had any fat on him anymore, but the insult still hurt.
She tutted down at his legs, "we don't have time to shave them… you'll have to wear some tights. Gosh you're lucky that it isn't too dark or bushy, you're very lucky when it comes to body hair." She shook her head and handed some leggings that vaguely matched his skin tone. He pulled them on quickly.
The lady dropped some shoes next to him, looking over him once more, then left the room. His stomach dropped, and he knew that this meant they would be leaving soon. Now everyone was going to know for sure that the Drakes had a daughter, not a son. That he could never be a son. Because everyone would know.
So this was the beginning of the end of his life, huh? He hoped hell was better than this shithole.
.
.
.
.
Dick was having a great time. For a couple reasons, actually.
The first was probably the more obvious one, that being the gala he was currently attending.
The second reason was that he was witnessing his siblings quietly misbehave. Damian would pull down his tie, only for Bruce to straighten it back up. Jason was trying to get Steph to help him switch out the champagne in people's hands with apple juice and see how long it took for them to notice. Cass was playing a game with Their kind of Step mother, Selina, where they would switch and replace people's jewellery out, and put it in their drinks.
Bruce looked tired. It was great.
Just before, Dick had been introduced to Mr and Mrs Jack and Janet Drake and their withdrawn daughter Alice, who hung her head and avoided talking and making eye contact, looking extremely uncomfortable and pretty scared at meeting himself. To say the experience set off a few red flags in his mind would be a slight understatement. But he didn't press
Alice to do or say anything. It would be weird, after all, to show interest in a girl who was probably no older than 16, despite looking closer to 14. Even if his intentions were to help and nothing else, not a lot of people were going to see it that way.
So as he left and saw the girl separate from following around her parents for the first time that night, he quickly shuffled to Jason, pointing out the girl and that he was concerned.
"Do I have to? There are still a couple people with champagne left," he frowned, but Dick could tell it was only an act, he was already looking over, eyes following the girl, devising a plan.
"I'm sure you can enlist her to help you demolish the champagne from the party," he rolls his eyes and pats a hand on his younger brother's shoulder before he moves over to leave.
Something seems off, and Dick glances back to where his brother is approaching the quiet girl.
"Hey," Jason started, stalking over to the girl, Alice, he recalled, who was seated at the end next to the food table. She looked slightly before ducking her head down away, and brought a hand to her mouth, covering it. He ignored the action, and the feeling of familiarity he got from the girl.
"Whatcha doing here, the party's over there," he said sarcastically, mocking how people would come to him as a child when he was sitting alone.
Her eye twitched, signalling they might be smiling, but the movement was gone quicker than it came. He smiled to himself at the small action.
He pulled up a chair a couple feet next to her and sat down with a huff, looking over the crowd with a glare.
"I hate going to these stupid galas, everyone's so condescending and loud," he mutters out to her, and she nods, clutching the phone in her hand like a lifeline.
The case looked oddly familiar. In fact, a lot about this girl did. The hunch in the shoulders and the way that she would swipe her thumb over the power button to her phone, despite not planning on turning it on. The way she rubbed her cupid's bow, making her cover her mouth. The way her heel was digging into the ground. It was a lot like-- no, it was exactly like a certain someone he knew.
"They are pretty annoying. I don't usually go," she whispered out, and Jason had to strain his ears to catch what she was saying.
He nodded along, agreeing.
"I'm not dragged along very often either." H looked over to her. She had since relaxed a little bit, but was very much turned away from himself, as if she wanted to just disappear.
The pale skin, although now coated with bronzer and blush, and the dark black hair… all of it was the same as Tim. Well, the biggest difference was that this girl was called Alice Drake, and was, of course, a girl.
"Why were you this time?" She asked softly, her voice sounding strained and painfully high. He was sure anyone else wouldn't have picked up on it, but listening to it more it became obvious.
He shrugged, "I gotta appear every once in a while, or else the public might think I'm dead, again." Mirth was weaved into his voice, and if he heard right, he could have sworn that Alice Drake had chuckled at his joke.
Wait...
Wasn't Tim's last na me also Drake? He swore he heard Bruce say that. They had all thought it was some coincidence, because the Drakes didn't have a son.
Looking over this girl again, or well, kid, he could see it. He could see Tim. Why Tim was dressed like this… he didn't know .
"This place is too hot," he faked pulling at his collar, "wanna go get some air?" He couldn't ask here. Not when there were a billion reporters and people around and when he wasn't even 100% sure of it. Whether she- he? They were Tim or not, they looked desperate to escape.
"Sure," Alice muttered out, and Jason could see panic rising on her face.
Alice followed as Jason led them to the elevator that would take them outside, on the roof. They were acting skittish, and scooted out onto the roof when the doors began to open, moving as far away from Jason as they could without it seeming weird. Or weird to most people.
"Tim?" He said hesitantly and Alice stiffened up, shoulders hunching as they turned around, horror and fear on their faces. Jason's face melted into something soft as tears were obviously pooling in their eyes.
Alice, or well, Tim, began to cry silently, and Jason awkwardly patted their? His shoulder. He shrugged off his suit jacket when the tears turned into sobs, and draped it across his shoulders.
"What happened?" He asked, trying to keep any anger that might seep into his voice as he began to understand the situation more.
It took a couple minutes for him to calm down and respond, hugging onto the jacket tightly, "my- my parents made me." He started.
Jason clenched his fist and took a silent breath in. "Made you come here dressed like that?" He nodded in response.
"I came out to them, and they didn't like it," the sobs had died down, shame now taking over his voice.
"Tempted to break the no killing rule again," he bit out, before sighing.
"Fuck them, wanna get out of here?"
Tim looked up, a little shocked and confused. Jason shrugged.
"We could climb down the fire escape and go to a convenient store, get you a hoodie and pants to change into, maybe get food. Up to you," his only response was to blink.
"I mean we could go back inside," Tim straightened up, shaking his head.
"No, no its. Lets just," he started and Jason laughed, before leading the two over to the fire escape.
Tim was… confused. Jason really didn't seem to care that his unofficial brother was currently in a dress and a push up bra. Not that men couldn't do that, of course. And not that Jason should judge a man for doing that but… well… you know.
They made it down the fire escape, slower than the two normally would have, given the high heels attached to Tim's feet, which he took off half way down, leaving him barefoot but free of the pain that was, wearing high heels. Barefoot was much better than rolling his ankles multiple times.
Soon enough, they made it to a target that was still open, and Jason went inside, returning quickly with a large shirt, pants and a even larger hoodie, a bag and what looked like makeup wipes.
Tim took the bag and items shyly, and hurried off to the bathroom. In there, he came across his next problem. The fucking corset.
He tried stretching around to reach the ties, but soon found his ribs aching. Knowing his luck, he was bound to break them if he tried to contort himself any further. With a sigh, he pulled off the tights, not caring when they made a loud ripping noise in his anger-fuelled haste to get them off.
He shoved on the sweats quickly, having to tie its drawstring tight around his hips. They were just a couple sized too big but he didn't care much. Oversized clothes were warmer and it's not like he had much of an option anyways.
He dropped the remaining items into the bag, before quickly unlocking the disabled bathroom's door.
"Jason," he whispered out, and the boy turned to him.
"You done? Do the clothes fit fine?"
"Uh," he coughed, half from nerves and half from the fact he was being squeezed to death by this abomination of a corset.
"No, I need help," Jason's face dropped into something more akin to dread, then looked away.
"Okay,"
Tim disappeared from the door, leaving it open for Jason to step in. It seems they both wish this wasn't happening as much as the other. When Jason did step in, his eyes were anywhere but Tim.
"Can you untie this, I think I'll break my ribs more than I already have, puncture a lung and die. Which honestly, probably sounds a lot better than being in this situation right now, but I have work to do, so." He rambled on awkwardly, then it was Jason's turn to cough, which was masking a laugh.
Tim turned around and felt the corset loosen and Jason grumble.
"Why the fuck did they put a fitted corset for someone much smaller than you, on a guy with bruised fucking ribs."
Tim only could shrug, he had no choice in this and no general idea on why his parents did any of the things they did.
"Can I kill your parents Tim? Please? They're annoying,"
Tim faked a hum, he of course, did not want Jason to murder his parents, mostly.
"Maybe, Bruce could adopt me then," he joked, but Jason hummed seriously.
"Kinda forgot you weren't fully in the family yet, maybe we can fight for custody,"
Tim shifted uncomfortably, not liking the prolonged talk of his parents. Luckily, Jason pulled the rest of the string out, causing the piece to fall to the ground, and he began to move out.
"Thank you," he mumbled, and Jason nodded.
"I hope you like the shirt," he said, closing the door behind him, and Tim reached out to lock it.
He grabbed the shirt and took off the bright red padded bra off and looked at the item in his hands.
It was white and had the generic "don't talk to me until I've had my morning coffee" across the back, and a small cartoon coffee mug printed on the breast pocket. He smiled, shoving it on. It's a shame he was going to have to pull the hoodie over its brilliance. Well, it wasn't COMPLETELY brilliant, since it was white, and coffee stained unforgivingly on white clothing.
The feeling was soon replaced, when he pulled on the red and black lined hoodie.
There was a Red Robin symbol on the front chest, where his was, and in bright white lettering on the back was written his hero's name.
He shoved it on, ignoring the way his eyes prickled at his first merch piece. He grabbed the makeup wipes, wiping it off, and shoving the rest of the clothes in bag.
He didn't have a hair tie to pull his hair up with, but running a hand quickly through it quickly did the trick in making it look more like a trendy unruly mullet then shoulder cut hair.
He stepped out and Jason face palmed, causing Tim to stop. Did he not suit it?
"I forgot to get you shoes," he groaned, "I'll go back in–" he stopped when Tim waved him off.
"Tim, you can't go about Gotham wearing no shoes,"
"I can, and I am. Plus you don't know my shoe size."
"Then come in with me?" He crossed his arms and Tim sighed.
"Why can't we just steal a shopping cart, and you can push me around,"
"Because," he seemed to be suppressing a sigh, "that's illegal?"
Tim shot him a deadpan look, and Jason groaned dramatically before pulling him to the nearest cart in the parking lot. Tim crawled in, using the bag to sit on instead of the wire, and Jason pushed them away from the Target.
They walked down the street, talking about whatever came to their minds, whether it be food, women, deadly assassins and near death, and in Jason's case, Death, experiences. You know, normal things.
Jason stopped briefly to pluck his phone from his pocket when it began to buzz, continuing walking when he answered.
"Yello," he huffed out,
The faint sound of "orange" came through, and Jason rolled his eyes. Tim watched him as he talked,
"I left, obviously,"
Something incoherent sounded out, then Jason answered again.
"Dunno,"
Something louder spoke through
"Well I don't know, she left and went back down before I left. I recommend she took a cab if she didn't want to be here and she agreed."
Tim didn't like that Jason was talking about him, as if he were another person to someone. Well he preferred it more than the truth but he wanted to know who this was, so he asked.
"Who's that?"
Before Jason could answer, Time heard his name through the phone, and Jason sighed.
"Yes, it is, hold on, I'll put you on speaker phone."
He did, and Dick's voice rang out.
"Hi Tim! Why are you hanging out with Jason? Not that I think you two finally getting along is bad or anything–" he cut himself off, "anyways,"
"I was bored. You should ditch that party and come hang out with us. We're much cooler," he replied in a monotone voice, the closest thing to sarcasm he could do.
"I hope you're not doing anything illegal," Dick said worriedly.
"I am not under the influence, thank you very much, Dick. In fact the only illegal thing we have done is stolen a shopping cart."
Dick faked a gasp even going as far to say 'gasp' afterwards, "Jason stop tainting our baby brother!"
"Hey! It was his idea,"
This made Dick gasped again, exaggerating it even further, "double gasp! Are you sure you're not doing drugs?"
"What's this about drugs?" Bruce's muffled voice rang through and Jason and Tim had to cover their mouths to suppress a laugh at the small screech that Dick made at his Father's voice.
"Nothing!"
"You should come to that really nice Chinese place a few blocks from the gala," Tim spoke up, and Dick began to excitedly talk to all of his siblings and begin to message off an order list, and then hang up, leaving Jason and Tim in silence again.
Jason chuckled and Tim smiled widely.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you smile so much Timmers."
Tim's face dropped immediately and Jason laughed again.
They settled into a comfortable silence, only filled by the rattling of the flimsy wheels of the shopping cart.
"How did you know it was me?" Tim broke the silence, asking in a quiet voice.
Jason shrugged, "didn't at first, but you fidgeted in the classic "Tim" way, and your phone case was the same,"
"You didn't recognise me for my face but instead, my phone case?" Tim questioned.
He shrugged again, "well, you do look similar. I think I fully convinced myself when I remembered you both share a last name."
Tim nodded again, his face analytical and focused.
"Wait but weren't you confused about me having," he blushed and looked uncomfortable again, gesturing to his chest, "tits?" He mumbled the last part.
"You do realise I know what trans is, right? Plus it's not really my place to question that, I guess,"
"Huh."
Jason glared, "what does 'huh' mean, Huh?"
"I don't know! Huh? I guess? I just kind of thought you would you know," he made a flurry of unhelpful hand jesters. When Jason didn't respond, Tim scowled at himself and the embarrassed blush fell back on his face.
"I," he sighs, curling into himself, "I just sort of thought you would all like, I don't know hate crime me if I told you. I've heard such awful stories of people getting killed because their date found out they were trans. I know you guys aren't like that and that Dick is bi and all that, but just,"
His face scrunched, tears pricking his eyes, he blinked them away quickly, turning his head, "you always seemed to hate me and at first I thought that because you wanted to kill me, finding out you'd been replaced by a tranny would just give you more motive too."
Jason was silent, and from the corner of his eyes he seemed to be thinking deeply. Tim sighed internally but before he could apologise for the rant and accusations and past assumptions that Jason and his family were bigots, Jason broke out of his thoughts.
Now looking at Tim, he spoke softly. Very different to his normal growling tone.
"You don't know." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Tim's brown fell into another scrunch and he shook his head.
Jason smiled, and Tim's confusion grew. Then Jason laughed and Tim was beginning to feel angry.
"I always thought," he said between laughs, before calming himself, "that Bruce replaced me because he didn't care or love me. That he'd rather a 'real boy,' to take my place. And that I died because of it."
Tim was beginning to understand.
"I guess we both assumed things about each other that turned out to be wildly wrong."
"You're…?"
"Trans too?" Tim nodded and he smiled again, "yup, sorry you can't have the "trans", title. But I guess I have to share it. Huh, guess I will have to strangle you after all," he joked and Tim smiled and shook his head.
"Also don't call yourself a Tranny, replacement," Jason scolded, and Tim frowned.
"I can say the word,"
"Yes, you can, but you shouldn't if you're going to use it as a slur, dummy."
Tim nodded and looked down, Jason patted his head.
"I've never seen you in a binder before," he said out loud, before slapping a hand across his mouth, "sorry,"
Jason waved him off.
"But you've never seen me shirtless," Tim made an 'o' with his mouth quietly.
"When did that happen?"
"The league,"
"Huh, didn't know mastectomy surgeries were something the League would have under their insurance for employees," Jason huffed out a laugh.
"Yeah, I think I refused to wear the women's uniform and they just compensated to make me do as they wanted."
Tim rolled his eyes, "of course, out of the kindness of their poor, cold dead hearts," he remarked sarcastically.
Soon the shopping cart stopped and they walked into the small Chinese shop, which was, surprisingly, empty.
Jason began to rattle off their order, and they sat down.
"Remind me to get Bruce to tip big, they look super tired," he whispered as they sat down and Tim nodded, agreeing.
Soon enough, the rest of the gang joined them.
They all sat down and the staff in the shop seemed surprised at the presence of Bruce Wayne, but not too much.
"I'm sorry, Tim," he started, Tim blinked, "we honestly could have brought you along, since Stephanie ended up coming. I promise you can come next time" Tim laughed, and the table seemed surprised, sans Jason, as he just grinned.
" Fuck no," he said, sipping the iced coffee they'd bought with the meal.
Cass laughed and Dick and Steph growled, handing her both a 100 dollar bill each, Tim didn't bother asking, but he didn't need to.
"I can't believe you were right," Dick started, "I thought I was totally going to win that one."
"What did you bet on?" Jason asked, looking more amused around the group than he normally did.
"On when we would hear Tim swear, and who it would be to, I bet that it would be him sleep deprived and swearing at a villain," Steph answered, annoyance in her voice at her loss.
"I bet that it would be at Damian or Jason,"
Cass looked smug, "I bet it would be to B" she signed out.
"We honestly thought she would lose," Dick pouted, and Bruce shook his head. Jason was cackling quietly and Damian looked angry, like usual. Selina just had her usual smirk on, and she hugged onto Bruce's arm and thanked the workers when they brought over their tones of food.
Tim smiled, and looked over to Jason, who winked with a smirk in response, and Tim had to physically stop himself from laughing, or else he would choke on his food.
The rest seemed very confused at their sudden friendliness with each other, and honestly, they both were too.
Tim didn't realise until they were leaving, that he finally felt like he had a family. Jason threw an arm over his shoulders, and Steph and Dick joined in on the cuddle chain. Stephanie lay across his lap and Dick linking his arm with Tim's as they sat in the back of the Limo. Selina Snuggled into Damian's side holding onto Bruce's hand behind him. Bruce did something similar, and unlike the scowl that crossed Damian's face from the other side of them, he relaxed into the two. A small smile gracing Alfred and Bruce's face.
Tim felt like crying but maybe for the first time in his life, it wasn't accompanied by the feeling of sadness. Instead, a warm feeling, besides the feeling of bodies against his, swelled through his body.
It was love.