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It had taken Tim months to accept that he wasn’t going back to Drake Manor. To accept that his parents weren’t going to be collecting him from the Wayne’s, that he was allowed to stay and wanted. He had been terrified of doing something that made the Wayne’s hate him as his parents seemed to. Tim would try to take up as little space as possible, would tidy his room so that there was never anything out of place, and he would do as Bruce instructed without fuss.
Bruce had talked to Tim several times about relaxing, that he wasn’t going to kick Tim out and that he didn’t want Tim to feel the need to ‘earn’ his place in the family. It honestly wasn’t until Jason came back that Tim realized that Bruce meant every word that he was saying.
Jason was angry, headstrong, and killed several mob bosses when he came back to Gotham. Tim had thought that Bruce wouldn’t forgive Jason, that he would lock him up like all the other Rogues in Arkham. Tim thought he would have to face his brother again and again in the endless loop that seemed to be their lives when it came to the villains of their city. But Bruce ran to Jason, tried to get him to come home, protected him from the police, and eventually proved that he cared for Jason just as he always had.
Tim was so shocked that he’d broken down crying and begging to just be held by Bruce well into the next day. Jason had gotten to know him after that, and it led to a lot of overprotective attitude. Dick had said that Jason was just protective of kids and that he’d told Jason about his parents. Tim was grateful that he didn’t have to try and tell the older boy about them, what happened, and why he was now a Wayne in everything but name.
With Damian, Tim was feeling that odd sort of limbo once more. He’d ‘befriended’ the boy to an extent, and Tim knew that Damian only tolerated him. They explored the manor together when the other was bored, explored the gardens when the manor was not interesting and explored the cave when no one was watching. Tim felt as if he were the younger of the two with how much following he did. When Tim would mention doing something other than exploring or training Damian would lose him and Tim wouldn’t see him for several hours after.
He wondered if there was ever a chance of getting the younger boy to even acknowledge him as a kid, let alone a sibling.
Standing there now, however, Tim blinked back in confusion at the giant dog that was wagging its tail at him, drool falling on each side of his face onto the ground. It was warm, really hot, and Tim stayed still and hoped that the dog didn’t try to lick him. Alfred would be so mad! “Titus, off of him! OFF!” Tim heard Damian’s voice and could see the slight tugs of the dog's scruff as he tried to get the dog to back away. “Move it!” Damian finally came into view when he shoved Titus’ head and directed the dog away from Tim and towards a further spot away from the two of them.
Tim sat up slowly, not wanting to make the dog eager to pounce on him again, and looked at Damian who was staring at him with as much concern as Tim had ever seen on his face. “When did we get a dog?” His voice sounded distant, even to himself. He noticed that Damian glanced back at the dog and there seemed to be a debate going through his head before he bowed it.
“Please do not tell Father. I don’t have full control of them yet and I do not wish for him to forbid I summon them.” Tim blinked. Summon them? He stared at the dog again. Titus wagged his tail but kept his distance. Behind the dog, Tim could make out the small form of a cat cleaning itself on a rock.
“Since when could you summon a dog and cat?” His curiosity got the better of him and Tim rose to his feet. Tim hissed when his bare foot touched the drool spot on the ground and jumped when he noticed the small burn marks that were now present on his skin. He felt the small burns even on his face now that he thought about it.
Damian grabbed a rag and mopped up the drool and cursed when the resulting heat set the rag on fire making him stomp it out. “A month ago. When I fell on the platform. I summoned them when I was… distressed.”
“Are you distressed right now?”
“No, but they usually only stick around for an hour before disappearing.” Tim looked at the creatures again and they seemed to be staring at one another now. Strange.
“Do you understand them?”
“As humans can understand animals. They understand me well enough, but they often pick and choose when to listen to me it seems, especially if it intrigues them enough.” He indicated towards Tim, “As Titus had been curious enough about you, I was unable to get him off without force. Alfred is usually hard to move from warm patches of sunlight when I summon him.”
Tim put his hands to his mouth and almost giggled out, “Alfred?”
“The Cat.”
“Alfred the cat… I didn’t realize you liked Mr. Pennyworth so much, Damian.” Damian tilted his head to the side in confusion. “D… Did you not know that Mr. Pennyworth’s first name is Alfred?” Damian’s face heated up with a fairly dark shade of blush.
“I KNOW that Pennyworth’s name is Alfred. I’m not incompetent, Drake.” And that stung. Tim wishes he’d told Bruce to change his name to Wayne, to get rid of that last name of people who obviously didn’t care about him. But… Tim knew that he would not be a full-blooded Wayne. Not with parents still around, and especially not with Damian here now. It felt as if Tim had missed the baton in a race, and was so far behind that he didn’t have any hope of catching up.
“I wasn’t sure. You don’t really say anyone’s first name, Dami.”
“Do not use that idiotic nickname. Grayson has made a habit of calling me it and I refuse to acknowledge it.” Tim tilted his head, not saying anything about how he… sort of just did. Whatever. “If you are not going to tell Father and have nothing to add you are free to leave. I have training to finish.” Tim scuff his toe slightly and watched Damian’s retreating back.
The true son of Batman.
Tim wishes, almost jealously that he could switch roles with Damian, that he could share blood with the Batman and have lived with him most of his life than with his parents. He wishes that he had gone over sooner, and told Bruce about them being gone. Got CPS involved sooner. But Tim knew that wishes didn’t always come true, that he was not someone who got those sorts of breaks in life.
His parents didn’t love him.
His new brother thought he was a bother.
His true father wasn’t his real father.
Facts of life that Tim wished, beyond a doubt, weren’t true at all.