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“No.”
The word echoed in the cave.
Timothy was glaring at Bruce so hard like if he stared long enough he’d disappear.
Damian mentally sighed in his head. He just wanted to start working on this damn device and of course, his father (alternate version or not) had to interrupt.
Bruce, in his determination, walked further towards them. His steps sounded like lead on stone and his expression was one Damian was all too familiar with.
Damian quickly stepped in front of his younger brother. Simultaneously blocking him and Bruce from each other's view.
Bruce steps halted at the action. Damian and Bruce’s gazes clashed in silent observation.
Then, Damian spoke, “If you need something, go ahead and say it. But please don't come any closer.”
Damian’s eyes flickered behind him. Timothy locked eyes with him for a brief second before he looked off to the side, away from Bruce, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. However, a second was all the brothers needed for Damian to convey what he needed. ‘Let me take control’ And Timothy conceded.
“I want to know what your plan is to get us home.” Bruce said. “Not only that, what’s the plan for our duration here? Is there anything we need to be careful of? Is our rogue gallery different in a way we need to watch out for? What about the Justice League, or any magic users, could they help? Where is the other me? Could he help? And-”
Damian raised his hand, stopping Bruce’s words in his tracks.
Bruce looked stunned for a moment. Damian figured he’d never had that happen before.
Damian took another calming breath. He should've figured that Bruce would find a way to come into their project and find some way to ask questions like they didn't think of them too. (Like he didn't trust them.)
He looked at Timothy once again. He nodded in his direction.
Timothy huffed out a small breath but nodded back. He dashed swiftly out from behind him and headed for what appeared to be the stairs. Damian knew better and knew that Timothy was heading towards a blind spot beneath the stairs hidden by shadows. Out of sight, but in hearing range.
Once Timothy “left” Damian relaxed a bit. He could converse with Bruce better if Timothy and Bruce weren't in each other's view.
“Now,” Damian began, “to answer your questions. Timothy and I are currently trying to replicate the device that brought you here to try and get you home. As for anything you need to watch out for, that would be need-to-know and irrelevant as of right now. I don't have any intention of letting any of you out of the manor. There are too many risks if that happens. I will call the Justice League if needed but I don’t think they'll be useful presently. Magic users may be necessary, but right now I want to figure things out on our own. As for where my father is...he’s off-world and will remain that way.”
Bruce was silent for a bit. Contemplating and trying to digest Damian’s words.
He opened his mouth.
“No,” Damian said before Bruce could say anything. “I...we don't need your help. All you need to do is stay out of sight from the general populace. We can handle things. This is our dimension, and our rules are final. Any more questions?”
~~~~~
Questions, Bruce had lots of them. How’s and why’s and…
The way Damian stepped in front of Timothy, the way Timothy quickly left his presence, their stares, the defense against him. It unnerved him. Not in the way that Damian was protecting his brother, but that he was protecting him for him.
“I…” Bruce trailed off. He looked away from Damian. Batman was telling him to demand and interrogate but Bruce, the father, was telling to ask and listen. He was never able to reconcile those two parts very well. His relationship with his children were examples of that. But he hoped they knew he was trying.
He tried going out with Damian more. He tried talking to Tim outside of work. He tried checking in on Dick as often as he could. He tried to understand Jason and where his emotions lie. He tried to be there for them when they needed him. He tried to be a better father than what he was.
Bruce looked back at Damian's intense stare. But them? These alternate versions of the children he raised, they didn’t know. He wasn’t a detective for nothing. The signs of a rocky relationship between this Bruce and this Damian were very clear. And Timothy's nonexistent one even more so.
“Can you…” Bruce hesitated. “Can you tell me more about this world? I’d like to know more. About you and your brothers. About Timothy.”
Damian’s stone gaze held before softening a bit. He sat back in his chair and gestured for Bruce to take the empty seat next to him. “What do you want to know?”
~~~~~
Timothy didn’t know what to think. Hiding away under the stairs staring at the alternate Bruce with as much contempt as curiosity. He knows, oh he knows, that his relationship with his version of Bruce was never going to be what it was. But this Bruce….
Their postures are the same. The facial expressions. Almost the same personalities. And yet, he actually seems to be trying.
Timothy logically knows his universes Bruce cares for (and dare he say even loves) Jason and Dick with as much as he can. He knows that he’s trying to be better for where he failed with Damian and him. Emotionally, all he can see is Bruce shoving the problems between him and his two eldest away. Locked away without a key. Never to be acknowledged.
Damian will always care for his father. Timothy has never begrudged his brother for that. He didn’t necessarily understand that love as he could never really muster up that feeling for his own neglectful parents, but he knows that Bruce is one of the only (if sub-par) adult role models in his life. He also reluctantly acknowledged that Bruce did care for Damian in a way that only the pair would understand.
When the alternate Bruce came in all Batman life Timothy immediately went on the defensive. If it wasn’t for Damian he might have stabbed first, ask questions never.
But when Bruce (despite a bit of haggling) actually stood down. Stopped being well, Batman, for the moment and asked about his kids. Timothy couldn’t help but be jealous. After all, Timothy’s own relationship with Bruce wasn’t always so…nonexistent.
When Timothy came into the so-called “Batfamily” he was a scrawny little thing. Damian had left after a heated argument with his father to who knows where and Bruce was getting out of control.
Despite what it may seem like, Damian actually tempered Bruce’s aggression and anger. Bruce suddenly had a kid to take care of. A kid with an assassin's background and a body count to back it up. Bruce had to be a good example to him, and he was. For the moral, ethical, and crime fighting stuff that is. The emotional end got lost in the fray.
With Damian gone and Cassandra having already struck out on her own, Bruce was left alone with the only way to channel his emotions was on criminals.
Timothy (having already figured out their identities) forced his hand on taking care of himself and slowing down, or every news publication in Gotham will know that Bruce Wayne was Batman.
Stephanie (taking a break for college at the time) was a huge help. Two against one, no matter who they’re against, was better than being alone.
His relationship with Bruce was more one of colleagues than of father and son. After all, his parents were still alive. But even after they died their relationship stayed relatively the same.
Timothy knows that Bruce knows that he wasn’t the greatest father to Damian. And because of that he never tried to parent Timothy. Timothy was his partner but not his son. Even with that label Timothy knew Bruce cared for him in a way only he could and in turn, Timothy cared for Bruce.
At the time, Bruce was Timothy’s only close, stable relationship. His close relationship with Damian didn’t really happen until after he died.
When he was alive, Damian was off galavanting the world so his interactions with Timothy were limited. He wasn’t too happy at being replaced by an untrained civilian kid.
But Damian did occasionally send exotic and rare books he found to Timothy. Jason was currently going through the vast collection.
Timothy wasn’t exactly sure what Damian did after he died, but all he knows is that it had something to do with Deathstroke, the League, and Jason that made him come back home.
Renegade was a name that was briefly tied to an associate of Deathstroke's but Damian never confirmed or denied any rumors and Timothy didn’t ask.
The brothers have a sort of, hands off type of relationship. When it comes to trauma dumping, emotional needs, and shared experiences they would be there for each other. Through thick and thin. But when it comes to their nightly activities they wouldn’t ask any questions unless the other brought it up first.
Another rule was to leave whatever misgivings they have with Bruce out of Jason and Dick’s view. It’s not like they don’t know, but they don’t know any specifics or how deep it really goes.
They don’t know about the harsh fights they got into as Red Hood and Batman. They don’t know about the screaming matches at Timothy and Bruce.
Bruce could not reconcile the Timothy from before and the Timothy of the present. Past Timothy was a smart, starstruck kid who listened and followed Batman. Present Timothy was a man filled with scars, vengeance, and rebellion. A person who wouldn’t blindly follow Batman as he once did. Gun usage and killing didn’t help matters either.
Timothy sighed and closed his eyes. Jealous. That’s a feeling he hasn’t felt in a while. As a kid he had brief hopes that Bruce could be the father he never had. And in a way he was, but also not. Seeing this Bruce care about him enough to ask about him. Enough to…Timothy didn’t know.
His Bruce avoided him as much as Timothy did Bruce. His Bruce would nitpick his every action to find some sort of hidden motive or until it was perfect and to his liking. His Bruce tried to “fix” him as if he was a tool to be used. His Bruce’s communication usage with him was in the negatives and beyond. His Bruce was a great hero, but a lackluster father.
This Bruce was an unknown. He had different experiences than his Bruce and a different relationship with his other self. He seems softer and more open. A good relationship from what he’s observed (albeit a work-in-progress one).
And if Timothy was being honest, he doesn’t know if he was ready to see that.