Work Text:
Jason didn’t make it a habit of spending time at Wayne Manor, and it wasn’t because he hated his family like everyone seemed to think. No, it was just too much, too familiar for him. He couldn’t stand the domesticity of sitting around for a family dinner or settling in for a movie night. It made him feel jittery and itchy and wrong in a way he just couldn’t explain. He did still love them all. And he knew that Alfred understood, even if the rest of them thought it was because he was still feuding with Bruce, or hating on the replacement, or mad about Dick not attending his funeral… Ok, maybe he was a bit, but they were his family and he loved them, would do anything for them if they asked.
So when Damian shot Puppy Dog eyes at him (they were hidden behind a murderous glare, but Jason could see them for what they were) and asked Jason to come over and spar with him, Jason grumbled, but couldn’t bring it upon himself to turn the kid down. He knew what he was getting into though. Bruce would be there, which would key Jason up, making him feel like he was always being watched- He understood why the Justice League never formed a closer relationship with Bruce, besides the fact that Bruce was a literal emotional cinder block. The feeling of eyes on you all the time, analyzing your every move and thought was extremely off-putting, especially to those who grew up in the League or on Crime Alley. Jason didn’t know how the others could stand it-
Or, he didn’t understand how everyone except Tim could stand it. Tim was… complicated. Unlike his other brothers who actively sought Jason out to spend time with him, Tim was always reserved and by himself. Jason supposed it made sense; after all, he did try to kill the kid when he was younger, but he liked to think they had gotten past that. Lately, Jason wasn’t so sure that was the reason Tim kept to himself. More and more he had seen the kid pulling away from the others. At first it was Damian, although that wasn’t an immediate red flag. Tim started reacting less to the cute little demon’s barbs and retaliating less often. Jason remembered they used to fight constantly, many siblings who were closer in age did, but lately, Tim had taken to ignoring Damian, who just increased his efforts tenfold for the attention that Tim used to give him. Damian didn’t know how to just ask.
Jason had thought that was just a part of growing up- Dick and himself had had times where they would scream at each other for days and avoid each other for even longer when he was a teeanger. And even though he never grew up with Dick through that phase, he could see some of his own behavior reflected in how Tim was acting.
The red flags still didn’t start going off when Jason watched Tim become more independent, defying the Bat more and more often. In fact, it was admirable to him. Tim was coming into his own and challenging how the Bat thought and executed plans. Sometimes Tim was an idiot, sure, but all teenagers were.
It was only when Tim and Dick started to distance themselves that Jason knew something was wrong. Tim and Dick had a strong relationship, one born out of their mutual grief over Jason’s death, something he had mixed feelings about, and Dick feeling the need to be there for Tim in a way he never was for Jason. Dick had truly come into his own as an older brother with Tim, taking him to the movies and for ice cream, urging him to go train surfing, pestering him about his love life- it was one reason Jason had acted so violently towards the replacement when he came back- Dick and he had never had that strong of relationship because the lump couldn’t see past his own ego at the time. Sure there had been good times, but Dick dotted on his younger brothers constantly now-
Still, Jason’s personal feelings aside, he never heard Nightwing gush about Red Robin in the field anymore, or talk about him outside of the Mission. At first, it was just because Dick’s attention was largely focused on the newest member of the household, but even as Damian began to settle in, he never heard stories about Red Robin. He heard about Black Bat, Batgirl, Oracle, Robin, but Double-R was hardly mentioned outside of meeting for a drug bust. Jason wondered what happened, but he didn’t want to pry- he wasn’t exactly welcome to have opinions on the kid after he tried to kill him.
So Jason kept his mouth shut- he wished he didn’t.
When he arrived at Wayne Manor, he took a deep breath to steel himself for the chaos that was his family. He sparred with Damian, successfully avoided Bruce, had tea with Alfred, and briefly caught up with Dick until he deemed it time to go home- He didn’t want everyone to think he wanted to stay for dinner after all. As he was leaving, he heard shouting in one of the sitting rooms. Dick, who had been walking him out, picked up the pace to intervene in whatever nonsense Jason could hear happening between the Replacement and the Demon Brat.
He strolled up to the door just in time to catch the tail end of what Dick was saying.
“... just a child, Tim. You can’t say those kinds of things to him, “ Dick was saying, looming slightly over Tim who was on the ground, looking as if he had fallen. Damian was hiding slightly behind Dick and, although he bore no smile, Jason could see a glint in his youngest brother’s eyes that he didn’t like.
Tim’s hair fell into his eyes as he looked down and murmured, “I’m a child too.”
Dick’s face grew slightly red from anger, lesser than it did in his infamous arguments with the Bat when Jason was a child, but still a tell-tale sign that what he was about to say came through a place of anger.
“You are much older than Dami and were raised in a loving family- not being forced to kill or be killed every day-”
“And that gives him the excuse of still trying to kill me after being here for over a year now?!”
“- and he is getting better. You need to do better too. You have done nothing but scorn Damian since the day he got here.”
Tim puffed his cheeks and Jason braced himself for an outburst, but all the sudden, the kid just deflated, as if all the energy fled him in an instant- as if they had had this argument before and Tim already knew what the outcome was going to be.
“Now, apologize,” Dick said, directing the command to Tim. Tim obediently murmured an ‘I’m sorry’ before asking for permission to be excused. Permission! Jason was appalled. He had thought the kid was getting bolder with the Bats, coming into his own. At least, that was what he had assumed from Tim’s reactions with B, but this… this was something different. This was not the replacement Jason had come after in Titan’s Tower those years ago, nor was it the fighter that Tim had grown into.
Red Robin was trained by Lady Shiva- he was a genius hacker and one of the best detectives in the world; it was unnatural to see him cowed from a few sentences from his brother.
Once Dick gave him a nod to leave and turned to coo at Damian, Tim slid out the door, glancing up at Jason, but making no move to greet him or acknowledge him further. Jason just watched as he slunk around him and headed deeper into the Manor. Something was really wrong here and Jason was going to find out what it was.
— — — — —
Jason sat on top of the tallest rooftop of the Pretender’s patrol route. No matter what kind of day it was, Red alway came within sight of this building. He wouldn’t be able to hide from Jason. Plus, as a Crime Lord, his turf would be ok for one night- It was actually better for his business to give it a rest for a few nights to lure more lackeys of other dealers into the open. So Jason leaned back and waited to see the sign of a vigilante swinging by.
Jason almost missed it- It hadn’t taken long for Red Robin to swing by, moving in and out of the shadows and running across rooftops rather than using his grapple as was most Bats preferred method of Travel- After all, Robins flew.
Instead he watched Tim be more stealthy on the rooftops than he had any right to be. He disappeared momentarily into an alley- Jason assumed to stop a mugging of some sort, before he saw the figure reappear on the adjacent building’s fire escape. This time, he had something in his hand. Jason huffed and hit a button on the side of his hood- prompting the white lenses to hon in on Tim and to clearly Zoom to get a clearer idea of what was in his hand and Tim sat down, back against the maintenance shack on top of the building, giving Jason a full view of him. He took a swig out of, what Jason could now discern was, a bottle, the clear liquid draining significantly after too large gulps.
Ah- So there was no mugging. Tim must have a stash hidden down there of water and snacks. It was something that Bruce had implemented when Robin came into existence- 9 year olds needed a lot more breaks, water, and food than adults. And the checkpoints had survived through every iteration of Robin. Some were communal check points, known to all members of the Family to use, whereas others were closely guarded, specific only to the person who had set it up. This was clearly one of Tim’s private stashes.
While Jason was caught in his own head Tim had drank from the bottle again, draining the liquid. And then Jason watched Tim shudder and stopped in his tracks. His first thought was that the idiot was sick and had gone out with a fever, but that couldn't be right- Jason had just seen Tim a few hours ago and, while something was certainly off, it wasn’t that Tim was sick. Back at the Manor he looked tired, but he was coherent- his face rosy and his eyes had held an alertness that was absent in those that were ill.
And then he watched Tim fidget with the bottle- the label turning to face him. Jason swore. That little fucker was drinking. Alcohol. He was an underaged punk, 17 years old, and drinking Vodka, guzzling it even, on patrol. Jason put his scope down and started climbing down the opposite side of the building. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself and scare the kid off before he had a chance to murder him himself. And, Jason didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he needed to think and clear his head before he confronted the Replacement.
Drinking reminded Jason of Willis and nothing good came from that. He needed to think rationally about this- and yet, there was nothing rational about the situation. Tim- Tim - was sat up on a rooftop in the middle of the night drinking Vodka out of a bottle by himself; And it looked like this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Jason took a deep breath and started across a few rooftops, in the opposite direction of RR, trying to put enough distance between them that he could swing across the street while avoiding detection from the bird.
It didn’t make sense though- Tim had had a bottle stashed and was drinking alone . No one was there with him- this was not the experimental phase of a teenager trying out alcohol for the first time. No, this was a planned event, and that disturbed Jason to his core. What could Tim possibly be thinking to hide drinking from his family? From his friends . In fact, where had Tim even gotten his first taste of alcohol?
Jason had so many questions running through his head, but none of those were overly important right now. What was important was getting to his little brother and getting the alcohol away from him. Then and only then, would he be free to interrogate him.
Jason swung across the street and started building hopping, making record time. In fact, he was probably moving faster now than he ever had when there was an Arkham Breakout. His mind was on a single track focus now that he had himself sorted. Get to Tim, Take away the alcohol, find out what was wrong, being the living shit out of the snot for being so completely senseless.
Finally, Finally, he reached the rooftop that the replacement was sitting on. There was a camera attached to the maintenance shed, but he could tell it had been defunct for months now, if not years. It probably fell to ruin right after Oracle had digitally swept this area on her last maintenance for blindspots. Jason shook his head- At least it didn’t seem like someone (Tim) had purposefully destroyed the camera, but it did seem purposeful that Tim would choose somewhere that was away from prying eyes.
Jason moved around the shed and saw the bird pulling the bottle away from his mouth. A quarter of the bottle was already gone and Jason was horrified. That was so much alcohol in such a short period of time. As he walked up to his little brother, he said, “You’re already missing one internal organ- What, the spleen wasn’t enough for you and you want to get rid of your Liver too?”
Tim looked up at him, his reaction slightly delayed which was not surprising to Jason, seeing as he knew that bottle was full at the beginning of the night. Tim made a noise somewhere between a choked sob and a scoff.
“Yeah, like you care-” Tim said and deliberately brought the bottle to his lips- taking a couple more mouthfuls before Jason reached out and snatched it away from him- Tim’s fingers already lacked the dexterity needed to tightly grip the bottle to keep it away from his enemies.
Tim finished the gulp that was in his mouth and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his glove, sloppily cleaning up the spillage from Jason taking the bottle. Meanwhile, Jason turned on his heels and set the bottle several paces away before returning to his brother’s side. He wanted to go into the alley and find whatever hidden location Tim had down there and smash it to bits, but he knew that leaving Tim alone right now was not a good idea-
“I do, actually. Especially now that I’m here. Can’t have you dying on me while I am here. Daddy Bats might think that I killed you,” Jason said, trying to lighten the mood. Somehow, it did the opposite.
“He wouldn’t care, even if you did. You’re Jason,” he said, as if what he said was obvious and not as cryptically confusing as his and Bruce’s relationship was.
Tim must have sensed that Jason was having difficulty processing what he had said. Tim, after all, was probably the best person in the Family with reading emotions- Well, Cass probably had him beat, but Tim was a close second. Jason had never understood how though, because the kid was worse than Bruce when it came to expressing his own emotions- Tending to bottle them up and never speak of them again.
In fact, more often than not, Tim wore a blank mask so that people couldn’t tell how he was feeling at all. Jason was always uneasy when he encountered Tim looking like that when they were home at the Manor- It just felt wrong.
Now though, with the alcohol flowing through him, he wasn’t hiding his own emotions or observations. Jason didn’t want to take advantage of that, but what Tim said intrigued him. He didn’t understand it- After all, he and Bruce had been at odds with each other since Jason was resurrected as Red Hood.
“What do you mean,” slipped out before Jason even realized he was speaking.
Tim sighed and leaned back even further, slouching into the Wall. He said, “You’re Jason- You’re his Son. It doesn’t matter what you do, he’ll forgive you. Even now he is so happy you are spending time with Dick and Damian, even if you are still avoiding him. He just wants you to be at home with them-”
Jason swallowed down a lump in his throat before focusing on the task at hand.
“Ok, Tim, let's get you up and home-” he said, sling the kid’s arm over his shoulder, using his left arm to anchor it there and his right arm to wrap around the kid’s torso, taking the pressure off of his legs. He goes to release him, surely the kid could walk on his own, but he swayed uneasily on his feet, likely realizing that he had drank more than he had realized. Jason shook his head and wrapped his arm around him, guiding him back down into the alleyway. If Tim had some kind of stash there, Jason was betting he had civilian clothes there too. They made their way down a rickety fire-escape, the integrity of which was suspect, even for Gotham before Jason leaned Tim up against the wall one story up-
“Where’s your stash, replacement. I need to get you into civilian clothes.” Tim peered up at Jason for a moment, his upper body swaying back and forth a bit before he smiled widely and started giggling. He honest to God giggled. And to the point that he started to hiccup slightly. Jason just watched, bewildered. He had never heard the kid sound like that before- in fact, if Tim were sober and made that noise, Jason would have assumed that he had been gassed. Instead, Tim just sounded so young and it hit him how young he really was.
What was it that Tim said earlier? That he was a child too?
Jason shook his head and repeated the question, needing Tim to cooperate with him so he could get him back to the Manor and let someone more qualified deal with this mess. Plus, the longer they waited, the more the alcohol would course through his system.
“Clothes, Tim-” Jason tried again, pulling Tim out of his laughing fit. Tim pointed to a space halfway up the building- only accessible to the Bats with their grapple hooks. Jason sighed and put Tim down, trying to level him with a look that conveyed stay put. By the way Tim started giggling again and muttering how Jason was an idiot for thinking he could look menacing with a helmet over his face. Jason was glad for the helmet, though, as it hid his flush of embarrassment from smartass brother. He shot his grapple and swung to the place in the brick where Tim had pointed, removing one of the bricks to reveal a gap in the stone and pushed some of the other loose pieces aside- he spotted a backpack- lightly stuffed with, what Jason hoped, was a pair of clothes. He pulled that through the opening and looked back in. There was a medkit that looked like it should have been restocked 3 or 4 stops ago. And there was alcohol- and lots of it. Jason counted at least 3 full bottles of spirits, and he suspected there were more underneath those.
Jason shook his head again, trying to keep focused on the task at hand. Get Tim into Civilian clothes, Drop him off at the Manor where someone more qualified could handle this, and clear this hole in the wall out . He didn’t even know where the kid would have gotten the booz that was tucked away. If it were high end, he would have assumed that Tim had stolen it from B’s liquor cabinet, but this stuff was strong and cheap- the kind of alcohol that hit you hard and fast and left you with a massive hangover in the morning- Definitely not something that B would have. Maybe Dick- after all he did have a wild Party side, but this was a lot for him to supply his little brother, especially since Jason had seen Tim drain almost a half a bottle in the time Jason had spotted him and took the bottle away from him-
No, Focus Jason.
He replaced the brick and kicked back off the wall a few times, gaining enough momentum to release the grip the grapple had on the wall, allowing him to land on the adjacent fire escape- with Tim nowhere in sight. Jason was going to kill him.
He couldn’t have gone far, and Jason hadn’t heard him go up the fire escape- although he had been distracted, even if he wouldn’t admit it. He looked down into the Alley, utilizing his position to see every section of the alley. And there was no Tim. God, he was such an escape artist. Jason just turned to go up the metal stairs when he heard a clatter and a very loud hiccup come from directly below him. And Jason wasn’t stupid, he had looked down for the Replacement, he just didn’t realize there was a doorway there, recessed into the building several feet, making below look clear and free of the wayward bird.
Jason climbed down the escape instead, dropping down once the rungs on the final story ended halfway to the ground, their intention to keep undesirables away from the building’s inhabitants' windows. Once he dropped, he saw Tim sat in the doorway with his back on one side, and his feet propped up on another side. What’s worse he was drinking out of a small plastic bottle- Likely more alcohol.
“Where did you get that?” Jason asked angrily- stomping towards the kid and snatching the bottle out of his hand, rum this time- great the kid was mixing alcohols. He threw it across the alley, intent to get it away from Tim as quickly as he could. The look of shock Tim had had at Jason finding him soon transformed into a pout which took up his whole face-
“I was drink’in’ that y’know-” Tim slurred slightly. Great, just great.
“Yeah kid, I know- and after I specifically asked you not to too.”
Tim just looked straight at Jason, seemingly zoning out, probably starting to experience double vision.
“Alright, come one- Time to get into clothes,” Jason said, wanting to move forward before Tim got any more ideas.
He heard RR grumble that he was already in clothes, why did he have to get out of them? That Jason wasn’t making any sense. Still, the Red Robin suit was peeled off, pants first and cape and cowl last, causing Jason to hold back a smile. Regardless of how worried Jason was with this situation, seeing his brother stumble as he tried to put on a pair of too big sweats because he was drunk was amusing. Jason just wished it was because he had been called to pick Tim up from a highschool party that had gotten out of hand rather than finding his brother chugging Vodka out of a bottle alone on a rooftop. While Tim changed, Jason folded the suit neatly and tucked it into the backpack before taking his leather jacket off, followed by his shirt, exposing the kevlar he had underneath. He turned the shirt inside out, hiding the Bat insignia and shrugged his Jacket back on, never before more thankful that his costume was simple enough to double as civilian clothes.
The most distinctive part of his uniform was the Red Hood, which he crammed into the backpack. It didn’t shut, but with Tim’s cape wrapped around it, it shouldn’t raise any red flags- at least not any in the short time it would take to get Home.
Jason peeled his Red domino as well and tucked it into the pouch before shaking his hand through his hair, trying to fluff it up so he wasn’t walking around with helmet hair. He turns his full attention back to Red, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground swaying slightly. His eyes are unfocused. He also only had his shirt part way on, only his head and left arm had made it through the holes.
“C’mon, Timmers, you’re a mess,” Jason said as he leaned down and pulled the kid’s right arm through the arm hole before pulling the shirt down to adjust it. Tim just stared at him. Jason then hauled the kid up, taking most of Tim’s body weight and led them out of the alley- Backpack swung over the other shoulder.
Once they get to the main road though, Jason realizes they have a problem. In his haste to get to his underage brother, who was downing a fifth, he hadn’t thought of how to get home from there. He could call Alfred, but it was late. And honestly, Jason wanted to have time to wrap his head around the situation before getting his family involved- even A and Oracle.
“Hey, Timbellina- You have your phone on you?”
Tim looked up at him and blinked a few times before pulling it out of his sweatpant’s pocket and just holding it in front of him, looking at it without the screen even displaying anything. Jason rolled his eyes and gently pried it out of Tim’s grip, taking his thumb to unlock the phone as well, knowing that getting the password out of the replacement would take more patience than Jason had left- he was already expending it all by taking care of his drunk underage idiot kid brother.
He scrolled through the apps quickly and furrowed his brow.
“You got Uber on here?” he asked.
“No, Jus’ use the Bus,” Tim said. Jason looked at him like he grew a second head.
“Are you telling me that you, Timothy Drake-Wayne, use Gotham public transportation?” Jason asked and was responded to with a grumble. He rolled his eyes and set to the App Store to get the Uber App- no way was he taking a drunk teenager onto Gotham transportation- what was the kid thinking?!
Things got quiet between them for a while, Jason typing in the address to the Manor on Tim’s phone and calling their ride. He considered giving the phone back to the kid, but decided it was better to hold onto it and err on the side of caution. After all, who knew what the kid would do with it- Probably cancel their ride.
Tim sat down on the ground and just started blankly ahead, the alcohol clearly blanking him out. Jason stayed standing and alert, knowing that they couldn’t let their guard down and one of them had to be upright if they were going to get mugged or something. Jason did let his thoughts wander, though. How many times had Tim been on top of that building drinking, alone - Clearly a lot if the stash of alcohol was any indication, but how had no one noticed? He was just a kid- yes an accomplished vigilante, but a child nonetheless. There was no reason that Bruce shouldn’t have noticed what was going on. Or if not Bruce, then Dick- They lived with the Kid after all.
Jason was pulled from his thoughts as he felt Tim lean against his leg. He looked down- he was just a kid- and Jason was going to fix this. Their Uber pulled up and Jason lifted Tim to his feet, guiding him into it.
“Kid better not throw up in here-” the driver grumbled before heading to the Manor. Jason decided not to grace him with a response.
Tim was leaning heavily on Jason and kept staring out the window, not totally comprehending where they were going. But as their trip went on, Tim’s brow became furrowed and Jason could tell he was thinking and trying to put some sort of puzzle together- Jason left him alone, but was interrupted five minutes later, once they had left downtown and were heading onto the freeway towards Bristol.
“I thought you were taking me home?”
“Yeah, I’m taking you home.”
At Tim’s uncomprehending look he added on, “ To the Manor?”
If anything, that just made Tim look even more confused.
“Drake Manor?”
“What?” Jason asked, not quite understanding what Tim was asking. “No, we are going to Wayne Manor, you know- Home.”
“But, I don’t live there,” Tim said and Jason looked at him like he was an idiot. Even a Blackout Drunk person knew their address enough to get home from the Bar. The people who were passed out in the street or tucked behind dumpsters in alleyways were almost always either homeless or on their way home and didn’t make it before their body succumbed to the alcohol.
“You want to explain that to me?” Jason decided to ask. Out of all the things that Tim had said and done tonight- This was the Most Concerning.
“I don’t live there? I mean, sure I stayed with Bruce when my Dad went into a Coma, but I don’t have my own room there- “
Jason froze. A picture that he did not want to see was quickly forming in his mind. A picture where Tim, his baby brother, didn’t think he was a part of his family, that the Manor wasn’t home- a safe place for him to go and relax, where they would watch old movies together and Alfred would bake fresh cookies. That it wasn’t where he received octopus hugs from Dick when he was able to make time to come back from Bludhaven.
“What about when you were Robin?” Jason tried, even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Only a 2 mile walk-”
“But you replaced me,” Jason insisted desperately.
“I could never replace Bruce’s son,” Tim replied back- a little more clarity showing through in his eyes. Some of the alcohol must finally be working through his system.
“But you were there today-”
“Bruce called me, something with WE stuff- he never showed up though, so I don’ know. Must not have been important. Can- Can we talk about something else?”
Jason just stayed silent- letting Tim fade back into his stupor. He could tell that Tim was trying to power through the alcohol, especially now that there wasn’t anymore in reach for him to drink, but that it was exhausting. And that his body was working overtime to cleanse it of the poison.
Jason considered telling the Uber driver that he wanted to change his destination, thinking that maybe Wayne Manor wasn’t the best place for Tim right now. But there were some people there that he needed to talk to.
When they were dropped off, Jason pulled the backpack towards him and uncovered his hood- flipping it upside-down so he could reach the secret inner compartment that held a spare key to the Manor. Once inside, he helped Tim out of his shoes and set the backpack and leather jacket inside the coat closet- He would get to it in the morning- there were more important things that he had to do, like get Tim to bed.
They moved past the Grand Staircase and toward the back of the house where the Family Wing was. Now, just to get Tim to bed. They passed a few rooms on their way to the bedrooms before Jason heard noise- the television, it seemed like. He wondered who was at the Manor this late- or early in the night for the Bats- It hadn’t even hit ten o’clock at night, they should be patrolling.
He let go of Tim, who whined a bit in protest, but leaned back heavily on the wall, letting Jason move forward. Jason was actually impressed that Tim was even staying upright instead of sinking to the floor like he had most of the night already.
Jason turned the corner and he saw Bruce, Damian, and Dick all lounging on the couch, a movie that he didn’t recognize playing on the TV. He shifted, not sure of what to make of the scene in front of him. He remembered doing this with Dick and Bruce. It wasn’t often, but every once in a while, Gotham would be quiet. The Rogues were all accounted for, Blackgate and Arkham were secured, crime would be low. Alfred usually was the instigator when Jason was there, but he had a feeling that Dick spearheaded the mission of taking breaks now. Plus, they had Orcale now too with her alerts keeping an eye on the city when the Bats weren’t able to. Still, they failed to keep an eye on Tim…
Apparently his shuffling had made some noise because soon he saw Dick staring at him, head upside-down as he leaned back on the couch to see who was at the door. Immediately, his face lit up and he smiled widely, genuinely.
“Little Wing!” he exclaimed. “You made it- we hadn’t heard back and we texted you like an hour ago, so we just assumed you weren’t coming.”
“Didn’t have my phone on me,” he said, not surprised that Dick had sent him an invitation, but he was getting a very bad feeling. He had been with Tim an hour again. “Family movie night then?”
Dick nodded emphatically and launched into an explanation of whatever movie it was that had been decided on. Jason didn’t care, he wasn’t going to be staying to watch it. Maybe he could just drop Tim off here, but— Tim’s cell phone felt heavy in Jason’s jeans pockets. He hadn’t given it back after ordering the Uber and that had been less than an hour ago- Less time than when Dick supposedly invited Jason to spend time with the family and there hadn’t been any notifications on it. Jason glanced back at the doorway, the doorway suddenly feeling dark and isolated- Lonely. Another wall that was separating Tim and Jason couldn’t understand why-
Instead, he asked, “Tim coming?”
Dick hummed before tearing his eyes away from the screen, somewhat surprised that Jason hadn’t already moved to his spot on the floor with his back against the couch.
“I don’t know- He’s probably doing something for WE.”
And Jason felt cold. They hadn’t even bothered to check- hadn’t even invited the kid who had sat alone on a rooftop and drank. This was so very very wrong.
“Well, I’m not staying,” Jason said, firmly. Enough so that Dick paused the movie- and Bruce looked up from his tablet. Damian turned around.
“Tt- why not?” he demanded. “You are already here, why don’t you stay?”
Jason just shook his head and headed for the door, seeing Tim exactly where he left him. God, he hoped that he hadn’t heard that, or at least that he was still too drunk to have totally comprehended it. He couldn’t be sure though, and Tim just looked exhausted.
“Alright Timbit, come on.”
This time, he crouched down, encouraging Tim to hop on his back piggyback style so he could get the kid to bed. Tim complied, hesitantly wrapping his legs around Jason’s waist, arms draped over his shoulders and head burrowed into the crock of his neck. Jason hefted him up and walked past the sitting room, knowing full well that there were three pairs of eyes on him as he walked past. He met the gaze of each and every one of them, silently promising that there would be conversations happening in the morning.
As he ventured a bit further through the halls, he whispered to Tim, “Ok, which one is yours?”
Tim just grumbled unhappily and pointed to the room furthest down the hall and to the left- the last bedroom before the guest-wing split off. Jason just trudged forward and opened the door to an almost bare bedroom. There were no weapons and priceless pieces of art on display like Damian’s, or trashy posters covering the walls like Dick’s. There wasn’t even a bookshelf in the room, like Jason’s. It was just plain, the only sign that someone stayed here occasionally were the clothes in the drawers and two photos on the nightstand table. One was of Tim with Kon and Bart- both of whom had died right before Bruce had gone missing. Tim looked so happy there-
The other made Jason catch his breath. It was a picture of him, as Robin, doing a front flip out of a grapple with a wicked smile on his face, the moon causing his form to almost be a silhouette against it.
“Tim?” he called, and realized the boy was sleeping on his back, drool starting to seep into Jason’s shirt. He looked back around the room and headed back down the hall, Tim in tow. No way was Jason letting Tim stay in that room tonight. He entered his own, somewhere that he rarely stayed, but was meticulously kept and sat on the bed, gently dislodging his sleeping brother onto his bed, brushing back Tim’s hair before changing into comfortable clothes himself. He threw a blanket over Tim and retreated into his reading chair in the opposite corner of the room, turning the small lamp on and picking a book to settle in with. He wasn’t going to leave his brother to wake up alone tonight- Not if what Jason had inferred was correct. And tomorrow- Tomorrow he would have a chat with the rest of the family.
He would fix this. He promised.