Work Text:
All Tim wanted today was a nap. He was ready to put his phone on do not disturb and let himself be dead to the world for however long his body decided to let him be unconscious for.
There were very few people that Tim had down on his phone as people who could bypass his do not disturb mode, and of course, one of them had to call him at this very moment. Tim groaned until he realized it was Bernard. Bernard was his everything, and he would always give him the attention he deserved.
“Hey, Bear. What’s up?”
“Sorry if this is a bad time…” the boy on the other side of the phone started, “but I kind of got kidnapped for ransom and my kidnappers are letting me have one call, so I called you.”
Tim’s eyes widened, the tiredness suddenly draining out of his body. “Kidnapped? Bernard, that is not something to say so calmly! What the hell happened?”
“I just got kidnapped by these three guys. I’m fine, Tim, they don’t look very well put togeth— HEY-!”
“What? Bernard? Bernard, what happened?!” Tim pressed the phone close to his face, as if that would help him hear what was going on any better. He was thinking the worst, his imagination running wild as he thought about the possible things that could be happening to his boyfriend.
Soon enough, he heard someone on the phone again. Someone who wasn’t Bernard.
“Tim Drake?”
Tim recognized that voice immediately. His heart filled up with dread.
“Tim Drake, is that you?”
With a sigh, Tim said yes.
“Oh my god! Remember us? We kidnapped you twice before! Well. Once. The second time wasn’t successful. Anyways! This is such a coincidence. Our hostage said he was calling his boyfriend. Is Bernard your boyfriend?”
Again, Tim affirmed what the kidnappers were saying.
“We kidnapped your boyfriend! Small world, huh? Anyways. We’ll set him free for a thousand bucks.”
“A thousand? Seriously?”
With the radio silence Tim heard from his end of the phone, he could only imagine the three kidnappers he had a few run-ins with prior were looking at each other awkwardly. This was all such a pain.
The silence broke with Bernard’s voice.
“Sorry about that, Tim. They took my phone. Can you please just… ‘pay the ransom,’ if you know what I mean?”
Tim knew exactly what his boyfriend meant. Bernard wanted Tim to suit up as Red Robin and come save the day. Normally, Tim would do that in a heartbeat, but this situation was different. Bernard was being held hostage by three idiots Tim would rather not have to see again. Three idiots that Tim was confident Bernard would easily be able to escape from with his level of martial arts training. All in all, Tim just wanted to take a nap.
“Can’t you just… ‘pay the ransom’ yourself, Bernard?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
This is the moment where Tim knew he messed up.
“Come on, I just-“ He didn’t know what to say to make the situation better. “You’re really self sufficient, and these guys really aren’t all that tough. I would know, they kidnapped me before.”
“I’m tied to a chair!”
“You never told me that!”
They bickered on the phone, neither really holding back. It was as if they completely forgot about how Bernard was kidnapped and only cared about whatever petty thing they were arguing about.
Soon enough, Bernard delivered a low blow.
“I’ll get Jason to ‘pay the ransom’ if you won’t do it.”
Tim’s grip grew tighter around his phone.
Adding Jason into the mix would be the worst possible outcome. Jason had already saved Tim from these exact criminals as Red Hood twice before. All of this happened months ago, and Jason still wouldn’t let Tim live this down. Giving Jason ‘I saved your boyfriend for you’ bragging rights would be a lethal move for Tim’s sanity.
Tim spoke through gritted teeth. “Don’t even think about it. I’m tracking your location, I’ll be there in five.”
- - -
“Trouble in paradise?” The kidnapper asked his hostage.
“Yeah. You could say that.”
- - -
Red Robin bust through the window of the apartment Bernard was being held hostage in. He recognized it as the same place he was held hostage in all those months ago. This was expected, he did not expect these criminals to learn a thing from their prior hostage situations.
Right now, none of that really mattered. He needed to act as Red Robin. Not Tim Drake.
“I got an anonymous tip that there was a hostage situation over here. Hand him over peacefully and nobody gets hurt.”
“Tim Drake ratted on us!” one of the kidnappers deduced. “I really thought we had something special…”
Red Robin stayed silent, in a fighting stance he had taken soon after he jumped through the window. He wasn’t going to strike first, but if any of the criminals did, he was going to make sure he struck harder.
Though it looked like he wouldn’t be getting any fighting action tonight, for the kidnappers were all quaking in their boots. Tim lowered his fists and took a breath.
“That’s what I thought.” Tim kneeled down and slowly started untying Bernard from the chair he was restrained to, them both bickering back and forth with each other again, but this time softly and under their breaths. It was as if they were the only two people in the room.
That is, until another visitor broke through the window.
“Red Hood, it’s you again!” one of the kidnappers squealed.
“Look! We’re getting better at this whole kidnapping thing!” another exclaimed.
Red Hood grinned under his mask, giving Red Robin a mischievous look before he brought his attention back to the criminals.
“So…” Red Hood puts his guns away for now. “Is that Bernard Dowd? The boyfriend of that rich Tim Drake you kidnapped a while back? I’ll admit, that was a smart person to target. Drake probably would have paid that ransom money to you guys immediately if Red Robin didn’t show up when he did.”
There were practically stars in the kidnappers eyes as they were praised. The same could not be said for Red Robin. “I know! And would you believe we didn’t even know he was Tim’s boyfriend initially?”
“Wow! Lucky bastards.” Red Hood had a good chuckle about the whole situation before continuing. “So, I gotta know. How much money did you ask for in ransom?”
“One thousand dollars!” a kidnapper announced, crossing his arms smugly.
Red Hood just kept laughing his ass off, it was as if nothing could shut him up. “Only a thousand? Damn. You know you could have squeezed Drake for more, right? A thousand dollars isn’t exactly a lot for a guy like him. Come on guys. Know your worth, am I right? Or well. In this case, know Bernard Dowd’s worth. Which is more than a thousand dollars, if you ask me.”
Red Robin and Bernard were halfway out the window when Bernard heard this and turned around to add his two cents to the conversation. “Thanks, Red Hood. I’d like to think I’m worth a lot more than that. To be honest, I’m kind of offended.” Tim rolled his eyes, not looking back for a second.
If Tim were to look back, he would see three grown men twiddling their thumbs and avoiding eye contact with their newly ex-hostage.
“We’re sorry for making your ransom so low…” one finally got out. “You deserved something much higher. We know that now.”
“Thank you. If you don’t mind, Red Robin will be escorting me out now. But this was fun. So long.”
Red Hood allowed the criminals to say their goodbyes before he promptly knocked them out by hitting them with his gun.
The climb down the fire escape was a little awkward. Tim went down first, Bernard close behind. Of course Bernard used this opportunity to look downwards every so often at the vigilante who saved him to shake his head and give disapproving looks. Tim kept a brooding expression on his face, desperately needing his nap.
When at the bottom of the ladder, Red Robin lent a hand to Bernard, helping him the rest of the way down.
“At least I’m worth something to Jason and those criminals.” Bernard accentuated this statement with a little hmmph!
Tim sighed. “Bern, you know you’re worth the world to me. I just really didn’t want to have to see those guys again.”
“I know.” Bernard was smiling again. “And I also know I definitely could have beat their asses if I wanted to. But, you gotta admit, they’re really funny.”
“No. No they are not. Next you’re going to try to convince me you thought what Jason just pulled was funny too.”
Bernard covered his mouth with his hand, trying to hold in a laugh. “Well…”
A kiss was placed on Bernard’s lips. It was done by Tim, of course, with the intention of shutting his boyfriend up. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Tim. But no amount of kisses will let you live this down.”
Tim finally cracked a smile. “It was worth a shot.”