Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim was basically asleep by the time Jason got Tim to his apartment. Jason called a cab, opting to leave his bike, praying to every deity that it wouldn’t get stolen. He couldn’t risk Tim falling off, whether from exhaustion or lack of will to hang on. No matter how odd it must have looked for Red Hood to be getting in a cab practically carrying Tim Drake. No one would believe the driver if he said anything anyway.

It was probably nearing six in the morning when the cab dropped them off. Jason picked Tim up with ease and frowned to himself. How have we not noticed how little Tim has been taking care of himself.

Once Jason had Tim laying on the couch, he leaned against the wall and let out a breath, tension leaving his body like a wave breaking against the shore. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was not qualified to help his suicidal little brother. He was barely qualified to help himself.

Jason looked over at Tim, despite the tears lining his cheeks, the teen looked peaceful. His breath was even and his face was more relaxed than Jason had ever seen it. Jason had trouble tearing his eyes away from his brother, as if Tim would disappear the second he blinked. He still needed to get in contact with Bruce and Dick. Dick was probably the better of the two, considering he at least tried to be open. If Jason thought he had any other option, he wouldn’t call either of them, but Tim needed more than a trigger happy crime lord. Even if Jason was the one he called.

Tim shifted in his sleep, and Jason could see the blood on his sleeve that he’d forgotten about earlier. There was more than he’d thought. It wasn’t enough to be concerned about blood loss, but Tim had just been sitting on the edge of a roof and Jason would bet money that this injury wasn’t from the last time Tim patrolled. Jason walked over to Tim and gently unbuttoned his shirt cuff to roll up his sleeve.

Jason sucked in a breath. Just as he’d figured, Tim’s arm was lined with self-inflicted cuts. They weren’t deep, but they were in various stages of healing and some had completely scarred over. They were sloppily cleaned and not bandaged. It wouldn’t be hard for Tim to get an infection. With the way Tim was laying, Jason couldn’t get a good look at his other arm.

Jason stood and went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. His hands shook as he filled the kettle. He had to be careful with how he approached this. It definitely wasn’t the first time he had to help a loved one with addiction, but he was a lot older with a lot more information now. Drug addiction and self-harm aren’t much different, and the approach to shake the addiction isn’t much different either.

Harm reduction was always the first place to start. Jason took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. Never in his life did he think he would have to tell his little brother the safest way to hurt himself. Jason wished that he could make Tim promise not to do it again, but that would just put unnecessary pressure on the kid and probably make it worse the next time he cut. The best he can do is offer support, do his best to prevent it from happening again, and make sure that when it does, it’s done as safely as possible.

“Fuck,” Jason whispered under his breath as he poured his tea.

Calling Dick was gonna have to wait until Tim woke up; and now Jason also had to make sure Dick wasn’t going to freak out on Tim about the self-harm. Where did everything go wrong? Bruce was back now, Tim had gotten him back. Why wasn’t Bruce here for Tim? The man was awful at emotions, but he loved Tim, surely he’d make sure Tim knew that. And Jason thought that Tim and Dick were close, his best guess was that Damian becoming Robin has something to do with that animosity.

Jason knew that Tim and Damian didn’t get along, but Dick had said that was getting better. Clearly there was still something going on there because Tim felt like he was being shoved out of their lives. Jason sighed, this family is a shitshow.

Jason sat quietly and finished his tea. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so he walked back to the living room and sat in his reading chair, waiting for Tim to wake up. It was hard to keep his eyes off the boy. Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that the second he looked away, Tim would disappear. Every time he blinked, Jason saw his brother at the bottom of a building, limbs bent out of place, and the light gone from his eyes.

It wasn’t too long before Tim stirred. He’d never slept well, and Jason didn’t expect him to stay asleep very long after the night he had.

Tim groggily sat up and wiped at his eyes before tensing as he glanced around the room. Jason could see Tim’s shoulders relax a little bit when he saw Jason.

“Hey Timbit,” Jason said softly. “What do you remember from last night?”

Tim’s eyes scrunched in confusion before his eyes started to widen in horror. Tim quickly looked away from Jason, but when he saw his sleeve was up, his shoulders tensed again. Jason silently cursed himself for not pulling Tim’s sleeve back down.

“I’m sorry,” Tim whispered, his voice hoarse. He rushed to pull down his sleeves.

Jason’s eyes softened and he got out of his chair. Tim flinched a little as Jason stood, so the older boy made his movements slow and deliberate. Jason slowly lowered himself to the floor in front of his brother.

“I’m not mad at you, Tim,” Jason said. “I’m glad you called me, I’m sure that was a hard decision.”

Tim stayed quiet, staring at his hands, tears welling up in his eyes. Jason didn’t say anything for a few seconds to give Tim time to process his words, but the younger boy seemed like he was just zoning out.

“Tim, we need to get your arms cleaned up, I don’t want you getting an infection.”

Jason tried to keep the shake out of his voice, tried to make sure that he was as soothing as possible. He was worried that Tim wouldn’t respond.

“I already cleaned them,” Tim whispered back. “I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to find out.”

Jason took a shaky breath. He should have expected a response like that. Of course Tim wanted to keep the self-harm to himself, but Jason hadn’t expected him to outright say it. Tim said it like he was being a burden, and Jason tried his best not to break down. Priority one was getting Tim’s cuts clean, any other worries could be addressed afterwards.

“They’re not clean enough. I’m sorry I looked, I know you wanted to keep them hidden. We don’t have to talk about it until after I disinfect and wrap up your arms, but I do need to clean them better. And we do need to talk.”

Jason could see Tim flush red, whether with embarrassment or anger, Jason wasn’t sure. Tim pulled his arms to his chest.

Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could do this. He could make sure Tim would be okay.

“Leave me alone,” Tim said. “I don’t want to talk about it, just forget it even happened. I’m fine.”

Jason let out a soft sigh. He should have expected this. Maybe if they try again after Tim’s been awake longer. As much as Jason wanted to do nothing until after first aid, he wasn’t going to fight with Tim over it. He just needed to let Tim loosen his guard first.

“How about some breakfast first? I’ll make you some coffee,” Jason offered. “I have some eggs, toast, and sausage. I can probably whip up some pancakes too if you want.”

Tim seemed to relax a little bit, and Jason almost sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was to push Tim away.

“I guess I could go for some sausage and toast. No eggs though, they’ve got a bad texture,” Tim responded hesitantly. He kept looking at Jason with suspicion, expecting more questions.

Tim clearly hadn’t expected Jason to give in just like that. Jason knew he’d made the right call to change the subject for the time being. He stood and reached over to ruffle Tim’s hair. Tim seemed to lean into Jason’s hand and the older boy couldn’t help but wonder when the last time his brother had positive affection was. If Tim and Dick were fighting, it was probably a while.

“Okay, sounds good to me,” Jason said, trying to keep his voice light. “Up you get, you can set the table while I make us some grub.”

As they made their way to the kitchen, Jason had to keep reminding himself that it would be no good overwhelming Tim with questions and heavy emotions all at once. Tim had said he’d cleaned his cuts, so despite the fact that they needed to be cleaned better, they could at least wait until after breakfast.

Jason knew he wasn’t good at handling emotional situations, and he was doing his best to make sure he wasn’t pushing Tim away. He wanted to get through the questions and reassurances and changes that would have to be made as quickly as possible, but this wasn’t about what Jason wanted, it was about Tim. So Jason could take this at Tim’s pace so long as they got to all the pressing issues by the end of the day.

As Jason started frying the sausage, he thought about how upset Tim would be with him when he told him that either Dick or Bruce would have to be called. As much as Jason didn’t want to have to include them, he was one person, and Tim had just tried to jump off a roof. He was effectively on suicide watch, and Jason couldn’t be up 24/7 to watch him. They would probably have to go to the manor too. Just another thing that was going to upset Tim. They were a family of detectives afterall, so even if Jason only told Dick or Bruce, the other would find out what had happened. Jason took a deep breath.

Damian would be at the manor as well, someone would have to make sure that the Demon Brat wouldn’t exacerbate the issue. Alfred would find out too, and Jason’s heart hurt thinking about how upset their grandfather would be when he found out.

Jason wiped his eyes then washed his hands and splashed his face before popping the toast in the toaster oven. He went back to the sausage and tried to ignore his blurring vision as he flipped the links. He could feel Tim watching him from the table. It hadn’t taken long for the kid to set the plates, cups and silverware.

“Could you pour me some orange juice,” Jason said softly, trying to keep the thickness in his throat from surfacing. “I don’t know how you like your coffee, but the machine is right by the toaster and the beans are in the pantry. I have a pour over and a french press too if you like one of those better.”

“Okay,” Tim said softly. “Thanks.”

Jason could hear the fridge open and Tim’s soft footsteps as he headed back to the table with the orange juice. Jason kept listening as Tim moved around the kitchen, the loud beep of the coffee maker turning on, the beans grinding, Tim getting the water to pour in the machine. Listening to the kid was grounding. It helped Jason remember that he was there, and helped keep the tears out of his eyes.

Jason and Tim simultaneously jumped as the toaster popped up. It was as if the tension was cut by that one little action, because Tim chuckled a little at Jason, and Jason couldn’t help but laugh a little himself.

“We’re crime fighting vigilantes and toast manages to spook us,” Tim said through his chuckles. “Don’t tell Scarecrow, he might make a toast toxin.”

Jason couldn’t help but laugh a little at Tim as he rolled his eyes.

“That was an awful joke, toast toxin, really?” Jason teased as he plated their food.

“Hey! You laughed,” Tim argued back.

“I guess you got me there.”

They quieted down as they sat to eat, but there was less anxiety and tension in the air. Tim had coffee in a tea-rex mug that Jason had gotten on impulse the last time he was at the bookstore, and Jason chuckled.

“You’re drinking coffee out of a mug that literally says tea on it,” Jason said when Tim looked at him curiously.

“Coffee is basically like tea, just better.”

Tim grinned mischievously.

“I’m gonna tell Alfie you said that,” Jason responded, smiling smugly back. Hoping that the mention of Alfred wouldn’t make Tim retreat.

Jason breathed in relief when Tim gasped exaggeratedly. “You wouldn’t!”

“Maybe, maybe not, I guess we’ll have to see.”

They continued with playful banter and conversation throughout breakfast, but the closer they got to finishing their food, the more the tension started to bleed into the air. It wasn’t as thick as before, but both of them could tell that the coming conversation wouldn’t be easy.

They both fell quiet as Jason put their dishes in the sink. Tim refilled his mug, but just stared down into the coffee in silence.

“I know you don’t want to, but we really do need to talk about this,” Jason said quietly. “I promise, I’m not mad at you, or disappointed, I’m just worried about you.”

Tim was quiet for a few minutes, but Jason could tell that he was working up the courage to say something so he waited.

“I know we need to talk about it, but I’m scared that you’ll be mad, or that you’ll tell Bruce and he’ll be mad. I know that realistically you’re going to tell Bruce, and probably Dick too, but I don’t want them to know. They’ll be angry at me for not talking to them, or for even being at the top of a building in the first place. I was kind of hoping that you just wouldn’t care enough for me to have to worry about talking about it,” Tim said softly.

Jason’s heart broke. “Baby Bird, of course I care about you, you’re my baby brother. You mean so much to me, I was so scared that I was going to lose you last night. I don’t ever want you to feel like that’s your best option and I’m so glad that you felt like you could call me. I know that we don’t have the best relationship, and that’s my fault, but I swear to you that I love you so much, and I care about you.”

Tim’s lip trembled and his eyes started to water. Jason grabbed one of his hands and held it gently while looking Tim in the eye.

“I just feel so alone,” Tim whispered, his voice cracking. “And sometimes it's just so much, and I have so much I need to do and then I just don’t know how to fix it. Then I just get so mad at myself, because it’s my fault I’m alone. I just push everyone away, if I would just try harder to not let Damian get to me, then maybe Dick would still spend time with me. Maybe Bruce would still give me those rare, proud smiles. Then I just get so mad and most of the time I don’t even realize that I’ve started until there's blood.”

“Tim, it is not your fault for setting boundaries around how someone can treat you. Dick should respect the fact that you don’t want to spend time with him while he’s with Damian. He should be taking time out of his day for just you. Same goes for Bruce. Damian is at a point where he should understand that how he treats you is wrong. None of that is your fault. Now, that’s not to say that they’re meaning to hurt you like this. They probably don’t realize what they’re doing. So, what we can do is talk to them about it,” Jason said softly. Tim tensed when he mentioned talking to Bruce and Dick. “We don’t have to tell them everything,” Jason reassured. “But they care about you, and I just had to talk you down. I love you, and I care about you, but I can’t trust that something like last night won’t happen again. So, while I don’t have to tell them about the self-harm, I do have to tell them about last night.”

Tim clenched his fit and grit his teeth, but nodded. Jason sighed, the tension leaving his shoulders a bit. He wanted to cue Bruce and Dick into all of it, but he was willing to compromise as long as Tim cooperated with him.

“Speaking of self-harm, I really do need to clean those cuts better, Baby Bird,” Jason said. He spoke a little more firmly now, not willing to let Tim refuse.

“You promise you aren’t mad about it?” Tim said quietly. Hiding his face by looking into his coffee mug.

“I promise,” Jason assured. “I just want to make sure they don’t get infected.”

Tim nodded and set his coffee down. He took a deep breath and unbuttoned his shirt cuffs on both sides then rolled his sleeves up. Jason tried not to show any reaction. He tried to keep his eyes from watering or from holding his breath at the sight of Tim’s arms. He tried to think of it as any other injury, but it was hard to distance his emotions from the physical representation of his little brother’s internal pain.

Jason went under the kitchen sink to get the first aid kit, a tube of neosporin, some cotton pads and a bottle rubbing alcohol. He grabbed a cotton pad and saturated it with the rubbing alcohol.

“This is gonna sting,” Jason said gently. “I’ll try to be quick though.”

Tim nodded at his brother and laid his arms on the table. He hissed as the cotton pad came in contact with his arms. Jason worked as quickly as he could disinfecting the cuts. Most of them reopened, but it was clear that Tim didn’t disinfect the cuts initially so it was unavoidable.

When Jason finished with the alcohol he applied the neosporin to Tim’s arms and wrapped them up.

“Okay, I’m done,” Jason said. Tim pulled his sleeves back down. “Here’s the deal, I’d love to make you tell me you won’t do it again, but we both know it doesn’t work like that. So, what I am going to do, is when we get to the manor, I’m going to clean out your room of anything that you can hurt yourself with. When you inevitably get your hands on something you can cut with, I want you to at the very least, try to remember to talk to someone first. It doesn’t have to be me, but you can come to me at any time, even if you’ve already done something. If you aren’t going to go to someone, make sure whatever you use is clean.”

Tim blanched, not expecting Jason to accept that Tim would probably cut again before telling someone. He looked at his hands.

“Disinfect it, and then after, either get someone, or provide yourself with proper first aid. Nothing half-assed, infections are nasty and you don’t want to deal with that,” Jason finished.

Tim nodded and fiddled with his fingers. “I’ll try,” he said softly. “I don’t always realize that I’ve started until a few cuts in.”

Jason sighed. “We’ll have to figure that out then, but in that case then aftercare is incredibly important. Either make sure you clean up properly, or come get someone who will.”

“Okay,” Tim whispered. “I don’t want Bruce to know about the cutting. He won’t get it. He’ll be mad at me.”

“I can’t promise he won’t figure it out,” Jason told his brother. “But I’ll only tell him about the roof. Do you want me to tell Dick?”

Tim took a deep breath. He seemed to be contemplating if it would be a good idea. “You can tell Dick, but I don’t want him to ask me any questions. If I have to stay at the manor what are we going to do about Damian? I don’t think I can handle him insulting me left and right.”

“I’ll talk to Dick, I see what he thinks will work with Damian. We might have to tell him about the roof too. If he’s not going to be civil we can see about having him and Dick stay somewhere else.”

Tim started to tear up. “He’s gonna be such an asshole if you tell him about last night. I hate this.” Tim tucked his knees to his chest and hugged them. Jason could barely hear him mutter, “I should have just done it.”

Jason sucked in a breath. Clearly Damian was going to be a trigger. “Woah there, if Damian says anything bad, you won’t have to hear it. Anything he might say about it is gonna be wrong. Me, Dick, and Bruce will deal with Damian, you don’t have to worry about him, okay? Some brat kid is not worth your life.”

Tears started falling down Tim’s cheeks. “You know, I was so excited when he showed up. I wanted a little brother so bad, but he hates me. Why does he hate me? I didn’t do anything to him.”

“Oh Timmy, I’m sorry,” Jason said softly. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think Damian actually hates you. I think he’s just intimidated by you.”

Tim just nodded, but it didn’t seem like he was really listening. Jason sighed and started to rub his back. Jason just let Tim cry it out.

After a few minutes, Tim uncurled his legs and leaned into Jason. They got up and made their way to the couch, and soon Tim fell back asleep.

Jason sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. He grabbed his phone and dialed Dick.

Dick picked up on the 3rd ring.

“Hey Jay, what’s up?” He asked cheerily.

“We need to talk,” Jason said. “It’s about Tim.”

Chapter Text

Dick was having a good day. He’d driven Damian to school, he didn’t have work for the next two days, and he was even planning on getting lunch with Bruce. Things were going well for Dick, the only thing he would change is getting Tim, Jason, and Cass to stay at the manor more often.

He was getting worried about Tim. It had been awhile since the younger boy had come to the manor, but Dick brushed that off as him being busy. He knew that wasn’t exactly true, but he kept putting off reaching out to his little brother. Dick had already been working on mending his relationship with Jason and trying to work on Damian’s superiority/inferiority thing that he had going on. The acrobat just hoped that Tim would reach out when he was ready.

Dick was having a good day, then Jason called.

It was early for Jason, but Dick tried not to let that worry him too much, maybe Jason just woke up early for some reason.

“Hey Jay, what’s up?” He asked. His nerves built when it took a beat too long to respond.

“We need to talk,” Jason said, his voice serious. “It’s about Tim.”

Dick’s heart dropped. Jason and Tim had rarely gotten along, they mostly kept their distance from each other. Dick tried not to think the worst.

“Is he okay? What happened?” Dick asked quickly, his foot tapping the ground nervously.

“He called me last night to come get him,” Jason started, it sounded like he was getting choked up. “Uhm, he was gonna- uh- gonna jump off a roof.”

It took a minute for the words to process but when they did, it felt like the world stopped. It felt like the breath had been punched out of his lungs and if he wasn’t sitting down already, he would have stumbled back.

“What?” Dick croaked. “What do you mean? Where is he? Is he hurt?”

“We’re at my apartment. He’s asleep right now, we just ate breakfast, and he cried himself back to sleep. I got him down at around fiveish this morning. I’m not sure how long he was up there, but he called me at around four.” Jason was talking like he was giving a report and Dick could tell that he was trying to keep his emotions out of it. “He didn’t want me to call you or Bruce at first but I talked him into letting me call you this morning.”

Dick’s heart sank further. He didn't think that things with Tim were getting that bad. He thought Tim would talk to him. How did he let it get this bad?

“Did he say why he didn’t want to talk to us?”

“He gave me a couple reasons. One of them is that he was worried that you would be angry at him for not talking to you. He said he feels like you don’t want him anymore, that you care more about Damian than him,” Jason’s voice was soft, but not entirely gentle. “I’m not gonna lie to you, I don’t know what happened between you two, but you fucked up and you need to show him you care. It’s not your fault what happened last night, but you hurt him, and right now he needs to know that you care.”

Dick could feel the pressure behind his eyes. He knew that he should’ve talked to Tim, that he should have apologized and made things right. He thought that Tim would understand that Dick still cared, that he would come to Dick when he was ready to talk. Dick never meant to push his brother out.

“I care about him so much,” Dick said, his voice cracking slightly. “I never meant to make him feel like I didn’t care. I would never be angry about something like this either.”

“I know that,” Jason said lightly. “But he doesn’t. Anyway, he needs to be under watch and I can’t be awake 24/7. The manor is the best place to bring him, but you need to make sure Damian doesn’t pull his usual shit and make Tim feel worse. You’ll have to get the Demon Brat in line or figure out were the fuck the kid’s gonna be staying while Tim’s under watch.”

Dick took a deep breath, trying to blink tears out of his eyes. “I’ll talk to Damian. I know it might not seem like it, but the kid does care. He’s getting better. Just let me talk to him, if he says or does anything I’ll figure something out.”

“You’d better. Tim damn near had an anxiety attack when I mentioned Damian finding out. If you can avoid telling him what happened that would be best,” Jason said firmly. “Not just for Tim either. Damian is still a kid, he acts like he doesn't but he cares about Tim, you know that as well as I do. He doesn't need to hear about this until we're certain he won't lash out.”

Dick felt awful. He hadn’t realized how much Damian was affecting Tim. Dick shouldn’t have been trying so hard to get them to get along. Shouldn't have been putting so much pressure on Tim to try and build a better relationship with Damian. If even mentioning Damian was actively triggering Tim, they would almost definitely have to separate the two. It’ll be difficult getting Damian to just accept that he’ll need to be away from the manor with a vague explanation.

“Have you told Bruce yet?”

Jason huffed. “No. I think I’ll blow up at him if I try, but that’ll just upset the kid. I was hoping you’d tell him and then when we get Tim to the manor I can answer any questions he has while you watch the kid.”

Dick winced thinking about Jason talking to Bruce. The two still didn't get along and could barely manage not to scream at each other over breakfast let alone an emotionally charged situation.

“I can call him. When are you gonna bring Tim over? It’ll be at least two hours to figure out where Damian is gonna stay. He’ll be in school for a while though.”

The best plan of action was to see if Damian could stay with Jon for a few days. Until Tim got settled at the very least. If that didn't work out, Dick would take Damian to his Gotham apartment.

“I was gonna try and bring him over once he wakes up, I haven't slept since he called and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay awake and I still need to clear his room out.” Dick was willing to bet Jason was trying to rub the exhaustion out of his face. “I still need to call Alfie, and probably Cass too. God, Alfred's gonna be heartbroken.”

Dick could hear the tears that Jason was holding back and all he wanted was to wrap him in a hug.

“His room should be okay, I can clear out all the weapons, it's not like he'll be alone long enough to do anything drastic,” Dick said softly. Someone would be in the room with Tim almost constantly, and if they weren't then they wouldn't be gone long enough for Tim to make another attempt. “Do you really think he'll try again? I mean you said he called you for help.”

“That's not why, sorry I thought I'd mentioned it already,” Jason said softly. Dick scrunched his eyebrows confused when Jason paused for a second. “He's been cutting himself. I need to get anything that's sharp out. I don't want to risk him hurting himself in any capacity if one of us leaves him alone for a few minutes.”

“Oh,” Dick whispered, tears pooling in his eyes again. How long had Tim been hurting like this? How did he not notice?

“The two of us have talked about it, he doesn't want you to ask him about it and he doesn't want Bruce knowing at all,” Jason said. He sounded like he was about to say more, but he paused. When he started talking again it was muffled. “Hey Timbit, I'm on the phone with Dick.”

Dick could hear Tim respond, but couldn't make out what he said.

“Yeah bud, he knows, I just got done telling him,” Jason said, his voice softer than Dick could ever remember hearing it. There was another pause while Tim spoke. “He's not mad at you, he's just worried. Do you want to talk to him?”

Dick held his breath. He both wanted to talk to Tim, and was scared to talk to him. He didn’t know what he’d say, he wasn’t sure if he should bring up his attempt at all. The pause was long, and Dick tried not to let the fact that his brother didn’t know if he wanted to talk hurt.

“Hey,” Tim said. He was quiet. He seemed hesitant.

“Hey, Tim,” Dick responded, his voice soft. “How you doing, bud?”

Dick could hear Tim sniffle. “I’m okay, I guess. Jason’s been helping. He said he told you?”

“Yeah, he did. You know it’s okay to not be okay, right kiddo?” Dick asked, concern leaking into his voice. “I’m here for you, I haven’t been the best at showing you that, but I want to help.”

“I guess. You aren’t mad that I don’t want to see Damian? That I want him out while I’m there?” Tim’s voice was hesitant and Dick could barely hear the question.

Dick felt awful. Like his heart was breaking down the middle. Jason was right, he fucked up. It was never his intention to make Tim feel like he was second to Damian.

“I’m not mad, I didn’t realize that he was bothering you that much, I’m sorry. You need to feel safe, and I should have made sure to provide a safe space for you,” Dick told him. He hoped that Tim believed him. “I’ll make sure Damian is staying somewhere else, at least for a while. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep him away, but I’ll do my best.”

“Okay,” Tim said softly. “I’m gonna give the phone back to Jason now.”

“Okay, I love you Baby Bird, I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, love you too,” Tim’s response was stilted and Dick tried not to take it personally, but it felt like a sword to the gut.

“I’m gonna head over with Tim, let Alfred know we’re coming and staying indefinitely, but I’ll fill him in when I get there,” Jason said. “I’ll see you soon, Dickhead.”

Dick swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yeah, you too, Little Wing.”