Chapter Text
When Jason says that he is worried for the kid, he means it in the most logical, non-feeling sense. Everyone, even someone such as Jason who didn’t care much for the kid, would be somewhat concerned.
(Jason very much did care for Tim Drake, no matter how much he refused to admit it. They had managed to bond over a pretty sick explosion so… you can’t blame him for caring a bit.)
The kid always acted a little odd (really fucking strange) but recently it had become too much even for Jason to support.
Not only that, but the kid looked unwell. Really fucking unwell. Like he was tossed into the Gotham Harbour kind of bad.
Tim was feverish. Sure, that could be down to his immunocompromised spleenless body - maybe he really had been tossed into the sea.
But there was something else. One time, he had sort of flinched hard, even though nothing had happened. Jason saw this in the manor after Tim had eaten the entirety of the previous nights leftovers (there was a fuck-ton of leftovers, seriously, what the fuck?). He had sat down, and had just finished his food when his whole body tensed up.
It was barely there. But Jason wasn’t blind. Tim caught his concern and jerkily stood up, practically sprinting away.
That was another thing, (okay, so there was actually quite a few things.) when he had ran off, his movements had been stiff, like a puppet or something, when earlier he had managed his general gracefulness.
This, combined with Tim’s recent withdrawal back to his hidden safehouse (which was possibly the strangest factor because Tim had finally settled back into being at the manor semi-regularly, and Tim didn’t actually like being alone, even if he always seemed to isolate himself. Yeah…) was what led Jason to this ‘batfamily’ meeting.
——
Between fleeing the Manor and returning home, Tim didn’t have much memory of what happened. He wasn’t capable of his usual brainpower after he had managed to rip through a metal wired fence.
What he was able to manage was a string of rather strong language that he honestly didn’t know he had the capacity for.
Regardless of that, he stumbled through his alarm system, all the while his legs feeling not entirely his own, as he made a beeline for the fridge. Never had he felt so regretful as he did just then, because his fridge was pretty damn bare. The majority of the shelves were dedicated to grape zesti which he immediately chugged like crazy, and the rest was an assortment of random lab shit and takeout a few days too old.
He ate everything.
He had to fight to stop himself from downing the lab stuff.
(What the hell was happening to him?!)
Food.
Tim jolted, (his deliriousness was the only thing that stopped him from realising that that very much wasn’t his inner-voice, but rather something else entirely.)
Hungry.
Tim quickly moved on to the freezer, which had an entire packet of dinosaur chicken nuggets in the corner. It had a thick layer of frost (Tim didn’t use his oven much, and therefore had no use for freezer food)
He devoured the frozen nuggets as well.
His stomach churned rather viciously and he dived for the toilet bowl.
It was possibly the most unpleasant he had felt in a long time, and that was saying something - he had been down in the sewers dealing with killer croc and Damian just yesterday. Ugh.
Tim was sure he wasn’t going to be sick, and seriously, how could he? He had just emptied his entire freaking stomach.
Shakily, Tim rose and steadied himself on the sink, turning the tap and splashing water into his face. There was no way he could patrol like this.
While he fished his phone out, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
Tim, well… he shrieked.
Because staring back at him, his eyes were white and his teeth were pointed almost like King Sharks.
He fell back into the bathtub and slipped on a stray block of soap.
Taken out by his own (was it his?) reflection.
Yep, there was absolutely no way he could patrol like this tonight.
He thumbed through his contacts and found Jason. Perfect.
——
“I mean it, Tim is acting fucking weird,” Jason said, waving his hands dramatically in the air, “seriously, have any of you noticed?”
“Tim is always a little… yknow,” Steph said, shrugging nonchalantly.
Jason scoffed, hands on hips as he looked around, and found his saviour, “Cass back me up here, your whole shtick is that body language thing!”
It was Stephanie’s turn to scoff, “that’s not her ‘whole shtick’. She could kick all our asses! Blindfolded!”
Cass patted Steph lightly, smiling all the while, “haven’t seen little brother. He was too busy with case. Will check for you though.”
Jason was about the pull up the kitchen security footage when the very guy the meeting was dedicated to started calling.
“Speak of the devil,” Jason said, answering the call and deliberately putting it on loud speaker.
And holy shit did Tim sound like, well, shit, “Jason, could you… uh, please tell everyone I won’t be patrolling tonight, and apologise to Cass,” and then he let out the most guttural scream Jason had ever heard. Tim cleared his throat, “hn. Sorry about that, I… saw a spider. N-not the assassin kind! Don’t worry, I took care of that. Anyway, tell her I said sorry for skipping out on her tonight.”
The others looked suitably concerned now.
One or two mouthed ‘spider assassin’ to themselves.
Jason sighed, “why’d you scream baby bird?”
“Uh… spider?” Tim murmured dumbly.
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose in such a similar fashion to Tim that it was almost disconcerting, “Tim, you love spiders.”
And if Tim had been well enough, he would have picked up on the fact that everyone was listening in to his conversation.
He was not well enough to pick up on that.
“Jason… did you go through puberty again. You sound masculine today,” Tim slurred.
Steph and Dick snorted.
“Ever the charmer, Timmy,” Jason said, but his gaze was intent on his family as he gestured to the phone intensely.
“Tim, do you need someone to come over?” Dick asked finally, his cheeriness false as he stared steadily, calculatedly, at the phone.
People never took Dick serious. That was a mistake.
“No! Don’t come over!” he said quickly, and then said something too quiet to hear.
Bruce mouthed something to Alfred and then Dick, ‘keep him on the phone’, and so Dick rattled on for a while while Bruce exited the cave quietly.
And man did they talk.
It felt like hours.
Until Dick just had to ruin it.
“How’s that case from yesterday coming along, Timmy?” Dick questioned. It was smart because Tim could talk about cases.
“Great! Yep, no problems, in and out of that lab no problemo. Easy peasy…”
It was dumb because Dick couldn’t keep his lectures to himself.
“Tim! You were meant to bring back-up for the lab!” Dick sighed, rubbing his temple.
“I didn’t actually call for a lecture and this is kinda dra-agging so I’m gonna go, see ya!”
The call ended.
“Nice one, Dickhead.”
“Shut up, Todd! Richard can’t help Drake being an utter fool.”
A loud ringing from the central computer was the only thing that stopped Jason from his swear-filled retort that would make Batman use his famous disappointed dad face.
Oracle silently answered the call back to the cave, watching as Batmans face flickered onto the screen.
“I’ve just missed him,” his gravelly voice grumbled, “his apartment is in disarray.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Damian scoffed.
“No, it is.” He turned the camera so there was a clear shot of Tim’s safehouse.
“Fucking hell.”
The fridge and freezer were left open (the freezer door wasn’t even attached anymore) and there were cans of zesti torn open. Literally torn open . There were soggy nuggets mostly eaten and raw in small defrosted puddles on the floor. The table had no legs. There was a strange substance on the ceiling. A hole in the wall. And there was a splatter of vomit on the walls of the bathroom, some smears where Tim had tried to clean. Jason shivered. He struggled in Tim’s disorganised apartment at the best of times. This was another level.
Bruce paused at the shattered mirror. There was blood around the edges.
“Nightwing, Robin. Patrol as usual. I want the rest of us out looking for Tim. He may be suited up, his uniform is missing.”
“But Bruce-“ Nightwing started.
Batman ended the call.
——
Tim’s eyes rolled in his head uncomprehending. His head throbbed and his body ached. It seemed to be a minor head injury. After all, he could remember exactly how he had gotten it.
That creature had tossed him out of the window and he’d bashed his head on the way out. Tim tried to process his surroundings.
He blinked.
“Stop it!” Tim screeched as he was dragged through an alley. His nails were bloody and broken from where he had tried to claw himself free. He couldn’t even comprehend what he was freeing himself from.
There was black oozing tendrils (of goo? Slime?) that were wrapped around his legs and pulling him along. The voice inside his head from earlier was back, and he knew it wasn’t his own now.
It was deep, raspy, gravelly, grumbling and almost alien. It spoke directly into his mind. Telepathically? Maybe.
“Get off of me!” he shouted, and man was he grateful for his mask. He would not be able to use such a low (and hopefully intimidating) voice as Tim Drake.
Earlier, Tim had been delirious. He hoped it was enough that the others would come looking. He cringed at the idea of them checking his wrecked apartment.
He whacked the thing with his bo staff, to no effect. After several smacks, it grabbed his weapon and snapped it easily.
Oh god. That hadn’t even been his collapsible staff, it was the solid one.
They turned a corner and Tim lunged sideways for a lamppost, carefully smearing his blood down it.
“Get the hell off of me, you leech!”
Abruptly, it stopped. Tim barely had time to crumple to the floor before he was slammed into the brick wall.
His head made an awful sound against the wall but that was quickly forgotten when the black tendrils climbed up his body and cupped his wounded head. It sunk into his skin and… and the pain vanished.
What did you call me?
Tim gulped, “what do you want?”
You.
Tim shivered, feeling dangerously vulnerable up against the wall. The tendrils loosened.
“Why?”
You are a good match for me, Tim Drake. And your city is full of delicious meat.
“A match?” Tim questioned, trying to keep the curiosity from his voice. It was interesting. Terrifying, sure. But also incredibly interesting.
I cannot survive on this planet without a host. Without you. But not every human can match with me. It is like… an organ transplant.
“Fine. But I don’t understand why you took me from my home,” Tim muttered.
You weren’t safe. What is the rule here? No metas in Gotham. Your family was coming so I protected you.
“They wouldn’t care. Duke is a meta. And how do you know that, anyway?” Tim eyed the tendrils suspiciously.
Suddenly, the tenticles curled around his neck and a head formed in front of him. It had huge white eyes and rows and rows of awful teeth.
I am inside of you, Tim Drake. I know your thoughts, your desires, your fears. You don’t believe you are their family. You’re scared you have overstayed your welcome. You’re right. You have. When they discover what you are, they will throw you away. Like they did the last time.
“Get out of my mind!” Tim screamed, covering his entire head with his arms, and gritting his teeth.
Suddenly, he was dropped from the wall and the black ooze went back inside of himself, down, down, down. A shiver shook his entire body and he collapsed.
“Little brother?” a familiar voice called from somewhere close by. He couldn’t figure out who it was so he just said a loud, barely comprehensible greeting in the general direction.
His whole body was shivering by the time whoever had found him got there and they quickly swept him up and muttered something into their comms.
Quietly, he sighed in relief.
And knowing he was safe, Tim drifted off to sleep.
____
Jason pretended like he wasn’t waiting about for Tim to wake up. No one was buying it. Especially Cass, who gave him small smiles and maybe even a smug look as he lingered around the medbay.
Once the search was over, most of them had to finish patrol before they could see Tim. Cass, who had found him, had stuck around in the cave and helped Alfred.
“Master Tim will be waking up shortly. Please refrain from crowding him, you know he finds that most unpleasant.”
A few chorused assents later and they filed into the medbay, careful to stand away from the bed slightly. Cass was allowed to sit in the armchair beside Tim.
When Tim came to, he only opened his eyes when Cass whispered softly in his ear. He let out a breath and relaxed.
(They had all been trained to wake without moving or opening their eyes, so if they were captured they could collect information because people would talk while they thought you were unconscious.)
Tim cleared his throat and looked around the room uneasily, “hi guys, how was patrol?”
They looked at him, unimpressed.
Tim swung his legs off the bed, “I think I’m good to go.”
Jason stopped him immediately, his hand square on Tim’s shoulder, “yeah, no. You need to talk to us Timmy. Besides, you have a fever.”
“I’ve had worse,” Tim said primly.
“I fucking doubt that, this fever is really hi-“
“The Clench,” Tim grinned.
Jason squinted suspiciously, and when Tim looked at him innocently, he turned to Dick, who nodded. “That’s not something to be proud of, Tim.”
Tim shrugged, and manoeuvred around Jason’s hand all the while, and ducked out of the way, “yeah, my bad.”
Cass stopped him, not forceful like Jason, but rather with a questioning head tilt that left the choice to him.
He sighed, “yes, Cass?”
She smiled victoriously, fist bumping Stephs subtly, “you talked to someone? In the alley.”
Tim’s shoulders tensed up so minutely it would almost be unnoticeable. However, Jason had started to pick up on Tim-speak and he did have some tells. Cass also noticed.
“How much did you hear?” Tim asked warily.
Tim was clearly fishing so he wouldn’t have to reveal anything else. If it was Jason who had to answer the question, he would say ‘enough’ - simple, and it implied that you heard the incriminating evidence. However, Cass would never lie to Tim, even by omission.
“Get out of my mind,” she replied evenly, not betraying her feelings with the statement.
“And? What about it?”
“Sounds weird. Not good. You sounded scared, angry,” Cass murmured, her hands holding Tims steadily, her eyes focused on his.
“I had a strong impulsive thought stuck in my head…” Tim shrugged finally. How did Tim do that? He was such a good liar, it seemed to come natural to him. But Jason heard the recording from Cass and his voice had been too desperate to warrant such reaction over an ‘impulsive thought’.
Before Tim woke up, Dick had said pushing him wouldn’t help, it would only make Tim harder to reach. Tim was stubborn like that.
Dick was talking from experience though… and he looked sad.
Jason sighed, “right okay, how about you tell us about your lab case?”
And just like that, Tim had gotten away with it.
——
Venom felt…bad.
This match very much reminded him of, well, himself.
Back on his planet (comet?), Venom was a loser.
Only because he was smarter than his kind.
Sort of like this ‘Tim Drake’.
Venom was laughed at back on his planet, because he believed in committing to his host, rather than using them up (effectively killing them.)
Committing to a host is smart, if not a little difficult.
It was like the quest his host took to save Batman.
Tim was rejected by his peers and even his “family” for saying such things, and he had been right. All along.
There weren’t even any outright apologies.
But still, Venom felt bad.
This family were on a path to forgiveness. They had reconnected. The general unpleasantness and awkwardness had all but disappeared.
And yet, Venom was trying to split that up.
He had to, to survive.
What he had said to Tim about his family though, when they were alone in that alley… he felt bad.
His host was kind of cool.
Sarcastic. Smart. Compassionate. The list could definitely go on.
He was a good person.
Too good.
That was the problem.
This ‘no kill’ rule was the problem.
Which he had adopted from his mentor, Batman.
Which is why he needed to get him away from his family.
They were detectives. And well…
Venom could hear what Dick and Demon brat were saying to Batman.
About the maimed, armless victims they found.
And the headless corpse.
Venom needed to eat. He needed to kill to survive.
That is why he had knocked his host out on the window before leaving his apartment.
Because he did like his host.
And he knew his host would stop him.
What his host doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.
If he were to find out what Venom did tonight, he may try and remove Venom.
And Venom would die.
Perhaps Tim Drake wouldn’t be able to remove Venom because of his moral code?
Venom froze in his thoughts for a second.
Tim had said something.
“Repeat that.”
“I am going to stay with the Titans for a while.”
Jason snorted, “yeah, you just said that Timmy.”
And Venom reluctantly dived back into Tim’s very thoughts to see why.
He was uneasy about the why.
Tim was going to ask the Titans for strength training and general help with his powers.
He was going to talk to… Blue Beetle!
There were many thoughts about a Kon.
Wow, there was a lot to unpack there.
Venom would have to get back to it.
——
Tim smiled up at Titans Tower, bag over his shoulder, uniform packed neatly within.
Perhaps Venom was right about Batman and his no meta rule. Perhaps he really couldn’t ask him for his help.
But he could ask his friends.