Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

July 9^th, 20XX 

Tim Drake kept out of trouble.

Or rather, Tim Drake Tried to keep out of trouble. He just wasn’t always successful at it. And that wasn’t his fault.

Like when he was 4 and was there at the night of the Flying Grayson’s fall.

Or when he was 9 and figured out Batman’s identity, because he was there that night and had watched Dick do his quadruple somersault.

It wasn’t his fault he had a good memory.

It wasn’t his fault that he found the place Barbara Gordan had been kept hostage before Batman and the police. And felt compelled to tip them off accordingly before Joker had a chance to do something irreparable.

And it wasn’t his fault that he had managed to catch the Garzonas’ fall as he was photographing a certain Robin. And then the fight that occurred between Robin and Batman…he just had the pictures on hand you know…and he just sent it to the Batcomputer…that’s hardly any trouble. (The manhunt Batman threw for him for the next few months wasn’t any trouble either.)

Him notifying Batman of Jason Todd’s location after he’d been kidnapped by his biological mother and given to Joker before it was too late was just him being a little obsessive fan…a worried obsessive fan.

Point was, Timothy Jackson Drake kept out of trouble. It was trouble that always found him.

Like right now. When he was supposed to have a normal night at a gala spent socializing with obnoxious Gotham socialites and instead, he was being held hostage by the goddamn Riddler. Right in front of the Waynes, where they couldn’t come and rescue him as the Bats. See, not his fault.

And Riddler wasn’t even being his fun usual self either. There was no riddle to solve just shitty quips. He wanted to ask ‘What happened man?’ but he valued his life so he just shut up and let Edward wave his gun around like a hooligan. Did he even know who he was or was he just being an asshole and targeting the disabled kid in the front? Everyone seemed to behave better when it was his life being threatened for some reason. He sighed audibly before he remembered he shouldn’t do that. Edward’s eyes shot back to him almost immediately.

“I’m sorry, am I boring you?” He asked, his eye twitching. One thing Nygma didn’t like was boring people.

“No…just a bit disappointing. You used to give riddles before, now you just wave your gun around and give puns like you’re the first Robin.” Tim answered quite honestly. He’s being kept hostage for over an hour now and his ass is smarting from all that sitting. (But he saw Dick Grayson flinching a little at the mention and that made him feel a little better.)

Edward stared at him for 10 seconds, the first 5 with bulging angry eyes and the next 5 with some confusion.

“Hey, didn’t I kidnap you once a couple of years back? You’re that smartass kid who got all my riddles right and paid his own ransom because mommy and daddy were away. And I remember thinking, wow who leaves their crippled child home alone.”

“Ouch. Also yes. You felt so bad that you gave me a ride home.” Tim rolled his eyes.

Edward Nygma stared for a few more seconds.

“Are mommy and daddy away again? That’s why you’re at this boring event all alone?”

“No, You probably don’t get the latest news in Arkham Eddy. They’re dead.”

“Oh, sorry kid. You don’t gotta pay ransom for yourself today, my treat. Go on now, roll away.” With that the villain pushed Tim’s wheelchair right towards the Waynes who were watching him with wide eyes. Rude.

“Timothy, are you alright?” Mr. Wayne, the worrywart that he was, asked, ignoring Riddler completely. Truthfully, Tim knew it was because Mr. Wayne had a thing about black haired orphans with sad backstories. He just couldn’t help himself. The worry wasn’t actually projected towards Tim, rather than his image. Which was a sad 17-year-old disabled wheelchair user who was also an orphan. Bruce Wayne knew nothing more about Tim. Other than his sons were weirdly infatuated with him.

Namely the two he had inadvertently saved before.

The two that crashed into him immediately after their dad was out of the way.

Damian climbed up into his lap like he usually did these days.

“I was scared.” He mumbled, pushing his head in Tim’s chest. Tim let out a breath he was holding. He’d been nervous about Damian jumping in front of the Riddler shouting threats but Dick had been holding him tightly.

“I’m fine Dami.” He reassured the 4-year-old.

“Always a magnet for trouble.” Jason said as he ruffled his hair but Tim could see the worry and tension in every fiber of his body.

“Don’t I know it.” he said, giving Bruce Wayne a look.

Sometimes he was relieved that the man’s eyes never sparked a recognition. Because that was by design.

He would never know Tim had saved his children’s lives. He didn’t know he’d been chasing after Tim for years now, looking everywhere for the mysterious Augury who left tips in the Batcomputer and with the GCPD for years now.

But it always hurt when he looked at Tim and still didn’t see it. Didn’t see the same eyes, didn’t see the same mouth, didn’t see the same moles. It hurt that he didn’t know Timothy Jackson Drake was really, his biological son.

To Bruce Wayne, Tim was just a sad little orphan he pitied, and the neighbor his kids seemed to like. And Tim, Well. He worked hard to keep it that way.

Because if he knew one thing, it was that the Waynes were trouble. And Tim kept out of trouble. Even if it seemed to find him anyway.

“You’re researching Timmy again? Seriously B? Did he tingle your adoption senses again? You’ve already looked into him 10 different times in this past 4 years. Just adopt him.” Jason asked his dad as he looked at the old picture of his friend.

Bruce looked back at Jason and then at the picture. In here Timmy looked 8 even though he was probably 13 or 14. This was an ongoing issue with Tim. Something Jason had teased Tim about namouras times. Even now at almost 17 the kid looked 15 at most. Like he’d barely hit puberty.

“It doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on smart people Jay, you know that. Gotham has turned way too many of them into supervillains.” Bruce answered, like seeing the kid didn’t make him want to adopt. Jason rolled his eyes.

“Come on, but this is Timmy. He doesn’t hurt a fly. Not because he can’t, but because he doesn’t want to. The kid is a sweetheart. A real gem. Considering the parents he had, it would’ve been a miracle for the kid to turn out half decent. Instead we have Timbit, who’s not only a very charitable and righteous kiddo, but someone Damian liked the first time he met. Now that’s impressive. Damian just bit us for the first 2 weeks he was here.”

“Yeah, I must say turning in his parents’ illegally obtained artefacts the moment he was granted ownership isn’t very supervillain-esque.” Bruce said as he sighed and turned away from the screen.

“It’s just that…” Bruce had that look on his face. Jason and Dick joked it was his adoption face.

“He’s a black-haired orphan?” Jason guessed.

“No. He looked a little too at ease around Nygma. I don’t feel good about this being such a normal experience for the boy.”

“That’s just Timbers for you. He’s always like that, trust me.”

“Well, if you say so.”

“I do. Now let’s go before you decide to impulsively adopt my old high school friend.”

“I wouldn’t be able to even if I wanted to Jaylad. He has a guardian.”

“That hasn’t stopped you before. And if it was up to Damian, Tim would wake up here tomorrow morning.” Jason said teasingly as he led his father out of the Batcave.

He threw a wary look at the photos displayed. He knew exactly what was bothering Bruce so much about Tim. But he also knew it was impossible. He had already tested it. There was no way Timothy Drake was Bruce’s son. Jason had run the tests himself. But there was also no denying the similarities…maybe he should give this another try. For both his sake and Bruce’s.

Chapter Text

Two months before, May 5th

Tim had a lot of time on his hands as he grew up.

If he used that time to snoop around a little it wasn’t anyone’s business really.

Before his brain betrayed him, he used to stalk Batman and Robin all through the city, understanding how Gotham’s underground worked was just a by-product. And when he was finding going out at night harder and harder he picked up on hacking the city’s CCTV system, just so he could keep an eye on his favorite Robin.

When he got good, he mainly stuck to looking through the Batcomputer and the GCPD servers. Sometimes even JLA files. This worked pretty much like his pervious stalking. If he found evidence or info, he’d send it either to Batman or the GCPD, if he cracked a case then he’d proudly present it with his moniker signed underneath, Augury.

If he stumbled upon the name of the league of assassins while snooping and managed to find their servers and subsequently hack into them when he was 16 and recently orphaned, then it was because he had too much time on his hands. What else was a kid supposed to do during the spring break?

That was when Tim found the medical files on a child, one that was so thorough he really didn’t need to look too hard to figure out who’s it was. The similar genetic composition really gave it away even if the paternity result wasn't written. The kid was Tim’s half-brother, and these people planned on artificially aging the kid in a few months to make him into some sort of weapon/child assassin. That, Tim could not allow. Even if it did mean trouble.

A new file, thoroughly showcasing the kid’s whereabouts and situation was found on the Batcomputer the next day and Batman flew out of the city almost immediately. Damian Wayne was brought back 3 days later and officially introduced to the world within the week. Bruce’s first biological child, a 4-year-old boy who Bruce had seemingly taken the custody from the mother after finding out signs of abuse.

Tim didn’t really have a choice in one matter though. He couldn’t realistically ignore the Waynes in real life. They were neighbors. And both families were prominent socialites, of course they had to meet each other now and then in galas, parties and charity events. Even as much as Janet Drake wanted to avoid Bruce Wayne, there wasn’t much she could do about that.

So yes, Tim had met the Waynes multiple times before. But he tried his very best to keep out of their watch and he’d been successful for a while.

That is until 10^th grade, when for some unexplainable reason, Jason Todd-Wayne, recently back to school after a horrific injury that shattered his knee and retired him from Robin decided he wanted to befriend the disabled kid in class. But Tim could handle that. He just had to act awkward, unfriendly and boring. Surely Jason would give up.

He didn’t. Tim didn’t have a say there. And maybe…maybe he was a little weak towards his favorite Robin paying him attention. Sue him.

But this, this was one hundred percent his fault.

It started with an incident. Little Damian had chased a cat all the way through the Wayne property and had passed into the Drake’s. Tim only noticed this because he had happened to be outside that moment, doing some of his homework in the yard to get some fresh air. Miss Mac had been on his case all day, encouraging him to step out. He knew it was because the old caretaker was worried about him. Not much had passed since Jack and Janet’s death and Tim was…he was doing alright. But he had to admit later that it was a good thing for him to be outside that moment. Because a troublemaking child had stumbled right into his yard and subsequently fallen right into a rose bush and there was no one else to help him get back up.

Damian’s wail had made him panic at first. There was no way he could call Miss Mac who was cleaning upstairs while there was a crying child in his bushes. Swearing quietly under his breath, after getting as close as possible with his wheelchair Tim grabbed his cane, strapped to the back of his wheelchair, bracing himself he got out of his wheelchair. Unfortunately, today was not a good day, meaning his gait was shaky and he couldn’t really feel one of his legs. Balancing was hard on a good day and hauling a child up from the bushes needed more strength than Tim was able to muster today. But with the power of adrenaline and his handy cane, Tim did it. He pulled Damian out of the bush and tumbled ungracefully back into his chair, half dragging Damian, as he sat he managed to pull the kid up into his lap.

The cat Damian was chasing had long since fled the scene, now all Tim had to do was calm Damian down enough for him to attempt at getting the thorns out of the poor child’s palms.

“Shh…Shh, I got you…I’m sorry…it’s gonna be alright…I’ll fix you right up, okay?” he said, as he hastily wiped the tears away. He secured Damian against himself, keeping a hand around him as he started rolling away. That’s when it kind of set in how small this little child was. This little bean who would have been put through grueling training and horrific experimentation if he hadn’t found him when he did. That somehow made him pull the kid closer, clutching him harder.

“Hurts…Baba…”

“I’ll call your Baba right away…let me just wheel us back into the house, okay?” thankfully Damian seemed to understand that as he nodded intensely.

“Good. You’re Damian, right? Were you chasing Mister Peterson? That’s the name of the kitty you were chasing. He’s such a trouble maker, knocked up my princess a while ago.”

Damian stared at Tim, clearly not comprehending much. Tim knew Damian knew little English, that was fine. He was just keeping up a chatter to distract the kid. But he did know one word.

“Kitty.”

“Yeah, his name is Mister Peterson.” Tim nodded. “You should meet my cat and her kittens. She won’t get you in trouble.” Tim finally managed to roll into the kitchen where he kept the first aid for this part of the house. He contemplated putting Damian on a chair to get better vantage but he was seated so perfectly, Tim didn’t have the heart to move him. He just pulled the first aid out and put it right on the counter. A closer look and he noticed the kid’s knees were also scrapped up, not too bad thankfully.

“Okay, sweetie I need you to take a deep breath, this is gonna sting a little.” He demonstrated a deep breath which Damian helpfully copied. This kid was adorable. If Tim didn’t have more important things to do, he’d be pinching the fuck out of his cheeks.

“Oh dear!” Miss Mac said as she strolled in the kitchen, clearly haven’t heard any of the commotion.

“Miss Mac, can you go to the Wayne's immediately? I don’t have their number.” Lie. But he didn’t want Batman wondering how he had his number. He could call Jason but who knew where he’d be.

“Of course. Will you be alright?”

“Yeah, I have it handled.” He assured the woman as she nodded and ran out. Tim looked back down at Damian, giving him a reassuring smile before demonstrating another deep breath. This time he sprayed the disinfectant on the kid’s hands and knees, causing the kid to let out a yelp with subsequent tears falling down immediately.

“You’re being so brave, good job.” Thankfully he only seemed to have three splinters and a few scratches on his hands. Tim sterilized his tweezers and got to pulling them out quickly while giving reassuring comments to Damian. After the last one got out the poor kid collapsed in Tim’s lap like a marionette with his strings cut. Tim put two band aids on his knees and then finally pulled him in a hug and let himself calm down as well.

Here he was, holding his little brother in his arms How wild was that.

“Damian!” Someone yelled from outside. Damian perked up as Dick Grayson rushed through the door, followed by one Jason Todd. They both visibly calmed down as they saw Damian safe.

Dick rudely pulled Damian out of Tim’s lap and up into a hug. Tim tried really hard not to reach out.

“Timmy! Did you find Damian?” Jason asked, pushing past his brother. Tim nodded silently.

“He was chasing after a cat, stumbled right into a rose bush. I managed to pull him out and got us inside. I disinfected his hands and knees and pulled the few thorns out of his palms before they managed to get further in. And he was a very brave boy and let me do it.” He said the last sentence looking at Damian who was now looking at him curiously.

“Thank fu…fudge you were there. He just bolted when Dick went inside to get him some water for a second. We were looking all over the property, didn’t realize he’d managed to cross it.” Jason said, patting Tim on the shoulder in gratitude. Tim heard Miss Mac closing the door after herself and after a look inside the kitchen she went back upstairs.

“Dami, don’t run after a cat like that okay?” Dick chided the kid softly. But Damian wasn’t listening.

“Show me Kitty.” He said instead, looking very determined and not at all like the crying kid he was five minutes before.

“What kitty?” Dick asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My cat. I mentioned her. She just gave birth a week ago and as luck has it was knocked up by the same cat that Damian was chasing. You wanna meet her kittens as well?” He explained, rolling forward after he tucked everything away. Dick let Damian down who ran straight to Tim’s wheelchair, looking up at him expectantly. Tim smirked a little.

“You want a ride?” he asked as he helped the kid right back into his lap.

“I can carry him if it’s too much trouble, Tim. He’s just being fussy.” Dick proposed but Tim declined. No way he was giving Damian back.

“No, it’s fine. I’d assume this looks fun to him.” Tim said, letting out a chuckle as he secured Damian to his chest.

“You can push me though. The kittens are in the living room.” He said towards Jason, who between the two siblings was the one with the most experience pushing him around.

“We’ve set them up with lots of blankets, they’re soooo cute. You’re gonna love them!” He promised Damian as Jason rolled them out of the kitchen. Now that Damian wasn’t crying or in pain, he was staring right at him with his wide green eyes he probably got from his mom.

“Name?” Damian asked suddenly, cocking his head sideways like a bird.

“I’m Tim.”

“Call him Timmy.” Jason unhelpfully added. Tim shot him a glare but said nothing. Damian can call him whatever he wants.

They finally reached the living room where there was a little nest made for Lilo and her kittens who were all nursing at the moment. The kittens were 10 days old and incredibly cute but too young for Damian to play with them.

“Kitty!” Damian exclaimed, looking up at all three of the older boys and pointing at the cats, like he wanted to make sure everyone was seeing the same thing.

“That’s right! What are their names Tim?” Dick asked, leaning forward to get a better look at them.

“Lilo. Yes, after Lilo and Stitch. Stitch is her brother. He’s around here somewhere. Lilo doesn’t let him near her kittens yet.”

“More Kitty?”

“Yup. I had two. They used to live outside before, cause I wasn’t allowed to have pets. But I can do whatever I want now.” He said, shrugging. Dick blanched a little but Jason was pretty used to Tim by now.

“I just forgot to get her spayed before spring and mister Peterson had gotten to her before I moved them inside.”

“Haven’t named the kittens yet?” Jason asked, looking at them over Tim’s shoulders.

“Not yet. There’s three of them so I was thinking of naming them after the chipmunks.” Tim answered, holding Damian back from leaning forward too much.

“Oh come on! You really want to have a cat named Alvin?” Jason sounded offended; mission accomplished.

“Hey! What’s wrong with Alvin.” Tim defended, even though he was not planning on naming his kittens Alvin, Theodore and Simon. Damian leaned forward again, this time wanting to get off. When Tim didn’t let him get down, he looked back with pleading eyes.

“Pet?”

“You want to pet the kittens?” Tim asked. Damian nodded enthusiastically.

“Sorry Damian, they’re too small right now and don’t want to let go of their mama. And their mama might get angry if you touch them. Maybe you can come again when they’re older to play with them?” Tim said, cursing himself for opening up his home to Waynes for the foreseeable future. Damn him and his sudden burst of affection for his little brother. He really thought if they didn’t meet, he’d just forget about it.

Damian looked three seconds away from bawling again so Tim smiled at him and pulled him closer.

“How about we find Stitch instead? He’ll let you pet him all you want and plays with you instead of running away.” Of course the four year old immediately brightened up.

“Hey, we haven’t showed Lilo and Stitch to Damian yet, have we?” Jason asked his brother in a low voice as Tim turned around to go find Stitch. He usually stayed in Tim’s bedroom these days.

“No, he just wants to rewatch The Aristocats every day.” Dick grumbled, clearly not happy about not being able to show Damian his favorite films

“You have good taste buddy.” He whispered to Damian who perked up, giving him a sunny smile. God, this kid was adorable. Tim would have been weak even if he wasn’t his brother.

He opened the door to his room and lo and behold, Stitch was lounging on his bed and the minute he saw Tim he got up and strolled towards him, grumbling a little when he noticed his usual spot on Tim’s lap was occupied. This time when Damian leaned forward, Tim let him down gently.

“Let him smell your hand first, then I’ll show you how to pet him.” Tim said, looking back to see Dick and Jason hadn’t come inside his room. That was polite of them. He rolled his wheelchair out of the way and used the railings to get up and down on to floor. He winced slightly as he sat as comfortably as he could while leaning against his bed. Damian and Stitch immediately came to him, Stitch sitting down on his lap, demanding to be pet, and Damian sitting right in front of them.

“Okay, you wanna be really gentle okay. Stitch really likes his head scratched.” He took Damian’s adorably small and chubby hands and showed him how to pet Stitch. Damian of course was gentle and completely awed. Both Lilo and Stitch were tuxedo cats with majestic manes and perfect little white paws. Tim had found them as newborns and had nursed them back to health in their shed in the backyard. Initially he had planned on giving them up for adoption but by the time they were healthy he was too fond of them to do that. He had passed them off as stray cats that just happened to live in their backyard to his parents and they hadn’t cared to notice how well fed and clean the cats were. Until he didn’t bring them in, they couldn’t care less. Now he could do as he pleased.

“Soft.” Damian whispered.

“Yeah, he’s really soft.” He agreed as he looked up to Dick who was snapping photos in quick succession.

“You can come in.” He said, finally inviting them in.

“We don’t want to intrude.”

“It’s fine. You can pet Stitch as well. He certainly likes it.” he assured them, the two brothers finally came in and sat criss crossed around Damian and him, both looking fondly at their kid brother.

“Is he settling in well? I heard his last family…” Tim asked, maybe it was inappropriate but he wanted information.

“Ah, yeah. He wasn’t so fond of us for the first few weeks.” Dick said, giving Tim an awkward smile.

“Yeah, he bit us whenever we got near. He only liked Alfred.” Jason confirmed.

“But he came around. The Aristocats helped a lot.”

“Yeah, who would have thought. We took him to a few petting zoos and shelters and he liked us after that. He even lets Dickie and dad carry him around.” Jason noted.

“Good to know you’re the exception not me. He lets Tim hug him just fine.” Dick said, grinning victoriously at Jason.

“Ugh, dick.” This dick was definitely not in capital. “Timmy just has a likable aura.” Jason defended himself. Tim raised an eyebrow. Likable was not how he’d define his aura.

“I see, so he just doesn’t like you.” Tim said, rubbing his chin contemplatively, winning himself a smack from Jason.

“God, I had almost forgotten how annoying you were. Is school treatin’ you well?”

“It’s way better without you.” Tim confirmed.

“Little shi…rt.” Jason ate his words in order not to invoke the wrath of one Dick Grayson.

“You still have a year to go, right?” Dick asked.

“Nope, he’s graduating. This kid is a lil genius, skipped grades. Say, how many Ivy league schools have you gotten your acceptance letters from?” Jason said, giving Tim his shit eating grin while simultaneously looking…proud?

“Uh…a few?” Tim offered sheepishly.

“See! Tim is a tiny genius.” Tim only rolled his eyes.

“Oh, have you decided where you want to go? What you want to study?” Dick asked, ignoring all their bickering.

“Well, not really. I thought I’d wait a year, go to school when I’m 18 like everyone else. I’m sick of being the youngest everywhere.” He confessed, though it was one of the main reasons, it wasn’t all of it.

“That’s a great idea Timbo. I’m sure you’d find tons of nerd friends there.”

“Who are you calling a nerd, you’re a lit major!”

“I’m a theatre kid! There’s a difference.”

“Sure, tell yourself that.” Tim rolled his eyes. He had forgotten how fun it was to infuriate Jason. He liked to lie and say their friendship was reluctant at best but he really enjoyed their bickering and heated debates. The school hasn’t been as fun since Jason graduated. Damian chose that second to plop himself right in Tim’s lap, just as Stitch had vacated the seat to go to the bathroom where his sandbox was.

“Did you like playing with Stitch?” Tim asked, trying hard not to show how incredibly endeared he was that Damian had chosen his lap. Damian nodded as he leaned back and relaxed.

“Great, the gremlin officially likes Tim more than me.” Jason grumbled, Dick only smiled as he looked up from his phone.

“Alfred is saying Bruce is back from work.”

“Baba.” Damian helpfully added.

“Yup. Baba is home. You wanna go home as well? We can come see Tim, Lilo and Stitch and the kittens another day.” Dick promised, probably to reassure Damian but it was Tim who felt reassured. He really wanted Damian to visit again. He squeezed the kid a little before giving in and planting a quick kiss on his head.

“Yeah, you can come whenever you like to play with Stitch and maybe later Lilo and her kittens. I’m almost always home after school.” Tim promised, Damian looked at him with wide eyes like he had hung the moon and the stars and nodded again. After letting himself be squeezed again by Tim, he put his hands up in the universal sign for ‘pick me up’ and let Dick scoop him up from Tim’s lap.

Tim looked at his wheelchair and suddenly felt too tired. He did want to show his guests out but he knew the minute he tries to get up his legs will give out. He sighed defeatedly and looked at Jason. Thank fuck for their long friendship, he didn’t even have to ask. Jason locked his hands around Tim’s armpits and slowly lifted him up and on to his bed.

“We can show ourselves out Timmy. You take care, okay?” Jason said, giving Tim his usual smile and a little hair ruffle. They’re barely two years apart but puberty hit Jason like a truck and now he was built like one, in contrast Tim was always small for his age and painfully baby faced. So Jason always babied him a little. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Jason was never patronizing and never treated him like he was dumb. He just liked giving Tim hair ruffles and teasing him about his face and age.

“Alright. Let Miss Mac know I’m here.” That was code for ‘I need a little help’ and Jason knew it.

“Will do. Bye Tim. Damian say bye Timmy.” Jason prompted Damian.

“Bye Timmy!” Damian exclaimed in the cutest way possible, giving Tim a mini heart attack as he waved his tiny hands around.

“Bye Damian!” he said as he waved Dick off and then they were gone.

Tim all but collapsed in his bed, waiting patiently as Miss Mac saw their guests off and found her way in his room.

“I think a migraine is coming.” He informed.

“I’ll bring your medicine and meals here. Do you need help getting situated?”

“Yeah, thanks Miss Mac.”

“You’re welcome my boy. Did you enjoy having guests over? I hadn’t seen the young Jason in a while, my God he’s grown.” She said as she helped him get properly under the duvet, massaging his legs automatically as she did.

“He’s grown a little too much if you ask me. But yeah.”

“And the youngest is absolutely adorable.”

“He is, isn’t he.” Tim tried not to sound so fond but he failed if Miss Mac’s soft look was anything to go by.

“I’m sure they’d be back soon. Kids don’t forget promises. He’s gonna bug his family to come over every day.”

“Probably. That’s alright with me, except if I’m having a bad day.”

“If you were having a bad day, I’ll be sure to turn them away gently. I’m sure the young lad will get the message.”

“Yeah, don’t worry…I’ll take a nap before dinner, alright?” he said as he accepted the painkillers and the glass of water.

“Rest well my boy.” with that she finally left. Tim let out a sigh and finally closed his eyes. This was a bad idea. Spending even more time with the Waynes? Was he crazy?

But then again, he doesn’t think he can just forget about the small body in his lap and those eyes looking up at him any time soon. What was he supposed to do?

Chapter Text

Bruce was waiting for them when they got back, his eyes immediately scanning over Damian’s body. His eyes stuck on the band aids as he tried not to actively scowl. Dick gave him a half-hearted smile, trying to defuse the situation.

“Baba.” Damian called, pulling away from Dick’s hold to get to his dad. Bruce complied and transferred the kid to his arms, settling Damian on his hip.

“Hi baby. How was your day?”

“Saw kitties.” Damian helpfully explained. Jason chuckled.

“Is that so?” Bruce said as he gave Dick and Jason an inquisitive look asking what had really happened. As always Alfred chose the best time to appear.

“Hey Alfie, do you mind seeing if we have cool Batman band aids for Dami? Timmy only had the boring ones.” Dick gave Bruce a nod, seeing as it was better if Damian wasn’t around.

“Of course we do, come one master Damian. Let’s get those knees properly adorned now, shall we?” Dick was 90 percent sure Damian didn’t understand anything said but he nodded anyways and when put down, willingly followed Alfred out of the foyer.

“What happened??”

“Well. I was watching him play in the garden. He was just looking at the bugs and picking them up, he wasn’t even running around. So I told him to wait a second and went to get him some water. When I came back, he was already running top speed right into the grove. Obviously, I ran after him but the little rascal had already disappeared. I called Jason and we were looking around for him for a good 10 minutes before Alfred called us back. Turns out Damian had seen a cat and started running after it right over the property line to the Drake’s. He had crashed right into a rose bush. Thank every god out there, Tim was right outside and managed to get him out. When we got there Tim had already treated Damian’s hands and knees and calmed him down.” Bruce finally let out the breath he’d been holding in.

“We were lucky.”

“Yeah, gotta thank Timmy as well. Another plus? Damian absolutely fell in love with him. He has a few cats and let Damian play with one of them and showed him his kittens.” Jason said, already pulling out his phone to show his dad the photos.

“Send them to me now.” Bruce demanded, absolutely deadpan.

“I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off of him, sorry B. I had barely managed to get him to let go of my hand to explore the garden. I didn’t think he’d bolt.” Dick, who had obviously been feeling guilty apologized before anyone could blame him. No one was going to.

“It’s alright Dick, it’s a mistake anyone could have made and we’re all pretty new to this. Let’s just be glad nothing serious happened and not take out eyes off of him next time. And we really have to thank Tim…how was he?” Bruce asked that question from Jason mainly. Jason sighed.

“I’d say same as always. I don’t want to be mean but I doubt his parents’ death affected him in any major way. It’s not like they were around before. At least now Timmy can breathe a little.”

“Were his parents that terrible?” Dick asked, seemingly the only person not entirely in the loop. He had heard about Tim from Jason but not in a serious way, more like stupid shenanigans from high school way. But he did know the boy had lost his parents in a plane crash pretty recently.

“Yeah, they were ableist and neglecting pieces of shits. I’d say good riddance.”

“Jaylad! That’s a little harsh.”

“Why? I’m right. You don’t know half the things I know and I’m pretty sure Tim never said the bad stuff to us either.” Jason rolled his eyes. Before he could go on a rant though Damian came back with Alfred, this time with Batman themed band aids. Bruce didn’t wait before scooping him up in his arms again, holding the troublemaker close.

“I heard you made a friend Dami!”

“Timmy.” Damian answered with his awfully cute serious expression of his. He really was Bruce’s son.

“That’s great!”

“Go again.”

“You want to go again?” Bruce asked, looking at Jason and Dick inquisitively.

“Yeah, Tim said to come over anytime so he can play with the cats and the kittens when they’re a little bigger.”

“How kind of him. Did you thank him Dami?” that seemed to greatly confuse Damian.

“Fank?” he asked as he cocked his head to the side.

“He forgot. it’s alright we can thank him later, right Dami?” to that the 4-year-old nodded furiously, making everyone let out a chuckle.

“Well since nothing major happened, how about we watch Lilo and Stitch until dinner is ready?” Dick suggested.

“Yeah!” Damian exclaimed, though Jason guesses Damian will be a little disappointed in the lack of cats in the movie. But it beats watching the Aristocats for the 400^th time this month.

Chapter Text

Tim didn’t expect the Waynes to show up so soon.

He thought they’d manage to distract Damian for at least 48 hours but they were knocking at his door the very next day. He had only gotten out of his school uniform when Miss Mac came to tell him he had guests. That was fine with Tim. He rolled out of his room into the main living room to find the three brothers on the floor, one snapping pictures of the kittens and the other holding Damian back from grabbing the kittens.

“Hi.” He greeted, making Dick spring up immediately.

“Tim! I’m really sorry for intruding…so soon. Damian has been begging to go see the Kitties since morning and we could only hold him back until you came back from school.” Dick word vomited, Jason only snickered.

“It’s fine, I invited you for this exact reason. Relax.” He switched his focus on Damian who had squirmed out of Jason’s hold to come greet Tim.

“Hi Damian. Are your hands okay? Not hurting?”

“Not hurting.” He echoed, nodding sagely. God damn this kid was cute.

“Damian what did you want to say to Timmy?” Dick prompted, pushing the kid a little towards Tim.

“Fank you for saving me.” Damian said, clearly rehearsed.

“You’re welcome kiddo! But don’t chase kitties anymore, okay?”

“Okay.” He said as he stepped in front of Tim, putting his hands up to be picked up.

Tim tried not to wince, instead he gave Jason a smile. “My hands are a little weak today.” He whispered, Jason nodded and picked Damian up and down on Tim’s lap. “Thanks Jay.” He muttered as he pulled Damian closer, giving him a good squeeze.

“Wanna go see Stitch now? He’s in my room again.” He asked Damian, to which he nodded furiously.

“Alright.” He waited for Jason to start pushing them out of the door. This time since Stitch was on Tim’s bed he and Damian settled there while Dick and Jason found themselves other seats. He showed Damian how to scratch under Stitch’s chin and had him give treats to the cat. Stitch was over the moon.

“We actually managed to show him Lilo and Stitch last night. Maybe we’re out of the Aristocats phase and into the Lilo and Stitch one?” Jason said as he lounged on Tim’s couch.

“Oh, he liked it then?”

“At first he was really disappointed there were no cats but then he started liking the story. We think this is how he’s mainly learning English now. From repetition.” Dick answered. Keeping an eye on Damian, his phone was ready to take pictures.

“That’s great Damian!” Tim praised.

“You can call him Dami, we all do.” Jason offered.

“Alright then, Dami.” Tim corrected as he ruffled the kid’s hair. He wasn’t paying any attention to their conversation but he looked up and gave Tim an adorable smile for that.

“I didn’t know you’re so great with kids Timmy!” Jason commented offhandedly.

“Well…I had to stay in a lot of pediatric wards when I was trying to get diagnosed and I was usually one of the older kids so I started teaching kids new games and kept them busy.” Tim answered, he really didn’t want to bring the mood down but this was mostly a fond memory. Except the part that sometimes small children died.

“Oh…That’s nice.” Jason certainly didn’t expect his question to open that can of worms.

“You would have been awesome as a big brother Tim, much like myself. Jason can vouch for me, I was the best.” Dick joked, trying to lighten the mood. Not knowing that to Tim, that topic was a much worse than being hospitalized.

Something inside Tim's stomach flipped uncomfortably as he registered Dick's words. His mind seemed to detach itself from his body as Jason and Dick's words faded to the background. The words swam in his head. Really, what would it be like? Who would want a big brother like Tim? Tim never wished Jack and Janet's parenting on anyone, no matter how lonely it got. And imagining living with Bruce, Jason and Dick and having Damian there as his younger sibling...Tim knew there were only so many scenarios. Even in caring families with a disabled child, the other sibling can be neglected and become a glass child and then they would hate Tim. And Tim didn't want that. No matter how lonely it got. He'll never ask that of Bruce.

Now it was like he got some of the joy without any of the cons so it was alright...it was enough...it was all Tim could get. Tim didn't deserve siblings like everyone else did. 

“Yeah Dick, it was great when you came home just to argue with dad and then leave for 3 months on road trips with your buddies. Fond memories are all I have.” Jason rolled his eyes, shoving his brother in the meantime.

“Hey! I got better.”

“Sure, tell yourself that.”

“You wound me Littlewing.”

“And you’re a lying liar. Plus, I’m sure Timmy would’ve been a better big bro. It took you 3 weeks to get Dami to hug you, Timmy managed that under 30 minutes.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who still can’t hold Damian still in his arms for more than 30 seconds!”

“Hey!–” Jason was about to continue when Tim just dropped on his bed and his body started convulsing. Jason’s brain took exactly 1 second to understand what was happening.

“Shit! Dick, get Damian out and call Miss Mac. Hurry!” he said as he sprinted towards the bed. It had been a while since the last time he’d seen Tim seize but he knew what to do (a little too well).

Dick’s brain finally started working and he got Damian up and out of the room in a second. Jason kept an eye on the clock as he cushioned Tim’s head and made sure his clothes were not a choking hazard (they weren’t, Tim never wore the tie for his school uniform either for this exact reason.)

Thankfully the seizure stopped after 30 seconds or so, Jason let out a breath of relief as he put Tim in a recovery position. That’s when miss Mac barreled in.

“He had a seizure?”

“Yeah, it just stopped. He’s fine. It was pretty short.” Jason said as he moved to sit on the mattress.

“Tim? Can you hear me?” he asked, waiting for Tim to give any reaction.  After a few more questions Tim finally made a sound.

“Tim? Can you squeeze my hand a little?” he asked, giving Tim his finger and thankfully Tim did just that.

“Good, do you know where you are?” he persisted.

“R…r…room?”

“Yeah. You remember what we were doing?”

“Petting Stitch…”

“Yeah.” He let out a sigh of relief. He looked at Miss Mac to confirm that everything was as good as it could be. She nodded.

“He needs to rest. We’ll just go if you don’t need me here.” Jason said, looking at Tim for a sign that he’d rather for them to stay.

“Dami…” Tim said, trying to look around.

“Dick took him outside.”

“Good…shouldn’t see…I’m sorry…”

“Hey, none of that. Do you want to say goodbye to him? It’d probably assure him that you’re fine.”

“Yeah…”

Jason got up to find Dick and Damian. Thankfully they weren’t too far away.

“Is he alright?” Dick immediately asked, failing to keep his tone neutral to not stress out Damian.

“Yeah, it was a short Seizure, he’s lucid. Let’s say goodbye to him and let him rest alright?” His last question was aimed at Damian more than Dick but Dick nodded and carried Damian back inside the room. When they got back Stitch was already up on the bed with Tim, curling up beside him, looking after him.

Dick lowered Damian down on the bed when Tim patted the spot beside him. With shaky hands Tim pulled Damian close to his chest and just held him there, the kid didn’t even budge, letting himself be held. For some reason Jason felt like this was more than Tim being fond of Damian but he couldn’t really put a name on it either so he just observed as Tim’s eyes grew heavier.

“Bye Tim, Take care buddy.” He whispered as he took Damian back. Dick whispered his own goodbyes and they left as Tim fell asleep. Miss Mac, understandably didn’t see them out this time and just thanked them as they left.

After entrusting Damian to Alfred Dick cornered Jason as he walked in his room to get changed.

“Does that happen often?”

“Often enough.” Jason shrugged as he pulled his shirt off his back.

“He’s also epileptic then?” Dick asked, his brows furrowing further.

“No, seizures are part of his condition. He’s got a thing called Functional neurologic disorder. It has a bunch of symptoms; limb weakness and trouble walking are just the more noticeable ones. For Timmy it also comes with a side of things like Seizures, migraines, fatigue, spasms, tremors and fainting. He’s had this since he was 12 or 13, or maybe even sooner who knows.” Jason answered, ever since he decided he wanted to be friends with Tim he’d done a lot of research on his condition. Mainly to know what to expect and how to not be insensitive and most importantly, how to help when the need arises.

“That does not sound like a good combination…” Dick muttered, sitting down on Jason’s bed. Despite their night job, things like this still bothered Dick quite a lot, especially when it pertained to their civilian life.

“Yeah…you’ll see somedays he can walk with his cane and has a lot of energy. And somedays he can barely get out of bed from the fatigue and pain, has trouble stringing together two sentences and can barely transfer himself from his bed to his chair. It’s not really consistent…but yeah. Things like that sometimes happen and you gotta expect them any moment with Timmy.”

“That sucks…”

“Yup. He’s gotten much better at recognizing his limits though. He used to push himself a lot in school. That was mostly his asshole parents’ fault.”

“You said they were ableists.”

“Major ones at that. For the first year or so they didn’t believe Timmy was actually sick. They used to say he was faking it for attention or just to be lazy.”

“What the fuck? Are you serious?”

“Yup. It took a lot of seizures and fainting randomly for them to finally take him seriously enough to get diagnosed and disorders like his are really hard to diagnose too. From what I know they left him at the hospital and just up and left the country to do who knows what. Tim said he was at the hospital for months until the doctors finally understood what was wrong.”

“That’s…how can anyone do that? How can any parents…?” Dick was speechless. Jason continued.

“I don’t think they can be called parents, And you know what’s worse? Even after getting a diagnosis, they kept saying bullshit like this shouldn’t stop Tim, setting up higher standards for him. They didn’t let him use his wheelchair at first, saying he could just walk fine with a cane, and that he shouldn’t take the ‘easy route’. Then there was the matter of his care which they didn’t want to hire a round the clock carer for. Imagine? Rich people so stingy they didn’t want to hire a carer for their son, who they refuse to care for! Finally his housekeeper Miss Mac volunteered, said she’d just learn everything he’d need for his care and take the job. She didn’t have to do that, you know. She did that because she loved Timmy and knew if it was up to his parents then Tim would end up dead. If it wasn’t for that I’d have Bruce call CPS. Foster system is bad but it’s better than Tim’s parents’ idea of caring, I’ll tell you that. But for most parts they left Tim be and went gallivanting across the world and maybe that was the best thing they could have done for him.”

“That’s…the most fucked up thing I have heard. And I used to be a police officer in Bludhaven.”

“Uh-huh. Never underestimate how shitty Gotham elites can be.”

“Makes me appreciate Bruce even more.” Dick mumbled, a little reluctantly.

“Yeah, he’s a traumatized furry, but at least he parents right…well mostly…after some trial and error.”

“You humble me son.” With that, Jason let out a shriek.

Chapter Text

The next day Jason went to check on Tim, this time alone. He remembered doing this all the time during high school. Whenever Tim didn’t show up to school, he’d bring Tim his homeworks and notes and check on him. He felt really bad about forgetting to check on Tim this past few months. Right when Tim needed him most probably.

He rang the bell and waited for Miss McIlvaine to open the door, which she did almost immediately, dressed to go outside.

“Oh, Jason dear! You’re alone today.” She said, giving Jason a warm smile.

“Yes, I came to check on Tim alone. I didn’t want to overwhelm him. How is he? If he’s out of it I can leave?”

Miss Mac moved away to let him.

“Well, you know how he is after a big seizure. He’s had a few absent ones since he woke up and the fatigue is especially bad today and his leg’s seized up so he stayed in his bed all day. But he’s awake and present now, you should give him a visit. I don’t think he’d mind. I actually have a few errands to run, if you’d stay with him until I come back, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Of course, Miss Mac. You can leave him to me.” Jason accepted easily, reassuring the old lady.

“Thank you, take care now.” She said as Jason started walking towards Tim’s bedroom. He knocked and waited for Tim to answer.

“Yes?”

“It’s me Timmy, came to check on you.”

“Oh, come in.” Jason opened the door, revealing Tim, sitting up on his bed and Stitch napping beside him. He closed his laptop and rolled the moving lap desk down his bed.

“Hey.” He sounded absolutely exhausted.

“Hey Timmy. How you feeling?”

“Tired.” He said and pointed to his feet under the duvet. “Leg’s being a bitch.”

“Good thing it’s a Saturday or you’d be stupid enough to go to school.” Jason chuckled as he moved closer to Tim’s bed.

“Hey! I’m not that much of an idiot…anymore.”

“Well that’s good to know. Miss Mac said she had a few errands to run, left me in charge.” With a raised brow, he asked for permission to which Tim nodded towards the spot beside him. Jason perched on his bed.

“She did not.” Tim rolled his eyes.

“Did too.” Jason said, sticking his tongue out.

“You came alone?” If Jason knew Tim any less, he wouldn’t have picked up on the disappointment.

“Dickie took Damian to the shelter to get his kitty fix for the day, I didn’t want to overwhelm you and I doubt you have the energy for dealing with a 4-year-old now.”

“I know…It’s just…”

“You like having Damian over?” Jason prompted.

“Yeah. He’s adorable.” Tim smiled tiredly. Jason had never seen Tim openly show his affection to anyone…except maybe Bernard.

“Hey, how are things going with Bernard?” way to ruin the mood, Tim’s smile froze on his face.

“Touchy subject?” Jason said apologetically.

“Eh, not really.” Tim took a deep breath.

“He told me he loved me…a few days before my parents…yeah. Bad timing. I told him that I that I loved him back but I needed time to think about it. About if I want a relationship…then my parents died and he didn’t bring it up anymore. And I’m not sure if I’m in the right mental space right now for that…”

“Oof, well at least you talked about it. That’s more than I expected from you two dorks.” Jason praised.

“Ouch.” Tim scrunched up his face. Then he sighed and looked away from Jason.

“And he’s starting collage this fall, I’m afraid he’s chosen to stay in Gotham for my sake even when I know he doesn’t really have anything keeping him here.”

“Yeah, his parents suck too. Guess we all have that in common…”

“Ives has good parents and you have Bruce.” Tim refuted.

“I guess…so you’re still sad and single.” He shook his head in fake condolence, eliciting a weak slap from Tim.

“Ow, you wound me, Timmy.”

“Drama queen.” Tim scoffed. They let a moment of silence before Jason leaned comfortably on Tim’s super awesome bed’s bedpost which was a part of his mattress that rose up like a hospital bed, except a hundred times better.

“Hey Timmy, I’m sorry I haven’t been checking up on you after what happened with your parents. I know they weren’t really there for you but from experience I know losing even shitty parents suck in its own special way…things just got so hectic when Damian came. And we were so unprepared. The kid barely slept for the first 3 weeks, he didn’t talk, not even in Arabic, he didn’t let us near him…he still gets skittish sometimes even now…but yeah. Everything kind of fell to the waysides. You know Dick moved back here? Quit his job and everything in Bludhaven just because he knew Bruce and Alfred were gonna need a lot of help.”

“Oh…I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, everything’s better now though. Don’t worry. And I have the best excuse to barge into your home now.” Jason elbowed him and grinned mischievously.

“Remind me to only let Dick and Damian in from tomorrow.” Tim groaned and tried to hide his smile.

“Shut up, you love me.”

“Lies!” Tim huffed, too tired to laugh. They let the silence be for a few moments before Tim sighed.

“It’s fine though. I haven’t been doing too bad. Most days I don’t even think about it. But then that makes me feel guilty and that’s its own can of worms”

“Ugh, I know right?”

“And on the plus side, I can have the cats in the house…and Miss Mac can make my medical decisions without their input…”

“And you don’t have to hear their ableist comments…and they can’t pressure you on your studies or your future.” Jason said, shrugging. The pros outweighed the cons. But that was the sad part, wasn’t it?

“Yup…” Tim muttered, his eyes looking far away.

“How about we watch something until Miss Mac comes back?”

“Alright.” Tim said as he passed the remote to Jason. “You choose, my brain is too fried to make a decision.”

“You got it. And hey I was thinking of meeting up with Ber and Ives. You think you can make a day for all of us? We can play D&D.”

“And you call me a nerd.”

“That’s because you’re the best at it.”

 “I’ll ask. Just don’t…don’t make things awkward with Bernard. And I can’t imagine it getting worse but still…”

“Alright loser, I won’t tease you or your simp. But you really do need to talk to him. I know you don’t really know what you want yourself but maybe you can just tell him that? Share your point of view? It’s way better than ignoring it, that can only hurt you both.” Jason said as he ruffled Tim’s hair affectionately. Tim said nothing but he gave a little nod and that was that.

Chapter Text

When Bruce sat behind the Batcomputer, there was a new file waiting for him from Augury. Even after all these years it still terribly bothered him that he knew nothing of this person. But they had saved the lives of his children and friends far too many times for him to be suspicious now. Never in the past 5 years had Augury’s information had been wrong or deceitful but he couldn’t help but being wary. Whoever this Augury was, knew their identities, had hacking skills no one could match and seemed to have eyes everywhere. He’d be stupid to not feel at least a little cautious. But game recognized game and Augury clearly had the best of Gotham in mind.

This file was on an ongoing investigation they had, about a drug ring that had moved from Bludhaven to Gotham. Honestly Bruce had expected this file way sooner on his computer but Augury with all his greatness and precision wasn’t really consistent with his schedule. Maybe they were a busy person, who knew. And it wasn’t for Bruce’s lack of trying. Augury put files on their servers but never answered any of the messages they left for him. Not unless it was a detrimental question about the case files. But late was better than never and with the information Augury had sent they’ll be able to do the bust tonight instead of sometime this week.

Bruce tried not to get too dependent on Augury, since they weren’t really a reliable presence and not part of their team but things just went much smoother with their info, that was just a fact. And who was he to deny his city by refusing to use everything in his disposal?

“Augury finally dropped some files?” Jason asked as he made his way downstairs with Dick on his tail.

“Hn. We should be able to do the bust tonight.”

“Damn I love that woman.” Dick chimed in. Jason rolled his eyes.

“We don’t know if they’re a woman. You’re just projecting.”

“Hey! I’m making an educated guess.” Dick pouted.

“Nope, that’s just you making wild guesses.”

“No man can be this cool, come on!”

“Still not a good argument.”

“Boys. Please go change and come for briefing. Barbara will be here shortly as well. Behave.” Bruce warned both of them but they kept on arguing as they made their ways to the lockers. Bruce tried not to let out his smile show. His boys never got tired of arguing over inane things.

Soon the sound of a motorcycle roared through the cave as Barbara arrived.

“Hey B, you said we got some files from Augury?”

“Take a look.” He invited Barbara over. Though brilliant with computers herself, even Barbara couldn’t find any trace of Augury in these past years.

She let out a whistle as she read through everything.

“Yup, that’s everything we’re gonna need. Will Alfred man the comms?”

“As soon as he wrangles Damian to bed.” Bruce let out an exhausted sigh. Damian still had trouble sleeping, usually one of them stayed the night in the manor to make sure he doesn’t wake up and panic but they’re a little short in hands today.

“I wish Augury would man our comms. Imagine having surveillance that thorough every night.” Barbara said wistfully.

“That would require for them to answer to our messages first.”

“Gotta love their secrecy. They’re even better than you at maintaining a secret identity.”

“Hn.” Bruce grunted but didn’t say anything more because the truth of the matter was Augury had figured out their identities at least 5 years ago and they still had nothing on them.

Really, the playground was uneven and there wasn’t anything Bruce hated more than not knowing something.

Chapter Text

Damian visited Drake manor a few times in the two last weeks. Usually with both Jason and Dick, a few times with just Jason and one time with just Dick. True to Tim’s words, the door was always open to them and the kittens were finally old enough for Damian to play with. Yeah, there was no dissuading the kid now from visiting almost every day. It wasn’t like Jason minded either, he’d missed hanging out with Timmy and they had finally found a day for Ives and Bernard to come hang out as well. Jason decided to kill two birds with one stone and brought Damian with. He could busy himself with the kittens while they played.

It was a rainy day, which usually sucked for Jason. His knee liked to act up like an old lady’s when it was raining and he was automatically benched from patrol as well. But he could deal with that today. On the other hand it seemed to be a pretty good day for Tim. He was walking with his cane and even had a spring in his step that may or may not be caused by a certain blondie.

After thoroughly teasing the younger boys, the four of them settled down in Tim’s living room for the game. This place was now much cozier than before. Seemed like the minute Miss Mac didn’t have the Drake’s to answer back to she finally took control of the décor. Turning the cold and sterile manor to an actual home. This was much better. With Lilo and her kittens and an excited Damian this place actually looked homey.

Miss Mac pulled all the stops for them and kept bringing them snacks. She seemed extremely pleased with Tim for having guests and wasn’t afraid to show it. Jason snickered at Ives when they both caught Tim’s blush after Miss Mac ruffled his hair.

“Your brother is super cute Jay.” Bernard commented, his eyes never leaving the kid and the kittens playing.

“Yup, the cutest gremlin around.” Jason agreed.

“He looks like Tim in his old preschool pictures.” Bernard commented lightly.

“What?” Tim suddenly choked on his Zesti.

“Now that you mention it…” Ives cocked his head to the side, looking at Damian closer.

“Hey, I haven’t seen his baby pictures.” Jason protested.

“Google them, there's a million of them online.” Bernard suggested, stuffing his face with Cheetos immediately. No one asked him how he knew that because at this point it was common knowledge that Bernard was a simp for Tim.

“Hey!” Tim protested weakly.

“Right.” Jason muttered as he pulled out his phone. A quick google and there were at least 20 photos of Tim as a 4-year-old. At first, he really didn’t know what Bernard meant. Tim and Damian had different colorings, as Tim was pale, blue eyed and black haired, while Damian was tan with green eyes and dark brown hair which he had gotten from Talia. But after looking past that their main facial features were actually quite similar. Even their doe eyes were practically the same.

“I mean…yeah?” Jason said, looking up and at Tim he could see that behind the annoyed face Tim was making there was quite a bit of anxiety. Anxiety that Jason didn’t know where it came from. Why would Tim feel anxious about this?

“It’s probably because we share some ancestors or whatever.” Tim rolled his eyes. “You know there are only so many Gotham old money families.”

“Hey, then you might be Bruce’s third cousin five times removed or something.” To that Tim just shrugged.

“I’d say let’s not go there. Nothing good comes out of digging into old family affairs.” Bernard shuddered, imagining some scenarios no doubt. The kid had vivid imagination; Jason will give him that.

“Agreed.” Everyone said as they started getting ready to finally play.

When they ended the game, Damian was asleep on Tim’s chest, probably enjoying being pet like a cat. Jason got up to pee and his knee helpfully gave out for a second before he managed to right himself.

“How’s your knee by the way?” Tim asked, looking at Jason worriedly.

“Eh, you know how it is when it rains. It’s normal.” Jason shrugged. His knee is just what it is. He can never really be reckless with it and he has to manage his pain but he still has a knee. That’s something.

“Man we’re like 17, 18 and 19. I’ve had cancer, Jay has had like 20 surgeries on his knee and Tim’s brain fucks with him for the fun of it. Ber if I was you, I’d watch out. There’s clearly a curse among us.” Ives unhelpfully pointed out.

“Yeah, I better run.” Bernard said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he settled beside Tim on the couch. Jason tried not to tease him for how he looked at Tim. How absolutely smitten he looked. Knowing he’d had the courage to finally confess and how it turned out really took out the fun of teasing those two.  

Tim gave all of them a tired smile and kept petting Damian’s hair. The energy from a couple of hours ago had clearly dissipated and Jason could see his hands shaking a little.

As Jason was leaving the room he heard Bernard pointing at Damian.

“Oh look, he has a little mole on his ear Tim. Just like you.” And suddenly this didn’t seem so funny to Jason anymore.

Chapter Text

Damn Bernard and his observant eyes. None of the bats had noticed their similarities in the past few weeks, Bernard takes one look at Damian and sees it.

Or maybe it’s because Bernard has spent a lot of times looking at him? That just makes it worse for some reason. Honestly, Tim didn’t know how he was going to clean up this mess. He could already tell Jason was suspicious but how long would he spend thinking about it before doing something? Like maybe run a DNA test. Yeah that’s not good. He’s just always assumed everyone would be as blind to this as the bats. He didn’t know how this made him feel about Bernard either.

He sighed tiredly and just leaned his head on Bernard’s shoulder. He was exhausted and could feel a migraine coming on. Playing with his friends after so long was fun and all but he really had trouble keeping up. He just wished for school to end so he could finally rest. Whatever rest means when you put 70% of your energy on virtual vigilantism.

“You okay?” Bernard whispered, trying not to wake up the passed-out kid sprawled on Tim’s chest.

“Yeah. Just tired. Don’t move.” To that Bernard huffed a laughter.

“Alright princess. My shoulder is all yours.”

“So kind of you good sir.” They stayed like that until Jason came back from the bathroom.

“Alright, I can give you two losers a ride home after I drop off Dami at home. Who’s coming?” Jason said, hands on his hips.

“Me.” Ives said, hopping up from the floor where he was scrolling through his social media.

Before Bernard could say anything, Tim’s hand clutched his shirt. He didn’t mean to do that but when Bernard looked down at him, his eyes asking a question Tim didn’t see it in himself to lie. He didn’t want Bernard to leave.

“Maybe I can stay over? It is Friday.” Bernard said, pushing Tim tighter to his chest.

“Alright. I’mma have to take the kiddo back Timmy.” Jason said, grinning as he watched Tim pout.

Tim sighed in defeat and just planted a kiss on Damian’s head and let Jason pick him up, careful not to wake him.

“Bye Dami.” Tim whispered, mostly to himself.

When everyone said their goodbyes and left Tim and Bernard alone together did it dawn on him that it was just him and Bernard. And Miss Mac who came in to check on them.

“Do you boys want anything to eat?” She asked as she wordlessly rolled Tim’s wheelchair that had been left unused closer to them.

“Thanks Miss Mac, if I eat anything else I might throw up.” Bernard declined. Tim nodded.

“Alright, let me know if you need anything.”

“We will.” Bernard assured her. Tim wasn’t feeling like talking. Bernard understood.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, enjoying the company and the silence. Until Tim let out a yawn.

“Wanna move to your room? We can watch something till we’re ready to sleep.” Tim nodded even though he was sure he couldn’t watch anything without triggering the migraine episode on the horizon. Bernard got up and rolled Tim’s chair as close as possible.

Tim transferred to his chair, not too gracefully. His hands were feeling pretty shaky so he let Bernard roll him to his bedroom and took over only to roll himself to the bathroom. When he got back Bernard was sprawled out on his bed, petting Stitch.

“Bernard.” He called out. The blond looked up immediately, giving Tim a weak smile.

“Would you mind helping me change? I don’t think I can unbutton this.” He said, demonstrating his hands that were fully shaking by this point and his short-sleeved button up. Bernard blushed but said nothing as he sat up on the bed, in front of Tim. His hands deftly opening up the buttons. Tim could see how he was holding his breath and clearly trying to only focus his eyes on the buttons. After successfully getting rid of the shirt and changing into a loose t-shirt he came face to face with a still perplexed Bernard.

Tim smiled weakly as his hands moved to cup Bernard’s face. This made the blond finally look up at Tim’s eyes.

“I think we’re due a talk.” He said, keeping his voice low. This made Bernard’s breath hitch, his eyes searching Tim. Wanting to know what Tim’s answer is no doubt. But Tim doesn’t know the answer either. It’s been months of this and he keeps going in circles.

“Help me to the bed?” he asked, Bernard blinked, taking a moment to compute before complying. Finally situated on the bed, Tim let out a sigh and patted the space in front of him for Bernard to sit down as his bed changed to a seated position. Bernard hesitated for a brief second before sitting down as well. So rigid and tense, Tim could see his brain running a mile a minute.

“Ber…I’ve thought about this since…since you told me.” Tim started.

“And?” Bernard asked, terribly desperate.

Tim sighed. “And nothing. I don’t know. I want you but I can’t deal with it if you decide I’m too much trouble. I don’t even know why you’d want me in the first place.”

“I’ve told you…”

“I know. Knowing and believing are two different things. But even ignoring that for a second…even if I wanted to be selfish…even if I let myself have you like I want to…then what? Bernard I know you think you know what you’re getting into but–”

“I do know what I’m getting into! Tim! We’ve been friends for years and you still have so little faith in me!” Bernard interjected angrily.

“No you don’t! Ber I can barely function most days! You think it’ll be fine looking after me? When I can faint or have a seizure any second? When my limbs randomly decide to not work? When I’m in so much pain I can’t even think?” Tim defended himself. Bernard had seen him at his worst, sure but he didn’t have to live with it. Those are two different things.

“So what! You think that would be a dealbreaker for me? How shallow do you think I am? How shallow do you think people are? Not everyone is like your shitty parents Tim! Some people see you as you! Some people love you for you! Like Miss Mac. Do you think she’s doing this out of pity? Who in their right mind would do that for years out of misplaced pity? We just love you as a whole. You with your disability included.” Bernard let out an angry huff before putting both his hands on Tim’s shoulders and pinning him to the bed. Tim had nowhere else to look but him.

“I swear to god, you’re like the smartest person I know and yet you’re so blind to the people around you. You think if you agree to date me you’re selfish? Fine, be selfish! I don’t mind. For once in your life Tim, be selfish! I beg of you. Then you’ll see that I do know what I’m getting myself into!

"You think being with you is hard for me? That it’s a lot of work? All relationships are a lot of work Tim. But people still do it. And we won’t be the first people to do this with a disability, you know that. You’re not a burden to me. And I really do love you for you Tim. I swear I do. And I know you do too. Just…give it a chance? Give us a chance? That’s all I want, love.” Tim realized too late that he’s been crying. That Bernard has been crying as well. God, he really is an idiot.

“I can’t do it if you change your mind Ber…I’ll die…” Tim sobbed. And it really came down to that, didn’t it? He was morbidly afraid of being abandoned again, rejected for something not in his control.

“Considering I haven’t in the past 4 years Tim…I’d say it’s unlikely. And I guess, sometimes we just have to take a risk. We can’t just tolerate everything we have now because we fear things might get worse. That’s not how humans work Tim.” Bernard said as he wiped Tim’s tears off and placed a tender kiss in its place. Tim’s breath hitched as more tears flowed down.

“Come here.” Bernard settled himself beside Tim and pulled him impossibly closer. Tim tried to focus on Bernard’s breathing and heartbeat as he tried and failed to calm down. Whatever he did, the tears didn’t stop. Then his body decided for him and he conveniently blacked out.

“im…”

“Tim…”

“Tim!” his eyes struggled to open but he managed to groan. He took deep breaths, trying to take control of his body. After a few minutes he let out a big breath.

“Love it how my brain decides to shut down.” He grumbles. Bernard lets out a sigh of relief.

“Did I faint?”

“No…I think it was an absent seizure.”

“Ah…maybe it wasn’t a migraine coming.” Tim huffed out. Very carefully he pulled himself upright. As upright as he could manage. Bernard handed him a glass of water and watched him carefully. Like Jason, these things didn’t phase Bernard either. His friends knew how to handle his drop attacks, seizures, fainting and dizzy spells like a pro.

“How long?”

“Not long. How do you feel? Should I call Miss Mac?”

“No…I’ll be fine…let’s talk more in the morning. I think I’ll pass out if I get overwhelmed again.” To that Bernard chuckled.

“Alright love…should I…” he looked to the door and Tim would rather die than let Bernard leave.

“No. There’s room for both of us…and Stitch. Just a little warning, he might attempt to suffocate you at night.”

And with little fanfare they both got ready for bed, Bernard settled next to Tim and for the first time, Tim slept with someone cuddling him. Guess he could let himself be selfish for a while. See what happens.

There was no talking done the next morning. Mainly because Tim couldn’t string two sentences together.

It was not a good day. It wasn’t even a mediocre day. It was a full-on bad day.

Tim woke up dizzy with both his hands stuck in a clutch, curtsy of dystonia and one of his legs numb. He didn’t even attempt to get out of bed and he could tell he was losing time. Bernard, who hadn’t left him confirmed he’d been having absent seizures since he woke up. So there was no talking done. Just Bernard in bed with him all day, keeping him close and reassuring him everything was alright and that he wasn’t leaving him. Maybe Tim believed him a little. Because he couldn’t think of anyone who would stick around if they didn’t love him at least a little bit.

In the evening Jason came to check on him, Bernard had told him he would and he’d practically begged Jason to bring Damian. Even for a few minutes. Of course the plea had confused Bernard but he had said nothing and Jason did pop in with Damian.

Damian was fine with being held by weird clutched hands as he told Tim what he’d done today at the park. He’s been getting a lot more talkative because like most kids he absorbed language like a sponge.

Tim thinks he checked out again somewhere in the middle of his adventures at the swings but when he came to Damian was still talking, oblivious to everything going on with Tim. Jason and Bernard didn’t say anything either.

At night Tim finally managed to convince Bernard to go home. He was gonna sleep anyway and Bernard couldn’t stay much longer either. Bernard pressed a very slow and sensual kiss to his forehead and left with the promise of coming back tomorrow. Tim didn’t mind.

Chapter Text

Jason didn’t like thinking about it.

Who would like to think about the possibility of their father having had sex with the terrible mother of their friend? That’s right, no one.

But it was more than that.

He didn’t want to think about it because he was afraid he’d be right. And that would mean all along Tim had been his brother. And he could have been here all this time instead of that cold awful house with those terrible people no one can all parents.

See, not a nice thing to think about. But he couldn’t really help it. Because the more he thought about it the more things made sense. For example, Tim’s intelligence. Because Jack and Janet Drake (especially Jack Drake) weren’t terribly bright people. Some might claim differently but Jason had the strong belief of if you’re bigoted, ableist, apathetic and willfully ignorant of facts then you’re not intelligent. Now, if you thought Tim was related to a certain self-proclaimed world’s best detective then shit started to make sense.

Jason’s biggest doubt was that if this were the case then surely B would have already known but after some thinking he figured that no– Bruce could be very blind to these matters and just going off of timeline, Tim’s conception would coincide with the time Brucie Wayne was especially sexually active, no doubt to make cover for his starting carrier as Batman. See, gross to think about.

But Jason needed more than hunches and educated guesses. He needed proof. And for that, he was going to do something illegal. Which might not sound too bad, everything they do is illegal. But this…stealing DNA from your friend…yeah. This left a bad aftertaste in Jason’s mouth. But he couldn’t not do it…there was a lot on the line and he couldn’t really ignore the screaming that had started in his mind. He had no choice.

Taking a DNA sample from Tim was harder than he thought it’d be.

For once, he couldn’t just pick up some hair from the boy’s pillow because it might be Stitch’s. Tim didn’t really leave his spit laying around either. Miss Mac took his dirty dishes away before Jason could get a chance swabbing it and Tim had been too vigil for him to get near him.

That was until he wasn’t.

Jason was going to hell.

Because that day, as Damian was playing with the cats, now all of them together in the living room, Tim had an absent seizure and after Jason had made sure he was leaning back on the couch and not in danger of falling…he plucked out a hair or two. Yeah, he was going to hell. And he didn’t even believe in hell.

Tim had many contingency plans. About various things really. One of them was for the off chance a Bat had decided to run his DNA on the Batcomputer. He didn’t think he’d ever need it but that was what contingency plans were for. Things that might or might not happen.

And it happened.

Because that night, a few hours after seeing Jason and Damian off he received a notification, telling him his name had been entered into the Batcomputer for a DNA analysis. For determining paternity. Wow. Seems like Jason really was suspicious. Who wouldn’t be after listening to Bernard’s comments. He was sure the mole one was the dead give away because he knew he shared that mole with Bruce. He should give Jason a present for figuring that one out.

Now one might ask, why go that far? Why not just let it happen? 

Tim didn't want to think about the why. He had enough reasons. This was for the best.

He sighed as he entered the Batcomputer via a backdoor. When had Jason even took a sample of him? Not that he can have that much control over this when he had basically given two bats free reign of his house.

With a quick alteration he changed the results of the paternity test. He had even made himself a fake genetic composition than would indicate he was Jack’s son. See, contingency plans came in handy. Especially for when you’re committing fraud. But this one did leave a terrible aftertaste in his mouth.

TIMOTHY JACKSON DRAKE

PROBABILITY OF PATERNITY 0%

When Tim woke up that glorious Saturday, where the sun was shining bright, his legs worked well and Miss Mac’s pancakes were calling for him, he was not expecting to open the door to his biological father, holding his half-brother and looking at him absolutely miserably.

Let’s rewind a little. Jason had messaged Tim that morning, telling him their plans are cancelled. See, for the first time Jason had managed to convince him to accompany them -Jason, Dami and Dick- to the dog park because there was an event with the local shelters and puppies and Damian had started liking dogs as well after seeing One Hundred and One Dalmatians and he was going to be really adorable playing with puppies. The plan had practically made itself.

But last night Joker and a few D-rank villains had broken out of Arkham and even though it had been dealt with quickly (courtesy of Augury’s quick response) Tim guessed it still triggered Jason. Understandable. Even though Tim wanted to see Damian playing with puppies, he understood Jason’s situation. So he reassured Jason that they could go sometime later in the week and thought that was that.

It was not.

Tim had made a miscalculation. A huge one…or a small one depending on how you viewed it. And that was Damian throwing one hell of a tantrum, the biggest one yet, because he was promised puppies and Tim. And he was going to see puppies and Tim together, god damn it.

“Mr. Wayne…I did not expect you here…” He said, completely stupefied. Damian helpfully shouted his name, trying to escape his father’s hold unsuccessfully. He seemed very upset and Tim could see the tear tracks on his cheeks.

“Please, call me Bruce, Tim. And I am sorry to drop by so suddenly.” Tim had rarely seen this look on Bruce or Batman. The Tired Dad™ look. He just stared, not even occurring to him to let the man inside.

“I know you were supposed to go out today with the boys and Jason cancelled and something came up for Dick–” Yeah, Joker had pushed him off stairs. Tim had the footage. “So Jay cancelled your plans. But Damian…well.”

“I understand.” Tim decided to spare the man from going into details. Poor guy had trouble saying no to his kids. Everyone knew that, no point in beating a dead horse. And Tim wasn’t one to talk here as he also had trouble saying no to Damian

“And I did try to convince him to not trouble you but he wanted you and the puppies.” Yeah, Bruce knew better not to subjugate Tim to his awkwardness. Good on him for being self-aware. Unfortunately, that still wasn’t enough to dissuade the four-year-old.

“Uh…give me a second to get ready…” He looked around, only now noticing they were still standing in front of the door. “Come in?” he said, pointing Bruce and the very pouty Damian inside. Bruce thanked him under his breath and walked inside.

“Miss Mac?” Tim called her, the woman appeared at the foyer immediately. Taking over small talk as Tim made his escape.

It was a good day but Tim didn’t know if it was going to keep being a good day. He decided to bring his wheelchair anyway and just have Bruce lug it around when he got off it. He didn’t mind inconveniencing the man since he was doing the same thing. Not with hanging out with Damian, no that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the sheer anxiety spending time with Bruce gave Tim.

He wore something nice but still casual and chose his red cane to match with his outfit. And since this was going to be awkward, he decided to dust his camera to bring that as a buffer. Hopefully he’d be able to take cute photos of Dami with pups and avoid talking with Bruce. A win-win in his book.

When he was finally ready, he rolled out with his wheelchair and his camera around his neck. Of course before he could make his escape Miss Mac was there with the sun screen and the baseball cap and Tim wanted to die from embarrassment. Thankfully Bruce didn’t comment, or really give any kinds of look. Yeah, Tim kept forgetting Bruce was different from Jack. In the sense that the man was an actual dad. Jack would have probably made some comments about being a man and handling the sun, on the other hand Bruce will probably apply sun screen for his kids and remind them to drink their water.

“Ready? I brought the biggest SUV, hopefully it can fit your wheelchair.” It was nice of him to have thought that so Tim didn’t say anything about his wheelchair being foldable with detachable wheels. It can fit pretty much in any normal sized car. He rolled his chair out, got out of it and folded it up and let Bruce lug it up to the trunk after he put Damian in his seat. Not risking being asked to sit in the front with Bruce, Tim welcomed himself to the backseat, right beside Damian’s car seat. The boy looked adorably small in his seat, wearing those white sneakers with a tiny yellow polo shirt and white shorts. He looked like a mini golfer.

“Are you excited to meet the puppies?” Tim asked, finally giving attention to his baby brother. Damian nodded seriously. God, his little scowl never got old. Tim smoothed the furrow between his brows with his finger and lightly booped Damian on the nose and finally Damian gave him a tiny smile. Tim leaned forward but before he could kiss Damian’s head Bruce opened the door and suddenly Tim felt too awkward kissing Dami.

“Everyone ready? Tim, is Damian secure? He’s become a rather skilled escape artist lately.” Bruce asked as he started the car.

“Yes, I have him Mr. Wayne.”

“Please Tim, calling me Mr. Wayne makes me sound too old and I already have 4 kids. I don’t need the extra reminder.” For some reason Tim’s brain didn’t compute because he blurted out. “Four?”

“Oh yeah. You don’t know Cassandra.” Right, he was talking about Black Bat. She was probably the Bat Tim had the least interactions with. Both as Augury and Tim Drake. Since Tim didn’t particularly keep close tabs on non-threatening individuals he had pretty much forgotten about her as she hadn’t been sighted for a year. Plus, that girl barely showed up on CCTVs and didn’t talk on comms.

“I kept her adoption on the down low since she didn’t want media attention. She’s living in New York right now, for her ballet.” Bruce seemed pretty proud of her as she talked about her, made Tim feel emotions he didn’t want to name. He felt kind of dumb not knowing about her and thinking when Bruce said 4 children…yeah.

“So she’ll be back for summer breaks?”

“Yup, she’s only seen Dami on video calls so she’s looking forward to coming back. You’ll probably meet her since the boys like bothering you every other day.”

“They’re no bother. I like their company and Dami likes the cats.” Tim refuted quickly. Making Bruce chuckle.

“My boy, I’m pretty sure Damian comes over more because he likes you. You’re all he talks about. Timmy told me this, Timmy gave me that...” Tim’s brain crashed after ‘my boy’ and everything after that was a bluescreen. He doesn’t remember what he said in answer but the rest of the way was quiet, except Damian humming badly to Disney songs that were being played.

Chapter Text

Bruce watches as Damian runs around saying hello to every single dog they meet on the way to the event. Tim is snapping pictures of Damian with said dogs in quick succession, not losing a single second of it.

It seemed like the boy was feeling good today, walking easily with his stylish cane as he smiled and talked to Damian cheerfully. It made Bruce…happy for the boy of course. No one could deny that Timothy Drake’s life had been clouded by tragedy these past few years and he looked so broken at his parents’ funeral...

Though clearly broken up from different reasons than Bruce’s own, the death of his parents had clearly taken their toll on the boy. But looking at him now, it gave Bruce hope that Tim would be alright. And he was proud of his boys for helping. Especially his youngest.

As he silently pushed Tim’s wheelchair, he noticed people giving Tim looks. This didn’t seem to phase the boy, probably normal for him if Bruce took a guess. But he knew people had weird reactions to young people using mobility devices. Like disabilities were age restricted.

“Baba! Did you see that puppy? It’s sooo big!” Damian exclaimed as he ran right to Bruce’s leg, pulling his pant leg and pointing to a Samoyed.

“Yes I see him baby, want to see if the owner let's us pet them?” Damian nodded enthusiastically. Bruce put on his most charming smile and approached the owner.

“Heya there, my kiddo here saw your dog. Do you mind him petting them?” the girl walking the Samoyed gave Bruce a double look and her eyes widened when she finally recognized him.

“Oh…of course. She’s really friendly but a little too excitable. Don’t get scared, okay?” she said the last sentence to Damian who didn’t even seem to hear her with how he’d zeroed on the dog.

“Mind if I take pictures?” Tim asked.

“No, go ahead.”

“What’s her name?” Bruce asked, he thought it was probably the polite thing to ask.

“Lupo.” She said, her eyes followed Tim losing his balance for a second before grabbing his wheelchair’s handles for support. Bruce moved to help but Tim had it. He crouched down successfully this time to get pictures at a better angle.

“It really is a nice day for a walk with your sons.” She said, giving Bruce a genuine smile. Bruce noticed Tim’s hand stopping on the shutter button and his body freezing up and was too distracted to correct the lady. He just smiled and agreed. Moving a little closer to make sure Tim was alright and not having one of those absent seizures Jason had warned him about. But Tim was back photographing Damian the next second so Bruce didn’t say anything.

They moved on from the Samoyed and Tim had wordlessly sat down on his wheelchair. He kept up with photographing so Bruce just assumed he had gotten tired. He wasn’t sure if he could offer pushing Tim’s chair as he was both maneuvering himself and taking pictures at the same time. Bruce found it rather impressive.

When they got to the event Damian ran straight to the puppies laid on a big blanket, leaving Bruce and Tim alone. It was too crowded for Tim to take pictures of Damian so he put down his Camera and parked his wheelchair right beside the bench that Bruce gratefully took.

“Are you considering Photography as your major or minor? Jason said you still hadn’t decided.” Bruce decided making small talk was probably his safest option.

“Uh, I like photography. But considering I have a big disadvantage I don’t see how there would be a point to it. It’s not just the limits wheelchair brings; I also sometimes have shaky hands and can’t really get myself to where the best angles are. Subjugating myself to deadlines and standards that I’m only sometimes able to meet is pretty stupid. And I’m pretty satisfied with my skillsets as is, so probably not.”

“What majors are you thinking about then?” he was actually curious. From what Jason told him Tim was very intelligent and quick with a frighteningly accurate memory. He could probably dominate every field he steps into.

“Well, you know DI is a medical equipment manufacturing company and I am quite interested in biomedical engineering myself. I’ll never want to be a CEO, no offence. But I think I can work at their R&D department if I wanted to pursue that. But at the same time, I keep thinking that’s what my parents wanted me to do and it gives me the ick.” Tim was quite blunt, which Bruce loved.

“I never wanted to become a CEO…nor a doctor like my father. That wasn’t even what my parents wanted from me but at some point, I had managed to convince myself that it was probably what they wanted from me. Medical school never worked out for me and I took up WE pretty reluctantly but I ended up enjoying some aspects of the job and that somehow made me forget all about what I had convinced myself my parents wanted from me…do you get what I mean? The fact that you like what your parents probably expected of you shouldn’t really matter to you. Because when you start working that would be last thing you’d think of. I can promise you that.” Tim looked at him for a few seconds, his eyes barely betraying his emotions but he nodded.

“And I’m assuming Biomedical engineering is something you’re personally passionate about and your parents owning a medical equipment manufacturing company is a complete coincidence. So really, I’d say you should use that stroke of luck and actually use your passion and that big brain to make a difference.” Finally Tim’s strong walls broke and the boy blushed right up to his ears.

“Mr.…Bruce…thank you.” Bruce noticed how the boy clutched his pants in his hands as he blinked rapidly. He just smiled and patted the boy on the back.

“You’re welcome kiddo.” And he couldn’t help himself from lifting up the boy’s hat and ruffling up the kid’s hair aggressively. Sometimes the dad inside him takes control of his body, Bruce has little say in that.

Damian chose that moment to run up to them, he had the biggest grin Bruce had ever seen on his son's face and the moment he stopped in front of them he put his hands up. And it wasn’t towards him. Before he could say something, Tim had already picked up Damian and settled him on his lap. He noticed Bruce’s raised eyebrows and gave a small smile.

“He likes to catch rides with me.” he explained. Bruce nodded as he watched his son settle comfortably. Yeah, this certainly wasn’t their first time doing this as Tim had a protective but relax hand in front of Damian.

“Tim, would you mind letting me borrow your camera to take a picture of you two? I’m sure you’d love to have a picture together.”

“Uh…sure…” Tim looked at him a little suspiciously but handed over his camera anyway. Bruce, having had to take many shots with professional cameras for cases knew how to handle nice cameras. He adjusted the settings a little and took a couple of nice pictures. Looking down at them, Damian was grinning from ear to ear while Tim gave a shy but very real smile to the camera. And oddly, the boys’ eyes crinkled quite similarly as they smiled. Huh, that was cute.

“You should totally send that one to me.” He said, completely oblivious to the disbelief and dazed joy that briefly flew through Tim’s face.

“Sure Bruce…”

Tim was overwhelmed.

Tim has been overwhelmed for quite some time now.

First it was the nicknames, then the lady who had straight up called Tim Bruce’s son and BRUCE HADN’T DENIED IT. Then it was the little advice that may or may not have changed Tim’s whole perspective and resolved his dilemma over his future and the hair ruffle...Jack never gave him hair ruffles, or call him kiddo.

And now they were entering the Wayne’s property. Instead of Drake’s.

“Uh…Bruce…this is Wayne manor.” He pointed out dumbly. Maybe Bruce was being deliberately dumb. Maybe he had forgotten Tim was in the car. It had happened before (Thanks mom).

“Oh, did you forget? I already told Miss McIlvaine I’m bringing you back after a late lunch. Alfred has prepared lunch for you so you can’t get out of it now.”

“Uh…right.” The car stopped in front of the main entrance and Bruce turned around in his seat to look at Tim and Damian, who was asleep in his car seat.

“We have a ramp for the main entrance. Do you want me to bring that out or are you good to walk?”

“I-I can walk yes.”

“Alright, then I’ll bring your wheelchair up myself.” Tim wanted to tell him not to bother but Bruce was out of the car. Tim took a deep breath as he stared at the Wayne manor. So similar yet so different from Drake manor. While the general architecture style was the same, Drake manor was built much later. But that wasn’t the difference Tim was talking about. It was the soul of the building. The liveliness, the realness. Tim watched in a bit of a stupor as Bruce easily hauled his wheelchair up the few stairs and into the house. He came back immediately to open the door for Tim and Damian. Tim got out on his own, something he was quite proud of since this car was massive and tall and Bruce carried Damian out. Damian was not happy to be woken up but the promise of lunch pacified him immediately. The kid had burned quite a lot of energy.

Bruce let Tim go up first, which kind of made Tim feel bad since he wasn’t fast enough with his cane but he gathered Bruce was scared he’d fall. Valid concern since Tim was feeling a bit shakier than earlier so he kept to his own pace and entered the house with Bruce on his toe. Though he could push himself and walk the rest of the way, he really didn’t want an accident here so he was a good boy and sat on his chair.

That’s when Alfred Pennyworth stepped into the foyer, all prim and proper in his white buttoned up shirt and immaculately pressed vest.

“Master Tim, welcome. It is good to have you here again, lad.” Alfred always called him lad and Tim liked it. He used to pick Tim up from school along with Jason on days that Miss Mac wasn’t available and he was always extremely pleasant to be around. Miss Mac liked the old butler as well since the man always helped her in a pinch.

“Thanks for having me, Alfred.” Tim shyly thanked as he rolled himself behind the old man.

They went straight into the dining room, not the big one used for parties, but the more private one.

Tim tended to avoid coming to Wayne manor if he could. Jason had spent a long time trying to convince him to come and had finally given up after 1 whole year of rejection. So Tim only had come here for Galas with his parents. And that was before everything went to shit, before his parents had forsaken him for being disabled and had pretended like he didn’t exist in front of the elites of Gotham. Yikes, bad line of thinking.

Alfred had already removed one of the chairs so he could roll his wheelchair under and unfortunately it was the seat right beside Bruce. Tim thought about getting off his wheelchair and choose a seat for himself but he didn’t want to be rude to Alfred. So he just parked himself in front of his plate and watched Bruce situate a very grumpy Damian on his highchair that helped him reach the table. Right as Bruce sat down, Alfred brought in the dishes on a tea cart and quickly put everything on the table and just as quickly left.

“Everyone else already had lunch so dig in.” Bruce said as he put a few things on Damian’s plate. The Waynes didn’t stay for lunch or dinner so this was the first time Tim was having a meal with Damian. and to his surprise Damian’s plate consisted of mostly vegetables.

“Damian doesn’t really like meat, can’t stand to put it in his mouth. And we don’t want another tantrum, he’s exhausted as is.” Bruce explained as he noticed Tim’s look.

“Oh, I was like that as well.”

“Yeah, we try to substitute with mushrooms and beans. Funnily enough, he eats those with no problem. I swear I used to cry when Alfred made anything with beans in it.”

“Oh, me too…” Tim should stop saying that. He looks at his own plate and decides to go with whatever looks best. He remembers the pasta Alfred made was to die for. He’s worked up quite the appetite and he’s gonna enjoy this feast to the fullest.

Don’t get him wrong, he loves Miss Mac’s cooking, but she doesn’t really cook like this (like she wants you to get cardiovascular disease later in life). To be fair, Alfred cooks for vigilantes and Miss Mac cooks for him, a teen who doesn’t even walk most days.

So sue him, he let out a moan when he tasted the pasta. Bruce looked…amused.

“I’d die if I ate like this every day.” He whispered between bites. Bruce let out a hearty laughter and it was the first time Tim had heard him laugh like this outside his Brucie Wayne persona. It was quite jarring.

“Dick has said the opposite of that statement quite a few times. Especially before he was leaving for a while.”

“I can see why…are Jason and Dick home?” he probably shouldn’t ask, but he is quite worried about Jason. Injuries happen all the time for the bats, those don’t really worry Tim, not when they’re not serious. But Jason’s PTSD…yeah, that does worry him.

“Jay’s probably sleeping. I’ll check on him. Dick is at his girlfriend’s. You know Barbara Gordan?”

“I’ve seen her at Galas…I haven’t talked to her.” Because let’s be honest, if anyone is going to figure out his secret identity, it’d probably be Batgirl.

“I’m sure Dick will fix that soon.” That confused Tim a little. Because why would Dick think introducing him to his girlfriend is important. Tim’s just the neighbor. Or he keeps telling himself that. He’s not quite sure what he is these days. Because operation 'keep Waynes out of my private life' has failed sometime ago and Tim’s the culprit. Or maybe it’s Damian.

As if the boy knew what he’s thinking about he looks up from his mushrooms and grins at Tim. Yup, he never stood a chance.

Chapter Text

Predictably Tim crashed hard when he got home. Which was unfortunate because he had shit to do (Read: Augury had shit to do). He tried to push through but after the third seizure he had sitting behind his laptop, Miss Mac got fed up and confiscated Tim’s laptop and ordered bed rest, she could do that because she wasn’t Tim’s caretaker anymore, she was his guardian.

So Tim spent the rest of the day wasting away in bed as he whined pointlessly to Miss Mac and at the end of the day, a message came from Bernard (his boyfriend! HIS BOYFRIEND!) asking if he feels good enough to go out tomorrow and because he was annoying, he wouldn’t tell Tim where. Tim could very easily hack into his phone and find his search history but he wasn’t that cruel so he agreed and didn't snoop. After all, this would be their first date. So he told Bernard that he’d probably be fine and squealed into his pillow.

To Tim’s absolute surprise, he woke up not by Miss Mac but by Jason Peter Todd-Wayne in the most horrific way possible.

“I heard you have a date, Timbo.” Yeah, that woke him up.

“Fuck off, how did you know.” Tim grumbled. He usually had trouble with getting out of bed and waking up but that…that was the most effective way possible to wake him up so far.

“Well of course, Berny asked me to check on you to make sure you were really okay with going out.”

“I hate you all.” He muttered under his breath and opened his eyes. The goal was to get out of bed without his brain getting overwhelmed and sending him into another seizure episode and it was harder than it seemed. He started taking deep breaths to control the dizziness and nausea that usually came with waking up. He pushed the button and the top of his mattress started rising up, this was much better than attempting to get up on his own.

“So? Are you well enough?” Jason asked as he unhelpfully sprawled on Tim’s bed.

“Probably.” Tim sighed. “Did you come here just to bother me?”

“Yes. But also I’m sorry I couldn’t come yesterday, I heard you had to go with Bruce and that’s something I don’t wish on my worst enemies.” Tim let out a laugh.

“Honestly, wasn’t that bad.” He said, letting his genuine feelings show.

To that Jason jumped up like he was electrocuted. Jason and his dramatic ass.

“What.” Jason stared at him, wide eyed.

“Yup, I kind of had a talk with Bruce about what I want to do…for collage. That really helped…”

“Really? old man gave good advice?”

“Uh huh. I also got a lot of cute photos from Dami. I think I can make a fortune from selling them to Bruce.”

“You already have a fortune! And can I see? You should totally give them to Dick in return for favors.”

“You’re evil, my camera’s on my desk.”

Turns out Jason wasn’t there just to bother Tim. Miss Mac had called him because something urgent had come up and Bernard had asked him to give Tim a lift to the secret date spot.

So instead of sweet Miss Mac helping him dress and get ready, he had Jason fucking Todd absolutely roasting his wardrobe while he tortured him instead of helping him get ready for the date. 0/10, do not recommend the experience.

They landed on a simple red sweatshirt and jeans, creativity 2/10 but according to Jason it was better than everything else he owned which were 60 percent button up shirts Miss Mac had bought him on his parents’ orders which made him look like he was going to the church and 30 percent abhorrently ugly graphic T shirts he had bought himself. (Ironically? yeah right Timmy)

Also according to Jason, he really needed a haircut, which he hadn’t gotten since his parents died (hey, there was no one there to tell him to clean up his looks anymore, Miss Mac didn’t care). Jason agreed that longer hair looked good on him, he just needed to clean it up a little. To Tim’s horror, Jason called Dick to give him a haircut right there and then and Tim didn’t think there was anything worse than more Wayne men knowing about his date. But Dick was a good sport if not a little embarrassing and beside some cooing and awing he didn’t say anything else and just gave Tim a much-needed cleaning up.

So at 4 in the afternoon, Jason helped him to his car (Which was a new model of Honda Civic, probably the most inconspicuous looking and cheapest car the Waynes owned. Jason did not like looking like a loaded duchebag on the streets.), so far Tim had an alright day. He was fatigued and a little dizzy but he hadn’t had a seizure. Which was a win in his book, seizures were exhausting. Once they got to the location, somewhere in the Diamond district, Jason helped him out and to his wheelchair, gave him a once-over and grinned.

“I’m glad you two talked Tim.” He said, probably the first non-sarcastic comment he said all day.

“Me too…”

“But you’re still terrified?” Jason gave him a weirdly sad smile.

“I don’t think I’ll ever not be terrified Jay.” Tim confessed and Jason sighed.

“One day Timmy…now go enjoy your date with your dork boyfriend. I’ll be picking you up when you’re done.”

“Thanks Jay, you didn’t have to.”

“Well, that’s debatable. Plus I owed you one for putting up with my dad yesterday." 'and taking my DNA without permission?' Tim didn't ask.

"Now get going. Bernard’s been texting me nonstop asking where we are.”

“Alright, later Jay.” He said as he rolled towards the café. It was a board game café, newly opened and surprisingly accessible. Tim wondered where Bernard had found this place. When he entered Bernard immediately jumped out of his spot and waved him over. He was wearing a nice blazer and had styled his hair a little differently. He looked extremely cute.

“Tim!” he called, grinning as Tim approached their table. He got up and pulled Tim in a tight hug and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek before pulling back and giving him a good look.

“You got a haircut!” Bernard gasped.

“Jay called his brother and he gave me cut…”

“Wow, Dick fucking Grayson gave you a haircut? I doubt many people can say that.” Bernard laughed as he sat down, Tim got himself parked in front of him. The chair had already been moved for him.

“Hey, where did you find this place?” Tim asked, giving the place a much closer look. He noticed details he hadn’t noticed before. The menu had brail, the restroom had a button to open the door and Tactile paving for the blind that showed the route for the exit and the bathroom and countless other details. Like the option to order on their site so you didn’t have to talk, even their games were accessible to everyone. Tim was gobsmacked.

Bernard blushed up to his ears. “Well, I searched for accessible coffeeshop in Gotham and came across ads for this place. Apparently, the owner is actually disabled herself and didn’t like how there was no fun coffeeshops for disabled people in Gotham so she made one and she only hires disabled folk too!”

“Wow, this place is so cool.” Tim muttered as he eyed the board games. He was a big fan of them, memory games were basically rigged for him (and boring) but the luck-based ones were fun and he didn’t always win. The place even threw chess tournaments which was surprisingly enticing Tim to participate. Bernard gave him a victorious smile, clearly proud of himself for the find.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Oh! I can have coffee. Miss Mac wouldn’t know.”

“Tim, don’t have coffee. You’re already insomniac.” Bernard rolled his eyes and let Tim get a coffee flavored milkshake instead of the heart-palpation-ready-to-happen drink Tim wanted.

So they ordered their drink and Bernard let Tim choose a game for them to play. Tim chose Snakes and ladders for their first game, wanting something entirely luck-based. Bernard teased him for his choice but once they started playing, he forgot all about it, busy swearing and taunting Tim in turn.

“Oh, so this is why you came in yesterday to check out the place.” The young girl who had brought their drinks said, grinning knowingly at Bernard. Bernard looked like a dear caught in headlight. Tim raised an eyebrow at him.

“You came to check if the place was actually accessible, didn’t you?” Tim teased, giving a shit eating grin at his boyfriend (HIS BOYFRIEND).

“Hey! You can never be too sure with ads and reviews.” Bernard defended himself.

“Aw, you two are cute. I’ll bring you a cookie, on the house.”  Before Tim could say anything, the girl had disappeared and reappeared with two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

“You didn’t have to…” Bernard mumbled, still embarrassed. Tim just gave the girl a smile, noticed the girl's hearing aid and instead signed a thank you to her. She brightened up and gave an even sweeter smile to Tim and left.

“You know sign language?” Bernard asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Seemed like a waste not to learn it. I’m not great at signing because I don’t practice but I can understand it.”

“Oh you and your unfairly big brain.”

“I’ve heard it’s one of my charms.”

“Shut up roll the dice.”

By the time they were ready for their bill, they had tried at least 8 games and ordered dinner as well. As promised Jason was on his way to pick them up.

“Thanks Ber, this was really fun. I’m glad I was well enough to come.” Tim said, giving Ber a genuine smile as he reached to squeeze his hand.

“Me too, glad you enjoyed it. We should totally come again.”

“Yeah…I was thinking about participating in that chess tournament…” He said bashfully.

“Ooh, that is a great idea. Destroy everyone in chess!”

“Hey, who says I can even win?”

“Oh shut up mister I learned an entire language for funsies. You should sign up right now.”

“Did I hear about someone wanting to sign up for our chess tournament?” It wasn’t the girl from before who had brought over their cheque. Tim watched as the lady, in her early 30s probably put down their bill on the table. She walked with a cane and had a cute FND pin on her apron. Tim had noticed a few of the staff wearing different pins for different disabilities and pride flags.

“Oh, I have FND as well.” Tim said, maybe a little too excitedly. The woman gave him an amused look and nodded. “Your boyfriend mentioned yesterday. We had a little chat. I’m the owner of this place, nice to meet you.” She offered him a handshake; he shook her hand and gave Bernard another look. He was blushing again. Then the lady suddenly squinted.

“Hey, I know you. You’re the kiddo who donated a shit ton of money to FND research and a lot of medical supplies a month or two ago. Everyone from the community was talking about you for a while. One of my friends finally got a custom wheelchair thanks to you.”

“There’s a community?” Tim had completely missed the point of her words.

“Of course there is kiddo and you’re a celebrity, they’ll love you. Here, this is my page. You can find things out here. You can message me if you had any questions.” Tim accepted the card from her, his head was swimming a little.

“Thanks…” Tim suddenly felt really shy. These people knew about his donations? Had talked about it? He had made sure there were no articles, not because he didn’t want to make it known but because it was right after his parents’ death and it seemed a little too much like a fuck you to them. Because it was a fuck you to them but that’s beside the point. But apparently the people in the community knew, probably because they were in touch with the research team and had gotten the equipment themselves.

“And you should totally come to the chess games. I’ll put your name down, okay?”

“Oh, okay. It’s Tim Drake.”

“Alright Tim, see you around, okay?” she gave him wink and took the bills back. Bernard had apparently paid in the time he was having a mini crisis.

“Ready to go?” he asked. Tim nodded, not trusting himself to talk.

“I didn’t see any articles about donations.” Bernard pointed out as they stepped out of the café.

“Yeah, thought the tabloids might have some uh ‘speculations’ about that.” Tim mumbled. Mainly about why the donations were done suspiciously right after his parents' death.

“It’s not speculations if it’s true.” Bernard pointed out.

“Yeah but it’s bad for the company’s image and I want to work there someday so actively sabotaging their stocks isn’t really a good strategy.” Tim reasoned, even if back then he wasn’t really sure if he wanted to have anything to do with Drake Industries in the future.

“You want to work in DI? Since when?” Bernard stopped in his tracks and looked at him like he had lost his mind.

“Since I had a chat with Bruce Wayne yesterday…you know I didn’t know if I want to study biomedical engineering or not, right?” Bernard nodded. Tim took a deep breath.

“The problem wasn’t that I wasn’t sure if I liked it or wanted to study it. It was that I didn’t want to do what my parents probably wanted me to do. But I really want to pursue biomedical engineering and I can get a job at the R&D department in DI if I wanted. And for someone like me…well I probably don’t get that many options like this where I have the power to implement the changes I want. Bruce said that I should do what I like and I’ll probably forget about what they wanted from me and their expectations…and I could make something out of things they ruined for me, it’s poetic justice isn’t it?” Tim wringed his hands together, not sure what Bernard’s reaction was going to be like.

“When you put it like that…I guess it does make sense. And you could do a lot of good.”

“Right?” Tim looked up, glad Bernard had seen his point.

“Yeah, you’re still taking the gap year though, right?”

“Yup, not in a hurry. Plus I still don’t know if I want to leave Gotham or not.” Tim saw Bernard’s whole body releasing tension.

“I’m not…I chose GU’s culinary school.”

“You did?” Tim looked up in shock. He had really avoided thinking about what he’d do if Bernard had chosen another city.

“Yeah…I decided even if I don’t want to see my parents again after graduation, I still have so much here. And don’t you know? Gotham is cursed. No one ever leaves.” Tim chuckled, that was true.

“Then guess I’ll be seeing you around Mr. Dowd.”

“Quit your weird flirting dorks, or I won’t give you a ride.” Jason appeared out of no where and Tim is proud to say he didn’t scream, Bernard could not say the same.

Chapter Text

Tim could have skipped the Gala. No one was there to make him go. But the invitation had come and someone from DI’s public relation’s office had called him, practically begging him to go. The new interim CEO wasn’t available to go to the charity gala and they desperately wanted a representative and Tim was a good choice because he was basically free advertisement for their new wheelchairs. That's not what the lady said but Tim wasn't an idiot, he read between the lines. Tim wanted to deny them at first but after Jason had mentioned they’d be there as well, he saw no harm in it.

Well he saw harm in it now.

The beginning of the Gala was fine. Well, fine in the sense that it was the usual. He got unimaginably ableist comments from stupid rich elites and pitying looks all around. But Tim had survived Gotham Academy. This was nothing. Also he could forgive and forget all of that because Damian was there, in a cute short sleeved white button up and short slacks with the cutest clip on bowtie on earth. Clearly Alfred had dressed him.

In an attempt to escape the older ladies pinching his cheeks Damian had perched himself on Tim’s lap and suddenly no older lady came close. This kid was a genius. All of that had been fine. He managed to spend most of his time hanging out with Jason (who hated these functions as Richie Grayson and Brucie Wayne acted like lunatics) and Damian and not think about everyone’s stares. But then the Riddler had crashed the party. And it made no sense. Because after getting all of their valuables, he hadn’t left. He had taken Tim as a hostage instead and had waited until Batwoman and Batgirl had showed up to take him down. It didn’t make any sense. That was what was bothering Tim.

And being threatened at gun point wasn’t too bad. Or should he say, wasn’t really new. But all that happening in front of the Waynes…and then the wait after for the police to get his statement and the EMTs making a big deal over his small, very normal seizure as they were checking over him for injuries. Ugh. He did not want to get hospitalized. And all of this stank of a set up. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, because he didn’t have to be a genius to know this was some sort of distraction to keep the Bats occupied.

So he looked over at Bruce Wayne who was kind of hovering over him. Dick had already taken Damian home after giving his statement, but Jason and Bruce had stayed, for him.

“Please Bruce. Can I just go home? I just want to rest.” He looked at the man, widening his eyes and looking like the picture of misery. It worked like a charm, he could see Bruce’s jaw set as he walked beside him, wrapping a hand around Tim’s shoulder and pulling him closer. Don’t think about it Tim, this is just an act.

“Of course Tim, I’m sure the ER can’t find a cure for FND tonight.” He glared at the EMT, he gave Bruce an embarrassed look and let Tim go. Tim let out a sigh and slumped in his wheelchair.

“Let’s get you home. Miss Mac has been messaging me nonstop, she’s really worried.” Jason said, crouching in front of him to get a better look at him.

“Yeah…” Tim could feel the fainting coming but he didn’t have the energy to warn them before he leaned forward and passed out right on Jason’s shoulder.

When he came to, he was already in the car with Bruce behind the wheel and Jason beside him, his head was resting on his shoulder.

“Ugh.” He grumbled.

“You back to the land of living?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re lucky the EMT didn’t see you faint.”

“Hmm.”

“Go to sleep. We got you.” And Tim for once in his life, listened.

Tim woke up in his own bed the next day. He didn’t remember how he got here and he hoped to every deity out there that Bruce fucking Wayne hadn’t princess carried him inside. He’d never live that down.

It took a good 5 minutes for his brain to be able to function enough to ring for Miss Mac. She barreled in his room and wasted no time to attack Tim with a bearhug. That’s when Tim noticed it was 5 in the morning and the poor woman had been asleep.

“Tim dear, are you okay?” he wasn’t expecting her to pull him in a hug like that. Huh, Guess she really was worried about him. Tim didn’t know why he got surprised whenever someone genuinely get worried about him. Maybe it was because he remembers as his parents stared at him, annoyed, whenever he dropped down on the floor and had violent seizures. Who’s to say. But it always warmed something up in him.

“I’m alright…not like…I mean nothing happened last night. It was just…exhausting.” He mumbled.

“I was so worried when the news said the gala was attacked…And I wasn’t even home! Then the news said you were being held hostage…and I just…if something happened to you…” She sniffled, still not letting him go.

“I’m sorry…they got my phone…I think Mr. Wayne got my stuff…”

“Hush. I know. Jason answered my messages as soon as you got out and said you couldn’t really answer your phone but you were alright. Thank god for those two, I wouldn’t know what to do if they weren’t there. The ambulance might have taken you to the hospital for no reason!”

“Yeah…” Tim sighed. He could feel his eyes drooping. He could swear there was something important he was missing but he couldn’t think. So Miss Mac finally let him go but she didn’t leave. Tim could feel her hand stroking his hair as he fell unconscious again.

Bernard came over, he was a little too out of it but it was still morning (a reasonable hour of the morning probably) since whenever he woke up he was still there Tim guessed he had camped out on his bed with him and wouldn’t go. He also woke up to Dick and Jason bickering over his head, Ives dropping by because he was also worried and weirdest of them all, Bruce had come.

He finally managed to fully wake up at 2 PM and enjoyed lunch with a very weird company of his boyfriend, his friend and three stubborn Wayne men, one of which was his father. He kept having absent seizures and fainting episodes so he missed a lot of what was said and done. But something kept nagging at him and his brain wasn’t working enough to let him understand what. It was frustrating and annoying and he knew when his brain started working again, he’d hate himself. But for now, he just let everyone fuss over him, cuddle with him and let him rest.

He woke up in the middle of the night with a gasp, his laptop was missing.

The distraction was for him, not the bats.

He’s fucked.

Chapter Text

Tim was panicking. But he couldn’t panic, because if he panicked, his brain would throw a fit, and then his body would stop working and then he wouldn’t be able to freak out. Because this, this was his worst nightmare.

Someone had broken into his house to get his laptop specifically. And that…that was horrifying. Someone might know he’s Augury. And it wasn’t even that someone had broken in, no! It probably started with DI asking him to go to that damn gala, and probably hiring Nygma for the show, because Riddler had obviously not planned for that attack. It was last minute. Because he hadn’t sent his RSVP until the last possible second. Fuck. Someone had done all that, just to break in and get his laptop and keep him occupied so he wouldn’t do something immediately. This was a catastrophe.

Of course Tim had contingency plans for this. He always had. Even if someone managed to break into his laptop, which he didn’t know anyone who could, he could still trigger a self-annihilation and erase everything. A loss, but better than the alternative. And he had some backups on the Batcomputer (they didn’t know about it, okay? But he had fortified their security and watchtower’s security in return) so he could do that. The problem was the program wasn’t working. Meaning someone had gotten into his files and they had disabled his fail-safe mechanism.

See, this was worth panicking for. This was the only thing worth panicking for in Tim’s 17 (in 8 days) years of life. He was thoroughly and royally screwed and the worst part?

He couldn’t even tell anyone about it.

Because if the Bats found out that he was Augury all this time? That he’d known about them, that he had hidden everything from them? Yikes. Tim was desperate but not that desperate. He could probably manage to do something, yeah. He just needed to get his backup super laptop (not any old laptop could manage his programs okay, he’d built that masterpiece himself.) and thank fuck he was smart enough to build two of them.

With shaky legs he manages to get himself on his wheelchair, it was 4 in the morning so he doubts Miss Mac wakes up but he’s extra silent as he makes his way to his office. It’s not really an office, just the place he uses to mess around with gadgets and hardware and sometimes uses to do Augury work when Miss Mac is too hover-y and curious about what he does. He’s hauling the laptop out when he realizes his mistake.

If they’ve broken in once…what stops them from doing it again?

The hand that engulfs his mouth and presses the needle to his neck isn’t a surprise. He just hopes they leave Miss Mac alone.

Chapter Text

Generally speaking, waking up was hard for Tim.

Waking up after being drugged while he was sitting on a chair with his hands bound behind his back (rather pathetically, were they even trying?) was probably the hardest thing in the world for Tim.

Then the headache that set in immediately from being drugged (he knows, he’s been kidnapped a lot) and he felt the heaviness and fatigue enveloping him. He took a deep breath then another. Okay he spent a few minutes taking deep breaths to not throw up the minute he opens his eyes. That’s when he remembered this wasn’t a normal kidnapping and he let out a gasp as he jolted wide awake. Fuck. They knew.

“Awake at last?” a deep and accented voice rang out. Tim’s vision was unhelpfully full with black spots that were persisting; after blinking for a good few minutes, he finally managed to somewhat make out his surroundings, he was in a warehouse probably by the docks with how horrific the smell was (he could count the number of times he was kidnapped and hadn’t woken up in an abandoned warehouse on a single hand and the number was zero). Then a man came out of the shadows and Tim held his breath in shock. This wasn’t some two-bit thug, or even a Gotham villain (he almost wished it was). No, this was much worse.

Because Tim had read through enough files on the Batcomputer to know exactly who this man was. The man that had the same eyes as his baby brother, the demon’s head himself, Ra’s Al Ghul.

WHAT THE FUCK DOES RA’S AL GHUL WANT WITH HIM??

His head was spinning even worse and throwing up was becoming more of a necessity than an option.

He was sure he was gaping. “Wha…t the fuck…” he gasped out as he looked around the warehouse. Either they were alone or there were ninjas hiding everywhere and neither seemed good. Tim didn’t want to be alone in an abandoned warehouse with an 800 something year old megalomaniac. Tim wanted to be in his bed, being nagged by Miss Mac for not resting or something.

“Now, imagine my surprise when I find a defective cripple like you, is responsible for the disappearance of my heir.” Ra’s gave a truly disgusting smile as he walked around Tim, Tim flinched forward when his hands touched his shoulder, trying to get away and failing.

“How…” is all he can let out. He was careful, there was no way someone could link him to Augury. No one even knew about Augury helping the Bats so directly. Let alone the fact that he had a hand in retrieving Damian.

“You think you can fool me? I sent my men after my grandson and imagine my surprise when I see the Detective has another spawn, living a house away. I thought surly he’s casted you aside as a defect. But he doesn’t even know, does he? Not about that, not about your little side hustle. Some detective he is. So I thought how interesting.” Ra’s’ hand coiled around his chin and pulled his had to the side, making Tim look at him directly. Tim could feel the man’s breath on his face, could see (albeit not clearly) the ominous gleam in them man’s eyes.

“There’s no way any one of your men could get in my files.” Tim spit out.

“Oh, for that I was forced to outsource. You are familiar with Mister Noah Kuttler, aren’t you?”

“Calculator?” he was supposed to be in jail. But Tim supposed if anyone could break into his laptop and disable his fail-safe measures it’d be him. If only he had prepared.

“I still don’t get it, how did you even link me to Augury?” Tim frowned.

“Call it an educated guess. You don’t expect me to believe Batman’s spawn could be anything but extraordinary even if they are an invalid. And with the way you look at Damian…I had my men stalk you for a while and after I determined your intelligence, I had them retrieve your laptop. When we couldn’t break in, I was then sure that it had been indeed you, behind the cyber attack on our servers.” Oops? Tim had forgotten he had mangled up the LoA servers to help Batman get Damian home.

“We then returned your device and you didn’t suspect a thing.” They had taken his laptop twice?? He should really up his security. That is if he survives tonight.

“Then it was the matter of planning, setting Joker free as a distraction to free Calculator and enlisting his help, then it was getting you to that gala along with the meddling Bats and making sure you’d be incapacitated the next day. I must say, your weak body made everything very easy. We didn’t even have to poison you.” Great, at least his FND dissuaded them from poisoning him to keep him out of the loop.

“All that potential, that mind, wasted on a weakling, a defect, a cripple.”

“Hey man, whatever insult you say, my parents have said worse, so stop.” Tim couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Even Gotham villains weren’t this ableist. Predictably he received a backhand for that. Gosh villains could be so predictable. 

“Good, you have a mouth on you.” The man, the literal supervillain chuckles. “To think you’ve been manipulating the bats for all these years. A literal child. You truly are his son. And I want to give you a chance to be more than that, more than he ever could be.”

“What? Aren’t you…aren’t you here to kill me? How dare you take my grandson or whatever?” Tim swallowed. He’d expected the wrath but this? Somehow this was worse. He had attracted the attention of a mad man. Worse, an immortal mad man.

“Kill you? You’d think I’d go through all this trouble to have you here just to kill you? Now that would be a waste and I’m not one to ignore your unlimited potential.”

“You just said I’m a defect.” Tim argued. What was wrong with him, did he want Ra's to kill him? He wasn't this stupid, was he?

“That, can be fixed.” Tim let out a laugh of disbelief.

“There is no cure for what I have.”

“Oh, I assumed in your infinite wisdom you had stumbled upon information about the Lazarus pit, was I wrong?”

Tim’s laugh froze up on his face.

“You want to dip me in the Lazarus pit? I thought you liked me for my mind? Wouldn’t that make me insane?” Tim cocked his head to the side, squinting at the man.

“Do I look insane to you?”

“Yes.” Tim answered in a deadpan voice. Ra’s gave him a look that could only be described as the stink eye.  

“You were literally planning on force-growing your 4-year-old grandson so you could indwell his body and live forever.”

“So you decided to play the hero and save him?” That, for some reason, was the tipping point. Tim's blood boiled.

“HE’S MY BROTHER YOU PSYCHOPATH.” He screamed.

“No, you had just lost your family and were desperate for more, face it, Timothy.” Tim physically recoiled.

“If I wanted a family, I would have gone next door! Family isn’t what I want and my parent’s death is the best thing that has happened to me! Go and psycho-analyze yourself dipshit. I saved Damian because you were planning on experimenting on him! And I will rather die than sit by and let you do that to my brother, you sick son of a bitch.” Tim really should have seen the backhand coming this time as well. He was a little preoccupied screaming.

“You have clearly gotten your father’s misguided moral compass, that is a shame. Nothing I cannot fix.”

“I don’t need fixing. I’m fine the way I am. I’d rather die than be someone you consider perfect.” He spat out.

“I wonder if you’ll say all that in front of the Bats you so desperately try and protect.”

“You–” and the bats dropped down from the rafters.

Tim didn’t know whether to be relieved, or wonder how long had they been there listening.

Chapter Text

Miss Mac had come to them early in the morning, ringing and banging on the door relentlessly. Bruce thought…well he thought Tim might have…

But no, between her cries and pleas he learned that Tim was missing and since he hadn’t taken anything (mobility aid, money, phone) Miss Mac was sure he’d been kidnapped. Now why was she here instead of the police?

“I called the police but Tim told me if our house was broken into and he wasn’t home, I should come here as soon as possible.” This confused everyone but there wasn’t time to question anything. Bruce left Miss Mac to Alfred as everyone rushed downstairs. Bruce already calling Kate and Barbara and debating whether to call Selina as well. They haven’t…talked since Damian had showed up. Bruce really didn’t know how to tell her about…about what Talia had done. Bruce snapped himself out of his thoughts. There wasn’t time for that.

He pulled up the CCTV footage from around the manor, a few of them faced the Drake manor, thankfully. He ran them on 2x speed, hoping to catch something, anything.

“Anything? he couldn’t have vanished into thin air.” Jason hissed, clearly stressed. He had suited up immediately, wanting to go out as fast as possible.

“There!” Dick yelled. Seeing something Bruce had missed no doubt. Bruce rewound the video, this time normal speed. His eyes immediately finding what Dick had pointed out. It was a shadow that had moved.

“FUCK.” Jason shouted, his eyes wide with fear. Because those weren’t some thugs looking to kidnap Tim, no. Those were assassins, only League of Assassins moved like that…like Batman.

“What could they want from Tim?” Dick asked, frazzled and panicked.

“Is it because he’s close to us? Close to Damian? Why didn’t we think about putting more security for him?” Jason asked the questions that were swimming in Bruce’s head. They had put a civilian boy in danger. A boy that didn’t even have the luxury of a healthy body to help him escape.

“We need to find him. The league wouldn’t have kidnapped him if they didn’t want to be found. This is some sort of trap. Which means we can find him. I just need some time.”

“Think we can ask Augury?” Dick asked, hopefully. Bruce didn’t want to shut his idea down but he had little hope that Augury would be available this time of day.

“I’ll ask, we can hope they respond. Now, bring Barbara and Kate up to date and help me go through the surveillance footage. I think they want to be seen but we must hurry.”

They searched for two hours, that’s when finally, Barbara managed to spot the exact moment two men in dark robes dragged an unconscious Tim into a warehouse.

“It’s always a warehouse.” Jason had grumbled.

They were out of the cave and en route in minutes. Racing towards the docks in Batmobile and their motorcycles.

Things seemed fishier when they had arrived at the place, as discreetly as they could, and found the place without any visible guards. What were they planning to do? Bruce wondered if he had made a mistake, leaving the manor defenseless. Well not really. He wasn’t that stupid, he had called Clark and asked him to keep an ear out and get there if anything sounded off to him. No matter how discreet the league’s assassins were, they couldn’t conceal their heartbeats.

They agreed to split up, Barbara and Kate will make sure there aren’t any assassins lurking around and after handling that, they can reconvene with the rest. Bruce figured getting inside the warehouse silently was their best option and so they had moved inside from the second floor and when Bruce took a look down, he understood why no one was outside guarding. Because there simply was no need.

Ra’s Al Ghul was there, Tim’s face in his hand as he leaned towards Tim’s face. Not good. And that’s when their voices started registering in Bruce’s mind. To his shock, it was Tim, shouting at the top of his lungs at Ra’s.

“If I wanted a family, I would have gone next door! Family isn’t what I want and my parent’s death is the best thing that has happened to me! Go and psycho-analyze yourself dipshit. I saved Damian because you were planning on experimenting on him!” Bruce’s breath caught in his throat. What. He looked up to see Jason’s blanched face and Dick’s confused expression. Tim went on.

“And I will rather die than sit by and let you do that to my brother, you sick son of a bitch.” Bruce jolted when Ra’s’ hand made contact with Tim’s cheeks. The boy’s entire body shook from the weight of it but he didn’t stop glaring at Ra’s for a moment.

“You have clearly gotten your father’s misguided moral compass, that is a shame. Nothing I cannot fix.” What. Tim had called Damian his brother. Ra’s didn’t know Jack Drake. Jack Drake wasn’t worth knowing, he didn’t even have a moral compass to inherit. Then…

“I don’t need fixing. I’m fine the way I am. I’d rather die than be someone you consider perfect.” Tim’s voice shook but his resolve didn’t waver. Bruce couldn’t watch this anymore.

“I wonder if you’ll say all that in front of the Bats you so desperately try and protect.”

“You–” Bruce dropped down from the rafter he was perched on. Everyone else followed.

“Let the boy go Ra’s!” he growled, deciding to compartmentalize. He needed to get Tim away from Ra’s and that was all that mattered. 

“Oh, Detective. You are finally here. Good, better late than never. For a minute I was worried you wouldn’t care enough to show up.”

“Mother f-” Jason’s swearing was cut off by Tim’s hitched breath. Oh, Tim really wasn’t sure if they would show up. Riddler’s words echoed in his mind, how he had let Tim go because no one answered his ransom calls.

“Ra’s, the boy is a civilian. Let him go.” Bruce demanded, his voice stony and hard. Ra’s smirked and let out an amused huff.

“And that is what he wants you to believe. Isn’t that right Timothy?” Bruce’s eyes finally landed on Tim. He looked rough, his whole body was shaking now that the adrenaline of his shouting match with Ra’s had worn off and his cheek was ready to bruise. But worst of all, Tim seemed scared. Not of Ra’s Al Ghul. But of Bruce.

Why?

Ra’s turned to look at Tim again, even though Tim seemed only transfixed on him.

“Because really, the title of Detective should go to you, shouldn’t it, Timothy? You’re behind Batman’s every win, you’re his savior, his little guardian angel.” Tim’s eyes were shining with unshed tears and he still wasn’t looking at Ra’s. Those desperate eyes were still stuck on him.

“Augury.” Bruce muttered in awe, even though he was sure everyone already had guessed it.

The person who had been helping them, the person who knew their identities while they knew nothing of him, the person who had helped saved Barbara and Jason from the Joker, helped him find Damian, his child. It had always been the boy next door, living in their plain sight. The kid with way too much time on his hands, who couldn’t work consistently because his body didn’t allow him, who had helped him at every turn. Who was the most brilliant mind Bruce had ever encountered. It was Tim. And looking right at those eyes, at that identical shade of blue, at the slope of his nose and the purse of his lips. He could see it clear as day.

Because Tim was his.

“And I must say, like father, like son.”

Chapter Text

This all was his worst nightmare.

He could have dealt with it (not physically but mentally) if it was just Ra’s. He could have struck a deal with Ra’s, dissuade him from whatever he wanted from Tim, etc.

He could do nothing about this. Nothing but watch. Watch as it all dawned on them. As the penny finally dropped. It was all so clearly visible on the usually stoic face of Batman. All he could do was watch as he finally put the pieces together. Way before Ra’s had finished his evil monologue. He saw the way Dick’s brows went up. The way Jason tensed up, clearly more confused than everyone else. Because he’s the one who suspected first and was proven wrong.

“But I checked his DNA…” Jason finally let out. Dick looked at his brother, giving him the confused look instead.

“What?” Dick asked, Bruce didn’t even seem to register what they were saying behind him.

“I thought…well…I checked his DNA against Bruce. It wasn’t a match.” Ra’s raised an eyebrow at that and his eyes dancing with amusement.

“Timothy, you’d like to fill them in? They deserve to know all about the lies you’ve been spinning all these years. All the times you’ve purposefully made them turn a blind eye on you. Come on, say it.” another slap, this time Tim felt it. Felt the sting, the humiliation and shame.

“I changed the DNA results.” Tim muttered.

“Really, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.” Ra’s’ hand went behind Tim’s head and clutched his hair as he violently snapped his head back, bearing his neck. Tim let out a shout which quickly died in his throat as he felt something sharp start to press right above his Addam’s apple. As Tim swallowed, he could feel the sword nicking his skin.

“Ra’s!” Bruce roared.

“TIM!” Jason cried.

“I-I-I…I thought you didn’t want to kill me.” Tim finally let out. He could feel his tears sliding down, right under his ears. He tried to blink them back but everything was blurry and stilted. He was afraid. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want Ra’s to dip him in the Lazarus pit and take the one thing he likes about himself, his mind. He wanted to go home and pretend none of this had happened.

“I don’t, but injuring you is no concern of mine. I am going to fix you anyway. And they’re gonna let me.” Ra’s reasoned and Tim shuddered.

“I don’t…I don’t need fixing…” he croaked, he wasn’t breathing right. He could tell. He wasn’t doing anything right.

“Poor thing, clearly you’ve been brainwashed. Let to believe that accepting this is better than wanting power, wanting more.” That-

That snapped Tim out of his panic. The anger. The memories of all those times his parents looked at him like he was less than vermin. Like he didn’t deserve to live. And this guy thought everyone had coddled Tim, and let him peacefully accept the realities of his body and the limitations it brought?

Suddenly he could see again, he could feel his body. The pain, the exhaustion and the absolute rage coursing through his body. He’s been pulling himself out of the ropes all this time and no one had even bothered to tie up his legs. Did they think he was paralyzed? Tim was furious. These idiots had taken the time to unravel his secret identity, spill his most sacred secret, spent weeks planning the perfect kidnapping. But they hadn’t spent five minutes researching FND?

“Fuck. you. All my fucking life I’ve been told I’m not enough and you think you’ve invented ableism?” Tim spit out. He looked to his right; Bruce was ready to pounce. Good.

 He took a deep breath, raised his leg and kicked it right up at Ra’s’ balls. He felt the impact. Which was gross and he just knew his brain will never let him forget it but he didn’t have time to feel gross. He threw himself away from the chair, hoping his brain could put step in front of step and ducked the exact minute Bruce fucking Wayne body slammed an 800-year-old walking fossil.

If Jason wasn’t so mortified and deathly scared of what Ra’s was going to do with Tim, he’d have enjoyed this moment. He might have even laughed. But when Timothy Jackson Drake kicks Ra’s Al Ghul in the balls and throws himself towards you, you dive forward and catch him before he falls down on the ground.

“I got you.” He mutters, not sure if he’s reassuring himself or Timmy. His body works on auto-pilot as he half-drags half-carries Tim away from the fight. The fight that has now broken loose, with Dick, Kate and Babs joining in. He’s got more important things to do than kick Ra’s’ ass. (Hey, that rhymed)

“Tim?” he calls as he tries to maneuver the boy’s body, that is now shaking like a leaf, in a more manageable position. Tim doesn’t respond. Jason can’t tell if he’s having seizures, disassociated or just in shock. He pulls the boy in a hug and then lifts him up in a bridal carry and runs right outside, hoping Barbara and Kate had cleaned up the place of remaining assassins.

“ALFRED! The Batmobile!” He shouts desperately in the comm-line.

“Already on it, lad.” The man’s reassuring voice comes right as the Batmobile makes a turn and become visible. Jason lets out a sigh of relief and waits for the car to stop. He opens the passenger seat and drops Tim right on it and buckles him in. suddenly Tim’s shaky hands find the strap to his Red Robin suit and pull weakly. Jason looks up at Tim’s eyes, wide open and so, so scared. He shouldn’t look this scared.

“M…my laptop. Ra’s gave it to Calculator. It has everything on it. We have to get it back Jay.” Tim’s voice rang with urgency. At first Jason couldn’t fathom how this could be urgent but things dawned on him. Tim was Augury. Augury had everything on them. Augury had everything and everyone on this fucking city.

“Shit, okay…I’m gonna get you home and go look for it alright?”

“No, you can’t find it. I’ll…I can do it. Get me to the cave.” Tim begged. Jason wanted to protest. Say that Tim could barely move right now but he was right and this was maybe even more dire than Ra’s being back there fighting with his family. So Jason nodded and quickly slid to the other side of the car.

“Alright Timbo, buckle in. we’re gonna break so many traffic laws.”

Jason was sure Tim had at least two absent seizures on the way over but somehow when they got inside the cave Tim was lucid, if not still shaky, way better than Jason expected. He wondered if Tim was forcing himself just to think right now. The car came to a stop and Jason didn’t waste time. He got up and out, opened Tim’s door and scooped the kid out and ran towards the Batcomputer. He noticed Alfred was talking in the comm, probably to everyone else but he didn’t have the time to ask. He plopped Tim on one of the swivel chairs and pushed him right under the desk.

“I have the riskier files on here…er. I don’t keep them on my own computer. But still there is so much info on there and I’m not sure how much of them Calculator has managed to decrypt.” Tim’s hands started flying on the keyboard and that’s when it kind of sank in again. Tim was Augury.

Tim was the one who saved his life.

He owed it all to him. (But he’s also lied to him, so many times.)

Why? Why did Tim hate being their family so much? Why go so far?

“Tell me what to do Tim.” He pleaded, pushing everything else aside. There wasn't time for that.

“Go into town. I’ll send you the coordinates as soon as possible. We can’t waste time. And don’t give Kuttler to the police. Bruce’ll probably have to ask Martian manhunter to wipe his memory.”

“Alright, got it.” And with one last look at Tim, Jason ran out.

Alfred hurried (He didn’t run, that was too undignified) towards him when his conversation was over with Bruce.

“Master Tim, are you alright?” The old butler’s eyes ran over his face, no doubt cataloguing everything and stopped at Tim’s throat.

“Fine…mostly. We need to find Calculator.” He said, rushing through every tracking program he had set up for his devices on Batcomputer. He always snickered a little to himself when he remembered Bruce had always had the tools to find him, he just didn’t know where they were.

“Master Bruce informed us that Ra’s has retreated, holding off all four of them is hard even for a man in his caliber.” Alfred said, and Tim finally took a deep breath.

“No one’s injured?” he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking.

“No lad, everyone is fine. And you will need a full check up after you’re done finding Calculator. Can you let me sanitize your throat in the meantime?”

“Alright.” He knew the minute the threat was gone his body was crashing hard. He didn’t know how it already hadn’t but he was going to count it as a win and move on.

He had dozens of ways to track down his laptop but Kuttler had already found most of them. He just hoped he hadn’t gotten to all of them. Alfred’s warm hands touched his neck, gently wiping the blood down and sanitizing it before wrapping it up. Tim tried not to lean into the touch. He was quite touch-starved as a child and years of getting hugs from Miss Mac had never fixed his habit of leaning into touches.

Finally something pinged. Tim blew out a breath with the force of a typhoon.

“Tell Jason he’s in Crime Alley. I’ll send him the coordinates.” He told Alfred and as soon as his finger pressed enter and he leaned back on the chair, the sudden rush of relief worked against him as his vision blurred and his breath hitched.

“Down…” he mumbled before everything went dark. He just hoped Alfred managed to help him to the ground in time. He did not want to add another injury to his already battered body.

“I got you lad, rest.” He heard before he lost control of his body. Good.

Chapter Text

When Jason requested backup for the clean-up with Kuttler, Bruce just hoped someone else would volunteer because he couldn’t fathom delaying going back any further. He might actually die if he doesn’t go back home and see Tim. Thankfully, Barbara and Dick took one look at him and volunteered to help Jason. Bruce let out a sigh of relief as he made his way to Redbird, Jason’s motorcycle. He tried not to think how silly he looked, riding the gleaming red bike.

He pulled into the driveway, hopped down from the motorcycle and ran right to the med bay.

“How is he?” He asked, hurrying beside Tim’s bedside.

“Passed out from exhaustion after he became lucid post seizure.” Alfred answered, his voice calm but wary. Bruce let out the breath he’d been holding, he stepped closer to observe the boy, his boy apparently. He didn’t…he didn’t remember…

“Is it true?” Alfred’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Probably…he said he changed the results when Jason ran the test…and besides…” he looked at the boy as if it was enough of explanation. How had he not seen it before? That was his mother’s nose, his father’s eyebrows. Everything about him had always been so familiar and he had chucked it up to them probably being relatives. Because Jack also shared some of those qualities. Why didn’t he ever think…

“No point beating yourself up about it my boy. He clearly never wanted us to know…though I can’t imagine the reason being anything nice.”

“No…maybe he thought I’d be just as bad as Jack and Janet?” The thought choked him up. To think he’d ever be so cruel to his own child. So dismissive. Jason used to beg him to get emergency custody of Tim. But Miss Mac had always been there for the boy and Bruce couldn’t in good conscious do something Tim didn’t want. But now? Knowing that all of that was preventable if only he’d actually been the detective he claims to be. The title of Detective should go to you, shouldn’t it, Timothy? Ra’s’ voice echoed in his head. Tim was Augury.

“Bruce, breathe.” Alfred’s hand was squeezing his arm, pulling him back to reality.

“Go shower, he’s fine. If you want to stay here until he wakes up you need to be out of the suit.” He didn’t think he could talk so he just nodded and very reluctantly left Tim’s bedside. Tim would be fine. He would still be there when he got back.

He doesn’t think he’s ever showered and dressed up so quickly. He makes his way back to the med bay and settles on the chair beside Tim.

“What did you tell Miss Mac?”

“Oh, I gave her calming tea. We can deal with everything tomorrow.” Alfred answered casually, like he hadn’t sedated a poor woman. Bruce could see how that was their best option though. No use having the woman crying and worried while they’re working.

“Damian?”

“Asleep. According to the baby monitor.” Damian wasn’t a baby but on the nights they had to leave him alone they needed something to notify them if he wakes up. His baby got nightmares from his time with the league.

“Do you think…can I bring him here? I don’t want him alone upstairs.” Alfred looked like he wanted to berate him not to disturb Damian but a look at him and he gave up, nodding instead. No doubt sensing Bruce’s anxiety.

Bruce got up, hopefully for the last time and made his way upstairs. Miss Mac was knocked out on a couch (the most comfortable one of course), he kept quiet as he made his way upstairs. The moment he opened Damian’s door he started stirring. On some nights after Bruce got back from patrol, he checked on Damian and without fail Damian stirred. Bruce wasn’t sure whether it was just because Damian was a light sleeper or that it was something he had learned to do in the league. Bruce hoped it was the former.

“Hey baby bat.” He whispered as he sat down on Damian’s bed.

“Baba?” Damian mumbled.

“Yeah.” He answered as his hands snaked up around his baby and scooped him up. Damian immediately put his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes again. Bruce loved how trusting Damian had become. How far they had come since the early days. And he owed all this to Tim. The fact that he could hold his baby close and not have him in some lab on the other side of the world was all thanks to Tim. If only he’d be able to do the same for him. He got up and left the room, hurrying his way down. The kids weren’t back yet, Bruce knew he didn’t have to worry but he couldn’t help it.

He settled them both beside Tim and like his strings had been cut he slumped in the chair. But his mind didn’t rest. All he could do was go over everything, every single detail he had missed, every single puzzle that Tim had been the missing piece for. He doesn’t know how long he stayed like that before the roar of the Batmobile and Dick’s bike echoed through the cave. That’s when he finally took a deep breath, forcing his mind to resurface.

“Bruce? Oops.” Dick’s voice sputtered out when he noticed Damian sleeping.

“How is he?” Jason whispered

“Passed out.” Bruce whispered back. “Did you get Kuttler?”

“Yeah, Barbara took him to J’onn. And I brought all his equipment for Tim to look through.” Jason reported back, moving closer to take a look at his slumbering friend.

“I still can’t believe it…that son of a bitch, he actually changed the results.” Jason grumbled as he gently caressed Tim’s hair.

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Bruce asked, wondering when his son had grown suspicious.

“Oh, because you’d be sooo chill about it. And I’m forever holding this over all of your heads. I noticed this way before you guys.”

“What tipped you off?” Dick asked, probably wondering what had Jason noticed that he hadn’t.

“That day when we hanged out in Tim’s with our friends. Tim’s boyfriend pointed out how similar these two look.” Jason said, pointing at Tim and Damian. “They even have the same mole you have B, the one on your ear.” Jason snickered.

Bruce frowned as he looked down on Damian’s ear and there it was. He couldn’t get up and check Tim’s but he believed Jason. His hands tightened a little around Damian. If he hadn’t stumbled upon Tim’s yard that day, would they never find out? Forever unknowing of the fact that his son was living only a mile away? No use thinking about that now.

“Go change boys. It’s been a long night. We have the debriefing later.”

“Wow, B putting debriefing off for later? It’s the end of the world.” Dick joked as he pulled Jason in a noogie and walked off to the showers. Bruce could only chuckle.

At around 6AM Tim started to stir. Bruce had sent everyone to bed (with some threatening and begging) and was alone with Tim. Dick had taken Damian to his bed, saying he needed a teddy bear even though everyone knew he just wanted to put Bruce’s mind at ease.

He got up and leaned forward towards Tim’s bed, waiting. Jason said he’ll have trouble waking up so Bruce didn’t rush him. He just sat on the bed and waited until Tim’s eyes fluttered open.

“Hey Tim. You’re in the Batcave right now. Everything is fine. We got Kuttler and all your things. You’re safe now.” He thought maybe laying it all at once would be better than Tim starting to panic but he wasn’t sure whether his words registered. Tim’s eyes were fixed on him but they kept fluttering.

“Tim?” he called again. Tim opened his eyes again, this time Bruce saw as it rolled back and he started convulsing. Bruce knew this was normal, he knew and yet he couldn’t help the fear that ran through his body. He couldn’t do anything, all he could do was watch as his kid’s body seized right in front of him. How? How could Janet watch this happen and think nothing of it?

When the seizure stopped Bruce put Tim’s body in the recovery position and waited a minute. Tim woke up with a gasp, his brows furrowing in pain as he tried to orient himself.

“Tim, can you hear me sweetheart?” To Bruce’s delight, Tim finally nodded.

“Good, you’re in the Batcave. Do you remember what happened last night?” another nod.

“Everything is fine, we got Kuttler, J’onn wiped his memories of the past few weeks. Ra’s retreated and you’re safe.” He couldn’t help as his hand found its way to Tim’s hair. Slowly combing through it. Bruce knew Tim had a few hard days and couldn’t have showered but he didn’t mind the grease. He scratched Tim’s scalp, enjoying as the boy’s body started to unravel.

“Miss Mac is upstairs waiting for you to return. And I think it’d be better if we go to my room for you to rest. Your place isn’t safe right now.”

“Cat…” Tim mumbled.

“We’ll bring your cats as well. Don’t worry. Ready for me to carry you upstairs? We have to go through the main entrance.” Tim nodded, Bruce took a deep breath and got up. He did what he’d been dreaming of doing these past few hours. He pulled Tim close to his chest and just stayed there. He needed a few minutes of this but Tim was already losing consciousness and Bruce really didn’t want the kid to have a seizure while in his hold. He scooped Tim up, who was so terribly light and just…tiny. Clearly Bruce’s genes hadn’t done much there.

They entered the house from the main entrance. They needed a cover story for Miss Mac and had decided on telling her a ransom call was made to Bruce and he had retrieved Tim with the help of GCPD and hope she won’t ask too many questions. Just as he made it inside the living room, he noticed the woman had woken up, probably recently.

“Tim!” she called and hurried towards them.

“I got him Miss McIlvaine. He woke up a bit ago and had a seizure so I’m just going to put him down on a bad, okay?” He waited for the woman to nod before starting to walk upstairs. He noticed Tim’s eyes were open again so he started talking.

“I have an accessible bathroom in my room. Remember when I broke my back? I thought its best if I kept it that way. Kids break their legs all the time and might need to sit down for a shower. It’s going to come in handy again.” He rambled on his he finally reached his room and opened the door. There was something about stepping inside one’s own room after a long night that always put Bruce’s mind at ease. He carefully tucked Tim in and watched as Miss Mac started fussing over him.

“It’s better if he stays here for a while. Your house isn’t safe. We’ll go over and bring his wheelchair and cats when the boys wake up.” Technically Bruce could make sure Tim would be safe in his own house but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t imagine letting Tim out of his sight. So he just sat down on his love seat and watched sleep take Tim one more time.

Bruce must have fallen asleep sitting (ouch, he’s not in his 20s anymore) because when he wakes up it’s almost at a reasonable hour of the morning. He rubs his face and notices Jason sprawled at the foot of his bed, reading a book as he keeps an eye on Tim.

“Morning Jaylad.” He mumbles as he stretches and gets up, in dire need of bathroom. After he freshens up his brain loads properly and with it his anxiety.

“Has he woken up?” he asks as he checks on Tim’s breathing and temperature.

“Yeah, but barely. Went under immediately.” Jason informed, putting away his copy of Desiree down.

“Miss Mac?”

“Downstairs, helping Alfred with breakfast. Timmy needs his stuff if he’s going to stay here.”

“I know. Is Dick awake? Get ready, we need to wrangle a few cats as well.”

“You got it pops. I’ll ask Miss Mac for a list.”

“Thanks Jay.” He ruffled Jason’s hair, who always scowled at him these days for it but never stopped him. Ever since he’s brought Damian here, he’s been eternally grateful for Jason and Dick. Both of them accepting Damian, spending time with him, never losing patience when he screamed or bit them. Hell, Dick even finally quit Bludhaven police department. Even if he’s been thinking about it for a while now, Bruce didn’t think he’d do it anytime soon.

He had no doubt they’d do the same for Tim as well. They already were, especially Jason.

They put everything Tim needed in the trunk and after so much running around they succeeded in capturing all the cats and kittens. After making sure they had everything, they finally headed back. Though Bruce doubted Ra’s’ men would be back anytime soon he still brought every electronics Tim had. Better safe than sorry.

Tim was still sleeping when they got back. Miss Mac said it was normal, and it was better if he was asleep. Stresses in this caliber often triggered a bad flare up, which brought harsher seizures, paralysis, dystonia, weakness and a bunch of everything else, and pain. So much pain.

But Damian had just woken up and was in the process of eating his breakfast with lidded eyes and a confused scowl. God, why did his kid have to inherit his scowl.

“Dami. Good morning love.” Bruce planted a quick kiss on his son’s head and tried and failed to tame the kid’s bed head.

“Baba, Miss Mac is here?” He asked, clearly a little confused.

“Yeah baby, Timmy’s upstairs sleeping. And his cats are here. Wanna go greet them so they don’t feel scared?” Damian easily perked up, scowl gone and replaced with determination. He was adorable. Bruce wondered if it’d get old someday but thinking about it, even now Jason and Dick’s idiotic antics were cute to him. So probably never. He picked Damian up after he was done with his breakfast and brought him up to the living room Dick had chosen for the cats to stay. It was the safest (both for the furniture and the cats) and the door closed so they don’t accidently lose a kitten. The cats yowled and grumbled a lot but when Jason gave them their food and Bruce unleashed Damian on them, they quieted down.

Bruce left Damian with his brothers and went up to check on Tim. Miss Mac was still beside him and she seemed a lot calmer now than before. Jason had brought everything Tim might need upstairs and her crochet project was apparently among them as the woman was crocheting a very beautiful round blanket in rainbow colors.

“That’s very beautiful Miss McIlvaine. Is it for Tim?” He asked as he settled back on his chair.

“Yes, his birthday is in a week. I thought it’d be nice since he finally started dating the poor boy.” the poor boy was Bernard who Bruce had the privilege of meeting the other day. He wouldn’t leave Tim’s side and was very attentive but from what Bruce had heard Tim had made the boy wait quite a while. Hence the nickname.

“What do you think I should get him?” He asked, talking to himself mostly. Miss Mac gave him a pitying look which Bruce wasn’t really expecting.

“You found out.” She said. Bruce’s heart stopped beating.

“You knew?” he whispered, she nodded.

“Tim didn’t tell me. But that boy isn’t as sneaky as he likes to think he is. I figure a lot of things out when I’m cleaning his room you know.” She gave him a knowing look and Bruce's heart skipped beat.

“Oh…” Bruce was sure he had paled.

“Yeah…”

“Tim didn’t tell you to come find me if something happens to him.” He concluded.

“No.”

“And you didn’t call the police either. You came straight here.”

“Yes.”

“Okay…that’s…fine. No need to lie to you then.”

“Good. I raised this one, I can spot a lie.” considering Tim has been keeping his identity secret for years…yeah. Bruce didn’t have a chance. Miss Mac was a mystical being like Alfred.

“You’re not going to be angry at me for not telling you he’s yours?”

“No… If my parents were like Jack and Janet, I wouldn’t be throwing myself into the arms of the next person that says they’re my parents. I would rather keep the peace I already have.” Bruce huffed, though even thinking about being lumped together with those people was disturbing, he had to look at this from Tim’s point of view.

“I actually thought about calling CPS and getting custody of him back when he’d started high school with Jason. But after some digging and finding out you were doing everything you could for him behind the Drake’s back…I knew he had someone who could keep him safe. Tim probably felt safe enough not to feel the need to reach out and I think this…he would have come clean anyway. He just needed time.” He hoped Tim would have done it sooner but he took what he could get.

“You’re more mature than I thought.” Miss Mac smiled warmly at him.

“Hey, I’ve raised two teenage boys. And they always have the stupidest, most unrealistic views on adults. I just always expect the worst.”

Tim woke up again, this time very incoherent and he seemed like he was having a nightmare awake.

“Hallucinations could mean he’s going to have a seizure. If he looks too panicked and like he wants to get up you should hold him down so he doesn’t hurt himself.” Jason had told him but knowing it was normal didn’t really make Bruce feel better about it. Tim’s eyes started fluttering again and this time the seizure was much worse. Even Miss Mac was worried.

“I don’t think you’d be able to talk to him anytime soon.” She told them as Tim once again settled.

“That’s fine. Getting answers isn’t important right now.” And Bruce really meant it.

“But I hope he wakes up and eats something.” Bruce added, looking at the untouched food on his bedside table.

Jason, who had left after Tim’s seizure ended came back with a cat in his arms and Damian on his tow. Damian ran towards Tim, struggling a little to get on Bruce’s tall bed. Bruce chuckled as he helped his kid up on the bed. Jason settled the cat on the bed, who immediately nuzzled up to Tim’s right side while Damian took Tim’s left and plopped his entire body on Tim’s chest.

Bruce wanted to situate Damian a little better but Miss Mac told him it was fine.

“Baba, can we keep Timmy?” Damian whispered, rubbing his cheek on Tim’s chest like a cat.

Can they? Miss Mac already knew everything, she could just come live with them. Surely the support would be nice.

“I don’t know baby, ask Tim if he wants to be kept.” He joked, getting up and sitting beside Damian on the bed. He couldn’t help it, his hands started petting both of the boys’ hair.

“Dami, Timmy’s your brother. Did you know?” He whispered, his fingers tickling Damian on his nape.

Damian nodded. “Yeah, Timmy is my brother.” and that was that.

The next time Tim woke up, Bruce knew right away that he was in pain. He let out a muffled cry and squeezed his eyes shut. Bruce was next to him immediately.

“Tim, can you hear me?” he asked, keeping his voice calm. Though with some delay, Tim nodded.

“Good, you’re in my room. You’ve had a few bad seizures. Miss Mac is downstairs, she’ll be coming up with your medication and food. Okay?” Tim squeezed his eyes, probably from the pain, and let out a choked groan. Tim was hyperventilating and Bruce noticed one of his hands had curled inwards and his legs were both very tense. He wasn’t sure what to do so he pulled Tim’s head towards his chest and took deep breaths.

“I’m gonna count my breaths, okay? Inhale for four, hold for four, then exhale for four. Try and follow as much as you can love.” And he started counting. It took around 3 minutes but Tim’s breathing started to improve and he cracked open one of his eyes.

“There you are.” He muttered as his hand started patting Tim on the back. Jason and Dick always liked the pats when they were in pain, he hoped Tim didn’t find it too overwhelming.

Miss Mac appeared with Tim’s medicine and a bowl of bone broth. She helped him down the medicine with some water before asking some questions.

“Tim, honey. Do you think you can eat something?” Tim shook his head.

“Okay…we may have to hook you up to an IV, you know dehydration is dangerous for you. Try and drink some more water, okay?” Tim opened his mouth but nothing but a choked sound came out. He frowned immediately.

“You can’t talk?” Miss Mac guessed.

“Is that normal?” Bruce tried not to let out the panic he was feeling but he was 90% sure it didn’t work.

“Not normal, but it can happen after bad seizures.” Miss Mac muttered as she moved to sit beside Tim who looked like he was tearing up.

“Tim, sweetie it’s fine. You’ve had a hard few days with the hostage situation and then the kidnapping. You just need some rest and things will get better. Yeah?” Miss Mac tried to reassure Tim but tears were already pouring out along with choked sobs and tremors. Bruce wasn’t sure what to do and he hated feeling so helpless.

“Tim, can you sign?” He asked. It wasn’t too farfetched, considering Tim’s tendency to learn everything he could. Tim’s eyes focused on him again and nodded.

Taking in the fact that Tim could currently only use one of his hands, Bruce put away one of his hands and started signing with one of them as he spoke to show Tim how to do it.

“Okay, I don’t know if you know but you can sign with one hand. We’ll improvise a little and whenever you get stuck you can spell things for me, yeah?” He had learned sign language for Batman but then after taking in Cassandra it had become a part of his life. Jason, Dick and Alfred had all kept up with signing since Cassandra still preferred signing over talking. So there was no trouble there.

Tim nodded, still crying but not so overwhelmed anymore. Bruce couldn’t help it, his hands started wiping away the tears.

“Is the pain a little better?” He asked. Tim nodded. The benzodiazepines were working, though they will make Tim sleepy again.

“Do you think you can eat a little soup? Miss Mac and Alfred made it for you.” Tim gave the soup a confused look.

“What’s in it?” He signed clumsily, his hand shaking.

“Bone broth and some vegetables. Good?” Bruce asked, when Tim nodded so he helped Tim sit up a little and lean back. He put the broth on the lap desk and handed a spoon to Tim. The tremor didn’t help, Tim quickly abandoned the spoon and squeezed his eyes as tears rolled down.

“I’ll go get him a straw.” Miss Mac whispered as she got up to leave. Bruce let out a breath and looked at Tim’s furrowed face.

“Tim, will you let me help you?” He pleaded, which was apparently odd enough for Tim to open his eyes and stare. He stared back, showing his dedication and genuineness as best as he could. Tim swallowed and after glancing at the offending soup he nodded. Bruce situated himself beside Tim, pulling him as close as possible before helping Tim have a sip.

“I don’t know how much you remember but we got Kuttler, thanks to you. And Jason brought all his stuff for you to inspect. J’onn wiped out his memories as well. He’s back in his cell with extra security.” Bruce started talking, mainly to distract Tim.

“Head?” Tim signed as he accepted another spoon.

“Ra’s? He escaped, like he always does. And if you ask me he was quite embarrassed about underestimating you. That kick to his balls did critical damage. So I don’t think he’s gonna show up any time soon. But he's not one to give up so we should probably take some precautions before he’s back.” He helped Tim down the rest of the soup before taking a few seconds, mainly to get his own emotions under control.

“Tim, I’m just…I’m just gonna say it. You don’t have to answer right now, just…just think about it…” He situated Tim’s head on his shoulder and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

“Do you mind moving here with Miss Mac? Live with us? I know…I wish I knew sooner but I’ll take what I can, that’s what I’ve learned with all my kids. I always wish I had them sooner. But I can’t change that. So I’ll take what I can. Would you mind coming to live with us? I can’t fathom leaving you and Miss Mac to live alone now. Not only you’re my son Tim, but you’ve been watching over your siblings and me for so long now. Won’t you let me…let us look after you now? Let us in your life? Let me get to know you? Know that brilliant mind of yours? Love you like you deserved all along?” Tim’s breath hitched and Bruce pulled him even closer, enveloping him with his every inch.

“Just…just think about it…I love you son. I wish I could have told you that sooner.”

Chapter Text

It took so many days (3) for Tim to finally be able to function a little again. Meaning he stopped needing assistance for every single thing.

His words still stuck in his throat and he wasn’t appreciating the stutter that wasn’t going away. He was low energy, fatigued and the weakness in his limbs persisted, so he kept sleeping for most of the day. The pain was torturous and the seizures didn’t stop. His body kept paralyzing itself randomly And worst of all, he was being smothered to death.

On the bright side, Damian.

Yeah, that’s it.

Every morning, Damian ran into the room (Bruce’s room, where was Bruce sleeping? Was he even sleeping?) every morning, struggled up the bed and plopped down beside Tim and started excitedly babbling about the kitties. Sometimes he even smuggled one of them along and they played with them together. Then he would cuddle up with Tim and take a nap with him until someone else woke up to check on them.

Jason was being his usual overprotective asshole, which was also appreciated. But he kept giving Tim really weird looks which Tim didn’t really understand or want to understand for that matter. So there was definitely a weird tension between them, one that Jason was putting off talking about because Tim literally couldn’t talk.

Dick was being way more smothering than usual. Kept giving Tim random hugs and kept cooing. Which was unacceptable. Tim was an adult (not really) he was 17! (not yet) and not cute at all (Debatable if you asked literally anyone). It didn’t seem to matter to Dick though, since he looked at him and saw a brother shaped kid who needed lots of hugs. Unacceptable.

Then there was fucking Bruce.

Tim didn’t want to think about him.

I love you son.

Tim didn’t want to think about it.

Won’t you let me look after you now?

No. Tim didn’t want anyone looking after him. He was fine. He’s been fine. He didn’t need another family. He didn’t des-

“Akhi?” and there was Damian, calling him brother instead of his name. No matter how many times Tim tried to dissuade him, all he got was a grin and the proclamation of “Baba told me we were brothers!”

And wasn’t that the problem. Because he couldn’t refute that.

“Yeah D-Dami?” he answered, watching Damian stumble in the room.

“Alfie said lunch. Come?” And there was also their insistence on having meals together now that Tim was feeling better. And really, Tim could refuse Jason, Dick and Bruce. But Damian and Alfred who was now fortified with Miss Mac? He had no chance.

“S-sure. P-push my wheelchair here?” It was parked beside the bathroom. Damian pulled the wheelchair’s break and pushed the back of it until it reached the bed. He’s become quite handy with it, knowing how to pull the breaks and maneuver it from the back rest where he could reach. Tim hadn’t taught him, kids just figured things out.

He transferred himself on the chair and rolled out, Damian running in front of him and looking back every once in a while. All in all, Wayne manor had been more accessible than he imagined. Probably due to their night job, with how often they broke their legs (or got shot in their legs) and also there was that time Bane had broken Bruce’s back. They had elevators (even one going down to the cave), Bruce’s room had accessible bathroom with handrails, a foldable shower chair and a sink he could roll his chair under. And there were no pesky raised panels for doorways.

It was more than Tim expected. Remembering all the pushback his parents had for changing anything in the house for his convenience, saying it ruined the décor, or he didn’t really need it and should just make do like a normal human being. And Bruce hadn’t changed back his bathroom after all these years because someday his children might need it?

He shook himself away from his thoughts and pushed the elevator’s button to go down. Damian was rolling forward and backward on his tows and heels, humming to a song Tim didn’t recognize. By all accounts Damian was being his usual happy self, maybe even happier since he gets to spend 24/7 with the cats (And Tim). He keeps bringing sweets for Tim and asks for help with his puzzles whenever he got stuck. And last night he had barreled in the room with Bruce in his tow to ask Tim to read for him instead of Bruce. Tim tried to tell him he couldn’t, that he still had an annoying stutter but the kid couldn’t care less and Bruce had told him it’d be good for him. And Tim couldn’t even be annoyed with him. It wasn’t fair.

Nothing about this was fair. Why couldn’t he just keep doing what he’s been doing?

He knows why.

He doesn’t want to think about it.

He doesn’t want to believe it.

“Hey Timbit.” Jason popped out of somewhere the minute he rolled out of the elevator.

“H-hey Jay.” He answered weakly.

“Feeling better?” Jason asked, crouching down to give Damian a not appreciated hair ruffle. Damian scowled and pouted at him and ran back to Tim, demanding refuge. Tim giggled quietly and helped him up in his lap.

“Brat, one hair ruffle and he runs to Timmy’s lap. There should be a limit to favoritism between brothers.” Jason huffs but moved behind Tim and after a look asking for permission, starts pushing him towards the informal dining room.

“N-not my fault h-he likes me the best.” Tim teased. That caused Jason to give him a violent hair ruffle instead. There was still that weird energy there but Tim was willing to ignore it for now.

They made it to the dining room, everyone else already there. Plus Barbara.

“Oh…Hi.” He shyly waved at the red head who sprang up from her seat.

“So you’re the famous Timmy! I finally get to meet you.” She gave him a genuine grin as she pulled him in a quick hug.

“You’re my favorite Bat.” Tim whispered not so quietly in her ears, it made Barbara snort and give the others victorious looks.

“You traitor! I thought I was your favorite.” Jason all but whined, which made everyone laugh.

“N-no, your charm pretty much wore off after you started p-pestering me in school.”

“So I was your favorite?” Jason gasped. Tim rolled his eyes. Damian scrambled down from his lap and ran towards his dad, who hoisted him up, gave him an affectionate squeeze before putting him on his chair. Tim rolled himself under the place they had emptied for him, right beside Bruce.

Thankfully lunch should be a normal affair. As normal as it got with these people. But Barbara hadn’t gotten the memo about not asking questions from Tim and was grilling him for details. But they were not anything personal, just his tips and tricks for Augury. Tim could handle that. Until it wasn’t.

“I’m still confused about when you started Augury, cause we have evidence of you tipping off the police way before you made yourself known as Augury.” Barbara asked, which was the first personal question anyone had asked him since he had woken up. Tim sighed and put down his fork. He’d have to talk about everything sooner than later.

“Well…b-before I was Augury. I kinda…uh…used to follow you all around with my camera?” Tim answered sheepishly.

“What?” Everyone unanimously shouted.

“You- you stalked us?”

“Hey! I was a fan…I kind of h-had a para-social relationship with you guys and since I was really…uh…alone this kind of became the only thing I enjoyed…I figured out your patrol routes and w-went to rooftops to take pictures. After a while-”

“Wait a second, how old were you when you started doing this Tim?” Bruce seemed horrified.

“Um, n-nine?”

“What the f-” Jason gasped. “Language!” Dick cut Jason off, throwing him a glare.

“Okay…so you used to follow us with a camera and we didn’t notice? How often did you do that?” Barbara seemed to be keeping her cool better than the rest.

Tim shrugged “Most n-nights.”

“Okay…that’s…” Bruce put his head in his hands, he was having a mental breakdown.

“So that’s when you sent evidence to the police?”

“Yeah, I sometimes caught things w-with my camera. I didn’t know what to do with it so I just mailed them to the police and hoped someone paid attention. Sometimes they didn’t…so I searched for better ways. I started learning coding and hacking, after that I managed to leave my tips directly on the commissioner’s personal computer.”

“And they were all your own photographs?” Bruce had managed to pull himself together enough to continue the conversation. Tim nodded.

“Wait a second, sorry. But when did you find out about our identities?” Jason jumped in.

“When I w-was e-eight?” Tim stammered. How was he supposed to explain that?

“How the hell?” Jason looked distraught, but Bruce looked deathly pale. it was understandable. Bruce’s secret identity had been known to him for 9 years now.

“Well…th-there was a thing that the first Robin did…I caught it on TV. And you know I have a really good memory. It- it was the same one I had seen th-the flying Graysons do. When I was little…I watched their performance…um…Dick told me they were the only people who could do it.”

“My quadruple summersault? But I…oh!” Dick’s eyes widened.

“I remember you! You were there that night. You were that little kid that had lost his parents. I brought you back to them and since you were so scared I promised to do that flip just for you.” Dick sprang out of his chair from the sheer shock.

Tim nodded.

“OH MY GOD.” Dick shouted as he threw himself towards Tim.

“You also gave me my first hug.” Tim mumbled with a small voice. Dick was already pulling him in a hug though. It was familiar and safe. Tim liked it.

"You watched my parents fall..." Dick whispered, still not letting him go. Tim nodded.

"Shit..." Dick squeezed him harder and when Bruce started talking he finally let go.

“Then what Tim?” Bruce asked, going back to the conversation before that.

“Uh well…when I was 12 I started feeling…off? I didn’t understand what was happening. S-sometimes I would lose time, my limbs were starting to feel really weak some days. I couldn’t do all the stunts I pulled on the rooftops to follow you guys and I was so tired a-all the time. At first I thought it was b-because of all the sleep I had been missing for years. So I decided to take some time off the night photography. I poured my time on coding and h-hacking to not go crazy from boredom. That’s when I managed to get into your servers. That was the official start to Augury, I guess.” Tim took a deep breath. He could leave it at that. But he was tired of not talking about this.

“I still went out, since I wasn’t getting any better or worse. And some days I was perfectly fine…one of those days I caught the joker kidnapping Miss Barbara…and uh. I already knew how to get to your servers so I just dropped the evidence there so you could get to her faster…then a few weeks later I caught G- Garzonas’ death. I also caught some of your fights, so, um. Yeah. I sent those as well.”

“And when I ran away?” Jason seemed out of breath, his eyes suspiciously gleaming.

“I was h-home that day. I followed your digital footprints…and I found out Sheila was embezzling funds so I knew nothing good would come out of you meeting her…I was too slow though. Joker still got to you.” Tim’s breath hitched.

“You saved my life Tim.” Jason choked out. Bruce nodded as well but he seemed speechless. Silence draped itself on their table and Tim really saw no way out of it but talking.

“A-after that I started feeling even worse and no one was around to tell me what was wrong…Then one time when Miss Mac visited to bring me food, I-I…uh. I had a really b-bad seizure. She called the a-ambulance but the doctors in the hospital didn’t know what was wrong and Miss Mac didn’t have the authority to make medical decisions for me. So we just went home but um…Miss Mac was so scared she didn’t leave me alone at home anymore. And I had a few more Seizures and uh…drop attacks. That’s when I suddenly fall but I’m awake. So she called my parents and begged them to come home sooner. They…they didn’t.” Tim swallowed.

Even before that he knew his parents didn’t really care for him but finding out they didn’t even really care whether he drops dead or not was a hard blow. It still is a hard blow.

“Ugh, I already knew they sucked but they just get worse, don’t they?” Jason grumbled.

“Y-yeah. S-so. I uh…they finally came home and after s-some back and forth they dumped me in a hospital, gave Miss Mac all the authority she needed to make my medical decisions and l-left again. I was um. I was-” Tim was struggling to get his words out which was beyond frustrating.

“Take your time.” Bruce said, as his hand started patting Tim’s shoulder. That- helped. Tim didn’t know why.

“I was l-left in the pediatric ward for all of summer break. I had my laptop and so much t-time. So I started snooping around in the CCTV cameras again. I was going crazy stuck in a hospital, so I started following you guys on the c-cameras full time instead.” Tim thought that pretty much covered all of it. The rest wasn’t news. Except-

“How did you find out about Damian?” Dick asked, giving his little brother a worried look.

“Oh…um. I found a way to get into the league’s servers…I snooped around. Came across Damian’s medical files. It was stupidly detailed…our DNA’s were…yeah. So I knew.”

“Wow.” Barbara muttered.

“What was it that you said to Ra’s about experimenting on Dami?” Jason muttered, hoping Damian wouldn’t hear.

“They wanted to- um. They wanted to age him up in a lab…so Ra’s can get his body sooner…” Tim shuddered, thinking about Ra’s and all the possibilities.

“That’s why they hadn’t bothered teaching him anything.” Barbara concluded. Tim vaguely knew Damian didn’t even know Arabic when they found him. No one had bothered to talk to him there.

“Do you know what happened to Talia?” Bruce asked, his face pinched and worried.

“Um…I found some documents…Talia didn’t want this for Damian. She, she didn’t want them to age him up. Wanted to raise Damian and train him herself and have him take Ra’s place…she didn’t want Ra’s to have Damian’s body…quite the opposite. But Ra’s found out about her plans and had her imprisoned.”

“Okay…not that much better then…I kept thinking whether Damian would be better off with her…” Everyone knew Bruce wasn’t talking to any of them. These were the doubts he’d been struggling with ever since he had brought home Damian.

“Yeah, I would have told you otherwise.” He reassured Bruce. The man visibly relaxed and gave Tim a small smile.

“Thanks Tim.”

“N-no problem.”

The silence this time was natural. Everyone looked pretty satisfied with Tim’s story, everyone except Jason. When everyone finished their meal and started clearing out, Jason stayed. Giving Tim a meaningful look, he silently asked him to stay. Tim knew this was coming.

Because let’s be honest. For everyone else, Tim had been a stranger until not long ago. Tim didn’t really owe them anything. But with Jason?

They stayed silent for a few minutes. The tension and anger were palpable from Jason’s end. Tim had started nervously pulling on his shirt, his fingers shaking ever so slightly.

“Tim.” Jason called. Tim didn’t dare look up from his hands. Jason sighed.

“Look. I understand everything you said. What I don’t understand is why didn’t you say anything to me? Especially when your parents were being assholes. We could have gotten you out! We could have protected you all this time! You know I used to come home from school and beg Bruce to do something about your parents? I-I know you had Miss Mac, but you could have had Miss Mac and us all this time! What was stopping you?” and really, that was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?

Why Tim? Why not make everything so much easier for yourself? Why not have other people worry for you instead? Why resist the unconditional love that the Waynes would give him?

“I didn’t want to be a burden.” Tim mumbled.

“What! That’s-”

“No, listen to me. I’m…I know that people will love me for me and all that…Bernard a-already told me that. But that’s a choice. If- If I told Bruce about…about that then he wouldn’t take me out of love. It would be out of guilt. It was the same if he took emergency c-custody after calling the CPS. Then he’d have to take care of me for a really long time, not just until I’m an adult like…like Miss Mac. He’s the fucking Batman, there are more important things in his life than helping a teenager dress and get out of bed. And he’d notice that sooner than later and just…abandon me as well…like they did.”

Jason, predictably blew up.

“That! Is the stupidest thing I’ve heard! You think Bruce wouldn’t love you? Bruce with all his faults, never abandoned any of us, even through hardships. And he’s a dad first! I know it used to be different. But you literally changed that! It was you. After you helped saved me, Bruce changed. He became an actual dad! A dad first, Batman second. And that guy…he doesn’t even need blood relations to love you Tim. He already does. And he always will. He doesn’t change his mind about that. Just…why don’t you believe him?”

“I’m-”

“Scared…I know Tim.” Jason softened his voice and made his way to Tim. He pulled Tim’s hands in his and sighed.

“I know you’re scared. I know you don’t trust families. And I know you feel like you don't deserve the love that you're given. But don’t you see? Since the minute you let Damian in your house, you’ve already had a family. And we’re not going anywhere. And we’re not letting you go anywhere. That’s just how real families are, Tim. They don’t leave anyone behind.”

A knock pulled Bruce out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Tim rolling himself in his study.

“Hey Tim. Done talking with Jason?” He asked, getting up from behind his desk to sit on one of the couches instead so he could talk easier with Tim. Tim nodded as he pulled the breaks on his wheelchair and stopped in front of him.

He took a deep breath.

“I-uh. Jason…well he. Um.” Tim seemed like a nervous mess, Bruce could sympathize. He put a hand on his kid’s shoulder and watched in awe as he visibly relaxed. Was this a superpower?

“Were you serious, when you said you want me here?” Tim finally said, still avoiding his eyes.

“Of course Tim. There’s nothing I want more than that.” Bruce answered genuinely.

“Oh. Um. Okay. That’s good…”

“Do you want to? Stay with us?” Bruce prompted, since Tim didn’t seem to have the courage to ask. Tim finally looked up and nodded. Something melted in Bruce’s heart. Tim was adorable. His hands moved on its own, ruffling his hair and then settling on Tim’s cheeks, his thumb caressing it gently, Tim leaned into it like a cat.

“That’s great Tim.” He doesn’t think he’s ever felt so relieved in his entire life.

“And…well. Um. You said Miss Mac can stay here?”

“Of course. I’ve already talked to her.”

“Then, then you have to tell her about Batman.” Tim seemed nervous, like Bruce wouldn’t do absolutely anything for him.

“She already knew. Apparently you weren’t as sneaky as you thought you were Tim.” Bruce smirked when Tim’s eyes widened, his shoulders raising up and suddenly falling like his strings had been cut.

“Of course she knows.” Tim groaned, hiding his face in his hands. Bruce let out a laugh.

“So? Anything else?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah…um. You can tell the public I’m yours…if you want. But there will be backlash.”

“Don’t worry about that,” he paused. “Tim.” Tim finally looked up, since Bruce’s tone had suddenly gotten serious.

“Would you like me to get custody of you? I know Miss Mac is your legal guardian but after you’re 18-”

“Okay.”

“We’ll still need to- what?”

“Okay…you can do that. And about Miss Mac…” Tim clenched his fist around his shirt.

“She…she kind of needs to retire. I don’t…I don’t want her to leave me. She doesn’t have anyone beside me…but she…well she had a few urgent ‘errands’ so I got suspicious and…apparently they were doctors’ appointments. Her back and knees both need surgery, and-and she shouldn’t really work like this in her age, the doctors keep telling her…and there’s a lot of manhandling involved in caring for me…what I’m trying to say is-”

“You want her to stay with us but not have to take care of you full time anymore. That’s alright Tim. She’s not going anywhere. She’s your family.” Bruce finished his sentence and Tim finally relaxed and took a deep breath. He looked Bruce in the eyes and nodded.

“Yeah. That’s why I need you to take custody.”

“That’s my pleasure Tim.” Bruce leaned forward and kissed Tim on the forehead, trying not to laugh at Tim’s shell-shocked look.

“Anything else sweetheart?” he said, his hand patting Tim on the hair again.

“C-can I still be Augury? This time I can help you downstairs…if you want me…I can’t always help b-because I might not be fine but-”

“Yes Tim. That would be a dream come true for all of us. You don’t have to push yourself for us. Just do whatever you were doing before.”

“Good…that’s great. So you’re sure you want me?” Tim asked for what seemed like the thousand time. Bruce didn’t mind answering him a million times more.

“Yeah Tim. I want you and I love you and there isn’t a single thing I don’t want or love about you.”

"Even if...well..." Tim's voice started shaking, Bruce frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Well...it's about my- Janet. She..." Tim didn't know how to even say a word like that to Bruce. He overheard this when he was 7, her mother was talking to one of her friends on the phone, bragging about her 'insurance plan'.

"Tim, I know what she did. And I know why she did it." Bruce finally cut through Tim's very disturbing chain of thought. Tim looked up in shock.

"I couldn't remember anything...so I dug around a little. Janet wasn't sure whether Jack would marry her so she needed to baby trap me if things with Jack didn't work out." Bruce sounded a little too detached for Tim's liking. Like this hadn't happened to him. But who was Tim to tell Batman how to cope with this.

"She drugged you..." Tim whispered, the shame too overpowering.

"I know...Talia did the same." Bruce sighed. 

"What?" Tim's voice broke.

"Yeah, I'd rather not think about it and I definitely don't think about it when I think about you two, Tim. Nothing about you and Damian reminds me of those foul women. You two are my sons and nothing in the whole world can make me love you any less." Bruce let out a big breath as he finished declaring that.

“Oh. Okay…guess I’ll…guess I’ll be staying here then.” Tim mumbled, too overwhelmed to give a better response. It made Bruce smiled, Tim tried his hardest to hide his tears so Bruce pulled his son in a very anticipated hug to help him do just that.

“Yeah son, you’ll be staying here with your family.”

Chapter Text

Tim was nervous about meeting Cassandra. He was nervous about today. He was nervous about his new life and what it entailed. He was nervous about a lot of things.

As if Bruce had a sixth sense, he put a hand on Tim’s back and started rhythmically patting it. Tim still didn’t know how Bruce did that. He slumped back into the couch.

“I really didn’t need a birthday party.” He grumbled for the 15^th time since this morning. With everything going on, he hadn’t even thought about his birthday. But apparently everyone else had been planning for this. Plus they were kind of using this as a ‘welcome to the family’ ceremony as well. They had even invited Bernard and Ives.  

“So you keep saying. But we already missed your graduation ceremony. There’s no way we’re letting you distract us from your 17^th birthday.” Dick said, smiling widely as always. He plopped himself right beside Tim, effectively sandwiching him in between himself and Bruce.

“I didn’t even attend my graduation. I wasn’t feeling good.” He really wasn’t…but maybe it wasn’t that bad to warrant missing his graduation. Bernard and Ives hadn’t said anything about it so no one really had cared.

Well except Jason.

He was pissed about missing it.

“All the more reason for this.” Bruce nodded sagely. Tim sighed, the Waynes were oddly sensitive about these things.

Just then the doorbell chimed, making everyone (except Tim) spring up from their place. Tim could hear the pattering of Damian’s feet as he no doubt ran to see who had come. Seeing no way to avoid this, Tim braced himself on his cane and got up.

Predictably, it was Jason bringing Cassandra back from the airport. There was a screech (Dick) and some shouting before Tim made his way to the chaos unfolding in the foyer. Cassandra was being squeezed to death by Dick, who only let her go so Bruce could get his turn suffocating his daughter.

After Alfred got his turn hugging his granddaughter, they finally let Cassandra go for long enough that she could look around. Her eyes zeroed on Tim and Damian, who had found his way towards Tim when the chaos had gotten too much for him.

“LITTLE BROTHERS!” Cassandra gasped loudly, running towards them and pulling both of them right in a crushing hug. The hug, was brief but it left Tim breathless and disoriented.

“Dami, you’ve seen Cass on video calls. Right?” Bruce prompted, kneeling down next to his son, who seemed a little overwhelmed. Dami nodded.

“She’s your big sister.” Dick added. Cassandra nodded.

“Hi.” Damian said in a small voice.

“Hi littlest brother.” Cassandra imitated, crouching down as well to give Damian her hand for a handshake. Damian accepted, then immediately hid himself behind Tim’s leg. That made Cassandra’s attention turn towards Tim.

“Littler brother!”

“Um hi…I’m Tim.” Cassandra nodded and smiled, as if saying she knew. He shook her hand as well, hoping it wasn’t too sweaty. Cass looked at Jason and smirked.

“Little brother, littler brother and littlest brother.”

“Hey! We’re the same age!” Jason protested.

“Little brother.” Cassandra shook her head, clearly disagreeing.

“Daaaad! Why did you put her birthdate before me??” Jason all but whined to his dad. Bruce seemed like he was trying his hardest not to laugh.

“Sorry son, it seemed more accurate.”

“What! What does that mean? Are you calling me immature?” Jason gasped, acting like the drama queen he was.

“Well, case and point.” Dick said as he pulled Jason in a choke hold. Bruce rolled his eyes at them before turning his attention back on his Tim and Damian.

“Tim, Cass has been dying to meet you and Damian.” Bruce said, pulling his daughter close. And Tim could see the way he was missing her so painfully clear.

“I left with one little brother, came back to three!” Cass added. Tim could sympathize.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Tim finally said. Cass for some reason attacked Tim’s cheek and pinched him.

“Cute.” She declared.

“Wha-”

“Come on, Alfred already left to dish up lunch. Dick come and help me with her luggage.” Jason butted in their conversation before Tim could act any more undignified.  

“Cass, you should go freshen up before lunch. Then come meet Miss Mac.” Bruce said, herding his oldest children upstairs before coming back to drag Tim and Damian towards the dining room.

“She’s nice.” Tim mumbled.

“Yeah, you’ll get to know her soon and then she’ll be your favorite person.”

His birthday wasn’t a big affair. Bernard and Ives came over before dinner. They were a little confused on why he was at the Wayne’s since Bruce still hadn’t made it official but didn’t say anything. Alfred and Miss Mac had made all of Tim’s favorites, plus the cake from his dreams. Then there were the presents which Tim hadn’t really thought about.

Bernard had gotten him a limited-edition comic book that he loved. Ives had gotten couple rings for him and Bernard. As a joke. Or so he said, but the rings were a little too well made for that. Jason had gotten him an ugly sweater that said ‘IT’S A BOY’ on it. That one was a little hard to explain to Bernard and Ives. The rest of the Waynes minus Jason and Damian gotten him a brand-new high spec lense for his camera which he couldn’t wait to use. And Miss Mac had crochet him a pride flag round fluffy blanket that he wanted to live in with how soft it was.

Then Damian came and handed him a drawing showing them both in the middle sitting with Bruce, Dick, Jason, Alfred, Miss Mac and even Cassandra. (So that’s where he had disappeared to after lunch) It was the best gift he had ever received. He tried not to cry but it was hard so he just hid his face in Damian's body and just held him there. He tried not to pay attention to the cooing.

After everyone had their cake and dinner Bruce suddenly appeared in front of him, looking a little sheepish.

“Tim, there’s something I need to show you.” He said, pointing his head towards the stairs.

“Okay…” they got in the elevator in silence and Bruce guided him towards the room next to him. The one that was supposed to be his. Bruce had said it needed serious reconstruction so Tim hadn’t been inside it yet. He honestly hadn’t expected it to be done yet but when he opened the door, he was shocked to see it completely finished. And it wasn’t an empty room ready to be filled. No. All his things were there, exactly like his old room. His bed, his desk, his things. Everything just looked…better. He looked back at Bruce who was still looking sheepish and flustered and just…paused.

“This is…”

“Your room yes. We had everything moved and tried to make it as close to your old room as possible…the bathroom is also accessible and the closets and…yeah. There’s also…” Bruce moved towards a third door and opened it. It was another room, just as large as his bedroom, inside was a desk with every high-tech equipment he could imagine for a computer on it. And next to it was a massively intricate cat tree that spanned two whole walls, beds for the cats (which they were never going to use), 5 automated feeders, a separate space for their litter boxes, a hammock (why?) and just about anything Tim could imagine his cats needing.

He looked at Bruce, breathless and absolutely bewildered.

“I thought you’d want them close. Don’t worry they can roam around the house. I already fitted all of them with very accurate trackers. They won’t get lost. And the room has a door to outside so Damian can visit the cats without disturbing you. I actually got the inspiration for it from Selina’s apartment.”

“I…I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. These are just…just things that you’ll need. Things that should make things easier for you here. That’s all.” Bruce shrugged. Like this wasn’t a big deal. Like this wasn’t the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for Tim.

“But…”

“And there’s another thing.” Bruce said, moving Tim to sit down on a very comfortable couch. He kneeled down in front of Tim as his hand pulled something out of his pocket.

“So…We’ve had this tradition. Ever since Dick came to live with us. I, well. I give something of my parents’ to my kids on their first birthday here. To let them know they are a Wayne now, they’re my kids.” Tim noticed Bruce’s hands were slightly shaking. He was nervous. What made Batman nervous?

“This is my mom’s watch.” He said as his hands wrapped something around Tim’s wrist.

“I gave Dick my dad’s pocket watch, and I gave Jason the key to his personal library. Cass got my mother’s emerald necklace. I thought…well my dad’s watch wouldn’t fit you. So I hope you don’t mind my mom’s.” Tim blinked at the watch and then at Bruce.

Oh. Tim was making Bruce nervous. He thought maybe this was too soon and He didn’t know how Tim would react to this.

Tim didn’t know either. But he wasn’t…upset about Bruce doing all this. Giving him a piece of his parent’s legacy. He was…honored. He felt loved. He felt like he was a part of this family. He looked down at Martha Wayne’s beloved watch. His grandmother’s watch. It was beautiful and fit his wrist unfairly well.

He couldn’t help the smile that made its way into his lips. He looked up at Bruce and for the first time actually saw the man for what he was. A very lonely boy who had made his own family with everything he had gotten, keeping it together with tooth and nail. He was never going to abandon Tim. That just wasn’t how Bruce Wayne was.

“Thanks dad.” He said, accepting his gift, his family and finally his father.

“You’re welcome son.” And the tears that dropped down on Tim’s lap wasn’t just his own.