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“Why did I agree to this?” Red Hood groaned, dragging a hand over his eyes.
“Sorry, no backing out now Littlewing!” Nightwing said cheerily. The older dragged him through a random apartment window, where, sitting on the carpeted floor, looking bored, where their other siblings.
“I see you were finally able to track down Todd, Richard” said Damian, dressed in his Robin costume all except for the mask, the youngest squinting suspiciously, “How were you able to get him to agree to this?”
Jason shrugged. “Thought it’d be good blackmail material” he said.
“Of course,” said Tim, sighing dramatically. He was dressed similarly to Damian, full costume aside from mask, though he still had his hood on. “That’s all you can focus on on a day we’ll be revealing our secrets to each other.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll probably get some good shit outta’ this too, Replacement” said Jason, sighing.
“Actually” said Dick, finally peeling off his domino, “I was gonna ask something of you all.”
Cass tilted her head curiously. “What?” she asked.
“Anything we share with each other here will not leave this room.”
“Seriously?” said Jason, “That’s half the reason I’m here.”
“What’s the other half?” asked Tim.
“Just for the fun of it.”
“Of course.”
“That’ your new catchphrase, Pretender?”
“Fuck off, Hood.”
“Guys” said Dick, “Please?”
The other Batkids (TM) glanced at each other for a moment. Dick, their loving, compassionate, near always cheery older brother wasn’t usually like this, so…
Damian groaned. “Fine, Richard” he said, “I swear on my honor that I will not mention anything said in this room outside of this room unless the person who said it is alright with it.”
“Like you have any honor,” Tim muttered. If Damian heard anything, he didn’t say it. “I’ll do it too, on my life or whatever” the middle child said after a moment.
“Same” said Cass, nodding in agreement.
“Fine” said Jason, nudging Dick’s shoulder before going to sit in the circle with the rest of his siblings.
Dick gave a small smile of what seemed like relief before joining the other four in the circle. From there, he pulled out a small paper scroll, presumably the truth spell Zatanna had given him. “Ready?” he asked.
They all nodded. No going back now.
-
Three seconds after the spell had been cast, Tim announces “I don't feel any different.”
“Maybe it takes time to kick in?” Dick suggested.
Tim rolled his eyes. “Probably” he said, “After all, I’ve felt more difference from magical attacks and my missing organs, so-” the younger suddenly cut himself off. After blinking a couple times, he squeaked out “I think it’s working.”
“Excuse me, what? ” said Jason.
“I said missing organ-” Tim placed a hand over his mouth, cutting himself off.
“What organ did you lose?” Damian asked incredulously.
“Appendix” said Tim, sounding defeated.
“Not bad,” said Cass, ruffling his hair, in the process dropping the boy’s hood.
“Yeah” said Tim, bumping her shoulder.
“You said organs,” said Dick.
“Yeah?” said Tim.
“Organ s ” Dick said again, this emphasizing the s as in plural , “What was the other one?”
“Nope, not saying any more until someone else shares their shit” said Tim, shaking his head.
Everyone glanced at each other, then back at Tim, and then Damian suddenly blurted out “I still verbally antagonize you because I don’t know how to apologize for trying to kill you and actually want you as a big brother.”
Everyone aside from Tim stared as Damian lowered his head a blushed, the older instead having a thoughtful look on his face. “I’ll pick you up from school on Thursday so we can hang out” he said finally, facing the youngest, “I… can’t completely forgive you for now, but it’ll be a start.”
Damian glanced at Tim with a mixture of thankfulness and open hope on his face before quickly ducking his head away again.
“So, anyone wanna talk about all the crazy time and dimension travel incidents?” asked Jason, everyone quickly turning their heads in confusion, “What? It’s happened a bunch and I 'gotta admit I’m curious about them.”
“Like this one time on a mission with the Outlaws I got sucked through what was apparently a time portal-” and now he couldn’t stop, “-and found a graveyard with the entire family’s graves except for Cass and Tim’s. And there was Batwoman watching over them, but she was way too lithe to be Kate.”
“It was Cass,” Tim said immediately, then muttered “me and my big mouth.”
“How do you know that, Timothy?” and whoa , that was weird, hearing Tim’s first name come from Damian’s mouth.
“Remember when Starro had a Yellow Lantern ring and was attacking a few years ago? When the Titans were called in to help the Justice League, some time after Conner and Bart died?” Tim asked Dick, the oldest nodding slowly, “Well, right before the attack, my future evil self and few future evil YJ and Titans members came back in time to try and make their timeline permanent, and later on, when that attack was more in swing, and army of evil Titans led by Lex Luthor came through a time gate, one of them being Cass as Batwoman.”
“What was your future self?” asked Jason.
Tim looked down and muttered something, so Jason said “Speak up, kid.”
Tim groaned. “We call my future self “Gun Batman” because I became Batman with a gun who killed every Gotham Rouge.”
Everyone stared in stunned silence. “Timmy” Dick said slowly, “How many times have you met “Gun Batman”?”
“Three times” said Tim, apparently giving up fighting against the spell, “The first one was from ten years in the future from that point, who worked with Rachel as Dark Raven, Gar as Animal Man, Kon as Superman, Bart as the Flash, who wasn’t actually evil, and Cassie as Wonder Woman.”
“The second one was from nine years in the future, when they came back during the attack to save their timeline. He worked with Kid Devil as Red Devil, Kon as Superman, Bart as Flash, who was evil this time, Cassie as Wonder Woman, M’gann as Martian Manhunter, and a bunch of other evil Titans whose names I never found out aside from Cass’s.”
“The third was around a few months after we got Bruce back. He appeared in the Nest, and I don't know when he was from, but I got him to back off without a fight” Tim finished.
“Christ, kid” Jason said, “So, what, you think you're destined to become evil Batman?”
“I’m doing everything I can to avoid it” said Tim, sounding resigned, “I mean, they keep coming back to “steer me in the right direction”, so I must be doing something right if I’m erasing their timelines.”
“You definitely are,” said Dick, ruffling his hair.
“We’ll give you a good knock on the head if you start going nuts” Jason affirmed.
“Little brother good” said Cass, “Not changing.”
“I concur with the others” said Damian, “Beside, I’m supposed to become the next Batman” he huffed.
Tim laughed. “Thanks guys. Me and the other Young Justice members are keeping an eye on each other too, just so you know” he said, “I’m not completely alone in this.”
“So, anyone else?” asked Tim.
Dick sighed. “If I had nickel for every time a villain forced me to become their sidekick,” he began, “I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot, but why won’t they leave me alone?”
“Dude,” said Tim, “ dude .”
“Who?” said Damian angrily, “Who do I need to stab?”
“Well, Tim already took out the Court of Owls back when he was 15, so you don’t need to worry about them” said Dick, “Slade is still obsessed with me, so you might want to watch out for him, and the Joker technically came after Dick Grayson and not Discowing .”
“I’m sorry, did you just say the Joker came after your civilian identity ?” asked Jason.
“It was before you died” Dick was quick to reassure, as if that was any better, “Before Bruce adopted you even, but when I was still in my disco phase. He brainwashed me into thinking I was his son, Dickey-Boy .” Dick shuddered.
“Wait” said Tim, “You were also brainwashed into being the Joker’s son?”
Silence for 1, 2, 3 seconds, and then “Tim-Tam, Timmy, Tim-Tac, Tim, Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne , what the actual fuck do you mean by “ also ”?” said Jason, absolutely losing his mind at this point.
“Back when I was Robin, before Bruce and Dick made up, and Babs was still Batgirl, and you were still, well, dead , the Joker kidnapped me to “rekindle” his relationship with Harley. Through a mixture of a lot of chemicals, Joker Venom, and electro-therapy over three weeks, I was brainwashed into thinking I was his and Harley’s son, Joker Junior” said Tim.
“I remember reading about the Joker Junior case, but you weren’t mentioned in the file,” said Dick.
“I asked not to be,” said Tim, wincing, “It was a messy time. My brain still sometimes tricks me into thinking I’m JJ.”
“How’s that work?” asked Jason.
“It’s kinda like DID” said Tim, “I just hear him in my head sometimes, antagonizing me. Like Damian was, only way worse since he’s in my brain and knows all my secrets.”
“So, what? You’re just partially insane now?” asked Jason.
Tim shrugged. “Pretty much” he said, and then “Y’know, according to U.S. court laws, Harley and I would get an insanity plea, but Joker wouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry, what ?” said Dick.
“The Joker isn’t actually insane, the chemicals only made him look the way he is, and his “one bad day” shtick isn’t enough to work in a court of law” said Tim, “However, through the use of his Joker Venom, as well as conditioning for Harley and electro-therapy for me, he actually drove Harley and I insane, so we would get the plea.”
“Holy-” said Dick, “Wait, the only thing protecting Joker from the death sentence right now is the insanity plea, it’s why he’s sent to Arkham over and over, to get treatment . If we can get this to Gordon-”
“Look’s the Joker’s finally dying after tonight, boys” said Jason, smirking.
“He shoulda’ died when I shot him, or when Dick beat him to near death” Tim commented, “But yeah, totally.”
“Excuse me, what ?” said Jason, “Would you stop suddenly revealing all the crazy shit?”
“Sorry” said Tim, shrinking in on himself just a bit.
“Tim, ya’ know I’m joking, right?” said Jason. When Tim took more than two beats to answer, Jason repeated “Right?”
“Now I do,” Tim muttered.
“Why did you not get it the first time?” asked Damian.
“I’m autistic, so I’m actually really god-awful with social cues” said Tim, “My parents tried to get me “therapy” for it, but ultimately decided not to since I didn’t have any “annoying” habits and my black and white thinking made easier for me to do as I was told.”
“Yeah, I get that one, you kinda seem like the autistic type” said Jason.
Dick turned to stare at him. “That was, like, really rude,” he said.
“I literally just said I do better with black and white thinking, he was stating the obvious” said Tim, blinking at Dick as if he was the crazy one.
“I agree with Timothy, did not hear what he just said, Richard?” said Damian.
“Just listen,” said Cass.
Dick groaned, and Jason grinned. “I really didn’t mean to be rude,” he said, “I was going with what he said.”
“Yeah, I get that now,” said Dick.
“... So, what’s this I hear about you beating the Joker to near death?” asked Jason.
“After you died, B still refused to kill the Joker, so I went to Jump, got my Renegade costume, and beat the ever-loving crap out of the Joker and left him to die” said Dick, “Not sure how he survived, without any permanent damage too, but yeah, I beat up the Joker.”
“Renegade?” asked Tim, “Isn’t that one of Deathstroke’s kids?”
“It’s the name of his “apprentice”, whoever they may be at the time” said Dick, “I had been that at one point, so I still had the costume.”
“Ah,” said Tim.
“How many kids does Slade Wilson have?” asked Damian.
“Renegade, Respawn, and Ravager” said Tim, “He seems to be obsessed with the letter “R” after meeting “Robin”.”
Dick groaned again, Damian smirked, Cass giggled, and Jason downright laughed.
“See?” said Tim, “Just because I’m autistic doesn’t mean I can’t make jokes.”
Jason somehow laughed harder. “So, I heard you shot the Joker?” he asked the younger.
Tim nodded. “Yeah” he said, “When B and Babs found me during the whole JJ incident, Batman and Joker fought before the clown managed to trap him and brought me out. He dropped a gun into my hands and said “Make Daddy proud, deliver the punchline!” and had me aim at Bruce.”
“At the last second I redirected the gun and shot Joker through the chest with a metal pole, he said “That’s not funny” and I had a mental breakdown that Babs consoled me through.”
“Well” said Jason, “if you don’t mind explain’ to Duke a little, we can add you to mine, his, and Babs’s group chat of “Joker traumatized Bats”.”
Tim shrugged. “Sure, why not?” he said, “Speaking of which, why isn’t, like, Duke or Steph or Harper here?”
“Harper and Steph said, and I quote “I’m not your sibling”, both of them used the exact same words” said Dick, “and do you really think Duke is ready for something like this?”
“True” said Tim.
“So, about the organ thing-” Dick started.
“No,” said Tim flatly.
“Timmy, please?” said Dick, giving the younger puppy-dog eyes.
Tim groaned. “If one- no, two- If two of you can give me a weird body part fact about yourselves, I’ll tell you my other missing organ.”
Jason weighed the options in his head. “I lost one of my kidneys while on an Outlaws mission. Bought a new one off the black market.”
Dick’s eye twitched. “So you just have a black market kidney?” he said.
“Pretty much” said Jason, shrugging.
“Do you even know who it’s from?”
“Nope.”
Dick buried his face in his hands, shaking his head muttering “where did I go so wrong?”
“It wasn’t you that went wrong, it was Bruce” said Jason, “We all know he’s fucked as shit.”
“Can’t disagree with that,” said Tim, nodding.
Damian sighed. “Aside from your ridiculous bemoaning of Father’s failure as a parent” he said, “I was paralyzed from a gunshot wound and Mother replaced my spine with a metal one, which she later used to possess me.”
“Looks like I need to go stab Talia” Jason muttered before saying louder “Okay Tim-Tam, that’s two, spill.”
Tim groaned dramatically. “When I was looking for Bruce, I finally found evidence that he was alive in a desert in Iraq” he said, “when an assassin came after me. He killed two of my teammate’s, slit Pru’s larynx, and stabbed me through the chest.”
“Ra’s found me and was like “Not today, motherfucker” and saved my life but my spleen bit the dust like a coward” Tim finished.
“Okay, there’s so much to unpack there, but first-” said Dick, “You lost your spleen, as in the organ that filters your bloodstream, as in you’re immunocompromised ?”
Tim rolled his eyes. “I’ve switched to a mostly vegan diet, eat white blood cell boosting foods, take prescribed antibiotics, and heavily sanitize all my wounds, my apartment, and the Nest” he said, “I’m immunocompromised, not stupid .”
“Okay, second, Ra’s ?” said Jason, “As in Ra’s “Lazarus Pit” al Ghul?”
“I wasn’t thrown in the pit” said Tim, “I woke up next to one after my splenectomy, so it was the first thing I asked.”
“Why would an assassin target you though?” asked Damian.
“ Technically it was targeting the LoA” said Tim.
“Tim” said Dick, “Why was an assassin targeting the LoA target you ?”
“Because I was working with the League at the time?” said Tim, doing jazz hands as if that would calm down the situation.
“Jesus fucking Christ, kid” said Jason, “Why?”
Tim sighed. “No one believed me when I said Bruce was alive, no one except Ra’s” he said, “He offered me resources, and I eventually accepted, and he sent three agents to help me: Zedmore Washington, Owens, and Prudence Wood. They helped me find the cave painting in Iraq, and then the assassin, this guy called the Widower from the Council of Spiders, killed Z and Owens, and I already told you about the whole “losing my spleen” thing.”
“Afterwards I was kinda forced to stay with League, since Ra’s had kidnapped Tam-”
“ That’s how you met her?” asked Dick.
“We’ve already seen she’s an extraordinary woman, it only makes her more impressive that she could handle Grandfather,” said Damian.
“Of course she could handle Ra’s, she can handle Tim now” said Jason.
“Hey!” said Tim.
“Truth” said Cass.
“Traitor,” said Tim.
“Not traitor if true,” said Cass.
“Uhg” said Tim, “Anyways, Ra’s said he’d keep giving me resources if I helped him with the Council, which I agreed to. Eventually I found enough evidence to prove Bruce was alive, and took out a majority of the Spiders. From there, I manage to escape with Tam and Pru and-” Tim took a breath “-I may have blown up every single League of Assassins base worldwide?”
There was a heavy silence. Because, what ? Tim , Batman’s perfect Robin , did what ?
“Tim,” said Jason, “ Please tell me you're joking.”
“Truth spell” Dick choked out, and oh god , it was real.
Cass wrapped herself around Tim, trying to comfort the second youngest, who was shrinking in on himself.
“... my Mother?” Damian asked quietly.
Tim smiled bittersweetly. “I sent her on a mission with her friends and the assassins loyal to her far away from any League base” said Tim, “She sent me a message after the whole thing that happened when I got back that basically said she would do me a favor for saving her life. Have you been wondering why she hasn’t sent anymore assassins after you?”
Damian blinked, and a moment later he was plastered to Tim’s side, squeezing himself between Cass’s arms.
“Thank you” he murmured.
“No problem, fratellino ” said Tim, brushing his hand through the youngest’s hair. Damian blinked, then smiled and buried his face into Tim’s arm.
“Help us out Timmy, Jason and I don’t know as many languages as you three do” said Dick.
Tim giggled. “I’m part Italian, fratellino means brother .”
“Okay… fra-tel-lino ” said Dick, and Tim groaned.
“That is sacrilege, you are butchering and defacing my language” he said, though he smirked, “I would never do that to you, baro phral .”
Dick’s face spasmed. “Where did you learn that?” he squeaked.
“I’ve been teaching myself Romani since I got back from the League” said Tim, shrugging as Damian and Cass finally detached themselves from him, “I couldn’t unstick the habit of learning new languages. If you want to blame anyone, blame Pru, she knows way too many.”
“What did happen when Tim got back?” asked Jason, “I wasn’t here for that. I leave, and then I come back and it turns out Bruce is alive and Tim is suddenly the CEO of W.E..”
Both Dick and Damian wince at the question, but Cass’s face is impassive. “I not here also” she said, “... curious.”
“Well…” said Tim, “While a majority of the League was… destroyed-” Jason winced at that, “A fairly large amount, including Ra’s himself, survived, and Green Kool-Aid Obsessed himself decided to get back at me my targeting everything Bruce loved, so that even if I saved him, he wouldn’t have anything left, and it would be my fault.”
“He came after W.E. and everyone Bruce cared about, but I was able to call in some favors and get them protected” said Tim, “As for W.E.? I got myself emancipated and per Bruce’s instructions, as soon as I was legally taking care of myself, I would get all his shares in Wayne Enterprises and his position. As in, I was the majority shareholder and the CEO, and Ra’s couldn’t touch the company even if he killed me” said Tim, before wincing, “Which is exactly what he tried to do.”
“How?” Cass asked seriously.
“He kicked Tim out his, at the time Bruce’s, office window, basically from the top of the W.E. building” said Dick, “I know because I caught him before he hit the ground.” Dick looked almost… sad. “You didn’t know I would catch you, did you?”
Tim was still for a moment before he sighed and shook his head slowly. “No,” he said, “I… I thought I was gonna die having saved Bruce and everything he loved, and he would be proud of me in my death, but… I was still scared. I didn’t wanna die. I still don’t want to die.”
“Well, good thing I caught you then” said Dick, ruffling Tim’s hair, “Just… no more death-defying stunts unless you’re sure they’ll be death- defying .”
“That’s from me too” said Jason, “Don’t fucking die. No more dead Robins, even if they’re not Robin anymore. Your my little fucking brother.” He turned to Cass. “That goes for you too. You may not have been Robin, but you’re a damn good bat and sibling.”
Cass smiled small and gave a tiny two fingers salute, before her smile faded slightly. “Nearly killed child. In Hong Kong” she said, smile dropping completely.
Tim’s brow furrowed. “Cass, Cricket was a ten year assassin trying to kill you. When we teamed up, he gave me a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, three cracked ribs, and a dislocated jaw, while holding back when I went to help you out. It was a life or death situation for you, child or not.”
Tim tapped his chin thoughtfully. “In fact, it was kinda like the Harm situation” said Tim, “A child assailant who knows what they’re doing is wrong, and they can stop on their own if they want, but actively decides not to, instead continuing to cause damage.”
“Who the fuck is Harm ?” asked Jason
“Child villain I faced with Young Justice, not my trauma, not important” said Tim, waving a hand, “but uh, yeah, not your fault.” Cass smiled again, this time seeming more at peace.
“So, what about you, Jason?” asked Dick, “Any Outlaws stuff you wanna share with us?”
“Actually, I’ve pretty much shared most of my trauma with you guys before,” Jason confessed.
“Seriously?” said Tim, “You said you got over all that shit?”
“And I did,” said Jason, slightly, “because unlike you all, I went to therapy .”
There was silence for a few more moments of silence before Tim said “Must’ve been a damn good therapist.”
Dick let out a scandalized “ Tim ”, Cass and Jason laughing at the tone.
“You want a recommendation, Tim-Tac?” the older asked.
Tim tilted his head for a second before nodding and saying “Yeah, sure, why not? I think I could use it.”
“I’ll send it to you later” said Jason, then more quiet, “So, uh, I’ve been meaning to ask you-”
“-why did you forgive me?”
“Huh?” asked Tim, seeming confused.
“Why did you forgive me for trying to kill you?” asked Jason, “I never apologized, even though I’ve been meaning to for a long time, so why did you?”
“Oh, you did apologize,” said Tim casually, “You just don’t remember.”
Jason raised a brow. “Explain,” he said.
“On one of the nights I patrolled with you as Robin, shortly before Damian arrived, you got a really bad concussion” said Tim, “So bad that you didn’t remember the patrol the following day, or anything you had done the day before. But before you had gotten bad, you asked me to follow you to one of your safehouses to make sure you didn’t die again.”
“Once we got there, you asked me to stay with you for awhile, and against my better judgement at the time, I did” he continued, “We both kinda just sat there for, like, an hour, before you had a sudden breakdown. You were crying about how you were sorry and you didn’t mean it and the Pit influenced you and stuff like that, but you also said you were trying to do better. You volunteered to patrol with me to protect me, and were waiting to apologize until you knew you could even be considered for forgiveness. That you knew it might never be enough, but you were gonna keep trying because you wanted me as a younger brother.”
“That’s when I forgave you Jason” said Tim, looking up at Jason with shining eyes, “You were trying , so, so hard, and that’s more than I could say for a lot people in my life.”
“I think I might’ve believed you, if you told me Bruce was alive” said Jason, “I probably would have come with you on your timestream hunt.”
Tim chuckled sadly. “I knew you would,” he said, “That’s why I didn’t ask. I needed someone in Gotham to keep Dick’s head on straight while I was gone, and, well, Cass was in Hong Kong, Damian had been trying to kill me, and I didn’t trust Steph at the time.”
Jason nodded. It was true, and hardly a secret between the younger bats that Dick had barely been holding on as Batman. It made sense, Tim’s logic always did.
“I, I think that’s it” said Dick, “I can’t believe we’re done.”
“I mean, we all probably have more secrets, I know I do, just… not tonight” said Tim. The others nodded in agreement.
“Now that we are all in agreement-” said Damian, “-can we get rid of this god-awful spell?”
The other laughed, and Dick pulled out a second scroll, presumably the counter spell. “Right away.”
-
For a few minutes after the counter-spell was cast, the Batkids (TM) sat in silence, until Tim stood up and stretched.
“Well” he said, stepping towards the window, “First person to tell Gordon about the Joker’s insanity plea get’s everyone else’s share of Alfred’s cookies!” and hopped out and swung away.
Jason chuckled. “That little shit” he said affectionately before standing, “C’mon, we can’t let him win” he said to his other siblings. Everyone smirked.
Cass won.