Work Text:
Tim knew three things tonight.
- Gotham was fucking cold.
- Mr. Freeze was fucking dramatic.
- Tim might be a bit of a moron. Maybe a lot of a moron.
Tim wasn’t usually one to call himself a moron (even though he really could admit that no matter how smart he actually was, he could be dumb), but then he remembered a piece of important information.
The spleen thing. Namely, not telling his family about the spleen thing.
It had been over a year since everything with Bruce had happened, and Tim still hadn’t found the right time to tell people about it. At this point, it felt too awkward to bring it up. Like, “Nice job tonight guys! Bee tee dubs I don’t have a spleen anymore so that might kick me in the ass later!”
He didn’t think it would go over well. And yet, looking at the state of Gotham with Freeze on the loose, he kind of wished he had gotten it over with. It was too late now, though, they had a villain to catch.
He dropped down to the icy dock where Jason was waiting for him. He waved, and Jason squinted.
“Are you shivering already? You literally just got here.” Tim turned his wave into a middle finger.
“It’s cold.” Tim defended himself. “I can literally see your breath wafting from under your stupid helmet.”
“It’s cold?” Jason mock gasped, throwing his hand to his chest. “I had no idea. Thanks, captain obvious.” Tim rolled his eyes and glanced at the small computer on his wrist.
“Right.” Tim murmured. “Freeze’s signature is down the main line of the sewer, about a kilometer. If we move fast, we can intercept him before he breaks out to the surface.” He made his way to a grate and pulled it off, jumping in. Jason followed, boots crunching the ice at the bottom.
“I fucking hate Freeze.” Tim nodded in agreement. Jason then paused, frowning. “Red, this place is colder than Freeze normally makes it. Shouldn’t we get backup?”
“We are the backup.”
“Yeah, but I like it more when other people are the backup.” Tim just shook his head.
“There’s no time to wait for anyone else. We were the closest, and Freeze is unstable.” Jason grumbled, but moved forward.
“I hate when you make sense.” They made their way down the main line.
Jason was right, it was colder than usual when dealing with Freeze. With every step, Tim could feel the temperature slowly drop lower and lower. After a few minutes of walking, he was faced with reality.
Tim was slowing down. Subtly at first, then more noticeably. His breath was shaky. His fingers flexed awkwardly, stiffening up. He saw Jason frown out of the corner of his eye.
“Red. Hey. Human icicle. You good?”
“Fine.” Tim lied in a voice that would’ve fooled approximately zero people. He was too focused on keeping his legs moving. Jason stopped in front of him, crossing his arms and frowning again when he saw Tim’s face.
“You’re as white as a sheet of printer paper.” Tim tried to step around him.
“Hood-”
“Nope. Daddy Bats told us to do a wellness check if something’s off.”
“Hood.” Tim weakly shoved at Jason’s shoulder. “I’m fine. Drop it.”
“People only say they're fine when they’re not.” Jason huffed but continued to follow after Tim.
“I get cold easily.” Tim wasn’t even lying when he said that, only obscuring the realities a bit. Jason hummed, like he knew something was wrong with Tim’s response but couldn’t quite place it. He opened his mouth to argue again, but he was cut off by a hard tremor in the tunnel.
There was a loud crack, followed by a blast of icy air. Jason hit the ground and slid, grabbing Tim before he could slam into the wall. Ice shards rained down where they were just standing. The tunnel behind them had collapsed, and the front section was blocked by debris.
They were stuck.
“Great.” Jason scoffed, crossing his arms tightly. “Just what I wanted tonight. A cryogenic coffin.” Tim snorted, but then shook with weak coughs from the action.
“Comms are down.” He frowned as a shaky hand pressed to his ear. “I can’t hear anyone anymore.” He watched as Jason tested his with a similar result.
“Fuck.” Tim nodded.
His body wasn’t just shivering anymore, he was shaking. Large, jerky motions that had him holding the wall for support. Jason stopped fiddling with his helmet.
“Okay.” Jason said, voice dropping. “What’s going on? Seriously. No more lies.”
“Just… cold.” Tim whispered.
“Bullshit. I know you. You run cold but not pass-out-in-a-walk-in-freezer cold.”
Tim looked away, and he knew it was enough to tip Jason off that something more serious was going on.
“Tim.” Jason said softly but firmly, forgoing vigilante names. “Tell me. I need to know what we’re working with here.” Tim swallowed hard.
“I… don’t have a spleen?”
Jason stared.
Blinked.
Blinked again.
“What.”
“No spleen. My systems are… a bit fucked because of it.” Jason blinked harder.
“I’m sorry, the hell do you mean you don’t have a spleen?!”
“It was removed.” Tim muttered. “A while back. While B was gone. It… complicated things.”
“Oh my god, you fucking moron! Why didn’t you tell anyone? That matters!”
“I didn’t want people treating me differently. I also didn’t know when a good time to do it would be.” Jason tossed his helmet to the ground and pushed his hands into his hair.
“YOU ARE LITERALLY FREEZING TO DEATH BECAUSE OF ‘NOT WANTING TO BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY’!” Jason took a deep breath. “I swear to every saint, when we get out of here I’m asking Bruce to lock you in a bubble so you can think about your actions.” Tim opened his mouth to argue.
He swayed instead. Jason lunged forward.
“No no no. Hey. Focus. Eyes on me.” He caught Tim.
“I’m just… tired.” Tim breathed out.
“Yeah, no. No sleeping. That’s illegal now.”
“Pretty sure that’s not how laws work.” Tim gave him a thin, trembling smile.
“Shut up.” Jason snapped, softer than before. “You don’t get sass rights until your lips stop being purple.”
Oh, that’s why he couldn’t feel his mouth. Another tremor racked his body. Jason cursed, peeled his jacket off, and tucked it around Tim like a burrito.
“Jason-” Tim tried to protest.
“Save it. I run hot.”
“No you don’t.”
“I do now.” Jason sat down and practically dragged Tim against his chest. Tim resisted for exactly half a second before he melted against the contact. Jason rubbed Tim’s arms with his hands.
“This is ridiculous. Why didn’t you say something? Even just to me before we came down here?”
“Didn’t want… to slow you down.” Tim’s blinking was slowing down. He pressed his face into Jason’s shoulder.
“You’re my partner tonight. You tell me things.”
“Didn’t want to make a big deal.”
“It is a big deal.” Jason snapped, voice cracking. “Not having a spleen is literally a big deal!”
Tim mumbled something that he was pretty sure sounded like “sorry.”
“Yeah, well…” Jason breathed out. “You can apologize when we’re not popsicles.” Jason spent a few minutes rambling nonsense to him, trying to keep him awake. Tim was getting worse.
His breathing hitched. His fingers twitched weakly. His eyes fluttered. Jason lightly tapped his cheek to get his attention.
“Hey. Eyes open. Talk to me. Insult me. Come on.”
“You’re loud.” Tim murmured.
“Good. What else?”
“Reckless.”
“Totally.”
“Terrible taste in colors.” Jason gasped.
“We literally wear the same shade of red.”
“You’re… warm.” Jason swallowed hard.
“Yeah. Yeah, kid.” They were quiet for a few moments. “Tim?” No response. “Stay awake. Come on. I’ll tell Bruce you were irresponsible.”
Tim hummed, before finally letting the cold pull him under.
+
“Fuck.” Jason breathed, shaking the kid. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Jason didn’t know what to do. He was trapped underground with his little brother who was freezing to death. “I swear to god, Tim.”
There was a faint crackle in Jason’s ear.
“Red Hood? Red Robin? Do you copy?” Jason nearly sobbed.
“Nightwing, you fucking miracle.”
“Signal’s faint. We’re zeroing in. Hold tight.” Jason pulled Tim closer. It took a few more minutes, but soon the ceiling was glowing from something cutting them out.
They had called in a super.
As soon as the hole was big enough, Dick’s masked face came peeking down.
“Shit.” Jason practically threw Tim at him.
“You need to get him out. Come back for me.” Jason didn’t even wait for an answer before he shoved Tim upward, hands shaking as he boosted him toward Dick. Tim was dead weight now, limp in a way that made Jason scared. Dick swore softly as he grabbed Tim.
“Jesus, he’s freezing.”
“No shit.” Jason snapped, stress in his voice. “Fucker doesn’t have a spleen.” Dick froze.
“What?”
“Later.” Jason said. “Move. Please.” Dick nodded once, already hauling Tim up through the hole with practiced ease. Jason watched them pull Tim out of sight, hands clenched so tight his knuckles hurt. The cold hit harder without Tim pressed against him. A few minutes later, Dick dropped back down, landing lightly despite the cramped space. He grabbed Jason’s arm.
“Let’s go.” Jason didn’t argue. He let himself be hauled up.
+
Tim woke up warm.
Too warm.
He tried to move, but soon noticed he was trapped beneath a bundle of what was absolutely too many blankets.
“What the fuck?” He rasped out, trying to untangle himself.
“Hey.” Tim jolted at Jason’s voice. “Look at that. He lives.”
“Jason…?” Tim tried to sit up, scowling when Jason pushed him back down.
“Ah-ah. Nope. You’re on medical probation.”
“I feel fine-”
“You passed out in a sewer.” Jason said flatly. “You don’t get opinions right now.” Tim squinted around the room instead of responding.
Bright lights. Monitors. Familiar cave stone.
“Batcave?” Tim finally said, turning back towards where Jason had made himself home in a chair by the bed.
“Gold star.” Jason said. “You win not freezing to death.” Tim winced.
“...Sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“I should’ve told you.” He saw Jason swallow.
“Yeah. You should have.” A beat of silence. “But we’ll yell about that later. After you’re not a corpse.” Tim huffed a weak laugh.
“Yeah, that’s fair.” He fought to keep his eyes open.
“Sleep. We’ll talk later.” Tim’s eyes slid closed.
“Thank you.” Tim murmured before he fell asleep again. “F’r helping.”
Jason just huffed, hiding a small smile with a book.