Chapter Text
It was one of those nights in Gotham where you could barely see anything in front of you let alone see anything on another rooftop and amidst the darkness there was one little boy on a specific rooftop trying to catch sight of 3 particular birds.
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Tim knew he probably shouldn’t have gone out today but it was one of those days where the big bat was not around and instead in his place Nightwing was there (NIGHTWING! I do hope I can take a good photo of him).
He knew he would have his camera taken away from him if his parents found out he was outside in Gotham at 2 am on a school night, what’s worse is that it’s one of those days where his parents are in town for at most a week or two.
He was planning on cutting this trip short because he does not want to get caught even if he is amazing at sneaking out now (thanks to going out at night to do some of the most dangerous hobbies he has but can you really blame him the bats look absolutely majestic at the right angle).
Just as he was about to get up from his perch on the rooftop of some abandoned building (It's Gotham there’s tons of abandoned buildings everywhere) He saw something shine under the moonlight and just like that he was down at the rooftop again with his camera up and ready to take pictures of the Bats.
But after a few minutes of waiting he saw no signs of Bats around the area at all, now usually he would have left it alone and chalked it up to the moonlight reflecting off of some random building but he is bored and he had not been able to take any pictures this week (Fine he was a little antsy today with his parents home and everything and also a little mad that he had not seen any sighting of the bats this entire week so screw it) and he decided to check it out.
When he got closer he made the wise decision to stay hidden behind an ac unit it was big enough that it covered him but didn’t obstruct his view (His teachers don't call him smart for nothing) and that’s when he heard a commotion from the other rooftop, he is so grateful that the streetlights were on or else he wouldn’t have been able to see anything.
But at the same time the streetlights were barely much of help as it only illuminated the streets ( “It’s in the name Timothy , you can be so stupid for someone so smart” he remembered his mother scolding him one day when he asked her what does the streetlights do, he learned that day to not go to her with any doubts other than actual business)
Tim could see silhouettes on the other rooftop, and with the all the commotion he could make out sound of swords meeting each other which frankly wasn't all that normal in Gotham and as far as he could see it seems like there was 3 people fighting against one person (which to be honest was not fair at all) and what he can make out the person that was fighting all three was very short almost his height but he couldn't see much from his position.
Tim decided to take the risk and walked over to the edge of the roof where he could probably see more of what was going on, on that other rooftop but just as he got to the edge, he saw the figure who was fighting all three people sprint towards the rooftops edge it looked like he was gonna jump down but before Tim knew what was happening the person jumped to the building Tim was on, clearly trying to escape as the person either thought it was a lost cause to fight all of them at once or got exhausted either way, the person had missed the rooftops edge by just an inch and before Tim could even think his body moved and soon he found himself holding the person by the arm.
Just as Tim recovered from schock he steadied himself and pulled the person as fast as he could which lead the person to stumble into him leading both of them to topple over.
That’s when Tim could finally see his face clearly. It was a kid younger than him but that was all his brain could catalog before the boy started running again and Tim all but stumbled up in a daze but he was soon snapped out of it by the the people running towards him and Tim did the only thing he knew how to do, He ran.
After a few minutes of running and jumping around rooftops he was surprised to see the boy ahead of him and after a while he catched up to the boy and he risked looking behind him which frankly was a bad mistake as he could see more people running after them, he turned to around to look where he was going and he spotted a rusty door the same door he usually used to get to the ground faster.
And Tim made another stupid decision, he grabbed the boys hand and all but dragged him towards the door and as soon as they entered the door which was actually a staircase he closed the door with a loud thump.
He grabbed the boys hand again but this time the boy tried to stay rooted in place and looked like he was about to spew some insults at Tim but Tim couldn’t hear him because of the adrenaline the boy tried to take his hand back but Tim was stronger than he looked and dragged the boy along with him and all but sprinted towards the exit, after which they where finally on the ground.
He tried to catch his breath after everything but just as he was starting to relax more people came out of nowhere “you gotta be kidding me” Tim said aloud and thats when he realized through the entire chase no one had spoken a single word well thats something future Tim could think about later.
And that how he was running again dragging the boy with him and then Tim took a sharp turn which made most of the people to loose track of them and skidded to a stop when he saw a the top of a sewer and he thought for a sec trying to weigh the pros and cons but they didn't have time so he did what he did best he unscrewed the lid and gestured the boy to get in after him.
Tim could see the disgust on the boys face with how close they were standing but nonetheless the boy followed him. He landed with a quiet splash and the boy landed right after him but instead of a splash he heard nothing, oh well the boy could’ve been lucky it ain’t his business.
Finally he could breathe without anybody on his tails and thats the moment the boy decided to speak up “Who Are you” The boy said radiating a type of arrogance only royalty could master, he also demanded instead of asking like he owned the world, god who taught this kid manners probably no one.
Tim fumbled in his pocket to get his phone and used it flash the flashlight and thats when he looked at the boy properly he was short almost Tims height but not quite he was a bit shorter than him and god the kid was glaring at him like he was the bane of his entire existence.
They stood there for a few minutes in awkward silence until Tim couldn’t take it anymore.
“Right I didn’t introduce myself my name is Tim and you are…..” Tim trailed off hoping the boy would give him and answer, Tim didn’t know if the boy took pity on him but the boy decided to answer a moment later.
“I am Damian Al Ghul (Wayne) The heir of the League Of Assassins, tell me peasant why I shall spare your life.” The boy said shortly followed by the noise of a sword being unsheathed.
Now a normal person would have just ran away but we are talking about Timothy Jackson Drake he stalks vigilantes for fun so Tim already knew he had no self-preservation instincts but dying by the hands of a little kid that is shorter than him, Hah Tim has dignity or whatever remains of it but he ain’t dying in this boring way in a sewer No Thankyou.
“ First of all I just saved your life from those hooligans back there if you remember correctly or do you have memory problems along with anger issues” The boy obviously bristled at Tims words and looked ready to maim him but oh well Tim didn’t care.
“I order you to get me out of this revolting place of filth.” The boy said to Tim and he looked disgusted that he was even in a sewer, eh Tim isn’t fazed he had been in this sewer multiple times before and it honestly saved his life countless times, as revolting as the sewer was it is a pretty good place to hide because no sane person would go into the sewer filled with god knows what (most of the times they are scared to go in because of All the testing going on in the sewers by the villains and no one wants to inhale a prototype of fear gas with no antidote).
“Whatever you say Your Majesty” because Tim still has some preservation instincts Tim led the way out of the sewers.
The lid of the sewer entrance popped of with a light push god knows how people don’t fall in every single day, Tim made sure the coast was clear before exiting the sewer because he is still panting from the chase earlier even though he built up more stamina because of his “bird-watching” but no one needs to know about that.
“Now that we know each others name can you tell me where you want to go because I can't just act as a tour guide for the rest of the night” Tim says the effects of staying up the whole day was catching up to him and the rush of adrenaline was also fading away now which left a very tired Tim with a random child who claims he is the heir of some (probably illegal) organization, standing on a road covered in sewer water and on the run from some(alot) of people wearing black.
“You see i would love to bring you to my house but I can’t at the moment because my parents are there, Now usually this is where I take my leave but I can’t leave a child who is probably 6 on gothams street especially at night so tell me where you are going and i will give you money for the bus fare” Tim was getting more tired by the second so if Damian does not answer he swears to god he will literally throw money at his face and run away.
Damian says something but it’s so quiet Tim could barely catch the end of the words.
“Can you repeat that I didn’t catch watch you said’ As soon as those words left his mouth Tim could see a faint blush creep up Damians neck but he quickly recovered and soon as the blush came it disappeared just as fast and Tim would have laughed in his face but Tim didn’t have the time to deal with the aftermath of his actions because most likely he would probably get stabbed.
“I’m here in the search of my father, It is said he is quite popular in the upper side of Gotham” As soon as those words left damians mouth, Tim was already trying to figure whose kid could this be he definitely acts like a snobby rich kid but at the same time he doesn’t act like a total slob, He could be the son of the Jeffersons but they had been involved in a scandal a few months ago so its unlikely they have a whole hidden child plus the scandal was about Mr.Jefferson cheating on his wife so Damian could be his son because he is known for playing around but Damian doesn’t resemble him whatsoever so the Jeffersons are out of question then who could it be because most rich families only have one kid to avoid a quarrel between the children for the inheritance but some families do hide children from the public eye.
Ugh Tims head is hurting now, It’s best not to think too much about it plus he has been quiet for a very long time and he could feel Damian starting to bristle at the silence.
“So can you tell me who your father is because i ain’t no alien that can read minds and if he does live in the upperside of Gotham you are in luck because I live there too and i could take you there” Tim could see a sparkle of hope flicker through the kids eyes(god he needs to decide weather to keep calling him Damian or kid, Eh who cares he will call the kid whatever he wants).
“I don’t know my fathers name but what I do know is that he is called the Bat of Gotham, now will you take me to him or will you just stand there with your mouth open like a fish” Tim can’t begin to comprehend how shocked he is feeling right now but he can imagine it’s like seeing a hundred elephants breaking out of a zoo and then riding each other in front of lions who does not even acknowledge them in front of a little girl who is now emotionally scarred for life yup thats how he is feeling right now because What the actual Fuck (Sorry mom but it’s one of the cases where it is acceptable to swear) no one just casually tells him they are the son of THE BATMAN.
Lord give him the strength to continue this life instead of jumping right back into the sewers to his demise. Damian seems to look(glare) at him like Tim is the sole reason why he can’t meet his father. Now Tim is no genius even though his teachers disagree he is only good at following directions and right now there was nothing to follow not even a name so Tim decided to solve it by throwing money like he usually does around.
“So this is what we are gonna do here take 200 dollars get a bus to go where ever you want not really my business you do you imma go to my house now byebye” Tim all but sprints down the alley they were in now he still has some sewage water on his clothes and he knew no taxis were gonna be available at the dead of night.
Tim ran around an impressive amount alleyways until he found the rooftop he was on before and made sure no one was there before hauling a cycle from behind the bushes, it was a bit rusty and he was just glad no one stole his bike and after checking his cycle for any tamperings, he hoped onto the cycle and pedaled as fast as his legs could to his house. Now the rooftop was a bit far from his house but it was closer than all the other places and if there was a situation where he needed to get home this would have been the best place and now it proved his point, as Tim neared his house he got a feeling like he was being followed but lately alot of things has been happening and plus Tim really doesn’t care.
Tim parked his bike behind the pushes and scaled the nearby tree to his window to prevent his parents from waking up. He could feel eyes boring into his soul before he finally managed to close the window.
Eh whatever that’s something future Tim has to deal with but now It’s time for bed and god knows he needs to catch on some sleep before meeting his parents again.
Tim faceplanted into his bed and instantly fell asleep but before he could fully lose consciousness he caught a glimpse of vibrant green eyes and impromptly passed out.