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With heavy steps, Dick dragged himself through the cave, a deep frown carved into his face, his gaze fixed on the ground as if looking up would force him to confront something he was not ready to face. He avoided everyone’s eyes, the weight of what he had discovered pressing hard against his chest, tightening his breathing.
He stopped in front of the computer. The sharp rhythm of Bruce’s typing seemed louder than usual, each keystroke striking his ears like an impatient tick that began to grate on his nerves.
He growled under his breath. The sound cut through the air, making Bruce pause mid-motion. Bruce finally looked at him, something in his posture shifting—defensive, alert, ready to confront whatever problem was haunting Dick.
“What happened?” Bruce asked, his voice controlled despite the tension coiled in his shoulders.
Dick bit his lip, still hesitating. He knew what he had seen. There was no misunderstanding, no alternative interpretation. The encounter had been clear, undeniable, right in front of him.
“I saw Jason with someone,” he said, the words turning bitter in his mouth.
Bruce turned fully toward him, bracing himself for what would come next.
“It wasn’t Tim.”
No. It had been a blonde woman in a red dress and heels that were far too high for Gotham’s cracked pavement. A stranger standing too close to Jason. Someone who was not Tim.
Tim, who had been with Jason for two years. Tim, to whom Jason had promised protection after everything they had been through together.
Dick had trusted Jason. He had trusted his words, and the way Tim looked at him—defending him, loving him without hesitation.
A love that, in this moment, Dick was no longer sure Jason deserved.
How could Jason do this to Tim?
Bruce rose from his chair, his mind already racing ahead, thoughts moving quickly as his legs carried him across the cave. He paced in a tight arc, organizing possibilities, discarding them just as fast.
“Was it an information exchange?”
“No. It definitely wasn’t,” Dick replied firmly. “The club they went into belongs to Red Hood. And there hasn’t been any movement that would require that kind of direct intervention.”
“One of Hood’s girls?”
Dick shook his head again, the denial weighing heavier each time Bruce tried to find an explanation. No matter how he turned it, there was no angle that saved Jason from what this looked like.
“No. I checked. She’s not part of Hood’s group.”
Bruce hesitated, stopping in the middle of the cave. For a brief second, he almost seemed uncertain. He had believed deeply in Jason and Tim’s relationship. Now that belief felt unstable, as if it were beginning to crack under Jason’s choices.
“I’ll talk to Jason,” Bruce said at last. “Don’t mention this to anyone for now. We don’t need to unsettle the team. It’s not convenient for our work.”
Dick let out a sharp breath, his hands curling into fists, his shoulders drawn tight with restrained anger, but he did not argue. There was nothing to gain from pushing back.
“Fine. Handle it your way,” he said. “But don’t put me on patrol with Jason or Tim. I don’t know if I’d be able to handle it.”
Bruce nodded, dismissing him with a small gesture of his hand.
Dick cast him a sideways glance before turning away and leaving the cave, stepping back into Gotham’s streets. The city air hit his face. He needed to talk to someone about this.
Cass was his best option.
She knew how to keep a secret.
“And then I saw Jason with a girl,” Dick let out, his body loose as he sat on the edge of the rooftop, the city humming far below them.
Cass nodded beside him, understanding settling in without hesitation. He couldn’t see her eyes beneath the mask, but he could feel the quiet recognition in the way she held herself, steady and attentive.
“I…” she began, the word catching briefly before she continued. “I saw Jason with a man a few days ago. Redhead.”
Dick frowned, the tension returning immediately.
“Roy?”
Cass shook her head.
A pained expression crossed Dick’s face, sharper this time. “At the same club I saw him in?”
Cass nodded again.
“Shit,” Dick muttered, the word leaving him heavier than he intended. “This is worse than I thought.”
Cass inclined her head once more, slower now, as if confirming the weight of it.
“You can’t intervene. Tell Batman,” she said, then added after a brief pause, “Don’t talk to Tim. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
Dick’s shoulders sagged in quiet defeat.
“I know. I know,” he said.
He didn’t want to confront Jason and have it spiral into something physical. His emotions had a way of striking deep and hard in his chest, and he knew he wouldn’t keep his composure if he faced him directly.
He didn’t know what he would do if he ran into Tim first.
What would he even say? What could he possibly do?
He hated seeing his little brother cry. He didn’t want to see him like that again.
“I’ll tell B about this.”
And he would let him handle it. Adding this to the earlier encounter meant Bruce would have far more to confront Jason with. He just hoped Tim wouldn’t end up carrying the worst of it.
When Dick returned to the cave later, Steph’s voice echoed through the space, loud and unapologetic, her words sharp and impossible to ignore.
“I saw him with an older man! He had gray hair and a horrible sweater!” she blurted, nearly out of breath. “Bruce, that idiot is cheating on my best friend with a senior citizen. How can you let this happen?”
Dick blinked, thrown off balance.
An… older man?
Jason wasn’t just cheating on Tim. He was doing it openly, almost brazen about it.
Another voice filled the cave, colder and far more controlled. Damian descended the stairs without haste, his expression composed, though anger threaded tightly through his tone.
“I saw him with a clown.”
Three pairs of eyes snapped toward the teenager. He shifted under the sudden attention, clearly irritated by it.
“He was wearing a green wig and an excessively colorful suit,” Damian continued. “Todd appears to have overcome his fear of clowns, because I saw them kissing in an alley.”
That was it. The decision settled hard in Dick’s chest. He was going to hit Jason. He didn’t care what Bruce said.
He pivoted, ready to go after him, only to be stopped by Bruce’s voice cutting across the cave.
“Dick, you cannot confront him directly,” Bruce ordered sharply when he saw the shift in him. “We need to remove Tim from this first.”
Dick turned to answer, only to collide chest-first with Duke. The youngest looked up at him with a tense grimace.
“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to listen, but you’re all yelling,” Duke said, glancing uneasily around the cave. “I also… ran into Jason with someone. He looked like a biker. Tattoos, ripped clothes, kind of a bad attitude.”
Dick’s jaw tightened.
“In broad daylight?” he asked through his teeth.
Duke gave a small shrug.
“Yeah. They were holding hands, like Jason didn’t know my patrol routes. Or like he didn’t care if he got caught.”
Dick turned back to Bruce, his blood boiling, anger rising too fast to contain.
“You need to do something. Now. Or I will.”
Bruce exhaled slowly, pushing himself out of the chair and pulling the cowl into place with deliberate calm.
“I’ll go talk to him. Everyone, stay here. Do not interfere.”
Bruce fixed each of them with a firm look before striding out of the cave.
Steph shifted closer to Dick, her steps light but her eyes sharp with anticipation.
“Are you actually going to wait?”
Dick shook his head.
“No.”
The group of four bats moved in tight synchronization across the rooftops. The sun was barely rising over the horizon, its early light outlining their silhouettes and making them far easier to spot. It also made tracking Batman simpler, even if all of them already knew exactly where he was headed.
Jason and Tim’s apartment came into view ahead of them, unmistakable against the dim skyline. They slowed only slightly as Batman reached it first. The window slid open, and he disappeared inside without hesitation.
A brief glance passed between the four of them. No words were needed.
The decision to follow was immediate.
Dick slipped in first, only to stop short beside Batman. He froze where he stood. The silence that followed each bat’s entrance thickened, turning heavy and suffocating.
On the apartment sofa, Jason lay sleeping peacefully. Draped over him was a small redheaded woman wearing a medical coat that barely covered her body, leaving visible the Robin suit Steph used to wear.
Jason had allowed a woman into the apartment he shared with Tim. He had dressed her in a Robin suit and then had the audacity to fall asleep on the couch, as if he weren’t risking Tim walking in and confronting them.
The sharp snap of escrima sticks being drawn cut through the room, joined by the clean sound of a katana leaving its sheath and the faint metallic click of batarangs colliding in Steph’s hands. From where he stood, Dick caught the subtle glow beginning to build around Duke.
Dick was ready to break Jason into pieces and feed the remains to the pigs on Damian’s farm.
Bruce raised a hand, stopping them. A tired sigh escaped him.
“Tim!” he called out sharply.
The body draped over Jason stiffened, then slipped off him without grace, landing on the floor before rising smoothly into a perfectly straight posture.
“The report is on your desk!”
Tim’s clear voice came from the woman’s red-painted lips.
Everyone went still.
They watched, stunned, as Tim wavered slightly on his feet, rubbing his eyes while shaking off the last traces of sleep. His gaze drifted over each of them, narrowed and confused.
“What are you all doing in my apartment?”
Jason’s laughter pulled their attention back to him, amusement bright in his eyes.
“They thought I was cheating on you,” he said mockingly. “Cass texted me about it.”
Dick stared at him, mouth open.
Cass. Traitor.
“Oh,” Tim murmured, nodding slowly. He looked at each of them in turn, a small smile forming on his lips. “Thanks for trying to defend me, or whatever, but it’s not necessary.”
Damian clicked his tongue, sliding the katana back into its sheath.
“Let it be known that no infidelity will be tolerated in this family,” he declared firmly.
A soft collective sound rose from the group as they regarded Damian with reluctant fondness. Dick reached out and ruffled the younger boy’s hair.
“That’s right,” he said, then shifted his attention to the couple, who looked entertained and entirely unashamed. “Are we getting an explanation?”
“No,” Tim replied, pointing toward the window. “Everyone out of the apartment.”
Steph lingered a moment longer, staring intently at Tim.
“Where did you get that suit?”
Tim gave a small shrug.
“Honestly, it’s not that hard.”
Steph didn’t stay to ask anything else.