A Robin in the Foxes Den AU

Timothy Drake wasn’t real— but it was the most real Nathaniel had felt in years. He first became Timothy drake when he was ten and his mother and him got separated. As instructed if they ever did get separated, Nathaniel dyed his hair, lost the contacts and took on a new name, Timothy. Timothy was nine years old (A year younger than Nathaniel— close enough to be viable, far enough away to not be immediately connected), he used He/Him pronouns although if Timothy ever got used again, when he got older he’d switch over to He/They, Timothy enjoyed photography and was smart… Timothy was in the foster system for a few weeks when he was adopted by the Drakes.

The Drakes weren’t kind, they didn’t coddle. They didn’t want a child, they wanted an heir and they never treated Timothy otherwise. They introduced him to the world as their biological son they had kept hidden for his privacy in his younger years, Timothy just nodded along.

Alone in Drake Manor he found out the Bats identities, alone in Drake Manor did he find out not even his father would set a foot in Gotham or Bristol, alone in Drake manor Timothy created teleportation tech that let him return to Drake Manor whenever he wished, a precaution, for after he reunited with his mother.

Then Robin dies, Nathaniel is with his mother on the run when it happens— one of his many systems he had set up to keep track of the bats went off, but he wasn’t in Gotham, he was with his mother and he couldn’t do anything as the second Robin’s wings got cut off and the little Robin fell to his death.

After that he kept track of the other bats, knowing through his apathy that people normally reacted badly to a loved one’s death. And he was right. Nathaniel knew what he was doing was a bad idea— but his father didn’t come to Bristol or Gotham… so it was fine… right? He on purpose got himself separated from his mother again. And through a series of convoluted circumstances that included trying and failing to make Nightwing become Robin again, and Scarecrow capturing the others— he became Robin, not out of wonder or want or anger… But out of apathy, and an understanding of balance.

And then things got a lot more complicated. From Janet and Jake Drake dying, to Bruce trying to adopt him, Bruce getting lost in the time stream, his obligations as Timothy Drake, being on the run with his mother… Tim was exhausted. But he kept going, because if he stopped, he’d think, and if he thought then he’d know for sure playing this triple life (As Timothy, Red Robin and Nathaniel/whatever Identity he and his mother had at that moment) was going to get him killed. But he didn't want to stop, he liked being Timothy (Or Tim as he had told the Bats to call him), he liked being Red Robin.

Timothy Drake played Exy, according to his records Janet had signed him up for it when he was five, so Timothy didn’t need to hide how well he played.

When Timothy Drake was seventeen (And Nathaniel Wesninski was eighteen), his mother died. And he knew his time as Timothy Drake and Red Robin was over.

Nathaniel ran, leaving everything behind him. He knew they would search, he knew they would fail— because he wasn’t Timothy Drake anymore, he was Neil Josten.

And Neil Josten became Nr. 10, striker on the Palmetto Foxes team. And Neil knew that the bats would find him eventually, he just didn’t know if his father would find him first. Either way, he would enjoy being there while it lasted before he died or was found and brought home by the bats.

And the worst part, no matter how much he ran away from his father, he was waiting for the bats to catch up.

Notes

• No one knows about the teleportation Tech. Because it's MOVABLE TELEPORTATION TECH... Heck— the Zeta tubes can't be moved, but Tim's stuff can. The way it works is you key the tech to a location and then you can teleport to that location, you can also key multiple locations and then you have options. You can also make temporary teleportation keys (Which is what he did when he needed to return to his mother when they were on the run.) He didn’t tell anyone or overuse it because people would ask questions.
  • He can permanently teleport to Fox Tower, Abby’s house, Wymack’s apartment, Drake Manor, the Batcave, Wayne Manor, one of his safe-houses in Gotham and eventually Andrew’s house.
• Neil hides his training and he does so well, but one time, when Andrew pointed a knife at him, he disarmed Andrew, judo flipped him and had him in a choke hold within seconds. (He was tired, hadn’t had his coffee yet and Andrew surprised him, he wasn’t really awake enough to react through anything other than instinct)
• Neil barely sleeps. While he was Red Robin and on the run with his mother he was basically Nocturnal, so he’s still not used to a normal sleeping schedule, causing him to be awake far longer than he should be, leaving him with only one to three hours per night of sleep, so often in the weekends after practice he finishes his homework and crashes hard, often sleeping for 12 hours straight.