#I'll probably ramble more later but I gotta sleep up at 5am ugh

[redrobin-detective]

Looking for you but you’re right here

It’s not everyday you learn that one of your best friends was a local superhero, much less learning it through the 6 o’ clock news. Sebastian Ives had been flipping through a comic in his bedroom when his world had flipped upside down. His phone buzzed next to him, interrupting the song he’d been half listening to. 

It was a text from Tim, “I’m sorry,” was all it said. 

Of course he’d panicked, who wouldn’t? Especially when his responding texts and calls went ignored or went to voicemail. He ran downstairs, not caring that he was in his sleep shirt and boxers to beg his mom to drive him over to Tim’s place. The guy had been distant for a while now, a few years if Seb was being honest. He barely had any idea what his friend was up to these days.

His folks didn’t seem to hear him, practically rooted in front of the TV. His mom was half slumped against the side of the couch like her legs would give out if she tried to move. He could smell the evening’s dinner burning in the oven.

“Mom, we need to go. Tim- I think something’s up with Tim, he-” he stuttered when he’d caught sight of the news. Some whackadoo had dropped a list with the secret identities of pretty much every major hero. Tim dropped out of his mind for a second as he gaped, wide eyed at the news. Superman was apparently some 4 eyed reporter dude and the Flash, one of Sebastian’s favorites, was a forensic scientist. But, of course the local news didn’t care much about them. Gotham had two favorite sons, Batman and Bruce Wayne; the news was always going on about one of them. Turned out they were the same person this whole time. 

“Huh, I guess that explains all the Robins,” Dad said in a half hysterical voice, like everything had just become one big joke. He’d never heard his dad laugh like that, it was kind of scary.

“Sebastian,” his mom said quietly, not turning from the screen. “Didn’t you say Tim was doing an internship with Bruce Wayne?”

“Oh shit Tim,” Seb cursed as he pulled out his phone and looked again at the single text from his friend. It really showed his mom’s state of mind that she didn’t nag at him for the swear. He dialed Tim’s number again and this time, got a cheery voice announcing that the number had been disconnected. On screen, the news was putting up associates of Batman and their identities.

This feels wrong, he had enough brain space to think as a side by side of Nightwing and ladies’ favorite Dick Grayson appeared. Next was Commissioner Gordon’s daughter and a grainy shot of the first Batgirl. A young Jason Todd, Wayne’s adopted street kid before he’d been killed in a freak accident and the second Robin. Wait he’d been killed too, hadn’t he? The connection was so obvious now that it was pointed out to him. 

How had people missed this? People who saw the Waynes every day, talking and interacting with them. How could they not see that their friends weren’t who they claimed to be?

“The current Robin is a minor and thus we can’t say his name on the air but we can show an updated photograph,” the shaken, excited newscaster announced. And they didn’t need to say his name for Seb to recognize Tim Drake’s sophomore yearbook picture down to the wrinkled flannel shirt Seb had tried to smooth out moments before the camera clicked. He didn’t really recognize the picture next to Tim even though they were supposedly the same. Oh the hair cut was vaguely familiar, the body shape too. But Tim never stood like Robin was, strong, steady with his shoulders back and ready to fight. The challenging grin as he twirled the hero’s signature bo staff. It was about as far away from his friend as you can get.

“Honey? You okay?” Mom asked gently, stroking his hair. He didn’t know what to say, even when the news cycled through the rest of the Bats. She led him around and helped him onto the couch where he went boneless. The smoke alarm sounding had her running towards the kitchen for the now thoroughly burnt roast. Dad got up to help, opening the windows and dumping the still smoking pan right into the trash.

“How about Chinese?” Dad smiled wearily, leaning up against the kitchen door frame. Sebastian didn’t say anything, just watched the news blankly. He was no closer to believing the truth even when Tim and Robin’s side by side profiles appeared again. 

To no one’s surprise, Tim wasn’t at school the next day. Seb was beat from staying up late ranting and freaking out to Hudson and Callie over discord, not that he’d slept well once he’d gone to bed. He and his friends were pretty low on the social ladder normally but it seemed everyone had something to say to them or some inane question to ask. 

They asked if they’d seen the Batcave, if Tim would be willing to give out Starfire’s phone number, if they had any good Robin stories to tell. They’d all been friends for years, everyone just assumed that Tim had confided in them. The assembly was expected but awkward, the principal asking for patience and privacy while they worked out the details with the school board, GCPD and Justice League. As if that wasn’t the wildest combination on Earth. 

The rest of the week was miserable, each day dragging on as he flipped from being angry to excited to worried all at random. By the time the weekend passed and the next week began, worry began to take over most. Where the hell was Tim? Was he okay? The heroes and the government were still coming to an agreement on whether metas and aliens and everyone in between had the right to exist in society. Callie in particular was following the news with a passion, blogging incessantly about hero rights and such. Huds was too pissed at Tim to think of helping and Sebastian just felt kind of blank. 

By the time the sixth week had come and gone, Seb was starting to accept the fact that Tim was gone and he might never see him again. He stopped taking the long way home, the way that passed by Tim’s apartment and the barely there, thinning crowd of rubberneckers waiting for someone who was probably never coming home again. While Tim and Robin and superheroes still dominated their conversations, he and Huds occasionally bickered about the decreasing quality in their favorite sci-fi show. The FBI or CIA or whoever those suits were, only came the once for questions Seb couldn’t answer; everyone else stopped asking around the same time. For better or for worse, his life moved on without Tim Drake. Until he walked into his bedroom on his way up to bed one night and found Tim sitting on his bed like he’d done a million times. 

“Jesus,” Seb startled, dropping his phone in surprise. For a second, he thought he might have been hallucinating. But a few blinks later and Tim was still there, same as ever. Only not quite, Tim’s hair was a bit longer than the trim look he was used to with the ends trailing past his ears. He had dark bags under his eyes and his posture was hunched, cautious. He somehow managed to look resigned but also ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

“Sebastian, everything alright up there?” Mom called from downstairs, that startled him out of his stupor. 

“Y-yeah Mom, just dropped my phone, it’s all good!” He called back, grabbing his phone and shutting his bedroom door leaving him and Tim alone.

“Hey Ives,” Tim paused, biting his lip. “Is this… Okay? I can leave if you want but I figured you were owed an explanation and I… I missed you. It’s all been so crazy lately.”

“Yeah, can’t imagine why,” he grumbled as he sat down at his computer chair. Now that the shock had worn off some of his hurt and irritation was peeking through. “So, Robin huh?”

“Yeah,” Tim rubbed at the back of his neck and he looked just like regular Tim that Sebastian was thrown for a minute. “I’ll tell you and the guys the full story tomorrow, I promise, it’s a little bit long and convoluted and I still can’t even believe half of it happened after all these years-”

“Wait, tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Tim gave him an exhausted smile, “I’m back at Gotham Heights in the morning. Ugh, I’ve got so much work to catch up on. You don’t suppose Hudson will let me borrow his notes? He always takes the best-”

“You’re coming back to public high school after being outed as a vigilante?” Seb couldn’t help but laugh. “God, that’s gonna be a nightmare and a disaster rolled into one.” 

“Don’t I know it. B wanted me to homeschool but Dad insisted, said I needed to put all this stuff behind me and act like a man or something,” Tim groaned. He scrubbed at his hair and Sebastian caught a glimpse of the neon green bracelet on his left wrist. Callie had been enraged by one concession by the JLA for all active heroes to wear colored bands to identify themselves in public based on threat level. From what he remembered, green was the lowest on the scale, mostly reserved for humans. It had just seemed like another political issue on the news but now…

“You really gotta wear that thing?” He asked quietly, Tim eyed his bracelet with a sneer.

“For now, we’ve got the best lawyers working on it but, like, I’m Jewish so I know this is how ugly things get started.” Seb didn’t really know how to respond to that so he just didn’t, all of this was way too much to handle much less for a kid barely into his junior year. “So how’s it been, hope the jocks haven’t been giving you too much flak.”

“How’s it been?” Seb asked incredulously, “you disappeared to god knows where-”

“The Batcave mostly but also Titans Tower for a while,” Tim added helpfully which was actually super Not helpful.

“- for over a month, we haven’t heard a peep from you since this whole thing went down other than your cryptic super unhelpful message and you think you can break into my room and ask how things have been?” He wasn’t an angry guy by nature but all the anxiety of the last few weeks had turned into anger and was projecting onto Tim. “What is your malfunction dude? Have you spent so much time with your pals Superman and Wonder Woman that you forgot what real people are like? We’ve been freaking out down here on Earth and you just-”

“Hey, it hasn’t been a cakewalk for me either,” Tim snapped. “I had to scrap everything once the leak got out. You’re lucky I was able to get those texts out before we had to literally destroy all our gear. Titans Tower was jam packed with overflow heroes since the Watchtower was already fit to burst. I’ve had all my secrets and skills and past fights dug up and pasted all over the internet. God and don’t even get me started on my dad,” Tim groaned loudly and flopped backwards on his bed.

“I’m at my wits end, Ives. I know this hasn’t been fair to you but it sure as hell hasn’t been fair to me either and ugh!” Tim rubbed roughly at his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I just wanted to see one of my best friends before the literal worst day of my life tomorrow.”

“Oh so I’m one of your best friends,” Seb asked, still steaming. “So I just forgot about you having my back when I was out most of last year for Lymes? What about all those DnD sessions without our Paladin? All the mumbled excuses I can’t even remember? I don’t- I don’t even know who you are anymore!” His voice cracked at the end and he turned away, angry but mostly embarrassed. 

“Ives…” Tim said slowly, sitting up and watching with sympathetic eyes. Well Seb didn’t want it, he’d always been an emotional crier. Mom said it was healthy, for now it just made him feel stupid for getting upset over something neither of them could control. “It ate at me, always bailing, not letting you know what was going on. I wanted to tell you but, you know…”

“You think,” Seb paused his sniffling to laugh incredulously. “You think I’m blaming a superhero for keeping secrets from me? The lies, the secrets, I get it, Tim. Saving the world and junk is so much more important than whatever dumb stuff we were doing.” He paused and looked up at Tim’s sad face as he wiped at his dribbling nose with his shirt sleeve. Ives used to tease him for it but Tim’s always had something of a baby face, delicate and sorta soft. His friend looked especially young now. “But just because I know all that, that doesn’t mean I’m not hurt by it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tim sighed, he really was a hero because he took the opportunity to look at Seb’s stupid Millennium Falcon poster while Seb got himself together. 

“I mean, it seems stupid now but I thought- I thought your dad was hurting you,” Seb blurted out. “The mystery injuries, your moodiness, the way you wouldn’t talk about anything with us.” He babbled without meaning to. “Me, Callie, Huds, we weren’t sure what to do. I even sat down and talked to my mom about it once. I was thinking of calling CPS that time you came in with a busted arm a few months back.”

“Oh yeah, that was Killer Croc, the jerk,” Tim complained with a half grin. “Got his claws into my shoulder and practically ripped my arm off. It wasn’t broken, just dislocated to hell and back. I was off patrol almost 2 months for that.”

“Yeah I remember,” Seb huffed, “you were around more, we actually got to run through that campaign I’d been holding onto for you.”

“The necromancing skeleton hoard? Yeah that was a sweet story, Mr. Game Master.” Tim’s smile turned sad. “As much as I love being Robin, I do miss hanging out with you guys, just being able to be normal, to relax for once instead of trying to meet everyone’s crazy high standards.”

“Guess I’m not surprised Batman runs a tight show,” Seb hummed, some of his anger dimming. Tim just kinda had that effect on people; he was just such a good guy you couldn’t help but chilling back and chatting with him. It’s why he still considered Tim once of his best friends even though it seemed he hardly saw the guy. “You mentioned your dad earlier. Is everything ok?”

“No,” Tim said quietly after a minute of tense silence. “Dad flipped out when he heard the news, got a gun from somewhere and threatened B with it. It was… bad. Dana is laying low in a safe house but Dad insisted on staying with us at the Manor. It’s not great. God, King Arthur, y’know Aquaman, thought Bruce was my father, same as the previous Robins and I thought Dad was going to choke him out. I feel like I’m caught in the middle of the world’s most awkward, complicated custody battle,” Tim groaned. “They argue over everything but the one thing they can agree on is that Robin is through.”

“Wait? Seriously? Just like that?” Seb demanded.

“Dick put up a good fight about it, even a couple of JLAers threw in their support but it’s pretty hard to fight both my actual Dad and Batman,” Tim snorted before throwing Sebastian a grin he knows he’s seen Robin wear on the news. “Of course I didn’t get this job by listening to what adults tell me to,” a quick glance at his watch. “Everything thinks I’m asleep, I have Cass covering for me but at least one of them, most likely B because he knows me, is going to pull back the covers at some point so I gotta scram.” 

“You good getting back to Bristol on your own? Not to mention sneaking into Batman’s house?” Seb asked because he had to. Tim grinned and pulled a real grapple gun out of his bag. He held it as naturally as Seb did a handheld game. 

“Yeah, taking the scenic route. I missed you and I wanted to give you a heads up about tomorrow but this is also kind of a trial run. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a hero it’s that you never back down when the fight gets tough, you just gotta double down and be tougher.” 

“That is so cool,” he reached for his notepad on his desk. “Can I quote you on that? For the next campaign? Honestly can I just flat out interview you for story ideas, I bet you have the absolute craziest things to say.”

“Oh man, like you wouldn’t believe,” Tim laughed and it was nice to hear with everything going on. He supposed that’s what Robin was, the light in the dark. “Tell Call and Huds to meet at Big Donnie’s at 6:30, I’d do it but I still don’t have a phone. I got permission to use the back entrance getting in and out because well, crowds,” his smile dropped. “If you want, I can distance. I don’t want to cause you guys trouble.”

“Nah man,” He reached out a hand and Tim grasped it back. “You’re our bud, our weird bird themed crime fighting bud. Like you said, when things get tough, you knuckle down. We got your back, man.”

“That’s not what I said,” Tim smiled. “See you in the morning, Ives.” He was silent as he rose, pulled open the bedroom window and grappled out into the night. Seb ran to the window to watch his friend get lost in the black sky.

“Holy shit, I’m friends with a superhero,” he breathed out, falling back onto his bed. “Man what a crazy world.” Tomorrow would be rough for Tim as would the days that followed. But he’d get through, because he was Robin, the Boy Wonder but he also was Tim Drake. Seb didn’t know much about crimefighting but maybe, just this once, he could be Tim’s hero.