Tim and Danny are half-siblings
Champagne glasses shine in the light like jewelry on people’s wrists and necks and cuff links and literally anywhere else someone can fit. Honestly it’s giving Tim a headache.
Thankfully he wasn’t the only one suffering at this pointless gala. Not that the fundraiser for homeless kids in the city is pointless, but did they really need to throw an expensive party?
“You okay, Timmy? You’ve sighed like four times now,” Dick comments on the comms they all have in.
“Yea, I just-“
“Mr. Drake! How nice it is to see you again. Have you met my son, Daniel?”
Tim turns to find Vlad Masters, CEO of dalvco, dragging along a teen who looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here. The boy, Daniel, glares at the hand holding him by the arm.
“It’s Danny,” like it was the hundredth time saying the phrase.
Masters pretends he doesn’t hear it.
Tim is already working on how to get out of this conversation. He’s dealt with too many parents pushing their kids in his direction tonight.
He throws on a smile anyway and holds out his hand for a shake.
“Tim Drake-Wayne, nice to meet you, Danny.”
Danny hesitates for a second and it results in a tightening of the jaw and subtle glance to where he was glaring before as if Masters just tightened his grip on the teen. Tim says nothing about the awkward pause.
Danny shifts his weight to subtly step on Masters polish shoes, drawing the attention of the man and allowing Danny to slip a piece of paper into the handshake. Tim raises his eyebrows for Danny to see before falling back to pleasant neutral. He tucks the note into his pocket casually.
“Same.”
Tim’s smile becomes a bit more genuine at the teenage behavior.
“Now then,” Masters jumps in after getting himself situated, “I had been meaning to make an appointment with you, but every time I call you are always busy.”
Tim knew this was coming.
“I’m not receiving any calls about the Drake name, Mr. Masters, as you are well aware.”
“You would think that as a young businessman you would look to someone with more experience.”
He really wasn’t being subtle at all, was he?
“I wonder how Bruce would react if he heard you,” Tim warns even though he knows full well Bruce can actively hear the conversation. He turns to Danny while Masters is recovering from that reminder. “Our newest adoptee is about your age. Duke Thomas. He should be around here somewhere if you want to exchange numbers.”
Danny opens his mouth to reply, but is cut off. Masters’ hand goes from clenching the teen’s arm to squeezing his shoulder in what appears to be a warning.
“Oh no, I forgot to mention, Daniel’s entire family and his friends, along with an unfortunate teacher, all died recently in a terrible accident. I was given custody of the poor boy, of course. He’s like the son I never had. Anyway, we wouldn’t want to upset him by replacing what he recently lost, would we? He needs his space to grieve.”
The condescension with the insensitive wording left Tim speechless for a moment, and with the silence over the comms so were everyone else listening.
Tim finds Danny glaring down at the floor with clenched fists. The teen rips himself away from Masters, and when the man tries to chastise him, he turns and stares the man down with such a hateful expression that Tim had to keep from tensing. He had seen too many of those looks in the field, usually on the faces of those he was fighting.
Whatever silent conversation that was happening between the two was ended with Danny grinding his teeth and running away to what looks to be the direction of the restrooms.
“So sorry about him,” Masters apologizes like it wasn’t his fault Danny almost committed a crime. “He’s a bit sensitive right now. I honestly had hoped he would feel better after getting out of the house.”
Masters sighs almost theatrically, “Enough of that. Here is my business card for when you finally decide to-“
Tim walked away before he could finish.
It’s in the bathroom that he finds Duke talking to the door of one of the stalls. They make eye contact but all that’s there is concern and confusion. Danny wasn’t talking.
“Hey, Danny, right? How you holding up? That was kinda rough, huh?” Tim tries.
Silence. Then, “Did you read my note?” He hears come from the other side, small and thin.
Right. The note. Tim pulls it out of his pocket quickly.
“Yea, yea, I read your note,” he lies as he’s quietly unfolding said note. “It’s just, you know… oh.”
Duke raises his brows in surprise at Tim’s sudden change in tone and expression. Tim couldn’t even guess what his face was doing but it was the least of his worries. The younger leans in to read over his shoulder.
“Oh,” agrees Duke.
I think we are half-siblings. Please help me take him down. I’ll send DNA if you need it. It can’t wait.
Oh indeed.
“What does ‘oh’ mean?” Dick suddenly asks over the comms which Tim forgot were still in. “Guys, seriously, do I need to come in there?”
“No,” Tim answers quickly only to realize that Danny can hear it too. “Duke, can you cover the door?”
“Sure, man.”
Tim takes a deep breath and shoves his emotions way down. Danny was already upset and obviously trusting Tim with this, he needed to be a solid support that his little brother this teen can lean on.
It could also be a trap.
“Danny, can you come out please?”
There was hesitation in the air, but he finally hears the click of the lock and the door swings open. The poor kid was holding himself tightly and shrinking into himself, afraid of Tim’s reaction.
“Danny,” he says gently. Danny still flinches. “Why do you think we’re half-siblings?”
He lets the teen chew on his lip for a few moments before he has to repeat himself.
“I was going through my parent’s stuff,” Danny rushes out, “like paperwork and stuff… I found a box pushed way back with letters. At first I thought they were my parents’ old love letters, but it wasn’t my dad’s handwriting even though he signed it ‘Jack’. There was also a picture of my mom and your dad together on an excavation site. The date on the back made a lot of sense because when you add nine months, that’s my birthday.”
Danny looked at Tim with such a lost expression that Tim felt a bit lost himself.
“I never would have thought my dad would cheat on my mom. He was too afraid of what would happen if he did, I thought,” Tim says, leaning into it a little.
“Right? I never thought my mom would, my parents were infatuated with each other, but maybe they were having problems at the time? I don’t know, I didn’t actually read the letters.”
“Can I look through them?”
Danny blinks and then rubs the back of his neck anxiously.
“I mean, yea, but they’re back at my parent’s house in Illinois. I would have to find a way to send them to you, but Vlad is kinda watching my every move at the moment so-“
“What if I went alone?” Tim jumps in the suggest. “I have enough money to go on a mini vacation. I could sneak in when everyone’s asleep and find them.”
“Honestly I doubt it’s locked. You could just walk right in. If you don’t mind the wasted gas, then okay, sure. Need the address?”
Tim respects the confidence and trust.
“Nah, I got it, but I will still need that DNA sample.”
Danny swallows nervously.
“Right, um, what- what do you need? I don’t know how this works.”
Tim nods and a smile to calm the teen down. His nervousness was definitely noted though.
“That’s okay. I’ve done this plenty of times with women who claim their child is Bruce’s. Always ends the same.”
Funnily enough, Danny relaxes at the reassurance lined with warning.
“Oh, that’s good. Okay. Just tell me what you need. Can we do it right now?”
Danny glances at the door and Tim understands the rush.
“Sure, come here,” Tim waves them over to the little sitting area. He pulls out his pocket knife with a mischievous smirk. “Don’t tattle on me.”
Danny stares with a wide smile and even wider eyes. It’s kinda funny how excited he is when most people would wonder why Tim was pulling a knife on them. Maybe they were brothers.
“Whoa, how’d you sneak that in? There was a whole metal detector and everything,” Danny fans.
“A true magician never reveals his tricks,” he smiles at Danny’s pout.
“Lame. You probably paid off one of the waiters or something.”
He actually planted it in one of the plants inside before the event even started, but the kid was close.
“Or something.”
“I always wanted one,” Danny murmurs wistfully.
“I’ll get you one,” is out of his mouth before he knew it.
“What?” Danny jerks up in surprise. “No, you don’t have to do that. I wasn’t expecting-“
“I know,” Tim cuts off the guilty ramblings. “I want to. You should have one.”
“Aw, little Timmy is bonding with his brother,” Dick coos over the comms.
“We don’t know that for sure, Richard,” Damian reminds.
“He sounds pretty legit to me,” Duke adds.
Tim ignores them for the most part.
“Lift up your leg. I’m just gonna give you a small cut on your calf to get some blood. It’ll be quick, okay?”
“Okay.”
Danny doesn’t make a sound when metal meets skin and slices through. He presses down on the wound with his handkerchief to collect the blood. Of course that wasn’t enough for him to cover all the bases, so he asked Danny to spit in his empty champagne glass, which the teen complied with zero complaints.
“Is that it?” Danny asks curiously.
“Yep! I’ll run them down to the lab ASAP and compare against mine. I’ll let you know about the results when they come back. Let me get your phone number.”
Tim was quietly getting more hopeful with how cooperative Danny had been. He hands over his phone easily with a chirped “sure!” to also let Tim put in his number.
“We have to be careful though. Vlad’s been over my shoulder since I moved in. If he finds anything he doesn’t like, it won’t be good,” Danny laughed it off like that was normal.
Tim had suspected a heavy hand with the shoulder squeezing earlier bordering on abuse with what and how he said what he did, but it was looking worse than his original hypothesis.
“Danny,” he says softly, like when he talks to a victim as Robin. Which might ring true here and Tim was already getting angry about the whole thing, if the abuse is real, he might fly off the handle and Kon will be forced to reign him back in. “Do you want to tell me about Masters?”
Danny immediately goes on the defensive, looking around the empty room and shoulders going stiff.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Danny denies.
Tim isn’t surprised, but he also isn’t happy.
“I have more power than you might think, Danny. I can help you.”
Danny shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut.
“I don’t- You- It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it to me. Please trust me, Danny. I can help get you out-“
“This isn’t about me!”
His words ring off the tile, making it louder than intended. Danny flinches at the sound and looks to the door with anxious eyes.
“Hey,” Tim whispers. It still makes the teen jump. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
“I know that,” Danny snaps, but Tim knows not to take it personally.
“Alright,” Tim agrees easily. That seems to make Danny relax a bit. “What did you mean it’s not about you? It’s your DNA we’re checking against mine.”
Danny bites his lip in anxious contemplation. Looks like Tim is gonna have to pull this one out like teeth.
“Is there someone else involved?”
Danny hesitates but finally nods.
“You can trust me, Danny. I won’t do anything that isn’t in your best interest. I promise.”
Danny’s lip is bleeding but neither of them say a word. He looks desperate and alone. It makes Tim’s skin crawl.
“Promise you won’t do anything yet?”
Tim nearly sighs with relief.
“Yes. I promise.”
“So you won’t tell? You can’t tell,” Danny insists.
Technically it wouldn’t be telling if they can hear him in real time.
“I promise I won’t do or say anything. Whatever is said here is confidential, alright? I won’t tell anyone,” Tim assures.
It seems to do the trick because Danny creeps closer to whisper after checking the door one more time.
“Vlad is my godfather. Uncle Vlad, right? He has always wanted a son and he was obsessed with my mom, so when he met me he, I don’t know, flipped a switch or something and his attention was on me all the time if it wasn’t on Mom. He wanted me to renounce my dad and go live with him. Obviously that didn’t happen so he tried the next best thing apparently and decided he was gonna make a clone of me.”
Danny pauses and Tim needs it to seriously contemplate what even is his life.
“It didn’t work out the way he planned and the only clone to make it was a girl, my cousin, Danielle. Yes, he named her after me. Some things happened, we worked it out, so Danielle was on my side and hates Vlad, right? Well, when everything happened,” he swallows thickly, “Danielle came back from traveling to be with me. Vlad took that opportunity to confine her to the basement. He never wanted a daughter. He never cared about her. So now he’s using her as leverage against me. If I try anything or don’t do what he says, she’s the one that gets punished. If I try to run away, he’d kill her. I know he would. And before I knew about you, she was the only-“
“The only family you had left,” Tim finishes.
Danny nods with a pleading expression.
Tim can understand the primal urge to be close to a blood relative that actually cares.
“Now you have me,” Tim offers with a small smile.
Danny makes the effort to try and smile back, though it falls flat quickly.
“We don’t know that yet. I could be wrong. I’m sorry I threw all this at you, I just- When I found those letters and thought that… I just-“
“I get it.” And he did. He really, really did. “You know, even if we aren’t related I still want to-“
Danny’s phone rings, making the teen jump. He glances at the name calling with a scowl. He doesn’t answer.
“Vlad’s looking for me. I gotta go, but, um, thanks… for taking my word for it and being so nice about it. I promise I’m not trying to pull something for your money. I didn’t even know you were rich until I looked you up-“
“Danny.” Tim was coming to the conclusion that Danny tend to ramble when nervous. He stands and guides the kid toward the door. “It’s okay. I know you’re not lying. I’ll text you the results, okay? We’ll figure this out. Just be patient for me, alright?”
Danny nods and fidgets with his suit coat. He doesn’t make a move to leave yet, instead he turns to face Tim.
“Um, you can say no. I just- is it okay if I hug you?”
Tim blanks for a solid few seconds. It’s only Dick’s cooing and Damian’s sassing that snaps him back to reality. This was real, he has to remind himself. He might have a half-brother and he wants a hug. Tim can do hugs. He can crush a hug, totally.
“Uh, yea. Hugs are okay.”
Danny must not care about his awkward response because he suddenly has thin arms around his waist and soft hair tickling his cheek. They were at the ideal height difference where Danny can rest his head on Tim’s shoulder comfortably. Tim wraps his arms around the teen’s shoulders and just felt.
If Danny really is his half-brother, then fate really is cruel to deprive him of this kinship all throughout his childhood.
Danny pulls away first, face to the ground, and ears red.
With a wavering voice he stumbles out an apology and a thanks before bolting out the door, narrowly running into Dick. He’s disappeared into the crowd in a blink.
“You okay, Tim?” Dick asks.
Tim blinks, “I have a brother.”
“A possible half-brother, but yea, still exciting.”
“The results will come back a match,” Tim says confidently.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Drake. This Daniel sounds pathetic, he would only hold you back.”
“Damian, there is nothing pathetic about trying to protect someone. Danny is thinking about his little cousin,” Dick argues. Damian doesn’t dispute.
“My parents never loved each other,” Tim confesses. “It was a marriage of mutual convenience. It is very possible that my dad found a lover outside their marriage.”
It was weird talking about his parents like that, but it was true. His mother told him once that marriage isn’t about love, it’s a contract between two people with mutual interests and values. His father was always somewhat withdrawn.
Danny had the black hair, the blue eyes, and even the skin tone to match his own. His jaw line was wider and eyebrows thicker, but honestly, they could be brothers if they stood side by side. Half-siblings isn’t even a stretch.
“He’s my brother. I know it.”
Tim spots a flash of silver hair from the crowd and narrows his eyes into slits.
“My brother who is being abused by his caretaker apparently,” he says in a voice that sounds like he’s planning a murder.
Huh. Now that’s a thought.
He could just kill Masters, that would certainly get him out of the way.
“I don’t like that look,” Dick says cautiously, leaning to bring Tim attention to him and not Masters hunting down his little brother. “We’ll help him, Tim. Don’t go overboard here. You can’t afford to get too emotionally involved.”
Tim sends a glare his way.
“Why don’t I prove what I already know, then?”
“Tim-“
He already had the champagne glass in his jacket pocket and his handkerchief in his breast pocket. He shoves past Dick and heads toward the front doors. No one stops him as he leaves the party early and hails a cab back to the manor to start his analysis.
It’s a half a day later when Tim sends a text with an emoji of two males holding hands and a green check mark. It’s an hour later that he gets a shooting star in response. He smiles widely and then gets to work on planning Masters’ demise and his brother’s and ‘cousin’s’ escape into his custody.
505 notes
·
View notes
“we should stop” trope with cheol
no smut, just suggestive MDNI
content tags: mutual friends to lovers (???sorta), cheol is a smoker (dont smoke..), reader is introverted, mentioned alcohol use, making out, being a bit freaky outside, cheol is hot
meeting your friends’ friends always had your introverted head reeling. “do i have to go?” you whine to jeonghan, one of your closest friends.
“no but you really should leave the house, y/n” he laughs. he was right. it was only a small get together at joshua’s (your other friend) apartment, it would only be a few other people, “you’ve met most of them anyways. plus you can stay with me and kyeomie as long as you want” he smiles at you as you finally agree to coming along.
…
surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as you had thought. even though it was getting tiring dokyeom pulling you to meet all the people you haven’t been introduced to before, it was manageable.
“oh! i almost forgot” dokyeom says, looking at you, “you need to meet, cheol” he grabs your arm again, walking you over to another person youve never seen before. “coupsie!”
you watch as the man dokyeom calls for turns around, red hair looking like fire around his head, arms looking oh so delicious in the black shirt he was wearing, and his lips; god his lips, looking cherry red like he had just bitten them so hard they bled. he looked so intimidating with a scowl on his face, until he looks at kyeom and pouts.
“i told you to stop calling me thatttt” he sulks, lip jutting out. he finally seems to notice your presence, raising his thick brow before speaking again, “is this your friend you were talking about?”
“im sorryyy, the name is so cute, cheol. but yea! this is y/n!” dokyeom introduces, your face heating up with nervousness at the redhead staring down at you.
“hi. nice to me you…” you murmur, extending your hand for a handshake. what you didn’t expect is for him to take it and pull you a little closer to him.
“sorry” he laughs, “what did you say.. its too loud in here” you repeat yourself, stuttering over your words, before he finally pulls away, hearing the complains from dokyeom about cheol ‘teasing his friend’. “I’m seungcheol by the way. most of my friends just call me cheol tho. i prefer that.” you smile again before dokyeom pulls you away again to meet someone else.
….
the rest of the night went by smoothly, and now you finally had the chance to slip away from all the noise and step outside for a breather after having a bit too much to drink. the summer breeze felt refreshing compared to the heat coming from the apartment you were just in and you could finally take a deep breath in, admiring the night sky.
“too many people in there for your tastes?” you jump at the sudden voice, turning to see the red haired man from earlier, “sorry! i didn’t mean to startle you. it’s too many people in there for me too, if that makes you feel better” he smiles at you, before turning back to face the sky, putting a lit cigarette to his lips and inhaling the smoke.
“you know thats bad for you, right?” you say, backtracking when you see his eyes widen and him beginning to burn it out, “no its fine! i dont mind.. sorry im bad at small talk” you look down at your fingers, playing with them, still feeling his eyes on you.
“you’re cute.” he laughs. he takes another inhale from the cigarette before sitting on the steps of the apartment building. “sit with me” he pats the concrete next to him, signaling you to come.
as you sit close to him, you can smell the mix of smoke and his cologne on his clothes, the scent of them seemingly driving you insane, the alcohol running through your body making you scoot even closer into him, as if to try and smother yourself in the fragrance. “you smell really good” you say without thinking, immediately burning hot in embarrassment at the reality of what you just said. he turns to you, laughing loudly.
“thank you, cutie.” he smiles, looking into your eyes, “and you look very pretty. thought that since dokyeom introduced me to you. was trying to get you alone but hannie was protecting you like a mama bear.” you laugh before his words sink into your brain.
“what- what did you want to do when you got me alone?” you question, eyes looking him up and down. you were beyond close to each other at this point, you had practically one leg draped over his thigh, and you could feel his hand on it, steadying you a bit.
“you know what i wanted to do.” he says, eyes shifting towards your lips before looking back into your own, “i can still do it now.. if you’d like.” you only murmur a faint ‘yea’ and his lips touch yours, hands cradling your head, pressing you closer and closer together.
your mind sobers up a bit, realizing that you were currently outside, in front of your friends house, kissing a guy you met barely an hour ago. “we. should. stop.” you breathe out inbetween kisses. you know you don’t want to stop but your left brain was screaming at you to think logically.
“we- can. stop. if you want” cheol slurs out, lips kissing the corner of yours, a smirk resting on them. the moment you shake your head, he pulls you onto his lap fully, having you straddle his thighs. “you’re so pretty..” he sighs out, lips gliding down your neck, sucking a few times, leaving marks in their wake. your hands rest in his fiery locks, combing your fingers through them every so often as he pulls whines out of your mouth.
“cheolie…” you sigh out, grinding lightly on his thigh, testing the waters. he groans at the sight, pulling you in for another kiss before- ring ring ringgg
“fuck-“ he groans looking down at his phone now long abandoned along with his burnt out cigarette you didnt even realize was gone, “its shua. hold on, pretty. yea. uhhuh? oh. oh okay- okay bye.” you try to listen in but your attempts were futile. he hangs up the calls, lowering his phone and putting his hands on your waist. “‘m sorry, pretty. soonyoung is currently um- puking his guts out in a bedroom.. i’ll spare the details, but i have to help shua clean the mess.” he sighs, looking at you with guilty eyes.
you look at him a bit disappointed but nod, slipping off his lap. “its fine, cheol. go deal with that.” you smile and he smiles back before kissing your lips wetly once again.
“give me your number first. just incase i don’t see you before you leave.” he shyly speaks again, opening his phone again for you to type in your number.
“alright, here” you say, finishing up your contact information. “text me whenever.. now go! there’s vomit for you to clean” you giggle as he stands up and rushes inside again.
finally standing up again yourself, your legs feel like jelly as you walk into the apartment again, spotting jeonghan and dokyeom on the couch. “hey” you say as you sit down next to them.
“oh my lord, we were wondering where you were.” jeonghan say before looking at your state and gasping, “you look a mess? who were you with??” dokyeom laughs as your face heats up again.
“n-no one..” you splutter, biting your lip remembering the man you were just with. they roll their eyes at you, whining at the lack of details you were spilling as a ping comes from your phone.
Unknown Number
Hey. This is Seungcheol.
Want a ride home?
you can hear your friends gasp, obviously reading your messages at the same time.
You
yea :) would love that <3
you send your response and jeonghan nudges you teasingly, “seriously, choi seungcheol? that loser??” all you do is smile dumbly, excited to see him once more.
582 notes
·
View notes