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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 4: Happy Birthday to You!

Category: Gen or Pre-slash

Genre: Angst/Fluff, mostly fluff

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teamverse

Continuity: Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Future AU

Summary: What kind of birthday party do you give a kid who was abused by her parents when your own birthdays were already outside of the norm?

Word Count: 1840

AN: Hola everyone. This was inspired by an old WIP of mine. it's kind of a plot bunny of a different fic. Anyway enjoy

Prompt: Raising A Child - Fluff

Can be read on AO3

October 16th

It was Helena’s first birthday with them. Tim didn’t know what to do. To be fair he wasn’t familiar with children’s birthdays. Most of his had been spent with his parents being brought to shows he liked or that they’d thought he’d like. And then they forgot it one year and the next they were out of commission.

Helena came from an abusive home and he didn’t want to overwhelm her too much as she had been prone to having panic attacks when he didn’t pay attention and did something that was apparently outrageously nice. So he wanted her to have a great birthday but not so outrageous she’d faint.

Conner had made fun of him because he was apparently over worrying over “normal stuff”, but Conner was the last person allowed to talk to him about that. Partly because he hadn’t celebrated a normal birthday of his….ever, but also because the only kid’s birthdays he had gone to were Traya’s and Jon’s.

Still Conner had been there since the beginning so he kind of had a say in what they’d be doing for her birthday.

Speaking of which, they were supposed to meet for lunch for that exact purpose and Conner was late. For the 3rd time this week. It was getting real annoying real fast.

He looked at his phone to see if he had received any new message. And he had. Apparently Conner was late because he was walking with a classmate of his and couldn’t use his powers. So Tim waited.

Ten minutes later, Conner finally appeared around the corner. With a very pretty girl on his arm. Tim couldn’t believe Conner was late because he was flirting...Actually he could…He probably would have been too if he were in his place…If it was just a normal lunch but they were supposed to talk about Helena’s birthday! It was not a normal lunch.

Conner waved goodbye after the pretty girl kissed his cheek and then “sprinted” toward Tim who was crossing his arms in annoyance. As he arrived next to him Conner looked sheepish.

“Look I know what it looked like but she started talking about a school project at first and I couldn’t blow her off and then she said we were walking in the same direction so I had to….and then I used the opportunity, I wasn’t gonna miss that but still!”

Tim raised an eyebrow, just to mess with him but Conner saw right through him, untangled his arms by taking one of his hand and dragging him toward the restaurant Tim had been waiting in front of.

They settled down and started having their lunch when Tim received a new email notification. Which he showed to Conner. Now that could be a nice present.

- - - - - - - -

October 21st

Helena had had a fairly good day so far. Tim and Kon had woke her up with a cup of sweet tea and croissant while wishing her a happy birthday, Kon had even decided to accompany her alongside Tim this morning (even if he was gonna be late to class). Ana and Alois had also wished her a happy birthday and none of their teachers had given them any test.

Now it was time to go home and wait for Tim and Kon to come back home (well…Technically Kon already had his own apartment but he was there so rarely she hadn’t known about it for 7 months, when he talked about being with his girlfriend which had brought a new surprise as she had also thought he was in love with Tim. Even if they had told her immediately they weren’t).

Whatever. She hoped her da they wouldn’t be too long to get home as she usually was one her own for about three hours on her own before Kon would be there. And it had been so nice up until now.

But when she got out of the school, both Tim and Kon were waiting for her? Along with Bart, Cassie, Rose and Kiran.

She ran toward them and hugged Tim and Kon at the same time…kind of, she was way too small to manage but she tried and she considered that it was what mattered. She then went to hug the other four. Apparently they were gonna celebrate her birthday together. The only things missing were her Tim and Kon’s families. And a few others. Granted too many of them might be a bit too much for her. Family dinners at Wayne Manor were already too much even if there was never the full family roster at once.

When they arrived home however Anita and Cissie were waiting for them along with Donald and Oshi who lived with Anita and Cissie’s parents. Helena liked them, well…mostly Oshi. Most of the time Donald was not fun. They were a bit older than her but always nice.

They all ate very small pieces of cake (but her par Tim and Kon prevented her from eating more than two small pieces) and celebrated (with presents and everything). However at 4:30PM they had to leave though Bart promised he’d come back later. Only to be replaced by Jon, Ma, Lois and Clark. Who celebrated with a different, but still small, cake. At 6PM, they left too, only to be replaced by Dick, Alfred, Barbara, Bruce and Cass. With another cake. Now she understood why Tim and Kon had refused to let her eat more than two pieces every time.

So far this was the best birthday ever!

Her fath Tim and Kon had basically allowed her to celebrate her birthday with her favorite people without getting overwhelmed. She was getting tired though and nodding off on Dick’s lap. That was their cue to start leaving. Though Cass was staying with them for the night as would Bart.

Once they were all gone Tim and Kon had asked Cass if they could leave them alone. Once they did, they all sat down on the carpet. They both looked pretty serious. Oh no. She should have known it was too good to be true. But she had started getting used to this life. Was this whole birthday thing just there to butter her up? They were never this serious with her unless they were talking about her parents and her stay here with her foster dad, Tim.

Oh nononononononono. Did her parents get the right to get her back? No. Last she’d seen them they were trash talking the Court assigned parenting classes they were supposed to take. They shouldn’t be able to take her back.

Suddenly she felt a familiar weight on her shoulders and she heard Tim say “it’s okay, it’s not bad news, it’s simply important”.

The next few minutes were spent with Kon tracing circles against her back and Tim guiding her breathing until she calmed down.

Once that was done she was slowly being glided on Kon’s lap, probably by the hands on her shoulders, even if she felt like she was in a warm cocoon, she loved his TTK so much. Kon kept tracing small circles on her back while Tim was patting her head slowly.

That was actually rather nice. The only good part about her panicking way too easily.

But then Tim pulled away and got papers out of his bag. That was the cue to return to the conversation that hadn’t even started yet.

Tim took a big gulp of air. He seemed nervous. Which was making her nervous, but then Kon was hugging her and she felt better. She felt him nod against her.

“Ok so, it’s been a bit more than a year since you were found in the street and we hadn’t been able to celebrate your birthday back then aside from getting you actual clothes and furniture and a cake, so I wasn’t sure how to do this but I think up until now we managed pretty well. Now since your parents never made an effort to go to the court mandated parenting classes during that time, It’s actually possible for you to be adopted as of last week.”

She could feel her heart start shrinking. They were going to make her go away.

“Which is why I sent a form as soon as I was allowed to do so. Now of course it’ll depend on whether or not you also want to become officially my kid. I merely sent the form so that I could have the papers ready when we talked about it so here goes.

Helena, would you like to officially become my child and live with me until you decide you’re too good for me and move out to live your life even if you’ll always have a room here ? We had already kind of talked about it but it always seemed too soon for that. It’s nothing to feel pressurized about. I won’t be mad if you don’t want to and we just won’t sign the papers. It won’t change the fact that I love you and you’ll always have a home here if you want to”

Helena froze. She had been staying here for a year. Tim and Kon had taken care of her so much. But what if it was like with her previous adopted parents? They had loved her very much before her dad decided to close his shop. On the other hand Tim and Kon had Cass and Bart and Dick and everyone else also looking after her. She knew she could talk to them and be listened to. At least Bart and Cass would listen to her (Dick tended to be a bit blind about Tim’s shortcomings which was pretty cute most of the time but could be irritating at others). She could feel her eyes start to well up when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Maybe it was too much. We should probably wait before telling her the other news”.

She turned to Kon and asked him in the most polite way she could muster what he meant.

“What? What is it? Kon? You can’t just say that and not tell me! That’s no fair!”

He looked above her head at Tim and he probably received a positive answer because he smiled and explained.

“Tim and I signed a Co-Parenting agreement. Of course it’s only if you accept his adoption and want me to be involved too but…yeah, I’d like to be your official parent too”.

She was crying now.

They wanted her too.

They really did.

It wasn’t just wishful thinking. It wasn’t them just being nice to her because she was sad. It’s not like they had never told her they loved her but it was always so hard to believe, even if they showed it every day.

“As if I’d say no to that !”

And she launched herself at Tim with Kon right behind him who scooped them in a hug.

This was the best birthday ever.

AN: - Alright so here Donald and Oshi are Anita's parents who returned to an infant state in YJ. As such they’re like a couple years older than Helena.

- Helena is, in fact, Helena Kyle (her favorite color is obviously Red, that's why she imprinted on Tim). Basically her parents were nice at first but life became hard and they ended up moving to try their chance in Cali and it didn't work out so they took it on her. Red Robin now Flamebird found her right after she ran away and took her to the emergencies where she met Conner who was waiting for them (Tim had called on the way) so Tim could disappear and change. So until she learned their secret IDs, she thought the first one she had met was Conner even if only by a few minutes. Also she calls him Kon 'cause she doesn't like Conner as a name. She writes it "Con" to people who don't know about the secret (because that's how she wrote it when she thought it was just a nickname). She just turned 8 - Jon was born a year after Canon ended for the Pre Flashpoint universe so he's a year and a half - two years younger than Helena. - Bart, Conner and Cass have their own room because of how often they come. - Tim and Kon live in California. They moved there a couple of months before finding Helena. Kon needs sun ok. Tim's working fo the police station as a civilian working his way up so he can have his two years of work in law enforcement so he can open his detective agency with KOn. Kon's a double major of Law and Psychology (with a minor in international Law)

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drawingsanddrabbles · 7 years

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Joke’s On You

I DIDNT MISS AN UPDATE WHAAAAAAAAT

betaed of course by @ilovebeingintroverted

guuys my fav scene the SCENE(TM) that i worte the fic for is in this chappie

Chapter ... whichever one this is (Seven I think...): I’m Not Batman, I Have Friends

links

Titans Tower stood on a small island off of the shore of San Francisco. It was a large T, built with silver steel; its windows were shaded and seemed tinged blue although they were clear from the inside. It was fortified, had some of the best security on the planet but still got destroyed every fifth Tuesday and is home to some of the world’s most annoying teenaged superheroes in Damian’s opinion. Of course, though, most of them are no longer teens.

Damian hadn’t been here in over eight years.

Colin put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t need to say anything, he knew that the hand is comfort to Damian enough, but he spoke anyway, leading his friend towards the door. “C’mon. They’re waiting.”

Every step Damian wanted to turn back. The first ten years of his life he grew up in a world of ‘kill or be killed’ and every now and then his survival instincts of ‘fight or flight’ would spring back up—like now. Right now. Right now when they were screaming for him to run, run as far as possible because he shouldn’t be here. He lost all right to be here when Tim became Robin and he started acting like an asshole, even if he didn’t own up to it at the time.

They sat at the top of the T in the middle. The room there was the large common room which is also used as a debriefing room and lounge. The couches were facing away from the door, which was good as everyone is sitting down and therefore sitting with their backs to where Damian and Colin entered. If they’d seen him coming well… Damian could take a Kryptonian-Human hybrid and an Amazonian but Speedsters he always had some trouble with, especially when he had to deal with the other two. Traya, Maya, and Jon stood opposite the couch, Jon’s eyes lit up when Damian walked in which confused some of his younger teammates.

“Jon, what-“ Cassandra Sandsmark said, her voice was a little deeper than it had been so many years before. Damian could see her blonde hair and red shirt as she leaned against the couch. Bartholomew Allen and Conner Kent sat on either side of her. The speedster seemed to be shorter than his friends and he wasn’t constantly vibrating anymore which Damian assumed was a credit to his age.

“We told you that you were here because of something important,” Traya began, as gently as she could.

“But since it’s of a…” Jon continued.

“Bat nature,” Traya supplied.

“We have decided that it would be best if Nightwing was here to tell you.” Damian had just about reached the couch about then. At his moniker the three Teen Titans jumped up, fists balled, and anger rising.

Jon, Traya, and Maya, put hands on their teammates’ shoulders. “You all need to hear this.” Colin insisted.

The clone half-brother of Jon growled. Damian could feel his tactile telekinesis vibrating in the air near his body. “We should beat you to a pulp.”

“Believe me, Clone Boy-“

“Don’t-call me that!”

“-I would not have come, but this is important and… you may want to be sitting down for this.” Damian walked to the other side of the couch, back facing the window as his friends’ were.

The three of them looked between themselves before warily sitting. There were some chairs set up and the five older Titans sat opposite their youngers.

Damian wasn’t quite sure where to begin. “Something has… happened.”

“Just spill it ‘Wing, then you can be on your way and we can all go back to our lives.” Cassie snapped, arms crossed.

“I’m afraid, Sandsmark, that there will be no ‘going back to our lives’ after this.” Damian stated just as crossly as Cassie had. He took a deep breath.

“Then stop screwin’ around and tell us already!” Bart imput.

“Timothy Drake is alive.” Damian said.

There was a silence. At first it seemed proper, as it did take some time to process that a once dead family member and friend was now living, but then the silence continued. And continued. And continued.

When one of the three of them finally spoke it was the Amazonian. She let out a sob, tears trickling down her cheeks. “Do-do you think this is a joke?”

Damian exchanged a confused look with his friends. “I don’t understand.”

“Do you think we’re a joke?” She let out a scream and flew at Damian sending the two of them flying into the bulletproof-but-not-shatter-resistant window that served as a wall. A loud crack resounded as Damian’s head hit the glass. She held him up with one hand and pulled back the other and punched him across the face, which resulted in another crack this one sounding harder than the first had. “How dare you! How dare you come in here and terrify us and then lie to us! And about Tim!” She hit him again. Jon stood and grabbed her by the collar of her red shirt, yanking her back so hard that she flew into the ground, sprawling. Jon caught Damian (he’d been held some feet above the floor) and drifted him to the ground. Both Bart and Conner were standing now, furious. “HOW DARE YOU!” Cassie roared.

“It’s not a lie!” Colin said. “I saw him myself! He’s real. He’s alive.”

“How?”

“Gr-Ra’s Al Ghul revived him and hid him for years. It was only recently that we even knew he was alive.”

“How recently?” Conner demanded.

Damian didn’t meet their eyes. “A day or two.”

“A day or two.” Cassie repeated. “You’ve known that Tim was alive for a day or two and you didn’t tell us?”

“We wanted Damian to tell you and he and Colin needed to return to Gotham-“ Traya explained, but Wonder Girl was having none of it. She scrambled to her feet and stormed out of the room, Bart and Conner zipped after her.

“Well, that was less of a disaster than it could have been.” Maya said optimistically.

“Jon and I should go talk to them.” Colin said. “They like us best.”

Jon nodded in agreement. “Maybe we can calm them down.” He added.

Traya nodded, rubbing her eyes wearily. “I’ll go get the jet ready for take off, no doubt they’ll want to see Tim as soon as possible.

“Are you alright, Damian?” Maya asked. Damian was sure that he had a bump on the back of his head and he had definitely heard something crack in his jaw, which probably wasn’t good, but with adrenaline still running through his system he felt fine. He told Maya so. She nodded and she offered that she and Damian could help with prepping the jet. So the five set off on their missions, it was time to bring Tim’s friends to him.

“You don’t deserve to be Robin! You never have!”

“Damian-“ Jon tried to calm his friend, laying a hand gently on the older man’s shoulder before Damian shrugged it off violently.

“Robin was my title! You haven’t the training! You haven’t the intellect! And you haven’t the blood!” Damain roared.

“Oh, right! I forgot!” Tim yelled back, throwing his arms out in anger. “I’m not a Wayne. You telling me that over and over for the past year hadn’t made it sink in yet! I’m so sorry that I stole your vacated mantle! You aren’t Robin anymore and that was the reason I became Robin in the first place! I became Robin ‘cuz after you left Batman went off the rails! He needed a Robin and I just happened to come along. I’m sorry that I wasn’t born a Wayne, I’m sorry that my blood isn’t blue, but, you know what Damian? Me being Robin? It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t left I never would have become him so if you want someone to blame, blame your fucking self! And yeah, I may not have the smarts you consider necessary of Robin, but I found out who you and your Dad were pretty quickly so suck on that!” Tim stormed out the door and slammed it to the sound of Damian bellowing back his response.

Useless, I’m fucking useless! Tim pushed past his friends (the ones who weren’t still in the infirmary from the last mission. The ones Tim had failed) who had been eavesdropping on the fight. Bart called out to him but he ignored the speedster and marched off to his room. Slamming the door, because it seemed to be one of the only helpful ways to get out his anger, he threw himself onto the bed. Useless. Useless. The words swam around in his brain. Each of them said in a different tone of voice but the voice itself was clearly Damian’s. Tim squeezed his welling eyes shut, hoping that the sob climbing in his throat wouldn’t escape.

It did.

Tim shuddered with the sob, hands clenched into his pillow with such force that they began to shake.

Useless. Useless. Useless.

Tim was useless. It was his fault. All of it was his fault. It was his fault that Kon was in the infirmary. It was his fault that Maya might never be able to walk again. It was his fault that the bad guy got away. Damian was right, he didn’t deserve to be Robin. He never deserved to be Robin.

Tim hadn’t heard the knocking, but he did hear the door open. Tim sprang up and quickly wiped his face, hoping whoever it was didn’t see the streaks that marred his face, or the wet spot on his pillow case.

“Robin?” Oh. Traya. Tim ignored her, he heard her walk forward softly. “You left your mask…” She didn’t finish her sentence. This wasn’t the first time that Damian and Tim had fought like this, and it certainly wasn’t the last. This fight in particular had hit a soft spot for Tim, and he’d thrown his mask down before Damian had tried to attack him the first time (Colin and Jon had held him back). “Robin?” Maybe if Tim ignored her she’d go away.

It wasn’t that he had anything against Traya. In fact, he liked her a lot. She and Jon were great. That was when they weren’t siding with Damian in a fight. Granted many times they abstained from joining the arguments and just moderated and did damage control but… oh. That was what this was. Traya was doing damage control.

“Tim?” All of the older heroes in the Titans knew Tim’s real name, it came with the whole being friends (or at least allies) of the family for a long time.

“I’m fine, Traya. Go away.”

But Traya sat down next to him on his bed, and held out the dark green mask for Tim to take. “Want to talk?”

“No.”

“Tim…” He hated when she used that tone of voice on him. Like he was her little brother, like he was her responsibility.

“I said I’m fine.”

“Damian was wrong.”

That was… unexpected.

“Damian was wrong, and you were right to argue with him.”

Then why didn’t you back me up?

“… say something?” She asked softly when he remained silent.

“Why didn’t you back me up?”

“Because I’ve learned the hard way that arguing with Damian will almost never get you anywhere.”

Tim took the mask but didn’t look at her.

“But that’s not an excuse. I should have backed you up. I’m sorry.”

“Why would you anyway? You’re one of them.” Tim spat.

“Them?”

He shouldn’t have said that. “Never mind.”

“No, Tim, obviously this is really important to you. What do you mean ‘them’?” She asked kindly.

“You know… a blue blood.” The second half was muttered, but he knew that Traya had heard him.

“Blue blood? You mean…” There was a pause, and then a gasp. “Tim, oh Timmy. Look at me.” Tim wouldn’t. “I said look at me.” Tim glanced up at her. At her big blue eyes, and her tilted lids, and her long dark lashes. She looked… sad. Tim didn’t like that expression so he looked away.

Traya got down on her knees, and bent so that she was right in front of Tim’s face. She wiped a hand across his cheek, running her fingers over the tracks his tears had made on his face. “Feel my face.”

“What?”

“Feel it. Feel my hands, my arms, my legs.” Tim hesitantly touched her face. “Tim, what do you feel?”

“Skin?” What on Earth could Traya be getting at?

“Exactly. Feel that again, Tim. Do you feel the muscles? Feel my lips, my hair. Those are cells. Living, breathing, human cells.”

Oh.

“Tim, blood has nothing to do with being a superhero. I’m not an android. I was not created by my father, but I love him. I still work with him as a hero. I helped create and sustain a team. I was trained with Damian and Jon and Colin. I created my own wind manipulators and I taught Maya and Damian everything they know about hacking. Tim, I am a hero. And not because I am the daughter of Red Tornado. Not because I have his blood, or lack thereof, running through my veins. I’m a hero because it’s who I am, and it’s who you are too. Tim, blood has nothing to do with it. Sure, maybe Maya and Jon and Damian and Bart are related to their superhero mentors-“

“And Kon, and Cassie.”

“How are Kon and Cassie related?”

“Kon is the son of Superman, Traya. And Cassie is a friggin’ demigod.”

“Okay. I’ll give you them. But the point is Tim, it doesn’t matter who your parents are. Colin’s parents weren’t superheroes. My original ones weren’t either. Tim, it doesn’t matter who your parents are because blood does not a hero make. Tim, you are Robin. You are a good Robin. You’re kind, something Damian had to work for, you’re smart, something I think Damian still has trouble with.” she said lightly. Tim didn’t laugh so she continued. “You’re a good fighter, and a good leader.”

“But I’m not. Kon is hurt and Maya-“

“Even good leaders have bad days, Tim. You can’t save everyone. But no one is dead, and that’s always a plus in my book.” Tim couldn’t hold her eye contact so he looked away, a blush crawling up his neck. “Tim, you are the perfect Robin for this team. And I’ll stick by that until I die. Even in front of Damian.” Then she hugged him.

“Ew! Traya! Get off!”

“Not until you value your own worth.”

“Okay! Okay! I value my own worth! Now get off me!” Traya giggled and released him.

“Ready to go see your friends? They saw how upset you were. They’re worried about their Robin.”

“Yeah, okay.” Tim stood and put his mask back on his face.

“Tim, you know you can always talk to me, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks Trays.”

“Anytime.”

New rule, Tim thought to himself as he blinked awake blearily, no more being blown up. The pain in his back had dulled some but he was still sleeping a lot as he had no distractions and the pain went away when he was unconscious.

Bruce had switched out his morphine drip at some point with a new one, but Tim barely used it. He disliked the painkillers. He slowly moved into a sitting position, having a back where any type of pressure put on it hurt was very tedious.

In his current state he couldn’t get out of the cell much less fight and kill the Joker. Staying to heal wasn’t an option either, they were almost ready and no one would listen to Tim which meant that Bruce would still patrol one night soon, and then he wouldn’t come home.

Jason Todd had come to see him multiple times; apparently he’d been grounded and was very bored over the weekend. He was rash, impulsive, but a very good fighter. He wasn’t the detective Bruce was, nor was he the assassin that Damian was, but he was determined to be a good Robin and determination went a long way. One time he and Cass had sparred in the hallway on the other side of Tim’s glass cell wall. Jason hadn’t beaten Cass, but he was good, Tim had to admit. He fought like he seemed to live, with a sense of spite towards the world and with a resolve to win.

Tim was glad that Jason had been in replacement, he was glad that Cass had been Steph’s too. They both fit the part. Bruce needed them.

Alfred knocked on the glass politely, and Tim raised an eyebrow before standing, walking over to greet the butler. “Yes?” He asked.

“Sir, some visitors have come. I have been told to take you to them. I ask that you do not struggle, I wish you no harm Master Timothy.”

“I understand, Alfred.” Tim said with a nod.

Alfred unlocked the door and Tim raised his hands in surrender as he stepped out. “Sir, I am sorry about the conditions we have kept you in-“

“No, it’s understandable Alfred. I’m not… how I used to be and I’m healing. It’s smart that you keep me there, I can’t escape.”

“Sir, I have to ask you to walk in front of me.”

“I understand.” Tim repeated. And he truly did. Treating him like an enemy made sense, it really did. They didn’t want him to escape and kill the Joker. It was annoying, but Tim would have done the same thing if he was in Bruce’s position.

He walked slowly at first, gauging how much pain he took with each step, slowly he walked faster and faster until he was moving at a normal speed his face masking his pain. They walked through the Cave and into one of the training rooms; acrobatic equipment, mats, Tim knew that the blank wall on his left was really retractable and covered an arsenal of weapons. Tim wondered if his bo staff was still in its place…

Damian stood in the room, he sat on a balance beam, long lean legs reaching the ground. His back bent in a very un-Damian way, it almost looked like he was slouching. He was wearing his Nightwing costume. “Really? What, you’re going to fight me?” Tim stuck his lower lip out, in a mock-pout. “But Damian, I’m in pain.”

Damian said nothing.

“Really? Are you just going to stand there? You know, I do the whole staring-not-talking thing better than you.”

He still said nothing. Instead the door behind Tim opened. He turned. Huh, when did Alfred leave? The three people who had entered were friends of Damian’s, old Titans. Jonathan Kent, Flamebird, he wore his costume too, in fact all three of them did. Tim felt a little under-dressed. Colin, Abuse, stood behind Jon. Maya, NoBody, walked over to Damian and sat next to him on the beam. She took off her mask, holding it under her arm.

“Really? What is this? An intervention?”

No one still said anything, they all just continued to stare.

Tim crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the buzz of pain from the healing skin he was stretching. “Interventions work better when you talk.”

Jon and Colin sat with their backs to one of the walls, eyes continuing to look at Tim. Tim frowned, what were they trying to do? Get him to talk? Annoy him? And where was Traya? She wasn’t here, was she staying with the Titans?

“Is there a point to this? Is the point that you’re not allowed to talk?” He asked. Damian gave a small nod. Why wouldn’t they be allowed to talk? Well, they could apparently answer him through nods, or did Damian just slip up?

The door opened again and Traya walked in, she glanced at Tim her eyes lighting up slightly. She gave him a small smile, then she held open the door.

They walked in, each glaring at the elder Titans. Cassie walked in first; she froze when she saw him. Conner was next; he let out a small gasp. Finally Bart walked through; he looked around the room in that hyper way of his before his eyes finally settled on Tim. In a blink of an eye he had tackled Tim, slamming his back against the floor to which Tim wanted to cry out, but he was too busy hugging the speedster. His other friends soon were on him too.

They were all crying and talking at once, Tim’s head was slowly feeling the pain from his back more and more, it dug into his mind and distracted him from what they were saying. He pushed Bart off of him and sat up, back relieved of pressure he could give his full attention to him.

Cassie was bawling, her arms around him. Conner was crying too but given that both Cassie and Bart were holding Tim he didn’t really have space to join. He just held Tim’s face in his hands, staring into his eyes. They were all talking and it was mainly babble about how much they loved him, how much they never thought they would see him again, how glad they were he was alive.

Oh god, his friends were here. Conner didn’t look that much older than he did at sixteen, but his voice was deeper. His eyes were so blue and filled with tears. Then there was Cassie who was kissing his face, and whispering how much she’d missed him and how she was so glad he was back, her face was streaked from crying and her blonde hair was wild. Then Bart, tiny Bart had gotten so much taller and wider, his shoulders and chest had filled out and his hair had been tamed—cut to a normal length as opposed to the mop he’d had for so long, and he was just hanging onto Tim so tightly that Tim didn’t think he would ever let go. God his friends, they were all alive and they were okay. Tim didn’t even know he was crying.

Eventually his friends ran out of things to say and the four of them just sat in a pile on the floor. The tears never really dried, every time they looked at one another a new flood would roll down their faces. They held one another as if that was the only thing that mattered, because it was, Tim was back. That was all any of them could process for a long time.

Finally a conversation rose again. “How-how did you…?” Cassie tried to ask.

“Ra’s. He brought me back.”

Conner let out a laugh, “You know, I might ask Ma to make a pie for him as a thank you.” He joked.

Bart was holding Tim’s hand, he wouldn’t let go, as if he stopped touching Tim he would disappear. Tim didn’t mind that much though. “Areyoulivingokay? YouknowwealwayshavemoreroomattheToweryoucouldcomebackandlivewithusifyouwantedtoImean-“

Tim laughed. He hadn’t heard Bart speak that fast in so long, it was good to be back. “I’m good, Bart. But I’d love to come visit maybe.”

“You can always come. Always.” Cassie promised.

“How have you guys been? Save the world much?”

Conner shook his head. “We want to hear about you. How long have you been back? Why are you here? How-?”

“What’s on your back?” Bart interrupted. “And why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Tim looked down at his clothes; he had forgotten that his chest was bare. He didn’t wear a shirt because Alfred wanted to make sure that he was healing well, and because of the frequency that his bandages had to be changed. While they had been talking he had almost forgotten about his pain, but now that he was once again aware of it it had gotten worse. He subtly took as deep of a breath as possible; he didn’t want them to know how much pain he was masking right now.

Bart let go of his hand for less than a second so he could move to get a better look at Tim’s back using his super speed. “What happened to you?” He cried. He instantly began checking Tim for other injuries. Conner and Cassie both moved so that they could see his back before having similar reactions.

“So, I may have been blow up a little.” Tim explained meekly.

“You were what?” Cassie stood and stomped over to where Damian sat (Tim had almost forgotten that he was there). “You said he was safe here! You said that he was fine! What did you do?”

“Cassie, they didn’t do anything to me!” Tim said. Damian wouldn’t look her in the eye. She scowled but didn’t attack instead, she went back to sit down next to Tim. “It was the Riddler’s fault, really, I’m fine. Just a little banged up.” Tim promised. Cassie still didn’t look happy.

“You look so much older.” Kon mumbled. “Your voice is lower, your hair is longer-“

“Idon’tlikeit.” Bart input.

Tim rolled his eyes. “Do you remember your old hairstyle?”

“I shaved it!”

Tim laughed remembering the fiasco where his friend, in a bout of impulsiveness (what else was new), had indeed shaved his wild hair, and the rest of his head. To make is not seem suspicious that both Kid Flash and Bart Allen had shaved their heads he was required to wear a wig while he was Bart until it grew back to an inconspicuous length.

No one spoke for a minute and Tim glanced at the silent Titans around them. “So… why aren’t they speaking?” He asked.

Conner glared at the elder heroes. “They aren’t allowed to talk.” He said.

“… Why?”

“They decided to keep your living a secret from us, they also wanted to observe us, make sure we didn’t… I don’t know, hurt you or something, we said that they weren’t allowed to talk.” Cassie explained.

Oh, no. Tim didn’t respond, but he looked at Damian. He saw how Damian glanced at the three Titans then at him, warily. They weren’t here to protect Tim from them, they were here to protect them from Tim. He was worried that Tim would, what? Bring them to the dark side? Was he worried that Tim was a sleeper agent of Ra’s? No, then he wouldn’t be trying to protect Tim from the League of Assassins.

“Tim? You okay?” Conner asked, nudging Tim.

Tim blinked. “Sorry, what?” He saw his friends’ worried faces and put on a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just zoned out for a second.”

Cassie began telling him a story about something that had happened with her friend Cissie (one of the Green Arrow’s old co-workers who had retired to become an Olympic Archer). Afterwards Conner mentioned an off-world mission he’d had with Superman and soon Tim’s friends were telling him about everything he’d missed in the past six years, some of which Tim knew (be it from searching the internet after he escaped the League or from newspapers that Talia and Ra’s so graciously supplied him while under their care), some of which he didn’t.

Tim laughed when he was supposed to, gasped when appropriate, was sympathetic. He watched as his friends’ eyes lit up, appreciating his reactions to their stories and continued talking. Tim liked when they talked, he liked when he didn’t have to hear himself. Plus, he didn’t really want to tell them what he’d been doing the past few years. He didn’t want them to worry. He didn’t want them to know.

“Why don’t you come back with us?” Cassie asked at one point.

Tim shook his head, ducking it to hide his flush. “I have things to do here.”

“It’ll just be for a little while- just until you’re healed.” Tim glanced at Damian whose mouth had formed a firm line.

“Nah, it’s okay. But I promise, as soon as I’m free I’ll come visit.” Tim lied. The truth was he’d probably never get that far, either he’d die trying (or succeeding) to kill the Joker, or he’d be put in jail.

And his friends wouldn’t want anything to do with him.

There was a gentle knock on the door which interrupted Bart who zipped over to open it. Alfred stood at the other side. “Apologies Masters, but Doctor Thompkins is here. Shall I ask her to wait?”

Tim looked at Damian who stood, staring at his adoptive brother. Tim didn’t want to go, he really didn’t. But he knew that look on Damian’s face, Damian wanted him to swiftly exit the conversation and kick his friends out.

“Who’s Doctor Thompkins?” Bart asked.

“Just someone here to help Timothy.” Alfred responded. So they didn’t want his friends to know… they were asking him in their subtle way to comply.

“Um, I better go.”

“We’ll wait.” Cassie insisted.

“No, it’ll take a while.” Tim said quickly. “But you can always come back to visit.” Tim looked at Alfred who nodded in confirmation.

“Absolutely, Miss Sandsmark.”

Cassie gave Tim a pleading look but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He didn’t want them here for this. “It’ll be fine. I’ll see you guys another day, okay?”

Bart ran back to Tim, hugging him tightly, putting pressure on his wounds but Tim ignored the pain. “Imgonnamissyousomuch.”

“Bart, you can see me tomorrow.”

“But that’s so far from now!”

Cassie pushed Bart out of the way and hugged Tim as well, pressing a kiss to his hair. “I’ll see you later.”

Next was Conner’s turn. The man brushed Tim’s hair out of his face before hugging him as well. “Later.” The clone promised.

“Master Timothy, if you’d come with me.” Tim nodded, sparing his friends one last glance he walked out of the room.

“Hello Tim.” Leslie Thompkins greeted. Tim had been led from the training room his friends had been in to the living room upstairs in the Manor. Tim was actually surprised that Bruce had let them meet up here. Between Leslie and the chair that had been set up for Tim was a small coffee table with a pot of water and two tea cups. Huh, so they trusted him with a potential weapon (or they knew he wouldn’t dare break Alfred’s good china).

Tim sat down. Leslie Thompkins crossed her legs. “Hello Doctor.”

Lee waited until Alfred had left and then she began speaking. “Would you like to tell me why you think you’re here?” She asked.

“Bruce thinks I can change. He thinks I can see error in my ways.” Lee stayed silent, waiting for Tim to elaborate. “He thinks that I can join him again, that if the right people talk to me I’ll eventually not want to kill the Joker.”

“What do you think will happen when he believes that?” She asked.

“He’ll let me go.”

“Then why haven’t you lied to him so he’ll let you go?”

“I hadn’t thought of it.” Tim lied.

“You. Tim Drake, the world’s second greatest detective didn’t think of lying?” Tim didn’t respond. “I get it. You don’t want to be here, you want to be somewhere else fulfilling this… desire. Killing the Joker. But you didn’t lie to get to your goal. You don’t think that maybe this is your subconscious telling you something? You could have let Jason die. You didn’t have to save him, didn’t have to be stuck here, didn’t have to save those people.”

“You’re saying you… want me to be a bad guy?” Tim asked incredulously. “You want me to kill people? You want me to let innocent people suffer?”

“Well why should they be saved? You weren’t.”

Tim swallowed, eyes narrowing. “They aren’t to blame for me dying.”

“The Joker is.”

“Yes.”

“And therefore he must die.”

“No.”

Leslie cocked her head to the side. “I’m confused. Then why do you want to kill the Joker?”

“I want to kill the Joker so he can never do this again. The rest of Bruce’s rogues gallery—they can reform. They won’t but they can. They don’t deserve to die, not like the Joker does. The Joker and Bruce play this… game. This game that either ends where Bruce gets hurt and the Joker gets away, the Joker gets sent back to Arkham only to break out again, or someone Bruce cares about gets hurt. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. And I understand why Bruce won’t do it. And that’s fine. But we aren’t all like Bruce, for some of us we don’t open a one way door. Some of us can come back over the line.”

“By ‘some of us’ you’re referring to yourself?”

“Who else?”

“Tim, why didn’t you come to Bruce? Why didn’t you go to your friends? To Stephanie? You know you’re not alone.”

“They wouldn’t help. They’re like Bruce. They can’t help.”

“Or maybe you just don’t want them to. Because if they do they’ve become just like criminals. Maybe because you will become one, too.”

“This is my fight, and after this… Bruce can do whatever he wants with me. Send me to Arkham. Throw me in Blackgate. I don’t care. But I won’t drag them down with me. That doesn’t mean I’m going to just start killing everyone I don’t like… just him. I just—I can’t let him live.” Leslie just looked at him. “Look, I know none of you understand and-that’s-that’s okay. That’s fine. I don’t expect you to.” Tim rubbed his face. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Alright. What do you want to talk about?”

Tim shook his head.

“That’s okay,” Leslie said gently. “We can wait until you know.” She offered. The rest of the session was silence.

Tim woke up when heard the footsteps, funny this being-held-captive-in-a-cage-so-he-didn’t-kill-the-Joker had resulted in the most sleep he’d gotten since he’d been dead. He didn’t move. By the sound of it it was two people, Alfred was probably one of them. Alfred came by to see Tim a lot. It felt like his friends yesterday had been a dream, must have been a dream. They hadn’t called since—not that Tim expected them to put their lives on hold for him.

“He’s asleep.” Kon whispered. “Maybe-maybe I should go.”

“He is not asleep, Young Mister Kent. He is, as you young ones say, faking it. Master Tim, please open your eyes, your friend is here.”

Sometimes Tim disliked Alfred. Tim opened his eyes, slowly rising. Conner’s face lit up, a smile flickered over his face. He stood on the other side of the glass in civvies, a tin in his hands. That wasn’t… Ma’s pie, was it? “Hi.” Conner breathed.

“Hi. What’re you…?” Tim’s eyes never left the tin in his hands.

“Stand back, Master Timothy.” Alfred warned. Tim nodded and stood back as he unlocked the door. Conner looked confused, glancing between the two of them, before he ran into the room. Alfred locked the door behind him. Conner immediately hugged his friend.

“Hey! How are you?”

“I’m, um, I’m fine. Is… is that what I think it is?” Tim asked, pointing to the tin.

Kon snorted. “Should have known that you would care more about Ma’s pie than me.”

“So… it is one of Ma’s pies?”

Kon laughed and took a fork from his jeans pocket and handed it to Tim. “I told Ma. About you. And she wasn’t that surprised. Weirdly. Said it happened to someone Clark knew like, at least once a month.”

Tim was too busy stuffing his face with pie to respond. “Mmmshruf.” He said in agreement. He and Conner sat on the floor of his cell and while Tim ate, Kon talked. Tim had a sudden blast of déjà vu, this scene, this place, him and Kon, sitting on the floor while Kon talked.

They’d done similar things like this before, Tim remembered, every other week or so. Tim would be working, whether it was at the Tower, at the Manor, in the Cave or (for a short time when his parents were alive) in his old room. Conner would come, he would bring pie and play video games with a play-by-play commentary on whatever he wanted to talk about. Sometimes it was school, or missions, or “hey did you see how frickin’ dope it was when Cassie punched Despero? Like damn.”

“So?” Conner asked. “Why are you in a zoo cage?”

Tim stopped eating for a second. “A… zoo cage?”

“Yeah. Like the lions or the water animals? You go to a zoo and they have this glass wall between you and them that has real walls on other sides. Like this place.”

“It was supposed to be a cell. Originally, Damian and Bruce… they didn’t know who I was. So when I was recovering from the bomb, in the beginning, they wanted me in here. I guess, they keep it that way now because they just find me… dangerous.”

“Dangerous? What the fuck, man? What is wrong with your family?”

“I dunno, man. I don’t know.”

“I’m going to speak with them-“

“No!” Tim interrupted.

Conner shot him a confused look. “They locked you up in here! With like, a passcode and everything! And you’re… okay with that?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

“They need to feel safe. And, I don’t know if I can help him in my current condition.”

“Help? Help who?” Tim ate a piece of pie instead of answering. “Tim. Don’t shut me out. Who are you trying to help?”

“Bruce is in trouble, and no one believes me. They think I’m just… I don’t know. Making an excuse.”

“For what?”

Tim couldn’t tell him. He’d never believe him. He’d never help him. He’d think he was crazy. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Tim.”

“I want… the Joker gone.”

“Just gone? I want him dead.”

“You… what?” Now Tim was confused.

“I want him dead. He, he killed you Tim. He doesn’t deserve—he’s hurt so many people.”

“Heroes don’t kill.” Tim echoed Bruce.

Conner glanced downward. “Clark says the same thing.”

“I bet Diana and Barry do too.”

Kon leaned back on his hands. “You’re really going to town on that pie, aren’t you?”

Tim looked up innocently at his friend. “It’s yummy.”

Kon burst out laughing and Tim grinned at his friend. “So how’s Ma?” Tim asked.

“She’s good. She and Pa need more help on the farm though, so Jon’s thinking about coming back home for a while.”

“No way! I can’t imagine Ma and Pa asking for help around the farm!”

“Oh, they didn’t ask. They specifically called Jon and told him not to come, but you know Jon.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, they’ve really gotten the hang of the wifi you set up for them. Pa’s getting into Netflix.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, Ma still uses that grainy black and white to watch the news while she cooks, but Pa sometimes watches a few documentaries after being in the field. He falls asleep halfway through usually, but he still watches them.”

“And I was worried it would be of no use to them.”

“Well, it wasn’t. For a long time, but…” Kon took a shaky breath. Tim hated that he’d caused that pain on Kon’s face. No, a small part of his mind argued, you didn’t cause anything. And you know that. And you know what you have to do because of it. “Anyway, Pa remembered how excited you’d been when you set it up for them, and how he promised to use it but never did and… he wanted it to be a reminder, you know?”

“Tell Pa that what he did means a lot to me.”

“I will.” Kon promised. While Tim ate every last morsel in the bottom of that pie tin Kon watched him.

“What?” Tim asked when he was finished, licking the last molecules of pie off of the fork in his hand.

“I’ve missed you a lot.” Kon said with a softness that wasn’t at all sad, but happy, with maybe a hint of reverence. The thought that Kon could ever see him in reverence made Tim want to laugh. But the way that Kon smiled lightly, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, the way his cheeks puffed out a little when he really smiled, that was true happiness, without a doubt.

Tim grinned at him.

Tim was being woken up again, but this time is was by something different. Was-was that a tapping sound? It was annoyingly persistent. Why would someone be tapping without stop? Just to wake him up? Oooh this reeked of Damian.

That little-

Wait.

That was morse code.

Tim pressed his ear to the wall at the back of his cell which held up his cot. That was weird. If he remembered the blueprints of the Batcave correctly, the area where his cell was had been carved out of the mountain which Wayne Manor sat on… there shouldn’t have been anything but rock on the other side of here.

The message was being repeated over and over. shhshh-thump-thump-thump seven unit pause thump-thump-thump-thump-shhshh seven unit pause thump-shhshh-thump pause thump-thump-thump one unit pause shhshh-thump-thump-thump Crap he got that wrong. The first word was thump-thump-thump and shhshh-thump-thump-thump not shhshh-thump-thump-thump.

Now what were those letters again? Tim strained to remember, the last time he had used morse code had been when he was bored and had been teaching it to the Titans for in case of emergency.

Thump-thump-thump was supposed to be dot-dot-dot, which was… S!

Next letter: shhshh-thump-thump-thump, dash-dot-dot-dot—B!

Wait. SB?

Kon.

The other two letters were easier to remember once he figured out it was Kon who was trying to communicate with him. He’d taught the team certain initials which would be their name signals, and then he taught them how to contact a specific person. The number four and then the other person’s name signal.

So Tim rubbed back against the wall as hard as he could: thump-thump-shhshh-shhshh-thump-thump and awaited Kon’s answer.

U T-A-L-K

“Kon?” Tim whispered against the wall. “What are you doing here? How did you get to the other side of the wall? Did you tunnel into the mountain? Isn’t this a little much? You could have just calle-“

Kon was tapping something back out on the wall.

S-T-A-N-D B-A-C-K

Stand back?

There was a rumbling sound and Tim’s eyes widened as he jumped off of his bed, scrambling to the other side of the cell. He covered his head, curling up into a ball.

The wall burst as a hand punched through it, then ripped the wall apart. Soon Tim was huddled, protected from some of the dust and grime by his position, in a room with a very large new door. Tim slowly straightened watching as not just Kon but Bart and Cassie walked into his cell from the very opposite of where the door was supposed to be.

“What are you guys doing here? Alfred’s going to be so pissed when he sees that you broke open my cell. Did you tunnel all the way through the mountain? Why are you guys even here? Shouldn’t you be, like, I don’t know, asleep? How did you bypass the Manor’s security?”

Cassie hugged her friend tightly while Bart grinned and held out a handmade banner, CONGRATS ON YOUR NEWFOUND FREEDOM!

“Jesus, Tim. Shut up for once.” Kon said lightly.

Huh?

“What’s going on?” Tim asked warily, pulling away from Cassie. He looked at his friends’ grinning faces, the banner that Bart had apparently made, and the new gaping hole in his wall.

“Isn’t it obvious, Silly?” Bart asked, rolling his eyes. “We’re breaking you out!”

#diana writes #diana writes batman #robin!reversal #joke's on you #I'm Not Batman I Have Friends

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