Chapter Text
Wednesday, May 15th
“Father.”
Bruce didn’t look up. Tim spared him a glance, Damian was dressed as casually as he could get and holding his school backpack.
“I want to see Todd. Either drive me or I will get there on my own.”
Bruce sighed, “Damian, we talked about this, I don’t want-”
“I know what you want. I don’t care. He is my brother,” he gave Tim a sharp look, “And I will see him. You may authorize the visit or not, the outcome will not change.”
The following silence was tense. Bruce didn’t want Damian learning anything from Jason Todd, his greatest failure and most violent prodigy. But they all knew that if Damian wanted to go somewhere, he would get there at any cost.
“Call Dick. Have him drive you out there.”
“Richard is preoccupied. I already spoke with him.”
Bruce pinched his nose.
“I can drive,” Damian told him.
“No.”
“I know how.”
“No.” Bruce growled.
Damian did not waver. Tim wished he wasn’t in the cave for the conversation.
“Have Drake drive me if you will not.”
“No. It’s too dangerous.”
Tim scoffed, “It’s too dangerous for me to drop him off? Really, B?”
Bruce sounded tired, “Do I need to remind you-”
“Do you think I’ve forgotten?” Tim snapped. He had gotten a total of 7 hours of sleep over the past 3 days and just wanted to get back to his place. Batman had requested his help in the cave after patrol and Tim couldn’t say no. He should feel lucky that Tim agreed, given he was supposed to be at Wayne Enterprises in 2 hours.
“Tim-”
“Where’s the meeting spot?” He asked Damian, “It’s time for me to go anyway. I have to get ready for work.”
“You need to rest,” Bruce told him.
“These were my resting hours,” Tim said tersely.
Damian cut in, “He wants me dropped off in the Bowery, Drake.”
“That’s out of my way,” Tim told him, turning back to his computer. “I can drop you off outside Gotham Academy. Take it or leave it.
“I don’t want you near Red Hood,” Bruce used his stern voice, “He’s dangerous.”
“It’s been three years, Bruce. If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead. Plus,” Tim snapped his laptop closed, “I’ve gotten better.”
-
Damian got in the passenger seat of Tim’s car and immediately got on his phone. At the ripe old age of 12 he was at peak tweenage asshole angst.
Damian’s Robin had seen Red Hood in passing during patrol a while ago. Tim knew that Damian had spent the last several months trying to get closer and closer to Red Hood’s territory. Batman had been on his ass about it lately, doing his best keeping Robin on the other side of Gotham and away from Red Hood. Evidently, if Damian couldn’t see him at night, he’d see him during the day.
Tim knew that they were close. That Jason had spent time with the League of Assassins at the same time Damian had been there. They had similar fighting styles, brutal and effective, both mixed with Batman’s preferred, less-deadly style combat.
Thankfully, Damian leaned towards Batman’s preferred methods of incapacitation as opposed to Red Hood’s infamous way of winning a fight: decapitation.
“He agreed to your demands. He’s waiting in the West Lot of the Academy.” Damian said it like Tim was walking into a terrorist situation, not dropping a 12 year old off for a playdate with his big brother.
Tim had always wondered if that was Damian’s hang up with him.
Damian hated Tim the most out of anyone in the family and Tim had taken Jason's spot after he died. His death was going to drive Batman into the ground and no one was doing anything, so Tim stepped in. He would have never taken the mantle if he had known Jason was going to come back.
He had mourned Jason just like everyone else. He visited his grave, not knowing it was empty. He tried to fill the shoes that Jason Todd left behind, fill the hole in Bruce's heart, and fill the hallowed spirit of Batman.
It didn’t work, of course. Not even before Jason came back, he was never a real son to Bruce.
But he held everything together until Batman was back in his right mind. He found Bruce in the timestream and brought him back, even when everyone thought he was crazy. He upheld Wayne Enterprises in his absence. And when Dick kicked him out of Robin’s shoes and Batman got a new Robin, Tim got his own name, his own territory, and his own responsibilities. He knew better than to linger.
But simply the idea that Tim stole Jason’s spot must be enough reason for Damian to hate his guts.
Spotting Jason’s car in the parking lot wouldn’t have taken much effort even if he wasn’t leaning against it. The black Hellcat was eye-catching, but with a massive man in a red hoodie leaning on the hood, there was no question.
Tim didn’t get too close, pulling into a spot on the other side of the small parking lot.
“Don’t get out of the car.” Damian unbuckled before Tim had even put the car in park, “I doubt he wants to speak to you.” His voice was venomous.
“You’re welcome,” Tim told him tiredly.
Damian slammed the car door after he was out. Tim wasn’t sure if it was intentionally mean or carelessly rude.
He knew he was going to wait until Damian got in Jason's car before he left. It was just good practice to ensure that a package reached its intended destination.
Tim watched Jason push off the hood when Damian was close enough. It caught Tim by surprise to watch the Red Hood lean down and scoop the violent tween into a big bear hug, lifting him off of the ground and into his arms.
It made his stomach roll. Tim wasn’t sure when the last time he was greeted like that was, if he ever had been.
Tim left the parking lot before Damian had gotten in the car. He was in Jason’s arms instead.
-
He couldn’t stop thinking about Jason Todd and he hated himself for it.
Tim knew with certainty that the only time Jason had ever thought of him was when planning on how to kill him.
Tim used to think of him daily as a kid. He was the second Robin, he was fast and sharp and tough. He was good.
And then he was dead. And without any right to, Tim mourned him.
And then he lived in Jason’s shadow, propping up both Bruce and Batman.
And then he lived in fear, never getting the chance to explain himself to the second Robin.
And then it was the tentative truce. Tim stayed out of his way and out of his part of the city. Jason let him live. Batman let Red Hood, Jason, his son, do what he liked as long as he did it in the nastiest parts of the city.
And now, he has to rectify the young hero, his one-sided relationship with a dead boy, his pain at the hands of Jason, his fear of Red Hood, and the dozens of decapitated heads and dead bodies littering Gotham, with that.
Jason literally scooped him up into a hug that was readily returned. Tim didn’t linger long enough to see how long it lasted. It was a Wednesday, Damian should be doing schoolwork or training, and instead his older brother is taking him on a playdate.
He just grabbed Damian like it was nothing, so openly affectionate. There was no doubt in Tim’s mind that Jason loved the little demon.
No wonder Damian had been so adamant about seeing him.
Tim should be working on the 137 unread emails in his inbox. He should be making his presentation for the Board. He should be planning meetings with investors and he should be reviewing their budgets or some shit.
Instead, he pulled his work-work computer out of his bag and started running a trace for Damian’s location.
His phone was easy enough to trace. Tim zoomed in on his green dot in the Bowery.
Jason took Damian to the fucking Stewart and Reed Animal Shelter.
It made Tim want to scream.
-
Sunday, May 19th
“Can we talk?” Nightwing was polite enough to make some noise while approaching from behind, “We don’t have to, if you’re busy.”
Red Robin didn’t put down his scope. “About what?”
“Um, yeah, well, that's the thing.” Dick sounded nervous enough that Tim got nervous on his own.
Tim hadn’t done anything worthy of getting himself disowned lately. He’d been polite with the demon brat. He wasn’t working cases on anyone else territory. He had been helpful when Oracle called on him. He hadn’t pissed off B, as far as he knew.
“You’re making me nervous, Wing.”
“Makes two of us. Any chance you can put that down?”
Tim put it down and turned to look at him. He was wringing his finger stripe hands in front of him and rocking back on his heels. The picture of anxious worry.
“Who’d I fuck over this time?” Tim joked dryly.
“No one, you didn’t do anything. But I, uh, well-” Nightwing scratched at the back of his neck, “I need you to promise that you’ll still like me. Also it’s okay if you’re pissed, though.” He stuck out one hand and held his pinky up, “Pinky promise that you’ll eventually forgive me.”
“That bad, huh?” Tim tried to joke, but he could hear his own nerves.
He stuck his pinky out for the requested pinky promise. Tim watched Dick steel his nerves.
“I saw Red Hood the other day, he was closer to Bludhaven than he usually gets, and I approached him to, I don’t know, just to see what he was getting up to. And we talked, just for a little bit. It was short, like 2 minutes flat. But there wasn't any blood. And then yesterday I caught him on his smoke break, and told him to knock it off cause cigarettes are bad for you, you know, but then we kept talking. So it wasn’t like, planned or anything, but yeah. We talked.”
Dick let out a deep breath after he finished.
“Why would I be mad about that?” Tim asked. There was nothing in there that was pinky promise worthy, so there had to be something else, something that Dick wasn’t telling him.
“Um, well, we kind of, I mean, I prompted it. But he agreed. To get breakfast. I think. Or at least coffee. And talk.”
Tim clenched his jaw.
Of course Dick would want to make amends with Jason. Of course he missed his little brother. Not the one standing in front of him, no, the only that he mourned for years and missed from afar after his return.
Tim didn't hate Bruce for wanting his biological kid at his side, and he didn't hate Dick for taking the Robin name away from him and giving it to Damian, his own Robin, at least Tim didn't hate him anymore. He knew that Bruce wanted to train Damian, to raise him as a son, and teach him Bruce's ways. He knew that Dick didn't think Tim was fit to be Robin, at least not for him. He knew that Damian’s arrival was his exit signal. Tim had always known better than to be somewhere he wasn't wanted.
He didn’t begrudge Bruce for choosing his son. He didn’t begrudge Dick for choosing his own Robin.
And now, he couldn’t begrudge Dick the chance to have his little brother back.
He could envy Damian. Or Dick. Or even Jason.
But he couldn’t hate any of them for wanting what Tim had always wanted, too.
“Why would I be mad that you’re getting breakfast? I just hope you get to the check without bloodshed," Tim joked lightly.
“Hey,” Dick softened, “You’re my little brother. And he hurt you. I’m just checking in. If you want to get breakfast, just you and me, and you want me to tell him to fuck off, I will. I’m in your corner, you know that.” Dick sighed, “But if there's a chance that I could get him back on the right path, or at least get him off his warpath, get him to stop killing, then I have to try.”
“I say take the chance,” Tim agreed, “I’m not pissed. Really. I hope it goes well, for everyone’s sake.”
“I’m still on your side,” Dick said softly, “He tried to kill you. He kills people daily. I’m not going to be buddy-buddy with him because of one breakfast. But,” He pushed a hand through his hair, “I have to try to get through to him.”
“I’ve been over that for a long time, and I’ve had worse. I say-”
“That is not reassuring,” Dick cut in.
“I say,” Tim ignored him, “Take the chance to talk to him. See where he’s at. I don’t think he’s ever going to like me-”
“Or B,” Dick commented.
“But there is a chance he can tone down the bloodshed.” Tim swallowed down his heart before saying honestly, “I hope breakfast goes well. Really.”
Dick lost every ounce of tension in his shoulders and before Tim knew it, Dick was hugging him. It was a short squeeze, but he left his hands on Tim’s shoulders when he stepped back. “I’m in your corner. No matter what,” Dick told him seriously.
“I know,” Tim said, “And I appreciate that. Can I go back to my job now?”
“Oh!” Dick took a big step back and threw his hands up, “Yep, sorry about that. Everything going okay?”
“No clue. You had me set my scope down,” Tim teased. “Let me know how breakfast goes?”
“Yup, will do. We should get a bite sometime soon, just us. And check in before you head in, okay?”
“Yes mom, I will do the same thing that I do every night.”
Dick huffed, “God forbid I care,” Tim could hear the smile in his voice, “Stay safe, Red!” He shouted from further away. Tim turned around in time to see him lead off the edge of the roof in an unnecessarily complicated flip.
-
Friday, May 24th
Dick asked him to get breakfast and Tim wasn't very good at saying no to Dick, but Tim wondered if he should have protested the venue.
“It was awful.” Dick told him around a mouth full of eggs and toast, “Like, really fucking awful. Charlie Brown’s teacher type of awful. Wha, wha wha,” Dick started imitating the monotone drone from the cartoon. “For two hours. Two hours of nothing. We learned literally nothing new. It was the most useless debrief I have ever suffered through.”
Tim finished chewing his food, like a civilized person, before telling him, “I talked about the stock market for three hours yesterday morning.”
Dick groaned dramatically, “Throw me off a bridge and kill me, Jesus Christ. That sounds like a nightmare.”
Tim smiled at him over his cup of coffee, “Is that all it takes to kill you these days? You slowing down, old man?”
Dick shot Tim a sharp look. "Watch it Red, or I'll throw you off a bridge.”
Tim grinned, "You couldn't catch me if you tried."
"I'm faster and you know it,” Dick insisted, confident.
“Time and place," Tim challenged.
“Right here, right now,” Dick challenged with a grin.
Tim looked down at his civilian sweatpants and hoodie and back up at Dick, also in his sweats. He cocked a brow. “You wanna jump roofs in that?” Tim eyed Dick’s ratty Superman t-shirt.
“Sounds like you’re just scared. It’s okay, you can forfeit.” Dick stabbed his eggs and teased, “Losing is no fun.”
“Hey boys,” Their server interrupted, “Refill?” She was young and pretty and holding a new pot of coffee. Tim took her up on the refill. “Didn’t I see you in here yesterday morning?” she asked Dick with a sweet smile.
Pete's Diner was Jason's place of choice, apparently. Jason was protective, if not violently territorial, over his back corner of Gotham. Dick insisted it was fine, but Tim wondered whether it was good practice to set foot in the Bowery at all.
“Yeah, brought a different brother this time,” Dick nodded to Tim, “This one has better manners.”
She giggled and Tim wondered how many men that sound had worked on. With a sour taste, he wondered how safe third shift was for her in Jason’s corner of Gotham.
“I’m pretty sure that Jay brought you here, Mister.” She teased, “Don’t take his credit or I’m telling on you next time he’s in.”
Jay.
Dick put his hands up in defeat, “You’ve got me. Nice to see some loyalty around here, even if it’s not to me.” He winked at her. Tim wanted to slap him on Barbara’s behalf.
She knew Jason and was loyal to him. “When’s he usually in?” Tim asked casually. Dick clocked it immediately and eyed him.
“Oh, who knows. Maybe 5-ish? He’s your brother,” she told Tim, “Can’t you ask him?”
“He’s not my brother,” Tim said sharper than he meant to. “He’s his,” Tim nodded at Dick, “But not mine.” She made a face. “Weird family,” Tim excused with a shrug.
“I’ve got an uncle that’s 15 years younger than me,” she said empathetically, “I get it. Holler if you need anything, boys.”
She left the table and Tim wanted to call her back just to use her as a social barrier. Dick’s piercing gaze was on him instantly. “What do you mean he’s not your brother?”
Tim sighed and dropped his head to the back of the booth. “Dick," he sounded tired to his own ears.
“I know that you two have some bad blood, but he’s family.”
“He’s your family,” Tim corrected. He told Dick quietly, “I can count the times that I’ve been in the same room with him and none of them have been good. I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me. I’ve never even had a conversation with him that wasn’t bloody.” He swallowed down his nerves, “I know he’s your brother. And I’m happy for you that you might get him back. But he’s not mine, Dick. Never has been. Probably won't ever be.”
Dick sat across from him quietly. The dark city street was quiet on the other side of the diner’s windows. The fluorescent lights buzzed. Tim watched him work through the stages of grief.
“I don’t want to have to choose. But I would choose you, for the record,” Dick said quietly.
“No one is making you choose,” Tim told him lowly, “If he can tolerate me and I can tolerate him, then we’ll be fine. We’re not kids fighting for the same spot anymore.”
That was a grossly understated way to put it. Tim had earned his spot at Robin, had tried to do his predecessor justice, and Jason had come back from the dead with a vengeance. His anger at Batman got channeled through his replacement and Tim got the short end of that stick.
“Are you really cool with trying to make amends?” Dick asked, “I want you to say something now if you aren’t, please.”
Tim’s throat clicked when he swallowed, “I think,” he chose his words wisely, “That he is your brother. And if I was in your position, I would want him back, too.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Tim clenched his jaw, “Do you think he's sorry?”
Dick nodded, “Yeah. I brought you up and he said that he regretted it. That he was glad you’re fine. He said he’s still angry at B, we fought about it a little, but he seemed like he felt bad about the whole thing with you.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I do,” Dick said, he sounded honest. “He said he was in a bad place, and referenced,” Dick lowered his voice to a near whisper, “Coming back from the dead.” Dick grimaced, “Which, I mean, I don’t even want to think about. But apparently he’s got his head on straight now.”
“Okay then,” Tim shrugged, “Bygones.”
Dick’s eyebrows shot up, “That’s it? A telephone game apology and you’re over it?”
“I’ve been over it for years, Dick. I’ve told you this.”
“Yeah, I know, I just,” he waved his hands around, “I feel like you’re usually not so-” He looked for the word.
“Forgiving?” Tim filled in.
Dick nodded with a grimace.
Tim huffed a sigh. “Can we talk about what your fight was all about? B?” Tim asked.
“You are not getting out of this that easily,” Dick warned him, “We will come back to this.”
“If we must,” Tim said dryly.
“We must.”
“B?” Tim prompted.
Dick’s mouth pulled into a tight line. “I don’t want to speak for him. He said, well, he said a lot of stuff. The gist of it is that he thinks that the whole,” Dick mouthed Robin, “Thing is wrong. Putting kids in danger and all that. Maybe you could,” Dick said sheepishly, “Ask him yourself?”
“Maybe not,” Tim told him.
“Listen,” Dick put his hands up, “If you don’t even want to be in the same room as him, I get it. I would totally get it. But I was thinking about maybe, I don’t know,” He said timidly, “Maybe play some video games? Watch a movie? Boys night. You, me, Duke, Dami, and, well I don’t know if he would even show. But offer the chance to Jason. Was just considering the idea,” Dick smiled hesitantly, “I’m open to suggestions?” He said it like it was a question.
“What does Duke think of this?”
“I haven’t asked him about a boys night, yet. But he seems like he wants to have a face to face with Jason.”
Damian would be a yes, of course. If this did happen, and Jason did show, and Tim didn’t, it would be another crack in the valley that was their relationship.
“Will he go if I’m there?” Tim asked Dick after a moment.
“Honestly?” Dick said, “I don’t know. He might try and use it as a chance to apologize, if you were willing to listen.”
“Get over this idea that I’m still holding on to what happened,” Tim snapped. “Of course I’m willing to listen. I’ve got no issue with the guy. I’ve been trying to stay out of his way cause I don’t want to cause any problems, not because I’m scared.”
Dick looked at him and said quietly, “I never said you were scared of him.”
“You’re acting like I can’t handle my own,” Tim told him. He crossed his arms, “I’m not scared of being in the same room as him. I’m perfectly fucking willing to talk to him. He’s the problem here, not me."
“Tim-” Dick said quietly.
“B told me it was too dangerous for me to drop off Damian in a parking lot,” Tim vented suddenly, “He tried to send you first, but it’s too dangerous for me. I’m not fucking scared of him. And if you’re confident enough to invite him to boys night, then he better not be a fucking danger anymore. But I’m not willing to talk to him? I’m not the issue here.”
“Tim.”
“I know I lost in the past,” Tim pushed on, “But I’m better now. I would win that fight,” Tim said confidently.
Dick sat in silence for a long minute before saying gently, “I don’t think you would.”
“Fuck you.”
“Tim, listen,” Dick put his open hands up like he was dealing with a rabid animal, “I never said you were scared. I don’t think you should be, not anymore. But, I mean, I’ve lost to him before. B’s damn near matched. He’s a force to be reckoned with, deadly force, at that.” Dick sighed, “I'm not trying to baby you. But he’s violent, and you’ve got every right to hold that against him. If you give him a chance to prove himself, and he does, then great. But I don’t think that you should just let what he did slide without issue. Don’t sweep what happened to you under the rug, Tim.”
Tim swallowed down his anger. Dick was always the first one in Tim’s corner, whether he wanted it or not.
“If he wants to say something to me, I’ll listen,” Tim told Dick after a moment, “But I’m not going to corner him and demand an apology. He can make his own choices.”
“He always has,” Dick said with a wistful smile, “So, you down for a boys night? Or do you want to think about it?”
Tim huffed, and relented, “As long as you plan it around work, I can be down.”
Dick’s smile was blinding.