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Galas weren’t Tim’s favorite thing in the world, but he understood their necessity. When he’d been younger galas meant being dragged around by his parents and talking to ‘important’ people. Now that he was older, Tim was allowed to break off from his parents and wander around a little. It was a lot better this way. Tim could pull away from people, and not worry about older women tugging at his cheeks and telling him how much he’s grown and oh doesn’t he look just like his mother?
As if Tim didn’t see the resemblance in the mirror every single day. At fifteen he’d finally started to grow a little. Tim still wasn’t really the average height for teenagers his age, but he probably had genetics to thank for that. A whole five and a half feet. What a joy.
The one thing that Tim always did like about galas were the hor d’oeuvres. Since the elite were very picky about their food, it was often the same caterer that supplied the food for each event. One of his favorites was the bacon wrapped dates, and Tim always made sure to grab a few of them and pull away to a corner to enjoy them.
He tried to save them up to last most of the night so he wouldn’t have to step out into the crowd again, but Tim was a weak soul, and he just really loved the bacon wrapped dates. So it wasn’t long until Tim was left with just one date. He held it up to stare at it, wondering if he should eat it or not.
“Sheesh, what did the food ever do to you?” A voice rang out amusedly beside him.
Tim jolted because he hadn’t heard anyone walk up to him and the date fell out of his hands. It started plummeting to the floor and Tim regretted everything. He should’ve just eaten it. What a waste. The delicious bacon wrapped date had only been made to end up in his clumsy hands so it could fall on the floor. Fate was so cruel to the poor date.
It was as if by miracle that a hand shot out and caught the date before it actually hit the floor. “Damn, I didn’t think that I’d spook you.”
Now that the date had been rescued Tim looked up to see who had come up beside him.
Before promptly choking on his spit.
Jason Todd-Wayne was standing next to him, his eyebrows pinched close together and a frown on his face. Tim, of course, was coughing because that’s just how smooth he was.
“You okay, Timothy?” Jason asked him, actual concern in his voice.
Tim covered his mouth and turned away as he tried to stop coughing. Way to go, Tim. You’re such a loser. “I’m-” he cleared his throat, “fine, thanks.”
“Sheesh, if I’d known you were so easily started I’d have at least stood in front of you or something,” Jason said.
“Don’t worry about it. Really,” Tim said, waving Jason off. “I uh… How do you know my name?”
“What’re you talking about? We’ve met before.” They had. Quite a few years ago. The thing was that Tim didn’t go to as many galas since his parents weren’t around all the time and he knew that Jason often had other things to do during the night. Crime fighting type of things.
“Once. Like, five years ago.” It had been during Jason’s very first gala after he’d been adopted by Bruce Wayne. Anyone who was anyone had shown up to that gala. It was one of the busiest ones that Tim had ever been to. Everyone wanted to see the kid that had been adopted off of the streets.
Jason chuckled and flashed a small smile at Tim. “Are you insinuating that I have a bad memory?”
“No!” Tim blurted out. He felt his cheeks heating up as he tried to seem calmer than he actually was. “It’s just that you met a lot of people that day and it’s not like we’ve really talked since then and I… don’t know?”
For a moment Tim thought that he’d broken Jason, since the older boy just stared at him. The next moment he wanted to dig himself an even deeper hole because Jason suddenly started laughing.
Tim just barely kept himself from hanging his head and knocking on his forehead because how stupid was he. Way to go, Tim. Good job. Great job. Best job ever. He was usually more composed than this. It was basically second nature for him at this point. It wasn’t his fault that Jason was Jason. That Tim had been following Jason as Robin since he was twelve and Tim was ten. That Tim had been watching Jason from afar even outside of their hidden nightlives. That Tim sometimes had pretty impure thoughts about Jason and- halt. Stop. Don’t think about that.
A surprised yelp escaped Tim when Jason suddenly flicked his forehead. His mouth fell open as he gaped at Jason, reaching up to rub his forehead. “What was that for?”
“Y’know, you really retreat back into your head a lot. What kind of things you got going on in there?” Jason’s mouth was curled up in a grin.
“Nothing! I mean a lot. Yeah. A lot,” Tim said and he was surprised that he managed not to stutter.
Jason leaned in closer, his grin widening to one that Tim could only call a shit eating grin. “Oh yeah? Pray tell.”
He really needed to compose yourself. “Well, right now I’m wondering if I’m going to be getting my date.” The grin immediately vanished and Jason pulled back a little. Tim wondered what had brought that on when he suddenly realized exactly what he’d said. “Back! My date back! My bacon wrapped date. The one you saved.” Why was he such a wreck?
Jason recovered a lot more gracefully than Tim did. He cleared his throat and looked fine afterwards – Tim envied him. “Oh, you mean this date?” Jason asked, holding up the hor d’oeuvre.
“Yes. That one,” Tim said with a nod.
When the shit eating grin appeared again Tim knew exactly what was going to happen. He quickly reached out to grab Jason’s arm when the older boy lifted it to keep him from eating the date. “Hey! That’s mine!”
“I saved it!” Jason laughed as he tried to pull his arm away from Tim. “It should be my reward.”
“It was your fault that I dropped it! Give it back.” Tim reached out to try and whisk the date away, but Jason just raised his hand up over his head. That was just unfair.
“Make me.” Jason challenged Tim, obviously pleased that he was able to use his height advantage against Tim.
Fine. Show him who’s boss. Tim thought to himself. Just because Tim was small didn’t mean that he couldn’t work his way out of situations. He’d perfected the skill on climbing over the years. It was kind of a necessity when one liked to trail behind vigilantes to take pictures of them. The key to getting a good shot was positioning and Tim had learned that climbing fire escapes and flag poles were the best way to do that.
Tim was looking up at the date, not moving his eyes away as he planted his hand on the wall. There was a planter behind him and he placed his foot on the rim of it to lift himself up higher. With the extra height he pushed off of the wall with his other foot to launch himself upwards. The planter slid back and thumped against a table, but it’d given Tim just enough of a boost to grab onto Jason’s hand and pull the date from his fingers. Tim landed on the ground and slid a little because of his dress shoes, but he managed to keep himself up straight and he’d gotten the date back.
He turned to Jason with an elated smile. “Why make you when I can get it myself?”
It was clear that he’d stumped Jason. One of his eyebrows was pulled up and his nose was wrinkled. There was a hint of amusement as well though. The corner of his mouth was raised like he was unsure if he wanted to smile or not. “How the fuck did you do that? In those shoes?”
“I have a nightly hobby,” Tim said before he popped the date into his mouth. It tasted even better now.
“Yeah?” Jason smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Sounds like we have something in common. I have one of those too.”
Tim nodded, licking the juices off of his fingers. “Yeah, I know you do.”
Oh no. Tim paused, his finger still half in his mouth when he saw the way that Jason tensed. Him and his big mouth tonight. Tim winced as he took a step back. This was bad. It was really, really bad. Tim had been following Batman and his Robins around for just over half a decade now. He’d never been caught once and now his mouth was going to be the end of him.
It was a good thing that Tim had gotten pretty adept at exit strategies as well. He saw the moment that Jason shifted to reach forward and grab him, so he quickly side stepped and ran off. The tiled floors and his dress shoes were a bad combination for running, but Tim was used to them. He didn’t dare look over his shoulder, but he could hear Jason cursing behind him. Apparently he wasn’t used to dress shoes.
Tim didn’t really want to attract too much attention, so he quickly ducked into the crowd. Jason wouldn’t try anything when they were surrounded by people. Right? Hopefully. His best chance was finding his parents. They’d likely pull him into a conversation and those were always hard to pull out of.
Tim ducked and weaved between the people while trying to move at a sedate pace. Luckily for him many people in attendance were taller than him. It meant that he could hide behind them. It took him a few minutes to find his parents, but Jason hadn’t caught him. That was either a good sign or a bad one. Was he still trying to find Tim or had he gone to get Bruce?
That would be bad. So, so phenomenally bad. Tim sidled up to his parents, putting on a smile as he placed his hand on his mother’s elbow. “Mother,” he greeted.
“Tim! I was wondering where you’d gotten off to.” His mother raised an eyebrow at him, no doubt seeing the slight flush on his cheeks. “Now that you’re here, you can meet one of your father’s newest partners.”
Tim held his hand out and smiled at the man his mother introduced him to. “Why, you bear a striking resemblance to your mother.”
Same old shtick. “Thank you, sir.”
For a moment Tim actually thought that he’d managed to slip away, but that thought quickly faded when he saw Bruce Wayne walking up to them, flanked by Jason. Tim even saw Dick Grayson, Bruce’s first ward, walking around the edge of the crowd. He almost shirked back, but there was no way that he was going to escape from all three of them.
“Jack and Janet Drake, long time no see!” Bruce said, a pleasant smile on his face.
“Long time no see, indeed Mister Wayne!” His father reached out to shake Bruce’s hand when it was offered. “Recovered from your latest skiing accident, I see.”
“Yes. It appears that being a clumsy skier never goes away,” Bruce joked and all the adults started laughing.
Tim stayed tucked against his mother’s arm, his head turned down. Stupid. How could he be so stupid?
Bruce, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be relaxed. A smile on his face as he gestured with his hands as he spoke. The line of his shoulders was tense though. “Say, is this your son?”
“Ah, yes! You’ve met Timothy before, Bruce.” Jack stepped to the side and he placed his hand on Tim’s back, pressing him forward.
Tim reluctantly let himself be maneuvered away from his mother and he offered up a smile of his own.
“Yes, we’ve met.” They shook hands and Tim had to keep himself from wincing from how firm Bruce’s grip was. “I’m sure you all know my son, Jason. He’s only two years older than Tim, you know.”
“How nice.” Janet’s lips were pulled tight and she was showing her teeth. It seemed that she still wasn’t very impressed with Bruce’s decision to adopt Jason.
“I bet they could get along just fine. Say, chum. Why don’t you take young Timothy here and go grab something to eat? Leave the talk to the adults,” Bruce said. The others laughed again and Jason came over, grabbing onto Tim’s bicep.
“Yes. Let’s talk over some food,” Jason said as he steered Tim away.
Tim was pretty sure that nothing bad was going to happen to him, but it felt like he was being pulled away to be taken care of. “How about we go to the main table?”
“I think that we’re going to the stairwell.” Jason’s mouth was turned down as he pulled Tim through the crowd and out of view. He saw that Dick had joined them as well, but he kept his distance until they actually made it to said stairwell. Tim was shoved into a corner and Jason and Dick blocked the door and the stairs. “Alright, talk.”
“Talk? About what?” Maybe he could buy himself some time. Throw them off until he was able to get away.
“Tim, I know you’re a smart kid.” Dick spoke up this time. Oh man. If Tim wasn’t in so much trouble he might have been fawning over the fact that two of the men that he idolized were standing right in front of him.
Tim clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he chuckled. “Yeah. People tend to tell me that a lot.”
“Can’t we rough him up a little?”
“Jason!”
“What?”
Dick and Jason turned to look at each other and Tim took his chance. He turned, grabbing the railing and vaulting over it. His fall was stopped by someone grabbing onto the back of his jacket, but Tim just raised his hands so it’d slip off. This wasn’t the first time that someone had tried to catch him like that.
He fell down to the stairs below and gritted his teeth as his knees slammed against one of the steps. Jason was already running down the stairs and Tim heard Dick shouting instructions. This was going to be hard, but Tim could have a chance.
He pushed himself up, turning around to continue down the stairs.
Only to run straight into Bruce’s chest. Tim bounced off, but large hands came out to hold onto his arms to keep him from falling. He looked up and smiled sheepishly, but Bruce just raised an eyebrow at him.
“Good catch, B!” Dick came sliding down the railing.
“You two actually let him get away,” Bruce said, not sounding very impressed.
“Hey! He wouldn’t have gotten far.” Jason protested.
Tim was pushed back until his legs hit the stairs and he had to sit down. Dick was standing right behind him and Jason and Bruce were in front of him. There was no way that he’d be able to get out of this now. Quickly! Think of something! Anything!
“Hi.” What quick thinking. Tim wanted to knock his head against the wall.
“You’re pretty nimble, even for a boy your age,” Bruce said.
“I, uh, take track and field and mixed martial arts.” It was the truth. Both skills had helped him on the streets.
“He’s small, but fast,” Jason told Bruce.
Dick piped up as well. “And a little reckless. He threw himself over the railing!”
Jason rolled his eyes at Dick, but he refocused on Tim. “So what are your nightly hobbies?”
They were interrogating him. In a stairwell at a gala. There were three hundred guests walking around above them. Logistically Tim should’ve had a pretty good chance at getting away, but he just wasn’t as good as they were.
“I do parkour,” Tim said. It was plausible enough.
“Your real nightly hobbies,” Bruce stressed.
Usually Tim wasn’t under such scrutiny. If it’d just been one of them he might have been able to keep his cool. Unless it was Bruce. He really had a way of making you feel small and pressured. “I take pictures.”
“At night?” Dick asked, leaning against the railing to look down at Tim.
Tim nodded.
“Of what?” Bruce sounded a little exasperated. Tim didn’t blame him.
He knew that there was no way that he’d get out of this. Tim had royally screwed himself over. “Batman and Robin.”
“What do you know about them?” There it was. The million dollar question. The question on everyone’s mind for the night.
“I know that you’re Batman. That Dick was the first Robin until he became Nightwing and that Jason’s the current Robin,” Tim started, and he couldn’t really stop after that. “I figured it out when I was nine. I was watching a TV spot and then I saw Robin do a quadruple somersault and it’s something that only Flying Grayson’s could do. I know because I was there that night. The night your parents died.” Tim turned to look up at Dick, whose face had fallen.
“Wait…” Dick’s brows furrowed and his mouth fell open. “You were that boy!”
“The one that you took the picture with,” Tim added. He turned back to look at Bruce. “I haven’t told anyone! No one but me knows. My pictures are well hidden too.”
Tim realized that he was under full scrutiny from Batman. He might be looking at Bruce dressed up in a tuxedo right now, but it was definitely Batman that was looking down at him. It was almost as imposing as it would’ve been if he’d actually been wearing the cowl.
“We’ll be keeping a close eye on you for now,” Bruce eventually said. Tim let out a breath that he hadn’t even realized that he’d been holding. That was a relief. “If I get any hint that you might be lying or that you’re going back on your word…”
“You won’t! I promise!” Tim was nodding his head as he spoke. He’d never planned on telling anyone.
“Well then.” Bruce cleared his throat and he straightened his tie. “Dick, hand the boy his jacket back. It appears that Timothy Drake and Jason Wayne became very close friends after they left to talk.”
Tim got up and took his jacket from Dick, putting it back on and smoothing out the fabric as much as he could. His mother was going to be very displeased with the wrinkles.
“Oh yeah,” Jason was smirking as he leaned against the wall and Tim’s heart leapt up into his throat. “We’re going to get to know each other very well.”