“If you want to talk, please go talk to someone else.” Raven spoke calmly as she sat in front of the large window, feeling someone enter the room. She was using a polite tone of voice, but a small hint of irritation was still apparent. “It’s been a long day and I would very much like to have some peace and quiet. If it’s not too much to ask.”
Talking? Yeah, not super high on the list of things he wants to do. Tim wants peace and quiet and he wants the stillness in his head, the calm he can force himself into if he’s given time to bury his feelings somewhere to deal with later. ( Or maybe not deal with. ) He would go to Cassie or Kon if he wanted to talk, called Dick if they weren’t in the mood to prybar his outer shell open.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Raven.” He says, idly fingering the tablet in his lap to life.
“I just thought– well, not even Bart is going to take the chance of disturbing both of us at the same time.”
“But–I can find another hiding place if you need me to.”
“—Tim, don’t.” He’s not short with Tim—as easy as it is to
forget, Tim’s human, infallible. The evidence of his own flaws can be seen in
all the ugly marks on his skin, left almost as a brand for him to remember for
the rest of his life. Stumbling is a learning lesson, sometimes painful, and
Tim will get up from it. However, tough love is what he’s most familiar with—what
works best—so he dishes it out in kind. “What’s done is done. Learn from it. My
force of will has all been learned through experiences like yours.”
Busying himself on the other end of the long line of
monitors that make up the Batcomputer, he pulls up a file on one of the Maroni
underbosses, busies himself with it. A moment of silence follows Tim’s
statement, and he pulls his gaze from the screen to look back at him. Sage
advice is easy if it’s regarding a battlefield or the killing fields of Gotham,
but it’s not quite so when it’s something like this. Emotions. “You’ll be fine.
Be straightforward—that’s my advice.”
“don’t what?” tim asks, a little crinkle around his eyes. of course he feels a little guilty, like he’s shirking his duty. tim didn’t like to leave bruce alone, not that bruce couldn’t handle himself– he certainly could, in fact he’d often wondered if bruce even needed him anymore. certainly didn’t emotionally, not like he’d needed him at first, when he’d been in a self-destructive brood spiral. it’s not like that anymore. but if bruce doesn’t tell him to go– tim’s not going to leave.
“ don’t feel guilty that i never planned for this contingency? that i let myself be blinded to a potential threat because it happened to be in the form of my best friend? “ he sighed, slow and weighted.
“–i’m not like, crying inconsolably into my cornflakes or anything but, of course i feel bad. i let myself down and now because of it you’re out there alone without backup, my arm got shattered, cassie has lost her confidence and kon’s back to thinking he’s some kind of frankenstein’s monster. and that’s on me. “
alright, maybe not totally on him. logically he knows he can’t plan for everything, can’t support the weight of everything wrong in the world on his shoulders. but it’s not like he’s the only one in the family who thinks they have to be responsible for everyone in their little bubble.
tim doesn’t have much left to say after that, didn’t meant to say all that in the first place but the proverbial cat is way out of the bag and he’s only going to look stupid if he tries to shove it back in.
“yeah, learning experience. got it. now– is there anything you’re working on i can help with? i do still have at least one hand i can lend.” he reminds him, voice small and hopeful. anything to feel a little bit of use can only be good for him at this point.
a long night of patrol–particularly eventful and straining without his robin, much to the joker’s chagrin–leaves bruce worn and aching all over. the stiffness in his neck–smarting suspiciously–is pretty questionable, and the festering wound accurately jabbed between armor plates leaves him a little hunched over. there’s blood on his fingers by the time he drives back to the cave, and the work he does on himself is quick and fine. alfred takes over shortly after he gets the worst of it stitched up. the butler orders him to bed with a hot pad on the back of his neck, though bruce decides to do a little research before retiring for the evening.
the billionaire, clad in comfortable slacks and no shirt, steps behind his robin–nearly hovers–and watches him dig in the cast he’d specifically been told not to pick at. carefully quiet, he crosses his arms (quickly regrets it, at the sharp prickling pain of stitches in his belly) and clears his throat.
‘–no excuses, tim.’ bruce says gruffly, stepping beside him to look over the sleek line of monitors, taking a seat with a little strain in the spare chair. ‘stop touching it and ignore it. you’re only going to make it worse, and you’ll have to keep the cast on longer as a result. what have you been doing down here all evening?’
“ slavedriver. “ tim says groaning as he obediently slides the chopstick out– his skin still tickling with the need to itch and scratch until he gets some sense of satisfaction or relief. but none is forthcoming. tim is never breaking his arm again, this is like low grade torture. all he knows is that the next time he goes to titans tower, he is taking up raven on her offer to heal it up quickly for him.
besides, nights like this just prove that bruce needs him out there. even if he doesn’t say so, tim can see it in the slight stiffness to his movements as he sits, nothing like bruce’s usual grace and easy economy of movement. tim winces slightly, in sympathy or in guilt– he’s honestly not sure. probably both.
“ i’m really sorry, though. “ tim hates being out of commission, he feels useless. he wants to be helpful, doesn’t like just sitting around and waiting.robin is his job, willingly taken & his responsibility. one he takes seriously.
“ psh, easy for you to say. mr. i’ve trained my body to obey me down to the cellular level by sheer force of will. “ it’s a joke but– it also sounds like the sort of thing that bruce has managed. always so– perfectly in control.
he shrugs at the question and tries to force himself to relax back into the chair, letting it tip back a little, his slippered feet gently brushing the floor. he wants to lie by omission say that it’s nothing important. but instead he looks at bruce and admits quietly-
“ looking up how we might make sure kon doesn’t have any other– trigger words floating around his head. also contemplating how i’m going to get him to talk to me about this like a rational adult. but the internet & database don’t have much to say on that second part. “ he tucks his cast up close to his chest. he doesn’t know if bruce will have any wisdom on the matter, or if he’s interested in soothing some of tim’s worries.
For a moment Tim thinks that Damian is messing with him, making a joke of some kind. Then he remembers this is Damian who seems to have had his sense of humor surgically removed. Then Tim just kind of feels bad for him. Because yeah –ok, he gets the whole raised by assassins thing but it’s easy to miss the whole scope of that.
it doesn’t hurt really, not anymore. it’s just in the way. giant bulky cast on his arm throws off the sense of balance he’s worked so hard towards. also it ITCHES. ( that’s actually the worst part.) he’s not supposed to itch inside the cast though, because stitches, because surgery. still bruce isn’t a r o u n d to see it, out on patrol which is probably the only reason tim hasn’t been dragged away from his research on the batcomputer already. ( both alfred & bruce have kicked up their maternal instincts since he broke his arm. especially impressive on alfred’s part actually. )
so he snatches one of the chopsticks from his sushi dinner and slides it inside the cast, even if it does smell a little like his spicy tuna roll. sacrifices must be made because the prickle of his skin is starting to drive him nuts. tim’s tongue is stuck between his teeth as he shifts the dull point, almost right where he needs it.
so of course, that’s about the time bruce clears his throat behind him and tim nearly breaks off the end of the chopstick inside his cast when he jumps.
“ is it truly necessary to give me a heartattack? honestly B, i know i’m not supposed to scratch but i’m literally dying over here ! “ no, tim isn’t being an overly dramatic teeanger, why do you ask?
❛ unless bruce wayne’s suddenly lost a couple inches since the last time we met you must be tim drake. wayne enterprises’ acting CEO. pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. ❜
“ just a couple inches?” he teases, polite smile pulling into a small chuckle he wasn’t quite expecting.
he was warned that tony stark would be charming, but tim’s dealt with charisma before. rubbed elbows with people who had personality’s that could fill up a whole room, but there’s something about the armored avenger that was not in his briefing packet.
tim knows there’s more than a couple inches between his 5′7″ on a good day and bruce’s somewhere over 6′ and built like a nuclear fallout bunker to boot. ( something that had made tim feel incredibly inadequate in puberty but that was something he did not need to think about in a business meeting. )
“ be careful mr. stark– you keep trying to flatter me like that & i’m going to think you’re trying to butter me up for something. “
handshakes say a lot about a person and tony stark’s handshake is firm, brief but confident in it’s lasting impression. he shakes hands like a man who has perfect control over the details of his self image and how others think of and react to him. it’s a quality tim has long admired in bruce, even if bruce’s is based more of his confidence in his ability to disguise himself, wearing personality traits like an actor might don a costume. tony’s is so– genuine. not a fabrication, but perhaps a slight emphasis.
“ i assure you, the pleasures all mine. “ this is not a lie, tim’s long respected iron man’s bravery and ingenuity. in fact if he hadn’t been so personally invested ( read: mildly obsessed ) with the batman mythos as a young boy, he probably would’ve been a much bigger fanboy for iron man.
Now, there was the truth. Youths spent in service to shadow had shaped them into something more. Something all together else. He’d challenge anyone, anywhere to be half as good at what they did with nothing more than what they were. Bats had at least got a few things right over the course of a long, and largely unenviable career.
❝Oh yeah? And who taught you how to make it look so damn easy?❞
A joke. Even if there was more than an ounce of honesty to it. Tim is a hero in his own right, long having outgrown the mantle of Robin. Even if he retained the name in a sense, he had well and truly made Red Robin a name to be equal parts feared and respected.
❝I was just out for a stroll, caught wind that lil bro was moving up the east side, thought I might drop by. See how you were doing.❞
He waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, one betrayed by that smile.
❝But you know. The Batman damage.❞
A cursory glance was paid to the perp by his brother’s feet, tilting his head to the right, then left. The night was wearing thin around the edges, but he hoped that it was not quite done yet.
❝Got enough juice for one last run with your big brother?❞
back before dick was dick to him, and somebody he considered a brother, he’d been robin. the first robin. & he’d been tim’s hero in a way that made him blush and squirm to even think about now. he’s grateful that dick never knew the extent of that, it’d be weird if tim suddenly ended up having all kinds of– emotional moments with everybody. that was the great thing about the batfamily really– they all just KNEW about your affection, took it and nobody had to really acknowledge it or talk about it until shit absolutely hit the fan. (which— it was gotham && that tended to happen more than any of them liked. )
in any case, there is still something about dick’s honest praise of him that makes tim feel like the 10 year old fanboy who used to have a robin poster on his bedroom wall. even if that often seems like a lifetime ago and not the 7 or so years it’d actually been. but there is heat suffused across his high cheekbones and he’s grateful the cowl covers most of it.
anything else he has plausible deniability as it’s a crisp fall evening and it tends to get windy on rooftops.
“ that part is all me, actually. “
he says it with the playfulness & amusement of false bravado, the tone of brothers razzing one another like they’re not the fully grown mature men they are and are instead the boys they all once were.
“ unfortunately, you just can’t teach greatness. “ he says, trying for stoic and missing because dick gives him a look and he can’t help the little snicker that cracks through.
just like that it seems there is much less formality to the whole encounter, which is something that tim is all too happy and eager to blame on dick. he was the…warm one, of the family and everybody knew it. the one who could bring out the levity and the softer blurred edges of all of them. even bruce wasn’t immune to it.
“ mmm. the batman damage. “ he confirms, a language that needs no further explanation because all of the robins are fluent in it by now.
though tim feels his smile slip slightly in concern, something about the tone and the language dick is using is…well, a bit worrying. like he’s planning on going somewhere and he’s not sure for how long.
“ for you asking? always. but seriously dick, what’s with the choice of words? – you’re sounding like a sentimental and ominous hallmark card. you planning on going somewhere? “ he steps casually over the thug, he’s unimportant. he always was but– even more so in the face of this potential minefield of a conversation.
【Ｓ】”T’ch! It’s gonna get robbed either way when I kick Mr. Red Riding Hood’s ass.”
Despite the aggression of his words, the kryptonian held a fond smile upon his face. “You should be putting your time into something more productive. Like being my cheerleader! I usually reserve that privilege to babes, but meh. You’re short and girly enough to get away with it.” He teased.
“ Also for the record, whenever you say ‘Mr. Red Riding Hood’ for a good half second I think you’re talking about Jason. And on that note– you’ve never threatened to beat him up to defend my honor, so I think I’m actually a little hurt. I mean, at the very LEAST I would go and like–egg somebody’s house for you. “
It was of course, a joke but Tim would definitely go off and do something stupid for Kon’s sake. He had before, it seemed sometimes to him that all Kon had to do was smile in that sharp wicked way of his, say Tim’s name and he was already groaning and agreeing to something that would probably be a bad idea.
“ All I heard was ‘blah blah blah you’re good-looking’ and ‘I want you to be my cheerleader’. You can’t afford me on pom-pom duty, believe me.”
Superboy had a ton of redeeming qualities but his stubborness was not always one of them. The boy could have the hard head of a rock sometimes. “I tried talking to the jackass—-but then he just went on and on! Dissing my look! My face! And then my girl. Oh yeah…now that was just one step OVER the line. I can’t let that go, Tim.”
“ And THAT right there is why I am not going to waste my list of perfectly good reasons as to why it’s a bad idea to go toe to toe with Mr. Douchepool. Because you have a Kryptonian hard head and sometimes I just have to let the dog chase the car, and hope he learns a good lesson from it. “
Tim is pointing at Kon but there’s no malice or scorn– or even real judgement in that tone. Just some wariness, layered with concern and more fondness than he frankly felt comfortable having for his best friend.
“ But if I didn’t go on the record as saying that it’s a terrible idea– than I can’t tell you that I told you so later. Please don’t rob me of my smug satisfaction it’s one of my few life joys. “
“My friend you’ve seriously got to get out of the cave more often.” The hero shakes his head at his clueless companion before walking off. “When’s the last time you talked dirty to someone anyways?”
Tim refuses to blush– even if he can only half manage to do so successfully. He doesn’t want Kon to have the amused satisfaction of his embarrassment. Kon is already self satisfied enough.He doesn’t need more of a reason. Tim’s had a lot of girlfriends but– okay, he’s being honest, not much in the way of physical…intimacy. That part is….harder.
“ I get out of the cave. Stop making it sound like I’m a weird homeschool kid from a religious cult. “
Tim totally has a girlfriend, Kon should be 100% jealous. Because Steph is beautiful and feisty. ( Tim is also pretty sure that if he tried to talk dirty to her, she’d punch him in the face. He could dodge it of course but–he’d rather she didn’t TRY. )
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Activity - Important to note that I am a slow RPer, sometimes I will forget or misplace threads. (Sometimes I will have to drop things– though I try not to do this too much.) If it’s been a while feel free to remind me that you responded as I could have not gotten an notification about it. Basically, just nudge me but don’t harass and we’ll be fine. Also important to note that this is not my only RP blog so I will be splitting my time.
Following - I don’t generally follow for follow as I am a little selective and I don’t always know your character or fandom well enough to know how we would plot together. If you have an idea of something we could RP and I’m not following you just send me a message, if I’m into the plot than chances are I will start following. Please don’t take it personally, I generally only follow people whose characters I know or whose Muns I know. And I do try and keep my dash from getting too crazy.
Starters - I don’t make greeter posts unless I’m suddenly inspired by inspiration for something. Mostly because if I started doing them for everybody they’d get repetitive and dull. I will however make an attempt at replying to greeters and starters that people post for me. Also, I will occasionally post open threads on this blog that people can jump on if they want to start some interaction.
Roleplay - My rules on interacting are pretty standard, no godmodding, no hate or overwhelming negativity or ooc drama. Please have a decent grasp on English and Grammar. I’m not a Nazi about it but if I can’t understand your post I can’t really reply either. Also, please cut your posts and reblog answers in a new thread if you can.
Shipping & NSFW - I’m open to shipping and most of my ships are based on chemistry and how our characters hit it off and interact together. ( I have a slight bias for Tim/Kon & Tim/Steph but again– chemistry is important.) If you want to ship with me and we have a thread it’s best to let me know that you’re into it because I get a little shy asking for ships. Also on the issue of shipping and NSFW, I am of age and have no problem writing things that are sexual but also other things like violence which show up often enough in canon. Smut and graphic imagery isn’t something I post much but I do on occasion. I don’t usually put regular sex in a thread under a cut– unless I feel like it needs some kind of trigger warning. Everything will be clearly labeled though so if you don’t want written erotica block { nsfw; } & for any graphic images block { teenage hormones; }.
Canon Knowledge - I’ve read a decent amount of comics but certainly not all. I’m slowly building up my knowledge of canon events but there might be some things I miss. Please be patient with me about this. That said my portrayal of Tim is based on Pre-52 comics and cartoons with some of my own headcanons and personal flavor too.
