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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

Note

What was Tim’s relationship with his parents like? It seems like they left him alone a lot, based on fanon - is that true?

Tim's relationship with Jack and Janet Drake is...messy. Very messy. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about how Jack and Janet really were as parents, largely due to headcanons and fanfiction exaggerating their abuse/neglect of Tim. So, we're going to clear all of that up by analyzing how Tim's parents were as evidenced in canon.

From the very beginning of his time in comics, it's clear that Tim's parents are hella neglectful. The writers needed a Robin who would be able to do his crimefighting without the interference of parental figures, so they gave him rich absentee parents to achieve that.

Tim's parents mean well; they do genuinely love and care about Tim, considering that the first glimpse we get of them is the Drake family enjoying a trip to the circus together. At face level, they look like a typical happy family.

Batman #436

However, Tim's parents have a tendency to take long trips around the world for their job and leave Tim behind with the nanny. They were noted to be gone for long periods of time during Tim's Robin training, only keeping in touch with their son through halfhearted postcards promising to call soon. They also were prone to extending trips or leaving without warning, giving Tim very little input or notice when it came to whether or not he would be able to spend time with his own parents anytime soon. It got to the point where Bruce became suspicious of the Drakes’ neglect of their son.

Detective Comics #618

Robin #1

Robin #11

“I guess that sums them up! Never know where they’re going to be—or when—or even how long!”

Ah, yes, this is the proper way to raise your child.

So, it is firmly established that Tim’s parents are inattentive and neglectful. They love Tim in their own way, but not enough to be at home often and spend time with him, or to take him across the world with them. Granted, they are incredibly wealthy people with a large company, but…so is Bruce. And Jack and Janet don’t even moonlight as vigilantes, which doesn’t give them much of an excuse.

(I do think that comics tend to use Bruce’s relationship with Tim as a juxtaposition to show just how harmful Jack and Janet’s parenting is for Tim, such as neglecting his emotional needs, not respecting his privacy, etc. Over time, this leads to even Jack having this silent rivalry with Bruce over Tim’s affection. But I’ll get to that later.)

To contrast, here is Bruce offering to take the night off to stay with Tim and comfort him after his parents have been kidnapped:

Detective Comics #619

And Bruce has a reputation for being a questionable parental figure, which just makes Jack and Janet look even worse in comparison.

Then the Drakes are poisoned by the Obeah Man: Tim’s mother dies and his father falls into a coma. Janet’s term in comics was short, so we don’t know a lot about her personality or how she was as a parent, other than that she was not home often. When she and Jack were kidnapped, Janet seemed to express regret about her choices in life, possibly including not spending time with her son while she could.

Detective Comics #620

Otherwise, that’s about it for Janet. There is a fever dream Tim has when he’s dying of the Clench in which he imagines his parents both alive and knowing that he’s Robin. It’s a happy scene, with Janet preparing a home-cooked meal and being warm and present, which could possibly be Tim’s subconscious wishing that this was how his life could have been, but we don’t know enough about Janet’s actual parenting to do much with that. I personally choose to interpret it as Tim’s longing for the ideal family dynamic he never got to have, with both his parents home and acting like a real family.

Batman Chronicles #4

Now, Jack and Tim’s relationship is rocky from start to finish. One minute they’re getting along, the next everything is a disaster, over and over until Jack’s death.

After the Obeah Man incident, Tim is left grieving his mother and worrying about his paralyzed, comatose father. He continues to live with Bruce at Wayne Manor during this time, hoping for Jack to wake up.

Robin II: Joker’s Wild #4

Tim becomes conflicted over the fact that, with the Waynes, he feels for the first time like he’s part of a real family. Which is...very telling. But we already know how neglectful Janet and Jack were of Tim, so are we really surprised? The closest thing Tim had to a “real” family before Bruce was Mrs. Mac the housekeeper.

Upon waking from his coma, Jack has this great epiphany that he’s going to be a better father for Tim and right all the wrongs he made in life.

Batman #480

“I’ll make it up to you—starting tomorrow!”

With his father in a wheelchair and needing all kinds of medical care as he recovers, Tim feels obligated to move back in with Jack and take care of him.

Batman #480

Tim writes his dad a letter venting all of his inner conflicts and harbored resentment, saying that he never felt like he was part of a family before becoming Robin and meeting the Waynes. He wishes he could tell Jack the truth instead of hiding the most important part of his life from him, which causes a rift between Tim and Jack that honestly never fully heals until War Games.

Aptly, the letter is addressed, “To the Father I Never Knew.”

Batman #480

As it turns out, Jack Drake is deeply insecure when it comes to his place in Tim’s life. Jack has no regrets about neglecting Tim until he learns that Tim has a new father figure in his life, AKA Bruce, the resident Dad Supreme. Jack becomes jealous of Bruce, trying to get back into Tim’s good graces because he knows that, in comparison, he’s looking like a pretty shitty father compared to Brucie Wayne, the irresponsible playboy. Ouch.

Batman #480

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #3

This all comes to a head when Jack gets angry with Tim for acting out, cutting school, getting into fights, etc. In turn, Tim gets fed up and confronts Jack about his poor parenting.

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #4

“Who is the son you know, Dad? You don’t know me. You never bothered.”

By the end of the miniseries, they eventually work things out and apologize to each other. Honestly, the biggest problem Tim and Jack have when it comes to their relationship is miscommunication. They both want to be a real father and son, but there are too many obstacles in their way (Tim’s Robin activities, Jack’s inability to care about his son unless it’s convenient for him, Tim’s bond with Bruce) that keep them from having the close relationship they both clearly want.

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #4

Jack really does try to be a better father for Tim over the next few years, but he makes a lot of mistakes along the way. After being kidnapped (again), Jack tells Tim that he’s yet again going to try and be a more attentive father. (As if Tim hasn’t already heard this speech before lmao.)

Robin #7

Jack tries to spend more time with Tim, but his version of spending time together is mostly just springing new plans on Tim and giving Tim little say in any of it.

Robin #11

Robin #12

(It also shows how little attention Jack pays to Tim, since he doesn’t notice that his son has a literal six-pack and could probably benchpress his own weight by now.)

Jack eventually falls in love with Dana, his physical therapist, and she more or less takes up all of his attention for the time being. Tim once again falls out of the spotlight. Tim is partly relieved about this, since it means that Jack is less likely to catch on to Tim’s Robin outings with Dana as a convenient distraction.

Robin #12

Robin #15

Jack goes to all the trouble of making plans with Tim, only to cancel the moment something shiny and new moves into his line of sight. Great parenting, Jack. A+ work. Tim sees this as less of a problem than it is, thanks to his second identity, but any other child would be severely impacted by this “whenever I feel like it” method of parenting. Regardless, Tim and Jack’s relationship at this point is on its way to leveling out for the time being. They still don’t communicate very well, but they generally get along with each other.

After Tim runs away from home and causes a whole incident during No Man’s Land, Jack sends Tim away to Brentwood Academy, a boarding school literally in the same city as them, as punishment for being a lil hooligan. Just say you don’t feel like dealing with Tim anymore and move on, Jack.

Robin #74

When Tim is at Brentwood, Jack informs Tim that he and Dana are engaged through a phone call. Tim is not even an hour away, but Jack figures why waste a day spending time with his own son to tell him the good news when you can accomplish it with a phone call, right?

Robin #78

It isn’t long before Jack Drake goes broke due to his company losing money or however bankruptcy works, and Tim gets to leave Brentwood. Jack chooses this time to once again try to work on his relationship with Tim...

Robin #100

...and then slides right back into ignoring Tim when the loss of his fortune makes Jack too depressed to do much of anything. Not that it’s a huge loss, considering that when Jack does bother to pay attention to Tim, it doesn’t often go well. He has a reputation for getting overly aggressive when Tim acts out, and he has a habit of dragging Tim into obligations he doesn’t want to do for the sake of looking like a present parent, trying to exert control over Tim that he hasn’t quite earned.

(It’s also interesting the way Tim starts to question Jack’s decision, then quickly stops himself and agrees to whatever it is Jack wants, as if Tim has gotten used to being allowed to think and act for himself during his time with Bruce, and now he’s remembering that things are different in the Drake household. He has to go back to Good Obedient Son mode, and if that doesn’t make you sad then I don’t know what will.)

Batman #480

Robin #45

Robin #92

By the time Jack finally gets out of his funk, Tim (of course) forgives him immediately, so they’re back on track again.

Robin #116

(It’s also worth mentioning that Jack forgot Tim’s birthday. Yeah, he was going through his own depressive spiral at the time, but still. Dick move.)

Robin #116

Honestly, I owe a lot of the good moments in Tim and Jack’s relationship to Dana’s influence. She’s a great stepmother to Tim and she helps rein Jack in when he’s being an asshole. Her parenting style is far more caring and considerate compared to Jack’s, who tries to mold Tim into his idea of a perfect son: obedient, masculine, and quiet (whenever he feels like paying attention, that is).

Robin #122

Robin #127

Robin #45

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #1

Robin 80-Page Giant (2000)

Where Dana is understanding and patient, Jack is commanding and rigid. Over time, Dana softens him enough so that Jack is more of a well-meaning dad clumsily trying his best than an abusive asshole, but still.

Jack acknowledging that he screwed up and is trying to fix his and Tim’s relationship has been a major plot point for years up to this point, and it remains a central part of Tim’s civilian narrative for as long as Jack is alive. Jack tries to fix what’s wrong between them, and Tim is eager to have a closer relationship with his dad, even if it’s difficult to accomplish due to his Robin activities. I repeat: They both want to have a good relationship. It isn’t that Jack simply doesn’t care about Tim (which, it could be argued that he didn’t care about Tim until Janet died). They both really do try to fix what’s broken between them. It’s just that Jack can’t accept that Tim is his own person, and Tim can’t risk compromising his identity.

Robin #71

For a small while, things are okay between Tim and Jack.

Robin #124

But pretty soon the inevitable happens: Jack snaps when he catches Tim in a lie about joining the football team to explain a black eye. Instead of confronting Tim about it, Jack decides the best course of action is to ransack Tim’s bedroom for evidence of his delinquency.

Robin #124

Jack inevitably finds Tim’s Robin gear in the closet. Instead of asking Tim about it, like a sensible human, Jack’s second genius move of the day is to go all the way to Wayne Manor and point a gun at Bruce’s face, demanding he return Tim to him.

Robin #124

(Personally, I think Jack’s reaction wouldn’t have been so violent if it weren’t for the fact that it’s Bruce, whom Jack was already jealous of for being closer to Tim than Jack ever was.)

Robin #125

With Jack threatening to expose everyone’s identities and ruin their lives, Tim agrees to give up the Robin mantle to keep Jack quiet.

Robin #125

After that, things between Tim and his dad are relatively okay. Tim is happy to be having a normal life for once, and Jack is appeased now that he has Tim all to himself.

Teen Titans #14

Then War Games rolls around and Tim once again dons the cape and boots to help in the gang war, and he and Jack finally have an honest conversation about Tim’s Robin activities. This time Tim isn’t just giving in to make his father happy, and he’s not struggling with the question if maybe he’ll be better off as a civilian, because he already tried that and he knows now that this is the life for him.

And for once, Jack actually listens to Tim.

Robin #130

They come to an understanding after that. For the first time in Tim’s whole life, he has an honest and loving relationship with his father.

Robin #131

Of course, this is about a week before everything goes to shit and Jack is murdered by Captain Boomerang during Identity Crisis. You win some, you lose some.

(What makes it even worse for Tim is that Jack asked him to stay in that night, but Tim chose to go out and help, so he wasn’t there when Boomerang came for Jack. Oof.)

Identity Crisis #5

In Jack’s last moments, he tells Tim that he loves him and that being Robin is a good thing and he should never turn his back on being a hero.

Identity Crisis #5-6

Unsurprisingly, Tim takes the loss extremely hard. It almost rivals Tim’s reaction to Bruce’s death, probably. After all, it’s his dad. Sure, Tim and Jack had their problems, but he was still his father and he loved him.

I also think a big part of it is that Jack was taken at a time when he and Tim were finally starting to see eye to eye. They finally had the relationship they both always wanted, and then a week later Jack gets murdered. I see it as Tim mourning the relationship he and Jack could have had, rather than the one they did. Tim never got to see what it would have been like to have a perfect relationship with his father because the second everything finally fell into place, Jack was taken away from Tim.

Identity Crisis #7

Robin #167

“Sometimes it’s for Bruce. Sometimes it’s for Conner. But a lot of times, I do it for you. Because you were brave enough to understand the man I wanted to be.”

DCU Holiday Special (2009)

Teen Titans (2003) #34

(Tim’s guilt and grief becomes all-encompassing to the point where he invents a fake uncle just to avoid being adopted by Bruce, but that’s a story for another day.)

Sooooo yeah, that’s about it. Tim loved his parents and they loved him back in their own ways, but he never had a perfect relationship with either of them by any definition.

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

Text

he sends this to tim's hospital room along with a bag of cheetos and some thumbtacks

#he forgot to buy a present so he just stole some stuff from bruce's desk drawer #soho speaks #tim drake #red robin #idiot duckboy #jason todd #red hood #robin #batman #batfamily #batfam #dc comics

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

Text

All the Tim Drake (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

⭐ Tim and Alfred:

Teen Titans (2011) #18

Batman #521

⭐ Tim and Barbara:

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120

Robin (1993) #95

Bonus:

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

⭐ Tim and Bruce:

Injustice 2 #37

Batman #654

Identity Crisis #6

Detective Comics #621

Batman (2016) Annual #4

Detective Comics #967

Red Robin #17

Batman: No Man’s Land #0

Detective Comics #981

⭐ Tim and Cass:

Detective Comics #967

Nightwing (2016) #86

⭐ Tim and Damian:

Teen Titans (2011) #18

⭐ Tim and Dick:

Nightwing (1996) #139

Nightwing (2016) #9

Batman and Robin Eternal #2

⭐ Tim and Harper:

Batman Eternal #52

⭐ Tim and Jason:

Batman: Urban Legends #6

Bonus:

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #2

Other Bonus:

Batman and Robin Eternal #16 (it’s not a hug but forehead touches count because i say so)

⭐ Tim and Steph:

Convergence: Batgirl #2

Young Justice (2019) #18

Gotham Knights #37

Robin (1993) #58

Robin (1993) #111

Detective Comics #939

Detective Comics #947

Joker: Last Laugh #6

Convergence: Batgirl #2

Young Justice (2019) #5

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Hi! You seem really knowledgeable about Batman so I have a question for you. I’ve been reading a lot of fan fiction lately, especially about Jason and Tim. I’m curious about how accurate the depiction is of their relationship to each other. Did Jason really slit Tim’s throat at one point and try to kill him more than once? I’ve been seeing that a lot, but I can’t find any canon depictions of it. How bad is their relationship in canon?

Jason indeed did slit Tim's throat! :)

Batman #618

Jason used Tim as bait for his showdown with Bruce while he was pretending to be Hush, and during the standoff he gave Tim a friendly lil slice to the throat. It wasn't a super life-threatening injury, though. As Tim put it: "I'll need stitches. But Catwoman stopped the bleeding."

Batman #618

And Jason did indeed try to kill Tim more than once! Three times, to be exact! (Before the reboot, at least.)

There was during the Hush storyline, as I already explained above. Prior to that, there was also the Tim vs Jason fight that took place in Titan's Tower shortly after Jason revealed himself to the Batfamily in UTRH and decided to pay his replacement a visit.

Teen Titans (2003) #29

Then Battle For the Cowl happened, and Tim and Jason went head to head yet again, this time as their own versions of Batman. Jason stabbed Tim with a batarang and left him for dead, going on to tell Dick that Tim was dead as a doornail when Dick came to save him in his own batsuit.

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #2

So yeah, you could say their relationship wasn't great Pre-52. Jason attempted to recruit Tim as his partner a few times, as if Tim would suddenly become all buddy-buddy with a crazy murderer (which is what the writers tried to make Jason into at the time).

To be honest, I find their relationship during this time hilarious? Jason keeps asking Tim to be friends and Tim keeps reminding Jason that he thinks he's the most annoying person in the world lmao.

Jason: ok i know i tried to kill you a couple times and i resent you for replacing me and also i'm kind of psychotic at the moment, but do you wanna like, hang out? 👉👈

Tim: full offense but i would literally rather die than spend ten minutes with you

Jason: sure that's cool man i get it *proceeds to try and shoot tim's face off*

It's such a fun dynamic.

Robin #177

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #2

Jason: *asks tim to be his bestie while he is actively carving tim up with a batarang* (Sir please read the room I'm begging you.)

So that's pretty much how their dynamic was until the New-52 went and made them besties for whatever reason. Jason just really really really wants Tim to join him, Tim really really really wants Jason to leave him alone and stop being crazy. It's a blast.

#lay it on me papa bob #soho reads comics #get your comic references kids #jason todd #red hood #robin #tim drake #red robin #idiot duckboy #batfamily #batfam #dc comics #batman #battle for the cowl #batman hush #batbros #batboys

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Why does everyone think a newly queer character being shot in the neck for shock value is funny. ESPECIALLY right after pride month

#i think it's hilarious and i can't wait to read it #i'm always up for watching tim get owies for the sake of drama #lay it on me papa bob #soho speaks #tim drake #red robin #robin #idiot duckboy #batman #batfamily #batfam #batman 125 #dc comics

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Whumptober Day 11: (Alternative Prompt) Stabbed

Summary:

“Maybe I should have gone to a real piercing place,” Tim says. He gulps at the width of the needle.

“A real piercer would charge you a million bucks for this. I’m doing it for free, like the good friend I am.”

“You forget that I’m literally a billionaire.”

“Yeah, but would you rather have some stranger’s hands in your mouth?” Steph gags exaggeratedly. “I’m not doing anything that a trained professional wouldn’t be doing, anyway. You’re in good hands.”

That doesn’t make Tim feel any better, considering that Steph’s laptop is sitting open on the toilet lid with the WikiHow page for “How to Pierce Your Tongue” open in the first tab.

#she's such a good friend <3 if a little deranged #whumptober2022 #whumptober #stephanie brown #spoiler #batgirl #robin #tim drake #red robin #idiot duckboy #bernard dowd #timber #timsteph #soho writes stuff #dc comics #batfamily #batfam

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Could I perhaps bother you for some Tim sees ghosts AU headcanons?

(most of this is just copy-pasted from the discord with my friends because i'm lazy)

duke in the tim sees ghosts au, seeing some weird shadowy energy surrounding tim at all times: o_o

tim in the tim sees ghosts au, sensing that duke can’t die: o_o

since duke has the ability to amplify other metahumans' powers when he's in close proximity to them, i've decided that this applies to tim too even though he's not technically a metahuman and is just a weird kid with weird powers, but it's my au and i make the rules

so whenever duke is near tim it makes tim's abilities stronger, e.g. he can sense more stuff, do more creepy death stuff, and the ghosts around him are more present/detectable

normally only tim is able to see the ghosts and that is still the case, however when DUKE is around then if you're looking closely enough (or have super cool vision powers) they look like creepy blurry shadow people that you can see out of the corner of your eye

and with duke's light-seeing powers it means he can see the ghosts too and WAY better than other people can, almost to the point where they're fully visible to him. which is how he finds out about tim's powers because hmmm he's pretty sure normal people don't have creepy ghosts following them everywhere

we know that tim’s siblings all find out before bruce does, duke included, so after breaking the news tim tells duke he has to keep it a secret from bruce and duke canNOT handle that

duke: “how am i supposed to keep a secret from the batman!! he’s the fucking batman!! he can read my mind!!!”

that night at dinner duke won’t look bruce in the eyes and of COURSE bruce knows he’s hiding something because Fucking Batman

bruce: “spill. what did you do.”

duke: “i didn’t do anything!!”

bruce: “if you tell me now i won’t be mad”

duke: “WHY DO YOU AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME I DID SOMETHING”

and duke’s eyes keep darting to tim who’s doing his best to look innocent and bruce obviously notices that too

bruce: “tim, what did duke do”

duke: “I DIDNT DO ANYTHING!!”

and bruce doesn’t let up and duke is sweating so eventually he panics and yells “OKAY OKAY YOU GOT ME. tim uhhhhhhh…….killed your fish”

bruce: “i don’t have a fish”

duke: “yeah. but uh. we got you a fish. for your birthday. and tim killed it”

and bruce looks at tim who figures welp, it could be worse. “uh….yeah. i killed your fish. sorry bout that” meanwhile he's giving duke the death glare

bonus: when duke's parents finally die (yes i feel bad for this but i really want them to die so duke can be adopted by bruce officially) tim suddenly sees two new ghosts near duke and his stomach just sinks because oh no

#lay it on me papa bob #tim sees ghosts au #tim drake #red robin #idiot duckboy #robin #duke thomas #the signal #dc signal #headcanons #batfamily #batfam #bruce wayne #batman #dc comics #soho speaks

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Summary: Tim is thirteen the first time he walks into the Batcave and finds Bruce holding a gun to his head. Warnings: Suicide Attempt, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts

Tim is thirteen the first time he walks into the Batcave and finds Bruce holding a gun to his head. The initial shock, strangely, comes not from the dreaded act itself that Tim is bearing witness to, but the sight of such an unnatural choice of weapon clutched in Bruce’s hand. Batman hates guns. He’d never use them on anybody. Anybody but himself, apparently. Tim’s body goes stone-cold. He freezes mid-step. “Bruce?” he squeaks, waiting for the scene to shift back to normalcy. Make it make sense: a surprise training exercise, some imaginary scenario that Tim is supposed to run through to show he knows the procedure. This can’t be real. It doesn’t make sense. Bruce doesn’t startle at the sound of Tim’s timid voice behind him. Of course he doesn’t; Batman never startles. Still, he doesn’t lower the gun like Tim expects—hopes. He doesn’t even look at his newest protege, only a Robin for two months and still so uncertain as to how he can possibly fill the shoes of the heroes before him.

“Bruce,” Tim says again. He’s trying so hard not to let his voice shake in front of his mentor, but it becomes increasingly harder when Bruce still won’t lower the damn gun. Robin shouldn’t quiver, no matter how frightened he is. He doesn’t dare move forward, terrified that one footstep will set off the shot.

“Alf—” Tim’s voice cracks. He clears his throat. “Alfred said lunch is almost ready. He made crab cakes.” Bruce doesn’t react visibly other than by slightly turning his head in Tim’s direction, indicating that he heard him. It isn’t much, but it’s a start. A small, microscopic start. Tim should be ashamed of himself for his shoddy observational skills under pressure. He was so alarmed by the gun in Bruce’s hand that he didn’t realize until this moment that the pistol is the very same one that murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne. The display case across the cave croons its hollowness. Tim wants to throw up. Bruce looks stunningly human like this, with neither cowl nor cape to make him more than a man. Men are mortal. Men can be broken. Men kill themselves when the burden gets too heavy to bear. There is something fragile in the way Bruce holds this deadly weapon aloft—a potent sense of weakness despite holding all the power in the room in his hand. Everything is different in the mask. Batman is infallible, unbreakable. Here, in this dithering moment, the illusion crumbles. Bruce Wayne is just a man. “Bruce, please,” Tim whispers, his plea a childish whine even to his own ears. He doesn’t know how else to fix this. He’s thirteen. He hasn’t been trained in this yet. He’s too young to know which words will help and which will hurt. He doesn’t even fully know what he’s pleading for. The thought of Bruce blowing a hole through his skull is equally as unimaginable as the thought of having to continue living with a Bruce Wayne who wants to die. Tim won’t be able to look his partner in the eyes ever again without remembering this heinous moment. “I lost him,” Bruce croaks, so softly and dully that Tim isn’t sure if the words were intended for him at all. “He’s gone.” He sounds so tired. Not sad, not angry. Just tired. A tightrope slowly, painfully filed down to its last thin strings. Tim can’t pretend he’s surprised that this is the crux of it all. Everything always comes back to Jason. He hears the quiet click of the gun cocking like an explosion. Tim fishes for the first rescue line he can think of. “I still don’t know how to do a ridge hand strike,” he throws out into space—a desperate attempt from his panicked mind. “You said you’d teach me, remember?” It’s dumb, and childish, and Tim has no reason to think he could ever be equipped to handle something so monumental as this. Bruce looks sideways at Tim, his brow furrowing. “I did, didn’t I?” he murmurs, almost absently. Remembering a dream. “After—after lunch. You can teach me,” Tim says, trying so damn hard to keep rooted, but he can’t look away from that black metal glinting in the low light of the cave. After another very long, very tense moment, Bruce lowers the gun. He turns fully to face Tim, his expression unreadable. “All right.” He removes his finger from the trigger. “All right,” Tim echoes, relief and revulsion shaking through him. Bruce puts the gun back securely in its case, locking the awful weapon back where it belongs. He goes upstairs without another word to Tim, so casual that Tim could almost believe the scene never happened at all. It takes several more minutes before Tim’s legs stop shaking enough to follow him.

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Tim becomes more vigilant after that. He has to. How could he not, after what they so narrowly avoided? He can’t stop imagining what he would have found if he’d gone downstairs just five minutes later. Bruce’s blood would have stained the cave floor no matter how hard Alfred scrubbed. Bruce has not brought up the incident since it occurred, so Tim doesn’t bring it up either. He doesn’t know if it’s supposed to be kept a secret or if Bruce is simply too embarrassed to mention it, but Tim wouldn’t dare give it up either way. He can’t stop picturing the gun against Bruce’s temple every time he looks at him. Tim gets used to keeping himself awake until he hears Bruce go to his bedroom after patrol, hears the creak of his bed as he settles into it, just to be sure that going to sleep is all he does. Tim can’t afford to be caught unprepared again. The rational portion of Tim wants to tell someone. Just to hear it out loud. Just to know if it was real. Maybe Dick would know something about it; maybe he’d have tips for Tim to keep it from happening again, but Tim has no idea how he would even go about starting that pipe bomb of a conversation. While we’re on the subject, witness Bruce trying to blow his brains out lately? Even worse would be if Dick doesn’t already know, and Tim just betrayed his partner with a secret he wasn’t sure was a secret in the first place. Would Dick be angry with Bruce for exposing Tim to such a grim horror? Would he blame Tim for letting it get this far? And, worst of all, how weak would he think Bruce must be for letting himself get so low? What would Alfred think? What if they told the Justice League? What if Tim’s slippage broke everything that Batman was supposed to be? Batman can’t crack. Batman can’t be depressed. But if Tim is there, then he can’t be, right? That’s what Tim signed up for, after all—bringing Bruce back from that brink after losing Jason. Tim knows the futility of his task; he can never replace Jason, no matter how hard he pretends, but he can be something. He can take care of Bruce for as long as he needs. Robin’s job is to keep Batman in the light. This is just another of Tim’s unspoken duties listed in the fine print. For all that Tim hopes and prays, the next incident isn’t far off from the first. Batman has been standing on the same rooftop for over ten minutes now, unmoving, unspeaking. Looking down at the street below as if in morbid curiosity of what would happen if he took the plunge. “Batman,” Tim says. It’s laughable; he’s so small, even in his armored uniform and the lifts in his shoes to raise him to Jason’s height. If Bruce toppled, Tim couldn’t catch him any more reliably than an insect could catch a boulder. He says again, stronger, “Batman. Look at me.” He creeps up closer behind Bruce, attention caught in the inches between Bruce’s boots and the edge of the roof, and the cars belting along just below. Any one of them could do the job. “Look at me.” Slowly, drudgingly, Bruce turns his head. He looks down impassively at Tim’s pale, daringly relieved face. Tim smiles the tiniest amount at the victory. “We’re okay. Right? Everyone’s okay.” His small hand takes hold of Bruce’s, and he knows this isn’t how it should be. He’s too young for this, for all of Bruce and all of Batman and everything of both of them. Tim carries not only Bruce’s life in his hands, but everything that Batman is and could be, and all of the lives he needs to be alive to save. When Bruce doesn’t move from that tantalizing edge, Tim pulls gently on his hand. “C’mon, there’s a robbery on Fifth Ave. We need to be there.” That keyword, need, is what finally draws Bruce back into sentience. It might be the only reason he’s still here now, why he didn’t find a rooftop just like this one after Jason’s body went cold and followed him into the dark. Gotham needs him. Robin needs him. “Let’s go,” Bruce says. He drops Tim’s hand without a backward glance, already striding for the fire escape he climbed up here on. Tim follows without another word.

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“Bruce.” The voice is distant and warbly, an annoyance Bruce would like to press the snooze button on. It sounds so much like Jason, but that’s impossible because if Bruce were with Jason, he wouldn’t be feeling like gum scraped off the street. “Bruce, wake up,” Tim says frantically, shaking Bruce’s shoulders. Bruce grumbles and opens his eyes with reluctance. He appears to have passed out on the floor of his bathroom. An empty bottle of scotch sits overturned on the tile beside him. Closer to the tub is a bottle of drain cleaner, the seal on the cap still unbroken. Bruce must have fallen asleep before he could get that far. Tim lets out a relieved breath when Bruce blinks into awareness, the swirling light fixture above gradually coming into focus. “Come on, you need to go to bed. You’ve got stuff to do tomorrow.” He slides his arms under Bruce’s armpits and levers him upright the best he can, which isn’t much with Bruce’s uncooperating dead weight. Who cares about budget meetings and repairing worn-out grapple guns? The more time goes on, the less Bruce can find it in him to care about the tedium of this life he’s living. Tim works to get Bruce to stand on his own feet, but it’s a useless effort for someone half Bruce’s size. The best he manages is supporting Bruce on one side and half-dragging him into the adjoined master bedroom. It’s almost amusing: Bruce almost never drinks, aside from champagne at parties or those three bottles of whiskey on the night of Jason’s funeral. He should have drowned in it. Tim helps Bruce out of the bathroom and over to his bed. From this close, Bruce can study the bruise-colored smudges underlining Tim’s eyes. Bruce knew it weeks ago when Tim gave up on sleeping altogether, too afraid that taking five minutes to close his eyes would be enough time for Bruce to carve through a vein and bleed out on the floor. Some nights Bruce dreams of slipping a sedative into the kid’s Gatorade so he can do just that without the fear of being interrupted.

“You’re a good boy, Tim,” Bruce murmurs, his head swimming dangerously with every motion of his uncooperative body. He’s not a lightweight except when he wants to be. Bruce dumps himself on top of the comforter, wishing the mattress would swallow him whole. “Jason…Jason was good too. He was perfect.” What Bruce wouldn’t give to have him back. He’d trade any life, take any risk. He’d slit his own throat in a heartbeat if only it rewrote that tragic day. Parents shouldn’t be allowed to lose their children. They shouldn’t be forced to keep walking on this gray-hued chunk of rock after their child is dead. It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. Tim is his usual quiet, unobtrusive self as he collects the scotch and empty glass from the bathroom floor. He stops to put the unopened drain cleaner in the garbage can, just in case. He cleans up Bruce’s mess until one could almost pretend it never happened. It’s what he came here to do in the first place, isn’t it? Fix the Batman, make him better again. What a joke. There is no “better” for Bruce. There is no healing. There is just waiting, waiting until his mission is finished and he can join his son in death. “Stop talking like that,” Tim says quietly. Bruce didn’t even know he was saying his traitorous thoughts aloud. “You’re just tired.” Tim goes to leave, but Bruce catches his wrist before he can stray too far. “’m sorry,” Bruce slurs, his drunken eyes strikingly alert as he looks at Tim, this child he dragged into his blackened world. He’s sorry that this is Tim’s job. He’s sorry that he burdened this little boy with a man’s responsibility. He’s sorry that the child he has now isn’t the one he wants. Tim’s mouth tightens into a thin line. He nods curtly. “Get some sleep, Bruce.”

#bruce babygirl you are soooo damaged #yes hello i made bruce and tim's relationship SO toxic and unhealthy in this <3 #yes i forgot until just now that i forgot to post my whumptober fics here too #oh well #soho writes stuff #batfamily #batfam #bruce wayne #batman #tim drake #robin #red robin #idiot duckboy #dc comics #fanfiction #fanfic #tw suicide attempt #tw suicide

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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Tim’s face here kills me every time he’s just-

No thoughts in his head

no thoughts head empty <3

#lay it on me papa bob #soho speaks #tim drake #robin #red robin #idiot duckboy #batman #batman and robin #batfamily #batfam #dc comics #meme #memes

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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(one of these days i’m gonna get better at remembering to post ao3 links on my blog lmao)

Whumptober Day 4: (Alternative Prompt) Protective

Summary:

Tim stacks his fries onto his burger patty in a crosshatch, covering every spare inch in a layer of salty potato and grease. “It all happened kind of fast. Dad and I got into this huge fight, and it’s not very dignified to go back upstairs for my wallet and then storm out.” Dick is quiet while he eats his sandwich, trying to figure this out. “Dick?”

“I’m just—trying to think if I should call Bruce first or your dad.”

Tim makes a face. “Can we maybe just…not call either of them?”

“Tim, you’re in a strange city you don’t live in, staying with a person your dad barely knows. He’s probably worried sick.”

Tim rolls his eyes and scoffs sourly. “I doubt that.”

#whumptober2022 #whumptober #batfamily #batfam #tim drake #red robin #robin #idiot duckboy #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #jack drake #dc comics #soho writes stuff #fanfiction #fanfic

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sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

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it’s so funny that they always be killing off tim. injustice? dead. dceased? dead. dc vs vampires? watermelon. he’s either 17 or dead and he will never escape his purgatory smh