Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This is foolish,” Damian says.

Around him, all his family members are helping, either by cleaning or helping Alfred in the kitchen — all except for the youngest of them all. The Demon Brat, as Jason fondly calls him, is sitting on the couch and doing nothing.

“You know,” Tim says, wiping the dust off the furniture. He knew the tea room would be dusty since no one actually goes in there, but he didn’t expect it to be to this extent . “Instead of complaining about how it’s a waste of time and doing nothing, you could help.”

Damian just shakes his head. “It is not worthy of my precious time, Drake. Father and Kyle have known each other for so long, and she visited us often before they ever started their… relationship .” He makes a face. “The only difference now is that she will be staying permanently . That means she will eventually get used to the mess that is the Manor.”

Tim opens his mouth to reply, but then the doorbell rings, signalling Selina and Jason’s arrival, which means they don’t have time to argue anymore.

He quickly hides the cloth he was using to clean inside one of the many drawers in the tea room, and then checks himself over to make sure he’s decent.

“Coming!” He shouts, then turns to Damian. “How do I look?”

“As unpleasant as always.”

He rolls his eyes and runs a hand through his hair one last time, then rushes over to get the door open for his new mother and, more importantly, his new brother . The word makes him cringe, but at the end of the day that’s what he and Jason will be: brothers . And he better get used to that.

“Hey!” He greets, smiling wide as he opens the door. “You’re earlier than expected.”

Jason raises an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”

The older is wearing a tight white shirt that not only fills his form in just the right way, but also contrasts with his deep dark skin. His thick, curly hair has grown a bit from the last time they saw each other, but the white streak is still going strong and Tim absolutely adores it.

He clears his throat. “No, of course not.” 

Tim takes the bag from his hand, but it’s heavier than he expected so he stumbles a little. Much like in his dreams, Jason is there to keep him up, with his strong arms and his perfect white teeth and his marvelous pecs—

“I’ll take this upstairs,” the older says, looking amused. “You help Selina with the other stuff. And don’t worry,” Jason winks at him, “I won’t look in your room.”

He leaves, and Tim stands there for just a second watching him go. The two of them have known each other for about two years now, and their relationship has really progressed phenomenally. At first, Jason was cruel and rude and he pushed everyone away, but now he’s starting to get better and he’s definitely gotten better with Tim. It’s hard to believe, now, that the older used to be so… hateful .

Tim shakes his head and goes help Selina with the other stuff. It’ll do him no good to keep pining after a guy who, as mentioned previously, is going to be his brother very, very soon.

“Hey Tim,” Selina says, smiling brightly while giving him five bags to carry up to the room she’ll be sharing with Bruce. “You look nice.”

He grins proudly. “Thanks.”

It’s not like I spent the whole morning getting ready , he thinks.

And then he adds, “You too,” because it’s true. She does look nice — very nice. Every time he sees her he takes note of another reason why Bruce fell for her: her wit, her kindness, the care she feels for others, the way her (often braided) hair falls into her face when she smiles… Selina Kyle is just a wonderful woman all around, and today is no different.

Her dark skin is covered in foundation and she’s put extra effort into her makeup today, making her eyelashes look longer and her cheekbones sharper. The outfit she’s wearing is all-white: a see-through dress with a short crop top and shorts that accentuate her hips. Overall, she looks absolutely amazing, and he’s sure Bruce will agree.

On the way upstairs, Jason purposefully bumps into him, and he feels himself grin against his will. Okay, maybe he can pine a little .

After he puts everything down, he takes one last look at the large room before it’s all filled with Selina’s stuff. This room has been through so many emotional breakdowns, not only Bruce’s but all of his children’s too, and yet it’s still somehow standing… it’s amazing that it’s now gonna be Bruce-and-Selina’s.

He has to say he’ll miss all those sleepless nights just crying in that bed, or trying to tear down the ancient wallpapers, or trying to climb the walls like Spiderman. With Selina here, he doubts they’ll have the space (and opportunity) to just… let themselves go like that.

“If I didn’t know any better,” someone says, startling him, “I’d say you don’t really want her to move in.”

The boy turns around and there is Bruce Wayne, looking happier than Tim’s ever seen him. He’s wearing a nice casual outfit, but he still makes it look super refined, and there’s a sparkle in his dark blue eyes that’s only ever there whenever he’s with Selina.

“That’s not true,” Tim says. “I mean… I love our house, and our family, and having her and Jason here will be different , for sure… but I’m excited for it.”

By the relieved smile Bruce gives him, he knows he’s said the right thing.

“I am, too.” The man nods his head towards the door. “Let’s go. Alfred says lunch is ready, and you know how he gets about us being late.”

The two of them make their way down the stairs and into the dining room, where the rest of the Wayne family is already gathered: Damian is already sitting down on the dining table, ready to eat, looking no different than he would on any other day; Cass, on the other hand, is dressed much fancier than normal, looking elegant as she helps set the table; lastly, Alfred looks as he always does: composed, smooth, and elegant.

“I’ll go call Selina and Jason,” Bruce says, and leaves the room.

Tim takes a seat in front of Damian and both hopes and dreads that Jason will sit beside him. His little crush will be the death of him, truly.

Thankfully, Cass saves him and sits next to him.

We made dim sum , she signs. The small smile on her face betrays her stony façade. Alfred learned quick.

Tim smiles back. “Still, I doubt he’ll be as good as your ma.”

She nods agreeably. Sandra Wu-San and Cass had parted on good terms — at least, good enough that he can mention the woman freely without worrying about consequences —, but one thing he would always miss about the woman was her cooking . His own parents couldn’t cook their ‘authentic Asian food’ for shit, so it was a surprise to see Sandra continue on her culture and tradition and pass it down to Cass.

When Jason and Selina come, the boy sits down next to Damian and in front of Cass, while his mom sits down facing Bruce, at the end of the table. Alfred serves the dishes onto the table and takes his seat next to Cass, and then they’re all diving right into all the food Alfred and Cass prepared.

“So,” Jason asks, while absolutely devouring the fried rice, “how’s the wedding planning going? You two decided on a date yet?”

Selina sighs. “Not yet. I never thought wedding planning would be this hard— actually no, scratch that.” She takes a bite of her chicken leg. “I knew it would be this hard, but I never imagined it’d still be this hard even with Bruce and Kate helping me.”

They all laugh and keep eating. The conversation shifts to the topic of what it’ll be like to live together, all seven of them, in Wayne Manor, and Cass comments that it’ll be nice to have another woman around.

“Well, I won’t be a bother for too long,” Jason says. “Give us a few months and I’ll be graduating and moving away for college.”

Selina smiles sardonically. “What, you that eager to get away from me?”

“If I were, I would’ve suggested we move in with the Waynes way sooner.” He gives her a deadpan look. “Either that, or I would’ve graduated early and gotten the hell outta town.”

Tim doubts Jason really would have graduated early, but both he and, most importantly, Damian , keep their thoughts to themselves. Jason Todd-Kyle is incredibly smart and bright, but he puts very little effort into his studies, unlike Tim himself.

“Well, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that the Waynes are more than happy to have the both of you here.” Bruce smiles brightly and lifts his glass of wine. “A toast, to the Kyle-Wayne family!”

Tim rolls his eyes fondly. “You’re so embarrassing .”

All of them share a toast together, and then Alfred gently knocks on his glass with his spoon. Everyone turns to him, and anticipation is clear in the air when everyone realizes he’s about to give a speech .

“Having all of you here today has brought much joy to my heart,” the man says, earnestly. “I have taken care of Master Bruce since he was but a toddler, yet not once have I seen him this… happy .” Alfred turns to Bruce, then. “My boy, I cannot express to you the warmth that fills my heart to see you build a family for yourself, to see you open yourself up to both Ms. Kyle and Master Jason. I know I will never replace a true parent, but I am certain, if your parents were here, they would be extremely proud to see how far you have come.”

There are tears in their eyes by the time he’s done, yet no one, not even Damian, tries to pretend like that wasn’t just the most heartwarming thing Alfred could have possibly said. The man may be their butler, but he’s more like a second father to all of them; the Wayne family would never have been possible if not for Alfred Pennyworth.

“Alfred,” Bruce says, discreetly wiping away the tears from his face. “ Alfred . You… you’re no replacement — far from it. There’s no one quite like you.” He gets a sudden heartbroken look on his face and looks down at the table, but Tim knows he’s started to cry again. “I… thank you , Alfred. Thank you for everything.”

The butler nods, but there are also unshed tears in his eyes. “ Always , Master Bruce.”

The lunch ends on that heartwarming note, and the kids all help clean up while the two fiancés go to their shared bedroom, presumably to settle everything down.

“Hey,” Jason says, eyes soft as he bumps into Tim. “I know Alfred kinda stole the spotlight there, but I was gonna say…” He smiles. “I’m real excited to be your brother.”

Tim’s heart does a funny thing, then: it both breaks and jumps in excitement. Realistically, he knew that the chances of Jason not only being bi, but also being into him , weren’t great, but to hear it coming from the man himself is… embarrassing , to say the least.

But Tim can’t ruin this.

He’s seen how happy everyone seems now that Bruce and Selina are getting married. Hell, even Damian is happy, underneath it all and despite his stubborn claims that he doesn’t care much for ‘Ms. Kyle’.

So Tim just smiles back at him. “I’m excited, too.”

*

Jason Todd-Kyle,

You didn’t know me at first, but I’d known about you for about two years before we’d ever met. So I think it’s fair to say that, even before I knew you were Selina’s son, you were mine first. My secret crush, my dream guy, my one-and-all… you were everything and you were mine , but just… not my brother.

But that’s what you will be soon, and I know, rationally, that my feelings are hopeless and they have been from the start, but now it’s almost like they’re illegal . I don’t know if there are laws for that — I guess there aren’t, since I’m not even related to Bruce and we aren’t technically related —, but it feels illegal and it’s just wrong . So I’ll stop, and I’ll never say anything and you’ll never know, because both our families deserve to be happy.

Yours,

Tim.

P.S. I still love you.

I still love you and it’s terrible and I thought I’d get over it but it’s still here, and it’s killing me.

*

As of grade 11, Tim has only written to five people: Steph from preschool; Kon-el from grade seven; Cassie from homecoming; Tam from Model UN; and Jason. Tim writes these stupid letters in his computer whenever he has these really intense crushes that he just needs to get out there and get out of his mind so that he can focus on more important matters like school.

Being the adopted son of one of the most famous CEOs in America, he keeps his letters well-encrypted and neatly stored into a drive. A lot of people have tried to hack into the Wayne family’s computers but none so far have succeeded. If they had, it’d be a real humiliation for the Waynes; they did learn computer programming from Barbara Gordon , after all.

“Drake,” a voice rings out, and he startles and closes his laptop. There’s only one person who calls him by his last name, after all, and he knows that if Damian knew about the letters, the younger would never let them go. “Father is calling you.”

He looks at the time. “Oh, is it time for movie night already?”

Tim stands up and carefully guides Damian away from his laptop. Years of living together tell him that drawing attention to his laptop by going over and carefully encrypting it will only lead to disaster, so he leaves it as is. After all, a movie only has two hours of runtime, maximum. There’s no way he’ll be so unlucky as to encounter some hacker during those two hours — and the chances of the other actually getting anything out of his laptop in only that short amount of time is highly unlikely.

So he just leaves it.

Tim and Damian sit down next to each other on the couch, every other seat already taken, and it’s just his luck that his seat is beside Jason.

“Popcorn?” The older asks, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Tim shrugs. “Sure.”

Selina picks an action movie and lets it play as she leans into Bruce, casually, like there’s nothing else she could possibly be doing other than this one act of intimacy. On the other side, Cass sits with their (Damian’s) Great Dane, Titus, on her lap, cuddling him like the good dog he is. Alfred has long since gone to sleep, and they’re all that’s left now.

Jason stretches his arms out onto the couch behind them, and Tim tenses. He knows it’s not what he thinks, but it still feels like butterflies in his stomach.

He barely notices it when Damian leaves, sending Tim a knowing glare. Tim’s too focused on the feel of Jason’s thigh against his and his arm right on the back of Tim’s neck — things that will soon become routine for them.

Tim lets himself drift off, promising today is the last day he’ll feel this way.

In his dreams, though, he can’t control the way Jason smiles at him and takes him into his arms and kisses him senseless.

Chapter Text

The very next day, when Jason is actually supposed to drive them to school, he sleeps in and refuses to be woken up by any of them. The only person who can ever get him to wake up is Selina, but she’s already gone to work and so has Bruce, so Cass, Tim, and Damian just leave him there for Alfred to lecture.

So Cass drives Tim and Damian to school. Out of the three of the over-16 siblings, she’s by far the best driver. No offense to Jason, of course, who drives just fine, but Cass is… well, she’s Cass . There are very few things the girl can’t do. And Tim himself is still learning , no matter how much Damian may critique his driving. In his defense, he’s just turned 17 and only just gotten his driver’s license so it’s not like he’s had a lot of time to practice.

They get to school just in time for the bell to ring, and Tim rushes off to his Bio class.

And then he sits down, takes out his stuff, and BAM: someone slams their textbook down on the seat next to him — the seat that, previously, was usually taken by his friend Sebastian.

“Wayne.”

Tim frowns up at none other than Kon-el, looking as… Kon-el as ever. His undercut is smoothly swept to one side, showing off his pierced ear and giving Tim a clear view of his bright blue eyes. The smirk in his face completes the whole ‘playboy’ look.

“Kon-el.” Tim raises an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be sitting over there, with, you know, your girlfriend ?”

The other boy just narrows his eyes at him, looking confused. “What?”

“Your girlfriend.” Tim, even more confused, tries not to sound as bitter and annoyed as he actually feels. “M’gann.”

It’s not that he’s bitter , per se. He’s someone who prides himself on being logical and critical and by acting based mostly based on facts, so here are the facts: when he was in grade seven, he was invited to his first ever boy-girl party, and during this party they played spin-the-bottle. Tim and M’gann were friends — his dad and her uncle were business partners —, united by the fact that they both had a crush on the same boy. They’d promised each other that, whatever the outcome of their spin-the-bottle game, they’d still remain friends.

And the fact is that Tim had spun the bottle, and it had landed right on Kon-el.

And the other fact is that, after the kiss was done and over with — which, admittedly, had been quite disappointing —, M’gann shut Tim out of her life and ended their friendship. And then, two years later, she started dating Kon-el.

So no , Tim isn’t bitter. Betrayed, sad, angry, yes. 

But not bitter.

“We broke up,” Kon-el says, as if that were common knowledge and Tim was stupid for not knowing. “I thought you knew, since… y’know…”

Kon-el gives him a look, and Tim feels he’s missing something . Why would he know something like that? Is M’gann holding back on talking shit about him to Kon to make the latter actually believe they’re still talking?

“I don’t know, actually.” Tim stares at him. “Do you wanna sit down and enlighten me on what it is we’re discussing, or are you just gonna stand there?”

“Uh.” The other frowns and tilts his head. “Wait, do you actually not know—”

“Alright everyone,” Ms. Isley shouts, getting everyone to quiet down. “Let’s go over the life kingdoms. Can anyone tell me what they are?”

She gives Kon-el a pointed stare and the boy quickly sits down.

As soon as she starts going on about the material, though, the boy writes something down on the edge of his notebook and unsubtly shuffles so that Tim can read it:

I got your email .

The sentence makes zero sense, so he ignores it and ignores Kon-el next to him and focuses on Ms. Isley and on what she’s saying.

The other doesn’t try to talk to him again for the rest of the class, which is perfect, and as soon as the bell rings Tim packs his things and goes to where Sebastian’s sitting and together they leave for their next class…

… Which, as it turns out, just happens to be P.E.

A class they share with Kon-el.

Tim changes as quickly as he can, but the other still finds him in the locker room.

“We gotta talk,” he says, exasperated. “ Really , Tim.”

Sebastian narrows his eyes at him. “I heard M’gann dumped you for a college chick. Is that true?”

Kon-el ignores him and gives Tim a pleading look. “ Please , man.”

The younger sighs and gives his friend a nod. Sebastian reluctantly leaves their side, and soon enough everyone clears the locker room.

“Ms. Quinn will be—”

“I told her we’d be a bit late,” Kon-el answers, easily. “Did you know she and Ms. Isley are a thing?”

Tim raises an eyebrow. “Yeah. Everyone knew.”

“Seriously?” Kon-el looks surprised, but then shakes his head. “Anyways, I just wanted to say that, like, I appreciate it and all, you know? But you can’t keep running away from me because I don’t… I’m not…”

Tim lets him continue. As long as Ms. Quinn knows they’ll be late, then there’s no rush, and from the looks of it whatever Kon-el is saying must be important. After all, they haven’t talked all that much over the years, and Tim is certain the fault isn’t entirely his.

“I’m not gay .” The boy gives him a desperate look, like he had to spit out the words. “I’m into chicks, you know? And, like, I thought the kiss back in grade seven was funny and all, since we’re two guys, and you were kinda cute, and I think it’s cute that you really like my eyes that much—”

“Ehm.” Tim freezes. “ What? ”

Kon-el looks pained . “I don’t know what you were expecting, man. Me and M’gann… I mean, you don’t look like you even knew we broke up, so what were you even thinking, sending me that email?”

Email.

Kon-el and a kiss and his eyes.

The letters .

“ Fuck! ” He lets out, and lets out a huge sigh. “Oh fuck .”

It’s just his luck, really. The two hours that he leaves his computer unattended, and it just so happens that some nobody manages to actually get in and leak his letters.

Fuck.

He needs to check if it’s been leaked to the press already, or if the culprit is asking for some money compensation in return, and he needs to contact Babs, like, immediately .

“ — okay?” Kon-el is saying, taking Tim’s shaking hands in his own. “I’m sorry, man. I really am, it’s just… it was so long ago, and I forgot it even happened — oh shit, is that why you stopped talking to M’gann? Because of me ?”

Fuck , Tim can’t do this.

“I need to go.”

He leaves the locker room, already on his phone calling Babs. Ms. Quinn calls out for him to get back to class, but he dashes out of there before she can catch him.

When Babs doesn’t answer him, he calls Cass, but she’s in class and, like a good student, she doesn’t pick up.

That leaves only Jason, but… well . That can’t possibly go over well.

Honestly, he could just pretend it wasn’t him. He could just pretend he got hacked and that whoever did it just happened to be more into… messing with a high schooler’s love life than getting their hands on any kind of Wayne Enterprises secret.

It sounds ridiculous, even to him.

So far, he hasn’t gotten any emails or phone calls from strange numbers, but he figures it’s just a matter of time before they’re demanding some kind of money compensation for this. And he’ll have to get some of his Drake money and pay them himself, because Bruce and Selina can’t know about this—

“Tim?”

He’s walking back home by himself, and dear Lord is it relieving to hear his friend’s voice right now.

“Steph!” He stops walking. “Can you give me a ride back home?”

“Course,” she says, and stops just in time for him to get in behind her. “Actually, I meant to talk to you…”

Oh no.

“I mean, is everything okay?” She asks, clearly concerned, as he cringes from behind her. “I got your email, but I know you don’t… from the looks of it, it sounded like you wrote it a good while ago.”

He swallows drily. “Yeah, I did.”

“I’m flattered, really…” She coughs awkwardly. “I’m gay . You know that, right?”

He nearly chokes. “Yeah, Steph, I know—”

“I’m very much a lesbian. I’m, like, 100% into chicks.”

“Yeah—”

“I’m dating Cass!”

This time, Tim really does choke. On his own spit.

“You what ?”

“Ah, que carajo —” She tightens her hold on her bike. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you. Sorry. Shit .”

Tim doesn’t answer her. 

He just sighs and wonders what the hell is this day.

*

“I’m gonna kill them,” he says.

Cass just glares at him. Calm down.

Her glare is powerful, but it’s not enough to calm him down.

“All five , Cass.” He shakes his head. “I mean, why would— what kind of plan is that? They already did the worst possible thing they could’ve done, so where could they even go from here? Release my love letters to the press?”

His sister and her girlfriend (!) are sitting down on their kitchen counter, going over the damage that’s been dealt. No one else is home yet — thank the Lord, really —, but he can’t dwell on this too much because he knows that he has to go back to school before his next class.

“Maybe they were trying to do something else?” Steph offers, munching on some chips. “And then they saw that you were encrypting everything again, so they just did… that .”

“The emails were sent at 1:18.” He shakes his head. “The movie only ended at 2:26. If they managed to get into my computer in just one hour, it would’ve been plenty of time for them to do whatever they wanted with my files.”

“Right.” The blonde just sighs and stands up, packing her things. “Well, I gotta get going. Are y’all coming with or not?”

Tim gives her a look. “We have to get to the bottom of this before it gets out to Bruce and Selina. You could help us.”

She scowls. “I could— after school. Unlike you rich kids, a girl’s gotta go to her classes or else there’ll be actual consequences .”

With that, she leaves the two siblings there. Since Wayne Manor is, like, completely isolated from the rest of Gotham, it’ll take Steph a good half hour to reach the school.

“Master Drake, Miss Cain,” Alfred says, startling the two siblings. “May I suggest my help in uncovering this mystery? The two of you must go attain your education.”

It’s not that Tim had forgotten Alfred would be there, but he’d hoped the butler would be somewhere far away from the kitchen, like his own bedroom or even upstairs. He certainly didn’t want the older to know about this, but today is a mess and he allows himself this one mistake.

Besides, it’s Alfred — the man could probably kill him and Tim would still thank him.

Cass nods before Tim can answer him: Thank you, Alfred.

They leave his phone and computer with Alfred, and she drives them back to school in silence. He knows she wants to ask him, but that she also wants to give him space, so he does her a favor and brings it up herself.

“I know , okay?” He says, looking out at the window. “I know it’s wrong. I know he’s gonna be my brother in, like, a year max. You don’t have to tell me.”

She gives him a side glance but keeps her silence.

“I don’t want him to… to hate me.” Tim shudders. “I don’t want you to hate me, I don’t want Steph, or, hell, even M’gann , to hate me.”

They arrive at the school and he goes to his next class, dreading the next few hours.

*

After school is finally over, Tim does his best to not be approached by either Kon-el, Jason, or Cassie. His only blessing is that Tam had moved to Metropolis shortly after he wrote her letter, so if she does confront him, it’ll have to be by email.

Cass texts him as he’s walking to the car that she’ll be going to Steph’s, leaving him to drive himself and Damian home.

“Do try not to kill us, Drake,” Damian says, sitting on the backseat on the side of the driver. “Do not look at me that way. This is statistically the safest seat in the car.”

Tim rolls his eyes but says nothing, eager to just… get the hell out of there.

And then he backs the car, and immediately bumps into someone.

“Shit—” He rolls down his window. “I’m so sorry—”

“Oh, hey.”

Kon-el smiles a little awkwardly at Tim as he faces him through the open window. He’s tall enough that he has to lean down to do so, and it gives Tim absolutely no means of escape.

“Hi,” he says.

“Are you good?”

Tim swallows. “Yep.”

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

“You know,” Kon-el says, and Tim wants to die. “When you’re driving — when you’re backing out, especially — you usually check behind you, through any of the three mirrors in your car. It’s especially good for not killing some innocent bystander that might be walking behind you at the time.”

Tim just nods, wanting to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. “Yeah, sorry. I’m just… not completely comfortable with this car yet.”

“As opposed to the other fifteen cars you have, right?” The boy smirks. “Well, you know, if you ever need any help, or maybe some driving lessons…”

He frowns. “I thought you weren’t interested.”

Kon-el just shrugs and starts saying something, but Tim doesn’t listen because that’s Jason behind him, coming towards them with a strained look on his face, and oh man he is so not ready for this—

“ — try it out,” Kon-el is saying. “I mean, you never know ‘til you—”

Tim takes him by the collar and smacks their lips together, hard. It’s awkward and messy and it’s the worst kiss he’s ever had, especially with the bad angle that the other is standing in, barely able to fit through the window. Damian is in the back seat and Jason is there and he’s not one to particularly enjoy PDA so after a few seconds of awkwardly moving his lips, he lets go.

“Get in the car,” he says.

Kon-el blinks, his lips puffy and red. “Uh.”

“Get. In.” Tim glares, and looks back to see that Jason’s stopped walking. “ Now .”

Somehow, the other obeys and quickly runs to the passenger seat. When he sits down, Tim gets a whiff of his cologne and it nearly overwhelms him with how strong it is, and then Kon-el is smiling at him and he snaps out of it.

“Sorry,” he says.

Before the boy can answer, he steps on it and they make it to Wayne Manor in record time, in complete silence.

As soon as the car stops, Damian rushes out of there and runs up to his room, and Tim doesn’t blame him. He knows he’ll have to explain to him soon, but right now he has a plan and it involves Kon-el and absolutely no one else.

“Okay,” he says, and takes a deep breath. “Okay.”

Kon-el raises an eyebrow. “Okay…?”

“I need you to be my fake boyfriend.” He looks into Kon-el’s eyes — eyes he’d previously dreamt about. “I don’t have feelings for you anymore, so don’t worry about that—”

“Wait, you don’t?” The other huffs and visibly relaxes in his seat. “Okay, yeah, that’s great. M’gann and I just broke up, so, like, I’m not…”

Tim nods. “I get it. And I’m sorry for kissing you.”

“Nah,” Kon-el says, smirking. “Don’t be. It wasn’t, y’know, terrible.”

The younger laughs. “ Really? ”

Kon-el’s hesitation is all he needs to know. He doesn’t take it personally, though — he knows he’s normally a much better kisser.

“So why’d you even kiss me, then?”

Tim sighs. “It’s… complicated.”

Kon-el shrugs and gestures at their situation: two teenage boys inside a stuffy car, just sitting around a garage. “We’ve got time.”

The two of them stare at each other for a moment, as Tim gets his thoughts together. He really does feel bad about kissing the other out of the blue like that, and he wants to make sure he’s being fair to Kon-el, who never signed up for any of this and is doing this out of the goodness of his heart.

“I need someone else to think I don’t like them,” he says. “That’s why you need to be my fake boyfriend for a while, only until this blows over, and then we can go back to never talking.”

Kon-el narrows his eyes thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I like that idea too much.”

Tim freezes. Of course the other won’t wanna fake-date him — he’s not even gay , right? For this to work, Tim would need to make sure everyone and their mother knew the two were dating, but clearly Kon-el was the wrong choice—

“I need you to tell me who.”

Of course he does. It’s Kon-el, after all — M’gann’s boyfriend. If he can handle her, then he has to have some hell of a strong will.

Tim sighs. “It’s Jason Todd.”

There’s a brief pause of surprise, and then Kon-el starts laughing , of all reactions to have.

“Jason Todd?” The other laughs again, and Tim just stares at him, unamused. “You mean ‘Red Hood’ Jason Todd? The guy who tried to kill you two years ago?”

“That’s in the past .” Kon-el gives him a look. “... But yes. The guy who nearly killed me two years ago.”

“He didn’t ‘nearly kill you’ — he tried and failed ,” he says. “There’s a difference, Wayne, and the difference is that he wanted to kill you.”

Here’s the thing: Jason had tried to kill him two years ago, yeah, but only because, for some reason, the older had thought Tim had stolen his identity. He’d suffered a fatal injury and he’d been in a comatose state for a year, even briefly dying — hence the nickname ‘Red Hood’, for the accident that put him in that state in the first place. So when the first thing he saw was Tim with Selina, he thought the younger had been wanting to ‘replace’ him, and reacted as he saw fit.

“Well, either way,” Kon-el says, after Tim doesn’t respond. “That guy creeps me out, man. If he’s gonna come after me for dating you, then I don’t want—”

“He won’t .” Tim fixes his eyes on the other’s. “He won’t. I swear. I just…” He looks down. “I wrote him a letter, too, but now his mom’s marrying my dad and he’s gonna be my brother and… you see how that’s a problem.”

Kon-el frowns. “Wait, hold up — I wasn’t the only guy who got a letter?”

“I wrote five.” Tim raises an eyebrow. “Not all of them guys, just FYI.”

“Aw, man.” The other has the audacity to both look and sound disappointed . “You think you’re special, then you find out he wrote romantic love emails to five other people… did you talk about how their eyes look like the ocean sky in the moonlight, too?”

The younger rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I thought you weren’t even into me?”

“I never said that.” Kon-el meets his eyes, but it feels different. “I just said I’m not gay. And don’t try to change the subject — I wanna know who else you wrote to.”

“Steph Brown.”

Kon-el snorts. “She’s a lesbian.”

Tim raises an eyebrow. “ Is she?”

“Uh, yeah .” He gives him a deadpan look. “I may not have known about Ms. Isley and Ms. Quinn, but even I know about Steph, man, come on. And who else?”

“Someone I went to Model UN with,” he says. “And… uh, your ex. Cassie Sandsmark.”

Kon-el doesn’t seem offended, just giving him an impressed look. “Damn, Wayne, look at you. Didn’t know you were such a player.”

Tim ignores him. “So will you do it?”

The two of them stare at each other for a thoughtful moment. Tim doesn’t know what the other could possibly have to gain from this — except maybe for some nice food cooked by Alfred and getting to meet Gotham’s very own celebrity, Bruce Wayne —, but from the looks of it, Kon-el doesn’t look like he’s about to reject him outright.

“We’re good, Wayne.” The boy gives him a questioning look. “But I need to know, before we start this whole ‘fake dating’ thing: do you, y’know, love Todd?”

Tim glares at him. “Does it matter?”

“Uh, yeah? It does if you’re gonna have to convince the whole world that you’re suddenly in love with me.”

It’s a good point.

“I love him.” He frowns. “But I can act well— I’m a Wayne , aren’t I?”

He’s hoping that, maybe if he acts it out and pretends enough then maybe it’ll become reality; he’d take falling in love with Kon-el any day over being in love with his brother .

“Alright, Wayne.” Kon-el smiles, not genuine but also not fake. “I’ll be your fake boyfriend— but I’m warning you: the minute M’gann becomes jealous and begs for me to come back, this whole thing is over.”

There it is: the reason he’s even agreeing to this in the first place. It’s relieving, in a way, to know that Kon-el doesn’t have any other plans other than ‘make my ex jealous and bring her back to me’. As the son of a billionaire, he’s always got to keep an eye out for corporate spies and such.

Tim smirks. “Yeah, right. If you really think that’ll happen, then maybe re-assess your knowledge of M’gann M’orzz.”

“You’ll see, Wayne, you’ll see.” Kon-el also smirks, just as smug. “Don’t come crying to me when you accidentally fall in love with me.”

He snorts. “Why do you think I chose you to be my fake boyfriend?”

“Uh, my charming good looks and hot piece of ass?”

“Sure.”

Kon-el fake-gasps. “Oh my God, don’t tell me— you’re actually secretly still in love with me and this is all a fake ploy to get into my pan—”

“Okay yeah, no .” Tim gets out of the car. “This was great, but we’re fine now. I’m gonna need you to come inside with me so I can introduce you to everyone, and then you can… go.”

The playboy gets out, too. “Whatever you say, Wayne. You’re in charge.”

Tim locks the car and takes a deep breath. Since it’s a little past five, he doesn’t expect anyone but Damian and Alfred to be home yet. Cass said she’d be at Steph’s until late, and Bruce and Selina both work. As for Jason… who even knows where is, at any time?

He sends a quick text to his sister: hey, bring steph over for dinner tonight?

And she replies just as quickly: No.

Shrugging it off, he opens the door to Wayne Manor, but nothing explodes and no one starts screaming. Damian is nowhere to be seen and Alfred is cleaning the tea room, from the sound of it.

“Okay,” he whispers, “I’m gonna take you to my room and we’re gonna discuss the terms of this… thing , and you’re staying for dinner.”

Kon-el blinks. “I am?”

“Yeah.” Tim takes his hand and starts guiding him up the stairs, quietly so Alfred doesn’t hear them come in. “I want you to meet my family.”

*

Jason only comes home at night, only a few minutes before dinner.

Tim knows this, of course, because he hears the older’s motorcycle pull up to the drive, and he and Kon-el put effort into making it look like they’d been… busy . The playboy’s undercut is messy and his lips swollen (from biting, not from kissing), and the smug look on his face is unchanged. Meanwhile, Tim also messes his hair a bit, and also bites his lips, and he unbuttons his shirt and slaps his cheeks a little to look flushed.

By the time Alfred calls everyone down for dinner, the two boys have discussed everything, from where they met and how they got together to what their favorite movie is and how they like their coffee in the morning. Tim is more than ready to give the performance of his life, and any nervousness he may feel is only coming from the doubt that Kon-el will be able to act like he’s in love with a guy and, more specifically, in love with Tim .

“Relax,” Kon-el says, throwing his arm around Tim’s waist and bringing him in closer. “It’ll be fine. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Tim does not, in fact, relax . He knows full well the worst that could happen.

They make it downstairs anyway, close together and the image of a perfectly happy teenage couple, and they make it through the door of the dining room.

For a second, everyone stops talking and just stares .

Cass maintains a carefully blank face, and Damian quickly recomposes himself. Everyone else makes no effort to hide their emotions: Selina gapes at the couple, a hint of amusement in her eyes; Alfred skeptically eyes them over and over again, making his confusion — and is that distaste? — clear; Bruce is frowning at Kon-el, a displeased tilt on his lips; and Jason… he’s staring at Tim with a look that sees right through him, so the younger squeezes Kon-el’s hand harder and clears his throat.

“Hey,” he says. “This is my boyfriend, Kon-el.”

Another second, another silence.

“Nice to meet everyone.” Kon-el smiles confidently. “I’m Kon, Tim’s boyfriend.”

“ Boy friend?” Bruce asks, the first to speak. “Tim, I didn’t know you—”

Selina elbows her fiancé hard on the stomach, effectively shutting him up. When she turns back to the couple, she has a pleasant, genuine smile on her face.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Kon.” She stands up and goes to hug him, which he accepts happily. “I wish Tim would have warned us beforehand you were coming, but it’s lovely to have you here. Please sit down.”

Tim sits down next to Damian and in front of Kon-el, who sits next to Alfred. The air is still tense, as no one else has tried to say anything else, so Tim takes charge once again.

“I’m bi,” he says, turning to Bruce. “I figured it was no one else’s business, so I never came out, and I didn’t know I’d need to come out in the first place. Cass never did.”

Bruce hesitates. “I did not mean that, I just…” He clears his throat. “I didn’t think you had a boyfriend. You never… said anything.”

Another second, another silence.

“Damn, Wa— Tim.” Kon-el pouts. “Here I thought you were gettin’ serious about me.”

Tim purses his lips. “You think I just go around introducing everyone to my family?”

“ Well— ”

“I don’t.” He gives Kon-el a pointed look, but makes an effort to not sound too annoyed. “Let’s eat. Alfred made vegetarian stroganoff — your favorite .”

Surprisingly, it’s the truth: Kon-el loves stroganoff. With Damian being vegetarian and Muslim, Alfred always makes vegetarian versions of dishes and they always tend to taste delicious, sometimes even better than the original. The only time he makes meat is for special occasions — usually when they have guests over.

The two boys fill their plates with food and Tim avoids looking at Jason. He knows he’ll need to deal with the situation eventually, but… he’s not yet ready.

“So how did the two of you get together?” Selina asks, innocently. “I have to say that, like Bruce, I didn’t exactly see this coming.”

Kon-el smiles. “Well… I mean, we just recently started dating, actually. But I’ve had my eye on Tim since the seventh grade.”

She raises an eyebrow. “The seventh grade?”

“He was my first kiss,” Tim says, embarrassed. “I… recently, some news has come to light and I decided to finally approach him about my crush .”

He feels the boy in front of him inflate with smugness at the word, and he knows Kon-el is really struggling not to start teasing him in front of everyone. Still, he reacts as he normally would, and smiles at Kon-el with what he really hopes is affection.

When the other looks at him and smiles, though, everything kind of becomes irrelevant. He hadn’t seen that kind of smile on Kon-el’s face before — at least, not looking directly at him —, and now he’s starting to understand what M’gann sees in the playboy.

He looks at Tim like nothing else matters.

“You mean the email?”

Just like that, the magic is broken, and Tim turns to Jason with surprise on his face.

The older stares right back at him. “You wrote him an email, too?”

Tim swallows. “Yeah.”

Jason gives him one last intense look, and then stands up and leaves.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Tim,” Jason says, a dark look in his eyes. “Just say it. Say it and I’ll leave you alone: I love you .”

“Loved — past tense.” Tim focuses on question #42 of his physics homework. “You’re my new brother, and you’re not real.”

The other clears his throat. “‘Dear Jason, I lie awake every night thinking about you and me together. I would run my fingers through your curly hair and feel the strength of your embrace around m—’”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, I’m real , Tim.” He can almost feel the older’s breath on his neck— but it’s just his imagination. “I’m more real to you than he is.”

He points to a picture of the Kyle-Wayne family — more specifically, he points to where Tim and Jason are embraced together, both smiling wide for the picture. It was taken a few weeks before the Kyles moved into Wayne Manor, and Alfred had it printed and framed for every room in the house.

“Come on, Timmy.” Fingers lift Tim’s chin to stare up at Jason’s incredible dark eyes. “Just call me. Talk to me. I’m right next door.”

Tim snaps his head back to his desk. “Stop it.”

“There’s so much I wanna talk to you about: music I wanna share with you, tattoos I wanna get with you—”

“ Stop !” Tim shouts, pushing the other away. “You’re—”

“Tim?”

He stands up abruptly and clears his throat. Shit. He forgot Jason — real Jason — was literally right next door to his room — a feat he’d previously been ecstatic about, but that now only brings stress to his poor little heart.

“Uh, I’m fine!” He shouts, staying clear of the door. “I’m just… talking to Kon on the phone, and, well, y’know…”

Here’s the thing: it’s been three weeks since the whole ‘fake dating’ thing started, and progress is yet to be made on the whole ‘Jason’ and the whole ‘M’gann’ front. Neither have seemed to mind much, but thankfully Jay’s steered clear of the topic of letters since that first night. He and Tim don’t talk much anymore, though, and when they do it’s because they have no other choice. 

M’gann, on the other hand, has refused to acknowledge the fact that her ex is dating Tim, and she’s doing her best to ignore both of them.

Tim and Cass and Steph are yet to find out who is responsible for the leak, but he’s starting to think that it wasn’t a leak at all, judging by the lack of communication from the other end. Maybe it was a glitch in the system and his computer sent them out by mistake, or maybe it was someone from the inside. He doubts it, but at this point he’s just glad that the press still doesn’t know about this, somehow. He supposes his taste in partners is truly magnificent, if neither Cassie nor Tam nor Steph nor Kon decided to get their money’s worth with this. No doubt they’d get a whole lot of money if they sold this to the press.

And now Kon-el is ‘Kon’, or ‘clone boy’, or ‘handsome’, if Tim is feeling particularly threatened on that particular day. And Tim is no longer ‘Wayne’, and is instead ‘babe’, or ‘hot stuff’, or ‘Reeeed Robin’ (in the exact tune of the jingle, much to Tim’s chagrin). 

So. That’s an improvement , at least.

And here’s the other thing: no one in the Kyle-Wayne family (except for Cass) actually likes Kon that much. Alfred thinks he’s too loud and not in the good way, Damian thinks he’s a cocky fool, and Jason refuses to even acknowledge his existence. Selina tolerates Kon, but she seems annoyed any time Tim brings his boyfriend over, and Bruce… well, he’s the worst of them all, by far.

“You need me to break his nose or something?” Jason asks, through the door, and Tim can tell he’s about to open the door and enter his room. “You know I’d be glad to—”

“I know, but it’s not—” Tim sighs. “It’s not like that. He just… Kon wants to talk to the press about us, but I still think it’s too soon.”

Jay scoffs. “You bet your ass it’s too soon. It hasn’t even been a month!”

One of the (many) reasons the Kyle-Waynes don’t like Kon is precisely that: they think he’s just after fame and money, that he’s taking advantage of Tim’s feelings. To be fair, Kon has never explicitly said anything to contradict that theory, and the way the two of them act sometimes — always bickering, playful flirting and then going right back to rolling their eyes at the other — does nothing to stop the family from thinking that.

“His dad’s a reporter,” Tim says, trying to find an acceptable excuse, one Jason wouldn’t roll his eyes at. “He wants to be able to tell him, but if he tells Clark Kent , then he tells the whole world. That’s just how it is.”

It’s not exactly true. Kon’s adoptive dad, Clark Kent (real name Kal-el), lives in Metropolis and knows nothing about his son’s relationship with the Wayne son, but Jason will never know that. Plus, Kent is too busy with his ‘serious reporter’ duties — he’d never report on something as silly as celebrity gossip, according to Kon.

“You know I don’t buy it,” Jason says. “I don’t like him.”

Tim huffs, not knowing if he should feel elated, secretly hoping that the older is jealous, or slightly offended that Jason doesn’t like his fake boyfriend. 

“Can’t you just trust me on this? Kon’s a good guy.”

“It’s not you I don’t trust, Tim.”

“What did Kon ever do to you?” The younger starts feeling more offended now. “And is it that unbelievable that someone could actually like me?”

Jason sighs. “I don’t trust him with you .”

“So it is, then.” Tim scoffs. “What’s so wrong with me that nobody is capable of—”

“You’re just—” Jason says, then hesitates. “You’re smart, but you’re young — younger than both me and him. He’s not like you. If anything, he’s more like me — and that’s not a good thing. I just don’t get it.”

Tim wants to tear his hair out. They haven’t mentioned the email, but this is the closest they’ve gotten to actually talking about it, and there’s nothing he can think of that would be worse than communication .

“You know, you make me sound so boring,” he says, changing the topic. “I’m only a year younger than you, Jay, and I’m not that innocent.”

Jason sighs. “ … Fine.”

The two of them stay in silence for a while.

“Okay!” Tim says, a bit louder than he should have. “Okay, well. If that’s all, I should get back to…”

Jason shuffles outside, then just sighs. “Whatever. Just… be careful.”

The older leaves and goes back to his own room, and Tim lets out a huge breath of relief. He knows this is Jason at his best — protective, regretful, concerned —, and he loves him… but he also knows that this is only a result of his guilt. Jason’s not someone who’d go this far for someone else — not unless that someone else was someone like Roy Harper, or Koriand’r, or his other two friends —, and Tim isn’t stupid. He knows the older is only like this because he’s guilty about their history, and he compensates for that by acting like the overprotective older brother he thinks he should be.

Tim sighs. Something needs to change.

*

“I…” Kon hesitates, and it’s weird because he never does that. “I could write you notes every day. Leave them in your locker and stuff.”

Tim raises an eyebrow. “ Really ?”

“You don’t think I would?” Kon gives him a hurt look. “I can be romantic if I want, alright? M’gann was always telling me to write them for her, but I never did. If I start now… it’d piss her off, for sure.”

“How romantic.” He writes that down. “You sound like you don’t even like her half the time. Why were the two of you even together?”

The older smirks. “Uh, ‘cause we’re both hot ?”

Tim frowns. “ … Is that all?”

“What else is there?” Kon shrugs. “ She’s hot, I’m hot… isn’t that how high school works? Hot people date other hot people, until eventually everyone’s run out of hot people to date.”

The young Wayne doesn’t dignify that with a response, but he feels slightly better that, at the very least, he qualifies as ‘hot enough’ for Kon to associate himself with. Against his will, he briefly wonders if the other came up to that conclusion on his own — did he think about it and then assess Tim as ‘hot’ — or if he’s just going by conventional standards of hotness.

God, he’s being ridiculous .

“You could come to my swim meets,” Kon says, his timing impeccable. “I told you they’d do wonders for our reputation as a loving couple, but nooo , you insist on—”

“I’ll go.”

The other blinks. “Wait, really?”

Tim shrugs and writes it down. “Sure.”

So far, they’ve established that Kon will: a) drive Tim to karate class with one of the Wayne cars, since Tim’s been since grounded from driving anywhere after an unfortunate accident involving Bruce’s Mercedes and a large bee inside the car; b) make a huge ‘promposal’ thing in two weeks when prom starts becoming a huge thing, and c) write his boyfriend some romantic notes. In return, Tim will: a) watch all of the MCU movies with him, b) go to parties with him, and c) go to all his swim meets. It seems a pretty fair deal, all in all; neither boy has opposed anything so far.

“Alright,” Kon says, standing up from where he was lying down on Tim’s bed. “Well, duty calls. I told Donna I’d help her make dinner for her girlfriend… not that your family was planning on having me stay anyway.”

Tim tries not to feel bad. “This will work, Kon. We’ll change their minds.”

“Yeah.” Kon doesn’t look too convinced. “At least Cass still likes me, huh.”

That’s an understatement . “Yeah.”

For some reason, Cass seems to really enjoy being around Kon. She and Tim haven’t been talking much by themselves, both being busy with their boyfriend/girlfriend roles, but the three of them have had a lot of fun together, whenever they have hung out.

It helps that she knows all about their little ‘fake dating’ plan. She’d known immediately, on that very first day, and she’d confronted them about it. They hadn’t been planning on being found out so soon, so they hadn’t come up with any backup plan and were forced to admit to everything — which just as well, since she’d know they were lying and that would not end well.

The two boys walk down the stairs together, and then reach the entrance door.

“Have fun with Donna and Kori,” Tim says. “Tell them I said hi.”

Donna Troy is Kon’s roommate. Since the two of them are transfer students from other cities, they share an apartment in one of the nicer Gotham neighborhoods.

Kon quickly glances at something behind Tim — probably someone coming to check on them — and pulls his ‘boyfriend’ in for a long, hot kiss. The two of them have definitely improved their technique, and now Tim can confidently say he actually enjoys kissing the other.

“See you, babe.”

Kon leaves, and Tim closes the door behind him.

“How disg—” He turns around and raises an eyebrow at Damian. “I mean, how… inappropriate . There are people who live in this house who would rather not see that type of activity while lounging around their home, Dra— Tim.”

That’s another change, too: ever since Tim and Kon got together, Damian has put significant effort into being nicer to Tim. It’s fascinating, and it’s certainly unusual, and sometimes even cute, but it puzzles him like nothing else. Every possible reason he could come up with for this recent behavior is either nonsensical or, frankly, alarming , ranging from ‘Damian has a crush on Kon’ to ‘Damian did something really terrible and feels, for the first time in his life, guilty for it’.

“You could’ve just looked away, Dami.” Tim shrugs. “Any choice you make is yours to deal with.”

The boy makes a face. “I was awaiting Kon-el’s departure to speak with you… on some private matters.”

“Okay,” Tim says, a bit warily. “Your room or mi—”

“Yours.”

Both make their way up the stairs to Tim’s room, and Damian makes sure the door is properly closed before staring at his older brother with something akin to… apprehension. It looks wrong on Dami’s face.

“I am aware of your feelings for Todd,” he says, slowly, and Tim freezes. “I am probably the only one in our family who knows — I doubt Cassandra would be oblivious, but this is a rather… sensitive matter, after all.”

“ Damian .”

The younger shakes his head. “I will not tell anyone. What you feel is none of my concern… but I will admit.”

Tim waits for him to continue, but a few minutes pass and he says nothing.

“ … Admit wh—”

“It is unwise to pursue Kon-el when both your and his interests lie elsewhere.” Damian swallows like it physically pains him to do so. “I am aware the two of you are having fun , as foolish teenagers do, however I would advise against continuing this… relationship.”

The older frowns and tries to process everything. He never thought the day would come when his little brother would actually be worried about him to the point of talking to him about it, and it would be adorable if it were about anything else.

But this is about his and Kon’s relationship, and nothing gets in between that.

“Thank you for your concern,” Tim says, genuinely. “ Really , thanks. But this isn’t… we like each other. I know he has some feelings for M’gann still, and that I… also have leftover feelings for someone else, but we both know what we’re doing.”

Damian squints. “I would not be so sure of that if I were you.”

“Well, you aren’t me.” He starts getting annoyed, but reminds himself this is his little brother and he’s just looking out for him. “I’m sorry, Dami, but I’m not gonna break up with Kon, and he’s not gonna break up with me.”

The younger scowls even further. “Then both of you are idiots .”

He turns his back on him and leaves Tim’s room, slamming the door shut behind him.

*

Roy Harper’s party is everything Kon enjoys, so Tim finds himself enjoying it, just a little bit, too. The music is loud and there are people he knows so he doesn’t feel too out of place, and despite being a college party it doesn’t seem like there are too many strangers, or too much alcohol, or too many drugs.

One thing Tim would change if he could, though, is his stupid fucking jacket .

“Ay, Metro City!” Some guy from the swim team shouts out, smiling brightly at Tim like they somehow know each other. He’s clearly already feeling it, and Tim holds him up so he doesn’t fall. “Lookin’ good , Waynie boy!”

The boy is referring, of course, to the dark black and red jacket Tim is wearing: it has ‘Metro City’ written on it, in big large letters, and underneath it, in smaller letters, is ‘Kon-el’. Kon had forced Tim to wear this, saying it’d look great and it’d make M’gann super jealous, and the only reason he agreed is because, well. He does look good in black and red.

Not that there’s anyone to impress, when he’s with Kon.

“Wayne!” Someone shouts, and Kon leaves to go off with his swim team friends. “Come over here! Sit with us.”

The owner of the voice is Cassie Sandsmark, and next to her are Cissie King-Jones, Zatanna Zatara, and none other than M’gann M’orzz herself.

Tim reluctantly goes over to sit with them, only because he’s a nice boy with proper manners and thinks Cassie and Zatanna are cool.

“So!” Cissie says, her eyes wide with curiosity. “Tell us about you and Kon-el?”

He looks at the redhead warily, but she’s looking down at her nails, feigning disinterest.

“Ehm…” He smiles awkwardly. “What do you wanna know?”

“I mean… how’d that even happen?” Cissie asks, not disrespectfully. “I thought you’d be more into… I don’t know, someone more like… blonde .”

Tim blinks. “What?”

“I got your email,” Cassie says, a bit embarrassed. “I wanted to tell you that I’m flattered, but uninterested, and I didn’t really know how to bring it up…”

Cissie nods along. “Yeah, and I heard you sent another email to Steph Brown!”

“How did—” He shakes his head. “Well, ehm, yeah. I suppose I did like blondes, but I guess Kon is just… the kinda guy that’s everyone’s type.”

As he says this, he looks pointedly at M’gann, trying to get any reaction from her for the sake of his reluctant friendship with Kon, but the redhead just rolls her eyes.

“ Clearly ,” M’gann says, sarcastically, having taken up trying to stare him down.

Cassie elbows her and turns to Tim with a smile. “Anyways, yeah. I mean, I’m not really interested in dating at the moment, but I’m happy it worked out for the two of you!”

“Wait!” Zatanna says, suddenly, her eyes wide. “Did you write an email to Kon too? Is that how you two got together?”

He looks down, feigning embarrassment. “Kinda, yeah.”

“Oh, that is precious !” The raven-haired girl coos. “Who said romance is dead?”

M’gann leans forward on her seat, her eyes searching through Tim’s. It’s hard to believe the two of them were best friends, like, four years ago.

“So… ” He squirms under her stare — that piercing stare that makes him feel like she’s reading his mind. “How’s your college girlfriend?”

Her eyes narrow even further. “We’re great.”

It doesn’t sound like it , he thinks, but keeps to himself.

“So, Tim,” Zatanna continues, ignoring her redheaded friend, “is it true what they say about Kon-el? The whole ‘Superboy’ thing?”

Tim blinks. He’d forgotten that the rumor even existed, having started so long ago, but now he flushes and clears his throat awkwardly. Basically, the ‘Superboy’ nickname came from the rumor that Kon-el was perfect in all aspects of life — including the more sexual ones.

“I don’t… know,” he says. “We’re still… taking it easy.”

M’gann raises an eyebrow. “ Of course you are. You haven’t done anything.”

Tim frowns at her. “How would you know?”

“Because I know Kon, and I know Tim Drake.” She stands up. “I’m gonna get a refill. You look like you’re thirsty… you want anything? A juice box, or chocolate milk?”

He doesn’t know if she says it to be mean or if she’s just joking. It’s probably the former, but he wants to believe in the good in people so he takes it as the latter and laughs.

“I’m good.” He stands up along with her. “I’ll go with you, if you—”

“ No .”

She walks away, leaving him standing there awkwardly in front of his former crush and her two friends. In order to spare himself more embarrassment, he quickly excuses himself and goes off to find Kon, or someone else he knows that isn’t so… drunk .

A lot of people pass by him and greet him, but they’re all too drunk to hold a conversation with, so he just keeps searching. He sees Bart Allen, who’s a grade younger than them, and nearly kills him for drinking alcohol until he realizes that the younger boy isn’t, in fact, drunk . He’s just… Like That.

“Babe!”

Tim smiles and approaches Kon, who’s standing alongside some guys he’s never seen before. “Hey.”

“You want some Kombucha?” His boyfriend throws his arms around him and pulls him in closer. “It’s good for digestion.”

“You drink Kombucha?”

Kon smiles. “I’m driving, remember?”

Ah, yes. Kon-el, ever the responsible one. He truly is Superboy, isn’t he?

“You wanna get out of here?” Tim asks, speaking into the other’s ear. “I’m kinda h—”

“Drake!”

Both boys turn around, coming face-to-face with the host of the party himself, Roy Harper. And beside him, looking hotter than hell, is Jason.

“I didn’t know you were coming, man!” The redhead says, smiling brightly, as Jay only looks mildly uncomfortable. His hair is ruffled and his eyes hazy, so maybe Tim’s older brother might have had a bit too much to drink. “And Kon-el! Jay told me the two of you were dating, but I don’t think I really believed it…”

Kon’s arm tightens around the shorter. “And why is that?”

“I mean, you were always really into M’gann, you know?” Roy’s eyes flicker between the two of them. “And I always thought Tim had a thing for… darker fellas.”

Tim scowls, but thankfully Jason nudges him on the stomach with his elbow and the redhead realizes what he said.

“Well, anyways!” He smiles pleasantly once more. “Hope you guys have fun. Is this your first college party?”

Kon shakes his head. “Donna’s thrown some at our apartment before.”

Tim looks at him. Something’s a bit off about him, and it must be what Roy said, about him still liking M’gann. It bothers Tim a little, that the girl is still able to affect his boyfriend this way, but he knows, logically, that he’s not his boyfriend. They’re barely even friends.

“Donna, huh?” Roy looks down, and Jason looks at him with worry in his far-away eyes. “How’s she doing? I hear she and Kori are dating now.”

Tim’s never been one to participate in gossip, but he likes to keep up with the grapevine for… self-preservation. Now, he’s glad he can kind of understand what’s going on without having to ask directly, because that conversation would just be awkward as hell.

Roy Harper dated Donna Troy for a while in high school. Tim doesn’t know the details, and he and Jason didn’t know each other back then for the older to tell him much about it, but apparently Roy was at a really low point in his life and Donna was confused about a lot of things, so when they broke up it wasn’t exactly a pleasant time for either of them.

And then, a few years later, after Jason tried to kill Tim, Roy started dating a girl named Koriand’r. She was a foreign exchange student from Tamaran, in central Africa, and the two of them really loved each other… but they still ended up breaking up, about a year ago now.

Tim can’t imagine what Roy must be feeling, knowing his two exes are now together and happier than ever.

“They’re great,” Kon says, then clears his throat. “Hey, this was really fun, but we really should get going…”

Roy nods, and even Tim can tell he’s relieved he doesn’t have to continue their conversation on his exes. “Yeah, ‘course, man. It was good to see you guys.”

He and Jason walk away, the latter briefly nodding at Tim in acknowledgement, and it hurts . Tim wants nothing more than to be close to him again, not even in a romantic way but just in a friendship way, and he misses the older and he wishes there was something he could do to fix this. He just wants to go back to before the emails were sent out, to when they were a happy family and Tim didn’t need to overthink every single interaction he had with the older.

Kon keeps his arms around Tim until the two of them are in his car, and even then he keeps his eyes on the younger, a concerned look in his eyes.

“You think he knew?” Kon asks, carefully. “Roy, I mean.”

Tim frowns. The thought had never occurred to him, despite his earlier comments, and right now he finds that he doesn’t mind it as much. He’s mostly worried about Jason.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “I think he believed that we were a couple, and that’s what matters, right?”

The other doesn’t answer him, and for a few minutes the two of them stay in the car, not going anywhere and not doing anything. Tim wants to know what Kon is thinking.

“You did good tonight,” the older says, finally. “M’gann was pissed.”

Tim manages a small smile. “I just hope she doesn’t, y’know, actually kill me on Monday. She knows Muay Thai, right?”

“Yeah, but you know Karate.” The other smirks. “My bet’s still on her, but I feel like you’d still put up a mean fight.” He chuckles. “I love how you’re not afraid of her.”

“Oh, I’m terrified of her.” He shudders. “It’s like she looks so deep into your eyes she can read your thoughts sometimes, you know?”

Kon raises an amused brow. “Dude, I dated her. Of course I know.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Tim frowns. “And don’t call me ‘dude’. We’re supposed to be dating, aren’t we?”

“Does that mean you prefer ‘babe’? You always complain about it, but I knew you—”

The younger narrows his eyes at him and purses his lips, giving his best faux-glare, and Kon laughs out loud at the look.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He looks away, and Tim tries to follow his look. “And to answer your question, it bothered me a bit, sure. Sometimes… okay, I shouldn’t really tell you this.” Kon sighs. “But sometimes I felt like I couldn’t even be myself, or say something that would go against her, because she’d convince herself and me that she was right and that I wanted what she wanted, and that she knew me better than myself.”

Tim frowns. That’s not what a healthy relationship looks like, and this, along with some other things the other has told him about his relationship with M’gann, just doesn’t seem… right , somehow. He’d always thought the two were the It Couple of the school, but now he has to wonder whether or not the two were actually good for each other.

“And she just makes me so angry sometimes,” Kon says, and Tim tries not to act surprised that the conversation is still going on. “Like tonight, she barely talked to me at the party, but then I left and I see she’s already left me, like, a thousand texts.”

“Oh.” The younger blinks. “Are you gonna answer her?”

The other shrugs. “Nah. I’ll just call her when I get home.”

Something in Tim feels unsettled at the notion of his ‘boyfriend’ calling M’gann — who, from what he can see, is more manipulative than he’d thought.

“So you still talk to her?”

Kon looks at him. “Sometimes.”

Tim hums and doesn’t let his mind overthink it. M’gann might not be the most healthy person to be around, but if he enjoys talking to her, then…

“What is it?” Kon asks.

He feigns innocence. “Huh?”

“Come on, you have this whole judgy face thing going on.” The other gestures to his face. “What are you thinking?”

Tim glares at him. “I do not .”

“You do.”

A pause.

“I just think it’s not… good for our image.” He clears his throat. “If people find out you still talk to her, then how will that make us look?”

It’s not exactly what he meant to say, but it’s good enough.

“Seriously?”

By the look Kon gives him, though, he knows he did something wrong. And he knows exactly what he did wrong.

“Look, no offence, but I don’t really care about that.” The older frowns. “I do care about my relationship with other people — you know, things that actually matter . Things that aren’t your stupid reputation or your stupid money.”

Tim swallows around a dry throat. “I didn’t mean that. Sorry.”

“Then what did you mean?” Kon asks, glaring at him. “‘Cause, clearly, something’s bothering you, but for the life of me I have no idea what.”

“I’m just…” Worried . “I don’t think your relationship with her is very healthy, Kon.”

The other only shuts off. “And you’re the expert, right?” He scoffs. “Come on, Tim, you’ve never even dated anyone — and the one person you did date turned out to be a lesbian, and is now dating your sister.”

Tim ignores most of that and feels himself freeze. “You know about Cass and Steph?”

“That’s not the point ,” Kon says, still angry. “The point is that you’re all pissy about something and about M’gann, and it’s not like you to be this petty.”

“ Petty? ” Tim scowls. “I am not petty—”

“You ended your friendship with her because of me, you never even looked her in the face at school, and now you’re telling me it’s not okay that I’m in— that I like her.” The younger opens his mouth to interrupt, but Kon doesn’t let him. “So what if we talk sometimes? She’s not the villain that you’ve made her out to be inside your head.”

“You just told me she doesn’t make you feel comfortable,” Tim says, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. “I’m just going off of what you told me. To me, it doesn’t sound like your relationship was very healthy, and I could be wrong, but that’s what I—”

“Well, you are wrong.”

Both of them sigh, still sitting around in the car and not moving an inch. The air is tense now, both boys struggling to let their opinions be heard.

This might be their first fight.

“Look, I just wanted someone to listen ,” Kon says, running his hand through his hair. “I didn’t ask for your opinion on… the healthiness of my relationship with her.”

Tim sighs again. “Okay.”

“I know that people at school think I’m some kind of simp for her.” He scoffs. “I know they think she bosses me around and that I’m, like, obsessed with her.”

He turns to look at Tim, and the latter tries to keep his face neutral.

Kon stares. “There it is again— that look .”

“Well,” Tim says. “You kind of are . Obsessed with her.”

“I’m not .”

The younger raises an eyebrow. “Then don’t call her tonight. Just let her text you, and don’t even answer her.”

The two of them stare at each other, each one daring the other to back down. Either way, though, Tim knows he’s got the upper hand.

Kon rolls his eyes. “Fine. But I wanna know one thing, and you have to be completely honest— no dodging the question, no changing the subject.”

Tim doesn’t hesitate. “Deal.”

“Why’d you really break it off with M’gann?”

He sighs. Of all the things he could’ve asked, he asked the easiest one to answer.

“I didn’t break it off with her,” he says. “ She broke it off with me . And I know you won’t believe me, ‘cause as we’ve already established, you’re obsessed with her—”

“Am not .”

“ — But after our seventh grade kiss, she just stopped talking to me. Even though we’d agreed that we wouldn’t let you get in between our friendship.” Tim looks down. “We both had a crush on you, which was what united us in the first place, so when we found out about spin the bottle we made a deal. If it’d been her kissing you , I never would’ve…”

He chances a look at Kon, expecting to see his disbelieving look, but instead the other looks… thoughtful. He looks like someone who’s just come to a conclusion he didn’t want to.

“Can you drive me home now?” Tim asks, and Kon snaps out of it.

The quick journey to Wayne Manor goes by fast, the faint tune of grunge music in the background the only noise between them.

*

The promposal is cliche and exactly what the school needed to start talking about them again — which, in the end, is what they both want. It reveals their relationship to the world without it seeming too fake, and they’ve been dating for long enough that Bruce isn’t too mad at them when he finds out about it.

Kon performs a cheesy song, playing the guitar and everything, asking Tim to the prom. The lyrics are less than average, but overall it’s a good effort, and it drives M’gann crazy, so both Tim and Kon are happy with the end result.

It’s been a month and a week since the two of them started dating, and they’re… good. Tim likes hanging out with Kon, genuinely, and Selina and Alfred and even Damian have started warming up to the latter. No progress has been made as to the perpetrator of the crime, but it’s been long enough now that Tim has mostly gotten over it. Kon has been giving him notes every day, and they’re increasingly amusing and decreasingly… romantic.

Yesterday, the older gave him a note that just said: ‘ur ass looks tight in those jeans, babe’. It had succeeded in making him turn red, just… not for the reason everyone thought.

He just wishes things were only slightly different.

Jason and Cass haven’t been talking to him much. The former he understands, to an extent, but he doesn’t know why his sister seems to be avoiding him so much… he could’ve sworn they were cool, and for the life of him he can’t figure out just why . He’s tried to approach her about it, but every time he does she just… dodges the question. It’s extremely out of character for her, so he figures she’ll tell him eventually and tries to let it go.

“Babe,” Kon says, smiling. “What do you think? Blue or red?”

The two of them are currently shopping for suits. Kon had wanted to rent one out, but Tim had insisted on paying for his suit and the other hadn’t dared argue with that.

“Blue looks good on you,” Tim says.

“I know, right?”

The younger rolls his eyes at his cockiness, but they both know it’s true. Kon had insisted on going with a ‘pretty suit’, rather than just the boring old black and white tux, and the end result is worth it: the blue suit does fit him perfectly, and Tim can’t help but admire his fake boyfriend. After all, they’re in public, so he figures he can get away with it.

Kon-el is so charming . There’s just something about him, really, that makes Tim want to fall in love with him. He’s handsome, sure, but it’s more than that… it’s his bright personality, it’s how he may be dumb but he’s not stupid, it’s how they compliment each other perfectly. In any other life, he thinks they’d be perfect for each other.

“I still can’t believe you’re not showing me your suit,” Kon complains, pouting. “That’s unfair , Timmy.”

“Maybe I wanna surprise you, clone boy.” Tim smirks. “Maybe I wanna see the look on your face when you realize, ‘holy shit, my boyfriend’s super hot’.”

“Joke’s on you: I already think that.”

Kon winks at him, and he laughs. Really, fake-dating Kon is actually fun .

“Just promise me you won’t be boring,” the older says. “I wanna see you in all the colors of the rainbow on prom night, and not just a dull black.”

Tim’s smirk widens. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll look anything but dull.”

“Oh?” Kon raises an amused brow, and starts approaching him with an interested look in his eyes. “You wanna elaborate?”

He leans in, closer and closer to the shorter, until all Tim can see is the blue in Kon’s eyes. The other uses one of his hands to hold him up, leaning on the wall behind Tim, and his eyes drift down to his lips.

“I don’t think I will,” Tim says, quietly.

If his ‘boyfriend’ wants to play this game, then he’ll not only play along— he’ll win .

They’re so close that their lips are about to touch. Kon is chewing on a piece of gum, his breath minty, and Tim wants so badly to wipe that cocky smirk right off his face—

“How’s the suit lookin’?”

Startled, Kon’s grip weakens and he falls right on top of Tim, both of them going down on the chair, the former on top of the latter.

“Oh, my!” The girl helps Kon get back up. “I’m so sorry, I thought you—”

“It’s alright,” Kon says, smiling sheepishly at the girl. “It’s our fault for doing… what we weren’t supposed to be doing. Haha.”

The salesgirl has tanned skin and straight dark hair and she’s cute . She looks away when both guys look at her, probably flustered at what Kon just implied, and clears her throat.

“I’ll just leave you two to it, then,” she says, backing away.

Tim doesn’t miss the way her touch lingers on Kon’s bicep, and he watches her leave with something like relief. If she’d stayed for any longer, he wouldn’t trust his ‘boyfriend’ to not flirt with her and give them away immediately.

But as she leaves, Kon doesn’t even look back to stare at her. Instead, he just helps Tim sit back up with an amused look on his face.

“Awkward,” he says, and he doesn’t let go of Tim’s hand. “But you wanna go back to what we were doing, or…?”

Tim blinks at him. He can’t believe the other just passed up the perfect opportunity to flirt with a cute girl, and it’s messing with his mind.

“Nah,” he says, after it’s been long enough for it to be awkward. “Let’s just go home.”

“Uh, sure.” Kon helps him up, still holding onto his hand. “Your place or mine?”

Tim hums. “Is Donna home?”

The two of them make it out of the changing rooms, and Tim goes straight to the cashier to pay for the suit that Kon is still wearing.

“She went to the movies,” Kon answers him. “The house is all ours, babe.”

The cashier, the cute girl from before, blushes once again at the implication. She’s not shy, though, and she keeps staring at the two of them with interest in her eyes.

Tim takes note of her name: Tana Moon.

“Thanks,” he says, once the payment goes through.

She smiles knowingly. “Have fun.”

Both boys make it out of the store and they last until the car, immediately starting to laugh out loud at the situation.

“Holy shit— did you see the look on her face?” Kon asks, tears in his eyes. “She looked like she wanted to eat us alive , man.”

Tim snorts. “ Dude , don’t say that.”

“I don’t think I can ever go back there again.” He leans back on his seat. “Shit, the suit is getting ruined—”

They start laughing all over again, and only stop when they reach Wayne Manor.

Chapter Text

“You know why they call me Superboy?”

Tim blinks in surprise. The two of them are in his room doing homework, and he really doesn’t wanna hear about Kon’s sexual escapades now .

“Does it matter?” He asks. “Let’s go back to bio—”

“My dad.” Kon coughs awkwardly. “He’s… he was called Superman, by his colleagues in the Daily Planet. I don’t know how the news travelled to Gotham, but it did, and people started calling me Superboy — as a reference to him, I guess.”

Tim frowns. “So the rumors…”

“They’re all bullshit .” He shakes his head. “I’m not Superboy — I’m just Kon-el.”

Something’s wrong.

It’s not like Kon to sound so… un confident, so hesitant. Something’s bothering him, and damn it if it’s not more important than their stupid bio assignment.

“Ehm,” Tim says, thinking of how to approach this. “I don’t think I ever told you about my biological parents.”

Kon looks at him, confused. “What?”

“You know I’m not actually related to Bruce, right?” The other nods. “Yeah, so… my biological parents. Jack and Janet Drake.”

“Aren’t you Japanese?”

Tim laughs, surprised. “Yeah. They changed their names when they got married.”

“Oh.” Kon blinks. “My dad did that, too. But continue.”

“My mom died,” he says, just to get it over with. “My dad died a few years later, too, when I was a bit older. But I guess you knew that.”

Kon hums. “Kinda. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.” Tim meets his eyes. “I don’t really talk about it, ‘cause it’s just… out there, you know? But I figured I should tell you— you deserve to know, to hear it from me and not some nosy journalist.”

“A nosy journalist…” The older smirks. “You mean someone like Clark Kent?”

“Maybe.” He shrugs. “But yeah. They died, and I was adopted by Bruce, and Bruce is great, but sometimes I feel like… it’s not even that I miss them, because they were barely even home half the time, but I do. I miss them.” He coughs. “Sometimes.”

Kon frowns. “It’s okay if you miss them, and it’s okay if you don’t. I think we’ve reached a point in society where parents, you know, they can be shitty .”

“Yeah…” He drifts off. “They weren’t there, but they weren’t too shitty, you know? Objectively. There are worse parents.”

But that’s not quite right, either. Sure, his parents were neglectful, but he can’t say they weren’t shitty because they could be worse, and he can’t say they were shitty because there are better parents. They were his , though, and that mattered a lot.

“I guess I miss the feeling I had whenever they were home,” he admits. “Like, they’d tell me a bit about Japan and what it was like there, and they’d talk about my baachan and they’d tell me different stories in Japanese… I miss that , specifically. And then I feel guilty, because I should miss them more… but I don’t.”

It’s an issue for a lot of people. Losing their own culture after being adopted by a white family, or after hanging out too much with white people, or just… losing their own culture in general. It’s terrible, and he hates that it happens, but it does and it’s happening to him, too. Part of why he loved to talk to Cass so much is because she’s Chinese, and they had a lot of things in common. Damian, too, but he only grew up with his own culture until he was, like, 10, and Tim gets the feeling that the younger doesn’t really care about such things.

“Thanks, Tim,” Kon says. “I appreciate you telling me.”

“Yeah, so… if you wanted to.” Tim clears his throat. “If you wanted to talk about your parents, I’ve had four of them in this lifetime, so I figure I can help, maybe.”

The other purses his lips and looks away. Tim starts thinking shit, maybe he said the wrong thing and now Kon hates me , but then his friend starts talking.

“I don’t really… get along with my dad.” Kon looks down. “I know how I sound, like some brat that doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but it’s just… something that happens. It’s a part of me, not getting along with him, I think.”

Tim shakes his head. “You don’t sound like that.”

The other smiles gratefully at him. “Yeah, well… it’s how I feel. All the time. Ever since he found out about us, it’s been even worse. He didn’t know I was… not straight . He has a hard time believing it’s legit, and that I’m not just trying to ruin his reputation.”

“He said that?” Tim frowns. “I… that’s not—”

“I know it’s not right,” Kon says. “I know it’s homophobic , but I’m trying to come to terms with him coming to terms with me. You know? And yeah, I feel ungrateful for feeling this way, and I feel all kinds of bad, but, in the end… it’s how I am.”

He looks at the younger, then, and there’s a whole range of emotions there that he’s never seen on Kon-el before: apprehension, fear, anger, vulnerability, the wish for acceptance.

“So you’re not straight, then?” Tim asks. “Like, for sure?”

He nods. “I’ve kinda known it for a while, even before you, but now it’s like I can finally… say it. It’s like now I finally have a “reason” for being this way, you know? Now, it’s not just a feeling I felt, but it’s… you .”

Against his will, Tim finds himself flushing. It’s not normal for such a thing to happen, so the fact that Kon’s managed to make him blush is… alarming . All kinds of warning bells ring inside his head, but he listens to none of them.

“Well, I mean, it’s whatever.” Kon clears his throat and looks away. “I mean, it’s not whatever, but… you know.”

Tim smiles at him and his fake-boyfriend smiles back at him, and this is bad , but it feels so good and it feels so right, so Tim ignores it.

*

“Holy shit,” Kon says, gaping. “Hot damn . My boyfriend’s hot .”

Tim laughs — willingly doesn’t flush, this time — and takes the boy’s hand. He’s wearing a patterned red kimono, one he got from his dad before the latter died, with black and gold kanji woven into the fabric. It’s very clearly a hand-me-down, but he takes it in stride.

“You look amazing,” his boyfriend says, not done gaping at him like he’s the best thing he’s ever seen. “Like seriously, I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is just… wow .”

“Thanks. You really have a way with words.” Tim laughs again when Kon glares at him. “You look great, too.”

Kon flushes. “Now you’re just saying that.”

Before Tim can answer his ridiculous boyfriend, his siblings interrupt them, coming down the stairs after him to meet their respective dates.

Cass looks incredible, wearing an ankle-length black dress with some frilly things at the waist, and Steph looks equally as beautiful. Her blonde hair is in a net hairdo and she’s wearing a black-and-purple dress that brings out the blue in her eyes.

Tim almost doesn’t wanna look at Jason, but he does, and he struggles to keep himself composed. Jay looks… he just looks so fucking good . In his bright blue-and-gold Agbada robe, and with the Fila of the same color complimenting his dark skin color, Jason Todd will definitely win Prom King. If he doesn’t, Tim will drop out of high school and move to another country, because it should be illegal to look this good .

“Hey,” the older says, smiling at Tim’s kimono. It’s the first time in a while that they’ve talked this normally. “I see you and I had the same idea. You look beautiful, Tim.”

Tim Drake-Wayne wants to cry. Instead, he just blushes and compliments his older brother , who looks stunning.

He turns back to his actual date, and avoids Kon’s stare. He knows , and he doesn’t need the other to make things worse by teasing him about his stupid emotions .

Jason himself was going with his friend, Rose Wilson, who, to Tim’s delight and guilt, is as safe as it’ll ever get: she’s the daughter of one of Wayne Enterprise’s rivals, and very much uninterested in dating. Rose, with her tan skin and platinum hair and killer body, complements Jason’s gorgeous look perfectly by looking just as stunning in her golden dress. The two of them are killer .

All three Kyle-Wayne siblings make their way to where Alfred is awaiting them, having agreed to act as their chauffeur for the night. The butler compliments everyone, and together all six kids fit into the mini-limo.

It’s awkward as each couple sticks to themselves, with only the occasional interaction between the girls, but overall it’s not as awkward as it would have been without Kon there, so thank God for the small blessings — and for really extroverted people.

When they arrive, it feels like everyone is staring at them — because, let’s be real, they probably are . Not only are the Kyle-Wayne kids there, but Rose Wilson is also there, and that’s apparently enough to bring tons of paparazzi outside.

By the time they finally get inside, though, it’s not like much has changed: every single student is staring at the six of them. Tim ignores most of them, taking Kon’s hand and going off to the corner where they can finally have some alone time.

But then, just as they’re further away from everyone else, M’gann and a blonde Asian girl get in their way.

“Kon!” M’gann says, a big smile on her face. “Oh my God, you two look amazing .”

Both boys smile as she introduces her girlfriend, Artemis Nguyen. The blonde smiles politely at them but there’s a certain bite to her personality that makes Tim feel intimidated — but also, kind of, turned on.

The couple looks stunning, too: M’gann is wearing a bright green suit with fancy patterns on it, which looks stunning with her dark skin and red hair, while Artemis is wearing a matching green áo dài — a Vietnamese traditional dress. Even with long sleeves, Tim can see the blonde’s strong arms, and once again finds himself attracted to her — but alas .

“You two look great, too,” Tim says, after Kon doesn’t say anything. “I like the whole matching thing you have going on.”

M’gann beams. “Oh, yeah, I was the one who came up with that!” She takes her girlfriend’s hand and twirls the blonde around. “How do we look?”

“You look good, Meg,” Kon says, his voice a little weird. “You always look good.”

At this, the air turns awkward. Tim tenses, and both girls freeze, but Kon keeps staring at M’gann and Tim wants to hit him because he’s being way too obvious. He also wants to cry, because he shouldn’t feel so upset that his fake-boyfriend is still kinda in love with his ex — it’s not like he can talk, right? —, but he is and he doesn’t know how to stop .

It doesn’t make sense. He knows Kon loves M’gann. He knows M’gann is jealous of Tim. He knows he himself still loves Jason.

He doesn’t love Kon, not like he loves Jason. But then again, he doesn’t feel as comfortable with Jason as he does with Kon, not in the same way. And, in both cases, he doesn’t have the right to love them — Jason is his brother , and Kon is his fake boyfriend , emphasis on the ‘fake’, who’s in love with someone else.

“Well,” Artemis says, breaking the awkward silence between them. “We’re just gonna go, and pretend you never said that.”

She nods a goodbye at Tim, not acknowledging Kon, and the two girls leave.

He turns to his boyfriend, but the taller doesn’t look down at him. Instead, he’s staring and watching M’gann leave like he’s a puppy and she’s his owner.

Fuck .

Tim takes a deep breath and walks away from Kon, and he doesn’t let his heart break.

*

Halfway into the night, a few hours since Tim left Kon and kept avoiding him while staying with Cass and Steph and Cassie and Cissie, Artemis Nguyen approaches them.

“Look,” she says, pulling him away from his safe group of friends, “I know you don’t wanna hear this, but tell your boyfriend to back off.”

Tim frowns. “I—”

“No, listen .” She leans in to whisper in his ear, and she smells really good. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but this has to stop. It’s not healthy for either of them.” Her voice is rough, even as she whispers. “Kon spent the night at her place last night.”

Something in him — the foolish hope he’d been holding onto, that maybe he’d just read things wrong and that Kon wasn’t actually still in love with his ex, that maybe this whole thing would be enough for the two of them to finally snap out of it — snaps and drops and flies away.

“I’m sorry,” she says, reminding him that she’s still there and that they’re in public and that he’s wearing his dad’s precious kimono and all for what ? So Kon could look at him and not at M’gann for once? So that Jason can look at him and fall in love? Nothing seems to be enough. “M’gann didn’t wanna tell you, but someone has to.”

He’s confused, too, along with disappointed and angry and lonely. Because he’d have thought M’gann would have wanted to be the first to rub it in his face that Kon preferred her over him, but apparently not. And today, she’d acted way too nice compared to back at the party, and it’s not normal and he’s not used to her acting nice to him and it’s just… what is going on?

Artemis leaves him, and Tim is left just standing there, in the middle of prom. The girls are all on the dancefloor having fun with each other, and Cass and Steph are nowhere to be seen, and Jason and Rose are off on the corner trying to spike the punch, and Sebastian didn’t come and he just feels so… alone .

He’d been hoping, deep down, that this whole thing with Kon would be enough to make him forget Jason. He’d been hoping — like a fool — that his life would be like a movie, and that he and Kon would fall for each other slowly but surely, and that everything would be solved in the blink of an eye.

But real life isn’t quite like that. He’s still in love with Jason and Kon is still in love with M’gann, and he likes Kon a lot, but it’s not the same .

And then the music slows, and everything starts to slow as everyone gets their date and they start to have the romantic time of their life. Tim watches as Cass and Steph appear from the shadows and lean their foreheads onto each other, closing their eyes and pretend that they’re the only two people in the world. He watches as M’gann and Artemis take up so much of the room and yet none at all, looking like they’re so happy and free.

He even watches Jason and Rose as they reluctantly start dancing along to the music. It looks awkward, even from his biased ( jealous ) point of view, and the two of them don’t really… fit. Not as a couple, and certainly not when slow dancing. Both of them are all sharp edges and intensity, and this environment doesn’t fit them one bit.

Someone clears their throat next to Tim, and he doesn’t need to look to know it’s Kon.

“Shall we?” The other asks, a bit hesitant, and when Tim looks up at him he feels just… so much . “It’s pretty cliche, but, well—”

“I wanna go home.”

Kon blinks, surprised, and steps back to take a real look at Tim, probably checking to see if he’s being serious.

“Like, right now?”

Tim nods. “Yes. Take me home.”

“But I— we came here with Alfred.” Kon blinks again, confused. “I didn’t bring my car.”

“We’ll walk, then.” He starts walking away from the dance, and he can feel eyes on them but pays them no attention. “I just… wanna go.”

Kon follows him. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll go, but it’s just— you’ve been avoiding me the whole time, are you sure you’re okay? You wanna talk—”

“We’ll talk at home.”

The two of them make it out of the building, at which point they’re once again bombarded by paparazzi. Kon does his best to act as Tim’s personal bodyguard, shielding the shorter with his larger frame, but in the end he’s only so much bigger than him, and the reporters keep bugging them.

“Wanna run for it?” Kon asks.

Tim nods. “On three.”

From where they are, it’ll take them more than an hour to get to Wayne Manor, but they’ve got plenty of time. Besides, Tim could use the adrenaline to get his head in place.

They count down and quickly dash off, losing the reporters behind. Thanks to his karate lessons, he’s got good stamina, and he doubts Kon-el, captain of the swim team, will be tiring any time soon. Their outfits slow them down considerably, but it’s okay.

It’s a great feeling, the night wind in his face and his hair in the breeze and his lungs burning and his legs numb and his heart rate up in the skies. As they run, he has time to think about everything, but at the same time, he has no will to focus on anything in particular. It’s exactly the right kind of distraction he needs at the moment.

And then they’re reaching the Wayne Manor gates, and they finally stop.

As they both catch their breaths, he puts in the security code and the two of them quickly get in. Even though they ran and took some shortcuts, it won’t be long before the paparazzi figure out their location, and he wants to be safely in his room when that happens.

Alfred isn’t home, meaning he probably already left to pick up the others, meaning he probably has less than a half hour to talk to Kon, if he’s lucky. That isn’t even counting Bruce and Selina, both of whom might already be home, upstairs in their room.

He drags the other into the empty tea room and shuts the door. This way, they’re close enough to the front door to hear the others come in, but not close enough that it’d be easy to eavesdrop on their conversation.

As soon as the door closes, Kon turns to him with an expectant look. “Are we gonna talk now, or you wanna wait a little longer—”

“Shut up,” Tim says, and the other does, immediately. “I… I wanna get over Jason.”

Kon blinks. “ … Okay?”

“Do you wanna get over M’gann, or are you still— do you still wanna go back to her, when all of this is over?” He swallows. “Even though she’s with Artemis now…”

“ Tim .” The other frowns seriously. It’s the first time Tim’s seen him this close to angry, and he has to say he’s kind of scared. “Say what you wanna say.”

Tim looks up at him, and they both look like a mess. He’s probably ruined his dad’s old kimono, and it’s a good thing he bought (rather than rented) Kon’s suit, ‘cause it’s super wrinkly and even torn at places.

“I think…” He clears his throat. “I think I wanna fall in love with you.”

“Woah.” Kon frowns and steps away from him. “Tim, that’s… you’re in love with Jason . You can’t just… expect me to be your rebound or something.”

“Isn’t that what I am to you?” The shorter asks. “Am I not your rebound?”

The other shakes his head, still frowning. “That’s different.”

“ How? ”

“The goal was never to—” Kon grunts in frustration and runs a hand through his messy hair. “I never wanted to get over her, I wanted to make her jealous so she’d come back to me and we’d be alright again.”

Tim huffs. “So, what? You’re telling me you still wanna go back to her, even though both of you are clearly happier without each other?”

“What the fuck , Tim?” Kon scowls at him, offense clearly taken. “We are not better off without each other. I think you’re just confused because you just realized you and Jason were never meant to be, and now you’re taking it out on me.”

“That’s not—”

“You just said it!” The taller steps closer to him. “You said that you ‘wanna’ fall in love with me. Why do you think that is, huh? You wouldn’t be saying that shit if Bruce and Selina weren’t going to get married soon. You wouldn’t be saying that if Jason wasn’t about to become your step brother .” Kon’s hands end up on either side of his shoulders. “You’re in love with him, man, and it’s kinda obvious. I don’t know what to tell you, but falling in love with me isn’t gonna fucking solve your problem.”

Tim licks his lips and stands up straighter, meeting the other’s eyes. When they’re so close like this, their height difference really stands out, and he hates it.

“Don’t try to make this about me,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “We were talking about you and how you’re so fucking obsessed with the idea of M’gann that you just let her—”

“Dude, what is your problem ?” Kon’s grip on his shoulders tightens, and they’re so close they could kiss. “Is it that hard to believe that I’m in love with her? Love — not obsession, not some kind of unhealthy addiction to her, but actually love .”

Tim searches his eyes. “I—”

“Just because no one’s ever been in love with you doesn’t mean you can take out your frustration on me.” The words are sharp, but his voice isn’t. Kon’s eyes glance, so briefly, down at his lips. It’s gone before he knows it, but Tim saw it and he knows what it meant. “I… I don’t—”

Tim leans into him, just a bit, just to see if he’s not reading this wrong. Kon’s eyelids flutter and his lips part, just enough for him to get his confirmation.

The two of them kiss, and this time it’s not only fun — it’s everything Tim needs. It’s every tear unshed, every laugh unheard, every song unsung.

He really, really wants to fall in love with Kon-el.

It’s the way their lips move against each other, the way Kon bites on his lower lip just hard enough for it to be hot , the way the taller’s hands roam his face and torso and entire body. Tim is set on fire, and he really hopes he’s not the only one feeling this way.

And the thing is that he hears the knocks. He doesn’t think Kon does, judging by the way the other keeps kissing him like there’s no tomorrow, but Tim does and he chooses to ignore them because this is one of the only good things that have happened today and he just needs this.

“Maybe they’re in here—”

Tim and Kon pull away from each other just as Bruce’s voice stops and stutters. Both boys are flushed, their hair messy and their clothes dirty and unkempt, and there’s no disguising what they were doing.

“Oh.” Bruce looks between them, and behind him Tim makes out Jason and Selina and Cass. “Tim. Kon-el.”

Tim clears his throat and doesn’t dare look at Kon. “Bruce. I didn’t know you were home. We were just… we were having a private talk.”

The man makes room for the other three people to look at them, and there’s still no denying what they were doing. While Bruce looks physically pained, Selina has an amused tilt to her lips, and Cass just looks confused.

“Damn it,” Jason says, after no one else says anything. “ Damn it! ”

The aggressiveness in his voice startles everyone, but he just stares at Tim with a glare he hasn’t seen in a long time — not since he tried to kill him.

“Drop the fucking act already.” The older pushes past Bruce and makes his way into the tea room, straight to where Tim is standing. “It’s getting tiring. Don’t the two of you get sick of lying to everyone?”

Tim freezes. “W-what?”

Jason doesn’t answer, instead turning to Kon with the same glare. His Fila is long gone, showing off his lustrous locks and that white streak in his hair, but other than that he still looks as flawless as he did hours ago, before the prom.

“You.” He points at Kon, then at the door. “Get the fuck out.”

Kon blinks. “But—”

“ Now. ”

Reluctantly, Kon walks towards the door. With one last questioning glance at Tim, he leaves Wayne Manor.

“And you .” Jason squints at Tim. “We need to talk.”

Tim swallows around a dry throat. “I—”

“ No , Tim. You’ve been avoiding me for more than a month, and we both know why.”

The younger glances insecurely at Bruce and Selina, who are still standing in the doorway looking extremely confused. Cass is no longer there, probably having gone off to give Kon a ride back home.

“Jason…” Tim says, pleading. “Please not now .”

The older gives him no mercy, however. It’s so different from two years ago, when he’d tried to kill him, but at the same time it’s the same situation, all over again: Tim begging him to listen to him, and Jason not listening. It makes him angry, because he’d foolishly thought that, after all these years together, they’d grown and developed and changed .

But apparently not.

“I know about your feelings for me,” Jason says.

Tim can see it clearly: his metaphorical world, very slowly crumbling down from the top, its pieces falling to the ground.

He looks down, feeling so much come out. “ Jason— ”

“If you ever want us to go back to the way we were, we have to talk about this.” The older reaches out, almost like he’s gonna lift Tim’s head up, but then thinks twice and lets his arms hang at his sides. “You can’t keep avoiding me, Tim.”

The younger looks up, and it hurts so much because he knows that this is it. This is when he gets his heart broken for real.

And maybe this is the reason for all of this.

He can tell himself it’s because it’s wrong, and he can tell Kon it’s because he wants to get over Jason, and he can tell Cass it’s because they’re brothers. But he knows and they might know, too, that those aren’t the main reasons for this whole thing.

Because Tim and Jason knew each other before knowing they’d be related, and they got close before ever considering their parents’ situation . Because Jason liked Tim way before he ever saw him as a little brother.

Because Jason Todd-Kyle could never love him like that .

“Tim,” Bruce says.

And fuck , that’s right. He and Selina are still there, aren’t they?

“Tim,” the man repeats. “Your feelings for Jason?”

The younger doesn’t turn to him — he can’t . He can’t look at his father, disappointed in him. He can’t face the fact that he’s in love with Jason and that the other isn’t in love with him back. And, most importantly, he can’t let Bruce and Selina know about his feelings . Tim won’t ruin his family like this.

“No,” he says, still staring intently at Jason. He clears his throat and starts over. “ No . Not my ‘feelings for Jason’. There— there’s no such thing.”

Jason scoffs. “Are you fucking—”

“ No , Jason.”

He glares at the older, begging him to just understand .

If Bruce and Selina find out about his feelings, they’ll be devastated. Their perfect family will be shattered, and they’ll feel terrible even though it’s not their fault. If they find out about the email, it’ll be even worse: they’ll know exactly how he feels about the marriage. The two of them will have second doubts, and they’ll blame themselves for this, and their family will be ruined and Bruce will be alone again and it’ll all be Tim’s fault .

“I love you,” he tells Jason. “I love you. But it’s not like that.”

With all the courage he has left, he strides past Bruce and Selina and past the front door of Wayne Manor, and as he runs he wonders if this is how Kon felt, kicked out and abandoned.

At least Kon had Cass, then.

Right now, Tim has no one.

Chapter Text

Steph lives really far away from Wayne Manor, but Tim makes it there before it’s late enough for her dad to get angry at him for showing up at their doorstep.

She’s just finished showering, her hair wet and pajamas fresh, when she opens the front door. She takes one look at him and invites him in, ignoring her dad’s complaining and leading Tim straight to her room.

“Cass hasn’t texted me anything yet,” Steph says, as he sits down on her floor. “But I’m guessing something happened… something with Kon .”

He nods, but something else is on his mind. “Can I take a shower? I swear I’ll—”

“Baby, of course.” She smiles politely. “I’ll get some clothes ready for you. Go shower, and then we can talk about it.”

He thanks her, and thanks God for her, and makes his way to her bathroom. Honestly, he knows how dirty and messy he must look, so he just takes off the kimono, carefully but not as careful as he should, and takes a long, warm shower.

It sucks, because Steph was his friend before she was Cass’s girlfriend, but neither her nor his sister even thought to tell him they were dating before a month ago. He’s the whole reason they even know each other, and he’s sure Cass knew about his crush on the blonde when they were younger, and he’s happy for them and he doesn’t feel that way anymore, but what if he still did? What would they even do, then, if they were dating and he still had feelings for Steph?

It sucks too, because M’gann knew that, as a guy, it was already hard for him to admit that he had a crush on another guy, but she still went and stole him away from him when they were younger — not that Tim had had any chance of actually getting with Kon before a month ago, but still. It was unfair and it was shitty, and he doesn’t understand what kind of person M’gann is because she’s just too complicated.

It also sucks because Bruce knew Selina before he ever adopted Tim, but the man never even thought to mention her and her son around the Wayne kids until about a year ago. He’d been alone for so long that Tim was so used to it just being them : Bruce, Cass, Tim, Damian, and Alfred. It was good, and it was great because they all stayed together and no one ever left — except for Bruce’s first kid, Dick —, and they were happy .

And Damian might be Bruce’s only biological kid, but he doesn’t need to rub it in everyone’s faces all the time. His holier-than-thou attitude is also annoying sometimes, and Tim knows he’s just a kid and that, deep down, he cares, but it’d be good to actually be able to talk to his little brother without the other calling him a fool in every other sentence.

And Jason didn’t need to try to kill him. Even if Tim had been trying to take his place, which he clearly wasn’t, what kind of teenage boy reacts to something like that by attempting homicide? Sure, Jason’s been through a lot of shit and Tim still hears him wake up screaming in the middle of the night sometimes, but that doesn’t excuse trying to kill some poor kid that was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And Kon-el… Kon-el is just so confusing . He acts all flirty with Tim, even when they’re alone, and he never flirts with others anymore, making the younger think that maybe there’s a reason for that, but then accuses him of wanting too much. And then he gets angry at Tim for, what, being in love with Jason ? As if that were a surprise to him. And then he says he’s in love with M’gann and kisses Tim like he’s never kissed him before.

Tim sighs and steps out of the shower.

But…  

But Steph is one of the kindest people he’s ever met in his life. She’s Venezuelan and she’s been in Gotham for most of her life and she’s never once gone back home, and she understands why her parents had to immigrate and she’s never once asked them to go back. But Tim knows she misses her home, her culture, her people, and he knows that she’s been trying to find her identity within this new world for a long time. She’s not afraid to call the Waynes out on their rich bullshit, but she helps Bruce choose charities to donate to and she helps come up with some of the programs for the Wayne Foundation and, right now, she’s letting him stay at her home, no questions asked, lending him some of her clothes and letting him complain about his life, when she probably deals with much worse problems daily.

And Cass was the third kid Bruce adopted, and she was the first girl to make a home out of Wayne Manor since Martha Wayne died. She came from a fucked-up dad and a mom who didn’t try nearly enough, but she’s still kind and patient and she loves Tim. He knows Cass and Steph had their reasons for not telling him about their relationship, but it still hurt when he found out that Kon knew, too, because he’d expected himself to be the first person they’d ever tell.

And M’gann… M’gann is a black girl in a predominantly white school in Gotham , ofall places, and Tim knows that it’s given her trouble before and it’s probably still giving her trouble now. Back when he knew her, he always listened when she complained about her skin color and about her accent and about her ‘genes’, and he helped her straighten her hair every day, and he pretended it didn’t hurt to hear her talk about herself like that. Even now, he pretends he doesn’t notice the way she speaks — enunciating each word carefully and always in proper grammar —, the way she dresses in girly dresses that never reveal too much, the way she still straightens her hair every morning. He knows she’s got her issues, so he doesn’t take it to heart that she found a guy who looked at her and loved what he saw and stuck to him, even if that meant letting go of Tim himself.

And Bruce… Bruce is a grown man, but he’s a grown man who had his childhood taken from him, who had his teenage years stolen, who spent so much of his life obsessed, looking for answers where there were none at all. He lost his parents, and then his friends, and then himself, and everyone he got close to was taken away, and then he finally found Dick, after 40 years of suffering. But Dick wasn’t meant to last forever, so he got Tim, and then Cass, and then he found out about Damian, and in between Dick and Tim he also had Jason, sometimes. Bruce deserves to be happy, and Tim knows enough about Selina to know that she does, too.

And Damian is an insufferable brat, really, but he’s a kid and he’s Tim’s baby brother. He’s annoying and he says things that hurt others, and most of these times it’s not even because he cares , but because he wants to show that he’s better . But Tim loves him, and he loves him, and he loves him, because he’s his brother and he loves animals and he has a strong will and lonely eyes that remind Tim too much of Bruce.

And sure, there’s no excuse for what Jason did (or tried to do, at least) to him, but in the end he apologized and he’s working on getting better, in his own way. Tim knows Rose and Roy and Kori and Donna help him with his issues, and he’s happier than ever to know that the other is finding others he can share his thoughts with, even if they’re not him . It takes a lot of courage and will to come up from the pit that Jason was in, and if it were anyone else Tim isn’t sure they’d be facing the journey with the same kind of attitude that Jason himself exhibits.

And, worst of all, is that Kon-el was right .

He was right when he said that Tim is just looking for an excuse to get over Jason by pushing all his own issues and projecting them onto Kon and M’gann. He still thinks their relationship is unhealthy and that they’re both better off alone, but he knows that, despite everything else, Kon loves her.

And he’s right that Tim himself has never been loved in that way.

*

The day after prom, Tim wakes up on the floor of Steph’s bedroom and he feels dry tears on his face. Last night, the two had had various heart-to-hearts, and both had cried a lot. Steph admitted that the reason why she didn’t wanna tell him about her and Cass was because she’d been afraid he’d think the two of them were abandoning him.

“We were waiting for you to start dating someone,” she’d told him. “So that at least, y’know, you wouldn’t feel like a third wheel.”

After that, and after various other discussions about their friendship and their families, the two of them had gone to sleep, too exhausted to function.

This means, of course, that there were still some things they still hadn’t discussed — some things that were still bothering both of them —, but dealing with them first thing in the morning would be too hard, so they postpone it and get some breakfast.

Steph’s dad is long gone by the time they come down, leaving the two of them alone to heat up some waffles and prepare some cereal.

And then Tim makes the mistake of looking at his cell phone, and… oh boy .

(368 unread messages) (1k+ mentions on Instagram) and (23 missed calls).

He opens Sebastian’s messages first, because the chances of him mentioning Kon or Jason are slim, seeing as he doesn’t actually know about much about the whole ordeal. Sebastian is Tim’s close friend, but not so much for things like this.

Sebastian Ives (8:37 a.m.): I know you’re probably still asleep, but I think you should see this: 9412621438479326472634018.jpg

Sebastian Ives (8:37 a.m.): I’m sorry, Tim.

Sebastian Ives (8:38 a.m.): You can call me as soon as you wake up, if you want.

Tim frowns and clicks on the image, fearing the worst. Sebastian isn’t one to send prank messages, so whatever it is must be serious—

“Oh.”

Tim looks at Steph, who’s looking down at her own phone with a pale look on her face.

He looks down at his own phone, and what he sees is… Kon. And Cass . In a rather intimate position. Outside of Wayne Manor. In the picture, it’s dark out, and the lights inside the Manor are all out, so this probably happened after Tim left. The photo somehow managed to catch the two of them looking like they were about to kiss, with Cass up on her tippy toes to reach Kon, who, in turn, had his face buried in her neck.

Tim looks up at Steph, and he knows that she saw the photo.

“Steph—”

“This…” She swallows, her face pale and hands shaking. “This is… I.”

Tim crosses the kitchen and goes to her, holding her close in his arms as she slowly shakes her head. Rationally, it’s obvious that the picture isn’t what it seems — it can’t be. Cass would never, ever, ever, ever cheat on someone, much less on Steph. And Kon… well, the two of them established last night that Kon is still very much in love with M’gann.

But it’s not just that.

It might be that everyone in the school — and in Gotham , probably — has seen this photo, and they won’t shut up about it for at least two weeks. It might be that, where Cass and Steph were taking their time to announce their relationship to the world, now the whole world thinks Cass is with Kon. It might even be that Steph didn’t know Cass and Kon were that close, and she’s feeling betrayed by her own girlfriend.

So he holds her and helps her calm herself down, just like she did for him last night, except Steph isn’t crying nearly as much as he was.

“Do you… wanna talk about it?” He asks, once he deems she’s fine enough .

She clears her throat. “I guess.”

The two of them move to her living room and sit down on the couch. Tim feels bad, but he’s really kind of grateful for her absent father in times like these.

“So…” Steph starts, a bit hesitant. “I’m… I don’t say this to make you feel bad, or anything, because I know you already do. But your email… it kinda messed with us a bit.”

He frowns. “Messed with you?”

“I didn’t know you used to have feelings for me.” She looks down. “I really had no idea. And apparently Cass knew, but she never said anything, so of course I got angry.”

Oh.

“Steph—”

“And it’s more than that, too. I mean, I felt bad .” Her voice trembles, and he takes her hand in his. “I just felt bad, because I didn’t like you like that, and I couldn’t , and now that I knew that you used to feel that way, it was terrible… I felt terrible just showing off our relationship in front of you like that.”

He tries not to show his surprise. As much as he knows his best friend, it still blows his mind just how selfless she really is, just how much she thinks about the others around her. In his mind, he’d always thought of Cass and Steph as the perfect friends (and, later, the perfect girlfriends): their thoughts always aligned, their emotions always on check, their sympathy always present. Like some… background characters in his life story.

“Steph,” he says, guilty. “I love the both of you so much . You don’t need to worry about hurting my feelings or anything like that, I promise. I’m not… I haven’t felt that way for you in a long, long time.”

She looks at him. “I know that, and I know that you would never hold this against us.” She squeezes his hand. “But there’s a difference between loving us, and being happy for us.”

He blinks. That’s… he hadn’t thought about that before.

“I am ,” he says, because it’s true. “I am happy for you. I’m sorry that I didn’t… tell you this before, and I’m sorry if you suffered because you thought I wasn’t, but I am .”

He puts as much reassurance as he can into his face, and is relieved when he sees Steph smile. It looks beautiful . She’s relieved and happy, so he’s relieved and happy. The both of them are okay.

“And as for the picture,” Steph says, much more relaxed now, “I mean, I don’t think it’s what it looks like. I don’t think Cass would do this, and I don’t think Kon would, either, but it just… it brought back a lot of doubt, you know?”

Tim nods. “I’m sorry.”

And, really, it’s just like him to ruin not only one, but two happy and stable relationships. First Bruce and Selina, now Cass and Steph… next thing he knows, he’ll be getting an email from a random person in Zimbabwe blaming him for their failed relationship.

“Hey.” Steph gives him a look, pulling him from his thoughts. “Tell me.”

He does. Tim tells her about Selina and Bruce finding out about the emails, about his doubts and concerns for the future of their relationship, about him not wanting to ruin the only chance they’ve had for a happy family.

And when he’s done talking, she only says one thing:

“We’re taking you home.”

*

Everyone is home when they get there, and the atmosphere is so tense that Tim has a feeling that Steph maybe definitely warned Cass that they were coming back.

Bruce and Selina are standing up, near the couch, while everyone else is sitting down, Cass and Kon and Damian and Jason and Titus and even Alfred. When Tim and Steph arrive, everyone straightens up and stares at them.

“Tim,” Bruce says.

The boy clears his throat. “Hi.”

Selina turns to Damian, a look on her face. “Is there something you want to say?”

Tim frowns, confused at the turn of events. This wasn’t supposed to be about Damian and whatever he did… though he won’t complain if the attention is taken off him for at least a while. It gives him a few more minutes to think about what he’s gonna say to fix everything.

The younger boy just pouts and stands up, reluctant and almost regretful . It’s not a look Tim has ever seen on him before.

“Tim,” Damian says, quietly but still standing tall. “I was responsible for sending out your private emails.”

Everyone stares at Tim, watching his reaction.

Right now, he’s completely alone, no one at his side. Everyone is on the outside, watching him, waiting for his next move.

Really, he doesn’t know what to think.

He’d considered, before, that someone had done it from the inside. When the thought crossed him, he knew there were only one or two people who could have possibly done it. When considering who wasn’t watching the movie with them and had access to his computer and knew how to get past some of his lighter security systems, there was really only one candidate left.

But he didn’t actually expect it to be real.

“Ehm,” he says, awkwardly. “Okay.”

Damian raises an eyebrow. “Is that all?”

Selina sends him another look and the younger clears his throat. Tim feels… a lot of things, and angry doesn’t even scratch the surface.

“I apologize,” Damian says, as repressed as always. “I did not mean…”

Tim blinks at him. Everyone in this room knows Damian very much did mean to do what he did, for whatever reason.

“I did not mean for you to be upset,” the boy finishes.

And just like that, everything Tim had been holding back before just… comes spilling out. All the anger, the insecurity, the stress, the vulnerability, the betrayal .

But he was raised properly, not only by Jack and Janet Drake but also by Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth, and he knows that yelling at a child will do nothing.

“Kon,” he says, instead, and the other startles. “Come with me.”

Kon stands up, stiffly, and follows Tim out of the tea room and all the way into the latter’s room. Never has the air between them been this silent and tense.

As soon as the door is closed, the older spews:

“It wasn’t what it looked like!” He says, louder than normal. “I swear I wasn’t cheating on our fake relationship, or anything like that. Me and Cass aren’t even interested in each other, I see her as more of a sister than anything—”

“It’s alright,” Tim says, and he’s surprised to find that he means it. “I… you don’t need to explain yourself if you don’t want to.”

Kon gives him a look. “I want to.”

Tim tries not to feel relieved. He’s not sure his curiosity would survive not knowing exactly why his fake-boyfriend and his sister were embraced so tenderly.

“Go on, then.”

“It’s my dad.” Kon hesitates. “He… I told you we don’t really have the best relationship, right?” Tim nods. “Yeah, well. He wants to try to ‘make it all better’ now.”

Tim frowns. “What does that mean?”

“He wants me back in Metropolis.” The older sighs. “After we fought because I like guys, I thought, y’know, that was it. I was already dealing with the fact that maybe I’d have to live in a future without him in it, you know? Like, I’d been dealing with that thought for a while, even before you, but… when we fought about this, and he said some bullshit about me not being his son anymore, I was like.” He coughs. “In a way, I was kinda relieved. It’s like I’d been looking for any excuse I could to just get him out of my life completely, because we don’t get along and we never will, and for me, that was it .”

He looks at Tim like he’s afraid he’ll judge him, like he’s afraid of what he’ll say. It’s not a good look on Kon, who’s usually so confident and shameless, and Tim hates that he’s the one putting that look on him.

Suddenly, he understands why he and Cass get along so well: Kon may talk big, but inside he’s full of insecurities that only someone like Cass is capable of wringing out of him. Tim kind of resents this fact, since he wants to be a good friend, but there’s not much he can do about it. There’s no one quite like his sister at reading people and communicating (non-verbally) with them, and he’s already doing the best he can in this regard.

“I get it,” he says, which is underwhelming but he doesn’t know what else to say. “I do. I’m not— I mean, I’ve never really felt that way, but I don’t think you’re wrong for feeling like that. I just…” He looks down. “Are you going back to Metropolis then?”

Kon hesitates. “I don’t know. That’s kind of why I came here last night… I wanted to talk to you about it, ask your opinion and stuff.”

Tim’s heart sinks. “And, instead, you found my sister.”

Kon nods, and the younger feels worse. He wants to be there for the other, wants to get close to him and allow him to trust him, but it seems all he does is fuck things up.

“I’m sorry, Kon,” he says. “I should’ve… I’m sorry.”

“It’s not—” Tim gives him a raised eyebrow and a look, and Kon shuts up. “I… it wasn’t just you, Tim. It’s kinda my problem, too. For some reason, I just… I feel like I can trust everyone but you, and I can’t—” He realizes what he just said, and backtracks. “No, shit, I mean— I wanna trust you, but with you it’s different, somehow.”

The younger purses his lips. “It’s fine—”

“ No , Tim, listen to me.” Kon approaches him and lifts his chin up. “I’m trying to— but it’s hard, words are, and I’m not great with talking like this. Especially with you. It’s stupid, but I think I’m scared of you judging me.”

Tim blinks. “I’m sorry—”

“I went to M’gann, two nights ago,” Kon says, quickly, and Tim realizes he can’t stop him now. “I went to get my stuff, because I still had some things there that I wanted back, and I went there because I wanted… I was trying to get over her.”

“Oh.”

The taller sighs. “But it was… it was different, when I was there. She told me everything I needed to hear, and she told me some things that she used to tell me when we were together, and I just… I told her everything.”

“Everything?” Tim asks. “As in…?”

“About my dad.” Kon runs a hand through his hair. “About him wanting me to go back. She was there for me, way back when, when I was vulnerable and I needed him to just look at me, so I figured it’d be okay if we could still be friends. If she could help me this time, too.”

Tim nods, understanding. He knows how it must have felt, and he can’t blame Kon for doing what he did, since he did the same thing with Steph. The blonde is one of his oldest friends, and she’s the one he turned to in his moment of need… just like M’gann is Kon’s best friend, in the end.

“But she’s happy, isn’t she?” Kon says, and it’s so quiet and it hurts. “With Artemis, she’s so happy . I watched her during prom, and the two of them were glowing, and I think they make each other so happy. It wasn’t like that when we were together.”

Tim takes his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“I think you’re right. I think we weren’t good for each other.” They squeeze their hands together. “And I think this whole… fake relationship thing. I think it was the best thing that could’ve happened to me.”

He takes a step forward, and this time they kiss and it’s wonderful .

The kiss grows, as kisses do, and they become hotter and hotter and rougher and rougher, and then Kon is grabbing his ass and Tim gasps and breaks away.

“Fuck,” Kon mutters, breathing heavily.

“Kon.” Tim swallows. “ Kon . I need to… we need to work this out.”

The other sighs. “Yeah, I know. But can’t we just… do that… later ?”

He leans in again, but Tim pushes him gently away. Both of them want more than anything to break the distance between them, but they’re also smart enough to know better.

“I’m still in love with Jason,” he says, and the mood is successfully broken. “And you’re still in love with M’gann. I like you, and you like me, but this is just gonna end in heartbreak.”

Kon raises an eyebrow. “So what do you want me to do? Just stop loving M’gann?”

“No,” he says. “I say we talk about this, and we come clean about what we want and what we expect from this relationship.”

Kon sighs, and Tim feels the same way. He still knows, however, that it must be done.

*

After their short spring break, school starts again and all anyone can talk about is Tim and Kon’s relationship, Tim and Cass’s relationship, and Cass and Kon’s relationship. It’s all a mess, but what pisses him off the most are the rumors .

It’s him and Cass, and he hates it. They’re the fake ones, they’re the seducers, they’re the side-pieces. The Asians. The temptresses, the exotic, the foreign . The Asians .

This time, though, they’re more than ready to strike back.

Steph isn’t afraid to call out anyone on their bullshit. During lunch, she stands on top of their lunch table and shouts it out loud, to make sure they all hear her:

“Cass is my girlfriend!”

That’s when the two girls officially assume their relationship to the public, and also the moment people stop whispering about Cass behind her back. People might be ready to whisper about the rich Wayne kids, but when it’s Steph, they feel like she’s one of them, so they don’t dare speak up against her. 

But the thing is that people get bored and start talking about Tim instead. He’s always been in the spotlight, first as a Drake and then as a Drake-Wayne, so he’s used to it, but Kon is very much not .

“Hey y’all listen up!” He shouts one day, in the middle of the hallway, and brings Tim in closer to him. “Tim is dating me , alright? And I’m dating him . We’re together . Y’all need to find something better to talk about, seriously.”

Everyone shut up after that, and Tim was extremely embarrassed, though still grateful, when the news made the Gotham Gazette headline a few days later. At least their relationship is left alone after that.

And, of course, with one problem solved and his relationship with Kon successfully restored, another problem surges, this one much more severe.

He hadn’t been talking to Damian at all since the revelation a week ago, and eventually the others in the Wayne family were bound to notice. Cass had talked to Tim shortly after they’d cleared things up between their respective partners, and the two siblings are now stronger than ever. Despite her also being upset at Damian, of the Wayne children she’s the one most intent on forgiving him.

Tim, for his part, isn’t too keen on forgiving Damian any time soon. The younger complicated his entire life, and though there were indeed some positives — like getting to know Kon-el better, and just getting it all over with already —, the negatives heavily outweigh the positives and Tim has been through a lot of emotional distress these past few months because of what he did.

But Damian isn’t quite the problem.

No. The problem is with Jason-and-Tim and Bruce-and-Selina, the latter of whom are mostly worried about the former.

And the Jason-and-Tim problem is that Jason and Tim just… aren’t speaking. Jay has been out with Roy 24/7, not eating any meals with his family and not even coming home some days. Tim, meanwhile, has spent most of his time at Steph’s or at Kon’s (whenever Donna isn’t home, which is most of the time), so that the two brothers aren’t even seeing each other.

It all accumulates a month after prom night, when Tim is having dinner with his family and they’re all quietly eating Alfred’s delicious food. Jason isn’t there, and Steph has long gone home, and Bruce and Selina are as far away as possible from each other.

It’s tense, just like it has been for a month, but no one really expects anything to change and no one is really expecting Jason to come back anymore, which is why it surprises everyone so much when the eldest Kyle-Wayne sibling does show up.

Jason looks… he always looks good, but he looks worse than normal. It breaks Tim’s heart, but he knows he must look just as bad, so he doesn’t let himself feel too bad.

Jason doesn’t really say anything to them as he enters Wayne Manor and heads directly to his own room. Bruce and Selina share a look, and the others all pretend they can’t sense the sudden drop in everyone’s already fickle mood.

After a few seconds of just staring at each other, Selina stands up.

“I’ll go talk to him,” she says, and leaves before any of them can respond.

The others all turn to Bruce, who’s looking down at his food like he doesn’t wanna be here anymore.

Tell us , Cass says, calmly. We won’t get mad .

Speak for yourself , Tim thinks, but wisely doesn’t say. When it comes to Bruce, anything that comes out of the man’s mouth has the potential to ignite a fury in all his children, depending on how he words it, and right now is not a good time for that to happen.

Their dad sighs. “Me and Selina are thinking of taking a break.”

Tim had expected it. Of course he had — he’s the most perceptive out of all of them, except for maybe Cass, and he had noticed that the couple had been distancing themselves from each other lately. He’d seen the signs, and he’s sure Cass had, too — maybe even Damian had gotten an idea of what was happening.

That still doesn’t make it any better.

“Is it because of me?” He asks, his face closed. “Don’t lie to me. Is it or not?”

Bruce looks away again. “It is… because of what happened , yes. It’s not anyone’s fault — not yours, nor Damian’s, nor mine, nor hers.” He takes a breath. “We’ve both discussed this in detail, so everything you might bring to light will not be news to us. No decision has been made yet, but…”

Fuck.

“Bruce—”

A door slams upstairs, and angry footsteps hurry past the corridors and down the staircase. There’s no doubt as to the identity of the runaway — Selina’s not nearly that heavy.

“Jason, wait—” The woman’s voice can be heard as she rushes down the staircase. “Don’t you dare walk out that door.”

She says something else in Spanish, and Jason responds. Tim curses himself for only learning Spanish from Spain and not bothering to pay attention to other forms of the language, because he doesn’t understand much of the conversation at all.

Seconds later, another door is slammed shut. This time, though, he knows it’s the front door, because Selina shouts something — a very bad word — in Spanish and then sighs.

She returns to the dining room, her hair messy and her cheeks flushed.

“He left,” she says.

Bruce is, surprisingly, the first one to react. “What do you mean he left ?”

“He’s moving out. Going to stay at Roy’s permanently.” She runs a hand through her short hair. “He thinks it’s his fault this is all happening, and if he just stays away then everything will go away. Stupid boy.”

Tim stands up.

He’s out the Manor before anyone can try to stop him.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Tim does not account for the surreal amount of paparazzi that would be awaiting him as soon as he left the Manor, and before he can hide himself, cameras are flashing, capturing the worst side of him, and people are screaming at him, asking to comment on the pictures and the scandal and the wedding and was that your brother Jason Todd seen leaving the Manor just now?

By the time he gets past them, Jason’s motorcycle is long gone. And he’s left with a bunch of meddling assholes.

He still keeps his ugly words to himself, because no matter what, he’s still Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne. The media won’t get the best of him, not now and not ever .

Fully planning to go back inside, he only stops when he catches sight of a familiar face in the crowd, not calling out to him like the others are.

“M’gann?” He asks, ignoring everyone else.

The girl, red-haired and pink-lipped, smiles uncertainly at him.

“Hey, so… I might have come at a bad time.” She steps closer to him so they can hear each other. “But can we talk?”

He frowns, half-tempted to send her away — but also too curious to do so. Whatever she’s here for must be good.

“Alright.”

He takes her by the hand and pulls her inside with him, the gates successfully keeping the others away. The main entrance is not a good idea, so he takes them towards the back, away from the eye of the public, and together the two of them enter through the back door.

“So,” she says, as soon as the door is closed, “I talked things with Kon, I don’t know if he told you—”

“He did.”

She nods. “Right, well. I wanted to… warn you.”

“‘Warn’ me?” Tim frowns. “About what, exactly?”

M’gann must sense that he’s not having the best of days, because she hesitates for a while before speaking again.

“Look,” she says, then sighs. “If he left me for you, then it won’t be long before he’s leaving you for another, too. He loved me… and I might have taken that for granted, a bit, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t tell that he was completely in love with me.” She swallows. “And if… if he was able to let me go, just like that, then what does that—”

M’gann breaks off, an angry look on her face.

Tim sighs. “M’gann, I don’t know what you’re trying to—”

“I mean, I don’t get it.” She glares at the ground. “Everyone could see how in love with me he was. But if he just left me like that, then what— what does that say about him ?”

Tim frowns. “Kon isn’t a bad person, M’gann. He left you because the two of you weren’t healthy together.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is .”

She turns her glare at him. “It’s not . If he left me then he’ll leave you , and even after everything we have together, I still wanted to warn you.”

He thinks it over for a bit. The thought of M’gann, who dumped him in the blink of an eye, being here because she’s worried for him isn’t easy to picture.

“That’s not why you’re really here, and we both know it.” He narrows his eyes. “So what is it, M’gann? If you’re just here to waste my time, then leave.”

It’s enough to provoke her, and they both know it. Their friendship might have ended a while ago, but Tim still remembers the things that make her tick like nothing else.

“I told you, I’m here to help you—”

“Saying Kon is gonna leave me isn’t gonna help me any.” He frowns. “We both know he won’t. Not without a reason, anyway.”

She grimaces. “Oh, really? Do you really think he’ll need a reason to leave you? Because we were doing great, you know. He was super happy one day, and then the next we just…” M’gann shakes her head and scoffs. “There was no reason, Tim. Whatever he did during and after our relationship, he did without any reason.”

Tim sighs. “If this is just you being hung up on your ex, then leave. You’ve both moved on, haven’t you? You’re happy with Artemis, and he’s happy with me.” He moves to open the door and leave. “You can get over—”

“ No! ” She grips his wrist and stops him from opening the door. Her hands are cold, and she’s trembling. “No. No, it’s not— I’m over him.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Doesn’t sound like it.”

M’gann meets his stare for a few seconds, then frowns and looks away. It might be the first time he’s won over her.

“Tim, I just…” She hesitates. “I need to know why he did it. I need to know what his problem is, and why he just gave up. Just like that. Because if it’s not all him, if it’s not just him being an asshole and leaving me for nothing, then I need to know.” M’gann doesn’t let him speak. “I’m happy with Artemis. We’re both happy… but so were me and Kon. And if he can just leave me and give up on me, and if it’s not him being an asshole, then what— what does that say about me ?”

A brief silence.

“M’gann, I—”

“Forget it.” She shakes her head, speaking quickly. “Let’s just… Just be careful, okay?”

M’gann is leaving the Manor before he can stop her, and once he comes to terms with everything that’s just happened, it’s too late to chase after her.

Tim locks the back door and returns to his sad family breakfast.

*

He calls Kon over that night — partly to comfort him after the Bruce-and-Selina and Jason-and-Tim fiascos, but also partly to talk things over with.

“Okay, so,” he starts, “before you say anything, please just… let me finish.”

His boyfriend nods, confused and slightly alarmed but still understanding. “Okay.”

Tim starts before he loses his nerve:

“I have to talk with my family. Like, a lot .” He sighs. “First Damian, ‘cause… duh . Also Bruce and Selina, and Jason, and maybe even Cass. There’s a lot of family drama that’s gonna be taking up my entire emotional capacity, and I… I feel like it’s not fair to you if I only date you for the sex, or the cuddles, or whatever, without being able to pay attention to you. Are you with me so far?”

Kon nods, this time not letting any emotion show on his face. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” Tim takes a deep breath. “And I also feel like you need to deal with a few things, too — namely, M’gann and your dad.”

“Of course.”

“So I think, and I think you also think this, that it might be better for us both if we… take some time off. From our relationship. To think things through and get things sorted out.” He meets Kon’s blue eyes. “And if, when all this is done, we still wanna date each other, then we should. And if we don’t, then that’s okay, too. Because I really like you, and I still wanna be your friend, but only after I sort out all my shit.”

The taller’s eyes don’t leave his. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kon clears his throat. “I, uh… I agree.”

Those blue eyes drift down, only for a second, to Tim’s lips.

It brings a small smile to the shorter male. “How about one last goodbye kiss?”

“Gods, yes, please.”

Tim laughs and pulls the other in by his shirt. It feels amazing, as always, but it’s only a little bit sad. And that’s okay.

For a few seconds, all that’s on Tim’s mind is this kiss, and Kon, and how good it makes him feel. He doesn’t worry about how to approach his family members, he doesn’t worry about his parents’ failed marriage, and he doesn’t worry about anything because this is what he wanted.

But then Kon is pulling away and the spell is broken.

“I have to…” The other clears his hoarse throat. “I gotta go.”

Tim’s heart falls. “Of course.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Kon takes a step away. “It’s just my dad… I mean, we’re still friends, right? I can still call you and stuff? To talk things through and stuff?”

“Yeah,” Tim says, his smile returning to his face. “Of course, Kon. And besides, after the day I’ll have tomorrow, I’ll probably be glad to talk to you.”

Kon chuckles and leaves, and Tim wants to accompany him down the stairs and close the door for him like a true gentleman, but he also doesn’t wanna risk accidentally bumping into one of his family members.

So he lets his friend leave by himself, and goes to sleep…

… Which is easier said than done.

He doesn’t sleep at all, too worried about tomorrow and what he’ll say and how he’ll even approach some of them — namely, Damian and Jason. The youngest Wayne is… complicated, and he and Tim don’t even get along that well in the first place, and he’s not sure what will happen if he forgives Damian for what he did — although, to be honest, he must admit that he’s long since forgotten about his anger at the kid. He’s probably already forgiven Damian, but neither of them want to be the first ones to admit it.

The older Wayne is even more complicated than Damian. Jason is living with Roy, and besides the fact that Tim doesn’t remember where Roy lives, there’s also that he’ll be surrounded by unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place, and it’ll be just him against everyone and everything else. In this scenario, he’s the one at fault, and he hates it. Where dealing with Damian will require no apologizing, dealing with Jason will require tons of apologizing and it’ll also be a thousand times more awkward… because of his feelings for the older.

So no , Tim doesn’t get any sleep that night.

He wakes up feeling like complete shit, and only a nice large cup of coffee is able to get him through the day.

Instead of sleeping, he’s managed to come up with a pretty nice plan for the day, and he’ll be damned if he goes off-script: first talk to Damian, then Bruce-and-Selina, then Jason. He can (probably) get Selina to tell him Roy’s address, and if he’s lucky then he might even take longer than necessary when dealing with the others that he’ll only be able to visit Jason tomorrow.

He doesn’t think it’ll take a whole day to talk to Damian and Bruce-and-Selina, though, so he’ll probably need to deal with it all today.

Tim makes sure to refill his large cup of coffee before heading to his younger brother’s room.

He knocks, knowing the brat’s already awake and probably planning how to take over the world — or worse, he might be studying . The thought brings chills to Tim’s spine, and he stops thinking about it out of pure fear.

“Damian?” He asks, when a minute passes and nothing happens. “It’s Tim.”

A few seconds of silence, and then—

“Woof!”

Tim freezes. Was that…?

He hears Damian’s voice, probably cursing quietly in Arabic, and then the door is opening. The boy’s hair is messy and his cheeks are flushed, but he still glares at Tim.

“Yes?”

Tim squints and looks behind the boy. There, poorly hidden under Damian’s large bed, is Titus. His eyes are closed and he looks asleep, but Tim doubts it.

“You know, Bruce bought Titus his own little house for a reason,” Tim says, then frowns. He’s not here to fight Damian ( again ) over where his dog should be sleeping. “Whatever. Look, I’m here to talk.”

Immediately, the boy’s glare softens — is that guilt on his face?

“Come in, then — but mind your filthy slippers.” Damian steps away from the door. “If you get even an inch near my bed with them on, I shall—”

“I know, I know…” Tim steps in, takes off his slippers, and sits down on his brother’s bed. Titus, still maintaining his act, doesn’t even flinch once Tim starts petting him. “So.”

Damian closes his door. “I apologize for what I did.”

Tim could be an asshole now and ask him to repeat it, or pretend he’s still mad, or do anything else to be petty against his younger brother who’s never once shown him any respect… but he doesn’t wanna drag this out for any longer than he needs to. And Damian, he needs to remind himself, is only a kid .

“Alright,” he says, surprising the other enough to make the boy turn to him. “I just wanna know why , Damian.”

Damian frowns. “What do you mean ‘why’?”

“Why’d you do it?” Tim asks. “You read the emails, right? You knew what they contained… but you still sent them out.”

“Is it not obvious?” The younger sighs. “Those emails are your enemy. They are your weakness . Had anyone besides me gotten their hands on them, it would have been all over the press. As long as you dealt with them, as long as you confronted your weaknesses head-on, then you would have nothing more to fear.”

Tim frowns. “So you did it… to help me?”

It’s a rhetorical question. If he gets into his little brother’s fucked-up mind, he can almost see how that makes sense.

In the end, though, he supposes it did help him, in a way. It led to a lot of revelations about both himself and his friends… it helped him get to know himself and them a lot better. It also helped in leading Kon to him.

“Believe me, Timothy,” Damian says, “if I could deal with my own weaknesses like that, I would . It would be so easy, if my past was written in one mere email that I could send out whenever I wanted to, to whoever I wished… but. Alas.”

Tim blinks. “What?”

“My mother , dear brother.” The boy sighs. “She will always be my mother… but honestly . You cannot honestly believe I do not wish to hold her accountable for her actions.”

Oh.

That’s right, Damian’s mother — a.k.a. Talia al-Ghul. Tim has no comments to make about her, good or bad, but he knows it’s most probably her fault Damian is so… emotionally constipated.

“Was that all, Timothy?” Damian kneels down in front of Titus and the dog immediately comes to life, reveling in the boy’s affection. “If you don’t mind, I was rather busy.”

The older tilts his head. “Doing what , exactly?”

“It is none of your business.”

“It is if you want me to forgive you.” Tim smirks at Damian’s deadpan look. “Okay, whatever. Don’t tell me… I guess I’ll just have to tell Bruce about Titus sleeping in your bed again…”

“Snitch, you would not dare .” The younger glares, but Tim is unaffected. “... Whatever. I have been training Titus to attack on command — not that it is any of your business. Now, if you will get out of my bedroom, I must get back to our training.”

Tim almost laughs. It’s so in-character for Damian to be doing something as ludicrous as this, and no matter the younger’s claims that he wishes to use his power for his own selfish reasons, Tim knows better. Damian probably wants Titus to attack some of the more aggressive paparazzi that sometimes appear at their gate, or maybe even towards some of his ignorant classmates… he himself would pay good money to see a few racists get torn apart by Titus.

“Right, brat.” He stands up and leaves the room, feeling a thousand times better. “And don’t worry about Bruce finding out — I’ll keep him all morning, until lunch, so you can train with Titus all you want.”

Damian doesn’t thank him, but he doesn’t need to.

They’re brothers, and everything will be alright, in the end.

*

Talking to Bruce and Selina turns out to be easier than expected.

“First of all,” Selina says, “I’m very proud of you, Tim. For coming to terms with your feelings and emotions and communicating healthily with your family. For taking the initiative to do so. And, of course, for forgiving Damian.”

Tim smiles awkwardly. “Thanks.”

“I know you want to fix things,” she continues, “and that includes me and Bruce… but we’re talking it over, Tim. For now, all you can do is go talk to Jay. Convince him to come back to us. Make him see that it’s not anyone’s fault.”

She’s happy to give him Roy’s address, and he takes the bus there. No one really recognizes him out of his typical suit-and-tie combination, and no one really pays attention to a young Asian boy wearing loose clothing and listening to music on his earphones.

By the time he reaches the house, no one has approached him, and he’s ready to bear his heart out to Jason. He just hopes Roy isn’t there while he’s doing it.

“809…” He mutters, looking around the place for Roy’s house. “813… Here . 815.”

The house is pretty typical for Gotham college students, but Tim’s still scared to knock on the door. He has some memories of being here a few months ago, when the redhead threw that party, but his nerves make it hard to focus on that right now.

Tim knocks on the door twice before it’s opening.

“Oh.”

Jason looks good. Great , even. He looks like he’s been sleeping, at least, and his cheeks definitely look fuller than they did when he was staying at the Manor.

“Tim.” He clears his throat, entire body language just screaming out how uncomfortable he’s feeling. “I… wasn’t expecting you.”

The younger smiles sheepishly. “Sorry. I just… needed to talk to you.”

Jason sighs. “Look, if this is about getting me back—”

“No.” Tim shakes his head. “It’s not about that. I can see that staying here is best for you… I just wanna talk, really.”

The older nods and invites him in. The house is every bit as messy as he remembers, but it’s also… not messy at all. He can tell Jason’s been cleaning the place up a bit, but there are still posters all over the walls, old computers and desktops all over the living room, and post-it notes everywhere . The house looks lived in, which is a refreshing sight to see when he’s so used to clean mansions and organized bookshelves.

They both sit down on the couch.

“Roy’s not here now,” Jason explains, “I’d say we have about… five hours ‘til he’s back. But I hope you’re not planning on staying here that long. I’ve got some stuff to take care of.”

He’s tense, and Tim doesn’t blame him.

“I’m sorry, Jay…” The younger looks away. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t want us to… I didn’t want things to be like this.”

Jason watches him. “Did you mean what you wrote?”

“I don’t know.” He swallows. “It was a long time ago.”

“Not for me. This is all new, so I’m… I’m trying to understand.”

Tim frowns. “There’s nothing to understand. It was a mistake. You should’ve never seen it in the first place.”

“Yeah, well, I did .” The older clenches his jaw. “What am I supposed to do? You’re… I mean, you’re.” He rubs his head. “You’re my little brother, Tim, not just metaphorically but, like, legally . In a few months.”

Tim cringes. “Yeah, I know.”

“Look, I’m gonna be honest here.” Jason grimaces. “I don’t know how to be friends with you like this. We can’t go back to how it was before you and I became brothers, we definitely can’t go back to how it was when we were brothers.”

“That’s just it, though… to me, we were never brothers , Jay.” The other looks away, pained, and Tim knows it’s embarrassing but he needs to say this. “I… I’m getting over you. I am . I don’t want… you can’t just ignore me.”

Jason sighs. “I know.” He pauses. “But what… what can I do ?”

“Talk to your mom? She’s worried about you.” Tim shrugs. “Bruce is, too, but he’s… Bruce . So, y’know.”

“Yeah…” He finally meets Tim’s eyes. “I’ll talk to her. And to Bruce. And… and to you, too.” He clears his throat. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Y’know.”

“Yeah.”

“Not just for this ‘ignoring you’ shit, but for… y’know.” Jason coughs. “For before. I don’t think we ever talked about it, huh?”

Tim smiles awkwardly. “Not really…”

It’s a weird topic in the Kyle-Wayne family, Jason’s murder attempt. Jason jokes about what happened to him, his accident and his whole ‘dying’ thing, but whenever someone tries to bring up what he tried to do, he dodges the conversation completely. He apologized, but no one really ever mentioned it afterwards, and now it’s stuck in this gray zone where everyone pretends to have forgotten about it and everyone acts like it’s all well and done with.

Damian’s probably the only one in the family who ever brings it up, and even then it’s super rare.

“There’s no excuse for what I did,” Jason says, “but… it was a rough time. I hate talking about it, but if you want to, then we can—”

“I don’t.” The younger shakes his head. “Please, let’s just… I mean, I’m over it. It happened, and nothing’s gonna change that.”

The older nods. “Alright then.”

“So…” Tim clears his throat. “Are we good now?”

“Yeah.” Jason shrugs. “Sure. I… d’ya wanna do something, or do you have something to do today…?”

Tim smiles. This is better than nothing, at least.

“This took way less time than I expected,” he says, honestly, “so I’m up for watching a movie or something.”

“Cool.” Jay smiles, a bit awkwardly. “Wanna play some video games?”

Tim groans. “Oh my God… yes .”

*

Kon calls him a few minutes before Roy shows up and tells him to head over.

Jason’s immediately on that.

“So the two of you are solid, huh?”

Tim shrugs. “Kinda… yeah. No.”

The older raises an eyebrow. “Huh?” 

“We’re kinda broken up right now… but we might get back together. I don’t know.” He stands up from the couch. “Anyways, this was nice. I had fun crushing those bots with you.”

Jay laughs, and it’s not the first time today he’s done so. It’s a really nice laugh.

“You know how to get back home from here?” He teases. “I’m surprised you came here by bus. Why didn’t Alfred drive you?”

“I didn’t ask him to.” Tim smiles, and behind him the front door opens. Roy looks surprised to see him. “Er… hi. Sorry, I was just leaving.”

The redhead looks around at the abandoned TV screen, at the two controls on the floor, and at the easy smile on Jason’s face. He relaxes and shrugs.

“No problem, man. It’s good to see you.” He throws his backpack on the couch and jumps over the back to sit down next to his roommate. “What were you playing?”

“Dude, what did I say about throwing your stuff all over the place?” Jason asks, scowling at his friend. “Seriously, it’s like you purposefully don’t listen.”

Tim bids them goodbye and leaves the two of them bickering. He’s only slightly jealous of their relationship, which is already progress considering he’d be losing his mind if this were a month ago.

When he reaches Kon’s place — which is, surprisingly, not far from Roy’s at all —, he’s hungry and thirsty and he’s ready to barge in unannounced— and then he hears the shouting.

“No, don’t let him hang like that!” A woman says, exasperated. “John, that’s dangerous! Kon, help out a little, won’t ya?”

“Tim said he’s coming,” Kon says, closer to the door, sounding smug. “What kind of host would I be if I ignored him?”

“Well he’s not here now , is he?”

“He’s close—”

Tim rings the doorbell before the woman can argue any further, and when he opens the door, Kon looks extremely smug.

“Hey there, my good friend Tim,” he says, urging the smaller inside. “I was just telling my dad’s girlfriend about you.”

He doesn’t sound angry, only annoyed, so Tim guesses his relationship with his woman can’t be too bad…

… And then he sees the kid hanging from the ceiling.

Tim curses. “Why is there a baby ?! There?! ”

Kon bursts out laughing, and from the kitchen, a woman appears. She has short, shoulder-length black hair, and — no offense to her — she looks like an absolute mess .

“Timothy Drake?” She asks, as a greeting. “If you don’t mind, would you mind getting my son down from the ceiling? He thinks it’s funny, and Kon is no help.”

Tim blinks. “Er. Sure.”

“Great.”

She disappears back into the kitchen, and when he looks at Kon the taller just shrugs.

“Hey man, don’t look at me. I’m not the one who invited her over .” He shouts the last part out, and the woman curses at him from the kitchen. “Anyways. The others will be here soon, so we should probably get Jon down, or Kara will really have my ass.”

Tim frowns, faintly recognizing the name. “Kara… your cousin?”

“Second-cousin, actually,” Kon corrects, “but yes. My dad invited everyone over, apparently. Thank God Donna’s not here or she’d have my ass too, and between her and Kara I don’t think I can survive without both my asses, Tim. They’re my best ass et.”

Tim raises an eyebrow, preoccupied with the kid hanging from the ceiling. “You have two of them?”

He steps on the couch and tries to gently pick the little boy up. He honestly has no idea how this tiny boy even managed to get there, but he’s too afraid to wonder.

The boy struggles in his hold, but Tim has dealt with Damian and there’s honestly nothing worse, so he keeps his hold and doesn’t let go until they’re both safely on ground.

“No!” The little boy says, and immediately makes for the stairs — but Kon catches him by the collar. “Let me go !”

The older stares at him. “No can do, little man.”

Now that everyone’s away from danger, Tim takes the time to appreciate both of them. They look similar, but Jon is much scrawnier than Kon. By the looks of him, he looks about Damian’s age… though much more kid-like than the youngest Wayne boy.

“How old is he?” Tim asks.

Immediately, the boy turns to him. “I’m right here, you know.”

“He’s 10,” Kon says. “Thinks he’s older, though, don’t ya, lil’ man?”

He picks the younger up and puts him on his shoulders, as if it were super easy, and Tim can’t help but be at least a little turned on. By Gods, that strength…

Jon takes advantage of their position to start slapping Kon’s head, but the older continues talking to Tim as if nothing were happening.

“I needed you here to deal with this,” Kon says, but he’s slightly smiling. “You can see how terrible my family is… and it only gets worse from here.”

Tim has a lot of questions for the other, but he doesn’t ask any of them for fear of ruining his friend’s good mood.

“So how was your day? Did you talk to your family?”

Tim nods. “Yeah… we’re fine now. I was with Jason until now.”

That makes Kon freeze, Jon still on top of him trying to get him to let go. “You were, were you now?”

“We were playing video games,” he says. “We talked a bit about… y’know, the whole ‘trying to kill me’ thing, but we’re fine.”

“ … I see.” Kon puts Jon down, and the boy runs back to the kitchen. “Wanna go to my room before my family gets here and they trap us forever?”

“Sure.”

The two of them head up to his room, and Kon closes the door behind him. The air between them is kind of weird.

“I’m jealous,” the taller says, and Tim almost trips on his own feet. “The two of you were alone? At his place? Playing video games? I mean, that’s practically one hand away from s—”

“ Kon. ” Tim laughs. “I mean. It’s cute that you’re jealous, but there’s literally nothing between him and me. He said he can’t even see us being normal friends anymore, let alone anything else.”

Kon blinks. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.” The two of them sit down on his bed. “That sucks.”

An awkward silence.

“Anyways,” Kon says, lightening up the mood, “wanna watch a movie?”

The two of them put on a random movie — something Marvel, Tim’s not sure —, and let it play out on his computer as they lie back and just relax. Tim doesn’t even feel bad about all the homework he’s not doing, because he’s spending time with one of his favorite people in the world and he’s having fun.

“Hey,” Kon says, frowning at the screen, “isn’t this the actress that’s, like, racist or something?”

Tim nods. “Yeah.”

“So why are we watching this?”

“You picked it, didn’t you?” He turns to him. “And besides, I mean… it has Chris Evans . That should be enough reason as is.”

Kon is unamused. “Dude, seriously ? You’re fine with letting go of your morals because of some hot guy?”

“It’s not like we’re legally streaming this movie, Kon,” he points out. “And besides, it’s not like she’s the main character.”

The other scoffs. “I can’t believe this.”

Tim just shrugs. He’s well aware of the problems with this movie, and with Marvel in general, which is why he’s tended to stay away from that whole fiasco. Although Dick dropped off the map, there are still some things the older taught him about Romani culture and representation, and the Marvel movies had been only one example he’d given of the whitewashing of Romani characters.

“The characters were Roma-Jewish in the comics,” Dick had said once, in one of his speeches, “but Marvel made them into Eastern European Nazis. That actress in particular has long used the g-slur against us, and she’s ignored us everytime we called her out on it.”

Dick was not shy when talking about this, and Tim probably knows all about this issue, certainly better than any casual viewer.

Because of this (and other reasons, too), Tim has chosen to ignore the existence of the MCU for a long time now, but this movie in particular… has a rather interesting scene. One involving the hunky Chris Evans and a helicopter… and there’s no way he’s missing Kon’s reaction to that.

So he waits, and lets Kon think he’s an asshole for a while, and when the scene finally comes, he watches his (boy?)friend with fascination.

Frustratingly, though, the taller doesn’t let anything show on his face.

Once the scene is over, Tim groans. “Dude, come on!”

Kon looks at him. “What?”

“Seriously?” Tim deadpans. “That scene was enough to make any straight man salivate — at least a little! And you’re not exactly Straighty McStraight here, so how come you didn’t react to that at all ?”

“‘Straighty McStraight’?” The other frowns. “Tim, are you okay?”

He narrows his eyes. “Answer the question, Kon-el.”

Kon blinks. “You’re asking me why I’m not ‘salivating’ after that scene?”

“Yes.”

“Well.” He chuckles. “I mean, I am way hotter than him, first of all.”

Tim scoffs. “In your dreams!”

“Oh yeah?” Kon gets a glint in his eyes that really should not be that hot. “I’ll make you take that back.”

He’s on top of Tim before the shorter can prepare himself, and then the two of them start wrestling-slash-homoerotically-playing-together, and just when his thigh in between Kon’s legs and the taller’s head is grunting against his neck, the door opens.

“Ko— oh .”

Kon immediately pulls away from Tim, and the shorter turns his wide eyes to a blonde woman and her horrified eyes.

“Oh my Gods .” She gapes at the two of them. “I mean, damn . I did not need to see that— but damn . Get it, Kon—”

“Karen,” the boy says, blushing to his roots, “ get out. ”

Karen winks at Tim. “Sure thing, sugar.”

She closes the door, to make sure, and leaves both blushing boys alone.

“Oh, also—” Karen opens the door once again. “Lois is calling the both of you down. Steel’s here, and his food is much better than whatever she tried to make.”

Before they can respond, she closes the door again.

Kon sighs. “Sorry about that.”

Tim laughs. “Uh, so is her name Kara or Karen?”

“That was Karen — my third-cousin, or something. She’s Kara’s cousin, so I don’t know what that qualifies her as to me.” Kon frowns. “Wait, is she still my second-cousin?”

Tim ignores him. “So Lois is your dad’s girlfriend?”

“More like my stepmom, but yeah.”

“And Steel is… who, exactly?”

Kon smiles. “The really cool uncle — but he’s not really related to us. He’s my dad’s friend, and his family is close with ours.”

“I see…” Tim clears his throat. “And is there a reason why they’re all here?”

The other hums. “Someone’s birthday?”

He opens his door and starts heading down before Tim can question him on that last statement. He didn’t hear any mentions of Kal-el himself, so he keeps it quiet.

“Nat!” Kon says, and wraps his big arms around a girl in a hug. She has dark skin and curly hair and looks to be around their age. “Man, am I glad to see you .”

The girl smiles. “Sure you are.”

She turns to Tim and introduces herself. “I’m Nat. You’re Tim, right?”

“Yeah.” He smiles right back. “Nice to meet you.”

Before he knows it, he’s being surrounded by people from Kon’s family, and he can barely keep track of who he meets. The only way he can tell Kara and Karen apart is the length of their blonde hair — Kara’s is long, while Karen’s is short —, and Lois is just as intimidating as she was a few hours ago. Once more, Kal-el is nowhere to be seen or heard of.

And then Tim meets their dog, Krypto, and everything else leaves his mind.

“He’s such a good boy!” He says, petting the large white Labrador. “He’s so cute!”

Nat laughs. “That he is.”

The two of them have fun with Krypto for a while, as the rest of the family catches up, and they make small talk. Both of them are fans of tech, so it’s not hard to make conversation with her, and before he knows it she’s giving him her number.

“I really wanna go over some designs with you,” she says. “Seriously, the two of us could probably take over the world if we worked together.”

Tim laughs. “I mean, true.”

They talk some more, and then it’s time for dinner. Everyone gathers around the table and Tim sits next to Nat and Kon. There’s still no sign of Kal-el, and by now he doesn’t even care — everyone is so nice and they’re asking him about himself and about Bruce and Kal-el is the last thing on his mind now.

Steel’s cooking really is delicious. Karen is invasive, and Kara tries her best to keep the other at bay while politely asking Tim about his family. Nat is curious and asks him all about the Kyle-Wayne wedding. Steel talks to him about his tech, about his job as an engineer, and Tim listens intently to his every word.

By the time dessert is being served, he’s exhausted, both emotionally and physically.

“You can stay over,” Lois says, even though they all know very well this isn’t her house. “If your parents don’t mind. We’ll give the two of you some time together before the move.”

Kon freezes beside Tim, and it doesn’t escape him.

“The move ?” Tim asks, frowning slightly. “I’m sorry, what ?”

Lois’ eyes widen and she turns to Kon. “Did you not…?”

The conversation around the table dies down, and everyone senses the awkward atmosphere that’s just grown.

“Er…” Kon clears his throat. “I was saving it for later…”

Tim turns to him. “Kon, what?”

“Sorry, Tim…” He refuses to meet his friend’s gaze. “The truth is that I’m moving to Metropolis. I’m finishing my last year of high school there.”

Chapter Text

Duke doesn’t mean to eavesdrop.

He really doesn’t.

And yet, here he is: sitting on the couch of Wayne Manor, listening to Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Gotham’s very own Brangelina-before-the-divorce, fight about their own engagement.

In his defense, it’s not like the two of them are being very quiet, and it’s not his fault they’ve completely forgotten about his being here. He’d only come here in the first place to warn them that there might be a potential delay in their wedding date, but they’d insisted on inviting him in and making him tea, and now here we are.

“Please excuse them,” the butler, Alfred, says, bringing him some warm tea. “And, please, don’t blame yourself for this mess. Lord knows they’ve been having second thoughts for a while now.”

Duke doesn’t think he’d blame himself even if he didn’t know that, but he doesn’t say that. Alfred’s been really nice to him, and he also kind of maybe wants to earn the Kyle-Wayne family’s favor. Maybe if they see how good he is, they’ll want to adopt him , too. After all, they’ve already got, like, six or seven kids… what’s one more?

“I hope you don’t have any appointments later,” Alfred says. “If left to their own devices, the two of them will keep this up for hours.”

Rich people do indeed be like that , he thinks.

“Er, I might be overstepping,” he says, “but… why are they having second doubts? I might be able to help. We surprisingly deal with this a lot.”

He’s been able to understand some things — like how the couple’s main worry is their kids and how they’ll be affected by the marriage, and they seem to mention a ‘Tim’ a lot —, but most everything else is a mystery to him. If one of his high school friends were here instead, he’s sure they’d be able to tell him more… but he’s not someone who keeps up with celebrity drama. Bruce Wayne is only in his radar because it’s impossible for a Gothamite to not know him. Everything else, he’s learned against his will.

“I’ll let them tell you that themselves,” Alfred says, then heads to one of the rooms — probably the one where Bruce and Selina are, right now.

Once he’s out of sight, Duke sighs and leans back on the couch. This mansion is huge, even for Bruce Wayne, and he never thought he’d see the day that he’d actually be inside this place. Seriously, for rich people as famous as them, the Kyle-Waynes have no sense of danger.

“Who are you?”

Duke startles. He quickly stands up and greets the guy coming down the stairs — a guy who, despite his rude tone, doesn’t look a day over 12.

“I’m Duke Thomas,” he says, infinitely more relaxed now that he sees it’s just a kid and not a guard — or worse, a cop . “I’m here with the ‘Signal’ wedding company. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. …?”

The boy raises an eyebrow. “Damian al-Ghul-Wayne. You do not look like the couple we hired from ‘Signal’.”

Duke shrugs. “Yeah, that’s kinda why I’m here. Lana and Tom, the owners of the company, got into an accident. They weren’t able to come here themselves, so they sent me to tell your parents what happened.”

“I see.” Damian stares at him. “I take it they are fighting, then?”

“Yeah, man. Sorry about that.”

The boy sits down beside him. “Nonsense. Do not apologize for their foolishness.” He turns on the TV. “I sincerely hope you have nowhere to be after this.”

Duke shrugs. “Not really.” He blinks, staring at the TV. “Oh, that’s my favorite show.”

“This one?” He nods, and Damian clicks on the channel. “Never heard of it.”

The older boy gapes. “Seriously? It’s, like, old but a classic.”

Damian doesn’t say anything, but he also has a curious look in his eyes, like he’s too proud to ask but also wants to know. Thus Duke proceeds to tell the younger all about the series and the characters, and the boy, surprisingly, listens attentively, even asking questions occasionally.

“So the father returns, but this ‘Will’ denies him?” Damian asks, frowning. “But is that not what ‘Will’ wished for?”

“Nah, man. Will’s dad abandoned him—”

“Damian?” A voice asks, and Duke startles and stands up abruptly once again. Selina Kyle herself is standing there behind them, looking as beautiful as ever. “Mr. Thomas, I apologize. I’m afraid me and Bruce got caught up in some… business.”

Duke shakes his head. “Ah, it’s alright. Your son kept me company.”

“Did he?” She gives Damian a look. “Anyways, I’m sorry for my behavior. If you’d like to come with me to the tea room, I’ll be happy to discuss the details of the wedding.”

“Er, sure.” He nods at Damian, who nods back, and turns back to his client. “I take it that means the two of you have solved your issues?”

She smiles tightly. “Not exactly… but you don’t need to concern yourself with that. For now, we proceed as if the wedding were to go on.” Her eyes turn icy. “I hope you understand the discretion needed when dealing with us, Mr. Thomas. Considering our status in Gotham, I sincerely hope I don’t wake up tomorrow morning with details of our fight on the front page of the Gazette, or the Globe, or, Dios no lo quiera , the Times .”

Duke shakes his head. “Of course not, Ms. Kyle. I would never —”

“Great.” She opens the door to the tea room and beckons him inside. “Now, let’s get down to business: the wedding. Lana and Tom. For how long will they be in the hospital?”

“At least three weeks,” he says. “They’re searching for people who can work as their replacements right now, but—”

“Oh, tell them to stop searching. It’s no use if it’s not the two of them.” She sighs. “Delaying the wedding is no inconvenience to us so long as it’s not an inconvenience to them . Be sure to tell them that — and that I want no one but them . Anyone else won’t be able to… find what I want. I’m sure you understand.”

He nods. “Of course.”

“Speaking of,” she says, narrowing her pretty dark eyes, “how old are you, exactly?”

Duke’s smile freezes on his face. “I know I look young—”

“Boy don’t lie to me.” She looks in his eyes. “There’s no way in hell that you’re 16.”

“I’m 17!”

Selina deadpans. “You’re not .”

He doesn’t meet her eyes. She doesn’t look mad, but if she gives him up to the cops then he’ll have to go back into the system and he’s not ready for that shithole just yet.

But then again, Bruce and Selina do have a reputation of adopting kids that are lost causes…

“I’m 16…” He says, and she glares. “ … in August.”

She sighs. “Do your parents know you’re working more hours than you should be?”

“They’re out of the picture.” He shrugs. “My foster parents think I’m 17. You’ve met them — they’re good. Lana and Tom.”

She murmurs something in Spanish under her breath, and he tries not to take offense. He understands the language just fine, but he wasn’t expecting it so he’s not able to catch it.

“Alright, Mr. Thomas.” She sighs again. “For now, I’ll let this slide — but tell Lana and Tom your real age. If they throw you out, then come to us.”

He blinks, frowns. “Wait, really?”

“Haven’t you heard? Us Kyle-Waynes do enjoy our share of orphaned kids.” She shrugs. “Between me and Bruce, we’ve probably taken in… seven or eight kids, if you count Steph.”

Duke hums and does the count in his head: he knows about Damian and that ‘Tim’ guy, and of course he’s heard about Jason — the guy’s practically a legend in the black community of Gotham —, and Cass is the girl. This ‘Steph’ is another one, but as for the other three…

“I can practically hear you thinking,” she says, then laughs. “I adopted two other girls besides Jay… but they’re not in the mainstream. Kitty’s in boarding school, and Holly… well. She’s old now, making her own life wherever she is.”

Duke didn’t ask, but oh well. That solves two of them, but there’s still one person missing — not that he cares enough to ask.

“Alfred will give you a ride back,” she says, standing up. “Tell Lana and Tom that I wish them the best recovery. It’s a shame what happened, but their recovery is the priority.”

He nods. “Okay.”

“Seriously — don’t let them overwork themselves again.” She gives him a warning look. “I want them to take those full three weeks to take care of themselves, and if more time is needed then so be it. No one’s wedding is worth their lives.”

He nods. “Right.”

“Right.” She smiles and takes his hand to shake. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Thomas. I do hope you go through with what you promised me.”

He nods one last time. “Of course, ma’am.”

*

Predictably, Lana and Tom don’t take the news that well.

“I’m sorry, Duke,” Lana says, “but we can’t help you anymore. I mean, we can barely make enough money to support ourselves…”

Duke sighs. “Yeah, I know.”

He packs his bags and leaves their house that very day. It’s not as sad as he thought it would be, saying goodbye — especially not when he’s got a much better offer on his hands —, but he still feels grateful to them. The two of them are good people, and they took good care of him while they could.

Duke sighs. In order to see Selina again, he calls the number Alfred gave him, and the butler appears outside the Peterson house within a few minutes.

“I’ve been waiting for your call,” Alfred says, as formal as ever. “It’s good to see you again, Master Thomas… although I am sorry for the turn things took with the Petersons.”

Duke manages a smile. “Yeah.”

The drive to the Manor is silent, and he thinks of about a hundred ways this can go. The most realistic ones, however, are that either: a) Selina helps him get acquainted with a ‘trustworthy’ foster family; or b) the Kyle-Waynes adopt him themselves. Option b seems surreal to him, but option a doesn’t make sense with what she told him.

When he arrives, the situation is extremely awkward.

There are people waiting for him once he steps foot in the Manor — and among them is none other than Bruce Wayne himself.

“Duke Thomas,” he says, not smiling but also not frowning or scowling or… anything, really. His face is completely devoid of emotion. “It’s a pleasure to welcome you into our home — and, hopefully, into our family.”

He keeps his shock to himself. “Yeah… It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Wayne.”

The man is much more handsome in person, and his jawline is killer . He’s got quite a bit of weight on him, and it’s extremely attractive, in Duke’s very hetero opinion.

“You’ll be taking that back in a few weeks,” a girl says, smiling brightly at him. She’s got curly blonde hair and fluffy cheeks. “I’m Steph. Not officially a part of the family or anything, but I’m dating Cass and she is, so I’m like… an honorable member.”

The others introduce themselves: Cass and, of course, Damian and Selina. Duke doesn’t know where Jason or that ‘Tim’ guy are, but he’s already overwhelmed as is — at least this way, he doesn’t need to worry about impressing Jason Todd.

“You’ll meet the others soon,” Selina says, as if reading his mind. “As I said, Kitty’s in boarding school, but Tim is staying over at his boyfriend’s place, and Jason’s not living with us anymore.”

Duke nods. “Right.”

“We’re just getting dinner started,” Bruce says. “If you’re not too exhausted, please join us. We’re all eager to get to know you, Duke.”

He smiles. “Sure. Just let me put away my—”

“I will do that for you, Master Thomas,” Alfred says. “From now on, all you must do is call me and I will be there. For whatever you may need.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Er. ‘Whatever I may need’?”

The butler nods. “Anything.”

Duke doesn’t hesitate. “I don’t suppose you remember high-school level French, do you?”

Steph grins. “Oh, you’ll fit in great here.”

They all head to the dining room while she makes small talk with him and Cass listens in on the conversation. The latter uses ASL to communicate but doesn’t explain her situation, so he makes sure to always face her when speaking, just in case she’s deaf or hard of hearing. His knowledge of ASL is minimal, but thankfully the blonde notices and translates for him, allowing him to pick up on some things.

“So where do you study?” Steph asks. “We’re all in Gotham High.”

Duke blinks. “Not Gotham Academy?”

She shakes her head while making a face. “Nah. That place is for stuffy people — and, Bruce and Damian excluded, none of us are stuffy .”

“Oh.” He did not know that. “I’m in West Robinson.”

“That’s so far , though!” She turns to Selina. “Can he transfer to Gotham High?”

The woman shrugs. “It depends. We have a lot of stuff to sort out first: his legal guardian, his documents — some of which are fake.” She glances pointedly at him. “Depending on who we talk to, we might have to wait until the wedding to officially adopt you… although, with Kate on our side, we might be able to—”

“Okay, can y’all talk boring stuff later?” Steph asks, smiling cheekily at the older woman’s sigh. “I mean, I wanna get to know my new brother-in-law before you chase him away with all your legal matters .”

She sits down next to Duke and Selina lets them go. From the corner of his eye, he sees the woman and her fiancé share a discrete look, probably asking each other what the hell they’ve gotten themselves into.

Alfred serves them all, and Duke tries not to feel awkward. He feels bad letting this old man do everything for him, but he supposes this is his job, in the end.

The others ask him a few questions while they eat — nothing too personal, and nothing about his parents —, and he can’t really believe this is happening . As far as rich people go, the Kyle-Waynes seem super nice — if a bit careless. He didn’t think people as famous as them would ever risk taking in some random kid like him, especially not like this.

“This is delicious, Alfred,” he says, taking a full bite of the pork filet mignon prepared. The only one eating something different is Damian, who’s a vegetarian and also a Muslim and thus gets a whole special meal made especially for him. Duke wonders about why the butler wouldn’t just make something for all of them — seems like less work —, but doesn’t ask. “The last time I had filet mignon this good was when me and my parents went to France.”

Steph’s eyes widen. “You went to France ?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “I was like six, though, so I don’t really remember much of it… but to be honest, my parents didn’t really like it there.”

“Have you been anywhere else in the world, Duke?” Bruce asks. “I have to say, as far as work vacations go, France was one of the countries I spent the least time in.”

Duke nods. “We went to Switzerland and Germany during the same time, but again — six-year-old me didn’t really enjoy it.” He shrugs. “The last trip I went with them on was to Cuba. We used to go there every two years or so.”

Selina pipes in, saying she’s Cuban, and asks him where they went, what kinds of food they ate, if they liked the music, etc. He answers her truthfully, remembering his time there fondly, and by the time they’re finished with dessert, he’s tired and sleepy.

“Cass and Steph will take you to your room,” Bruce says while Alfred cleans the table. “Your stuff is already there. We’ll talk more tomorrow, but for now, you need to rest.”

“Thank you, Mr. Wayne.”

He bids the others good night and follows the two girls up to his room.

“So,” Steph says, looking at him curiously while they walk down the hallway, “I can’t help but notice your little rainbow pin…”

Duke’s eyes widen. He’d completely forgotten about that. The pin was a present from his parents, before they knew the connotations of having a rainbow pinned to your clothes 24/7, in order to celebrate his tetrachromacy — a condition that allows him to see more colors than other people.

He doubts the girls are asking about that, though, so he just shrugs.

“I’m trans,” he says.

“Oh, dude!” Steph smiles. “That’s cool. Seriously, it’s like fate that we found you — our family was needing more LGBT folk, ya know?”

He tilts his head. “Cass and Tim are gay, right?”

“Tim’s bi , actually, and Damian’s gay.” She shrugs. “That makes the L, G, and the B — but you’re the T we needed to complete the whole acronym!”

He laughs, a bit awkwardly. It’s not every day he meets someone as energetic as Steph. 

They introduce him to his new bedroom — which is much larger than he needs — and bid him good night.

They both seem pretty cool, and he allows himself a bit of time to look forward to his time in the Kyle-Wayne household — for however long it may last.

*

Tim Drake-Wayne is… something .

They meet after Duke has had lunch, and also after an extensive meeting with Selina, Bruce, and one of their lawyers, Ms. Kate Spencer. Needless to say, Duke is confused and tired from the meeting, so he doesn’t really expect a short Asian boy to come bursting into the Manor, muttering angrily to himself in Japanese.

“Er…” He looks around, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s gonna come rescue him any time soon. The boy doesn’t even acknowledge him. “Are you Tim?”

That gets his attention, at least.

“Who…?” The boy frowns, not really hostile but just confused. “Uh, yeah. I’m Tim.”

“I’m Duke,” he says, a smile hard on his lips after the day he’s just had. “I’m your new brother.”

Tim blinks. “What?”

“If all goes well, I mean. Right now, Ms. Spencer and your parents are sorting out the legal docs and everything, but… I mean, it’s Bruce Wayne . Whatever he wants, he gets.”

The other sighs. “Are they seriously adopting another kid? No offense.”

“They sure are.”

Tim thinks for a few seconds, then smiles half-heartedly at him.

“Well, welcome to the family, Duke.” Tim turns towards the staircase. “And I’m sorry for the drama that’s gonna follow. Have you met Jason yet?”

“Not yet.”

“If you need any help, don’t go to him.” Tim turns his back on him. “He’s amazing and I love him, but he’ll only get you in trouble. And, for that matter, don’t trust Damian, either — or Bruce. If I were you, I’d only trust Alfred for the first few weeks.”

He’s out of sight before Duke can respond, and the younger wonders just what he’s gotten himself into.

And then Cass is appearing, out of nowhere, and beckoning him to her, and he has no choice but to comply. His ASL has improved since last night, but it’s not good by any means, so she signs slowly and patiently for him, enunciating the words with her mouth, and within minutes they’re effectively communicating with each other.

I will come clean with you , she signs. Before taking you in, my parents had me doing research on you to see if you are… She frowns, trying to think of a word. …To see if you would fit in with our family.

He blinks. “That doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. I kinda expected it.”

I’m sorry for the breach of privacy. She makes a guilty face. I knew about your gender identity before you told us, and also about your parents.

“Oh.” He clears his throat. “Uh… what did you… find out about them?”

She hesitates. I know what happened to them, and where they’re staying.

Duke frowns. He doesn’t know how she found out their location, since it’s classified information only a few people can get their hands across, but he supposes money can get you anything these days.

“Did you tell the others?”

No. She shakes her head. Only that they’re out of the picture. Nothing can stop them from looking it up, but… I think they trust you. They won’t look into it unless you tell them to.

“Okay, thanks.” His shoulders slump in relief, and he changes the subject. “So I guess I won’t have to come out to Selina or Bruce?”

Cass smiles. Bruce has already told Alfred to help you with buying new binders, but he’s not sure if you should or even want to start hormone therapy just yet.

“Thanks, Cass.” He smiles back. “I don’t know about T therapy just yet, but we’ll see.”

She nods. And what do you think of Tim?

“He’s… he seemed preoccupied.” Duke frowns. “I know it’s not my business, but is he alright? He seemed pretty stressed.”

From what I could understand, I think his boyfriend is leaving the city.

“Oh.” He clears his throat. “That sucks.”

She nods. I’ll go talk to him now. I hope you settle in well. If you need anything, call Alfred and he’ll be there.

“Right.” He smiles. “See ya later.”

Duke watches her go up the stairs with stealth that a teenage girl should not have, and tells himself he better get used to people sneaking up on him if he’s to stay here in the long-run.

*

Jason Todd is something even more than Tim.

It’s Duke’s one-week anniversary staying in (a.k.a. surviving ) the Wayne Manor, and, besides Tim’s stress-induced insomnia and Steph’s obsession with Duke’s tetrachromacy, everything’s been pretty chill. It’s only slightly annoying to have to try describing a color she can’t see to her, but other than that he’s really been enjoying his time here. Selina’s great, Alfred’s amazing, and Bruce is Bruce.

He’s sitting on the couch next to Damian, both of them watching The Fresh Prince — which he somehow got the younger boy hooked on —, and Titus is lying on the ground in front of them, when the front door is slammed open.

“Where the fuck is that stupid motherf—”

“Jason!” Selina slams open the door to the tea room, where she’s staying at, and glares at her son. “ Not in front of the children.”

Jason Todd blinks at her, then glances at Damian and Duke, then stares at Duke.

“Hey.” The older nods at him. “I take it you’re Duke?”

Duke nods. “And you’re Jason.”

“ Mijo ,” Selina says, her tone warning. She’s only looking at Jason and not anyone else. “Come here. Let’s talk en privado .”

The older boy sighs. “Whatever.”

He leaves, and Duke and Damian go back to their show. People fighting and shouting at each other is a daily occurrence in the Manor, and Duke’s mostly gotten used to it.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t eavesdrop.

Having learned Spanish from his tía and her Dominican family, he can understand most of what Selina and Jason are shouting about in the tea room. You’d think, being rich, Bruce would be able to afford to thicker walls, but…

“ Pues no creo que vaya de verdad, ” Jason is saying. “ Después de todo ese fucking drama, ¿en serio? ”

‘Well I don’t believe they’re going for real’, Duke translates inside his head. ‘After all this fucking drama, seriously?’

“ No es su decisión , Jason. Y tampoco depende de nosotros decidir o juzgar la vida de Kon.” Selina sighs. “ Al menos por ahora, lo mínimo que puedes hacer es ir check on Tim y ver si necesita algo . Predictably, el chico no está bien , mentally y emotionally.”

‘It’s not his decision, Jason. And it’s also not up to us to decide or judge Kon’s life. At least for now, the least you can do is go check on Tim and see if he needs anything. Predictably, the boy isn’t well, mentally and emotionally.’

“Whatever,” Jason says. He says something under his breath that Duke doesn’t catch, and then: “ Y ¿cómo está con el newbie ? ”

‘How’s the newbie?’, he’s asking.

Duke really should stop listening right now… but he can’t resist.

“Un guapito,” Selina says, her voice much less angry than before. “Un cariño, de verdad. Ay, Jason, you should see him ayudando a Alfred… ¡Qué chiquito!”

Duke’s eyes widen and he holds in his laughter. Selina’s just called him the equivalent of cute and sweet, and he would be offended if he weren’t so amused. Never would he have guessed the woman liked him that much.

“ A mí me parece que you like him más que tu propio hijo, eh ?” Jason asks, but he doesn’t sound angry. “Whatever. Ya me voy a conocerlo, el acere .”

The older is opening the door to the tea room and coming towards Duke and Damian before his mom can stop him, and Duke does his best to pretend he’s completely absorbed in the show in front of him.

“Oh, I love this show,” Jason says, casually sitting down beside Duke. “How’d you get the demon brat into it, man?”

Duke shrugs. “I just… I don’t know.”

Play it cool , he thinks to himself. It’s only Jason Todd-Kyle. He’s gonna be your brother soon.

“Well, whatever you did, I’m surprised he’s actually sitting still for once.” The older smirks. “How’s your time with the Chaos Fam so far?”

“They’re great.”

Is it just him or is the room getting hotter for some reason?

Jason’s sitting awfully close to him, and his thighs are just as the legends say — powerful. Strong. Thick .

Mayhaps Duke isn’t as straight as he thought.

“So have they told you about the family drama yet?” Jason asks, still smirking. “‘Cause lemme tell you, it’s real good. Like, shitty-white-people-soap-opera good.”

“Todd.” Damian glares at his eldest brother. “Kindly shut your mouth and leave me to watch my show in peace.”

Jason points at Damian. “Case in point.” He turns to the young boy. “Or what , demon? If you’re gonna tell me to do something, you best be sure to follow it with a threat, or it’s gonna go unheard—”

Damian stands up and pushes Duke away from Jason, not unkindly but still forceful enough to make Duke question his real age. No young boy should be that strong.

Titus, sensing a fight coming, backs away from them, but goes back to lazing around.

“You enjoy pretending to be cool in front of Duke,” the little boy says, “but let us see how long that will last when I tell him about the Barbie doll incident—”

Jason’s on his feet in a second. “Shut your trap.”

Damian squints, the show long forgotten. “ Make me.”

Duke swallows. The air around them has gotten scarily murderous, and he’d really rather be literally anywhere else.

Jason picks Damian up by his collar, but the little boy grips his wrist and twists it, making the older drop him. With a speed Duke can only keep up with because of his 20/20 vision, Damian climbs his brother’s back until he’s standing on Jason’s shoulders, his little hands tightly gripping the older’s curly hair.

“Go away!” The boy shouts, into Jason’s ear. “Leave us to watch in peace—”

Jason says something in Arabic (?), then kneels down and throws his little brother onto the ground. Damian lands on his back and he hisses — but Duke, terrified, doesn’t know if it’s in pain or anger.

Should I do something? He thinks, then takes a deep breath. If he interferes, then the Kyle-Wayne family might be more reluctant to adopt him. But if he just leaves these two fighting, Selina might get mad… And besides, it’s not like ‘abnormally strong’ and ‘mysteriously good at fighting’ seem to be deal-breakers for this family, anyway, so he might as well show off a little.

Duke stands up and stops Damian’s weird jump-attack mid-air, surprising both Kyle-Wayne boys.

“Please stop fighting,” he says. “I really wanna be adopted, and if this fight keeps going then I don’t think it’ll happen.”

Jason looks at him and immediately backs down. Damian, after a brief struggle against Duke’s strong arms, is let down and also backs down.

“Go away,” the boy tells Jason, glaring. “Duke’s adoption is in your hands.”

The older shrugs. “Yeah, whatever. Duke, walk with me.”

Duke sends Damian one last look and follows Jason wherever he’s going.

“So,” the older says, shaking himself off and walking past the staircase, as if heading towards the kitchen. “Since it doesn’t look like anyone told you what you’re getting yourself into, allow me.”

Tim’s words come to mind, the ones warning him not to go to Jason for help, but there’s no escaping this now.

“The story with the brat is that he’s a real fuckin’ brat ,” the older says, as they enter the kitchen. “His mom’s supposedly a terrorist, but that’s just ‘cause she’s Muslim and America doesn’t like that.”

Duke frowns. “Is she actually a criminal?”

Jason meets his eyes. “Depends on what you consider a crime.”

They maintain eye contact for longer than is normal.

“Anyways,” the older continues, taking an apple from the basket, “Damian was raised different, Bruce didn’t know he even existed until a few years ago, his mom’s a fugitive, his grandfather’s an actual terrorist, and that’s why he’s like that . But that’s far from all the issues this family has in store for you. Lemme know if you have any questions.”

Duke blinks. “Uh, go on.”

“Right.” Jason puts on a fake smile. “Next is Timmy. Oh boy… I mean, he’s a rich boy, son of the late Janet and Jack Drake. I’m sure you’ve heard of ‘em?” Duke nods. “Yeah. So he’s a rich boy with dead parents, a coffee problem, and he’s also kinda in love with me. Which wouldn’t be a problem, y’know, I’m cool with gay people — but we’re brothers .”

Duke closes his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. “He’s in love with you?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s… are you cool? With that? I mean…”

Jason shrugs. “I kinda gotta be, you know? And it’s not like he’s gonna jump me, so, for me, it’s all good.”

Something clicks. “But for Bruce and Selina…”

“They’re uncomfortable with it.” The older nods. “That’s why they were kinda having second thoughts — well, that, and a few other things, too. But that was the catalyst, I guess.”

Huh.

“Okay, so that’s Damian and Tim,” Duke says, slowly, processing the news and kinda expecting lots of things now. “How about the rest of you?”

“Dick’s the eldest, but we don’t talk about him.” Jason shrugs. “Legally, he’s still Bruce’s son, but we haven’t seen him, like, for a long time. Cass was raised by criminals, Steph’s dad is a criminal, Selina’s a reformed criminal, and my dad was a criminal, too. To be honest, the Wayne household has rehabilitated more criminals than the entire American incarceration system.”

“That’s a lot of criminals for one family,” Duke says, but he’s lowkey impressed. “And Cass, uh… was she born mute?”

The older nods. “She’s also half-Chinese. Tim’s full-Japanese, me and Selina are Cuban, Steph’s Venezuelan, Damian’s Arab and Muslim and also a vegetarian, and Dick was — or is — Romani. We’re a full rainbow family — you best expect to hear multiple languages being spoken in this household, at all times. Also, I hope you know your Muslim traditions, ‘cause Damian will not hesitate to educate you on them if given the opportunity.”

“I see.” He contemplates telling him about his fluency in Spanish, but decides not to. “And, I mean… just between us, you know, there’s a lot of rumors that go around, about you and stuff, so I’m just wondering if they’re true.”

Jason smirks knowingly. “You mean the ones that say that I died?” Duke nods, and the other laughs. “Yeah, funny story…”

He doesn’t continue, only taking a bite out of his apple, and Duke is just dying to know.

“Well?”

Jason shrugs. “Sure. I did die, but it’s not nearly as fun as the rumors make it sound.” He grimaces, his good mood apparently falling. “That’s another thing, too — when I came back, I was not in a fun place. I did a lot of shit that I now regret, and top of the list is that I tried to kill Tim.”

Duke freezes. “You what now?”

“Yeah, I told you how he’s got a thing for me, right? We’re all over it, mostly.” He finishes eating his apple. “I didn’t do any permanent damage, anyway. Point of the story is that I’m a living, breathing zombie . I mean, seriously, how cool is that?”

“Uh…”

He shouldn’t ask.

“Anyways, that’s mostly it on us kids — but Bruce has, like, ten times more problems than all of us combined.” Jason shudders. “Dude is seriously fucked up. Like, traumatized , but also really emotionally dead.”

Duke opens his mouth to answer him, but honestly, he doesn’t know what he could possibly say to that. He’s kinda starting to see why that girl Kitty left for boarding school — and why this ‘Dick’ guy (is that seriously his name?) just disappeared from the map.

“Welcome to the family, Duke.” Jason pats him on the back and leaves the kitchen. “I’ll go check on Tim, you should probably go back to Damian — he gets really weird when left alone, especially with Titus.”

Just like that, Jason leaves.

Duke briefly wonders if he made the right choice coming here a week ago.

*

“Duke,” Tim says, startling the soul out of poor Duke. “Can you drive?”

The boy tries to calm his heart down. It’s only been a few hours since Jason’s visit, but he’s on edge from everything he learned about this family, and if one more person sneaks up on him then he won’t take it.

“Uh.” Duke rubs his forehead. He’d been focused on his homework and he thought Tim was, too, but apparently not. “I’m younger than you.”

“I know, but Bruce forbid me from driving after an unfortunate incident, and Cass is at Steph’s.” The older makes a puppy-dog face. “Come on, it’s Kon’s last day in Gotham and they’ve all been watching me like hawks . Like I’m gonna break down and cry any time now.”

Duke narrows his eyes. “What about Damian?”

“What about him?”

“He’s a baby. We can’t just leave him here alone.”

Okay, so Damian’s not a baby , but it’s almost the same thing. Alfred is out doing groceries, Bruce and Selina are visiting Lana and Tom in the hospital, Cass is at Steph’s, and Jason left a while ago. Duke is in his room studying, but he’s keeping an ear out for Damian — and he also trusts Tim to take care of his little brother, for some reason that he’s starting to question right about now.

“He’s not a—” Tim sighs. “Look, whatever, we can take him, too. But just — please drive me to Kon’s.”

Duke hesitates. “Can’t you take the bus?”

“Takes too much time.”

“My driver’s license is fake,” he points out. “If we get caught—”

“Bruce will deal with it, whatever. You can blame me for it, too, so that your adoption process isn’t interrupted.” Tim pouts. “ Please , Duke. I’ll do your chores for a week—”

“Alfred already does everyone’s chores.” Duke makes a face. “And a week ? Seriously? Is that all Kon is worth to you?”

“You know what I mean,” Tim says. “Please.”

Duke looks down at his unfinished homework, then back at his new brother.

He sighs. “Fine.”

“Yay!”

“If we get caught, you seriously owe me.”

He quickly puts on his binder as Tim gets his stuff ready. The two of them make their way to the garage, stopping by Damian’s room to invite him to (read: forcefully make him) come with them. The youngest of the three curses them out in Arabic, but Duke doesn’t speak the language and Tim is texting Kon on his phone, so nothing happens.

Duke drives slower than usual, if only because, this time, he’s not the only one in the car — in fact, there is a baby in the car with him, and he’d really appreciate it if Damian at least had the decency to wear a seatbelt. Also, this car is more expensive than his entire life, so he kind of has to be careful.

After Lana and Tom got into their accident, they left him in charge of visiting all their clients and making sure they knew what was going on. Since Gotham is a big city and since they thought Duke was 17, they had no problem giving him the key to their car to drive around… but this is different .

Tim puts on some acoustic music on the radio, and eventually Damian stops grumbling and complaining.

It takes them less than 15 minutes to get to Kon’s, and once they do, Tim is out of there.

“Should we follow him?” He asks Damian. “Do we just wait here? Do we go back?”

The younger doesn’t answer him, and when he turns back he realizes it’s because Damian is nowhere to be seen .

“Fuck.”

He parks the car in the street — yes, he knows how dangerous that is, but no, he doesn’t have time to care right now because a baby is missing — and gets out of his seat.

He opens the back door, looks under the seat, then opens the trunk and looks there, and even checks the glove compartment to make sure no demonic gremlin is inside, and then he starts to really panic.

“Oh no.” Duke takes deep breaths, in and out. “Oh no . I lost Damian Wayne. No, no, no. This can’t be happening.”

He’s only 15. The homestudy process is only in its second week. He needs to be adopted by the Kyle-Waynes or he’ll go back to the system, and that is not happening.

Calm down , he tells himself. Calm down. Everything’s alright.

He doesn’t know how the hell Damian escaped — or when . He thinks it might have been when the brat finally shut up, but they were in the middle of the street and going at a solid 25 mph at that point. If he did throw himself out of the car — which is , unfortunately, a possibility, knowing Damian —, there’s a high chance he’s out there in the middle of the scary Gotham streets, and an even higher chance that he’s in danger . Sure, Damian might be abnormally strong for a baby (or however old he is), but there are all kinds of bad people in Gotham.

Duke quickly closes the car and starts knocking on the house he hopes is Kon’s.

After a few seconds, the door opens and a pretty woman glares at him.

“Can I help you?”

“Sorry, er…” He frowns. “Is this Kon’s house?”

“It is.” She raises an eyebrow. “But he’s with his bf right now. Maybe come back later?”

“I can’t.” He sighs. “My little brother is missing. Tim is my brother, who is also Kon’s boyfriend, and since this is all Tim’s fault then I need his help trying to find—”

“Little brother? You mean Damian?”

His eyes widen. “Yes! Have you seen him?”

She laughs. “Uh…”

The woman then points to the empty car, and at first Duke is confused, but then—

“Fuck— Damian! ”

Somehow, the brat has gotten inside the car and is now on the driver’s seat. Duke’s only blessing is that you can’t turn on the engine without the key—

The engine starts.

The woman behind him is laughing as he runs towards the car, cursing Damian and Tim and Jason and Bruce and everyone else in this dysfunctional fucking family, but before he can get there, the car starts running. By the time he gets to the spot where he had parked the car, Damian is long gone — as is the car.

Duke wants to cry.

“Man, relax,” the woman says, coming up behind him to pat him on the back. “Are you new to the family or what? Damian can drive better than most adults.”

Duke turns to her, anger in his eyes. “He’s, like, five !”

“ Ten , actually.” She smiles. “I’m Donna, by the way. Kon’s roommate and also Dick’s best friend. So, despite not actually being a part of your godforsaken family, I’m well aware of your shenanigans. Trust me when I tell you there’s nothing to worry about.”

He takes a deep breath. Not only is it unbelievable that a child is driving a really expensive car through the streets of Gotham , but this chick also wants him to believe that there’s nothing to worry about ?

“Now,” she says, “you wanna come in and have some water? I’d offer a drink but you don’t look a day over 16.”

Duke sighs. “I am so fired.”

Chapter Text

“Don’t go,” Tim says. “Stay here with me. You don’t have to go.”

Kon sighs. He can’t say he expected this, but it’s not a total surprise, either.

“Tim, my ticket is booked—”

“I’ll pay you back — hell, Bruce can probably buy the entire damn railway.”

The taller sighs. “Y’all rich people… not everything can be solved with money, you know. My dad’s waiting for me in Metropolis. My family’s waiting.”

“Tell them to come here.” Tim takes Kon’s hand. “Why should you have to leave? It’s your dad’s fault everything’s like this, anyway… Your life is here , Kon.”

It makes sense and they both know it. 

Kon could very well just… stay here. He could go to college here, make a living here, and sure, Gotham is… terrible and terrifying and a complete nightmare most of the time, but Tim is right. His life is here.

Besides Kara and Nat and, occasionally, Karen, there’s nothing for him in Metropolis. Not anymore.

“I… I want to,” Kon admits.

“Then stay .”

“It’s not that easy.” The taller sighs. “Kal already made room for me in the house—”

“Fuck him.” Tim huffs. “I mean it, fuck him. If he wants to talk to you again, then he should come here and not take you away from your life and your friends and your… me . Whatever we are.”

Kon hesitates. “Tim…”

“I’m serious, Kon. I want you to stay.”

Honestly, the idea is speaking to him more and more… but that might just be Tim and his irresistible lips and his handsome eyes and those hands …

“Seriously, just think of the chaos we can make on graduation day.” Tim smiles deviously, probably sensing how close Kon is to being convinced. “Me and you and Jay and Steph and Cass… we can do anything we want. What are they gonna do, expel us?”

Kon chuckles. “Well when you put it like that …”

Honestly, yeah. He’s ready to just say ‘fuck it’. It’s not like he ever really wanted to go to Metropolis anyway.

A knock on the door ruins their moment. “Uh, Kon? Your boyfriend’s little brother is here. He’s kinda freaking out.”

Kon frowns. “Damian?”

He can’t imagine any situation in which the brat would ‘freak out’.

“ Duke ,” Tim corrects, and immediately opens the door. “Where is he?”

Donna shrugs. “He was in the living room, but who knows where he could be now ?”

The younger boy pushes her away and rushes towards the living room. Kon realizes that whoever is there must be the new kid Bruce and Selina are adopting — there’s no way Tim would ever rush like that for Damian .

“Duke?” Tim asks. “What’s wrong?”

Kon makes his way to the living room just in time to catch Duke’s panicked face before he covers it with his hands. The boy is cute, but his dreads are a bit loose, and he looks very stressed. Kon can’t imagine why — it’s not like being a part of the Kyle-Wayne family is that bad, is it?

“Damian took the car,” Duke says, and Kon immediately takes back his previous statement. “He’s driving it back home. Tim, he’s ten .”

Tim only blinks. “Is that it?”

“What do you mean ‘is that it’? I wanna be adopted , Timothy! If Bruce finds out I’m the one who let Damian loose in Gotham— oh my God, what if Damian trashes the car? What if someone kidnaps him?” Duke makes a face like he’s a second away from crying. “He’s only a baby , Tim! Bruce and Selina will never adopt me if he’s kidnapped!”

The older Wayne sighs. “ Relax , Duke. Damian is fine , and Bruce won’t be mad at you if he finds out about this — which he won’t , I promise you that —, and the only thing we should be worrying about right now is how we’re gonna get home.”

Neither Duke nor Kon are convinced, but oh well. Who is he to judge? He’s got Jon ‘I can fly if I jump high enough’ Kent for a half-brother, and Damian’s an even bigger brat, from what Tim tells him.

Duke shakes his head. “But—”

“It’ll be fine, Duke.” Tim turns back to Kon. “Now, shall we continue? ‘Cause I’ve got a powerpoint ready, and if that doesn’t work, then—”

“Dude, I get it.” Kon sighs. “I’ll stay. Whatever. You’ve convinced me. Good to know you’re not ignoring me anymore.”

“I was coping , not ignoring you.” Tim then processes what he just said. “Wait— you’re staying? Really ?”

“Yeah.” Kon sighs. “I didn’t really wanna go anyways… But Kara’s gonna be real mad.”

“Who cares? You’re staying !” The shorter laughs. “Oh, Cass owes me 10 bucks!”

Duke watches him. “Good to know you care so much about your younger brother.”

Tim ignores him, and Kon sends the poor boy a pitying look. He’s like 99% sure Duke had no idea what he was getting into when he met the Kyle-Wayne family — although the fact that he’s seen them at their worst and still wants to be adopted sure does say something about him , too. No completely functional person would ever willingly sign himself up for that .

Kon wonders if Tim’s told him about the whole ‘Jason tried to kill me’ thing.

And then Tim is kissing him, and all his thoughts leave his mind because oh. He really missed this.

*

Kal, predictably, is ‘not angry, just disappointed’. To be honest, Kon got more of a reaction from Krypto than from his own dad, and it doesn’t really bother him as much as it did before. In the end, he’s staying here with Tim and Cassie and Donna and everyone else, and he’s not gonna have to leave.

“That’s right,” Steph says, as she, Cass, Tim, Cassie, Duke, and him sit on the floor of Tim’s bedroom, two days after he was supposed to leave. Cass and Duke are playing against each other at Mario Kart, since they’re the two best players in the room. “You should always look on the bright side of things.”

“I’m proud of you, Kon,” Cassie says. “You stood up to your family and asserted yourself over them. You’re a step closer to becoming an adult .”

Kon makes a face. “Oh God, please don’t say that.”

He’d invited her over because she’s one of his oldest friends, but after seeing how well she gets along with Steph and Duke, he’s maybe regretting his decision, just a little bit. The thing is that he was right about Duke — the dude is just as chaotic as every other member of that strange family, but he’s just better at hiding it. Him, Cassie and Steph together are… a menace .

Case in point: right now. The three of them are the only ones brave (read: stupid ) enough to be drinking the weird smoothies that Tim found in his fridge. Despite the younger’s warnings that it’s at least two weeks old, Steph, Duke, and Cassie don’t seem to mind at all. They’re drinking their smoothies with gusto, and it kind of makes Kon sick to watch.

Downstairs, he can kind of hear Bruce and Selina arguing, yet again, over the wedding. Curse him and his really good hearing.

“Damn!” Duke says, after losing to Cass for the second time. “I guess you really are better than me at this. Wow. I’ve never met anyone who was.”

The girl just smirks. I’m the Queen.

“But you still won’t drink this smoothie though,” he says, smirking. “So I guess we’re still tied.”

“It’s not even that bad,” Steph chimes in. “I mean, there’s definitely something strong in there, but it’s surprisingly been maintained pretty well. Like, I can’t taste anything rotten in there, ya know?”

I think it was one of Damian’s traps to get Tim sick , Cass signs. And I don’t trust anything that Damian makes, especially not for Tim.

“How come he hates you so much?” Kon asks.

Tim sighs, long and suffering. “Both him and Jason are constantly trying to kill me. Jason I kind of understand, ‘cause he died and all, and nowadays whenever he puts me in any life-threatening danger it’s mostly accidental—”

“ Mostly ?”

“ — But Damian… is just a brat. A violent, socially awkward brat.” Tim shrugs. “I mean, it’s just the typical sibling relationship.”

Kon deadpans. “It’s not .”

“Please get help, Tim,” Cassie adds.

The boy ignores them and turns to his TV. “So what do you guys wanna do now? We still have an hour ‘til dinner’s ready, more or less.”

Downstairs, Kon hears Bruce’s deep voice say: “It’s settled, then. We’re going through with this.”

“Let’s sing!” Kon says, way too eager to sound natural. He doesn’t care, though — he’d give anything to not have to listen to Bruce and Selina. “Anyone else up for some karaoke?”

The five of them turn to look at him weirdly.

“Seriously?” Cassie asks, raising an eyebrow. “You? Karaoke ?”

He shrugs. “It’s fun.” And it keeps him from unwillingly eavesdropping on private conversations.

Tim blinks, then shrugs. “Alright.”

And that’s how the six of them start, and by the time Duke is singing his heart out to some melodramatic ballad, Kon barely remembers why he even brought up the idea in the first place. Who knew a 15-year-old boy had such range?

And then Kon and Steph start singing a shitty (really explicit ) rap song, and of course that’s exactly when Bruce decides to knock on their door.

“Kids?”

The six teens all freeze at once.

“Bruce?” Tim asks, his voice only trembling slightly. “What do you want?”

“Is everything okay in there?”

“Yep.”

A pause. “Okay, well… Alfred told me dinner’s ready. It’s vegetarian biryani, so you better get there fast or it’ll all be gone by the time you get there.”

Kon frowns. Vegetarian biryani?

“Okay,” Tim says. “Thanks. We’ll be there soon.”

Kon’s ear follows the man’s footsteps until he can no longer hear them, and only then does he relax.

“Dude,” he says, cringing. “How embarrassing . I can’t show my face down there now.”

“Give it a few minutes, and they’ll forget all about it,” Steph says, but she’s also blushing. “Anyways. That was fun.”

Cassie nods. “Thanks for inviting us over, by the way.”

“Of course,” Tim says. “I mean, someone has to suffer with us.”

The blonde tilts her head. “Suffer?”

Bruce and Selina keep arguing , Cass explains. We all know they’re not gonna cancel the wedding, because they love each other too much for that, but they still insist on fighting.

“At this point, I just think it’s their weird version of foreplay,” Steph says.

Tim, Duke, and Cass all make a face at that.

“Dude, ew! Did not need that mental image.”

Steph looks slightly smug, and Kon wonders what even goes through her head.

They all stand up and start heading downstairs. Kon can hear voices, not just Bruce and Selina but also Damian and Alfred and Jason… and someone else .

“Uh, Tim?” He asks, trying to recognize who it is. “Did your parents invite anyone else?”

The other frowns. “Not that I know of?”

He turns to Duke and Cass, but both of them shrug. Kon listens to the voice — it sounds male, deep and smooth and happy, and he doesn’t think he knows this person at all.

Once they arrive at the dining room, though, Kon immediately recognizes him as the guy who’s in hundreds of Donna’s Facebook pictures: Dick Grayson. The man himself.

It takes Tim and Cass no time at all to recognize him, but Steph and Duke and Cassie just look lost.

“Hi!” The man says, smiling up at everyone. “I’m Dick.”

The reaction isn’t immediate, but he can still feel Steph and Cassie hold in a snort.

“Tim, Cass!” He makes his way towards his siblings, and it’s important Kon keep emphasizing that word in his head: siblings . Dick is attractive, and Kon really doesn’t like the way he hugs Tim. “It’s great to see you both again!”

The siblings catch up, and Kon quickly and quietly explains the situation to the rest of their confused friends: Dick is the first kid Bruce adopted, who’s been gone in who-knows-where for a good while now.

And then Dick himself turns to introduce himself to them, and Kon definitely isn’t jealous of the way the older man seems to enchant everyone he meets. And he’s definitely not jealous of Dick’s easy smile and hopeful charm and natural boy-next-door vibe.

“Are you back for good now?” Tim asks his brother.

Please say no, please say no , Kon thinks.

“Not really.” Yes! , Kon thinks. Dick sheepishly scratches the back of his head. “I’m actually gonna stay in Bludhaven. It’s not too far from here, so I’ll be there if you need me, but it’s nice to have my own place, you know?”

Tim and Cass both nod like they know exactly what he’s talking about. Kon himself can also relate — staying in Gotham, away from the rest of his large family, has done him wonders.

He sits down next to Tim and watches, happily, as Dick sits down in between Damian and Cass, far away from his boyfriend.

“Before we feast,” Bruce says, once everyone has sat down, “I would like to announce that me and Selina have reached a decision regarding our betrothal.”

Should I really be here for this? , Kon thinks. At this point, he’s sure even Cassie knows the reason for the fighting that’s ongoing between the Kyle-Wayne power couple, but he doesn’t know why the two of them are saying this now, with their son’s friends at the table.

“We both love each other very much,” Selina says, sending her fiancé a loving look. “Of course, recently we have been having some personal issues, and, like healthy adults, we’ve discussed each issue extensively. And we thank you for your patience with us up until now.”

Kon shares a look with Cassie. At least he’s not the only one feeling awkward here.

“We’ve decided to go through with our wedding,” Bruce says. Kon wonders if they rehearsed their lines beforehand in order to be so in sync with each other, but he already knows the answer to that; had they actually rehearsed, he’d have heard them. “We’re in no rush to get married, but the sooner the better: Duke will be the first child we adopt together, as a married couple, and we’d rather he become a part of our family, legally, as soon as possible.”

The boy in question seems surprised at the mention of his name, but he still smiles once everyone’s eyes turn to him.

“Tonight is a night of commemoration,” Selina says, smiling. “Alfred and, surprisingly, Damian , have graced us with their lovely vegetable biryani, and Dick has graced us with his lovely presence, making our family complete. Tonight we celebrate mine and Bruce’s matrimony, as well as Duke’s integration into our family — that is, if you will have us, Duke.”

Duke nods, a relieved smile on his face. “I’d be honored , Selina.”

“Alright!” Dick says, looking eagerly at the giant bowl of biryani in front of him. “Now that that’s over with, let’s get this party started!”

Jason one-ups everyone by reaching for the serving spoon before anyone else and serving himself, and Dick and Steph immediately start arguing with him. Cass and Cassie both serve themselves with their own clean cutlery, rolling their eyes at the other three, and Tim offers to serve Duke before getting some for himself.

The vegetarian biryani is delicious, if a bit spicy for Kon, and he doesn’t know to what extent Damian actually helped in making the dish, but he’s relieved he doesn’t immediately keel over and die of food poisoning. The little boy has tried to poison him more than once before, and the worst part is that he thinks poisoning his food might just have been Damian’s way of welcoming him into the family.

Conversation between everyone is easy. Duke and Cass talk quietly about (what Kon and his limited sight on their hands think might be) their favorite foods, while Steph and Cassie, loudly and unashamedly, discuss what the hottest types of monsters are. Steph says it’s vampires, Cassie thinks it’s aliens, and Jason interrupts their conversation by saying it’s definitely one of those Bigfoot-like creatures that easily tower over you.

“The sexiest thing someone can be is taller than me,” the older admits. “Seriously. Call it a size kink or whatever—”

“Jason!” Dick chimes in, cheeks full of rice and his eyes scandalized. “We’re eating !”

The three of them ignore him.

Cassie raises an eyebrow at Jason. “Dude, are you sure you’re straight?”

The boy doesn’t answer, and Kon is suddenly very interested in their conversation. He sneaks a glance at Tim and is relieved to find that his boyfriend is too busy engaging in a staring contest against Damian to be paying attention to anything else.

When he turns back to Jason, the older only winks at him and goes back to arguing with Dick. Neither Cassie and Steph seem to notice Jason’s weird behavior, busy discussing whether Bigfoot is real or not, and Kon sighs. He’s used to chaotic family dinners from when he still lived in Metropolis, but… it’s weird how chaos can come in so many different forms.

Alfred serves dessert — Cuban bread pudding, which Selina and Jason made themselves —, and soon enough the arguments are all dying down, making way for peaceful silence.

And then Jason is approaching their side of the table once again, and Kon braces himself.

“Hey Tim,” the older says, and Kon tenses. He knows his boyfriend’s not completely 100% over Jason yet, just like he himself isn’t 100% over M’gann, so this is dipping into uncharted territory. “Bet you seven bucks and a single piece of expired gum that I can get Damian to crack and say he missed Dick.”

Tim narrows his eyes. “Deal. I bet five blue Bic pens and one red one, lightly used, that he’ll know what we’re doing and tell Bruce.”

“Make it four black ones and we’re on.”

“Plus the red one?”

Jason huffs. “Of course.”

“Deal.”

Kon blinks, and Jason turns to Damian.

In the end, Tim wins — Damian does, in fact, see through Jason’s act, and he does, indeed, tell Bruce. The young boy does so with all the entitlement of a billionaire’s son, and Kon is only slightly impressed that Tim seems to know Damian better than anyone else.

Kon stays the night, and if he hears the rest of the family talking about (and worse: betting on ) his and Tim’s non-existent sex life, he pretends he doesn’t and forces himself to fall asleep. He makes sure to leave some space for Jesus and the Holy Spirit in between them, if only because he doesn’t like the idea of any of them actually winning that bet.

*

M’gann approaches him a month after he was supposed to leave for Metropolis.

Kon’s just gotten out of his Chem class and is eager to go home and enjoy a Friday night movie night with Cassie and Donna, but his ex-girlfriend comes to him right after class and leaves no space for arguing.

“Why did you break up with me?” She asks.

Her voice is loud and quite a few people turn to look at them.

Kon blinks. “I—”

“I mean, what was it about me, specifically , that made you leave?” She furrows her eyebrows. “I need to know, Kon. I can’t— Whatever I did, with you, I need to make sure I don’t do with her.”

“Can we go talk about this literally anywhere else ?” He looks around at the nosy people surrounding them. “Please?”

She sighs. “Fine.”

Kon leads them to the east gym, where he’s sure no one will be interrupting them because the place is disgusting . To make matters worse, someone puked in the corner during third period, and though it’s been cleaned up, the smell is still lingering there.

“So,” he says, trying to think of some way to say this without hurting her, “you wanna know what you did wrong?”

M’gann nods, earnest. It’s hard to look at her face like this, and it’s hard to have this conversation. She’s beautiful, and kind, and insecure, and he loves her. He’s not in love with her, not anymore — not after talking things over with Tim and looking back at his relationship with her and realizing how bad things had been —, but he still loves her.

It hurts to see her like this.

“You were controlling,” he says, “and you played mind games in my head that made me confused and that gave you some sort of power over me. Sometimes I felt like… I felt like I had no control over myself, because you were always there , in the back of my mind. I’d always hear your voice telling me what to do.”

She swallows tightly. “I didn’t know.”

He knows that — just like he knows that the fault isn’t all hers. 

It’s who she is , Kon would tell himself. It’s just how she is, and I love her too much to say anything.

He’d make excuses for her, manipulating himself into keeping quiet. M’gann is a lot of things, but she’s not a bad person — if he’d told her what was wrong, she would have stopped. She would have tried to change, at least, and maybe the two of them would still be together right now. Never did she make him feel like, if he’d said something, she’d get mad. Not once .

“It’s not your fault that that’s how you are,” he says. “It’s your personality, and I didn’t want to make you change yourself for me. In my mind, keeping quiet about it was better than being selfish and telling you to change.”

“But—”

“But sometimes personalities clash, and they just weren’t meant to be.” He cringes at his wording. “I mean, I know it’s cheesy to say that, but neither of us are bad people, M’gann. You’re good, and you’re smart, and you’re amazing . I love you, still. But it’s hard to date someone when I’m a certain way and you’re a certain way and neither of us are gonna change.”

She licks her lips the way she does when she doesn’t believe him.

“There must be something wrong with me,” she says, frowning. “You tell me you love me, but you don’t wanna date me anymore. I know I was controlling, and I still am, but how can I change that? I love Artemis, and I don’t want her to…” She breaks away. “I don’t want her to leave me.”

Kon resists the urge to sigh. “Have you tried telling her that?”

M’gann blinks, like the thought never even crossed her mind. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re dating. I’ve told her I love her a hundred times.”

“That’s not enough, though. I know I’m not one to talk, but honestly? If you want her to stay then you gotta tell her what you’re feeling.”

The same applies to him, too, and he’s well aware of that. It’s a real shame to say this, but his relationship with M’gann was a great tool to teach him some important lessons in communication — lessons that he feels like he owes it to himself to show that he’s actually carrying with him and growing from.

“I’m not gonna tell you how to fix or work your relationship,” he says. “I can’t tell you much, M’gann. We were just wrong for each other — and maybe it was the timing of it, or it was something else, I don’t know. But we didn’t work out, and if you want Artemis to stay, then you gotta talk to her — her , not me.”

The girl stares at him, her face bitter like she’s tasting something she doesn’t particularly like. Kon knows exactly why she’s feeling dissatisfied, but he doesn’t have anything else to say to her. There’s nothing else he can say that won’t just be a repeat of what he’s already told her.

“I’ll see you around, okay?”

He gives her one last nod, and then heads to his locker. He wants to catch Tim (and his siblings) before they leave, but he has a feeling they’re already gone.

*

A month later, Kal and the rest of his family visit him.

Except they don’t visit him — they visit the Kyle-Wayne couple, in the fancy Wayne Manor, because they’ve been invited by them and not by Kon.

He didn’t even know Kal and Bruce were on speaking terms, but apparently they’re work friends. Neither Kon, nor the Kyle-Wayne kids, nor Kon’s siblings, were able to figure out when or how the two men met, but some of them had some rather… interesting theories.

“They met at a masquerade party,” Karen had said. “They didn’t recognize each other as Bruce Wayne or as Kal-el, and became friends. By the time they realized who the other was, they already liked the other too much to cut off their ties.”

“Kal was working on a story on Lex,” Kara had pitched in, “Bruce was investigating LexCorp to see if WE would partner with them. Inevitably, they met — rivals at first, until they realized they were on the same side and both worked to take down the big bad villain.”

Kon’s own theory went along the lines of: “He (Bruce) was a billionaire, he (Kal) was an investigative reporter looking for something to incriminate WE. Can I make it any more obvious?”

“ Or — and hear me out,” Steph had said. “Or they have history . They met, like, hmmm, 20 years ago. Both were still in high school, and Bruce was searching for his parents’ murderer while Kal was doing… whatever Kal did, at that time. Somehow, Bruce’s lead led him to Metropolis—”

“Kal’s from Smallville,” Kon had pointed out.

“Okay, Smallville . So Bruce’s lead made him go to Smallville, where they obviously met because Smallville’s like a meter big.” Kon doesn’t bother correcting her, knowing she doesn’t care and that it doesn’t matter. “And they became friends. Kal helped Bruce find his parents’ killer. The end.”

Maybe Lois fell for Bruce first , Cass had theorized. She’s been a reporter for longer than Kal, so it’s probable she would have met Bruce when he was just growing up, when WE wasn’t the superpower it is today. Maybe Kal met Bruce through her.

“Bruce was a playboy back then…” Jason hummed. “But then again, maybe it wasn’t Lois. Maybe it was Kal’s sister .”

“He doesn’t have a sister.”

“Okay, cousin?”

Kon made a face. “Kara? Or, god forbid, Karen ? Yeah, no.”

“Uh…” Jason frowned. “Mom?”

“Too old — and happily married, since like forever.”

“Aunt?”

“Dead.”

“Fuck.” The older sighed. “How about a daughter?”

Kon ignored him.

“You fools ,” Damian had said. “If anyone is to be the connection between the two men, it is obviously Grayson.”

That had certainly been a surprise to all of them.

“ Oh ?” Tim had asked, just as intrigued as the rest of them. “How so?”

“Grayson was a menace back in his early days. He had a variety of friends all across the country, especially in Metropolis.” Damian spoke with a matter-of-fact tone that just screamed arrogance. “Would it truly be that hard to believe that Kal might have stumbled upon a young Grayson in the streets of Metropolis — or Smallville —, and decided to stay with him until the boy’s guardian arrived?”

“Dick might have introduced them since he got back,” Duke had said. “It seems more likely. I doubt Alfred would ever let a young Dick out of his sight for that to happen, but you guys did say that Dick was gone for a good while there… he might have met Kal during this time, and when he came back he could have introduced them to each other.”

Like that, all of them brainstormed on the many endless ways the two men could have met, from secret identities to straight-up out-of-this-world theories (thanks for that, Karen).

However, the most probable theory, unfortunately and disappointingly, was Tim’s: that they met at a Wayne charity event that Kal had to cover for the Daily Planet.

So here they are now: Kon, Kal, Lois, and Jon, as well as Kara and Karen and Steel and Nat, plus the Kyle-Wayne family (and Steph), all in one room in the Wayne Manor.

It’s too many people for him to keep count, but he doesn’t miss the familiar way that Bruce and Kal speak to each other — nor does he miss Selina’s subtle antagonism of Kal. There’s certainly a story there, he’s sure.

Unfortunately, Karen and Jason Todd end up getting along a little too well, as do Damian and Jon. The latter friendship surprises everyone except for Tim, who, as previously established, obviously knows the young boy better than anyone.

“He’s a brat, but he likes wholesome people — people like Dick or Duke or sometimes Cass, and people not like me or Jay or Steph.” Tim shrugs. “Jon’s a sweetheart, so they were bound to become friends, kinda like Kal. I guess it’s as they say: like father, like s—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Kon says, cringing. “Jon sweetie, I’m so sorry that an ugly ass bitch like this would even say tha—”

Tim interrupts him with his laughter, and Kon smiles. Both of them — and probably everyone in this room — can tell that Jon is much better than Kal, in a lot of ways. Arguably, the same might be said for Damian and his father, but for that one you’d have to dig a little deep.

Tim and Kon sit side-by-side on the large dining room table. It’d be too cheesy if they were holding hands under the table, but their quick conversation easily makes up for that, making Kara and Duke both groan. The two are sitting next to the couple, unfortunately, and are cursed to occasionally overhear the couple’s conversation.

“Dudes, seriously,” Duke says, at once point. “We’re all eating here. I’d like to not hear your flirting for one night. It’s bad enough having to drive you two around all the time.”

That makes the couple effectively shut up for a good second, but in the end they go right back to it. Poor Duke gives them a dirty look, but Kon only shrugs — it’s not his fault they’re like this. In fact, he thinks they’re behaving totally like normal friends would, not even flirting flirting, so he doesn’t know how to please his friend.

In the end, however, the food is more than enough to distract all of them from any stray conversations. Alfred, Selina, and Jason had come together tonight — or so Tim says — in order to make the most delicious mushroom risotto Kon had ever had in his life, and by the time dessert is being served he honestly can’t eat any more.

Before they can all dig into the incredible apple pie Kal had baked, however, Selina interrupts them with a long and hard clearing of her throat.

“Me and Bruce would like to announce something.” She smiles brightly, and Kon is extremely weirded out. It not only makes no sense why they’d invite his family over for this special announcement, but it also makes no sense why they thought announcing before dessert would be a good time to do so. “ Cariño , would you like to do the honors?”

Bruce stands up alongside his fiancé, a weird (it’s not creepy it’s not creepy it’s not— ) smile on his face. “We’ve decided on a date for our wedding.”

Again. Seriously, what is with this family and announcing important things surrounded by people you barely know? Plus, why announce it to the El-Lane family, which has no less than three reporters — a whopping three out of four working adults?

“Of course, we’re all eager to have Duke legally become a part of our family as soon as possible, so we’ve decided on a small wedding — no more than a hundred guests.”

Kon bristles. Is that what ‘small’ means to these people? 

“We’ll be signing the papers next month,” Bruce says, still with that (completely not creepy) smile on his face. “That’s about more or less the time Duke will be officially adopted. Of course, we recognize that that’s too early for a wedding, so the official date is September 19th.”

That’s way earlier than he’d expected, and he knows the others are all surprised, too.

Lois is the first to recover from the surprise. “Oh my, congratulations!”

Kal smiles alongside his girlfriend. “I’m very happy for the two of you. Congratulations.”

The others all congratulate the couple, and Kon isn’t rude enough not to do it, too. Besides being happy that Duke can finally rest easy about his adoption, he’s also happy that the struggling couple seems to finally be settling down.

Once everyone has said what they wanted to say, they all happily eat dessert in a comfortable silence. Occasionally, someone will ask someone else some minor question to fill the silence, but nothing too personal.

Kon has a feeling that, after tonight, the El-Lane and the Kyle-Wayne families will be inseparable. All these minor questions are only the introduction, and it won’t be long before Karen and Jason are planning a road trip across the country with just the kids, before Kal is being regularly invited to these dinners, before Bruce is planning business trips to Metropolis only to visit his friend.

The thought makes Kon happy and also very, very afraid.

*

“How come your family only invites my family over?”

Tim blinks. “What do you mean?”

“Like, they have a dozen kids to choose from, but you’ve never told me about any of the others’ families or partners or partners’ families visiting.” Kon shrugs. “So I’m just wondering why me, and why mine.”

“Well, Steph’s already practically their second daughter — and we don’t really talk about her parents.” Tim hums. “Dick is always rotating between girlfriends, and we’re close enough to Babs to consider her family, too. The closest thing Jay has to a partner is Roy, and Bruce hates him. Duke and Dami are too young to be dating anyone seriously. Does that answer your question?” He tilts his head. “Though I will admit it is weird that me and you are the most functional romantic partners of this whole family — including Bruce and Selina themselves.”

“Oh.” Kon hums. “Huh.”

He opens the curtain, revealing his dashing, blue-grey suit to his boyfriend. It’s a pretty plain suit, except for the pattern of red flowers that crosses the front of his jacket, almost in a perfect diagonal. Originally, when Kon heard that Bruce Wayne would be paying for his suit, he’d wanted something much more… eye-catching . Something real colorful, with some cool patterns or something, that’d be much more fun than those dull black suits that all guys seem to like… but Tim had shook his head.

“You can’t look more striking than the groom,” he’d said.

Deep down, though, Kon suspects his boyfriend was really just wanting to keep Kon and his handsomeness to himself, but he didn’t say anything.

So now here they are, shopping for suits together. It’s not really a date, especially considering that Jay and Duke are also in the shop somewhere, searching for suits together too, but Kon likes to think of it as one.

“I like this one,” Tim says, checking him out thoroughly. “Makes your shoulders look good — but we’ll need to tailor it for you, obviously. Right now, it’s too… tight .”

“Oh?” Kon smirks. “Does that bother you, Wayne?”

Tim huffs in amusement. “I mean, yeah.”

The taller contemplates flirting some more, but then he sees Jason and Duke coming straight for them, and his smirk drops. Truthfully, he’s still just a tiny bit scared of Jason Todd-Kyle, and he really doesn’t feel like flirting with Tim in front of the guy. The man gives him major ‘protective older brother’ vibes, and Kon knows with absolute certainty that Jason would hurt him physically and emotionally if he ever hurt Tim.

“I like it,” Duke says, checking Kon out very platonically . “Those flowers are cool. They add a little flavor.”

Kon smiles triumphantly. If he can impress the guy who can see a hundred more colors than he can, then he’s managed to do something right.

“Did you guys find yours?” Tim asks, turning around to look at his brothers. “I’m wearing what I wore to prom, but Bruce really wanted you guys to get some suits.”

Jason smirks. “Yeah, I found one. It’s seriously like… I feel like it was made for me. I can’t wait ‘til I see the look on Bruce’s face when he sees it.”

“That can’t be good,” Tim says, but he’s smiling a little too.

“Don’t worry, I kept him in check.” Duke sighs. “I found mine , too.”

Jason’s smirk loses just a little bit of its sharpness. “It’s yellow .”

Kon frowns, taking back his earlier statement, about feeling good about Duke’s approval of his suit. The dude can see all spectrums of color, but he still chose yellow ?

“And black,” Duke points out. At Kon and Tim’s raised eyebrows, he only shrugs. “I like it. I look good in it. It doesn’t even cost that much.”

Tim frowns slightly. “We told you not to worry about the price—”

“I wasn’t, man, chill.” The youngest of them turns to Jason. “Come on, tell them. I didn’t even look at prices until after I’d tried them on.”

The oldest nods. “I can vouch for that. Plus, I think that suit was only inexpensive ‘cause probably only a handful of people in this world are able to look good in it — you being one of them, of course.”

Kon draws the curtains once again and quickly changes out of his fancy suit. When he comes back to his friends, Duke and Jason are both gone again.

“They went to get some ice cream,” Tim says. “We still need to get you fitted, anyway, and I doubt they’d wanna stay here for that.”

“Has Duke been fitted yet?”

The shorter nods. “There was a WE event a few weeks ago. It was his debut into the corporate world.”

“Poor kid.”

His boyfriend takes him to the tailor, where the guy takes all of Kon’s measurements, and then they meet Duke and Jason outside. The two are competing to see who can reach the highest spot on the street lamp, typical sibling stuff, and Jason’s obviously winning.

“Did you call Alfred?” Tim asks his brothers.

“Yeah.” Duke seems distracted, narrowing his eyes at a particular spot on the lamp post. “He’s still with the girls.”

He jumps, grunting with the effort, but still doesn’t get anywhere near Jason’s spot. The oldest of them laughs while Duke just sighs.

“And Dick and Damian?”

Jason shrugs. “Dickie can drive himself. Honestly, ya gotta feel bad for the Demon Brat. Dick’s fashion sense is… pitiful .”

“Damian can handle himself,” Tim says, and no one dares argue against him on that . “Let’s go.”

The boys all shrug and call Alfred to come pick them up, all of them feeling like grade schoolers. Three out of the four of them can drive, yet here they are, waiting for their butler to pick them up.

In the end, Kon beats Jason in their little lamp post game, and tries not to look too smug about it.

*

As it turns out, 100 guests for a Kyle-Wayne wedding really is small.

Between their six children (plus Kitty), Alfred, and their two family friends that are almost as good as family (Barbara and Helena), Bruce and Selina are already looking at about twenty people, counting everyone’s plus-ones. That leaves about 50 guests for Bruce and 30 for Selina, since she doesn’t have nearly as many “friends” (mostly, important coworkers and valuable people he kind of knows who’d be offended if he didn’t invite them) as he does.

Kon is just glad he can stay with the rest of their friends and not interact with any of the prissy rich people.

He finally gets to meet Tim’s Aunt Kate, who’s Bruce’s cousin and also just really cool, as well as the famous Barbara Gordon. She’s the best hacker in America, the head of IT in WE, and also Dick’s on-and-off girlfriend, in that order. Kon is terrified of her, but he also admires her work a hell of a lot more than he does Bruce’s. In his opinion, all the man seems to do is look pretty and throw around words he barely knows the meaning of, while Babs is the real brain behind the operation.

Of the El-Lane family, only Kal is able to make it. The others are all supposedly busy with their jobs, but Kon knows it’s just what they’re saying since they don’t really wanna impose on the Kyle-Wayne wedding.

“We’ve already bothered ‘em enough,” Kara said. “Let the poor family have their wedding without having to worry about another chaotic family, for God’s sake.”

He secretly agrees. Sure, he might not really care what Bruce and Selina think of him all that much anymore, but he’d hate for his family to do something embarrassing and humiliate Bruce and Selina in front of their important guests.

By this point, the wedding is nearly done. Both Bruce and Selina have said their ‘I do’s, the big kiss happened, it was real romantic, blah blah blah. Kon’s happy for them and all, but all he can focus on right now is how hangry he is. They’re all sitting at circular tables, ten guests per table. Kon sits with Tim, Damian and his date Colin, Duke and his date (girlfriend?) Isabella, Barbara and her date (girlfriend?) Dinah, and Steph and Cass. Barbara and Colin are talking excitedly with Tim about technology stuff that Kon has no interest in, and he entertains himself by keeping conversation with Cass and Duke. None of those rich guests speak ASL, which allows them the freedom to be as open as they want without worrying of getting in trouble — although, to be honest, the Kyle-Wayne kids could probably speak in any of the other four languages they all speak (Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin) and no one would ever understand them.

He’ll be arrested in a few days , Cass is saying. He’s been sending huge amounts of money to his private fund, under the name of a charity.

A disgrace , Duke says, frowning. Why’d Bruce even invite him?

Kon is right there with him. Who?

Blond guy talking on his phone. Cass turns to her brother. He’s only here because we needed him away from his office for a few days. Babs is working on getting encrypted data from his computer as we speak.

Kon shudders. If the redhead girl can do that while pretending to listen to some rich white man, he’s screwed if he ever breaks Tim’s heart — though he knew that the moment Tim revealed he was in love with the Red Hood, of all people. No, scratch that — he knew that before he even met Tim Drake-Wayne, adopted son of Bruce Wayne, biological son of Janet and Jack Drake, brother of Cassandra Cain . If they ever break up, he’ll have to deal with six angry siblings, two disapproving (and very powerful) parents, Babs and Helena and Kate, Tim himself, and, worst of all, Alfred’s disappointment .

Kon shudders once again and excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

Once there, he washes his face and sighs. Thinking about breaking up with Tim in the boy’s parents’ wedding, of all places, is the worst thing he could possibly do, and he feels like he’s betraying his boyfriend’s trust by doing this.

He quickly returns to the table and notices that, surprisingly and embarrassingly, Lucius Fox, Bruce’s right-hand man at WE, is already saying his toast.

“Nice one,” Tim whispers once Kon sits down, and the taller only lightly shoves him away in response, already embarrassed enough.

The man quickly finishes his speech and the guests all cheer. Kon, having heard none of it, still claps along with them all.

And then the food is being served, and he distracts himself well enough with the food. It’s delicious, because of course it is, and then it’s time for the big finale: the cake . Kon has been waiting for this stupid thing for five hours now, and nothing is getting in between him and that fluffy, sweet, delicious orange cake.

Unfortunately, it seems his dad did not get the memo.

“Kon-el?” Kal-el says, standing beside him with one hand on the table, effectively closing him in from his friends. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“Right now ?”

The older shrugs. “I kind of have to leave soon.”

Kon stares at him, then glances pointedly at his uneaten cake. “Can’t we do this another day? You’ve waited this long, haven’t you?”

At the hostility clearly displayed on his son’s face, Kal has the decency to hesitate for a brief second.

“ Please ,” the older says.

He doesn’t wait for Kon to answer. Instead, the reporter walks away, and the younger is left with little choice.

“Are you okay?” Tim asks, quietly, so as to not draw unnecessary attention to them.

Kon nods and quickly excuses himself. He follows his father all the way to the bathroom as he thinks of a thousand ways to get out of this one.

But this is the probably the only chance he’ll ever have of actually talking to his dad, and although he’s scared and reluctant and angry and annoyed, he still wants to see how it’ll play out.

Once there, he makes sure to lock the door behind him.

“Kon,” Kal says, turned towards the mirror and staring only at his own handsome face. “Where did we go wrong?”

The younger almost scoffs, but he reminds himself he’s gonna have to be the adult here, if he wants this to lead to anything .

“We didn’t go wrong — we were never there in the first place.” Kon stands beside his father and leans back against the sink, turned away from the mirror. “ You were never there.”

The other purses his lips. “I know.”

“I know I kinda came out of nowhere, but…” Kon sighs. “You rejecting and ignoring me was just as unexpected for me as I was for you.”

“I’m sorry for how I behaved back then, Kon, believe me. If I could take it all back, I would. 100%.” Kal takes his son’s hands in his own. “But I’m trying, here. I wanna be a better father. God knows you deserve a better role model than Lex Luthor.”

For the first 14 years of his life, Kon-el was raised by the billionaire CEO, but unlike Bruce Wayne, Luthor was… eccentric . He’d never talk about Kon’s mother, and it was only when he was exposed for unethical practice in the workplace — among many, many others — that Kon found out his mother was actually Lex Luthor himself. Long story short, he found out Clark Kent, a.k.a. Kal-el, was his biological father only due to a series of unusual coincidences, and when Luthor was incarcerated, Kal-el is the man who got the short end of the stick.

“This isn’t about him,” Kon says.

“Tell me what I can do…” Kal swallows. “... What I can do to fix everything. We can’t stay like this forever.”

The boy scowls. “We’ve survived this long. Two years of nothing — and before that, 16 years of not even knowing I existed. Not even— not even wondering . Wondering who I was, wondering if I could even exist… nothing , Kal.”

“You can’t blame me for not knowing—”

“I think you didn’t want to think about it — about the possibility.” Kon swats his hand away. “If you’d wanted to, you would have found me. There’s no way you, Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, wouldn’t have. If you’d wanted to, you would have taken me in.”

Kal opens his mouth to say something, then sighs and backtracks. “I’m sorry. You’re right, and I’m sorry.”

But Kon isn’t done.

“You were Superman .” He scoffs, bitter and sad. “You were supposed to be everything. I didn’t need you to be perfect, I just needed you to— to be there . Fuck .”

Kal lowers his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I was lucky I had the others. Kara, and Karen, and even Lois… they helped me a lot.” Kon turns away from his father. “I thought about running away. I saw everyone at school, and I saw my friends and how they were happy, and I just— I kept blaming everything. Every one . I pushed people away, because I hated that you weren’t like them.”

“We’ve both done a lot of things that we both regret.”

The boy shakes his head. “No, you’re not listening — you can’t just… I did this shit because of you. Not anyone else, you . I can’t blame everything I’ve ever done on other people, but this , I’m 100% sure it wasn’t me. You’ve done a lot of things that you regret, and so have I, but my relationship issues when I was in Metropolis… they’re all you .”

Again, the man looks like he wants to argue against that. He looks like he wants to prove Kon wrong, but he backs down.

“I’m sorry,” he says, quietly. “I deserve your anger.”

Kon sighs. “You deserve a lot of things. I’m not the one who’s gonna tell you what to do to redeem yourself. I can’t forgive you for whatever you need to be forgiven for, that’s not my job. You’re the fucking adult here.”

At that, Kal laughs self-deprecatingly. “That’s true.”

“Are we done here?” Kon asks, more annoyed than angry now. “You got in the way of me eating cake, and if there’s none left by the time I get back then you’re gonna have hell to pay, old man.”

The man hesitates, but eventually nods. “Let’s go.”

He tries to put a hand on his son’s back to guide him away, but Kon pushes him away and speed-walks back to his table. Part of it is spite and another part of it is his genuine desire to eat the cake.

“Is everything okay?” Tim asks, as soon as he sits down.

Kon nods, eyes only on the cake in his plate. “Yeah.”

“You look… better . Emotionally.” The older is barely paying attention at this point, but Tim continues anyway .”As in, you look like a weight’s been lifted off your shoulders.”

Kon barely hears him. He takes a bite of the cake and holds his breath. Immediately, he’s reminded of that scene in Ratatouille where the mouse eats strawberry with cheese and sees sparks of color in his vision, blinded by the pure deliciousness of the simple dish.

Right now, his mind is on this cake and on nothing else. Sure, he’s relieved that Kal finally grew the balls to talk to him, and he’s flattered that Tim is worried about him, and he’s happy for Bruce and Selina… but damn . This cake .

Things with his dad aren’t okay yet, and things with Tim might change at any moment, but right now he’s eating a delicious piece of cake and he’s happy.

Tim watches him eat, and when their eyes catch, the younger smiles. Kon knows, more certain than he’s ever been about anything, that Tim is happy now, too.

For now, it’s all that really matters.