Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jesus, it felt good to be home.

"Welcome home, Master Tim", Alfred's eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"I've missed you so much, ohmygod!" Stephanie cried, holding his face in her hands so that she could kiss it.

"Yeah, we know, get a room." Jason crossed his arms, but his lips tipped up into a small smile.

“She really has missed you. We had to hear about it every waking hour.” Duke rolled his eyes but smiled. Cassandra stood by him, which was welcoming enough in its own way. Dick laughed and Damian shyly held up a small box to Tim's side, nudging him with it.

"We got you something, but it's small. Welcome home, Tim." Bruce squeezed his shoulder. "We've all missed you."

He smiled, taking the box. "Same." The box was tied with some red string, which he pulled off excitedly. He looked around. Everyone was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Suspense", Jason whispered. Bruce rolled his eyes. Tim slowly lifted the top off of the box, only to see a small stone. Like, the small glass stones for fairy gardens and shit.

"I... love it?" He tilted his head to the side, looking at it from a different angle. Maybe that would help?

"Idiot, look closer", Stephanie picked it up and shoved it in his face. He took it in between his index finger and thumb. Bringing it up to his eye, he looked into it like a telescope. There was… writing?

“What is it?” He could see the different colors and handwriting, distorted by the curved glass.

“We all wrote letters to you while you were gone, but we thought giving them to you this way would be better!” Dick explained. It’s obvious that he had wanted to tell Tim that for a rather long time.

“Guys, I love it, actually, but what do they say?” He was still holding it up to his eye, trying to read it.

“We have the actual letters, so you can read them, but this was just, like, a vessel. We were thinking about making it into a necklace or something, but we didn’t know what you’d like. So you can do whatever.” Steph took it from him, and held it on his chest between his collarbones.

“Thanks you guys, this is really… I didn’t expect this”, He kissed Steph on the cheek, while everyone was smiling at them.

“We know, that’s why it’s so great”, Damian looked at him like he was an idiot. To be fair…

“I’ve made everyone’s favorite for the special occasion, so come sit.” Alfred turned and started walking to the dining room.

“Shouldn’t it just be my favorites? Y’know, since I’m the one getting back?” Tim put his hand on his chest. All of his siblings stopped in their tracks, slowly turning their heads to look at him.

“Do you wanna get beat up already?” Jason squints at him. Damian hits his fist to his other palm. Cass just stares at him. He shivers.

“My god, I was kidding. Kinda.” He whispers the last part as he pushes through them to get to the dining room. Tim really missed Alfred’s meals.

—--

Tim soon realized that Stephanie had missed him. A lot. He really wanted to go to bed, after traveling for most of the day. But instead, Steph insisted on a make out session. After all, “It’s been so long!” So there they lay, on Tim’s bed, eating each other’s faces. It’s not like he minded…or anything. But he was pretty sure he almost drifted off, like, twice. He’s also pretty sure she didn’t notice. When he finally fell asleep in her arms, she might not have noticed then either. He gets it. He’s been gone for for-fucking-ever, and Tim hates to admit it, but they definitely drifted apart.

And since he had been fucking snogging before bed, that’s what he dreamt about. Except, it wasn’t with Stephanie. In fact, he had no idea who it was. But they had short hair. Almost like his. What the shit?

Waking up in a cold sweat was so cliché, but it wasn’t the first thing he was thinking about. His sweater was soaked. Steph blinked her eyes open.

“Are you okay?” She had a sort of frown on her face. Like she was irritated.

“I- just a- just a nightmare”, She turned in the bed to face the other way. What the shit? He put his face in his hands.

After getting his shit together, he headed toward the kitchen. He needed coffee.

Dick was rummaging through the fridge. Tim watched for a minute, before gathering the things he needed. When grabbing his Wonder Woman mug, he purposely slammed the cupboard. He thinks Dick got about five seconds of air time. At least. Tim wished he could’ve gotten it on camera.

“Jesus, Tim. What in the actual fuck”, He ducked his head with his hand on his heart.

“Pussy. Literally how are you the Nightwing? Night wing. Meaning, like, grace of the night. Meaning, like, darkness, and scary stuff” Tim sipped his cold brew.

“Why are you even down here?” Dick side-eyed him, still a little jittery.

“Nightmare. I think”, He looked into his coffee, swirling it around like a ‘hip’ white woman.

“...what”, Dick asked, rightfully confused. “How do you not know if you woke up from a nightmare?”

Tim just shrugged. He focused his gaze to the window, just catching a glimpse of the night sky over the tree line. There was at least two more hours ‘til morning, he concluded, based on the placement of the moon. Fucking nerd.

Tim suddenly remembered his dream. It was a man. He had been kissing a man. He sucked in a breath. He’s not gay. He likes Stephanie. Liked. What? Oh my god. Tim, what the shit?

“Dude, you haven’t breathed in, like, a full minute.” Dick was standing next to him. Tim laughed.

“My bad”, he turned to the doorway, but Dick caught his shoulder.

“Y’know if you wanna talk about anything…like nightmares? You can talk to me about it. Okay?” Dick squinted at him, like that would make him spill.

“Yeah, I know, sorry. It’s fucking wei-”

“Not in the kitchen! If Alfred were here…”, Dick made the cross motion, kissing his fake rosary. Tim rolled his eyes.

“But, you just-!” Tim tried.

Dick shushed him.

Tim decided that he would not think about his dream from then on out.

—--

He thought about it. He thought about it a lot. He thought about it during the gala that Bruce held for his arrival. He thought about it during meals. He thought about it on his first night patrolli-

“Dude, get your head outta the gutter! They’re robbing a fucking bank over here!” Jason yelled at him. Of course. On his first night back as red robin, he had to be paired with Jason. And of course, they had to be saving a goddamn bank. Gotham Bank, to be exact, so it was pretty important. And the fact that he was spacing out while fucking swinging through the air was not comforting. To anyone. He narrowly avoided a building’s fire escape.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m back”, Tim sighed, hearing Oracle rambling about coordinates in the back of his head.

“You’ve been so dumb lately.” Tim shot a look at Jason. “What? I don’t know what’s going on. It’s not like you tell us anything.” Tim could practically smell the eye roll under Jason’s mask.

“Whatever, man. I just need to adjust again.” Sure, Tim. Just…adjust.

—--

Tim actually could not believe he was doing this. On his computer browser, he searched: am i gay?

Buzzfeed? He heard that was shit. But still, he could start with something.

Except being told you’re gay by buzzfeed wasn’t ideal. Wikihow? He honestly thought that was just meme templates. He kept scrolling, seeing some things about ‘neon genesis evangelion’ and ‘heartstopper’? …what? Finally, he stumbles across something about being ‘in between’ straight and gay. That intrigued him. And made some fucking firework in his chest go off.

Shit. Bisexuality? Tim sat under the covers of his bed. He needed more resources. He picked up his phone.

He typed, “Hey Conner, could we meet up for lunch tomorrow? There’s something I’d like to talk about, I think.”

Almost immediately, his best friend answered. “Sure! Love to. You've been gone for so long! Can I pick, though?”

Tim replied with a thumbs up.

“Great, I’ll send you the location tomorrow. ‘Night, Tim!” Tim liked the message, and the conversation ended.

He decided to do more research, so he looked up ‘bisexual’ on youtube. He made sure he was signed out, though.

Skipping through a video, he realized he related to almost everything the person was speaking about. Childhood experiences, teenage experiences, and just things that he did in general. But, it could just be a coincidence. I mean, there were like two hundred million thousand gajillion views. And comments that say ‘oh ya i do that all the time’ or ‘This is so accurate!’. So he could be doing these things, but not be bisexual. Right?

—--

“Tim, you’re staring into space, again.” He looked at Steph. He was. He was sitting straight up. Staring. At the wall of one of the family hall’s sitting rooms.

“Tim, did you meet someone else? Wh-while you were gone?” Stephanie asked, fidgeting with one of the pages of her book.

“What? No. What? Why?” Tim got extremely nervous for some reason. For some reason.

“You just… I don’t know. You don’t like kissing me. Or touching me in general. And we never talk anymore. I- did I do something wrong?” Tears were beginning to well in Steph’s eyes.

“No, no”, he opened his arms so that he could hug her. He kissed her head. “No, I’m so sorry. Things have just been… just give me some time. I need to get a few things worked out. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way at all.” She nods.

“I understand, but you know you can talk to me…like, if anything is going on?” she breaks away from the hug to look at him.

“Yeah, no. I know.'' They smile at each other.

—--

Tim checked his phone again, just to make sure he got the location right. He was at the right place, and only a few minutes early. It was a small diner, but it looked nice inside. Like, the kind of place teenage white girls would post ‘aesthetic’ pictures of. He walks in and a girl not much older than him greets him.

“Uh, I’m meeting someone?” Tim looked around, but Conner wasn’t there yet.

“So, table for two?” She smiled politely.

“Oh, yes please. Thank you”, He tried to smile back, but it probably looked like he was growling or something.

“You don’t happen to be Tim Drake-Wayne, do you?” She looked down to the floor, then back up. What the shit?

“Ah- actually, yes. I am. I’m surprised you would’ve recognized me”, And he actually does smile.

“W-well, it’s just… um, do you think we could get a picture together?” She actually started blushing.

“Sure! But, you’re acting like I’m famous”, he laughed.

“Well, to me and my friends you are!” She looked at the doors to the kitchen, before sneaking her phone out of her pocket. She turned on the camera, so Tim did the best smile he could and put up a peace sign.

“Hey, what’s your name? And do you have instagram? I could follow you, if you want?” He fidgeted with the seam of his shirt. She was still looking at the picture.

“Oh my god, you’re not joking, are you?” She basically shrieked.

“No, I'm not.” She inhaled slowly.

“My name is Bella, and my instagram is belluv. Do you want me to put it in your phone?”

“Sure! I love making new friends”, well, that’s not entirely true. But she was really nice. He watched as she typed it in, and followed herself. “Thanks, Bella.” He winked. Oh my god he winked.

“I- yeah”, she handed a menu to him. “Take your pick!”

As Tim sat down, he truly contemplated his existence for the (not) first time in his life.

“Ay, Timbo!” Ugh. "Dude, it's been so long since i saw you in person! Welcome back!"

“Do you really have to call me that in public?” He looked at Conner with a look of disgust.

“Um, yeah. Anyway, what’d you wanna talk about?”

“I- um… I don’t really know what to say now.” Why didn’t he think about this before?

“Okay, take your time. Is it… serious?” Conner scratched his eyebrow.

“Yeah, I haven’t told anybody else.”

“Not even Steph?”

“...” Tim just sat there.

“Is it about Steph?” Conner tried to make eye contact with the other.

“Yeah.” Tim almost whispered.

“Oh. Do you want to break up with her?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I’m so confused.” He slumped in his seat, putting his face in his hands.

“Is that all?” Conner had a look that said, ‘continue’.

“I think I’m bisexual.” Tim closed his eyes.

“Oh, okay.” Conner said.

“What?” Tim opened them.

“Dude, I honestly don’t care.” He sat up, waving his hands around. “No, like, I care, but not in a bad way. Y’know that Jon’s bi, right? And my dad? Well, y’know.”

“No, I did not know that.” Surprise of the day? What the shiiiit?

“So, why do you wanna break up with Steph?” Conner asked, opening a sugar packet from the table’s, uh, what do you call it?

“Oh, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. I just think it’s, like, because I was gone for so long, y’know? We just, I don't know, aren’t as close now.”

“That makes sense. You should tell her, though.”

“I know. I think she knows too. She asked me if I was cheating on her, and I felt so bad.” Tim shook his head.

“Dude, you need to tell her, like, now.” Conner looked really concerned.

“I know. I know. I just needed to tell someone. But anyone from my family would’ve been… I'm just not ready yet.” Tim runs his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah I get it. And hey, it’s an honor to be the first person you came out to.” Conner smiles at him. He smiles back.

Chapter Text

Could he do this? Was Tim really about to break up with Steph? They’ve been together for so long. He honestly wouldn’t if she were happy. But she can sense that something is going on. She’s not dumb. Fuck. Weren’t blondes supposed to be dumb? He’s pacing at her door, not knowing what to do, when it opens. And slams against the wall.

“Tim. You’ve been pacing outside of my door for fifteen minutes. Please. Just tell me what you want to tell me.” Steph seems angry, and he totally understands.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Pace, I mean. I- yes have to tell you something, but I feel really bad about it.” He looks to the floor.

“Just come in, and then you can tell me whatever you’ve done.” So, yeah. She’s mad.

“No, it’s just…”, he walks into her room slowly. “Listen, I didn't do anything. Like, cheat. I wouldn’t do that, but… you know that we… drifted. When I was away, right? I just think it’s better if we’re friends. You’re my best friend. Out of anyone in the whole world. Like, more than Dick, or Jay, or Cass. And they’re, like, my best friends.” He was rambling.

“I know.” Is all she says. She’s sitting on a poofy chair with her knees up. “I… still want to be friends.”

“Me too. And Steph, I'm so sorry. I should’ve told you earlier, and I never meant to make it seem like I was cheating on you or anything.” She smiles.

“I know.” Then they hug. “So, since we’re back to friends… dude, what’s everyone else gonna think?” What the shit?

“Bro, I don’t know”, Tim’s eyes widen and they both laugh. He’s glad they’ll always be friends.

—--

Even though they made up, it’s still a little weird. Like, at dinner, and during family events, when they always used to sit next to each other? It’s weird. And Tim doesn’t know what to do with himself. People are always asking them about it, asking what’s going on. And ever since Steph took the ‘taken’ out of her twitter bio, the media is in an uproar. He really just needs a break.

So, when he gets a text message on instagram, it’s like a miracle.

From Bella, whom he met at the diner a few days ago. “Hey, I was wondering if you want to meet my friends? I told them I met you but they don't believe me. Also I think you’d like them!”

It’s not like he has anything better to do. So he replies, “Sure, I'd love to meet them. Just text me the deets.” He facepalmed. Even if he were a normal sixteen year old, that would still be weird. And yet, she still texted back.

“Okay, we were thinking about going to an art museum at about 11am! I’ll send you the location on google maps.” That was actually a relief. He likes art, but he doesn’t get to appreciate it as much as he should. What with all the Red Robin business. The only time he really gets to look at it is when he’s rescuing it from the Riddler or something.

Tim decides to respond with, “That’s perfect, I’ve been wanting to go to one of those for forever!”

Bella likes his message. “I’ll add you to a group chat with all of my friends that are going.” When he clicks on the link, he immediately knows that he likes the people.

The names they are all using are things like, ‘knuckles’, and Tim instantly thinks of his favorite sonic character. ‘bernie’, which doesn’t ring a bell but excites him all the same. ‘freddie mercury’, he laughs at that. And the last one, simply labled as, ‘gay’. That makes him hesitate, but he inhales and goes to change his own name from, ‘timdwayne’ to ‘timothy’. He supposes he can earn a nickname once he hangs out with them.

As soon as he says, “hi”, Tim’s phone explodes.

Everyone is saying multiple things at once, but he picks out a few messages that are things like, “AJREU!#IQG”, or “OHMYGFUCIGN GOFDE R”, and things like, “someone pls pinch me”, and “i need one of those things that electrocutes u when u r dying”. But, unfortunately, no one can hand ‘knuckles’ a defibrillator, because no one sees the message.

Once things calm down a bit, ‘knuckles’ introduces themselves with, “well now that uve seen the darkest part of me ill now bless you with my name”, and everyone likes/and or laughs at them. “Im the one and only thian but u pronounce the ‘th’ like ‘t’. yw. also i go by they/them prosnoisn” which makes Tim smile a bit.

So, of course, everyone else tells him their names. ‘freddie mercury’ is actually Bella. He could’ve guessed, honestly.

“Im bernard but its kinda stupid so i usually go by bern or bernie but do whatever idrc. And im a dude. jk lol i go by he’him”

And Tim, being the sympathizer he is, says “at least your names not timothy. And same”. And literally everyone else says ‘oh true’, or ‘lol yeah’. Which makes him feel… so much better about himself. But whatever, he knows they’re joking.

After that, ‘gay’ tells him, “my nmae is raina and u pronounce it like rainuh like rain like storming yk? snd im any pronound but dont stick to one like use all of thm equakt” and Tim laughs at multiple things in that sentence (?).

Then, Tim sees that bernie has said, “omg i actually thought bella was joking ab u gracing her w ur presence”.

And he responds with, “well she was im just a bot”.

‘freddie mercury’ responds to Tim saying, “dont say that they might actually believe it”.

So, they all say things like “LMAOO”, or “fuck u”. And as the conversation comes to an end, Tim realizes that he’s proud of himself. He made friends. Not really, but he now has friends that don’t live with him or have lived with him. It puts him in a positive mood.

Now, Tim isn’t often in a positive mood. But now that he is, he has a positive look on things. Like, say, the sexuality problem he’s currently having. He came out to Conner, sure, but that was easy. And plus, Conner has close connections with that… community. So, not only is he used to it, but he’s one of Tim’s best friends. And he’s super nice.

Obviously, Kate is gay. A lesbian. So he would tell her first.

Tim’s going to tell Kate that he’s bisexual.

He’ll do it. Now.

“Kate”, he texts. “I’m bisexual. And you’re the first person I'm telling. Other than Conner.”

She does not respond immediately. Which would be fine, usually. But it’s not usual. So, Tim just sits on the edge of his bed for about ten minutes, before she replies with, “Cool. Knew at least one of you guys would be gay.”

He kind of sits in shock for a second, then dislikes her message. “Whatever, thanks.” And she likes his message, and it’s all good. Okay. He came out to someone else. Tim exhales, flopping back onto his bed. He closes his eyes and smiles.

—--

That’s great and dandy, but how will he tell everyone else? He makes a list of all of his family’s names. B, Damian, Dick, Jay, Cass, Steph, Duke, Barbara, and Alfred. Then, he makes a new list, numbered one through nine. He puts Alfred at number one. That would be easy. Alfred has seen at least twice of everything in his life, so Tim doubts that he’d be bad about it.

Number two. He seriously considers Steph, but it’s just too soon. She may think he had been doing… something with a man while they were together. He doesn’t know. It’d probably be fine.

So, not Steph. He thinks about Dick. Not him. He would take it fine, probably, but he would have to do the ‘I love you no matter what, you’re my cute wittwe baby bwuver’, and that would either make Tim punch something, or cry. He decided he wasn’t ready for that.

So, for number two, Cass. Because she would probably just nod and hug him. Probably.

Number three. Tim dragged his hands down his face, pulling at his eyelids. “Ughhhhhh, what the shit? What do I even do?” he whispered. Maybe… Jay? No, Duke. Yeah. He put Duke at number three.

For number four, he had to put Damian. Because Damian said number four was his favorite number. So he put Damian at number four.

For five, he put Barbara. Barbara reminded him of the color yellow, and yellow was the color of five. Yes, Tim knows that makes no sense. But it does, so fuck off. If you disagree, you’re wrong.

For six, Dick. That way, he could have some warming up before the ‘I’m so proud of you! Omg wittwe baby!’.

Now, seven would be Steph. Seven is purple and that’s Steph’s favorite color. And for some reason, Tim has this crazy feeling that he’s basing who he’s coming out to on the color of certain numbers. Whatever, honestly.

For number eight, he writes down ‘Jason’ really fast because he feels bad. Like, Jason could have been like three or four. It’s honestly not about coming out anymore.

Well, he thinks, when he gets to number nine. Dear ol’ B is the last man standing. And if
Tim actually writes his name in this list, that will make it real. He’ll have to come out to him. So he doesn’t. He hides the paper in his nightstand drawer, and goes to sleep. He has a big day tomorrow.

—--

“Does this look okay?” Tim asked, holding out his arms in the new blue jacket he had gotten. It was a simple windbreaker with two neon orange stripes on the arms, but he still just wanted to look good. Make a good impression.

“‘S fine”, Cass said, and Tim knew she would tell him if it looked bad, so he believed her.

“Okay”, he turned to look in his full-length mirror. He had on his David Bowie T under the new jacket, and his red adidas shorts. This is (unfortunately) what he called his ‘style’, and it sucked, but the media ate it up. They said he looked hot, and stuff, so he continued to wear trash clothing in public.

It was 10:42 am. Tim only had about three minutes before Bella said she’d pick him up. She has said that Thian would be riding with them and Bella’s mom was driving. Honestly, he would have preferred Alfred, just to get rid of nerves, but he supposes he can relax with Bella and Thian. Get to know them in person. He had also worried that they wouldn’t like him, but he decided he’ll give them a day.

He was nervous, but not as nervous as the day he became Robin. So, it wasn’t that bad.

“Master Timothy,” Alfred knocked on his door, “your friends are waiting for you out front.”

He turned to Cass. She gave Tim a thumbs up, and he made sure he had his wallet, phone, and watch. He called to Alfred, smiled, and left.

Getting into the backseat of Bella’s mom’s jeep was nerve-wracking, and so, so very exciting. Bella was sitting shotgun, with Thian next to him in the back.

“Hello, Timothy! I’m Ms. Nocito!” A very pretty woman with dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail greeted him. “It’s so nice to meet you. When Bella told me she had invited you, I was shocked! But, here you are!”

“Mom, please”, Bella shook her head. “Hey, Tim. nice to see you again.” She held out her fist, so he bumped it.

“It’s great to meet you too, Ms. Nocito. And please, call me Tim.” She laughed, driving off.

Thian had long black hair, pulled to the sides with brightly colored barrettes. They seemed very anxious. “Hello.” is all they said.

“Hi”, Tim smiled, because maybe that would make them feel more comfortable. Nope. They just blushed. He laughed. “It’s really great to meet you in person. I need more friends.”

“You? Ha. I couldn’t imagine”, Bella rolled her eyes in the front seat.

“No, you couldn’t”, Tim smiled. On the way there, he actually did relax. Thian was shy, but really nice, Bella was funny. And her mom, well, her mom made Tim feel like he wanted to cry? But also laugh. He would say what the shit, but it didn’t feel entirely appropriate.

They were meeting Raina and Bernard at a coffee shop before going to the museum. They were getting out of the jeep, and walking to the front of the shop. Tim had never gone there before (like most places). The doors were ‘pull’, so Bella had a particularly hard time trying to push them open.

“They should already be sat down, so if you give me your order, I'll do it for you and you can go sit”, Bella said to him and Thian, getting out her wallet.

“Okay, get me anything, I literally don’t care,” he paused, “as long as it has caffeine.” She laughed.

“Just get me the cold chocolate thing”, Thian was already walking over to his friends’ table.

Tim didn’t know who was who, but he assumed Raina was the one with blue twists, and Bernard was the beautiful angel boy from his daydreams. He felt his face get all hot. He almost bumped into a man because he was so transfixed with Bernard’s face. He was so, so handsome. Thian sat down across from angel boy, and Tim sat across from the person with blue hair (Raina?).

“Hey, I’m Raina.” Said the person sitting by the angel boy. He was right.

“Hi, I like your hair. A-and, it’s nice to meet you guys”, Tim looked at the really pretty blonde hair. Maybe he had a thing for blondes.

“I’m Bernie. And same.” Gosh darn it. His smile was so cute.

They both had tiny cupcakes, decorated like…oh my god. They were decorated like the bats. Bernie, (his new favorite) had Red Robin (oh. my. god.. Raina had Nightwing, which was like the word equivalent to shrugging, but he would take it.

“Do you guys like the Bats?” Tim asked, very smoothly.

“Yeah! My favorite is just Robin, and Bella likes Red Hood!” Thian almost shouted, because he was so excited to talk about them.

“Sorry ‘bout Thian, they’re a bat nerd.” Bernie rolled his eyes. Tim would forgive Bernard for anything ever.

“It’s fine, I really like Red Robin myself.” If any of Tim’s family were here, they would all be on the floor with tears in their eyes.

“Same! He has the best costume. Makes him look suuuper hot”, Bernard’s eyes got all dreamy-like. Tim almost choked on air.

“Oh, shut up, dude. We all know about your very serious and stupid crush on Red Robin”, Raina sets her face in thier hands before continuing, “But we also all know that Nightwing is wayy hotter. Like, the full body suit? Absolutely dashing.” Thian and Bernard both groan at the same time. Tim laughs. Like, actually laughs.

Barnard stares at him. He doesn’t notice because his eyes are closed, but the thought that he was having earlier is being reciprocated.

“It seems like you guys have really thought about this”, Tim raises an eyebrow.

“No, what? Whatever could you mean? We have no idea what you’re talking about!” Raina just smiles at him. He laughs some more. “But, we all do know -no matter what we say- that Nightwing is the best.”

“Not true”, Bella joins, carrying Tim and Thian’s drinks. “Obviously, Red Hood is better. He literally came back from the dead.” Tim has heard that exact argument from Jason himself.

“He probably just ran away and decided to come back.” Raina deadpanned.

“Oh, how you wound me”, Bella challenged. She sat at the end of the table, between him and Raina.

“Okay, let’s agree to disagree!” Thian waved his hands in between them, breaking up a soon-to-be fight.

“Fine”, Bella rolled her eyes. “Hurry up and finish your coffee so we can go to the thing.”

“You literally haven’t even finished yours.” Raina argued. Bella shot her a look. Tim stared at Bernard.

Chapter Text

As they finish up their coffee, the chat about which bat is better sort of dies down. A little.

“Hey, I'm just saying”, Raina shakes her head as they're walking out of the shop. “I know that you're all too dumb to see it, but Nightwing just is the best.”

Bernie punches him on the arm. “Yeah, but Red Robin’s still hotter.” He snickers. Raina acts like Bernard had enough muscle to do any damage.

“I'm beginning to think that's all you value him for”, Tim jokes. Jokes, because he loves the attention. Bernard blushes. That's hot. Anyways.

They're walking to the museum, when some rando stops them. “Are you Tim Drake?” The man says, pointing at Tim.

“Me? Um, no. I think you have the wrong person…”, Tim starts walking again. His friends are a little shocked, but manage to keep up.

“Dude!” Thian laughs.

“It's because he didn't say ‘Drake-Wayne’. I did that on purpose, y’know”, Tim rolls his eyes, but he's smiling.

“So, you're saying that if I hadn't said ‘Drake-Wayne’, you wouldn't’ve become friends with me?” Bella asks, eyes wide.

Tim just shrugs and winks. And. ‘Holy shit’, Bernard thinks. ‘Wink at me, please.’

The museum is fairly big, not a state funded one or anything, so Tim thinks it's one of those hidden gem ones. And as it turns out, it totally is.

At first, they stay together and appreciate everything at the same time. But as they travel deeper into the building, Raina, Thian, and Bella run off to the pottery section, when Bernard and Tim go the opposite way to the paintings.

The art ranges from pretty recent, to the 1600s. Even Tim’s favorite painting is there. Two Earthlings by John Brosio is sitting in a room off to the side of the main painting hall. As soon as he sees it, he tugs at Bernard’s sleeve and runs over.

When he gets there, he sort of just stands there and stares at it. He’s seen pictures of it online, but he's never seen the real thing in person. He feels Bernard slowly shuffle to his side.

“Do you like this one?” Bernard asks. Tim can feel the blonde looking at him. He looks back.

“No, I love it.” He turns back to appreciate it fully. “It reminds me how everything is like this. And, I don't know, I like the way the paint isn't blended.” He smiles, and Bernard laughs. He made Bernard laugh. He can still feel the blonde looking at him.

“You know, when Bella told us she talked to you, and that you were nice, I was really surprised. But now that I've met you, it's hard to imagine that I ever felt that way in the first place.” Bernard is smiling, and Tim can tell he means it.

Tim chuckles. “Thanks. Usually, when I'm nice to people I'm acting, but something about you - and your friends, makes me want to not act. Like, making friends my age is hard enough, but actually having things in common with people is almost impossible.”

“I have the same problem and I'm not even rich”, Bernard is still looking at him, and they both laugh.

“Y’know, if you wanna… I don't know, come over to my house after this, then you're welcome to”, Tim offers, shrugging. Bernard blinks at him twice.

“You're offering an invite to your castle?” Bernard lifts his index finger to Tim’s chest. “And we don't have to pay?” Tim laughs. He takes Bernard's hand and puts it on the plack for Two Earthlings by John Brosio.

“This is payment enough. I've had an amazing time. I really like you guys. Even though I just met you.” And somehow, they both know that Tim is talking about one person in particular.

“Okay, Anna.”

“A Frozen joke? Really? I take back everything I said.” Bernard laughs. Tim starts toward the door. “Oh my god. Goodbye.”

“Wait! Wait, I'm sorry!” Bernard hopelessly pleades. “I will never make another Frozen joke again!” He catches up with Tim, and they start walking to the pottery section to find the others.

“Dude, that should go without saying.” Tim flops his hand backwards in gesture.

They spot Raina first, their blue hair sort of maybe standing out. “Hey! Guys, look at this ancient japanese tea set! It's so awesome how it was all preserved in place.” Thian is admiring the set when they get over to it. Tim looks at it, because that is genuinely interesting. He sees the almost faded paint, but can still make out the beautifully placed lines.

“Hey. Tim said we could come over to his after we're done here. Are you guys all up for that?” Bernard fills them in and Tim nods.

“Holy shit, really?” Raina says, eyebrows raised. “I’m all for it!”

Thian’s jaw is open and Bella is texting on her phone frantically. “Fuck, guys. My mom says I have to go home, like, now.” Thian puts his hand on her shoulder.

“I am so, so sorry.” Thian pretends to wipe a tear from their eye, but then starts smiling evilly. “That you won't be joining us for the afternoon of a fucking lifetime! Loser! Oh, I can come, by the way.” Bella is looking at them… piercingly, but takes a deep breath.

“Um, I'm sorry, Bella. I promise this won't be a one time thing. You can come over some other time! Plus, I had a great time today. Thank you so much for inviting me.” Tim smiles at her and holds out his hand. She shakes it.

“I must go now, but never forget me.” Bella runs off with her arms out like a princess.

“She's in theater”, Raina says.

“Oh.” Tim lets his hand fall to his side, but it accidentally hits Bernard's. “Oh, Sorry!” He shouts.

At the same time, Bernard says, “Shit, sorry!” And they pause for a second, but both laugh. Thian and Raina just look at them for a second, then at each other. Thian raises an eyebrow. Raina shrugs.

“I'll call Alfred, he can come pick us up.” Tim grabs his phone to pull up Alfred’ contact.

“Should we know who that is?” Raina asks. Thiab elbows his side.

“Oh, sorry. He's my family's butler, but he's more like famil- hello? Oh, yeah. Hi.” Tim answers the phone while his new friends giggle. “No, but could you pick me and my friends up? We wanted to come over for a bit. …no, well, maybe just some drinks? It doesn't really matter. Thanks, Alfred! yeah, see you.” He hangs up and looks around. “What's so funny?”

“You have a butler?” Raina giggles along with Thian.

“Ugh. He’ll be here in ten minutes, so let's head to the front.” Tim rolls his eyes, but they keep laughing. They listen to him, though, and start walking out of the exhibit and to the front of the building.

“Oh! Is that the gift shop?” Thian points out.

Tim checks his watch. “We have enough time to go in, if you want.”

Thian and Raina run off to the entrance leaving Bernard and Tim to run after them. “They do this all the time.” Bernard looks around, as if to make sure no one's looking. Then, he whispers, “Honestly, me and Bella think there's something going on between them. Like, romantically.”

“No dip. And really? I guess I could see it, but it seems like they're just really good friends to me,” As they walk through the doorway, Tim watches them excite over little souvenirs. Well, the way Raina was looking at the other was maybe a little too lovingly.

“Eh, I'm just saying. So if you ever see them, you know, doing more-than-friends stuff, let us know immediately.” Bernard shrugs as he talks. Tim likes the way the end of his blonde bangs fall right above his eyes.

“Look, look, look! They have tiny car stickers of The Mona Lisa!” Thian shouts at them and Raina shoves little car stickers into the boys’ faces.

“Dude you suck at driving.” Bernard swats their hands away, squatting to look at keychains and charms.

“Yeah, but I could put one on my cousin's car!” Thian pleaded.

“Well, it's your money.” Bernard was now looking at a tiny keychain shaped like a sculpture of ancient greece.

“No! Tell me that I should buy it so I feel better about wasting my money!” Thian got on their knees next to him, showing him the stickers again.

Bernard sighed. “That is a great thing to spend your money on. I'm sure that your grown cousin will love it on his car!” He smiled. Thian shot up happily and sprinted to the cashier, Raina xfollowing closely behind.

“I cannot believe you're the voice of reason.” Tim chuckled, watching Bernard sift through the keychain charms to find something he liked.

“You say that like I'm not an obvious voice of reason. Actually, usually it's Bella. Since Bella’s not here it's me, and when I'm not here… I don't know. I don't think there is a voice or reason when neither me or Bella is here.” He picks up a pink see-through dolphin, and stands up. Tim kind of likes it. Maybe he'd come back and get Steph one. Or Damian.

“In my family there isn't really a voice of reason. We all have different ideas of ‘reason’, and we all act on it differently.” Tim thinks out loud as Bernard pays for his charm.

“Billionaire Bruce Wayne’s family? No way.” He takes Tim’s hand and sets the charm onto it. “Here. For you. To remember the first day we became friends. In person.” Bernard smiles.

And when they walk out of the gift shop, Tim is grinning wildly. As Bernard catches up with the others, he looks at his new dolphin charm. Now, whenever he sees that dolphin, he thinks of Bernard. And the way he was looking at Tim when he handed him the charm.

Once everyone had what they needed, they left the museum to get to their sweet ride. As Tim walked up to the door of the limousine, the others were looking around.

“Guys, come on!” Tim shouted, opening the door. “Hey Alfred. Thanks for picking us up on short notice.” He said while getting in.

“Dude”, Bernard’s eyes were wide when he scooted in next to Tim.

“Good afternoon, may I have your name?” Alfred asked, opening the window between the front and back of the limo.

Bernard jerked his head towards it. “U-uh yes! It’s Bernard. Bernard Dowd. And you're Alfred?”

“The one and only”, Alfred replied. Raina and Thian hopped in and sat by the window.

“Holy shit, Tim. Are there drinks in here?” Thian asked, feeling against the interior.

“And who might you be?” Alfred asked, raising an eyebrow at them. He swerved into the street to start driving to the manor.

Thian blushed as they scratched their scalp. “I'm Raina Caspell, and this is Thian Aoki. It's great to meet you Alfred!” Raina smiled and waved.

“It's also good to meet you. I'm glad Master Timothy is finally getting out of the house. Now then, I'll leave you to it.” Alfred closed the window.

Everyone looked at Tim.

“I do get out of the house!” Tim exclaimed at the same time that Bernard asked, “‘Master’?!” At the same time, Thian complained, “That was so embarrassing!”

Raina laughed when they all looked at each other.

“Ugh, I asked him to stop calling me that a long time ago, it's really not a requirement. Be ready for him to call you ‘Master Dowd’.” Tim laughed, elbowing Bernard.

During the ride, they talked about memories so Tim could get to know their group better, and Tim told them what to expect at the manor.

“No one will probably be there. Well, a lot of people are always there, but no one will probably even say anything to us. If you see anyone just wave or something. If I talk to them, they're probably either nice, or I want them out of our way. B, -I mean Bruce, will probably be in his office. Any questions?” The others blinked at Tim.

“Will you take us on a tour?” Raina smiled at him, and he couldn't say no. He nodded, and they all clapped, which made him laugh.

“Will we go to your room?” Bernard asked.

“Uhh, it's weird with rooms at my house. We have assigned rooms, but we all kinda share.” Tim waved his hands around. “I don't know how to explain it. But no. We'll probably go to a gaming room, because those are the comfiest.”

“What if, uh, someone like… calls us by things we don't want to be called?” Thian looks at the floor, then back at Tim.

“Oh, well even if anyone calls you, they'll probably just say ‘cutie’, or ‘loser’. But I'll talk to them if they do, don't worry.” Tim crosses his arms.

“How would they react to that, though?” Raina asked. He looked pretty nervous.

“Honestly? Don't know. But, it won't be bad. My family has… questionable beliefs, but they're good people. And dude, if you don't wanna come back here, just tell me! I would completely understand.” Tim kind of chuckled as they pulled through the gates and up the driveway to the extravagant front doors of Wayne Manor. They all got out of the car, save for Alfred, who rolled down the passenger seat window.

“Master Timothy, I will prepare some snacks if you would like to take your friends inside?” He offered.

“Sure. Thanks Alfred!” Tim smiled at him.

“Yeah, thank you, sir!” Thian waved. Bernard and Raina joined in.

“Of course, anytime.” And with that, he drove around to the garage. Tim walked up to the doors, taking the keys out of his pocket.

“You actually live here?” Raina asked Tim. “How did we become friends with a famous rich kid?” She whispered to Thian. Tim laughed, the doors clicking open.

Tim stepped in, seeing what he always did when he came home. The huge entry hall, the two grand staircases, and two huge doorways on either side of where they were standing.

“Home sweet home,” Tim muttered. He turned around to see his new friends with their jaws hung open. “Do you guys wanna take the elevator? Or the stairs. Or do you wanna see this floor, which is not actually a part of this house that anyone lives in?”

“Honestly? I wanna see all of it.” Bernard says. The others nod.

“Alrighty!” Tim smiles, walking them into the room on the right. He shows them the main living room, the main dining room, the dance hall, the speech room, and the bathrooms for guests.

By the time they get back to the entry hall, Thian is gasping for breath. After everyone is staring at them and patting them on the shoulders, they huff, “I have asthma, douchebags.” And that makes them all laugh.

“How about I show you the places I like,” Tim offers. He looks at Bernard, who smiles at him.

“Sure.”

“Okay! We’ll take the elevator.” Tim says, mostly to Thian. They all get in, and Tim presse the ‘3’ button. ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ starts playing over the speakers.

“What the fuck?” Raina laughs. “I was totally expecting awkward hold music.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Tim shrugs, and they all laugh. The elevator beeps. The doors open and they all stumble out.

Tim takes them to the family kitchen first, the one that Alfred uses to cook, and where Tim makes his delicious coffee.

“Actually, most of us are banned from here. The only reason I'm not is because I've never actually attempted to make anything.” Tim slides around the granite island to his coffee machine. “This is my coffee machine. It's mine. No one else in this house uses it, and if they do, I'll find out.”

Bernard sits on a stool at the island. “Why is anyone banned from here?”

“Oh, one time, my brother Dick was trying to make macaroni and cheese, but he forgot that plastic can't go in the microwave, and it melted it. We had to get a new microwave.” Tim explained. He looked over to Raina and Thian who were sizing themselves up against the refrigerator.

“Dude, your fridge is twice the size of mine.” Thian giggles.

“I have a big family,” Tim shrugs. The others nod.

“So, I think I'll show you my library next. I know that sounds kind of stupid, but it's cool. You'll see.” Tim walks out into the hallway again.

“Wait, your library? As in, there are multiple libraries in this house - castle?” Raina shuffled up next to him.

“Yes. Some people,” he answered, thinking mostly of Jason and Damian, “have different ideas of what a library should have in it. I'm right, of course, but they don't see that.”

“Of course.” Bernard mocked, rolling his eyes.

They had passed several doors, until they stood in front of a different one that was painted bright red. Tim pushed it open, and smiled. He loved it. His library has two levels. Half on the third floor, half on the fourth, which was right by his bedroom. The railing and shelves were all tinted red, so it was a nice auburn color. The books were organized by topic, genre. and were in alphabetical order. Not by author, but by title. Which he thought was the only right way.

The bottom level had sofas and bean bag chairs, plus some tables and a fireplace. There were stairs leading to the upper level, which had ladders and railing. In the middle of the ceiling, there was a huge chandelier that didn't really go with anything else, but he loved the look of. Some paintings hung on the wall, some gifted to him by Damian, that Damian painted. He was so happy to be home again, that he almost forgot he had people there.

“Tim! Why were you doing research on vampires?” Bernard called. He was standing over a table with many papers, books, and a computer spread out over it.

Tim felt extremely embarrassed. How could he forget about his research? “Oh! I just, I don't know, I like learning about folklore and things like that.”
He thought Bernard would make a face, like some people in his family do, but he just nods.

“Cool! Same. Do you know about ‘Hachisakusama’?” Bernard wiggled his eyebrows at Tim.

“Ugh not this again!” Thian groaned from the level above. “Dude, she gives me the creeps!” Bernard rolled his eyes.

“Oh, yeah. I've heard of her. Sometimes things make me want to not travel. I have a habit of believing in things even though they're not real.” Tim sighs.

“Who says she's not real?” Bernard laughs. Tim shoves him onto the couch. He just laughs more.

“Okay, pack it up. Let’s go to our final destination: The Gaming Room.” Tim says, climbing the stairs.

Chapter Text

Only sometimes used for games, is where Tim Drake basically lives. He sleeps there, eats there, and does games there. The Gaming Room is super cool. It has one of those square sofas that you can take the middle out of, and it becomes a table/futon. There are a lot of cupholders and blankets.

In the corner of the room, there's one of those basketball machines, which Tim is actually great at. There's Air Hockey, Fooseball, and ping pong.

At the front of the room, there's a huge TV, hooked up to a ps4 (his ps5 was coming in the mail) and compatible with any device. The TV stand is crowded with multiple Nintendo switches as well. In the corner opposite of the sporty games, there's a gaming chair with a couple computers for streaming and gaming. Tim is a tech wiz. Not really, it's just that no one else in his family knows tech as well as he does.

“I can't believe I'm in the Wayne family's gaming room, holy shit.” Bernard zips around the room, admiring everything he sees up close.

"Do you have Mario Kart Party?” Raina asks, raising his eyebrow and crossing his arms.

“Do we live in America?” Tim smiles at her. He holds his arms out, gesturing for them all to sit down. Raina laughs.

He hands out the Nintendo switches, giving everyone the color he thinks they are. He gets red, Bernard gets yellow, Thian gets green, and Raina gets blue.

“I get Bowser.” Raina shouts.

“No fair!” Thian whines next to them. “I want Waluigu then.”

Bernard shakes his head. “Donkey Kong solos.”

“You're all insane, Rosalina is literally the best thing created by this game,” Tim smugly says, which causes an uproar from the rest. A knock on the door interrupts them.

“Hey. Alfred told me to bring these to- wait. Did you make friends?” Dick steps through the doors. Raina and Thian laugh, while Bernard is doing his best to hold it in.

“This is who burnt the macaroni and cheese plastic into the microwave.” Tim sighs, not even looking at him. They laugh harder, but Dick’s mouth curves downward in a slight frown.

“You don't get any of these snacks.” Dick hands the plate to Thian. “Don't let him brainwash you into the Rosalina thing. It worked on Damian.” He shakes his head.

“For a good reason.” Tim rolls his eyes.

“Peach is better, stronger, smarte-”, Dick tries.

“This is why you have no bitches”, Tim shrugs.

“So. What are all of your names?” Dick looks to the group.

“I'm Thian. Aoki. Thian Aoki.” They blush as they introduce themself.

“I'm Bernard Dowd”, he said, holding his hand out for Dick to shake. Dick took it.

“I'm Raina Caspell”, they said with a smile and small blush. Maybe her crush on Nightwing was carrying over…

“Well, I'm Richard Grayson.” Dick says, smoothing his hair in the pompous way that he does.

“His name’s Dick”, Tim laughed.

“Goodbye. Nice to meet you all. Sorry you had to make friends with Tim.” Dick finger-guns his way out of the room.

“Dude what are these? They're fucking amazing,” Raina drools over Alfred’s scones.

“Right? I don't understand how he does it,” Tim smiles and shakes his head. He gets onto the couch, choosing to sit between Bernard and Thian.

He can't help but wonder if that was planned, because Bernard sat at the end of the couch, so the only place open was next to him. He’s probably reaching, though.

They play Mario Kart Party for the next hour or so, but eventually get bored.

“Wanna go back to the library?” Tim suggests. “We can eat dinner and watch something.”

The rest of them nod. “Can we watch Annihilation? It's a really good movie, trust.” Raina asks as they walk to Tim’s personal library.

“Ooooh I love that movie!” Tim turns his head to look at them. Raina and Tim immediately start fangirling over it while Bernard and Thian just watch them with confused looks. As soon as they get to the library, They decide on what to eat for dinner.

“What about… Chinese?” Bernard suggests. Tim is fine with whatever.

“I had chinese a few days ago. How ‘bout Taco Bell?” Raina doesn't even get the entire sentence out before everyone is yelling protests.

“Fuck no.” Thian crosses their arms. “I am not disgracing my ancestors like that just to violently shit it out.” Everyone bursts out laughing. Tim thinks Thian can be extremely funny without trying to be. Or even knowing.

“What if we get Chick-Fil-A?” Tim gets out through dying giggles.

“Sure, I'll be homophobic for an hour”, Raina agrees. Thian and Bernard laugh and agree as well.

“Okay, just tell me what you want and i'll get it delivered.” Tim says.

After they eat the food and watch the movie (10/10 would watch again), they all get picked up and go home. Tim stays in his library, though, picking through all of the pictures he took with his friends.

He decides to post one of all of them at the coffee shop, one with Bernard and ‘Two Earthlings’, and one of them all watching the movie on Instagram. He captions it ‘Made cool new friends. compliment them.’ and tagged them. He posted it on Twitter, too.

It only took a few minutes for it to blow up. He then sent the rest of the pictures to the groupchat. He also named it ‘red robin lovers’.

He yawned. He sat his phone next to him and he laid down on the couch. He smiled.

“What's going on with you and Steph?” Cass spoke from above him. He would've been startled, but he was used to it.

“She already told you.” Tim said. he was actually only 70% sure she did.

“Why, though?” She sat down, putting his legs on her lap.

“We just drifted. I was busy, she was busy. You know I'm so shit at e-dating, or whatever.”

She nodded.

“I’m bisexual. That's not why we broke up. I just wanted to tell you.” His eyes were squeezed shut and his list went completely out the window.

She exhaled. “Okay. I'm glad you made new friends.” She grabbed the remote to turn on The Walking Dead, her secret guilty pleasure.

Tim had known that he would have to get back to reality at some point. He would have just rather it be later than sooner. He crossed his arms behind his head. Cass wasn't going to leave anytime soon. Not that he minded. He just… needed some time. Alone. She knew that. He knew that she knew that. But he also knew that she was there to keep him from spiraling. She knows him well. But then again, she can read anyone like an open book.

“How’d you know?” She asks, breaking the silence.

“That I’m bisexual?” She nodded. “Um… I don't know. I think I always knew. I saw something about it on my phone the other day, and… it just kind of clicked? I had a crush on Conner when we were younger, but I'm just now realizing it.”

“I had a crush on Kara.” She admitted. Tim shot up.

“You mean-?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Wait, are we the same? or…”, He asked, moving his legs off of her’s.

“I haven't had much time to think about it.”

After another hour or so of watching bad southern acting and Daryl Dixon (he’s so fucking hot what the fuck), Tim walked to the kitchen to get coffee.

Alfred was there, preparing dinner for everyone. “Hello master Tim. Did your friends have a nice time?”

“Yeah. Thanks Alfred. They really liked your scones.” Tim answered. Alfred made a noise in gratitude. Tim grabbed a mug and started getting the things he needed.

“Timothy, is something wrong? I've noticed that you and Stephanie haven't been… as close lately. But it's not just that, hmm?” Alfred was mashing some chickpeas.

“Um…”, Tim didn't know what to say.

“You don't have to tell me, of course, but I might be of some help”, Alfred wasn't pushing, and Tim knew he was right.

“Well… about Steph, we just… we're just friends now. We weren’t as close while I was gone, and it rubbed off.” Tim took a deep breath. “And I know it doesn't really matter, but I'm bisexual. And… nevermind. That's it.” He was turning the coffee mug around in his hands, leaning up against the counter.

Alfred glanced up at him, then looked back down. “I see. Do you plan on getting back together with Stephanie?”

Tim didn't say anything.

“Hm.” Alfred sighed. “You know that we all welcome you no matter your sexuality, Timothy.” He looked at Tim. “Even Bruce. Bruce loves you all.”

That was exactly what Tim needed to hear. He still had some doubts, sure, but Alfred was always right. “Thank you”, was all he could get out. He really didn't want to cry in front of Alfred.

Alfred nodded. “Any time, Sir.”

Tim headed to the Batcave. He needed to do some detective work on some minor villains escaping the asylum. Worst case scenario it was a cover for something bigger.

Duke is working out. Should he tell him? Why would he even care? Tim tugs on the hair above his right ear. He doesn't know what to think anymore.

Walking over to the Batcomputer, he notices that someone’s pulled up his case already. Everyone knows not to mess with his cases. What the hell is going on? He jogs to the main keyboard but there's no sign of anyone or thing.

“Duke! Y’know who was here last?” Tim shouts at him.

“Nah, man. I'll let you know if I do, though”, he shrugs and goes back to his dumbbells .

“Thanks”, Tim mutters. None of it has been tampered with, but he knows something’s up.

He decides to finish up for the day, but types out ‘whoever’s messing with my shit, i will find you’, just to be safe. He's only a little irritated. It's funny how your day can go from amazing to bad to worse. He's overreacting. And now he's spiraling. He puts his head in his hands.

“You alright?” Duke comes up behind him.

“Yeah”, He sighs. Duke puts his hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“You and Steph break up?” Duke casually asks.

“Yeah”, Tim keeps his head in his hands.

Duke pats his shoulder. “Sorry, man.”

“It's fine”, Tim takes a deep breath. “I'm bisexual.”

“Oh. Well, that's good. Yeah. Doesn't change a thing. I support you.” Duke has always been awkward, but Tim supposes that he would do the same thing and he starts laughing a bit. So does Duke.

Tim lifts his head up. “You're a real charmer.”

“You just got dumped.” And Tim didn't feel like telling him that he's the one that broke up with her.

“At least I had a partner.”

“Who says I don't?”, Duke raises an eyebrow and walks away.

Tim gets up after him. “Wait. What? Duke! Wait up! What do you mean?”

And Duke gets in the elevator without Tim and laughs his ass off. Tim stands there, confused and questioning.