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When Lex had the Drake boy kidnapped to scare his parents, he wasn't expecting that it would be so easy.
He also wasn't expecting that his hired henchmen would call him after a two days to tell him that his parents weren't answering and hadn't answered once in the near three days they'd had him.
He also hadn't been expecting the boy to be so calm and resigned about the situation as his hired henchmen told him he was.
And finding out that the boy had been kidnapped several times without his parents even noticing or paying a ransom?
Well….
Lex Luthor's heart may have been small, but he still had one, god damn it.
Which is how he found himself filing a suit of criminal neglect against the drakes and paying people off to make a fake death certificate and dead body for young Timothy.
He hadn't set out to give his sons and daughters a younger brother when this whole debacle started but he'd be damned if he left another child in the same situation he'd been in when he himself was still one.
The world was not going to get another Lex Luthor.
Not if he could help it.
"Alex! Connor! Lucinda! Jerry! Come here. I need to speak with you four a moment!" Lex called out, holding his youngest— Lena Jr (who was just a few months old and already had powers)—in his arms carefully as he did so.
Being a single father to five children—three of whom had superpowers—wasn't easy but Lex made it work. And he made it work a hell of a lot better than his father ever had.
Because he refused to make the same mistakes his father made with him and his siblings.
He refused to mess up his kids like his father did him, Tessa, Lena, Lydia, Julian, Lucas, and Grant.
His kids were gonna care about each other and have as normal of a childhood as he could give them.
Alex and Connor flew over immediately, with Jerry and Lucinda a bit far behind since they didn't have any powers.
"What's up, pops?" Jerry asked mirthfully, smiling mischievously. He was the oldest of the five at 13 with long, curly brown hair and green eyes like his own.
The same eyes his younger brothers had.
Alex (age 9) stood behind him, his curly red hair falling in his sweaty face. Holding Connor and Lucinda's hands (both were 6 with black hair but while Connor had green eyes, Lucinda had blue. Lex was sure he could still pass them off as twins if he wanted. Probably triplets now if Tim looked similar enough to them for it to be feasible).
All three were giving the usual intense stare.
Lex was starting to wonder If that was a genetic thing given the fact that his youngest daughter also had a similar stare.
…
Maybe he needed to take a nap after this.
It wouldn't do for him to be paranoid when he met his new son.
"You five will be getting a new brother. "
"What? Why?" Lucinda whined. Likely tired of being surrounded by boys.
"Because a boy your age needs a family that cares about him, Lucy bug." Lex explained, patiently. Making sure to look her in the eyes as he did so.
She still didn't look happy but relented regardless. "Fine."
"What's he like?" Connor asked curiously.
"You'll find out soon enough. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. "
"New or used?" Alex asked curiously, tilting his head while Jerry eyed him suspiciously, which hurt but fair.
“Are we stealing him?”
“ Wonderful responses, both of you. “ Lex deadpanned, giving them an unimpressed look as he readjusted Lena and began to walk away “He’ll be here tomorrow. Be ready.”
Ignoring Jerry’s call of “You didn’t stay no! Why didn’t you say no?” as he did so.
“Mercy?”
“Yes Boss?”
“Prepare another room near Connor’s. One for a six year old boy. He likes Robin, Photography, cars, and skateboarding, I’ve been told.”
“Yes sir.”
“And Mercy?”
“Yes Mr. Luthor?”
“Put yourself down as his godmother and remind me to call my siblings to inform them.”
Mercy smiled.
“I’ll be right on it, Mr. Luthor.”
Lex stared at the zoom screen, allowing his living siblings and siblings-in-laws to chat and share their own news as he waited for a chance to do so his self.
Lena and Jeff had finally managed to enroll their daughter, Lori, at the same school he was planning to enroll Lucinda, Tim, and Connor. And apparently, Nasthalthia (the daughter of their oldest sister, Lydia, who had long since passed), had gotten an award at school.
Lucas was trying to go sober again and his son, Leonard, had built a remote control car out of spare parts around the house. He and Amanda, were unfortunately, getting divorced (likely due to something Lucas had done).
Grant had gotten a promotion at work and Chloe had gotten a big story of hers published in the paper, and their son was going to be in the school play.
And Tess was expecting.
Finally, it was Lex’s turn.
“I am pleased to inform you all that you are gonna be aunts and uncles again. His name is Timothy.”
All hell broke loose at that. Everyone asking a lot of questions that were overlapping.
“Who’d you knock up?” (Lucas).
“Nice name choice, why’d you chose it?” (Tess).
“Is he adopted?” (Lena).
Grant and Chloe, however, waited for the chatter to quiet down before they spoke up themselves. Both looking wary.
“This… Timothy… wouldn’t happen to be the Timothy Drake who you reported dead this morning, would it?”
Lex silently cursed. He should have expected that those two would realize what he had done.
His silence was answer enough for everyone.
“Alexander !”
“Lex, you can’t just kidnap a child—”
“Well, this has been a riveting conversation. I’ll arrange a meeting between all of you, my new fiancée, and him when he gets settled in—”
“New fiancée?!”
“Alexander Joseph Luthor don’t you dare hang up—”
Lex quickly exited the meeting and put his phone on mute. “I probably should have waited on those announcements…”
Mercy simply raised an eyebrow, as if to say i told you so, before going back to arranging things on her tablet.
“When shall Timothy’s homecoming gift arrive?”
“It should arrive shortly before he does with all it’s accessories.”
“Good. What did our vet have to say about the children’s pets?”
“Ignatius is due to shed soon, Wolf has an UTI, Whiskers is losing weight at an alarming rate, and Licks is in perfect health. Also Connor appears to have picked up an alien spear as a pet that seems to be harmless and is hiding it in his closet.”
“Does it need to be feed or walked?”
“It does not seem to need either.”
“Then I will allow him to think we’re unaware of the creature’s existence for a little while longer.”
“Duly noted sir. Also your father has scheduled another meeting with you. Should I cancel it for you?”
“Absolutely.”
“On it, boss.”
Timothy peered at him from behind one of the temporary henchmen he had hired’s leg, examining him shyly as he clutched the back of the man’s shirt.
He looked a lot younger than the six years old his files had documented with sickly pale skin and was, concerningly, lacking baby fat. His raven locks were cut into a horrendous looking bowl cut and he had dark bags under his blue eyes.
But regardless, Lex would still definitely be able to pass the boy, Connor, and Lucinda off as triplets when he enrolled them.
Once he got the boy new clothes that is, because at the moment the boy was dressed in a hideous orange sweater with red puff balls that was clearly too small for him and khaki pants that were being held up by a belt that was also clearly too big for him.
Which was unacceptable.
And judging by the expression on Timothy’s face, Lex had no doubt in his mind that the boy would agree with him if he voiced that thought.
Lex kneeled down to the boy’s height, flashing him what he hoped was a disarming smile “Hello, Timothy. I’m Lex. I assume you know why you’re here?”
Timothy nodded shyly and hesitantly spoke “because you’re adopting me.”
“That’s right. Do you know why?”
“Because mommy and daddy didn’t pay ransom for me, and didn’t notice I was gone which is… bad?” He looked up at the henchman for clarification, clearly not sure about that part of his answer. When he received a nod in response he continued “and you don’t want me to be put in a bad place by someone who is.. S-supposed to take… care of me?”
Lex did his best to not let his smile fall at how unsure the boy sounded.
He remembered when he once sounded like that.
And he tried his best not to dwell on another boy with black hair and blue eyes that had once sounded like that, too.
“Exactly. Your parents weren’t taking care of you the way they should have. And now I’m going to take over that job for them. But if I do, you have to keep the fact that you’re Timothy Drake a secret, do you understand?”
Timothy hesitantly nodded again before ever so quietly asking. “But if I can’t be Timothy Drake anymore, than who will I be?”
“You can be Timothy Luthor. Unless you’d prefer a different first name?”
Timothy was quiet for a few minutes. His eyebrows furrowed together as he thought about it. Before he finally seemed to come to a decision.
“I don’t like the name Timothy. Can I just be… Tim.. Instead? If that’s okay?”
Lex’s smile widened slightly as he reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Of course you can, Tim. Now.. what would you like to do first in your new home?”
The six year old shrugged, still peering at him with curious eyes. Not even noticing when the henchmen for hire left. "I don't know what's there to do?"
"Well. We could get you something to eat, show you your new room, introduce you to your siblings, or… you can open your homecoming present."
Tim's eyes lit up at that, just as Lex expected. "Present? I have a present?"
"Yes. I'm guessing you'd like to do that first. "
"Yes! I– I mean, of course. If that's alright with you. If not, we can do one of the other things."
"That's perfectly fine. Speaking of which, here it is now. Mercy picked it out."
The boy ran over to Mercy excitedly, practically bouncing on his feet as he did so. All shyness and hesitation forgotten. "What is it?"
Lex gave him an amused look. "If I told you, that'd ruin the surprise. Just know that you should be very gentle when opening it."
Tim's face turned serious—or as serious as a 6 year old's could—and nodded "yes sir."
"Why don't you go ahead and sit down at my desk so you can open it?"
Tim heeded his suggestion, practically vibrating with excitement like Connor did during a sugar rush. It was an adorable sight—not that Lex would ever admit it— one that he was sure he'd never forget.
He was doubly sure of that as he watched Tim carefully unwarp the box and lift the top of it off cautiously, as if he was handling a bomb. Only for his jaw to drop when he saw what was inside.
He looked at Lex with wide eyes. "What is it?"
"It's a hairless guinea pig. Since your siblings have pets we thought it'd only be fair to get you one as well. Do you like it?"
The ravenette nodded so fast Lex was afraid he'd break his neck, grinning like the joker. Showing off the fact that he was missing a tooth. "I love it! Is it a boy or a girl? What's it's name?"
Lex looked to Mercy, unsure of the answer himself.
"Pet shop said it was a girl. The name she came with is Lulu."
Lex's nose scrunched up in distaste, sure that Mercy had chosen that specific pet based on the name alone just to mess with him but said nothing. Knowing that he would never be able to get her to admit it.
Tim carefully reached out and gently ran a finger down the tiny creature’s back, looking mystified "she's so pretty…."
"And she's very fragile so you have to be very careful with her, okay?" Lex reminded, not wanting any incidents to occur.
He had managed to go this long without one of his children accidentally killing anything and he'd like it to stay that way.
"Okay Mr. Dad."
The business man raised a brow.
"Mr. Dad?"
Tim shrugged "I'm not Timothy Drake anymore, I'm Tim Luthor. So calling you Mr Luthor would be weird. Calling you by your given name would be rude. And I'm not ready to call you just dad yet."
He hid a smile. "Fair enough. What would you like to do next?"
"Can I see my room, please?"
"Of course."