Archive of Our Own ^beta

Tim gets cold easily. It’s always been that way. He feels chilly even when everyone else seems perfectly comfortable in an air-conditioned room or on a breezy day. He wears jackets and sweaters and hoodies as needed, and he doesn’t mention his discomfort. Mom and Dad don’t want him messing with the thermostat at home too much, especially when they’re actually there, and it would be rude to complain about a little chill in a public place or in someone else’s home. 

He gets sick easily too. Nothing too terrible (he gets his flu shot every year, after all), but he seems to catch every little cold that goes around school, leaving him sniffly and achy. But he’s fine, really. It doesn’t stop him from doing anything he needs to do (or wants to). In fact, he often feels a little better when he has something like Bat photography to take his mind off being sick. 

It’s not surprising that being allowed in the Batcave and hanging out with Dick make him feel better too, because those are the two best distractions ever. The Cave is the coolest thing Tim’s ever seen! There’s a giant penny and a T. rex, he gets to listen on comms when Batman is out on patrol, and Alfred even lets him use the Batcomputer sometimes. And Dick keeps inviting him to do stuff or offering to teach him about vigilante things. He’s learned about first aid, he can pick some simple locks, and they’d even gone to the zoo together (although it was a little weird seeing real wolves in person for the first time). 

He’s allowed to spend time at Wayne Manor way more often than he’d thought, too. Bruce is still a little more distant, which is okay—Tim understands keeping things professional. But Alfred is always telling him he’s welcome to drop by for tea or a meal or if he needs anything, and Dick invites him to movie nights and training sessions and tells him he should stay the night when he tries to excuse himself after dinner. It’s nice. The manor is warmer than his own house—Bruce must have different rules about the thermostat than his parents. 

The downside is that the more he gets used to having all these nice distractions and spending time in more comfortable places, the worse it starts to feel by comparison when he spends too much time alone at home. It’s frustrating to realize that he’s apparently lost his tolerance for a little chill, but he isn’t about to go back to his old normal to get it back. It’s not that big a deal. 

At least, it’s not, until it is. Tim’s parents come home, and they’re staying for two whole weeks. Which is great, of course he wants to see his parents and spend some time with them while they’re home. But it means he can’t go next door for two weeks, and he has to turn down invitations from Dick in favor of plans with his parents. Which is fine! He likes hearing about their latest finds and the places they’ve been while they were away, and he appreciates the chance to go out to dinner as a family. 

But spending so much time in Drake Manor has him feeling a bit like another temperature-controlled artifact, chilled and untouched, in his parents' collection. He wears heavier sweaters and does his best not to sniffle in front of his parents (Dad says it sounds gross, and Mom says it’s childish and bad manners). 

He feels achy all over by the end of the first week. Maybe Mom and Dad brought home some fancy foreign germs, he thinks, and that’s why he feels more sick than a normal cold. He has to skip a business dinner where Dad wanted him to make friends with some competitor’s kid because he looks too sickly to be presentable. Mom says he’d make people worry he was going to pass whatever he has to them, which he understands. They have to go without him. 

And then they leave early after only eight days at home. They forget to tell him about the change in plans until he comes downstairs for breakfast the morning of their departure and finds their suitcases by the door. Dad says it’s necessary sometimes to take advantage of a good opportunity even on short notice, and “you understand, don’t you, sport?” And he does understand. He just wishes things were different sometimes. They’ve hardly been home long enough to leave their scents behind. 

He feels even worse when they’re gone, probably because there’s nothing left to distract him from his misery. So when Dick asks if he wants to come over, he agrees. It’ll take his mind off being sick, and he’ll be warmer at Wayne Manor. Win-win. 

But Dick takes one look at him, bundled up in two sweaters and still shivering, and gets all worried. 

“You don’t look so good, are you feeling okay?” 

“It’s just a cold. I get sick a lot, I’m used to it.” 

“Do you have a fever? You look so cold. We’ll ask Alfred to make you some soup and just watch a movie.” Dick ushers him into the kitchen, where Alfred expresses his sympathy and promises a warm, comforting soup. That sounds nice. He still feels cold even in the warm manor. 

He’s a little worried he might fall asleep halfway through a movie when Dick sits him down on the couch and offers him a blanket. He’s tired and sick, but he doesn’t want to be rude or make Dick think his movie choices are too boring. 

“You’re still shivering, do you want another blanket? Or a hug? Or you can shift if you feel warmer with fur, Alfred won’t mind a little fur on the couch.” 

A hug sounds really nice right now. Tim scoots a little closer and bites back a sad little whine at having to move sore muscles to do it. Dick pulls him closer and wraps his arms around him, and it’s so warm. Something flares in his chest, like a puzzle piece clicking into place, and the ache in his body begins to fade away. What was that? 

“Uh, Tim?” Dick sounds surprised. “Was that…?”

Tim looks up at him, confused. He’d felt it too? His face does something complicated, and he takes a deep breath before he speaks again.

“Okay. Okay.” He says under his breath before gently pushing Tim to sit up. “Tim. This might be a silly question, but do you know what just happened?”

“…no?” 

“I know your parents aren’t big on wolf stuff, so what do you know about pack bonds?”

“They connect pack members and allow them to get impressions of each other’s emotional state.” Tim recites. Why is he getting a pop quiz? 

“Okay, what about puppy bonds?” 

“They’re the first bonds you make, with your parents or whoever takes care of you.” 

“Right. So, new pack bonds between adults or even older kids and teens are usually formed by mutual intent. It’s sort of like you’re both reaching out for each other and you meet in the middle, I guess.

“But puppy bonds are formed spontaneously by the puppy with whoever takes care of them, like you said. It only works if there’s enough care and affection between the puppy and the other party, which is why you can bond with your parents and your siblings but not with a nice old lady who smiles at you in the grocery store, for example.

“Usually you lose the ability to bond spontaneously like that as you grow up, but in some cases you can still form new puppy bonds even when you’re a little older. When Bruce took me in, I would’ve been too old for puppy bonds, but because of the… the loss of my bonds at such a young age, I was able to make new puppy bonds with him and Alfie. 

“It’s like a self-preservation instinct, making sure kids with no bonds can easily make a new bond with someone who can keep them safe. Jason was the same way, but he went without any bonds at all for a while, and it made him a little sick.”

Tim doesn’t think he likes where this is going.

“You don’t have bonds with your parents, do you?” Dick asks softly. “You’re too old to have puppy bonded with me if you did.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Tim’s never getting invited over again, and Dick isn’t going to want to hang out with a kid who forms a puppy bond just because he’s been friendly. “I’m sorry! If you tell me how to undo it, I can-“

“Woah, hey, hey.” Dick puts his hands on Tim’s shoulders. “Remember what I said about puppy bonds needing care and affection?”

Tim nods mutely.

“Then you know I care about you if the bond was able to form, right?” He asks, and Tim nods again. “I’m not mad, it’s okay.” 

“But… you don’t want to keep the bond, right? Isn’t it rude to make a bond without asking? And you already have a pack.” 

“If you’re uncomfortable with being bonded, we can look into how to break the bond without hurting either of us, but I really don’t mind. A new bond doesn’t take away from the bonds I already have, and I can promise Bruce and Alfred will agree, if you’re worried about them. And it’s good for you to have a bond. You’re feeling better already, right?”

“I guess so.” He doesn’t feel achy anymore, and he’s starting to feel too warm in his layers of blanket and sweaters. He pulls the blanket off of his lap and picks at the sleeve of his topmost sweater, considering taking it off. 

Alfred arrives with the soup while he’s staring at the DVD player’s screensaver. Not that he really needs it anymore, since his “cold” was never a cold at all. It’s an odd feeling to reevaluate so much of the past. How many of his childhood illnesses had really been bugs picked up from school, and how many just the lack of bonds? Had his bonds with his parents fizzled out somehow, or had he ever had them to begin with? Is Drake Manor even that chilly?

“You’re looking much better already.” Alfred remarks as he sets the tray with the soup on the coffee table. “Should I get you something more substantial to accompany the soup?”

“Can I tell him?” Dick whispers, and Tim thinks about it. Alfred wouldn’t be mad about it, he thinks. And Dick had said so too. He nods, and Dick smiles. 

“Timmy and I bonded, he’s pack.” He says proudly, putting an arm around Tim for a side hug. Alfred smiles at them.

“Congratulations. I expect you’ll be bonding with Master Bruce and myself as well soon enough.”

“Really?” He can see bonding with Alfred, but even Bruce?

“Of course. Master Bruce will warm up with time.”

“He’d better. You’re officially my little brother now, and if he doesn’t shape up, I’ll steal you to be my sidekick in Blüdhaven instead. We could use a Robin too.”

“I’m not even Robin.” Tim protests, but he’s happy to be wanted. 

“Yet.” Dick winks. “It’s my name, and I already approve of passing it on to you. Bruce will just have to get used to it.” 

“What am I getting used to?” Bruce asks from the doorway. Dick looks to Tim for approval again, and again, he nods. There’s no reason to keep the bond a secret from just Bruce.

“Tim’s pack, we bonded.” 

“I see.” He looks surprised, but not upset. “Congratulations. I’ll see you at dinner, then?”

“Yeah, I’m keeping him.” Dick teases. “Oh, unless you had dinner plans with your parents? They’re still in town, right?”

There’s a hint of something like disapproval in his face at the idea, now that he knows Tim doesn’t have bonds with his parents. Tim doesn’t want people to think badly of them, because they’ve provided a lot more for him than some parents, and they’ve never hurt him (and because it makes him feel bad to think of them that way), but he knows Dick won’t like this either.

“They’re not, they had to leave early. But we had some dinners out while they were here, so it’s okay.” 

Sure enough, Dick’s brow furrows before he smooths it away. 

“Their loss is our gain. Maybe Alfred will let us have some of that cake in the fridge after dinner to celebrate.” He looks hopefully at Alfred.

“I think a celebration deserves better than leftovers, but since it’s nearly dinner time, the cake will have to do for tonight. I’ll make something more special tomorrow, if Master Tim is available to join us.”

“I am, but you really don’t have to go to the trouble.”

“Nonsense, I enjoy baking. And it’s not every day you have a new pack bond to commemorate.” 

“I’m here for the whole weekend anyway, we can make a day of it! We can do some training if you’re feeling completely better by tomorrow, and we could go to the arcade, or there’s a werewolf-friendly park not too far outside of town, or-“ Dick goes on to list a whole variety of things they could do. He doesn’t know Tim isn’t very comfortable with his wolf form, so the park is out, but the rest of the options sound fun. 

If he concentrates, he can feel a bright happy thrum from the new bond. He’s sure his end of it feels the same way to Dick right now.