grab your hat, get your coat, the cellar door is an open throat (open/closed)

[overlyprecocious]

Who: Tim Drake overlyprecocious, others
What: catch-all post for late April/early May. some post-Jason fight things.
When: late April, early May
Where: Dick's apartment, other places tbd
Content Warnings: dissociation, references to childhood neglect and abuse, (so far) light reference to food insecurity

starters in comments

Comments

[overlyprecocious]

“Oh.”

At least the conversation is… moving to something mildly more neutral. He doesn’t know which property would be down the road, but he recognizes the brownstone. “Bruce kind of - made me move in, once he realized how much time my parents spent away.” Not for lack of Tim trying to cover it up.

[mostdangerousbird]

“I tried to avoid it too,” Tim says without elaborating. “Before that, I think as long as they knew Mrs. Mac was around, they weren’t overly worried. Dick made me come to the Titans Christmas dinner one year, though, when he found out they weren’t back yet.”

[overlyprecocious]

“It’s nice, though,” Tim says because he’s not sure what else to say. It’s true. Living at Wayne Manor is much better than any of the Drake properties. Even if everyone happens to be out of the house, he never feels alone in the same way.

[mostdangerousbird]

“I know. And I know I’ll always have a place with Bruce.”

Just not at the Manor, because no one’s there at the moment.

“It doesn’t feel like a freshly sterilized modern art museum. It’s big and echoing, but then you open a door and find Dick’s old room. You know where to find Bruce at 7, or Damian in the morning, and you know what rooms are empty if you want space. But back then?”

He shakes his head. “Space was all I wanted.”

[overlyprecocious]

He finally disentangles himself from the hug, because now seems like the right time to do it. It was a good hug, though, and he’s kind of reluctant.

“I haven’t even found Damian here. Are you sure he really exists?”

[mostdangerousbird]

He’s just going to ruffle Tim’s hair and try not to laugh. “He exists. He texted me not too long ago. I… get the feeling he’s still in space-needing stage, and I’m okay with that. We don’t get along in my universe.”

[overlyprecocious]

Wow, okay. His hair was fine as it was, and he ducks away from the hair ruffle. He thought he was safe here!

“Why don’t you get along?”

[mostdangerousbird]

Sorry, Tim. That’s the rules: if you’re Tim, the hair must be ruffled affectionately. He sort of gets it now. But he is safe, and TJ breaks the contact much faster than Dick or Jason would.

(And it’s not because the question threw him.)

(It did, but they’re disconnected threads.)

“Damian lived with his mother at first. When he came to live with Bruce, he saw me as a threat to his role. He didn’t see Jason or Dick as poorly; they were independent adults, and I was still a minor.”

That’s… fair, right? It’s so hard to know what neutral is, with any Damian, and what Tim needs to know for his own protection. The Jasons blew it, but that doesn’t mean Damian would. Or that they’d even interact. Damian’s practically a hermetic ghost.

[overlyprecocious]

“Who’s his mother?” Tim asks as he attempts to smooth his hair back out after the vicious attack. Because it’s a reasonable follow-up question, even if he’s unknowingly stepping onto a land mine.

[mostdangerousbird]

He sucks in a quiet breath through barely unclenched teeth.

“You’re going to jump to conclusions. I wouldn’t commit to them yet.” Because we’re just rolling through the open family secrets. “His mother is Talia al Ghul.”

[overlyprecocious]

“She’s - what?”

Oh, he is jumping to conclusions. He is jumping to all the conclusions. “How?!”

[mostdangerousbird]

“There are some things I’m comfortable with telling you. This isn’t one of them.”

It’s Bruce’s, and Tim will respect that. Maybe Damian’s, because he could get tarnished with the sins of his other family. Not Tim’s. “He’s already alive, if he’s going to be, in your world. How has no effect.”

[overlyprecocious]

"So it's not a good story, then." Because if it was, then TJ would be more okay with telling him. That's... not great, but okay, he can see if someone else is willing to tell him the details. Maybe Dick.

[mostdangerousbird]

“We really don’t turn off, do we?” He’s not going to comment more on the story itself. He’s given so much to make up for not warning Tim away from Jason. “Don’t you have enough debatably applicable future intel to start with?”

[overlyprecocious]

“Maybe.”

His ice cream is basically a goner at this point. He glances at it with something like disinterest and cleans up some melting mess with a napkin.

[mostdangerousbird]

“May I ask you a question?”

Careful, but not hesitant. Polite above all else - he’s asking for permission. (How long he’d honor a No is debatable, but it would buy a few days time.)

[overlyprecocious]

The fact that it’s even a question makes him somewhat nervous, but. Well.

“I guess? Sure.”

[mostdangerousbird]

“Is that the first time you froze like that?”

He has to ask. He has to know. He’ll let Tim be the Robin - yes, even with the Joker potentially out there. That’s normal for them.

But not if Tim can’t manage with regularity. Once is an accident. Any more than that… well. TJ will ground him so Dick doesn’t.

[overlyprecocious]

“Yeah,” he says, which is true from a certain point of view. He’s… lost time… before, but never as Robin. And he’s been around some pissed-off people before. He’s reasonably confident it wouldn’t happen if it hadn’t been family.

So. It’s not lying.

[mostdangerousbird]

It’s not the most suspicious answer when Tim’s had time to think about it. A thorough response would be more suspicious- it would shop preparation and possibly invention. Defensiveness, too, would be a red flag.

There isn’t really an answer that TH would completely trust, but he’s still going to keep an eye on Tim. “You can tell me if it does. I think we need to keep anything between us honest.”

[overlyprecocious]

“Okay,” he says, still not lying because if it happens again, telling TJ is certainly an option that he’ll consider, depending on when and how it happens. So. That’s fine.

[mostdangerousbird]

"I'll make it worth your while," Tim says. Not to offer a bribe (he is offering a bribe), but as a fair trade to prompt unprompted exchanges of information.

(He knows that he would find ways to rationalize his secrets. Subtle reinterpretations of the parameters, shift those goal posts back.)

"I'll answer a direct question about me every time you come to me to ask for help or advice. It has to be about me. I won't tell you anyone else's secrets. And asking for help has to be related to your coping mechanisms for stress and grief. Don't bring me a jar of pickles and tell me it's stuck."

[overlyprecocious]

That's. Hmm.

It at least makes the idea of telling TJ more interesting than I tell him and he probably tries to bench me. Because that's still probably a high probability.

"Okay." It's not a promise or anything. But he'll think about it.

[mostdangerousbird]

“Good,” TJ says with a nod. Although Tim’s started to clean up, he hasn’t. He’ll go when Tim goes and go with him only if asked, but there’ll be no cues from him that this is time to leave. Like what TJ wanted was the only think that mattered. “I should tell Bart and Bolt about this place. They’ve got good ice cream.”

[overlyprecocious]

"It's pretty good," he agrees, although when it comes down to it, he didn't end up eating all that much of it. The conversation got a little too heavy for light snacking.