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Jason Todd was alive .
It seemed impossible, but Bruce had been certain of himself, had run DNA tests which all came back positive, had confronted him. The last one hadn’t gone well, but it also confirmed it in every way that mattered - Jason Todd was alive.
Bruce was panicking. It was kind of freaky, really. And because Jason was apparently angry, he had sent Cass and Steph over to Babs’ Clocktower, Dick to one of his friends’ place (Roy, maybe?), and Tim here, to Titans Tower. As he had said himself, it was for their own protection, just in case Jason came after them.
Tim was… he wasn’t sure what he was feeling, actually.
It was confusing - after all this time in Jason’s shadow, the dude was back and angry at him for being in his shadow? Uh. Or because Bruce had adopted him? Or was it just because the Joker wasn’t dead?
(Tim tried really hard not to remember how the Joker’s blood had colored the floor and Dick’s fists and how Batman had made sure that the clown still came back from that.)
(He was sure Jason wouldn’t like this fact, but would he appreciate that someone still killed the Joker for him? Even if it wasn’t Bruce?)
The family had been shaken up by all of it. Not just Jason coming back - that was welcome, more than welcome even. But Jason trying to kill them, trying to get Bruce to kill the Joker? - well, it was a lot to take in.
At least being with his friends helped. They distracted him, and they’d had a nice time earlier watching movies and playing video games. Not to mention, what should have been training but had turned into a giant game of tag instead. He was exhausted now, but he wanted to put his mind to work. His brain was buzzing and he couldn’t sleep like that. He was insomniac anyway, so he was used to not sleeping at night.
His laptop had just started running an update without warning him beforehand, and Tim had took out his phone to play - there was a Pokestop right at Titans Tower and Tim absolutely loved it.
Then, the light started to flicker.
“Uh,” breathed out Tim, raising his head to look at the lamps above him.
The light didn’t come back.
“Alright. That’s so great. Just what I needed right now.” He couldn’t help his muttered sarcasm - he’d never liked the dark, and with everything that was happening recently, it wasn’t a good sign.
He raised up, bo-staff in hand. He wasn’t in good gear to fight at all. Instead, he was already in his pajamas - you know, just in case he did manage to fall asleep - with an old sweatshirt belonging to Dick above.
“Is someone here?” he called, collapsing his weapon just in case.
“Hello, Replacement.” The voice was mechanical, cold even. It was coming from the doorway right behind him - not one easy to attain if you didn’t know the layout of the Tower. That, coupled with the Replacement, sent chills along Tim’s spine.
Tim turned on himself and raised his bo-staff in front of him, immediately taking a defensive stance. Red Hood - Jason - was here, in all his leather jacket, red bucket-helmet, and menacing glory.
The last time Tim had seen him was years ago, when Jason was still Robin and Tim a stalker following Batman and his allies. In his death, he somehow managed to grow up to be tall and bulky, towering close to Bruce’s height - and weight. All in all, Jason was terrifying, extremely competent, and there was no way for Tim to beat him in a fight.
After all, Tim knew that fighting wasn’t his strong suit, despite - or in spite - of all the training he had been put through. But, well, everyone said he had one thing for himself, and it was his brain. Or making wonderful plans on the spot, just like Kon told him two hours ago during their tag game. (That they won, for the record.)
Now was the perfect time to discover if Tim Drake could outsmart Jason Todd.
Tim forced himself to relax and put away his bo-staff. Then, he let a beaming smile creep up on his face.
“Jason!” he said, toning up his voice until it was more high-pitched than normal - and more like a kid.
After all - reports on Red Hood said that he was protective of kids.
Jason seemed to lose his cool for a hot second, which was enough for Tim to launch phase two of his plan.
He jumped right into Jason’s arms, taking him by surprise, and knotted his fingers together behind the other’s neck and his legs around his middle, koala-style.
(He had made a game out of it with Steph - to see how long Bruce would accept them jumping on him and gluing themselves to his chest for hours on ends. It’s been five months. Bruce was still holding on, but Tim knew the lassitude would hit soon.)
Jason returned the embrace, but it was probably more by reflex than a real want to hug him. But it was okay - for now, everything was working well. Besides, Jason was warm, and if he wasn’t here to probably kill him, Tim would add safe as well.
“I’m so happy you came to visit me! I was dying to finally meet my second big brother!”
Jason didn’t answer right away, and his voice was clearly hesitant, despite its mechanical filter. “Uh… You’re welcome?”
He hadn’t shied away from the hug yet. Tim needed him to not think too much, so he would forget why he was there in the first place. So he needed to talk. But not about anything - he had to be careful. Considering Jason’s whole anger at the Joker-and-Batman-situation, it was probably a trigger, so better avoiding that one. It would probably only get Jason back on track with his original plan. Alfred was risky - but he was also Tim’s best exit strategy if he failed. Babs could work but Tim had no idea what kind of feeling Jason had for her. They had a friendly relationship before, but was he angry at her too? It was the same with Dick, but Tim couldn’t imagine anyone in the family being angry at Dick, so.
“Dick told me so much about you!”
“Really?” The note of surprise was easily discernible, but Jason dismissed it quickly for something more hard. Or resigned, maybe. “The Robin failure, I guess.”
… Was Dick off limits too?
Wait, no. Jason maybe sounded sad, but… not as angry as he would have been if Dick was too much. If Dick was a trigger.
“Of course not!” Tim replied, moving a little to really look at Jason and not having his face half-buried into his neck. “Dick loves you. He always said you were great, and he pointed to me your favorite books in the library, and he cooks your favorite dishes on the important dates, and he still has pictures of you in his apartment, and he always talks about you like you were the best person ever!”
“Sounds fake but okay,” grunted Jason, but he was still holding him so it was probably fine.
… Maybe he was blushing under his helmet?
… Tim needed to get him out of this helmet. For science, obviously.
“So,” started Tim again, deciding to ignore Jason’s answer for now and to carefully tuck it away for later. “I’m so happy to finally properly meet you! Wait until I tell the girls, they’re going to be so jealous!”
Jason’s hold on him tightened a little, but Tim realized with his next words that it was from surprise and not the want to hurt him. “The girls?”
Tim blinked, now rightfully confused. He knew for a fact that Jason had made his research on their family, so how-
… Oh. He had only concentrated his researches on the new Robin. Of course. So, apparently, he wasn’t aware he had sisters, now. Well, Tim would be the one to break it to him, then.
“Yeah! Our sisters. Cass and Steph. Cass is older than you, by the way.”
Jason dropped him. “Excuse me? ” Despite being taken aback, Tim managed to land graciously on his feet. Jason was still talking. “Why do you mean, I have a big sister now? That’s not fair, I was still supposed to be the oldest one!”
“The oldest one is Dick, for starters, and, well, Cass is like, seven or eight months older than you? If it helps?”
“Months? ”
Tim definitely regretted not having managed to get Jason out of his helmet yet. “Uh, yeah. Now that I think about it, we’re not even sure when her birthday is because, uh, she didn’t have one for a long long time. I suppose we should ask her mother…”
It seemed to somehow calm Jason, or at least shut him up. Tim could hear the suppressed anger in his voice when he talked again. “What do you mean, she didn’t have one?”
“Her… Bio father wasn’t great? Trained her to be a perfect assassin and all. She never really learned how to talk before we met her either. She didn’t even have a name.”
Finally, finally, Jason took off his helmet. He had a red mask underneath, its white lenses fixed on him. His whole expression was cold and closed off. “He’s still alive?”
Tim shrugged, because he really had no idea - Bruce hadn’t told them if David Cain was dead or alive, and as long as he wasn’t approaching Cass, none of them really cared. He took the time to examine Jason more closely, though; he had a white patch into his hair now, and it wasn’t as curly as before. His skin tone was a shade darker, and obviously, he was taller and broader. But the shape of his face was the same as before, as well as his nose and the way his mouth curled up.
“Great,” mumbled Jason, and now that he could properly hear him without mechanical alteration, Tim noticed how young he sounded.
“But if you want, we’re sure for a fact that Steph’s dad is still alive! He’s even in Blackgate!”
Jason seemed almost resigned, now. “What? ”
“Oh, yeah. Steph’s dad is Cluemaster.”
“… The knockoff Riddler?”
“Yeah! That one. Steph’s gonna love you.”
“So fucking nice. And who the hell are your parents? A mafia family?”
Tim was perfectly aware that Jason was being sarcastic right now. Tim’s therapist also told him he needed to make peace with who his parents were, and it could help to talk about it with someone he trusted.
Well, not like Jason would have any choice in the matter.
Tim put on his most innocent face, that he perfected after that much exposure to Cass-who-can’t-do-any-wrong-except-when-Bruce-isn’t-looking-Wayne.
“Oh, no! Nothing like that! Well, there is suspicion that they smuggled stolen artifacts in Gotham and sold them to the black market, but no mafia family. Bruce says they neglected me, but really, it was fine! They weren’t here a lot and they, like, never could remember my birthday, but they were really busy all around the world, and no matter what Bruce says, eight is old enough to take care of yourself alone!”
He added an exasperated nod at the end of his speech and rolled his eyes, like Bruce was being totally unreasonable. To be fair, Tim had trusted that for a long time and was just coming to term with everything, but Jason didn’t know that. Yet.
It sealed the deal.
Jason looked like he just ate a very, very sour lemon. “For fuck’s sake-”
“What?” Tim asked, widening his big, wide, innocent eyes at Jason.
Jason didn’t answer right away. Then, he pointed a finger at Tim - from the hand that wasn’t holding his helmet, that was it. “You need hugs.”
Tim beamed. “That’s what Dick says too!”
Jason facepalmed. Literally. “And now I’m agreeing with Dick of all people. How far I’ve fallen,” muttered Jason, still loud enough for Tim to hear him. He concealed a snort just in time, then went back to his most innocent expression ever.
“Oh, oh, I know!” excitedly said Tim, channeling his inner child the best he could. “I could send a message to the girls and have a movie night! Or a game night! To get to know each other!”
Jason’s eyes twitched behind his mask. “Yeah, let’s do that,” he agreed through gritted teeth. “And if Bruce shows up, I will punch him in the face.”
Tim ignored the second part. It was a problem for future-Tim (or, well, future-Bruce in this case, ah), not for him. “Great!” He took his phone out and quickly sent a message to his siblings via their shared chat, telling them to meet him asap at the Manor. It should be enough. And with all their force combined, Jason wouldn’t stand a chance. Dick was very determined to have him back into the family, and Dick was kind of terrifying when he was committed. So, rip Jason (again, ah, he was so funny today. Tonight. Whatever.), but Tim wouldn’t protect him against their big brother’s love. Too bad for him, but Jason was already back into the family without knowing it. Yet.
Now, as for how to bring Jason to the Manor…
Tim raised his head, a beaming smile on his face, and pocketed his phone. “Perfect! We can go now!” Without leaving any chance for Jason to react, he caught his hand into his and immediately dragged him toward the zeta beam.
“What do you me-”
Jason never had a chance to finish his sentence, because the next second they were in the Batcave, Alfred in front of them.
Jason crumbled.
Tim let a victorious smile appear on his face - behind Jason’s back. He wasn’t ready for his revenge yet.
.
.
.
Jason wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute he was ready to kill his Replacement, his plan going perfectly well before him, and the next he was arms full of a babbling kid and in the middle of a Star Wars marathon with all of his siblings.
Which. Wow. Siblings. Plural.
It had been weird enough being used to Dick the first time around, and now he had - one big sister and two little siblings. Uh.
(No, he wasn’t digesting the big sister bit. Don’t ask him why, he didn’t know either.)
Now… Now, the kid was stuffing himself full with popcorn, eyes riveted on the screen and lips mouthing all the dialogue in advance. The two girls - Stephanie and Cassandra, preferred nicknames being Steph and Cass - were cuddled around each other, Steph sleeping since two movies ago and Cass smiling as she pet Steph’s hair. Dick was sitting by his side, a strong arm still wrapped around Jason’s shoulders, and Jason himself reposing on his chest. He hadn’t moved in hours, but Jason… didn’t feel like moving right now. He had missed Dick’s hugs - he had missed Dick himself. It was stupid, but- Well. It was what it was. Besides, Dick had fallen asleep the second they put on the first movie, and Jason didn’t have the heart to wake him up just yet. The guy looked like he hadn’t slept in three years. At least.
The whole thing felt nice. Homey. Jason liked it, and really, he was glad that Tim had been stupid enough to hug him of all things when Jason had wanted to kill him. And to say that all of his researches said that Tim was the smart one of the family, what a joke.
…
Wait.
The kid had hugged him, acted all innocent and cute, and raised all of his protective instincts in a blink of the eyes-
Oh, that little shit.
Jason sent a betrayed look at Tim. “You fucking planned all of this, didn’t you?”
He really didn’t need an answer.
Tim looked at him with his wide, innocent blue-gray eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he dared to say while popping more popcorn into his mouth. Beside him, Cass was hiding a laugh with her hand, badly enough to tell Jason it was on purpose.
Jason was going to murder this kid.
(In a perfect big brother way, of course.)