Chapter Text
“There is literally not enough money in the world, Bruce.”
Bruce gave Tim a pleading look as the sound of a child’s laughter echoed from one of the sitting rooms and Tim shook his head, answering, “No. Hell no. Nope. I refuse. I’m not babysitting a de-aged Dick. He doesn’t even know who I am. I have work, classes, patrol; I don’t have time.”
Bruce looked desperate and bribed, “I will do anything you want, Tim. I cannot bring Dick on this mission and Alfred is visiting his daughter. It’s either you or Steph and I do not trust Steph to not corrupt him.”
“Damian?”
“In San Francisco.”
“Babs?”
“Dick already knew her at this age. He’ll recognize her.”
“Cass?”
“Laughed in my face and closed the door on me.”
Tim narrowed his eyes at Bruce, then mused, “That’s fair. I’m wishing I had ignored your text right now. You’ll do anything, huh? Even letting me try out the new Bat-AI I want to make?”
Bruce looked relieved and answered, “Absolutely. I’ll even let you upload it to the old Batcomputer for testing. If it works, we can see about uploading it to the main computer.”
Tim pretended to think it over, then sighed, “Fine. Jay and I will stay here and watch him until you get back. Does he know he’s been de-aged?”
Bruce looked incredibly relieved and stated, “Thank you, Tim. He… kinda knows. Zatanna told me that telling him the truth could cause the spell to be permanent, so I told him he got hurt in a fight and has been in a coma. We should go introduce you.”
Tim rolled his eyes, but followed Bruce into the sitting room, where Dick was doing a handstand on the back of the couch. He grinned at Bruce, then flopped forwards onto the couch and rolled over, asking Tim, “Who’re you?”
Tim smiled and stepped forward, holding out a hand and introducing, “Tim Drake. I’m a friend of Bruce’s.”
Dick nodded and Bruce stated, “Tim and his husband will be watching you while I’m on my mission.”
Dick tilted his head and asked, “Does he know about…?”
Tim couldn’t help his laugh at Dick’s complete lack of subtlety and answered, “About Batman and Robin? Yeah. I’m a hero, too. After you… Got injured, I started going out as Red Robin to honor you without taking your place.”
Dick’s eyes went wide and he asked, “Really? B’s letting other people operate in Gotham now?”
Bruce looked pained and Tim bit back a laugh, stating, “Bruce didn’t get much say in it. Jay and I… Aren’t known for taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
Dick looked curious, querying, “You and… Who’s Jay?”
“My husband.”
Dick cooed at that and asked, “Really? So you’re, like, a crime-fighting couple? That’s so cute!”
Tim bit back a laugh and answered, “Thanks.”
Dick did a cartwheel off the couch and sprang up, exclaiming, “WAIT, does that mean I can go out on patrol with you guys?!?”