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It was the ‘Wayne Family + Family Friends’ (or Double U Triple F as dubbed by Dick) games night again. A night that most of the family wasn’t entirely keen on but also couldn’t quite find it in them to turn down the invitation message when it popped up in their inbox the Monday before because it meant they got to see everyone outside of the city ending madness and crime.

There hadn’t been one in quite a few weeks now as people had been out of Gotham and there was a rule not to have a games night when there was someone who absolutely couldn’t attend.

The first week it had been because Jason was on an Outlaws' mission in Italy (Tim was dead certain that they were going on a date week together but he had no evidence yet), the next was because Babs had a bad pain flare up that week and couldn’t leave bed, the third was because Tim and Young Justice (including Cissie and Anita for old time’s sake) went on an off-world mission, and the forth was because Cass had to go to Hong Kong, Helena was in New York, Luke was on bed rest, and both Bruce and Dick were off-world (that had been a very busy week, stretched very thin).

But they were all here now, spread across the main living room as they discussed what games they’d play tonight and tried to persuade Alfred to sit down and let someone else bring the plates of food through from the kitchen and pantry.

Most games had been shot down before they even started; Monopoly, Uno, the Game of Life, all card games, and Herd Mentality had all been shot down because they had resulted in weapons being pulled at least 4 times when being played, Never Have I Ever and Two Truths and a Lie were all turned down because they were all heavily traumatised vigilantes and it turned into a game of Top That Trauma every single time, and around a hundred other board games were turned down simply because you couldn’t play them as a group of 14 (15 if they managed to persuade Alfred to join).

A couple were being hummed and hawed over; Jason, Kate and Steph wanted to play Cards Against Humanity (only because they’d both made their own version with new cards and thought they’d been slick about it and that nobody noticed), Duke, Barbara, Helena, and Harper all wanted to play the Game of Life despite the ban and were making pretty good arguments as to why the ban was stupid (hence why it got into the humming and hawing stage), Bruce and Luke wanted to play Scrabble like losers, Tim, Cass and Cullen wanted to play Clue Master Detective (being shot down repeatedly by Jason and Dick because they didn’t believe they should have to put up with more detective work outside the suit), and Dick wanted to play a stupid ice breaker game (as if they were all back in middle school all over again).

Damian as usual didn’t care and Alfred as always was entirely impartial and probably wouldn’t join in anyway.

“Look! We’re not deciding on anything, and I think doing icebreaker games will be fun! Just asking each other questions, we’re not going to pull guns on people-” Dick aimed a glare towards Jason. “Or temporarily blind anyone-” Duke got a glare sent his way. “Nor will it be unfairly easier for one person over another.” Bruce and Luke got glares for their game suggestion.

“I think Master Richard makes a very good suggestion.” Despite the surge of groans filling the room and the sounds of multiple people flopping back against the piece of furniture they were sitting on (really you wouldn’t think that the majority of them were over 18 years old) nobody made any further refutes. If Alfred was on someone’s side that meant the arguing had gone on for at least 15 minutes and they no longer had any choice in the matter because he was getting bored of the situation.

It honestly wasn’t a surprise that nothing got done in the house while Alfred was away.

“Great! So, what we’ll do is one person will ask a question and then everyone has to answer it, including them. Does anyone want to start?” Dick was much too excited with the prospect of this game; Tim could think of 20 different ways this could go wrong before more than 2 questions had been asked and the look on Jason’s face said he was planning on making sure this game got banned for being too close to TTT.

Nobody answered the question, a few diving forwards to grab themselves a bowl of popcorn or some other treat that had been left on the table, a couple more slithering further back into the cushions of the piece of furniture they lounged on, and the rest straight up blankly refusing to look at Dick so that he didn’t pick them.

“Alright. I’ll go first then since you’re all boring and refusing to participate. We’ll start easy, what’s everyone’s favourite flower and why? Mine is the Chilean Morning Glory but specifically the purple and yellow ones!” It was probably creepy that Tim didn’t need to listen to be aware that it was Dick’s favourite flower because one of the performers in Haly’s Circus used to grow them in their caravan and would make flower crowns for him when they bloomed.

Okay. Maybe slightly more than probably.

“Easy. White tulips because those are what I leave on my mother’s grave, and they were the first flower I remember seeing when I managed to dig myself out of my own grave.” Jason’s wicked smile and the satisfaction in his eyes showed how this whole question thing was going to go, there were very few ways you could make the explanation of your favourite flower relate to your trauma, but Jason always managed the impossible when it came to making a jab at Bruce.

“Daisy. Means innocence. Purity.” Cass smiled softly at her explanation, she’d been learning Victorian Flower Language recently and had been making bouquets for everyone in the family (not that she told anyone what the bouquets meant) which explained why she knew what the daisy meant. It also explained despite there being many daisies in the flower shop she had Bruce take her so she could make the bouquets, why she never picked any up. Nobody in this family was pure, perks of the job really.

They continued around the room like that, everyone giving their favourite flowers (minus Damian who stated “Flowers are an insignificant life form and I do not see the point in picking a preferred one when there are very few differences other than colour and shape which separate them” which in turn started a 20-minute argument on the differences between flowers) followed by Cass informing them of what each flower meant if she knew it in Victorian Flower Language.

There did have to be a pause for Harper to lecture Cullen about how dandelions should not be his favourite because he liked eating the seed heads followed by Helena’s unhelpful comments that dandelion seeds could be used to make flour, which then devolved into a brawl between Harper and Helena only stopped because of Alfred’s disappointed tutting.

Overall, everyone was giving it two more questions before the game was placed into the banned category and they ended up changing from game night to movie night (like they did absolutely every game night bar the one where it was cancelled altogether and Dr. Thompkins had to be called – they didn’t talk about that night anymore and Harley was no longer invited much to Jason and Steph’s despair).

“I think we should do whoever answers the question first asks the next question-” At Jason’s gleeful look due to that rule, Dick continued. “But I don’t think it wise we let Jason ask the question because it’s probably going to be ‘What’s your most traumatising memory’ or ‘How many times have you died’ or some other question that really makes me think mandated therapy should be provided in this family, Cass will go next.”

Jason started muttering about how this family was unfair and biased against him because he’d been murdered by the Joker since, obviously, that was why these rules were put in place, while everyone else settled down to wait for Cass to come up with a question and Alfred took the moment to slip out and gather some more snacks to top up the dwindled table.

“Favourite hero/vigilante. Mine Huntress.” Cass smiled proudly over at Helena at the announcement who ducked her head slightly in embarrassment obviously not having expected to be anyone’s favourite. The admittance was of no surprise to anyone who actually knew how to use their eyes (apparently only Bruce, Tim, Babs and Steph) since one of Cass’s suits was modelled off one of the earlier Huntress ones.

“I’d say my favourite is probably Blue Beetle, Ted Kord though not Jaime Reyes. Nothing against Jaime but Ted is definitely much preferred.” Barbara nodded her head in agreement to Tim’s statement, perhaps not agreeing that Blue Beetle was her favourite, but that Ted Kord was her favourite Blue Beetle as they had been friends after all.

“Dang Timmy I thought I was your favourite. I’m heartbroken. Truly heartbroken.” Dick dramatically collapsed over Tim’s lap (having to squash Steph and Duke in the process who were sitting between them) as he spoke and threw an arm across his face which only earned him a shove from all three of them that resulted in him falling on the floor with a loud ‘oof’.

“Anyway, to break Bruce’s heart now, my favourite is Superman, obviously. The greatest hero of all times.” Dick’s statement of his favourite hero led to the second argument of the game, with Jason shouting about how Wonder Woman was infinitely better, Damian shouting about how Batman was clearly the best since he didn’t have to use powers to fight, Steph shouting about how Black Canary was obviously superior, and Bruce just holding his head in his hands and silently sighing as he questioned why he couldn’t have adopted animals.

Yet again, it was Alfred to break up the arguing, coming in with a bowl of freshly made churros and with such a disappointed look on his face it could probably shut up the Riddler. “Master Duke, how about you continue this question since I trust you not to continue this argument.”

The slight slump in Duke’s shoulders showed he had very much planned on continuing the argument somehow but having the trust of Alfred on his shoulders meant he could not do so. A shame really that they were all so susceptible to the old butler.

“It’s a difficult one really because my favourite hero I don’t think actually counts as a hero. But everyone in Gotham that knew about them counted them as a hero.” The starting statement had the family leaning in slightly, already forgetting the glares they were sending each other over the insults that had been thrown back and forth about their favourite heroes.

If Duke didn’t think they actually counted as a hero it was likely not someone, they were aware of, someone small time that hadn’t cropped up in a while or had decided to leave the masked life behind. Something that happened incredibly frequently in Gotham when a new vigilante or hero decided to start up.

“They were known as Crow and appeared, uh, shortly after Jason died and just before Tim became Robin.” The room very obviously grew visibly tenser, the years between Jason’s death until a few years after his resurrection had not been pretty years for anyone involved and not exactly something anyone wanted to be reminded of.

Tim however tensed for a slightly different reason. See, before he decided his only option to stop Bruce’s downward spiral and Batman’s increased violence was to take up Robin he’d followed Batman’s patrol like a shadow.

Not exactly abnormal for him really since he’d been doing that since he was nine, however, this time, he followed with an overflowing medical bag, with a defibrillator in his backpack, money lining his pockets for medical bills, and a handful of burner phones so he could phone up ambulances.

He’d heard whispers of the name Crow a couple of times before he figured out that they were talking about him. And, by that point, he had no chance to delve deeper to find out what the whispers were about and people’s views on him because he was being thrust into the deep end with training to be Robin.

But being Duke’s favourite? An identity he held for a total of 4 months as he rushed after the trail of blood that Batman was leading. He didn’t think people thought that highly of Crow.

“I remember that time, before Tim came along and balanced Batman out as Robin that everyone had a story. A story about how someone they knew had been beaten bloody by Batman for something as minuscule as petty theft.” Bruce very visibly shrunk in on himself, deeply ashamed of the time that he spent after Jason’s depth lost so deep in his regret and grief that he didn’t hold himself back, while Jason’s eyes shifted to a shade of green that they hadn’t held in a couple months now (probably only being held back from lunging at Bruce because Cullen was practically sprawled across his lap).

“Everyone feared for the day that Batman finally went that step further and a body count started. Then, almost out of the blue, the rumours of Crow started up. Someone clad in completely black stealth gear and a huge backpack on their back that seemed to contain everything they could ever need. They’d deal with your injuries, prevent you from bleeding out and get you comfortable, phoning an ambulance and waiting for them to arrive before handing over enough money to pay the hospital bills thrice.” Everyone sat listening entrapped to Duke’s explanation, Tim sat questioning if he was that bad at judging money since he’d only been trying to pay for their hospital bills once.

“They never fought crime as far as I’m aware, just followed along behind Batman and administered medical care and provided support for those who needed it. They even had a whole defib in their bag just in case Batman went that far, which don’t worry B, you didn’t. I just remember it being so funny to see someone go looking for bandages in their backpack and pull out a defib first.” There was no need to mention how bad he was at packing bags alongside this story, he was supposed to be Duke’s favourite hero, not a complete mess. (To be fair, he could be both if this family was anything to go by).

“What happened to them? I think I remember my dad mentioning someone like that making calls to the emergency services, but I haven’t heard any mention in a good while now.” Barbara was inquisitively staring at Duke, clearly hoping since Crow was his favourite he’d be able to answer the questions she sought. Who would have thought a family of detectives would be greedy for answers in every scenario?

“Nobody knows. I think it was maybe a little under a year before Tim became Robin, so when Batman started mellowing out, they disappeared off the map. Most people think they died unfortunately; you gain a lot of enemies when preventing that number of criminals from dying. I think they're alive though, they just realised that Batman was getting better, and they viewed it as they weren’t needed anymore.” Duke shrugged his shoulders casually at the end as if it was an easy-to-accept answer. Which, maybe it was, when the other option was death.

He was a surprising mix of right and wrong, the identity of Crow was no longer needed as Batman had accepted him as Robin, so he’d disappeared. But Tim was still helping Batman get better, not having stepped back like Duke believed.

“I… Was not aware that someone was following behind me. And I’m sorry how my actions at that time affected you Duke, how they affected everyone. I was not in the right mindset but that is not an appropriate excuse, I should have sought help rather than continuing to go out.” Wow. Maybe therapy was actually a wonder cure if it was getting Bruce, the emotionally constipated martyr king, to talk about his feelings with close to the entire family present.

“It’s alright, I understand. The only thing I wish out of the whole thing was that Crow was still active since I’d love to meet them. I think that’d be really cool. Nobody ever knew anything about them, nobody got an accurate height, any look at their face, their hair colour, or anything identifiable really.” Going out and helping the criminals that Batman had beaten up at the age of 12 with no formal training had been absolutely terrifying.

Not only because that was a criminal that he was stitching up but also because what if Batman came back and thought they’d been in cahoots? As unlikely as it was and as much hero worship as he’d had in his little body, what if he put Tim in the exact same position as the criminal beside him? Who would help them then if Tim was the one who’d been calling up the ambulances?

His identity was carefully and deliberately hidden because of that, he carried two changes of clothes alongside the stealth gear that he swapped into at random points so it would be harder to track his location, the backpack changed colour if you got it wet and stayed that way for a couple of hours (not incredibly helpful if it was raining but still slightly helpful), he wore an entire face mask and despite getting the bus from the Bowery to the University District, he still didn’t go deep into the Diamond District and had stuffed a bicycle away to cycle the rest of the journey home.

His identity then had probably been secured in more ways than his identity had now that he was Red Robin.

“Know something.” The background chatter of everyone discussing the information that Duke and Barbara (and some tidbits from Harper, Cullen and surprisingly Luke) as well as Jason chewing Bruce out for his behaviour was abruptly stopped by Cass’s stilted statement as she stared at Tim.

It was always her skill at reading the human body language that came back and bit him in the ass, not even Batman had picked up on his lies as often as she did, and it was incredibly annoying. Especially in a situation such as today.

“Have you met them before?” Duke’s eyes lit up like Tim was offering him the answer to all of life’s questions as if he’d just handed over unlimited happiness and not the tiny morsel of information on someone’s identity that he was expecting it to be.

And maybe to Duke, meeting his favourite hero was like that. Batman wasn’t his favourite hero yet the singular time the man had noticed him following him and Robin and had confronted him over it, Tim was fairly certain he’d died that day and nothing better could ever happen aside from meeting Blue Beetle.

The same scenario happened when he got to actually meet Blue Beetle except, he was fairly certain his heart did stop for a moment, or at least stutter, if the concerned look Kon sent his way was anything to go by.

“Define met.” Multiple pairs of calculating eyes stared at him, even Cullen who wasn’t even a part of the vigilante lifestyle seemed to be picking him apart at the statement. But could you blame him for not wanting to tell people?

They always tell you never to meet your heroes. They tell you that the person isn’t going to live up to your expectations and there is going to be something unequivocally wrong with them.

Crow was Duke’s hero and he obviously held him on an incredibly high pedestal because of that, there were practically stars in his eyes as he spoke about him and listened to Barbara, Harper, and Cullen talk about their bits of information.

And Tim was just- Well, he was a bit of a let down really.

He wasn’t someone to be held up on that high pedestal, just someone with too much time, money and nobody at home who would notice that he was gone. He was someone who stalked Batman and Robin from dusk till dawn, photographing them, mapping out their moves, watching their interactions, and following them through the night. He was just a kid who knew how to stalk and had taken plenty of first aid courses out of anxiety that he’d injure himself and there’d been nobody around to help.

Duke would be embarrassed that his favourite was such a letdown as Tim was.

“I thought you were supposed to be smart Timbit. You met Crow or not?” Jason’s eyes were still harshly illuminated green, but they had gone down slightly now that he’d had a chance to chew out Bruce and Bruce had just accepted it, it was also going down now that he had something to focus on. A mystery that he could try solving rather than trying to solve why he felt the way he did.

“How about someone else answers Cass’s question? Harper, Luke, Cullen, Helena? Bruce? Alfred? Uh, who else hasn’t answered? Barbara? Kate? You’ve been rather quiet tonight, Kate. Who is your favourite hero?” He knew it was a cheap copout, an obvious diversion from the question at hand that nobody would let him get away with (least of all Kate who he’d just thrown under the bus for trying to slyly take a nap), but nobody even had to say anything before he was sighing and rubbing his face.

He couldn’t properly see Duke’s face from here as Steph was sitting between them, but he could see the slump in his shoulders growing and watched as he allowed himself to sink further into the couch in upset.

Maybe Duke was doing it because he knew Tim was weak when it came to upsetting him, Duke was one of the few family members he had absolutely no qualms with and they got along really well as they had a lot of similar hobbies and interests, so he didn’t enjoy upsetting him as it meant their familial friendship may grow slightly strained. Like the rest of the families.

“Okay. Fine. But people shut up and don’t say a word until I’ve finished, yeah?” The way Duke shot upwards and leaned forward to stare at him showed that he was very definitely lying about how upset he was that Tim had been planning on withholding information, but he couldn’t find it in him to regret it.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t strain their relationship too much when Duke found out.

The rest of the family also obviously settled at the idea of getting new information on this person that Duke claimed a hero, even Alfred who’d been busy stacking up some of the used cups and bowls focused on what Tim was about to say.

“Uh…, that was me?” Very eloquently put Tim. 10/10 for execution. Really, it’s not a surprise that you’re a professional speaker with how incredible that speech was.

Obviously, everyone agreed if the amazed (shocked and horrified) silence followed by excited (shocked and horrified) screeches afterwards were anything to go by. Bruce only seemed to have grown about 6 handfuls of grey hair at the statement compared to the 10 he usually got when Tim revealed random things like that.

“Tim, Timmy, sweetheart, kiddo, what the fuck do you mean that was you? You would have been 11 going on 12.” Dick was staring at him with wide eyes as if everything he knew about Tim was currently being rewritten – and since Tim had already started digging the hole, why not do what he did best and keep digging?

“I mean I’d been following vigilantes since I was 8, hence how I had enough evidence to deduce your identities at 9. I knew B’s patrol schedule and route, knew first aid, and had the money to pay for the hospital bills. I hadn’t thought about being Robin yet and just decided that it’d be a good idea.” Rewriting people’s viewpoints on him was always such a wonderful hobby, most people (specifically the ones who he’d been following) stared at him absolutely horrified.

An 8-year-old following you on patrol to photograph you in the most crime-ridden city on Earth typically did that to you.

And Duke- Duke looked at Tim as if he held the fucking sun as if he had actually answered all of life’s questions for him. He didn’t seem upset that Tim was Crow, in fact, if anything he seemed even more entranced.

“My favourite and second favourite hero is the same person.” Oh. That might explain it. Was someone cutting onions in here? Like seriously, Tim’s eyes were definitely watering, was Alfred doing food prep in the living room again?

(Don’t ask about the first time. There were very few ways that 6 people could get banned from Alfred’s kitchen, even the worst cookers in the family had been allowed in at one point so he could try teaching them but burning the entire thing to the ground and then blowing up all 4 ovens definitely did the job.)

“I’m sorry, can we go back to the fact that 8-year-old Timmy was following you guys at night and none of you apparently noticed?” Steph obviously hadn’t been hindered by the onions Alfred was cutting nor was she trapped staring at Duke’s awe-stricken expression as she tried to launch the conversation back into a direction that would definitely get him in trouble, even if it was just over a decade ago now.

“B noticed at one point; I think I was 10? So, it would have been while Jason was Robin. Helena noticed me a couple of weeks after that, but I got away before she could question me. Other than that, I was quite good at hiding in the shadows. I’ve got some incredible photos from those days if you want to see them!” Sure, it was another very obvious attempt to shift the conversation flow away from this entire situation but hopefully, they’d let him get away with it.

Plus, it came with the bonus of getting to show them his photography. Fingers crossed.

--

The diversion had kept the conversation away from his childhood nightly escapades for 2 hours before people started filtering away and Dick, Bruce, Alfred and Jason were left alone to bring the whole thing back up.

Though, it was mainly just Bruce and Dick apologising for their respective behaviour that left him having to be on the front lines when Bruce was spiralling (not that either of them needed to apologise for that, Dick especially, he understood) and Jason adding fuel to the fire when they started telling him how dangerous that had been by pointing out rogue fights that Tim had photos of.

The conversation had taken so long that all four of them ended up deciding to forgo patrol to instead head to their respective bedrooms, there were plenty of vigilantes already out and patrolling Gotham anyway and it was a slow night.

It was 20 minutes after Tim had finished his shower and selected some comfier clothes (yes said clothes were Dick’s, no despite being an incredible detective Dick had not yet noticed their disappearance) and was getting ready to do some late-night work for Tam when a knock came from his door.

“Come in.” Surprisingly and unsurprisingly, it was Duke at the door, shuffling awkwardly into the organised chaos that was Tim’s room with an awkward smile on his face and his hands shoved in the hoodie that was most definitely Bruce’s due to the way his body swam in it.

“Hey Tim, I don’t mean to bother you, I just, I wanted to thank you. Y’know for being Crow and for being Robin. I don’t think you realise how many people you saved by doing what you did, the people of Gotham were terrified of Batman, but you made it more bearable. And just- yeah. Thank you.” Despite the combination of the room’s dim lighting and Duke’s dark skin tone, Tim could still make out the slightly embarrassed flush on Duke’s face as he shuffled his feet and avoided eye contact.

It was nice. In a strange way.

He had always been aware that by becoming Robin he’d saved Bruce’s life, nobody wanted to admit it and even in the silence of his darkened bedroom at night he questioned it, but it was obvious that if he’d stepped in any later Bruce wouldn’t have lasted any longer.

But this wasn’t Duke telling him he’d saved Batman’s life; this was Duke telling him he saved the people of Gotham’s lives in a way so distinctly similar yet different to how he typically still did every night.

“Thanks, Duke. Do you want to stay for a movie or something and we can chat? I don’t think you’ve been in the family long enough to catch up on all the embarrassing stories and as your older brother I feel obliged to tell you.” The smiles they shared were soft, a silent thanks to each other. One out of thanks that it had perhaps been his life that was saved and the other out of thanks that someone recognised what he did.