Who: Bruce and Tim What: Meetings and some bonding. Where: Wayne Manor. When: Sometime after Tim goes to see Steph. Warnings/Rating: None.
Travelling had him on edge already and his conversation with Steph had ended on a somewhat frustrating note, despite how short it was. Instead of going right to the Manor, which he had half a mind to do despite what he said to Stephanie, Tim made a beeline for his place. He didn’t want to linger for too long, but at least it still existed and his things were all there. That eased some of the tension that had settled between his shoulders, but not all of it. He wanted answers that this Bruce wouldn’t be able to give and Steph didn’t seem willing to share. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d ask Damian either, so it seemed he’d be on his own unless Spencer decided to give him a hand. From the other man’s silence, Tim assumed that wasn’t going to happen. He’d find a way though. He always did. After about half an hour of inventorying everything and securing the Red Robin costume in its place, Tim finally got into a cab and settled in for the ride up to Wayne Manor.
It didn’t look all that different, just in line with what he’d seen change in Gotham. He stepped out of the cab and just stood there as the yellow car rolled away, wondering if he should go in search of the cave instead of going through the front door. There were keys in his hand, which included ones to his place, Drake Manor, Wayne Manor, his bike, his car, and the door that let him into Gotham from Las Vegas. He was here as Tim though, not Robin or Red Robin. The front door made the most sense, but he wouldn’t use his key. He was all too aware that he was a guest here. This Bruce didn’t see him as an adopted son, just a Robin that he didn’t know. At least he knew it before meeting Bruce. It would’ve been worse that way, he figured. Steeled for an impersonal meeting and a return trip to his place, Tim stepped up to the door and knocked.
Bruce's one advantage was that he was expecting Tim's arrival, which meant that he had plenty of time to prepare. It was more of a figurative method of preparation, rather than literal, since Alfred oversaw the business of finding the boy a room and the like before crossing back through the door. There were a number of factors which made the newest resident of Gotham's presence complicated, including but not limited to Damian, but he had no other choice but to make the best of it. He had already done rather poorly with the others, a reality he regretted even if no one believed he did, but perhaps he would not be quite as much of a failure with Tim. At the very least, the boy seemed willing to get to know him, despite the circumstances, and had yet to accuse him of being an impostor or compare him to the mythical other Bruce everyone else had known. He did expect the latter eventually, however.
The knock at the door didn't surprise him, even though he knew Tim must have had his own key to the Manor. Normally Alfred would have answered the door, but in his absence Bruce was left to do it himself, and it was likely a strange sight, the man himself pulling open one of the heavy double doors and standing in the doorway, looking down at the boy in silence for a long moment before offering a polite smile. In some other world he had adopted him, yes, but here he was practically a stranger, and everything he knew about Tim Drake came from secondhand knowledge.
"Hello, Tim." Bruce stepped back, the door opening wider as he did so, allowing the boy room to enter.
Tim had been expecting Alfred, but there wasn’t a ready smile for the older man because he was different as well. Damian had the advantage here, insofar as physically being here without Tim, allowing him to say or do whatever he wanted without giving Tim the opportunity to defend himself. Something told him Steph hadn’t readily jumped to his defense either, but he wasn’t dealing with that right now. Bruce’s appearance on the other side of the door was a bit of a surprise, though Tim tried not to show it. He supposed it made sense, considering whoever Alfred was on the other side likely had a life and couldn’t spend all his time in Gotham.
“Hi,” he replied, stepping in with more confidence then he was feeling. Tim couldn’t help looking around, wanting to take in as much detail as possible. He knew he’d be back to look around not only the manor, but also the Batcave. He’d just have to be careful if he wasn’t allowed there, but Bruce hadn’t given any indication that he’d impose that restriction. “It’s...well, it’s good to see you,” he admitted, and it was true. Despite what Steph had said about Bruce really being alive, he was still missing, supposedly dead in his time. Even if Bruce wasn’t his Bruce, his presence alone was comforting. Awkwardly, he held out his hand. It wasn’t the hug he would’ve gone with, but getting to know him would be a better step forward instead of demanding something he might not be able to give right away.
Bruce and Damian had spent a great deal of time either arguing or simply not speaking, which meant that there had never been much of a chance for the topic of Tim, or any others for that matter, to be raised. Even if it had, he was the sort of man who preferred to draw his own conclusions, rather than relying solely on those of another. He watched the boy without making it obvious that he was doing so, observing the way he looked around, where his gaze went, how long it lingered in certain places. The Batcave had been his and his alone once, but here it was near impossible to keep others out, and while he might have been able to manage it for a certain amount of time, he saw that it was an endeavor better left unpursued.
As this was his first time meeting Tim, he could not exactly return the sentiment, and so Bruce merely nodded when he said it was good to see him. Admittedly, he was relieved there was no hugging, because this version of Bruce was entirely unaccustomed to physical affection; the result of a life lived largely alone, where most of his interaction was feigned in order to maintain appearances. “It’s good to meet you,” was his amended greeting, and he accepted the boy’s extended hand with a firm, solid grip of his own.
Tim actually smiled at Bruce’s reply. Yes, he supposed that probably would have been the more appropriate thing to say. “You too,” he said, giving his hand a firm shake before withdrawing politely. He couldn’t help but feel a little awkward though because what else was he supposed to say? He didn’t want to compare the Manor to the one he knew. He’d gotten a bit of a rundown from Steph but it probably wouldn’t hurt to ask Bruce. “This is a...strange situation,” he commented lightly. “Steph said Joker and Riddler are around too. How are you doing with all of that on top of the rest of us?” It couldn’t be the most ideal situation for the older man. It certainly wasn’t for Tim, though he was more than willing to get to know this Bruce and he hoped that his issues with Damian wouldn’t get in the way of things.
Of course, Bruce was well aware that this was likely far more of an adjustment for Tim than it was for himself. He tried to imagine what it would be like to meet a version of Alfred who had never met him, as the butler was the only basis for comparison he had, though the lack of judgement on the boy’s part was a welcome relief. “It is,” he agreed, after their courteous handshake had concluded, and his hands had returned to his sides. “Yes, she’s right. Crane and Harley are here as well, along with Ivy and Freeze. I believe the Joker comes from my world, and perhaps Crane as well, but as for the others, they didn’t exist in my Gotham. It’s been an adjustment,” he said, “but certainly nothing I can’t handle.” Regardless of what the others might have thought, Selina and Damian and even Jason, this Bat was not soft, and he was not incompetent. A few comic book villains were hardly enough of a challenge to truly give Batman a run for his money.
He knew, from Spencer, that Bruce’s Joker might be more dangerous than the Joker he was familiar with and that worried him. At least that one didn’t have a Harley. Maybe it’s better here, chimed Spencer, but Tim gave the barest shake of his head. He’d deal with Spencer later, even if he did have a good point. “Hopefully, they won’t decide that working together might be a good idea,” he said with a wry smile. The comment gave him a fairly good opening and he wasn’t about to let it go. “I don’t think anyone would question that but it wears on you. You know that better than the rest of us. Put one away and another takes their place and then the cycle starts over again.” Tim moved as he spoke, toward the staircase, and took a seat before looking up at him. “They get a break, but we - you never do. Gotham needs you.” That was the bottom line, something he would always believe in and fight for. “All I want to do is help make sure you’re here, fighting for it.” He didn’t point out that they’d all been trained by some version of him; he probably knew that already. “I’m not saying you need a Robin, and I think that mantle belongs to Damian anyway, but the point is, we’re here to make it a little easier for you. For the most part.” Tim was regretting that ‘we’ but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.
The prospect of all the villains banding together in some sort of mass-scale scheme was one Bruce had already considered, and while very little truly frightened him, the sheer amount of damage they could cause together did worry him. It was not something he wanted to discuss just then, however, and he managed a tight-lipped smile in agreement. It was impossible to argue against what Tim was saying, because it did wear on him, and the endless cycle of crime frustrated him. He'd been making progress in his Gotham, but here, it was like starting all over again. "It's a difficult cycle to break," he admitted, "but I didn't start this with the expectation that it would be easy." Yes, Gotham did need him, and he was relieved to know that Tim recognized that. He didn’t mention that Damian no longer wanted to be Robin, and he wasn’t very fond of the idea of sidekicks to begin with; partners, perhaps, but not a sidekick, which implied a tag-along, which had gotten Jason Todd killed. No, he would drag no one into this, and if they wanted to help of their own free will, then so be it. He remained standing, looking down at the boy, and sighed. “I know you want to help. Even Jason does, albeit in his own misguided way, which does more harm than good. I don’t need a sidekick,” he told him. “There was a time when I would say I did not need help either, but I’ve learned that refusing it doesn’t work. I’m simply adjusting to having more allies here than I’m accustomed to.”
No one took up this kind of life with the expectation that it would be easy. Trying to do good in Gotham was hard enough sometimes, but managing a personal life on top of that had been incredibly difficult for Tim. It had gotten even more difficult when his father had found out, but after everything that had happened with that, things had gotten easier after he’d gotten adopted by Bruce. He couldn’t help but grin when Bruce said he didn’t need a sidekick. “I’m not interested in stepping on your toes, or being a sidekick. Picking up the mantle of Red Robin had been a necessity in my time, but now...” Tim shrugged. Red Robin had gotten himself tangled up in Ra’s and the League of Assassins and he didn’t need to be a good detective to know that it would probably have ended badly if he hadn’t found himself here. “Breaking the cycle and making Gotham a better place is something I want to do, and I’d much rather do it with your blessing.” Even now, especially now, Tim wanted Bruce’s approval.
The fact that a number of those who came in contact with him suffered for it was something that hadn’t escaped Bruce’s notice, and just as he knew about Jason’s past, and Stephanie’s, he was also aware of Tim’s as well. He said nothing of it, and he wouldn’t, not unless the boy brought it up first, but he knew all the same. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he wanted his approval, but considering the fact that no one had expressed any sort of regard for his opinion since his arrival, it still came as one. They all fought under his symbol, or at least most of them did, and yet they never asked for his blessing, never extended that regard. In his Gotham, Batman was his symbol, and yet here it was taken upon others as though it was public property. That irritated him, and he would likely never fully accept the concept of Batgirl because of it. “You won’t be stepping on any toes here,” he remarked dryly. “Not with me, at least.” As for Damian, well, there was obviously some tension there, and he was wary of becoming too involved on either side. “My blessing,” he repeated, and tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “If I said no, if I refused to give my approval, what would you do?” It was merely a curious question, a way to find out more about the boy, rather than an implication that he had any real intention of openly expressing disapproval.
Tim grinned almost boyishly at Bruce’s tone. “I’m already stepping on a few toes just by being here, but I can’t exactly help that. I won’t actively try to make it worse though.” He couldn’t exactly guarantee anything considering it was Damian, but he’d do his best. Damian just had a way of getting under his skin about the stupidest things. Maybe he secretly had a button with Tim’s name on it. Regardless, it wasn’t going to be Bruce’s problem if he could help it. The same went for his issues with Steph, but that one also fell under his personal life and that was definitely not Bruce’s problem. He got serious real fast when Bruce asked what he’d do if his offer was refused. Tim’s gaze dropped to his lap, where his hands were clasped together, and took a few minutes to seriously consider what he would do. He could do it anyway, but the repercussions of that would have included possible exclusion from the Batcave and certainly it would drive a wedge between the pair of them. He didn’t think he could walk away completely, simply because he was incapable of not doing anything when he saw a crime being committed. Plus, what would the others think of him if he gave it up just because a Bruce that wasn’t their Bruce said he didn’t like it? It wasn’t a huge factor, but it was certainly something to think about. Alternatively, he could ask to still be involved, maybe from the safety of the Batcave but that was more Oracle’s job. She wasn’t around, so he supposed it would be a nice compromise, but he wanted to be out there.
“I don’t know,” Tim answered honestly, looking up at Bruce. “I think it would depend on why you didn’t want me out there. I’d at least ask you to give me a chance, to let me prove what I can do. I’m never going to be just a regular kid, and I think you know that, but I like to think I’d be able to at least help from the Batcave, if necessary. Oracle, Barbara Gordon, she was the first Batgirl, but after she got...attacked by Joker - for being the Commissioner’s daughter by the way, not Batgirl - she ended up becoming an information broker, I guess is the best way to describe it? Basically, she was able to get us intel and we were able to act on it. I’m not the computer genius she is, but I know my way around the Batcomputer.” If the earnestness in his tone was anything to go by, it was clear that he honestly just wanted to be a part of what Bruce was doing, even if it meant staying in the cave.
Bruce was almost certain that his own presence had done more than just step on a few toes, considering the only one who’d seen him as the proper Batman was Alfred, but he refrained from mentioning how things had been at the beginning; they were different now, and there was no use dwelling upon the past. The issues between Tim and Damian were one thing, but Tim and Stephanie was a realm he had no desire whatsoever to enter, and he was more than willing to leave their personal lives to them and stay very much out of it. He watched the boy carefully, and perhaps the question had been unfair, but his response would say a great deal about him. The struggle was visible in his expression, and it explained the delay in his response; that was good. An impulsive response would have belied a sense that the question, and its answer, was important.
Damian had asked for a chance as well, he recalled, but he’d initially refused. Now, Bruce knew better, and he knew that to deny Tim the chance to prove himself would be just as wrong as it had been when he’d tried to push Damian away. Doing that, isolating himself, it wasn’t going to keep anyone safe, even if keeping people at arm’s length was the only way he knew to protect both them and himself. “No,” he agreed. “You’ll never be normal. You’ve come too far for that, regardless of whether or not I think you deserve more than my sort of life.” Sometimes it made him sad, when he thought of the children he’d brought into this life; Jason had suffered most, perhaps, but they had all lost something, and Bruce found it difficult to understand his own self-sacrificing ways in others. He nodded at the mention of Oracle; he’d researched her as well, and while he never would have admitted it, having her sort of intel would be immensely useful to his work. There was only so much he could do on his own, after all, particularly with Gordon’s absence. “Yes, I know about her. If you had the choice, Tim, would you prefer to do what she does, or what I do?”
Tim was confident that Bruce would give him a chance to prove himself. He knew that he wasn’t perfect, that he had made mistakes in the past and that he probably would again, but Batman wasn’t perfect either. They’d give everything they could and then a little bit more to get the job done and then they’d go out and do it again the next day because inevitably, it would get bad again. That was just the cycle of things. Bruce couldn’t do all of it on his own, not while balancing whoever he was across the door. That added a serious wrinkle in things and he had a few questions about how it worked but that could wait. All of it could wait because when he got right down to it, Bruce was his father. Tim had been through a lot already and he wasn’t ready to turn his back on that just because he wasn’t the same Bruce. He couldn’t just walk away. “Your sort of life isn’t all that bad. I know you probably don’t think so but...it’s true. There are a few things I regret but becoming Robin, working with Batman...I’d never regret that.” He had a chance now, if he wanted to turn his back on everything, but he didn’t. Tim would never turn his back on his family, and that’s what they were. Even Damian.
“I will always want to be out there, doing what you do. I understand that you don’t want to see me hurt, but I know the risks. Bruce, my Bruce, he made sure that I was well prepared. It’s been ten years since then and I’ve been through a lot. Not nearly as much as you have but. I can be out there without being your biggest concern. I won’t be able to prove that until you give me a chance to, but I’m confident that I can show you what I’m capable of.” He wanted to make Bruce proud, even if he wasn’t the father he knew. He looked up at him and added, “I have nothing but respect for you, for what you do.”
Maybe it had been true for the other Bruce, but for him, his life was certainly 'all that bad.' He didn’t need to know this boy to feel that he deserved better, regardless of whether Tim had chosen this path for himself or had it chosen for him. There was no clear end in sight, only a far-off goal to work through, and the possibility of death before said goal could be achieved was very, very real. “It’s not good either,” he said grimly. “This is not the sort of life I would have anyone else choose for themselves. I never wanted others to follow in my footsteps, not like this. When I said I wanted to inspire people...” He trailed off with a sigh. He’d said the same to Alfred once, when copycats in his Gotham had begun to appear, but even he knew that those misguided attempts weren’t comparable to what Tim and the others were doing. What right did he have to take their free will away from them?
He had given Damian a choice; the least he could do was offer Tim the same opportunity. “Alright,” he conceded. “I’d like to see what you can do. In the meantime, you’re free to stay here at the Manor if you wish, unless you would prefer somewhere else.” Bruce paused, momentarily caught off guard by Tim’s admission that he respected him, before managing something akin to a smile-- as close to a smile as Bruce Wayne could get, at the very least.
His first instinct was to tell him that things would get better, but platitudes weren’t really their style. Tim just nodded solemnly, hoping that Bruce would see reason and give him a chance. It seemed like hours before the older man, his mentor and father in another life, agreed to give him a chance. That, and the smile he got, sealed the deal. “I’ll stay here, at least for a little while.” Tim stood, three steps up from the bottom of the staircase and where Bruce was standing. “Thank you.” Two simple words, but the emotion both in his voice and on his face spoke volumes. Unfortunately, before he could say anything else, he was overtaken by a rather unattractive yawn and he was reminded of how much traveling sucked. “I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked sheepishly.
Bruce hadn’t realized that he had actually been hoping Tim would agree to stay until he did, and he recognized the feeling which coursed through him as relief. In a strange sort of way, he wanted his pseudo-children near him, the result of a protective instinct he wasn’t aware he possessed and a growing fondness for those he was beginning to come to know. “Good,” he said, satisfied, and simply shook his head when Tim thanked him. He would have told the boy that he didn’t need thanks, but then he was yawning, and he watched him with suppressed amusement. “Yes, of course. You need your rest.”