Care : DCU : Batman/Robin : PG
Title: ---
Fandom: DCU (Batman)
Pairing/Characters: Batman/Robin (implied)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up through Infinite Crisis
Warnings: Besides the pairing? None.
Word Count: 758
Disclaimer: If Bats and Robin belonged to me, things would be going a lot different in continuity right now.
Permission to Archive: Ask for permission.
Status: Complete
Notes: The companion to tsukiguujijn's fic Care. Hers is from the Robin-side, mine is from the Bat-side.
This isn't as good as I wanted it to be. Sorry. >.>
Everything's changed since returning home. We work together now. Batman and Robin. We're like a well oiled machine. Things haven't been this way since Dick...
Nevermind that.
I keep encouraging Robin to return to the Titans. Not full time, just a side bit. Something to keep his mind off his losses. He needs children his own age. He refuses me again and again. They aren't working as a group. There is no team spirit. They need him to pull it back together. The Titans need Robin.
I think it just reminds him of everything he lost when Superboy died. Darla, Stephanie, Superboy, his father....too many deaths for one boy to hold up under. He's beginning to crack around the edges. I can only smooth over so much.
I've adopted him as my son now. It's more than Batman and Robin now -- it's Bruce Wayne and Tim, my adopted son. The media had a field day with it, which provides me with all the cover I need to allow him to move in full time. He accepted my offer to move out of the stable house and into his own room. I couldn't stand him being out there all alone and removed from everything. He's taken a turn for the worse with all the deaths -- my light is being snuffed out bit by bit, and I have to hold him up. I have to protect him.
I don't know what Dick thinks of the adoption. If this had been Jason, he would have been hurt. Slighted. But Tim was like a brother to him. I expected a telephone call. I expected something, but Dick hasn't said a word. We've had radio silence for months. I don't know what's going on with him. He isn't talking to either of us since we came back. He doesn't answer his telephone.
Not having a home to come back to was probably hard on him, but he put on a brave face and packed the few things he had here and rented an apartment in New York. Coming back would be like admitting defeat to him.
Tim and I, on the other hand, seem to have grown closer.
At least, Batman and Robin have. I helped Tim move in, but I haven't seen much of him since. When I try and spend time with him, he goes cold, shuts me out. I'm afraid he thinks I’m trying to move into that shadow his father left behind. I don't want to replace his father, I simply want to provide him with everything I can.
The nights are longer now. They begin sooner and end later. Sometimes downstairs, where I tuck him into the spare bed in the Cave. Sometimes in my bed, where I've carried him up the stairs, too tired to do anything else. I don't think he uses that room as much as I expected him to.
Alfred says nothing. I appreciate his discretion. I always have.
There are nights when Tim isn't enough for me. Nights when even if I call him Robin it's not enough if he's not in the suit -- if I don't have to peel it off of him one piece at a time.
At the very least, I'll have him bring the mask upstairs with him. Alfred frowns, but says nothing. I suppose as long as it's put away when we leave in the morning. As long as it never leaves my room.
No costumes upstairs. That's always been his rule, even more than mine. Sometimes I remember who really runs the Manor, and it isn't me.
I miss my space somewhat. I'm not used to working with a partner twenty-four hours a day. Sometimes I think patrolling on my own would be a breath of fresh air. Sprawling out in my bed might be a luxury now.
I know that I rely on him more than ever. Maybe too much. I put him at risk every time he puts on that suit, and it breaks my heart to think I could lose him.
He's been the only one that really worked his way under my skin. Further than Dick. Deeper than Alfred.
I can't afford to lose him, but I can't risk the extent of this attachment.
I need a few days to breathe and regroup, but that time will come soon enough. He'll go back to them.
Until then, I will bask in his light for a few moments a day before pulling him down into my world.
My dark.
My partner.
Fandom: DCU (Batman)
Pairing/Characters: Batman/Robin (implied)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up through Infinite Crisis
Warnings: Besides the pairing? None.
Word Count: 758
Disclaimer: If Bats and Robin belonged to me, things would be going a lot different in continuity right now.
Permission to Archive: Ask for permission.
Status: Complete
Notes: The companion to tsukiguujijn's fic Care. Hers is from the Robin-side, mine is from the Bat-side.
This isn't as good as I wanted it to be. Sorry. >.>
Everything's changed since returning home. We work together now. Batman and Robin. We're like a well oiled machine. Things haven't been this way since Dick...
Nevermind that.
I keep encouraging Robin to return to the Titans. Not full time, just a side bit. Something to keep his mind off his losses. He needs children his own age. He refuses me again and again. They aren't working as a group. There is no team spirit. They need him to pull it back together. The Titans need Robin.
I think it just reminds him of everything he lost when Superboy died. Darla, Stephanie, Superboy, his father....too many deaths for one boy to hold up under. He's beginning to crack around the edges. I can only smooth over so much.
I've adopted him as my son now. It's more than Batman and Robin now -- it's Bruce Wayne and Tim, my adopted son. The media had a field day with it, which provides me with all the cover I need to allow him to move in full time. He accepted my offer to move out of the stable house and into his own room. I couldn't stand him being out there all alone and removed from everything. He's taken a turn for the worse with all the deaths -- my light is being snuffed out bit by bit, and I have to hold him up. I have to protect him.
I don't know what Dick thinks of the adoption. If this had been Jason, he would have been hurt. Slighted. But Tim was like a brother to him. I expected a telephone call. I expected something, but Dick hasn't said a word. We've had radio silence for months. I don't know what's going on with him. He isn't talking to either of us since we came back. He doesn't answer his telephone.
Not having a home to come back to was probably hard on him, but he put on a brave face and packed the few things he had here and rented an apartment in New York. Coming back would be like admitting defeat to him.
Tim and I, on the other hand, seem to have grown closer.
At least, Batman and Robin have. I helped Tim move in, but I haven't seen much of him since. When I try and spend time with him, he goes cold, shuts me out. I'm afraid he thinks I’m trying to move into that shadow his father left behind. I don't want to replace his father, I simply want to provide him with everything I can.
The nights are longer now. They begin sooner and end later. Sometimes downstairs, where I tuck him into the spare bed in the Cave. Sometimes in my bed, where I've carried him up the stairs, too tired to do anything else. I don't think he uses that room as much as I expected him to.
Alfred says nothing. I appreciate his discretion. I always have.
There are nights when Tim isn't enough for me. Nights when even if I call him Robin it's not enough if he's not in the suit -- if I don't have to peel it off of him one piece at a time.
At the very least, I'll have him bring the mask upstairs with him. Alfred frowns, but says nothing. I suppose as long as it's put away when we leave in the morning. As long as it never leaves my room.
No costumes upstairs. That's always been his rule, even more than mine. Sometimes I remember who really runs the Manor, and it isn't me.
I miss my space somewhat. I'm not used to working with a partner twenty-four hours a day. Sometimes I think patrolling on my own would be a breath of fresh air. Sprawling out in my bed might be a luxury now.
I know that I rely on him more than ever. Maybe too much. I put him at risk every time he puts on that suit, and it breaks my heart to think I could lose him.
He's been the only one that really worked his way under my skin. Further than Dick. Deeper than Alfred.
I can't afford to lose him, but I can't risk the extent of this attachment.
I need a few days to breathe and regroup, but that time will come soon enough. He'll go back to them.
Until then, I will bask in his light for a few moments a day before pulling him down into my world.
My dark.
My partner.