Not sure how often I'll update this fic, but this idea has been bugging me for weeks and I have a couple chapters typed up and in the works. This takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe pre-Iron Man, with future chapters taking place during and in-between other films all the way up to Captain America: Civil War. See end of the chapter for a rough time-line of events.

November 1996 - July 1997

Even at the age of 22, Tony Stark was known for many things. He was a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist after all. Opinions on him ranged from high praise for his many and diverse assortment of academic and engineering achievements to disgust and disapproval for his various scandalous transgressions that have landed him on the covers of various gossip magazines. There were betting pools across the country trying to predict what model or Hollywood starlette Tony was going to get caught sleeping with next.

Tony wasn't ashamed to admit that he had slept around with hundreds of women. He enjoyed the company of the fairer sex. He wasn't even particularly picky about the kind of girls he took to bed so long as they were fairly good looking. After several years of seeing many different women, however, he had discovered that there was a particular type that he enjoyed having sex with the most: the headstrong and confident type.

And Janet Wilson had most definitely been that type of woman. Tony had met her at a club in New York celebrating her bachelorette party. They'd both hit it off at the bar, had danced, and (inevitably) snuck away from the party for a quicky in a private room after both had a few too many drinks. It was one of those nightly encounters that Tony had never bothered to think about twice. Her name and face were long forgotten by the next morning. It had been a fling; not even something that he considered to qualify as a one-night stand.

But a month later just a week before Christmas, Janet Wilson had been waiting for him in his office. Only by that time she had become Janet Drake, the new wife of Jack Drake of Drake Industries, whom Tony was supposed to be meeting with to discuss a possible partnership in regards to a dig that the man was planing in Iraq and wanted Tony to help sponsor. At first Tony hadn't recognized her, simply assuming (correctly he might add) that she was there representing her husband to deliver D.I.'s proposal for the dig. And for 90% of the meeting, that was true. Janet was far better at hashing out the details than Jack had ever been, but after Tony agreed to the proposition and signed the agreement contract, Janet brought up the night that he had allowed himself to forget.

Initially, Tony had had no idea what she was talking about. Fortunately for Janet, she had video and picture evidence from her bachelorette party to back up her story, helping Tony remember vague details about that night. He couldn't understand why she was bringing it up, especially since he was 98.9% sure she hadn't told her new husband about that night. Hell, he would have never known he'd met her before if she hadn't said something.

Then she gave him a reason. She was pregnant. And she was 100% certain that it was Tony's. She thought he had the right to know. Jack apparently didn't know she was pregnant yet.

Again, Tony had no idea why she was telling him this. To give him a chance to lay claim to the kid? No thanks. Tony was pretty sure that he didn't like children. They were loud and messy and wrecked everything. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes his father did. Howard Stark had never been parent material and Tony was the same. No one had ever looked at Tony Stark and thought "he'd make a good parent."

Nobody but Janet apparently. She thought he deserved to at least know his progeny. Tony had told her in no uncertain terms that it wasn't necessary. He would be perfectly alright with not knowing the kid.

But the woman was a force to be reckoned with. Over the next few months Janet Drake made sure that she met with him in person every time Stark Industries did business with D.I. She'd dragged Jack along to several of the events that Tony himself was either hosting or personally attending, and he found himself meeting the couple at least twice a month.

By March of the new year, Tony found that he was visiting the East Coast fairly often. That was when the Drakes hit him with the news. They wanted Tony to be their kid's godfather. It may have been Jack Drake that had asked him, but Tony was 100% certain that the idea was Janet's. He wanted to say no.

He admired Janet's tenacity. He could comfortably say that he admired her and even liked the woman when he wasn't realizing how thoroughly she'd manipulated him. Hell! He even liked Jack. He really did, honestly. The man was unbearably naive and nice, but that was so refreshing in comparison to all the two-faced and pompous people that usually attended high society events. Jack was also an incredible push-over and Tony had no idea what a knockout like Janet was doing with him. Maybe it was because she got to accompany him on the various archeological dig sites that they both liked to personally excavate when they weren't running D.I.

But the point was, Tony wanted to say no to the whole godfather thing. It was only a step down from being a normal father, wasn't it? He was still pretty sure that he didn't want any sort of claim on the kid that Janet still insisted was really his and not Jack's. How could he watch the kid grow up and pretend to be of no relation? Well, easily probably, since he lived in Malibu and not Gotham and wouldn't be raising the kid, but how could he continue facing Jack, knowing full well that the man's kid was really his? Tony had every reason to say no. He wasn't a child friendly person. He didn't like kids. Didn't want anything to do with kids.

And yet he found himself saying yes. Jack looked delighted and Janet looked satisfied. Neither Janet or Tony had told Jack of the baby's true paternity, but honestly Tony didn't think he ever could. He wasn't the one that was going to be raising the kid after all. Jack deserved to continue believing that the kid was his, because for all intents and purposes, the child would be.

On July 19, 1997, Janet Drake gave birth to a tiny 6 pound, 8 ounce baby boy she named Timothy Jackson Drake. Jack was unfortunately stuck doing business in Argentina, but Tony happened to already be in Gotham visiting his old friend, Bruce Wayne, who'd recently returned from his several year long world tour - for good if the tabloids speculating about the new vigilante Batman were to be believed. Tony had no idea why the man was running around at night dressed as a flying rodent, but he figured that that was Bruce's business. It sure as hell was fun to tease the other man about it, however.

While Bruce was out actually working as CEO of his family's company, Wayne Enterprises, Tony visited Janet and had a paternity test taken off the record. It came back positive. Tony knew that the baby was his. Janet had logically proven that only he could have been the father given the projected conception date that predicted it happened during the time gap between her bachelorette party and her marriage to Jack a week later. It was close enough that Jack had never questioned anything (considering the fact that he wasn't even told about the pregnancy until after Janet was through her first month and was never told said projected conception date) or suspected Janet of being unfaithful. But some part of Tony had still believed that he couldn't possibly be the biological father.

Janet asked Tony if he wanted to hold Tim, shaking the man out of his thoughts. Tony couldn't find it in himself to say no. It was hard to say no to Janet. He didn't love her - hell no - but… he'd admit that he was fond of her. Maybe she was something like an estranged older sister he was only just getting to know. But considering how they met, that was kind of incestual and you don't have sex with your sister, so never mind. Friend. Tony decided that it was safe thinking of Janet as a friend. And if she was a friend, then so was Jack. It felt a little odd thinking that considering that Bruce Wayne and James "Rhodey" Rhodes were the only two people he had ever thought of as friends. And maybe his new Personal Assistant, Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Huh. He had five people he considered friends… That nearly made him feel sociable.

Tony's thoughts were once again derailed when Janet passed her baby boy to him, instructing him on how to hold him. Tim was tiny, weighing hardly nothing. When he opened his eyes, Tony felt ridiculously relieved to see Janet's icy blue eyes blinking up at him instead of his own chocolate brown. Tim was also really quiet. Tony had expect a lot of crying - babies were supposed to cry a lot, right? But Tim was as cool as a cucumber, as the saying went - and why do people say that? What relevance does a cucumber have to a quiet and/or relaxed person? Tony had never understood that saying. The only noise Tim made the entire time Tony was visiting Janet was a soft squeak he made when Tony passed him back to Janet. The baby had wrinkled his tiny nose in a way that most people probably considered cute or adorable. Janet laughed and rocked him gently, humming a soft melody Tony wasn't familiar with.

A nurse took their picture at Janet's request. She sent Tony a copy a week later and he put it in his wallet. Rhodey had found it the next time he'd returned from deployment and teased Tony about having a secret mistress and a baby hidden away. If only his friend knew how true half of that statement was.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this little prelude of what is to come. Below is a timeline of how I see the Batman comic verse events coinciding with the Marvel movies with some basic plot points mapped out. If you have any questions or have a promt for this verse you'd like to see me write, shoot me a suggestion in a review and we'll see how this goes. :) Thanks for reading!

Story Notes:
*Tony Stark & Bruce Wayne are the same age
*Tony Stark's age (and therefore Bruce's) is 10 years younger than RDJ's age.

Timeline:

1996: November - Tony meets and has 1 night fling with Janet Drake

1997: July 19, Tim Drake(-Stark) is born - Tony 23

2000: Tim 3 - Tony 25

- Tim sees the Flying Graysons

- Jack & Janet start leaving a lot more frequently on trips

2006: Tim 9 - Tony 31

- Tim deduces the identity of Batman & Robin

2008: Iron Man

- Tim 11 - Tony 33

2010: Iron Man 2

- Tim 13 - Tony 35

- Tim trains with Batman & other martial masters

- Janet dead; Jack comatose & paralyzed

- Tim becomes Robin

2011: Tim 14 - Tony 36

- Jason Todd returns to Gotham as Red Hood

- Cassandra Cain joins Batfam as Batgirl

2012: The Avengers (May)

- Tim 15 - Tony 37

- Arrival of Damian Wayne

2013: Iron Man 3 (December)

- Tim 16 - Tony 38

- Bruce Wayne "dies" and Dick Grayson takes over as Batman

- Tim is fired from being Robin and becomes Red Robin

2015: Age of Ultron (May)

- Tim 18 - Tony 40

2016: Civil War (May)

- Tim 19 - Tony 41