A. N. So, this was supposed to be a short, fluffy one-shot about brotherly love and it ended up being this. Which is still sort of what I was going for...
Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, and I dedicate this story to my best friend, A Small Voice
The thing is, Dick knows. He knows he's not being as hard on Tim as he is with the rest of the team; he knows that he's giving him the easy missions. Whenever possible, he sets Tim up on surveillance duty, leaving him safe in the cave or the mountain, keeping an eye out for the rest of them. He also knows why nobody is daring to call him on it.
"He's better at the hacking stuff," he tells the League during one of his mission reports. None of them mention the fact that Dick or Barbara can do exactly the same things with a computer, that the Bats aren't the only ones that are good at hacking.
They take his feeble explanation without comment. Jason is still too fresh in their minds for them to not understand why he's being so overprotective of the newest Robin. They're a bit protective of all of the Robins too.
The League hears what he really means. I'm not burying another brother.
"He's too young," he tells Wally shortly after Tim joins the Young Justice team. Wally doesn't mention that Dick was younger when he started flipping off of trapezes without safety nets, that Dick was younger when he started flipping off of Gotham's roofs in a brightly colored costume.
Wally lets Dick make his excuses. He remembers the grief that Robin carried when he first met Kid Flash, how Wally met Dick later, and found out how he became Robin. He knows that Dick doesn't want to bury another family member.
Wally knows what Dick really means. I need to protect him from the world.
At first, Tim doesn't get it. He sees Dick's excuses for what they are. He knows that Dick can hack just as well as him. Hell, even Barbara can hack pretty well. He knows that Dick was younger than him when he started patrolling Gotham.
It's not until he hacks into the Batcomputer and sees the file on Jason Todd that he understands.
When he sees Bruce the next morning, he wraps his arms around him in a giant hug. He does the same with Nightwing that evening at the mountain, right before training starts. Tim doesn't say anything, but just squeezes them tightly, hoping that they'll understand. I'm okay. I'm fine. It's all fine.
He still makes token protests, but he stops complaining as much when Dick shows up to pick him up after school every Friday or when he sees surveillance cameras (controlled by the Batcomputer, he knew, he had seen the program that Dick had written) following him in town. He doesn't complain as much when Batman won't let him patrol without Batgirl or Nightwing next to him, or when Nightwing keeps on assigning him to computer duty, or when Alfred checks him over first after patrols.
The first big fight that Dick and Bruce have after Jason is when Dick suggests that Tim might be ready to lead Gamma Squad. It's also the first time that they argue as Dick and Bruce, not as Richard Grayson and Bruce Wayne, not as Batman and Robin.
"He needs to learn how to lead!" Dick yells at Bruce, having started yelling about an hour into their argument.
"He's better at the computers," Bruce uses the same excuses that Dick had used.
"That's a load of shit and you know it! He needs experience!"
"He's too young!" Bruce argues not as Batman, but as a father who's already buried a son.
"I was younger when I started!"
"Ahem," Alfred interrupted both of them. "Perhaps you could both have tea, and then talk this over like civilized adults?" He said as he unloaded the tray that he was carrying.
Alfred glared at both of them until they sat down and picked up a cup of tea. For the next ten minutes, the only sounds in the room were the clink of china and the pouring of the tea. Alfred stood stiffly off to the side, refilling their cups when necessary, and making sure that they didn't talk.
"Now, why don't you two talk civilly?" He said as they finished their tea, gathering them back up and leaving the room with one last warning glare.
"He's getting antsy, Bruce," Dick started. "We're being overprotective of him. He needs this."
"I can't go through that again, Dickie," Bruce had his head in his hands. I can't lose another son.
"I'll be giving him the easiest tasks, and he'll have Jaime and La'gaan for backup," Dick reassured his father.
It took another hour for Bruce to agree, but Dick finally wore him down.
"Keep an eye on him, okay?" Bruce asked.
Dick raised an eyebrow. "Like you won't be checking his tracker on the Batcomputer every five minutes?"
Alfred was waiting for both of them when they emerged. "I'm so glad to see that you have gotten over your dispute. Might I suggest that you inform Master Tim of the good news tomorrow as he has already gone to bed?"
They both agree, and Nightwing tells Robin the next day that he'll be running Gamma Squad this time.
Robin asks Nightwing if he's only leading because he's not expecting Gamma to get into trouble or because he has no choice.
"Just don't die, okay? And no unnecessary risks to the squad," by which he really means, no unnecessary risks to you. "That's an order." He tells Tim right before he leaves. He knows that Tim knows what he really means. Stay safe. I love you.
Of course, since they are the Batfamily, it doesn't go according to plan.
Nightwing gets a call from Bruce just as he and Wondergirl found their targets.
"There was a self-destruct sequence triggered at Robin's location." Bruce is calmly direct.
"Futu-i," he curses, executing a sharp u-turn in mid-air, speeding towards New Orleans.
They get there just a moment before everyone else. Nightwing pulls up Tim's tracker on the computer in his bike, waiting for him to breach the surface of the river.
Finally, the three members of Gamma Squad pop up, but he only focuses on one.
He swallows down his instinctive reaction to jump off of his bike and wrap Tim in his arms tightly, to speed him back to the Batcave and make sure that's he's completely fine, to chase away the images of Jason's crumpled body that seem tattooed on the insides of his eyelids.
"Dude! Way to get your feet wet!" Nightwing says, leaning nonchalantly on his motorcycle, receiving a blinding smile from Robin in response. Robin can hear what he really means. I'm proud of you, little brother.