"And they said you were the crooked kind, And that you would never have no worth, But you were always gold to me." -Always Gold by Radical Face

"I thought you were going to Jay's old stomping grounds," Tim said when he found Dick sitting in his room at the manor.

"I went already," Dick said smoothly, gesturing for Tim to sit next to him on the bed. "Didn't find anything."

"You were trained by the World's Greatest Detective, and you didn't find anything?"

Dick grinned brightly, but it was cunning, too, as if he was sharing some secret with Tim. "Come on, Timmy! We all know while we were Robins we each had one best quality. Put us all together, we'd be a perfect Robin!"

"Oh yeah?" Tim asked, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah," Dick laughed, ruffling Tim's hair while Tim attempted to bat him away. "I was the best at the acrobatics, Jaybird was best at street fighting, and you were by far the smartest. Probably what makes you the favorite, actually."

Tim actually choked on his own spit after that, and Dick looked on worriedly until Tim's face became a lighter shade of maroon.

"I am not the favorite. You're insane. And the favorite. You're the insane favorite." Tim took a deep breath, trying to calm his lungs down.

Dick laughed, and it infuriated Tim just a little bit, because to him it was obvious. Richard Grayson was everyone's favorite, he was the apple of Bruce's eye, he could make Alfred crack a smile. The only time he had seen anyone hate Dick was when Jason had fought them, but he realized soon after that it was just-

Jealousy. Tim's eyes dropped to his hands and Dick's laugh trailed off when he saw his brother's expression. "Hey, Tim," he said. "He doesn't have a favorite, okay? Bruce loves us all equally."

Tim scoffed involuntarily but waved off his brother's worry. "It's not about that. It's about-"

"Jason," Dick finished, and he put his arm around Tim to bring him closer. "I know. We have to find him, but I really think-"

"It's not about that, either, Dick!" Tim yelled, talking over his brother. "It's about…" Tim sighed. "Look at it this way. I think you're the favorite because you were the first and you balance Bruce out, and he listens to you more than he listens to me or anyone else, other than Alfred."

Dick opened his mouth to speak but was countered by a glare. Tim continued.

"You think I'm the favorite because I'm logical and I think like Bruce does."

Dick wanted to add but knew better than to interrupt.

"Damian thinks he's the favorite because he's the biological son and because he was already highly skilled. So, who's missing?"

Dick cocked his head to one side. "No one says Jason, but I don't see how that-"

"When he was Robin, he was compared to you. That made him believe, probably, that you were the favorite. He was also a jerk, so you probably thought you were the favorite, too. And then he was dead, and memories don't count. No one has ever though, ever, that Jason was held in Bruce's highest regard. And we joke that Bruce doesn't really have a favorite, but Jason doesn't joke about it, because Jason has never been anyone's favorite. That kind of sucks, like, truly sucks, doesn't it?"

Dick stood up and leaned against his desk. He sighed loudly and closed his eyes, trying to find a flaw in Tim's logic. "But-" another long sigh, "when you first showed up, it was all about Jason."

"Yeah, you're totally right," Tim said sarcastically. "Everyone was telling me to not be like Jason, that he failed, that he wasn't good enough, that he was flawed. I spent all my time trying to not end up like him. I bet you that's yet another reason he never even considered coming back here. The only person who told him he meant something was-"

Tim's eyes widened and he bolted from Dick's room, charging down to the cave.

"You have no idea what's going on in his mind," he heard Bruce growl once he got to the cave, and he winced when Alfred countered.

"I might," he managed to say, and watched their faces tilt towards him.