Disclaimer: still don't own them.

Thanks for all the great reviews! I already had this part written so you get a fast update.

Chapter 2

Tim knocked on Danny's door, smiling at his boyfriend when he opened it. "Hey," he offered, slipping inside.

"Hey you," Danny grinned and leant in for a kiss.

Tim felt himself relaxing fully, leaning against Danny, forgetting all about the troubles of his day. It was amazing how just being with Danny could make him feel normal, safe. It was crazy since Danny was a civilian and yet he couldn't help how being with him made him feel.

"We've got Chinese for dinner and that new Star Wars movie lined up," Danny told him, and Tim laughed.

"Perfect date." Take out and sci-fi without leaving the safety of the apartment, he hated that because of him most of their dates were like this but Danny didn't seem to care at all.

Danny was completely content just staying in together which was nice and helped avoid the paparazzi. Granted, Tim could hide by ditching the suits he had become known for wearing since his return to Gotham but it wasn't foolproof which made staying in most of the time safer. Not that Tim was ashamed or scared to be seen with Danny in public, he wouldn't be the first cape to date their own gender and Danny wasn't the first guy he'd been interested in. Lucius knew about them and they'd talked about it, the Board would not take it well and he couldn't put the company at any risk, but they had contingencies ready. And he liked not having the public watching them, to be able to just be himself with Danny, without worrying about the press. He'd talked to Danny about it and Danny had agreed. If they were caught, then they were caught, but they wouldn't do anything to get the attention. He didn't blame Danny at all for not wanting the attention, he'd been in the press since he'd been taken to his first gala at age three. Sadly, not enough for people to realise he'd been left home alone for months on end, then again, without a tie to Bruce who knew what would have happened to him if he'd been removed from his parents' custody back then.

Soon they were settled on the couch with their dinner and Tim shifted closer to Danny. They'd shared the bed, Danny had held him, so maybe he was ready for more physical closeness? Danny had been very touch shy from the start and coupled with a few things he'd said…it was good he hadn't come to Gotham younger or they could have ended up siblings. He was glad Danny had gotten away from whoever had hurt him.

Their fingers brushed and Danny didn't react so he left his hand there, not bothered by the coolness of Danny's skin. They were heading into winter which was when Danny got the jumpiest about touch. The longer they were together, the surer he got that Danny was a meta and he wished he'd say something…unless he was waiting for Tim to ask? The stories of Batman hating Meta's probably didn't help Danny open up about it. Tim was curious about what kind of ability Danny might have; from his body temperature it was probably something…similar to Mr Freeze which could be another reason for his hesitance.

As the movie continued, he gently tangled their fingers together, shifting slightly so their shoulders brushed. He felt Danny glance his way but kept his gaze on the screen, enjoying the space battle. Tim was pleased when Danny carefully squeezed his hand, returning the pressure. By the end of the movie, he was leaning against Danny who had an arm resting over his waist. He turned his head and kissed Danny softly, happy when Danny returned the kiss.

He shifted to turn his whole body, slowly moving one hand up to cup Danny's face, feeling him tense slightly, but Tim kept up the gentle kiss and Danny relaxed again. "Love you," he murmured when he pulled back to breath, smiling softly at him. "Danny…if we never go beyond this, then that's okay. I love you for you, watching silly movies, eating takeout, playing video games… I would never pressure you for sex or anything else you don't want." Why was it that as Red Robin mentioning that was fine but as just Tim he had to fight not to stammer or blush? "If it's something you're not interested in, you can tell me."

Danny stared at him, incredible blue eyes wider than normal, but Tim didn't push, content to let him think and decide what he wanted to say. "I…I don't not want that, one day," Danny finally whispered. "It's just…it's complicated Tim. I love you; I do."

A cool hand pressed to Tim's face in return and he leant into the touch, he would never pull away because he trusted Danny. He'd always had so much trouble with trust between his parent's absence and then becoming Robin…well, he hadn't had many good examples of trust outside the family and, in the end, even they had failed him. But Danny…Danny was bright smiles and silly puns, quiet nights in and gentle care, so different to everyone else in his life.

"I promise Tim, one day," he swore, leaning forward enough that their foreheads touched.

Tim kissed him again. "Only whatever you're comfortable with," he promised in return.

Was it just his body temperature to it, or was there something else? They hadn't been dating last winter, he'd even been off planet for several weeks and then very busy with work, had he missed something? Or maybe…he was worried Tim would find him too cold in the freezing weather of a Gotham winter? Was he scared that he'd hurt Tim?

And if Danny never wanted more physically than they had, well, he could live with that. He was happier with Danny than he'd ever been before.

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Danny slumped back on the couch after watching Tim's bike drive out of sight. He had to tell him, but he was scared to. His parents…but Tim wasn't like them, he wasn't. even if he broke up with him, he wouldn't hurt him. But the thought of losing Tim hurt, a core deep pain he couldn't ignore.

He could still remember the looks on his parents faces…the confusion, dawning understanding, grief, horror…rage and disgust. Jack hadn't been as pad, put Maddie? She'd been terrifying, her words that day…he tried not to remember that time, the feel of the ghost brief cuffs, the feel of the blade…

If he hadn't had been so stupid, Jazz and Sam at least would be alive. But they had come in to save him, Tucker busy dismantling security, wiping files from them and the GIW so he'd been spared. Jazz's last act had been through him into the portal, Danny too weak to protect her or anyone as the house went up because of their parents' stupidity and lack of lab safety.

It was stupid, but despite it all, he still loved and missed them. Not as much as Jazz and even Sam but he still missed them. They hadn't always been the best, their last actions horrendous, but they had been his parents.

He forced himself off the couch and began getting ready for bed. He had work in the morning and classes in the afternoon.

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Tim landed lightly, moving across the roof, keeping an eye out for any trouble. With nothing in the area, he fired his grapple and leapt from the building, soaring through the air. Things had been quiet lately which was never a good sign, it usually meant someone was planning something. He'd touched base with a few informants but they hadn't heard anything.

The quiet did mean he could just enjoy his time travelling across the roofs. He wasn't Dick, he didn't just jump and flip through the air, but he still loved the freedom. There was no traffic, no one watching him, just him and his trust in his skills and grapple. It'd taken a few weeks after Damian cut his line for him to get full trust back in the tech, despite the fact it hadn't failed him. He landed and then paused; head cocked as he focused. There! He slid the edge of the roof and looked down to see three men in an alley cornering a teenager. Time to get to work then.

The girl glanced up and her eyes widened, obviously spotting him and he pressed a finger to his lips. Most people were good at pretending not to see them since they were there to save them. He drew some smoke pellets before leaping down to land between the girl and muggers. The first fell easily to a hit to the head, the other two coughing as they stumbled back out of the smoke.

"Run," he called, and she didn't need to be told twice.

He spun, blocking a knife with his bō easily. They were thugs, not trained fighters, so it was over very quickly and he called the cops to pick them up after tying the three up. He then headed back to the roof to continue his patrol.

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Bruce opened the door silently and stepped inside, looking around the room that hadn't been used in far too long. It barely looked more than any of the guestrooms that littered the mansion. He could remember a time when a skateboard and helmet had rested against a wall, the desk covered in papers and camera parts. Tim had never been the neatest of his brood but to look at the room now…

He sat on the edge of the neatly made bed, searching for any sign of his second youngest in the room. Bruce smiled when he spotted the handful of photos, picking up one that must have snapped not long before Damian had arrived. Tim was grinning, leaning against Dick even as he reached for the pastry Dick was holding above his head. When was the last time he'd seen his son so happy?

He headed down to the cave to get ready for patrol, glancing over at the workstations, Tim's was empty. Damian soon appeared and headed into the locker room to change, Robin emerging. Soon they were in the Batmobile and headed into the city. A single question was enough to get his son talking of his volunteer work at the shelter, something the boy enjoyed no matter how he tried to hide it.

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It was frustrating that two days after their very nice date and talk, he got an Arkham breakout alert and had to cancel their next date night. Danny never questioned the cancellations like most civilians would which was nice. He changed into his uniform and took off across the rooftops to meet up with the others. He'd been in such a good mood earlier too. He landed silently and moved to join them, noticing Jason wasn't there, not surprising really and Jason would ensure none of the escapees hid in Crime Alley.

He ignored the way Damian scoffed at his presence, immune to it these days, though part of him would always be alert around the younger vigilante. Damian had grown from the angry boy he'd been, it was just hard to forget the murder attempts, especially when Damian had never even tried to apologise for them. Yes, Jason had almost killed him, but Jason had apologised and Tim knew a lot of why he'd tried to kill him had been the Pit Rage on top of whatever poison Talia had whispered in his ear, likely trying to remove Tim so that Damian could take his place. Even with the forgiveness and their improved working relationship, he still kept a safe distance if Jason looked to be struggling, Tim knew he was a trigger for it and likely always would be.

His eyes went to the shadows as Batman emerged to give them the plan for the night, looking them over. There was something…odd when his gaze met Tim's but it was gone too fast for Tim to identify, though, it didn't seem negative?

"Red Robin and Robin, Nightwing and Spoiler, Black Bat and Signal," Batman called out the pairs for the night and then their areas.

Tim partially tuned him out, he'd prefer being paired with Cass or Duke but he kept quiet. No one had ever taken his side over Damian, even when the kid had tried to kill him and since it'd been a few years since then they definitely wouldn't listen now. Damian might not have tried to kill him lately, but working with him was always a trial. It could take a lot more than two years to undo the ten years of influence from the League of Shadows, he was just acting how he'd been raised during the first attempt. But two years on and no apology or even acknowledgment that what he'd done was wrong? He knew better now. The only time they seemed to work well together was when the whole world was threatened which meant tonight was not going to be fun. And he just knew Dick was behind it, still trying to make them get along.

So of course, the Brat managed to lose him halfway through patrol…and right in time for Tim to run into Freeze and what had to be every goon the man ever employed. Wonderful. He drew his bō, there was no choice but to fight, he couldn't let them get to the civilians still rushing to evacuate. He'd had no chance to set anything up which meant a straight up fight. And they were all armed, though it looked like only Freeze had a freeze ray, which made things a tad easier.

He was really not happy with having to face them alone, not with Freeze happily firing into the dispersing civilians. With a partner it'd be a lot easier to keep him occupied without getting hit too. Still, he'd work with what he had, everyone else was too far away and when he tried to call Damian it was obvious that he was in a fight as well.

He ducked around an overturned car that had already been frozen, relieved it was empty, tossing some birdarangs at the various goons. He smirked when two of the men managed to take each other out while trying to avoid them. He lunged to the side as Freeze fired, feeling some of his cape stiffen from a too near miss. The quicker he could take out the goons the easier the fight would be. And then he stumbled as a bullet slammed into his side, gasping for air. It hadn't penetrated the suit but he'd at least have bruised ribs, he didn't think they'd broken. He could fight through the pain; he'd had far worse.

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Dick saw the look Bruce gave them all as they reconvened in the Cave, all battered and exhausted, but didn't quite get that one and he thought he knew all Bruce's looks. They'd caught most of the escapees at least, Killer Croc was somewhere in the sewers and could take weeks to find. Ivy was on the lose too but she'd mellowed over the years. And there didn't seem to be any major injuries.

"Reports," Bruce told them, Dick got to work, the others slumping with various devices to do so.

The cave was quiet as they wrote them up before heading upstairs or to their own homes. Dick headed up with Damian since it was way too early to try and drive home.

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Danny rolled out of bed to the sound of breaking glass, blinking in shock and very grateful he could see in the dark. Ancients! Was that…yep, that was a vigilante…and that was blood. He moved cautiously closer but the figure didn't move so he knelt beside them, carefully rolling them away from the glass and onto their back. There was a low moan but that was the only reaction. The suit was cut up and the material did not feel warm…the guy's lips were blue!

Danny pressed a hand to the material, carefully drawing the cold from it and into himself. The news had said Freeze was one of the escapees, looked like Red Robin had run into him. Well, he was like 97% sure this one was Red Robin. Had the guy missed with his grapple and crashed through the nearest window? Hypothermia and blood loss would make their method of travel almost impossible for a normal human. Surely with so many of their most dangerous rogues on the loose they'd be working in pairs at least? Was another vigilante out there in worse shape…or dead? Or had they actually split up to work alone?

He got up and grabbed the first aid kit, he couldn't just let him keep bleeding out on the floor. The scissors wouldn't cut through his uniform which made sense when they faced guys with blades and guns regularly so he needed another way and fast, that was way too much blood beginning to pool on the floor, thankfully he didn't have carpet.

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Pain…hands…moving him…gentle… "Nggg…."

"Can you hear me?"

That voice…he knew it. He hurt, cold, tired…but… "D'ny?" he struggled to open his eyes, a blurry figure slowly forming.

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"D'ny?"

Danny froze, confused, how did Red Robin know his name? Because that was definitely an attempt to say Danny. "It's okay, you're safe," he murmured in reply. Gotham's bats protected the people like he used to protect his people. For now, he would ignore his name and keep working to stabilise the other. "You're badly hurt, can your top be removed without taking off the cowl?" he asked, hoping Red could understand him. If it came down to his life or identity, Danny would choose saving his life and live with whatever consequences came.

Red's hand weakly moved to tug at something and Danny leant over to see hidden fasteners.

"Okay, I'm going to try and be careful but I need to be quick to get to your wounds," he warned. More and more blood was pooling on his floor and he had the feeling some of the cold was from blood loss rather than Freeze.

He managed to get the various bits of utility equipment off before undoing the fasteners, peeling the blood-soaked unknown material from a very nice body. He assumed there was Kevlar or something in it but also something else. Under it was a short sleeved, skin-tight, top of material he'd seen sports people wear, designed to keep sweat from clinging – wool or polyester or something. He blinked as he stared at the scar on the vigilante's left…he knew that scar…he'd seen it before but that would mean…he'd used Danny's name. And it wasn't just that scar that was familiar.

"Polaris?" he whispered, watching Red Robin shift, fingers twitching towards him. Well…that explained a lot. Everyone knew the rumours that the bat clans face gear was booby trapped to keep it from being removed by strangers but that wouldn't stop him phasing it off…but unless there was a sign of head injury then he should leave it on. And maybe he was wrong, but it explained so much if it was true.

He sighed and pressed his hand to the worst wounds, ice forming over them. The most worrying was on his upper left arm, right over the artery and from the blood he'd lost… Considering how cold Tim was, ice was risky, but it was the best method he had to ensure he didn't finish losing what blood was left in his body. He couldn't risk Tim's identity by calling an ambulance and those wounds needed more than simple stitches. Once they were iced over to begin healing, he went to work on the rest, cleaning and stitching them, thankful that some only needed steri strips to hold them together. His ribs were already turning a nice purple with a smallish impact mark that Danny had the feeling came from a bullet, good thing he wore armoured clothing. By the time he was done with those he melted the ice to find the wounds were smaller and shallower, so he cleaned and stitched them as well. He then felt around Tim's waist, he felt horrible but his pants or whatever they were, were soaked even if he had drawn most of the coldness from them earlier. He had to search a bit but eventually figured out how to remove them and his boots, leaving him in skin-tight under garments which were also wet. He had to get him warm so privacy had to be ignored, which meant totally stripping Tim.

He ducked into the bathroom and grabbed a towel as well as a familiar pill bottle. He rubbed Tim down to dry him off and start warming him up then dressed him in some of his own clothes before settling him in the bed. He grabbed a glass of water and opened the bottle; glad Tim had agreed to leave a spare bottle of his antibiotics behind in case he forgot to bring them. He poured out a pill and carefully got Tim to swallow it.

"D'y."

"I'm here Tim, you're going to be okay." He wanted to crawl in with him, hold him, but he would only make things worse. He stroked a too cool cheek and Tim leant into his touch, Danny wishing he could see his eyes. When he went completely limp, breathing steadying out, Danny knew he'd fallen asleep. He couldn't rest though, keeping vigil throughout the morning, watching him carefully. If he got worse there'd be no choice but to call for help.

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Bruce frowned when Tim's comm and phone went unanswered. There was nothing concerning in Damian's report, except he made no mention of running into Freeze. The GCPD had picked him and quite a few of his men up in the area he'd assigned the two teens to at Dick's suggestion. Damian had long since stopped his attempts to kill Tim, he had come to accept that they didn't kill and that they were all Bruce's children.

But the relationship between his two youngest had never grown, despite all efforts. They only worked together if pushed to or if the world was in danger.

"Batman?"

"Has Red Robin returned to his Nest, Oracle? He isn't answering."

"He messaged and said he was a few hours ago. He sounded exhausted, he's hopefully fast asleep," she answered after a moment.

"Hn." He cut the connection, frowning slightly. Then again, if Tim was actually sleeping then he would hate to wake him and be the reason he decided to stay up and work. His dedication was admirable, his ability to care for himself not so much. And yes, he knew he was hypocritical there.

TBC…

Ch3 is already mostly written so will likely go up this week sometime.

I also figured he had to wear something under the costume but couldn't find anything that said what.