Tim was hunched over in his seat as he typed up his report on the last mission they'd had, dotting the i's and crossing the t's as it were, he wanted it to be completed by the time Batman came back from League business, he wanted to show him that he was old enough to pick up the slack and he had nothing to worry about when leaving them alone for longer periods of time.

Batman didn't need to viciously clean up the city before a business trip. Gotham wouldn't fall in his absence, not on Tim's watch. He could handle Gotham too, wasn't that the whole point of training him as Red Robin in the first place?

He was halfway through a GCPD log when he was distracted by a new text message on his civilian phone.

Usually he was better at ignoring personal matters while in uniform, but he was never good at ignoring Dick Grayson, no matter what clothes he was wearing.

Dick Grayson!: Heya Timmy! sorry I missed your call earlier, everything okay?

Tim Drake: Hello, Dick. Yeah. Just..

He had made the call in the spur of the moment, truth be told. Being friends with Dick was still a very new thing for him, but despite the short amount of time he's known him (knowingofhim doesn't count), his first instinct when he was upset was to go to Dick and just vent. He didn't always have advice to give, and sometimes his advice didn't help much because Dick didn't understand… didn'tknowthat 'talking about his feelings' with Bruce was absolutelynotan option, ever -but he always had a smile, a hug. That was enough.

Dick Grayson!: just..?

Dick Grayson!: It's late, are you still studying? Would it be okay if I call you?

Tim Drake: I'm.. finishing up some things

Not a lie, technically. The report was almost done, and just because he wasn't on patrol didn't mean he couldn't work on the myriad of open cases they had from the cave. Still... He hadn't seen Dick since last week. There had been a small-scale break out at Arkham -mostly low level goons, but rounding them all up had been a pain in the ass for all of them.

Tim Drake: Let me finish here and I'll go to my room. I'll call you.

Tim Drake: if that's okay? It is late

Dick Grayson!: it's fine, don't worry Timmy ;)

Tim Drake: What are you doing up so late anyway?

Dick Grayson!: went out with some friends :)

Tim Drake: a social life?

Dick Grayson!: they exist! I'll help you find one someday :p

Dick Grayson!: now stop trying to make me forget you were upset and finish your stuff

Dick Grayson!: I'll take a shower and wait for your call 8D

Tim's face grew warm when his mind conjured up an image of Dick in the shower before he could stop himself. He wasn't always like this, he swears.

Tim Drake: okcool

He never did finish that report.

Rushing through it would only do more harm than good, he told himself, as he closed the file and went to the dressing room to change out of his suit. A fuzzy, electric anticipation had taken hold, low and insistent within him.

Tim removed his mask and changed out of his Red Robin uniform, he had only changed into it out of habit, anyway -in case of an emergency- and left the cave. Gotham was too quiet, it was more than a little disconcerting.

It felt like they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He was headed to his room when he heard them. Jason and Damian arguing. Again.

He didn't know how -or why- Bruce had convinced Jason to stay at the manor while he was gone, and he couldn't even begin to understand Jason's reasoning for agreeing.

Nothing about Jason being here made them any safer, if anything, it only made Damian a whole lot more bloodthirsty.

He was about to ignore them when he heard the distinct sound of a sword being unsheathed.

"Please don't let Jason have brought live ammo into the house. Again" he muttered before letting out a tired sigh and making a detour.

At least the fact that Damian was making so much noise meant he didn't intend to kill Jason. For now. He still hurried his pace a little when everything went quiet.

They were at a standstill.

Damian's sword was grazing Jason's neck. Jason had the muzzle of his gun pressing against the underside of his jaw -no way for Tim to tell if it was one of his tranq guns or a real one from this angle- so unless one of them decided to actually commit and really hurt the other they were at a stalemate. They both looked at him when he entered.

"I really,reallydon't care what this is about, but try to keep it down, I have an important call to make", Tim said flatly and turned to leave. He was not.Not.Getting roped into an argument with these two again today.

"Next time you express yourself that way about Grayson," Damian growled, still up in Jason's face, "I'll cut off your tongue and feed it to you. Todd"

Jason seemed unbothered to the untrained eye, but Tim saw his jaw tighten, Damian saw it too, most likely.

Wasn't terribly hard to imagine the kind of comment Jason had made to get this reaction out of the little demon. He didn't blame Damian for snapping -his devotion towards Dick was almost cute.

He and Damian had never seen eye to eye on pretty much anything, his time at the manor had started with murderous intent, so the situation could only go up from there -Not that that was saying much-. Damian wasn't trying to kill him every other day though, it was progress.

Progress that could only be achieved after Damian had done what Batman had failed to do in over a decade. He'd found Dick Grayson.

No one knew exactly how he'd done it. One day he'd just walked into the cave withproof. Just like that.

If Damian had told Bruce any details, neither of them shared a thing. And by the time he tried to snoop around the files Bruce had on the acrobat, everything was encrypted.

It didn't matter. When Tim had gone to see the man Damian claimed was Dick Grayson, he didn't need any more proof. The moment he saw the man working at that diner, his head filled with sounds, a snap. A gasp. A scream. And heknew.

Tim had been very young, and Dick himself had been not much older, but that night had been emblazoned on his mind so thoroughly that sometimes -on his bad days-, he'd still wake up covered in sweat, a scream so guttural that it sounded more like a dying animal than a crying child loudly ringing in his ears.

And now here he was, the same boy, the same eyes, the same smile. Tim wondered if Dick had kept up with acrobatics, he moved like he never stopped flying.

Tim had spent so much time thinking about Dick as a ghost. Some too-good-to-be-true fantasy that Bruce had made up to protect what little light was still inside him, but no, Tim had seen it too, he'd been there. HeknewDick wasn't a legend. Still, He hadn't expected the man to look so…normal.No cape. No shadows. The only sharp edges Dick Grayson had were his jaw and cheekbones. So he hadn't dared approach him then. Or at all.

Not until a few weeks later, when Damian asked, surprisingly politely and out of the blue, if Tim would take him downtown for something to eat. He hadn't known they were going tothatdiner.Dick'sdiner. Where Dick worked. Where Damian.. smiled?

Dick had greeted them with so much warmth Tim felt like he'd been lit on fire. A smile so bright he thought he'd go blind. And then he had ruffled Damian's hair like that was a thing people do without losing a couple fingers. He counted all ten on him.

Tim realized then that they already knew each other, they werefamiliar.How long had Damian kept Dick Grayson away from them? And why?

"Fucking crazy psychopath", Jason grumbled, holstering his gun.

"Pot kettle black" Tim shrugged, easily catching the paper weight Jason sent flying towards him in retaliation

"Right, forgot you two ran the Dick Grayson's fanclub nowadays" Jason said, flopping down onto the nearest couch, "wonder how you'll react when you find out your golden boy isn't so golden after all" he smirked.

Damian bristled and almost lunged at Jason again, his hand twitching towards his sword once more. Tim grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, making the kid turn his glare on him as he pushed the offending hand off almost instantly.

Tim rolled his eyes at the comment, he knew better than to engage Jason when he was in one of these moods, "anyway, try not to kill each other", he said as he turned his back on them to leave once more.

He should've known it wouldn't be so easy, Jason hates when they argue against him because he's delusional enough to think he's always right. But he can't stand it when they don't take the bait.

"No one'sthatperfect, not unless they have something to hide" Jason said. Damian's shoulders tensed.

Tim rolled his eyes again "He's been nothing but kind, why is it so hard to believe that's just who he is?" He asked

Jason shrugged "Obviously, he's trying to win your trust, why else would he put up with that little gremlin?"

"Tt. You don't know what you're talking about, Todd." Damian spat

Tim heard Jason's words but he couldn't see any of the heat he was trying to project. Either he didn't believe what he was saying…

Jason grinned "oh? If you're both so sure ofSaint Dick, then let's test it"

…Or he knew something. Tim and Damian exchanged a look.

"What do you mean?" Tim asked. Wary.

He wondered if Jason had been stalking Dick, he wouldn't put it past the man.

"How hard can it be? He's just a civilian, isn't he?" Jason's voice had a smug, dangerous edge to it. Tim didn't like it. "Let's shake his world up a bit, see if he cracks"

Tim raised an eyebrow. "You came up awfully quick with that idea, been thinking about him a lot or..?" he smirked.

Jason scowled "Don't project your silly crush onto me." Tim would have believed him if he hadn't seen a soft shade of pink blooming on Jason's ears.

Face warm Tim sputtered "I-"

Damian cut into Tim's reply. Thankfully. "What kind of scenario are you proposing?" He asked, looking bored. Too bored to be anything but an act.

Jason grinned "Like I said, applying some heat, see what he does under pressure"

It made sense, all of them had been compared to the ghost of Dick Grayson, but Jason most of all had grown up being measured to an impossible standard, it wasn't fair, Tim knew. Dick had boundless potential as a child, but he had neverbeena Robin.

Bruce had stolen that title from the Grayson's themselves, and then he'd built up an unattainable paradigm around it. They all knew it was impossible to measure up to that. But they had all tried anyway.

Dick Grayson was the perfect blueprint for Robin, and it made a young Jason Todd never feel like anything but a stand-in for someone Bruce couldn't let go of. No one understands that better than Tim since he was, for all intents and purposes, Jason's replacement, after he failed to live up to the myth… So it made sense that all of them felt so intensely linked to Dick, while the man in question was none the wiser.

Damian scoffed "Asking purely out of morbid curiosity I assure you, I doubt your limited imagination can come up with something worthy of putting into motion, Grayson is a lot smarter thanbothof you, we have to come up with something good if we truly want to deceive him" he said.

Everyone was too on board with this silly idea, Tim thought, though he couldn't say he wasn't curious.

"Fucking brat, wh-"

"I-" Tim spoke before Jason started another fight with Damian "I could ask him to let me work out with him? Or ask him to tutor me on-"

Jason laughed, something between genuine surprise, disgust, and.. Something uglier. "You're a fucking genius" he mocked, not an untrue statement, but Jason always made it sound like an insult "heknowsyou're a fucking genius. But you're so eager to play the sacrificial lamb, aren't you?" he said to Tim in a tone of voice that implied vulgar things. Tim bristled, but remained calm.

"We talk all the time, it'd be easy for me to keep an eye on him", he said. He had no ideawhathe would be keeping an eye out for, Jason was wrong about Dick, but he wasn't about to pass on a perfect excuse handed on to him on a silver platter.

"Ohof course, he would feel completely at ease with a lovestruck teenager trailing after him, acertified geniusacting like he can't do simple math. Please, evenIcan give him more credit thanthat" Jason taunted. "If anything,Iwould be able to rile him up better than either of you, then we'd see what he does when I ruffle hispretty feathersa little bit" he smirked.

There it was. Jason wassonot fooling anyone.

"I thinkyou'rea bit too invested, Jason. I don't know who you think you're fooling every time you proclaim your hate for Dick. Not us, certainly. And not yourself"

Hopefully, Jason's guns weren't actually real, because the way he was eyeing Tim looked like he wanted to turn him into Swiss cheese.

"As expected, both of you are completely useless at formulating a good plan for subterfuge. As Todd mentioned, Grayson already knowsyou're taking advanced math, Drake. I don't doubt there's a lot youcouldlearn from him, but your cover story wouldn't hold", Damian said with a roll of his eyes.

Jason snorted a laugh.

"And you, Todd, your thinly veiled intentions to be in Grayson's proximity for, no doubt, depraved and lewd intentions has been duly noted" Damian continued, back straight as a rod, eyes dangerously sharp, voice chillingly cold "However, clearlyIam the only one with the intellect capable to compare, and even overcome that of Grayson, it stands to reason that it should bemethat-"

Jason laughed and threw his hands in the air "Of fuckingcourseyou thinkyouwould do a better job, conceited brat" he fumed.

Damian stared Jason down (quite a feat considering his small size) "tt- I don'tthinkI can do a better job, I simply would." He challenged. "Drake would fold at the first soft look Grayson threw his way" the little imp had the gall to turn towards Tim, as if he were challenging him to disagree.

"uh.. I mean, I've been trained to withstand torture, Damian, I think I could.." Tim tried to defend himself.

Damian's eyebrow climbed incredibly high up his forehead.

"This is ridiculous", Tim said, but knew he'd lost "He has the bluest eyes I've ever seen. And when he asks a question he doesn't always expect an answer because he respects boundaries, but he cares. Hecares."

Both Damian and Jason stared at him silently a second longer than he was comfortable with.

"Alright" Jason conceded, "obviouslywe can't send you. Weak ass bitch" he said in a perturbed tone.

"You're not any better", Damian said coolly. "While you are correct that Grayson would react to your childish and irritating behavior the most, him murdering you -a blessing though it would be-, would only tell us what we already know: that you are so completely insufferable that not even someone as exemplary as Grayson ca-"

Jason let out a violent sigh, his nostrils flaring in anger, "would you fucking get to the point, brat?!" Jason shouted, Tim couldn't agree more. Let this conversation be over.

For everyone's sake.

"Is it not obvious? what I've been trying to tell you bothidiots, is that the way to get Grayson to lower his defenses completely, is to appeal to his sensibilities" he said calmly. Like he knew he'd already won. "it is not unknown that he favorsme", Damian smirked.

Tim and Jason seethed silently.

"Since he already knows our… family" He said with badly concealed disgust at the word, "and knows how father is very often 'away on business' and how you are always trying to antagonize me, Drake" he pointed towards him. "it wouldn't be hard to convince him that I'm… eager for his presence, that I need him" Damian's hands shook lightly and he quickly balled them up in fists, like he wanted to physically fight his feelings "That I feelsafewith him" he finished up, his voice waning into a whisper.

Damian sounded so sincere, so much like the child he should be, that Tim had no smartass remark to throw in his face, neither did Jason.

Damian composed his facial expression and cleared his throat, taking their silence as the go-ahead to continue "he bears no blame for not realizing what I can really do" he said indulgently. "He has no reason to think I am anything but a normal child, therefore he would not expect me to have an agenda" he smiled like his logic was sound.

They were all crazy.

"…You kno-"

"Out of all of us you seem themostinvested in this" Tim said with suspicion, cutting whatever Jason was going to say off. "NowI'mworried about your agenda, what do you want from Dick, Damian?" Tim narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have a crush on the pretty boy, demon?" Jason taunted, too slow to stop the book Damian threw his way, Tim could've stopped him, but Damian went for a book, instead of his katana, so he counted it as progress.

"I warned you, Todd!" Damian spat.

Tim chose to file the idea of Damian having a crush on Dick for later consideration. "So… what? I take you to him and say you need babysitting? Would it be that easy?" He wondered aloud.

"No." Damian scoffed. "I expected this sort of idiocy from Todd" Damian said, looking like he wasdisappointed.Of Tim. "A kidnapping" Damian said after a moment.

Jason and Tim looked at each other and then back at Damian.

"Someone wants to kidnap me. Father is away, you're a teenager, Alfred can only be spread so thin. The GCPD is as incompetent as it is corrupted, no one would think about looking for me in his apartment, he's a nobody" to Damian's credit, he looked apologetic about calling Dick a nobody, even though the older man wasn't even in the room to hear him say it.

Jason didn't look happy about it, but he nodded "wouldn't be so far-fetched" he said, grudgingly.

Tim nodded slowly, a hand on his chin as he considered the idea "I.. suppose it's not the worst idea" he said at last.

Damian looked entirely too giddy for a second before he managed to conceal his reaction. It was so fast that Tim had almost missed it. Almost. "About time you saw things my way." He said haughtily. "I shall get ready, it would be best to act as soon as possible before Father comes back" he spoke, already walking out of the room without looking back.

Tim and Jason stayed silent, watching Damian's retreating back.

"Did we just get played by a ten year old into handing him full access toDick Grayson?"

Jason shook his head "Worse. We gave a League of Assassins trained pre-pubescent child with a superiority complex full access to Dick Grayson" Jason looked chagrined, but also sort of proud as he glared at the door "weaponized smugness. Can't believe I fell for that" he grumbled.

"What did he play usfor, though?"

"Ain't that the question, replacement" Jason shrugged.