Chapter Text
It was one of those rare quiet days at the Watchtower. Unless an emergency came up, the heroes pretty much had a free day aside from a late afternoon meeting. Some were using the day to catch up on casework but most were just relaxing in their free time. This didn't happen often and they all wanted to enjoy it.
Barry and Hal were lounging on the couch in the common room when the door creaked open. A boy shuffled in and gave a hesitant look around. Dark hair highlighted a pale face. A red nose poked out from under his black domino mask. He wore the Robin uniform.
There had been rumors that a new Robin had taken his place beside Batman, but no one in the League knew for sure. Robin had always been a sort of urban legend in Gotham, so getting any real news on the young hero was hard. The League had noticed that Batman had gone through a period of unnecessary violence, not that anyone could really blame him for that after what happened to Jason still weighed heavily on everyone's mind. Recently though, Batman had regained his control, reigning in the violence, and many suspected it was because of the rumored new Robin. No one dared to ask though.
Upon seeing the heroes, Robin gave a little wave. Barry took a deep breath. He could do this, he's had a sidekick before.
“Hey, kid,” he said, standing and approaching this short hero. “You looking for Batman?”
“No,” The boy said. His voice was quiet, like being any louder would hurt, and nasally. A cold? “Can I use your computer?”
“The computer?” Barry asked slowly. Didn't the bats have like, a giant computer in their cave? “Sure, I guess that's okay.”
Robin nodded and shuffled across the room to the computer. He twisted the chair back and forth and he typed in an access code.
“Aren't those classified cases? You shouldn't be going through those. Did Spooky give you the code?” Hal asked, walking up behind Robin and Barry.
“I have a note,” the boy said, not looking away from the screen but holding up a little piece of paper. Barry took the note and unfolded it. In tall messy writing, it said “Robin Privileges -Nightwing” with a little winky face.
Hal leaned over Barry’s shoulder to read it and raised an eyebrow.
“Seems real official.” He said sarcastically.
“Mhmm.” Robin took the note back and continued scrolling through the files. Hal and Barry winced as Robin opened one with particularly gory crime scene photos.
“Robin, you shouldn't be looking at this stuff. You're what, twelve?” Barry said. He didn't even like it when Wally did cases like this and he was twenty-two now.
“I'll be fourteen in a couple months.” Like that helps. They watched as Robin filtered through the photos and jotted down notes. He paused.
“If you two are busy then you don't have to stay. I'm fine on my own. I'll lock the system when I'm done.” It was clearly a polite way of saying leave me alone. The heroes glanced at each other.
“Okay, if you need us for anything we’ll just be right over here,” Barry said. He and Hal made their way back to their spots on the couch, quietly watching the little bird.
“Should we call Batman?” Barry whispered.
“He said he wasn't here for him,” Hal shrugged. “I'm sure Bats knows he’s here.”
So Barry and Hal continued their previous activities. Hal, surfing the web on his phone, Barry, trying to finish his book. He couldn't wait to talk about this one with Iris. The only distraction was an occasional sniffle or cough from the little bird perched at the computer.
The three of them sat in silence for about half an hour until Barry heard Bruce and Clark coming.
“I thought your plans couldn't get worse than when you said you would just push the Earth out of the way of an asteroid, but you're really outdoing yours-” Batman fell silent, frozen in the doorway. His gaze was focused on the boy at the computer. It seems Bruce did not know that his little Robin was here and Hal suddenly felt the urge to make popcorn.
“Robin. What are you doing here?” The boy spun his chair to face Batman for a moment before going back to work.
“I had a breakthrough on that cold case you gave me and I needed some more info,” Robin said, pulling out his own laptop and plugging it into the main computer.
“I gave you the day off.” Batman walked across the room to stand behind the boy's chair.
“Exactly. That means I can spend it however I want and I want to finish this case.” Robin glared at the screen.
“Tim, you’re sick-”
“‘m not sick.” Bruce spun the chair around to face him.
“You should be resting.” It was obviously true. Tim was pale and he had a slight tremor in his hands. Barry had found it hard to ignore the little sniffles that he had been hearing since the boy entered the room. He had been actively suppressing his worried new parent instincts the whole time.
“I'm fine. Agent A said I'm not contagious,” Tim shrugged
“That's not the point. The point is that you went on patrol last night despite being sick and proceeded to collapse in the middle of the cave the minute we got back.”
“Exactly, I waited till we got home like a responsible person.” Batman pinched the bridge of his nose.
“How did you even get here? I thought you said your parents were coming home today and would be there to take care of you.”
“I lied.”
“You- Tim. We talked about this. I would have had you stay in the manor if-”
“I'm fine, B. I can take care of myself. Besides, I wouldn't want to impose.” Bruce frowned, tired, and sad, and almost mournful. He crouched down so he was eye level with Tim and placed his hands on his shoulders.
“You're never an imposition, Tim, and you're always welcome in my home. Especially when you're not feeling well. I know you can take care of yourself, but that doesn't mean you should have to.”
“It’s fine,” Tim said quietly and Bruce just sighed. He stood back up to his full height and suddenly embodied a weird combination of Batman and a dad.
“You're going to take a nap.” An order. Tim blinked at him.
“But the case-”
“Will still be there when you wake up.” When Tim looked like he was going to ignore him, Bruce lifted the boy out of his chair, whipped off his cape, and effectively swaddled the struggling child until he was in a tight cocoon. Barry and Hal struggled not to laugh while Clark just facepalmed.
“This is demeaning.” Tim pouted, wiggling in an unsuccessful attempt to get his arms free.
“Start taking care of yourself and we won't have this issue.”
“Bruce, please-” But Bruce was carrying him across the room until he was standing in front of the couch. Barry and Hal were then on the end of a very intimidating Batglare. They glanced at each other before vacating their seats.
Bruce laid the boy on the couch, placing his head on his lap where he could pet his hand through Robin's hair.
“This isn't going to work,” Robin glared up at his mentor as the other heroes in the room took their places in the surrounding chairs.
Bruce just hummed, continuing to run his hand through Tim’s hair.
The boy was asleep within minutes.