Chapter Text
The Gotham air always had a special stench about it. Mattering on which part of the city you were in, it could alternate from the sewers and trash to the general smog to the forcefully grown exotic garden the rich people tried to populate their land with, only to fail with it every single time. The Gotham climate had never been kind to nature, most living creatures had a hard time surviving in so little sunlight, with so many poisonous and vile things around them. And that was only the people in there, not the waste they left after themselves.
Dick smiled to himself as he swung his legs in front of himself on the gargoyle like it was only a giant swing-set. It was already four in the morning, not even the most dangerous villains were awake at this point. The city was silent for once, for an hour or maybe two before the law-abiding citizens of the world's worst city started their day.
But this also meant that he still had over an hour when he didn't need his sunglasses to be able to move around without feeling like his eyes were going to burn out. He stood up from the gargoyle and stretched his back, tiptoeing to the very nose of the creatures. He groaned in appreciation as his muscles stretched under the soft black fabric. Then he stepped off the gargoyle and fell. He caught himself on the ledge of a window right before he fell onto the ground. From there he landed on his feet gracefully, silently. Like a cat.
It's been over eight years since he last been in the city and he could tell he was already falling in love with it. He didn't even notice he had been away for so long. But he made a promise, and he came to show the fruits of his time away.
"Find yourself first, then come back if you want to. We could be friends.
And now it was time. It had been eight long years since that night, and now Dick finally felt like he could look into his eyes and say confidently that he was himself. Not the Courtmaster's puppet, not a mindless Talon who just executed orders.
It had been eight long years, since the then thirteen years old Robin shattered the right side of his jaw with a kick, breaking the root of his electrum-laced tooth and snapping him out of the haze. When the electrum tooth broke in half, it was finally enough to break the control they had over him, even if his jaw and tooth molded themselves together almost in the exact second. But than split second was enough to send him down a journey that started with the boy in front of him.
Dick walked down the street with a light bounce in his steps as he took in the mix of scents in the city, avoiding the rare lit up patches along the sidewalks.
He needed a grounding point in that moment of clarity after many years, and Robin was right in front of him. When Dick didn't attack him again, Robin fell onto his knees in front of him, pulling the Talon mask off his head with a swift movement. In the dark room, Dick had perfect vision, but the boy had to concentrate to get a read on Dick's emotions. This much Dick could tell just from the way his jaw clenched.
Dick took the corners as if he had been doing so all his life. He had Gotham's entire map memorized, but even if he wasn't so sure about the address, he could've just followed the sweet scent he used as anchor for whenever he felt like slipping back into the mindless killer life.
In that moment, Dick wanted to laugh that anyone has ever thought that the Bats' identities would be hard to find out. Hell, it took him less than an hour to find out when he had been tasked with it at first and that included the time he needed to get a copy of all of their papers. He just never cared for them, it wasn't his place to care. But he had tailed enough Court members to galas to know little Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne, even if their eyes were covered. They way Bruce's lips formed the words, the way Tim's hair fell. The way his hands moved, the long, thin fingers that usually twitched nervously around his parents were surely holding Dick's shoulder as he tried to get him to answer. But Dick couldn't form words that weren't an affirmation that he understood his assignments or were reports. So he just took in the scent.
Vanilla pudding, coffee and something distinctly Tim as Dick had learned over the years. Sometimes he would just walk by bakeries and coffee shops and think the little Robin had been there before he eventually understood it was just similar.
Then it seemed even more foolish that nobody knew who Robin was. He knew his senses were stronger than normal human's but how hadn't Killer Crock or some other metahuman pick up on the distinct sweetness of an omega's scent on the boy? From then on it would be a child's play to find the boy. Male omegas were rare, so there were only so many people who would fit Robin's descriptions.
And he lived in that building. Dick stopped at the penthouse and looked up at it. It would take him seconds to climb it, but he didn't want to be even creepier than he already was. If it the advice that the girls on the Internet gave, he was already very creepy just showing up at Tim's home out of nowhere, but how else was he supposed to let the little Robin know that he was back and he was finally himself? So he needed to take this step and try his best.
He put on his sunglasses in case the lights were automatic and opened the door. There were no traps as he stepped inside, the walls already falling apart without having any bombs jammed into it. Dick honestly hoped this was only a safe house for his Robin, because this was utter trash.
The apartment was on the seventh floor, the door looking as trashy as any other one. Dick paused for a moment in front of it. He could knock, he supposed that he should do. But what if the little Robin wasn't awake? Or if he was in the shower? Dick couldn't hear any water running inside and he would've known if Robin hadn't been back yet. Even Batman retired for the night, and he was always the last one to do so.
So Dick picked the lock. It only took a few movements of his hand with the thin rod before the lock clicked open and the door opened with a slight creek. Now he could smell Robin better, the coffee and vanilla having seeped into every corner of the apartment. Dick's nose twitched at the other scent. Overwhelming gunpowder and metal with a slight undertone of old books and some spice. An alpha. If the metal and the gunpowder hadn't been so strong, it would've been a rather nice scent, but not in this moment. Like this and right here, all Dick could think about was about why an alpha was so close to his little omega Robin.
He followed the scent to the slightly ajar door where he stopped. He could only see the end of the bed, where one set of feet was uncovered by the blanket, the other one under the covers. Dick stepped closer and gently pushed the door open. He heard the batarang before he saw it flying towards him, but even like this he only needed to lean slightly to the side to avoid it. Had he been anyone else but himself, it would've lodged itself in his shoulder perfectly.
Dick turned to look at the batarang now stuck in the wall.
"Beautiful throw," he said and almost smiled when he heard the click of a gun being loaded.
"It won't be so pretty when I blow your head off," the gruff voice said. Dick slowly raised his arms and showed off his bare hands as he turned back around. The alpha's arm was steady as he held the gun, and unlike Tim's throw with the batarang, this wasn't aimed at his shoulder. The alpha's aim was precisely on the middle of his forehead.
"I didn't come to fight," he said, locking eyes with Tim who was holding another batarang. Those blue eyes watched Dick like he was searching for a lie, even if there was none. "Hi little Robin, I'm back," he said and slowly inched his hand to his face to take off his sunglasses.
When Tim saw the golden irises, his jaw dropped as he finally put the pieces together.
"Dick Grayson?"
Dick couldn't help the face splitting smile that broke out on his lips.
"You know my name!" he said. He had been hoping a bit warmer welcome than a gun pointed at his head, but he honestly didn't expect his little Robin to know his name. Back when they met, even he wasn't sure of his own name, having been addressed only as a Talon ever since he could remember. So the fact that the omega looked him up to know his name made him feel warm inside.
"He's a Talon, that's what he is," the alpha said, still pointing at the gun at Dick. Tim quickly grabbed his arm and pulled it towards himself so the aim was now off.
"Jay, put the gun down," he said softly, but the guy only gave him a bewildered look before putting the gun in his other hand.
"Are you crazy?" he only glanced at Tim for a split second before looking back onto Dick. He didn't want to try his chances at the Talon attacking them.
"No, I... Fuck, it's a long story. I'll tell you everything, just put the gun down," he asked once again, glaring at Jay. The alpha glared at Dick for a long moment, before letting his arm fall down. The gun remained in his hand, but it was better than nothing in Dick's book.
"But if he tries to kill you, I'm not saving your ass," he hissed. Tim only rolled his eyes in response.
Dick shook his head quickly.
"No killing, I promise," he said, but even this only earned him a look that could kill.
Tim sighed.
"I need some coffee for this," he murmured more to himself than to anyone else. Then he lifted his gaze onto Dick again. "Would you like some coffee or tea?"
"Do you have hot chocolate?"
"I'm not sure, but I think so. I'll take a look," he said, his lips pulling into a gentle smile as the look in his eyes softened. He pushed off the covers and got out from under Jason's gun-less hand that fell to his hips. He probably didn't even notice the man pulling his wrist over his clothes and scenting him as he got up.
"You're not even gonna ask me if I want somethin'?" Jason asked.
"I know what you want," Tim answered easily, gesturing towards the kitchen when he got to Dick. "This way," he offered and walked off. Dick gave Jason another look, taking in the man's glare before turning around and following Tim. He could hear the man cursing under his breath as he got up from the bed, but instead of coming after them, he went to the bathroom.
Dick leaned against the wall as he watched Tim start to prepare their drink. He lined up three mugs, two of them obviously used a lot if the chipped paint of the side and the slight discolorations were anything to go by.
"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked softly. The moment seemed too delicate like it could just blow up in his face any second if he said the wrong word or made the wrong move. Right now, the little Robin seemed almost happy to see him, and Dick would rather chop off his arm than to ruin that.
Tim made a face.
"He's my... something," he answered as he pressed the buttons on his coffee maker. "It's complicated."
Dick nodded in understanding.
"You know, Tiffany of Youtube always says that if a guy doesn't bother to make it official with you, you need to dump his ass. Because it won't work in the long run," he said. He wasn't going to lie, he learned a lot about how different relationships should work from YouTube. And all the comments said that Tiffany was so right, so Dick wasn't one to question her wisdom.
Esecially, when this brought a smile onto Tim's face as he breathed a laugh. He looked up at Dick.
"Yeah, but this isn't that easy when you're an illegal vigilante," he answered before he turned back towards the mugs. He prepared the tea first, his hands moving with ease and practice. He then set that aside and moved onto Dick's hot chocolate.
Dick hummed as he watched him. He wasn't exactly qualified to give any more love advice than what he learned on the Internet so he had to didn't say anything else. He fell back to what he did best - watched.
Tim had obviously gotten taller since Dick had last seen him; he had only been thirteen when their fateful encounter happened and that had been eight years ago after all. His hair has gotten longer, framing his almost doll-like face delicately. The only thing that remained the same were his eyes. Those dark blue eyes that spoke of knowledge and incredible intellect. Even back then, his eyes spoke of experience way beyond his years and the horrors he had seen. Now as an adult that look only strengthened, the way he subtly surveyed everything around him to the cold calmness that was present in his gaze at every moment. He had seen terror, Dick was sure of it.
"And what does Batman think about about you being with the Red Hood?" Dick had to ask. He had heard stories of the Red Hood even while he was away. From a few slightly illegally acquired documents, Dick knew the man's confirmed kill count was really close to a hundred. And that was only the confirmed ones, after he made a name for himself. The hostility between him and Batman was ever present according to the papers and witness accounts from Gotham.
And now here he was, in bed with Robin.
Tim raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know he's the Red Hood?" he asked even though he didn't seem surprised by the fact that Dick knew.
Dick shrugged.
"There are only so many villains even in Gotham who can ambidextrously handle a gun and have the same pin-point precision with both hands," he said and just when he saw that Tim was almost impressed, he grinned. "That, and his helmet peaked out from behind the bed."
Tim rolled his eyes. He held out the hot chocolate towards Dick, and gestured towards the seat.
"Hardy har," he sighed, taking a seat on the other end of the table. "And to answer your question, we got Bruce handled, don't worry."
"And it's not your business to begin with," Jason's voice came from behind but Dick didn't turn around. Jason pulled out the seat between them and sat down, putting himself firmly between Dick and Tim. Tim gave the alpha an exasperated look that Jason ignored as he turned to Dick. "And now tell us why you're here before you kindly fuck off."
Tim gave him a dirty look, but didn't chastise him again. He looked at Dick, like he had been also wondering about this. Dick waited to see if Tim wanted to tell the story himself, or if it was completely up to him. When the omega didn't say a word, Dick put his mug back onto the table, lacing his fingers tightly around it to feel its heat.
"So, eight years ago Tim broke my jaw."
The Red Hood snorted at that, while Tim suppressed a small smile. Dick smiled back at him. "He managed to break the tooth they laced with electrum long enough to snap me out of the control they had over me. He told me to leave and to come back once I found out who I was without the Court and that we could be friends. So I came back."
Jason still didn't seem impressed. His body language was as aggressive as it could be while he was drinking jasmine tea from a baby blue mug that read 'Don't be an asshat, read some Austen.'
" So you came back. Right now?"
Dick nodded.
"Yeah, right now."
Jason turned to Tim.
"I don't belive him. Can I shoot him now?"
Tim was very unimpressed by the question.
"He's telling the truth, you know. It's really what happened," he said.
"And where's the Court? They are not exactly the type of people to just let someone go because their tooth broke," Jason insisted, pointing his finger at Dick. "You should be dead."
Dick's breath hitched at that. He knew what he had done so the Court of Owls wouldn't come after him. But admitting that had a great potential at messing up Dick's possible friendship with his little Robin.
"I... I uhm..."
"Dick massacred them." Tim said it like he was just mentioning that the sky was blue. As it was an information not worth his time even though Dick's heart sunk faster and deeper than the Titanic.
"How do you know that?" Dick asked, lowering his voice like it was a secret to be kept.
Tim gave him a calming smile.
"It wasn't exactly a secret. You were smart enough not to leave any traces of yourself so there was no incriminating evidence and since you burned all the other Talons there was no way to tell that you were the one responsible," he explained before taking a small sip of his coffee. He exhaled deeply in relief like the liquid had just soothed his soul.
Dick knew all that. He was trained to kill since he was eight, he wasn't an amateur. Of course he wouldn't leave traces behind. But that didn't mean Tim wouldn't judge him since it was the main principle of the Bats: they didn't kill. And Batman made sure all of them kept themselves to it.
At the thought, Dick paled even more.
"Does Batman know?" at this point he was only whispering.
Tim shrugged.
"Probably, although we haven't talked about it in eight years. I told him about you waking up, so he must have kept some kind of tabs on you, but seeing that he hasn't sent anyone out for you, you most likely didn't seem important enough to him. Dangerous enough," he said.
On one hand, Dick was surprisingly offended. He was dangerous. He had been the best of best Talons out there, making him one of the most deadly killers. But it was also true that he spent the last eight years travelling around Europe and the Caribbean and the worst thing he had done was eating a gyros that fell onto the ground right before.
"So now what? If he leaves, I'm not gonna hunt him, but like... B wouldn't let me get away with that shit," Jason said, almost annoyed that he was left out of that conversation. He kept his eyes firmly on Dick, but his left hand was planted on Tim's thigh under the table. He probably knew Dick could see it. See the blatant challenge the alpha was putting out, despite the fact that Dick's secondary gender was unknown to them. He was daring Dick to look at Tim the wrong way or to make a move to attack. And Dick was sure that the Red Hood could kill him with any of the kitchen utensils he could find.
But then again, so could Dick.
Tim ran his hand through his hair.
"Quit the dick-measuring contest, will you?" he asked, pushing Jason's arm a little, but not enough to actually move his hand away from his thigh. Then he turned to Dick. "Dick, what was your plan? What do you want?" he asked.
Dick hesitated. He honestly had no plan when he decided to come back. When he finally realised that he hasn't thought about the Court and what would be approved for almost a year at that point, he immediately booked a flight back to Gotham. He just wanted to see his little Robin and didn't think about it any further.
"I thought that maybe I could get a job or help out with the crime fighting or something... I did a lot of things in the last years so I'm not completely incompetent," he said, trying to save face as much as possible.
If there was a way for Jason's look to be any more condescending it delfinitely worked. And if that hadn't been enough to make Dick feel embarrassed, the way Tim bit in his lips so he wouldn't laugh definitely did.
The alpha's tone was flat as he spoke up:
"You absolutely didn't think this through, did ya?"
Dick shook his head.
"No, I didn't." He would only embarrass himself even more if he tried to deny it. Maybe he could still earn himself cookie points for being honest.
Jason gave Tim a look that spoke volumes about what he though of the entire situation, but Tim pointedly ignored him once again.
"Okay, that's cool," Tim sighed. "Since I can't exactly get you a job like this, even if you have some form of ID..."
"I do, I made myself one a few years back," Dick added, excited. He reached into his pocket to fish out his wallet and pulled out the card. Jason snorted as he took in the picture of Dick grinning into the camera.
"That's great, Dick, but as I said, it's not that easy. I can't risk B finding out about you by himself, because that wouldn't end well for any of us," he explained.
Until Jason cut in.
"Speak for yourself. I will throw you under the bus without hesitation."
"ANY of us. So if you really want to stay in Gotham, the best deal I can offer you is that we go to Batman. I try to save face as much as possible and if he lets you stay, then I'll help you with whatever you need," he offered.
Dick was unsure about this, but even he could avoid Batman only for so long. So this was his best chance at staying with his little Robin. He offered Tim a gentle smile.
"Then we'll visit Batman tomorrow."