#That'll teach you not to rush in blind

[nozomijoestar]

I'm still Pro-Heat but at this point sidestep needs to be fluid again and they should take out chip damage, then T8's aggression might not feel annoyingly overtuned

[alfredsolos]

"Hey mom, hey dad." It felt wrong saying that, since he had lost track of time with cases and completely forgot to visit his parents.

"Sorry for not visiting sooner. You know I always come here once a week. But things happened and I just..." Tim Drake was a workaholic, he admitted that. But saying he had cases to solve and people to save felt like hypocricy. Since the only people he couldn't save was his own parents.

"Anyways, since so much time has passed I wanted to give you two some news. About- about myself." It was pathetic to feel nervous talking dead people, but it felt like they were right there waiting impatiently for 'the big news'.

"I have a boyfriend" There he said it. No need for getting anxious. They can't even say anything.

"I don't really know what you'd say, but it wouldn't change anything. I mean, even if you two were alive and couldn't deal with it I wouldn't break up with him or anything." I wish you could answer to me. Good or bad.

"It's funny y'know, I always seem to know how people will react and how they'll behave when I tell them something. But not you. I never know." Tim's throat ached and he swallowed harshly. Next couple of words that'll come out of his lips would surely hurt his parents, but he has to say it. Or else, he'll never find the courage to.

"Despite being my parents, I know so little things about you. I know what you two did for work, I know your speech patterns, how you behaved, when or why something upset you.

"But not your favorite colors, favorite meal, favorite tv shows. I don't know which sports you liked watching on tv or the little jokes you told each other. I don't know how you showed your love to each other in public or how much you kissed and hug each other and-" Tim Drake didn't cry often. Last time he cried was when his best friends came back to life. Right now he was crying.

"I don't know any of this because you were away. I grew up in boarding schools and maids, while you two would travel countries together to pursue your greatest hobbies. And it wasn't fair. It wasn't okay with me." He was starting to regret saying all those things to them. Yes it wasn't fair that he was left alone, but it wasn't fair to them to die. It was too late though, and Tim would not stop.

"It's not all your fault though. Growing up I never hated you for being away. I thought that once I'd grow up you'd take me with you and teach me how to be an amazing business man and stuff. But I never asked." His greatest mistake was never asking. He had tried so hard to be the perfect son they'd want, he never asked his parents for anything.

"But I know that you loved me. Even though Mom was more open with it, I know you loved me too Dad. You two would call late at night and show me the view from your hotel. I remember feeling jelaous that I was stuck in a rich kid school while you two had the time of your life. But I never said anything. That's my worst mistake.

"Because I now know that if I had asked, you'd say yes. And maybe we would spent weeks in Greece and Venice and all the places I ever wanted to go to. I know you'd take me with you, because you loved me that much." He couldn't believe that there was a time when he believed his parents never liked him. It was so...

"Our years wasted, because I couldn't ask. But then something happened." He had betrayed his parents. Betrayed their trust, their love.

"I became Robin, and I forgot about you. About my dreams of traveling the world and eating local food. I became Robin and that changed me." Being Robin was the single greatest and worst thing that happened to him. He became a hero at the cost of his personal life.

"Some time later, I became addicted. To the rush of adrenalin when I jumped off of roofs and chased criminals. I did So many good things and saved so many people. So much that I became blinded by it.

"I stopped caring about you and getting your approval. I stopped craving your touch and worst of all, I started asking. I started asking for more information, to go out on patrol, to ditch school, for a hug." Bruce wasn't in the best place that time. With the burden of a dead Robin, he had tried so hard to distance himself. It didn't last long though. Robin was hope after all.

"I started seeing Bruce as a father, Dick a brother and Alfred a mom. They were the most perfect family I could've ever asked for. And it felt so good. But then you died mom." Losing his mother was a shock. He always had thought he'd get to see her grow old and white. But the universe said no.

"You died, and everything started to fall down there." Janet Drake's death was the thing that started Tim's downfall.

"Dad went into coma and I was so scared. I wanted you, mom. I wanted you to hold me. Not Bruce. Not Dick. Not Alfred. You." Thankfully his father woke up. And Tim Drake was given one more chance to have a family.

"When you finally woke up, you told me to stop being Robin. You worried about me getting hurt or worse, dying. You were scared that I'd leave you just like how my mother did. And I complied". It wasn't an easy decision to leave Robin, but a necessary one. For a while he stayed home and be with his dad.

"But then I got sick of it. Of the boredom and the family nights. You tried so hard to distract me from our past that I started missing it. So I became Robin again. I went against your wishes." He remembered the feeling of going out for after the long weeks that dragged on and on. And suddenly he was happy again. So much since his mother died.

"That was my second mistake. The that killed you. I went out that night and then you died." Tim had to stop and just breathe for a few minutes. This was becoming too much.

"I still remember your voice, and how it trembled in fear. You knew you were gonna die and you told me-" Fuck this was hard. "You told me that you were proud of me. And it was the thing I always wanted you to say to me. It hurt so much, that I couldn't hear anything besides you.

"When I came back to our home, you were lying there dead in a pool of your own blood. There was a boomerang sticking out on your chest and I tried pulling it out." Batman was there trying to comfort him but to Tim, it was just him and his dad. Dead.

"I'd love to say that after that things were quiet and I started to heal. But I didn't. Just like an avalanche, the pain grew and grew. Until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I changed for the second time. But this one for the worst."

Tim sighed and got up shakily. His knees were wobbly and he needed to move.

"Well I guess in the end it did work out for me. No ones life is perfect but still, I got up. All those times, it was you two who had me going. For all these years I still mourne you every night. I save people so that their loved ones don't suffer the way I do.

"I'm not doing this for Robin though. I am doing this for Tim Drake and no one else. No one."

Tim didn't look back when he walked out of the graveyard. His heart still aching and heavy, his throat still raspy, his eyes still stinging.

Tim Drake wouldn't stop being Robin, saving people, asking questions. He wouldn't ever stop loving his parents.