#Tim Drake Doesn't Know Batman Is Bruce Wayne

[lorena12me]

The Last Grand Theft

Here in AO3

Summary:

In a world where Tim lost his parents and was never Robin, the only ones who reached out to him were Bernard and the Dowd family, Tim owes them for taking him in and Bernard too owes them for allowing him to help the person he loves most in the world. They will go out of their way to show that they are helpful and can be trusted. It doesn't matter if helping pull off muggings and robberies in Gotham City is the way to do it!, it's what you do for family, right?

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Speed up, Red, speed up!" yells Prod as he shoots for the car window and Tim hits the pedal and drives in reverse, making the streets just a blur of indistinguishable lights. Tim only has eyes to dodge the vehicles that cut across mid-street as they flee from the greatest threat of a Gothamite criminal.

The Bats.

As a child, Tim had imagined a thousand times to be one of Gotham's protectors, flying through the air as the city shone beneath his feet, growing up and helping under the guidance of the incredible bat and his ever-growing flock of birds, making a name for himself in the world's superhero and vigilante community.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that his parents would end up dead in an attack that Batman and Robin failed to stop when he was fourteen and then he would be sent into the system, spending a couple of years bouncing from house to house until Bernard managed to convince his father and mother to help him.

He would never have guessed that the reason his parents had been so reluctant to take him in wasn't because they hated him or resented his friendship with Bernard...It was because....

"Stop!" shouts Spoiler's female, imposing voice as he tries and fails to fire his grappling hook into the tires of their armored vehicle, flanking them with his motorcycle on the left as Black Bat's shadowy figure swooped in from the right in his own Bat-branded vehicle.

"Holy shit!" Prod or better known as Bernard Dowd, her boyfriend, exclaims as he extends his hand towards the inside of the vehicle, in Tim's direction "Red, the rubber bomb!"

Tim hurries to pass her the little green beads of his own invention, recently perfected and watches as his partner tosses them towards Spoiler's motorcycle and a blast of the synthetic compound gets tangled in the front tire of her Spoiler-Cycle causing her to lose speed and be forced to brake.

One less danger, but Black Bat is still in the race.

The quietest and second most dangerous bat after Batman (Who is being distracted across town by Mr. and Mrs. Dowd) swoops in. He jumps onto the hood of the vehicle and clings with the black claws of his suit to the metal of the car trying to grab Bernard. Tim pulls his friend inside the vehicle and closes the armored window, while both activate the air filtering mechanism of their masks to avoid being sedated with the capsule that Black Bat managed to sneak in before the window finished closing.

Tim begins to shake the vehicle dangerously, trying to dislodge Black Bat from its hood, when they hear on their communicators Mr. and Mrs. Dowd speak.

"Cargo secured Prod, Red, you may return to base."

Both friends look at each other and nod and Bernard presses the red button which causes the car's roof to detach, throwing Black Bat onto the road. Tim made sure to slow down a bit so the vigilante wasn't going to get seriously hurt, but he still grimaces as he sees her bounce several times on the street before they turn the corner and lose sight of her.

"Performing maneuver D-r345" Tim answers the comm.

"Roger, over and out."

The maneuver is basically to lose any trace of the bats and abandon the vehicle in a designated area where the self-destruct mechanism will activate and erase any evidence and clues that the bats could exploit to find them or discover their identities.

Two hours later, civilians Tim and Bernard arrive home as the bats are just finding the smoldering remains of their vehicle.

"We're home, mom, dad!" exclaims Bernard happily as both boys enter the kitchen where a luscious smell is flooding the house

"Welcome, children" smiles Mrs. Dowd warmly as she tastes the food in the slow cooker and nods in satisfaction "Just in time to celebrate children!"

Both boys take their places at the table as Mr. Dowd comes up from the basement with a bottle of expensive wine and laughs jovially.

"Another successful mission, boys" he celebrates "All thanks to you."

"Oh, it's no big deal... Henry" Tim still has trouble addressing the adults in his life by first name, but he tries "You were the ones who stood up to Batman."

"No dear" Mrs. Dowd shakes her head "Without yours and my son's inventions we couldn't have done it, that sticky liquid actually worked pretty well, Batman couldn't get off the ground fast enough to stop us!" she laughs, pleased remembering Batman cursing as he remained glued to the ground and Robin growling in anger when he suffered a similar fate.

Once upon a time, Tim would have imagined using his brains and inventions to help the bats. Now, all his efforts are devoted to sabotaging them so his boyfriend's family can get away with stealing and destroying shit in Gotham.

Whatever. It's not like he owes the Bat or his pack anything, he thinks angrily when he remembers being at his parents' funeral after Batman failed them, alone and lost enduring the hungry gaze of his parents' associates who couldn't wait to divvy up the leftovers of their wealth.

"It will be a small glass for each of you until you turn 18, boys" Mr. Dowd says as he uncorked the bottle and began pouring wine into the glasses "But you deserve to celebrate with us this great achievement boys, I'm proud of you two"

He was definitely proud as the vault in his basement held several bars of gold and diamonds, stolen directly from the Gotham City Bank.

Tim smiled, feeling that refreshing sense of pride that accompanied Bernard's father's praise. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at his boyfriend and realized he was smiling too, because they had both fought so hard to help the family and deserved to have their accomplishments recognized.

"Now we just have to relax, until the next opportunity" Mrs. Dowd says softly as she finishes putting the food on the table and claps her hands to let everyone know that dinner is about to begin "I hope you are concentrating on your studies, boys, although I know I don't have to worry about you, my little geniuses."

Tim smiles and then his mind travels back in time to the moment Bernard called him on his old, broken phone and exclaimed loudly and excitedly that his parents had finally agreed to take him into their home, so he wouldn't keep hopping from foster home to foster home.

He remembers being terribly frightened, carrying only a backpack with what few clothes he had and an old photo of his parents (he had discarded all photos of Batman after they failed him so terribly), only to be taken to the basement that very night and Tim was horrified, thinking they were going to murder him.

"If you're going to be one of us, Timothy" he remembers Mr. Dowd saying in a stern voice "Then you have to know who the Dowd family are."

Then they revealed to him who they were. A gang of bank and museum robbers. At the time they weren't famous enough to have a name of their own, but Tim already knew of a couple of heists committed by them.

"We are trusting you with such an important secret only because our son has begged us to trust you, we expect you to reciprocate in kind" the "and if you don't..." had been heavily implied.

But Tim no longer had anything to lose and his admiration for Batman had died along with his parents, so he welcomed this new life with open arms and strove along with Bernard to prove to the Dowd's that he was useful.

They had both succeeded. Bernard had even confessed to him that since Tim had been with them, his parents had become more proud of Bernard since they had made themselves useful and devised new devices and codes and plans so that the heists managed to get bigger and bigger and the family made their own name.

They had gone from being ordinary thieves to practically Rogues in their own right.

Dinner passed in lively conversation, everyone casually commenting on certain parts of their recent heist, which had gone perfectly and needed a polish for the next opportunity.

Dinner ends and they are both sent to their rooms while Mr. and Mrs. Dowd go down to the basement, probably to count and record the winnings.

Tim and Bernard lie down together (they are allowed to sleep together if they keep the door open) and Bernard rests his head on his boyfriend's chest.

"Do you think we'll be able to quit when we go to college?"

"...I hope so."

They had both talked about it and even though it was a little while before high school was over, neither of them really wanted to devote their lives to crime.

"Just..." Bernard whispers "I think if we keep going like this one day they're going to want more than we can handle and we're all going to get screwed."

"...But we don't want to let them down...we have to reciprocate everything they've done for us" Tim recites, because it's the truth. They can't just abandon them like this, they took care of Tim when no one else would.

Bernard nods, both aware that they can only hope they'll be allowed to get out of it safely, before it's too late.

But six months later, Tim and Bernard were led by Mr. and Mrs. Dowd to the basement base and after putting a stack of folders, index cards and maps on the table, they were given the instructions for their new objective.

"We're going to pull off our biggest heist to date" Mrs. Dowd says, all sharp smiles and hunger on her face.

"What's it all about, Dad?"

"We're going to kidnap one of Bruce Wayne's sons and use him to open his private vault in the Wayne Enterprises building."

Holy Shit.

[headcanonthings]

Tim: *dies* Stephanie: Timer starts now! When do you think he’ll be back? I say two months Damian: Bullshit. One month Dick: nah, half a month Bruce, sobbing: WHAT ARE YOU DOING? TIM JUST DIED! Jason, scratching his chin in thought: One week

[sad-littletalker]

If Bruce is covering as Nightwing right now, who's acting as Batman in Gotham?

Tim: ok so any takers for the cowl?

*everyone looks at Jason as he is the second oldest*

Jason: oh no way. Absolutely not. Tim?

Tim: after evil gun Batman? ha. Nope. Plus DC doesn't pay much attention to me to make a good story about that.

Damian: may I-

Everyone: no.

Stephanie: OH I COULD BE PURPLE BATMAN!

Cassandra: I want to be Batman if Steph is my Robin

*everyone considers it*

Tim: that... isn't a bad idea actually. I like it.

[bbbbbbbbatman]

timkon clone baby au where when bruce comes back he's furious to learn that tim made a baby bc what the fuck, tim? that's so irresponsible- and then he lays eyes on the baby and immediately falls in love and suddenly his lecturing is much less effective when he's bouncing a baby on his knees and pausing every 30 seconds to coo at it

[gaywineauntsstuff]

the reason I hate the "Tim doesn't trust Dick after Damian/spyral/ric" is because they are besties your honour.

Like there's a post going around that I cannot for the life of me find that says Dick is Tims trusted adult and they are so right fr ong.

Because despite what Fanon believes Dick is a pretty chill guy and people take one look at him and go "let me unload my emotional baggage on you"

There's like a very famous panel (that im too lazy to find or remember the name of the run its in okay don't yell at me) where Tim basically goes "soooo my girlfriends pregnant" and Dick nearly falls off the roof.

Tim is calling Dick for the dumbest shit imaginable to the world ending and so are the rest of the batkids.

so I have taken the Canon that Dick knows if not all but most and generalised it to hell.

-------------------------

Jason has been on a team with like 80% of OG titan members

they're having gossip session

Jason in a war zone dodging bullets with his bat travel mug in his hand: And THEN! Kori and Roy shared this look and you know the look they give you when they're judging you for bat reasons and you're like tell me why you're mad I was raised by a crazy person my normal levels are skewed.

Dick in NYC with a blueberry bagel In one hand, his Turkish coffee in another, just finished meeting up with Donna who gave him THAT exact look: No REALLLLL why are they like that, just tell me which one of the creepy traits I internalised as a child is bothering you.

Jason: omg you get it anyway so I grab the bomb and start playing soccer with it because its round and im bored and starfire takes it away like idk what im doing? bro ive been bombed I know how to work with a bomb..

Dick: hmmm and then what happened

Jason: and then.....

--------------------------

Tim: Dickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Dick: yea Tim

Tim: Kon is being a dick

Dick: oh?

Tim: yeah and its really starting to bother me man

Dick who knows Kon is dead and Tim is either hallucinating or drugged to be more susceptible to manipulation and is already on his way: hmm tell me more babybird whys he upsetting my lil brother

Tim about to tell Dick what is a fever dream bc he contracted pneumonia and is loopy off his ass on painkillers:

---------------------------

steph does this more with babs in the hero scene but its just... so easy and totally gets into the habit of it after Dick is her Batman for a bit and now she uses him as her civilian life therapist

Steph on her way back from campus: and then this bitch looks me up and down and pours her coffee cup down my shirt!

Dick on his way back to blud after decking bruce in the face: hold on hold on hold on she did what??

Steph nodding vigorously even though he can't see her: pulls my whole ass sweater away from my body and pours her peats coffee down my goddamn shirt Dick.

Dick: omg she didnt

Steph still nodding: she DID and then I found out from Jonny who found out from Vivian that someone told her I made out with her boyfriend at Leos house party

Dick who has no idea who any of these people are: wait but you were at Leos for like an hour max last week. we has smoothies after.

StepH: exactly so I had proof that I wasn't there and confronted her and went like. I don't want your crusty ass alt white boy whose favourite 'indie' band is the neighbourhood. I dated Tim fucking Drake the OG crusty ass white boy and I don't do repeats

Dick choking on his coffee:

Steph: anyway we are besties now and planning on getting her boyfriend back because apparently he cheated on her with this drop dead gorgeous girl and im high key a lil complimented she thought we were the same person.

Dick who initially called for casework and is actually so happy one of the people he calls siblings is actually like living a life outside of vigilantism: tell me more

Steph: you sound a little teary

dick: don't worry about it

-------------------------

Damian: Richard

Dick: Damian

Damian: so I might be skipping patrol with father

Dick:? what you love patrol??

Damian: and school

Dick: Dames? what's going on:? is everything okay? you can talk to me

Damian: I am volunteering at a hospital

Dick: kid

Damian: Listen before you sAY anything I know what we do is important but I think I can help in another way and -

Dick had brown parents and was training for the olympics at 8, totally knows what its like to have insane expectations and rebel with a day job: kid kid calm down okay? you wanna be a doctor? is that it?

Damian: well? I dont really know but I just? there has to be another way to help people. besides what we do I mean-

Dick: Alfred left me Thomas waynes journals I initially thought they were to bash your fathers head in when he was being stupid but it seems the old man was looking out for us. Wanna take a stab at your other grandpas legacy when you come over next weekend. I'll tell Bruce we patrolled so you get a few more days off.

Damian: you're the best

[farshootergotme]

Sometimes the previous Robins forget they don't use the name anymore and this has caused a few misunderstandings in multiple occasions.

Batman: Robin, you'll cover my back.

Nightwing: On it, B.

Batman: ...I said Robin.

Nightwing: Wha- Oh.

Nightwing: Robin, stay out of this!

Red Hood: You don't tell me what to do!

Robin: He's talking about me.

Red Hood:...

Nightwing: Welcome to the club.

Alfred: If the news are to be trusted, I believe Robin was shot in battle?

Tim: What? No, I was-

Damian: A bullet it's nothing to me, Pennyworth.

Alfred: Then removing it will be a walk in the park. Now, the medbay is waiting, master Damian.

Damian: Tt.

...

Alfred: And master Timothy...?

Tim:... In my defence, Red Robin is basically the same thing.

Alfred: It's quite all right, sir. You wouldn't be the first one.

Batman: Robin!

Nightwing: B?

Red Hood: What do you want?

Red Robin: Yes?

Robin: Tt.

Red Hood: Damn it.

Red Robin: It's Red Robin, okay? Red.Robin. ShitIthoughtIwasoverthis.

Nightwing: Well, this is awkward...

Batman:

Batman: We'll talk about this after patrol.

Bonus:

Steph: You know, Cass, I'm starting to think being Robin for only two months was for the best.

Cass: Agree.

Duke: Second that. I knew telling Bruce I wouldn't be another Robin was a good idea.

[umbrellajam]

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (Vol. 1) #120 - "Uh... Don't think that's how you do it..."

Dick meets Cass with zero (0) context on her background, attempts a friendly handshake, gets an unconventional response, and makes an awkward joke.

Batman (Vol. 1) #657 - "Umm. 'Here on my world, we call this gesture a handshake...'"

Tim meets Damian with zero (0) context on his background, attempts a friendly handshake, gets an unconventional response, and makes an awkward joke.

THEY'RE BROTHERS YOUR HONOR

[lena-thinks-too-much]

Okay, so anyone who says Tim is a Ravenclaw is WRONG. If you think Tim is a Ravenclaw then you don't understand Hogwarts houses outside of "the cool kids, the smart kids, the nice kids, and the mean kids".

Like you mean to tell me Tim "I blackmailed Batman to make me Robin" Drake isn't a Slytherin?

Tim who has more contingencies than Batman and is the only Robin that can LIE to batman?

Tim decides something needs to happen and then makes it happen. Like that isn't the most Slytherin trait ever.

Slytherin's are cunning, resourceful, and ambitious. If you don't think that describes Tim Drake then you clearly haven't read the Red Robin comics.

I mean let's take a look shall we?

He realizes that batman didn't really die, and not a single person in the entire hero community believes him, so what does he do? He decides to find and save batman himself. AND HE SUCCEEDS.

There's the ambition.

Tim fought seven powerful metahuman assassins, whose abilities he did not know of before, while protecting a civilian, AND WON.

Resourcefulness.

And do we really need to talk about how many times Tim faced Ra's in a battle of wits and won?

Cunning.

So yeah, Tim Drake is a Slytherin and if you still don't think so, fight me.

[batcavescolony]

Tim Drakes relationship with his parents is like Phineus and Ferb's relationship with their parents. they love their kid(s) and if they knew what they were doing without their knowledge they would be pissed. they just don't think their kid is capable of building massive machines/being Robin. it makes sense who in their right mind would go 'hey maybe my teenager is building elaborate contraptions without my knowledge' or 'maybe my teenager is actually Robin and I haven't noticed'.

[rjnonymous]

If Bruce hadn't taken in his kids every single one of them except Jason would've turned out as murderous maniacs

[tallochar]

I keep turning this concept in my head but I can't manage to write it satisfactorily so here I am, setting it out in the wild:

Tim Drake being alerted that Batman INC is something that is in the planning stages of it happening (maybe by Lucius, maybe by Tam, who even knows, look he was CEO for a while and someone is worried about Bruce Wayne about to go public with Batman INC and they get in touch with him) and going to Bruce and refusing to let him do this.

Because Bruce is needed in Gotham and Batman is needed in Gotham, and while Dick is doing a great job and no one will convince Tim of the contrary, that's not Dick's job. It's Bruce's.

(Who also has a son who just got his father back and if anyone knows what it would mean for a son who lost their father to get that father back when you know it's not going to happen... well lets say Tim has Opinions about this [and while he might not get along with Damian all that well yet, they are in that neutral state where Damian is like a cat observing things and studying dynamics and Tim has always been able to work with people he doesn't like or even trust much, so he's not going to punish the kid over whatever's went down between them.])

And besides, let's be real here Bruce, if you want a Batman that can go around the world and pull together teams and make them cohesive and knows what it's needed to be a successful team of young / upcoming young heroes, that's way more Dick than you yourself. Would be preferrable if he was allowed to do it as Nightwing, but the point still stands.

Just ... Tim pow-wowing with Bruce over the whole sitch and convicing him to back down. Not abandon the project, Tim knows that will not happen no matter what Tim does, but trusting it to Dick, who is way better with both younger people and people skills in general than Bruce.

(Which actually is not meant to separate Damian from Dick, Dick can come in from one assignment to the next and check on Damian and this is not the time it was when Tim was growing up, they have communications all over the globe now, Dick can phonecall and videocall Damian as many times as he wants and check on him as often as he wishes, but if Batman INC is happening, and it will happen because Bruce has decided it will, then Tim can only do damage control over this)

And possibly Bruce leveraging Tim staying in Gotham (which, joke's on Bruce, Tim was going to do that anyway, but sure he'll "concede") and possibly "asking" (ordering, let's be real here) Tim to help train Damian (which Tim isn't enthusiastic about but fine, he'll make it work as long as Bruce has his back), for multiple reasons.

A bit because Bruce sort of feels guilty that Tim was kicked out of the Robin role (Bruce HAD promised it would be Tim's until Tim decided otherwise, [which I don't think Dick knew about and even if he had, the situation still had been what it was, to be fair to Dick]) but also Bruce doesn't quite know what to do with Damian (and it wouldn't be the first time he's trusted Tim to teach young heroes / guide someone in a vigilante role) and also he both wants Tim to be there with him (he's missed him) and needs him there with himself (Tim the emotional regulation parentified wonder!).

And then shenanigans from there.

[notfeelingthyaster]

i've started seeing mc bernard fanfics and even posts w/ the detriment of tim (making him a cheater, or neglectful, or abusive, even) and i'm very confused about the way people are latching on to a two dimensional love interest and using his only canonnical relevance - his romantic interest - as an villain or an enemy, in detriment of his own characterization

like ig you can do anything in fanfic/hcs, idc, it's just really weird for me personally, bc bernard dowd has the depth of a rain puddle, i honestly don't see what people latch to

[billybatsonmylove]

fuck you too Tim

Batman (1940) Issue #657

[accidentallyadoptedbybatman]

How To Survive Gotham

Pt 2 but make it Casual

-Label your food no matter whos fridge/kitchen it is when hungry our weirdos are known to steal food

-You are welcome to beat Joker but do it at your risk (some of the batfam will congratulate you and give you money if you do but again at your own risk)

-Do Not call Robin small or tiny or any form of the words, the last person nearly got stabbed

-Batman's nicer than you think

-Crime alley and The Narrows adore Hood do not argue with them about his methods

-We know about Red Robin's caffeine addiction it's a Gotham wide attempt to stop him

-Nightwing tells dad jokes and will love it if you laugh or return them

[angstandhappiness]

LMAO YES

they’re here for the free food

quote from s2 e4 of derry girls :p

[freefallintothevoid]

Dick Grayson's unmatched success as a child vigilante makes a lot more sense when you remember the Court of Owls was a thing and that Dick was meant to be the next Grey Son.

There is no way that someone at Haly's Circus wasn't there keeping an eye on him while he grew up. A future weapon needs to be trained and monitored after all, and a circus, a place where weird skills are completely normal, is actually a great place to secretly train a child.

You know, just some knife tricks that translated really well into actual fighting. How to get out of restraints and pick locks while under a time limit. Death defying acrobatic stunts that coincidentally do wonders for parkouring. That sort of thing. Nothing that seems out of place for a boy growing up around circus performers to learn, but would literally any where else.

I mean, while I fully believe that most kids would want to kill the man responsible for their parents deaths, Dick was weirdly prepared to go through it. He tracked down Zucco with way more ease than any normal child should have too. He became the first child vigilante, for goodness sake. The first Robin! He only started getting formal training after he basically forced Bruce into it!

Bruce himself has no idea that this kind of competency in a child is unusual, considering he was much too blinded by the similarities between his and Dick's tragic orphanhoods.

Alfred is in a similar boat because he’s desensitized to weird children after he somehow managed to successfully raise Bruce 'The Batman' Wayne, so he doesn't clock the hyper-competency as abnormal either.

By the time the other batkids start popping up (Jason 'The Audacity' Todd, borderline-street rat with no fear) (Tim 'the greatest stalker in Gotham history' Drake, child genius, also bullied his way into becoming Robin) (Barbara 'raised by the only uncorrupt cop in gotham' Gordon) (Stephanie 'daddy issues and spite' Brown) (Duke 'Pretends he's the normal one and people believe him' Thomas) it's too late.

It would also explain how Dick got along so well with Damian out of all of them. Similar childhood with different approaches and all that. On some subconscious level, Dick recognises and resonates with the murderous ten year old assassin with strong familial ties to a secret elite assassin organization.

It isn't until after the whole Court of Owls and Grey Son reveal that suddenly Dick realises a whole lot of things about his childhood that suddenly make a lot more sense.