Work Text:
If you ask any member of the Batfamily about Tim Drake’s personality and behavior, the answers will be surprisingly similar - perhaps even too similar.
"He’s an introvert," Dick Grayson would say after thinking for a moment.
"Socially awkward," Jason Todd would add with a snort.
"Reserved," Bruce Wayne would sigh almost fatherly, looking vaguely guilty - perhaps he thought his son’s closed-off nature had something to do with him.
"Annoyingly quiet," Damian Wayne would mutter, clearly not very eager to answer.
Cassandra Cain would simply shrug, while Duke Thomas would say something like:
"He’s nice, just… well… not very talkative?"
Everyone in the family agreed on one thing: Tim Drake was very bad with people.
Unfortunately - or fortunately - that was complete nonsense. Their main problem was that the Batcave was not the best place to observe the social life of a twenty-year-old college student. Especially if that student didn’t tell them anything at all about his life. In some way, maybe it really was their fault.
"He didn’t come out of his room again," Dick said, leaning against the kitchen island in the manor.
"He did," Duke corrected. "At three in the morning. For morning coffee."
"That doesn’t count."
"It counts," Jason noted dryly. "For Tim, that’s peak social activity."
Barbara Gordon snorted through the computer speakers.
"You’re all exaggerating. He’s not that bad."
"Babs," Dick said, "he literally talks to computers more often than to people."
"Because computers are smarter,"she replied automatically.
"I can hear you," Duke muttered.
Bruce stayed silent, scrolling through reports on his tablet, but eventually looked up at his children.
"Tim works a lot," he finally said, as if defending his son.
"Bruce," Jason raised an eyebrow, "he hid behind a damn bookshelf when the mailman came."
"He wasn’t hiding," Bruce said awkwardly, clearly not enjoying the conversation.
"He ducked," Jason corrected, not seeing much difference. "Let me remind you: it was a mailman."
"Maybe he needs help?" Dick suggested quietly. "You know… socially."
"Are you suggesting…" Jason frowned. "A social intervention?"
"I’m suggesting… helping him communicate," Dick said uncertainly. It wasn’t like everyone in their family was particularly social. Mostly just him, B, Duke, and Stephanie - though she technically wasn’t family.
"With people," Duke clarified very seriously.
"With real people,"Jason nodded.
At that exact moment, Tim walked into the kitchen. He was wearing a wrinkled T-shirt, holding a cup of coffee, and looked slightly sleepy. Apparently the morning coffee hadn’t fully helped him wake up.
" ...Morning."
Everyone turned to him at once. Tim blinked in confusion, surprised by so much attention so early.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Tim," Dick said gently, "we have an important question for you."
"That sounds dangerous," Tim commented, but everyone seemed to ignore the joke.
"How many friends do you have?"
Tim took a sip of coffee and was silent for a moment, looking at all his siblings and his father.
"…What?" he asked, not entirely understanding what they meant.
"Friends," Jason repeated."Human ones. Real ones."
"I know what friends are," Tim replied, slightly offended, still not understanding where this was going.
"We’re just worried," Bruce said calmly.
Tim slowly placed his cup on the table and looked around at his family again.
"You think… I don’t have friends?"
They exchanged awkward glances. That was an answer without words.
Tim blinked slowly a few times. Then again. And suddenly he started laughing - quietly at first, covering his mouth with his hand, then louder, until he was practically doubled over, almost crying from laughter.
"Oh my God…" he exhaled, trying to calm down but still looking wildly amused. "You’re serious, aren’t you?"
"We just -" Dick began.
"No, wait," Tim raised a hand, still laughing. "I’m trying to… understand… how you came to that conclusion."
"You barely talk to people," Dick began listing his arguments.
"You’re always at the computer," Duke added calmly.
"You avoid social events," Bruce said with a slight nod.
"You’re awkward," Jason shrugged.
"You’re boring," Damian said bluntly.
Tim stared at them, unsure whether he should laugh again or start crying. Did his family really know him this poorly?
"…Do you really think that?"
"Yes," Dick answered honestly.
Tim opened his mouth, closed it, then picked up his coffee again and nodded with quiet resignation.
"Alright," he said calmly, deciding not to argue. "I’m leaving for a couple of hours."
"Where?" Bruce asked with concern.
"A meeting."
"With whom?" Bruce уточнил.
Tim paused for a second, trying to remember his plans, and mentally congratulated himself on another long day.
"Well… first with Bern, then we have a group meeting, then I think I promised to help Chris with his project, then I’m going to a bar with some former classmates, then-" He stopped, realizing the rest of his plans were actually for the next day.
Everyone stared at him, clearly not believing what they had just heard.
"…What?" Tim asked for what felt like the tenth time.
"You’re going to a bar?" Jason asked slowly, looking vaguely nervous. Apparently they had all forgotten that Tim was twenty now, not seventeen.
"Sometimes," Tim muttered in confusion.
"You have a group meeting?" Dick asked with interest.
"It’s called friendship," Tim said with a nod, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world-which, in fact, it was. The Batfamily had simply never considered that it might be normal for Tim, too. Maybe they needed to update their data on their brother.
"Who’s Chris?" Damian asked suspiciously. They knew Bernard-he was liked by the family-but other people around Tim seemed to never exist.
"A human?" Tim answered with sarcasm.
"And how many people will be at this bar?" Duke asked.
"Well… usually around twenty people show up. Depends on how busy everyone is, or if someone has urgent stuff."
Silence fell over the room. No one said anything. Everyone was trying to process the situation.
Tim. Was. Social.
"Tim," Dick began carefully. "How many friends do you have?"
Tim shrugged, not thinking about it too much.
"I don’t know."
"At least approximately," Jason pressed.
"Well…" Tim actually thought about it. "Close friends? Or just acquaintances?"
"…"
"Because I have a lot of acquaintances."
"How many?" Jason immediately asked.
Tim took another sip of coffee and was quiet for a moment before setting the cup down.
"Probably… a couple hundred?"
Jason choked on air. Dick stared with his mouth open. Duke’s eyes could not possibly get any wider. Bruce and Damian looked vaguely calm-but they exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.
"A COUPLE HUNDRED?!"
"That’s not that many if you think about it," Tim shrugged.
"YOU SAID A COUPLE HUNDRED."
"I went to a private school, Jay. There’s a lot of time there to meet people."
"THAT EXPLAINS NOTHING."
"And university is pretty social too. More people to meet."
"DO YOU EVER SLEEP?!"
"I think you know when I sleep," Tim raised an eyebrow-and he was right. They did.
At that moment Tim’s phone vibrated, drawing everyone’s attention. He glanced at the screen without unlocking it and smiled.
"Oh, Bernard’s already here."
"He what?" Dick asked.
"He’s waiting outside," Tim replied calmly, as if the information were obvious.
"He came here?!"
"Obviously."
Tim grabbed his jacket and waved to his family.
"See you tonight."
He headed for the door, but suddenly stopped and turned around.
"By the way."
Everyone immediately looked at him.
"Next time you’re discussing my social life…" Tim said with a smirk. "Try doing it a little quieter. I have excellent hearing."
And with that bomb dropped, he left. After ten seconds of silence, Jason said:
"We need to check."
Damian nodded immediately.
"Check what?" Duke asked.
"That this isn’t a hallucination," Todd answered seriously.
"I can check the cameras," Barbara offered calmly.
The security footage appeared on the screen almost instantly. And there really was Bernard standing by a car with his phone in hand. Three other people were with him, animatedly discussing something.
Tim walked out to them and suddenly-
He became a completely different person.
He smiled widely, hugged someone, gestured easily while talking and joking-though Tim had never lacked for jokes. He spoke quickly and easily, like the center of the group. Inside the car they all laughed at something. Bernard said something and Tim bumped his shoulder. Everyone laughed again.
The video stopped. Silence filled the kitchen for another ten seconds before Jason slowly asked:
"…Who is that person?"
Dick stared at the screen, looking uncertain-and maybe even guilty.
"I think…" he said slowly, "we don’t know Tim at all."
Damian crossed his arms and frowned.
"Impossible. Maybe it’s a clone?"
Bruce ignored the comment and watched the recording again, very carefully, before quietly exhaling.
"We… may have made an incorrect assumption."
Barbara laughed through the speakers, clearly finding the whole situation hilarious.
"Congratulations."
"For what?" Duke snorted.
"You just discovered that Tim Drake is a popular guy," she declared triumphantly.
"No."
"Jay"
"No."
"Jason-!"
"I refuse to believe that Replacement-nerd is the king of parties," he muttered, making Dick and Duke wince at the nickname.
Meanwhile, Tim was sitting in the car.
"You looked like you were laughing when you came out," Bernard noted with a small smile.
Tim was still smiling, looking more amused than usual.
"Just a family conversation," he said with a smirk.
"About what?"
Tim looked out the window and replied:
"They think I’m bad with people and have shyness issues."
Bernard blinked-and then started laughing.
"Oh my God!"
"Yeah, yeah. I had about the same reaction."
"Tim…"
"Yeah?"
"You are literally the most social person I know."
Tim shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t think so-he would have called Bernard more social. But everyone had different ideas about what counted as a social life. For example, his family.
"Don’t tell my family that."
"Why?"
Tim smirked and turned toward his boyfriend.
"I’m curious how long they’ll keep denying it."