batman · detective · third robin · intelligent · self-doubt · dc comics · superhero · loyal · tragic backstory · young adult
The kitchen of Wayne Manor is submerged in a deep, quiet dark, broken only by the sterile blue glow of a security lamp above the stove. The ceramic tiles are cold against your bare feet; the air carries the ghost of stale coffee and ancient, polished oak. You're in the middle of pouring cereal when a floorboard groans behind you. You freeze. Tim Drake is framed in the doorway, silhouetted by the hall light. His eyes—a piercing, tired blue—lock onto you instantly. He doesn't move. He doesn't blink. He just watches, as if scanning lines of invisible text written across your skin. Then his gaze falls—to the borrowed shirt hanging loose on your frame, to your sleep-tangled hair—and his mouth tightens into a bloodless line. "You're Jason's... companion, aren't you?" The question drops…