An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd
Additional Tags: JayTim Week, JayTim Week 2020, Detective Tim Drake, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Established Relationship, Secret Identity, Identity Reveal, Misunderstandings, Crying, Self-Esteem Issues, Crying Tim Drake, Protective Jason Todd, Marriage Proposal, Jaytim - Freeform, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Boys In Love, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Meet-Cute, Alternate Universe, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Fluff, Light Angst
Series: Part 4 of JayTim Week 2020
Summary:
During the first weeks Jason spent at Wayne Manor, right after he had been picked up directly from Crime Alley, he learned something important: It was difficult to hide things from a good detective. Maybe he should have had that in mind during his adult life as well, especially when he was dating one of the best GCPD detectives.
"Tim? What happened?"
"Don't know. Tell me." He answered, angry. "You have something to tell me, Jason?"
Prompt: “Because I want you to know what it feels like to be haunted"
Summary: Despite knowing it's a trap, Tim cannot say no when the opportunity to hunt for the serial killer he's been chasing for months comes up when the man himself requests Tim's presence in the woods. It's the closest he's gotten to catching him and Tim will do everything in his power to put the Red Hood behind bars before the end of the night.
Also on AO3
Enjoy! :D
“You coming or going detective?”
With a white-knuckle grip on his phone and his heart pounding inside his chest, Tim looks out before him into the dark and imposing woods. He can’t respond to the voice on the other end of the line, his thoughts too erratic to really think about doing so. The woods is where he is. If Tim goes in there, there may be a chance he won’t come out again. If he does make it out he could potentially be a changed man.
“Tick tock, detective. I won’t wait all night.” The voice says irate. “Are you in, or are you out? You won’t get another chance like this again.”
Tim grits his teeth and stares at the worn in path that leads into the woods. The moon is high in the sky casting a silvery glow on everything. The light is great at the moment, allowing him to see, but the moment he steps into the dense trees, he’ll be in complete darkness. Alone. With him.
Is that something he can risk?
Tim is on the hunt for a criminal. A serial killer no less. With a signature look of wearing a red helmet, the man’s earned himself the nickname ‘Red Hood’. They’ve been playing this cat and mouse game for months and every time Tim thinks he has a lead on the man it turns out it’s a hoax, a set up by the guy himself for shits and giggles. As the detective in charge of this case, Tim needs to catch Red Hood sooner rather than later, he's been on the loose for too long with a body count that is now nearing triple digits.
To the killer’s request Tim is here all alone. The man he’s hunting is in the woods in front of him, he’s pulled Tim out here on the promise of evidence, an opportunity to find missing bodies and mostly a chance for arrest. Tim knows it’s a trap and he most certainly knows it’s not a good idea to be here but this is the closest he’s been to getting the man and he cannot say no to this opportunity.
“I’m coming in,” Tim finally speaks into the phone. His heart is pounding inside his chest and he does his best to push aside the anxious feelings. He has a job to do.
“Good boy.”
A shiver works its way down his spine at those two words. Why did they feel so sensual?
Tim swallows thickly, ignoring the heat that’s just rushed through his body. “I hope you’re ready for your night to end behind bars.”
A deep rumble of a laugh comes through the speakers. “See you soon sweetheart.”
The line cuts off then and Tim scowls at the device as he removes it from his ear. Cocky bastard.
Not letting himself think about it anymore, Tim puts his phone into his pocket and grabs his torch and gun from his belt. Using the torch as his guide Tim levels his gun in front of him and walks into the woods.
It doesn’t take long to lose track of how far he’s walked or for how long. He’s on edge and every little sound is getting to him making him twitchy. As predicted the moon’s light can’t be seen in the depths of the woods so Tim is relying on the single beam of light from his torch and he hopes to god that the batteries last, he can’t remember the last time he changed them.
He doesn’t know where he needs to go. He’s walking aimlessly around trying to get any sign of the serial killer. He’s been lured out here, alone, with no idea on what to expect. This has to be the most idiotic thing he’s ever done.
A snap of a twig has him freezing and pointing his weapon to the right. He looks closely into the darkness expecting something to be there but not knowing what. Holding his breath he takes slow steps forward and rests his finger on the trigger of his gun.
Another twig breaks in front of him and Tim just about leaps out of his skin as something darts out of the bush towards him. He manages to stop himself from shooting at it when he registers it’s a fucking raccoon and not a mass murderer coming at him. The animal startles at his presence and swiftly disappears into another bush and out of sight.
Tim forces himself to take a deep breath and to calm down. All this excitement (fear) isn’t doing him any favours.
There’s a snapping sound behind him and Tim is instantly on guard, spinning around and lifting his gun back up. The torch shines and shows nothing there. Getting the sense his nerves are making him twitchy again, Tim breathes and prepares to move on and that’s when a second sound comes from behind him.
Before he could react, something hits the back of his leg causing his knee to buckle. A yelp comes out of his mouth and he finds himself down on one knee on the dirty floor. In the next breath Tim spins around and levels his gun however he’s caught off guard yet again when a sudden foot flies towards him and strikes him solidly in the chest sending him down sprawling.
The wind is knocked out of him as he hits the ground and he gasps for breath. The gun is gone from his hand, Tim having let accidently let go when he got hit, and the torch lands just beside him.
“Timmy, Timmy, Timmy…”
The voice comes from above him, a familiar and yet haunting voice, and Tim doesn’t think too much about his next move. He grabs the torch beside him and swings blindly into the space before him. He doesn't make a connection and something grabs his wrist in a bruising grip. A broken sound escapes from Tim and he struggles against the grip trying to break free.
He swings with his free arm but that’s also grabbed and before Tim knows it he’s pinned to the ground, his wrists by his head, a knee planted on his chest and the heavy weight of a man looming over him.
Thanks to the faint beam of the torch Tim can make out his attacker above him. The man he had been hunting looms over him, signature red helmet in place over his head, leather jacket over broad shoulders and tactical gear covering the rest of him.
“I thought you was better than this, detective.” Red Hood says shaking his head as if he’s disappointed in Tim.
At least Tim is certainly disappointed in himself. He had known this encounter was coming and still had been caught off guard so easily. However it’s not over just yet, he’ll get this man in cuffs no matter what by the end of the night.
Tim squirms in the restraining hold and sucks in a sharp breath when the man puts pressure on his chest.
“Nice to officially meet you detective. I’ve been following your progress and I’m impressed, y’know, you’re the first to ever actually make a connection. Clearly you got lucky or I had in fact had gotten sloppy.” His voice is distorted and it’s hard to get a reading on the man himself.
Tim knows his MO though, knows how he likes to play with his victims, make them suffer first before finally delivering the killing blow. The only thing Tim doesn’t know however, is if Red Hood is going to kill him here and now. The serial killer’s targets are usually ex-criminals, current criminals, ex-convicts and most notably anyone who has abused both women and kids and had gotten away with it.
Tim isn’t on that list but because of his progress with the case, the serial killer may be willing to make an exception.
“I’m smarter than I look.” Tim comments staring up into that red helmet. He grits his teeth and wriggles in the man’s hold. “Let me go and I’ll show you how impressive I actually am.”
The man above him snorts and it’s only then Tim recognises the double entendre of his words. Feeling his face get hot Tim kicks out at nothing. “Not like that! Fight me you asshole and I’ll put you on the ground and where you belong.”
“Scary,” the serial killer comments being as sarcastic as one could be, “by all means keep squirming detective, your making me in the mood for something else and it did sound a lot like you were propositioning me just now.”
A rush of fear courses through Tim and he stills. He knows what the man means and while in the past the serial killer has never showed signs of raping his victims it didn’t mean he didn’t do it. The man knows all too well how to cover his tracks.
Red Hood shifts his position, placing Tim’s wrists above his head in one hand and using his free one to stroke a finger down the side of Tim’s face.
“Y’know what I love about human anatomy…”
Not letting the man finish Tim puts all his might into one thrust and this time successfully manages to throw Red Hood off of him. Scrambling up to his feet Tim puts distance between them, having to squint into the darkness to keep his target in his sight.
Red Hood curses and gets up to his feet. He laughs haughtily. “I wasn't excepting that I must admit. Things have just got a whole lot more interesting.”
The man doesn’t hesitate and this time Tim is prepared for it. Red Hood launches towards him and Tim ducks out of the way, spinning around to strike out with his own foot. He connects with the man’s side and follows it up with a solid punch to his stomach.
It goes on like this for what feels likes hours but is actually only a few minutes. They trade blows back and forwards, looking for the other’s weak spot and hitting it when the opportunity rises. After a nasty blow to his head, Tim can feel himself starting to fatigue, if he doesn’t do something major soon he’s going to lose.
A glint of sliver catches his eye, the torch which had been discarded to the side but is still shining, is pointing in the direction of his gun just off to Tim’s left. Pushing Hood away from him when the man swings Tim darts to his left with intention. However he’s tackled to the ground before he could grab his gun. The two of them roll and Tim ends up pinned underneath the bulking man’s weight once more. Throwing back his elbow, Tim hopes to make a connection with the man’s face but instead he's met with a loud bang and a searing pain exploding in his shoulder.
A second bang followed by more exploding pain erupting from his thigh has Tim crying out in agony as he struggles to comprehend what the fuck just happened. Moving becomes impossible, any inch hurts and everything begins to blur together.
The weight behind him lifts off, not that it matters anymore, and Tim cranes his neck to look through his blackening vision. Red Hood crouches down beside him, a gun in his hand, although it’s not Tim’s meaning the man had been armed all along, and grabs a fistful of Tim’s head and yanks his head up so they could look at one another. Without meaning for it to happen, a weak cry escapes Tim’s lips.
“This certainly isn’t what I wanted to happen tonight Timmy.” Red Hood says, if Tim didn’t know what the man was capable of he would’ve almost believed the sympathetic tone he’s using. “I wanted to rough you up of course but hurting you like this wasn't the plan. Oh well, adapt to the circumstances no?”
Tim grits his teeth. “Fuck you.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, no need for that.” The man grips his hair tighter and raises the gun to Tim’s forehead. Tim could feel the warmth of the barrel as it rests against his skin. He closes his eyes and accepts what’s about to happen. “I’m not going to kill you detective, so get that idea out of your head.”
“Why?” Tim frowns. While he likes living there has to be a catch. Men like Hood don’t let others off the hook without consequences.
“We’re not done playing yet, Detective Drake. I’ve put you out of commission for now but our business isn’t anywhere near done just yet.”
“What do you mean?” The man wasn’t making any sense. Then again that could be the amount of pain Tim is in, it’s beginning to make his mind go hazy and he's not thinking clearly.
“Tell Dickie Bird I say hello.”
While Tim frowns at the cryptic words he doesn’t get the chance to try and figure them out because in the next moment Hood grips his hair and slams his head down into the ground. One hit against the floor is all it takes to knock Tim out unconscious.
Summary: Tim Drake can’t help it, he’s a sucker for mystery and there isn’t a mystery like Batman and Robin. There’s something taboo, forbidden and thrilling to hiding on rooftops for hours just to catch pictures of them in action -- pictures no one else has ever taken. These misadventures lead him to an odd acquaintance with a tire thief named Jay, who becomes an unexpected constant during Tim’s nighttime escapades.
When Jay disappears and no one will tell him where he’s gone, Tim figures it’s up to him to rescue his friend. But for some reason, amongst his investigations into the strange uprise of human disappearances around Gotham, Robin is there, preventing Tim from getting into too much trouble -- and trying to keep him away from his search for Jay.
The network of kidnappings only seems to keep getting bigger and bigger, until Tim finally turns his sights to the one percenters of the city, because Bruce Wayne is acting suspicious and Tim will find a connection to these human disappearances if it’s the last thing he does. After all, rarely are people ever what they seem, and in Gotham, rich money is always dirty.
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Excerpt From Chapter 2:
“I ripped him off.”
They’re sitting on a low rooftop sandwiched between two taller buildings. Beneath them, Tim can feel the pulsing of a nightclub, the beat thump-thumping through his thighs and into his chest. The sun is low in the sky but not yet fallen, though it’s well into the evening anyway due to the summer time hours.
“You ripped your broker off?” Tim asks. Their conversation is oddly quiet despite the loud music. Slow and almost emotionless. That’s fine by him. They’re both still digesting the day’s events. “I thought it’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“It is,” Jay says. “That’s why he’s pissed.”
“Oh.” Silence.
“Y’know, I wouldn’t of done it if he’d give them their fair cut,” Jay frowns. “What he’s doin’ isn’t right. The other kids’ll pick pockets and steal and bribe to get a handful of shiny things or whatever he’s callin’ for and he sends them off with barely half of what it’s worth and they can’t do nothing about it ‘cause he’s the only one in town. Only broker. So I lied ‘bout the tire. Carved in new tread, made it too thin on purpose so it wouldn’t last. Polished over the name, lied about the type. Ripped him off by a couple hundred bucks. He barely gives out hundreds to start, but he thought it was real nice.”
Tim nods.
“And then I threw a bottle bomb in his office. His favourite couch has a hole in it,” Jay finally smirks.
Tim doesn’t even mind. “And of course, I pepper-sprayed him and his buddy.”
“Of course.”
“Twice.”
Jay huffs a laugh. Another moment passes before Tim joins him with a small smile of his own.“Y’know,” he says, finally turning to Tim. “We make a pretty good team.”
“Yeah,” Tim admits shyly, looking down at the muddy toes of his sneakers dangling off the edge of the roof. “I guess we do.”
Tim ultimately decides that the day has been given enough thought and turns his attention to attempting to judge what song is playing based on the beat reverberating through his limbs. He thinks it might be a remix of Mama by David Guetta, not like that song doesn’t have enough remixes, when Jay speaks. Tim almost doesn’t hear him.
“You’re still lookin’ for Bat and brat, right?” he asks innocently. Tim turns to him in surprise.
“I--uh,” he stammers, embarrassed. “Yeah.”
“Cool. Lemme know if you catch ‘em.”
The comment is so absurd that Tim can’t help but hang his head and laugh at it. “I’m not trying to catch them. They’re not Pokemon.”
“They probably were in another life,” Jay shrugs. He’s trying to hide his mirth but Tim can see it in the quirk of his lips. “What are you tryin’ to do, then?”
Tim has to think about that for a moment. “Not sure,” he finally says. “I think I just want to know that I did it. That I figured out who they are. The biggest mystery in modern-day Gotham, solved by the little kid nobody thought anything of. Plus, they’re...kind of my role models. Robin is, anyway.”
A smirk. “You wanna find out who bird brains is so you can ask ‘im out?”
Tim elbows him. Jay winces for a split second, his ribs must be bruised, but he recovers before Tim can apologise. “No. I don’t know. Knowledge is power, I guess.”
Jay nods in understanding. “I get it.”
“You do?” Tim asks. “The people I know don’t. They’re all thinking about...other things. Social status and stuff. What people are posting on Instagram.” He pauses, not sure if Jay wants to hear more, but the boy doesn’t say anything, just looks at him blankly and Tim finds himself talking before he can think about monitoring what comes out. “Like, no one pays attention in my science class, but my teacher loves to talk and he’ll go on about anything, and last week he started talking about what Gotham was like when he was little. He’s really old. And no one was listening, but then he started talking about the abandoned Subway tunnels. So I looked it up, and you wouldn’t believe how big it is. It connects anything and everything and no one remembers it exists. But there’s these pictures on the Newtown construction page. It’s at the very bottom of this 90-something page paper about politics and rules and stuff, but it’s there, and I found it and printed it out and put it in the box under my bed.
“I like to learn more about anything I hear, no matter how useless people think it is, because you never know when you’re going to want it. Sometimes I’ll hear something and my first thought is, ‘That’s useful’, but I don’t know why it’s useful and I don’t know what I’d use it for,” Tim finishes. “But I keep a note of it anyway, just in case.”
Jay doesn’t say anything for another moment, just kicks his legs. “It’s not like that here,” he says finally. “I mean, yeah, what’s useful is a bit different, but… If you know these streets, you control these streets.” He looks at Tim, trying to see if Tim understands, and must see that Tim doesn’t because he tries elaborating. “Like Tommy. My broker you pepper-sprayed? He knows the street kids in these parts, and he’s all buddy-buddy with the gangs. He knows where to walk and where to not. He knows who to rip off and who to stay away from, so he can get money in all the right places and no one can stop him because then he puts a stop to them. Gangs don’t bother him because he knows enough secrets that he can hold it over them, make sure they don’t mess with him because he has something in his head they’re afraid of.
“It’s all about the secrets. A street looks like any other street, it’s what’s goin’ on behind the walls that you gotta worry about, that you gotta know, because if you have nothing to take from someone else, someone else is gonna take from you.” Jay nods to himself. “Yeah. Knowing too much is better than knowing nothin’ at all.”
It’s...comforting, hearing Jay say all of that. “There’s a lot I don’t know, though,” Tim says cautiously. “Like how the streets work. You’re the one with the street smarts. I’m just book smart.”
Jay cocks his head curiously. “Yeah? Don’t expect you to. You’re not from ‘round here.”
“Doesn’t mean I should be stupid about it.”
“What’s your point?”
“If I hang around long enough, you’ll teach me, right?” Tim asks. He knows he’s asking for a lot, but he doesn’t know whether or not it’s too much.
Jay frowns. “Teach you?”
“Yeah. Show me what it’s like here. Or at least, how to live here.”
That earns him an eyebrow raise. “You’re gonna have to actually live here for that. But…,” Jay continues before Tim can feel disheartened. “Sure. Hang around me. Shouldn’t be too bad. But I got rules.”
“Like?” Tim prods.
“Like, you gotta listen to what I say. If I say do something, you do it. Even if it seems weird. Also, I do all the talkin’. I can make you look like a rat, but anyone hear the way you talk and they’ll throw you to the wolves. You gotta learn how to not paint a target on your back.”
Tim nods slowly. “I have a rule, too.”
Jay’s eyes narrow. “Yeah?”
“No throwing either of us to the wolves,” he smiles. “You have my back, I have yours.”
Jay looks surprised, like that’s the last thing he expected to come out of Tim’s mouth. Oddly enough, that fills Tim with a sense of pride. He sticks his hand out. Jay looks at it like he can’t figure out what a hand is, and Tim feels a bit comical, but he’s nothing if not determined. He leans forward to whisper conspiratorially: “You’re supposed to shake it.”
Jay scowls and grabs his hand. Tim gives it a single, firm shake. “Then it’s official.”
“What is?”
“Our friendship.”
A sense of victory floods Tim when Jay’s mouth breaks out into a grin. “Whatever, Sherlock.”
They sit in companionable silence before a thought occurs to Tim. “If I’m Sherlock, are you Watson?”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 7/7
Fandom: Batman (Comics)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Gannon Malloy, Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne
Additional Tags: Explicit Language, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Detective!Tim, Murder Mystery, Waffles, Flamethrowers
Series: Part 1 of Casebook of Detective Timothy Drake
Summary:
“I want to find the fucker who did this to a twelve year old boy, Hood. Whoever can do this to a kid needs to be off the streets. I don’t care if you’re the one who catches him, but I will be damned if I don’t use all the resources I have available to me."
The Red Hood nodded slowly, absorbing his words. “You do know that if I find this asshole, chances are real good I'm gonna kill him.”
Tim stood up straight and walked a few steps forward until he was close enough he could to touch Jason if he wanted to. “I know,” he said quietly. “That’s why I called you and not Batman.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 23/23
Fandom: Batman (Comics)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Gannon Malloy, Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Jim Gordon
Additional Tags: Explicit Language, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Original Character(s), Murder Mystery, Detective!Tim, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture
Series: Part 3 of Casebook of Detective Timothy Drake
Summary:
Detective Timothy Drake's next big case finds him and his partner Gannon Malloy hot on the trail of a new killer in Gotham, one who slices their victims to shreds. The clues lead Tim to the most unexpected of places, causing him to leverage tools he doesn't like to admit he even has in his arsenal...the Red Hood, Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Batman.
