Discover Top Posts Tagged with #jaytim week 2025

Jun 27, 2025

Unsettled (12968 words)

He should have known. Should have seen the obvious signs that an invitation to a ‘family dinner’ was nothing but a trap. It wasn’t even cleverly laid. Yet he’d fallen right into it.

Tim knew the others were uncomfortable around his Daemon, he just never thought the only person that wouldn't treat Cordelia with contempt was Jason

@jaytimweek 2025 Day 6 - Orange ~ Youth ~ His Dark Materials/Daemon AU

You can read the whole fic under the cut or on Ao3

“Oh, you’re expected at the manor tonight. It’s time for a long overdue family dinner,” Bruce said over his shoulder as he reached the office door.

Tim looked up from the file Bruce had handed over, frowning at the older man. Since when did they have family dinners that weren’t all for show? “You got a reporter coming or something?”

A reporter would make sense, there were still rumours of friction between Bruce and himself since Bruce had returned to WE, taking over as chairman of the board while leaving Tim as CEO. But a showy dinner would only further the rumours.

“Dinner will be served at seven, so be there before six-thirty.” The parting words offered no comfort, the glass door swinging shut as the toy fox terrier trailed dutifully behind Bruce.

He should have known that Bruce's visit to his office would inevitably bring drama. If he wanted him to review a file, he would have sent his assistant across the office or even sent an email. Demanding attendance at a dinner?

Well, that just guaranteed drama. The lot of them could barely spend 10 minutes in the cave together without a fight kicking off about one thing or another.

The worst part was that he didn’t have a decent excuse not to go. Not when Bruce was making a direct invitation. Tim sighed, pushing his seat back as Cordelia nudged his leg, his daemon leaping onto his lap. “Omora hid from me,” she mumbled as she curled up on his lap.

He couldn’t ignore the sting in his chest. His Daemon had been content under his desk before Bruce had entered the office, and all it took was his adoptive father’s Daemon avoiding her to seek out comfort in his lap.

Omora wasn’t one to hide, not unless Bruce was concealing something.

“I can’t use that as an excuse to avoid dinner,” he mumbled, running his fingers through the fur of the red panda.

He couldn’t blame her for sulking. He would too, if he had the time. Except, on top of the dinner invitation, Bruce had dropped a mountain of work on him.

**********

He should have known.

Should have seen the obvious signs that an invitation to a ‘family dinner’ was nothing but a trap.

It wasn’t even cleverly laid.

Yet he’d fallen right into it.

Tim entered the manor with Cordelia perched on his shoulder, the Daemon having shifted into a southern birch mouse in the car ride over. The perfect size to hide in his suit to avoid attention, rather than letting the others’ Daemons gang up on her.

She hadn’t assumed a form this small in almost two years, almost as though she knew the trap he was walking into before he’d rolled up to the front gates of the manor.

If he’d just taken it as a warning, then maybe he wouldn’t have walked into a party without preparing himself.

Dick swooped in to greet him as he entered the living room, wrapping a firm arm around him while Anoush watched on from the arm of the sofa. The stoat looked ready to pounce at any moment.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks, Timmy. You’re always on patrol or at the office, and now you’re the last one here again,” Dick said as he guided him towards the sofa, Anoush scampering towards the bookcase, putting a healthy distance between herself and them without causing any discomfort for Dick.

“Yeah, can’t really ignore a mandatory meeting demand from B, can I though?” Couldn’t ignore the odd looks constantly thrown his way either… Cordelia ran down his arm onto his lap as he spoke, rubbing her head against his thumb.

This night wasn’t going to be easy, not if everyone else’s Daemons were going to avoid him and Cordelia like she had the plague.

He’d taken great pains to pretend not to notice, to ignore the wary looks humans gave her, and worse still, the way other Daemons bristled in her presence. However, he constantly felt her pain.

As each year passed, it became easier to isolate himself rather than allow others to turn up their noses at Cordelia for not settling. He didn’t need the world treating his Daemon like there was something wrong with her, better yet, wrong with them.

“Bruce would treat a party like it’s a meeting, but no we’re celebrating,” Dick chuckled.

Tim frowned. What was there to celebrate? There weren’t any birthdays coming up, and he wouldn’t have said the latest quarterly profits were anything to write home about. “Are Bruce and Selina giving it another go and getting married?”

“No,” Dick laughed, shaking his head. “Jeeze, Bruce didn’t give you any warning at all.” The easy airs Dick was putting on shifted suddenly, his smile fading as his eyes met Tim’s confused expression.

Why would he need any warning if it was wholly good news?

Tim did a mental rundown of the list of possible reasons they could be celebrating, trying to figure out why Dick would suddenly be looking at everything but him.

Dick knew whatever it was, knew it would be something he didn’t like, or at least would hit a sore spot. That narrowed it down, as did the lack of one guest. “Whose call was it that inviting Jason would be too insensitive?” He asked as Cordelia nibbled at his thumb, his chest tightening as he pieced it together.

She’d probably figured it out before he had, and with how each bite got firmer, she didn’t seem to be all that happy about it either.

“Me, well… Alfred too, but you know how it is for him. Calliope settled the day he died. Can’t expect a healthy reaction.” So they were worried about Jason’s reaction, but he didn’t deserve a warning?

If he were to guess at Bruce’s intention, it was possible that the older man thought he wouldn’t care. It was so easy that he hadn’t even considered giving him a heads up that Damian’s Daemon had settled, or that they were throwing a party for it.

His mother would have said such a party was gauche.

Janet Drake would have had a whole host of opinions about what went on at Wayne Manor, and very few would be positive.

“Yeah, I get it. I’m ah- I’m gonna get changed, Bruce had me thinking this was a staged dinner for a reporter, doesn’t feel appropriate to be hanging out in a suit and tie.” Tim mumbled, giving Cordelia the time to crawl up to his shoulder again before he moved.

He didn’t waste any time heading upstairs, not bothering to offer an apology to Bruce as he brushed past him on the way out of the living room.

It was fine, it wasn’t fair, but it was fine.

He’d kept his emotions in check at the news, and Cordelia hadn’t done more than bite at his thumb. There was no way Dick would be able to piece together how crushed he felt.

If they’d invited Jason, he wouldn’t have been the odd one out.

Cordelia shifted back into her red panda form, jumping from Tim’s shoulder onto the bed as he closed the bedroom door, hiding her face with her paws. “There’s nothing we can do,” Tim mumbled, shedding his jacket.

She’d always felt things more deeply than Tim, taking on the emotional burden so he could focus on the battle ahead, but that didn’t make it sting any less.

It wasn’t her fault, furthest thing from it, even though many had questioned whether his Daemon not settling was due to a defect in their bond. Despite his mother’s words, she’d taken him to countless doctors when he’d turned 15, with every doctor concluding there was nothing wrong with either one of them, but that everyone needed to stop trying to force it.

One day she’d settle, and 15 was just an estimate. It wasn’t guaranteed. Some Daemons didn’t settle until they were 18.

It wasn’t seen often, but according to the doctor, it happened.

His mother had taken the news in stride, doing his best to reassure both of them. He couldn’t say the same about his father, who didn’t even attempt to hide his disappointment.

“I’m sorry.” Tim frowned at Cordelia’s apology. How could she think any of this was her fault? Even if he was irritated by their circumstance, it was far more his fault than hers.

He was the one who couldn’t let go of the past.

“We’ll leave the first chance we get, you just have to stick by me.” He whispered, crouching in front of the bed, resting his chin on it until she peeked out from behind her paws. “You don’t have to be small for me, and certainly not for them.”

Tim offered a small smile, which only grew as she inched towards him, bumping their noses together. “Did you see Anoush?”

“Yes, just ignore her, and Mahrukh… especially Mahrukh, if Damian’s gonna be a pain in the ass he can do it to me, not through his Daemon.” He sighed, he wouldn’t put it past Damian to come at him from both angles, provided he was happy with what Mahrukh had settled as.

Hopefully, she was something weak like a slug, and not a noble creature that Damian had always been determined for her to settle as. It was what he deserved with his snobbish behaviour.

Tim stood, brushing his fingers through Cordelia’s fur before heading to the closet, pulling out an old pair of jeans and a hoodie. If they were going to spring a party for a Daemon settling on him, then he wasn’t going to pretend to dress appropriately.

Dick had been in jeans and a button-up anyway, it was hardly worse than that.

He took his sweet time getting changed, a two-minute job turning into a fifteen-minute one, neatly folding each piece of clothing and rolling up his tie while Cordelia watched on from the bed.

He’d need a good excuse to leave early, perhaps not until after dinner if he were lucky. God, he should kick Bruce’s ass for springing this on him. “Alright, let’s go,” Tim mumbled, offering his hand for Cordelia to climb up to his shoulder as she shifted into a southern birch mouse again.

Maybe slipping out between courses would be the best play; if they were all fawning over Damian and Mahrukh, they might not even notice that they’d left until he was halfway back to the city.

Tim kept his head down as he returned to the living room, taking the only available seat. Cass and Steph sat together with drinks in hand, a few feet away from him, caught up in their own conversation while Stephanie’s Daemon Fabian, a rainbow lorikeet, perched on Bo, the black labrador Daemon of Cass, grooming his short fur at their feet.

Dick and Duke were huddled together with Anoush sitting in Dick’s lap, eyeing him from across the room, while the canary, Desiree hoped down Duke’s arm. The attention from Anoush earned a soft squeak from Cordelia, hiding herself in the folds of his hood.

“Would you like a drink?” Bruce asked as he stepped in front of him, blocking his line of site to Dick.

Tim shook his head, no, if he drank, he’d be obligated to stay the night, and that was the furthest from what he wanted. “What do you want, Bruce?”

“Did you finish…” Tim rolled his eyes, the older man falling silent at the reaction.

He couldn’t be serious. The report was not the thing he wanted to be talking about right now. But Bruce was awkwardly attempting to avoid taking any responsibility.

“I could have finished the report by staying at the office, but you insisted I arrive by six-thirty, for a dinner that should have started 10 minutes ago.” Tim sighed, there was no winning with Bruce, either he’d have screwed up with the report or he’d be late, even if that particular report had been the Chairman’s responsibility. “A warning would have been nice.”

“I didn’t think you’d care enough for it to be relevant.”

Tim rose to his feet. Of course, Bruce just made an assumption. “Should have stopped at I didn’t think.” He muttered, taking the few short steps to the sofa that Cass and Steph sat on, letting the girls pull him onto their laps. “Where is the brat? There’s no need for a grand entrance.”

“You should try to sound less bitter,” Steph giggled, shifting just enough for him to squeeze between them.

He wasn’t bitter, not about Mahrukh settling at least, he could only imagine how cold Damian would be to her if she didn’t settle in the next few months. He was far too proud to take any delays with dignity.

The idea that he was expected to celebrate it, on the other hand, was ridiculous. “Do you know if Jason is coming?” Cass asked, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Not invited according to Dick,” Tim said, forcing himself to laugh.

“Okay, I take it back you’re allowed to feel a little bitter,” Steph said as she took a sip of her wine. “I thought everything was cleared up. How is he getting out of these family dinners all the time?”

“You’re a ring in, Bruce isn’t making you come, he’s making Cass. Speaking of, why do you want to know if Jason’s coming anyway?”

It wasn’t like Cass to care who was and wasn’t coming to events. She might send a message after the fact if he’d skipped out on something, but that was generally because Steph or Duke couldn’t make it either. “He’s late, so I thought…”

“You have got to get better at lying, baby,” Steph laughed, a small snort escaping her, making all three of them laugh.

“I saw him on patrol a week ago. He was asking about you because he wanted to meet up. Something about a case that he wanted to bring you on specifically.” Cass lowered her voice at the mention of the case, eyes looking in Bruce and Dick’s direction.

If Jason wanted him on a case, it was more than likely that Cordelia was the one he actually needed. He was just an additional pair of hands who was all too willing to slide into whatever role Jason needed him to fulfil.

And maybe he got a little something out of it. It’d only taken two cases together for him to find out how good of a kisser Jason was. “I… are you looking for gossip? Because I haven’t seen him in weeks, but this would not be the setting he’d ask.”

Not if he didn’t want Bruce or any of the others trying to swoop in and take over. The manor was filled with bugs on top of the Daemons that would report on any scheming. “Oh, but the last time you worked together went so well.” Steph teased, ruffling his hair.

“It did, I don’t know why you’re being sarcastic. I’m not above a honeypot, unlike you.” Well, he wasn’t above dressing up sexy and hanging off Jason’s arm for a case, and if his ass got grabbed a little who was he to complain? They always got the job done, and perhaps the case file lacked a few necessary details, but who was going to care?

“No, I mean when you…”

“We all know what you mean, Stephanie. Damn, I liked it better before you two started dating, didn’t have to worry about Cass telling you everything.” Tim groaned.

“Bo told Fabian, I said nothing,” Cass giggled, the black lab tilting his head at the mention.

Of course, it was Bo, the Daemon had quite the knack for observing people just like Cass did, except he was all too happy to share whatever piece of information he got, especially with Fabian, who would report it back to Steph in an instant.

Even if Cass wanted to keep a secret about a trivial matter, Bo would spill the beans. “Yeah, which was very selfish of you,” Steph teased, taking another sip of her wine. “So are you avoiding him?”

“Not intentionally, but I can see how it…” Tim bit his lip as Cordelia shifted suddenly, the tiny mouse now replaced with a possum sitting on his shoulder, making a clicking noise as she fixated on the doorway.

On the owl perched on Damian’s arm.

“What was that? You can see how pathetic your predicament is, Drake?” Damian said, the room falling silent at the declaration, except for the quiet growl from Cordelia, the girls both shifting away from him.

Of course, it was an owl. There was no way Mahrukh would be anything less. She’d always do her best to serve Damian, and that meant she’d be a beautiful creature that was one symbol or another about how Damian was the one true heir to the Wayne family legacy.

“Damian…” Dick said, his tone barely a warning. No real attempt to discipline the teenager.

“I don’t see why you’re attempting to scold me. It was you who said it was uncomfortable to see it.”

Of course it was, despite Dick’s attempts to cover up his discomfort Anoush couldn’t hide how she felt, always watching Cordelia and himself from a distance, bristling whenever she shifted, no matter how necessary the shift might be.

Dick had been the one person he’d told everything to, who he’d initially thought would understand, and the truth was not only that he didn’t but he was telling others that it was uncomfortable to be around them. “Real nice,” Tim mumbled, guiding Cordelia into his arms as he stood.

If Damian was going to start in on him the moment he entered the room, then this was his out. He didn’t need to force himself to sit through a celebration for someone who didn’t want him there. “Don’t go, Tim, that’s not what I…” Dick started to say only to pause as Damian grabbed Tim’s arm.

If only he weren’t holding Cordelia, his fist would have been in Damian’s face before the other hand had the chance to smirk at him. “You should be grateful, with a Daemon that refuses to settle, you can finally be Robin again. You always were better suited to be a sidekick.” Damian said, laying on a disgustingly sweet tone despite the knife being driven into his back, his voice loud enough for the rest of the room to hear.

Tim glanced at Dick, then at Bruce, neither one of them were going to do anything about this.

Because they thought Damian was right…

“That’s rich, clearly you’re satisfied with Mahrukh’s form. I doubt you’d be talking like this if she were a weasel. You probably wouldn’t have left your room for a week.” Tim forced a smirk as he spoke, ripping his arm out of the other’s grip.

“Tim.” There it was, Bruce getting ready to jump in and defend Damian even though he’d started it.

“What was your first thought when you realised she settled as an owl, B?” He snapped, turning to his adoptive father. If he was going to fight, he might as well take it out on the other person who was responsible for putting him in this situation. “Did you think that’s a noble and intelligent creature worthy of my son, or was it more like, oh shit he’s following in the family tradition of bad omens? It had to cross your mind, Tahlia’s snake, Ra’s’ goat, no amount of training can squash down that deep in his core he’s always one of them before he’s one of us. You should have shipped him off to Nanda Parbat the moment you saw her.”

“Tim, that’s enough,” Dick shouted, rising to his feet, the whole room going silent again.

Tim nodded, stepping around Damian. Maybe he’d crossed the line.

Maybe.

If he hadn’t, he’d feel better for finally getting to make Damian feel as small as he seemed determined to make him feel.

There’d be more satisfaction rather than a desperate need to run away.

Tim slammed the front door of the manor shut, shifting his grip on Cordelia as he fumbled through his pockets for his keys. “Stephanie is following,” his Daemon whispered, peaking over his shoulder.

“Let her.” If she and Cass had any sense, they’d leave too.

Tim opened the passenger side first, placing Cordelia onto the seat, trying to ignore the sad look in her eyes as he shut the door. “What the fuck was that?” Steph said as she came down the front steps.

“A long time coming?” He said, keeping his back to Stephanie, if there was someone else around, it was easier to stay angry, but she knew him.

Better than any of the others except maybe Cass, and if he looked at her, then he’d crack, and he didn’t need that. He needed to go home and have a bottle or two of wine to forget about the entire night.

“You can’t just blow up at him. Not sober at least.” She wasn’t sober, Steph was at least two drinks down, and she’d said nothing.

And now she was trying to reprimand him.

Dick had probably put her up to it, told her to talk some sense into him so he would come back in.

“Why does it matter that something like this might hurt Jason, but when it’s me, I’m in the wrong?” He mumbled, resting his forehead on the car door.

They hadn’t even asked Jason, had just made an assumption he’d be hurt, while convincing themselves that Tim wouldn’t care.

He was just supposed to rise above it.

“I don’t know, but I-”

There was always a but.

“You really wanna know the difference?” Tim asked; he needed to keep his head. Steph might not have defended him, but she didn’t deserve to get caught up in a screaming match either. “Cordelia exists and gets hurt too, but none of you care.”

Not enough to protect his feelings.

They’d protect everyone else, but he was expected to just take it.

Tim rounded the car to the driver's side, finally looking up at Steph now that there was a car between them. “I know what they did is fucked up, but everyone here loves you, please don’t push us all away.”

Why would he stick around? When Cordelia had taken care to make herself small not to draw attention, only to be natural prey for Mahrukh’s settled form. It wasn’t a safe place for them to be around until she eventually settled.

“I’m tired, and I’m not going to do this anymore. Loving me isn’t enough.” He signed, sliding into the driver's side, his eyes wandered to Manor’s windows, landing on Duke and Cass blatantly watching them from the sofa, the pair quickly turning away.

He didn’t have to do any of it, and could take his time so that they knew he was serious. He could let Bruce flounder for a few weeks at WE if that's what it took for him to get the message.

**********

It took the weekend to get all of his ducks in a row, writing dozens of emails, rescheduling meetings or dumping them in Bruce’s lap while he declared that her was taking a month-long leave of absence.

Cordelia did not leave his side the entire time, usually amusing herself while they were home; she instead stayed in his lap or clung to his arms and shoulders, shifting her form at any loud noise.

If the party had done anything, it made her less stable. Tim tried to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault; she hadn’t done anything beyond clicking at Damian, which had been more than warranted.

On the third day, he finally decided to get in touch with Jason, sending a text to meet at his apartment, not risking going out as Red Robin in case one of the others tried to corner him. No, Tim Drake and Red Robin would be out of sight for the time being; if everyone else felt bad, they could deal with it.

There had been no calls or texts, so they couldn’t feel that bad.

Not that he would have answered either way.

“Where’s my princess?” Jason called out as he entered the apartment. Tim winced as Cordelia jumped off his chest, padding her way over to Jason as a red panda again, standing on her hind legs with her front paws up as she stopped in front of him. “You’re too pretty, Timbo definitely doesn’t tell you that enough.”

Tim pushed himself up off the sofa, smoothing out his shirt. “Cass said something about a case.” He mumbled, stepping into the small kitchenette attached to the living room and turning the kettle on.

“Ah yeah, I’ve got an in on a pretty large human trafficking ring. You don’t have to make me a drink.” Tim paused, looking down at the two black mugs in his hands.

He hadn’t even thought about it, had just grabbed them because whenever he and Jason talked in a safehouse, one of them ended up making drinks. Tim shook his head, throwing a tea bag in each mug. If Jason didn’t want it, then he’d have both. “And you need me undercover because?” He asked, bending down to pick up Cordelia as she nudged his leg, setting her down on the counter.

“Did something happen? You both seem kind of down.” Jason mumbled. Well that was something, none of the others had gone to Jason to bitch about him. Not that he’d expect the other to defend him in the slightest.

It was just as likely that Jason would say they’re all being ridiculous and to get over it. “Mahrukh se-”

“Cor!” Tim scolded, cutting her off before she could finish. They didn’t need to talk about it. Even if he was in a bad mood, Jason didn’t need to know every detail. It wasn’t his fault, even if he couldn’t help resenting that the other’s feelings were taken into account.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, earning a chirp in the affirmative from Cordelia. Of course, she was okay now that Jason was around; he adored her and didn’t treat her as though something was wrong with her, unlike everyone else. “Tim?”

He wasn’t okay, he was 23 with an unsettled Daemon, and if he talked about how uneasy he felt, they’d put him through countless rounds of testing, trying to force it. An action that would only hurt Cordelia.

It wasn’t that something was wrong with her; she wasn’t the one clinging to the past, trying desperately to find a happier time, when the weight of everything wasn’t crushing him.

The only time he ever seemed to feel that light was when he worked on cases with Jason. A return to a childhood joy that he couldn’t replicate elsewhere.

Even if most of the activities they got up to while working on a case were not appropriate for any children to witness. “When you say large human trafficking ring, I’m assuming we’re talking sex trafficking,” Tim said, picking up the kettle as it boiled, looking down into each mug as he poured.

“Ah- yeah kinda… They’re severing kids, and the Daemon gets sold off. Then the kids are being bought and traded around like sex dolls until one client or another ends up killing them.” Jason said, leaning over the counter to take a spoon out of the drawer, his jaw tightening when he stopped speaking.

There had been whispers in high society about severed Daemons. It was a concept that had existed for generations, but the recent resurgence had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Except according to Jason, it hadn’t.

And instead of the severed humans being left to be vagrants or sent to work in the agricultural industry, where no one would notice them.

“Your lead is the kids, I’m guessing.” Tim hummed, picking the teabag up out of his cup with his own spoon.

“Sort of, I’ve got an in at the end of the chain rather than the beginning, but my intel gave me enough to know a way into the whole severing process.” So they were aiming to take the whole operation out, root and stem. This wasn’t just stopping it from infiltrating Gotham, even if it was in the early stages.

And Jason wanted him in on it, well, wanted Cordelia at least. “So you want me dolled up all pretty to pretend to be your little trafficking victim? When Cass gave me a heads up, I was thinking we were getting in on another drug operation.”

“If you don’t want to, I can…”

“I’ll do it,” Tim said, managing a smile. “Cordelia will need to be something small if she’s going to pose as your Daemon, that way she can sit on your clothes without touching you.”

Because it was Jason he was sure she’d be perfectly content to stay on Jason’s lap the entire time, would probably prefer it, if it weren’t for the fact that Tim’s role as arm candy required him to stay seated in Jason’s lap until he was sent away to gather further intel. “How’s an insect sound, or even a bird could work.”

“No birds,” Cordelia said quickly, nuzzling her head into Tim’s hand. Doing her best to cover up the stress she seemed to feel at the suggestion.

Tim hummed, scratching at her neck. “You heard her. I mean, if you’re meant to be some bigshot, a scarab might work. She could stay on your lapel if you wear a suit, really go for the whole finance dickhead angle.”

“Do you like that, Cor? I’ll be a finance dickhead just like Tim is,” Jason asked, the Daemon letting out a soft chirp in response, more focused on chasing Tim’s hand to keep receiving the pats. “Alright, we need to keep this on the downlow, B will lose his shit if he finds out we’re running another honeypot style job.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. He doubted Bruce would care, provided neither one of them ended up getting captured. He’d seen the case files on the dozens of different cases he’d run a true honeypot rather than their play at using Tim as an object of desire that Jason had no intention of giving up.

At least he had time to see the case out if it went long, he could wear a kidnapping for a couple of days if it meant he solved the case “I’ve taken a month off from Wayne Enterprises, so I don’t plan on seeing him anytime soon.”

**********

If they stayed in this club for too long, he was going to end up with a migraine. The combination of the lights and the smoke, coupled with the crappy EDM was unbearable.

It didn’t help that it was unbearably hot, and sitting perfectly posed on Jason’s lap wasn’t helping. “We’ve got two coming over now,” Jason whispered, pressing a kiss to his jaw.

Tim smiled, returning the gesture as Jason pulled him closer, a hand ghosting up his thigh, pushing the skintight dress up a couple of inches. “You’ve got a pretty one there, most would want her in shows, make a real return on investment,” the blond said, Lewis, according to the case file.

Tim offered a small smile at the compliment, looking up at the other through the fake lashes. “She’s far too attached for anything like that, Todd Peters,” Jason chuckled. The past week of digging through information had landed them with a treasure trove of information on what was happening with the front end of the ring, a far more expansive network than Jason had anticipated.

They had their hands in a dozen different industries, the victims of the serving not just being sold into sex slavery. His first instinct that some were being forced to work in undesirable industries, cheap labour that was being rented out by the ring rather than sold.

Some of the more attractive victims were thrown into the entertainment industry, several up-and-coming teen models rumoured to have been severed so that the modelling agencies no longer had to deal with teenage drama, and would be able to work them to the bone without complaints.

“If that’s an issue, there are ways to fix it. It would be a shame to have a face like that hidden away. I’m sure that wasn’t the intention when she was severed.” Lewis said, dragging his thumb down Tim’s bottom lip, teasing it open.

Tim allowed his tongue to slip out and lick the tip of the man’s, doing his best not to cringe at the salty taste. “Then someone should have paid more, besides can’t do anything too risky while she’s knocked up,” Jason smirked, a possessive hand gently rubbing his stomach. Tim giggled softly, turning his attention back to Jason, making a show of kissing him, Tim’s long wig managing to obscure their faces.

It was the most recent and one of the more disturbing developments in the ring that Tim had picked up on. The severed victims being forced to give birth, and their children later getting severed too.

The children never even been registered within the countries they were born in, with their fate to be severed from the moment they were conceived. It had taken a lot of restraint not to demand answers from Jason as to how long he’d been sitting on the case when he’d discovered it. Only upon realising Cordelia’s tension had he managed to calm himself down, promising to look into it more once the other left.

Jason turned his head to break the kiss, resting a hand on the back of Tim’s neck to guide him to continue kissing at his neck. “Have your people had any experience with that?”

“Yeah, those kids are valuable too. Especially with your combined looks, you’ll make a fortune.” The grip on the back of his neck tightened at the statement, the only tell Jason could get away with.

Tim was thankful his face was hidden, giving himself a moment to compose himself before nipping at Jason’s neck after the silence dragged on a touch too long. “When is too early…”

“To sever? Not before they’re about 10. It’s about a 30/70 chance of survival before then. But if you don’t want to deal with the brats, they can be sold long before then.”

It was rash to bite Jason’s neck at the comment, but it kept Tim in place, not biting so hard as to draw blood, but enough to keep his temper.

Selling kids. Infants even! It was a cruelty they’d expected, but to hear it aloud was a whole other story. This entire operation was so expansive, and if they were aware of the odds of survival for severing children under 10, then that meant there had been a high number of victims who had died, who were just little kids.

Tim closed his eyes, licking at the bite mark tentatively before kissing it in apology. He needed to not let the comments get under his skin so easily, but he couldn’t do so without losing focus. Lucky for him, Jason seemed to read his mind. “You can get a little more handsy, baby, they don’t care,” he whispered, gripping Tim’s wrist to guide his hand up to Jason’s chest. “So are you guys in charge of that?”

“No, but I can get you an introduction if you’re willing to take a flight,” Lewis said. There it was, the in they needed, and it hadn’t even taken that much effort.

Either these guys were the worst traffickers ever, or they were so overconfident they didn’t doubt for a second that ‘Todd Peters’ interest was genuine. Would have been funny if the consequences weren’t so dire. “You should take it, it’s a recent development that is proving to be very profitable. Governments look the other way if there’s a severed parent involved.” The second man said, Albert, according to their intel. Tim frowned, letting his hand slip under Jason’s shirt, raking his manicured nails across the other’s chest. “Plus, with a mother that looks like that, you’ll stand to make millions.”

God, they couldn’t move past his looks, could they? Tim lifted two fingers, a mock attempt at patting Cordelia, even though he couldn’t touch her. She’d done her job so far, moving on occasion just to prove she was living and not a realistic-looking broach. “Think they’ll try to fuck me by the end of the night?” Tim whispered, earning a light tap to his thigh, the gesture only encouraging him further, sucking a mark onto the other’s neck.

“How long will it take to arrange an introduction?” Jason asked, tipping his head to the side to offer Tim more of his neck.

He could feel Lewis and Albert’s eyes on him, clearly enjoying the show he was putting on. “Maybe they’ll beg to watch us, they seem like the type to get off more from watching than doing.” After all that talk that he was wasted not being shared, by not being forced into porn, it had to be their preference.

It wasn’t like they had any severed girls hanging off their arms.

“I’m going to pop a boner if you keep this up,” Jason whispered, pulling him back for Tim to meet his gaze. The other was smiling, so he couldn’t be too upset at the prospect. They’d certainly done worse on an undercover case, although there was a time and place, and this was neither.

“We’ll be heading over in a few days. How about you send her to dance with some of the other girls, and we can talk shop without her.” Tim rolled his eyes at Lewis’ suggestion. Maybe he wasn’t that interested in watching.

Or he was all too interested in making sure this deal was successful, which meant he’d played his part just right. “You heard the man, go dance while I talk business,” Jason whispered tapping his ass.

Tim hummed, pulling the dress down as he stood, admittedly relishing Jason’s interested stare. It was only ever on a case that he could get this sort of response out of him. “Hey,” the other whispered, leaning forward in his seat. Tim smirked, bending down to capture Jason’s lips in a kiss. It was only brief, not long enough for either one to deepen the kiss, but enough to make Tim wish he could fall back into Jason’s lap. “Be good.”

Tim nodded, taking Jason’s hand to step around the table, noting the hounds that sat at Lewis and Albert’s feet. They were almost a matching set, so perfect that it was easy to make assumptions.

He waded his way through the crowd to the dancefloor, where each girl was either partnered off with a man or dancing with another girl. They all looked young, perhaps not all younger than him, but he knew just by looking at them that some were under 18.

The younger ones were the hardest to look at, each with the same vacant expression, with nothing behind the eyes. At least a few of the older girls seemed to have some sort of personality; their smiles were not as wide or tight, and their bodies moved with the music rather than keeping time with their partner.

Tim did his best not to stiffen as a firm arm wrapped around his waist, quickly spinning him around to face the tall, dark-haired man who wanted his attention. He feigned a small smile, swaying with the music.

It wasn’t ideal; he was supposed to be trying to get something out of one of the girls, but he could roll with this.

Lewis and Albert certainly weren’t giving Jason every last detail, and these types loved to brag to a pretty face, even if they thought there wasn’t any brains behind said face.

All it took was two songs to get the other talking. The man had clearly had too much to drink, practically drooling as he gripped Tim’s waist, dragging him towards his hips. “You should come to the back rooms with me, baby.” He grunted, the dress riding up as his grip tightened.

Tim shook his head with a tight smile. “I’m sorry, you have to talk to Mr Peters,” he said, trying his best to sound just as sweet as he had earlier in Jason’s arms.

The other didn’t seem to like that, forcing him closer. “I don’t ask, you will come with me.”

Even if he belonged to someone, this guy wasn’t going to respect it. He should have known. Half of the girls here were being passed around, purely to show off who’d managed to get the best one, which left some feeling entitled to anyone in the building.

“I don’t have permission.” Tim tried, placing a hand on the other man’s chest, using just enough force to create some distance.

Fuck, he needed Cordelia to figure out a way to alert Jason that something was happening, he couldn’t fight his way out of this guy’s grip without blowing up the entire case but he wasn’t about to comply either.

Not when he’d get taken too far away that the distance between Cordelia and himself would become unbearable. “You don’t need permission to take it.” The other growled, one hand leaving his waist.

Tim’s eyes quickly scanned the room, desperate to catch the eye of an onlooker, someone who would notice this wasn’t a normal interaction. But no one was even mothering to spare a glance in his direction. “No. You have to talk to-”

How did he miss it?

When the hand let go, his eyes should have followed it instead of looking for help.

Then he might have…

Who was he kidding? He had no way to defend against it.

The knife was driven into his abdomen a second time, then a third, and then a forth, the fucker twisting it on the fourth before pushing him away, laughing as Tim fell to the floor. “You older girls need to learn to listen better.”

Tim pressed a hand to his stomach, the hot red blood seeping through the gold dress, chaos erupting around him after several bangs.

If he was going to die, at least Cordelia would be with Jason as she disappeared, would have some sense of security in her final moments. It was the most he could ask of her.

**********

“What happened?” Leslie grunted as she pulled open the door, gesturing for Jason to enter.

He moved into the clinic slowly, laying Tim down on the available tables. “We were undercover… got separated, and there was a commotion. Next thing I knew, he was on the floor bleeding. The other guy is dead.” Jason mumbled, gently rocking Cordelia in his arms.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re responsible for that.” Leslie sighed, standing over Tim. There were multiple wounds, some deeper than others, the worst an inch up from his navel.

“I may have blacked out a little,” Jason confessed. He definitely killed the guy. There was no doubt in his mind about that, but it had been a blur from the first shot fired to bursting out of the club into an alleyway.

“And his Daemon?” Leslie asked, cutting open the dress.

Jason looked down at Cordelia, the Daemon moving her head sluggishly at the attention. God, they were lucky she shifted before Tim had passed out, the red panda form far easier to bundle up in his jacket without touching her directly. “She’s moving a little slow, but she’s conscious occa-”

“What matters is she’s still here. I don’t need her to be alert.”

Surely it mattered, Tim could get worse. As talented as Leslie was he wasn’t out of the woods, the fucker had stabbed Tim multiple times, and for what? He hadn’t even been close enough to see what happened. “Okay… I ah-”

Leslie sighed, snapping the latex gloves. “If you’re not going to be helpful, sit down so you’re out of the way. Preferably in the other room.”

Jason nodded. He couldn’t help, not when Tim was lying on the table, barely able to breathe.

Not when it was his fault Tim got hurt in the first place.

He shouldn’t have sent Tim away.

He knew the risks, they both did.

It had been overconfidence. Lewis and Albert had been so willing to give up every bit of information that he’d forgotten to keep an eye on Tim.

If it hadn’t been for Cordelia’s sudden hissing, he would have missed it entirely.

He couldn’t even tell who fired the first shot once she shifted, collapsing into his lap, but before he knew it, both men were dead, their Daemons turning to dust in an instant.

Everything was a blur from that moment, the club descending into chaos, but they managed to make it out, with Tim over his shoulder on one side and Cordelia wrapped in his jacket on the other.

He was so stupid, there were other ways to get the information, they didn’t have to run it like that… and they definitely didn’t need to separate.

Not when dealing with an organisation that killed severed humans when they showed the slightest bit of discontent.

He should have had the foresight. Should have come up with a better plan that didn’t put Tim’s life at risk.

Not when they hadn’t told any of the others about the case they were working on. Tim didn’t have to be the arm candy. They didn’t need to have him pose as a victim of severing, but they’d both gone with it.

Tim had suggested it, and he hadn’t even tried to talk the other down. All because he selfishly enjoyed flaunting Tim all dolled up.

If he’d just thought their plan through, he would have been able to see that it was bound to blow up in their faces.

Someone else had to take over. Their cover was blown, or at least their relationships had been blown up. Whether they had a cover that Tim was pregnant or not, no one else in the room would kill another in defence of a severed girl.

Jason jumped as a hand came down on his shoulder, looking up to see Leslie standing over him. “He’s going to be fine, we’ll transport him to the man-”

“No,” Jason said, shaking his head, pulling Cordelia closer to his chest. “I’ll manage his care. He should be at his apartment.”

“Don’t let pride get in the way of Tim receiving the best care.”

It wasn’t pride. Not his, at least. If they took Tim to the manor he wouldn’t be allowes to stay, all the work he’d done fixing things with Bruce would be thrown out the window… he could handle that, but judging by Tim’s attitude towards the other bats, the worst thing would be for him to wake up surrounded by them.

A hospital would be a more desirable option.

“I’m not, but it’s better for him if he wakes up in his home… without all the chaos that comes with the manor.” Better if Tim wasn’t immediately subject to Bruce’s interrogation.

They’d screwed up the case but if Bruce got his hands on it all of their work might be for nothing. “He doesn’t know you were working together?” Leslie sighed, clicking her tongue as Jason nodded. “I’m too tired to be roped into whatever fight that is bound to open up. If you think you can handle it, I’ll trust you, but you’ll need to follow my instructions precisely. He’s at a very high risk of a serious infection due to his previous splenectomy.”

Jason nodded again. Leslie truly was their best ally. She only asked the necessary questions and didn’t judge when any of them wanted to avoid a fight. She preferred they keep her out of it, and he couldn’t blame her.

“I understand… if I can’t handle it, I’ll call for help the moment he looks like he’s taking a turn.” He’d be able to manage changing bandages and swapping IV bags with various antibiotics. He’d done it before for others, and if it helped Tim recover and Cordelia in a comfortable environment, he wouldn’t dare complain.

“Call me the moment you think you have a question.”

**********

Tim’s sofa wasn’t doing his back any favours, not that he’d gotten much sleep in the hours since Leslie had brought them back to Tim’s apartment in the back of her ambulance, taking the time to set up a make shift hospital room in Tim’s bedroom before leaving him with strict instructions as to how he was to handle Tim’s medication and vitals.

The sun had risen long before he’d managed to doze off on the stiff leather of the sofa, the throw blanket that had sat on the it doing nothing to keep him warm. Jason opened his eyes at the gentle nudge to his arm, letting out a laugh as Cordelia poked at him with the TV remote in her mouth again. “Hey princess, is everything okay?”

She’d been awake for a few minutes at a time since Tim had been stabbed, but each time the daemon had been sluggish, unable to find the strength to stand, and now she was able to make it from Tim’s room all the way out to the living room.

That meant there was a chance he was… “Tim is sleeping,” Cordelia said once she set the remote down on the sofa, dashing Jason’s hopes.

God, he’d wanted so badly for Tim to come back to him quickly that he’d been prepared to run to the other just because Cordelia was up. “He’ll wake up when he’s ready, Cor,” Jason mumbled, grimacing as his back cracked when he sat up/

The Daemon jumped onto the sofa, denying Jason any chance he’d be able to squeeze in a couple more hours of rest. “I didn’t protect him.” Cordelia whimpered, looking up at him, begging for some sort of forgiveness she shouldn’t have been asking for.

“No, it’s my fault, there’s nothing you could do. I shouldn’t have let him leave my side.” If he’d just insisted Tim stay, used the pregnancy ruse to further his reasoning, it wouldn’t have happened. They’d be in a far better position than they were in now.

Both heads turned at the shrill ring of the phone on the kitchen counter. It wasn’t the first time someone had called in the past five hours. Each one went to voicemail along with dozens before it. “You should tell them,” Cordelia said as it rang out, the phone making a ding to confirm the missed call.

“I’m not gonna do that, it’ll be a shit show if they see him before he’s ready.” If Tim wanted to make a point to the rest of the Bats, he wasn’t going to put a stop to it. Tim had his reasons, and he was more than willing to respect them.

“It already is.”

Jason bit his lip, he shouldn’t ask. Tim had made a point to scold Cordelia days ago when she’d tried to say what happened. She’d said enough that he could guess, but there had been more that Tim hadn’t wanted him to pry into.

Except if Cordelia was interested in him, knowing then deep down some part of Tim wanted him to ask. “What do you mean?”

“Mahrukh settled, and Tim isn’t talking to them.” He’d figured that much out when she’d mentioned Mahrukh before. It wasn’t enough for Tim to go dark on everyone though, which meant it was likely Damian had been a total jackass about it. “They had a bad fight,” Cordelia finally said.

It couldn’t have been physical, considering he’d seen almost every inch of Tim before they’d gone out, and if Damian or anyone else had left any bruising on Tim’s body, he would have been the one to do the cover-up. “Just Tim and Damian, or everyone?”

“Everyone… Tim was pretending to be angry, but he was sad.” There was no doubt in his mind that it started out as just the two, but if the others had rushed to defend Damian. It wasn’t unusual for one or even three to jump in on behalf of the youngest Bat, especially if he’d riled Tim up enough, but for it to be all of them against Tim… That was different, and it only happened when it was about Cordelia.

Because they all appeared to be convinced that he was too sensitive about her state. “What about you?”

“I felt… responsible.” Jason shook his head. What daemon could be held responsible for their human’s behaviour? If anything, it was the opposite judgment that should be handed down. He’d seen plenty of people send their Daemons to taunt another because they were too cowardly to do it. “It wouldn’t have happened if I was still settled.”

Still settled?

The very usage of the word still meant she had settled at some point. And now she was far from it, shifting whenever necessary and from what he’d seen lately more often than normal.

Settled Daemons were supposed to stay that way, but if what she said was accurate, then something had to have happened.

“What do you-” The question died as he watched Cordelia slump forward, almost slipping off the sofa as she fell asleep.

Jason sighed, draping the throw blanket over her before getting up. If she brought it up again, he’d broach it, but it wasn’t a story he needed to know.

**********

They fell into a pattern of sorts, every couple of hours Cordelia would wake up, trail after Jason as he maneuvered around Tim’s apartment, chatting to him when he was in the mood, getting him full access to Tim’s tech when needed or just sitting at his side. Only entering Tim’s bedroom when Jason did, stalking the edge of the room, watching Tim when she did. As though she was fearful that if she got too close, she’d hurt him.

Then, with almost no warning, she would pass out just as suddenly as she had the first time, signalling that Tim’s brain activity had lowered as if he’d fallen asleep.

It was odd, having the daemon follow him around, he had to be mindful not to touch her. Making sure to keep his distance even though she made a point to get in his way, or sit that little bit too close.

At least she provided a distraction, shifting into whatever creature she thought might please him—an attempt to cheer both of them up in the quiet hours of the night.

Jason chewed on his thumbnail as he stared at his phone. There had to be a way to have this conversation without Tim avoiding them, being the dominant part of the conversation. He didn’t need Stephanie’s version of events, or Cass’s, for that matter.

Although he was sure Cass wouldn’t use the same colourful language Stephanie would if Tim had crossed a line.

Tim’s phone dinged again with another text message; it had to be the fourth one of the day so far.

All those calls and messages, but no one could pluck up the courage to show up at his apartment. Jason wouldn’t say they were trying all that hard to fix things, even if the texts were getting increasingly desperate.

Even Damian had gone so far as to offer a half-hearted apology, even if he did still lay some of the blame at Tim’s feet for being foolish enough to show up at the dinner.

He needed to suck it up and make the call. He was only wasting time that could be going to saving the case.

“Jason?” Barbara’s voice came through clear as day on the third ring.

If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought she was waiting on his call. “Hey Babs, I need a favour from you.” If he went through Barbara, Stephanie and Cass would leave him alone, they’d operate at her direction rather than pestering him about how he screwed the case up.

There was a long pause from the other end, only the sound of Barbara typing before she sighed. “Why is your location at Tim’s apartment… is something wrong?”

He should have known better, of course, Barbara would trace his location if he was asking for favours. He could have stepped out, taken his bike a couple of dozen blocks away before making the call, but he’d stupidly risked it anyway. “I was gonna hand a case over to him, but he’s AWOL as far as I can tell.”

“Funny, his phone and gear can be tracked there.”

Of course, she’d immediately tracked Tim’s phone; she’d probably been filled in on all the juicy details of the argument and whatever fallout had occurred once Tim left. There had to be some sort of fallout. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to get Tim to contact them. “Yeah, I know, I’m looking at it right now. They really pissed him off big time huh?”

“Mmmm, if you’re looking for Tim, I can’t help… well, not can’t, I won’t do it. Last time he managed to brick some of my shit when I tried tracking him at Dick’s request.” Barbara sighed, as though she was admitting a deeply held secret.

Taking down Oracle’s tech was up there with impressive feats alongside Tim’s destruction of the League’s bases. He’d have to find out how Tim pulled that off once he was feeling better. “No, it’s fine, I’m gonna send a case your way, get the girls on it, without the busybodies sticking their noses in it.”

The typing on the other end halted suddenly. “You’re giving up one of your cases?”

God, was it really so unbelievable? He’d roped in… well, Tim got to join in on cases from time to time, and he admittedly let Tim take over depending on the nature of the case, but it wasn’t like the others didn’t force their way in. “I don’t have a choice, I blew my cover and my top.”

“I see… Send it through, if they can’t do it, I’ll appropriately outsource.” Barbara said. She didn’t sound like she believed him, not that it mattered. He’d included the important details in his report.

“Thanks, Babs.”

“Sure. If you find Tim, maybe send through some proof of life, I don’t know how long some of them are going to last getting ignored.” Jason frowned. It had been over a week. If their patience was wearing thin, they should have forced contact.

None of them were above sticking their noses where they weren’t wanted. “He’s not ignoring them if he can’t receive their calls. Knowing Tim, he’ll show up when he’s ready with some bullshit opinions on brutalist architecture.” Cordelia lifted her head following the statement, tilting her head to the side.

“Better sooner than later if you’re blowing cases you said you wanted to work with him on.” Barbara chuckled, ending the call without another word.

Jason sighed, rubbing his face. If Cass and Steph weren’t up to it, Barbara would at least listen to his request to not involve any of the other Bats. “I was just talking to Babs,” he said softly, placing his phone on the table.

“I like brutalist architecture.” She said, jumping onto the table, staring down at his phone.

“I was just…” Jason paused as she shifted, taking the form of a fox. The Daemon looked up at him curiously. Her amber eyes almost identical to… “C-can you… anything but that, please.”

God, he was an asshole. She was a Daemon; she didn’t know any better, couldn’t, considering Tim hardly knew, but just looking at Cordelia. He couldn’t… Jason bit his lip, trying to centre himself as she shifted back to her red panda form, looking visibly deflated.

That was safe for both of them, an inoffensive familiar form that confirmed it was Cordelia standing in front of him. “I’m sorry, princess, I just…” There was no excuse he could make up that would make any more sense than the truth. A truth he hoped wouldn’t leave her feeling responsible for hurting him. “Calliope settled as a fox, and you’re so much like her.”

It was never something he dared to say out loud before, hardly let it cross his mind, but the similarities were always there. Both such sensitive souls who showed their hearts more freely than they should. Even her instinct to shift into different creatures in an attempt to cheer him up was a reminder of the cold nights after Catherine died.

A sliver of happiness in a dark time.

“You miss her?” Cordelia asked, jumping from the table onto the sofa.

Jason nodded; he knew his situation was one in a billion - to have no daemon while not exhibiting any of the obvious indicators of someone who had been severed. Because ultimately, there was no natural explanation for his return. “Every day, sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe, and it’s because I don’t have her with me anymore.”

It had happened less in the past few days, not that it made him feel any better. If anything, it made him feel guilty, for replacing her and for practically stealing Tim’s daemon from him. She should be at the other’s side, watching over him, instead of amusing herself by following Jason around the apartment.

“Tim said he couldn’t breathe when Ra’s trapped me.”

Trapped?

He’d always suspected more had happened while Tim was embedded with the League, even from a distance, he’d noticed how Tim had changed. The isolation more prominent while he continued to work himself to the bone.

“What do you mean by trapped?” Jason asked.

“He grabbed me. I was settled… a crow, and he grabbed me, put me in a cage.” Cordelia said, sounding as small as a mouse despite not shifting. There was a lot he wouldn’t put past Ra’s, but grabbing someone’s daemon out of the air.

That was too far even for the demon’s head. But there was no reason for Cordelia to lie to him.

Still, if it was true, Ra’s had managed to do the impossible. “You settled…”

“Not anymore.”

Jason closed his eyes, she’d settled, and it had been undone. Because Ra’s had touched her, violating both Tim and Cordelia, as a means of control. The Joker was a monster, but he hadn’t touched Calliope, instead using his monster of a daemon to attack her while Jason was beaten with the crowbar. “Is that why you can’t shift into any birds anymore?”

Even if she could, she certainly refused to. It all made sense. If she’d been forced to break out of her settled state to free both herself and Tim, there would have to be consequences. “Other daemons think there is something wrong with me.”

It was the impossible, but he wouldn’t say there was anything wrong with her. However, it made the other’s lack of sensitivity make even less sense. “Do the others know?” He asked, opening his eyes to look at Cordelia.

The daemon shifted under his gaze, a black cat this time, as if she were attempting to hide herself against the black leather of the sofa. “Tim doesn’t want them to know. They will blame me.”

“No, they won’t.” He sighed. The bats were a lot of things, but if they knew the truth about what had happened to Tim and Cordelia, they’d be a good deal more sensitive. Might even respect it was a sore point rather than ignoring their feelings entirely.

**********

He wasn’t meant to be gone for more than 20 minutes. A quick in-and-out trip to the grocery store to get some real food rather than living off whatever he could scrounge together in Tim’s kitchen.

Except 20 minutes soon became an hour, and then 2 hours.

All for some groceries so he could have something relatively nutritious to eat.

He should have known Old Gotham wasn’t the place to go looking for groceries. The business districts weren’t offering more than take-out or something you could throw in the microwave, but it shouldn’t have taken a 40-minute bus ride to get to Chinatown.

If he’d only walked, it’d have been half an hour faster to get to the same set of stores, or if he’d brought his bike, it’d have taken the initially planned 20 minutes.

Cordelia confronting him right as he entered the apartment came as no surprise; the daemon looked like she’d been stalking the front door of the apartment for some time. “You were gone too long,” she said, the Tibetan Mastiff blocking his path.

She’d shifted into the new form suddenly the night before, when Tim’s heart rate spiked, anxiously pacing across the bedroom while Jason was on a call with Leslie, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Did he wake up?” Jason asked, setting the bags of groceries on the floor.

If Tim was awake, then he could disconnect most of the monitoring equipment… could finally apologise for letting him get hurt. “No, but he made noises,” Cordelia said, giving him enough room to walk around her.

Noises… that was something. He would even take a groan or the tiniest of hums that Tim sometimes made just as he was drifting off to sleep. “That’s good, might not be much longer,” He mumbled, picking up the bag that needed to go in the fridge.

He knew he needed to talk to Tim once the other was feeling up to it. Cordelia had spilled the beans about far too much in the past few days, and it made him acutely aware how little he and Tim talked to one another if it wasn’t about a case.

Neither one of them lowered their guards enough to be vulnerable to do anything more than fool around here or there. But if Cordelia felt the need to share it, then that meant some small part of Tim wanted others to know.

But he was too hard-headed to say any of it himself.

Jason could hardly blame Tim for being that way. He wasn’t any better. Just thinking about Calliope made his heart ache. He couldn’t even talk about her for the first few years.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Cordelia sniffed at the bag Jason had left on the floor, pawing at it until an onion spilled out. “Not impressed?” He chuckled, placing the butter and milk in the fridge.

“Tim has food,” she said, pushing more food out of the bag.

“Tim has instant noodles and junk. This is to make a real meal.” Jason said, picking the onion up off the floor and setting it on the counter.

Jason didn’t get how the other managed to stay healthy when he only seemed to eat crap when he was on his own. “You’re fancy.”

“Fresh food is not fancy, you’re just used to only seeing a home-cooked meal at the manor.” And he’d hardly call what Alfred did a simple home-cooked meal; it was better than restaurant quality every time, but Tim wouldn’t know the difference.

Not if he thought instant ramen was a suitable pre-patrol meal. “Still sounds fancy, why are they splitting peas?” Cordelia asked, dropping the bag of split peas at his feet.

“It’s for soup, I feel like I’d have better luck teaching you how to cook than Tim.” So long as she shifted into an animal with thumbs, there wasn’t anything that she explicitly couldn’t do, although she would need to avoid being too close to any flames.

Still, if she knew how to cook even basic meals, Tim would be eating far better than what he was eating now.

Cordelia tilted her head to the side her tongue just poking out, pawing at the bag of split peas. “Don’t look at me like that, you’re too cute to say no to,” he chuckled, crouching down to pick the bag up.

The daemon closed the space between them, bumping her nose against his, Cordelia’s tail thumping against the ground. “Can you teach me?” She whispered, repeating the action.

The bag of peas slipped through his fingers as he met Cordelia’s eyes, the gesture suddenly making sense. He’d always thought she did it with Tim as a way to reassure him, to steady the both of them, but it was so much more than that.

It was a gesture of love, that they were safe with one another. “You think Tim will like that, waking up to some soup that you made?” He said, rubbing her neck gently, his hand disappearing into the long fur.

God, he missed this feeling, the way the fur moved under his fingertips. It was divine.

He hadn’t realised he’d spent the better part of seven years longing for.

Except it wasn’t something he was entitled to. Jason bit his lip, lowering his hand. He shouldn’t have touched her; it was one thing for her to brush up against him, or to nudge him with her nose, but he’d touched her.

Something no human was ever supposed to do to another’s daemon.

An action that had forced her to break out of her settled state once before.

“Cor!” Tim’s voice cut through the silence, that longing feeling suddenly returning, taking his breath away.

**********

A hand ghosted across his neck as Tim stirred, fingers lightly digging into the flesh, earning a small groan.

It felt good, coaxing his airways open rather than crushing them, a sense of pleasure washing over his body but all too soon the hand was withdrawn. Tim’s eyes snapped open, finding himself in his empty bedroom, the tubes of the IV running down his arm and above his head.

He was alone.

But the hand had felt so real.

So real that it had to be…

“Cor!” He called out, trying and failing to push himself to sit up, the pain in his abdomen too overwhelming.

Cordelia bounded into the room, jumping onto the bed without hesitation. Jason appeared at the door a few seconds later, crashing into the doorframe. “Shit. I am so sorry, I wasn’t even thinking, she’d been following me around since you’ve been out, and I just…”

Tim turned his head to look at Cordelia. It had been an accident, but it felt good and judging by the way the Daemon wagged her tail, she was pretty pleased with herself.

Jason touched her, rubbed her neck without thinking about the consequences. A touch that had felt so good that he’d almost mourned it being taken away. “Are you okay?” Tim whispered, looking from the large dog to the heart rate monitor.

It was higher than it should be for just having woken up, but the sudden surge of energy that came from the touch might explain as much. “It’s not like last time, Jason is nice.”

“You sure?” It had felt good, felt so right despite how taboo it was. It could have just been his mind playing tricks on him as he came to.

Cordelia huffed, bumping their noses together, her deep brown eyes trained on him. Tim smiled, managing to lift his neck just enough to repeat the gesture.

It was better than he could have hoped, the Daemon so content despite his state because Jason had taken care of her. Kept her at ease because Jason cared about the both of them. “How long have I been out?” He asked, gesturing for Jason to come over, the other’s face lighting up as he stepped away from the doorframe.

“Four days,” Jason mumbled, hovering at the edge of the bed, only sitting after Tim patted it. “You don’t need to worry about the case, I filled the girls in, and they’re taking care of it.”

Cass and Steph were handling it. That was for the best. Both would have Barbara looking out for them at every turn, gathering just as much intel from the outside as Steph and Cass could from the inside.

But Jason, handing the case over, had to have a reason behind it; Steph would never accept such a case without Jason telling him why. Especially if she thought it was the same case Jason had approached Cass about. “Did you tell them I was…”

“No, I just told them I blew my cover. Should I have?” It was a half-truth, but wouldn’t lead to too many questions. They’d just jump to their own conclusions about what Jason might have done. If he’d updated the case file sufficiently, they might even know Jason had been present for a stabbing.

“I don’t care,” Tim sighed. They’d all find out eventually. Even if he was mad at the rest of the bats the longer this stayed a secret the bigger a deal it would be to Dick and some of the others.

Bruce was bound to just scold him for getting himself caught in such a vulnerable position, or scold Jason for whatever he did in the aftermath.

Tim turned his gaze back to Cordelia, laughing as she set her head on his chest. “You’re so big now, like a bear,” he chuckled, petting the top of her head.

“Do you like it?” She asked her tail thumping against the bed.

“Of course, I would be happy no matter how you settled,” he whispered, cringing as Cordelia licked his face. How could he not, when his daemon looked so content in the form she’d settled in? The Tibetan mastiff making so much sense for her personality, even though he’d never considered that she might settle as a dog.

It wasn’t talked about much, but his mother had once told him that if Cordelia hadn’t settled by the time he was an adult, he’d just need to find someone he cared for enough that when they touched her, Cordelia would never want to shift again.

“I’m gonna give Leslie a call,” Jason mumbled, giving Tim’s hand a light squeeze before standing.

If there were one person he felt an affection that might equate to love, it would be Jason. Even though he’d hardly call the nature of their relationship romantic. There was an attraction, but neither one of them had suggested that there was anything genuine between them.

But maybe there was more. “Jay?” He whispered as the other turned to leave.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for taking care of us and for making sure she was safe.” He said softly. He didn’t know how Jason managed to get both of them out of the club without touching Cordelia sooner. Unless she’d been able to move about the entire time.

It wasn’t impossible, but he’d been so sure she had always slept and woken up in tandem with him. However, if she’d spent the past four days following Jason around, maybe he had been wrong. “I wouldn’t have done anything different, and I’m so sorry I put you in that position.”

“You couldn’t have…”

“There was always a risk,” Jason whispered, sitting down again, lacing their fingers together. “And I think you should talk to the others, once you’re feeling up to it. There have been calls and texts at all hours, including Damian.”

Tim sighed, so they’d reached out at the worst possible time. Realised he was serious about not coming crawling back, and now they were trying to get him to talk. He wasn’t ready for it. “I’d like to keep this just between us for now.”

Once he started talking to them, it was going to be a mess. A mixture of apologies and arguments, only to be made worse if they found out about his injuries. He was far too tired for any of that.

There were far too many opportunities for them to jump to conclusions, to throw around blame. Whether he was speaking to the rest of them or not, he still would have ended up in the same position he was in now.

He cared more to have Jason at his side than putting out other fires for now. “Do you want to talk… about us?” The other asked, his eyes moving from Tim to Cordelia. There it was, that look he’d seen a few times before, a mixture of happiness and longing.

It was no secret to Tim that Jason adored her, or that she adored him, but he’d looked the other way at the longing looks, understanding that it was more about Calliope than Cordelia. “You can touch her,” Tim offered, the daemon perking up at the offer, nudging Jason’s arm with her nose.

Jason hesitated, reaching out to Cordelia but not actively touching her, giving her the space to meet him, which she took full advantage of, tipping her head up to meet Jason’s hand. Tim let out a soft sigh as Jason moved his hand, the pleasurable feeling returning quickly, a sudden warmth blanketing him from head to toe.

It hurt how much sense it made, how he’d resisted this feeling for years, not wanting Jason to get too close in case they hurt one another. “Hey, don’t cry,” Jason whispered, both pairs of eyes suddenly on Tim.

He hadn’t even realised that tears had welled up, Jason’s thumb slowly dragging across his cheek to wipe away the tears. “If you want to keep hanging around, we should talk, but not right now.”

Jason smiled, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Is that what you’d like?”

“I’d like a lot more than that.”

#jaytim #tim drake #jason todd #jaytim week #jaytim week 2025

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