Shane's legs burned as he sprinted up the mountain. Ilya's hands grappled at the back of his shirt as he threatened to play dirty. Laughter bubbled up in the back of Shane's chest. He let out a small delighted noise as he ripped out of Ilya's loose hold and leapt up another two rocks at once. Anya bolted back down the hill to herd her owners forward. Ilya had to dodge her as she nipped at his ankle, and Shane took the interference for the advantage it was and tore ahead.
A nailed trail marker indicated the outlook was to the right. Shane spun on his heel and vaulted himself off a halfway fallen trunk…
…Shane turned the corner. The sun hit his face. All the fight fled from his limbs at once.
He was vaugly aware of his heaving chest and Ilya stumbling up behind him, it all faded to the background of his awe.
The hills felt like they went on forever.
The air was clean in his lungs.
The sky was a dance of clouds and pink light.
It all hit him at once.
He had sacrificed everything he was to follow Hockey. He'd poured all that he was into the dirt to make room for the sport. And somewhere between the long drives, and press, and trying desperately to hold on to the only thing he wasn't willing to let fall into the mud with the rest of it, he had become the sacrifice.
Shane had died—Had completely forgotten what it felt like to be alive.
Standing here now somehow the sunlight had found him. And it hadn't been too late. And his family had pressed two cold plates to his chest. And the cold wind had pushed electricity through him. And his heart had been coaxed to start beating again.
He'd gotten out. Here he was. He was free.
His chest burned like a wildfire: a firey blaze that fed the new growth. So full of energy, of fight, of love. He was with the love of his life, and the view sprawled as far as the eye can see, and he could take advantage of ever curve of these hills. No one could ask him to confine himself ever again. The sky was an infinite expanse and he felt like he could fill the whole thing.
And Shane was yelling—yelling until burning lungs quaked.
He was here. He was alive. He was free. He yelled, and yelled and tears were pricking at his eyes, and he didn't care. He didn't care because he was fucking free, and there was no one left to judge him for crying any more.
"Shane?"
Behind him Ilya sounded worried, but also so in love.
Shane turned around and the orange sun danced in Ilya's eyes. Shane's chest was split open; his smile was just as wide.
"You are happy." Ilya found.
"God just- fucking- kiss me."
Shane threw himself into Ilya's arms and yanked him into the crash of mouths.
The world spun around them.
The wind whipped Ilya's curls into Shane's eyes.
He was free. He was here. Ilya was here. This was theirs.
"Tim," The sharp bark of his name takes him by surprise, so much so that he nearly falls off his bike. Tim manages to catch his footing, though he knows Bruce saw him stumble while trying to mount his bike.
It was a bit embarrassing, since Tim hadn't allowed himself to be clumsy around his Red Bird since his Robin days. If only no one else had seen it. But alas, it wasn't just Bruce who witnessed his slight fumble.
By that, he meant everyone in the cave was staring at him, with various expressions on their faces that were hard to decipher without any form of mind-reading. Which was odd, to say the least.
Why were they all so focused on him, not the usual post-patrol routine?
"Um, yeah?" He turns his attention to Bruce, adjusting the balance of his bike under him. He tries not to let his impatience leak into his voice, but today's patrol was annoyingly long, even though they hadn't been much crime to take care of.
Sure, the Bats had stopped a mugging or two, and yeah, Tim did find some new evidence for a cold case he's been trying to crack for the last five months, but that was a short burst of activity over many hours. It was agonizing to fly around the city, waiting for the time to pass when nothing significant happened.
It felt like such a waste.
Or maybe he was just impatient for the weekend to officially start, and the clock's ticking seemed to slow down when he wanted it to go faster.
After all, this weekend wasn't his average one. He had plans for once that he couldn't wait for. Tim was going on a small vacation for the first time since becoming Robin, which meant no Wayne Enterprise, no Red Robin, and no Young Justice.
Nothing.
Just Tim Drake enjoying his time off camping with his dear coffee-making roommate.
Danny had been talking about the Dark Sky reservation in a nearby national park for some time, and this Saturday was the famous meteor shower, Pariah's Defeat, that Danny wanted to see.
It came only once every fifty years and was said to have dozens of spectacular glowing streaks across the sky, ending with a large comet. His roommate had been talking about watching the live stream for weeks, with the same excitement Tim felt when new items were added to Heart Attack.
Tim wasn't sure what drove him to rent the RV or tell Tam he would be out of the office for a whole week (much to her surprise). He actually didn't really think about it. It wasn't until after he got the email confirmations for the RV rental center or the national park main office that he even realized what that meant.
Still, when he told Danny he rented out a space in the National Park, right in the best spot for the metro shower (pulling his strings and flashing his privlage to make it happened) it had felt like the most fantastic idea he's ever had with the way Danny leaped into his arms jumping up and down with joy.
"Tim," Bruce repeats a little sharper, snapping Tim out of his thoughts about his friend. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
Tim stares, realizing that his family has suddenly surrounded him, no longer just watching from a distance but now only a few feet away. Each of them looks distressed, holding envelopes. What's going on?
"Huh? No, sorry I-"
"A side effect." Jason spits, which is a bit insulting. First, he interrupts him, and then he talks to him that way?
"A side effect of what?"
"I don't know, Tim. Maybe you can tell us what you've been shooting up." Jason all but sneers. He throws a hand to a nearby table, which Tim had noticed earlier. Back then, it was covered in a cloth. Now, it's displayed test tubes and an oddly glowing green liquid.
At first glance, Tim wants to say it's Lazarus water, but he can see how easily it's moving in various separatory funnels connected in glass loops. There is an entire chemistry lab set up there with various Beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, test tubes, graduated cylinders, volumetric flasks, and burets. Each was holding a bit of that green liquid, but what really caught Tim's attention was the frost forming around each container.
"What is that?" he asks while unmounting his bike. He moves with the intent of expecting the odd liquid, but Dick steps into his path. He blinks up at his stern-looking brother, who crosses his arms and straightens his back upwards.
It's a familiar pose—the kind Dick makes when he's about to start a lecture—but this time, his eyes are large and sad. Like a child who was just told the truth about Santa Claus. Before Tim's team killed him.
Oh, crude was this about Tim killing Santa?
"Tim, you know we love you, right?" Dick starts off, his eyes somehow growing wider. He's a little worried they would pop out of his skull.
"Um, yeah?" Tim replies slowly, glancing around the others only to find them staring just as intensely as Dick. "Did something happen? Why are you all-"
"Tim." Bruce cuts in again, stepping closer and thrusting out the envelope. "We tested it. We know it's a potent substance that causes endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin to increase alarmingly. It's highly addictive. "
Oh, that made far more sense.
"A new drug, huh?" He sighs, rubbing at his neck. "I can help if it's in danger of spilling into the streets, but I can't move my schedule around this weekend. I'm taking some personal time off."
Bruce's face hardens. "We know Tim."
That draws him up short. The phrase itself is innocent, but the tone implied that Bruce wasn't just talking about his vacation. In fact, it was pointed enough that it felt like he was accusing Tim of something.
"I should hope so? You did sign off on the PTO request-"
"This isn't a game!" Steph snaps like she couldn't hold it in anymore. "We know about Daniel Fenton."
That draws him up short. This is it. The moment Tim had been planning for. His family has finally caught on to the fake boyfriend he had as a facade to cover his coffee addiction. He glances at their faces, taking in their emotions, and then at the table again, remembering Jason's theory.
It seemed the family had chosen to continue thinking Danny was some drug dealer who got Tim hooked on something nasty, but that could only be because they found a connection to the green stuff on the table with Danny. This was an unforeseen obstacle because Tim had no idea what that liquid was.
He knows Danny would never be involved with drugs, not consuming or selling them, but that's because he knows Danny. The many hours they spent together would have given Tim the perfect window to at least suspect something.
Tim knew his friend was innocent. He just had to prove it to them, but based on what he saw, they wouldn't believe him, not without solid evidence.
He had to buy some time, and he knew just how to do it. After all, he had been planning for this very moment. Thank heavens Tim was such a good liar. He could even fool Cass if he had enough prep time.
And he had the prep time.
Allowing his eyes to widen, he wills a blush onto his cheeks, scrambling to shift his body language into that of a closeted gay man about to be outed. He quickly shuts it down, acting as if he wasn't aware he gave a tell to his observing siblings, and shifts a foot. "I don't know what you mean. Who's Daniel Fenotn?"
"Don't pretend," Steph scoffs, stepping closer. The letter in her hand crinkles loudly as she balls her fists. There is anger in her eyes, but it's not as much as there is worry. "Friends don't let friends do this."
Tim bites his lip, swinging his eyes around the room madly, as if searching for an exit. "I seriously don't understand. I've never met the man-"
"Tim," Barbara cuts in with her gentle but stern voice—the kind she uses when she has to deliver bad news. A few taps to her table have the nearby monitors displaying receipts for his new home: the purchase, the movers, the cleaners, and the interior designers—all of it time and date stamped. "I found proof that he's living with you."
On cue, his face goes pasty white, and Tim would have taken some time to gloat about his acting skills were it not in the middle of the performance. "That's- no wait - I can explain. He's just a friend!"
"We know he isn't just a friend, Drake. We know what he really is. This is a terrible disadvantage in the field." Damian starts, and yes, it's perfect, just what Tim needed. Someone implied it was wrong what he and Danny were.
Tim feels tears building in his eyes, but he locks his jaw and blinks quickly- a habit he knows he does when trying not to cry. "No, it's not!"
"Master Tim, please-"
"Danny is the best thing that ever happened to me," He hisses, blinking faster as Cass steps closer, seeing the truth in his words, voice, and body. "I love him! I don't care if you disapprove of him because he's a boy and I-"
"Drugs." Cass interrupts quickly, pushing past a shocked Duke and a slack-jawed Steph. "We thought he was giving you drugs."
"What?" Tim comes to a complete standstill. Gleefully, he realizes that Cass can't tell. She is falling for his acting hook, line, and sinker. At times like these, he is grateful that Kon helped train him to control his body for lying and that Cassie convinced Diana to let them borrow the Lasso of Truth to train against.
He's half convinced Diana only lets them for a laugh or two.
None of them have been able to go against the Lassco, but Tim got way better at lying without it.
"I-no? Danny and I don't do drugs." He splutters, glancing around the family as if they held the answer to his confusion. "Did you think we were doing drugs?"
"Then what's this!?" Jason demands while holding up the strange green liquid. Tim doesn't know and can't even begin to guess, but he has to say something, or Danny could be in more trouble with his family before he can make a solid plan.
He blurts the first thing that comes to his mind.
"I thought that was the new drug you guys were-wait, you think Danny and I were taking that?! I've never seen it before tonight!" Tim gasped, offended, taking steps back.
"It was inside Daniel's bathroom. Hidden in the wall." Bruce challenges. "Why was your boyfriend hiding it?"
Crude. It was in his house?
"I - don't know- I" Tim blinks his eyes again, locking his jaw tightly as if refusing to break down in front of them. Then suddenly he explodes. "It's not.....meant for humans, okay!?
Bruce blinks slowly. "What?"
Crude, crude, crude. What is his mouth even saying? This is why Tim needs time to make solid, foolproof plans.
"Danny isn't a human. If you found that in Danny's walls, then it's his...you know...." He forces himself to blush as hard as possible, as if he were once again a thirteen-year-old boy and Bruce had just found the dirty magazines Bernard had let him under his bed. "The liquid his people make when.....they want children....."
Jaso drops the test tube with a gag but then panics and scrambles to catch it before it shatters. "It's what?!"
"It's not like semen!" Tim blurts, "It's like a liquid pheromone, okay!? Danny said that if he collects it and rubs it into his skin or has it around for him to breathe in, his chances of having a healthy baby are higher and-"
"That's why the DNA tests burned up." Dick gasps looking like the sun came back after months of darkness. "It wasn't human DNA! Daniel isn't human! He's not a drug dealer!"
"Drake." Damian drops the envelope, looking up at him with large doe-green eyes. It's the same look he gives newly born kittens, and suddenly, Tim knows he's done wrong. "Is Fenton carrying your child?"
Mentally, Tim reviews what he blurted out a few minutes ago and realizes with a cold horror that he just implied that, didn't he? Before he can answer, the cave erupts into madness.
In the chaos, he misses Danny's panicked text apologizing for keeping a secret from him. The other man had been pacing back and forth at their home, unable to sleep because of his excitement, when he noticed that the wall hiding his secret was slightly ajar.
Once he realized a full jar was missing, he knew Tim had found the stash and had likely figured out what he was hiding. Danny had started to frantically pack and had run away into the darkness of the night, choking on his tears and feeling his chest rip itself apart as he did so.
All he left behind was one steaming cup of Heart Attack Coffee, aware that their dream of make-believe had finally ended. It was time to wake up and live in a world without Tim again.
Like a coward, he couldn't face it, couldn't bear to hear Tim say the words, so he ran.
It was terrible to realize he was in love with the man.
