Prompt: the reader has been a friend of Tim for years and you both had been assigned a school project. Tim blows the reader off a few times and after the final time she leaves and goes looking for trouble but trouble finds her.
Ages:
Alfred: Immortal
Bruce: 43
Dick: 25
Jason: 21
Tim: 17
Reader: 17
Damian: 14
This was the fifth time this had happened. One time fine. Two okay shit happens. Three is a bit excessive, but five times. You would get to the Manor, you had texted Tim and let him know you were on your way and it would be about 30 min before you got there. Granted you knew it was late but it's not like you didn't explain that you guys would have to plan carefully in order to get together and get your project done for class.
You go to Gotham Academy with Tim and Damian. You had known Tim since freshman year and you would like to say that you two were close. You guys got out of school at about 2:30 pm, you would then go to work and get out at about 9:00 pm so you wouldn't be at the manor until at least 9:30 pm, which Tim knew. So you have no idea how the hell you could get to the manor and Tim along with all his siblings were gone. You had let him know you would be there and at what time. He knew that you worked after school and it's not like this is the first time this had happened. Still, you gave him a bit of leeway. Alfred had said that his older brother was in town and that they had all gone downtown for a new action and adventure movie. You couldn't find a way to fault him for that because you would give anything to go see a movie with your older brother.
You were up in Tim's room trying to figure out how you were supposed to create a realistic model of a historical event that shaped the history of the world, along with writing a 2500-word essay. You and Tim had discussed a couple of plans and sadly the only thing you two had come with had been the formation of the Justice League. Which was pretty sad but most of the time you were both running on way too much caffeine. Jason had suggested the application of gunpowder as a weapon, which you both ignored. You had previously started on the poor recreation of the Hall of Justice but had given up pretty quickly. So instead you started on the essay and sent Tim a quick text.
9:45 pm (y/n): Dude, where r u???
You had finished an outline and started looking for extensive resources that would cover the early years of the League. You sent Tim another text
10:05 pm (y/n): Im at your house working on our project. I suck at modeling, please help!!!
You ended up finding a few good sources but ended up distracted by a subthread discussing the secret identity of Batman. A couple were pretty juicy but none of them had any real leg to stand on.
10:25 pm (y/n): Tim I can't be here all night. My parents will lose their shit.
You waited a few more minutes before texting him one more time to say you were going home.
10:30 pm (y/n): I got to go. C u Monday.
You grabbed your laptop and tucked it into your bag. You then plugged your earbuds into your phone, hit random on your playlist, and off all the things to land on, it landed on Tell Me How by Paramore. You smirked to yourself. How fucking typical that the playlist can find something to sum up how you felt. You swung your bag over your shoulder and quickly exited Tim's room not even bothering to slam the door behind you. You slid down the banister rail and not so gracefully dodged Alfred, whom you didn't even know was still in the manor.
"Going somewhere Miss (y/n)?" Alfred asked he seemed genuinely curious but at the same time, you weren't really in the mood to deal with anyone.
"Yeah, home." You snarked. You didn't even wait for a reply as you went out the front door of the manor. You didn't even hear Alfred offer to drive you home given Gotham wasn't exactly a place you should be walking around at night. Oh if only you had listened.
You knew you shouldn't have chosen to walk home but you didn't really care. You were mad at Tim. Which you knew was a little unreasonable, but hell who was ever reasonable when mad? You tried to stick to well-lit streets, but you also didn't turn your music down any. You honestly were at the point that you were ready to pick a fight with anyone or anything. At this point you also didn't care if your parents were mad you would come up with a lame excuse and they would probably forget about it by the next morning. You knew that this definitely wasn't the smartest decision, but oh well.
You didn't feel like going home just to be yelled at so you just wandered the city for a while. You knew it was asking for trouble. By 11:15 pm you got a text from your mother asking where you were. You just responded with "out." They didn't really care, so why should you? You turned 18 in a few months, you had already planned on moving out as soon as you did turn 18.
You wandered around for another hour or so before you found the trouble you wanted. In fairness, you never saw them coming it was dark. You had wandered until you felt that you were being followed. Granted you also weren't a rookie, the problem is you wandered into the not-so-wonderful side of Gotham that was overrun with gangs and crime bosses. You figured the fastest way to lose them was to pretend that you hadn't noticed them. You kept your head down watching them out of your peripheral never making big head movements or jerky gestures. From what you could tell there were at least 3 possibly 4.
You kept your pace even but slowly picked it up. Where you were just short of jogging. You had long since turned your music off so that you could listen to how far behind you they were. You kept this up until you found what you thought would be your escape. About 300ft ahead was a side alley with a fire escape. If you could get to the alley and up the fire escape you figured you could lose them or on the off chance that one of Gotham's many vigilantes could give you a hand.
You kept yourself at your fast pace but you could hear the men behind you slowly speeding up. It took everything for you not to break into a sprint right there, but you knew you couldn't outrun them.
When you were about 50 ft from the alley you broke into a dead sprint catching your stalkers by surprise enough to buy you a few extra seconds. You got to the alley and jumped and grabbed the little bit of the ladder that you could. You started to haul yourself up.
You felt a snatch on the back of your jacket and you went crashing to the ground. You lay on your back the wind knocked out of you for a split second, before you realized what had happened. You groaned and rolled onto your knees, standing yourself up.
Your count was off or more had joined because there were 6 of them.
"You know you could have just asked nicely. I would have probably considered coming back down." You snarked. They had circled around you cutting off your escape route of either up the fire escape or back down the alley where you came from.
"Empty your pockets." One said. He was tall and ugly his face looked almost like a bulldogs. You chuckled at the thought. But the rest didn't seem to think it was funny.
"Right, no. I've seen Chihuahuas scarier than you lot." You quipped but your voice raised just a little, hoping someone might hear you because you figured this was not going to end well.
"Maybe I didn't make it clear the first time. I wasn't asking." the bulldog face said taking a step towards you and flicking a switchblade open.
"I haven't got anything on me." You lied keeping your voice even while eyeing between the bulldog and the 2 behind him that were blocking the fire escape.
"Then I'm sure we can come to an arrangement." the second spoke he was shorter and thinner and looked like he was cracked out. You did have to think hard to figure out what he was suggesting. It seemed like the rest weren't far off of it either.
You didn't wait for them to make the first move you stepped into the bulldog-faced leader and swung a hard right hook at his temple. It connected but only dazed him. He swung wildly with the switchblade catching you across your left cheek. It wasn't deep but it was enough that it was bleeding. You swung your backpack hard at the skinny one and the guy to his left. The bag was heavy enough to knock the skinny one back into the short chubby one beside him, which was long enough for you to start up the fire escape. You climbed as quickly as you could reaching the rooftop in record time. You heard the leader yell below you for them to get after you and you did need any more motivation to take off across the rooftops.
It would figure that the one time you were actually in trouble there was not a single vigilante in site. You knew you still couldn't outrun your pursuers. Even with the head start you know they would close in quickly and you were definitely in for it then. You could already hear them catching up. This only motivated you to run faster. You also weren't quite sure where you were. You knew you were on the south side of Gotham but that didn't really narrow it down.
You would jump gaps between buildings and then change direction, hoping to at least confuse them or at best lose them. So far wasn't working. You had thought about hiding under a fire escape but they were too close you would never get into a position where they wouldn't see you fast enough. You jumped another gap and ducked behind a series of air conditioners hoping to slip past them and change direction again. You set your back against one of the AC units and slowly slid down till you were sitting. Only then did you really pay attention to the cut across your cheek. You didn't have a mirror and you didn't want to risk your phone giving away your hiding place. It ran from just under your earlobe to about an inch from the corner of your lips. The blood was still dripping down your cheek where you had been cut. You wiped at it in vain hoping to make it at least less noticeable. All it did was smear the blood across your cheek.
You heard them land on the roof you were on. You could hear crushed concrete shift under their weight as they moved. You weren't sure how many of them had managed to keep up with you. You slowly stood up trying to make as little noise as possible. But when is luck ever on your side?
You slowly started to sneak back around the AC units but as you were moving you managed to kick a sizable piece of rock into the side of one of the units. Even though it wasn't super loud it was enough. Two of them whipped around spotting you instantly. You were like a deer in headlights. You managed a small, shy wave and turned on your heel to take off. Except you weren't exactly looking where you were going. You barreled headfirst into something hard knocking you on your ass.
No, someone.
You looked up to see Nightwing. The original Robin. He looked down at you, and for a split second, his face looked shocked before quickly rearranging itself to his usual half-smirk.
"Oh, what can't handle when someone that can actually fight back shows up," Nightwing said before doing a flip over you placing himself between you and the crooks. He didn't wait for them to strike before flipping his Escrima sticks out and wacking the first one over the head. He went down like a sack of potatoes. The other 2 that were with him struck at the same time. Nightwing did a backflip out of the way letting them punch each other. One knocked the other out, and Nightwing quickly finished the 2nd off.
"Well, that was easy..." He started to say when the other 3 from the alley showed up. He looked over at you and asked "What did you do to piss them all off so bad."
You just threw your hands up into an "I don't know". Granted Nightwing didn't wait for a response before jumping back into action. With a series of several hard-to-track acrobatic flips, kicks, and punches the three other goons were out cold.
"They sure don't make 'em like they used to," Nightwing said as he zipped tied all 6 crooks together. He looked over to you only for you to be walking off. He sighed and mumbled something about teenagers before chasing after you. For the most part, if you were anyone else he would have just let you go, but you were Tim's friend. Also, Tim had had everyone out looking for you when Alfred told him that you had left and were walking home.
"Look I don't need a babysitter I can handle myself," you said getting to the edge of the roof and looking for a way down.
Nightwing scoffed
"Looked like you had it super under control back there." Nightwing said then added a little more gently, "Look, going around looking for trouble isn't exactly the best way to deal with being angry."
Now it was your turn to scoff. You turned glaring at him. Something seemed familiar that you couldn't quite place but before you could think too hard about it your phone started ringing. You looked down at the caller ID to see that it was Tim. You sent it straight to voicemail. Only then did you see all the ignored texts and calls that you had received.
2 missed calls from your mom, with one text saying that she was locking up and to just not worry about coming home that night (super concerned parent right).
You had 5 missed calls from Tim and about two dozen texts.
A lot of apologies texts.
Quite a few did you get homes
Followed by "Alfred called your mom who said you didn't come home. Are you alright?"
You had 3 missed calls from Jason (Jason looked at you like a little sister, and had even taught you a little about how to defend yourself). With several angry texts threatening to beat the everliving shit out of anyone if they had hurt you. Your heart warmed just a little with the concern
You had 2 missed calls from Dick and a simple text of R U Okay?. You smiled a little at it unknown to you that he was literally right behind you. You sent a simple, I'm fine.
And then Nightwing's phone beeped with a "Hello there" text notification. Your eyes widened looking between your phone and Nightwing. Who looked just as shocked as you were.
"Your fucking kidding right." You deadpanned. Nightwing sheepishly grinned.
"Look (y/n) I can explain," Nightwing said but it was too late you started to go down the rabbit hole and there was no coming back.
"Then that means that Batman is-" You started to say, but Dick clamped his hand over your mouth to muffle it. When you seemed to calm down he took a step back and grabbed your shoulders so that you were looking directly at him.
"(Y/n)" He said to get your attention. When you were looking completely at him only then did he start talking, "I get what you're feeling right now- You're bleeding."
"Oh shit." You said eyes widening as you remembered the cut across your cheek.
"Look, we'll go back to the cave. There we can explain everything." Nightwing said but then added. "Only if you want to. Just say it now and I'll pretend like this never happened okay."
You nodded your head signaling that you would go to the famous Batcave, but part of you was super nervous about what was about to unfold. Part of Dick wanted you to say no if only to keep you safe. He knew how dangerous this job was and he didn't want you to get hurt.
"Wrap your arms around my neck." He said you did as told and he grapple down to the street where the batcycle was waiting.
Timeskip
Nightwing parked on the pad in the cave. Everyone else was already there waiting, not surprisingly. You climbed off first followed by Nightwing. You weren't really sure how to refer to him right now. Nightwing led the way over to the batcomputer where Batman was sitting in the chair in front of the Monitor. Red Robin was over at a workbench fiddling with something. Red Hood's helmet was off with only his domino mask covering his face, he was reclined in a chair reading what looked like Shakespeare's Hamlet. Robin was hacking away at the training dummy with his katana. Alfred was over at the medical gurney cleaning something
"So I guess the secret's out then." Red Hood was the first to acknowledge you.
"I guess so." You said.
"Great, I was getting tired of wearing this thing." Red Hood joked before taking off his mask and tossing it somewhere behind his back. Even though Dick had briefed you on the way over of who was who you still were coming to terms with it all. In the background, Jason's mask could be heard bouncing off Red Robin's head.
"What was that for." Red Robin AKA Tim said before turning around and seeing you standing there with Dick and Jason.
"Oh." Was all he said.
"Todd you owe me $10," Robin AKA Damian said, "welcome (y/l/n)."
Batman had watched the whole interaction before getting involved. He knew you were friends with the boys. Hell even Damian kind of respected you. But he didn't know you. He gave you a few moments to take it all in before making himself known.
"Do you understand the dangers of what you are getting involved in? This is not a game, or a joke everything we do has consequences. People we care about get hurt, or can even die because of what we do." He paused and made sure you were paying attention, but Jason had to be well Jason
"Dying's not as bad as it sounds," Jason said
"Jason, stop joking about your death," Dick said
"Wait you died?" You asked
"Yeah," Jason said he went to say something else but Alfred smacked him in the back of the head effectively shutting him up.
"This secret is just as much yours now as it is ours." Batman continued after the minor interruption. You nodded and that seemed good enough for him, as he turned back to the batcomputer to continue working.
"Miss (y/n), If you wouldn't mind stepping over here so that I could take care of that cut across your face." Alfred seemed to materialize out of nowhere next to you. The boys could only chuckle as you just looked confused and nervous. Dick seemed to catch on pretty quickly and said he would stick around with you, the other boys seemed to not want to take the queue so Alfred told them to all go get something to eat.
Alfred turned and walked towards the corner of the cave that had all the medical supplies, you in turn followed. Dick went to go change out of his Nightwing uniform. Giving you and Alfred a few minutes alone.
You sat down on the side of the gurney while Alfred grabbed a few items.
"You know what you did was incredibly foolish don't you," Alfred said starting by dabbing a little bit of alcohol on the site of the cut you flinched away a bit.
"Yeah, kind of figured that one out already." You said. Alfred humphed and dabbed a little harder you hissed in pain and glared at him but he didn't say anything else besides that he did not think it required stitches.
Dick came out as Alfred was finishing up and flashed you a smile you simply glared at him and he chuckled a bit.
"All done, you are free to go." Alfred said, "There is a guest bedroom upstairs where you can stay for tonight." With that said he disappeared.
"He lecture you on making bad choices?" Dick asked
"Not really just said that it was incredibly foolish," you responded.
"In fairness it was," Dick said "I mean really who goes walking home at night in Gotham when mad."
"Gee, I wonder who?" You deadpanned.
"We don't count," Dick said well chuckling
"You dress up in spandex and kevlar, and beat the shit out of criminals," You said "I think it counts."
"Why did you do it anyway?" Dick asked, he saw you shrug your shoulders and sigh.
"I was mad okay. Tim had been blowing me off with lame excuses. Yes, I realize now he was covering for your nightly activities. But still, I can only get over here one night. One night that is planned out for a week for us to work on that stupid project." You said hanging your head, you didn't want to look at Dick. "I thought I had done something to make him, and by extent the rest of you hate me."
Dick's eyes softened as he pulled you into a hug.
"We could never hate you." He said. You laughed at that
"I think I could make you." You joked, "Alright in all seriousness though. I am tired, and want to go to sleep."
"Come on, I'll show you how to get out of here," Dick said