the misinterpretation of a lonely place of dying by later retellings drives me nuts because ‘tim finds out who batman is’ is nearly not as much of a big deal as ‘tim doesnt want to be robin’ in the actual origin and it pretty much sums up whats wrong with modern tim drake. ALPOD is a tragic story of a twelve year old boy who had everything and willingly gave it up for a greater good. he is not like dick and jason who became robin to escape tragedy nor bruce who had everything and then lost it. robin was nothing but a curse he accepted to bear and he did so because of his selflessness. that selflessness is his driving rod, his smarts and physical talent are only the tools he uses to achieve his goals. he is not ‘the smart one’, he is a sacrificial lamb for a cause he became an unwilling spectator of. a twelve year old boy thought ‘people need saving, its that simple’ and put on the clothes a dying kid not much older than him wore because of nothing more than his selflessness and everyone he loved paid the price for it. he paid an even greater price for it.
#1 robinson park penthouse apartment
batman #480
the first named downtown apartment, the robinson park penthouse is the home that jack wanted to move into with tim following his coma. given that my guess would be that this was jack's personal favorite of their places given this is where he wanted to go
#2 the city apartment in mooney towers
robin #3
now, this one isn't necessarily a *confirmed* childhood home--honestly the way he calls it his dad's city apartment could also maybe imply that it's an apartment jack got to following their move out to bristol (as he notoriously had a lot of trepidation about the idea moving out to the country/bristol/drake manor, as detailed in batman #481--seriously them moving out to the house in bristol was enough of a plot point it got an issue where it explicitly happened. jack gets swooped by a bat immediately. ~symbolism~) so that he had another place down in the city to stay in if he had stay overnight there for whatever reason after moving out to bristol. but that's also not confirmed, so it's fair to include this also as a possible tim drake childhood apartment location. as for where in the city it is, i believe it's never specified but he explicitly mentions it's closer to ariana who at the time is living in little odessa. my best guess would be that little odessa is a bit adjacent to the upper east side, given the connection with helena & her presence there in cry of the huntress. therefore i'm inclined to place mooney towers somewhere in the upper east side/coventry vicinity.
#3 the downtown condo
the condo that jack, dana, and tim end up in following drake industries going bankrupt is stated to be one of their previous properties, and the only one they keep after selling everything else. we know this was a childhood stop of tim, as he mentions they wouldn't go their often, but they'd use their downtown place when they had certain plans in the city where the condo would be closest--mentioning art, galleries, operas, etc. so he likely didn't live here a ton but it is a possible place. it just says location downtown, but given it's within walking distance of those places and the opera house is on the southwest part of the city per the NML map in the area it says is the upper west side, i would assume the condo is there.
#4 boarding school
batman #445, robin iii: cry of the huntress #4
unnamed, but there are implied to be various. (fernwood is the one in metropolis that jack wants to send tim for a bit, but he obviously never goes).
and that's it for confirmed/named places. as far as any other places they may or may not have had, the sky is almost the limit tbh. tim mentions moving around a lot as a kid, so you certainly don't have to limit yourself to these 3, but you're far more likely to find him in gotham proper vs anywhere else. drake manor is out as they explicitly buy it in batman #481 after tim is robin. during jack's coma era, tim is fostered with bruce.
I need sleep now but once I wake I simply must once again slip into gibbering madness about Brothers in Blood (my Beloved)
Test Compilation of my writing submissions for the Mecha AU started by @keferon.
Friends in Every Universe
Part 1
Part 2
Part 1.5
Part 3
Part 4
Gonna go ahead and lay down a large chunk of the first chapter of the fic that I'll be posting for this year's TentaTodd week because I'm excited as hell about it and have like zero patience lol
Summary: Tim finds what he thinks is porn with an emphasis on speculative biology in Jason's apartment, but it turns out the only speculative part is Jason's speculation about whether or not Tim will want to actually for realsies mate with him.
(It's very much playing off of my analysis of Brothers In Blood, which may explain a lot)
(Also if you saw the several sentances sunday thing: this is an extended and much more explicit version of that!)
Normally Tim would pretend to know better than to go snooping through Jason's stuff, especially when a storm had forced him to crash at one of his safehouses unannounced, but c'mon, these are only the bookshelves! What did Jason have them for if not to display the books?? Perfectly reasonable to take a look through the different spines, pull a few out enough to see the covers, maybe actually read one. After all there was no reason to suspect there'd be anything to hide such as-
B'traxia's Hive King Mating Guide for the Recently Transformed!
The cover features a lavish illustration of an alien with a roughly 'centaur' configuration of limbs. It's got a set of massive spikes for front legs that look great for digging and cleaving people in two, and a pair of cat like, pawed, digidigrade back legs. The spine and joints are armor plated, while the soft belly is lined with octopus arms of wildly varying sizes.
The alien is also proudly presenting his three MASSIVE PHALLUSES for the audience.
Tim sputters and laughs, opening the book up and flipping through it lazily.
The quality is ridiculously good overall. It's hand bound, full color, lavishly illustrated with diagrams and charts and cultural notes and- it's honestly hilariously Jason in nature now that he thinks about it. Like, of course, Jason with his snobby love of all things hand crafted would masturbate to some niche fetish shit in a weird format full of way too much worldbuilding. It's probably bespoke too; Tim would lay good money that Jason commissioned the artist himself.
Tim flips back to the first page and starts reading.
Congratulations on your successful chrysalis hatching, my new brethren! Whether you got here by choice or circumstance, this guide is designed to help you understand the most important topic for your new biology and psychology: sex! For most species, sex is merely one activity among many. Most adults spend most of their time on other things, such as making objects or completing economic tasks. The internal impulses of such adults account for a wide variety of needs. Hunger, thirst, tiredness, these are all different sensations because the adult is expected to do different things in order to sate them. This is not so for Hive Kings like us! The primary way a Hive King interacts with the world is through his hive beast workers. His biology does not expect him to labor or travel or do anything other than have sex with his brooders, impregnating them with the hundreds of workers who serve him! When a Hive King's blood sugar levels lower, he does not feel anything. Instead it is his workers which feel a desire to feed him. What happens then, when the Hive King does not have enough workers to keep himself fed? He starts craving sex! Breeding makes more workers and workers are how the Hive King eats! Nearly all desires and cravings are sublimated in this way. Either they are passed to the workers who then fulfill the Hive King's wishes adequately, or they go unsated and are converted into potent breeding lust. Thus sexual desire becomes the primary lens through which the Hive King experiences his own needs and wants. This is especially important information for Hive Kings who choose to remain alone or in very small hives. If you want to go this route, I recommend you carefully track and record your own sexual cravings to ensure that you're getting your needs met. Specific kinks may be signs of specific needs. For instance, Kyalgn from Sector 17 reports that thirst often manifests as desires to swallow his partners whole or have them urinate in his mouth. Note that all of the above merely adds to the already elevated sexual drive of Hive Kings. The deep craving for constant, fertile breeding sex is usually the first instinctual effect of the transformation that a Hive King notices.
Tim is... honestly getting into it a bit. He's got one hell of a thing for breeding, so sue him, and while he's not so much into being the alien, he's enjoying the thought of someone truly insatiable trying to knock him up over and over again despite not being the same species.
It is a bit too wordy for his tastes though. Tim skips passed a frankly obscene amount of detailed anatomical and biochemical analysis in order to get to the good stuff already.
The Hive King first wraps the brooder's body in his tentacles and engages in foreplay. If he can coax at least one orgasm out of the Brooder before the breeding process begins, that is ideal. Happy, relaxed, pleasured Brooders are safer Brooders who bear healthier children. Then the Hive King will carefully fill up the Brooder's cunt with his ovipositor, thrusting shallowly until he reaches the cervix. His dilating hooks will then latch on to the cervix, injecting the brooder with aphrodisic-anesthetic-hypermobilitic chemicals, and begin stretching the Brooder open so that they can receive his eggs. Upon achieving enough dilation for his eggs to fit safely, the ovipositor will thrust a few inches deeper and the Hive King will experience ovipositional orgasm as his body pumps his eggs into his mate's womb. Depending on the size of the eggs and the size of his Brooder mate, this process can take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours and the orgasm will last until the last egg is inside and his ovipositor unhooks from their cervix. Once all the eggs are safely inside, it's important to move on to the second phase of sex as soon as possible. Remember: the longer the eggs spend unfertilized, the more risky the pregnancy becomes. Next, using his cocks, the Hive King must thrust into his mate's pussy again with both penises, ideally reaching passed the cervix and hitting the back of the womb with each thrust. Every time he orgasms this way he will spill roughly two gallons of cum into his mate. As the sex continues nearly all of this will spill out, but don't worry: this is desirable. The flow of perfluorocarbon seminal fluid must be continuous, as it provides vital nutrients and oxygen to the developing embryos. Do not allow yourself more than 43 minutes rest in between one orgasm ending and beginning to work yourself up for the next orgasm. Ideally, you should simply not stop thrusting for the entirety of the roughly 78 hour pregnancy.
It's completely absurd. More than three days of non-stop pregnant sex while high as a kite on alien aphrodisiac venom.
Gods what he wouldn't give for it to be real.
Tim unbuttons his pants, widening his stance and slipping a hand over his underwear, lightly rubbing the head of his clit through the fabric.
"And just what the fuck do you think you're reading?"
It takes every second worth of Tim's years of training not to startle out of his skin at the sound of Jason's voice.
"Really hot porn." He replies coolly.
Jason's still got his mask on and his hood up but it's clear to see he's taken aback (as was the intent).
"Really?"
"What? You think I don't have kinks?"
His head tilts, his lenses narrowing.
"...Guess you are exactly the right kinda tight laced to be into some freak shit."
"Rude. True, mind you, and pretty fucking hypocritical, but still rude."
Jason hmms acknowledgment of his hypocrisy. His gaze drops from Tim's face to the book and finally down to the hand still in his pants. It is so very hard to read any sort of expression through the masks, but Tim feels like he's got a damn solid bet as to what Jason's feeling right now.
He rolls the dice and starts stroking his clit again, deliberately making it obvious.
Jason's breathing gets heavier, his adam's apple bobs as he swallows thickly, his shoulders go tense - all good signs. Then his hips rock in sympathy with one of Tim's strokes and he knows without a shadow of a doubt that Jason is into this.
Tim grins.
There's something deeply gratifying in getting caught and then shamelessly continuing to pleasure himself. It makes him feel depraved - sinfully self indulgent in the best kind of way.
"So you like imagining yourself as a big scary monster who lives to fuck his eggs into people, huh? Got jealous of the xenomorphs while watching Aliens?"
"Yup. Clearly I don't have to explain the appeal to you."
"Actually, I think you do. I'm only interested in being the one getting bred; I don't honestly get the deal about being the one doing the topping."
Jason grips and leans against the bookshelf, clearly aiming for casual and missing by about a million miles to land firmly in 'seems like he's so horny he might faint' territory.
"Oh, cool. Coolcoolcool- uh, what if I get a towel and get you comfortable on the couch and we compare notes?"
Tim just barely holds himself back from laughing and says, "Sounds great!"
Babybird
Baby
Little Red
Timmy
Drake
Rich boy
Replacement
Boy Wonder
Timbers
Timberlina
Timburrito
TimTam
Timbit
Timbo
Baby
Princess
Little Bird
Birdie
Bird boy
Red
i know we’re both just messing around pretending to be whole but look at me. if the train was coming would you move. if the ground was falling from under your feet would you even notice or would it just be another tuesday for you. if somebody stabbed you could it hurt worse than you already do. what i’m saying is that i love you but i think we both drive over the speed limit when it’s raining. what i’m saying is that i want to hold your hand and i understand about how you sometimes have to sit down in the shower. what i’m saying is that i’m here for you and if the train comes please move.
i love the headcannon that both tim and cass look scarily alike, to the point they could be twins.
like they both share the same general lithe build, they’re the same short height, cass has a short bob while tim has his baby mullet, their training is similar due to their backgrounds with lady shiva and the loa, and (depending on your headcanon) both waisan- so i can definitely see instances where they’re confused for each other or where they mess with everyone around them.
cass on patrol in red robin gear so tim can go on a date with bernard:
random thugs seconds away from being one hit k.o’d: yo since when did red robin start melting into the shadows like an eldritch horror?
jason: hey tim -
cass: wrong.
jason: no, im pretty sure you’re tim, i gave you that scar right there in your neck
cass: nu-uh, this is from cain
jason:
cass:
jason: well this got awkward…
steph hugging tim from behind: hey babe
tim: wrong wayne
steph: ew, i should’ve known, your ass isnt nearly as —
tim walking away with his fingers in his ears: lalalalala im not listening to you
damian: i think you’re the only one in this family i respect
tim who has been silently hanging out with him for the past 3 hours: aw thanks damian, i’ve come to love you like a brother too
damian: drake? i thought you were cassandra, my apologies, i retract my previous statement
tim: don’t care, you love me, don’t try to deny it
lady shiva hugging both tim and cass: my beautiful twins, such well trained weapons, unfortunate that you both ended up with cain
bruce pulling his children back: tim isnt yours…
shiva: well that cant be right, he’s s the spitting image of my sister carolyn, and that birth was far too painful to only produce one small child
tim: woah full circle, my drag-sona is called caroline, maybe you are my mom, i wouldn’t put it past janet drake to adopt
bruce: tim no, you’re not even the same type of asian
cass: too late, we’re blood
shiva: see!
Fave Tim and Bruce dynamic is when Tim can just raise an eyebrow at Bruce and he stops working, eats, sleeps etc. the rest of the Batfam (excluding Alfred) are absolutely stunned every time it happens (they couldn’t get Bruce to take care of himself short of knocking him out and force feeding him). Bonus points if Bruce literally cannot make Tim do anything he doesn’t want to because once you’ve seen him drunk and depressed the batglare doesn’t have the same effect
The thing you don’t understand is that Bruce knows where all of his kids' safehouses are. Jason’s, Dicks, Tim’s, all of them. Bruce cannot read the signs that show his children are mad at him, or need space, because he’s never really had this relationship before and Dick was his first and even when mad Dick required touch and Bruce’s presence. But when they leave, when they storm off in exasperation and hol up in their safehouses, believing he can’t find them for a bit, he stays away. He knows where they are. But the safe house retreat is enough of a sign to him where he understands. And stays away. Dick tests it once, after an argument, going to a safe house that Bruce himself created for him, and still Bruce doesn’t come. Dick makes sure every camera catches him, makes it very obvious to where he’s going, but either Bruce doesn’t see it… or he’s actually giving dick space. Jason also tests it, unwillingly, promising to visit on Saturday and then getting grievously injured, but the cave is too far for his state so he drags himself to one of his most secure, most secret safehouses and crashes there, only to wake up a day later to an anxious Bruce, just Bruce, not Batman, hovering around him, holding Alfred food and Jason just… has a moment of enlightenment. They share this info with the rest of the birds and… it helps. Because now they understand. And they realize they don’t have to hike halfway to Kilimanjaro for Bruce to respect and leave them alone, they can just chose a nice safe house he bought for them and live in comfort while they stew. It’s not a perfect system, but it works. And for the bats, that is perfect enough.
Is there any confirmation that Tim was born Gotham City? It’s said that he moved a lot growning up, but was it just around Gotham? The USA? The whole world? Does canon even specify that?
Fun Fact: New 52!Tim is actually from New York City.
We don't have a specific on page confirmation that Tim was born in Gotham, however the Drakes as a family are very much from Gotham. Tim mentions during Gates of Gotham #1 that his grandfather called the bridges "the Gates", an old turn of the 20th century term for the main bridges. The family have been in Gotham a long time.
Every house we know about is in Gotham: there are several different apartments or condos mentioned over the years in various parts of the city proper. Jack was uncomfortable about the idea of a move out to Bristol as it was too quiet and he was used to the city itself. Drake Industries was headquartered in Gotham.
Tim hypothetically could have been born somewhere else, if you want Jack and Janet travelling around even while Janet is extremely pregnant or getting stuck in a city when Janet was no longer cleared to fly, but he's from Gotham, as is his father and grandfather.
(Witness protection not!Tim Drake from n52 aside)