Chapter Text
After Tim reunites the Waynes, he couldn't help but feel jealousy rise in him. He watched as Bruce hugged Dick, Jason, Damien, and Cass but not Tim. They forgot that he's even there. Bruce thanked Dick for taking over as Batman, told Jason that he was loved, told Damien that he was accepted for how he was raised, and told Cass that she will never be invisible. But not Tim. When Tim saved Bruce, not once Bruce thanked him, he never felt loved by Bruce when he was Robin, never felt accepted for being his support bird when he was being destructive, and now, he was invisible. He went to his room and packed his stuff, important documents, and his clothing. He placed the document stating that he’s giving the position of CEO back to Bruce, no reasoning nor note to anyone, just the document.
He wrote a letter to every single person in the Wayne manor though he didn't believe that anyone would see it, so he left those under his bed. He left the same night. It's true that Dick saved him when he was falling but that was Nightwing. Nightwing was supposed to save anyone, even villains. Speaking of villains, Tim doesn't even know if he was considered a villain since he blew up the League of Assassin’s bases. For the sake of Gotham and the Waynes, he would leave the city since he knew that he was being hunted by Ra’s Al Ghul.
He was so glad that he got a driver's license so he could drive out of the city. He put his suitcases in his car and drove off the Manor. He looked at the mirror just in case someone noticed and stopped him. He waited 5 minutes, 10, 30, an hour. Nothing. He ignited the car and drove off, and didn't bother to look back. He made sure that every tracker was destroyed, even his phone. He’ll probably just buy a new one with cash just in case Bruce or Barbra pinged Tim buying something with his card.
He doesn't have a destination, just not Gotham, he left his car in the airport as he bought a ticket somewhere in China, he just bought it while he was having a mental breakdown after being saved by Nightwing. He’s not Robin anymore so he’s not part of the bat group anymore. Dick made sure to make him feel that he's not part of his family, Jason kept calling him ‘replacement’, while Damien tried to kill him several times. Cass was the only one that was nice to him, but that wasn't enough.
After hours and hours of being on a plane, they finally landed in Lhasa Gonggar airport. He didn’t realize that he had booked a flight to China. He just shrugged, got some of his cash to be exchanged, and went to a nearby hotel to have a place to sleep in. He thought of taking a rest however he wanted to explore the area since he never went to Tibet. He doesn’t have a wallet since it’s also being tracked by Bruce so he’s been carrying cash in his bag or his pockets. He knew that he wouldn’t get mugged since he hadn't heard news of crime in Tibet.
Nightfall came and Tim decided to come back to the hotel. He noticed that his suitcase was bugged. He sighed knowing that it was Alfred who put it there. He destroyed the tracker, knowing that it would alert the Waynes and Babs. He picked up his backpack and stuff as much clothing as he could, paid for the room, then went out. He threw the luggage away with the rest of his clothing then got a taxi and just traveled somewhere else but since it’s night, he couldn’t get that far so he went to a motel, not too far from where he was but enough so when the Waynes tried searching for him when he wakes up, he got more time to run away.
Bruce hugged his children one by one tightly but he felt like someone was missing. He looked around and counted. Dick, Jason, Damian, Cass… Where’s Tim? He panicked which alerted his children.
“Bruce? What’s wrong?” Dick asked, confused about what's going on.
“Where’s Tim?” Bruce asked. Jason raised his eyebrow.
“What do you mean? Replacement is right…” Jason raised his thumb and pointed to where he last saw Tim, however he’s not there when he turned. “There… Huh. Maybe he went back home?”
“What do you mean ‘went back home’? His home is here in the manor.” Bruce felt offended that Jason told him that Tim’s home isn’t here.
“Why are you looking for the interloper, father? It’s good that he’s not here so our family doesn’t have an intruder in our house.” Damian replied, which made Dick quiet and Bruce pressed his lips together in a straight line.
“One, Tim is neither of those, and two, never talked to Tim like that. He saved me twice. Once when I was so lost in my head when Jason died, and now. So I do not appreciate you talking like that about him.” Bruce scolded Damian, who in return looked down. “Again, where is Tim? Where is my son?”
“I really hate to break this to you, Master Bruce, but Master Tim was never adopted.” Alfred came out from the shadow. “And I saw Master Tim go to his room as I was about to head down here myself.” Alfred was holding a tray of cookies and muffins.
“I never adopted Tim?” Bruce asked in disbelief. “I thought-”
“Bruce, you never did, you were busy training him to be Robin to adopt him.” Dick replied.
“This is perfect, father. You do not bear any responsibilities over the in- Tim. He was just a placeholder as Robin, anyway.” Damian added, which made Jason and Bruce cringed.
“No.” Cass said, glaring at Damian. “Tim. Not. Placeholder.”
“Tt.” Damian rolled his eyes from Cass’ sentence.
“Cass is right, Damian. He was not a placeholder.” Bruce added.
“Wait a second old man. Did you make Tim your emotional support dog while I was dead?” Jason asked with a bewildered look. To that, Bruce didn’t have an answer. “Unbelievable.” He was exasperated. “And Dick just ripped Robin off of Tim and didn’t even bother to tell him until he saw Damian wearing the uniform.”
“Damian needed it!” Dick tried to defend himself but Jason didn’t budge.
“And Tim didn’t? How old is he, Dick? He’s still a minor. To be honest I’m surprised he even bothered bringing Bruce back when you told the Justice League that he’s crazy, and even threatened to send him to Arkham. Face it, Dickwing, you’re not innocent in this. Don’t you dare glare at me Damian, we all knew that you tried to kill him more than once as well. Dick just doesn’t want to believe that you did so he turned a blind eye.” Jason rolled his eyes as he looked at Dick and Damian. “I know how to hack cameras like you all do so don’t bother lying.”
“Like you were any better. You tried to cut his throat open. I was just following my big brother.” Damian tried to justify his reasoning but Bruce had enough.
Bruce stood up, in turn, making everyone shut up. He went to the elevator without saying a word, Cass next to him and disappeared. The arguing continued when the two of them disappeared.
“Cass. Am I a terrible father?” Bruce asked Cass, softly.
“No. Just. Not good. Not terrible.” Cass replied truthfully which made twitch. They walked to Tim’s door and knocked, but there was no answer so they opened the door and didn’t see Tim anywhere other than the document Tim had left.
“Damn it.” Bruce took out his phone and tried to call Tim but there was no answer. He looked at the trackers and all of them were bundled in one place, which is the manor. He looked for the tracker but all he saw was a burnt phone, wallet, and multiple items that had the tracker on or in them. He made sure that the trackers were capable of withstanding heat and flame, but Tim didn’t. He told Cass to help him look around the city in the search of Tim. Neither of them saw him but Barbara pinged them to the airport and there they saw his car. Frustrated, Bruce almost destroyed his phone but Cass stopped him. He looked up in the sky, just hoping to see if Tim was already en route or still in the airport. “Tim… Where are you, my son?”