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Of all the ways their secret could’ve been revealed, an alien interplanetary conflict had not even been on his radar. In hindsight, it probably should’ve been. Their lives were crazy enough that this probably didn’t even hit the top ten for the most unfortunate incidents—this year.
And yet, Tim hadn’t been prepared. He’d had hundreds of contingency plans for all sorts of circumstances, but he didn’t have anything for this.
It wasn’t often that they found themselves in outer-space nowadays, Tim had left that behind with his teens. But this had been an exception. An exception that once again proved his rule. Nothing good happened away from earth. He was just glad Young Justice wasn’t around the next corner, fully ready and prepared to cause as many problems as possible for their former leader.
Though—considering the company he was in, that might’ve been preferable, actually.
The situation was dire enough that Tim couldn’t just take a step back and re-group. In fact, ever second that he was out here and not inside the damnable building, was a second wasted.
The conflict had escalated about two weeks ago, with one planet convinced they had the right to take over the other one because some sort of ancestor had once built his dynasty there. It was long and complicated and convoluted to the point that not even most of the resident historians could explain why exactly this was even an issue up for debate. But one planet was an ally of the Justice League, and when the call for help came, they suited up.
Only issue; Most of the earth-side heroes had been taken out a few days prior by a villain so stupendously powerful Tim got a headache just thinking about it. They managed to capture him, yes, but they didn’t exactly have many available members to send to space. Especially because they needed a very capable team that could work together without any issues whatsoever. The situation was so tense, they couldn’t allow even a single misstep.
And so, Batman left his post in Gotham, as the sole current leader of the Justice League that was available, with a collection of Bats to back him up. It was slightly terrifying to leave Gotham without most of its protectors, but the Outlaws as well as Young Justice had promised to keep an eye out. Was it possible that the city would be rubble by the time the bats returned? Yes—in fact, it was practically a given. But still, they had a duty to fulfill here and so, the Bats went on a rare team mission. A mission which included both Tim and Jason.
They didn’t exactly spend a lot of time with the rest of the bats, Tim had purposefully distanced himself further after his Bruce-quest and he didn’t even live in the manor anymore. And Jason had been more or less distant since his resurrection, so it wasn’t unusual for them to go a month without talking to the other bats—at least outside of patrol.
You can imagine how tense the trip through space had been. All of them, cramped into a metal chamber barely as big as the living room of Wayne Manor (which to be fair, was a lot bigger than most living rooms)…tempers ran high.
But they were all professionals and they’d mostly outgrown the childish need to constantly snipe at each other and make stupid quips. Unsurprisingly, since even the youngest of them was a full-blown adult. Tim had been at Damian’s 18th, though he was pretty sure Alfred had invited him, not the birthday boy.
He was also taller than Tim, which he had to accept with a more than strained smile. Damian had been the last one to outgrow him and Tim was now officially the shortest of all the bats. Granted, Cass was only about an inch taller him, but she also liked to wear platform-boots with her suit, so he looked even shorter next to her. Well, whatever. He was better for stealth-missions anyway.
But he was going off topic. They arrived on the invaded planet and it had been total chaos. There were fires everywhere, the sky was actually dark-grey from the smoke as opposed to the usual light-purple that Steph had loved from the moment she’d seen the pictures.
They’d been met with the ruler of the planet—or at least the main one, since the planet-much like earth-was actually divided into a few different states.
There had been an epic fight, they’d saved civilians and eventually Bruce managed to mediate a peace-treaty. All of that wasn’t important to Tim, not right now.
See—in the last battle, once the invaders had realized they were failing because of the Bats, they’d started specifically targeting them, cornering them and singling them out. A solid strategy, Tim had to admit, but it was useless. They’d won before they could actually harm most of them—most, because they’d lost contact with Jason a while back and he’d been on the opposite side of the battle.
They’d located his helmet in a muddy pile after the treaty was signed, but no body.
A passing emergency-nurse-alien with green-blue antennas protruding from its forehead, had informed them that all those injured in the battle had been transferred to the sacred temple smack-dab in the middle of the still burning city. Jason would be there, had to be there.
So they’d made their way across the streets, which were alien-yet-not. Their houses were entirely made off a silvery-metal that gleamed in the light of the three suns making their determined way through the smog.
The sacred temple as it turned out, was a fancy architectural nightmare from a human standpoint.
It’s roof curled outward and spiraled down the side, the tiles looked like fish scales and windows were tinted bright red and one-way.
There was a side-entrance through which more nurses came and left, but when Bruce tried to enter, he was pushed back and given a mild electric-shock. Tim watched as most of the bats tried to enter, but they were all unsuccessful.
Then, a soldier appeared at the gate. He must’ve been fighting only a few hours prior, but he stood guard as it was his duty, with the red feathers on his helmet reflecting the red light filtered through by the windows.
“You do not have the necessary clearance to enter the sacred temple“ they were informed. Tension rose and Tim could see the way Bruce squared his shoulder, as if he was readying himself for a fight.
But these were their allies and Tim could really do without another incident this month. He stepped forward, thankful for the translator they’d been given upon arrival.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding here. A teammate is inside, and we would like to see him and make sure he is okay. You do not have the necessary doctors to handle human anatomy“
The guard looked at him through the steampunk-esque goggles on his nose. Dimly, Tim noted that Bart would have loved them.
“Only relatives are permitted to enter the temple for injured soldiers“
Tim blinked.
“We are his family!“ Bruce protested from beside him. The guard looked him up and down and gestured for Bruce to follow him but as soon as Bruce tried, he was pushed back.
“Apparently, you are not. Family has to be blood relatives, or officially recognized on your home planet. Are you officially recognized as family?“
That was when it hit Tim. Shit. Jason had never gotten the paper-work done to come back to live in any official capacity, and so all his legal bonds were null and void.
“B’ Jason isn’t part of the family…not anymore“
Tim said and felt like the worst kind of villain. And yet, a new plan was already starting to form in his mind. It wasn’t ideal, and he was sure if he took a second to think the ramifications through, he would do something else, but they had no idea in what state Jason was, and how long he could go without human medical interference. From what Tim could tell, it seemed these aliens had an exoskeleton and their blood was a luminescent blue. They wouldn’t be able to give Jason a blood-transfusion—if they even knew what that was.
Finally, it seemed Bruce understood the problem. He paled significantly and looked around as if they could somehow fix this millions of miles away from earth.
“Look, we’re his team. Could you make an exception, just this once? We only have to get our teammate out, we wouldn’t stay for long.“
The guard shook its head. “It is not within my ability to change the wards of our holy ground. If you cannot prove your relation to the man, you will not enter and you will let our healers do what they can, in assistance with our Great One“
Tim groaned. He was exhausted and he was starting to panic. Jason might die-again-because of some stupid paperwork. Desperately he tried to find any other kind of loophole. He came up empty handed.
“You said officially related, right? Do bonds count?“
He could feel four sets of eyes on him in an instance. The guard bowed its head. “Yes, bonding in any capacity will be recognized.“
Tim took a step forward. “Lead me to him, I am his husband.“
A scandalized gasp came from behind him-Dick-and it was followed by a growl-Bruce-.
The guard took a step to the side and Tim entered the temple without hindrance. He could hear the others protest and squawk, but his priority was within these walls, not outside of them.
The walk was short and Tim could hear shouts and groaning from every direction. The fighting had wrecked these people and he felt sorry for them. It would probably take years to recover and in the meantime they’d be vulnerable to other attacks. But that was the future and also probably the issue of the current leaders, not Tim.
They stopped in front of a round door that kind of reminded him of the entrance to a hobbit hole. It swung open and revealed a room not unlike the hospital-rooms on earth. Six beds lined the walls, and red light filtered through. The room was white and thankfully sterile, by the looks of it.
It only took a second to locate Jason on the very last bed in the corner. He was propped up on white sheets and his chest was wrapped in bandages. Tim rushed to his side. He could see the ring still gleaming on his finger and snorted. Jason was always the one who insisted on wearing it to combat, even if it was a potential safety hazard. Of course for them a ring wasn’t just a ring; it had a locator inside that Tim could access and the ability to transmit messages in morse code.
Tim always preferred to carry his on a chain around his neck, tucked under his shirt or armor, and entirely out of sight.
Jason was breathing—thank god, Tim didn’t know what he would’ve done if this had been the end of the line for them. But his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm and his cheeks had a bit of color to them. He was injured, that much was clear from the bandages around his chest and foot, but he would live. They still needed to determine if he’d suffered a blow to the head, but for now things were alright.
A nurse joined him at his husbands bedside, informing him of the procedures they had done and making him fill out a form. He snorted again, bureaucracy—it united the galaxy.
It took a few minutes and a lot of arguing with a Doctor that had two heads and also a beautiful lilac skin-color, but they agreed to help him transport Jason back to the ship.
Jason woke up on the stretcher with pupils blown wide, but he reacted to light and could answer some questions when probed, so he likely didn’t have too bad of a concussion.
The bats hadn’t left their post in front of the main entrance, Tim found as he helped carry his husband outside. Immediately, he was crowded by his family, who asked questions Tim was not prepared to answer right this second.
But they did help him carry, once it became clear that the nurses did not want to leave a certain radius, so short after a major battle.
The way back to the ship was spent in solemn silence which Tim was very grateful for because it allowed him a second to gather his thoughts.
He hadn’t expected to reveal their relationship like this, though he’d always assumed it would come out some way or another. He just hadn’t counted on it taking four years. The bats hadn’t even known they’d been dating at all, they’d been so secretive about it. Of course, they had questions, he understood. He probably would have questions too if Damian or Dick turned up with a husband one day.
But they hadn’t done this for the family, they’d done it for themselves. They hung out after Tim’s return all those years ago, and they got closer. One too many missions in which Tim posed as Jason’s arm-candy and one thing lead to another. They stumbled into bed and the next morning they went out to get pancakes.
Tim had always admired Jason and he’d never made a secret about it. He had been his favorite Robin and it had destroyed him when his predecessor seemed to dislike him.
But when one night lead to two, then three and then a week of waking up next to Hood, it became clear that this was more than just a simple hate-fuck or a stress-reliever after missions. No—they liked each other. So much so, that they met up outside of work, during the day to get ice-cream or go for a drive or hell; on one memorable occasion they’d actually gone swimming together. Save to say that the view of Jason’s broadly muscled chest glistening with water had been more than enough for Tim to admit what he’d always known.
He had a big, fat crush on Robin no. 2 and it seemed to be reciprocated. They officially started dating eight months after Tim returned and they continued to date for another year and a half. That was when Jason popped the question. They’d been living together at that point, and Tim had just come back from a two-week long undercover mission that ended with a broken collarbone and a black eye.
Jason had taken a look at him and kissed the ever-living-heck out of him. Then he’d fallen down to one knee and Tim had said yes. He was on cloud nine and he never wanted to get back down. It was a small ceremony at city-hall, with Kon and Roy as their respective witnesses and that had been that.
They hadn’t had a honeymoon or a white arch, but they did have rings and that was enough.
Staring down at the semi-unconscious body of his husband, Tim wondered how he could’ve ever gotten so lucky. There was no doubt in his mind that Jason was out of his league, and yet, he’d picked Tim of all people.
“When did you get married Timmy?“ Dick poked a finger into his side and Tim sighed. Better to rip the bandaid off all at once.
“About two years ago. Jason and I have been together for just under four though.“
“And you never told us? Why?“ Dick gave him a look like a kicked puppy and Tim truly felt bad about it. He shrugged. “I guess it was just never the right time to mention it.“
That was a half-truth. There would’ve been plenty of opportunities to casually mention that Jason and him had been going out. Truthfully, Tim had been unsure of what exactly the two of them were for another six months, even after Jason started calling him boyfriend and he’d known Bruce’ stance on hero-hero relationships. Namely, that they only ever complicated everything and he just knew Batman wouldn’t approve. And Tim hadn't been sure if they were able to handle a rejection like that. They had enough parental-issues between them that another rejection just wasn’t needed.
And then they’d come close to the one-year mark when Tim finally clocked that this was serious and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jason and he just…couldn’t do it. And Jason had agreed. They didn’t exactly hide it and it was pretty obvious that the two of them shared an apartment and usually patrolled together, but they also didn’t explicitly say anything either.
This had been for them, not the family, and this life took so much from the both of them, Tim had wanted to be selfish for once. And he had been and now there were disappointed looks and a husband that was moaning in the small med-bay.
“This is a security risk“ Bruce said and Tim had expected nothing else. He shifted his look from Jason to his not-father.
“No, it’s not. If the greatest detective didn’t have a clue about us until I explicitly revealed it, the chances of anyone else finding out are infinitesimally small. We’ve been married for years now and not once has it become a problem. It won’t become one in the future either.“
He’d made sure of that right at the start. They hadn’t gotten married under their official identities (see; Jason was daed and Tim was super-famous) but under pseudonyms and the only two people who had a singular clue were their best friends—and they’d kept quiet for all this time.
Bruce grunted and looked back at Jason. Tim knew the topic was only tabled for this moment, and that he’d probably have to fill out a bunch of forms back home, but he didn’t care.
“I suppose…there could be less suitable partners for both of you“ Damian said.
“Is that your fucked up way of giving us your blessing? Thank you.“
Dick hugged him. “You could’ve told us, we wouldn’t have been angry, I promise. But you didn’t and that’s okay. But I feel like there’s gonna be a mandatory gossiping session when Jason wakes up. I need to hear everything.“
Tim smiled. He would disagree, because he was pretty sure two years ago Nightwing would’ve been pissed the fuck off, but he doesn’t need to add salt to an open wound. And besides, he’s missed his older brother.
Later, much later, after a thorough debriefing of the mission, and a general meeting on the topic of their relationship, Tim sat back down at Jason’s side. He’d woken up a while ago but they hadn’t had a second for themselves ever since, and Tim just needed a bit of reassurance.
“Hey, pretty-bird. You good?“ Jason whispered and reached out to brush his thumb across Tim’s hand.
Tim smiled and kissed his husband square on the lips. “With you by my side, always.“
Jason grinned. He really was a ridiculously handsome man.
“You remember our vows, sweetheart?“
The pet-names had come with Jason. Right from the start. he had a tendency to use anything but Tim’s actual name and he was pretty sure the last time Jason had said his full name had been at their wedding.
“Whatever our souls are made off, yours and mine are the same“ Tim quoted. Jason had picked that part out, the nerd. Tim had never really read Wuthering Heights before, but he sure did afterwards. Jason loved that book and Tim loved him.
“And-“ Jason prodded. Tim rolled his eyes but smiled anyway.
“With this ring, we promise to never face the world alone again“
Simple and short but to the point. That part had been all Tim.
“Right, that means I won’t leave you behind and you won’t leave me. We’re a team, remember?“
Tim nodded.
“I love you, dickhead“, he whispered and kissed Jason. A weird half-laugh erupted from the broad chest below him and an arm reached out to haul him up onto the cot. It wasn’t really made for two people, but they managed. Tim was just glad that he could do thsi again. He couldn’t imagine a live without Jason.