Movie Night

When Tim quit being Robin, Jack Drake realized that he didn't know his son even as well as he'd thought he did. Which was really something, because he'd never known Tim very well. At first he had been traveling all over the world, and then in a coma, and then there was Dana…It was time to change that.

"Hey Tim, you want to watch some movies?" He asked, waving a couple of action flicks as he leaned against the doorframe of Tim's room.

"Uhh, sure, Dad," Tim said, sounding surprised. "Just let me say bye first."

"Who are you talking to?" Jack asked as Tim tapped a few keys. "Bernard?"

"No. Bart."

"Who's Bart?" Jack asked. "Somebody from school?"

"No, he's Kid Flash." Tim password protected his computer and stood up. "So. Movies?" he said brightly.

"Tim, I thought we agreed…"

"Look, Dad, I promised I wouldn't be Robin any more, and I'm not. But there are people in the community who I've been friends with for years, and I can't just forget about them." He looked Jack in the eye. "I'm not going to go back on my promise. But if I just cut off contact with everybody it won't be long before they come looking to see what's wrong with me."

It was Jack's first instinct to get angry, but Tim was being so calm, so logical, that he forced himself to calm down and think about it. "I'm afraid for you," he said. "I'm afraid that you'll get killed, or hurt, if you're Robin. And I'm afraid that if I let you see people who still do that sort of thing you'll go back to being Robin."

"You think I'll be lured back in?" Tim asked. He smirked. "I really need to have Dick and Jason come over."

"Why?" Jack asked. "Who are they?"

"Just Dick and Jason. But I think they'll lay your fears to rest." He considered. "Most of them, anyway." He snatched the DVDs from Jack's hands. "Ooh, I haven't seen this one yet."

***

It was obvious that Tim was being as open as he could be, trying to build trust between Jack and himself. The tiny sounds he made, quiet enough to not intrude on the movie but loud enough for Jack to hear, were new. Tim seemed disproportionately amused and dismayed at the action scenes, car chases, and explosions.

"Totally unrealistic," he pronounced as the credits were rolling.

"Well, it is a movie," Jack said.

"Yeah, but they could have at least tried," Tim said. "I mean, explosions are cool when they're just in movies, but cars don't explode that often or quite so…explosively. And sneaking around in air ducts is a really bad idea. It makes a lot of noise no matter what you do. And as far as the fighting, he was wide open and they expect us to believe that nobody he went up against took advantage of that?" He made a noise of disgust. "Better than most movies, though, as far as that goes."

Jack realized, not for the first time, what an amazing son he had.