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Part 10 of hypercompetent cryptid tim drake, Part 1 of the Superintendent
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2024-12-21
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to learn to live for yourself again

Summary:

Tim’s first few days after quitting at WE

Notes:

I might add more onto this later, but for now enjoy<3

Work Text:

Tim slept for a solid fifty-six hours after he handed Wayne Enterprises back over to Bruce.

 

Not at first, of course. First was a panicked phone call to Kon, who showed up ten minutes later and held Tim as he panicked, then cried, then the stress accumulated over the past four years began to unwind.

 

He genuinely had no idea just how much it had been weighing on him—the stress of the thousands of employees livelihoods depending on his decisions—until it was gone. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had more people depending on him before, it was just…four whole years of his life given to the company he never wanted, spent worrying about the thousands upon thousands of people that he was responsible for.

 

Now that the weight was lifted from his shoulders, even if it was a bit dramatic, Tim felt like Atlas, finally having given up his burden.

 

Kon stayed beside him while he slept, holding him close against his chest, and it was as safe and comfortable as Tim had felt in years.

 

 

When he woke up, Kon was still there, leant back against the headboard rewatching Wendy the Werewolf Stalker on Netflix and running his fingers though Tim’s hair.

 

“Mornin’ Sunshine,” Kon greeted him.

 

Tim grumbled out an approximation of a reply, causing Kon to snort, as it always did.

 

“You slept through two days clear into the third. It’s six in the morning on the twenty-third.” He told him, answering Tim’s unasked question.

 

“Damn.”

 

If his bladder hadn’t been so insistent, he probably would have fallen back asleep then and there.

 

“If you get up and shower I’ll make you cinnamon rolls,” Kon bargained, and Tim was up and halfway to the ensuite before he could finish the last word.

 

As it always did, the sound of Kon’s bright, happy laugh  behind him, the knowledge that Tim had caused it, warmed Tim to his bones and had a smile creeping onto his face.

 

 

Sometimes Tim wondered if Steph had cameras up in his apartment, because any time Kon made cinnamon rolls, she and Cass would appear without fail.

 

As per usual, they were both seated at the kitchen island, gleefully tearing into theirs as Tim entered. Steph waved in greeting, while Cass waited until he was seated and lightly head butted his shoulder like a cat.

 

Speaking of, Dex was flopped back across Kon’s lap, purring as he received his morning belly rubs. Weirdo cat. Then again, Tim didn’t actually have proof that Dex was a cat. For all he knew, Dex could be a cat shaped alien having a grand old time vegging out in Tim’s apartment.

 

Kon used his TTK to set a full plate in front of him, and Tim, suddenly ravenous, went to town.

 

Once everything was eaten and they had all moved into the living room, Steph finally asked, “So, you got a plan?”

 

“Hm?” Tim hummed in question, nuzzling into Kon’s neck.

 

“You know, now that you’re unemployed. Will you have to move back into the Manor?”

 

It was said jokingly, but there was a thread of concern for him behind the words. She of all people knew how…complicated, for lack of better word, his relationships with the rest of the bats could be. Living separately for a few years had eased some of the tension from past mistakes, not to mention his and Damian’s relationship, which, while it had improved, was still iffy at the best of times. Like, he would kill and die for his little brother, but he was still a brat, and also in his teens. Tim spent as little time as possible at the Manor outside of Sunday Brunch and other family gatherings.

 

However, that was not actually going to be an issue.

 

Tim shook his head in response to her question. “I don’t pay rent, I bought the whole building years ago.”

 

Kon nodded, grinning. “I’m the SuperIntendent!”

 

Tim huffed a laugh at the often used pun despite himself.

 

Once he’d been CEO for a few months, the increase in media attention had made him realize that living out of the Nest wouldn’t be practical longterm. After a few more weeks of deliberation, he ended up buying an apartment building on the peninsula off the Bowery. He still got odd looks for it sometimes, until he started posting some of the more breathtaking pictures of the ocean view at sunrise from the penthouse.

 

Hiring Kon as the superintendent had just made sense at the time. He had a lot of experience as a general handyman from helping out on the Kent farm, didn’t have a job at the time, and had been practically chomping at the bit at the prospect of so many DIY projects.

 

The tenants had been skeptical about Kon at first—frankly, they’d already been suspicious about the NDA they’d had to sign regarding superhero/vigilante activity in order to keep living there, but having an outsider, especially one who was the son of a man who most people were pretty sure was a supervillain kind of put their teeth on edge.

 

Then Kon spent the first year systematically replacing insulation, drywall, and windows, fixing the electrical and plumbing for every apartment, responding to everyone’s calls, and literally kicking a pair of cat burglars out of the building. The second year, he fixed up the “gym” that had fallen into disrepair years ago and fixed up and opened the three event halls for their use and suddenly everyone was a lot more likely to say hi in passing and not talk shit about him being the landlord’s boytoy (which he thought was hilarious). By the time he had the rooftop community garden/conservatory going, they were already sold.

 

Nowadays, they were more likely to be caught bragging to their friends about how their rent hadn’t gone up in three years and their super baked them some bomb-ass pies on their birthdays. They didn’t tell anyone he was Supernova, but Tim was pretty sure most of them had figured it out by now.

 

Kon was many things, but subtle was not one of them.

 

Steph was staring at him and Kon, eyebrows raised.

 

“How did I not know this?” She asked incredulously.

 

(If Cass was surprised, it didn’t show. She was currently play-stalking a roomba with Dex.)

 

“NDAs. A lot of them.” Ignoring Kon’s protests that he wasn’t that bad, he added, “Also, I’m not unemployed.”

 

“Wait, what?” Steph asked.

 

“Neon Knights is a separate thing from WE, remember?” Tim reminded her.

 

“Wait,” she said, as if just realizing something. “You’ve been working two jobs this whole time? Jesus, no wonder you barely slept. All that on top of the Night Job? That’s crazy, Tim!”

 

“Technically, Neon Knights is barely a job, but I still get a paycheck from it, even if it’s not even remotely as much as I got from WE.” Tim explained. “I’m still the face of it, and I’ll still be traveling for it and advocating for similar programs in other cities, but I’ll be fine.”

 

Not to mention the trust his mom had set up for him when he was born, and the one that Bruce had for him. He tried not to touch those though, since he made enough on his own and then a few million. And if he had several other accounts stashed away in various places, well, call him paranoid.

 

Point was, he had invested in so many businesses on top of what he got from WE that on money returned from those alone, he would be fine, even with as much as he put back into the city. Leaving the job at WE would be a blow to his income, sure, but he still owned enough of it that he would have to attend monthly board meetings.

 

Rather than talk about any of that, though, he changed the subject.

 

“I’m thinking about going back to school, now that I’ll have some time on my hands.”

 

Going to Gotham U, while it would probably make it easier for people to potentially kidnap him (which was also something to consider) would also make it easier for him to make friends his own age, give him more of an opportunity to become part of the community to the extent that he could, and could also give him more ideas on what more he could be doing for the city.

 

“What do you want to study?” Kon asked, rubbing a hand up his back.

 

“No idea,” Tim said, a bit thrilled again the prospect of no longer having every minute of his day carved out. “Isn’t it awesome?”

 

For the first time in a while and definitely the first time since he’d become an adult, he would have full reign over his life.

 

He couldn’t fucking wait.

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