Raising Robins

Grounded.

It was a hell week at the Wayne household. School was about to be over in eight hours. Bruce was headed to drop the kids off for their last day. Dick's graduation was in less than 10 days away and already Damian was throwing a fit about how he wasn't allowed out on patrol on Friday night or Saturday because Bruce announced that the boys needed sleep and they were headed out to dinner on Saturday, after the ceremony. Jason was pissed that his guns were seized again and he was grounded. Tim was disgruntled; Damian kept him awake... again.

"Dad. I know it's Dick's graduation dinner and all, but I have plans." Tim complained, finally looking up from his phone- his sole distraction from Damian, who, of course, couldn't sit anywhere but the middle. Dick sat beside D in the backseat, however, because Jason liked to control the radio volume and more importantly- Dick kept Damian and Tim from murdering each other.

"What plans are more important than your brother's graduation dinner?" Bruce asked.

Tim threw his head back and closed his eyes in the early June morning sunlight. "My friends are having a party and I want to go. They're graduating, too."

"What friends, Drake?" Damian laughed. "And what are they graduating from? Middle school?"

"Damian-" Bruce warned.

Bruce looked up. "What kind of party?"

Tim looked up, surprised. Could he go? 

"It's just at a friend's house. We're hanging out."

"Do I know this friend?" Bruce asked.

Tim never had his friends over. They were just buddies online who hacked things together. Most lived in Gotham or just outside of the city limits.

"Drake doesn't have any-"

"Damian Thomas- I will turn this car around." Bruce threatened before looking in the rearview mirror to continue. "Will there be drugs?"

"Probably not. It's not like I can't control other's actions though. Weed's legal in Gotham, Dad. Everyone does it."

"Yeah, Dad. And like, everyone actually means everyone now." Jason added, too enthusiastically.

"If all of your friends decided to jump off a bridge, would you?" Bruce asked, pointedly.

"At this point, only if it were high enough." Tim muttered.

"Hm." Bruce said. "You're not going."

"Wha-"

"End of discussion, Tim."

Tim went back to his phone. The "no lying" stipulation was high. Lying meant a spanking and although everyone preferred getting a punishment over with, this was hell.

That night, when the boys returned home to the Manor for dinner, everyone was relieved, except for Jason, who had been cheating on his finals off of Tim, of course, who was in all of the advanced classes, years ahead of his age. What Jason didn't know, however, was that Tim was taking harder tests than the rest of the class to see if he could become a senior next year and graduate with Jason. It was easy to pick off that Jason was cheating. Bruce found out when he walked Damian into the middle school, where he had skipped to eighth grade.

"Why do you look like shit. You didn't mess with the radio or bother Alfred for McDonald's again."

"Their ice cream is good." Jason said, annoyed. "And because I'm fucking grounded." He added.

"Language, Master Jason." Alfred reminded, loudly from the kitchen. How the hell did he hear that?

"Why?"