Glad to Be Back

*this is a reader insert but made to be very self indulgent to cheer me up, that being said any feedback in welcome. Reader written as gender neutral, I image you're about Tim's age but you're free to go with what you want*

[y/n] = your name

[n/n] = nickname

[h/l] = hair length

[h/c]= hair color

[e/c] = eye color

A sigh drifted out from between your parted lips as you followed along behind the people who had invited you out because they supposedly wanted to hang out. The thought that maybe you shouldn't have left behind all your friends from your old life had crossed your mind multiple times by this point but you weren't sure they'd even noticed you left. But if that was the case what where you doing here with people who didn't care to respond to your texts and who just talked over you, they probably wouldn't have noticed either. You hunched up your shoulders a frown crossing your face, what where you doing?

Having been deep in though you hadn't noticed that that the people you where following  had stopped and grunted softly when you bumped into one of them. They stumbled forward a bit and your eyes widened as you took in what had caused them to come up short.

"I thought the caped villians stuck to Gotham" where the first words out of your mouth as your [e/c] eyes narrowed and you lifted and eyebrow rapidly assessing the threat level. You couldn't quite tell how old the man was but he seemed at least a little older than you, the costume he had on looked like a knock off of the Joker's gang and while he had a pistol pointed your direction his eyes glistened with uncertainty and inexperience. 

You group quickly scrambled behind you as he ground his teeth together glaring at you. Memories of bat-training filled your mind and you silently huffed, not so easy to leave behind after all. He shoved the gun closer to your group and for a second looked like he was going to stamp his foot like at toddler.

"we will create chaos in her name!" He howled finger squeezing closer to the trigger. Before he could do anymore your body had smoothly shifted into the battle stance the bat had trained you in for years. Coiling like a spring you gathered power before launching forward one hand extended flat out smacking into the barrel, it fired  and glass shattered as the bullet fired into an empty building. Your muscles protested from lack of practice as your stance shifted again landing a solid punch to  the mans face sending him crashing backwards.

Ignoring the cries from behind you, you quickly stalked forward and kicked the gun out of his reach and when he tried to get back to his feet you landed a swift kick to his abdomen knocking him flat once again. You glared at him tempted to land another kick in the ribs for even thinking about looking up to the Joker in the first place, after all batman wasn't here right now. With a quick roll of your eyes you decided not to raking your fingers through your [h/l] hair, it wasn't worth the potential risk of catching the attention of any heroes around here, taking him down would draw enough attention.

"Well damn looks like you still don't need out help for anything"  a deep voice called from above you. Your face pinched into a grimace before quickly smoothing out, you hadn't expected them to be here either this was going to be awkward. A thump sounded behind you, deceptively light for someone so big and you turned to stare the Red Hood in the face. You weren't sure whether you should be grateful or annoyed that now is when your "friends" shut up and pay attention to you. 

"of course did you think I'd just forget everything?" You asked back folding your arms across your chest but remained tense not quite sure what kind of interaction you where going to have with him and whatever other bat decided to come with him. To your relief, though you wouldn't admit it, another figure jumped down and Nightwing faced your audience, "ok guys this is mask business you should all get going" His voice was cheerful and kind but you weren't sure if you should trust it.

The Red Hood's posture shifted slightly and as Nightwing herded them away he took off his mask, his facial expression showed sadness, "[y/n] none of us knew where you went. You just disappeared the only reason we knew you weren't dead was because Batman seemed to know what happened. Why did you leave?" His words caused something to twist in you.

Your crossed arms reached to grip yourself in an attempted at a comforting self hug, "It didn't feel like I was contributing anything useful to the team and that it wouldn't be noticed if I left" You said lowly refusing to look at the male. A lighter thump this time and another achingly familiar voice spoke up, "of course you helped I don't know how far behind I would be without all your help" Red Robin joined in frowning at the thought that you hadn't realized. 

"we noticed right away when you didn't show up. You lend so much happiness and new ideas to the group we all missed you, even the demon brat" the Red Hood, Jason, added. Your eyes stung a bit but you shoved back tears refusing to cry while you took all this in. "please come back, you don't have to be apart of the bat team but we're family and we love and miss you" Red Robin spoke softly his own expression much more Tim than his vigilante self.

You took a deep breath closing your eyes for a moment, "maybe I should have reached out about how I was feeling instead of running, ok I'll come back" you spoke softly before opening your eyes and looking at your two brothers, "but you're damn wrong if you think I'm not going to pick up where I left off" The boys smiled and Jay held out an arm as the both of them aimed their grappling hooks at the roof.

You grabbed Jason's hand and felt a familiar rush fill your body as you guys where propelled into the air landing neatly on the roof. You had barely let go of Jay's hand before a blur of black, red and yellow smashed into you arms winding around your body and a face tucking itself against your chest. A gasp of surprise left your body before you broke out into a soft smile hugging the small boy back.

"Hi Dami, I'm back I promised" You whisper to him and he clutched tighter for a moment before he got a hold of himself and pulled away. "Good, Never leave again" he ground out his eyes flitting back to you his face briefly showing uncertainty before he crossed his arms. You gave a quiet laugh and pulled him back into the hug surprising the current Robin into letting out a yelp. He struggled a bit before giving in only to let out a growl when Nightwing joined the party tears in his eyes as he gathered up Tim and Jason dragging them into the hug he decided that everyone must be apart of.

"oh hey" He spoke after a moment, "not that you didn't do a good job and all [nickname] but didn't you blow your cover?" Tim's face crunched up and you could practically see all the plans he was making to cover it up. "oh um, I'm here under a fake name and fake documents so" you gave a light shrug. Tim shook his head, "we'll figure out what to do about them seeing what you look like there's lots of tech in the cave...." he trailed off pulling away from where his arms had been wrapped around your shoulders.

Jason gave a loud laugh ruffling your [h/c] hair before pulling back with a large smirk on his face, "last one home has to explain why we took the batmobile without permission" He called before taking off.

"Todd you imbecile!" Damian yelled after him letting go of the hug in a way that seemed almost reluctant as Tim and Dick took off after their brother. You shrugged and gave Damian a nudge, "hey how about we show them how it's done" you smiled wide. The boy looked up at you before smirking, "let us go to victory" he said and the two of you took off after your brothers, planning along the way on how to slow them down.

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And if anyone wanted to know, Dickie-bird was the one who had to tell batman why they stole the batmobile to track down their missing sibling. But that's ok because Alfred was certainly on his side for this one.