Timothy Drake ran a hand through his black hair and sighed. The mission to destroy the zeta beam platforms and save any civilians they found had been a success but Tim was still a little down. He was, of course, happy and rather proud of himself for having pulled off his first mission as leader.

So much for the soft gig, Tim thought as he placed his mask in the glass case that held his uniform. He was now dressed casually in jeans and a light blue t-shirt. He had only just gotten back to the Batcave after a debriefing at Mount Justice by Nightwing, a.k.a. Dick Grayson. Tim slowly made his way up to Wayne Manor and the kitchen, desperate for some of Alfred's cooking.

'Good evening, Master Timothy.' Alfred, butler to the extended Wayne family, said when Tim found him in the kitchen. 'I trust the mission was a success?'

'Yeah, it was,' Tim sat on one of the many stools that surrounded the big table and rested his chin in his hand. 'It went fine.'

'Would I be correct in assuming that something is wrong?' Alfred asked as he passed his young charge a bowl of hot soup.

'Nah, I'm just tired.' Tim found it strange that he was able to lie so easily to the old man. To hide this, Tim quickly began to slurp down the soup, ignoring Alfred's tutting.

'Master Timothy, if you insist on eating like a pig I could always make you sleep in a sty for the night?'

'Sorry, Alfie,' Tim put the empty bowl back down on the bench. 'G'night, Alfred. Thanks for the soup.'

'Goodnight, Master Timothy.' Alfred watched the teenager leave the room and sighed. All of the children who took up the mantle of Robin seemed to have nights when they regretted that decision immensely. Alfred couldn't exactly blame them.

…

Tim had just climbed into his warm bed when there was a gentle knock on the door. Tim groaned and slid beneath the covers hoping that whoever it was would just leave him be. He should have known better. The door slowly creaked open and the person crept into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

'I know you're awake, Tim,' Dick very gently tugged on the blankets covering Tim. 'Come on, come out and talk to me,' Tim grunted and held onto the blankets tighter. Dick sighed. 'All right. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.' Dick managed to rip the blankets back just enough for him to get underneath them and pull Tim into a hug.

'Getoffme.' Tim thrashed out but Dick just held him closer.

'Sh, Tim, sh. I've got you.'

'That's the problem, you oaf. Get off me!' Tim pushed against Dick's chest again, knowing that it was pointless.

'It's okay, Timmy, it's okay.' Dick cooed at the struggling bundle in his arms.

'Bite me.'

'Okay.' Tim began to struggle even harder as Dick started trying to bite him.

'For the love of…' Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, walked into Tim's room and pulled Tim away from Dick.

'Aw, but, Bruce, Timmy needs me.' Dick put on an incredibly whiny voice and reached his hands out to Tim, who was hanging limply from Bruce's grip on the back of his shirt.

'No, Dick.' Bruce carried Tim away from Dick and into his office, where he finally and carefully set Tim down.

'Stupid Dick.' Tim muttered.

'You know what he can be like sometimes, Tim.' Bruce was very clearly trying to smother a smile.

'Yeah, yeah.' Tim folded his arms and concentrated on looking at the floor.

'Tim, you did well tonight.' Bruce smiled when Tim's head shot up with wide eyes. 'I'm very proud of the way you handled tonight's situation. It could have gone a lot worse.'

'Anyone could have done it.' Tim said tentatively.

'I don't believe so. Not even Dick had that level of a head when he was your age. You did very well and you should be happy about what you achieved.'

'I am, Bruce.'

'Then why aren't you acting like it? You've been distant ever since you got back to Mount Justice for the debriefing.' Bruce said this as gently as he possibly could, but Tim still shrunk in on himself.

'I am happy about how it went tonight. Honest.' Tim glanced up at Bruce. 'Can I go to bed, please?' Bruce nodded his assent and Tim hightailed it out of the office and back to his room. Tim leant against his closed door and took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm himself. Out of nowhere, Tim was grabbed and forced to sit on his bed by Dick.

'Tell me what's happening or I get Bruce back in here.' Dick threatened glaring at him.

'That look doesn't work on me.' Tim replied evenly. Dick instantly softened.

'I'm just a little worried about you, Timmy. You were a good leader tonight and you have every right to be bragging, but instead you're all quiet and distant.'

'Attacking me while I was sleeping probably didn't help.' Tim leant back against the head board of his bed and glared back at Dick.

'You weren't asleep anyway,' Dick moved next to Tim and slung an arm around his shoulders. 'Please, Timmy, tell me.'

'Dick, I'm -'

'Don't you dare say "fine", Timothy Drake,' Dick warned. 'I know you to well for that.'

'Ugh, fine,' Tim wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his chin on top. 'I was excited to be leading my first mission, even though it was Gamma. I knew that it wouldn't be anything major, I was expecting that. I know that's why you gave me Gamma,' Tim didn't need to look at Dick to know that he was nodding his agreement. 'I was okay with Gamma because I figured that way I couldn't get injured and scare you and Bruce. But when I saw all those Kroloteans and realised what was going on, I was happy. Happy because I thought this was my chance to prove it. To prove that that I could be the Robin. That I could do this on my own. I wanted to prove to you and Bruce that I was capable and that I wouldn't…'

'Die.' Dick said. Tim nodded and buried his face against his knees. Dick moved closer to his brother and pulled him into his arms. 'We know that you can do this, Tim. If we didn't, do you really think you'd have that cape?' Tim shrugged against him. 'Tim, I don't blame you for wanting to prove yourself. I know that Bruce does that to people. I was so desperate to prove myself to him as well when I first started.' Dick gently lifted Tim's face to look at him. 'You don't need to prove yourself to either of us anymore. You've already done that a hundred times over, I promise.' Dick placed a kiss on Tim's forehead. 'Now, if you don't get some sleep Alfred will blame me.' Dick made his way over to the door. 'Goodnight, Timmy.'

'G'night, Dickie. And thanks.'

'Any time, little brother.'