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Language:
English
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Published:
2019-08-05
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1,376
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1/1
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Microwave

Summary:

Damian gives Tim a kitten that he found while on patrol.

Tim plans to give the kitten back in the morning, he swears he does.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Tim stared at the kitten. The kitten stared back at him from behind the sofa. Tim stared at the note in his hand then looked back at the kitten. The kitten’s wide eyes looked back at him.

 

Dear Drake,

 

She was found in an abandoned warehouse whilst me and father were on patrol yesterday night. She has no microchip and we were otherwise unable to locate the owner so it is likely that she does not have one. Pennyworth and Father claim that the manor is too crowded at the moment and Grayson is currently off-world with the Titans. I have therefore concluded that you are the next best home, look after her or I will come after you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Damian.

 

After he had first read the note Tim had bent down to look inside the cat carrier, intent on taking it right back to the Manor in the morning. He loved cats but honestly he could barely look after himself right now, let alone a whole living creature. The tiny black kitten had blinked out at him from where it was curled up into a tight ball at the back of the carrier. Trying not to jostle her about too much, Tim carefully unlocked the front and swung it open, sitting back a little when the kitten didn’t so much as twitch. 

He got up to retrieve the note from where he had set it down next to an abandoned mug on the coffee table, when he turned back around the kitten had disappeared from the carrier and was now crouched behind the sofa. Staring at him. Tim stared back. Then looked down at the note, flipping it over to see if it contained any advice as to what he was meant to do with a kitten. He had seen Damian with Alfred the cat before but Tim definitely felt incredibly underprepared to look after a cat of his own.

Carefully shutting the living room door behind him, Tim started opening cupboards in search of something he could give the kitten to eat whilst he did some research. Just so that he felt prepared, not because he changed his mind about taking the kitten back in the morning.

There was a can of kitten food in one cupboard because of course Damian had decided to leave him some, so Tim grabbed a small bowl and used a fork to tip some of the food out and break it up a little, before going and sitting back down on the floor in the living room.

The kitten had crept out whilst he was in the kitchen but quickly disappeared, under the sofa this time, when he’d reentered the room. Tim sighed and put the food down halfway between himself and the sofa, then settled with his laptop to do some research.

 



Tim didn’t take the kitten back in the morning, because his knee was hurting with the remnants of an old stab wound when he woke up and he didn’t feel like driving on it, not because he wasn’t planning to.

He proved this fact by refusing to give the kitten an actual name and instead just calling it whatever came to mind first in any given moment. As he’d kept the kitten within the main room for now that mostly consisted of things like: Curtain, Coffee table and Microwave as he definitely didn’t bounce some ideas of the cat as he spent the day creating a new lightweight belt design for his suit whilst sat on the sofa, slowly moving the food bowl closer to himself every time Lamp Shade got up the courage to come over to it before scurrying back into hiding.  

He’d read last night that the best way to get timid cats used to you was to spend time in the same room as them whilst basically ignoring them so that was what Tim spent most of his day doing. It worked out for him either way. When he headed out for patrol that night Tim definitely didn’t find himself pausing and calling a goodbye back into his window as he headed out, nope.







Tim hadn’t taken the kitten back to the manor the day after, or the day after that, or the day after that. The day that Window Sill had crept up and hopped onto the coffee table to sniff at one of his socked feet with a curious twitch of her nose, had been the same day that the cat carrier had found its way from the kitchen table to a cupboard and Tim had opened the doors to the hallway and his bedroom that Abandoned Mug explored with only a wary glance in his direction.

 

 



 

A month later Tim was taking the night off, lying in bed on his laptop and being careful to stay as still as possible so as not to disturb the kitten that he was finally coming to terms with the fact that he really should give her an actual name now where she was curled up on the opposite corner of the bed for the first time, when there was a loud thump from the living room. The noise startled the kitten who must not be named from her dose and sent her shooting under the bed like a shot. 

Cursing, Tim grabbed his bo staff from beside the bed and slid out the door in the direction of the noise. 

“Damn it Replacement! Why do you have bowls filled with cat food and water right next to your window?!” 

Tim sighed and dropped out of his defensive stance, striding into the living room where he saw Jason crouching next to Sink’s food and water that he had just dropped his hood on top of, knocking the water all over the floor. Ignoring Jason, other than to shoot him an unamused look, Tim stepped forward and moved the bowls out of the way before turning heel and going back to his bedroom.

“You okay? Everything’s okay. I promise. It’s just Jason being a big lug and knocking things over, maybe one day you two can say hello properly. I think you’d like him, he’s big but good with animals from what I know.” Tim blinked slowly at the large eyes peeking out at him from behind the gear bag stuffed under the mattress, near the wall. Shooting her a weak smile, Tim climbed to his feet and shut the door from the outside, backing Jason out of the hallway and into the kitchen area as he did so.

“What are you here for?”

 

 




“I’ve got a kitten.”

“You’ve got a kitten?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you get a kitten from?”

“Damian.”

“Why did Damian give you a kitten? - Hey!” Jason winced as Tim pulled a stitch through his back a little more forcefully than necessary. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“He found her and dropped her off here because B and Alfred wouldn’t let him have anymore pets, not now he’s got that Turkey too.”

“Demon brat’s got a turkey?”

“Yeah it’s called Jerry, pass me the scissors and I’ll do the other one.”

“How come he didn’t give it to Golden Boy?”

Tim used a cloth to clean up the stitches he was doing on Jason’s back for him before moving on to the second knife wound on his side, “He was off-world at the time, guess I was the next best thing. Still waiting for the kid to come back and get her to be honest.”

“She got a name?”

When Tim didn’t answer Jason craned his neck to look at him, “Replacement, you gave the poor kitten a name didn’t you.”

“I’m working on it!”




 

 

Tim sat on the sofa using his foot to rub at the kitten where she was standing on the floor below him. She was a strange cat in the way that she always freaked out if Tim so much as reached towards her with a hand but would happily rub up against his feet for ages. Eventually she hopped up and settled down on the arm of the sofa next to him. He smiled at her and turned back to the case file on his lap, the cat carrier in the cupboard long forgotten.

Notes:

This was just a bit of fun because I love Tim having cats.

Let me know what you thought in the comments!