Fic: Rot your brain
Dec. 1st, 2009 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
munninTitle: Rot your brain
Pairing: Tim Drake, Zachary Zatara
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All fun, no cash
Author’s notes: 100% organic. May contain minor flaws and imperfections that beta-treated slash wouldn’t.
Summary: Tim introduces Zach to slash but how did he know about it? For ![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
faile_neume in response to her fic Accio!
When Tim got back from patrol Zach was still sitting at the kitchen table, eyes glued to his laptop.
“It will rot your brain you know.” Tim grinned, spotting the Livejournal logo in the top corner of the screen.
“Your fault!” Zach sniped, still not looking up as Tim raided the fridge. “You were the one who got me onto it.”
“It was meant as a joke.”
“Yes and your lovely joke means I can’t enjoy my favourite books without thinking about... sex!” Zack tore himself away from the laptop to glare at Tim, his eyes red with screen-strain. “Smutty gay sex! In a children’s book! Where it oughtn’t be!”
Tim had to fight to hide his smile. “So you decided to what? Brain bleach yourself by maxing out on smut. Overload therapy doesn’t work you know?”
Zach snarled “I logged on to check the movie times; thought I’d go distract myself with a film but I...”
“Got sucked in?” Tim smirked knowingly as Zach glowered.
“Exactly.” Zack pouted, brushed cookie crumbs off his shirt front. “Who knew there were so many websites full of this stuff!”
“I did.” Tim muttered into his drink.
Zach watched him curiously for a moment. “And how exactly do you know that Timothy?” There was a growly edge to his voice – as much a threat as a question.
Tim shrugged and went back to investigation the cupboards.
Seeing he wasn’t getting an answer – Zach changed tact. “You know there’s stuff about you in here? As Robin I mean...with Batman...and Nightwing...”
But Tim seemed completely unfazed. “Yes.”
“How?”
“How what?”
Zack glared at him over the screen. “How do you know this stuff?”
Tim shrugged, a typically Robin gesture. “Research.”
Zack closed the computer slowly. “For Batman? Batman had you researching porn?”
Tim shrugged again. “In a way.”
Zack chased him into the livingroom. “No no no no no! You cannot just walk away like that! I have to know.” He tried to grab hold of Tim but the smaller youth sidestepped easily, Robin-Ninja-Stealthing over to the couch.
“Dloh niT nwod.” Zack muttered under his breath, grinning as the couch grabbed hold of Tim and held him still.
“Zatara.” Tim growled, every syllable dripping with threat. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Not until you spill!” Zach climbed onto the couch, straddling Tim’s knees to pin him down firmer. “Why were you researching porn for Batman?”
Tim glared up at Zach, the glint in his eye, clearly calculating the numerous ways to get out of this situation, most of which involved seriously injuring Zach. “Let. Me Up.”
“Not yet.” Zach grinned, enjoying to position of power. “There’s more to the story yet. I can tell.”
“Yes there is. Now release me.”
Zack thought for a long minute before muttering “Esilaer miT.”
As soon as the couch relaxed its grip, Tim was on top of Zach, knocking him to the floor, one arm pinned across Zach’s throat. “Try that again Zatara,” Tim growled, “and this relationship might need to be reviewed.”
It wasn’t till then that Zach realised that Tim was still in his Robin gear, still fresh from his patrol. His cheek was bruise along his jawline. His knuckles were livid red and there was blood on his sleeve. Zach should have known not to pull a trick like that before Tim had showered and changed out of his uniform. It took longer and longer of late for Tim to come back from being Robin. “I’m sorry Tim...” he stammered. “I shouldn’t have...”
“No.” Tim snarled, pushing off and leaving Zach on his back on the floor. “You shouldn’t have.” He strode off towards the bathroom.
Half an hour later Tim re-emerged, towelling his hair as he crouched down on the chair opposite Zach. “As you said,” he started without preamble or apology, “there are stories about the Bat family on some of those sites. Three of them in particular verged on...startlingly accurate in regards to our equipment and mannerisms. Batman needed to know if there was any possible breach in our defences.”
Ah. Zach thought. Bat related paranoia. “So you...?”
“Infiltrated several online communities, posing as a devotee in order to discover the source of their...inspiration.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “It was that easy?”
“Not even close.” Tim grinned ruefully. “Those groups are pretty tight and I had to establish a reputation for myself before any of them would confide in me. Almost all slash writers use aliases and are careful to provide little to no information that could connect that alias to a real name. It took months and a surprising amount of work to establish myself within the community.”
Zack tilted his head in naked curiosity. “What sort of work?”
Tim shrugged. “I had to learn the language for a start but mostly a lot of reading and reviewing. Some writing too.”
Zach shot forwards. “You wrote porn? Gay porn?”
“I...co-wrote...” Tim admitted reluctantly. “It was a strangely...intimate experience.”
“I have to read it.” Zach declared.
“No.”
“But Tim...?”
“No.”
This no was final enough that Zach considered using the couch again but stopped. “Why not?”
“Because.”
“That’s not a logical argument Timothy. Batman would disapprove.”
“The argument stands – you’re not reading it.” He saw Zack glance across at the abandoned laptop. “And doing bother looking. I, like everyone else there, used an alias.” He stood up slowly, his spine popping in protest. “Anyway it turned out to be a dare between Poison Ivy and Catwoman. Turns out Sel’s got a good turn of phrase when it comes to this sort of thing.”
“Bet Batman was thrilled.” Zack grinned sarcastically.
“Ecstatic.” Tim replied, equally sarcastic. “Needless to say the stories were removed.”
“What about yours?” Zach asked, trying and failing to sound innocent.
Tim shrugged, oddly reticent. “It wasn’t just mine to destroy.” He glanced up to see the look in Zach’s eye. “But you’ll never find it. I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late reading.”
As Tim closed the door of the bedroom, Zach reached for the computer. “You might be a computer wizard Timothy Drake,’ he muttered to himself as he reopened the browser, “but I’m a wizard of a different kind.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:28 am (UTC)ALL OF IT. YES. The loljokes at the beginning and Tim teasing Zat and then Tim going ROBIN MODE and threatening and oh god I should not enjoy that as much as I do.
You filled in the backstory for this perfectly, I can imagine it being just like that. Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:32 am (UTC)That or Zach getting revenge by finding the story and sending to the Titans...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:44 am (UTC)Both! Write both! Maybe he can enlist Jaime's help finding the fic, because the scarab would be useful on the internet? Or he BRIBES BABS with a spell that gives her an endless supply of chocolate.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:56 am (UTC)(I'm beta-ing the fic now, I hope to have it done before I have to leave for work but I can't make any promises. If it's not done by then, I'll get it done when I get home which is about 10:30pm and have it for you by tomorrow)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:00 am (UTC)Can I ask if Steph is around in this universe?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 09:03 am (UTC)I love this! though the way tim was talking about what he "co-wrote" leads me to think he was RP-ing with someone. NOW I MUST KNOW WHO THAT PERSON IS. THE SLASH, MY BRAIN CANNOT STOP IT.
*flails more*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 10:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-12 02:18 am (UTC)This was perfect! I hope you decide to write a sequel!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-12 03:32 am (UTC)Glad you liked it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 05:52 am (UTC)I loved this. Very clever idea! I really do want to know what kind of fic he wrote!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-13 08:43 am (UTC)You never know...He could be anyone of us, lurking as we speak!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 06:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 06:21 am (UTC)