Santa's Little Helper (Or, Timmy Plays Matchmaker)

For: longbottom22

Tim Drake had a problem. Namely, with his elder brother's temper. He knew the holidays were weighing hard on Dick this year, but he wasn't sure just why. In the full run of things, their lives had slowly smoothed into bearable patterns again, easing back into routines from the insanity of the last couple of years. Friendships and partnerships had settled back into place fairly well.

The one thing Tim was able to get out of Dick was the idea that maybe some people were working too much. That was a strong clue to work from, especially given the tone of voice it had been said in, and Tim began eliminating people close to Dick based on that.

Bruce had always been a workaholic, and Dick had mainly stopped complaining about it before he left the first time. Alfred's load depended on all of them, and would deny that he worked any harder than the rest of them. Barbara was as bad as Bruce, and had been for years. Tim himself, as well as Cass, were committed to helping Bruce as much as they could, which was also not unusual. Dick was used to all of them, and his complaints hadn't been pitched in the tone he used about them, anyway.

That left the Titans out of New York to be checked through. One by one, Tim found out just what they had been doing outside of being Titans. Most of them were busy, yes, but when they had all been checked out, Tim wanted to smack his own head into the desk for not having seen it before.

Roy was the issue. He was a single dad, running on two teams on top of parenting, and had been Dick's best friend forever and a day. The facts that Dick and Roy had not been seen working strictly with each other, merely running as teammates; and that Dick had not mentioned Roy much at all, really should have been the giveaway long before he'd checked down the entire roster.

With the suspect decided upon, Tim could settle into a plan. This plan would have to be a crafty one, designed to put Roy and Dick into the same space for a night -- without the rest of their team around to act as a buffer. That, obviously, hadn't been enough. Luckily for both older Titans, Tim was equal to the task.

There was an annual charity appearance in New York at St. Vincent's in gratitude for all their work with secret identity heroes, attended by any hero that could be drafted off the major teams. Tim intended to be certain both of them wound up there without the other knowing.

Bruce would have to be his angle against getting Roy assigned to the job. He didn't know the archer well enough to get through to him personally, and Black Canary was too busy to bother when he had only teamed with her a few times for Barbara. If he knew her better, he'd have gone through her... but Robin tended not to work with the Birds. Bruce would do.

For Dick, he would casually ask if the Titans had come up with someone to handle it, and then offer to help, if Dick would do it as well. He suspected Dick would play Santa to his elf just to see him in the pixie boots... and then rib him about it for a week. If one single picture got taken, though...

XoXoXoX

Roy tried hard not to rub at the fake beard driving his skin to itch like poison oak had gotten into his aftershave. He was going to find a way to pay Batman back for this. Eventually. Someday. He really would.

However, in all fairness, outside of Superman, he was probably the best bet for playing Santa off the League. He understood kids, had learned a lot of Christmas stories because of his own daughter, and generally found it easy to be charming to the public.

That he privately wouldn't have minded one of the ladies playing Mrs. Santa with him had gone unsaid, likely to the benefit of his own long-term safety.

With a careful straightening of his costume, making sure the belly was believable, Roy gave in to the inevitable and went inside the hospital. He was checked for ID, then passed on up with a badge that said 'Santa Claus 2'. That made him wonder who number one was. If it was someone from the JSA, he prayed it wasn't Carter. After that awkward thing with Kendra.... no, Roy really didn't want to deal with his ex's ex.

He began his tour in the area that made the most personal sense, going to the rehab clinic to talk to the younger ones there. He was relieved to find very few as young as he had been.

XoXoXoX

Dick caught sight of the other Santa as he came into the ward first and looked chagrined at the fact the other one had gone all-out, with padding for the belly, even -- hard to find one of them that had the build for it, and he'd hated the extra weight every time he'd needed a disguise. Of course, Dick had an elf at his side, one so cute that several brave patients had asked for elven hugs as opposed to Santa ones. Dick didn't plan on letting Tim forget about that for, oh, ever. It wasn't often he got to watch his little brother letting kids hug on him, after all.

The other Santa caught sight of Timmy-elf and the fake beard kind of twisted around a smile. Then Dick saw the other one take him in, and the body language went from amused to wary in the time it took to breathe.

Wary in a way that Dick would recognize no matter the disguises between them, he realized. Especially when the other Santa forced calm over his body and walked over.

"Wondered who else was here," Roy said with a grin, one that was far too easy for everything that had happened. Dick almost thought maybe it meant Roy missed spending time with him off missions. Maybe.

Dick shrugged, as casual as he could be in return for Roy's easy voice. "Got asked by..." his words tapered off and he looked at his suddenly way too innocent-seeming kid brother with sharp eyes. Roy followed the look with one of his own, remembering just who had roped him into this with sudden suspicion. If the Bat had known what his junior partner was up to...

"I think all this Christmas spirit needs to be shared over cocoa afterward," Tim said calmly, acting as if he didn't know good and well they both smelled the setup.

The two senior Titans looked at each other, wondering if Santa hadn't cut them both a break in the form of a meddling Jewish boy. And Batman, Roy added mentally, which was almost worse.

"Di's got Lian," Roy said quietly, almost on top of Dick's low, "I'm good for it."

Tim just smiled to himself and led the way into the last ward.