Sidekicks and legacy heroes enjoyer

When Tim, age 13, first begins training to become Robin (after Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, which is implied to occur during late summer/early fall), he’s mostly living at his boarding school just outside Gotham City while his parents are nearly always away traveling for business (Batman #441, #444-445). At some point, Tim begins staying at the Manor overnight sometimes when he’s not at school, probably over breaks or weekends (Detective Comics #615-616).

In (presumably) December, Tim (age 13) is already staying at Wayne Manor for vacation when his parents are kidnapped. Janet Drake dies, and Jack Drake is hospitalized in a coma (Detective Comics #618-621). Tim continues staying at Wayne Manor after their kidnapping. The kidnapping storyline doesn’t mention what vacation it is, but Janet’s funeral and him becoming Robin occur on Dec 24th, so it’s likely winter break (Batman #455-457).

Soon after his mom’s death, Tim goes abroad for additional training. He’s abroad for at least “a few weeks” (Robin Vol. 1 #1), and at the end of this trip is when Tim first encounters King Snake (Robin Vol. 1 #1-5).

In Batman #469, during which Tim is still living at Wayne Manor while his father is in a coma, Bruce runs into King Snake, who says it has been 6 months since his encounter with Tim in Robin Vol. 1. This means in-text statements now give us at least 6-7 months having passed since Janet died and Jack was hospitalized.

(Note: It’s possible for a while Tim also stayed at his boarding school for the rest of middle school, since he’d been staying there before. We never see him there after Janet died, though, and he was then shown studying in the Manor, so he might’ve stopped boarding early and just stayed at the Manor full time. This part is unclear, and it’s not specified if Tim has started high school in Batman #469. Either way, he was under Bruce and Alfred’s care, and spent a fair amount of time sleeping at the manor.)

Tim turns 14 and starts public high school at Gotham Heights while still living at Wayne Manor (Robin II: Joker’s Wild #1). Tim’s birthday is in July, and in the US, high schools usually start mid Aug/early Sep, so I’d wager that’s at least Dec-mid Aug of living in Wayne Manor (though he was abroad for a few unspecified weeks of that). If we take those date references, that’s at least 7-8 months. Tim’s also probably known the Waynes for around a year now, by my estimate (based on Jason death dates & time mentions in A Lonely Place of Dying).

Relatively soon after Robin II: Joker’s Wild, Jack Drake is released from the hospital and at Alfred’s suggestion they buy the house next door to Wayne Manor (Batman #480-482). Tim is 14 when they move into the new Drake Manor. They eventually hire a live-in maid, Mrs. Mac, to help in the house (Robin III #3). Tim still occasionally stays at Wayne Manor or other family properties (Robin Annual 2 + Robin v2 #3), but for the most part lives at Drake Manor.

While they live at Drake Manor, Tim temporarily runs away from home multiple times (to do Robin stuff, mostly). During the Cataclysm, Aftershocks, and No Man’s Land storylines, where an earthquake turns Gotham into a disaster zone, the Drakes almost sell Drake Manor and they move to Keystone City for a short time (Robin Vol. 2 #62). But after Tim runs away back to Gotham, they end up moving right back into Drake Manor again not long after they left (Robin Vol. 2 #66). The original Wayne Manor also gets destroyed and they rebuild it differently. Tim turns 15 during this time.

Jack Drake sends Tim (age still 15) to boarding school because of all the running away. Tim lives at Brentwood Academy with Alfred for less than a full semester (Robin Vol. 2 #75-100). During this time, Jack marries Dana Winters (Robin 80-Page Giant).

Drake Industries loses money so the Drakes have to sell their mansion, and Tim (15 almost 16) has to leave Brentwood early. They move into their condo in downtown Gotham, near Barbara’s clocktower (Robin Vol. 2 #100). Sometime after they move downtown, Tim turns 16 on July 19th (Robin Vol. 2 #116).

At one point while he lives downtown with his dad & Dana, Tim is interviewed by a social worker investigating Bruce’s parenting. The social worker says, “Tim, you stayed here with Mister Wayne several times for extended periods, correct?” to which Tim responds, “A couple times, yeah. Mostly for a short while after my mom died and my dad was in a coma from his injuries. Bruce and Alfred looked after me until dad got better.” (Gotham Knights #45) “A short while” is vague and subjective so it doesn’t tell us much about whether my timeline is accurate, but this scene does confirm that Tim staying with the Waynes is information that a social worker could find out (though I doubt most of the public knew much about it).

So Tim was 14 already when they moved next door to the Waynes, and 15 almost 16 when they moved out. So it’s less than two years. Tim lived next door to the Waynes barely twice as long as he lived with the Waynes before that. Idk I just find that kind of funny.

Bonus Notes: When Tim was young, the Drakes only stayed at the downtown condo (the one they moved into long-term when Tim was 15) to attend downtown events like the opera or galleries (Robin #100). The Drakes also allegedly owned at least two penthouses (unless the two different names refer to the same one...I'm assuming not). Robinson Park Penthouse is where Jack wanted to move in before Tim convinced him to buy the mansion next door to the Waynes (Batman #480). The Mooney Towers Penthouse “on Diamond Street in Neville,” near Wayne Tower, is where Tim snuck off to stay at a few times during school vacations while Bruce and his dad were gone (Robin Annual 2 & Robin #3).

Additional Note: I’m not sure where Tim regularly lived when he wasn’t at boarding school before his mom died. We see brief glimpses of what is presumably his childhood home(s) in flashbacks but I don’t remember it ever being mentioned in depth. Tim implies that the Drakes didn’t live in one place in Gotham for more than 6 months until he was 14 (Robin v2 #66). They probably didn’t have one permanent residence.

You're ripped to an alien time where nothing make sense, rules don't make sense, people don't make sense, everything hurts, people don't know what to do with you, you don't know what to do with them either, but at least you are no longer dying.

Your cousin who you already admired from your studies is not the person you thought he'd be - it's for the best if you love each other from a distance even if you're not sure yet if this is love.

Your grandmother cannot keep you.

She has to love you from a distance. She says you will have to live with a man you don't know who never came up once in your history lessons. He is a stranger.

Max Mercury does not love you.

Max Mercury is there to fix you and everyone has reminded you that there is something deeply, deeply wrong with you.

You are no longer dying, but you still need to be fixed.

You make the most out of it because maybe this is just how things are, and there is no use getting upset or feeling bad because there is nothing you can do about it. Video games are like that too - you're just playing on hard mode and you need to practice to get better to clear the level - only no one really explained the rules, and it's up to you to figure out the controls.

You get yelled at when you press the wrong button.

You get yelled at when you press the wrong button.

You get yelled at when you press the wrong button.

You get yelled at when you press the wrong button.

You get yelled at when you press the wrong button, but they won't tell you what the correct button is, and sometimes that button will change entirely for no reason and they will still yell at you for pushing the wrong button.

You love Max Mercury anyway, it's a new sort of love and one that is difficult to explain but you love him and he loves you.

You meet your cousin one day, stranded from your birth-time and you never felt like someone just got you like she did. For one moment, everything feels just right, but she cannot stay with you.

Like your grandmother, and Wally, Jenni has to love you from a distance.

You say goodbye, you don't know if you will ever see her again and you hope your letter lives the thousand years to reach her just so you can make one permanent connection with her.

You don't get yelled at for pushing the wrong button one day, but you know you pushed the wrong button. Max refuses to talk to you, he says there is nothing more he can teach you, you're hopeless.

You're no longer dying, but you still need to be fixed.

Your mother shows up out of nowhere and you fall in love all over again. You are lavished in affection you haven't felt since the first time your grandmother came into your life.

She promises you there is a home of love waiting for you back in your birth-time.

You've said goodbye before, but not like this. You hug Max tight before you go, and you can feel there is love there, but it's not the love from your mother or grandmother. But it is still love.

Your mother cannot keep you.

You never knew what it was really like to be hated before now, and it's not fair that the villain of your story wins and gets to love your mother and you can't.

You start to realize that your story is when the bad-guy wins over and over again.

Like your grandmother, Wally, and your cousin Jenni, your mother has to love you from a distance.

You go back 'home' and there is no home to go back to. Your cousin Wally yells at you for coming back and you're reminded that you can only be loved from a distance.

It's not like you want to live with him either.

Max is the only stable home you've known of and he accepts you back in his life with his daughter Helen.

You like Helen. She doesn't yell at you when you push the wrong button. You can tell Max doesn't approve but it amuses you that there is someone he can't say 'no' to that is on your side.

You are no longer dying, and no one has mentioned that you needed to be fixed for a long, long time.

Your home isn't perfect, you don't feel the same sort of love that you did with your grandmother and mother, but there is still love and you wouldn't change it for anything because Max and Helen are everything to you.

No one gets you like them.

You are no longer dying, but Max is.

You try desperately to fix him because he spent so much time fixing you and it didn't matter if you still don't know what's wrong with you, he is everything to you and you love him and he loves you and you finally feel the same love for him that you do your mother and grandmother and it all goes away.

You've never felt so loved, then so hated all at once when your clone tries to take what you had. You can't hate him though, because he hates enough, and unlike you he was never loved.

You remember being unloved too.

You beg him to stay.

He doesn't.

You don't have time to mourn him, and what you could have had with him as a brother, because Max is still dying and you're the only one who can help fix him.

When Max is no longer dying and things return to normal you know you are loved and whatever everyone said was wrong with you was wrong. Max loves you like your mother loves you and Helen is no different.

You are no longer dying, and you are so very much loved.

Everything is perfect.

You have to say goodbye to your best friend, and it hurts more than when you said goodbye to your mother, because you don't understand the sort of love you had for her. Was it romantic love? Did it matter? You loved her and now your best friend is gone.

Like your grandmother, Wally, your cousin Jenni, and your mother, Carol has to love you from a distance.

One day you feel yourself die and you almost lost everything.

You feel like you are dying again, and it never stops. The event is so visceral it makes you question if you really need to be a superhero after all and you decide to stop.

One of your other best friends calls you a coward for it and you know she's wrong, but you swallow your disappointment and you leave. It's okay if she doesn't understand you - no one really does.

Your civilian friends, Helen and Max make you feel like you are safe again and it is all because of their love.

You find meaning and purpose again as a superhero.

You are no longer dying, and you know you are loved and accepted and everything is as good as it can be. It was a long journey, but you are content despite your grief because you are loved.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Max dies.

No, he doesn't just die, he's gone, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

You think he will be back any day now and it fills you with hope. You still have a home with Helen and all of your friends and you will wait for him because despite everything he is your dad.

The family that was supposed to be your family all along tell you that Helen cannot be your family anymore, and you have to move.

There's something still wrong with you and Helen cannot deal with it. You're an imposition to her. Max was the only thing keeping her home stable while you were there. You need someone to watch over you, not love you, love wasn't part of the equation.

Your grandmother denies there's something wrong with you and Helen, but she still won't take you in, she has someone else's child to love instead.

Your cousin still insists there is something wrong with you.

You know there is nothing wrong with you, and you think you finally get your cousin to understand and see you for the first time.

Nothing about this is fair - Helen's life isn't fair either, and you decide to help give her the life she deserves even if it breaks your heart.

You move, you lose everything again.

Like your grandmother, Wally, your cousin Jenni, your mother, and Carol, Helen has to love you from a distance.

You never lived in a house with a married couple before. They bond with you quickly and you love them, but you never forget Max and you love him from a distance.

You think your relationship with your cousin is mended but he reminds you that there is something wrong with you and it will never be fixed.