Part 3 is here because it was distracting me so soon after I got done with preparation, I wrote it out. 

I am so excited about this because it is covering my favorite books out of the series; Sour Candy, Gunpowder And Cocktails and Dark Chocolate which will be discussed mainly throughout this one-shot.

This would be the longest part so far because I am just wrapping up all the rest of the books. So bear with me and ignore any spelling mistakes for the time being. I'll fix it up after exams.

Also, special thanks to inaseaoflight whose comment in the previous one-shot gave me the title for this part. Without further ado, let's dive in.

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The ticking of the clock never stopped even though he wanted it to go still and stop ticking the hours by so fast. He had been busy reading something that he could not let go of, yet time wasn't in his favor as it kept passing much faster than usual.

He had just finished reading the fourth book and there was a lot to read before he would finally reach the end. And even though he had an intense temptation to just skip to the last book, he could not do so as he had unknowingly gotten invested in the story.

By then he was realizing why Steph had warned him not to read that and was so certain he would come up to her in tears later. She had been absolutely right. He was in tears but he had a lot of pride so he would do his best to never bring that up in front of her.

Besides, the story had expanded so much from just fictional Tim and Dora. He had thought the author would just keep her focus on making the ship between those two thrive but she had also included a lot of other pairings such as Helena and Alexander, Stephanie and Luke and a potential hint towards Jason and Rose. 

While reading the fourth book which focused on fictional Stephanie, he had gotten so conflicted that perhaps he didn't deserve Steph as much as Luke did. In fact, he had been taking pointers from that fictional character for his own use later on. Because in his world, Dora and Luke might not exist but Steph surely did and he wanted to be the best person for her who would truly deserve her.

However, that series was proving to be quite a distraction and he realized he just couldn't focus on anything else. That wasn't the fault of the author though because Tim knew himself very well; once he got invested in something he simply had to take it to completion and would be unable to divert his attention to any other task.

So he made up his mind to go and talk to Bruce about taking a night off from patrol. He already had the previous year's night offs piled up unused so Bruce should logically not have any issue with that.

"Hey Bruce," he stepped into his study after knocking, "may I take this night off from patrol?"

Bruce was engrossed in his files but looked up in surprise. It was Tim standing at the door no doubt but the unbelievable thing was that he of all people was asking for an off.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he nodded, trying his best not to seem too suspicious as Bruce was giving him the detective glare, "I thought I could do with some rest..."

A very faint trace of concern took over his features and though to any other person it would be nonexistent, Tim could very easily see it, "are you sure you are not sick?"

"Of course not."

"So you don't have a fever or any other situation that you are currently hiding from us?" The files lay forgotten at his desk as Bruce had switched into BatDad mode, a very rare occurrence but a heartwarming one to say the least.

"I'm not hiding anything," he spoke up sheepishly, "I hadn't taken any offs last year so I know you must be surprised why I am asking for one all of a sudden. But may I, just this once?"

Bruce couldn't possibly say no to Tim whenever the boy asked him for anything because it happened so rarely that it sent him into a shock first, trying to figure out whether Tim was doing okay or not. But it didn't seem like he was hurt or hiding anything worth knowing from him so he nodded, "alright. You can use your offs whenever you want because you didn't take any in the previous year."

"Thank you," he breathed out in relief, a smile taking over his face, "I'll just be in my room, doing nothing but rest, so don't worry about me. Have a nice patrol!"

He watched the boy dash off immediately and the slight frown on his face was back again. Just because he didn't think Tim was hiding anything suspicious from him did not mean he was being entirely honest either.

But Bruce chose to let the matter at rest for the time being. He would however ask Alfred to make sure that Tim stayed in the Manor and kept out of trouble.

Obviously, there would be no need for that as Tim wouldn't be leaving his room anytime soon. He had to finish that cursed series first.

With the rest of the family going out on patrol, there would be no one to disturb him either and he definitely preferred that. He was getting the feeling that the later parts of the series were going to be much harder to digest and deep down, he couldn't wait for it.

It was indeed shocking how much power a writer could hold in his or her words to internally wreck the reader yet keep them craving for more. If it hadn't been for that sentiment making him somewhat respect the author, he would have gone straight for the kill.

But oh, there was one more reason he couldn't do that. Luckily for her, she did not exist on his Earth.

"Okay, so fifth book here we go," he had clicked on that app again, tapping on the cover that read Sour Candy. "Though I must say, these covers and the titles are making me hungry."

He paused to go down to the kitchen and stock up on the food and soon enough, his bed was a pile of chips packets, biscuits, a popcorn bag and a bucket of ice cream. He placed the ice cream in his mini refrigerator that he kept for iced coffee, deciding to take it out only during an angsty scene.

But just the first chapter of Sour Candy and he had to take it out, eyes wide in shock as he read through. In that chapter, the author elaborated on the fictional Tim going through a terrible nightmare, waking up later to get comforted by his girlfriend Dora.

And the real Tim was too shocked to comment even a single word as he stuffed spoon after spoon of ice cream in his mouth, his teary eyes glued to the screen. The next three chapters had that somber tone as fictional Bruce banned him from patrol.

Little did he know that the story was going to take an unexpected turn in the upcoming chapters. And soon as he read about Dora not being well enough to come down to the shop to help Alex, he knew something was up.

"If you dare kill Dora," his voice was low because he knew Alfred would be checking up on him momentarily, "I swear I will tear both our worlds apart to find you and take revenge. Don't you even think about hurting this lovely creature, you understand?"

But of course, when had authors ever listened to the pleas of their readers asking them to save a character? The story had already been written and the author had decided how to tax her poor characters with even more tragedy.

And it did not take Tim long to find that out.

"What? What the hell? That was my firstborn child, you cruel, monstrous, absolutely sadistic-"

"Master Timothy, is everything alright?" Alfred had opened the door to find Tim going through a breakdown, throwing all his pillows aggressively. He paused immediately as if he had frozen at the spot, a deep red hue of embarrassment taking over his face.

"Everything is alright, Alfred... There's nothing to worry about," he calmed himself down as he spoke up, "I... I was just reading something and I got too emotionally carried away and... If you hear me screaming next time, don't bother to check, yeah?"

The old man found his antics rather amusing but he kept his stance formal and nodded, "alright then. I will be downstairs so you may carry on with your emotional breakdown however you please."

"Oh yes I will, thank you so much for understanding," he shut the door after him and turned in the lock, slumping against it exhaustively.

When he was sure Alfred had gone downstairs and wouldn't be able to hear him, he let out the breath he had been holding along with a desperate chain of swear words.

"Fucking hell and I still can't stop reading this..."

He had to pick up his phone again, reading the paragraph from right where he left it. And since he was quite emotionally worked up, he had resorted to talking to the author as if she was there in front of him, venting out his anger and sorrow in the only way he could.

"I bet if I ever met you and asked you about why you did all this to fictional me, you would just sit there and laugh your head off like a maniac... And then look at this, you... You even have the audacity to say that you love your precious characters so much? What a load of bullshit... Doesn't seem so at all by the way you put them through hell!"

Halfway through the story when Mona Drake's character came into the picture, he was a second away from throwing his phone at the door. Two rounds of breathing exercises later and the realization that he still hadn't reached the ending, he resumed reading albeit nervously.

"Okay so maybe that wasn't my firstborn and this little blue-eyed girl is... Okay... I have to keep calm... I have to think straight... This never happened to me! Timothy, for fuck's sake, get out of thinking this could be real! That's not you but a fictional version of you... Hell, the author doesn't even exist here! Or... Does she?"

But the story had taken a turn with Talia coming back to retrieve Mona so he let that assumption rest for the time being, reading further. By the Epilogue, he had twisted open another ice cream bucket, though that once due to happy tears.

With the end of Sour Candy, he didn't even pause for a minute and clicked on the cover for Gunpowder And Cocktails instead. It was based on Jason and Rose but after the snippets he had read about them in the previous books, he couldn't wait to find out their entire deal.

"Fictional Jason and fictional Rose," he reminded himself as he was on the tenth chapter, trying not to gush from the cuteness of that scene, "nothing like this happened here. Or did it really? I might have to ask Jay about it or dig up some dirt on him once I get free from this curse."

When he reached that chapter in which fictional Tim had met Jay for the first time, he just couldn't keep in his astonishment. 

"Wait, what? He thinks of fictional me as an angelic being? What kind of trickery is this? As far as I recall, Jay beat me up to a pulp the first time I met him."

A few lines in and he was really questioning why Jay couldn't have behaved like that in real life. Things would have turned out so different then without the two of them constantly being at each other's throats. In fact, he could go as far as to say that the fictional versions of his siblings were much better compared to them in real life.

"I hate this ability of the author to make me ship all of the pairings she has come up with," he mumbled, reading the chapter in which Jay and Rose finally got reunited after years of staying apart due to his death, "like now I am rooting for these two as well. I really hope I never get to see our Jason and Rose at the same time in any place because I don't think I will be able to stop shipping them ever and it would be so bloody embarrassing if I did anything stupid to play matchamaker... Nope, no, never, I am not allowed to even think in that direction or I might totally end up doing it. This should not affect my life yet it is... Ruining it, to be honest, but I seriously have to find out what happens next. I've never been this desperate!"

Little did he know that his wish would actually backfire on him because in his race to quickly finish the story, nothing could have prepared him for the dreaded chapter 27 of Gunpowder And Cocktails.

"The fact that even you have put in Trigger Warnings here makes me kinda nervous and also curious about what this chapter contains." A few paragraphs into the chapter and he freaked out, "oh shit, it's that chapter! I can't take it... I can't take it... Begone you evil curse! This never even happened in the first place! This is not true! No, no, no..."

He did throw his phone away only for his self-control to evaporate minutes later as he began cradling it to check that it wasn't broken, face pale yet determined to read the chapter. After all his experience with that series, he knew if he skipped it, he wouldn't be able to get in the right angsty mood for the upcoming chapters.

So for the next one hour, Tim looked completely horrified as he sat in his bed, bundled up in blankets with another ice cream bucket in front of him, painfully going through those chapters.

"I fucking hate the Al Ghuls," he mumbled, "and I hate this author even more but then I can't help but think that if this never happened, Mona wouldn't exist and I just can't bring myself to think of that lovely child as not existing... After all, she's fictional me's firstborn... God, this person has no mercy... No mercy at all for us poor souls that are cursed with her writing."

 At long last, the sixth book came to an end and he heaved a sigh of relief. The wedding scene between Tim and Dora in the last chapter worked on calming him down from his traumatic reading experience so he did not look as traumatized as he did half an hour earlier.

The door to his bedroom was being knocked so he looked up and stopped reading temporarily, "come in, it's not locked."

Steph entered, quite visibly tired from the patrol, "are you going to keep reading at night too or can I sleep here?"

He thought for a while but then put his phone aside, knowing he deserved a break too, "of course, you can. I have just switched it off and I promise I won't read it until breakfast tomorrow."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically but closed the door behind her, "okay... Why so considerate all of a sudden?"

He cleared up his bed, making room for her to climb into the sheets beside him, "well, this series made me realize that real me is a lousy boyfriend. And also that Luke guy the author paired you up with in the story gave me major insecurities."

She couldn't help but chuckle at the remark, "oh come on. I love you, idiot, and no fictional boyfriend can take me away from you."

"I love you too," he smiled, wrapping his arms around her as she snuggled closer to him, pulling the blanket on top of them, "good night."

"It's almost morning but never mind... Good night."

***

The next day, Tim got immersed in finishing the story once again though by then the rest of the Batboys had figured out that defective IP address and were also trying to connect to the site and see what else was in store for them.

On the other hand, Tim was in a great mood after reading the entire Cookies And Cream book because it was very wholesome and nobody died or got stuck in a traumatic situation. Though he should have known that there's a price to pay for every happy moment and that came in the form of Dark Chocolate; that last book having about 100+ chapters.

That book was divided into three parts and though it was happy and cute in the beginning, things took a dark turn from the second part. And Tim knew he had to brace himself for the extreme worst.

Since Bruce wasn't at home, he was reading in the living room because all the rest of them knew full well to ignore him and his emotional breakdowns. But the shocks he was being hit with while reading the second part of Dark Chocolate had made him completely speechless.

So rather unexpectedly, he was silent in horror as he scrolled through chapter after chapter.

"She became the Demon Head... Oh no..." He mumbled and Damian looked up in slight alarm but then focused back on his work.

"Timmy, how much of this is left?" Richard spoke up.

"Just thirty more chapters so let me read it in peace."

"Okay..."

Seeing him so focused, one by one all of them had gathered around him, silently observing him and waiting for him to erupt. His facial expressions were the most amusing to see as he was quite shocked at first, then surprised, then uncertain, then slightly relieved then shocked again and then slowly but steadily came back to slight relief.

A smile flickered on his face as he finally got to the last few chapters of the third part in which everything was getting settled for the best. And that smile widened adorably when he read the Bonus Chapter, eyes welling up as if he was seeing his own daughter happy and finally at peace after a long struggle.

After three days of constant reading, Timothy Drake finally finished the Coffee And Liquor Series but contrary to his expectation, there was still a lot more that he wanted to find out.

"I have to find her," he stood up with an abrupt jolt of firm resolve, surprising the rest of the family gathered around him, "I have to find her and ask her what happens next."

"Who? This Zenina person who wrote these books?" Richard asked in bewilderment.

"Exactly, I have to find her."

"Why so you can kill her?"

"Nooooo, you don't understand," he rolled his eyes in a dramatic gesture, shaking his head as if they were all idiots for not understanding his dilemma.

Jason, who had read the last few chapters and the Acknowlegements of the series by then because he was intrigued by what kind of writing had made Tim so unstable, spoke up, "but the story ended. Chill out. Everybody got their happy ending so what's the point...?"

"Oh yeah? Then what about Lysander and Rory and Raza and my future fictional grandchildren and everything else that was not yet mentioned in the books? I have to find out, I can't rest until I don't."

Steph sighed wearily, "you do realize that we probably don't even exist in her world, right?"

"But do you think that's going to stop me? Hell no. I'll find a way, just like I always do and nothing can stop me."

Damian clicked his tongue in irritation; the only emotion he had ever felt for Timothy Drake besides rage and disappointment. Then turning to look at Richard he asked, "shall I ask Father to take him to Arkham yet?"

Tim didn't fail to hear that remark as his reply was immediate. "Shut up gremlin!"

***

And we finally reach the end of Tim's reaction to the Coffee And Liquor Series. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Also, which Batboy should I write such a chapter for next and what story should they react to? I already have two votes for Dick reacting to Katana and one vote for Tim reacting to The Guardian Angel Series.

What are your other votes?

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