Not That Complicated
A Word: Prompt for Robin!Jay meeting stalker Tim, asking him on a date, worrying about secret identities, and gushing to other people about Tim. Think I managed to get that all in here.
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"Ok, that's it!"
It's the only warning that Jay gets before Dick's rolling over him and putting him into a headlock. Jason shouts and tries to wriggle out of the hold, but Dick's using his whole weight to pin him to the ground. "Get off of me!"
"No," Dick crows as he rubs his knuckles hard against Jay's scalp, and dodges the punches he's throws. "Not until you stop sighing and going googly eyed over your little crush. The mooning was cute to begin with but it's getting annoying now."
"I'm not," Jay growls and kicks back, managing to get Dick's shin in a foot rake. "I'm not mooning!"
"Yes you are," Babs interrupts with a laugh that echoes in the Cave. Jay can feel one of her bare feet kick out against his legs. Keeping him from nailing Dick again. "And it's utterly adorable how much of a dork you are."
"Shut up!" Jay gives up and goes limp under Dick's crushing weight. The best policy to dealing with the older man really, despite how much Jay wants to respond with violence when the man gets the drop on him. "It's our first date, cut me some slack alright?"
Dick does eventually roll off of Jay, letting him breath properly and get back to getting suited up. "I am cutting you some slack, Little Wing. But so help me, if I have to listen to you go on another hour long rant about little Timmy's eyes again..."
The threat is left hanging. Ambiguous and open like all proper threats should be. It's not idle either. Dick has the guts and the resources to give that empty check all the dread it deserves. Jay scowls at the man's blinding grin and Babs' amused smile as he settles his mask in place. "Whatever, it was twenty minutes. Not like I don't have to listen to you go on and on about Babs' hair for days on end."
Jay jumps and somersaults out of the way of the punch even as Babs' bright laugh fills the Cave.
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Jay had caught Tim last week after a frustrating month long game of cat and mouse that Jason learned had been very much one sided. Especially when the smaller boy had confessed exactly how long he'd been stalking Gotham at night to get pictures of Batman and Robin.
Tim hadn't been anything at all like what Jay had expected from the feeling he'd gotten off of the eyes he knew were stalking him and B. He'd been expecting someone sinister looking to sell them out to the highest bidder, or just another psycho with color coordinated weaponry looking to make a name for themselves. The reality had thrown Jay so badly that he'd nearly ended up dropping Tim off a roof.
Tim was a little younger than Jay and had hardly been able to explain himself over his obvious awe of Jay. He'd stuttered and stammered, face turning red, but his wide blue eyes had stayed fixed on Jay. Like he couldn't even believe what he was seeing.
Jason couldn't blame him, he couldn't really believe what he was seeing either.
A cute, shy guy risking quite a bit to go out at night to take pictures of him? One who looked even cuter the more flustered he got, and swayed into the hand Jay kept on his shoulder to keep him from going over he roof edge again?
Dick can joke all he wants about Jay deciding then and there what the color of their wedding is going to be and how many kids they'll end up having, because it's just the slightest bit true. (Whatever color Tim wants and however many brats he can stand) His evil joy at poking fun of him doesn't stand a chance against the shy little smile Jay had gotten when he'd asked Tim out on a date.
Yeah, so maybe Jay had been a little more exuberance after patrol than usual when Tim said yes, but Dick can bite him. He has a date with a cute guy who's very nice and understanding of why Jay can't take his mask off and how he might have to run off in the middle of their date to kick some heads in.
"Hi, Robin," Tim says when Jay finds him. Crouched down on the same rooftop he'd first caught him on. His cheeks are a little red when he stands up to meet him, but his smile is wide when Jay reaches out to take his hand.
"You don't have your camera," Jay points out. "What if I do something awesome and you can't take a picture of it?"
"Then I guess you'll just have to take me out again to make up for it," Tim says with a grin that's still shy, but edged with just the right amount of mischievousness to make Jay's heart try to flip it's way out of his chest.
That sounds a lot like a challenge too. Jay grins right back and starts walking backward. His route for this date already planned and approved by Dick and Babs. "I think I can live with that."
Life is awesome for him.
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Tim likes Sandor's. The funky pseudo-Italian hole in the wall that Babs had tried to veto, until Jay had mentioned the owner gave him the best seats -in a corner near the back exit where no one could see him- in the place after he'd saved him from a mugging. It's dark in the corner, but Tim's beaming face as he eats the pizza that'd been brought out without question or expectation of payment is clear and bright.
Tim laughs at some of Jason's jokes, and the ones he doesn't laugh at are pretty lame to begin with. Jay's totally blaming their bombing on Dick later. He talks a bit about school and his picture collection which Jay really wants to see now. He doesn't say much about his family, and Jay knows enough to not touch the subject.
Tim's light on his feet and doesn't have too much trouble keeping up with Jay on the roofs. He's bashful when he explains that he has to roof jump all the time just to get a good picture of him and Jay feels ridiculously sappy at the the thought of it. Jay does end up having to run off to beat a few heads in when some dirt bags corner a woman and try to mug her. He does it as fast as he can, but manages to be just showy enough for Tim to inform him -after calling it in and making sure the woman's alright- that Jason owes him another date for doing something awesome when Tim didn't have his camera.
"Let me give you a ride home," Jay offers when Tim starts to stumble a little, and Tim's smile is almost the perfect cap to the date.
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Life fucking sucks.
"You live here," Jay says, flat and not as much of a casual question as he wanted it to be as he stares up at the familiar front end of his neighbor's mansion.
"Yes?" Tim says, hesitant and a little cautiously as he climbs off of the motorcycle Jay had talked Dick into lending him for the night. Spare helmet dangling from his fingers, Tim bites his lips in a sudden case of nerves that does nothing to stop Jay's mind from reeling.
"Is something wrong, Robin?" Tim asks and he's actually concerned when he says it. Jay can see that from the earnest look in his eyes.
"No, just," Jay chokes out and doesn't get much farther than that as the reality that Tim was a little more than a few minutes jog away from him every day sinks in.
Jay isn't going to be able to do anything at all now without knowing how close Tim is, and how very easy it'd be to run over. And watch him, creepily, from the trees because as far as Tim' concerned Jason Todd is a neighbor he never sees and isn't in any way related to Robin at all.
Dick is going to have an absolute field day with this.
"Ok, do you want to come in," Tim hands the helmet over and his smile goes just shy in a way that knocks Jay's thoughts away from the oncoming hell he's going to be going through. "Or do you need to." Tim points, ironically, towards the Wayne manor, "go home?"
"Yeah, I need to go report in," Jay says with a sigh, because he does. Bruce has been amazingly lenient in the matter, but it's not going to last if Jay starts slacking off. "So, I'll see you around then?"
"Yeah," Tim grins and takes a step back, but stops abruptly. The grin slides off his face and Jay has just enough time to wonder why before Tim's stepping back in and leaning down. One hand resting on the arm Jay has propped up on the bike handle, and totally irrelevant when Tim kisses him.
His lips are soft and barely brush against Jay's before leaving him. It's the sweetest kiss Jay's ever had though, and he can't stop a stupid grin from spreading across his face as Tim shuffles back. Face now a bright cherry red. "You owe me another date, after all."
"Yeah, I do," Jason settles back down onto the bike and flips the visor of his helmet back down to try and hide the stupid look that's got to be on his face. "I'll see you later, Stalker."
He guns the bike and takes off before he can do anything to ruin the good image he's somehow made on Tim.
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It's not until Jay's back in the Cave and changed that he remembers how much life is going to suck for him. The euphoric feeling he got from the goodnight kiss fades fast and Jay lets his head bang into his locker with a loud groan. "Life's not fair."
Bruce makes an interested noise that means he's totally writing the night's report up in his mind and isn't paying any attention to Jay at all.
"Life's not fair," he repeats as Bruce pulls a warm looking shirt on. Adding just enough of a whine to it that the man blinks as his head comes out of the neck hole.
"Is this about Tim?" Bruce asks because he's very perceptive if you give him the right cues to follow.
"Yes! Did you know he lives next door?" Jay flings one hand out towards the home he now recalls is owned by a couple named Drake. He doesn't remember any mention of them having a son though. Which seems like a travesty now because he's been living next door to Tim for almost a year and is only now getting to meet him.
"Of course I did," Bruce says with the hint of a smile that passes for humor on the older man. "Had to know that in order to find him and give him a good talking to."
Jay rolls his eyes at the joke and pulls his own shirt on before closing the locker. Bruce's jokes are always terrible. In fact, they're so terrible that the man rarely ever tries when he's not putting on an act for the public.
"Wait," Jay spins on the bench and meets Bruce's amused as fuck face that tells him all he needs to know about the question he was going to ask. "Bruce!"
"I heard it's expected to talk to your kid's dates, besides," Bruce gets up and makes his way out into the Cave. Jay trailing behind him with broken protests. "I had to make sure Tim wasn't going to do anything with all those pictures he's taken over the years. It's quite a collection, Jay, has he shown it to you yet?"
Jay's mind is officially broken. Bruce gave a shovel talk to his kinda-maybe-sort-of boyfriend as Batman. His mind seizes on the image of Bruce doing the loom and gloom stance on Tim and refuses to go any further. "Why?!"
Bruce doesn't bother acknowledging his question. Sensing, rightly, that it wasn't meant to be answered as he starts to file the night's patrol reports while Jay has a minor breakdown.
God, he can just imagine it. Batman lurking in the kitchen when Tim got up one morning, or maybe even looming over him in his sleep before waking him up for an interrogation. "You scared the shit out of him didn't you?"
"No, the opposite in fact," Bruce says as he types something up about Ivy that Jay had missed while on his date. "Your Tim took a few years off my life when he came to me to talk about it."
"Tim wanted to talk to you?" That was an even more terrifying thought. So terrifying that Jay can't actually imagine it happening. "What, did he track you down on patrol or something?"
"He made an appointment with my secretary," Bruce says, calmly and pleasantly as he continues to type. "Came in to Wayne Tower just before I took my lunch actually. He's a remarkable young man, I think you could do a lot worse."
Batman doesn't go to Wayne Tower, Batman doesn't have a secretary, Batman doesn't eat lunch. Jay's mind processes the words Bruce is saying but he doesn't actually understand them. "What?"
Bruce stops typing long enough to look over at him, and he's full on smirking now. Because he's amused as fuck by the whole situation and the way Jay's mind is screaming 'Does not compute!'
"Tim's known who we all are since he was nine, maybe even earlier than that. Nine is the earliest he'll admit to," Bruce lets that sink into Jason's head before continuing. "He made it very clear to me that he has no interest in selling our secrets or being any sort of threat to us."
It takes a bit to sink in. Even longer for the full ramifications of Tim both knowing who Robin actually is, and having Bruce's unspoken approval. The first thought that enters his mind is that life is awesome because he can run over to Tim's now whenever he wants and not have to worry about masks or lies.
"I hope you know that this means I'm going to be monitoring Tim and his house very closely from now on," Bruce says, breaking into Jay's silent celebration. "For his own safety, you understand."
"Lies," Jay hisses as he gets up to go to the kitchen where Alfred will hopefully be ready to listen to him in what Jay can quickly see is going to be an upcoming battle.
"It was Alfred's suggestion," Bruce's voice floats up after him as he takes the stairs.
Life sucks so bad, but Jay can't quite keep from grinning as he starts thinking about ways he can sneak over to see Tim in the morning as himself.
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