This is not the chapter I was planning on writing... But seeing as the one I was planning on writing now sends me into fits of laughter, when it shouldn't, with the topic it is going to be on; it really shouldn't and it's all Celticlily and Superminion's fault... you get this one instead. Enjoy and please tell me what you think of it ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman

Thank-you for EVERYONE who has reviewed, if I haven't PMed you... Or if you are a guest, thank-you sooooooo much!

Hex Enchantress: Oh my gosh YESSSSSSSS I am totally doing that!

It's mid-october, which meant only one thing... Halloween costume shopping... Fun for all the family and whatnot. Well it's supposed to be and that's what they keep telling Tim, or at least try to tell Tim. Not that he's ever been trick-or-treating..l which is sad really 'cause that's the best part. Well at least he thought so. Dick on the other hand always enjoyed the bright vibrant costumes... he came from a circus after all, which led to the whole family being dragged out to the largest costume shop in Gotham to buy halloween costumes.

To tell the truth every year it was an interesting experience. They raided... literally *raided* the shop. Every year it was the same, and most of the time it made him want to throw up all over the costumes his 'family' forced him to wear. This year, however, was a good year. Dick had a new little brother to pester with costume ideas; meaning he was free to chose his own... a very realistic zombie; he knows he's seen them.

Tim on the other hand was being fawned over by their elder brother as he ran around desperately trying to find a consume for the youngling. Unfortunately Tim was just too small for most of them, and as pretty as he would look in a Disney princess dress, they didn't quite think that it would suit him... that being said, if worst came to the worst; there were male fairies... right? If there weren't how else could there be fairy babies to keep the fairy population steady?

Tim would make a very cute fairy.

There was only one problem, that Jason could see, about dressing Tim up as a fairy and calling him cute, and that was that Tim wouldn't complain. He would just smile up at them, a small blush forming on his cheeks. Where every other male in the entire world would pout, shout, maybe even start crying at that age, but they would definitely point blank refuse to wear the green dress currently being handed to him. But Tim, Tim... just accepts everything, he doesn't complain, doesn't strop, have mood swings, or get upset at anything bar what he perceives as him failing, or not being able to meet some predetermined standards no one knows bit him and his parents.

Jason hated Tim's parents; he hated them with a passion. It made him *want* to be a street urchin again. Then it would be socially acceptable for him to find them in a dark ally way and beat the living daylights out of their aristocratic tendencies for making their son into... this. It wasn't fair. How was it just that he had grown up in the crime ridden back streets of Gotham, and he had turned out more normal than a rich kid living in a big mansion in Bristol. Bristol for goodness' sake. He now lived in Bristol, well Wayne Manor and grounds take up a large portion of Bristol, and it was a very nice place to live. But that obviously only worked if you were allowed to live. Because Tim; Tim hadn't lived, like ever. He had been cooped up in a house for the past eight years and only brought out for fancy occasions, like some sort of possession. He rarely even left for school. He had seen Tim's attendance reports and to be perfectly honest they were worse than *his*, and he regularly had people from school ringing the manor complaining about it, the conversations and excuses made being added to the record. As far as he could tell not one person had noticed that sometimes Tim wasn't there. How do you not know a child is not in class? How could a child from such a prominent family in this area just slip through the cracks.

Children like himself; a street kid whose first day at school had been after he had started running round Gotham's rooftops in a bright and glaring armoured costume because Alfred had wanted to make sure he didn't have the humiliation of being put back grades, we're used to being forgotten and falling through the cracks of the system. People like Tim; rich, amazing, smart (like genius smart, not just normal smart), with the proper surname to boot, aren't supposed to be forgotten. It completely goes against the social order of things.

But Tim was forgotten. By everyone.

And that was *insert some obscenely strong piece of language here* unfair. (Yes he had been getting better with his language, especially since Tim arrived)
Tim who was smiling awkward up at them whilst pulling on pixie boots that reminded a lot of his first Robin boots, like a lot a lot. How is he now suddenly finding himself thinking about how cute Tim would look as Robin? He would be such a cute little baby bird. Babybird. He liked that it was... fitting.

"Awwww, Babybird, you look so cute in those *pixie boots*" he emphasised the end of the sentence for Dick; who was looking at him as though he was insane and Tim was blushing, probably at being called cute, or at the fact he was wearing pixie boots. When it clicked Dick's smile was as broad as the Atlantic*. Dick's eyes went wide and he rushed off murmuring,

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh..." Jason had long perfected the 'Alfred eyebrow raise' since first meeting Dick. Tim just watched the older boy run back into the shop from the changing rooms. The blush still prominent on his face, but expression blank and seemingly mouldable. When he turned to Jason, it looked as if he was searching his face for a way to react to the situation.

Searching for the right response. For the mask to take that would get him the least in 'trouble'.

Now it was Jason's turn to awkwardly smile. He really didn't know how to respond when Tim was like this, he didn't know how to get Tim to be himself. Then his smile turned devious,

"Babybird, do you want to ambush Dick with the most embarrassing costume in this shop?" he didn't know how it was possible but Tim's blush deepened. "Oh, we are totally ambushing Dick" and Tim smiled, he actually smiled.

"Um mister? Can I take these into the changing rooms?"

"Sure kid just make sure you put them back" if that had been him the guy would have said no, but Dick is irresistible to everyone.

"Yes sir", and obscenely chirpy all the time. "Timmy, Little Brother! You are going to look amazing, and cute and pretty and..." he pulled back the stall curtain... glitter make-up samples in hand, a mischievous grin on his face. "... just trust me on this"

Dick spent all of five minutes glittering Tim up, but even Jason had to admit that by the end of it Tim looked breathtaking. The way his cheeks sparkled and wings shimmered. A proper fairy. By this time Dick was chanting for him to "Go show dad" and was awkwardly dragging the boy around the shop to find their father with one hand; make-up samples in the other.

By the time he had caught up with them Bruce and Alfred were smiling and Tim was desperately trying to hide behind Dick's legs in embarrassment. He looked up at his dad,

"Can I borrow Tim for five minutes, please?" Bruce saw the glint in his eyes and their movement towards Dick. He laughed.

"Sure, just get Tim changed first, and don't get lost." It really was a big shop. Jason felt bad about dragging Tim back to the changing room so quickly, but they had an embarrassing costume to find.

"You can come out now Dick"

"No I can't"

"Don't make me go and get dad" in truth Bruce was standing right behind them one hand on his and Tim's shoulders with Alfred carrying picked out costumes behind him.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming out" he whined. This was going to be hilarious. The curtain slowly opened and Bunny Dick stepped out slowly looking up, seeing dad, squealing and running back into the stall and violently shutting the curtain.

"I hate you Jay, I really really hate you" he and Bruce burst out laughing whilst Alfred allowed himself a small chuckle. Tim however looked stoic, a forced smile on his face out of politeness and Jason frowned. He hated seeing Tim like this, it literally broke his heart. Maybe it was because Tim was now his little brother, maybe it was because they both come from families where their parents mistreated and neglected them, where their own mothers didn't love them enough to stay with them. Maybe... it could be a lot of things, but it broke his heart.

"Master Bruce, am I to presume we have found Master Richard's costume."

"Yes Alfred I think we have."

"Master Jason I wish to commend you on your costume finding abilities" Jason smiled but it wasn't him, which is probably why Tim was currently looking so scare, because Dick though he had found the costume, not Tim, and Dick had playfully told him that he hated him. And that was Tim's worst fear- rejection.

"Thanks Alf, but it wasn't me. It was Tim." Dick threw the curtain open, already changed.

"Really?"

"Yup" he stood there for a moment and Tim looked so scared Jason was about to throw his arms around the boy when he realised Dick had literally thrown himself on him, with the biggest smile Jason had ever seen.

"Eeeeeeek THANK-YOU Timmy, this is going to be the best Halloween EVER!"

And he laughed. Tim laughed. Not an I'm just going to laugh because it's the polite thing to do even though it really doesn't sound like anything but a pained whine kind of laugh they were all so used to hearing from Tim, but an I'm just going to go and throw away all my inhibitions, angst and self-hatred brought on by people who didn't like me laughing, and just laugh because I want to kind of laugh; and it was angelic.

Beautiful and crisp. It was the sound an eight year old should make when being hugged and ticketed by their elder brother, and really? He could get used to it. Yes he could definitely get used to a happy little Babybird.

*I was going to put "as wide as the Missouri" and then I realised only Celticlily and Superminion would get the joke... and this sounded better... so yeah.

Thanks for reading, PLEASE *makes whiney begging sound* tell me what you think ;)

Supernova95 XD