Robin 87 is still pissing me off, so here's another take on it. I already explained what's happening in Lights Are All Down; this fic is much more in line with the bologna that happened in canon, except the crap isn't just shuffled under the rug. This is very much a vent fic, and anti TimSteph, so shippers be warned
"Or can I call you Tim?"
This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening.
Spoiler stood in front of him, oblivious to the way her words rocked him to the core. She kept talking, but he couldn't hear what she was saying.
Tim, Robin, all the things he kept so separate in his head collided with dizzying force. Tim felt like he might shake apart at the seams. The very air seemed to press in on him. A part of him wanted to claw at his skin, peel back the suddenly suffocating feel of his body. Instead he ran, scrambling over brick and rooftop until he hit the grassy plain of the Brentwood commons. Tim's room was only minutes away.
His feet faltered, and he nearly tripped. Robin couldn't be seen at Brentwood. He was Robin right now. Or was he Tim? He can't be Tim right now (he can't be Robin either). He shouldn't have come here. Tim dashed past the dorms and into the woods behind campus. He had to get away. Neither Robin nor Tim were ready to be seen right now.
"Stop, Robin."
Robin nearly slammed into Batman. He skidded to a halt, almost face planting when his mentor appeared out of nowhere. Batman stood unperturbed. If Tim wasn't so busy freaking out over his lives colliding, he would have wondered how the man got ahead of him.
"It was my decision."
Decision. Decision? Suddenly, Tim could breathe again. The world slid back into focus, even as his body continued to rebel.
"You told her my name?"
"I decided the time was right." Batman was so calm. Not a flicker of emotion, even when his sidekick's world felt like it was shattering into pieces because of him.
"You decided? Without thinking to, I don't know, ask me?" Tim wished his hands would stop shaking. Steph crashed out of the bushes behind him. Tim ignored her in favor of glaring at the man in front of him. The man who entrusted Tim with his secret identity, when he apparently couldn't be counted on to do the same.
"I thought you would be happy." Bruce said.
"And I thought you could keep a secret. Turns out we were both wrong."
"Wow," Steph whistled. Batman glared at her, a clear now is not the time. Tim pinched his nose, trying to pull himself together. There were so many things wrong with this situation. When had Batman started trusting Spoiler enough to share Tim's secret? Why hadn't he talked about it to Tim at all? And why, of all times to share the secret, had he picked now?
"She's my ex, Bruce." Tim said.
"Robin." A note of warning entered Batman's voice. Tim pounced on it.
"What, I'm not allowed to use your name? You told her mine."
"That's different."
"How? How is that different? You're always telling me to be careful with my identity because my secret leads to yours. You've told her mine, so give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell her yours."
"Can you jerks puh-lease stop talking like I'm not here?" Stephanie said, hands on her hips. Tim gave Batman one last glare, hissing, "We're not done with this," and turned to face her head on.
"Steph."
"Tim." A part of him recoiled at hearing that name come out of the Spoiler's mouth.
"Don't call me that, Spoiler."
"Relax, Boy Two-Timer. I'm not going to tell anyone." And oh, Tim had almost forgotten about that in the wake of Batman's betrayal.
"For the last time Steph, I never cheated on you." Tim ran a palm down his face, wishing he could reach into his skull and rip out the burgeoning headache. "I don't even have time to cheat, between school and crime fighting. I barely had time for you before, how on earth could I be seeing another girl?"
Steph pondered this for a moment. "Huh. Didn't think of that before. Well, if you didn't cheat, then I guess we don't have to break up. I know your identity now too, so problem solved. I can even call you by your real name now, Boyfriend. Tim."
"Make that ex boyfriend." Tim said.
"Huh?"
"We're done, Steph. I'm breaking up with you." Tim turned to leave.
"Hold on a minute, we're not done yet." Steph darted around in front of him, raising her hands.
"I'm pretty sure that's what 'keep your life to yourself' means, Steph. That's what you told me when you decided to be an ass for the last two weeks without letting me explain anything."
"Okay, maybe I've been a jerk, but I'm sorry okay?" Steph said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Tim shrugged it off, and she scowled. "Don't get huffy, it was just a little misunderstanding. We don't need to break up."
"That's not what you said two weeks ago."
"That was then. We're good now. Besides, if anyone should be upset, it should be me. We wouldn't have had any problems to start with if you just told me your name, so most of this mess is on you."
"Bull."
"Excuse me?"
"We're over, Steph." Tim said, striding through the trees. If he didn't get out of here now, he was going to punch somebody — preferably Bruce. "If I see you again in the next year, it'll be too soon."
"I know where you live now, Boy Jerk!" Steph called after him, furious with being brushed off. Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw Batman almost imperceptibly stiffen at her words. "You can't hide from me anymore."
"Does your mom know you're running around as Spoiler again?" Tim yelled back, not bothering to turn around.
Tim is probably a little ooc in this, but that whole issue was ooc so I think I'm okay. Steph's "oh so he wasn't cheating" may be a bit flimsy, but it's better than the excuse canon used, which was nothing