Chapter 52: Size

Jason's POV

I watched as Tim walked towards my Hummer. He was dragging his feet and he had disappointed look on his face.

"Hey Damian, does Tim look kinda upset to you?" I asked, looking at Damian in the passenger seat.

"Todd, can you not see that I am playing Flappy Bird? And to answer your idiotic question, yes. I saw someone making fun of Drake's height earlier today." He replied, without looking up from his phone.

Tim opened the door and slid into the back seat. He then buckled his seat belt and leaned against the window as he let out a sigh.

"Babybird, you okay?" I asked, still watching him in my rearview mirror.

He nodded in response as I put the car in drive.

We drove in silence on the way home. As soon as I put my Hummer in park, Tim and Dami practically jumped out. Grabbing my afterschool snack from Alfred, I headed up to Tim's room.

He was lying face down on his bed. His untouched snack of cookies and milk sat on his nightstand. Taking a seat beside him on the bed, I reached out and nudged his arm.

"Hey, Babybird. You know, milk and cookies don't eat themselves."

"You can have it." he mumbled into his pillow.

"Tim, talk to me. What happened today?"

"Nothing."

"Come on Babybird. Tell me who I need to beat up." I replied, rolling him onto his back.

"No one."

"Well, if you're going to be difficult, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to get Dick."

"He's not home."

"Then I'll have to torture you for information." I replied, while seizing his wrists with one hand and jumping on top of him, making sure to keep the majority of my weight on my heels so I wouldn't hurt him.

"Let me go!" he yelled.

"Nope." I replied, before tickling him as he started squealing with laughter.

"Jay! Stop!" he ordered in-between breaths.

"Are you going to talk?"

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" he pleaded as I let him up.

I leaned against his head board and crossed my legs before tugging him into my lap.

"Talk." I ordered as the smile disappeared from his face.

"Someone was making fun of my size." He whispered.

"Tim, don't listen to them. Size doesn't matter."

"How would you know! You're huge! You're 6'2!" he shouted, before dropping his gaze, allowing his eyes to be covered by his long dark bangs.

"Yeah, I'm tall, but I wasn't always. I didn't get my growth spurt until I was fifteen."

"Really?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Yeah, when I was Robin, I was this scrawny short kid. But, look how sexy I am now." I replied as he rolled his eyes. "You're only twelve-"

"But, everyone thinks I'm like seven… I still have baby fat." He muttered.

"Well, girls dig that kinda stuff."

"But, I'm still short."

"Tim, you're not short. You're… portable."

"Portable? That was the best you could come up with?" he responded, looking up at me.

"No, smartass. I was gonna say fun-sized, but portable made me sound more intelligent."

"But, I'm still short. And I'm not strong or brave or-"

"Tim, you're one of the bravest and strongest people I know. You are stronger than you think you are. Hell, you're smarter than Bruce. You did the impossible; you became Robin when everyone else told you that you couldn't do it. You took out freaking Two-Face your first time in a costume all by yourself without any training. You made the Riddler cry when you gave him a riddle that he couldn't figure out. Tim, you're a badass."

"But-"

"No buts. You're the best out of all of us. Without you, we'd all be dead by now. Size doesn't define someone. Your actions define who you really are."

"Did you really mean all of that about me, Jay?"

"Every word." I replied as he smiled up at me. "Now, tell me what prick upset you, so I can kill him tomorrow at school."