Admittedly, showing up at Red Hood's door hadn't been Tim's brightest idea. She just hadn't known where else to go after her parents kicked her out.
She could have gone to Stephanie's or called Kon for a pickup, but her friends would have just tried to cheer her up and she wasn't in the mood. She similarly wasn't in the mood to deal with Bruce's awkward, though heartfelt attempts at comfort. Barbara had work and there was no way she was going to be able to hold herself together long enough to make it to Blüdhaven, let alone Hong Kong, so Dick and Cass were both out as well.
That only left Hood, who was surprisingly big brother-shaped underneath all the crime lord stuff. If she'd been more with it, she would have gone to one of the safe houses she was supposed to know about and used the panic button to bring him to her. At the very least, she would have stopped somewhere to change into Olivia instead of showing up partially wearing her school uniform with femme Tim Drake's face.
She just couldn't stand to be alone for any longer than what the trip took.
Thankfully Hood hadn't questioned her much. He just asked a few questions, then let her cry herself out on him. Even after she'd gotten ahold of herself, he'd just put on an old monster movie for them to watch together and started doing weapon maintenance. Then he'd made her dinner and let her crash in what appeared to be an unused guest room.
She could already hear the lectures she'd receive if any of the other Bats heard about that.
Hood was in the kitchen when she got up. "Late breakfast?"
"Sure, thanks." She sat down at the table, staring at the shiny red metal wrapped around his head. "Did you sleep in that?"
"Who do I look like, Black Mask?"
"Hey, in his defense, Steph and I are pretty sure that the original Batgirl/Robin duo accidentally did something to lock him in the skull and the three of them are hiding it because he's embarrassed and they think it's a funny inside joke."
He froze, staring at the pan he was using to make crema de maíz. "That makes a disturbing amount of sense."
"Right!? Also, you didn't answer the question."
He shot her a look, then went back to cooking. "No, I didn't sleep in it. You, however, clearly slept in my jacket."
She tugged the hood over her head. It wasn't her fault she didn't have a change of clothes in her school bag. She was just lucky she'd had to bring her PE leggings home because her substitute teacher had taken offense to the green color and made her get black ones at the student store (she was planning to bring them back the moment her usual teacher was back from paternity leave). Without a backup, her options had been her itchy blouse, her thin undershirt, or stealing something from Hood. Stealing won. As she'd predicted, he was the perfect size for his jackets to be optimally floppy and that hoodie in particular was just as soft as the ones she'd liberated from Dick.
He was never getting it back.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. This is mine."
He pointed a knife at her. "If you think I won't kill you over my favorite jacket, you've got another thing coming."
"Uh-huh. Sure. Says the guy threatening me with a butter knife."
"You think I couldn't kill someone with a butter knife?"
"Someone else, sure, but not me. You're too much of a softie."
"Get out of my apartment."
"Sure, after breakfast."
He threw his hands in the air and went back to the food, grumbling under his breath.
She watched him for a moment before starting the kettle. "Thanks for, you know, yesterday."
His annoyance quickly fell away. "It's fine, kid. I'm glad you weren't alone and I doubt you would have come here if you had a better option. Just don't go telling anyone about my safe houses because then I'd have to beat the crap out of you and that would just be awkward after you rubbed your snot all over me last night. Also, don't break anything if you don't have the money for a replacement."
"It's not Kay's fault he didn't realize you're a sap who likes boring Victorian romance novels. How was he supposed to know you were actually reading Sense and Stability and it wasn't just decoration?"
"It's Sense and Sensibility and Austen lived during the Regency era."
"Okay, nerd," she chuckled, rolling her eyes. "How does anyone believe you're a big scary crime lord?"
"Probably because I gave a bag full of heads to the city's most prominent drug dealers," he deadpanned.
Before she could respond, music started playing on her phone.
"He was a boy. She was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious?"
She pulled it out, turning toward the hall. "It's Steph. Be right back."
"He was a punk. She did ballet. What more can I say?"
He waved her off.
"Hey -" she started once she answered, only to be immediately cut off.
"Where are you!? You said you were going to stay in last night, but when I stopped by Liv's apartment with surprise dessert, you weren't there. I thought maybe you were at your house, especially when I checked the cameras and saw your parents are in town, but I checked to see if you made it to school during homeroom, and not only are you not at school, but your parents pulled you out!? Something about private tutors!? What is going on!?"
Her parents had… "Do the others know?"
"I didn't tell them, but if you hadn't picked up, I would have gone full Empty Nest Protocol. I still might if I don't get an explanation! What's going on? I might have thought it was Hood if your parents weren't being weird. Did something happen? Do they know about Robin?"
"No. They just-We got into a fight. It was bad so I left. I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Are you okay?" Stephanie asked, voice softening. "Does Babs need to call her dad on them? Or better yet, do I need to pay them a visit."
"Yeah, no, and no. Please don't tell the others."
There was a pause before, in a suspicious voice, she asked, "Where are you if you're not at Liv's or your house? Babs would know if you went to a safe house or out of town."
"I'm at a safe house, just not one of ours."
"Are you with Hood right now?"
"We're not in the same room, so technically -"
"What happened that made you go running to Hood instead of me!?"
"I told you, I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Empty. Nest. Protocol," Stephanie growled.
"Look, we can meet up after school, okay? I'll explain then. I can't do this over the phone, Steph. Please."
She groaned. "I swear, if you die, I will find a way to bring you back just so I can beat the crud out of you. The Batburger by my school. You're paying."
"Thanks."
"You really are okay, right? You're not just saying that?"
Tim sighed and wrapped her free arm around herself. "I'm not physically hurt. Mentally and emotionally, I will be okay. I'm better than I was last night. Hood helped. I just need to figure some stuff out. I'll see you after school."
"One more thing: Hood isn't being a creep, right?"
"He hasn't done anything Dick wouldn't do. I keep telling you he protects kids. He's not going to hurt me."
"Uh-huh. Just be careful, Timmy. See you later."
"Back at you."
Hood was setting a bowl on the table for her when she came back into the living area. "Everything okay?"
"Steph somehow found out my parents pulled me out of school and freaked out. I'm meeting up with her later to tell her what happened."
He leaned back against the kitchen counter. "So you do go to school?"
"Did. I just said my parents pulled me out." She'd have to give it a week, then reregister herself for classes.
Except, her parents would notice if her tuition started coming out every month again, even if she gave the school a fake email for them. Olivia didn't have that kind of money and Tim's allowance sure wouldn't cover it.
If she even got an allowance still. Her parents might even have canceled her account to reinforce the lesson. They'd done it before.
Although, before she'd still had the means to access food, shelter, and education. She could sign herself up for public school (maybe go to school with Stephanie or figure out where Bernard ended up after Louis E. Grieve shut down) and she could stay at Olivia's apartment (not that they knew that existed), but she couldn't use Olivia's account (which they also didn't know existed) too much without Barbara or Bruce noticing.
Did she want Bruce to know? If she told him, he'd feel obligated to do something about it. He'd at least try to get custody from her parents, and there was still a chance that it wouldn't be necessary. Her parents weren't transphobic or homophobic or anything. They were just worried about how it would affect Tim, them, and the company if it got out. Once he calmed down, her dad would realize being genderfluid wasn't actually any different than being just trans female (maybe she could even put together a slideshow of LGBT facts for him since he loved slideshows) so they could still push the progressive angle. Then he would talk her mom around and they would let her come home before they took off for Peru or whatever. Everything would go back to normal if she could just hold out until then.
That meant she'd need to figure out how to supplement her expenses so she didn't raise suspicion.
"Shoot. I'm going to need to get a job," she groaned. Maybe she wouldn't sign up for school then. At least, not until her parents take her back. It's not like it'd be hard to catch back up and working during school hours would mean it'd be less likely she'd get caught and she wouldn't have to sacrifice casework time. She'd only need something small, just to keep food on the table and purchase things she didn't want the other Bats to know about.
"You have a job."
Right, Hood was still there. "A second job. Part of my income came from my parents. If they cut me off, then I'll need to get a second job. Or ask my boss for help, but I'd rather not. I can take care of myself." At least until she talked her parents around.
He watched her for a moment then grabbed his bowl off the counter and nodded at hers. "Eat."
As she started to eat, she watched him retreat to his room and considered where she'd apply to work.
Jason paced as he ate.
He didn't like Olivia's situation, not one bit. Part of him wanted to track down her parents and teach them a lesson. Part of him wanted to track down her boss and put the fear of Hood into the bastard so he'd pay his employees a living wage as Hood did. Part of him just wanted to make sure the kid he'd reluctantly gotten attached to was taken care of.
His pacing paused as the third part caught onto part of the second.
Hood had cleaned out all the creeps, drug dealers, and narcs from the youth shelters to make sure the street kids had a safe place to sleep and grab dinner while also striking a deal with the local schools so the street kids could still get free breakfasts, lunches, and education without risking someone calling CP&P. His employees were paid a fair wage and had medical benefits. His employees were encouraged (with threats) to keep their kids in school and to use the free daycare Hood had set up to ensure kids could be cared for while their parents were working. His employees were encouraged (with cash bonuses) to get their GEDs if they hadn't finished school. He even made sure his employees had help filling out the paperwork and applying for financial aid if they wanted to get higher education.
Most of that had never applied to Olivia.
Admittedly, she was more working with him than for him, but that hadn't stopped him from wrapping her in armor or trying to talk her into going to school.
Hell, she was responsible for most of those policies since he'd created them while trying to be productive after having to put a pause on ticking off Black Mask so he could figure out a way to do it that wouldn't put Little Red in the crossfire.
Why hadn't he ever paid her in anything other than information she could have (would have) gathered on her own? Why hadn't he ever tried to give her a reason to go to school? Why hadn't he done more to ensure she wasn't being abused than just checking her for injuries?
He could do it all now. He could make sure she kept going to school. He could pay her so she didn't have to get a second job or do extra work for her boss. He could try to talk her into cutting down on her time working for her boss (he didn't have high hopes for getting her to quit altogether considering he'd been trying to do that for almost as long as he'd known her).
He could make sure the kid was taken care of.
His mind made up, he finished eating and put his helmet back on. He went into the living area to see she was still at the table, slowly eating as she tapped at her phone. He sat across from her and plucked the phone from her hand.
"Hey!"
"I've got a proposition for you," he said, setting the phone down out of her reach. "One that will make it so you won't need to get a second job."
Her eyes narrowed and she set down her spoon. "What do you have in mind?"
He leaned back, crossing his arms. "We've been working together for a while, yet you don't get any of the benefits the rest of my employees do."
"Because you don't hire minors," she pointed out.
"I think we're well past that, kid," he snorted.
"So you're, what, going to start paying me for being your arm candy? What's the catch?"
"There are a few things. First: You're going to keep going to school."
"You would make that a requirement."
"I can help you get the paperwork you need since Olivia Draper is supposedly twenty-two," he continued, ignoring her commentary.
"I could just get my GED as Olivia," she muttered under her breath, then said, "It's fine. I can sign up under my real name. My parents won't notice as long as they don't have to pay for anything."
Of course they wouldn't. "Alright. The second thing I want is for you to cut back on how much you're working. Take some time for yourself. You're a kid, take the chance to act like it. Take your not-girlfriend on not-dates, make some friends that aren't co-workers, join a club, be in the school play, whatever."
"I knew you were a theater kid," she grumbled. "And I have a life outside of work."
"Sure, kid." As if she didn't only ever mention doing stuff with her co-workers or Stephanie. Her co-worker took her out for ice cream. She went to her co-worker's dance recital. She was improving her computer skills with her co-worker's help. She was playing video games with some of her co-workers. Her co-worker kidnapped her so they could spend the day at the Metropolis Boardwalk. Either she was using co-worker as a cover or she only ever hung out with the people she worked with. "So live it."
She mirrored him, leaning back and crossing her arms. "I guess I can try cutting back a little. It has been a while since I could get over to the skate park."
"There you go. As for my final requirement," he hesitated, knowing this would be the hardest sell, "I want you to keep me updated on your comings and goings. Always let me know when you're going out and where you'll be. And be truthful when doing so."
"Excuse me?" she hissed and he raised his hands.
"I don't need to know what you're doing or with who. I just want a general location so I either know you're safe or can warn you if I find out something's going down. I also want you to start carrying a panic button. It will have a tracker in it, but I'll only be able to see your location if it's active. You'll be able to activate it in case of emergency or I can activate it remotely, but you'll know if I do that and I'll only do it if I believe you're in danger and you're not picking up your phone. Alright? I just - If I do this, then I'm taking responsibility for you. I need to make sure you're safe."
Her shoulders hunched up and she looked away. After a moment, she said, "I'll think about it."
Well, it wasn't an outright no, so he'd take it. "Alright. Take your time."
Stephanie wrapped her arm around Tim's shoulders. "Sorry, Timtim… You sure you don't want me to visit your parents?"
"It's fine, Steph. Really. They just need some time to cool down and get over their shock," she sighed, leaning into the half-hug.
"Uh-huh, if you say so…" Stephanie set down her milkshake. After grabbing an afternoon snack, they'd retreated to her house so they could talk without having to worry about eavesdroppers or talking in code. "Now, what? You're just going to live at Liv's place until either your parents take you back or - more likely - Bruce figures out what happened and adopts you."
"Yeah, why not? I've already been staying there half the time anyways to keep up appearances with Hood and it's close to your school so we could go together."
Stephanie pulled back to be sure Tim could see her incredulous look. "You mean you're not going to try to use this as an excuse to take a break from school? You. Miss I'll just call myself out sick for the whole week, it's fine! Really?"
"My parents will be more willing to hear me out if I keep up my grades while I'm on my own."
Tim had said it so matter-of-factly and expecting good grades from Tim after pulling her out of school certainly sounded like the Drakes, but Stephanie still felt like she was missing something. "Right. Why not stay at the manor, though? Your parents have probably already split town so I'm sure you could convince Brucie that they want him to keep an eye on you while they're gone. Plus, your parents would like whatever Richie Rich Bristol public school is closest to him way more than they would good old Wayne Memorial."
"Technically since Grieves closed down, the closest to the manor would be South Wayne Memorial High School, so my parents probably wouldn't notice if I went to North Wayne Memorial instead."
Stephanie shook her head. "Timmy, Timmy, Timmy. It's just Wayne Memorial or WM High. Only Diamond or Bristol Babies call it North Wayne Memorial. I'm warning you now, you are going to get the shit kicked out of you before First Period's even over if you come to school talking like a Bristol Baby. And don't think I'll help you. I'm only even willing to hang out with you in public - as Tim, not Liv - because everyone thinks I'm your sugar baby."
"Wow, Steph. Wow," Tim deadpanned before letting out a few giggles.
"Every woman for herself, Bristol Baby," Stephanie snickered, lightly shoving her. "Seriously though, why don't you stay at the manor? It'd be a lot easier to do Robin stuff."
"I… think I'm going to cut back on the Robin stuff, actually," Tim said, sobering up. "Just until I get everything settled with my parents."
"You want to take a break from Robin? Who are you and what have you done with Timothy Drake?"
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"Come on. You know it's going to be hard enough keeping this from Babs and Bruce. The less time I spend around them the easier it will be."
"Or you could just tell them."
Tim leaned forward, fidgeting with her hands. "If I told them, they'd just jump to conclusions."
"The correct conclusions."
"Steph."
"Alright, fine. You can't tell them or let them find out because for some reason they would jump to the strange conclusion that your parents are complete and utter neglectful assholes who kicked you out because they're also transphobic assholes."
"And they aren't any of those things," she affirmed, glaring at Stephanie.
Ignoring her, the blonde continued, "So you're just going to quit being Robin until this all gets sorted? And you think that won't make them ask questions?"
"I'm not going to quit completely. Just maybe go down to once or twice a week as Robin. If I tell them I need to cut back because my parents and Mrs. Mac are getting suspicious, I'll have some time before they start looking into it."
She hummed and grabbed the milkshake she'd been neglecting. "If you say so."
There were a few minutes of silence as she drank and Tim nibbled on the fries, then Tim leaned against Stephanie.
"Before we move on, there was one more thing I wanted to talk about."
"Hm?"
"Well, Dick is in Blüd and Cass is in China and - as all-seeing as she is - Babs doesn't go in the field. So if I'm not going out all the time…"
"Is this your way of asking me to babysit Brucie?" Stephanie groaned.
"Someone's gotta do it."
"You know what, fine. I'll do it."
"Tha-"
"But I'm going to be Robin."
Tim blinked at her. "What?"
"If I have to be Furry-Man's backup, then I'm doing it as Robin."
"Why?"
"Because it'll bug you into hurrying up."
Tim rolled her eyes. "And it will tick off Bruce."
"And it will tick off Bruce. That's just a bonus, though. It's mostly to annoy you."
"Fine. You can be Robin when I'm not."
"Nice. I'm adding a skirt to the suit."
"What? No!"
Did you think I'd erase War Games and not let Steph have a turn in the traffic light suit? Hah! That's even more unthinkable than erasing War Games and then not finding a way for Tim to still meet Darla and Bernard!