Chapter Text
So I read a post about the nickname Jaybird and got inspired.
“Jaybird…” your voice was tired, and you just hoped he could still hear you.
Every Robin has their Batgirl, every Batgirl has their Robin. You didn’t make the rules, and Bruce hadn’t even noticed the pattern until Damian complained about his lack of partner’s.
“They all have an advantage!” Damian stuck his nose in the air while trying to prove how he was the best Robin.
“Maybe if you were a little bit nicer, people would want to work with you.” Stephanie rolled her eyes.
“You can’t beat the first Robin, Dami.” Dick ruffled the boy’s hair and smiled.
“Um! I only had to give up the mantle because you gave it to him, and you got fired! Prooves I’m number one!” Tim pointed out.
“(Y/N)?” Damian noticed your lack of interest in the conversation. “You were Batgirl once.”
“Yeah?” you turned up from the computer and raised an eyebrow. You didn’t think this conversation should involve you. You weren’t Batgirl for long, and you’d even given up the game for a bit.
“Who’s the best Robin?” Tim looked at what you’d been doing and corrected a few of the mistakes while asking. You nodded your thanks but still weren’t too invested in their little competition.
“You really want my opinion on that?”
“You’ve worked with all of us as Robin.” Tim shrugged
“So’s Babs,”
“But she’s Grayson biased.” Dick shot Damian a look.
“Yeah, I guess I can’t be biased…”
“Jaybird, please…” Tim had hacked the Red Hood Helmet for you, knowing you might be able to get through to him.
“What do you think you’re doing!” a young you yelled out of your bedroom’s balcony door. The garden attatched to your house was large, and the balcony gave you a perfect view of the stars, your manor located just outside Gotham’s Clouds. Your parents had built the house there for that reason. They wanted the sun to always be shining on them. They didn’t bother with the night time, they work in the morning and flights abroad to catch. They didn’t know you could barely sleep in the practically empty house, or that you’d stay up all night reading with the balcony door open. “Is that man bleeding!”
Robin was just under the balcony, attempting to drag a large and cloaked man across your lawn. A large and cloaked man, who you suddenly realised was Batman.
“Oh my god, you have to let me help!” you slid on to the other side of the railing and hoped to the nearest tree. You’d snuck out enough times to know you’d be down in a minute. The years of gymnastics and self-defence you parents had put you in to give you something todo paying off in unexpected ways.
You put yourself under one of Batman’s shoulders and helped to support his weight.
“What…?” Robin couldn’t finish the sentence and you didn’t let him.
“I can help.”
“How?”
“There’s no way you can get him wherever you’re going. This is my house, I can get you in and you can call whoever you need to.”
You put the backdoor code in and Robin followed. You could tell he was conflicted, even if you couldn’t see much of his face, but he was definitely out of options. Whilst he phoned someone, you started to bandage up the Dark Knight as best you could. Putting pressure to stop the blood flow.
“How do you do that?” Robin asked you carefully, coughing slightly; like he was trying to change his voice.
“Common knowledge?”
“That’s not common knowledge, and I’m rolling my eyes by the way.”
“Whatever, Birdboy.”
“Robin.”
“Birdboy.” if he was going to be rude, so were you.
“Jaybird, listen to my voice.” You were too far from the fight to save anyone, but you were still going to try, dragging your suit on as you spoke.
“Who’s that?” Jason asked Bruce, pointing to you as you arrived at the Wayne Gala with your parents.
“(Y/N)(Y/L/N). Her parents are in charge of international relations with the company I’ve just partnered with to support this Charity.” Bruce nodded to your parents, “Why?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you have a crush, Jason?”
“No!” Jason scowled
“Miss (Y/N) was the one who helped Jason the other night when you were bleeding out Master Bruce,” Alfred explained. Jason glared slightly, he hadn’t exactly told Bruce he’d gotten a civilian involved.
“You got a random person involved?”
“She caught me trying to get you back to the Manor and I didn’t have an option. I phoned Alfred who phoned Leslie to come and patch you up properly,” he mumbled.
“You should talk to her,” Bruce suggested.
“Why?”
“You’ll be seeing her at all of these events and she’s one of the few people your age.”
“Jaybird, listen to my voice, stop for just a second to listen.” The gunshots were still being fired and Bruce was running out of options. Tim was already on the floor, and if Jason couldn’t hit Bruce, he’d shoot Tim.
You caught the fist of the thug and flipped him, despite him being double your size. You were not about to hand over anything to him, and you were not going to wait for someone to save you. Placing your hand on the pressure point on the back of his neck, you lowered him carefully to the floor and took his knife. You tossed it into the trash, making sure it dropped to the very bottom. He could try and get it back, but he wasn’t going to see it anytime soon.
“Smooth,” Robin said, dropping into the alley and examining the passed out man.
“We have to stop meeting like this.” you joked. This was about the sixth time you’d met Robin in the past month. Ever since you’d started swim training at a later time in the evening, people kept trying to jump you whilst you waited for your taxi. He’d arrive just after you’d kicked the amateur criminals butt and sometime’s he’d even help you out.
“You need to stop putting yourself at risk.” he wasn’t saying it out of kindness, he spoke bitterly.
“Then you need to get here quicker.”
“Why don’t you just wait at the sports centre?”
“Where’s the fun in that.”
“Well, Batman wants to talk to you.”
“You don’t sound too happy about it…should I be worried Bird Wonder?”
“Robin.”
“Bird Wonder.”
“Jaybird! Stop, think about what you’re doing!” You were getting desperate. You needed to get through to him. Jason had meant so much to you before he died, and you’d thought you’d meant something to him. You’d been Batgirl and Robin.
“I did pretty well for my first night.” You smiled, swinging to the floor in the Batgirl suit. Batgirl was a lot more fun than any other activity you’d started to give you something to do. Your parents were good parents, but they were distant and busy, and you were getting a bit sick waiting around for them every day. The company they worked for helped people, and you wanted to help people too. As Batgirl you could.
“Sure.” Robin scowled, sending you a glance as you landed int he Batcave. Batman had let the two of you go out alone for your first night. He called it teambuilding. Robin didn’t seem so onboard with the idea of you, you’d put up with it all night. Finally, you were done trying to be nice.
“I’m not going to replace you.” you snapped, knowing exactly why he wasn’t being nice. It was written all over his face from the moment Batman said he wanted you to be Batgirl.
“Obviously,” he growled
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m Robin!” he held out his hands in one big gesture. “You’re just some rich girl who got bored and was in the right place at the right time. From your list of other ‘clubs’, it’s obvious that you get bored and give up. You’ll get bored of this too, and go back to your balcony in your big house and I’ll still be here.”
“Whatever chip you have on your shoulder, don’t you dare take it out on me. Yeah, I am just some rich girl, but Batman wanted my help. I’m good at this, and I’m not giving up. So either get on board or get out of my way before someone gets hurt because your ego can’t take a partner. Maybe Batman wanted me because you need to learn how to work with people. I’m not replacing you, and you’re not getting rid of me. We don’t need to like each other, but we need to have each other’s back - can your attitude problems do that or am I going to have to fight alone out there, Birdie?
“What is it with you and nicknames?”
“Their fun.” you shrugged.
“I don’t like them.”
“You will.”
“Jaybird! I know this isn’t you, and I know the real you is in there and can hear me.” Batgirl and Robin was just the brink of your relationship. Batgirl and Robin were what the public saw. You’d both been so much more than that. You’d been Jason and (Y/N). You’d drive each other crazy in just the right way.
“You okay, Birdbrain?” You joined him on the roof of some building in Gotham. Batman wasn’t out that evening, and your parents were at a gala you definitely didn’t want to attend. Robin had become better with you after the first month together. He wasn’t an actual one hundred per cent asshole. From what you could tell, he just had tremendous replacement anxiety and attachment problems.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be tonight?”
“Nope, why?”
“Just figured you were busy…”
“So, we know you know who I am, am I ever going to know who you and Bats are?”
No response. That hurt you a little bit. A lot actually. But it didn’t matter, you both were patrolling the city. You had better things to do, and it wasn’t like you thought Robin would tell you, take his mask off, and exchange real numbers or anything. The question was always going to be a long shot, you just wanted a face.
That entire patrol was extremely tense, not between you guys but the city. It was like it knew Batman wasn’t there and decided to go crazy. But crazy in a small way. No big name criminals trying to blow building up, just constant bank robbery attempts and thug violence on civilians. You were both tired, you were both becoming sloppy, and Robin currently had a gun shoved at the base of his head.
“Trust me?” you asked him, the criminal smiling like an idiot thinking he’d won. He nodded slowly and you threw the Batarang into his thigh. Robin shrunk down in pain and the criminal stepped back in shock. You fired two at him, using the distraction you’d caused. He was pinned to the wall and you tied him up, calling the police to his location.
“Quick thinking…” Robin said, biting down on his lip.
“You can cry, I won’t judge.”
“I could’ve ducked.”
“Because you can duck faster than he can shot.”
“Good point.” he stood up straighter and rubbed the cut. “You didn’t throw them very hard.”
“I wasn’t actually trying to hurt you. Pain wearing off?”
“Yeah, It’ll sting for a bit.”
“But it won’t leave a scar.” You assured him. You had only thrown it hard enough to make actually reach him, nothing else. You barely ever throw a punch with the intention too truly hurt someone. Batman said you and Robin balanced each other out. You only punched as hard as you had too to get the point across, Robin punched with everything he had, he was trying to prove his point too much. Too little-meant people underestimate you and too much meant Robin could go too far.
You both returned to the cave, calling it a night and hoping the police could deal with anything else that might happen.
“Jason,” Robin said when you landed in the cave
“What?”
“Jason Todd,” he took off the mask. “It’s unfair for you not to know.”
“Aer you warming up to me!”
“No!”
“Oh my god, you are! This is a breakthrough!” You declared, ignoring the fact that it meant Bruce freaking Wayne was Batman.
“Don’t make it into something.”
“But I’m going too.” You tried to ignore how cute his face was, slightly regretting seeing it now.
“I regret this already,” he complained
“No take backs!”
“Jaybird!” you were pleading into the helmet. Swinging across the city and trying to find them.
“It’s working.” Bruce sent a text through the comm system, not wanting Jason to know you were being used as a tool against him. “You’re messing with his head.”
That’s where you and Bruce were different, you didn’t want to be a tool, you didn’t want to mess with his head any more than it already had been. You wanted to help your Jason.
“Jason!” you yelled, seeing him at the Gotham Academy gates. He made eye contact with you and tensed up. Two of his friends were with him but you still ran towards him.
“(Y/N),” he looked at his friends quickly before focusing back on you.
“Pretty girl…” one of them whispered, bright red when you looked at him.
“I saw you and thought I’d say hey.” you didn’t go to Gotham Academy. Your parents sent you to an all-girls school that worked on the idea that girls thrived without distractions.
“Hey.” he was glaring at his friend’s awestruck faces. “What are you doing here?”
“Our school’s coming to some lecture going on here today.”
“Oh yeah, Bruce signed me up for it I think.”
“That’s cool, none of my friends are here, so can I sit with you?”
You motioned to the gaggle of girls behind you, a few staring at the boys like they were some foreign currency, some looked overly bored, some were just dismissive.
“Sure.” you gasped, “Don’t look so surprised. We are friends, and you asked.” you smiled at that. No way were you going to let him forget that he’d said it, you were tempted to make him repeat it so you could record it and make it his Robin ringtone.
“You are both witnesses for when he tries to claim he doesn’t like me!” the boys nodded their heads in unison, still awestruck by you. Jason snapped his fingers in their faces, neither of them reacting. He looked at you again, thinking over the 'pretty' comment It was true, you were very pretty, and you were trying so hard with him even though he’d been so cold towards you at the start. And you were clever, and you called him annoying names, and you were his Batgirl. His. You’d had no connection to Batman before him, and you never tried to compare him to Dick.
He did not have a crush on you. Not at all. Definitely not.
“See you later then…Jaybird.” you winked and disappeared, leaving him unsure of what to do with himself.
“Jaybird, my Jaybird. You can stop this. I’m nearly there, wait for me, I can help you the way I always did.” you were so close to Bruce’s location, so close to him. You hadn’t wanted to believe that Red Hood was Jason, that he was killing people and screaming for blood, but it made sense. Jason had loved Bruce. He’d thought of Bruce as his family. His real family until his ‘mum’ reappeared. You’d seen him as Red Hood, with the helmet off. His helmet hair was looking annoyingly perfect but his eyes crazy and unfocused. Bruce had made you take a step back, he didn’t want you to be at risk.
“Something’s different Alfred.” Bruce raised an eyebrow at you and Jason, who were out in the Garden and reading together. Your legs layered on top of each other and the occasional rant coming out about something in the story or a character.
“World’s Best Detective.” Alfred rolled his eyes,
“But what is it…They’ve been different in the field too, making small jokes, choosing to train together, collapsing on the safe after training. They don’t even speak before doing some kind of trick. They just do it. She lept off a building yesterday. I caught them doing homework together…Kids don’t do homework.”
“Jason is exceptional at school, you know that Master Bruce. He loves it and they trust each other.”
“No, this is more than trust.”
“World’s Best Detective.” Alfred repeated, shaking his head, “You honestly need me to tell you what it is?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“They’re, what the kids say, crushing.”
“Crushing…” he paused, “Crushing!” he spun round to stare at them again, suddenly noticing the small happy looks Jason was giving you as he tapped your leg lightly and the laugh you gave him as you swatted his knee. “
“Jaybird…” your voice was tired, and you just hoped he could still hear you.
“Jaybird?” You asked, opening your balcony door as he tapped it. You’d been sleeping, and hadn’t expected to be woken by him - at least not in normal clothes. You guys had plenty of late-night talks in costume, often after Bruce had sent you both to bed he’d make sure you got home and then you’d talk for about an hour. It was a nice little thing you’d developed.
“I’m going to my mum,” he said, rubbing his arm and pacing up and down the balcony as you leant on the railing.
“Really?” You’d heard him talk about his mum being alive, you’d seen him and Bruce arguing, you’d seen how the Dynamic Duo didn’t seem to fit together anymore.
“Yeah, I can’t deal with it anymore. I need to know, I have to go, I’m done with Bruce and his complaints and standards and comparisons. I’m done living in that stupid Manor and having the whole damn thing for literally two people, I’m done with everything and I can’t stay here.” he sounded stressed - like he was going to break down at any second.
“That’s…” you didn’t know how to respond. You didn’t want him to leave, you wanted him to stay and be your Robin. “Are you sure.”
“Everything here sucks, it isn’t me and I don’t want it to be. It can all burn,” you knew he was angry but it still hurt. He caught your eye and groaned. “I didn’t mean that at all.”
“Go, Jason, go find your mum.” you nodded slowly. You didn’t say it angrily or accusingly, he didn’t need that and you wouldn’t have your last conversation with him before he left as an argument.
“I didn’t mean you.”
“I know…” you nodded with full sincerity.
“You cut me too much slack.”
“No I don’t.” you sighed, “I just care about you enough to let the small things slide.”
“I care about you too,” he whispered. “I mean, I’m an idiot, I was so awful to you at the start.”
“You grew up though, grew out of it.” you pointed out.
“I grew up.” he smiled at you. A soft smile he’d only ever let you see. “I grew up and realised how awesome you were and how much I needed you in my life, even though I hate the Jaybird nickname and would rather you called me literally anything else. But it’s you, so it’s okay, because you’re perfect, and I had to do one last thing before I left, and I wouldn’t have killed myself later on if I didn’t just get up the courage to do it, I mean I’m leaving anyway so what’s there to lose.”
He stopped pacing, turning and walking straight towards you, kissing you before you had a chance to ask what his one last thing was. He kissed you softly and carefully, placing his hands on your back as yours slipped perfectly around his neck.
“Jace -” you pulled away for a second only to lean back in and continue kissing him.
When you did finally pull away properly, he disappeared without a word. You were sad, but you understood and you didn’t blame him. He needed to find his mum, and if he stopped to talk to you, you’d end up giving him a reason to stay. So you let him go, assuming he’d come back to you eventually, once he’d done everything he had to.
The gun was pointing at Bruce, shaking slightly, but the bloodlust made it clear he wasn’t going to miss. He was about to pull the trigger when you came crashing through the door.”
“Jace!” you screamed, it killed you so much to finally see him again. Seeing him like this. Broken and insane. He was in pain, and there wasn’t anything you could do to help him. “Come back to me, Jace!” you begged, weak and about to cry.
The gun dropped to the floor and he looked at you. He was panting, his entire body shaking, his eyes becoming clearer. He was angry, confused, and silent. He didn’t say anything, you didn’t move any closer. He left without a word. He left you. He left you again. Disappearing out of the window before you could say anything to make him stay.