Chapter Text
Okay, so here’s the thing.
Jason was pretty sure he’s being stalked.
Under any normal circumstance, it wouldn’t really be that big of a deal.
Jason Todd was used to a little attention. Jason Todd was technically still adjusting to living with The Bruce Wayne, his two year anniversary of being officially adopted coming up in a few weeks. Reporters and nosey journalists kept trying to ambush him outside his home, dying to get a scoop on Brucie Wayne’s latest charity case. A little snooping and trespassing from random Gothamites was to be expected every now and then.
Dick told him the attention would die down after the first year, when everyone realized Bruce wasn’t going to “return” them. The public would lose interest, then the media would lose interest, and Jason could go back to living his normal, unassuming lifestyle as a high schooler moonlighting as a vigilante.
Well, if the reporter Alfred caught peaking out of his rose bushes said anything, that was a fucking lie.
Only he wasn’t being stalked as Jason. He was being stalked as Robin.
And here’s the thing.
Robin doesn’t have stalkers.
Robin is supposed to be able to stay hidden from any and all threats.
Robin is supposed to be good enough to lose any and all potential stalkers.
So here’s the thing.
Jason is pretty sure—no… definitely sure he hasn’t been imagining the shadow that’s been following him for weeks now.
It’s a quick little thing, a blink and you miss it kind of shadow. The first few days, Jason thought he was just imagining things, the stress of midterms and Robin weighing down heavily on his mind. He even took two days off to catch up on his school projects and got a solid 8 hours of sleep both nights just to make sure.
All it really accomplished was it confirmed Jason wasn’t imagining things when he went out after his time off and saw the shadow from the corner of his eye after stopping a bank heist.
And Bruce’s shell shocked expression when he requested time off as Robin, but that was definitely worth it.
Now, Jason wasn’t one to let down his guard. He grew up on the streets of Park Row for crying out loud.
And he was Robin! It wasn’t really surprising he had picked up a fan along the way.
What was surprising was how slippery this little fan was.
The only glimpses he’s ever caught of the stalker was its shadow. He couldn’t even tell Batman or Nightwing one defining detail, let alone a general description.
So he kept the discovery to himself. Kept his senses sharp as he tried to mentally train himself to hone in on his stalker.
Which leads him to the now.
Now, he was chasing after the shadow, navigating the rooftops and ledges the shadow was nimbly running on as though one slip wouldn’t lead to eminent death.
Jason couldn’t help but shudder as he edged slowly around the corner of a building, hugging the walls as he stepped off the thin rail and back to solid ground.
If Batman was here, he would have Jason’s head.
Or worse.
Mother hen and fret.
Except Batman wasn’t here because Batman had a god damn cold and Alfred forced him to stay in for the night. And since Nightwing wasn’t expected to come back to Gotham until tomorrow night, Jason was forced to stay in too.
Except Jason, ever the idiot, had decided “fuck the Patriarchy” and snuck out anyways. And he had been having such a good night! He stopped three attempted muggings, helped a kid find their lost cat, walked an old woman across the street and got free tacos from a taco truck he had helped out a few days ago!
But as the saying goes, all good things must end. And his good time just had to be ruined right in the middle of his fucking taco break.
A scream sounded through the night, cutting through Jason’s conversation with the taco truck owner. The man—Julian—whipped his head towards the direction the scream came from, then threw a quick glance at Robin. “I, uh… guess you gotta go now, huh, kid?” Julian said sheepishly, taking Jason’s plate with the remainder of his precious meal still on it. “Go on then, stop by any time, taco’s are on the house.”
And look. Jason’s a good person, okay? He’s down with this whole superhero gig or whatever, call it community service with a twist.
But Julian had this special sauce. A sauce that was a closely guarded family secret. A sauce that even Alfred would never be able to recreate.
And Jason wants to be able to eat his god damn taco with that delicious god damn sauce in peace.
But, duty calls… He sighed, standing up and patting off his uniform before tossing Julian a two finger salute and grappling away. It was relatively easy to follow the shrieks, whoever was in danger was doing a good job of being heard. After a few more alleys and turns, he finally found the source of the commotion.
It was yet another mugging—the fourth of the night. Simple enough. After drop kicking one of the assailants and urging their target—a college student going home after a late night at the library from the looks of it—to run, Jason turned back to the wannabe muggers. It was a small group of five men, each brandishing some kind of blunt force object. They bared their teeth menacingly, one man stepping out of line to initiate the first swing.
Jason rolled his eyes.
He could take out five dudes in his sleep.
And that’s probably where he messed up.
See, it wasn’t the fighting part. No, that he had down fine.
It was the fact that he had underestimated his enemies. A rookie mistake really, but hey, Jason was having a good time, alright? This was probably the most exhilarating fight of the night, all the previous muggings ending before they even began.
He failed to notice that one of the men did not just have a metal pipe as a weapon, but a large serrated edge dagger as well.
He also failed to notice the guy was behind him, attention too focused on the other four men in front of him.
He may have also fallen too far into the habit of having Batman watching his back in every fight and didn’t even think to consider a course of action in the event Batman wasn’t there.
Like he wasn’t now.
It all happened so damn fast. One second he was fighting the muggers, easily plowing down four of them at once, then the next he heard a pained grunt and the clatter of the dagger falling to the ground. He whipped his head around in time to see the fifth man, now on the dirty alley floor, knocked out cold.
A black figure was crouched not far from the body.
“S-shit!” one of the men screeched. “It’s the Bat, run for it!”
And just like that, the alley was empty, save for a crook, a bird, and a shadow.
The muggers had called the shadow Batman.
Expect Jason knew it wasn’t Batman.
Cuz the big mighty Bat was taken down by a cold.
The shadowy figured tilted its head as it stared Jason down. Jason froze, holding his breath as the… thing assessed him with an invisible gaze.
Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished. Jason blinked, stupefied. He saw what looked like the ends of a cape disappear around the alleyway corner.
And just like that, he was off. Chasing the creature through the streets and buildings of Gotham.
Because Jason noticed a few things as the thing—his little stalker—was scrutinizing him.
The main thing being his nickname of “little” really wasn’t far off.
Was he being stalked by a damn kid??
“Wait!” Jason called, reaching out to try and grab at the ends of the cape or cloak the kid was wearing, but to no avail. The kid was as slippery as a god damn eel, slipping out of Jason’s hands whenever he thought he had him (or her?).
“I’m not trying to hurt you, just let me talk to you!” Jason panted, narrowly avoiding braining himself against a brick wall as the stalker made a sudden sharp turn.
Now, Jason wouldn’t be trying so hard to catch a stalker, his own or Robin’s.
But the thing. The thing is.
The other small thing he had taken note of in that alleyway.
There had been blood coated on the dagger the mugger had dropped.
And the man hadn’t been injured as far as Jason could tell.
And the fact that he was keeping up with the small, slippery fuck that had escaped his grasp for weeks now also added to the growing conclusion that whoever he or she was.
They were hurt.
They also must be new to Gotham, Jason realized after a few more turns. Any street hardened Gothamite would know all the twists and turns to take to avoid any kind of pursuer. Came in handy when avoiding cops or gangbangers.
Except this kid was running in a concise route, almost like they were following a navigation system. Save for a few well placed detours to try and shake Jason, he had a pretty good idea where the kid was going. Pulling up the mental map of Gotham that Bruce made him memorize (the paranoid bastard), Jason concluded the most probable location the kid was heading towards. He took a sharp left, hoping his intuition was correct,
He didn’t want to leave and find out some kid had died protecting Robin.
Jason made it to the gargoyles before the kid did. His own personal history with the streets and early days as Robin gave him an advantage when it came to finding this particular lookout.
It was the only place in the entire city that had such a picturesque view. It was tall enough that it wasn’t swimming in the haze of fog and pollution, and far out enough that the sounds of the city couldn’t reach it. All in all, it was probably Jason’s favorite place to relax outside of the Wayne Manor library if he wanted to be alone.
He heard a small scrambling noise followed by a labored grunt of someone trying to pull themselves up a ledge. He turned and saw the small shadow struggling to lift itself up, lower body still dangling as thin arms shook and threatened to give out.
“Need a hand?” Jason offered, stepping out from behind the gargoyle and reaching out to the kid.
The kid stiffened, then seemed to take a second to weigh in his options. At this distance, Jason realized that the “shadow” was actually just a really long cloak. The hood was so large over the kid’s head that it blocked out every facial feature, leaving just the inky darkness. While it did look intimidating in the gloom of the alley, from up close it just looked like a kid playing dress up in clothes way too big for them.
Finally, after what felt like ages but was most likely only a few seconds, the kid grabbed Jason’s outstretched hand, somewhat begrudgingly. Jason grinned as he hoisted the kid up so they could join him next to his favorite gargoyle.
The little stalker patted themselves off quickly before letting the large cloak fall in front of their shoulders, much like what Batman did to look scary and mysterious. They didn’t say anything, but Jason could feel their watchful eyes following Jason’s movements warily.
Jason carefully took a seat at the foot of his gargoyle, making sure to display all his movements and show the kid he wasn’t a threat. Once he was situated, he patted the empty spot next to him invitingly, grinning up at the kid.
“The view up here is my favorite,” he said cheerfully. “You got a good eye for scenery, don’t you kid?”
The kid didn’t respond, only standing there with his stupidly large cape and hood, invisible eyes still trained on Jason.
Jason fought back the urge to roll his eyes. It was like dealing with a small font Batman.
“Thanks for the save earlier, by the way,” Jason said, turning to stare out at the city, trying to keep his body language as casual as possible. “I didn’t even see the guy had a knife, I would’ve been toast if you hadn’t stepped in.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw the kid slowly approaching the spot next to him. Not wanting to spook the kid, he continued chatting about anything he could think of, ranting about his unfinished taco to raving about Julian’s Sauce.
He let out an internal cheer when the kid finally sat down next to him.
It was short lived when the kid slumped over like a puppet with its strings cut, as though standing had been the only thing keeping them alive.
It was unnerving to see the kid’s body disappear in the folds of the cloak; it was like watching a horror movie where the ghost walks through the sheet then suddenly disappears and the sheet goes back to being a sheet.
“Shit, that’s right, you got injured,” Jason cursed, hand already scrambling for the med pack in his utility belt. He reached for the kid, trying to figure out how he was going to dig out the small body, when a tiny hand shot out, a surprisingly strong grip holding him in place.
“I’ll do it,” a small voice rasped. A few moments passed before the kid started moving, a small pained grunt the only noise he made. Jason dutifully handed the kid some gauze and tape. He was fully ready to sneak a glance at the injury before deciding if he was gonna knock the kid out and take him to Leslie or back to the cave for treatment.
Jason learned a few things in the next few minutes. From the voice, though it was small and unclear, Jason was pretty sure it was a boy, probably a kid no older than he was. The kid kept the hood firmly over his head, but he moved the folds of the cloak to press the gauze over his wound. Jason couldn’t help but wince in sympathy. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it was big. The cut ran from the top of his right shoulder then down across his chest, stopping right over his heart. Luckily, it looked like a slashing wound, the end of the cut nowhere near as deep as it was at the shoulder.
“You won’t be able to patch that up one handed,” Jason said as he watched the kid struggle to keep pressure on the deeper part of the cut while simultaneously trying to tape it up. “Here, I have some butterfly bandages.” He reached into the pack and pulled them out to show the kid. “They act like stitches, you see? It’ll hold the cut together so it can heal.”
Jason continued to talk the kid through his process, telegraphing his moves slowly and deliberately so he could see what Jason was doing. The kid was silent, but Jason could tell he was listening intently, absorbing all the medical babble Jason was blabbing. The next thing he knew, he had his hands on the kid’s shoulder, propping him up so he could use the butterfly bandages to hold together the skin. The kid was holding on to the gauze and medical tape, ready to hand off to Jason once the butterfly bandages were on.
One thing Jason noticed was the kid’s clothes. They weren’t like anything he’s ever seen in Gotham. It looked like pajamas, kind of like the robes worn by the sorcerers in Doctor Strange.
The other thing Jason noted was the kid’s build. Despite his small size, his body was toned and lean, similar to Dick’s acrobatic sinewy musculature. So whoever this kid was, wherever he came from, he must have had some kind of training.
And the last thing.
Jason didn’t have any painkiller on him, not even a bottle of Advil. And while the cut wasn’t deep, it was big and it had to hurt like a bitch.
The kid didn’t make a single sound. He barely even twitched. The only give away at the intense pain he must have been feeling was the tension in his body as Jason worked. When Jason finished taping on the last patch of gauze, he heard the kid let out a slow, controlled breath.
So not just training in combat, meditation in pain as well.
“Those bandages won’t hold very long,” Jason warned when he finished, allowing the kid to shake the cloak back over to cover his shoulder. “You should come back to the cave with me. Just to be safe.”
The kid looked out into the distance, studiously ignoring Jason.
And Jason.
Jason took that as a challenge.
So he continued to prattle about anything and everything he could think of. He told this stranger who was potentially his stalker all about how Dick told him he had to take off his shoes when entering a new room at the manor, only to be gently informed by Alfred that he didn’t need to while Dick tried to stifle his laughs in the corner. He also told the kid how he got his revenge by switching Dick’s shampoo with hair dye and laughed himself to tears while watching his older brother try to explain to Bruce why he had bright pink hair.
But then his revenge backfired when Dick—the freak—actually liked the atrocious color on himself, much to the horror of Jason, Bruce, the Titans and honestly anyone who knew or worked with Dick.
He kept on his one sided conversation until his com chirped. He and his companion jumped at the small sound; Jason’s little escapade was discovered.
“Robin,” a heavily disapproving tone said sharply through his com.
Oh god, even worse. It was Alfred that noticed.
“I know, I know, I’m on my way back now Agent A,” Jason sighed, standing and brushing off the butt of his leotard. God, he could not wait to add pants to this damn suit, fuck Dick and his stupid fucking fashion choices. “Any chance we can keep this between us?”
“Not likely,” a gravelly though slightly nasally voice rasped in return.
Fuck.
Jason takes it back. He would be lucky to go out as Robin at all in the next few months, if not years.
“I’m sending the Batmobile to you now,” Bruce coughed. A small moment of silence passed before he sternly said, “Don’t move from your position.”
“Yes, dad,” Jason grumbled, kicking at the gravel.
Bruce grunted. Jason was gonna have to check the cave footage when he was allowed back down to see the sucker punched expression on Bruce’s face whenever he or Dick ever used the d word.
“Sorry to cut the fun short, kid,” Jason sighed after muting his coms. “Looks like I’ve been caught. Gotta go home now.”
The kid was quiet, but for the first time that night, he looked up at Jason, head tipped like a bird. “Was that your Master?” the kid asked cautiously.
Jason wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the question or the fact that the kid spoke. “Kinda? Not really, he’s more like my teacher? I think of him as my dad, but don’t tell him I said that. Gotta keep the old man on his toes, too much emotional connections might short circuit his emotionally constipated ass,” he said conspiratorially.
He couldn’t see the kid’s face, but he let out a little snort of amusement. Jason would take that as a win.
Jason heard the distinct sound of a car pulling up and sighed. Looks like his ride was here.
“I gotta go,” he said again, looking at the kid uncertainly. “Look… kid—”
“Tim.”
Jason blinked. That was… unexpected. After a whole night of being ignored, he was sure the kid—Tim—would’ve been more happy to see him gone as soon as humanly possible. “…Tim. I don’t really feel comfortable with you being out here. Alone. Especially with a cut that big, those bandages are only supposed to hold the wound together until you can get proper care.”
“Okay,” the kid nodded, standing abruptly and patting himself off as well. “I’m coming with you then,” he declared.
And wow, Jason was getting all sorts of whiplash. “Uh… you are?” he finally said dumbly.
Tim nodded. “I’m compromised,” he said simply. “You said you could help me in the ‘cave,’ wherever that is. So I’ll come with you.”
“You’ll come—I’m sorry, but are you the same dude who was ignoring me the whole night?” Jason couldn’t help but ask exasperatedly.
Tim shrugged. “You were leading the conversation fine. Gotta keep you on your toes.” And oh boy, Jason could hear the smirk in that voice. He doesn’t even know what the kid looks like, but he just knew there was a shit eating grin on his face.
“Oh, you little shi—”
“Meet you at the car,” Tim interrupted him, gracefully throwing himself off the edge and making his way down the building. The kid moved so smoothly, it was like watching water. It wasn’t like Dick’s natural grace where air and gravity just didn’t seem to work the way it should, but it wasn’t really how Bruce trained Robin either. Yet, there was something vaguely familiar about the way the kid moved…
Jason snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the horn honk from the Batmobile.
He cursed.
First he’s gaslighted by a fucking baby, now he’s gonna have to listen to said baby gloat over winning too.