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It's not that Tim doesn't like Jason. Doesn't like talking to Jason. Doesn't like being around Jason and just watching him exist. It's just that, well. They don't exactly run in the same circles. Jason has his Outlaws and Crime Alley and Thursday afternoon tea with Alfred and Tim has Young Justice and Boardrooms and Sunday brunch at the Manor.
So they didn't actually see each other all that much. It's not that Tim holds a grudge for what happened at Titan's Tower or during that time when everyone was trying to be Batman or when— okay there were a lot of times that Jason and Tim had fought brutally. But that was in the past! Jason didn't even hate Tim anymore— or at least. Probably not. Hopefully not. That would be— less than ideal. Especially for Tim's massive crush. Not that Tim expects Jason to, like, reciprocate. Tim doesn't even know if he's, like, bi or pan or gay or straight whatever. Jason has maybe had a thing with Roy a few years back before Roy and Starfire were a thing but that was pretty inconclusive so Tim doesn't actually know for sure or anything.
So, no. Tim doesn't dislike Jason. Likes him a little too much, if anything. Gets awkward and tongue tied and reverts to factual and calculated Red Robin as a defense mechanism whenever they’ve worked on the field together it's just—
It's just. There's no one else Tim could really talk to about this specific issue. Jason has first hand experience. Valuable information on the exact scenario Tim needs to plan for so he's really the only person Tim would be able to go to.
So Tim just needs to treat this like a mission. Jason is the target and Tim needs to extract the proper information. Except this time Tim can't go undercover. Hide behind a mask or disguise. It can't be Caroline or Alvin or even Red Robin.
It has to be Tim.
Tim needs to get Jason alone and talk to him about sensitive subject matter. No big deal.
Not that Tim thinks Jason will be weird about it. He’ll probably be super chill and put all of Tim’s worries to rest. Tim just has to actually talk to him. Without being weird about it. Tim can totally do that.
Tim waits on a rooftop on the edge of the Bowery but still in Red Hood's territory. It's part of Jason's standard patrol route, so long as he doesn't have any pressing jobs that Tim doesn't know about.
Previously, Tim has considered going to Jason's apartment and talking to him there as civilians. Except Jason has never actually told any of the Bats where he lived so Tim thought that maybe he would feel a little cornered or ambushed and definitely a little violated.
So. Rooftop meeting it is. Jason will swing by and see Tim waiting on the roof for him and will stop by for a chat. Nice and easy. And Jason gets to wear his helmet or his mask or whatever he's going with tonight and will have a layer of protection from the conversation, which Tim thinks might help sway the conversation into positive and helpful territory. Instead of, like, defensive and agitated.
Tim bought a camera even, and it feels a bit like old times. Taking pictures of the nightlife below while waiting for Batman and Robin to pass by.
It doesn't even take that long for Red Hood to thump onto the roof behind Tim who's trying to get an action shot of a raccoon in a dumpster.
“Replacement.” Hood says, voice mechanical and distorted. Helmet tonight, then.
Tim snaps the photo and turns to smile at Jason. Open and friendly, just like Dick when he was trying to make someone amiable. “Hey, Hood.”
Jason doesn't move, staring down at Tim without making a single sound.
This is fine. Tim can wait him out. Training under Batman teaches extreme patience.
Eventually Jason's hand twitches but ultimately he doesn't reach for his gun. “What are you doing here?” He asks, voice modulator keeping any emotion from surfacing.
“I was hoping I could ask you about something,” Tim says, twisting off the camera lens and putting it back in its proper pouch in the camera bag.
Jason's hand twitches again. “Ask what.” He says.
“Like, uh,” Tim founders. How to broach the subject... “Advice?”
Jason's hand clenches. “Advice. Shouldn't you go to dickhead for that?”
Tim shrugs noncommittally. “Dick doesn't really... Have expertise in this area.”
“And I do?”
Tim's expression turns wry. “Yeah, sorry. I really wouldn't be bothering you with this if I knew someone else. I know you don't really like me. But it's a pretty specific scenario, so I wanted to get your input.”
“I don't—” Jason starts, and his other hand clenches. “What did you want to ask?”
“I wanted to ask about—” just rip it off like a band-aid “—Bruce.” Jason visibly twitches. “In relation to, like, transgenderism? Transgender... ness?” Crap, what was the right terminology here?
Jason stares down at him, helmet hiding any expression he may have. “You wanted to ask me, what? If I thought Batman was a transphobe?” He pauses. “Did something happen with a civilian?”
“No! No, sorry.” This is coming out all wrong. “I know he’s cool with, like, civilians. At least he’s always been nice to them in front of me and he was pretty cool about me being bi, I guess. But like. It’s different when it’s someone on the street versus...” Tim trails off. Jason doesn’t fill in the blank for him. “Like. Your own kid.” Tim swallows. “It’s easier to be hypothetically cool about someone who’s trans if it’s not...”
Red Hood is frighteningly still. “You wanna know why the big ol’ bat hasn’t kicked me to the curb for being trans, yet?”
“What? No!”
“Then what the fuck are you trying to say, Drake? Because it sounds to me like you think B should’ve cut his losses when he found out the homeless kid he took off the streets was a freak?”
“Jason, no. I just— this is coming out all wrong. I just— I wanted to know how he reacted when you told him. That you were trans, I mean. Obviously. He wasn’t— was he cool about it?” Tim lips feel dry, chapped.
Red Hood looms over him. “Why?” He asks.
“Just if,” Tim stutters, “if someone else were going to, uh, like, tell him something similar. Do you think he would take it well?”
Jason stares down at Tim silently for a moment before he’s suddenly dropping down into a crouch and a warbled sigh comes out of his helmet. He rubs at the back of his neck.
“Is someone worried about telling him something? He’s— it’s— I have a lot of problems with B, but him being transphobic isn’t one of them. He was— excessively supportive, when I told him.”
Tim nods, drinking up every word Jason tells him.
“He let me start puberty blockers, looked up local therapists for me to talk to, he— fuck. We went shopping that weekend. Whole new wardrobe. I was still a little weirded out by the money thing but... It was nice. He’s gonna be chill about whatever whoever tells them, okay?” Jason rolls his shoulders and cocks his head to the side, clearly watching Tim. “Why’d they send you, I wonder...” He says, almost to himself. “Dick clearly thinks I have a soft spot...” He trails off.
Soft spot? Tim desperately wants to dig into that. A soft spot for Tim specifically?
“Nobody sent me,” Tim tells him. “This is sort of a, you know, asking for a friend situation. Except I’m the friend.”
Jason’s attention snaps to Tim. “Well, fuck me.” He says, and then reaches up to take off his helmet. His hair is a little wild and he’s not wearing a mask tonight so Tim can see how wide his eyes are, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline.
He’s handsome, Tim thinks, not for the first time. Strong jaw, high cheekbones. The ghost of stubble along his chin— he looks good. He’s been on T for a few years now, and he’s really settled into himself.
Maybe it’ll be the same for Tim.
“You—” he starts, and cuts himself off, dragging a hand through his hair and messing it up further. “You’re—”
Tim tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Jason’s eyes latch onto the movement. “Yeah,” she says, “I think I’m— well I know, but it’s not— I’m a girl. Probably. Definitely. I don’t know why I said that. I’ve just never, actually, you know. Said it out loud. Before. Wow, that’s—” She blinks a few times, her chest feels bubbly. “I’m a girl.” She feels her lips twitch up into a smile. “Wow.”
She glances back up at Jason and his cheeks are dusted a soft pink, huh. Maybe he got some sun earlier?
Tim smiles awkwardly up at him. “So you think it’ll go well?” She asks. “I made a PowerPoint when I came out as bi and wasn’t sure if I should go the same route or just rip it off like a band-aid. Or if I should talk to Dick first so he can back me up. But I also wasn’t sure if he— I mean I’m sure it’d be fine. He’s cool about things. But I think B really appreciated the PowerPoint last time and I could include citations and the history of, well. Me. And maybe he’d get it more?”
Jason shakes his head, still watching her with an open expression Tim can’t quite decipher. “No, baby bird. He’s gonna— you don’t have to explain yourself to him. He— he loves you. He’ll love you as whatever you are. It’s gonna go fine.”
Tim bites at her lip, considering. She might feel better if she could get it all down, prove the history of everything. But if Jason says she doesn’t need it maybe it really is better to just tell him.
“Should I schedule an appointment, do you think?” She asks.
Jason barks out a laugh and falls back, sitting down and resting his forearms on his knees. “No, he’ll spiral if you tell him you ‘want to talk’. Just tell him.”
“What. Just go up to him and say “Hey Bruce, I’m a girl”? Don’t you think that’ll... I don’t know. You don’t think he’ll freak?”
“No,” Jason tells her with a soft smile that has her feeling warm, “I think it’ll be fine. He might worry about why you waited so long to tell him, if anything. But he’s gonna— he’s gonna be great. He’s good about these things.”
“Huh.” Tim slumps a little, pulling the camera case into her lap. She’d thought it’d be harder than this. Harder to talk to Jason, harder to tell Bruce, her dad, who she really was.
“Do you want me to call you anything else?” Jason asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Huh? What else would you call me?”
Jason rolls his eyes at her. “Like besides Tim. Is there another name you’re considering?”
Tim blinks at him. “I mean? Not really? It’s my name I haven’t really... What would that matter anyways? You don’t really use my name.”
Jason’s jaw clenches. “Right,” he says, “I shouldn’t— I shouldn’t call you that. Replacement. It was— it’s mean. I won’t do it again.”
Tim shrugs. “It doesn't really matter. It doesn’t bother me anymore, not like it used to. Besides, that’s what I am, right?” She laughs. “I even stole Red Robin from you.”
Jason still looks unconvinced but he says “It’s yours. You made it your own.”
Tim beams. “Thanks, Jason.” She feels... light, somehow. This is the first time Jason’s show outright approval to her wearing his suit. His name.
He coughs and looks away, staring out at the city skyline. “Whatever.” He looks uncomfortable.
They lull into silence, Jason not looking at her and Tim wondering if she messed this up somehow.
She shifts, suddenly feeling awkward. “Sorry I bothered you with this. I know you don’t really like me, so I really appreciate this.”
Jason balks, gaping at her. “What? Who said I don’t like you?”
Tim shrugs, playing with the straps of her camera case. “Nobody had to. I know when you came back that wasn’t quite... well. And you apologized! Which is great and I don’t hold it against you but then you never, I mean...” She bites her cheek, trying to find the right words. “You only come by the manor when you know I won’t be there.”
“I thought you wouldn’t want to see me,” Jason tells her, and he looks nervous. Ashamed.
Tim cocks her head. “Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”
Jason barks a laugh. “Because I attacked you? More than once?” He drags a hand down his face. “Honestly, I thought you didn’t like me.”
“What!” Tim sits up, leaning towards him. “I like you!” It’s only now that she realizes how close they’ve gotten. She’s leaning on her hands, angling her body towards him and there can’t be more than a foot between them.
Tim’s face flushes and she scrambles back, leaning against the lip of the roof again.
Jason cracks a smile at her and she feels the blush spread to her ears. “I like you, too,” he says, and this time she thinks the red on his cheeks has nothing to do with the sun.
“Oh,” she says, and can’t seem to find any other words to follow that up.
“So we both like each other,” he says, eyes locked on her.
She sends him a wobbly smile, knowing her face is bright red. “Yeah,” she squeaks, “guess so.”
He smirks at her, and his eyes— is he checking her out!? Holy shit. Jason stands, snatching his helmet and shoving it on. “Let me know how it goes,” he says, “with B I mean. We can, uh, grab lunch or something. Just send me a text next time instead of taking photos from a roof like a creep.”
Tim scrambles to stand. “But I don’t, uh, I don’t have your number?”
Jason barks a laugh. “I’m sure you can figure it out, pretty bird.” He pulls out his grappling hook. “Let me know if you need anything else, seriously. Us trans kids gotta stick together.”
Tim’s cheeks hurt from how much she’s smiling. “Yeah,” she says, feeling a little dreamy, “sure. Will do.”
Jason salutes her and then falls backwards off the roof before letting the grapple catch and swinging away.
That went way better than she could have hoped for.
She stands there for a moment, watching Jason’s retreating form.
Wait.
Did he call her pretty?