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Tim stared at the camera in his lap. On any other night he would’ve already snuck out of his house and gone into Gotham, but not tonight. Not since he was barred from leaving his house. Barred by the Batman, of all people. The very person that Tim would normally be taking pictures of.
It had been a few days since Tim screwed up at the gala. Where his big mouth had gotten in the way and he’d indirectly confessed to Jason Wayne that Tim knew what he got up to during the night. That he wasn’t just Jason Wayne, former street kid and now adopted son of Bruce Wayne, but that he was Batman’s partner, Robin.
Of course things had devolved from there and now Tim was under house arrest. He couldn’t believe it. He’d been told – instructed, really – that he was not, under any circumstance, allowed to leave his house at night.
It sucked. A lot. Tim hated that he was stuck in his house. His parents had long since gone to sleep, and now he was just stuck sitting on his bed; staring at his camera and his fingers itching to take some pictures.
His sleeping schedule had changed because of his hobby as well. Tim wasn’t used to going to sleep at a normal time anymore, even if it was a school night. He was able to function without a lot of sleep, he’d found out. That certainly facilitated his hobby. Now he was just stuck at home. Tim didn’t dare try to leave either. He had no doubt that Bruce had long since booby trapped his house with sensors, cameras, and the like. If he even tried to get out of his house, the chance that someone would come to stop him from leaving was astronomically high.
The worst thing was that he hadn’t spoken to any of the Wayne family members since the night of the gala. Bruce made him promise that he wasn’t going to tell anyone about their secret identities as Gotham’s fabled vigilantes and left it at that. Not even Dick and Jason had stuck around for much longer after that.
It wasn’t what Tim was expecting. Especially from the way that Jason said that he and Tim would be getting very close indeed. Tim found himself waiting for Jason to show on his doorstep the next day, but he never did.
Batman and Robin certainly were around still though. Just last night they had stopped another attempt from the Riddler to rob the Gotham Natural History Museum.
When Tim saw the report on TV he was bummed out that he’d missed all the action. From the sounds of it, it had been quite the epic fight.
“We’ll go out again soon,” Tim promised his camera as he grabbed a cloth out of his camera bag. Maybe it was about time that he cleaned the lens properly. It had been a while since he’d done that.
Tim pulled out everything that he needed to give his camera a thorough cleaning. It was definitely up for another one. The camera went through a lot of crazy situations as well. There were even a few times when Tim had barely managed to save it from certain death. His hobby did come with a few hazards, after all.
He took a picture of a white sheet of paper to see where dust had built up. There wasn’t a lot considering Tim hadn’t cleaned it in a while, but it was something to do. That was what mattered most at this point. This way his camera would be ready for the next time he was finally allowed to go out again.
Once he’d identified the dirty places, Tim grabbed a few Q-tips and made them wet before he meticulously wiped down the outside of his camera to make sure that it was completely dust free. It would be counterproductive for the dust on the outside to get into the lens while he was cleaning. After that was done Tim made sure that everything else around him was clean as well. Luckily, dust didn’t accumulate that much in Drake manor, but it was always around even if you couldn’t see it.
Next he turned on the dust reduction system and locked up the mirror. With that out of the way, Tim examined the sensor so he could determine exactly where the dust was so he could blow it off with the air blaster. It was a little tedious, and Tim had to be very careful, but he had a lot of practice.
After checking the sensor a few more times Tim was satisfied with how clean it was and set to cleaning the rest with an electrostatic brush. This was another delicate process. If Tim touched any other part besides the sensor, there was the chance that he could transfer more dust or even grease from other parts of the camera onto the sensor. That was always a huge pain to clean off. He’d learned to be very precise after the first few times that he’d screwed up. Once that was finished, Tim moved to wet clean the sensor with a swab.
All in all, it took almost an hour for Tim to properly clean his camera, but it was time well spent. He was sure that his lens was spotless now. The only problem was that he still wasn’t tired. Tim tucked his camera away with a sigh; maybe it was a good idea to try and sleep.
He tugged his shirt off and tossed it into the hamper. A cool breeze brushed over his chest, which made Tim shudder. That was weird. He was sure that his window was closed.
“Fuck, if I’d known that you were that skinny, I would’ve raided the snack bar for you.”
Tim jolted, bumping into his hamper and falling over it.
“Christ, how are you still alive?”
Tim looked up and narrowed his eyes at the young man crouching on the window sill. “You startled me.”
“And you manage to keep falling over and dropping shit,” Jason said, an eyebrow arched and the corner of his lips quirked up.
“I’m at home. No one really sneaks up on me.” More often than not, Tim had the place to himself. There was no one around to scare him.
“Right…” The quirk of Jason’s lips grew into a smirk. “Do you not eat enough? Is that why you were attacking the date?”
He wanted to close his eyes and bang his forehead against the ground. Tim very much wanted to forget what had led to him screwing up at the gala. It wasn’t his fault that he’d dropped the bacon wrapped date and Jason had refused to give it back after he’d saved it from the certain doom that was the floor.
Instead of doing that, Tim forced himself to look away from Jason. He looked so comfortable sitting on Tim’s window sill. It was probably something that he did a lot.
Well, actually. Probably not. Not Tim’s window sill at least. As far as he knew. Oh god brain why! Tim didn’t want to get flustered in front of Jason of all people.
“Aren’t you supposed to be out on patrol?” Tim asked.
Jason scoffed and Tim could hear him jumping off of the sill. “I was, until I screwed up a fall and sprained my wrist. Bats sent me straight home.”
Tim pushed himself up so he could look at Jason. He wasn’t wearing his Robin uniform at all. Instead he was clad in sweatpants and a hoodie that was much too big for him. Tim spotted bandaging around Jason’s right wrist. At least it wasn’t Jason’s dominant hand that was injured. That had happened to Tim before, and it was the worst thing in the world.
On second thought, it was probably the worst thing after blurting out his greatest secret to the people that he was keeping said secret from.
“What are you doing here?” After all this time, Tim hadn’t expected Jason to just show up. Especially in the middle of the night like this.
“No way in hell I’m staying cooped up while Bruce is off playing broody man in a cowl. Brought a little something for you.” Jason said, holding up a bag and shaking it.
“How did you even know that I was going to be awake?” Tim didn’t blame Jason for wanting to be out and about though. He knew the feeling all too well right now.
“I had a feeling and it was right,” Jason said as he walked over and sat down on Tim’s bed.
The confidence in which Jason walked around was something that Tim envied. They’d only spoken a total of two times, yet Jason felt comfortable enough to just stroll in unannounced. “Still doesn’t really explain why you’re here.”
“Don’t you remember? We’re going to get each to know each other very well. Now sit your ass down.” Jason set the bag down on the bed and started rifling through it.
Tim sighed and quickly grabbed his pajama shirt. He was already conscious enough about his body; he didn’t need to be worrying about what he looked like while his idol was sitting on his bed.
By the time that Tim sat down on the bed Jason was holding up two plastic wrapped packages. “Pick one.”
Tim looked between them. There was no discernible difference. Was there really a good choice or a bad choice? Maybe this was some sort of test. Tim wouldn’t put it passed Jason. He was the trainee of the World’s Greatest Detective, after all.
One of the packages thumped against his forehead. “You’re in your head again. Am I going to have to keep at the ready to knock you out of it?”
“No!” Tim protested. He grabbed the package that Jason knocked him on the head with. It was cold. There was condensation on the outside as well. Definitely something that was supposed to be in the freezer. He opened up the package and saw a wooden stick. “Ice cream?”
“It’s a popsicle,” Jason said. He tore open his own package and pulled out a purple popsicle.
The one that was in Tim’s package was red. Tim ate ice cream quite often, but he hadn’t had many popsicles. This one was already melting. Probably from being out of the freezer for a bit while Jason walked over from Wayne manor to Drake manor. “Thanks?”
“You’re welcome. Now eat it before it melts,” Jason told Tim. He leaned forward and wrapped his lips around the bottom of his popsicle to suck away the drops that were rolling down the stick.
Tim’s eyes were glued to Jason’s lips. How could they not be? This was so different from how Tim had ever seen Jason. In fact, they were hardly ever so close to each other. Sure, Tim had seen Jason eating a lot. Even seen him eating ice cream on patrol a few times during some particularly hot nights, but never this close. Never close enough to see Jason sucking on the popsicle and then leaning back to lick the leftover drops left on his lips. Tim unconsciously licked his lips as well.
“You’re leaking.”
“Huh?” Yet another great response from Timothy Jackson Drake.
“You’re leaking.” Jason nodded at Tim’s hand.
Tim finally pulled his eyes away from Jason and saw that the popsicle had melted so much that the sticky drops were dripping onto his hands. “Shoot!” He quickly leaned in to lick the red trails away. It was too late to keep it from staining his skin though. Red stained his hand. That was going to take a bit of scrubbing to get out. Red dyes were always notoriously stubborn.
“You’re weird,” Jason said.
Tim snorted. “Says the guy who goes out at night dressed like a stoplight.”
“Hey! That wasn’t my choice in costume,” Jason protested.
“Like you haven’t ever thought of changing it. You’re seventeen. Dick was about the same age when he outgrew Robin.” That was around the time that Jason had come around.
“Being Robin gives me magic. Also, I changed the scaly panties to regular tights a long time ago.” Jason glared at Tim.
Tim shook his head in amusement. “Only about three years too late.”
“Watch it there, kiddo.”
He couldn’t help it. Tim just started to laugh. It was weird that Jason was calling him kiddo when he was only two years older than him and that he’d basically run away from Wayne manor because he was bored.
“Laugh all you want. Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything,” Jason said.
Tim’s laughter trailed off when he realized what Jason was saying. “Did you just quote George Bernard Shaw?”
“Yeah, so?” Jason crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. It would’ve been more imposing if he hadn’t been holding a popsicle.
Tim didn’t know a lot about Jason, that was just a fact, but he hadn’t expected something like that to come out of his mouth. Not only that, but he totally knew who he was quoting. How interesting. It was very endearing and Tim knew that he’d fallen hook, line, and sinker right then and there.
The popsicle slid down his stick and rested against his hand, where it melted some more. Tim groaned when the drops landed on his comforter. “Damn.” It wasn’t like anyone would worry about his comforter getting a few stains, but Tim tried to keep his bed clean. It was probably the cleanest part of his room.
“Told you to start eating,” Jason pointed out.
“Eat your own freaking popsicle,” Tim grumbled before he started licking at the bottom of the cold treat. Once he’d licked up everything that had melted, Tim bit into his popsicle. The cold stung his teeth a little, but Tim liked the way that it crunched on his molars.
He was sucking the last piece off of the stick when his curtains rustled. From the way Jason stiffened, Tim could already guess who was at the window.
“It’s a school night, Jason,” Batman said.
“You act like I wouldn’t still be awake if I hadn’t fucked up my wrist.” Jason shot back, already reaching out to grab the bag and plastic wrappers.
“Sleeping will help you heal.”
Jason turned to Tim and rolled his eyes. Tim chuckled and bit his lip to keep them back.
“No complaints,” Batman said. He focused on Tim next. “Timothy. I expect to see you some time this weekend.” With that Batman moved away from the window. Tim was sure that he was still around though. There was no way that he was going to leave Jason around.
“Yeah, Timothy,” Jason drawled. “You’ll get the full tour and everything.”
“Full tour of what?” Tim asked.
Jason snorted. “See you around, stalker.” He climbed out of the window.
“I’m not a stalker!” Tim slapped his hand over his mouth and looked at the wall that bordered his parent’s bedroom. It wasn’t likely that they heard anything, but that didn’t stop Tim from worrying.
By the time that he looked back at the window, Jason was gone as well. The only evidence that he’d even been around at all was the stick that Tim was holding and the red stains on his comforter. Suddenly Tim was excited to go to Wayne manor. He wanted to know what Bruce wanted to talk to him about, but he also wanted to see what the ‘full tour’ held in.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that he’d screwed up.