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At first he didn’t believe it. He thought he was dreaming, that it was just something of a freaky coincidence considering what he’s just begun doing.
The first time he sees Jason Todd’s ghost he’s on patrol, a few roof tops behind Batman. It was just a glimpse from the corner of his eye but it was enough to startle him and make him stop to double check what he was seeing.
Jason Todd stands opposite him on the adjacent roof top staring back at him, unmoving. He was dressed in a red hoddie, baggy sweatpants and well-worn trainers. Tim stares at him in shock trying to comprehend what he was seeing. He opens his mouth to speak but gets cut off when a rough voice calls him.
“Robin!”
Tim turns, almost reluctantly, away from Jason and looks to find Batman several roof tops away waiting for him.
“Coming!” Tim yells back looking back towards where he had seen Jason only to find him no longer there. He blinks a few times before finally turning away and making a move to catch up to the Bat.
As he runs he tries to forget about it, it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. Jason was dead, there’s no way that could have been him, but he knows that face, he’s stared at Jason’s picture enough for it to be etched into his mind by now, then again it was probably just another kid who just looked very similar to the deceased Jason Todd.
The second time Tim sees him is in the cave when he was training. He was going through his routine with his bo staff when Jason suddenly appears on the edge of the mats. Tim startled when he finally notices him. Tim observes that his appearance was the same as last time, he was dressed in that red hoddie and baggy sweatpants.
Tim eyes him wearily before glancing around the otherwise empty cave. Jason does nothing but stand there and watch him. Feeling uneasy with the sudden audience Tim tries to continue with his routine. It takes a while but he eases back down and settles into doing his movements despite Jason standing off to the side.
When he finishes an hour later Jason was no longer there and Tim was once again just convinced it was his mind playing tricks on him.
After that it basically became the norm, Tim seeing Jason Todd’s ghost around. It takes several months but he realises that Jason only appears when he’s Robin and never as Timothy Drake. Jason appears on roof tops where he’s patrolling, by the mats where he’s training and even on occasion at the cave with Young Justice.
Tim soon accepted the silence presence of him and just went with the flow, he’s accepted that it’s a little messed up but he doesn’t question it and he never, never, tells Bruce or Dick about it. He can only imagine what their reactions were going to be like.
It’s now been about two and a half years since Jason’s ghost has been hanging around him. It even crossed Tim’s mind that the Robin suit could be cursed or something, Jason had in fact died wearing it so maybe his ghost is just attached to the it. Either way Tim has grown used to seeing Jason around, even to the point where he’s silently looking for the ghost and relaxing when he finds him standing off to the side.
Sometimes he observes the ghost, noting how Jason has seem to grown up as the time has passed by, almost like he really was alive. He was taller than before, his hair a little longer and his chin more defined. Tim figures this is what he would look like if he never died in the first place. It hurts to know that he knows what Jason looks like when Bruce, Alfred and Dick will never know.
On a particular day Tim was doing some training in the cave, trying to get his mind off of everything going on in his life. It’s been really stressful lately and he wants to blow off some steam. As he repeatedly hits the dummy in front of him he’s aware of Jason’s presence behind him and the way the ghost casually walks around observing everything surrounding them.
It’s when he makes a sloppy punch that hurts his hand an unfamiliar voice speaks out. “You’re sloppy today.”
He jumps at hearing it and spins around trying to find the owner. When he finds the cave empty he looks over at Jason to find the ghost staring back at him with a raised eyebrow. Tim blinks, did he just - that’s not possible...
“Did you just-”
“Speak? Yeah I did.” Jason responds back smirking.
Tim stares in shock. “You can talk?!”
Jason now scowls at him, “What am I a pig? Of course I can talk, I’ve just never chosen to before.”
Tim turns away from the ghost and rubs a hand against his head, feeling a headache coming on. He’s cracked, he’s finally cracked, all of the recent stress has finally gotten to him.
He turns back to Jason and gives in an incredulous look, “Then why haven’t you spoken before?”
Jason shrugs, looking nonchalant. “Dunno, just haven’t. What’s wrong with you today? I know you just hurt your hand from that crappy punch you just threw.”
Tim huffs and turns back to the dummy, throwing a couple more punches at it and a kick, “I’m fine.”
“Sure you are Timbo.”
Tim glances uneasily at Jason, unsure on what to feel about this situation and the fact that Jason is communicating with him after two years. It’s a bit mind boggling really.
A hand appears near the dummy’s neck, startling him out of his thoughts. “Hit here. If you’re going for efficiency, you want to aim here.”
Tim looks at Jason who was watching him back. Then slowly Tim does what Jason suggested, striking out at that place his hand was pointing to. Jason grins, “Good.”
After that it became a guided training session, Jason was giving out different bits of advice and guidance to Tim’s fighting techniques and how he could improve them. Tim thoroughly enjoyed it, soaking in everything the ghost had to say. Having Jason guide him through the moves was completely different to how Bruce teaches him. It made a change.
Later on when Bruce questions him on his improvement he simply tells him he’s been practising and watching professionals online.
For the next couple of months he and Jason converse back and forwards and Tim really gets the chance to learn about his predecessor, about the kid Dick, Bruce and Alfred had lost. While Jason was fun to have a laugh with, share a joke or two with he wasn’t actually all fun and games all the time. He did have a dark side to him, one of which Tim was surprised to see, but should have expected really.
The particular conversation about him being Robin came up a lot later than he expected it to. It came about when he laid up in a medical cot after a rough night against Killer Croc. He was sporting several broken ribs, a fractured wrist, sprained ankle, bruising all over and a mild concussion.
Once he had convinced Bruce to take a shower because he’ll be fine on his own for a few minutes Jason makes his appearance. The teen ghost stands by his bed scowling down at him. Tim sighs and rolls his eyes. “Don’t bother. I have a giant ass lecture coming my way already I don’t need you to add to the baggage.”
“Tough shit Timmy because I have shit to say.” Jason snarls at him. Tim was taken back by his aggression. “You were a mess Tim, uncoordinated, unfocussed and that almost cost you your life tonight.”
Tim grits his teeth, trying to ignore the headache that’s developed in the back of his skull. “I was helping civilians get free! It was me or them goddammit. I know I wasn’t my best and clearly I paid the price for it but next time I’ll be better, I’ll know what to do to not repeat my mistakes again.”
“Well you can’t be better if you’re dead!”
Heavy silence fills between them and Tim is left staring at Jason in a mixture of guilt, anger and sadness. Jason on the other hand was seething in anger, Tim could see the way he had his fists clenched at his sides.
“He shouldn’t have taken you on as Robin Tim. You should have never replaced me. This life isn’t meant for kids.”
Tim blinks in surprise at that before his feelings merge into anger. “I never wanted to be Robin in the first place! I just wanted to help Bruce and to stop him from going down that dark path. Your death destroyed him Jason. You’ve seen it for yourself how much it hurt him, and even Dick. It hurt them all. My intention was to never replace you, I could never be as good as you, I can’t be you, I can only try and live up to the name you and Dick both wore.”
Jason was silent for a long time and Tim was really trying to keep his breathing under control, his chest was hurting and every breath painful to take.
Eventually Jason talks again, still glaring at Tim, “Yeah I saw it, but how much of it is actually real? If he really cared he would have killed the Joker in revenge for what he did to me!”
“He nearly did!” Tim cries out to him. “He nearly did but Superman stopped him from doing so, because once he goes down that path there would be no coming back. If he killed the Joker it would have went against everything he was fighting for, it would have went against everything you were fighting for.”
“Tim?”
Tim blinks because that wasn’t Jason. He looks over to find Bruce rushing to his side and checking him over. “Are you alright, what’s wrong?”
It takes a moment to realise that the heart monitor was blearing away at a rapid pace and he was struggling to breath. Once he’s calmed down with Bruce’s help he glances over to find Jason no longer standing by his bed, the ghost has faded away like he never existed to begin with.
After that he didn’t see Jason for about two months and he has to admit that it was weird. He was missing Jason despite him never actually being there in the first place. Even after three years he was still the only one who has ever seen him, the only one who has ever spoke to him.
The next time Jason appears is when he’s at the Tower with the others. They were having a get together to catch up with one another as life has gotten crazy recently. After gathering all of their snacks and drinks for their movie marathon from the kitchen they make their way to the media room, Tim was the last one to leave the kitchen and was thankful for that because he suddenly jumps and drops the entire bowl of popcorn he happened to be carrying all over the floor.
He puts a hand on his chest and gets his breathing under control. “Jesus Christ. Don’t do that!” He says lowly to the figure just off too the side.
Jason says nothing as he leans against the wall and watches him. Tim rolls his eyes and bends down to start cleaning up the popcorn and putting it back into the bowl. Once he was done he stands up and glares at the ghost.
“So what, you disappear for two months then suddenly pop back up again?” Jason shrugs and continues to watch him. Tim raises an eyebrow in annoyance, and huffs, “The silent treatment, really? Fine whatever. I gotta go, got a movie to watch.”
With that Tim walks down the corridor, he’s annoyed but relieved at the same time because at least Jason is still around but on the other hand appearing after two months of nothing and wouldn’t offer an explanation to as of why really annoyed Tim. That wasn’t fair.
They fall back into an old routine after that, Jason seeming to have gotten over his little temper tantrum of Tim becoming Robin and has gone back to being friendly and chatty with him. It seems to have moved on a lot further than last time because he starts appearing when Tim is simply just Timothy Drake and not as Robin. They talk, have banter, joke and argue. It’s like Tim’s got another older brother looking out for him and he finds that he really doesn’t mind it at all, the only thing that sucks about it is that Jason is a ghost and no one else can see him but Tim.
Another few months go by and they’re worst Tim’s ever had to face. He loses his dad, followed by his best friend, then his other best friend dies as well, his girlfriend fake’s her death and leaves him in the dark, then after all that when things started to look up slightly a few months later he loses his second father figure and the one thing he always thought he would have gets taken away from him and given to an ungrateful demon brat.
To say he was low was an understatement. He’s in his place sitting on the floor, smashed glass and furniture surrounding him from where he threw it in anger. He’s against the wall, fists clenched tightly and his chest heaving up and down from his breathing. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening keeps on being repeated over and over in his head. It just wasn’t fair. Why did so much crap have to happen to him, what had he done to deserve all of this grief and misfortune?
He’s so caught up in his thoughts that he completely fails to notice Jason appearing by his side and moving so he’s sat down opposite him. He jumps when Jason speaks.
“Well that some fit you threw then Timbo.” He comments.
Tim looks up, letting his head hit the back wall as he does so and glares at him, “Fuck off, I’m not in the mood.”
Jason’s unmoved by his anger. “Of course not, you’ve just had everything ripped away from you, all that you had left just gone, of course you’re not in the mood.”
Tim looks away from him, not really understanding what Jason was getting at. He stares into the space between them, thinking over everything, going through everything that had happened, why and how it happened. There’s gotta be something he’s missing.
While he digs through the depth of his mind Jason continues speaking. “Now what Tim? What are you going to do? Just allow Dick to hand Robin over to that brat? Allow him to drive you away despite how hard you worked for your place in the goddamn family? Or are you going to get up and fight back. Go and do something about it.”
That’s when it hits Tim. He was going to go do something about it because there is something to be done.
“I have to go and find Bruce.” Tim says quietly. He peers at Jason, saying it again but this time more firmly. “Bruce is alive and I have to go and find him.”
He pushes himself up from where he was slouching, believing his words more and more. “Bruce is alive Jason and I’m going to go and find him.”
Jason grins at him from his seat opposite him. “Well then baby bird what are you waiting for, go and get him.”