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The four of them stood on the rooftop overlooking the scene. Below them the street buzzed with activity as police officers carried clown-faced goon after clown-faced goon into squad cars and ambulances, depending on how bad their injuries were. (Tim knew that that one goon who had pointed his pistol at Tim probably wouldn't be seeing out of his right eye ever again, not with how Selina had slashed his face up for it.) It was only after they saw the Joker, still unconscious and triple handcuffed, driven away did Batman actually relax. Not that Tim could tell by looking at him, but Robin had picked up on it and bounced up to his feet with a grin at his father.
Batman turned to face the other two. Selina had stepped away from the ledge and was doing some stretches while looking at Batman. They all knew the drill. After Catwoman and/or Stray, noted wanted criminals, helped Batman and Robin, they were given a fifteen minute head start before it went back to Bat chasing Cat across the rooftops of Gotham. Which was fine, fifteen minutes meant they could be back in Selina's apartment with all loot and evidence hidden from almost anywhere in Gotham with time to spare. It was how just these things went. Tim and Selina would run, while Batman killed time talking to the Commissioner, it's how it always went.
"So…" Jason said, "y'all wanna get pizza?"
They all went and got pizza.
Not a lot of pizza, superhero/villain diets and all. Selina and Batman had only had one slice each before disappearing. Hopefully just to kiss away from the kids, but Tim knew his mentor better than that. That just left him and Robin sitting on the edge of a ten story building, making their way through the rest of a medium pizza.
It was weird sitting next to Robin. They’d ‘known’ each other for six months, ever since the first time the dynamic duo had caught him and Selina in the middle of a heist. But their interactions had mostly consisted of Tim running away from a crime scene with the prize (or a decoy) as fast as he could, while Jason chased him across rooftops and through alleys. But they hadn’t talked much during those chases, unless taunting and cat themed puns counted. And Tim had never been caught during one of those chases, Selina had impressed on him early on that if it came down to it, he was to ditch the loot rather than get caught, and throwing a priceless artifact at Robin’s head and dashing away had given him a clean getaway every time.
The only other times they’d met, aside from at school but he doubted Jason noticed him, was during the few times Batman and Catwoman teamed up. Not that Selina wanted to team up with Batman this much (or so she said, but Tim got the impression she wasn’t exactly against it either), but Tim had a habit of trying to play hero, getting in way over his head, and needing Selina or Batman or Robin or some combination thereof to rescue him. (Tonight had not been one of those times. Selina had taken one look at Harley’s newest black eye and called Batman with the Joker’s location). They’d traded a few words during those times. Robin had asked Tim if he wanted to “change sides” once, after a successful hostage rescue. He’d declined of course, he couldn’t betray Selina, but Robin had been nice about it.
He couldn’t imagine why Robin had wanted Tim to switch sides. His record for actually doing heroics without needing to be rescued was about twenty percent, if not worse. He was clearly a much better thief than hero.
"So, Stray," said Robin, finishing his second slice. "How'd you become Catwoman's sidekick anyway?"
Tim startled out of his reverie at the question and looked at Robin. Well, Jason, not Robin, he wasn't in hero mode right now. He'd seen (spied on) the second Robin enough to know the difference, there was an energy to Robin that Jason didn't have right now, or that he had but wasn't using.
"Umm…" Tim said as he realized his brain had gone off on another tangent while Jason had been looking at him expectantly. "What do you mean?" he said awkwardly, buying time for his brain to finish getting back from it's rabbit hole.
"Well, I'm just wondering how Catwoman found you. Did she find you stealing some she was going to steal? Did you try to pickpocket her and she decided to show you how to do it properly? Did you track her down in a homemade cat costume and volunteer?"
Tim could tell the truth, he thought, he could even tell most of it without giving away his identity, but… he wanted Jason to like him, and Tim doubted "Selina found me stalking you across Gotham with a camera and decided to help me do it," would do anything except make Jason stop being so friendly towards him.
Eventually Tim settled on "Catwoman found me climbing a five story building one night and taught me how to climb using window frames properly." That technically wasn’t a lie, it just left a lot out.
Jason looked expectantly at him. "Okay, so that's how you met her, but I don't see how that ends with you breaking into museums in cat ears."
If Tim had been standing he would have shuffled his feet awkwardly, and it was, he could only really shift his weight and stare intently at his slice of pizza.
"She was going to give me a lift home on her motorcycle, but when she found out about my parents, she kinda… took me in, at least until my parents…" Tim trailed off. He couldn't say anything without giving away too much. There were probably only so many kids in Gotham whose parents left them alone because they were working in another country for months, and Selina liked the bats not knowing his identity; It made things more fun for her.
Jason made sympathetic noises and patted him on the shoulder. "Sorry about your parents, but at least Catwoman isn’t the worst replacement mom." Tim turned away. He felt bad about misleading Jason. He wasn't Selina's kid at all, like Jason seemed to think. She just kept an eye on him while his parents were away. Jason's parents were dead, while Tim had pretty decent parents, even if Selina didn't like them very much. If anything, Tim should be giving his sympathies to Jason, not the other way around.
"What about you, how'd you become Robin?" Tim asked as if he didn't already know. Everyone knew Bruce had adopted Jason after he found him stealing his tires. And Selina had filled him in on the fact that Jason had been stealing the tires off the Batmobile, instead of whatever car Bruce had said to the press. But, Stray wasn't supposed to know Robin was actually Jason Todd.
Jason took another bite of pizza, and another.
"I want to help protect people," He said simply. "Plus, Batman’s my dad.”
Tim fidgeted. It was definitely prying, but he wanted to know.
"What's it like? Having Batman as a Dad?" He probably wasn't anything like Tim's Father. For one thing, he was almost always around.
Jason grinned a very Robin grin. "I'll tell ya a secret." Jason leaned closer to him, and Tim eagerly leaned in too. "Batman might be the most terrifying person in Gotham but..." Jason glanced from side to side, making sure no one was listening before whispering, "He's actually the biggest pushover in history."
Jason laughed, and then started laughing even harder when he saw Tim's face. Tim was… confused. Did Bruce just let Jason do whatever he wanted? That didn't seem right. Batman ordered Robin to do stuff all the time and Robin usually obeyed, most of the time. Maybe he meant at school; Tim's parents would never settle for anything less than perfect marks in every class But… Tim had noticed, when he'd hacked Gotham Academy's records to covertly add Selina as his primary emergency contact without anyone knowing, that Jason had some of the best marks in his entire grade.
"I don't understand…" Tim said. Jason just grinned.
"Don't worry about it, you'll find out soon enough," he said casually.
Tim's thoughts came to a sudden stop.
"What?"
"You know, whenever B and S get married."
"WHAT?" It wasn't quite a screech. But it was more shrill and undignified than Tim would have liked. Jason just laughed again.
"Well, Stray. Your mom is dating my dad, and that means he's going to be your dad too soon." Jason moved closer and pulled Tim into a shoulder hug. "It also means that you're going to be my baby brother." Tim was lost. That couldn't be right, Selina said she wasn't dating Bruce, even after that one time Tim had got back to their post burglary meet-up spot to find them kissing. It was just a casual thing she said. And he couldn't be Jason's brother. Jason already had Nightwing and he was way cooler than Tim would ever be. Jason couldn't actually want a criminal for a brother. But, he was hugging him, and Tim couldn't remember the last time anyone other than Selina had hugged him.
"Catwoman's not really my mom," Tim said. It seemed the simplest way out. Jason gave him a funny look, or as much of one as he could give behind his domino.
"Are you sure about that?"
"She's not. I'm just her apprentice."
"Nah, You're wrong," Jason said authoritatively. "You're Catwoman's kid, and you're going to be my brother, get used to it. The only question is how long it'll be 'til they're official. Nightwing thinks it'll be another few years, but I think it'll be one year tops. What with the sudden uptick in Bat-Cat team ups and-" he jerked his head in the direction Bruce and Selina had disappeared, "-rooftop 'make-out' sessions". He said, miming the air quotes around 'make out' before grabbing the last slice of pizza.
Tim was lost in thought again. Jason wouldn't really ever be his brother but it was a nice fantasy to have. In his mind he combined a few memories. This rooftop pizza with Jason. Batman looking proud of him after Tim had saved someone from a hostage situation. So many warm hugs and smiles from Selina. Even his distant memory of Dick, still at the circus, taking a picture with him.
Maybe it wouldn't ever be his family, but it was a nice dream.
He reached for a pizza slice.
"Huh, wha- THAT'S MY SLICE! GIVE IT BACK!"
Laughter and half hearted threats echoed across Gotham, as Cat chased Bat across the rooftops.