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Crime Alley may be one of the worst places in the world. After all, it’s called Crime Alley. Nobody names a street Crime Alley if it’s a place they want to take their children and spouses for the weekend. Jason is very well aware that it’s a shithole (he grew up here after all). He knew that anyone trying to stop all the Crime in Crime Alley would have a shit time of it, but he knew that on an intellectual level, the same way he knew that his father and him had ideological differences and that dying would hurt. He knew these things were factually true, but in a detached sort of way because he never had to deal with them.
Actually dealing with them was a whole other pile of shit.
So knowing stopping Crime Alley from committing crime would be awful did not prepare him to spend his entire day and night stopping attempted stabbings, robberies, and assaults, all while wearing five layers of clothes and a mask covering his entire head.
Needless to say, by the time Jason gets to the shitty little flat he owns at the top floor of a building that should have been scheduled for demolition years ago (and would have been, in any city other than Gotham), he’s exhausted. He’s ready to fall down on his couch and pass out for at least eleven hours, possibly without even taking off the mask.
His plans and mood are ruined when he steps into the stairwell that his door is on and sees it unlocked.
Muttering a barely audible swear word, Jason slips one of his knives into his hand, fingers closing around the hilt in a movement that’s become more automatic than breathing. Whichever stupid goon decided to come to his personal apartment is about to get their ass handed to them and not in the Batman-sanctioned, non-lethal way either. He was about to take a nap, that shit is sacred.
Jason kicks open the door and only needs to catch a glimpse of the figure sitting on the couch before he throws the knife at them.
The figure yelps and dodges by an inch and Jason’s blood runs cold because the childish yelp sounds exactly like–
“Tim!” he yells, running over to check and see that the knife did actually miss. His brother is in the stupid Robin costume and there’s no blood, he’s fine, which means that Jason doesn’t have to worry about being concerned and can focus on being mad. “What the fuck are you doing hiding in my house!? I could have killed you!”
Tim, visibly shaken and trying to hide it, mutters, “No, you couldn’t have.”
Jason puts his hands on his brother’s shoulders and crouches in front of the couch so they’re face-to– mask-to-mask. “Is someone in trouble? Do you need my help?”
Tim sighs. “No, no, everything’s fine–”
“Then I repeat, why the fuck are you in my house?” A realization dawns on him and he takes his hands away. “Does Oracle know you’re here?”
There’s probably an eye roll happening under the domino mask. “No. I’m not stupid.”
“Could have fooled me,” Jason mutters and gets up to sit on the couch next to him. “What’s up? Did you miss your coolest brother?”
“Yeah, I do. Wait, is Dick here?” Tim laughs and ducks as Jason tries to grab him in a chokehold.
“Piece of shit, what do you want? Is this another ‘Jason, there’s good in you, come back to the light’ intervention? Because I’m really tired right now–”
“No, it’s not,” Tim sighs and takes his domino mask off. Jason sits up a little straighter. The kid’s serious, then. Tim runs a hand through his hair and turns where he’s sitting to face Jason. Damn, those eyes are so stupidly earnest. Tim waves a hand at him. “Can you take that stupid thing off?”
Jason hesitates for only a second before pulling the hood off. His hair probably looks like a bird’s nest, but he ignores it to just look at Tim. Whatever this is about, it feels important. Possibilities run through his head, each one more unbelievable than the last: maybe Tim got kicked out of the house, maybe Tim had a fight with Bruce, maybe Tim killed someone–
Tim groans and looks away from Jason, making eye contact with the dingy surface of the couch as he says, “This is stupid, I’m just gonna do it. I told everybody else already and I wanted to tell you in person because you’re my brother and you’re stupid, but I care about you.” He falls silent, giving Jason just enough time to assume the worst before he finishes, “I’m bi.”
Jason lets out a sigh of relief. “That’s it?”
That’s the wrong thing to say because Tim bristles immediately. “This was an important thing for me and I wanted to share it with your sorry ass–”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Jason cuts him off, hands raised. “That’s wonderful, kid, I’m proud of you and I love you, but did you really have to break into my house for this? I mean…not to shit on your moment of self-discovery and all, but it was kinda obvious.”
“What?” The shock on Tim’s face almost makes Jason start laughing. “It was obvious!? Since when?”
“Since I’ve seen you around any attractive guy, ever? I’m your brother, come on, I know shit about you.”
“Shit that even I don’t know?”
“Apparently!” Jason pulls Tim into a side hug and Tim lets him, surprisingly. Jason leans their weight against the back of the couch and says, trying not to sound like Dick, “So is there a guy–”
“Oh my god.” Tim immediately pulls away.
“I’m just assuming, since the egg finally cracked, there must have been someone who made you realize–”
Tim glares at him with all the ire of a teenager in a costume with a cape. “Can’t I just be bi? Can’t I just realize I’m attracted to people without being attracted to a specific person? What, do you think I immediately get a boyfriend if I come out, that’s so archaic of you, and I’m attracted to both genders, so it could be a girl, too, so really, you are being very assuming–”
“What’s his name?”
“Bernard.”
Jason laughs and gets off the couch. “Well, we have to celebrate now! I think I have some pizza that’s only slightly stale or we could go out to eat if you want–”
“You’re okay with this, though?”
Jason turns around to look at him and Tim’s staring at him with those wide, earnest eyes looking like he’s ten again. Something pangs in his chest. This kid really went all the way across the city because he wanted to hear that his brother would still love him over something as simple as this. He replies, “Of course I am. I love you. There’s nothing you could do that’d make me stop loving you.”
Tim smiles and stands up and there’s only a second of awkwardness before he hugs Jason and then, all of a sudden, they’re kids again and neither of their stupid costumes matter as Jason tucks an arm around his brother’s shoulders and mutters, “If you break into my house again, though, I might have to reconsider that.”
Tim laughs and Jason smiles a bit. Next morning, Tim’ll go back to the manor and fight crime as Robin again and pretend to not remember that his older brother is even alive. For now, though, this can be enough. His brother cares enough about him to do mild B&E just to come out to him. Jason hugs him a bit tighter. Just being here with him can be enough for now.
The next morning, a gossip column publishes a blurry picture of Robin and Red Hood sitting on a fire escape with a box of pizza. The title reads, “Unlikely Friendship in Crime Alley?”
Tim texts Jason the picture at 6:45 in the morning. Jason reads it at noon when he wakes up and laughs.
As he puts on the hood for the day, he thinks that maybe Crime Alley can’t be all that shitty if even a bit of it reminds him of his brother.