Work Text:
Connor idly stared at the ceiling. This, was, decidedly, pretty boring.
He turned to look at Tim, who was scrolling on his phone. “What are you doing?”
Tim glanced up at him. “Scrolling Twitter.”
Connor wrinkled his nose and Tim laughed. “Why do you touch that mess?”
“We have to keep an eye on our public perceptions.” Tim chuckled. “And sometimes people leave thank yous or post cool videos of us.”
Connor tilted his head. “Really? Like what?”
Tim walked across the room and Connor sat up so Tim could sit behind him. Tim held out his phone to show him the screen as he swiped. “Like the video of Dick doing a really cool flip across rooftops. Or, let me find the post…”
Tim started swiping up rapidly, and Connor caught glimpses of posts and pictures. A photo of Gotham in darkness, something about Red Robin, something else about a crack in a ceiling, a robbery at a Bat Burger? It was too fast for Connor to read before Tim abruptly stopped, scrolled a few posts down, and clicked it.
“Here, this one.” He said, and nudged Connor to take the phone. He did so and started reading it.
I was taking my break at work the other day, and there was a really shifty-looking guy across the street. You know what I’m talking about, the ones that stare at you a little too long and you’re not sure if the thing in their pocket is a wallet or a knife. Out of what seemed to be apparently nowhere, he got really startled and smiled at me and gave me a little wave, and I’m like okay, that’s weird, but I wave back and he hurries off and I continue on my break. As I’m heading back inside I see something on top of my work building, and at first I thought it was a gargoyle (because you know Gotham loves its gargoyles) before I realized, wait a second, we don’t have a gargoyle up there, and I look again and it’s literally just Red Robin chilling on the roof eating chicken tenders. He gives me a little wave and I just wave back because okay I guess, you do you, but now I’m feeling like an idiot because in hindsight he absolutely was why that guy ran off, so if you’re reading this Red Robin, thank you so much for keeping me from being robbed or something and sorry I’m such an idiot that I didn’t realize at the time haha
Connor blinked. He remembered being a citizen, of course, it hadn’t been that long ago, but he’d never done things like this. He’d seen a few fights, been indirectly saved once or twice, but it never occurred to him to post stuff like that. Something he couldn’t quite place twisted in his stomach. Guilt? Gratitude? The weird reminder that people appreciated what they did? He wasn’t quite sure.
“You’re quiet.” Tim said.
“Sorry,” Connor said, shaking his head and putting a smile back on his face. “It just startled me. I didn’t think people did that.”
“Yeah.” Tim said, leaning back. “It’s nice to scroll through and see the messages once in a while.”
Connor nodded and watched him scroll for a minute…then snickered. “You know what would be funny?”
It was on patrol with Tim that night they got the furious call through their comms.
“TIMOTHY JACKSON DRAKE!” Oracle’s voice crackled through the comms.
Connor flinched, but Tim just shot him a smirk. “Barbara Joan Gordon.” He said, unphased.
“DON’T BARBARA GORDON ME!” Oracle shouted. “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?”
“You know what I’m wearing, right?” Tim said, apparently unfamiliar with the concept of not feeding the fire.
A deep, heavy breath filtered through the comms. “The Red Robin suit. Which I thought indicated you were one of the smartest vigilantes in the city, but seeing as you thought it okay to respond to a post thanking your vigilante identity with your secret one, I may have to rethink that stance.”
Tim burst out into cackling that could rival a hyena’s. Connor couldn’t help breaking down into uncontrolled snickering in response.
“Do you KNOW how much I have to cover for this!?”
“Sorry, Babs.” Tim laughed, although by the grin he shot Connor he was not sorry at all. “It was too funny to pass-up.”
“You think making me handle your social media prank is funny?” Oracle asked.
“Bruce is gonna flip.” Tim cackled, side-stepping the question. “Can you at least leave it long enough for him to notice?”
A long, long silence. Connor was pretty sure she was programming an air strike on their coordinates.
“…Fine. But you owe me.”
Tim grinned and shot Connor a thumbs-up. The weight on Connor’s chest lightened up slightly and he snickered softly. “Love you, Babs.”
“You too, Tim.”