Chapter Text
The highlights of Tim’s world are Batman and Robin. They are legends, protectors of the city, larger than life. No one really knows if they are real or not, and speculation abounds, but Tim, Tim knows they are real for sure. He figured out their identities years ago, when the young Robin had performed a complicated acrobatic flip, one that only a few people in the world could pull off, including his neighbor, Dick Grayson. The young ward of the richest man in Gotham, Bruce Wayne. It made sense, and with a little bit of observation he confirmed his hunch to be true.
He saw Batman and Robin most nights flying through Gotham, saving people, bringing hope to the bleak city. He would snap careful photos from the rooftops he’d carefully scoped out beforehand. Then came developing the pictures, destroying the ones that weren't up to standard, erasing the camera cards, and locking away his prize; only to be viewed in a still house and locked room with curtains drawn.
Tim follows every fight with a Rogue, mugging stopped, and jewelry robbery brought to justice. On summer nights and in the pouring rain, in the dead of winter and when the smog was so thick in Gotham’s air it was hard to breathe, he follows. The duo’s victories and failures are his. He lives and breathes Batman and Robin.
He was a little resentful when Robin had been replaced with some new punk, but he grew to love the new Robin—it was almost impossible not to, with his rugged Gotham charm, his fierce protectiveness, his joy when flying through the city at Batman’s side. If Dick Grayson had been untouchable, Jason Todd was almost too bright to even look at.
All the same, Tim hoards every scrap he can get his hands on, newspaper clippings, the photos he takes, he even has a scrap of Batman’s cape, lost in the fray of a battle with Penguin.
On a cloudy night in late April, Robin doesn’t show up for patrol. Tim passes it off, it’s not a rare thing for Robin to miss a night of patrol, but then it happens again. And again.
Then Batman misses a few days as well, and when he finally shows up he becomes increasingly volatile. Wayne Manor is silent from across the way. Jason isn’t showing up to school. Tim is apprehensive and irrationally terrified for his hero. As the days go on the dread settles in. Robin is probably just benched with an injury, Tim tells himself. A week into this, his worst fears are confirmed.
Lifting that morning's Gotham Gazette, Tim falls into his chair. Bringing a spoonful of cheerios to his mouth he freezes. In bold letters the headline proclaims:
BRUCIE WAYNE’S ADOPTIVE SON, CONFIRMED DEAD
Robin. Is. Dead.
Robin is dead.
Robin, is dead?
Tim needs proof.