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So, Tim knows he probably shouldn’t be going through Jason’s phone. He’s heard it all before from family and past relationships that he’s too nosy and stalker like in that behavior. But!! Tim has a good reason for what he’s doing and it’s highly important and time sensitive that he gets into Jason’s phone for a dire quest!
Okay, it’s really just so Tim can take dirty pictures of himself and hide them on Jason’s phone for Jason to find later and go stupid over.
But, as Tim is hiding his pictures in a folder marked ‘REVIEW’, he finds the folder lined with notes that catch his curiosity. Looking at most of them, they’re all in the quick shorthand that Tim knows that Jason will use when taking notes, along with some kinda of rating system of one to five stars. Jason’s notes are kind of indecipherable, but at the bottom of every note page, there’s a link. Tim hesitates for only a moment before his curiosity and need to know take over and click the link.
The link opens an app and Tim finds that Jason is already logged in under the username “Jaybird”, which, very cute. The app, which proclaims its name is Bun Box in bright blue bubble lettering at the top, as a little info button that Tim immediately clicks. As Tim begins to read the info about the app and how it’s used, the vigilante can’t help but stare in disbelief and growing humor.
‘Oh my god,’ Tim thinks to himself. ‘This is Letterbox except for Burgers.’
Letting out a sharp exhale of breath as laughter bubbles up in his chest, Tim scrolls through countless user’s reviews as they commentate on different burger places’ food, atmosphere, pricing and others. Tim is contemplating screen capping and sending it to himself to send to Steph, but nixes the plan when he knows she’ll want to know how he found out about this place. It makes Tim realize that, hey, Jason has an account on here, why not see what reviews Jason has written. Hell, maybe Tim can get some idea about Jason’s favorite burger places and maybe bring him there again or something. He clicks on Jason’s profile, going to his posts in the bio.
“Holy shit.” Tim can’t help but mutter in shock at what he sees. “Jason, you goddamn fatass.”
There are literally hundreds of reviews of all the different burger places Jason has gone to. Most are obviously around Gotham but there are some in several places around the world to places that Tim knows that the Outlaws had worked at. Tim even finds a date sorter and sets it to the oldest is first, just so Tim can see how long Jason has been posting. What he finds, makes him soften and coo at the review.
‘Batburger, Gotham City. 4 out of 5 stars. Would have been 5 but they put pickles on it when I asked for none. My new dad ate them for me thought!!’
If Tim’s mental math was right, it must have been a month or so after Bruce adopted Jason. Tim continues to scroll through the reviews, idly taking note of dates and places and even context clues. He finds a huge gap between the time Jason died and must have come back, but strangely enough, there were entries from before Jason made his explosive return to Gotham.
‘Did he fucking go to burger joints while he was with the League of Assassins??!? What the hell, Jason!’ Tim thinks in stunned silence as he continues to scroll forward in time.
Tim speed scrolls forward, to get closer towards the end when he recognizes a name on one of the burger places that the two of them had gone to just a week or so ago. The dark-haired man clicked on it. Jason had given it a cool two and a half stars, which Tim thought was a little harsh as he had really liked the place.
‘A Bun Above, Gotham City. 2 ½ stars out of 5. They did too much and tried to be all fancy. Only reason it’s as high as it is, is because my boyfriend really liked it. Fries were good.’
Boyfriend. Blue eyes kept re-reading that word over and over.
Tim can feel his pale skin start to heat up. Tim never really thought too hard on his…situationship with Jason. Originally, when this whole…thing, had started, it was just a stress relief between them. They had sex once and suddenly the whole animosity and electric energy between them had changed tunes. It suddenly went from ‘would they-wouldn’t they’ rip the other’s throat out to ‘would they-wouldn’t they’ rip each other’s clothes off. Even the other Bats could tell that something had changed, but they couldn’t tell what exactly or why.
Then, after their sexually charged patrols or missions, Jason and Tim would disappear into whoever’s base or safehouse was closer and attack each other in a new way that was quickly becoming favorable to them. Then…Then it started becoming more. Tim isn’t even sure which one of them started it, but one reached for the other and slowly they started hanging out with the other outside of their nightlife and outside of just sex.
Suddenly, they were having movie nights to inviting the other to just going somewhere together just to hang out until they were going out to eat together. They were both so comfortable in each other’s spaces at this point that where they would have been Very aware of the other even around them, it’s now a pleasant and safe feeling. Whenever one of Tim’s other friends ask him to hang out now, he always thinks of Jason first; wonders if they made plans to do something before giving a definite answer.
Although they’ve gotten much more comfortable with each other, and even seeking the other out, Jason and Tim have never spoken about this growing thing between them and put any kind of label to it. It’s been easier this way, Tim thinks to himself sometimes. Better than potentially ruining what it could be by trying to put a name on it. But the moment Tim read the word ‘Boyfriend’ in Jason’s post, it had cracked something open in Tim’s chest and WantWantWant had come clawing its way out.
So, Tim couldn’t let this stand anymore. He had to do something. He could do something. Jason is in the next room, cooking dinner for them, and God, they’re so domestic already, how did Tim not see this? He wants to jump into Jason’s arms and kiss the man and tell him he feels the same, but Tim hesitates. He wants it to be meaningful; he wants to declare Jason as his and place a claim.
A voice in the back of his head, the same one that always creeps up in his worst and most lonely of moments, the voice that has always sounded like his mother’s voice, speaks, hissing, into his head. His mother’s voice speaks about how his over excitement and enthusiasm will be too much once again for someone. That when Tim commits to a relationship, he puts 120% in and that often scares people, that Tim scares people, with his over invasiveness and his need to be close and know his significant other to the point it’s like he’s in their skin.
Tim doesn’t want to lose Jason. He doesn’t want to potentially ruin anything. With a shaky sigh, Tim backs out of Jason’s burger app, backs out of the phone, and puts it back on the charger. Soon, Tim will try and bring it up, to try and actually talk about this, how he feels, even if that makes him feel incredibly raw and open.
Jason is worth it.
A week and a half later, Tim gets a chance to bring it up. It’s not in anyway that the third robin ever expected, but when Tim sees a opening, he goes for it.
Jason and Tim are out for dinner, and it’s Jason’s choice for dinner and of course, Jason chose some kind of burger place once again. It’s the kinda place that’s a bit more upscale but still has a homey and casual vibe to it but had you look down at the menu instead of up. So, as they walked into the restaurant, the hostess smiled at them.
“Hi there! Just you two or are we waiting on others?” She asked cheerfully.
Tim, barely thinking of it, took his chance. Wrapping his arm around Jason’s, Tim spoke up.
“No, just me and my boyfriend.” Tim smiles back at the hostess, who’s grin turns a bit more genuine at Tim.
“Okay, just this way, please!”
As she leads them to their table, Tim keeps his gaze locked on the hostess’ back, not looking at Jason no matter the fact he can just Feel the other man’s eyes burning a hole in the side of his head. The hostess brings them to their booth, and gives them their menus before leaving them well wishes for their meals. Tim pulls away from Jason and slides into one side of the booth; his eyes locked on the menu as he hides his shaking hands under the table.
Theres silence between them as Tim stares intently at the menu and pretends like he doesn’t feel Jason’s stare. Mentally yelling at himself to stop being a coward, he subtly takes a beath before slowly raising his eyes to meet Jason’s eyes. What Tim sees makes him take a sharp breath.
Jason is looking at him, his wide eyes just on the edge of glassy, with an awed, small but so, so real smile on his face. The pure elation on Jason’s face takes years off him and not even his scars hide any of the joy on the older man’s face. Tim has never seen Jason smile like that, and it takes his breath away. In the soft glow of the overhead lamp, Jason looks like he’s glowing.
Tim lifts his hand to table, putting his palm out and up, offering his hand to the other with his own small, but genuine smile. Jason’s own smile grows and sets his own, much larger hand, palm down on top of Tim’s. Two once Robins alone together, the world around them seems to disappear around them. They both take a chance, and move forward and live in the moment.
Later, after dinner where they barely taste the food, barely hear the waiter or even remember their name, they head back to the closest person’s apartment, which happens to be Jason’s. They sit and actually talk instead of their usual straight to bed or making out on the couch. They talk about their feelings, their hopes for each other and this relationship. Both feel so deeply, they realize, and neither of them wants to hurt the other or be hurt. So, they’ll take it slow, or as slow as both can take it. Within four months of actually dating, they’ll move in together. They’ll become one unit, one JasonandTim or TimandJason, and they’re so happy and in love.
But for right now, they’re two young men, holding hands, playing footsie under the table and falling into love as they wait for their waiter to come and take their order.
(Even later, months after they’ve moved in together, Tim will tell Jason the tale of how he found out about how Jason felt about him, about the Bun Box burger review app. Jason will groan with embarrassment, but will roll over and onto his boyfriend. Tim will laugh, holding Jason even as the other crushes him, and Jason will smile into his neck.)
FIN