Chapter Text
At seven years old, Tim stands at the front door while his parents prepare to go away without him.
Tim holds his stuffed bear tightly to his chest. “You’re leaving again?”
Janet kneels down, pulling the small boy into her arms. “Oh, honey. Don’t cry. Just be good for Mrs. Mac and we’ll be back before you know it.”
A hand ruffles his hair. “Cheer up. By the time we’re back, we’ll tell you so many stories that it’ll feel like you were with us the whole time.”
He only sniffles once more before a tiny fist rubs at his eyes and a wobbly smile is affixed to his face. “Okay.”
Another squeeze from his mother and a hair ruffle from his father, and Tim is left alone in the large house with no one except his stuffed bear and Mrs. Mac.
Tim promised his parents he would be good, so that’s what he’ll do.
…that was what Tim planned, anyway.
He is behaving! He really is! But he must ask one too many questions while Mrs. Mac is busy polishing the silverware.
“You foolish child! I don’t have time to listen to your jabbering!”
Tim flinches back. “Sorry, Mrs. Mac. I’ll do better.”
She scoffs. “You’re still doing it now. Honestly, it’s no wonder your folks go away on business so often if this is what awaits them at home.”
Is… is that why they’re gone? Because he’s a bad kid? Because he can’t stop talking about himself? Because he asks too many questions?
Tim doesn’t want to be a problem. He won’t. He’ll do better. He’ll be better.
It’s weeks before they return. He waits at the door, bouncing on the balls of his feet as their car pulls into the driveway. He watches as they carry their suitcases to the door and Tim can’t resist the urge to run at them with open arms.
“Oof-” His dad stumbles back before regaining his balance and resting a hand on his head. “Hey, champ.”
His mother’s soft laugh echoes through the room. “Aren’t you precious?”
Tim beams under their gentle affection. He missed this while they were gone.
“Were you good for Mrs. Mac?”
Tim freezes. She certainly didn’t think he was good. What should he say? If he lies, is that being bad? If he tells the truth, will they leave again? He swallows the growing lump in his throat. “Well, I-”
A ringing sound interrupts him. His mother pulled out her cellphone and mouths Sorry at him as she walks away.
His father follows, saying, “We’ll talk more later.”
As Tim stands alone in the entryway, he curses himself for taking so long to answer. He said he wouldn’t give them a reason to leave, so why couldn’t he make them stay?
At nine years old, it clicks in Tim’s head.
Not how to make anyone stay. He has learned that is an unreasonable expectation. No, he figures out Batman and Robin’s secret identities. All it took was one grainy video of Robin doing a quadruple somersault. The very signature move of the Flying Graysons. Since Robin performed that special somersault, he has to be the sole living remnant of the famous Flying Graysons – Dick Grayson. And that means… Bruce Wayne is Batman?!
Tim’s eyes sparkle as he turns to face his parents on the couch during a rare moment when they are all together. His chest bursts with excitement at this newfound revelation. “Did you see that flip? That’s a quadruple somersault!”
“That’s nice, dear,” Janet says while changing the channel.
“Do you know what that means? Robin is-”
“Tim,” his father snaps. “Can this wait? Your mother and I just got back and we want to relax before we go on our next trip.”
Oh… That’s right. Speaking up means he’s a bad kid that no one wants to be around. They don’t want to hear him talk about something silly. “Sorry, dad.”
Jack hums as Janet settles on a channel. The noise isn’t enough to drown out the thoughts overtaking his head.
At thirteen years old, he becomes Robin.
Batman needs a Robin and no one else was stepping up for the role. He wasn’t chosen, not like the other Robins, but that won’t stop him from doing what needs to be done for Gotham.
A lot happens during his tenure as Robin. Before he even starts, he loses his parents to the wickedness of the Obeah Man. With his mother dead and his father in a coma, Tim has never felt so alone.
Bruce takes him in and trains him to be his partner. It starts with detective work and computer skills, but then Tim is sent away to gallivant across Europe alone. Batman is a busy man, so it makes sense that he doesn’t have time to oversee all of Tim’s training. No matter how kind Bruce is, there are limits to the time he has to waste on frivolous things – and that just so happens to include Tim.
Still, Tim enjoys being Robin. He listens to Batman and fights crime every night. Life is as good as it can be for a teenage vigilante.