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“Jason, what are you doing?” Tim felt that it was a very valid question. Earlier today Jason showed up at Tim’s place and he dragged him out, taking him to the manor. Tim didn’t ever really mind going to the manor, but he usually did like to have a bit of warning. So when he was being dragged by Jason again Tim couldn’t keep himself from asking.
“It’s your birthday, Tim,” Jason said.
“So?” Tim didn’t often celebrate his birthday. His parents were away most of the time and he didn’t really have any friends from school that he talked to during the summer vacation. For Tim, his birthday was just another day.
Of course, Jason had told Alfred that Tim didn’t have any plans for his birthday, so the butler had told Jason to basically kidnap Tim for lunch. Not that Tim complained at all. Alfred’s food was always a favorite of his and he never objected to being fed. After that Tim had been more than pleased with the idea of curling up with Jason on a couch and watching movies or something, but no. Jason had something else planned for him.
Jason huffed as he led Tim through the manor. “You only turn sixteen once, y’know.”
“I can’t refute that, but can you at least tell me why we’re going to the Batcave?” Tim asked. He only ever went down to the Batcave when Bruce wanted to talk to him about important things, which wasn’t actually that often. He was pretty sure that the last time he was down there was before Easter.
“It’s your birthday present.” Jason wasn’t being helpful in the least either.
Tim didn’t know what kind of birthday present would be in the Batcave. Why was Jason going through so much trouble for a present? Especially one that couldn’t be brought up into the manor. It made Tim wonder what kind of crazy thing he had come up with this time.
He let himself be pulled down into the cave – something that he’d never get used to – and Tim looked around as Jason went down further than Tim had even been.
They came to a stop next to the Batplane. It was a first for Tim to be so close to it. “What are we doing here?”
Jason let go of Tim’s hand and walked up to press something on the side to open the hatch. “We’re going flying.”
“Flying?” Tim was dumbstruck. Out of everything that Jason could have said, that was one of the last things on his mind. Hell, it wasn’t even on his mind. “Jason, you only have a probationary license.”
“I have a motorcycle and I’ve driven the Batmobile.”
“That’s different from flying a plane!” Tim couldn’t help but be worried. He knew that Jason wouldn’t suggest this if he wasn’t sure that everything would be okay, but still. The other thing was that he had no idea where they would be going.
While Tim was worrying, Jason got onto the Batplane and he knelt down to look through a box behind the seats. He got back up and saw the look on Tim’s face. “Hey,” Jason said to get Tim’s attention. “We’ll be fine. Do you trust me?” He held his hand out.
Tim groaned and rubbed his forehead. “You’re not taking me on a magic carpet ride, Jason.”
“We’re not going on any kind of ride if you don’t join me. C’mon!” It wasn’t often that Tim could say that Jason whined, but this was definitely one of those times.
He made a point of brushing past Jason, and ignoring his hand, to get onto the plane. It looked very high tech on the inside. There were a lot of different controls and Tim was still feeling unsettled as he sat himself down in one of the seats.
Jason came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder before he ducked down to kiss Tim’s cheek. “You’ll have fun. I promise.”
“It’ll be better if you told me where we were going,” Tim said.
Jason just clicked his tongue and winked at Tim. Tim sighed and slouched in his seat, deciding to watch Jason work all of the controls. The first thing that he did was close the back and then he started going through what seemed to be a sequence of controls. It helped calm Tim’s nerves a little. Jason moved very fluidly as he worked. That meant that he was comfortable with what he was doing, which was a good sign.
Nevertheless, nervousness swirled in the pit of Tim’s stomach when the plane started up and began moving.
“You don’t have to be so tense, y’know,” Jason said as he flew the plane out of the Cave.
Tim had been on planes before, but never one this small. His stomach turned as they climbed in altitude. “I’ve seen you drive your motorcycle.”
“Hey! I’ll let you know that I take good care of my baby.” Jason protested, looking over at Tim.
“Jason! Watch what you’re doing!” Tim told him, gripping the armrests of his chair.
“What do you mean?” Jason pulled his hands away from the controls this time and he turned to face Tim completely.
Tim yelped. Jason wasn’t holding onto the controls. He closed his eyes and imagined the plane dipping into a nose dive and going down – down until it crashed into the ground below. They couldn’t be that high up yet. At least the drop wouldn’t be too much. Tim just hoped that it would be quick and-
The feeling of falling never set it. Neither did the screaming of alarms or anything. Tim slowly opened one of his eyes and looked around. Nothing was going on. They weren’t plummeting to their deaths.
Jason chuckled when Tim looked over at him. “Wow. I think I should feel hurt that you don’t trust me, but we’re fine. B helped me set the autopilot. I don’t have to fly unless we need to make a course change.”
“You…” Tim’s face flared up. “I can’t believe you made me think you were actually flying this thing!” He reached out to slap Jason, but the older boy just started laughing as he leaned back. Since there wasn’t anything in reach to throw, Tim pulled his shoe off and tossed it at Jason’s head.
Jason ducked his head and Tim’s shoe clattered on the ground beside his chair. “Hey! Don’t hit the controls or I actually will have to fly!”
“Asshole. You’re such an asshole,” Tim whined as he slumped back into his chair. Sure, he did kind of feel bad for not trusting Jason, but his fear was definitely not an unwarranted one. On the other hand, Tim also knew that Jason would never take him out in the plane when he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to safely fly them to wherever they were going.
Something beeped and Jason pushed a few buttons before he unbuckled his safety belt. After that he got up so grab Tim’s shoe. He handed it back to Tim and moved in close enough to kiss Tim’s temple. “If it makes you feel better, Dick did the exact same thing to me once.”
Tim just snorted as the image came into his mind. It was very clear of how Dick would be so nonchalant and Jason freaking out next to him. “I don’t want a heart attack on my birthday, thanks.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” Jason moved in to pepper kisses over Tim’s face.
“You act like there’s going to be a next time.” Tim always felt so flustered when Jason did things like this. Tim liked it – no, he definitely loved it. He loved at how tender Jason could be. Never in his wildest dreams did Tim ever think that this would ever be something that he could experience. He didn’t hesitate to turn his head to meet Jason’s lips for the next kiss.
Even though they’d been kissing quite a bit since their first kiss on the rooftop, Tim still his chest light up like a supernova. He’d gotten so far that he didn’t feel like he’d go limp every time that they kissed.
Their lips moved languidly against each other and Tim pressed up into the kiss, placing his hand on Jason’s neck. Jason, in turn, nipped Tim’s lip before moving away. “Right. I forgot one thing.”
Tim held back a whine when Jason pulled away. What could be more important than kissing?
“You’re gonna have to wear a blindfold for the last half of the flight.”
Tim felt the way that his face slackened. “What.”
-
“This is so stupid.” Tim was back to holding onto the armrests again as Jason brought the plane in for a landing. Normally he’d have been completely fine with a landing, but this time was different. This time he was wearing a blindfold for who even knew why.
“I don’t want you to see where we’re going,” Jason said. Tim heard the shifting of fabric and he knew that Jason just shrugged.
“Don’t you shrug at me, Jason Todd.”
“Don’t you worry, Tim Drake.” Jason retorted.
Tim tried to think of how long they’d been flying. Maybe someone he’d be able to figure out where they’d be. Of course, that’d be assuming that the Batplane flew at the same speed as a commercial airliner, which Tim was pretty sure that it didn’t. When Batman had places to go he probably didn’t want to take hours to get some place.
The thing was that Tim honestly didn’t have the slightest idea of what they were doing. He’d badgered Jason about it during the flight, but the older boy had been very tight lipped. Usually Tim was able to get something out of Jason, but not this time though. Jason was dead set on making sure that everything about this was a surprise.
The Batplane jolted and Tim realized that they’d actually landed. So that meant that it didn’t have to go down a runway, but could rather land like a helicopter. How interesting. The plane wasn’t used often in Gotham and even then Tim never really got a glimpse of it. It was always intriguing to learn new things.
He heard Jason’s belts unbuckle. “Okay, I gotta run something up, so stay seated and don’t remove your blindfold. I’ll know if you do.”
“Jason, what are you doing?” The backdoor opened and Tim heard Jason’s footsteps leaving the plane. “Jason! You can’t expect me to just-” Tim growled in frustration, slamming his hands on the chair.
He could just ignore what Jason told him. There was more than enough reason for Tim to just say fuck it and rip the blindfold off. The instant that the thought popped up in his head, Tim knew that he wouldn’t do it. This was something that Jason had planned out for him. Something that he’d planned very meticulously by the looks of it since he even had Bruce help him out with the plane.
Jason had listened to Tim often. He’d given Tim a chance to talk after he found out that he’d effectively taken pictures of Jason for a few years. Now Tim knew that it wasn’t exactly the same as this, but he couldn’t just ignore that.
Jason was doing this for him. For his birthday. Tim sighed and sat back. Instead of pulling off his blindfold he decided to use his other senses. Since the door had opened warm air had filled the cockpit, which meant that they were somewhere warmer than Gotham. There was also the sounds of crickets outside as well and Tim thought that he heard another animal somewhere in the distance. He couldn’t exactly tell what it was, but if he had to hazard a guess then he’d probably say a cow. So that meant that they were likely close in a rural setting. When he took a deep breath Tim mostly smelled grease and fuel, but there was something earthy as well. Maybe a farm then, since he’d heard a cow? At this point Tim just had to wait and see.
It was a few minutes before Jason came back into the plane. He walked up and grabbed the back of Tim’s chair, twisting it around. “Okay. Climb onto my back.”
“I can walk just fine you know,” Tim said as he reached out to find Jason, who grabbed onto his hand and placed it on his shoulder.
“I know, but I don’t think it’d be safe to climb a ladder blindfolded.”
“Is it any safer to climb on with someone on your back?” Tim asked before he wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulder and his legs around Jason’s waist.
He was hoisted up and Jason held onto his thighs as they walked. “Nothing I haven’t done before.” When they stepped outside Tim felt a slight breeze. He heard the door close, but he tried to take in his surroundings more. It definitely smelled a little musty and like hay. Farmland was definitely on the top of Tim’s list now.
When Jason pulled one of his hands away Tim made sure to hold on tightly. A moment later Jason started climbing the ladder. Tim hoped that it’d be enough to support the both of them and that Jason wouldn’t fall.
“This is a little bit more awkward than I expected,” Jason huffed out.
“I could’ve told you that,” Tim said with a smile that he pressed against the crown of Jason’s head.
“Smarty pants.” Jason shifted again before he knelt down. “Time to get off and sit down.”
Tim pulled one of his legs away from Jason and felt around to make sure that he wouldn’t fall over before he set it down. From there he extracted himself from Jason completely. He bent down and realized that there was something soft behind him. Probably a blanket or a pillow. Tim shifted back before he sat down.
Once he was sitting, Jason sat down next to him. “Okay. So I was thinking to myself what I was supposed to get you for your birthday and I figured that it had to be something special, y’know? I mean, you’re my boyfriend and this is the first birthday that we’re celebrating together-”
“Jason, you don’t have to make a speech,” Tim said, trying to hold back laughter.
“Sheesh. Let a guy finish, Timbo.” Jason pinched Tim’s cheek. “Anyways. You don’t get out of Gotham a lot, so I decided to take you out. The view here is pretty awesome.” Tim felt Jason’s hand go up his neck and it ran through his hair before the blindfold was untied.
Tim squinted when it came off. Part of him had been expected to be blinded by light, but it was already dark here. He opened his eyes completely and looked up, his mouth falling open with a soft gasp.
He reached out and swatted Jason’s hand. “Wow.”
“I know, right?”
Jason said that the view was pretty awesome, but that wasn’t even close to what it was. In fact, it was definitely a severe understatement, Batman.
Tim almost couldn’t believe his eyes. It was true that he never really got out of Gotham. He’d left the state a few times, but it was always to cities. Cities always had so much light pollution that it was impossible to see the stars. Even out in Bristol County it was rare to spot more than a handful of them.
Here though…
There were so many stars that Tim could hardly believe that it was real. He’d seen pictures before, but pictures didn’t do any justice whatsoever.
“Jason. That’s the Milky Way.” Tim was still swatting at Jason, not taking his eyes off of the sky.
“Yeah, it is.” Jason grabbed onto Tim’s flailing hand and kissed his knuckles. “Happy birthday, Tim.”
“Wow,” Tim said again. The cluster of stars was breathtaking. Everything was so clear out as well. Hardly even a cloud in the sky to block the view.
When Jason talked about wanting to do something special, Tim hadn’t expected this. He never even would’ve guessed this. It definitely wasn’t a traditional kind of present and that is what made this even better. Jason had put thought in this like no one had ever done before.
Tim finally managed to tear his eyes away from the sky to look at Jason instead. Their eyes met. Jason was watching him, not the sky, and there was a small smile on his lips. Tim all but threw himself forward, wrapping his free arm around Jason to hug him. He tucked his head under Jason’s chin and felt Jason’s chest rumble as he chuckled. “Did I do a good job?”
“Yeah… Jason, wow. Thank you.” Tim didn’t know what else to say. He moved in closer to Jason, curling up against his side. Whatever discomfort or trepidation that Tim had felt before was completely gone now. The plane ride and the blindfolding was definitely worth it. Tim smiled as Jason wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tucked Tim against his side.
They sat in silence for quite a while. Tim was just taking in Jason’s warmth against him and the beauty of the night sky. It never failed to make his breath hitch when he moved his eyes to look at a different part of the sky.
Tim wished that he had his camera with him. He knew that the pictures would never do the view proper justice, but at least he’d have them. At least he’d have a physical remembrance of this moment and how perfect it was.
He looked around some more, moving his gaze along the horizon. It was mostly just fields stretching in front of them with a few trees here and there. Tim craned his neck to look at the barn they were sitting on. A part of the roof had been cut open and replaced with a flat surface. Some kind of viewing area then. Tim couldn’t blame the owners for converting this part of the roof. It was the perfect spot to stargaze.
Wait. The owners. Tim looked around and he spotted a house with the lights still on in the distance. “Jason. Where are we?”
“Kansas,” Jason said.
“Kansas? Who does this belong to? Are we trespassing on someone’s land? What if they saw the Batplane?” Tim asked Jason.
The hand on Tim’s shoulder squeezed it. “Don’t worry. We’re in with the owners.”
Tim stared at Jason and he pushed himself up. “In with the owners? What does that even mean?!”
“It means that you don’t have to worry. Sheesh, Tim.” Jason chuckled as he leaned over to pull the cooler than Tim had seen earlier towards them. “Food will make you feel better. Alfred made your favorites.”
Tim looked at the house once more before he sighed and looked into the cooler when Jason opened it. “Jason, those are chili dogs. They’re your favorite.”
“I’m a growing boy. The doctor says that I’m probably never going to grow to my full potential thanks to childhood malnutrition and shit, so I gotta do the best I can.” Tim sobered up at the mention of Jason’s childhood. They didn’t talk too much about the things that had happened to Jason when he’d been living on the streets, but Tim could think of a few things.
“If we’re going to think like that, you should give it all to me. I’m the one who needs to grow more.” Tim sure hoped that he would be stuck being 5’5” for the rest of his life.
“There’s food for you too. There’s donuts and chips.” Jason pulled the container with the chili dogs out to show Tim the assortment of food underneath.
“That’s junk food.”
“It’s your favorite.” Tim puffed up his cheeks. There wasn’t anything that he could say against that. Jason was always making comments about the wrappers and bags that were in Tim’s room whenever he came over. “There’s also this.”
Jason handed Tim another container and Tim took it from him before opening it up. When the lid came loose Tim immediately smelled what was inside before he ever saw anything. “Bacon wrapped dates.”
“Yeah.” Jason reached in and grabbed one of the dates. “I asked Alfie to make them since they’re the entire reason that we’re here.”
Tim couldn’t find it in himself to disagree. It was likely that the conversation would have taken a very different turn the night of the gala a while back if Tim hadn’t had the dates. They had pretty much led to Jason finding out that Tim knew about him being Robin. It was very likely that instead of sitting under the stars in Kansas for his birthday, that Tim would’ve been in Gotham trying to get pictures of Batman and Robin instead.
Tim leaned forward, taking the date into his mouth. He couldn’t bring himself to look up at Jason as he licked Jason’s fingers before pulling away. “It’s good,” Tim said as he chewed and swallowed. Since Alfred had made these for him, Tim would have to thank him when they got back to Gotham.
“Let me try,” Jason said and Tim wasn’t expecting him to lean in and kiss him. He was even more thrown off when he felt Jason’s tongue against his lips before it slipped in between them. Tim’s breathing stuttered as Jason’s tongue swept along his palate and over his tongue before retreating. “Yeah, that’s good.”
With a whine Tim covered his face with his hands. “Oh my god.”
“Shit, was that too forward?” Jason gently shook Tim.
“N-no. It’s good. You’re uh… Good. Yeah, good.” Tim slid his hands away and looked up at Jason. It turned out that he wasn’t the only one feeling embarrassed. Jason’s cheeks were red as well and Tim was sure that the tips of his ears were as well if he could see them. “You’ve let your hair grow out.”
Jason’s shoulders slumped a little and his lips curled up. “Yeah. It’s starting to curl. I need to get it cut again.”
Tim reached out to touch the curling hair at the nape of Jason’s neck. His hair was also starting to curling by his forehead. It reminded Tim of the hair that Jason had when he was younger and still new at being Robin. “I like it.”
“I’d expect so. Your hair is starting to get pretty long as well.” Jason tugged on Tim’s bangs which were starting to reach down to his cheekbones.
“Maybe I like it like this.” Tim had always had his hair short. Maybe it was time for a change. He ducked his head down as Jason ran his hand through Tim’s hair and a shiver shot up his spine as some of the hairs snagged and tugged at his skin. Yeah, that was definitely something he could get behind.
Tim peered up at Jason before looking back at the night sky. “When do we have to leave?”
“Not until tomorrow. We’re having an open air camp out,” Jason said.
“Let me guess, we’re cleared for that as well?” Tim asked.
“Of course. The whole shebang including breakfast and a change of clothes if you want it.”
“You really thought of everything.” Tim was happy that Jason had.
The look on Jason’s face was really peaceful. “Comes with learning how to plan courtesy of Batman, and a few helpful tips from Alfred, of course.”
“I’m glad.” Tim moved so he was tucked against Jason’s side again. “I’m not promising that I won’t fall asleep like this.”
“That’s okay.” Tim smiled when Jason pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
This was by far the best birthday that he’d ever had. Now Tim had to start making plans for Jason’s eighteenth birthday next month. He was going to make sure to return the favor tenfold.