Chapter Text
Tim has never been up so high, he had never seen the city from such a towering angle and the city was partly lost below in the smog that clung to the air. The lights of lower buildings were blurred and almost looked like stars hidden just behind the haze, it would be beautiful if he cared.
He didn’t.
Tim had come up to the second tallest skyscraper to the highest part of it he could climb to, which was probably only an about a fourth of the way up it. After that there were more complicated door alarms and obstacles that he hadn’t had the energy to deal with, not tonight. He was just too tired, too drained, he didn’t have much left in him tonight. Not tonight.
The wind up here was strong and the cold felt like it was biting his skin even through his ratty old hoodie he’s had since he was maybe ten. Tim had considered dressing a little nice for tonight but he didn’t think it would matter when things were said and done.
Tonight was his birthday.
Tonight was his thirteenth birthday.
It was the third in a row his parents forgot or just couldn’t be there, ‘something came up, we can do something when we get back’. It’s what they said every time and then forgets all over again when they did come back. They hardly stayed long enough to remember their promise, never stayed longer than to pack up to just leave again.
Birthdays, holidays, any special days and Tim’s been all alone for them all and fell through the cracks and no noticed.
Tim stopped going to school.
No one noticed or called home.
Tim stopped leaving the house and then his bedroom.
Not a blip.
Tim stopped eating for a while.
The nanny only showed up for a few hours, did what she was supposed to, didn’t even check on Tim face to face most of the time and then left. She left him alone too.
It used to be enough to go out into the city and follow his heroes, to watch some kind of hope being performed out there. To see if he could catch a glimpse or maybe snap a photo of them in action, saving people and doing some good in a cruel world.
All he had were photos and hardly anyone he actually knew were in them, Tim in none of them naturally. Scrapbooks of strangers that he felt closer to than the people that had brought him into this world and still those strangers were just as far away from his reach. Every person that mattered was never there with him, he couldn’t touch any of them no how much he reached out.
Tim had his camera with him tonight, he was staring at it in his hands, thinking of all the memories he captured of other people’s lives with it. All the glimpses of lives, mile stones, celebrations and laughter, moments he stole for himself with an empty hope to find something for himself in just one.
He had found none. Nothing.
Tim gripped the camera tightly in his hands as he stepped up to the very edge of the roof, stepping up the raised ledge and moved over the safety rails. His sneakers scratched against the gravel on the ledge, staring down into the hazy abyss below him. He looked at his camera once more before he released it in a soft toss out toward the city with an empty feeling his chest.
He couldn’t see it past a few stories, he didn’t know what happened to it when it reached the bottom or if it landed yet. Tim watched as it disappeared and felt so numb as the thing that had once meant the world to him was just gone like it was never there in the first place. That was fitting.
It was alright, it was fine.
It was just the first thing to go and Tim knew that it wouldn’t matter to him, not in a moment.
Now, he had to decide.
Forward or backwards? How did he want to do this, what would be the very last thing he wanted to see?
Nothing that would be up here, that was for sure.
It was a clear enough night up above and if he squinted he could just make out the stars above and thought that would be the best view he’d get. He didn’t want to see the city anymore, Gotham was a terrible place that had terrible things in it. He didn’t want to see it ever again, so backwards it was.
Tim turned around on the narrow ledge, holding on to the rail for some stability, it was the only thing stable in his life he felt.
Hm, he sure was getting poetic and dramatic but he supposed that would be natural in a time like this, it wasn’t like it mattered to anyone outside of his own head.
Now all he had to do was…let go.
Tim wanted it to stop.
The loneliness, the worthless way he felt, the screaming that never stopped in his head or the ones that actually escaped him. At least the ones in his head could be heard even if it was only by himself, it was more unbearable to make a sound and still be unheard.
So no more sounds, no more screams and no more anything, he would make sure of that and Tim was done putting this off any longer. His nerves and natural instincts were starting to get to him and with one last deep breath he pushed against the railing.
The free fall felt like his stomach had stayed on the ledge he had liberated himself from and the cold wind wiped around him, feeling like it sliced at any of his exposed skin. It was nearly unbearable instantly but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now except look up.
The stars, he wanted to see the stars but tears blurred his vision even as they were swept upwards far above him and all he saw grey haze. The city choked out the stars like it did to everything else and every person within it’s boarders, maybe it was for the best, what would beauty do for him now? So he shut his eyes and shut out the rest, the deafening wind and the cold. Tim has mastered blocking out the world and soon there won’t be one and he couldn’t wait, not much longer now.
The impact did come, but not how he expected in the least.
Firstly, it came from the side like being tackled by a semi-truck and damn it that hurt but…it only hurt. It hurt and he was still flying, how was he still flying? His stomach flipped and flopped in a different direction and he thought he might be sick.
Tim opened his eyes confused and opening them did not help that fact at all because his vision was only yellow, it was all yellow. Yellow and pain, that’s all he could understand, oh and the soaring some place that was not down.
Then a crash, it wasn’t the kind he wanted, planned for or expected, it was a crash landing on a roof top. Toppling along the gravel covered surface and he was not doing this alone, someone else was rolling right along with him.
A person that landed on top of him and crushing him against the roof top when they came to a stop, a person that sat up on him, pinning Tim down by the shoulders glaring down at him behind a green mask. Teeth bared and black hair falling over his face the way he tilted his head down at Tim.
“What the hell do you think you were doing!?” They screamed at Tim who was stunned and confused.
Robin.
Robin was yelling at him.
Robin was here, not on the other side of his camera lens. No, he was sitting on top of Tim and yelling at him after saving him. Robin had snatched Tim out of the air and stopped him.
Tim snapped out of his stupor and glared at the older boy, he had stopped it! Tim was finally going to be free, to be done with this stupid empty world! He was almost…at peace, that one thing he could not find here.
“Get off me!” Tim barked, his voice harsh and hoarse from nonuse. “Leave me alone!” Tim tried to shove Robin off of him but Robin just caught hands and pinned them down and used his weight to keep Tim down effectively. “Go away!”
“Yea, not happening, kid.” Robin scoffed as he struggled with Tim, trying to keep him down with one hand so he could get something from his utility belt. He managed to zip tie Tim’s hands together and hook him to a nearby pipe that stuck out of the roof top.
“Let me out!” Tim started really thrashing around and tried to even kick at Robin but that just got his ankles tied up too and he let out an anguished scream of frustration.
“Relax!” Robin snapped, getting Tim down the best he could. “Do you have any idea what could have happened…” He couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
“Let me go!” Tim hissed, of course he knew, why else would he be here? “It’s none of your business!”
“It’s-“The rest got lodged in Robin’s throat and Tim swore the boy looked like he had gone pale as he went rigid.
Tim tried to take advantage of the momentary lapse but the second he moved again Robin seemed even more determined to keep Tim still. Robin was glaring down at him and Tim tried to knee him for his troubles.
“Don’t make me sedate you.” Robin growled irritated.
“Do it, bird boy!” Tim shouted. “Cause I’m not gonna stop till you get off me!”
“You’re impossible.” Robin grumbled, putting a hand up to his ear and tapping something. “B, I need you here ASAP.”
“What! No! Don’t!” Tim’s voice squeaked as fear gripped his throat, anything but that!
“I need assistance with this kid, he had tried to…Just get here, okay?” Robin said ignoring Tim even when he thrashed around. “Alright, over and out.” He confirmed, looking back down at Tim. “You’re gonna be alright, don’t worry.”
“I hate you.” Tim hissed. “I don’t want help, I want to be let go!”
“Well that’s too bad, because instead you’re getting help and we’re gonna take you home.” Robin said, wondering if it would be easier to just sedate this kid after all.
“I don’t have one.” Tim muttered, deflating in defeat as he realized he was not going to get out of this and soon things would only get worse. “You can’t help me…”
“What’s your name?” Robin asked, his voice not hiding his concern.
“Doesn’t matter.” Tim mumbled, his head lolling to the side and shutting his eyes.
“I still would like to know, come on kid, you can trust Robin, right?” Robin said trying to be light and playful and it sounded /so/ forced through the concern.
“Call me whatever you want, I don’t care.” Tim muttered. “You know, I think I will that sedation…” He mumbled, he did not want to be awake for the rest of what was about to happen.
Good thing his parents were out of the country, he wouldn’t have to watch them pretend, wouldn’t have to see them play out a part they never should have picked up in the first place.
“…no.” Robin said after a moment of watching this thick despair wash over this kid, he wasn’t fighting back anymore which only worried Robin more. “I was just kidding about that. So, what’s your deal, huh?”
Tim decided to stop interacting, it wasn’t getting him free and it wasn’t going to make his night go any better. Stupid Robin, of all the times to come save him? Never when he needed it.
“You’re no street kid, you have a home, so that’s bullshit.” Robin said, knocking his pixie boot against Tim’s converse. “Those are pretty new and your clothes look worn, but I can see the tags, pricy brands, you are not a street kid.” He repeated.
“I thought only the bat was a detective.” Tim mumbled, glancing at Robin, his buried obsession with the bats and birds trying to peek out its head despite it not being the time nor the place.
“I’ll have you know we are /all/ detectives!” Robin said, puffing up his chest a bit and Tim would have laughed any other night. “I’m a good enough of one to know that you might be some kind of runaway but you only ran away tonight.”
“Impressive.” Tim hummed, looking up at the sky and scowling that he still couldn’t see the stars. “Well you seem to have me all figured out, how about you let me go now?”
“Are you gonna let me take you home if I do?” Robin asked and Tim looked over at him rather surprised he would even consider it.
“I’m not supposed to tell strangers where I live.” Tim said, letting his head loll to the side with a big sigh. “I guess since we’re neighbors it doesn’t really matter.” He muttered under his breath.
“What?” Robin asked, his pitch going up slightly that told Tim might not have covered that as well as he should.
“Don’t worry about it, it wasn’t your fault, Jason, it was all because of Dick really.” Tim said, trying to tug at his restraints again but his body jerked startled when Robin suddenly had Tim between his hands and knees, face in Tim’s looking panicked.
“What!?” Robin demanded. “What are- Are you seriously saying that-“
“Robin!” Both boys jumped in their skin hearing Batman’s booming voice as he landed on the rooftop, still in the shadows. “What are you doing to that boy?” He asked, the implied order to get off under the words.
“B!” Robin sat up on his knees. “He!” He didn’t even know where to start with how his brain was reeling. “Wait…who the hell are our neighbors?” Robin looked back at Tim was starting to wiggle around again and Robin had to pin him again. “Cut it out!”
“Get bent!” Tim grunted, trying to move anyway he could get, going still when Batman’s shadow fell over the pair of them, the whites of the cowl the only thing Tim could see staring down at them. “G-Go away!” He squeaked out.
“Not happening.” Robin grumbled and sighed when he finally got Tim still again then looked up at Batman. “B…I think he knows…like…a lot.” He said, trying to use tone and brow to indicate his meaning.
“Hm.” Batman hummed. “Is that the reason you have him tied up?”
“No, he-“ Robin glanced down at Tim who was glaring death at him and Robin frowned back at him before looking up at Batman. “He jumped off the building next to this one. On purpose.”
This seemed to surprise the Dark Knight enough to drop his scary aura and kneel down next to the boys and gently urged Robin to get off of Tim before looking at the boy.
“Is that true?” Batman’s voice went soft and quiet and Tim looked away from the both of them.
“It’s not your business.” Tim said stubbornly. “I want out of this!” He tugged hard at the ties connected to the pipes. “I just want to leave.”
“I don’t think that would be best, son.” Batman said. “I can get you out of the ties, but I think you should come with us.”
“And if I don’t want to?” Tim asked, glaring at Batman, not something he ever thought he would be doing.
“I rather insist.”
“Batman’s gonna kidnap a kid?” Tim scoffed, glanced over at Robin and rolled his eyes. “I guess it’s not the first time.”
“I was not kidnapped!” Robin stamped his foot.
“I don’t want to go with you, I don’t want help, and I don’t want you taking me anywhere.” Tim ignored Robin.
“Tough shit!” Robin huffed.
“Robin.” Batman chided, giving his partner a look then returned to Tim. “I’m afraid I’m going to need you to cooperate if you want to go back home.”
“I don’t want to go home, so I’m not seeing a reason to make your life easier.” Tim snided. “Bruce.” He hissed the name, watching brows behind the cowl raise.
“See!” Robin pointed down at Tim from where he was now standing nearby the boy. “He /knows/.” He hissed quietly.
“Interesting.” Batman hummed, reaching down and holding Tim’s wrists as he cut away the zip tie but didn’t let go of the boy and hauled the both of them up to their feet and pressing a few things on his belt. “If you don’t wish to come willingly, Timothy, this will be less pleasant for you.” He said, pulling a canister from his belt.
“Timothy?” Robin asked and gasped. “You know who he is? Ugh, tell me, I want to be in the loop.” He grumbled.
“I’ll fill you in on the way back to the Cave.” Batman said, holding onto Tim tighter when he struggled anew. “Sorry, Timothy, this is for your own good.” He said as he sprayed a gas into Tim’s face, the boy coughing a bit before getting drowsy.
“I said…no…jerk…” Tim mumbled before going limp in Batman’s arms, the world around him going dark and not in the way he had been planning in the slightest.