Chapter Text
Tim's POV
Tim doesn't know exactly when it started but he does know that is was most likely at least a few days before he noticed it. Red hood was following him during patrol, and even more worryingly after patrol. it started as glimpses of red just in the corner of his eyes, easily dismissed as paranoia, but he started noticing it more and more, so just to be sure he checked his domino footage and sure enough, there were definitely flashes of a distinct red helmet in the corners of the screen.
As soon as he realized this he started planning on how to tell Batman without possibly getting benched, after all Bruce had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want him anywhere near Red hood. Before he could figure out how to do that however he started noticing the red not just on patrol but on the way back to his house, except this time he didn't have a domino mask to check that he wasn't crazy. Still it made the situation all the more difficult, if Red hood had truly followed him home then he must know his identity and by extension Batman's identity, forget being benched, if Bruce finds out that Tim's identity is compromised he will take Robin away for good and he can't let that happen, he had just gotten used to not being alone anymore even if he knows that his company didn't truly want him there and it was only for a few hours.
Tim knows that he is not truly Robin, just a stand in until someone worthy enough comes to take up the mantle, but during those hours he can at least pretend. Pretend he is worth something, pretend he has someone that cares about him. Not to mention that Batman needs a Robin, so no, giving up Robin is not an option, not yet.
So Tim decides to do something that could either go well or very badly, he is going to confront Red hood on his stalking
Jason's POV
If someone told had told Jason a month ago that he would be secretly guarding his replacement from the shadows like some kind of stalker he would have punched them in the face and quite possibly shot them, and yet here he is again on the tree outside Drake manor watching Tim stumble home. It hadn't started out good-willed, quite the contrary actually, he was following the replacement to find out when would be the best time to attack and/or kill him, depending on his mood. But Jason started to notice things, for one Tim never stayed at the manor no matter how injured he was, secondly after watching him and Batman fight he noticed they weren't fighting together like Batman and Robin should but rather alongside each other, Batman didn't seem to watch out for Tim like he always had for him or for Dick. The more he noticed this the angrier he got, not at Tim but at Bruce. Not only had he seemingly gotten a new child soldier before his body was even cold in the ground but he didn't even pretend to give a shit about the kid.
Beyond the anger was a disgust with himself however, a part of him had always known that his plan for the new Robin had always been more about Bruce then about the replacement himself yet it wasn't until he saw the kid limping home for the first time that he truly understood how fucked up his plan had been. Tim was a kid, he had planned to hurt and possibly kill a kid, all so he could get back at a man who didn't even seem to care if he got hurt. So as a sort of retribution for his initial intend he decided that if Batman didn't look out for the new Robin then he would, so he kept an eye out for him during their fights and would wait outside Drake manor afterwards until he saw Tim get home safe, after all he didn't seem to have anyone at home waiting for him.
Tim's parents never seemed to be home and the only one he ever say coming to the manor was a woman who seemed to be middle aged coming by once a week with groceries, she would stay for a couple of hours and then leave. Jason had started looking into her and found out that she worked for the Drake's as a housekeeper. He didn't know if Batman didn't know that Tim was all alone or if he simply didn't care but Jason finds that he doesn't really care which one it is, clearly this kid was being neglected and the so called world greatest detective wasn't doing shit about it.
Jason had thought that he was doing a good job at protecting the kid and staying hidden but he realized that he may have failed at the latter when one day Tim suddenly stops walking to his front door and starts to stare directly at him.
"why are you following me?" are the only words that come out of his mouth before a silence stretches over, Tim clearly refusing to go inside unless he gets an answer. Jason does not give him one however, instead he runs away.
Tim's POV
Tim knows he is not supposed to get involved in the Red hood case but to be fair to him, Red hood had involved him, and Tim just wanted to know what he was dealing with.
Tim had expected a lot of things from last night like finding out he truly was just paranoid or more likely a fight, what he didn't expect was for Red hood to be there and just straight up run away, he had half a mind to run after him but didn't wanna risk agitating him, after all he knew his identity and Tim didn't wanna risk pissing him of enough to spill the secret to others, if he hadn't already.
as he looks through Red hoods file on the batcomputer he can see why Bruce didn't want him near this case, as if the duffel bag filled with severed heads wasn't enough he also seemed to have taken over multiple gangs in crime alley, no wonder he wasn't allowed to patrol there anymore. What he can't find though is a reason for Red hood to be so interested in him. He knows that he needs to involve Batman in this but he decides to tell him after patrol tonight, he should tell him now but he just wants one more night as Robin before its taken away, one more night before he would have to be alone again.
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In hindsight he really should have told Batman sooner but to be fair he couldn't have known that tonight of all nights would be the one where they would come face to face with the Red hood, or more accurately, Red hood came face to face with their attackers.
It had been entirely Tim's fault, he had been so distracted by the red in his peripheral as a constant reminder that he was keeping a secret from Batman that he didn't see when a gang member came at him from the right, he had put a gun to his head and a hand over his mouth which prevented him from warning Batman about the man coming from behind him. For a moment it seemed that it was over for them, until a shot rang out. but it wasn't one of them getting shot but rather the man with a gun to Tim's head, he looked up at where the red was before only to see Red hood clear as day on the roof of the adjacent building with a gun in his hand. Another gun shot rang out and this time it was Batman's assailant who fell to the floor in a puddle of his own blood, Batman looked up from where the shots were coming from and saw the same thing Tim saw, as did the remaining gang members once they realized what had happened. Most ran once they saw who they were dealing with while some of the brave or foolish ones tried to take a shot at him, almost entirely forgetting about Batman and Robins presence. As the gunshots from both Red hood and the gang continued to rang out and more man dropped dead to the floor he saw Batman start to make chase after Red hood, ordering Robin to stay behind and take care of the remaining gang members until the police arrived to arrest them.
A few of the man tried to fight Robin again once Batman was gone but luckily since Red hood had taken out most of the armed ones it wasn't too hard to keep things under control until the police arrived. at least it would have been if Tim wasn't freaking out.
If Batman catches hood and he snitches about their encounter outside his house then being benched will be the least of his worries, he doesn't know exactly what Bruce would do if he finds out that his identity is known but he knows that at the very least Robin would be taken away for good, not to mention that he would probably want nothing to do with Tim anymore, after all Tim's identity being known would bring Bruce's identity in danger too and why would Bruce want to be around someone as irresponsible and untrustworthy as him. It was due to these thought that when he was fighting with one of the men trying to escape that he didn't notice another one going for his legs, he managed to kick the man away with his other leg but not before falling forward with his right shoulder taking the full force of his weight. Even so he managed to catch the guy running and keep everyone there until the police arrived to do the rest. While doing so however he couldn't help but feel a sharp pain coming from his shoulder, definitely broken, he thought.
so much for not being benched.
Jason's POV
Jason hadn't wanted a confrontation with Batman so soon but when he saw those man put a gun to the little birds head he couldn't help but see green and shoot, not caring that Batman would notice he was there. He quickly took out as many armed man as he could before the green faded and he noticed that Batman was coming in his direction while ordering Robin to stay behind.
It had made him angry when he left Robin alone with the people who had put a gun to his head merely seconds ago, almost angry enough that he wanted to turn around and have a talk about how irresponsible Batman was being, did the old man want another dead Robin that badly? Luckily for Jason he has at least enough self preservation not to do that and so he continues to run.
The chase felt like ages before Jason finally started to feel like he had lost the Bat, when he was sure that he had finally lost him he reluctantly went to Drake manor to wait for his bird to fly home. On his way there he slightly hesitated, Tim had seen him last time and he didn't want that to happen again, so instead of sitting in the tree where he was spotted last time he decided that the roof might be a better idea. When after nearly two hours of waiting Tim finally made an appearance the first thing Jason noticed was a sling around his arm, he felt anger bubbling up inside of him, of course the kid had gotten hurt after Batman left him alone with a bunch of violent gang members, at least this would mean that he got benched and couldn't get hurt more for a while. The second thing he noticed was that Tim was looking up at the tree where he was hiding last time and maybe it was Jason's imagination but he thinks he can see disappointment on the kids face when he sees no one there.