thegoshdarn | (no subject)

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smol tim is smol

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Ever since Tim worked out (a) worked out Batman and Robin's identity and (b) realized that she could sneak out of the house at night without anyone noticing, she has a system. She keeps a bag packed with her camera, a bottle of water, and some snacks in case she gets hungry, and she has a set of dark-colored clothes, a nice warm jacket and shoes with a lot of grip for running around Gotham. When she gets to go out depends on who's at home with her that night. Tonight is really easy, because her parents are in the city but at a big party, and usually they go right to bed when they get home without checking on her.

She's gotten really good at analyzing patrol patterns based on current crime rates and past patrol routes. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be at the party tonight, so she heads to one of the most likely places Robin is going to go to tonight.

It's colder than she expected tonight, but that's okay. Tim finds herself a snug, semi-hidden place on a fire escape and settles in with her legs pulled up to her chest for warmth. All she has to do now is wait.

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"Well... sure, you can, you've proved that," he agrees, wanting to be encouraging "but that doesn't mean it's okay for the to leave you alone all the time."

"Okay...?"

She's still not really following. Especially cause if she wasn't the only one who did wrong, then why is she the only one who was punished? So it was her fault.

"They're your parents Timmy, they're supposed to look after you," he tries, he can see she doesn't really understand, but he doesn't want her to think this is all her fault.

"I'm not supposed to make them mad," she points out.

Making her understand may be a little bit of an uphill battle.

"I dunno about that, making your parents mad is kind of what being a kid is all about, I make Batman mad all the time," he jokes, then turns more serious again "I'm sorry though, Tim, I promised you wouldn't get into trouble..."

She shrugs. "It's okay." Cause it's her fault anyway, so it isn't his fault, right? Right.

"No, it's not okay, I made a promise and that got broken, and I'm really sorry I let you down." he tells her softly.

"Not your fault." He's Robin. That means it's pretty definitely her fault, not his.

Maybe she can distract him, though. "Um. Could you help me with something?"

He shrugs awkwardly, because he feels like it kind of is his fault, that he was the one who stuck his nose in, even if he did it to protect her.

"Sure of course I can, what do you need?"

She points to one of the shelves in her room. It has a line of very nice stuffed animals that look like they've barely been touched, probably because the shelf is way too high up for Tim to reach on her own. "Can I have the tiger? Please?"

Dick's a little short for his age, so the shelf is even too high for him, and honestly he thinks that's kind of awful because what kind of parents put so many lovely stuffed animals where they couldn't be loved?

He still feels bad for Tim getting in trouble so he decides to put on a little show for her, flipping himself up on his hands and walking his way over to the shelf. He flips himself back upright, jumping up onto a chest of drawers before somersaulting forward, grabbing the tiger on his way past the shelf, landing with a little flourish.

She giggles and claps her hands. It's still fun to watch him perform, even if she's also kind of sad she won't get to see him do it as much anymore.

Unfortunately, that was loud enough for it to attract the attention of a parent. "Tim?" her dad calls out, and Tim freezes, panicking slightly.

Dick winces, realising it's his fault, and throws the tiger to her, putting his finger to his lips before ducking quickly and rolling under her bed, waiting silently until it was safe again.

Tim explains away the noise and the tiger in her arms by saying that she was getting it down, at which point Dick gets a front-row seat to another lecture on Being Mature and Responsible and Trustworthy. At the end of it, Jack puts the tiger back on its shelf, orders her to go back to sleep, and then leaves, relocking the bedroom door behind him.

Tim waits a little while to be sure he's out of earshot before whispering, "You can come out now."

Dick rolls out from under the bed and sits up, frowning.

"...Did you just get told off for... wanting to get down one of your own toys?" he asks slowly, trying to figure out exactly what Tim did to deserve that lecture. Sure she'd been a little noisy (well, he had), but it was her toy... and then he'd gone and put it right back on the shelf? Dick is not particularly happy with how that went.

She shrugs and ducks her head uncomfortably. "I'm supposed to ask." Getting Robin to do it for her was definitely cheating, and she knew it, so she guesses she deserved it. And then, because her dad did tell her to go back to sleep: "You should probably go."

"...Why?" Dick frowns, looking up at the stuffed animals "Are they special?" Maybe if they were expensive or collectable or something he could sort of understand the need to be careful with them, but even then, putting them up in her room where she could see them but not play with them just seemed sort of mean...

Well. They are higher-end stuffed toys, but not in a 'not for children' way. They're also the only ones in the room, even on the bed, because she is Too Old To Need Stuff Like That.

"I'm supposed to," she just repeats.

"Well... that's dumb." he can't really think of anything more intelligent to say, or even a way to explain it that isn't just like he's calling her parents' rules dumb, even if he is, because honestly... they're stuffed animals, they're supposed to be played with.

"I probably should go..." he admits "But I'll be back soon, okay? ...Do you want me to tuck you in before I go? I could read you a story?"

She shakes her head quickly, because she's not a baby. She can go to bed on her own. "I'll be fine."

"..Okay, if you're sure... you know I still love stories, maybe you could tell me one before I go?" he asks, glancing over at her book.

On the one hand, Robin (again). On the other hand, she's already in trouble (again). She's pretty sure her parents wouldn't be happy if she stays up longer now, even if she's reading to Robin.

"I'm supposed to go to sleep now."

"Okay then, maybe another time," he smiles kindly "I'll see you soon okay?"

He's already planning to stop by within a couple of days.

The next couple days go by pretty much the same. They take her out once for a business meeting where she sits and reads quietly in the corner of someone's office, but there isn't really any variation.

This morning, though, her parents didn't come to let her out for breakfast. She's not worried at first, because her parents are busy sometimes so they probably just... they were probably just busy. When lunchtime comes and goes without anyone coming by, though, she starts to wonder if maybe she did something wrong. Maybe she's being punished? But no one told her she was, and she doesn't remember doing anything wrong. But they wouldn't go on a business trip or something without her and forget she was there, right?

Right?

When it starts getting dark, she tries knocking on the door and calling out, but no one comes to answer. By the time Robins would be out and about, she's pretty much given up. She can't tell from her room if any of the cars are missing, so there's no way to be sure if her parents are home but not talking to her or if they left. She's hungry and scared and she still can't get at the stuffed animals on the shelf, so she grabs her pillow and clings to it while she indulges in some super-not-Mature-at-all crying.

Robin drops from his grapple to hang upside down in front of her window with a grin on his face - the grin immediately drops as soon as he sees her curled up and crying. He gets the window open and swings himself inside.

"Hey, hey Timmy, what's wrong?" he asks, rushing over to her side and crouching beside the bed. In his other hand he's holding a gift bag, but he drops it to reach out to her in offer of a hug.