Chapter Text
They had guns.
Tim wasn’t particularly worried. Well, not for himself anyway. Everyone else? To say he was concerned would be an understatement.
They couldn’t see Tim. Or hear him, for that matter. The hostages, however, were not so fortunate. (And Tim knew that he was fortunate— to have this power. Despite his parents’ views on metahumans, Tim never really bought into their ideas about it. He never hated himself once he discovered his power. Sure, it was tricky at first, to get control of it, but it didn’t feel like a burden. To be different. Sure, he wanted to keep it a secret but being a metahuman made him feel lighter at times and, well, powerful.)
Batman was nowhere in sight. Hence Tim’s distress. The little stalker photographer had quite the dilemma on his hands. Well, a trilemma, really. But now was not the time for technicalities! It was time to make a plan.
Option 1: wait for Batman to arrive. Pro being that Tim would not be in danger. Con being that Batman might not arrive in time and the hostages could be harmed or worse.
Option 2: go find Batman. Pros being Batman might get there in time, and it would give Tim something productive to do rather than observe uselessly. Cons being he might not find Batman in time and would thus be abandoning the hostages, also, the vigilante would possibly recognize his young neighbor and ask what the boy was doing unsupervised on Gotham rooftops at night which would lead to a whole load of other questions Tim didn’t want the man to consider.
Option 3: deal with this himself. Pro being he was the closest one to handle the situation. Cons being that he has no plan on how to do that, no relevant experience, and could possibly make things worse for himself and the hostages.
Tim’s mind was racing along with his heart. Luckily, the boy was saved from his indecision by the now-familiar sound of a batarang slicing through the air. The Dynamic Duo had arrived. Tim let out an inaudible sigh, smiling.
Tim watched the conflict unfold, relief growing by the second as the vigilantes quickly gained the upper hand. The eleven-year-old lifted his camera. He got some great action shots that night.
° ° °
One might expect Tim to think something along the lines of Oh crap, that’s Robin, upon seeing Jason Todd in the school hallway. And they wouldn’t be far off. But the thought going through Tim’s head at that moment wasn’t words so much as a visual recollection of the surprised pikachu face meme, accompanied by the vague awareness that he should not be making a facial expression resembling said meme. Because— that would be really difficult to explain without using the word “Robin.” Something that, for all intents and purposes, had nothing to do with the context of the situation. Even though it totally did because that’s Robin standing right there and— Oh shoot, he’s talking, what is he saying? Tim blinked.
“— kid?” Jason was saying, looking concerned. Tim blinked again. Mission failure. Jason definitely knows something’s up.
“Uh,” Tim managed. Quick! Misdirect! Distract! Suddenly, Tim’s gaze darted over Jason’s shoulder, fixed on a specific point behind the teen. Tim’s eyes widened in alarm. Seeing the change, Jason’s brows furrowed and shoulders tensed.
“What?” The older boy demanded, looking over his shoulder. Imperceptible, the younger thought to himself. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, the teen turned back to Tim, who was already gone. Well, actually, he’d only taken a few steps away, but to Jason, he was nowhere to be found. “What the…” the young vigilante trailed off, looking around wildly. Tim was already smirking and his mischievous expression only intensified upon seeing the other’s reaction. Crisis averted. Well. Sort of. His smile fell, expression hardening into something calculating. He probably knows my face now. Yep. Tim was almost certain the young vigilante had ample time to memorize his facial features while he was panicking. The boy sighed, seeing Jason’s retreating figure in his peripheral as the teen headed to class. There was nothing to do except try to avoid Jason as long as possible and hope the teen wouldn’t question him on his starstruck look. Yeah. That’ll work. I mean, it’d be pretty weird to go up to someone and say “Hey, why’d you give me that weird look and freeze up two months ago?” Totally weird. Tim nodded to himself. Everything is under control. Spinning on his heel, he proceeded to class, taking a deep breath. Perceptible.
Tim returned to the visual spectrum midstep, his soft footfalls once more adding to the cacophony of passing period. He hadn’t wanted to risk disappearing right before Jason’s eyes. He suspected that if he had, Jason’s brain would simply fail to continue noticing him, but not in a way that made it seem like he’d turned invisible. But he wasn’t sure. He didn’t exactly have anyone to talk about his power with. But, from what he’d gathered from prior observations, when he allowed himself to be perceived, people didn’t find it unusual. They were sometimes surprised, but in more of a “Oh, I didn’t see you there,” way than a “Did a wizard just aparate in front of me?!” kind of way. Still though. He wasn’t certain it worked the same the other way around and Jason had been looking right at him. He didn’t want to give the vigilante reason to believe he was a meta. An obvious display of power was not the way to go.