Not Really But Implied - Tumblr Posts

We as a fandom always forget about how Tim *is* Jean-Paul's Robin and that if we go in a New Earth and Rebirth mashup, it probably was hella shocking for Jean-Paul to come back to life and suddenly see Tim being this cold and lonely Red Robin who refused to work with the bats 🫣

Jean-Paul trying to adapt to be back to life and return to his life (going to therapy with Brian, either working again on WE or studying to be a nurse) and part of it it's fixing his messy relationship with the bats but he can't bring himself to ignore how awful they're being to Tim and he ends up screaming and asking what the hell happened and why is Tim refusing to talk to them and no one dares to answer that Robin was taken away from Tim when he needed it the most so JP decides to go and ask Tim himself...

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Tim isn't that shocked when he opens the door and sees Jean-Paul standing there. It's the first time they see each other properly ever since JP came back to life around two months ago, yet Tim acts as if nothing had happened in those two years JP was dead. Tim smiled and tells him to come in, making two cups of coffee and asking Jean-Paul how he's doing and if Azrael is truly back (Valley always wanted to leave that life behind, after all).

Jean-Paul answers all the questions Tim makes, drinking his coffee slowly and slightly uncomfortable at the view of Tim's rich and *sober* apartment. It looks like those penthouses rich girls have on movies and Jean-Paul starts to realize that he never really asked Tim about his life, his parents, his dreams. They knew each other for years, and Tim saw Jean-Paul at his worst and did all he could to help, yet Jean never quite returned that favor. He feels a bit sick at that thought, and he clings to the empty cup as he looks at Tim intensively.

"Why aren't you Robin anymore?" Jean gasps, the words barely making their way out of his throat. Tim loses his warm smile, and then he's looking at Jean-Paul coldly and sharp.

Tim's hurt.

"Some people thought there was someone who needed Robin more than me," Tim mutters, fingers taping the wooden table, "I was fired, can you believe that? Guess they never thought I deserved to be Robin. I was always the one who had it *easy*"

"That's not true!" Jean-Paul yells, "I have seen you in the field, Tim. You're a great Robin. No one of us ever understood Batman like you did... God knows you understand the mantle better than I did," he admits bitter but genuinely, looking worried at Tim, "I don't understand, how could they fire you?"

Tim shrugs, "I knew Bruce wasn't dead, and they assumed I was doing - badly. Mentally, I mean. It's fine," Tim laughs painfully, "I got help from other people anyway. And I'm Red Robin now, so I don't have to follow their annoying rules."

Except that Azrael also tried to be alone for a while, and no one understands how hard it is better than him. There's no way Tim is truly fine with this.

"Help? From who?"

"From the only person who believed me and saw me worthy," Tim whispers, ashamed, "Ra's al Ghul. He helped me find Bruce, and he - saved my life too.*

"Oh."

"Could you keep that a secret? I have enough with the bats saying I'm being childish, I don't need them calling me a traitor too."

"I won't tell, but..."

"But?"

"You're Robin," Jean-Paul insists, "I - I cannot accept that it was taken from you. I don't understand!"

Tim smiles, a bit condescending, "You're too sweet. No one of the bats wants me as Robin anymore. Not even Bruce."

"Even after you did for him?" For me?

"Even then. I told you, it's fine," Tim sighs, "Bruce never saw me as his son, anyway. Makes sense he would forget about me when his blood son appeared, don't you think?"

Jean-Paul isn't a fan of the weight people put on bloodlines. In fact, he hates it. He wishes he wasn't a Valley, and he wishes he wasn't Azrael.

"You're my Robin," Jean whimpers, shaking despite the fact that it's not him who has been pushed away from the bats nor is him who got his mantle taken away, "You're my Robin."

Cold, soft hands take Jean-Paul's between his.

"Look at me," Tim says with that firm voice he has always had. It's unsettling to hear in someone so young (small), and it was even weirder back when Tim was thirteen, patching an injured Jean-Paul at the middle of the night and reprimanding him for being so violent.

Tim has always had deep eyes, as if he has been alive for hundreds of years instead of eighteen.

"You were Batman, and I was Robin," Tim says softly, comforting him, "But we can't be that anymore, even if we want to."

"It's unfair," Jean yells, remembering the arrogance of Dick dressed as Batman and that - Damian using the Robin suit that should be Tim's, "It's not how it should be."

"There's no way things should be," Tim argues, tilting his head and looking awfully sad, "That's the worst part, that there aren't instructions to who or what we should be. We need to decide so ourselves."

"I don't want to be Azrael," Jean admits, letting Tim guide him away from the table so they can lay down on the couch, "Do you want to be Red Robin?"

"... No," Tim says like it's a secret, "I don't want to."

"And what do we do?"

Silence takes over the room for a while, and then Tim's typical click of the tongue echoes too loudly.

"We will be Jean-Paul and Tim, that's what we are going to do."

The kiss and touches that follow would have been inappropriate for Batman and Robin, and they would have been inconvenient for Azrael and Red Robin. But for Jean-Paul and Tim? For them, kissing and sex are a natural path to follow.

There are some things that never change, after all.

Jean-Paul, insecure: Can I ask you something?

Tim, half sleep: Hmm?

Jean-Paul: So... Did you accept to date me because I'm some sort of European fantasy American queers have or...?

Tim, opening one eye: Are you asking if I gave you a first date because you're a tall, handsome blonde with long hair, french accent, and who clearly takes out his catholic shame in the bed?

Jean-Paul: ... Yeah?

Tim: Angel, darling, of course not!

Jean-Paul, slightly disappointed: Oh

Tim, going back to sleep: I gave you a first date because it turns me on that we were Batman and Robin and also your hands around my throat were my first unholy dream. Good night!

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