Clothed in our grief

Chapter Thirty One

*Hours ago.*

"Tim? Tim come on, Jason'll be here any minute."

"Just a moment, Dick." Tim mumbled in response, full clad in Red Robin suit attire. Minus the black domino mask that he had already long since switched out the earless cowl for.

Standing in the middle of the batcave, thankfully the suit he wore was enough to  keep his mind away from how cold the cave can usually be. He's been down here in just lounge pants and socks before, and sometimes he's down here in shorts and a pair of sneakers while training. That was mostly in his days back as Robin, before he left to go form the Titans. Something that he heard a rumor about Damian taking an interest in.

Tim can clearly remember coming down to the cave in nothing but a loose grey sweatshirt and a pair of red plaid pajama pants. Probably not wearing shoes or socks, memory can't exactly recall that far. But it was in his Robin days. He'd come down here, probably after a shower or something. On the rare occasion Bruce would be asleep, and just sit in that large black chair of his. Foldng his arms out onto the arm rests, letting his palms wrap around the edge of the arms of the chair. Allowing his fingers to curl over the rims of them, too. Not being able to let his feet touch the ground if his back was all the way to the back of the seat, and not being able to press his back to the seat if his feet were on the ground.

But some nights he would just sit there. Wondering what it would be like if he were Batman, or wondering what it would be like if he never figured out who Batman is. But when it comes to thinking about what it would be like to be Batman, for some reason? Tim always thought of Dick. Always thought that someday, he'd probably see Dick take up the black cowl. Seeing Dick swap out the cape-less black and blue suit for the now iconic Dark Knight's 'caped crusader' suit.

Then, if this was in his early days, there'd be an off chance during a night where he'd glance at Jason's old suit. Sometimes he'd just turn around in the chair and see it out of the corner of his eye, like it's just some ghost wanting to be seen. A kid peeping their head out around the corner of a wall to see if someones still watching. Or he'd be on his way to somewhere off in the cave, probably to go train. And he'd just see it off some reflection, as just a reminder that Jason had probably stood in the same exact spot that he stood in, doing the exact same things.

Then there were the times were he really looked at the suit on purpose. Looked to it in terms for asking for help. Obviously, not getting an answer back. But he'd be given time to think. Mentally asking this shrine of Jason's that he was really only asking himself. Maybe at first he thought the answers were from Jason, but obviously Tim knew that wasn't the case. He'd just been giving himself time to think, with a different surrounding. That surrounding being that Tim's the third guy to fill in the mantle of Robin, and the one before him had died in the line of it all.

As if it's some dangerous warning to him that the same thing that happened to Jason could happen to him. Yes, Tim had his arrogant moments and he's been aware of this. He still does, but it's never been like how Jason has his. But seeing Dick as often as he did seemed to chip away at maybe some of those feelings, in an odd way. But when Jason came back? Those thoughts were different. Especially with how Jason reacted to Tim being Robin when he came back.

He'd do this all while sitting in Bruce's chair. Most of it, anyway.

And he's sitting in Bruce's chair right now, watching the news. It's live, and what he's seeing is probably one of the more disturbing things he's seen on live television.