Leslie's Assistant

I - A Childhood Promise

"Succeed for me." Jason suddenly breaks the silence while Tim was wrapping up the small gash on his arm with his handkerchief. "Alright Timmy?" Jason adds after a few seconds of Tim not answering, then he looks at Tim directly in the eyes. Although the domino was covering his best friend's crush's eyes, he can see the shocking blue of Jason's eyes looking at him like it's burning through his soul.

Tim performs the final knot to secure the wound, he smiles and finally looks back to Jason, smiling and firmly nodding.

Tim sits beside him and he scours through his bag, handing Jason a granola bar, a selection of sweets, and a bottle of cold water. "Thanks Timbit."

This was usual, them hanging out during Jason's patrol. It started when he saved Tim from almost getting mugged with his camera. He was a little careless but Robin, dove in and gave the mugger a good beating.

After that, you would think Tim would stop following, but no he didn't of course, cause he was dang stubborn like that. That moment lead to Jason eventually giving up, he didn't stop Tim from following him but he didn't mind it at all. It's not like Tim is being such a brat, in fact, they kind of share a partnership.

Tim was good at tending to Jason's wounds, often gave him a snack and some water if he was exhausted. Then it lead to him eventually revealing his identity to the kid, because he damn well trust him like that, but he was also shocked to find out that Tim had already figured it all out.

It was impressive, obviously. A fucking kid, not even above 20, figuring out Batman's well-kept secret, well not so well-kept really.

It's all but fond memory, when Tim wakes up for his shift again that early in the morning. Tim misses him, so much. He has no time for sulking though, as the vigilante he once adored is no longer at his grasp when the Joker took his life. It was unfair, Tim wanted to scream so much that day when they announced Jason Todd's death. When they pronounced him dead on the news. He was planning on confessing to him on their next meet up, whether it's with their civvies or during his patrol. He did nothing but sob and cry that day and he went on and promised, that someday he will be successful, someday he will get a degree in medicine, someday he'll be able to save hundreds of lives just like Jason did, that someday he'll be able to make his love proud.

A lot of hardships went along with his dream of course, one of which was even his parents. They weren't very supportive of his career because they wanted Tim to be a business major, because he's supposed to be the one inheriting or getting their company. They went even as far as threatening to disown him of their wealth, which was nothing to him as he already had a good job that pays him a lot. He was working part-time with Wayne Tech, his parents' rival company. He majored with medicine but he didn't let his prowess with technology go to waste of course.

After Batma— Mr. Wayne got a hold of his resume, they saw his potential and immediately put him through Barbara Gordon's gauntlet as they call it. He went through multiple tests and hacking shit for an entire day, it was worth it as he got hired the next day. He would even go as far as to say that they were impressed, as Wayne Tech's main technical team only accommodates 50-100 people, and he ran and completed the tests in just one day.

Getting his first salary, he immediately moved out, bought himself a large apartment and saved some of it for his college tuitions and monthly expenses. After getting his life together and finishing college at just 17 years old, (he skipped a lot of grade levels) he resigned and went to pursue his medical career. People at Wayne Tech repressed their disappointment but respected his decision. Even Barbara and Bruce were upset of him leaving. Tim could stay there as the job pays really good money, but he didn't want to, that's not what he promised to his deceased best friend.