Jim

Jim's never been sure if he approves of the whole vigilante thing. It would help if he ever saw Batman for more than a few minutes when Batman said as little as humanly possible and disappeared mysteriously. It would help if he could get to know the man. But if he could, he supposed that he wouldn't be Batman any more. And as infuriating as it could be, Jim couldn't deny that Gotham needed Batman.

And then one day, Batman showed up with a partner, a sidekick, and it's a kid, a boy who should be going to school and playing and certainly not dealing with the types of crimes that Batman dealt with. But he seems to enjoy this life, seems like he was born to do it, and his cheerfulness seems to make Batman a little bit more cheerful. Not a lot, no, but Jim thinks he almost saw Batman crack a smile once. Almost. And he's so bright and cheerful that he seems to drive the darkness back an essential bit. So Jim doesn't say anything except for in the very beginning. And when the boy isn't killed he relaxes, a little, until he sees that it's not only the brightness that affects the shadows, that the darkness is dimming the boy's enthusiasm, his cheer. And, no, normally it's not a lot, no more than his cheer affects Batman, but that's still some. And Jim wants to do something but he knows it's too late.

And then one day there is no Robin, and a new hero calling himself Nightwing comes by and proves that he used to be Robin. And it almost breaks Jim's heart because he can see that the years of walking through darkness have taken their toll on the kid, that no matter how cheerful he acts it's just that, an act, at least in part.

And there's a new Robin almost immediately, and Jim wonders where Batman finds them, because this Robin is almost completely unlike the other. Nightwing moves like a dancer or a gymnast who had been taught martial arts, but this Robin moves like the kids on the streets, like he's planning to grow up to become a thug. And he brings his own sort of brightness to the duo, but it's always sharper, more dangerous. And Jim isn't afraid for this Robin so much as he's afraid for those he goes up against.

And then the second Robin is gone, and Jim is afraid for him, until Nightwing shows up (of course it's Nightwing; Batman would never voluntarily share the information) and tells him that the second Robin quit for personal reasons and isn't "in the business" any more. And Jim is grateful that the kid had gotten out while he still could. He doesn't think Nightwing is going to quit any time soon.

And then he isn't quite so glad, because after a short period of higher than usual Bat-related injuries he finds out that Batman has found another hapless young boy to drag into vigilantism. And this one is more cerebral than the other two were, less of a daredevil or an athlete. He doesn't do handstands on the low wall around the roof, and sometimes figures things out before Batman does. And it seems like he's forcing the being cheerful thing, like he'd really rather be quiet but it's his job to be cheerful. And this one's so logical that Jim thinks maybe he can talk him out of it, but when he tries the boy just replies "Batman needs a Robin" and disappears as well as Batman does.

And then Batman's without a Robin again, and it takes a few days during which Jim is terrified for the boy for somebody to tell him what happened. And this time it isn't Nightwing, it's two guys in normal clothes, one of them with Nightwing's domino and the other with a red one. And he'd heard that Nightwing had dropped off the radar, but he'd though it was because he was undercover or something, not because he'd quit. A wave of relief runs through him, and he realizes that the other one must be the second Robin. And they tell him that Robin's father made him quit. For a moment he wonders if they realize how much information they're dropping, until he realizes that they know exactly how much they're telling him, that they trust him in a way that Batman can't or won't.

And then there's a new Robin, and this one's a girl, and blonde, and as cheerful as the first two had been, but she doesn't seem to have the same rapport with Batman that the others had had, and he wonders about that until she comes by in a purple and black costume and tells him she'd learned that he'd only agreed to let her be Robin to try to get "Ti- Robin" to come back.

There are no more Robins after that. But sometimes four people come and have a cup of coffee with him. They bring their own cookies.