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Staying in Gotham had never been part of the plan. First of all, the Circus was supposed to move on, and he was supposed to move on with it. Even after… everything that had happened with his parents, he'd never imagined that he wouldn't be moving on with the Circus when it left town. Even if he wasn't ready to be a solo act yet, they always needed someone to sweep up trash, and besides. Pop Haly would never just leave him here in Gotham.
But then the cops had come in and insisted that as a witness to everything that had happened, he needed to come with them. For protection. Haly hadn't wanted to let him go--had said that the Circus could keep him plenty safe--but that hadn't mattered to them. They'd taken him along with them anyway, and put him in an orphanage.
And then, a couple of days later, those same two cops had come back--but not at any respectable hour. Instead, they'd come in the middle of the night, saying he had to go with them and not ask any questions. He'd been getting ready to ask a lot of questions, maybe with his fists, when Pop Haly had showed up--maybe he'd had the same idea of getting Dick out of there, but he'd never know. He'd had some questions, too--about what they were doing there in the middle of the night, and what they wanted with Dick.
They'd killed him for it, and there was a part of Dick that sort of hated himself for running while their attention was on Pop, but there'd been nothing he could do. The best he could do was get out of there before they did the same to him.
He thought about going back to the Circus, but only for the ten seconds it took him to realize that it was the first place those rats'd look for him. Besides, with Haly gone, who even knew if there was going to be a Haly's Circus anymore? Times were hard for everyone, and with no more Circus, and the future of all of the acts suddenly really uncertain, it wasn't like anyone could just take on a kid aerialist. He wasn't part of a team anymore, it was just him, and a solo act was hard for an adult, let alone a kid. He didn't even have to go back to hear what they'd say.
"Sorry, Dickie, we just can't…"
"You know we'd bring you with us if we could, kid, but…"
"You know what this business is like, Dickie…"
And he did. He got it. But that didn't leave him any less stuck here in Gotham, where he'd never intended to be for more than the few days Pop Haly had planned to stop here to impress Gothamites with the amazing acts and shows he'd collected over the years. He wasn't supposed to be here, but it turned out that when the Circus fell apart, there wasn't any place for one kid.
Fine. It was fine. One day he'd get the hell out of this town and impress the world as the last of the Flying Graysons, but for now, he just had to stick around in Gotham, and… deal. For now. He could do that.
He knew better than to stick around the orphanages, so as soon as he'd had the chance, he'd bolted. Maybe it was better to stay where he definitely had access to a few meals a day, but it wasn't worth everything else that came with it. Maybe some of them were fine, but he didn't know any, and he'd rather not find out the hard way that he'd landed in the wrong place. Besides, they might still be looking for him, and anyway, he was okay on his own. His mom and dad had taught him to look after himself, and he hadn't forgotten any of their lessons. He'd be fine.
He wasn't well-dressed, but he was dressed well enough that he didn't get too many side eyed looks when he walked down the streets, and he knew how to steal subtly enough that he usually didn't have to worry about getting caught. Not everyone was that good, and he leaned past a kid who was definitely not very good at being subtle, blocking him from view of the shopkeeper who was watching him with deep suspicion.
He gave the kid a sideways look and shook his head minutely, then hooked an arm through his. "Hey little brother, I think our folks went that way." He gave the shopkeeper a quick, apologetic look. "Sorry. My little brother got lost. Mom and Dad are worried sick. We'll get out of your hair."
The kid looked mutinous, but Dick just tightened his arm around his and hauled him away bodily, waiting until they were out of earshot of the shopkeeper before speaking again. "He was looking too hard at you, kid. You were about to get tossed into jail or a home or something. That what you want?"
The kid pulled away from him to glare. He was a few inches shorter than Dick, and his red hair had long grown out of its last haircut. His eyes were dark, and Dick thought they probably were lucky that the shopkeeper had let them slide as brothers. They didn't look much like it, aside from the shaggy hair. Well, maybe that was enough for some people. "No. And I was doin' just fine ."
"Sure you were." He slung an arm around the kid's shoulders and held out an apple he'd lifted a block away. "I'm Dick."
The kid eyed him for a long, suspicious moment, then took the apple. "Jay," he said in response, taking a bite from the fruit. "Well, Jason, but everyone calls me Jay."
Just like no one ever called him "Richard." He nodded. They rounded a corner and Dick dropped his arm, letting Jay go. He wasn't about to start dragging little kids around for no good reason. For all he knew, Jay had parents to get back to or something. It was getting pretty late anyway, and almost time to figure out where he was going to bunk down for the night. He kinda figured Jay would take off--it wasn't like they'd met up on purpose or anything, but instead, the kid fell into step next to him, keeping a little bit of space between them.
"Where you from, Dickie?" he asked. "Not around here."
Dick shook his head. "Nah. My people are circus people. Just gonna be a while before I get back to them, I guess. Long story," he added, before Jay could ask. He didn't feel like going into the whole sad story with someone he'd just met. "What about you?"
"Lived here my whole life," he said, and Dick could hear the pride in it, though for what he wasn't sure. Gotham was a hellhole as far as he was concerned, and he couldn't wait to get out, but he guessed everyone felt different. Home was home, even if it was Gotham.
"You got family?" Even as he asked, he knew it was a stupid question. Jay hadn't volunteered any information about parents or family--just that he was from around here, and knew that Dick wasn't. He probably wanted to answer questions like that about as much as Dick did.
He was right. Jason scowled at him. "None that's worth anything. You?" His jaw was set, like he was looking for a fight, but Dick wasn't inclined to give it to him. He'd started it, after all.
He shook his head. "Gone. And so's the Circus. It's how I got stuck here."
Some of the fight went out of Jason's expression, like knowing that they were in a similar situation put them back on even ground again. "Oh."
Dick nodded. Jason didn't offer any sympathy, which he appreciated, and the two continued to walk in silence until they reached the end of the block. Jason jerked his chin to the left as they reached the intersection. "I'm this way," he said.
"Okay. See you around, Jay." He started to cross the street, but stopped when he felt a hand on his wrist. He turned to see Jason frowning at him.
"You got a place to stay, Dickie? I mean for more than a night."
He shook his head. "No, but I'm fine."
Jason rolled his eyes. "Sure. But I guess I kinda owe you for the apple, and for helping me out back there--even though I coulda handled it myself."
Dick grinned at him. "Sure you coulda."
He punched him in the arm. "Shut up. Anyway I have a place. Sorta. It's where I've been staying since my mom died. Do you wanna come with me or not?"
Dick glanced at the darkening sky. It was getting late, and soon the real predators would be out. He could handle himself for the most part, and he was betting Jay could too, but it might be nice to sleep knowing someone had his back for once. He doubted that Jay's "sorta" place was much, but if he was willing to share…
"Sure," he said finally. "Let's go."
There was a part of Dick that had wanted to run off when Big Bill Dust had moved in and taken over their little corner of Gotham, calling it "Outsiders" territory or some such bullshit. The whole city was a pit anyway, and they'd both be better off not dealing with someone who moved into a neighborhood of mainly kids and decided that just because he was bigger than them, that meant he was in charge. Unfortunately , Jason had balked the second he'd broached the subject, and said that if Dick wanted to bail, he was welcome to, but Jason wasn't leaving, and Dick couldn't make him.
Well, joke's on you, Jay, because Dick could think of at least three ways to make Jason go with him, but he wasn't going to do it. Jay wanted to stay in Gotham for some insane reason, and Dick wasn't going to just ditch him. He liked the kid. They did well together, had each others' backs and even managed to help the littler kids when they needed it. Dick had always thought he was kind of a soft touch where it came to kids--perils of being a circus brat, he guessed. He liked making them smile.
But if he was a soft touch, Jason was a damned bleeding heart. He hated seeing little kids hurt or unhappy, and would do almost anything to prevent it. So it shouldn't really have been a surprise to see Jason coming back to their little corner of crumbling building one afternoon with a way-too-little kid trailing after him.
He gave Dick a pleading look as he ushered the kid ahead of him. "I couldn't leave him out there. Look at him. And he was all by himself."
Dick didn't have the heart to put up even a token argument. The kid was little , probably not much more than six or seven, with dark hair and blue eyes that looked too big in his small face. God, no wonder Jay hadn't been able to leave him on his own out there. He'd get eaten alive. He sighed and shifted to make a little space, motioning for the kid to have a seat on the floor next to him. He moved quietly and cautiously, which probably pointed at how he'd kept from getting eaten alive before Jay had found him. "You got a name, kid?" he asked as Jason settled down facing them, the three of them forming a little triangle.
The kid hesitated and Dick gave him a wry little smile. "We don't need your birth certificate. We just need something to call you."
Some of the tension eased out of the little boy's shoulders and he nodded. "Tim," he said finally.
"You got family around here that's gonna come looking for you?"
Jason made an impatient noise and took a roll out of the bag he was still wearing over his shoulder to throw at Dick's head. "You think I didn't ask him that already, Dickie?"
Dick caught it out of the air, then the apple and the tomato that followed and started juggling them, to Tim's obvious delight. "How am I supposed to know? It's not like you gave me much to go on."
"And it's not like I got a habit of bringing kids back here all the time. Stop showing off," he groused, tossing a roll to Tim, along with a second apple. He fumbled, but managed to keep from dropping them.
Dick smiled and caught the food, setting it down on his lap. "You never know. You might've got hit in the head or something."
"I don't have any family." Tim's voice was quiet, but it nonetheless got both of their attention, and not just because he was actually choosing to say more than one word. He had both hands curled around the roll Jason had tossed him. "My parents are gone. The people who were supposed to take care of me didn't want me."
Dick exchanged a look with Jason. The way he talked… "You're not from around here, are you?"
He hesitated, then shrugged, setting his jaw a little. "Am now."
That drew a short laugh from Jason, and even Dick smiled a little. It didn't really make him feel better--how had a kid that talked like Tim found his way all the way down here? Had his people just dropped him off and said "good luck?" Shit . He really was lucky Jason had been the one that found him. He reached out to muss Tim's hair, which made the boy blink at him in surprise. "Eat your dinner," he said.
Tim nodded and took a bite from his roll while Jason pulled out the last few things from his bag. Another roll and apple for himself, and a bit of ham for the three of them to share between them. Dick didn't like Big Bill, but he had to admit that the man did pay them for the jobs he had them do. Not a lot, but enough that he and Jason got to eat more days than they didn't. They were going to have to figure out how to make that stretch until they taught Tim enough that he could help. He stuck out like a sore thumb now, but that wasn't going to last. His clothes would get threadbare, and Dick and Jason could teach him how to talk.
And then maybe, eventually, he'd be able to get the three of them out of Gotham. They could save--he hoped. Maybe take on some extra jobs if they had to. But if they were going to stick together, and it looked like they were… Tim and Jason were just kids. They deserved better, and he was going to make sure they got it. This thing with Big Bill Dust… it was temporary.
He was sure of it.