(Untitled)

[batmanschmatman]

Who: Dick Grayson and Tim Drake
What: OH GOD BRUCE IS ALIVE
Where: Tim's Room
When: After Steph comes back.
Warnings: Emoting. :|

Comments

[peektuttut]

Dick was going to have to look if he wanted to find Tim; because he was tucked away on his window seat, arms wrapped around his knees, staring out the window. Because Bruce was back, and he had no idea how to handle things here. He wanted to leave almost as badly as he wanted to stay.

Looking up at his brother, Tim nodded, running a hand over his face. "Yeah, she told me." And his other hand joined the first, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes.

[batmanschmatman]

Even if Dick wasn't sure how to feel about the situation in general, it was incredibly easy to push aside his own feelings of confusion about Bruce to be replaced with the genuine concern for Tim. He immediately closed the distance between them, stopping around three feet away from the window seat, not really sure what he should do or say, but wanting to do something, because he hadn't necessarily expected him to be this visibly upset by the news.

"Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question and he knew it was a stupid question, but he had to ask it anyway.

[peektuttut]

Totally stupid question. Tim laughed, and it had an edge to it, like he could have been crying. He wasn't, at least not yet. But he didn't really know what to do right now, so he pressed his hands a little harder against his eyes before lowering them, blinking up at Dick.

"Yeah. I mean, he's back. He's alive, and he's home, and I'm - I'm here." The only other father he had left was alive and theoretically well, and Tim didn't know what to do about that.

[batmanschmatman]

Dick was sort of at a loss, not really sure what he should or could say that would be useful at all. He'd kind of assumed that Tim was here for Bruce, and now that he was back, that meant that - theoretically - he could go home. And Dick... didn't know how to feel about that. Obviously, he was happy Bruce was alive, but he was still really at a loss about how he was supposed to feel about the rest of it.

"Yeah, but... he's alive." That was... something, right? Even if Tim still was on the Barge?

He reached out to put a hand on Tim's shoulder, squeezing reassuringly or maybe to be reassured that he was okay.

[peektuttut]

That got another quick smile, a grin, even, and Tim nodded, reaching up to put a hand over Dick's. "Yeah. Yeah, I knew he was. It knew it." He wasn't actually crazy. He'd been right. It was like a weight had been lifted. HE couldn't stop smiling.

[batmanschmatman]

That got a sort of confused chuckle out of him, feeling suddenly sort of weirdly disconnected from the situation, like he was just watching it happen instead of actually being there. "Yeah, you did." And he'd believed him, at least, here he'd believed him. He didn't really want to get into the time difference thing.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

[peektuttut]

The time difference thing was headache inducing, and it was there, in the back of his head; the way Dick had thought he was in denial, the fight they'd had over Tim leaving, over Dick wanting him to seek therapy - but he pushed it back and stood, nodding.

"Yeah. I'm great." Because Bruce was back, and he knew he'd have to go back to see for himself, soon.

[batmanschmatman]

"Good."

And Dick just... stood there. He was trying to sort through everything, figure out what he was supposed to be feeling about this. It hadn't happened to him yet, and thus the "Bruce is dead" thing had always felt sort of surreal, like he heard what everyone else was just saying but not really absorbing it.

Still, he could be happy for him, even if it meant he was leaving, so he managed a small smile. "That's great, Tim."

[peektuttut]

Now that it had sunken in, the excitement was showing its head. He had to get home, he had to see what he'd missed for himself, and he had to get a handle on what that meant for Gotham. On what it meant for everyone.

It was entirely possible that he was still hoping Bruce would make him Robin when he got back, and everything would be like it was. Like it was supposed to be, before things went to hell. But he knew that was childish. And unlikely. (But he still hoped.)

A smile spread across his face, and Tim stepped away from his brother, heading toward the closet as if he had to pack, before realizing that was dumb and turning around. "I should go, for a few days. I need to tell Sylar first. And everyone else, I just need to--" He needed to see Bruce.

[batmanschmatman]

Dick just watched, stepping away from Tim as he moved towards the closet, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets for want of anything better to do with them. That wasn't unexpected. Hell, he'd sort of known it was going to happen the second Steph said anything, and it wasn't like he had a problem with it. Tim should go home and be happy that things were going to be okay (hopefully) and it was stupid of him to maybe want him to stay, or to be a little jealous that he could go home and check in and make sure everything was okay. If he couldn't find his way back to the Barge, that was okay. That was good, even. There wasn't anything keeping him here except obligation to Sylar, and he could go home

[peektuttut]

Something was off. Something felt off, and though Tim's smile didn't fade, he did make himself pause, and look at Dick, and think about what was happening, and why Dick could look uncomfortable. For a moment, he couldn't connect the pieces, but then they shoved themselves together.

"I'm coming back," he promised. He wasn't finished helping Sylar, and he couldn't leave it like that. He'd invested too much in trying to get Sylar to trust him not to leave. Besides - there was Cissie and Dick, who he was pretty sure wouldn't leave any time soon. And Shego. He wasn't ready to put that behind him.

[batmanschmatman]

"Okay

[peektuttut]

He had no idea what to say at this point, and the excitement had settled down enough that he could focus on Dick's reactions. It was like he was trying to be happy for Tim. Running a hand through his hair, Tim hesitated for a moment, looking briefly uncomfortable - but then he crossed back toward Dick and hugged him, arms wrapped around his shoulders. Tim really wasn't the sort to instigate contact in most situations. But it seemed necessary right now, especially for Dick, who was usually so tactile.

He was coming back. He'd make sure of it.

plz 2 b ignoring how sad Tim looks in this :|

[batmanschmatman]

The gesture caught him a little off guard, but he appreciated it, hugging him back. It was reassuring, more so then pretty much anything else that had happened since Steph had come back, and he fought back the sudden lump in his throat which most definitely hadn't been there before.

"Love you, kiddo."

It was probably something they didn't say enough - which was definitely probably Bruce's fault - but it had seemed like the right thing to do. It was sort of part apology, part reaffirmation, because while he might not have made the mistakes that had really screwed things up yet, but he still felt responsible for it and he sort of needed Tim to know that in case he did leave for good. He didn't really understand what had happened between him and his brother in the timeline, but he really didn't want to be that person, no matter what the circumstances were.

sob. :c

[peektuttut]

He couldn't quite wrap his mouth around the right words for a response to that, so Tim just nodded against Dick's shoulder. He was going back to falling out a window; Kon's affirmation that he was alive later on wasn't the only reason Tim was sure he'd be okay. His plan going into Ra's' building had relied on someone being there to catch him. There were only a couple options for that, and he knew who the likeliest was.

So Tim squeezed a little tighter before letting Dick go, clapping his shoulder and taking a step back. He smiled a little crookedly. "Are we done being sentimental losers now?"

[batmanschmatman]

And with that, because apparently all it took to get him centered again and feeling a little less lost was a hug and getting something that had been really bothering him off his chest in the vaguest and shortest way possible, Dick was able to suck it up and go back to his usual self, treating Tim to his own sort of crooked smile before reaching over to ruffle his hair, just to make a point.

"I'm always a sentimental loser."