Under A Spell, PART II; Secrets come out!
Alright, here begins the sadnes, the first part was kind of sweet but this story sort of gets progressivly worse, although i do not kill my characters, and the couples will end up happy, i do not do sad ending (unless it's got a reason behind it) anyway, again, I'm working on my organization issues with this whole sight... I don't want to rant anymore Enjoy:
Connor couldn’t help but admire Robin. He had known that Robin was almost impossibly fit, but he had never understood what that meant. Even with his Super abilities he found all these jumps and movements difficult. Robin made it all look easy, but it was obvious that it wasn’t easy, luckily there wasn’t much crime. He could tell Robin was trying to hide how tired he was, and was glad when he didn’t jerk away from him as he removed the mask.
Connor smiled and said, “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
Tim rolled his eyes, but his heart wasn’t in the motion, and Connor saw the faint tinge of a blush as Robin turned away from him and headed to the showers.
When Connor had finally forced himself to get out of bed he had tracked Tim down to the Bat-Cave. If he had to guess he would say his friend had only slept a few hours before getting up, but the smile on his face was genuine as he spun around to face him. Tim smiled and said, “I figured out the connection.”
Connor raised an eyebrow and Tim started talking about an underground group that had been working together to steal supplies. Connor let Tim talk for a while and tried not to focus on the man’s lips. Eventually he finally cleared his throat and Tim snapped his mouth shut like he hadn’t realized he had been talking for the past five minutes. Connor smiled and said, “I’ll be sure to find this all fascinating tonight, but right now, I think it’s time you get reacquainted with the video game.”
Tim had thought he would despise spending the day eating junk food and playing video games, but once he realized that he could get competitive over a video game he became engrossed in dominating the playing field, and forgot that he was Robin for a few hours.
When Tim had changed into his Robin costume he had questioned a few key people and discovered the information he needed. An abandoned warehouse was being used as the base of the under-ground group that had been staging the break-ins. After regrouping with Connor he explained the situation.
As Connor and Tim entered the warehouse, that had been reported empty, Tim quickly noticed the shelves full of materials and cataloged them mentally. Someone hadn’t just been stealing from pharmacists, but if Tim had to guess from the looks of it, Super Villains. Tim noticed several of poison Ivy’s plants and several canisters of the Scarecrows Fear Gas. Tim took a quick look around before turning to Super-boy and saying, “We need to get out of here, this whole places is filled with hazardous materials.”
As both of them turned toward the door, Super-boy herd a sound he recognize as a bombs timer. Connors eyes widened in shock and he launched himself at Tim. He put himself between Tim and the exploding material as he flew them out of the Warehouse at sonic speed.
Tim didn’t know what had happened, one secant he was turning toward the doorway, the next a hard object, much like a wall, slammed into his side, nearly knocking the wind out of him. Connors arms wrapped around him and Tim’s stomach lurched as he was slammed off his feet and lurched through the air. Tim felt like Super-boy was crushing him to his chest and Tim couldn’t see what was happening and was too broadsided and dizzy to actually know what was going on till Connor placed him on his feet, several minutes later.
Tim would have fallen if Connor hadn’t kept a firm grip on his shoulders. The kid was fine going a hundred miles per hour in the Bat mobile but a few minutes flying had made him almost green. Tim didn’t dare try to open his eyes as he leaned against Connor, trying to get his center of gravity. He vaguely realized that a bomb had just gone off, and that Connor had saved his life, but he was still just to disoriented to really think.
When Tim leaned his head against Connor’s arm he nearly lost it. Sometime in the last couple of days he had slowly realized the attraction and emotion he was feeling for his friend and teammate. Normally Tim strategically avoided all physical contact that wasn’t in the form of a practice fight, but he wasn’t thinking at all at the moment. Tim waited for several minutes, but the dizzy feeling wasn’t going away and his knees felt weak.
Tim’s forehead, which was up against his arm, was slowly growing warmer, and when the boy moaned and his knees gave out, Connor instantly pulled him full on against his chest. Tim’s blue eyes were slightly glazed when he looked up into Connor’s eyes. Connor opened his mouth to ask if he was okay, but never got the air to ask because suddenly Tim’s mouth was on his. At first Connor instinctively pulled Tim even closer to his chest, the feel of his moist lips was amazing, but then he managed to think long enough to pull away from Tim to asked, “What was that?”
Tim made a moaning noise and Connor decided that although he would love to let Tim keep kissing him and running his hands over his chest, he needed to be sure that this wasn’t just a side effect of the explosion. Connor managed to wrestle Tim’s hands into submission as he got a hold of his pal’s communicator, and he sent through a message to the Bat’s. After a few minutes Alfred’s voice came through, “Can I be of any assistance?”
Connor frowned and said, “There was an explosion, I got us out okay, but there were a whole bunch of chemicals and Tim’s acting weird… I don’t know what to do…”
There was a pause and then Alfred asked, “Can you get Tim back to the Bat Cave?”
Connor hooked the communicator to his shirt and tightened his grip on Tim, who was currently doing his best to leave a bruise the shape of his mouth on Connor’s neck without success. Connor took off and Tim made a moaning sound before he bit down as hard as he could into the hard flesh. Tim was definitely acting strange, but Connor still wished he would keep doing it, because his teeth digging at his skin, trying to break through his flesh, felt amazing.
When Connor walked into the Bat-Cave a few minutes later he found that the butler was not alone, he had called in Nightwing and his own father figure. Superman looked a little surprised to find his adoptive son in such a precarious position, but Nightwing let a small smile play a crossed his face as he saw his adoptive younger brother plastered across the younger Super, and kissing his chest. He had suspected Tim swayed that way, but it was obvious to everyone that Tim was not exactly in his right mind.
When they attempted to remove Tim from Connor’s chest he flipped out, lashing out and actually threw a blade at Dick, while Dick dodged the blade Tim readjusted his hold on Connor’s neck. Eventually they decided that any test they did would have to be done while Tim was in Connor’s arms. They took some of his blood and quickly discovered the problem; a mixture of inhaled toxins had made it to Tim’s bloodstream. They ran some tests and discovered that the effects would eventually dissipate naturally, within the next few days.
Connor woke up when teeth bit into the side of his thigh, he opened his eyes and looked down to find Tim kissing the sensitive flesh he had moments before been biting into. It took a moment for Connor to realize that he wasn’t having a wet dream, and another moment to remember the events of last night. Connor really enjoyed Tim’s touch, but he didn’t want to take advantage of his friend so he grabbed Tim shoulders and jerked him away and said, “Tim.”
Tim started shaking and made a sound of pain deep in his throat. His friend hadn’t even said an intelligible word since he had first been affected. Connor sighed and pulled Tim up against his chest, and immediately Tim stopped the painful sounds and began nibbling at Connor’s neck. Connor had to keep on telling himself not to take advantage of his friend as he slowly managed to get the two of them fully dressed. It was difficult to get Tim away from him long enough to pull a shirt over his head but eventually his efforts were rewarded as he carried Tim downstairs to the breakfast table.
Dick and Clark where already up and eating breakfast. They looked up at their entrance, Dick smiled at the sight of them but Clark was blushing and trying to avoid eye-contact.
It had been the longest day of his life, full of pain and pleasure. Having so much contact with Tim was amazing but not being able to allow the touches to continue was agony.
Tim started shaking with fear, his voice quietly pleading for someone to stop. Connor put his hand on his friends forehead, trying to feel for the fever that was not present, and Tim cried out, jerking away from him in his sleep. It took Connor some time to understand that Tim was having a nightmare, and the more time that pasted the more Tim began to shake and now he was screaming as he jerked awake. Connors heart tore when tears made their way down Tim’s face. Tim shuddered, still terrified and there was a moment where his eyes almost seemed clear of the drug as Connor reached out for Tim. Tim let him pull him in and hold him for a moment before drifting back to sleep.
When Tim started shaking and crying out in terror a secant time that night, Connor called Dick. Dick took some samples and then left Connor to handle Tim, who they both thought had to have been infected with a fear toxin.
Several hours later Tim opened his eyes, eyes that were nearly free of the deluded haze. Both boys were surprised that Tim had only been affected by a Lust plant, no trace of fear toxin, but Tim wasn’t completely himself yet. It was like he was wakening from a dream and Connor could tell Tim realized how crazy he was acting but couldn’t stop himself from clinging to Connor as though he were a life raft in the middle of the ocean.
Tim tried to reason with his body, tried to tell himself to pull it together and to not let the drug control him, but nothing he did could stop his body from wrapping around Connor. Whenever he couldn’t feel Connor at several places of contact he panicked, and although he knew how unreasonable it was he couldn’t stop the emotions he was feeling. He could feel the drug leaving his system, it seemed to drain him of every sap of energy he had left in his body. Finally, darkness fell and he realized that he had rational control of his brain again. Sure he still felt a little sickly when he lost contact with Connor but still, he needed to be in control.
When Tim finally pulled away from Connor, he felt his heart pang, and could see how hard his friend was fighting the drugs and he could see how bad it was affecting him. He knew that as long as Tim was in control he wouldn’t force any contact, so Connor touched his friend. He could instantly see him relax under his hands and he whispered into Tim’s ear, “You can pretend like the drug still has complete control, I don’t mind.”
Tim made a sound somewhere between a groan and a sob and said, “I don’t like people touching me. I hate it… but…”
Connor put his hand over Tim’s mouth and said, “It’s alright, you should be back to hating my touch in the morning, for now I’d rather just keep you close.”
Tim leaned his head against Connor’s chest and said, “I don’t want to fall asleep.”
Connor didn’t bother trying to respond to that as Tim’s eyes were already drifting close.
When Tim jerked awake from his nightmare, he realized a couple things. One, he was not alone, both Dick and Connor where a little ways from him, and Two, the drug was completely out of his system, but he still felt compelled to reach out and touch Connor. Tim ran his hands through his sweat Dampen hair and said, “I think it’s mostly out of my system.”
Dick raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s completely out of your system, had been for a few hours now, so whatever you are feeling is your emotions alone.”
Tim couldn’t meet either set of eyes as he processed that information. Since when had he felt this attraction for Connor? As he struggled to think that through Connor asked, “What were you dreaming about?”
Tim kept his gaze on the floor and said, “I don’t know.”
They all herd it for the obvious lie it was, and after a minute Connor said, “You were calling out in your sleep.”
Tim looked up in horror, what had he said. Dick cleared his throat and said, “Tim, we are both here to help you. It’s obvious that these nightmares have been going on now for some time. We’re not going to leave until we get some answers from you.”
Tim didn’t want to cry, didn’t want to feel scared, so he took his third option, Anger. He normally never let any emotions push through; he worked so hard to keep every emotion in check. He hadn’t realized just how strong the emotions he kept bottled in were. So with an explosive shout he asked, “What the fuck does it matter whether I have a few nightmares!”
The shocked expressions on the two men’s faces only added fuel to the inferno that was his emotions. “You think that just because you’re around me a little bit that you know me? You all only care about me when I’m Robin; you don’t know shit about me, my life, what I went through before I became Robin!”
The anger was fading fast, being replaced by that deep sadness he got whenever he let himself think about who he was before he became Robin. He forced himself roughly to his feet, and with the Anger fading fast he made a dash for the exit, but strong arms wrapped around him, holding him still. With the last of his anger he shouted, “Let me go!”
Connor didn’t let go, he knew Tim better than that. If they let him get away now, when he was finally starting to show some emotions, then they might not ever get this close to him ever again. He might not ever be close enough to help Tim get over the nightmares that plagued him, terrorizing him. Tim jerked in his hold, making feeble attempts to escape before collapsing in his arms. He could feel him start to shake as he said, “Please… Let me go…”
That pain was in his heart again, and he was about to do just as Tim had asked, when Dick said, “Calm down Tim, your safe here. We just can’t let things keep going on like this. Being Robin is a hard enough job with a full night’s rest, if we don’t do something to help you now, we might just find you dead.”
Connor stiffened, his hold tightening. He hadn’t even thought of it that way, and obviously neither had Tim, because he no longer strained to escape Connor’s hold. There was a moment of silence and then Dick asked, “What’s so bad that you can’t tell us? You’re probably just over thinking it this. Maybe we’re better friends than you give us credit for.”
Connor could feel the soft shudders of Tim’s sobs as he said, “I don’t… deserve you all being so nice to me… not me… When I’m Robin it doesn’t matter if I’m dirty… it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks of me… but…” For a minute Tim was silent as he sobbed, and after a few minutes he said, “My Dad… my real dad… wasn’t exactly what you would call a clean-cut guy… honestly he was a complete bastard… but I never even realized how fucked up the shit he did to me was till I took that stupid Sex Ed Class.”
Both Connor and Dick stiffened, and Tim let out something between a laugh and a sob before saying, “They make you fill out a form at the end of the class, the first question was, Are You Still a Virgin? And I honestly had no idea whether I was or not, I never had sex with a girl… I read through the rest of the questions and quickly realized I had to lie or ells I might get Bruce in trouble… not like I could answer the question, When Was Your First Time, with somewhere around the age of seven but you know I’m a little fuzzy on the exact date. Could you imagine who the school would have called in if I had answered, Who Was Your First Time With…”
As Connor let go of Tim he felt his friend slip to the floor. He wanted so badly to touch him and hold him in his arms, but his words from the night before, ‘I hate being touched’ rang through his mind like a mantra. Tim let out another one of those laugh sobs and his voice was bitter as he said, “People always say that, ‘We’re here for you little Timmy,’ but I know from experience that people who say those lines are full of crap.”
Neither Connor nor Dick moved to stop Tim as he stood and pushed himself out of the room. They were too stunned by what they had just learned to really react to anything. The whole time Tim had never looked into their eyes, but Connor had heard the painful truth of his words. The door slamed shut behind Tim and Connor heard Tim running down the hallway as he turned to Dick with pleading questioning eyes. Dick met his eyes and he bit his lip, Connor knew he was analyzing every conversation he’s ever had with Tim, conversations that suddenly had a double meaning.
After a few minutes they both realize just how over their heads they are. Another few minutes before Dick mutters, “We should talk to Alfred, he’ll know… I didn’t know.”
Connor couldn’t help but admire Robin. He had known that Robin was almost impossibly fit, but he had never understood what that meant. Even with his Super abilities he found all these jumps and movements difficult. Robin made it all look easy, but it was obvious that it wasn’t easy, luckily there wasn’t much crime. He could tell Robin was trying to hide how tired he was, and was glad when he didn’t jerk away from him as he removed the mask.
Connor smiled and said, “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
Tim rolled his eyes, but his heart wasn’t in the motion, and Connor saw the faint tinge of a blush as Robin turned away from him and headed to the showers.
When Connor had finally forced himself to get out of bed he had tracked Tim down to the Bat-Cave. If he had to guess he would say his friend had only slept a few hours before getting up, but the smile on his face was genuine as he spun around to face him. Tim smiled and said, “I figured out the connection.”
Connor raised an eyebrow and Tim started talking about an underground group that had been working together to steal supplies. Connor let Tim talk for a while and tried not to focus on the man’s lips. Eventually he finally cleared his throat and Tim snapped his mouth shut like he hadn’t realized he had been talking for the past five minutes. Connor smiled and said, “I’ll be sure to find this all fascinating tonight, but right now, I think it’s time you get reacquainted with the video game.”
Tim had thought he would despise spending the day eating junk food and playing video games, but once he realized that he could get competitive over a video game he became engrossed in dominating the playing field, and forgot that he was Robin for a few hours.
When Tim had changed into his Robin costume he had questioned a few key people and discovered the information he needed. An abandoned warehouse was being used as the base of the under-ground group that had been staging the break-ins. After regrouping with Connor he explained the situation.
As Connor and Tim entered the warehouse, that had been reported empty, Tim quickly noticed the shelves full of materials and cataloged them mentally. Someone hadn’t just been stealing from pharmacists, but if Tim had to guess from the looks of it, Super Villains. Tim noticed several of poison Ivy’s plants and several canisters of the Scarecrows Fear Gas. Tim took a quick look around before turning to Super-boy and saying, “We need to get out of here, this whole places is filled with hazardous materials.”
As both of them turned toward the door, Super-boy herd a sound he recognize as a bombs timer. Connors eyes widened in shock and he launched himself at Tim. He put himself between Tim and the exploding material as he flew them out of the Warehouse at sonic speed.
Tim didn’t know what had happened, one secant he was turning toward the doorway, the next a hard object, much like a wall, slammed into his side, nearly knocking the wind out of him. Connors arms wrapped around him and Tim’s stomach lurched as he was slammed off his feet and lurched through the air. Tim felt like Super-boy was crushing him to his chest and Tim couldn’t see what was happening and was too broadsided and dizzy to actually know what was going on till Connor placed him on his feet, several minutes later.
Tim would have fallen if Connor hadn’t kept a firm grip on his shoulders. The kid was fine going a hundred miles per hour in the Bat mobile but a few minutes flying had made him almost green. Tim didn’t dare try to open his eyes as he leaned against Connor, trying to get his center of gravity. He vaguely realized that a bomb had just gone off, and that Connor had saved his life, but he was still just to disoriented to really think.
When Tim leaned his head against Connor’s arm he nearly lost it. Sometime in the last couple of days he had slowly realized the attraction and emotion he was feeling for his friend and teammate. Normally Tim strategically avoided all physical contact that wasn’t in the form of a practice fight, but he wasn’t thinking at all at the moment. Tim waited for several minutes, but the dizzy feeling wasn’t going away and his knees felt weak.
Tim’s forehead, which was up against his arm, was slowly growing warmer, and when the boy moaned and his knees gave out, Connor instantly pulled him full on against his chest. Tim’s blue eyes were slightly glazed when he looked up into Connor’s eyes. Connor opened his mouth to ask if he was okay, but never got the air to ask because suddenly Tim’s mouth was on his. At first Connor instinctively pulled Tim even closer to his chest, the feel of his moist lips was amazing, but then he managed to think long enough to pull away from Tim to asked, “What was that?”
Tim made a moaning noise and Connor decided that although he would love to let Tim keep kissing him and running his hands over his chest, he needed to be sure that this wasn’t just a side effect of the explosion. Connor managed to wrestle Tim’s hands into submission as he got a hold of his pal’s communicator, and he sent through a message to the Bat’s. After a few minutes Alfred’s voice came through, “Can I be of any assistance?”
Connor frowned and said, “There was an explosion, I got us out okay, but there were a whole bunch of chemicals and Tim’s acting weird… I don’t know what to do…”
There was a pause and then Alfred asked, “Can you get Tim back to the Bat Cave?”
Connor hooked the communicator to his shirt and tightened his grip on Tim, who was currently doing his best to leave a bruise the shape of his mouth on Connor’s neck without success. Connor took off and Tim made a moaning sound before he bit down as hard as he could into the hard flesh. Tim was definitely acting strange, but Connor still wished he would keep doing it, because his teeth digging at his skin, trying to break through his flesh, felt amazing.
When Connor walked into the Bat-Cave a few minutes later he found that the butler was not alone, he had called in Nightwing and his own father figure. Superman looked a little surprised to find his adoptive son in such a precarious position, but Nightwing let a small smile play a crossed his face as he saw his adoptive younger brother plastered across the younger Super, and kissing his chest. He had suspected Tim swayed that way, but it was obvious to everyone that Tim was not exactly in his right mind.
When they attempted to remove Tim from Connor’s chest he flipped out, lashing out and actually threw a blade at Dick, while Dick dodged the blade Tim readjusted his hold on Connor’s neck. Eventually they decided that any test they did would have to be done while Tim was in Connor’s arms. They took some of his blood and quickly discovered the problem; a mixture of inhaled toxins had made it to Tim’s bloodstream. They ran some tests and discovered that the effects would eventually dissipate naturally, within the next few days.
Connor woke up when teeth bit into the side of his thigh, he opened his eyes and looked down to find Tim kissing the sensitive flesh he had moments before been biting into. It took a moment for Connor to realize that he wasn’t having a wet dream, and another moment to remember the events of last night. Connor really enjoyed Tim’s touch, but he didn’t want to take advantage of his friend so he grabbed Tim shoulders and jerked him away and said, “Tim.”
Tim started shaking and made a sound of pain deep in his throat. His friend hadn’t even said an intelligible word since he had first been affected. Connor sighed and pulled Tim up against his chest, and immediately Tim stopped the painful sounds and began nibbling at Connor’s neck. Connor had to keep on telling himself not to take advantage of his friend as he slowly managed to get the two of them fully dressed. It was difficult to get Tim away from him long enough to pull a shirt over his head but eventually his efforts were rewarded as he carried Tim downstairs to the breakfast table.
Dick and Clark where already up and eating breakfast. They looked up at their entrance, Dick smiled at the sight of them but Clark was blushing and trying to avoid eye-contact.
It had been the longest day of his life, full of pain and pleasure. Having so much contact with Tim was amazing but not being able to allow the touches to continue was agony.
Tim started shaking with fear, his voice quietly pleading for someone to stop. Connor put his hand on his friends forehead, trying to feel for the fever that was not present, and Tim cried out, jerking away from him in his sleep. It took Connor some time to understand that Tim was having a nightmare, and the more time that pasted the more Tim began to shake and now he was screaming as he jerked awake. Connors heart tore when tears made their way down Tim’s face. Tim shuddered, still terrified and there was a moment where his eyes almost seemed clear of the drug as Connor reached out for Tim. Tim let him pull him in and hold him for a moment before drifting back to sleep.
When Tim started shaking and crying out in terror a secant time that night, Connor called Dick. Dick took some samples and then left Connor to handle Tim, who they both thought had to have been infected with a fear toxin.
Several hours later Tim opened his eyes, eyes that were nearly free of the deluded haze. Both boys were surprised that Tim had only been affected by a Lust plant, no trace of fear toxin, but Tim wasn’t completely himself yet. It was like he was wakening from a dream and Connor could tell Tim realized how crazy he was acting but couldn’t stop himself from clinging to Connor as though he were a life raft in the middle of the ocean.
Tim tried to reason with his body, tried to tell himself to pull it together and to not let the drug control him, but nothing he did could stop his body from wrapping around Connor. Whenever he couldn’t feel Connor at several places of contact he panicked, and although he knew how unreasonable it was he couldn’t stop the emotions he was feeling. He could feel the drug leaving his system, it seemed to drain him of every sap of energy he had left in his body. Finally, darkness fell and he realized that he had rational control of his brain again. Sure he still felt a little sickly when he lost contact with Connor but still, he needed to be in control.
When Tim finally pulled away from Connor, he felt his heart pang, and could see how hard his friend was fighting the drugs and he could see how bad it was affecting him. He knew that as long as Tim was in control he wouldn’t force any contact, so Connor touched his friend. He could instantly see him relax under his hands and he whispered into Tim’s ear, “You can pretend like the drug still has complete control, I don’t mind.”
Tim made a sound somewhere between a groan and a sob and said, “I don’t like people touching me. I hate it… but…”
Connor put his hand over Tim’s mouth and said, “It’s alright, you should be back to hating my touch in the morning, for now I’d rather just keep you close.”
Tim leaned his head against Connor’s chest and said, “I don’t want to fall asleep.”
Connor didn’t bother trying to respond to that as Tim’s eyes were already drifting close.
When Tim jerked awake from his nightmare, he realized a couple things. One, he was not alone, both Dick and Connor where a little ways from him, and Two, the drug was completely out of his system, but he still felt compelled to reach out and touch Connor. Tim ran his hands through his sweat Dampen hair and said, “I think it’s mostly out of my system.”
Dick raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s completely out of your system, had been for a few hours now, so whatever you are feeling is your emotions alone.”
Tim couldn’t meet either set of eyes as he processed that information. Since when had he felt this attraction for Connor? As he struggled to think that through Connor asked, “What were you dreaming about?”
Tim kept his gaze on the floor and said, “I don’t know.”
They all herd it for the obvious lie it was, and after a minute Connor said, “You were calling out in your sleep.”
Tim looked up in horror, what had he said. Dick cleared his throat and said, “Tim, we are both here to help you. It’s obvious that these nightmares have been going on now for some time. We’re not going to leave until we get some answers from you.”
Tim didn’t want to cry, didn’t want to feel scared, so he took his third option, Anger. He normally never let any emotions push through; he worked so hard to keep every emotion in check. He hadn’t realized just how strong the emotions he kept bottled in were. So with an explosive shout he asked, “What the fuck does it matter whether I have a few nightmares!”
The shocked expressions on the two men’s faces only added fuel to the inferno that was his emotions. “You think that just because you’re around me a little bit that you know me? You all only care about me when I’m Robin; you don’t know shit about me, my life, what I went through before I became Robin!”
The anger was fading fast, being replaced by that deep sadness he got whenever he let himself think about who he was before he became Robin. He forced himself roughly to his feet, and with the Anger fading fast he made a dash for the exit, but strong arms wrapped around him, holding him still. With the last of his anger he shouted, “Let me go!”
Connor didn’t let go, he knew Tim better than that. If they let him get away now, when he was finally starting to show some emotions, then they might not ever get this close to him ever again. He might not ever be close enough to help Tim get over the nightmares that plagued him, terrorizing him. Tim jerked in his hold, making feeble attempts to escape before collapsing in his arms. He could feel him start to shake as he said, “Please… Let me go…”
That pain was in his heart again, and he was about to do just as Tim had asked, when Dick said, “Calm down Tim, your safe here. We just can’t let things keep going on like this. Being Robin is a hard enough job with a full night’s rest, if we don’t do something to help you now, we might just find you dead.”
Connor stiffened, his hold tightening. He hadn’t even thought of it that way, and obviously neither had Tim, because he no longer strained to escape Connor’s hold. There was a moment of silence and then Dick asked, “What’s so bad that you can’t tell us? You’re probably just over thinking it this. Maybe we’re better friends than you give us credit for.”
Connor could feel the soft shudders of Tim’s sobs as he said, “I don’t… deserve you all being so nice to me… not me… When I’m Robin it doesn’t matter if I’m dirty… it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks of me… but…” For a minute Tim was silent as he sobbed, and after a few minutes he said, “My Dad… my real dad… wasn’t exactly what you would call a clean-cut guy… honestly he was a complete bastard… but I never even realized how fucked up the shit he did to me was till I took that stupid Sex Ed Class.”
Both Connor and Dick stiffened, and Tim let out something between a laugh and a sob before saying, “They make you fill out a form at the end of the class, the first question was, Are You Still a Virgin? And I honestly had no idea whether I was or not, I never had sex with a girl… I read through the rest of the questions and quickly realized I had to lie or ells I might get Bruce in trouble… not like I could answer the question, When Was Your First Time, with somewhere around the age of seven but you know I’m a little fuzzy on the exact date. Could you imagine who the school would have called in if I had answered, Who Was Your First Time With…”
As Connor let go of Tim he felt his friend slip to the floor. He wanted so badly to touch him and hold him in his arms, but his words from the night before, ‘I hate being touched’ rang through his mind like a mantra. Tim let out another one of those laugh sobs and his voice was bitter as he said, “People always say that, ‘We’re here for you little Timmy,’ but I know from experience that people who say those lines are full of crap.”
Neither Connor nor Dick moved to stop Tim as he stood and pushed himself out of the room. They were too stunned by what they had just learned to really react to anything. The whole time Tim had never looked into their eyes, but Connor had heard the painful truth of his words. The door slamed shut behind Tim and Connor heard Tim running down the hallway as he turned to Dick with pleading questioning eyes. Dick met his eyes and he bit his lip, Connor knew he was analyzing every conversation he’s ever had with Tim, conversations that suddenly had a double meaning.
After a few minutes they both realize just how over their heads they are. Another few minutes before Dick mutters, “We should talk to Alfred, he’ll know… I didn’t know.”