(Untitled)

[goldeneyedflash]

Bart was finally done getting the sand for the sand-table he'd built for Tim's birthday. Towards the end, he hadn't thought he'd make it. The last bucket had weighed several orders of magnitude more than each of the ones before it, but he'd managed. Barely

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[needsarobin]

Tim left Jill with a hard hug and a heartfelt thank you for the book she'd made him. When Bart had received the same thing from her a month previous, Tim had been touched. When he'd received his own, it had overwhelmed him. He hoped that she understood that it was only in a good way. And that he needed Bart right now.

He'd stayed out of this room, aware that Bart had been constructing something for his birthday and willfully choosing to not ruin the surprise. But today was his birthday and this was important. Bart would forgive him.

If Bart was even awake that was. Tim wasn't sure at first, given the slumped postures, the slow breathing, the closed eyes and faint smile. "Bart?" Tim asked quietly.

[goldeneyedflash]

"Hey," Bart said, cracking open his eyes to look at Tim. "Happy birthday."

He didn't get up, he wasn't sure he wanted to move at all. But he hadn't really been asleep, not yet. He'd just closed his eyes for a moment.

[needsarobin]

Tim crossed the space, looking curiously at the table Bart had constructed but not inspecting it just yet. He sat next to Bart instead and balanced the book on his knees. "Thanks. Jill just gave me her gift. I..." Tim swallowed. This wasn't a sentence he found easy to say. "I needed someone who would understand what it meant." Needed you. It would have been shorter and more honest.

[goldeneyedflash]

Bart nodded slightly, closing his eyes as the room seemed to move crazily for an instant. "You okay?" he asked, remembering the scrapbook she'd made for him, and how much she'd put into it.

He didn't really want to talk, but he should, because Tim needed it. It just felt like an effort to do much of anything.