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Tim wasn’t sure when he’d started. But sometimes he just, fibs? Little things most of the time.
Had he eaten his mother’s gluten free rice snack?
No, they went stale and Mrs. Mac had to toss them on their last trip.
Ms. Gordon from the library asking why his parents hadn’t picked him up?
Oh, that’s just ‘cause they were waiting for him at the park. It’s not a long walk so he’d begged to do it himself, you know?’
It wasn’t that big of a deal.
-----------------
“Tim, when did you say your parents were coming back?”
Tim almost loses his Allan wrench in the Redboard’s motor circuits. Luckily Batman was still working sequencing Ivy’s new poison.
Oh.
Oh no.
When were they coming back? Tim isn’t even sure any more. It’s weird he doesn't know right?
“They said they’d be back monday, but I think they’re gonna surprise me sunday night!”
Tim freezes, hearing his own words back.
What? No they weren’t
“Hmm, that’s nice of them.”
Tim can’t believe what had spilled out of his mouth. His parents certainly weren’t gonna be getting back Sunday night. They hated driving at night in Gotham, let alone at the airport.
Bruce had even turned away from the computer, from Ivy, to face Tim. Giving him all of his attention as he clearly waited for- for something wasn’t sure how to provide.
Tim didn’t even think they’d make it back monday.
He and Alfred had been watching the news earlier when it mentioned a new dig site in Cyprus for a new development in the Neolithic site there. No call and no Mrs. Mac coming for a pre-arrival deep clean either.
“Y-Yeah, I’m really excited to see them, you know?”
Bruce’s eyes go soft, that same way they had when Alfred so rarely asked for help. Or that time Tim had watched him with his predecessors, taking little breaks amongst gargoyles and pigeons during Gotham nights.
“Take a few days off, Tim. You work too hard. Enjoy this.”
Tim is shocked he can even choke out a response with how his throat is closing.
“T-Thanks B, you’re the man.”
Shut up, shut up shut up
Everything's piling up and- His parents aren’t even going to be there- He just gonna have to spend the week alone, in that house, again, no Bruce, no Alfred, no Mrs. Mac. Alone, again.
“Just be ready for the stakeout friday.”
“Course Bruce, my word is bond.”
Liar
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“How’d you know? How did you know I’d be there to save you?”
“You’re my brother, Dick, you’ll always be there for me.”
Liar
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Tim pushes aside the feeling of Dick leaning over his leg that was propped up on his only other comfortable chair in the Nest. Practically mummified and thoroughly stiffened with plaster as it was, Tim didn’t think either of them were too interested in moving it. Which was good as far as Tim was concerned. It was ached and he wasn’t psyched with what that might mean.
“So...That explains why Corey Elliet had a different middle name on those documents. He was using his niece’s identity online.”
Dick hums in response and Tim’s throat pills and prickles as he waits for Dick’s take with increasing tension. He'd been working the online side of this case while Dick pounded the streets for some classic detective work. Acting as Dick’s guy in the chair so to speak.
Or his puppeteer… Tim had almost felt like one. Maybe a gamemaster. Opening new routes and inputting new knowledge as Nightwing questioned denizens of the dive bars and halfway houses Tim directed him to with a suave Tim hadn’t been able to recapture since Iraq.
Oh, it hadn’t been just the two of them on a case since then either.
Tim swallows that thought right down with the puke that had bubbled up in the back of his throat.
Nope, he will not be thinking of that, thank you very much. No thoughts or fucks to give for the phantom thumb that was ever increasingly pressing into the fleshy parts of his neck.. If he was breathing more distinctly, Dick hadn’t mentioned it. So Tim doubted it was particularly noticeable.
Leaning forward to adjust his posture, Dick grunts.
He definitely wouldn’t think about the flash of something that ran down through his nerves ending at that.
Dick hadn’t been injured, had he? He’d have noticed. Tim had practically been on his butt the whole time. Barely any of the camera’s in the West End were fake. Maybe before? Reassigning the full force of his focusing back to watching Dick from the corner of his eye. Shading the corners of his notepad that he’d pulled out just for occasions such as these.
Okay, Tim.
Make it peppy.
The good ol’ Robin try.
Push back on the “It’s a pretty solid connection, right? I mean, look at the way he signed up for the kids chatting apps. Uses her age and name, just enough to verify it. But the IP doesn’t connect to her parents house or any of the libraries in the vicinity at all.”
Light pressure on the tip.
Dick hums, glancing over towards Tim and his fidgeting. “Uh… Yeah, good work Tim.”
Slant it.
“So? Thoughts? Come on Dick, I didn’t spend all night working on this for you to grunt and disappear out the window.”
Tim can feel the radiating warmth where Dick’s hand settled on his shoulder, Watches his eye’s skirting around Tim’s desk.
Something’s wrong.
“Um, well… How long did you say he’d been working on this, buddy?”
Bare down on the graphite’s edge and rub, violently.
“I don’t know. You’re not Bruce, you don't get to judge me for that, Dick.”
Somehow manage to rip the paper with a scalpel you didn’t even know you were holding.
FUDGE
His eyes bulging, Tim spins in his seat as much as he could with his broken leg still stuck in the second chair. Facing a crestfallen Dick.
“I-I didn’t mean tha-”
Lies
“I…” Dick’s throat works on nothing. “I think you might have. Buddy.”
He had.
But Tim,
Tim wasn’t sure if he wanted Dick to know that.
“I- I really didn’t… I’m just frustrated, that’s all, Dick. No digging needed.”
Good job Tim, double down on your lies. He’ll never see through that.
Tim turns back. Pretends to focus on organizing his case file. Listening to Dick shuffling movements behind him while he color coats random sources. Not necessary but he’s hopping Dick won’t call him out.
“Tim,” Dick sounds choked.
Get it out Dick.
“Have you taken the meds for your spleen yet tonight?”
“Yes.”
No
The lie slips out of his mouth before he can stop to think how Dick had known to ask that question. Fear creeping up his spine. He shouldn’t know about that.
“That’s no- I don’t know what you’re talkin- I was-”
What? Lying ? Yep, that’ll go over grand. Who needs to lie about a med they shouldn’t even be taking.
“Tim, when were you going to tell us?”
“Soon, I was going to tell you soon.”
Never, if I could help it
It was whispering in his mind before he could fight it down. Fight it down like the bile in his throat.
I can keep secrets too...
“I… I don’t think you were, Tim.”
“Dick, I’m sorry it’s just-”
“Tim, don’t-”
Tim’s voice cracks.
“It’s just a habit, you know?”