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The whole family was out. Well, the whole family but Tim.
At the moment, Dick was having a Titans weekend with Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg. Jason was on a mission with the Outlaws and not due back for another few hours, just in time to pick Alfred up from the airport after his yearly trip back home to visit his family. Bruce and Damian were on a father-son bonding trip to the art museum. And Steph and Cass had been roped into a girl weekend by Barbara.
And Tim was home alone.
When he was younger, he used to hate the silence. The quiet that always seemed too loud. The constant feeling of anxiety about whether or not his parents would actually come home when they planned or if they would leave for another trip before they even got home. Once Bruce found out about the boy being left alone for so long, he insisted that Tim stay at the Manor when they were gone. Tim had warned him that they were gone often for months at a time, but the older man smiled, brought him into the house, and gave him a room. And Tim. Well, he never left. His parents came home about five months after being away from Gotham, and two and a half months longer than planned, to find their son living at Bruce Wayne’s. They were, of course, highly embarrassed but surprised to find that Bruce enjoyed their son. When Bruce made the offer to Jack and Janet Drake that he could adopt Tim and he could have a family and they could keep exploring, well, they didn’t even let the man finish before asking where to sign.
At the time, Tim was sad that his parents, who were supposed to love and cherish him, signed him away so easily. Tim remembers watching their car drive off, onto another adventure, not caring that they had just given up their son. Tim let a few tears fall as they drove away, but when Bruce saw he reached down and hugged his newly adopted son and told him that everything would be ok.
And it was.
Tim finally had a family that loved him. Dick gave him hugs, Alfred taught him how to bake a few easy things that wouldn’t end up with a kitchen remodel, and Bruce actually took the time to hear about his day and hug away the nightmares. Then Jason came back and almost attacked the boy before he realized that Tim was just a kid. Well, he realized that Tim was just a kid when he found the boy having a panic attack on the floor of Titans Tower, scared to go home because he got a B in advanced physics. After helping the boy through his scare, both boys returned back to the Manor. Jason swore he would only return to drop off Tim, yell at Bruce, stay for dinner and then go. But he dropped off Tim, yelled at Bruce, hugged his father, stayed for dinner, hugged his grandfather, stayed the night, tolerated his older brother’s hugs, and never left0.
Then came Damian. And after a few good choice words, and a few ass whooping's during sparring, Damian had learned to respect his brothers, grandfather, family friends, and occasionally his father. Even going as far as to acknowledge them as a family every once in a while.
Then came Stephanie. After a brick to the face, a few apologies, and one of Alfred’s meals later, she was family. She helped get her father arrested and since her mother was in no shape to care for her, the girl moved into Wayne Manor. Cass came a few months later and the two became sisters. All that followed after the two girls' friendship was numerous credit card charges to a card Bruce wasn’t even aware he had, glitter bombs, prank wars, and somehow, both girls managed to get banned from two Targets and one Walmart. Bruce doesn't know how they did it, and he didn’t ask. All he knew was a few days after every one of those incidents, the offending stores were bought out by Wayne Enterprise.
And Tim. He was happy. He went from having a house full of tumultuous silence to just having plain noise. The noise of people laughing, things breaking, movies playing, pranks being set off, and the occasional yelling. And he loved all of it. But occasionally the noise got too much. So when Tim discovered that the whole family would be out all day Saturday, Tim volunteered as tribute to stay home and watch the animals.
So there he was. Singing for the whole world to hear! Not a care in the world!
Tim was dancing around the house as he listened to his playlist that was filled with everything from pop to ’80s. The boy had been working on a few projects and then tidied up his room since he always felt better after cleaning. It felt like starting over.
And now the teen was dancing around the house, singing.
No one was due home for a few more hours so the boy sang and danced to his heart's content. Tim had always liked singing. He was never any good at it in his opinion, but he loved to sing. It was relaxing and he always found a way to connect with the song. Currently, the song that was playing was Migraine by 21 pilots. Tim loved the song. A good mix of angst with a happy ending. And Tim could sing fast and in tune better than anyone.
“Am I the only one I know?
Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat
Shadows will scream that I'm alone”
The intro came to a stop and the next lyrics started up just as Tim took a big breath to continue with the song.
“I-I-I've got a migraine
And my pain will range from up down and sideways”
Thank God it's Friday
'Cause Fridays will always be better than Sundays
'Cause Sunday's are my suicide days
I don't know why they always seem so dismal
Thunderstorms, cloud, snow, and a slight drizzle
Whether it's the weather or the letters by my bed”
The boy sang as loud as he could. He made his way through the hall, tapping his hands on random objects to the beat of the song, or dancing to the tune, singing the words to the song with passion.
As Tim made his way throughout the house, his singing got louder and the smile on his face grew bigger. Nothing made him feel more alive than dancing around the house, without a care in the world. No one knew that he liked to sing. If they ever found out, it would lead to a lifetime of teasing. So Tim kept his secret to himself.
“Sometimes death seems better than the migraine in my head
Let it be said what the headache represents
It's me defending in suspense, it's me suspended in a defenseless
Test being tested by a ruthless examiner
That's represented best by my depressing thoughts
I do not have writer's block
My writer just hates the clock
It will not let me sleep, I guess i’ll sleep when I'm dead”
Tim sang the next verse as he danced down the stairs with the grace of a ballerina or Cass when she thought no one was watching as she danced around the room. Tim had his back to the door as he leaped off the final four steps, flipped through the air, still singing, and landed on the main floor. And somehow the Airpods never fell out.
The only problem is that Tim never heard the door open. The family had come home early with pizza so Alfie didn’t have to cook and they wanted to surprise Tim with some family time after leaving home alone all day. They were not expecting to come home to Tim belting out the words to a song none of them had ever heard, as loud as he could, dancing throughout the house.
“And sometimes death seems better than the migraine in my head
Am I the only one I know?
Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat
Shadows will scream that I'm alone
But I know we've made it this far, kid”
The family stayed in the foyer, watching their boy dance and sing around the house, not daring to interrupt him when he looked so peaceful and carefree. They watched as Tim sang the chorus and then proceeded to take a deep breath and sing faster than humanly possible.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah
I am not as fine as I seem pardon
Me for yelling I'm telling you green gardens
Are not what's growing in my psyche
It's a different me
A difficult to be, stop feasting lumber down trees
Freeze frame
Please let me paint a mental picture portrait
Something you won't forget, it's all about my forehead
And how it is important, holds back contents
That make Pandora's box contents look non-violent
Behind my eyelids are islands of violence
My mind shipwrecked, this is the only land my mind could find
I did not know it was such a violent island
Full of tidal waves, suicidal crazed lions
They're trying to eat me blood running down their chin
And they know that I can fight or I can let the lion win
I begin to assemble what weapons I can find
'Cause sometimes to stay alive you gotta kill your mind”
The family froze at that line. Sure they had all been worried about their BabyBird’s mental health for years. But was this song a sign? The group watched in fascination as the boy continued, silently all agreeing to
question the boy later on his song choice. But for now, they waited and listened as Tim sang in a surprisingly well voice, hitting all the perfect pitches for the song.
Tim loved singing that part of the song. He didn’t have the prettiest voice, but he could sing fast enough to hurt the Flash’s head. But it was wonderful. It was like releasing all his pent-up energy in just a few seconds.
“Am I the only one I know?
Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat
Shadows will scream that I'm alone
But I know we've made it this far, kid
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah”
Another chorus and more stares. Still, Tim had yet to notice his family as the boy danced around with his eyes closed.
“And I will say that, "We should take a day to break away
From all the pain our brain has made"
The game is not played alone
And I will say that "We should take a moment and hold it
And keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone"
And I will say that "We should take a day to break away
From all the pain our brain has made"
The game is not played alone
And I will say that "We should take a moment and hold it
And keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone"
Finally, the song got to a happier part. All the Wayne’s breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that at least the song had a positive note. But that didn’t mean they still weren’t going to question Timmy’s song choices later.
“Am I the only one I know?
Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat
Shadows will scream that I'm alone
But I know we've made it this far, kid
We've made it this far, we've made it this…”
And the song wrapped up. All of a sudden, Tim stopped singing and paused to take a deep breath and pull out his headphones. He was not expecting to turn around to move back upstairs and grab his water
bottle and find his family staring at him from the foyer with wide eyes.
Tim’s face went beet red and he blushed to the tips of his ears. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that his family had been watching the whole time. Or at least seen part of his singing and dancing act.
“Umm. Hi.” Tim said sheepishly. “Out of curiosity, how much of that did you all see?” His question seemed to snap them out of their trance and the room erupted into chaos.