I don't care if the world is reduced to ash [Incomplete]

[notlikeanyone]

WHO: Robin III, Impulse.
WHERE: Clocktower.
WHEN: March 09 sob.
WARNINGS: ... None?
SUMMARY: Bart is gonna bother Tim. Bother bother bother.
FORMAT: Paragraph let's be honest.


Tim was feeling a little... worn around the edges, to put it lightly. He'd had to deal with the aftermath of the last week, and had no time to deal with what had happened the week before - and maybe that was okay, if people would forget about it and let him deal with it by himself. He could, he was sure - he just needed a little time by himself.

Not that Raven was intending to give him that.

Tim sighed and leant back in his chair. He'd shut himself in his room to work, and try to ignore everything else grabbing at his attention, just for a little while.

Comments

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

Bart was a good friend.

Somewhat obnoxious, but still a good friend. Or at least he liked to think he was and he wasn't entirely sure about it because he had been pretty much absent, running around, and not present enough for Tim in the last week. So now that mini-Knives was big-Knives again and was gone, and that older-with-too-many-issues Dick was littler Dick and was with Batman again... he would harass Tim and offer him support. Even if it was late.

Because Tim needed it and Bart wasn't going to keep on failing at being a good friend. Even if it meant Tim would find him extremely annoying.

And so when the situation in the Tower had calmed down enough, he tried Tim's room without knocking and zipped inside when he realised it wasn't locked. And a fraction of a second later, the door was closed again and Bart was half over Tim, leaning, his hands on the arms of his chair.

"What are you doing?"

[notlikeanyone]

... Well, that wasn't awkward at all. Tim sighed and rubbed his forehead. It seemed like today was really going to be a long day, if Bart was bored enough to come and bother him now.

"I'm working, Bart. What's up?" He briefly wondered if he could get Kon to play a game with Bart and keep him busy, if the answer was just 'nothing I'm bored' as he expected it to be.

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

"Working on what?" he asked right back, completely ignoring the question Tim had asked him. Because the answer would have been 'I am forcing you to endure me until I feel I may have helped you feeling better', which Tim wouldn't have liked much.

Bart decisively didn't move from where he was, since he was blocking Tim's access from his computer that way and forcing him to concentrate on him more than he would have otherwise.

[notlikeanyone]

Tim raised an eyebrow and seriously considered pushing Bart away so he could get back to work... but that would most likely cause more problems instead.

"Just some case files. Things I got distracted from by the age problem. Bart - what are you doing?" This was certainly not the usual behaviour of a bored Bart, it was just something close enough to fool most people.

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

Tim sounded irritated already. And maybe he was, but maybe he just wanted to do the whole coping thing alone, possibly going all Batman over his emotions and keeping everything in forever until he exploded and went to hide in a cave in Canada and freeze to death for good, this time.

He stepped back a bit, still in the way, and looked a bit sad and hurt, but mostly annoyed at Tim's stubbornness.

"You want me to leave?"

[notlikeanyone]

"I -" Tim paused, cutting himself off. He hadn't really wanted to make Bart sad, let alone hurt his feelings, but... he wasn't feeling up to talking to him that much - he wasn't up to talking to anyone right now.

And wasn't that part of his problem? Not opening up to the people who cared about him... when he probably needed to. He sighed, leaning back a little. "No, not really, I guess. I'm just - kind of busy, but. I can make time. Really, what's up?"

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

Bart put his hands behind his head and shrugged, "I hadn't thought any further than that. I - uh. I though you might need me even though you'd never say it so I'm here."

He sighed, "You're not okay, that much is pretty obvious, you know? Well for me and Kon, at least, I'm sure. And I don't want you going to a cave even further up North and die this time."

[notlikeanyone]

"... Oh." That did make sense, although he'd really hoped that he'd been able to act okay enough around other people for them not to notice. But Bart and Kon were his best friends, so it figured that they'd be able to tell, even when no-one else could. A part of him said that he should work on that, but he ignored it.

"I won't go to a cave this time, Bart. I promise. But... yeah, I guess I'm not that okay right now." He smiled a little apologetically. "I can deal with it, though."

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

"Well, yeah, you can deal with everything," Bart answered, "You were probably trained to deal with everything and anything efficiently and in a manner that no one ever would worry around you so that productivity is not diminished or something just as creepy."

He became a bit nervous after that, because he knew Tim was closed off, but didn't always know how to get him to open up. "I'm just here for you and you don't need to talk to me if you don't want to but you - didn't have time to cope. It just all went nutcase on us and you had to get a healer and you had to bury everything in deeper. And that sucks. For you."

[notlikeanyone]

"Hmm, well, I was trained in basic principles of dealing with most situations, so that it could be generalised and adapted to cover almost all of them, yes. And not letting anyone else notice enough to worry is just... logical, from several standpoints. If you're busy worrying about me, you'll slip up, get distracted by it. It's not good for team morale, either - the leader has to be a strong figure."

And all of that talking in answer to the first point was, mostly, so that he could avoid talking about the other half of it. He really hadn't had the time he needed to cope with everything, but he didn't know how to... talk about it, because - it wasn't something he wanted to talk about at all, actually.

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

Bart stopped listening halfway through because that was some technical talk about why he was the way he was and it was boring and uninteresting and such a way to not talk about anything not robotic and practical and -

It was just very much Tim.

"Well it's too late because I'm still worrying about you and you can't change that until you let me help a bit and then I will still worry but a little less because I'll be sure you're at least opening up to someone. And you can go to Batman if you think he's the one you're going to cope with but I really don't think he is so. Just. Tell me what to do and I will, okay? I don't know - do you want a hug? I give good hugs. And it'd be all physical and no talking."

[notlikeanyone]

Tim sighed and covered his face with one hand as he thought about it, gripping that arm with his other hand and drawing in on himself a little. He remembered spending so much time alone, in the dark, tied up or not, with only his captor for company, for contact. And that inevitably brought only pain, even when they'd been showing apparent kindness - the trick to get him to feel grateful for small mercies, and that thought turned his stomach. As if he could ever have been thankful for any part of that experience.

He stood up, looking at the floor, and answered quietly. "Yeah. I think I'd like a hug."

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

For once, Bart was a little hesitant about all that - not about the hugging part because Tim had asked it, after all, but about how he was kind of (a lot?) forcing himself on Tim right now. Because Tim didn't want him here to start with.

But now he did. And he needed someone, too, and uh, maybe Kon would have beeen better about some stuff. And Batgirl about some other even though she was really scary half the time, but he was getting used to that. And Tim never found her anything negative.

Actually, Bart sometimes wondered why they were not getting together and maybe now is not the time to let him mind wander very quickly at very random places.

So he listened to Tim and stepped closer, choosing not to care about anything awkward that may come out of that because he was being helpful - hopefully - as he circled his arms around Tim in a hug.

*keywords inappropriate*

[notlikeanyone]

Sometimes, Tim just had to be forced to accept help like this and open up. It was a fact of Tim life that even Nightwing had to overcome severe resistance in these matters, and Tim considered him family.

ANYWAY after that little fourth wall bumping narrative aside, or during it really since it technically doesn't exist, Tim held onto Bart and had to resist leaning on him, too. The fact of the matter was that he was looking to Bart for support here, a physical enactment of the emotional support he knew his friend could and would offer. He would never take advantage of that, not as completely as he could, or even as much as anyone else might, but for right now, it was okay to just let this be, and take some comfort in it. Just for a minute, to shut out everything else and focus on this.

"Thanks for always trying so hard, Bart."

[gonnabeflash.livejournal.com]

"Doing my best." Bart didn't pull on Tim to get closer (or get him closer) because it was still the guy with the closeness issues and he let him decide what to take and what to give.

Tim could lean on him if he wanted, he could ask and request and not just from Bart - there are tons of people who would totally listen to him even when he wasn't ordering them around in a I'm-your-leader way and try to help him out. But hey, that wasn't not how it worked because Tim wouldn't ask.

"You should," Bart said, slightly annoyed. Hmm, Tim wouldn't understand what he'd just said. Right. "Ask. When you need something even when it's not saving the world related."