Tim scowled at the coffee maker before turning to the group of people behind him. Dick looked apologetic, but no one held a hint of remorse. Alfred sighed, "It's for your own good, Master Tim." Which- it most certainly was not.
Contrary to popular belief, Tim actually gets a decent amount of sleep. He have a specific time he goes to bed, cases done or no, and picks it up the next morning.
Sure, he does pull a few all-nighters, but they happen a lot less than his brothers seem to think. And he's fully aware he has a caffeine addiction, it comes with the job.
No, what Tim struggles with was getting too much sleep. If he wasn't careful he risked falling asleep in meeting, at events, and even on patrol. He found quick ways to get around this (caffeine and adrenaline) but they didn't always work.
He couldn't focus on his issues before, not with B stuck in the time stream and deaths everywhere. Now? When it's finally settling back into something normal? Now it's becoming an issue.
He can handle the jokes about him needing more sleep and looking dead to the world, he can handle the jokes about his coffee and his eye bag. He could not, however, deal with someone stealing his goddamn caffeine for some messed up "intervention" of sorts.
Sure, they thought they were doing the right thing, but he could feel the impending sleep attack and did not want to deal with comments from his family.
Taking a deep breath, Tim looked each family member in the eye before turning back to Alfred. "Listen. I know you think you're trying to help me or do a good thing, but this is not it. I get plenty of sleep" a few scoffs sounded at that, "and the caffeine helps me function like a normal person most the time."
Jason laughed, "Kid, we all know what your sleep schedule is like. It's dog shit, evidence by the amount of times someone caught you napping around the manor." A chorus of agreements rose up.
'Deep breaths. They're trying to help you.' Despite his attempts, Tim felt his eye twitch. "I'm warning you now, if you try to keep me away from caffeine I will be practically indisposed. I will be unable to help with cases, patrols, or any other side work."
No one budged. If anything, a few smirked or raised their eyebrows, as if questioning his dependency on the drink.
A wave of dizziness hit suddenly, and Tim saw someone opening their mouth to say something. He ignored them and pushed past. It took all his energy to make it to the next room and land on the couch. To anyone else it might've looked like he had given up. Tim, however, knew he was going to be stuck there for however long until his body decided to give him function of his limbs again.
'at least I didn't full-body collapse or something this time' he thought before sleep swallowed him whole.
