#batqueue

Sophie: Sometimes, I watch television shows for entertainment purposes.

five times + word 

The first time Bruce thinks Timothy Drake is dead - he doesn’t actually think it. Because it’s too close - it’s too much - it’s too harsh. It’s only been a couple months since - since Jason - and Bruce doesn’t know what he did to get to Tim’s side, except that there are unconscious bodies littering the ground behind him, and the knuckles of his gloves are bloody. When he gets to Tim, he feels relief when he sees the younger’s chest moving, and then undeniable regret. Bruce picks him up, gently, taking him back to the manor. He doesn’t let Tim do anything but surveillance for the next month, and Tim gets it. Alfred finds Bruce later on that night, and doesn’t comment on the fact that Bruce’s hands refuse to stop shaking. 

The second time, Tim was simply patrolling - on his own, because Bruce had to attend some kind of function, and Alfred’s voice crackled through his earpiece. Said something along the lines of Tim having trouble, and Bruce excuses himself, ignoring the chill that had replaced the blood in his veins. Alfred tells Bruce that Tim has stopped responding, and Bruce can’t think - doesn’t quite remember what followed, what he did - until he finds Tim at the docks, drenched and coughing up water. Bruce is at his side in a heartbeat, and Tim just smiles a little at the concern in Bruce’s face, comments on the fact that their communicators needed to be waterproof. Bruce chokes back a laugh or a sob, and pulls the soaking boy to his chest, tells Tim that the earpieces are waterproof.

The third time, Tim is shouting his name, shaking Bruce, voice alarmed and not quite registering. He’d hit his head pretty damn hard, and remembered the last thought he’d had was to make sure that Tim was safe. Tim is babbling, and Bruce wonders, absently, when the last time the kid had slept. And then, Tim was hugging him, telling him he’d thought he’d lost Bruce - telling him that help was on the way and that he had a concussion, before Tim pulled away, and recounted the last details of the mission. And Bruce thought, even in the panic and concern still lacing Tim’s voice, informing Bruce, that he couldn’t lose this one. That he wouldn’t. 

The fourth time, Tim is bloody, unconscious, barely breathing, when Bruce takes him into his arms. He thinks that Tim is fired. Retired. Something. Anything but this, because whether or not Tim thought he could do this - Bruce could not. He could not continue to do this. He refused to. Even when Tim’s injuries are tended to, and the kid is squinting at him from the bed, face puffy and voice hoarse, Bruce is still shaking. He tells Tim that he’s fired, and Tim responds with a laugh. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, man. You’re stuck with me. You need me.” The worst part is that Tim is right. 

Ryan: That some thoughts are better unsaid?

Ryan: Near each other.

Alice: Don't you mean together?

Kate: I’m guessing they are all horrible distortions on the lessons you actually should’ve taken away?