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It was stupid. He was stupid. This whole situation was stupid.
Tim grits his teeth as he stumbles down the alley, trying to keep himself up right. One gloved hand scrapes along the wall while the other is pressed tightly against his side in attempts to keep the blood from flowing. It wasn’t really working, the wound was too deep and large for his hand to really have any affect.
He really should have seen that thug’s knife, it was a stupid rookie mistake and now he’s badly bleeding from it. Tim knows without even looking at it that it’s going to need stitches, he’s going to be out of the field for a good week (a whole lot more if Alfred catches wind of this) and that’s just not good enough for him. He has work that needs to be done, he doesn’t have the time to just suddenly take a vacation to rest and recover.
He stops walking and leans heavily on the mangy wall. It hurts. His body is weak, aching and sore, his head was pounding and his vision was beginning to blur. He’s usually better than this but he was still recovering from a fever he had last week, maybe that’s why he didn’t see the knife before? Oh well, too late now.
The energy suddenly drains out of him and he slumps down to the ground, unable to hold himself up anymore. This is bad. The closet safehouse is a good 3 or 4 blocks away and the Manor is on the other side of Gotham.
He lets out a heavy sigh and leans back against the wall. He needs help. While he doesn’t really want it, even he knows that he’s in no condition to look after himself right now. He’s stubborn but not stupid, he can admit defeat when necessary (well mostly).
Keeping his hand pressed against the wound Tim reaches up to his comm with the other and activates it.
“Red Robin, what can I do for you?” Oracle’s questioning voice speaks into his ear.
He winces, because ow, that was loud. Why did he have his comm so loud?
“I need… I need some… help… I uh…” and why was it suddenly so hard to breathe? He takes in few deep breaths and lets them out as he tries to get oxygen back into his body. Every breath caused his side to twinge in pain but he grits his teeth and deals with it.
“Red what’s going on? What do you need help with? Are you injured?”
Tim manages to nod, but then he remembers that she couldn’t see him. “Uh yeah…”
He opens his eyes up, when did they even close, to find the wall opposite him at a funny angle.
“I’ve got your location, Nightwing’s on his way, just stay with us and stay conscious okay. Can I ask you to do that Red?”
Tim doesn’t answer her. He was still trying to work out why the wall was a funny angle. He’s pretty sure that it was the right way when he first stumbled into the alley. God his head hurt. And his side. Just everything hurt.
He must have faded out because the next thing he knows is that Dick’s right in front of him in his Nightwing get up looking very worried and had his hands on Tim’s face. It takes Tim a moment to realise that Dick was also at a funny angle just like the wall was.
“Red Robin, Tim, buddy, you with us?”
“Dick?”
“Okay that’s good. I need you to stay awake for me alright. We’ve got the batmobile on the way, it’s going to be about 10 minutes.”
“Okay…” that’s all Tim could get out.
Dick looks sombre as he checks him over. “Can we get you to sit up? I need to get a look at your wound.”
Tim frowns, but he was sitting up wasn’t he? Without permission Dick’s hands leave his face and Tim feels them run over his body, he feels them grip him and he lets out a pained whine when they force him to move.
He clenches his eyes shut until he feels the movement stop. When he next opens them everything was how it should be, Dick was now at a normal angle and so was the wall behind him. It’s then that he realised that at some point he had fallen down onto his side without ever realising it. God he was so out of it.
“Jeeze baby bird, that’s a right wound you got there.” Dick hisses from next to him. His brother was examining the wound and had his torch out. “All I’m going to do it roughly patch it up until we get to the cave where A can take over. I know that you’ve lost a lot of blood right now but it’s going to be okay.”
Tim stares blankly ahead, he doesn’t really have the energy to respond to Dick and his babble talk, though he does pull a face at the sound of Alfred. As much as he loves the elderly butler, he knows that he’ll definitely be getting a lecture from him.
He’s brought out of his head when a sharp stinging sensation runs through him, he hisses and whimpers as the wound throbs.
“Sorry Timmy, I know it hurts but I need to do it baby bird. Almost done.”
There’s another sharp pain before Dick announces that he’s done. Tim grits his teeth and grinds out, “Asshole.”
Next to him Dick pouts, “Not nice, I’m just trying to help.”
Tim doesn’t respond to that because yet again his vision was blurring and his head was still pounding away. He closes his eyes and lets his flop backwards against the wall. He feels Dick press against him, his hand covers his forehead before feeling his cheeks. “Hurts…” Tim whispers, letting his brother touch him.
Dick hums knowingly, “I think your fever’s coming back Timmy, you never really fully recovered did you? There’s always something with you huh Tim. Tim… Tim!”
As Nightwing was talking Tim could feel himself slipping unconscious, he found he didn’t have the energy to fight against it, so he simply allowed himself to drop.
When he next opens his eyes it’s to bright lights and a distant beeping sound. It takes some time to adjust to the florescent lights above him but as he gets used to it he opens his eyes fully and looks around.
He’s in the medical bay of the Batcave. The lights were shining above him, the beeping was from a heart monitor to his left, there’s an IV in and a blood bag in his hand and there’s Dick sat in a chair next to him on his phone.
He takes a moment to gather his thoughts together, which was sort of difficult because his head felt light and floaty which Tim knows is the effects of drugs. What had happened? He tries to recall what had gone on for him to be on a cot in the med bay but it’s all blurry and it’s hurting his head thinking about it.
He shifts uncomfortably and feels a stabbing pain travel through his side and up his body. Ah, that’s it, stab wound. He looks down and finds himself topless and his side covered in white bandages. He had been stabbed and lost a lot of blood.
His movement gets Dick’s attention and suddenly Tim finds his brother hoovering over his side. “Tim, how you feeling bud?”
Tim glances at him before slumping back down on the soft mattress, “Sore. My head is fuzzy and my side’s throbbing. What happened?”
Dick settles on the mattress beside his hip on his uninjured side and takes his hand in his own. “What do you remember?”
Tim observes Dick before answering. The man was looking at him with a frown, his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pressed into a thin line. He was worried, Tim realises. He looks away from his brother and down at his bandaged side.
“I uh… I was fighting a load of Two Face’s thugs, but I was sloppy and got hit, badly. I manged to finish them up and call the police and then…” he trails off for a moment, “then I don’t really remember.” He looks at Dick in question, hoping the man could fill in the gaps.
Dick squeezes his hand gently. “Well, you called Oracle saying you needed help, she said that you were slurring your words and sounded extremely breathless, she could tell something was immediately wrong. She contacted me, who was closet to you at that point, and I instantly made my way over to you.”
Tim sees him swallow and gently squeezes Dick’s hand back.
“I found you slumped on the floor against the wall and just thought… well it didn’t look good. When I got closer I realised that you were just unconscious and I managed to wake you up. I patched you up before you fell unconscious again.”
His brother looks like he’s about to cry, Tim notices that his eyes go glassy and how he’s doing subtle breathing exercises to help keep himself together.
Tim swallows thickly and croaks out a weak “Sorry,” to him.
Dick raises his eyebrows at him, “Why are you sorry Tim?”
“I made you worry, thank you for being there for me though.”
Dick sighs, “Oh Timmy, of course I’m going to be there for you. I was worried, I saw you lying there unmoving and just thought of the worst. I know it’s only a stab wound, which thankfully didn’t hit anything major and I know you’ve suffered with worse, but it’s still not nice seeing you injured.”
Tim swallows again and nods. Dick’s right of course, it’s not the worse he’s had, and it’s nice to hear that the wound wasn’t fatal but this has obviously shaken Dick up. He was probably having a bad night before Babs called him in for backup.
“Are you okay Dick?”
At the question Dick shoots him an amused look, “I’m not the one currently hooked to an IV Tim. I’m fine, as I said I just don’t like seeing any of you injured.”
Tim hums, not really believing it. Well he does believe it but he knows that there’s more to it than that. He lets it go though, not really having the energy to bully Dick into giving him answers. He’s still tired and sore, his head was still slightly pounding and his side was throbbing.
Not letting go of Dick’s hand he carefully shuffles over to the side of the bed and gestures to the empty space with his free hand. “Sit with me?” He asks his brother.
Dick smiles but doesn’t move into the created space. Instead he leans over and presses a kiss to his forehead. “In a second okay bud. I’ve just got to let Alfie know you’re awake.”
Tim winces at that. “Did he patch me up?”
“He did,” Dick nods, he then sends Tim a sympathetic look, “And sorry baby bird, but you have a big lecture coming your way soon.”
Tim half-heartedly groans at that. “Of course.”
Dick grins at him before leaving. He comes back minutes later with the news that Alfred will be down within the hour to check on him but for the mean time Dick will be staying with him. Tim smiles appreciatively when Dick climbs into the space Tim had made for him just earlier.
The two of them get comfortable and end up with Tim resting up against Dick’s body, his head on his brother’s shoulder and with Dick’s arm wrapped gently around his neck and shoulders. He sighs and relaxes into the hold and lies comfortably in the embrace of his brother.
While it’s good for him, to know that his brother will always be there when he needs help (despite the past) he knows that it’s good for Dick too, this contact is allowing his brother to feel that Tim is alive and that he’s going to be alright. It’s good for the both of them in different ways.