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If Tim Drake had to spend one more fucking night in hospital, he was going to burn the whole world down.
He was literally fine but no, just because his fucking white blood cells are down apparently that means the Doctors think he’s going to drop dead the moment he gets out into the real world. Why in their eyes he was some kind of fragile Victorian child who was too good for this Earth and wasting away right in front of him, he’ll never know.
Tim wasn’t wasting away. He was a fucking Vigilante for fucks sake and if one more fucking doctor or nurse gives him one more pitying look he was going to-
The machine beside him alerted.
Tim gave it a scathing look, hand itching to just rip out the whole damn IV line as well as all the stupid monitors that they had him on. The only thing that stopped him really was the fact that he was already covered in bruises from the various IV’s he’s pulled out during this admission while in the throes of fever and confusion as well as his good old fashioned aversion to having tubes in him let alone medications.
He knew that if he pulled out this line, they were just going to put in yet another one even though he very much didn’t need another one because he was fine.
Tim’s whole body was a bundle of nervous energy but when he had tried walking around an hour ago, he had been told in no uncertain terms that if he was found doing it again they were going to call in Dick.
Like Tim was a child in need of a baby sitter, honestly.
This whole thing fucking sucked and Tim wanted nothing more than to just get back out there onto the streets and help people.
Well, maybe he also wanted a smoothie, but helping people was his main priority.
Tim readjusted, glaring at the lines that almost got tangled as he tried to reach for the laptop on the little table. One of the damn nurses had shifted the movable table away from the bed when they were changing over some of the antibiotics he was on and they had never moved it back again.
He leaned a little farther, ignoring how his whole body trembled from the effort, fingers ghosting against the wood. Tim bit his lip, reaching out, but all of a sudden the table was pushed even further away.
“Fuck!” Tim snarled, balling a fist and slamming it down on the bed.
“Wow,” Someone said. “What did the table ever do to you?”
Tim whipped around, vision pulsing white. The damn machine alerted beside him again but he couldn’t care less because Steph was leaning against the door frame doing her best impression Jason Todd’s nonchalance. She was failing terribly, her grin far too bright, but Tim couldn’t help but chuckle anyway because she was here. His best friend was here and he wasn’t alone and Steph always knew how to cheer him up.
Failing cheering him up, Tim also knew that she would burn down the world alongside him if he only asked.
“The table killed my grandmother.” Tim said.
“My condolences.”
Steph pressed a hand to her heart, bowing her head. Then she looked up again, flashing another grin.
“So are we getting out of here Loser or what?”
The grin dropped before Tim could even reply. Her gaze had locked onto the IV line still in his arm and the heart monitor that he was still connected to.
“You’re staying.” Steph said.
“Fuck no,” Tim said. “Let’s go, I’m-“
“Tim.”
Her serious tone hit Tim harder than he expected it to and he found himself floundering.
“I’m fine, Steph, everything’s fine the Doctors are just being ridiculous. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that they just want to bill Bruce for a longer admission even though I’m… I’m…”
He was out of breath, his muscles shaking. It was simply because of the damn antibiotics he was on, surely he couldn’t actually be this weak.
Steph at last fully came into the room but her every step was heavy, like she didn’t even want to be here. Frustration made his eyes burn because it wasn’t like he wanted to be here either and if she was just going to be a pain then she could just fuck off for all he cared.
“Tim.” Steph said again.
“Just go then.” Tim snarled. “Leave me the fuck alone, I don’t need you pitying me like I’m some kind of freak.”
She stopped, crossed her arms tightly. When she spoke her voice was quiet but furious.
“When have I ever pitied you?” She demanded.
“Right now.” Tim shot back. “Looking at me like I’m about to drop dead or something.”
Tim knew that he was being a dick, he knew that Steph knew him better than almost anyone else, but the frustration of the last few days in hospital had worn on him and it wasn’t even just this admission but all of them.
His body was struggling against the slightest of infections these days and it each subsequent illness just made him that much sicker. It wasn’t even just frustrating anymore, it could be down right debilitating.
Tim had trained so hard for so many years to be the best Robin he could be and yet now just a simple cold almost certainly develops into pneumonia, let alone the impacts of the various medications he needed to be on in a desperate bid to improve his immune system that still wasn’t enough.
Nails dug into the palms of his hands.
“Leave.” Tim said lowly.
“No.”
“I don’t want you here, Stephanie, now fuck off before I-“
“You’ll what, Timothy?”
Tim was ready to curse her out forever more when he saw a single perfect tear roll down her cheek. In an instant his shoulders were dipping, head ducking low in shame.
“Steph, I…” Tim swallowed roughly. “I’m sorry. I’m being a dick.”
“You are.” She said.
Steph stalked towards him and he decided that if she was going to punch him right in the face, he was going to let her.
“But honestly?” Steph said. “I think you deserve to be. This fucking sucks. All of it. But don’t think, even for a moment, that I pity you. Because I don’t.”
She sat down heavily onto the bed beside him. Tim had never seen her look so tired before and he couldn’t help but hate that it was his fault. Steph had always been his rock, his ride or die, his best friend and now she was exhausted because of him.
“But the other day…”
It was Steph’s turn to swallow roughly. She took Tim’s hand into her own, careful of the bruising from a ripped IV.
“You were unresponsive Tim, like, really unresponsive. I thought you were dead and I… And it sucked, alright? It fucking sucked.”
From what they had told him, it had been Steph that found him passed out this time around and while he had been originally relieved to find that out because it meant he hadn’t embarrassed himself in front of the others again, he hadn’t really thought just how much seeing him like that had affected her.
New guilt swirled in Tim’s chest.
“I can’t fix this.” He croaked.
One hand remaining on his own, her other reached up and brushed a tear from Tim’s face.
“Maybe not,” Steph said. “But you can take it easy a bit more often.”
Tim scoffed, ready to point out just how much of the world was on his shoulders but her expression was still so raw that the words died in his throat.
“Relax a little more,” She continued. “Let you body actually rest, not just when you’re unconscious in a hospital but before you need to be rushed to the damn hospital like some kind of Victorian child.”
Despite himself, Tim laughed.
“I really am like a Victorian child, aren’t I?”
“Please Sir,” Steph put on a voice, making him laugh again. “May I have some more?”
“No no,” Tim said. “I need to say, ‘Merry Christmas, One And All.’ Go the full Tiny Tim.”
“I mean,” Steph grinned. “You are pretty tiny there Timmy.”
Tim nudged her, his heart warming as she gave off her own laugh.
“Or you know,” Tim said. “I could-”
Tim’s voice cut off as a sudden bout of nausea hit him hard.
In an instant Steph had moved, holding out a vomit bag in front of his face even before he had a chance to tell her what was wrong. His body lurched, and then again, but he brought nothing up. New tears prickled his eyes as he shook, his stomach still doing summersaults.
The machine beside him alerted once more but Tim barely heard it over the sound of another gag.
“Easy there Tiny Tim,” Steph said lightly. “No need to be so dramatic.”
Tim’s laugh was rough and near hysterical. He lowered the puke bag, his body at last realising there was nothing to bring up. His lip wobbled, face burning hot as tears poured down.
Steph’s shoulders dipped. She put the bag away again then smoothed some hair away from his face.
“I hate this.” He whispered.
“I hate this too.” Steph said. “But I know exactly what will make it better.”
She stood from the bed and Tim’s heart broke to even consider for a moment that she was going to walk out of that door and never come back. Instead, she just came around the bed and up to the table he had accidentally shoved away. She brought it closer again, within reach and hovering above Tim’s bed.
Tim brightened, scrubbing at his face before going to open his laptop.
Steph slapped his hand.
“Hey!”
“Hey to you too,” Steph muttered. “There’s absolutely no way I’m letting you be the one to touch that.”
“It’s my laptop.” Tim shot back.
“Yeah and knowing you, Nerd Boy, you’re going to go straight to Wayne Enterprises shit.”
“I’m fine,” Tim said, even as he wiped away new tears. “I can work.”
“Work my ass,” Steph said. “No, I’ve got a much better idea than that.”
She came back around again, climbing fully up onto the bed even though there was very much no space for her. He hissed as an elbow went into his ribs, then hit her back when he realised it had been on purpose.
The infernal drip beside him alerted yet again and when Tim shot it a glare, Steph instead physically moved Tim’s head so it was facing the laptop again as she opened it up.
While Steph really shouldn’t know his passwords, especially since every single aspect of his kit was encrypted, she had no trouble at all in bringing up Netflix. Tim waited for her to spend the rest of the day umming and ahhing about what to watch but without any hesitation she went into the search bar and brought up Sesame Street.
He quirked a brow at her.
“It’s a classic.” Steph defended.
It was only when the movie started that Tim realised that this particular one was about knowing when to take a break.
“Steph,” He said. “How did you know which epi-”
“Shh, be quiet…”
Tim scoffed, knowing full well that Steph was never one to be quiet in movies let alone in watching a kids show in a hospital room with only them in it.
She nestled into his side a little more and while his body was sore, he felt comforted by her warmth. Tim’s eyes started to droop before he could stop them and when he righted himself, Steph flicked him on the forehead.
The episode went on, the important lessons imparted, and Tim distantly realised that he was drifting off. He felt safe with her there, not even the IV itching his skin. The various monitors that were on him didn’t seem so harrowing, not when Steph was also pressed up against him.
Tim breathed in, and out, in and out.
He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be at home or out on the streets helping people. He didn’t want to spend even one more day in a hospital for the rest of his life and yet he knew that he needed to be here. He needed to be feeling better, they needed to make sure that his newest infection had been completely taken care of before he redevelops into another serious illness.
Tim’s body wasn’t what it used to be, and it was never going to be the same either.
But Steph was still right here with him and maybe that was enough.
And maybe, taking a break and resting wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Victorian Child ass bitch.” Steph said under her breath.
Tim’s laugh was loud and pure and real and soon enough his best friend was laughing too.