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The first time Mina met Tim was on a playground during summer. (Since thats when Mina visited Gotham.)
Tim had begged his parents to take him, not wanting to be all alone in the cold, empty mansion they called a house.
Instead of taking him, they sent an underpaid secretary to do so; a miss Alexis Dodds
The secretary didn’t care for her job much, so she didn’t even question why she was taking a 5-year old boy to a playground when her talent would probably be better spent in an office sending emails and answering phone calls. Eventually the secretary would be fired for some reason or another, no one remembered (or cared) why.
She was here right now, and that was all that mattered, sitting next to Tim on the bench as he watched the children on the new playground run and play.
"Why aren’t you playing? Weren’t you just begging to be let out of the oh so scary big mansion?" Said the secretary, obnoxiously smacking some gum.
"Why aren’t my parents here?" Tim questioned innocently, his eyes big and hopeful as he looked to the woman for answers.
The secretary only scoffed. "Get used to it kid. Your parents are getting busier. By the time you’re six they’ll probably be leaving you in the house alone."
Tim frowned. He didn’t like that idea. He really hoped she was wrong but something told him that shed probe to be right. That made him even sadder.
"Look kid, run along. It’s very annoying to have you staring at me like that."
Tim sighed, knowing that sitting there with the mean secretary would do him no good. He hopped down from the bench and walked to one of the kids that was sitting under the slide. She was playing with a doll, brushing its hair. The doll had blonde hair, similar to her own.
"Hey, I’m Tim, what’s your name?" Tim asked curiously, giving her a smile.
The girl—Blondie, Tim decided, looked up at him, before looking around, as if she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her.
"M-me?" The blonde tilted her head. Her voice was soft, timid, weak willed.
"Who else would I be talking to, silly?" Tim giggled, finding her question ridiculous.
The girl whimpered, shrinking into her oversized pink sweater.
"Oh—uh—d-don’t be scared, I just meant—"
"Hey!" Called out a high pitched voice from behind Tim.
The raven haired boy turned, suddenly understanding why the girl was whimpering.
In front of him stood a girl. She was clothed in a yellow dress which complimented her dark skin. She couldn’t have been a year younger than Tim, most likely the same age as him actually. Her hair was black, like his own, and they were tied into neat twists, decorated with pretty looking beads. Unlike Tim’s blue eyes though, her were a deep brown.
She was pretty, by kid standards and cute by an adults.
She carried herself with a confidence, a certain spoiled nature as if to say, "I deserve everything I lay my eyes on, and when I say I want it, I get it."
The girl quirked a brow at the boy, as if she was confused.
"Who are you?" She asked, as if she was accusing him of something.
"My names Tim," Said the boy, equally confused, but not for the reasons that she was. "And who are you exactly?"
The girl was taken aback. As if it was unheard of for someone to not know her name. "It’s Mina." She said, as if she was saying that the sky was blue.
They stood in silence for a bit before Tim gave her a "friendly" smile. "Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mina."
Mina huffed, crossing her arms. "Can’t say the feelings mutual."
Tim quirked a brow before shaking his head, and, deciding that the conversation wasn’t worth continuing, he walked away.
Mina’s eyes widened and she stopped her foot. "Hey! Where are you going?! I wasn’t done talking! Don’t you know that a rude?!" Tim didn’t look back, already focused on finding someone else to talk to. Sorry Blondie.
Mina huffed. What was his problem? Usually people were kinder to her, more docile. She hated just how nonchalant he seemed, how easy it was for him to walk away from her.
Deciding she needed to take her anger out on someone, she turned to Blondie.
"Hey Ashley!" The girl called out, Ashley flinched. "Give me your doll!" Mina held out her hand, expectantly. Tim, still within an earshot, perked up.
"H-huh? B-But…"
"No buts! Just give it here."
Ashley passed for a second, her eyes welling up with tears. She didn’t want to give up her doll, but Mina was just so…convincing! How could she not?
With her tears now falling down her cheeks, Ashley handed her the doll, and the bully smirked, turning he back to the girl. Only for someone to snatch it right out of Mina’s hands.
Mina gasped at her empty hand, before looking up to see who took it. Sure enough, it was the boy she had already taken a disliking to, Tim.
"Didn’t anyone ever teach you that it’s rude to take other people’s things?" Tim scolded, looking at her with anger. How could she be so mean? Taking the girls favorite toy while she cried? How cruel!
Mina’s heart dropped, she dint recognize the tone the boy was using. It sounded like he was mad or upset…at her. She’d never heard it used towards her.
Her eyes welled up with tears.
"You’ll never make friends if you treat them that way." Said Tim, already moving on. "Here, I’ll give you back the doll so you can apologize to—"
Before he could even finish, the girl was running off, crying about something.
Tim was left standing with a doll in his hand, hanging in the air uselessly.
"—Blondie." He finished, watching her run over to a young woman, presumably her mother.
Tim sighed, deciding that It wasn’t worth it to chase after her, before giving the doll back to the blonde.
Surprisingly, the boy had garnered quite the audience. Pretty much all the kids In the park were looking at him now, wondering how he’d managed to make Mina cry.
Soon enough he was the most popular boy in the park.
By the ed ion the day, Tim didn’t feel as bad about his parents and he’d almost forgotten about the the big, cold, scary, empty mansion he would have to go back home to. Almost.
It was almost time to go home now, and most of the friends he’d made had already gone home.
He didn’t wanna go back to his house though. He knew nothing would be waiting for him there.
So there he sat, sitting on the monkey bars, waiting for the secretary to tell him that it was time to go.
It was taking her a while to do so though, and, curious, the boy looked at the bench where she was supposed to be sitting.
He’d expected to see her sitting there alone. Instead, he saw her sitting and talking to a woman. The same woman he’d seen the mean girl, Mina, run off to.
He didn’t have any time to ponder however, because a small voice called out to him.
"Hey." It said softly.
H looked down from the monkey bars and saw the same spoiled girl from earlier, only, this time she didn’t look spoiled.
This time she looked sad, tired.
"Uhm…can I talk to you?" She asked, timidly. And Tim found himself a little feeling a little cautious.
"Why?" He asked simply.
"I…uhm…" She pause and looked to the ground, as if she wasn’t sure about what she was gonna say. "I wanted to say sorry…." She mumbled.
Tim’s eyes widened just a bit, before he smiled softly. He jumped down from the monkey bars and landed in front of her. It was only them that he noticed that she was holding something.
"You were…right about me being mean…and…I’m sorry that I was…so…here you go." She sounded unsure, as she held out a chocolate chip cookie for him
Tim quirked a brow. "Shouldn’t you say sorry to Blondie?"
Mina tilted her head. "You mean Ashley?" Tim nodded his head In response.
"I did. I said sorry to her and everyone else I bullied." She put emphasis on the word "bullied" as if she didn’t believe that descriptor.
"You bullied other people?" Tim questioned, using that same accusatory tone she had used earlier.
Suddenly the girl looked sad again. "I—I said I was sorry! I didn’t mean to bully them I just…" The girl sighed and Tim raised a brow.
"How do you accidentally bully people?"
"Well…I just thought that…I deserved everything…."
Tim’s brow raised even higher. "Why on Earth would you think that?"
"Well, no ones ever told me no before. Well, no one but my mom, but when she’d said no, id just ask someone else and they’d say yes. You were one of the first people to call me out. It made me feel…" She paused trying to think of the word. "…bad…" She settled.
Tim suddenly understood. Thats what everyone else had meant. All the others kids called her "hard to say no to" and they had said that adults had always listened to her. And looking at her now she did look genuinely guilty. She must’ve genuinely thought that she deserved everything.
"Even when I was apologizing to the kids and their parents…" She continued. "…they weren’t mad…they didn’t call me out like you did…it…confuses me….if I don’t deserve everything then…why do I get everything…?"
Tim thought for a second, trying to come up with an answer before his eyes fell back down to the cookie. When she was handing them to him she glanced at them, as if she wanted them. Suddenly Tim smiled softly, and Mina’s heart skipped a beat.
He took the cookies from her hands before breaking them and giving her the other half. "Because, it feels good to share." He concluded simply.
Hesitantly, she took the broken cookie and ate, before smiling, Tim continued to explain.
"Whenever I help people, or share things with them, it makes them feel happy, and seeing people happy makes me happy. Like, the smile you made when I gave you some of the cookie, that made me happy. So who’s to say that when you help other people it won’t make you happy too?"
Mina thought for a moment. "I guess that make sense…" She paused "Ok, I think I get it now! Helping people makes them happy and making people happy should make me happy, right?"
Tim nodded, they were both smiling now.
Mina held out her hand to the boy. "I think we got off on the wrong foot." Tim nodded in agreement.
"My names Mina, wanna be friends?"
From then on the two were attached at the hip, never leaving each others side for the summers that Mina stayed in Gotham. And after Mina moved to Gotham (and they worked out all the kinks) they found themselves even closer than before, if that was even possible.