Chapter Text
Tim’s POV
He had done it. He brought Bruce back out of the time stream. Got him back home. Dick could stop playing Batman like he so very much hated. Damian could be Bruce’s Robin like he had been intended. Everyone was relieved when Bruce came back. So happy to see him, to hug him, to finally see him again.
So happy that they didn’t see how exhausted Tim was. How drained, emotionally—physically—mentally. They didn’t notice how pale—more a sickly gray than actually white—he had gone over the months of work. How skinny he had gotten. They didn’t see the dark bags under his eyes or the slight tremor he had developed. They only saw that Bruce was back..
Someone should have seen, should have noticed how bad he had gotten. How far he had spiraled.
Someone should have been there to catch Tim when he fell, when he crashed down to the earth like Icarus in the sun, golden wax burning his skin.
Someone should have been there to help him. Instead of brushing him off, believing he was the strongest of them, and letting him self-destruct.
So when Tim went crashing through Jason’s window, blasted off his ass drunk, high on painkillers and possibly other substances, and under the effects of fear toxin it shouldn’t have been surprising. It shouldn’t have shocked him as the drunk teenager stumbled and immediately passed out on his floor.
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Jay’s POV
Jason didn’t even have time to process anything before his body was moving to the too small body of the sixteen year old. He checked for injuries first. He looked over his whole body and took a deep breath. No injuries. The smell hit him when he took that deep breath.
“Jesus fuck Timbit.. What did you drink? A liquor store..?” Jason sighed and went to move him gently but before he could Tim shot up and went to the window he just fell through to throw up the contents of his stomach onto the fire escape.
Tim coughed and spit as he pulled himself back inside and turned himself around to slump against the wall with a groan. He looked around for a moment trying to discern where he was when Jason caught his eye. “Oh-shit.. ‘s Jay.. mus- mean ‘m in.. Crime Al-hiccup-ley.. thas.. like.. halfway ‘cross town.. from my.. ‘partment..” he slowly moved to lay on the floor. “How I get here..? Wa-ss at a party..”
Jason watched him as he laid down on the floor. “Littlebird..? what.. What did you take? What are you on..?” Jason went over to him.
Tim giggled softly. “Raided.. th-hiccup-e medbay..” his words were slurring too much for just alcohol and some painkillers. “Jus.. want.. be numb Jay..” the smile on his face didn’t falter but his eyes were glassy like he was about to cry.
Jason pulled out his phone and called Dick.
“What’s up littlewing..?” Dicks voice carried from the phone to Tim.
Tim groaned at the sound of Dick’s voice. “Boo. You whore.” That was the most clear sentence he’s said since he had started talking. He rolled over and faced the wall.
Jason rolled his eyes. “What was in stock medicine wise in the medbay..?” His voice came out rushed
Dick went quiet as he thought, sensing urgency he tried to hurry. “Well last night when I went into the medbay for a couple bandages the cabinet was pretty barren. Alfred said he wasn’t set to restock it until tomorrow since he had to get a bunch of stuff from Doctor Tompkins. Why? What happened?”
Jason let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I need a list of what was left.. and I need you to go check the cabinet.. now.” He went over to Tim only to see he had fallen asleep facing the wall and Jason started to panic slightly.
“You’re starting to freak me out Jaybird..” there was the sound of Dick getting up and jogging. It was obvious he was in the cave based on the echoing sound when he took a step. “What the hell? Jay. What is going on? There are pills everywhere.. and..” there was the sound of what was clearly Dick sniffing something. “There’s fucking tequila on the counter in a water bottle. I need you to explain what’s going on now.”
“Not over the phone and not with the risk that little Damian shaped ears may overhear.. or Batman shaped ears.. come to my apartment I’ll explain when you get here.” Jason propped his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he tried to wake Tim up. “Hey, wake up. I need you to stay conscious until I know exactly what you took.” Tim didn’t stir, didn’t make a face, and if it weren’t for the faint rise and fall of his chest as he breathed Jason would have assumed he had died. “Jesus fuck. Get to my apartment like forty five minutes ago with the list of what was left last night and what was left just now.. I gotta go.” He let his phone fall from his shoulder as he tried harder to wake Tim up until the groggy teen sat up with a dead tired expression.
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Dick’s POV
When Dick got there Jason had Tim sitting in a chair drinking water and trying to tell Jason what happened to him that night. His words were still almost complete gibberish and he was having a hard time staying on topic and most importantly conscious.
“I have the lists.” Dick called out as he walked into the apartment then stopped in the doorway of the living room from the entryway. “What happened?” All at once he was in front of Tim kneeling and looking him over. “Shit Tim..” the smell of alcohol hit his nose and burned slightly causing him to reel back. He studied Tim’s face, bloodshot eyes, claminess, pupils dilated far too big, trembling slightly as if he was freezing cold, but flushed a deep red like he was on fire. “Jason.. how many times has he thrown up..?”
“Once why..?” Jason watched him.
“Do you remember what Cathrine looked like when you found her..?” Dick was moving Tim before Jason could even think back but when the realization hit him he helped Dick get Tim to the window. “Timmy.. I’m going to make you throw up now.”
“Doesn’t most of that medicine say not to do that?” Jason asked as they got Tim, who didn’t even have the strength to fight what was happening to him, sticking out the window.
“He has at least two types of sedatives starting to take effect. The warning labels be damned, we need to get as much of this shit out of him now or he’s going to die.” Dick said as he shoved two of Tim’s fingers down his throat only for nothing to happen.
“No.. gag.. r’flex.. I’ve.. e’ting disssorder.. ‘member Dickie..” Tim hiccuped and laid his head down. Dick absolutely did not remember that little tidbit of information because he had in fact never been told that. “’m sleepy..”
Dick stopped for a moment, if they called an ambulance or even just took Tim to the ER to get his stomach pumped it would take too long. “Jason, I need another cup of water and salt. Like way more salt than you think we need.”
Jason nodded and grabbed Tim’s water cup and rushed into the kitchen where he got more water and just grabbed his salt and brought it over to Dick. He watched as Dick poured an ungodly amount of salt into the water and then kept going until the salt stopped dissolving.
“Lift him up and hold his nose.” Dick stirred the water with his finger and when Jason had Tim in position he started forcing Tim to drink the water even as he weakly thrashed against his two older brothers. Once most of the overly salty water was swallowed in his panic, Dick sat the cup down and had Jason move his hand as he got Tim back outside the window just in time for him to puke his guts up.
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Tim’s POV
By the time Tim had finally stopped throwing up he was a complete mess, he had some throw up trickling down his chin and out his nose along with snot, he was bawling his eyes out, and he was sweating so bad that his hair was matted to his forehead. While Jason got Tim sat down against the wall, Dick went and got Jason’s medkit and sat down as he rummaged through it.
“Timmy stay with me..” Jason kept the teen awake by making him talk while he cleaned his face and Dick administered some medication that would counteract the pills he had taken. “Tell me about your favorite book, Timmy. Is it still the one you talked about last time..? The one I recommended in a Gotham Gazette statement when I was still Robin..?”
Tim hoarsely muttered. “The once.. ‘nd future king..”
“Arthurian legend.” Jason smiled as he cleaned up Tim’s face. “The geese still your favorite..?”
Tim went quiet and nodded a bit. His favorite part was the geese, he loved the freedom they represented, and for a kid that grew up with his parents gone for extended amounts of time he saw the geese as a big family. When he was adopted by Bruce he felt like he finally had what the geese had and then Bruce died and his whole life fell apart. That’s how he had ended up in Jason’s apartment drunk and high under the effects of fear toxin.
Oddly enough the fear toxin didn’t have much of an affect on him. He assumed it was because he was so intoxicated when it was administered on him but deep down he knew, he knew that the reason the fear toxin didn’t have an affect on him was because he had seen his greatest fears and had to live through them, he was alone for most of his childhood, his father and mother got kidnapped then died, he was adopted and finally had a big family but he put way too much pressure on himself to be what Bruce needed and to be like Dick and Jason, then his father and his closest friends died, he knew there was a way to bring them back but he was the only one that believed there was a way. So he disappeared and found their father. He went through hell to bring him back. Almost died, almost got stuck in the time stream in his attempt to save Bruce, was almost ripped apart by the time stream, and no one even acknowledged him when he got back. He had lived through his greatest fears and he was still living with them.
He felt alone again. His siblings (yes he saw them as his siblings) and Alfred ignored how broken he was when he got back. They ignored how small he had gotten, how extra quiet he had gotten, how exhausted he was.. they didn’t notice or ignored it all. They didn’t notice or had been ignoring how he went on patrol so drunk he couldn’t barely stand, or so strung out on painkillers and sedatives that he would just fall asleep standing leaning against walls. He was pretty sure they just didn’t notice because the idea that they would see it and ignore it made his heart ache more than anything else. He wasn’t scared by the thought or maybe he was, he didn’t know anymore. He was crushed by the idea though that he knew. Devastated. Willing to let himself fall asleep and never wake up over the thought that they could see what was happening inside his head and were ignoring it.
He snapped out of his thoughts—so perhaps the fear toxin was affecting him more than he originally thought it had been—he looked up to see Dick and Jason studying him closely.
“Has he always been.. gray..? Like.. he looks sick.. and when did he get so skinny?” Dick mumbled quietly.
“Get some sleep Timmy.” Jason said, brushing off Dick’s questions for the moment. He covered Tim in a blanket and ruffled his hair before tilting his head towards the kitchen.
Dick nodded and they went into the kitchen to talk as Tim let sleep draw him in.