Chapter Text
this couldn’t be funnier !
tim felt like he couldn’t *breathe* , all that came out of him was laughter. he couldn’t even explain it to damian, who was seemingly getting more upset as the laughter continued.
“no—i’m not laughing at you! promise!”
he desperately tried to explain through fits of giggles. tears started to prick from the corner of his eyes as damian’s eyes narrowed
“drake, your behavior is highly inappropriate. though…i figure you are already aware of that. do you always do this when someone comes to you with something serious?”
god. damian really was just a mini-bruce at this point. the only difference in this situation is…bruce knows how to calm him down from these laugh attacks. damian had never really *seen* tim have one. there were desperate gasps for air as he held onto his stomach, clearly in pain.
“can you…get…bruce?”
damian rolled his eyes, sighing at the idea of having to bother their father with such trivial matters.
“father won’t tell you that you are ‘right’ in this situation, drake.”
“please.”
“ok.”
and damian was gone without a second thought. thank god for it too—tim was starting to feel it getting worse. there was one time he laughed so hard bruce had to remind him to try and breathe. it was definitely reaching that point—the point that would make this so much harder to pull him down from.
the conversation had started with damian asking drake a question. a question that made tim giggle. it slowly turn into laughter…which turned into *more* laughter. until he couldn’t breathe anymore.
how long had he been smiling at this point? no. he didn’t want to. he didn’t *need* to anymore—he was fine. he had a choice now, bruce always had made that clear to tim. he didn’t have to smile if he didn’t wanna…not anymore.
by the time damian had brought bruce, he had started crying more rather than laughing. he’d still giggle in between sobs—that was unavoidable but..he still tried to push it down.
tim had felt hands around him and soft words. it felt like being put onto a cloud and having it read to you. the laughter stopped and all that was left was quiet sniffles.
“ ‘m sorry.” tim mumbled, feeling absolutely terrible for laughing that rudely at damians question. karma is a bitch.
“what was that?” damian asked in a concerned tone, more concerned than tim had ever heard him. bruce started to pet tim’s hair, making the boy lean into his father more.
“It’s from the joker, damian. sometimes tim laughs when he’s scared. next time, just help him breathe”
“he wasn’t even afraid. i only asked why he refuses to take me seriously. then he starte—”
tim started to giggle again through sobs.
“….that.”
tim wiped his eyes and shook his head, trying to stop crying and laughing.
“oh my god…sorry. so-sorry. its just. i take you *too* seriously. i just can’t stop once….once i start”
damian contemplated taking the apology, feeling a bit humiliated due to the nature of the statement. he shook that off fast, moving to sit next to tim. it left tim squished in the middle between bruce and damian.
he was glad they’d come help him, even if he was weird.