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It started when Dick refused to let the Christmas season pass without doing at least one holiday themed activity. He’d been pushing them about it all week, yet nobody else was biting. The problem was that Tim was the only person in the room for his latest attempt, and Dick took this as a sign from the universe.
“Tim. We’re going to look at Christmas lights tonight.” Tim blinked at him from where he was working on the couch.
“Is that a question or an order?”
“An order.” Dick said, hands on hips. “A fun order.”
“I don’t do fun. I’m busy.”
“You do fun.” Dick said. “It’s just been a little while.”
“I’m working.”
“You’ve been working since you were thirteen. You can take a break.” Dick leaned down, trying to make eye contact over the back of Tim’s laptop. “We’re doing this.”
“Fuck.”
They left after dark, Tim’s other siblings snickering at him for getting caught and forced to do an activity with Dick. He flipped them the bird over his shoulder on their way out. Dick insisted on driving, no matter how hard Tim pushed against it.
“Dick, you get too distracted looking at the lights to drive.”
“You need time to soak it in! You can’t do that if you’re driving!” Tim just huffed and crossed his arms as he sunk into the passenger seat.
“Can we at least get coffee before driving around? It’s freezing out.” Dick agreed, and so they headed to a small coffee shop close by. Dick had tried to get him to order a hot chocolate “for the vibes”, insisting that his straight black preference wasn’t festive enough. They compromised at a mocha. Finally, they got back into the car, and they were ready to start touring Gotham’s neighborhoods.
Dick put on a playlist the second they hit the first decorated street, insisting the music was to help get them into a festive spirit. It was incredibly bright and bubbly, and it took Tim thirty seconds before he was groaning into his hands.
“You can’t be serious.”
“It’s called Christmas spirit, baby bird.”
“It’s called psychological warfare.” Dick grinned wide as he started to drum his fingers on the steering wheel.
“You know, I’m starting to think that you don’t like joy, Timmy.”
“Ha ha.”
The first house they looked at looked like Christmas had thrown up on the front lawn, completed by a slowly waving Santa that left an eerie vibe if you stared at him too long. Tim squinted.
“That Santa definitely kills people in the off season.” Dick snorted.
There were all sorts of decorations around the neighborhood. Some houses were chaotic, others finely colour coordinated. A few kept it minimal, but quite a few people went full swing into the decorations. Tim was pretty sure Santa was going to be seared into his retinas by the time they went back to the manor.
They kept driving for a while, before Dick slowed in front of a house whose front yard looked like a Christmas factory had exploded. There were elves. There were mechanical reindeer. There was a sleigh. There was a life sized Santa animatronic waving merrily. There were lights that spelled JOY in ten foot letters.
“This one is my favourite.” Dick said, awed. “Look at the lights! The decorations!”
“I’m looking at an OSHA violation.” Dick ignored him, leaning forward on the wheel to get a closer look.
“It’s incredible.” And when Tim turned to look at Dick, he could see that the man truly meant it. Suddenly, Tim felt kind of bad. Dick really was just excited about the holiday, and he wanted to share that joy with someone.
“You know,” Tim said, after a moment of thinking, “Maybe it isn’t that bad. I kind of like the twinkling icicles.” The look of pure joy on Dick’s face was worth it.
“Really?” Dick bounced in his seat. “Then I think you’ll love the ice village that’s popped up in the Narrows! We’ll head there next!” Tim smiled.
Maybe Dick was right. He could take a break every once in a while and do something fun with his family.