Chapter Text
TIM’S POV
Tim had been assigned to bedrest. Not that he really minded, he was exhausted after all that happened.
Hell, he’s pretty sure he hallucinated a slightly warped double of every family member when he was picked up. What an odd thing to hallucinate.
Luckily, the hallucinations hadn’t returned since he got back… Home.
That was still such an odd concept to Tim. He was home. Home.
Not a place where he was tolerated, where he burrowed himself into the wall and was someone else’s responsibility legally or morally and they begrudgingly fed and clothed him.
They wanted him here. He still had a hard time believing it, but they confirmed it with every word, every kind touch and the smiles they showed him every time they saw him.
And, oh, the kind touches. Tim was sure Timmy had said something because every time one of tbe Waynes popped into the room they almost immediately stroked his head, or squeezed his shoulder, or hugged him or held his hand or kissed his forehead and it felt so nice.
Tim hadn’t realized how cold he had felt his whole life. Cold and itchy and alone.
Maybe that’s why cuddle pollen doesn’t really affect me. Cold and itchy are the symptoms described for the pollen, and that just happened to be my state of being normally. After all, the only touches I got back h… there , was a hit from a villain, my parents’ backhand and whatever Grayson could spare, and after the Robin debacle just the thought of him touching me made me nauseated. More so than usual, anyways.
The gentle, loving touches of his family ( his family! Who wanted him!) chased away the cold and the itch, filling him with cottony warmth instead.
While Tim pondered his new, warm and comfortable existence, the door to his room opened. There were a few hours of the day Tim got to himself by his own request; as much as he adored and craved the attention… his social battery did run out eventually and he needed a few hours of coding or hacking to recharge.
The first few times, the Waynes tried to take Tim’s laptop from him, Tim hadn’t put up too much of a fight.
He later explained that if he doesn’t keep himself busy, at least right now, stuck in his room on his own, he needed something to keep him busy. Something to keep his mind occupied and away from dark thoughts. He hadn’t had the chance to start that therapy yet, after all.
Focusing back on the door, Timmy walked in, carrying a duffel bag.
Tim gave the younger boy a smile. “Hey Timmy. Whatcha got… there…?” he started, before his words drifted off. He realized that he recognized that bag. It had been at the foot of his bed for the last 7 years, used for mostly random storage.
He quirked a questioning brow at Timmy, who grinned in response.
“I got some stuff from Drake Manor before I burnt it to the ground.” he said cheerfully, dropping the bag on Tim’s bed and scooting up next to it. Tim curled up his legs to allow for more bed room.
When Tim saw what Timmy pulled out of the bag, he felt his heart skip a beat. The younger boy spread the papers out on the bed with a grin.
His pictures!
He’d never really told anyone about them in the end, so nobody had known their significance to Tim. They had, at one point, been his reason to keep living, after all. His one passion, his one talent, the single connection he had with the only people who lived within 6 miles of him. Capturing those few moments of familial bonding on the rooftops and imagining himself there, sharing in the warmth.
“These are really good, by the way! Really, night photography is such a pain, especially to get a clear image of a moving target. And most of these are action shots! Did you adjust the aperture width? How did you mitigate the small focal point with a large aperture? I don’t think you used a longer shutter time since that would just make the subjects into weird blurry messes. Or did you mess with the iso? Can you teach me? I think it would be cool to get some pictures when we’re out patrolling. Oh, or you can take the pictures if you’d rather do that. I don’t know if you want to go out in capes after this, though…”
“Breathe, kid!” Tim said with a chuckle, watching Timmy catch his breath after saying all that with maybe a single inhale in the middle. Timmy took another gasping breath, face red.
“I’d be happy to teach you. I… I’ll need a new camera though, unless you want to share yours each time.” Tim said, feeling sheepish.
“Oh, you can ask for one for your birthday!” Timmy said with a big smile.
Tim stilled, his hand hovering over one of the photos as he looked up to Timmy. “Birthday?” he asked.
“Yeah. Unless you wanna share your birthday with me of course, but, like, it’s nearly Halloween and I’ve always thought that a Halloween birthday would be the coolest and I figured it would be cool if we made the day you got here for realsies could be your new birthday… I didn’t mean to be presumptuous though.” he says, shrinking into himself a little bit.
Tim found himself smiling.
“You might be onto something, kid. A Halloween birthday sounds great. That would mean my new birthday would have been three days ago, though.” he says with a chuckle.
Timmy nodded. “We were gonna throw a party to welcome you here once you were off bedrest, but we can definitely add a Happy Birthday to the decorations somewhere!”
Tim felt himself laugh, and wasn’t that a marvel in itself. He really hadn’t laughed until he got to this world, not truly. They had always mostly been well-practiced chuckles, nothing like the deep-chested guffaws that punched themselves out of his diaphragm that he experienced here.
“That sounds great. I’m looking forward to it. Hey, do you want to see my favorite photo?” he asked, grinning at his new little brother.
“Do I!” Timmy responded. “Uh, should I get the rest of the family to come look at these, too?”
Tim shook his head. “I can always show them later. You got these for me when I didn’t think I’d ever see them again, so you can see them first. Thank you for getting them for me. They… they were important to me.” Tim said, picking up his favorite picture and showing it to Timmy. It was a picture of all three of the older vigilantes, mid-jump, outlined in front of a large moon with a dark skyline and starry night sky.
Timmy took the photo reverently and stared at it for a while.
“I want a picture like this of all of us.” Timmy said with a sigh.
“I can take one for you, probably. Pretty sure I remember my settings and the timing and—“
“All of us. That includes you, ya dingbat.” Timmy said, giving Tim a playfully mocking look.
“… Oh.” Tim said, face reddening a bit. He felt a smile tugging at his lips and he let it take over his face freely.
“Okay.”