Work Text:
Tim wasn’t one to complain, but right now he is having an awful time. Normally, he could cope with having an awful time, as said awful times tend to occur when his parents are home, in other words, when he was already on break from both school and night time crime fighting.
He remembers being home alone, shivering in his bed after receiving a call offhandedly mentioning that his parents might be stuck in customs, with his dad thinking it would be fine to try to bring home fieldwork equipment as a carry on. Moreover, they almost got arrested in the same country for improper licensing. He used to lay there curled up in a ball, waiting until the feeling of fear passed or he fell asleep.
When Jason passed, it was the worst; his parents were technically home, but were re hosting a dinner party. He had gotten away with staying out of sight, but they scolded him for not helping out. They had learned the news later that evening, but still questioned why he was so upset over the neighbor boy he never spoke to. Thankfully, he was able to stay home the next day from school as Mr. Freeze broke the air conditioning system in a fight with his own goons.
However, he could not have been so lucky to never have to deal with awful time outside of home. His parents would still be in Beirut for at least 3 weeks, and outside of the states for another month. This was all fine and dandy, until someone (Dick) decided that his little brother needed to stay at Wayne Manor for that period, citing an injury with an unfortunately convenient recovery period forcing him to do the same. Of course he agreed, he would never pass up an opportunity for more Cave time. However, he was barred from casework until at least 8pm weekdays. Something about Alfred refusing to encourage workaholic behavior, hypocritically using the time nobody is in the cave to clean. Tim loved Alfred, don’t get him wrong, but the man had the same vendetta against dust as Bruce with crime.
On this day in particular, a random Tuesday in June, Tim’s body decided it would be a great idea to have an anxiety attack. He probably did himself no favors by drinking the espresso creation Damian made (He wanted to see if he could do latte art, but didn’t want to actually drink it). He kind of felt nervous all day, flinching at every sound, which led him to try taking a nap. Unfortunately, he awoke to incomprehensible yelling, an input that his nervous system decided was bad news bears. Almost immediately he felt his insides drop, and the shaky feeling he’d had since the morning intensified. He felt like throwing up; he knew he wouldn’t, but that didn’t change the too dry and too wet feeling in his mouth. By the time he was more conscious and aware the shouting was simply Brothers Being Loud, his body was already in full awful time mode.
He had mentioned his anxiety before, mostly to verify what meds he was on for med file purposes. And so, he grabbed his phone with trembling fingers and typed a message to his siblings’ group chat.
T-Dawg: 😭🤯😶🌫️🫥🤢🤫
He was somewhat thankful that Cass had recent used his phone, so he could quickly navigate to the emojis, even though it took a minute to find all he wanted.
Cass: not me. 🥺🆘❔
Darwin: Tim why are you in your room with the door closed it’s making Alfred (feline) upset. Also I have given up trying to convince you all to spell my name right. I am not offended by my current comparison.
Ricky Flips: if ur having a migraine Jason and I sorry 4 big noise we gaming
Darwin: I am not gaming. Father said I can only play offline games.
Justin: dami we know u keep complaining
Darwin: I am not complaining. I just know Jon is going to fail our quest before I am allowed back online
Reading the chat go by calmed Tim somewhat, but he still probably would have shivers for like an hour.
“Hey there Tim, mind if I sit with you a minute?” Asked a figure who he barely noticed enter the room. He shrugged, and they sat at the end of the bed.
“We lost by the way. Jay is still arguing with someone on vc about how they had a perfect shot across the map.”
Oh, so it was Dick.
“This sucks.”
“What’s going on? You’re all bundled up like it’s freezing and I can hear your teeth chattering. Did you get hit by pollen somehow?”
Tim remained quiet for a minute, his mouth not wanting to let words out quite yet.
“Just- ugh.”
“What does that mean, ugh? You sick?”
“Bleh. I hate my body. It’s just anxiety uh- It like, does this to me. Not your fault. Just ugh.” His voice sounded almost fragile, like each syllable was forced out.
At that moment, Jason walked in with a determined looking Cassandra. She immediately perched on the end of his bed, opposite to Dick, sitting cross legged.
“She hit me. Made me come in here.”
“No. Focus pat.” She tried, conveying she had done whatever to get the brother’s attention.
“Anxiety huh? At least you don’t hog the bathroom like Dickhead here.”
“Listen, it’s not my fault my ibs flares up with stress.”
Tim’s shivering was still present somewhat, but hearing his siblings banter made him feel better.
“Called Steph. Morning Waffles. Sleep now.” Cass said, curling up like a cat at the end of his bed, resting her head on his jittery leg.
“We’ll keep it down on our game. Thinking of switching to Minecraft anyway.”
“I’m also tapping out for the night. Dami has claimed my controller and Alfred let him have coffee earlier so he’ll be up until tomorrow’s patrol.” Jason stretched, making an exaggerated yawn while nodding towards the door. Faintly, Damian could be heard discussing building plans with Jon, surprisingly passionate about playing on peaceful mode. One time, the kid got so upset after a creeper blew up his house he cried until he threw up. Apparently, Jon did the same thing on the other end of the voice call.
“Have fun. Don’t let Dami get caught playing online. By the way, java is superior.” Tim rolled on his side, ignoring the inevitable response to his argument.
“You are so lucky you’re vulnerable right now cause otherwise them’s fighting words.” Jason said, halfway out the door already but refusing to let Tim’s statement go unnoticed.
“Whatever. I’m correct.” He mumbled, eyes already closed.