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“Tim? Tim, you coming?”
Tim got pulled out of his daydream, and turned around to face Dick, who’d apparently been calling out for him for a while. He was fully decked out in his Nightwing suit, ready to head out alongside Tim. Bruce had left for one or another conference he needed to be present as himself, leaving Gotham to miss its Batman for a few days, so Dick volunteered to do his rounds.
“Never seen you this distracted before. Didn't sleep well?”
“Do I ever? Do you ever?”, Tim asked his older brother, poking the fried egg Alfred had prepared for him so long ago that it had already gone cold. No breakfast then, he thought to himself, getting up to throw it in the trash.
Dick didn’t really know how to respond to this in a manner that would actually help, so he decided against speaking at all. Every Robin- hell, every Gotham vigilante had these days. Some more than others, but Tim was especially vulnerable to them, because his heart was so big. When you live in this city, this forgotten piece of land where everything seems possible even though there are laws in place, things seem really grim sometimes.
Tim, just like what Dick had noticed in Damian, chose to lock that heart of his behind a wall that sometimes just got so thin it toppled over and let everything in at once.
Most definitely Bruce’s influence, Dick had always seen the same thing in him.
The two of them did most of their round in silence, safe for some talk about how things were with Dick besides the vigilante business, Tim complaining about the mess Damians pets left (yet Dick knew he really didn’t mind as much as he claimed to, he’d once found Tim asleep with Damians bunny in his lap), and a little more catching up that they hadn’t gotten the chance to do before.
When the sun had long seen its highest point, signaling that 4 pm had passed a while ago, they stopped for a snack- which is where things finally got interesting for them.
They had noticed some commotion before entering the restaurant they chose to visit, but had made the decision that it didn’t look like a dangerous situation so they could probably eat something small before they went to take a look.
In hindsight, they should have gone before, because when they heard a scream, they had to move fast. Nightwing leapt up the lantern poles after exiting the building, while Robin took to the streets, and their food found its respective place in the trash can, much to both of their dismay.
“You see anything, Nightwing? There’s too many people down here.”, Tim huffed as he made clear hand gestures towards people who had crowded around whatever had been happening, but a lot of them just ignored him and attempted to get closer to the action.
So much for being respected in Gotham.
The acrobatic show-off had halted and took a stance on one of the roofs, clearly trying to figure out how to word what he was seeing.
“Robin…”, he said in a soft voice. Hearing Dick speak like this always left a weird feeling behind, because it was never good.
“Yes? Communicate with me.”, he replied, doing his best not to make it sound as worried as he was, while still doing his best to make his way through the morons that decided to block his path.
“Don’t rush in like an idiot.”
“Why would I?”
“There’s like 5 big guys there.”
“Okay?”
“But so is Bernard.”
“Robin?”, Dick called for him over the comms after he had not gotten a response from him. From where he was sitting, it was very hard to see what was going on.
“Robin? Are you sti-”, he interrupted himself the second he noticed the red of his brothers’ costume rushing in faster than he had ever seen Tim run before.
Dick groaned under his breath. He should have never mentioned that Bernard was there. Of course Tim would run in like an idiot- Dick would do the same for Babs. and he would have done the same for Kori, all those years back.
He dove down, making his way over to the commotion, but quickly realized the problem that had kept Tim back, and it had grown. He wasn’t going to reach what he had perceived as an unfair fight between multiple really trained men and one high school boy, not in time. Tim was a lot smaller than Dick was, and was more easily able to squirm through the mass, which the taller of the two immediately assessed he wasn't going to be able to do here, not without hurting anyone.
He had to trust Tim to rely on his training, and not his heart, because he was going to be on his own.
Meanwhile, Tim saw red.
He’d reached Bernard, and somehow, the sight of his face did not calm him down, not this time.
He was dressed very classy. His suit was stained, but it had been a white, perfectly tailored suit that Tim knew his boyfriend had to have saved up for. A bouquet of flowers was scattered over the pavement, and it was obvious Bernard had been in the same place, but he’d gotten up again. All of this just screamed: a date. One he was having with someone else.
“Well hello-”. Bernard grinned, “we really should stop meeting like this, Robin, Sir.”
“Enough of that.”, Tim motioned to the thugs ready to pounce, “they need to be unconscious, and then let’s talk. Any history with them?”
“Eh. They saw me waiting for my boyfriend here, asked me about it, and I mentioned it’s a ‘he’. Guess they just didn’t agree. I was managing, but five is a bit much.”
“Good thing we’re three now-”, Tim started, when he noticed Dick struggling to pass a woman who was actively hitting him with her purse, “or two. Two is enough.”
The two of them swiftly took down the thugs, who ended up not even being good fighters, and pretty easy to take down even for Bernard now that he was not surprised or as outnumbered as he had been. Bernard was a good fighter after all, something those people probably didn't think was possible considering he was gay. The first time Tim had seen him fight, he was taken aback too- not because of his sexuality, but because of how swift his movements were, and how confident Bernard always seemed to be in everything that he did. It was one of the things he loved about him.
Tim looked over at his boyfriend occasionally, just admiring him. It was very hard for him to focus right now, because he was just thinking. About a lot of things.
“Thanks, you probably saved me from a nasty injury.”, Bernard reached into his pockets, before his smile turned sour.
Tim was on the verge of tears, really. Why would Bernard have to date someone else? Wasn’t he enough for him, or did he really not care? Had he done something wrong, had he been too forward, too fast, too slow? His boyfriend looked happy, excited. Not remorseful, or guilty. Why would he do this to him..?
He really wanted to ask him all of those things, but he couldn’t, because he wasn’t Tim right now. He was Robin.
And it had never been as hard as it was right on this moment. It would probably never be this hard again.
“My phone-”, the blonde said out loud, looking around on the ground just to find it completely crushed. He picked it up, hoping it would still work, but it seemed his luck had run out.
“Goddamnit.. He always lets me know when he has to pass.”, he sighed, “Could I maybe use your phone real quick?”
Tim frowned at that, which was hard when you're trying not to cry, to which Bernard continued, “my boyfriend never just ditches me. You see, he’s very sweet. I was going to ask him where he was. He’s kind of an idiot sometimes, but Tim would never leave me hanging like this. Something must have happened.”
Oh.
Wait.
What day was it? Yesterday was a sunday, and on saturday he had specifically looked on the calendar to see it was the 12th.
It was Valentines day.
It was fucking Valentines day.
Tim frantically looked around, and found Dick in the crowd, finally reaching the end of the hell that was crying babies, angry ladies, and an almost death experience in that mass.
“Nightwing is going to help you, I just got an ehm.. important message from Batman. It's very secret. Also urgent. Bye. Nightwing, help him!”
Dick watched Tim run away and his shoulders dropped. “What..?”
“Oh. He needed to go to Batman. I guess he’s the only one that got the memo. Don’t worry, I know it sucks being a third wheel. He told me I could use your phone to call my boyfriend? We were supposed to meet up here like thirty minutes ago.”
Dick glanced back to where he saw Tim run back into the crowd, and stared for a second before he had to stifle a laugh.
Of course he forgot he had a date. Out of literally all of his siblings, that was something so typically him.
Just like he had always known, Tim had a big heart. He really did. But the wall made it hard for him to remember that others knew this, and also loved that about him. He didn't forget Bernard, he never would- he forgot that he was loved in the way that he was. He also knew it was very hard for him to realize this in the first place, because he was aware that Tim had issues loving himself on some days.
Dick already knew that Bernard had filled Tims heart in more ways than one, because it wasn't hard to see at all, even for outsiders.
“Make sure to say hi from Nightwing if you get him on the phone.”