Chapter Text
Dick raced across the rooftops, trying to get to Tim’s safe house before something went wrong. As far as Dick knew, based on B’s very very brief explanation, Ivy and Scarecrow had teamed up and Tim, who was on site, seemingly just disappeared.
At first, Dick had been swallowed with the same fear that never failed to overtake him when he learnt that one of his siblings could be hurt, could be bleeding out, could be dying , and he wasn’t there , he wasn’t there for them, he was going to fail, again .
But then Oracle - Babs, god, what would he do without her? - had unfroze him by simply stating that she had traced Tim back to one of his safe houses.
Was Nightwing desperately needed in the field, so that Robin and Signal could focus on evacuating citizens? Yes.
Did his younger brother probably need him more? Also yes.
So, to be fair, it was a pretty easy decision to turn his comm off, abandon the affected area, and take off to where Tim’s last location was.
Dick swore years back, he wasn’t going to fail one of his siblings in the same way he had failed Jason oh-so long ago. And he hadn’t even gotten a proper chance to fully make up for all the shitty things Dick had done to Tim while Bruce was missing, and oh god, please don’t be too late. Not again, pleasepleaseplease-
Dick didn’t hesitate to launch himself through the window that was wide open. If there was a curtain in it, he was sure it’d be billowing out of the apartment.
The apartment was eerily quiet and still. The atmosphere made Dick feel like he was suffocating on nothing. (Suffocating on the fear that Tim, his baby brother, was dead , or dying and no one was even there and-)
Dick held his breath as he crouched throughout the apartment, making sure that there were no threats in the area. (What if someone had found Tim, high on a fear toxin and whatever-pollen Ivy was using, and hurt him even more ? They’d need to be..taken care of.)
The place was empty, besides the bedroom, which Dick figured he’d check last. That was where Tim was most likely to be, and if Dick went in there first, he wasn’t coming out until his brother was okay, potential threats be damned.
Bruce had always said Dick’s bleeding heart would be his demise, so Dick had to learn to work around it. This was the best he could do, given the circumstances.
Dick took a deep breath and mentally steeled himself for whatever could be behind the bedroom door before grabbing the handle - cold, metal, grounding - and twisting it open.
Dick relaxed a bit once he saw Tim on the bed, curled up. He couldn’t tell if the baby bird was hurt or not, but he could see Tim breathing, and that was enough to calm his initial fears.
Dick walked over to the bed, carefully, making sure that his footsteps made noise, but not too much noise.
“Timmy?” He called hesitantly, voice quiet and unsure.
Tim moved suddenly, back firmly against the wall furthest from Dick, backing himself into a corner on the safe house bed.
Dick kept inching further, eyes darting around the room.
His eyes briefly landed on a box full of syringes with antidotes, all bats had at least one box full of each known gas, pollen, whatever antidote, and Dick could just barely make out Tim’s scrawled ‘ Fear Gas ’ paired with a little smiley face Dick had put on there, much to Tim’s amusement.
So..so, he had definitely been fear gassed, but all that told Dick was that Tim was in fight or flight mode, reliving through some of his worst memories. (Probably, anyways.) And that, of course, Tim had already been given the antidote.
Soon enough Dick was close enough to reach a tentative hand out towards Tim. He wouldn’t normally do this, but, fuck , Ivy was there too, and who knew if Tim had been hit with her pollen, and if he had, what pollen it even was .
Dick needed to know, so he could help . Tim could be as mad as he wanted to be later, as long as Dick was able to ensure that Tim was okay, and well on the way to getting better, Dick could take Tim hating him for eternity. So long as he was okay .
Tim lurched backwards, hitting his head against the wall. Dick winced in sympathy, mind briefly noting to check for a concussion later.
Tim shook his head a bit, eyes wild as he shook.
“No! No, don’t,” He swallowed audibly, “Don’t touch me! I don’t,” Tim’s eyes watered and his breath turned even more shallow and goddammit this needed to have been solved yesterday .
“Tim, breath in, please.” Dick’s voice was quiet and desperate sounding, even to his own ears.
Tim didn’t make any moves to show he had heard Dick, besides a sudden intake of breath before he continued where he had left off, voice quieter, and more resigned.
“I don’t wanna hurt, please.” Dick pursed his lips and bit back the tears gathering in his own eyes at the sound of his little brother begging to not hurt. This was about Tim, he had no reason to be crying.
Dick mentally said fuck it and threw his hands towards Tim’s own, grasping them gently but firmly.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Tim’s eyes seemed to meet Dick’s and he took that as a sign to continue with what he was saying, “It’s Dick, okay? Listen to me, focus on my voice, baby bird. I’m not going to hurt you, you’re safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you, not now, not ever, okay?”
Tim furrowed his eyebrows slowly, and when he finally spoke after a long pause, his voice was quiet, pained, and confused.
“Dick..? But you have hurt me.” Tim’s voice cracked a bit, and so did Dick’s heart.
Dick swallowed and moved slowly to sit beside Tim, who tensed and seemed to have to focus on his breathing a bit more before calming down again, which is when Dick took it as his que to talk.
“I know I have, and I regret that more than you’ll know. You didn’t deserve to be hurt by anyone, let alone by me, someone who should’ve protected you. You deserve so much better, Tim. Sorry isn’t enough, and that’s okay, I don’t expect you to forgive me, or trust me. Just..” Dick sighed a bit, “Let me protect you, at least this time, okay?”
Dick full heartedly expected Tim to move out of Dick’s grasp, so it caught him off guard when the younger boy started to cry a bit more before fully slumping forward and into Dick, who easily moved to wrap his arms around his brother.
After a while of them just sitting there, Tim curled up in Dick’s arms, and Dick doing his damned best to shield his brother from the world as he cried, Tim’s phone started ringing from where it had been thrown on the ground.
Tim let out a bit louder of a sob, and Dick rubbed his back, “Do you want me to grab it? Turn it off, or something?”
Tim took in a shuddering breath, leaning against Dick a bit more heavily before shaking his head.
“I think..cuddle pollen and fear toxin. Bad mix.”
Dick furrowed his eyebrows. Yes, that was a horrid mix. Desperately craving touch, feeling freezing cold without it, plus the instinctual fear that everyone around you was actually going to be hurting you, plus reliving your worst nightmares? That was bound to end horribly.
Dick was glad it hadn’t in their case.
Either way, it explained why Tim wouldn’t want Dick to get up to just turn a phone off, and, to be fair, Dick didn’t want to get up either.
Before Dick could bring up the idea of resituating so that they were laying down and, therefore, more comfortable, Tim scooted over to the edge of the bed, one of his hands never leaving Dick’s.
Dick pursed his lips and stood up, “D’ya think you can stand?”
Tim nodded shakily and tried to stand. Dick saw it a moment later, the shaking in Tim’s legs just before they gave out.
Dick caught Tim before he hit the ground, carefully setting them back onto the bed.
“Sorry, Dick.” Tim’s voice was tired and miserable, and that just wouldn’t do, not when Dick was there.
So, keeping a grip on one of Tim’s hands, Dick stretched out across the room, grabbing Tim’s phone and silencing the repeated caller without so much as blinking. (He easily ignored the caller ID labeled as ‘Bruce’, it was time for Dick and Tim to become one with Tim’s safe house bed, not deal with Bruce’s constipated worry.)
A second later and Dick was rearranging him and Tim on the bed so that Tim was wrapped up in the comforter and still cuddling Dick.
(Later, once the cuddle pollen had worn off, Dick would make them hot cocoa, and they’d sit down for a long talk. Until then, though, both brothers were content to lay with each other, Dick quietly talking about how sorry he was, and just how much he loved Tim.
It had always put Tim to sleep in the past, and it seemed to still work, Dick thought fondly, pressing a kiss to Tim’s forehead as he let himself cry silently, a bit in relief, and a bit in despair.)