Harper Isabel Todd

Chapter 25

Wayne Tower, September 27th

Bruce finally managed to get Tim alone. It wasn't ideal but Tim didn't leave him much of a choice. After the incident with fear toxin in July, Tim was avoiding Bruce even more so than after the confrontation. Bruce made a terrible mistake when he marched to war on Jason that night and he was living with the consequences. He had believed, they all had, for months that Jason was probably dead, until Diana finally confirmed Jason's living status on August 16th. Bruce was relieved that his son was alive, but the weight of the guilt and shame of what he had done didn't ease up. He had hurt his son to the point of stopping his heart, which resulted in everyone who's ever donned the bat-symbol to turn their backs on him. He deserved it. He deserved all of it. He had hoped that the truth of Jason's living status would change some things in his life, he was hoping Tim would stop looking at him, when he did look at him, like he looked at the j..

"Tim," Bruce closed the door after the last board member and stopped Tim from leaving, "please."

"What do you want?" Tim asked uninterested and unimpressed.

"I want to talk about what happened in Robinson Park," Bruce watched Tim throw his files on the conference table and cross his arms around his chest, "and you've been avoiding me for months."

"Given everything that happened, I think I'm allowed to," Tim cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.

"I know you see me as your enemy-"

"I used to worship you," Tim cuts off whatever speech Bruce has prepared, "you know? First it was Batman and Robin, but then it was you, Bruce. In my book, you could do no wrong. When I lost you, I lost everything, I nearly lost my mind, I lost my spl- I lost everything. My world crumbled when you 'died'. It kept going downhill, my best friends had seemingly died too, Dick took Robin from me, Damian was at my throat and Jason had already tried to kill me a couple of times."

"I know."

"No, you don't, you were everything," Tim shook his head, "and you were good. Sure people disagree, sure people fight, but when that happens they remain true to themselves to a certain extent. See, at first I thought that it was because Selina left you, not that it's a valid reason, but at least it's not just out of nowhere, it was somewhat a reason. But, Ethiopia? The things you said to him? That's just pure hatred-"

"That's not fair-"

"No, I know, it was for Damian, you were grieving. I GET IT! I think I'm the only one who does. I'm the one who had to snap you out of it the first time, or have you forgotten?" Tim snapped at him, "it was wrong, it was hurtful, it wasn't fair. No, no, you took him there merely weeks after the Joker face thing. Grief makes you do unthinkable things, but I know for a fact that you never even apologized for what you've done and said. Jesus Bruce, did you hear what you told him? So yes, I used to worship you. I used to believe you could do no wrong. I let this blind me for too long, so yes, my worst fear is you killing one of us, specifically Jason, because even though he might be alive, you did it. You killed him and I didn't do anything to stop you. I hate you for it and I hate that I don't really hate you."

Bruce walked up to Tim but kept some distance between them. Tim never expressed his feelings openly, he was the most like Bruce when it came to it, so hearing him pouring his heart out this way was somewhere between unsettling and terrifyingly pure.

"I've always known you were capable of many things," Tim's breath hitched a bit, he tried to control his emotions, but he'd been repressing everything for too long, "but this was not one of them. You did it once, who's to say you won't do it again? You were everything and then you were this, this, this thing I can't even describe because it's not you! You don't have the right to become that person. You don't have the right to destroy who you were because you were angry! You don't have the right to mistreat your son, who's been through so much more than any of us will ever understand," he wiped his tears with his hand, "do you know how many times he nearly died to save me? All to make up for when he was pit crazy? Do you have any idea how many times I caught him following me during patrol when I'm in the city just to have my back? Do you know how many times he's apologized to me? I saw you when you lost him. He was my hero, he was my Robin but he was your son and I saw you when he died. I just can't wrap my head around it, even after all these months, I just can't process anything. All that's in my mind is; Batman killed his son. I can't, I just can't stop thinking about it. I can barely look at you for too long, because if I do, then it becomes real, that's it, no going back."