DC December

Tim and his Caffeine

Tim has a coffee/caffeine addiction and it's obvious. His brother looks out for him the best he can, and his girlfriend can only do so much.

Tim's POV

Working long nights as a hero means I don't get that much sleep. In order for me to stay awake and to stay focused - whether that focus be school, daily life, or hero business - I tend to drink a lot of caffeine. From energy drinks to coffee.

I know that drinking some energy drinks consistently and enlarged portions is bad, but it's the only way I can stay awake. I'm what my brother calls a workaholic. Once I start something, I have to get it done. It's literally the main reason I'm up so late. Bruce has tried to get me to stop working, and I always tell him I'll be done in just a little bit. That little bit turns into a few hours. It's not my fault I keep finding other connections or more work to do.

Cassie has made a comment before about my little caffeine addiction. She said it's unhealthy for me, and since I'm just a normal human, I should really take better care of myself. I tell her I'm fine and I'm completely healthy. It's just that my sleep schedule is out of whack, and my love for caffeinated drinks is a little more than it should be. I tell her I'm fine and that she shouldn't worry about me. I love her, but she really should worry a little less.

My eldest brother, Dick, told me that I really should get sleep and stop drinking so much coffee in the middle of the night. I can't believe this man has the audacity to say that because I guarantee that when he was in his early years of being a hero he did the exact same thing I'm doing. It's not like I drink that much anyway. It's only six-hundred milligrams of caffeine. My brother has made a comment that four-hundred is the max that is healthy, but that's just a number. It means nothing.

Alfred hasn't said anything, thank goodness. In fact, he's the one that typically brings me the drinks that I ask for. I am surprised that he has yet to say anything.

Today is currently the third day I have gone without sleep and I feel totally fine. Just casually running on these energy powder mixes that I get. I had to go to the cave because we had a training day today and there was no way I was going to miss that. My brother, Artemis, Roy, Will, and practically every hero that doesn't have a power has always told me that because we are the powerless heroes we have to trade twice as hard to be on par with those with powers.

I'm very time-based. I have to make sure I get things done. I have to make sure I'm at certain places at a certain time. I wanted to be early to the training session, so I left 30 minutes before the actual meetup.

The second I went through the Zeta Tube and found myself in the cave, I got tackled and a hug by my girlfriend. "Tim! You're here early."

"Yeah, I didn't want to miss practice."

"I don't think you have ever missed practice unless you were doing something with Batman."

"Haha, true. It's better to be early than late. I don't remember who said it, but someone once told me, or I read this somewhere, but if you are early, you're on time, if you're on time you're late."

"Interesting choice of words. It makes sense I guess. Hey, are you okay? You look a little tired."

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Tim, when was the last time you slept?"

"Uhhhh, rather not answer that."

"Tim!"

"Oh, look, there's Roy."

Rather than answering my girlfriend on my sleep schedule, I decided to head over to Roy, aka Arsenal. Out of everyone here, he would be the most likely person to do a training exercise before the actual training session. Turns out I was correct. Once I brought up the idea, he and I headed to the training deck and started to spar. Today felt different. Either Roy has been doing different exercises and performing different moves or something else was in play. Normally I'm on par with him. Today just felt off. I don't know what it was.

He ended up throwing me off balance a few times during the spar and if I didn't regain my balance so quickly, I probably would have been knocked to the ground a few times. My movement felt slow and that worried me.

I don't know if Roy thought I was being easy on him, which I never am, or if he saw something was wrong because he hesitated for a moment when my balance seemed off. I took that chance and ran at him. He regained his composure and ended up roundhouse kicking me in the chest and everything went black.

When I woke up, I found myself in the medical wing of the cave. I sat up and I noticed that Cassie and Dick were there.

"What happened?" I asked the two people I was close with.

Dick looks at me before looking at Cassie. Instead of my brother telling me what happened, my girlfriend did. "Roy knocked you out. It was before the training session with Black Canary. He said that you were fighting differently and you got taken out a lot easier than it should have been. After you got knocked out, you were asleep for 12 hours. Nightwing here, he told me that the last time you slept was three days ago. You have been running on pure caffeine for those seventy-two hours. Tim, we have told you multiple times that you need to rest and you should really stop drinking caffeinated drinks. Imagine if it wasn't Roy. What if it was...... I don't know.... Sportsmaster? In that moment you got knocked out, he would have killed you. In the past, it wasn't that big of a problem, but now that this has happened, it is a problem we need to address and prevent. Right Nightwing?"

My brother nods his head. "Yeah, it's Now a time where we have to step in. A time where we have to make sure this doesn't happen again. I lost one brother once. I cannot lose you too."

I looked down. They are right. It did get out of hand. I mean, I got beaten by Roy. Of all people I could have gotten knocked out by, it had to be Roy. I guess this has become a bigger problem than I realized. And Cassie made a point that if it had been anyone besides an ally, I would be dead. I let out a sigh and looked up at the two. " Fine. As much as it will take me to stop, I will try and limit my.... Addiction. Okay?"

The two other heroes seem satisfied with my answer. They give me a reassured smile and my brother leaves the medical wing - leave me alone with my girlfriend.

"Tim. You have to promise me this won't happen again. When you passed out, I got really worried about you. I don't want to constantly have to worry about you out in the field. You mean too much to me."

"I promise Cassie. I will try my best. Habits and addictions are hard to stop completely. I'll make sure I tell Alfred about my current conditions that need to be put in play and make sure that even if I ask for coffee at 12:00 at night, he brings me only something like water or milk. I promise."

She smiles and gives me a hug. For Cassie, I'll do anything for her. Even try to break one of my biggest habits I seem to have.

A/N: Okay, this one was a little close to the deadline but I made it. I had almost no time today and was lucky to make this one. I am like Tim when it comes to caffeine, I love it. I drink it like an hour before everyone in my house goes to sleep. Funny thing about caffeine and me is it will affect me differently too. Some caffeinated drinks will make me hyper while others make me calm. I've even had some caffeinated drinks make me sleepy. I have a friend who hates it when I drink caffeine drinks. It's not even that big of a problem, I just get really tired and need something to wake me up. That's all. I hope you guys liked this chapter. See you in the next one.

~Akira

Posted: 12/11/2021