A Very Batty Halloween

Bird with a Broken Wing

Day 4: Hanahaki Disease

More angst. Kind of.
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Tw: implied character death, angst, neglectful parents
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Hanahaki disease was not something new in Gotham. Every 1 in 5 people get sick with it, and 57% of those people died.

Tim just never thought it would happen to him.

How it happened, he had no idea. He wasn't in love with anyone. Couldn't be. He was 12. Who would he possibly be in love with? His crush on Ariana was nothing more than that. A crush. Love? No. He couldn't possibly love her.

So how was this happening? All of those cases of Hanahaki disease had been because of unrequited romantic love.

Tim didn't love anyone, so there was no unrequited love in the first place.

Had the disease gotten confused? Did someone love him and he didn't know about it, and instead of them getting sick, he did?
Was that possible?

No. That goes against everything the scientists said.

So… why was this happening?

Did he do something to cause it? Like a fluke of some sort?

He didn't think so. The last person he'd talked to was his parents a few days ago, when they'd left without saying goodbye and he'd called them and they'd said…

Oh.

They'd said… they'd said that if they wanted him to stay, to love him, he'd have to start working harder. Being a better son.

Could it… could the Hanahaki disease be more than just a romantic disease?

But.

Wouldn't it have been in the scientific reports, or on the news, or something, if it was more than just a romantic disease?

This did not compute. Research must be done.

…

Tim has come to the conclusion that, yes, Hanahaki disease could be platonic, and the government did not want anyone to know about it.

Why? He had no idea. To control people? To cause guilt? To make the disease more extreme then it was?

Tim didn't know the answers to his questions, and he wasn't completely sure he wanted to know either.

And learning that the disease could be platonic and the government wasn't telling anyone didn't hurt the most.

His parents not loving him was far, far worse.

And they'd had 12 years to love him. And they didn't. They certainly wouldn't start now.
This would only make their disdain for him grow.

So, he was going to die.

It was a shock, at first, but now that he's had time to process to, he's accepted it.

Now he needs to get his things together, and do all the things he'd planned to do.

Starting with donating all his money (and his parent's money, because Tim is petty and if he's going down, so are they) and ending at the Wayne's.

…

"Hello?" Tim said into the intercom of the Wayne Manor Gate. "Can I come in, please?"

"How may I help you, young sir?"  a voice with a distinct British accent asked, his voice crackling over the radio.