Holy fuck this is the 200th part to this book. Hell yeah

EDIT: TW MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH/GORE

Tim glanced at Bruce, silently telling him to back the hell off. "You should go with Tim, I'm sure the team will be itching to see you again after so long," Bruce suggested, unconsciously backing away. He could catch up with his ward at a later date. "That cool with you Tim?" Dick asked. He looked down at Tim who was trying to act as natural as possible. "I guess that would be fine," he responded, trying to sound nonchalant. "Don't quit the hero job for acting Timbo," Dick teased. He tussled Tim's hair lovingly being once again being elbowed in the side. They shared a smile and Dick silently sighed in relief in his mind. He wondered if his family were going to pander to him; treat him like a fragile object that needed to be treated with care.

"I think you went a little overboard," Connor commented, staring at the assortment of snacks. There must've been enough on the table to stock a small corner shop. "Considering we have Bart and Garfield in the same room together, I think she should've bought more," Jaime joked. He received two glares from the other side of the room, both belonging to said heroes. "We have our reasons!" He rolled his eyes before snatching a handful of popcorn from a bowl. 

"When's Tim coming?" Cass asked excitedly. They didn't get to spend a lot of time with him since Batman hogged him 24/7. "He texted me a few minutes ago that he might be delayed. Something about a visitor he's not seen in a while," Bart answered. He skimmed through the text when he got it since he was just about to lose a round of Mortal Combat. "I hope they don't keep him too long," M'gann replied, taking out a batch of cupcakes. She sure was better than when she first started. The team would eat most of her stuff out of kindness, especially Wally. Then again, Wally ate most things he could get his hands on.

The cold female voice of the Zetatube called out Tim's arrival. Two seconds later, it called out Dick's arrival. All their eyes widened in surprise and Bart instantly started dashing to the Zetatubes just to make sure he wasn't hearing things. He bumped into Dick, almost knocking him over with the amount of momentum he'd built up. "Where's the fire bud?" Dick asked, wheezing slightly. Bart stared at him. He hadn't seen Dick in so long that he felt like a stranger or a ghost. It was like the hero wasn't even real. Bart backed up a little before laughing nervously. "I thought I was hearing things," he laughed. Dick smiled at him whilst Tim shot the speedster a glare. He hadn't seen Dick in months and there was no way anyone else was going to hog him tonight. "Cass is gonna freak when she sees you two," Bart said.

"Really?" Dick asked, beginning to walk to the common room. "I would've thought Tim would be her main focus."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tim asked, noticing Dick's teasing tone. The older shrugged cryptically. "A lot of ladies want a piece of Tim or so I hear." Tim blushed bright red, causing Bart to burst out laughing. "Dude I didn't know you were a ladies man!" Bart teased.

"I'm not! Dick don't give him ideas," Tim exclaimed. Suddenly he'd really like for Dick to be hanging out with Bruce tonight.

When Dick entered the common room, he instantly gained everyone's attention. M'gann grinned the widest and practically jumped into his arms. "It's so good to see you!" she exclaimed.

"Nice to see you too," he responded, hugging her back. He thanked his lucky stars that she didn't make things awkward. The last time they saw one another he threw a smoke bomb at the floor and exhausted himself. They pulled apart and M'gann gave him a small frown. "You feel way too thin, when was the last time you ate?" M'gann asked.

"Err like a few days maybe?" he answered, unsure of himself. Days merged into one another so he couldn't be too sure. He knew it wasn't a short amount of time but he'd gone longer not eating. "Please tell me you're joking," Tim said, butting in on the conversation. Dick laughed awkwardly. "I forgot," he put simply.

"Why am I not surprised? Go get something to eat before you pass out," M'gann ordered. She gave him a worried look but he chose to ignore it. It wasn't like he was going to wither away right there and then. "Do you even have food at your apartment?" Connor inquired. He didn't like how Dick got when he grieved. The guy would throw his mental and physical health out the window then deny it. Surely one glance at the mirror would make him see how thin he'd gotten. "Probably not, I haven't done anything besides work for a while," Dick admitted through a mouthful of pizza. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until he took one bite. Maybe it had been longer than a few days. "That sounds familiar," Cass responded, giving an accusing glance to Tim. "Hey I'm not that bad," Tim whined. At least he ate, even if someone had to remind him to do so. "You invented the octuple espresso shot coffee," Connor deadpanned.

"After I did the septuple espresso shot I thought that would be the end of it," Dick muttered. "You bested me in mistreating caffeine," he added, shooting him a taunting smirk.

Once he polished off the last of the pizza, Bart dragged him to play video games. Dick forgot how much Bart acted like a younger Wally. He'd plead with Dick to play even though it would end with Dick being the victor. Bart had a similar spark of excitement when he agreed to play. It made his heart clench in remorse. No matter how similar that spark was, it wasn't Wally's spark. Nobody would have that spark. "You doing okay?" Dick asked, picking up the controller. He very much doubted that the younger would answer honestly because what teenager was honest about their feelings? "Yeah, sorta. What about you? I heard you've been ghosting the league," Bart answered. "I'm better than I was a week ago." They played silently for a minute or two, both concentrating on the game rather than making conversation. "Wally used to say you'd cheat, you better not try that with me," Bart joked.

"I didn't cheat! He just sucked," Dick countered with a laugh. He hadn't laughed in a while. It felt good. However, anyone who knew him before Wally died would know his laugh wasn't the same. Something about it was wrong. He knew it. It's happened a few times before.

Tim, meanwhile, was frowning to himself as Cass and Garfield chattered on about some mission she went on. He was staring at his brother. The sudden turn he'd taken from completely avoiding everyone to going to a sleepover with most of the team he used to lead. Did Dick want to be their leader again? What was going on inside his head that Tim didn't know? "Earth to Tim! Are you even listening to us?" Garfield asked in annoyance. "This is supposed to be our bonding time but you're not even bothering." Cass looked equally as aggravated.

"Sorry, I just spaced out," Tim responded. The superheroes sighed collectively, following Tim's eye line to the older hero. "You're worried about him too huh?" he added, noticing their expressions change. "He's not talked to any of us in so long. I don't understand why he gets to walk back into our lives without acknowledging that," Garfield explained. With the number of times Dick promised that he'd always be there for them, he couldn't help but feel betrayed. He knew it wasn't fair since Dick had just lost one of the biggest people in his life but the feeling lingered. "I think we all need to talk this through with him, he'd do the same if it was any of us," Cass suggested. "Cass, he's eighteen, he doesn't want a bunch of kids to give him a pity party."

"Maybe not a bunch of kids, but one kid," she explained. Immediately Tim shook his head.

"I can hardly deal with my own feelings! How am I going to talk things through with him?" he exclaimed. He clamped a hand over his mouth, remembering that the individual he was talking about was in the same room. Luckily, Dick either mustn't have heard him since he promptly high fived Jaime after winning another round. "Why do I have to do it?" he whined.

"Because he's your brother," Garfield answered as though it was obvious. That didn't seem to sway Tim however. "Think about all the times he's been there for you; consider this paying him back," Cass added, trying to convince him. He pondered the decision for a few moments. 

"Fine but I'm leaving it till tonight and you two better not sneak out to listen to us," he warned. They held their hands up in mock surrender. "We wouldn't even think to do that."

Hours went by and M'gann managed to force nearly everyone to get some sleep. She noticed the look Tim was giving her, suggesting he wanted some more time with his fellow Batfamily member and allowed them to stay in the common room. At the time, Dick was finishing a level of some Mario game he dug out whilst Tim checked up on his mentor. "Hey, can we talk?" Tim asked once no one was left in the room. The older nodded with an unsuspecting smile and paused the game. "Sure. What did you wanna talk about?" he answered. He made sure to give Tim his full attention which only made it harder. It meant they had to talk face to face about things and that always made things harder. "Why did you ignore all of us when Wally died?" The smile, along with the colour from Dick's face, disappeared. He coughed nervously. "How about we talk about something else? I bet school's been fun for you. Got a newsletter last week that the science fair was on yesterday. I bet you entered one of your gadgets in," he responded, laughing hollowly. He dodged the question so hard Tim thought he'd get whiplash. "I don't want to talk about that," Tim stated.

"Well I do," Dick replied. His tone almost came across like a pouting toddler. Why was he being so closed off about this? "You're avoiding my question."

"You're avoiding my question." Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how childish the older was being. "I asked first."

"And I asked second. Plus I'm older so I have more authority," Dick countered.

They sat in silence for a minute or two, both unwilling to stand down. "Richard, why did you ignore all of us when Wally died?" Tim asked more firmly. He stared at Dick with fierce determination to get an answer. "I think it's been a long day and we should both get some sleep," Tim groaned with frustration.

"Stop dodging my question."

"I'm not dodging the question, I'm putting a pin in it," Dick argued. He couldn't ignore the glare he got from his younger brother. "I promise we'll have a proper talk about this later but I'm tired and I'm sure you're tired too. Please, can we just leave this?" As Dick couldn't ignore Tim's glare, Tim couldn't ignore Dick's pleading look. What could he say? One of the closest people to him was begging him not to continue an argument. "Fine," Tim said, giving in. He got up and walked to the door, pausing a second to glance at the hero he was leaving alone. "You're not allowed to do those puppy eyes anymore."

Dick fell asleep on the couch soon after Tim left the room. Then, after an hour or so later, his mind took a turn for the worst.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the common room anymore. He was in a cold dark space. There was no one else there but him for a while until there was a scream. Dick whipped around to see the broken and bruised figure of the former Robin. The sight made him want to sob his heart out. "You didn't save me! Why didn't you save me?" Jason screamed. Blood was gushing from his open wounds and there were still parts of his flesh that had been burnt by the flames. "It wasn't like that Jason, I had no idea where you were! I didn't know the Joker would be there!" Dick shouted back, trying to remember what everyone had told him when it happened. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my- "You killed me, Dick. After all I did for you, you repaid me like this?" Wally shouted. Dick turned to see his best friend staring at him in disgust. "N-no it wasn't my fault."

"Really? I wouldn't have been there if you didn't get me back into the business. You pushed what you wanted and I died because of it." Dick shrank under his gaze, unable to maintain eye contact with him. "You're a coward! You killed me! You ruined everything just like you always do!" It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. It was my fault. "I'm sorry. If I could change places with either of you I would!"

"But you can't! You get to grow up and have what we can't!" Jason snapped. Tears welled up in Dick's eyes and trailed down his face. "You're a poor excuse for a hero! I could've been so much better!" It was all my fault. It was all my fault. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to shut out both of them. "Look at us, Dick! Look at the mess you made!" He couldn't do it. Why was breathing so hard? Was he even breathing? "Dick look! Dick!" Their voices were merging into one, both were repeating his name over and over. Space felt like it was spinning around like a washing machine.

"Richard!"

He opened his eyes to find he was back in the common room. Although he was pretty sure he was sleeping on the couch, not the floor. Plus Tim definitely wasn't standing over him when he fell asleep. "Breathe Dick, in and out," Tim told him, helping him sit up. He now realized that his breathing was all sorts of wrong. His chest hurt from having to deal with his panicked breath. "Are you alright? You looked like you were having a panic attack in your sleep," Tim questioned. Dick sat himself back on the couch before answering. Nightmares weren't new to Dick. They happened nearly every night so he knew how to calm down after them. He knew that he needed to resolve the problem that had caused such a vivid nightmare. "I thought it was my fault," he said shakily. Tim gave him a confused look. "What happened to Wally. I thought it was my fault. That's why I ignored everyone." Again he received a confused look. "I-I couldn't stand to hear anyone agree with that, terrified even. I didn't want to risk hearing it." The familiar prickling tears began and he couldn't resist the temptation of crying. He just hoped nobody else could hear it. Well, Connor would but Connor wouldn't risk venturing out of his room to check the sound out.

Silently, Tim gave him a tight hug. It took him by surprise considering how the younger had left him not long before. "I entered the school fair with a friend of mine. We won first prize," Tim mumbled. Dick quickly caught on to what he was trying to do and gladly played along with it. "That's amazing. I remember when Babs and I entered. We had to finish glueing a volcano together in the Batjet." He felt Tim tighten his hug a little before letting out a yawn. "Wow, I didn't know you could get tired anymore," Dick taunted. He heard a small grumble and giggled silently. "I haven't slept in 72 hours, let me have this."

"Well can I at least move so I'm comfortable?" There was a pause.

"Thirty seconds then you're stuck in whatever position you're in."

"Wow, thanks."

Yeet me off a cliff please and thank you

My next book (which will have the Bruce path in it) is here https://www.wattpad.com/646217737-just-robin-oneshots-part-2-bruce%27s-path