Re: quicklog: Steph &Tim
When Stephanie first opened her door, Tim stood there immobile. Like all of the bat brothers, Tim had every ability to be flush the sort of jerky arrogance that a crime fighting teenager deserved, but he'd never quite mastered the stone wall confidence of his brothers unless he was actively solving a mystery and therefore being the best out of all of them. But standing in a doorway did not bring to mind any of the good old days and Tim was beginning to realize that he hadn't felt anything that remotely resembled 'the good old days' since they'd actually been good. That was more than a decade ago. He wasn't a Boy Wonder anymore. He wasn't a hero. He was just a guy like so many other guys in the city. He had a job that he could be proud of, but he also had a cemetery full of names that he missed more than he enjoyed opening his eyes on the morning that he actually managed half a night's sleep. He'd seen a shrink once, on Bruce's ironic and hypocritical insistence. This had been way back in the day, when Bruce was still around and Tim was still willing to listen. The doctor had said something about Survivor's Guilt. Tim didn't like the idea of something that sounded so official it could have been a diagnosis, but he'd never resonated so strongly with another phrase in his life. He was a survivor, and he was guilty to the point of being sentenced to life for it. When you'd already lost everything, there was no point in crawling out the other side. No point in walking through the doorway of your first love.
Tim wasn't thinking about love. He wasn't even thinking about Taco Bell fries anymore, his stomach felt strangely twisted up while he stood there looking at Steph with her puffy eyes. Dang it, she'd been crying. He'd anticipated this, but knowing it was different and Tim's heart sped up a little bit because he was the worst, the absolute worst at reassuring somebody that everything was going to be okay. He never actually believed that bullshit himself. So making that kind of lie sound convincing? Total waste of time.
"Uh.." He stepped into her apartment, mindfully stepping out of his sneakers near her front door as he did so. Did he want anything? "You got like.. A Red Bull or?" Tim obviously didn't need the energy at this point. He was literally bouncing on his socked heels, but drinking those things was just a day long habit at this point. It's not like he planned on sleeping any time or any day soon. The sight of the animals tracking Steph's heels actually gave Tim pause near the door, although he ensured that it was edged closed with his elbow. They were additions that he hadn't envisioned… and being surprised, while often unwelcome in his field of employment, was something pleasant in this moment. It distracted him from planning his next move.
In the end, his next move was just to kneel and to let the dog sniff at the back of his hand.