Look, Bats and I haven't always seen eye to eye but I like to think I know the guy a little, if only because we have one major thing in common. And it's caring about you.
[He does have faith that even when Bats handles things badly, even if there are maybe things he should've done differently, he does care about Tim.]
Nobody - and I mean, nobody, not even Bats - thinks you're gonna walk away from this and start randomly shooting drug lords. Nobody.
And you know I've seen the worst of us, Tim. That future we needed to stop. But the Titans chose to stay together and kept choosing to be something else.
[He knows that kind of thing is probably weighing on Tim, worries about who he could be. Worry others might assume he's going down that path.]
It's a choice.
There's a difference between benching you because people think you're gonna make some bad choices, and wanting you to cool it a little so you have space and time to cope. You deserve that space and time.
You didn't fail and this isn't punishment. This isn't anyone thinking you're going to lose it. We just want you to have a space to, like, be, without feeling like you have to hold it together for everyone.
[He takes his hand gently in his own, hoping Tim lets him.]
Because we can see you doing it. The holding it together. And we just want you to know can stop now, if you need to for a little while. Because you never give yourself permission to do that.
[He reaches his free hand up towards his cheek, to brush his fingers there. If Tim lets him do it.]
[He isn't thinking about it consciously. He just wants...wants to be close. To touch, to comfort, to try to pass on how much he cares through his fingertips because it feels like words aren't enough.]
no subject
[He does have faith that even when Bats handles things badly, even if there are maybe things he should've done differently, he does care about Tim.]
Nobody - and I mean, nobody, not even Bats - thinks you're gonna walk away from this and start randomly shooting drug lords. Nobody.
And you know I've seen the worst of us, Tim. That future we needed to stop. But the Titans chose to stay together and kept choosing to be something else.
[He knows that kind of thing is probably weighing on Tim, worries about who he could be. Worry others might assume he's going down that path.]
It's a choice.
There's a difference between benching you because people think you're gonna make some bad choices, and wanting you to cool it a little so you have space and time to cope. You deserve that space and time.
You didn't fail and this isn't punishment. This isn't anyone thinking you're going to lose it. We just want you to have a space to, like, be, without feeling like you have to hold it together for everyone.
[He takes his hand gently in his own, hoping Tim lets him.]
Because we can see you doing it. The holding it together. And we just want you to know can stop now, if you need to for a little while. Because you never give yourself permission to do that.
[He reaches his free hand up towards his cheek, to brush his fingers there. If Tim lets him do it.]
[He isn't thinking about it consciously. He just wants...wants to be close. To touch, to comfort, to try to pass on how much he cares through his fingertips because it feels like words aren't enough.]