Work Text:
“Happy Birthday”
Tim stares at his phone, it was sent late at night 4AM, he hadn't picked up his phone till now, 6PM the next day.
It wasn't even a DM, instead sitting without response in an old YJ group chat that was last used back when Tim was Robin, the rest had reacted to it, sending hearts, but no one had spoken besides Kon.
Weird, Tim would have sworn that if anyone would try to fix things between them, the last one to try it would have been Kon. After all, he was the one most affected by Tim shitty behavior.
He doesn't respond, it would be odd to respond so late, what would he say? Sorry, I was having way too much fun without you guys and I didn't even check my phone?
Thank you, happy birthday to all of you as well, sorry the last time we spoke was almost two years ago, my bad?
No, not responding is better, they'll forget about him again soon, just a matter of time.
He can avoid is phone for another week and that will be all, he'll pretend nothing is wrong during his trip with Cass and Duke, then come back to work with no issues whatsoever.
And if anyone picks up on his mood that's just anxiety about the upcoming surgery, nothing to see here, he did definitely told his ex friends about his accident, no lies!
Avoiding and not telling aren't lying, he did send an email about it to Bart! (Who never checks his email, unrelated to the issue, absolutely unrelated.)
After all, who would be so prideful to first completely destroy his friendships by being an asshole then never reaching out when he got into an accident just to avoid being forgiven by guild ridden people?
Tim would, Tim did that, and then it was just too late to say anything about it.
He didn't want to be seen as weak now that he couldn't defend himself, couldn't fight anymore.
He preferred to be seen as this absolute idiot for what he did to Kon, he deserved that, he didn't deserve the pity, the gentleness others gave him now, he didn't deserve to be care for.
Tim was still a piece of shit, even if now he was permanently disabled, forced to retiree from the vigilante work, useless in the only thing he felt like he had succeeded in his life.
Same reason why he just didn't tell them his mom had died, or that his friends have all moved away from Gotham leaving him alone, how the only one not family close to him was Pru. Of course, he wasn't going to tell them about losing the thing that made Tim, well… Tim.
He had failed that day, and he continued to fail every day after that one, forcing his family to accommodate for him, to care for him the days he couldn't exist with himself.
He barely tolerated the look in Bruce's eyes when he looked at him, how could he survive his friends doing the same?
No one deserved to be tricked by his pitiful act, not even himself.
So yeah, he didn't respond, he ignored Kon wishing him a happy birthday the same way he ignored others, he went fishing with Cass (more like he watched from far away, and she showed him the fish), Duke then got completely wasted taking advantage of the country legal drinking age being 18 while Tim binge-watched Wendy the werewolf stalker, then they went back to their normal lives.
Nothing had happened, and Tim phone wasn't sitting at the bottom of a lake.
He just was a year older now, another year away from his mom, a new year without a purpose.