Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[39] Tainting Words

Tim found out that Dean was doing an internship in Gotham City Museum. So he decided to show up when the boy's shift would end as his informant had told him basically everything he needed to know about him.

So he showed up at the museum on time, not wanting to give Dean any chance to escape the confrontation.

He had been thinking all night about how to deal with the situation. Stephanie had gotten hurt due to him and I made Tim angry but he knew he had to keep a clear head. He knew he got unhinged when feeding off of his anger and he didn't want things to spiral to that point.

He could have avoided the meeting like Steph had asked him to but for some reason, he wanted to put Dean in his place. Steph was in a mess due to something both of them partook in so why should she be the only one to suffer?

He had no right to put all the blame on her and escape from the responsibility.

There weren't many people around when he reached and he caught sight of Dean pretty quickly as the boy was about to leave.

"Timothy," he paused and grimaced, seeing him at the door, "didn't expect to see you today."

"Can't say the same for myself," he remarked, fully aware that his blue eyes had turned colder than ice, "we need to talk."

"Do we really?" He cocked an eyebrow, trying to avoid him, "I'll miss the bus if I stay any longer..."

"I don't care," his eyes flashed in a warning, "you could either come with me someplace quiet and get this done with or I have no issue in creating a scene right here. Your call."

Dean couldn't let Tim talk right then and there as he worked at the museum and couldn't afford to get insulted. So he had to give in, "not here."

"Good choice."

Tim led the way and Dean reluctantly followed until they reached an alley. It was quiet all around and the fact that no light seeped through the dense buildings all around made them hard to be seen from outside either.

"What the hell, Timothy? You couldn't have chosen any other place..."

"I did, you preferred to go somewhere quieter," he looked like he honestly didn't give a shit about what Dean had to think at that moment.

"Alright, just get it over with then. If you're here to talk about Stephanie then save it. I have nothing to say."

But he deadpanned seeing the cold stare Tim had fixed on him. He hadn't thought about it earlier but that fragile boy who he could knock out with a punch easily looked quite scarier than he last remembered.

"I'm not going to give you a lecture on your relationship or whatever you've had with Stephanie but you can't leave her to suffer on her own," he spoke up at last and it seemed as if it was taking him a lot of willpower not to lash out at Dean, "you're both adults, you're free to do whatever you want. But at least take responsibility when you fuck up."

"You can't blame me for this when I didn't even do anything! This relationship, it was never serious and Steph knows that. Then why the hell is she burdening me with something I clearly didn't sign up for?" He was pacing and frantic, avoiding Tim's cold gaze, "I'm nineteen for fuck's sake and I don't want a child!"

"Well then maybe you should have considered all the possibilities before taking a step like that," Tim reasoned, "I am not saying you wanted things to turn out this way or you did it to her on purpose. But you should be there for her at least. If you're nineteen and are worried about the effects it can have on your future, she's going through the same thing. The only difference is it affects her on a much more physical level than it would affect you. She's freaking out on how she's going to deal with this and you're avoiding her too. It would have been slightly easier for her if you were there for her. Instead you chose to run away and gaslight her about it."

"No... I can't do this... Not right now, not ever," however, Dean seemed stuck on his own decision, "I didn't sign up for this."

The repetition of that sentence fired him up, "what do you mean you didn't sign up for this? She was your girlfriend and you had a relationship with her. It was not a contract for you to back off saying you didn't agree to the terms!"

He realized his tone was louder than usual so Tim took in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as he attempted to calm himself down.

"Things happen, Dean, people make mistakes. But avoiding them and running away from them has never solved the issue, has it?"

"Who are you to say this, huh? Why should I put up with this when I don't even know for certain that I'm responsible for getting her pregnant?" He demanded, his voice turning bitter, "she could be lying... Just because I was dating her doesn't mean I'll shoulder her messes too... It could be anyone's and she's pinning it on me just because we were together at that time."

Tim paused, seeing red all around him. He couldn't let himself spiral, he repeated in his head, but he also couldn't hear him slander Steph like that.

"For all I know, you could be responsible for it. She's always talking about you, Tim this, Tim that. It is so fucking annoying... And now you're here defending her like her knight in shining armor... What guarantee is there that she wasn't already cheating on me with you this entire time? You two had so many opportunities too, living under the same roof and whatnot..."

The rest of the words drowned into incoherence because Tim was no longer listening to him. True, he liked Stephanie but they were best friends and he knew their bond was platonic. To hear an outsider accuse them like that without knowing anything about them felt highly unfair and demeaning.

It felt like a stain tainting their pure bond of friendship with a murky darkness and he couldn't bear it. His head was ringing with Dean's voice and his fist had clenched tightly.

"You better watch what you're saying, asshole," he remarked in a slightly shaky voice.

"You brought me here to talk. We're talking now, deal with it."

"Deal with it... Sure, I guess I'll have to deal with it the way I should have back at the museum. Some people need a fist in their face rather than a chance to explain things like a decent human being," he muttered darkly and his clenched fist landed right on his nose in a knockout punch, "you're full of shit, Dean. I know now why I didn't like you at all."

His hand hurt with the impact as he had used a lot more force than he normally would have. Dean hadn't been expecting that either as he stumbled from the force of the punch, colliding with the dumpster behind him.

He had definitely not expected a punch from someone so frail like Tim to actually hurt. But when he straightened to retaliate, Tim wasn't there in the alley and the sound of receding footsteps could be heard in the distance.

"Who's running away now, coward? Come back here, you hear me!"

Tim kept his head down and avoided Dean's voice challenging him to come back. He kept walking straight ahead knowing that if he turned, he would end up doing something he clearly couldn't afford to.

He hadn't left because he thought Dean would punch him back and start a fight. He left because he could no longer keep a straight head as the anger was starting to cloud it all up.

He left because he didn't want to end up murdering the boy who not only broke Steph's heart but also thought so low of her and her character.

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