#hard lesson

[sayonaramidnight]

WATER

[anaviel]

Tim was never treated as a replacement, but that doesn't mean Jason never mattered. Doesn't mean Jason never affected the interaction between Tim and Bruce and Dick.

The last conversation Dick had with Jason is the last phone call he made before he boarded the ship to space. It is the third 'next time' that Dick has told him. The last. Another trip postponed for another mission. They were supposed to patrol the week after in Bludhaven, Dick has been psyching himself up for this, consoling himself that this wasn't giving away another part of him to the kid that was adopted. Trying to make a point to -someone. He's silently glad he had an excuse to cancel, silently guilty. There was supposed to be a next time. There was supposed to be more time to make peace and get to know each other.

Tim calls and Dick drops everything. Bruce might've been late, but Dick was never there, so he will be here.

Bruce wanted to keep Jason close in a way he hadn't managed with Dick and he did everything he could think of. But always, always, they find something, someone, better than him. So he lets Tim close, and lets him leave and go whenever he wish to. Lets him choose someone else, anyone else, whoever he wish to. Chokes down any words to make him stay. Because Dick left but he was the one who survived. Because Bruce tried and failed and they will always, inevitably leave, better Bruce let them go before he pulls too hard and they break.

Tim leaves and he lets him, Tim comes back and he lets him, Tim leaves and he doesn't ask nor demand, just wait for when they come and go, watching, but nothing more. Bruce will let them fly away if the alternative is stripping them of their wings.

(Jason is a lesson. But never to Tim.

Don't be rash, don't be reckless, think.

Lie. A thin veneer to hide the vulnerable truth.

Don't show, don't tell, keep close, keep far.

Show, be there, love, love, love, accept.)

[sunglow-xoxo]

I used to be so quick to jump in & help people I felt sorry for, but then I realized some people simply need to learn the hard way. Babying them is only doing them a disservice. While being empathetic is nice & all, boundaries and discernment is necessary for your own well-being. Know when to back off.

[chibinekochan]

Kinky

[zoeflake]

The Burned - Hard Lesson

[beckleboo]

* there isn’t a single person on this planet who is entitled to treat you like shit *

**** REMEMBER THAT****

[gaymergoddess]

[bagog]

Hard Lesson

Hardest lesson I’ve learned in my life: No one assumes you’re the good guy because your girlfriend broke up with you. No one assumes you’re the one in the right just because you’re the one reciting the poem.

You friends are your friends, and they know she didn’t break up with you because you’re a good guy. Just because they think you’re right doesn’t mean they think your life is a poem.