@scrivend said: ❛ the love i had for you i thought belonged in the past . ❜ / ❛ don’t tell me we don’t belong together ❜
It was the point in time where everything was hazy-- they’ve successfully stopped a potential robbery and two muggings when Stephanie had decided to catch on his cape to keep him from leaving. Her outburst falls like lead in the still silence upon the bank’s rooftop where they stand. Now at twenty years old Tim has done and seen the most unimaginable things than a twenty year old should. He’s fought aliens, evaded assassins and lead a whole team of superheroes before he was even sixteen. But he’s also experienced normal things any other man his age would like loss of family, broken his arm once or three times, found his first love and most recently going through first real heartbreak.
Or so he thought.
Too young to be wallowing in self pity Tim had initially decided after his second week of being holed up doing case research with Barbara after Steph had ended things between them. He resolved to put in the effort to remain civil, even friendly when they had their run ins around town and when he focused hard enough, past the pain, past the loneliness, he could just about remember happier times. Eventually he had stopped thinking about grabbing a second chocolate bar at the convenience store, he stopped taking a picture of the first dog he sees on the street and sending it to her, and eventually the scent of fresh picked bluebells and off brand fabric softener faded from the pillow beside him at night.
He was healing-- and yet...
“You can’t--” His voice is reedy, almost pleading as throat constricts, the hot burn as he tries to swallow down the gulp of air he needs to power through. “You can’t do this, Steph. It’s not fair it’s not-- we needed space, remember?”
For the second time in the past four years but who’s counting?
Calloused palms press against his temples as if he could somehow still the throbbing behind his eyes. “You broke up with me, you said we’d be better off friends and you needed to focus on yourself.” That doesn’t entirely mean they have to stop loving each other or stop him from wanting-- wishing for this. “I... I can’t tell you either of those things... Even if I wanted to they’d be lies.”
At some point the fist she has clenched in his cape tightens enough to where he’s twisted, trapped in place to keep them close. Keep him grounded to the moment. Hesitantly he lowers his hands to rest on her shoulders to regain a little more control of the situation. “... I’ve been in love with you since I was fourteen and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon, Stephanie.”
But God if she only knows how much it hurts to love her sometimes.
