Head Held High
A Word: Request for Tim comforting Cullen and maybe beating up the bullies. Only way I could figure to do this is make it a bit of an AU, where Tim isn't a well known Wayne heir. Still Red Robin, just without the added pressure of being a publicly knows figure. Hence his presence in school, because he needs that diploma dammit!
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Cullen's not looking forward to stepping away from his sister at school. The bruises on his body scream with each shift, and he can feel the stares aimed at his brand new haircut. It's bearable with Harper beside him, her arm brushing his as they walk down the hallway. Both of their shorn heads held up and proud, but Cullen knows it's going to be harder to keep that confidence up when he's alone.
"See you on the other side," Harper says with a smile that makes her now hacked hair look beautiful.
Cullen holds that image close as he turns and heads into his first class, ignoring the continued stares and the whispers he can now hear starting up as he takes his seat. People filter in slowly, and the teacher is too absorbed in a pile of papers to pay anyone any attention. Cullen slumps in his seat and makes himself stare off into nothing like he usually does.
The flaw to this plan doesn't occur to Cullen until Timothy Drake is leaning over the space between their desks and giving him a concerned look. "What happened?"
Crap. Cullen cringes internally at his own stupidity for forgetting the fact that first period puts him in very close proximity to the distractingly cute transfer student who has singlehandedly done more damage to Cullen's history grade than all the quizzes demanding he remember dead presidents and date have. "Nothing."
The denial is immediate and reflexive, and totally isn't being bought at all going by the way Tim's eyes narrow. "That looks like a whole lot of nothing to me. Very painful nothing in fact."
"I'm fine," Cullen winces and reminds himself to lift his head up and not collapse into himself like he wants to. Other eyes are still on him, ears perked up no doubt to try and get the details without having to bother trying to fake concern themselves. "People are idiots, nothing new there."
Tim's eyes go flinty in a way that makes Cullen simultaneously want to shrink away and throw himself over the other teens desk and ask to be ravished or something appropriately pornish. The bell rings just as Tim's opening his mouth and Cullen eagerly turns to the teacher who wastes zero time launching into a lecture on treaties.
Yay.
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It gets harder to hold his head up as the day goes by, just like he predicted. Rumors are flying and some of them are even close to the truth. Cullen's gotten the whole range of reactions by lunch. From hostile sneers to pitying pats on the back, all of them are starting to grate on his nerves as one of the lunch ladies makes a tsking noise when he walks away with his terrible school food to meet Harper. She's got a table and the glare on her face is doing a really good job of making sure it stays empty.
"Hey sis," Cullen sigs as he pulls out a seat and takes comfort in her proximity. It's the last time he'll see her all day until school is over. He's already an expert at ignoring the looks they're both getting, but it's the whispers he can still hear that are getting harder to stand.
"Hey bro," Harper's glare softens as she deliberately turns her back on the rest of the lunch room. The saving grace to lunch is that the chatter of hundreds of students is too loud for him to make out any specific words out, drowns everyone but Harper out. "Was it them?"
Cullen doesn't look. He doesn't need to, because she's right. The boys at the table are loud and crude and laughing. Making no secret of who their comments are directed at.
"Leave it," Cullen mutters into his barely warm meat-like patty, because if he doesn't say something his sister is going to get up and start something that she simply can't finish on her own. They're larger than both of them, and there's too many for just the two of them to take on. Cullen's very painfully aware of that fact. "It's not worth it, better to just keep doing what we're doing. Right?"
Harper is dangerously silent, her eyes hard in a way that reminds him too much of their Dad. "Harper, please," Cullen pleads, reaching out to touch her arm and feeling how tense and hard her arm muscles are. "Drop it."
"Fine," Harper's voice is as hard as her eyes when she reluctantly turns back to her tray. Something to her face letting him know he's going to be hearing about it again later that night. "So, you actually pay any attention in history today or were you too busy writing Mr. Cullen Drake on your notebook again?"
"Harper!" Cullen groans as his sister goes right for her favorite topic to tease him on. Thankful she's standing down for the moment, and mortified because Tim Drake has a habit of appearing at the worst time possible and overhearing things he really shouldn't.
It's an average lunch, and is the most normal part of his day yet.
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Harper gets held up after school. A natural consequence of her having shop class last period. She gets far too invested in her projects and the time gets away from her. Cullen's used to it, and he wanders the school as he waits for her. Keeping first to crowded hallways as students leave, and then cautiously making sure the hallways are empty before heading down them. Making sure the wrong people aren't lurking around and doing his best to stay away from them while he's alone.
Cullen's just about to head to the wing the shop class is in when he turns a corner and nearly runs into someone. Cullen makes a rather embarrassing noise and his heart jumps as he springs back. Body tense and ready to run.
"Sorry!" It's Tim Drake, hands up and a tiny smile on his face. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"No, that's fine," Cullen stammers a bit and shifts on his feet. He looks down the hallway and confirms it's empty too. He's never seen Tim this late after classes are out. Usually, he's among the first wave to leave. Not that Cullen's creepily stalked him or anything. He's just noticed. "Uh, I really should've watched out too."
"Then we're both at fault, no harm done," Tim lowers his hands and shifts the bag on his back.
Cullen's eyes catch on the knuckles of his right hand. They're red and a little scraped looking. "You alright?"
Tim follows his gaze and holds his hand up to look at it. He looks curious and vaguely surprised, like he didn't even feel the fact that he's missing a few layers of skin off his knuckles. "Huh, didn't even feel that," Tim shakes his head and turns that amazingly bright smile that never fails to make Cullen want to melt on him. "I'm fine though. Can't even call this 'nothing' though."
Tim's voice is wry as he flicks his fingers toward Cullen's bruises. "Oh, well-"
"Cullen!" Harper's voice rings out in the hall making him jump again. Tim just turns a little as his sister runs up the hall. Her bag in one hand and jacket in the other fluttering. Her eyes are wild but seem to calm down a little when she comes to a stop next to him. Checking him out and making sure he's unharmed, before she gives Tim a suspicious side glance. "Thank fuck."
"What? What's going on?" Harper's attitude is not normal and spooks him a bit.
"Nothing," Harper grabs his arm and starts pulling him away even as Cullen protests. "Look, lets just get out of here."
"Harper! I-" Cullen looks back at Tim who is still smiling and not at all confused or upset looking at all.
"I'll see you tomorrow in class, Cullen," Tim says with a wave before they're out of sight, and Cullen is not too proud to admit he gets distracted by the fact that Tim knows his name for a good few minutes.
"Who was that?" Harper snaps the question out when they get out the doors of the school.
"Tim Drake," Cullen admits, stupidly, because Harper's suspicious look starts to slide into something gleeful and evil. "What was that all about anyway?"
The evil look dies and suspicion comes back fast. Harper doesn't say anything as she looks around them, casing out the streets they're walking down before being satisfied with what she sees. "Those douchebags got the living shit beat out of them."
"What?"
"In the parking lot, someone found them there after everyone left," Harper takes them down a shortcut alley. Speeding her steps up. "No one saw anything and they're not talking. Rodgers was trying to get something out of them when I left. They're probably locking the school down now to see if anyone there knows anything."
Cullen blinks and says nothing. His mind eerily blank with the news. He doesn't really feel anything at first, sure, he'll celebrate it later because Cullen's really not a very nice guy, but in that moment he doesn't feel much of anything. Free of feeling and thought, his mind wanders back to Tim. Tim and the very fresh scrapes on his knuckles.
"Oh," Cullen starts to feel something then, a faint blush of warmth that really can't be that good but that he doesn't bother to stop. He's grinning, maybe stupidly, but can't bring himself to care all that much as he follows Harper home. "Good."
Harper is silent for a while, but the tension in her shoulders relaxes slightly as she agrees, "Yeah, fuckers had it coming. Just sorry we couldn't watch."
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"Thanks," Cullen says the next day in class. The stares are still there and the whispers louder, but they don't bother him as much now.
Tim doesn't look up from filling in the lines on the assignment paper that's due as soon as the bell rings. "For what?"
"For nothing," Cullen says, not buying the way Tim keeps his face perfectly schooled and innocent, Not with the slight bruising that's appeared around the scrapped up knuckles that look like they've been carefully cleaned and tended to.
"Hm," Tim looks up then and there's a bit of laughter in his eyes. "Well, can't have that. How about you thank me for something, like dinner?"
"Dinner," Cullen repeats feeling the back of his neck starting to burn as his mind tries to put meaning to that question.
"Dinner, tonight," Tim turns back to his homework, but his lips twitch tellingly. "For a date."
"Oh," and the blush spreads up to his cheeks as Cullen slumps down into his seat with a grin. "Sure, I can do that."
The bell rings and students shuffle as the teacher demands the homework before launching into another lecture that Cullen as zero chances of remembering. He'll be lucky to remember any of the day actually. Not with dinner with Tim lurking so close in his future.
Cullen has no problems keeping his head up that day.
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