A/N: I actually thought all this up in one go, then the little details came in during the writing.
Just my guess at how he ended up where he did.
Note: All actual abuse will be mainly off camera, I believe the reader's imagination works better for this sort of thing, those of you who have hardcore ideas can go ahead and think that's what happened and those of you with sensitive minds will be able to keep them that way.
Tim woke up at seven o'clock on the dot. He'd got into the habit of waking-up early (usually with a start an a panicked look at the clock) to avoid his father. If he woke up any later than seven he'd just have to leave through the window and hope the man wasn't actually looking for him.
He got up quickly, getting dressed in whatever he found lying around (he really needed to ask Mrs Roberts, his next door neighbor, to wash some things for him), and ran his hands through his hair to untangle it.
He then made sure it was covering a certain part of the right side of his face, to hide what he guessed was now an angry looking purple bruise. He'd actually grown his hair out for that sole purpose.
He heard a crashing sound from downstairs and took that to be his cue, his threw a rucksack over his shoulder and headed to the windows and the convenient tree that grew right by it. He threw the bag down then lowered himself onto the branches.
He didn't need to use his hands to balance anymore, having had so much practice at getting out this way. Hell, in one particularly tricky situation he'd just jumped straight out, it was possible, just not that great of a landing considering the amount of metal scraps and junk that was littered around the postage stamp of a 'garden'. I was an embarrassment really, the rest of the neighborhood actually looked quite nice.
He picked up his bag and easily hoped over the fence. He headed to the house next door, knocked three times, paused then knocked another two. He waited for a moment then the slot in the door opened and a hand appeared. He handed a now melted icepack bag over and the slot closed again.
That was Mrs Abbott, she'd suffered from agoraphobia for as long as Tim could remember. she couldn't even open her front door without having a nervous breakdown now, but she was sympathetic. They'd worked out a knocking system, three then two meant he was giving something back, one, then two meant he was in need of an icepack if not other medical supplies, and five all in a row, he hadn't used that one in a while now, meant she should call an ambulance over.
Or at least that's how it was in Tim's mind, he suspected that the fact that they hadn't had glass in their living room windows for over five years might enable her to guess just what he was coming over for but he liked the idea of secret door knocks.
He was halfway down the street when a car, that had been coming up behind him, slowed right down and started driving along side him, the driver was looking at him closely. Tim frowned, and stopped wondering what the hell was going on.
The car stopped, too and cut it's engine. A man in his early twenties got out, well dressed and groomed with dirty blond hair and light eyes.
"Tim?" Asked the man, as he stepped closer. Tim looked a little confused, then it clicked.
"Mike?" He asked, recognizing his older brother by seven years, the man nodded, "They kick you out of med school?"
Mike rolled his eyes, he'd left for college when Tim had been ten, and he could hardly recognize his brother, who would be what? Sixteen now? He smiled, that wasn't to say he wasn't still an obnoxious little brat.
"No...I came to see you," Replied Mike, feeling a little awkward now, they'd never been close but he was headed down this way anyway and something nagged at him to check in, "How are...things?"
Mike had got himself a scholarship in New York, and Tim noticed he'd started speaking like a Yankee. He gave his brother a deadpan look, "Well dad quit drinkin', and being violent and he got a job. We had the kitchen done last week and I'm shittin' fuckin' rainbows. How do you think it's goin'?"
Mike inwardly cringed, looking away, "Hey, maybe I could help?" He'd got his bachelor's degree last year and had managed to get a decent job on top of his scholarship, so he could afford a few expenses.
"Nah, I'm good," Drawled Tim, sounding uninterested.
Tim turned to leave but Mike pulled him back, getting a better look at the bruising on the side of his face.
"Tim, I'm sorry, I never knew...I didn't realize ," Started Mike, he saw a falter in Tim's glare, but it was just a flicker.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure it never even crossed your mind."
Mike was at loss for words, in his defence back then his dad hadn't been anywhere near as bad, it'd just be the odd outburst, and he'd apologize to Tim the next morning and hug him and tell him it would never happen again. The first time Tim believed him, the second as well, hell third and fourth, too. He still really wanted to believe it the fifth and sixth. Then it really sunk in, that life was only going to get worse, especially once his brother had gone.
They stared at each other in silence for a moment, "Well, it was lovely seeing you, but I've got to go now." Said Tim, Mike cringed a little at the obvious sarcasm. He nodded, understanding that he shouldn't have expected things to be any different.
"I'll check back in on my way back up."
"Whatever," Muttered Tim as he continued on down the street.
He met up with his friend Steven in the park.
"What the hell happened to you?" Asked Steve with a grin on his face, he knew full well what had happened, but Tim hated people feeling sorry for him, and Steve had somehow turned this into a laughing matter. He'd ask every time he saw Tim covered in bruises and Tim had to come up with an utterly unlikely excuse.
"Liv Tyler found out I was double timing her with Dina Meyer," Replied Tim, grinning back as his friend whistle, pretending he actually believed it.
"Invite me next time, man,"
They looked around to check no one was around then Steve spoke again, "Alright, you up for the usual?"
"Sure," Replied Tim.
They got a 'job', it wasn't exactly legal, but it wasn't that bad either. They did help some locals run drugs but never had any hand in it either. Their role consisted in 'distracting' law enforcement, while the real supplies were being moved. Whether they pretended to be breaking the law or just taunted officers into chasing them depended on the day.
It was actually a highly entertaining job, having usually overweight, unfit cops chase after you, knowing full well you'd never get caught. Tim's favorite trick was running into a dead end, just to see their faces light up with glee at the thought of finally catching him, only to be disappointed when he either ran up a fire escape they'd never be able to haul themselves up, or easily climbed a 16 foot fence and leaving them cursing on the other side.
He was so good at his job he didn't even have to 'make' them give chase anymore, he was a 'chase on sight' subject now. The pay wasn't too shabby either.
The downside was that he had to make a run for it every time he came across law enforcement, which was sometimes harder than others depending on just how mean his father had been feeling the day before. One time he'd had to dive head first into the river to get away, and that had happened in January, which was a nice time to go swimming.
He had actually tried getting a legitimate job, but there was so many times where he had to call in sick, or couldn't really be allowed to deal with customers because of his bruises that he'd just given up. This was a lot more fun anyhow.
Today he pulled the fence trick again, laughing as he heard the cop calling him a little shit as he ran off down the street. He didn't notice the clean cut man across the street who had watched the scene and walked over the cop.
"Who is that Kid?" He asked the cop, who was trying to get his breath back, at least this Tim he hadn't made an ass of himself by trying to climb the fence after him.
"Timothy fucking Gutterson," Ground out the cop, the man looked surprised.
"If you know his name, why do you waste your time chasing him? You could just pick him up at home."
"I did that, few years ago, kid wasn't home, so I spoke to the father. Next day the kid's in hospital, claiming he 'fell down the stairs' and then 'felt dizzy and must have walked into the window'. I don't wanna have to clean up a murder." Replied the cop, the man frowned, he'd come across cases like these before.
"Yet you don't do anything about it?"
"What can be done? Sure I could call in child services, and he can end up in a foster home if they get him out of there fast enough."
Tim jogged back to the park, grinning as he saw Steve was already there.
"Who'd you get?" He asked Tim.
"Henderson, you?"
"Garcia," Replied Steven, he then let out a low whistle, "School is out!"
Tim turned to follow his gaze and saw Tina Parish walking down the lane along with her best friend Adriana Danieli. Tim rolled his eyes.
"Like you got a chance," He muttered, his friend grinned at him.
"I can dream can't I?" Responded Steven, still eying the two girls, they went to the same school, well when they actually bothered showing up, and were in the same year. Tina, especially, was the typical 'queen bee', nothing much on personality, but always looked as though she'd just stepped out of a magazine cover. As teenage boys, they both appreciated that much.
"Oh, shit," Cursed Tim, catching sight of Henderson hurrying towards them.
"Have fun," Called Steven, as Tim run off.
The two girls saw him as he made it to the bridge which had been built in place of crossing, since the small town was ill-equipped for a main road to be passing through they'd built a bridge over the road, to allow pedestrians to cross without having to worry about traffic. Tim was on one side, Henderson was on the other.
Henderson knew that if he crossed over, Tim would just run away down the street, if Henderson attempted to cross the busy street, Tim would just cross the bridge. He'd had quite enough for one day, with a shrug and a sigh he left.
Tim grinned and casually walked back over to the bench Steven was still hogging.
"You've never actually been caught, have you?" He asked Tim, who grinned and shook his head. Both girls had watched the scene with amusement and flashed him a smile as they went passed. He did his best to look utterly indifferent.
It was eight o'clock by the time Tim arrived in front of his house. He saw the lights were on inside and cursed. He really didn't want to go in, he could always go up the tree and through his window but he was starving and didn't feel like sitting upstairs waiting to creep down for something to eat.
Mrs Roberts popped her head over their common fence and, seeing his dilemma, immediately insisted he came over to her house for dinner.
A/N: Here's the first chapter, hope you enjoyed it! It's not going to be overly long, but they'll be quite a bit more coming.