Agony
January:
There had been very few times when Tim wanted to cry over something painful, but this was nearly one of those times and it took sheer willpower to remain in check with his emotions and keep at the exercise.
Tim felt his legs begin to shake and resisted the urge to wipe the drop of sweat that was falling in his eye. But if he did that he would lose what little support his arms offered and, truly, he didn't want to know what would happen in that case. Feeling his breathing pick-up, Tim closed his eyes and attempting to calm himself.
He finally felt his body stop shaking when Bruce's voice broke his concentration.
"You need to go lower," Bruce instructed and Tim was only marginally aware that, for once, the older man was not growling out instructions. In fact, the teenager realized, Bruce's voice was closer to Wayne than he had ever heard it before while in the Cave.
Maybe he feels sorry for me, Tim thought while he attempted to do as Bruce ordered. He moved down about another two inches and felt the piercing pain shoot up his leg. He gritted his teeth and thought for a moment about going lower once the pain had subsided. He moved slightly and then completely forewent that plan.
"Lower."
Bruce hadn't forgotten the order, however.
"I. Can't," Tim admitted between his clenched teeth and, for the first time since his training started, admitted a defeat. He heard Bruce move around behind him and felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Your muscles are stretched enough, I've made sure you won't hurt yourself," the pressure on his shoulder suddenly increased and Tim felt, much to his chagrin, his body begin to lower. "Breath and release," Bruce coached and the teenager did as he was told. "Concentrate on something other than your muscles. Relax."
Finally Tim felt himself sitting on the ground, and although it was painful, not nearly as bad as he thought. He wasn't completely certain how he was going to get up, but what mattered was being down.
"Dick has been the only one who did not have to work at flexibility and even he spends an hour before patrol stretching. Everyday you must work at it or you will lose it. Your body must be ready and able to compromise itself at a moment's notice on the street and the only way to be prepared is to cover all your bases. Now, up and we'll move on."
Tim didn't like the idea of having to contort his body to 'cover all bases,' yet in spite of that he slowly, and very ungracefully removed himself from the splits that he had just half put himself into and half been put into. As he stood he felt his hip pleasantly pop itself into its proper place and wondered how long it would be till his body was okay with such unnatural positions and worried it never would.
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