It's a Topsy-Turvy World
March:
I'm going to break my neck, Tim thought as he looked at the blue spring mat and gently shook his head. This is ridiculous, he thought but began running anyways.
"This is the easy beginner's tumbling," Bruce had said, though Tim found it hard to believe this could ever be considered easy. The tumble began with a front handspring… which Tim landed and tried to follow with a twisting front flip.
That one he landed on his butt instead.
He bounced a few times and finally stopped with a curse. Shaking his head again, he got to his feet and moved to the opposite end of the mat to try again.
Tim had once seen Dick in the middle of a fight twisting and flipping his way out of danger and wondered how Dick could fly while on the ground.
It was this picture of Robin's maneuvering that kept Tim motivated to work on the floor even with all his failures. It had taken him a good hour to be able to land a front handspring with enough speed to even have the chance at another movement. And now he was working furiously to get the twisting flip added on.
Running again, he completed the handspring and managed to not land on his end side with the twist, but also didn't get it all the way around and softly crumpled to the ground. Thankful he wouldn't have another bruise, Tim stormed his way to the other end of the mat again. He knew that Dick had to have come to this same mat and gone wild with the acrobatics. And here he was, not even able to string two moves together.
"You need to release your frustrations," Bruce said from the sidelines as he walked to the center of the mat. "You aren't Dick and, in truth, never will be." Tim had long ago stopped wondering how Bruce seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. "But gymnastics aren't all about showmanship and flashy moves. They are about getting yourself into the best positions to attack or retreat."
Bruce took a knee in the middle of Tim's running path. "Handspring, full front flip."
Tim didn't have the heart to tell Bruce that he'd only practiced one flip that resulted in him landing very neatly on his face. Instead he took a deep breath and ran. The handspring went well and he barely had a moment to think before he flipped. He felt Bruce's hands on his back help him over and before he knew it, he had landed on his feet.
Tim looked at Bruce with pure amusement on his face. He had felt amazing for that single moment as his body flipped even if Bruce had helped.
"Your body will learn how to do this on its own, but until then it just needs a little help."
For the next hours, Tim tumbled as best he could with Bruce's help and, by the end of it, he felt a little bit of hope rise in him.