Caffeine Withdrawal | T. Drake ✔

[12] Additional Punishment

Tim was supposed to be resting in his room but still he had his laptop switched open and was going through the details of the recent Penguin case he had been working on. But he was shaken violently when the door to his room flew open and Steph waltzed in.

A tired sigh escaped him but he put on a tight lipped smile on his face, "ah Stephanie, just the person I wanted to see at the moment."

"Aww, you are so predictable when you lie," her eyes were darting around the room taking in the messy outlook with amusement, "also good to know that at least someone is messier than me. I should bring Barbara over to your room so that she can stop giving me lectures on cleaning up."

He tore his eyes away from the laptop screen, gazing at her briefly, "good, go and fetch her then so that there will be one more person to bother me."

"Oh no it can wait," she cleared some space on the couch beside the bed and sat down despite the uninviting glare he was giving her, "by the way, how's your injury?"

"What injury?" he shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm perfectly fine."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically, "really? Shall I check for myself? Poke you in the stomach perhaps with your bo staff?"

His eyes widened in alarm and he switched into a defensive position, hugging the pillow close to himself as a shield, "don't you dare come any closer."

"Dora was afraid she had broken your rib with a floor mop," she remarked, her green eyes glittering in mischief, "and I was cursing fate for not letting me see the epic moment. I would have totally filmed it and played it on Thanksgiving dinner as a monologue of things I'm grateful for."

Tim chose not to give any answer and reverted his attention to the laptop, "I'm busy, get out."

"Oh no, you can't get rid of me that easily."

His brow furrowed, "don't underestimate me. There are about fifteen different ways I can get rid of you in at the moment but I am unfortunately being polite."

"How considerate of you. Try any of those fifteen ways and I bet you will be disappointed."

He sighed, "Steph... What wrong have I ever done to be stuck with you right now?"

"You broke into my friend's kitchen, I guess that is enough wrong for me to turn up as a punishment."

"I hadn't broken in, I'm a law abiding citizen and I had both the keys and the permission from Alexander to come in," his blue eyes flashed in annoyance, "besides I thought getting hit in the stomach with a fucking floor mop was punishment enough."

Steph couldn't control the laughter that poured forth from her, "and the cherry on top was that you already had damaged ribs. If not for Selina you would have had to sustain more damage."

"Oh so I take it Dora told you everything?"

"Every single thing," she nodded, a mischievous smile playing upon her lips.

A small frown flickered on his face, "then she must have also told you about how awful I was to her."

Steph's eyes narrowed into a thoughtful expression, "nothing new here, you are a naturally awful person."

"Thanks for not even trying to make me feel better about it," he mumbled.

She shrugged, "though I have noticed something very strange about you two. She was feeling terrible for hitting you and now you are feeling bad about being rude to her."

His ears perked up, "what did you just say? She felt terrible about hitting me?"

"Only because you were already injured," she replied offhandedly, "if that hadn't been the case she would have gone for a few more blows. So don't get your hopes up of earning her sympathy. But that's what I think, I can't say on her behalf."