Here’s a continuation of my convo with @ryanssance about dreams. If you want to read the first part you can find it here.
Okay the reason I think Tim won’t be able to dream is because of his insomnia.
Night after night of staying awake to finish cases, training, homework, or patrol, his sleeping patterns were bound to change.
Even on good days where he can sleep early, it does little to help his sleep cycle and dream stage.
He’s tossing and turning all night, body now used to sleeping throughout the day and staying awake all night.
He’s nocturnal like an owl which probably started his affinity for coffee or any form of caffeine to be honest.
Perhaps he isn’t able to dream because he never reaches REM or “deep-sleep”, or maybe he does but he absolutely cannot recall any part of it because his body is too focused on trying to fix him up in other ways.
But what if he can’t dream because he doesn’t want to?
For the same reason as to why he probably drinks coffee when he knows he can sleep.
For the way he drives himself to the ground so he can’t go into a deep sleep.
Maybe when he dreams, he has good dreams like Jason! But that’s the point. He just doesn’t want to. He can’t. The pain for him to wake up and realize that his family, his friends, and Conner are all gone.
That the ones that are here just doesn’t measure up to the people that he lost. To be happy and free of all his pain that he feels every damn day.
In a way it makes him feel guilty because he knows that the more he dreams, the more he won’t want to come back and face his true reality. It’s the idea of being distant and growing accustomed to something you know you cannot have in reality—think Inception, the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page.
With the amount of power and money that he has, he can easily buy his way to dream forever. To drug himself to the land of no return just to buy himself the very happiness he oh-so-desperately wants.
He wants to dream but he just can’t. He won’t. Not for just his sake but for the sake of his family, friends, and he’ll even do it for the sake of Gotham.
In turn, Tim copes with his nightmares by using a creative outlet like photography.
If he really can’t sleep, he’ll sneak out of the manor with a mug filled with coffee and his camera bag.
He loves going on long drives without a real destination in mind, but he doesn’t care.
Tim’s cruising around listening to his favorite music while finding a good spot to take pictures.
If he’s driving around Gotham, he’ll pick up Jason. Jason knows every hidden corner in Gotham that even someone like Tim who had lived in Gotham his whole life would never know about (plus we all want some more bonding moments)
Tim has a sharp eye when it comes to photography. He can tell a whole story from one single photo; bringing out the smallest of details in the most common area of Gotham.
He loves the challenge of taking a “good” photo. He’s able to express his creativity by manipulating the lighting, perspective, and composition of the subject at hand.
Trying new techniques while using different types of cameras, lenses, or film stocks just keeps his mind occupied and away from the darker rooms.
He’ll even take pictures of Jason. Although Jason is very into his bad boy looks, he is secretly insecure about his appearance; normally objecting to having his photo taken, but when Tim asked if he could take a picture of him—face puffy from crying during the car ride over—he can’t help but say yes. With a slight smile, Tim would take pictures of Jason in various poses and angles.
Despite wanting to cringe at every imperfection he could point out about himself, Jason could see the talent in Tim’s work, the angle and the lighting masking just about everything Jason would usually dislike.
Jason and Tim might not get along that well, but they would always be there for each other. They would have deep talks about what their dreams mean and comfort each other when talking about their nightmares.
If Jason is on patrol or asleep for once, Tim will immediately run to Alfred.
He feels embarrassed for bothering Alfred, but no one else can give him comfort like the way Pennyworth can.
Alfred is perfect, he knows exactly how to comfort Tim based on his feelings.
If Tim comes into his room crying and panting, he will hug him and rock him slightly until Tim can breathe and settle down.
If Tim comes in with a dead set of eyes, he will take him to the kitchen and make him some tea and cookies after offering the boy a huge glass of water.
If Tim comes in looking scared and has sweat stains on his shirt, he’ll take him on a walk along the manor grounds while humming a tune.
Alfred never pushes him to talk unless he’s ready. When Tim is ready to talk, he listens and reassures him that no matter what happened in his dreams or nightmares, they are not a reflection of his faults or doings.
