ugh

Tim sees Grant before he’s noticed himself and he grins. “Doctor Grant!”

There’s a lot of gray in the man’s hair and Tim’s half afraid he won’t be heard. Alan turns, brow creasing in a frown. Tim watches with barely restrained glee as Alan tries to figure out who he is. He forces himself not to give any clues, just shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his heels. He sucks his bottom lip between his teeth and almost caves but Alan’s face shifts.

“Tim?”

Grinning widely, Tim nods and is only a little surprised when he finds himself enveloped in a hug. Alan was never the touchy feely type - and certainly not with children - but Tim has a feeling that he and Lex were special cases.

“Hi,” he says, when they part.

Alan holds him at arms length and looks him over. He’s still as stern and aloof as he was when they were in the park but Tim knows about Billy and that even he had somehow wormed his way into Alan’s affections. Not dying obviously has a way of cementing feelings within an otherwise undetectable emotional shell.”You’ve grown.”

Tim snorts and rubs awkwardly at his elbow. “It’s been a long time.”