#for Tim's 'i am constantly braced for the ppl i care about to lose interest in me w/o warning' Thing

[silverwhittlingknife]

Top 10 moments of Tim being insecure

(I was reading this lovely post and felt like making it way longer.)

So something I find interesting about Tim Drake, Veteran Boarding School Kid, is that he's pretty good at making superficial friendships...but he's also way too quick to assume all his friendships are shallow and temporary and will disappear if he, like, mildly annoys someone or falls out-of-touch for a bit. Even with friends he's had for a really long time and cares about a lot!

This is sad for Tim, but delightful for me, because I enjoy characters being unhappy, and I especially enjoy characters being resigned that no one cares about them... only to discover that actually people do care. Please enjoy my ten favorite panels of Tim being insecure and/or oblivious. <3

1. Tim figures that everybody at Gotham Heights will forget about him once he changes schools and that their promises to keep in touch don't mean anything (Robin 74):

"They'll move on without me. I'll become a stranger. We all know that."

2. Tim worries that Bruce won't want him as Robin if he goes back to boarding school (in the same issue):

"Hey... you wouldn't... fire me, would you?"

3. Tim worries that Young Justice doesn't want him back on the team (Young Justice 46)

A few issues earlier, Tim quit the team briefly, upset that his friends didn't trust him (they suspected him - wrongly - of conspiring with Batman to create secret files on them). Here, he wants to rejoin. But when they scowl at him, he hastily backtracks:

Tim: Well...okay...I mean, if that's how you feel, I can respect th--Conner: Oh, don't be a jerk! Of course we want you on board!

4. Tim's "if I quit Robin, Bruce and Dick will never talk to me again" monologue (Robin 120):

"If I quit Robin, Bruce won't be in my life anymore. At all. I'll probably never see him again. Never hear of Batman at all. None of them will be in my life anymore, not even out of their costumes. They won't be able to. Even Dick..."

5. Tim worries that Dick doesn't want him in Blüdhaven or in the Wayne family (Nightwing 110):

When Tim's dad dies, he moves to Blüdhaven, where he knows exactly one person: Dick. Buuuut Dick's avoiding him (because he's in a shame-spiral over Blockbuster's death! not because he's mad at Tim!).

Anyway, Tim worries that Dick is mad at him for moving to the same city without asking permission first, and also that Dick would be offended if he let Bruce adopt him:

Tim: You're not mad I'm, like, in your city or anything? Dick: NO! No. I'm honored. You have more of a right to be here than I do. Tim: Is it the adoption thing? Dick: The what? Tim: 'Cause I was a little worried about that. That's kinda part of why I said no. I mean, that and the uncle thing. I was just thinking it wasn't really all that long ago since he officially adopted you, which was kind of a big deal, you know, emotionally or whatever, and to me you're like totally his son and I don't wanna step on that or anything.

Tim's worry is tragicomic because earlier in the issue, Dick spent his inner monologue moping about how Tim is so great and Dick loves him so much and therefore Dick has to avoid him because he's ashamed of Tim seeing him like this (Dick Grayson: also in possession of severe self-worth issues!).

6. Tim assumes that his firing is IMMINENT at EVERY MOMENT (Robin 139 and others)

In other surely-this-relationship-is-temporary-no-matter-how-long-we've-known-each-other news, I can't add all of Tim's many "THIS IS THE END!! Bruce gonna fire me from Robin!!!" panels, because it would take too long. Here's another one, though:

7. Tim's blindsided when he disappears for three days and his friend Zo is... shockingly... worried about him (Robin 156-7)

One thing I enjoy about Tim's self-worth issues is that they not only make him anxious and miserable, they also cause conflict! Tim has a tendency to assume "out of sight, out of mind"... so he forgets that his friends, like, worry about him if he disappears. Which means he can be...kind of a bad friend in terms of keeping in touch.

Here's Tim being stunned - and later apologetic - when he discovers that his friend Zo was worried about him when he was apparently kidnapped and then out of touch for days (who could've seen that coming? not Tim!):

8. Tim assumes that Dick is only worried about him because Cassie told him to be (Red Robin 4):

"And you're only here because Cassie called you!"

Really, most of Red Robin is just "Tim Drake and his Insecurities, the Comic." Speaking of, here's...

9. Tim congratulates himself on having saved everybody that Bruce loved...while falling to his death (Red Robin 12):

"I did it. I saved the people he loved."

10. Tim worries (again) that his stone-faced friends are no longer his friends since he hasn't been on the team in a while (Red Robin 20):

(He falls for it every time!)

In conclusion Tim needs more hugs.