#like i think damian is very aware of their shortcomings (we see him insulting bruce routinely)

[arellas]

my great burden as a talia stan who believes she’d still give damian mental health issues is when people assume i’m talking about her post-morrison character abusing him or telling him gay people burn in hell or sth when i think it’s more like. she and bruce are haloed figures in his mind and the thought of needing to live upto them keeps damian up at night wracked with shame and guilt. and to talia damian is her baby she gave away and failed to keep safe so she is also up at night wracked with shame and guilt. they’ll never talk openly about their issues ever <3

[sweetwriting]

Tim Drake Positivity Week - Day 1: Loyal or Resilient - Newspapers are always bad news

Category: Gen

Genre : Humor / slight angst / Fluff

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teen Titans

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary: Newspapers are always bad news, especially when they're brought by a Superboy wearing a shit eating grin.Or that time when Tim's and Cassie's misplaced pride almost ruined bonding time and ended up making it 100% times more worthwhile.

Word Count: 2165

To read it on AO3

Author’s Note: I'm so sorry I'm late for the week but, life kinda got in the way.I’m trying to get better at descriptions, but it still feels very stiff... Oh well, I’ll get better. I don't have much to say except that while I don't like Cassie, I love her friendship with Tim. Also I feel awfully bad for her because instead of developing her character, Teen Titans only gave her excuses for it and ruined most of the depth she had.

Bart and Conner had now been laughing for five minutes straight while Cassie had been fighting a smile.

It was their bi-monthly camping trip, something they did in the middle of the week to catch up. It was just the four of them sitting on logs, around a fire. None of the other Teen Titans (most weren’t even aware they did it). It was their way of trying to reconnect, the four of them, in a way that they hadn’t been since they had disbanded Young Justice. After all if their individual relationships had (mostly) gotten stronger, as a group, however; it had been lost before the Teen Titans were brought back by Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy. Some of the former members did join some times however as Cassie was still in school with at least two of them.

And reconnecting they were. Tim simply wished it hadn’t at the expense of his dignity. But was it his fault, if the paparazzi had taken his “Tim Drake-Wayne” persona a little too far and mixed it with Bruce? Conner had loosened his hold on the newspaper and Tim could see the headline read “GENIUS WAYNE HEIR. AS LAZY AS HIS FATHER?” with a picture taken at 4PM when he had gone to the supermarket for groceries (he may have used his popcorn machine a little too much) with bed hair as well as what Cassie called his zombie look (not that she had seen it much herself but she was starting to get along with Steph because she got along with Kara and…well. It did not bode well for Tim). He had come back from patrol very late that day (9 AM, he barely had time for a quick nap before patrol) and hadn’t even been aware he had left his apartment in slippers and PJs (he was lucky it was one of the rare times he had worn actual PJs instead of his overly big T-Shirt + underwear combination). He didn’t want to face his family. Ever. He could already see Damian’s disdainful look.

Cassie was patting his shoulder in a falsely compassionate manner. And Tim was glaring at them all in betrayal. He knew he was acting like a petulant child but he had done what he could so “LAZY” wouldn’t be associated with his name. It didn’t help that a part of the article was spent describing his “delicate” and “pretty” features. Now, while he had been trying to eradicate the “problematic” part of his mindset as Cassie had put it shaped by the view of the world set by TV, Video Games and movies (Dixit Anita), he wasn’t exactly there yet and as such, while he knew he shouldn’t, he still felt very insulted at the description. It probably wouldn’t have been as bad without his friends’ reactions though. Granted it was more about the picture and how Tim had started “pouting” (“glaring”, Tim corrected immediately) when Conner showed up wearing a big grin, the paper in his hands than about the description. Clark had apparently seen fit to notify Conner when he saw the cover so he had left it in his room while Conner was at school. It had “turned [Conner’s] crappy day in a truly amazing one”, simply because his best friend lived to humiliate him.

They finally stopped and Conner left the paper on the ground and sitting on Tim’s left side. However, while he should have, by all means, fallen down, he hadn’t. Either because he was flying or because he was using his TTK to create some sort of extension of the log Tim and Cassie were sitting on. Knowing Conner, however, it was probably the TTK. After all, if it was True that Conner hadn’t bragged about it in a while, he was still very much proud of his power and loved using it. And now he was using his right arm to encircle Tim’s shoulders in a side-hug, his left arm almost mirroring it but stopping at his right clavicle, fingers lightly brushing Tim’s neck.

“C’mon Tim, lighten up.” He paused as he held a little tighter onto Tim as if trying to stop him from moving (probably to stop him from jumping at his throat and strangling him). He grinned like the little sh- annoyance he was. “It’s very cute.”

Tim could feel his glare deepen as Cassie stifled another laugh and he hoped that Conner was choking now that he was trying to hold his laughter back.

Bart was quite obviously feeling left out as he got up from his log and settled between Tim’s legs, head resting against his right thigh as if he hadn’t betrayed his trust seconds before. He looked up at Conner then they both looked at Cassie who nodded and before Tim could do anything about it (like run away from the mess he knew was most likely to happen), she lifted him above her head, by the armpit as if he was just a small kitten.

“I’m not letting you go until you change your attitude mister. If you’re gonna act like a petulant child, I’m gonna treat you like one!”

“Is this how you treat children?” Tim asked, indignant. “Tell me the truth, is this how you acted with the kids you used to babysit?” He was now genuinely curious about whether or not Cassie truly believed that and only partially trolling her.

As revenge, Cassie started to spin faster and faster at each turn.

“I’m sorry! I can’t hear you over the sound of me spinning you!”

She stopped after another few seconds when she felt he had had enough. At this point, she let go of him and his face might have met the ground brutally had it not been for Bart and his amazing speed catching him before it could happen. Bart helped Tim sit down and stabilized him with a hand on his back as they waited for his vision to stop spinning. Cassie had gone back to their log, head held up high, arms crossed under her chest and quite obviously pouting while Conner looked torn between laughter and worry. After about half a second, the worry won out and he joined Bart and Tim.

Cassie rolled her eyes. They all knew it was nothing for Tim but since they had come back from the dead, Bart and Conner had become extremely protective of Tim. Probably because of his sorta mental breakdown…and his asplenia. She might have been jealous had she not have the same tendency, or had she not be used to Conner and Bart preferring Tim’s presence over hers…Mostly because she understood the sentiment all too well. She got over Conner’s death soon after Tim came back after all. Not because of any romantic attachment as she might have believed for half a second, but because he was her best friend and it had turned out he was as important, if not more, in her life as Conner had been. Even if they didn’t share that much (Tim’s frat boy tendencies, as well as her own shortcomings, did sort of get in the way of that), Tim had recognized qualities in her that no one had and had helped her develop them. Their history had also made them share so much. Like how, before Conner and Bart came back, she was the only one he told about knowing the anti-life equation. Then she ruined it of course. Well not completely, obviously, but she had been so scared he was going to go back to his grief-stricken life and try to do something stupid that she ended up encouraging him to do just that. She was so glad to see him get back on his feet and gets simply vexed instead of feeling betrayed by them. Now Conner was helping Tim walk straight (and didn’t that make for a good –or bad- joke?) by standing behind (goo or bad the joke is definitely there…and vulgar), both arms standing on either side of Tim to help him stay on course. There was like a 90% chance that Bart and Conner had turned it into a Pinball game.

Tim sat next to her while Bart and Conner counted their points or something along those lines (she’d have to ask them later) and looked at her, apologetic.

“Sorry, I know how traumatizing babysitting was for you, I shouldn’t have mentioned those little demons”.

They shared a knowing smile before Cassie answered.

“Nah, I told you to stop acting like a child and then started to act like one. It wasn’t my best move. Pun intended”

“Yeah well, we don’t exactly have the best role models,” Tim said as they both turned to look at Conner and Bart arguing. “Also that was a terrible pun. Not even on Kon’s level. You should leave bad puns to him”

They smiled at each other for a few seconds before Cassie settled her head on Tim’s shoulder and caught his arm between her own and used the opportunity to start playing with his fingers.

“you know we don’t think you’re delicate or fragile or whatever this made you think right?”

Tim looked startled and turned his head toward her as she continued, staring at Bart and Conner who were now thumb wrestling.

“I mean sure you need your Kevlar protection but you’ve survived so much. You’re one of the most resilient people I know and, I mean I know Donna Troy and Wonder Woman and Artemis and...you know…Amazons. That’s it. This is your main feature. This and Loyalty. Not this intelligence bullshit”.

“Hey!”, Tim yelled, offended. ”What intelligence Bullshit? I am very intelligent”.

Cassie looked at him with a pitying look.

“Tim, I once saw you eat fries with ice cream. There is a picture of you, in you PJs, at a supermarket”.

“Well I make mistakes –the fires/ice cream thing wasn’t one btw, it was delicious. Doesn’t mean I’m not intelligent”

Cassie was now fighting her laughter again. Tim was grumbling like a three years old and she could help squealing as she gave him a bear hug. Tim’s cry of indignation (or pain she wasn’t really sure) turned Bart and Conner’s attention toward them.

As they stopped their little conversation and started approaching Tim and Cassie, Bart asked :

“So….Why are you trying to get the air out of Tim’s body Cassie?”

Before Cassie could snort or answer –Tim was obviously not in a state to do so as she started releasing him- Conner did:

“Cassie’s stroking his ego so he doesn���t have a fit. I can’t believe you guys used to talk about *my* ego all the time.”

They all looked at him before Cassie crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Were you eavesdropping again?”

“Of course, Cass. I always want to know what’s going on in Tim’s life” Conner answered in a faux passionate voice. As if it wasn’t really how he felt “I eavesdrop all the time, even when he’s with his lady friends” He added wiggling his eyebrows.

They all rolled their eyes at his comment, though Cassie was seriously starting to wonder whether it had actually happened or not. Conner’s control of his powers outside of TTK wasn’t exactly stellar and he was easily distracted into using his super hearing accidentally. And she didn't want to think about this right now.

“Still”, he continued “ I agree with Cassie. None of this intelligence bull. Your main features are Loyalty and Resilience. It should be all over this paper “WAYNE HEIR. LOVES PEOPLE TOO MUCH AND WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR THEM. WILL RESIST DEATH NO MATTER HOW MANY TIME IT CALLS HIM””. He then grumbled to the side and Cassie was pretty sure she was the only one who heard him “Or you know, he calls death and hang up right when it comes online”.

Which…Yeah okay was one of the truest things Conner had said tonight. And Cassie really didn’t want to think about it. Really, Really didn’t. Which is when Bart started talking.

“So he’s basically a Hufflepuff?”

And oh no. It was going to be nerd time. Bart and Conner were gonna start talking about Harry Potter and, she like the movies sure but they weren’t that good (according to Bart it was “because you need to read the books! The writing style isn’t anything exceptional but the movies make no sense” and...Cassie really didn’t want to deal with that. On the other hand she was curious as, from what she knows, Ravenclaw seemed most likely –then again she barely knew anything about the houses. So she sighed and settled back against Tim while they watched the other two argue about Harry Potter and houses and when she started feeling tired, Tim helped her glide down the log so their back would be settled against it, falling asleep to the sound of their friends’ voices and fire cracking.

Author’s End note: So, as may be obvious I’m not a native English speaker and while I was writing this, I wrote clavicle (mostly because I’m used to the French clavicule), but after re-reading this story I kinda remembered seeing collarbone used more often. After a (very short I admit) research on the internet, I’ve learned that clavicle was mostly used in medical settings. I’ve kept it because the word flows better for me (and I didn’t have the time to have the story beta read). However please tell me if you feel it hinders the rhythm of the paragraph.

Also yes. I will die before I let anyone put preboot!Tim in any house other than Hufflepuff.

And Cassie finding herself accidentally shipping Tim and Kon together is my favorite trope. Like, she feels slightly offended, annoyed and exasperated. But at the same time and are so sweet to each other and they deserve to be happy. And so does she so when she realizes that she finally completely moves on and gets herself a nice Kiran, I mean bf...or not. And they finally leave us alone with these couples.

I’m not that proud of it tbh I think it’s a little stiff. On the other hand I think the end is one of the cutest things I’ve ever written.