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Yes let them be family!!!!

Tim had a jumper that doesn’t seem all that special, but to Alfred, Bruce and Dick is incredibly important. Dare they say vital to caring for Tim.

It’s a big wooly thing, once a pale mossy green but now with a hint of brown and white from fading and use. It’s too big for him to the point that the sleeves have to be bunched up when worn and even than they hang over his hands.

It looks like a dress on him, which isn’t help but his naturally slim build.

The jumper is held in such high regard because when Tim puts it on it means that he’s not feeling like he usually does.

His confidence, his snark, his wit, and his mental strength is either hard to reach or impossible.

Tim, in the only instance he actually talked about what was going on when he wasn’t wearing the jumper, said he felt both like a tiny little fish in a giant pond and like his skin was a sheet of paper.

Bruce talked to Dinah about it and said it was most likely a form of mental regression, but Tim refused for it to be called him being ‘little’ or anything that would remind him of being a kid again.

Because he doesn’t act like a kid, but maybe it’s not right to associate Tim Drake with a normal child behaviour pattern. He doesn’t babble or whine or want to watch kids shows like Dinah had suggest he might, but he does go non verbal or only say one or two words in response to pretty much anything.

He puts his jumper on and will just… sit there.

Tim is always moving or thinking, always doing, but when he gets in his ‘jumper state’ as Alfred calls it, he tends to slow down completely and just want to sit somewhere warm and feel the fluff of his carefully maintained jumper.

Sometimes, he seeks out warmth outside of heaters and fires and the sun.

It’s on one of those days when Tim stalks down to the Cave with his jumper on, hair messy over his head and hands held up to his chest in an almost shy manner.

Jason notices him first and simply raises an eyebrow in confusion while Damian scoffs, “What on earth are you wearing, Drake? That looks moldy-“

But Tim doesn’t even look at him, eyes on the floor as he goes over to Bruce at the computer and pokes the older man’s shoulder once before retracting his hand.

Bruce immediately turns and opens his arms, an almost heartbroken look on his face as he lets Tim drawl onto his lap and bury his face in the crook of his neck.

“I’ve got you. Anything in particular or just one of those days?”

Tim speaks in a voice like a husk that Damian and Jason only hear because they’ve come closer and sound travels in the cave, “Janet, birthday.”

Bruce Wayne, The Batman, The Caped Crusader, then fucking coos and kisses his head before rocking him slightly.

“That makes sense. Do you need someone here tonight? I can call Dick or stay myself if you need.”

The two other boys in the room look at each other, shocked to hear Bruce say he will give up a patrol to seemingly cuddle someone.

Tim shakes his head, “Alfred.”

Bruce nods, kissing his head again and saying, “Thank you for coming to me so I can help you. I’m so proud of you for not making yourself go through this alone again.”

It’s not exactly a whine that leaves Tim, but it’s not a word that is Bruce’s answer.

Jason comes forward and awkwardly scratches the back of his head, “I don’t really know what’s going on, but can I like… help or something?”

Bruce smiled as Tim nods against him after a few moments, the boy in his arms turning to reach a hand out for Jason and then strangely patting the hand Jason offers up for him.

Damian, not trying to be rude but needing to understand what is going on, clears his throat and demands, “Explain what is wrong with Drake.”

Luckily Bruce had gotten better at understanding how his son communicates and looks to Tim for permission before answering, “Sometimes Tim needs to… be free of responsibility and just feel like a person for a bit. He isn’t always up for talking and just wants to be around people he trust, and me, Dick and Alfred have managed to convince him to actually come to us when he needs that.”

Bruce smiles at where at where Tim is holding Jason’s hand and swinging it around a bit before feeling over the rough calluses and thick fingers with apparent joy.

Damian frowns a little at his father’s explanation but nods regardless, “Very well, we shall set up the family room for the evening before we head out for patrol.”

Bruce smiled and pulls Damian’s head over to kiss his hairline as he hears Jason mutter, “Weird little guy, aren’t ya?”

Tim hums and pinches his finger and smiling at his older brothers yelp.

If you're reading this...

go write three sentences on your current writing project.

I was wondering if you had any favorite DC comics you could recommend?

I'm planning to get the comic subscription thing they have, for like a month or two and bing a bunch of stuff.

I haven't actually read many comics, I've seen some of the movies, scrolled the wiki and read tons of fanfic, but that's it.

So I figured I could kind of "catch up" on some of it, mostly so I can enjoy more fanfic 🤣 but there is literally Soo much out there and idk where to start

disclaimer: these options are going to be VERY heavily weighted towards the nineties/early 2k's, given that is when I read the vast, VAST majority of the DC comics that I have read. also effectively all of them are YJ-related or Supers-related, because those were what made an impression on me and I remember almost nothing of any other DC comics I was reading at the time.

also DEF we need a cut:

Superboy (1994) - I did not read most of the first fifty issues, I only know bits and pieces about those, but I picked it up at issue fifty and became ride-or-die for it 'til it got cancelled like fifty issues later, and while I originally read it as a teenager, it is one of the only big two comics I can say I really remember a LOT of the plot points and art and details from. Like, I was also reading Robin and several other comics at the time and I remember effectively nothing of a good eighty percent of those, despite the fact that Tim was actually my favorite character at the time. But SB94 you get to meet hot furries and go to Hypertime and get emotionally manipulated by Superman when he MIGHT be being mind-controlled, I was never entirely clear on that one and I don't know if Kon ever found out either, and also it's where Match debuted AND contains Serling Roquette, the definitely autistic teen-genius geneticist of my HEART. And Earth!Krypto, the worst/best dog ever, who is Superboy's it's-on-sight-bitch nemesis. Legit I think the dog hates him more than Match does. And Kon DEFINITELY hates the dog more than he hates Match. Match at least had a theoretical chance at making a good impression; Krypto did NOT.

Supergirl (1996) - The first superhero comic I ever read, and in fact the first issue of it was the second comic I ever bought in my entire-ass life up until that point, hah. The cover is literally my current icon, that cover just stuck out SO strongly to teenage!me that I just picked it up and went into it cold. It's honestly a very weird and somewhat hit-or-miss comic, it has the Space Girls and demonic cultist murders and at-least-technically-abusive parents that you still want to talk to as an adult and a lot of "okay so this writer has some very weird ideas about race/sexuality/religion/genetic determinism" and fucked-up shit like lying to vulnerable people about their potential to BE people so they MAYBE don't accidentally murder you and Mae/Linda being the same person but actually not the same person and also falling for a dude who is a horse but only breaking it off with him because THEY'RE not a lesbian, no I am not kidding, and also God is a recurring character. And Buzz. Buzz is there. Buzz is . . . a whole experience, there. Also there's flan, one time. The flan is kinda weird.

Young Justice (1998) - one of the VERY few comics I have read the entire run of and followed from first to last issue. I love it very much, hah. Just--it's great, it's so good, and also the girls in it DO stuff. Some of that stuff being girlbossing and going to the Olympics and fighting preschoolers with knives and not getting to fight super-hot furry babes and subverting government agencies and getting LITERALLY dressed to kill to go do a murder! Twice, in fact!! Technically that outfit gets dressed-to-kill in TWICE, there is canonically a "this is what we wear to do the murders" fit in this series!!

and relatedly, some tie-in events involving that era of YJ:

Young Justice: The Secret, which is a one-shot from the GirlFrenzy fifth-week event and is the first appearance of Secret, who I ADORED as a teenager and still have a soft spot for. Also the first time Robin, Superboy, and Impulse all work together at the same time, iirc, though I belieeeeeve they'd all worked together in different pairs at that point?

World's Finest #3 was the first time Robin and Superboy met and worked together; Impulse and Superboy I think met during Superboy and the Ravers, and I know Impulse and Tim met at SOME point but hell if I know when.

World Without Grownups ( takes place prior to YJ98; literally every adult on the planet disappears overnight and that is specifically Robin and Superboy and Impulse's problem, apparently. also Billy Batson is around and reasonably concerned about what'll happen if he turns into Captain Marvel--also known as, you know, an adult, when they are not sure about the alive-ness of any of those right now!! )

Sins of Youth ( takes place during YJ98, I think between issues 19 and 20; Justice League and YJ get age-swapped and everyone has to deal with that, and honestly most of them suck at it )

World Without Young Justice ( takes place near the end of YJ98's run, I think? reality-altering bullshit related to "World Without Grownups" occurs and I BELIEVE crosses over between multiple series )

Comics I have not read but heard were good and have been personally WANTING to read:

Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen - technically two separate arcs, but I believe they both happened across all four then-running Superman titles; established Steel and Superboy as characters before they got their own solos and included in-her-dating-Lex-Luthor-era Matrix!Supergirl and like . . . all that that implies, basically. In her defense, she didn't know he was THAT Lex Luthor. Less in her defense, I think Lex literally sent her to like, recruit Superboy into a throuple with them and she was apparently all for the idea, it REALLY did kinda read like that.

Impulse (1995) - Impulse and Max Mercury are having a very complicated relationship in this and also the line "haven't you ever felt that way about anyone? hasn't anybody ever felt that way about YOU?" happens. So like, I feel like that's enough explanation of why I want to read it, really? Also the supporting cast is supposed to be pretty solid and I really dig a lot of the art I've seen from it. First appearances of both Cissie's version of Arrowette and Inertia happen in it, iirc.

Also like, I cannot justifiably RECOMMEND either of these because I kinda frickin' hate what I've read of them, but Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day and the subsequent 2003 Teen Titans run contain a lot of the foundational lore that Young Justice runs on these days, including the retcon about Kon's DNA donors and Tim's "I lie to Batman" line and a writer who apparently for the life of him CANNOT write either teenage girls or neurodivergent people and like . . . everything about weird fucked-up grief responses/cloning/culting shit. It just also WILDLY slanders multiple team members, especially Cassie and Bart, and frankly it doesn't really do that great by Tim or Kon either and I do not wanna TALK about what--ANYWAY IT HAS LORE, just the actual characterization kinda all sucks and the art in TT03 was not at ALL my thing, not in the least because of how Cassie's design got SO unforgivably bad AND out of character, ughhhhh.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Look buddy, i’m just trying to make it to Friday.

spideytorch bullet point fic

race car driver Johnny!

Johnny is a race car driver (that's he's only thing, not all the other stuff)

Peter is his boyfriend of course

he doesn't understand racing very much but still he goes to every race he can

Johnny has a really bad accident during one race like car flipped over and badly mangled

Peter has to be held back from running on to the track by their friend Bobby

it takes the med crew a bit to get Johnny out of the wreck and Peter is shaking the whole time

they get him out eventually and he's awake thank goodness

Johnny’s trying to spot Peter in the crowd so he can at least wave to him or smile at him

meanwhile Peter is crying in relief

there's blood coming from somewhere on Johnny’s head and his arm looks like it's been broken but he's awake smiling and alive

Johnny gets taken away in an ambulance while Peter and Bobby rush out of the stadium to meet him at the hospital

Bobby drives there because Peter is a wreck

Peter rushes in while Bobby parks and then waits in the lobby

Peter gives Johnny a hug

(which hurts but Johnny ties to hide it)

"All those tears for me?"

"Shut up you're such an idiot what were you thinking"

"I didn't try to crash!"

"I was so worried about you. I thought you were dead" *kisses*

Johnnys left arm is broken in two places, he fractured three ribs, and he has a concussion

he's out for the rest of the season because of all of that obviously

the next season Johnny wants to go back to racing and Peter doesn't want him to

they get into a massive fight about it

"Peter this is my life! It's what I do!"

"It almost killed you Johnny!"

"you're being overdramatic about it"

"you had two fractured ribs, the doctor said if they'd fully broken it would've punctured your lung!"

"but they didn't! I was okay!"

"That doesn't mean you go rushing back to the race track to try again."

"Peter I love this! I can't just stop because of one crash!"

"I can't- I can't watch that again Johnny. It was the hardest thing to watch since my uncle died."

"Then stop watching."

"Johnny-"

"if it's too hard to watch me do this then stop watching, cause I'm going back."

this ends with their breakup and they’re both heartbroken

but Peter doesn't stop watching

he always has the race on in the background making sure Johnnys okay

and Johnny still keeps the picture of Peter taped up inside of his car

the second to last race of the season the two cars in front of Johnny wreck bad and his attempt to avoid it send him swerving in a circle off the course

Peter screams while watching it at home

Johnny is able to walk out of the car on his own, no injuries but it definitely scared him

as soon as Peter sees him walk out of the car he turns off the race and rushes to the track

the race was in Delaware not close to Peter at all really but he doesn't care

he gets there after the race is over, it's night now but he's determined to see Johnny

Peter runs into Johnnys crew chief Ben and begs him to tell Peter where Johnny is

Ben tells him and Peter sprints to the hotel room in the middle of Ben wishing him luck

Peter bangs on the door frantic and out of breath

"Peter?"

"I'm so sorry" they both say at the same time

they talk and apologize and cry and kiss

"I was so scared Peter. There was a crash today and I-"

"I know, I was watching."

"You were?"

"I never stopped. I can't. I love you too much."

"I love you so much Peter. I missed you I'm so sorry for sending you away."

"I'm so sorry I let you."

they're officially back together before the night is over

and they’re engaged by the end of the year

Batman #54

Bruce comforting Dick vs…

Dick comforting Bruce

Me posting on tumblr:

DUDE How exactly are conversations supposed to go because I thought we were all just adding in the related information we had but apparently not???

If you talk about your cat I thought it was a good addition to talk about the demon cat that hated me that time??? You were then supposed to add in a cat story or talk about a different evil animal??? Is that not how that goes???