The party will be like, “Steve, you have to tell somebody when something is going on. You never tell anybody anything!”
And Steve will be like, “Yes, I do. I tell Robin .”
Then everybody turns to Robin and ask why she doesn’t tell anybody. She shrugs and says she does, “I tell Steve.”
Dick: You use to be so cute and tiny..
Jason: And you use to be cool. We both changed.
Dick: Wha-?! I'm still cool!!
Jason: Okay, 'officer Grayson'. Cops aren't cool.
Dick: THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO
Jason: STILL FRESH IN MY MIND, PIG!
Dick: LET IT GO!
Jason: NO. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID FUCK THE POLICE! THOSE WERE WORDS I LIVED BY!
Dick: OH MY GOD. YOURE THE ONLY ONE THAT STILL REMEMBERS THAT!
Tim, walking into the living room: I remember it.
Duke, from another room: I heard about it! You've lost 1000 aura man!
Cassandra, poking her head in: I've also heard about it.
Dick: EVERYONE SHUT UP.
Jason: Just like a cop to order people around like that, shameless.
Dick, groans: Fuuuuck-!
Dick: All of you are going to make me age like milk!
Damian, popping up behind him: Is it wrong to say it's too late for that?
Dick, practically shaking: Damian..I swear to God.
Destroy all the bots, except for the haiku bot. That one gets to stay
Some more Billy Batson as a normal Justice League member as a kid HCs, mostly school related stuff hehe.
Billy frequently gets assigned Watchtower duties. And by that, I mean routing calls, managing the space station, and being the alarm in case things go wrong. This means a lot of being alone in space in a mostly empty floating hunk of metal doing nothing but telling heros they have backup coming or redirecting them to Batman because their problem is out of his pay grade. While doing all of this, I can imagine him sitting cross-legged in a giant chair doing online classes. (Bruce signed him up. He can accept his adoptive son risking his life, but he refuses to raise another drop out).
Billy, on Zoom with his teacher: No, Mr Smith, I am not in a space station. I swear.
Hal: *floats by outside the window, doing repairs on the Watchtower*
Billy:...its a green screen...
*the Watchtower suddenly lurches to the side as Hals distant yelling about "STUPID FUCKING SPACE JUNK" is heard*
Billy: a very realistic green screen...
Billy actually really enjoys being able to do online classes in space. His favorite spots to work in the Watchtower change every few weeks, but most of them have gained a few chairs/tables/blankets once other heros notice. His top 3 would be the main control room, one of the smaller meeting rooms, and the observation deck. On multiple occasions, heros have walked into a completely dark meeting room to find Billys face lit up by a screen as he shushes them (he's in the middle of testing).
Billy, groaning: Gosh dang it... my counselor wants a parent teacher conference...
Bruce, brow furrowed: Why? You have high grades.
Billy: Apparently, leaving mid exam to save the southern hemisphere from an alien invasion doesn't count as an excused absence...
obsessed with like, Jason who absolutely refuses to reconcile with the bats. he wants no part in that family and will not talk to them under any circumstances. but he's legally dead with no friends and sometimes he gets sick of being completely by himself and wants to have company. so.
Bruce: hey Alfred have you seen my-
*comes into kitchen to see Alfred calmly preparing dinner while Jason Todd, Killer Red Hood, silently does paperwork while sat on the corner of the kitchen counter*
Bruce:
Bruce: uh-
Tim, doing homework at the table: don't mention it. if you acknowledge him he'll leave. he just likes being around people sometimes.
the bats have to start treating him like a stray cat, letting him go to them and acting completely unbothered by his presence because if they even make eye contact with Jason he'll jump out the window and they 1. won't see him for a month and 2. will start to see a lot more murders cropping up around gotham.
eventually it gets to the point where Dick will come to dinner to see the rest of the family wordlessly ignoring the brick shithouse of a man who is just sat on the floor of the dining area reading a book and he has to just. take a breath and pretend Jason isn't there. calmly stepping around him without acknowledging him. Alfred will silently place a plate of food by the guys elbow while speaking to Damian about school. When they decide to move from the table to the tv room for a movie night none of them can even look around when they hear him eventually follow just to sit in the corner of this room instead.
Bruce: I'm concerned, this is abnormal for Jason. what if he's been drugged with something? or he's trying to gain sensitive information?
Damian: actually he used to do this a lot after he came out of the Lazarus pit. he liked to sit in and watch me train, and occasionally we'd find him sat by grandfathers feet while he ran meetings. Mother says it's important to let him settle, because it's likely that he's simply craving human intimacy on his own terms for once.
Bruce, crying: oh
Jason still refuses to say a word to any of them unless it's in costume, and even then it's the same old 'i'm not your son! i'm not one of you! fuck off!' shtick like normal. they just have to accept him sneaking into the house every now and then too.
one time Tim needs Red Hoods info on a case he's working and since Jason's been sat on the floor against the wall of the bat cave for the past 45 minutes just. staring into space and vibing. he risks sliding the file across the floor towards him before pointedly turning back to the batcomputer, the info he needs marked clearly. five minutes later it's wordlessly slid back, info filled out and Jason refusing to acknowledge Tim's existence again. it's the only way he'll communicate with them.
after a while it gets to the point where Jason will straight up go to bludhaven and break into Dicks apartment just to silently sit in the corner of the room and Be Around A Familiar Person. Tim comes back from his lunch brake at WE to find him sat on the edge of his desk, working through a case. They work in silence for the rest of the day and when Tim leaves Jason just follows. They get a batburger together but the second Tim slips up and asks how his day was he's off like a shot. Damian regularly eats lunch at school on the roof while Jason plays mario kart on a DSI next to him. Batman will be 4 hours into a solo stake out when civilian Jason will silently slide up next to him with a crossword. they never talk. Jason still makes it clear that he's pissed at Bruce. Bruce doesn't know what else to do but let him be and hope eventually, with enough time, things will progress even further.
Dick, whispering so Jason won't pick up on the fact that he's being perceived: are you sure this is normal
Damian: is anything about any of us normal
Tim: he's got a point. at least we know Jason's watching us. I did this shit all the time before I was Robin, and none of you ever noticed me.
Dick:
Tim: sometimes its comforting to be in the same room as people you're familiar with, even if you can't handle interacting with them.
Dick, crying: ok
drawing things my teenage self would eat tf up
@batbirdies honestly this SOUNDS like something your Jason would say
autistic eddie who has only dated steve.
theyve been dating for a few weeks before eddies mind starts to wander and think of what dating someone else would be like. but purely in a logical-scientific-i-must-test-this-hypothesis sense.
so he talks to steve and steve is so supportive. he says eddie should find someone safe to take on a date to test his theory.
the day comes where eddie takes daniel—danny—on a date. steve has a shift with robin at family video.
robin has been anxiously flitting about the store since their shifts began. shes been rambling non-stop about anything and everything—utter nonsense. robin just wants to keep steves mind off eddie being on a date with someone else.
she knows steve. she knows how quickly he falls in love and how close to the cusp of it he is with eddie.
if hes not already there yet.
eventually though, eventually, robins rambling works against her. she cant remember how she got here—talking about her hopeless love life and how shes destined to be alone forever.
but it pops out.
“—just want something like you and eddie.”
silence.
robin stops breathing.
she did that. she totally did that. she cant believe she did that.
steve doesnt say anything. robins back is to him so she cant see his face. she cant see how massively she fucked up.
robin is determined to live her life standing in this family video with her back to steve so she can never see his reaction and never know how she just broke his heart—oh my god shes a terrible best friend—
a noise interrupts her panic. a noise from steve. a noise that robin is familiar with.
robin whips around, nearly spinning in a complete circle with her speed.
—hes—hes—hes—guffawing?
robin doesnt know how else to describe it. steve is behind the family video counter, one hand splayed across the counter. the other hand is holding his stomach as he snort-laugh-coughs?-wheezes so hard robin swears she can feel the vibrations in the soles of her feet.
robin is over here—planning the end of her life because she thought she broke her soulmates heart.
and steve is—steve is—
steve has spent the last 8 months spending time with eddie. he sat by his hospital bed, keeping eddie company with his horrid jokes and stumbling through his first reading of the hobbit because
“stevie its my favorite”
steve drove eddie to his physical therapy appointments and cheered eddie on when the metalhead had good days. steve also embraced the silence and made sure to stop for a treat on the way home when eddie had a bad day.
when eddie was finished with physical therapy, steve learned all of the stretches and exercises that would help eddie maintain his strength and mobility. every day, without fail, steve would remind eddie to do the stretches and exercises the two of them learned. and on days when eddie adamantly refused—steve would use his harrington charm to either guilt or beg eddie into completing them.
even when steve wasnt spending time with eddie at the hospital or for doctors appointments—the two were always together. whether they were showing each other their favorite movies or eddie was forcing steve to expand his music knowledge or the two were sitting out at the quarry, smoking a joint from eddies personal stash—“its the good stuff steve. if we’re gonna be besties you gotta smoke the good stuff”—and gazing at the stars. they were always together.
the point is—the point is—steve has spent a lot of time with eddie. a lot of time where steve has come to see eddie for his likes and dislikes—and read how to see that on eddies face.
steve knows he doesnt have much going for him. hes not book smart, he doesnt have much of a career, hes not overly ambitious (and of course none of that makes him less—thanks eddie) but steve has always been people smart.
hes always had a knack for reading people. he can tell when someone is genuinely enjoying something versus when theyre faking it—even if theyre a really good actor.
and steve has spent a lot of time with eddie—as previously stated—which means steve can read eddie like he hand-wrote that book.
so steve can see that eddie has never been drawn to someone like hes been drawn to steve. even in the beginning, when they were just strangers who had saved the world together, steve saw how eddie reacted to him differently than anyone else. looking back on those moments now, steve recognizes the attraction—the fire—the love—that was lit in his chocolate eyes. steve has never seen eddie look at anyone else that way.
steve also saw how eddie nearly physically recoiled when danny picked him up.
—not that he meant to be there. he totally didnt mean to be there. happy accident. pure coincidence—
max had been asking steve to take her out to the diner—absolutely not begging, no matter what anyone said. it was just coincidence that he happened to do it on the same day and around the same time as eddies date with danny.
—okay so steve and max totally planned it and they were definitely peeking out the curtains of maxs trailer for a full hour before danny finally showed up—
but thats beside the point.
steve had seen danny get out of his car and knock on the trailer door. the door opened and eddie appeared and steve could not contain his snort.
steve didnt know what it was about danny.
his clothes
his smile
his smell
his face
but something about danny repelled eddie. steve saw eddies brow and eye twitch. a sure sign he was holding back from flinching away.
eddie was definitely not interested in danny.
for a second, steve thought about walking over and claiming eddie had outstanding plans with him and max. an easy escape for eddie.
but then steve thought for another second, and couldnt wait to hear about how bad of a time eddie had.
—of course, steve would absolutely step in if eddie was feelng uncomfortable or unsafe. but steve knew that eddie was able to handle himself, and might get frustrated if steve tried to step in. steve also knew that eddie desperately wanted to test his date theory, even at the expanse of himself.
so steve let eddie go on his date, and then steve went to the diner with max and came to work his shift with robin.
which is where he was now, struggling to breathe as he laughs at robins unnecessary panic and counting down the minutes until his shift ends and he can show up at the trailer, hear about eddies date theory, and snuggle up with his boyfriend.