Bad Days and Monopoly Games

by SuperAwesome40

Summary:

Tim and Kon are hanging out at the Secret Sanctuary when Bart arrives, practically in tears. Tim and Kon try to fix it.

OR:

Author had a bad day at school, and made it Bart Allen's problem

Notes:

Hello again! It has been... 111 days since I last posted. Huh. In my defense, it's my senior year and things have been CRAZY. But. I had a really bad morning today, and instead of crying about it I wrote this. It's a little bit choppy in some spots, but overall, I'm pretty proud of it. I haven't really been motivated to write in a while.

This might be a little OOC, but in my defense its been a second since I read Young Justice. I imagine this is set right in the beginning of the team?

“Tim?” What’re you doing here?” 

 

Tim didn’t flinch, but it was a close thing. He turned around, scanning the lounge of the Secret Sanctuary until his eyes landed on Kon, stretched out on one of the couches with a book. Tim was very, very tempted to comment on the fact that Kon was reading (it’s just too easy to get him going, and really, really funny, too), but he decided against it for the time being.

 

“Do I need a reason?” He asked dryly. “It’s my base too, isn't it?” Kon bristled instantly, closing his book with a snap and throwing it down on the side table.

 

“I was just asking ,” he said defensively (too easy. Tim doesn’t even have to try ). “You don’t usually come here without a reason. I wasn't sure if there was a problem or not.” That was… reasonable. But still.

 

“Well, I’m here today,” he said instead of explaining his reasoning. “And there’s no emergency, so you can go back to reading.” Kon squinted, searching for any reason to cause a fuss, but he found none. Finally, with one last suspicious look, he settled back against the cushions and reached for his book.

 

“What’re you reading?” Tim asked after about fifteen minutes of silence. He’d been scrolling on his I-Pad for almost the entire time, but he hadn’t actually absorbed any of the case files he’d been skimming. Kon looked up, squinting. Well, he didn’t need to be so suspicious. That was kind of rude. 

 

“Percy Jackson,” he said slowly, after a long pause. When Tim cocked his head curiously, Kon flushed slightly. “It’s- well, y’know, I’ve got all like, the classics uploaded in here,” he tapped the side of his head. “But they never really thought about the other stuff. Fun stuff. An’ I heard that Percy Jackson was really good, so… yeah.”

 

Tim nodded. “It is,” he said. He turned his attention back to the I-Pad. “My favorite is The Mark of Athena.” Kon’s head tilted. 

 

“This one is The Titans Curse.” He said. “I haven’t… I haven’t heard of that one.”

 

“It’s from the second series,” Tim said. The I-Pad dropped into his lap and he sat up straighter, trying very hard not to wiggle in excitement. “There’s a handful of them set in the same universe, and-”

 

He was cut off by a rush of air. Both him and Kon turned to see Bart standing in the door to the lounge. Tim almost started talking again, but something caught his attention. Bart was shaking. More than that - Bart looked about to cry . 

 

“Uh,” Kon said. “Hey, man. What’s wrong? You look a little-”

 

“I’m not stupid!” Bart blurted. His voice was high and thin, and his arms flailed out for a second before wrapping tightly around his stomach. His lip trembled dangerously.

 

“I’m not stupid,” Bart said again, voice wobbling on the edge of a sob. It sounded like a plea, like he needed them to assure him that he wasn’t. Kon was up and off the couch in an instant, brow furrowed.

“What?” he said incredulously. “Of course you aren’t stupid, Imp. What the hell gave you that idea?” He stepped forward until he was right in front of Bart, but he didn’t reach out and grab him. Not yet, not when they didn’t know what was wrong.

 

Bart sniffled, rocking forward on his toes. One hand came up to swipe furiously at his eyes. The other tugged at the hem of his shirt. It was wrinkled and pulled slightly out of shape, like Bart had been pulling on it for a while. 

 

Tim frowned when Bart didn’t answer. Instead, the younger teen scrunched his eyes shut, bringing his arms up and digging his fingernails into his upper arms. Kon’s hands twitched like he wanted to stop Bart from hurting himself, like he wanted to help somehow , but not yet. 

 

“I’m not-” Bart started, only for his voice to crack. He swallowed, fingers digging tighter, and he started bouncing on his toes. “I’m not stupid. I’m not. I’m not stupid, I just- I just-” His eyes darted around, looking at just about anywhere except at them. 

 

“Hey, Imp?” Kon said, voice surprisingly gentle. “You wanna hug?” Bart hesitated, then choked on a sob and fell forward, burying his face in Kon’s neck. Kon shot Tim a concerned look over Bart’s shoulder, and Tim’s frown deepened. Bart was shaking, starting to blur at the edges. His hands were clenching and unclenching against Kon’s jacket.

 

“Bart,” Tim said, stepping forward. “Can Kon try something? I think it could help.” Bart sobbed again, but his head twitched like he was nodding, so Tim turned his attention to Kon.

 

“Cover him with your TTK.” He said. Kon frowned, head twitching slightly to the side. Tim huffed in exasperation, then elaborated. “Like a weighted blanket. Cover him with your TTK and press down with even pressure across his entire body. I think he’s-” overstimulated didn’t seem like the right word. Closer to a meltdown, almost. “-overwhelmed. Weight helps.” 

 

Kon blinked, processing. Then he looked down, shifted his stance ever so slightly, and squinted. Bart shuddered violently, pressing closer, and the vibrating slowed. At the very least, he wasn’t all blurry around the edges anymore. Tim assumed that meant that Kon had done what he asked. 

 

“Bart,” Tim said. “More or less weight?” Bart blinked at him with wet eyes, and then pressed his face against Kon’s chest, a little harder than necessary. “I think that means more,” Tim informed Kon, who shifted his grip slightly.

Bart sighed shakily, finally going boneless against Kon’s side. His face was blotchy and wet and he was still shaking slightly, but it seemed better, for the most part. They stood like that for a long moment before Kon gently backed them over to one of the couches, settling in. Bart leaned heavily against his side, eyes drooping. 

 

“Did something happen at school?” Tim asked, crouching near Bart’s head. School in Alabama had ended about a half an hour ago, and Tim could only assume that Bart had tried to handle whatever happened alone before he came to them. Bart blinked slowly, then nodded.

 

“You were saying that you aren’t stupid,” Tim pressed. “Did someone say something to make you feel that you were?” If that were the case, Tim would be glad to handle it. Not that Bart couldn’t handle it himself, but Tim didn’t like it when people mess with his friends. Bart shook his head once, then sank lower on the couch until he was curled on his side, neck angled funny where his face was smushed against Kon’s hip.

 

“Okay,” Tim said slowly. He wanted to ask more questions, to push and push until he got the answers, but he didn’t think that was what Bart needed right now, so instead he pulled himself to his feet and gave them a bit of space. Kon gave him a weak little smile, so Tim assumed that was the right move.

 

Tim stood in silence for a beat before turning on his heel and going to the little kitchenette. Bart liked hot cocoa. He’d told Tim once that it was like a hug on your insides. Tim wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but Bart had also said that it was his comfort drink, and he looked like he needed comfort right now. 

 

By the time the drink was done and Tim had returned to the couch, three steaming mugs balanced carefully in hand, Kon had sprawled fully across the couch on his back, and Bart was laying almost fully on top of him, breathing slowly and eyes closed. They opened when he smelled the hot cocoa. 

 

It took a second for the two of them to disentangle, but eventually the three of them wound up sitting in a little circle, sipping hot cocoa, and firmly not looking at each other. Kon and Tim were trying to take their cues from Bart, who despite no longer being in tears was still clearly very upset.

 

Finally, Bart sighed and lowered his mug. He was swaying ever so slightly from side to side, and he wouldn’t meet either of their eyes when he said “I‘m not stupid.”

Tim and Kon exchanged a look. “Yeah,” Kon said eventually. “We know you aren’t. Is.. are you okay?” Bart didn’t answer right away, taking deep shuddering breaths like he was trying not to cry. 

 

“My headphones died.” He said finally. “In first period. And- and the instructions for the assignment were too vague and I couldn’t- I’m not stupid but I couldn’t figure it out and I asked the teacher and he wouldn’t- he said he was gonna help me, and then he went and helped someone else. For like, fifteen minutes . And everyone else in the class just… got it, and when he finally did have enough time to help me, the answer was so stupidly easy and I think he got mad at me-” he stopped to gasp for breath, hands shaking bad enough that Kon reached out and pulled the mug from him before it could spill.

 

Bart swiped at his eyes. “And I haven’t been sleeping well,” he said, hiccuping. “An’ I have like, three assignments due at the end of the week and one of them is an essay and I hate essays, and Max has been up my ass about my grades again and I’m trying but he thinks I should try harder and I’m so tired all the time! But I can’t even relax because it’s always stupid missions or catching up on missing assignments and I’m trying and I can’t do it! ” 

 

He buried his face in his hands, chest heaving. There was a pause before he kept talking. “I’ve tried explaining to Max why I haven’t done them. He doesn’t get it. I try, and I try, and I try and I just sit there for ever trying, and I never get anything done ‘cause when I try to do it my brain goes empty or… like there’s a wall in my head. Y’know? And Max keeps telling me to just do it and he makes me do it in real time and not in subjective time and I just- I just-”

 

He cut off with a strangled sob, hiding his face in his knees, and Kon set down his own mug to scoot until he was sitting next to him. He wrapped an arm around Bart’s shoulders and pulled on him until Bart fell back into his side. A moment later, Tim moved to sit on Bart’s other side, hand moving in slow circles on the younger boy’s back.

 

“Do you… do you want solutions, or do you just want to not think about it for now?” Tim asked. He was already thinking of at least six ways to help, but sometimes Bart preferred to avoid his problems, and he’d get pissy if Tim started telling him how to fix things. Bart sniffled, thinking. 

 

“I just- I don’t wanna think.” He decided. “Can we do something else?” Tim shoved down the instinctive wave of discomfort at the thought of leaving something undone (the same discomfort that keeps him up late working on case files because he’s so close -) and nods.

 

“Sure, dude!” Kon said cheerfully, already jumping up. “What do you wanna do?” Bart sniffled again, wiping at his still slightly wet eyes, and stood, a grin already splitting his face. He leapt to his feet, and disappeared, reappearing a half-second later with a handful of boardgames. Tim raised an eyebrow, even as he pulled himself to his feet.

 

“No video games?” He asked. Bart’s nose scrunched momentarily, and then he shook his head.

 

“Don’t feel like it,” he said. Tim considered questioning the shift in behavior, but decided against it. Another time. As soon as he saw the box in Bart’s hands, his face fell into a flat expression.

 

“No,” he said instantly. “No. Uh-uh. No. Put it back .” Kon took one look at what Bart was holding, and burst into hysterical laughter.

 

“Oh, yes ,” he crowed, dancing a little circle around the two of them. Bart cackled, setting Monopoly on the coffee table and lifting the lid off with a flourish. Tim let out a miserable groan, sliding dramatically back to the ground and letting his head drop against the coffee table with a dull thud. 

 

“ Nooooo ,” he whined. Bart and Kon just laughed louder. 

 

Jerks .

 

But at least Bart wasn’t crying anymore. Tim could suffer through Monopoly if it meant Bart wasn’t crying (even if Monopoly was the bane of his existence ).

 

Bart started setting up the board, arguing with Kon over who got to be banker. It’d been a long-standing agreement in the hero community that the Bats aren’t allowed anywhere near the money. Tim sulked for a moment longer before lifting his head and snatching his share of money. The room promptly exploded in noise as both Bart and Kon lunged, nearly knocking the coffee table over. Tim launched himself away with a shriek of laughter.

 

Four hours and seven fistfights later, they were all feeling pretty damn good.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of DCU
• Part 1 of Young Justice