#1 sibling dynamics enjoyer

11 pm thought: unfortunately the sad but logical reality is that he is straight and just kind of a weird freak and also a misogynist but it's still beautiful how romantic his obsession with his best friend is and how its psychosexual nature haunts all his creative work

Was going through getting better quality (and better sized) images for the costume history page of the Steph wiki since it still gets a relatively decent amount of traffic, and I always found it interesting Tim stopped saying Steph's real name in front of criminals around the time they started dating.

The most generous interpretation is that after the Baffler captured her due to knowing her real name a few issues earlier (not because of Tim but because he knew her dad ig) he finally realized how dangerous what he'd been doing was...but it's also possible that dating her means he had to accept her as a hero and show her some basic respect, which is reinforced by the fact he basically thinks to himself "I know I shouldn't encourage Spoiler but I enjoy being with her" right before they start dating.

Which yeah, implies that using her real name was a "I don't think you should be a hero so I don't have to respect you by using your hero name", which is wild since it was so dangerous to do, very counterproductive to the idea he was concerned for her safety. Though I am not saying this was his active thought process, I'm sure it was subconcious.

But here's an interesting thing- in Robin #74 he slips up and calls her Steph (not in front of anyone this time, thankfully), she reminds him to call her Spoiler, and while he doesn't apologize, he says "right" in response, as in "yeah, you're right". It's a small thing, but in previous times this happened, he either didn't respond...

or, the worst example. literally told her to shut up and used her name again (he was stressed out because they were being shot at, but still).

So yeah, Interesting to notice that as a change, coinciding with no longer discouraging her.

And hey, he does remember to say Spoiler instead next time he runs into her.

It's interesting because it also implied Dixon might have reminded reader of that conflict specifically to build up to this scene, where Steph finally breaks down over Tim keeping who he really was from her, and then makes it very clear that when he calls her by her real name in costume, it's also a painful reminder of how unequal their relationship is.

Which I think he never fully got before.

"Fuck off," Jason says automatically. He digs a knuckle into his forehead, Percy watching all the while. "Listen. All I'm trying to say is if something's—if I fucked up, you have to tell me what to do—"

"Okay," Percy says easily. "Get on your knees."

Jason blinks and he's staring down at the ground. His kneecaps ache in a way that promises future bruises, because he hadn't been thinking about anything beyond the firmness in Percy's voice, how perfectly actionable the command itself was. Percy said Get on your knees and Jason's first and last thought had been to fucking drop. He has to crane his head up to look at Percy now, who's looking down at him with his head tilted to one side and lips tilted up with it, crooked canine sitting sweetly in his mouth.

"That was good," Percy says.

"Uh-huh," Jason says vaguely, and then, "You son of a bitch."

***