Fic: Timo's a Jerk. PG. Timo/Barthu.

[museofspeed]

Title: Timo's a Jerk (Part 3 of Young Jedi).
Fandom: Young Justice.
Characters: Barthu Alan, Timo Drakke, Steff Brun, Cassi, Konel, Lobo, Anita, Cissie, Ca'as, Greta, Maxius Mercury. Timo/Barthu, Steff/Timo.
Prompt: for fanfic100: 76. Fixed. au_abc: Outerspace.
Word Count: 2,000
Rating: PG
Summary: The forces of evil are approaching, and everyone's mad at Timo. Wait a minute, why should Timo be leader?
Author's Notes: Part 3 of my Young Jedi series. It was going to be the last part, but it got long, and now I'll probably write at least two more parts. Thanks to julius12 for the beta! Previous part.

“Barthu, come in,” Maxius’ form flickered into view on Barthu’s holoprojector.

“Not now, Maxius, it’s a really bad time,” Barthu said, sniffling.

Maxius peered at him. “Have you been crying?”

“Maybe,” he said quietly.

“This has to do with Drakke, doesn’t it?”

“No, of course not!” Barthu said quickly. “It’s nothing important! I’ll just get back to saving the galaxy—”

“Barthu,” Maxius said. “There’s a reason Jedi aren’t supposed to have romantic or personal connections to others.”

“Whosaidanythingaboutaromanticattraction? We’renotevenclose!”

“He broke your heart, didn’t he.”

“What do you know about it?” Barthu said bitterly. “It’s not like you’ve ever had any emotional attachments. That is not the Jedi way, blah, blah, blah.”

“That’s not true,” Maxius said quietly. “I did fall in love once. I even have a daughter somewhere with the woman I loved. But falling in love was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Barthu whispered. “It does.”

“Let this be a lesson as to why we can’t let ourselves have emotions, then, Barthu. I’m coming to you with the Jedi League. I’ll take you home.”

Barthu stared at him. “I can’t go home! Fate of the galaxy and whatnot!”

“Mmhmm. Apparently a Sith Lord told you about this alleged danger. You can’t trust them.”

Barthu glared at Maxius. “I’m sorry, but I’m staying with my friends.”

“Barthu!” Maxius shouted.

Barthu grabbed his holoprojector and hurled it at the ground. It shattered, and the hologram of Maxius winked out.

“If love’s such a sucky thing,” Barthu muttered, glaring at the crushed communicator, “Why do I still wanna kiss him so badly?”



A little while later, Barthu wandered back into camp.

“Barthu!” Cassi yelled, hurrying over to him. “Where have you been? We’ve been calling you on your holoprojector, but it hasn’t been working!”

“Yeah,” Barthu said. “I sorta broke it. To get Maxius to stop bugging me.”

“Barthu!” Cassi said reproachfully. “Come on, quickly, Darth Harmious is going to be here any minute!”

“Okay,” Barthu said. “Are we meeting somewhere or something?”

“Timo said –” Cassi frowned at Barthu’s scowl. “What is your problem with him, Barthu?”

“He’s a bastich. I hate him.”

“You used to like him so much. And hatred is - ”

“I don’t care. I still hate him.”

Cassi frowned. “I’m sure you’ve got a reason. What’d he do?”

Barthu furiously rubbed his eyes. “N-nothing. It’s not important. Where are we meeting?”

“Saving the universe can wait, Barthu,” Cassi said. “What did he do?”

Barthu’s lip quivered for a minute, then he burst into tears.

Cassi hugged him. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she soothed.

“I- I- I thought he liked me!” Barthu sobbed. “And he- Steff- he didn’t tell me, just let me think that we were still- still-” He sniffled, and Cassi patted his back.

“He’s a jerk,” Cassi agreed. “A total jerk.”

Barthu nodded. “Y-yeah, I know. W-we better get to the meeting.”

Cassi didn’t entirely get what Timo had done, but clearly he’d hurt Barthu a lot. She shot Timo an icy glare and put an arm protectively over Barthu’s shoulders as they walked into the cave they were using as headquarters.

She wasn’t the only one annoyed at Timo. Konel and Anita walked over to them and each sent a scowl towards Timo. Even Greta was floating with smoky indignation. Ca’as said nothing, but she sat very close to Steff and glowered at Timo. Steff seemed more angry than sad, and Cissie just seemed annoyed. Darth Lobo didn’t seem to care one way or the other, but he still radiated surliness.

Timo cleared his throat. “Um, hi.”

Everyone glared.

“Right,” Timo said. “Look, I know you’re all mad at me right now, and I know at least two of you have good reason to be, but right now we have to work together if we want to defeat these idiots and not be grounded for life by our mentors, so can you put aside your anger at me for now?”

“Why should you be the leader anyways?” Konel asked, stepping in front of Barthu and Cassi. “What makes you get to boss us around?”

Timo rubbed his temples. “I don’t know. I just stepped up, okay? I know a lot about strategy.”

“So do we,” Konel said. “And we’ve clearly got better people skills than you do.”

“What, do you think you could do better?” Timo snapped.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Konel said.

Konel was taller than Timo, but Timo had a way of standing so that he seemed taller than he really was. They glared at each other.

“Boys!” Cissie said, stepping between them. “Look, we can vote on who gets to lead, okay?”

“In that case, count me in,” Cassi said. “I’d make a better leader than either of these guys. I even have a sprocking plan.”

“What, you think I don’t?” Timo said.

“I could think of a good plan!” Konel said.

“I aced the strategies course, Konel, you know that,” Cassi said.

“All of you, shut up!” Cissie shouted. Everyone ignored her. Cissie rolled her eyes and shot a blast through an open window. Everyone looked up at the loud noise. “Look, you three go to different corners, and everyone go stand with whoever they think should be leader, okay?”

“Yeah, alright,” Konel said. Cassi and Timo nodded.

Everyone moved around. Lobo stayed slouching against the back wall, and Cissie, stayed back to count votes.

“It looks like Konel wins,” Cissie said.

“Did you count Greta?” Cassi asked.

Konel nodded. “As much as I want to win, you can’t just forget Greta. It’s a tie.”

“Oh!” Cissie said. “Sorry, Greta, I can’t see you.”

“She says it’s okay,” Cassie said.

“Alright,” Cissie said. “That means that Lobo or I have to cast the tie-breaker.”

Lobo shrugged. “I don’t care. I only plan to follow orders I like, anyways.”

“Fine,” Cissie said. “Cassie, I cast my vote for you to be leader. Everyone good with that?”

Everyone made general noises of consent.

“Yes!” Cassi said. “Okay, I have a plan. Here’s what-”

Cassi looked around. Everyone was still avoiding Timo.

“Okay, I’ll explain it to most of you, but Timo, Steff and Barthu have to work out their issues. We have to be a team, and that means acting like one,” Cassi said.

“It’s nothing,” Timo and Barthu said quickly.

“Stop being boys,” Steff said. “Cassi, is that an order?”

Cassi nodded. “It’s an order.”

Steff grabbed both of the boys by the wrists and yanked them outside.



“Okay,” she said when they were safely out of earshot. “We’re all in agreement that whatever the deal is, it’s Timo’s fault, right?”

Barthu nodded. Timo hesitated, then nodded.

“Great,” Steff said. “Now that that’s cleared up.” She punched Timo in the arm. Hard.

Timo didn’t try to block it. “I’m sorry. Both of you. I’m really, really sorry.”

“Explain.” Steff said. “What the hell is up with you?”

Timo looked at Barthu. “Barthu, you’re a jedi – I don’t want to screw that up for you.”

Barthu glared at Timo, then turned to Steff. “Timo and I, we kind of were together at the Jedi academy.”

“I thought you guys weren’t supposed to have any romance or anything,” Steff said.

“Yeah, that’s why we’ve been keeping it a secret,” Barthu said. “We didn’t actually ever break up.”

Steff turned to glare at Timo again. “So you started dating me when Barthu still thought the two of you were dating?”

“We hadn’t talked in months!” Timo said. “I thought he’d forgotten all about me. Moved on to be one with the force.”

“I could never have done that!” Barthu said. “Grife, Timo, I love you! Yeah, I’m a Jedi, but beside the speed thing I’m not that good at it! You could have at least called to tell me that we weren’t dating anymore.”

“I know,” Timo said. “I’m sorry, Barthu. I screwed up. Steff -”

“We weren’t that good together anyway,” Steff said. “You know that.”

Timo nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“And now I can be with Ca’as!” Steff said brightly. “I mean, she keeps trying to kiss me because apparently my body language says that that’s what I want.”

“Glad to know our romance meant so little to you,” Timo said.

Steff’s face softened slightly and she touched Timo’s cheek. “Timo, you know I love you. But it’s not – We aren’t right for each other. You’ll always be my friend, but nothing more.”

Timo nodded. “No, I know. It’s fine. You and Ca’as are good for each other.”

“You’re a sweetie,” Steff said. She kissed Tim’s cheek and ran inside.

Timo watched her go. When she was inside, he turned to Barthu.

“Now what?” Barthu asked.

Timo glanced down and played with the hem of his tunic. “When you said you love me,” he asked shyly, “did you mean it? I mean, after all that I’ve done? After I’ve been such an awful jerk?”

Barthu glanced away. “Yes,” he said softly. “I shouldn’t, I mean, you clearly have moved on, but I do.” He laughed a little bitterly. “I guess I’ll just try to get over it and take refuge in the Force, like I’m supposed to.”

“Barthu,” Timo said. “I never stopped loving you.”

“Don’t joke,” Barthu said. “It’s mean.”

“I’m serious.”

Barthu turned and glared at him. “I don’t want to be your second choice. I don’t want to be the one you turn to now that you’ve lost Steff.”

“You aren’t,” Timo’s throat was dry. “Barthu, I’ve always loved you. I only…I thought I had to get over you. I swear, I regret not stealing one of Senator Wayne’s ships and flying out to find you earlier. I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without seeing you, and I can’t believe that when I do see you, I screw everything up so badly.” Timo blinked back tears. “Barthu,” he whispered. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Barthu looked at him sadly. “I don’t know if I can believe you,” he said. “I want to, by the Force I really, really want you to be telling the truth, but I don’t want to be hurt again. I just don’t.”

“I love you,” Timo said. “I love you so much it hurts. I’ll swear by anything and everything. By the Force, by both the furthest and nearest stars. Grife, Barthu, I’d swear on my life. I don’t know if it’s possible to prove my love, but tell me how and I’ll do it. And Barthu, I’ll never let anything or anyone else hurt you. Even myself.”

Barthu stared at Timo hard. Then he grabbed Timo by the neck of his tunic and kissed him. Hard.

Timo wrapped his arms around Barthu and tried to make up for all the lost years in that kiss. He kissed Barthu like he’d never kissed before.

Finally, Barthu pulled back with a sigh.

He smiled. “I forgive you,” he said, smiling.

“Timo! Barthu!” Cissie shouted. “Where are – Oh. Oh.”

Timo pulled away, blushing. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“She’s our friend,” Barthu said. “We can trust her. It is what it looks like, Cissie.”

“It doesn’t matter, really,” Cissie said impatiently. “You two need to come inside right now and listen to Cassi’s plan. Darth Harmius is five minutes away, and Wayne and the JLA are still light years away!”

“Though this does mean we won’t have to explain what we’re doing to them,” Barthu said.

“We’ll have to hold Darth Harmius off,” Timo said. “Come on, Barthu, let’s go hear Cassi’s plan.”



Timo, Ca’as, Steff, Cissie, Konel, Cassi, Anita, Lobo, Greta, Barthu and Timo all went to their battle stations.

“This is it,” Cassi said into her headset. “We’ve gotta do this.”

“Timo?” Barthu said on a private line.

“Yeah?” Timo said.

“Don’t you dare die,” Barthu said.

“I’ll do my best,” Timo promised. “Barthu, I mean it. I really love you.”

“I love you too,” Barthu said.

“First line ready! They’re coming in!” Cassi shouted.

Next!