It was a Twitter thread I did a long time ago but it suddenly slapped me back into the face and I guess now Tumblr is back to being my own rambling house so im just gonna chat more about this
The specific fact that, of all his assistants, Jon thinks Tim would be least likely to pull a prank on him. That’s wild and amazing. The fact that it TEARS THEM APART when Jon starts to suspect Tim, afterwards…
I just can’t help but sink back in pre-archives time, with researchers not liking Snarky, grumpy, slightly too prideful, trying bit too hard Workalcoholic Jon Sims much, not just because he’s not very PLEASANT to be around, but also because clearly he’s got the ear of the Boss, y'know, the one who’s actually boring and generally a little bit useless for everything else. Using that to make jokes about him being the teacher’s pet, etc.
And Tim and Sasha do participate in that, to some degree; but then one day Jon actually hears the more raunchy jokes of some of their colleagues, the rumours about him sleeping with the boss, etc. and there’s a twitch of Jon’s eyebrows, the tightness of his jaw, and then he’s gone without a word or his usual rolll of the eye i’m ignoring this kind of reaction, and Tim feels. Weird about this.
Tim goes to see him where he knows he’ll find him: the smoking area, and Jon snaps “What” and Tim’s like “you alright mate? You know they’re joking out there, yeah?” and Jon snorts and says icily: “yes thank you, I know what bullying looks like, Tim.”
Which is when Tim realizes that Jon. Is a 24 year old who’s trying to pretend he’s ten years older on his first ever proper adult job, who’s been trying hard because that’s what serious young people who are trying to get recognized DO on their first jobs, and the only one who’s been giving him the positive rewarding attention for it is, in fact, Elias. Everybody else has just. Been “joking”. Been mean about it. Including Tim.
And Tim, of course, forever a big brother, his whole life built around being a big brother, decides on the spot to now be Jonathan Sims’s protector.
