Work Text:
Kon had been watching Tim for a while, not in a creepy way, but in an interested, amazed way. The guy never relaxed, always seemed to have some soda or coffee on him and never seemed to get hurt too badly. He was always there for everyone and sure, he and Kon had fought over who should be the leader several times, but Tim had quickly managed to gain Kon’s trust, appreciation, support and devotion.
Kon knew that if Tim asked him to he would protect him from a bullet made of kryptonite, hell, he’d do it even if Tim didn’t ask.
He wasn’t sure what it was that made him act that way. He definitely wasn’t going to ask Superman for help, or anyone on their team for that matter. He was going to have to figure it out himself.
That seemed simple enough.
~~~
He made sure to start small, little gifts that Tim enjoyed having. They wouldn’t count as the ‘real deal’ they were to show Tim that he was thinking of him.
He’d restock the coffee supply anytime it seemed low, always getting Tim’s preferred type. He knew that Tim liked a nice cold soda after missions, so he’d always have one ready.
He offered Tim the TV remote, even when his favorite shows were on, because he knew Tim didn’t often let himself relax long enough to watch anything.
He would do small things that to most would just make him seem like a good friend. Kon needed to start his courting plan.
It was simple really, he would do things that he’d seen couples do. He wouldn’t try anything that Tim might not be read for, but he was willing to do anything to win him over.
Simple enough, right?
~~~
Kon noticed that Tim seemed really tired, he was practically about to drop dead. His hand was shaking as he wrote a report on their latest mission. It hadn’t gone completely right, an explosion had sent one of their teammates into a wall, thankfully that person had a strong healing factor. Kon couldn’t let Tim torture himself like that. He made sure he kept his voice gentle, “Tim, you need to go to bed.”
“Huh?” Tim shook himself, startled by Kon’s voice. “Oh, Kon. Sorry I didn’t see you there. I’m just going to finish this report, it shouldn’t take too long.”
“Tim.” Kon walked to be behind the young man, resting his hands on his shoulders. He gave a small squeeze, using the help of his TTK to pull him to his feet. “Go to sleep, I’ll handle the report.”
“But Batman likes it a specific way-”
“Then I’ll look over your other reports and base it off of that.” He took a quick glance at the blank computer, before sighing and gently guiding the bird in the direction of the dorms. “You haven’t even started and you usually take a couple hours to complete your reports. Go to bed Birdie, I’ve got you covered.”
“Hmmpfh.” Tim groaned, but started walking towards his room. “Thanks Kon.”
“Anytime.”
Kon sat down at Tim’s desk, hovering his fingers over the keyboard. He turned, grabbing a few files that Tim had already written. He opened them to the first page, scanning over the layout. They were all written in the same style, this should be easy. He could do this.
Why on earth had he agreed to do this? Kon didn’t understand it. He wrote what happened, trying to stick to Tim’s layout, but he had no clue how to word it. TIm often used fancy, posh, long words, ones the Kon had to google to understand. How was he going to do this?
He had finished. It took him a long time. He copied Tim’s usual patterns, explaining what had gone wrong, how it had been handled, future practices to prevent it happening again. What had gone right, how it could have been better, practices to improve. Kon realised that Tim spent a lot of time thinking about what could have been better, rather than what had gone well. He had stuck to Tim’s style, even if he wasn’t a fan. He didn’t like scrutinizing Tim’s performance, but he wasn’t sure how to work around it. He hated this.
When he saw Tim next, they didn’t talk about it much. All that happened was Tim nodded at him and said a small thanks. Kon placed a hand softly on his shoulder, not to squeeze it, just to try to be comforting. “I told you I got you, Tim,” he smiled, “I’ll always have your back.”
~~~
The practice mission that they were on needed a lot of jumping over obstacles, upwards and over. When they finally got to the end they needed to scale a large cliff. Kon started to fly up when he saw Robin’s grappling hook fly past him. He went to smile to himself, until he saw the line tighten, then slack dramatically. He turned to see Tim standing there, looking dejectedly at the broken grapple.
Kon slowly floated down landing softly in front of Tim. “You alright Birdie?”
“I’m fine.” He was grumbling as he started inspecting the machine, “I thought I fixed this stupid thing.”
“What happened to it?” He walked closer, pretending to know what he was looking at. “It looks normal to me?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed, starting to mumble, “if I can’t fix this stupid thing how am I meant to pass? And if I mess up then everyone else fails, so they’ll be-”
“Scoop!” Kon took Tim in his arms, causing him to squirm. “Would you please relax? The flight could be dangerous if you wiggle, I don’t want to drop you.”
“What are you doing?” He grabbed Kon’s collar tightly, “put me down.”
“No, we need to pass this right?” Tim stopped squirming in his arms. “I’m pretty sure that teamwork is important, so I’ll give you a lift up here and then we'll all succeed!”
“Oh.”
“Something wrong, Birdie?” Kon paused, about to lift off. “Robin?”
“It’s fine, Superboy,” he relaxed into Kon’s grip, just enough to be comfortable. “Let’s finish this already.”
“Okay?”
Before Kon could touch down on the roof Tim was already out of his arms walking to where Batman stood waiting. Their teammates looked at them questioningly as Kon positioned himself by Tim’s side. Batman shot Kon a look he couldn’t decipher before telling Robin in a low voice that they needed to talk later, Kon noticed Tim’s shoulders tense.
On the trip back to HQ everyone was happy, excited to have passed the practice mission. Tim was sitting at his station furiously typing on his computer. Kon walked over to him, but before he could say anything Tim spoke. “I know and I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” What was he apologizing for?
“I know I made you late to the finishing line,” he turned to Kon, “and I’m sorry if you don’t pass because of me.”
“Nah,” Kon grinned at him, “if I failed it’s because I hit my head on a pipe.” He held his hand out, the can still cold in his grip. “You want a soda?”
“Oh,” Tim’s domino mask scrunched as if he shut his eyes tightly. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Tim, you did great on the mission.”
“Not sure Batman agrees.”
~~~
This time it was a real mission. It had been going well until Kon heard a horrific noise. He heard a loud snap before a scream. Tim’s scream.
He searched for him immediately. Keeping his ears open for any sounds of Tim in pain. All he heard was his speeding heart and small shallow breaths.
When he finally found him Tim was curled in a corner, holding his leg as a man stood there with their gun pointed at him. “Finally one of you runts showed up,” the man's voice grated at his ears, “if you don’t tell your teammates to stand down I’ll-”
“No.” Kon used his heat vision to blast the hand holding the gun, before using his TTK to grab the man, slam him across the room and throw large objects in the same general direction. He then quickly turned to Tim, who was watching him. His posture seemed, almost… scared? Of Kon? “Birdie?” He flinched as Kon slowly approached, hands open, trying to show that he was non-threatening to Tim. “Hey, hey. You alright?”
“Superboy.” He took a glance behind Kon, his posture slowly turning back to normal, hands still clutching at his leg. “Is he… ?”
“Uhm,” he quickly focused on listening behind himself, “no. He’s alive. I can hear his heart beating and his breathing.” Carefully Kon lowered himself to Tim’s side, hands hovering near his injured leg. “I heard something snap and you-” he cut himself off as Tim turned his head away, “are you okay? Can you walk?”
“I’ll be fine, I just need to stand.” He collapsed backwards as he put a small amount of pressure on his injury. “Fuck. Oh shit.”
“Okay then, that’s that option over-”
“I need you to set my leg.”
“Excuse me?” Kon blinked from behind his sunglasses in confusion. “I don’t have any medical knowledge-"
“I do,” he reached out carefully, taking Kon’s hands in his to guide them to different parts of his leg. “My leg’s not broken, it’s just dislocated. Keep your hands there, but grab my leg.” Kon obliged, wrapping his hands softly around where Tim told him to. “No, you need to hold tighter than that.” He changed his grip to a firm hold, trying to ignore Tim’s small wince. “Okay now just, shove your hands towards each other pointed upwards slightly.”
“I can’t-”
“Yes.” Tim gritted his teeth, grabbing something to bite from his belt. “You said you’ll have my back, so I need you to do this.”
“Oh fuck, okay.” Kon waited until Tim put the bite in his mouth, giving him a firm nod. The sound it made nearly made Kon vomit. The second Kon let go Tim moved his leg, groaning slightly. “I don’t think you should move just yet.”
“We need to get back to the others,” Tim braced himself to stand, clearly hesitating. “Don’t tell anyone that I got injured like this.” He took a grip of Kon’s shirt, pulling him close to his face. “Or I will kill you.”
“I won’t,” he smiled softly, “just please never ask me to do this again.”
“Sure,” Tim chuckled, Kon guessed he had rolled his eyes. He let out a strangled noise as Kon scooped him up, being careful of his leg. “Wait, stop, what are you doing?”
“Birdie I just set your leg.” He laughed as he levitated lightly, not wanting to jostle Tim. “There is no way I want you walking right now.”
“Superbo-”
“I’ll put you down before we get in eyeline with anyone else.” He kept his tone firm, not wanting Tim to argue. “No one will know that I carried you, and having more time for your leg to settle will help you hide your injury. I won’t tell anyone about either if you won’t.”
“Hm.” He stopped trying to escape Kon’s grip, posture still stiff, still suspicious. “Fine. Just, no one can know.”
“No one will.”
As they touched down, just around the corner from the others Kon held Tim tight, not letting him squirm away too fast. He had to rush a hushed explanation, “relax I’m going to put you down, but if you jump you’ll make noise!”
“Ugh,” he said nothing, but his discontent was made clear. When Kon shifted his grip so Tim’s good leg went down first it caused his face to press into Kon’s neck. He chose to ignore the fact that Tim didn’t turn away. “Thanks, Superboy. Just, remember-”
“I know,” he smiled softly, “as far as I know, we ran into each other in the hallway on the way back. Nothing else, I promise Birdie.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, tilting his head slightly. “Thank you.”
~~~
Tim was sitting at his desk, typing out a report. He kept pausing, eyebrows scrunching behind his domino mask. Kon walked up behind him, his report on their latest mission open. So far the only thing written was Tim practically bashing himself, writing in a way that made it seem like everything that went wrong was his fault. Kon frowned, placing a hand softly on Tim’s shoulder. He flinched, much more than he would have normally. “You alright Birdie?”
“Oh, Kon.” Tim barely relaxed, but he surprised Kon by not shrugging off his hand. “I’m just working on the report, I’m fine.”
“Clearly not.” He grabbed a nearby wheely chair without removing his hand from Tim’s shoulder. He shifted so the chair was next to Tim’s, placed slightly closer to the computer screen, his hand shifting down Tim’s arm to lay on his thigh. “Why are you lying on the report? Most of this stuff did not happen like that? Tim?”
“Uh-” he had turned slightly red, but Kon could have just been imagining it. “Wait, what do you mean I’m lying? I don’t lie on my reports!”
“You put here that Bart got thrown against a wall because you misjudged the guy's telekinetic range.” He huffed a small laugh, turning to look at the serious and confused expression on Tim’s masked face. “You do know that’s not what happened?”
“It was though!”
“No, it wasn't,” Kon started rubbing small circles with his thumb. Tim had definitely turned a slight shade of red. “Bart ignored your warnings because he wanted to see if he could punch him. It’s not like you could stop the guy, he's crazy! He got thrown because he decided to antagonise the guy. I can’t really say much ‘cause I was teasing him too. That’s why he threw a rock at my head.” Kon turned away from the screen, back to Tim. “Birdie? You gonna fix your report?”
“Oh!” Tim shook his head, turning back to the screen. “Right. Are you really sure that’s what happened?”
“Yep!” Kon smiled brightly at the stunned man, “none of it was your fault, it was our stupidity. As usual,” this time Tim let out a small chuckle. “Do you want me to tell you every detail that I know? I can drag Bart and Cassie over to tell you their versions?”
“Thanks, Kon.”
When Batman arrived not long after the report was sent out Tim lost all of his calmness. He stiffened, any joy drained. Kon knew he shouldn’t have, it was an invasion of Tim’s privacy, but he listened in on their conversation. Batman’s tone was indecipherable, but his words were not. “Your most recent report was… interesting.”
“I am sorry, sir.”
“It was much more detailed, a large improvement.”
“Sir?”
“You were much less self-centered. However, you need to be more critical of the others on your team. Especially Superboy. You have done well enough explaining your own mistakes. I expect you to apply that to the others.”
“I understand sir.”
“Good.”
“Is there more you need to tell me sir?”
“You are to abandon the Robin name. I have found a new apprentice, she will be taking the mantle of Robin.”
“Oh…”
“Will that be a problem?”
“No! Of course not sir.”
“Good.”
~~~
A few days after Tim called a group meeting. Kon, Bart and Cassie sat in the main room, awaiting Tim. When he emerged he had a new suit on, a mainly red and black one. His domino mask had become a hooded one, covering his hair. He had a cape. Kon liked the new outfit, it suited him.
“I’ve decided it’s time for a change,” he announced, a small note of disappointment, hearable only to Kon. “I’m changing my name to Red Robin, not much of a change but for short it’ll be ‘Red’.”
“Why aren’t you being Robin?” Bart, ever curious, had to ask, causing Kon to wince slightly.
“I figured since I’m on a team and no longer being Batman’s full-time side-kick it was the best choice.” He had definitely rehearsed this. “I figured if I remove myself as a Robin it gives him a chance to have a new side-kick.”
“You’re not really removing yourself as a Robin though,” Bart mused.
“Yeah you’re keeping it in your name,” Cassie added.
“I suppose if you're going by ‘Red’ for short it makes sense,” Kon scrambled to Tim’s defence, earning him confused looks. “Keeping Robin in your name is like a signal that you’ll still be there if Batman or the new Robin needs you.”
“Exactly,” Tim sighed, but his look at Kon was suspicious, making him sink back slightly. “I’ll be there if I’m needed, but I have a team now. I have you three.”
“So sappy,” Cassie laughed.
~~~
It didn’t take too many days for Tim to corner Kon. “Why’d you do that?”
“Do what?” He hoped he didn’t sound as guilty as he felt.
“Why’d you defend me like that?” Tim used an arm to trap Kon to the wall, placing his hand by his head. “You- oh fuck.” He took a step back, realization dawning. “You heard.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, wincing slightly. “I’m sorry Tim, I just. I’m sorry.”
“How much did you hear?”
“All of it.”
“Oh.” Tim turned to leave, but Kon quickly grabbed his arm. “What now Kon-el?”
“Uhm,” Kon flinched back slightly at the use of full name. “I disagree with him.” Tim turned to him, confusion clear despite the mask. “Batman.”
“You shouldn’t.” He tensed instantly at the name, “he’s right.”
“No he’s not-”
“He is. I need to be more objective with how I write my reports when it comes to yo- the team.”
“Oh, that’s not what I meant.” He took a step forward, reaching towards Tim but stopping short when he backed away. “You aren’t self-centered. You’re one of the most selfless people I know!”
“Thanks Kon, but he was right about that too.” Tim sighed, a noise that made Kon want to hit Batman with a bus. “I need to concentrate on the entire team, not just myself.”
“I strongly disagree,” he crossed his arms, “you focus on us! The only thing you need to focus on less is what you ‘do wrong’. You have a tendency to believe everything that goes wrong is your fault, but it isn’t! You need to let the rest of us take the blame for our mistakes.”
“I do!”
“No you don’t!” He was getting angry, but not at Tim. “Batman has led you to believe that because you’re our leader our mistakes are yours. But. They. Aren’t. They’re ours.”
“So what do you expect me to do?” Tim’s voice raised, anger flaring. “Consult you before every single report goes out?”
“Actually,” he paused to think, “that’s not a bad idea!” Tim huffed, he was definitely rolling his eyes. “No, please, think about it! If I help you write the reports by adding my perspective, I’ll be able to tell you when the problem was something we caused, rather than something you did!”
“Kon, it’ll never work.”
“It will, Birdie!” He took Tim’s arms in his hands, grinning completely. “It’ll work perfectly! Please, let’s just try it!”
“Kon…” he studied the hopeful expression on Kon’s face, “okay. Let’s give it a go.”
~~~
It worked, despite Tim’s reservations. His reports started focusing less on changing situations to make it seem like everything was Tim’s fault. Kon added insight that showed who’s fault it had really been. He even encouraged Tim to write in detail about Kon’s own wrong-doings. It came less easily to Tim, so Kon would type to start with and Tim would fix his spelling and make the sentences more professional.
Kon would often tell Tim to delete the parts that criticized his actions, he didn’t like how harsh Tim was on himself. He often refused, but Kon always managed to get him to remove some by explaining how it didn’t make sense.
~~~
Their system was working. Kon knew Tim was happy with their system because he told Kon that Batman congratulated his improved reports. He was happy for Tim, but mainly just happy he had chosen to tell him.
Now Kon’s only problem with the reports was how long they took. It often resulted in neither of them eating until late at night, when Tim didn’t want to eat. He needed to think of a solution.
He was grabbing some more soda when he noticed the pizza place. He couldn’t fully remember which toppings Tim liked, so he grabbed one that had his favorites, a generic one and an only cheese pizza. Hopefully Tim would like at least one of the flavors.
He did. When Kon arrived holding the pizzas and sodas like a prize let practically lit up. “What flavors did you get?”
“I wasn’t sure which you preferred,” he set the boxes down next to the computer, using his TTK to unbox the soda into the mini-fridge. “So I got one of my favorites, whatever this one is, and just pure cheese!”
“Nice!”
~~~
Their most recent mission had gone horribly. All of them had been injured and the only reason it had been a success was because Batman and his new Robin had shown up. Now Batman had grabbed Tim and forcefully dragged him to a side. It was clear that he was pissed. The man wasn’t yelling so the others didn’t know what was being said. The new Robin tried to talk to him, but Kon just scoffed and stalked towards Tim and Batman. “You shouldn’t be intruding on their private conversation it’s-”
“Oh shut up you teacher's pet.” He shoved her out of the way, before flying towards Tim. He was stopped by a grapple wrapping around his leg. “Impulse, Wonder Girl, could you two?”
“Gladly,” Cassie struck the line, breaking it.
She and Bart kept the girl busy.
Kon perched himself behind Batman, out of his eyesight, while being able to see everything that happened. They were having a heated argument, by that he meant Batman was strongly explaining in detail how everything was Tim’s fault. Kon knew for a fact it was not. He wasn’t sure what to do, everything Batman was saying was making Tim more and more tense. Then he mentioned Tim’s name change.
Kon was watching the man he loved practically fall apart under the scrutiny of his old mentor. His strong leader, usually fearless in the face of extreme danger, was cracking. Kon did the only thing he could think of. He reached out with his TTK, pressing into Tim’s hand with a telepathic one of his own. He interlocked the force-made fingers with Tim’s human ones. He couldn’t see his reaction, but did notice a small drop in Tim’s shoulders.
When the two returned to the group Kon had already sped back. The new girl Robin didn’t say anything, but was standing pointedly away from the others. Red Robin walked immediately towards the others, planting himself between them and Batman. “I think we’ve taken enough time out of your tight schedule.” His voice was vaguely pissed, his hand flexing slightly. “We’ll get out of your hair.”
“I expect you to do better.”
“I understand.” Kon realized he had stopped using his TTK and immediately returned it to Tim’s hand, while also wrapping an arm-like field around his waist. “However, due to the fact that we had never had a problem such as this before,” his tone was more relaxed, “I think we’ll do fine.”
“Hmm.” Batman growled before stalking away, the girl scrambling behind him.
“Well then,” Tim turned to them, trying for a smile. “Let’s get back to HQ.”
~~~
Tim kept avoiding the subject whenever anyone tried to mention Batman. So Kon didn’t.
When he approached him that day he saw the caution in Tim’s posture. Rather than question him, he pulled up a chair. “I ordered our pizza and soda, it should be here soon.” He smiled, turning to the stunned man. “Let’s get started on this report, better get it over and done with right?”
“Uhm,” his confusion was evident as he turned towards the screen, “yeah? Yeah. Okay.”
Each step of the report consisted of Tim writing an explanation of what happened, twisting his own actions to make it look like it was solely his fault. Kon would then smack his hands lightly, steal the keyboard and type out what actually happened. Each time Tim would read it over, get confused, ask Kon to elaborate, then a look of understanding would cross his face. When it was actually Tim who messed up, a rare occasion, Kon would explain how it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought, show him how the final result wasn’t his fault alone.
Kon made sure Tim felt seen. Made sure he understood it wasn’t his fault.
~~~
It was only a few weeks later, but the day was a special one. It was Tim’s birthday. The team threw him a party, with a cake, presents (mainly more technology or caffeine) and played video games until late.
He was leaning on Kon, his feet pressed against Bart’s side. Cassie was complaining that he had cheated, accompanying Bart’s complaints. Kon was adamantly disagreeing, saying that if anyone was cheating it was Bart, using his superspeed. “That’s the only way you got second!”
“I got second because you and Cassie were pushing each other off the road!” Bart’s words were fast, although still understandable. “If anyone cheated it was Tim!”
“Birdie here doesn’t cheat,” he slung one of his arms around Tim, smiling when he felt him relax into the embrace. “He doesn’t need to.”
“Exactly,” Tim smiled smugly, “I don’t need to cheat to win. But you definitely need to cheat to be second!”
“Liar! I never need to che-” he was cut off by the doorbell, speeding away.
“Saved by the bell,” Tim grinned, tilting his head back onto Kon’s shoulder. “As usual.”
“No way he could beat me,” Kon chimed in, pressing his chin to Tim’s forehead. “Not without cheating.”
“I don’t know,” Cassie was looking between the two, a glint forming in her eyes. “I think we may have been a tad too focused on making sure each other loses.”
“PIZZA!” Bart reappeared, throwing a pizza box at each of them. “Still not sure how you both managed to tie for last!” He grinned, mouth stuffed as he sat back with the remaining three boxes.
“Cause we are equally as wonderful!” Kon placed his box on the floor next to him, swiping a slice from Tim’s box.
“Or equally shit,” he snarked in response, forgiving Kon when he produced a fresh cold soda. “In the end all we can know for certain is that I’m better than all of you.”
“Sure thing, Birdie.” He smiled at the man, correcting himself when Tim threw a stray topping at his head. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry, of course you are much better than us all, oh powerful one!”
“Speak for yourself!” They dissolved into a fit of laughter at Cassie’s exclamation.
The four of them had fallen asleep in their spots on the couches. Kon was woken by Cassie, who was groaning as she stood up. “Hey,” her voice was soft, but rough. “I’m gonna head to bed, it’s a little uncomfortable here.”
“Okay,” he kept his voice small, not wanting to wake Tim. “Can you grab Bart? He has a habit of thrashing when he gets woken.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.” She carefully slipped her hands under Bart, scooping him up gently. “Will you and Tim be okay?”
“Hm?” He looked up from the snoozing face on top of him. “Oh yeah, we both know that Tim rarely sleeps, so I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Oh yeah?” She had a mischievous smirk on her face. “Makes total sense.”
“It does!” He lowered his voice the second Tim grumbled softly, “it does, I just want him to sleep. Go away.”
“Okay, okay fine.”
Kon had carefully shifted their bodies so he was laying with his head on the arm rest, Tim’s was gently rising and falling on Kon’s chest. Their legs were entangled and Kon’s hand was resting in Tim’s hair. He was extremely comfortable.
Kon woke next because Tim poked him in the side, grumbling softly. “Kon?”
“Heya Birdie?”
“‘M cold.” His nose was pinkish red, his mask was drooping slightly. “Blanket?”
“Yeah, of course.” If he wanted to, Kon could easily just pull down the mask, get a glimpse at his eyes. Learn who the man behind the mask was. “Fluffy or weighted?”
“Both.”
“Fair,” he grinned. Kon didn’t need to know who was behind the mask. He knew Tim. “One sec,” he reached out with his TTK, grabbing the blankets and piling them on top of the two. First the fluffy blanket then the weighted one. Then he gently brushed his hand over Tim’s face, shifting the mask back into place. “Is that better, Birdie?”
“Yeah,” he sighed happily, “much. Thanks, Clone Boy.”
~~~
It was new years day. Everyone was excited to watch some fireworks together, but naturally something had to go wrong.
They were completely suited up, ready to have fun, when Red Robin got a crime alert. Cassie and Bart’s posture completely crumpled, their expressions painted their disappointment clearly. Kon could tell Tim was bummed, but he knew he wouldn’t want to skip it. “Okay then, here's the plan.” Kon grinned, looking at Bart’s hopeful gaze. “Red and I got this, you two find a good place to watch the New Year. We’ll try and find you, but if we can’t we’ll still watch.”
“Are you sure?” Cassie pointedly tried to ignore the vibrating ball of excitement next to her, “we can help if you want us?”
“No need,” he smiled, placing a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “Birdie and I got this covered, right?”
“‘Course we do.”
They had managed to take out some bank robbers. They’d thought they could do anything with their shiny new meta powers, but underestimated Red Robin and Superboy. It didn’t take long for the two of them to detain the idiots, wrapped with a bow for the local police.
By the time they left it was nearing fireworks time. Kon could tell Tim was disappointed by the fact they wouldn’t be able to get back in time. So he did what he figured was the smartest thing to do! “Scooping!” Kon announced as he plucked Tim up bridal style. “You ready Birdie?”
“For what?”
“To hold on tight!” Tim laughed as he grabbed a hold of Kon, allowing himself to be carried at an incredible speed. “I think this is a pretty good view!”
“How on earth am I meant to watch the fireworks?" Tim chuckled, looking up at his curly-haired carrier. “It’s not exactly comfortable here.”
“Hmm,” he paused for only a moment, “one sec!” He carefully moved himself to a half-laying position, allowing Tim to sit upright on his lap. “How’s this Birdie?”
“Much better Clone Boy,” he huffed, turning to straddle Kon for better support. “This does actually seem like a good spot.”
“The view truly is amazing.” He knew it was corny, but he chose to blatantly look at Tim as he spoke.
The firework display was amazing. By the end Tim was leaning back on Kon’s tented knees. Kon was resting one of his hands on Tim’s thigh, the other had found its way into one of Tim’s, both of them saying it was in case he fell.
They spent a little longer there, just relaxing together than they needed to. But it didn’t matter. They were both simply just happy.
~~~
He wanted to try something. He knew it was risky, but he wanted to try to give Tim a gift. He had been doing that for a while now, randomly giving him plushies that he thought he’d like. Tim never once complained, often Kon glimpsed a small smile on his face. But today was different.
It was Valentine's Day.
Kon had found a small (large) box of Tim’s preferred chocolates and doughnuts. He had also found a weighted shark that had been designed based on Superboy. It had his signature punk look, Kon was hoping Tim didn’t see that as self centered. He had added a little hand-made cloak with Red Robin’s logo to the sharks back.
He waited until Bart and Cassie were both out on their own dates before he approached Tim. “Are you here to say that you have a date and are heading out?” Tim’s voice had a faint icy hint to it, “you don’t need my permission to-” he was cut off by Kon presenting the gifts to him. “… Kon?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere.” He smiled softly, pressing the gifts gently into the confused man’s hands. “Happy Valentine’s Tim.”
“Kon?” His voice was small, as he took the gifts, studying them as if they were bombs. “You? What?”
“I don’t have a valentines,” he shrugged, but quickly finished talking when he saw Tim deflate. “But I was hoping that you’d be mine?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because you’re you?” He laughed slightly, crouching down to meet Tim’s masked eyes. “And I’ve loved you since I first met you.” He gulped, realizing what he had just confessed. “I was kinda sure I’d made that obvious recently, but I figured either you didn’t feel the same or didn’t notice so… be my valentine?”
When Tim didn’t answer he nodded his head faintly, turning to leave. “Kon-”
“It’s fine Tim, I’ll drop it.”
“Kon.” He was stopped by a strong grip on his arm, turning him around to pull him into a rushed kiss. “I love you too.” He looked up into the bright shining eyes in front of him. Eyes? “Kon?”
“Blue.”
“What?”
“They’re blue?” Kon brought a hand up to his face, brushing a hand over the reddening skin on his cheek. “They’re stunning.”
“What are?” Tim titled his head into Kon’s hand. “Clone Boy?”
“You’re eyes,” he grinned, bringing his face towards Tim’s. “I love them.”
“Huh,” his mouth parted slightly as he smiled at Kon. “Just my eyes?”
“No, just you.”
“Oh?” he faltered, turning a shade matching his outfit. “Just me?”
“Yeah.” Kon pulled Tim close, embracing him softly. “Just you, Birdie.” Their mouths in the middle.
~~~
When Bart and Cassie returned to the HQ they heard sounds of laughter coming from Tim’s room. A small look showed Tim cuddling the shark plush, while leaning on Kon, the rubbish from their snacks surrounding them as they watched random movies, laughing at the corny plots.
Bart owed Cassie fifty bucks that day.
Kon never stopped giving Tim gifts, but Tim started to give some of his own.