Chapter Text
“So let me get this straight,” Steph grumbled through a mouthful of ice cream from her side of Tim’s bed. “You kissed the boy you’ve had a frankly embarrassing crush on for ages. He didn’t react badly. But you’re panicking because…?”
“Steph…” Tim groaned.
“No, no, this is hilarious! Go on, keep telling me about how ‘everything sucks’ because you got smooches.”
“He’s my friend!” Tim lamented, dropping his face onto the pillow he’d been holding on his lap. “And I kissed him without asking. In front of his entire drama club. I probably freaked him out! Hell, he probably knows now. He’s probably feeling all grossed out and I ruined everything!”
“Ok, Tim? Ex Wonder?” Steph reached over to grip Tim’s hair and gently tug at it. “Imma need you to look at me for this.”
Tim pulled his face away from the pillow to meet his friend’s mirthful eyes.
“You. Are. So dumb sometimes.” She said solemnly.
“Thanks?”
“No, I’m serious,” she said. “Kon’s not going to hate you over this. It’s like you don’t even know him! And he’s the one who asked you to play boyfriends with him. You guys were going to have to end up kissing for the play anyway. And, honestly? You kissing him was probably the best thing that could’ve happened. Maybe the weird sexual tension will finally dissipate if you both get the chance to smash faces on a regular basis–“
“STEPH!”
“I’m serious!”
“There’s no weird sexual tension!” Tim exclaimed in mortification. He never should have called her.
“You’re lying to yourself, my dude,” she grinned, going back to her snack. Sobering up, she continued: “Tim, you know Kon loves you. I’m pretty sure it’s not as platonic as you would like to think–“
“Stephanie, I swear to God–!”
“He’s not going to be upset over this!” She said. “But he is going to freak out if you keep ignoring his calls.”
Tim winced at that. His phone had been buzzing with texts and calls from Conner since he’d gotten back to the manor, but he’d been trying really hard to ignore it. He just… He didn’t want to face it. Rejection. Disgust.
“Whatever’s going on in your head, stop it,” she snapped playfully. “Talk to your friend. And for God’s sake, listen to him. I promise he’s still going to love you after this.”
“I just…” Tim mumbled.
“You just nothing,” she said, patting his head once before stretching her back to a satisfying crack. “I’m gonna leave now so you can call him back. But you better call him or I’ll have to do unthinkable things in the name of common sense.”
With that, Steph jumped off the bed. Giving Tim one last grin, she said:
“You can have the rest of my ice cream. For your troubles.”
And with that, she was gone.
Tim sat there for a minute, contemplating his choices on friends. Finally, resigning himself to an evening of misery, he got up from the bed and made to grab his backpack.
I should probably head home, before everyone starts getting ready for patrol.
He wasn’t exactly bitter… Ok, yeah, he was pretty upset about being benched. Sue him for not wanting to stick around for relentless teasing from his brothers.
So grabbing his backpack, he headed downstairs to the family garage and got into his car.
-
The drive back to his apartment was filled with a mental carousel of all the ways he could fuck up his friendship with Kon and Bowie’s voice through the radio. When he got home, he parked his car and took the elevator to the uppermost level. He’d recently started living in a penthouse on the outskirts of Gotham. It was a pretty sweet place. Or it would be if he had the energy to clean up after himself on a daily basis. Usually, the interior looked more like a hoarder’s hideout than the home of Wayne Enterprise’s youngest CEO.
But as the elevator doors slid open, something immediately felt off.
There was no sign of his usual mess throughout the foyer. No dirty travel mugs on the little table. No dirty shoes decorating the floor.
And the air smelled nice. Lemony.
Instantly wary, Tim dropped his bag silently and began sneaking through the room. There was the sound of water running from the kitchen, so he slowly made his way towards the sound. Stopping behind the wall that opened up into the kitchen, he breathed in quietly through his nose and prepared to spring an attack on the intruder.
He dashed in. A beatarang flying from his hand as he did. But he halted on his tracks.
Because standing by the sink, hands deep in soapy water, scrubbing a dirty plate, was Conner.
“Tim! You’re back!”
Tim sagged in relief. But the memories of the day rushed back to him and he immediately felt weary.
“Kon? What are you–? Did you clean my apartment?” Tim said, confused. Kon flinched, his ears going dark in embarrassment, and he looked over at Tim with a sheepish grin. That was another thing Tim loved about him, Kon was always so expressive. Where Tim would paint himself a million masks, Kon was completely unapologetically himself. He envied him sometimes.
“Uh… yeah?” He chuckled nervously. “I thought maybe… I wanted to…” With a sigh, Kon ran a still wet hand through his hair, making his curls stand up at ridiculous angles.
Tim felt the anxiety of the past couple of hours come back with vengeance. Suddenly unable to look his friend in the eye, he turned to take in the newly-cleaned room.
“I wanted to apologize.”
Tim’s heart stopped. His head whipped around to face his friend because wHAT–?
“What? Apologize?” Had something happened? Was that why Kon had been calling before? “What happened? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, no, it’s…” Kon gave a frustrated huff. “Sorry, I just– You weren’t picking up my calls and you rushed out of school before I could get a chance to talk to you. And I wanted to say I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable during drama club, Tim. I should have asked before assuming you’d be fine doing… I didn’t want you to feel pressured to do anything and at the time I didn’t think about how fast you’d want to take the whole ‘pretending to be boyfriends’ thing and then I… I just, I’m sorry, Tim.”
Tim’s mouth went slack. Kon was looking at him with the most sincerely apologetic expression and he needed a second. To think. To reboot his brain. Because nothing made sense.
“What?” He said. Well, he squeaked, but he’d be damned if he admitted it.
“Shit, you’re mad,” Kon began pacing. “You’re mad, aren’t you? Shit, Tim, I’m so so so so sorry!”
“No, I–!” Tim began, but Kon dashed to stand in front of him and took his hands into his.
Tim.exe not responding.
“It’s ok if you’re mad. I promise I’ll do my best to make it up to you!”
“No! Kon, I…” Tim stammered. He needed to take a step back, figure out where he’d gone wrong that he’d made his best friend think he had to clean his entire apartment to apologize to him. But Kon was staring directly at him and he couldn’t look away.
“I’m not mad,” he finally managed to say. “I’m not. Why would I be mad at you? I thought you were pissed at me!”
“At you?” Kon looked throughly confused. “Why would I be mad at you?”
“I thought I had made you uncomfortable,” Tim explained. With a sigh, he let go of his friend’s hands. “Kon, I kissed you. In front of your friends. I figured you’d be weirded out at least.”
“What? Tim, no!” Kon exclaimed. “I wasn’t. Of course I wasn’t weirded out, you were acting! And you were doing amazing!”
Relief and something unbearably fond filled Tim’s chest and he couldn’t stop the startle laugh that left his lips.
“Even I would’ve bought the whole thing if I didn’t know better!”
And Tim felt his heart drop to his stomach.
Right, acting. Kon wasn’t uncomfortable because they’d been acting.
“Yeah,” Tim chuckled sheepishly. “We were pretty good, right?”
Kon smiled brightly at that.
“Hell yeah we were!” Kon raised his fist and Tim dutifully bumped his. “We’re going to rock this show!”
And Tim grinned. Because how could he not? His best friend was happy and, Tim? He’d do anything to keep him that way.
Even if it meant watching his breathing to keep his stupid heart at a regular pace for the next three weeks of physical contact.