Chapter Text
The sound of Kon’s voice echoes throughout the dark room. Bernard listens to the video intently.
“Yeah,” Kon responds to the question he was just asked, “I’ve never really been in a relationship that wasn’t, like, disastrous." He lets out a laugh. “My first one, when I was a freshman or sophomore, was probably my weirdest one. The guy was always working, I swear he probably only slept like three hours a night. His eyebags were legendary. We dated for nearly ten months, I think? It’s still my longest relationship to date. Sometimes I see his face on the news, and wonder how he’s doing.” Kon trails off.
“He cheated on me, though. The worst part is, it was with a good friend of ours. I was surprised our friend even let him, but I don’t know if he knew that me and the guy were still dating. It was at the end of our relationship, and I confronted him about that after we had already broken up, but our friend probably thought we had already ended it. It still hurts, though, and it definitely made group hangouts a lot more awkward after that.” Kon laughs again, but this time it’s strained, as if he was trying to brush off how much that incident hurt him, then the clip ends.
Tim, Bernard thinks. That clip was about Tim. Another video pops up on the screen, another clip from some interview from a few years back, the grey letters counting down from ten, the video automatically playing when Bernard doesn’t click ‘cancel’ fast enough. He shuts the laptop and picks up the phone laying beside him. The screen turns on, and the glow illuminates the room. The sound of ringing broke the silence that had filled the room, and after a few rings, Bernard heard a click before his screen was filled with flashing lights, and the person on the other side was trying to shove his way through a crowd of people.
“Hey, Bernard, what’s up? Oh-” Kon trips and nearly fails to grab on to the door handle to steady him, before opening the large, metal door. The sounds of the other people are quickly muffled as Bernard’s screen changes to the scene of Kon smiling down at the camera as the night sky takes the background. Bernard hums distantly.
“Bernard, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Kon’s eyebrows furrow as he looks at his phone, concern written all over his features. Bernard sniffles. Kon’s eyes widen. “Are you at home? Where’s Tim?”
“Dunno. Haven’t seen ‘im all week.” Bernard finally gets out, words barely getting picked up by the receiver. Kon nods and takes a breath.
“Okay, uh,” Kon looks around at his surroundings for a moment, before turning his attention back to Bernard. “I’ll be at your apartment soon, yeah? Just hold on for a second.” Kon’s voice is gentle, and it makes Bernard feel warm. He nods, staring at his phone long after Kon had hung up.
Bernard didn’t even have to wait ten minutes before the sound of his apartment door opening fills the silence.
“Bernard?” He heard Kon yell out, but he couldn’t find it within himself, couldn’t muster up the energy to respond. Not even a minute later, his bedroom door opens as light from the hallway floods the room. Kon rushes in, eyes filled with worry and he scrambles to sit in front of Bernard. Bernard’s eyes start to fill with tears as his breathing starts to speed up. Kon panics, arms flailing frantically before finally settling around Bernard, pulling him into a hug. The dam finally breaks, and Bernard starts sobbing. Loud, gut-wrenching sobs that make Kon want to cry with him. Kon rubs his hands up and down Bernard’s back, not that he thinks that Bernard can feel it wish how many blankets he managed to cocoon himself with, but Kon doesn’t care. Bernard’s arms come out from the comfort of the blankets to grip onto Kon’s shirt, incoherent explanations flooding out of his mouth as he desperately tries to justify his feelings. Not that Kon thinks he has to, but more because he himself feels the need to. Kon just rocks him back and forth gently, quiet shushes and sweet words instinctively being said.
After a few minutes, Bernard finally manages to calm down, his sobs turning into the occasional hiccup or sniffle.
“I’m sorry,” Bernard’s broken voice whispers. Kon shakes his head.
“Hey, no, it’s okay, I don’t mind. Don’t apologize, I’m glad you called me.” Kon’s voice is sincere, catching Bernard off guard. Bernard pulls away slightly, just enough to look into Kon’s eyes.
“Why?” Bernard asks. Kon smiles.
“Because, if you didn’t call me, then you wouldn’t have called anyone, and nothing would have changed.” Kon’s eyes are sad, but Bernard decides to not read too far into that. Instead, his eyebrows furrow, as if he couldn’t believe that Kon wanted to help. “Do you wanna talk about it?” Kon’s voice is quiet, gentle.
“It’s stupid.” Bernard chooses to say. Kon shakes his head.
“It’s not stupid if it makes you sad.” Kon responds, but doesn’t say anything else, choosing to let Bernard take his time instead of trying to fill the silence.
“He’s on a work trip. I dunno for how much longer, but it’s been a week and he hasn’t responded to any of my messages. I know he’s busy but I just…” Bernard doesn’t look entirely present, as if his mind was elsewhere and he was just saying those words on autopilot. Kon’s concern grows tenfold after this, but so does his anger. His jaw clenches, but he forces it to relax before speaking up again.
“Can I see your phone?” Kon asks. Bernard nods and reaches beside him to grab a now-unlocked phone and hand it to Kon, who has several questions regarding the fact that Bernard isn’t asking questions, but decides to focus on his mission, which was finding Tim in Bernard’s contact list and ripping him a new one.
Kon navigates to the messaging app and clicks on the contact named ‘drake-o’ and hits the call button, standing up from the bed to start pacing. It rings once, twice, three times, before he’s sent to voicemail. Kon scoffs and tries again. And gets sent to voicemail, again. Tim finally picks up on the third try, letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Bernard, I’m about to go into a meeting, I can’t talk right now.” Tim says in lieu of a greeting. Kon, once again, scoffs.
“What is wrong with you?” Kon asks with a bitter tone. The sounds of Tim’s suit brushing against itself stops, Tim having presumably paused his walking.
“Kon?” Confusion is evident in Tim’s voice.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Kon says in place of a response.
“I-” Tim tries to formulate an answer. “I dunno? What’s going on?” Tim’s voice is strained, frustrated. Kon clenches his jaw.
“Maybe if you actually talked to your boyfriend, you’d know,” he responds sharply. Tim lets out a strangled not-quite-groan, not-quite-sigh.
“I’ve been busy, sorry for trying to do my job,” Tim says sarcastically.
“No, Tim, you’re doing exactly what you did with me. You’re putting your work first and Bernard deserves so much better than that.” Kon tries to keep his voice level, tries not to yell, despite how much he so desperately wants to. Tim takes a few moments to respond.
“I have to go. I have a meeting.” Tim’s voice is cold, barely finishing his sentence before the hang up tone sounds and the phone goes black. Kon resists the urge to throw the phone across the room, especially since it wasn’t even his phone. Instead, he turns back to Bernard, whose face is red and cheeks are wet. Kon shakes his head and takes a deep breath.
“Get up.” Kon orders, voice light. Bernard tilts his head to the side curiously. Kon just huffs gently and takes Bernard’s hands to ease him up, blankets falling as he stumbles to the end of the bed on his knees before finally standing upright. Kon smiles brightly and leads him out to the front door, ignoring Bernard’s questions. Kon slides his shoes back on and points to a pair of crocs. “Shoes.” Is all he says. Bernard obeys and slides on the crocs (ignoring the fact that they’re not even his, they’re Tim’s. And they are definitely not suitable for fall in Gotham.)
Kon doesn’t speak again until they’re standing in front of the ice cream parlor a few blocks away from his apartment.
“Ice cream is the solution to all problems.” Kon explains with a goofy smile as he holds open the door, the little bell jingling to signal their entrance, the worker coming out from the back with a welcoming smile. Bernard giggles and waddles up to the counter, Kon following closely behind. “Get whatever you want.” Kon tells Bernard, who nods slowly, as if he couldn’t understand why Kon would do this. Bernard turns back to the worker.
“Uh, can I get a scoop of vanilla and one of oreo? Please,” Bernard requests nervously, looking at Kon, who nods gently.
“And I’ll take a scoop of strawberry, please.” Kon hands over a ten dollar bill with a grin. The cashier tries to hand back his change, but Kon puts it into the tip jar, leading Bernard over to a booth with a small ‘thanks’ aimed towards the cashier.
Bernard slides into the booth facing the opposite wall, a small table between him and the chair facing him. Kon slides in after Bernard, wrapping his arm around Bernard’s shoulders. Bernard leans in to the touch, nearly curling around Kon, who nuzzles his face in Bernard’s hair. After a moment, Bernard shivers, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to warm himself in the chilly cafe. Kon’s eyes widen.
“Crap! You’re probably, like, freezing, aren’t you?! I totally didn’t think of that,” Kon rushes to take off his hoodie, despite Bernard’s assurance that he truly does not care, revealing a sparkly tank top underneath and shoving the warm hoodie towards Bernard, who blushes and puts in on, mumbling something about Kon being a human furnace. Kon laughs and tucks Bernard back into his side despite his obvious clubbing clothes rubbing against Bernard’s skin in an unpleasant way.
After a minute or two, the worker comes back and places two cups of ice cream in front of them, one with bright pink contents, and the other with off white speckled with black. Kon sends a smile towards the girl, who returns it.
“You two are a cute couple,” she says earnestly. Bernard snorts, picking up his ice cream and a spoon, taking a bite of the cookies’n’cream before responding.
“Yeah, he’s a better boyfriend than my actual boyfriend is right now.” His tone is sour, but sad. The girl’s eyes widen as she tries to apologize for assuming, but Kon waves her off.
“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Kon huffs out a laugh, the girl returning back to the counter with a bright red face. The two eat their ice cream in silence, Bernard mumbling something about strawberry being a crime against humanity but focusing on not getting Kon’s hoodie dirty after that. Kon drops a few more coins in the tip jar before leaving with his hand on the small of Bernard’s back.
When Tim comes home the next morning, he’s greeted by the sight of Bernard asleep on Kon, their legs tangled on the couch cushions. Tim’s breath hitches and he bolts over to the couch, dropping his bags carelessly. Kon glares at Tim as he drops to his knees beside Bernard, worry written on his face as he sees Bernard’s swollen face.
“What happened,” Tim whispers, trying not to wake his sleeping boyfriend. Kon takes a deep breath, letting his glare fall away, instead, a tired and worried expression overtakes his face.
“You.” Kon answers honestly, not in a rude, or accusatory manner. Rather, his voice is soft, which Tim elects to ignore for the moment being. Tim leans in to Bernard’s space, said boy rousing from his sleep from the familiar cologne.
“Tim?” Bernard sleepily mumbles, bleary eyes trying to focus on the face in front of him. Bernard gasps. “Tim.” He says breathlessly, pushing himself into an upright position to throw himself into Tim’s waiting arms. “I missed you,” his voice cracks, and Tim’s heart splinters at the sound.
“I’m so sorry,” Tim tightens his arms around Bernard, hoping that it could convey all the words he left unsaid. “I was awful, I’m so sorry, I won’t do that again, I promise, I’m so sorry.” Tim squeezes Bernard as tight as he can. Kon stays silent, but not moving, instead waiting for the moment to come to a close so he can respectfully excuse himself. What he doesn’t expect, though, is for Tim to apologize to him. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Kon asks, eyes flitting between him and Bernard.
“Everything.” Tim whispers so quietly that it almost goes unheard. Kon smiles, a small, sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.
Bernard pulls away after a moment, placing a chaste kiss on Tim’s lips before standing upright. He fidgets nervously, taking a breath before his face changes to determination as he leans in to Kon’s space. Kon’s face goes red when he feels Bernard’s lips linger on his own cheek, blushing profusely as Bernard whispers a soft ‘thank you’ in his ear. Kon’s eyes are blown wide as he makes eye contact with Tim, whose lips are pressed in a thin line.
Kon thinks he nearly has a heart attack when Tim stands on his knees to give Kon a rough kiss on his lips, Tim’s hands holding on to Kon’s jaw even after he pulls away. Both are panting, and Bernard climbs back on to the couch to follow in Tim’s footsteps, giving Kon a less-than chaste kiss, smiling when Kon kisses back with his hands gripping Bernard’s hips. Bernard pulls away when the need for air becomes far too apparent, a smile present on his lips, eyes crinkling in a way that Kon thinks is adorable.
“What. The fuck.” Kon says, befuddled. Both Bernard and Tim laugh, the former nuzzling against Kon’s neck, who responds by wrapping his hands fully around Bernard’s frame. Kon looks up at Tim with a million questions in his eyes.
“Thank you,” Tim responds, far more loudly than any apology or word of thanks was previously. The light from the sun beaming through the window shines on Kon’s features, making him look ethereal in the morning light. Tim resists the urge to laugh at the sight of Kon looking up at him with confusion shaping his features while the light makes him glow. Tim was never the best at taking Kon seriously. Perhaps that contributed to the downfall of their relationship.
Kon’s face melts into one of fondness when Tim finally sits down, pulling Kon’s legs into his lap, and he basks in the warm feeling fluttering around in his stomach rather than dreading the talk that he knows is coming.