Chapter Text
Kon sits alone atop a skyscraper. He holds one of his legs to his chest and the other dangles over the edge of an impossibly far fall. He was only up here because the sunlight was bright enough today, and he couldn’t take the company of people any longer.
It really was just his luck that the moment he resolved to really talk to Tim about what had been going on, he was out on a mission with the Bats. Talk about crappy timing, right?
That means that Kon will have to wait for… he checks their most recent texts. Tim was in a rush when he told him what was happening, apparently it was time sensitive. The last text only reads “Gonna be gone 5 or 6 days.”
That was 7 days ago.
He knows that they’re okay, since the minute the mission went over the expected amount of time, the bats checked in so nobody would go after them. Except it was Nightwing who came to inform them, not Red Robin. They’re stuck in a no-comms zone right now, so they can’t transmit without bringing attention to themselves. Nightwing left so quickly afterwards that Kon couldn’t even ask how long they would end up being now.
Kon sighs and lets go of his leg, allowing both of them to dangle off the edge. He swings them back and forth and reclines into his hands to stare up at the empty blue sky. It’s a boring view, and only makes him more anxious because now there's nothing to distract him from his thoughts.
He sits back upright and looks down on Metropolis. He would rather watch the flow of traffic and the strange movement of the crowded city than wallow in misery. He leans over to rest his chin on his palm, but the moment he does, he feels a weird stabbing sensation coming from his belly.
“Oh come on, not this again,” he murmurs as he rubs a hand over the affected area around his belly, where the bloating had remained and only seems to have gotten worse.
With a grunt, he swings his legs around to get his bearings and stand up. His hand instinctively presses against his stomach, where the discomfort has drawn all of his attention.
As soon as he gets his feet under him, vertigo hits him like a freight train. He’s heard of the phenomenon where you ‘stand up too fast,’ but until recently, it had never happened to him. His legs shake as he struggles to steady himself, but it’s no use–he stumbles and nearly falls off the edge of the roof. “Shit!” he hisses, scrambling to prevent the fall and ends up back on the ground. Well, as much as the concrete roof of a skyscraper can be ground anyway.
He lies flat on his back and tries to catch his breath. A wave of frustration at this whole situation surges through him, and without thinking he slams his fist against the rooftop, leaving a fist-shaped indent in the concrete, the impact echoing in the stillness.
“Fuck!” He hisses. After all of that, he doesn’t quite trust himself to be alone anymore. Hell, he’s worried for his health! What if he’s having some sort of– kryptonian heart attack or something?
Except Tim is unavailable, and he doesn’t want to talk to Clark, and anyone else that he’s close with wouldn’t be able to get to him quickly…
Oh, no, that’s not right is it? Kon opens his contacts on his phone and texts Bart.
As he stares at the blinking cursor prompting him to type, he blanks on what to say. It’s kind of silly to ask Bart to come over just because of some lightheadedness, isn’t it? Although, that’s not the only issue. He knows exactly what to say.
[2:21PM Kon] I think im growing a xenomorph!
[2:21PM Bart] Omg
[2:21PM Bart] thats awesome
[2:21PM Bart] u r the milf ever
[2:22PM Kon] no like forreal lmao
[2:22PM Bart] ?????
[2:22PM Bart] wher u @?
[Coordinates Sent by Kon]
“Dude, you didn’t say you were on top of the building. I almost searched like a hundred floors for you,” Bart says, appearing at Kon’s side in the next second.
“Whoopsie. Did I do that? Anyway…” Kon trails off.
Bart taps his foot quickly. “Well? Show me!”
“Sh-show you what?”
“You’re chestburster, duh! I wanna see!”
Kon lifts up his shirt a little and gestures to his belly. “Look!”
Bart leans over and squints. “This is not your chest. You lied to me. I want you to know I’m exploding you with my brain right now. With real chestbursters. This is a bellyburster. Hey, are you sure you’re not just pregnant? I didn’t know guys could get pregnant in this century– wait, have you been trans this whole time? Did I assume your gender?”
Kon blinks a few times as he tries to parse through the speedster talk. He doesn’t catch much. “Hey, don’t explode me with your mind!”
Bart rolls his eyes and leans back on his feet. He suddenly has a rubix cube in his hands that he is twisting into different patterns, rather than solving it. It’s at such a fast pace that his hands are a blur even to Kon’s eyes. “Ugh, Kon, you’re such a dummy. I asked you if I assumed your gender!”
“You did? Guess I missed that part,”
“Dude…”
“Right, don’t worry. You didn’t,”
Bart swipes a hand across his forehead. “Phew, good. Anyway, where’s Tim?”
Kon tilts his head questioningly.
“He’s always with you, you guys are attached at the hip. The Young Just Us Dad and Dad. Plus, I have to assume he always knows things first, so what’s his take on your bellyburster?”
“We don’t know that it’s a bellyburster–” Kon stops short. What the heck is he saying? “What the heck am I even saying? That was a joke, Bart, I don’t actually think I’m growing a xenomorph. Probably?”
“You sound so sure about that,” Bart says dryly.
Kon coughs. “Anyway, Tim is on a mission for a while. Didn’t give me many details,” He sighs, unable to stop thinking about him while he’s so far out of his reach. He really hates not knowing where Tim is, especially when he knows something is going on.
“Your wistful sigh makes me gag.”
Kon tries to elbow him and, predictably, misses. “Shut up,”
“And this is the thanks I get! So anyway, are you like, sick then?” Bart is looking him up and down as if he could figure out what was going on, “You do look a little different… I’m not sure though, but it’s like you’re fatter? But also thinner,”
“Gee, thanks,” To be honest, Kon noticed that too, so all this did was validate that concern.
“If you’re worried about something, shouldn’t you go to the Fortress? Like, even if it isn’t a xenomorph. Maybe you’ve got cancer.” Bart says with a tone that’s way too casual for the subject he just brought up.
Kon jolts internally. “Uh, I don't think Kryptonians get… cancer… Well,” he trails off. “Yeah I should… go to the Fortress,”
Bart nods quickly. “Bring Tim with you though. He’s, like, obsessed with you? Hey, have you noticed that? ‘Cause I think literally everyone else has,”
Kon coughs, a little embarrassed. “Yeah no I– obsessed with me?” he mutters, “Uh, yeah I know he feels pretty strongly about me, I guess,”
Bart smacks him, Kon moves with it so he doesn't hurt himself. “Why the heckity heck are you doubting yourself? This is the one thing that’s like, a fact of the universe. Tim loves Kon.”
Kon groans, “Stooop,”
“‘Kay, well,” Bart drapes himself over Kon’s back, “What are you gonna do?”
Kon takes a deep breath, releases it slowly and thinks. He’s worked with Bats so much at this point, that it’s become almost second nature now to think at least a little before he acts. He can come up with a game plan here. “Well, first I gotta talk to Tim,”
“Uh huh,”
“Then I guess, I’ll bring him over to the Fortress?”
“Yeah that's two steps go on,”
“And…” he pauses. “Hold on, is that it? That’s really simple actually,”
Bart nods solemnly against his shoulder. “It often is. Tim’s the one who complicates things. We mortals are but too simple for that,”
Kon agrees with that one. “Thanks, Bart.”
“Anytime,” and with a salute, he’s gone in a flash.
It was strange, how the world seemed to work against you the moment you thought everything might finally be going well for you.
Since coming to the decision to talk to Tim, it had been a week. Yes, a week, yet he had still not managed to tell his boyfriend that he needed to talk to him. Really it wasn’t either of their faults, Tim was busy with some Red Robin stuff, and Kon was… waiting for Tim to be done.
He really felt like a wife waiting for her husband to return from war. It was a ridiculous thought that he couldn’t help but keep having. It made him giggle whenever it came up in his mind, which kept him from spiraling too much.
…yeah that was a fucking lie. Kon was panicking and he could hardly stand waiting for Tim to call him and tell him he was done with his mission. Kon spent the whole week pacing and fluttering about on Ma’s ranch. The urge to just talk to someone about this was killing him, but he just… he needed to talk to Tim first.
Finally, sitting at the table with Ma and eating dinner, he got the text.
[Tim 7:23PM] hey babe, we’re back and with no major injuries lol
His heart jumped out of his chest. He replied,
[Kon 7:24PM] Cool, do you have a minute to talk?
Tim took a long minute to type what ended up being a short message. He must have rewritten it.
[Tim 7:24PM] can it wait a bit? gotta report u kno how it is
Kon’s heart sank. He understood, he really did, but he was getting freaked out. Not to mention upset, irrationally even at both himself and Tim at this point. For no reason, even!
To make matters worse, of all times, now was the moment Tim decided not to let him speak? It had never been easy for Kon to speak up. Especially after his “childhood” of being silenced and taken advantage of. Was he going back to being silenced? Back to his concerns constantly being brushed off?
Honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to scream. He held himself back, but wasn’t able to stop himself from being passive aggressive in his reply.
[Kon 7:25PM] Yeah sure whatever. It’s fine.
[Tim 7:25PM] ? that doesn’t sound fine.
[Tim 7:28PM] Kon? r u okay?
[Tim 7:30PM] Did something happen? Pls answer i’m owrried
Kon immediately began to feel guilt start to eat him up inside. He was so stupid, he was awful, of course Tim was brushing him off. Of course. He– he shouldn’t be burdening Tim with his bullshit like this. He had to fix this, he was being too immature and Tim was going to abandon him and tell everyone and then Kon would be all alone again.
[Kon 7:35PM] Sorry, misdirected anger. It can wait lol.
[Tim is calling you 7:36PM]
[Answer] [Decline]
Kon stopped breathing the moment his phone started buzzing. He knew that if he picked up the phone right now, he would cave to Tim’s voice and tell him everything. The vomiting, the pains, the weird mood swings. The lump in his throat made it obvious to him that Tim would be able to pick up on something being wrong just from his voice. So he didn’t hesitate to decline the call.
[Kon 7:37PM] can’t talk rn ttyl
[Tim 7:38PM] okay <3 i love you
[Read: 7:38PM]
Kon set his phone face down on the table, simultaneously holding down the power button. He released his phone and rubbed his hands down his face, sinking deeper into his chair.
Shuffling from across the table made him peek between his fingers. Ma was staring at him with raised brows, her head slightly tilted to the side.
He let his hands fall from his face and awkwardly chuckled. “Uh, dinner was good, thanks Ma,”
“You’re welcome sweetheart,” she said. She waited a moment, staring him down. He squirmed in place until she spoke again, “Well, I know we’re both intelligent people. Would you like to talk about it?” she was clearly referencing whatever had been going on with his face while he had been texting Tim.
Kon looked away. “It’s stupid, I’m just being stupid,”
She tsked. “Oh honey, I’m sure that’s not the case. What’s really goin’ on?”
“I… look,” he swallowed. “There’s something I've been meaning to bring up with Tim, and he kinda just blew me off? Hit me with the ‘can it wait for later’ which like, it can, but,”
“But?”
Kon let out a shaky exhale. “But I've only talked to Bart about it and he's easy enough to talk to, but I need to talk to Tim because he'll want to know and– you know how it’s difficult to finish saying something once you’ve been interrupted? So now I’m even more frustrated and– gah!” he threw his hands up in exasperation.
“Conner, honey–”
“–not to mention I need to talk to Tim now before anyone else 'cause— 'cause he'll be upset I didn't go to him first!” his voice cracked, and that was what made him realize he wasn’t imagining the wetness on his face. He was crying.
Ma was already up out of her chair and reaching out to him. He leaned into her hug, and she let him wipe his tears on her shoulder. He took a moment to cry, and really, he was so glad he did. He needed a good cry, and it was so cathartic to let it out like this. Different than when he was just feeling emotion with Tim and didn’t know why.
When he pulled away, he sniffled and apologized.
“Now, I know you aren’t apologizing for feelin’ what you’re feelin’, honey,” Ma scolded.
“Then, thank you?”
“You’re welcome!” she patted his cheek and he smiled. “Right then, firstly, Tim ain't gonna be upset at you for talkin' to your friend before him. He's on a mission right now, hm?”
Kon nodded.
"Sooo," she drawled, "He'll be glad you talked to somebody. Then when he gets back, you can talk to him, eh?"
Kon flushed at her frankness. “Yeah, I should probably… talk it out with him, huh?”
“Somethin’ your Pa and I agreed on was ‘no reading each other’s minds’, so we had to talk it out. I don’t think even Tim– whip smart as he is– can read your mind, sweetie,”
“Yeah,” Kon looked at his phone, powered down on the dining table. “I…”
Ma patted his cheek. “Now, don’t let me pressure you into doin’ anything before you’re ready. Take your time, it doesn’t have to be today. You’ve already had a time of it,”
She was right. He didn’t want to deal with any more big things today. He had his moment. He cried about it. He was done. Donezo.
Ma observed him for a minute before offering, “Wanna watch another episode of The Great British Baking Show before we turn in?”
Kon nodded eagerly. He abandoned his phone on the table to join her in the living room.
In the end, the mission was a success. Three days of recon, a day of planning, and then multiple days taking down the locations involved in a trafficking ring. They had been planning this operation for some time now, and this had been the time to strike. Many lives were saved that week.
Now that they were on their way home in the Batplane, Tim felt the nerves and worry– the fear for the love of his life beginning to rise inside of him again.
“Hey, Tim?” Dick said. He was sitting next to him, while Bruce was manning the cockpit.
“Hm?” Tim hummed, distracted.
“You did good,”
“Mhm,”
Dick didn’t say anything else, so Tim thought he was done, but then he felt a tap on his armored forearm. Tim turned to look at him, a little annoyed. “What, Dick?”
Dick’s eyebrows twitched, like he was surprised. “You alright? Seem a little on edge,”
Tim rolled his eyes. Being around Dick always brought out his more childish side. “It’s– fine. Everything is fine,”
“Uh huh,” Dick gave him a look. “Well, do you want to talk about how fine everything is, then?”
Tim sighed. “Okay, but it’s not– I’m being stupid,”
“Say it ain’t so!”
“Dude,” Tim snorted. “It’s not even really about me? I’m worried about Kon,”
“Oh.” Now Dick looked concerned. “What's going on with him?”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know, but Kon’s been kinda off lately–”
“Kon's sick?”
“Uh, I don't know, maybe? I’m worried I’m not being there for him,” Tim fiddled with the tips of his hair– shoulder length, as of now– anxiously.
“I’m sorry, Tim. I know it’s hard to leave your partner behind during rough times,” Dick said, and he really sounded empathetic. Not that Tim doubted it, he knew Dick had done similar things with partners and loved ones. Tim must have still had an upset expression, so Dick tapped him again and smiled when he looked up. “Hey, why don’t you check if we have any signal yet and try texting him?”
Tim couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that yet. “Okay,”
“Oh, but, B will want to debrief before you can go see him. Although I’m sure he’d make an exception–”
Tim waved him off, already going through his phone to open up his messaging app. “No, no, it’s fine. Look, texting him right now, see?”
Dick exhaled a laugh. “Right, you go ahead,” He opened his own phone to look busy, but Tim knew he was keeping an eye on him while he texted Kon.
[Tim 7:23PM] hey babe, we’re back and with no major injuries lol
Tim decided to go casual with it. Try not to come off too strong; start out with normal stuff and ease him into it.
[Kon 7:24PM] Cool, do you have a minute to talk?
Aaand plan destroyed. Kon was not easing into it. Something was wrong. He was immediately terrified. Normally, when Kon was asking to talk, or even if it was just Tim picking up that he needed to talk, Tim would jump at the chance and pry out whatever was bothering him so they could deal with it together.
Despite all of that, Tim, in a moment of utter idiocy that had him immediately kicking himself, asked if it could wait for later
[Tim 7:24PM] can it wait a bit? gotta report u kno how it is
[Kon 7:25PM] Yeah sure whatever. It’s fine.
Tim made a wounded noise out loud. Dick wasn’t even pretending to look at his own phone anymore, he was looking at Tim with clear concern.
“Tim..?” he started gently, but Tim shook his head, not wanting to speak yet. He needed to focus on this.
[Tim 7:25PM] ? that doesn’t sound fine.
Tim pressed enter and stared. The Read at the bottom of his text told him that Kon had seen it, but there was no bubbling text to indicate he was replying.
The adrenaline rose the longer he waited. It felt like ages, but only a few minutes passed before Tim couldn’t take it anymore and followed up his text.
[Tim 7:28PM] Kon? r u okay?
There was no response. He sent another message.
[Tim 7:30PM] Did something happen? Pls answer i’m owrried
He made a small typo, too worried to notice it before he hit send. This time he waited a few more minutes, and it paid off. Finally, Kon had responded.
[Kon 7:35PM] Sorry, misdirected anger. It can wait lol.
That did not sound like it could wait, like, at all. He decided fuck it and just hit the call button. Hopefully he would be able to glean more from Kon’s voice, and maybe it would be easier to talk it out?
[Calling Kon 7:36PM]
His phone only had time to ring once before a low beeping notified him that his call had been rejected. He pulled it away from his ear and stared at it with dismay.
[Kon 7:37PM] can’t talk rn ttyl
Tim took a deep breath and accepted his words for what they were, despite the fact that he knew Kon was lying to avoid the conversation. Still, he needed to let him know that he loved him. Even– no, especially when things were tense and times were rough.
[Tim 7:38PM] okay <3 i love you
[Read: 7:38PM]
Kon didn’t respond, quite literally leaving him on read. Tim exhaled but didn’t push any further. He obviously had pushed his boyfriend too far. Really, he should have known better. Tim knew how Kon got, he had a hard time talking about himself, and Tim knew this intimately. Otherwise he never would have allowed some of the things that happened to Kon in his first few years to have happened. No one would have.
And this time, Kon was trying to tell him about something, and Tim denied him the opportunity.
It was at that very second that Tim decided he would just have to go see him in person. Talk about it face to face. Kon would have to talk to him then, or if he didn’t, at least Tim could apologize to him. He wanted to hug his boyfriend so badly at that moment his heart ached.
Then he remembered Dick. He glanced at him, and Dick gave a small smile at his attention. “So that looked pretty intense,” he said neutrally, giving Tim an opening or an exit to talk or not.
Tim shrugged, mulling over whether he wanted to talk about this or not. Dick was his oldest brother and a great friend, but they had had their differences in recent years. Still, he never stopped loving him, and he knew Dick felt the same, but it was trust that was broken, and trust was hard to build back up, especially when it was broken so spectacularly.
Would Dick keep it to himself or would he spread it around? Tim hadn’t thought much of it when he mentioned Kon being sick earlier, since it probably had something to do with a mission anyway, but now? Now that Kon had seemed so hesitant, Tim had to assume the worst. Kon would have told him right away if it was something mission related, right?
Ultimately, he let it go and turned away from Dick. Dick stayed quiet, but Tim felt his eyes peering through his soul for a few moments longer before he heard him settle back into his seat.
They spent the rest of the flight in silence.
Tim didn’t announce his departure after they landed and changed out of their suits. He showered, got dressed, and gave Bruce a casual side hug that included him stealing the keys to access the flightline.
He met Dick’s eyes as he headed down the stairs to the flightline. Dick didn’t say anything, but he did turn around and grab Bruce by the shoulders, forcing him to look away from Tim.
Tim felt emboldened by his brother’s move, and was smiling as he hopped into the small, compact, less outfitted Batplane V8 and started it up. He was out of the cave faster than you could say “Holy hijacking, Batman!”
It took Bruce about twenty seconds to realize one of his children was unaccounted for. Where had Tim gone? He had watched him get off the plane with Dick, but he disappeared after giving him that hug– oh.
Bruce gave Dick– who was still draped across his shoulders telling him about some new friend group drama– a side eye, to which Dick only beamed and leaned on him harder. “Dick,” Bruce said.
“Hm?” Dick batted his eyelashes innocently. Too innocently. On a whim, Bruce patted one of the Batpouches on his utility belt, and sure enough, the Batkeys to the flightline were missing. He whipped around.
“Tim!” he yelled, only to hear the sound of engines firing up and systems selecting the plane to turn into the takeoff position. He already knew that Tim had too much of a headstart for him to catch up, so really Dick, the foot put out in front of him to trip him was unnecessary. He gave it a pointed look and Dick snapped his leg back, whistling and twirling his domino between his fingers.
“Welp! I’m dead tired, so I’m gonna head up,” Dick said.
“Where is he going,”
“Who?”
“Tim.”
Dick tilted his head as though he were thinking, before snapping his fingers in realization. “Ohhh, Tim! Right right right. Well, I’m sure he’s going places, we just have to trust him to spread his wings, right?”
Bruce sighed. “He wasn’t wearing his suit, so I can only assume that he won’t need it,”
Dick patted his shoulder. “Seriously, B. Don’t worry about it. Tim’s just got some stuff to clear up, then he’ll be back and we can chi–” he was cut off by a pint-sized human torpedo barreling into his chest. “Oof!”
“Richard.” Damian said.
“Hey, kiddo. We’re back,”
“Welcome home,” he said, and nodded towards Bruce. “Father,” he acknowledged.
“Damian,” Bruce nodded back, sharing a small, identical smile with his youngest son. At twelve, he was still so small compared to the rest of them.
“Where is Timothy?” Damian asked. He removed himself from Dick’s hold and looked around, as if Tim would appear at his name.
“Tim’s taking care of some stuff, but he’ll be back sometime tomorrow,” Dick answered.
Damian squinted at him, but accepted his words with a nod and turned on his heel to head back up the stairs. Bruce and Dick waited for him to disappear up the stairs before exchanging a few pointed looks that summarized to;
‘I’m going after Tim,’
‘No the fuck you are not,’
‘But-’
‘Bruce. Think about your ‘me and my relationships with my adult children’ books. Remember the holy texts.’
‘Hgnnnnnnn’
‘BRUCE.’
‘Fine.’
Dick smirked, basking in his stare-off win. Bruce glowered and glided over to the Batcomputer to begin long hours of brooding. Dick knew better than to try and interrupt him; Bruce always got like this when it came to him either losing to Dick or having to confront the fact that his kids are no longer all living under his roof.
Dick shook his head as he walked away. ‘Honestly. I’m so glad I’m the normal one,’ He opened his phone, ‘now where is that tracker I put on Tim going? Just to make sure he is where he said he would be, of course.’