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Tim woke up slowly. He had sunglasses over his eyes – Kon’s sunglasses, a part of his brain told him – and whilst he was only in swimming trunks, he felt contentedly warm. He shifted a little, and realised that was because his husband was laying on top of him comfortably.
Kon’s head was on his bare chest, and he was dozing in the small patch of sunlight that managed to snake in past the umbrella above Tim’s head. His hair still had a few sparkling water droplets left from the pool, the faint smell of chlorine still in the air.
“Yoo-hoo, lover boy!” Jason called from the pool, the dark shape of Lian underwater slowly creeping towards him. Tim tactfully chose not to mention that, and also chose to not point out that Roy was sat directly across from Jason, on the edge of the pool, taking pictures with his phone. The hypocrite. “You coming swimming or not?”
“I’m good, thanks.” Tim called, as loudly as he dared. Kon frowned slightly in his sleep, but his face relaxed as Tim’s hand instinctively went to rest on his back.
Jason frowned, mouth open to say something, but Lian erupted out of the water, splashing him. Tim tried to contain his laughter as Jason spluttered and Lian continued splashing her stepdad.
“Oh, you are gonna pay!” Jason announced, picking Lian up and hauling her over his shoulder. As the ten-year-old shrieked and giggled, Roy looked up from his phone, and rolled his eyes at Tim. Husbands, am I right?
Tim shrugged as Kon tucked himself in a little closer, his breath fanning over Tim’s neck. He tried not to squirm at the ticklish feeling, not wanting to wake Kon up.
“Someone’s comfy.” Dick commented brightly, appearing from seemingly nowhere. He was carrying a tray of what looked like lemonade glasses, and he placed two down next to the plastic lounger Tim laid on as Jason dunked his daughter into the water.
“Yeah, we just fell asleep. I woke up first.” Tim commented, watching as Lian swam towards Cass and Steph, shrieking about how her aunts would save her, Roy struggling to not drop his phone into the water as he laughed.
“I meant you, Timmy.” Dick explained, smiling widely. “You just look really happy.” He commented, as he took a sip of his own lemonade. “Think I can convince B to stop fighting with the grill and just let Clark do it?”
Tim grinned. “Nah, he’s got something to prove now. Like how Damian has been underwater for the past ten minutes because Jon dared him into a breath holding contest.”
Dick’s eyes widened. “What!?” he shrieked, and he quickly placed the tray down, and ran to the pool. He dived in, despite still wearing shoes and a shirt over his swimming shorts, and Tim watched in amusement as Jason got splashed a second time.
“Does everyone have it out for me today?!” Jason asked, dramatically proclaiming this to the sky. Cass silently responded by hooking one of her feet around his ankles, and pushing him into the water.
Tim snorted. He did not envy his siblings who had decided that drowning each other was peak entertainment. However, he didn’t exactly want to watch the passive aggressive dad fight between Bruce and Clark – that Roy actually had the decency to stay out of it, the most valid father here, in Tim’s opinion – no, he’d honestly be nowhere else than where he was. Sweating slightly in the hot sun, sticking to the plastic of the lounger, watching his family act like fools and shrieking at one another, with his husband comfortably asleep on his chest.
Speaking of the asleep husband, he’d been stirring since Tim himself woke up, and as Tim watched, his eyelids fluttered, and his eyes slowly blinked open. His eyes roamed slightly, before looking up at Tim, and smiling like he was looking at all the stars, the sun, and the moon.
“Hey, Red.” He said softly.
“Hey, pretty boy.” Tim responded, ruffling his hair. “Sleep well?”
Kon stretched, reaching up to ruffle Tim’s hair right back. “Oh yeah, had a wonderful dream. Involving you, an elephant for some reason, and about eight stacks of waffles.” he commented, stealing his sunglasses off of Tim’s face. “You want me to get you a drink or anything, gorgeous?”
Tim gestured to the lemonade on the stone tile beneath them. “Dick left us some drinks, before he jumped into rescue Damian from supposed drowning.”
Kon frowned, and twisted his head to look at the pool. Dick was lecturing a bored looking Damian and a slightly guilty looking Jon as he towelled off his hair – and it was honestly hard to not laugh at his infuriated expression paired with a soaking wet blue Hawaiian shirt and an old, faded, Bugs Bunny towel – whilst Jason, Roy, Steph, and Cass had all started a game of chicken fight, and Lian was in the corner with Duke, who’d only just come outside, and she was seemingly trying to talk him into teaching her how to use the diving board, from what Tim could hear.
“I… your family is so weird.” Kon said nonchalantly, resting his head on Tim’s chest again.
“Your family too, remember?” Tim said holding up his left hand, and twisting the wedding ring. “You chose this, you’re the one who put a ring on it.”
Kon laughed, and pushed himself up closer to Tim’s face, holding himself up by his forearms. “I did, I did. Best decision I ever made, if you ask me.” He said quietly, leaning in slowly, making Tim’s face flush slightly. Oh no, he was not losing this game.
Tim smirked, and grabbed the sides of Kon’s face, pulling him closer and kissing him softly on the mouth. When he pulled away, Kon was flushed a delightful, in Tim’s opinion, shade of red. “I win.” He said quietly, still grinning.
Kon poked his cheek. “Weirdo.”
“Your weirdo.” Tim argued back, leaning in close enough to bump his nose against Kon’s.
There was a sharp wolf-whistle from the pool. Tim and Kon both looked towards the pool, to see Steph, pulling her fingers from her mouth, and grinning widely. “Don’t stop on my account!”
Cass, who was sat on her shoulders, reached down and swiped her across the head. Steph stumbled backwards in the water, and her grip on Cass’s thighs loosened. Tim felt as if he was watching in slow motion, as Cass slipped off of Steph’s shoulders, and hit the water with a loud splash.
Kon snorted as Tim bit down on his lip and tried not to do the same. He would not laugh at his sister’s misfortune, unlike Jason, who was shaking with laughter himself, Roy on his shoulders openly giggling –
But then Cass’s hand rose through the water, and grabbed Steph’s hand, and tugged her down towards the water. Jason whooped as Damian yelled something from the edge of the pool about not being disgusting and public affection.
Tim gave in, and giggled, as Kon snickered above him.
Tim looked at his husband’s face, and grinned. Kon was practically sparkling in the shaft of sunlight that’d somehow found him, like a metal to magnet. He still looked half groggy from sleep, and his long-ish curly hair had flopped over his face from getting it wet and not pushing it back properly, and he had a large, stupid, sunny grin on his face. Tim felt like he was falling in love all over again.
“Remember when we first got together?”
Kon looked back to him, and smirked. “Oh yeah, I remember. Kissing me out of a self-deprecation funk.” He shook his head in mock-disapproval. “You haven’t changed your tricks since you were seventeen.”
Tim looped his arms around Kon’s head, settling his hands somewhere behind his neck. “Like you’re complaining.”
“I also remember when I was threatened the next day by your entire family with an arsenal of kryptonite.” Kon said, rolling his eyes slightly. “Because someone completely forgot to erase the footage from the Batcave cameras.”
Tim put on an exaggerated frown. “You kiss me stupid and then act surprised when I’m dumb? Conner Kent, you hypocrite.” He said, his frown breaking off into a grin halfway through. He just couldn’t act around Kon, and he really never could.
Timmy? Timmy?!
Tim blinked. “Did you just… say something?”
Kon blinked. “Uh, sure. I was berating your seventeen-year-old self for being dumb and in love enough to –”
Tim shook his head, and slowly realised that everyone else had disappeared. Did they go inside, or something? “No. No, it was after that –”
Red! Red! Red, can you hear me?!
The world around them seemingly blurred, Tim focused on Kon. He gave him a concerned smile. “You need to go back to sleep, pretty bird?”
Tim blinked owlishly. “No, I…” he paused. This felt…
Red Robin! Tim! Dear fucking lord, please tell me you aren’t dead –
…Familiar.
Tim sighed. “This isn’t real, is it?” Tim asked Kon gently, taking one hand away from Kon’s head, and cupping the side of his husband’s face in his hand, smoothing his thumb over his cheekbone.
Kon blinked. “I mean… I hope it is?” but his voice felt distant, and far away.
Timmy… please…
“I’ll see ya when I wake up, pretty boy.” Tim said quietly, and let the world blur out of focus as the hallucination crumpled around him.
Tim, please, fuck, don’t leave me alone –
If Kon could be anywhere, it’d be anywhere but here.
Cradling Tim’s unconscious body on a random rooftop in Gotham, as the police began transporting Poison Ivy off somewhere. It’d happened again, that stupid Wish Fulfilment Pollen – they’d been patrolling together, as usual. They took turns in both Metropolis, and Gotham, and that night was a Gotham night. Kon wished he’d insisted on Metropolis. Hell, if he pushed enough, he might’ve even been able to convince Tim to try Hawaii for a night.
But no, Tim had flashed him the ‘no, I’m in charge here’ eyes, and Kon’s resolve had crumpled. God, he was whipped for Tim, even after all these years, but who wouldn’t be?
But he still felt awful, Ivy’s Wish Fulfilment Pollen had probably changed a lot since they’d first encountered it. And Tim could be out for days instead of just hours –
He should definitely call someone, Dick, Jason, hell, maybe even his dad, even though that’d be stupidly embarrassing –
Tim’s limp form suddenly tensed up, and Kon, still caught in his thoughts, instinctively took his hand up to his hair, and ran it down his head, down his neck, and down his back, rubbing small circles into his hip. It was what he always did when Tim had a nightmare, and he only realised that Tim was actually waking up when he inhaled sharply next to his ear.
“Kon, what –” Tim began, clawing at the leather of Kon’s jacket. “We – it’s dark – it’s – you –” he babbled, curling into Kon.
Kon rubbed his back, and rocked the two of them slightly. “It’s okay Timmy, you’re here, you’re with me.” He muttered softly as Tim thrashed against him. “It’s okay, darling, it’s okay. You’re here, you’re with me, it’s okay, pretty bird.”
Tim slumped forward, resting his head against Kon’s shoulder, seemingly unbothered by the spikes on his jacket. “I… you… fuck. What happened?” he asked, going still, save for the heavy panting.
“Patrol, ran into Poison Ivy. Wish Fulfilment Pollen.” Kon explained shortly, keeping Tim close. They’d moved now, from Kon cradling him like a dead body – that was bad phrasing. Kon scolded himself mentally for even daring to think about Tim and dead in the same thought – to Tim clinging to Kon whilst sat in his lap, his legs wrapped around Kon’s waist.
“Do we need to…?” Tim trailed off, pressing his face to the junction of Kon’s neck and shoulder. He shuddered slightly as Kon shifted. Gotham was cold on a good day, but the September chill wasn’t helping anything.
“Nah, she’s been arrested. I think we’re done for the night, anyway.” Kon said quietly. “You okay?”
Tim was silent for a moment, before snorting. He giggled, and then started laughing. Kon looked down at him confusedly. He loved it when Tim laughed, don’t get him wrong, but he was a bit concerned about why he’d be laughing over seemingly nothing.
“I think I just want it to be summer.” Tim said, through laughter. “I hallucinated it being summer. It was like exactly the same as that barbecue we had in July, you know, at the manor? But Jason wasn’t moping because Roy and Lian were there, and Steph didn’t sprain her ankle on the diving board–”
Kon snorted, remembering Steph’s face as she’d slipped into the pool. It’d been less funny when she’d clung to Cass and started crying, though. “Wait, what? Your greatest want is just… to have a successful pool party where no one gets hurt? And everyone is having a good time?”
Tim nodded into his shoulder. “Hell yeah. My greatest want is basically what we have already.” He mumbled, smile pulling at his mouth.
Kon pushed at his shoulder, and grinned at his tired-looking husband. “Timmy, that is the cutest thing ever.”
His grin somehow managed to grow as Tim made a squeaking sound, and blushed. They’d been together for years, and a lot of compliments had been exchanged over that time, but they were both still guilty of blushing like teenagers.
“It’s not.” Tim argued weakly.
“It is.”
“Isn’t.”
“What are you, five?”
“Still older than you, pretty boy.”
“Wow, okay. Low blow.”
Their playful bickering continued as Kon picked his husband up, and flew him home. Even as Tim was shoved under a hot shower with Kon washing his hair, and the two of them hiding their suits and changing into pyjamas, and curling up against one another in their bed, their tiny argument continued.
“I’m not cute.” Tim mumbled, as he buried his hands in Kon’s hair. It was always soft, and Kon would never complain about Tim playing with his hair.
“You keep saying that, and then proving yourself wrong.” Kon whispered, voice heavy with tiredness, putting his arm over Tim’s waist, and pulling the blanket up over both of them with his telekinesis. “G’night, pretty bird.”
Tim yawned. He was still an insomniac, but a warm Kon-El right next to him was always enough to lull him to sleep. “Night, pretty boy. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
And with that, they drifted off to sleep.