Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim finishes setting up the campfire just as the sun goes down. He stands up and walks across the soft sand to join Cissie, standing with their feet in the gently lapping waves. He looks out at the horizon, taking in how many colours the sky can turn without smog, buildings or mountains in the way, marvelling at how much the world is different and yet the same so far away from Gotham. He puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out his match box, checking how many matchsticks he has.

"This was a good idea," Cissie muses, stretching her arms out in front of her and then over her head. “We haven't done a beach night in a while."

"It is nice," Anita agrees, sitting back on her hands in front of Tim's pile of sticks and paper. "But why am I here, mon?"

"Because we invited you and Agent Fite said it was okay?" Cassie suggests, sitting down next to her with the 'esky' the guy at the shop had recommended. She rests her elbow on the lid with her body turned to Anita and one eye on Bart, darting in and out of the tree line and hassling Kon.

"Well yeah, but I thought this was supposed to be a Young Justice only celebration? Otherwise you could have invited the rest of the team. Or at least that deaf archer girl."

"Well," Tim started, making his way over and pulling out a single match.

"Bart suggested it," Kon says at near the same time, completely oblivious to the fact that Tim was also talking. "They thought it would be nice to have some Young Justice time under the full moon. And this island was recommended to them by the locals." Cassie passes over a trio of sausages and a long piece of wire, which Kon takes. "So we all flew over in the Super-Cycle."

Satisfied with his lit and growing fire, Tim sits down in an empty spot and surveys the circle. Anita managed to snag the best spot out of the path of the smoke, Cassie on her left and already passing out their dinner and Cissie easing herself down to the left of her. Secret was floating around all three of them and the smoke. Tim himself was sitting with the smoke on his right and Kon on his left, with a space for Bart to snuggle in on Kon's left side.

"I know all that." Anita says with an eye roll, "I was there to see the stupid look on your face when he suggested it, mon. But why did you invite me to your camp out on an island ringed by a reef? And also sharks, mon."

"Sharks?!" Secret yelps, at the same time that Bart skids in from wherever they'd been, spraying sand behind them. They stop where they're not at risk of dousing the fire and take their time ensconcing themself under Kon's arm.

"You helped us out a couple of times," Tim explains. "That makes you one of us. Pass me a sausage, Cassie?" He holds out his wire skewer to her and she dutifully threads on a sausage. "Thanks."

"So polite, Sir Robin," She compliments in a fake posh British accent, tipping her imaginary hat. Then she turns back to Anita and continues in her normal voice. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Okay, mon," Anita decides after thinking it over longer than is strictly comfortable. "Thanks." She accepts a slice of bread when Cassie holds it out to her and uses it to slide her cooked sausage off its skewer. Cassie puts a generous helping of mustard on it for her and she starts eating. "Do we really need so much food, though?"

"Bart eats a lot. Speedster metabolism," Cissie explains, testing her own sausage to see if it's close to done. "We'll probably be cooking all night."

"At least say there'll be s'mores, mon."

"We bought the stuff," Tim says. He digs around in his bag for a moment and then throws something crinkly and pink over the campfire, "But it might not be the same."

Anita catches the bag before it lands on her face and holds it out to the light. After a moment of scrutinising, she tears it open and pulls out one of the objects inside. "It's pink?" she exclaims, squishing it slightly. "And tiny." The marshmallow between her fingers has an approximate volume slightly less than a cubic inch. "What about the chocolate and crackers?" Cissie reaches in front of Cassie to snatch the bag of marshmallows and investigate for herself.

"Also not s'more worthy," Kon laments. Bart makes a pained whine around the sausage and bread in their mouth. "I know, we'll have some proper s'mores at the farm when we get back," Kon soothes.

"The farm?" Anita asks.

"The marshmallows aren't that small," Cissie decides, popping the one she's holding in her mouth. "And only half of them are pink. The other half are white. Cass, pass around some more sausages?" There's a round of sausages being dispensed, imitation Victorian manners and British accents and giggles.

"Robin, how is your British accent so good?" Anita asks when they've all collected themselves and set their sausages to roast, then she changes her mind. "Wait, mon. What's this about a farm?"

"Kon lives on a farm with her... grandparents, I think?" Secret says, frowning in thought and twirling in the air. Facing the ocean, Secret abruptly seems to come to a realisation and spins back around. "What was that earlier about sharks?" Secret looks so painfully nervous about the idea of the underwater predators, shaking with it and constantly turning to keep a wary eye on the water.

"Saw them swimming around when we flew over," Anita says, unconcernedly. "And you're made of smoke, mon. They can't hurt you. Especially if we stay on land." She seems about to ask something else but instead pokes at her sausage without saying anything.

The group judges the sausages close to done and passes some bread around. The only thing that gets said until the next round of sausages are cooking is an increasingly ridiculous mockery of fancy people manners.

"How's your dad, Robin?" Cissie asks, once they've all straightened themselves out again and the conversation turns to the wellbeing of the normal people in their lives for the next several rounds of sausages. Enough sausages are consumed that only Bart is left eating.

Eventually the talking slows down again and Anita jumps in with a question. "I thought Superboy is, well, a boy? But earlier," she trails off, not entirely sure of the protocol for asking people about their pronouns.

"Superboy is," Kon says, "But not Kon Kent. Ma says the term is genderfluid, but I'm not sure that's me. Either way, I prefer he/him pronouns in uniform and she/her pronouns out of uniform unless I say otherwise.

"That's cool, mon." Anita says, easily accepting it. The sense of relief that fills the air isn't actually released by anyone, but it's clearly felt by everyone. "I was born a girl and I like being a girl, so I can't relate. But we have all sorts of people in the Bayou, so I'm not going to judge."

"I don't have a gender," Secret says, curling around Cassie's shoulders. "I don't have any pronouns, please just call me Secret or Suzie."

"But not to your dad!" Cissie interjects, reaching out to Anita as if that could stop her. “Tell your dad absolutely nothing about Suzie!” She's so forceful about it that she launches herself across Cassie's lap. Laughter drifts around the circle but she doesn't make any effort to move. "My pronouns are she/her for now, but I'm questioning. My mom's controlled so much of my life that I don't really know who I am."

Cassie pushes her off her lap and digs out another loaf of bread. She hands out slices as she picks up the conversation. "I'm actually trans. I'm a girl, but I was born a boy. It's a pain at school. The administration makes me cut my hair and I'm not allowed to wear skirts."

"I don't really get it," Bart says between inhaling the entire round of sausages, "but gender means something different in the future. I'm good with any pronouns but I prefer them in rotation, depending on who's around me. It's a thing in my first language that doesn't translate in 21st Century English. We can have s'mores now."

Anita snatches the bag of marshmallows away from Cissie when she tries to hide them under her shirt and starts passing them around. Tim gets out the chocolate and graham crackers from his bag and starts breaking the chocolate up. "Robin, what about you?"

"Robin's never actually told us," Bart says, jamming his marshmallow deep into the fire and pulling it out again. Gentle flames curl around it from the charred underside. "His pronouns are he/him, but he's never even shown us his eyes. We just use what Batman uses."

"Thank you, Bart," Tim says drily. He blows out the flame on the marshmallow when Bart waves it too close to his face and catches it between a pair of graham crackers, neatly stealing it for himself. He smirks when Bart gapes at him.

"Last campout like this, we played truth or dare," Bart says, straightening their shoulders and lowering their voice as if it'd make them a better storyteller.

"What? Bart, no! We don't need to tell her that!" Tim cries, leaning past Kon to get closer to Bart. Kon snakes her free arm around Tim's waist to keep him safe from the fire crackling merrily away, now uncomfortably close to Tim.

Bart uses the distraction to steal Tim's marshmallow and the rest of the s'more supplies.

"Bart!" Tim cries, but he doesn't try to fight Bart for the purloined food. He just pushes himself upright and retakes his seat, arms encircling his middle where the impression of Kon's touch feels like a brand. When he gets comfortable again, he's a foot further around the circle than he was, putting distance between himself and Kon.

"No, mon, I want to hear this." Anita declares.

Tim buries his face in his hands. "We were playing truth or dare." It comes out as a plea.

"It's a classic!" Cissie defends. "And we thought we could finally get Rob to take his mask off."

"But I'd anticipated that," Tim snarks, grinning at them victorious.

"But he'd anticipated us!" Kon cries, throwing her arms up in exaggerated misery.

Anita giggles. Then she giggles harder. She keeps giggling harder until she's laughing outright and falls over backwards. The rest of the group shares her mirth and pretty soon they're all laughing, even Tim.

There is a rush of wind as someone races around making s’mores out of the entire groups' roasting marshmallows and snuggles themself back under Kon's arm. Cassie recoveres her wits first. "Bart!" she yells.

Then she lunges.

Bart shrieks as they try to get away only for Kon to hold them closer.

"Is it always like this?" Anita asks, looking between the three rolling across the beach and Secret who appeared to be cheering them on.

"Yup, those three are the metas, but we’ve all devolved into wrestling like toddlers at some point," Cissie confirms. She pops one of the pink marshmallows in her mouth and chews it thoughtfully. "The relationship is new, though, Bart and Kon have only been dating for a few weeks. But not the touching; we all get up in each others' space all the time." She offers a marshmallow to Anita, which Anita accepts. She considers a third marshmallow before chucking it at Tim, hitting him right on the domino mask he's wearing despite the fact they're all in civilian clothes.

"Hey Rob," Bart says, suddenly standing over Tim's shoulder while holding the bag of marshmallows. Tim offers them the marshmallow Cissie threw and Bart eats it straight off of his fingers. "Kon and I were thinking we should take a hike up the mountain."

"Yeah, sure," Tim says. He holds his hand out for a marshmallow and Bart obliges. Tim rewards them with a thick piece of chocolate.

"This is too thick for s'mores," Bart declares, looking at the sweet. They eat the chocolate anyway and then make a face. "It tastes weird, too." They look over at where Cassie and Kon are still wrestling on the sand without them and call out, "Kon! Rob said yes."

"Alright!" Kon shouts, flying away from Cassie right as she's about to snag her in a headlock. Cassie looks at her empty elbow in surprise. "Let's get some food and go!"

"And the rest of us will stay here and have Secret-Girl time," Cassie declares, brushing herself off.

"Why don't I ever get invited to Secret-Girl time?" Kon whines.

"What if I don't want to join Secret-Girl time?" Tim asks. "And I thought it was called Blonde time." He chews idly on a graham cracker he managed to rescue from Bart and looks up at the stars.

"You guys weren't into it last time," Cissie accuses, pointing at Kon and then waving her arm to include the other two. "You can't join in the hair braiding, Robin's not allowed to paint his nails and Bart can't sit still long enough for any of it. And we're re-workshopping the name to include Anita; it's a work in progress."

"Yeah, that's true," Bart bursts in. They're carrying water bottles and flashlights for the hike. "Come on, I wanna get to the summit before midnight." They hand a water bottle and flashlight to Kon and then another pair to Tim.

"Why are you giving me this?" Tim asks, taking a sip from the bottle anyway.

"Because you're coming with us," Bart says, like it should be obvious.

"You want me to come with you?" Tim asks, surprised. Something warm sparks awake in his chest and he smothers it down ruthlessly. "You didn't want to spend some time with just the two of you?"

"You're our best friend, Rob. Of course we want to spend time with you." Kon assures him.

"Besides," Cassie says with a grin, "you don't want to hang with us. We're going to talk about Nightwing's-"

"Okay!" Tim yelps. "I'm going!" He stands up and jogs over to Kon and Bart.

"Let’s go before they start talking about B and Superman, too." He mutters to the two of them.

"There's something going on over there," Anita observes once they've almost disappeared into the treeline.

"Rob's pining so hard," Cassie sighs. "I think he thinks they won't have time for him anymore or something."

"Understandable," Cissie says, "Considering what he's told me about his parents." Then she slaps a hand over her mouth to hide the scheming grin. "Which I was sworn into secrecy about and absolutely cannot be bribed into telling." She glances meaningfully at the s’mores supplies.

Just before vanishing into the tree line, Tim turns around to give all four of them 'I'm watching you' fingers.

“This is extortion, isn’t it?” Cassie asks, knowingly.

"If you two say so, mon. What's this about Nightwing?"

After nearly an hour of uphill hiking, Kon, Bart, and Tim finally reach a break in the trees, forest giving way to stone and a fast running creek. Tim stops and looks up at the sky, amazed.

"The stars are so beautiful out here. I never knew you could actually see the Milky Way this close to land, always thought it was just movie effects."

"It's because this place doesn't have much light pollution," Bart explains, walking backwards. Then they squawk as they fall into the creek. Kon dutifully fishes them back out. "Or pollution at all," Bart finishes like nothing had happened.

"You need to pay more attention,” Kon chides them. “I can sort of see it on the farm," Kon informs Tim, also staring at the starry sky in wonder. "But not like this and definitely not when I was living in Hawaii. You can see even more stars when the full moon isn’t blocking so many out. You should come around sometime and see."

"That would be nice," Tim says, a little wistful, before he catches himself and shoves all unwanted feelings back inside. He checks his watch for the time and winces. "We've only got twenty minutes if you want to reach the summit by midnight. Kon, you might have to fly us up there."

"What, no." Bart yelps. They vibrate themself dry and zip back to Tim. "This is supposed to be a fun, non-powered hike; no superspeed or flying to the top allowed. It doesn't matter if we don't make it before midnight, as long as we enjoy it." They start walking backwards and gesturing wildly, trying to get the others to join them in pushing on with the hike. "If we start flying then it's not-'' they cut themself off with a scream.

"Bart!" Kon and Tim cry, rushing over and looking for where they fell.

"I'm okay!" Bart calls, voice echoing up from deep underground. "Just fell down a tunnel. It's steep."

Tim finally manages to shine his flashlight on the hole Bart tripped down. "Okay, don't panic," he says. "Are you able to climb back up?" The sound of Bart trying to do just that and then an 'oof' as they fail echoes up the tunnel.

"It's too slippery. And narrow," Bart reports. "It's pretty cool, though. You guys should come down here."

"No," Tim says, shaking his head, "I don't think that's a good idea." But Kon has already jumped down the hole after Bart, whooping on the way down.

"C'mon, Rob," Kon calls once she's reached the bottom, "It'll be fun! And an adventure! It's not a mission; you can relax and unwind for one night."

Tim sighs but complies, sliding down the hole to join them. He checks them both over for injuries once he reaches the bottom and allows them to scan him over in turn.

"See, fun." Bart says.

"Maybe," Tim deflects, but fails to suppress the grin threatening to break across his face. He waves the flashlight around the space they landed in. "Let's push on." He heads for a gap he spots in the rock wall and the other two follow him. Bart tries to run ahead, but both Kon and Tim grab their hands and refuse to let go until the tunnel becomes too narrow for all three to pass through together.

"How are you so comfortable with this?" Bart asks once they've squeezed through and they and Tim are left waiting for Kon to sidle through. It wasn't unexpected; Bart had been quiet for an unusual amount of time.

"It was part of my Robin training," Tim explains. He grabs Kon's hand and pulls her through into the wider space, then starts moving again. He ducks under a particularly low ceiling, then continues talking while he waits for the other two to catch up. "The Bat Cave has a lot of small offshoots like this that Batman made me explore. In case of emergency, he said, but it's coming in handy now."

"There's a Bat Cave?" Kon asks. "Ow!" She rubs the back of her head, having knocked it on the ceiling in her surprise. "Where are we?" She looks around in wonder and amazement. She blinks in the small amount of starlight managing to make its way down to them and glittering off something in the floor.

"I don't know, but it's cool!" Bart declares, peering into anything that catches their attention. "What's the time, Rob? Do you think we could climb out the top in time for midnight?" Without waiting for an answer, Bart backs up slightly and sizes up the cavern wall and the opening at the top. They start running up the wall but only make it half way up before they lose their footing and start to fall.

Kon starts stumbling around to try and catch them. Not looking where she's going, she accidentally knocks into Tim, pushing him closer to the centre of the space. In the flashlight’s light, she misjudges where Bart is set to land and all three of them fall in the pool in the centre of the cavern floor.

The flashlights short out, plunging them into darkness.

"Great," Tim sighs, slapping the water.

"Cheer up, Rob." Bart says. "The water's nice. One swim won't kill us. And the only part of your uniform you're wearing is your mask, so you don’t need to worry about your computers and stuff."

"And it's summer, too," Kon declares, "The water could be a lot colder." She drags Bart in close and holds them tight.

"It's winter, Kon. Southern hemisphere," Tim says. "But I guess you're right. It could be worse. I think we're inside a dormant volcano. If we fly out of here, we'll have reached the 'summit'." They all look up just in time to see the moon show itself over the lip of the volcano, illuminating the pool they're in with a bright blue glow.

"Does it seem like the pool is glowing to anyone else or is it just me?" Bart says in a rush. The other two look down in concern.

"I think it might actually be glowing," Kon says in glee. "Rob, what do you think is causing it?"

"Normally I'd say plankton." Tim says, staring at the water in consternation, "but since it's us, I'm going to say nothing good."

"Wha-" What do you mean? Kon was likely going to ask, but at that moment a load of bubbles rise up out of the pool and smother the three of them. A moment passes as they try to gather their bearings and process what just happened before Kon speaks up again. "What was that?"

"It was pretty cool. Do you think it was magic?" Bart says in a rush, wiggling around in Kon's hold. Kon kisses their hair and they calm down a bit. "Let's get out of here now. Take a good look at the stars and stuff."

"That might be a problem," Tim declares thoughtfully, staring at the pre-dawn sky above them in dismay.

"Please don't say we're trapped in here," Kon says, following his gaze. "Oh."

"Kon, get us out of here," Tim orders in his best Batman voice.

"What? What's happening? Is there something wrong? We're superheroes, it can't be that bad," Bart babbles, but they don't struggle when Kon shifts them into a more secure hold with one arm and circles Tim with the other. Kon gently floats them out of the volcano and lands them on the lip, facing the sun coming up in the East. "We weren't down there that long, right? I'm sure it was just midnight."

"We've somehow lost-" Tim looks at his watch to double check the time, "-more than six hours. We should fly back to the beach; the others are probably getting worried about us."

"Yeah we are!" Cassie's voice calls out from behind them. They turn around to find her and Secret floating up the side of the volcano. "Did you decide to get busy and forget all about us or something? And why are you wet?"

"N- nothing like that!" Tim almost stammers, more forcefully than he intended. He wills his blush not to show and clears his throat.

"We fell into a tunnel, went caving, found a volcano where we fell into a moon pool of unknown magic at midnight and then it was dawn," Bart explains quickly, waving their hands around and almost dislodging Kon's arm from their waist. "What do you mean, 'get busy'?" The look on Cassie's face said she was struggling to keep up with speedster-paced speech. It was probably a good thing.

"You're the one who fell into the tunnel, Babe," Kon says. She places another kiss in their hair. Then she turns to give Tim the same treatment. Tim abruptly realises he's still tucked into Kon's side and ducks away before she can land the kiss.

Kon, Cassie, Tim and Bart all look at each other for a long, silent moment.

"Explain the moon pool of unknown magic," Cassie says suddenly, clapping her hands together and disrupting the awkward atmosphere.

"Take a look for yourself," Tim tells her gratefully. He slides around the volcano's opening to be closer to her and points down to the water below. "The moon became fully visible at midnight, glowing and bubbling and then it was dawn."

"Well, you're all still here in one piece," she decided after giving them all a quick glance up and down. "So it can't be too bad. Let's hurry up back to the beach." Without waiting for a reply, she scoops Tim up in her arms and starts flying off. Kon scrambles to shift Bart into a better carrying position and takes off after her, leaving Secret to bring up the rear.

Unburdened by passengers or wind resistance, Secret pulls ahead to lead the way back to the beach and calls out to Cissie and Anita. "We found them! They're all right!"

Cissie scrambles to her feet to meet them where they land, patting Tim down first to check he's not hiding any injuries and then Kon and Bart. "Come sit down," she says, dragging Bart over to the fire pit. "We've already got breakfast cooking and then we have to pack up and go. Why are you guys damp?"

Bart, already inhaling food before anyone else even has the chance to sit down, quickly swallows their toast so they can answer her. "We fell into a moon pool of unknown magic."

Cissie looks over to Tim for a clearer answer. "Robin?"

"That's pretty much it," he confirms. "There was some caving and about six missing hours, but nothing else to tell." He sits down in front of the coals with a bowl of cereal he got from the Super-Cycle. "We'll probably figure out the long term effects in the most inconvenient manner possible." He eats a couple mouthfuls of cereal then peers into his bowl suspiciously. "Agent A might actually approve of this.” He eats another spoonful, then says with foreboding, “Batman's not going to approve of the magic, though."

"Who's Agent A and what might he approve of?" Anita asks, sitting down next to Tim with the purple cereal box and a bowl already filled with milk. She grabs Tim's chin between bites and pulls it close to her face, inspecting him. "You shouldn't be so blasé about unknown magic, but it doesn't look malevolent. Just be careful, alright?"

"Thanks, Anita. And the Sultana Bran." Tim jabs his spoon at the cereal box. Anita pours some into her bowl and sets the box between them. "Agent A says cereal is full of sugar and has no nutritional value. So he doesn't allow it in the ma- in his domain. Nightwing keeps trying to sneak it in anyway; the most sugar-laden kinds he can find with mini marshmallows and gummies and things. But the shops here didn't have anything sweeter than Fruit Loops and Coco Pops."

Anita swallowed the mouthful she'd been chewing on and gave her own bowl a distrustful look. "So you chose something plain instead?" She eats another spoonful anyway.

Tim picks up the box and starts to unroll the plastic bag the cereal is in while Kon joins them, finally leaving whatever she was doing at the Super-Cycle and joining them. Cissie and Secret follow behind, choosing empty patches of sand to sit on.

"Hey! I like raisins," Kon defends, while she sits behind Bart and pulls them into her lap. "And there was a lot plainer. That Weet-bix stuff looked really plain. Like cardboard." Bart wiggles a little to get comfortable, then relaxes back against her. Kon takes the opportunity to lean her head against Bart's shoulder with a smile.

Mouth suddenly dry, Tim puts the box back down without pouring any cereal out and drinks the remaining milk out of his bowl. He pushes himself to his feet and takes his bowl and spoon to be rinsed in the sea. Everyone else watches him.

"Wait, what?" Kon asks when Tim turns back around. "Is something wrong, Rob? Are you not that hungry?"

"We should start packing up," Tim says curtly. "We've got a long flight to get back." He tucks his bowl away and starts stacking things to be packed into the Super-Cycle.

"Is it just me," Kon ponders, "Or was Rob acting weird just now?"

"No," Bart assures her, "Rob was definitely acting weird just now."

Cassie, Cissie, Anita and Secret all share knowing glances before Cassie buries the last of the coals and their camping trip is officially over.

Chapter Text

Tim wakes up to a pounding headache, aching ribs and the memory of a very strange dream. He pulls his blankets over his head and rolls over, chasing the land of sleep.

Mrs Mac had been knocking on his door and calling his name - his other Name - for a while. "You can't stay in bed all day, you know. You have to go to school," she says, shoving the door open and making a beeline for the curtains. She throws them open and Tim whines. He rolls over to escape the early morning sun and groans in pain. "I expect to see you for breakfast soon," Mrs Mac says, finishing with his Name again so there can be no doubt.

Gingerly, Tim tries to push himself up to sitting. His ribs shift painfully and his elbows give out, dropping him harshly back to lying on the mattress, one hand cradling his torso, the other on his hip and the blankets pooling on his lap. He groans again in agony.

"Are you alright, honey?" Dana asks, poking her head around the wall and through the - still open - doorway. "That's a pretty nasty bruise you've got on your hip, there. Did something happen?" Tim hurriedly pulls the blankets up so everything's covered.

"I fell in the shower. I was really tired after getting back last night," Tim tells her, "And my ribs ache."

"Were you wearing that compression top again? You know how your father feels about that." She hums thoughtfully to herself before coming to a decision. "Alright, I'll help you. A shower will make you feel much better and then we can rub some cream on that bruise."

"No, no, Dana. That won't be necessary." Tim deflects. She enters the bedroom anyway and he rolls to the far side of the bed, pushing through the pain. "Look, I'm fine, really." he says while swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "See?" he holds his arms out to prove his words and takes a deep breath in.

"Ow!" he whines, curling in on his ribs and dropping to his knees on the floor.

"Oh dear!" Dana gasps softly, one hand over her mouth. She pokes her head into the hallway and checks it left and right. When she comes back into the room, she closes the door behind her before rushing over to Tim's side. "You've really done it this time, Sweetheart. Let's get you back into bed, huh?" Without even waiting for Tim's reply, she hooks her hands under his armpits and lifts, placing him so that he's back to sitting on the bed. "There. You crawl in and be miserable for a while and I'll sort things out with your father."

"What will you tell him?" Tim asks hesitantly, just before Dana can open the door. He fervently rubs his hands where Dana had grabbed him, trying to erase the phantom feeling of another person’s touch.

"That you're not feeling well and can't go to school today."

"But what if-" Tim cuts himself off and pulls the blanket back over his head. Dana lets out a heavy sigh.

"I know you don't like it," she says, barely louder than a murmur, "But if I tell him it's cramps he won't ask any more questions. Your father is so squeamish like that. And then I can bring you some painkillers."

Tim pulls down the blanket to show a single eye. "The good ones?" he asks hopefully.

"And some cream for that bruise," Dana confirms with a laugh.

Tim is almost asleep by the time Dana returns, so she leaves the promised medication and a bottle of water on his bedside table and creeps out again.

When Tim wakes up again, it's well into the afternoon. He finds the things Dana brought for him and downs three of the pills dry, wincing at the feeling and chases them with water.

He lays in bed for another ten minutes, just breathing through the pain even that much movement had caused while waiting for the painkillers to kick in. After enough time has passed, he carefully manoeuvres himself to sit on the side of the bed, pausing to breathe through the new wave of pain and judge his path.

Once his pain has receded, he pushes himself to stand and brace himself against the wall, leaning and shambling his way to the ensuite bathroom, sticky with the combined sweat from the task and from sleeping under thick blankets on a warm day. Upon finally reaching the ensuite, he rewards himself by sitting on the closed toilet lid and leans against the cistern, ribs stretched out and panting harshly.

He eventually gathers himself enough to give the shower a suspicious glance, cataloguing the soap and other bottles scattered around the bottom. He sighs and leans his head back again. "I was hoping it was just a dream," he mumbles. “Could really do with a bathtub right now.” Cautiously, he stands up, makes his way to the shower and turns the water on. He quickly pulls his hand out before he gets splashed.

Once the water's steaming, he strips off his sleep clothes and sits in the shower. He squeezes his eyes shut, dreading something awful about to happen. Magic bubbles rise up from the water around him and when he opens his eyes, it's to find he has fins.

"Yeah, Batman is going to fire me," he complains.

“So did you figure out what the magic did?" Cassie asks the next time Young Justice meets up. She's sitting on the couch as she braids Cissie's hair, Cissie herself sitting on the floor between Cassie's ankles.

"Yeah," Tim says, flopping down on the other side of the couch and putting his hand over his eyes.

"It's terrible," Kon complains, jumping over the back of the couch to sit between them. She stretches her arms up over her head and then lays them in her lap.

"That's a cute outfit, Kon." Secret says, floating in from further inside the base, "I like the skirt."

"Thanks," Kon blushes, looking down at the skirt in question. "It used to be Ma's, from way back when, but Lois says she'll help me get some of my own stuff. Things that are current and fit and I actually like. Which isn't to say I don't like-"

"Hey!" Bart says, suddenly in the room with a rush of speed and holding a thick textbook. "There's nothing wrong with older styles. I think you look great." They vanish in another rush of speed, followed by the noise of clashing pots and pans emerging from the kitchen.

"Did I hear someone mention magic?" Red Tornado asks, emerging from the same doorway as Secret with Traya following close behind. "You better not be getting into any more trouble than you're already in." Even synthesised, his voice is thick with preemptive exasperation and disappointment.

"No, absolutely not," Tim says dismissively. "We haven't gotten into anything magical that you need to worry about since the circle of hell under the courthouse."

"That's very reassuring. Thank you, Robin," Red Tornado says, without a hint of insincerity. He turns and leaves to see what sort of damage Bart is doing to the kitchen. Traya stays behind, perching on the arm of the couch next to Cassie and watching what she does to Cissie's hair.

"Dude!" Bart exclaims, zipping in to stare at Tim with an admiring look on their face. They're still holding the textbook but they now also have a sandwich twice as big as their head and a large bag of chips. "If any of the rest of us had tried that, Reddy would've been onto us faster than I can eat this sandwich." They then proceed to eat the sandwich in the same amount of time it takes a regular person to blink. "How did you do it? Was lying part of your Robin training, too? Did Batman teach you to erase all your tells?"

"Actually, I think Dad is distracted worrying about something else at the moment," Traya interjects before Bart's words can get faster than human hearing. "What does the magic do?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if it's all the same to you," Tim says, a hint of an upper British accent creeping into his voice. He gathers his cape to make sure the ends aren’t under Kon and moves to stand up.

"We can't touch water," Kon says, disregarding Tim's words entirely.

"What?" Cassie, Cissie, Secret, and Traya all ask.

"Yeah," Bart confirms. "If we touch water, even just a drop, we grow a tail. Also scales and fins and stuff." They squeeze themselves onto the couch half between Tim and Kon and half in their laps.

"Like mermaids?" Traya asks, bouncing in her seat.

"Of course you would think mermaids," Cassie says, ruffling Traya's hair. "All done, Cissie."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Traya asks, puffing her cheeks out and giving Cassie an accusing stare. "Are you calling me a kid?"

"You were still watching 'The Hugga-Tugga-Thugees' two months ago," Cassie tells her, pinching and stretching out her cheeks. Traya slaps her hands away.

"That was two months ago. I'm in high school now!"

"Speaking of," Cissie says, standing up and brushing herself down, "We should really be getting back. See ya, guys." The rest of the team are barely able to wave the two goodbye before Cassie's curiosity wins out.

"Mermaids?" she asks, almost a squeal.

"No!" Tim snaps.

"Yes," Kon grins, half a beat slower. She and Tim turn narrowed eyes on each other.

"Merpeople, I think," Bart says, eager. "I did some research comparing colours, patterns and fin arrangements, and I think I know what sort of fish we are." They brandish the textbook before flipping it open to an earmarked page. Kon sidles closer to see, putting her arm around both Bart and Tim to keep them all closer together. Secret floats over to better see the page and, after a moment's hesitation, Cassie does too. "Assuming we're all the same, of course."

"Okay, cool," Kon says, "But I was very clearly a mermaid. I was softer and I had boobs and a scaly bra to match my tail. I can't wait until we get a chance to just go swimming and enjoy it."

"And I was a merman," Tim says, thoughtfully. "Very masculine with a flat chest. My ribs were still cracked, though."

"Why were your ribs cracked?" Kon asks, tone accusing. "Did you get beat up on patrol and then not tell anyone?"

"No, Kon!" Tim defends himself before she can get any ideas. "I didn't get beat up on patrol. I just," he trails off and turns his head away, refusing to look at anyone.

"I've been meaning to ask for a while, Rob," Cassie asks, floating upside down so their faces are level, "but do you bind?" Tim doesn't answer, just stares at her as long as he can. He blinks first. "I knew it!" Cassie crows. "Ace bandages or a proper binder?"

"A binder," Tim says, mildly offended. But he doesn't say anything else. Cassie gives him a scrutinising look before nodding to herself.

"Alright, go change," she demands. Emphasising the command, she points first at Tim then at the door to the changing rooms.

"I'm not wearing it now!" Tim squawks. "The Robin suit is padded to give the illusion of a flatter shape. Batman insisted, said it's too dangerous to bind as Robin."

"And he's right! There's an older trans guy at the group my mum takes me to. He says if you bind too long, you can break your ribs." Cassie says, floating in front of the couch and lecturing imperiously. She lands with her feet spread and puts her hands on her hips. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"What kind of merpeople are you?" Secret asks before the argument can truly take off. Secret then gets really twitchy and nervous, "You're not sharks, are you?"

"We're not sharks," Bart says, holding the open book out as if it were proof. Just as Secret is about to relax, they continue. "Pretty sure we're catfish." There's silence while they all think about that for a moment.

"That's not any better!" Cassie explodes. "What makes you so sure you're catfish, anyway?"

"The long whiskers might have something to do with it," Kon grumbles, rubbing absently at her cheeks.

"Oh, yeah, those are fun." Bart says enthusiastically. "We spent some time just playing with them. They were so sensitive, Kon-" Kon yelped and slammed a hand over Bart's mouth, muffling the words.

"They don't need to hear about that," Kon says, looking first at the room in general and then Cassie in particular until it looked like they'd all gotten the message. Then she let Bart go, keeping her hand close, just in case they said something again.

"What type of catfish?" Secret asked, leaning over the book - and therefore the three of them still pressed together on the couch - in curiosity. "And what about the boob thing?"

"I compared our tail shape, fin arrangement and colouration with every kind of fish I could find," Bart reports proudly, "and I came up with the Berney's catfish.” They clear their throat and try to imitate a deeper voice. “This catfish is found in coastal streams and rivers in northern Queensland, Australia; and Papua New Guinea. With an average size of fifteen inches, these 'shark catfish' can grow up to thirty six inches. They feed on bottom detritus such as plants, crustaceans, insect larvae and mice. They-"

"Mice?" Tim cuts in.

"You sound like a game show host," Cassie says, throwing the forgotten bag of chips at Bart's face. It had fallen to the floor in all the excitement. "What's your explanation for the sex thing, then?"

"It could just be magic," Tim suggests. He is ignored.

"Catfish are protandrous," Bart explains. Getting four confused faces staring at them, they hurry to continue. "The biggest fish is always the breeding female; of the three of us, Kon's biggest so she's the female. The second biggest fish is the breeding male, that's Rob. All the rest of the fish in the school are juvenile males. They'll reach maturity if they grow big enough or if something happens to the breeding pair." They stop proudly, waiting for a response. All they get are sceptical looks. "Or it could just be the magic taking our own preferences into account." They slump a bit in Kon's lap.

"Don't worry," Kon assures them, "I liked your explanation. Very informative." She lifts them up, turning them around in her lap and pressing their noses together.

"I need to be getting back to Gotham," Tim says, standing up and glancing around the room. His ribs feel tight and there's a ball of something trying to make its way up his throat. "See you all next time." And with that, he rushes out of the base. He knows it looks bad but he can't really care right now. He just really needs to punch someone. Failing that, he'd like to crawl into bed for a week.

"Does Robin have a problem with Bart and I being together or something?" Kon asks, perplexed. She listens to him leave with a frown.

Tim bounces his leg anxiously as Batman turns the Batmobile into the tunnel that'll take them to the Bat Cave. He realises he's doing it and forces himself to stop, pushing down on his knee.

"Are you alright, chum?" Batman asks, reaching over to push Tim's fingers away from his mouth. Tim flinches as much from the familiar endearment as from the realisation that he's started biting his fingers again. "You've been off since you came back from your Young Justice meet, earlier this afternoon."

"I'm fine, B. It's nothing," Tim deflects. He laces his fingers together and holds them between his knees to suppress any other tells and bad habits.

"How about you take a shower and then we can talk about it?" Bruce suggests. In that tone of voice, it absolutely is Bruce talking, even if he's still wearing the mask. Tim feels dread well up inside him at hearing it. He shakes his head.

"I'd rather just go home and take a shower there." Batman looks at him, looking him over for any injuries he might be hiding or anything else wrong.

"Is it the dysphoria?" Bruce asks, "Or is it something else? You flinched pretty hard when that fire hydrant burst. Is there something I should know about?"

I lose all my clothes and grow a tail when I touch water, Tim thinks before giggling a little hysterically. He takes a calming breath and then grabs the lifeline offered to him. "I told the team I'm trans today."

"Did you?" Batman says in his deepest gravel and Tim hurries to explain.

"I might've mentioned that I hurt my ribs last month and Cassie accused me of binding as Robin. They're all just looking out for me, I promise." He waits nervously for Batman to make a decision.

"All right," Batman decides. "What about the fire hydrant? Tonight wasn't the first time you've shied away from water, recently." He turns off the Batmobile but doesn't make a move to get out. Tim doesn't answer, just opens the door before Bruce can think to hit the locks and attempts to escape. Batman exits the car behind him. "You need to talk about it, Tim."

"I want to tell them my preferred name," Tim says. It's an old argument and guaranteed to distract Bruce. "Nobody else uses it. Nobody else even knows it, what could be the harm?"

"We've talked about this, Tim," Bruce says, launching into the usual lecture about secret identities and ties to Bruce Wayne. Tim doesn't listen, instead concentrating on his guilt and self-loathing.

He wishes he didn't have to manipulate ‘Bruce’ and lie to ‘Batman’, but it was easier than telling him the truth about what was really going on.

If B found out Tim lost his clothes and grew a tail from contact with just a single drop of water, he'd be fired. And Tim couldn't let that happen.

Batman needs Robin.

And so does Tim.

Especially now that his best friends have each other and don’t need him anymore.

Chapter Text

The latest Arkham breakout is almost hectic enough for Tim to forget his recent troubles for a while. After three nights solid of tracking and rounding up loose inmates, Tim doesn't even need to make excuses for why he is skipping yet another weekend with Young Justice.

And then Batman had to bring the precarious balance crashing down.

"We need to visit the asylum. We'll swing as far as we can from the rooftops, glide across the river, and swim the rest of the way. You know the drill, I'll lead." Tim freezes.

"I, I can't go.”. Batman turns to face him and Tim tries to dig himself out, steadfastly ignoring the call of the river. "It's not that I don't want to, I actually can't. I can't swim, I think I'm coming down with something."

"Robin."

"Really, B. It's been a long few nights, I'm tired, I've got this tickle in my throat, I've--" he covers his face mouth with his fist and fakes a cough "--I've been coughing off and on for a while now." Batman levels him with a mightily unimpressed glare but Tim can't back down. He glares back.

"I don't have time for this," Batman growls, "Check in with Gordon and then go home." He jumps off the building and swings away. Tim breathes out a sigh of relief and then jumps when Stephanie lands on the roof beside him.

"What are you doing here, Steph?" Tim asks, weary down to his bones.

"Watching you," she tells him, like it should be obvious. "I thought he'd never leave. Is he upset I'm here? Is that what you were arguing about?"

"No, it had nothing to do with you. Go home, Steph," Tim says. He reorients himself and then leaps off the building, heading for the precinct. Stephanie follows after him anyway. He drops down in front of Gordon when they find him, Stephanie a beat behind. "Commissioner," he greets.

"We've got them all in lock up," Gordon says on autopilot. Then he stops and visibly re-evaluates. "Where's Batman? Shouldn't you be with him?"

"Batman's investigating how they got out, now that the chaos is over," Tim tells him. "If you don't need anything, I'm off for tonight."

"Okay, Thank you, son," Gordon says. He turns to look at his officers and give Tim his window of escape but Stephanie interrupts.

"Hey, what am I?" she asks. "Chopped liver?"

"You should be at home," Gordon tells her. "Now go. I don't want to hear about Spoiler being out anymore."

Stephanie turns to complain to Tim instead, only to find he's already on the building across the street. "Hey Robin, wait up!" she calls, using a grapple to chase after him. She manages to tackle him after several rooftops.

"What do you want, Spoiler?" Tim asks, wriggling around as she lets him go. They end up on their backs staring up at the clouds. "You really shouldn't have come out tonight."

"I like you, I like hanging out with you," Stephanie informs him. He tries to interrupt but she keeps talking. "Even if I don't know who you really are. And look, I couldn't just sit in my room doing nothing. I'm Spoiler!" Tim sighs, but he doesn't say anything. For a while they just lay in contemplative silence.

"So what were you and Batman arguing about?" Stephanie asks suddenly. Tim jolts and splutters. "And why didn't you go with him across the river? Is that what you were arguing about? Did you want to go and he wouldn't let you?" Tim sits up and looks at her, trying to make her stop with the power of his glare.

"Batman wanted me to go with him," Tim bursts out, then he sighs. He hadn't really meant to tell her that. "Going would mean swimming and I can't do that right now."

Stephanie sits up in a hurry and looks at him incredulously. "You can't swim?" Tim shushes her and covers her mouth.

"I know how to swim!" he hisses. He looks around for anyone watching and then leans in close. "Let's go, time to get you home." He leaps off the building without giving her time to regroup. Stephanie squawks in surprised anger.

"And then you'll tell me?" Stephanie calls after him, voice hopeful. Tim doesn't respond.

"Now you'll tell me?" Stephanie asks, hands on her bedroom window but making no move to open it. Tim sighs.

"You can't tell anyone," Tim demands. He waits for her nod before continuing. "I mean it! Batman doesn't like metas in Gotham."

Stephanie nods harder. "You're not meta, though."

"I've developed-" Tim trails off for a moment, considering. "-abilities, recently. Along with Impulse and Superboy. They activate with contact to water."

Stephanie stares at him. Her lips pull up in a smirk and she pulls out her water bottle, unscrewing the lid and holding it out at an angle as if to pour the contents on Tim..

"No!" Tim almost shouts, pushing the water bottle away. Stephanie moves it out of the way before he makes contact and a small amount of water sloshes out of the top. They both stare in amazement at the small ball of water left floating in the air.

"Hydrokinesis, huh?" Stephanie asks, cupping her hands and picking the water out of the air. She squints at the water, holding it up to her face to get a closer look.

"That's new," Tim tells her, "But could be useful, at least." He’s begrudging about it. “If I can control it.”

"How are Impulse and Superboy handling it?"

"They seem to be doing fine. Impulse got really excited about some research he'd done the last time I saw them." Tim puts a hand on his chest; a futile effort to stop the weird squeezing sensation in his rib cage.

"I'm sensing a 'but' there, Boy Wonder," Stephanie says. She yanks off her mask to properly give him her most demanding eyes, the kind she uses specifically so that Tim knows she'll keep hounding him.

"But that was over a month ago," Tim admits, cringing.

"A month?!" Stephanie screeches. She claps a hand over her mouth and the two of them lay flat on the roof, fervently hoping no one heard and investigates. "Have you been avoiding them?" she teases once they're in the clear.

"No," Tim denies, "I've just been busy."

"You're a poor liar, today," Steph accuses. "If they've got these abilities too, can't they help you learn to control them?"

"It's not about that," Tim says, turning to jump off the roof.

"Then what is it about?" Steph asks, grabbing Tim's cape and foiling his escape. Tim sighs but she just keeps looking at him until he cracks. Tim can feel his eyes burning.

"They're going to leave me soon anyway, so what's the big deal?" He disentangles Stephanie's suddenly lax finger and finally makes his escape. Tears are leaking from his eyes now and he just knows he's going to cry himself to sleep. Good thing Jack and Dana are away this week.

The next time Tim goes out on patrol, Stephanie catches up to him immediately. Tim's in the suburbs with the Redbird while Batman is patrolling in the city, so he lets her tag along on his route. He immediately regrets that decision when they stop for food and she starts up from their last conversation.

"What did you mean?" She asks, holding her burger up but not taking a bite just yet, "When you said they'll leave you soon?"

"Everyone leaves me," Tim tells her calmly. "It's not a big deal." He takes an angry bite out of his burger and resolutely doesn't look at her.

"I'm sure that's not true," Stephanie says, watching him in consternation.

"It is," Tim says. He looks at his half finished burger, but he’s lost his appetite with the turn the conversation’s taken and wraps it back up. "They're dating now. Eventually I'll just be the third wheel and then they'll forget about me entirely and it’ll hurt. It hurts waiting for it, but it also hurts to watch them be happy together. Easier to just cut ties now than to drag it out."

Stephanie chokes on her burger. She bangs her fist against her chest a couple times to clear her throat and then turns to face him. "Explain that last one again," she demands. "'It hurts when they're happy together.' Explain that."

“There's nothing to explain," Tim moans, putting his face into his hands, "I just don't like watching PDA."

"That is blatantly false," Stephanie declares, jabbing a finger at him. She hastily finishes her burger and gives him her full attention. "I've seen you when we see people being cute together, holding hands and kissing and stuff. That's not the face of a kid grossed out by cooties or whatever. It's one of longing. You wanna know what I think?"

"No, actually. I don't want to know what you think," Tim says.

"I think you're jealous. I think you like one of them and that's why it hurts to see them together."

"I don't like either of them any more than the other," Tim claims, offended.

"So you like them both?" Stephanie asks, voice triumphant.

"Well, yeah," Tim agrees, seeing an out. "They're my best friends, of course I like them."

"But do you only like them? Or do you like like them?" Stephanie asks and Tim despairs. "When they hold hands do you wish they'd stop? Or do you wish you could hold hands too? Do you want them to stop kissing? Or do you want to join the kissing? Do you long for Superboy's big strong arms around you? Do you want to grab Impulse and hold him safe?"

As Stephanie talks, Tim feels a growing wave of horror wash over him. He remembers all the times Kon would grab him and how safe it made him feel, remembers the times Bart would climb all over him and how happy that would make him. He realises how he never felt that strongly when anyone else did the same thing. Not even Dick.

"I don't-" Tim stammers, but he's only lying to himself.

With the survival instincts he learnt while following Batman and absolutely no shame, Tim flees.

Batman finally puts his foot and banishes Tim from the cave when Young Justice take on a being calling themself 'The Sandman' in the Mojave desert. “They're your friends," he says, glancing away from the report playing on one of the Batcomputer's many screens to send an unimpressed look Tim's way. "It's time you stopped avoiding them."

So Tim whistles for the Super-Cycle and ends up on the scene just in time to catch Bart when they get thrown almost 50 feet in the air.

"Robin!" Superboy calls, seemingly ecstatic to see him. "You made it!" He flies over, disregarding the being he was just in battle with.

"Focus, Superboy!" Tim snaps. He yanks on the supercycle's handlebars to direct it away from the incoming ball of sand just in time. The dodge is so close that he feels stray grains of sand rub against his face and arm, stinging. Superboy disappears under the onslaught.

"Supey!" Bart cries, jumping off the supercycle to check on him.

Cassie manages to toss The Sandman away from their trio and flies in closer. "What do we do?" she asks.

"Not that," Tim tells her grumpily, pointing down to where Bart and Superboy are brushing each other off and looking about five seconds away from kissing. "Where's Secret?"

"APES was already on scene when we got here. Secret is staying out of sight in the clouds," Cassie reports, pointing to a gathering of men dressed in suits and their trucks. Tim winces in sympathy and looks up at the lone wispy desert cloud floating above them.

The Sandman gathers themself and rushes at Bart and Superboy and Tim - operating on about four and a half hours of restless sleep - decides he's had enough. "You two break it up!" he shouts, just before they get blasted with yet another ball of sand.

"Sorry, Rob," Bart says. Superboy echoes the sentiment.

"Wonder Girl, circle him fast and high, Impulse same direction from the ground. Superboy, you get the DEO's water truck," Tim directs.

"What about you?" Superboy asks.

"Just do it!" Tim snaps. All three look a bit shocked at his outburst, but they obediently go off to complete their assigned tasks. Tim breathes slowly and lets the emotions drain out of him. He's not sure what's been coming over him lately, but it's been getting more and more frequent and he doesn't like it.

"Kon, splash him," Tim says when The Sandman is all spun up, at a pitch calculated for Superboy to hear. Superboy does and Tim tosses a batarang into the muddy mess, electrocuting The Sandman and making it possible for the DEO to take them into custody.

Satisfied that their job is done, the four climb into the Super-Cycle and pick up Secret for a silent and tense trip back to headquarters. Upon landing, they all pile out and look at each other, as if unsure what to do next.

"I'm going to go rinse off," Tim declares, pulling at the collar of his suit irritably, "Then we'll debrief."

"Aw, Rob," Bart whines, draping themself over his back. Tim ducks out of the loose hold and grimaces at the feel of sand shifting on his skin and under his suit. He shoves down the sense of mourning he feels from losing Bart's touch and stalks towards the door.

"Robin, wait!" Cassie calls after him. Knowing he'll regret it, Tim turns around to face her. “Isn't that dangerous? With the, you know."

"I can manage," Tim tells her tersely. He stalks through the door and makes his way for the shower, sand and suit chafing suddenly.

Once clean, dry, and changed, he heads back to the main meeting room. He stops just outside the door, though, when he hears voices talking.

Talking about him.

"Fine, yes," Cassie's voice says, "Robin has been avoiding us. And acting weird. And he was acting weird before, too."

"He's been acting weird since Australia," Bart's voice observes.

"He's been acting weird since we started dating." Kon's voice corrects. Tim decides not to interrupt them.

"Does he have a problem with it?" Bart's voice asks, practically pleading.

"No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a problem with it," Cassie says. Tim irrationally feels like he could strangle her.

"Then why?" Bart asks. "Why does he always look kind of mad when we're affectionate?"

"He never lets us touch him anymore," Kon adds. "He rarely ever hangs out with the group anymore, let alone does anything just the three of us."

"And today he was even colder and more distant than usual."

"You guys really miss him, don't you?" Cassie asks. Tim feels like a bit of a heel, but not enough to make him stop eavesdropping.

"It's just not the same without him." Bart complains.

"Oh," Cassie breathes. Tim feels like there's butterflies in his stomach and his heart is going to burst with how fast it's beating.

"Oh?" Kon asks.

"What? What is it? What?" Bart asks.

"You two like him, don't you?" Cassie says. "You like him the way you like each other. You want to make your couple a triad."

"Of course we like him," Kon says a bit too fast. "He's our best friend. But not like that, that'd just be weird— wouldn’t it?"

"Not in the future," Bart says thoughtfully.

Tim feels the butterflies morph into a hope stronger than he knows what to do with.

So he runs.

Runs back to Gotham where he can hide until it goes away or he knows how to squash it.

"Your friends are tearing up Gotham looking for you," Bruce says as soon as Tim answers the phone. He sounds irritated. "Deal with them." He hangs up and Tim's left staring at the receiver.

"Who was it?" Jack asks.

"Friend of mine," Tim lies. "She's going through something and needs me to pick her up." He doesn't wait for Jack's permission, just runs out to the Redbird and starts driving towards Gotham. He'll change into his Robin suit on the way.

As he sets the car to autodrive, he can't stop himself from thinking about what could have happened in the last hour. Nothing should have happened since he left them that Young Justice felt the need to enter Gotham. The more he thinks about the possibilities, the more and more dread curls in his gut. By the time he's made himself visible, he's expecting the worst.

Bart finds him first. "Dude! Where were you? We were so worried," they say, the Impulse suit fizzling slightly.

"You were worried?" Tim asks, disbelieving. "Batman told me you were looking for me and I thought someone had died, Imp. You scared me."

"Yeah?" Superboy angrily interjects. "We scared you? You scared us first, Rob. We were waiting for you so we could debrief. But you never returned. You just left! What's been going on with you lately?"

"Nothing!" Tim snaps. His emotions are pulling and releasing so fast he feels caught up in a storm with no control.

"Well, obviously something is!" Superboy shouts back.

"Guys," Bart says, shifting their weight from one foot to the other and back again, nervous.

"Maybe it's just the, the thing with the fish,” Tim scrambled for an excuse. “It's not easy, you know. Hiding that from everyone!"

"Oh, don't bring that into it. Your weird behaviour started before that. When Bart and I started going out." Superboy takes a step closer, crowding into Tim.

"Hey, you guys are being really loud," Bart says, trying to squeeze between them.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Tim shouts. He's completely lost control, couldn't rein himself back if he wanted to. "You guys are my best friends. I want you both to be happy!"

"But not with each other, is that it?" Superboy shouts back, somehow even louder than before and practically in Tim’s face.

"But not without me!" Tim screeches.

"What?" Superboy asks, surprised and blinking. He straightens up and takes a half step back.

"What?" Bart asks, standing in the new space between them, shocked.

"What?" Tim asks, derailed. He's suddenly aware of how scratchy his throat is and close his eyes are to tears.

"You don't want us to be happy," Superboy asks slowly, "without you?"

Tim doesn't answer, just sits down heavily on the air conditioning unit and tries to wipe his eyes through his mask. It doesn’t work, the lenses aren’t exactly designed for ease of access to the eyes. It’s frustrating.

"Rob," Bart says gently, sitting at Tim's feet. They gently take his face between their hands and tilt it so Tim's forced to look at them or close his eyes. "Did you think we'd have no time for you, now?"

Tim wants to say 'no,' but the longer he looks into Bart's earnest gaze, the more he realises he doesn't want to lie to these two. "That's how it always is. Nobody ever wants to spend time with me, at least not for long. Not just to spend time with me. They just need me for something and then I'm on my own again." A sob escapes him and he covers his mouth, embarrassed.

"Rob," Bart says in that same gently earnest voice. Tim can't stand it and pushes through.

"You guys have each other now. You don't need me anymore."

"Rob, no," Kon says. He scoops Tim up and sits on the ground, Tim cradled in his arms. Tim struggles to get free but Kon uses his TTK to keep him trapped. "Maybe we don't need you. Maybe we never needed you. But that doesn't matter. We want you, we want to hang out with you. Please don't leave us."

"You're just saying that," Tim says. He slumps forward - as much as he can while still securely held in Kon’s TTK field - suddenly exhausted and not sure if he even has the strength to sit up on his own right now. "Eventually you'll slip up, get lost in each other, forget about me. Doesn't matter how good your intentions, I'll end up the third wheel in the end. And that's just as painful."

"What, no. Rob," Kon says, shocked. He doesn't continue and Tim assumes he sees the truth. Tim sighs.

"Rob," Bart tsks, shaking his head. "Rob, Rob, Rob."

"Don't drag it out, Impulse," Tim says tiredly.

"Would you like to get ice cream with us?"

"What?" Kon asks.

"Bart," Tim sighs.

"As a date," Bart clarifies. "The three of us."

"Dating?" Tim asks, not sure he understood Bart properly. "All three of us?"

"Yeah," Kon confirms. "Cassie made us realise some things and we talked about what we want from our relationship. We were going to ask you when we finished debriefing, but you disappeared on us."

"I-" Tim gasps. New - happy - tears well up in his eyes. He smiles. "Yeah, I'd like that." He glances around the rooftop to check, but he'd chosen this building for its lack of cameras or places to eavesdrop from. "When we're out of uniform, you can call me Tim. It's my preferred name, not my real name, and only Batman's people use it. But I'd like you two to know it."

"Tim," Bart says, tasting the name. They grin and climb into Tim's lap.

Kon adjusts his grip to accommodate the new addition and places a kiss in Tim's hair. “It suits you.”

Tim decides he can allow himself to just enjoy the contact for a while. Just this once. It's nicer than he expected.

Chapter Text

"Are you ready for this?" Kon asks. Tim shakes his head and holds onto her sweatshirt while Bart cheers from where they're clinging to her back. Kon has flown the three of them out to an empty archipelago where they can swim without the risk of being seen.

Originally, Bart had wanted Kon to hold them for the flight over but she had insisted on carrying Tim bridal style for their first real swim-date. Tim had resented the hold while they were still over dry land but is now infinitely grateful for it. He feels overwhelmed by the sea. He can feel it pulling on something inside of him with senses he didn't know he had. It's making it difficult for him to keep track of what's happening around him.

"Are you nervous?" Kon nudges Tim worriedly. Tim forces himself to look up and sees two faces peering down at him in concern, Bart leaning over Kon's shoulder.

"You can't feel that?" Tim asks, fighting to not just hide his face in Kon’s chest. He gets two blank faces in reply.

"Feel what?" Bart asks, slightly high pitched and like they'd already asked a few times. Tim realises he'd been zoned out.

"The ocean," Tim says, "I can feel it. Inside me, around me, reaching out to me," He subconsciously puts a hand out, reaching back. The sea below them calms. A glassy circle close to forty feet wide in an otherwise rolling swell.

"Woah!" Bart breathes, long and low, marvelling at it.

"Tim?" Kon asks. Tim tries to lift his head to look back up at them but he can't. That display has caused him to lose his last tenuous grasp on reality and suddenly everything is too much; the sounds are too loud, the sun's too bright, Kon's touch feels like both a burning brand and a thousand poking needles. The wind is cold and he shivers with every caressing breeze. Then he's just plain shivering.

"Tim?" He thinks he hears Kon ask, but he can't think enough to answer her. This time it’s Tim reaching out to the ocean and the ocean reaches back. Literally.

The previously calm water rises up like a spout, encircling and cradling the three of them and dragging them down to where everything is soft and safe. The magic bubbles and fizzles over them and they return to the surface transformed.

"This is different," Tim says, swishing his tail and feeling the way his fins and whiskers react to the water.

"Are you okay now?" Kon asks.

"Yeah, it's not so overwhelming anymore. I don't know what just happened, though." He kisses her nose and wiggles around so that she knows it's okay to loosen her hold, then makes sure to give Bart the same treatment. Something catches his eye underwater and he dives down to get a closer look, Bart and Kon following him. They stay down as long as their lungs hold air before they return to the surface, breathless but grinning.

"That was amazing!" Bart yells waving his arms around enthusiastically and somehow also climbing all over Tim.

"Way better than the dam," Kon agrees.

"The dam?" Tim asks.

"We've been swimming in the dam on the farm when the water's pull starts getting too much," Kon explains.

"Oh!" Bart exclaims. "Could that be what just happened to Tim? You stayed away too long and the ocean rose up to claim you?"

"Maybe," Tim muses. "Let's swim now and theorise later. I want to tell Secret we swam with sharks." With that, the three of them duck back under and go rocketing through the water, finding a patch of seaweed and watching all the colourful fish swimming around.

"Beautiful," Tim gasps when an octopus crawls out of a hole. He then claps a hand over his mouth when water floods in. It doesn't taste as overwhelmingly salty as he thinks it should and instead of choking, he feels vents open up on the side of his neck. Gills, he thinks, when he realises he's able to breathe underwater. He watches Bart leap out and back into the water and suddenly he wants to kiss them silly. With no reason why he shouldn't, he swims into action, snatching Bart when they next dive under.

He takes Bart's face and guides their mouths together slowly, giving Bart plenty of time to pull away if this isn't something they want. Instead, Bart throws their arms around Tim, one hand on the nape of his neck and brushing the top of his dorsal fin, the other playing with where the fin gives way to his spine. Tim shivers and licks Bart's lips, asking for entry. Bart presses closer and obliges.

"Wow," Bart breathes when Tim finishes mapping the inside of their mouth with his tongue, bubbles rushing to the surface. Tim is amazed when he actually watches the gills open up in Bart's neck. He turns to see Kon watching them with a smile and kisses her too.

Kon doesn't let Tim take the lead, taking advantage of the fact that Tim's already slightly dazed to seize control of the kiss. She threads a hand into his hair and nips at his bottom lip until Tim's dizzy with it and with oxygen deprivation. Tim just hangs on and plays with the edge of the scales acting as Kon’s bikini top.

Bart darts in to kiss Kon when she finally releases Tim and Tim's a bit surprised to notice their whiskers almost rubbing together. He rubs at his own whiskers, trying to understand the sensation he's getting from them. He thinks that if he weren't in the open, he'd be able to detect every movement in his proximity.

"What are you thinking about?" Kon asks, her words sounding strange through the water but completely understandable. She twirls a finger around one of Tim's whiskers with a grin. Tim moans with the unexpected feeling of it and then flushes, embarrassed. He swims off and the three of them end up in a game that can only be described as 'Whisker Chase,' trying to play with each other's whiskers while protecting their own.

They end up beaching themselves on a small island in the evening, when the sky's starting to turn pink. Kon and Bart lean on each other, sitting higher up on the sand to dry off while Tim lays with the end of his tail still in the water, spread out on his back.

"How do you feel?" Kon asks, walking over to peer down at him.

"Loose," Tim says, grinning. He's happier and more relaxed than he has been in months, like there was a powerful yearning building inside of him that's been fulfilled now. He twitches his fingers and small water versions of the three of them form, frollicking in the air.

"You got extra powers?" Bart squawks, dismayed. "But we didn't get any extra powers!”

Tim laughs. “How do you know you didn’t get extra powers? I only discovered mine by accident, so maybe we just need to experiment to find out yours?”

Kon groans in disgust. “Only you, Tim, could think of a way to make this insane magical transformation into something like work!”