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It was safe to say that Harley and Ivy were going through some relationship troubles.
You could tell by Ivy's newest pollen, which induced something parallel to an 'emotional craving' and essentially equated to the recipient becoming touch-starved.
The effects only lasted 24 hours, but Kon had been hit, and dealing with everything that the pollen ensued was draining.
Thankfully, Kon had himself a Tim to keep him company.
Well, a Tim that had a mission report to complete, but close enough.
"Babeeeee," Kon whined, "come cuddle me. I feel cold. Fix ittttt."
"I'll be there in literally 30 seconds, I just need to hit send on the email and I'll be done."
Right after Tim shuts his computer, Kon's TTK is at his back sloppily pushing him towards his own bed where Kon lays in a ball.
"I'm already coming, Kon. You don't need to push me. You're not even doing a good job"
Tim receives a groan in response and he realizes that he can hear Kon's teeth chattering.
When he finally gets to hovering over Kon, he pushes him onto his back. Tim then 'starfished' himself over his boyfriend, pulling the comforter and every extra blanket he can find over them.
Kon's arms immediately wrapped around his back to pull him closer. "Warm."
"Very warm," Tim replied.
"I'm sorry."
Tim moved his head slightly, not breaking contact with Kon so that he was speaking closer to Kon's ear. "About what? The only thing that I'd be mad at you for is taking the hit for me but you'd never apologize for that."
Kon lets out a slightly pained chuckle. "You're right. I'm very not sorry for that. No. I meant I'm sorry that you're stuck under all these covers with me. Those, plus my natural body heat must be a lot for you."
Tim shrugs. "I've dealt with worse before. It's fine. Plus, I like taking care of you. I don't get the opportunity a lot. With you being Kryptonian and all."
Kon chuckles again and Tim could feel it go through his chest. "I just want to make sure that you know that you don't have to. It's not like your job or anything. I know I literally pushed you but you could've said no. You're not obliged."
This time, Tim does break contact. He places his chin on Kon's chest to look him in the eye. "Kon. You're my boyfriend. I seriously don't mind laying here with you. Would you rather have someone else cuddle you for the next 23 hours?"
Tim was still staring into Kon's eyes. He knew that he wasn't doing a good job of hiding his self-consciousness. He didn't know how to take in the situation and he was never good at masking his feelings in front of Kon. Well, anything other than romantic feelings, and how good he has hidden them could still be brought into question.
"No! No, it's not that, I promise. I am very happy to have you here with me. I just... I saw how much more you've been doing since the first week of our relationship. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything extra. Except maybe kissing, but even that's not mandatory. The way that you were before we were dating was perfect. I mean, you were, and still are, emotionally constipated, but I already love you so what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to try so hard."
Tim's breath catches, which results in a sharp inhale and then loud coughing. Once he catches his breath again, Tim tucks his head underneath Kon's chin again, remembering that he should be warming him up.
"You don't mean that, Kon."
"What? That I want you the way you are? How are you gonna tell me.... oh."
Tim sighs, but he doesn't dare look back up at Kon. "You don't love me. You may think that you do because your emotions are being amplified from the pollen, but trust me, you don't love me."
Kon stayed silent for a second.
"I... don't know how to respond to that. My emotions are messed up. I feel like... horny. But for feelings? I don't know how to explain it. But the pollen just the reason for me telling you, it didn't make me feel this way. I loved you before we were even dating."
Tim stayed perfectly still and tried his best to keep his heartbeat steady. "Then you love me in a platonic way. I've loved you as a friend for a long time too."
Kon sighed. "Tim. I know that you love your evasive maneuvers, but I also know that you're aware that's not what I meant."
Tim squeezes Kon, not knowing if it was to reassure Kon or himself.
"Kon...." Tim takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and just existing for a moment. "you don't love me. You just don't."
"Tim-" Kon's response is cut off by Tim lazily putting a hand over his mouth.
"Can we just... not? We can talk about it later. But I don't want to have this conversation right now. My flight response is kicking in and there's no way I'm leaving you right now. So can we please leave this for another day?"
Kon doesn't respond and Tim almost thinks that they were just going to leave it at that.
"Okay," Kon whispers.
"Okay."
Tim moves his hand back around Kon and is pulled even closer to his boyfriend.
The next day, after Kon had spent the rest of his time being affected by the pollen honoring his promise and not bringing up the topic again, Tim finds himself outside of Kon's room.
Before Tim could knock, there was a smiling Kon in front of him.
"You couldn't even pretend like you didn't know I was here?" Tim asks with a smile.
"Nah, I picked up on your heartbeat before you were outside of my door. Plus, I was expecting you."
Tim raised an eyebrow. "You were expecting me?"
Kon smiled and pulled Tim into the room by his wrist. "It's time for the promised conversation regarding me loving you. Now that the pollen is fully out of my system."
"That it is."
Kon sat down on the edge of his bed and pulled Tim in between his legs.
"So. Now that you can't make any excuses about what I mean or what's affecting me, I'll say it again: I love you."
Tim doesn't stiffen, but Kon can tell that he was going to.
"I didn't want to tell you this soon, kinda for this exact reason, but the pollen messed it up for me."
Tim didn't say anything, just let his brain run wild, thoughts spinning around and fighting each other inside his head.
He only realized where he was again after Kon gave a light squeeze on Tim's legs with his thighs.
"I... You know..." Tim sighs then takes a deep breath to organize his thoughts.
"You are aware that I don't have... the best self-image. I mean, at least I can be self-aware, but it's hard for me to accept love from others. I know that you loved me before, in a more platonic way, but this is something new, something different, and it's gonna take me time to process all over again. So what I'm saying is that I don't not believe you, my brain is just going through some shit."
Kon smiles, wrapping his arm around Tim's waist. "I can deal with that. As long as I have you."
Tim tucks his head into Kon's neck, a small, content smile present on his lips. "Cheesy. Also, as to me loving you, my brain is also going through that. I was already in love with you, and although I said that this is something new and different, I'm not sure if it's so new to me. If you get what I'm saying. But I need to be sure before I say it. So for now, just know that I really, really care about you, I'd give my life for yours, we've seen that I can't function without you, and you're one of the only people that I can 100% of the time trust and that can keep me sane."
"See, that right there is more than I was even asking for. Now, as I'm sure that was so incredibly draining on your emotional capacity, I bestow upon you the option to stay in my room tonight and just make out with me. We could put on a movie for background noise if you wanted."
Tim lifts his head from Kon's shoulder, looking him in the eyes.
"That sounds perfect," Tim replies, before leaning down for a kiss.