Chapter Text
“GUESS WHAT REALITY TV SHOW IS GOING VIRAL-“ Conner sounded far too awake for 4am, although Tim supposed it was only 3am over in Kansas.
“I have a hunch but I’m practically begging you to tell me it’s wrong,” Tim picked up his towel and ruffled it through his hair an extra time, since apparently he couldn’t head to bed just yet.
“I’ll give you a hint,” Even over the crackly communicator Tim could tell he was barely holding back his laughter, “Starts with Super, ends with Vision!”
Tim groaned, purposefully loud and exaggerated enough so that it’d be picked up.
“I’m going to bed,” He closed the line before Conner could say anything else. This whole thing was humiliating and it put his identity at risk, what a winning combination.
As he laid down, he could hear notifications, but couldn’t be bothered to check.
Waking up to more notifications was unfortunate but unsurprising. Before he got out of bed he grabbed his phone to see which group chat exactly was blowing up.
YJ 2: Quantum Boogaloo
[4:17 am] Kon: 😈 http://youtube.com/watch?v=8zw...
[4:23 am] Bart: NO WAY DJDJDJDHDHG
[7:15 am] Keli: wait what omg
[7:24 am] Jinny: CASSIE YOU LOOK SO CUTE… THE GOGGLES 🥺
[7:26 am] Cassie: wow THATS a throwback
[7:30 am] Amethyst: is that. lobo with you guys???? like intergalactic bounty hunter lobo???????
[7:35 am] Bart: kinda
[7:35 am] Bart: but not really
[7:36 am] Bart: but like. kinda
[7:38 am] Jinny: real helpful there impy
[7:39 am] Bart: we called him slobo
[7:40 am] Keli: whos the bald guy with the sunglasses? he looks familiar
[7:41 am] Kon: GUESS
[7:42 am] Cassie: oh he is so not gonna be happy abt this 😬
[7:45 am] Steph: ohhhhhhhhhh my god
Tim sighed, and typed.
[7:50 am] Tim: …😒
He locked his phone and set it face down, not wanting to even think about this whole thing any more today. It buzzed again but he just ignored it in favor of getting out of bed and heading towards the kitchen.
He set his kettle on for tea, and started rummaging around for cereal or something else that was easy. He could take the time to cook, but he wasn’t really in the mood. Cocoa Puffs would do the trick just fine.
Before he got the milk out of the fridge, he heard knocking on his… window.
“May as well be the front door at this point,” Tim muttered to himself as he turned around. Between his family who need to be extra about everything and his friends with superpowers, it’s definitely become the most used entryway.
Conner was sitting on the ledge just outside the window, hair a mess because of the wind, not in his full Superboy getup but still wearing the jacket. At least he wasn’t floating there this time, Tim definitely prefers when his neighbors don't have a chance of seeing the super-powered guests in action.
Tim unlocked it, and gave an unimpressed stare, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Conner rolled his eyes and used his TTK to gently drag Tim out of the way, before sliding in boots-first. He took a moment to crack his neck and yawn before looking back at Tim.
“Someone’s grumpy this morning,” He started taking his jacket off, revealing an old band t-shirt, “And last night, and always if I’m bein’ real,”
Tim went back over to the fridge to finally grab the milk, “Well, one of my most embarrassing fashion choices has just been dug out of it’s grave, you know how it is,”
“Can’t tell if you’re making a dig at the jacket being back,” Conner held it up as he moved towards the couch, “Or that clone of me Waller’s had running around in the T-shirt,”
“All of the above,” Tim shrugged, “You want any?” He held up his bowl of cereal. Conner looked over from the couch, and scrunched up his face as he thought.
“Nah, I’m good,”
Tim put everything away and climbed over onto the arm of the couch, perching himself on it, “So, I ask again, why the surprise visit?”
“First of all, I rarely plan so like 80% of my visits are surprises,” Conner rested his arm up along the edge, “Second, I did actually text you this time,” That must have been the buzz he ignored, “And lastly, you were just going through some shit like pretty recently and now there’s this Super Vision thing,” He waved a hand around in a circle as he talked, purposefully avoiding eye contact, “I wanted to make sure you weren’t freaking out too bad.”
Tim smiled a little, that’s a far less annoying reason than he’d imagined.
“Well, it did already almost compromise my identity, so I’m not doing fantastic, but-“
“Wait, what?” Conner’s face twisted in confusion, “I mean Keli thought you looked familiar, but I think ‘compromising your identity’ is a stretch,”
“Not- ugh,” Tim groaned again, “Not that. It’s complicated.”
“I have plenty of time if you wanna explain,” Conner leaned back, “Also your phone is going off, want me to..?” Tim just nodded, and in seconds his phone was in hand and Conner was already back where he’d started.
[8:10 am] Bernard: gooood morning 🥰💕☀️
Tim grinned down at his phone, Bernard’s occasional tendency to overuse cutsey emojis was something he’d thought could get annoying quickly, but he was so very wrong. It just makes him blush every time.
“Didn’t you and Steph break up?” Conner was raising an eyebrow, looking at him expectantly, “Or is someone else already making you go red like that?”
“Uhh, someone else,” Tim still hadn’t really… talked about this with anyone yet. The fact that Tim was interested in guys, the fact that he had a boyfriend now. It was all still new, and he hadn’t really figured out how to approach it.
“Is she the one who almost figured you out because of Mister Sarcastic?” Conner smirked.
“Uh... sort of,” Tim just needed to say it, to correct him and get this out in the open, but he looked away first to mumble, “God, this is so not how I imagined this conversation would go,”
“This conversation?” Conner leaned in a little closer, smirk fallen off his face and concern starting to creep in, “Tim, whatever's going on, you know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I know, Conner,” Tim smiled, still looking down, “But um, she’s not a… she,” He looked up to meet his eyes, “His name is Bernard, and he’s my… boyfriend,” He breathed a little easier now that it was out there, “You were mostly right though, he did get far too close to the truth for comfort, he basically recognized me-” Tim cut himself off when he noticed how Conner seemed... frozen.
Not in a bad or even judgmental way, it's just that Tim could practically see the spinning wheel of death next to his head as he processed what was said. Eventually he opened his mouth, “You’re gay?”
“I mean I’m not- I don’t know exactly what I- Jury’s still out on that one,” Labels were… a whole other thing. All he knew right now is that yeah, being with Bernard felt right. That’s all he really needs to know for the moment, “But not straight. Queer in uh, some way,” He shrugged.
“Cool,” Conner finally settled on, “That’s, like, awesome dude,” He smiled, “Also no wonder you were a wreck when this guy got kidnapped then, geeze,”
The kettle started whistling before Tim could say anything else, he immediately popped up go to grab a mug.
“Hah, yeah,” He laughed a little nervously. In hindsight that was why he’d been freaking out so bad, but it hadn’t even clicked for him until he and Bernard had been fighting off the Chaos Monsters together, not that he was about to admit that now, “Tea? Hot chocolate?” He looked back over.
“Oh, hot cocoa would be rad,” Conner smiled at him. Something about it felt a little bit off, but Tim wasn’t going to question it, this whole ‘coming out’ thing was going relatively smoothly and he didn’t want to mess it up.
Before grabbing a second mug, Tim typed out a quick text back.
[8:17 am] Tim: morning! ❤️ you’re up early
He got the drinks together and headed back, passing the mug to Conner as he sat.
“Anyways, he’s been into superhero conspiracy theories ever since high school, so he gets too close to figuring things out… kinda often,” They hadn’t even been together that long and this was already the second or third close call.
“Of course that’s the kind of guy you’d be into,” Conner went to take a sip, Tim was about to warn him he’d burn himself before… remembering he’s invulnerable. He’s still groggy from so little sleep, “But what’s he look like? When do I get to meet him?”
“Conner you can’t-“ Tim’s eyes widened, like the sleepiness was just scared away, “You don’t even wear a mask! He’d clock you as Superboy on sight,” If Bernard knew for sure Tim had actual connections to superheroes he’d be able to figure it all out, he’s too smart not to.
“So? I used to not even have a secret identity, and had plenty of civilian friends,” Conner’s time back in Hawaii, that’s how it had been when they first met. He hadn’t even had a real name back then.
“It’s too risky,” Tim firmly placed his mug down on the coffee table, an instant before his phone dinged.
[8:23 am] Bernard: haha yeah, up early! 😁
Tim took a resigned sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.
[8:24 am] Tim: you didn’t actually sleep did you
[8:24 am] Bernard: i got too deep into reading about that yj video 🤷
“You know, if I suddenly had a boyfriend I bet you’d want to meet him,” Conner had his arms crossed, waiting for Tim to look back up.
“It’s not that I don’t want you to meet him,” This was too frustrating, “I just… I don’t want to fuck this up,”
“What, are you planning on keeping hero stuff from him forever?”
Tim paused. Because no, that’s also a stupid idea. Keeping too many secrets has messed up pretty much every relationship he’s ever had. But giving away his identity didn’t just give away his own, there’s too many strings attached, and Bruce would be-
“Wow, you’re overthinking it,” Conner put a hand on his shoulder, “You really like him, don’t you?”
He looked right into Conner's eyes silently before giving a small nod. His phone rang in his hand, and a selfie of Bernard kissing his cheek while they stood in front of a fountain in Robinson Park came up on the screen, along with the contact name ‘Bernard ❤️’. Conner laughed as he caught a glimpse of it before Tim answered.
“Hey,” Tim smiled, even though Bernard couldn’t see him.
“Hey honey, okay, so like,” He sounded like he was in full 'conspiracy theory board with strings and pins' mode already, which made sense since he apparently hadn’t stopped since 4am, “Based on the TV network that Super Vision show was on, it was somewhere in the Catskills, and it looked like this one abandoned resort that, hang on,”
Tim could hear clicking, like he was tabbing between pages. Conner next to him just mouthed the word ‘honey’ with a teasing grin, Tim lightly smacked his arm.
“This place, the Hamilton Lodge & Resort, has records of existing back in like the 80’s, but then it went bankrupt and there's nothing. After that people have posted pictures of the exact location completely empty like it just vanished, how does a whole hotel vanish?”
“Stranger things have happened,” Tim grabbed his mug for another sip of tea.
“Fair, there's also these old news clips, of Wonder Girl in a ratty wig going off on some old people, it's clearly in that same building from Super Vision," Bernard paused, "And the start of the news segment? It showed the exterior of the place, it's absolutely the Hamilton!" He laughed a little, "And now, after all the- the weird multiverse shit, you know,"
“Oh yeah, I know,” Tim looked over at Conner, a prime example of ‘weird multiverse shit’, who just shrugged and nodded back.
“Some people online are saying it's back. The building is just there again, how crazy is that?”
“Super crazy,”
“So I was wondering if maybe this weekend you uh,” He paused, Tim could almost tell he was biting his lip, “If you wanted to go check it out with me? We could stay at one of the not defunct resorts, it’s only a few hours away and could be really fun,”
This was playing with fire. Who knows what state the resort was in, especially if it really had just been dropped back into existence. Was all their old stuff still there? Conner tapped his arm, and exaggeratedly mouthed the words, ‘SAY YES’. Tim gave him panic eyes and started talking before his brain had caught up with his mouth.
“Sure, sounds like a good time,” Tim could feel his heartbeat accelerate, he knew this was a bad idea.
“Awesome!” The excitement in Bernard’s voice helped him to almost relax, he could just imagine the bright smile, the way his eyes would be shining, “I can figure out where to stay and stuff-“
“Don’t worry about it,” Tim cut him off, “I think Bruce already has a place up there anyways,” Or at the very least he could get Oracle to make it look like he did, and he'd just get them a place to stay.
“Cool, wow, I really didn’t think you’d say yes,” Bernard laughed, “Thanks for indulging me,”
Conner gave a smug look, he’d only known about Tim’s boyfriend for less than an hour and was already helping him out with his relationship.
“It’s no problem, I think I need to go take care of a few things,” Tim rolled his eyes at Conner, “But we can figure out details later, okay?”
“Sounds good, talk to you soon!”
“Bye,” Despite the anxiety trying to creep in the more he thought about the situation, Tim still felt the same calm that always came from talking to Bernard. When he looked up, Conner was just staring at him, that same strange smile from earlier.
“This is going to be a disaster,” Tim sighed.
“Considering you’re a disaster, I don’t think that should be a surprise,” Conner poked at him.
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Tim laughed at him with a shove, and soon enough they were just pushing each other back and forth until Conner wrapped him in a hug.
“Seriously though, I’m happy for you,” He spoke into Tim’s hair, just holding him there for a minute, taking his time to savor the close contact. Conner would not ruin this moment to admit he’s feeling jealous, too.