Chapter Text
“Wasn’t hot-boxing supposed to be, I dunno fun?” breathed Bart as they felt sweat cloy on their forehead. “Helen said it was supposed to be a party. Not… this. ”
Tim wrenched his arm free from under Bart and took calculated breaths. “This is not what she was talking about, oh my god.”
Kon was wedged as far back as possible in the tiny box, Bart on one leg and Tim on the other. “Hey, it’s not too late, we could make it a party,” he gulped as Bart shifted in a way that was dangerous.
Had this been any other scenario and they had not been tossed in this tiny metal box together by a breakthrough villain, this might have been exciting.
Kon loathed new villains. At least with Hot Streak or Captain Boomerang he could anticipate what could happen. But oh no, they had to deal with Iron Wrapper or whoever it was.
“Superboy, is your TTK able to do anything helpful?” Tim asked and it was clear he was desperately trying to not breathe. Kon put his hand on the side of the metal box and pushed out with his TTK, it crawled along all sides and he pushed, straining. After a full minutes of bracing against the box he let up. “Nope, looks like we’re stuck. Babe?”
Bart shook their head and started to answer Kon, but Tim interrupted. “No compromising language! We don’t know if they’re listening!”
Bart rolled their eyes. “We’ll come out on Twitter later. Anyway. Sorry babe but I’ve been trying to vibrate through since we got trapped in here. Nada.”
“Damnit! Okay, Rob, you got any ideas? What about your bat-communicator?” Kon asked. “Imp and I have done all we can, time to pony up.”
Tim was quiet for a couple moments before he answered him. “No reply,” his voice was raspy and he too began to sweat. Of all the traps he got himself in this should not be this difficult.
Bart attempted to lighten the mood. “So two boys, an enby, and a box-”
“No.” Tim was not in the mood.
“Just trying to lighten everything up, damn it’s hot.” Bart shifted in Kon’s lap and Kon wrapped one arm around their waist and he pulled them closer to him.
The movement was obvious to Tim but he declined to comment on it. Getting them to keep their hands off of each other while suited up had been impossible since they got together five months ago. “It’s hot because we’re running out of air. We need to find a way out of here. So uhm, if either of you have some shocking new way of using your power please speak up.”
Silence, and breathing.
Tim grew concerned. “Guys?... Oh you better not be-”
Bart and Kon both recoiled at the same time. “What?!”
“Ew!”
“Come on man, we could really die in here you think we’re- that’s low, Rob. Real low.” Kon grumbled defensively.
“Besides, you’re literally against my leg, gross.” Bart pointed out and Tim backed down.
“Sorry, sorry. Just on edge. I’m serious though. Any ideas?”
Bart considered it as the sweat on their forehead finally began pooling and falling down their hot skin in streaks, and the skin under the body suit felt swampy despite their suit’s moisture wicking being the best on the planet. “Well… Babe, you wanna try it?”
Kon was momentarily lost. “Try what?”
“Y’know, maneuver 7.”
“I don’t think we ever named them,” Kon huffed in a lazy, heat hazed laugh.
The back of Tim’s throat feel like he had taken a bite of oatmeal and it was just stuck there, dry and unmoving and he was desperate for water, and air. They couldn’t keep this up. “I don’t care if you were inspired by Looney Tunes, please just try it!”
When Rob snapped, which was actually pretty common, both of them knew to pay attention.
“Okay, Bart what are you thinking?”
“Vibrating force field. You get your TTK up, I vibrate it, you push.” The plan was simple and combined unimaginable force with blinding speed and kinetic energy. Bart hoped the combination would be enough to compromise the structure of the death box they were trapped in.
Kon immediately threw up his TTK to surround them, one hand on each side of the box. Bart reached and covered Kon’s hands with their own hot fingers and concentrated, then began to vibrate.
As they did, little pops and flashes of electricity flickered every now and then in the dark. They were blue, then white, then yellow as they used more and more of their attachment to the Speedforce. All the while Kon pushed as hard as he could with his tactile telekinetic barrier.
The air was so thick.
There was no air left and Rob could feel his mind blanking, he thought he was hallucinating when he suddenly saw bright assaulting light envelop all of them.
The deep gasp was completely involuntary when fresh and pure air filled his lungs, and he quickly began to assess their situation.
The box they had been trapped in had burst from within and debris had been flung in all directions. Meanwhile Bart was laying backwards on top of Kon, goggles steamed up as they laughed lazily.
“Toldja that would work! That was so cool!” Bart boasted.
“Hell yeah,” Kon croaked, his face was red as he took low breaths. “I’m so hot.”
Bart grinned. “Loving the confidence.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Oh shut up. Come on, we have a perp to track down, you two can flirt later.”
“He’s never gonna change, is he?” Kon wondered aloud. Bart finally shifted off of him.
“Nah. But we like him like this.”