Work Text:
It was early. Or, maybe late. But it felt early, and the coffee mug in front of Kon felt like a taunt.
Jason's condition hadn't changed much in the week that he'd been sleeping. Tim said his blood work was making progress though, getting closer to his normal ranges. Whatever that meant.
Dick had kicked him out of the observation room less than an hour ago and told him to go sleep or get coffee. "You're making me tired just looking at you," the older man had laughed.
But once he'd gotten to the rec room, Kon knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep.
Tim was curled along the couch in the corner, Stephanie- Batgirl- next to him. Both of them looked comfortable in nearly identical pairs of grey sweatpants and white shirts- they were probably the spares the Tower was stocked with. Cassie was perched on the armchair in the corner, a book in her lap and the Tower's remote interface pad next to her. It was her night to be on watch.
The TV was just static with the volume turned as low as it was, but Stephanie and Tim weren't talking and Cassie was lost in her book.
It was odd to see the stark black lines of Stephanie's domino mask against her face. But most of the Titans still didn't even know her name. Her identity was still something the Bats thought they needed to conceal. Knowing the bits about her that he did, Kon could understand. Since he'd come back from Gotham Tim had started wearing his mask more as well, and Kon would be a liar is he said he didn't miss seeing Tim's eyes regularly.
It was sudden when Damian entered the room with the same concentrated and purposeful steps Kon has come to recognize from the current Boy Wonder. Wordlessly, Tim lifts his legs so the younger man can sit next to him. It's almost a shock to see the young Robin's face without his domino. It has been two years at least since Kon has seen Damian's entire face in person. The high lift of his cheek bones and the same eyes as his father. Unknowing of Kon's sudden shock, Damian takes the remote from the coffee table and quickly flips the channel before raising the volume.
On the eastern side of the country, there is a press conference occurring in Gotham.
Bruce Wayne sits in a wheelchair, and that more than anything else distracts Kon for the first few minutes. He still looks regal, the hairs at his temples only slightly and sagely graying. His smile is still small and teasing even in the midst of what is obviously a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"Is that St. Flora's," Tim asks quietly. Damian hums and nods quickly, completely engrossed with what the news anchor is saying, even as the event is literally happening behind her.
"It's national news," Damian adds, "First building rebuilt entirely."
Even Cassie looks up from her book and watches.
The news anchor continues, "Since the nearly sixteen month period where the City of Gotham closed its boarders, the rebuilding efforts, largely headed by Wayne Enterprises, have been making slow but sure steps. Crime inside the city remains at all-time lows, a fact that the Gotham Police department, which is still struggling to reinstate a large number of its force, is obviously thankful for.
"The rebuilding of, St. Flora's Shelter is a momentous first step in the cities progress, showing to the rest of the country that Gotham will stand back on its own feet."
"Turn it off," Stephanie says suddenly, her voice quiet but stern. Damian's head snaps to her suddenly, and Kon follows his lead. Her shoulders are tense and her knuckles are white. "I said turn it off, Damian."
Damian's mouth twitches as if he's about to protest, but Tim quickly snatches the remote from his hands, and the sudden silence kills whatever Damian had been about to say.
But Stephanie still stands, thumps the pillow between them hard on Damian's shoulder and quietly leaves the room. After a moment, Tim also punches him lightly in the opposite shoulder. Damian doesn't stop himself from snapping this time, "What?"
"Castello," Tim tells him simply and Kon knows his eyes are flaring behind his domino. "Angie? Remember, asshole, that was her place."
Without is mask it was obvious that Damian was floundering. His mouth slipping open and his eyes wide.
"Shit," Damian whispers, confused, "I-"
"Wasn't thinking," Tim snaps out the insinuation quickly, punching him again in the shoulder, "No shit." He nearly growls and-
It's funny, Kon thinks, remember how Damian and Tim used to be, before the Lost Year. Tim looks angry, and Damian isn't reaching to match his anger anymore.
"Go," Tim commands suddenly, and Cassie's pretty eyebrows suddenly shoot up. Damian looks at the other man, blue eyes searching, before with his usual scoff, he stands fluidly and follows after Stephanie.
"Well," Cassie says slowly as Tim sighs, hands running over his face as he flops back along the couch like he had been before Damian had entered the room. "What happened at St. Flora's?"
None of them have asked him about what happened inside Gotham, and Tim hasn't volunteer any information. But he has taught them new maneuvers, shown them he's changed when any of them spar. Tim had told them the stories without ever saying a word.
But now, Tim just sighs. "Angie Castello was a woman who ran a shelter in the basement of St. Floras," Tim tells them quietly, his head turning toward where Cassie is sitting and Kon wonders if Tim's forgotten he's in the room. "It was in the narrow, but close enough to the center of the city that they avoided most of the fires. A large number of the family that made it out of the fires stayed there for a while. Other's came and went. Angie and some of the other business owners in the Narrows did what they could to help them.
"Even before Steph joined up with us, she would go and try to help out at the shelter. There were a lot of people, in the beginning, that tried to hoard food. They would also start fights and use the confusion to steal rations." He sighs again, pausing, and Kon can feel the weight of the memories pressing against his chest. "After she joined up, Dick would go with her. More nights than not, there was an altercation. Angie was shot less than a month after Steph put on the suit in the riot that took down the building."
Tim sighs again, hands lifting to drag over his face and then he just deflates. It's distressing when Kon realizes it's the exact motion Tim's body makes after an orgasm. Like all the stress just suddenly leaves him and his bones turn to jelly. Maybe Kon should talk to Cassie and the others into asking about Gotham, because Tim telling them would probably help with the stress of remembering it all.
"She thinks of it as her first failure," Tim confesses slowly, drawing Kon attention back to what he's saying. Kon knows his eyes are on the ceiling, but with those words he can't look away.
"Only the first," he asks, and Tim doesn't jump like Kon expects him to, just slowly shakes his head.
"It was really rough on her for a while," he elaborates after a moment, "By the time Cass started patrolling with her, she was just tired of losing people. Luckily, it's pretty hard to keep Cass down." He tries to laugh about it, a small chuckle bubbling up, but his entire postures is just sad.
"I'm sorry," Cassie tells him, and Kon believes her. Regardless of anything she'd said when they'd broken up, Tim was Cassie's friend, and no one wants their friends to suffer.