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It’s an uncharacteristically quiet day in Metropolis. Lois would know, of course. She has eyes and ears all over the city.
Her desk is cluttered with untitled vanilla folders, with one even having a damp ring from where she accidentally placed her coffee mug while getting lost in her work. It’s been an hour since Lois’ momentum came to a stall, and since then she’s been trying to get it back. Perhaps this was her body telling her to take a break, Perry could wait a little longer to get his completed story— he knew that she was good for it.
Lois lifts her feet to swivel around in her chair, her hands already working their magic to massage away some of the tension that formed behind her eyes from the extended screen time. A glass of wine paired with some binge-worthy television sounds amazing right now. If she went now she could get a couple of hours to herself before Clark or Jon came back.
She sighs and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. With over a decade of experience, she should know how to deal with a little writer's block. It’s a rare plight that occurs from time to time but still, She’s an award-winning journalist after all. What she needs is to splash some water on her face, hell even some fresh air would do her wonders.
Fresh air it is. She stands up from her chair to reach the latch on her east-facing window. It wasn’t the best view in Metropolis by any means since they overlooked an old mom-and-pop pizzeria neighboring a pharmacy. Both shops are decorated with Jack-o-lanterns and papier mâché ghost to honor the approaching holiday. It all felt so homey.
Lois peers below at the traffic jam happening on her block due to a double-parked car and she can’t help but chuckle at the daily shenanigans that gave the city its charm. Distracted by her thoughts and admiration for the city to mold her professional and personal life, she’s taken off guard by the figure floating shyly next to her window.
“Kon-el?” The boy freezes as if caught in the act. He knew better than to linger around the apartment— in broad daylight— which meant he was waiting for something or looking for someone.
“Mrs. Lane! Sorry, I was-“
“It’s Lois, honey. We’ve been over this.” She lowers onto her elbows, her curiosity now piqued by the sudden visit, “You’re looking for Clark?” She asks despite already knowing the answer.
Kon’s smile is not quite reaching his eyes when he smiles and nods. He’s wringing his hands together and he looks like he’s about ready to take flight back to Smallville. Lois can’t let that happen.
“You just missed him, sweetheart. Forest fire somewhere in California.”
“Oh… maybe I should-“ Already he pivots his shoulders west but is cut off swiftly.
“Maybe, you should join me for a cup of tea and some of Ma’s ginger snap cookies?” Lois flashes her award-winning smile whilst rhythmic tapping on the window stall with her dark red-colored nails. She presses her hand against the window pane to open it further in invitation.
Kon hesitates for a minute, then quickly gathers himself. If Lois notices the tension in his posture she doesn’t comment on it despite her investigative journalism bone screaming at her.
He smooths his hair back with his sunglasses so that it acts like a headband before smiling himself, “Well. There’s no way I can say no to that.”
Lois steps aside to give Kon adequate room to float in, “Get— urgh— comfy. Do you want a pair of clothes?” She asks mid-grunt while tightening the latch on the window.
Kon takes a moment to glance around at Lois’ whirlwind of an office. He’s seen it before in passing— mostly in passing. Usually, the door is slightly ajar when he comes over to visit Clark and Jon. Kon was not an invasive person by any means, but sometimes he could see the books lined along the walls with multiple awards sitting in front, polished and clean. If Lois’ office was this messy, Kon could only guess that she was busy with a major story, which he of course interrupted.
The uncomfortable feeling of guilt pooling in his stomach makes Kon bite down on his lip.
“Kon?” Kon looks in front of him. At some point between Lois closing the window, and him zoning out she managed to scrounge up an old pair of pajama pants littered with faded Superman logos as well as a t-shirt and hoodie. Kon always felt awkward when it came to Lois’ thoughtfulness because it was like she could sense what he needed before he could.
“Uh, thanks. Huh, Who would have thought Big Blue was into this sort of stuff.” It’s a playful jab towards the pants that were now loosely hanging in Kon’s arms.
“It was a gift.” Lois clarifies in a ‘well actually’ sort of tone as she circles her desk to put her computer to sleep. She looks up at Kon who’s still floating in the middle of the room, and her eyes and smile soften with affection, “I got it for Clark when we first started dating. I thought it’d be funny.”
“Sounds like something I’d do.” Kon muses.
“Mmh. How many Robin-themed pajamas does Tim own?” Lois is teasing of course. If the joke falls flat she doesn't realize when her back is facing him as she walks to the kitchen, “Get changed and I’ll start the tea. You remember where the bathroom is, yeah?”
Kon nods even though Lois can’t see— or maybe she can. He and Jon have this shared theory about Lois having eyes on the back of her head or maybe some inhumane super senses on par with their own. That woman could be blindfolded and she’d guess right every time.
Kon heads over to the bathroom to change into the clothes given to him. Since the bathroom and the kitchen are pretty close together he can hear the cabinets closing, the burner flame coming to life, as well as the kettle getting filled with water.
If he listens closely he can hear Lois humming along to a Metallica chorus— “Enter Sandman” to be exact. Just as Kon thought that Lois couldn’t get any more impressive she was always around to prove him wrong.
His Superboy suit is neatly discarded in a folded pile on the toilet lid. Living with Ma and Pa drilled good habits into him, one of those habits being that he shouldn’t treat his clothes any type of way. Now and then he hears Ma’s voice reminding him to fold his socks, pants, shirts, and even underwear embarrassingly enough.
“You okay in there?” Lois calls out to him from the kitchen, marking the second time she’s caught him off guard today.
“Yeah! Be right out!” Kon slides the hoodie on. As expected, the hoodie is baggy on him since he is still a bit scrawnier than Clark. He doesn’t mind it much because it feels like a warm hug. Kon mainly shares his clothes with Tim, Bart, or Cassie and they’re all smaller than him, so it feels nice to wear something from someone else that’s oversized.
Kon takes one last look in the mirror before he exits the bathroom with his clothes hugged into his chest.
“Your tea’s ready on the table. I’m almost done with mine. Leave your clothes on the couch.”
Kon does as instructed then slides into the unoccupied chair.
“Hey, is this a limited edition Superboy mug? Rex only made like 100 of these.” Kon floats the mug up to his line of sight with his TTK to get a better look at the ceramic print, and there’s no doubt that it’s one of Rex's, judging by the poorly painted ‘House of El’ insignia. Rao, he hasn’t seen old Superboy merchandise in years— not that he wanted to be reminded of his time being exploited by every adult around him.
Lois is working on her cup of tea, ensuring that hers gets an extra helping of ginger and lemon. She sneaks a glance over her shoulder before resuming her lemon-slicing, “You bet. Clark and I got it as a honeymoon souvenir. I could get you another cup, I was blindly grabbing from the cabinet-“
“No!” Kon splutters and straightens in his chair, “this is fine. Thank you.”
The look Lois gives Kon is filled with skepticism. She decides not to push the topic, fearing that Kon would only retreat further into his shell if he did. She plops her last lemon into her tea, then slides the knife and board into the sink.
“How’s your tea?” She asks Kon when she joins him at the table.
“Good. Very, herby.” Kon is describing the flavor as if he’s unsure, and of course, he is since he hasn’t tried the tea yet. Instead, he mindlessly moves the tea bag around the brownish water in his cup.
“Very, herby,” Lois repeats, her thoughtful expression contrasting Kon’s troubled one. Silence envelops them shortly after.
Lois takes a couple of bites of her gingersnap cookie before she commits to dipping it in her tea. Kon acts like he’s not watching but soon enough he mimics her so that he’s doing something, anything with his hands to distract himself from the silence. The cookie and the tea taste good together, but he’s not a fan of how soggy the pastry gets so he leaves the rest on his plate.
“Soo… you were looking for Clark? Anything I can help you with?”
Oh, right. Kon forgot that he came here for a reason.
Kon nods, “Yes. I mean— yes I was looking for Kal not yes to you helping me— not that you can’t help me! It’s just—“
“Honey, breathe.” Lois reminds him, her brows furrowed in concern but her gaze comforting on his nerves. Kon does just that, he breathes, a long shaky breath. He’s starting to hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears, “is it a super thing or a guy thing? I may or may not have experience with both depending on what it is.”
“How about a bat-thing?” Kon murmurs miserably. He sinks a little deeper into his chair. He wishes the oversized hoodie he’s currently sporting would swallow him whole.
Lois releases a low whistle. She signals for Kon to continue as she leans forward with her hands crossing over the table, “I can do bats.” She says as if preparing herself for the challenge, “Are you and Tim…?”
“Tim and I are fine… I hope. Ugh! I just mess everything up and it’s so frustrating.”
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“There’s not much to say,” he picks a crumb from his plate to roll around between his thumb and index finger, “We were talking about the possibility of moving in together and I just freak… I mean, when I’m not with Ma and Pa in Smallville, or at the tower I’m with Tim and we kinda live together already but…”
“But it’s a major step and you’re scared. That’s perfectly normal-“
“But I ran away, Lois. I just flew out as soon as the words came out of my mouth and before I did I saw his face and he looked so hurt.
Being with Tim is… So different from my past relationships, I— I sometimes feel like I’m going to ruin a good thing with my baggage.”
Kon startles when he feels Lois’ hand slip on top of his and in that moment he realizes that they are shaking. Lois must have noticed too judging by the light squeeze she gives him, and her warm eyes reassuring him.
He didn’t realize he was crying until he blinked at her and felt a wet spot weigh down on his lashes. He’s never told this to anyone, not even Tim who’d indefinitely worry. There’s no easy way to tell your boyfriend that he’s perfect in every way possible except for when it comes to his taste in guys. Deep down Kon always knew that Tim could do so much better.
To avoid meeting Lois’ eyes, Kon stares deeply into the half-eaten ginger cookie on his small plate. He feels like such an idiot for intruding on Lois’ day and dumping on her. Kon takes a deep, shaky breath, “I might have ruined everything.”
“You didn’t ruin anything. That kid loves you. All of you. I bet you money that he’s trying to figure out how to make it all better.”
Kon makes a straggling sound.
“Trust me, as someone with experience. It’d all work out. You’re human, Kon. There’s nothing wrong with feeling human emotions, alright?”
Lois pats his forearm, “Well then. Shall we watch trash TV until Clark and Jon get home? Work can wait for a couple of hours.”
“Yeah… Yeah. I’d like that.”
…
Kon almost regrets agreeing to stay the night, but he knows that neither Lois nor Clark would let him go back to the farm while showing signs of emotional distress. Kon was thankful for Lois omitting the nitty details about what got him upset, and instead explaining that Kon needed a day.
Clark was more than happy to give that to Kon, and Jon as well. Two extra cheesy pies later and Kon felt his mood slightly improve.
It wasn’t too bad, it’s just that his heart wasn’t completely in it. Kon loves to spend time with Clark, Lois, and Jon when given the chance but sometimes— today— he feels a little more out of place than usual thanks to his insecurities getting the best of him. It was nice though to take his mind off of what was eating away at him. Kon told himself that he’d call Tim first thing in the morning to talk to apologize.
Or so he thought.
Kon’s on the pullout bed in the living room, lying on his back with his hands folded behind his head when he hears a rustle of movement by the fire escape. He hoists himself onto his elbows to get a better view of Clark’s mini vegetable garden.
Who would be dumb enough to break into Superman’s apartment of all places? Kon curses then rubs at his eyes. They glow ever so slightly in the darkness around him.
Damn. He doesn’t want to wake up the fam, but he can’t let this intruder into the apartment. Kon ducks to conceal himself. Think. Think. He tilts his head.
Bingo! He can use his TTK to propel this book towards the intruder. Thank you, Fitzgerald.
“Shit!” The intruder hisses and it sounds eerily similar to…
“Tim!” Kon freezes. Crap. Tim was mere seconds away from knocking over the pot of vegetables during his clumsy intrusion and he’d rather not wake up the other people in the house with superhearing, or worse, upset Clark who’s been so proud of his green thumb.
With a little aid from his TTK, Kon grabs onto the pot and reaches for Tim’s hand which feels cold in his warm ones. Once Tim is fully inside, Kon places everything back in order and flicks on the small lamp on the side table. “What are you doing here? Lois is going to kill you for not using the front door.”
“Sorry, Sorry. You weren’t answering your phone, so-“
“So you break into someone’s apartment?”
Tim is not in his Red Robin uniform, yet the evidence of his night patrol is tangled with the remnants of makeup evident around his blue eyes. He lowers his head, in a way similar to Krypto after getting reprimanded for bringing home a messy bundle of twigs or worse of all, a bird whose time got cut short.
“So I break into Lois and Clark’s apartment. Breaking into random apartments is wrong.” Kon can feel the side of his mouth twitch. It’s taking everything in him to not burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
He loves this dork so much.
Kon props the pillow he was using to sleep up on the couch to make room. He taps the spot next to him in invitation, “How did you know where I was?”
Tim takes Kon up on the invitation with no hesitation after removing his boots to prevent tracking any more dirt into the apartment. Tim sits down but leaves a little distance between them.
The living room lapses into a tense silence before Tim answers. He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before coming clean, “Tracker on your phone. I know, I know it’s for emergencies but the way you left earlier…” Tim rubs the back of his neck.
Great. Kon currently felt like the biggest jackass in the world yet he was too emotionally drained to open up to Tim about what was going on. He wanted nothing more than to grab onto that olive branch, but he was scared. Of what? Kon doesn’t know.
“You don’t have to talk about it now. But, I’m sorry if I freaked you out about the whole moving together thing,” Tim reaches out to rest his hand on Kon’s forearm in a attempt to nip the spiraling thoughts swirling in Kon’s head, “But just know that I’m always here when you need me. You’re… important to me.”
“I’m sorry.” Kon croaks over the lump in his throat. His entire face is stinging and he doesn’t know how to turn his feelings off. Tim shifts over to wrap his arms around him, with his chin resting on top of Kon’s hair while he rubs soothing circles into his back. It’s a piece of comfort he learned from Dick during many rough nights shared between them.
“I do want us to move in together is just…”
Tim hushes him. He hooks his finger under Kon’s chin and presses a soft kiss to his lips. He pulls away and then Kon drops his head in the crook of Tim’s neck, “I know. We can talk about it when you’re ready.”
While lost in each other's presence, neither of them noticed that the kitchen light turned on a while ago until they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. There Lois was, standing in the door frame dressed in her fuzzy purple robe with her hair tossed from sleep. She had a mug in either hand, one had a drying brown streak on the side. Hot chocolate, Tim guesses.
Tim offers Lois a sheepish smile as she steps closer to set the mugs down on the coffee table.
“Doors, Tim. Doors. Ya know, the giant slab of wood that you have to open with a knob?” She stands up, hands set firmly on her hips. She would be more upset if not for the scene in front of her. They were so damn cute.
“Yeah, doors, Tim,” Kon mumbles into Tim’s neck. It gets him a playful flick on his ear. Kon picks his head up to blow him a raspberry before shifting to his side of the couch, “I’ll keep him in line next time. Did we wake you up?” Tim rolls his eyes but his smile never falters. He whispers a thank you to Lois when he reaches for the mug.
“Of course not. I was already up. Besides, I figured Tim would come looking for you eventually so I thought hot chocolate would be nice.” Kon flushes. He looks at Tim as if silently asking if they were really that predictable. Tim looks back at him and then shrugs.
Kon reaches for his mug too, the warmth radiating off of it comforting in his hands.
Lois looks between them, “Oh, stop moping. It’s cute. You boys are cute. Extra pillows and blankets are in the closet down the hall. Don’t stay up too late, alright?” She bends down once more to kiss Kon on the forehead, then she goes in with her hand to ruffle Tim’s hair.
“I mean it. Clark likes to wake up as soon as the roosters do. Can’t take the farm out of the boy no matter which urban area we move to. Good night, boys.”
“Night.” Kon and Tim say together in unison. The kitchen light flickers off and Lois’ robe disappears down the hall.
Kon gives his hot chocolate a loud slurp and goes back to his position in Tim’s chest.
“You gotta a little something right,” Tim tries to wipe Kon’s upper lip with his finger but is swatted away, “here.” He chuckles.
“That was embarrassing. Lois is never going to let me hear the end of it.”
“I love you too.”
“Urgh.” Kon buries his hot face once more, this time with a heart full of gratitude.
…