Fic: Threshold, Young Justice, Tim/Kon, PG-13, 1/1
Robin’s having girl problems. Kon offers to help. This works out…after a fashion.
Set after Robin Issue #40
Threshold
Kon flopped down on the couch beside Robin. Halfway through the rerun of Wendy: The Werewolf Stalker that was playing - the episode where the cute Zeppo ‘Topher and that hot Stalker chick Hope got it on - Kon realized that Robin was suspiciously silent.
Suspiciously silent in a different way than usual. Normally Robin would have said something by now, even if it was just to comment on the implausibility of Hope actually wearing any ‘supportive foundation garments’ beneath her barely-there top or whatever.
Looking sideways at his friend, Kon noted the almost blank look of, ‘I’m thinking so hard my brains might soon need a vacation,’ the clenched jaw of, ‘I have more issues than a library and I’m currently re-cataloging them,’ and the furrowed brow of, ‘Why me?’ Or, to be more specific: ‘Why me, God? Oh, God, why, oh, why me?’
Rob needed to stop brooding, pronto. Kon nudged him, not even waiting for Robin to acknowledge him before asking, “Why are you so down, man?” He figured that it was better to get straight to the point than to try and be subtle.
The Kid was fantastic at many things, but subtlety wasn’t one of them.
Robin shifted slightly and looked at him, blinking the daze of too much too deep thought from his eyes. “Huh? Oh… Nothing, really,” he said dismissively.
“Nothing?” Kon asked, arching the eyebrow of extreme disbelief. “Shyeah, right. Pull the other one, Wonder Boy, it has bells on it.”
Robin snorted. “So that’s what the straps are for,” he joked, before subsiding back into his melancholy mope.
Rolling his eyes, Kon nudged Robin again, maybe a little harder than necessary, but he wanted to get his point across. “Seriously, man. What’s up with you?”
Robin fidgeted slightly and shifted to look away. “I’ve been…having some problems with my girlfriend,” he finally said.
Kon brightened. Girl problems he could handle. He was Superboy, and girls loved him. He was great at handling girl problems.
Well…at least he knew what not to do. “What kind of problems?” Kon asked, trying for an empathetic tone.
Robin nibbled on his lower lip and Kon almost thought he saw a blush underneath the mask. “It’s, uh…not really important.”
“It may not be important-” which Kon seriously doubted, “-but it’s definitely bothering you.” When Robin remained silent, Kon cajoled, “C’mon, man, you’re always willing to listen to me bitch. Let me return the favor.” Not that he thought that Robin was keeping track or anything - well, for any other reason except that he was an anal control freak - but even if Kon didn’t exactly owe him, Robin was his friend.
Robin nibbled some more on his lip and finally relented. “Um, my girlfriend… The problems are…the kind of problems that have her…guardians…sending her to an all-girls private school,” he finished in a low-voiced rush.
Kon blinked. That sounded like the female equivalent of sending someone off to a military academy, or boot camp. “Dude, what happened? She get pregnant?” No way that Rob would’ve been anything less than responsible, so if she had…
Robin’s cheeks pinked, and for a scary moment Kon almost thought that that was what happened, but Robin said, “No. She just…um…” His blush rivaled his tunic for color, and he said, the speed of his answer rivaling Bart for (lack of) coherency, “She-tried-to-seduce-me.”
And her…parents or whoever obviously found out. Kon was so shocked he actually had to force himself to blink (not that, apparently, he actually needed to, at least not as often as normal humans). Then he had to force his throat to work, and his voice to say, “Oookay.” Not the best comeback, but hopefully it would encourage Robin to continue.
Or not. Robin just sat there, cheeks blazing, mouth tight and closed, eyes focused on…a piece of lint on the carpet, or maybe he was just trying to develop X-Ray vision by staring in one spot long enough.
More likely he had X-Ray lenses in his mask. Considering that Robin was looking towards a pile of dirty rocks in the corner of the Cave, though, he was probably watching worms get it on.
Kon blinked, nose wrinkling up. Well, that was a disgustingly ewwful thought. Obviously Kon needed to stop thinking and start talking, distracting Robin before things got even weirder, and watching invertebrates get it on was the preferable option to brooding. “So…you’re not gonna get to see her anytime soon.” Not like he’d never been bummed when Tana had to go out of town chasing a story.
Maybe if their schedules had coincided more they wouldn’t keep having so many problems and breaking up every other week, only to make up the next. It was probably a good thing that she’d finally broken up with him once and for all; otherwise they would have been stuck in an endless loop.
Robin shook his head, still blushing.
“That’s not what’s really bothering you, though, is it?” Kon asked, feeling a strange burst of insight. The insight only went so far, however; he didn’t know what was bothering Rob.
Shaking his head again, Robin slouched and seemed to recede into the couch cushions. “Um, I just… I was worr- wondering if maybe…” He sighed and looked away. “Is there something wrong with me that I…didn’t want to?” he asked. “With her, um, I mean…” Robin went back to nibbling on his lower lip. Actually, it was more like he was chewing on it to distract himself from his embarrassment.
Kon had absolutely no idea what to say. Sure, there were clichés and such about ‘waiting until you were ready’ but he had the feeling that wouldn’t work to convince Robin of…anything. It wasn’t like Kon had ever turned down any of the few girls that had been interested in him - well, a few of the more skanky ones, but he figured it was never too early to set standards, and his included people who didn’t just want a superhero notch on their bedposts - so he wasn’t sure how to help Robin with his…problem.
Was it a problem? “Well, dude, I mean…was it just the situation or do you just not want to…ever?” Kon asked. Because if it turned out that Robin was asexual, there was no hope for the boy.
The fact that Robin actually had to think about that was indicative of some deeper…something. A problem, an issue, some fucked up psychiatric thing that Kon was sure all the Bats had to some degree. “The situation, I suppose,” Robin finally answered. He flushed and looked away. “I mean, I’ve thought about it, I just…” He waved a hand illustratively and trailed off.
“…wasn’t ready?” Kon offered. Yeah, that was a pretty girlish sentiment, but…Robin was allowed to have his own standards. After the first couple times he’d ended up in bed with someone he’d just met, Kon’s had always included being interested in the girl in question, beyond base lust. Not that lust wasn’t nice, just that it felt a little empty after a while.
And if Robin wanted to be in love the first time, well… That was his prerogative, and a fair choice.
Robin almost looked like he was going to deny that, but he didn’t, simply nodding instead.
“Uh-huh,” Kon said, drawing out the second syllable in his skepticism. “Why do I think that’s not it?”
Blushing once more, Robin held Kon’s gaze, as if that could impart the truth of what he was saying. “I don’t know; why?”
Kon just looked at his friend. Robin managed to hold onto his parody of righteous indignation for a few moments, but he finally deflated. “It’s not that I didn’t like A- her, I just… Um… I, well…” He continued his verbal flailing for a few moments, before finally falling silent.
“You like someone else better?” Kon suggested.
Robin shifted in his seat and averted his gaze, hands fiddling with the edge of his cape. “Sort of,” he admitted with another soft blush.
Kon frowned. “How can you ‘sort of’ like someone else better?” he asked skeptically. “Either you do or you don’t.” Unless he liked this mystery person exactly as much as his girlfriend, which was highly unlikely. But if anyone could manage to have the bad luck to end up in a…a love triangle, it would be a Bat.
“I didn’t… I don’t think I liked her like that,” Robin finally blurted out after long, tense moments. “I mean, I liked her, I just wasn’t…attracted to her. Much.” He was blushing again, so much so that Kon could almost feel the heat he was radiating.
Kon was even more skeptical, but he shrugged as if unconcerned. “It happens.” Not often, at least not to him, but he was, well, a pervert according to Tana. And according to Cassie, a macho pig.
“I guess,” Robin acceded, and then subsided back into his brooding.
Kon thought that this was also something only a Bat could do: actually get their problems off their chest and still brood about it. “Look, Rob, man…maybe you just need to chill, y’know?”
Robin looked at him wonderingly, an expression of, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ written across his face. “Huh?”
Kon wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with his words, either, but figured he’d continue until he was either finished, or it became apparent that he had not only had no clue what he was doing, but was also making things worse. “I mean, it’s all well and good to want to be…in love and stuff, but maybe you just need to…I dunno…not worry so much over the cerebral stuff.” Seeing that he’d lost Robin - and hell, himself, if the truth was to be told - Kon sighed. “Maybe you just need to try and enjoy a bit of the physical stuff and wait for everything else to come later.” Because, yeah, sex was better when you cared about the person, but sex was like pizza - even bad, it was still pretty damn good.
Robin blushed. “I…I don’t think I could…”
Growling in frustration, Kon said, “I wasn’t suggesting you go out and get laid - though that might get you to quit worrying so much - just…find some hot girl and make out with her or something. I mean, weren’t you telling me about that Spoiler chick who seemed to be following you around?” Geez, Robin was so…repressed. Fine, don’t have sex with everyone who offered, but if Rob didn’t loosen up, he’d never get to second base, let alone past it. And that would just be…sad. A real crime against sexuality, if not humanity.
Licking dry lips, Robin looked away as he fought off a blush. “I…yeah, I suppose I could do that.” But the doubtful tone on his voice let Kon know that this was just Robin giving him the brush-off. Telling Kon what he wanted to hear so that he could put a quick end to an uncomfortable conversation.
Kon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He was supposedly invulnerable, so why was it that dealing with Robin’s emotional turmoil always gave him a headache? Well, there was only one thing for it now. It was probably a bad idea and possibly a stupid one on top of that, but it was the only one he had.
Maybe it was part and parcel of being a half-clone, but Kon really just didn’t get why people got so uptight over sex. If you had it, how often you had it, how many people you had it with, what gender the person or persons you had it with were… Sex was fun, and as long it was consensual why should people get so bent out of shape over it?
“Here, why don’t I show you?” Kon offered, and without waiting for Robin’s acquiescence - or, most likely, refusal - he reached out and tugged him into a kiss.
At first, Robin was rigid in his arms, stiffer than a surfboard. Kon was too impatient to wait for him to relax, however - he didn’t actually think Rob would without some help - or to try and fight him off, so he traced the edges of Robin’s lips with his tongue. Over and over, soft wet swipes, until Robin’s mouth opened without his volition. Then Kon turned the kiss deeper, trying to make it hotter, coax some sort of positive response from Robin.
Robin shuddered slightly, and curled his right hand around Kon’s bicep, his left creeping up around Kon’s neck. Kon slowed down slightly, unable to tell if that was a good or bad reaction. He sucked hard on Robin’s tongue, scraping his teeth along the length of it, and rubbed his hands up and down his back, harder than he would have had the other boy not been wearing his armor. Kon was actually getting into this impromptu make-out session quite a lot, and that only made him more determined that Robin would enjoy it, even if only a little bit.
When Robin pressed back against him, though only a little, Kon was sure he was on the right track to make that happen. Robin wasn’t moaning, but he was actually making noise, which was the Bat equivalent, Kon was sure. Robin’s head tilted slightly to the side, and the kisses got more intense, but Robin was really just reluctantly following Kon’s lead. Robin was the leader; it was so weird for the roles to be reversed. Weird, but…kinda hot, too.
It took a while, but finally Robin stopped just passively accepting Kon’s kisses, and started kissing him back. Very tentatively, and with more skill than enthusiasm, but Robin was definitely less surfboard-like and more…well, Kon could tell that he liked it. It was just, that since it was Robin, he wasn’t sure he should like it.
And Kon was definitely liking it, maybe a little too much. He was only supposed to show Robin that sex and the stuff leading up to it could be fun in and of itself, not…make a pass at him. Or whatever it was called when you spontaneously made out with your best friend for half an hour.
And they thought Impulse had problems with self-control.
Pulling back from Robin’s mouth - and the fact that Kon actually had to force himself to let go was something to be explored later; much much later - Kon purposely didn’t let himself pant as he stared at his friend. Robin was flushed, and breathless, and on the verge of whimpering it seemed. But whether in distress or arousal, Kon couldn’t really say.
“Like the saying goes, Rob…sometimes you gotta go with the flow,” Kon said, and pressed a chaste - for him, anyway - kiss to Robin’s lips. He winked and grinned cockily before loop-the-looping out of the Cave.
Tim watched as Kon flew away and blinked wonderingly. He unconsciously licked at the taste of Kon on his lips, and flushed as a shudder of arousal went through his whole body. He knew that he needed to make some changes. He wondered if those changes should include Kon.
He wanted them to.
Set after Robin Issue #40
Threshold
Kon flopped down on the couch beside Robin. Halfway through the rerun of Wendy: The Werewolf Stalker that was playing - the episode where the cute Zeppo ‘Topher and that hot Stalker chick Hope got it on - Kon realized that Robin was suspiciously silent.
Suspiciously silent in a different way than usual. Normally Robin would have said something by now, even if it was just to comment on the implausibility of Hope actually wearing any ‘supportive foundation garments’ beneath her barely-there top or whatever.
Looking sideways at his friend, Kon noted the almost blank look of, ‘I’m thinking so hard my brains might soon need a vacation,’ the clenched jaw of, ‘I have more issues than a library and I’m currently re-cataloging them,’ and the furrowed brow of, ‘Why me?’ Or, to be more specific: ‘Why me, God? Oh, God, why, oh, why me?’
Rob needed to stop brooding, pronto. Kon nudged him, not even waiting for Robin to acknowledge him before asking, “Why are you so down, man?” He figured that it was better to get straight to the point than to try and be subtle.
The Kid was fantastic at many things, but subtlety wasn’t one of them.
Robin shifted slightly and looked at him, blinking the daze of too much too deep thought from his eyes. “Huh? Oh… Nothing, really,” he said dismissively.
“Nothing?” Kon asked, arching the eyebrow of extreme disbelief. “Shyeah, right. Pull the other one, Wonder Boy, it has bells on it.”
Robin snorted. “So that’s what the straps are for,” he joked, before subsiding back into his melancholy mope.
Rolling his eyes, Kon nudged Robin again, maybe a little harder than necessary, but he wanted to get his point across. “Seriously, man. What’s up with you?”
Robin fidgeted slightly and shifted to look away. “I’ve been…having some problems with my girlfriend,” he finally said.
Kon brightened. Girl problems he could handle. He was Superboy, and girls loved him. He was great at handling girl problems.
Well…at least he knew what not to do. “What kind of problems?” Kon asked, trying for an empathetic tone.
Robin nibbled on his lower lip and Kon almost thought he saw a blush underneath the mask. “It’s, uh…not really important.”
“It may not be important-” which Kon seriously doubted, “-but it’s definitely bothering you.” When Robin remained silent, Kon cajoled, “C’mon, man, you’re always willing to listen to me bitch. Let me return the favor.” Not that he thought that Robin was keeping track or anything - well, for any other reason except that he was an anal control freak - but even if Kon didn’t exactly owe him, Robin was his friend.
Robin nibbled some more on his lip and finally relented. “Um, my girlfriend… The problems are…the kind of problems that have her…guardians…sending her to an all-girls private school,” he finished in a low-voiced rush.
Kon blinked. That sounded like the female equivalent of sending someone off to a military academy, or boot camp. “Dude, what happened? She get pregnant?” No way that Rob would’ve been anything less than responsible, so if she had…
Robin’s cheeks pinked, and for a scary moment Kon almost thought that that was what happened, but Robin said, “No. She just…um…” His blush rivaled his tunic for color, and he said, the speed of his answer rivaling Bart for (lack of) coherency, “She-tried-to-seduce-me.”
And her…parents or whoever obviously found out. Kon was so shocked he actually had to force himself to blink (not that, apparently, he actually needed to, at least not as often as normal humans). Then he had to force his throat to work, and his voice to say, “Oookay.” Not the best comeback, but hopefully it would encourage Robin to continue.
Or not. Robin just sat there, cheeks blazing, mouth tight and closed, eyes focused on…a piece of lint on the carpet, or maybe he was just trying to develop X-Ray vision by staring in one spot long enough.
More likely he had X-Ray lenses in his mask. Considering that Robin was looking towards a pile of dirty rocks in the corner of the Cave, though, he was probably watching worms get it on.
Kon blinked, nose wrinkling up. Well, that was a disgustingly ewwful thought. Obviously Kon needed to stop thinking and start talking, distracting Robin before things got even weirder, and watching invertebrates get it on was the preferable option to brooding. “So…you’re not gonna get to see her anytime soon.” Not like he’d never been bummed when Tana had to go out of town chasing a story.
Maybe if their schedules had coincided more they wouldn’t keep having so many problems and breaking up every other week, only to make up the next. It was probably a good thing that she’d finally broken up with him once and for all; otherwise they would have been stuck in an endless loop.
Robin shook his head, still blushing.
“That’s not what’s really bothering you, though, is it?” Kon asked, feeling a strange burst of insight. The insight only went so far, however; he didn’t know what was bothering Rob.
Shaking his head again, Robin slouched and seemed to recede into the couch cushions. “Um, I just… I was worr- wondering if maybe…” He sighed and looked away. “Is there something wrong with me that I…didn’t want to?” he asked. “With her, um, I mean…” Robin went back to nibbling on his lower lip. Actually, it was more like he was chewing on it to distract himself from his embarrassment.
Kon had absolutely no idea what to say. Sure, there were clichés and such about ‘waiting until you were ready’ but he had the feeling that wouldn’t work to convince Robin of…anything. It wasn’t like Kon had ever turned down any of the few girls that had been interested in him - well, a few of the more skanky ones, but he figured it was never too early to set standards, and his included people who didn’t just want a superhero notch on their bedposts - so he wasn’t sure how to help Robin with his…problem.
Was it a problem? “Well, dude, I mean…was it just the situation or do you just not want to…ever?” Kon asked. Because if it turned out that Robin was asexual, there was no hope for the boy.
The fact that Robin actually had to think about that was indicative of some deeper…something. A problem, an issue, some fucked up psychiatric thing that Kon was sure all the Bats had to some degree. “The situation, I suppose,” Robin finally answered. He flushed and looked away. “I mean, I’ve thought about it, I just…” He waved a hand illustratively and trailed off.
“…wasn’t ready?” Kon offered. Yeah, that was a pretty girlish sentiment, but…Robin was allowed to have his own standards. After the first couple times he’d ended up in bed with someone he’d just met, Kon’s had always included being interested in the girl in question, beyond base lust. Not that lust wasn’t nice, just that it felt a little empty after a while.
And if Robin wanted to be in love the first time, well… That was his prerogative, and a fair choice.
Robin almost looked like he was going to deny that, but he didn’t, simply nodding instead.
“Uh-huh,” Kon said, drawing out the second syllable in his skepticism. “Why do I think that’s not it?”
Blushing once more, Robin held Kon’s gaze, as if that could impart the truth of what he was saying. “I don’t know; why?”
Kon just looked at his friend. Robin managed to hold onto his parody of righteous indignation for a few moments, but he finally deflated. “It’s not that I didn’t like A- her, I just… Um… I, well…” He continued his verbal flailing for a few moments, before finally falling silent.
“You like someone else better?” Kon suggested.
Robin shifted in his seat and averted his gaze, hands fiddling with the edge of his cape. “Sort of,” he admitted with another soft blush.
Kon frowned. “How can you ‘sort of’ like someone else better?” he asked skeptically. “Either you do or you don’t.” Unless he liked this mystery person exactly as much as his girlfriend, which was highly unlikely. But if anyone could manage to have the bad luck to end up in a…a love triangle, it would be a Bat.
“I didn’t… I don’t think I liked her like that,” Robin finally blurted out after long, tense moments. “I mean, I liked her, I just wasn’t…attracted to her. Much.” He was blushing again, so much so that Kon could almost feel the heat he was radiating.
Kon was even more skeptical, but he shrugged as if unconcerned. “It happens.” Not often, at least not to him, but he was, well, a pervert according to Tana. And according to Cassie, a macho pig.
“I guess,” Robin acceded, and then subsided back into his brooding.
Kon thought that this was also something only a Bat could do: actually get their problems off their chest and still brood about it. “Look, Rob, man…maybe you just need to chill, y’know?”
Robin looked at him wonderingly, an expression of, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ written across his face. “Huh?”
Kon wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with his words, either, but figured he’d continue until he was either finished, or it became apparent that he had not only had no clue what he was doing, but was also making things worse. “I mean, it’s all well and good to want to be…in love and stuff, but maybe you just need to…I dunno…not worry so much over the cerebral stuff.” Seeing that he’d lost Robin - and hell, himself, if the truth was to be told - Kon sighed. “Maybe you just need to try and enjoy a bit of the physical stuff and wait for everything else to come later.” Because, yeah, sex was better when you cared about the person, but sex was like pizza - even bad, it was still pretty damn good.
Robin blushed. “I…I don’t think I could…”
Growling in frustration, Kon said, “I wasn’t suggesting you go out and get laid - though that might get you to quit worrying so much - just…find some hot girl and make out with her or something. I mean, weren’t you telling me about that Spoiler chick who seemed to be following you around?” Geez, Robin was so…repressed. Fine, don’t have sex with everyone who offered, but if Rob didn’t loosen up, he’d never get to second base, let alone past it. And that would just be…sad. A real crime against sexuality, if not humanity.
Licking dry lips, Robin looked away as he fought off a blush. “I…yeah, I suppose I could do that.” But the doubtful tone on his voice let Kon know that this was just Robin giving him the brush-off. Telling Kon what he wanted to hear so that he could put a quick end to an uncomfortable conversation.
Kon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He was supposedly invulnerable, so why was it that dealing with Robin’s emotional turmoil always gave him a headache? Well, there was only one thing for it now. It was probably a bad idea and possibly a stupid one on top of that, but it was the only one he had.
Maybe it was part and parcel of being a half-clone, but Kon really just didn’t get why people got so uptight over sex. If you had it, how often you had it, how many people you had it with, what gender the person or persons you had it with were… Sex was fun, and as long it was consensual why should people get so bent out of shape over it?
“Here, why don’t I show you?” Kon offered, and without waiting for Robin’s acquiescence - or, most likely, refusal - he reached out and tugged him into a kiss.
At first, Robin was rigid in his arms, stiffer than a surfboard. Kon was too impatient to wait for him to relax, however - he didn’t actually think Rob would without some help - or to try and fight him off, so he traced the edges of Robin’s lips with his tongue. Over and over, soft wet swipes, until Robin’s mouth opened without his volition. Then Kon turned the kiss deeper, trying to make it hotter, coax some sort of positive response from Robin.
Robin shuddered slightly, and curled his right hand around Kon’s bicep, his left creeping up around Kon’s neck. Kon slowed down slightly, unable to tell if that was a good or bad reaction. He sucked hard on Robin’s tongue, scraping his teeth along the length of it, and rubbed his hands up and down his back, harder than he would have had the other boy not been wearing his armor. Kon was actually getting into this impromptu make-out session quite a lot, and that only made him more determined that Robin would enjoy it, even if only a little bit.
When Robin pressed back against him, though only a little, Kon was sure he was on the right track to make that happen. Robin wasn’t moaning, but he was actually making noise, which was the Bat equivalent, Kon was sure. Robin’s head tilted slightly to the side, and the kisses got more intense, but Robin was really just reluctantly following Kon’s lead. Robin was the leader; it was so weird for the roles to be reversed. Weird, but…kinda hot, too.
It took a while, but finally Robin stopped just passively accepting Kon’s kisses, and started kissing him back. Very tentatively, and with more skill than enthusiasm, but Robin was definitely less surfboard-like and more…well, Kon could tell that he liked it. It was just, that since it was Robin, he wasn’t sure he should like it.
And Kon was definitely liking it, maybe a little too much. He was only supposed to show Robin that sex and the stuff leading up to it could be fun in and of itself, not…make a pass at him. Or whatever it was called when you spontaneously made out with your best friend for half an hour.
And they thought Impulse had problems with self-control.
Pulling back from Robin’s mouth - and the fact that Kon actually had to force himself to let go was something to be explored later; much much later - Kon purposely didn’t let himself pant as he stared at his friend. Robin was flushed, and breathless, and on the verge of whimpering it seemed. But whether in distress or arousal, Kon couldn’t really say.
“Like the saying goes, Rob…sometimes you gotta go with the flow,” Kon said, and pressed a chaste - for him, anyway - kiss to Robin’s lips. He winked and grinned cockily before loop-the-looping out of the Cave.
Tim watched as Kon flew away and blinked wonderingly. He unconsciously licked at the taste of Kon on his lips, and flushed as a shudder of arousal went through his whole body. He knew that he needed to make some changes. He wondered if those changes should include Kon.
He wanted them to.