You Each Time (2/2)
You Each Time, Part 1
Kon can't prove it, but he suspects Rob radioed ahead to tell Young Justice to meet him at the abandoned carnival in the hope that they'd be jumped by crazy carnies and Rob wouldn't have to talk about what happened last week. If he did, his plan totally worked, and six hours later Kon's thinking more about his ankle than about Rob's mouth. Mostly.
"Ow," he says, clenching his fists. "I don't think you're being as careful as you could be, dude."
"I'm being careful. Stop whining."
"I wasn't whining, I was--protesting! Protesting being painfully manhandled by my.... doctor-nurse-person."
He sees Robin stiffen and flinch a little when Kon says 'manhandled.' Danger, Will Robinson, approaching awkward territory... "What about my knee? Is it gonna be okay?"
Bart looks in. "Oh man, those hurt for minutes," he says, pointing at Kon's ankle. Robin's mouth quirks. Kon exhales.
"Or weeks, in the case of most of Earth's population," says Rob.
"Weeks!?" repeats Kon, dismayed.
Bart shakes his head. "I don't know how you live like that," he tells Rob. "Would you like to play Mario Kart some more? Cassie won't play with my anymore. I think she misses Cissie," Bart confesses. "I miss her too."
Rob sighs, and rests his hand for a second on Kon's ankle. "I can talk to her," he says.
Bart's face lights up. "Cissie?"
Rob frowns. "I -- No. Cassie."
Rob's hand isn't warm, through his glove. "Bart...," says Kon, "I don't think Cissie's going to come back. She --"
"I'm going to go run," says Bart, and disappears.
"I wish..." Kon begins, and doesn't know how to end it. I wish I had my powers, and you still flirted with me, and Cissie never tried to kill anyone, and Bart wasn't sad.
"No point wishing," says Robin, viciously. Kon stares at him, but Rob's not looking at Kon.
"I guess not," Kon says cautiously, not wanting to piss Robin off more. He doesn't want him to stop touching his ankle, either.
He waits for Rob to say something else, but he seems content to just scowl at the floor. Kon takes a breath. "So. About... last week."
"What about it?" Rob is doing that robot-sound thing again, and it makes Kon flinch.
"Did I. Are you mad at me?" asks Kon, because it's the important question.
Robin's mouth is a straight line, like he's trying to be a junior Batman. "I. No. It was my fault."
"I think it was a bio-terrorist's fault, dude. Did I get you in trouble with Batman or something?"
Robin chokes. "I think I offered Nightwing a lap dance, but someone erased the tape before I -- No. I'm not in trouble."
That's what he's supposed to do too, Kon realizes. Just tape over that whole afternoon with football highlights. Kon's never really gotten football.
Kon takes a breath. "So you're not mad." What he wants to ask is if the stuff Rob said... if any of it was true. He's pretty sure Rob would stuff kryptonite in his mouth before he got out the question, though.
"Are you going to start acting normal around me yet?" he asks instead, because it's... slightly easier. It still makes Rob's face go all blank, and he takes his hand off Kon's ankle.
"I've been avoiding you," he says, his voice creepily deadpan. It makes Kon want to kick him.
"No shit. Is this, like, a Bat-breakup? Because it would be nice if we could actually go out first," says Kon, annoyed into sarcasm.
Rob's eyes flicker up and then down again. "I didn't mean to say-- those things. I lost--"
Kon stands up. "Ow!" he says, and sits down. "Shit, that really hurts!"
Robin rolls his eyes. "Sit down."
"Rob, you've got to stop-- I mean, I make an idiot out of myself all the time, right? And. You know I don't mind. So, what's the big deal?"
Robin shoves a crutch at Kon, Kon swears, from under his cape, and takes a step back. "I should be able to trust myself, okay? That's. I'm Robin."
Kon looks at him, baffled. Robin looks back at him, frustrated. "I really don't see how this means we can never have sex."
"Because I don't want to have sex with you!" says Robin, which is a big fat--
Okay, it might be true, if Rob was thinking of Match last time, and not Kon at all.
"Gods, can you two keep it down?" yells Cassie. "What the hell is wrong with you, Kon? He said he doesn't want to have sex, leave him alone. What are you, a crazy stalker?"
Robin looks like he just got caught masturbating by Batman.
"I'm not a crazy stalker!" yells Kon back down the hall.
"I need to go die now," says Robin.
"Do I have to come in there and referee?" asks Cassie, and her voice is approaching.
Robin pulls out a screwdriver and begins unscrewing the cover over the ventilation shaft.
"You can't leave me!" hisses Kon.
"Watch me!"
Kon lunges for the screwdriver and falls when he tries to put weight on his foot. Robin covers his face with his hand.
"Kon, don't--" says Cassie, entering the nurses office. She stops, and notices that Kon's on the floor. "Did you hit him?" she asks Robin.
"Cassie," says Robin through his hand, "I. Can you just. Let us work this out between us?"
"Not if you're beating him up," she says, and through the whimpering and clutching his ankle, Kon feel grateful that someone's on his side.
Crutches are stupid hard. Kon's okay on stairs, or anywhere he can grab a rail, but on the straightaway, he keeps falling on his ass, or his nose. He can't even figure out how to pick which one he falls on.
When he falls for the third time in an hour, this time landing on a heap of boxes that don't really break his fall so much as stab him in the ass with their pointy corrugated corners, he stays where he falls and feels sorry for himself a bit. He's embarrassed Rob so much that Rob will never talk to him again, and apparently Rob has the hots for his evil clone, and he can't fly and now he can't walk.
When Robin appears in front of him, Kon feels so wretched he says, "What?" as nastily as he can, and doesn't quite get it when Rob puts out his hand.
"It's okay," says Robin. "Crutches take a while to get used to," and then pulls him up. Kon wobbles, trying to balance on one foot.
"I'm pretty sure they hate me," he admits.
"Where are you going?"
Maybe Robin's just doing his 'helping little old ladies across the street' thing, but what the hell, Kon slings an arm over his shoulder and they wobble toward the dining room. It's not that much easier than crutches, but at least Rob catches him when he's off balance.
And okay, maybe Kon is a little guilty of letting himself sag a little too much against Robin's side. But Robin can take his weight, and this is the most action Kon's gotten since before Tana--broke up with him.
And Rob seems to be oblivious, or at least he doesn't care that Kon is sorta kinda maybe rubbing up against him as they walk. And then Kon stumbles for real, and Rob catches him, and for a few dizzying seconds Rob's face is right there, his lips only a few inches away from Kon's own. Kon can feel the puffs of his breath against his cheek.
It's not just Kon's imagination, he's absolutely certain, after Rob just stands there holding him, for second after second, and Kon wonders if this is how time is, for Bart. Rob's face is too close to focus on but Rob's hands are huge and hot on his arms.
Kon lets his eyes fall almost closed, and leans in the littlest, tiniest bit. Under his eyelashes, he sees Robin do the same.
He doesn't realize that he's been holding his breath until Robin jerks back abruptly, letting go of Kon and moving back so fast he almost stumbles. Kon sways and manages to catch himself on the wall instead of falling.
"That was--Oracle. I have to go." Robin is shoving his crutches at Kon and not looking at him, and before Kon can say anything, he's gone.
"Huh." Kon stares thoughtfully at his crutches. If that was what he thinks it was--and he's kissed enough people to know what the moment right before the kiss is, thank you very much--then that means...
Shit, he has no idea what it means, except that probably Robin is going to go back to being weird around him again. Not that Robin is ever normal, but Kon prefers weird-because-Robin-is-just-a-freak over weird-because-Robin-is-freaking-out-about-him.
Still. That was... that was definitely Robin almost kissing him.
"Apple," says Bart.
Cassie wrinkles her nose. "That's going to turn your tongue green, you know."
"That's the point" says Bart, and adds a layer of something virulently orange.
Kon smirks and gets something blue for himself. He's not sure whether it's blue-raspberry or bubblegum or what--he's pretty sure they keep changing the blue flavors just to confuse him--but as Bart said, that's not the point.
"Get the pink one," Kon suggests when Cassie looks indecisive.
She makes a face. "I think that's radioactive." But she pours the possibly-toxic sugar water into her cup anyway. The clerk tries to let them take it on the house because they're superheroes, and Kon is all for not paying, but Cassie elbows him hard in the ribs. Kon thinks she doesn't really get that he's not invulnerable anymore, because that hurt.
When they push out, he's sure, because Cassie gives a little skip, like she was about to start flying back to the headquarters and then suddenly realized he couldn't fly. She covers pretty well, and he only hates her for it for a second, and it's not real hate. Just. Flying hate.
Bart runs rings around them, and goes back for refills (that Cassie makes him pay for) four times before they're out of the parking lot.
"Ow! Brain Freeze!" yells Bart. Kon looks over at Cassie, and she's rolling her eyes. It wasn't quite the reaction he was looking for. Rob would have pinched up his forehead and sighed.
Kon hops up on the curb and tries to keep his balance as they walk. Bart's keeping Secret company back at HQ, and walking with them. Every time he returns, the wake knocks Kon off balance, so he has to hop down to the road or fall over.
"Pretty smooth moves there, Superboy," says Cassie, grinning.
"Yeah, well, wait until you see me when I turn on the charm," says Kon, finding his balance again.
"Is that what that was about?"
"That- Oh. Uh, with Rob?" says Kon. He'd kind of hoped she would have forgot about it. Or be too embarrassed to ask.
"Because you know, I always thought you'd be a bit... more. um." Cassie stops, blushing.
"Yeah, no, I'm not-- That wasn't what it looked like. Sort of." Kon discovers that he's better at keeping his balance when he watches the horizon, and not his feet.
"Are you and Robin going to be all awkward about this?" asks Cassie, and Kon just feels sort of like he loves her, right there. She's being so grown up. Well, compared to him. Which.
Kon sighs. "Probably?"
Cassie makes a face. "Boys."
"Hey. It's totally his fault!" Kon objects. Well, Rob's fault and Match's fault, which sort of makes it Kon's fault anyway. Or at least his DNA's fault, and if he thinks too hard about that he's going to get a headache.
Cassie just gives him a Look, and Kon wobbles. "Uh, huh. And you've tried just, you know, talking with him about it like rational human beings?"
"That was us trying to talk it out rationally," Kon says, gloomily.
Cassie winces. "Oh. Well--um--what's the problem, anyway? Is it just... you like him, and he doesn't like you?"
Kon sucks down enough of his slurpee to seriously make his throat freeze up. "Sort of," he croaks out. "It's kind of--uh. Weird, and complicated, and also it's Robin."
"Oh, Kon," says Cassie, and for a second he hears, "Oh, Kid," and falls off the curb again. He blinks, and gets back on.
"Do you want me to try to... talk to him?"
Kon really doesn't get what she's saying, and then he does. "No! I mean. No. Seriously no. He's probably-- I don't think it would help. But thanks."
"Well. You know. I'm here for you?" says Cassie. It's nice to know.
Kon's feeling weird, like his stomach is weightless, and his feet are higher than his head. The air smells weird, and he's too sore and tired to open his eyes.
Distantly, he can hear Cassie talking. Whispering really, but really loudly.
"I don't care what you guys argued-- are arguing about. He could be-- He's sick. Now you go in there and talk to him!" she says, sounding pissed off.
"He's unconscious," says Rob's voice, tight with... Rob's pretty angry about something. Probably the unconscious person.
"We don't know that he can't--"
"We don't know that he can--"
"Just-- Go in there and say whatever he needs to hear from you. Don't be an asshole, okay? This could-- You might wish you had, later."
Kon wishes they'd take it somewhere else. His head feels like a scraped out melon. If they'd just leave, he might be able to get some sleep.
There's a beeping sound, and a shuffling sound, and then Robin's voice.
"We've got Cadmus' top team working on this. I-- I called in a favor from a-- Don't worry Kon," says Robin, which is when Kon realizes he's being addressed. "You'll--"
Something rattles, and Kon tries to say something so that Rob won't say something mushy now, and regret it when he realizes Kon's listening. He can't, though, there's something in his mouth, and his throat, and he's so tired he can't even panic about it.
"I'm sorry I-- I wanted to be able to-- I wish you'd been real. I mean... Shit."
Ron just swore, thinks Kon. This must really mean he's dying. Which sucks, because if he wasn't paralyzed, Rob would probably give him a pity fuck. Not that he wants a pity fuck. A lot.
"I wanted to do everything right, and I messed up, I messed up so badly. I'm so sorry, Kon. You can't-- Kon. Hold on," says Rob, and it's a command.
Footfalls. "Is he. Declining?" asks Rob stiffly.
"Hmm," says a voice he doesn't recognize. "I'm going to get Dr. Hagiwara for a consult. One moment."
Silence, then. Kon tries to move his tongue, but the plastic thing in his mouth gets in the way, and his tongue doesn't really seem to want to move.
"Does this seem right to you, Dr. Hagiwara?" asks the earlier voice.
"In a patient this severely-- You're right, that is odd," says a woman.
"Odd?" asks Rob.
"Hmm," says the woman. She touches Kon, and it's weird. He feels like he's being touched through a layer of plastic, or something.
"Check the contacts," she says. "I want a new machine down here, this one may be--"
"It's not, this one--"
"Get a new machine!"
Someone sticks a cold stethoscope down Kon's shirt. He tells his body to flinch, but all he gets is a spasm in one knee.
There's a tense sort of silence, broken only by the sound of feet on tile, and then the sound of wheels. Kon feels a bit like Robin, playing detective. The wheels must be a new machine, like they were talking about.
"Dr. Hagiwara!" says the first voice, at the same time as Dr. Hagiwara says--
"This one's the same!"
"He still has a heart beat," says someone, exasperated. "Slow, but there's no reason why--"
"Something is interfering with these machines," says Hagiwara, sounding incensed.
"Get him in the sun," says Robin.
"We need to get him down to the MRI-"
"Both machines could be malfunctioning--"
"What if he's--"
"The sun! You morons, he needs sun, he's solar powered, he needs sun!" shouts Robin. "You have--"
Silence.
"He needs sun to survive. He's Superboy," says Robin.
"Of course," says Dr. Hagiwara. "His immune system has responded to the stress of the infection! Get him out on a balcony as fast as possible. "
"What about the electro-"
"Not doing any good with his force field reasserting itself, is it? Just take- And get the spook-boy out of here, this is a hospital."
They throw Kon a glad-you're-not-dead party, although no one calls it that, and Cissie comes and stays for two hours, before she pointedly tells Cassie she has a test she needs to study for. Bart offers to run her back, and Cassie lends her her goggles for the wind.
Rob absent-mindedly starts to clean up. His room probably looks like a hotel after the maid leaves, right down to the mint on the pillow. If he has a room, that is, and doesn't sleep in a coffin.
"What was this?" he asks, holding up a paper cup.
"I dunno. Bart brought it. He says it's big in Japan." Kon peers into the cup. There's a trace of white paste with pink flecks, still in the bottom.
"I was afraid to ask," confesses Cassie. "I was afraid it was horse-meat ice-cream."
Rob looks like he's contemplating taking a swab for testing, but instead drops it into the trash.
Kon uses his TTK to drag all the confetti out of the carpet. "Once again, the only living master of TTK, baby," he says, and damn it feels good. It's like getting back a lost limb.
"Master might be a bit strong," says Cassie, and flops down on the couch. "Bart and I decorated, you guys can clean up."
Using his TTK suddenly seems less fun. Cassie turns on the TV and starts to channel surf. Kon tries to remember if he's seen a plant around the hotel large enough to cover the icing stain on the carpet.
"I didn't know you were in Vegas," says Cassie, idly.
"When?" asks Kon, trying to remember if he's ever been to Vegas.
"I dunno," she says, "it says this footage is live; they've got it mislabeled."
Kon shoves the monopoly game that Rob spanked them at behind the couch and wanders over to see what she's watching.
On the TV, Kon is having some kind of fight with a giant flying turtle.
"I don't remember that, at all," says Kon, confused.
"Well, it is hitting you pretty hard," Cassie says.
"No, no, I really don't think-- hey, wait a second, that's not me, it's Match!" Kon swings around to see Rob's face, but he's gone.
A quick check, and he discovers that the Super-cycle is missing, too. "Why, that sneaky little--"
Cassie rolls her eyes. "You can fly again, dork. Now come on."
"Dammit," says Kon, and takes off. He's still not as fast as Superman, or even the Super-cycle. Rob's going to beat them, and, well, he doesn't exactly think Rob's going to get married to Match if he's left unsupervised, but he never exactly thought he'd have sex with Match either.
"You really don't like him," yells Cassie, drawing along side of him.
"He's a sneaky little... sneak!"
"No, Match!"
"He took my-- he took my name," yells back Kon, and from somewhere manages to find more speed.
When they get to Vegas, there's no giant turtle, and no sign of Match, just a bunch of police vehicles and a fire truck, cluttering up the street.
"You the second shift?" asks the police captain when they land.
"We're Young--" begins Kon, as Cassie says:
"He's the real Superboy, don't worry."
The policeman squints at Kon. "Yeah, that's what he said, but I don't see any difference. Well, except you don't have those nice shiners coming. Couldn't you at least dress different?"
"He dresses like me," protests Kon.
"Black eyes?" asks Cassie.
"Your spooky friend kinda smacked him into a wall. You kids are lucky the Justice League showed up, because I don't see much of a difference between you, myself." The policeman doesn't seem to be welcoming them as heroes.
"That's not fair," protests Cassie. "We never commit criminal offenses!"
"Wonder Girl," someone shouts from behind the police line, "can I get your autograph?" Out of the corner of his eye, Kon recognizes Alvin fucking Draper.
"We respect--" Cassie recognizes him a second later. "Pardon me, I think I hear a fan." Kon doesn't really want to tag along after Cassie like he's desperate to give away his autograph, but he's not staying to talk to a grumpy policeman.
"The Super-cycle is on the roof of the Marriott, the JLA took Match," says Rob, and hands Cassie a pad of paper and a pen.
Cassie writes "your fly is down," and hands it back. Rob glances at the pad but doesn't check. Kon does; it isn't.
Then someone else runs up to get an autograph, again, from Cassie, and Rob makes his escape.
When they finally escape their fans and make it to the roof of the Marriott, Rob is talking into the comm.
"So, what was Match doing here?" asks Cassie.
"Convincing the Hllemellian advance scout that Earth wasn't worth the trouble, apparently."
"But--" he's evil.
"Then why'd you beat him up?" asks Cassie.
"He is a fugitive from justice," says Rob, in total Robin-voice.
"Also, he's evil," points out Kon.
"You smacked him into a wall?" asks Cassie.
"He has Superboy's powers. An overwhelming first strike seemed wise."
"You mean you got him with his force field down? Ouch," says Kon, forgetting, for a just a second, that he's evil.
"I feel kind of sorry for him," says Cassie. "He's just a clone. He doesn't know any better."
"So's Kon," says Rob tightly, "but he's a hero."
Back at headquarters, Kon tracks Rob down in the gym. "You should have waited for us to go after Match." He didn't mean that to come out quite so confrontational, but if it gets a reaction out of Rob....
It does not get a reaction out of Rob. He puts down his weights carefully and stands up, wiping sweat off his forehead. "I was able to handle it myself fine. It was good that the whole team wasn't there--it would have been weird publicity, what with Match looking exactly like you."
Kon frowns. It's not a bad answer, but.... "Like publicity is all that important? We're supposed to be a team."
"I wanted to handle it personally." Rob's voice stays even; nothing to suggest whatever it is he might be feeling.
"Personal--? It was personal for me, you jackass!" Kon snaps. "He stole my freaking life! You think I didn't want another crack at him?"
"I can really see how you're upset on behalf of the team," Rob says monotonously, and Kon contains the urge to punch something.
He clenches his hands into fists instead. "I thought you said you didn't have any more Match issues."
Rob looks away, and does that thing where he tries to disappear into his cape. "I never said that."
Yes you did! Kon keeps himself from retorting. "Okay. Fine. I thought you said that your issues wouldn't interfere with the team anymore."
"What difference does it make? Match is in the hands of the JLA now. I handled it."
"It makes a difference because you just--you--" Rob is looking at him again, his face unreadable.
"--you shut me out!" Kon finishes, lamely.
"Having you there would have only have screwed me up. I wouldn't be able to tell the two of you apart--it would have been too easy for him to confuse us and escape."
And that fucking hurts, even if it is true. "Yeah. You do have a hard time telling us apart, don't you?" Kon spits out.
And that actually gets a reaction: Robin twitches, hard. "That wasn't--I didn't--"
"Whatever. There must be some difference between us, because you're definitely not begging to have sex with me."
Kon knows he's on dangerous ground; Rob's face darkens, and his whole body gets tense. "Don't."
But Kon isn't always the brightest clone in the lab, and he barrels on. "What made the difference, huh? Was it the TTK? Because I have mine back now, and you could always pretend--"
Robin's punch comes out of nowhere, and Kon wonders if his gloves are laced with kryptonite or something, because it hurts way more than it should.
Kon takes a swing but Robin ducks and delivers a kick right to Kon's solar plexus, sending him to the floor. Kon reaches out with his TTK and grabs Rob's ankles, sweeping his feet out from under him. Somehow Rob lands gracefully, rolling and standing, and Kon gets to his feet, too. They circle each other, and Kon realizes that this is stupid but he's tired and pissed and he doesn't feel like backing down.
Neither, apparently, does Robin, if that right hook is any indicator. Kon manages to dodge it, barely, and tackles him. They wrestle for a while, and through sheer brute strength Kon ends up on top.
Kissing Robin is just one more stupid thing in a whole sequence of stupid things, but Kon can't imagine not doing it.
Kon has a moment to think that Robin tastes really human and really male, and then Rob is pushing him away and punching him again--in the eye, son of a bitch. Rob rolls them over and kisses Kon, crushing their mouths together and it's probably the most awkward, unkiss-like kiss Kon has ever experienced. Not that that matters, because Robin's crotch is pressed up against Kon's, and that's probably just Rob's jock but it still feels good. Kon grinds up and Rob pant-whimper-growls against his mouth.
Kon wraps his legs around Rob's hips, because he's not letting the little asshole escape. Although, surprisingly, Robin doesn't seem to be thinking of escape: he's kissing Kon again, biting at his lips, and his hips are jerking against Kon unevenly. Kon thinks he should say something, apologize for being a jerk or something, but Rob's tongue in his mouth would make that difficult.
Of course, then Rob breaks the kiss, trailing his mouth over Kon's jaw and neck. "Kon--do you remember what I told you when we first met?"
Kon is sort of distracted by his erection. "What? No, I'm kind of--why are you asking me this?"
Robin freezes all over. "No reason."
Kon feels his stomach drop. "Oh my god. You're checking to see if I'm Match." When Robin doesn't say anything, Kon shoves him off and moves away, standing up.
"Well," says Rob, "are you?" like it's a perfectly reasonable question.
"No! No! I mean, No! I mean-- fuck you!"
"Kon, don't--" says Rob, pushing himself up on an elbow.
"Oh, now I'm Kon!? You can! You can just. Go back to Gotham and die alone!" yells Kon, and then, because he can feel his face getting hot, and his eyes prickling, he turns around and runs and then flies, as fast as he can.
"Kon-" says Cassie, as he nearly knocks her over, flying past, but he doesn't even slow down. He needs... Fuck. He needs to be alone, and anywhere he goes to hide, Cassie will come looking for him.
He needs someone who won't tell him that Robin is a very sensible young man, someone who-- Someone who will just-- He finds himself flying toward St. Elias'.
He's doesn't realize until he's at her window that Cissie might not even be there; she could be on a field trip, or in class, or ---
"Kon! What are you... Is everything... Come on in and tell me about it," Cissie finally manages.
He's not crying, or if he is, it's totally the wind, so he doesn't have any excuse to throw himself face down on her bed.
"Robin's a jackass. He's a dick. He's the biggest-- I hate him," Kon tells her. Well, kind of tells her pillow, but she's listening.
"Did he do something stupid?" asks Cissie, sitting down carefully, and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"He had sex with my clone! And then he asked me if I was my clone. Which I wasn't, and I was kissing him!"
"..the jerk," says Cissie. "I have no idea what you're talking about. But I'm totally on your side," she hastens to assure him.
"He doesn't trust me!" says Kon, which is pretty much the whole thing, right there.
Cissie pets his back. "Well, that's Rob for you. He's not very good at trusting. Not that I'm not on your side. He's a jerk."
"It wasn't even my fault! My evil clone did most of the stuff. And he's all... " Kon tries to think of word that encapsulates all of Robin's... weaselly little Robin-ness.
Cassie pets him again, and he tries to think of way to tell her she doesn't have to stop that won't sound girly.
"So, you and Rob are kissing now?" she asks.
"Well, no, not if he thinks I'm evil," says Kon. "He's like-- Batman!" Which was the word he was looking for earlier.
"Obviously," says Cissie. "You can't kiss anyone when they're being like Batman. Oh, Kon, I'm sorry. If he can't... I mean, he--"
Kon dimly suspects that Cissie is getting hung up on her loyalty to Robin, but he doesn't really resent her for it. He'd choose the same.
"He's a lonely little psychopath, and if he doesn't see that you're worth opening up for, then he doesn't deserve you," says Cissie finally, with feeling.
Kon starts. "Hey, he's not actually a psycho--"
"No, listen to me Kon. I'm-- I was like Robin, I know him, I am him. We don't know what we want, so we let people tell us. He doesn't know how to just... want something for himself."
Kon doesn't know if he can listen to her talk about Rob like that. He turns over and pushes himself up until he's sitting. "What-- You're not a psycho. You're... You're not like that."
"Oh, Kon," says Cissie, and leans into him in a half-hug. "Thanks."
"Cissie?" says a voice, which is not his and is not a girl's and is totally Rob's and Kon is just NOT READY for this.
"May I. Speak to-- Superboy?"
Cissie stands, and stalks up to Robin. "Superboy? I don't see why I should let you talk to him, really. You're obviously no good at it."
Kon looks at Rob out of the corner of his vision. He doesn't want to look at him full on and see his face. He doesn't want to see Rob, he just--
"I-- owe him an apology. I hoped-- that he would let me make it," says Rob, sounding really awkward. Well, good.
"Kon?" asks Cissie, and Kon really wishes she hadn't. He doesn't want to have to decide. "Do you want to me to-- I can stay, if you want."
Kon closes his eyes. "No, fine, I'll talk to him. You don't need to..."
Cissie stands in the doorway, hesitating. "I'm going to go talk to the girl I'm tutoring. If you guys make a mess of this room I will never forgive you."
Rob waits until she's shut the door behind herself. "Kon, I--"
Covering his ears would probably be really childish, so Kon doesn't. "Yeah, yeah, you're sorry, it's okay, can we forget about it?"
"No, I. I didn't mean to--" and Rob sounds miserable, and it's not fun at all, like Kon thought it would be. He wishes Rob would just stop talking. "I'm really sorry. I freaked out, okay? I just-- I needed to be sure."
"Yeah?" says Kon, "well guess what? That's not how it works. You don't get to be sure. You fall in love with someone, and you don't know how it's going to turn out, and maybe you'll live happily ever after and maybe they'll die in some stupid--" Kon can't finish the sentence.
Rob looks wounded, and Kon, god, he's such a moron, Kon wants to fix it except that-- "I don't know how to do that," says Rob, unhappily. "I need to-- I need to have some kind of-- What if it's for nothing? What if this doesn't work?"
"Well, it's not working now, asshole, so nothing lost," says Kon, pissed off. "Are you going to make every one you have sex with for the rest of your life sign a contract?"
"That's-- That's why I hurt Match. So badly. He. When I got to Vegas, when he saw me, he said 'hey lover.' I- He doesn't get to- That. It shouldn't have been him."
Rob swallows, and reaches up to the side of his face. At first, Kon's afraid he's crying and then he realizes it's worse than that, he's taking off his mask.
"No way," says Kon, pointing his finger. "Don't you dare. Then I'll have to-- Stop it!" he says, trying to grab Rob's hand.
Rob pulls him over, and oh, here they go again, rolling around, although he doesn't really feel any urge to kiss Rob. "Stop-- Don't-- "
"I want to!" insists Rob, and the stupid mask ends up coming off. Kon squeezes his eyes shut.
"Kon, please," says Rob.
"Kon," says Rob, softer this time, and Kon can feel a shy brush against his lips. "It's you I wanted. It was supposed to be you."
Now is the moment to throw Rob and fly out the window. Rob's mouth brushes across his closed eyelids. "Look at me, Kon. I want you to see me."
He's so screwed.
He opens his eyes just a little bit, squinting to be contrary. And he could avoid the kiss when it comes, but it would be difficult and involve more painful talking and it's easier to just let Robin's mouth bump against his. Let Robin's tongue slide against his lips, and opening his mouth wasn't really a conscious decision, but he goes with it anyway.
The kiss ends, and Rob's eyes are--really incredibly blue, and it's not like Kon has never seen them before, but it's rare enough to be startling. To be... important, and Rob is leaning down to kiss him again.
"Mmph. Wait." Kon pulls away, and his heart does a stupid useless fluttery thing when fear flashes in Rob's eyes. "Okay. God, fine, you win, but let's not do this here."
Rob raises an eyebrow. "I win? You're the one that's been trying to get in my pants for the past several months."
Kon waves that away. "Whatever. Come on, let's go before Cissie comes back and finds us making out on her floor."
They don't fly far, and Kon finds a secluded, woodsy area close by. He so can't handle flying all the way back to headquarters or anywhere else, not when he's carrying Robin snug up against him.
Robin kisses him as soon as they land, and they fall gracelessly to the ground. Kon is busy tracing Rob's teeth with his tongue, and he doesn't notice Rob strategically removing his tights and pushing up his jersey until he's almost naked. He strokes a thumb over Rob's cheekbone and tilts his head back up, kissing him and feeling Rob's teeth sharp against his lip.
He feels Rob's hand suddenly warm on his cock, squeezing, and gasps. "Jeez, you move fast--"
"Shut up, Superboy," Rob says calmly, and pushes him to the ground.
Which, well, Kon can totally go with that. He lets Rob straddle him and struggles with Rob's cape and tunic, trying to figure out how to get them off.
"Dude, do you have a sex-proof costume?" he says incredulously after what feels like eons of trying to get Rob undressed.
"Oh for--" Rob pushes himself up, giving Kon an exasperated look and seamlessly removing his tunic, cape and belt in three motions. Kon stares, and then belatedly starts tugging Rob's t-shirt up over his head.
"Ow," Rob says, muffled; he got his head caught or something. He bats Kon's hands away as Kon tries not to crack up at the image of Robin stuck in his t-shirt, and pulls it off all the way.
Rob's hair is mussed, and his cheeks are flushed. He's still not wearing his mask, which is maybe why Kon finds his glare cute and sexy as opposed to intimidating.
Or maybe not. Kon slides his hand down and squeezes Rob's ass. Rob--doesn't gasp, but he looks like he was holding one back. Kon uses the TTK to pull him down into a kiss, and feeling Rob's bare chest against his bare chest is--kind of weird, but nice. He grinds up against Rob, and--
"Ow!" Kon is naked, but Rob is still wearing his freaking armored jock, and ow. "Could you--"
"Right, sure." Rob's voice sounds breathless, and he moves his hips to push his jock and tights down until they're tangled around his ankles, like Kon's tights tangled around his.
When Rob leans down, it's much better. Kon arches up and Rob grinds down, and it's--friction and heat and so many other good things. Kon groans and moves his mouth to Rob's neck, licking along the muscle leading down Rob's throat to the hollow of his collarbone. He can feel Rob's pulse against his tongue, feel Rob's dick pushing slickly against his hip.
And when Kon reaches down to touch him and squeeze him, Rob actually cries out. And that's just--"Jesus, Rob--Rob. Fuck."
Rob snorts and thrusts into Kon's hand. "Whatever. Just--please--"
"Yeah," says Kon, and he doesn't know what Match did, but he wants to--he wants to make Rob forget everything about the time with Match, even if that's not remotely possible (Robin? forget something?). He rolls them over and moves down Rob's body, which is a little difficult with his tights still bunched around his feet, but he uses the TTK to impatiently push them off, and then he's at eye level with Tim's dick.
Which really is just a good place to be. He licks the head experimentally, and Rob yells.
Kon looks up, concerned. "Dude, I didn't really check to see if we were completely alone before I landed. We might be on someone else's property."
"Uh. Right." Rob's eyes look dazed. "Sorry. I'll be quiet."
Kon smiles at him and moves his head down again. Rob's cock is so hard, and a little wet and salty on his tongue, and if he's kind of nuzzling, could anyone really blame him?
Rob keeps gasping and thrusting against Kon's lips until Kon has to open his mouth and suck him in, messily and probably not very well, but it's the thought that counts, right? He bobs his head up and down and experiments, using tendrils of his TTK to caress Rob's inner thighs. It seems to work, because Rob makes a nice low sound and jerks up further into Kon's mouth. Which kind of makes Kon choke and his eyes water, but he can deal, especially when he realizes that the sounds Rob keeps making over and over are actually Kon's name.
He groans at that and sucks harder, and he feels Rob's hands fumbling in his hair right before he feels Rob's come hit the back of his throat. He chokes again but still swallows, coughing as he pulls off and wipes his mouth.
Rob's thighs are trembling, just a little, and it makes Kon want to climb into his lap, or--
"Sorry-- Sorry, I-- Sorry," says Rob, not sounding like Robin at all. "I-- I'm not very good-- Sorry."
"What, at being blown? It's not really a skill," says Kon. He didn't think it would be... He didn't think Robin would be like this, soft, and vulnerable, and...
Robin fumbles at Kon's head, petting him a little, and Kon's determined not to, like, hump him and scare him again, so it takes him a second to realize Rob's trying to pull him up.
"You--" says Robin. "It's you. I want- I want to see what you look like when you come. I want to make you--"
"Me too," says Kon, sex-stupid, and Rob doesn't even laugh at him, just tugs at him until he rolls over.
Rob slides down Kon's body, and Kon moans, because he can't stop himself. But Robin stops before he gets to what Kon really very much hopes is his goal, and frames Kon's belly-button with his hands.
"You're... You don't know how-- Maybe you do. Beautiful," says Robin, and pushes the side of his face against Kon's stomach.
Kon thumps his fist into the grass because grabbing Robin's head and shoving it down would probably be rude.
"Let me--" says Robin, and there's no way Kon's going to stop him, really, even if he decides he wants to spend the next half hour communing with Kon's belly button.
Except, fuck, he thinks he's going to die soon if Rob doesn't suck him off. "I'm going to --" he says, and manages to stick his fist in his mouth before finishing the sentence.
Rob drags his nose slowly down the trail of hair. Kon makes a noise that doesn't sound sexy even to him.
So much, so much a mistake, to think Robin would ever just blow a guy, of course not. Instead he's got to fucking make a fucking topographical map of Kon with his mouth and Kon's really hoping there's no one in the area. "Please," he realizes he's saying, "pleasepleasepleaseplease-"
Maybe Rob is actually a little bit human because he takes pity on him and wraps a hand around Kon's dick, and hollows his cheeks with suction.
Kon puts a hand in Rob's hair and Rob moans. He knows he's pulling on Robin's hair, but he can't stop himself, and it's Robin.
But if Rob minds, he doesn't stop. Just keeps sucking rhythmically, his forehead scrunched up like this is something to concentrate on, something he wants to do as well as he does everything else in the entire known universe. Of fucking course he does, and Kon can't really get annoyed with that because it means he's getting one hell of a blowjob.
He can feel his whole body thrumming with it when he's about to come, and he tries to warn Rob but when he opens his mouth his jaw just works on air. And then he's coming and Robin doesn't even stop, just keeps sucking and swallowing and Kon grabs hold of a tree root because he's worried he'll injure Rob if he grabs him.
He hears a snap when his vision starts to clear. Well, how much did the tree really need that root, anyway?
Robin's making a face like a cat that's sniffed something gross, but as soon as he sees Kon he smoothes his face. "Sorry," he says. "The taste-"
Kon laughs. It's not even real, that he's having a conversation with Robin about come. Except it totally is.
"Do you--" says Robin, hesitating. "Was that good?"
Kon kind of wants to say, "No, I always come my brains out for horrible sex," but Robin never asks Kon how he did. Not ever.
"Dude," says Kon. "Rob. If my brain was working right now, I'd tell you how good."
Maybe there's a bit of a Robin-smirk in the little smile, but Kon likes it.
It's awkward. Robin makes Kon fly him back to the Elias School for Girls where the Super-cycle is parked, and Kon's not sure what to say. Let's do that again? I like you lots? Be my freaky valentine? Rob is warm in his arms.
Rob says they have to tell Cissie what's happening, by which, apparently he doesn't mean "we flew off to have sex," because he tells her they talked, and promises to keep her up to date.
Then they fly the Super-cycle back, and they could talk, except they don't. Kon sits close enough to Rob that he can feel his body heat.
"Where did you guys go?" asks Cassie, when they get back.
"To see Cissie," says Kon.
Cassie smiles. "I'm glad. I think she-- was afraid she'd lose you guys as friends when she quit the team."
Kon makes a note to visit Cissie again on some non-I'm-a-loser related visit, soon.
Half an hour later, when Bart's trying to explain to Kon why he needs to collect the Star Wars manga, Robin comes into the room and looks at him.
Kon... can't be in the room with Bart when Robin's looking at him like that. It's just not right.
"Just a sec'," he tells Bart, and follows Rob out of the room.
"Did you want something?" he asks Robin, low voiced.
"I--" And Robin gets all awkward again, like when-- "I-- A friend of mine. In Gotham has two tickets to a Knights game, on Friday."
Kon looks at him blankly.
"Can you. Are you free?" Robin asks him, with frightening focus.
"A... friend-- Oh! Oh! A friend. I. Um. Okay." This is a bit like trying to talk a jumper off a ledge, only without the catching them if they jump option. And he's not sure who's the jumper, him or Robin.
"You can meet him at here," says Robin, handing Kon a piece of paper. The writing on it is fading as he watches. "It's the home of Jack Drake and Dana Winters. You should ask for Tim Drake. And dress. Casual."
"You. Wait, you have parents? I mean. Your friend. I mean. Tim?"
And it's only until Kon says that that he actually realizes what Rob- Tim is telling him. What he's giving him, and since his brain took its sweet time catching up, Robin is already edging away by the time Kon has his epiphany.
Kon grabs his arm. "I mean. Um. What time should I be there?"
Robin looks ridiculously relieved, like he expected Kon to shout his secret identity from the rooftops or something. "Around four-thirty. I'll see you there." Robin gives him a small, small smile, and then he's gone.
It only belatedly occurs to Kon that he just agreed to meet the parents of his boyf--of someone he--of Robin, and crap.
Kon rings the doorbell and tries not to hyperventilate much--well, obviously. Jesus Christ, he's in the suburbs. He's in the suburbs, and he's doing the meet-the-parents thing for the first time in his life (which isn't saying much, considering, but still), and these are the people that raised freaky, freaky Robin, and--oh god, what if Tim's 'parents' are Batman and Nightwing?
Kon is a millisecond away from ditching the date and running for it when Tim answers the door--looking, if possible, even more tense than Kon. It doesn't exactly alleviate Kon's Batman fears.
Robin is dressed like... nothing like Alvin Draper, like the kind of geeky kid who hopes no one will notice he's a geek.
He swallows. "Dad, Dana, I'm going now!" he calls over his shoulder.
"Oh, wait a moment," calls a woman's voice. "Let us meet your friend!" She's kinda hot for a Mom, and is wiping her hands on a rag. "Hello, Dan. I'm afraid I just can't keep track of Tim's friends."
Kon tries to look like a Dan. "Hello, Mrs-- " shit, she's not Mrs. Drake, her name is, he can't remember, it's...
"Oh, call me Dana. Now, do you boys have money to buy yourself some food once you're there?"
Robin- Tim, gives a sigh. "Yes, and the cell, and bus fare."
"Sorry," says Dana, sounding not very sorry. "What luck, winning those tickets, Dan. I hope the Knights have a good game for you boys."
"Oh, me too," says Kon earnestly, "Because you know, with the streak they've been on--"
"Winning streak," mutters Tim.
"I think we're going to get to see some really great baseball!"
"I hope so," says Dana. "Oh, do you have sunscreen?"
Robin grabs Kon's wrist and drags him down the street. "Goodbye!" he calls over his shoulder, sounding... affectionate, irritated, like Robin, in the rare moments he's relaxed.
But as soon as Dana shuts the door, Kon sees him actually relax. His stride lengthens, and the hold on Kon's wrist loosens.
"So. Tim," says Kon, experimentally.
"Yeah?"
"So that's really your name?"
"Well, on some of the documents it says Timothy," says Robin. Tim.
"Is there really a baseball game?" asks Kon. It's too mundane, too... Kon didn't think Gotham City did anything as normal as baseball, much less Robin the Boy Wonder.
"Yeah. But. I mean, if you don't want to go to the game. We could. Something else."
"No! Games are. Good! Games are good! Uh. So. That was your... step-mom?"
"Yeah," says Tim. "She's a physiotherapist." For Robin, that's desperate small talk, and Kon kind of thinks it is for Tim, too. Tim hands Kon the fare as the bus pulls up.
"Do you like Gotham?" he asks, as they board the bus.
"Yeah," says Robin, frowning. "I mean, it's not a nice city, but it's... " He looks at Kon, and this time doesn't look like he's confused about who he's supposed to be. "I guess it's hard to see Gotham's good points, and granted, they're few and far between, but when you live here, you know -- I mean, I hate it, too. People die here who wouldn't in any other city. But--"
Kon realizes he's grinning at Tim goofily, and really doesn't care.
"I think... You can't. Gotham doesn't really make sense," says Tim, apologetically.
"Well--I get it, I think," Kon says cautiously. "I mean, it's.... your home." Kon is completely shooting in the dark here; he's never felt that way about anywhere, not even Hawaii--not really. That was all Tana.
Tim gives him a look that's almost suspicious, and Kon thinks he got it wrong. But then Tim says slowly, "Yeah, I guess it is."
Kon grins at him, and Tim doesn't look away; after a while, Kon feels his cheeks grow warm, and he looks somewhere else. God, this is weird; he and Tim are friends, they almost never have problems talking, not like this. Does that mean they're doomed to fail in whatever it is they're doing?
He feels Tim kick his ankle, and when Kon turns to glare at him, he looks amused. "You look like you're a few seconds away from a heart attack or fainting."
Kon snorts. "Dude, I think this is the first time I've been on an honest-to-god date with anyone." He didn't mean to actually say that, but it's true, and it makes him feel less like an awkward tool who doesn't know how to talk to his best friend.
Tim frowns. "Really? But you and Tana--"
"Our dates usually got interrupted by like, supervillains. Or sea-monsters. Or this really creepy disease I had that one time--um, never mind."
Tim leans back against the window, and his hair falls in front of his eyes a little bit. "This doesn't have to be an actual date if you don't want it to be. If it's... weird for you."
Kon shrugs, and then smirks. "Well, can it be the kind of date where you just hang with a friend and then make out with them? Or is that the definition of 'date'? The Cadmus-information-upload was kinda fuzzy on these sort of details."
Tim gives him another one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it smiles. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable, Kon."
Kon bumps Tim's shoulders. "I am the opposite of uncomfortable. I am so relaxed I'm, like, liquid. I'm like Plastic Man over here." Tim laughs at that, and the scoreboard in Kon's head reads Kon: 1, Robin's Freaky Urge To Make Himself Miserable: 0.
The bus is cleaner than he was expecting from Gotham, and not smelly at all. They get off with a bunch of other people, some of them carrying flags and outsize horns and foam lances, which apparently is the Knights thing.
It's not really to odd to be holding Tim's wrist; in a crowd like this it makes sense.
"Do you want-- Um. Is a box okay? Or, there's the bleachers," says Tim. "There's... sometimes you can catch a ball."
"Uh. We can. There's a box? Dude. Does Batman--" But then Tim gives him a really pissy look, and Kon realizes they're in the middle of a crowd. "I mean. Do you want to get soft pretzels? I have some money."
Tim smiles. "Yeah, sure. We can do that," and drags Kon over to the concession. Kon ends up getting distracted by the mini doughnuts, and they get both.
"So, uh. The Knights, hunh."
"Perez is considered the teams strongest batter," says Tim, "But he's benched due to a strained tendon. And if Lieberman can really get a handle on his contact hitting, he's a threat to hit 40 home runs."
"So, you're a fan, then," says Kon, bemused.
"I... No, not really. I looked this stuff up last night."
Another point in favor of his ignore-the-play-and-make-out plan.
They end up going with the private box seats, and it's not like Kon knows anything about baseball but he's still willing to bet these cost... well, a lot. Furthering Kon's theory that Batman is a secret trillionaire, but he doesn't tell Tim that.
Kon gets bored ten minutes into the first inning. Tim looks like he's actually focused on the game, but Tim focuses on everything; hell, maybe he's mentally taking notes for the next time Young Justice has to play baseball against aliens for the freedom of Earth.
The doughnuts, which are spelled "do-nuts," last another five minutes, and then he has to watch Tim absently chew on the soft pretzels. His white teeth biting down, and then ripping off a section. He should so not find that hot.
"I should so not find that hot."
Tim looks at him, surprised, and then blushes. "What?"
"Um. Too lame. Can we make out instead?"
Tim looks bemused. "I was watching the game."
"Your date is supposed to interest you more than baseball, dude. It's like, a rule."
Tim frowns. "I thought your Cadmus info was fuzzy on--mph--" Kon kisses him and licks at the stray salt on Tim's lip, pulling Tim closer when Tim gasps against his mouth.
Tim throws an arm around Kon's neck, and just kind of climbs into Kon's seat. It's nice to know that..
Kon loses the train of thought. He loses track of where he is. The Knights lose the game, but he doesn't actually find that out until tomorrow.
"This was. I'm glad. Your friend. Tickets," he mumbles into Tim's ear at one point.
"I'm glad," says Tim. "I'm glad it's you."
Read the sequel, Felt Such a Shaking