[Fic] East of the Sun, 7/11 (Tim/Kon/Cissie)
Title: East of the Sun 7/11
Authors: lady-sarai and zoe-chan
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters: Tim Drake/Kon-El (Conner Kent)/Cissie King-Jones
Rating: PG
Word Count: 20,600... give or take.
Summary: Kon and Cissie learn that Tim has set off on a crazy solo mission to find Bruce--despite the fact that the whole world thinks Batman is dead. They set out to find him, but when they do, he is not as eager to see them as they had expected. They decide to tag along with him--to keep him grounded, and because they think he needs their help. Along the way, the three grow closer and become tied together in unexpected ways.
Authors' Note: Written for polybigbang, which was so fun. Canon-wise, this draws on events from Red Robin 1-3, but because it was started and plotted back in June, it turns AU before the end of Red Robin 3. It is entirely AU from Adventure Comics, sadly, as that did not come out until August. Our dear beta, xenokattz, managed to read and understand it without knowing recent canon, though. Because she is that awesome.
~*~
Kiev, Ukraine
September 5
The next morning, while Kon was taking care of the hotel bill and getting them breakfast and food for their trip, Cissie and Tim stayed behind to finish packing their things. Kon was hopeless at packing, so Cissie was packing his things as well as her own. She was nearly finished, but leaving things behind just wasn't an option--it was a lot harder to replace things when they were traveling like this--so she went for one last sweep of the bathroom. Reentering the bedroom, she held up a comb and cleared her throat. "You might want this."
"Thanks." Tim eyed her thoughtfully for a moment. "When were classes supposed to start?"
Cissie blinked at him and tossed him the comb, shrugging. "September, I guess."
He sighed. "You should have gone, Ciss. You'd found me by then. You knew I was okay."
She pressed her lips together and pulled Kon's duffle bag over to shove at the contents so she could zip it shut to give herself something to focus on instead of Tim. "Okay is subjective," she muttered, then raised her voice. "I didn't want to go."
"What about your scholarship?"
She looked up sharply. "How did you..." she trailed off, frowning at him. "It doesn't matter. I can get another one. And it's not really necessary anyway."
"You just told me." He made a frustrated noise. "Damn it, you can't give that up!"
Cissie shoved roughly at Kon's clothes, yanking at the bag's zipper. "You took a blind guess about the scholarship. And I already did, so it doesn't matter now."
"Cissie!"
"What?" she snapped, shoving her hair back in annoyance. "It's done with. So just--leave it alone."
"You had a scholarship, and you threw that away because of me?" He exhaled sharply. "Damn it."
"I didn't throw anything away. A lot of people take time off before they go to college--they do it all the time in other countries. Gap Year. It's my choice. Besides, I don't see you rushing back for school."
"I didn't graduate high school," he said, scowling. "So college is not an option for me, at the moment."
Cissie glared at him, making a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like that could stop you if you wanted it. How many different identities do you have now, anyway? How many passports are in that bag?"
He glared at her. "Several. Along with a number of alternate identities for you and Kon. Your point?"
"My point is that it wouldn't exactly be hard for you to alter your records or fake your diploma. College could be an option if you wanted it to be. How many schools were you accepted to, anyway? If it wasn't every one you applied to, I'd be shocked." She turned back to Kon's bag, zipping it shut with more force than necessary.
"All of them," he admitted, watching her with a frown. "That's not the point. Are your scholarships going to wait for you to be back from this trip... however long It takes?"
The zipper stuck, and she set her jaw, wrestling with it. "I'm not worried about scholarships. Can we drop this?"
"No, we can't. I'm worried. As it's my fault you won't get your scholarship."
She gave an explosive sigh and looked up at him. "Tim. I don't need a scholarship. It's fine. This was my choice."
"Which you made because you were too busy looking for me to go back to school," he said, raising an eyebrow. He stood and brushed her hands away from the zipper on Kon's bag. "Let me fix it."
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, breathing through her nose. "I almost had it," she grumbled. "And I made my choice because it was what I wanted. I want to be here."
"Uh huh." He worked the zipper carefully free of the t-shirt it had become snagged on. "I wish you didn't."
Cissie shoved her hands into her hair and covered her face. She turned and sat on the edge of the bed, growling under her breath. "Why? Why can't you just let us help you?"
"It's not about you!" he snapped, frustrated. "Did you not meet the psychopaths I'm involved with these days? Do you think I want you and Kon twisted up in that?"
"You certainly did all you could to keep us from meeting them," she muttered, dropping her hands into her lap. She looked down at them, frowning deeply. "Do you think we want you twisted up in that? Do you think--" She rubbed at her temple. "Are we really having this argument again?"
"...It looks like we are," he said with a wry smile. "Sorry. I know I said I'd stop."
"You did." She looked up at him warily. "But you don't really want us here with you, do you?"
"I want you two to have what passes for a normal life in our crowd."
Cissie frowned into her lap. "I've been doing the ‘normal life' thing for the last several years, Tim. It hasn't really--It's not as great as you think it is."
He let out a short laugh. "Yeah, well, this life isn't exactly roses either."
"You think I don't know--" She looked up and stopped, swallowing the rest of her retort when she saw the bleak look on Tim's face. She let out a quiet breath. "I know. I'm sorry. I just--I don't want to go back and do nothing and act like..." She stopped and just shook her head, looking down at in her lap again.
He sighed and sat down next to her on the bed. "Like what?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Like I'm normal?" She glanced at him and gave a half-hearted smile that she was sure wasn't convincing. "Like I don't know there are things happening that I could be helping with if I were somewhere else. I don't know. It doesn't matter."
He nudged her gently with his shoulder. "It matters. If it's what you're feeling, it matters." He gave a humorless little laugh. "There are days that I would give anything to just be normal."
Cissie looked over at him with a tiny smile and kept her voice light. "You'd go crazy."
"No kidding," he said, his tone wry. "The weeks Dad wouldn't let me be Robin were... pretty dismal."
She made a face. "Yeah. It takes... a lot of adjusting."
"I guess... I probably could have called, huh? I bet you would have had a lot of tips to keep me from losing my mind."
Cissie managed a smile, and didn't stiffen, or otherwise show that hearing he hadn't considered this before bothered her at all. "As someone who did it? Maybe one or two."
Tim sighed and put an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into a hug. "It wasn't that I didn't think of it," he said quietly. "I didn't think you'd want to hear from me when the only thing I was doing was complaining. It was a pretty bad time for me. I was really unhappy. I wasn't talking to anyone."
She leaned against him, putting her head on his shoulder. "I know. I'm sorry. I... probably would have done the same thing. If all of you had let me." She stopped for a minute, chewing on her lip. "I'm sorry we let you."
"It's okay. I doubt that there's much you could have done." He rested his head against hers. "I'm pretty stubborn."
She laughed wryly and slipped her arm around his waist, hugging him. "I hadn't noticed."
"Hm. So--school? You know Kon would want to know."
She frowned and resisted the urge to pull away. "Who said he doesn't?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"
She sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Tim--I don't--Can we just forget it?"
He blew out a sigh. "He'll figure it out eventually."
Cissie dropped her hand back to her lap and shrugged. "Yeah. Probably." But not before it's too late for it to matter, she thought. "But he doesn't need to worry about it right now."
"You think he'll feel better if it's too late by the time he realizes?"
She stiffened and sat up, pulling her arm back to drop it in her lap. "I think it's already too late, and it was my decision, and I don't want him blaming himself for it any more than I wanted you to blame yourself."
He mouth quirked a little in a slight smile. "Didn't anyone ever tell you I have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility?"
She shoved lightly at him. "Well, stop it. I'm an adult, capable of making my own decisions. I don't need either of you to second-guess me."
"We care about you, Cissie."
"I know. And I care about you. So can you please just respect my decision?"
He sighed. "Yes. Of course. I'm just--worried."
Cissie smiled and reached for his hand, squeezing it. "Welcome to the club."
Part 8: Jaipur, India