#inspired by post

[awhitehead17]

Battling Nightmares

TimKon, Hurt and Comfort, Fluff, Cuddles, Idiots in love, Literal Sleeping together.

A/N: This has been inspired by this post from @timdrakebrainworms I read it and wanted to put it into a story, I hope they don't mind!

Enjoy! :D

Blinking into the darkness, Kon frowns and wonders what’s going on. As his mind is fogged up with sleep, nothing registers for a long moment. The clock on his bedside table tells him it’s two in the morning, and considering how tired Kon has been recently he’s confused to what could have woken him up at such an hour.

A soft sound reaches his ears, and while it’s tempting to fall back to sleep, he wouldn’t have woken up without a reason and going back to sleep wasn't an option until he worked out what was wrong. He props himself up on his arms and glances around the dark room, finding nothing amiss he stares into the darkness, perhaps if he concentrates he’ll be able to hear that sound again.  

The sound comes again and this time Kon catches it. It’s a soft whisper coming from outside his bedroom. It was so soft that even with his super hearing Kon would’ve had trouble picking up on it, however because Kon’s so tuned in on the person whose whisper it was, he’s not surprised he heard it.

Without thinking Kon jumps out of bed and rushes across the room to the door, any lingering sleepiness is now gone and has been replaced by worry and adrenaline. He throws open his door and darts across the hall straight into the opposite room. He slows down enough to shut the door and immediately heads to the bed where his best friend sits hunched over hugging his  knees to his chest with his head ducked down resting on them.

Crouching down by the mattress Kon sighs softly, his heart feels heavy inside his chest as he looks at Tim. This isn’t new. The nightmares. Every night without fail for the last two weeks Tim’s woken up during the night due to the terrors that haunt his sleeping mind.

At the end of the first week it got bad enough to the point where Tim refused to even go to bed, and then continued to refuse for nearly four days. It took Kon, Dick, Bruce and even Ma Kent - not mentioning his complete exhaustion – to convince Tim to go to bed and sleep.

For the last week, Kon coming to Tim after he wakes from a nightmare has become routine. Once Kon drilled it into Tim’s head that he wanted Tim to call out for him when he woke, Tim had done so and each and every time Kon’s been willing to comfort his best friend after the ordeal.

Tonight is no different.

“Tim.” Kon calls out softly. He doesn't want to accidently startle Tim, that never ends well. “Hey it’s okay, I’m here. I heard you.”

“Kon.” Tim’s voice comes out muffled from where his face is buried in his knees.

Now knowing Tim’s acknowledged his presence, he gently grasps his leg. “Yeah I’m here. What do you need?”

Over the last week Kon’s come to learn Tim wants different things depending on how he’s feeling after waking up. Sometimes it’s cuddles, he just wants a solid hold around him and someone by his side as he recovers. Sometimes it’s no touch at all and just quiet company in the room. Other times he wants to be distracted and they end up playing video games or watching a film.

“Cuddles.”

Kon nods and starts getting situated on Tim’s bed next to him. Stretching out and getting comfortable, Kon reaches over and pulls Tim into his side, he sweeps his hand up and down Tim’s back in a motion of comfort. His best friend stays curled up but he leans into Kon. He knows from experience it’ll take some time for Tim to calm down and relax against him.

As time goes by, Tim slowly relaxes. It’s surprisingly comfortable to hold Tim against him, Kon wishes it was different circumstances and hates how Tim is constantly plagued by nightmares after what had happened weeks ago.

Once Tim is relaxed against him, stretched out with his arms wrapped around Kon’s waist and his head resting on Kon’s shoulder, Kon breaks the silence between them, “how are you feeling? Would you like to talk about it?”

Again these questions are part of the routine and often have different answers. Sometimes Tim will speak up about it, other times he won’t.

This time Tim doesn’t want to. He shakes his head and lets out a long resigned sigh. Kon accepts the answer, forcing Tim to talk won’t achieve anything other than aggression of some sort, and ducks his head to press a kiss to Tim's hair.

“Okay. Do you want to try and go back to sleep, it’s still early.”

Tim groans, “I don’t think I can.”

Kon smiles weakly at the almost whine. Under different circumstances it would have been both adorable and amusing. Using one hand he strokes his fingers through Tim’s hair, the other now stays still on Tim’s back keeping him pressed close to Kon.

“Well, I think you can. I’m here now, I’ll keep the nightmares away.”

“Gonna fight them off like you do bad guys and robots?” Tim asks, his tone now lightening up.

Kon gives Tim a squeeze.  “Yup. They aren’t getting past me!”

Tim snorts and smacks Kon at the ridiculousness of it. As laughable as the concept may be Kon managed to lighten Tim’s mood – even if only for a moment – so he’ll take it.

Tim sighs and settles against Kon again and Kon mimics the action and relaxes deeper into the mattress beneath him. He presses another kiss to Tim’s head and readjusts the covers around them. “C’mon, we can get another hour or two before dawn breaks.”

Kon’s promise reins true as Tim doesn't have another nightmare that night. They wake up together and Kon checks in with Tim, they talk for an hour before emerging from the bedroom to join their teammates for breakfast. No one comments on how they come out of the room looking suggestively sleep rumpled, like everything else about the situation it’s become normal for Kon to stay in Tim’s room when he has a nightmare, the rest of the team are use to it by now.

That night Kon tries something different. After Tim calls it a night, looking displeased with the decision, Kon decides to follow him. He says his goodnights to the team who all weirdly roll their eyes at him, and heads for his bedroom. He goes through his nightly routine however instead of getting into his own bed he traipses across the hall and enters Tim’s room.

Standing in the middle of the room Kon finds Tim scowling at the bed, clearly unhappy about going to sleep. After a moment of no movement Kon speaks up, grinning at the way Tim startles. “Are you planning to sleep standing up or are you going to use the bed?”

Tim glares at him for a second before dropping the look. He runs a hand through his hair and looks despondent. “I hate this,” Tim says, “just knowing I’ll wake up in a few hours terrified out of my mind. Finding myself again completely at mercy-”

Before he could say anything more Kon steps up to him and puts his hands firmly on Tim’s shoulders. “Hey. If you keep thinking about it before you go to sleep it’s all your mind will focus on. I know it’s hard but things will get better, they’ll stop soon.”

Tim shakes his head and Kon’s heart breaks at the expression on his face. Kon pulls Tim in for a tight hug. “I was thinking what if I joined you in bed now? We can sleep together and I can keep my promise of fighting the nightmares away. Only if you want too of course.”

Pulling out of the hug Tim looks uncertain. “Are you sure? I don’t want to keep you awake all night with my tossing and turning.”

Kon rolls his eyes and pushes Tim to the bed, he forces him under the covers and quickly joins him. “Dude, you say that like I’ve never slept next to you before. We’ve been doing an awful lot of bed sharing these last couple of weeks. I’ll be fine. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Tim stares at him for a moment before nodding accepting it. He smiles shyly. “Thanks. I do actually sleep better next to you.”

Unable to help himself Kon presses a kiss to his hair before moving to turn off the bedside lamp. The room plunges into darkness and Kon gathers Tim close as they both settle down for the night.

It becomes a thing. In the weeks following, Kon now spends the entire night with Tim instead of just half when Tim calls out for him. Unfortunately Kon loses some battles against the nightmares because Tim still has them even when sleeping next to Kon, but his presence undeniably helps.

Whenever they’re at the tower, at the manor or at the farm they just share a bed. It feels so natural to sleep together now, it doesn't even occur to them anymore to not share a bed. The only time they sleep apart is they’re in separate locations or on missions.

Two months after the ordeal Tim’s nightmares have mostly come to a stop, they still occur maybe once a week or in ten days if he’s lucky. Even after the nightmares stopped they continued bed sharing, again because it felt right and comfortable to do so.

Three months after the ordeal Kon and Tim officially get together as a couple in a romantic relationship. In the months they have been bed sharing, Kon’s gotten to know Tim in a completely new way which is saying something considering how well he knew Tim before everything happened.

He had always felt deeper affection for Tim with him being his best friend, but in the nights he spent lying next to the guy, Kon discovered the affection ran much deeper than he realised, and most definitely in a different way. It turns out his feelings were reciprocated.

After a particularly bad night Tim ended up confessing his feelings for Kon, at first Kon hadn’t believed him, thinking it was stress and an emotional release from the nightmare, however the following day Tim made it perfectly clear it wasn't a false confession. From there they went from best friends to boyfriends. A rather incredible upgrade Kon would say.

They kept quiet about their relationship for a little while before announcing it to the team. It wasn’t so much they were worried about what their friends would think but rather they wanted to explore the romantic side of their relationship before sharing it.

When they announced it to the team, with everyone gathered in the media room, everyone ended up with a confused expression on their face. It turns out they were confused for a different reason than what he and Tim were expecting.

“You’re saying you only got together a couple weeks ago?” Cassie stares mystified at them like they had grown another head each.

Kon shares a look with Tim. “Uh yeah… what do you… this is not the reaction I was expecting.”

“So you guys haven’t been dating for years! You’ve only just got together?”

Tim gawks at her. “Wait what? What do you mean?”

“Dudes,” Bart drawls at them while munching on pretzels, “we all thought you were already dating! And had been dating for years! We figured you didn’t want any fuss about coming out so you just didn’t.”

Both Kon and Tim were shocked into silence by that little revelation.

“Kon is so touchy feely with Tim unlike anyone else, ever, and Tim the prickly cactus he is, allows it all to happen.” Bart carries on talking.

Cassie jumps in with her own comment. “Don’t forget about all the bed sharing and cuddling. Like none of that is platonic. Granted we never heard you guys going at it, we just thought you were incredibly discrete, or it’s because of Tim’s insane soundproofing he has.”

Kon feels his face heat up and when he glances at Tim he finds his boyfriend impersonating a tomato rather accurately.

“Well we weren’t dating,” Kon tells him unable to meet anyone’s eyes, “but now we are. So…” he waves a hand around as his sentence trails off. He doesn’t know what to do with this situation anymore and would rather it end.

Thankfully Vic becomes his saviour because he calls out, “now the oblivious lovebirds are done, are we doing this or what?”

That breaks the room up and everyone settles down to watch the screen. Kon lets out a breath and turns to find Tim staring at him, looking embarrassed but relieved. He smiles at Kon and Kon’s instant reaction is to smile back.

“Oi!”

The shouts makes them both jump and it’s only then Kon realises they had been staring at one another like lovestruck fools.

“If you’re gonna make out you have bedrooms for that particular activity, otherwise sit your asses down and enjoy the movie.”

While making out with Tim sounds awesome, and hot as hell, he takes Tim’s hand and guides him to a free space on the couch where they settle down together and get involved with the team bonding. No one cares they’re together romantically and Kon is pleased to continue going forward surrounded by his friends and with an amazing, strong, boyfriend at his side.  

[poyums]

I see sand flowing as we share some wine. Countdown of us, a limit on our time.

We both saw the hourglass, were aware. Together we decided we wouldn't care.

The moments we shared, when our souls took flight. Ineffable emotions in the night.

The beauty of something delicate, fleeting. Something we knew would not be repeating.

We will move on, other people, places. Nothing indicates we shared our spaces.

You didn't change my life, or my worldview. You gave me nothing incredible or new.

It was still worthwhile, now we must part ways. Thank you stranger for incredible days.

it was never gonna work out but i experienced all these seemingly profound unreplicable moments that were romantic and moving and made me feel alive and still none of it actually means anything in the long run. but thats okay. sometimes a beautiful moment is just that. a moment. and you have to leave it alone and just be grateful that it happened. woooow

[hydrattan]

I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me

[sadclowncentral]

my family is fucking addicted to macgyvering and it's becoming a problem. every time something in this house breaks, instead of doing the sensible thing of replacing it or calling someone qualified to fix it, we all group around the offending object with a manic look in our eyes and everyone gets a try at fixing it while being cheered on or ridiculed by the rest.

it's a beautiful bonding activity, but the "creative" fixes have turned our house into a quasihaunted escape room like contraption where everything works, but only in the wonkiest of ways. you need a huge block of iron to turn on the stove. the oven only works if a specific clock is plugged in. the bread machine has a huge wood block just stapled to it that has become foundational to its function. sometimes when you use the toaster the doorbell rings. and that's just the kitchen.

it's all fun and games until you have guests over and you have to lay out the rules of the house like it's a fucking board game. welcome to the beautiful guest room. don't pull out the couch yourself you need a screwdriver for that, and that metal rod makes the lamp work so don't move it. it also made me a terrifying roommate in college, because it makes me think i can fix anything with enough hubris and a drill. you want to call the landlord about a leaky faucet? as if. one time my dad made me install a new power socket because we ran our of extension cords

[abreathlessplace]

"i wonder if we ever think of each other at the same time."

[poyums]

I know that here I did my part, and I loved you with my whole heart

But love is not a magic spell, that makes all kinds of ill well

It is a source of strength and song, and a challenge to correct your wrongs

It took me time to understand, what it was that forced my hand

I made the choice to walk away, because I hope, maybe someday

You can return to this hard place, and give us both a bit more grace

My love brought not the calm it should, so without me I hope you would

Perhaps now we are apart, you can find peace within your heart.

I did my part. I hope my absence gives you peace that my love couldn't.

[eggsistential-breakdown]

Okay, but hear me out -- what if his parents weren't usually red and blue?

[starrysharks]

ghanaian miku

[what-iz-life]

I confuse people. i have a happy personality and a sad soul. i'm bold but shy. i love deeply but sometimes i feel heartless. i'm healing and hurting at the same time. i'm dedicated to growth, but i self sabotage

[goldensunset]

advice i think we should tell children is that when adults say stuff like ‘now that i’m an adult i get really excited about stuff like coffee tables and bathrooms and rugs etc’ they don’t mean ‘and now i don’t care about blorbo and squimbus from my childhood tv shows anymore’ bc your average adult still loves all the same pop culture stuff they always did; they just have a greater appreciation for the mundane as well. growing up just means you can enjoy life twice as much now. you can get really excited about a new stuffed animal AND about a new kitchen sponge. peace and love

[decamarks]

Thinking of becoming a guy that thinks wolves are the most badass and aspirational animal, but about ants. Like wearing t-shirts about being loyal to my Queen and training to bench 5x my bodyweight. Studying ant warfare. Posting shit like this

[specialagentartemis]

Scenario: a sample of your DNA was taken, popped into a cell, and cloned into a baby, gestated in a sci-fi artificial womb vat. The first time you or anyone in your family meets this baby is after it has already been born out of said vat. You can hold the newborn if you want, it's up to you, but it is a living breathing baby that was cloned from your DNA and is genetically identical to you.

I love clone philosophy. Give me all your philosophy of clones

[lynnsdarkuniverse]

[violent138]

Starting to think a cooler headcanon for Clark’s upbringing might just be that the entire town of Smallville collectively decided to just go with it and accept that Martha and John's kid has superpowers, but we don't talk about it.

Someone's tractor gets stuck and nothing can get it out? "Be a dear and run down to the Kents, would you? Ask for Clark?"

"Why Clark, we need a machine--"

"Run along now."

Or if he kicks too hard and the football vanishes into the upper stratosphere, no it didn't, we all collectively saw it land over there *vague hand movements*

[minimalist-quotes]

You deserve a healthy love with someone who hears you, sees you, understands you, appreciates you, supports you, and loves you. Someone who is patient, communicates clearly, and creates a calm safe space to heal, grow, and bloom together. A love you don't have to heal from.