#now someone just needs to ask for Kon and we’ll have a full set here 👁 👄 👁

[sketchingtons]

could you do the past times palette with bart? absolutely love the content btw you are doing gods work for core4 fans <3

*running in the 90’s playing faintly in the distance”

(So glad you’re liking the core4 content!! I am happy to provide it 😌🙏)

[awhitehead17]

Nice Try

TimKon, Core Four, Humour, Matchmaker, Friendship, Shenanigans.

Summary: Noticing the tension between Tim and Kon, Bart and Cassie take matters into their own hands and attempt to set the two boys up with a variety of methods.

Enjoy! :D

“Tim, stop what you are doing because we have a more important task that requires your attention!”

Letting out a sigh, Tim rolls his head to the side and gives Bart an unamused look. There goes his quiet evening that he planned. He watches as the speedster vibrates in his spot standing opposite him, he had just burst into the room and gave Tim that announcement.

“What is it Bart?”

Bart thrusts a bottle out and in his face, “We’re playing spin the bottle dude, y’know like in the good old days. You, me, Cassie and Kon.”

Tim blinks and debates on whether he should try to get out of it or not, but before he could decide the door to the media room opens up again and this time Cassie, who is dragging Kon behind her, walks in with a bag full of snacks and drinks.

“Suck it up boy wonder because this is happening whether you want it to or not.”

Next to her Kon looks resigned, they make eye contact sand Kon shrugs, “Don’t ask me man. It wasn’t my idea.”

He looks back at Bart to see him pulling the puppy dog eyes, not that he needed to because Tim resigned to the idea when Cassie and Kon appeared.

“Fine.”

“Woo-hoo!” Bart cheers and zooms away, appearing seconds later on the floor with the snacks Cassie had laid out, cushions on the floor and a blanket surrounding the area. “Now let’s play!”

Tim stands up from his seat on the couch, sets his laptop to the side and moves to join Bart on the floor just as the other two do. he makes a move to sit down next to Kon, which was by now just instinct to do so, however Cassie seemed to have different ideas because she quickly steals the cushion he was about to sit on and forces him onto the cushion opposite Kon instead.

He shoots her a questioning look which gets ignored, shares an odd look with Kon, but settles down on the last cushion without any fuss.

 “Guys it’s been nearly half an hour, can we please play something else.” Kon whines when it’s his go again. The half Kryptonian hides his face in his hands before falling backwards dramatically.

Tim certainly notices how his t-shirt rides up his stomach showing a little bit of skin there.

“No until everyone has kissed everyone!” Cassie declares crossing her arms over her chest.

Kon sits back up and gives her an exasperated look, “But it’s only Tim and I who haven’t kissed yet, does it really matter?”

“Yes!” Both Cassie and Bart snap at him simultaneously. Kon shoots Tim a wide eyed look who merely shrugs back, he doesn’t know what’s up with them. “Let’s forget this and just stick a movie on or something, we still have tonnes of snacks and it’s quiet, let’s spend our time together better than this yeah?”

His argument seems to win against the two of them because Cassie instantly looks resigned while Bart exaggerates a sigh and flops down onto his back, “ugh, finnnnneeee….” he stays like that for a second before shooting back up, “We need more pizza!” then like that he’s gone again.

Cassie stands up from her spot and shoots the two of them a glare like they had personally offended her somehow. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, don’t start the film without me.”

Once she disappears from the room, Tim turns to Kon and gives him a confused look, “Any ideas what that was all about?”

Kon mirrors his expression, “Not a clue man,” he then grins, “it’s a funny coincidence how we didn’t have to kiss each other though, right?”

Tim huffs a laugh, “Yeah just a bit, what are the odds huh?”

“It’s alright though, we’ll make up for the loss later on.” Kon smirks and winks at him. Tim gives him a deadpan look but couldn’t fight the blush that paints his cheeks at the flirt. He really ought to be used it by now considering it’s Kon, but somehow it still gets to him.

“Shut up,” Tim says, after a moment he adds, “They’re up to something aren’t they?”

“Yup, no idea what though.” Kon agrees immediately. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough. You know Bart, he can barely keep a secret.”

“Very true.”

Apparently whatever secret they were hiding Bart manages to keep it locked up. It’s been over a week and Tim still doesn’t know what his friends were up to and after talking to Kon, he doesn’t know either. It’s starting to irritate him that he doesn’t know what’s going on, he likes to know everything and not knowing this was beginning to bug him.

However as Bart leads him down one of the corridors in the Tower Tim didn’t think much of it, his mind was busily trying to work out the current problem at hand.

“What did you say was wrong with it again?”

“It just wouldn’t start up, I think there’s a technical issue with it because the screen would come on and it would do this weird thingamajig and fuzz out. I need someone with brilliant computer skills to try and work out what’s wrong with it. That being you my current bird friend!”

Tim opens his mouth to protest at the idea because surely Bart could handle something like this on his own, he’s dragged Tim away from his documents that need to be filed in two days for this but asks something else instead.

“Why’s it down here and not in your room?” He questions, they were now in the less used section of the Tower.

Bart shrugs, “Because it’s out the way and basically in storage until I found it and now I’m kinda curious. Hey, here we are!”

They stop outside a closed door. Tim fully expected Bart to lead the way in so when the speedster doesn’t move Tim raises an eyebrow. They stand there for a few beats, neither of them moving until Tim gets fed up with it and crosses his arms over his chest. “Well?”

Bart blinks at him before smiling, it was his Cheshire Cat smile which instantly put Tim on alert. “Sorry about this Timmy.”

Before he could even question what Bart means, his head was being smacked against the door. Pain erupts from his forehead and he clutches his head hissing at the sting. Next thing he knows is that he’s being pushed to the side, since he was still getting over the pain in his head he loses his footing and tumbles to the ground. What he does make out afterwards was a slamming sound and a distinctive locking noise.

“Tim?”

Tim looks up from the ground and squints, he finds Kon rushing over to him who starts helping him back up to his feet. “Kon? What you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question. You okay?”

Grabbing hold of Kon’s arm for balance Tim rubs his forehead, “Yeah but I’ll be much better once I find Bart and beat his ass into next Tuesday.”

Once he feels like he could stand on his own and with the pain mostly gone from his head he looks around the room to find it completely empty except one bed tucked in the corner of the room. Tim didn’t even know this room existed and there was certainly no sign of a computer in here.

“What the hell? What’s the meaning of this?”

“I have no idea dude, all I know is that about 10 minutes ago Cassie lead me down here asking for my help to move something but then she locked me in here. I went to force my way out but then she stated how the lock has kryptonite embedded in it and that if I want to take the chance then I can do so. I really rather not take that chance thanks and then you appeared with Bart.”

Tim frowns and looks suspiciously at the door. “What is it with the two of them recently? Why are they teaming up against us?”

Kon lets out a heavy sigh, “I don’t know! First spin the bottle and now locking us in a room together? Weird behaviour, especially for them.”

Tim walks over to the lock and tries to open the door but of course it doesn’t move. He huffs in annoyance especially when he realises that he doesn’t have any of his equipment on him to even try and pick the lock. He glances over at Kon to find the meta now sat down on the bed and was watching him.

Kon meets his gaze and smirks, “Well you know, there is a bed after all and we haven’t had any alone time in a while…” The way he waggles his eyebrows makes Tim want to punch him.

He glares at Kon, “Get your mind out the gutter. We’re in a locked room because of our friends, what’s the chances they’re monitoring us right now.”

Kon’s smirk drops at that thought and Tim snickers. He does however move to the bed and take a seat beside him, “We’ll just have to wait them out.”

 Out waiting their friends takes over four hours. Tim and Kon had done nothing more than sit on the bed and talk, Kon may have thrown an arm over Tim in a hug but apart from that it was nothing exciting. Nothing he suspects Cassie and Bart were waiting to happen.

Eventually they hear the door unlocking but nothing more happens. Curiously, Tim gets up from the bed and goes over to investigate. He’s pleased to find that the door had in fact been unlocked and how him and Kon were finally free.

Unfortunately neither Cassie nor Bart were in sight so they couldn’t interrogate them to find out what that had been all about. He and Kon leave the room together and decide to confront their friends at a later date for their weirdness.

“I don’t understand why it has to be us two.” Kon comments frowning down at the menu in his hands.

Tim arches an eyebrow and takes a sip of his drink. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He doesn’t look at Kon however, his focus was one the two people tucked away in the corner of the restaurant.

Kon sighs, “Like surely we’ll attract more attention to ourselves, y’know two guys having dinner together, it isn’t always accepted and people gossip. We would be less obvious if one of us was with Cassie instead.”

Tim finally glances at Kon, he gets what Kon is saying of course, but there are still arguments against his points.

The two of them had been forced elected to go into the restaurant where their targets are currently having a business meeting over dinner to do some close recon. The other two were waiting outside to make the next move once the go ahead has been given.

Cassie and Bart immediately assigned Tim and Kon with the task of being in the restaurant without either of them getting a say in otherwise. As they had been getting ready the two of them kept dropping hints about how good the other looked.

 “Hey Tim, don’t you think Kon’s shirt matches his eyes?”

 “What do you think of Tim’s pants Kon? They shape his figure really well huh?”

 “I couldn’t imagine how many people would be drooling for him if a reporter was to capture an image of him.”

 “Just look at that blazer on him! Doesn’t that really do something for body, wow.”

Tim admits it, that Kon did look fantastic in his dark blue dress shirt and black pants. He even told said that in front of them and all they did was giggle and beam, like delighted little children. Kon had also made a comment about his appearance and they suddenly looked like they were going to pop.

“So you complaining about having dinner with me then? You rather be here with Cassie?” Tim teases with a smile.

Kon blushes and looks away, “No dude that’s not – I didn’t mean it like that! You know what I mean.”

“Kon relax, of course I do but we’re here for a mission and not actually on a date. I think this is part of their ever going secret that they’ve got between them.”

“Most likely. I wonder when it’ll end because this is seriously getting annoying now. It’s what the third week of them acting weird and teaming up against us? Not that I completely mind because I love spending time with you but it’s just forced.”

Tim makes a humming sound, his focus once again on the targets as the waiter arrives with their food. After a moment he walks away and they continue as before.

He turns back to Kon, “Once this mission is over we’ll have a proper chat with them and actually get down to the bottom of their behaviour.”

Kon blinks at him for a moment before nodding, “Yeah okay. We may as well enjoy this why we can huh?” He smiles at Tim, one of his boyish, innocent smiles that gets to him every time he sees it.

“Yeah…” Tim mumbles out eventually unable to look away from Kon.

It turns out that they never got the chance to talk to Cassie or Bart about their behaviour as everything accidently comes out into the open when they walk in on Tim and Kon making out on the couch in the media room.

Tim really didn’t mean for it to happen, he just got so lost in Kon that everything else around them faded into the background like it didn’t exist. He wasn’t a fan of PDA so having his friends walk in on them was just downright awful.

He and Kon had been watching a movie together, spending some nice time alone since it was only them in the tower at the time (or so they thought). About halfway through, a gentle cuddle turned into smoothing touches, which then turned into groping, which then transformed into making out and then that continued with Tim climbing onto Kon’s lap, running his hands all over the half Kryptonian’s hair and face as they heavily kissed and their hips grinding against one another’s.

That's when their friends walked in on them and Tim mentally thanks god that at least they still had clothes on. Everyone freezes as they stare at one another. Several long beats go by before Cassie is suddenly yelling.

“WHAT! After all this time you guys finally get together and didn’t tell us! When did this happen?”

Tim winces and glances at Bart who was vibrating on the spot until he wasn’t. His figure flickers and Tim just knew that he had done a million laps around the room before exclaiming. “Yes my dudes! It’s about time we have been trying to get you together for weeks and now it’s finally happened!”

He shoots Bart a bewildered look before looking at Kon. The meta shrugs at him, clearly having no idea what that meant. Tim finally gets off of Kon’s lap, subtly adjusts his pants, and sits back down on the couch looking at their friends.

“What do you mean Bart?” He asks.

“Well you know, we noticed the tension between the two of you, we knew how much you liked one another and we wanted you guys to finally get together. We tried different methods of getting you together but none of them worked so finding you like this is a surprise.”

That’s when it suddenly clicks. The entire time he and Cassie had been acting weird was because they were trying to get them together. “Spin the bottle, you wanted me and Kon to kiss to see if that would make us confess. Locking us in a room together with a bed, a typical cliché trope. Then the dinner which was kinda a date and hinting how good we looked to one another.”

Next to him Kon laughs, “Seriously, this entire time that’s what you were doing? Come on guys, really? You must have known, you didn’t need to try and get us together.”

“Known what?” Cassie demands crossing her arms angrily.

“Tim and I have been dating for about three months now. We got together that time after we fought those aliens things and got covered in that slime. We were in the showers and one thing lead to another and here we are. Surely you guys knew, we certainly told you.”

Cassie and Bart’s gaping faces made the last few weeks totally worth it, Tim takes his phone out and gets a picture, that’s blackmail for life.

[queerbutstillhere]

Hiya!! Wow u still doing amazing prompts? How about a soulmate AU for Jondami? Where Kyptonians feel a "click" once they meet their soulmate and that even if they date someone else they can feel as much love that the feel for their mate.

(Hi! Sorry it took this long! I hope you get to see this! And I hope it is good!)

When he was young, his dad explained it to him. Told him how they, as Kryptonian's would often have "soulmates". Said he wasn't sure if Jon would experience this, since he was only half kryptonian, but it was best to just be prepared.

He explained how there was this click. Why everything seemed off and disfunctional, how it felt like everything was just shifted to the left a bit. Why Jon felt odd, like the world was buzzing at such a low decible that he could just barely hear it. And he told Jon that this may stop one day, or he would just stop noticing it.

It was this way because of their soulmates. And once he met his soulmate, things would just click. Everything would be normal and right again. He would feel the shift. So he needed to pay attention if that happened, watch who he had been with. Clark explained that he could still fall in love with people other then his soulmate, Clark had done it so many times before he met Lois, but it would never quite be as perfect as it would be with his soulmate.

Jon took this very seriously, and from that day as a young child, to an eleven year old when he felt it, he paid great attention to all his interactions.

And then he met Robin.

And his world shifted back into focus.

His meeting with Robin hadn't been fantastic, they had tried to kill each other, multiple times. But Jon couldn't ignore the fact that the first time he touched Robin, he physically felt this snap inside him. A Click. In fact it startled him so much that Robin got the upperhand and would have seriously hurt Jon, had Bruce not stepped in right at that moment.

Jon had been shaken up for days after, and refused to tell his parents why. So they chose to believe Robin had done something to their precious child. And they were furious. But he needed to tell someone, and when his older (yet younger?) brother popped in for his monthly visit, he managed to drag Kon outside.

"Hey, kiddo, what's wrong? You're looking a little green. Been exposed to any kryptonite recently?"

Jon shook his head. He did feel a little sick. They were sat on the roof of the barn, staring out over the cow pastures.

"Jon?" Conner asked, joking tone dropped, now just concerned. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Do you need to go to a doctor? I can take you to dad if you don't want Clark and Lois to know?"

"No! I'm not... I'm not sick. And why is Lex a better option then Dad?!"

"He does care what I do? Also I thought you liked Lex."

Jon didn't respond, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"Kon, did dad explain the soulmates thing to you?"

"Sure did. Why- oh my God, did you? Who is it?! Did you tell them?!"

"Shh!" Jon hissed, glaring at his brother.

Kon immediately sobered, reaching out to wrap an arm around Jon.

"Who is it, Jon? What's the matter?"

"It's... Robin."

Conner blinked at him a few times in confusion.

"The... The demon spawn? Tim's little brother?"

Jon nodded a couple times, pushing his face into his knees.

"... Wow. Okay. That's. Yikes. Didn't he try to kill you?"

Another nod.

Kon gently rubbed his back. "Well. It's okay, Jon. You don't... You're only eleven, you don't have to do anything about it. Maybe- maybe it's best not to tell anyone else? Clark and Lois might-" Kon cut off with a small sigh.

Jon just groaned and pressed his face harder against his legs.

"It's okay," was Kon's comforting mantra as he hugged his small brother for a moment.

And it was.

In the end, Jon practically forgot about it. He grew up, was Damian's partner, became his best friend, hung out with him all through highschool. He almost forgot about the soulmate thing. Except sometimes he'd notice how much sharper his world was when he was with Damian, or how much happier he was around him.

But he fell in love in highschool, had his heart dramatically broken when his girlfriend cheated on him, even spent a whole evening bemoaning his sad life to Damian as they ate vegan ice cream on the roof of the barn, wrapped in fluffy blankets.

He thought he maybe fell for Damian, his senior year of highschool, but Damian was off, traveling abroad, so it was easy to forget, and then he spent his summer after working and barely saw him. And then Jon was off to college, barely saw any of his friends, let alone his best friend who lived in another country at this point, stopped superheroing, just focused solely on college.

It wasn't until his senior year of college that he realized his world had fallen back into disarray, that things were off again.

It wasn't until senior year that he remembered Damian was his soulmate.

He sent Damian a simple text.

-Hey, next time you're in the states, we should hang out. I know it's been a while, but I'd love to catch up!

Two days later, he got a response.

~Hello! Sorry for not responding sooner. I am currently in Gotham, actually, would you like to meet up this weekend?

Well that was easier than anticipated.

-Yeah! Sure, I can come down there if you want? Does Sunday work?

~Yes. You can come for lunch if you wish. It shall be at noon.

-I'll be there :)

So Sunday Jon showered and flew to Gotham, wearing fairly nice clothes. As nice as it got for a college student with an unpaid internship. Okay so it was pretty nice clothes BECAUSE of his internship. He didn't fly much these days, but it wasn't like he forgot how to. He just headed to Gotham and plopped himself on the front step of the manor, taking a moment to sort himself, straighten out the wildly tangled hair, smooth down his burgandy sweater and fix the cuffs of the button down he had on underneath it. And then he rang the doorbell.

It was only a brief wait, and then the door swung open to reveal one of many black haired blue eyed brothers of Damian's. Jon's memory immediately kicked in and reminded him the buff one with the white streak was Jason.

"Hi, Jason!" He said with a grin.

Jason, who had scruff and bags under his eyes and smelled like cigarettes, grunted.

"Welcome back, kid. It's been a while since you've been around."

Jon smiled and shrugged. "Well, I've been busy with school and all that."

Jason shrugged in return and opened the door, letting Jon in

"Do I still need to take my shoes off?" Jon asked, pointing at the pile by the door.

Jason looked at it, then at Jon. "To save the old man's back, we'll say yes. I don't even know anymore."

Jon raised an eyebrow and took off his dress shoes, following Jason further into the house.

"I think Damian's in the kitchen with Alfie."

"Okay. Thanks Jason!"

"Uh-huh."

Jon headed into the kitchen and did indeed find Damian, sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he helped Alfred cook. He looked up as he heard the door open, and his eyes widened slightly. Jon felt the same thing happen to him. Because man had Damian grown up. Of course Jon had seen his social media and seen this, but it was completely different to see him in real life, just a few feet away. He was wearing a green sweater, and black slacks, black dress socks on his feet. His olive skin was dark, darker then Damian had ever been while living in Gotham. His black hair was short on the sides and back, and still the same long, fluffy top.

"Jonathan, hello!" Alfred said cheerfully, the elderly man smiled at him.

"Hey, Alfred."

Damian seemed to snap out of his daze, glancing down at the food he was stirring then back up to Jon.

"Hello," he said with a smile. He set down his spoon and washed his hands quickly.

"Hi."

Damian stepped closer. "Has it been too long to get a hug?"

Jon chuckled and stepped into him, wrapping his arms around Damian and hugging him tightly. Damian's arms slipped around his waist and returned it, his chin on Jon's shoulder.

And there it was again. The click. The settling of his universe. The reminder that things were okay and good and right.

"It's good to see you," Damian murmured gently, his eyes closed.

Jon hummed gently. "Yeah. It's been a while."

He didn't want to let go. He felt safe hugging Damian. He felt warm and happy.

Damian started to pull back so he let go and watched Damian head back and return to stirring his food.

"So watcha cooking?"

"Sauteing asparagus, lunch is almost ready. Grandfather, could you go get the others and then get them seated in the dining room?"

"Sure, my boy," Alfred said with a smile and then headed out, walking a little slower then Jon last remembered.

Damian watched him leave, eyes full of concern. Jon was too busy reeling in the fact that his ears weren't buzzing anymore and that things didn't feel slightly blurry.

"He's not moving as good as he used too," Damian commented softly, and then shook his head a bit.

"Anyway. How are you? How is college?" Damian asked, smiling.

"College is good. Was good. I'm almost done now. I've got an internship at an architectural firm."

"Oh. Nice. You were going for interior design, right? Or was it architecture?"

"Architecture."

"That makes sense...."

Jon chuckled, looking around the kitchen which was still the same.

"So you finally gave up on the glasses?"

"What? Oh yeah. I don't do a lot of superboy stuff anymore so no one really recognized me as him... I plan to change my uniform and add a mask here soon though."

"That's smart."

"Do you, um? Do you still do vigilante stuff?"

"Oh, in Europe? Some, but you'd be surprised at the lack of supervillains over there. But yes, I do some over there."

Jon nodded. "That makes sense."

"Can you grab that pan for me?" Damian pointed at a casserole dish.

"Sure!"

Jon grabbed it and followed him out to the dining room. The rest of the family was there, getting seated, fussing over Alfred. Jon ended up following Damian back into the kitchen and helped him carry out a few more dishes that all looked expertly cooked and foreign. And then they sat down and ate. Dinner was great, the Wayne family had fun catching up with Jon. And then after, Jon and Damian went for a walk around the Manor, enjoying the nice spring weather.

Jon knew he needed to tell Damian but he didn't know how. They just walked and lightly chatted and caught up. Finally they reached the gardens and Jon reached out grabbed Damian's hand, pulling him to sit on a bench.

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay? What's wrong?" Damian asked, concern filling his face.

Damian showed emotions so much more freely know. Jon had known him for over 10 years now, so this was kinda surprising.

"There's this. . . " He sighed.

Then he stood and started pacing.

"Kryptonian's have this thing. . . They have soulmates," he started explaining, not looking at Damian. "We can feel when we meet our soulmates, it's like this click when we first touch them and-"

"Oh," Damian said. "Interesting. Is there any changes after?"

"After? After the click? Yeah, before, things feel off and for me there's like this buzzing noise. After things just felt more clear and like the world is more focused."

"Interesting."

"Damian. Damian there's a reason I'm telling you this," Jon said, turning to him.

"Why-"

"Because the first time I touched you thirteen years ago, I felt that click."

Damian blinked.

"And when I hugged you again today, I felt the click again."

"Oh," Damian said softly.

"Yeah.... I'm sorry for throwing this on you, but I had to tell you. And we can still fall in love, outside of our soulmate, but things will always feel off."

Damian wasn't responding, just nodding slightly. Jon went silent, crossing his muscular arms and watching him cautiously.

"Well."

Jon sighed. "I'm sorry. Should I go? I should go. I'll let you think about it-"

"Jon, wait!" Damian exclaimed, standing.

Jon had already been flying, so he stopped, blinking.

"Thank you, for telling me. And especially thank you for not telling me earlier, when we were younger. I would not have known how to take it and I undoubtedly would have run away from you."

Jon smiled softly, touching back down to the ground.

"And I'm sorry, for being a horrible friend back then."

"It's okay, Damian. You weren't as bad as you seem to think."

Damian just shook his head slightly. He stepped forwards and hugged Jon again.

"Give me a little time to process this, okay? I'm not going to run away."

"Okay."

Jon smiled to himself as he hugged Damian for a minute, as he felt that warmth and safety.

And then he stepped back. "It was good to see you, Damian."

"You too, Jon."

They waved to each other and then Jon took off up into the air, heading back home.

A few days later he got another text from Damian.

~ I think I'm going to be in the states for a while.

- Yeah? That's cool! I'm sure your family will be happy to hear that.

~ yes. They were.

~ Would you like to get dinner sometime? So we can talk.

- That would be amazing.

~ Thursday?

- Sure, around seven? I can come down there if we push it to 7:30.

~ No, I'll come to you, so seven is fine. Send me your address and I'll pick you up. Dress nicely, business casual.

- Okay, I'll see you then :)

Three weeks later, they were dating.

Send me prompts!

[atinytokki]

Across the Night

iv. The Monarch Embarks 

Kon was every bit the bustling harbour town Seonghwa imagined it to be.

Mr. Hwang was dragging his trunk up the dock for him as he glanced around, doe-eyed, at all the sights of the town.

“Dread Pirate Eden still roaming free!” A young man suddenly appeared, yelling at the top of his lungs with no qualms about personal space. “Navy increases reward incentive!”

He waved a news bulletin in Seonghwa’s face, but backed off when he stumbled away, hurrying after Mr. Hwang and inquiring about the headline.

“You haven’t heard of Eden?” The man snorted, handing off some barrels to the sailors who were loading the boat. “He’s only the most infamous pirate still in business.”

Hwang motioned to the many posters with a crudely drawn illustration plastered all over the walls of buildings in every corner of the city. The man pictured looked unassuming for a pirate, but angry red script demanding his capture warned otherwise, and Seonghwa shivered before passing off his bag.

It seemed that even pirates were unlike his childhood fantasy tales made them out to be.

Just as he made ready to board the Monarch, the beautifully careened vessel he’d be living on for their supply delivery, a familiar voice broke through the noise of the harbour and stopped him in his tracks.

“Seonghwa! Wait!”

It sounded like a female voice.

Eyes widening, Seonghwa turned and ran back down the gangplank to meet the approaching woman in a hug.

It was Chaeyoung.

“How did you get here?” He laughed, impressed that she had come all the way down the river just to see him off.

“I told the driver to hurry, because my best friend is not allowed to leave without saying goodbye,” she shot back, punching him lightly in the shoulder and laughing when he pouted and rubbed the spot.

It still hurt, and more than it did when they played around as children.

“Chaeyoung, I don’t know what I’ll do without you,” Seonghwa confessed, sobering as he could sense the time of departure was nearing.

Nodding, she bit her lip and lowered her head, eyes coming to rest on the whistle around her neck.

“You know my father spends many days at sea,” she reminded him before pulling off the necklace and holding it up for him to see. “This is a boatswain’s whistle he gave me as a present. Except I’d like to give it to you... as a goodbye.”

Seonghwa’s eyes filled with tears instantly. “Chaeyoung, I can’t take this—”

“I insist!” She cut him off, placing the whistle in his palm and folding his hands over it. “You’ll get more use out of it than I will.”

“I want to see you again,” Seonghwa told her thickly, struggling through the newly formed ball in his throat.

“I hope one day you will,” Chaeyoung smiled at him sweetly, her face like the light of the moon. “But I think you’ve got a lot of exploring to do first. I’ve found my calling, and so has Donghyun. Now it’s your turn.”

Out of words to say, Seonghwa pulled her into a tight hug, grinning slightly at the fact that he finally had a few inches on her, and put the necklace on with finality.

“Say goodbye to Chan for me,” he sighed as they parted, Chaeyoung lifting her skirts to step into the carriage. “Safe travels!”

“Safe travels to you as well!” She called back, waving through the window and growing smaller as the driver urged the horses up the hill and back towards Doljeon.

Seonghwa wondered if he’d ever see her again.

“All aboard the Monarch! Weighing anchor in five minutes!”

Jolted out of his reverie, Seonghwa hurried up the gangplank and looked around the ship for Mr. Hwang.

Not seeing him anywhere on the main level, Seonghwa was about to climb the stairs to the quarterdeck and ask the man at the wheel, presumably the captain, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and spun him around.

“Any man who is not an officer may only stand on the quarterdeck when summoned,” the intimidating sailor told him gruffly, and stuttering apologetically, Seonghwa backed away.

Just when he thought he was safe and had avoided any more embarrassment, his backwards step caused his foot to get caught in a loop of rope and bring him crashing down.

The sailors who watched him stumble all over their rigging merely snickered as he tried to untangle himself hurriedly.

“Need a hand?” Mr. Hwang finally appeared and helped the poor boy up, brushing him off and escorting him belowdecks.

“We’ll be underway any minute now,” he explained as he helped Seonghwa secure his hammock. “I’m sure you aren’t used to sharing your space, but the Monarch is made to carry cargo, not people, and all the lower ranks bunk together. My hammock will be over here if you need me.”

Seonghwa followed the man’s gesture with his eyes and nodded in acknowledgement before setting his personal bag on his hammock. There were a few odds and ends he’d brought from home to make the space feel familiar, since Mother had warned him there wouldn’t be much more than a ratty blanket on offer. The faceless pirate he’d saved from his childhood toys peeked back at him.

“This is your first time on a ship, isn’t it?” Hwang observed knowingly from the doorway.

Seonghwa sighed and affirmed it. As much as he’d dreamed about the sea during his lazy afternoons, he’d never actually laid eyes on it. And whether that would become a problem or not was unclear as of yet.

“Well, you’ll probably want to see the action then,” the older man concluded, beckoning Seonghwa back onto the main deck with him where they stood out of the way and watched the sailors make ready to leave port.

“Man the capstan!” The man from before on the quarterdeck was yelling. “Hands aloft to loose the mainsails!”

The rest of the men seemed to know what those commands meant and snapped to, some of them bringing up the anchor by the strength of their backs, and others climbing the rigging with agile ease and unfurling sails to catch the wind.

The Monarch began to move, and Seonghwa looked out over the railing as Kon began to grow smaller. It was entrancing, unlike the slow meandering carriage that had brought him there, how quickly the wind caught the sails and bore them away, like the three hundred pound sloop was weightless.

“Boom about!”

The loud yell startled Seonghwa, and he turned around just in time to see the beam underneath the mainsail swinging at full speed in his direction.

Mr. Hwang’s hand on his arm tightened and yanked him out of way, both of them continuing to duck while Seonghwa willed his heart rate to return to normal.

“Keep your eye on that thing, it can sweep you right overboard,” Hwang cautioned. “In fact, I think you’d better stay close to me, today and for your entire apprenticeship. You’ll need to learn not just the art of the cooper, but how to survive at sea. I’ll reckon it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.”

Seonghwa swallowed nervously and nodded again, rubbing his head where the boom had almost smacked him, and hesitantly got to his feet.

A few sailors who had witnessed the whole thing were chuckling at him and his face went cherry red.

Thinking to hide away downstairs and escape yet again, Seonghwa turned back towards the hatch that led belowdecks, only to have Hwang take him by the arm again and drag him over to the stairs to the quarterdeck.

“Permission to speak with the captain?” The cooper requested formally and the burly man guarding the staircase allowed the two of them to pass.

“Good morning, Captain Bae,” Mr. Hwang greeted, nudging Seonghwa forward to be introduced. “I thought you’d like to meet the newest member of our crew, my apprentice and our cook.”

“You say you found someone to cook for us?” The captain hummed without looking up from where he studied some maps.

“Yessir,” Mr. Hwang repeated a little bit louder. “Here he is, Park Seonghwa.”

Finally the man glanced up at the pair through his wiry spectacles and reached out a hand politely.

Seonghwa shook it carefully, minding the captain’s ink stained sleeve cuffs, and peeked down at the chart he appeared to be marking.

“Well that is good news,” Captain Bae chuckled as he returned to his work. “I’m sure Hwang here told you, but old man Tak Moon has been doing the cooking the past couple of years after the previous chef was shot full of lead by pirates in the Somhae pass. You’ll want to get to know him.”

Seonghwa opened his mouth and closed it again as the words hit him full force. “After he was— pardon me, after what?”

Captain Bae laughed and slapped him on the back, inevitably leaving behind an ink trace while Seonghwa squirmed. “Nothing to be afraid of. The Navy cleared the archipelago of nearly all pirates infesting our trade routes. At any rate, they’re on the decline and we have full cargo and smooth sailing ahead of us. Say, Namgoong, did our textiles client happen to send a message along with his shipment last night?”

With the captain once again distracted and conversing with the man who guarded the quarterdeck, Seonghwa took that as his opportunity to nudge Mr. Hwang back down to the main deck to follow their orders and find this old man Tak.

The way the deck rolled underneath them was making Seonghwa dizzy, but he stiffened and struggled through back to the hatch where Hwang led him to the galley.

Pausing with his hand just above the doorknob, he turned back and flashed a halfhearted smile. “Don’t let him startle you, he likes picking on greenies.”

Seonghwa had no time to question what that meant before the door was swung open and he was greeted with a very sharp smell.

A bearded old sailor sat on the floor against a black wall, sorting through piles of cheese very studiously despite being surrounded by food of every other kind.

The galley was... unorganised to say the least.

“Who’s this? The sorry lad you found to replace me?”

Seonghwa’s polite smile faded and the sight of it made the old man cackle.

“He’s a much better cook than you are, Tak,” Mr. Hwang joked back. “But you and I both know this was a only temporary job anyway, you belong above decks.”

As he inspected the piles of food stored away, Seonghwa realised that Mr. Tak apparently only knew how to make soup. And from the looks of things, the kitchen had been on fire at least once.

“I’ll leave you to breakfast then,” Hwang concluded with a hardy slap to both their backs and headed for the door.

“Do you have any fresh fruit?” Seonghwa asked the old man hesitantly, and in response he got a mouse trap shoved in his face.

“Can’t you see I’m busy with the rats? Fresh fruit — wait until you’re stuck weeks out of the colonies with no supplies because of a tax kerfuffle! Then you’ll be wishing for fresh fruit!”

Suppressing a sigh, Seonghwa resolved to search on his own and left Tak to his tinkering. It was calming, to do something he was familiar with for once and let Mr. Hwang serve the morning meal to the crew so he didn’t have to show his face on deck again. Breakfast could have been better, but he wagered it was an improvement on whatever they’d been eating previously as he wrinkled his nose and threw himself into planning the next meal.

The entire day was consumed with cooking and planning and familiarising himself with the galley. Tak stayed out of his way for the most part, and by late evening Seonghwa was tired enough to seek refuge in his hammock, mind racing throughout the night with ideas for the rest of the week.

But of course, while he stirred his dumplings three days out, tragedy struck in the form of seasickness.

He had been feeling uncomfortable all morning, with the humid and confined space, the boat rushing upwind, the smell of the food and swirling vertigo all becoming too much to handle.

Seonghwa shouted out something about being nauseous and Tak was there to guide him upstairs to the rail of the main deck.

“Vomit to leeward!” He cautioned gruffly, steering his young charge downwind by the neck and letting him heave into the ocean waves.

Seonghwa slumped to the deck at some point, exhausted and still considerably dizzy, and let Tak drag him below again when he was sure he was done.

“I may just be an old salt, but you’re no mariner, boy,” the man clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “You’re, what, sixteen and have never been at sea?”

“He’s just the cook, there’s no reason for him to have prior knowledge about sailing,” Mr. Hwang’s voice explained from somewhere and when the room stopped spinning, Seonghwa realised they were in the hold where the bunks where. “What did you do to him, Tak Moon?”

“It wasn’t me, he’s green at the gills like I warned you he would be,” Tak defended himself in that sassy tone of voice he always used. “Now, if you’ll let me go make the landlubber some ginger tea, you can be the one to tuck him in bed.”

Seonghwa didn’t think his stomach could handle anything at all right now, but just as he bit his lip to keep from whining, the cooper crossed in front of him and blocked his route to bed.

“Hang on, let’s switch your hammock around. Fore-to-aft so you don’t feel the pitch of the ship as harshly. It’ll pass when the waters are calmer for sure, but I don’t want to eat Tak’s food for dinner tonight, so the sooner you’re on your feet again, the better.”

It was supposed to be funny but Seonghwa was too fatigued to even crack a smile and so he collapsed in his bed, swinging much less violently than it was before Hwang moved it, and squeezed his eyes shut.

Time passed unnaturally quickly, because when he opened them again, the teacup sitting next to him had grown cold and night had fallen.

Closing his eyes for a time had improved his condition considerably, but the presence of so many men snoring in their hammocks made Seonghwa slightly claustrophobic again, so he took his tea and tiptoed to the kitchen, warming it over the fire and drinking it quickly.

Glancing at the corner, he wrinkled his nose at the presence of rats caught in the traps, but noticed another stinky scent, not from the rodents or the accumulated cheese.

Following his nose took him to the lower decks, where the quartermaster Namgoong was consoling the agitated livestock.

In the past few days, Seonghwa had learned that the intimidating officer who guarded the quarterdeck was actually much more soft and compassionate on the inside than he had anticipated.

Though he maintained his gruff appearance with the crew, he had a special affection for the animals, even knowing they were likely to be slaughtered for meat when they reached their destination.

“They don’t like rough weather either,” Seonghwa observed quietly, and the other man turned his head in surprise, not expecting to see him.

“No, it makes them uneasy. Feeling better?”

The boy ducked his head as nervousness took over again but nodded while Namgoong was looking on.

“I think so...”

The sailor made a knowing sound and gave the cattle a final pat before turning to face him.

“Half of overcoming seasickness is mental. Just tell yourself you’re fine and you will be.”

“Right,” Seonghwa sighed. “It still won’t help save my life if I do fall overboard. I can’t swim well enough.”

“You don’t know how to swim?” Namgoong whispered back, shocked, before snorting and leading his charge back to the hold. “Well, that’s your first order of business when we reach our port of call, then. Off to bed now.”

Seonghwa didn’t put up a fight, ready to melt away his exhaustion again, and when he awoke the next morning, all his remedies seemed to have paid off.

The Monarch sailed smoothly for the rest of her short journey, and by the date their shipment was due they had docked on the archipelago and unloaded successfully.

While some of the more business-minded crew dealt with the sales and negotiations, Seonghwa found himself a free stretch of public beach on the island where they’d docked, Namhae, and under the ever watchful eye of Mr. Hwang, practiced his swimming.

He had appointed himself as a guardian (or else Mother had appointed him herself) and took it upon himself to teach the swimming lesson personally, showcasing various strokes and techniques and sternly warning Seonghwa against ever jumping overboard before realising the day had gone and going into town to find them an inn.

It was comfortable around Hwang. Seonghwa hesitated to think of him as a father figure, but couldn’t help but enjoy having him there. He taught him the kinds of things fathers usually taught their sons, and where Seonghwa’s mother had left off, he picked up smoothly and naturally.

Sometimes Seonghwa found himself wishing Mr. Hwang was his father, not the mysterious king who lived far away in the palace and wouldn’t even recognise him, but he stopped his thinking and rolled over in bed to face the wall.

The sea offered freedom, there was no reason to tether himself to someone when his focus should be the escape that seeing the world could offer.

The remainder of deliveries along the archipelago and the return trip were relatively uneventful, but their arrival at Kon found Seonghwa dressed and ready to go and embark on another voyage to some more distant place, nervously pacing at the door by the time Hwang appeared for breakfast, and the older man sat him down and chuckled at him before explaining, “We’ll be called back when we have another job and not a moment sooner. That’s just the nature of shore leave.”

Harvest was just around the corner, and the crew was permitted to celebrate with their families. It left the question of what Seonghwa ought to do when Hwang’s carriage came to bring him back to Doljeon, where his wife and daughters waited.

“Would you like us to drop you off at Lina’s?” Mr. Hwang yelled, sticking his head out the window and catching the gaze of a very anxious Seonghwa, standing on the dock with his things piled up awkwardly in his hands again.

“Yes, please!” He exclaimed, relieved, before loading up and sliding into a seat.

Fireworks were shooting off ahead, lighting up the sky in an explosively dazzling celebration while the town danced and sang, and the colours that streaked down were mesmerising.

Deep down, Seonghwa hoped it would bode well on his reunion with Mother.

He was wrong.

Seonghwa believed his first short sailing trip had already changed him, but from the moment he walked in the door only to be encased like a glass sculpture in her arms, he knew she didn’t see it that way.

“Still so fragile. I thought you would at least have more of a tan...” she sighed into his coat as she squeezed him in a hug.

“Mother, I will, it’s just that it’s only been a short trip, not to mention the weather.”

Mr. Hwang saw the storm clouds gathering between them and tipped his hat in farewell.

It quickly became apparent why Mother had allowed this arrangement in the first place. She hoped Seonghwa would not be up to the task after all, changing his mind and remaining in Doljeon with her once he’d tasted hardship. She thought life at sea would ultimately return him home, not separate him from her further.

It was a losing battle, but she fought and clawed hard over dinner while they stared each other down and didn’t touch the harvest feast Seonghwa had cooked in an angry blur.

Mother had no choice but to reveal her true intentions when he had deflected every concern expertly and the frankness of it all was nauseating.

“No, I’m sorry, but I don’t think sailing is right for you. I mean, what if you fall overboard? You can’t even swim.”

“But Mr. Hwang actually taught me while we were in Namhae—”

“Then there’s the matter of your pay, it’s quite low,” Mother shot back. “Are you not working enough to match their expectations? I’m sorry, this is all my fault to have left you incapable—”

“Mother, that’s enough!” Seonghwa finally snapped, standing from the table and throwing down his napkin. “How can you expect me to be thriving when you’ve given me so little time? I haven’t even started helping with the cooper business yet, can’t you wait for the revenue to come in before making your judgment?”

“Seonghwa, dear—”

“No!” He burst out in a scream that shook the windows. “I’ve had enough! I am not weak and helpless, I’m learning and discovering myself. You already destroyed my life when you stole me, you have no right to meddle in it now. If you won’t give me a say in my own future, just stay away from me!”

Shocked to be scorned so completely, Mother didn’t even move from her chair as Seonghwa ran from the house in tears.

He had never been sure of what he wanted, but at the moment he knew without question that he wanted to be away from her.

It had all just been another plot to manipulate him into self-doubt and self-hatred, to persuade him to choose to remain in her control, when in reality it had backfired to disastrous proportions.

Seonghwa had somewhere to go now, for however long he could.

He wouldn’t see that woman again.

...

A/N: The future is taking shape! Like the double meaning of the chapter title? Let me know what you thought in the comments and have a good week :)

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[gooddadstan]

The first story in my Batman Bingo 2020 writing! For the card above, Red is completed, and blue is requested. Another huge thanks to @batmanbingo2020 for making it! Feel free to ask for a prompt!

 1.Sleep Deprivation 

Arkham breakouts were bad. Rogue level breakouts were really bad. Gotham knew it, the bats knew it, even the Justice League knew it, if just from the strict instructions to not call on any bat within three days of returning all escapees to their cells. With a necessary exception of world ending circumstances, no matter how much everyone hated it. 

Unfortunately, these were world ending circumstances. 

According to the clock on the Batcomputer, it hadn’t even been an hour since they started the Do Not Call countdown in the Watchtower’s systems. Far too early for the emergency transmission to send alarms blaring through every bat-associated device the house.

Clicking the button for the video call to patch through, they’re met with a disheveled looking Flash with a grim expression on his face, no other leaguers in sight. 

“What.” The growl had been forming during the small loading period, but the Flash didn’t waver in his stance. 

When he speaks just a second later, it’s sped up as much as he trusts the bats to understand. “Batman, the League needs your help. Send all available backup, you’ll meet Justice League Dark at the site..” He rattles off a set of coordinates and is gone again, the trail of his image heading off in the direction of the Zetas. 

Batman scans over his children, the wounds both new and days old being nursed in the medbay and the bodies flopped onto any surface they deemed comfortable enough to sleep on. More than half of them were just lying down on the floor, which, okay, but they’re children of a billionaire, they’re supposed to have standards. Apparently these standards don’t involve not sleeping on the floor in full vigilante gear. 

Tim, looking up from his designated spot on the next chair over, makes very pointed eye contact with Bruce. A simple nod is all that meets him. Already mourning the loss of a relaxing afternoon filled with cartoons, sleep, and lots of food, he pulls up the League’s initial reports on the issue. The burning behind his eyes was a later Tim problem. There’s not much there, but he sets to work as Bruce rises to call the others to action. 

~^~^~

Maybe Dick going on this world-saving escapade was a bad idea. Yeah, he kicked some ass, and yeah, he was the one to actually get his hands on the device that let the world-enders of the week wreak their havoc, but he kinda feels like his legs are going to drop out from under him and it may or may not have been four days since he last slept. Sue him, it was a rogue-level Arkham breakout. Measures had to be taken. Caffeine pill measures. 

And if those measures ended up with him more spaced out than present during the after-victory conversation with the Titans, well, it’s not like he hasn’t done worse to himself in the past. 

And no, bad Dick, that’s neither a healthy nor productive way of thinking. He forces himself to focus back in on what Wally was saying, only to see that the entire circle he was in was looking at him with various concerned expressions. Wally had placed a hand on his shoulder. Huh. Dick didn’t remember that happening. 

“Dude, are you okay? We’ve been calling your name for at least a minute and a half.” He doesn’t even bother hiding the concern in his voice, which, fine, it is Wally, but Dick’s torn between wanting to yell at him for putting himself in unnecessary danger during the fight, and just wanting to go eat enough carbs to kill an elephant. “How long have you even been awake?” Oh, he must have given up on reality for another second there, because Wally decided it was time to talk again. This time, Dick was pretty sure he was collected within himself enough to answer. Maybe. 

Pulling one hand up to rub at his face and almost, almost hitting his own nose in the process, Dick finally opens his mouth. “Since the breakout started. So… a hundred n’ twenty-six hours? Somethin’ like that.” 

Wally closes his eyes extremely pointedly, and opens them to make direct eye contact with both hands on Dick’s shoulders. “Dick. You are going to go home, and you are going to sleep. Do you need someone to be there for you?” The caring is familiar, but it still sends warmth through his chest after all these years.  

“Yeah. To the manor?” 

“To the manor.” In less than a second, Wally’s arms are around him in a familiar hold, and he’s being hoisted up into the air. By the time Wally sets him down on his bed in the manor, he’s asleep. 

~^~^~

“Tim.” Kon takes one look at Tim after they finish the battle, and immediately goes from grinning manically as he punches villains into the ground to hovering in front of Tim and calling Cassie and Bart. 

“Yes, Kon?” He ignores the fact that he can feel the concern and disappointment in Kon’s gaze, and focuses on the wrist computer projection of the rapidly lowering energy readings in the area. 

“Tim.” And oh, this was going to be an Actual Conversation now. Tim looks up from his projection, unsurprised that Cassie and Bart are both already there. When Kon’s satisfied by the level of eye contact, he speaks again. “Tim, did you sleep at all during that breakout?” 

Tim spends less than a second debating with himself before shrugging. “I got knocked out at one point. Killer Croc doesn’t exactly pull his punches.” Watching the looks going his way grow slightly darker wasn’t foreign, at this point, but the curl of uncomfortability in his gut could probably be blamed on exhaustion at this point. 

“Tim. Buddy. That started four days ago. Were you checked for a concussion?” It’s Bart that speaks this time, having appeared behind Tim’s back to place one hand down and try to guide him towards some rubble that looks vaguely chair-height. Tim doesn’t move. 

A small sigh escaping his lips, Tim shakes his head and stands his ground. “Yes, it did start four days ago, and no, I’m not concussed. World ending circumstances override our protocol. I’m fine.” 

Tim’s pretty sure if any of Young Justice had a say in it, he’d be at home asleep already, because even he could admit (to himself) that maybe he’s not entirely fine. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for Tim, he thinks, Tim is technically their leader so they can’t kick him out. Probably. He notes to check if they can kick him out for lack of self care and moves on. 

The next thing he knows, he’s yelping and scrambling for handholds as the ground disappears beneath him. “What the shit, Kon?” From his awkward half-dangling place, he can see Cassie fly up to meet them, Bart in her arms. 

He’s shifted to a slightly more secure hold, but it’s painfully clear that if he makes a move to leave Kon’s arms or if Kon drops him, he would be in for a decidedly Not Fun Time. So they’re trying to coerce him. Threaten him? Maybe both. 

“Dude, you’re even glitching. Take a nap or something.” Bart shouts at him from maybe five feet away, which is unnecessary, but Tim appreciates the effort to account for possible wind. If only there was any more than none. 

“Seriously, you’re spacey and clearly exhausted. You didn’t note anything from those readings until the third rotation, you’re not exactly keeping up with the field work. I could even take you over to the farm or your apartment or something if you don’t want to go back to the cave. But find somewhere to go pass out.” And okay, fine, Kon might be right about the readings. But he can’t just leave- 

“Nobody’ll fault you for leaving dude.” Tim immediately curses Bart and his uncanny ability to understand Tim’s anxieties. 

“And if anyone does, then we’ll make sure to have a little chat.” He can almost hear the sound of Cassie’s fist hitting her palm, and as much as he wants to accept… 

“Thanks guys, really, but I need to keep up on my own responsibilities.” His tone his regretful, and he really can’t leave the rest of his family without warning. 

“Tim, you’re our responsibility, so go home and take a nap.” And Kon is not allowed to make sense when Tim’s this tired anymore. But, ever the adamant one, Tim opens his mouth to speak again. “I-“ 

“Tim, go home.” It’s simultaneous, and manages to effectively shut Tim up.

Heaving one last exasperated sigh, Tim accepts. “Fine, just drop me off at the nearest Zeta.” 

Kon gets that manic grin on his face again, and Tim’s internal monologue consists entirely of ‘oh no’. “I can do you one better.” Tim is going to get murdered. “Gotham, here we come!” 

~^~^~

Bruce was still fighting as his GPS reported family leaving the area. He felt like his limbs were moving like slugs, his eyes were burning with every blink, and every little noise sent waves of rage through his very soul, but he was still fighting. The last of today’s havoc wreakers were still raring to go, and where evil stands, the Justice League rises to meet them. 

As one final punch sends his last opponent to the containment area, Bruce lets his shoulders slump. The past few days have been unbearably long, and he just wants to sleep for a week wherever he can find a horizontal surface. His kids might have the right idea about the floor, at this point. His wounds are throbbing, he can feel his mind succumbing to exhaustion, and he just wants to rest. For once. He should extend the protocol before the next breakout. 

Clark touches down next to him, and he immediately braces for a complaint about something, even though this is Clark, and he’s pretty sure Clark hasn’t complained about a thing in his life. Or maybe he just really needs to sleep. Despite all his training, it’s hard to tell. 

“Batman. I think it’s time you took a rest. You’ve had some long days.” There’s a kind pressing in his voice. 

Bruce suppresses a growl, though he’s sure Clark can hear what escapes from his throat. “I can continue.” 

“But you don’t need to. Batman, the kids you brought are already gone, you’re the only one here. Hood and Robin are home with broken bones, you’re needed there more than here.” He smiles, and lowers his voice. “Go home, Bruce, rest up. We’ll see you for the meeting next week.” He takes off, nothing but a gust of wind that aggravates the burning sensation in his eyes. 

An hour later, Bruce is pulling himself out of the Batmobile and shedding his suit. As he turns the corner to the main area of the cave, he’s met with his children, huddled together asleep and surrounded by blankets and pillows. A small smile creeps onto his face, the warmth of seeing each of his children here, safe, and soon to be better rested. He moves to go past them, move up to the master bedroom and get some rest himself. 

A hand catches at his wrist, pulling down. He glances to the source, and can’t help but worry when he’s met with Jason, eyes still closed and broken leg elevated on a stack of floor pillows. “Br’ce.” 

“Yeah, Jaylad?” The nickname wouldn’t fly most times, but his own exhaustion made it slip by. 

“Stay, w’ll you?” He tugs again, harder this time, and Bruce lets himself be pulled down to sit on his heels. Dick almost immediately shimmies over to throw himself over Bruce’s legs, and he supposes that’s that. He lightly lifts Dick to lay his legs down flat. Cass’ arm to pull his shoulders down onto the blanket nest isn’t unexpected, and it’s not a surprise when the rest of his children stir enough to drape themselves over one body part of his or another. 

As Alfred stands on the foot of the stairs, a dish towel drying his hands, he can’t help but smile. Maybe this way his wards would actually rest for once.

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #1

So about 2 years after finishing KoNS, I’m starting another “another RP”. This time it’s gon’ be some space adventures as we’ll be playing Wrath and Glory which is set in the Warhammer 40k universe. There will be guns, some cyborgs, maybe some aliens? We’ll see.

But first, let’s meet the player characters:

Cayenne Pepper (played by @fuzzybooks), a rogue trader of the Pepper dynasty, spice merchants. Being only the 75th cousin in line of the head of the family, she’s mostly safe from assassination attempts. Got herself a nifty little space ship called Santa Maria.

Gorm Oddmundson (@raddigested) is a Space Wolf scout. This little cub is far away from home and for some reason without his pack. He is looking for that good, good glory.

Gimlet (@xxyumeganxx) in an ex-inquisitonal acolyte. Having left the inquisition after some inside trouble he now is roped into looking after a newly awakened psyker Saef.

Saef (@arctic-urpo) was a ganger until his whole gang got wiped out of existence in an unfortunate event he doesn’t want to talk about. Now he is a psyker and has wanders the world with Gimlet as to stay out of trouble.

Then, onto the story!

Our party of heroes have arrived in the Adeptus Mechanicus controlled Forge World of Triplex Phall, located in the Eastern fringes of the Empire to meet with a tech priest.

The Pepper family wishes to strengthen their bonds with the Tech Cult, so they have agreed to take on some work for them to gain some favors.

Cayenne Pepper has been ordered to do this job, and has taken Saef and Gimlet, new hirings to the ships precisely for this with her.

Gorm is here because the Pepper family has ties to the Space Wolves, and Cayenne decided having one could be useful.

The tech priest is not currently in his room, so our heroes are told to wait, and wait they do.

Gorm introduces himself to everyone, and asks for everyone’s names and comments on Saef’s nice pants! 

He also asks why everyone is here on this mission: Cayenne’s answer is business, Saef is just following orders and Gimlet admits on being interested in the Mechanicus.

Gorm takes this moment to wax poetry about his home-world of Fenris. Aah, Fenris, its icy peaks and glaciers are beauty incarnate!

They talk among themselves about what to expect, the tech priest’s ad hadn’t been exactly specific.

Gimlet says he has heard there might be Inquisition agents on the planet they’re heading.

Gorm comments that he hasn’t much experience with Inquisitors as he has never met one and Gimlet says that he hasn’t either.

Gimlet talks about wanting to know history especially related to the AdMech. He also seems to be curious in this particular tech priest that has hired them.

Gorm asks if Gimlet is the writing type, as he is in need of a person to write down his glorious adventures!

Gimlet agrees. 

Cayenne tells about the galas that her family does, helping orphaned animals.

Gorm asks if there’s any pets on board her ship.

She says yes, some cats and dogs. There’s also an indoor park and a shark tank!

Gorm says he isn’t much of a cat person himself. Definitely more of a dog person.

Gorm takes this moment to relay the tale of his childhood, where he was thrown into the sea, swam to find a kraken who raised him. Hence why he is called the “Child of the Kraken”.

This lovely tale is barely finished when the tech priest arrives. Much like the rest of his kin, he is rather haphazardly put-together figure with several extra limbs and eyes.

He leads our heroes to his lair, a tower-like room filled with shelves and computer screens.

There’s also a cream-colored cat that jumps onto the priest’s shoulder.

The tech priest shakes Cayenne’s hand with the hand that still appears to have some skin left on it, even still it’s cold and unpleasant. 

He introduces himself as E-E \\ 821.

Now onto the mission at hand.

A four person group of Mechanicus has disappeared on a mission in the planet Styria R867, led by E-E \\ 821′s sergeant K303 2:82. The tech priest wishes them to be found.

The planet itself is a curious thing, it  is unreachable for hundreds of years at a time, because of a storm and only comes out of it for 10 years at a time. Even then it is incredibly hostile as far as living there goes, but it does host a small population of human settlers, who mostly do mining.

The Imperium presence on the planet is really sparse, there’s members of Ministorum on the planet but not much else.

There used to  be some kind of ancient civilization there, and the storm occasionally uncovers ruins. 

The Mechanicus went to the planet to survey the ruins to see if there’s a need for the Mechanicus to ready a bigger mission, and to possibly find the origin of the storm so that the Imperium could use it better.

There is a settlement of Hellhole, where the Mechanicus were last seen. A Sister of Battle resides there, and she could be useful informant.

If the Mechanicus are dead, a data disk must be retrieved  from the Sergeant’s body, that is the condition in which our heroes are paid for their services.

The tech priest is very fond of swerving questions by asking clarifying questions and then answering those instead of the first question, but our heroes still get a lot of information.

Cayenne asks for something to show the Mechanicus to show that our heroes are authorized by their commander. 

E-E \\ 821 gives her a badge of the Mechanicus symbol with some damage on it.

They leave. Gorm doesn’t take his eyes off the cat, because he is suspicious, and just before the doors’ to the lair close he sees the tech priest give the cat a little pat on the head with his mechanical claw hand.

Before getting too far, Gorm has one more thing that he wishes from the tech priest, so they return.

Gorm wishes to have something with the sergeant’s smell on it.

As the tech priest starts climbing up his tower to find something that fits the description, his cat decides to take this moment to jump down in front of Gorm.

Despite Gorm showing no inclination for playfulness, the cat seems to be ready to play.

Gorm asks someone to get rid of the cat before he loses it.

Gimlet swoops in and attempts to befriend the cat, but she gets scared, smacks him on the hand and finds safety on Gorm’s shoulders.

Luckily before Gorm wolfs out, the tech priest returns, gently swoops up the cat and places it back on his shoulders.

For Gorm, the tech priest hands out the sergeant’s undershirt.

Gorm and Gimlet make a hasty retreat before the cat can do anything else bad, while Cayenne and Saef stay to say proper goodbyes.

Gorm says bye from the other end of the hallway, and the tech priest opens up a speaker right next to him to bid him goodbye.

After leaving, they talk a bit in the hallway, Gorm comments on having difficulty with robot-people.

Cayenne says eye-contact is important and instructs him to pick an eye and stick to it.

Then it’s off to Styria R867! 

Cayenne has her servo-skull to give a tour of the ship to the other three.

Gorm takes Saef to the tax-free shop to pick out moomin mugs for themselves.

While there he comments that he has heard good things about Saef’s gang, and he wishes to be Saef’s gang friend.

Saef doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about this, but he mutters a “sure” and keeps on looking at the mugs.

Gorm asks if they should ask the other people to be in the gang as well, but Saef says he should take care of recruitment.

Then the last bit of business is deciding whether to be a violent or non-violent gang.

Saef says he’s alright as long as he gets to fight, which sounds pretty violent.

As Santa Maria has warp travel capabilities it doesn’t take our heroes long to get to Styria R867.

They get teleported on the surface of the planet little ways away from Hellhole. And immediately get attacked by three scorpions. (as one occasionally does)

Gimlet immediately gets face-full of poison from a stinger shot. Gorm rushes that scorpion and gets a hit in with his cool-ass chain-sword.

Gimlet retreats a bit and takes care of the poison before anything else.

One of the scorpions attacks Gorm, but can’t get through his armor.

Cayenne takes a shot with her plasma gun, absolutely annihilating the third remaining. Unfortunately her gun jams.

Saef takes this moment to show off his psyker powers, smiting one of the scorpions.

Gorm finishes one of the remaining ones and Gimlet shoots down the last into bits.

Gorm turns around and demands to know which one of our group is a psyker. 

Saef rises his hand and Gorm tells that he doesn’t appreciate magic.

I guess that’s it for their awesome little gang.

Cayenne gets a bunch of unhelpful comments about her weapon such as, try turning it on and off again (Gimlet) and smash it against a rock (Gorm).

She knows her way around a plasma weapon however, and cleans it up no problem.

There is no more incidents as our heroes reach the settlement of Hellhole. Situated against the mountain they are mining in, the settlement consists of houses made out of mis-matched metal plates. There’s an AdMech ship parked on the front.

A woman clad in the black-and-white armor of the Sisters of Battle comes to meet up with them and introduces herself as Portia Bailey.

Upon hearing our heroes want to discuss the missing mechs, she suggests they do so in her house (well, more of a shack).

Sister Portia is a bit of a rambler, veering off-topic quite often, but from what our heroes can gather, the Mechanicus went to a ruined castle on the other side of the mountain.

Sister Portia has been to the castle before, but it was filled with traps and generally unsafe, she tried to warn the Mechanicus of this as well, even saying she could come with, but the Mechanicus were rather secretive.

In fact only the sergeant (or as Sister Portia says, the weird horse-legged one) did talking, the rest communicated among themselves in sign language.

After the Mechanicus left and weren’t heard from again, Sister Portia went to check the castle and noticed that the ancient machines in the castle were powered up again and the giant doors to the castle were locked up tight.

Sister Portia knocked but no answer.

She surmises that maybe the Mechanicus just wanted a castle, but admits that she has no real proof they are still alive.

She suggests our heroes travel to the castle at night, as they are less likely to be attacked by beasts as the nights still get cold-ish around here.

Plus they could catch glimpses of movement in the castle.

Before leaving the Mechanicus’ ship is there, although locked.

Sister Portia says she’ll look the other way if our heroes want to take a look. Which they do.

Before they can get to the ship, they are stopped by two kids, Layla (11), who is really interested in big Space Marine man (Gorm lets her hold his chain-sword) and Laurel (8), who asks about the big ship in the space.

Their mother calls them away before they can waste too much of our heroes’ time.

Gorm breaks the lock on the Mechanicus ship, and our heroes take a look around.

Cayenne looks over the sergeant’s room, and finds a data pad where the captain’s logs are generally kept, but she can’t crack the code of it. She still takes it with.

Saef goes over the other people’s living areas and notes that they are bereft of any signs of living or personal belongings.

Gimlet takes the bridge, and extracts the black box of the ship, but he has no tools to listen to the recordings inside.

Gorm checks over the cargo bay, and notes that the Mechanicus, especially the Sergeant appear to be extremely well-armed.

He also finds a device for listening to black box recordings. So that’s what they do next.

They pick the latest recording; the only speaker appears to be the sergeant, who admits to some uncertainty about the situation, saying he hopes “that Eden is right”. His musing are interrupted by something and he laughs and reprimands someone named Tora for their (sign) language. He then notes that it’s best that he does the talking while the rest can communicate via sign language.

There’s few oddities on the recording. 

Gorm is convinced something is up with the sign language and wishes they could have visual recordings of the Mechanicus.

(also we found out both Gimlet and Cayenne know the basics of sign language, though very specialized language only)

Gimlet notes that it is odd for the Mechancius to laugh, as they pride themselves in getting rid of their humane qualities.

Cayenne noticed the two names spoken, Eden and Tora, neither of which appear in anyway in their mission statements.

Gimlet suggests they could maybe ask the kids about anything odd the Mechanicus might have done while here, and everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

They find the kids in the mesh hall with their mother, who doesn’t want to talk about the Mechanicus.

Gorm tries to persuade the mother to come with her outside but only manages to her to clamp up even more.

Gimlet asks her to get them some food, which she agrees to, buying our heroes few moments with the kids.

Laurel, the boy, whispers what he knows into Cayenne’s ears. Apparently he had caught a glimpse of some of the non-sergeant Mechanicus without their hoods/helmets and he says they had pieces missing on their faces.

When they noticed Laurel they got really angry, and he ran away, which Cayenne says was a smart move.

And that’s enough information gathering for one day. Next time our heroes start heading for the castle! What mysteries will await them there? We’ll see.

[airadam]

Episode 101 : Staying Power

"Gotta risk a life just in order to make a living."

- Le$

This month, we keep things at a moderate-to-low tempo, allowing you to conserve some energy as autumn draws in; all you need to do is keep that head bobbing! 

If you're anywhere near Manchester, don't miss out on the Juice Crew on November 13th.

Twitter: @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Redman : The Saga Continues (Da Countdown)

Apologies for the sound quality - the vinyl I have sounds pretty grungy to begin with! This (from "Ill At Will Vol.1") was the first track I think I heard Redman talking about his Gilla House label on, and he is seriously hyped up! Killer beat too, and great use of the Dre sample for the opening and the hook.

Alchemist : Stuck To You

A nice beat from Alchemist's "Rapper's Best Friend" beat compilation, later used on the similarly named "Stuck On You" by Prodigy on his excellent "Return Of The Mac" mixtape.

Natural Elements : DroNEs

A new release from one of my favourite crews! Natural Elements spit lyrics about government surveillance over the beat from the classic "Clones" by The Roots. The call-and-response motif on the piano is a killer, and the beat as a whole is spare enough to avoid overpowering any MCs - as though that would ever be a concern with these three...

Raekwon : Nothing

One of those tracks where the radio version definitely has the edge over the uncensored album one! Raekwon stays bringing that low-key gangster talk on this cut from his latest LP, "The Wild". Production is by Frank G, who cooks up a nasty beat - slowing down a classic soul drum break and topping it all off with that vocal sample that forms the foundation of the hook.

Jay-Z ft. Frank Ocean : Caught Their Eyes

The vibe on this selection from "4:44" fits in pretty well here I think. Jay is in scalding form, talking about surviving the world around him on the first verse and then talking raw about the administrators of Prince's estate on the second. Production is by No I.D, who also gets points for finishing the track with the sample of Joseph Welch asking of Senator McCarthy "at long last, have you left no sense of decency?" - I wonder if we'll reach a political moment like that in the near future...

Count Bass D ft. Snoop Dogg : Too Much Pressure

Brand new 2017 release from two veterans in the art. Count Bass D comes through with some low-speed synth funk that perfectly suits the mellow Snoop vocals.

Terrace Martin presents The Pollyseeds : Chef Dubble E

The Pollyseeds are Terrace Martin's band, and they are seriously skilled musicians - those who caught them at Band on the Wall will have experienced that first-hand. Their new album "Sounds of Crenshaw Vol.1" is kind of jazzy, kind of groovy, definitely genuine and absolutely worth your time for a listen. I just love the low end on this one, bending along with the motif set by the rest of the musicians and forcing you to feel it as you turn the volume up!

Scram Jones ft. Saigon : No Surprise

Nice little track from the "Dead Giveaway" free EP - released exactly four years ago on Halloween 2013. Scram and Saigon tell their own stories of their introductions to Hip-Hop and how they came to work together on a chilled, guitar-led instrumental.

M-Dot ft. Method Man and Dominique Larue : Shine

I've only just found out that this record was released as a single, and that was all the way back in 2014! My first hearing of this was as part of the new "Ego And The Enemy" LP from Boston's M-Dot. If you think you hear an Eminem-ish tone on the closing verse, you're not the only one - I had to double-check the credits! Columbus MC Dominique Larue of the group Heresy is someone I hadn't heard before but will definitely be checking based on her bars here, and a feature from Meth just puts the icing on things. Soulplusmind provides the production - the change-up for the hook is what does it for me on this beat.

Dubbul O x Clay : Commence

Quality from the Room 2 camp out of Manchester. Dubbul O always heats up the mic and Clay gives him a solid beat to get busy on. Available as a "name your price" release on Bandcamp and once again...this B-side wins.

Ras Kass : Eyes Don't Lie

This is one of my headphone regulars finally finding its way onto the podcast! It's slightly awkward to mix with the "eyes don't lie" refrain being three bars rather than an even number, but that's just a concern for us DJs :) Ski produces this tune from Ras' "Institutionalized Vol. 2" mixtape, and Ras is excellent on the mic as per usual.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth : Get On The Mic (Instrumental)

Both of the Pete & CL albums are 100% must-owns for any Hip-Hop fan, and when I saw an instrumental version of "The Main Ingredient" on vinyl a while back, it had to be grabbed. Just enjoy Pete Rock's SP-1200 mastery on this one.

Dilated Peoples : Let Your Thoughts Fly Away

Big shout out to my man Gez, who bought me the excellent "Directors of Photography" album for my birthday a few years back! This is my favourite track on there, but at around 73bpm, a tough one to find other records to go with; I'd been saving it and found a great spot for it here. Diamond D kills it with this beat, another one with a slightly unusual bar count, putting some bump on a wicked jazz-rock sample. Rakaa Iriscience and Evidence go back and forth with short six-bar verses, coming through crystal clear at this laid-back speed.

Hus Kingpin ft. Milano Constantine and DJ Q-Bert : Serotonin High

When I heard that Big Ghost Ltd had produced an album, I had to get it - someone with such a well-documented high bar for what he considers to be hard enough (and a relentless disregard for the weak) would surely come through with the goods. He takes the helm for the "Cocaine Beach" project by NY-raised, L.A-resident MC Hus Kingpin (aka Lord Wavy), which is on that experimental street vibe that fans of someone like Roc Marciano will appreciate. This cut bangs along with the gravelly vibes of Hus and guest Milano Constantine of DITC painting street brushstroke over the top. The absolute capper, though, is the appearance of legendary turntablist DJ Q-Bert, who shows stunning control on his patterns here. Definitely an album to check - though a short one, at around 38 minutes.

Ken Dawg : Playa In Me

I picked up the "Mo Thugs Family Scriptures" album way back in 1996 for one reason - it was a bargain. I wasn't even into the Bone Thugs sound, but found a few gems on there that I enjoyed, and this was one of them. This was Ken Dawg's first release, and he was featured on projects as late as 2003. He may not have a deep catalogue or the most dazzling wordplay, but all the same he made a good record here!

Children Of Zeus : I Can't Wait

Konny Kon and Tyler Daly are continuing to build momentum towards the completion and release of their debut album, but for now they're feeding the people something to hold us over. The "The Story So Far..." compilation brings together all the tracks they've had out on Soundcloud and Bandcamp up to now (some of which you'll have heard on the podcast), and is an absolutely essential purchase. Soulful as always, this track is one of their latest releases, still bringing some sunshine as we approach the winter months!

The Cool Kids : Popcorn (Instrumental)

Found this one on the "Gone Fishing : Instrumentals" collection - truthfully, not even my favourite beat on there, but not only does the speed come in right where I need it to, but the vocal samples form a counterpoint to the Children of Zeus track that comes before!

Le$ : 45 South

I think Spotify Radio brought this one to my attention after a playlist of mine ran out, but it grabbed me on the first listen. Le$ is an MC out of Houston (but born in New Orleans) who's been associated with the Boss Hogg Outlawz and Curren$y's Jet Life click, and really seems to represent a new wave of talent coming from the city. He gives you some of what you might expect lyrically but definitely drops some other gems in amongst it all, weaving politics and street/industry politics into the mix. On the beat here is DJ Mr Rogers, with a slow track very much in the Houston tradition and perfect for a SLAB. I definitely need to sit down with the "Midnight Club" album off the back of this one!

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

[nicheinvader2504-blog]

The “Why” Signing up for Konpai! Con in Omaha NE was a direct result of subscribing to the YOLO way of life Katie and I (My name is Tim) adopted about 1.5 years ago, this consisted of the following mantra: “Question no decisions and make no second guesses”. Of course, we both had an idea of what we were signing up for; an ambiguous, yet purposeful collection of strange events, strange people, and strange would-be memories all squashed into a 10-12 hour event at as convention center connected to a children’s waterpark. We thought we would go for the sake of people-watching and humorous snap-chats – almost like wedding crashers: in it for the food and shock-value, and nothing more than that. We thought we would be outsiders; little red blips on the BS-tracking heads-up display that every one of these “Kon” people shared and that Katie and I lacked. We thought the Ash and Misty costumes were novel but under-prepared. We picked them up in 20 minutes off Amazon and dawned them for the first time 10 minutes prior to the event. From the people, we anticipated a judgmental, but kind-on-the-surface facade that usually comes from the typical business-man in a corporate office: friendly, but with the potential – and likely intention -  to stab you in the back at the moment it benefits him. Lastly, we had no intention of doing anything more than videotaping interesting happenings, eating Japanese food, and trying our best to blend our orange-hat-selves with the green-bill of the convention. These were our expectations. Below is our story.

Preparation:

The day started out with high hopes for an interesting experience. We were excited, but by no means rushed to get to Konpai Con. The tickets were a mere $20 each and even though the event was scheduled from 10am to 2am, I don’t think either of us were confident we’d stay that long. Katie and I are the kind of people who can make the most of almost any situation, and if we come across the rare situation that isn’t quite jiving, we can sacrifice the initial investment of time and money and find something exponentially better to do for peak utility. After an hour or so of eating an entire loafs-worth of toast, we decided it was time to dawn our Ash and Misty costumes and try to make the most of an event we knew nothing about. Katie took all of 5 minutes to prepare her clothing, with another 5-10 minutes dedicated to make-up. Meanwhile, I tried to figure out how my red Misty-themed suspenders worked. We had some last-minute alterations to the overall costume design which included making the over-sized yellow Walmart tee into a cutoff and ditching the 4-inch booty-shorts for jeans for a more masculine touch on Misty (this was so I felt less homosexual and self-conscious about my skinny pale legs – and probably ass cheeks too). When the costumes were perfected, we grabbed out all-so-important plush-Pokémon companions and took the token bathroom-selfie before hitting the road. On the way to the convention center, we thought it be wise to stop at the local Walmart. Our excuse for the trip was finding Velcro patches so the Pokémon pushes could sit on our shoulders; in reality, we just wanted to test the impact out costumes had on the general public. We didn’t get the reaction we thought we would. The first person who spoke to us was an older woman with a small group. She looked at Katie, with the Ash-Ketchum vest, signature red hat, Pikachu in hand – then she looked at me: torn up yellow cut-off, jeans, an orange wig, and Togepi and she asks us…”Excuse me, do you work here?”. Looking back, I wish I would’ve responded more cleverly, but we were both so taken aback by the question, all we could mutter was a polite “no, sorry”. In what universe did this woman come from to ask if Ash and Misty worked at Walmart? I guess a question like that is conducive to the stereotype Walmart carries. We found our Velcro straps and were ready to leave this world now.  A few funny looks, and loving, nostalgia-fueled smiles later, we were headed to the world outside of Walmart doors; there was a kid handing out free cupcakes which was odd but welcomed. The cupcake provided us the good-vibes needed to venture to Kon.  We got in the Mazda, pulled up the Pokémon them song on Spotify, and blasted our anthem proudly as we pealed out. The girl selling girl scout cookies out front approved.

We entered the convention center on the swanky, freshly renovated end. There were some average family-type people along with well-dressed business people giving us puzzled looks as we stood in the foyer in a confused silence. After muttered discussion, we began to leave. A nice employee of the convention used her skills in common-sense to determine we were there for the event. This was the first test: do two 20-somethings dressed in orange wigs, a blue vest, a cartoon-inspired hat, and holding a pair of Japanese-designed plush animals belong to the nerd-fest that is Konpai! Con... YES. Yes, we did. The Con was on the other end of the building. We went from high-class corporate America to pure nerd-utopia as we descended the 6-8 steps into the mostly-unknown. We were complete outsiders – or at least we thought we were. On the surface, we looked good– but it felt like we were spies infiltrating a foreign land. No one gave us a strange look, no one made any comments, it just felt like we had no chance in fitting in. There was a big secret – an elaborate inside-joke, like a humorous innuendo hidden in a kid’s movie – and were the seven-year-olds in the audience reserving our laughter and poor taste for the tacky fart-jokes and over-acted theatrics. Just then – something happened – something we never thought would happen. A girl, dressed very nicely as an anime character Katie and I didn’t recognize -  asked us for a picture – US – What?? Did she not get the memo that Katie and I didn’t belong here? Was there not a digital ticker in her Heads-Up-Display that read “outsiders, stand-clear”? No – it was just a girl – dressed as an anime girl – and she wanted our picture, because she loved Pokémon and thought we looked great. Katie and I were elated; “of course we’ll take a picture with you!,” we exclaimed.

It was at that moment our confidence began to rise; it was by no means full grown, but it was now a sprouted-seed. We gleamed like children at a local toys-r-us with a blank check and no parental supervision. Someone took our picture – our costumes were a success. We proceeded to venture into the “vendor room” to see what wares come with a Japanese cultural appreciation convention.

The Girl with the Box

The vendor room was pretty cool. Maybe 20 tables full of everything from traditional tea sets, to pins, to plushes, to authentic Japanese treats. The first girl on the right invited us to her booth for some Halloween-themed Sweet-tart “bones” I got those. Katie opted for the orange box of nerds in the candy dish. There was sign to the left of the dish that read “For the pervert in your life, ask about our 18+ items”. Fascinated, we referenced the sign. She smiled and motioned to a large, blue, mysterious metal box to her right. The box came complete with duel compartments, latches, and locks  She told us in order to see what’s in the box, we needed ID and had to pick up our badges from the check-in counter. We meandered around until we found the check-in counter and were given our official ID bracelets: “Stylistic Giraffe Spot” for me and “Erotic Porcupine” for miss Katie. We made our way back to the mysterious girl with the box. She welcomes us back and checked our ages on the badges. With an affirmative smile, she began unlocking the box. The first drawer opened and in it were 3 varieties of…. penis-themed pins. That was it. On the pins, was a quote that said something along the lines of “for my little dicky’s”. I think it was our lack of a real response that prompted the next reveal. “Wait, there is another compartment,” she eloquently teased. Still fascinated, we eagerly awaited the reveal of …. small one-inch rubber penis things…. interesting, but not what we expected. It wasn’t the product Katie and I needed in our lives, but we thanked her for her pitch and headed to the next vendor. We saw a dude selling Japanese imported candy, some girls selling stuffed animals, and a cool business man with a giant 3D-scanner. This man scans your body and transforms the image into a statue via 3D printer. Katie, being the computer engineer genius she is, asked the man questions using a lingo way over my head and flashed a pic of the brochure. It was a sweet business idea and I’m sure it was a major success for weddings and conventions alike. If Katie and I had $200 on us, we probably would have gotten it done. Next, Katie started a conversation with a vendor selling a spell book. She asked him if the spells were effective and told him how she once attempted to summon a demon to terrorize the Earth. Katie expressed her disappointment in previous spell-books and asked what kind of spells the man was successful at casting. He consoled her with the now-so-obvious fact that she probably didn’t have the right herbs to compliment the demon-summoning mantras and that is why nothing happened. Come to think of it, later in the day, Katie came across a boy selling vials of ambiguous liquids. She asked him if any of them were strong enough to poison her enemies. In retrospect, I probably should have had a conversation with her about all that.  

Growing Confidence: Signing up for Stuff

After the vendors, we decided to look around the convention center for more interesting events. By now countless people had commented on our clever reverse-gendered Ash and Misty costumes. We had taken pictures with half a dozen people and shared great conversation with all of them. There was a reoccurring topic that came up regarding another Kon event in Kansas City next month. Several people invited us to come along. We felt good – like really good. This was an event we intended to view from the perspective of wall-flowers and we were truly becoming part of the action on the floor. Still, something was missing. We still hadn’t become “one of them,” and maybe we never would, but the overwhelming amount of picture request, invitations, and compliments encouraged us to at least switch the days mission from “observe” to “participate”. We channeled out growing confidence and pulled out our ever-so-helpful Konpai-Con guide book. It was time to schedule some panel-room events. Events that peaked out interest included:

6:00PM – 7:00PM: Masquerade – a Cosplay modelling and Performance competition

7:00PM – 8:00PM: Erotic 18+ Fan-Fiction public reading

10PM - 2AM:  Rave

At first glance, the rave seemed like it be the most fun; the cosplay contest seemed self-explanatory, and the erotic fan-fiction session was something I think Katie and I would have regretted missing – because, wow. Just then we hatched an idea: We had costumes people seemed to enjoy, Why the hell can’t we enter the Masquerade contest? Our YOLO lifestyle would have been completed tattered if we didn’t sign up. We ventured to the Masquerade sign-up counter. Katie grabbed the sign-up sheet, filled out the typical info and then paused at the “will you be performing a skit?” section. Without a second thought, she gave me a WTF not smile and put Yes. We had no intention or plan, but why not. It be fun. To be honest, I would’ve put “No” but that is why we make such a good adventuring pair. If there is any doubt in one of us, the other pushes the doubt to “eff it why not”. By now, it was 3:00PM. The practice for the Masquerade performers was at 5:00PM and we were starving. We decided to take a break from Kon-land to revisit the outside-world for a trip to Olive Garden.

The Plan:

As we got in the Mazda and headed down Dodge street, we both felt a bit of a disconnect. Have we finally adapted to the anime-filled, furry-frenzy that is Konpai Kon? Things in the outside world were duller, less colorful; more sterile. It was an interesting feeling, but Olive Garden has bomb-ass breadsticks so there was no time to question our decision to leave. As we pulled into Olive Garden, we noticed it was pretty packed for 3:00PM We went into the packed lobby to a confused party of people wondering what Pokémon we intended on capturing in the sort-of fancy, but not really, restaurant environment that is Olive Garden. Knowing we only had 2 hours, we crossed the street into an Applebee’s to eat and discuss plans for our big show.

The people at Applebee’s loved us. Kids laughed, baby’s smiled, the guy from the Jose Cuero poster raised his glass. The interesting thing was the lack of people asking the obvious question of why were dressed up. As a pair, we seemed to create an impenetrable force, blocking the average person from questioning us. When Katie left the table, our waitress rushed over and asked what was going on. She seemed genuinely interested. I think people like her are surprised when someone so different can be so personable and familiar. In her defense, Katie and I were probably in the smaller percentage of people who fit in more with the outside world than the Kon world, so it really made our waitress’s day hearing about the “other side”. Katie returned and then I went to the restroom, only to return to the Manager of Applebee’s having an engaging conversation with Katie this time about her Ash Ketchum costume and the fun event just a few miles East of there. I feel like I have a pretty good vibe with people – being a Marketing major with nearly a decade of people-facing work experience on the resume, but Katie, a Computer Engineering math genius ironically has me beat. I’m convinced anyone in any setting could sit and chat with this girl for hours and never get bored. As for our impending presentation, we decided to reenact the classic season-one plot line of Pokémon when Ash steals Misty’s bike and promises to “bring it back someday”. It was genius. Surely everyone there would know the scene, it took no props to execute, and it had a small enough amount of lines to (hopefully) memorize in the next hour. Instead of practicing much at all though, we enjoyed our mozzarella sticks and Mac & Cheese.

The Run-Through

After amazing hospitality from Applebee’s, it was time to face our fate as actors. In the car, we ran through our lines a few times, arrived back into the alternate-reality that was Konpai Con, and went into the practice room. We were one of about 10 acts. Most of them were simply modelling – with about 2 other performers – and a “halftime-show” performer in a purple wig, equipped with a yellow recorder (yes, that instrument we all learned in grade school) and a Team-Rocket shirt.  We’ve seen this guy before and considering the theme, it made sense to sit with him. He was a cool guy. He explained to us that he has won so many Cosplay presentation awards with his recorder, that he respectfully declined the right to participate in the competitive arm of the event just so that someone else would have a chance to win the prize. Two things here: one – what confidence this recorder-playing James displayed. He didn’t just think he would be a shoe-in; he knew. 2 – What humility to drop out for the benefit of others. That’s one major theme Katie and I saw throughout the whole event so far; empathy. Whether out of self-confidence, or what, people here genuinely cared about each other. It was a family. I’m a pretty jaded dude, but after meeting a handful of people, I can honestly say I’d trust anyone there if I lost my wallet or phone or house keys; just good people. Anyway, he told us about his impressive library of recorder-translated covers from “Cake by the Ocean” to “Bad Romance” to the “Pokémon Theme”. He was very proud; we respected that.

As we waiting for instruction, a girl – tall, attractive, darker skinned was talking to the judges about her cosplay costume. It was 100% hand made in a rubber/plastic/paper material and very detailed. She had a level of self-confidence unmatched by most people in the outside work too. This girl was as close to naked as I’d seen at the event. The smallest skirt, nearly 75% of her breasts showing, and yet it totally made sense here. It was skanky, it wasn’t controversial. It was Cosplay and in this setting, if the character has her ass and tits hanging out of armor, it only made sense to replicate it accurately. The costume – and her weapon – were pretty breathtaking. She crafted all of it by hand and even had the time to craft another suit of armor for her friend – who didn’t complete but was there for moral support. Katie and I were seated with that friend and were asking questions about their characters and background. The friend was in the Airforce (crazy, right?) she moved to Omaha recently due to an altercation with mother who tried to exercise her (yes like perform a demon exorcism on her). This girl was quite friendly, so either the demon exorcism worked or the devil is a real nice guy because she made good company. The instructions for the perforce were simple enough; the competition was fierce though. Speaking at a Cosplay performance seems like a non-typical activity based on the amount of background tracks used by the other performers. The themes were elaborate too. One group of girls personified Mew and Mew-Two and reenacted a battle scene with a “faith-in-humanity-restored” theme where human-Mew-Two found out that people were mostly good in spirit. Another girl combined live-voice with a really dark background track as she spoke to a flower growing out of her shoulder. For whatever reason, the girl had to slay her shoulder-flower in order to live. It was pretty dark, but passionate. Katie and I were not at all discouraged though – we got up there as our goofy selves, acted out our scene perfectly and came off the practice-stage with new-found life. Of the 500+ people at the convention, only 10 acts were performing in front of the masses, and Katie and I were one of them.  We faked it until we made it, and we were making it just fine. Still no one in the practice area really clapped when we concluded, but I think it was out of indifference and not distaste. Surely the 500+ people in the audience at 6:00PM would be entertained. Once practice ended, I was sure there would be some sort of waiting-period before the show; nope – the entire crowd came right through the door and found their seats. It was real now.

The Big Time:

The folks running the contest wasted no time. Introductions were short and sweet. The first modelling contestant was on stage almost instantly. With only a handful of other performers, we knew our time was coming fast. Before I knew it, Katie and I were in line and our names were announced. I jumped on stage, took position with my imaginary fishing pole and began to project my voice to the crowd. Katie came on stage right on cue as I “caught” her and Pikachu with the rod. We recited out lines in a fashion we considered flawless and it was over a quickly as it began. The crowd cheered – nothing over-the-top, but they liked it and we felt amazing. A hug, a high five, and 2 very happy smiles later, we were back in our seats relieved and proud. Our friend with the recorder was now on stage, entertaining the crowd as the judges made their decisions. Katie and I didn’t win any of the awards, but everyone who did win totally deserved it. The preparation, craftsmanship, and drive these people had absolutely called for some recognition. Katie and I didn’t need any physical prize; we felt on top of the world and no physical object would have topped that feeling. A few Pokémon fans in the crowd asked for our picture with them and then we were back in the lobby with a whole new energy. This was pure euphoria. We belonged at Kanpai Con without a doubt and we were loving it. Every “weird” thing suddenly made sense. Any feeling that may have otherwise been judgmental or confused turned into acceptance and appreciation. The endorphins unleashed performing in front of the unknown crowd gave us a high that couldn’t be lowered. The best part? All the people from the crowd that greeted us, shook our hand, and expressed per joyful nostalgia regarding our little performance. We made their day and they made ours. Everything was perfect. By now, it was time for a break, so we headed into the video-game room for some Sonic the Hedgehog. We paused the game when a mysterious figure in red came up and began to chat. He enjoyed the show and made small talk before standing up, looking at some inked-text on his wrist, and telling us, “Hey, you guys should go to room 127.” He left pretty quickly, and of course we were ready for a new adventure. Room 127 was down a little corridor outside of the main convention. It was a room with lights, alcohol, video games, and people in the party mood. Next to it was an all-ages hotel room complete with Ramon noodles, rice, chips, soda, and more – all for free, out of the goodness of someone’s heart. Katie and I refueled here while watching a DVD of Zootopia. Appropriately enough, we would soon be accompanied by a pack of furries there for the show. Everyone seemed chill as fuck; there was another mention of the next Kon – taking place in KC in March. At this point, I’m thinking it be a good idea to sign up. For now, though, the clock was striking 8:00PM and we had an 18+ panel to attend. We thanked everyone for the food and headed out to Panel Room 1. Unfortunately, the erotic fan-fiction reading was cancelled in favor for an “anything goes” Q&A with Greg Ayres.  This was a good time though. We got to sit and relax while we listened to sexually-explicit questions and stories from Greg and fans alike. It wasn’t 100% my humor, but we both found things to laugh at, and I think it was a success overall. Nothing much else to say about the panel. It took about an hour and that meant we were only 1 hour away from the rave at 10PM.

New Ventures:

We had pretty high expectations for the rave – spoiler alert – it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. But hey, at the time, it sounded like something we needed to get turnt for. Here’s the funny thing folks, I’m a 23 male – id call myself pretty “normal” went to public high school, a popular university in Lincoln, worked jobs in retail, had a few close friends and a bunch of close acquaintances, etc. etc. Well my thing is, I literally never consumed a lick of alcohol: Ever. Like one time when I was a little kid, I took a sip of beer by mistake, but I’m fairly certain I spit that out real quick. My avoidance of alcohol went as far as refusing to drink the Champaign at the countless weddings I’ve attended in high school and college. Some of the people in my family have what I’d call a drinking problem – but nothing like serious: no DUI’s or jail time; honestly, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know anyone with a real quantifiable issue; I just always avoided the stuff out of random fear. Well, I had the same relationship with marijuana, and I told myself I’d try that once in my life. That moment was reserved for a trip with my little brother who I took to Colorado this past fall. We smoked weed on a mountain for the first time in my life. That story deserves a book of its own, but can be summed up as: a “hot mess” Anyway, as a self-described YOLO-lifer, I knew one day would come I’d have to give alcohol a try. I never intended on getting drunk – the headaches and vomit just never appealed to me. No, instead I knew at some point in my life, I would have to get what insiders call “tipsy”. This particular experience was forever reserved in my heart to take place with Katie. I never knew when or where it would go down, but Kanpai Con in Omaha, NE in February of 2017 seemed like the right setting. In full disclosure, I was terrified; I’d imagine 99.99% of people reading this are perplexed; but after my first substance-encounter (the weed) I had fair reason to fear doing something else unique. Katie rightfully encouraged me that weed and alcohol are not in any was similar and she accurately reminded me that I took about 6X more THC than was recommended for an experience weed smoker. That being said, she was kind a patient enough not to pressure me too much, The YOLO life shouldn’t be stressful. In the end, though, I needed a “Just fuckin go for it” from her and decided I’d listen. We travelled back to the mysterious corridor with the hotel-room parties and I turned to her for some sort of pep-talk (I know dramatic, right?) I repeatedly asked her for advice on what to ask the bar tender for and how to ask for it. I feel like this was likely similar to explaining sex to a 40 year old virgin. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay her for the patience and understanding here. She told me to ask for a “Rum and Coke” I have heard of this before, this would be okay. She pushed me into the room and leaned back against the hallway. I was alone now (btw, she is only 20 so she couldn’t get in). I awkwardly trotted over to the bartender and did what I was good at: started a conversation with him. We talked for about 5 minutes until he asked what drink I wanted. At this point I turned around and gave Katie what I’m sure was a goofy-ass inquisatory  smile. I’m not sure how long I was turned away from the man, but when I turned back around to face him, I exclaimed, “Rum and Coke please!” as if I answered some kind of challenging riddle on a game show. He handed me a concoction I could only describe as fascinating. I took it, walked over to a group of guys, and instead of being a normal, social human, I did the next-most-popular thing and pulled out my phone. I texted Katie – who was literally 15 feet away from me – and gave the simple “Hi” text – just to make sure reality was still in check. After a few nervous sips and unnecessary text messages, she texted me, “I think you can come out to the hallway”. I unglued by eyes from the glass screen and moseyed on back to Katie. She asked how things were going and honestly the experience was fairly underwhelming. I guess when you think a first-Rum & Coke will have a similar effect as 60 MG of THC, things are sure to be underwhelming. Still, after the cup was empty, I began to feel different. The world took on a strange “filtered” view. I felt more talkative than usual and things were funnier. I think this was part placebo, part alcohol, but nonetheless it was a cool feeling. While sipping my drink in the hall, 2 employees of the hotel appeared and spoke with us. They were entertained and partially confused by all the action and found pleasure in talking to us. Looking back, I feel like I was probably a bit over-friendly and talkative due to the alcohol but it was a great conversation. Katie was basically pulling out all the stops in her conversation with one of the boys, trying to convince him to take us to the roof of the building. I’m honestly surprised it didn’t work out – it seemed so possible at the time based on my perspective – and she is a convincing person; I would’ve done it if I were that kid. In the end though, we simply invited the employees to join us in the rave (which has now been going on for about 45 minutes). While this pseudo-tipsy feeling was at peak, Katie and I made our way to the rave. The crowd was extremely slim, but the lights were amazing and the music was LIT. Despite the lack of people who showed up, I felt absolutely pumped. This was a rave. This was a party. Anddddd that was it. The alcohol – or placebo effect – or both wore off almost in an instant and as I looked around I realized there really wasn’t much a rave going down. Honestly, it was lame. Katie and I don’t really dance all that well without a dense crowd to hide our skill-less bouncing around. It was fruitless to stick around any longer. We left the rave about 2 hours prematurely, but never looked back. This event had been life changing. One of the greatest days of both of our lives, and there was nothing either of us did – or didn’t do – that could have take away from that. Things were perfect.  Well, we were about 98% satisfied. There was still one thing we didn’t quite understand yet…

Closing Time:

The night came to a close in a bowling alley parking lot across town – we were parked there for about an hour holding an iPhone in seclusion playing “furry porn” because neither of us knew what the hell that was after our entire night at this convention. We watched a small handful of videos, jotting little metaphorical notes in our brains that I’m sure will never really be needed (you never know though) When we felt we had a grasp on the furry-sex-fetish, we were NOW 100% satisfied and ready to go home. We summed up the day, we played guitar, and we drank tea. Sleep was sure to be deep tonight. With  the laundry list of interesting accomplishments and knowledge-gained, our brains would need a good night’s rest to process everything. In the end, I can sum up the night in one cohesive thought: we entered a completely unknow realm with the sole intention of people-watching and concealing ourselves well enough in the crowd.  By the end of the convention, we were not wall-flowers, were part of the garden; a garden with a shitton of exotic plants and colorful produce.

[awhitehead17]

Tiny Tim (part ten)

Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five / Part Six / Part Seven / Part Eight / Part Nine / Part Ten

Chapter Summary: Disney World part two 

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

Tim scribbles messily on the piece of paper in front of him. The café they were at offers free colouring sheets and crayons to kids and Kon being Kon decides to get some for Tim. Tim bets it was mainly just for himself because at the moment Kon looks like he’s having a lot more fun with the colouring than he is.

“You know you’re supposed to colour in the lines right Tim?” Conner comments to him when he looks up from his own paper.

Just to spite him Tim grabs another crayon and scribbles wildly over the paper. Once he was done he looks back up at Kon and gives him an innocent looking smile, “Whoops.”

Kon gives him a look, one that says really? and in retaliation Tim sticks his tongue out at him and looks back at his bit of paper. They’ve been sat at the café for a good 10 minutes already and it’s another 5 before someone shows up.

“Conner!”

Both him and Kon turn around to the name call, they find Jon heading their way while dragging Damian behind him. Conner smiles at him once he reaches the table, “Hey kid, how’s your day been so far?”

“Look!” Jon shoves a Superman plushie in Kon’s face, “I won this!”

Kon shoves it out of his face, “Yeah? Did you cheat?”

Jon pouts at him, “No I did not! Damian, tell him I didn’t cheat.”

“Tt, despite what it looked like and what he is capable doing, Kent did not cheat.”

“Thank you, see Conner.” Jon says wearing a smug smile.

Kon smiles and shakes his head, “Whatever kid. What else you been up to?”

Jon’s normal excited grin appears back on his face and he enthusiastically tells Kon about his and Damian’s day. Tim was listening but he moves his attention away from the two supers when he feels a presence stand next to him. He looks up to find Damian looking at his ‘colouring’.

“Drake do you not know how to colour? You keep inside the lines, it is not that hard of a concept to grasp, but then again a simple-minded creature like you would find that hard to understand.” Damian says to him, voice full of disgust.

Tim narrows his eyes up at Damian, god he wishes he was his normal self again just so he can beat him. But no. He was stuck in this four-year-old body and they happen to be out somewhere that was full of random people, it would look and sound weird if a four-year-old started cursing at a teen and calling him all kinds of vulgar names.

Working to keep himself from saying anything Tim settles for glaring at Damian. Of course Damian is undeterred by his look, the teenager simply glares back and it suddenly becomes a glaring contest between them. Tim’s not willing to let the demon spawn beat him, Tim may not be able to fight back physically but at least he can glare to some extent.

He’s unsure how long they spend looking at each other but much to his annoyance Tim brakes eye contact first and that was only because someone jabbed his ribs. He couldn’t help the yelp that escaped his mouth and the sudden jerk of his body. He looks around to find Jason smirking evilly at him. “Jumpy there Timmy?”

“Don’t jab my ribs.” He pouts back at the man. Next to him Damian tuts and walks away, Tim watches him go and as he sits down next to Jon who was now sat on Kon’s other side. Jason also moves and takes a seat on Tim’s unoccupied side. Tim watches as Jason takes in his colouring, an eyebrow goes up on his face and his mouth opens to say something, however he seems to change his mind because he shakes his head and closes his mouth again.

“Come on daddy!”

Tim turns around to find Lian running towards their table. She stops every few feet to make sure that Roy was following behind her. Tim looks at Roy and does a double take, in his arms there’s a very big teddy bear. A huge fluffy brown bear with a red bow tie around his neck. Tim’s pretty sure that it was bigger than him in size and possibly even in weight.

Eventually they get to the table and Lian starts jumping up and down, “Look what we won! Look what we won!”

“Wow.” Kon says looking at the bear with wide eyes as Roy sits it at the table opposite him.

Next to him Jon gasps, “That’s huge! Where did you get it?”

Roy looks at him and smirks, “A shooting game. There was two targets, one side had a little crossbow and the other had a gun, so naturally….”

“Fair enough.” Kon comments still looking at the bear.

“Daddy, can I go play in the play area?” Lian asks looking hopeful from where she was tugging on his t-shirt.

Roy frowns at her before looking around, he finds the children’s soft play area over in the corner of the café and looks back at his daughter, “You can but after you’ve had something eat.”

Lian looks like she wants to argue but a stern look from Roy changes her mind, she nods, “Okay daddy.” She climbs up onto the seats next him and looks around the room with intense curiosity.

Roy leans forward and grabs a menu from the middle of the table and sets it out in front of him, Jon does the same with the second menu and opens it up for him and Damian to look at. He and Kon have already decided what they’ll be having, they decided on it while they waited for the others to arrive.

“Hey, where’s Goldie to?” Jason asks suddenly, he looks at Jon and Damian, “Wasn’t he with you brats?”

“Tim and I saw him in a performing in a parade on the way here, I have to admit I’m curious about how he got there.” Kon says, looking between Jason and his brother.

Jason lets out a snort, “Seriously? A performing in a parade? Typical.”

“Well about two hours ago the three of us bumped into some acrobats who were trying to perfect a move. Dick saw them and offered some help, he showed them how to do it and they offered him a place in the parade because they realised who he was.” Jon explains. “At first he said no because he was with us but then Damian told him to go because it was clear that he wanted to do it but I think that the real reason is so Dick would leave us alone to do whatever we wanted without an adult.”

Silence surrounds the table as they all look at Jon who blushes once he sees everyone looking at him.

“What? It’s true” He says defensively.

Conner frowns at him, “So you’ve spent the last two hours on your own?”

“We do not need a baby sitter clone, we are perfectly capable of looking after ourselves.” 

Kon rolls his eyes but lets the comment go. From there Tim ignores the small talk that’s going on around the table, instead he focuses on the paper in front of him while trying to ignore the hurt feeling inside of himself. Dick said that they’ll spend the afternoon together but now that he’s with the parade that’s obviously out of the window. It hurts to know that Dick had apparently forgot about his promise.

“Well I’m not waiting for him to show up, I’m hungry so I’m getting food.” Jason declares standing up from the table, “Join me or not, I don’t care.”

He starts to walk towards the counter where the orders are being taken, Roy gets up and follows him, once they get back Kon, Jon and Damian all get up and do their orders. When they return small talk takes over the table once again and is that way until the food arrives.

Half an hour later all the food they had ordered has now disappeared. Tim enjoyed his food, it was a child’s portion of fries and chicken nuggets in shape of Mickey Mouse. It wasn’t a big meal but it filled him up. What he didn’t enjoy was that Dick still hasn’t shown up and there was no signs of him showing up at all. Kon had tried to console him but Tim brushed him off, he doesn’t really want to hear it.

Tim’s brought out of his head when he hears Lian impatiently ask, “Daddy can I go now? Pleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee.”

Roy puts a thoughtful expression on and takes his time in answering, with every second that passes of him not answering Lian looks like she’s going to explode. After about 10 long seconds he finally nods, “Sure, go ahead, but be careful!”

“Yay!” She exclaims. She immediately starts to climb down from the table, however instead of heading for the children’s play area she runs around the table and grabs Tim’s t-shirt, “Come on Timmy, let’s go play!”

Tim almost falls off the seat he’s on because of her tugging and he has to steady himself by grabbing the table, he looks at her hopeful face and feels slightly guilty when he says, “Uh, I don’t really want to…”

Her face falls in disappointment, “What?”

Tim opens his mouth to say he doesn’t want to play but Jason speaks before he can, “He’s only joking, of course he wants to play!” That’s when hands appear under his arms and pick him up from the seat, they place him on the floor next to Lian, they also remove the cap that’s been sat on his all of this time, “Now you two go have fun okay, we’ll be here for when you want to come back out.”

Tim sends him a betrayed looked while Lian sends him a bright grin, “Thank you Uncle Jay, let’s go Timmy!”

She grabs his hand and drags him towards the play area when they get there Lian lets him go and starts climbing up the foam steps, “Come on! I think the slide is this way!”

Tim watches her disappear up the stairs, he looks back at the table where everyone is to find most of them staring at him with different kinds of smiles on their faces. Jason was wearing an evil smirk and was even holding up his phone with the camera faced at him, Roy was wearing an amused one and Kon was wearing a fond one. Jon and Damian wasn’t looking, both more interested in whatever was in front of them on the table.

“Come on Tim!” He hears from above. He sighs and resigns himself, he isn’t getting out of this,  begrudgingly he starts to climb the foam stairs to find where Lian had disappeared to.

30 minutes later Tim was ready to quit. He was tired and wanted to sit down. How did Lian still have so much energy? She was still running around the play area, shouting at Tim to hurry up and even dragging him along. Tim tried to go at her pace but it was hard, this body was not used to pushing itself past it’s limit and now he was super tired and surprisingly wants a nap.

Letting Lian go on ahead up the foam stairs he heads back to the table where the others are. He walks slowly now finding his feet are beginning to hurt. He makes it back to the table and stands behind Kon before leaning against his lower back. Kon jumps slightly from the touch, he turns around to find Tim there and smiles at him, “You okay?”

“How does she have that much energy? She’s like a battery or something.” Tim comments.

Kon laughs at him, “She worn you out has she?”

“Yes.”

That’s when Lian appears once again, “Timmy why did you leave? We still have yet to go in the ball pool.” She whines at him, she leans forward and grabs his hand and starts to pull him away from Kon, “Come on!”

Someone takes pity on Tim and speaks up, “Hey munchkin, why don’t you and I go play in the ball pool. Timmy here needs a rest, you’ve worn him all out.”

Lian let’s go of Tim and turns to Jason, “Yes please, let’s go Uncle Jay.”

Jason gets up and starts to follow Lian towards the children’s play area, but when he gets a few steps away from the table he stops in his tracks and turns back facing the table. After a few seconds he’s moving towards the table, he goes around it until he’s behind Damian and in a quick swift movement he has the teen up and over his shoulder like he’s a sack of potatoes.

“Todd! Put me down this instance!” Damian demands trying to wiggle out of Jason’s grip as the man heads for the children’s play area.

“Come on demon, you could use some fun.”

They hear Lian giggling her head off at the display and even Jon let out a laugh in amusement. Jon gets up from the table and follows them into the play area. Once they have all disappeared from view Tim tugs at Kon’s t-shirt to get his attention again, when the meta looks down Tim raises his arms up in a childlike fashion for Kon to pick him up. Kon’s hands wrap around his waist and lift him up, after a moment Tim’s arranged so his straddling Kon’s thighs and his head is against his chest.

Tim takes the position and leans heavily on Kon, the tiredness taking over his body. It doesn’t help when Kon starts threading his fingers through his hair and lightly massages his head. Tim sighs contently and lets him do it, he doesn’t know why but it feels so nice when it happens and he feels himself drifting off at his motions.

Tim snaps out of his dosing state when another voice speaks up, “Hey guys I am so sorry that I am super late. To be honest I wasn’t even sure if you’d be here at all or not but thankfully you are.”

Tim turns around to see Dick settling in a seat next to Roy, he was looking around obviously trying to find the where the others are. As if reading his mind Roy speaks up, “They’re in the ball pit if you’re wondering. Lian. Jason Damian and Jon.”

Dick smiles, “Ah okay.” Dick then looks over and sees Tim’s sat in Kon’s lap, “Didn’t fancy joining them Timmy?” He asks.

Tim hears, as well as feel, Kon laugh, “Lian’s already worn him out from playing in there for half an hour.”

Dick lets out a laugh after and Tim mumbles a shut up but that seems to encourage the man even more. “If you’ve still got the energy Tim I have a promise to keep, once I’ve had some food we’ll go on a few rides together.”

Tim feels himself smile at his words, he hadn’t forgot after all. Tim nods in agreement and Dick beams at him, “Brilliant! I’m going to get some food.”

By the time Dick had finished eating his food everyone else had returned from the ball pool. Comments were made and laughs were shared throughout it. For the most part Tim dosed on Conner as his body was still recovering from the time he spent running around after Lian.

“Anyway, what are we going to do now that Goldie is here?” Jason asks looking at everyone.

“Well I was going to go with Tim around the park for a bit, just the two of us as I promised him earlier we would.” Dick says.

Jon jumps in after him, “Conner can we go together and ride Space Mountain?”

Tim feels Kon shrug, “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

“Awesome let’s go!” Jon gets up from the table and starts bouncing excitedly.

Kon laughs, “Alright kid, calm down.” He gently picks Tim up and places him on the floor, he then crouches down so they’re nearly eye level, “You okay with me going?”

“Go have fun with your brother.” Tim smiles at him and Kon grins as he stands up. Once stood Jon was quick to grab his hand and start to pull him away. Tim walks around the table and stands next to Dick, who was already rising to his feet. Dick bends down and picks him up and places Tim on his hip.

“So we’ll catch you guys later, have fun!” Dick says as he walks away from the table.

Dick doesn’t put Tim down for a good 20 minutes. Tim doesn’t mind, it saves him walking around because he still feels tired even after his light nap on Kon from earlier. After walking around for a while they find a bench and settle down on it.

“So, how you doing Timmy?” Dick asks looking at him.

Tim swings his feet backwards and forwards from where they hand over the edge of the bench, “I’m okay.” He answers.

Dick smiles at him, “Yeah? I guess that’s good then. How’s Conner dealing with this situation?”

“He’s trying,” Tim tells him, “I think me being this age has made him realise that he wants kids. A few times I’ve caught him with this dreamy look on his face like he’s imaging the future or something, but he’s doing what he can.”

“Think he’s father material?” Dick asks looking amused.

“I think he is yeah, can’t say the same for myself however.”

Dick leans over and ruffles his hair, “Awww Timmy…” He coos out.

“Dick!” Tim exclaims and tries to bat the mans hands away, that just encourages Dick more. Tim finds himself getting dragged along the bench and pulled into Dick’s lap, before he could do anything Dick was running his fingers all over his sides and underneath his armpits and Tim couldn’t contain the squeal of laughter that bubbled up inside of him.

Once Dick was done tickling him, Tim was out of breath and his face was hurting from smiling so much. Dick stands up and picks him up. Placing Tim on his hip he says, “Come on, we’ll get a few rides in by the time the park closes. Oh by the way I love your shirt.”

Tim looks down at his shirt and sees the Wonder Woman pattern on it, “Yeah, Kon picked it up. It was either this or Superman.”

Dick barks out a laugh, “Brilliant, how the hell did he manage to get you in those? Do you have a batman one?” Tim chooses not to comment; however his silence gives Dick the answer he’s looking for. The man let’s out a gasp before laughing, “Oh you do! that’s brilliant! We’ll have to get you in that around the Manor at some point.”

“Shut up.” Tim pouts.

They walk around until Dick comes up to a ride, Tim looks up at Dick with a questioning look, “The carousel?”

Dick looks at him wide eyed, “Yes the carousel, it’ll be fun.”

Dick moves over to where the queue was supposed to be but fortunately it was empty and they managed to get straight onto the ride. They walk around the ride and Dick chooses them a horse to sit on, he picks up Tim and places him on the horses back, then he’s lifting himself up onto it right behind him. Tim feels Dick getting in close and he leans back into the man’s chest, Dick’s arms come up and grab the pole in front of them and effectively boxes Tim in so he can’t fall off.

Soon enough the ride starts up and cheerful music begins to play in the background. Slowly, their horse goes up and down and the ride starts to spin around, after a few times around it begins to pick up speed on the spinning.

It’s not the most exciting ride he’s been on but when he looks up at Dick and sees a huge smile on his brother’s face, Tim couldn’t help but smile too. After that the ride was a lot lighter and Tim enjoyed it a little more. It ends after 3 minutes or so, the horses stop moving and the spinning slows down to a halt. Once given the all clear Dick get’s off the horse first and then helps Tim off it and they make their way to the exit.

As they walk in another direction Dick says, “I love those rides, they always remind me of Haley’s, you know, the horses, the bright colours and cheerful music.”

Tim looks up at Dick and sends him a smile, no wonder he wanted to go on it then. Dick looks down and then squints at Tim. When he doesn’t look away Tim begins to feel uncomfortable under his gaze, “Dick?”

Dick draws back, “Sorry, but I’ve just realised that you would have been this height when you came to Hayley’s. You really are small.”

Tim pouts at the last comment, “Thanks, and yeah more or less, but remember you weren’t that tall when you were in Hayley’s either.”

Dick lets out a laugh and shrugs, “I’m okay with that,” He reaches down and grabs Tim’s hand, “Now come on, there’s another ride I want to take you on.”

Tim let’s Dick drag him along, though he has to take twice as many steps as the man because of his tiny legs making it difficult to keep up. By the time they get to the ride Dick wants to go on Tim’s all worn out again, he curses his current body for not having enough stamina. Looking at where they are Tim sees elephant shaped planes going around in circles.

Dick leads him through the entrance and over to where the line is. They don’t have to wait long as the ride that was going on comes to a stop. Once all the people have left they were allowed on, Dick leads him around the ride and goes to an empty elephant. Like with the carousal, Dick picks him up and places him in the elephant and then gets in himself. They strap up and wait for the ride to start.

A few minutes later the ride starts and Tim instantly sees people shoot up into the air, unexpectantly at that point the elephant they’re in goes shooting upwards and Tim lets out a yelp at the sudden movement. Next to him Dick was laughing. “Not funny.” Tim tells him.

That’s how most of the ride went, with Dick randomly changing their height. Tim won’t lie and say that it didn’t give him a bit of a thrill but it was just as annoying. He went from watching everything around him to watching Dick’s hand on the small lever that controlled their height, in the end he pushed Dick’s hand off it and took control of it himself.

Eventually the ride slows down and comes to a stop and Dick and Tim exit it. They walk out and head in a random direction, that’s when a cheerful tune rings out of Dick’s pocket. They stop walking and Dick brings out his phone and answers it.

A few moments later Dick’s hanging up and grinning down at Tim, “Right Baby Bird, apparently Lian is now out for the count, the day’s finally caught up on her and I’m willing to bet that you won’t be far behind either. We’ve arranged for everyone to meet at the entrance so we can get going, we’ve got one more night in the hotel then first thing tomorrow we head back for the Manor.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tim says looking up at him.

“Glad you approve,” Dick smiles back.

Before Dick could walk off Tim lifts his arms up in the ‘pick me up’ fashion. Dick watches him with an amused expression before rolling his eyes and bending down to pick him up. He places Tim on his hip and Tim leans his head on Dick’s shoulder as the man begins to walk in the direction of the entrance.

“Thanks for keeping your promise,” Tim mumbles to him, once again he feels the tiredness taking over him.

Tim feels a hand come up to his head and as it starts to stroke his hair, “Of course Timmy, sorry I was late.”

“That’s okay.”

He has no idea how long it had been but suddenly he finds that they’ve made it to the entrance where everyone was already waiting. Jon was excitedly talking to Kon, Roy and Jason, Lian was fast asleep in Roy’s arms, Jason was holding the giant teddy bear in his arms and was wearing the Green Lantern cap that Kon had brought earlier on and Damian stood just to the side not interacting with anyone.

They reach the group and Dick bends down to place Tim on the floor, which Tim wasn’t pleased about but he uses the opportunity to walk over to Kon. He finds the meta standing there smiling at him as he approaches, “Hey, have fun?”

“I did, did you?” Tim asks back. When Kon nods he finally sees the bag that he’s holding. Pointing to it he asks, “What’s that?”

“Oh, I went back to that superhero shop that we went into and brought a few things.”

Tim rolls his eyes at that, god knows what Kon has brought.

“Right shall we get going?” Dick calls out to the group. Everyone then started to pile out of the entrance. They make their way back to the hotel and then all separate according to where their rooms are located. They made arrangements to meet early in the morning hence why they’ve called it an early night.

Tim doesn’t really pay attention to anything. The walk from the park to the hotel Kon had been carrying him, then once inside the hotel room he allowed Kon to get him ready as he didn’t really have the energy to do himself. Soon enough he found himself curled up under the covers on the bed of their room in his pyjamas and just about ready to fall asleep. He doesn’t submit to sleep until Kon was in the bed with him, once he was Tim curls into Kon’s side and soaks up the heat coming off him and then he allows himself to finally go to sleep.

Everything in the morning was a blur, from packing their things to traveling to the airport to then getting on the jet and flying home. The travel takes up most of the morning and they end up having breakfast on the plane. They spend most of their time sharing different stories of the previous day and having a laugh about what gag gifts they’ve each brought for people.

Once they were in Gotham it was then traveling from the airport and back to the Manor and by mid-afternoon they finally make it back to the Manor.

Dick’s the first one up the steps, getting the keys he opens the door and heads in first. Everyone else follows him, they pile in the hallway and dump all of their things on the floor. From where he was standing Dick stretches, “Home sweet home,” he comments.

“Indeed, home sweet home.” A new voice speaks out.

Everyone shares a wide-eyed look before looking in the direction to where the voice came from. Standing there in an expensive suit with hands in his pockets was the famous Bruce Wayne.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?”

[awhitehead17]

Taking Action

TimKon, General Rating, Getting Together, Fluff, Humour, Kissing. 

Summary: Steph and Cassie decide it’s time for their ex-boyfriends to confront their feelings for one another. Teaming up, they come up with a plan to get them to finally admit to each other how much they really like one another.

Enjoy :D

Tim was just getting in from being at WE all morning when his phone starts ringing. Placing down his bag he picks the device out of his pocket and answers it, “Hello?”

“Tim!”

It was Steph and for some reason she sounds like she’s in a panic.

“Steph, everything okay?”

“Remember our safe house on the edge of the city?”

Baffled, Tim answers, “Yes course, why -”

“I need you to go there right now! Its urgent, please hurry and you have to come in civilian clothing.”

Tim’s leaving his apartment before he could even register his movements, he runs down towards where he kept his bike. He had recently been staying in one of his safe houses in the city rather than the Manor. He gets to his bike and puts on the helmet before zooming towards the location.

Tim hopes that she’s okay, he hadn’t of asked what was wrong, but she sounded panicked and that was enough to get Tim moving.

It takes him nearly 10 minutes to get to the other safe house, when he does he stops outside the building and parks his bike. He leaps off it and starts running towards the elevator, he gets there and rapidly pushes the button. It opens, and he gets inside and once again he rapidly presses the button to the floor he needs. The safe house is hidden at the top of a block of apartments, only a select few actually know where this one is.

When Tim gets to the top floor he sprints to the door and in a swift movement he’s opening it and bounding inside, “Steph?” he calls, “Steph, where are you? Are you okay?” Tim checks the kitchen to find it empty then the single bedroom to find that also empty, panic starts to rise in him at no sign of her and he then heads for the bathroom.

As he gets to the door there’s another voice calling out, “Tim? Buddy you in here?”

“Kon?” He turns and heads towards his best friend’s voice. Tim finds him standing in the sitting room looking around, “Kon what are you doing here?”

The half Kryptonian doesn’t answer, instead he looks over Tim and asks, “Are you okay?”

Confused as hell, Tim makes a face, “Yeah I’m fine but Steph -”

Engaging lock down protocol, engaging lock down protocol. A computerized voice calls out.

Tim looks around with wide eyes, “No no no no no.”

Kon’s looking at him, bewildered, “Tim what’s going on.”

Tim ignores him, hurrying over to the bedroom where a computer is set up. He turns it on and goes into the system, calling into it, “Computer this is Red Robin, disengage lock down protocol, I repeat disengage lock down protocol.”

Request denied.  

“This is Red Robin, disengage lock down protocol.” He tries again.

Request denied.

Tim goes through the computer and accesses the files trying to stop the protocol, but he’s too late. There’s a loud clanging sound ringing through the apartment and his computer goes black. Letting out an angered sound he tries to reboot his computer, but it doesn’t work. Someone hacked their way into his system and locked him out of it as well as shut down the apartment.

He hits the desk in annoyance.

“Tim?”

Tim freezes in his spot, he had completely forgot that Kon was here.

“Tim why is there kryptonite on your windows and door?”

Ignoring what he said, he shouts back to him, “I’m in the bedroom Kon.”

A moment later the meta appears in the room, “Tim what’s going on?”

Tim runs a hand through his hair, “Lock down protocol, I made it so nothing can get in and nothing can get out. It can be voice activated or activated through my systems on the computers. Someone hacked into my system and locked me out of it, they also activated lock down, meaning we’re trapped in here until that person gives me back control because my computer is dead, and my voice apparently won’t work.”

Kon looks at him with puzzlement, “Do you know who hacked you?”

Tim shakes his head, “No and I won’t know until I get control back.”

“Hello boys.” A voice calls out, both of them look around trying to find the source of it and then Tim’s computer screen is coming to life. After a moment the screen turns on and reveals three girls, all of which are grinning.

Seeing them Tim glares hard at the screen, “What the hell is the meaning of this?” He demands.

The three girls beam at him, “Well bird boy, me and Cassie decided that it’s about time you boys both get your act together. We’ve both been putting it off, saying that one of you will finally get your thick head out of your ass and do it. But you guys have yet to do something about it, so we acted instead. Once you’ve done what you needed to, you’ll be free.”

Steph tells them through the screen. Cassie is sat next to her left nodding along to what she is saying and Barbara is sat next to her left looking smug.

Tim looks at Barbara, frowning, “You hacked my system.”

She nods, “I did. I have to say Tim you put up quite the challenge but there were a few things you were weak on that allowed me through. When you’re finished here we can go through them if you like.”

“Give me back control now.” He hisses.

She shakes her head letting out a laugh, “No can-do Tim, I’m siding with Steph on this one.”

“Have fun boys, we’ll be checking in on you in 6 six hours.”

With that the screen goes black and Tim and Kon are left alone. They stay silent for a while, both of them obviously trying to work out what the hell was going on.

Tim thinks about what the hell this could be about. He thinks up of everything to do with Steph and Cassie that’s happened within recent months for them to trap them both like this.

It’s then he remembers the conversation he had with Steph a couple weeks ago. He clearly remembers the look she gave him before leaving, this has to be something to do with that, he’s sure of it.

They were sat in his apartment on the couch drinking some coffee after a day out together with Kon and Cassie. Once they were alone, of course Steph had to bring it up, “Why won’t you tell him?”

“Are you insane? If I say anything it’ll ruin our friendship and everything between us! I can’t lose him again Steph. Besides he’s not even interested in guys.” Tim slumps further back against the couch.

“Tim.” She reaches out and cups his face, forcing him to look at her, “You guys have the strongest bond I have ever seen between two people. You know each other like the back of your hands. If you tell him and he happens to not feel the same way about you, you guys will shake it off and continue as normal.”

“You can’t guarantee that Steph…”

“Pretty sure I can.”

Tim gives her a look and goes to protest, but she shakes his head around and cuts him off, “Seriously Tim, you claim to be a detective, yet you completely look over everything in front of you and miss it. You can be so dense sometimes, that it’s frustrating.”

“He doesn’t like me like that…”

“Yes, he does! You miss it every time, the look he gives you when you aren’t looking, how protective you two are of each other and heaven forbid insulting you in front of Conner because he will rip anyone apart for your dignity. Just earlier, the way he was staring at your ass and legs when you went to the bathroom, and then there was the smile he was giving you when you were ranting about your stupid assistant that isn’t Tam and the coffee machine in the office. That smile was full of love Tim.”

She looks at him hard after she finishes talking and Tim just stares at her in shock. Her voice was full of passion and it raised in volume with each point. Half way through she let go of his face and started to make wild gestures with her hands indicating how important each point was.

Then in a quieter voice she asks him, “Do you want me to help you tell him?”

Tim immediately shakes his head, “No, absolutely not. No offense Steph, but I’ll handle this on my own.” He looks at her to find her looking at him with narrowed eyes, not in the way that says she’s offended but rather in the way that she’s plotting something devious. He frowns at her, “What are you thinking?”

She shakes the look off her face and replaces it with a smile, “Nothing, nothing you need to worry about.” She starts to get up off the couch, “When you do decide to tell him, you’ll find for the first time in your life that you’re wrong Tim. He likes you and I know that he likes you because Cassie has told me and as well as seeing it for myself today. So, sleep on it and I’ll see you later.”

Tim groans, this is Steph making him tell Conner his true feelings for his best friend. Despite her telling him that Kon apparently feels the same way, Tim still doesn’t believe it. There’s no way that it could be true.

Kon glances over at him, “Dude you okay?”

“Just peachy…” He says. “Can you break us out?”

Kon shakes his head, “They’ve laced the windows with a thin layer of kryptonite, and the door. I can get us out, but I’d rather just wait to be honest, I don’t like going near that stuff.”

Tim nods accepting his answer, of course he wants to push Kon, but forcing his friend near the stuff that can hurt him isn’t fair.

“So, worked out why they’ve trapped us in here?”

Tim shakes his head. “No not yet. It’s most likely just a stupid prank they have going on, or some sort of bet.”

“Cassie called me to this place saying that you were in danger and needed help. By the sounds of it you were looking for Steph, obviously she had done the same thing. They wanted us both together.”

���I don’t know Kon. I have no idea what they’re planning.” Tim admits to him, not letting it slip that he has some form of idea to what’s really going on.

“Well, whatever they are planning I’m sure its not to hurt us in anyway. I kinda want to know why they’re doing it though. What do we do in the mean time?”

Tim looks hopelessly at Kon, “I have no idea. I guess we wait it out as there’s no way to escape. I think the kitchen is stocked still, so let’s go grab a drink and try to work out what the girls want from us.”

Of course Tim has a pretty good idea on what the girls want from them, but he isn’t doing it. He won’t play their games. He isn’t sacrificing his friendship with his best friend over stupid feelings.

Tim leads the way to the kitchen with Kon hot on his feels, “What do you want to drink?” he asks over his shoulder.

Behind him Kon tells him, “Uh, just a glass of water will do thanks.”

Tim silently does Kon’s drink for him and hands it to him, he then moves around the kitchen to prepare for his coffee. Coffee. The one thing that Tim is certain that’s going to help him get through this mess made by his ex-girlfriend and his best friends ex-girlfriend (he always knew that them two meeting would end up in a disaster).

As Tim waits for the coffee machine to finish up, he feels a presence come up behind him. A warm solid presence that makes him want to lean back on it and soak in it’s warmth. As Tim turns around he feels his face go hot at those thoughts. He can’t believe he was thinking like that with Kon right there.

He turns around to find Kon standing super close to him, practically invading his personal space bubble. Tim tries to take a step back, but he only succeeds in bumping into the counter behind him. “Kon what are you -” Kon follows his steps, and then crowds him up against the counter and boxes him in. Tim feels his face go even hotter and how his heart starts to pound hard in his chest as his best friend leans down towards him so they’re eye level with each other.

They stare at one another for a few beats and Tim has no idea what the fuck is going on anymore. He sees Kon’s eyes move downwards before springing back up to meet his. Did he just look down to his lips? No way did he just look down to his lips. Did he?

Unintentionally Tim glances down to Kon’s lips and wonders what they would be like (not for the first time) to kiss them. He wonders what Kon’s mouth would feel like against his, would his lips be soft, hard, rough, maybe they’ll be tender. He looks back up to see two blue eyes staring at him intensely and he finds he has no idea what to do or think. He should be pushing him away from him, but he isn’t. He should be asking what the hell he was doing, but he doesn’t. He should be kissing those damn lips of his, but he wasn’t.

“Tim.” Kon gets his attention, he then cocks his head to the side, “What are you thinking?”

Tim opens his mouth to answer but no sound comes out, instead there’s a hot pressure against his face and there are lips moving next to his.

Tim freezes in his spot completely caught off guard and unsure about what to do and it’s only when those lips begin to move away that he responds. He reaches out and grabs the back of Kon’s head before smashing their lips back together for the second time.

At first, it’s hot and messy, their noses roughly bump into each other and even their chins collide against one another. Kon is then reaching out and grabbing his chin and keeping his head still as he takes control of the kiss. Kon slows down their movements into slow and deep kissing. Lips gliding against one another passionately and Tim finally gets to digest what his lips feel like. Their smooth and tender and without even realising it, he’s smiling against Conner’s lips.

They kiss for another few minutes before finally separating for air.

“What the?” Tim gasps out looking up at Conner, whose lips are now slightly red and swollen.

At Tim’s breathily question Kon laughs., “I’m pretty sure that make out sessions tells you a lot of things, or have I just got the wrong memo?”

Tim says nothing to him as all as he can do is stare at Kon.

“Tim, dude? You okay?” Kon looks at him with concern.

Tim slowly nods his head, “Yeah… just processing what the hell just happened.” He replies.

Kon laughs at him, “Okay buddy, just let me know when your brain’s come back online.”

A few moments go by and Tim asks him, “How long?”

Seeming to understand Kon leans in close and presses a kiss to his lips, “For too damn long.”

Then suddenly the next thing that is happening is them making out once again. In the middle of it Kon suddenly picks up Tim and places him on the counter, Tim yelps at the sudden movement but then is smiling as he pulls Conner closer to him. He opens his legs and lets Kon slot in between them.

They pull apart and Tim says, “You know the only thing that sucks about this is that Cassie and Steph were right about it. We’re going to have to admit it.”

Kon frowns for a moment and then he’s shrugging, “Yeah, but there are worse things in the world.”

“I guess.” Tim agrees easily, he wraps his arms around Kon’s neck and drags him impossibly closer, loving that feeling of him pressed up against him, “What does this mean for us?”

Kon pulls back from where he was rubbing his nose against Tim’s, “What do you mean?”

Tim shrugs feeling embarrassed, “I don’t know, I just -”

Kon laughs again, “God you’re so cute when you get embarrassed. I hope this means that we get to be boyfriends because I want to keep kissing you and now as I have started I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop.” He grins widely at Tim.

Instead of verbally responding Tim simply yanks Kon back down and smashes their lips together, “Boyfriends…” He mutters against his lips, he’s then grinning widely, “I like that, I like that a lot.”