#this was my first time writing kon and I'm sorry: my fondest memories of him and tim from canon hail from

[redrobinfection]

Coffee, Coffee Everywhere, Pt 14

<< Part 13

"Hey, Rob, how's it hangin'?"

Red Robin glanced up from where he was zipping tying yet another mugger from yet another mugging in the seemingly endless stream of petty muggings that Gotham seemed to throw at them in spades night after night after night. In other words, business as usual.

"Superboy."

"Hey, I know Ol’ Bats won't like me stopping by," Kon began, rubbing at the back of his neck, "but I was pretty much flying up the East Coast anyway, so I wanted to drop something off with you and also see if maybe you wanted to hang out tomorrow or something? I know this weekend is your weekend off, but I missed our re-watch binge session while I was off last week. I gotta get my 'Wendy the Werewolf Stalker with the bros' fix in, ya know?"

"You guys watch still watch Wendy the Werewolf Stalker?" the dirt bag between them laughed in an incredulous tone. "What are you? Fourteen-year-old gir-" he cut off with a sharp grunt when Tim slammed him face first into the ground.

"So, by 'bros' I assume that Impulse is in on this as well?"

Kon grinned. "You know it!"

Tim sighed and motioned for them to move to the rooftops as the wail of sirens approached. Kon offered him a hand, but he shot him a look and a slow shake of his head, then grappled up the side of the closest building. Together they watched as the police pulled up and cautiously approached the mugger.

"Tomorrow is my night off, so yeah, you guys can come over around five and we'll order pizza, binge on sugar, and re-watch season four."

"We finished season four last time."

"What? I don't remember watching the end of season four."

Kon barked a laugh so loud that every head in the alley below turned upwards, forcing them to step back from the edge. Tim punched him in the shoulder playfully for nearly giving them away - he was internally grateful for the reinforced material of his gauntlets that absorbed the majority of the rebound so he didn't bruise his knuckles - and Kon grinned sheepishly.

"Dude. That's because you fell asleep halfway through episode nine and we felt so bad for you that we let you sleep through the rest of the season."

"You guys should have woken me up. Fine. We'll watch season five, but Netflix doesn't run past season four and I don't own season five, so someone else needs to bring it."

"Wait, are you pouting? Because we watched season four without you?" Kon guessed, laughing quietly. Tim punched him again and this time he felt an ache in his knuckles even with the gauntlets.

"You know I can't feel that."

"You know what I have in this pouch right here. This little, lead-lined pouch."

Kon cleared his throat. "Yeah. So. Yeah, I can bring season five. I have four through twelve on DVD, so we'll just have figure out how to watch the rest after that. Oh. Before I forget…" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, shrink-wrapped package of four tins. "I was down in Jamaica on Titans business, saw this, and thought of you."

"Uhhhh… 'Jamaican Green Tea Mint' candles?" Tim asked dubiously.

"They're not all the same, read the labels."

Tim studied the names on each of the tins then glanced back at Kon with a long-suffering expression. "You got me a coffee scented candle."

"Awesome, right?"

"A candle."

Kon boomed out another loud laugh. "Yeah, I thought you could burn it, take a long bath, try to - I dunno - relax a bit and maybe catch some Zzzs for once."

"Okay, okay, point taken. But why would a coffee candle put me to sleep. Isn't the point of coffee to do the exact opposite?" Tim bantered back blithely, tugging off his cowl so Kon could feel the full weight of his unimpressed glare. He needed the break out of the cowl to cool off anyway.

"The way I see it, the only way we're gonna get you to slow down and smell the roses - so to speak - is if we manage to find coffee scented ones," Kon explained teasingly. Tim opened his mouth to argue, but Kon went on quickly, cutting off his retort, "Anyway, open it up. I wanna see how authentic it smells."

He grimaced and began attacking the pesky shrink wrap. "What? You didn't even smell it before you picked it out for me?"

"Of course I did, but I'm not a coffee expert and connoisseur like you," Kon teased. "I want the expert's opinion before I pat myself on the back for a good find."

"Uh huh,” Tim responded absently. He snarled in frustration, lifted his forearm, and stabbed the stubborn plastic with the spikes of his gauntlet - Kon shook his head at his vehemence - then widened the holes with his fingers until the contents finally tumbled free. The four small tins separated, and he picked out the one labeled "coffee" and pried off the lid.

"Hmmmm…” Tim hummed. “Actually…dark and toasty, with an authentic depth and pleasant, woodsy undertones."

"Oh my gosh, you really are a coffee connoisseur," Kon groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. "I was kidding…"

"Oh wow, and they actually decorated the candle with real coffee beans," he murmured appreciatively. "This is nice. I'll have to burn this later to get the full effect." He hid a smile as he added, "But only after I've made myself a cup of coffee. There's no way I'm going to tease myself with the scent and not drink a cup too." Kon groaned louder and he chuckled. "Make it two. Jamaican coffee is pretty good, after all."

"No, you should SLEEP later," Kon asserted. Tim shook his head.

"I can sleep after coffee."

"You're a monster, a crazy coffee monster. What have I done?" Kon moaned, scrubbing both hands over his face. "Actually, you know what? Give it back,” he demanded, holding out a hand. “I can't give you this. I can't enable you in your coffee obsession."

"Too late. Thanks for the gift, Superboy," Tim replied, smirking sharply as he pulled up his cowl and backed away towards the edge of the building.

"Wait, where do you think you're going? Come back here and give that back!"

"Only if you can catch me!" Tim yelled as he leapt away from the building, swinging off into the night.

"Like heck I can't!" the super called from behind, the wind whistling as he flew to intercept. Tim shot out a line to his right and executed a sudden, sharp turn between two buildings. Superboy shot past him and lost distance as Tim swung away in the opposite direction. Tim turned to look over his shoulder a few swings later to see Kon catch his trail and speed up to catch him.

"You won't be catching anyone if Batman catches you first," Tim yelled back to him over the roar of the wind around them.

Superboy nearly dropped out the air, spinning on the spot in a vain attempt to spot the lurking Bat - a Bat that currently wasn't anywhere near them according to Tim's comm chatter, not that Kon needed to know that. Tim took the opportunity to swing up onto an overlooking rooftop, and loomed over his friend, shoulders shaking as he laughed silently.

"Rob, come on!"

Tim laughed out loud once, then turned and ran. "Nope!"

Part 15 >>