#why yes this IS timkon are repressed but in different ways: the FicTM

[kingsofneon]

wip wednesday fake it till you break it 🙏

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…The really stupid bit is that he distinctly remembers thinking; it’s not like there will be consequences. 

Well, here’s the irony, he thinks to himself, propping his chin on one hand to hide his scowl. He still doesn’t know what’s troubling Kon, and the consequences are awkward and bitter on his tongue. Kon is love-struck by Caroline, gushing about her pretty hair and her pretty eyes and her sarcastic sense of humour, and Tim has to sit here and listen, discomfort squirming in his belly. He hadn’t actually thought it would get this far, because normally Caroline can twine a boy round her finger and get what she needs in an hour or a second date, but Kon…

Tim isn’t naive enough to think that Kon can’t keep secrets. They’re heroes - they have to be able to bluff, at the very least. Only, Kon doesn’t bluff - he just lies, and Tim doesn’t even notice until Kon says something different to Caroline! 

He also hasn’t even flirted with her past the first time they interacted, and Tim had tried to give Kon Caroline’s number. Caroline had been turned down so gently that Tim had barely recognised the dismissal, flattered despite himself. 

And therein lies the problem. Or, well, the fourth part of the problem in a problem that he thought would’ve been solved three sections of a problem ago.

He’s…

He knows Kon isn’t actually talking about him. He knows Kon is talking about his new friend who works with the Hall of Justice tour guide crew. He knows Kon gets excited when he meets new people, and that he likes introducing his friends to each other, so of course Kon would talk up Caroline in order to get Robin, known lurker, at least vaguely interested.

He is well-aware of all of those things in the most cold-hearted, logical way he can manage. 

It does not stop his insides from being on fire, because currently he is somehow both burning up at Kon’s flattery and wildly jealous of himself.

All he’s saying is that Steph is never allowed to find out. She’ll laugh at him for years.  

“Yo, wonder,” Kon says, snapping fingers in front of his face, and Tim jerks back with a noise that can probably pass as a yeah, I was totally listening as long as no-one asks him for a camera replay. “You’re the one with the dating experience. What’s the most platonic activity you can think of?”

“Anything with a tag-a-long,” Tim says, before he can think the better of it - before he can think at all, really - and yet still somehow caught on the specifics of Kon’s request. 

There’s something wrong with his chest, and he thinks maybe there are five problems, instead.