Chapter Text
Don't you just
Don't we all just
Want to be together
Heavy
By Birdtalker
The night air blew up cold and blustery from the massive bay, heavy with salt. The warm day had dissolved into clear night, peaceful for all the traffic navigating the curling hills and streets below Tim’s perch.
“My quadrant is clear.”
“Looking good on my end.”
“Same.”
“Much the same for me,” Tim joined in, lowering his binoculars, and slipping them into his belt from where he crouched.
“Let’s fall in. WG out.”
Tim radioed over his agreement, standing with a back popping stretch, his breath catching as he was caught abruptly and firmly around the middle.
“Jason,” Tim released on an exhale, turning in his grasp so he could wrap his arms around him.
“You’re getting easy to sneak up on.”
“I just don’t perceive you as a threat anymore,” Tim smirked. “What are you doing here?”
Jason smirked right back, “I missed you.”
“I’m coming home tomorrow.”
“Yes, but Bruce and Damian were coming to say farewell to the Supermen, so I hitched a ride so I could travel back with you.”
Tim pulled back in genuine wonder, “You suffered through a flight with Bruce and Damian, just so you could see me twenty-four hours sooner?”
“I am neither embarrassed nor ashamed, you’ve been here nearly two months.”
“I’ve been back to Gotham three times in that two-month window.”
“Just for quick over nights.”
“So, is this just a taste of my own medicine?” Tim asked, drawing them back together with a coy grin, that Jason returned with a brief, teasing waggle of eyebrows.
He leaned down to nip at the ear Tim didn’t keep his comm in, “It could be a taste of something.”
“Stop it,” Tim laughed, squirming a little in his grip.
“I can stay with Bruce and Damian at the hotel, if you don’t want me here,” Jason offered with no enthusiasm, but with sincerity.
“No, I do want you here. But it’s kind of Kon’s party.”
“I know I wasn’t technically invited, but what’s one more body?”
“You’re willing to hang out with a bunch of Titans for the night?”
“If it means hanging out with you, yes, sign me up.”
Fisting his hands on either side of Jason’s jacket, Tim half wishied they were already back in Gotham. “I’m going to think you’re sweet on me.”
“If you didn’t think that I wouldn’t be doing a very good job as your boyfriend.”
“You’re doing an excellent job.”
“Good,” Jason said proudly, putting more than a foot between them for the first time since his arrival, “you’ll want to shower, can I pick anything up from the store? Need more pizza rolls or soda pop for your little party?”
“I think we are well stocked, but if you want a real hamburger instead of a soy patty, you can pick up some extra ground beef.”
“Damian still in his antimeat movement?”
“I give him credit: when he commits to something, he commits.”
“Okay, extra meat. Message me if you think of anything else?”
“I will.”
Dipping his head slowly and deliberately, Jason left the barest kiss near the corner of Tim’s lips. “I’ll see you at the Tower?”
“Looking forward to it.”
Tim watched with warm bliss as Jason disappeared, turning over the ever-growing list of surprising things he learned about him briefly in his mind. He knew prior to the day they walked out of Bruce’s study that Jason was hundreds of things more than just a gruff and tough fighter with enough emotional baggage to sink a ship, but there were still times that the soft, boyfriend side caught Tim shockingly off-guard.
He rendezvoused back at the Tower, skidding into the living room, Cassie not far behind with Toni in tow, Bart and Kon already back and changed into civvies, setting up for their gathering along with Cody, as they each tried to out-speed one another.
The two additions had not been a difficult adjustment. It wasn’t the first time they had guest member to the team, but this was the first they had two at once, with the prospect of both Tim and Kon being out of San Francisco at the same time, they thought to ere on the side of caution.
The last few weeks had been crammed with trainings as they figured out how best to work together and to familiarize Toni and Cody with the protocols and patrol routes. They weren’t green to superhero work but there was always a learning curve to team dynamics. But all and all it had been a success, and the party was well deserved all around.
“It doesn’t have to be a race,” Cassie remarked with an exaggerated eye roll, meeting Toni’s gaze, finally able to share her annoyance over how exhausting her boys could be with a sympathetic friend.
“It’s fun!” Bart chirped, another streamer popping in to place seemingly instantaneously.
“Just don’t break anything.”
“We won’t, Captain!” Cody saluted from the kitchen before reappearing by the table with a bowl of chips.
“Feel free to stay on with us as long as you like,” Cassie mock whispered to Toni. “I’m going to shower. Tim, can you check the monitoring system before you get ready?”
“Sure,” he agreed, grabbing a drink for himself, and handing another off to Toni.
“Do you need any help?” She asked, taking the water gratefully.
“No, that’s okay. Go, relax before the others get here. You’ve worked hard these last few weeks; you’ve earned a little break.”
Toni raised her cup in a miniature toast and headed off to her room, Tim turning his way to the main computer hub, waving Kon over as he walked.
“Rob,” Kon greeted, shouldering him gently in his usual way.
“You ready?” Tim asked, slowing to match Kon’s slower than normal stride.
“Not really,” he sighed, his voice strung tight.
“Everyone will be fine. Stop worrying. Cody and Toni are going to do a great job.”
“I am sure they will.”
“Then why do you have that little crease between your eyebrows?” Kon shrugged uncertainly, the worry remaining on his face. Tim accessed the keypad, the door unlatching with a hiss. “Is it about spending the time with Clark?”
“We’ve spent time together before. It’s not a big deal…”
“But?” Tim pressed, setting to work at the computer, Kon leaning against the console to stay in view.
“It just…feels different now that Jon is showing signs of his powers. Clark and I figured our stuff out ages ago. He’s like an uncle, or a much older brother to me, and Jon is a great kid. He is a really great kid, I like him a lot, but I don’t want to confuse him. I don’t want him to have these expectations that I’m his big brother or something when I don’t think that’s a role I can fill.”
“No one is asking you do that.”
“But he looks at me-- he looks up at me with those big blue eyes, and... he’s just a kid. I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“I think you’re just going to have to talk to him,” Tim suggested slowly, his finger flying quickly across the keyboard to run a quick diagnostic on the monitoring system. “Or ask Clark to talk to him. I don’t think either of you will be able to help the fact that he is going to look up to you. He’s going to look up to both of you, and it’s probably likely there are things he would feel more comfortable talking to you about than his dad. But if there is a line, you just have to be firm and set it. He is young, but he’s a smart kid, he’ll understand.”
A little rumble caught in Kon’s throat as he clamped is mouth in a tight line before speaking again, “Did you ever have this problem?”
Tim leaned back in his seat, tilting his head to squint contemplatively at the ceiling, “Well, Damian tried to kill me immediately to take his rightful place at Bruce’s side, so I never had to be anyone’s big brother. Not to say I wouldn’t, he has had moments where he isn’t entirely awful to me. If Damian ever got over himself, we might have that kind of familial bond someday. But Dick and I are close, we consider each other to be brothers. He’s probably the one you should talk to about this, since he ended up with three younger brothers, when he never thought he would have any.”
“I thought he wasn’t coming tonight.”
“He’s not, but I think this will keep a month or so until you get back.”
“Gives me an excuse to visit you in Gotham.”
“You are always welcome at my apartment; you don’t need an excuse.”
“Always?” Kon scoffed, stepping away from the computer as it chirped that all systems were functioning.
Tim paused at the loaded question, brushing him off with a little huff before swiveling out of the chair. “Just make sure to knock first.”
“That’s a promise.”
“Jason actually came in with Damian and Bruce today,” Tim said casually as they walked back through the door, the voices of the others growing steadily louder.
“I suppose that means he will be here tonight?”
Tim looked at Kon carefully out of the corner of his eye, watching the swing of his arms, the slope of his back, the pulse in his neck for signs of upset. He had gone to Kon first, when he and Jason had decided that being in a full-fledged relationship was what they wanted. He had easily been the first person to know how Tim felt about Jason and had always been openly against it. And while for a time they had settled on the agreement that it was just something they wouldn’t talk about; the arrangement simply couldn’t hold up with the development of their coupling.
The start had been painfully strained, tensions building up until Tim’s birthday when somehow, without his knowing Jason and Kon had planned a party for him together. Since then, they had managed to maintain a consistent politeness, even if it was only for Tim’s sake. But he wasn’t fool enough to think there weren’t limits. “Unless you’re completely against it.”
“It’s fine,” Kon said unflinching, “The alternative would be you moping unattractively for the rest of the night and that’s far more intolerable.”
“You’re intolerable.” Tim retorted quickly.
“So mature. Much smart,” Kon mocked, stopping outside of Tim’s room, folding his arms commandingly. “Go shower, you stink.”
“I do not.”
Kon’s nose flared minutely, his eyes appearing to rest briefly in the exact place where Jason’s kiss had fallen less than an hour ago, before he shuffled off with one last shrug, muttering over his shoulder. “Yes, you do.”