Work Text:
Finding Peace
After Tana had been killed, Kon hadn’t known what to do with himself. Since nearly the very beginning of his life, she’d been there, integrated into the foundation of his very existence. She was a rock – and, sometimes, his hard place.
How was he going to live the rest of his life without her?
Thankfully, he had other friends, good friends, but…it just wasn’t the same with Young Justice. Especially since Match had apparently picked up on Cassie’s crush on him and made him think that he, Kon, cared for her…like that.
And he did care for her, but…he’d never really been able to let himself feel anything too deep. Those feelings already belonged to Tana.
And now…they belonged nowhere.
At least, that was what he thought. Then Bedlam attacked again and they all found out Robin’s name, and… It was really weird, but Kon remembered that as Conal, meeting Tim Drake for the first time, he’d thought that Tim was…hot.
Now Kon-El once more, he had to admit that he still thought Robin was way too attractive for his own good – especially with most of his face covered by the mask. But Cassie…didn’t she already have…well, prior claim on Kon or something?
Kon pondered that through the weekly team meeting that Robin insisted they all have. Bart never paid attention for longer than two seconds, Anita spent most of her time making sure he didn’t cause too much trouble, and keeping Slobo from leaving, and Secret hovered mostly silently in the corner, occasionally leaving to check the monitors.
Cassie split her time between making moony eyes at him and listening to what Robin had to say.
For some reason, Kon didn’t really like that. Well, he didn’t mind the moony eyes so much, but he wished she’d listen to Rob more. Robin was really smart, and even if the meetings were boring, they served a purpose.
Kon normally didn’t put much thought into things like that, but he was trying to grow up. Now that he could age, it seemed wasteful as well as stupid to keep acting like a dumb kid – especially since that was what Tana had urged him to do before she’d left.
Robin would tease him that it wasn’t an act, all the while knowing he could say things like that because it wasn’t true. Cassie…sometimes Kon thought that Cassie didn’t think he was all that smart.
Other times he thought Cassie really only liked him because he was hot, popular, and could be charming when he tried. How else would she not have noticed it was Match that she’d been making out with for two months? They were friends; shouldn’t she know him better than that?
Kon brooded his way through the rest of the meeting, wondering why it was that he never seemed to be attracted to the same people he was friends with. That would make dating so much easier. The girl he dated would already know him, and he’d know her.
Like with Roxy – if he’d liked her back, then things would have been cool. But he hadn’t. Then again, that could have made things complicated when she gave her DNA to save his life and they came out feeling like brother and sister.
So deep in thought he never noticed the meeting breaking up around him, it came as a shock to Kon when Robin’s hand shook his shoulder slightly. “Kon? You in there?”
“Uh… Yeah, Rob! Ready, willing, and able to kick supervillain butt!” Kon tried for his usual over-exuberant tone of ‘Yes, I was listening, just…so hard that I never noticed you’d stopped talking.’
Robin gave him a sideways look, one of the ones that made Kon sure Tim was narrowing his eyes at him behind the mask, but he seemed to buy it. “If you say so. Sadly, there are no supervillains in sight.”
A warmth started to creep down Kon’s neck as he realized that Tim totally knew he was spacing through a lot of the meeting, and expected it. But it wasn’t entirely embarrassment – it was also a kind of…contentment…that Robin was okay with him not totally paying attention.
It got Kon thinking. He had girls for friends, but he’d always been closer to his guy friends. The reverse had to be true for the girls, but still. He’d already been thinking of how hot Rob was without the mask…maybe he should be thinking about what it would be liked to date one of his guy friends.
One specific guy friend.
Watching Tim head towards the door, Kon started after him. Only once he was right behind his friend did the thought occur to Kon.
What if Tim didn’t like guys?
But then, Kon wasn’t just any guy – he was Superboy. The Teen of Steel. The Superhot Super.
And anyway, Tim was his best friend. He and Roxy were still friends, even after everything; surely his and Tim’s friendship could handle it if Tim didn’t return his feelings.
Decided on his course of action, Kon flew swiftly down the corridor after Robin, hoping to catch him before he left to patrol, or brood on the roof, or some other Bat-thing. “Hey, Rob?” Kon called when he caught sight of a Kevlar cape sliding past the corner.
“Yeah, SB? What’s up?” Tim paused and turned his head to look at Kon over his shoulder.
Kon dithered uncharacteristically for a moment, shifting nervously from foot-to-foot – making him look like he was trying to two-step in mid-air – as he tried to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. “Um…I was wondering…”
Tim cocked his head, and gave him a ‘Get on with it’ look. It was amazing how he managed to look annoyed with so few visual cues.
“Well, would you like to…I dunno…go to a movie sometime?”
Tim opened his mouth, presumably to say, “Sure, of course,” like he normally did when Kon – or Bart, or one of the others – suggested an activity, but before he could say anything, his eyes widened and his mouth snapped closed, an almost audible click reverberating in the stunned silence that had settled over them both.
Kon’s grin wavered a bit, but he held firm to his resolve.
Long moments passed before Tim coughed twice, then looked at Kon. “You mean, like…on a…date?” he finally asked.
Kon nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he elucidated.
Tim’s expression made several different contortions, finally settling on something partway between a pleasantly surprised smile and a nervous frown. “Um…sure. I’d…I’d like that.” He looked away, cheeks shading pink with an embarrassed blush.
It seemed that Kon wasn’t the only one with a crush. “Me, too, man,” Kon said, reaching out to lay one hand on Tim’s exposed elbow. As Tim raised his eyes to look at him, Kon offered him a smile.
Tim smiled back, and with the curving of his lips, a strange warmth spread through Kon, bringing a peace to recently jittered nerves.
He’d finally found where he belonged.