Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It took Tim a full three seconds to go from sleeping to fully alert. Bruce would be absolutely ashamed of him.

He shifted slowly to avoid waking Conner. Tim froze when the other boy stirred. When Conner settled again Tim made a bid to escape the bed, but before he could move more than a couple of inches, Conner reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt.

“No. Stay.” Conner’s voice was still thick with sleep.

It would have been cute if Tim hadn’t felt the buzz of TTK spreading over him to keep him in place.

“I have to go to work.” Tim whispered.

“No.”

“Kon, so help me if I’m late to the shareholder’s meeting because of you I’ll steal all your sweatshirts.”

“Not if you never leave the bed.”

“Kon.”

He relented at the serious tone, but before he rolled over to go back to sleep he said, “Bring food.”

“I won’t be back until this afternoon. You’ll want to eat before then.”

“Don’t care.”

Tim rolled his eyes before leaning over to plant a kiss on Conner’s cheek.

“See you latter, lazy.”

“Mmph.”

Chapter Text

“Tim!?”

Tim stopped looking for Kon and focused on the speaker.

“Ariana?” That was a surprise.

Her face broke into a grin. “It is you!”

She slid into the booth. “It’s been ages! How are you?”

He slurped his milkshake. “Good, I guess. You?”

She smiled “I—“

“You didn’t find another date while I was in the bathroom did you?”

Tim looked up. “Conner! There you are.” He gestured to Ariana. “This is Ariana. She’s my, um…”

She stood to shake Conner’s hand. “I’m his Ex. From high school.”

“Nice to meet you. You better not want him back though, he’s taken.”

Ariana’s eyes widened a bit with realization. She glanced at Tim and opened her mouth to say something.

Tim cut her off. “It don’t think that’s gonna be a problem Conner, seeing how she’s engaged.”

She looked a little startled. “How’d you know that?”

He swallowed another sip of milkshake. “Ring.”

She looked at her hand “Oh, yeah.”

She slid back into the booth and Tim scooted over to make room for Conner on his side.

“So who’s the lucky guy?”

She hesitated long enough for Tim to be sure she felt bad about telling him.

“Is it Glenn?”

She nodded, not ashamed, but perhaps a bit embarrassed.

“That’s great Ariana! I’m happy for you. You guys made a great couple.” And the thing is, he really was. He and Ari hadn’t been serious enough to warrant any other feeling; despite the slightly awkward situation of learning your Ex is going to marry the guy she cheated on you with. He'd been an ass about it at the time, but he had years more experience now.

Ariana still looked unconvinced.

Conner spoke up. “I feel like I’m missing something here.”

Since Ari didn’t look like she wanted to say anything, it was Tim who said: “Glenn’s the guy she 'cheated' on me with.”

“Ooooh,” He said, “That makes sense.”

“Why would that make sense?”

“Steph.”

“That was different. It happened a month before we were really anything.”

“Oh yeah?”

Ariana looked lost. “Who’s Steph?”

“His other Ex,” Conner said, “Who until today I thought was his only serious Ex.” He leaned forward. “I didn’t think he had much of a social life, to be honest.”

“And Cassie is what, just a former make-out buddy?”

“Cassie doesn’t count. You know why Cassie doesn’t count.”

“Cassie counts!”

“If we count Cassie then you’re the one that cheated on me, not the other way around.”

“No, that would make Cassie the one that cheated on you. We weren’t dating yet, we didn’t start dating until after.”

Conner frowned. “You sure?”

“Yup.”

If it was possible, Ariana looked even more lost. “What?”

Conner looked at her. “The point is; everyone cheats on him, possibly including me.”

“I forgive him though.” Tim leaned over and planted a kiss on Conner’s cheek.

This finally gave Ariana the words she’d been looking for. “So, I, uh, I gotta ask. Is, is um…” She trailed off.

“Is what?” Tim prompted.

“Is the reason you were so distant while we were dating because you’re, um,” She gestured to Conner. “Gay?”

Tim blinked and realized that was probably why she’d been so surprised earlier. “No, I’m Bi, actually. I was just distant because I was a socially awkward fifteen-year-old and not really boyfriend material. And kind of an asshole.”

Conspiratorially, Conner whispered, “I can thank Steph, and you, I guess, Ariana, for him being a decent boyfriend now.”

“Just decent?” Tim feigned disinterest.

Conner considered. “Seven out of ten.”

Tim acted fake-offended. “Well you aren’t perfect yourself.”

“Name one way I’m not perfect.”

“If you were perfect you would have picked a restaurant that delivers food quickly.”

“We’ve been here twenty minutes! And here it comes now.”

Sure enough, food had arrived.

Ariana stood, dodging the waiter. “I guess that’s my cue to leave.”

Tim looked up from his now empty milkshake. “It was good seeing you Ari. Text me sometime. We should catch up.”

Ariana smiled. “See you Tim. Nice meeting you Conner.”

Watching her leave, Conner said, “She seemed nice.”

Tim leaned over to kiss him again. “Not as nice as you.”

“I have never been nice and you know it.” Conner said, reaching for Tim’s fries.

Tim let Conner steal a fry and hummed a noncommittal sound.

Chapter Text

Kon pulled Cassie a little closer, and she took the invitation to lean in.

She picked at his shirt. “Ugh! I hate how you always have the softest clothes. What is this thing even made of?”

Kon grinned. “Maybe it’s boyfriend material.”

She flicked his knee. “Terrible pun.” She grumbled, though her heart wasn’t in it.

At the other end of the (thankfully large) couch, Tim shifted.

Kon couldn’t tell if he was about to make a comment about how impractical wearing a T-shirt into battle was, or just uncomfortable with being a third wheel until Bart and Gar came back.

Finally, he just said, “I agree with Cassie. It is a terrible pun.”

Cassie gave Kon the awkward smile that could only come from returning a boyfriend’s stuff after breaking up. “I, uh, found some of your clothes in my room.”

“So that’s where all my shirts went,” He said.

“Well, uh, they were comfortable. ‘Boyfriend material,’ and all that.” The corner of her mouth twitched. “I just thought you’d want them back, you know?”

“Yeah, uh, Thanks Cassie.”

“You’re welcome.” Realizing that was to formal, she quickly amended, “And I hope whatever girl ends up stealing them appreciates how soft they are.”’

“Yeah,” Kon agreed, trying not to think about Tim’s door just down the hall, or how knowing the bat affinity for eavesdropping, he could be listening right now. “Whatever girl.”

Tim snuggled down in his burrowed sweatshirt. “Conner, I swear. This is the best sweatshirt in the world. What is it even made of?” He joked.

“Boyfriend material,” Kon teased, then immediately tensed. It had just slipped out.

Tim, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice how Freudian that slip was. “Well, I envy whatever girl ends up with it.”

Kon tried not to read too much into that statement.

Kon shrugged Tim’s cape off his shoulders. “Oh my god Tim, this thing is so heavy. What is it even made of? Lead?”

Tim shrugged. “Oh, you know: Kevlar, Nomex—“ He looked up into Kon’s eyes, and his lips quirked up into a smile, far more confident than Kon could be with this, whatever it was, being so new. “—Boyfriend material.”

Kon smiled back, tentative, and unsure. “I thought you didn’t like puns.”

Tim shrugged again. “Much like annoying super-clones, they’re starting to grow on me.”