#inspired by art of tim sitting LITERCHERALLY at the bat computer and kon being like

[nari-writes]

...........

The thing is, Tim doesn’t realise Kon doesn’t know his secret identity until Kon sighs, looks over at him longingly, and says, “Man. You’d be so good at this.”

“Good at what?” he asks, distracted by the plans he’s got spread out in front of him. Bruce wants an update on Lex’s new office, but Tim’s been trying to figure out why the old one has an extra hallway that seems to go nowhere. The last time Lex had a hallway that went ‘nowhere’, Tim and Bart had found a cloning lab.

“All the hero stuff, you know?” Kon says, and Tim blinks. He blinks again, trying to catch up while Kon keeps talking, “Like, you’re super smart, you’re super organised, and you’re totally obsessed with mysteries. You’d make a great Robin.”

“What?” Tim asks, feeling vaguely like he’s been shoved into a mirror dimension. But his undershirt is definitely half-hanging out of his laundry basket, and the R’s on the outside, so he can’t have been transported to an alternate dimension sometime within the last two minutes of conversation. Also, wait! he thinks to himself, he’s literally working on a plan to break into Lex’s building with Conner – why would he be doing that if he wasn’t-?

“Yeah!” Kon says, gaining enthusiasm at Tim’s bafflement, “Dude, you’re awesome. We could totally make a case. Where’s your computer? I bet I could get one of your powerpoints in front of Batman. Reasons why Tim Drake should be Robin, created by Superboy and validated by Young Justice.”

“Is it even my powerpoint if you’re going to take credit on making it?” Tim asks, and Kon waves off the question with one hand.

“Well, we can’t present a biased opinion,” Kon says, “and everyone in Gotham knows Robin’s the coolest, so if it was just from a civilian Batman may not take it seriously.”

Batman may not take it seriously, Tim’s brain repeats to itself, and then Tim has to stop himself from cracking up at the thought of Bruce sitting through a powerpoint on why his current Robin would make a ‘super cool’ Robin.

Presented by Superboy.

“Kon,” he says, unable to hide the laughter in his tone. Of course his friend is trying to joke - what other option is there? That Kon doesn't realise he's Robin? “What are you talking about? I can’t give Batman a presentation on why I should be Robin.”

Kon’s mouth twists in a mulish scowl. “Don’t,” he says, sounding more annoyed than Tim would’ve thought at such a joke, “You’re amazing, Tim. You would make an awesome Robin.”

“I know,” Tim says, and tries to ignore the flip in his stomach at how solemn Kon’s expression is, the way he’s serious about every word. It’s making his face feel hot, that Kon hasn’t immediately dropped the compliments, or paired them with an overly flirtatious wink. “Come on, dude, I get it. What bought this on?”

“It just- it’d be cool to hang out with you at the tower. Or do missions with you,” Kon mumbles and Tim stops entirely.

“Kon,” he says, because before it may have been a weird joke Kon was playing, some sort of ego-boost but he knows Kon well enough to read that expression, and- “Kon, I’m Robin. I can’t get Batman a presentation on why I deserve to have my own position.”

This time it’s Kon’s turn to look shell-shocked. “-what.”

“How did you not know?” Tim asks, feeling pained and also a little bit like a bad friend – had he inadvertently lied about something, made Kon think he and Robin were different people? Was he not clear enough when he’d introduced himself to Conner and Bart and Cassie, that weekend before Jason’s attack on the tower? Did Bart and Cassie also not know? Also, wait, back to his first thought of the day: “Why- why did you think I was helping you plan a break in to Lexcorp?”

“Lex sucks?” Kon says, the words an offering, and Tim squints at him.

“You think a normal civilian would help you commit crime?”

“What! How is this a crime?”

“This is literally breaking and entering! Technically, since I’m Bruce Wayne’s ward, it’d also be considered corporate sabotage.”

“It’s not a crime if the victim sucks,” Kon mutters bitterly, and Tim’s squint gets even more aggressive, brow furrowed.

“Kon. What was your explanation for how I knew you were Superboy?”

Kon shrugs, but his face has steadily been getting more and more closed off as his embarrassment deepens. “Dude, I said you were good at mysteries. I thought you just- figured it out. I wasn’t subtle the first time we met.”

“You didn’t have a name the first time we met!”

“What? Oh-” Kon says, “no, okay, the first time I met you as a civvy?”

"Huh?" Tim asks, and Kon cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah! Remember, it was the Mudders charity thing, and Superman and I volunteered in civvies but that girl got stuck in the mud pits so after I went to get her out you helped me hose off and said 'good job Superboy', and then I freaked out and you laughed at me."

"What," says Tim. He does remember that, but there's a key difference between his memory and Kon's- "you were in civvies?"

"Why did you think I kept showing up here as Superboy!" Kon says, this time his turn for exasperation.

"Because I told you my identity?!"

"You said your name was Alvin Draper! You wore contacts!"

"You have x-ray vision! I live with Batman!"

"Tim!" Kon yells, and it's not entirely angry but Kon's suddenly in his face, his hands wrapped around Tim's biceps. "Tim I didn't know! I just thought you were my cool civvy friend who figured out my identity while I was covered in mud and- and-"

Kon's suddenly beaming, and Tim has whiplash.

"Hi, Robin," Kon says, so soft that Tim's heart crawls up his throat with sticky fingers, his face burning. Is there a connection, between the blood rushing to his cheeks, and the migration of his pulse? He knows there's a connection between Kon's palms on his skin and the movement of his heart, at least, but this is-

"Yeah?" he says, and Kon's grin gets bigger.

"I am never ever letting you forget this."

#pre slash ish timkon? #timkon #batfam #identity shenanigans! #snippets #inspired by art of tim sitting LITERCHERALLY at the bat computer and kon being like #🥺 man you'd make a good robin #and tim being like. um excuse me. #anyway the ending is kinda F!!! :) but i wrote thing <3 #also dont @ me i know this isnt canon ok #im SLOW. and BAD at old comics #im TRYING