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Chasing Red Robin

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           There were no clouds. Not one. Why weren’t there any clouds? Kon wished there was a cloud. Even one single freaking cloud would do. But nooo, the universe didn’t want him to have clouds. It was hell bent on screwing Kon over. Because he was in plain sight. In Gotham. Where the bats rule and they probably had a bunch of shiny Kryptonite lying around.

            So, clouds. There weren’t any, and it was probably because Kon once hid in the clouds, and he cursed because he was drenched in cloud juice. Seriously, who knew clouds were just condensed water? Still, Kon wanted a cloud. He totally needed one, but he wasn’t going to get one.

            He sighed and squinted down at Gotham. He didn’t see any bats but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Kon sighed again, and he zoomed straight down, landing down on a rooftop a little too fast. The building didn’t crumble or tumble to his credit. It only suffered a few cracks, but hey, who the fuck cares? Kon was in bat territory. That wasn’t a good thing.

            Hurriedly, Kon pressed a finger to the tiny communicator in his ear. He just needed to get this done and over with. Without being attacked by kryptonite.

            “I’m in,” he said quietly. There was a slight crackle and a few scuffle noises in the background before Bart’s voice came through amused and clear. “Awesome. Now you have to stay there for thirty minutes—right, Cassie?”

            Kon’s jaw dropped. They were kidding, right?

            “I thought you said five minutes,” Kon asked. A shift of wind glided past, and he shuffled awkwardly into the shadows. That better not be a bat.

            “That’d be too easy,” Bart replied. “Cassie says definitely thirty.”

            Kon groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He scanned his surroundings. Still no bats, so he tried to compromise before he was found.

            “You’re going to get me killed. Fifteen minutes.”

            “Thirty.” Bart wasn’t budging. “And Cassie says an hour if you don’t quite complaining.”

           Kon groaned again. Why the hell did he agreed to play Truth and Dare? He was going to die. He just knew it.

 

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            And Kon was still alive. It had been twenty two minutes so far, but he was alive. That stupefied him. That was awesome. And he was only going to live for another minute. Maybe less. Because Kon just spotted Red Robin.

            He quickly hid himself but it was too late. Red Robin finished the arc of his swing onto a roof and said, “I know you’re there.”

            Holy shit! He was going to die! And Bart wasn’t helping at all.

            “You lose,” Bart crowed triumphantly. Then as if realizing the gravity of the situation, Bart spoke frantically. “Wait a sec—Bat Alert! That’s Red Robin! Get out—“

            Like Kon didn’t know that. He cursed to himself and floated into Red Robin’s line of sight, hoping he would be let off easy. Red Robin was nicer, right? Please?

            “Superboy, you know metas aren’t allowed in Gotham,” the older man admonished.

            “I know,” Kon said, wondering what excuses he could come up with. Bart and Cassie were freaking out over the line in his eardrum. It wasn’t helping.

            “I wanted—“

            “Robin will be at the Tower tomorrow.” Red Robin cut Kon off mid-sentenced. Kon blinked. What?

            “Go home, kid,” and the man shot off a line.

            Kon was so lucky. Super blessed, and he didn’t die or have to face Batman himself and he wished he could smack his brain. Because Red Robin thought he was there for Robin, never mind that he knew where Robin was, and he stupidly hugged Red Robin in glee.

            “Sorry,” Kon mumbled, mortified. He was going to die after all.

            “Dude!” Bart screeched in his ear. “You just don’t hug the Red Robin!”

            “What do you want?” Red Robin growled, voice harsh. “I told you Robin will show up tomorrow.”

            “I know,” Kon answered honestly. “He sent us all a message.”

            Stupid brain. Telling the truth. Why did he manhandle the guy into a bear hug? Then, Kon squeezed his arms around Red Robin tighter. What if he dropped him? Then, Kon was totally screwed. They could probably kill him, bring him back to life and kill him over and over again. And they had kryptonite.

            “I wanted,” Kon started, not sure how to continue.

            “To see you,” Bart supplied. “Try that.”

            “To see you,” Kon repeated dutifully. Red Robin shifted in his arms, and Kon could tell he didn’t buy it.

            “Shouldn’t you see Nightwing? If you haven’t noticed, I’m Red Robin.”

            Kon was stunned for a moment, but Bart was fast. “Tell him how amazing he is! Compliment him!”

            “That was till I saw how awesome you were!” Kon gushed out and continued to fanboy. “When you came to the Titans’ training and it was just amazing!”

            Kon winced internally. That sounded really bad.

            “Do you think you could set me down?”

            Kon could—no! If he set him down, Red Robin could probably batarang him in a second. He needed to stall…

            “I like you,” Kon blurted out. That was actually the truth. Or he would if Red Robin didn’t feed him to Batman.

            Red Robin looked surprised as hell, and Kon had no choice but to babble on. He was so going to kill Bart (and Cassie) for this.

Chapter Text

 

            One day Kon was going to die with a face full of Kryptonite, but today was not that day. Because Red Robin still didn’t know that Kon had lied that day in Gotham, and Kon was still lying, continuing the ruse of being the ultimate Red Robin fanboy. It was surprisingly more fun than Kon expected even with the serious deterrent of shiny green rocks.      

            “Hey Al!” Kon called out once he spotted Red Robin. He grinned to himself when he heard Red Robin sighed really quietly. And don’t think for a second that Kon believed that was Red Robin’s real name. He wasn’t that dumb though he feels kind of icky thinking about CADMUS and Luthor’s contribution to the fact. The man was a bat, and Dick was something else. He couldn’t understand how he could belong to the bats. Actually, if Kon thought about it, that was a horrible name. Alvin? Seriously? That was either a snot nose brat or a chipmunk.

            “Hello Superboy,” Red Robin responded tonelessly and, oh yeah, the man twitched. Kon was becoming the God of Making Red Robin Twitch, Sigh and Cringed whenever he came near. Kon cracked his lips into his widest smile and brandished an extremely large bouquet of wildflowers in front of Red Robin’s face.

            “Fresh picked from the farm,” Kon proclaimed proudly. They were. Though Kon cheated using his TTK to unearth a mass of them. In fact, he got an entire ton of them and managed to convince Dick to stow them in Red Robin’s room. He’ll have to remember to ask Dick for footage of the man’s reaction.

            “Superboy,” and there was the exasperation bleeding through Red Robin’s voice. Kon made his eyes go wide and innocent.

            “You don’t like wildflowers? But I—“

            “No,” Red Robin cut him off. Cue in the dramatic guilt, and Red Robin took the flowers from Kon. Kon looked at him expectedly. Red Robin sighed and gingerly sniffed the flowers.

            “They’re lovely.”

            “Glad you agree,” and Kon floated off the ground. “Do I get a kiss?”

            And Red Robin’s expression seemed to go even more blank.

            “No.”

            “Why not? I got you flowers.”

            Kon edged into Red Robin’s personal space. With that, Red Robin was rubbing the bridge of his nose.

            “We’re not even dating,” he said flatly.

           “Pft—what do you call this?” Kon waved his hand between them, indicating the flowers and their proximity.

            “You are seriously underage,” Red Robin replied.

            “And you,” Kon shot back with a grin, “should stop playing hard to get.”

            “Superboy,” Red Robin warned.

            “Call me Kon. You know how to say it.”

            Kon winked and flew off before Red Robin could pull out any toys. He wasn’t stupid.  Seriously. Messing with Red Robin did have its limits.

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            “I’m sorry,” Kon wailed loudly. He clutched Red Robin tightly. Red Robin pushed and shoved, unable to get out of Kon’s sudden octopus arms and wandering TTK. “I’m really sorry!”

            They just had an encounter with Poison Ivy, and Kon couldn’t help but follow her. And he totally did and didn’t appreciate the fist full of Kryptonite. Who knew it would be like that? Still, in spite of everything, Kon couldn’t resist turning it into an opportunity to mess with Red Robin some more.

            “It’s fine.” Red Robin patted him awkwardly on the back. Kon hid the grin erupting on his face in Red Robin’s neck. “It’s not okay! I didn’t mean to cheat on you!”

            Red Robin sighed and turned the awkward pat into an up and down rubbing motion.

            “You didn’t cheat on me. Poison Ivy’s pollens didn’t make you cheat on me. You didn’t have control of your mind.”

            Red Robin was amazingly good at comforting. Kon didn’t even think Red Robin knew how to either. Then again, he had Robin to watch over after all.

            Kon gasped out a giant fake sob. “But I kissed her!”

            And it was a pretty good kiss too.

            “It’s not--,” Red Robin began. Then, he paused and muttered quietly. Kon caught it anyway. Hooray for Super ears.

            “I’m going to regret this.”

            Red Robin swiftly pressed a kiss to his forehead.

            “It’s not your fault,” Red Robin said firmly. And Kon released him in genuine shock. Red Robin quickly moved his hands to the front of his chest, thankful for the increased amount of personal space. “And if you think that, I’ll clobber you over the head. Okay?”

            Kon was seriously impressed. Who knew Red Robin had it in him for that? Taking down the League of Assassins—whatever. Kissing a guy on the forehead when the guy was really just pretending and playing around even if he didn’t know it—wow.

            “I love you,” Kon declared, goofy smile on his lips and entirely sincere. “Seriously.”

            Red Robin just sighed.

Chapter Text

Kon’s “adventures” with Red Robin or Al had taken an unexpected turn, and he was—He was laughing and, oh god, Kon had never really saw him smile like that. And he had blue eyes, incredibly blue eyes, looking so freaking hot. It was doing funny things to his stomach. Things that he had never felt before. Not since Tana or Cassie. Kon wanted the butterflies to go away, but they wouldn’t, happily set off by an amused unmasked Red Robin.

            “If,” and that sounded so good, how could one word like that sound so good? “If I knew that was all it took to shut you up, I would have done it sooner,” Red Robin commented. And Kon was going to melt right there, but he recovered enough to say, “Liar. I’m more likely to see your naked bod than your naked face.”

            Red Robin burst into laughter again, and it just wasn’t fair. The sound was so melodic, and he looked even better unmasked—there went Kon’s theory that the cowl hid fish lips or something, but it never felt so good to be wrong.

            “I deserve that,” Red Robin admitted after he calmed down. And damn, his voice was all shy and bashful. He wasn’t supposed to be like that! He was supposed to be the bad-ass Red Robin, took down a League in your face Red Robin, the oh fuck it’s Nightwing’s brother Red Robin—not this I’m shy and adorable Red Robin.

            Then, “are you okay?”

            And Kon couldn’t breathe or hear anything but the thundering beats in his chest because Red Robin was looking at him and Kon just realized it’s not a joke anymore. He honest to god like the man, and it wasn’t because he got to see the guy’s face.

            “Y-yeah,” Kon stuttered and, no, Superboy did not stutter but here he was doing it. “I’m fine.”

            He wanted to cry because those eyes were intense and still looking at him. Kon almost told him to put the cowl back on just so he could sit down and figure out what just happened, but then he was glad he didn’t. Red Robin frowned, and those lips just looked really, really kissable. Kon was sure his mouth was dropped open wide.

            “I’m going to go now,” he rushed out. He quickly darted for the open window. Forget the food he brought over to force Red Robin to eat even if it was his favorite. Even if there was pie. This was freaking him out so much that he couldn’t even think about pie.

            “You’re not staying?” Red Robin sounded slightly disappointed. That must be Kon’s imagination because there was no way Kon inspired anything but irritation.

            “Someone’s calling for help,” Kon lied quickly. “Got to save the day.”

            He climbed through the window, hastily, hitting his head against the glass.

            “Are you okay?” Red Robin’s voice was laced with concern. He stepped over to Kon in two smooth steps, hand reaching out to feel Kon’s forehead.

            “Yeah.” Kon stumbled backward away, flying off before Red Robin could say another word. He was screwed. A hundred thousand times over. He liked Red Robin, and he had spent half a year annoying the shit out of him.

 

Chapter Text

Kon wriggled his toes in the sand happily. It was warm, grainy and it felt so good beneath his feet. He grinned, arms outstretched as he soaked up the sun. Then he turned to look at Red Robin who glared at him sulkily behind his dark sunglasses.

“I hate you.”

Kon didn’t flinch though he did shift his feet guiltily. It was a little understandable that Tim had a bit of venom to his voice. Because Kon just flew up to Gotham and kidnapped the man. Took them down to Hawaii for some fun and love.

“You do not,” Kon replied back patiently. He waved a hand out to the beautiful scene. They were on a part of the beach that was pretty much isolated. The sand was white and beautiful. The waters were blue, deep and clear. The sun was shining down in a beautiful glow of rays. It was a picture perfect image of a day at the beach.

“Look at this.”

And Tim’s glare seemed even more heated to Kon. Because he growled out, “I have work.”

“Pfft,” Kon snorted as he leaned down and rifled through a bag filled with all the beach-y items they needed.

“Work. You had work. Now, you’re here. Lighten up, dude.”

“You kidnapped me just before my meeting started. Tam’s going to kill me.” Tim groaned. He raked a hand through his hair in frustration.

“I told her,” Kon said patiently. Then, “aha!”

He found the large bottle of sunblock that was in the back. He tossed it at Tim who was still frowning.

“Come on, how often do you get to have a day at the beach?”

Tim took the sunblock with a sigh and a shrug. Then Kon wagged his eyebrows at Tim.

“Need help?”

“No,” Tim said sharply. Kon backed away with his hands in the air.

“I was just offering.”

Then he looked out toward the ocean and sighed. Sure, Kon knew Tim’s real name and identity now, but that didn’t help one bit. Because Tim didn’t take Kon’s affections seriously, though Kon didn’t blame him. He was joking the entire first year (not that Tim knew), but now?

Kon didn’t know how he was going to make Tim see that his feeling were genuine.

“Hey,” Tim said softly, and Tim looked so beautiful in the sunlight that revealed each feature of his face clearly.

“Yeah?” Kon tingled in anticipation. Maybe Tim would...

“Can I bury you in the sand?” And Tim gestured to the large shallow hole he had already dug in the sand while Kon was thinking. Kon deflated, but he smiled anyway.

“Uh…sure!”

Anything. He’d do anything.

He lied down, wriggling to get comfortable as Tim started piling sand on top of him. The sand felt was warm and just lying there made Kon feel sleepy.

“Superboy…,” Tim said after he had completely covered Kon with sand and patted it down in a giant mound.

“This is fun. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Kon replied. Then he blinked because Tim was walking away.

“Consider this payback for making me miss my meeting,” Tim called back. “You can get yourself out.”

“Aw, Tim!”

Well, at least Tim smiled.