#Tim ranting about a serial killer cold case

[redrobin-detective]

Info dumping and other things to do with your mouth

Conner was on a date with Robin. Tim. His best friend and maybe now boyfriend? It was all kind of unclear. Everything had happened so fast; realizing mid mission he was in love with Tim, the awkward but amicable breakup with Cassie, sorta kinda confessing one night and Tim agreeing to go out with him. 

“What flavor do you want, Kon?” He heard Tim ask and Conner blinked away from the wall where he’d been staring. Tim had a concerned, hesitant little smile on his face. “Froyo, what do you want?”

He ended up with a chocolate vanilla swirl with Oreos while Tim made some unholy combination of flavors that had to be illegal somewhere. It had been a good date, as the last two had been. They’d done a drive through movie the first time, went to a fancy, expensive restaurant in Gotham on the second and now were strolling down the streets of San Fran after a light dinner. It had been fun even if it felt more like a hang out session than a date.

“Hey, lets finish these on the top of the pyramid,” Tim said suddenly with the neon pink plastic spoon in his mouth as they rounded the corner to the transamerica pyramid building. “Its a Saturday night and I think if I don’t brood on some precarious ledge I’ll go insane.”

“I guess it’ll have to do since there aren’t any gargoyles around,” Kon half joked as he and Tim ducked into the nearest empty alley. “Ready to ride Air Superboy?” he joked as he swept Tim off his feet. It looked so much more romantic in the movies but Tim was totally practical about the whole thing, not leaning to close and holding onto their treats instead.

 Cassie and Bart had been hounding him after every date about how it’d gone, if he’d made it to first base yet. What was Kon supposed to tell them? That he laughed until he cried when hanging out with Tim, that he felt safe and happy and free to be utterly himself with the other, that just being able look and talk to Tim was enough to make his pulse jump. But Tim never really acted any different than they did any other time. 

Tim was his best bro in the whole wide world but these dates made Kon wonder if Tim actually like-liked him the way Kon did him. Maybe this was just another doomed relationship and he should back off before things got really weird. He could live without Tim Drake as his boyfriend but not as his best friend.

“Nice view,” he mumbled to himself as he deposited Tim at the top of the pyramid. His eyes were firmly trained on the side of his friend’s head.

“Yeah,” Tim sighed, handing Kon back his treat. “This has been real fun, Kon. Thanks for inviting me out.” Tim said evenly, as he took another bite and slurped down a gummy worm. “We should hang out like this more often.” 

“Yeah, hang out,” Conner said, staring down at his partially melted yogurt. Kon had planned for this, understood that Tim probably wasn’t into him like that. But there were worse places to be than beside his Robin who still had his back no matter what. “So got any good cases you’re working in Gotham? I haven’t heard of any crazy death traps lately, you must be bored.”

“Yeah I guess even super criminals need a break too,” Tim said with an eye roll. “But I have been using the extra time to dig into some cold cases, the real tough ones that B uses for training and I think I’ve made some headway on this really wild one from 1927 that-”

Kon had finished his yogurt by the time Tim laid out the details of the case. The sun set fully and the streetlights far below flickered on as Tim dove into his theories. It was approaching Kon’s designated curfew time as Tim excitedly explained his breakthrough he’d had the other night after his second pot of coffee. He knew how Tim got when he was worked up, knew he should stop Tim before it got any later and they both got in trouble. But he couldn’t.

The Superboy of old would’ve told Rob to shut up ages ago but now he couldn’t get enough. Tim was waving his colored spoon around like a conductor leading the orchestra at a frantic pace. His dessert lay untouched since taking a bite would’ve meant he’d need to stop talking. His eyes were bright, his cheeks pink with excitement and he exuded a comfortable energy talking about the things that interested him. And Kon was interested too, Tim’s brains never failed to impress him but watching Tim just being Tim made Conner feel really, stupidly in love.

“Sorry,” he blinked and saw Tim frowning, his excitement dimming. “I didn’t mean to talk your ear off. It’s getting late we should head back.”

“No, no!” Conner exclaimed, “no I want to hear the rest, about how the crooked judge ignored the new evidence and the murderer being spotted on the farm not long after.”

“So you were listening,” Tim teased but bit his lip and looked away. “I thought I was boring you.” Tim bit his lip. “You looked kinda spacey there for a minute.”

“No, man, I want to hear it. I just-” how did Kon explain he got distracted by a bit of hair dangling in Tim’s eye and how badly he wanted to brush it aside. About how soft his lips looked as he spoke in detail about his passions. Those weren’t bro feeling and while Robin may have been able to lie with the best of them, honesty had always been more of Superboy’s thing. “I was thinking of how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“Oh, you can, if you want,” Tim shrugged and Kon thought his heart would stop. “This is a date after all, we probably should’ve done that earlier huh?” He leaned a bit into Conner’s space who didn’t hesitate to close the gap between them. 

Their first kiss was strange, Kon too nervous and Tim too shy. The press of warm lips, hot breath on his cheek, the comfort of closeness. Kon could have stayed that way forever. They pulled back, one of Kon’s hands reaching up to cup Tim’s face. The city below them could have blown up and Kon would only have eyes for his Robin.

“So, circling back to the farm. You’re right to pick up that Birmingham went there 3 days after the first murder was reported but he was was spotted there after the fourth and fifth murders too. I think he was-” Tim continued, launching right back into his tirade. Kon huffed a little laugh, pulling back his hand but scooting a little closer to Tim as he rattled off theory after theory. Tim was just wrapping up when Bat Wayne called him. They were officially late.

“Sorry B,” Tim grimaced, “I started talking about the Babysitter Murders of ‘27 and lost track of time. Kon’s taking me back to the tower now and I’ll zeta back to the Cave. 20 minutes tops.” He hung up and gave Conner an embarrassed pout.

“You should’ve stopped me, we’re both gonna be in trouble now,” he held out his arms and Kon happily scooped him up again. 

“I like hearing you talk,” Kon grinned back as he flew them back to Titan Towers. And if he took the long, slow scenic route, well, they were late anyway. They made small talk flying back when Tim yelped out of nowhere.

“We kissed!”

“Yeah, we did,” Kon snorted.

“That was our first kiss!” Tim exclaimed again, turning to Kon with wide eyes.

“Sure was.”

“I was talking about a 90 year old murder mystery, had my first kiss with you,” Tim groaned and hid his face in his hands. “And then went back to talking about the mystery without acknowledging it.”

“It was really cool what you found though, you should submit an anonymous tip and see if your theory is true.”

“I am SO sorry, Kon,” Tim said now turning his face to hide in Conner’s shoulder. It fit there perfectly. “I didn’t process it until now and that’s so rude of me and I’ve probably been giving mixed signals this whole time because I’m not, I’m not good at this. Steph used to rag on me all the time, said I had the romance of a rock and-”

“Tim, it’s fine,” Kon laughed just in time to land them on the roof of the tower. He set his bird down and took his hands. “I don’t like you cause you’re some Casanoda or whatever but because you’re you, weird obsession with true crime and all.”

“It’s Casanova,” Tim grumbled, looking down at his shoes before shyly peeking up through his bangs. “Still, I’m sorry can we um, have a do over?”

“I don’t know,” Kon said, already leaning down, “the first one was pretty special. Think you can top it?” He did actually and Kon felt like he could fight off a thousand over protective Batmans. Would every kiss get better and better like this? He couldn’t wait to find out.

“I’ll call you,” Tim said a little breathlessly. “We should go out again next time we’re free, I want to hear what you’re up to.”

“Yeah okay, just keep me up to date with that case. I’m invested now, I want to know what happens.” Kon said, floating up and away from Tim, ready to fly home and beg Ma for forgiveness. 

“Maybe I’m a little invested too,” Tim smiled, small and sweet. “See you later, Kon.” That said, Tim opened the door leading into the tower and back to Gotham. 

Kon’s heart was doing stupid fluttery things that had nothing to do with the butterflies also in his stomach. Best date night ever. He let out a cheerful whoop, doing a few loop de loops in the air before speeding back to Kansas. And if Tim Drake’s excited face in his mind put a little extra oomph into his flight, well, no one had to know but him.