It's probably illegal in a lot of ways, but Kon likes to break into Tim's apartment through his window. Most of the time, Tim doesn't mind. Kon figures it has something to do with his entire family breaking in on a regular basis as well. As Kon eases the window open with his tactile telekinesis, he hears a movie blaring from another room closer to the front of Tim's apartment, probably the den.
He floats through the apartment until he reaches the room then launches himself onto the couch next to his best friend, who he assumes heard him come in from the window. However, Tim jumps, spilling his drink all over the cushion. It's then that Kon notices the glass in his hand is a wineglass, now with only about an inch of rich red liquid remaining.
"Tim? What are you doing?" Kon asks as his friend reaches forward to grab a napkin off the coffee table and starts dabbing at the rapidly staining couch cushion.
"Cleaning up this mess you caused," Tim answers, not looking up and with his wine still in hand.
"No, I mean-what's with the alcohol?" he clarifies and reaches over to take the glass out of Tim's hand and set it on the table. Tim's always been such a stickler for obeying the law, Kon never thought he'd drink before he was of age.
"Oh." Tim finally glances up but quickly looks back down. His napkin is more red than white now, but he's still pressing it firmly to the huge splotch on the fabric. "I'm self-medicating," he says nonchalantly.
It's only then that Kon notices the two bottles resting on the edge of the coffee table. One is empty, the other looks newly opened. "Jeez, Tim, how much have you had?" Kon begins to worry that this is something he should have watched an after-school special on. But years ago, he didn't go to school and now he has homework and chores. And Tim had never seemed like the after-school special situation kind of guy.
"A bottle. Relax." Tim tosses his damp napkin onto the table and it lands next to a platter of colored cheese and crackers and a crystalline bowl of nuts. Apparently, the Bat class even applies to getting drunk. Kon bets the wine is ridiculously expensive.
"Relax? You've never even mentioned drinking in front of me and apparently this is for self-medication? What are you even doing this for?" Kon forces himself to calm down and place a supportive hand on Tim's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
It doesn't work. Tim snaps back, "I'm sad, okay? It's been a bad month." He reaches for his glass and takes a swig before Kon realizes what's happening.
"Tim, if you're feeling depressed, you can talk to someone. Dick, me, Bart..." Gently, he takes the glass again and holds it this time. Tim glares at him before looking away. "We're all here for you."
"What'm I s'pposed to do if you're the ones making me depressed?" rushes from Tim's mouth and he looks like he wants to be embarrassed to say it but can't bring himself to care. Kon freezes, feeling his stomach turn to ice along with his limbs.
"What is this about?" he asks, slowly. He knows his death hit Tim hard, but he had been getting better. Or so he thought.
"I have nightmares," Tim admits, staring at the television screen instead of Kon. "They're bad and I feel dumb because you're all alive now and I'm still mad at Dick. And sometimes talking just doesn't cut it." Tim's words are slurring slightly as they pour out of his mouth and all Kon wants to do right now is hold him until his life stops being hard. But he still has Tim's wine in his hand. "Give me that or I'll drink out of the bottle," Tim says, his tired eyes moving up from the glass to stare into his. Kon hands it over and Tim immediately knocks back what little is left. When he goes to pour himself more, Kon speaks up.
"Don't you have a limit or something?" he asks. Kon doesn't really know much about how alcohol works-he can't get drunk off of it, so he doesn't think it's important. But he's pretty sure at some point it gets unhealthy and Tim's probably nearing that point but his Bat training is covering it up.
"Okay, last one," Tim concedes and flops back onto the couch. The wine sloshes dangerously but doesn't spill. "Watch Blade Runner with me," he demands. Kon can't say no, so he settles back onto the couch until he's comfortable, scooting a bit closer to Tim in the process.
Within moments, Tim's head drops onto his shoulder. Kon is still staring at him in confusion when Tim starts cuddling up to him, wiggling until he ends up pressed against Kon's side.
"So you're an affectionate drunk," Kon says in shock.
"Shut up," Tim replies, eyes fixed on the television. Eventually, Kon remembers that he's supposed to be watching some movie.
"What's this movie even about?" he asks because he had come in during what looks like the middle of the film and he has no idea what's going on. While he waits for Tim to answer with an entire plot summary, he carefully shifts until his arm isn't trapped between his body and Tim's, but rests over Tim's shoulder.
"I love you," Tim says and Kon stiffens. That is not the plot of Blade Runner. He looks down at Tim, sees him resting against his chest, eyes determinedly watching the movie, fingers playing with the stem of his wineglass absently.
"I love you, too, man," he answers finally, deciding it's okay. They're best friends. They're practically brothers in arms. It's okay to say.
"No, I wanna kiss you," Tim says and shifts and when Kon looks down again, Tim's eyes are fixed on his face instead of the movie. Even inebriated, his gaze is intense.
"I..." Kon tries but his brain won't let him finish the sentence. "Tim, you're drunk," he manages but he can't pull his eyes away from Tim's.
"I know," Tim says. "But I've wanted this for years but then...you died." Kon's heart breaks a little, suddenly, and he gets the feeling of wanting to hold Tim again, but then Tim's moving up, swaying dangerously. He can't bring himself to move away, so he lets Tim kiss him.
Kon's wanted this since-he can't remember when. Since they both had girlfriends that they loved. Probably before that. So he lets Tim's mouth move clumsily against his and ignores the sudden wetness on his left arm when Tim forgets he's holding a glass of wine. He kisses back, just a little, because he's not sure what the consent rules are for this situation but he doesn't want to push Tim away.
At last Tim pulls away. When Kon opens his eyes, he sees that he looks like he might fall over, so he uses his TTK to rearrange him back against the couch. Tim collapses against the cushions gratefully then looks at the empty wineglass in his hand. "Oops," he says and Kon takes it for a final time, putting it on the far edge of the coffee table where Tim looks too tired to reach.
"You might need to buy a new couch tomorrow," he tells him, snagging a napkin to pat his arm dry.
"Oh well," Tim says like he doesn't care. He'll probably put it on Batman's card. "Can you get me water?" he asks as he stands up. "I need to...bathroom." He walks normally enough, but for a minute, Kon's terrified that he's going to vomit into the toilet. He stops listening in relief when he hears a zipper being pulled down in the bathroom.
By the time he's navigated Tim's kitchen and found a few water bottles in the fridge, Tim's back on the couch, legs pulled up and curled underneath him. Kon sits back down next to him and Tim immediately cuddles up against him. It's still weird. But nice.
"So can we start this movie from the beginning? I am totally lost," Kon says as he hands him a water bottle and wraps an arm around him again. He might as well take advantage of Tim being in a touchy-feely mood. It might not happen again until the next equinox.