Kon was outside his window, hanging upside down from the air like he was Rose from Titanic. Tim opened the window with more than a little exasperation as Kon's flop top hair blew about in the wind. He smelled like hibiscus flowers, and peaches, as he smiled. It was Hawaii, and Metropolis all mixed up into one big pot, and set to stew in the sun with a big S logo on it.
"Hia, gorgeous."
Tim wasn't amused. Of course Kon had to know that. He had to know that doing this would only be troublesome for both of them, and yet here he was, slowly floating himself right side up, and taking a seat on the window sill with his boots hanging into Tim's room.
"I was in the neighborhood." He was lying. Tim tried to close the window, but Kon's hand caught it to keep the metal edges from slamming into his side. TTK wrapped itself around the glass, and held tight to Tim's fingers. A suckling sensation started around his palm. Tim knew it well.
"Hey, hear me out, okay?"
Tim arched an eyebrow, and Kon's hand came away from the window gently.
"Look, man I know the house is off limits, and I know you'd rather me not be here, but I really gotta talk to you."
"Why me?"
"You're the only one I've really got," Kon said. His fingers tugged at his curly bangs. It made him looked troubled, which was out of place. Supers weren't meant to have their brows all creased in worry. That was a job better left to Bats, and Gotham dwellers who only ever came out at night, and feared the sun.
Tim sighed because he was fully aware that he'd just fallen for the old Kryptonian puppy trick. It was something Bruce talked about often in loud, complaining voices between dark moods, and hours of staring at the computer- when he was happy, and Dick was at home. Clark apparently pulled it all the time. It was where Kon had gotten it, and everyone knew.
"Fine," Tim said, stepping away from the window. Kon's feet touched down paper light on the wood floors, a layer of telekinesis quieting his steps. "What's up?"
Kon bit his lip, and crossed his arms over the big S on his chest as Tim sat down on the bed. "I just got dumped," he said to the ground. The thought seemed odd. Kon didn't get dumped. Superboy didn't get dumped. He just gradually let girls go as they drifted apart because he was too much, and too far away, and too everything to be held on to so tight. Kon didn't get dumped.
"She was really mad," he continued, pulling again on the mop on his head. It was too long for the iconic S curl, but it would have been there if it had been just a half inch shorter, just a tad more styled. Tim knew that. "She kept yelling. She threw a fan at me."
"What happened?" Tim asked, wondering how that must have felt. Kon was impervious, untouchable, but only on the outside. There was this softness deep inside him that came from being so young, and so new. That fan wouldn't have hit him in a damaging way physically, there was probably still a bruise somewhere. Something ugly, and purple.
"I told her about Smallville. That I need to leave Hawaii, and trust me, I'm not stoked about it either! I just-" he trailed off, and looked back out the window. "I really want to belong somewhere you know? And Kal- Kal wants me to play pretend. He wants me to hide like everyone else, but that's just not me. This is me," he said, gesturing downwards from his shoulders to his feet.
Tim understood only in the most basic sense. The way someone understands that volcanoes erupt despite never having seen it in person. Certainly he was Robin, but he was also Tim Drake, and they were two very different people.
"I just feel like shit. I feel like I'm being backed into this corner that I can't get out of, and it's making me loose things I care about. My home. My friends."
"You're still gonna have me, right?" Tim asked. That made Kon smile, but it was a little smile, something almost rueful.
"Yeah," he said, and took a seat on Tim's bed, next the the other boy. Tim felt a big arm slung around his shoulders, and TTK trickle down over his chest, plucking lightly at the fibers of his shirt, and pulling on the skin of his neck. "I'm always gonna have you right?" he asked. It seemed companionly enough, and yet Tim heard a bit of hesitance there, like Kon really needed him to say yes, was afraid he wouldn't.
But that was preposterous. "Of course," Tim said, smiling big, and hard so that his cheeks hurt. "Superboy will always have Robin."
"I know that," Kon said, suddenly solemn again. "But will I always have you?"
The emphasis put on "you" made Tim pause, his smile faltering. This wasn't Robin talking to Superboy. This was Timothy Jackson Drake, a short rich kid from Gotham heights talking to Kon-El, a half kryptonian genetic experiment gone sentient. He didn't know what to say. His instincts said "no". No. Tim had never met any Kryptonians, half, or full, or cyborg, or anything. Tim had barely ever left the Gotham county area. But he was looking Kon in the eyes, one of his best friends in the world. One of Robin's best friends he tried to remind himself, and then realized it didn't really matter.
Kon was always Kon. Just Kon. Just Superboy. Just real, and there, and tangible, and at first that had been scary, but it was everything Tim had ever really needed, and he was always, always there.
Slowly, Tim smiled, and pushed at Kon's chest. "Of course, you big dope," he said.
The hug caught him by surprise. Just too tight, and just too close. Everything about it was calculated to keep him safe, and warm. It was a reminder of what Kon was behind the goofy smile. Smart, and strong enough to pop his head off like he was a Ken doll.
"I love you, Tim," He said, voice strained just past normal. Tim laid a hand on Kon's shoulder to try, and be comforting. "I love you so much."
He didn't know how to hear that. It seemed weird, and off, and maybe just a bit wrong because he couldn't understand why Kon loved him. He didn't understand why anyone ever would, but it was so sudden, and so genuine.
He realized Kon was crying about the time he noticed he was too.
"You're my best friend," Kon said against his neck. "And I love you so fucking much."
"I love you too," Tim said softly, the leather of Kon's jacket getting all tangled up in his mouth. Big arms squeezed him just a bit tighter.