Flying Analogies
A/N: My first attempt at TT, having not actually spent any time with the canon since YJ.
Warnings: Fluff, pre-slash, Probably Impulse-y Bart in Kid Flash era.
Pairing: potential for Kon/Bart
"Bummed over the Cassie thing?" he asks, surprising Kon, who'd thought he was alone.
"Oh, hey, Bart."
"Coz, if you are, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me."
It's odd phrasing. Like he's... Like he's trying to ask Kon out. Properly. Like a boyfriend.
"You mean like for ice cream?"
"If that's what you want to do." Bart's wrinkling his nose in that little kid way he still does, despite all his claims about being more mature. It's cute. Kon misses cute.
"If you're trying to cheer me up you're totally the one paying," Kon warns.
Bart shrugs and circles one over-large foot in the dust. "I can do that," he says.
And now they're sitting opposite each other, eating from the same sundae. And it's even werider, even more date like. Bart insisted on it, though Kon puts that down to not wanting to spend a lot of money and still get a load to eat. After all, Bart versus Kon in The Ice Cream Wars? Totally unfair.
Bart's doing his best to eat slow, but that appetite is getting the best of him every time he thinks no one's looking. Kon does his best to defend his half, but Bart can dodge his spoon before he's even seen him move. Eventually he settles for just wolfing down as much as he can as fast as he can before Bart cn get it.
Of course, brain freeze sets in. Kon screws his eyes shut and tries not to shudder.
"Hey?"
When he opens his eyes Bart's got his head cocked to one side and his eyes wide, but there's a weird intensity to the curiosity.
"Too cold, too quick," Kon admits. "Got a headache now."
Quick hot fingers are vibrating at his temples and around the lines of his skull and then at the back, just under the skull, lifting a little, and it's so much better than any aspirin and every hair on his body is standing on end.
"Guh," he says eloquently.
Bart sits back with this weird little smug smile that he's totally entitled too, because Kon hasn't felt this good for a while. He goes to run a hand over his head, but suddenly he doesn't dare in case it makes the tingly feeling go away. He pauses, hand hovering, for what must be months to Bart.
"Learn that from a book?" he asks, trying to cover his awkwardness.
"Craniosacral Therapy," Bart says, like the words are meant to mean something. He grins before Kon can hide the bafflement and goes on, "Wanna go somewhere else? Like, a movie? Orarestaurant? Oramoonlitwalkalongalonelycliff?"
Kon tries to work out that last option, but Bart's got a hand on his wrist and is trying to lead him away. Kon follows without protest, noting that Bart had cleared the bowl, licked it clean by the looks of it, at some point during the previous sentences.
"Last time we went to a movie you wandered off during the commercials," Kon points out as he's towed down the street. "And you make chefs cry. I've seen you. And them." He pauses. "That could be rather funny, actually."
Bart slows, but doesn't release his death grip on Kon's arm. He looks uncertain, which is strange, because in relative time he has to have been agonising for hours. His hand slips a little and rests in Kon's, palm to palm.
"What do you want to do?" Bart asks. "Whatdoyouwanttodo?"
"I don't know," Kon says, taken slightly aback.
Bart looks pained. "But I'm taking you out!"
"So doesn't that mean you decide?" Kon asks, mentally adding 'to cheer you up', or possibly 'as a friend', to Bart's last statement.
"Oh. Yes. I guess so." Bart beamed. "So, movie? Do you want to see a movie? I promise I'll be still. You can pick the movie. Let's go to a movie."
"Okay, lets," Kon agrees helplessly. "What?"
"I said you can pick!" Bart reminds him, dragging him down the street again. "Funny? Or Action? Or horror?"
"Nothing with any suspense," Kon remembers. "You really can't stand suspense."
Bart looks so pleased that Kon can't work it out. He considers for a second.
"You look nice today," he says, ignoring the lameness of the compliment in favour of scientific experimentation.
Bart looks like he's about to take off, he's so happy.
Kon doesn't want to go the movie theatre any more. If Bart's so happy at one really stupid bit of flattery, then something's up. Something he won't be able to wheedle out of his friend in a darkened room. So he plants his feet into the ground and Stops. Bart almost dislocates his shoulder.
It doesn't matter how bummed he's been over Cassie, this has to be more important.
"Bart?"
"Don't you want to see a movie? We don't have to see a movie. What would you like to do instead?" Bart rattles off.
"You okay?" Kon asks awkwardly, not sure how better to phrase it.
"Me? Yeahgreat!"
"You sure?"
"Yeahfine!"
"Only, coz, you seem kinda weird." Kon curses himself for not finding a better way to put it. He's stumbling over the words like he's asking out his first crush.
"Kinda weird how?" Bart asks, and he seems almost suspiciously, and more than a little nervous.
"Like I don't remember ever seeing you that psyched over a compliment before," Kon tells him.
"Oh." Pause. "Oh." And how long was that pause, in subjective time? Kon hates that he always finds himself counting the seconds these days, trying to work out where and when his friend is trying to out-think him. Bart's nose wrinkles again and he gives Kon this strange sideways look. "Don't remember you ever, uh, complimenting me before," he points out slowly.
Kon opens and closes his mouth. Superfish. Superguppie.
"I... guess not. Huh."
Bart shrugs. "'snot like I compliment you. A lot."
Only he does, Kon realises. Especially recently. Like it's all part of Bart's 'cheer Kon up' plan, except It began before he even split with Cassie. Began before he started going out with Cassie. It had kinda faded for a bit, actually. He hadn't known what was wrong, but that's what had been missing.
Something's not adding up here, and it's bringing back the headache.
"Bart?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't much feel like a movie," Kon sighs. "I think I might just go and chill back home."
"Kon?"
He grimaces. He doesn't want to ditch Bart, not now, but he's not sure he wants Bart around while he tries to work this out. But then, he does have a headache.
"I think I need another of your Craney Sacred massages," he grins. "We could play some Quake, or something, if you promise not to bust my controller again. They're not made to go that fast."
If Bart was going to fly away before, he looks positively orbital now. Kon can see him fighting the urge to hug him. And hey, why not? Bart's still holding his hand so it's a bit one armed, but that's cool. Kon doesn't have a flying analogy for the look on Bart's face now, but it kinda feels like he is about to float away. He hadn't realised just how easy it was to make Bart happy, and you can't be bummed about anything when you've got Bart grinning like an idiot and you know that you did that. You made someone else that damn happy.
Bart knows he's got a smile wider than his face right now, and he doesn't care. This was the best secret first date ever. Maybe for the second he'll even let Kon know they're dating.