SUMMARY: "Tim's stash of frozen fruit remained intact, thanks to his labeling the bags as brussels sprouts and lima beans"
DISCLAIMER: These people belong to DC Comics. I just fantasize about them.
CONTINUITY/SPOILERS: This takes place very early in the latest run of Teen Titans.
NOTES: Fanfic100 prompt #59, Food.
The kitchen in Titans Tower was rarely quiet, but Tim was pleased to find it in a rare state of solitude this evening. He had to finish the next two weeks of calculus homework and he wasn't in the mood to deal with rambunctious teammates while he did it.
Besides, he'd been craving a smoothie and all he wanted was to sit in the quiet and drink it. Assuming that...yes, his stash of frozen fruit remained intact, thanks to his labeling the bags as brussels sprouts and lima beans.
It even seemed the blender still worked, having survived whatever strange things Gar and Bart had asked it to do recently. Tim filled the blender with frozen peach slices, soy milk, and a few tablespoons of condensed milk, watching the hypnotic spinning ingredients.
Digging out a glass and a straw (both of which the Titans bought in bulk), Tim poured out half his smoothie and sat at the table. He opened his notebook and began to answer the first question.
There was a gust of wind.
"Whatcha eating?" Bart asked in his ear.
Tim's jaw clenched once. "A peach smoothie," he said without looking up from his homework.
"Oh."
Tim answered the second calculus question, trying to ignore the annoying feeling of someone watching him. Unfortunately, too many years of training made it impossible. "What is it, Bart?"
"I thought you'd be impressed."
Tim looked up. "Huh?"
Bart's lower lip stuck out. "I just sat still for five minutes and I didn't even take some of your smoothie."
Wincing, Tim put down his pencil. "I'm sorry, I've had a long week. I really am impressed." Now maybe he'd go away.
Bart grinned and sat up straighter, one foot tapping a rapid beat. "Can I have some of your smoothie?"
Tim sighed, waving a hand. "Sure, why not," he said, putting a hand on his papers so they wouldn't blow away.
An instant later, Bart sat across from him, slurping out of a glass that said 'superheroes do it better' and munching a gigantic bowl of popcorn.
Tim blinked, staring at the popcorn. "How did you do that?"
"Wally taught me this neat trick where you excite the molecules around the kernels."
"Oh." Tim shook his head, picking up his pencil to go back to work.
Another rush of air shifted his homework. "Hey, what's up?" Kon asked, landing next to the table.
Tim stared briefly at the ceiling, wondering why he couldn't get five minutes alone, but found no answers there.
"Robin made smoothies and I made popcorn," Bart said.
Kon frowned as he looked into Bart's glass. "Smoothie?"
"Peach smoothie," Bart said, slurping through his straw.
"That's a girly drink," Kon said as he poured the rest of the blender's contents into a Harley Davidson glass.
"Really." Tim looked pointedly at the glass.
"That doesn't mean I won't drink it," Kon said with a shrug.
Tim sighed and tried to refocus his attention on a word problem asking him to optimize the size of a dirt farm. Staring at the page, Tim wondered what a dirt farm was.
"What's a dirt farm?" Kon asked, leaning over his shoulder.
Tim closed his eyes. "Maybe you should go look it up. Someplace else."
"Oh." Kon stepped back.
When Tim looked up, the two sad faces confronting him just made him more annoyed. It wasn't as if he'd invited them. Or even encouraged them. "Look, I have work to do. I need to finish this homework."
"Do you need to finish it tonight?" Bart asked.
"Never mind," Kon said, not quite looking Tim in the eye. "We'll just get out of your hair, then. C'mon, Bart." Shoulders slightly slumped, Kon put down his half-empty glass and turned to go.
Sighing, Tim put his pencil down. "No, wait. I didn't mean to kick you out."
"Gee, thanks."
Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw Bart watching them. The speedster sat stiller than Tim had ever seen him, only his eyes moving, his expression reminiscent of a kid watching his parents argue. "Look, I'm sorry," Tim said. "I didn't intend to sound nasty, but--"
"Didn't you?" Bart asked.
Tim and Kon turned to look at him.
Bart's face was red, but he jiggled the popcorn bowl and went on. "I mean, we did interrupt you and you really hate that."
Sticking his hands in the pocket of his jeans, Kon nodded. "Yeah, we bugged you. I guess I should apologize."
Tim scrubbed at his face, the mask smooth under his rough fingertips. When he looked up, both of them were watching him and he had no idea what to do next. Dick was the social member of the family, after all.
Kon studied Tim for a second. "Why don't we just start over?" he asked.
Tim nodded in relief.
"Hey, Robin!" Bart said, appearing in the doorway behind them with his giant popcorn bowl. "Would you like some popcorn? Can we come sit with you?"
"Uh, I guess so," Tim said. "Would you like some of my peach smoothie?"
They turned to look at Kon. "Uh, I've got some oatmeal raisin cookies that Aun--someone made me. They're in my--"
"I'll get 'em!" Bart disappeared.
Tim and Kon had enough time to exchange rueful grins before Bart was back, shoving a tin into Kon's hands.
Kon opened the tin and tossed each of them a couple of cookies. Tim did his best not to moan when he bit into the first one. That was a cookie. Even Alfred would be proud of a cookie like this.
"Didja hear about the fight that Flash had with Green Lantern?" Bart asked.
"They fought?" Kon's jaw dropped.
"Not like physically!" Bart bounced out of his seat and started dashing back and forth, stopping occasionally to eat or drink. "I mean they had this big argument after they were fighting that invasion in South America, and Flash thought GL got in his way and they were arguing about tactics and Batman kept trying to get a word in edgewise but they wouldn't shut up and then he hit 'em both with a stink bomb and Superman got really annoyed and he..."
Tim hid a chuckle behind his hand, something inside him relaxing. Yeah, homework could wait.
--end--