milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

After Bart -- Thad, really, but Tim didn't know that -- had left, Tim had been left alone in the corner booth. He was trying to maintain a semblance of normality. He had...work to do. And he didn't feel like going back to the Tower to do it, since he knew Kon was there doing his homework.

He needed to calm down. To...think logically.

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Tim squeezed his eyes closed behind his mask lenses, trying to keep himself and his emotions under control. He had already lost his mother and seen comrades fall. He didn't want to lose his father, too.

"I can only hope so, Kon."

"But... but you -can't- worry about it, you know?" Kon says quietly. "I mean, stuff like that is always a possibility in our business. There's no way to -help- it. It's no less or more real just 'cuz Bart said it."

And was that really going to help? Maybe he should just shut his mouth...

"But you can't live any differently cuz it -might- happen, because then you'll never be able to properly spend time with him. You'll be too stressed."

"But Kon, it's one thing to know logically that it might happen...and another when someone says that they've seen it happen." And Tim didn't know if he was strong enough to handle the situation if his father ever died because of him.

"...But you're right. I mean, I really should follow my own advice. It might not happen, you know?" He said with a strained smile.

"Yeah, but Bart also said he'd seen you and Cassie... yeah." Which, okay, was really really different, but? Still something that was supposedly 'true' for the future. "You can keep the possibility in mind, yeah, and work to prevent it. But don't kill yourself with worry."

And. Well. "And you're not alone, either."

At that, Tim finally looked at Kon and smiled. He hadn't told him about his suspicions in the end, but perhaps it was better that way. It might never happen, after all.

"Thanks."

"Yeah." Kon smiles faintly back. "Just... don't -forget- that last part, okay? I know it's easy sometimes, but..."

"I'll...try not to." And indeed he would. Really, Kon was his best friend. Even with his paranoia, he knew that.

"I'll remind you if I have to." He has ways.

Now things were started to feel more normal.

"Should I be scared?" He quipped.

"Depends on what scares you." Kon's relieved to see Tim joking again.

"Well, in that case...I don't think I should be scared at all," he said with a faint smirk. It was always easier to change the subject and not think about his issues.

Normally, Kon would insist on Tim not going into denial, but he doesn't -want- Tim to focus on this. He wants him to forget.

"I suppose you think you know everything up my sleeve, huh?"

"Is there something I'm missing that you'd like to inform me of?" Tim asked with a brow raise. Just like normal. Well, on the surface, anyway.

"Missing? Yes. Inform you of?" Kon pretends to be deeply pondering this. "Hmm, maybe someday."

"I'm deeply devastated that you aren't willing to tell me. Really," Tim deadpanned. "Because it's not like I'm the world's greatest detective's sidekick, you know."

"If you're the world's greatest detective sidekick, figure it out." Kon raises an eyebrow in challenge, and crosses his arms.

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