Events in Kansas

For: foozled_up

"Pa Kent took me fishing," Kon says.

Tim hmms into his Titan communicator. He's putting together a profile for an upcoming undercover mission that he and Batman have been working on for weeks.

"No. Dude. He took me fishing."

Tim pauses and frowns. He's a world class detective. He's a master of the nuances of the dips and rises of human speech. At least he thought so. So when he can't tell if Kon is excited or disgusted, he's intrigued and starts analyzing. The tone of voice has everything from it stripped besides emphasis on the fishing. Knowing Kon, he wouldn't like fishing itself, especially if he caught anything and had to prepare it as a meal. But Kon sometimes surprises him.

Tim just doesn't have enough data. "And?" he simply asks.

"He's making me go again this weekend. And you're coming with me. I almost lasered the whole lake from boredom, dude," Kon pauses. "I really don't know why we have to obey our guardians when our guardians are clearly insane."

Tim understands but is a little baffled. He has plans this weekend. He's told Kon before that he needs a couple of weeks notice if he has to leave Gotham and it's not official business. Though it's the summer and at least it wouldn't interfere with school. There is, however, a film festival he wants to see, and there are his--many--Robin duties. "I-" he starts.

"Great. I'm picking you up Saturday morning at 5:00am. I'm not kidding. Pa wanted to go earlier."

That last sentence definitely has horror tingeing it, and Tim smirks a little as he imagines Kon's wide, glazed eyes staring inward at the imagined horror of getting up so early. Tim relaxes and mentally reorganizes his priorities. "All right," Tim says.

He has a fully stocked tackle box fill with hooks and hand-made lures and what are apparently 'bobbers' ready to go by Friday evening. When Tim tells Alfred what he's doing, Alfred makes him wait while he fetches him a beige fishing hat decorated with various hand-made but impractical lures.

"This belonged to Master Bruce when he was a boy."

"Thanks, Alfred." Tim smiles and takes the hat and places it on his head.

Alfred smiles. "Take care, young sir. Give the Kents our best."

***

"Pa Kent is making me go to the rodeo in Wichita or some other place that is apparently a 'big city'. You're coming with me. You're not leaving me alone with cowboys and dirt."

Tim wants to tell Kon that there's more than that a rodeo and that cowboys exist even in Gotham, but he resists. Fishing had been fun, and Kon was his best friend. He thought something like this would happen again soon, and so he's already cleared his weekends as much as he could.

"All right," he says.

They have fun. In t-shirts and jeans, they fit in (a lot more than Kon thought they would, though Tim isn't surprised). They both crack up when the announcer says the word "bulldiculous" when talking about the upcoming bull rides. They laugh too long and too loud enough that they receive slight frowns and outright glares from the nearby crowd in the stands.

But the crowds frowns don't matter, as Pa Kent is smiling at and with them.

They have a great time at the rodeo. Kon is surprised, while Tim adds the whole event to his mind's catalog of human interaction with both man and beasts. The only thing that mars their experience is when they witness a bronco stomping a man in the ribs. The man had been bucked, but his hand snagged in the stirrup on the way down, jerking his arm and changing his trajectory from away to under the angry horse.

Kon and Tim share a look and a couple of head gestures that say that Kon can get out there to grab the guy, quicker than anyone else can see, but Robin can't emerge in the middle of a Kansas rodeo. Kon's about to act when one of the rodeo clowns rushes in and pulls the man to safety, while another clown corrals the wild horse.

Kon and Tim relax, though there's a current of wariness where there was only curiosity before. There was no real sense of danger before, but now....

They plan on taking their fellow Titans out to a rodeo sometime.

***

"Chili cook-out competition thing. I have to judge a bunch of old ladies and random dudes' chili. Please save me."

"All right," Tim says, smiling. He likes these weekends.

***

The things the Kents drag Kon to--who drags Tim--seem to be neverending that summer. Ice cream social, dude. The hell? Three words, dude. Barbed. Wire. Museum. Bingo. I am completely terrified of Martha playing bingo, man.

***

Finally, it's the Fourth of July, and the Kents have taken Kon to a nearby fairgrounds. Tim is with them, invited by Martha this time.

He and Kon are sitting in lawn chairs behind the Kents. There are other families scattered in the massive parking lot to witness the fireworks.

Kon gets himself and Tim a snow cone each from a wandering vendor. Their lips stained blue (Kon) and red (Tim), they smile at the greens and whites and reds and blues that fill the sky. The crackling and booming pops play a symphony.

"Thanks for coming," Kon says, looking at the ground in between rounds of the fireworks.

"No problem," Tim says, glances a smile at his friend. "This is great."

"I mean, more than just today. I mean all summer. You saved my life."

Tim thinks about the times he's actually saved Kon's life. He doesn't count this summer as one of them. "Kon, we're friends. It's what friends do, hang out," Tim explains slowly, to tease Kon.

"Shut up." Kon smiles back, rolling his eyes. "I just mean you could have blown me off. I'm glad you didn't."

Tim is touched. He thought Kon just wanted anyone to share these weekends with, so he wouldn't be bored. Instead he wanted it specifically to be Tim.

"Yeah. Me too," Tim says. He wants to tell Kon that the weekdays seem too long, and the weekends where they're together are never long enough. He wants to tell him what he's realized he feels this summer.

He keeps silent.

They're quiet for a minute or two, just watching the sky, then Kon says, quietly, "I like that you're here. I like... being with you."

Tim's brain processes this while he holds his breath. He looks at Kon, seeing if the quiet words mean what he thinks they mean, and he knows he would see a blush there if it weren't a red firework going off.

"Kon," Tim says. "Me too."

Kon looks at him and smiles. "Yeah?"

Tim reaches over and takes Kon's hand. "Yeah."

Kon squeezes Tim's fingers slightly. He sits back, relief and satisfaction and deep affection. "Yeah."