Chapter Text
Tim arrives at the spaceship exactly on time. His mother's lessons on punctuality are far too ingrained in him for him to ever arrive early, but a meetup between friends and lovers is not the same as a gala, so he tries not to be late.
Kon greets him with a kiss and Cassie greets him with a wave. She barely even looks up from where she's messing with her phone. Despite the ship literally belonging to him, Bart is late. Tim sighs fondly. Of course he is.
They don't plan on going to space this time, mostly because several of them (including Tim, apparently) have plans that means they can only meet up for the day. While they theoretically could leave and come back in that time, knowing them? Something would go wrong and they'd be stuck on some random planet for a week. And, well, if someone went looking for them and couldn't find them? That could be bad. Really bad.
After all, they still haven't actually told anyone about this space ship…
Tim is cut out of his thoughts by a blur of red dashing into him. He falls to the floor, embraced by Bart.
"You're barely late" Tim notes in surprise
Bart kisses him "I missed you!!!"
"We saw each other last week"
"I know!!" Bart whines "It's been so long!"
Tim kisses him on the forehead "Well, we're together now"
Bart lights up, vibrating so fast that it genuinely makes a buzzing sound. Or more specifically… music.
"I Hear a Symphony?" Tim asks, barking out a laugh "How long did you practice that?"
Bart blushes "I started practicing last month…"
Tim grins "C'mon" He leans in "Stay still long enough for me to kiss you"
Bart freezes, and then melts into the meeting of their lips. Tim tunes out Kon and Cassie, focusing instead on the sweet little speedster on top of him. Tim's kissed Bart plenty of times before, but it still astounds him how good at it Bart is. Tim pulls back and goes to bite him, but Cassie coughs.
Right. They both pout. Nothing further than making out while Cassie's present, and—
Tim smiles apologetically at Kon. Don't leave Kon out.
"Right" Cassie crosses her arms, thoroughly unimpressed "Are you done?"
"Yes, Cassie" Tim and Bart reply, ducking their heads "Sorry, Cassie"
Cassie clicks her tongue "Get up." They rush to do so. "What're the rules?"
"No further than kisses in front of you. Don't leave Kon out. Keep flirting to a minimum." They recite dutifully.
"And?" Cassie directs at Bart.
"Don't tackle people at full speed" Bart sulks.
She gives an icy grin "Good. You remember. Now, what have you two done just now?"
"I tackled Tim at full speed…" Bart ducks his head, and Tim joins him in saying the next part "and then we left out Kon"
"And?"
Tim's head darts up "We didn't go father than kisses, though!"
"You were going to" Cassie counters "If I hadn't stepped in. And as we know…"
"Intention matters" They sigh.
"We're sorry, Cassie" Tim and Bart look at her with glistening eyes, their best pathetic expressions in full swing.
Cassie sighs, murmuring to herself "Why am I friends with these fools…"
She huffs "I'll excuse it just this once, since the meetup hasn't started, but if it happens again…" She gives them a withering look.
"Yes, Cassie" The two boys reply obediently, sufficiently cowed.
Look, Cassie is thoroughly capable of wrecking havoc on them. They're not going to go against her. They still shudder when they think of what she did last time they disobeyed her. Besides, they trust her to not command anything of them without sufficient reason. They all agreed to these rules, it's just Cassie's job to enforce them.
They probably could stop her punishment if they wanted to, but if they broke the rules? Then they deserve whatever punishment she cooks up.
Their meetups are a bit more than just a simple catch-up. They have a schedule.
Part 1: Schedules
They've discussed their availability over chat previously, but none of them are all that great at actually being specific and understandable over text so they start off by arranging the schedule for the rest of the meet-up. They figure out how long they have, and then debate their way into which of their standard activities fit.
Today, they don't have time for lessons, but if they have time they'll spar a few times. Tim votes that they do an official catch-up since they haven't been in regular contact for the week. Cassie votes that she gets to show them her most recent interest. Kon votes that they have a speedrunning contest. Bart votes that they have a sleepover.
They piece together their schedules for a day chock-full of activities.
Part 2: Report
"...and now apparently Damian wants me to train him" Tim finishes, smirking at the others' dumbfounded faces.
"You're seriously agreeing to train him after he stabbed you!?" Kon shouts
"Yes" Tim sips his Zesti "He's genuine in his distress."
Bart huffs.
"If I cut ties with everyone who hurt me, I wouldn't have very many people I could talk to" Tim reminds them with an icy glare.
They deflate.
Tim lets out a put-upon sigh "I know you're just worried for me" He softens his voice "but I'm not defenseless. He only got the better of me because I was surprised. It won't happen again. I promise."
"You better be right about him" Cassie glares
Tim gives a magnanimous smile "If I'm not, I give you permission to tell me I told you so and prank me into oblivion. But I'm pretty sure I'm right."
"Okay" Kon acquieses "Fine. Train him. But you better give regular updates!"
"Of course" Tim promises softly.
Part 3: Interests
Cassie manages to convince the others to download a dating game on their phones. She wants to be able to ramble about it to them, but she wants them to experience it for themselves rather than being spoiled.
They play together for a while, separately but in the same room. As they do so, they chat about the characters and plot. They argue about which of the love interests is the hottest and speculate on where the game's going to go later on.
Previously, they'd agreed to, as a group, try anything that one of them suggests. So even though some of them (Tim and Kon) were a bit embarrassed at the idea of a dating game, they played anyway. Very quickly, they all get invested.
Part 3.5: Fanart
One of those things they agreed to try out was art. Bart doesn't really have the patience for it, but the other three gradually improved as time went on. So maybe, possibly, while playing the dating game they got a little bit distracted by competing over who could draw the best ship art between the player character and the love interest they each were pursuing.
And maybe, Bart decided that he didn't feel like trying on the art and instead made a fansong.
Maybe.
Anyway, so they definitely don't spend almost the entire rest of the day making an animated music video for the song Bart made. Totally. And they definitely don't post that online. Totally not.
Part 4: Speedrunning
They decide to speedrun a game they've all speedrun a million times before. That way, it won't take too long but none of them will have an advantage.
The game in question? Wendy the Werewolf Stalker: The Game.
It's an RPG with a million and one glitches, and the four of them have discovered about half of those. They're probably more knowledgeable about the game than the game's developers. They're definitely more knowledgeable than the actors in Wendy the Werewolf Stalker.
There's a multiplayer mode and a singleplayer mode, and while they hold the world record for multiplayer speedruns, their arch-enemy g0ldens0ul33 has the world record for singleplayer.
So, while they are very much competing with each other here, more importantly they are competing with g0ldens0ul33.
They work hard. They don't even sabotage each other!
But it's in vain…
g0ldens0ul33 remains victorious.
Kon wins the competition, but even he can only celebrate so much when he's still a full minute over g0ldens0ul33's time.
Alas, victory will be delayed for yet another day…
Part 5: Sleepover
When the day is done, they curl up to sleep, intertwined in each other's arms. Cassie may not be in their relationship, but that doesn't mean she would say no to a cuddle pile!
Tomorrow, Tim returns to Gotham. Tomorrow, Tim begins to teach Damian. Today? He enjoys the company of his partners and friend. He falls asleep with a smile on his face.