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Tim wants to see fireworks, and today is the Fourth of July. These things work out perfectly. Tim is in Gotham, the city of smog and rain, right now. This is not perfect. On a completely unrelated note, Kon is on a rescue mission.
Bart was left behind, because he might blow their cover, even if Kon and Cassie aren’t the subtlest people on the planet. But Batman will know if there’s a speedster in his house. And okay, maybe all of this is a bit impromptu, but it is an important mission, so they’ll find a way!
It’s just that the Happy Harbor fireworks are actually really good. It’s an isolated New England community, they set off all sorts of wild displays. Tim wants to see fireworks, and they happen to have an incredible firework display right in the town that Mount Justice is located in. What is a super boy to do but a little kidnapping for the greater good?
”Okay,” Cassie whispers, “you know the drill. If we went through official channels, it would take so long we’d miss the fireworks. I’ll talk to Dick, distract him and let him know where Tim is, while you grab the package.”
”You called him Tim, why does he have to be ‘the package’ in literally the same sentence?” Kon asks.
“Not important!” He is promptly scolded. They are both hovering on the air behind Wayne Manor, and with the help of their inside woman, everything should work perfectly. Kon nods to Cassie and takes off, flying low and steady until he reaches a pair of sliding glass doors. He knocks lightly twice.
Cass appears out of the shadows and clicks open the lock, sliding the door open silently. She gives Kon a nod as he passes, “Two floors up, door cracked open. You have two minutes.” Batman would really start asking questions if one of the backyard doors was open for two minutes? This is why this mission needs to be so proper, the man is paranoid beyond belief.
He soars up the stairs while keeping tabs on as many people as possible. Cassie seems to have made it to Dick’s window and is chattering on evasively about the fireworks show. Kon makes it to Tim’s room and pushes the door open. “We’re breaking you out of this joint.”
Tim looks up from his laptop, “What? Why?” He’s seemingly dazed, stretched out on his massive four-poster bed, and he’s in the dark, other than his laptop screen.
”Fourth of July,” Kon explains hurriedly, “Happy Harbor has great fireworks. Come on, we gotta go!” He does wait any longer, scooping Tim out of his bed and setting the laptop to the side with his TTK. Cassie is just explaining how they need Tim to be at the display, constantly interrupting Dick’s attempts to speak, as Kon rushes back down the stairs.
As they reach the exit, Cass smiles. “Have fun!” She whispers.
Kon taps his earpiece, “The package is out of the building.” He knows not to wait for Cassie, putting on a burst of speed headed due north. He grins down at his passenger as an attempt at reassurance. He was slightly afraid of startling Tim with the suddenness, but that shouldn’t be a problem if the grin on the smaller boy’s face is anything to go by. ”We’re gonna have so much fun!” Kon shouts over the wind. Tim’s smile gets impossibly wider.
He seems to be rolling with the punches. If Tim was startled at all, he hadn’t shown it before, and now he is only looking amused and indulgent.
After a little while, somewhere over Connecticut, Cassie finds them, and they make their way to Mount Justice. They set down in the forest, a bit far from the beach but they have to be careful with the flying. Bart appears in moments, to the point where he must have been running the whole forest over and over waiting for them to show up. “Tim! They got you! Come on, come on, we gotta get to the beach before all the good spots are gone!” He starts dragging Tim by the wrist.
They weave through the trees, keeping pace with a non-superspeed-ing Bart, until they reach the beach. It is already fairly crowded, but the Team has multiple blankets set up on the sand, so Bart was obviously just trying to spur them on. Jaime waves them over excitedly sitting with Gar and Virgil. The other large blanket is inhabited by Ma’gann, La’gaan, Kaldur, Wally, Artemis, and Zatanna.
“I hope we don’t get in too much trouble when Dick shows up,” Cassie chirps as they sit down.
“Wha—” Kon freezes, “If he’s coming, why’d we—”
”Oh, I wasn’t gonna come,” Tim assures, meaning their trip wasn’t entirely pointless. “I didn’t get the hype of ‘fourth of July get together’ so I wasn’t gonna come. It only clicked as I was kidnapped from my home that it was fireworks.” He dips his head slightly, “Dick didn’t know about the fireworks being a thing for me like you did, so… Besides, I won’t let you get in trouble. It’s all in good fun.” Tim can definitely talk Dick out of getting angry, arguably he could do it for any member of his new family. Well, hopefully.
So they settle down on a large, soft blanket. Tim gets stuffed in between Bart and Kon, Cassie leaning over Kon’s lap to talk to him while Jaime tries to wrestle Bart into sitting still. Wolf comes barging out of the woods, spooking several people, and stretches out in front of the group, getting comfortable on the fluffy blanket. Tim revels in the atmosphere. With his friends sitting around him, talking and laughing, makes him feel strangely light. He hadn’t been expecting to be kidnapped out of his bedroom by his best friend, but as soon as he saw Kon doing something clearly mischievous, he got a good feeling about this evening.
After a couple of minutes, a group of young teenagers approaches them. From a short distance, the trio are eyeing Wolf with equal parts suspicion and excitement. “Uh, is… is that a dog?” A girl says nervously, “I don’t mean, like, there’s a chance that that’s, like, a rescued coyote or something, right?” She doesn’t know how spot on she is.
”Yeah, she’s a big girl, ain’t she?” Kon grins, “Not to worry though, not anything scary. Wanna pet her?”
The girl nods, but Tim hears one of the two boys with her mutter reverently, “Very much so.” Kon gestures to Wolf and all three of them slowly approach. The boy hasn’t taken his eyes off her, and is the first to start petting. They very quickly get comfortable enough with Wolf, who is enjoying being lavished with attention.
Tim looks at Kon, unable to resist the humor of the conversation. Kon winks back, which is not the response Tim had been preparing for, and whispers, “I mean, she’s a rescue, she’s a big girl, and she isn’t anything scary.”
”I mean, yeah,” Tim mutters, ducking his head away.
Kon clearly doesn’t get the hint, because he leans in further, “And she likes being pet, what’s the harm? You can’t have all his attention all the time.” Tim does not technically know how red his face is turning, but he’s grateful for the fading light. Except Kon can see pretty well in low light, so Tim still has to turn away even further.
“Oh, Tim!” Cassie is very loud today, but at least that means that Tim can turn back around without focusing on Kon’s jawline under the light of the sunset. “After this we’ve got dinner, like, later dinner barbecue thing. It’s fine if you’ve eaten already, but we’re reconvening inside.”
It’s just then that someone else calls his name, much louder. Dick appears on the beach, jogging down to where they’re gathered. “Really, a kidnapping? You could’ve asked, you could’ve… not pulled whatever the hell it was that Cassie was doing, I’m not super sure.” Tim doesn’t try to argue, because his secret weapon is already here.
”Come on, dude,” Wally says with a lazy grin, “go easy on the kids, it ain’t like anything happened. It’s all good, we’re having fun.”
Dick lets out what Tim knows is an impression of Bruce’s sigh, because Dick is pretty laid back and most of the time when he seems like he isn’t, he’s just acting that way because he knows it’s the responsible adult way to act. Wally raises a challenging eyebrow, and Dick folds. Now Tim chimes in, “They meant well. I mentioned to Kon that I wanted to see fireworks.”
”You said you didn’t want to go!” Dick has abandoned the charade of being disapproving in favor of exasperation and guilt.
“No, I know, it’s not your fault. You mentioned Fourth of July, I forgot that that meant fireworks.” Tim does not like the sorrow that passes over at least every face in Tim’s range of vision. It’s a simple mistake, it’s not like it’s a huge deal that Tim doesn't automatically associate that activity with this date, that’s a very normal thing for many people! All sorts of people that live outside of the United States don’t immediately think about fireworks on the fourth day of July.
But it’s enough to get Dick to fully calm down, and he lowers himself onto the blanket next to Wally. Tim catches Bart’s eye, and he knows for sure he’s right because Bart also looks very amused as he rolls his eyes.
“When are the fireworks?” Tim asks nobody in particular.
“Uhh, someone might know,” Jaime starts, “But the general consensus is, like, we just sorta wait for them to start. I’d argue that they don’t have a super strict schedule, considering it’s probably just done by whoever’s uncle was given a call by the HOA.”
Tim nods slowly, “Noted.” A breeze blows off the waves, not for the first time, and he shivers. Between the sun going down and the location being right by the sea, it’s just chilly enough to bother him.
“Are you cold?” Kon asks. Tim shakes his head immediately, because from the looks of it, no one else is cold. He’s been putting on weight, especially under Alfred’s watchful eye, but he’s still sort of scrawny. He knows he doesn’t fill out his clothes like Kon or Dick, but more than that, his shirts hang off his frame in a way that they don’t even from skinnier people like Bart. But Kon doesn’t pay him any mind.
The other boy just peels off his now-ever-present leather jacket and draws it around Tim’s shoulders, fixing the collar and pulling it until it’s draped comfortably enough to block the wind completely. Tim knows damn well he shouldn’t, but he pinches either side and pulls it tighter around himself. “Thanks.”
”No problem,” Kon nudges his shoulder, and Tim tries to retaliate, but he can’t move the kryptonian at all. Kon, the bastard, starts laughing, and Tim sticks his tongue out.
“Kon, heads!” Dick chucks something at him, and Kon snatches it right out of the air. At Tim’s quizzical look, he holds the bag out between two fingers. Two bright orange ear plugs are in the small plastic bag.
”Super senses don’t mesh super well with fireworks,” Kon explains. “I always forget them, they’ve started babysitting me about it. Well, specifically Dick. Bat’s gonna Bat.” Tim ignores that statement, because obviously at an event like this he would make sure that his friend had something as important as earplugs considering how uncomfortable, or even painful, it might be for Kon. He’s starting to get those jokes that everyone was making a while back about Tim fitting in with the Bats.
“It’s funny,” Jaime says seriously, “He brings that, but no sedatives.”
“Hey!” Bart yells, even though Jaime technically hadn’t said his name specifically. Jaime takes the opportunity to half-tackle Bart, pinning his arms to his sides with an iron grip.
“Can I use the armor for just a second, pin him down?” Jaime begs, “A couple of staples, keep him down.”
”No,” Tim and Cassie chorus. Cassie continues, “How would you explain the giant, blue staples?”
”Have a little sympathy,” Jaime groans, “I’m losing my mind here.”
”You don’t have to hold him down,” Gar points out.
Jaime shrugs and lets go, “Okay, see how long he goes before he uses super speed in front of all these people.”
Kaldur looks over and glares, and both Jaime and Bart wither under the disapproval. Bart sighs, “I won’t, I won’t, I promise.”
Jaime glances over Bart’s head, and Cassie shakes her head. She mouths, ‘four minutes’, and Kon adds, ‘five, ‘cus Kaldur’. Tim hides his laughter in Kon’s shoulder before Bart starts asking questions.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice booms over an unseen speaker, “Ladies and gentleman, we’ll be beginning shortly!” Tim jumps as people start screaming and cheering unexpectedly. Kon places a hand on his shoulder, but Tim waves him off.
“Just startled,” he mutters. He has no idea how he manages to do all he does as a hero and still gets scared by people cheering.
“But first,” the woman continues, “we have our beloved Happy Harbor High School Choir!” People start cheering again as some teenagers in colored robes gather around a few microphones.
Music starts playing and Tim finally understands what is happening as the choir starts singing the national anthem. He knew the holiday was about, like, freedom and stuff, but he wasn’t expecting a small town celebration to still involve a whole ass choir singing the Star-Spangled Banner. It reminds Tim again that he isn’t very familiar with… normal things? Conventional things? He isn’t sure what the term is but he has always hated not knowing things.
Bart turns away from bickering with Jaime to whisper, not all that quietly, to Tim. “You’re gonna love the fireworks, they’re literally so cool. But if you get, like, overstimulated, that happens to me sometimes, Dick probably has extra earplugs. And you can just leave. Just don’t get lost in the forest, at least three people here will have a heart attack if we can’t find you for a couple of minutes.”
”Do they get that bad?” Tim asks.
”Near the end, sometimes,” Bart explains. “It’s a lot of loud popping noises, and it’s really cool for a while, but if it goes on for too long it can get overwhelming.” He pauses. “At least for my neurodivergent ass.”
Tim snorts, “Thanks for the heads up.”
“And now,” the announcer woman declares, “Let the light show begin!” He is prepared for the cheering this time. After a couple of minutes, there is a very quiet whistle and the barest streak of light in the sky, and then an explosion of red light.
Tim watches in complete awe as one color after another paints the sky, light streaking and bursting through the sky in different ways. He is mesmerized by the popping noises, of literally seeing the fireworks explode before he hears it. He stares and stares, oohing and ahhing in a way that is frankly embarrassing. The fireworks shift suddenly, making the shape of stars in the sky, and Tim grabs Kon’s shoulder and shakes him. When the damn combinations start going, Tim just starts hitting Bart’s arm over and over.
There is some sort of finale, shapes and colors bursting at once, illustrating light across the sky. “Holy shit!” Tim shouts, half-laughing. “That’s so cool!”
“Wait for it!” Bart slaps him back. Everyone in the crowd is yelling or cheering, taking pictures and videos. Tim doesn’t know what to expect as the show comes to an end, until one large flare streaks upward and explodes into the largest red sphere, covering the sky. A blue one, and then a white one, and the three colors fade into each other and disappear.
Tim whips his head back and forth, casting his disbelieving expression at every one of his friends around him. Everyone around him shares the gleeful look as they talk over each other. “That was fucking awesome!” Tim isn’t addressing anyone in particular, he just desperately needs to get some of the energy out.
“Right?” Kon nods excitedly, “The big ones at the end—”
”The stars!” Cassie cuts in, “They are the coolest, holy shit. Every year, I love the stars.”
”When they set off a whole bunch at once I almost had a stroke,” Bart says like it’s a good thing. “The colors, like, fade together, for, like, one second. It’s great!”
“I get why everyone makes such a big deal out of this,” Tim drops to the side, slumping against Kon and looking up at him. “It was pretty cool. Thanks for kidnapping me.”
“Anytime,” Kon returns his look with a smirk. “Who wouldn’t wanna piss off the B-man? It’s my favorite pastime, actually.”
”Yeah,” Cassie agrees, “he is shit at following orders.”
“Oi!” Kon tries to punch her, but she just dodges and punches him back. It very quickly devolves into a brawl, forcing Tim to lean to the other side, against Bart.
“Oh, there’s all the pent up energy,” Tim jokes, “I was wondering where it went.”
”Wait ‘til we get inside,” Jaime scoffs. “After events, there are always the most brutal brawls.”
”Aren’t you guys tired?” Tim shouldn’t ask the question, of course, because the majority of them are just never tired ever, but he has to. He’s been yawning every fifteen minutes for an hour.
“Are we ever?” Jaime replies, perfectly within expectation. People are still chattering within their groups, but Bart, Gar, and Wally are all standing up.
”Let’s go, let’s go,” Gar wheedles.
M’gann looks over and laughs, “Impatient much? There’s no need to rush.”
”We’re not doing anything!” Gar argues, “And you’re not letting us swim, or do anything fun, and the fireworks are over. Why stick around?” That is all it takes to get most of the people around them standing up. There are two things that are definitely true about this whole group: They’re restless if they have any energy under their skin, and they are trained to action. The latter is easily affirmed by the uniform way they work to gather up everything on the ground.
Tim doesn’t want to get up, he is both tired and comfortable, but Dick stands behind him and wedges his hands under Tim’s armpits. The older man drags him up off the ground by force and puts him on his feet. “Come on, we’re going back. You gonna head home?”’
Tim is used to seeking solitude. He spent so many years only having the company of employees of a literally evil company. Solitude was safety, solitude was where he could enjoy himself even a little bit. The only time he might be able to do anything that might not be terrifying or terrible would be locked alone in his room. But Mount Justice is fun, the Team is fun. Tim loves being around his friends. It isn’t the same exhausting activity as talking with his assistants, coworkers, supervisors, or Lex himself. “Nah, I’ll come back with you guys. It sounds fun.”
“We have ice pops,” Wally points out, “Of course it’ll be fun.”
Bart pops up between them, “Have you ever had a bomb pop, Tim?”
”I’m assuming that’s a type of ice pop?” Tim starts, “Then—”
”I’ll take that as a no,” Bart shakes his head disapprovingly. “Let’s go, people! Important things need to get done!” Tim starts laughing again at the seriousness in his friend’s voice. Bart wraps a hand around Tim’s wrist and drags him off the beach. ”You’re like a Victorian child, you know that right? Like, that trend, ‘things that would give a Victorian child a heart attack’ that’s you. Bomb pops would kill a Victorian child and I think they’re going to kill you.”
”Did that mean something to you?” Tim asks. “It didn’t mean anything to me, but, like, did you know what you were saying?” Bart frowns at him. “I’m just saying, dude. Tell me again how I’m a Victorian child.”
”You’re mean,” Bart scolds, “I’m trying to be nice and you’re being mean in response.”
”What part of calling me a Victorian child who’d die of shock in the face of an ice pop was nice?”
”Shut up!” Bart huffs. He is still dragging Tim through the forest, so evidently he is not that mad.
Kon jogs up behind them, Cassie in tow, and aggressively throws his arm around Bart, pitching the smaller boy off balance. “You’re the one who said ‘let’s go’,” Cassie teases, “So let’s go!” She takes off running and the energy infects Tim before he even notices, sprinting after her. He hears Kon laughing and the boy quickly starts to pass him. Bart is sprinting too, without his super speed for once, and Tim starts slowing down with the excited laughter as the four of them barrel through the trees together.
With their hyperactivity and early departure, they are the first to arrive back at the cave. Wolf barks loudly down the hall once they’re inside, and Supercycle comes racing in, bundling into Tim with far too much speed. “Ow,” he groans from his place squashed beneath the alien sphere. “Hey buddy, missed you too. It’s good to see you, it’s been three whole days. Could you do me a huge favor and get up? You’re a bit too heavy for me.”
Supercycle drifts up reluctantly, still beeping wildly at him. Looking far too amused, Cassie hauled him up from the floor. “Supercycle is so clingy,” Jaime says, emerging from the entrance to the hangar. “Like, I know you moved out, but you are here all the time.”
Tim turns slowly to his friend and says, with much intensity, “Jealous much?” Jaime guffaws in sheer disbelief, immediately trying to force out rebuttals to the wild point Tim has made. But Supercycle is done being ignored and shoots forward again, unfolding out of its spherical shape and scooping him up onto the hood of its massive bike form. “And I guess we’re going, hopefully to the kitchen, but it seems I’m not in charge.”
Mercifully, he isn’t dragged off to the main hanger and brought fifty feet up in the air. He is dragged to the kitchen, which is full of the smell of barbecue. He isn’t alone in there for long, it’s maybe a minute before Supercycle is sweeping over people and Tim is near constantly scolding it just to make sure it doesn’t hit anyone. “Okay, I’m putting my foot down,” Dick sighs. “Supercycle, get on the ground, you can’t be trusted not to dive bomb people.” A harsh, high-pitched beep, and Dick narrows his eyes. “Ground, now.”
With a quiet trill, Supercycle lowers to the ground, and Tim hops off. “There, there, buddy,” Tim pats its hood, “You were just too excited.”
“Food’s up!” Gar hollers excitedly, calling the entire group’s attention. “Get it before it’s gone.” It’s a bit of a frenzy, despite how much food there actually is. People are fighting to pile their plates high, and Tim finds the energy infectious. His working theory is that it’s a rush to claim as much food as possible before the speedsters decide enough time has elapsed that anything remaining in the serving area is fair game. If not for super fast metabolism, someone could arrive an hour late and have enough food to be picky about it.
Tim does have something small to eat, because the smell is frankly irresistible. It’s hard not to want some, too, when literally everyone around you is stuffing their faces. It’s one way to make food seem delicious. Although, it is the way a lot of them eat in general, Tim now knows. Perhaps it is just that the energy of this group is infectious, because Tim has found himself swept up in their energy. It’s comforting, and surprisingly enjoyable.