“For the last time Conner, no. Finish revising and I’ll think about it.”
When a loud disappointed huff comes from his boyfriend Tim rolls his eyes. Kon could be so childish sometimes it’s unreal. One would have thought Tim was being unreasonable with the way he’s acting instead of simply refusing to give his boyfriend a kiss.
They’re currently in Tim’s bedroom revising for upcoming exams in a few weeks’ time. With both of them being in their final year at school, these exams will determine their final grades at the end of the year, it’s important that they be as prepared as they can be for the exams.
Tim is sat cross-legged on his bed with a psychology textbook open in front of him along with his notes in his lap and multiple highlighters scattered around him. Sat at his desk Kon is identically surrounded by revision equipment, with his papers and books spread out as they are it makes it hard to even see the desk underneath it all.
After Tim’s firm refusal to give Kon what he wants the room falls into silence as they both turn back to their revision. Tim wasn’t expecting it to last long. His boyfriend would do anything to get out of revision, not that Tim could blame him as he too hates it but he knows it’s a necessary evil, and when revising Kon would quickly look for a distraction. Recently that distraction has been Tim. After getting together, if Kon was revising solo he would often call him instead of focusing on his work, if they were revising together then Kon would seek out a physical distraction.
Tim would reluctantly admit that he’s fallen prey to Kon’s distractions several times in the past, he couldn’t help it, after all he’s only human and he’s dating one insanely hot guy, he only has so much willpower to work with. Unfortunately for Kon, Tim’s grown wiser and has become somewhat immune to his advances since they started dating at the start of the school year all those months ago.
As predicted, Kon’s silence didn’t last long. His boyfriend spins on his chair to face him, his eyes are wide and he’s wearing a pout. “How am I supposed to revise when all I can think about is you?”
“That’s cute,” Tim deadpans, “but it’s not happening. Homework first, fun time later.”
Kon throws his head back and obnoxiously groans. “I hate revision! Why can’t I be one of those people who can just memorise things without even trying?”
At that Tim laughs, because yes those sort of people do exist and it’s unfair. “Unfortunately that’s life Kon. Some people have to work harder than others to receive the same results.”
Kon shoots him an unimpressed look. He rolls his eyes and throws his hands up in frustration and ends up sending a highlighter flying across the room. “Why are you so insistent about us revising? You hate school. Plus you’re intelligent as hell, why do you even need to revise in the first place?”
Tim sighs and closes the book in his lap, clearly he won’t be doing any more work with the way this conversation is going. “I do hate school yes, however that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and succeed at it. I’m smart, true, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have weaknesses like everyone else Kon. Numbers and science come easy to me, however I struggle with things like English and art. I’m not perfect, no way near it.”
Tim’s aware he started getting defensive by the time he finished talking, he didn’t mean to but Kon’s words hit dangerously close to some of his insecurities. He wasn’t better than anyone else, he tries because he can and he knows there is room for improvement. Even though he doesn’t like school, he can’t help that he's more academic than others. Put him up against an art student then he’s got no chance. He isn’t perfect.
His emotions must have been showing on his face because Kon suddenly looks guilty.
“Tim I didn’t mean it like that, you know I didn’t. That’s one of the things I love about you, how smart and knowledgeable you are without trying. I guess I just get annoyed because I struggle and others don’t, I feel like I’m behind everybody else.”
Tim snaps out of his thoughts at hearing Kon sharing his own insecurities. He was aware of them before, of course he was, he knows Kon like the back of his hand, but hearing them out loud makes them all the more real.
Putting his notes to one side Tim slips off the bed and goes to Kon. Without saying anything he climbs onto his boyfriends lap, his legs squeezed between Kon’s thighs and the side of the chair, and his arms wrap around Kon’s shoulders so he could hug him.
“Hey none of that. You aren’t behind in anything. You may not understand and remember it as quick as our classmates but you aren’t behind.” Tim says softly, doing his best to comfort Kon. “And that’s why we do revision, so we can learn and remember these things.”
Kon leans back in the chair so he could look at Tim. He sighs. “It’s so tedious though.”
Tim makes a face, agreeing with him. “I know. It’s certainly a chore. Consider this, if we pass now, then we won’t have to do it again later on in life. Get it right the first time then it’s done and we won’t regret it when it really matters.”
Kon seems to contemplate this. After a moment he nods and smiles. “Yeah I guess that’s a point. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”
Tim laughs at his comment. The atmosphere feels light again and Tim feels himself relaxing against Kon, in the near future Tim will have to do his best to keep Kon away from negative thinking, especially when the exams are upon them.
He glances around the room, eyeing all of their revision stuff scattered everywhere and considers it for a moment. Is there any point in continuing? He glances at his bedside table clock to find it only early evening, they could get another hour in before dinner if they really tried.
When Tim turns back to Kon, his boyfriend currently looking lost in his own thoughts as his hands mindlessly play with the hem of his t-shirt, he spots a pile of colourful flash cards on the desk behind them. Getting an idea Tim reaches forward and grabs them, he settles back down in Kon’s lap and stares expectantly at his boyfriend. Kon seems to come back to the present with Tim’s movement and frowns when he spots the cards in his hands.
Tim grins at him. “I’ll help you study. We’ll work on it together instead of separately.”
Kon sends him a questioning look, clearly not on the same page as Tim.
“Oh I know!” Tim exclaims suddenly after getting an idea on how to make this more fun for the both of them. “How about every time you get a question right I give you a kiss?”
His boyfriend begins to look intrigued. “Oh?”
Tim starts reading the cards in his hands. “I say a question, you give an answer, if you get it right you get a small kiss as a reward.”
“And if I get it wrong?”
“You get a slap.”
“Tim!”
“I’m joking.” Tim giggles. “Instead you don’t get a kiss, I’ll tell you the right answer and then ask you again later on.”
Kon hums thoughtfully. “Yeah okay, I guess this could work, at least we both get what we want.”
Tim is more than done with this now. He’s tired and all he wants to do is go home, collapse on his bed and forget this ever happened.
He’s currently in the middle of a battlefield. Chaos reigns all around him, ruins of buildings, streets and cars circle the fight happening, there are dead alien bodies littered all over the ground, he’s covered in blood, sweat, grime and who knows what else and most of all exhaustion seeps right through to his bones weighing him down greatly.
Knocking down his current opponent to the floor and piercing it with his staff until it stills, Tim takes a moment to breathe and observe his surroundings. His team are still fighting off the never ending invasion of aliens, they appear randomly out of glowing circles like they were teleporting from where they come from and there’s no pattern to the way they make their appearance.
The area of the city Tim is currently in is practically demolished by now but looking out to the side he could see the other half of the city still standing which is a good sign so far.
The battle has been divided into three sections. There’s the north and the south, the two main areas of the battle, and then there’s the attackers in between. Those in the battles are fighting defensively, trying to kill as many aliens as possible and protecting the city and its citizens as best as they could. The attackers jobs are to work out the aliens strategies and figure out how to stop them teleporting.
Tim’s snapped out of his thoughts when he feels a presence creeping up on him. Twisting around he springs into action and takes down another alien that had been advancing on him while he was in thought. He kicks the limp body to the side looking at it with disgust.
The next thing to get his attention is a buzzing in his ear. Recognising it as an incoming call on his comm he reaches up and opens the line. Much to his surprise it’s Kon who is calling him on their private line Tim had set up before the battle started.
“Hey Tim…” Kon greets him, he sounds a little tired and strained though that’s to be expected considering the circumstances.
“Hey, everything okay?” Tim asks concerned, as much as he loves hearing Kon’s voice he’s a little worried on why he's calling.
The two of them had been separated when the teams were assigned. Tim was to fight in the north while Kon was to fight in the south. Neither had been pleased with the decision but they were overruled when they tried to protest against it. This is the first time Tim’s hearing from Kon since the battle begun hours ago.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s just great.” Kon says over the line. Tim frowns because it doesn’t sound like everything is just great, Kon sounds like he’s straining hard against something.
“Kon what’s going on?” Tim asks worriedly, almost desperately. A moment of fear and panic spreads through him as the horrible thought that Kon may be contacting him to say goodbye crosses his mind.
“Well I, uh I just wanted to call, I wanted to um. Well…” Kon’s stuttering is doing nothing to help ease Tim’s fears. “I wanted to hear your voice that’s all.”
Tim freezes on the spot at hearing those words. His stomach drop and he suddenly feels like he’s going to throw up. “Kon this better not be a fucking goodbye call. I swear to God.”
“What? No!” Kon’s quick to object. “This isn’t a goodbye call. I just wanted to hear your-”
Kon’s sentence gets cut short when he lets out a muffled yell. He sounds like a guy at the gym lifting extremely heavy weights and that sound coming from Kon isn’t reassuring since Kon has superstrength, if he’s straining to lift something then Tim couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’s trying to do.
“Kon? What’s going on? Are you okay?” Tim fires questions at him wanting nothing more than to see his boyfriend with his own eyes. He hates being separated from him like this.
“Yeah it’s fine. Look I wanted to hear your voice, I just need some encouragement, a motivator. You always make me want to be better and to keep going and I need that right now.”
Before Tim could respond to Kon he’s distracted by a couple more aliens approaching him. With several quick and swift movements of his staff, Tim knocks them down to the ground and finishes them off making sure they stay down for good.
“Hey,” Tim says gently, a rather contradicting tone compared to the circumstances they’re currently in, “whatever’s going on, whatever your challenge is right now, you can do it. Remember what you’re fighting for, who you’re protecting and what you stand for.”
“It’s pretty hard right now…” Kon says breathlessly, he pauses to suck in a deep breath. “Yeah it’s difficult.”
“Hey, Kon listen to me. Keep going and keep fighting. Whatever you’re doing right now must have a pretty strong reason behind it so remember why and keep going.”
“You don’t even know what I’m doing. What if I fuck up?”
“I don’t have to know because I believe in you. You won’t fuck because you will be doing your goddamn hardest to make sure nothing bad happens. You’re capable Kon, I believe in you to keep fighting and you need to believe in yourself that you can do it.”
Kon’s response comes in the form of another grunt and a low groan. Tim stays on the line with him, not able to make himself switch it off. He turns his attention to the carnage still going on around him and he jumps back into the fray of things. Tim takes out aliens left right and centre all the while keeping up a stream of chatter to Kon in the form of encouragements.
An unknown amount of time later Kon’s voice appears in his ear once again. His boyfriend is breathless and sounds exhausted but Tim’s hears him so he’ll take that as a win.
“I did it.” He breathes out. “It’s done, they’re shutting off the connection now.”
Just as Kon tells him this news the teleportation holes around him blink out of existence and no more appear. Tim holds his breath for a moment, waiting to see if it’s really over. It’s only when the affirmative call comes over the main comms line Tim finally relaxes.
“Are you okay?” Tim asks Kon on their comms line again.
When Kon answers back, Tim could imagine a little smile adoring on his face as he talks. “I will be yeah. Thank you Tim. I couldn’t have done that without you.”
“No thanks needed Kon.”
“I can’t wait to see you.”
“Yeah you too. I’m so done with today.” Tim sighs, he glances around knowing things are still far from over just yet.
“Me too. Hey when we’re done here fancy showering together?”
Kon’s less than subtle question makes Tim freeze. He could feel an immediate blush form on his cheeks from being caught off guard from the question. “Kon!”
“I could scrub your back?”
Despite himself Tim snorts. “I’m hanging up now. Glad you’re okay.”
“That wasn’t a no…” Kon sings out teasingly.
“I’ll talk to you later Kon.”
As Tim switches their line off he could hear Kon laughing on the other side. Without permission a smile encases his face, despite the hardship of the battle he’s just experienced just a few words from Kon makes it all better. He understands why Kon had called him to hear his voice and he’s glad he can bring Kon comfort and encouragement with his voice just like he does for Tim no matter the situation. Whether that’s seeking encouragement during mid battle or lightening up the mood afterwards to make everything feel like it’s going to be okay again.
