Bart talk the second

[cloned]

Batter was not as fun as he'd thought. It was slippery and even Kon's TTK could not really keep a hold on it. But finally he'd finished. Pie was in the oven. He couldn't say why he'd wanted to make pie except that it was delicious and pie was kind of traditional for having Bart over. He sat on the table and picked up his phone. He texted Bart. Want to come over? I made pie.

Bart got the message and knew immediately that pie was once again code for "I need to talk." Mostly because Cissie was still out with Cassie. So back he ran to Smallville. "Dude," he announced as he stepped in. "What's that smell?"

"Huh? Crap, is it burning?" Kon pulled the pie out of the oven. It was on fire.

"Um." He very rarely wished he had the superbreath Kal had. Superbreath was a lame power. But it would come in handy right about now.

"Dude." Bart went over to the pie and waved his hands over it at superspeed, putting the fire out. "Where's Martha? I was promised pie."

"I made the pie!" Kon scowled. "It was okay before it caught on fire." He dumped the pie into the trash and scowled. There was batter in his hair and the kitchen smelled like burnt pie and he had no pie of his own. Also, he'd failed at making it. This on top of his failed talk with Cassie and Tim. Wow, was his week going well!

"Okay. Hang on." Bart ran out of the house and back to to New York, grabbing two pies from a good pie shop in midtown before coming back. "Here. Pie. Now what's up?"

"...Thanks." Kon dug into the pie and scowled. "Sorry I failed at that. Speaking of failing, guess how well the talk with Cassie and Tim went?"

"Well, my girlfriend has been with your girlfriend for the past three hours, so I'm guessing not good." Bart poked at his pie. "Is someone with Tim?"

"No idea. Considering he left before either of us woke up." Kon stabbed his pie again.

Bart restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "Okay, first off... stop stabbing things. Second off... what happened?"

"It was awful." Kon took a bite of pie, chewed slowly, and swallowed. "We got back to Cassie's after the bakery, right? And I sat down but neither of them would, then Cassie wouldn't come to the couch even when Tim had and she wouldn't let me touch her and I didn't know what was wrong." Kon bit his cheek. "And she was really, really mad at me for bugging Tim about his virginity which I didn't think was so bad, but apparently I don't think people count or something..." Kon took a breath. "I don't know. It sucked."

"You don't think the way other people do." Bart slipped his phone out of his pocket and quick-texted Dick (one of the benefits of being the Flash for awhile was getting all the "grown up" contacts) to go talk to Tim. "You weren't raised the same way. Neither was I. Sometimes we say stuff that... it's true, but it hurts other people. Or we dig where we shouldn't, because we don't get what the big deal is."

"Yeah. And I mean, I know that so I try not to, but... I know people matter!" Kon put down his fork and slumped a little. "I don't wanna keep disappointing her. And I don't want her to want me to fall in love with someone else cause she thinks she's not good enough for me or whatever." Suddenly, Kon wasn't very hungry. He stared at the pie.

"You're overthinking things. You don't - wait, what?" Bart looked up from his phone. "She wants you to fall in love with someone else?"

"I don't think she actually does, but she said I should." Kon hoped she didn't actually, at least. "Why doesn't she get that no one could be better?"

"Because she's down on herself." He really wished he had a better answer than that, but he didn't. "Cassie's working through issues, and she thinks she's not good enough for anyone until then."

"She thinks she's good enough for Tim," Kon muttered. Then he winced. "I shouldn't have said that."

Bart shrugged. "Why not? You were feeling it. With me you don't have to hold back." He sighed and pushed his pie plate around the table a little. "So break up with them."

"I can't do that," Kon said miserably. "It'd hurt them too much. And I love 'em."

"And what about you, dude? You're hurting pretty bad. And it sounds to me like Cassie and Tim... aren't really ready to be in any relationship. So take a break or something." He hated saying this, but either Kon would fight him on it and snap out of this emo-funk and go fight for his partners or he'd end it and they could all try to heal themselves alone. "Stop dragging it out."

Kon scowled at him. "They wouldn't stay together without me cause they'd know it would hurt me. Tim would shut down and try to be emotionless. And at this point? I'm not convinced Cassie won't do that too. I can't."

"That's the stupidest reason I've ever heard to be with people. That's not love, Kon, that's duty. And pity." Bart set his shoulder and looked at his friend across the table. "Let them shut down. It's not like being open is fixing anything"

"I can't do that. I mean, I love them." Kon looked down at his plate. "Want my pie? I'm not hungry."

"No." Bart stared at him. "I just said it's not love, dude. Were you listening?"

"Yeah. But you're wrong. Or they're separate reasons. I don't know. I want them to be happy."

This was like talking to a brick wall. "But they're not. And neither are you."

"Them being happy would make me happy."

"They. Are. Not. Happy." Bart stood up. "Listen, if you want someone to just nod their head at you no matter what you say, go find someone else. You're not listening to me."

"Bart..." Kon resisted the urge to jump up and grab him to keep him from leaving. Unlike the two people he was dating, Bart was not running away because he didn't want to talk, he was forcing Kon to talk. Which was probably good. "Look. Maybe you're right. But what do you want me to do, just watch them break down?"

"If that's what you have to do, Kon, yeah." Bart didn't sit back down, but he didn't move to leave, either. "Sometimes you've got to just let go, or something. They're breaking down anyway. That's sorta my point."

"But... I could stop it..." Kon said without much conviction. He couldn't look at Bart. "Do you... do you really think I should break up with them?"

"I don't know. What you're doing now isn't helping. So if you don't have some other plan... I don't know, Kon." Bart sighed. "All three of you are miserable."

"I just want to fix them. I should be able to keep them happy." Kon didn't care that it wasn't that simple. He should be able to, dammit. "I wouldn't put myself through this for someone I don't love, you know."

"I know, Kon, but it's really not working. And, no, you shouldn't be able to keep them happy. They have to be happy on their own first." Bart thought about all the times that he told Cissie how happy she made him. But he and Cissie were different. They didn't have this pain that Cassie and Tim built everything up on. "Maybe if you love them you should let them go."

"But that would only make us more miserable! I mean, I..." he looked down. "Y'know how you've got, like, the whole future planned out? With Cissie?"

"Yeah," he replied, warily. "But that's open to change."

"I know, it's just, I can't just... I want to have a future like that. With both of them." Kon sighed and rubbed his neck. "I guess I'm probably deluding myself. They won't get happier when they realize we're not all gonna evaporate."

Bart took a long breath. "I don't know. I think they need therapy or something. But... taking a break doesn't mean you can't have that future, Kon. It just means you have to do something different to get there"

Kon blinked slowly and looked up at Bart. "So... you're suggesting we take a break and actually having it mean we're taking a break? Not just breaking up?"

"I guess so." He didn't really see a difference, other than them all knowing they'd try again in the future. But he knew other people didn't think the same way he did. "All I know is that the three of you together isn't working. And it's not you, dude, it's all of you. So... yeah, step back and get some perspective."

"I... fine. Maybe." Kon closed his eyes and leaned back. The chair would have toppled over had he not been balancing with his tactile telekinesis. "I don't know if I can. It'll... it'll really hurt 'em."

"It'll really hurt you you mean." Bart finally sat back down. "They're already hurt."

"It'll hurt all of us. I mean, I'm helping some." He had to be. "Tim's laughed."

"Yeah, you are. You're good for them. And right now they're so caught up in their intensity that all that good you have can't get through, Kon." Bart shrugged. "That's not fair to you either."

"Oh." That... actually made sense now. "Thanks, Bart. I'm just... yeah. Thanks."