Chapter Text
The moment Jon watched Damian go down on the battlefield was the moment it was over for everyone else he was fighting with.
As soon as the fighting was over, Jon flew over to Damian’s side.
“That was stupid of you,” he whispered, pulling Damian up into his lap and checking him over for injuries. Damian flashed Jon one of his typical smirks. And it took everything in Jon’s power to not melt at it. He needed to stay focused: he had to get Damian safe first. There would be time for feelings later. Maybe.
Damian still hadn’t said anything, and he looked dazed, although his face still displayed the smirk on it. They had gotten him bad. Damian wasn’t one to stay down. And the fact that he was letting Jon hold him was equally concerning. Possibly more concerning, since he was usually rather prickly when it came to physical contact, even with his best friend.
Jon would rather not think of what it meant for himself. As much as he wanted to be able to hold Damian whenever he wanted, they had more pressing issues. He could be in love with Damian later.
“I’m taking you to the Batcave, okay?”
Damian sort of nodded as Jon started flying.
From there, it was out of Jon’s hands. Damian was immediately taken by Batman and Alfred as soon as his feet touched the ground. And then he had to sit through an interrogation with Batman, who wasn’t all that happy to hear how his son went down on a supposedly routine Super Sons mission.
After what felt like an eternity, Jon was glad to be headed home, ready to take a shower and then pass out for the rest of the night.
He did his best to not think about Damian, not that he did a good job of that. He’d been in love with his best friend for quite some time now. They’d known each other for 7 years—since they were 10—and Jon had been in love with him for almost as long. Unfortunately, Damian would never love him back. Damian wasn’t the type to fall in love with people like Jon Kent.
So Jon was content with just being his best friend. It was better than nothing.
*****
The next day, Jon wanted to just go check in on Damian, but, of course, he had to go to school. Senior year wouldn’t wait for anyone, and his parents convinced him that Damian would still be in good care with all of the Bats, even if he went to the whole school day. So Jon begrudgingly went. At least he was able to listen to Damian’s heartbeat the whole time.
At the final bell, Jon practically flew out of his seat. He stripped in an alleyway not too far away from the school and got to the Batcave as quickly as he could.
Damian was looking marginally better than he did yesterday, and Jon breathed a sigh of relief at that.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked.
“Tt. I am obviously doing very well, Farmboy,” Damian said, gesturing to the way that he was laying on a bed in the Medbay.
Jon chuckled. “Well, you can’t be that bad if you’re making jokes.”
“Shut up, Corn Cob,” Damian said, even though he was smirking.
There was something about the way that Damian said it that made Jon stop for a moment. Damian glared at him and crossed his arms.
Maybe Jon had just imagined it. It felt affectionate. Like…more affectionate than usual. But paired with the way that Damian was also glaring at him, he wasn’t too sure.
Damian had never been very forthcoming with his emotions, and Jon had largely learned to just live with that. He was probably just projecting anyway, there was no way that Damian could have a crush on him. He knew that. He had to keep reminding himself of it, though, at times like this when despite everything, Damian looked beautiful.
“What’s that face for, Hayseed?”
The voice brought Jon back around to the present. Maybe he’d been thinking a bit too hard.
“Uhhh…nothing. Want to play Cheese Viking?” It wasn’t a good save, but Jon had to try something and changing the subject seemed like the most reasonable course of action.
Damian looked at Jon for a while, studying him. For a second, Jon was worried that Damian would say no. Or send him away. He’d seemed more distant than normal today. Pricklier. Damian was generally distant and prickly, but not like this.
“Sure. Can you get it set up? Since there will be several alarms going off if I try to move off of this bed.”
Jon couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. It seemed absurd, to have someone basically tied to the bed to force them to rest. Someone who was almost an adult no less. But if anyone needed to be forced to rest, it would be the Bats. Damian was definitely one to work through pain, never letting anyone know what was going on inside his head. His pain was so deep and so close to him that Jon—Damian’s best friend—didn’t even know all of it. It was kind of intimidating to think about at times.
The game was quickly set up, and the two eased into the game. It felt a little odd, though. Damian, who wasn’t one for talking much anyway, was unusually quiet. Concerningly so. Probably he was just hurt. Needed some rest. That’s what Jon attributed the tension to. Because if he thought about it being anything else, well…
“You wanna hear what happened at school today?” Jon asked when he couldn’t stand the silence anymore.
“Not really.”
“Well, auditions for the school musical are next week, you know? And Mr. Johnson hasn’t let anyone sign up yet so during lunch today Julian and Emily barricaded him in his office—“
“Just play the game, Farmboy.”
Jon furrowed his brow. Usually Damian was a lot more enthusiastic about hearing the drama that Jon collected throughout the day, what with super hearing and all.
“You don’t want to hear it?” He could hardly believe his ears.
“I already told you. No.”
Damian must have been feeling even worse than Jon thought.
“Oh.” He felt kind of embarrassed.
“Just shut up and play the game.”
“Really, Dami?”
“Yes. Really. If I could get out of this bed, I’d punch you.”
“You can’t hurt me.”
Damian just raised his brow with a smirk, like it was a challenge.
“Not right now, at least,” Jon added.
There it was again. That tension. There was something in Damian’s eyes—those beautiful green eyes, showing Jon maybe there was something more to it. And looking into Damian’s eyes like that, Jon just wanted to lean over and kiss Damian. But there was no way he would respond well to that. He wasn’t even responding well to their typical joking.
Did Damian hit his head so hard that he forgot he had friends?
Damian turned back towards the screen to keep playing. Jon followed suit a second later, forcing his eyes back to the game instead of lingering on Damian’s beautiful face.
But the game couldn’t keep Jon’s mind from wandering. Or attempting conversation. And every time he started, Damian got more and more frustrated with him.
After the tenth attempt, Damian huffed and said, “Maybe you should just go.”
So he did.
*****
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The nice thing about being Superboy was that Jon could go to the moon anytime he wanted. And it was a great day to make some new craters.
Jon punched the ground beneath him, leaving a dent.
Damian was hurt. And now he was pushing Jon away. Of course he was, he always did. The typical Damian Wayne Way was to push people out before they got too close. What was he so afraid of anyway? They’d been friends for years, there was no reason for him to do that. Jon had already seen the intricate details of the way Damian thought and acted. He knew how to figure out Damian Wayne, even when he didn’t want to be figured out. So what was going on now?
He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed like a newborn. If only sound could carry in space.
Stupid Damian. He had to go and get hurt. And then proceed to not talk to Jon? Couldn’t he see that he just left Jon hurt instead?
Jon opened his eyes and used his heat vision on the surface of the moon. And he just. Kept. Going. He just wanted things to go back to normal. Part of that could be solved once Damian was able to actually move from the bed. But Jon couldn’t help but worry about their dynamic as friends, too.
Maybe he should just tell Damian. If only there was a good way to tell someone who was as stubborn and standoffish as him that you’ve been desperately in love with them for years.