#p: dead serious

[versias]

Dead Serious Prompt, feat. BFF Jon

Jon had a standing invitation to Wayne Manor, as all the Supers did. They had to be careful for identity reasons but when you could move as fast as he did, it was easy to stay out of sight. Still, Jon always tried to text first. He was normally very good about texting Damian before he showed up at the manor, but he’d been in a hurry to tell him the latest gossip. 

Jon only pulled up short, a couple miles off when he heard a heartbeat he did not recognize. He scrunched his face and wondered why he hadn’t heard it before. 

A few seconds later he had the answer: the next beat. Da. Dum. Da. Dum. Like it was struggling to keep pumping. At this rate, their heart must only beat, like, thirty times a minute.

That was super not normal. Was it medical distress? 

He shut his eyes and focused on the manor. He mentally filtered out the sounds in-between like his dad had taught him. The rest of the Bats had normal heart rates, and no one was shouting for help or anything. 

Jon tilted his head a little, trying to construct the image in his head. Bruce was in the Cave. Duke was in his room maybe, snoring away. It sounded like Cass and Stephanie were training. The one closest to the odd heartbeat was Damian, who didn’t sound like someone in a room with a dying human. 

But Damian could be a little weird about things so Jon mentally turned up the volume in the room they occupied.

“-wants a PowerPoint?,” asked an unfamiliar voice, nervous and faltering. 

“So I assumed.” Damian replied.

“D- do you want to work on that together or should we, uh, split it between us?”

“We will construct it together.” There was a sound of shifting fabric as he… fidgeted? What?? “If you’re amenable, we can use my study to work after school. Alfred can bring you to your home at the end of the night as well, so as not to impose upon your parents’ time.”

“Your family won’t mind if I’m just… here? Every day?”

“Of course not. You have every reason to be in my home,” Damian assured. His heart sped up. Jon slapped a hand over his mouth. There was no indication of danger so… his pulse had to be reacting to what he was feeling! What!! “I invited you.”

“Right, of course. Thanks so much, by the way, for letting me come over. I really didn’t want to expose you to my parents’ weirdness this early in our relationship.”

He didn’t sound like he meant it romantically, but Damian’s heart stuttered anyway. 

Jon let out a tiny scream behind his hands. Damian!!! You didn’t say anything about your big fat crush on whoever is in your house right now!!! Unfair! Not cool! Jon told him everything about the people he liked!!

Jon approached the Manor and landed out of sight. He went to the front door instead of climbing in through a window or going through the cave. 

Alfred smiled at him, not questioning the shining grin on his face. “Master Damian is currently entertaining a guest. They are partners for a science class project.”

“Is he-?” He whispered like he was worried Damian would hear him from the third floor. Jon made a complicated hand motion that conveyed nothing. Alfred understood immediately.

“He has been very attentive to mister Danny’s needs. I imagine they will want snacks soon. Would you like to take the tray up to them, young mister Kent?”

Jon loved Alfred so much. He was an old guy but he had a wicked sense of humor. Jon was going to bother Dami and his crush relentlessly, as a good friend should!

When he made it up the steps, balancing a tray of little sandwiches, cookies, and fruit, he could hear them both murmuring about the outline they’d need to construct for the paper and who should do what preliminary research. They both sounded like they were engrossed in the work. 

Nerds, he thought fondly. He barged in.

Damian, sitting on the couch next to someone who had to be Danny, jerked away from the teenager like he’d been caught doing something bad. They were a little close on the couch but it was a reasonable distance for looking at the computer sitting on Danny’s lap.

Damian scowled at the door. His face registered Jon’s presence, eyes flicking back and forth between the tray and Danny and his friend.

Jon grinned at Damian. Damian’s face fell into the rigid, blank mask it always took when he was trying not to show anything. His heart slowed to a steady pace. 

Hiding the evidence, huh? Too bad, Jon had already caught on. No secrets here, Dami!

Danny blinked at Damian, who to him had pulled away for no reason. “You good, man?”

“I am fine,” Jon’s friend replied, slipping into an even more formal tenor, eyes flicking to Jon then back.

Danny caught the motion and looked to the door. 

Jon raised the tray in one hand. “Hey Dames, sorry to show up outta nowhere! I bring snacks courtesy of Alfred as an apology though!”

It was Danny’s turn to look between Jon and Damian. His eyes lit up in recognition and he actually got up to shake Jon’s hand. “Hey, you must be the best friend! I’ve heard a lot about you! Jon, right?”

Jon smiled and nodded, carefully shaking Danny’s hand with the least amount of strength. 

“Damian talks about me at school, huh?” 

He glanced at Damian and the boy’s answering scowl said it all.

“Mostly stories over lunch, nothing bad. Damian has been really cool! He’s been showing me around since I just moved to Gotham a couple weeks ago.”

Jon shot Damian a hurt look behind Danny’s back when the boy turned to acknowledge Damian, a shy duck of the head in thanks, before he turned back to Jon. 

“Oh??”

“Yeah, he’s showed me all around the Diamond District and we even went to the planetarium! It was insane; Gotham has the best telescope on the eastern seaboard!”

That all sounded very date-like to Jon, and from the sparkly look in his eyes, he’d had a lot of fun. Jon wiggled his eyebrows at Damian. 

Damian responded with a finger dragged over his throat and a pointed motion to the place where a pouch would be on his utility belt, were he wearing it instead of the stuffy school uniform he wore to Gotham Academy. 

Danny fiddled nervously with his fingers. “Hey, uh, where’s the bathroom from here?”

“Down the hall, last door on the right!” Jon chimed in before Damian had a chance. The scowl was back, and the bat’s protégé was glaring so hard Jon worried he might develop heat vision spontaneously. 

The moment Danny had shut the door, Damian turned to Jon and said: “Get out of my house.”

“Aw, I just wanted to say hi! I’m your best friend who you apparently talk about to ~boys~.” The singsong on the last word made Damian’s eyebrow twitch. 

“Not anymore,” he growled. “This betrayal will not go unpunished.”

“I just wanna meet the boy you’re making googly eyes at!” Jon teased. “Friends tell each other about crushes! C’mon, when were you going to mention Mr. Starry Eyes? Ever?”

There was a sharp intake of breath, and Damian furtively checked that the door was still closed. “I am not making… googly eyes. Danny is here to work on a project. We are assigned partners. There is nothing more to it!”

“Uh-huh, and you weren’t working up the nerve to touch his shoulder before I came in—“ the light of triumph briefly flared in his eyes and his mouth opened. Jon went on— “or put your hand on his leg to lean over and point at something on the screen.”

Damian’s mouth snapped shut. His eyes went to the table top. He crossed his arms with a huff. “It only makes sense to brace myself when leaning over. Most people don’t have that kind of core strength. It was necessary.”

A flimsy excuse from Robin? 

Jon couldn’t help it. He laughed.

[versias]

Ridiculous Dead Serious idea:

Danny is in some kinda competition that Damian is also in, and they’ve been sniping at each other back and forth throughout the whole thing.

Until one day Danny goes, “You want me so bad it makes you look stupid!”

And Damian stops. Considers. Interrogates himself and his motivations like a good detective. Has a facial journey as he goes through the five stages of grief.

Danny was expecting a snide comeback and now he is legitimately worried he’s somehow triggered the snooty rich kid. Trying to decide if he wants to apologize or awkwardly make his way out of the room to give him time to recover.

Damian sorta hates himself because… yeah, yeah he does. He is attracted to the bratty little fucker and has been… pulling pigtails? Antagonizing to remain in his thoughts and field of vision, to watch his face get red and his breath quicken, to make him lean aggressively into his space and growl at him???

Damian is horrified. How did he misjudge himself so badly? Is this how mother felt when she discovered that Father was a complete mess and only fell more in love?

“Uh, dude? Are you… okay?” Danny reaches hesitantly towards him but doesn’t quite touch.

“No,” Damian says, schooling his face into a bland mask. “In fact, I may need you to support me.”

Panic flits across his companion’s face. He rushes to his aid, ducking against his side. His arm wraps around Damian’s back and a hand settles on his waist. Too gullible.

Damian mourns his own good sense.