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“So when you said you wanted me to spend the night over, I guess I assumed your bed was larger than a twin size,” Jon sheepishly admitted as he re-entered the bedroom of Jay’s apartment.
Jay had been laying on his bed, scrolling through his phone. When Jon came in, he quickly sat up and tossed his phone aside.
“I’m in college and rent this apartment without any roommates. Beggars can’t be choosers.” Jay smirked. “Besides, you didn’t seem to mind the bed size when I fucked you over it for the last hour.”
“Jay!”
“Can’t say you weren’t a beggar when you were-”
Jon sped over to Jay and slapped a hand over his mouth. Jay playfully raised his eyebrows, but seeing Jon’s nervousness he backed down, putting his hands up in surrender.
“If I’m ever making you uncomfortable, I’ll stop,” Jay soberly said.
“Sorry, no. You’re fine. Great even!” Jon scratched the back of his neck. “It’s irrational, I just worry that my dad could come back any day and search out for my heartbeat and that would be the first thing he heard.”
“God, that’d be a hell of a first impression!”
Jon shivered at the thought.
Jay pulled Jon onto the bed next to him, settling them into a hug.
“I’m sure you meeting my dad will go well! At least, I think it will. …Hopefully. Hey, at least you’ve already made a good impression on my mom and Robin!”
“Are you sure Robin had a good impression of me? It was hard for me to judge what he thought of me.”
Jon pulled back from Jay and lifted his hands to hold Jay’s face as he beamed at him.
“Honestly, I think that’s the best first introduction I’ve ever seen from Robin! He’s a fan of The Truth, so maybe that won him over.”
Jay let out a breath, “I’m glad to hear it. I genuinely could not get a read on that guy. I thought he was interrogating me with all the questions he asked about The Truth, but if he’s a fan I guess he could have just been excited.”
“Don’t worry, he just comes off strong. We ended up in a fist fight the first time we met and now we’re best friends! I’m just happy that all of my favorite people are getting along.”
“You realize I’m going to need to hear the story behind how you got in a fight with someone who isn’t a villain, right?”
Jay yawned. “But– I guess that can wait for another night. Come on, if we spoon then we can both fit or I can sleep on the floor if Superman is too respectable to squish in a little bit.”
“As long as it’s you, I’m okay with being a little squished. But I’m big spoon,” Jon said.
Jay fake grumbled as he laid down, but Jon saw the small smile on Jay’s face as he put an arm over his back and settled in.
Jon breathed in the coconut scent of Jay’s conditioner and tuned in to his heartbeat, letting himself drift off as the repetitive noise of Jay’s heart slowed down.
- - -
Jay’s alarm went off at 7 AM. He turned it off quickly in hopes it wouldn’t wake Jon up. Jon, who was currently wrapped around Jay like a koala, dashing any hopes Jay had of getting out of bed without waking Jon up.
He wanted to stay like this, he realized. It should seem like a simple realization, but to Jay, who always had to rely on being constantly ready to make himself phase through objects, being held down and tangible usually wasn’t as comforting as it was with Jon.
Jon would fall back asleep after he escaped his octopus hold, at least Jay hoped he would. Jon had been out all day yesterday and could really use the sleep.
Jay shimmied down as he tried to slip from the hold. He froze as he felt Jon’s lips hit the back of his neck. Jon was awake.
“Hmm. Sleepy.”
Okay, so he wasn’t that awake.
“Do you have to go?” Jon mumbled.
Jay, remembering only now that he could phase out of Jon’s arms, disappeared out of Jon’s grip and sat next to him on the bed.
“I have work,” he murmured softly to Jon.
“Boooo,” Jon grunted. He then rolled over onto his back and starfished out across the bed.
After Jay had gotten dressed, Jon had started drooling in his sleep. Satisfied that it would take a lot to wake him, Jay continued getting ready for the day and headed out of the room.
In his kitchen, Jay often kept it stocked well, but frugally, which is how he recognized his wild berry pop tart in the hands of a total stranger.
He paused in the doorway.
“Why are you eating my poptarts?” Jay asked.
The stranger took a bite of his pop tart while looking at Jay as if he was the annoying one in this situation. Jay’s eye twitched.
“Oh great, you’re finally awake. Fetch Jon for me, would you? We made plans for this morning,” the stranger said while waving the half-eaten pop tart in a dismissive gesture.
“...Who are you? How did you get in here?”
“My name is Damian. Tell Jon I’m waiting for him.”
Most people would be freaking out, but Jay had gotten used to being thrown into the unprepared at this point.
He sighed. “Fine. Can you start up a coffee pot for me?”
“-Tt-. I suppose I can do that,” said Damian.
Jay returned to his bedroom, Jon hadn’t moved. So much for letting him sleep in.
Jay poked Jon. No response. He poked him a few more times.
“Whatttttt?” Jon mumbled.
“Someone named Damian says he’s here for you.”
“Why’s he here?” Jon said through a yawn. “I told him I’d meet him tomorrow.”
Jon shot up from the bed. “Today is tomorrow!”
Jay watched as Jon zipped through the room. In less than a few seconds Jon was dressed and walking out of the doorway. Jay followed close behind.
“Damian!” Jon said nervously. “You must be early.”
“You’re just late.”
Jay grabbed his coffee and sat down next to Damian at the table.
“So, you two know each other?” Jay questioned. From his experience, leaving questions more open-ended tends to gather better explained answers, and Jay was really hoping for some explanation to the teen in his apartment.
“Oh right!” Jon clapped his hands together. “Introductions. Jay, this is my friend Damian. I don’t know how you found this apartment,” Jon hissed at Damian, “but we made plans for this morning.”
“Yes, plans that you seemed to have forgotten about. Just like how you forgot you gave me the address to this residence.”
“But I didn’t give you-” Jon cut off as Damian glared at him.
“Oh right, yeah sorry Jay.” Jon’s eyes flickered as he spoke, refusing to look at Jay. “I gave him your apartment address so he could meet me here.”
Jon was lying. That also didn’t explain how Damian got into his apartment. Jay decided not to comment on it, but eyed Damian more warrily as he slipped his coffee.
Jon shuffled over to Jay’s fridge and grabbed waffles from the freezer, popping them in the toaster before coming over to the table with him and Damian.
Damian coughed in an over exaggerated manner. Jon tilted his head at Damian. The teen clearly tried to have an unspoken conversation with Jon, but gave up when he realized Jon didn’t understand.
“Introduce him as well, since this is my first time meeting him.”
“Right! Yeah so Dami, this is Jay, my boyfriend.”
“Jay Nakamura. Son of former Gamorran president Sara Nakamura and Leader of The Truth,” Damian said as he stuck out a hand to Jay. Jay cautiously shook it. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
“I thought you didn’t know who I was?” Jay asked.
“-Tt-. You have been in the spotlight of national news for the last week and on their radar more than a few times in the past month. It would be more surprising for me to not know who you are,” Damian replied as he grabbed another pop tart out of the box that he had helped himself to. “I just said I had not been introduced to you yet.”
Jay shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Damian offered him a pop tart; Jay took it and started nibbling on a corner.
“Besides, I’ve watched The Truth for a while and think your work is quite admirable.”
“Oh, thank you. It’s the least I can do.”
“Adequate response.” Damian turned to Jon, putting on a commanding tone. “Now, I assume you didn’t prepare the materials for our excursion, so if you could go do that…”
Jon seemed overjoyed as he looked between Damian and Jay with a huge grin on his face. Jay supposed it made sense, Jon had been expressing his worry over first impressions last night and if Damian was a friend of his Jon would want them to get along.
Even if he had been a jerk at the start, Damian didn’t seem that bad. Plus, if Jon liked him Jay was sure Damian was a good person. Jon always seemed to have some sort of good-person radar.
Jon zipped over to Jay, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before rushing out the door with the promise of being back soon. Damian smirked and saluted Jon.
With Jon gone, Jay decided to speak first. “So Damian, how did you meet Jon?”
“That’s on a need to know basis. You don’t need to know. We only have a few minutes so I’ll be doing the talking. Plus, I don’t think it’s my first meeting with Jon that you need to be concerned about.”
Jay sat up straight in his chair. “What do you mean by that?”
“Did you know I was the one who introduced Jon to The Truth?” Damian casually asked.
Jay’s eyes widened.
Damian chucked. “I assumed not.” Suddenly, he leveled a glare at Jay. “I might have unintentionally started your relationship with Jon, but rest assured that if you hurt Jon in any way, I will do so much more than just ensure the end of your relationship.”
Jay was shocked, to be certain, but at the same time he knew a shovel talk when he saw one. Damian was just an overprotective civilian, nothing to be genuinely worried about, especially since Jay had no plans to harm Jon.
At least this proved that Jon has good friends. It was sweet that Damian seemed to care about Jon enough to try to intimidate Jay.
Damian tore off a corner of his pop tart. “And just to clarify, of course I know you could not hurt Jon physically, even if you wanted to…”
Jay felt a sting on his cheek. He lifted a hand to his face and ran his fingers over a fresh cut. Damian had thrown his pop tart corner at him. It must have been sharpened to leave a mark.
Jay hadn’t unconsciously phased through it. It had hit him.
“-but, don’t be so assured of your own ability to not be physically hurt.” Damian took a definitive bite of his pop tart.
Jay scrambled to his feet. “Not a genuine concern” his ass; Damian was a threat. Typically Jon could be trusted as a good judge of character, but people can make mistakes. It had become clear that Jay had thought wrong about Damian; he truly knew next to nothing about him. Shit, he should have been more cautious when dealing with an unknown variable.
“-Tt-. Sit down, I’m not done. Take another pop tart, your’s looks a little crumbled.”
Jay unclenched his hand and let the pieces of his pop tart fall onto the floor. Jon would be back soon, he could help Jay. He just had to stall until then.
Jay returned to his seat and stiffly grabbed a new poptart from Damian. He took a large bite and forced himself to swallow even though it now felt like sawdust in his mouth.
“Just as I’m not worried you will physically hurt Jon, me causing you any physical damage shouldn’t be your largest concern. It would be a shame to shut down The Truth, but if I ever find out that you are corrupt or misuse your power I will not hesitate to… remove your organization.”
Even if Jay didn’t want to hear Damian’s answer after that display, he knew he had to ask. “How would you go about that?”
“It seems Jon didn’t introduce us well enough. I suppose I will have to remedy that,” Damian said flippantly. “My name is Damian Wayne. My older brother is Richard Grayson, who just so happens to be The Truth’s biggest sponsor.”
Okay great, so Jay was fucked.
Biggest sponsor didn’t even begin to cover how important Dick Grayson's support to The Truth was. With his support, they had been able to house thousands of displaced members and Gamorran refugees.
If this still counted as a shovel talk, normally everything would be okay if Jay treated Jon right. The issue with that was that Damian clearly already had his mind made up about Jay; he hated him and wanted to see Jay’s life burn to ashes.
Oh god, he was about to lose everything he had worked towards to this random teenager.
A popping noise erupted from behind Jay. Damian was already trying to kill him!
Jay ducked beneath the table like he was taking part in an earthquake drill. From under the table, he watched as Damian got up and moved towards where the noise had come from.
“The waffles are done,” Damian announced, smug.
Jay slowly crawled out from under the table. “Oh. Right,” he sheepishly replied.
“Where do you keep the syrup?”
Jay silently pointed to the cupboard where it was kept. Syrup was too sweet for him, so he only kept a bottle in his apartment for Jon, who liked to drown his waffles.
Damian returned to the table with the waffles and syrup, placing them in front of Jon’s abandoned seat. They both sat back down at the table.
“So-”
Damian shushed him. He raised up his hand and counted, “Three. Two. One.”
On one, Jon sped back into the apartment with a large bag slung over his shoulder.
“I’m back! Sorry about the wait, it took longer than expected,” Jon commented as he eyed the waffles.
“Not at all, you’re right on time,” Damian said as Jon sprawled into his chair and proceeded to devour the waffles. He grinned. “Besides, we had a great time here. Right, Jay?”
Jon eyed Damian suspiciously before shooting an apologetic glance at Jay. He paused on Jay’s face, which makes sense since Jay was sure he must have been ghastly pale at that point.
Jon groaned. “Ugh, Damian what did you do?”
“We were just talking,” Damian replied.
Jon studied Damian’s face for a few moments before he frowned, exasperated. “Were you threatening my boyfriend?! I thought you liked him?”
Damian scoffed. “I do.”
Jay whipped his head towards Damian as his brows shot up in a surprise. “What?”
“-Tt- I thought I made it pretty clear I like what work you have done for The Truth. In addition, I would have already hurt you if I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
Jay traced the shallow cut on his face, but didn’t say anything. Jon on the other hand, saw Jay’s movement and gasped.
“Where did you get that? How did you get that?” He met Damian’s eyes. “Damian?”
He rolled his eyes. “It was just a theory of my father’s that I put to use.” His tone softened. “Don’t worry, it is unlikely anyone else has an adequate enough amount knowledge or skill to duplicate my efforts."
Jon released a breath he had been holding and slumped back into his chair.
Jay was still caught up on one piece of information: “You don’t hate me.”
Damian scowled. “No, I don’t.”
“You made it seem like you did.”
“It’s not my fault you ignored the obvious signs I showed.” Jay would argue that they weren’t obvious, but to each their own. “Just because I like you doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you during an intimidation,” said Damian.
“Yeah about that,” Jon popped back into the conversation, “You know doing a shovel talk is more of a tradition for family members, right?”
“I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that your mother could have Nakamura here running for the hills, but she wouldn’t do that. …I’ve seen her hesitate a lot more around you since you came back. She doesn’t want to overstep, so I stepped up.”
“Aw, Dami,” Jon said as he tried to hold back a sniffle. Tears were beginning to form. He rushed forward and hugged Damian. “You’re a really good friend, even if it takes you making Jay shit himself to show it.”
Jay wanted to argue, but could only shrug since it was true, he had been petrified.
Damian grumbled from under Jon’s hold as Jon picked the other boy up and carried them both to Jay as he wrapped him up in the hug as well. Jay resigned himself to his fate and leaned in.
Damian had a scowl on his face, but he awkwardly returned the hug as well, stiffly putting an arm around both of them.
It was still hard for him to believe, but maybe Damian really didn’t hate Jay. He laughed.
“It’s crazy that this week I have met both Batman and Robin, yet Damian, you managed to be the scariest person I have met this week,” said Jay.
Jon tried to hide a chuckle as Damian puffed out his chest. “Of course, I have mastered the tradition of the shovel talk, though I wouldn’t say Robin isn’t unnerving as well. Batman, however, could work on his intimidation skills.”
Jon began to cackle as Jay let out a snicker at Damian’s nerve to say Batman needs work on being scary.
“You know what, you aren’t half bad, Damian,” Jay told him.
Damian smirked. “What can I say, I make a great first impression."