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“You,” Kon tells the boy lying face-down on the bed, “are a disaster.”
“I know,” Jon whines, voice muffled in the covers.
Kon shakes his head and looks on sympathetically from where he was leaning on the wall by Jon’s bedroom door, watching as his younger brother has an existential crisis. He takes a sip of his glass of orange juice before sighing dramatically. “Ah, fifteen years, the time for love.”
“I know,” Jon groans and grabs a nearby pillow to stuff his face into. “Stupid Damian.”
“So that’s who it is,” Kon says, voice light and amused, and Jon groans again. “You’re not helping.”
“Sorry, I’m just—“ Kon runs a hand over his face and chuckles. “—when exactly did you figure out?”
“An hour ago.” Jon says glumly. He turns his head slightly so that Kon can hear his words better. “We were out having ice cream and then I just realised. Outta nowhere. What the hell, Kon.”
“Love," he says and takes a sip of juice. "S'a bitch.” And he wasn’t finding this entire scenario hilarious, definitely not. Tragic, that’s what it was, honestly. “You know, I’m pretty sure literally everybody already thought you two were dating. Dick and Tim thought so. Ma thought so.” And that was true, when he told her that his brother was not, in fact, dating his best friend, Clark’s mother had looked scandalised. “Well, what the hell are the two of them waiting for?” She had asked, and Kon had shrugged. “Beats me, Ma.”
“Damian doesn’t know.” Jon says as he flops over onto his back and just stares at the ceiling hopelessly, arms spread to his sides. “How does he not know?”
“He’s a Wayne,” Kon supplies, pushing off the wall with a shoulder to walk over, setting his glass down on the bedside table. The bed sags slightly beneath his weight. Jon makes a noise of despair and covers his eyes with both arms, the very picture of a pining teenage girl. “Oh my god.”
Kon sits up at the headboard, arms resting over his abdomen and eyebrows raised at his brother. “You told him yet?”
Jon barks out a laugh, as if he finds the idea disproportionately hilarious. “Obviously not.”
“And why not?”
“He’s just—ugh, Kon,” Jon says and rolls onto his side to face his older brother. “He’s amazing, Kon. With his stupid eyes and stupid smile and his stupid hair—” Kon snorts. “—and his arms. Oh my god, his arms are so fucking big—“
“Ookay, Jonno, I’m gonna have to ask you to stop right there before you say something you’re gonna regret later,” Kon grimaces, holding up his hands in the universal ‘please stop’ sign. As well as something I’m gonna regret hearing. Jon lets his arms drop back down to the sheets below him.
“Conner,” he says tiredly, “what am I going to do?”
The clone smiles softly and runs his fingers through Jon’s charcoal strands, picking up his drink with his other hand. “I dunno, Jonno. What do you want to do?”
Jon shrugs listlessly. Then, all of a sudden he shoots up, eyes wide and mouth in an ‘o’ shape. Kon jumps and almost chokes on his sip of juice. “Kon!”
“…Yeah?”
“You can teach me!” And this time Kon does actually choke, quickly putting the cup down before he spills it. “I can what?”
“You and Tim are dating, right?”
“We’re—how do you know about that?!”
Jon makes a face. “I have ears, Kon,” he says, and Kon is pretty sure he’s never been so embarrassed in his life.
“That doesn’t mean you—oh god, how much have you heard?” He asks, kind of dreading the answer.
“I can hear you two making out in the next room.”
“Oh my god,” Kon whines, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Clark’s gonna kill me.”
“Nah, dad doesn’t kill people.” Jon says, lying back down on the bed. “He might get Uncle Bruce to, though.”
“Oh god, I’m fucking screwed,” Kon sighs and lets his hand fall to his side. “But anyway, Jonno, Damian and Tim are two very different people.”
Jon screws up his face. “Well, I know that,” he says, affronted. “I just want to know how you confessed to him.” Kon winces.
“I… didn’t? Not really? It was during one of our study sessions at the manor and I just kind of kissed him, I don’t know.”
Jon looks skeptical. “You don’t know?”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Well, what’d he do?”
“He thought I was attacking him and he punched me in the face.”
“Oh.” Jon looks a little concerned. “So that’s not a good idea?”
“Definitely not.”
“But that means I’ll have to talk to him.”
“The horror,” Kon says sarcastically. Jon shoves his thigh. “Shut up.”
“But really, what are you so scared of?” Kon gets serious, turning to face his brother, who is resolutely not looking at his face. “I know it's not fear of his brothers or anything, because they actually act more protective of you than him, so what is it?”
“It’s…” Jon cuts himself off, sighs and rolls to face away from Kon. "It's stupid," he mutters.
"Hey, no, c'mere," Kon shoots himself closer to his brother, crossing his legs. "Hey," he soothes, rubbing Jon’s shoulder comfortingly.
"I dunno, I'm just--" Jon curls in on himself. "He just seems so… perfect, you know? Like, he could have anyone he wanted,” Jon huffs a laugh. “Should have seen all the girls who were throwin’ themselves at him last week when we got spotted. Couple guys too.” And oh. Oh. Now this, Kon has no idea how to deal with.
“What if he thinks I’m not good enough?”
Fuck it, Kon thinks, and speaks up. “Then Damian’s a fuckin’ idiot, because he’d have to be blind not to realise what a catch you are,” he says firmly, poking Jon’s shoulder. “But lemme tell you now, Jonno, that is definitely not what’s going on here. I mean, come on, even Tim could see Damian’s far gone over you, and everyone knows he’s the worst at these sort of things.”
Jon’s posture relaxes minutely. “Ya think?”
“Yeah, I sure do,” Kon says, and he means it. “And anyway, you know that if he breaks your heart, you’ve always got me and Kara to kick his ass, yeah?” He pauses. “Well, if Dick and the rest don’t first.”
Jon snorts and unravels himself, turning his head to face Kon, who has an earnest expression on his face.
“Jon,” his brother says, “I’m not exactly completely sure you understand your feelings here.”
Jon frowns and sits up, face guarded. “Are you telling me I don’t feel anything towards Damian? ‘Cause after everything I just said, I—"
“No, no, nothing like that.” Kon shakes his head and sits back. “It’s just… Jon, this doesn’t sound like a crush. This sounds like you’re in love.”
“I’m… not? I mean, I don’t think I—“ Jon looks down then back up, like he’s just realising it himself. “Oh my god.” He squeaks, and Kon smirks. “Yeah?”
“Oh my god.”
“Come on,” Kon teases, leaning in close. “Who’s in love?”
Jon looks at him, smile so wide it must hurt. “Kon. Kon.” And Kon can’t anything more than laugh, seeing his baby brother experience love for the first time making warmth swell in his chest.
“Oh my god,” Jon laughs giddily and rolls onto his back, eyes bright. “I’m in love with Damian Wayne.”