Work Text:
Then
“Mama, have you ever heard the music?” Damian asked.
Talia looked down at her son, “What do mean, my sweet prince?”
“The music you hear for the person you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with, your…” Damian paused, forgetting the word he’d heard the guards using.
“Your soulmate,” Talia whispered, “Yes, Damian, I heard the music once.”
“And now?”
Damian had never seen his mother cry, but right then, as her gaze trailed off into fond memories of a different time, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Now
Damian, Jon, Kathy, and Maya had just gotten out of class and were leaving school when the group’s conversation moved to soulmates. Jon knew whose music he wanted in his head, but so far, he hadn’t heard anything. He’d even started listening to music every night to give his soulmate a hint, but got nothing in return. Either his soulmate just wasn’t that into music or he was destined to be alone.
“So, have any of you heard your soulmate’s music yet?” Maya asked.
Jon and Kathy looked at each other and shook their heads.
“What about you, Damian?”
Jon turned to his friend and pulled his headphones off his head. “Earth to Damian!” he shouted, “Are you listening to a word we’re saying?”
Damian sighed and turned his music off, “I was trying my best not to. What nonsense are you three talking about now?”
“Soulmates, and whether any of us have heard any music. Maya, Kathy and I were bummed none of us have yet, and we were wondering if you have.”
“I most certainly have not. Why would I want to have someone else’s crappy music in my head?”
Jon saw his mom’s car and waved goodbye to his three friends, doing his best to hide the disappointment that Damian had no interest in finding out who his soulmate was. He knew it was probably just a silly crush that came from being around Damian all the time, he just wished he could turn those feelings off and not get all confused whenever they were together. He was sure Damian couldn’t be his soulmate anyway, he definitely would have heard him complain about hearing Taylor Swift every night for the past week.
Jon spent most of the night working on the mountain of homework he’d been assigned for the weekend. A two-page analysis of Macbeth, eighteen algebra problems that he didn’t even have the slightest idea of how to solve, and notes on an entire chapter of his U.S. history textbook. This was one of the times he wished he knew all of the stuff Damian did. Knowing his friend, he’d be finished with the work in an hour, if he even bothered to do it at all.
Just as he was finishing taking notes, Jon heard a faint classical tune in his head. He thought he was just tired and imagining the music until a slightly different tune followed it, and then another. He was finally hearing his soulmate’s music and he couldn’t be happier. That happiness soon faded to confusion though, as Jon didn’t know anyone who listened to classical music. Taking a look at the clock and seeing how late it was, Jon texted Damian about not being able to patrol and then hopped into bed. He turned on his music and hoped that his soulmate liked Taylor Swift just as much as classical music.
Jon was excited the whole ride into school, wondering if he knew who his soulmate was. Jon wanted it to be Damian, but he didn’t get his hopes up, remembering what his friend had said about soulmates the day before. Pushing Damian out of his mind, Jon focused on finding out who his soulmate was… if they even went to his school. At least he had one thing going for him, not too many teenagers listened to classical music. He saw Damian walking into school and ran to catch up with him.
“Hey Dami, you’ll never guess what happened last night.”
“Let me guess. You and your mom played board games all night? A classic Kent family dinner?”
Jon smacked Damian on the arm, “Seriously, Damian? No, I heard my soulmate’s music. It was…” he trailed off as he heard the same tune coming from one of the music rooms. Jon ran off to find the person before they went to class, “Gotta go, Dami” he yelled, already halfway down the hall.
Jon got to the door and waited, not sure how to ask someone if they were his soulmate. He opened the door, not sure who to expect, when he saw Kathy standing with a violin, playing the song he heard in his head.
“K-Kathy,” he stuttered, “you like classical music?!?”
“Oh, hey Jon,” Kathy beamed, “Ya, I’ve been teaching myself to play, read something about it correlating to higher grades.”
Jon was speechless. His best (girl) friend couldn’t be his soulmate, could she? He started to think about it and realized they did have a lot in common and had grown pretty close over the last couple months. He loved hanging out with her and she always knew how to make him laugh.
“Kathy, would you… would you want to watch a movie… with me tonight?”
Kathy laughed, “Sure, Jon, it’s gotta be something scary though.”
Jon gulped, he didn’t like horror movies, but if Kathy was really his soulmate, he had to try.
“See you tonight,” he squeaked, hurrying to his first class.
After begging his mom to drive him and Kathy to the movies, Jon was panicking over what to wear. It was just a movie, so he didn’t want to be to formal, but he also didn’t want Kathy to think he didn’t care about the date. Eventually, he decided to go simple, a flannel, khakis and his signature red sneakers (he didn’t even own another pair of shoes) and practically dragged his mom out the door. They picked up Kathy and the ride to the theater was pretty quiet.
“Be good and enjoy the movie, Jon, I’ll see you at 10, ok?”
“Ok, Mom, thanks for the ride.”
Lois left the two kids to their date, and although she knew that soulmates were chosen in mysterious ways, she would have bet that Jon’s heart belonged to someone else.
The movie couldn’t end soon enough for Jon, who spent the majority of it with his hands over his ears and his head buried in Kathy’s shoulder.
“Seriously? For someone who fights crime, you sure are scared of a little blood and a jump scare or two.”
Still frightened, Jon muttered, “I’m sorry, but that was so creepy. I don’t fight anything like that, and I’m always with-” He stopped himself before mentioning Damian’s name. He and Kathy still weren’t exactly the best of friends.
Kathy smiled at him, “It’s alright Jon, I had a good time tonight, even if you are such a scaredy cat.”
“I had fun too, Kathy, but…” Jon didn’t know how to say it, but they just weren’t soulmates. He liked her, but the connection wasn’t there.
“But I’m not your soulmate? Ya, I figured. I hope we can still be friends though.”
“Of course,” Jon started to laugh, “I can’t believe I thought we were soulmates after hearing you play one song. I’m pretty desperate, huh?”
“Jon, you’re not desperate, you just want to find that special someone. And he’s a lot closer than you think.”
He?!?” Jon almost choked, “How do you know my soulmate’s a he, and what do mean he’s closer than I think?”
But that was all Jon would get out of her for the rest of the night. Kathy just giggled and winked at him when he tried to press her on what she meant.
“Thank you for the ride, Ms. Lane,” she shouted from her door.
“No problem, Kathy. And please, it’s Lois.”
Jon looked at his mom and sighed, “Before you ask, the date went fine, but I don’t think she’s the one.”
Jon went to school the next day with even less of a clue of who his soulmate was. Kathy had mentioned a boy, and he knew who he wanted it to be, but it just wasn’t possible. Damian wasn’t interested in him, or anyone, in that way, he was sure of it. Unless Kathy knew something he didn’t about one of their other classmates, she was just messing with him.
Speaking of Damian, there he was, walking into class with his usual frown. Jon didn’t know why his friend hated school so much, it could really be fun.
“Hey, Damian, what’s up?”
Damian didn’t respond and sped up his pace. If Jon didn’t know any better, he’d say Damian was trying to avoid him.
“Damian, Dami, Dames…I’m gonna keep calling you embarrassing nicknames until you answer me.”
Damian turned around, his frown replaced with real anger. “What do you want, Kent. I saw Kathy walk inside, go bother her.”
Jon couldn’t help feeling a little hurt by Damian’s response. Not liking school was one thing but being mean to him was completely uncalled for. “Sorry I bothered the great Damian Wayne. Won’t happen again, your highness,” Jon sneered with a sarcastic bow.
Not even bothering to wait for a response, Jon pushed passed Damian and went to his first class. He went over what he could have possibly done to piss Damian off, but came up with nothing. Sometimes, the kid was just a jerk.
Jon was in a sour mood the rest of the day, snapping at his teachers and even Kathy (although she was quick to remind him why doing that was a very bad idea), and it was all Damian’s fault. Why did he have to be so mean sometimes, Jon was just trying to be friendly.
Once he told all this to Kathy, she just shook her head at him, like he was the one who had done something wrong.
“Jon, you can be so clueless sometimes. Did you ever stop to think that maybe he had a reason to be mad at you?”
“What reason could he possibly have?” Jon asked.
“How about a certain movie date with someone that wasn’t him?”
“Kathy, he doesn’t like me like that.”
“Oh, really? Well, he seemed pretty upset when he heard me talking about the date this morning. Just talk to him, please.”
Jon huffed, “Fine, but not today. I’m all Damianed out.”
She grinned at him, “Fair enough, one person can only take so much Damian… even if they are in love with him.”
“Kathy, I’m not-” but she ran away before he could finish.
Back at home, Jon was working on yet another ridiculous pile of homework. It really wasn’t fair, being Superboy and a high school student, but it’s not like he could tell his teachers that.
Suddenly, You Belong with Me started blasting in Jon’s hears. He wondered how his music randomly came on like that but was confused when he saw his headphones weren’t even plugged in. It took him a moment to realize it was his soulmate, the first music he’d heard since the classical tune that led him to Kathy. This time, the music was much louder, almost as if his soulmate was right outside of his window. It didn’t make any sense though, how could his soulmate be this close to his room, the penthouse of a skyscraper, and since when did they listen to Taylor Swift.
Jon put down his homework when his phone buzzed, which turned out to be a text from Damian.
Open your window.
Jon had no idea what Damian was playing at but decided to humor him and got up to open his window. To his surprise, there was Damian Wayne standing on his balcony, headphones in, listening to music.
“Damian, I don’t know how you got up there and this point I’m not even gonna ask. What are you doing here?”
Damian didn’t respond but unplugged his headphones so Jon could hear what he was listening to. His heart stopped when he heard the familiar sound of Taylor’s voice and he stared at Damian, unable to make a sound.
“So, can I come in?” Damian asked.
Jon stepped back into his room and motioned for Damian to follow.
“You’re…you’re my soulmate?”
“You’re not mad, are you?”
“Of course not, Damian. I’ve been hoping it was you for so long, I just never thought you felt the same way.”
“Well, I wanted you to be my soulmate too, and I thought it was you until you went on that stupid date with Kathy.” Jon thought Damian was angry with him until he grinned, “Still, I should have known. Only you could listen to someone as annoying as Taylor Swift for a week straight.”
He smiled at his best friend and now soulmate. “Sorry, but we're soulmates now. You’re gonna have to love me, music taste and all.”
“Shouldn't be too hard. I may not like her voice but at least she got the words right… You belong with me, corncob.”