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“Come on, Dami, it’ll be fun!” Jon laughs as he pulls at his best friend’s arm, trying to get the grumpy teen to join the rest of their team in the tower’s living room.
Damian’s nose wrinkles. “I hardly see how such trivial, childish games could be fun. We should be training.” He does sit next to Jon anyway, though, despite his complaints.
A soft laugh from the adjacent love seat catches Jon’s attention. “Don’t get your hopes up, Jon,” Colin tells him mirthfully.
“It’s a miracle he isn’t already in his room!” Maya cackles.
“I’m not sure the word fun is in his vocabulary,” Jai pipes up with a derisive snort and the team laughs at Damian’s expense, causing the boy to sneer and put his phone away hastily. Jon is about to tell them to ease up when he’s cut off by the teen in question.
“I am right here, thank you!” Damian protests. “I am capable of fun, I just see no point in this stupid game. It’s merely meant to embarrass everyone with ridiculous tasks.”
Jon softly nudges his friend, causing Damian to turn his jade gaze on him. Immediately, some of the prickliness eases. Jon’s known him for long enough to see when his best friend is softening up to an idea. It’s a very light shedding of an outer layer of defense, but it’s something.
“C’mon, Dames. It’ll be good for team morale,” Jon points out. Whenever he wants Damian to listen or do something, he always tries to point out the things that Damian might understand more. The team’s overall performance is something that Damian cares about, even if he finds what they do for fun stupid.
It works and Damian sniffs as he nods his head in agreement. “Alright, fine. I will participate, seeing as I am the leader and I must be aware of this team’s operations.”
“Great,” Lian says sarcastically, but her tone is missed by Damian entirely.
“Why don’t you start us off, Jon?” Colin suggests helpfully, successfully diverting the attention away from Damian. He’s known him just as long as Jon has, maybe even longer. There’s no question that he’s a good friend and knows what would be best for Damian.
Jon nods quickly, taking the change in trajectory for what it is. “Yeah, okay. Kathy!” He laughs and he sees his best friend roll her eyes dramatically.
“Why me?!” She complains, but the effect is altogether ruined by her wide, fond smile.
Jon sticks his tongue out at her and hears Damian softly tsk next to him in disapproval.
“Okay, fine. Dare.” Kathy crosses her arms over her chest and stares at Jon with a confident, challenging look in her eyes.
The ensuing first round ends with Kathy having to prank call one of the Justice League members, which ends with a very confused Diana wondering how they got her cell phone number.
The further they get into the game, Jon notices that even Damian has a smile on his face, his green eyes twinkling slightly with that happiness he hardly ever allows himself to show.
“Alright, your turn, leader!” Lian points to Damian with a wide grin, looking maniacal.
Damian’s eased posture immediately tenses again and Jon holds his breath, hoping that Lian doesn’t choose one that’s too difficult. He doesn’t want Damian to feel discouraged from things like this.
“Fine. Give me your worst dare, Harper.” Damian sniffs and crosses his arms, but unlike Kathy’s earlier stance, this isn’t one of confidence. Jon can see right through it, knows that Damian struggles with this sort of thing and that he’s feeling self-conscious.
Lian grins, probably oblivious to the delicate situation of Damian’s mood. “I dare you… to kiss Colin!” She cackles and the whole room bursts into excited laughter.
Even Colin gives a light laugh, shrugging a little but otherwise looking unbothered. Damian stills and tilts his head slightly like he’s considering it.
Jon wants to laugh. He wants to feel at ease with this like they apparently seem to be. This isn’t even the first time someone’s kissed someone else tonight, so it isn’t as if it meant anything.
Still, Jon feels roiling, burning jealousy. It sparks through him so suddenly that he almost misses Damian standing up, shifting away from him to walk over to Colin with easy steps.
Jon feels like he might get sick, wants to call out and stop it from happening.
Of course, being secretly in love with your best friend takes all the stupid joy out of something like this, something that’s meant to be casual and fun.
“I do not go back on my promises, Wilkes,” Damian’s sharp tone filters through the room, through all the laughter and whistles.
Jon has to physically stop himself from seething as Damian leans over and presses a soft kiss to Colin’s lips. Both of their eyes close and it lingers for far too long. In reality, it’s probably only a few seconds, but to Jon, it feels like an eternity.
The others whoop teasingly and Jon doesn’t even see Colin playfully push him away while he wipes at his mouth with a grinning, faux grimace. All Jon can see is that first part, their eyes closed while they lean in, replaying over and over in his mind.
He stands suddenly, drawing the attention of everyone around him. He isn’t sure what he mutters as an excuse, but all he knows is that the laughter stops when he leaves the room.
“Uh oh, someone’s jealous…” Lian’s voice rings out and there’s a sharp smack, probably to her arm. “Ow! Hey, quit it!” She tells someone.
“Don’t be mean!” Kathy reprimands. There’s a brief silence. “Damian, maybe you should…?”
Jon tunes it out, feeling panicked. He’d just made it so obvious and now Damian’s going to know and he’ll have to sit through an awkward let down. Their friendship will never be the same, all because Jon couldn’t keep his emotions in check during a stupid game.
He could fly away somewhere, try to make a break for it, but he doesn’t want this to linger any longer than it has to. He leans helplessly against the hallway wall and waits until he sees Damian coming around the corner. Almost silent, even to Jon’s senses.
“Hey,” Jon croaks out, feeling incredibly self-conscious and he can’t even look Damian in the eyes.
Damian looks impassive, his face stonily calculated as he walks closer to his best friend. “Jonathan, are you alright? You left quite suddenly,” Damian answers, sounding unsure.
Jon huffs out a laugh, but it doesn’t sound genuine. He wants to come up with some kind of excuse, but they’ve known each other for far too long for that to work.
“You are jealous,” Damian points out when Jon doesn’t say anything. He says it like it’s any other fact and like they’re having the most casual conversation ever.
The young super feels his face heat up and suddenly, his socked feet are incredibly interesting.
This time, Damian goes silent, waiting patiently as he leans against the wall near him. It takes a long moment, Jon trying to ease the panic because he knows he can’t lie, but that doesn’t mean he’s in a rush to ruin his best friendship, either.
“Yeah,” Jon finally admits quietly.
Damian hums and looks like he’s considering that incredibly brief answer. “Any particular reason why that is the case?”
Jon’s next exhale puffs out his cheeks and he still can’t look at him. “I think you know why.”
“I wouldn’t want to assume.”
“Listen,” Jon hastily starts, his hand carding through his curls nervously, “This doesn’t have to be weird or whatever. It’s just a stupid crush, it’ll go away. We can be friends still, right?”
Damian looks at him curiously, not that Jon can see it since he still hasn’t lifted his gaze from the floor. “Is that what you want? To remain friends only?”
Jon does lift his head at that. Snaps his head up, actually. Staring into Damian’s eyes feels intense but he doesn’t let that stare falter this time. “Wh-what? What do you mean? Of course, I want to stay friends!”
The youngest Super almost balks when Damian rolls his eyes in response. He feels a sharp burn of hurt in his chest before it’s quickly replaced with breathlessness.
Because Damian is holding his hand.
He stares down at their interlocked fingers for a dumbfounded moment and when his gaze trails back up again, he sees…
“Damian… are you blushing?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Jonathan,” Damian snaps quietly, a light pink blush definitely on his cheeks.
Jon feels like a fish with how he can’t pick his jaw up from the floor, and then he’s smiling shyly. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up, but it’s pretty hard to misinterpret this.
“Dami. You’re holding my hand.” And they used to do this sometimes when they were younger, though it didn’t last for long as they shifted into awkward teenage years and understood the implication.
“Yes. I thought that much would be obvious,” Damian sniffs.
“Okay…” Jon trails off for a moment, raising an eyebrow, his smile slowly growing. “Why?”
His best friend lets out an aggravated huff, another eye roll. “Did you really think it was necessary to be jealous of Colin? He is not…” Damian huffs again, frustrated.
“Damian, wh--” Jon begins to ask for clarification, but he’s very much cut off by the feeling of another pair of lips on his.
Jon’s eyes open wide, staring at the closed, fanned dark lashes of his friend. Well, perhaps they were more than just friends now.
When the incredibly brief kiss ends, Damian pulls away looking even more flushed. “I certainly did not do that for a dare, hayseed. Do not be idiotic, you’re obviously the only one who holds my attention in that manner.”
At a loss for words, Jon finds himself blinking as he processes what just happened. Damian had kissed him. He and Damian just kissed. And… yep, they’re still holding hands.
“Are you saying you like me?” Jon asks breathily, feeling like the oxygen has left the room even though he has plenty of air in his lungs.
“Yes. You have nothing to worry about or be jealous of. I only wish you would have told me sooner. It would have saved a lot of unnecessary, childish pining,” Damian says like he isn’t still a kid in high school himself.
Jon laughs a little, his smile crooked. “I wanna… I mean, can I kiss you again?” He asks hopefully, feeling elation course through him that he can even ask that question and feel fairly sure that the answer will be yes.
Damian still hasn’t stopped blushing and that certainly doesn’t help. Jon could stare at this rarity all day, but he really wants to be too close to be able to look at Damian’s cheeks in focus.
“I suppose that would be amenable, yes,”
Jon doesn’t waste another second. He doesn’t hold back this time, slides closer to him, and cups Damian’s face as gently as he can as he leans down to capture those lips.
He closes his eyes this time, too. Just feels out Damian’s mouth blindly. His lips are so soft against his own and Jon could do this forever. His thumbs trace the pretty high points of Damian’s cheekbones as he makes it linger and last for a good, solid moment.
Their eyes flutter open in tandem when they pull away and Jon feels his heart flutter in his chest when Damian offers him a small smile.
“Wow,” Jon says, and that causes Damian to fluster slightly and pull away with a scoff.
“Don’t be embarrassing, Kent,” he chastises with no real heat to it at all.
Jon just grins. “So, does this mean we’re boyfriends now, or…?”
“Ugh. So juvenile. But yes, I suppose it does.” Damian’s words hardly match his actions as he reaches to make sure their hands are still firmly linked together.
Jon grins, feeling so elated that he can hardly hide it. “Rad,” he intones, which is only met by another scoff and eye roll from Damian.
“Now let’s return to this stupid party game and endure our team’s teasing on the matter.”
Jon pulls Damian’s hand up so he can kiss along his knuckles. “I’m good with that, as long as you’re there with me.”
“Tt. Nerd.”