Archive of Our Own

“ “My dearest friend, if you don’t mind, 

I’d like to join you by your side. 

Where we could gaze into the stars, 

and sit together, now and forever. 

For it is plain as anyone can see, 

we’re simply meant to be"

Jon heard the last notes of the song and watched the credits start rolling by, munching on the last of his popcorn and trying to push down the lump in his throat. 

His nineteenth halloween was about to roll around and he was single, sad and in a new city with no friend close by. 

Sure, he could fly at the speed of sound and reach his family, or the titans, or Kathy, or go to any of the dozen of college parties he had been invited to…but… he didn’t really feel like it. 

The break up still hurt like an open wound, after a whole week. 

It hadn’t been a long affair, but he thought… he really thought he had found his “Lois Lane”. 

Maybe he should just stop trying to follow his father’s footsteps.

Jonathan Kent, however, was a romantic. 

“I just want something like this…” he whispered to himself, feeling the first tears fall from his eyes as he listened to the beloved soundtrack come to an end. 

“Someone meant for me, someone to cherish and hold, always there to turn to, someone to shower with love…”

Which is why things hadn’t worked out with Jay. Jay had his own battle to fight and Jon did too, but he wanted, selfishly, to have someone to which was above everything else. 

He was there for the whole world to have a piece of, was it much to ask for someone for which Jon was the whole universe? 

Someone meant to be? 

“So that we could gaze into the stars...and sit together...now and forever…” he lamely sang to himself, aaand now he was full on sobbing. Cause of course. He was just a big ball of pathetic. Good thing his father was not on the planet to hear him. He could be as pathetic as he wanted to . 

That’s off course, when the pity fest was interrupted by a very loud BANG against his window. 

He jumped into the air, almost bursting the ceiling, his red eyes turning towards the noise ready to blast when--- he heard flapping against the glass. 

He flew to the window to find…

“A bat? Omg, are you ok little one?” He asked in concern, opening the sliding window to gather the small flapping bundle in his hands, very careful not to hurt it.

The little thing flapped some more, tried to bite and scratch, but then seemed to realize the lack of effectiveness and quieted down, turned and stared up at Jon. 

Jon’s breath hitched in delight. 

“aren’t you absolutely adorable?” he whispered, bringing the little bat up to eye level. 

He was aware bats could be vicious creatures, but it wasn’t like it could hurt Jon’s impenetrable skin. 

“Hi! I’m Jon. Can I see if you’re hurt, little one? That was a big bang. I’m sorry my window was in the way. You guys have really sensible ears, right? It’s pretty noisy out there, I know something about it. Let’s close the window, ok?” 

Strangely enough, the bat seemed to listen.

He went to his bed, cuddling the creature close and turned on the side table light.

The little bat let him check him all over, opening his wings, his hind legs, his sharp pointy teeth. Everything seemed fine, even after using his x-ray vision.

A quick google search told him that he had in his hands an Egyptian fruit bat… little more than a baby from the looks of it. 

Not a species easily found in the usa, then.  

Could it be someone's exotic pet? Jon frowned at that. It could explain its placatory demeanour, but Jon didn’t like the idea of someone keeping the cute little bat in captivity, away from his land and family. 

It hit Jon a bit too close to home. 

“Are you lost, little one? Do you want to go back home…?”

It’s not like it would be that hard for Jon to bring him back to Africa. 

But then again...maybe he would know how to fare for himself…

“Fruit bat, eh? I have some of that. Here!” In a flash he went to the kitchen and back, carrying the entire fruit plate and his fluffiest towel for the bat to lay on. 

The bat...seemed to consider it for a bit, and then slowly, very slowly crept up to the platter and almost shyly put a little paw on a grape and sniffed. 

Jon smiled sweetly, grabbed it and divided it in two. 

The bat snatched one half up and started nibbling with gusto. 

“awww… you were hungry?” he reached down to ever so carefully pet the little fluffy one. 

He slowly laid down on the bed, resting on his side, caressing the small bat and watching him eat. 

He felt so light, and warm, his previous tears all forgotten. 

His eyes grew heavy, as he focused more and more on the fast and steady heart beat in front of him, its cute nibbling, letting the noises of the city fade away…

...and fell asleep. 

When he woke up the next morning he was tucked in bed, both the fruit, or the towel, or the bat were anywhere in sight. 

Any sign of its ever being in the flat was gone.

It couldn’t have been a dream...could it…?

That morning he went to uni still thinking about the strange cute little bat, and about what could have happened. 

It had to have been a dream. He must have carried himself to bed after the movie ended in a fit of tears and fallen asleep and dreamt of the cute bat. After all, it had been too strange how quiet the bat had been.

And yet…

He was so taken by this line of thought, that when he turned the last corner to reach his favorite coffee shop he walked straight into someone, knocking them- and their drink- on the ground.

He blanched, looking down at the small form of a young boy. 

“Oh--Oh Rao, I’m so sorry! Oh no, look at your drink! I’m sorry! Are you ok? Here, let me help!” He started to rant, kneeling down in front of the other, gathering the contents of his bag that had spilled out...most of which looked like drawing supplies. 

An art student? He looked a bit young to be a college student, but then again…

“Let me give you a hand, can you stand?” Jon asked sheepishly after gathering everything from the floor in one arm and extending the other in front of the boy’s face. 

The other finally looked up, and Jon found himself pinned by two penetrating green eyes framed by very thick, long black lashes and topped by equally thick and expressive eyebrows, currently pinched in a frown. 

The boy looked really mad and murderous. Which was fine, since Jon had just knocked him on the ground, after all…

“I’m fine,” he said, accepting Jon’s hand. 

His hand was freezing, probably from having stayed in contact with the cold ground for way too long already, thanks to Jon’s creepy staring.

Jon felt even more like a jerk as he pulled the other up. 

Even standing up, he barely reached Jon’s chin, which strengthened Jon’s guilt. 

He could have seriously hurt him under less fortunate circumstances with his thoughtlessness. 

“I...I’m Jon! Jonathan Kent. And I’m truly sorry! Would you let me invite you for coffee to repay the one I just made you spill on the floor?”

Was he just inviting for coffee the guy he had just knocked on the floor and that was currently still glaring daggers at him…? Apparently yes. 

“Or maybe, I can just pay it back…?” he added, feeling less and less confident by the second. 

The other gave him a once over, still frowning, and Jon got ready for rejection when he spoke again “I’m Damian. And I’d be delighted to have coffee with you” he said, still looking at him dead in the eyes with no other visible emotion other than apparent fury, leaving Jon speechless. 

“...great! Great! ermh… there is this really nice coffee shop down this road…?” 

“Lead the way” the other, Damian, said briskly, and started walking without waiting for Jon. 

He scrambled to follow him after a few seconds of astonishment. 

Damian wasn’t one for words, or maybe he was just shy, but Jon didn’t really mind. It gave him time to steal glances at him, trying to read the enigma he presented.

He didn’t look like a high schooler,  he was dressed way too nice for that. His clothes looked tailored and expensive, made of nice fabric of rich, warm colors, a camel jacket, a green silk scarf with brown velvet pants and a cozy knit sweater. Maybe he was a fan of vintage. The look sure complimented his dark skin and black hair pretty nicely...and that’s where he had to stop himself. He could be twelve for all you know Jon, what the hell.  

Not that he looked twelve. He carried himself with way too much seriousness for that. 

“Is that it?” Damian asked, pointing at the coffee shop, snapping Jon out of his musings. 

“Oh, yes! Here- he offered, opening the door to the warm shop - after you”

Damian stepped inside without a word. 

They gave their order, caramel latte for Jon and a chai tea with soy milk for Damian. 

They sat down in the plush armchairs  by the window Jon preferred and then the dreaded awkward silence fell. 

Jon found himself opening and closing his mouth more than once, racking his brain for something to say, and settled on apologizing again, when Damian beat him to it. 

“What do you study in university, Jonathan Kent?”

Jon blinked. 

“I… How do you know I…”

Damian raised his eyebrow “except from your Metropolis university sweater?” he deadpanned. 

Jon felt himself blush “right. Uh, journalism. I...my parents are both journalists and so…” he ended in a shrug. 

Damian quirked his head, much like a bird “they wanted you to follow in their footsteps?” 

“What…? No...I… I guess I want to do that”

“You guess?”

Jon frowned “I do” He affirmed a bit more firmly. Because he did. 

“I see” Damian said, simply, never once taking his eyes off Jon. 

it had been one of the many fighting points between him and Jay, actually, his ex doubting the strength of his convictions. Always telling him how to do things better.

It had always made Jon extremely furious. 

Damian didn’t look like he doubted him, however. 

He was simply....acknowledging him. 

It felt nice.

“What...what about you? Do you...study?”

Damian tilted his head again, considering “I do study” he simply said.

“...can I know what?”

“Everything. Everything interesting. I do find myself currently pretty interested in art and music. I’m fond of piano lately, but I play the violin too. And autumn is the perfect weather to paint” 

It was the most he had heard the other talk until then, and found he wanted to hear more. 

Damian had a pleasant deep voice, definitely not twelve, then...and definitely an artistic type...which could explain his eccentricities. 

“Wow… I’ve never learned to play an instrument. Must be nice. I’d probably break it if I try aha ah” he laughed fakely. 

“I’m sure you can be very gentle” Damian countered “it’s not hard to learn to play, if you practice”

They stared at each other for a moment, in complete silence, and then Damian, finally, looked down. 

“You should probably go. Your class is about to start” 

“I…” he looked at his phone and his eyes widened. The only thing that could save him from being late was super speed at that point. 

“Jeez, Professor Mac is gonna kill me for real this time” he lamented, starting to gather his things. “I’m so sorry, I need to run! But… I’ll see you around…?” He really hoped he would. 

Damian smiled for the first time, his whole face changing completely without his persistent frown “Sure. Go now. And thanks for the tea” 

Jon lingered for just a second, wanting so hard to ask for a number but not finding the courage, in the end, to do so. 

He smiled back a bit sadly and ran out of the coffee shop toward his class. 

Only later during his literature lesson he realized with a start, that he had never really told Damian when his lessons started. 

That night he crashed into his flat exhausted and covered in smelly sea water and giant alien squid ink.

First he had to attend a JLA meeting, since he had become a member after his father had left earth and then, after having batman himself chewing him out for being late (he had to stop to at least three times on his way first for a fire, than a mugging, than a poor girl crying cause he kitty was stuck on a oak tree what was he supposed to do she was crying so loudly---) he had to ran to Metropolis harbor for the attack of some mutated giant squid and then---

After all that...he had an assignment to finish, and an essay to start and… Halloween was in four days and his life sucked . 

He felt like crying. 

“Shower first” he told himself, and dragged his sorry ass to the bathroom. 

As he scrubbed away the black muck, he went back to the events of the morning, to the strange boy with the deep voice and even deeper green eyes. 

As soon as he stepped out he felt the need to put on some piano music...only to then realize that he knew nothing about it and had no idea what to even search for. 

Just typing in youtube “piano music” seemed shallow, and something someone like Damian would sneer at. 

“Maybe I could ask him next time I see him…”

He hoped he would see the other again… Damian was… he was… 

Something knocked against his window. 

Again. 

With his heart in his throat, Jon ran to the window and gave a big smile at what he found. 

A small bat was hanging from the window upside down. 

“I knew I hadn’t dreamt you! You came back!!!” 

He wondered for a second how he had ended up in bed the other night, but then again, he had probably just forgotten getting in it and the bat flew out of the opened window.

He petted the small cute bat for a while, and then settled him on his kitchen table with some fruit as he made himself a simple dinner. 

The bat sniffed at the fruit again, choosing an apple this time. 

Jon picked it up and cut it into small dice, and the bat started munching with enthusiasm. 

“I’m so happy you’re real, baby bat” Jon said, and at that the bat seemed to stop and look up, tilting its head...in a pretty familiar way.

“I had a pretty bad day, you know? But...I also met someone very nice! He tilts his head, just like you, actually. His name is Damian. He has these big, pretty green eyes…” Jon mused dreamily. 

After all, it wasn’t like the bat could judge him. 

“And caramel like skin. Black fluffy hair...I bet it’s pretty soft to stroke…” Jon continued, stroking the soft black fluff on top of the bat’s head “You got that in common” he laughed. 

“I really hope to see him again…”

The bat was looking straight at him, as if seriously considering his words. 

Jon smiled down at him. “Eat. You’re too small! You could fit into my pocket! Eat up!” 

The bat made a small tutting sound, and tacked in again. 

The night was the most pleasant Jon had in a while, as his small companion accompanied him through all his remaining tasks. 

He managed to finish all his assignments by three o’clock,  glad to have a few hours to sleep. 

When he finally hit the bed, the little bat curled on his pillow by his side. 

Jon leaned in and kissed his cute little nose. 

“Good night baby bat”

The last sound he heard before falling asleep was a small “TT”.

Next morning The bat was gone, but this time Jon knew it would be back. 

In the next few days he found Damian on his path practically every day. It was always in a different setting, at different times, but every single time the boy was to be found somewhere in Jon’s nearby vicinity, either sketching, or reading, or sipping his Indian tea. 

A voice inside Jon that sounded suspiciously like his mother, or Roa forbid, his ex Jay, was telling him that it was pretty strange for Damian to know his schedule so well to always be there when he had a moment to breathe, but he resolutely ignored it.

It had become, after all,  the highlight of Jon’s day, something to look forward to. 

Mostly they just pass the time in silent companionship, as Jon ate or studied and Damian read or sketched. 

He was an amazing artist, capturing everything around him in elegant pencil strokes and watercolor splashes. Jon never tired of seeing his hand dance on the cream colored paper. 

Sometimes Damian would ask more of his direct questions, prying into Jon’s life, but never judging, or commenting at all. 

He just listened. 

He would gliss on any question Jon tried to ask back, however. 

He would only answer vaguely, never going into detail. 

All Jon had gathered was that he had a father, probably divorced, that he had “way too many siblings”, a lot of pets, and that no, he wasn’t a highschooler, but he didn’t go to college either. He liked to audit classes he found interesting in different colleges sometimes. This time around he was listening in to a Metropolis university class revolving around the challenges of renewing old architecture in the face of the climate crises, or something like that. 

Whatever it was, Jon was extremely grateful for it.

He was starting to fall for the boy...and hard. 

“I know I’ve only met him a few days ago, but baby B! He is...HE IS….UUUUUUUGH. It’s the eyes. No. The voice. No! The way he looks at me. All serious, and attentive, as if I’m the only thing he is paying attention to, and his mouth--- oh my Rao, baby, I’m pathetic, aren’t I… And I’m probably boring you to death…” he lamented one night to his furry winged friend, who had also become a constant companion of his evenings. 

Jon didn’t feel like he had the right  to give  him a name but the nickname “Baby bat” had stuck. 

The bat was looking at him rolling in misery on the bed with an air of heavy judgment. Jon was sure of it. 

How could it not? Jon was making a fool of himself. 

“I just… I know I’m always falling head first in stories after having just met the person and I end up burned EVERY SINGLE TIME but...BUT… he … he is different. And I feel like if I wait a day more, I’m gonna explode. I NEED to ask him out. See him for more than thirty minutes on campus during breaks. For dinner! How many chances do I have to find an evening with no alien attacks planned, no fires, and no cats stuck on trees? What’s the chance? UUUUUGH. JUST ONE EVENING! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!” He screamed at no one in particular. 

He picked up the bat that was currently ignoring his temper tantrum and held him on his chest “tomorrow. Tomorrow is Halloween… Tomorrow I’ll ask him. I have to. I can’t… I can’t risk  not taking the chance. I will. I have to. ” 

The bat just huffed. 

The next day, of course, Damian was nowhere to be seen. Just his damned luck. 

He looked around Campus at every break, even using his super hearing, he even stayed later than he was supposed to on that Friday, hoping that maybe the boy was just late. But no luck, Damian never showed up. 

Jon guessed it was bound to happen, maybe he had something else to do, or something came up. 

He regretted not asking for a number more than ever. 

Not only he didn’t get the chance to see Damian and ask him out, but as soon as came back home, finding no baby bat to cheer him on either, he received a JLA urgent call and had to rush to stop some kind of crazy attack of….vampires? 

Of course. Of course they would get vampires to fight on Halloween. How had his father done this for twenty-two years? Jon had barely started being superman and he was exhausted.  He didn’t even know vampires were actually real. 

Sure, he heard rumors, and there was definitely a joke going around the justice league that the ever reserved Batman was one himself, but Jon had always thought it was just, well, a joke. 

Batman was, strangely enough for such a large scale event, missing. 

“There’s something going on in Gotham, his city. Her villains always go particularly crazy on halloween night” Wonder woman explained “So we’ll have to make do without him”. 

“Shouldn’t we… help him?” 

“No metas allowed in Gotham, you know that. He wouldn’t want us in his city, he has his own team of vigilantes in Gotham, he’ll be fine. We need to focus on that ” she said with finality, pointing to the hoard of crazy looking people with pointy teeth terrorizing the citizens of New York. 

Just a typical Friday night for the JLA. 

Jon knew that Batman had help. The legendary ‘bat family’, even though he had never met any of them. They tended to stay in Gotham, isolated from the rest of the vigilante crowd. 

He had been curious as a child, especially when he heard some of them were teenagers, but his father had warned him sternly to never, under any circumstances, set foot in Gotham. 

And Jon had listened. 

As it turned out, the hoard wasn’t made of real vampires. They were only the victims of some kind of crazy experiment gone wrong, some idiot playing with chemicals and magic that had contaminated a whole group of teens that had then proceeded to contaminate more and more people. They managed to find every single one of the ‘fake vampires’ and subjugate them for as long as it was needed to find a cure. Some members were already working on that. 

Jon managed to drag his sorry ass home when the sky was already lighting up into dawn. 

And to think that just yesterday he had imagined himself being on date with cute Damian...maybe inviting him home and… and… 

He flew through his window letting out a big sigh, ready to crush on his bed, uniform still on and all and sleep until next Monday, if possible.

He wasn’t tired enough to not notice the trail of blood on the floor, however. 

He went into full alert in just a split second,  his super senses flaring out, trying to find out if there was someone waiting to attack him. 

He scanned the room and found a huddle form in his bathroom. 

In a moment he was there, eyes red and ready to blast only to find… 

Well, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. 

A small form, dressed in black, grey and yellow, with a black cape that looked like a smaller version of Batman’s signature one. 

A vigilante? From...Gotham? He lowered his laser eyes, and touched the ground, trying to look less aggressive. The boy, because he must have been younger than Jon, was hurt, and bleeding. 

Jon had no idea how, or why he had gotten into his house, but he was not going to let him die. 

“Easy there, I’m not gonna hurt you!” he said quietly, kneeling down. 

The boy, his face covered by the hood of his uniform, lifted his head to show a tanned face covered by a black domino mask. 

The white lenses, just like Batman's ones, were quite unnerving. And just like Batman’s ones, he found they were made of some lead material that made seeing through them impossible. 

And yet...that face, even though it was pinched in pain, looked...familiar. 

“I know...you wouldn’t” he said, through gritted teeth. 

That voice… that voice was...it couldn’t be…

“D...Dami...an?”

Damian...cause it was Damian, Jon knew he wasn’t wrong, smiled, and launched himself at Jon. 

Taken aback, Jon didn’t react, letting the other throw his arms around his neck and push him to the ground. 

“Please...please Jon. Let me… let me do this. I promise I will only take what I need...I have to get back to Gotham to help my father as soon as possible and I can’t risk killing any human...but you...you can take it…”

Jon didn’t know what to say… Damian was hugging him, speaking into his neck making his whole frame tingle with some really inappropriate shivers. 

Damian was a vigilante. 

Damian was probably Batman’s son. 

Damian was biting his neck. 

It didn’t even hurt, not really. His brain was probably unable to compute what was even happening enough to register the hurt. His body was flooded with pure adrenaline, his blood rushing through his veins, and out...out in Damian’s impossibly warm, soft, sucking mouth. 

Damian was drinking his blood. 

He was wrapped all around Jon, warm, soft, so breakable and yet he had managed to pierce Jon’s skin and was drinking his blood. 

It lasted but a few seconds, after which Damian was already pulling back, licking Jon’s neck and sitting up, straddling his tights, licking his freaking soft lips, red with blood, pointy canines shining through. 

“I’m sorry...I truly am” Damian said. 

Jon just laid there, unable to even speak, hsi chest lifting up and down in ragged breaths. 

“I have to go” He concluded, still looking at Jon with a pinch in his eyebrows. 

“But…” Jon managed “you’re hurt” 

“No. I’m not. Not anymore. Thanks to you”

They stared at each other for a moment, Damian frowning down at him, and Jon opening and closing his mouth trying to find words that kept escaping him. 

Then Damian leaned down again, and Jon flinched before he was able to stop himself, turning Damian’s frown into a sad smile. 

“I truly am sorry, habibi” he whispered, before laying a fleeting kiss by Jon’s mouth. 

 Jon blinked, and in just that moment Damian was gone, replaced by a small, too familiar bat flying out of the window, faster than any normal bat ever could. 

It took a long time for Jon to pick himself off the floor. 

When he did, he felt light headed, and he didn’t know if it was because he was tired, confused, or because an actual vampire who he had a crush on and that was also a vigilante and probably Batman’s son just sucked who knew how much blood from him. 

Shakily Jon brought a hand up to his neck, but found nothing out of the ordinary to the touch. 

He flew himself to the bathroom mirror and turned on the light, inspecting the side of his neck, but found nothing. Just his usual smooth skin. 

He sat on the toilet lid, uncertain on what to do. Too much information to process, and no idea where to even start making sense of it. 

Damian was a vigilante from Gotham. That was quite certain. He said he had to go save his father, and that didn’t mean he was talking about Batman, but it probably implied it. Damian was also a vampire…? There was that rumor about Batman, but Jon had been so sure it was fake...maybe he had been hit by the same spell gone wrong in New york? But none of the fake vampires had been able to even nick Jon's skin, and they had tried hard enough, and also, none of them had been able to turn into bats! 

And that was another thing… Damian was also the bat that had come to visit Jon for a week now. 

Jon didn’t know what to make of that. 

Was Damian making fun of him? Jon had gushed in front of the little bat of his feelings for Damian for hours! Damian must have been laughing behind his back! How could he? What was the point of it all? Jon needed answers. 

Jon was scared of getting them.

He gave a big sight, burying his face in his hands in defeat. 

First of all he needed sleep. 

He could figure it all out when he stopped seeing four hands in front of him instead of two. 

Sleep, bed. Until next Monday at the very least. 

Last thing he expected was to find Damian waiting for him after class, curled with his knees tucked under his chin  in one of his usual spots, on a bench under the shadow of a maple tree. 

Jon stopped dead in his tracks. 

He just stared at the boy, who had the audacity to look sheepish. 

When Jon didn’t walk up to him, Damian uncurled from his position and walked toward him, stopping a few paces away, his hand hidden in the pockets of his fluffy knitted jacket. 

“Hi, Jon. I hope you are well?” he asked, without any of  his usual aplomb. He looked uncertain of Jon’s reaction, and just as well he should. 

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Jon asked under his breath, low enough a normal human would not have heard, but Damian, of course, did, wincing just a little. 

Well good. Jon was angry. 

Big, wet green eyes notwithstanding. 

“I...I can explain, Jon”

“You can explain? Explain what? The reason why  you have been making fun of me for a week? Or the reason why you attacked me last night?”

“I...I wasn’t- that’s not what I was doing. Please Jon. I...trust me, I’m not one to beg, usually. Let me explain, hear me out. If you still want nothing to do with me after listening to what I have to say...I’ll leave. You’ll never see me ever again. I promise”

Jon wanted to shut him out. He wanted him to leave. He felt betrayed and belittled, just like...just like he used to feel with Jay. But … the idea of never seeing Damian again hurt just as much, for some reason. 

“You better offer me coffee then. No. Lunch. Somewhere good. At the very least” 

Yup. That would serve the little prick right. 

The smile Damian gave him was as unusual for the boy as it was blinding. 

But no. Jon was not falling for it. His stomach was not doing twists because of it. Nope. He was just angry. He was gonna milk Damian’s wallet dry, ordering an entire menu. He would make the other cry. 

As it turned out, Damian ordered what felt like an entire menu at a really nice -and expensive- Korean barbecue place Jon had dreamed about going to for months without Jon even needing to ask, and it was all made of Jon’s favorites. He wondered how the other knew for a while, before realizing that Damian had spent the previous week practically dining with him every single night. 

The bastard. Jon was angry with him. 

He needed to remember that. 

“So. EXPLAIN” he said sternly, after they settled down in a private booth. 

Damian was looking at him again in that unsettling way of his “Sure. I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know.Where would you like me to start from?” 

Jon paused at that. He had expected a bit more resistance than that. 

“Well. Are you...are you Batman’s son?” 

Damian blinked. “Oh. Yes, I am” 

“I thought so. Is he… I mean… are you... “ he felt stupid asking. But he had no other term for it “Are you both vampires…? Or… or something else. I mean, there are rumors about your dad but…” 

Damian tilted his head “Rumors? In the JLA? About my father being a vampire?” 

His eyes sparkled at that, as in humor. 

“Well, he dresses like a bat…”

Damian’s lips twitched at that, and then he snorted. 

“And he nags at us about being secretive. He is pretty obvious, isn’t he?”

“He is then? A vampire? Like, an actual one?” 

Damian sobered a little. “Depends what you mean with ‘an actual one’, legends about us are pretty inaccurate, after all. But yes, Jonathan Kent. Both my father and I, are vampires, real ones. I would beg you to keep this to yourself, of course, but I think you’re entitled to the truth...just like your father was. I believe you’ll grant us the same discretion he did”.

“My father knew?” 

Damian nodded. “Of course… he is my father’s best friend and pretty much only confidant, together with Wonder Woman”

“She knows too?”

“Yes, but nobody else...maybe the manhunter does, given the nature of his powers but that’s it. Your family knows the importance of maintaining secrets”

Jon nodded gravely. 

He thought about it for a while, as his perception of the world shifted “are there others?”

“Yes. Thought most of them are people that have been turned”

“That’s possible…?! Wait...I’m not going to turn, am I?” 

“No, don’t worry. A pure blood vampire has to drink all the blood in his victim and then offer his own to them to drink. And the possibility of that working out is… not 100%. Turning someone is not that easy”

Jon sighed in relief. 

He heard a waiter approach them and waited for them to leave after filling his table with plates before asking his next question. 

He had way too many to ask. 

“So… you can eat?”

Damian blinked owlishly at that “Excuse me?”

“Normal food, I mean…” he asked, blushing a little. Was it a foolish question? “Can you eat food or do you only...drink blood?”

Damian looked down at their food and carefully picked a plate laden with veggie Hobak Jeons. 

“I can eat. I’m a vegetarian though” he shrugged. 

“That’s...rather contradictory”

“I don’t drink the blood of animals, Jonathan Kent. And I care about the planet”

“Right” Jon nodded, feeling strangely like a jerk as he picked up his plate of chicken wings. 

“So… if legends are so wrong, what are vampires actually like?”

“What do you mean?”

“You… sleep in a coffin?”

Damian stopped mid bite. 

“Seriously…?” 

“You obviously do not burn out in the sun” 

“I grew up on a tropical island, so no”

“Not even a little?” 

“No! Although my father does sunburn easily. That’s more of a turned vampire thing. Some of them are quite sensitive to the sun, but they can bare it, with enough sun screen”

“Your father is a pureblood?”

“Yes”

“And what about you?”

Damian raised his nose up high at that, in a bit of a snobbish move “My mother comes from a long line of necromancers. So while I might no be a pure blood vampire, I am of the highest breeding” 

Jon felt like he had hit some kind of sour point “I...didn’t mean to offend… that actual sounds so cool. You can do magic?!” 

“Yes… that’s how I can turn into a bat, and how… well, how I managed to…” 

Jon blinked in confusion at Damian's sudden sheepishness. 

“How you managed to do what?”

Damian sighed “I have to apologize to you again, Jon. I am truly sorry. The way I behaved with you is unforgivable. But believe me when I tell you I felt like I had no choice”

“Oh. You mean how you managed to break my skin. I had thought about that...so … not every vampire would be able to?” 

Damian shook his head. “No. I could thanks to...my particular set of skills. I shouldn’t have. But… There was an Arkham breakout and I ended up in a wild goose chase thinking I was following one Arkham ascapee while Bane had actually broken into our house. My father was severely hurt and our dear butler, Alfred, who is like a grandfather to me, had been captured. The others were all in a similar situation to me, and I was near Metropolis, I was hurt, and had no strength to get back to Gotham in time. I…  I am a prideful person, Jon. But my pride is nothing in the face of losing someone I love so dearly… I had to do something. I’m sorry I betrayed your faith in me. I had promised my father I would never kill again. And I was too hurt to drink from a human… I would have… I shudder to think of what I would have done if I-”

Jon put his hand on Damian’s crumpled ones. “Damian...stop. It’s fine. I understand now. No harm done”

“But-”
Jon shook his head. “No. Please. You did what you had to. I hope you managed to stop Bane?”

Damian nodded, his face still pinched. 

Jon smiled “I’m glad. That it’s ok”

“But…”

“No. Though I do have more questions. Would you answer them for me?”

Damian blinked at him again. 

He nodded, with a smile. 

They talked a lot, and Damian got to call him an idiot more than once. He got his confidence, and his superciliousness back after a while, something Jon was glad for. 

As it turned out, no, vampires did not sleep in coffins. They had no problems with garlic, and did not, in fact, sparkle. 

They could not mind control people, but they did live quite longer that normal humans and had tougher skin than humans too, though they were far more breakable than Kryptonians.

 Damian’s father was 87, their butler, who had been turned by his father when he was about to die a few decades back, was 121.

His father had turned all of Damian’s brothers except for a sister named Cassandra, who was also a born vampire. It wasn’t something he did with a light heart, but that he only performed when there was nothing else to do to save them. The reserved nature of the family was exactly because of that. Batman’s helpers did all look young...but they had been young for a while. 

“We age, of course we do. We’re not immortal. But we do so at a much slower pace”

At that Jon had to ask “So… how old are you, exactly…?” dreading the answer just a bit. 

Damian grimaced “how old did you think i was when you first met me”

Twelve “mmmh… 16…?” 

Damian’s grimace turned more fierce. 

“Right. Well, I am the youngest one, and being vampire born means I age even more slowly… but I am not, indeed, 16. I’m 23”

“Wait, YOU’RE OLDER THAN ME?”

Damian smirked at him “by a total of 5 years. Yes”

“Four!!”

“Four and seven months, practically five” 

“I’m still taller though”

“uh. I will be taller than you one day. Just you wait” Damian snapped back, quite miffed, making Jon laugh and ruffle his hair, which in turn almost got his hand bitten off.

As they left the restaurant the day was turning into evening fast, and it had started to rain. 

“so… I still have questions. Would you… would you come to my house…?” 

“Are you...sure? I’d understand if you-”

“No. Stop. I forgave you already”

“You shouldn’t have”

“But I did. Please. I… I’d like you to. I can make you tea?”

Damian curled his nose “From a bag?”

“...Where else would tea come from?”
Jon delighted in Damian’s look of total disgust. 

“Right. Well, it would be a crime not to show you the proper way. We’ll have to stop at a grocery shop at the very least, I doubt you have the proper ingredients”

“Other than a bag and hot water you mean”

“HERESY”

Jon laughed, as he ran after a fuming vampire leading the way to the grocery shop on the other side of the road. 

“You can’t possibly need these many things to make tea”

“Sure you do, if it’s Indian Chai tea and you want it to taste like something”

“It can’t possibly taste like anything, you’re not using real milk”

“I do not consume OR buy, dairy products”

“My grandma would weep at that” 

“My cow would weep if I’d give money to the dairy industry”

“You have a cow?!?”

“Bat-cow”

“...I don’t know what to say”

As it turned out, Chai tea was amazingly good. But Jon was not about to tell Damian that. 

They chatted over tea some more, as the rain patted against Jon’s window, and Damian asked him all he couldn't ask before, about what it was like growing up the son of Superman, about working with the JLA. He had an eagerness about it that surprised Jon, considering how reserved his family was… he realized the more question Damian asked that maybe the other missed having other people to talk with about such things, just like Jon himself did.

He found himself wishing he had met Damian sooner. 

His childhood would have been way less lonely. 

“So… when you first crashed through my window...was that on purpose…?” he finally asked when their conversation came to a lull. 

Damian bit his lip “Yes...and no”

Jon waited for him to continue. 

“I… had a fight with my father. He… doesn’t like me to leave Gotham. He thinks… he doesn’t trust me”

“I’m sure he does”

“No “ Damians shook his head “he really doesn’t. And he’s right Jon”

“D-”
“No. You need to understand this, Jon. I’m...I’m not a good person. I...When I was still with my mother...she is part of a cult of assassins. The league of shadow, i don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them. I was one of them. I’ve killed for them. I’m...I’m a killer”

Jon had heard of them. He had fought them on a few occasions too.

“but you’re not anymore”

“Does it matter?”

“It matters to me. And anyway, you fought with your dad and then?”
He needed to know. It felt crucial he did. 

“I flew away as a bat, cause it’s hard for him to track me like that and… I ended up in Metropolis. I...I wanted to meet you. I’ve wanted to meet you ever since...well, for a long time” 

Damian wasn’t looking at him, his hands gripping his now empty mug fiercely. 

Jon came closer, crawling over his sofa toward where Damian was perched on the window sill, a warm silhouette against the dark of the night. 

Jon could hear his heart beat like something fierce in his rib cage, or maybe it was Damian’s, he wasn’t sure. 

“You...did?”

He put his hands on Damian's, prying the mug away from his clutch, depositing on the sill behind him. 

He looked up, towards hooded green eyes, that were now closer to his than they’d ever been. 

“...yes”

“Why?”
Damian leaned in, his forehead touching Jon’s, nuzzling against his curls. 

“Because…”

Jon tilted his head, and they met in the middle.

They kissed slowly, carefully, ever so carefully...Jon could break him with a touch, and Damian’s teeth could break his skin with the slightest pressure, but neither of them seemed to care. Damian tasted sweet and spicy, like cinnamon and cardamom and his mouth was warm, and so very soft as Jon dragged him away from the window, down with him on the sofa, in a tangle of limbs, and blankets, both of them touch starved and dead set of getting to as much of the other as possible. 

Damian’s cold hands were everywhere, sending shivers all over Jon’s body and he could feel his teeth scrape against his neck, soothed by his warm wet tongue right after, sucking and liking a trail down from his ear to his collar bone almost painfully and feeling too good to be stopped as Jon frantically tried to pry Damian’s heavy knitted sweater off his lithe frame, needing to touch skin like he needed  the touch of the sun to survive. 

And wasn’t that the crux of things, this was wrong, Damian was a creature of the night, while Jon was a son of the sun, but, BUT, but it all felt too right to stop. 

Jon wanted this as he had never wanted something before in his life.

He needed it. 

“D-Dami...please…” 

“What...Jon….Jon, what. Anything. Take anything you want…”

And Jon took. 

He took anything he could. 

Anything Damian willingly gave, as if Jon was the center of his whole universe.

With a growl Jon flipped their positions, pushing Damian into the sofa after ridding him of the offending sweater, and finding with annoyance another layer, which he ripped right open making more than one button fly. 

Damian laughed, Jon feeling the reverb of it deep in his guts, low in his groin needing to push back against it, arching into the heat of Damian’s own parted tights, making him gasp. 

“...Habibi…” he uttered back, low, guttural, like a prayer. 

Jon had no idea what it even meant, but he loved the sound of it. 

And so he pushed again and again, dragging his heat against Damian’s over and over again, feeling something amazing growing and growing, his heavy breaths mingling with Damian’s broken ones, growing more and more frantic, as Damian arched his back off the couch, mouth wide opened, canine showing clearly, pearly white and sharp as knives. 

In the haze of pleasure Jon leaned down and licked into his mouth, against his teeth, tracing the shape of them opened mouthed and filthy, laughing into the kiss as the pace of his trusts grew faster and faster and Damian’s hitched breaths turned into high pitched whines and moans, his eyes screwed shut. 

“J-Jon! Jon...Please… pl-please, ah AH PLEASE, HABIBI, PLEASE”

“P-please what, babe? What-what do you need...”

He looked down at Damian’s flushed face, kissed his round cute nose, his red cheeks, and reached back to his mouth, as his thrusts became a focused vibration against the addicting warmth of Damian’s hardness, chasing the last leap into oblivion Jon felt coming at him like a inevitable freight train. He kissed Damian again, as his vision went white and he dived off, his whole body singing into pure bliss, Damian crying a strangled moan, feeling Jon’s tongue pushing against his teeth, the tangy taste of blood flooding both their mouths. 

Damian spasmed under him, following him off the cliff, as his hands came to tangle fiercely into Jon’s curls and he devoured Jon’s mouth in a brushing kiss Jon returned just as fiercely. 

When their high died down, they found themselves still breathing each other’s air, forehead together, breaths heavy, Jon’s tiny sofa barely containing both their forms.

All in all Jon found that while he could have chosen a more comfortable setting for their first time, he regretted nothing.

“Ah…” he croaked with a breathless laugh after a while “I’m crushing you. Sorry, I…” He tried to push himself off Damian’s chest, with trembling arms. Damian puffed out a small laugh in return“you are, you big oaf. But that’s fine. I like it” he half whispered, his voice completely broken, hair a mess, a speck of blood on the side of his mouth. 

Well. Jon just had to kiss him again after that. 

And then some more, just in case. 

After a while he gathered the small vampire in his arms barely breaking the kiss and carried him to his bed, where he laid him in a cocoon of blankets, coming to rest curled against him, his face pressed against the steady beat of his heart. 

“So...vampires have a beating heart, after all”

“We are not undead. We’re very much alive”

Jon playfully pushed his stomach against Damian still very much ‘alive’ cock. “That I can tell”

“You really are have hay seeds for brain, hay seed”

“Mmmh and yet you like this hay seed brain, so what does that tell you about yourself?”

Damian looked down at him intensely, making Jon shiver “I do...like you..habibi” 

“What...what does that mean…” Jon asked as in a trance, as the guttural sound of the word pushed Damian’s sweet breath against his face, making him want to chase it against his mouth. 

“What…?”

“Ha-bi-bi?”

“Ah, that”

Damian blushed, not answering. 

“Tell meeeee”

“It means… beloved…”

“beloved?”

“Beloved, my love, my dear, my darling” Damian listed, his blush growing. 

Jon wanted to cry. 

That was it, wasn’t it...?

He did find it, after all. 

“My dear friend”

“That too…”

He felt his mouth stretch into a lopsided smile. 

He left a sweet kiss by Damian’s temple, his nose, the side of his lips and then he rested his face against Damian’s chest and he started to sing with a sigh. 

“My dearest friend if you don’t mind…

I’d like to join you by your side. 

Where we could gaze into the stars, 

and sit together, now and forever. 

For it is plain as anyone can see, 

we’re simply meant to be"

the end…?