Chapter Text
Damian Wayne, Gotham high schools’s quiet kid. The only people he ever really talked to was Bart Allen and Raechel, or Raven, Roth and when he had to work in groups he was cold and dismissive to everyone.
All anyone, except Raven and Bart, knew was that he moved to live with his father, Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne enterprises, when he was eleven, he was a part of the school's a cappella choir, and he skipped a grade of school because he was apparently very advanced. Even the media had very little to say in regards to the youngest Waynes’ life.
Jonathan Kent on the other hand, was Gotham Highs’ soccer superstar and one of the most popular kids at school, known for being kind and funny. His best friend Jaime Reyes was also on the soccer team as a fantastic player, and they were always seen together, surrounded by lots of people always trying to get their attention. Unlike Damian, Jon was very sociable and nice and tried to be friends with everyone.
Damian was sitting in the corner of the lunch room, alone and reading as usual, seeing as Bart had some extra work to catch up on and Raven was searching for a book they really wanted in the library.
He looked up from his book when he heard his name being called through the noise of the cafeteria, and saw Bart running over to him, dragging a very irritated looking Raven with him. When he was a few feet away from the table Bart tripped over his untied shoelaces, stumbling and causing him to let go of Raven, almost falling flat on his face.
“You imbecile, what is so important that you’re running with your shoes untied and almost making an even bigger fool of yourself than usual.” Damian asked, putting his book away and standing up.
“Mr.Mitchels says he has an announcement for the Bats!” Bart exclaimed excitedly. Damian stopped frowning and the closest thing most people had seen to a smile on him appeared on his face.
“Well let’s go then.” Raven said, catching both boys' attention, as they stared out the cafeteria on their own. Bart ran to catch up and Damian followed behind slower, oblivious to the two pairs of eyes watching after them.
Jon stared at the tan raven haired boy walking out of the cafeteria with the red head boy and ravenette. He turned to look at Jaime and saw him looking at the small red head until they disappeared out the door.
“Who were they?” Jon asked, turning back to Jaime.
“I think the person with the longer black hair is named Raechel, but goes by Raven. They’re in my mythology class.” Jaime said.
“Well who were the two guys with them?” Jon asked.
“I don’t know, they look familiar but I don’t remember either of their names.” Jaime told him.
“Weird.” Jon said, frowning. He knew a lot of people in this school, But how could he have not noticed this guy.
Meanwhile, Damian, Bart and Raven had run down to the choir room and were waiting for the announcement to be made with their ten other members.
“Alright everyone, listen up.” their instructor, Mr.Mitchels, called to get everyone's attention. Everyone quickly stopped talking amongst themselves and looked over to their teacher.
“The annual a cappella choir competition is coming up in a couple months in May, and for the first time in years we will qualify!” This announcement was met with many cheers and excitement.
“What set will we be performing?” a girl named Miley asked.
“Well I think as it stands our best option is to perform our set of Daylight, Come Alive, and Touch the Sky.” Mr.Mitchels told the group. “We will also be performing this set in front of the school in about three weeks!” the room paused. “Come on guys, get pumped up, this will be a great opportunity to perform for people in our school and bring attention to the group.” Mr.Mitchels said, trying to make the group excited.
“Yea, and to get laughed at by everyone later.” a boy, Byron, mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, followed by murmurs of agreement from everyone else.
“Well you don’t get a say. You all need more practice performing for an audience that's not in an old folks home or your parents before this competition. So, everyone be here after school as usual, and be ready to get some work done.” Mr.Mitchels said, walking out of the room, leaving just the thirteen students in nervous silence.
“Welp that's it, any social dignity we had left will be gone after this performance.” Bart groaned.
“Well I suppose there’s nothing we can do about it other than give a great performance.” Raven said, Damian nodding in agreement.
“And Mr.Mitchels is right, we do need practice in front of a real audience.” Miley spoke up again.
“Yea I guess you guys are right. I’ll cya guys at practice later I guess.” a guy, Tyler, said, getting his stuff and walking out of the room, everyone else following after him.
“How can you two be so calm about this? That set is our solos set!” Bart exclaims as the three of them walk through the halls.
“It’s not a big deal Bart, we’ve been practicing this set for two years, and we know the songs by heart.” Raven said, seemingly completely unfrazzled by the announcement.
“Yea but-”
“Bart, be quiet.” Damian snapped at him. “We will be fine, no one knows or cares about us. The school is huge, and we are more than prepared. It’s just like every other performance we’ve given in the past three years.” he told him, finally making Bart stop voicing his worries to them. Damian hid it quite well but he was also a little nervous about this performance, and the last thing he needed was Bart yammering on and making it worse.
The weeks passed by quickly, and soon enough the Bats choir kids were in the choir room preparing to give their performance for the school. They had all changed into their uniform of a yellow T-shirt, a black, bedazzled jean jacket, dark gray converse, and either a black jean skirt or black jeans.
“I feel nervous.” Bart admitted to the group, still running steps in the mirror, terrified he’d fall on stage.
“You’re going to do amazing Bart, you need to stop worrying before you overthink it.” Miley told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“If it makes it any better, we’re all in the same boat and feel the same way.” Tyler added, as Mr.Mitchels walked into the room.
“Ok, everybody ready?” he asked the group, receiving a chorus of yes and nods. “Great, then let's head out to that stage and kick butt.” he said, clapping his hands together and leading the group out the door to backstage. Everybody grabbed a microphone from backstage and lined up in the wings as the principal who stood in front of the closed curtain introduced Mr.Mitchels onto the stage to give his little spiel about the group and how happy he was about their success. Damian resisted the urge to scoff and roll his eyes, knowing nobody in this school really cared. Towards the end, everyone took their place on stage and waited.
“Now with great pleasure I give you, the Bats choir.” the principal said as he and Mr.Mitchels walked off stage. The curtain rose on the group and they began their performance, Bart doing perfectly on his solo through Daylight, Damian crushing his in Come Alive, finishing with Raven's gorgeous performance of Touch the Sky.
By the end Damian felt much more relaxed than he had before, although he showed no change in emotion, remaining stoic with a half smile plastered on his face, while Bart had visibly relaxed. The two were posed together on one end of the stage and as their eyes scanned the crowd while their classmates clapped for them. Bart noticed two boys he only vaguely recognized from a few classes over the years, staring at him and Damian. A confused look passed over his face quickly, and he slightly nudged Damians foot with his, shooting his eyes in the boy's direction when Damian glanced at him. Damian looked quickly at what Bart was signaling towards and saw the two boys staring at them as well. He frowned slightly before looking away again.
The group quickly made their way off stage and into the hallway as the principal walked back on stage and started talking as the applause died down. The group immediately began rapidly talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers, congratulating each other and just talking out the post adrenaline of the performance. Mr. Mitchels walked back and greeted the group.
“You guys all did so great, I’m so proud of all of you.” he said excitedly, giving out high fives to everyone. “Alright now go get changed and head to your last class. I’ll see you all after for practice.” Everyone quickly dispersed to change into their normal clothes, all of them wearing their hoodies for the choir saying “Bats a cappella choir” in yellow lettering against the black hoodie and headed to their last classes of the day.
Jon and Jaime were sitting in the auditorium at the school, messing around with some of their other classmates.
“Why are we even here anyways?” Jon asked with a laugh, rolling his eyes.
“Something about some stupid choir group. Apparently they qualified for some dumb competition that no one really cares about.” one of their teammates, Garfield, told them, rolling his eyes, leaning forward from the row behind them.
“So they pulled us out of class to be tortured with show music and dance? I’d rather have to take an AP exam.” another one of their teammates Josh complained. Jon gave a nervous laugh.
“I mean it’s not that bad right? They’re a part of our school and this clearly means something to them. The least we can do is pretend to care.” Jon said, Jaime nodding.
“Yea, Tim says his younger brother is in the choir, but I’ve never really seen him for very long, and apparently he doesn’t talk about it a lot.” Conner, Jons older brother, said. Tim was his boyfriend, but because a lot of his time was spent working with the robotics, Jon had only properly met him once, but had seen him talking to another shorter boy that had the same hair color, and assumed that was his little brother, though Conner talked about him twenty-four/seven.
Just then the principal walked out with the choir director and everyone stopped talking. The principal and choir director began talking about how proud they were of the group, and Jon could hear Garfield snickering behind him. Jon glazed at Jaime who was sitting to his left with his chin on his hand which rested on the arm rest, staring at the stage with a bored expression. Jon looked back at the stage as the principal and choir director walked off and the curtain rose. Jon looked over the whole stage as the performance began, and recognized the short raven haired boy he had seen in the cafeteria a couple weeks ago, also recognizing Raven and the redhead boy. Jon glazed at Jaime to see him staring intently at the stage, bored expression gone as he turned to look back at Jon briefly before looking back at the stage. Both boys watched the stage, and Jon found he couldn't take his eyes off the gorgeous raven hair boy as he moved across the stage. Jaime also found he himself could not look away from the redhead boy.
As the last song ended the two boys performing ended posed almost directly in front of Jon and Jaime. Jon saw the red head lock eyes with him and Jaime for a moment before nudging the other's foot and they both frowned briefly before looking away and walking off the stage. Jon looked at Jaime and gave him a smirk which was returned. The principal excused everyone to their last class of the day, and the two boys left the auditorium with everyone else, to their class.
At the end of the day, after choir practice Damian and Raven were picked up and walked home respectively right after, but Bart had to wait around for his “cousin” Wally to finish coaching the track practice so he could take him home.
Jaime also happened to still be at the school, having just finished technical training with the soccer team. As he was leaving he came across Bart sitting alone on the front steps outside the school. He sat down next to him and smiled. Bart glanced up and saw him, recognized him and scooted to sit a little away with an uncomfortable and awkward smile.
“You performed on stage today right?” Jaime asked, even though he knew the answer. Bart nodded shyly, fiddling with his hoodie strings.
“Cool, you did really well. I liked your solo, it fit you really well.” Jaime said, smiling. “I’m Jaime Reyes, and you are..?” Jaime paused waiting for Bart's response.
“Bart! C’mon kid, uncle Barry’s waiting for us.” Wally called as he walked up the front of the school, motioning for Bart to follow him.
“Coming!” Bart called back, hopping off up, grabbing his bag and running to catch up, grateful for the escape of the awkward conversation.
Jaime watched as Barts fluffy red hair disappeared between the cars with a frown. He sighed, at least he had learned his name.
The next morning, before the start of school Damian was sitting in the cafeteria reading. He had to be there early because his third older brother Tim was the only person able to drive him today, and he had early morning robotics. Damian was oh so happy about the situation. There were very few people in the building so at least it was quiet. He was just waiting for Mr. Mitchels to get there and unlock the choir room so he could hang out there instead before it started becoming more crowded. Jon was also at school early because Conner had work for a class to do that he needed some help from the teacher with. Jon was wandering the halls on his own when he walked into the practically empty cafeteria and saw the raven haired guy from the other day, and decided to go over and sit with him.
“Hi.” he said as he sat in the seat right next to the boy.
“Can I help you?” the boy spat back, moving over a chair away from Jon.
“I saw you performing and I wanted to introduce myself.” Jon said. “I’m-”
“Do not bother, I have no interest in becoming friends with you.” Jon stared at him in shock
“Hey Dami, choir rooms unlocked, let’s go.” Raven said as they walked up to Damian and Jon.
“Perfect timing Rae.” Damian said, standing up and grabbing his bag, walking over to Raven. Jon stared after them and sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
A week later brought about the start of the third term, which meant new class schedules for everyone. Lunch was just finishing up for Jon so he met up with Jaime at his locker, who had earlier lunch, and the two headed to their shared class of English for 4th hour.
Damian had also just finished his lunch period and was putting his things away in his locker when Bart came up from behind him and they headed to their English class together.
Bart and Damian took seats at the back corner table of the room and began talking between themselves as more students filled into the room, no one joined Bart and Damian, but neither of them cared. The bell rang and their teacher Mr. Sparks stood up and began introducing himself to the class, and discussing what they would be doing.
“So for our first big project this trimester I’m going to assign you all groups of four and each of your groups will spend the time creating a presentation about a book or movie you all like, and discussing the themes and how the media portray it.” Mr. Sparks told them and the students began talking amongst themselves, and grouping up.
“While I’m glad to see the excitement for this project, I did say I had chosen the groups.” Mr. Sparks told the class, eliciting groans from everyone in the classroom. Mr. Sparks started listing off names and students moved to sit with their groups.
“Alright last we have Jon, Jaime, Bart and Damian. Everyone should now have their groups, so begin brainstorming, and getting to know each other.” Mr. Sparks said as he sat back down at his desk and everyone started talking to each other.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Damian thought as he looked over at Bart who had a look of disbelief.
“What are the fucking odds.” Bart whispered under his breath, as Jaime and Jon joined them at the back table.
“So, any one have an idea about a book or movie we’ve all seen and liked.” Jon said, looking expectantly across the table at Bart and Damian, looking for them to introduce themselves Bart shrugged and Damian rolled his eyes, which Jaime frowned at.
“What's with the eye roll man? We’re just trying to do what we need to for this project, we gotta have something to go on.” he said looking right at Damian with a frown which was met with a scowl.
“Damian.” Bart said in a quiet, shy warning tone as he visibly tensed.
“Gee, I dunno maybe because there’s no conceivable way we like the same books or shows, or even had the same takeaways from them.” Damian snapped back
“What do you even mean by that? You aren’t special, hate to tell you, there probably is something if you’d stop being a jerk long enough for us to figure it out.” Jaime exclaimed.
“I am simply stating a fact, if it bothers you so much that is a problem you will have to deal with.”
“Look, this very unproductive, can we just focus on the project at hand.” Jon exclaimed. Damian opened his mouth to snap back but was cut off by the bell and Bart grabbing both their books and running out the door, forcing Damian to chase after him rather than get into an argument with Jaime and Jon.
“Bart Allen what the hell was that for?” Damian asked angrily when he caught up with Bart who had stopped at his locker.
“To keep you out of trouble. You can’t just be hostile to people like that.” Bart huffed, shoving Damians books at him. Damian rolled his eyes.
“I can take care of myself, I don’t need you to do it for me, and I didn’t say anything untrue.”
“I’m going to class.” Bart hissed before walking off, leaving Damian confused, as their next class was together as well and they always walked together. Damian sighed and walked after Bart to their next class, sitting next to each other, Bart still refusing to look and talk to him.
After school everyone left for practice as normal and headed out to go home afterwards. Jon and Jaime were making their way to the school parking lot to walk home together as Conner had ditched them for a date with Tim instead of driving them home like usual. As they reached the front of the school they saw Damian and Bart standing at the bottom of the steps, seeming to have a conversation. The two boys decided to walk closer to try and talk to them again about their project. They saw Damian stop talking to Bart and begin talking into his phone before getting visibly annoyed and hanging up with a sigh and turning back to Bart. They were now close enough to hear the others' conversation.
“Drake says he can’t take us home, something about a date with his boyfriend that he “forgot” to mention.” Damian huffed with air quotes around forgot. Bart groaned.
“What about Dick or Jason?” he asked.
“No, Greyson went with West to that track meet and Todd is notorious for not picking up his phone, especially for me. And before you ask, Pennyworth is busy too, so are Brown and Cain, and Gordan, and Thomas.” Damian said.
“For some big ass family no one is ever available when you need them.” Bart complained.
“What about your grandparents?” Damian asked.
“Both are still at work.” Bart sighed.
“Guess we’re walking.”
“You gonna come over then?” Bart asked.
“Yes, may as well, the manor is creepy when it’s empty.” Damian said with a huff. Upon hearing that Jon walked up to the two with Jaime following after.
“Um hey, so I kinda overheard, and I was just wondering if you guys would want to walk with us, and come over to my apartment, so we can try again to talk about the art project.” Jon said as Bart and Damian whirled around, startled by his appearance from seemingly nowhere. Bart shrugged looking at Damian.
“I suppose it would be logical.” Damian sighed.
“Great, let's go!” Jon said happily.
“Let me tell my grandparents first.” Bart said, pulling his phone out, Damian doing the same, as they all started walking.
The four walked in mostly silence until they reached Jons apartment building. Eventually they reached the building and climbed a few flights of stairs to get to Jons apartment. Jon opened the door and held it open for the others to walk through, closing it behind them.
“Mom I’m home.” he called, kicking off his shoes, the others did the same.
“I brought some friends.” he continued walking out of the entry with Jaime, motioning for Bart and Damian to follow them.
“Hi boys, how was school?” a woman, assumedly Jon's mom, was sitting on a stool at the counter as the boys walked into the kitchen.
“It was pretty good, practice was difficult but fun as always.” Jon answered.
“Well that's good,” she said smiling, as she noticed the other two boys she hadn’t met yet.
“So who would you two be?” she asked.
“This is Bart,” Jon pointed to the redhead who smiled and waved. “And this is Damian.” he finished and Damian gave a small nod.
“We got paired together for a project in english class, which we are going to go work on in my room.” Jon explained to his mom.
“Ok, well good luck, and nice to meet you boys.” Jons mom said as Jon led the others down a hallway to his bedroom.
The first thing that caught Damian and Barts eyes was a poster across from Jons door over his desk that read “Bi the way” with the colors of the bi pride flag as the background. Jon noticed the two staring and raised his brow.
“Got a problem with something?” he asked. Damian scoffed and rolled his eyes while Bart chuckled.
“Not at all in fact.” Bart said, tapping a pin on his back pack strap that read “Bad puns and finger guns” in the colors of the bi pride flag.
“Oh sweet. Where did you get that?” Jaime asked.
“Raven made it, Damian has something too.” Bart told them.
“Cool, think they’d make me something with the pan flag?” Jaime asked.
“They have a small online craft shop that they make these for, I can send you the link.” Bart said smiling, pulling out his phone.
“Are there things other than pins?”
“Oh yea they make necklaces, earrings, posters, rings, bracelets- OH! Damian show them the bracelet Raven made you.” Bart rambled excitedly. Damian rolled his eyes with a slight laugh and rolled up his sleeve to show off the rainbow bracelet from Raven that Christmas.
“Oh neat.” Jaime said, looking at Damian's bracelet.
“Yes they’re really talented with these kinds of things.” Damian mumbled, pulling his sweater sleeve back down.
The boys began to talk and map out parts of their projects for the next while finally deciding to analyze the first How to Train Your Dragon movie, the feelings being much less tense than at the beginning. Then Bart felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to see texts from Wally
Walls
Hey Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry have been called away for some important trip thing and Bruce has some business trip thing, so you and Damian are gonna be staying with me and Dick for the time being, so we’re gonna come pick you up
Tim is staying with Jason in case Damian asks
ok i’ll tell damian
Where are you guys?
at a classmates, we had a project
Ok send me your location and we’ll come get you
Bart sent Wally his location before putting his phone away.
“Wally says that your dad and my grandparents have some trip stuff so we have to stay with him and Dick for a bit until they come back.” Bar said, looking at Damian.
“Oh wonderful.” Damian groaned.
“Wally as in coach Wally West for the track team?” Jaime asked, confused.
“Yea it’s complicated how we’re related, we just say we’re cousins.” Bart laughed.
“What.” Jon and Jaime said, still confused.
“West is Bart's grandmother's nephew.” Damian explained. “He is also engaged to my oldest brother” he added.
“But he’s like twenty-two, that's a six year age gap between you and him.” Jon said.
“Yea it’s a long story..” Bart trailed off.
“Well don’t worry about it, you can fill us in some other time.” Jaime said, putting his arm around Bart's shoulder and giving him a side hug.
That was when Damians phone rang and when he picked it up to check it was a text from his brother, letting him know they were there.
“It would appear that Greyson and West have arrived so we will have to continue this another time.” Damian said, standing up with his backpack.
“How about tomorrow, we have an early game but after that we should be free.” Jon suggested.
“Sounds good.” Bart said, also standing up.
“Great the more time to work on this the better.” Jaime said as they walked to the door. Bart and Damian waved goodbye before heading down the stairs and out to Wally's car.
“Well that was an enlightening experience." Jaime said once they made it back to Jons room.
“Oh definitely.” Jon agreed.
“And now we know we have a chance at asking them out.” Jaime said, scrolling through his phone. Jon smirked.
“Ok, are you already texting him?” he asked. Jaimes head snapped up and he had a slight blush on his cheeks.
“No. I’m ordering some earrings from Ravens shop.” he said defensively. Jon raised his eyebrow at him.
“Ok, I may also be texting him to show him what I got.” Jaime admitted sheepishly. Jon chuckled but knew he’d be doing the same, he couldn’t wait to get to know Damian better.