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Slowly, carefully, Jon closed Damian’s bedroom door. He was as quiet as he could be, floating above the ground so that his footsteps didn’t make the old floorboards in the manor squeak. He didn’t want to wake Damian, or anyone else-
“What were you doing in my brother’s room?”
-for that matter. Damn it.
Jon whipped around to find Dickie standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at him. The boy was in his pajamas, but he looked wide awake. Jon should’ve guessed that at least one Bat would be up at this hour, he just wouldn’t have put money on it being the youngest one.
“Hey, buddy.” Jon smiled.
Dickie didn’t smile back. “I asked you a question. Why were you in Damian’s room?”
Jon tried to think of a reason, but came up empty. He, of course, couldn’t tell a twelve year old the real reason that he’d been in Damian’s bedroom.
His and Damian’s relationship wasn’t a secret, not really. Jon had told his family, and Damian had been fine with it. However, when it came to Damian’s family, he’d said that he’d felt no need to tell them. He’d said that they’d figure it out eventually.
Except, it had been a year now, and Jon was sure that most of them still hadn’t figured it out. It wasn’t like it was super obvious, neither of them were big on PDA and they each had their own apartments that they took turns staying at. Being at the manor tonight was a rare exception after a long mission.
Actually, Jon was pretty certain Tim and Cass were the only ones who’d noticed anything, considering the fact that both of them were eerily observant. If Bruce knew, he wouldn’t have let Jon stay the night, even though he and Damian were both adults.
“Um,” Jon looked back at Dickie, who had his arms crossed over his chest now. “I was just- just checking on him.”
“Checking on him?” Dickie repeated with a raised eyebrow. “Is that a Kryptonian code for sex?”
Jon choked on his own saliva and began coughing. What the heck? How did he know about that stuff? Had Bruce seriously given Dickie the talk already?
Well, he now had confirmation that at least one member of Damian’s family knew about them.
“Wha- what?” Jon finally managed to stutter out once he stopped coughing. “That isn’t- that’s not-”
“Don’t try to lie about it, it’s super obvious.” Dickie fixed him with a glare that Jon hadn’t thought the kid was capable of. It was almost reminiscent of Damian’s, but not quite as intimidating. “It’s also super shitty of you to just leave in the middle of the night.”
“I wasn’t! I was just going to get a glass of water.” Jon promised, raising his hands in a placating gesture.
It was the truth, honestly. However, the look Dickie was giving him told Jon that he didn’t believe a word of it.
“Seriously, I wouldn’t do that.” Jon continued, hoping to convince the kid. If Dickie went and told the rest of his family that Jon was treating Damian like a one night stand, he was liable to get a kryptonite batarang to the face. “Damian and I aren’t just- we’re- he’s my boyfriend, but even if he weren’t, I wouldn’t do… um, do that to him.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Jon dragged a hand down his face. Rao, this kid. Two years with the Bats and he was already just as distrustful as the rest of them.
“Look at me. Do you seriously think I’d be leaving without a shirt or shoes?”
Dickie looked him up and down, considering. After a long moment, he finally nodded. “Alright.”
“Alright.” Jon repeated, letting out a sigh of relief.
It was quiet in the hallway for a few, precious seconds. Then, of course, Jon had to go and ruin it with his big mouth.
Damian was right, he really did need to work on his impulse control, because he couldn’t stop himself from asking- “Is it really that obvious?”
“You are.” Dickie responded without missing a beat. “You stare at Damian’s muscles, and his butt. A lot.”
Oh, okay, well that was absolutely mortifying. Jon wished he could melt into the floor. The kid probably thought he was some sort of pervert, always ogling Damian.
Although, could he really be blamed for that? Damian was insanely gorgeous. Who wouldn’t look?
“By the way,” Dickie continued, leaning forward. “Bruce showed me where we keep the kryptonite a few weeks ago, in case of an emergency. If you hurt Damian, I’ll consider it an emergency.”
Jon wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Part of him thought it was sweet- adorable little Dickie with his huge eyes and fluffy hair threatening Jon to protect Damian.
However, another part of him remembered Dickie shouting at Bruce and putting himself in front of Damian the last time Damian and Bruce had gotten into one of their blow-out arguments. He’d also seen the kid launch himself off a rooftop and do a double-knee drop onto a criminal’s chest.
Point was, Jon knew that Dickie was serious about the kryptonite.
Regardless, a hysterical laugh escaped Jon’s mouth anyway. It was more because of nervousness than anything, but Dickie didn’t seem to take it that way.
“I’m serious!” Dickie scowled, pointing a finger at Jon’s chest. “You keep your dirty, alien hands off my big brother or I’ll-”
Luckily, Dickie’s threat was cut off by the sound of a door opening. Damian stepped out into the hallway, eyes darting back and forth between the two of the them.
“Jon? Richard? Is everything alright?”
The murderous glare immediately melted off of Dickie’s face, replaced by a pout. “I can’t sleep. Will you read me a story, Dami?”
Damian smiled, and Jon would get threatened with kryptonite a thousand times over to keep that look on his face. “Of course. Come, let’s go to your room.”
As he and Damian walked away, Dickie looked back over his shoulder at Jon and stuck his tongue out.
…
Jon was almost asleep when Damian finally came back to bed.
“Took you long enough.” Jon mumbled against the pillow.
“Sorry.” Damian pressed a kiss to Jon’s hair as he settled back in bed beside him. “Did I wake you?”
“It’s okay, I wasn’t asleep yet.”
Besides, Jon didn’t point out, Damian wouldn’t have woken him if he had been asleep. He was perfectly silent when he moved thanks to all the years of ninja training. He was somehow quieter walking than Jon was flying, which was just unfair. The only reason Jon had even known he’d come back to the room was because he’d heard his heartbeat.
“By the way,” Jon continued as he moved over to lay on Damian’s chest. “Your brother knows about us.”
“Yes, well, I assumed so. Timothy is too smart for his own good sometimes.”
“No, not Tim, Dickie.”
“What? No, he doesn’t.”
“Well, he saw me leaving your room without a shirt on at three in the morning.” Jon countered. “So if he didn’t before, he does now, but he did know before.”
“You are sure of this?” Damian asked.
Jon lifted himself up slightly to look at Damian. “The kid threatened me with kryptonite, he’s a menace.”
Damian began to laugh. Jon would’ve been a little offended that Damian wasn’t taking this seriously if he didn’t love the sound of it.
“I’m not kidding, D.” Jon insisted. “He told me to keep my ‘dirty, alien hands’ off of you.”
Damian just smirked. “Well, you are quite dirty.”
“Really?” Jon moved one hand down to slide his fingers against the waistband of Damian’s pants. “Do we need to talk about the things you said to me the other day when you were rid-”
“Shut up.”
Damian pushed Jon’s face away, but Jon grabbed his wrist, pressing a kiss to it. Then he moved upwards, kissing Damian’s neck and jaw. He could feel Damian’s hands on his back, in his hair, and that only spurred him on.
“You better make the most of this.” Damian whispered in his ear.
“Yeah, why?” Jon bit down on Damian’s pulse point slightly, just to hear him gasp. “You planning on going somewhere?”
“No, but if Richard knows about us, then my whole family will know by morning.”
That stopped Jon dead in his tracks. He dropped his head back down to Damian’s chest. He was laughing again, because of course this was funny to him.
“You’re laughing.” Jon shook his head. “Your family is going to kill me and you’re laughing about it.”
“Tt. They wouldn’t kill you.”
“Your dad has a literal crate of kryptonite in the cave.”
“Yes.” Damian agreed. “He does, but he would not use it to kill you. Just lightly maim you.”
“Very funny.” Jon rolled his eyes.
“I would not let them hurt you, beloved.”
Even though Jon could hear the teasing in Damian’s voice, he knew it was true. The thought warmed his chest. Damian would never allow anyone to harm him.
“However,” Damian cleared his throat. “Just to be safe, maybe you should go back to your apartment before everyone wakes up.”