Chapter Text
“Amala, what is this?”
Before Damian was a binder which was black with steel rings, thin and not understuffed, with each page put into plastic protectors. The cover was blank and black, impassive. His mother had sat him down in the garden of her palace to look it over with him. He was wary of it, wary of her, but he was willing to try. That’s why he was visiting in the first place.
“Go ahead, open it.”
And open it he did. Each page had biographies of single people his age complete with flattering photographs. There were pros and cons neatly ordered on every sheet.
“I have ordered it randomly. These are the select few people I see as worthy of your hand in marriage. Take a look.” She gestured with her hand. Damian flipped through the pages. His mother didn’t seem to have taken gender into account. Damian had never told her his orientation, but she still somehow knew.
“How did you know that I like men?”
She snorted. “Please. As if I could not track your gaze. You may be subtle, but I know you, Hayati.”
Damian clicked his tongue and focused on the pages. He read them diligently. He had not been afforded much choice by his mother’s family before, and the fresh liberty was enthralling. He wanted to make the best choice he could. Damian's brow arched inquisitively.
“Did you talk with these people before listing them? Or at least their families?”
She nodded. “I imagine they would like to meet you before agreeing, but yes, they are all open to it.”
“Superman’s son…” Damian said, trailing his finger over the photo. He read and re-read the information on the sheet.
“It’s regrettable what happened to his cat. He has been too scared to use his powers ever since. His father believes that you could teach him the control that he needs to be unafraid of himself.”
“He’s… handsome. Kind. He’s like me… autistic. We both like animals. He’s got… potential.” Damian muttered before looking up at Talia. “This is the one I want.”
“Excellent choice. I shall schedule a meeting. His father’s home.”
Damian nodded stiffly. “Something wrong, Hayati?” Talia asked, standing and resting her hands on his shoulders. She wanted to rest her chin on his head, but he was no longer a child. Some days she wished she could turn back time. But she would miss this version of her son, the one she has come to know in the last 8 years. That son might be happier, but he wouldn’t be himself.
Damian closed the binder. “Amala everything is fine. When I meet him my behavior will befit my title as prince.”
“I know you will show proper respect, but I hope you will be yourself. He would marry you, not your role. You would be his and he would be yours. He should be allowed an informed decision.”
Privately Damian wondered why Jonathan would get a choice to marry and he did not.
Damian’s father never visited Bialya or Nanda Parbat. Damian used to have to sneak away to see his mother or the landscape he had first learned to paint by. The stars that night were so beautiful, and he knew they would shine even brighter at the league. He couldn’t see the stars in gotham. They were like old friends, something he could count on. They embraced him warmly as he identified and named each one. The air on his balcony turned cold, pebbling his skin in goosebumps. The town below him slept, and if he took a telescope he would be able to see the night owls typing away at their keyboards. Damian could text Maya or Collin if he wished. Soon he might have Jonathan Samuel Kent to text. Damian smiled. The file said Jon loved the stars too. Maybe they would both be looking at the same stars tonight, hours apart. Maybe Jonathan was looking at his father’s home star. He didn’t need a telescope with his super vision. It must be lonely to be one of the only people who could see the world the way he sees it.
Well, it didn’t really matter what Jon thinks or feels if he didn’t end up liking Damian, so he thought it best to turn his thoughts away from what he felt made him and Jon kindred spirits.
Despite having left the league, Talia decorated the palace in Al Ghul colors. She would supersede her father, not abandon her pride in her heritage. Damian himself was wearing gold jewelry and green silk. It was nicer than anything he’d worn in the league, something his grandfather might be seen in. He put on the fluffy cloak provided to shield him from the cold night air.
His father would probably be disappointed to see him like this. But then Bruce never really understood Damian. He didn’t understand that he couldn’t erase Damian’s past and mold him into whatever shape he liked. Damian appreciated his mother trying to claim their past for her own in a way that benefited her. He would be lying if he said that his inner child was not satisfied when he looked in the mirror. He was taught to believe that little boy was evil… and yet…
Well, there’s no point in dwelling on that. He atoned for his year of blood. The good he did now would have to be enough.
When Damian returned to Gotham, Stephanie, Dick, and Bruce were there to greet him, as well as the throng of paparazzi and fans. Word had gotten out among gothamites that Damian was a literal prince and he’d become the city’s most eligible bachelor as soon as he’d turned 18. Despite this, Damian hadn’t wanted to be a spectacle, so stepping out of the private Jet he wore an expensive suit, no tie, first and second button unbuttoned. He walked down to meet his family with a cool affability that teenagers everywhere envied enormously.
Dick squashed him into a hug, Stephanie joined in, and Bruce put on a pretty smile for the cameras as he stood to the side. Dick had taken to calling Damian ‘Dami’, “my blood” in Arabic, because it sounded like his name and showed his affection, stressing Damian’s importance and their familial bond.
“Dami! I missed you! How is Talia?”
“Mother is doing well. Bialya has a peaceful air to it that I have never known before. You are welcome to join me next time, Richard.” Damian turned to face Stephanie, focusing his eyes on her eyebrows to avoid eye contact but appear normal. “Stephanie, I’m surprised to see you.”
“A welcome surprise, I'd hope.” Stephanie said.
“Of course.” Damian rolled his eyes. Wasn’t it obvious? He wouldn’t have addressed her at all otherwise. When his luggage was loaded they got into the car and Alfred started driving to the manor.
“Did anything exciting happen in Bialya, little D?”
“Amala is arranging a marriage for me. The candidate we settled on seems… intriguing.”
“No.” Bruce said.
“Nana?”
“You are not going to have an arranged marriage. No. Talia is crazy if she thinks I will allow that.”
“It is not your choice, father. It is mine.” Damian said coldly.
“You should marry for love!” Dick interjected.
Damian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we please not do this?”
Stephanie put her hand on Damian’s shoulder. “You don’t have to marry this person if you don’t want to.”
He leveled her with a glare. “I don’t have to do anything that I don’t want to do. If we are not a good match my mother has plenty of other matches lined up.”
“But shouldn’t you get to choose for yourself?” Stephanie asked.
“Yeah, like meeting someone in a club or at a bar.” Dick said.
“I don’t like loud noises and flashing lights. Alcohol does nothing to me. Why would I waste my time in any of those insipid locations?” Damian griped.
“It’s part of being young! Experimenting, trying different things, seeing what you like in a person.”
“I already know what I want. I have always known what I want. I will know it when I see it.” Damian responded.
“And you see it in her?” Bruce asked.
Damian clicked his tongue. “ He is a good match. I find it unlikely that a relationship with him would end in failure. That is satisfactory.”
Stephanie laughed. “You sound like a robot! Love isn’t about all that stuff on paper. Love is about how you feel, but I know you hate talking about all that.”
Damian clicked his tongue. “Infatuation ebbs and flows. Relationships require much more than simple passion to last. Father lacks the qualities that provide for a stable relationship. This damaged his relationship with my mother. I will not make that same mistake.”
“Love isn’t a mistake! Also, that’s really harsh. I’m sorry he said that, B.” Dick said.
“I am only telling the truth. It was not intended to be insulting.”
Bruce sighed. “I know, Damian.”
Dick gave Damian a pitying look. Damian had been sick of such looks as soon as he first received them and so he looked away. “Tt. Maybe I’ll marry him out of childish rebellion, father.”
“That’s very funny.” Bruce replied flatly.
“It is his choice.” Dick reminded them.
“What about Colin, or Suren?” Steph asked.
“If I was going to develop feelings for either of them, I’d have done so already.”
“What makes you think he will be so different?”
“I won’t know until I find out.” Damian sighed. “I regret even bringing it up.”
Damian had decided to bring flowers for Jonathan’s mother, Lois. He carried a bouquet of white carnations and fresh spring wild flowers to the door of the Kents’ apartment. He was dressed smartly in a button up, tie, sweater vest, and leather jacket with slacks and burnt umber oxfords. His hair was freshly cut by Alfred, so that it stayed up without gel. His dark green tie complimented his eyes, the sweater was gray and the jacket was black vegan leather. As a child, cotton shirts felt horrible to wear, but he suffered through them in silence and now he was accustomed to the faint discomfort, though when outfits allowed for it he liked to wear dickies, even if it was colder.
He’d avoided strong scents both because he didn’t like them and out of courtesy for the father and son’s super senses, but he had been diligent with his grooming. He was trying to make a good impression. His mother had not come today, but if this went well Jon would visit them another time.
He had already buzzed in to get entrance into the building, so he just knocked to announce his arrival. “I’ll get it!” a voice called from inside. A man opened the door. He was tall, with curly hair in an undercut, He wore a muted buffalo check flannel and unripped dark wash jeans, which was about as formal as he was comfortable with. He wore house slippers. He was muscular with the same sort of build as Damian’s brother, Dick, but a little bulkier. His blue eyes were wide and there was color in his cheeks when he said “Oh, wow. Er, Hi! You look great! Even better in person… Um, sorry, where are my manners? I’m–”
“Jonathan Kent, yes, I recognized you. You are aesthetically pleasing as well.”
He smiled. “You can call me Jon. Oh, are those flowers for me?”
“Your mother, actually.”
“They’re very pretty. Please come in. Take off your shoes, please, Mom likes to keep the floors clean. Those are very nice shoes, by the way.”
Damian stepped inside, closed the door, and handed Jon the flowers as he bent low to untie his laces and take off the shoes.
“Do you want help?”
“With what?”
“The shoes?”
“I’m not a child, I can manage it.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t think it would come off as patronizing! It wasn’t my intention and I wouldn’t–”
“It’s fine, Jon.”
“Yeah. Okay. I’m just gonna go put these flowers in a vase, my parents are in the living room.”
In brown argyle dress socks, Damian padded silently over to the living room. It was a nice apartment, filled with knick knacks from Lois’ travels as an investigative reporter and Clark’s travels as superman. There were also crafts that Jon had made as a child and still felt fond of. The house was clean, aside from a thin layer of dust on the knick knacks. Damian wanted to pick them up and pay attention to their detail, but he would have to save further investigation for a later date. It was an idle fancy, anyway.
Lois and Clark were sitting on the couch, but stood to greet Damian when he came into the room.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kent, thank you for welcoming me into your home.” Damian said, bowing his head in greeting.
Jon came into the room with a colorful blown glass vase filled with water and flowers. “Damian brought flowers for you, Mom. Aren’t they neat?”
“Thank you Damian, they’re lovely.” Lois said with a polite smile. They all sat down, Damian and Jon in arm chairs pushed together in an L shape, Lois and Clark on the couch opposite them. Jon and Damian’s knees brushed.
“It’s nice to meet you Damian, we’ve read your file.” Clark said.
Damian arched a brow. “I haven’t read it myself. I have read Jonathan’s file, and I’ve read my father’s file on you, Mr. Kent.”
“Just based on our mutual occupation it’s a wonder we haven’t met until now!” Clark said.
“Yes, I have met your other son, however. Is he around?”
Clark looked uncomfortable. “I… that is, we don’t spend a lot of time together.” he stammered out.
Damian nodded. “Jon. Do you like music?”
Jon smiled brightly and began to infodump to Damian about his favorite musicians, bands, and musical instruments. “I have a guitar, I’ve been practicing for years without any real aim other than fun.”
Damian didn’t smile, exactly, but he looked up at Jon through his lashes and looked very focused yet polite. “I play the violin and the piano. You have the hands of a great pianist.”
Jon smiled. “Thank you! Do you think I should learn the keyboard? I have a friend from college who is looking to sell his.”
“I could buy you a better one.” Damian said with a wave of his hand.
Clark, who had been observing their interaction with a fond smile, stiffened. “We Kents like to buy things we earned with hard work.”
“Okay. Jon, would you like to meet my animals? I could pay you for taking care of them for an afternoon, under my supervision.”
“I think I’d do that for free! I love animals!”
“Don’t speak too soon. I actually do have some work that your super strength could help with.”
“Like what?”
“Moving hay, furniture, sleeping beasts. It has been many years since I could carry Goliath, yet he still wants to be held.”
Jon nodded. “Okay! I’ll come over and help out and you’ll buy me a keyboard.”
Damian offered his hand and they shook on it. “You’ll have to let me teach you to play. If we are to be courting it’s only right that we spend time together.”
Jon blushed. “R-right, yeah. Um, I'm really happy to court you, Damian.”
Damian smirked. “I am looking forward to it as well, Jon.”
They were silent, looking into each other’s eyes. Jon really wanted to kiss this handsome stranger. Lois cleared her throat and Jon jumped away like he’d been burned, but Damian simply turned his head to look at her. “Damian, What do you do for work?”
“I’m studying veterinary medicine, it’s one of the few subjects my mother did not teach me. I also help organize charity events for wildlife and animal shelters in my area. In Bialya I work with my mother’s council for wildlife preservation and animal cruelty laws, three months out of the year.”
“What is being a prince like?” Jon asked.
“It’s not too different from my life in gotham. People are still polite and look up to me or try to earn my favor for status, except they are less racist to me in Bialya. When I visit my mother I spend my time training instead of patrolling. The food choice is different but no less delicious. Mostly I miss my pets, though my mother has a few cats that I enjoy seeing.”
“What about hobbies?”
“Was it not in my file?”
Jon smiled. “I wanted to hear it from you.”
Damian looked confused but answered anyway. “Like you, I enjoy painting. I already mentioned that I play the violin and piano. I spend my free time outside of those activities working out and doing gymnastics, or listening to music.”
“Can I see some of your art? Do you have photos?”
Damian nodded and pulled up the photos on his phone, passing it to Jon. “You can swipe through that album.”
“Wow…” Jon said, admiring Damian’s work.
“How is your internship at S.T.A.R. labs?”
“Huh? Oh.” Jon looked up from Damian’s phone, handing it back. “It’s great, I’m learning so much!”
“Tell me about it.”
Jon looked like a kid in a candy shop and proceeded to rant to Damian about it. Damian was able to keep up with him and ask insightful questions much to Jon’s glee, while Lois and Clark were lost in the dust.
Lois and Clark got up and went into the kitchen. “I’m sorry I doubted you. Jon seems really thrilled. If they don’t work out as partners they’ll probably make great friends.” Lois told Clark.
“He’s a good kid. They both are. Let’s go give him our formal approval.”
Lois nodded. They returned to the living room where Damian and Jon were still embroiled in conversation. Lois waited for a pause in Jon’s monologue. “Damian.” Jon pouted at being interrupted but gave his mom his attention. “We approve of your courtship.”
Damian nodded. “Jon, put your number in my phone.” He said, passing the device back over. He did so and Damian sent him a text that read “This is Damian Al Ghul Wayne.” Jon’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “I should get going, it was lovely to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, Jonathan.”
“I’ll text you.” Jon said, to which Damian nodded.
Damian drove back to the manor and parked the car neatly. Alfred greeted him at the entryway. “Master Damian. Your family is waiting for you in the sitting room on the second floor.”
“Tt. Fine.” Damian went to his room and changed into a gray cashmere turtleneck sweater, hanging his jacket up in his closet and tucking the shirt and sweater vest into the hamper. When he arrived in the sitting room, his father, Richard, Timothy, Cassandra, and Stephanie were waiting for him. Cassandra still lived in the manor so that was unsurprising but Timothy had moved out and Stephanie had never lived there. Richard being here was a given, frankly. The man still thought of himself as a parent to Damian, and Damian could not say he minded. Damian sat down in his chair, the same chair he always picked and which he got into fights with Jason over when the man decided to pick on him for it.
“How did it go, Dami?”
“Jonathan is… Ideal. I find myself very drawn to his presence. I did not want to leave.” Damian replied honestly. Dick and Stephanie cooed.
“What about his family?” Tim asked.
“They were polite. I confess I was distracted by Jon’s presence and did not take the opportunity to get to know them. They gave their approval.”
“What if they didn’t give it, Dami?” Dick asked.
“I would have respected their wishes. It’s best that my children have grandparents who accept me. Come to think of it, I should vet his parents more thoroughly in the future to ensure they will be good influences on my children.”
Tim nodded. “Well, then you should know that Clark has not been the best father to Kon. The details of that are up to Kon to share, not me.”
“I appreciate that input, Drake. Father, you have been uncharacteristically silent.”
“Clark and Lois are good people.” Bruce grumbled. Damian nodded, then turned to look at Stephanie.
“Hey, I don’t know them from adam. But if you like this Jonathan then you should go for it!” She said.
“I want to meet him.” Dick spoke up authoritatively.
“That can be arranged. Though I’d prefer to introduce you to him one at a time. Together you can be very… overwhelming. He has sensory issues and I want to be considerate of that.”
They began talking about other things and he eventually slipped away once the promised chaos reared it's head.
Damian got out his phone and started making a list of things to do with Jon. He wanted to introduce him to his friends, introduce him to his pets, introduce him to his family, play piano with him, go stargazing, visit his parents again, visit Jon’s grandparents, and take him to Bialya. He started messaging his friends and family to ask them about their schedules. Maya told him about a tech conference coming up that she was going to, and Damian thought it would be nice to go together. Damian got a text from Jon.
Jon: Hi! I wanted to ask when you wanted to meet up to see your pets?
Damian: This weekend at the manor would be fine.
Damian: My friend Maya is speaking at a tech conference in Texas next month. Would you like to come with me? I will pay for you.
Jon: This weekend. Great!
Jon: Oh, Texas! Cool! Well, I guess it’s pretty warm actually haha. Yeah, sure! It could be fun!
Damian: I will see you saturday.
[Jon is typing]
[...]
Jon: Yeah! Looking forward to it :)
Damian: Bring clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, and something to change into after.
Jon: Yes, sir!
Damian: Don’t call me that. We are courting, I am not your superior.
Jon: I know! It’s just a joke. I dunno. Anyway yeah, I’ll bring a change of clothes!
Damian: Good.
Jon: Goodnight!
Damian: Goodnight to you as well, Jon.
Damian smiled and plugged in his phone to charge, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep.