I had this goofy idea after starting reading the Supersons comics, with how (as far as Iāve gotten anyway) none of their families besides the Robots of Clark and Bruce have appeared.
So this like long after the events of the Supersons run, Dami and Jon are still close and fighting crime together, and one night when Kara and Kon come over to the Kentās for dinner, they catch Jonās phone ringing, and they ask who it is, to which Jon says Damien. They ask who that is
Jon, who has had Damien go in several rants about secret identity and feels as though he would be angry if he found out he told his family his identity on a whim, tells them very awkwardly that itās a school friend, and scurries to his room to answer. Kara and Kon share a look.
they go listen in on the conversation and loosely hear some bickering between Jon and Damien, and Jon groans at the end and tells the other āIāll be there you jerk.ā And promptly hangs up while grumbling about him being ābossyā
Now Kon and Kara donāt know much about this guy, but they both remember how Jon had previously mentioned how him and his friends would get picked on a lot at school, so they come to one simple conclusion:
This āDamienā kid is bullying Jon.
And they wonāt stand for that.
Meanwhile back at the Manor, everybodyās just talking after patrol, and Damien tries to scurry off to make a phone call. Dick is ruining such plans, ofcourse, he walks up behind Damien and squeezes his arms around him.
āHey Dames! Where you going off too so soon?ā
Damien rolls his eyes and loosely mutters something about āworking on a caseā. Tim chimes in and asks why he wonāt just work in the cave and he says that he also has to make a phone call to Jon. Dick teasingly asks āwhoās that?ā
Now, Damien could very well tell them the truth. Say itās Superboy and that heās calling him for help with a case rather than breaking into his house through the window because his familyās over for dinner. He couldā¦but then theyād also harass him for making friends. And tease him mercilessly. And then heād actually never escape this cave because heād be trapped in Richardās embraced and have his hair ruffled into ruin. Heās not just gonna take such humiliation!
So he lies, ears flushed red at the previous thought and shoulders tensed, saying heās a peer from school and says something about a school project for explaination. Then he wiggles free from his brothers arms and storms off upstairs.
unfortunately for Dami, his family are way to paranoid to just overlook his strange body language, and so they start discussing it.
Tim: āHe seems really off back there.ā
Dick: āHe didā¦maybe this āJonā guy is likeā¦a friend?ā
Steph: āHmā¦maybe. What do you make of it Cassie?ā
Cass: āLies. He wasnāt be honest. He wasā¦embarrassed? No idea why.ā
Babs: āSo maybe it is the friend thing.ā
Jason goes on to explain a story of how some guy used to bully him at school when he was younger, force him to do his homework, make fun of him, all that jazz. He somehow could never find the courage to stick up for himself. One day Bruce saw the boy following him out of the building, and when he asked who he was, Jason feeling ashamed lied and said the guy was a āfriendā. Suggesting maybe thatās whatās going on with Damien.
Tim: āYou really think Damiās being bullied? I mean likeā¦itās possible, but Dami?ā
Jason: *shrug* āIām not saying itās 100% or anything, but it just reminded me of that.ā
Babs: āI mean, Dami is the secretive type, heās got a lot of pride, I could see him being embarrassed about that.ā
Dick: āBut like- realistically, knowing him, wouldnāt he have just fought the guy by now? Not condoning his violent tendencies or anything but like, thatās normally how he deals with problems.ā
Cass: āWellā¦little brother has been trying really hard to beā¦better.ā
Duke: āYeah, plus havenāt you seen him slowly getting a little kinder? Heās been doing really well at learning to control his temper better. Maybe the reason he hasnāt fought this Jon guy is thatā¦he doesnāt wanna ruin all his progress.ā
Silence brews in the cave.
Jason: āā¦Well shit this guy needs to die.ā
Babs: *turns to computer* āDuke, grab my coffee mug, weāre going to be here for awhile.ā