What if Damian Wayne acted as Jons moral compass?
Damian Wayne has lived moral development. He had to constantly question what was right and wrong and why an action was considered wrong or right. Not only who he helped, but how and why.
He learnt one set of ethics with his mother and grandfather, another from his father, another set from experience, then as he grew older, he developed not only his own set of morals but a idea of how to achieve them that differ from the examples he was shown.
In contrast, Jon Kent didn't have that development. He didn't get the chance to. He grew up just wanting to survive inside that volcano, and then he came back to responsibilities as the new Superman.
Jon Kent is a tragedy written in lost time and squandered innocence. He was thrown into being an adult in a world that did not change when he did. A traumatised survivor came back to his child sized bed and found he no longer fit in it.
He's Superman before he gets to be anything else.
And he does good. He saves people and stops the world from falling down by holding it on his shoulders.
For a good few years it works, Jon has his father to guide him through being a hero, and he is able to bear the weight.
His time in the volcano lives in his deepest nightmares but doesn't spill out around the edges. Jon becomes a symbol of hope before he gets a chance to be a person.
And it works for a while.
That is until he is faced with hard choices, the worst kind of choices, and Jon becomes paralysed. Even a kryptonitian can't be everywhere at once, and he is stuck in the position of choosing who to save. He watches a mother die because he wasn't fast enough. Trying to save someone else a city away.
He watches a child die because he let their killer go a week earlier.
Jon starts questioning everything.
And finds he doesn't have good answers. Because if it was left to him, he would have killed that man that day.
Only the words of his father made him stop.
His parents taught him right from wrong, taught him to care for others, and to save and protect.
But when there are so many people to save, so much to protect, Jon finds he doesn't have answers.
He realises that without rules or his father watching, he is sorely tempted to kill the killers. Punish people so they can't cause any more death or destruction. But that's wrong, isn't it?
The confusion and indecisiveness mean he loses precious seconds. And people die anyway.
So Jon tries to set out rules for himself and tries to prioritise the most amount of lives possible, but eventually, that falls apart, too.
The look on his fathers face when he sees Jon holding civilians away from destruction while leaving an invading military to the mercy of a storm haunts him.
His Dad tries to talk to him about it, but Jon just can't. He can't explain that he doesn't know how to do this. He can't let bad people get away with it. He just keeps seeing Ultraman over and over again in the form of abusers and sometimes, when his dad looks at him with an identical face, Jon has to keep himself from flinching.
No matter what, not even trying to save everyone is apparently not very hero like, according to the original Superman.
But letting abusers live and putting their victims in danger to try and save them makes him sick.
Not for the first time, Jon wonders if he really can be the Superman. He feels too broken to be hope for other people.
When he imagines a future, all he sees is that volcano. He isn't equipped to make the choice on who should live.
He wishes he could just leave it to someone else.
Then Jon wonders why can't he just do that?
Not his Dad. He can't live up to it. His mom is great, but every time he goes to her with adult problems, she looks so sad even after all these years. His parents still greive a version of him that never came home.
He needs someone who knows the hero world, is understanding of Jon, the legacy he bears, and gets not wanting to save monsters.
Someone he trusts completely.
After not much thought, the only person that he can only come up with Damian.
Damian is good at complicated issues, he knows that he can't save everyone but prioritises their lives and health over their comfort.
Damian is the person Jon trusts to make good decisions, not easy ones.
So he flies over to Damians Apartment at 2am, waking the poor doctor up in the process.
Luckily, Jon dodges the knife thrown at him, and Damian is kind enough to make him tea once he's woken up properly.
They settle on the couch, mugs in hand, and Damian asks him what exactly brings him to his window in the early morning.
And Jon starts to blurt it all out. How the child died, how he disappointed his Dad, how he was tempted to kill, not for the first time. By the end, he feels lighter as tears fall down his face.
Jon explains all of it, his confusion, his pain, his exhaustion, and Damian listens, even hugs him gently as he sobs.
Jon is so grateful for the comfort, the quiet, steady support Damian has become, a rock he can cling to when he feels like he's drowning.
Jon gathers himself enough to ask Damian what he should do after he calms down and the tea has cooled.
Damian takes a breath and tries to explain his mother's view of humanity and his fathers no kill rule.
How each acknowledges the harm people do, but one believes people deserve a second chance and one doesn't.
He then goes on to explain his work at the hospital and how he sees most people just trying to survive, that you don't always know their story or why they do what they do.
Jon knew all of this of course but hearing Damian explain it makes it all feel so si.ple all of a sudden.
"Well, don't assume guilt or at least don't assume evil. But if you have no doubt, like in the case of people like the Joker and its between them and a civilian. I would choose the victim every time. I don't blame you for struggling with all this. Hell, I still struggle with it."
"That's why I came to you."
"Feel free to come whenever you need Jon. I've missed you lately."
And that makes Jon feel more like a person than he has in months, maybe years.
He leaves as the sun rises because Damian starts to fall asleep on his shoulder.
So after that night, every time Jon feels out of his depth, he asks Damian for help.
They sit on the couch with tea that Damian brews for them and talk about how to handle a world that heroes need to save.
Jon starts enacting Damians' rules, and suddenly, the world feels a little easier to deal with. He stops hesitating, and whenever he is tempted to kill, he imagines Damian sitting on the couch, and while he knows Damian would never judge him, not for this. Jon doesn't want to disappoint him.
It goes on for like this for weeks, and Jon finds peace for the first time since flying into space with his grandfather.
Jon makes Damian his compass. His guiding light and homepoint.
He just forgets to tell Damian that's what he's doing. Every time he is grappling with something, he flies to Damian for advice or answers, and then he enacts them.
Damian has no clue that he is the only one Jon asks about this stuff or that Jon takes what he says so seriously.
He assumes it's a way for the Super to let off steam or gain comfort, and Damian delights in giving that to him.
Their late night talks where Jon actually speaks about his issues and Damian is able to just listen and give advice to his friend are his favourite times.
It's the time Damian feels close to Jon again.
If Damian is honest with himself, he has been in love with Jon for a long time, but they had grown apart in the years where Jon had grown up too fast and Damian had taken a step back from vigilantism in favour of medicine. Damian hadn't wanted to admit he felt lonely in his best friends absence.
But since Jon started coming to him for advice that warmth Damian had felt since they were the supersons had grown into a passion that Damian wasn't willing to ignore anymore. His mother had loved with her whole being, and it seemed to be another trait he inherited from her.
Jon Kent is precious, and Damian had felt more at home at 2am with tea in his hand than he ever has before as long as Jon is beside him.
Jon Kent had become the comfort he never knew he needed.
Over the weeks and months, Damian finds himself wondering how to broach the subject of his feelings, wondering if Jon would accept them or hopefully feel the same. The idea of rejection stilling his tongue at every opportunity.
Damian finds out he needn't have been worried as Jon kisses him goodnight one morning as he flies away.
If it weren’t for the warmth that lingered on his lips, he would have he thought he imagined it.
Jon doesn't even register what he did until he was halfway to Metropolis, where he almost falls out of the sky because he can't lose Damian ever. He's too important.
Jon Kent knows he loves Damian more than anything, and he doesn't regret kissing him. He regrets he hadn't asked him first or made it a bit more special, and oh god, that was their first kiss! And Jon had left straight after! He needs to beg for forgiveness.
Luckily, his wonderful Robin greets him with a kiss and more tea when he stumbles back to him.
They don't confess in a dramatic moment but instead grow closer in quiet moments before Dawn, where neither of them have to be anything other than who they are.
Damian still teases his now boyfriend for running off after kissing him. Jon tries to defend himself, but 'I didn't realise i did it' is not very helpful but serves to make Damian smile in a way that takes jon's breath away.
Over the next few days, Jon barely leaves Damians' side. They become entwined, comfort, and assurance given even if it is never asked for.
Jon confesses his love like a promise to the person to whom he owes his very sanity, and Damian holds him as tightly as he can, knowing Jon will never be harmed by it.
Jon basically moves in, his parents noticing that their son is happier and more settled now. Clark and Lois start inviting Damian over for dinner, and the Kents start to heal just a bit through Jons joy.
Memories of the volcano are easier to deal with now his boyfriend sleeps on his chest.
Still, Jon doesn't quite convey just how much of his morals are centred on Damian. How much of his self-control is held by the man he loves.
It's not like if Damian asked that he would destroy the world, but if Jon is honest with himself, if something happened to Damian, he doesn't know exactly where his line is. How far he would go for the love of his life.
It's not important as long as Damian stays safe.
Then Batman happens because, of course, it does.
Damian is sent on an undercover mission for the bats, and despite his best efforts, he is discovered, kidnapped, and beaten.
It was meant to be a simple operation. A quick in and out. But apparently, Damian Wayne is just too recognisable now as the prodigy doctor of Gothams first family.
Jon hadn't known about the mission. He had been away in space trying to broker a peace deal when his boyfriend was taken.
He arrived on earth to Damians heartbeat slowing and his screams filling his ears.
Jon Kent has never flown so fast.
He finds Damian tied up and bleeding in an empty warehouse. The man that stands in front of him laughs as his men crowd around and jeer.
He's dead before he hits the ground.
The others try to run, but they don't get far before the lazers stop them.
Jon doesn't spare them a glance as they die.
His eyes are on Damian, who is awake but gasping around broken ribs and a split lip.
He waits for a reaction, for Damian to condemn him for the way he had just slaughtered a room full of criminals, but Damian just smiles.
"Welcome home, ya albi. I missed you."
Jon feels like laughs and crying. "I missed you too Day. Every second"
Jon unties him and lifts him gently, careful of the bruises that cover his body. Each piece of damage that Jon sees makes him wish he hadn't made their deaths so quick.
Damian relaxes in his hold and doesn't look at the bodies.
Jon takes him to the hospital and holds his hand as he's stitched up.
Batman comes with questions. Jon answers them and returns to Damians' side despite the glare it earns him.
Superman comes next. Jons father looks pained as he asks Jon why. Jon just looks at a sleeping Damian and answers honestly.
Because if Damian had died, he would have done much worse.
His father looks horrified but understands. Eventually.
Damian understands after that, too. He's not happy about being Jons sole link to humanity. He looks at his broken body and worries about what will happen to Jon when his fragile existence is snuffed out for good.
But Jon is worth it. Jon, who is sweet and kind and who Damian loves more than his very soul. Jon who holds his hand every second he's in his hospital bed and carries him home afterwards.
Jon, who has killed for him but has stopped killing for him, too.
Damian can live with that. And if he's honest with himself, he would do the same for Jon. Without question or thought.
The other heroes are horrified when they hear. They whisper about how the Supermans son has been corrupted, but they dont recognise the truth. They point at Damian and wonder how a former assassin managed to manipulate one of the strongest beings on the planet. Some cite blackmail or magic as the cause.
Damian weathers the rumours with a straight face while Jon struggles to hold back his laughter at the sheer ridiculousness.
Because without Damian, Jon would be lost and the world with him.
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