“Class, I want you all to give a big hand to our Gotham High guests, the mentors of the Big Brothers program!”

Tim needed some extra credit, and it was either write a twenty-page social studies essay or stand in an oversized traffic light red t-shirt teaching random skills to fifth graders. Glaring at Damian in the front row, he reckoned he should’ve gone with the paper.

(Kon’s just here as an excuse to skip math.)

The teacher turned to the teens. “Each mentor has been paired with a student. When I read your name, I want you to go stand by them. Tim Drake, you will be paired with Jon Kent.”

Kon clapped Tim’s shoulder with a laugh. “Good luck, babe.”

Tim shot daggers at his boyfriend, who embraced this whole ordeal and even made the mandatory blindingly red shirt look good under his leather jacket. As the teacher went down the list, Jon smiled and slid a note to Tim that read, “Don’t worry, you’ll be great!” with a yellow happy face sticker.

Tim chuckled and ruffled Jon’s hair. “Thanks, kid.”

The teacher said, “Last but not least, Conner Kent, you will be paired with Damian Wayne.”

As Kon walked by, Tim said, “Good luck—you’ll need it more than I do”, to which Kon stuck his tongue out.

The instructions were to spend a day together and the kids had to write about what they learned from their mentors. As much as Tim didn’t want to do this, he needed the points before Bruce saw his gradebook. And those points relied on a good review from Jon.

“Alright.” He rubbed his hands. “Jon, I’m gonna teach you all the investigative tools you need on the field.”

Jon’s eyes lit up. “Do we get to see the Joker’s lair?”

“What? No! Who told you—Damian.” Tim shook his head. “We’re gonna do something different. Ever dusted for fingerprints?”

Jon shook his head. “No, but I’ve seen it in movies.”

“We’re gonna do exactly what they do,” Tim said. “Grab your stuff and meet me in the science room in five minutes.”

Jon whooped. “This is gonna be awesome!”

.

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Read the rest on Ao3

“Stephanie, I swear to God if you play that stupid song one more time.”

“Shut up, Jason, you didn’t have a good music taste even before your first death.”

“Come on, guys, I’m sure we can find something nice for every-” Duke dodged a hamburger and decided it was better not to get in between.

“Has anyone seen my sunglasses?” asked Conner, his sunglasses obviously over his head.

“No,” answered Tim not even making an attempt at pointing his mistake.

“I’m just saying, it would totally rock if you made a ‘Is Bruce Wayne Batman?’ headline,” Cassandra nodded at Dick’s words.

“You know it would actually be really funny,” Lois smirked, her smile too similar to one of the evildoers they usually fought.

“Not it wouldn’t!” interrupted Barbara visibly angry. “Because then we, instead of him, will have to deal with it later.”

“I stopped dealing with Bruce’s shit a long time ago, you should do the same,” proclaimed Kate taking a sip of his wine.

“This is the fourth time I have to repair a train, Kent,” argued Bruce on the other side of the field. “Is it really too much to ask to show a little restrain?”

“Oh, excuse, mister billionaire, next time a train is about to run over some innocent citizens I will kindly ask the train to stop,” refuted Clark.

“The only thing I’m saying,” not too far Alfred was in the middle of another discussion with Martha and Jon Kent. “that the recipe is obviously done with raisins.”

“Raisins? Maybe in that rainy spot of yours,” Martha seemed to be terribly offended. “But not here.”

Damian sighed for the hundredth time that day watching how the whole family continued creating absolute chaos. If his calculations were right there were just a few minutes left before someone screamed “food fight”. Next to him, Jon munched on a hamburger as if the picture did not bother him at all.

“Let’s have some picnic together, you said,” said Damian. “It would be fun, you said.”

“I think is nice.”

“Your cousin tried to throw Todd over the roof just an hour ago.”

“And I think Steph is about to ask her to do it again,” laughed Jon pointing at were Jason and Steph continued to argue about the music, Duke and Cass now enjoying their exchanged while eating popcorns.

“At least Grayson has stopped with the puns,” he was starting to question why the hell he had accepted Jon’s idea, this was bound to end in disaster.

“Well, actually I think he is telling my mum that story about the Napkin man.”

Jon could not help but smile at his groan. Maybe their families were a bit… chaotic when they met, but he actually enjoyed spending time together like this. As long as he kept a safe distance between him and Jason’s guns there should not be a problem (he still remembered when the Red Hood first discovered he was dating his younger brother, that had been a fun chase). And deep down he knew Damian enjoyed them too, but his boyfriend was too stubborn to admit it.

“I just don’t understand why you insisted so much on this.”

The box in his pocket seemed to get heavier with his words. They have been dating for almost eight years, living together for six of them. While he worked as a journalist in the Daily Planet, Damian had his hands full with inheriting the Batman legacy and leading the new Gotham Justice team along with Duke, although he still made some art exhibitions from time to time. He still went out as Superboy, mostly with Damian, but the defence of Metropolis had gone mainly to Supergirl and Conner, who now called himself Supernova. Their fathers had told them they would soon pass their mantle to them and Jon had decided he wanted to ask the big question before that happened.

“D, mind walking with me for a minute?”

Damian raised an eyebrow confused as to why his boyfriend wanted to walk on the same fields that had seen him grow, but he decided it would be way better than staying there. They walked while holding hands, chatting about their little things until they reached a familiar forest.

“Does it ring a bell?” Jon smiled.

“This is where we first met,” realised Damian. “Well, when I kidnap you after discovering you were a threat to society.”

“Well, you suspicious turned out to be correct, only not to society,” he winked at him. “Only a threat to you.”

“Hmm,” Damian wrapped his hands around his neck. “Maybe I should have let you tied on the examination table of the Batcave.”

“Then, you wouldn’t have this.”

Jon then proceeded to kneel in front of him, taking the box out of his pocket. Damian didn’t say anything but his eyes widened.

“Damian Wayne,” he proclaimed. “I never thought I could hate anyone more than the first time I met you. But with time, you showed me the great person you are. Because many might think of you as brash and arrogant, but I know your actions speak more than your words. I have seen you bleed for your teammates, cry for your brothers and sister and take care of your pets as if they were the most valuable thing on this planet,” he opened the box to show a ring with a green gemstone. “You became my best friend and later the love of my life and I can’t think of a better person to share the rest of my life with so… would you do me the super honour of becoming my husband?”

“Did you have to add the super thing?” but Damian was smiling and he could swear his eyes were shinning. “Of course I do, you sap.”

Jon did not waste any time jumping to capture his lips while putting the ring on his finger. The gem was the same shade in his eyes and the moment Jon saw it he knew he wanted his boyfriend to wear it.

“I’m going to make you the happiest man on Earth,” he whispered between kisses.

“I already am.”

Jon is beginning to compare his achievements to Conners, the guy he’s always looked up to and considered his big brother. He feels inferior and begins to shut himself off. Conner is the perfect human, genetically perfected and released into the world for chaos but still chose good. He’s done so many good things. And now that it’s Jon’s turn to be superboy he feels like he hasn’t done enough. He thinks he’s the inferior superboy and that no one could love him like they lover Conner.