Ugh... it's so hot... Damian felt a smothering heat, something he hadn't experienced since coming to the rainy and cold city of Gotham- so his eyes fluttered open, intending to find a way to cool down but as he did so he realized that the thing causing the warmth was Jon hugging Damian's lithe body up against him in his sleep.

The tension that Damian was feeling, had left his body sagging in relief. It was okay to feel warm if Jon was the one causing that heat. Closing his eyes, he gently tucked his face into the dip of the alien's neck. Jon was asleep, that much Damian knew. Jon may have been good at hearing things and seeing things no one else could- but he didn't have the training to hide such things like that. The ex assassin would be able to hide his feelings if he so wished, but somehow, Jon was able to knock his walls down.

It seemed to be early morning, around five or six if Damian had to make a guess. The sun wasn't shining, but the sky from the windows from the few seconds he had his eyes open told him such info. If he focused on listening to his surroundings, he could make out muffled noises from downstairs. The thought that Jon would have been able to clearly hear it brought intrigue to Damian. He knew the boy could control his super hearing to some extent- but he wondered just how it affected him mentally.

Jon wasn't completely Kryptonian, he was also human. Did the Kryptonian powers affect his human mind? Or was his mind more Kryptonian than human? Just how far did those boundaries extend? Damian opened his eyes once more, lifting his head to stare at the other's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful like that. Black hair a stark contrast to such pale skin- he was so white, almost like a ghost. Damian brought his darker fingers up to gently caress the side of Jon's face- his skin was surprisingly soft.

A gasp escaped his lips as a hand reached up to grip Damian's wrist- ruby eyes snapping open. Though a bit feral, the eyes softened upon seeing who was touching him. "Dami."

"Jon."

The alien smirked slightly, gently squeezing that wrist before bringing it closer to his face so he could leave a soft kiss on those knuckles. "Seems we fell asleep?" He pointed out, tone all rhetorical.

"Seems we did," Damian affirmed, his voice low, emerald eyes watching way too closely as the Kryptonian placed affectionate kisses. Romance seemed so out of reach for him, and yet there they were- in his bed, sharing kinder moments.

Jonathan picked up that the other seemed to enjoy the physical touch, so he was happy to kiss down that wrist. Nothing more than that, just wanting to please the demon head that was in his arms. The incense had long gone out- yet the smell lingered along with the scent of chinese. The boxes discarded onto either nightstand. Sometime during their sleep as well, the television had gone to standby- showing a scrolling city with lots of references only one of them would be able to figure out.

"Ahem, Master Damian, shall I be washing you and... your companion's clothes?" Alfred's amused voice piped up from the doorway, startling Damian and Jon- both of which jumped out of their skins.

Damian whipped his head to look at him, face red and clearly frazzled, "Pennyworth! This isn't- I-" he turned to glare at Jon, smacking him on the arm, "I told you stealthy!"

A pathetic whine sounded from the other teen as he flopped onto his back, "give me a break, I just woke up. It's harder to focus my powers with a groggy mind," he insisted, arm coming to rest over his eyes.

That only caused Damian to cover his face with his hands, completely mortified. Honestly, he didn't really want his family to know about Jon. At least not yet. They were involved with every aspect of his life thus far, yet somehow also neglectful. He didn't want this to also turn into something he'd have to be worried for. Bruce especially would be harsh on Jon and he didn't want to deal with that sort of thing if he could help it.

Alfred simply stepped further into the room, gathering the clothes he had found discarded on the floor- he always looked so prim and proper in the suits he wore even after all the manual labor he did. Raising a bunch of kids and grown men also took a lot out of him too, but damn he was going to slay through it all.

"Worry not, Master Damian, I am not one to spill secrets that are not necessary for me to tell," Alfred assured, grabbing the sopping clothes of Jon's that was tossed into a corner, "I imagine you have your own reasons, but I will do my own questioning of you later." He had a smile on his face as he looked towards his pseudo grandson- whom was still hiding his face.

Damian groaned lightly, but eventually he did remove his hands to look at the older man- it was endearing to Alfred just how much Damian resembled an angry little kitten. Embarrassed by what? Having a boyfriend? Sneaking him in? Oh how Alfred had seen worse, besides, it was normal teenager behavior and that only made him happy.

"Pennyworth, this is Jonathan," Damian motioned towards Jon whom was lying down- but at the prompt of introduction, the alien sat up- still looking bleary eyed. "Jon, this is Alfred Pennyworth."

A yawn escaped Jon before he could properly adjust himself, but he nodded his head politely. Not entirely sure how to introduce himself, he didn't really meet new people. Even with Damian it felt like the two of them knew each other for a long time. Jon stalked Robin for a while before meeting him, never Alfred. "Uhm... nice to meet you." Though he knew how important this man was to Damian and he didn't want to feel that wrath if he somehow disrespected him.

"Pleasure meeting you, Master Jonathan," Alfred spoke in return, eyeing the alien closely. So this boy wasn't human- or if he was then he was a metahuman? The bruisings on Damian would've been more understandable in that case. It was a red flag that was for sure, but he trusted Damian enough to make his own choices. Damian wouldn't tolerate those who disrespected him or made him feel weak. Even if he was easily injured- he would make a stand until the very end. Since Jon was a metahuman and a teenager, he must not have a solid grasp on his powers. Puzzle pieces were connecting for the elder man, it was just like Damian to find a stray to tame.

Damian watched Alfred analyze Jon- whom wasn't paying attention to the special kind of attention that he was getting from the paternal figure in the room. Honestly, Alfred would be the one Damian cared most about introducing a potential romantic prospect to. His opinion was valued over most. "So is-"

Alfred held the basket that had the soiled clothes in it on his hip as he reached for the door to the room, "Master Richard is at his apartment, Master Timothy is in his room, and your father should be heading to bed shortly. They were out rather late. It will be safe to sneak your pet out in an hour or so," he mused, stepping out of the room, letting the door click behind him.

"Well he seems great," Jon joked, before yelping as his vision was blocked by a pillow. Unfortunately being built like a brick house due to powers- he couldn't fall backwards after being hit with a pillow.

"Do shut up," Damian complained, but he rubbed his wrist where Jon had grabbed earlier, staring at the door where Alfred left through. It was probably a good thing that someone knew about Jon, maybe he would have someone on his side to cover for him? As long as Jonathan behaved.

True to Alfred's advice, it was easy to sneak Jon out of his room about an hour later. He was still wearing Dick's clothes, but Damian promised to return his dried clothes to him at a later date. For now, he needed to focus on doing some actual work.

Distractions were happening more and more and he really needed to figure out what was going on with the Bite drug before more people got hurt. It scared him how unaffected he was about seeing all those dead bodies, not even a nightmare plagued him or a single gory thought. It was just another day, to combat the lack of fear- he would do what he all could to prevent another disaster so that someone less traumatized than him wouldn't have to experience it.

With that in mind, Damian was standing outside of Jason's safehouse. The man truly didn't have a home, a place of his own. He moved around constantly- never wanting to set up any roots in case he was tracked from there. Not that Damian could blame him, it was the way they were trained for missions within the league. Never stay in one spot.

The door opened after Damian knocked in a specific pattern, a code only the two of them would understand. Jason stood before him with a confused yet exhausted expression on his face. The man barely slept as it was so Damian didn't feel too bad about his appearance. If Jason wanted to sleep he would do it at a later time.

"What do you want, demon?" Jason questioned, pulling a cigarette out from his pocket. Smoking kills, don't do it. At least that was what the black and white haired individual told everyone as he simultaneously inhaled a long drag. Damian found it humorous, it was a lazarus pit joke that no one understood. Or if they did they usually didn't find it funny and just stared with pitiful expressions.

"I need your help," Damian begrudgingly admitted, crossing his gray sweater clad arms, staring up at his ex(?) older brother figure with an indignant expression on his face.

Jason inhaled a bit of the cigarette before exhaling smoke right in Damian's face, laughing when the little squirt scrunched up his face and made a show of hacking, "funny. Timmy told me you wanted to work by yourself."

Damian rolled his eyes, waving the remaining smoke from his face, "what I want is to solve this as quickly as possible. I'm constantly being held back from what I want to do by distractions, it's infuriating."

That got the older male to raise a brow, "distractions? Like what? You don't have a life, unless you mean helping out animal shelters or organizing the library shelves because you're bored," he teased, "what? Did they organize by title instead of author again and it pissed you off?"

"That was ONE time, Todd! Also no, I unfortunately made an acquaintance," Damian admitted. Surprising even himself with how easily he just confessed that information without even any prompting. Though, it wasn't really surprising in the slightest if he really thought about it. At one point in time, Jason was someone that he relied on the most. Until he was abandoned by him.

Blue eyes softened just a bit before he put the cig out on the door frame, motioning for Damian to follow him inside. Damian making a friend definitely filled some gaps in the mystery of what had been going on the past couple weeks, but whatever.

The two of them entered the dingy apartment and Damian noted that it definitely didn't change much from last time. "Want a grilled cheese?" Jason asked as he walked to the kitchenette that was connected to the living room area.

"No," came Damian's simple reply. He saw Jason shrug before putting on a ridiculous frilly apron that he most definitely got as a gag gift from Tim one year for christmas. "When are you moving again?" Damian asked as he pushed things off the couch to sit down. It smelled like smoke and gunpowder in the place- making him sick.

Jason clicked on the gas powered stove, watching blue flames spark up before he put a pan over it, dropping some butter to melt around. He hummed at his brother's question, thinking about it, "dunno, probably within the next month. Been here for a while, don't want anyone catching on. Planning on moving in with pretty boy yet? Heard he's been more pushy about it since the big 'confession'."

That drew a long suffering sigh out from the ex assassin, "ugh, no... I mean- I wouldn't mind it, maybe it would be normal and good for me, but I just don't... think I'm ready for that kind of normalcy. I'm only recently adjusting to certain things, and I just found out my own father didn't want me for a long time, so I'm just working with what I have for now." It felt nice being able to confide in Jason, even if he was a grade A asshole on most days.

" Snort , so what? The going to high school and coming home to loving parents isn't the life you want?" Jason inquired, already knowing the answer. It wasn't a matter of wanting, but a matter of feeling deserving. Damian still felt undeserving. The butter crackled around the bread and cheese he slid into the hot pan.

Damian lifted his knees onto the couch, leaning against the arm of it, a disgruntled expression on his face, "how do you adjust to this kind of life?" It wasn't something he could wrap his head around.

Jason sighed, spatula in hand, "you know very well I'm not adjusting to anything. Me and you escape the same way, running from everything and throwing ourselves into work to find a purpose. To find a meaning in this life, because if we don't have a use then why were we put here? Why were we given a second chance? Me literally in a life kind of way, yours in moving from being a prince of assassins to just being the son of Bruce Wayne. Being Robin is a weird balance, you get to fight with all the knowledge you got to learn, yet you also have a clean slate being in a different setting," he answered, the two of them were so alike it was depressing, especially considering the reasons as to why and the how.

It was silent as Damian processed what Jason had said. Everything said being true, and that was frustrating. He decided not to respond, instead keeping his focus on Jason flipping the sandwich- sounds of quick snapping filling the silence. The atmosphere always felt tense when it was just the two of them, which was also strange since it was also where they could freely confide.

The stove was turned off moments later, Jason out of that ridiculous apron grabbing a plate to put his food on, and he made his way over to the couch- sitting down with a heavy oof. "Seems like you're adjusting better than me though, you said you made a friend?" He spoke, lifting the cheesy goodness to his lips.

Damian leaned back into the cushions, staring up at the ceiling, was he really going to do this? Alfred already knew, so that meant it would only be natural that Jason would find out next. No matter what Alfred said- Jason always seemed to be someone that Alfred was weak to telling secrets to. Not that Damian blamed the man, Jason was an important part of their lives just in different ways. Jason was the grandson. Damian was more like the grandbaby.

"His name is Jonathan Kent, he's Superman's son," Damian confessed, ignoring the choking noise from his brother beside him.

"Hwut? I thought Connor was their only kid? Can they even have kids?" Jason questioned, eyebrows raised in surprise.

Damian snorted, "evidently so, also be careful about what you say. He's kind of my stalker and is most definitely listening to our conversation right now," he warned, but he seemed very cool about it.

Dafuq? Jason furrowed his brows, but he hummed in slight understanding, "so he has super hearing like his dad? All his other powers?" He inquired, it was interesting that Damian would attract that kind of attention, though he wasn't so surprised by the allure. Damian definitely checked boxes for the pretty and mysterious type for people. Days at the league left Jason stressed the hell out for his young sibling's safety.

"Yeah, from what I could tell anyways. Lives on a space station, hidden from the world. Father helped build it for Kent, and the others don't know about him at all. Minus Alfred, he accidentally walked in on Jon sleeping in my bed," Damian said with a weary sigh, as if he didn't just confess the most shocking thing to Jason.

"Whoa, you let someone in your bed?"

"He kissed me too."

Jason choked out his own spit, "acquaintance my ass ! You have a boyfriend!" He proclaimed, setting the sandwich aside. This was too juicy of gossip for him to even think about eating.

Damian shrugged lazily, "mmh, no. Didn't ask me, and besides I don't know if we're even at that stage. We haven't known each other that long and there's a lot of issues with that if we were dating," he admitted. Having a secret friend was one thing, having a secret boyfriend was something else altogether.

"What kind of issues? Happiness? Oh nooo," Jason said sarcastically, if he could roll his eyes out of his head he totally would have in that moment. Though, if Damian did have a potential boyfriend, he needed to know more about him. "What's he like? I need deets if I'm going to be keeping this a secret."

Scrunching his nose at that, Damian crossed his arms, "I don't see why you need details to be a decent person, but fine, whatever," he lowered his knees to rest his feet onto the floorboards below, balling his fists slightly. Why was this so nerve wracking? "Jon is... like a dog with no owner. A feral stray. He doesn't have control of his strength nor can he identify his emotions so he either lashes out or is seemingly devoid of them. I have no idea why, but I have become an object of his obsession. His home life isn't the greatest and it definitely attributed to his expression. His morals align with yours, though to a higher degree. Views all criminals are worthy to die because what's the difference if they all cause harm somehow. Being a human and Kryptonian hybrid, the first of his kind, has affected his mental state as his parents weren't the best at knowing what to do. He has the Kryptonian strength but not the moral compass, he has human anger and human desire, and it doesn't mix well when you have the strength of a thousand men."

As Damian explained Jon's history and relative personality, Jason could tell immediately how Damian got attached to him. He was familiar and also it was easy to compare him to an animal. Damian was able to connect with and care for animals a lot easier than other people. Perhaps not the healthiest outlook, but it seemed like Jonathan didn't have a healthy look to him either. Maybe they just fit that strange niche.

"I want to meet him," Jason stated. Well, he'd let Damian off the hook if he deemed Jon worthy enough to protect him, because he knew very well that once Damian could love someone he'd do all he could for them. That included sacrificing himself if it meant his beloved would be safe. Just, Damian didn't know that about himself yet.

Damian paused for a minute, thinking it over, "not right now." At Jason's glare, Damian held up a hand to his face in a silence motion, "you can meet him if you help me with this mission."

"I don't think you're in a position to call the shots here."

"Oh? And you think you are? I thought having one over the rest was your sole reason for living," Damian taunted. Dodging the playful fist Jason threw his way.

Jason ran his hand through his hair before groaning, "fine, but I swear to god if he ends up hurting you before I can properly meet him myself, I'm going to toss your ass in the pit and make you watch me shoot him full of kryptonite," he threatened. Big brother mode.

Damian pulled out his phone, "whatever you say, now about these files..."

Hehehe Jason bonding moment. Anyways, now he knows about Jon, but he won't get to meet him yet... I'm trying to balance the mission and soft moments so I think I've done a lot of non mission chapters- the next few will probably be directed towards that! Thanks for reading!