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puppiesandnightlock · 4 months

Text

Link: A Robin's Song (Chapter 3)

Summary and age information found here

Two years ago, July.

“DAMIAN!!” Jon pounced on him the moment he opened the door, shoving a little plastic card in his face.

“Jon-” He shoved the taller boy off of him, snatching the card and reading it over. “Holy shit, you actually did it!”

“SWEAR JAR!” a little voice came from inside the house.

Both ignored it in favor of the growing excitement between the boys, Damian feeding off of Jon’s hyper attitude.

“WE'RE GOING TO MALIBU!” Jon shrieked. “I told your dad yesterday and my parents said yes a while ago cause they thought i wouldnt get it but guess what i did and SUCK IT MOM AND DAD CAUSE I HAVE A DRIVER’S LICENSE !”

“To be fair, you did crash a few cars. And failed your learner’s permit test, like five times.”

“Shut up, you promised not to bring that up.”

“I didn’t promise .”

“Whatever, D, nothing is bringing my mood down, so get your butt in gear and pack your stuff cause we’re heading for Cal-i-fornia tomorrow!!”

“We’re literally going to be there for like five hours, Jon.”

“Literally nothing you say is making me less excited!” He beamed at him, making Damian's stomach flip pleasantly.

That had been happening much too often lately for his liking.

“Alright, alright.” Damian huffed, but not before turning a genuine smile, soft and sweet towards Jon.

“Seriously, though. Congratulations, I’m proud of you. I know you worked hard.”

Jon flushed, Damian assuming it was from the praise.

“T-Thanks, D. See you tomorrow?”

“See ya, J.”

Damian shoved his backpack into the Kent’s car, Jon grinning like a maniac as both of their families surrounded them.

“Riding the waves up in Malibu!” Kon sang, bouncing around with Cass and Steph.

“They really get, get to you!” Tim joined in, the four of them singing loudly and off key.

“So let's give it up for those L.A. boys!” They finished off, laughing with each other. Damian turned to Jon, whispering.

“How long is this phase going to last?”

“Excuse me, Damian, the Victorious soundtrack is iconic.” Jon gasped, the perfect portrayal of offense.

“Iconically stupid.”

Insulted gasps sounded from all around him.

Dammit, he forgot he was surrounded by preteens.

After much bedraggling and hugs and kisses for their parents, (“We are merely driving two hours away, we will return alive, I promise.”) the two set out on the drive, turning up the radio and singing even louder.

They spent the whole day on the beach, wandering the shops beachside, sharing a better version of the strawberry ice cream they’d get at school. Both had even gotten hit on, and offered a few numbers to each other's amusement.

As they drove into their small town and pulled up into Damian’s driveway, unlocking the car.

“Had a lot of fun today.” Damian smiled, letting his hand rest on top of the other’s. “Thanks, J.”

“N-Not a problem, D. Thanks for coming.” Jon stumbled over his words, the tips of Damian’s fingers brushing over his.

Damian ran inside, blushing red. He didn't dare look back, although, if he had, he would have seen the blue eyes he’d loved so much staring back at him, lovesick grin and flushed red face to complete the deal.

Present day

The raven-haired teen watched his friend worriedly. “Are you okay? You look sick.”

“I’m…I’m so happy for you!” He croaked, throat dry. His face had drained of blood, a woozy feeling coming over him. Putting up a brave face, he bumped his shoulder with Jon’s, forcing the smile so wide it hurt physically.

“You can tell me all the details later, I don't want to be late for class.” He moved his backpack so that it hung on one shoulder, quickly speed walking towards the hallways. Jon trailed after him, chattering excitedly per usual.

“It was so romantic, Dami, just like I planned! We’re going out for almost three weekends straight!”

Damian felt his heart drop, and as it hit the bottom it cracked in half, pouring out all the memories and weekend plans they’d had together.

“You’ll be free for the new movie coming out in a few months, right?”

This franchise was the most important thing to them, something they bonded over as children and even now knew every bit of lore it offered, and as preteens even collaborated on a fanfic, although their current persons have burned it from their minds. To miss even the latest picture between the two of them was a travesty.

“Course! I would never dare miss it, D, I'm sure Haisley will understand when I tell her!” Jon chirped.

The bell rang, and Jon’s joy filled eyes were all he saw as he turned and ran towards his classroom, the knowledge that that emotion would never be because of him burning in the back of his mind.

A few weeks after that, Damian had been finding new ways to avoid not just Haisley, but the couple as well. He could only be with Jon for a bit every day before the conversation turned to Haisley, which both pained and irritated the pining boy to no end.

For the first time, Damian had felt a surge of unpleasant emotions towards the girl, sometimes so strong he nearly classified it as hate.

The thing that kept him from doing that was coincidentally the same thing that brought him back towards Jon.

He was sneaking out of the library, unceremoniously shoving his sketching pad inside his backpack when a flash of deep brown caught him and he was met with Haisley’s dashing blue eyes.

“Hello, Damian.”

“H-hi?” He stuttered, surprise and confusion clouding him.

“Can we talk?” She asked innocently, although to anyone else it would have sounded dangerous.

“Make it quick, Parker, I have things to do.” He muttered, having regained his senses. The challenging air surrounded them, and Damian deflected, presenting his confident, nearly arrogant air, his head filled with snappy comments and snarky responses, ready to fire on command.

She had her own way of doing this, seeing as she seemed to be the challenger. Poised and ready like a snake, with all the grace and intimidation of a lioness.

“It’s about Jon.” She said after a moment, surrendering first.

He dropped his quickly after, turning defensive. “What about him? I won’t have you hurting him, and if you do I most certainly will not have a hand in it.”

Her eyes widened, and she was quick to steer him away from the negative. “No, no, it’s not what you think!”

She looked down rather bashfully, Damian contemplating whether or not this was genuine or a manipulative tactic.

“You’re his best friend and he trusts you and your judgment over anyone’s, more than mine or even his parents. You’re super important to him, and that means your words carry a lot of weight. You are said to be a good judge of character, and I just wanted to ask…if you approved? I know it's not like the olden days where you ask for things like that but-”

He let her ramble on as he mulled over her words. What she had asked was kind, considerate and only would have been thought of by someone completely genuine.

Goddammit.

“Haisley!” He cut her off. “Yes. yes, i’m okay with it, you’ll be...a very good match for him.”

The last few words were spit out like gravel in his mouth, somehow gone unnoticed by the girl as she smiled brightly and leaped up to hug him, before letting go quickly and scurrying off, but not before calling “Thank you so much!”

That would be that, he assumed, after screwing his whole love life over. There was no possible way he could hate Haisley, no matter how much he wished to despise her, due to one simple little question asked with all the innocence of a puppy.

It would have all been easier if he only had to talk to her every now and then, only for formalities and necessity, but she persisted, and he was weak to the joyful looks Jon would give when he saw the two getting along.

Haisley would start conversations and he would mostly tune them out, adding a ‘mhm’ and ‘yeah wow’ every few minutes. He only started paying attention after she said something that caught him off guard.

“Repeat that, sorry?” It was about the latest date she and Jon had gone on, and under normal circumstances, he would never listen to this.

“Oh, we went for ice cream, and shared a strawberry one! Watching the sunset and everything, it was so romantic.” the girl gushed.

His throat felt like sandpaper as he swallowed, painful sparks of some emotion starting to sprout.

“Ah...sounds amazing..”

That was HIS thing to do with Jon, something they did less of now but used to when they were younger.

He began paying more attention to her talks, spotting more and more similarities.

“He took me to a beach in Malibu!”

“We just stayed inside that day, watched Glee!”

“I forgot my jacket and we couldn't go out that first date. He gave me his, and I knew he was a keeper!”

These, all of these things, were Jon-and-Damian things, not Haisley-and-Jon things. These were their things to do, their pastimes, their comfort late at night, their history…all of it was being taken and twisted into stupid, STUPID , dates.

(And maybe, throughout this bout of anger, the thoughts that it could have been him in Haisley’s place, could have been him laughing at the stupid jokes and the ice cream on the tip of his nose and the jacket that was too big for him.)

The entirety of this time, after such talks like these with her, he would take out a writing pad and scribble on it, the hurt overwhelming the anger.

Towards the last talk, he’d formulated them into lyrics, his brothers reading it over with worry on their faces.

“This…seems a little vindictive, Dami.” Tim said, holding the piece of paper between his forefingers.

“It’s not even based on them this time!” He defended himself with lies. “Could be about anyone, really.”

“ Car rides to malibu?” Duke read out loud, incredulous tones to his voice. “That alone is a giveaway.”

“Shut up, no, it’s not!” He sputtered. “Besides, even if it was, which it's NOT, get that smirk off your face this instant Timothy, this sounds more like they actually dated and the person singing is angry over the reuse of the things they used to do. And ‘Damian’ does not sound like ‘Haisley’. I could defend this for hours.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, Dames.” Tim handed back the paper, shaking his head.

Duke hung back a bit longer, going through the rhythm and lyrics with him again.

When they’d finished, he turned to his older brother and asked again. “Are you positive you wanna do this one, Dami? This one…seems kinda vengeful. And when it comes to Jon, I know you're anything but. Plus, don't deny it, I know you've been getting along well with Haisley too, so...”

“My coping method, my life, not yours, Duke.” Damian reminded him a bit sarcastically. He softened a bit after saying it, replacing it with “Thank you for this though.”

“I know you are worried but I'm fine, this is fine, honestly. And besides, only the beginning would ever align with me anyways.”

Duke sighed, a tiny smile appearing. “Okay, Dami. Just let us know when you want to record, i guess.”

Damian sat back on the couch, posting an update on the song that would be uploaded tomorrow.

In a way, his brothers were right. This one was different from the first two, not much pining and more anger. He’d written when emotions were high, and when he sang it, it was less fire and more of an ‘I miss you’.

This whole mess couldn’t be put on anyone but him, after all, it was his dumbass who encouraged Jon to ask her out, and himself who didn’t tell him earlier.

His phone lit up with a text notification from Jon, attached was a screenshot of the post he’d just made and an all caps key smash.

It was selfish, but for a moment he pretended that it was really him that Jon was excited about, not Robin.

He wondered for a bit, if Jon would react the same way if he really knew it was him.

This was how a double life worked, he supposed.

His condolences to the vigilantes in the fictional world.