#damijon headcanon
“You need a new superhero name.”
Damian brought it up unexpectedly, eyes still trained on the security camera he was dismantling.
“What?” Jon was sifting through the footage, using superspeed to catch every little detail of last night, but at Damian’s voice, he paused the recording and looked up.
Damian was still digging inside the camera, having removed the back panel and a good chunk of wires, and was now sifting through the piece of tech with a pair of tweezers. Nonetheless, he continued the conversation. “A name. You’re not going to be Superboy forever, are you?”
“Um,” Jon could honestly say he’d never thought about it. He’d always been Superboy, ever since he could remember. He wasn’t one to place much thought into birthrights or heritage, not like Damian, but he also wasn’t overlooking the fact that his father was Superman. What exactly did that make him? Superboy was the obvious answer. “I don’t think I can be anything else, Damian.”
“You have an older brother who also goes by Superboy.”
Jon shrugged. “We share.”
“Still. You’re graduating high school in just a few months, Jon. Though it’s surprising to say, you’ve outgrown the title.”
Jon’s lips instantly turned upward in a smirk. “I’ve outgrown the title, huh?”
At that, Damian turned to glare at him. Pointing a finger, he said, “I will taze you. Shut up.”
“Whatever you say, short stack.” Jon chuckled at Damian’s little growl. “But honestly, what else am I supposed to be? Everyone knows me as ‘Superman’s Son.’ I mean, Dad’s name is so bigin the League, I don’t think I’ll ever separate myself from it.” And if he was honest, Jon didn’t know if he wantedto separate himself from it.
Damian hummed. “Not true. Look at Richard.”
“Dick? What about him?”
“Well,” Damian paused to move the tweezers to his other hand, “Richard started out as the first child hero, working under Batman. And unlike the other early proteges, he didn’t simply work as his mentor’s sidekick. He created his own legacy. And then he became Nightwing.”
“But Nightwing was already a thing,” Jon pointed out. “It’s a Kryptonian legend.”
“Yes, but there hasn’t actually been a Nightwing, has there? Even if there was one on Krypton, Richard was the first Nightwing on Earth. You wouldn’t call him a sidekick, would you?”
“What, no!” Jon’s reaction was immediate. “Nightwing’s, like, one of the most well-known guys out there. Literally everyone knows him, and literally everyone trusts him. He’s not a sidekick.”
Damian turned to smile at him. “Some would say he was. Do you understand my point?”
Jon pouted, took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I don’t know, I’m not even sure how to go about doing that.”
“Well, to start off, find a new name.” Damian hunched over the camera even more, suddenly focusing in on something.
“I guess so. You got any ideas?” At Damian’s lack of response, Jon asked again, “Damian?”
Damian straightened, holding up the tweezers. Clasped tightly between the tongs was a miniscule data chip. “Here’sthe footage we’re looking for.”
Jon stared at him, eyes wide. “How did you even know that was there?”
Damian shrugged. “Simple matter of deductive reasoning.”
“Tim told you, didn’t he.”
A pause. Then, “Drake may have mentioned a while back that a certain trafficking ring was hiding the data chips inside the cameras, and that others were catching on to the trick. I simply tested out his theory.” Damian looked physically pained, and Jon laughed.
“Cool. Put it in, I’ll look through the footage.”
Damian handed the chip over, then laced his his fingers together, put his arms above his head to stretch. Jon, still holding the chip, stared at the line of Damian’s muscles. When Damian quirked an eyebrow, Jon quickly cleared his throat and took the old data chip out of the computer, replacing it with the new one. “So, any ideas?”
“For your name? A couple,” Damian said. “Of course, you need to have an idea for what you’re thinking of.”
Jon nodded absently, pressing rewind on the footage. “I’m not sure if I want to separate from the Super name entirely, though.”
“You don’t want to, or are you scared to?”
Jon snorted. “You probably know the answer to that better than I do. I think I got a name, it’s on the side of the truck.” He zoomed into the footage. “Yeah, it looks we were right. The pharmaceutical company’s related somehow. There’s that stupid gremlin looking thing again.’
“The griffin?” Damian asked, peering over his shoulder. He made a contemplative noise, brows furrowed
“Is that what that thing’s called? Looks like a half drowned bird.”
Damian laughed, and batted Jon’s hands aside. “That’s not what an actual griffin looks like. Here.” He pulled up a couple pictures on his phone.
Jon swiped through a couple pictures, eyebrows raised. “Yeah, those are a lot more impressive. What are they though?”
“Mythological creatures from a variety of different places. They have the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. They’re quite majestic.”
Jon squinted his eyes at him. “You’re implying something. I know you’re implying something.”
In response, Damian nodded his head towards the phone.
“What?” Jon asked.
“Griffin! It’s a perfect name.”
Jon raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Oh yeah. Because I’m part cat and part bird. Perfect analogy.”
Damian slapped his hand lightly. “No, you moron. It doesn’t have anything to do with the eagle or the lion.”
“Then?”
“Your dual heritage.” At Jon’s uncomprehensive look, Damian sighed. “You’re half-Kryptonian, half-human. And it shows. When you fight, you’re fierce and unafraid, much like your father. At the same time, though, you’re endlessly curious and inquisitive, like your mother. God knows I’ve been on the end of that far too often.”
“Oh. That, huh. That actually makes sense.”
Damian shrugged. “I’m just saying. It would be a good homage to your roots, and you’re honoring your parents, without being too overt.”
Jon looked down at the phone again. The lion part was strong, muscled, steady. The bird’s head was curved and fierce, wings spread majestically.
“Griffin. You know what? I kinda like it.”
