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This wasn’t the first Gala Duke had been to, but he still felt like an imposter any time he went to one. Something about going to an event that cost more to put on than his family's house had, and an entrance price more than any of the foster families he’d run from would ever see in a year left him very aware of how much he didn't belong. At least Bruce never pretended that he cared about the other rich people's opinions, if so he wouldn’t have taken in any of his kids. Well maybe Tim, he was already one of the bougies to begin with, but the rest of them were definitely not ‘acceptable.’
Duke was a little uncomfortable to be here, but this event required the complete Wayne Family presence. So that meant he was here in Metropolis in an outfit that made him a little sick to find out the price of, but damn. He looked good. He was taking Jason’s advice and never looking at the price of his ‘event’ clothes again. He couldn’t believe that it had been just six months ago that he was sleeping wherever he could, running in a gang trying desperately to find his parents. And yet today he was here in a black tux with Gold trimmed lapels greeting the Luthors like he was someone important, not just another pseudo-orphan that got picked up by Bruce Wayne.
Duke managed to greet Mr. Luthor without embarrassing himself, he didn’t see Lex’s son anywhere but it’s not like he really wanted to meet another rich kid anyways. He tried to follow Tim around so he had some protection from the wolves, but somewhere in the middle of Ms. Carter’s rant about her precious little Shih Tzu he’d had to duck out. He was one more comment about Sergeant Wooflies (or whatever it's name was) away from making a scene. He slipped out onto the balcony hoping that the autumn chill would keep the other party goers inside. Duke looked at his watch. Yay, thirty mins down, only three more hours to go. He was never going to make it through this was he? Duke closed his eyes and wondered how long he could hide out here before Bruce sent someone to find him.
“You know the view is better if you actually open your eyes.” The rich voice filled the air next to him. Duke opened his eyes and turned to the person next to him. His breath caught in his throat, this was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.
The young man was a little taller than him, and a little bit older too. His blue eyes sparkled with mischief and secrets, they were half hidden behind red sunglasses, even though the sun had set hours ago. Duke just wanted to run his fingers through the carefully styled dark hair, the man would look so much better with it windswept instead of the neat waves that it was in. He had a dark blue crushed velvet jacket over a pair of dress pants and white button down with a bright red bow tie. It should have looked silly, like a superman knock off but something about it worked.
“I don’t know, the view looks plenty good to me.” He said looking over at the other man. Duke was not in the habit of dating boys, even though he’d known he wasn’t straight for a while now. No one stares at posters and pictures of Superboy in his iconic skin tight red leggings and black jacket as long as Duke had if they weren’t attracted to men.
“Well the view I'm looking at isn’t too bad either.” the Man winked at him. “My name is Kon, what can I call you? Or should I just keep calling you beautiful?”
Duke swallowed nervously.
“Duke, Duke Thomas” he said, never taking his eyes off the wicked smile in front of him. Duke watched as Kon bit his lower lip. Duke wanted to do that too, to bite those plush lips so bad.
Duke wanted to touch the man next to him, to see if his touch made colors bloom on his skin, he wanted to see if this might possibly be his soulmate. It was considered pretty tacky and even taboo to touch someone you just met but Duke’s fingers reached out without his conscious decision. He stopped himself just shy of touching the other man’s face realizing that he was about to cross a line. Kon smiled at him and leaned into Duke’s touch.
Duke gasped as yellow started to pool under his fingers, proclaiming to all the world that this was his soulmate.
He’d found his soulmate. Oh my God, he’d found his Soulmate. He felt like he could float away. He was so excited a small giggle slipped out of his lips. Kon leaned a little further in and pressed his lips to Duke's, kissing him gently and marking him with his own color bleeding red onto the other boy’s lips. He pulled away, admiring the superman red painting the dark skin like the most vibrant lipstick.
Duke had no idea how long they stood there out on the balcony before Kon gently led him across the balcony to a few chaises nestled in a small alcove. Kon sat down on one and then pulled Duke into his lap hugging him tight.
“Tell me everything about my new Soulmate,” his husky voice rumbled in Duke’s ear. Duke shivered at the tingle of breath ghosting over his ear. And of course Kon thought that meant that he was cold and pulled him even closer. Duke hadn’t felt this warm and protected since his parents had disappeared. He melted onto the muscular chest in front of him tracing his fingers over the crushed velvet lapels. Kon shuddered under the gentle touch leaning into it, reveling in the feel of being touched. Now that it was discovered they were soulmates it was perfectly appropriate for them to touch each other.
Duke had run out of words awhile back and Kon had been hesitant to tell him much about his own family either. But Duke knew that Kon had two dads, no mom to speak of and a tense relationship was had by all, a lot of fighting between family members. Duke just wanted to wrap Kon up and protect him from all that pain. Instead he snuggled his face into Kon’s stomach content to just lay there while Kon ran his fingers over his hair.
The two of them spent hours out on the balcony curled up into the chaise. So long in fact that the Wayne’s started hunting for him afraid that he’d gotten kidnapped already. Tim had gone out onto the balcony but didn’t see anyone. He was turning to go inside when he heard a familiar voice floating in the air. What was Superboy doing here? Tim didn’t think any further about it, maybe Kon could help him find his brother. He followed the sound of his voice, treading quietly, feet making no sound on the tile.
Tim held in a gasp at the sight in front of him. Kon had his arms wrapped around Duke, the two had obviously been cuddling for some time based on the way they had tangled each other up. Kon turned his head a little to the right leaning forward into the light. Tim couldn't have stopped the tear that fell down his cheek no matter how hard he tried. The fact that there was a bright signal-yellow handprint on his lovers best friend's face shocked him to the core.
Oxygen didn’t exist, it couldn’t, otherwise Tim would be able to breathe. Tim stumbled back the way he’d come, barely able to make sense of what he saw. There was no way that Superboy was someone else’s soulmate. Right? They were meant to be together. Tim fled the balcony rushing off the terrace as fast and as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to be caught. Not now while he was so raw. When he had lost control of his masks. He slipped back into the building hurrying out of the gala not even noticing he passed right by his two older brothers on the way to the stairwell.