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A sharp knock on her dorm room door made Rachel groan.
With only two weeks till Christmas break, she didn't have time for guests. Assignments won't finish themselves. She had to study. Knowing her luck, it was probably Ashley trying to drag her to another holiday-themed party or Gavin begging her for notes from another Ocultism class he slept through.
She loved her friends. And any other time she would be more than happy to help. But right now her priorities were placed elsewhere.
When another desperate knock interrupted the music from her record player, she slammed the textbook she was studying from shut with an irritated huff.
“Coming! Jesus…” she grumbled, dragging herself off her bed. Her room was rather spacious for a single dorm room, so she had about six steps to fix her rumpled t-shirt and pull her hair out of a bun before she reached the door.
She barely opened it when the person standing behind it pushed past her and let themselves in.
"Oh, thank God you're here! I checked the library first, which honestly is kinda stupid now that I think about it; of course you'd be in your room–”
Rachel, who whipped around with her eyes glowing red and ready to attack the intruder, let the magic gathered at her fingertips dissipate with an exasperated sigh.
“Hello to you too, Jon.”
Jonathan Kent, one of her super friends, as he jokingly liked to call their little group. As far as her current priorities go, the son of Superman should be at the end of the list right now; they never really warmed up to each other completely, their personalities clashing too hard for everyone’s liking, but Jon and Gar have been dating for almost a year now, and considering how the blond boy barged into her room all panicked where normally she would be the last person he’d go to with anything outside the superhero stuff, she figured it must have something to do with her brother.
Trying to stifle another groan, she closed the door and pressed her back against it, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What do you want?”
Jon, taking a seat at the end of her bed and resting his head in his hands, gazed up at her with a puppy-like expression.
“I really need your help.”
“I figured that much.”
“Yeah.”
Rachel waited for a follow-up, but Jon only kept staring at her rather pathetically, looking nothing but lost. He licked his lips and rubbed his hands together; his left knee started bouncing — unconsciously, as she noticed.
She rolled her eyes.
“So? Are you gonna talk or what? Spit it out, Kent, I don't have time for this.”
She gestured to the books and notes scattered on the bed behind him, and Jon glanced at them over his shoulder, looking every bit like it just occurred to him that a college student living in a college dorm room would be studying.
“Oh. Yeah, right. I, uh…” he started rubbing the back of his neck anxiously but suddenly stopped and his eyes narrowed. “Is that a Nightwing t-shirt?”
Caught off guard, Rachel glanced down at the bright blue symbol printed across the front of her oversized black t-shirt.
“Yeah, I figured wearing my own merch would be a little... too on the nose.”
Jon lifted a brow. “And this isn't?”
“Shut up, Kent,” Rachel scoffed. “To the point.”
Taking a deep breath, Jon let his shoulders drop in defeat. “I have no idea what to get Gar for Christmas.”
In hindsight, it was probably a rude reaction. Not her finest moment. But when he said it, looking like a wet stray cat hiding in a cardboard box, Rachel couldn't help but start laughing.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out once she calmed down a bit. “You're telling me you had a whole year to figure something out and you still hadn't?”
“I– I was– thinking…”
“You mean you forgot.”
“I didn't forget, ” Jon snapped, his dumbfounded expression turning serious. “I just… I don't know what to get him. Everything I come up with doesn't feel good enough.”
“So, you came to me, ” she deduced.
“I feel like I don't know my own boyfriend, Rachel,” Jon said as he stood up. “But you do. You're his best friend; you know him better than anyone.”
She couldn't deny that. Gar was like a brother to her. She knew him inside out — and vice versa. It wasn't a bad idea to ask her for help on this, she had to admit it.
It didn't mean she was willing to help, though.
“Jon, I have to study—”
“ Please, Rachel. You're my only hope.”
“Are you seriously pulling a Star Wars reference on me?”
Jon gave her an innocent look. “I dunno, did it work?”
It's the move Gar usually pulls when he wants to convince her to do something. Looks like he's been sharing his ways.
Rachel bit into her lower lip. Looked at herself in the mirror, wearing a crumpled, oversized black t-shirt with the Nightwing symbol on it. She had to study. She promised Dick she wouldn't do another all-nighter. But if she doesn't go over this material now, she won’t have any other option.
She dropped her head with an exasperated sigh.
“Fine, just let me change first.”
The mall was only a few blocks away from the campus, but Rachel didn't want to lug all her shopping bags across town, so she took the car. Finding a parking spot proved to be a challenge — which surprised no one — but after about fifteen minutes of circling the complex, she finally managed to park her silver Porsche outside the apartment building next door.
Getting out, she made sure the car was locked, then patted it affectionately on the roof with a smile.
A rather annoyed huff came from behind her.
"You Graysons and your affinity for sports cars," Jon mumbled.
"What can I say? She's a family heirloom," Rachel said, grinning at him over her shoulder.
Jon opened his mouth to say something else but must have changed his mind because he shut it and instead quickened his pace to catch up with her.
She was already halfway across the crosswalk when a sharp gust of wind ruffled her hair and suddenly Jon was right next to her.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” he asked.
“The plan?”
“Where should we go? What should we look for?”
Stopping on the sidewalk, Rachel shook her head and sighed. She was really trying to like this guy. Seriously. He was everything Gar needed. And he cared about Gar a lot; otherwise, he wouldn’t be here, he wouldn’t care so much. But… When he stood like that in front of her, looking at her like not a single brain cell was working, she wanted to grab him by those stupid golden locks and slam him on the ground.
She has to ask Dick how he kept himself from ripping Jason to fucking shreds every time he opened his mouth. She felt like she needed this kind of self-control right now.
“Listen, Jon. There's no plan here," she said. "You've been together for a year. You might think you have no idea what Gar likes, but trust me, you know him better than you think. I can only offer you advice, but I can't choose for you. I already have my present for Gar.”
Jon blinked. “What is it?”
“Like I’m gonna tell you.”
She turned and started walking, but Jon was in front of her in a second.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that!”
Fucking super speed.
“It’s a comic book. A rare issue; he's been trying to find it for a long time but gave up a while ago.”
Jon’s brows furrowed. “I think I remember him mentioning it... Wait, how did you get it then?”
Rachel shrugged. “Some guy was selling his collection to buy a car. I snatched it as soon as I saw it.”
She was tired of standing in the cold, so she nodded towards the entrance to the mall, indicating to Jon that they would continue this conversation inside. He made a face but shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt and had enough decency to pretend that the cold actually bothered him.
At least he wasn't parading around in just a t-shirt like Conner, she thought, rolling her eyes.
The interior of the mall looked like a real Winter Wonderland. Hundreds of silver and gold lights sparkled everywhere they looked. In the middle of the entrance hall stood a Christmas tree about thirty feet tall, also covered in silver and gold. Christmas music was coming from the speakers, and crowds of people with bags hanging from their arms were pouring out of every store. Every window was shouting at them about amazing sales, and the mannequins in the displays had Santa hats on their heads.
It looked tacky but cute at the same time.
Rachel caught sight of Jon. Still with his hands in his pockets, he was glancing around, looking every bit stressed and confused.
“So where do you want to go first?” she asked him.
“What? Ah, yeah. I think... there?” He pointed to the nearest men’s clothing boutique, then gave her a wide smile. “If there’s one thing I know about, it’s fashion.”
“You sound like Kory,” Rachel laughed under her breath. “Okay. Lead the way, Romeo!”
The interior smelled of leather and expensive cologne. A mixture of black, blue, and brown dominated the shelves and racks. The clothes that surrounded them, from shirts to belts, were more Dick’s style than Gar's or even Jon’s. But Jon, though looking uncertain, walked forward with his head held high.
Rachel followed him. “You have no idea where you’re going, do you?” She pointed out, half teasing.
“Nope, not at all.”
Huh, at least he was honest.
“Do you even know what you’re looking for here?”
“If I find it, I’ll tell you— AHA!” He grabbed a white leather jacket hanging on the nearest rack and presented it to her with the pride of a toddler holding his scribbles.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “A jacket?”
“A jacket! And it’s even made of faux leather, look!” He pointed at the tag.
“You came to me to help you pick something meaningful, remember? Not the first random thing that falls into your hands.”
“But it is meaningful! Well, not like that, but it can be,” Jon insisted.
Rachel knew she's going to regret asking, but, “How?”
Turning around to have better lighting, Jon raised the jacket up to the light at arm's length.
“So, I thought about it before. Getting him a custom jacket that would be more his color and style. And then I thought, maybe I could even put the El crest somewhere on it as a patch, you know? As a subtle way of saying you're a part of our family without saying it. And then I thought, maybe that’s too much. But I also want to show him how much he means to me. But I also don't want to scare him. What do you think?”
If she didn’t know better, she’d tell him to take a breath; that’s how fast he was spitting the words out. Gar once called this rambling of his cute. Then again, everything Jon did Gar considered cute.
With her hands on her hips, Rachel gave Jon a skeptical look.
“I think you're overthinking the shit out of this. If you wanna marry him, just get him a ring.“
“Whoa whoa whoa! Let's not get ahead of ourselves!”
She snorted, “Like you are with the custom Gar-El jacket?”
Jon sighed, frustrated. “You think it's too much.”
"I… do think it's too much, yeah,” she finally relented. “But at least you already have an idea! That's something, right?”
She was trying to sound optimistic and supportive but even to her own ears, it sounded like bullshit. So she stood there, watching as Jon, disappointed, put the jacket back on the rack.
“But if not this, then what?” He said. “I don't have any other ideas. And I bet everything else I could get him, you and your family have already covered. Like that super rare comic you got him.” He dropped his head. “I’m never gonna find anything good enough.”
It was sad watching him beat himself up like this. Gar told her a thing or two about Jon, how he struggles with self-worth, how he considers himself a punching bag of the family. She didn't want to pry or psychoanalize him, but the guy clearly just wanted to be good enough for someone. He wanted to shower those close to him with love and have that love be accepted and reciprocated. And she in turn knew a thing or two about that.
She stepped closer to him and patted him on the back. “Tell you what, we can always come back here. There's a hundred other stores in this place that can offer you something else. If nothing else catches your eye, then we'll just circle back, deal?”
Jon glanced between her and the jacket a few times, unconvinced. Then, finally, he dropped his head and released the sleeve that he was still holding and let it fall back into place.
“Fine, let's go.”
They visited the Lego store. And the game store. Shuffled through dozens of funny t-shirts and even visited a place that was considered a D&D heaven. But nothing seemed to be even slightly appealing to whatever vision of a perfect gift Jon had in his brain.
After two hours of this search, they dropped exhausted at a table in some coffee shop.
“My brain is fried,” Jon grumbled, dropping his head onto his folded arms.
“Yeah, what else is new?” Rachel mumbled, which earned her a kick to the shin under the table. Right, super hearing.
She went to order coffee, grabbed some pastries for both of them as well. If Jon is anything like Gar, all he needs is a spike in sugar levels to kick in the high gear again.
Watching him tear into a donut as soon as it landed before him was like the weirdest kind of deja vu.
“You two are made for each other,” she murmured to herself.
Jon glanced up at her. “What was that?” He asked with his mouth full.
Rachel just shook her head and chuckled. “I’m not repeating that.”
They finished their meals in silence. Rachel's phone buzzed a few times and she smiled as she picked it up, seeing messages from Kory. She and Dick had a date night tonight and she was asking Rachel to weigh on the possible choice of the perfect outfit — as if Kory needed any help with that.
She voted on the black backless minidress with golden accents. Classic and sexy.
And no, the vote had no ulterior motive in bringing a certain little girl with a red balloon into the world.
“So, uh, have you gotten gifts for the rest of your family yet?”
Rachel looked up at Jon. He was dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin and watching her expectantly. His half-finished donut was placed back on the plate.
She put the phone back and grabbed her coffee.
“Yeah. The last one is supposed to arrive tomorrow.”
“Was it hard?”
“I mean, kinda?” She gave him a half shrug. “Try to get something for people who already have everything. But I figured it out. How about you?”
Jon scratched at the back of his neck
“I, um, Jordan and I usually get something together for our parents but I… the last few years I let him take the wheel, you know? I just hand him the money and sign the card after. Besides, I have Gar to focus on now.”
She watched him for a few good moments as he took another bite of the donut and slurped his drink while trying to act like he's not trying to avoid her eyes.
“You don't like Christmas,” she deduced. Already noticed it earlier, when she saw him roll his eyes at families picking presents together and cringe at basically everything Christmas-related. “Why?”
Jon rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “Let's just say my family isn't as jolly as they paint it.” He stared at her intensely for a few seconds. “You seem to love it, though.”
Rachel smiled. “I do.” Then she took a sip of her coffee. “I didn't always.”
“Why?”
She snickered. “Not fair, Kent. Tell me your trauma and I'll tell you mine.”
“Alright. Everything feels like a stage play since I realized how much my parents don't give a shit. They just... don’t care.” About me went unspoken but Rachel’s powers still picked it up, rolling off of Jon in a bitter wave. “So I stopped playing along.”
“...until Gar.”
“Until Gar.”
Rachel nodded, then proceeded to stare into her coffee for a bit. With her hands wrapped around the warm white ceramic, she felt a thread of understanding forming in her heart and extending towards her companion.
“Growing up, my Christmas didn't look like this,” she gestured to all the pompous decorations around them. “We didn't have much, so my mom often covered double shifts at the hospital over the holidays for extra money. She was also very religious so we focused more on that part of the whole thing. But, when your daughter displays ungodly powers,” she emphasized by bringing her magic to her fingertips for a moment, “you don't really feel like celebrating.”
Jon let out a deep breath. “I guess.”
“Our first Christmas together, Dick decided to go all out.” Her lips curled in a smile at the fond memory. “It was a little embarrassing and definitely too much, but... I loved it. Because he tried. Because he cared. It was the first time in both our lives that Gar and I were showered with gifts. Not all of them were good, but it's the gesture that matters.”
Jon pondered over it in silence for a while. “I didn't really care about Christmas before meeting Gar.” He finally said, looking her in the eye knowingly. “I guess it's all about the right people.”
Rachel nodded with a grin. “It’s all about the right people.”
They clinked their glasses together and finished their drinks. When his mug was empty, Jon placed it back on the table and leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head.
Rachel held onto hers and observed him in silence for a bit.
“So what, let's go back for that jacket, huh?” She finally said.
The confused look he gave her was absolutely hilarious. “What?”
“My friend Emily is a fashion major; I can ask her to alter the jacket for you. We can paint it, put the crest on it, whatever you want.”
“Didn’t you say it was too much?”
“I still think that,” she told him. “But it's not about what I think. It's about how you feel about Gar and how you want to show it. So go ahead and give your boyfriend an embarrassingly obnoxious gift that he's probably never gonna wear in public. Pff, what the fuck. You only live once.”
Jon started laughing but suddenly he froze. “You seriously think he's never gonna wear it?”
“Or he's gonna sleep in it,” she shrugged. “You never know with Gar. Now stop overthinking it, Kent, and move! We don't have all day!”
“Fine! Fine, I’m moving! Jesus.” He quickly finished his donut and wiped his hands on his jeans, then stood up and grabbed his jacket. But before they left, he grabbed Rachel by the elbow and made her stop.
“Thank you,” he said. No mockery, no teasing, just… genuine Jonathan Kent.
For a moment, Rachel understood a bit more what Gar saw in this guy.
Smiling, she tapped his hand with hers. “No need to thank me, Jon. What are friends for?”
A grin split his face open. “So we’re friends now?”
“Debatable.”
Yeah, friends. Because sharing trauma over donuts and coffee apparently does that to you.
“Is that a jacket? IT'S A JACKET!” Gar screamed as he unfolded his gift from the box.
They were sitting on the couch at the Tower, cooped up together in their festive pajamas. Dick and Kory sat in the big armchair across from them; Kory curled up on Dick's lap, their gifts in their hands. Everyone watched as Gar ripped into his present, and while Jon looked like he was about to throw up, he was smiling bravely from ear to ear.
“A special jacket for a special boy,” he said. “Do you like it?”
Gar admired the jacket for a moment. Rachel had to admit that Emily had done a fantastic job. Now the jacket wasn't just white; it had patches of red and green on it, as well as a black lining over the cuffs, collar, and pockets. It didn't look even half as ridiculous as she imagined it to be.
Or maybe she was just biased because, in her mind, nothing could replace Gar's original Beast Boy jacket.
“It’s so cool! I love it. Thanks babe.” He leaned in for a kiss but Jon stopped him with a nervous laugh.
“Before you thank me, look at the back.”
Gar frowned, confused, but turned the jacket over. Rachel smirked, and Dick and Kory exchanged smiles too.
“Whoa.”
The outline of the El family crest was stitched into the fabric over the entire back with the same-colored thread, making it stand out yet subtly blend in with the rest.
“Just like you blend in with my family, with me, while also standing out in your own special way,” Jon explained. “I wanted to give you something special, something that would show you how much I care, but I… let's just say I didn't want to overdo it, in case, y’know…” He glanced at Rachel as he said it and she smiled back. “I hope it's not too much.”
“Are you kidding?” Gar laughed, then threw the jacket on. “I’m never gonna take it off!”
Any protests that Jon could have voiced died the moment Gar pulled him in and kissed him. Cheers around erupted; even Dick raised a glass while simultaneously sending Rachel a knowing look. She winked at him and hid her grin behind her coffee mug.
“Alright now that the makeout session is over,” she said, reaching for the wrapped envelope she labeled with her brother's name. “It's time for a gift that will really blow your mind.”
“Fuck you,” Jon mouthed her way, rolling his eyes and Rachel just smirked at him. Gar scoffed, as usual being over their petty shenanigans, but detangled himself from his boyfriend's arms and tore the envelope open.
His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
“NO! FUCKIN! WAY!”
Satisfaction never tasted so sweet.