"Wow, I didn't expect that to actually work." Damian admitted

Jack stood in front of him and met his gaze with an even glare, ignoring the bead of sweat trickling down his temple. His hair concealed it, so there was no way for Damian to know it was there. "How did you get my number?"

"What?"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "How. Did. You. Get. My. Number?" he repeated as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Right there, see it?" He asked, throwing the screen in his face.

My room. Now. -Damian

Damian smirked at Jack's reaction to the text. "Did you really think that I wouldn't keep tabs on my property?" He asked smugly, making Jack's determination waver for a moment.

"You don't own me." He whispered, barely loud enough for Damian to hear.

Damian raised an eyebrow at him. Jack stood his ground. "You do remember what I told you at our last little conversation, don't you?" He warned.

Jack looked him straight in the eye. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Aren't you?" Damian started to circle around him and Jack turned, avoiding turning his back towards him. Damian lunged, one hand grasping Jack's arm and the other fisting in his hair, and jerked him so that he stumbled and landed on his knees. Twisting so that he was behind him, Damian dropped down onto his knees as well, ignoring the pained cry as he landed heavily on Jack's legs, and wrapped one arm around Jack's head and pulled it back against his shoulder, using his free hand to reach up onto Jack's exposed neck and feel his racing pulse.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Damian chuckled in Jack's ear. "Are you sure about that? Because your heart rate is indicating otherwise."

"Let go of me!" Jack shrieked and slammed his elbow back as hard as he could into Damian's stomach. Grey eyes flew open with a sharp gasp as he lost his grip, doubling over with a groan as Jack scurried away. It wasn't until a few seconds later that his brain registered what he had done, and the very imminent repercussions that would be going along with it once Damian recovered. He ran to the door, only to find it locked with some sort of homemade contraption.

No... NononononoNO! Jack fought down the urge to scream as he desperately fumbled with the thing. He'd forgotten that Damian had put that on after he'd come in, and he couldn't figure out how to get it off.

"Well, looks... like someone… finally found their backbone." Damian choked out as he started to sit up, pausing until he had better caught his breath to finish. "I have to admit, I was getting worried that it'd been beaten out of you." Jack wheeled around, not even bothering to try to mask his fear now. "You've got some serious guts to pull something like that on me." He told him, rising to his feet and coming towards him. Jack backed away. "It's really what drew my attention in the first place."

Jack's back met a corner, forcing him to stop his retreat. "Simple fight or flight response- you took away the flight." He said as he tried to shrink father into the corner, voice shaking.

"Stop making excuses." Jack flinched and tried to brace himself for whatever Damian was going to do to him. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. It actually just saved you."

The last sentence caught Jack by surprise and he opened his eyes, warily studying the boy standing in front of him, who had his head cocked to the side and a grin on his face. "That was exactly what I was hoping for- well, something a little less painful might have been nice, but that's beyond the point. Come and sit down, I'll explain everything." Damian told him, clapping him on the shoulder and heading for the couch.

Jack did what he was told, unsure of what else to do.

…

"Let me make sure I have this straight." Jack said, trying not to let himself get too hopeful as his mind digested the information Damian had just thrown at him. "I agree to be your picked teammate and get put on some stronger arrangements, and you let me go?"

"Technically, you'll still be claimed by me, otherwise everyone else will practically start World War Three." Damian shrugged. "And in public we'll at least have to try to make it seem like we've got a normal claimed/claimer relationship. But it's as close as you're going to get. No beatings, no lording your status over your head- you'll be on par with me, far as I'm concerned."

Jack stared at the boy on the other end of the couch, "Why?"

Damian's eyebrows twitched, briefly conveying his confusion. "Why you?" Jack nodded and Damian cursed under his breath. He should have figured that he couldn't simply throw facts at Jack, offer him the position on the team, and have him accept without some form of questioning; Jack was too inquisitive for that. Maybe it was an artist thing.

"What? You must have had some sort of reason." Jack asked smartly, looking quite pleased with himself.

"You know you haven't accepted the offer yet." Damian warned.

"No, but I'm definitely not taking it if you pull anything, and that would put you into quite a fix, wouldn't it?" Jack replied as the smug air around him intensified. "And I'm not making any decisions until I hear your reasoning, so you'd better start spouting."

Damian repressed the urge to allow the corners of his mouth to twitch up. The irony that Jack, who was supposed to have beaten into a submissive shell of himself, had effectively trapped him between a rock and a hard place and was now lording it over his head was not lost on him. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to try to communicate a gut feeling in a logical, coherent manner- hardly his strong suit. "I don't know. Spitting in Carlson's face- your sense of fight- it left an impression." He finally said, hoping it would be enough of an answer.

Jack's eyes narrowed and quietly studied him from the far end of the couch, his face eventually loosening from suspicious to contemplative. "On par with Damian Hart." He mused.

"Doesn't sound half bad, does it?" Damian asked.

Jack allowed himself a small smile. "Doesn't sound bad at all."

"See? There's perks to spitting in people's faces that I don't like."

Jack laughed, ignoring the nagging question in the back of his mind.

…

A/N: I still don't own MFB. Or Jack and Damian. Or just Jack. Or Damian. It's a tragedy, I know :P Anywho, reviews and constructive criticisms are more than welcome, as usual. Thanks for reading!