➤ 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 | Yandere! Platonic! Purge AU! Batfam

THE SECOND DAY

To the sound of a voice you don't recognize, you are roused out of your sleep.

You think you mumble Jason's name, because he brushes the palm of his hand against your eyes that struggle to reveal themselves to a bright light, and he quietly tells you to go back to sleep. "I'm just getting some food," he reassures you. That must be why you hear other voices. He's at a drive-through. In your sleep-muddled state you don't realize that the car isn't even running, and instead of sitting in the passenger seat, you're sitting in someone's lap. "Go back to sleep," he says, and you find yourself complying, the weight of his jacket that was lazily draped over your body enveloping you in a comforting warmth, and pulling you under once more. You're safe, you think. You're out before you know it.

"..Gullible." Damian remarks, both out of disbelief and relief. How you managed to live this long on your own is beyond his comprehension — it's a good thing they found you before someone took advantage of your innocence. He nudges your face into the crook of his neck, gathering you close in his arms, as though he fears you're going to escape. Jason gives him a look as he drives down the one-way road back to Gotham. He ditched the rundown car he stole from your neighbor. Speaking of which... "Did you get rid of him?"

Jason raises an eyebrow. "The old geezer? 'Course I did."

He grunts, both out of displeasure, and of approval — he still isn't able to decide which. He's satisfied to know that he'll never be bothering you again, but the fact that there was a time when he even existed in your presence.. it irks him. "And what of their family?"

"Don't even suspect a thing. If anything, they look happier now that he's gone."

Damian had joined Jason when he returned to the location where you abandoned your car. It took a long time for you to fall asleep, and although it would have been easier to just knock you out, Jason figured that the less suspicious you were of him, the more convenient it would be. Not to mention it wasn't him who would be troubled by the wasted time. You had been so close to the next city when you finally succumbed to sleep. If you had held out a little longer, perhaps you would have been able to find someone else to help you.

Someone who actually wanted to help.

When Jason knew you wouldn't be waking up any time soon, he turned the car around and began his journey back to where you belonged — in Gotham.

"What's Bruce up to?" Jason asks.

Bruce had been reluctant to let Jason be your first contact. But at the same time, he was the one who — despite his occupation — looked the baddest out of all of them (not as bad as Batman, obviously, but that was a given). If necessary, it would take very little for him to intimidate you, and even less to subdue you if you were to put up a fight. From what they knew of you, chances of your retaliation were very unlikely; you're far too kind to even consider disobeying someone, even if it's for your own good. Before you think about the consequences of your compliance, you worry about whether you'll hurt someone's feelings if you defy them. You were called the golden child, after all — the perfect child.

"Father is patrolling the city." Right. Even during the Purge, the most important time of year for people like them, there's no resting for Batman. Whenever he isn't being Batman, or Bruce Wayne, he's busy being a father preparing to welcome a new member into his home. Him, Dick, and Alfred, had been building your new room, and ever so often when Jason would visit the mansion for his own personal matters, he would hear the three of them in Bruce's office, discussing what color to make the walls, or what kind of bed to buy.

Initially, Dick insisted on being the one to calculate the first approach, but he would have been too friendly for you to trust. You needed someone like Jason who would observe from afar and swoop in at the right moment, instead of Dick who would try to help you before you even needed help. Both were good, and both meant well, but with how tense you had been when you first left the city, Jason is certain that Dick wouldn't have been the right match, as much as he would try to deny it.