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

THE THIRD DAY

Dick adjusted his front-view mirror. Glancing down at the phone in his hand, he sees a red dot wandering closer and closer to his location. He grins.

He could barely contain his excitement. He knew Damian felt the same. He would never admit it, of course, but he's been following you the moment you left the restaurant. He insisted that you were incapable of defending yourself, and the family was inclined to agree, enough so that Bruce passed down the verdict that Damian must protect you, whatever the cost — even if it meant breaking his golden rule, if things came down to it. It was no surprise that with this order, there came opposition — not from Damian, though.

In the twenty minutes you spent weaving through alleys, he had already removed five obstacles.

"Are you crazy?" Tim had typed into the group chat. "What if they notice?"

But Damian assured that you wouldn't. After all, you hadn't noticed when a woman tried to sneak up behind you, hand shoved in her purse, wrapped around a syringe. You hadn't noticed when a man gave you a friendly smile as you walked past him in the street, turning only when you showed your back to him, a gun revealed from the inside of his jacket. You never once noticed when strangers turned to stare at you, wondering if they should seize the opportunity they had been offered by the Purge. You only continued on your way, a pep in your step with a newfound determination for your future, not even knowing you were walking right into a trap. Damian could only sigh and wipe his sword clean of blood.

They were blameless, really. How could anyone resist your charm?

Damian had revealed himself before you had the chance to reach the meeting place, and he introduced himself as one of the friends that Tim had been kind enough to direct you to.

"Oh! Okay." Clearly, you were beginning to grow unsettled. You were beginning to have your doubts. But your parents taught you to never judge a book by its cover, so you regain your composure and greet him with a smile. "The car is only a few minutes away from here, right? Why don't we walk together?" You study his expression, awaiting a response. He doesn't return one, at least not immediately. The moment of silence he spends comteplating his words is a moment you spend fidgeting where you stand.

...Scary. He looks to be around your age, but he's a lot bigger, and he acts — from what you have been able to tell in the first few seconds of your interaction — a lot older. Although, that means if Jason were to appear to try and take you away, he would be able to protect you. But if he's strong enough to protect you, he's strong enough to harm you.

"Fine." He says. "Let's go."

...So, he's a man of few words. That's okay. It doesn't seem like he means any harm.

You decide to try and start a conversation with him, and you quickly realize that holding the conversation was the harder part. However, you manage to gather that when he's not at school, he works as a bodyguard at the local bar. That's good, you think to yourself. That means he's strong. That puts you at ease.

You know better than to put your faith in a complete stranger — with what you were taught as a child, and with what you learned with Jason — but God, do you want to. And God, does Damian make it easy for you, when he puts an arm around you when you enter a crowd that's formed on the sidewalk, waiting to cross traffic. He doesn't hold you close enough to make you uncomfortable, but just enough to make you feel safe. He doesn't meet your gaze when you shift just a little to look at him, and that makes you smile.