BREAK IN ; [ damian wayne ]

ii. damian

10/26/22
2:12 p.m.

Damian has never been more thankful for blondes.

With a classic publicity stunt in which Stephanie yelled that Bernard had stolen her lover and Bernard yelled that she wasn't good enough, Bernard and Steph had successfully taken the attention off Charlotte.

The entire city began to take sides, and news about Charlotte became swallowed in a sea of hashtags and candid shots. At first, when he learned Bernard and Stephanie had texted Charlotte behind his back, he was infuriated, but now he felt beholden to them. (Though he'd never admit it.)

A random show was playing in the background but Damian was far more content to watch the brunette lay lazy against his chest. He should recoil at this level of intimacy, but instead he relishes the weight on his legs and the heat from where her breaths make contact with his skin. The tickling sensation where her eyelashes fan against his collarbone.

Sometimes Charlotte does this thing were she scratches and toys with his black hair and Damian finds the circular motions relaxing, melting him more than heat vision ever could.

It was peculiar, how easily he was disarmed around her. How effortlessly she brought down his walls, made him want to toss out his weapons for flowers.

There was a conversation they needed to have, but neither rushed to speak. The warm cocoon in which their love has begun to grow wings is enough to keep them contented, okay with nothing but cinnamon scented cologne and calloused palms. They are delightfully indulging in the silence. It's new. He's seen silence - just never quite like this.

From a young age Damian understood the violence of silence. Silent feet descend on a victim, and a swift hand quickly penetrates skin like a needle does in a pot. Silence served as a prelude before erupting rapidly into red blood and tattered clothing. The cries of men who had already passed away were hushed by the shower at the league. The water hammered into the basin like gunfire. Silence was his mother's admiration and the red stains on his garments. Silence was the snake that folded into his chest and squeezed until his hand similarly strangled the throat of another man. Silence only ended if someone's life did.

Now that he's grown Damian's beginning to understand a different kind of silence. The silence that weighs like a blanket on top of the moment, warm and safe and encapsulating. Silence that only comes when two people understand each other, silence that is never really silent. Silence that is heartbeats in sync. Silence that is broken by Charlotte's laughter that erupted from some silly joke on the television.

Damian revels in the noise, it scrubs him clean from within. It hammers against his tarnished heart and wears the scabbed scars like waves eroding on a stone.

It's honey in too-bitter tea and scones when starved. She smiles.

He questions whether he might be able, despite all the others who will never smile again as a result of him. With so many people not living their lives, can he?

Damian inhales the feeling like a smoking cigarette, savoring the icy tide that rips down his spine and the wintry talons that gnaw at his fingertips. Destroying the snake's web.

He is a ravaged and mauled weapon. He's been bartered for a stronger warrior, a brighter robin. He's been exiled to foreign countries with nothing but his memories and imaginations. Damian is an implement. He's an artifact that's begun to corrode at its margins.

Will anybody want him after he's rusted through, when he's no longer new?

Charlotte is a newly inked quill. She pours her feelings on his paper skin, shading in the birthmarks and scars with dancing daisies and shafts of sunshine.

Hers is a mender's hand, and it sews the fray. She writes tales of people who find atonement People used as weapons.

"What day are you siblings coming back?" Damian asks. He swallows the thoughts and buries them where the cobwebs grow and dust bunnies collect.

At this, Charlotte positively lights up. Her cheeks gain color and her eyes gleam. "Tonight! They're getting Harold's chicken wings and we're gonna catch up."

Damian's own siblings did a similar thing the night before. Dick brought burgers and Duke brought the movie. Damian brought the peace that only comes when he's left.

"Sounds like fun."

Charlotte of course notices the smallest change in his tone and slits her eyes inquistly. "Are you okay?"

He is. He will be.