Once Upon a Time
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Summary
He finishes braiding small sections of Jason’s hair, avoiding the teenager’s soft gaze. “There. Now your hair looks less like a rat’s nest, and more like it belongs to an actual human.”
Jason studies him for a long while after the braid is finished, fingertips lifting unconsciously to brush against one of the woven strands before letting it fall again. The motion is almost absentminded. Almost disbelieving. "I wouldn't do that to you," he says quietly. "If you came with me."
Jason's voice loses all its sharp edges. It sounds worn smooth, scraped down until only something painfully honest remains. "If you came with me, I wouldn't hit or punish you." He swallows. "I wouldn't let anybody else do it either." The room seems to grow impossibly quiet. "You'd be safe."
The word settles strangely inside Damian's chest. Safety was a song for weak men, something children told themselves to make fear less sharp. It was the imaginary layer of protection imbedded in a blanket protecting babies from monsters. As though safety could make the world any less cruel.
Or, the first mistake Damian ever made was believing monsters looked like monsters.
Or, or, a fairy tale rearranged.
Series
- Part 1 of Once Upon a Time