Ba da bum ba da bum bum! Imagine—The idea of horror movies was always something damian had found absolutely absurd. How could a piece of fictional media, one so obscenely staged and written with weaklings in mind, become the foundation for innumerable nightmares and paranoia to come?
Horror movies began to pique his interest even further when Dick and his boyfriend Wally came back, panting and scared shitless, from that new Jinn movie that dropped the other day.
"Its a movie, West. Fictitious entertainment shouldn't scare one of the fastest men alive." He stated flatly, watching the way Dick kept peaking around the manor's corners, looking for something that didn't even exist!!
"Nah, nah!! That was..oh fuckkkkk..." Wally laughed nervously, jittering.
He assumed those two were too busy being love birds and being dramatic for the sake of drama.
But when the pattern repeated for Tim and Bernard..Jason and Roy..
Yeah—now his interest was truly piqued.
Which is why you and jon found yourselves here, in the manor, while he explained the plan to you both. "We'll be leaving in 10 minutes. I've had enough of this so called 'horror movie' putting everybody in shambles."
You and Jon exchange glances.
Jon raises his hand nervously, "D-dami..do I have to go? I-I mean I dont think dad's gonna appreciate it-the idea of me staying out so late.."
Damian raises his hand. "Nonsense. He's been informed accordingly. He believes we'll be watching the sequel of the new black canary documentary."
..you and jon exchange glances again.
He must really want to watch this movie to feel the need to lie to superman.
"Damian, are you sure? I mean.. it's rated R..Hell Jason and Tim got scared shitless!! We are just gonna turn into insomniacs!!"
He shakes his head and sighs, irritated. "Its fiction. It was written to scare you. It was casted by a director who believes he understands fear and the human psyche. You'll be fine."
And so that was the end of that conversation.
When all three of you find yourselves at your seats, finally in the darkened theater, popcorn and slushies and overpriced sweets in hand, that's when damian begins again, whispering about how now he gets to prove how everyone is being so dramatic.
"I can't believe this is what makes adults shit themselves." He grumbled. And he isn't wrong—there's only adults in this theater. He was lucky to get Tim to make him those fake IDs (a very complicated bribe) "This better be worth my time."
Jon and you have the same look in your eyes as you stare at each other, damian in the middle, staring at the screen ahead: 'we are so fucked.'
The lights began to darken then.
You could hear the way jon's tub of popcorn began to shiver, crackling like maracas in his hands.
You have your phone squeezed in your palms, on standby just in case you begin to freak out.
Damian leans forward, his posture straightening in excitement and suspense.
It takes some time—being introduced to the protagonist. The slow build of the narrative..but, the horror begins.
As the movie unfolds, Damian feels..odd.
The jinns in the movie make him feel..ill.
He turns to you on his left, expecting to see you queasy, face contorted in discomfort.
But you appear barely bothered. He assumed you'd be frightened shitless, really. But there you sat, stone faced. Content with the plot, even.
Ah, well, maybe you just enjoy horror movies, perhaps you were like minded with him and found fiction as fiction. No matter.
Surely, he thinks, jon would be scared shitless!
He turns to jon on his right, expecting a sniveling, trembling mess. A crybaby sobbing for his father with snot dribbling down his face and chin like streams..
But jon seems..calm. He seems amused, even.
He turns back to the movie; and his heart begins to sink. Why is he feeling the urge to get up? To run? To hide? To scream? Why does he suddenly feel unsafe in the abyssal darkness of the theater? Why does it feel as if turning around would cause a Jinn to appear and drag him to hell?
Nonsense, he tries to rationalize quickly.
But the more he thinks, the more hopeless it becomes.
He remembered plenty of Jinn stories Ra's would recount to him; they were unnerving, the sort that made you feel as if you were being watched by a pair of eyes you could never see but always feel boring into you like molten-hot brands. But he always rationalized them as that—stories. They were simply folklore meant to scare children into discipline and so on and so forth..it was that mindset that he'd schooled himself into accepting that prevented him from seeing the appeal to most horror media.
The absent weight of those tales had never left, but rather lingered above his head within the clouds, and waited for just the perfect moment before dropping onto his head like a wad of stacked bricks.
He remembered the tale of Um Al duwais—Ra's had explained in great detail, of her; the beautiful Jinn who lured men who stayed out too late at night, and proceeded to murder them brutally. He had never thought of her, then, but now he felt the delayed fear of that tale striking his heart. How horrific, must it be, to look into the eyes of a demon who takes the form of your most beautiful desires, only to kill you?
What if he ran into her, somewhere in the streets of Abu dhabi?
Would he even be here now?
He thinks back to all of the times he walked past a window too fast in the great quarters of the league, out in the desert, only to catch sight of a figure that faded into memory two seconds later above the sand dunes. He always assumed it to be an illusion then, a cruel trick of the mind for staying up so late anyway..
But what if they were all, truly, Jinns?
Ones who awaited him, out in the desert, far past the eye could see, roaming..wandering..
His hands find the armrests of the seat, and he digs his nails into them.
Why is his heart thumping so hard?
He doesn't know the movie is over until he feels your fingers on his shoulder, to which he jumps and looks at you, as a deer caught in headlights. You laugh, that stupid, silly laugh of yours. "You good?"
He swallows thickly, the world a haze, now. "..o-of course, that kind of question is that?"
He stumbles out of the movie theater, as you and Jon talk about how the movie wasn't as bad as you'd thought it was and how so many adults walked out, laughing. "And to think we were scared! Hah, right, dami?"
Dami's too busy peeking the corners and fixating on people who stared uncomfortably long at them.
And he jumps, but quickly says—"w-why dont you both stay over? A sleepover?!" He says fast, looking frantic.
You and Jon exchange glances once more and shrug—your parents surely wouldn't mind. (Thank God, damian thinks internally.)
Because right now—he thinks hes being watched every step he takes.
And that feeling stays, even when you've all returned back to the familiar comfort of his room—Jon asleep, now. Snoring and turning restlessly on his inflatable bed (which he was absolutely in love with, for some reason.)
Damian still hasn't slept yet. He stares at the ceiling, shaking.
Then he catches it, the few sounds of your giggles. Reluctantly, after plenty of internal convincing that, yes—it was you, and not a jinn, he daringly sits up, only to find you sitting on your phone, playing away sleepily.
"..could you sleep up here?" He asks, quietly.
You stare at him as if he spoke in morse code (yes, beeps and boops and all.)
"..are you really dami?" You laugh a little, and he looks away, flustered.
But he finds himself pleasantly surprised when you stand up and climb into bed with him, you set your phone on his drawer, before turning to him and laying down with a smile.
"..thank you.." he whispers softly.
But sleep begins to work at your tongue, your words slurring—so instead, you scoot closer to him and hug him.
..before falling asleep two seconds later.
Damian flinches at first—first bfirst when your arms wrap around him in such a warm, gentle embrace, he finds himself stunted slightly. He closes his eyes, before holding you too.
Will he ever step foot near a piece of horror media ever again, let alone be in its vicinity? Probably not.
But could he get used to the warmth of your hugs? Definitely.
(Authors note: it's one of my favorite headcanons that damian's frightened of Jinns~!╰(▔∀▔)╯ )
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