Let me hold you

Damian heard a knock at his door just past midnight. He was too exhausted to even look through the peephole, which he normally would’ve done. But, like I said absolutely exhausted. He walks to the door and opens it. As it swings open, his eyes remain momentarily shut as he mumbles out a greeting. “Ugh-hi.” The words float to his ears with an obvious groan and wince of pain. His head snaps up at the familiar voice, he wasn’t sure he’d ever hear again. There she was, she showed up at his door, soaking wet, bruised, and covered in glitter. “Oh my God.” He exclaims, watching as she struggles to keep herself upright with the doorframe. “Do you maybe wanna move, cause I think i’m gonna collapse any second now.” Juliette breaths out, her eyes screwed shut in pain. Face twisted with a horrible grimace. Damian steps out of the way and to the side, giving her space to walk in. She nods her head in gratefulness and takes a shaky step forward. The second Juliette was no longer resting her body against the house, her knees gave out. Damian reacts quickly, he lowers himself to catch her by the waist. He stands up to his full height and pulls her body against his firmly, then with his left arm around her back he bends down, wrapping his right arm around the backs of her knees, and lifts her up. Juliette lets out a little groan from the slight jostling of Damian picking her up. He walks back into the house, kicks the door closed with his foot, and lays Juliette down on the couch. He crouches down in front of her to get her shoes off and decides to begin his interrogation. “What happened?” He questions untying her right shoe first. Juliette takes a deep breath, trying to get the air back into her lungs before answering. “I got attacked.” His head shot up at this and his hand dropped the removed shoe in shock. “What? Wh-what do you mean, attacked?” She gives him an unimpressed expression after his slightly stupid inquiry. “Seriously? I mean I was jumped and beaten up.” She explains gesturing to her other shoe for him to take off for her. “Well, why? Why were you just randomly jumped and attacked?” Damian figured that she still would be unimpressed with him, but he was curious and worried. Juliette takes a deep breath before answering. “He was going after something, I didn’t want to give it to him. We fought, I got away, and the first place or person I thought of was you and here, so I walked. Well, more like ran.” Juliette explained it as simply and vaguely as she could while staring at her scratched up hands. Damian, not quite understanding what she had just told him, finishes untying her left shoe and removes it. “What was he going after? Did he rob you?” Damian aks this as if he’s talking about weather, too busy removing her shoe and trying not to panic. Juliette looks down at her lap almost, ashamed. “I’m not hurt too badly, definitely no broken bones. I know what one feels like, just some scratches and bruises.” As she talks completely avoiding the question, Damian eyes her suspiciously and places his focus undeniably on her. “The glitter was from Nancy’s surprise birthday party, which I had left just before this happened. So-” Damian cuts her off with an eyebrow raised. “Jule.” Her eyes snap up to him when he speaks. “What was he trying to take from you?” Damian’s voice had lowered itself and was laced with seriousness and worry. Juliette looks down almost worriedly and still ashamedly. “Um...well, he-he didn’t really try to take something. He just wanted it...from me.” Her voice was quivering and quaking as she spoke just barely above a whisper, while fiddling with her fingers. Damian glanced at her hands, recognizing the fiddling as a nervous tick, and allowed his hand to engulf both of hers. She looks back up at him when he makes contact with her. “What did he want from you?” His voice was the lightest and gentlest it had ever been, even around her. She glances back down at her lap and takes a deep breath. “He-he wanted...sex. M-my-my body.” Damian’s whole body freezes as he realizes what she means, why she was attacked. Juliette shoulders begin to slightly shake, as little sniffles and whimpers come from her. Damian jumps into action, pushing himself up to sit on the couch, scooping her up into his arms, and placing her on his lap. Her body immediately curls into a ball, pressing and leaning into his chest, as his arms wind around her form, and hold her as tightly as he could without hurting her. Juliette grips onto one of Damian’s arms as she sobs into him. Damian presses his lips against her head and tries to quietly calm her down. “Shh...shh...It’s over. It’s over, that will never ever happen ever again. I vow to you.” Damian promises her this as he rocks them back and forth on the couch, and as he holds her like she’s single-handedly the most important thing in his life, Juliette realizes that this is where she wants to be, and why she thought about Damian first. In Damian’s arms being rocked she lets out the first breath of contentment in weeks. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Damian.