It was almost 11 PM. The city, overlooking down from the hill, had slept. The night sky was twinkling with thousands of stars. It was a full moon night. The woods behind the campsite was eerily silent.

Batman sat across Icecream on a thick mat. Their eyes stared at the burning fire between them. Behind them were two tents.

A cool breeze whirled which caused Icecream to shiver under her woollen blanket. Batman raised his face to stare at her. Her face looked incredibly bright over the flames.

"Are you cold?" he whispered under his breath. "Maybe you should go inside the tent."

"No, it's just …" she replied, stretching her pink lips. "It's alright. It's warm here."

Batman smiled and lifted some crumbs of wood from the pile beside him and threw them over the fire. The wood hissed and crackled.

She took the chance to take a glance at his face. He looked incredibly calm as if no force in the universe could shatter his peaceful mind. And he seemed very harmless. She had been worrying all this time if she did the wrong thing by agreeing to his proposal to go camping for the night. The two had only talked to each other over the phone, and this was their first date. She did ask herself the question of whether she was stupid to have agreed to his plan to go for overnight camping.

"What are you thinking, Icecream?" he asked her with his innocent voice.

She thought, what kind of a guy Batman would turn out to be. She tilted her head and stared at him for a while. "What if you are a bad person?" she asked.

Batman bit his lips and pulled out a cigarette and lit it and pondered on the question for a while.

Why does he have to take ages to answer questions? Why does he have to think so hard to answer such a simple question? These thoughts swirled in Icecream's head.

"I'm not," he said. He took a few long puffs of his cigarette.

"Why should I believe you?" she tried to sound less worried this time.

"Because I'm Batman and Batman is a good person, I guess," he said with a wide smile.

Batman looked at her for some time and knew that his answer had done nothing to lessen her doubts. Not being able to convince and comfort her made him guilty.

He threw the last bit of his cigarette into the fire and stood up. She looked at him, wondering what he was about to do.

"Can I like … sit beside you?" he asked. She nodded in approval and continued staring back at the flames.

Batman placed his mat beside her. He made sure that he maintained a respectable distance from her mat.

The two didn't speak for a while.

"Check out the stars. They look so beautiful," he said.

Icecream lifted her head and gazed at the stars. She giggled.

"Why are you giggling?" he asked.

"I don't know,'' she said and continued giggling.

Batman laughed.

Silence.

"Say something to fill this silence please," she said, after an eternity of silence between them.

"How, Icecream?" he asked. "What do you want me to talk about?"

"I don't know," she replied.

It was getting colder. The wind got stronger and more biting.

"I'm not a bad person, Icecream, and no, I won't harm you. I don't know how to convince you," he whispered.

He looked calm and gentle.

"I know," she whispered back.

Batman slowly lifted his head. Icecream did the same. He stretched his arms to grab the pieces of woods beside the fire and gently threw them into the flames one by one.

Icecream watched as Batman dumped one block of wood after another into the fire. With each dumping, the flames got brighter and bigger. Everything he did seemed magical to her.

Icecream gently placed her head on his shoulder. Her gesture made him feel that he had now somehow tamed her insecurity. He smiled and placed his head over her's.

They didn't have words to speak. The two just sat there in silence, letting the emotions they were feeling settle gently. The flames got brighter and dimmer, and the firewood hissed and crackled.

"Icecream," he whispered.

"Hajur," she replied.

"I want to read," he said.

"Read what, Batman?" she asked.

"The novel you said you were going to complete. Your novel on silence," he said, sounding a bit dramatic.

She giggled.

"Will you write?" he asked again.

"I'm not a writer like you," she said.

"I am not a writer, dummy," he replied.

"Then what are you?" she asked.

"I just try," he replied.

She didn't say anything.

"When will you write? I can't wait to read it," he asked her. "Just let your word flow without any restrictions. You will finish your novel."

Another long spell of silence.

"You know what, dummy?" he asked.

"What, Batman?" she said.

"I look forward to the day you finish your novel. I would like to be the first person to get a copy of it and read it," he said.

She giggled.

A brief silence.

"I think I'll read it in one sitting," he said.

She laughed.

"We are all visitors in this world. Icecream will melt one day, and one day Batman will be buried for eternity," he said.

She laughed.

"A..n..d Happy New Year 2020," he whispered to her after looking at his smart phone’s screen.

"Happy New Year, Batman," she whispered back.

A long pause.

They both got thinking how quick years go by, and how they have aged over the years. Batman was going to turn 22 in a few days, and he started thinking what it meant to be 22.

Batman snuck back to the present.

"Icecream, can I tell you something?" he asked.

"Yup," she said.

"I'm not Batman," he said.

"Neither am I Icecream," she said, giggling.

"Why did you name me Batman?" he asked.

"I don't know. Why did you name me Icecream?" she asked.

"I don't know why I gave you that name," he said, with a sheepish smile.

After a brief silence, they both laughed at the same time.

An hour passed by. Icecream fell asleep on the mat. Not wanting to disturb her, Batman let her be.

After a while, he whispered, "You should go to your tent and sleep."

She rubbed her eyes and went back to sleep.

"Icecream, should I like carry you to your tent?" he asked.

She was fast asleep.

A man has to do what he has to do, he told himself.

He lifted her gently and carried her to her tent. He put her on the mattress and put a blanket on her. He realised how beautiful she looked when she slept. He whispered, "Icecream, you are really beautiful."

Batman got out of her tent and closed the tent's zipper.

He sat alone beside the fire for a while and smoked his last cigarette. He looked behind at the dark, quiet woods. He checked his surroundings. He felt alone and scared.

He stood up, threw his cigarette into the fire and headed towards his tent.

“Icecream, looks like I am scared without you by my side," he said to himself.