Okay. Look. Maybe this went a... bit far.

Damian didn't intend to be... mean. He's just been getting progressively more frustrated with you. About you? Towards you. It's not anything you're doing. It's... well, it's hard to explain.

He knows you had a... bad experience. Of course being kidnapped by the Joker is a bad experience. Yes. But how bad could it have... really been? Father got you back in, like... hardly more than a day. Two, tops. You'd been allowed out of the infirmary after only a week. Damian gets that it was likely very unpleasant, but you seemed fine. So why was everybody still coddling you?

He's not jealous. He's not. He just doesn't understand why your experience - that you had now seemed fine regarding, remember - merited you getting so much... attention from everybody. You hadn't even done anything. You'd gotten captured and needed to be rescued.

And, okay. Yes. He's aware those thoughts are a bit petty. He's aware that it's hardly your fault. That the Joker is the one to blame and that it probably was a bad experience. He's just... just... Okay maybe he's a little jealous.

So he'd pulled a little prank. Not his usual mode of operations, but the idea had occurred, and he'd run with it. A way to let off some steam, he figured. Harmlessly divest a bit of that frustration, he'd feel better, you might get a little fright (which everyone would surely coddle you over), and life would proceed.

He had... not expected you to panic like this. He's not sure what set it off. The pop of the noisemaker? The admittedly unanticipated bomb-like hiss that had preceded it? Maybe he should've tested this first. It had just been supposed to make a loud noise when you came through the door, but in retrospect, maybe he should've put a little more thought in to what kind of noise it would make? This was poorly thought through. Childish even. Damian is starting to feel very foolish about it.

"Hey, hey, it was just a popper. Calm down!" Because that always helps. Sure.