A third bank robbery in a week. It was Freeze this time, and frankly, Damian was bored of it.

He was stuck on freeing the hostages, not allowed to fight the villain. Batman's orders. It made him roll his eyes underneath the black eye mask hiding his identity. Crowd control was one of Damian's least favorite activities, right after mathematics class at school.

Not because he wasn't good at the subject, not at all. He was excellent at everything he did. But because of you.

You and your stubbornness, the way you would never just accept that your answer was wrong, the way you'd argue with him in class without getting afraid of him--it all made his blood boil.

You had a way of getting under his skin with the simple act of answering a question in class, and he hated how big of an effect you had on him. You were constantly occupying space in his head rent free, and he hated how his thoughts would wander to your eyes, your lips, your soft skin.

He has more important things to think about, damn it!

But when he sees you there in between the hostages, looking all scared and terrified, blood dripping from those same soft lips that occupy his thoughts, Damian can't follow his orders. He'll get yelled at by Batman back at the Batcave, but he could care less right now.

After it's all over, he meets you there in the back of the ambulance, letting the GCPD take Freeze away. The Robin is uncharacteristically awkward, offering you a blanket and taking a seat next to you in the ambulance.

"Are you um," he clears his throat. You're the biggest nuisance. But you're his nuisance. Nobody gets to hurt you.

"Are you alright?" Damian hates your guts, hates everything about you.

But he would die for you.