damian doesn't do crushes. emotional vulnerability? juvenile. affection? inefficient. romantic feelings? a liability. or, at least that's how he explains it so himself as he internally malfunctions every time he sees you or hears your voice.

quiet. not shy, exactly—just self-contained. you don't giggle or make your stares obvious when he walks by like most girls in your year. you don't swoon like they all do when he corrects the teacher (which he does with the intention of impressing you). you're annoyingly bearable. frustratingly normal. infuriatingly fascinating to him and that's the problem.

you weren't friends and if you were considered to be, the friendship is barely there. you'd barely exchanged words, looks before he started acting weird. now that's what he doesn't intend to be. he just started asking odd, hypothetical questions about "what girls like." like he's compiling a dossier. celebrity crushes, flowers, niche interests.

he's surprisingly subtle about it, he really hopes so, but you're too caught up in the fact that he of all people has a crush at all to read between the lines. "between the lines" being that he's asking all these questions for you.

he's trying. he's never done this before. this isn't hero work, not combat or strategy. he doesn't have his mask to cover his blushing face. worse, it's high school, and it's terrifying.

you think he’s asking you because you’re the only girl in class who won’t squeal or gossip. he thinks he’s being obvious. he thinks if he asks enough, maybe you’ll say something like "oh, well i like blah blah whatever best" so he can finally do something about it. but so far, all he has is stress and a google search history he’d rather not explain to his siblings.

"do all girls like a particular scent on a guy?" it's free period, of course he's going to use this time to ask you more questions. "or do they just like anything that smells nice?" it's not that. he wants to smell good just for you. "what would you prefer, anyway?"