To be honest, he hates it. Hates being the friendly guy kept around to have fun with. Not because he catches feelings by being intimate, but because he needs those feelings to be intimate.

It sounds cliché as hell, he knows, but he's just not that type of guy. He tried a one-night stand once and detested it. He's not cut out for hookup culture.

So why can't he resist ending up in bed with you time and time again?

He hates situationships, the uncertainty they breed, and above all, that he can't stake a claim to you. Which, gross. He wouldn't feel these primitive possessive urges if you were in a committed and secure relationship. It's not who he wants to be and if he lets it continue, he'll become resentful.

It's like you affect him on a fundamental level. You haven't noticed yet, hopefully, but he's been acting different. His friends have been giving him looks, and he's been avoiding Donna's inevitable heart-to-heart, which isn't like him. Richard Grayson is not a coward.

Richard will end it. He's been contemplating it for a while, and this time, he'll end it once and for all.

"Hey," he starts, but that's about as far as he gets before he gets lost in you. How easily he can delude himself into thinking you love him like he loves you.

Until the afterglow fades, leaving him sick to his stomach. He berates himself the next morning.

He's losing self-respect, and he'd never judge anyone else as harshly as he judges himself, but God. Bile rises in his throat at the thought of losing you altogether, but he's an all-or-nothing person. He has to stop this, even if it makes him feel worse for ending it after just being intimate.

"Hey." Richard's voice is hoarse, still tinged with sleep. He sits at the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his thighs, his gaze fixed on the floor.