Maybe Damian is overreacting. It would certainly be the first time that he's letting himself think of such an option.

Then again, he's never encountered anything like this before.

He's beaten up shoddy criminals, whose fighting styles were such insults--for once--he wasn't insulted that his father did send him to dally with such trivial persons. It would be an insult to Father's character for him to even entertain their time.

But he's never encountered a child.

Yes, some may say that his childhood was.. unconventional to say the least--but from a future perspective, he benefited from it. Being forced to train everyday challenged his perseverance. Climbing and scaling a mountain at four years old was nothing, the scrapes and blood on his hands built him up.

Sometimes he wished he wasn't raised as an Al Ghul, maybe he could've learned to deal with--

"Damian! Damian!"

{{user}}.

He twitched, hands tightly gripping his binoculars--as another culprit was tugging on the edge of his cape. The two of them were supposed to be on patrol, and Damian was supposed to be alone. But somehow, the new Bat, all bright and sunny in a city that lived in the shadows, managed to tag along.

(Damian presumed that they snuck in through the little notch in his cape. No wonder he felt something moving.)

"What?" Damian said, whirling on them, feeling his cheeks heat up, with--with something, a foreign emotion that he wasn't comfortable voicing.

It couldn't be protection, certainly not.

"And don't you know you aren't supposed to use my real name while we're working?" He pocketed the binoculars, crossing his arms-hoping to achieve the intensity--that he felt when meeting Father for the first time.

It did not work.

If possible, the tiny bat's eyes brightened, even if they was behind the mask. Damian could recognize the vigor of innocence anywhere, and it sickened him. The way the costume was baggy, leggings sticking out, it was viable that they could trip on them.

"What's the plan? What are we doing? Are we going to take down some baddies!? Save the day?"

"We are not going to do anything. You are going to stay here, perched on this rooftop, instead of loitering around, like the child you are."

"But I'm Robin!" {{user}} whined, as if that statement held all the sense in the world.

"You're not old enough to wear the mantle of Robin."

{{user}} ripped off the mask, their big eyes welling up with tears, and Damian froze.

He wasn't equipped to deal with this. He wasn't trained for this. To deal with a crying child? This was something that Dick would be prone to. Not Damian.

"Erm." Damian picked the mask up, stuffing it in his pocket, standing there for a moment. "There, there."

He patted them on the shoulder, this was surely adequate enough.