hidden confessions between the sentences
ɞ Damian gets injured on a mission, in a way, because of you. Consumed by guilt and fear, you try to stay away from him for days. But Damian has grown tired of this distance between you, and tonight, he’s going to put an end to it.
ɞ Warnings: Damian is kinda yearner, lack of communication skills, plenty of fluff
The city had long since fallen asleep. Not completely though, Gotham never truly slept. The frantic pulse that defined it during the day had quieted into something slower. The distant hum of traffic drifted through the night air. Somewhere below, a train rumbled beneath the streets. Rain earlier that evening had left the rooftops glistening beneath the moonlight.
Damian crossed them without making a sound. Robin's cape barely stirred behind him.
Normally, after patrol, he would return to the Cave, file his report, exchange exactly three sentences with his father, ignore whatever attempt Grayson made at conversation, and disappear into his room.
Tonight, however...
His feet had carried him somewhere else. To an apartment in a secluded corner in the middle of the city. He leapt skillfully from one roof to another and stopped on the top floor of the red-fronted building. He stopped outside your window.
The curtains weren't drawn. Amber-colored light from the dim room lamp was illuminating the room. He could see books stacked on the windowsill. On the table, there was a cup of tea you had likely made hours ago and chocolate wrappers scattered about.
And, you.
You sat beside the window with your back resting against the bed, one knee drawn close to your chest. Your hair fell loosely over one shoulder, catching the moonlight until it almost seemed to glow. Even though you ran your fingers over the cover, you weren't reading the book. The book lay open in your lap seemed to have been forgotten for a long time.
You were simply looking outside, toward the stars. You had always done that. Jon once joked that you looked at the sky the way other people looked toward home. Damian hadn't understood what he meant then. He did now.
You looked peaceful, too peaceful. The kind of stillness that wasn't calm at all. It was as if you could fall asleep at any moment. The moonlight wrapped around you like a mother tonight, helping you forget what had happened recently.
You hadn't smiled in over a week. Not really. Only those small, practiced smiles people wore when they wanted everyone else to stop asking questions.
His hand rested lightly against the window. He should leave. Damian had already tried speaking to you three times. Each attempt had ended the same way. The moment you saw him, your shoulders would tense up. And the moment he approached you, you would flee to the farthest corner of the room. Then you would politely excuse yourself before he could say a word. He had fought assassins with more courage than you had shown in looking him in the eye these past days.
No.
That wasn't fair.
Damian knew you weren't afraid by him. You were afraid of yourself. Of what had happened, and what could almost happened. He knew that, he hated that he knew it. Damian exhaled quietly. Then, with his gloved hand, he gently tapped the glass a few times. He didn't want to scare you.
Even though you were lost in your own silence, you didn't budge. With just a slight movement, you turned your head toward the window, to Damian. You simply stared, then you immediately looked away.
He frowned. You had already seen him, you knew he was there. Yet you made no move toward the window. Instead you closed the book in your lap, carefully placed it beside the table, and rested both hands together as though you suddenly found them fascinating.
A silent invitation for him to leave.
Damian stared through the glass. ‘Absolutely not.’ The uncomfortable silence between you was going to end tonight. He tested the window. Unlocked. Of course it was, he thought. He hated your habit of not locking the doors and windows. Damian slid it open with practiced ease.
Cool night air rushed into the room. You closed your eyes. "I knew you'd do that."
"You left me no choice." His voice was calm, almost gentle. It possessed a lightness ill-suited to Gotham's ruthless nights.
You still didn't look at him. "You could have used the door."
"You would not have answered."
"No." you said, shrugging your shoulders.
"You admit it."
"I wasn't trying to hide it."
Damian climbed inside, pulling the window closed behind him. The room immediately felt smaller and warmer. The silence between you weren’t awkward. It was heavy. Like both of you were carrying the same conversation in your heads but neither knew where to begin.
His eyes wandered across the room almost absentmindedly. Everything was unmistakably yours. From the posters on the wall to the colorful flowers you gathered to tuck between the pages of your books. Everything was you. And a tiny potted sunflower sitting on the desk despite Gotham's miserable weather.
His gaze lingered there. "It's alive."
You looked over instinctively. "The sunflower?"
"Yes. I did not think that was possible in Gotham."
"The window gets enough sunlight. I've kept it alive."
"Of course you do."
A faint smile almost appeared on your lips, but disappeared before it could fully form. Damian noticed that. He noticed everything when it came to you. You looked paler. The lack of sleep showed on your face, and the circles under your eyes had become more pronounced.
"You should be asleep," you said quietly.
"I could say the same."
"I wasn't tired."
"You have not been sleeping."
You blinked. "Did Jon tell you?"
"He did not need to." I can see everything related to you without any help.
You stood up as if to prevent whatever were about to happen. "I'll make tea."
"You dislike tea when you cannot sleep. You drink warm milk."
You froze halfway toward the door. Without turning around, you asked quietly, "How do you know that?"
"I pay attention."
It was neither too much nor excessive. It was four simple words. Perhaps it was because he was honest and sincere, but those four words had settled into a warm spot in your chest. You lowered your head. "I didn't realize.”
"I know."
You laughed once, but it wasn't a happy sound. "I guess I haven't realized a lot of things recently."
Damian watched you carefully. You still weren’t looking at him. You hadn't looked at him once since he walked in. Even now, you faced the bookshelf instead. As though speaking to worn leather bindings was somehow easier than speaking to him.
He took one slow step closer. Not enough to crowd you. Just enough that if you turned around you would find him there patiently. You could hear his breathing now. It was steady and alive.
Alive.
This word made you bite your lips. After all, lately, you had nothing else on your mind but this word. You hated how relieved that sound made you feel.
"Does your shoulder still hurt?" you asked suddenly.
"No."
"And your ribs?"
"They healed."
"The stitches-“
"I can move it normally."
You nodded slowly. As though checking items off a list you had repeated to yourself every night. You closed your eyes. "Good." Nothing else. Just, good.
Damian looked at you for a long moment. Then, quietly, he asked, "Have you been keeping track?"
You didn't answer, and there was no need to. Damian already knew. He knew you were aware of every injury and every detail of the treatment, down to the smallest procedure. And he also knew that this wasn't just a duty for you, it was because you were genuinely worried. Every single day.
He looked at the back of your head. His expression softened almost imperceptibly. When he spoke again, his voice was lower than before. "Y/N." Just your name.
You closed your eyes, taking a shaky breath. Because somehow... The way Damian Wayne said your name, with impossible care, as though it were something precious enough to break if spoken too loudly hurt far more than if he had come here angry.
And for the first time since the mission, you understood that this conversation could no longer be postponed.
The distance between them wasn't measured in steps. It was measured in nine days. Nine long days of averting his gaze and hesitating to speak. Nine days of pretending that if neither of you acknowledged what had happened, perhaps the memory of that mission would fade. It hadn't for both of you.
You were exhausted. He could see it. You had always carried emotions the way some people carried injuries; quietly, refusing to let anyone notice until they became impossible to ignore.
Normally, he admired that resilience. Now... He hated it. Because you were carrying something you were never meant to carry alone. He folded his arms.
"Do you know," he said quietly, "what Grayson asked me yesterday?"
You didn't answer immediately. "I assume he asked something irritating."
"He asked if we had argued." Your fingers tightened around one another.
"I told him we had not."
"You didn't."
"No." Another silence.
"Then he asked if I had somehow offended you. I told him I did not believe so. Then he asked why you disappear every time I enter a room."
"I'm sorry."
"I did not answer him. Because I did not know." His voice remained calm. There wasn't a trace of accusation in it. Only honest confusion.
"I still do not."
You lowered your head. "I know."
"No." He shook his head gently. "I do not think you do."
You finally turned, but not enough to face him completely. "I know I've been avoiding you."
"You have."
"I know it was unfair."
"It was."
"I know I should have explained."
"You should have."
You gave the smallest nod. "I just..." The words wouldn't come. Damian waited. He had learned, mostly because of you, that silence was not always something to fill. Sometimes people simply needed somewhere safe for their thoughts to land.
He would wait. Even if it took all night.
You laughed softly. A tired laugh. You took a breath, pressing your hands against your cheeks. "I've rehearsed this conversation so many times."
"Have you?"
"Every night."
"And yet?"
"And yet now that you're actually standing here..." you looked down. "I don't know how to begin."
"You are beginning."
"Am I?"
"You are speaking."
You smiled faintly. "You make everything sound so simple."
"It often is."
"It really isn't."
"For you?"
You nodded. "For me." Another quiet settled between them.
Then Damian spoke again. "I came here because I am tired."
You frowned slightly. "You are?"
"Not physically." His eyes never left yours. "I am tired of walking into rooms and watching you leave them."
Your chest tightened.
"I am tired of wondering whether I have done something you cannot forgive."
You immediately shook your head. "No."
He continued, "I came here because..."
He stopped. Searching for words was not something Damian Wayne often did. Words had always obeyed him. Commands and strategies, those were easy. This was not. “I dislike uncertainty and unfinished matters."
"I know."
"I dislike not understanding." His voice grew quieter. "And I do not understand this."
He looked at you, not as Robin, not as the heir to the League, not as Batman's son. Just as Damian. "I know what happened on that mission." His eyes softened. "I know why you blame yourself."
You looked away immediately. "I know," he continued, "because if our positions had been reversed I would have blamed myself too."
Your eyes lifted back to him. "I understand guilt Y/N." He almost laughed.
"I was raised by people who believed guilt was weakness, but it never disappeared. It merely became quieter." He looked toward the window for a moment. "When I was younger I believed every injury someone suffered beside me meant I had failed."
"I counted them."
"Counted them?"
"The mistakes." His expression remained unreadable. "The people I could not protect."
"The missions that went wrong or the lives that changed because I was not fast enough." He looked back at you. "I stopped counting."
"Why?"
"Because someone told me something."
You waited.
"He said..." Damian's voice unconsciously shifted, quieter, almost echoing Bruce's calm certainty. "'If you carry every wound forever, eventually you'll have no strength left to prevent the next one.'"
The room became still. "I did not understand him then."
"And now?"
"I do." He took another step, more close. Not enough to invade your space, but enough to remind you he wasn't leaving.
"I came tonight because..." He hesitated again. His next words were almost painfully honest. "...because I miss you."
As fractions of a second chased the seconds, your breath caught in your throat at his words. Damian is always honest, everyone knew that well. But the way he told you he missed you, with that look of longing in his eyes, was more than just a sign of honesty.
Damian continued before courage abandoned him. “I miss speaking with you. I miss you asking entirely unnecessary questions during patrol simply because you dislike silence. I miss the scent of your perfume that fills my nostrils every time you walk past me and freezes my brain for a few seconds. I miss gazing at your hair as it flows behind you with every movement, and imagining touching it.”
A tiny smile touched his lips. "I even miss you telling me to be polite." Your eyes shimmered.
"I have spent nine days pretending your absence did not matter." His voice dropped. “It does, Y/N."
More than you know. He didn't say those words, and he didn't need to. They were already there. Between every sentence. Between every breath. “I cannot continue pretending otherwise."
You stared at him. "You climbed through my window to tell me you missed me?"
"I climbed through your window because the door seemed inefficient."
Despite the recent low spirits, the absurdity of the situation made a small laugh escape your lips. The sound was soft and bright. The first genuine laugh he'd heard from you since before the mission. Something inside Damian loosened. He hadn't realized how desperately he'd wanted to hear that sound again.
"I wasn't sure you'd let me in."
"I wasn't sure either."
"So I removed the variable."
"You basically broke into my room."
"I entered."
"You broke in Damian."
"The window was unlocked."
"That's not the point."
"It seemed relevant."
You shook your head, smiling despite yourself. "You're unbelievable."
"So I have been told."
In that brief moment, the smile on your face faded and gave way to something more delicate. "You really missed me?"
He looked at you as though the answer should have been obvious. "Every day."
You felt tears gathering again that wasn’t because you was hurting. Because those two words carried no hesitation. No embarrassment or attempt to protect himself. Just truth.
Every day.
"I thought..." your voice trembled. "I thought maybe seeing me reminded you of what happened."
"It does." You flinched, and that caused him to continued immediately.
"It reminds me that you were terrified. The sorrow in your eyes and the fear of losing someone. I remember that more clearly than I remember the pain."
His gaze never left yours. Another silence settled. It was gentler this time. The kind that comes when two people stop defending themselves. Damian drew one slow breath. "I did not come here to ask why you were avoiding me actually."
"No?"
"No."
"What did you come for?" He answered without looking away.
"I came because if something is hurting you..." His voice became impossibly soft. "I would rather stand beside you while you carry it than watch you carry it alone."
The words hung in the room long after he finished speaking. It was an offer to stay. Even if you couldn't yet tell him how to let him in.
Damian's words remained between them. A quiet truth he had offered you without asking for anything in return. You had spent days trying to convince yourself that distance was kindness. That avoiding him was a way of protecting him. That if you didn't see him, you wouldn't remember the sound of his breathing becoming weaker.
That if you didn't look into his eyes, you wouldn't have to face the impossible truth that he had almost died because of a choice you made.
But standing there now seeing and hearing him. You realized you had never been protecting him. You had only been running away from the fact that you were afraid. Afraid because he mattered too much.
"Damian..." His expression softened immediately at the sound of his name.
You took a step toward him. Then another. Damian didn't move. He had faced enemies who could tear apart buildings. He had walked into rooms knowing there was a chance he would not walk out. But somehow, watching you slowly approach him with tears in your eyes made him more uncertain than any battlefield ever had.
You stopped in front of him. Close enough that he could feel the warmth of your presence. For a moment, you simply looked at him. Really looked. Not at Robin or at the warrior trained by the League.
At Damian.
The boy who always pretended he didn't need anyone and had come to your window because he missed you. Your hand slowly lifted. Damian's breath caught slightly. You reached toward his side, toward the place where the wound had been.
Even though the injury was healed, you remembered exactly where it was. Your fingertips gently touched the fabric over his ribs. Almost as if you expected him to disappear. Damian stayed completely still. Your touch was too careful, like he was something fragile. And that, more than anything, affected him.
"Y/N.” Your fingers moved slowly over the spot.
"You almost died." Your voice was barely above a whisper.
Damian looked down at you. "I did not."
"But you could have." The answer came immediately. It was o ainfully honest. "You could have."
Your fingers trembled slightly. "I know you keep saying you recovered. You keep telling me you're fine, and I know you are."
You swallowed. "I know your heart is beating and I know you're standing here. But I..." Your voice broke. "I still remember when it wasn't."
This wasn't about the injury. Not really. It was about the moment after. The moment when everyone else knew he was going to survive. But you had been trapped in those few seconds where you didn't know. Where you thought you were losing him.
"I remember holding you," you whispered.
Your hand remained against him. "I remember seeing blood and I thought, ‘No.’" A tear slipped down your cheek. "I didn't even think your name."
Damian's brows tightened. "I just thought no."
You laughed softly, painfully. "Like if I refused to accept it, it couldn't happen."
You stopped Damian when he opened his mouth. "No, let me say this."
You looked at him with an expression he rarely saw. Guilt. "I need you to understand why I left." His jaw tightened slightly, because he directs all his attention toward you in order to listen.
"I wasn't angry at you and I wasn't avoiding you because I didn't want to see you."
Your fingers curled slightly against his side. "I was avoiding you because every time I looked at you I saw what almost happened."
A pause.
"And worse. I saw that it was because of me."
"No."
The answer was immediate. You looked up. "No?"
"No."
"Damian-"
"No." His voice remained controlled, but there was something beneath it. "You are not taking responsibility for my decision."
"I made the choice." He said.
"You did because of me. Because I hesitated."
"Because you saved someone."
"I made you have to choose."
"No." His eyes sharpened. "You are changing the facts Y/N."
You looked away. "I know what happened, and I know what I saw."
"So do I."
"I know you were hurt because you protected me."
"And I would do it again."
You looked back at him. The certainty in his voice almost hurt more. "Why?" The question came out quietly. "Why would you say that?"
"Because it is true."
"You don't understand. I was so scared." Your voice cracked. "I've never been that scared." You lowered your forehead against his chest.
The movement surprised him, but not because he disliked it. Because Damian Wayne was not used to people reaching for him without fear and expectation. But you weren’t taking. You were simply holding on.
Your voice were muffled against him. "I ignored you because I didn't know how to face you. I couldn't look at you and see that you were okay."
You gripped the fabric of his suit lightly. "Because a part of me kept thinking that I didn't deserve to see you okay."
Having such thoughts running through your mind for days broke something inside Damian. He slowly lifted his hand, then he placed it gently on the back of your head. A careful and protective touch.
"You are wrong. You are completely wrong."
"Damian..."
"You don't get to call yourself a failure because you saved someone."
"But you almost died."
"Yes." The fact startled you. He didn't deny it. Didn't dismiss it. He acknowledged it. "And I understand why that frightened you."
His hand moved slightly, gently smoothing your hair. "But my injury does not belong to you." You looked up. "It was not your burden. It was my choice. And I need you to believe me."
Your eyes searched his. "You really don't blame me?"
Damian almost looked offended. Hemade you focus on him by gently saying your name. "I have punished myself for things no one else even remembers. I would never do that to you."
"Why?" The question was almost childlike.
Why you? Why were you different?
Damian had an answer. He had always had an answer. He just had never allowed himself to say it. "Because you are you." He looked away for a brief moment, almost frustrated by his own inability to explain something so obvious.
"Everyone else..." He paused. "Everyone else I can separate. Mission. Objective. Risk, but you..." His eyes returned to yours. "I cannot."
The confession was quiet, but it carried more weight than any grand declaration. "You matter differently."
I know that is not logical and it is not strategic. I know someone like me is supposed to calculate everything." His thumb brushed away the tear on your cheek. "But when it comes to you I stop calculating."
You whispered, "I don't want to lose you."
His expression softened. "You won't."
"You can't promise that."
"No." He admitted quietly. "I cannot promise I will never be hurt."
"But I can promise..." His fingers gently squeezed yours. "that I will always come back to you if I can."
Tears had returned to your eyes, but this time it wasn't out of fear or guilt; it was out of relief. From finally allowing yourself to believe him. And Damian, who had spent his entire life learning how to fight learned something far more difficult that night. Sometimes the bravest thing a person could do was let someone love them.
You murmured while your arms wrapped each other in the darkness of the night.
"I missed you too."
I love Damian.
I haven't been able to write much lately; no ideas are coming to mind at all. I hope inspiration slaps me in the face soon.
English is not my first language! So please do not hesitate to politely point out if I make a mistake. I'm writing this story just to unwind, it's nothing serious. Please keep that in mind and enjoy it together! Thank you for reading! 🤍














