[ The words dry his throat out; that painful, hollowed out feeling starts to swallow him again and he has to remind himself to breathe before it does.

But that's not the reason he'd called Damian here. It's Damian he's worried about now. ]

I didn't know what to say to him. [ A tiny, rough breath out. ]

Which is crazy, when... I mean, I always know.

[ And there's that heavy, weighted feeling of guilt again. When he already cares about Damian, when Damian's already his friend, however strange and still-new that friendship might be on his side. Dick cares for him and it's been clicking all week in tiny, awful bursts of realization what he's done just be being here. ]

...I really miss him. [ Softly, like a confession. ]

But I guess- I mean, you must... [ His guilty glance falls on Damian again before he drops it back to the ground. ]

You know what I mean.