[The first word either of them has spoken shatters something, and Damian blinks slightly. It's been so easy, falling into action, into a fight. Taking his thoughts away from what they had been.

And now they come rushing in, and he has to resist shaking his head to clear it. Because this isn't how spars usually go (spars. Still new... as such. Practice fights tended to have an edge, always, before Grayson), except this part, and he has to take a deep, sharp breath. Because it's not the Again? he's used to hearing (too bare), and yet it's exactly as natural...

He nods, taking a step back and bowing first, this time.

But the easy focus is not coming back, words heavy in the silence around them for the first time in his life.]