#Jason's first detrimental growth spurt

[heartthumpnovel]

Heart Thump: Chapter 4

“Where Trouble Begins”

Word count: 5233

Jason messes up big time.

Thank you to those reading this and having patience for releases. I've been doing re-writes and actually have my boyfriend helping me edit my work. I've been gaining more momentum though and hopefully should be putting out more chapters sooner than later :'D cw: Minor claustrophobia Last chapter: Growing Imagination Next chapter: Carrying the World

----

Ding. Going up. Jason moved his finger from the buttons of the elevator and placed them on his phone as his fingertip was shaking considerably. Swiping upwards through the search results of the page; ‘sudden growth spurt’ ‘growth spurt mid age?’ ‘Symptoms of elephant man syndrome’ ‘Alice in wonderland syndrome’ ‘cute kitten images’ ‘endocrine disorders’ ‘signs of schizophrenia '. Wondering page after page with his questions not revealing anything coherent or was completely unrelated to his little ‘problem’. Something wasn’t right about the day before- or the day before that one for that matter. 

Ding.

None of that could have possibly happened right? Of Course no one could just survive a lighting strike like that in such a coincidental way? Sure there might have been many survivors from many lightning strikes. He had a pretty bad one. It’s not like anyone up there could have heard Jason scream his mournful monologue into the cold late night breeze. He was drunk after all and it could've been an alcohol induced nightmare. But what about the pain he felt when he was struck by a force greater than anything he had felt in his entire 26 years of life? The screen of his phone turned dark as he pressed the home button and stuffed it into his pants pocket. Ding.

Nah, nah- Jason had felt pain in his dreams… strange but it did happen before. Constantly in fact. As sad as it may seem, if experience did equate to knowledge, Jason should be awarded for being an expert on night terrors. Plus having the room shrink around him just had to be regular strange dream stuff sealed the deal. Even if it all felt so realistic… it just had to be a figment of his imagination. 

Ding.

That decided it then. It was a dream. Nothing more, nothing less… Ding. How ridiculous. 

Dong.

                                                    ~~~~~~~~~

Jason gave out a sigh of relief as the elevator doors opened and he got onto the bustling office floor as workers left to right were rushing around trying to get work done with concerned looks upon their faces. It’s been a rough hour with tons of call-ins and more or less organized chaos going around. Jason had to slowly push through the crowd of coworkers to try to find his cozy cubicle so he could punch in for another day of work.

All the pushing and shoving made it difficult for him to get to his cubicle. Gripping and pulling the plastic divider had gotten him smooshed into his office as he barely had the space to push through all those busy people.  With his new found space he sat down at his desk and started to boot up his computer as he reached the time card machine and clock into work. 

As Jason entered his ten-digit password, he realized something was different. There was no cheery voice chatting on the phone or a particular blonde coworker peeking over the paper-thin cubicle wall. It wasn't until the office finally started to quiet down, and people became focused on their work that he decided to investigate. He stood up and went on his tiptoes to check on his neighboring colleague.

Plants were generously placed around the cubicle, with potted ferns and cacti on almost every corner of the well-used desk. It made the workspace feel cozy, with an odd bowl of discolored stones in the far corner adding to the homely atmosphere. 

However, there was no sign of the overworked woman who often napped at her desk, face smacked down on the keyboard. It was about time for her daily nap. 

Suffice to say, Ellie just wasn’t there. 

Jason wasn't surprised to find Ellie absent from her cubicle. She was an overworked master's degree student, constantly taking on an unhealthy amount of credits and sleeping irregularly. It wasn't uncommon for her to collapse into a never-ending coma-like sleep.

Jason assumed Ellie was having one of those days and didn't blame her for it. However, Anyone who worked in this place knew Natasha would cut her a break.

Turning back to his computer- which at this point was logged in and displaying a deep gradient blue default desktop image with a few important shortcuts neatly pushed into the left corner of the screen. It was time to bend down into the workload he was expecting as the room seemed to be beaming with people rushing to get stuff done in the last quarter. Upon clicking the mail shortcut he was met with.. nothing new. An eyebrow raised as he clicked his spam, trash and even sent to make sure there weren't any important emails hiding. Strangely, he wasn’t sent anything containing any replies he would have gotten from him sending out vitally important marketing data to the other sectors of the company. Surely someone should have gotten back to him? Even Natasha didn’t reply back to an email about a good time for another meeting with the department for him. Something tickled his guts wrongly, he frowned before trying to send out an email. 

Unable to send. 

“Fantastic.” Jason grumbled under his breath.

This wasn’t the first time that he couldn’t receive or send emails, though it always caught him off guard every time this happened. Jason turned to the phone on his desk, staring at it wondering if contacting IT again would be worth it. While they do eventually put duct tape on the issue, which Jason appreciates they can even fix it at all, it takes nearly a whole day for everything to go back to normal if he was lucky. “Now what am I supposed to do?,” Jason mused as he turned away from the phone, patting his fingers down on his knees. “Can’t really get any work done right now until things get back in order…” 

His eyes slowly moved away from his knees and drifted to his filing cabinet. His eyebrows rose with the metaphorical bulb in his head lighting up. Quickly, he peaked over on the wall in his cubicle with his knees pressed on the bottom of his chair in a frantic kneel. The whole department still looked busy with no one paying attention to the cozy cubicle smushed onto the wall. Jason lowered down from his observation as he thought, since he couldn’t work for a bit and well- Ellie was going to be late, he might as well catch up on some important reading.  He grinned widely.

His boney fingers fiddled the edge of the filing cabinet shelf and yanked it open with a forceful tug. Files upon files of the company’s past dues nearly overflowed the poor filing cabinet. If it weren't for the fact that Jason hardly ever touched these files due to the wonders of technology, he would have had to throw them out like he was supposed to have done the day he was hired. However the papers did have use to him as a clever facade to what was truly important there. He pushed the junk files aside to reveal his secret library of paperback novels of varying degrees of cover quality and romance plots. The smell of the aging pages had bubbled the excitement in Jason’s chest in glee as he pulled out one that still had a bookmark in it. 

Goodness, he was overwhelmed by emails and crunching numbers that he hasn’t been able to check into the exploits of the great knight dame Elisabeth and her star crossed princess lover Thaladortha. Normally he wasn’t too interested in fantasy rubbish but, this one did tug his heart strings so far as it was filled to the brim with wholesome sincerity. Plus it wasn’t completely inappropriate for a workplace environment, a welcome addition. 

The little office employee leaned back into his office chair comfortably and plopped his shoes on top of the filing cabinet half heartedly like a rascal. Flipping open the page, Jason flicked the tip of his thumb to the most recent paragraph and began to dive.

“Dame Elisabeth for gods’ sake let the poor man go!” Shrieked the desperate servant as they hung onto the bulky woman dawned in burning stainless steel armor. The weasel would scream if he could if it weren’t for his throat being clutched shut by a coiled fist. Rage blinded Knight Elisabeth to the point of nearly crushing his scrawny throat, her teeth gritting harshly. “ This shall be the last time I remind you; MY FAIR MAIDEN WILL NOT SETTLE FOR ROSES.” 

She dropped the frazzled noble onto the ground with him trying to grasp onto oxygen. “Only the most beautiful succulents will suffice for her wedding you fool.” she proclaimed.

The noble tried to stutter out an excuse of roses being the traditional choice for a wedding, however he was quick to shut up when the dame gave him an ice cold glare that chilled him to the soul. “She cares not for tradition. If she’s going to be forced to have a wedding- At Least have plants that will bring her joy!” She turned away from him and strutted down the hallway heavily. The servant trotted worryingly behind her. “M-madam I.. I think physical violence was going a bit far isn’t it? Just for some flowers?” they spoke up- freezing up when the knight stopped in her tracks.

She went quiet.

Until the servant could clearly hear soft.. Sobs? Coming from the dame herself? It couldn’t be. Dame Elisabeth turned her head- revealing tears sweltering down her cheek. Shaking her head in shame.

The servant quickly grabbed the dame's hand before she could hide her sorrow. "Please forgive me, my lady. This is all my fault. I didn't want to upset you so much." They bowed their heads low.

"Hmph... fine. You can stay here for now." Elisabeth said softly before she continued onwards.

The servant smiled warmly and thanked the dame. The Dame then told her sad tale to the servant, how she fawned over the maiden ever since they were small and how she wished she could be the one taking her hand in marriage that day. That's why she had no intention of settling for anything less than the best. Though at the same time, she didn't want to see her beloved maiden marry someone else just because of political gains.

"It is a cruel reality we must live with," Spoke the Dame in despair, "Even if we must never have our love for each other be seen by the world. " Her voice cracked as her eyes began to well up.

The servant felt awkward at first but decided to comfort the Dame by holding her hand. She gently squeezed her hand and told her everything would be alright. "I'll do what I can for you my lady." They stood there, silent for a moment.

"You really care about her don't you?" The servant asked as she wiped the tears away from her face.

"Of course. She's my best friend!" Elisabeth replied with enthusiasm, "And lover!"

Both of them chuckled quietly, though the servant was too nervous to say the next part.

"So um... Why not court her?"

Elisabeth's face went blank.

"What? Court her? What do you mean 'court'?" She was confused.

"Well.." The servant trailed off.

"That would put both of us in danger!" The dame crossed her arms, trying to avoid having to talk about treason.

"But... She'd be happy wouldn't she? And she's the only person who truly understands you," The servant pleaded.

"No, this isn't right. We should never act on our feelings... Though." The Dame continued, thinking of the times when her maiden would laugh in joy at her jokes, and the times when they kissed under the moonlight.

"Are you sure it's okay with doing this?" Elisabeth asked worriedly.

"Yes. I'm quite positive," The servant answered with confidence.

"I trust you. If you feel like we should do this, then I am all for it."

----

Jason let out a deep sigh as he melted back into his office chair, or at least he attempted to. He shifted side to side, feeling a bit uncomfortable in his chair despite being engrossed in the heart-wrenching story. He noticed that his knees were rising higher, and he seemed to be a bit higher up than usual. The armrests were hugging his hips tightly, which was odd for his petite frame.

Suddenly, it dawned on him that his chair was in the wrong adjustment. It wouldn't have been the first time that Motor had pulled this trick on him, nor would it be the third. Jason reached down and adjusted the seat lever to make himself comfortably leveled again before leaning back in his creaky chair to continue reading.

----

"And do you, Alice, take his hand in marriage?" The pastor asked the maiden, who was dressed in a bleak white dress.

Alice's heart pounded in her chest as she waited for the answer. Looking around the room filled with people. All of them eagerly waited for her response.

"I...." Before Alice could finish, Elisabeth shoved the doors open, loudly exclaiming, "I OBJECT!"

Everyone gasped, except the priest himself. He merely sighed and looked at the knight.

"Dame Elisabeth I suppose you wish to object?" He inquired.

"I do, sir. because... Alice wouldn't be happy marrying him! She should be with the one that SHE chooses!" Dame Elisabeth roared as the guards began to surround her and Alice's father screaming angrily at the Dame.

"Be silent! You are not to speak unless spoken to!" Alice's father bellowed in rage. "Now please leave, Dame Elisabeth."

Elisabeth growled and glared at the priest. Before she could continue, Alice spoke up for the first time in confidence, holding her hands to her chest and approached Elisabeth with tears in her eyes.

"Dame Elisabeth..." She whispered in awe, "I wanted to marry you. I always did. But... I couldn't. Because of my father, and you being a knight. Please...marry me. For real this time. Marry me, Elisabeth."

The knight fell into silence, staring at the young maiden. When she finally looked up, her face softened and she saw nothing but sincerity in those blue orbs.

"Then.. YES, I will marry you Alice," Dame Elisabeth said happily before she took the maiden's hand and kissed it passionately. Alice burst out laughing as everyone in the room cheered and clapped.

----

Jason was yanked backwards with a sudden force, causing him to fall onto the aging carpet. His swivel chair came down with him, and its wheels spun helplessly in the air, no longer in the safe grasp of the floor fibers. He groaned, struggling to get himself off the ground as he felt a strange bloated sensation throughout his entire body. He wondered what caused his chair to suddenly give out, but the answer he was looking for came quickly as he realized his cubicle was feeling a lot more cramped than usual. The plastic walls were slowly closing in on him, and his computer seemed to be … shrinking? ‘No. Nooo no no no.’ It couldn’t have been happening again. That whole thing couldn’t have been real, he had to be asleep in his bed still. It’s much more possible that he just missed his alarm this morning than whatever this crazy sensation was. His hands scrambled to grab hold of the desk but his fingers kept slipping off of the smooth wooden surface and he desperately tried to get off of the floor. Breathing had gotten much harder to do- it felt like his chest was about to explode.

Jason almost stood up to get his bearings, but then he noticed that he was getting taller than the cruddy plaster cubicle walls. Everyone who wasn't buried in their own work was going to notice him, and public humiliation would be his worst nightmare.

 The red-cheeked office worker bent down on their knees as he saw that his body was still keen on getting bigger. Was he actually growing, or was he losing his grip on reality? He wasn't sure which one would be worse; Jason would have preferred being late to work.

His heart felt like it was going to fall out of his chest from the rate it was beating at. The office chair that was currently laid on the floor disagreed with the notion that he was going bonkers and that this impossible body fluctuation was the real deal. Drat. If he had to make a quick scientific guess from someone who majored in business, he had about 50 more seconds until someone would notice that little 5'3" Jason wouldn't be so little anymore with the rate at which he was growing. ‘Why did Ellie have to sleep-in today?’

Finally, his long forgotten survival instincts kicked him in the backside and he decided it would be for the best if he could find a good place to hide, somewhere roomy and quiet preferably. It was the best he could think of right then. Calming down until he was normal again seemed to work last time but.. He didn’t have anyone there to guide him now. 

Jason went on hands and knees, giving him a chance to peek outside the cubicle entry way, which was now starting to barely graze his shoulders and slowly sink into them. The work rush seemed to be in full swing as his fellow coworkers were in their own little cozy spots making phone calls and typing away. Strange no one noticed the crashing sound. The ignorance of loud noises was a little concerning to Jason but, at the moment he didn’t have much time to worry about that. 

Fortunately, it seemed that someone was smiling down upon him as Jason spotted the largest conference room on the entire floor, which was conveniently empty. The oak double doors were wide open, beckoning him to safety. Despite some hesitation, Jason managed to clamber across without breaking the cubicle he was escaping from. He quickly slid into the conference room ungracefully, feeling a bit of carpet burn but otherwise unscathed, even though he was now as large as a Honda civic. Adrenaline continued to pump through his veins as he sat up and grabbed the door knobs, but he immediately paused when he realized his palms were nearly 30 times larger than the knobs and still growing. Jason yelped as he gingerly took the tiny knobs and quickly pulled the doors shut.

Right. Immediate crisis over. For the moment anyways. He still was having the issue of his heart beating faster than light and he was getting taller by the second. Inch by inch. He closed his eyes just trying to grasp at something to calm himself down. He usually took those slow breathing exercises when he was with Ellie right? Well, trying to recall exactly how to breathe calmly turned out to be harder to remember than one would imagine. His fingers brushed through his hair thinking about the technical bits of that exercise. Okay- four squares. Wait did it include the inhale and exhale or were those things separate states. Wouldn’t it be technically two square breathing? Who even decided that calling the stages squares anyways? Wouldn’t that just be counting? This scattered thinking was soon interrupted by the feeling of something pressing on his head and snapping him out of it with a scare. Jason fell back onto his backside again and realized he was definitely pressed for time. 

Jason thought for a moment what made him happy, surely something that makes him feel better might make his head calm down right? The first thing that came to mind on the subject of happiness was the thought of his hands being held gently by Natasha’s soft fingers. “OW!” Jason yelped as his height suddenly doubled and he smacked the back of his head on the wall.

To his horror, even the thought of Natasha's soft, meaningful gaze was making his heart beat more pronounced. The supposedly massive conference room, meant for department-wide meetings, was now feeling just as claustrophobic as his shrinking cubicle. Jason's head lowered, and he was left speechless as the walls seemed to close in around him. His leather loafers scraped along the carpet, unintentionally taking some wooden chairs for a ride. His heart couldn’t help but to race, how was this happening and more importantly why was it happening? Jason’s heart felt like it was going to claw its way out of his throat and hop out to go on a paid vacation because god did it deserve a break. Jason’s face felt like it was lit on fire and it was getting harder to stop and breathe. Things can get any worse from here? Right? 

A knock came from the miniature door in front of him with a sickeningly sweet voice coming from the other side. “Jason, are you good?”

The overpriced deco chandelier got him right in his temple as he suddenly felt a jolt go through his system as he felt an explosion of gigantism hit him harder than an oncoming freight train. His shoes basically pushed the whole table to the other side of the room along with all the tiny chairs falling over onto the floor. 

Quickly, Jason tumbled over onto his stomach and slapped his palm right on the front of the door. It was just his luck that Natasha had to hear his pathetic yelp. As his fingers were eclipsing the door- he could feel tiny pushes on his palm. There was no way Jason was going to let her see him like this. In fact he wouldn’t want anyone to see the horrific transformation Jason was going under. 

                                                                  ---- “You okay lil guy- wait. Why’s the door locked? Jason.” 

Natasha, try as she might, couldn’t get the door to push open. What was he up to? Pink hair pressed on the oak wood door to try to decipher what his groaning and panicked British mumbing meant. Natasha’s worry got worse as the thought of needing to call an ambulance was going to be called. Eventually she did get a response- a rather loud one at that. 

“Y-yeah the door locked. Uhm- I am not.. Feeling that great. I felt under the weather and HUGHk- … I might have made a really-really big mess in here.” Jason half-truth as he was facing the challenge of not screaming in agony when he felt the talons of the pure gold chandelier pierce into his mid back. His hair was getting squished down by the popcorn ceiling and the room was quickly becoming his coffin. 

Natasha scowled with her nose rising a bit as she pulled her head away. “Why didn’t you call in then?!,” Natasha retorted back as she gestured her hand. “ You shouldn’t be working when you have the flu! You could get everybody here sick! For God's sake, I didn’t send you home yesterday just because I was giving you a day off.”

 She waited about five whole seconds for some sort of explanation and when she did get a response it was just a really sorrowful “My bad…” mumbled its way through the oak. 

Natasha brushed her bangs forcefully from her face with a long sigh. “It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine. She muttered before she turned to look at an elevator that finally arrived on their floor. Natasha turned to the door once more with a soft voice, “Go home Jason and see a doctor, Call me up later to let me know how long you need to rest alright?” Natasha didn’t bother to stick around for a response as she started to walk towards the elevator. However she had to step out of the way for a sleep deprived college student that rushed out of the cases with papers literally flying out of her grip and nearly caused a foot traffic collision with Natasha. “Woah-WOAH ELLIE-” Natasha sputtered out when she managed to side step out of the way. Ellie’s heels came to a shrieking halt and nearly hauled over from exhaustion. However she didn’t let herself waste time by catching her breath and began to conjure a whole rant of apologetic lyrics. “OhmygoshNatI’msorryIwasstudingreallylatelastnightandIlosttrackoftimeandIgotreallytiredandIsleptin!Iknowit’sbeenthethirdtimethismonthbu-” Ellie whipped out in a panic before her tongue got twisted by a hard pat on the shoulder. 

“It’s alright, Ellie. You’re not that late. Just clock in, hun,” Natasha said with a stern yet sympathetic smile. Ellie let out a fluttered sigh and grazed her fingers on Natasha’s wrist, nodding slightly in a blissful silence and letting her shoulders relax. “Thanks a ton,” Ellie commented as Natasha swiftly pulled away from her and they made their way into the waiting elevator. “Oh yeah and could you let Motor know he’s needed in conference room A113? Jason ain’t feeling great. Thanks~” Natasha added.

As the elevator doors closed, Ellie's brief moment of calm shattered.

---

Crisis averted- for the most part. Jason grumbled in this tight box he was shoved into and the increasing pain he was feeling wasn’t making things any more comfortable. Not to mention the creaking noise he was hearing wasn’t making him confident either. Now that he wasn’t about to be exposed- he wondered how in the world he could get out of this room and more importantly, not be an impossibly giant human that defied science.

Frantic knocking came from the oak door- who did Jason have to lie to next? “J-Jason, are you okay in there???” Ellie whispered, “Did … it happen again?” Ellie spoke more quietly at the last statement to not raise an alarm in the office room. Thankfully it seemed there was quite a buzz in the office due to a sudden flow of work and calls. So no one was noticing the commotion happening in the conference room. 

Ellie tried the door but she was also denied entry, However Jason this time was at least willing to at least come clean. “It-it got worse Ellie.” Jason murmured as to not drag attention to them.

 Ellie’s demeanor changed like a lightbulb getting shattered by a baseball bat. She frowned as she plastered her body against the wall and lowered her voice to a solid whisper.  “Well bud you’re going to have to let me in and help you.” Ellie replied back with a worried grin plastered on her face, wondering what he meant about it ‘getting worse’. 

“I don’t think I can literally let you in…” Jason spoke solemnly. “I can barely fit myself in here.” “Uhhh… what do you mean by that?” Ellie tilted her head as she took a double take at the door. A voice didn’t respond to her but loud jostling as if there was a moving crew pushing around furniture on the other side. Noticeably however, the door no longer had any pressure on it and the handle became turn-able again. When Ellie managed to discreetly push the door open slightly ajar- she wasn’t greeted by her best friend, but a huge, looming, hazel eyeball staring worriedly back at her. 

[Image Description: A big hazel eye is staring at Ellie as she pushed open the door. Ellie is covering her mouth.] Its lids twitched sporadically and grew more watery as Ellie had to cover her lips to not scream in abject horror and alert everyone in the room that there was a giant occupying the room. What did come out of Ellie’s mouth however was a high pitched whine that could have broken glass if uncovered. 

“This is a bit awkward, innit?” Jason quietly mumbled- trying to be inconspicuous as he possibly could be in his situation.  Though his leg was becoming more numb and fuzzy the longer he sat on it. Shifting it to the side might do the trick, but as he tried to move his leg over- his heart dropped as he suddenly heard an ear piercing shriek moan from the overly stressed floor boards below him.  

...

clink

“Sick.”

Another abandoned plastic bottle was slammed into the trash can for 50 points and Motor was just killing it in his little makeshift game. However, even with his high score, he still couldn't compete with his reign as the grand champion of disposing of all abandoned cans, which was never-ending and filled with sticky glory. He then noticed a helpless Sprite that had been left behind and without hesitation, he grabbed it and threw it into the recycling bin at the other end of the room.

clink   

“Nnnnnnice!” Sizzled the janitor under his breath that was followed with a victory pump. That sick dunk called for another celebratory soda. Motor turned to the vending machine, popping in his quarters as he jammed out to the ear-splitting majesty of electric guitar riffs and the lead singer screaming about his personal problems, which he probably needed therapy for.

How relatable. 

Right as he was about to chuck another can, his aim was thrown off by the ceiling shaking above him. The can flew onto the wall beside the trash with a disappointed thunk. Motor was baffled and took a few steps back to check up on the ceiling. “... Swear to godzilla if the goddamn pipes broke again, construction is going to have their bones twisted into pretzels -”   The room suddenly collapsed in on itself, and Motor narrowly avoided losing his head by falling debris. He let out a string of curses and had to pause to process what had just happened. After collecting himself, Motor got up to inspect the damage and see what had caused the catastrophic event. … Leather? Motor had to stare at the large boulder of dark brown leather that was accompanied by a chunk of scuffed rubber. Before Motor could look into the destructive object further, as fast as it arrived- it lifted back up in the air and nestled into the hole it made. With a careful ear Motor could now clearly hear Ellie’s and that one stuck-up coworker’s voice. It only took him a few seconds to connect the dots and he got this emotion where he was full of confusion and anger but strangely enough, excited.

Finally, a cure for his boredom. 

It didn't take long for Motor's thunderous footsteps to reach the service stairs and ascend to the floor above. He pushed past shocked suits and cubicle rats, determined to reach the source of the commotion. As he approached the crowded door, people were starting to panic and wondered if they should call for emergency services.

Motor elbowed his way through the crowd and joined the group of water cooler guys who were trying to force the door open. Despite their efforts pulling it, the door wouldn't budge.

"Relax, bozos. I'll see what fell over. Probably just a light fixture," Motor said sarcastically, trying to calm the onlookers. He gave the guy at the door a stern look, causing him to back away a few meters. Then, with ease, Motor pushed the door open.

Due to his large stature, no one could see what Motor was witnessing. The conference room was in ruins with the whole fancy light fixture crashing into the floor. Right in front of that light there was a sight of Ellie holding onto a hyperventilating Jason’s shrinking hand. Seeing a man that was the size of a truck become Jason sized was more than surreal. Ellie was the first to notice that they had an onlooker right as she was finished with calming Jason down with a wide terrified look and color draining from both of their faces. 

[lil-nest]

Damian will not grow that tall

I know most of us imagine adult Damian as a very tall man, but I invite you to follow me on a scientific reasoning detailing why Damian will grow pretty small, actually.

First, why do we believe Damian will grow as tall as Bruce? Because genetics and stuff. Yet, height is actually far more influenced by environmental conditions than by genes. For example, in South Korea, as living conditions got better very fast in recent decades, the average height of young adults rose significantly in only less than two generations - fast enough that we know it has nothing to do with genes and everything to do with living conditions.(This study is not the one I read when I first learned about it, but it shows similar results)

This established, lets see a non-comprehensive list of things that can stunt a child’s growth, and how they apply to Damian:

-Unreliable access to balanced food: Growth is behind survival in your body’s list of priorities. Which means it will slow or even stop for a while when food is lacking. While I don’t doubt Damian was well fed while in the compound, there are a lot of hints in canon that he went on several survivals trips for weeks if not months as part of his training, where he probably got unbalanced food at best and got half-starved at worst.

-Injuries, especially frequent and severe ones: basically, all the energy and nutrients that go in rebuilding body parts doesn’t go in building new body parts, besides, scar tissue is less tensile than normal tissue, which also hinders growth. Once again, canon tells us Damian got injured pretty often during his training in the League of Shadows, and then while he was Robin. Notable accidents include getting a spine transplant and literally dying. The spine transplant also makes me wonder if it was even the first time some organ got replaced, but that’s just speculations. Note that surgery is, in general, very traumatic for the body - sometimes as traumatic as the injury itself.

-Excessive muscle mass: this might surprise some of you, but letting kids do intense sports very young is very detrimental to their growth. That’s because when bones grow, they tug on the muscles attached to them, and if the muscles are very developed, then they will be less tensile than they should be, and cause a resisting force -basically, the muscles tug back. That’s why in some places, sports that cause high muscle mass gain -like weightlifting- are forbidden to children and teenagers under a certain age -usually 16 or 18. Fun fact: it also works the other way around, which is where the “tall lanky geek” cliché comes from. Do I even need to talk about Damian’s physical activities?

Of course, all the other Robins were exposed to some of these factors, but none as early or as much as Damian was - except maybe Jason, who has no business being as tall as he is given the fact that he was starving during a relatively long time before he was even 10, but my theory is that the pit “fixed” it along with everything else (That or he is an outlier, but there are limits to how resiliant the human body can be). The fact that Damian is described in canon as smaller than average for his age (at least it’s implied, even tough Damian insists on the contrary) is also a clue, even though is not definitive (because grow spurts and stuff).

Hence, I invite you to let go of your tall Damian headcanons, and picture with me a smaller Damian, maybe a little taller than Tim, maybe at equal heights.

If you like humor, picture how slighted he will feel, and how he’ll insist that of course he’s taller, he’s got perfect genetics, he can’t be as small as Drake. If you prefer angst, picture how he’ll feel when he realizes that what he will probably see as a flaw is actually mostly his mother’s fault, and that the very woman who tried to engineer a genetically perfect son prevented him from reaching his full potential. If you’re more into hurt/comfort, imagine smallish vigilante of your choice comforting him by showing him how useful his small size is to sneak around.

Tl;dr: Adult Damian is smaller than average, it’s scientifically reasonable and cute, come jump on this headcanon with me ;)