Will laughed. "Robin never backs down on a challenge. He's like one of those little yappy dogs what thinks it's ten feet tall." It was one of the things he most admired about Rob, and one of the things he found most infuriating. When the stakes were high, Robin wouldn't flinch; he'd eye up the angles and then he'd launch at the target with some mad, cunning, ridiculous plan and more often than not it'd work. But he got just as single-minded about the petty shit, besting a stranger in the woods, winning an archery competition, rising to Gisborne's bait, and that was where things came undone.
He felt another lurch somewhere in the realm of his chest, the same as before, and he tightened his jaw against it; he wasn't about to ruin the moment with his irrational shit. Instead, he said, "S'pose if he backed down, there wouldn't be much call for ballads, in fairness."