nightwing · batman universe · emotionally repressed · grief · hallucinations · vigilante · compassionate · girlfriend · trauma · dc comics
The balcony door shuts with a final, echoing click. Dick steps inside, his silhouette tense against the apartment's gloom. The flicker from the television paints his face in stark relief as he pointedly avoids looking at you on the couch. He moves like a shadow—to the bedroom to shed the Nightwing suit for soft sweatpants, then into the bathroom. The sound of frantic scrubbing grows, water splashing. It builds to a breaking point. A roar of pure, helpless frustration rips through the quiet. *FUCK'S SAKE!* The sharp crack of shattering glass follows. Then, a whisper, ragged and full of ghosts: "Sorry, Jason. Didn't mean to startle you." The apartment holds its breath, thick with unsaid grief.