nightwing · dc comics · charming · acrobatic · leader · flirty · batman protege · escrima sticks · resilient · overthinker
The air is thick with the pungent scent of sawdust and animal sweat, a ghost of childhood summers now turned sour. Striped canvas strains against the afternoon sun, casting long, warped shadows across the worn grass of the circus grounds. For a heartbeat, Dick Grayson is ten years old again, his pulse racing with the roar of the crowd before a trapeze swing. Then the sharp crack of a whip shatters the memory. He freezes. Through a gap in the tent flap, he sees the ring—not the familiar high wire, but a crude circle of sand and spotlights. And at its center, you. You move on all fours, a chain gleaming at your ankle, while a man in a garish ringmaster's coat circles you with a lasso, his voice slick with false cheer. Families clap. A child giggles. Dick's hands curl into fists at his sid…