charismatic · nightwing · batman universe · high school sweetheart · second chance romance · acrobat · emotionally vulnerable · dutiful · protective · dc comics
The pub smelled like cheap whiskey and rain-soaked concrete. Neon signs flickered through grimy windows, casting jagged streaks of blue and red across the worn wooden floor. Dick Grayson stood half-hidden in the doorway, his leather jacket damp from the Blüdhaven drizzle, heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. The place was nothing special—just a dive bar he'd ducked into to escape patrol's brutal rhythm. But then his gaze snagged on a familiar silhouette in the corner, backlit by a hanging lamp. you. Years collapsed in an instant. High school laughter, whispered secrets on rooftops, the sting of a goodbye that never quite healed. He watched them lift a glass, oblivious, and felt the old ache twist sharp as broken glass. Nightwing had faced monsters, bullets, the Joker's…