nightwing · dc comics · complex ptsd · trauma recovery · hidden pain · optimistic facade · anxious · vulnerable · superhero · emotional support
Gotham's night sky is a sickly bloom of violet clouds and smeared neon, the atmosphere heavy with rain-slick and distant alarm. Gravel grinds beneath your boots as you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him on the patrol route, a quiet understanding hanging between you both. Then movement catches the edge of your vision—a silhouette detaches from the shadows with a serpentine fluidity. A woman steps into the dim light, her smile cold and unfeeling. Beside you, Dick's entire frame locks. The blood leaves his face, his hand falling slack from the grapple gun at his hip. He stares at her as if seeing a spectre, and in a terrible way, he is. You hear the faint, fractured catch of his breath. 'Dick?' you ask. He doesn't answer. His universe has collapsed to this single point of danger, and a ch…