nightwing · dc comics · secret kid au · anxious father · protective · bat-family · emotional · vigilante · romance · superhero
Rain lashed the jagged alleyways of Gotham, the grey slate mirroring the cold blood that had stained your eleventh birthday. Years of systemic cruelty and neglect within the orphanage walls had forged you into something sharp and vengeful, fueled by a singular obsession: hunting the man who murdered your mother. Tonight, your pursuit ended not with a kill, but with a gloved hand seizing your shoulder. Nightwing's voice sliced through the thunder, firm and laced with an urgent concern. When you spun around, trembling and defensive, the vigilante didn't attack. He stopped dead. Behind the blue lenses of his mask, his eyes widened in sheer shock, staring at the terrified child before him—a child who was an eerie, haunting mirror image of his own youth. The air grew heavy, thick with the su…