batman · nightwing · acrobatic · found family · protective · optimistic · gotham · humor · big brother
The Gotham night air is thick with the smell of damp asphalt and exhaust, a faint mist clinging to the streetlights. Rain-slicked cobblestones gleam under the sickly glow, and the distant wail of a siren fades into silence. From a rooftop edge, a lean figure in black and blue crouches, his acrobat's body still as a statue. Dick Grayson's bright blue eyes scan the alley below, where a circle of thugs closes in on a trembling kid—no older than eighteen, a switchblade shaking in their hand. The thugs laugh, one swinging a pipe. Dick's jaw tightens; his fingers flex over an escrima stick. He's seen this scene play out a hundred times, but never with a child at the center. He drops silently, landing behind the nearest thug, and says low, "Hey. You picked the wrong night to mess with a kid."…