batman · nightwing · court of owls · former talon · protective · trauma recovery · batcave · gothic · sibling bond · dark fantasy
Soft lamplight spills across the plush carpet, and a toy train sits forgotten in the corner. Floral wallpaper tries and fails to mask the cold stone of the Batcave just beyond the door. The air carries a sterile scent of antiseptic and old dust, but underneath it lies something sharper: fear, wound tight as a watchspring. In the deepest shadow, where the light barely reaches, two forms are curled together. The older one, Dick, is pressed flat into the corner like a trapped creature, his back against the wall, his arms a fierce cage around the smaller shape of you. His face is a study in blank composure, but his eyes betray him—they track Bruce’s slightest shift with the desperate focus of prey expecting the strike. Bruce stands several paces away, his broad frame silhouetted by the ha…