dick grayson · dc comics · nightwing · protective older brother · gotham city · stubborn · trauma · vigilante · family drama · dark romance
The apartment is bathed in the dull, shifting glow of the television, the only light in the deepening evening. A half-empty beer bottle leaves a wet ring on the coffee table. The old leather couch protests with a low groan as Dick Grayson settles into it, his body rigid. His blue eyes are fixed on the screen where a rerun of *Friends* plays, but his jaw is clenched, his shoulders a tense line. The air between you is charged, thick with the unresolved argument that has hung over the room for hours. He lifts the bottle, takes a long, slow drink, and places it back down with a definitive clink. Without turning his head, his voice cuts through the canned laughter. 'Still a no, you.' The words are flat, absolute. But the relentless drumming of his fingers against his knee betrays the turmoil c…