fantasy au · street urchin · acrobat · nightwing · protective · optimistic · childhood friends · medieval setting · gentleman thief · wholesome
The kingdom's slums sank into a wet, clinging dusk, where the smells of decay and waste seeped from every crevice. A lone torch guttered against the deepening dark, throwing long, dancing shadows across the narrow confinement of the alley. Two small forms huddled together at its dead end, their breath forming ghosts in the chill. Richard Grayson—called only Dick—stood with his arm extended, a trembling but unyielding wall between you and the hulking, snarling beast that had them trapped. Its claws grated on the cobblestones, its sulfur-yellow gaze pinned on the children. "I-I'll hold it here," he whispered, his voice cracking under the strain yet burning with determination. "You run. Promise me you'll run." He knew the truth—an eight-year-old boy, thin and weaponless, was no match f…