Mr. Acrobat !

@obsession-withthenight

Dick gets up, gently setting Haley down. He makes his way to the window after a moment of hesitation. Upon seeing her, his eyes go wide and he halts mid step. For a moment, he considered turning his back, but his stupid selflessness got the better of him.

She says awkwardly, not able to think of what else to say. Her voice is hoarse and tight. She's wearing an odd mix of pieces of uniform and civilian clothing and bandages.

She looks away and moves a few steps from him. She takes her helmet off and sets it on the floor. She runs her hands through her tangled mess of curly hair, adjusting the loose pony tail and taking a deep breath before turning back to him.

"I'm sorry."

“ You left without saying a word to me. I couldn’t find you for days. “ There was a brief shutter in his words, staring at her with owlish eyes that weren’t judgmental this time. “ I want to help you, “ He pauses, trying to think straight but he just couldn’t.

Not with how sad she appeared. Not with how Haley peered into the room from sensing the tension. Not with that little boy he couldn’t save standing in the corner.

She was still scared. Years of hiding her feelings. Years of not being good enough. Her instincts were screaming at her to go back out the window. She wanted him to be mad, upset at her, like he was when she first showed up. Then she could be mad and stupid and say it would have never worked.

But he was being nice to her. Because he was always nice. And he was staring at her with his big sad beautiful eyes and he was saying that he had looked for her and wanted to help her and it was almost enough to make her scream.

She didn't deserve to be here. She didn't deserve him. But maybe he deserved to hear the truth.

She inhaled, trying not to hyperventilate, trying to get her mouth to coordinate with her brain as she fixed her eyes on a point on the corner of the ceiling.

She lets him take her wrist, his familiar hand both comforting and terrifying. How could she explain this...

"It's... not a normal disease. It's sort of magic... kind of psychology... it can happen sometimes when..."

There wasn't going to be a way to do this that wasn't going to be embarrassing. Her face burned like a nuclear reactor as she tried to choke out the words.

"When someone has something they need to confess, but they hold it in too long, it can start to grow in them. Literally. Until they choke on it."

...

It was confusing. He didn’t like being confused.

She hated needing help, but maybe the only way through this was to let him.

"I - I think you already did. By finding me ... when I ran away before. I think I would have died that night if you hadn't."

...

@obsession-withthenight

Dick gets up, gently setting Haley down. He makes his way to the window after a moment of hesitation. Upon seeing her, his eyes go wide and he halts mid step. For a moment, he considered turning his back, but his stupid selflessness got the better of him.

She says awkwardly, not able to think of what else to say. Her voice is hoarse and tight. She's wearing an odd mix of pieces of uniform and civilian clothing and bandages.

She looks away and moves a few steps from him. She takes her helmet off and sets it on the floor. She runs her hands through her tangled mess of curly hair, adjusting the loose pony tail and taking a deep breath before turning back to him.

"I'm sorry."

“ You left without saying a word to me. I couldn’t find you for days. “ There was a brief shutter in his words, staring at her with owlish eyes that weren’t judgmental this time. “ I want to help you, “ He pauses, trying to think straight but he just couldn’t.

Not with how sad she appeared. Not with how Haley peered into the room from sensing the tension. Not with that little boy he couldn’t save standing in the corner.

She was still scared. Years of hiding her feelings. Years of not being good enough. Her instincts were screaming at her to go back out the window. She wanted him to be mad, upset at her, like he was when she first showed up. Then she could be mad and stupid and say it would have never worked.

But he was being nice to her. Because he was always nice. And he was staring at her with his big sad beautiful eyes and he was saying that he had looked for her and wanted to help her and it was almost enough to make her scream.

She didn't deserve to be here. She didn't deserve him. But maybe he deserved to hear the truth.

She inhaled, trying not to hyperventilate, trying to get her mouth to coordinate with her brain as she fixed her eyes on a point on the corner of the ceiling.

She lets him take her wrist, his familiar hand both comforting and terrifying. How could she explain this...

"It's... not a normal disease. It's sort of magic... kind of psychology... it can happen sometimes when..."

There wasn't going to be a way to do this that wasn't going to be embarrassing. Her face burned like a nuclear reactor as she tried to choke out the words.

"When someone has something they need to confess, but they hold it in too long, it can start to grow in them. Literally. Until they choke on it."

...

It was confusing. He didn’t like being confused.

@obsession-withthenight

Dick gets up, gently setting Haley down. He makes his way to the window after a moment of hesitation. Upon seeing her, his eyes go wide and he halts mid step. For a moment, he considered turning his back, but his stupid selflessness got the better of him.

She says awkwardly, not able to think of what else to say. Her voice is hoarse and tight. She's wearing an odd mix of pieces of uniform and civilian clothing and bandages.

She looks away and moves a few steps from him. She takes her helmet off and sets it on the floor. She runs her hands through her tangled mess of curly hair, adjusting the loose pony tail and taking a deep breath before turning back to him.

"I'm sorry."

“ You left without saying a word to me. I couldn’t find you for days. “ There was a brief shutter in his words, staring at her with owlish eyes that weren’t judgmental this time. “ I want to help you, “ He pauses, trying to think straight but he just couldn’t.

Not with how sad she appeared. Not with how Haley peered into the room from sensing the tension. Not with that little boy he couldn’t save standing in the corner.

She was still scared. Years of hiding her feelings. Years of not being good enough. Her instincts were screaming at her to go back out the window. She wanted him to be mad, upset at her, like he was when she first showed up. Then she could be mad and stupid and say it would have never worked.

But he was being nice to her. Because he was always nice. And he was staring at her with his big sad beautiful eyes and he was saying that he had looked for her and wanted to help her and it was almost enough to make her scream.

She didn't deserve to be here. She didn't deserve him. But maybe he deserved to hear the truth.

She inhaled, trying not to hyperventilate, trying to get her mouth to coordinate with her brain as she fixed her eyes on a point on the corner of the ceiling.

@obsession-withthenight

Dick gets up, gently setting Haley down. He makes his way to the window after a moment of hesitation. Upon seeing her, his eyes go wide and he halts mid step. For a moment, he considered turning his back, but his stupid selflessness got the better of him.

She says awkwardly, not able to think of what else to say. Her voice is hoarse and tight. She's wearing an odd mix of pieces of uniform and civilian clothing and bandages.

She looks away and moves a few steps from him. She takes her helmet off and sets it on the floor. She runs her hands through her tangled mess of curly hair, adjusting the loose pony tail and taking a deep breath before turning back to him.

"I'm sorry."

“ You left without saying a word to me. I couldn’t find you for days. “ There was a brief shutter in his words, staring at her with owlish eyes that weren’t judgmental this time. “ I want to help you, “ He pauses, trying to think straight but he just couldn’t.

Not with how sad she appeared. Not with how Haley peered into the room from sensing the tension. Not with that little boy he couldn’t save standing in the corner.

@obsession-withthenight

Dick gets up, gently setting Haley down. He makes his way to the window after a moment of hesitation. Upon seeing her, his eyes go wide and he halts mid step. For a moment, he considered turning his back, but his stupid selflessness got the better of him.

She says awkwardly, not able to think of what else to say. Her voice is hoarse and tight. She's wearing an odd mix of pieces of uniform and civilian clothing and bandages.

@obsession-withthenight

Dick jolts in surprise, clenching his jaw in frustration. How did he miss a bomb? It must’ve been recently planted, that or the culprit was clever enough for him to not spot it.

It wouldn't have been as much of an issue if she had her suit on, but her civilian clothes didn't do much for protection.

When Nightwing found her, she was sitting against the wall of the alley, her face and clothes covered in the dust of the explosion. A small line of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and from a cut on her shoulder from a piece of shrapnel. She was surrounded by blood covered flower petals.

But then, in a barely audible whisper, she let out the words she had been holding in for so long.

From her position cradled in his arms - he was carrying her, she couldn't believe he was carrying her - she reached her hand out to turn his face towards hers.

"Listen. I love you. Always. Always I've loved you."

She wasn't sure if she was making sense. Did anything make sense? She had been dying in an alley. She was going to die. And then he was there.

And she wasn't dying anymore. She was flying.

"Nightwing, I love you."

Tears running down her face.

The journey to the Batcave was quick due to how fast his feet launched him. “ Bruce! Alfred! “ He shouts, but the only thing that responded was his voice echoing and a few bats squeaking. The others must be doing their own thing, but he was for certain Alfred must be here, somewhere.

She took deep breaths, finally able to breath freer than she had in weeks. It had worked. She made a strangled sound that was half-laugh and half sob.

And he had said "I love you too". But she wasn't sure if he had meant it or if he was just trying to get her to shut up.

She had a vague feeling that she was going to be embarrassed about this later, but right now she was too dazed with the blood loss and the relief.

She watched him scrambling around for medical supplies and smiled. He was so beautiful. What was he doing again?

Then the wound on her shoulder flared with pain. Oh right. The bomb. She couldn't tell how bad the cut was, but there were dozens of smaller ones as well.

She let out a small sound as she winced at the pain.

Suddenly, she startles and tries to sit up as she remembers something.

"Shoot, I need my phone... where did I... oh right, I forgot... need to cancel the message, it's almost out of time and..."

There is a ding on Dick's phone.

"... oh."

It's a text message from Ashleigha that reads.

[ Hi. Just wanted to let you know I'm heading out of town on a mission for a while. I'm not bringing anything traceable, so don't try to find me. I don't know when I'll be back, but try to not to worry to much. Goodbye

When Dick came back, his heart sank more than it already has. He lets out a few, quiet curses in Romani from panic, running around the whole cave to find her.

The bathroom? Not there.

In the Batmobile? Not there.

Under the Batmobile? Not there.

She was nowhere to be found, which didn’t help is aching heart tenfold. It took him barely under an hour to finally look at his phone, his breath catching in his throat. “ Is she insane-?! “ He asked himself, hands trembling.

He sent out a few messages out of desperation:

Where are you?

You can’t leave, you’re hurt.

You’re going to get yourself hurt or worse.

Come back.