Dick Grayson one shots

Fireworks

Introducing another talon one :) Happy 4th of July

Dick stretched, enjoying the freedom of the night, the thrill of being on top of such a tall building thrumming in his chest. He watched as the last streaks of color left over from the sunset faded into the night.

He swung down into the city, his enhanced senses taking in the quietness of the streets. It seemed crime had taken the night off.

The quiet snap of his grapple retracting and extending beat out a steady rhythm as he swung, only stopping when he landed again.

Dick looked up at the sky, frowning when he couldn't see anything other than black. He vaguely remembered lying on top of a train car with someone, one of his hands grasped in theirs, the other pointing up at the brilliantly shining stars, the landscape around them serene and comfortingly familiar... The memory flitted out of his mind before he had time to wonder who the people lying next to him had been.

He missed the stars. If he'd been anywhere but Gotham he might've seen some, stubbornly shining their light through layers of smog and light pollution... but he wasn't anywhere else.

As he stared up at the black sky an explosion of color light up the night, the noise tearing at his over-sensitive ears, the light burning into his retinas.

Dick cried out, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut as he stumbled back, tripping and falling onto his back. He scrambled away, whimpering as another explosion of light and sound assaulted his senses.

His hands clumsily fumbled with his grapple, finally managing to fire it off into the night. He swung clumsily, startling when another boom sounded, colored light shining brightly in the sky. The grapple slipped from his grip, and he fell, crashing onto the unforgiving pavement below.

He lay dazed for a moment before clawing his way into a nearby alley, blood dripping from his ears, his eardrums knitting themselves together only to be ruptured again and again.

Fireworks continued to light up the night sky.

Dick tripped over someone and fell, crashing into a row of trash cans. He dragged himself away, another boom exasperating the ringing in his ears.

Tears spilled down his face, his breath coming in shaking sobs. He tried to cover his ears, dark blood smearing across his face as he tried even more desperately to block out the noise.

"Bro," the homeless man Dick had tripped over mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You on drugs or something?" He asked, eyeing Dick warily.

Dick curled in on himself, flinching violently with every explosion of light. He continued to sob, the tinnitus painfully loud in his ears.

The homeless man pulled a comically old looking phone from his pocket and dialed 911. "Yeah, Nightwing's got some sort of panic attack going on here," he spoke into the phone.

Dick couldn't hear what the person on the other end of the line said, too focused on the pain continually splintering through his skull.

"No, he hasn't hurt anyone yet," the man continued, pausing for another moment as dispatch asked him another question. "Clancy street in the alley next to Nick's Pizza."

Another boom echoed, another firework lighting up the sky.

Dick cried out, dragging himself further down the alley.

"Hey," the homeless man called after him. "The police are coming, so you gotta stay put."

Dick rose unsteadily to his feet, the man's words like nonsensical word soup to his ears. He swayed on his feet for a moment before another firework sent him back to his knees.