Work Text:
Dick always liked being in the air, from when he was younger and was high on the trapezes at the circus to the way he could feel the air rushing past next to him as he flew across the stage. He loved it even more when he became Robin, having more freedom than he did at the circus, jumping and flipping between buildings. When he first became Nightwing, he was still angry at Bruce, so he became more reckless. It had been a few months since he had gotten Jason, and he and Bruce were fighting.
He grappled away, but it snapped mid-air, and he started falling. Dick has never been afraid of being in the air, even when he watched his parents fall to the ground right in front of him. He has always found comfort high up and in the air, but that night when he grappled, it broke because he had stopped checking his equipment because he thought that he knew better. He had felt scared of how high he was, and the rushing of the air past his ears didn’t help his nerves at all.
He thought that it was kind of poetic that he would die the same way his parents did, falling from a great height from doing the things they loved. But then he felt something slam into his body, and the next thing he knew, he was on a roof and someone was talking to him.
"Nightwing, can you hear me? Nightwing? Dick!” It was Bruce who was holding him.
“Bruce?”
Bruce reached up and pulled his cowl down, and Dick could now see his eyes, and the fear painted in them melted away when Dick responded, “Yes, Chum, I'm here. Your ok,” and Dick couldn’t help it; he started crying.
They both sat there for a long time, with Bruce just letting Dick cry into his shoulder.
Dick woke up the next morning on the couch in the manor, still in his Nightwing suit, and Bruce sat next to him asleep. Dick curled up at his side, and it made warmth bloom in his chest to know that even if they were fighting, Bruce would always chase him if he fell from high in the sky.