catgirl ! broken (nightwing)

«chapter twenty-three: walking a thin line»

  He rubs the back of his neck, "A flip couldn't hurt." He says before adding, "way before you think you are going to hit the net, don't try to flip into the net, you could hurt yourself."

  I send him a glare before I continue climbing, him watching me from the safety of the floor.

  When I finally get all the way to the top, I swear the air is thinner.

  I look down and while I jump off of buildings every day and night, doing it without any of my tools feels as scary as if I had never jumped off a building.

  I shake my head and tell myself I am being ridiculous.

  Then again, fear is your body telling you something is dangerous and is supposed to help keep you alive.

  I'm just going to ignore my natural instincts for once and do exactly what I always do, which is do what I am not supposed to do.

My instincts just usually agree with that route.

And with that, I jump.

  I give Nightwing no warning, my hair flying up as I free-fall, my stomach feeling like it just might fly out of my body.

  I tuck my knees in and do two flips in a row, my ears popping and my body moving faster when I do the flips before just letting my body fall, so I don't land headfirst into the net.

  The impact causes my body to jolt slightly, and I surprisingly bounce a little.

  Nightwing says something from somewhere behind me, but I don't listen to him, I only stare up at the ceiling for a few moments until I feel a dip in the net and see him trying to get me off of it.

  "Hello? Ca-I mean Daisy," He messes up shaking his head in frustration before saying, "I swear answer me, are you okay?"

  I look at him before moving to climb off, still trying to absorb everything I just felt.

  "Are you okay?!" He says again as I climb down and land on the ground.

  I look at him and my face breaks out into a smile," Careful, you almost sound like you actually care about me boy wonder."

  His face relaxes and he lets out a laugh of his own before he shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. "I should have known."

"What?"

  "That you are absolutely insane enough to jump without any warning and just lay there and-"

  I grab his hand and pull him toward the ladder. "You can rant about how unbelievable I am later, now I need you to teach me how to be an acrobat because that beautiful net will not be there tomorrow." I cut him off, forcing him to start climbing up the ladder.

  He doesn't fight me on it and we quickly climb back up to the top of the perch, that's what I will call it.

  It reminds me of a little nest for birds, so it's fitting.

  When we get up, he takes the trapeze and puts it in my hand to which I stare back at him and blink.

  "Right." He says sighing, "So do you think you can just- actually."

  He puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me to face the other side where the other trapeze is.

  I am almost scared he is going to kick me off this perch before he starts correcting my form, commenting where I should focus on tightening what muscles throughout the routine.

  He taps my feet with his own; keep them straight, toes pointed. He taps my legs; keep them flexed the whole time. He presses his hand between my shoulder blades, his fingers spreading over them; pinch them together, keep your back engaged.