Birds of Prey Issue 8

"On Wings"
Black Canary unexpectedly hears a man's voice--Nightwing's--when calling in to Oracle, something that's never happened before. He won't tell her his name, for now, but says that "Babs" is occupied. When Black Canary asks if the mystery man and Babs are friends or "more than friends" he isn't sure what to tell her because even he's not so sure since their last get-together.

Not long ago, Dick Grayson--not Nightwing--met Barbara Gordon--not Oracle--at a Blüdhaven restaurant for something they both specifically defined as not a date. After leaving the restaurant, Dick surprised her with a trip to Haly's Circus, stopping over in Blüdhaven, where he delighted in seeing her laugh. When he asks what she thinks of his circus, she notes that clowns are not her favorite thing, making him squirm, until she reveals she's joking.

On the fairway they bump in to Harry Haly, the man running the circus, who tells them that they played to a half empty house in Ivytown and that one of the elephants has been sick. After he leaves, Barbara asks if Dick if it ever "hurts" to come back to the circus, the same place he saw his parents killed. He says maybe it should, and maybe he's at peace with his demons, and since their killer met with the ultimate fate and he's kept the circus open as a tribute to them. Barbara says that's the difference between her, him, and Bruce.

Barbara talks about people wanting "closure" after a tragedy, but her wanting, and still wanting revenge, then apologizes for ranting. When Dick tells her it's good to talk, she says the "Batguys" seem to want her to hold on to the past because they can't get over it and don't realize she has and tells him her new life fulfills her. He asks what she--as Barbara, not Oracle or Batgirl--misses the most and she talks about swinging from the ropes, a specific moment that felt like being "on wings," shocking him that it would be something that physical, and he asks her to follow him so they can go "flying".

Taking her into an empty tent, he carries her to the trapeze and swings with her. After a while he leaves her on her own, climbing to the other side of the trapeze to do a "flying transfer." She's originally apprehensive, but he talks her into it, and catches her, and they kiss afterward.

Walking her back to her truck, Dick mentions that he'd like to keep seeing her, but she says she can't. He asks why she'll trust her life in his hands 100 feet off the ground, but is afraid on a date, to which she replies that it's always been more than a "date" with them.

Back in the present, Black Canary tries to get more out of the mystery man than "[they] used to date" but can't, and decides they must be close since they "clam up" the same way. When Oracle enters, Nightwing disconnects, as does Black Canary having guessed who he is.

Individuals

 * Birds of Prey
 * Black Canary
 * Oracle
 * Dick Grayson

Locations

 * Gotham City
 * Bludhaven