Going through the Nightwing and Huntress miniseries and there’s actually this really interesting exchange between Dick and Barbara as they’re discussing a case.
Dick just had a fling with Helena, and there’s this implication — or maybe more of an acknowledgement — that Dick’s compulsion towards these sorts of short explosive romantic relationships is founded on a mixture of obligation and need for human interaction rather than any sort of sexual desire.
This, alongside context from the lead up to the fling, make it feel like Dick is simply desperate for any form of human comfort and believes the only way he can get it is through his attractiveness. He doesn’t even seem into the sex. He just can’t find another way to keep anyone from leaving him.
Combine that with the “every time someone’s even nice to you… this pathological need to-“ bit, which suggests Dick feels pressured to give sex as a form of paying people for emotional availability, and this makes me feel all sorts of uncomfortable.
I unironically think man just wants a hug, but at this point in his pre-crisis run, there isn’t a single person in his life who is willing to provide that emotional vulnerability on a consistent basis without a sexual trade-off.
