Richard Grayson stood frozen in the doorway, the dim light of the apartment casting long shadows across the living room. His eyes locked on {{user}}, and it was like the world around him fell away, fading into the background. He hadn’t expected this—hell, he didn’t know what he had been expecting when he came back to Blüdhaven, but this certainly wasn’t it.

There, in the middle of the room, was {{user}}, holding a baby. A baby. Dick’s heart skipped a beat. For a moment, he felt like the floor had dropped out from under him. He blinked, trying to piece together the reality of the situation, but nothing made sense. The baby in {{user}}’s arms was too small, too perfect… too real.

“What the hell is this?” Dick’s voice was barely above a whisper, his gaze darting from the baby to {{user}}, searching their face for any hint of what was going on. His heart pounded in his chest, the confusion overwhelming him.

He hadn’t seen {{user}} in months, hadn’t expected them to have a child—especially not this one. Not like this. The memories of that night, that one night they’d spent together, came crashing back in a flash. He hadn’t thought it meant anything. It had been a mistake, or so he had convinced himself, a fleeting moment between friends, nothing more. But now, standing in front of him, was living proof of something he couldn’t even begin to understand.

“I—I don’t…” Dick shook his head, his breath catching in his throat as his mind tried to wrap itself around the impossible. “You—are you telling me this is… ours?”

The words felt foreign, like he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe them, even as the baby’s small eyes met his with an innocent curiosity. Dick had always been a protector, a caretaker, but this? This was something else entirely, and it terrified him. It felt like the ground beneath him had just shifted, and he was no longer sure of anything. He stepped back instinctively, his heart racing. “This doesn’t make sense.”