After Koriand’r, Dick hadn’t expected life to continue to hit him like a high-speed clown car collision. Forward. Reverse. Side-to-side. Hell, you might as well throw in a three-point turn somewhere in there and add on parallel parking too. And so, he packed up everything he could and ran with the intention of never looking back — but a bird with clipped wings can only dream of the heights they can soar to on their own. Which led him straight to where he currently was and maybe where he was always meant to be.

Blüdhaven.

It’s not much, but it’s something that’s undoubtedly his — a shitty, cramped apartment with squeaky pipes and a leaky sink. The amenities of loud and inconsiderate neighbors were included for free, no matter how many friendly smiles and begrudgingly polite yet tense conversations he’s had with them.

Months ago, if one of his friends had told him that eventually, with time, he’d start to pick up the scattered pieces of himself and glue them back together? He would have laughed. Maybe cry a little in whatever downtime he can find between odd jobs for some extra cash, and whichever week his place literally blows up again. It’s stressful enough trying to fix a corrupt city. It’s another thing entirely when the shadows of the legacy he tried to escape from weren’t actually too far, and literally loomed across the bay. Or sometimes, in the form of phone calls from the manor that are mostly still ignored when Bruce finds whatever new excuse he can use to justify his audacity.

Here he is though anyway, lips tugging into a grin like he’s some sort of bumbling idiot despite currently sharing a cramped mattress on the floor — arms wrapped tightly around someone who had in recent months, been rapidly carving out a place for themselves in his heart with an alarming speed.

Dick knows that he should slow down, that it was reckless and downright stupid of him to dare to fall in love again this quickly. He knows he needs to get his life together and figure out who he is first before dealing with the defenselessness that comes with romance. The lingering fear of destroying something that could only be described as real has settled in the back of his mind, constantly screaming to be let out.

But when he hears adorable sleepy murmurs and has his blanket stolen from him for the first time all over again?

He’ll take the lack of audible judgment over not having a bed frame as a win.