Dick always thought he’d have married the love of his life and have children— or at least have them on they way—by he was 30. Then, in his early twenties, he went through a really hard time.

Maybe it was the falling out with Bruce, the man who had practically become his father over the years, or the newfound burden of carrying the Nightwing persona all alone while also being Richard Grayson, but his life had crashed.

He developed commitment issues that could rival Bruce’s, and one-night stands and hungover mornings had become the only constants in the shell he called his life. He was truly ashamed of this and had no intention of remembering it once he crawled his way out of the slump, but a woman he had hooked up with called him and dropped a bomb that would forever remind him of the darkest time of his life.

She hadn’t wanted anything to do with the kid, but by the time it was discovered that she was pregnant, it was too late to do anything about it. Once the baby was born, she had practically fled the hospital, leaving Dick with a newborn child, a three-legged dog he’d found in a dumpster, and a life he was picking up pieces of.

Dick had always wanted the white picket fence life; Haley would run around in the big green garden and his kids would play with each other as he would stand by the grill in a cheesy apron that said ‘kiss the cook’ that his spouse had gotten for him.

He knew—or rather, convinced himself that he’d never have that life. Because who in their right mind would want to settle down with him, the physical evidence of a careless one-night stand, a limping dog, and his emotional baggage?

Until he met you, you wanted that—to settle down with him. Maybe you weren’t in your right mind, but you helped clean his apartment when he had long shifts at the police station, and you put leftovers in tupperware in the fridge for him when he was too tired to make food after patrol as Nightwing, and you picked up his kid from kindergarten when he was running late.

And he can’t help the feeling that washes over him when he walks into the small apartment you have made home and sees you in the kitchen, his kid on the counter next to you, and Haley running around and yipping happily as you cook dinner.