Chapter 1

A few months after the Invasion, Dick got through his 20th birthday and permanently moved to Blüdhaven. He continued his masked vigilante life as Nightwing while 19 years old Hayley, a close friend of his moved together with him to study in an art college. Although they moved together, they stayed separately. Hayley lived in a tiny hostel alone while Dick lived in a medium class apartment downtown. Dick would pay Hayley a visit once in a while. Oftentimes to collect data on criminals that Hayley has compiled for him.

It was a Sunday night, Nightwing decided to drop by Hayley's place when she told him she had information on people drug dealing in a warehouse down Avenue Street. He appeared at her window in his outfit, spare the mask, his lean body outlined perfectly in his black and blue leather suit. Hayley on the other hand, was in a blue t-shirt and a pair of short, white pants. His unusual way of entry was no surprise to Hayley, as this is what they agreed on for when he was in uniform. They both exchanged greetings when he arrived and then there was an awkward silence.

A tense atmosphere was in the air. Considering how close they were, this sort of situation was rare. While inviting him into the hostel, Hayley tried to spark a conversation and said, "Hey, remember how we used to hang out at the courtyard in school and talk about all sorts of nonsense?" A halfhearted smile floated across Hayley's face. He walked towards the computer consoles in silence, with no intention of replying her.

After collecting the data he needed, he walked past Hayley and towards the window. She was still standing idly, still seeming to hope for some sort of response from her close friend.

Nightwing stopped at the window and calmly said, "I'll be going. Take care of yourself."

There was another moment of silence. Hayley went from hopeful to confused to angry. Her eyebrows furrowed and words that she will regret saying, slipped right out of her mouth.

"Why are you like this?" she whispered, looking down at her feet. He didn't seem to hear what she said and went into a crouching position on the windowsill, ready to jump. She spun to face him, her eyes scrunched up in anger. She balled her fists, her nails digging deep into her palm.

"Why are you acting so distant?! Is it because of Wally's death?!" Hayley's voice rose with every word, her eyes never leaving Nightwing.

His body shuddered at the sound of Wally's name, his fist tightened. She couldn't see his face but she could already tell that he was pissed.

"You have no right to tell me how to act!" he spat.

Hayley froze and made a slight hiccup as she realized what she said was awful, but it was too late to take back those words.

"I'm sorry, it was just a spur of the moment, I didn't mean to… I'm sorry…" She murmured, her words barely loud enough to reach him.

He put his mask on and leapt out the window, onto the alleyway and into the darkness.

Hayley sat on her sofa and thought about what she said, head under her palms. She let out a depressing sigh at the realization of how ignorant she was and that he was right. Hayley laid down on the sofa and started to think back on the argument. Her anger at Dick for being so cold to her blinded her from noticing how Dick was still in pain over losing his best friend. She felt selfish to have said those things to him when she knew how it felt to lose someone important. Hayley lost her father to cancer when she was 16, that horrible feeling of losing a loved one was as hard as losing a best friend. The thought of her father made a tear roll down the side of her cheek as she slowly drifted off to sleep.


After a few hours, Nightwing returned to Hayley's hostel. Using the special mechanism installed upon her window that only he could unlock without triggering the alarm, he silently entered the hostel. The contraption was pretty simple despite being thought up by the one and only former boy wonder. Nightwing looked around the living quarters and found Hayley asleep on the sofa. He walked quietly to her side to look at her more closely. He noticed the tears she had shed were drying up on her face and the sofa.

"I'm sorry. Keeping my distance was all I could do to stop myself from breaking down in your arms… and… I don't want you to see the weaker side of me. Not just yet." he whispered as he removed his mask, revealing his blue eyes, dull against the nightlight.

They were filled with sorrow, longing, regret. Feelings and emotions that he chose to hide from her. He couldn't let the only person that he has left to treasure, worry about him. It would be the last thing on his mind. He gently slipped his arms below her waist and knees and lifted her up with ease. A faint memory of the first time they met ran past his thoughts. He let himself smile, just this once. It was a weak smile, with a tinge of hurt. Tears filled his eyes to the brim, but did not drop. It made his eyes glimmer in the moonlight.

He moved towards the bed and gently set her down and pulled the blanket over her. He made his way to the bathroom and changed into a white linen shirt and black jeans. His shirt was tight fitting, revealing his masculine fit body. As Dick left the bathroom, he caught sight of a pink piece of paper on the floor. He picked it up and started reading it.

~Dear Diary,

It's a dull day, I'm so bored of my life, I can't manage anything right, and life just keeps throwing bullshit at me everyday. How long more do I have to go through this? Goddammit, I wish I could turn my life around even with Nightwing as my friend and a secret job as his personal information counter or something like that. It's really awesome, but I don't get into any of the action. Have I told you how Dick and I are starting to drift apart? It's like we can't communicate anymore no matter how I hard try. At the end of the day I screw things up between us. I wish we could get back together like how we used to be. Hanging around in the courtyard, talking about anything under the clear blue sky, sharing secrets and problems we could have but what the heck, that can hardly happen these days. Ever since Wally died, things fell deeper into a black hole and I'm acting like an asshole saying shit to him and giving him a harder time. WHY AM I LIKE THAT?! I WISH I COULD JUST TELL HIM-

He was cut off when Hayley fell off the bed with a thud. "Ouch" mumbled Hayley sleepily.

"Are you okay?" he said while he tried to hold back the laughter.

"I'm fine, luckily I left nothing sharp on the floor."

Dick walked to her side and proceeded to lift her up.

"Wha…. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shouted.

"What does it look like, Hay? Maybe I'm about to rape you."

"GODDAMNIT DICK!" she punched him in the shoulder but Dick just laughed it off.

"Dude, I'm not 5, you don't have to do that! It's so embarrassing!" Hayley tried to struggle off him but his grip was too firm so she stop giving two shits about it.

When she was finally placed on the bed, she let out a tiring yawn, which made Dick yawn too.

"Hey, what were you reading just now?" Hayley asked in a tired manner while rubbing her eye.

She traced back where he last left piece of paper on the desk and her face flushed.

"DID YOU SERIOUSLY READ MY DIARY?!" shouted Hayley "OH MY GOD DICK! I MEAN LITERALLY, YOU DICK!"

She threw a punch towards Dick but his strong hand caught her wrist and their faces were inches away. His eyes focused on hers, time seemed to slow down tenfold. Hayley silently savored the moment.

"What did you read?" Was all she could muster up to break off the silence. Dick only shrugged and let go of her wrist. He grabbed his backpack and walked up to the front door preparing to leave.

"You have gotta stop writing your diary on colored paper and leaving it around the house. You never change." was all he said and he gave a small weary smile then left the hostel leaving a stunned Hayley.

She sat on her bed and saw the photo of her and Dick when they were still in Gotham Academy framed on the wall opposite her. The photo reminded her of the past, times when she had a more meaningful friendship with Dick. She laid back down on her bed, once again drifting off to deep slumber.


Their feet were swinging freely as they sat on the large oak tree branch in the courtyard of Gotham Academy. Below the tree, a field of soft grass swaying in the direction of the wind as it blew. The leaves of the tree rustled with a rhythmic pattern. A row of patterned fences separated the layer of grass and the concrete floor of the school grounds. The two buildings at each side provided enough shade throughout the day to keep the courtyard cool.

Hayley and Dick were talking about their day atop the tree.

"And when Henry went in front of the class to write down the solution to the question, he let out the loudest fart ever! I could hear it from the back of the class! The face he made was priceless!"

Dick Grayson started laughing alongside a giggling Hayley.

"You must be whelmed if you're giggling like that huh?"

"You… should… have… been… there!" Hayley said in between her laughs. "It really was hilarious!"

"I wish we were in the same class, Hay"

"Stop calling me that, it sounds weird"

"But you let me call you that anyways" as the boy wonder smirked.

"That's cause you're my friend, the only one I trust" Hayley said while she leaned closer to Dick.

"And you are mine, I wish we-

Before Dick could finish his sentence, Barbara Gordon was calling out to him below their feet.

"Come on Dick! Alfred is waiting for us! We're gonna be late!"

Barbara Gordon was older than the both of them. She was like a big annoying sister and was really protective over Dick which kind of made Hayley dislike her every now and then but she knew that Barbara was doing it because she cared a lot about him.

"Well then, now I'm just not whelmed. You threw off my whelm Babs!"

"Hurry up Dick, you don't want Bruce to wait for you again now do you? Or do you want him to give you a lecture on discipline again?"

"Fine! I'm coming down"

In a swift jump, Dick landed on the ground. He ran towards Barbara while waving Hayley goodbye.

"I'll see ya tomorrow kay!"

Hayley silently waved back at him, expressionless, and a bit heartbroken. Her time with Dick had been cut short lately ever since she found out that her friend was the the dark knight's sidekick.


The alarm clock rang beside Hayley. She slammed the snooze button and continued lying in bed for a few minutes. She then sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes to clear off the blurry vision. She looked around her hostel, vision slowly settling on the sofa, causing her to gradually recall what happened last night.

"I fell asleep on the sofa, but I woke up on the bed… So that means...'"she thought, and it dawned on her.

Her face started to flush. She stood up so quickly, that her touch screen phone dropped out of her pocket and onto her bed. The screen then lid up revealing the time.

8:30a.m.

Hayley's Monday schedule was a day filled with classes. History of art and design was one hour away then Figure Class at 2:30p.m.

She stared into the mirror, her long light blue hair flowed to the side of her face. She always wanted to dye her hair that color but Gotham Academy was a strict school and had standards so she could only dye her hair when she graduated. Dick made fun of how she looked the first time he saw her with it, mentioning that it looked like a video game villain, which earned him a punch.

She smiled to herself while reminiscing that faint memory. She held the silver necklace with a glowing blue stone, a present from her late father and gave it a squeeze.

Back when Dick got his first girlfriend, things were still alright. She remembered how she found out about his relationship with her through the news after a huge incident with the Justice League. Dick and his friends helped saved planet earth from total annihilation. He even told her how Zatanna kissed him on New Years Day and they started something 'special'.

Hayley wasn't really jealous of their new relationship, she was happy for him and congratulated him even though she had something for him.

"GARGH"

Hayley slammed the door shut and left her hostel leaving all of her thoughts there.


It was a slow day for Hayley, the first class she had that day sucked. Sitting at the back of the class and hiding from the lecturer's prying eyes was the best idea she had in mind. She took out her sketchbook and started doodling anything that came to mind. The three-hour class soon ended and Hayley sighed in relief.

"God that was horrid "she thought.

As Hayley was about to leave the lecture hall, her lecturer called out her name. She had to put on a happy face before spinning around to face him. Mr. David wasn't the worst lecturer on campus but he sure knew how to bore a student in class despite being really nice to them.

"Are you in a rush, Miss Sheng?"

"No"

Hayley tried not to sound sarcastic as much as possible.

"Very well, I wanted to ask if you were interested in boosting your grades?

"Not really"

"Don't worry, you won't have to do a report or any sort for this subject, all you have to do is to design a poster for the Hall of Justice in honor of the Justice League."

Well that did it. Hayley's jaw dropped, then and there she thought, why would Mr. David want her to draw something? Heck she is not the best in class nor was she very good. She thought herself to be moderate. Hayley tried to stay away from competition as much as possible because she knows what stress can do to her.

"Miss Sheng?"

Hayley snapped back to reality.

"What is your answer?"

"Am I doing this alone? Cause I can't handle this alone."

"No worries Miss Sheng. There will be a couple more students doing it with you. Each of you would have to randomly pick a hero to draw in life size and combine it into a large poster."

"Oh! Then sure, I'll join I guess."

"Splendid, I'll add your name to the roster"

Hayley said thanks and left for the hallway. She had a two hour break but what was she gonna do? Normally she would bring her lunch to the courtyard and eat it under the oak tree with Dick but its not life in Gotham Academy anymore. Blüdhaven is so much more depressing than Gotham city. There were more thugs and criminal here even with Nightwing patrolling every night. Day by day the number of criminal activities increases.

Hayley's thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into her. Papers scattered everywhere but she wasn't holding any art block, come to think of it she wasn't holding anything. She looked around and saw that she had bumped into the college's best freshman student, Angelique Leblanc also known as the snob queen.

"Sacre bleu! How dare you bump into my new clothes! They were sent to me by my mama from Paris!"

And here she thought that high school wannabes would stop appearing when she entered college. Guess she thought wrong.

"I'm sorry, Angelique." Hayley said in a very sarcastic tone.

"Sorry does not undo the damage you have done to me beautiful dress!"

"Whatever"

Hayley grabbed the last piece of paper on the floor and shoved it to Angelique. The snob wouldn't even bother to pick some up herself. Hayley then walked passed the female version of napoleon dynamite and jogged down the hall towards the backyard. She could hear Angelique calling her a freak behind her.

As if her day couldn't get any worse.