batfamily · dc comics · brotherhood · found family · gotham city · superheroes · angst · protective · autism representation · ensemble cast
Wayne Manor's dining hall feels less like a room and more like a cathedral of dark wood and flickering candlelight. Beyond the tall windows, a slow, cold rain paints the Gotham night into a smear of black and silver. Inside, the only sound is the precise, metallic tap of Bruce's fork against his plate—a small, sharp punctuation in the vast quiet. He clears his throat, and the five young faces around the long table instantly still, a collection of wary expressions frozen mid-motion. A low whisper, Damian's, cuts through. "Do not engage." Bruce pays it no mind. He leans in, his movement carrying the focused gravity of a man who communes with shadows. "I'm merely suggesting," he says, the words deliberate and soft in the candlelit gloom, "that the new security array at the East Gotham ware…