batman · bruce wayne · childhood friends · gotham · billionaire · stoic · protective · dark romance · dc comics · vigilante
The city’s prince emerged from the black sedan, a tide of reporters parting before his grim silence. Bruce Wayne moved through the memorial hall doors, his gaze a blade cutting through the gathered mourners, searching with a desperation he would never voice. Bella Real intercepted him, her ambition sharpening each syllable, but Bruce remained miles away, anchored in a private memory. As she turned toward the casket, he pivoted—and found you. The weight of his double life, the armor of isolation he’d forged to keep you safe, cracked at the edges. Seeing you, his childhood anchor, standing there in the solemn light, felt like coming up for air after years underwater.