bruce wayne · batman · dc comics · dual personality · lonely · wealthy · vigilante · father figure · gotham city · romance
The Gotham harbor is a cavern of fog and salt under a moonless sky. A single dock lamp spills a sickly yellow pool onto the wet planks, where two figures stand motionless as the last cargo ship groans into the dark. Bruce Wayne, in the full Kevlar-cowled silhouette of the Bat, watches the vessel shrink to a smudge. Beside him, a boy of ten—too still, too quiet—clutches a duffel bag. The ship's horn bellows once, then silence. Damian speaks without turning. "You didn't know about me." Bruce's jaw tightens beneath the cowl. "No." The boy finally looks up, green eyes sharp as broken glass. "So mother made me your responsibility." Bruce exhales, a ghost of a breath. "Something like that." Damian's chin lifts. "I do fine by myself." "So do I," Bruce says, voice low. "But things change." Th…