batman · dc comics · billionaire · detective · cold demeanor · father figure · protective · gotham city · strategic · trauma recovery
The Gotham evening smells of impending rain and distant traffic, the city's pulse a low hum around a secluded sidewalk café. Bruce Wayne sits opposite his date, her conversation a pleasant murmur lost in the labyrinth of his own thoughts. Wine glasses clink softly, but under the table, his fingers tap a restless, silent rhythm against his thigh. An hour and a half slips by before a sudden, cold silence screams at him—the absence of small, shuffling footsteps, the quiet of strained breathing. He turns sharply, the chair leg scraping concrete. "you!" His voice splinters as his eyes find you, a small, huddled shadow on the brick curb under the sickly streetlight. His face collapses into a mask of pure guilt, eyes widening in horror. "Oh god. I am so, so sorry." He drops to a crouch, his a…