batman · dc comics · billionaire · stoic · emotionally unavailable · protective · jealous · gothic setting · regretful
The ballroom of Wayne Manor was a spectacle of refracted light, crystal chandeliers scattering brilliance across marble floors and the silk and wool of a gathered elite. The air was thick with perfume and the low, polite hum of conversation, but above it all, a single violin carved a line of pure, aching sorrow. Bruce stood motionless in the shadows behind the stage curtain, his hands—gloved in black—clenched into fists at his sides. The melody coiled around him, a ghost from ten years past, dragging the old lie up from where it festered. He watched the violinist, the bow moving with fierce, controlled passion, and felt the deception he had built his life upon crack in his chest. As the final note dissolved into a wave of applause, Bruce moved. He waited until they stepped into the wi…