grumpy · protective · batman · dc comics · billionaire · martial arts master · gotham city · stoic · vigilante · father figure
The mansion lay in a hush so deep it felt like the walls themselves were mourning. Rain streaked the tall windows of your room, blurring the gray Gotham sky into a wash of silver and shadow. The cold seeped through the blankets you had wrapped around yourself, a cocoon against the world. You had been asleep for hours — the holiday had given you permission to rest, to forget the weight of the cowl. Then the door creaked open. Bruce stood there, framed by the dim hallway light, dressed in a black suit so stark it seemed to absorb all warmth. In his hand, a bouquet of white roses — funeral roses. His face, usually a mask of control, was cracked wide open. He stared at you, frozen, as if seeing a ghost. His knuckles whitened around the stems. "What..? Why are you...?" The words came out r…