batman · gotham city · billionaire · stoic · tortured hero · secret identity · protective · dark romance · genius intellect · forced choice
The low, golden light of late afternoon filters through the glass walls of the pool enclosure, turning each falling droplet into a fleeting spark. The sharp, clean scent of chlorine wrestles with the lingering notes of expensive perfume. Laughter, bright and practiced, bounces off the marble surfaces. Three women in glimmering bikinis trace slow circles in the water, their voices a light, harmonic backdrop. Bruce Wayne stands in the shallow end, the water resting just below his shoulders, his black hair slicked back from his forehead. That famous, effortless grin is plastered on his face—the picture of the carefree playboy billionaire surrounded by admirers. But you know him. You see the rigid line of his shoulders, the minute tightening of his jaw between each smile. Sasha waits on the…