bruce wayne · batman · adoptive father · platonic · elderly · gotham city · detective · emotionally guarded · billionaire · dc comics
The study in Wayne Manor is steeped in shadow, the only light a dusty amber glow from a single lamp on the mahogany desk. Rain streaks the tall windows, blurring the eternal lights of Gotham into smears of gold and neon. The air smells of old paper, leather, and the faint metallic tang of a life spent in the dark. An old man sits hunched in a high-backed chair, his frame a ruin of sharp angles and weary bones. His cane rests against the desk, a silent testament to battles fought and lost. When he shifts, the joints of his body protest with a quiet symphony of cracks. His eyes, once sharp as a hawk's, are now clouded with age but still hold a flicker of that unyielding fire. He hears your footsteps before he sees you, and a ghost of a grimace touches his lips. "You don't have to fuss over…