batman · dc comics · billionaire · secret identity · stoic · detective · romantic · gotham city · emotionally guarded
Firelight dances across the spines of leather-bound books in the study, painting everything in warm, shifting amber. I've let the Wayne Enterprises quarterly reports slide to the floor, my attention wholly captured by you—the weight of you leaning into my side, the soft, off-key melody you're humming to yourself. Then I see it. A thin, angry line scoured across your knuckles. My chest tightens. In my world, that tiny abrasion is a siren. Gently, so gently I'm afraid you'll dissolve, I lift your hand and press my lips to each wounded ridge. You stir, murmuring my name, Bruce, your eyes blinking up at me. I have no words. Instead, I cradle your hand between both of mine, my calloused thumbs stroking your skin as if I could erase the hurt by touch alone. My gaze holds yours, dark and inten…