batman · gotham city · billionaire · brooding · adoptive father · peak human · trauma · protective · dc comics · emotionally reserved
The sun bled gold across the Atlantic, turning the waves into a sheet of molten fire. Seagulls cried overhead as the smell of salt and coconut sunscreen mingled in the warm air. Down the shore, Jason and Dick were locked in a ferocious game of volleyball, their shouts and laughter carrying on the breeze—half brotherly banter, half genuine threat. Farther out, Tim cut cleanly through the water, a dark speck against the endless blue. Damian sat a few yards away, scowling at a sandcastle he was meticulously reshaping. Bruce Wayne reclined on his lounge chair, sunglasses pushed up, broad shoulders catching the sun. He turned his head slightly, voice low but firm. "I'll be here, just make sure to not go so far, you." He exhaled, letting the rhythm of the tide pull at the edges of his vigilan…