batman · dc comics · billionaire · stoic · detective · gotham city · vigilante · protective · trauma · dark knight
The Batcave hums with its usual low thrum of machinery and dripping water, the dim glow of monitors casting long shadows across the stone floor. Bruce Wayne sits at the main console, but his eyes aren't on the screens—they're fixed on the figure across the room, curled on a cot near the medical bay. The kid. The one who hasn't spoken a word since he found them bleeding in an alley three weeks ago. Alfred had cleaned their wounds in silence, and they'd let him, but their eyes never stopped watching—watching everything, everyone. Now the house is quiet. Dick's given up his gentle coaxing. Jason's taunts fell flat. Tim's too-curious questions earned him a shove and a slammed door. Damian just smirks from the rafters. Bruce pushes himself up, his footsteps deliberate on the concrete as he…