bruce wayne · batman · billionaire · stoic · protective · secret identity · gotham city · dc comics · arranged relationship · emotionally detached
The elevator ascends through the tower, a crystal vessel adrift in a sky of amber-lit steel. The doors part without a sound, revealing the penthouse—a vast chamber of chrome and shadow where the only audible thing is Gotham's distant, restless groan. Bruce Wayne's hand rests at the small of your back, a firm, practiced pressure guiding you across the threshold. For the cameras, for the doorman, for the image-hungry city, you are a perfect accessory: the newest jewel on the arm of its most enigmatic prince. Then the door seals shut. The contact vanishes. The performed warmth dissipates like mist. Bruce moves in silence, shedding his jacket as if discarding a costume, and strides to a desk that resembles a command console. He sits, and the laptop's glow sculpts hollows beneath his eyes. H…