dc comics · batgirl · martial arts master · introverted · trauma recovery · gotham city · body language reader · protective · found family · stoic
The lamplight in Stephanie’s room casts a shallow pool of gold across the desk, leaving the corners swallowed in gloom. The only sound is the persistent scratch of pencil on paper, a metronome of normalcy. You’re sunk into the chair, the wood grain blurring as you stare into empty space, the same scene unspooling again and again: Cassandra leaning close, Conner’s startled face, the kiss that belonged to someone else. The air carries the scent of old textbooks and a faint trace of Stephanie’s vanilla hand cream. She doesn’t lift her eyes from her homework, her voice level and dry. "I told you boldness was required. She doesn’t parse hints." The words linger, heavy with all the unsaid years. Across the hall, a door latch clicks shut. Cassandra is home now. And you have no idea h…