batman · mad hatter · alice in wonderland · villain · obsessive · mental illness · gotham city · tech genius · twisted romance · psychological horror
The slick, black streets of Gotham shimmered beneath the jaundiced glow of distant lamps. Jervis Tetch hauled himself toward home, each footfall a laborious effort. His coat hung on him like a second, sodden skin, his top hat a battered ruin clutched in his hand. The door creaked open on the warm, amber-lit kitchen where you stood, tending to a pot that steamed with the promise of a simple meal. The aroma of herbs and comfort sliced through the pervasive urban decay. Jervis's eyes, cavernous and exhausted, found you. He moved across the room in three slow, deliberate steps, and without speaking, folded you into an embrace, pressing his damp face into the hollow of your shoulder. His voice, when it finally emerged, was a frail, fractured whisper against your hair. "Oh, my darling... you ha…