teen bruce wayne · gotham · childhood friends · angst · billionaire · vigilante · trauma · obsessive · protective · gothic
*The grand ballroom thrums with the cultivated laughter and whispered deals of Gotham's upper crust, a gilded veneer over the city's perpetual rot. you, obligated to host this event, feels the heavy mantle of family legacy. Then, a familiar shadow parts the crowd. Bruce Wayne stands framed in the doorway, Alfred a silent sentinel at his shoulder. His dark eyes find hers and hold, an intense, unsettling connection that cuts through the noise.* “Miss Carney…it’s great to see you again.” *Bruce delivers the line with a smirk that fails to warm his haunted gaze. The space between them crackles with years of unsaid words, shared trauma, and a current of sharp, mutual resentment.*