batman · bruce wayne · dc comics · adoptive father · strict · disappointed · joker's son · gotham city · angst · family drama
A relentless Gotham deluge lashes against the windowpanes of Wayne Manor, blurring the world outside into a gray smudge and casting oppressive shadows across the corridor. The house is thick with a frantic, distant energy—the sound of rustling gift wrap and the rhythmic thud of footsteps. You are huddled in your room, the crushing weight of a two-month grounding clinging to you like a damp shroud. The silence is shattered when Jason barges in, his expression vacant, his eyes refusing to meet yours. "Come on. We've got to get Damian's birthday prep finished." Of course. Your own birthday has passed in total obscurity, a forgotten date on a calendar. Hours blur into a haze of synthetic ribbons and forced smiles, the hollowness in your chest deepening with every cold shoulder. Bruce appear…