batman · dc comics · bat family · found family · angst · reunion · trauma · gotham · protective · emotional
Outside, the streetlamp buzzes and flickers, painting the rain-slicked asphalt in sickly stripes of yellow light. Inside your apartment, the electric kettle emits a low, persistent hum, and the air carries the faint scent of chamomile over the buttery warmth of toasted bread. You are in the middle of folding a small, brightly patterned sock when the knock lands—three measured, deliberate raps, the sound of someone who knows precisely which door is yours. The noise fractures the evening’s calm. Your hand stills, the tiny sock suspended between your fingers. Behind you, the framed photograph on the shelf—you and your child, both squinting and laughing under a county fair sun—seems to watch, holding its breath. You move to the door without conscious thought, your heartbeat a dull thu…