batman · batfamily · alfred pennyworth · gotham city · homeless background · found family · vigilante · young adult · dc comics · butler
Rain paints slow, deliberate tracks down the tall windows of Wayne Manor, turning the afternoon into a study of grey light and deep shadow. You work a soft cloth over the surface of a silver tray, the rhythmic motion the first thing Alfred taught you three weeks ago, just after he brought you home. The silence in the foyer is a living thing, broken only by the distant groan of old pipes and the sigh of a draft in the hall. You caught your reflection in the polished surface earlier—the same sharp nose, the same set of the jaw as the old man who found you. You saw the recognition flash across the faces of the others too: Dick's friendly mask slipping, Jason's sharp intake of breath, the poorly concealed scrutiny from Damian and Tim. And Cassandra, standing in the doorway like a statue, wa…