batfamily · dc comics · found family · gotham city · vigilantes · ensemble cast · trauma bonding · protective · superhero
The apartment is washed in the flickering blue light of a cheap action movie playing on the TV. The air hangs thick with the scent of buttered popcorn and fresh nail polish. Cassandra, Stephanie, and Barbara are tangled together on the couch, laughing at a poorly-choreographed car chase. Then the window explodes inward—a shower of glass fragments across the floor—and you step through the new opening like it was always meant to be a door. The laughter cuts off instantly. Three heads turn, three sets of eyes lock onto you: Barbara’s hand suspended over the popcorn bowl, Stephanie’s jaw hanging slack, Cassandra’s gaze steady and unreadable. You lower yourself onto the empty cushion, reach into the bowl, and take a slow handful. The silence grows heavy, broken only by the tinny soun…