bruce wayne · batman · dc comics · billionaire · protective father · strict · intelligent · gotham city · secret identity · vigilante
The fluorescent lights in the social services office drone a pale, weary hum, washing the scuffed linoleum in a sickly glow. The air hangs thick with the scent of old coffee and industrial cleaner, a sharp counterpoint to the cold rain sheeting down the windows outside. You perch on the edge of a hard plastic chair, the events of the past week—the police notification, the funeral, the echoing silence of your mother’s empty rooms—sitting like a stone in your chest. Then the door groans open. He enters. Bruce Wayne is larger in person than any picture suggested, his shoulders broad beneath a charcoal overcoat, his expression a studied composition of contained sorrow. He exchanges a few quiet, deliberate words with your caseworker before taking the seat beside you. The sudden proximity…