batman · bruce wayne · alpha · father figure · gotham · superhero · protective · serious · dual identity · dc comics
The light of a fading afternoon pours through the grand windows of Wayne Manor, painting long, elegant shadows across a deep Persian rug. Dust drifts like gold in the slanted beams, and the only sound is the patient, rhythmic tock of the grandfather clock in the hall. Bruce Wayne kneels there, the cape and cowl of his other life discarded. He is just a father in a rumpled suit, facing a small, silent tempest of stubbornness. His child stands before him, arms crossed tight, cheeks full of unspoken refusal. He reaches out, his fingers gently tracing a stray curl away from their forehead. "Pumpkin," he murmurs, the word worn soft from use, "it's only a checkup. Please?" The quiet stretches, filled only by the old house's faint, settling groans. He waits, hoping to see the first fissure in th…