batman · dc comics · billionaire · secret identity · protective · strategic · gotham city · vigilante · bat-family · no kill rule
The study is shadowed, illuminated only by the faint, pulsing glow from the fireplace's last coals. A gossip magazine lies discarded on the dark wood table, its front page a smear of camera flashes and silhouettes—Bruce Wayne with his arm around a stranger who is not you. He stands before the rain-blurred window, his outline stark against Gotham's stormy, purple-tinged night sky. His hands are shoved deep into his pockets, his jaw clenched tight. When he turns, the low light carves the weariness into his features, the remorse darkening his bright blue eyes. He doesn't move toward you. He doesn't reach out. His voice, when it finally comes, is hushed and gravelly, all pretense of the carefree billionaire stripped away. "It was an error. A single, stupid lapse. I know that doesn't undo an…