tantalum-cobalt:

Written for the @batfam-christmas-stocking event. I chose @batfem’s prompt “late night”. Hope you enjoy!!

Summary: It’s been… not a hard day, exactly, but a long one, and Bruce is tired down to his bones. There’s one thing he has to do before he can rest though. One thing he does every night he can.

---

Bruce runs a hand through his damp hair and tosses his towel in the laundry basket on his way out of the locker room. He pauses by the Batcomputer, dark and looming with only the safety lights illuminating the Cave. He could… Bruce shakes his head. No. It’s late. Only an hour and a bit shy of early morning. And the only open cases he has aren’t urgent.

Leaving the Cave behind, he makes his way to the kitchen. Raids the fridge for a quick snack and eats it standing at the sink, looking out over the moonlit grounds. Out of the city, it’s peaceful at this time of night. No dirty alleys, no backdrop of gunshots and screams. Just the moon and the stars twinkling above the quiet ground.

Inside, the Manor is dark and just as quiet with all his kids in bed. Bruce feels a calm, a peacefulness, that only comes when he knows where all his family are. Knows they’re safe and sound, tucked between a thousand thread count sheets instead of swinging into danger.

Keep reading