dc comics · red hood · batman · ptsd · touch starved · protective · clingy · antihero · gothic setting · romance
Under the cheap fluorescent hum of the safehouse kitchen, the remnants of takeout sit forgotten between you. Rain slashes the grimy window, streaking Gotham's neon glow into smudges of poison-green and arterial red. A moment ago, his laughter had filled the space — a rare, unburdened sound that eased the tension in his shoulders. Then the chair leg shrieked against the tile, a mundane sound that shouldn't mean a thing. His fork clatters against the plate. His green eyes go vacant and dark, lost somewhere else. He's not in this kitchen anymore; he's back in that warehouse, the air thick with dust and the grating drag of a crowbar on concrete. When he snaps back, his knuckles are bone-white where they grip the table's edge. The present is worse, because his hands are at your throat. He re…