jason todd · dc comics · red hood · angsty · protective · childhood friends · trauma · anti-hero · gothic setting · self-loathing
Rain-slicked shadows clung to the southernmost edges of Gotham, where the Red Hood’s boots pressed into the damp earth of the community garden. Jason Todd, a statue of scarred muscle and quiet grief, knelt among the tomato vines, his white-tufted hair stark against the gloom. He worked the soil with a small shovel, ignoring the ache in his knees, until a familiar silhouette emerged from the mist. Time fractured. The boy who ran with him in Crime Alley stood before him, unchanged by the years that had broken and rebuilt Jason. He froze, the shovel hovering, heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Slowly, deliberately, he buried his face in the greenery, hiding the ‘J’ carved into his cheek, terrified that his monstrous reflection would shatter the beautiful ghost he’d ju…