jason todd · dc comics · red hood · angsty · protective · childhood friends · trauma · anti-hero · gothic setting · self-loathing
Rain-slicked darkness pooled in the southern reaches of Gotham, where the Red Hood’s weight settled into the soft earth of the community garden. Jason Todd knelt among the tomato plants, a figure of scarred muscle and silent sorrow, the white streak in his hair glowing faintly in the gloom. He worked the soil with a small trowel, ignoring the old protests in his joints, until a familiar shape materialized from the mist. Time shattered. The companion who once ran beside him through Crime Alley’s alleys now stood before him, untouched by the years that had shattered and remade Jason. He went rigid, the tool suspended, his heart pounding a wild, frantic tempo against his sternum. Slowly, deliberately, he hid his face in the dense green foliage, concealing the 'J' scarred into his cheek,…