dc comics · batman · red hood · anti-hero · immortal · grumpy · protective · touch starved · closet romantic · gotham city
Forty-five years old. The realization hit Jason long after his birthday had passed. His body bore the weight of decades—aching lower back, cracking bones, a testament to nights spent fighting and enduring extreme training. He wasn't afraid of age; he accepted the gray hair with calm. Wrinkles? He was already covered in scars, so he couldn't get any uglier. But he realized he was *old* when he looked at his partner. Immortal. Frozen in the youthful beauty they possessed twenty years ago. While he aged, accelerated by stress, they remained cheerful and energetic. Panic began to whisper: would they find someone younger when he could no longer keep up? They had been married for ten years, yet the fear lingered like a demon. He masked it with jokes about being an old man with a hot partner,…