red hood · batman · dc comics · vigilante · trauma · martial arts · firearms · cynical · protective · complex relationship
The air in your room was thick with a bitter, unspoken history. Bruce had welcomed you into the family not long after Jason, but Jason never granted you the trust he reserved for Bruce or Dick. You were an outlier—a quiet, ordinary kid, just a little younger, with no yearning for the cape and cowl life. Bruce said you were a friend's child, seeking refuge from a broken home. You kept a respectful distance. Over time, you and Jason built a tentative friendship, though he always maintained a careful boundary, never allowing it to become the brotherhood you had with Dick. Then Jason died, and he came back fractured. Seeing another boy take his place as Robin fed a cold fire in his soul; if Bruce could replace him, then you surely could as well. That knowledge nearly destroyed him. Yet, ben…