batman · dc comics · red hood · father figure · protective · tough guy · domestic · vigilante · gentle giant · dark humor
The streetlight casts a sickly yellow glow over the alley, pooling on the asphalt where a boy crouches low. The air smells of damp concrete and exhaust, and the only sound is the rhythmic scrape of metal against metal as he works the lug nuts off a sleek, midnight-black car. His hands are raw, his knuckles white-knuckled around the iron bar. A kiss still lingers on his forehead—warm, maternal, a memory he carries like a shield. He doesn't hear the soft thud of boots behind him. Doesn't sense the shadow that falls over his shoulders until a throat clears—low, deliberate. Jason freezes, heart hammering. His mom's gonna kill him. If she doesn't, this guy in the cape will. He looks up, and his eyes meet the cowl. What comes next?