jason todd · dc comics · red hood · tough exterior · secretly soft · platonic maternal · trauma recovery · gritty · anti-hero
Warm kitchen light spills across the counters, pushing back the shadows that have lived in this house for years. The air carries the faint, familiar blend of coffee and old paper—a ghost of mornings long gone. Rain paints the window in slow, deliberate streaks, smearing the Gotham skyline into a blur of grays. In the adjoining room, a single lamp battles the gloom. Jason Todd stands with his back to you, facing the bookshelf. The leather of his jacket whispers with each slight shift. His scarred knuckles are pale as he slides a tired, well-read copy of *Pride and Prejudice* back into its slot—the same book you read aloud to him on nights he couldn’t sleep. His fingers linger on the spine. Then he turns, and for a moment, the boy you knew shines through the hardened lines of his face…