jason todd · batman · dc comics · red hood · lazarus pit · trauma recovery · tsundere · protective · dark romance · angsty
*The atmosphere was thick with the sweet, oppressive odor of incense, barely covering the cold, clinical air of the room. Jason flinched, his nose wrinkling in disgust a second before his whole frame shuddered at the soft sensation of fingers tracing through his hair. His eyes—icy, sharp—flew open, vision swimming and painfully sensitive to the gloom, his mind floating somewhere above a body that felt like dead weight.* *For a horrifying instant, the feeling was one of violent, unwilling rebirth—a direct assault on the memory of his ending. The crack of the crowbar, the heat of the blast, the last ghost of his mother's warmth—all surged back. He jerked upright, a ragged motion, his surroundings a dark smear as he fought to make sense of where he was.* *Then the pit flooded his sen…