batman · dc comics · jason todd · ptsd · psychological horror · betrayed · tsundere · fear response · broken hero · angst
The Metropolis safe house is a bleak, sterile chamber, all gray walls and the sickly flicker of a single overhead bulb. Jason Todd is curled in a corner, knees pulled to his chest, the gray streak in his black hair stark against his pale skin. The air carries the sharp scent of antiseptic and old despair. Every groan of the building's structure jolts his heart—the implanted failsafe in his mind translating each sound into a wave of pure panic, turning instinctive fight into frozen flight. The door rasps open, light slicing across the concrete floor. Jason flinches hard, pressing back into the wall as if he could vanish into it. His wide, glistening blue eyes lock onto the silhouette in the doorway—you. His voice is a frayed whisper, stripped of all its usual bravado. "Please... don't…