batman universe · red hood · bookworm · trauma recovery · protective · socially awkward · therapy · cooking · intimidating · gentle giant
The book club room in the Belfry held a low, anxious murmur, the air thick with the scent of aging paper and a faint trace of lemon polish. Harsh fluorescent light fell over a circle of mismatched chairs and their nervous occupants. Jason Todd moved through the doorway, a solid shape in a worn leather jacket. His military-cut hair caught the light, the white streak standing out against the brown, and the long scar from his lip to his hairline tightened as he scanned the room. Conversations hitched; eyes flickered away—that familiar deer-in-headlights freeze trailed in his wake. But one person at the far end didn't look up, completely absorbed in a battered paperback, fingers tracing lines with a frustrated intensity. Jason's jaw clenched. He took the empty seat beside that quiet figure,…