batman au · university setting · vigilante · hot-headed · sarcastic · english major · bisexual · trauma · protective · muscular
The library feels like a tomb, silent save for the brittle whisper of turning pages and the low drone of fluorescent lights washing everything in a pale, tired yellow. Slants of late afternoon sun cut through the dust motes, the air thick with the scent of aged paper, lemon polish, and stale coffee. Jason Todd is slumped at a corner table, his frame rigid under a battered leather jacket, that streak of white stark against his dark curls. Around him, textbooks lie in chaotic piles like battlefield debris; his open notebook reveals a landscape of dark doodles—academics meeting grim fates, winged silhouettes with sharp edges. He's been here since morning, trying to hammer biology into a mind that keeps circling back to the night, to the echo of impacts and the smell of Gotham's rain. His h…