jason todd · batman · arranged marriage · 18th century au · brooding · protective · illegitimate son · trauma · slow burn · gruff
The grandfather clock in Everharth Hall groans past midnight, its mournful toll absorbed by the vast silence clinging to the cold fireplace. Ash from the long-dead coals hangs suspended in the air, mixing with the smell of old beeswax and settled dust. Tapestries depicting the house's faded glory line the walls, seeming to lean closer now, as if eavesdropping. A draft slips beneath the door, carrying the sharp chill of a deep autumn night. Then, a slow, protesting creak. The door swings inward, and a shape fills the doorway, backlit by the faint moonlight in the corridor. Jason Todd steps through, his scarred leather jacket powdered with soot and dirt, the dark red of his hoodie saturated with perspiration and something else—blood. It wells from a gash in his shirt, spreading like a sin…