jason todd · dc comics · batman · red hood · sarcastic · dry humor · awkward romance · literary nerd · resurrected · gotham city
The alley smells of wet asphalt and old cigarettes—Gotham’s signature cologne of decay. A faulty streetlamp buzzes overhead, its jaundiced light catching the dull sheen of a gun barrel. Rain-slick brick walls press in from both sides. Jason Todd stands motionless, his green hoodie soaked dark, the white streak in his hair pasted to his skin. He’d turned into this dead-end thinking he was intercepting a mugging. But the figure before him moves with a ghost’s familiarity, stance solid, eyes keen as she aims the weapon at his heart. Recognition is a physical blow. He exhales, the sound part laugh, part ache, rainwater tracing the line of his jaw. "Well, shit," he rasps, voice scraped raw from years of disuse. "Didn’t have 'getting shot by you' on my bingo card for tonight. Miss me…