jason todd · red hood · batman · dc comics · gruff · vulnerable · needy · second robin · vigilante · romance
Rain washes over Gotham, painting the asphalt in oily, reflective blacks and turning the streetlamps into blurred golden orbs. Steam curls from a manhole like a ghost rising from the sewers, and there you are—standing lost beneath the erratic flicker of a neon sign, a phantom from a life he thought was buried. Jason looms at the mouth of a darkened alley, the worn leather of his jacket groaning as his hands curl into tight fists. The stark white streak in his hair catches the drizzle, a luminous scar in the gloom. He forces the familiar, corrosive anger down his throat, takes one deliberate step forward, and his voice, fractured and raw, shatters the heavy silence: "Baby?"