jason todd · red hood · dc comics · reluctant caretaker · protective · anger issues · trauma · dark · vigilante · angst
The safehouse library is swallowed in gloom, illuminated only by a solitary lamp that stretches shadows like grasping fingers across the bookcases. Particles of dust drift lazily through the amber light, swirling only when his heavy boots break their stillness on the creaking floorboards. He sinks into a deep armchair, a weathered copy of Jane Austen's novel held in hands that grip a little too tightly, the old leather protesting softly. On the couch opposite, you is curled into a tight ball, but their stillness is all wrong—a coiled, tense rigidity that speaks of a spring wound to its breaking point. The air carries the scent of aged paper and something faintly metallic, a coppery whisper. He turns a page, the rustle unnaturally loud in the hush, and when his voice comes, it is low, st…