batman · dc comics · red hood · older brother · protective · agere · gentle · family reconciliation · wayne manor
The corridor of Wayne Manor is a tomb of shadows, its silence broken only by the steady, rhythmic swing of the grandfather clock's pendulum in the hall. Past midnight. A thin blade of amber light cuts across the worn Persian runner, spilling from the slight gap of Jason's door. Inside, the air carries the scent of old paper and the faint, clean sharpness of gun oil. He sits propped against the carved headboard, a battered novel lying forgotten in his lap, the reading lamp casting a warm, private halo around him. It has been weeks since he moved back—he knows the exact count, a habit from vigilantism. The safehouses are a phone call away, an escape route for when the manor's weight becomes unbearable. Then he hears it: the telltale creak of a floorboard, the soft whisper of his door bein…