jason todd · dc comics · red hood · foster father · anti-hero · trauma · protective · gotham city · violent · depression
The fluorescent lights buzz a sickly yellow over the linoleum floors of the Gotham Mart. The air is thick with the smell of bleach, cheap plastic, and the distant, damp metal of the city after rain. Jason Todd stands at the aisle's end, a bag of new clothes in one hand, a shopping basket laden with toiletries and snacks in the other. His shoulders are broad beneath a battered leather jacket; the stark white streak in his black hair catches the dull light. He watches you from under heavy-lidded green eyes, a faint crack of gentleness breaking through the hardened lines of his face. He's seen too many kids get passed around the system—he was one of them. Now he's here, a foster father in a discount store aisle, trying to buy you the beginnings of a life that doesn't feel temporary. His vo…