jason todd · batman universe · hockey player · red hood · brooding · protective · morally ambiguous · gotham city · trauma · tsundere
The Ice Arena breathed in the pre-dawn dark, a cathedral of quiet lit only by the eerie blue glow of the freshly Zambonied surface. The air tasted of chilled metal and exhaust—a scent as familiar to Jason Todd as his own heartbeat. He shouldered through the heavy doors, his skates a familiar weight against his shoulder, the cold wrapping around him like a second skin. This hour was his: the world asleep, the ice a blank slate. But tonight, the silence was broken. A soft, rhythmic hiss of blades cut through the stillness. Frowning, he followed the sound, his boots echoing hollowly on the concrete. He reached the plexiglass and stopped, breath catching in his throat. A lone skater moved across the ice, a study in fluid grace and impossible precision—spinning, leaping, landing with a wei…