All Jason Todd

He’d never gone directly to you after a patrol before, at a minimum always stopping at his own place or a safe house first to stash his gear and change into something… less terrifying. But he was too exhausted to make any stops. There was only enough energy left in him for one destination, and he couldn’t get the thought of your fluffy duvet and sleep-warm skin out of his mind.

So he was very very careful with your window latch, treating it with the seriousness of a life or death mission as he stepped carefully into your living room. All the lights were off, and the sound of your white noise machine filtered softly through the closed bedroom door.  

His boots were discarded immediately, tucked neatly next to your own at the front door. His leather jacket, he thought, would even be excusable. Probably. He layered it beneath several of your own jackets just to be safe. The rest he could stash in a plastic bag from under your sink, no problem. Tomorrow afternoon, he’d just leave in the extra clothes you kept in a special drawer just for him at the bottom of your dresser. 

He’d done it before. You accepted he was simply weird about his dirty laundry. He could absolutely get away with this. 

But it was getting even harder to stay focused now that he was here, surrounded by reminders of safety and comfort and you. So he got a little greedy. 

Your bedroom door swung open on mercifully silent hinges, and Jason worked hard to contain a contented sigh at the image you made, curled up safe and warm in your bed. 

Just one minute. He just wanted to watch you for a minute, hold you for a minute. Then he’d get up and change. 

Just… one more minute. 

*****

You woke slowly the next morning, the sounds of the waking city street outside your window muffled by the white noise machine on the nightstand. That warm, lazy weekend feeling weighed down your limbs and made your eyes slow to open.

After what could have been 30 seconds or 30 minutes, you registered a heavy arm slung around your waist. 

Jason must have missed you too much to wait. Again. Something soft and happy fluttered in your chest at the thought, sending your hand searching blindly to catch his. 

Your fingertips stuttered across an odd texture, neither the soft cotton nor the bare skin you had come to expect. It was enough to prompt your eyes to open, peering down to investigate.

That… unfamiliar material, dark and thick, almost like it was concealing armoring of some kind. 

The warm, contented feeling evaporated from your body nearly instantly, all your muscles tensing in preparation as you slowly turned your head to glance over your shoulder.

The shriek left your lips before you could stop it, panic and confusion sending you scrambling, half falling out of the bed as you sought to put distance between yourself and the goddam vigilante passed out in your bed. 

But the noise and ungraceful exit had been enough to startle him upright as well, cursing and reaching out as if to help you as you continued a frantic scoot backwards until your back hit the wall. You made a quick lunge forward, just enough to snag the baseball bat tucked under your bed before shoving yourself back again.

“What the fuck is going -”

“Sorry! Fuck! I’m so sorry. Are you okay? What - Shit!”

Goddam Red Hood somehow seemed more panicked about the situation than you were, ripping the gloves off his hands like they burned him and flinging them across the room.

“Why are you in my home? Why are you in my bed?” you yelled over the sound of his continual cursing. Fuck him, honestly. This was your panic time. He didn’t get to be panicked about this. 

“Sorry! I’m sorry! Fuck, hold on!”

Your heart was racing as you forced yourself to stand up, adjusting your grip on the bat. He was supposed to be a good guy now. Kinda. Mostly. But he was also in your bed and you weren’t taking any chances.

When he reached for his helmet, you lifted the bat higher.

“No! Don’t you dare! I am not getting killed for knowing too much!” you protested.

“It’ll be fine, I promise. Just - ”

“No!” 

You closed your eyes stubbornly, at a loss for what else to do. If Jason were here he would flick you on the forehead for closing your eyes with a stranger in the room. Paranoid little weirdo. Your paranoid little weirdo. Who you’d bet your life would know exactly what to do right now. 

You heard a click, the sound of something hitting the duvet. A sigh that made something in your stomach flip. 

“Would you - ”

“I’m not opening my eyes.”

“Baby.”

Your brain caught up, recognizing that voice now free of distortion. 

“What the…” You opened your eyes, blinking hard at the sight that greeted you.

Jason Todd, ruffled and panicked and, yes, very definitely wearing armor, on his knees in the middle of your bed. His hair, recently freed from the helmet and currently being tousled to hell by anxious hands, was sticking up in at least twelve different directions. 

“Um…” 

Your attention dropped to the helmet, bright red and intimidating against the plush duvet. 

“Are you… still gonna hit me with that?” Jason asked softly, pointing at the bat in your hands. 

“I’m…” You looked at it, twisting it uncertainly before looking back at him. You were pretty sure your brain was broken. “I haven’t decided.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Your preference is noted.”

You stared at each other a bit longer, both scrambling for the right words to navigate the situation and coming up totally empty. 

Someone on the street below leaned hard on their car horn, jolting you back into the present.

Jason Todd. Red Hood. Kneeling on your mattress with the world's worst bedhead. Armored and armed and looking at you, a half-asleep woman with no pants and a child’s aluminum baseball bat, like you were the most terrifying being in the universe. 

You cracked. He definitely broke your brain.

It started as a shocked giggle. 

“Oh my god,” you gasped through the laugh.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked carefully, started to shuffle clumsily towards the edge of the bed.

The baseball bat dropped from your hands, and Jason darted forward to catch it before it could deal damage to your bare feet, tossing it behind him onto the bed. 

“Sweetheart?” 

“Jason…” You laugh grew in intensity, and you fell forward against his chest, throwing your arms around him. “This was the dumbest possible way for me to find out about this.”

Jason felt himself begin to smile at the sound of your laughter, couldn’t even bring himself to be offended by your comment. Because you were absolutely right.

“You thought I would just wake up to find Red Hood in my bed and instantly understand what was going on?” 

“No, that was an accident,” he said, still slightly in awe of your reaction, trying to hold in a laugh of his own as you continued to giggle in his arms.

“You slept in a helmet on accident? How does that even happen? That can’t possibly be comfortable.” 

“I just wanted to hold you for a minute… didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

You lifted your head then, receiving the full force of the Jason Todd puppy eyes. 

“Damn it,” you whispered, reaching up to hold his face. “That’s fucking adorable. How is anyone scared of you when you’re this cute?” 

“I’m not cute.” His brows furrowed a little. Still cute.

“Yeah, you are. Can’t even help it, can you?”

You chanced a quick kiss, barely a brush of your lips but it had the same effect as always. Your man practically melting against you even now, even in his uniform. Still yours. 

“Don’t tell anyone. It would be terrible for my street cred.” He said it in the tone of a joke, but you knew what he was really asking. 

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

His eyes grew more serious, searching your face carefully.

“You sure? This is - we’re okay?”

“Mhmm. One condition?”

“Name it.”

“Don’t ever wear your street clothes in my bed again, or I will forcibly remove you from my apartment. Gotham is disgusting and the bed is sacred. Clear?”

“Clear,” Jason laughed, leaning to steal another kiss.

*****