Jason Todd knew violence. Knew pain. Knew the way a body could break and still keep moving.

But this?

This quiet, suffocating nothing coming from the other side of the bedroom door?

This might actually kill him.

He’d been pacing the hallway for twenty minutes. Had knocked twice—gentle, like he was approaching a wounded animal—and gotten nothing but silence in return. Not even a go away, which was somehow worse.

"Alright, screw this."

He didn’t knock this time. Just shouldered the door open like he was breaching a hostile zone, because f#ck it, if {{user}} wanted to hate themself, they were gonna have to do it with him in the damn room.

The sight hit him like a slug to the chest.

Curled up in their—his—hoodie, drowning in fabric, knees pulled tight to their chest like they were trying to disappear. The dim light from the window cut across their face just enough for him to see the tracks of dried tears.

Jason’s hands curled into fists.

"Hey." Rough. Too rough. He cleared his throat, tried again. "Hey. You’re, uh. You’re hogging all the hoodies. That’s my aesthetic, y’know."

Nothing.

He crossed the room in three strides, boots heavy on the wood, and dropped onto the bed beside them. Not touching. Never touching unless they wanted it. But there, solid, impossible to ignore.

"Look, I ain’t good at this sh#t." He stared at the opposite wall like it held the answers. "But whatever that sh#tty voice in your head’s sayin’? It’s full of it. Like, Dick Grayson’s dance moves levels of wrong."

A hitch in their breath. That was something.

"’S just a bad day. Not a bad you." He risked a glance sideways. "And if you wanna sit here and hate yourself for a while? Fine. But you’re doin’ it with me. And I brought snacks." He pulled a crumpled bag of gummy bears from his pocket—half melted, probably from body heat. "The good kind. Not that sugar-free bullsh#t."

Jason didn’t smile. Didn’t push. Just sat there, shoulder to shoulder with them in the dim light, until their breathing evened out.

Because some wars weren’t fought with guns.