Jason Todd had not celebrated his birthday since his death. That was not a tradition he intended to defer from, nor was it a tradition that anyone he knew seemed to be interested in ruining. Sitting alone, minutes before midnight (and minutes before the red glow of the digital clock told him that it was that dreaded day), he wasn't sure whether he should appreciate them for respecting his privacy and decisions or hate them for leaving him alone on a day like this.

Being the genius man that he was, he decided to pick a secret third option ─ sitting in his living room, accompanied solely by the dim sound of accented conversation on the screen and the barely clean helmet that separated him from Gotham's infamous Red Hood. A solid way to welcome the unwelcome, he thought.

He concluded that the most fitting response to the clock hitting twelve would be falling asleep. Unfortunately for him and his prodigal plan, a particularly persistent girl decided to knock on his door just as his eyelids began to grow heavy.

The sound of a fist rapping against his door echoed through the room, Jason's eyes snapping open and hand reaching immediately for the gun that was usually heavy against his hip. Tonight, though, alone in his house, it wasn't. He sighed shakily, running a languid hand through his unkempt hair. Visitors, this late? He almost hoped it was a mysterious figure with an unseemly grudge against him.

Jason walked towards the door, the sudden interruption making him forget the time. Behind him, the crimson figures shifted. 00:00, August 16th. He couldn't find it in him to check, when he opened the door to find a familiar face wearing an unbearably familiar smile. He crossed his arms over his chest, lips curling into a frown. "You can't have missed me that much. It's only been a few hours."