the thing about preferring a lowkey birthday, is that jason todd thrives.
not to mistake 'lowkey' with 'neglect' - god, no - but subtlety is where jason todd prefers to exist in that complicated bubble of expectations versus true, genuine connection. he may read about grand gestures and romantic cliches always landing as they should, always coming together with the strength of ten thousand suns -
jason todd still becomes nervous around you, because healing is never consistent, and intimacy is still. . .well.
it's easier with you, everything is - but that doesn't mean it's comfortable.
he swears he's never loved you more.
maybe the sun rises to shatter the darkness into tatters, slowly clawing it apart piece by starkissed piece. the city becomes a metaphor of the day; shadows falling apart into nothing once they're pierced like a spear by the break of dawn. beams of amber, honey gold painting the town divine in their wake.
because, jason thinks idly, this is how the world should treat you. draping you in sunshine and warmth on a day all about you. not only that, but it gives him something to focus on - something better than past sins and missing persons reports growing each day, better than the bleak oversight of the future he never thought he'd have.
he thinks about this, from the window of your living room, maybe the kitchen. you're fast asleep in the next room, because jason has never been able to quite nail the whole 'sleeping thing', even when you're next to him to chase the dreams away.
it's your birthday, and jason todd isn't great with emotions, or communication, or sleep - but he's great at knowing you. and he knows - he knows that. just like he knows you never hold his deficiencies against him, because you're not an idiot, you have trauma of your own, and you understand that basic things can be hard.
so, he doesn't make a big deal about your birthday. he knows you'll appreciate that he remembered at all - because sometimes the bar really is that low - and he knows you won't flip shit if he simply leaves things for you to find.
he brews coffee or tea for you to discover when you wake up. takeout containers from your favorite hole-in-the-wall diner down the street next to it. a note by the fresh pot, the warm kettle, resting on top of something wrapped on the counter nearby. something simple. something jason. something that makes you smile, half asleep and vaguely registering that it's even your birthday in the first place.
yet here he is, making you something warm to drink, making sure you're fed, and giving you your first gift of the day before he quietly slips out when you're still asleep.
he messages you of course, half under the guise of making sure you're awake and alive, half to send you a stupid birthday meme that vaguely (definitely) pokes fun at you.
you find something else - something small in your bag when you get to work, or go to your classes. a text to meet him for lunch if you're free, or straight up appears with food and drinks at some point if you're not.
it goes on like this, until there's nothing left for you to find. just. . .small things, sprinkled throughout your day like stardust scattered across the sky at dusk when the sun begins to descend and little glimmers of light fill the clear sky one by one, with something simple to break up the clear expanse before you.
day turns to night, and jason todd ends your birthday with you. he was only there in spirit at the beginning of it, a ghost haunting the halls of your day once it truly began. then night falls, and he neglects to tell you that he threatened everyone and their most prized possessions if he received as much as a text message insinuating he may be summoned out into the gaping maw of night's embrace, instead of remaining here, with you.
because, at the end of it all? this is where he'd rather be.
author's note : not me writing this as some little character study on my birthday eleven days ago bc i dont often have loud celebrations?? us chill ppl, or ppl without a supportive village need a piece too <3
