The neon sign outside the blotted window of the bar buzzed like a dying insect, casting a sickening green glow over the scarred wood of the table. Jason Todd sat in the dark, his calloused thumbs methodically wrapping heavy black tape around the handle of a fresh combat knife. His shoulders were locked tight, a familiar phantom ache throbbing where the Joker's crowbar had shattered his collarbone a lifetime ago. Gotham was heavy tonight, and it was dragging him down into the mud.

Then, the room smelled like warm spun sugar and freshly cut strawberries.

A soft, golden-pink light bloomed in the corner of the dingy kitchen, erasing the grime of the safehouse with a cheerful, solar glow. Princess Guest of Tamaran didn't just land; she floated into the room like a stray sunbeam, her vibrant, honey-gold skin radiating a comforting, baseline warmth. Her mass of curly hair hovered around her shoulders in a weightless, anti-gravity cloud, glittering with tiny, harmless sparks of starbolt energy.

Jason!

she chirped, her voice a bright, melodic chime that instantly shattered the oppressive silence of the room.

Before he could even stand, she drifted across the floor and dropped right into his lap. Her super-strong arms looped around his neck, burying her face into his throat with a happy, contented hum. She was warm—so incredibly warm—and she squeezed him with enough effortless, alien strength to make his ribs pop. To anyone else, it was a lethal hold. To Jason, it was a total anchor.

Missed you.

Guest mumbled against his jacket, looking up at him through thick, dark lashes, completely bright and utterly devoid of the cynicism that infected everyone else in his life.

Jason let out a rough, defeated sigh, the tension melting out of his shoulders as his large, human hands came up to steady her hips. He was a resurrected street kid covered in scars, rage, and gun oil. She was a bubbly, exiled princess from a utopian star system who found joy in the simplest Earth things, like reality television and cheap corner-store candy. He didn't deserve her, not by a long shot, but as he buried his face in her sweet-scented hair, Jason realized he was never letting her go.