Chapter Text
Jason can already imagine just how sore his arms are going to feel the next day, but he doesn’t slow his pace as he spins another bolt off.
Jacking tires was something Jason Todd could do with his eyes closed. Willis had taught him not long before he’d gotten chained up, along with many other things his sick mother struggled to do.
“This’ll be handy one day, Kiddo.” He’d reached over, a grin Jason saw any time he looked in the mirror stretching over his cheeks as his hand ruffled through Jason’s hair. “Whether you’ll need it for ya’ own ride or a couple extra bucks.”
Jason hadn't understood what he meant at the time. He didn’t know why he’d ever need any extra money, with his dad doing his best and getting food on the table for almost every meal. Nonetheless, he’d soaked up every word, loving the physical affection Willis had been too busy to shower him with.
Now that he was alone, he understood.
Speeding up, Jason felt his hands start to shake as he suspiciously glanced over his shoulder despite the unusually empty street.
“C'mon, C'mon, C'mon,”
The first two tires were nowhere to be seen as he’d gotten them to the abandoned building he was squatting in. His skinny arms were just about to fall off from how much labour he’d been putting them through, but he needed to. Even now, as he rolled the third one along, he still felt determination burn in his guts.
Taking The Batman’s tires was life threatening, at worst. Idiotic, at best.
Batman was Batman was a force to be reckoned with.
But Jason was so hungry.
Ever since his father had gotten taken away, Jason had become the man of the house. Catherine was ill. It was hard to take care of her. But she was his mom, so he did whatever he had to do.
And then she’d overdosed, and the cops tried to get him into the system. Jason had no choice but to escape with $10, school lunch’s left overs that he’d gotten for her, and the rest of his meager belongings.
The streets were cruel, but he’d tried his best and was still alive.
But winter was coming, and if he didn’t find a way to get the resources needed to live through it
He didn’t know how much he'd get for them, but they were giant. He doubted they’d be chump change.
He didn’t want to end up as just another frozen street rat in the unforgiving corners of Gotham city.
He knew stealing from the Bat was dangerous. But the gnawing ache in his stomach that said he hadn’t ate well in days, and the bitter cold sting in his hands beat that fear.
Plus, if the Bat could afford all the gadgets he’d prance about with on the daily, he could afford a new set of wheels easy peasy. It probably was chump change to him.
Stalking back, Jason looked around. In all his time living on the streets, there hadn’t been a day where Park Row was as peaceful as it was today. No hookers, no dealers— not even a drunk snoozing off in the bottom of a garbage can.
It was strange. Maybe even paranormal.
Seeing as how it was helpful in his escapade, he ignored it despite his gut feeling telling him otherwise.
He made his way back towards the Batmobile, relief flooding into his veins as he noticed it was still void of any giant urban legend vigilantes—
“Come to finish the job?”
— before immediately being replaced by fear as he came face to face with him.
For a moment, his mind went completely blank. Batman. The bat. The Dark Knight. Mysterious shadowy Vigilante. The fact his car was here was enough confirmation that he existed, but— seeing really is believing.
“Whoops.”
It slipped out before he could get his body to unfreeze, but Batman didn’t seem to care, despite the slight twitch up his mouth did before he stood up in his full edgy-and-jacked glory.
“You’re going to give me back my tires.”
He would not.
“Who said I took them?”
Batman looked down at him, wholly unimpressed. “What else is a tire iron for?”
Jason’s breath stuttered, before deciding on doing something really, really stupid.
“This!”
As hard as he could, he slammed the tire iron into the Vigilante’s chest, and legged it.
“Try and catch me, you big boob!”
Sprinting away, he didn’t bother looking back.
Getting home was arguably the hardest part.
He’d run around in circles for awhile, just in case the bat had somehow followed his trail. He’d squeezed through narrow alleyways, hidden behind buildings, and even snuck on a few rooftops.
All of it was practically instinct, as he could barely think straight over the rushing of his own blood in his ears.
He’d attacked Batman. Batman. Batman. And the now abandoned tire-iron had literally bent after making contact.
Not only that, but he’d stolen his tires and lied to his face about it with the incriminating evidence in his own bloody hands.
He should’ve left after the first one. In his hunger-fueled-haze, he’d gotten greedy.
Slipping back into his room, Jason slumped against his ratty mattress, just barely missing the worn stack of books he kept close.
He slipped his shaking hands into his jean pocket, pulling out a cigarette and almost empty lighter. Despite the obvious cons to smoking ‘cancer on a stick’, Jason couldn’t help but revel in the comfort that breathing in the nicotine and smoke brought. Especially now, with the whole “i just robbed & attacked Batman and got away with it” situation sinking in.
He took another breath in just as the sound of a deep voice caught his attention.
“That’ll stunt your growth, kid.”
Coughing, Jason dropped the cigarette and stomped on it as he hastily got up from the floor and took five paces away from the tall figure.
Batman. A giant urban legend come to life that could be in any shadow. He beat down criminals and dismantled corruption with power, all the while not killing a single soul. His much cheerier side kick, robin, was nowhere to be seen— a newspaper Jason had found in the trash claimed he hasn’t been seen in ages.
Maybe Batman was a lot less menacing with a kid by his side, because while Jason barely got a glance at his hulking and terrifying figure earlier, he had his fair share now.
If his eyes widened any further, they’d fall straight out of his head. How had he—?
Of course he’d found him— he was Batman.
“Take your lousy tires, already, and go—” He shoved a finger back towards them, puffing his chest up and refusing to show any more fear that he already had, “Just leave me alone!”
Batman’s dark cape swept with him as he glanced at the tires, then assessed the room.
Jason glanced around it too in apprehension.
Cracked walls, a broken window. A thin mattress shoved in the furthest corner of the room. A stack of books and magazines alike that he’d gotten his hands on over the years. A couple posters of him and his dad’s favourite musicians and bands. Rubbish.
“Kid—Do you…live here?”
Something must have displeased the Bat, as he was clenching his jaws.
Jason felt his heckles rise.
“Yeah! What of it? It’s all mine, and I like it.”
“Where are your folks?”
“I don’t know where my dad is.” another lie. It was likely not to tell him his dad was a criminal.
“And your mother?”
“She’s dead,” He felt something rotten squelch in his stomach as he glanced towards the only picture he’d gotten of her. Back when things were okay. When she was healthy. “Got sick. Okay? Now get outta here!”
When the man didn’t make any move towards the door, Jason felt his fear spike again, and formed a fist.
“Or do I have to make you leave?” He swung. This time, Batman caught it, and easily lifted him until they were eye to eye. Jason wished he could poke his.
“You’re a scrappy one, I’ll say that much,” he grumbled, before placing the squirming kid back down and easily moving out of his reach.
Jason huffed, stomping over to the tires and beginning to roll one towards the fire escape.
“Wait,” Batman called out behind him. He jumped as a hand touched his shoulder, and almost fell into the tires. “Oh—…sorry.”
Jason tried to fuel as much annoyance as he possibly could into his glare as he shuffled away from the tires, ignoring the fear that bubbled just beneath his skin.
If Batman didn’t hit him after he’d attacked him twice, he’d definitely not hurt him now.
“You don’t need to roll them all down by hand.” He glided towards the fire escape in an almost hypnotising way, “I’ve got a better method.”
Jason watched Batman set up his contraption, biting down on his bottom lip out of nervousness.
Despite his attempts to appear as tough and mostly unafraid, Jason Todd was freaking the fuck out.
He’d really fucked himself over now. He’d just had to steal tires from the one guy who thrashes criminals on the nightly. The hunger and thirst that had gotten him there was long gone, now, leaving a pit in his stomach in their places.
Now there was no way he wasn’t ending up in a shitty foster home.
He’d heard horror stories about those places from kids who had managed to escape. Abuse and negligence were common occurrences. There was the occasional sweat-shop, too, but none of them were as scary as the places that were fronts for child trafficking.
Jason couldn’t help the shudder that overcame him, absent mindedly wrapping his arms around himself.
Nope, not today, not ever, thank you very much.
He considered just making a run for it and ditching all of his stuff before he heard a throat clear.
He snapped his head back up as the Bat swept back into the room, mentally cursing himself for being inattentive of his surroundings once again.
Suspiciously, he watched the man tie one of the tires to the rope, before pulling on it experimentally. He gestured for Jason to move closer, and he did, albeit begrudgingly.
“Get it down by pulling on this," he tugged the rope downwards, before he swept back into the room. Jason watched in disbelief as he easily hefted one up on his shoulders and swiftly made his way down the creaky fire escape, doing the same with the other.
“Show off,” he grumbled. Just rolling one down the street had been a hassle for Jason.
He ignored the huff of laughter he most definitely imagined as he hastily grabbed on the rope, not wanting to fill the silence with any commentary.
Batman seemed to have other plans, since he soon spoke up.
“I’m afraid just giving me back my property isn’t enough to get me to leave,” he stated as the tire got half way down. Jason bit the inside of his cheek, speeding up his process. Of course it isn’t. Nothing in Jason’s life ever is.
He let out an annoyed sigh, stomping down the fire escape before he remembered just how rusted it was, and chose to sulk instead.
“You’re gonna call the cops, then? Figures.” He couldn’t help but let bitterness in his gut slip out of his lips as he began to roll the tire down the street. He really regretted promising his mom not to end up in chains, now. Breaking a promise made to a dead person just felt wrong.
“Not the cops,” Batman started, a little awkward, almost. “I think we do have to have to tell the juvenile authorities, at the very least.”
Jason almost dropped the tire at that.
It shouldn’t shock him as much as it does. Jason is still a kid, almost 12, and he’s got no parents. But—
“Social workers? Piss off!”
But he’d rather be hungry and free than hungry and locked away with several other hungry kids.
“I can fend for myself just fine!” He didn’t glance at Batman, nor flinch at the curious gaze etching into his shoulder. He didn’t. “I’ve been on the streets long enough to know them, and I like it here!”
“I don’t wanna end up in a goddamn sweatshop, with my arms chained to some crummy sewing machine—” he leaned the tire against the car, turning around to defiantly stare into where the Bat’s eyes might’ve been. “—and im not some charity case! I’ve been surviving on my own, cuz I’m my own man! I’m Jason Todd!”
Batman seemed to be puzzled over his words, if his tightly pressed together lips were any indication.
Just as he opened his mouth, Jason’s stomach gave a loud gurgle.
Jason had no idea his facs could flush hotter than the sun, but it did.
He quickly spun around, before picking the tire iron back off of the floor— it wasn’t broken enough to be unusable, thankfully— and beginning to put it all back together. Batman silently passed the next two to him, and kept his tongue until Jason began to put in the last few bolts.
“Jason Todd, huh?” His voice held hints of interest, and something else— worry? “How long was your mother ill for?”
“I dunno…a year? Two? It,” he hesitated, chewing on his lip again, “It got worse a bit over a year ago. I found her food and stuff— kept her warm and alive as long as I could.”
Batman slowly approached, making sure that he could see him clearly, before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“What about schooling?”
A familiar glum feeling overcame him as he put in the last bolt. School. Unlike most kids, Jason had loved it. History, Geography, English, Spanish— you name it.
But his mom was getting really bad, and if he didn’t help her get better, she’d be gone, and he’d be all alone forever.
He’d guiltily snuck away a few of his favourite books from their library, but aside from that, he’d been completely detached from all education.
He swallowed it back down, shrugging the warm, gentle,comforting hand off of his shoulder. “I graduated from the thought streets of crime alley a long time ago.”
Batman took a step back as he got back off of the ground, frowning at the dirt on his knees. He absently patted himself down as Batman nodded at his handy work.
“How about we make a deal,” Batman started, fully turning towards him. “No cops, no social workers. But you’ll go to school.”
Jason’s neck almost snapped in half from how quickly he looked up at him. “What?” He asked, almost wispy in his shock. It sounded too good to be true. “What school?”
“Ma Gunn’s school for boys— right down here in Crime Alley.”
Crime Alley was a shit show. It was frequented by Gotham’s most heinous people, and hungriest children. Even Batman didn’t frequent here— which made him being there at all just that much shocking.
A school in such a place like this couldn’t be any good.
But…
“Ma Gunn isn’t just a school,” he continued, taking Jason’s silence as a sign of reluctance, “Every child is fed. The media seems to view it positively, as well.”
Jason stared at his feet, licking his bottom lip.
He could hope, right? Just this once?
“Well,” he began, gingerly putting his hand in the other’s “If even Batman gives it glowing reviews, it can’t hurt, right?”
The smile Batman gave him in reply was soft, and Jason didn’t know if he should’ve been scared or not, but he decided to just let the excitement of continuing his education wash over him.
It wasn’t too good to be true, was it?