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This was a stupid idea. A terrible, no-good, naive hope that this might have worked had fueled them - but honestly what were they expecting? Luck is a fickle thing that has never been loyal to them, of course stealing tires from the Batmobile wouldn’t be the ultimate get-rich-quick scheme. Obviously there’s a reason no one’s gone for it before.
Peter is stressing the fuck out. His brother just left, rolling away the third tire they stole, and Batman just caught Peter with a tire iron to the fourth one.
Well. It was a good life while it lasted. Peter just wishes he could have said goodbye to Jason before he left. That’s too bad. How unfortunate.
In his defense! In Peter’s stupid, terrible, no-good, naive defense! When he heard Batman show up and laugh, he startled. When Batman proceeded to reach towards Peter? He panicked! Batman never laughs, clearly he has lost his mind, and Peter was the final straw, and now Peter’s gonna be the first on a long list of names on a grave!
If there’s anything a Todd’s gonna be known for - it’s gonna be that they’re gonna fight back ‘til the very end! So Peter swung the tire iron at Batman’s midsection and hoped and prayed to a God he doesn’t even really believe in. Even if he gets caught here, may Jason be spared, hopefully when he gets back he understands why Peter’s missing, and leaves him to die on his own. Save himself.
Next thing he knows, Peter is signalling to Jason to stay in the shadows as Batman has him return all three stolen tires back to the car. Batman doesn’t question if he had help at all, so he doesn’t offer the information. Then, oddly, Batman takes Peter with him. And he becomes Jason.
It’s little more than a month later when Peter sees Jason again. Peter is Robin now, and he finds Jason hiding in one of their favorite alleys. (It’s behind a restaurant that always throws away excess food at the end of the night. It’s incredibly wasteful. It’s a treasure chest in a desert. Other homeless kids usually get to it first, and leave very little by the time the Todd’s get there. That’s okay. Those kids need it more than they do.)
Jason recognized him immediately, dropping whatever food he had found onto the ground, so he could open his arms and embrace him.
Peter tells him everything.
Later that night, Jason sneaks into Wayne Manor.
There’s two of them now. In the house. No one else knows that, of course. It’s a secret shared by the two Todd twins.
Jason hoards his food. Bruce thought he would grow out of the habit, thinking that once Jason gets used to a stable living condition, he won’t feel so food insecure. Yet, it’s been months, and Bruce still catches him sneaking food to his bedroom.
To be honest, Bruce doesn’t know how to bring it up. Not in any way that won’t make Jason hide further into the shell he was just coming out of. So, he says nothing at all.
They switch out everyday. One day Peter pretends his name is Jason, and the next, Jason pretends to be a facade with his same name. They keep each other updated with conversations the other had, and training tips for being Robin. After all, Bruce only took in “Jason,” no way he wanted both the real Peter and Jason. He signed up for one, so they’ll only be one.
It lasts about five months like that. And then Jason gets sick.
“Now, pray tell, young Master Jason, what you need all that ibuprofen for?” Alfred caught Peter stealing bottles from one of the unused bedroom’s bathrooms (and isn’t that absurd? The sheer amount of bedrooms in this manor, each with their own personal bathrooms, and each of which are stocked full.)
And again, Peter is panicking. He’s gonna think I’m a junkie. He’s gonna tell Bruce and kick me out. We’re gonna need to leave. And Alfred must see the fear on his face because he kneels down to his level, places a hand to Peter’s shoulder, and nods his head down a little so he has to flick his eyes up to make eye contact with him.
“You’re not in trouble. If you are in any pain, tell me or Master Bruce and we will aid you as much as we can, lad.”
“It’s not for me!” Peter yells, which honestly only makes Alfred confused.
Curse Peter and his stupid, terrible, no-good, naive comebacks! But he felt like he was being accused of something, he wanted to defend himself! And he couldn’t even come up with a good “it’s not what it looks like!” bum ass excuse.
In the end, he lets Alfred into his room without warning Jason to hide first.
It’s not long after that, they become Jason and Peter Todd Wayne.
And life is good, for three years. They’re fifteen, just a few months shy of sixteen.
And then Bruce accuses Peter of murdering Felipe Garzonas.
Peter is grounded from being Robin. Jason refuses to be Robin in solidarity.
Peter finds out about their birth mother. Potential unconditional love for the both of them. Peter goes out to find her.
Bruce goes out to find the Joker.
Jason stays home.
When Bruce comes back, it’s with a five foot two cold body.
Bruce doesn’t tell Jason what happened.
Maybe it wouldn’t have changed anything. Maybe it would’ve changed everything.
It’s their sixteenth birthday. And only Jason is there to show for it. He feels half empty.
The dinner table is quiet. When Jason blows out the candles, he wishes to find out what happened to his little twin.
He does. He found out what happened. He learned it all. And he was mad, so mad, he donned the Robin costume for the first time in months, and he went looking for the Joker.
And Robin found him, the Joker.
“A new birdie so soon?” The Joker asked.
The Joker found him, Robin.
“No, no…” The Joker laughed. “Haven’t I killed you before?”
And Batman is not there at all.
Jason is stressing the fuck out.
It’s been months. A year maybe.
Batman’s not coming. Batman would have found him by now. He must have given up on him.
He hadn’t wanted Jason anyways. He only brought in the “Jason” that was actually Peter.
Somewhere towards the back of his mind, he feels a bit of relief. At least Peter didn’t have to go through this.
The front of his mind is preoccupied by the heat of a metal J branding.
Jason and Peter were roughly the same size when he last saw him. By sixteen Jason was around five foot eight. Jason wonders if they would have had their growth spurts at the same time. Jason must be seventeen now. Like Peter, he doesn’t celebrate it at all, he doesn’t even feel bad about it. He feels completely drained.
He’s only getting taller.
Sir says it’s ‘cuz he’s giving him “lotsa love to the growing boy.”
He’s growing faster here than he did at the manor. Maybe Sir is right, and is just giving him what he needs. Maybe Batman was right to think either of them had the capacity to kill Garzonas, violence is the fuel for people like him, the rain and sunlight that lets them grow. And Sir hits him again.
Sometimes he thinks about Catherine.
When she was sick, one of them would go out to get medicine, while the other would stay and rub circles into mama’s back. If she was sick the next day, they would swap shifts.
One night she got really sick. But she wasn’t sick the next morning.
She didn’t get up, either.
Sir disappears for a little bit. Just a short while.
Jason was getting excited. He could feel a pain in his stomach and a lightness in his head. He thinks he might finally die here. The final pain before it all goes away, and he’s nothing again. Death is just like before being born. That wasn’t so bad, was it?
Sir comes back. Jason lives another day. Maybe next week, then.
He turns eighteen.
There’s some new player on the block or something. Sir is riled up about it, Jason’s not really listening much. Sir says something ‘bout going out to meet him. He’s so tired of that voice. It makes him want to cut his eardrums out, fill the canals with lead.
Jason wishes he was granted catatonia. He wants to pound his head against the wall.
He gets shot instead.
He survives.
Jason has a whole ass militia ready to fight and die on his command.
It’s Halloween night and he’s gonna kill that bastard Batman that abandoned his brother when Peter needed him, and abandoned Jason when he wanted him.
There’s quite a few rogues here, but he’s the one Batman should be focused on. Yet, yet… halfway through the night. Jason’s already made his reveal, but Batman disappeared. Fine, that’s fine. He can’t hide forever. Jason will find him.
Someone else finds Jason first.
When he turns around, gun drawn at eye-height, he finds the same image mirrored back at him - wearing a red helmet. Wide and taller, like he’d never seen malnutrition in his life. Something in the way he stands is calling to him, so familiar. They both lower their guns, but don’t holster them.
The Red Hood stares at the Arkham Knight.
The Arkham Knight stares right back.
Maybe this was a stupid idea. A terrible, no-good, naively hopeful idea. Yet, he feels halfway full.