Rena_2307

It's bittersweet! But mostly sweet!!! LISTEN--

early high school romance, super juvenile and innocent, bonded over books and school work. Definitely each other's first scrape with anything 'romantic', and probably the first time Jason felt kind of normal in years. Rena is one of the few people who can say she knew 'Jason Todd' as he was before he died, and without knowing he was robin. (Although, she had her suspicions when he'd show up to school with bruises, or when he'd opt of of PE for the day, or when he'd come to her window late at night just to chat, out of breath with odd glue residue around his eyes. She's also heard robin laugh a few times, when he's swinging around with Batman. It sounds like Jason's laugh, but when she brings it up to Jason as a joke, he shrugs it off like "you must miss me a lot when I'm not around"). She's the only kid from Gotham academy that ever set foot in Wayne Manor by Jason's invitation, and the only kid Alfred can even recall Jason speaking about after school.

Jason tells her that he thinks he's in love with her. Rena thinks she feels something similar, but the words get a little caught in her throat, so she just leans forward on the bench where they're sitting, and kisses his cheek. And Jason turns scarlet.

But then Jason starts pulling away. It's out of the blue, with zero explanation. All she knows is that the last few times he's seen him, he's not really there. His eyes are glazed, he can't answer the question in literature when he's called on, and he doesn't find her outside of her locker between every class like usual. he starts missing days at school with no warning, and his assignments are getting turned in late-- he's missing rehearsals for the school show that she's running tech on. He has a small speaking role, so it doesn't affect much, but she knew he loved it. She gets a cryptic voicemail one night, and Jason's voice is stuffy and congested on the recording, and all he says is that Bruce isn't too happy with him, and that he's going out of a town for a bit because he wants to see if he can find his birth mom. "I'll be back before you know it... love ya." He says. And the message beeps to an abrupt close.

Her stomach is in knots. She was there when Jason first brought up searching for his biological mom. She was there when he looked at her with his sad baby blues and asked, "She must have had a good reason for it, right? Like if you were going to have a baby, what would have to happen in order for you to give it up?"

She calls the manor multiple times-- Alfred picks up once and explains that "Master Jason is currently occupied, but I shall let you know he called." And Alfred speaks like Jason is home-- but Rena knows he isn't. Bruce Wayne hasn't appeared in a tabloid in a little over a week. That's not normal.

She wakes up on April 27th, and she goes to school. And everyone is staring at her. Weird stares, that make your skin crawl, that make you feel like you can't really breathe. It's like the air is stale and somber around her, the school is quiet in a way it usually isn't. She walked deliberately to Jason's locker, because she always does, every day since he stopped showing up at hers. But he isn't there.

What is:

A bouquet of flowers, a cross, and a newspaper clipping.

Publication Date: April 27th, 6am.

The news has only been out for two hours, and there's already the beginnings of a memorial starting.

Rena's lungs are spasming in her chest as she reads the headline: "Bruce Wayne's Adopted son, Jason Todd-Wayne, Murdered by Notorious Mass-Murderer, The Joker." And the single image is older, from when Jason was twelve, on the steps of the courthouse he came out of the day he was adopted by Bruce Wayne.

She's so goddamn angry when the funeral is privatized. She's so angry when she wanders up to the Wayne cemetery gate, and all she can do is stare from afar as the grave-diggers erect that god-awful angel headstone, weeks after the funeral. She's so fucking mad when she calls the manor just to ask if there's anything she can do, and she receives no answer.

She listens to Jason's voicemail until her ears feel like they're bleeding, and all she is hollow and snot.

Because her boyfriend is dirt, and death, and maggots-- and she never said it back. Would he have still left, if she had just told him that she loved him too? That it wasn't even that she thought she might-- but that she knew she did?

Robin looks different. Some part of her feels certain that she knows why. That she was right all along.

Time doesn't really wait for grief, doesn't wait for you to pick yourself up and say "Yes, I have mourned enough. It is time to move." Time moves you before you even get your feet beneath yourself.

The rest of High school is a mind-numbing blur. She has flickers of happiness, she meets to new friends, guys ask for her number; but she can never give it, because there's only one phone on this fucked planet that she wants her number on, and it's the one that will never be picked up again. She goes to prom in a senior year-- refused in her junior, because she had had this stupid fantasy of going with him ever since he first held her hand.

She goes dress shopping with her girls, and she paints her face for the high school football games, and she joins speech and debate, and she doesn't touch theater tech ever again. She joins the yearbook with one goal in mind: and that's to make sure his face is on the senior page, and that he's acknowledged during graduation. And she can barely breathe when one guy laughs at her for caring, "He's dead. Not like it matters." She hears him mutter, and she jabs him hard in the side with her elbow as she passes in the hall.

On graduation, she arranges his seat beside her own, and flips off anyone who rolls their eyes when she stops them from sitting in it. She walks the stage alone, like everyone else. And feels the weight of the world on her shoulders when his name is called, and his picture goes up on the screen-- and she hollers and cheers through tears, because she remembers how badly he wanted to graduate and go to college.

For a moment, as she's leaving the ceremony, she swears she sees a boy-- a man? Who looks just like him, only he's got more scars and a white streak in his hair, and he vanishes before she can really think too much harder about it. And besides, Jason is dead. And that guy was so tall-- Jason was malnourished to hell, and he died small.

It's a Wayne Charity gala when she sees the same guy again. It's three years later. She's in her last year of college, studying social work, because Jason Todd inspired her like no one else.

But this guy-- a total wallflower, and he seems to know Dick Grayson, and Tim Drake-Wayne, and Damian Wayne. There's even a few times that Bruce Wayne stops to chat with the guy, and it looks oddly tense but it passes quickly.

But he looks just like him. Yes-- there's weird things, odd things that make her hesitate to be sure, like the hair, the size of him, the way his eyes don't look quite as blue-- but there's other things, a specific beauty mark just on the corner of his lip that Rena often thought about kissing, but held herself back because she was stupid, and regret is a bitch. There's also this divet in his cheek, right below his eye, and it's a scar she remembers reaching out to touch, on a face less weathered.

He's staring right at her.

And she knows she looks good, but she doesn't look that good. He's staring at her like she's oxygen and he hasn't breathed in years. And it's so much more mature than she remembers it.

And God is she fucking insane? Jason Todd is dead. Jason Todd is dead. Jason Todd is--

"You look like a boy I dated in high school." Rena blurts out, unsure of when she'd gotten so close. And she watches his expression shift and spasm, and whatever is going on looks like it hurts. "That's why I was staring." she adds, as if it will save the interaction somehow. It doesn't. And she chooses to make it worse. "He passed away. That's really why I'm staring."

"What was his name?" The guy asks, and even his voice has this awful familiarity to it. It's gruffer, deeper-- but the inflection? Something about it is so--

"Jason Todd." She says.

The guy's eyes widen, and he seems to choke on air for a minute, "You actually remember me?"

(ensue the most dramatic and heart-wrenching proper reunion ever, paired with Rena crying BUCKETS like "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU"VE BEEN ALIVE FOR ____ YEARS AND NEVER CAME AND FOUND ME?" And Jason is like "YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT I"VE BECOME!! WTF?? I Was just supposed to come back and put a ring on it, like I"m not a fucking murderer???" and she's like "YES???? THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT--" "How was I supposed to know you weren't dating anyone??" "PLS BE FR. All it would take is a quick look at my FB status to know I wasn't." "Okay but there was no guarantee you would have been happy to see me! And I wasn't exactly someone worth seeing" "oh my God I fucking loved u you dumb fuck")

later, when they've both calmed down: "You were at graduation." She says. He's quiet for a long time, before he replies, "Yeah, you made sure I was."

KYPTONITE LISTEN

Ok does everyone remember what Dark Matter did w the kyptonite and how it make peter revert back to pre-power/blocked off his powers? Not exactly sure what was going on, but along those lines

But instead of powering down peter, I think it'd be SO cool if the radiation from the kyptonite was like. Weirdly compatible w the radiation in Peter's body from the spider bite and instead gave him a power up

Which leads me into peter ending up the favorite of the supers bc theyre fighting a villain of the week turned villain of the month (big promotion) and they're using kyptonite on superman (and adjacent if present) and peter doesnt know what else to do so he just kinda. Eats it

"Why would you do that?!" Someone, anyone, yells in worry and sheer bewilderment.

"I panicked, okay! Its called stressed eating!" Peter yells, easily holding up something that would've pushed his body to the limit on a normal day.

And so now Batman carries around kyptonite to ward of a (yet again) mind controlled super or in case he needs a powered up spider-man

He just so happens to be really good for no reason and people LOVE him (other film majors try to steal him all the time)

But nope. Hes in a new universe that has completely different heroes, and more importantly, completely different memes (what the hell is "do the butts match"??) And this place has a distinct lack of one Tony Stark

So Peter basically starts up Stark Enterprises in NY again bc he poor and its what Tony (probably) wouldve wanted. He had to pay for this metabolism somehow

But obviously peter needed an investor or twenty, but who needs more than one when Brucie Wayne exists?? Hes like a hunkier yet still bimbo Tony, and practically throws his money at any sad looking teen

But Brucie wayne ends up taking him under his wing, bc hes like. An 18/19 year old CEO and he is Very Concerned abt how this kid not only invented a new type of metal (vibranium) and a very powerful form of energy (arc reactors), so he pays extra attention bc he does NOT need a villain running around with that kind of power and intelligence to back it

Ace: Why is your portion of food bigger?

Yuu: Because the ghosts in the cafeteria are friends with the ones in our dorm.

Grim: All the ghosts at school get together every once in a while to play cards in Ramshackle.

Yuu: And we get to join in, too!! They always let us win a few games *smiling*

Deuce: It’s like they’re… your uncles?

Ace: That’s favoritism!!!

Yuu: Excuse me for the fact that someone at this school cares about and looks out for a teenager and their cat living alone in a dilapidated dorm room.

Ace and Deuce: …

Ace: Touché.

.

Summary: You meet a tiger without an owner nearby. Since u have a death wish (loving cats to death), you go up to play with him. Unexpectedly his owner, was there all along, enjoying the show.

Tags: Fluff, crack fic

Minajael Tealrajah x GN!Reader