#rejay

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Rena was tempted in high school, peer pressure and all, to try out drugs, Jason convinces her otherwise et cetera , et cetera...

Our queen.

Note, Rena was introduced when Jason was still a ginger and had a circus background, so we scrap that because we liked street (b)rat Jason Todd in this house hold! MY AU, MY RULES!

Anywho, Jason gets a civilization girlfriend (take that, Tim and Bernard!) and, y'know, couple-y teen things and they're GOOD together, Jason makes Rena wanna be a better person, make good choices. They talk about the future, trying to get into the same college, Rena hangs out at Jason's when neither he nor Bruce are injured, they make plans to go to prom together and talk about different career paths...

Then Jason dies.

Rena finds out from the paper after blowing Jason's phone up for a week with no response, Bruce was to... He didn't even think to tell his sons girlfriend, forgets entirely till he sees her at Jason's funeral, but can't bring himself to speak to her, he doesn't know how, he's never been good at emotions. Rena speaks to him though, she's heartbroken and distraught and hurting, so bad, and she's went through all their pictures twice, printed them out, looks through their texts on her stupid Wayne tech flip phone Jason got her... But she tells him that Jason loved him, he was a good Dad. He doesn't know what to do, or say, but he tells her if she ever needs anything to give him a call.

Rena doesn't, she doesn't know what to do after Jason dies, after she loses him, it's spinner as some dumb accident but she doesn't believe that for a second, but she's no detective, she's no super genius or brilliant prodigy, she's no Jason Todd. So, she winds up where all Gothamites do when they reach eighteen with no plans: Crime Alley, the slums, whatever you wanna call it...

She tries several times to convince herself to do drugs, anything, really, even weed but then she thinks back to her stupid first love, Jason's smile, his eyes, that dimple, the way his bangs curled... And she ends up angry and smoking a cigarette like they used to do together.

Then the Red Hood shows up in Gotham, which was no biggie, they pop up and disappear all the time. She barely pays the name any mind outside a laugh, and when she hears he's recruiting goons? Oh, please, that's hilarious. But, hey, she's homeless, she could use the cash, and she's nineteen.

She's confident— Jason taught her to be that— and bold when in the face of this guy that's practically a walking weaponry of swords, guns, knives, she thinks there's a croawbar... But, she laughs it off and really, really didn't expect to get the job. But, she's hired as a goon, one of the Red Hood's, and for some reason he's... Funny around her, and perhaps she's a bit funny around him.

He reminds her of Jason, from the books she's spotted him reading, the brand of cigarettes he smokes, the way he fiddles with his lighter, how he talks, his mannerisms, and perhaps she's just projecting way, way to hard. He hates the Joker, and who didn't have some beef with that clown? He's obviously a Gotham native, Crime Alley born— though you're less born in Crime Alley, more like a mold that forms and gains sentence, she thinks.

Then the Red Hood ends up in the apartment she managed to afford on her new salary, and he's injured, his throat was cut, and she's right there— freaking out just a tad, because woah, they live in a place where blood is the norm but that is a LOT— and he says no hospitals, no clinics, or says it as well as he can. Rena helps him out, patches him up, her Mom was a nurse, so she knew a thing or two.

She asks him, "Why did you come here, boss?" and he didn't answer immediately, she thinks he might've fallen asleep by that domino mask, and really, he looked so, so familiar. Then, he answers with this tired, groggy voice Jason used to get before they fell asleep watching movies while her parents were at word— they'd both worked nights— and he goes, "You always made me feel the safest."

—

Red Hood was gone by time she woke up the next morning, with crumbled up hundred dollar bills on her counter, a small note that said "to get the blood cleaned out." and she had to laugh.

She doesn't see her boss for a month, and when he is back, he doesn't say anything. He's mad, news broke out that the Batman and Red Hood had a confrontation.

Rena works for the Red Hood for a bit, watches him continuously fall in and out with the bats again and again, he disappears to run with his little wayward hero group, and she stays on the sidelines as one of his most trusted...

She gets tired of contemplating, tired of suspicion and maybes, and Rena finds him on the rooftops one day, climbs her way up, ignores his shock and snatches his cigarette to take a hit before demanding— confident, that's what Jason taught her to be— she asks if it's him.

There's no sorrow, no heartbreak in her voice, she's never wanted to be one of the emotional girls, and she's certainly never held onto hope before. Hood doesn't immediately answer, his helmet was clipped to his belt, his face was expressive without it.

He doesn't confirm it, doesn't deny it, "I'm not who I used to be."

"That's not what I asked." She retorted, handing the cigarette back after taking a final hit.

"What would you do if it was? If I was him?" He almost laughs, because he was no fifteen year old kid anymore, he wasn't that kid anymore, far from it, "Couldn't fall in love with me again." He states it, bitterly.

First loves and all.

"I'd need to have fallen out of love with you in the first place to fall for you again."

He snorted, fond, the smiles certainly matched, "That's cheesy."

The wind ran through their hair, and Jason took his final mask off to look at Rena, and to answer his question? She definitely could fall for him again.

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This was the, uh, Jason Todd x Rena supremacy post. Uh. Yeah.

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As the crowds began to assemble, finding seating on the field in front of the stage or lining up to buy food from vendors, I caught sight of a musician sitting cross-legged at the side of the festival stage, tuning her guitar. I immediately recognized this wispy, pretty young woman and wondered if others knew that she was about to go on stage and open the showcase. If they didn’t, they’d soon know her by her melodic tunes and powerful, precise voice.

Indeed, when J-pop artist Rejay opened the TOKYO CALLING × INSPIRED BY TOKYO showcase during SXSW 2026, the venue still had that early-set energy—people wandering in and out, chatting with friends, scanning schedules, figuring out where they might head next. But as she began to sing, the dynamic shifted. Conversations faded. People who had been drifting around the space began turning toward the stage. Very quickly, people came to attention and cell phones went up, recording a dynamic performance.