Honeybee || Jason Todd

Chapter 2

Jason clutched the torn, weathered jacket his mother had owned close to him. It hung off of his bony arms and provided a sense of warmth for him. Would he even bother getting up today, to what point was there?
He wasn't even sure if he was going to receive a meal today-- and it was cold, Jason was damp and the jacket was the only thing that was keeping him from freezing to death.

He heard sirens, laughing women and distant gunshots. It was familiar background noise to him, and Jason let out a shaky breath. He considered going to a homeless shelter tonight because the weather was getting too severe to bare, but he found himself preferring to starve than to appear in one of those. He knew what happened to some of the kids who went there.

So he focused on the noises, trying to ignore the hunger lingering in his chest.

Well, it was kind of difficult.
The water that soaked his skin to the bone trickled down his face from his hair.

He couldn't describe the feeling of this hollow bitterness he felt. His limbs wouldn't move, and Jason stayed in that alley, huddled in his mother's ragged jacket for what felt like weeks. He couldn't even remember what day it was.
All he knew was that if he let his guard down, he may not even get the chance to see another day.

Although, Jason didn't fear that thought anymore.

There were far too many times where Jason had to resort to theft and other petish crimes to survive. Sometimes he'd even do it for fun-- just to feel a kick in his distraughtful life with the other kids from Crime Alley who had suffered a similar fate to Jason.
It was fun, in a sense.

He thread his fingers in and out of the cigarette burns that littered the jacket, desperately hoping that there wouldn't be a snowstorm tonight.
Because Jason knew deep down that he wouldn't make it through that.

The yellow cape flew out behind him and stopped short just above the knees, his tight red shirt along with green shorts that were far too revealing. He looked like a traffic light compared to Batman.
What was the deal with that?

He didn't mind it an awful lot though. You could put him in anything really and he'd still be thrilled to channel his anger through fighting crime.
Well, that's what Bruce taught him anyway.

He had taken the original Boy Wonder's spot as Robin. Richard Grayson. Jason had never even had a proper conversation with him before stealing his predecessor's position. Which jason thought was kind of a dick-move (no pun intended).

But he was off with the Titans though, so that wasn't his problem anymore. It wasn't his fault that Dick had gone and gotten himself fired. Well, Dick sure thought it was. Who knew a guy could be so hostile towards you when you hadn't even shared a word before?

He had heard a handful of Bruce and Dick's arguments before Dick left. Jason was always mentioned in one way or another-- whether is be that Dick hounded Bruce for bringing home a "street rat" and making him Robin, or Bruce wishing Dick would be a "big brother" to Jason and to stop being so irrational and hostile towards him.

Jason didn't care for either accusations including him. He knew he was a street rat compared to Bruce or Dick, who were raised by an accepting society. He knew he could never truly fit in or succeed Bruce's standards-- let alone high society's. And he also knew that Dick would never consider Jason a younger brother-- or even family for that matter.

Even though Jason was content with that after spending essentially his whole life alone, it still hurt to hear it everytime it was brought up.

Well, the chances of any of those changing was close to the negatives.