An Appointment with the Past (Jason Todd X Fem!Childhood Friend!Reader)
An: I have returned with new Jason-elicited inspiration! I plan to make this a little series if people like this first part enough. Literally came up with it in the shower😭
Synopsis: You were Jason Todd’s childhood best friend—right up until Gotham stole him from you. After his death, you keep going through the motions: school, grief, and quiet conversations at his grave that no one is supposed to hear. When Bruce Wayne finds you there, he offers you a job as his new secretary, pulling you back into the orbit of the manor and the life you lost. Months later, a new name starts flooding the news: Red Hood—violent, fearless, and always one step ahead. You try to ignore the unease crawling up your spine… until the danger stops being something you watch on TV and becomes something waiting in your apartment. Because the man under that helmet isn’t a stranger. And the past you’ve been mourning might not be as buried as you thought.
Warnings: Fem!Reader, mentions of death and grief, stalker-ish tendencies (Jason just misses his bestie). If I missed any, please let me know. 1,446 words.
You had been Jason’s childhood best friend. You’d met at school after he’d been taken in by Bruce, and were inseparable from then on. Many times you’d been to the manor to hang out, and he’d even been to your house. Everyone at the manor knew your name well, even Dick from the rare times he was there and around Jason, him talking Dick’s ear off about you. It was clear how much you meant to each other.
It hadn’t been long after Jason had told you about being Robin that Joker got to him. The memory of finding out he was dead stayed clear in your mind. School became a sentence, only there to do your work and keep your grades up. Jason had really been your only friend, and the dullness that came with grieving your best friend seemed to just steer people away. Eventually, you did graduate, and after how isolating high school without Jason had been, you opted to just stick to the local community college and make life easy.
On one of the rare sunny Gotham evenings in late July before your first semester, you were at the cemetery for one of your regular visits to Jason’s grave. It was a regular occurrence for you to just show up and talk away to the dark headstone, choosing to ignore the angel that sat on top and stare at Jason’s name instead. Coincidentally, Bruce had decided to stop by after work. It had been a long day, having gone the week without a secretary to assist him after his previous one had moved away from Gotham. He saw you from the base of the hill on the little gravel road. It was common knowledge to those who knew you that you visited often, so it was no surprise to him.
Bruce waited for a few minutes, opting not to interrupt you right away. He just watched, seeing you gesture with your hands at the neat marble. A grin tugged at his lips when he took note of how clean the gravesite was; you must’ve cleaned it. After a small while, Bruce finally approached with soft steps. He spoke softly when he said your name, not wanting to startle you. You smiled sheepishly when you saw who’d called out to you. Obviously, you kinda knew that people were aware of your visits, but that didn’t stop you from still feeling a little embarrassed—the world had a way of making people feel like they should move on from a loss eventually.
“Hi Bruce,” you’d waved when you greeted him.
His smile grew a little, appreciating that you still felt comfortable enough to refer to him as his first name. “Hello Y/n. It’s nice to see you again.”
You smiled, a more cheery one this time. “It’s good to see you too. How are things at Wayne Enterprises?” The conversation was vaguely awkward, it having been a while since the two of you had spoken. After Jason’s passing, there weren’t really any means for you to be at the manor or around Bruce.
“They’re- fine, I suppose.” He’d thought about lying, but decided you probably knew better than to believe it. “You going to college this fall?”
You couldn’t help the pathetic little snort you let out. “Yeah… about two feet from my bed.” He gave you a look and you took it as a sign to elaborate, “I’m doing online classes through the community college. Just felt like a big university wasn’t what I needed right now.”
He nodded—it wasn’t judgmental, just acknowledging. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job at the moment, would you?”
His question took you by surprise, but you held back from a physical reaction. “I- am actually… Why?”
“My secretary had to quit due to a move,” he sighed. “I’m sort of looking for a new one. Who knew my schedule was so busy?"
The humorous little grin on his face eased your nerves a little. It was common knowledge that a business man such as Bruce Wayne would be busy. “You sure you want to hire some dumb kid who couldn’t even get herself to go to an actual school?”
Your self-deprecating tone hadn’t passed him up. “I’ve been around you enough to know you’re a good kid who can handle the job. I figure you can do your work for school in your free time too.”
You stared at the ground as you mulled it over in your head. The money would definitely be nice to have, and a relatively quiet place to do assignments while getting out of the house wouldn’t hurt either. “I think I’d be willing.”
The grin on his face broke into a smile with relief. “Think you can start Monday?”
That was how you got your job at Wayne Enterprises. The pay was a lot more than you’d been expecting, but it definitely didn’t hurt your feelings. Bruce wasn’t going to be the one to tell you it was because he was subtly trying to take care of you either. The work wasn’t too difficult, just keeping track of Bruce’s schedule, taking and passing along calls, and setting up appointments and meetings. Thankfully the workload for your classes wasn’t too bad either, meaning you were usually done with everything by the time you left to go home.
A few months into your semester and working for Bruce, you had enough money to sign a lease for an apartment, wanting to gain some independence. It wasn’t anything massive obviously, but it was decently nice and big enough for one person. There were a lot of times where you’d get home from work and turn on the news, just being nosy about things happening in the city, what with Bruce also happening to be Batman. Many times there was something to be said about this “Red Hood,” a new but infamous name around Gotham City. He seemed like a sketchy guy in your opinion, honestly made you a little nervous—especially the helmet.
It had been a few weeks into Jason being back in the city that he’d noticed you going into Wayne Tower on a regular basis. Odd. Though he’d quickly put the pieces together when he’d been sitting on a nearby rooftop and saw you at a desk through one of the big windows. Bruce’s secretary, huh? He couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed, after how everything had gone down. His anger towards Bruce was still strong, and to see you working for the man that had let him die was like a punch to the gut. Though he knew you didn’t fully know what happened that night.
Weeks of watching you through that same window passed, and he eventually figured out which apartment complex you lived in. Then he figured out which apartment was yours. And then he pried one of your windows open from his spot on the fire escape and waited in your living room for you to get home… You were oblivious when you first got through the door, hanging your work bag and keys on the hooks on the wall and taking off your little black heels. When you looked up and spotted him just sitting there, you yelped, almost believing you had lost your mind and were hallucinating. He didn’t budge, of course. Typical Jason.
“Good to see you’re finally home.” His voice was warbled through the helmet, disguising him thoroughly.
You scowled. “You’ve got some nerve breaking into my apartment. I don’t have anything for you, unless you’d like a pair of heels or a purse.” Despite all the terrible things the news said about him, you still had the guts to go and run your mouth at him. He’d always liked the feisty side of you.
A small chuckle crackled through the voice modulator. “I’m not here to take anything, Princess. So you can calm down.”
“Then what do you want?” You maintained eye contact, arms now crossed over your chest defensively. Bruce had told you to watch out for him…
Jason tapped his fingers rhythmically against the arm of the chair he sat in. “I just wanted to pop by and see you.” You could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
“See me? I don’t even know you,” you spat. Anxiety was posing itself as irritation.
He tilted his head at you before standing from his seat. “You might think that for now, but you’ll come to know me soon enough.” He waltzed over to the window and pulled it open. “See you again soon.” And with that he left.
Who on earth was under that damn Red Hood?
