Work Text:
Crime alley wasn’t for the weak. If you were too much of a push over then you already signed your death sentence. Crime alley tested you in ways no other place did. It tested you in figuring out when your next meal would be. Would it be in a couple of hours or days? It tested your resilience to the cold and sleeping in undesirable situations. You had to be ready to do anything to survive.
It tested how smart you were when it came to making decisions and how quick you could make them, because just hesitating for a second could mean you would fall victim to its many rotten people. You could be found dead in a ditch somewhere if you were lucky, or sold to someone if you were unlucky.
You learn not to trust people growing up in Crime Alley, you learn to question everything and everyone, because no one did things out of the goodness of their heart. They always wanted something, needed something. And if they were trustworthy, or kind hearted?
Crime Alley ended up swallowing them whole. It was a shite life.
Jamie Rojas met Jason Todd when they were both six years old. Orphaned at a young age Jamie didn’t trust anyone and his attitude towards others was a bit bleak.
But Jamie always had this itch to protect when it came to younger children. With a growl and a sneer he would greet the children, but they knew that he cared whenever he brought them some sort of sweet he got from stealing something from an unassuming rich person.
Jamie was small for his age, but he was strong and quick witted, and wouldn’t hesitate to throw the first punch.
When Jamie Rojas met Jason Todd, the young boy was covered in bruises from head to toe, a purple eye evident on his face. When Jamie met Jason Todd, the young boy had been crying outside what was Jamie’s home, which consisted of a cardboard fort.
At first he had been ready to get angry to yell a thim to fuck off.
But the look on the young boy's face, and the tears. He looked so small, it caused the yell that wanted to escape Jamie's throat to die there.
So instead he got out, a look of irritation clear on his face.
“You’re annoying” was all he said as he rustled through his belongings and began to make a hastily made sandwich, one he had been looking forward to having for lunch that day and a can of soda he was able to get when he traded some bread to one of the other kids, and handed it to the young boy.
At first he looked confused and he was hesitant, and Jamie didn’t blame him. No one could be trusted in Crime Alley.
He hesitantly grabbed the sandwich as Jamie rolled his eyes a bit.
“You’re as small as a twig-- here” He said as he offered the young boy some of his snacks, snacks that he kept for a special occasion like his birthday, but he easily handed it to the young boy-- a boy who was around his age but looked younger.
Jamie Rojas despite his snarls and cuss words and his pessimistic view of life could never ignore one in need.
Jason Todd, that was the young boy's name. And that wasn’t the first time he would encounter Jamie.
Jamie Rojas was everything people said about him. He was an asshole, he cussed anyone and did not give a shit how old you were if you irritated him he would let it known. A dirty poor boy-- there weren’t many opportunities to take showers, and showering wasn’t a main priority to surviving. A scam artist, a con artist-- doing anything necessary in order to get what he wants. Playing dirty -- and always siding with who would benefit him the most.
He was a violent guy. You could ask the ten guys' jaws he broke when a couple of young girls opened up about being harassed. And they never showed their faces in Crime Alley. No one is sure what happened that day, but the ones who were present could only hear their pleas.
Jason Todd considered himself a rat raised in Crime alley, someone unworthy of love. Given his parents there was a lot to be desired in the parental department.
Jason Todd was a young boy who vocalized his anger, but he was way too kind hearted for Crime Alley.
“You’re gonna get yourself killed one day” Jamie would often sneer at him as he punched one of the older boys that tried to rough the boy up. He was always starting things, trying to protect the sex workers, trying to keep the creeps away from them. But he was still a young boy and small.
Jason never listened to Jamie always scoffing at him.
Their relationship was weird, Jamie would say it was nonexistent. But to Jason it was something akin to what he could only assume was friendship.
The young male even with all his cussing, always got Jason food whenever it looked like his parents neglected feeding him. For all his angry bursts and annoyed looks, he was the only one who remembered Jason’s birthday and even if it was late at night and raining, he was able to come up with enough money to buy the young boy a birthday flavor ice cream, and a second hand copy of a novel the young boy had seemed interested in. And even if he didn’t look like he was listening whenever he spoke about his interests, Jamie was a boy with a photographic memory. And even if he said he only bought him the ice cream and book so that he wouldn’t have to hear his moping, Jason deep in his heart knew. He would never voice it outloud in fear of the other boy isolating himself.
As the months went by, the boys exchanged verbal insults. Things began to turn for the better for Jason Todd.
To say he was surprised that the young nerd had been adopted by Bruce Wayne, Jamie would have been lying. Bruce Wayne had taken in Dick Grayson after his parents demise, and Jason fit the ‘adoption’ memo, as he called it.
Jamie Rojas wasn’t proud of much he had done to survive, the amount of people that suffered his fists and his sharp mouth, he knew there was no spot in heaven for him. Not that it mattered. Jamie Rojas stopped believing in a higher being long ago.
There was one thing Jamie Rojas was proud of , and it was his ability to read people like an open book. So he was a bit taken back, but not surprised when he figured out that Jason Todd had become Robin, and Jamie wasn’t stupid. Bruce Wayne was Batman.
Jason Todd had always been a small boy, but living in the Wayne Manor was doing him good. And Jamie noticed that. And given the information of the young boy being Robin, a vigilante. Jamie did the one thing he always did whenever he thought he was about to taint someone. He disappeared.
Or rather he avoided the young vigilante and his mentor like the plague. And while Jamie had a bleak look on life, and didn’t really see much point in the life he was living, he wasn’t cruel enough to take the opportunity away from someone who needed it.
It made Jamie mad whenever he had to avoid his home because the young vigilante would perch there for a couple of hours waiting for him at night. Or in the mornings he would come in at unexpecting times trying to catch him to talk, and Jamie had to hide out with the older boys who were annoying.
The visits were frequent for a couple of weeks, until they became less and less. But from the shadows Jamie could see the young boy finally getting muscle on him, and he didn’t know what that feeling on his chest was whenever he would hear him use one of his insults whenever he was taking down the criminals.
Jamie continued doing what he did, angrily helping the kids that needed help and protecting the working girls whenever they needed him. He got paid a bit for that, so he called it a win.
A couple of months passed and it had become sort of routine, waking up, and trying to survive was kind of his life.
Given his attitude and his reputation Jamie began to create a small band of boys that swore teenage loyalty towards him. He was the fists and the brains of the operation. They knew that as long as they did what he said, they would have a roof on their heads and they wouldn’t be afraid of when their next meal would be and if anyone bothered them? Jamie wasn’t too kind to them.
It wasn’t a secret that Jamie was like a rabid dog whenever anyone crossed him. So loyalty was the option.
Jason Todd died the week of his birthday.
No one in Jamie’s group understood why when the teen read the headline of the now deceased Wayne ward he sat there completely silent.
A silent Jamie was a dangerous Jamie.
Usually with his shouts and yells, they were able to tell what he was thinking, and just how thin they should thread the line between him throwing something at them or him buying them a full course meal. It wasn’t often he threw things at them, but sometimes he did, he did when one of the older boys questioned him, thinking they could do better than him.
A silent Jamie hadn’t really been seen, not since an old man had tried to take advantage of the girls that were under his protection. He had been quiet when the girls sobbed, telling him their story, and Jamie had stood up and just said one phrase, that he would take care of it.
The next day the old man had been beaten near to death and was rushed to the ER. He didn’t make it.
No one spoke up about it. The girls were grateful.
Everyone else was terrified.
So when they saw him clutch the newspaper, not saying anything and just leaving, they were afraid of what was going to happen.
Jamie Rojas liked to think that death didn’t affect him, he distanced himself from everyone so he never really felt connected to them. And he always told himself that if someone he knew died. He would handle it better than anyone. But Jamie Rojas was from Crime Alley, bred through and through, and there was a sort of solidarity when you were born in such a shitty environment. Jamie Rojas was also the biggest liar he knew, and he lied a lot, to himself mostly.
If you would ask the people that surrounded Jamie what type of person Jamie was. The first word aside from violent, would be caring. In his own violent way the young teen cared a lot for the children in crime alley, and while no one mentioned it, he took offense whenever one of them had been hurt.
There was this crushing feeling in his heart and at the pit of his stomach that Jamie wanted gone. He felt enraged and wanted to laugh. He had told the stupid nerd that his kindness would get him killed. It was like he had prophesied it. And it made him sick to his stomach.
Jamie Rojas wasn’t normal. He wasn’t good at expressing his emotions, and he was violent. He could read people like a book and his photographic memory was useful when needed.
But that wasn’t what made him abnormal. Jamie despite everything shitty happening to him never seemed to look too thin for wear.
Jamie Rojas learned to fight hard and pull teeth when he realized that death wouldn’t take him. Jamie Rojas healed with a snap of a finger.
He never told anyone, not because he was afraid, but because it was a trump card, a trump card that he only used when things got bad, or he would go to do some damage where a normal person would get killed. Those didn’t happen often, but he developed it enough to help him in a pinch.
Jamie Rojas was usually never one to go on a suicide mission. But Jamie Rojas wanted the pit in his stomach to go away, and the only outlet he could come up with was violence. And Jamie loved using his fists.
As Batman became ruthless with his criminals, he didn’t notice how many of the Joker's underlings were left almost incapacitated in a coma. Many dead from the bash of a fist. And he didn’t know how someone had tried to recreate the way Jason Todd died to the Joker, but was unable to finish it as they were gunned down. The Joker would be in the hospital for months in Arkham.
Jamie Rojas hated feeling this way, and he didn’t know why. He didn’t know why the feeling at the pit of his stomach wouldn’t go away. He cursed at the guard who had shot him in the head before he finished his job.
Jamie also became a pain in Batman's ass for a while, finishing off the criminals he left paralyzed, and him disappearing from sight. It was probably cruel to leave mementos of Jason in his grave detailing him of his failure whenever he knew Bruce Wayne would be there.
But no matter how much his fists collided with the faces of the ones responsible for the death of the stupid nerd, the feeling at the pit of his stomach wouldn’t go away.
It wasn’t until a month after the death of the stupid boy that things began to change.
One of the girls had lost their sibling through a drug overdose and he had walked in on her crying, her somehow seeking comfort from him. His fists were red, covered in blood.
And as the girl sobbed into his jacket as she cried for her sister, he understood, and the gates, the flood gates he never opened, not when his parents died, not when he was abused, and tears fell down his face.
Jamie Rojas wasn’t one to mourn. But he mourned the death of the stupid boy. A boy named Jason Todd.
Jamie Rojas changed, if it were for the better or the worse, no one in his team could tell you.
But he became a menace to anyone who wanted to fuck with crime alley kids.
Jamie was more dangerous when he used his intellect rather than his fists. In the span of a year or two he was able to garner a reputation that told anyone-- even the rogues that fucking with him was going to end bad for them. Even if he was a nameless character to them.
There had been news about a new crime lord rising up the ranks. A guy by the name of Red Hood it is stated that he decapitated around seven of the heads of local mafia bosses. Some which Jamie himself had set up to have a harsh downfall, but he had been beaten to it.
Of course he was a bit irritated by that, but Jamie was always one to improvise. He had eyes and ears everywhere, due to the fact that the children from Crime alley and the working girls trusted him to take care of them. And they were loyal.
So it didn’t come to a surprise when one of his underlings told him that Red Hood was asking around for him.
It was easy to set a time and a date. And while many under him expressed a bit of concern, he wasn’t nervous at all. Irritated, but not nervous. No, Jamie hadn’t felt nervous ever since that day.
Jamie Rojas sometimes hated how perceptive he was as it often made him feel guilty for being able to just tell from a glance what a person had been through. It felt a bit invasive.
But at times it shocked him.
As Red Hood stood there, and he heard his breath stagger a bit, it was so small that one who wasn’t trained wouldn’t have caught it. But Jamie was way too observant for his own good. He analyzed too much too.
A speech pattern, it can tell you a lot about a person. And it’s a good identifier of a person too.
As soon as Red Hood started speaking, Jamie knew. He knew that speech pattern anywhere. And with the way he tensed when he came face to face with Jamie, it only confirmed it.
“You’re still as annoying as ever,” was all Jamie said.
With a simple phrase the upcoming crime lord who had come in all high and mighty dropped down to his knees as Jamie motioned for everyone to leave them alone. As Red Hood's body shook Jamie kneeled before him as he wrapped his arm hesitantly against the boy- now a teen. He was now bigger than Jamie, but it didn’t bother him.
Jamie didn’t offer any words of comfort, because he never did. It would take a miracle for him to do so. He just continued to embrace the young crime lord as he clung to Jamie like a lifeline. And that seemed to be enough for him.
It took a couple of minutes before they parted from the awkward hug.
It’s not like he needed to take the helmet off for Jamie to know, but he did anyway.
“How did you know?” And aged up Jason Todd looked back at him. He grew up into what he had imagined he would be. A bit peeved he couldn’t see it in real time.
“Like I could ever forget you, you stupid nerd” He said with a sneer. And Jason Todd stared at him for a second before he bellowed out a laugh. He laughed so hard Jamie was beginning to be concerned. What a weird guy.
Jason Todd laughed as he realized that Jamie Rojas-- the ever so asshole of Crime Alley recognized him. He had died, and had come back to life, he had decapitated several mafia bosses. He was dangerous.
But Jamie Rojas gave him the same annoyed look he gave him the first time they met, and the following times whenever he acted annoyed whenever he fed him.
Despite what happened, Jamie Rojas looked at him the same. It lifted something in his chest.
When he came back, he had wanted to check up on him first. But the male was nowhere to be seen and the worker girls ignored him whenever he asked about him. He had assumed the male had either left Gotham or died, but he had been so enraged by the pit he couldn’t process correctly.
As he worked up the ranks there were certain incidents that popped out to him.
Following his death many of the Joker's underlings were beaten up so badly they either died or were sent to a coma. It hadn’t been Batman's doing. It had been someone else. And how someone had been able to get into Arkham and almost recreated his injuries on the Joker before being taken out by a guard.
Incidents of a person going on a warpath against the Joker, many on the outside would be confused, but Jason Todd wasn’t stupid. As he asked around, the description he was given matched one person perfectly.
It had taken him aback a bit to realize that Jamie Rojas had known he was Robin, it had surprised him even more just how far he had gone in order to enact a sort of revenge.
He had died thinking that Jamie had gotten bored of him and let him go. But as he read the reports, it seemed it wasn’t the case. After a month of the war path, Jamie Rojas had gone off the grid. And no one had heard from him.
A couple of months later a new player was on the chess board, one who had an agenda against the rogues, and protected Crime Alley. They were a faceless player, one that went by the name ‘The protector’ which now that Jason thought about it was hella cheesy. But given what they did, it had instilled some fear on the thugs. And given their reputation, they were a formidable person.
Jason had just begun to ask around, he didn’t expect to be invited by them so easily to meet.
And Jason had been prepared to go in guns blazing and to kill a few people. But when he entered the warehouse, he realized many of the people there were children. Children who smiled at him and told him good luck. Children who laughed and played around. Children being children.
Whoever the person was had to be doing something good.
As he was led to the office of ‘The protector’ by two fourteen year olds everything caught him by surprised, and he tried to stop his breath from hitching.
Jason Todd did not expect to see Jamie Rojas sitting down on the table.
And like the first time they met, Jamie Rojas surprised him.
After he finished laughing Jamie frowned.
“So you’re the one that killed the assholes before I could get to them?” Jason nodded causing Jamie to nod.
“Not bad”
Jamie Rojas hardly gave compliments, ironic that the first one he gave to Jason was for him decapitating people. But Jamie Rojas was weird.
It was pretty predictable what happened next. Jamie Rojas, despite his frowns and annoyed glares, did not leave Jason Todd alone.
Slowly but surely they worked together to keep Crime Alley safe, Jason gunning down people and Jamie using his fists.
They were terrifying together. The crime in Crime Alley dropped so fast it was concerning.
Jamie Rojas wasn’t one to comfort people, but if Jason could say one thing about the guy, it was that the guy was loyal.
He didn’t ask questions as to what happened to him, how he came back. And he didn’t judge him for killing people. He just scoffed or glared at him whenever he said something he deemed dumb. He did stop him from hurting the new robin, telling him that he himself would beat the shit out of him if he laid a finger on a child. Which Jason thought was fair.
Jaime was always annoyed but he also listened whenever Jason got into a depressive episode after an encounter with the Bats. Whenever Jason woke up from a nightmare, there was always a hot tea waiting for him on his dresser before he woke up.
And then he would learn that a mysterious figure got into a fist fight with Nightwing or Batman, leaving one of them severely injured.
Jamie Rojas was weird as hell and probably more emotionally constipated than Batman himself.
“Are you sure?” Jason asked Jamie one morning as the young male attempted to cool his coffee. Jason had told him about his plan about trying to take the League of Assassins down, and to rescue the boy they had as heir. It was a suicide mission, but Jamie just shrugged and asked when they were leaving.
When he asked this question Jamie stared at him like he was the dumbest person on earth.
“If I leave you alone who knows what ditch you’ll be dying in nerd” Was all he said.
Jamie Rojas was weird as hell. Jamie Rojas despite his numb view of the world saved many.
And one of them was Jason Todd. Despite everything he says about himself, and the annoyed glares. Jaime Rojas had saved him.
He saved him on the day he offered him that sandwich.
But what Jason Todd didn’t know was that he too had saved Jaime Rojas.
He saved Jaime Rojas by continuing to talk to him-- little by little letting Jaime realize that he wasn’t the monster he thought himself to be.
It’s a funny story really, two Crime Alley kids turned protectors.
And it all started with two young six year olds who thought nothing of their lives and yet found so much to live for when they met.
All due to an annoying encounter.