#making jason obsessed with rowan of rin bc i was obsessed with rowan of rin as a child.... what of it

[basalting]

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day five of @jasontoddweek2025 - family - no capes au - jason is a literature nerd

catherine todd i love youuuuuuuuuuu!! please imagine the sweetest looking little boy ever as you read this, baby jason u r my angelllllllllllll

On a warm summer day, Jason and his Mama go grocery shopping

jason todd & catherine todd - 1570 words

Jason made sure to sit still even though it was really, really hard. Mama laughed quietly as he squirmed in place and kissed his forehead, his shoes tied nice and tight.

“You ready baby?” Mama asked softly, Mama’s voice was always soft, like every word was a secret just for him.

“Ready Freddy!” Jason chirped, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Mama put her hands on her hips.

“You wanna check us off?”

“Yeah!” Jason paused screwing up his face in thought, there were a lot of things to remember to check off.

“Wallet?”

“Check!” Mama showed it to him before dropping it in her bag.

“Keys?”

“Got 'em.” The keys jangled when Mama picked them up.

Shopping list, bags, coats and shoes. One by one he would call them out and Mama would show them off, posing like the ladies on the TV with the briefcases. Mama wrapped him up in his coat and spun him around and even jumped with him when he called out shoes.

“Can you help Mama and hold the bags for me?” Mama offered the crinkled bag with a faded library logo to him, stuffed with other folded bags.

“Of course!” Jason puffed out his chest and clutched them tight, he wasn’t gonna let Mama down!

“Are we ready?” Mama asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Jason thought about it for a second, he couldn’t remember anything else from their checklist.

“…Yes!” he cheered, bouncing from foot to foot by the door, eager to leave.

“Not quite~!” Mama said teasingly, before scooping him up into her arms and smacking loud kisses on his cheeks. Jason immediately dissolved into helpless giggles.

“MAMA!” He wailed between laughter, “Nooooooo, I’m too big Mamaaaaaaa!”

“Now we’re ready!” Mama laughed, setting him down. “I’ve got my baby, so we’re ready to go.”

Jason scowled but his insides felt bubbly, like when he and Mama would share a soda and the fizz would make him hiccup.

The walk to the grocery store was always the same, he would hold Mama’s hand when they crossed the street, making sure to hop over every crack in the pavement. Jason knew when they were close because one of the buildings two streets away from the store had a patch of broken plaster that looked kinda like a bird.

Every time he saw it he imagined it was about to take off, that it flew with them to the store to make sure they were okay. The store wasn’t busy when they finally got there and Mama even let him carry one of the baskets.

Mama tucked him into her side, showing him the list all neat and easy to read in Mama’s pretty writing. “Can you get the bread and meet me by the milk?”

Jason nodded fiercely, Mama had carefully shown him how to check the bread for mold without opening the bag. He wouldn’t let her down! “I’ll be back soon!”

He ran off, Mama laughed softly behind him. There was… A lot more bread than he remembered there being. He knew they definitely didn’t get the weird bread that’s all full of seeds, but that still left a lot of bread. Bouncing from foot to foot Jason bit his lip, he kinda wanted to go ask Mama for help. But! She trusted him to find some good bread! But what if he picked the wrong one??

“Are you alright?”

There was a lady, dark hair pulled up on her head and a baby, like a real little-little baby, tucked against her chest. He blinked up at them and then baby blinked back.

“What?”

“I said, ‘are you alright?’ You’ve been staring at the bread for a while, is all.”

“Oh.” Jason frowned, thinking, “Ma- My Mama asked me to get the bread but I dunno which one I’m supposed to get.” It was embarrassing, he was supposed to be a big boy! Jason Todd, defeated by the bread aisle.

The lady laughed, “Well I’m not sure what you usually get but-“ She reached over his head to grab a loaf, the bright bag looked similar? Maybe? To the bread they had at home. “This is what I buy for us.”

She bounced the baby gently and it made a squeaky noise in response. The lady offered the bag to him and Jason took it, carefully checking it for mold or hidden seeds in the bread. It looked okay…

“Thanks…” He muttered as he carefully put the bread in the basket, “For your help. I gotta meet my Mama now… Bye!”

Jason ran off, holding the basket with both hands to keep the bread safe, Baby-lady called out from behind him but he was already gone.

Mama was checking the discounted eggs when he finally made it to the cold section, an open carton in front of her as she plucked whole eggs from one to deposit into the carton she was holding, leaving the cracked ones behind. “Mama!” Jason yelled, “I got bread!”

Mama jumped slightly, almost dropped her nearly full dozen and smiled at him. “So you did! Well done baby.”

Aisle by aisle Mama filled both their baskets, most of it was what they always got. Frozen veggies and canned food, a box of peppermint tea with a bright yellow clearance sticker on it, more soap and a new toothbrush - ‘cause Jason accidentally dropped his in the toilet.

“Y’know,” Mama hummed thoughtfully, “I think we might have enough left over to get some ice cream after this. You feel like an ice cream cone baby?”

“YES!” Jason didn’t jump around, ‘cause he had the eggs in his basket, but he wanted to! Ice cream! In a cone and everything!

Mama laughed at him, but it wasn’t in a mean way so Jason just smiled up at her.

The lady with the baby was at the register when they got there, the baby was asleep. It’s face was all smooshed into it’s mom’s chest and there was a wet patch where it was drooling, Jason muffled his giggle.

She didn’t have much, bread and milk and a bag of frozen chicken and a big can with a baby on it. Jason didn’t think you could buy canned babies at the store but he also didn’t use to think you could milk oats but there was oat milk next to the normal milk at this store so maybe you could?

“I-I’m sorry,” Baby-lady said, she sounded like she was crying. “I can’t uh- I just need-“ She reached out for the baby tin, “I’ll put the rest back, I-“

Mama pressed his shoulder, a firm, silent ’stay here,’ and stepped closer. Baby-lady wasn’t crying, but her eyes were huge and sad.

“How much are you short honey?”

Baby-lady stuttered, shaking her head and Mama touched the back of the hand that was holding Baby-lady’s baby, “How much are you short?”

“$15…” She said softly, not looking at Mama or Jason or the old man at the register who was frowning. Mama patted her hand gently.

“I’ll cover what she can’t-“

“No you don’t have to-“

“Honey,” Usually Mama’s voice was only that firm when she thought Jason was doing something dangerous, he automatically straightened up. “You’ve got a little one to take care of, and you can’t do that until you take care of you. So let me help.”

Baby-lady cried, real fat tears and nodded, thanked Mama over and over as the old man packed her bag for her. The old man nodded at Mama as he scanned their stuff, Mama helped him carefully lift the eggs out of Jason’s basket and ruffled his hair. Mama carried most of the bags, but the bread-and-toothbrush bag was carefully passed over to Jason as they left the store.

“Ice cream now?” Jason asked hopefully and Mama sighed.

“Sorry Jason, but no ice cream today.”

“Wh-What? But you said?!”

“I know,” Mama ushered him in front of her as they crossed the street, the plaster wall bird almost in view. “But that lady needed a little extra money, so I gave her some of ours.”

“Why’d you do that?” Jason scowled, “Now- Now we don’t gotta ‘nough money for ice cream!”

“Oh baby,” Mama sighed rubbing the top of his head, “We’re all each other has, we have to take care of each other. If that means helping someone pay for groceries when they can’t, then we do it. And maybe one day, if we need help, someone will help us too.”

Frowning Jason thought about it, it sounded far fetched. Who just goes around helping people?

But well… Didn’t Mrs Walker keep her kids old clothes for Jason to pick through so they didn’t have to spend money on clothes? And hadn’t Mr Andros from downstairs given them a big pot of stew after they picked up his groceries and medicine while he was hurt?

“I guess that makes sense…” He decided eventually.

Mama ducked down to press a loud kiss to his forehead, “I’m glad you agree. Now mister! Let’s get this stuff home and then go to the library!”

“Yes!” Troubles forgotten, Jason ran ahead, under the wings of the plaster bird. If he was lucky, the next Rowin of Rin book would be at the library and Mama would be there to help him read it.