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Jason was standing at the edge of the chaos, his team working through the piles of trash, boxes of old books and Knick knacks and god even knows what. On his hip, Marcus the little seven year old who lived here with his mom. He was giving occasional opinions and directions about if something was worth trying to salvage or not. He had insisted on helping, of course. No Crime Alley kid worth his salt lets a bunch of adults clean out his house without supervision, no matter how trustworthy, no matter how much of a hoarder his mom is.
This building was Jason's newest project. He hated thinking of it like that. People aren't projects.
After things had settled down between him and the bats and a sense of stability had settled over his territory, he'd started gradually buying up apartments. Starting with the worst landlords(some of which might've disappeared under mysterious circumstances, but that was none of Batman's business), he had been lowering rents, fixing up apartments and generally upping the quality of life in crime alley from shivering indoors to something that could actually be considered warm on a good day.
Not that he didn't want to give everyone in crime alley the best living conditions possible, but going to quickly could result in unfortunate side affects. Like attempted gentrification or increased break-ins.
That's why he'd actually started by funding the crime alley shelters and helping them to improve their vetting processes for staff and volunteers. Also encouraging them to offer services like free personal lockers, a 24/7 pantry and free hot meals twice daily(breakfast from 5-10am, dinner from 3-8pm). Not that twice daily meant each person could only get two servings a day. Or that you had to be homeless to eat. It was no questions asked, after all.
In fact, Marcus had just been telling him how some of his friends go eat at the shelter on (street name) and hang out in the new board game room on Friday evenings. Really he should start calling them community centers, but shelter was a more recognizable term here in the alley.
"...Hood are you there?" Batman said, interrupting the moment.
Jason sighed, "Can't even get one night off from it, can I?" he muttered. His fault really, could've left the com at home.
Marcus looked up at him curiously.
"Hey Lisa, can you watch Marcus for a sec? Gotta take a call," Jason projected his voice over the chaos.
She nods, quickly finishing her task and going to wash her hands
"....Hood?....do you copy?..." Batman's voice said over the com.
"Who is it?" asked Marcus as Jason set him down, already turning on his com.
"My dad," he answered, surprising himself with how easy the answer came.
"No-"
"-civilian names on coms, I know B," Jason cut him off as he exited the apartment and made his way to the roof, "...although calling "dad" a civilian name is kinda stretching it if you ask me. Besides what was I s'posed to say, 'sorry kid, gotta step out for a sec, The Batman is calling me'?"
That got some laughter on the line, confirming the presence of more than just the Bat himself.
"What do you need anyways? It's my night off."
"We-"
"Are we just gonna move past the fact Hood's apparently with a kid on his night off?" Spoiler asked, "got a new bf with a kid or something?"
"Let's focus on the mission please, Spoiler," came the gruff response, "Hood, we got a major lead on the trafficking case and are planning to deal with it tonight. However, it is in your territory so I wanted to offer you point on the mission."
"Do you need backup?" Jason asked, definitely just because he didn't want a mess to clean up after they were done. Well, maybe out of concern for his family too.
"....."
"B, you know your silence isn't as readable over comms as it is in person."
"I don't think that's the response B was expecting, Littlewing," Nightwing chimed in.
"Yes, you are usually much more controlling about missions in your territory," Robin clarified.
"I mean if you really need me I'll suit up and meet you there but what I'm doing is important, too. I trust you can handle it without making too much of a mess for me to clean up," Jason answered.
"Oh he's definitely on a date," Spoiler teased.
Jason sighed, "I'm not on a date. Some of us just have responsibilities outside of jumping around in spandex and Kevlar."
"As long as you're sure, Littlewing."
Batman grunts in agreement.
"Can you send me the address though?"
"File's been updated and you should have access," Oracle said, "I see you're actually not too far from where it's going down. I'll make sure to pay attention to any loose ends heading your way."
"...you know I do have a couple social workers with me right now if you need somewhere safe to get the kids out of the way," Jason offers.
"Ok, now my curiosity is piqued, what are you doing, Hood?" asked Red Robin, finally joining in on the conversation.
Jason sighed, "We're cleaning out one of my tenants' apartments, she's one of the victims of the recent fear gas attacks. She's also a hoarder. Kinda had a spiral when she got back from the hospital so she's finally letting me help her clean the apartment while she's getting the mental help she needs. Well, really my teams doing most of the heavy lifting since the kid's been glued to my side."
"And this is more important than breaking up a trafficking ring?" Robin asked incredulously.
"Tonight? When I know you're all at your best? When I trust you to handle it and respect my territory? Yeah, I think I can let taking care of my community be more important for me right now," Jason explained, "Look, don't hesitate to call me if you need me for backup, my stuffs in my truck I can be there in minutes. But you guys got this, I know you do."
"...."
This time Jason understands his father's silence to be a moment of pride. He's pretty sure he's going to be fending off offers of extravagant gifts and funneling a bunch of new donations into his projects in Crime Alley.
"...understood. We will keep you in the loop for major updates and expect minimal response," Batman paused, "....keep up the good work, Hood."
"Alright, good luck you guys, don't make me need to kill anyone," Jason joked, "Hood out."