Chapter Text
“let me be perfectly clear: if you even think about showing back up here, i will know, and i will make your life a living hell until i finally put you out of your misery. understood?”
“yes! yeah man i get it. understood.”
“then i’d get going, if i were you.” the man scrambled to his feet and bolted off across the playground, leaving jason to shout after him. “and warn any buddies you might have, too!”
he picked up the discarded knife and pocketed it. he then turned around slowly, hands visibly empty in a careful attempt not to scare the two kids behind him- well, careful not to make it worse, anyway.
they, understandably, seemed a little shaken already.
“are you both alright?” he asked softly, slouching just a little to seem as harmless as possible.
probably would have been easier if they hadn’t just watched him threaten someone.
the older kid- probably fifteen, if jason had to place a bet- nodded silently before glancing back at the little girl he was still hovering in front of protectively, who was just… staring.
she couldn’t have been older than six.
“jazz?” the boy asked, voice tight. “are you hurt?”
he was ignored. “are you superman?”
the question, innocent and earnest and a little timid, made jason laugh. “not quite, kiddo.”
she tilted her head like a curious puppy, furrowing her brow. “why are you wearing a jacket?”
jason glanced up at the boy, who seemed comforted by her mini interrogation. good.
talking was a good sign, too, so jason crouched down to meet her at eye level.
“because it gets cold out here!” he said, raising his hands up with a small wiggle of his fingers. “gloves, too.”
“well, duh,” jazz said with a giggle- a win, jason thought. “no fingerprints.”
he nodded. “also helpful.”
“and the hat to hide your face!” she said proudly, stepping forward a little to point at his helmet.
“wow, you’ve got the whole thing figured out, huh?”
“mhm! my friend ricky loves batman and his friends. he talks about batman and nightwing and spoiler and robin and red robin and red hood and batgirl all the time! they hide their faces like you, ricky thinks it’s because of bad guys.”
“they’re kinda cool, huh?”
“nightwing’s my favorite,” she said firmly, as though it was something she had considered at great length and was fully prepared to defend.
“not red hood?” jason smacked a hand to his chest in mock hurt, shifting back dramatically. “i’m crushed, truly.”
“no, ricky says red hood used to be an alien, but then got bored and now he annoys batman for fun instead. that sounds mean.”
…well, okay, maybe he did annoy the big guy for fun a little. “that’s an interesting theory, all right.”
“ricky’s got all kinds of theories. he thinks batman’s a robot-” jason snorted- “and that nightwing was like pinochle.”
“you mean pinocchio,” the boy corrected quietly. “pinochle’s what gramma plays.”
“pinocchio!” she exlaimed, with a “ch” sound in the middle that made jason smile. “a doll that got turned human. that’s how he does all the flips and stuff, he’s got magic.”
“hm, ricky seems like an interesting guy,” jason said thoughtfully, making a big show of rubbing the chin of his helmet. “what do y-”
he was cut off by a loud, insistent meow, and jazz gasping even louder before taking off to the bushes.
“w- hey, don’t rush off like that!” he said, shooting up off the ground as the boy sighed.
“there’s this cat that she’s been taking care of,” he explained quietly. “the thing’s got attitude for days but i think it’s sick or something. jasmine’s been bringing it little bits of tuna and chicken, but it’s not like we can get it to a vet.”
jason hummed. “why do you think it’s sick?”
“it’s thin, with its eyes all watery and sunk.”
“might just be malnourished,” he muttered.
“she’s been trying to find it a home, y'know.”
there was a wink-wink-nudge-nudge quality to the kid’s voice that did not go unnoticed.
on one hand, it was good to hear something other than fear from him, but on the other… “what part of the tactical armor makes you think i’m an option?”
“the part where you just stuck around to check on us instead of running after that guy.”
okay. maybe the quiet thing hadn’t been so bad. the cocky ‘amateur psychologist’ thing was a little grating.
“you the real red hood?” the kid asked suddenly, shaking jason from his internal grumbling.
“what do you think?”
“i think you just saved our lives, and i wanna know who i’m thanking.”
jason turned to him with a flourish. “red hood, baby saver extraordinaire. at your service.”
“baby- dude, i’m seventeen!”
okay, so he would have lost his bet. “noted. still a baby, trust me.”
“what are you under there, twenty something? whatever, grandpa.”
jason chuckled, turning back to watch jasmine pet a small cat under one of the yellow lights littering the park. “you did well, looking out for her with that guy. you got a name?”
he scoffed. “would’ve been better if i’d kicked him between the legs right when he opened his mouth, instead of letting him get started on the whole 'what’re you kids doing out so late?’ bit,” he muttered darkly, pausing for a moment before answering. “my name’s jordan.”
“well, jordan, what are you guys doing out so late?”
“mom works nights, and the neighbors were fighting. it was loud enough to wake jazz up, and it wasn’t the kind of thing she needed to hear. i figured a trip to see her cat would be less awful than hearing them call each other things i wouldn’t even call my friends.” the breeze picked up, rustling the trees and catching on jason’s jacket. “and then the asshole with the knife decided to make a bad night worse.”
“is jazz your sister?”
“yeah, she’s a good kid,” jordan said, fond and warm. “sorry about the whole ricky thing, though. he’s obsessed with those vigilante conspiracy videos and tells her all about them at school.”
“no, no, it’s fine. i can’t wait to tell wing about his new origin story, he’ll love that.”
jasmine suddenly came bounding back towards them, grabbing their hands and yanking them to follow her. “c'mon, you need to meet cat!”
“you call it cat?”
jordan bristled subtly. “is there a problem with that, red?”
“no, no, it’s an appropriate name. just making sure.” jason waved his spare hand at his head. “helmet makes me hear things sometimes.”
jordan opened his mouth, but his sister plowed right over whatever he was going to say, pulling on jason’s hand again. “cat, meet… what’s your name?”
“red hood.”
“you can’t be red hood!” she whirled around, indignantly putting her hands on her hips. “there’s already a red hood in gotham. besides, you’re not even wearing a hood, so it doesn’t fit anyway.”
jason turned his head to jordan, who was smiling- a good sign, but probably a bad omen for whatever he was about to say. “she’s right, man. it’s not a hood.”
“tough crowd,” jason muttered. “uh… then you can call me, uh-”
“bucket!” jasmine suggested happily, tapping his helmet. “because this looks like a bucket.”
if there was one thing vigilantism had taught him, it was that sometimes you actually do need to pick your battles. this…
this was not worth fighting.
“sure, fine, whatever. hi, cat, i’m red bucket.” he turned away from the kids- both of whom looked entirely too happy about the whole 'bucket’ thing, he thought- and crouched down to finally look at the cat.
it did look a little sick, actually.
it was gray, and thin, and-
and now it was headbutting his knee like it was trying to push him over.
“cat likes you!” jazz cheered.
“sure does,” jordan said pointedly. “isn’t that interesting?”
jason opened his mouth, but his snarky comment died in his throat when the cat settled down right in front of him and blinked slowly up at him with a sweet tilt to its head.
…shit.
just- shit.
he sighed, standing up and looking back to jordan and his stupid, entirely-too-pleased-with-himself grin. “so, jazz,” jason grumbled reluctantly, “where does cat live?”