Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue : Short.

As Peter Quill was one of the final ones to become dusted the planet is filled with a sickening silence as Tony stares at the empty spaces his comrades once were. The silence soon became something better than the words he was about to hear from behind him.

“Mr Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Tony turned to see SPider-Man, Peter, his kid, ever so slowly starting to turn to dust. Tony rushes to his side as Peter collapses onto him with all strength leaving his body as he and Peter fall to the ground.
“I- I don’t know what’s happening, Mr Stark I don’t wanna go.” Tony can hardly keep himself composed as he tells Peter that he’s going to be okay. All Peter can feel is agony as his advanced healing is trying to put him back together as the infinity stones are horrifically continuing to tear him apart.
“I don’t wanna go Mr Stark, please.” Tony can only hold him as his body finally gives up in trying to heal the constant and unrelenting pain and Peter begins to disappear. Peter just watches as Tony is trying to console him and can’t help but remember their conversation on how Mr Stark felt his death would be his fault. Peter couldn’t have that, Mr Stark had become his own dad now.

“I’m sorry.”

“No. No, kid, stay awake, no.” Peter just sadly smiles before his gaze drifts away as a final look at the sky before his body falls to the wind and is taken away into the sky, leaving his world behind, forever.

“No.”

Tony just sat there, in the place he lost his friend, his child. What else was he supposed to do now?

Their world was in ruin. Peter was never coming back.

At least not in his world, because just as he died.

He woke up again.

Chapter 1:
Welcome to the first proper chapter of this strange MCU Spider-Man x DC Batfam story I have ever written because I have too many ideas and must write them to satiate my hunger for this theme hehehehehe.

Peter woke to the sound of metal groaning against the splashes of water, the first shock was that he woke up at all, the next shock was how he was somewhere completely unfamiliar. His eyes and sense are overloaded with sounds and sights, it’s almost pitch black, the smell is foul, nothing makes sense, yet it’s as if the whole world was spinning.

He has to give himself a good long hour to finally return to normal, well, as normal as he can feel in this situation. Peter has finally managed to figure out that he’s on a boat of some kind, it’s most likely a shipping container or trade ship. It’s too big to be anything else, the other question he has is why is he here? How? What happened on Titan? Where is everybody?

As he’s thinking about everything he groans as his body is shook at a violent bump in the ship. Next thing he knows is a voice nearby. He must have been too out of it to notice the people all grouped in a different cage opposite his, a lot of them, except their cage is much larger and less upgraded than his it seems.

“Hey kid, you alright?” Peter looks up to see the face of a bearded man in regular clothes yet they’re dirty and slightly ruined in places. His face is hard as stone yet his eyes show sincere concern. There are many people around the man also looking at Peter.

“Where the hell are we?” The man’s eyebrows furrow more and he goes to speak but coughs violently and a woman next to him props him into a more comfortable position. She then speaks for him.

“Child, do you not know what’s happening?” Peter shakes his head then realises it’s probably too dark for them to see anything except the outline of his body.

“No, I don’t remember how I got here, at all.” Peter can see her face quite clearly in the dark and she looks just as concerned as the man does now that he's recovered from his coughing.

“We’re being trafficked by the Penguin. We were supposed to be entering Gotham City as immigrants but he caught us all and took us.” Peter is shocked, he wakes up suddenly after dying and now he’s become a victim of human trafficking? “Are you okay, child? Injured in any way?” Peter just sits up against the iron or steel cage. He pokes and prods at his body, realising he’s only wearing underwear and pants which are significantly dirtied. As he’s prodding he notices at least 3 different broken ribs with bruises and cuts everywhere else.

“I think some of my ribs are broken, I’m really out of it so I can’t 100% tell, it feels like my head has a gong in it.”
The man finally talks up again but this time it’s not about his wounds.
“Hm, hey kid, are you a metahuman?” A what? Peter thinks for a minute only to make the connection that they mean like an alien or advanced person. He knows that they ca’;t see his face anyways and he’s too dazed and confused to properly register his words before he says them.

“I think so.” The man nods in understanding at this and Peter is still confused as to why that confirmed something for him.

“Why? Is something wrong?” The woman shakes her head in reassurance and so does the man.

“No child, he just wants to confirm the reason you’re the only one in a stronger cage. We know many people have things against metas but my brother in law is one, he had better strength and accelerated healing.” The man just nods before adding in his own piece of the conversation.

“That man is my brother, the lucky bastard got the meta genes. Good man, don’t worry. I ain’t got anything against you.” Peter isn’t sure how to respond, all the information is confusing him. They’re talking about it like it’s such a normal thing and while the world is aware of superpowered humans and aliens, it’s not like they’re regular on earth.

“Thank you, then.” The woman just smiles gently before refocusing on how he got here.

“You were already on the ship when they forced us on. What’s the last thing you remember?” Peter contemplates telling them but decides he’s already told them too much so why not.

“Dying. I remember dying, I think.” He can feel the tension in the room and tries to think of anything else.

“Y-you died?” The woman sounds like a concerned mother once she finally finds the voice to talk again.

“I think so? It really hurt. My body was dying too quickly, I have accelerated healing too. . . it just couldn’t keep up, I don’t know what happened.” No, he does know. For some reason, there’s no doubt in his mind that he died. He should be dead. He just hears the man shuffle uncomfortably and the woman gasps gently.

“I’m so sorry that’s happened to you, you’re just a boy.” Peter just huffs out an indignant laugh. Just a boy. If he was just a boy he wouldn’t be in this mess. “I’m Tabby, this grump is Marty. What’s your name?” Peter realises that telling his name isn’t too much and makes it easier for him so that he doesn’t have to lie, if he needs to he can change it up later, they don’t know what he looks like anyways.

“It doesn’t matter but, call me Peter.” She smiles again, almost as though she knows he shouldn’t be able to see it yet he can. After being satisfied with her answer she sinks back into Marty for warmth leaving Peter to his own thoughts, still thankful that he isn’t completely alone in this mess.

— — —

Days go past and Peter keeps talking to Tabby and Mart until finally, the boat stops, the only interaction they’ve had was with the food person that comes down here once every 1-2 days. Just enough to keep the people healthy enough to survive properly, yet not sufficient to keep them balanced and strong enough to resist.

“Hey Pete, wake up.” Peter wakes to Marty’s voice echoing quietly against the walls. Once Marty hears Peter shuffling around he lets Peter know the situation. “I think we’re nearly there, overheard the guards talking about docking soon.” Peter just makes a sound of affirmation to let Marty know he can hear him. With the time they’ve been talking Peter already learned that they were being trafficked and were most likely going to become slave labourers. That is, if you’re a regular human. Peter on the other hand is considered a ‘meta’ which meant very different things for him.

He has learned 3 very important things in the few days he’s been stuck on this ship, weakened and injured.

1. Meta’s are similar to what he originally thought, except they mostly are born with the genes unlike what he thought.
2. A lot of people do not like said metas.
3. This is not his universe. (Which is definitely the most concerning part.)

How does he know this? Because he’s heard all the other prisoners talking about villains going by the names of Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Penguin, Firefly and the most brought up is The Joker. Who is apparently one of the more formidable and insane opponents. Except, none of these villains exist or he hasn’t ever heard of them at least. Nor has he heard of the heroes and vigilantes who fight them being names like Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder woman and many others like Nightwing or Red Hood.

It’s all throwing Peter off so much it makes his head ache considerably more than he would like. When he first came to the realisation that this may not be his world, he panicked. He couldn’t breathe or function properly for about a day. That was about 7 hours ago. He hasn’t been given much time to recover before something else happens to him at this dock they’re arriving at. Peter has tried constantly to find a way out of his cell but it’s extremely solid and he doesn’t have his suit nor is he at full strength. The cage is almost completely rendering his abilities practically useless which means his senses, while definitely still not at human level, are significantly dulled. He simply sighs, lying in wait for a chance to appear to make his move

So he waits.

Hours pass till finally, Peter hears the loud cries of the subordinates and ship workers as the boat docks with a final large metal groaning sound. This was it, soon they would come down to unload their ‘prizes’. Peter is already ready for whatever is to come, propped in a stable stance.

Everything is quiet until the creak of the huge doors above them opens to reveal the light of the ships, meaning it’s still night time then or early morning. A main subordinate comes into the area the other human prisoners are in and clicks a button on this remote which then opens their cell door. Gun in hand he motions for everyone to move into this other container which would lift them to the main deck.

“Alright move it or die you disgusting pricks!” Peter hears him yet his eyes are only on the remote the man is holding. BEcause after all the others are boarded Tabby gets one more glance at me before shouting in my direction.

“I promise Pete, everything will be okay! You’ll be alright!” Her eyes show nothing but pure concern though, Peter steals a final glance at Marty who looks just as concerned, he must’ve noticed his gaze on him because he then yells at Peter too.

“We’ll find you again somehow kid! Stay alive till then! Alright?” Luckily because of all the commotion and bustling from the other prisoners, Tabby and Marty’s words went through without causing any issues with the occupied guards.

Finally they are lifted into the air and he hears a loud thud, the sound of their container being put onto solid ground on the dock. The main guard with the remote haughtily walks up to Peter’s cage and bangs his gun loudly on the cage.
“Can’t wait to see what Penguin will do with a mutt like you. You’re not even a proper meta, human or alien, just a freakshow huh?”

“Screw off, baldy.” Yeah okay, Peter has been through a lot recently and is in no way shape or form in the mental or physical state to deal with this douchebag. The man, in his anger, hits the release button to Peter’s cell door.

That was his first mistake.

He began yelling and cursing out Peter, so as the man stormed into the cell he kicked Peter square in the chest which did nothing to move Peter from where he was standing. The man has momentary shock before recovering and just punching him instead, also a bad idea.

His second mistake was ever entering the cage.

The door was left open a bit and just as he was about to leave from attacking Peter, there’s a loud commotion on the outside of the ship.

The sound of collisions and fighting overwhelm Peter's ears and he can’t help but notice how someone was getting closer to his destination quite quickly. The guard squawks in fear as a silhouette drops from the sky, landing on one of his other guards. Peter doesn’t have a clue who he is until the main guard yells in terror.

“IT’S THE BATS! Everyone move out, now!” All the guards scramble trying to outrun this new masked figure, dressed in black and blue. He watches as the man takes them all down swiftly and efficiently, using these electrically powered sticks to paralyse and contain them all.

The man’s third and final mistake, was leaving the cage open.

Peter notices the cage swing wide open due to a gust of wind from the fighting man who was now just tying up the traffickers who had all but given up trying to escape the man’s grasp. Only baldy has the guts to speak, or I guess you could call it idiocy, the line is very thin.

“You bats act so high and mighty but Penguin will smash you all to pieces!” How cliche could you get? Just as Peter thinks the drama has ended another costumed guy comes down from the top deck except he is wearing a suit bearing more red and a different insignia, it looks like a mix between a bird and a wave. Peter assumes it’s a bird considering the other guy has a blue bird on his chest, seems to be a theme almost.

That theme is ruined when a man, larger than the others in mostly bulk comes down except he is dressed as a bat instead, so the bird theme is ruined. He’s the one who speaks first.

“Is that all of them Nightwing?”

“You betcha, Batman! All traffickers locked and loaded.”

So this was Nightwing and Batman! Peter watches their interaction, hidden by the darkness of his cell, then all of a sudden, Batman looks directly at his cell. He begins talking while still staring at Peter, yet it’s like instead of looking at him, he’s looking through him.

“I thought you said everyone you got out was human?” The other figure who was yet to be named pulled a confused face.

“What do you mean? They were human? Red Hood also checked and asked them.” Batman made a noise of some kind as he started to take a step forward. There's a voice that comes over their comms.

“Hey, Red Robin. We made a mistake, there’s apparently one meta. A couple of the civilians withheld it because they didn’t trust us with him.” Now named, Red Robin relays the message again to Batman who is no longer listening as he calmly yet cautiously walks over to Peter’s cell. Nightwing is right at his side, weapons not turned on yet certainly ready to be used if needed.

As Batman stands in front of the open door he growls at the sight of the cell and its brutal coldness. He doesn’t bother to turn to Red Robin to speak to him, never taking his eyes off the cage. Peter, on the other hand, is very confused. For some reason, none of these vigilantes can see him, he’s right in front of them. Yet they act like they’re lookin in an empty cage.

“Red, ask Red Hood if he can get any more information out of the civilians there. Gently.” Red Robin just gives a firm nod before following up the question with Red Hood on the comms. Peter overhears the conversation between Red Hood and 2 civilians who Peter quickly discovers are Tabby and Marty.

“Please, he may be a meta but he’s kind and probably scared.” Red Hood just sounds like he’s reassuring her, making sure she knows he means no harm.

“We won’t do anything to him ma’am, we just want to know if you could tell us why they wanted him, what were his mutations? It will all just give us information and clues as to why Penguin needed this specific meta.” There’s a long accentuated silence before Marty speaksup instead.

“You better be telling the truth, Red Hood, we know Batman doesn’t like metas.” Marty just sighs deeply before getting back to the point. “He said his name was Peter, the only abilities we know was that he had night-vision of some kind and accelerated healing, those were the only ones he mentioned.” Red Hood just gives an affirmative thanks before reporting it back to Red Robin and Batman.

“So then where is he? One of us should’ve noticed if he left the cell.” Nightwing is now more thoroughly scoping out the cell, checking the corners and looking for evidence of inhabitants and how long ago. The man gave up, finding nothing except steel and iron. “There’s no one in here. He must’ve escaped quickly, then.” He makes a humming sound in contemplation yet it seems he comes up with nothing.

In the meantime Peter is firmly stuck to the ceiling of the cell, slowly waiting for these unfamiliar and strange people to leave him be. Keeping his breathing as silent as he could, movements as still as a graveyard.

“I don’t like the idea of a rogue meta running around my city Nightwing.”Batman makes an agitated sound and Nightwing goes to appease his frustration.

“C’mon B, from what we’ve heard he isn’t bad, just a bit scared.” That just makes Batman even more annoyed before he turns to face Nightwing.

“That is when people are most dangerous. Fear is the beginning of every villain and murderer and vigilante. Fear makes you irrational, Nightwing.” Nightwing holds his hands up in surrender to calm the man down again. Now it was Red Robin’s turn to satiate the man’s everburning anger and distrust.

“From what we know the guy only has accelerated healing and night vision. It doesn’t make him a threat, not yet at least. We’ll keep our eyes out for someone like him regardless. What the guy doesn’t need is a team of vigilantes chasing him right now. He’ll just get more scared which means, more dangerous.”

Batman just lets out a tired sigh before turning to grab his . . . grappling hook? Ok, weird choice of weapon. He then shoots it towards the top deck with an echoing clang before it yanks him all the way up.

Ok, seeing the point of the grapple hook now.

Then one by one the vigilantes leave the bottom deck, taking the criminals with them. Peter hears the sounds of sirens and he takes it as his opportunity to leave. As he steps out the cell he takes a moment to look at himself, the only problem is that he’s transparent, invisible.

He certainly knows that he didn’t have this power beforehand, it makes him wonder what else has changed since he has come back to life. Right now though his priority is getting away from all this drama, he’s had enough to last him centuries, he doesn’t understand how Thor or Loki do it.

With the thoughts pushed out from his head he moves out of the boat jumping and sticking to the walls as he goes. Turns out his ribs still haven’t fully healed as he lands a bit too harshly on the top deck. Peter is distracted instantly as he sees Tabby and Marty on the dock below trying to converse with the man who he assumes is ‘Red Hood’ and his other companions.

Peter lets his senses take over again, no longer restricted by the cell, to listen to their conversation.
“Please, he doesn’t know what’s going on, when he awoke he was confused, injured. If you find him, let us meet him first before you do anything.” Peter feels a certain warmth with Tabby, like a mother figure. Just like Aunt May, his mind starts to drift to everyone back home and Peter is hit with a nauseating feeling which he quickly pushes away.

“We will miss, alright, for now though you should go with the police to get sorted but we’ll make sure to contact you if anything comes up.” She reluctantly lets go of Red Hood’s arm which she hadn’t even realised she had been holding so tightly.

“Okay then, okay.” Tabby lets herself be led away by Marty towards the direction of the other trafficked people. Peter watches in silence as Tabby and Marty are moved away with the rest of them, the quiet docks now filled with the sounds of sirens and red and blue lights. There’s a sudden pause, as if time has slowed when the one called Red Hood, stares directly at where Peter is standing. He can feel his heart rate rise instantly as the man continues to stare. Peter doesn’t wait to find out whether or not the man could actually see him. Breaking away from the intense moment and running away as fast as he can.
He doesn’t know where he’s running, all he knows is that he must find somewhere, anywhere out of the view of people.

He’s leaping over buildings. Shops. Houses.

Anything until he finally finds an apartment building with half of the apartments boarded up with planks, curtains and signs saying that it was unstable and due for deconstruction but Peter thinks the whole area is due for deconstruction because the sign saying that looks at least 5 years old. He listens for heartbeats anywhere in the building and finds none.

“I guess this’ll do for now.” He mutters to himself as he quietly slinks into the apartment building through the top window which hadn’t been boarded up. The sound of the creaking floor seems so loud in the silence of the city that it makes Peter wince. He steps in and gives it a good look. The layout is pretty basic, small living room/kitchen. Toilet and bedroom to the side through the other door. There’s no furniture except for a dining table, chair and rickety old mattress. Peter continues to scour through the apartment, it's obvious no one has lived here for a long time.

After looking through the bedroom and apartments on the top floor Peter eventually finds a closet with different arrays of abandoned clothes that must have been left behind in a hurry.

“Ehhhh I’ll just try them on and see what fits.” He tries on a jacket which is about 8 sizes too small.

“Okay nope.” Next he tries on a t-shirt which would fit someone maybe double his size.

“Also nope.” After that he finds a dark blue t-shirt with a white snake plastered on it as if it was wrapping around the torso of the wearer. It fits quite well, if a little small. With a t-shirt ticked off his list he looks for a jacket that would fit and some pants to replace the ragged ones he wears currently. He finds a jacket only to put it on and see it has a my little pony character plastered on the front.

“. . .yeah, also no.” He slips it off and while looking up he sees a dark brown, almost black, aviator jacket that looks about the right size. He grabs it off the rack and gives it a shake to get rid of any dust, there’s a lot. He shakes it out vigorously enough until there’s no dust visibly coming off it anymore. Peter is glad though because when he puts it on, it fits quite well, only a little big which is honestly better for cold weather so he’s quite happy about it.

Happy that he’s found an outfit for the top half of his body he starts opening drawers to look for pants, socks, shoes just the lot. Opening the second drawer he finds a couple of pairs of jeans, shorts, tracksuit pants ect. He goes for the tracksuit pants thinking they’ll be the ones most likely to fit and lucky for him, he’s right. They’re only a bit too small, just leaving his ankles a bit visible.

Continuing his search around the bedrooms he finds a pair of black converse and a drawer of socks which weren’t too hard to find a pair that fit. The converse themselves were a little bit big but they fit his feet and weren’t going to fall off so he calls that a win. With everything he needs he takes the oversized t-shirt and a pair of pyjama pants back to his chosen room for when he goes to sleep later, for now he just sits on the bed. He’s left to his own thoughts, which is always a dangerous thing.

(this is peter’s thoughts for now just to make it more clear)

What the hell am I supposed to do now? I’m stuck in a place that I don’t understand. It looks like earth but isn’t mine. Is the multiverse actually real? I know I talked and theorised about it with Dr. Strange and Mr Stark but this seems unbelievable. Why would I be sent here anyways? Why am I the only one alive? Or am I dead? Do I even exist in this world? I know I died so, did I move into the body of Peter Parker in this world? . . .

What if?

(ze end of his thoughts.)

Peter rushes up to the bathroom in search of a mirror and when he finds one, what he sees is him but not him. It’s obviously his face and he looks about the same age as when he “died” , say about 16-17 no more or less. There’s some obvious differences though, Peter is a couple of inches taller then he used to be leaving him at about 6 foot he’d guess. His body type is the same though, still healthily fit albeit a bit on the skinny side but that doesn’t surprise him. He goes back to looking at his face only to realise the bigger differences, while his face is the same it looks more. . . refined? Less baby-ish, he could probably pass as over 18 if he tried. That wasn’t what shocked him though. What shocked him was his eyes and hair.

His eyes held a green colour, no like his original deep brown eyes. It was almost an unnatural type of green if you looked close enough but it was drowned out by the brown in his eyes.

And his hair, he didn’t notice it before because it was hidden but now that he looks at it he can see a section of it that is pure white. His brown hair was mostly concealing it until he pulled it back to get a better look and realises how much there was.

“What the hell?” It didn’t look or seem dyed which left Peter confused, why would he have white hair? He keeps pulling at his hair and face as if it will give him some answers, it doesn’t. He is just glad that his body is almost completely like his own from before he died. Which is still very high on his list of concerns. For now though he’s just going to stick with the basics, shelter, water, food, in that order. Shelter is luckily already a tick so he can cross that off, now he thinks water and food can wait a bit longer so he decides it would be best to just scope out the place. He climbs out the side window and uses the ladder to hop onto the roof.

Once up there he stands to get a proper look of the view, the city in the distance looks so much more lively than the area he’s in right now. He wonders why that is but doesn’t ponder for too long. He’s standing on the edge of the building for a while before he zones in on a library in the distance in a better part of town. The part he’s on looks particularly more run down, almost like a ghost town, it’s just a mess, the streets and people look distant, like they’re just floating around just waiting for tomorrow. Looking at the city is making him think of New York, home, Aunt May, Ned, MJ, Mr Stark, everything, he’s starting to hyperventilate and freak out and before he knows it, he’s crying.

Why am I crying? The tears aren’t stopping. What am I even supposed to do here? I-I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

“What do I do, oh god, what the hell am I supposed to do.” He stares at the ground about 8 stories below thinking how it may just be easier to die again. He isn’t prepared to do any of this alone. Just as Peter thinks he’s going to throw up from the nauseating home sickness he senses the presence of two people behind him, so he turns in an instant to face them, teary eyed and distressed to see two familiar and very concerned faces. . . or should I say masks?

(I am way too tired to be writing this rn so if yuoall see any mistakes lemme know)

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

Nightwing and Red Hood or should I say Dick and Jason, were both out on a patrol together in and around Crime Alley because Dick thought it would be a bit more of a bonding thing with Jason after the whole ‘resurrection fiasco’. I mean, also because they were told to by Batman because tonight seemed to be a night for criminal action as if it isn’t the same every other night. The thought alone makes Dick sigh.

“What’s up, Dick?” Dick just sighs deeply before smacking his face to the surprise of Jason.

“ Pushing away annoying thoughts!” Jason just huffs out a laugh at his brother’s strange yet entirely familiar behaviour. “Let’s get going, we can finish the patrol then get some food.” Jason wholeheartedly agrees with the food part. Just as they’re swinging around Crime Alley just bordering The Bowery Dick stops the second he sees someone else on the roofs. On the edge.

“Shit. Jason, move it, we gotta get over there.” Jason is only confused for a second until he sees why Dick is so hurriedly moving in the direction.

“Oh, fuck!” The kid looked well and truly prepared to jump. Just as the two managed to get to the roof the guy was on he turned to face them, crying and breathing heavily. Dick is moving very slowly and calmly towards Peter.

“ Hey kid, would you mind moving away from the edge?” Peter watches the two vigilantes from before trying to coax him away from the edge. He honestly couldn’t be bothered to deal with them at the moment. He just turns back around to face the edge again. He knows he won’t do it, even if he did he’d survive anyways. Peter also wasn’t at that point of mental deterioration yet either way, just feeling overwhelmed with his new situation.

“Shit, woah!” Jason surges forward at Peter’s sudden movement and so does DIck.

“Woah! Okay, let’s please, just talk this out. Whatever it is.” Dick is still trying to coax Peter back down from the edge but then all of a sudden Peter just starts laughing. While his shoulders are shaking and his eyes are still crying he sinks into a sitting position over the edge.

“I wasn’t going to, I was just looking at the view.” Jason just frowns with a face that says ‘ that’s utter BS’.

“Pretty shit view, if you ask me.” Peter just relaxes his body more and huffs out a laugh gently as Jason and Dick ease up a bit seeing that Peter isn’t going to jump off the edge just yet.

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m guessing you guys were patrolling huh? You can go back to doing that, I’m not gonna jump.” Dick goes to protest but Jason believes he has a firmer argument so he interrupts and moves a step closer to Peter.

“But you were thinking about it, right?” Peter can’t deny that, he’s always been a shit liar. So he just sighs and bites back a stupid answer.

“Only a little bit, I wasn’t going to though.” He’s almost amused by the whole situation, he’s always been the one doing things like this, not the other way around. Peter can hear Jason gently sigh before he makes his way over to Peter’s side and also swings his legs over to sit on the edge. It’s something that can be seen as a friendly mannerism and one that also makes Peter safer.

“You got some place to go? Someone good to look after you?” Peter just stares at the city view for a couple of seconds, pondering how to answer the question.

“Yeah, I do.” He considers himself pretty good and I mean they’re standing on top of Peter’s accommodations for the time being. Jason just accepts that for an answer for now and nods slowly, by this time Dick has also come over and started leaning next to Peter on the other side.
“So, how about we hop down from the edge for now then? Then we can figure out what to do next.” Peter just sighs as he flips his tired body around away from the edge. Once he’s down from the edge both of the vigilantes stand in front of him. “Now, can we start taking you home?” Peter just laughs but feels bad when Nightwing looks down when he does.

“Sorry, I just don’t trust people whose faces I can’t see or I just don’t know in general. That isn’t me telling you to take your masks off or anything. It’s just me saying I’d rather go home myself.” Jason snickers at this and Dick just looks slightly upset and his shoulders just sag but he ultimately agrees.

Just for show Peter starts walking down stairs and across the street until he can no longer feel the vigilantes eyes on him. He honestly expected them to follow him but is glad when they don’t.

Jason and Dick on the other hand are planning on keeping an eye on Peter as Jason has already discovered that Peter was lying about at least some of what he said.

“What do you think, Nightwing?”

“He seemed stable enough that I don’t think he’ll try it again for a bit. Can you keep an eye on this area for a while? Because I don’t understand what a New Yorker is doing here, no less one step away from committing suicide.” Jason just shrugs while shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

“People who come to Gotham are normally broken or just plain stupid. I don’t think that guy was the latter. I’ll look out for him though, no one okay lives in Crime Alley. I’ll keep you updated so go get some sleep, you’ve been pestering me all night, we can get food next time.” Dick just laughs at the playfulness that Jason still has and starts heading out.

“Talk to you later baby bro!” He swings away on his grapple hook and Peter can’t help but be slightly offended

“That’s my thing.” So as Jason/Red Hood finally starts making his own way back to his house Peter goes back up to his apartment quietly and while making sure no one or nothing was watching him. He is just happy that the vigilantes here seem overall pretty kind and that they actually want to look out for people. What he doesn’t like is that this place he’s in now renamed Crime Alley, seems to have been completely forgotten about. He doesn’t know why that is but he doesn’t intend to let it stay this way.

It’s the dreariest place he’s ever seen and he’s been bloody everywhere. He may be stuck in some crazy unfamiliar place but hell be damned if he just leaves people to suffer. For starting what he’s planning Peter is going to need a lot more information, luckily for him, there’s a library not too far away.

“Okay Peter, you’re getting ahead of yourself. No matter how spidery you are, you still need sleep. Sleep first, research later.” Peter is simply lying down on his mattress when he notices that his wrists have . . . holes? Out of pure curiosity he throws his wrist in the direction of the ceiling just like he would with his web shooters and imagine his surprise when actual webs come out.

“Oh. My. Shit. I’m like an actual spider. Dude, this is awesome!” He was worrying about how to make his own web shooters again anyways so this takes off even a small part of the burden of making the suit again. Peter’s fatigue is ultimately catching up to him so the second he lets his thoughts rest and puts his head down, he’s out like a light.

— — — — —

When he wakes the sun is peeking through the boarded window of his new bedroom.

“Ughhhh what the hell is the time?” Of course he doesn’t have a watch nor a phone so he just ignores his own question and decides it’s time to enact his plan for the day: Research. Peter gets up and into his actual clothes chosen from the other day. He scrubs through his hair the best he can, luckily it isn’t so bad yet but he’ll put it on his list to find a public shower somewhere even if it’s just a bathroom. While he understands his options are limited he would rather not smell like a sewer rat if he can help it.

Peter moves himself into his own bathroom to check the mirror a little bit before going out onto the roof just to scope out where the library is again before heading downstairs and beginning his walk.

As he walks there there are only a few passer byers that spare him any glances, a few of those looked like they were scoping him out for anything worthwhile stealing, which he had none of so they just continued on walking. Peter discerned pretty quickly that this was one of the more dangerous areas and has a pretty high crime rate so for now he needs to find a way to get all the materials he needs and to do that he needs money. I guess money is the issue entirely actually. Getting a job will be near impossible since he doesn’t know if he even has any certification of any kind. While stuck in his thoughts just heading in the general direction he set for himself, he looks up to see that he’s right across the street from the library he saw before called -

“Gotham Public Library. Huh, that was easier than I thought.” He walks over and pushes open the large front doors to see around 2 levels of just books and computers, there’s also different areas setup for different purposes. Right now though Peter needs to figure out how to use the stuff here.

He must’ve looked confused because in only a few seconds the woman behind the front desk is trying to catch his attention.
“Excuse me! Hi, is there anything I can help you with today?” Her smile is a harsh contrast to a lot of the other people he’s seen today so her presence is really refreshing and instantly puts him in a better mood.

“UH hi, yeah actually, are the computers public or do I need to sign up with the library?” She just smiles kindly before tapping something into her computer and looking back at Peter.

“Don’t worry, you’ll only need a membership with the library, which are free anyways unless you pay for premium, if you want to borrow a book. Using the computers is open to all the public and you can just use a guest account, just make sure to logout once you’re done!” She hands him a brochure which earns her a confused look.

“Uh what’s this for?”

“For one, it’s like a tour guide to Gotham because I can hear your New Yorker accent. And for two it has a stamp card in it so that if you come for 7 days to the library you get to borrow 2 books for a week if you’re not a member and can't be one due to whatever circumstances you’re in.” Peter is mostly taken aback at how much this library has taken into consideration other people’s life situations.

“Oh, that’s really cool actually, thank you.” She just gives another kind smile before looking back at her screen and back to Peter.

“No problem uhhh…?”

“Oh! uh. . .” Peter realises it’ll probably be best if he doesn’t give someone who actually knows his face his proper name, at this point he isn't sure if there’s another Peter Parker from this world in this government's systems, better to just play it safe. Now he’s just gotta think of a name. . . “William. Or just Will is fine.”

William? Where did that come from? Welp just roll with it!

“William then, there are free computers just over there and then to your left. Have a good day, William!” She gives him a wave as he starts to walk in the direction she pointed him to.

“Thanks, uh, ” He reads her name tag and smiles. “Barbara!”

Peter stalks over to the computer in the corner of the room facing the wall so that he isn’t disturbed by anyone and is out of view unless someone is looking for him. And so, once he’s seated comfortably, he begins his search.

Gotham/ Crime Alley.

Batman. Vigilante. Dangerous, has put away dozens of villains. Doesn’t kill.

Red Hood. Anti-Hero/Vigilante, killed many people dubbed as criminals. Killer, Highly Dangerous.Second Robin.

Red Robin. The previous Robin. Vigilante, known to be the genius strategist (reported form police). Dangerous. Uses bo staff.

Nightwing. Vigilante/Hero. Known to be kind and usually works in Bludhaven. Recently seen in Gotham. Dangerous. Known to have a kinder personality. First Robin.

Robin. Most Recent Robin and Batman’s partner, Vigilante. More brutal and harsh than the others. Skilled fighter, Dangerous.

Signal. The only known meta apart of the Bat’s, Daytime Hero. Operates during day hours except for occasionally on some more dangerous missions taken on by the Bat’s. Dangerous.

Orphan. Vigilante? Rarely seen but is known to be by Batman’s side as well as Robin. (Lack of information.)

Spoiler. Hero/Vigilante, Crime-fighter, assists the Bat’s but is known to go off on her own at times.

That was all for the main Heroes of Gotham, he;d leave the other hero names he saw like Wonder Woman and Superman for another day. He continued with his search about Gotham only to come across some more information about Crime Alley. Apparently it was black listed by Batman and no one knows why. Hardly ever visited by the Bats. Only Red Hood operates there. As he looks on a map he sees that his apartment was abandoned due to the ridiculous crime rates in Crime Alley since his apartment also bordered ‘The Bowery’ which is considered the most dangerous place in Gotham. Hm, how comforting. Turns out the entire area of Uptown Gotham isn’t visited as much by the vigilantes.

He keeps looking up things and comes across. . .somehow he ended up researching Bruce Wayne?? Who is apparently an extremely prominent figure in Gotham so it’s good to know anyways. He’s also the one who sponsors this library so everything in here was purchased by his company. Aka rich guy pities poor people, built them a library, tada! Peter rubs his eyes when he notices the sun going down.

How long have I been here?

He looks at the clock and it reads 6:14, so he takes that as his time to leave. As he’s walking out he spots Barbara and decides to thank her.

“Uh thanks for the help Mrs Barbara.” He’s shyly playing with his hands in his pockets and she looks up, happy to see Peter thanking her.

“No problem William. I’m glad I could help, did you find everything you needed?” He pulls a thinking face for a second before looking back at the red haired woman.

“I got a lot but is it okay if I come back tomorrow?” She just laughs slightly and shuffles some of her papers together.

“Of course it is Will, the library is open most days other than public holidays from 6 am to 8pm. Sometimes it changes based on how long I can stay or how long I can’t but those are the basic times.” Peter just nods happily before taking a small head bow and giving Barbara a goodbye saying he’ll see her tomorrow then.

“You be careful out there! It’s always more dangerous at night!”

– – – – –

Of course he knew it was dangerous, he just didn’t think that he was gonna get mugged within 10 minutes of his apartment.

Could this get any more cliche than it already is?

“Just hand over your money and valuables kid and no one gets hurt.” Says the big burly man covered in tattoos and a leather vest.

I take back my previous statement.

“No thanks. I don’t wanna.” Surrounded by the 3 other men Peter just stands there, very tired and feeling just a little bit too close to the edge of what is called sanity.

“Didn’t you hear me kid!? Give me your money or we’re going to kill ya!” Yeah Peter has heard just enough. He launches himself at the main man almost instantly, concussing him and leaving him for the wolves on the ground. The second man grabs his shoulder which leads to him being flipped onto the ground next to his criminal pal.

“I’m getting really tired of this whole mugging scenario.” Just because he’s feeling petty he decides to give the last 2 guys an identical kick into their crown jewels. “Enjoy not reproducing!” With that all the lousy men are on the ground and unconscious just as he’s about to leave in a rage a voice from above tears him away from his thoughts.

“Woohoooo! Go little birdie! KICK THOSE BALLS!” As he looks up he sees a blonde woman with either side of her hair dyed different colours, one pink, one blue. “That was awesome you’re just a little munchkin yet you took down just like that! Pow!” She just giggles maniacally and while Peter feels that she's not 100% sober nor mentally stable he just ends up laughing with her at the pure ridiculousness of it all. Just to add to it he gives her a deep bow which makes her burst into a round of applause. She hops down from her window on the second floor to the ground effortlessly and hops up in front of Peter. “Awww you’re just a baby! With muscles! But still a babyyyy.” She just laughs another time and starts massaging his cheeks like an auntie you haven’t seen in forever would.

He doesn’t want to provoke this potentially dangerous woman so he takes the more calm and collected route which means letting her do her thing and calmly conversing with her.

“Uhh, glad you enjoyed the show?” She gently pats his cheeks with both her hands before watching him for a bit longer. She all of a sudden hops back up to her apartment and drops down a backpack.

“I did enjoy your show and now you’ve piqued my interest pretty boy! The name’s Harley, Harley Quinn but you can call me Harls, here take this!” He takes the bag from her now that she's back on ground level and what he sees is a small revolver gun and a normal police regulated gun that had been decorated with pink paint and neon blue and yellow textas. “That’s a fun one! I just like how it spins but I’ve got more so you take em! Besides, gotta kill those bad guys with something dontcha sweet cheeks?” Although Peter is 100% sure she’s dangerous now he can’t help but be a bit fond of her personality and carefree attitude. He also knows better than to reject a gift given to you especially when given to you by a psycho you met on the street 10 minutes ago. “Do ya like it, hm?”

“Love it, I- I’m not really a gun user but I’ll make sure they’re kept nicely! I’m uh, I’m William.” She giggles and runs on the spot for a second before giving him a big hug.

“Ugh you’re a cutie, Imma protect you from even the Gods themselves!” Harley adds a small, hostile growl at the end of her sentence to accentuate her meaning behind the words. “Make sure you come visit okay?” For some reason Peter suspects he’ll meet her again anyways even as she climbs back up to her apartment leaving Peter with guns and backpack. “Bye Li-Li!!” He sort of just stands there in shock at that extremely strange encounter.

. . . Li-Li? Did I just accidentally make a friend? Wow okay then I guess that’s good.

With that over he just starts to walk home, too caught up in his thoughts to realise the man on the roof staring at him as he rounded the corner onto Crime Alley. Red Hood simply watches as Peter talks to himself and walks into the abandoned apartment building they had found him on the previous night and onto the roof. Just as Jason loses sight of him he starts to turn away before he hears a small scuffle behind him.

“Why are you following me? Like I get why but seriously? Is privacy not a thing anymore?” Jason is shocked to see the boy behind him and tapping his foot impatiently waiting for Jason’s response to justify his stalking behaviours.

“Not when you’ve been labelled as a potentially endangered minor.”

“Oh, no okay that makes sense.” Jason just pulls a face and looks around the roof they’re on, thoroughly confused.

“How did you even get up here?” Peter just raises his eyebrow before thinking about it and realising there was no possible normal way onto the roof so he comes up with the only susceptible truth that’s believable.
“I uhh I do ballet?” Putting on his best performers smile and starts sweating while giving Red Hood a casual thumbs up. Honestly though, Jason has heard weirder and less believable things that have turned out to be true so this wasn’t anything too strange.

“Okay, that makes sense.”

“Wait, seriously?” Peter just looks at him in pure and utter confusion and tilts his head like a lost puppy.

“Yup, I’ve heard many strange things. Besides, Nightwing is just a glorified gymnast, honestly all the Robin’s are.” Peter just tilts his head even more and Jason thinks if he tilts it anymore he’ll just end up snapping it off. “I’m surrounded by people who dress up in latex costumes from different planets. I think you being able to get up here because you do ballet is pretty easy to believe compared to that.

“Sounds like a lot of effort.” Peter is tired just thinking about it because he understands entirely. Honestly if Captain America really heard the pure amount of fangirling and fanboying about ’America’s Ass’, he’d be thoroughly appalled cause he hasn't even heard the half of it. Red Hood just sighs in agreeance and stands up properly giving his body a good stretch.

“Alright, you’re definitely a weird kid but you’re pretty funny so I like ya. So let me warn you on this, don’t be seen with Harley. She may not be a danger to you but knowing her is a danger in itself. Keep the guns she gave you though, you may need them.”

“I was planning to, I mean not to really use them but it’d be good to use just as a bluff weapon or something for like incapacitating them, y’know.” Jason just stares incredulously at Peter before cackling and throwing his head back in laughter.

“Yeah, you’re definitely funny! I honestly thought you may die in Crime Alley within the next few days but now I think you’ll last maybe a couple months. See ya Li-Li~” He starts leaving and waves a final goodbye before swinging away with his own grapple hook.

“I DIDN’T PICK THAT NICKNAME!” All Peter hears a response from Red Hood is the sound of echoing laughter through the street. Peter just sighs as he watches the city continue on with its life and can’t help but think that, for an alternate universe, he’s doing pretty alright. His peaceful thoughts are interrupted by a loud grumble.

. . .

“Food and water might be a good idea right now.” Of course he has no money for that so he just goes walking around the area and before he knows it he’s in the Bowery territory. He’s aware it’s not the safest place to be but for him it might be just fine. Honestly any food at this point would be good, he’d been ignoring his stomach for the past 3 days since they didn’t feed him as much on the ship because Penguin's lackeys didn’t want to go near him or open his cage even in the slightest. Since Peter’s part spider though he can physically go without food or water for like 3 weeks he just doesn’t want to because it causes problems even if he can. Still human too so there’s side effects.

As he’s walking it leads him to the train of thought of the differences between his spider abilities here and the other universe because at this point he’s discovered that he can create his own webbing and that his sight is slightly more enhanced. Not forgetting that he can turn invisible.

Is it invisibility or would it be more like camouflage? Because I know some spider’s have the ability to camouflage themselves but not to that extent. Maybe it’s because I’m like an enhanced spider so some things will definitely be different.

I wonder how the webbing is made though, I was hacking at it yesterday and it’s stronger than steel but it still started disintegrating after a couple of hours. Argh all this is so confusing and I’m still really hungry.

Just as Peter is walking by he sees a man throw a bag of chips in the rubbish in an alleyway just outside a side exit to this strange looking bar. Peter will admit that his stomach has reached the point of his ribs being shown and being in pain but. . .

. . . I’m not that desperate, am I?

Peter’s stomach disagrees with a loud grumble and he decides to go by the 3 second rule.

Ok so I am that desperate.

So as he runs over to the bin and begins to fish out the bag of chips, of course, the side exit opens revealing a man about aged 40 with dark brown hair and beard, if a bear could be a man this is what he’d look like, except fitter and more jacked. Yes that is what Peter noticed when looking at him amidst his thorough embarrassment.

“You sir, have not caught me at one of my finest moments. Please ignore me.” The man pulls the most incredulous face known to man as he stares at Peter half of his body in a trash bin and eating a bag of chips. He probably looked like the most ratty, underfed, homeless kid at the moment and he could feel his face heating up the more the man stared. He eventually just sighs and rubs his brow with his fingers and looks back at Peter who is still standing in the rubbish like a startled stoat.

“Okay you little mangy shit, are you hungry?” Peter just honestly looks at the man like he’s stupid, he isn’t even bothered trying to hide his emotions because he’s already been found in a goddamn dumpster eating chips, his dignity is already gone.

“D- do you seriously think I’d be dumpster diving if I wasn’t?” It was a genuine question because Peter doesn’t understand what being normal means in this world yet and who knows maybe dumpster diving is popular enough that it’s considered pretty standard.

“No, no I don’t, ugh dammit whatever just come inside kid I’ll get you something just don’t put that shit in your mouth.” Peter cautiously hops out of the dumpster and moves towards this new guy with more caution than necessary but the whole situation seems like a perfect kidnapper scenario so you can’t blame him for being careful. “I’m not gonna kidnap you lad, I just don’t want you dead in the alleyway behind my bar tomorrow morning because you ate the wrong thing. You’ll stink away my customer’s.”

Peter just makes a contemplative face and understands where the man is coming from but he also suspects the guy has a soft spot for kids and luckily for Peter, he has a baby face.

“Mmm okay then, I was going to go inside anyway. My self-preservation level is pretty low so I’ve been told.” The man just sighs as if I’m like his child who has just gone and broken his arm by jumping down the stairs or jumped in a large puddle and nearly drowned.

Peter just stalks inside feeling a little sheepish and smelly, the inside is like a kitchen of some sort and he’s led off into a side room which looks like a manager's office except it has this warm feel and one of those big leather arm chairs. Which Peter feels shouldn’t be possible on the budget of a bar but what would he know he hasn’t gone into any bar institutions lately.
“Wow this is fancier than I expected, “Peter more closely inspects the fishtank which contains a large array of smaller species of fish. ONe in particular catches his attention which is what he thinks is a fighter fish, its coloration reminds him of his old costume with being mainly blue and having faded parts of red on the fins. “And there’s cute fish.” Peter just keeps staring, the guy is probably wondering why the hell Peter is so trusting but at the moment he’s mostly relying on his ‘peter tingle’, which as of yet hasn’t been set off so he figures it’s relatively safe.

“Come here and sit down lad.” Peter perks up and walks over to sit on the chair on the other side of the desk to this new man who has sat on the big leather chair. The man starts looking Peter up and down before seemingly coming to a decision.
“So, I’m going to assume your financial situation is shit considering you were in a dumpster eating chips.”

“Hehe, sorry about that, I didn’t want to make you look bad. Just desperate situations call for desperate measures.” Peter just looks anywhere but this guy's eyes just to try and hide his obvious and shameful embarrassment.

“What would you think if I said I could help you? Get you a stable cash flow?” The man has his arms crossed and is comfortably leaned back against his chair slightly swaying left to right like it’s a habit. Peter just thinks for a small second, not really prepared for the strange question.

“Uhhhh I guess I’d say thanks? I haven’t really thought this situation through.”

“Yeah neither have I but I’m one bartender down and no one with self preservation wants to join this place. So I need someone desperate, aka, you.” Peter is now confused. Is he getting offered a job? After diving in the dumpster and eating dumpster chips?

“Okay, I’m very confused now. Am I being offered a job?” The man just looks amused at how lost Peter now looks which makes sense considering he only came in here for some food and now is in a job interview.

“Would you want it?” Peter doesn’t understand how he ended up getting this opportunity but he isn’t going to throw it away when he has so many things to do and no money to do it.

“Uhh how much would I get?” Money matters and Peter needs a decent amount of it to get to where he needs to be. He’s seen a lot in this neighbourhood so far and it needs to change, especially Crime Alley.

“$42.34 an hour. For just bartending but sometimes people pick up being a waiter after a while.”

WOAH! That’s a lot for a bartender, no less a TEENAGER! Sounds too good to be true honestly, maybe it is.

“That’s quite a bit for a bartender, isn’t it?” Peter isn’t complaining about the amount in the slightest but that is a lot which doesn’t make a lot of sense so he wants to understand what he may be about to get himself dragged into.

“It’s definitely on the higher scale of things but this is a higher scale bar. We’re different because we don’t question who we serve. Anyone and everyone can come in here. Except unaccompanied minors. I’ll stand by that.” Anyone? He can’t help but think that that could mean villains come in here, vigilantes maybe too. If he means anyone then that could actually help him, he could be close to criminals without them knowing he’s a vigilante too and it’d help him know who to target once he actually gets Spider-Man started here. There’s still one thing that Peter needs to understand though before going through with this.

“Strange set of morals but okay. Don’t I need to have a resume, meet some requirements paperwork? Anything like that?” Peter has none of the paperworks he would normally need, he doesn’t even know if a birth certificate of him exists in this world

“As I said boy, we don’t ask who people are. Even in this business none of my waiters, cooks, servers or performers are known. It’s my company policy. I don’t care where you’re from, as long as you make a good drink. So, can you?”

“I mean, as long as I know the ingredients I can make it and I was taught a few tricks by my- uh, old friend.” Peter catches himself on Mr Stark's name, the last memory he has is of Mr Stark holding onto him tightly as if it could keep him alive and stop him from turning to dust. He’s willing himself to look tough enough infront of this new man so that he won’t cry and lose himself this opportunity. So he steels himself and watches as the man makes his final contemplation before deciding his thoughts on Peter.

“Alright then. You’ve got the job once you prove you can make a drink. Once you do, I’ll get you some food, on the house this time around. You’re just lucky the bar closed early today. It reopens in an hour though so let’s be quick.” Peter follows the man out to the currently empty bar and shows Peter where to stand with a quick hand gesture. Peter just stares as the man slides a recipe list across to him and looks at him expectantly. “Well? Go on.”

That was all Peter needed to start getting to work, the recipe in front of him was a Whiskey Sour which he was lucky for because it’s one that he’d seen Mr Stark make. So with that he grabbed all the ingredients and mixed them all together adding in a little trick while pouring it into the glass and adding a final touch with an orange slice. He slides it to the man, who’s name he really has to get soon, and watches as he picks it up and drinks it. Luckily his face shows a content and satisfied look once he tastes it, so as he puts it down and looks at Peter he nods his head approvingly.

“You weren’t kidding when you said all you needed was the ingredients list. Better that you have a couple tricks up your sleeve too. Congrats, brat, you got the job.”

“Well that was easier than I thought it would be.” The man just laughs from the other side of the bar which ended up being a hearty and gruff sound. He sticks his hand out for Peter to shake as if they were agreeing on a deal.

“Yeah I guess I’m pretty easy. My name around here is Bjorn. Now it’s time for you to get your nickname, uniform and mask.”

“That’s actually a really cool concept. Just the way that it hides the user and can make sure to ensure their safety when in the workplace. Especially when this place serves anyone, you don’t know who you could be getting and if anything happened it would be restricted to happen in here but I’m guessing there’s some form of security powerful enough to stop the more powerful customers that come in here. Even if they tried to find you outside of work it would be hard because I saw the private employee exit at the back which I’m assuming is so that we can leave undetected so even if someone waited for us to leave to discover our identities they wouldn’t be able to because it would seem like we left already when we actually just used a separate exit.” Peter is off in his own world just rambling about the aspects of his new job not realising Bjorn listening to him intently yet slightly disturbed the whole time. So once Peter stops Bjorn just stares at him in silence for a second before talking again.

“. . . are you actually a nerd or something?” Bjorn looks like he’s impressed yet still trying really hard to bite back a laugh while watching Peter blush from embarrassment that he had gone into his habits again. Normally he does it when talking about chemistry or tech but since the whole mask idea is his playing field he got stuck on all the reasons why it’s a good idea for this type of workspace.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m definitely a nerd, it's why I’m so good at mixing drinks.” Bjorn just pulls a face and starts to think about how the hell that has any connection to his bartending skills.

“You’re a weird one for sure. So I think you’ll fit in just fine around here.” By the time he finishes that sentence they’re back in his office again and Bjorn is making his way over to his comfy looking arm chair and Peter to the one parallel to it.

– – – – –

“So, you have any name in mind?” Peter just starts sweating because he damn well knows that he is the shittiest at naming things, for god’s sake his hero name is Spider-Man because he’s a man with spider abilities.

“You do not want me to choose. Trust me it’s way better if you do it.” Bjorn just pulls a face of understanding and looks Peter up and down. He stares at Peter for a good minute before sitting up and leaning on his elbows on the edge of his desk.

“Say, how does ‘Goliath’ sound to you?”

Peter thinks on it for a second.

Then he just smirks.

“Good. It sounds really good.”

“Well then, welcome to the team Goliath.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3:

“Goliath. Now it’s up to you to pick your mask. Take a look, I have a couple good new ones in and I have high hopes for you kid.” Bjorn’s hand drifted to a drawer behind him and as he pulled it open it showed an array of masks, some human face based and others animal. Peter notices how intricately detailed many of them are, some are plainer yet they’re all decorated with gold in some way, his eyes drift to one mask in particular.

“Can I take that one please?” Peter points at the mask in the back corner leading Bjorn’s eyes to said mask. Bjorn picks it up with one hand, gives it a look and a huff of a laugh.

“You have such good manners for a street kid but yeah, it’s an ironic pick for you considering Goliath was known for killing one.” He just hands it to Peter and begins writing some things down on what looks like a form, presumably for Peter to join this place. It gives Peter time to decide his own pick of masks. He’s now holding onto the mask shaped like a lion. It’s like the other intricately detailed marks with gold patterns that look like flowers and vines wrapping around the sides, ears and space between the eyes/ forehead. The mask is black and only covers around the top half of the face if you were to put it on, Peter was simply intrigued by the contrast of the black on gold. He wouldn’t admit it outloud but he really liked the golden eyeliner around the lion’s eyes.

“Goliath, huh, I thought you were talking about Goliath like, you know the bird-eating spider?” Bjorn pulls a face and just shrugs. Signing a final section on the piece of paper and sliding it in Peter’s direction.

“I know, I meant both, it wasn’t a specific thing. I guess ‘The bird-eating spider’ is better huh? Goliath dies anyway and it sounds more vicious.” Peter just leans over to read the sheet but all it is, is some points of the rules and regulations of being a worker. It looked really shoddy but Peter was quite literally picked off the street and offered the job so he doesn’t think the requirements are very high standard, nor does he think this is a legal establishment but he hardly has the choice to be so picky.

The rules include:

1. Do not show your negative emotions towards the customers no matter who they are.

2. Ignore any conversation you hear, saying anything will get you killed.

3. Never take off your mask or reveal any information about you because it will jeopardise others around you and yourself.

4.Refrain from telling outsiders about your job and details of who you work with. If the Bat catches wind of this we’re done for and you will most likely be killed by our patrons.

5.If you’re ever caught by the bats or authorities reveal nothing about your job, just say you’re unemployed. We have villains and vigilantes that come here and none of them want this place gone

6. PLEASE DO NOT SLEEP WITH THE CUSTOMERS. I DO NOT HAVE THE MENTAL CAPACITY TO DEAL WITH THE REPERCUSSIONS AGAIN. PLEASE.

Wow this is desperate. What the hell happened before for it to get to this level of begging? It was even put on the contract too.

Peter just lets out a short snort at the final rule before signing at the bottom of the page to finalise his choice of joining the bar.

“Well then Goliath, you’re now an official staff member of The Wailing Fool. When do you think you’d be able to start then kid?” Peter just thinks about it and realises he won’t be able to do much without money and he’s already not feeling tired anymore.

“Whenever you need me too. I don’t really have much to do at the moment if you couldn’t tell.” Bjorn just smiles at Peter and pushes his chair back into the desk and folds the contract into an envelope which confuses Peter but he doesn’t say anything. Bjorn then puts the envelope into the fireplace which had been burning for some time.

“Wh-”

“As I’m guessing you’ve figured out Goliath, we carry nothing that our staff could be recognised by on paper, that includes signatures, if you think you’re bold enough to break the contract then do it. The one who will suffer the most will be you.” Bjorn just gives a sick sort of smile and Peter has to remind himself that Bjorn is the one incharge of this sort of place so he can’t let his guard down just yet.

“The only weakness you shall have in this business is your ability to handle yourself, and me. I know your face and you know mine. Therefore we are both a weakness to each other.” Peter nods in understanding. The showing of their faces is a form of trust and contract.

“Okay I got it. When would you want me to start then?” Bjorn’s face pulls into a look of contemplation before looking back at Peter and smiling.

“How would you feel about starting today? I’ll pay you upfront just for today and we can figure out your schedule later. I’m assuming you don’t have a phone though huh?” Peter just sheepishly shakes his head in apology.

“Sorry Mr .Bjorn, that’s a bit out of my budget at the moment. I can start tonight though if you want!”

“Don’t worry about it, this place is fuckin rich because of how many people come in and tip like they own half the world’s wealth. I’ll get you one, after today is done we’ll go to the flashier part of Gotham and hitch you up. I’ve got a friend up there anyway who has a soft spot for kids so he’ll get you one for cheaper.” Peter genuinely smiles his award winning golden retriever look and Bjorn was honestly shocked at the level of radiance Peter gives off when he’s happy.

“Thanks Mr. Bjorn.”

“Aye aye aye, just call me Bjorn kid. Besides, you can slowly pay me back for the phone once you’re in a more stable position. Ah whatever! Let’s get you some food and we can talk about how long you can work tonight.”

Peter follows like a baby duckling as Bjorn heads into the kitchen part of the building. He notices that all the equipment is pretty top notch and clean too. The standards for this place must be pretty high if Bjorn says the customers tip as much as he says they do. Bjorn then goes looking through one of the fridges and just pulls out what looks like a premade batter or mix of some sort, he also grabs some frozen berries and cream. Bjorn pulls out a waffle maker from the cupboard below and leaves it to heat up for a bit while he whisks the cream and microwaves the berries so they’re all nice and warm. He puts his hand so that it hovers over the waffle maker just to feel how hot it was and nods his head slightly. Peter just sits down on a chair next to a table and happily watches as Bjorn scoops a ladle into the batter and pours it into the waffle maker, the smell and sizzle instantly making his stomach rumble. It’s so ridiculously loud that Bjorn turns to Peter with an amused look and Peter opts to hide his face in his arms out of embarrassment.

After a moment of just letting Bjorn cook Peter looks up to see Bjorn put a plate of perfectly cooked waffles topped with whipped cream and warm berries. Peter was most definitely drooling. Bjorn places his own plate opposite to Peter and sits down as well as he begins to eat.

“I know it’s about 10pm at night but waffles are an all day food, I don’t give a shit what society says, so enjoy.” Peter does just that, he couldn’t care less about what time of day waffles are meant for because all he cares about is that it’s food. Really good food. He savours every bite and doesn’t say a word the entire time he eats, he’s aware that Bjorn is watching him at times but it doesn’t matter because Bjorn is now considered a very nice, food-giving ally. He continues chewing happily and kicking his feet like a little kid as he polishes it all off.

“Glad to see you enjoyed that. So, let’s talk about when you wanna start tonight.”

“I can start whenever you want me to, I just might need a little bit to at least look over where some of the drinks are so that I can be quicker or something like that. I just don’t want to mess up on the first day, night? Yeah y’know.” Peter hears an amused chuckle from Bjorn and looks up as Bjorn is shoving a final piece of waffle into his mouth to cover up his laughing.

“W-what?”

“Nothing, nothing it’s just. God, you don’t seem like you fit into Gotham at all one second then you seem like you couldn’t be more of a Gothamite the next.” Peter just hides another embarrassed blush behind his hands again as Bjorn continues talking.

“I think the customers and your new work colleagues will find you entertaining.” As he starts clearing up his plate, Bjorn starts to grab Peter’s plate yet Peter swipes it out of the way and while Bjorn is distracted, grabs his plate too and moves over to the sink.

“Yeah I know, I’m not from Gotham. I, good sir, hail from New York.” Peter dramatically bows, careful to not drop any of the plates or cutlery. Bjorn is smiling as he just walks up to Peter as he props himself into his normal standing stance and directs him to the dishes sink. Peter instinctively starts washing the dishes with Bjorn next to him as well. Without knowing it they both fall into a comfortable silence as they just start washing dishes as if it were a normal routine.

“Well then, Goliath of New York. Bjorn is my nickname but my actual name is Charlie.” Peter’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead and he turns to Bjorn with lightning pace.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to know your or anyone’s name?” Peter makes a decision at that time that if he’s going to start as someone else here, he may as well keep the name he picked earlier.

“If we’re telling names then, it’s nice to meet you Charlie, I’m William.” Peter or now as he has renamed himself, ‘William’ looks up at Bjorn at that moment to see an expression he didn’t think could appear on the older man’s face. It’s a warm and loving, sad type of smile like there’s all of a sudden so much fondness for ‘William’ yet he was wounded by it. Peter can’t help but wonder what it was that made Bjorn become so emotionally affected in that moment.

“That’s a nice name you got there kid. Don’t tell it to anyone else though. Only employees know my name and only a few know my face, so count yourself lucky you got to see these gorgeous looks. Customers don’t know anything about any employee. It stays that way to protect us.” Peter just gives a firm nod and drys the last plate before placing it in the rack to dry. With the rest of the dishes now safely stacked and drying, Bjorn motions for Peter to follow him and leads Peter to another room with named lockers in which Bjorn pulls out a name plate and a whiteboard marker from a small stationary bucket on a table and writes ‘Goliath’ in neat handwriting before sliding it into one of lockers.

“There ya go kid. Now this locker’s yours. The uniform inside should fit, maybe a little bit tight but nonetheless you should try it on if you’re starting tonight anyways.” He uses the key from the key cupboard on the empty part of the wall to open ‘Goliath’s’ new locker before then handing it to Peter. Peter then watches as Bjorn pulls out a uniform of a white button up shirt with black pants, a black vest and finally paired with plain black or dark brown dress shoes.

“Wow this is fancier than I expected it would be.” Bjorn hands Peter the uniform and Peter examines it thoroughly, noticing that even the uniform’s are pretty high quality for a bartender.

“Hey, I told you that this place gets money, a good ton of money. Not our fault if we’re paid with stolen money, it’s the customer's issue cause a lot of the time they’re villains anyways.” He continues looking through the opened locker as if looking for something else other than the uniform, all the while Peter just waits patiently. Bjorn has almost half his body in the locker before he makes an ‘aha!’ sound and pulls himself out while showing proudly his find of a badge.

“We wear badges so there isn't a risk of as many slip ups in case a customer asks your name. We only have these because of one idiot who used to be a bartender too, now he works in the kitchen after we pretended to fire him. Only for show though, he’s a good lad.” Peter is now going to protect this potential criminal with his life. He, in an hour, has given him a money supply, job, food and is now his new friend (he has no choice in the matter).

“I’m your biggest fan now. Just saying.” He just ruffles Peter’s hair as if he’s a kid but Peter has no words against it.

“How do you feel about starting at 11:30 to 12-ish, the half an hour can be just when you watch the other bartender for tonight. Don’t worry, he's really friendly, I think you two will get along well.” Bjorn closes the locker and relocks it with Peter’s key before handing it back to him again.

“That sounds fine to me! What’s the other guy called though?” He would rather know the name of the guy so that he has time to think of a conversation starter or literally anything that will keep him from rambling to the poor guy.

“You’ll learn later, don’t worry about it for now.” He mused happily walking towards a door which was the changing rooms.

“Now go on and get dressed. I need to see if your uniform fits and besides, your co-workers will be arriving again soon.” Peter is pushed into the dressing room with his uniform in his arms and the door is shut behind him by Bjorn.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll just get changed then.” Peter is so used to getting dressed quickly because of his part-time position as Spider-Man so he undresses and dresses with a miraculous type of speed that not even a minute later is he out of the changing room and facing Bjorn again who looks genuinely impressed.

“It’s a strange skill you got there but it’ll surely come in handy someday-” He’s right, it certainly does come in handy. Just not in the way Bjorn would expect it at least but still, he’s correct nonetheless. ”and the uniform fits! Well, mostly.” Peter laughs at the older man’s remark and Bjorn gives another curiously gentle smile. Peter continues to wonder why that is since it only happens in specific moments. Peter is pulled from his thoughts at the sound of something though. There’s a yell from the staff entrance which makes Peter turn his head sharply.

“Hey Bjorn, you there mate?” It’s a loud and quite strong Australian accent? The man can be heard putting down what sounds like a bag.

“Is he Australian?” Peter clamps his mouth the second he says it because he figures that even if he knows he shouldn’t say it out loud just out of privacy or something.

“That was a quick deduction but yes and don’t worry about knowing that small piece of information everyone else knows too. Bit too hard to hide and he said he doesn’t talk to many people outside of work anyways.”

“Bjornnnnnnn??” Bjorn just sighs at the Australian guys' long dragged out version of his name. Peter can hear the man put down a bag of some sort and go looking for something.

“Yeah I’m here you fool just give me a minute!” It’s as if Peter can hear the overdramatic sag of the Australian’s shoulder’s at Bjorn’s insult towards him.

“Well alright then, no need to be a nincompoop!” Bjorn just sighs again yet it’s heavier this time but Peter pretends he doesn’t see the amused smile on his new boss’s face.

“Okay then William, time to meet your other bartender co-worker for tonight.” Peter follows with a tiny skip in his step at how great his luck is tonight. Then again this bar is kind of going against what he’s supposed to be doing and who he’s supposed to be serving. Which is the civilians but instead he’s serving the villains and vigilantes, anti-heroes, you name it. Just anyone that he isn’t supposed to be serving, he’s going to be serving.

Agh, let’s not think about that now. I’m going to get paid $42.34 an HOUR. I need money and this is money. Besides, it's not like I’m going to be friends with them, I just give them drinks. . . right? NO! No making friends with villains. I must only talk to them when giving drinks. Only spoke when spoken too. Yes! Okay then that’s my plan. Do not be friendly. Not even with co-workers.

Can’t be that hard.

“Oh and William put on the mask. Your face and name must still be kept private just as the contract says. I can’t stop you if you do but it’s your fault if someone outs it afterwards.” Bjorn points to the mask that he left on the bench in the locker room so Peter runs to grab it quickly. 

"Yep, I got it.” He places it on his face and ties it back with the black silk ribbon on the back of his head. Bjorn then turns to check that Peter’s face is covered and is pleased when he sees how well everything fits. — Peter is now slightly behind Bjorn facing the Australian man who bears the mask of a snake which Peter finds slightly stereotypical yet funny and understandable he thinks.The new man, even though his face is concealed by a mask, is clear to show his curiosity about Peter. Even though Peter isn’t small, especially in this world since he’s around 5”11 or 6 foot, it’s hard to tell without specific measurements yet this man makes him feel tiny. He’s at least 6” 5, maybe even 6”6.

“Jesus you’re tall.” The man just stares, his green eyes piercing through Peter’s soul as he regrets his outburst instantly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” The man just stares a minute longer before turning his head to face Bjorn. He points his thumb in Peter’s direction while keeping complete eye contact with Bjorn which Peter finds incredible since Bjorn honestly looks as if he could bite either of them in half even if he’s shorter than this Australian guy.

“So we’re keeping him right? Because if not I’m adopting him.”

Huh?

“You don’t have an American citizenship just yet, you can’t adopt him.” The man just crosses his arms over in a child-like sort of defiance and almost pouts which Peter finds funny since he is most definitely a full grown man.

“It doesn’t have to be legal. I’ll find a way.” He looks back to Peter and smiles, shining his teeth in a friendly way but almost as if he was a dog so it looked like he was simultaneously smiling and baring his teeth. It was clear he was trying to be friendly though so Peter quite liked his smile.

“He’s working here now anyways, you don’t have to adopt him, you’ll see the kid frequently anyways. Besides, you’re the one taking care of him tonight.”

“Yes! You and me, little guy, are gonna have a lot of fun. I’m Cobber, nice to meet ya.” Cobber holds his hand out to Peter and honestly Peter couldn’t be happier at how nice he is. He didn’t know what he expected but it certainly wasn’t anything close to Cobber. Peter took the hand and shook it strongly which was kindly reciprocated by Cobber as well.

“Hi Mr. Cobber, I’m Goliath, it’s great to meet you too.” Peter slightly pauses at the end of his sentence, a thought interrupting his interaction.

Oh come on, I’ve failed at the ‘don’t be too friendly thing’ already. But he’s so nice, how can I not? Okay screw that rule it’s too hard.

“Goliath huh? Pretty curious name for a guy some inches shorter than me and Bjorn.” Bjorn is the one who answers this question and Peter has no complaints.

“Goliath as in the bird-eating spider species. Not the biblical version.” Cobber makes a silent ‘O’ sound with his mouth as he reverts his attention once again, back to Peter. His smile grows even wider as he stares down Peter.

Wow his eyes are a nice green. Scary, but very pretty.

“Hah, I like that much better, anyways we’ve got about 10 minutes before we need to turn the sign to ‘open’ again. How about I show you a couple of things before that. Come on, mate!”

“Oh, okay. Bye Bjorn!” Peter follows after Cobber like a slightly lost puppy and waves a friendly goodbye to Bjorn before turning around.

“Yeah yeah whatever. Hey, Goliath, you get off at 3:30.” Peter turns quickly and gives a fast nod before closing the door behind him and moving into the main bar area. He’s happy with that time, he still has time to sleep then and head to the library later. All in all it’s quite spacious. The roof is a bit low but in some areas there’s box rooms shrouded by red curtains for a more private drinking area. With there being main round tables surrounding the rest of the space other than the actual bar which was long enough to hold at least 30 people and had comfortable (and expensive no doubt) stools to boot. It all honestly looks like a deep browned wood for the most part with black materials bordering it. The bar was a black marble with gold leaf running through it almost like a fast flowing river, a river with no direction. Peter didn’t have a chance to marvel at it before but now that he does he’s realising how much this place must be worth because it’s covered head to toe in expensive materials, even the curtains look like pure silk.

“This place must be expensive, literally everything in here is top notch. How much does a drink even cost?” Cobber just laughs heartily while putting the liquors in the correct places and refilling the now empty ones with fresh new ones.

“That’s what I thought when I first came here too, yet the drinks don’t cost nearly as much as you think they would. This place runs a lot off of tips. This may sound unbelievable but once a villain tipped 3 million just because an old bartender, ‘Durendal’, made her a really good drink and gave her a dish on the house.” Peter’s jaw drops instantly.

3 MILLION FOR A GOOD DISH AND DRINK!?!?

“I know how ridiculous that sounds but it’s true. People here don’t pay under their villain names so we’re practically safe from being linked back to by the GCPD, mostly. They came in here once but he just ordered a drink, looked around and left. That was like 2 years ago.”

“Woah. This place is seriously prepared for all this stuff.”

“You bet. It’s why we’re so popular. The customers understand that their privacy is top priority and so is ours. The only reason we wear masks is because of a hostage situation with a waiter a couple years ago. I won’t go into that now though because right now you need to help me wipe down these glasses there’s 4 minutes before open time.”

“Why are we getting ready so late?” Peter can’t understand why they were only finishing cleaning the glasses when there’s only a few minutes till the people are allowed in the bar. He can’t see the logic but if Cobber isn’t worried then Peter isn’t too worried either.

“Because we can, the people who come in here are hardly ever in a rush. They stay here for hours, this place is overflowing by the time it reaches 2am.” Peter just nods, fascinated by how much has happened in the past few hours and how much still can happen because he hasn’t even started working yet.

“Also, customers can I either just tip the bartender or they can tip this place as a whole. If they just tip you, don’t feel bad and take it.” He just smiles at Peter and puts another glass above them on the shelf.

“Everyone here knows that the people that work at ‘The Wailing Fool’ aren’t in the best place so they tip us a lot too.” A timer goes off somewhere and Cobber fixes up himself a bit by wiping down his hands and taking off the apron giving the bench a quick wipedown before turning to Peter again.

“Well then newbie. Time to open up shop.”

—

Once it finally reaches 1 am Peter feels as if he has made thousands of drinks, with the help of Cobber of course. Many of the customers who enter Peter finds slightly familiar, possibly from his research at the library. He’ll look it up once he goes to the library again later today but for now he’s got to pay attention to the person in front of him. Peter almost drops the glass he’s cleaning. Because sitting in front of him, is Red Hood. Red Hood looks up and stares at Peter’s mask as if he’s looking through Peter but he doesn’t look away for a second, well, Peter doesn’t think so, Red Hood’s also wearing a mask.

“Haven’t seen you around before, what’s your name newbie?” Peter coughs a bit to prepare to change his voice in a slight bit just to avoid being recognised by either of them.

“Goliath. The spider, not the story. What can I get you then?” Peter tries to end the topic entirely which unfortunately fails as he brings the conversation back to Peter.

“Just a Pina Colada, thanks. Anyways, what brings a soul like you to a place like this?” Peter finds the vigilante’s drink choice a bit funny, as if he’s an elderly woman on a cruise but starts making it nonetheless. He’s also got to consider the man’s question because there’s a slight chance he’s suspicious that Peter might be a certain ballet boy from before.

“If you come here often enough to realise I’m new then you should understand the rules for the customers and employees must follow.” Peter blitzes the ice and pours the juice and alcohol mix onto the ice and adds a pineapple wedge on the glass before sliding it over to Red Hood.

“Did you want a straw?” Red Hood slightly glares at him but overall eventually nods. It causes Peter to smile while he picks a green straw and places it into the drink. For a second Peter swears he sees Red Hood’s entire body light up like a child at the sight of a green straw and almost laughs. Red Hood takes a sip from under his mask and gives a happy nod.

“Worth a shot. Well thank you for the drink, Goliath, this tip is for you.” He then slides an extra hundred dollar note over to Peter who tries his best not to react to the overpaying vigilante.

“Don’t worry, I stole that money from a certain Bat anyways. He won’t even notice it’s gone.” Peter just smiles and moves the money for the drink into the hidden cashier under the bench while putting the hundred into his own pocket. He checks it in and looks back up to Red Hood who has demolished the entire Pina Colada and has put his jacket back on ready to leave.

“Thank you sir, have a nice night.” What a strange guy. At least he was friendly.

— — —

“See ya later Goliath, hope you got paid well.” With a final goodbye to Cobber Peter leaves the bar and passes another bartender with a monkey mask going past him. They give a polite nod before moving quickly to give Cobber a low five and to where Peter previously was. Peter is finally let off of work at 3:25 just to give him time to change and get paid, which happens fairly quickly since Bjorn was waiting for him in his office. He looks up from his papers to see Peter and gives a hearty smile.

“Heard you did pretty good for the first day? Saw you serving Red Hood as well. He’s pretty tame compared to a lot of them but still a scary guy considering he beats up criminals for a living without the fear of killing them all.”

“Yeah, he was good though and he tipped me $100 dollars so he’s now on my good list. He likes Pina Coladas which was a little bit funny to see. Just didn’t seem to fit his overall . . . uhh what’s the word?”

“Style?”

“Yeah that! Kind of ruined the whole ‘bad boy’ image.” Peter chuckles remembering Re Hood kicking his feet like a child when he received the green straw but turned his attention to Bjorn who was pulling out an envelope with Peter’s name on it.

“Red Hood huh? He’s a strange cat. Here’s your money for tonight’s hours. Now go somewhere and get some sleep. You do have somewhere to sleep right?” Peter picks up the envelope and takes a small peek inside to see at least nearly 300 dollars before answering Bjorn’s question which made him smile. He thought Bjorn probably wouldn’t let him leave if he said no.

“Yes, don't worry I do. With this money though it’ll become an even better sleeping place.” Peter stashes it into his aviator jackets inside pocket and puffs up the sleeves to prepare for the outside cold.

“Alright then, well off you go. Come back here in about two days and I’ll give you a phone and schedule for the next week.” Bjorn waves him off, telling him to really get going now. He even starts shooing him when Peter turns around to give another goodbye.

“Oooh okay, bye Bjorn, see you in a couple days!” With that last goodbye Peter heads into the employees exit and down the tunnel till he sees his street name and opens the door to reveal it opening into another bar’s kitchen. He walks through and exits the side door of the bar and walks onto the street, it turns out the bar was closed entirely only recently but still, it made it easier for Peter since no one would be in it anymore.

Peter begins his small walk home and makes sure to listen for anything unusual, for some reason he’s particularly on edge right now from the moment he left the bar. He ignores it and continues walking but still stays on guard just in case because normally when something feels wrong, he’s right.

He arrives at the front of his building but decides to go down the side alley and through the window just in case. It takes him at least an hour to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep with the uncomfortable feeling still lingering in the back of his head. He does eventually succumb to the need of sleep and doesn’t wake up until the next morning at nearly 6 am yet decides to wake up entirely and just nap later.

He decides to take a day off by only eating the food he was given from his new job to simply rest for a bit and let his body recover. So once he sleeps again the next night, he feels much more comfortable then the night before and decides that the next day is when he’ll start acting on becoming the new “friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man”.

—

Peter woke up with a very can-do attitude and decided that today he would buy some food and fix the refrigerator somehow because for some reason the electricity to this place was never cut off so everything works, well, it should, it has been abandoned for some time and needs some heavy duty care. Especially in the bathroom and living room, they are not looking too flash, at all.

“Hmmm I really want coffee. . . I HAVE MONEY!” The excitement is more than Peter thought he would ever feel about just getting a coffee but he’s been stuck without it for at least a month. Peterwas still coming to terms with his situation but he thinks he’s taking it surprisingly well, or maybe the adrenaline is still running and the second it drops he was going to as well. Switching his mind back to coffee he finds his normal clothes except he switches out the aviator for a hoodie he found in the downstairs bedrooms once he looked again yesterday. He puts on his shoes and decides that before coffee, he should probably buy some clothes which he’d do on the way here and also some essentials for home. Food and water were also a need because he wasn’t sure about the water quality here and he’d need it. SO with his plan in mind he writes it on a small piece of paper and a quickly dying pen.

Food (packaged until get stove working, some veggies)

Water (bottles and jugs)

Clothes (cold weather for now)

Coffee, yes it’s necessary.

Material for suit and web shooters

pillow/blanket

Whatever i see that's useful.

COFFEE.

Happy with his list he grabs a slightly dodgy backpack that the previous guy left in his work locker that Bjorn said he could have since ‘the other guy wasn’t coming back’ which was concerning. So he steps outside and tries to avoid contact with other people as he walks in the direction of the shops around the library since he might visit there later.

He’s happy that the entire way he isn’t bothered by anyone strange because that seems to be happening a lot lately. Gotham is a really strange place, he understands it’s another world but still, a lot of weird things happen here. He’s starting to learn to ignore them most of the time, except for the occasional guy who decides to try and rob him, in which case he just hides quickly because he can’t be bothered to deal with them.

After a while he finds that he’s wandered towards the general store anyways and sees another place near it that looks like it sells fabrics of at least some kinds. He enters the general store and picks up a basket to grab some food. He grabs mostly packaged things such as 2 minute noodles, chips and biscuits. It is by far, not the healthiest meals he’s ever eaten but he can’t have fresh food when he doesn’t have a fridge to keep them in, so he only grabs a few rolls and such to last him until he works again. He also grabs a cucumber and some fruit, it was the cheapest thing and wants to spend a majority of it on his suit materials for now. He's already grabbed a few things from dumpsters that could help with the eye part of his suit but nothing else. So he grabs some cleaning products, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and toilet paper before deciding that's all he needs for now other than the water bottles which he grabs on his way out.

After paying he checks how much he spent and sees $70.92 on the receipt and thinks that’s pretty good for how much he got.

Next he heads into the thrift/fabric store and grabs some runners, a couple of t shirts, a weather proof jacket, red hoodie, 2 pairs of long pants, a pair of shorts and some underwear and such, he also grabs a really cheap pair of pyjamas just so he can be more comfy in bed. Finally after raiding the fabric section as well and getting everything he needs including blankets and a pillow he pays and the total ends up being around $106.50, leaving him with around a hundred left more or less. He wants to get a coffee but figures it’ll be hard to do when he’s got all these groceries so as quickly as he can humanly look he heads home and drops it off before heading into the supposedly nicer part of Gotham for some well deserved coffee.

He finds a shop that looks pretty popular and heads in just ordering an iced coffee instead of a hot one- he can’t understand why but he craved something cold which is weird for this weather but he’s just learnt not to question it.

“Hi. Can I just have a regular Iced Coffee please?” The woman looks at him with a general customer service smile and nods.

“Sure, anything else?”

“No that’s all, thank you!” She states the price and takes his money before checking it in and handing him the change.

“Your number is 12, it’ll be ready soon so please wait over there by the counter.”

“Thanks so much!” Peter happily moves over to the other side of the counter and waits as the previous numbers are called before his. He sees what looks like it’s his and waits for the lovely ringing sound of his number being called out, he smiles and picks it up almost instantly bumping into someone beside him in a school uniform.

“Oh jeez, sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The boy in front of him has jet black hair in a curtain bang style with blue eyes and is a little bit shorter than Peter.

“No problem at all!” For some reason Peter is instantly intrigued by this boy and wants to talk to him but as he passes by, the boy is already gone, heading towards another few students waiting for him across the road, apparently all heading to the same school. He looks away for a second to pick up his drink properly and stabilise himself before he feels eyes on him and hears the sound of voices yelling.

“C’mon Tim, hurry up!” Peter finds when he looks up that the boy's eyes were also following Peter with interest just as Peter’s were to him. They make eye contact for a moment and it feels familiar almost but it ends almost immediately as he turns and crosses the street to meet up with his friends, coffee in hand.

So his name’s Tim, huh?

–

The thoughts of the boy only last minutes as his attention is distracted once again from the rest of the world back to the plans for his suit. He walks and sips happily away at his drinks as he just wanders the streets for what feels like only minutes before once again he gets run into by another person. Peter is just walking around town with his well earned coffee when all of a sudden someone bumps into him causing his coffee to be lost all over the side of the street.

“Oh dear, I am sorry sir, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The man, on the older side about 60-70 maybe has this warm grandfatherly look about him that Peter couldn’t possibly be mad at.

“It’s completely fine, I wasn’t paying enough attention to the pathway either.” Peter just waves his hand at the whole situation to assure the man it was alright but he obviously still feels bad about the drink.

"Well then, my name is Alfred and say, would you like to join me for morning tea? To repay you for your drink?" Peter almost says no but remembers that if it's food, denying it would be simply foolish so he hesitantly agrees and ends up hanging out with Alfred much longer than he intended. Alfred leads them to a small cafe nearby and they take a small seat outside on a white table.

At first the conversation is a bit slow and awkward but after a bit they begin talking more and Alfred starts talking about who Peter assumes are his grandkids.

“You’d be about their age range I’d guess, maybe you’ll meet them some time.”

“That would be nice considering how highly you speak of them.” Their conversation continues and they go onto the topic of Peter and Alfred is curious just about his life in general.

“So do you live with someone else?”

“No, not at the moment, I tend to keep to myself around my area, they aren’t particularly the friendliest.” Alfred doesn’t question and just smiles kindly to let Peter know he won’t ask anymore for Peter’s sake. They eventually just find interests which happen to be redecorating things, Peter moreso in an inventive way and Alfred in his own butleriness. When Peter finds out Alfred is a butler for some reason it doesn’t surprise him at all since Alfred is such a composed and clean looking person.

“Do you have a job William?”

“Uh yes, I recently got a job at a restaurant and it pays pretty well so I’m quite happy with it.” Peter is rubbish at lying but it’s okay because nothing he said was a lie, he simply twisted it to leave out the more secret details of his career. Alfred once again either just ignores him avoiding the question or simply doesn’t realise it before they’re onto a new topic. They talk and talk and talk before Alfred finally looks at the sky and then at the time on his wrist watch.

“It’s 3.30 pm already? Dear me, I am sorry William but I’d best be off or my family will start looking for me.”

“Don’t be sorry at all mister, I had a great time talking to you!” He smiles and just as he seems about to walk away he turns back to Peter and writes something down on a small slip of paper that seemed to poof from nowhere before handing it to Peter.

“I also had a lovely time talking to you William, this is my phone number, if you ever need anything, even if it’s just a friend.” He gives Peter a look before picking up his shopping bag and walking off in the other direction. Peter looks down and it happens to be Alfreds phone number and a note saying he’ll be at the same cafe on Friday at the same time if he wants to talk again. For some reason Peter feels like crying, he thinks it's from the familiar sense of warmth that he got from Aunt May or Mr Stark. Also the lack of that sense of family that he’s had since being thrown into this strange alternate universe with no one by his side. 

-- 

He just happily walks to the Gotham Library in hopes of getting some more information of where to go to get good stuff for his suit and also more about Crime Alley and the surrounding area.

Once he hops up the steps of Gotham Public Library in all its glory and pushes the doors open he almost instantly spots the red mop of hair in her wheelchair putting some books in their normal place. He walks over but she notices him before he has the chance to reach her and instantly her face lights up.

“Will! It’s good to see you’ve returned finally, you said ‘see you tomorrow’ and I don’t see you for the next few days. I was getting worried for my new scruffy friend.”

“S-scruffy? Do I look that bad?” Now Peter seriously feels he should have properly showered before coming here. She pauses for a minute before realising what her comment could have been insinuating and starts waving her hands in a manner to deny what Peter thinks she meant.

“No no no no, not like that. I just mean you remind me of like a puppy, more like a labradoodle or something.” Peter just stares for a moment.

Do I really remind people of dogs? I’ve been told I have a puppy face but I didn’t think that much of it.

“Don’t worry about it Mrs Barbara, I’m just glad you don’t mean that I look that bad, I did try to fix myself up a bit before I went out today.” He smiles and she realises he wasn’t being entirely serious about it and relaxes herself into another calm smile. She looks over Peter just to check his well being and how he’s been going since she last saw him. She is happy to see that he looks happier and actually seems to be doing better financially too considering he’s got a different set of clothes.

“That’s good then, also what did I say about the whole ‘Mrs’ business, just call me Barb or Barbara.”

“Sorry, it’s just a habit.” He rubs the nape of his neck and shoves his other hand in his pant pocket. He continues to say Mr, or Mrs, in front of someone's name who’s older than him because of Mr Stark most of the time and just from school.

“Can I use a laptop again?”

“Of course you can Will, we close at 9 tonight. So don’t forget to log off properly and get home before it’s too dark.”

“I will! Thanks Mrs- I mean, Barbara.” She smiles as Peter corrects himself and watches as he walks to the computers and sits himself down, more comfortable than last time. Barbara gets a call nearly straight after she wheels herself back to her desk and she hears a gruff voice on the other side. She moves into another room with more privacy to take this particular call.

“Barbara.”

“Why hello Bruce. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I just need you to check on the status of 2 people saved from Penguin’s trafficking. Marty and Tabitha Herald. They were the only ones who knew much about the meta on the ship.” Barbara just sighs but looks it up anyways and as their profiles pop up on the screen there’s a small evaluation at the bottom of how their assimilation into Gotham has gone.

“It just says that they’re important members of the community and are merging well with society while also helping others with their new lives from the same ship. Marty and Tabitha have also been going to therapy together and it says they’ve been doing well. Why? Are you still looking for that meta?” Bruce stays silent for a moment before sighing as if answering her was such a hard task.

“Yes I am. I told you Barb, we can’t have a loose meta who’s been aggressively handled and trafficked. He could return the favour and be aggressive to citizens, even if he’s not that strong we don’t know his personality.” Barbara gets a bit mad and scoffs at Bruce’s huge paranoia of who has been described to them, as a child.

“His personality was perfectly explained to us by Marty and Tabitha that he’s a good kid, gentle, soft spoken. Bruce, if he finds out that Batman is still hunting him, he will just get more aggressive.”

“Then at least he’ll be easier to find, he’s disappeared like a ghost. I can’t find anything.”

“Let it stay that way then, he hasn’t done anything.”

“Yet.”

“Jesus, I’m hanging up now and please leave the poor people alone.” She hangs up the phone with a large sigh and moves back to her spot at the front desk but overall she’s annoyed at Bruce for harassing another child as if he doesn’t do it to his own son’s daily life.

Little did Barbara know that said meta, heard everything. Peter is sitting at his computer spot tense as a spooked deer.

Batman is Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne is still looking for me.

Wait, if Bruce Wayne is Batman then doesn’t that mean that. . . Peter quickly searches online for ‘Bruce Wayne’s children’ . What shows up is all of his children in photos of them in suits or fancy wear.

Wow, that short kid does not look happy. His name's Damian? He’s scary.

As his eyes continue to scan he notices one that seems familiar till he realises he saw the same guy today at the coffee shop. Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne’s most recent adoption other than Duke Thomas who has not yet been adopted but it's suspected he will be. He looks more deeply at Tim Drake’s face and thinks back to the night on the ship when he first met some of the bats.

Then it hits like a brick to his face. A lightbulb goes off. A spark lights the fire.

Tim Drake is Red Robin.

Jason Todd is Red Hood.

Robin is Damian Wayne.

Nightwing is Dick Grayson.

Duke Thomas is Signal.

Wow. I should not know this. Stupid super-hearing.

Peter remembers Red Hood from before when they were on the roof and he feels bad that he knows their identities. They all seemed nice but he can’t exactly tell them that he’s also the meta that they’re chasing. I mean, can he? No bad idea. Terrible Idea. Although he feels bad about knowing he still can’t tell them. For his own sake and Marty and Tabby’s.

He stays at the library for a while longer just researching general things like where he can find a hardware store or somewhere to get a sewing machine. He found a dead one in the rubbish by an abandoned clothes store but he needs some parts to fix it. He remembers seeing a lost property box in the corner of the library and wonders if he can maybe find at least a small piece of metal or a screwdriver. He wants to start on his suit soon rather than later but he can’t do that unless he gets the sewing machine working. He decides to ask Barbara if he can take a look through it just in case.

“Hey Barbara.”

“Yeah Will? Do you need something?”

“Um, I was just wondering if I can look through the lost property box because I have a sewing machine I’m trying to fix but I need something for it. I need to get special batteries anyways but I was just thinking about how to fix the actual needle.” Barbara just looks up and watches Peter’s face until he finishes talking to respond.

“Huh, Will you just want to take my old one? I mean, I no longer use it but it functions perfectly well.”

“Are you sure?” Peter’s eyebrows raise at the kind suggestion and while normally he’d want to give her something in return he doesn’t exactly have anything to give her.

“Of course, it’s better if it goes to actual use rather than me chucking it.” Her shoulders shrug in a temperate manner as she describes why it would be better for Peter to have it. “Just take it Will, I can see you’re contemplating how to repay me but don’t bother. I can see you are not the most financially stable and I’d just feel bad if I took anything.”

“Are you really sure it’s okay?” “Of course, I can bring it tomorrow if you can come here at whatever time between opening and closing.” She smiles while looking at her timetable for tomorrow on her computer and nodding to herself as an affirmative that she can bring it. “-also, a friend of mine is coming over tomorrow so maybe you’d like to meet him, he looks about your age. Wait, how old are you?”

“Uhhh I’m 17?” She raises her eyebrow in confusion at Peter’s unsure expression when telling his own age. If he’s being honest Peter isn’t actually sure how old he is in this universe but he thinks he’s around the same age. He doesn’t look any older, only taller.

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I am not sure of my specific birthday but yeah I’d say 17.” She now looks concerned and Peter is regretting his choice of words. He’d gotten too comfortable with Barara and forgotten about how he’s not exactly normal. Her full attention is now on him and her body is faced towards him entirely.

“Will, do you have any parents because if you don’t then I can help you somehow, figure something out for you if you want.”

“Wah- no, it’s fine, it’s fine. I- uh have parents.” He can tell how bullshit that sounds the second it comes out of his mouth but he can’t exactly tell her he doesn’t, he can’t risk going into protective child services.

“. . .It’s okay if you don’t but I just want you to be safe. Are you?” He relaxes at her words and realises that he’s got to remember that she;s just trying to take care of him, she’s not a threat. Even though she works for Batman that doesn’t make her a bad person. I am only scared of him because he’s after me. As long as she doesn’t find out then it’s fine.

“Yeah, I’m safe, don’t worry about that part. I’ve got someone good who has taken care of me recently.” Bjorn counts. Kind of. She stares Peter down for a couple more seconds before finally letting up and just sighing tiredly at Peter’s ever so familiar lack of self preservation.

“Okay then, make sure to come here often then though. You were on my list of ‘might adopt’ since the second you stepped in here.” He was on the what?

“You have a list?”

“I do now.”

“Oh.” Peter just blushes in embarrassment at his collection of this new information, the sense of being wanted isn’t bad though so he just quietly laughs. They both smile at each other as if they’ve known one another for years.

“Alright then, get going, it’s getting late anyways and I’d be happier if you left before sunset.” Barabara starts trying to shoo Peter home and he decides it’s probably for the best anyways so he complies and waves her a heartfelt yet prompt goodbye.

“See you tomorrow Barb.”

“Bye Will.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4:

Bruce-43  Gordon-56  Alfred-70  Dick-25  Barbara-26  Tim/Cass/Steph/Duke-16-17??  Jason-19  Damian-11   Peter P- 17

Peter walked home on the rooftops of Gotham city. The cold wind brushed against his face in a refreshing manner. He simply sits on the edge again with the calmness and sounds of the city to soothe him, for the moment he can’t hear any commotion nearby which is a welcomed rarity. Just as he thinks it’s time to head inside he hears a familiar voice.

“We have to stop meeting like this man.” Peter turns with a small smile to see Red Hood leaning on the roof door acting as if he’s been there a while even though Peter heard him appear not even 5 minutes ago.  

“I guess we do, Red Hood. Does ‘Red’ come from the graduated Robin thing or were you just too lazy to come up with anything better?” Jason raises his eyebrows in a bit of an amused shock, he had remembered the kid last time and he wasn’t anywhere near this lively.

“Damn, something good happened to you then?” He watches as Peter smiles a bit wider and turns around to look at the city again. He stalks closer and sits on the edge next to Peter just as he lets out a content sort of sigh.

“It’s just- . . . getting better I think. Starting to finally go my way, even if it’s slight.” Jason understands entirely, for once since coming back from death he’s finally starting to feel like a part of his family again. He just gently smiles to himself and is glad to know that this stranger of a guy is getting somewhere.

“Y’know, I was a street kid once.” Peter turns to face Jason and Jason suddenly feels a bit idiotic for letting that slip out so easily in front of a stranger.

“Really? I mean when you think about it, it’s not that surprising but still. Not everyday you get to have a vigilante tell you about themselves.” Jason calms in the moment as Peter treats it as just casual conversation.

“Hah! - No, no I guess not. You just. . . make me feel at ease. Like I’ve known you for a long time. Might just be because you remind me of me.”

“Maybe so. Well, it’s nice to meet you officially then Red Hood, I’m William.” He sticks his hand out in an expecting manner for Jason to shake it and he does. They laugh a bit as they start shaking it aggressively hard like children but Peter can’t help but agree, it feels as if they’ve been friends for a long time.

“So, Red Hood, what do you like to do for fun?” With an evil smirk that Peter can simply feel radiating from Jason behind the mask Jason holds out his hand and pulls out the grappling hook. What he’s suggesting is obvious and Peter wants to laugh but just looks up at Jason with a tilted smile?

“You up for it or not?”

“You bet I am, let’s go then Strawberry Head.” Jason pauses just as he goes to grab Peter. His head slowly turning to face him.

“Did you just call me strawberry head?” 

Oh dear, is this a soft spot? That’s pretty funny.

“I mean can you blame me, is it not what your helmet looks like? Would you prefer radish? Bell pepper perhaps? Raspberry? Beetroot?” He’s running out of red foods. Why is he only naming fruits and vegetables?

“Why is it so hard to call me Red Hood?

Pushing his buttons just became 100x better.

“It’ll be easier for me to remember you.”

“Red Hood could not be an easier name to remember!?”

Peter just breaks out laughing a bit and it feels good, he hasn’t properly laughed since he got here and it’s nice to feel that satisfaction again.

“You’re evil. I will just drop you because taking someone grappling is already not safe and I will make it less safe. Whatever, let's just go before I just push you off the roof.”

“That would be counterproductive.”

“Be quiet. Evil being.” Peter just lets out another laugh and hears a small amused huff from the taller man. Jason just grabs William's waist and makes sure he’s stable, kind of like a baby or toddler in a holder, Jason nearly laughs at the thought but holds it back as Peter looks around curiously.

Just when he is unsuspecting, Jason hops off the roof with his grappling hook already reaching for another roof. 

Peter was never scared of jumping off the roof until he Jason threw them both off, he didn’t want to use his webs but he would if the situation required it and when they fell Peter nearly did before he felt the pull of the grappling hook and the feeling of swinging before he opens his eyes again to see them above the buildings, lights of Gotham filling his view.

“Woah.” He’d forgotten how much he’d missed this, the feeling of flying and falling and then doing it all over again. He just cheers happily as Jason continues to swing through the streets of Gotham.

Let’s just say that a lot of the Gothamites were awoken at the sound of a strange sound. Instead of terrified screams, they were joyful. For those that saw it as Red Hood swung by, none commented nor did they take pictures, for those around Crime Alley knew it wasn’t a good idea to go against a vigilante. 

Especially Red Hood.

I mean, the guy uses a gun and he uses it well.

—

Peter enjoys every second of being in the air so once it ends he’s filled with exhilaration and a new determination to get his suit ready sooner. He can’t wait much longer until he’s the one swinging around instead, free to go whenever he can.

Once Jason sets Peter down he sees the sparkle in his eyes shining like a light tower when he turns to him.

“That was awesome!” He’s glad that William enjoyed the trip, there were definitely a few times when he thought he’d done a trick a bit too scary but seeing his reaction it’s clear that he had nothing to worry about. He just laughs as he can practically feel William radiating from his few steps away.

“Yeah I know, I’m pretty great.”

“What’s the grappling hook made of? It’s strong enough to hold 2 people comfortably but it’s quite thin. It also retracts really quickly, who made this? It isn’t my strong suit but it’s well made.” Jason huffs a bit after realising he’s just found another nerd.

“Red Robin made it for me. It was a special order, he made it more malleable than the others.” Peter looks like his mind is running a thousand thoughts and he starts mumbling something incoherent to Jason but he’s ridiculously used to it from all his other siblings at this point it just goes over his head. “Alright William, it’s late and you need to sleep I assume at some point. Also I’ve been neglecting my duties for keeping watch.”

“Mhm, see you around then Red Hood. Thanks for the laughs though, it’s been a while.” He understands, more than anyone he understands, so Red Hood just smiles and shakes William's hand before waving and grappling away, seeing as William’s figure becomes smaller and smaller in the distance. 

There’s one thing though, Jason still has a thought lingering in the back of his mind.

Did he have a white streak in his hair?

— — —

Peter happily went to bed that night, comforted by the feeling that he could do that soon. That he could swing through the night and day without the land touching him, in a world of his own. He looks longingly at the already set out material just in waiting for the sewing machine to arrive tomorrow. 

He waits and waits for sleep to come and is excited even at his own drowsiness as he happily closes his eyes, waiting for the tomorrow sun to shine. 

— — —

Barbara is waiting behind her library desk with her little brother, Tim and the one that decided to tag along, Dick. She watches as Dick is using his phone and Tim as an armrest at the same time. 

Tim is at the library today to study for an upcoming test, which, being as smart as him, he doesn’t even need to do so Barbara assumes he’s just trying to get out of vigilante and Wayne Enterprises work. 

Dick is here because. . .

There’s no way to explain why Dick does what he does. He’s just happy to be hanging out with Tim. Just as Barbara is about to make her way to the two she sees a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye.

“Will! Good to see you could make it!” He sees her friendly smile and waves right back at her which makes Barbara’s heart warm just a little.

“Hi Barbara. How are you?” She can’t help but want to fawn over him, no matter how tall he is and seemingly muscular, he had the eyes of a happy puppy so nothing else mattered. He’s ridiculously polite even when he’s comfortable with you.

“Doing good. I brought the sewing machine and a couple of friends-” She gestures to the two guys standing around the library counter just a few metres away “- though I only expected one of them to be here.” 

Once the boys heard the mention of their presence they both look up to see Peter and Tim’s eyes squint at Peter as if trying to remember something important. He seems to shake it off as Dick speaks up to say hello. Peter tries not to sweat as he now stands in front of two vigilantes out of their gear, casually chilling.

“Hello, I’m Dick, you must be William! Barbara didn’t stop talking about you for like an hour.” He sticks his hand out for Peter to shake yet Peter’s face heats up like a tomato instead. Peter thinks about the fact that if Nightwing (Now named Dick) recognised him, he didn’t show an inkling of it.

“Oh. That’s nice of her.” Peter is just wishing he could hide in the shadows and disappear at this moment. He takes Dick’s hand and shakes it politely.

It all just makes Dick laugh out loud and Peter just turns an even brighter shade of red.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just a bit funny!” Peter sighs as he gets more comfortable and is given time to relax a bit. His shoulders finally untense from the position he didn’t realise he shrunk himself into.

“Don’t worry about it. But yes, I’m William.” He feels like he’s been introducing himself a lot lately, I mean, he’s met a lot of new people in the past few weeks so I guess it’s normal. Tim then moves forward, apparently given up on his squinting and calmly shakes Peter’s hand as well to which Peter returns kindly.

“I’m Tim but I believe we met that day at the coffee shop, or am I mistaken?” Peter’s eyes light up as he remembers where he had thought to have seen this guy before.

“The guy I ran into! Oh. . . yeah sorry about that.” Tim just cheerfully smiles at Peter’s guilty sheepish look. Tim just sticks his hands back into his pockets as Dick puts his arm around Tim’s shoulders to proceed to use him as an armrest again. 

“Well boys, as you know this is William. Please, don’t scare him off while I grab the sewing machine.” Barbara comfortably wheels herself away to the direction of her back room again just as she did before when Peter overheard everything about their secret identities and he’s straight back to feeling awkward. Tim speaks up first this time and he is now comfortably using Dick as a resting pole in reciprocation to Dick using him as an armrest. 

“I know Barbara said you were around my age but you’re pretty tall. Well, not as tall as my brother J but still, pretty tall. Either way it’s nice to meet you, we’ve all been curious as to who Barbara’s new kid was.” While they both seemed casual Peter was mutated to hear and see the small movements everything makes and both of these two are the same, except they’re both trained to do it and they’re clearly watching Peter’s movements.

He is plenty used to the idea of people judging his capabilities, he hung out with the avengers so of course he is. “Well here I am! I’m glad I finally got to meet you guys. Sometimes when I stayed with Barb she’d complain about some ‘grievances’.”

“Ohhh, did she now?” Dick’s face holds an amused stare to Peter and his eyes turn to the door Barbara left through. Tim just gives a bark of a laugh as if they expected nothing else from the ginger haired woman.

They decide to sit and talk so even after Barbara comes and delivers the sewing machine Peter still stays with the three for a while. He remains particularly polite though, aware of the fact that they are vigilantes and, well, extremely rich and well known. It’s a type Peter is used to talking with considering he was practically raised by Tony Stark but Peter still isn’t sure how to handle the people of this world as there are things he still isn’t accustomed to. Tim and Peter easily get along with their own scientific talk which is lost to Dick quite quickly but he is reengaged with Peter’s never ending humour to fit his own snark. 

There were a lot of sarcastic remarks made within the few hours they spent together.

As they begin to wrap up Dick offers to drive Peter ‘home’ and he tenses up almost immediately and Dick can see instantly that he’s said something wrong.

“Or not! Don’t feel pressured at all to say yes just because I offered!” Peter feels bad at how easily he made Dick uncomfortable. Dick is still waving his arms around when Peter just puts it to an end for the poor guy.

“Dick, truly it's no worries, thanks a lot for the offer though it’s very kind of you.” Dick just gives a tired yet happy sigh and relaxes himself again. He smiles calmly this time and shoves his hands into his blue leather type jacket with a huff. 

“Okay then. Well, Tim and I should get going or Bruce will be on our tails for being late again! It was great meeting you Peter and I hope we see eachother again soon!” He pats Tim on the shoulder and moves towards the door waving Barbara goodbye as well. Tim lags behind a bit to say his own goodbye to his newly made friend.

“Yeah, it was great to find someone to nerd out with a bit about all that ‘science-y stuff’. I hope I’ll see you around again, I might come by with Barbara some time. See ya!” He gives a wave and joins his brother on the way to their car giving Peter just the right amount of time to return the goodbye.

“Bye now!” And he watches as the car pulls away before heading back to Barbara’s side to thank her for the machine and be on his own way.

“Barbara I’m going to head off now too, I’ve got a bit of stuff to do but I’ll swing by tomorrow maybe.” She looks up from her computer and gives Peter a big smile.

“Alright then William but please stay safe! Even if it's not dark it’s still dangerous!” Peter is already halfway out the door, hands full of the sewing machine cause he’s got to at least make it look a bit heavy.

“YOU GOT IT!” She can only sigh at the thought of having another stupidly reckless boy running around Gotham, as if the batboys weren’t enough for her to handle and yes, that most definitely includes Bruce.

“. . . I can always just send one of the boys to follow him next time if something’s off.” Muttering to herself she eventually zones back into work and forgets today’s ordeals till later.

___ ___ ___ ___

Peter easily makes his way home undisturbed which is a new thing since he became so used to just beating people up from time to time for mugging, assault, theft and all that jazz but he welcomes the silence.

Finally setting down the sewing machine and grabbing his materials poor Peter is practically shaking from head to toe with anticipation, all he has to do is make the suit, add his own adjustments, and swing. It’s about time he got back into it.

The sewing, no matter how well versed Peter is with it, takes hours upon hours. The tedious of picking the loose threads, restitching, unstitching, stitching again, then adding all the technology he has to make single handedly to fortify and structurise the suit. 

Then add more, to fortify it x2.

Finally, using pure motivation and willpower, hours after dark, he finishes.

“YES! OH MY GOODNESS, FINALLY!” He holds up the masterpiece of his to admire it, it’s a bit daggy but thats fine considering his materials were also limited. To fit Gotham’s theme he’s gone with a much darker blue then normal, it’s almost practically black but while the red is a bit dimmer it remains basically the same along with his signature spider web patterns.

The eyes were the hardest part, getting them to move according to his own eye movements was a tedious and arduous task. The results though he couldn’t be happier with. It’s done, and tomorrow night Gotham will have to prepare for a new vigilante, whether they like it or not because if none of the old ones are going to properly take care of the areas surrounding Crime Alley, Peter would do it for them.  

Sure, Jason is there but he still doesn’t manage enough for it to be a remotely safe place and the Bats mainly care for larger villains but rapists, thieves, muggers, domestic violence, abuse, trafficking, drugs, any of that? Peter will handle it. The richer places can have their vigilantes, Peter will take care of his small corner of this new world by himself. 

He puts his suit carefully in a shoebox and places it in his cupboard, it’s too late to go out right now and he’s currently exhausted. Peter ungracefully flops onto his mattress and lets sleep overtake him again with his new blanket warming him.

— — — —

Of course nothing is ever that easy. 

The sound of a large explosion goes off somewhere quite nearby, it has Peter jolting awake and putting on his suit out of reflex within seconds. He bursts out his window just as another earth shattering explosive seems to go off again, this time even closer. 

The smoke hits him before he can even see the fire but once he clears it up he can see the fire booming in the distance around where Crime Alley ends. 

While I don’t have time to test out the web enhancers, at least I know the voice changer works. 

Another boom and Peter is practically flying in the direction. The cold air piercing through his suit from time to time as he swings with full vigour, once he arrives at the scene, there’s a suited man throwing fire and what looks like molotov cocktails against buildings. What Peter can assess in the short time is that luckily there weren’t many people out because of the time of night but unfortunately, he’s setting civilian buildings on fire.

Just before the flaming criminal can throw another molotov Peter swoops down and launches his feet into the other man’s chest which launches the psycho into a broken burning pole. Peter hears a grunt before it turns into maniacal laughter. The villain props himself up and lets out a sort of guttural sound from the back of his throat as Peter lands in front of him on a street bench.

“Gotham will burn! Not even Batman can stop me!” He uses what seems to be some form of flamethrower to attack Peter again for which he dodges effortlessly by simply ducking a bit further.

“Okay, I love the ambition. So like, do you casually go around setting things on fire or is this a new found hobby?” Another unhappy growl from the man who looks like he just got out of prison. Another blast of fire but this time much quicker and a bit closer than Peter would’ve liked.

“Woah. Well excuse you, I just got this suit!”

“Out of my way you insect!”

“Now that is just low! -” A hit against the fire-man’s left wrist pinning him to the wall.

“I.” Another hit to his other wrist.

“Am.” Fire man then gets some webs to the torso, wriggling to break free.

“An.” More webs to his legs.

“ARACHNID.” And finally, more to the crotch. Peter gets it’s a low blow but hey, he ain’t no insect.

“Arghhhh what is this shit? Free me you obnoxious brat!” The man writhes in his bonds even more and continuously fails to set alight things with all his body quite literally, stuck. Peter watches there in amusement for a few seconds before answering the man.

“Huh, haven’t heard that one before and to answer your demand, no <3 .” He hops off the bench and puts himself right in front of the man. While the man can’t see his face, he can feel the devious smile emanating from behind the mask. “Nighty night!” Peter delivers a gratifying blow to the guy rendering him completely unconscious as he sags against the wall still stuck upright.

“That was anticlimactic.”

The fire booms a bit in the background and Peter curses himself for not paying more attention before. There’s a small scream from inside as people have begun gathering in heaps in front of the burning apartment.

“Shit.” He swings himself up to the window that sounds closest to the cry and bashes open the window. The smoke hits Peter and he realises he would need to build in a mask of some sort later, it’s suffocating him from just a few seconds but he carefully listens among the crackling of the fire for any sounds of people.

After not even a second he hears a desperate sob. 

“Ma! Mama!” Peter luckily doesn’t need to break down any doors but he runs into the room and sees a kid shaking his unconscious mother’s body. Peter can hear her heartbeat but it makes it no less stressful. He’s too focused on the kid to notice a small bit of debris above him before too late and it hits his eye. 

Ow! That’s going to bruise later.

“Kid, I know you’re scared but can you grab onto my shoulders please and I can promise you your mama will be fine.” The kid, snot nosed and eyes puffy just says nothing and clings onto Peter for dear life.

The woman is not very heavy but Peter can see a head wound from maybe some debris or maybe just falling over. Her whole body is limp making it harder to find a position he’s able to carry her and the child with minimal damages. 

Once he has her draped comfortably in his arms with the child still clinging to his shoulders he jumps out of the building window he came in from. Using a web he slowly lowers them both down a safe distance away from the fire. The regular civilians seem to have regained some of their senses as the police and fire brigade have finally been called. He can hear the sirens not far off in the distance and decides it’s time to disappear.  

He lays down the woman on another bench and checks her breathing before heading towards a calmer looking civilian.

“Can you please watch this woman until the ambulances arrive? She’s just unconscious but she may have something wrong with her head and lungs from the smoke inhalation and she also has a wound on the left side of her head. Oh and this is her kid, please watch him too.” The firefighters show up and instantly they connect to the fire hydrant nearby to begin blitzing down the fire. Luckily the other occupants of the apartments found their own way out without too many injuries, only minor burns and maybe a couple bones broken from what he can tell.

“Uhh yeah okay but… I’m sorry, who are you?” The ambulance pulls up with its own sirens and the police follow behind them. Peter starts walking away and shoots a web into the distance as his escape plan. People have started taking photos and videos of Peter. 

“Just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.” With that Peter lifts himself onto the roof of the opposite building giving the idea that he’s left but he simply resides on the roof and tries to control his invisibility. Once stable he checks that he can’t see himself he heads nearer to the site again and there he sees a few familiar faces again.

The police officer/detective guy from the first night he arrived in Gotham and of course Jason and finally, it looks like the man the myth and the legend decided to show up, Batman. 

That must mean that the fire guy was a more prominent villain.

Peter just stays and waits for the woman to get checked on and taken away in an ambulance safely with her son who has seemingly calmed down. Batman and the unnamed officer also make their way over to the man still stuck to the wall Peter left him on. Confident the rest was going to be handled Peter decided to be a bit of a cheek. So he grabbed a trashed piece of cardboard and his own pen, yes he has a pen in his suit, and wrote a message to a certain Bat themed hero.

So with a last effort he swung right over the top of Batman and dropped his friendly hello to the neighbourhood.

— — — — 

Batman watches as a figure ever so swiftly flies by above his head. Along with Commissioner James Gordon who is standing next to him so they watch as the figure drops something and it falls down to their feet. 

“What the hell was that?” Gordon looks on as Batman picks up the piece of cardboard and uses his flashlight to read it. Batman scowls almost instantly.

‘You’re welcome Batty!

Kind Regards, a friendly Spider.’

“. . . Looks like we have someone else to catch now.” Gordon sighs exasperatedly as Jason makes his own way over to see the drama. He reads it over Batman’s shoulder and cackles.

“Ohohoho looks like you’ve got some new competition.” Batman glares directly at Red Hood and just hands the cardboard over to Gordon who then hands it to a junior officer.

“The competition is more yours than mine if he’s from around Crime Alley.”

“Hm, he could be from The Bowery too. Either way, it looks like he’s got a bit out for you.” 

“It doesn’t matter where he’s from, it matters who he is. We can’t have a reckless meta running around if we don’t know his intentions. Red Hood, if you see him around, scope him out, talk to him, kidnap him I don’t care just find out what he’s doing.” Jason makes a sort of annoyed sound that sounds almost robotic because of his helmet.

“Since when could you boss me around?”

“Just do it, you’ll get cookies if you can tell me anything about him next time I see you.”

“Psh he’d make me cookies whether you let me or not just for showing up.” Bruce can’t help but whinge internally at how accurate Jason was because no matter what Bruce said Alfred would always make Jason cookies. “I’ll do it, don't worry, I’m too curious about them myself.” 

“Both of you, please behave. I’ll look into if there are any registered metas with spider-like abilities. This crap is going to be all over the press tomorrow though. Not just because he’s a new heroic figure but because he beat Batman to it.” Batman just lets out an angry growl of sorts before glaring down at the villain he’s known for a while, Firefly. 

“It doesn’t matter how mentally unstable and unintelligible Firefly has become, he’s still a larger threat. If that insect can beat him so easily then it might not bode well for the public later on. Heroes don’t always stay heroes.” Jason just groans and starts walking away.

“Yeah yeah you go and mope about how a meta beat you it and I’ll be sleeping peacefully plagued with none of those dumb thoughts. See ya Batman.”

“Hm. . .” As if it’s a fine reply Jason just hops on his motorcycle and rides away in the night slowly disappearing. “I’m going to take some of these webs as samples, I’ll check in with you later Gordon.”

“Yeah yeah just get on out of here.” So Bruce drives away and lets the thoughts churn in his head about the new meta. The so-called Spider-Man. Who knows what he’s going to bring. Bruce can’t even lie to himself, he’s a bit amused by the challenge and it looks like Jason is too.

“Well, so be it Spider-Man. So be it.”

— — — —

Peter awakens with a splitting headache and lungs that feel like they’re on fire which is making him feel nauseous and he apparently only slept for an hour so he’s exhausted. He also told Barbara he’d visit her again today but he doesn’t know if that’s even the best idea. He knows he looks like shit without even looking in the mirror. 

Pushing the thoughts away he checks his kitchen and notices that he should probably get something to fix the sink so he’d need to go out anyway. A cough grazes out his throat and leaves it sorer than before.

“I can’t catch a break.” So apparently he has to go out anyway, his money is also running low and he’s going to need to get a pair of socks for his work shoes as last time they were a bit uncomfortable with his free abandoned cupboard socks. Socks but very thin worn down socks.

He decides to catch a breather on his roof for a bit, maybe to clear the smoke he thinks is still in his lungs and while it’s Gotham air, at least it’s air. Climbing out the window and onto the ladder up to the roof is a breeze and he’s glad he did because there’s a calmness about it as if he’s on his own entirely.

For a little while at least.

“Well well, look who’s on their roof. Again. After me and Nightwing told you to stay off.” Peter doesn’t even need to turn around to know who the voice belongs to.

“Hello Red Hood and for your information you and Nightwing didn’t tell me to stay off the roof, you told me not to jump off it.” He just sits down next to where Peter is standing and leans back against the roof's walls. 

“Potato, Potahto. That’s irrelevant Li Li~” He chuckles to himself and just relaxes more into his position.

“Uh huh, sure. Also stop calling me Li Li, Harley called me that name once. First and last time I met her.” Peter sticks his tongue out like a child making a ‘bleh’ sound to go along with it causing the older hero to scoff amusedly.

“Yeah I know, it was just funny. Be careful around her though, while she’s mainly tame now that she left The Joker and cooled off she still has periods where she’s unstable (moreso then normal atleast).” The last part was muttered under his breath but Peter heard it loud and clear.

“Why are you out in the daytime though? Thought you were more of a night person.” Peter keeps coughing and trying to get some non-existent thing out of his throat.

“Ugh I normally am but sometimes the situation calls for it. Crime Alley and around it are considered mainly my area. Yeah and a guy called Firefly got out of Arkham Asylum last night and torched an apartment complex over on the border of The Bowery and Crime Alley.” Peter is normally terrible at lying but he’s gotten used to making up excuses and sounding composed when it comes to hiding Spider-Man’s identity.

“Wow, that's quite close to me. I thought I heard sirens sometime last night. Was everyone alright?” Another amused sound comes from Red Hood but this one sounds more disbelieving.

“Everyone was fine, except for Firefly. You’ll see it all over the news if you check. Recently Gotham has been a bit quiet for a few weeks so when all of a sudden a villain breaks out from the asylum and is swiftly taken out by a new never seen before hero, people get excited. Especially considering he left a note for Batman.”

“Hah! Can’t imagine he liked that.”

“God! No he did not! It gave me joy and- “ Just as he’s about to continue talking he seems to look at Peter’s face and pause “- the hell happened to your face?” 

Ah, right. Forgot about that.

“Nothing, just the usual. A couple guys got the jump on me. Don’t worry I gave them a good beating.” Red Hood just feels sad. Like this happening to Peter instantly soured his whole mood.

“William, I know you live in Crime Alley but I don’t want that to be the usual for you.”

“Mmm who knows. Maybe one day it’ll change around here.”

I’ll make sure of it.

There’s just silence on his end. Peter just coughs again because of the smoke in his lungs but it’s reduced significantly from when he woke up.

“Maybe.-” A worried sigh escapes his lips. “- I’m gonna keep checking on you though. Just don’t die and get those cuts on your face checked out. For now I’ve gotta run a few errands. I’ll see you soon alright?” Peter feels like he’s being scolded  by Tony all over again and can’t help but roll his eyes just a little bit.

“Okay fine just go do what you gotta do. Bye Radish Man.” He pauses before leaving and turns around to give Peter the middle finger.

“That better not stick around you cheek!” Peter just laughs aloud but it ends with a raspy cough instead.

‘Ow’

– – – – 

(SOMEWHERE IN GOTHAM CITY)

“Everything ready boys?”

“Yes sir!”

“Mmmm good because I want this entrance to be exhilarating. ”

Next Chapter (5): Coming Soon!

Chapter Text

Chapter 5:

Peter decided to spend the rest of the day getting more materials with his left over money, anything to maybe fireproof his suit or make it more resistant to gas considering what he read about the Joker toxin. So currently he’s walking out and around the streets and decided to head up to the richer area of Gotham again and away from The Bowery and Crime Alley because he doubts he’ll find what he needs there. 

He decides to skip past Old Gotham and head around to where Arkham Asylum is, he wants to scope it out but then again he also needs stuff. In his walking he sees a familiar face.

“Alfred!” Peter gives a happy wave as the older man turns and brightens at the sight of Peter’s face. Then it sours at the sight of Peter’s face as he gets closer. Peter for some reason only just realises he’s taller then Alfred, he’d always felt shorter but apparently his new world meant a couple inches were added to him.

“Hello William, dear me, what happened to you?”

“Don’t worry about it Alfred, I live in uptown Gotham. It’s bound to happen from time to time.” He knows there’s no point in lying, he doesn’t want to lie to Alfred either. His eyebrows pull into a discontent look but simply puts his hands on Peter’s shoulder’s and smiles.

“I haven’t known you long William but I know that if you ever need a place then I’m always open. I’ll give you an address closer to you but if you let them know then I’ll pick you up whenever.” Peter is nearly crying again. Alfred reminds him so much of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He misses them so much that his insides hurt whenever he thinks of them. Gotham has been distracting him but it’s not healing him.

“You’re gonna make me cry again.” Alfred huffs a sad laugh out before giving Peter a comforting squeeze. He looks at his watch and Peter raises an eyebrow in question.

“Say, do you want to have lunch this time? My family is out for today and won’t be needing me for a bit.” Peter thinks about it and realises that he has quite a bit of time still and eating with Alfred is something he certainly enjoyed last time.

“That’d be nice.” He’s a bit shy about it but at least this time Peter can help pay for the meal because Alfred doesn't have to feel the need to owe him something or Peter feels guilty about making this nice man pay again.

“I know a few nice brunch places near here. Savoury or sweet?”

“Oooh sweet please.” Peter's eyes sparkle with anticipation, he’s been living off packaged salty foods for a while so something sweet would be nice. There’s a sort of familiarity in Alfred’s eyes that glazes them over before he shakes his head and just nods.

The pair share another lunch again at a crepe shop down the road, Peter gets himself a stack of crepes with whipped cream and a beautiful assortment of fruits with a side of nutella to add. Alfred decided on getting a savoury omelette style crepe with bits of bacon, tomato and lettuce. 

Peter and Alfred talk again for what feels like minutes but they only become aware later that it's been a couple of hours. Once again though they share topics on their hobbies and lives, becoming closer by the second. Alfred continues to talk about who Peter assumes are his “grandsons” and Peter happily talks about his hobbies letting Alfred know about his science brain and how he used to be a ballet dancer too.

Peter finds a huge comfort in talking to Alfred, like someone he’s known for a long time and Alfred happily felt the same way about Peter. They just talk and talk and talk and they eventually get to Alfred’s profession which Peter is surprised by yet not really.

“I’m a butler. For the Wayne Family, I have been since before Bruce Wayne was born.” Peter pauses, hasn’t he met nearly all of the Wayne family at this point, minus the girls and Bruce (-him being Batman)?.

“The Wayne’s? You mean you’re a butler for Tim and Dick?” Alfred looks at Peter a little bit surprised.

“You sound familiar with them, have you met?”

“Yeah! I saw them just yesterday with the librarian Barbara at the Gotham Library.” Alfred smiles at that, he’s glad that his family has also taken a liking to William just as he has. He hopes one day they might be able to introduce William to the rest of them.

“What a small world we live in.” Peter laughs gently and looks up at the sky.

It’s anything but small. 

— — — — — 

He spent a long time with Alred that once again he realises he must leave before his family starts calling him for his location, particularly because it’s getting around to dinner/snack time. 

After they part Peter checks the time and decides he can get more materials tomorrow, he should visit Barbara as he promised, she’d said she’s working later tonight then usual because she sometimes keeps it open for the homeless people to catch some sleep. 

It takes him a while to get there since he decides to just wander instead of speed walk but that’s alright with him. He opens up the door to see a familiar yet not familiar face.

Jason Todd. 

Without his red mask.

Talking with Barbara. 

Damn, I did not expect him. It’s okay! Just act like you don’t know him. Totally not as if his voice will sound the exact same. . . I’m a terrible liar.

Barbara seems to sense his presence somehow and she lights up at him at the door. She waves him over and he tries not to drag his eyes onto Jason, he can tell he walks awkwardly as he walks over like a robot. Jason raises his eyebrows in subtle surprise before morphing back to normal.

“William! I wasn’t sure whether to expect you or not but I’m glad you came. You can meet the second oldest of Dick, Tim and the rest of the siblings.”

“Oh, Jason, right? I’m William but you can just call me Will.”

(Y’ALL PLEASE IGNORE THE FACT THAT JASON IS SUPPOSEDLY SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD TO THE WORLD I FORGOT WHEN I WROTE THIS SO I’M JUST GOING WITH IT CAUSE I’M SURE MR BRUCE WAYNE CAN FIGURE SOMETIN OUT :D )

“Yeah. Nice to meet you man, I heard about you from my brother’s, according to Tim you’re also a computer nerd.” Huffing a laugh Peter just smiles and nods, even out of the mask his personality remains the same. It’s incredulous that he’s hidden his identity this long. Jason of course notices the marks on Will’s face but seeing that he just met him, he doesn’t really have the right to ask just yet.

“Mhm pretty much the best way to sum me up if you have to. Nice to meet you too, I heard about you as well, mostly from Dick calling you a dick which was kind of ironic.” Peter knows he’s stirring up a bit of trouble but he’s still in a bit of an adrenaline high so he’s less worried about it all.

“OhohoOooo, did he now?” Jason just looks out in the distance as if planning something truly evil. Well, not truly, sibling level, which I guess counts. Barbara only then after admiring their introduction seems to notice Peter’s still bruised and battered face.

“Will, can you come here for a sec just to help me lift the books onto the desk please.” Barbara’s perfectly capable but she doesn’t want to single out William infront of Jason.

“Sure!”

Making his way over to where Barbara was he picks up the books from the ground and places them into the trolley meant for when the books are put back into place. Barbara doesn’t know how to ask this question gently but she knows William is a tough kid and simply goes for it.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened to your face or do I have to go into a full on interrogation mode?” She can see as William cringes at the mention as if he’d almost entirely forgotten about it.

“Don’t worry about it Barbara, I only got caught up in the Firefly thing, normal stuff.” Her eyebrows shoot up and she takes WIlliams hands on her own.

“The Firefly thing!? William, are you sure you’re alright?” He just happily looks at her and laughs.

“Of course I’m fine! What about the other people though because I saw some injured people?”

“Ah jeez, they’re all fine. The only majorly injured person was a woman, mother of 1 kid but she was saved by that new mysterious hero.”

“Huh?”

“William, you were there. Didn’t you see them?” 

Damn. I forgot about that. How did I forget about that? I’m supposed to be smart! 

“I uh, may have passed out. I got hit by some debris straight on my head from when I was near the building.”  A few seconds of a silent painful pause.

“For goodness sake Will, I guess I should just be glad you’re alive.” She shakes her head in an obvious motion that Peter has seen many times before, ‘the tired mentor’. He has seen it in Mr. Stark, Happy, Aunt May, even Captain America.

“Either way, I’ll get you patched up in a second. There was a new vigilante/hero, whatever you want to call it. Spider-Man.” Peter nearly snorts from how Barbara says it, she seems overly pleased by this new hero’s appearance. “He seems intent on annoying Batman too. I hope he survives for a while because he’s already a huge hit in Crime Alley, albeit they’re definitely a bit reserved; they've only just started warming up to Red Hood.”

“I’d have found out sooner or later considering I live in Crime Alley but thanks for filling me in. He sounds like a bit of fun.” Jason decides it’s time to butt in as he’s gotten sick of prodding around doing nothing.

“God. Batman must be fuming. He hates it when metas run amok. And now there’s one after his job? Even better!” 

“You’re against Batman?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well that’s not cryptic at all.”

“You’ll get used to it.” There’s a bit of laughs from both of them which Barbara pulls a tired look at, obviously adverse at dealing with the Bat siblings. She certainly has a role in all this heroic stuff herself, maybe an informant of some kind. Either way it doesn’t really matter.

“Quiet you two, Will come here so I can put this on you. Are you allergic to anything?” She grabs some disinfectant so Peter can only assume that’s what she’s talking about.

“Nope.”

“Then sit down you clumsy fool.” 

“Yes Ma’am.” Saluting her and sitting down for treatment was the final thing before he finally decided it was time to head home.

— — — — —

“Thanks for everything Barb, I’m going to head off now so I can get to work.” She looks a bit unhappy but relents nonetheless.

“Okay fine but maybe Jason can take you, he lives around there in an apartment.”

“No, that's fine I don’t want to trouble you guys.”

“Oi, it’s no trouble for me besides Crime Alley isn’t a huge area. I think I can make it.” Jason says the last sentence with a dripping sense of sarcasm.

I’m really tired. Walking all the way back does not sound fun.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Then that’d be great.” The older teen huffs out a laugh before saying his own byes to Barb and they make their way off. Peter walks out the library and sees Jason walking towards a motorcycle. A MOTORCYCLE. It’s red and shiny and looks like it belongs at a car show.

“Come on. Get on and let’s go pipsqueak.”

(Peter’s face:    >:0)

“I am not a pipsqueak you deranged motorcycle man.”

“I AM deranged though so hold on tight.” He fires up the motor and drives off at a speed Peter is sure isn’t legal but no one seems to care enough about it to do anything. He just enjoys the thrill of the ride as Jason periodically cackles a bit like a madman. Not concerning at all.

They pull up to Crime Alley and Peter just taps Jason on the shoulder to let him know that this is his drop off area. But he guesses Jason already knew that.

“Here then?”

“Yup.” Peter catches the look on Jason’s face when he sees where Peter’s living. He’s aware it isn’t the flashiest and still has some burn marks on it from some unknown past events but it in no way is the worst conditions in Gotham but Jason is uncomfortable about him staying in this part of town regardless.

“Thanks for the lift Jason, I’ll see you around then?”

“Hah! I guess so. Hey, Will, if you ever need a place then I’m just down a few blocks. Always welcome.” He hands Peter a small piece of paper with his address on it that he must have written up when they were at the library.

“Will do!” Peter gives him a wave and heads in the front door up stairs and listens as Jason’s motorcycle drives off into the distance. He heads up stairs, aware that he doesn’t have much time to rest before Bjorn will be expecting him at work. 

Sliding into his costume with practised ease he hops out the back window and swings to a rooftop across the street landing on an old withered chimney. He breathes in the lovely polluted air before exhaling happily and grinning to himself.

“Hello Gotham! What do you have in store for me tonight?”  Zoning everything out, the sounds of the wind, cars, animals and just listening in to the voices of people, signs of distress, anything important. After a few minutes he hears a scuffle a few blocks away around The Bowery. WIthout a second more he shoots his webs towards the direction and swings off into the night.

As he arrives at the site he gets a closer vision of some fully grown men, attacking a boy, no more than ten years old. 

“Hey boys~ Don’t you think that’s a little unfair?” The men all turn up their heads instantly to the voice above them. Their eyes widen at the daunting and threatening look Spider-Man imposes.

“Who the hell are you?” 

“This ain’t none of your business, screw off wannabe!”

“Wannabe!? Just for that I’m going to web you to the wall by your ankles because sir I am WAY better than Batman, I just. . . haven’t proved it yet.” The criminals look confused and annoyed more than anything but it’s to be expected, he hasn’t really made a name for himself just yet.

“Hey, Jack-” The guy who is acting like a sheep dressed as a wolf is obviously the leader, now named Jack, who nearly looks as if he’s going to hit his little criminal friend behind him. 

“What?!”

“Ain’t that Spider-Man? The guy from yesterday who beat Firefly and dissed Batsy.” ‘Jack’ raises his eyebrows as he looks Spider-Man up and down. Peter tries to make himself look a bit bigger but he realises it probably isn’t needed with him being taller and all in this universe.

“Really? Thought he’d be, I don’t know, bigger.”

Seriously? Bigger? I’m like 6 foot! HOW MUCH BIGGER DO I HAVE TO BE!

“Don’t even start. Robin is like 15, maximum. HAH. You guys fight a fetus and still lose!” He can see the veins popping on the man's face and he starts turning red.

Easy to rile up then hehe.

“T-they’re trained by Batman so no wonder they can beat us. Besides you’re the coward, you keep standing on that roof come down here and throw some fists!”  Cue the awkward silence.

.   .   .

“I can just web you and go. There’s no point in me coming down there other than helping the guy. Y’know what? This is taking too long and you guys aren’t my priority. Pew pew pew!” Peter shoots all three men in the face with his webs, throwing them back a considerable distance for such a small blast. One guy behind Jack hits the wall with a crunch and he almost feels bad for the definite concussion that guy will have. “Oops. But. Not oops.” He lands and walks around the squirming men trying to catch their breath properly. 

The webs don’t completely block their face but breathing would be considerably harder. He moves past them and turns his attention to the boy who’s now hiding behind a bin, trying to conceal himself. Peter is also just realising he’s probably a bit intimidating.

“Fuck OFF.” Wow, talk about needing to wash out your mouth with soap.

“Kid, I’m not going to do anything. I can smell the blood all over you. Please at least let me take a look.” He can hear shuffling and some curse words which he decidedly ignores for the moment. He listens on as the boy hesitates to answer.

“Just piss off! We already have enough loser heroes that do jack shit, we don’t need another.” 

“Then don’t think of me as a hero. Simply think of me as someone who just wants to help this time, you can continue to hate me but hate me after I’m sure you’re safe. Please.” 

“Fine. Only because it hurts like hell.”

“Pfft-yeah okay. I can handle that.” The kid moves from behind the bin to reveal, as he guessed, around 10 years of age with calm brown eyes and dirty blonde/almost brown hair. Peter can instantly see the largest injury on his leg which still has a large gash from a shard of glass from some broken bottle. There are other arrays of cuts and bruises, obviously from the men from before. 

It makes Peter’s blood boil.

Humans make him gag sometimes.

“You better not do anything.” He flinches when Peter moves towards him a little bit too spider-like but stays where he is nonetheless.

“I won’t. Why would I save you just to do something?” He seems to ponder the question before just shuffling where he was sitting and shrugging. 

“I don’t know.”

“I’m going to apply something onto the gash now. Just until I can take you to a hospital.” The kid watches in cautious interest as Peter moves the kid's legs to gently lie on his own knee. He then starts spraying some webs gently onto his gash.

“WOAH. YOU ARE TRYING TO EAT ME!”

“ I AM NOT.”

“NAH YOU SO ARE. THAT’S WHAT SPIDERS DO. THEY WEB UP THEIR PREY AND EAT THEM!”

“Are you also aware that spider webs contain antiseptics and antibiotics!?”

“Uh- well, no. No I wasn't.”

“Then hush and sit still. This type of web won’t even last an hour before it starts dissolving anyway.” The kid settles a bit but Peter can still feel the tension in the air.

“Will I go home after this?” Cocking an eyebrow Peter looks at his face.

“What do you mean? Of course you will. I’m not going to force you to do anything.”

“Mmmm really? Cause otherwise I’d get my dad to beat you up.” Peter chokes on a laugh and halts his medical attending for a moment to have a laugh.

“I look forward to it, even though considering I’m not holding you hostage it probably won’t.” The kid just leers at Peter for the time being but Peter can tell that he’s relaxing with him more by the minute. Peter just patiently sits and finishes off webbing his small wounds. “Okay um random child, we can get going now but I’m going to have to carry you.”

“. . . fine. Only because my leg really hurts.”

“Of course, little man.” Peter scoops up the kid with no effort and begins the swing to the nearest decent hospital. If it cost a lot, Peter could pay. Somehow. It didn’t matter right now. He has used the webs temporarily but he still will probably need stitches for his leg wound. The others should close up mostly using the webs but they don’t prevent infection entirely. 

In his thoughts Peter wasn’t thinking about the kid so much since he’d been so quiet but with one swing Peter goes above the building skyline and he just hears a small-

‘Wow.’

He looks at the kid and smiles. His eyes are practically sparkling with excitement as Peter keeps swinging. He even giggles. 

He is still just a child after all. Just forced to grow up too quickly.

“What’s your name kid?”

“Jackson! What’s yours?” He’s yelling with a happy tone over the wind but Peter laughs with the boy. A little brat is what this kid is but Peter wasn’t truly very different.

“You know I can’t tell you that!”

“Worth a shot! Hahahah!” 

— — — —

Finally landing on the hospital roof Peter then leaps down to the ground level with acrobat style stealth.

“Here we are! Now come on, let’s get you some help.” The doors are sliding so they open automatically as they enter and well, Peter gets some looks. Vigilantes are normal, sure, but Peter? He’s the new shiny thing that disses Batman. They stare. Jackson just clenches onto Peter’s uniform tighter so Peter takes that as the thing to move on and head towards the desk. The man at the front desk is punching things into the computer before he notices Peter shadowing him and looks up.

A small look of surprise but once he notices the child and instantly gets back to his job of attending.

“Hello, what can I do for you Spider-Man?”  

Well, he’s quick to adapt.

“The kid was being attacked, got his leg gashed and he has some cuts over the rest of his body. I was wondering if you could patch him up?” The man seems to have a gentler look in his eyes. More at peace with the vigilante. 

“Of course we can sir. Will you be waiting with him or does he have a guardian?”

“Uhhh, Jackson, do you have a guardian that can come get you?” The kid seems tired, the adrenaline finally leaving him because he looks up at Peter then to the man at the desk.

“I have a dad, he’ll come get me . . .”

“Something wrong, bud?” Jackson looks unsure of himself and his eyes keep drifting between the floor and Spider-Man. He mumbles something under his breath but of course, Peter hears it. A small hushed-

“Can you stay with me for a bit?” It hits Peter somewhere in his heart like a gong ringing throughout his body. He trusts Peter to protect him.

“Of course I can! I won’t leave till your dad gets here. How’s that?” Jack nods shyly and has a small embarrassed smile settled happily on his face. The man at the desk has now called for a doctor to see if anyone’s free to care for Jack at the moment because although late the hospital is quite busy. 

I guess that’s just how Gotham is, day and night crime is always there. 

“Okay then Spider-Man, if you’re staying with the boy would you mind taking him to follow the doctor once Jackson’s name is called. Jackson, do you have your dad’s phone number?”

“Yeah it’s xxxx-xxxx-xxxx. He made me memorise it just in case.” Jackson says it with a certain child-like pride which reminds Peter that’s exactly what Jackson is. He forgot for a minute from how angry his eyes looked before, how untrusting they were towards Peter.

“That’s very good then. I’ll give your dad a call so if you just want to take a seat in the waiting area.”

“Thanks, that's great.”

So they sat and waited and waited. Finally once Jackson was called Peter went in with him as he had his wounds start getting tended to. Except well, Peter’s webs hadn’t dissolved just yet.

“Umm, Spider-Man, right?”

“Yeah that’s me.”

“You say these webs will dissolve in about 5 more minutes. Will it affect anything or do anything I should know about?”

“Hmmm not that I’m aware of, hopefully it just means there’s less of a wound for you to treat on his leg.” The doctor helping Jackson just nods thoughtfully. She began grabbing what looks like a type of cleaning alcohol and pours it onto a cloth. She stares at his wound for a second before sending Peter off to grab some spare childrens pants from the charity box as Jackson’s were soaked with blood and cut up. 

As Peter is finally back in the main room he spies a familiar yet not familiar face. Orphan. One of Batman’s kids. Aka Cassandra Cain. But Peter of course doesn’t (he definitely does) know that important piece of information. He tries to quickly turn around to avoid her but damn she’s fast.

(Hi, it’s the author for just a quick second. I forgot to mention but at this point Cass currently doesn’t have a huge vocabulary and overusing her voice hurts at times. She overall just prefers to use sign language but she can use simple sentences and will progress with her language as the story goes on. Depending what you;ve read Cass might’ve had her vocal cords removed or was just never taught to speak. This is the latter.)

“Spider-Man.”

Oop, caught.

“Omg hiiiiiii,”- I’m screwed Orphan, what’re you doing here? I thought this was Red Hood’s turf?” Cass’ curiosity spikes around SPider-Man as she finds his movements like hers. Graceful. Silent. Cass nearly didn’t hear him when he was just walking normally.

“Just outside it.”

“Ah. Makes sense. SO, what brings you here this fine evening?”

“Charity box. Adding things.” Cass props down the items she brought including clothes, food cans, sleeping bags and some necessities such as sanitary products for women and deodorant(yes deodorant is a necessity).

“Well that’s nice of  you. Um, you don’t happen to have a pair of child’s pants in there do you? About ten years of age.” Cass just looks through the Charity Box that isn’t actually a box rather it’s a whole room with boxes full of charity. Either way she scans through and finds the child clothes box and finds a loose comfy pair of pants that’ll fit about a ten year old.

“Wow, thanks. Say you’re much nicer than the old man counterpart. He’s grumpy.” That earns him a slight, polite laugh. 

“Batman is grumpy. Kind. But grumpy.” She starts giggling a bit and Peter starts on his own laughter and they both enjoy a little giggle together. “Why you after Batman?” Peter stops for a second.

“Hmm I’m not ‘after’ him as you say more. . . he’s like an annoying teacher that’s fun to antagonise, to challenge.” She seems to nod in a sort of understanding . Even though his spidey-sense is kind of going off at her presence it’s not towards him. She’s just a dangerous person in general but Peter has met his fair share of dangerous people anyways so it’s no bother, if anything he’s more intrigued.

“Can’t wait to see it. Bats is seething.” He can see the smile in her eyes as she says it but her voice cracks so he decides it’d be easier for her to end things now besides Jackson is still waiting for him. 

“I can’t wait either. I’ll see you around Orphan, I’ve got pants to deliver!” She gives him a small polite wave and he thinks he made a new friend. So does she.

Yet neither of them realise that this was the beginning of a purely menacing friendship. 

Menacing.

— — — — — 

“Spider-Man, do you have pants? I feel too bare.” He hears Jckson call out from behind a curtain. 

“Yeah I do little man, give me a second.” Peter just watches as the doctor is writing something down in his book before giving Jackson the pants through the curtain so as to not disturb his privacy.

“Thanks. Or whatever.”

“Just thanks works.” He can hear a little bit of shy incoherent mumbling but he pretends he doesn’t hear it. At that same moment the doors slide open to reveal a man of about Peter’s height but around his 40’s in age.

“Where’s my son!” It sounded more like a statement than a question but Peter pointed to behind the curtain either way. The man’s resemblance to Jackson was uncanny so Peter had no doubt in his mind that he was his father. 

At the sound of his father’s voice Jackson comes bounding from behind the curtain and runs into his dad’s arms who is now crying. 

“You little brat! Do you know how scared I was when I got a call saying you were in the hospital!?” The tears falling from his eyes seem to flow out even more with every word. Peter’s glad to see his father has such a genuine care for him. He feels better knowing he can feel Jackson in good hands.

Walking out the door, happy with how tonight’s gone Spider-Man is stopped by a small hand on his.

“Thanks, for not leaving me there.” Peter could cry with how cute he is but he simply kneels down and gives Jackson a small hug.

“You be good for your dad, yeah?” A small nod of confirmation and Peter stands again, making eye contact with Jackson’s dad for a split second and he mouths a ‘thank you’. Bowing his head slightly Peter ruffles Jackson’s hair and makes his exit.

— — — — — 

At the front desk Peter inquires with the nice seeming guy about if it cost anything to heal Jackson but after he got confirmation that it didn’t he finally took his leave.

Before finally seeing the time.

9:39

Ten minutes past from the time he’s supposed to be at The Wailing Fool .

Oh dear.

Off he went slinging past any and every citizen below him, making them believe it was just another Bat. Of course that sort of speed doesn’t come without consequence. As he rocks up to the back door where only staff can enter but he doesn’t exactly rock up. More like a 

THUNK!

Straight into the wall next to it. He was too busy trying to take off his Spider Suit to judge the distance between him and the wall properly which yielded its own issues.

“ Ow.” 

Peter can hear footsteps coming towards the door so he just quickly destroys the webs to somewhere they won’t be seen and stashes the suit underneath the garbage bin. Not the safest place but the only one in reach at this particular moment. Then the door opens to reveal an annoyed Bjorn.

“. . . Heyyyy. How are you doing?” 

“Jesus, just get inside Will.” He barks it out but there’s no real bite to it, just a tad bit of annoyance.  Peter makes a small pained noise that can only be heard as an ‘okay’. Peter scurries in and puts on his uniform, meeting Bjorn back in his office.

“At least you showed up. Don’t worry too much about being a bit late, we have other people on the job but try not to make a habit out of it.”

“You got it boss man.” He just shakes his head, exasperated already with Peter’s puppy dog energy. He pulls out a box and a sheet of paper that resembles a timetable and hands it to Peter.

“What’s this?”

“I told you I’d get you a phone. So there’s your phone. We have someone who provides phone’s offgrid from people trying to listen in, like Batman or some other villain.” He moves over to where Peter is and then takes the timetable from his hands.

“Your timetable will be on weekends if that’s alright with you. I like you kid but you’re also new to the business as well as being a kid.” Peter stares at it, while he won’t earn enough money as he’d hoped he would still earn enough to keep him going food and power wise. Not enough for much else though. “Tonight you’ll be working the same hours even though it’s a Friday. I may call in and ask for some help some nights if another person can’t fill in for the bartender or Cobbler can’t make it. Other than that you’re free to do whatever you want.” Peter just continues to nod along with what Bjorn is saying and he thinks it’s alright for now but he may  need to ask to work more shifts later on if need be.

“Sounds fine, should I go out there and start helping Cobbler?” Bjorn nods but before Peter can leave he gets stopped by Bjorn’s voice.

“Friday is normally one of our louder nights. Be on guard Will. Shit happens here and we do our best to resolve things peacefully but it doesn’t always go that way.”  He gives a small thumbs up before leaving the room and heading straight off to Cobbler behind the bar.  

“Hey Cobbler!” He looks up and even though his face is covered by the face Peter can tell just from his shoulders that Cobbler is happy to see him. 

“Wassup man! Haven’t seen you in a couple of days, I hear you’re only taking weekends though?”

“Yeah, Bjorn decided it. I’m new and a bit on the younger side of things so he doesn’t want to jeopardise my lifestyle as a ‘teenager’.” Cobbler scoffs at the ceiling before making up a drink for the anonymous customer next to him.

“He’s like that. Big toughie of a body but his heart is as solid as mushy peas.” They both have a couple of laughs before Peter sees someone pull up on his side of the bar and he moves over. 

“What can I get you for tonight?” He looks up and gets a proper look at the person only before realising.

It’s fucking Harley Quinn. Bad language but appropriate for how I feel right now.

“Couple of shots please.” He tries to deepen it a bit before he responds or just changes it so it doesn't bring up any memories.

“Coming right up.”  He brings out a few shot glasses and fills them up, sliding them to her trying to act as casual as possible. She downs them, very fast. And then motions for a couple more. He pours them but she just keeps seeming for them to keep coming.

After a bit linger Peter decides she’s off her face enough that he can swap out the liquor with water without her noticing. He won’t charge her but giving her more alcohol may be damaging. She’s had at least 22 standard drinks. Along the line at some point she asked him to call her Harley as he was just calling her ‘Mrs’ and he converses with her while serving the other customers. 

— — — —

She's just slurring her words out now and only some of it was comprehensible before she face-plants onto the bar.

“I'm realllyyy lonely~. I meet people and I try to-to be friendly but I never seem 'em’ again. Maybe it’s because I’m a villain.” She’s pouting and resting her chin on the bar while spinning the shot glass around in circles. Peter feels bad. Even if she was a notorious villain and side-kick to the Joker at one point, now she’s just Harley. Besides, she gave him a gun which she called one of her favourites to protect himself without even knowing him.

“I’m sure that’s not the case. How about you try and give it a bit more time with someone? Let them get used to it.” She slams the glass down and for a second Peter thinks he’s done something wrong but instead she points at him grinning.

“You are absolutely right Mr.LIONFACE!”

“Goliath.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Li-Li will listen to me!-” 

Uh oh. She means me.

“-I’m gonna go find him later! Then we can be best friends and I can introduce him to Ivy!” With that she simply slams hard cash onto the bar and gets up to walk out. Since she’s out of it Peter thinks it’s best if he at least mentions she gave them too much.

“Mrs Harley. You paid us too much.” She looks down at the money with a dumbstruck look on her face, saunters over and only takes a ten note before shoving it into her pocket and nodding to herself as if she’d achieved something great.

“That’s enough for me, the extra I’ll tip you with. Thas’ how it happens around here right?”

“Correct.” 

“Goodnight Mr.Lion Face~! I’ll see you next time.” She skips out the door, happy with her new goal in mind and Peter- well, he’ll just try to survive for now.

Well, I’ve gotten quite a few tips tonight. Only an hour till I’m done.

Just as Peter thinks he’ll get a small break from the drama, a certain familiar face returns into the bar. Red Hood. He notices Peter’s mask and decides he wants to get a drink from him.

“Hello again Goliath.”

“Hello Red Hood. Same as last time?” Jason sits down in a seat a few down from where Harley was Previously sitting and comfortably nods. He happily watches as Peter takes the ingredients for a pina colada and his favourite coloured straw.

“Mmm thanks. Can I order some food from the bar or do I have to grab an actual table?” He asks as Peter slides him his drink.

“I can take orders from the bar. Here’s the menu.” Jason gently takes it and looks over and over before finally putting it down and looks at Peter patiently waiting for him to finish cleaning the glasses.

“Decided then?”

“Yup. Could I get a chilli dog?” Peter nearly laughs. Nearly. His tastes are just child like that and it amuses him. It fits his personality so well yet not.

“Of course let me give it to the kitchen.” Luckily the kitchen is right next to the bar and he’s become a bit familiar with one of the kitchen staff, Marsupial. Yes, Marsupial. He wears a mask resembling a Virgian opossum also black with red and gold details. Marsupial notices him walking up and is instantly in front of him.

“Whaddya need Goliath?”

“Just an order for a regular Chilli dog please.”

“Easy peasy, give me a minute.” Peter simply waits because he knows Marsupial’s idea of a minute is about 10 seconds. He’s laser fast in the kitchen and his food presentation standards are amazing even with his speed. Peter kind of assumes he’s some sort of meta or at least has a parent that was. Before he can finish his thought there’s a chilli dog waiting to be served right in front of him.

“Order up!”

“I am right here. Mars.”

“Eh, it’s fun to say. Hope Mr.Red enjoys it. It’s all he seems to eat here. Other than pot roast on Tuesdays for some reason.” Peter huffs a laugh at Marsupial's energy before thanking him and walking back to Red Hood.

“Here you are.” Another small thanks from Red Hood before he digs in and Peter thinks the food is gone in seconds. He stands up. Seemingly already done and nods before leaving the right amount of money and sliding a 20 to Peter as a tip and walking off.

He seems. . . tired? Hmm, maybe more annoyed.

Peter notices his quiet behaviour but says nothing, it’s not his place. Especially when it’s Goliath. Time passes and Peter gets his money and heads home. The process of it all was quicker this time so he’s happily in bed by 3:50 am just waiting for sleep to take him again. Once it does, he happily succumbs to it.

— — — —

Over the next few weeks Peter fell into a routine. In the morning, work on his little apartment, go to the library and meet Barbara (sometimes Dick and Tim((Rarely)), go home, sleep or if it’s the weekend, go to work, then at night he’s Spider-Man. It becomes comfortable for him but he’s slowly realising he’s lonelier than he thought. 

Every hour of every day he’s alone makes him realise all the more how much he misses his old life. The normality so he picks up his phone and decides to make a call.

After Peter got his phone all set up he decided to ring up Alfred and see if he wanted to have lunch or tea again. He accepts and Peter then adds onto his nights and days hanging out with Red Hood when he’s free then spending time with Alfred. They’re a bit of an odd pair but ALfred seems more than happy to spend time with him. 

With all the events almost 2 months pass. 

Then there’s a distinct change.

An offer.

One Peter didn’t expect.

Another job?

— — — — 

“. . . Wait Alfred, you want me to do what?” 

Peter is confused.

“I was wondering if you’d like to be an apprentice Butler with me of sorts. I’m growing old and I may soon need a pair of helping hands.”

Peter is more confused.

“So you would like me to help you as a butler in the Wayne household.” Alfred states it almost as a fact but Peter doesn’t understand why he, who is completely unqualified, should take on the role of almost a caretaker.

“You know a few of them, they trust you already so it’d be easier for you to ease into it don’t you think William. I also must leave for a couple of weeks and I’d rather leave knowing that I have left the children in capable hands and that you would be safer too.”

Peter can’t find a fault in the logic but he’s aware that it may affect his actions as Spider-Man. The idea of more money is tempting though. Peter needs it and he’s already running out from his last shift at The Wailing Fool. Who both Harley and Jason seem to frequent when they can. HArley just continuously comes in saying how she can’t find Li-li. 

No, I have not been avoiding Harley. Just . . . taking a different route when walking. Sometimes.

Jason just sits there, orders a Pina Colada and chilli dog before talking with Peter and leaving again. After a while Peter asked him why he always only gets a chilli dog and Jason complained saying ‘it’s the only place close selling them this time of night.’ which made Peter laugh out loud earning him an unimpressed yet amused grumble from Red Hood.

Back to Alfred, he’s definitely looking at Peter for an answer.

“How many days a week would it be?” He can feel Alfred get happier excluding the small smile on his face.

“It would be weekdays, maybe from early morning to late afternoon. They can most likely handle themselves on the weekends. Most likely.” T

That actually sounds, huh, really convenient considering my hours at The Wailing Fool. Could I actually do this though? Hmmmm . . .

“Say, theoretically, if I do this what’s the pay? Sorry if that’s too straightforward but I’m- a, well, struggling a bit right now.” He watches as Alfred shows no reaction except for a small twitch of his eye which told Peter everything.

“It’s a very comfortable pay William, I can assure you that much but I don’t know exactly what it would be. I have yet to talk to Master Bruce but I’m certain he won’t have anything against it. He’ll most likely appreciate the help.”

Peter is thinking. Nevermind he’s still confused. He may as well go for it though. It sounds great and Bruce Wayne is a billionaire.

“Ahhhhhh you drive a hard bargain Alfred but it sounds good. Really good, right now. Are you sure though? I don’t want to cause any trouble.” Alfred shakes his head in disagreement that Peter could ever make trouble.

If only he knew. Sorry Alfred I hate lying to you but considering they’re a family of vigilantes I’ve gotta keep on my toes.

“Of course Will. It’s time for me to leave but make sure to contact me soon please, I’d like to be sure of your circumstances when I can, considering you’re now my soon to be apprentice.” They both laugh gently, fitting the mood and say their own goodbyes till they meet again.

— — — — —

Alfred is in front of Bruce currently trying to push for this new idea of the apprentice Butler and Bruce is now, yep you guessed it, confused.

“Now, of all times you want an apprentice? Of course if it’s someone you trust then I trust them too but Alfred would the kids?”

“I think they would sir. Most of them are aware of who he is by now except for the girls and Damian and Duke. If Master Dick likes him though, most of the others are sure to be more trusting.” Bruce taps his fingers pondering, his thoughts taking over and making him consider this.

“Alright then. Who is he if he knows some of the kids?”

“And Barbara.”

“And Barbara then.”

“William, Master Bruce. His name is William. I will say I may be a bit biassed towards him too but it is not clouding my judgement on whether he is trustworthy or not. Despite living somewhere around Crime Alley he’s a gentle soul.” Bruce’s tapping halts.

“Crime Alley?”

“Yes, sir. He’s- not in the best place financially at the moment. I would like to help him with it.” Without a thought Bruce seems to agree and he wishes to propose a higher pay then usual.

“What about $2500 at first and we can see if that’s enough for him for a bit.” Alfred has known Master Bruce since he was a child and he couldn’t be more happy with how he’s turned out. 

“That sounds excellent. I’ll let him know soon then.”

“Good, I hope he helps you, Alfred.”

“I think-” smiling to himself, he looks out the window into the yard.

“he may help us all.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6!

BIRTHDAY DATES TO HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND SOME AGE STUFF. It’s currently early June btw around the 6th.

Cass- Jan 6th  Bruce- Feb 19th   Dick-March 20th   Steph- June 23   Tim- July 19th    Damian- August 9th    Peter-August 10th    Duke- August 13th (WHY ARE ALL THEIR BIRTHDAYS SO CLOSE??)  Jason & Alfred(SHUT UP THEY SHARE A BDAY :DDD??!)- August 16th   Barb- Sept 23rd 

This is also just to explain who is in the age range of Peter when thinking about relationships, so it’s going to be Peter/Tim.  Also because it was the most recommended/requested. Please understand it may still change now as I haven’t started writing future chapters and once I decide to write a chapter with some Peter/Tim,  it will be a SLOW SLOW SLOWWWW BURN. So if you like the romance it’ll be there but if you don’t then you won’t have to worry about it for a while and you can probably just skip past it if it bothers you so much..

Chapter 6: Peter can cook potatoes. (You'll get it later)

Peter doesn’t know what he’s doing. Standing in front of Wayne Manor on a Monday morning especially. He’s just standing there. Backpack on, clutching the sides making him look like an overgrown Freshman at a new school. There’s a button for him to press but he’s a bit scared if anyone other than Alfred answers. 

Sure, Peter is friendly with a few of the household members, doesn’t mean he can’t be nervous about the fact he’s entering a MANSION full of VIGILANTES that he “doesn’t know about.”

 Yeah, he forgot about that little detail.

 He’s also meeting Bruce Wayne who over the past month or so Peter has learnt about the massive effect Bruce Wayne and Batman have on Gotham. Bruce Wayne is a powerhouse of the Wayne Enterprises company that's the most successful not just in Gotham but surrounding cities. Batman is the vigilante of the night and one of the most well known crime fighters in the century. 

So yes, it’s a bit intimidating standing in front of his house when it’s about 100x the size of his whole apartment.

Toughening himself up Peter moves forward and presses the button to hear a harsh buzz before the gates open after just a second. He isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do so he just follows the path to what he thinks is the front door. 

Before he can even knock, the door opens to reveal Alfred.

“Good to see you so soon William.” 

“Hey Alfred! The house is uh . . . nice.” Dammit that sounded so pathetic. He knows I’m batshit (hehe bat shit) poor but that just makes me sound sad.

“Thank you, Will. Now would you like to come inside and I can show you how everything is done for today?” 

Always the professional.

“Sounds great Alfred. Is uh- anyone here at the moment?” He follows behind Alfred as he goes inside and looks around the walls and aspects of the house. It’s darker than Peter imagined but it fits the Batman side of things. 

Across one hallway they walk by has the portraits of all the family members of the Wayne family. The newest looking one has 10 people, he recognises about 4 with a familiar feeling. He knows the faces of the rest but is yet to meet them (at least out of uniform).

“No, Will. Everyone is at school at the current time or working. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to become acquainted with them today so I wanted to make sure the manor had the least amount of people.” Peter really appreciates his thoughtfulness on the matter, he isn’t sure if he’d be able to rock up and meet his acquaintances like ‘Hey everybody + those I don’t know! I’m now your butler too! :D’ yeah, he can see that going swell.

“Oooh okay cool, thanks Alfred.” He offers him a gentle smile and Alfred has no hesitance in returning it in kind. Peter or “Will” continues to look around the mansion as Alfred is explaining the places, where to go, where to NOT to. Overall, he explains very clearly while taking care of Peter’s questions without many issues. Finally Peter thought about how much he may actually be getting paid and decides to ask.

“So Alfred, you mentioned getting paid but . . . how much exactly?” Peter was happy with it being even 20 an hour. He just needed the extra cash to deal with the smaller amenities at home.

“Ah, me and Master Bruce came to a decision of $2500, is that alright with you?” 

Peter thought, per month?? That’s insane but very good.

“ That’s a lot per month but if you're offering then how can I refuse?” He smiled at Alfred yet Alfred just raised his eyebrow in return.

“No, per week.” 

. . . WHAT!? 

“ HUH?! Per week?! That’s way too much. I can't possibly take that much!” Alfred shook his head adoringly. He quite honestly was expecting this type of reaction but seeing it made Will seem extraordinarily authentic. While Will was still fussing and coming up with countless other excuses as to why they should lower the price Alfred simply watched.

“William, this job is not something entrusted to just anybody. It’s taking care of the most important people in Master Bruce’s life and mine. And from what I’ve seen from you, I couldn’t think of anyone

better.” Will looked like he could have hugged, cried and jumped up and down from excitement at the same time. 

“Alfred you’re too good to me. Way too good.  I have to thank Mr. Wayne though. It’s still a ridiculous amount for someone like me to be earning.” Peter genuinely can’t let this go without like, bowing or something. Hot damn. It just occurred to Peter that not only is Bruce Wayne cashed up, the man is absolutely cheese frickering LOADED. If you asked the man what he wanted on his loaded fries he would say 24 karat gold sprinkles with a dusting of diamonds and truffle sauce.

Okay . . . that’s a tiny bit excessive. Maybe. I hope so.

“Here we are. This is the final room you’ll be expected to clean.” Alfred led him into this massive gym. Massive is an understatement. It looked like it could belong to an olympic stadium. Peter just gawked at all the equipment in front of him. SUre, Tony had a gym but it was only meant for occasional use. If these people didn’t use it everyday he’d be surprised otherwise the whole gym would just be a waste of money. Though Peter somehow guessed that wasn’t really a problem.

“Will?” Alfred watched in mild amusement as Peter nearly snapped his neck to look back at him. 

“Yes?” His eyes were wide and puppy-like, the type Alfred has been seeing in every meeting with Will yet every once in a while it slips and he sees a darkness familiar to Bruce’s own children. He doesn’t like it. He can’t tell Bruce that though. 

“How do you feel about starting in a week, just on Monday? I’ll be with you the entire first day to help you but it can easily be pushed back.” Alfred watches the gears turning in Will’s head as he attempts to find the best day but eventually just nods.

“Monday works just fine! In the morning then?” Smiling, Alfred just nods and looks at Peter as if he thinks about when he actually already has planned it out.

“How does 6 sound? If it’s too early that’s fine, if you get there earlier though you’ll have time to adjust before meeting the children.” Peter is just nodding along with everything Alfred says and doesn’t say anything for a bit, Alfred just assumes he’s a bit unfocused, he’s most certainly used to it by now with the rowdy Wayne bunch. Eventually he seems to snap back to reality.

“Ah! Sorry but yeah that’s good for me, I normally wake up early regardless. It’s just my body clock so I may as well put my early hours to use.” He shrugs casually and they continue walking to the gate front again so Alfred can see William off. Once they arrive Will turns around to face Alfred, Alfred didn’t know what to expect be he didn’t expect-

“Thank you, Alfred. Really.” Alfred can recognise pure gratitude when he sees it. Will, he has no doubt, will fit in here just fine. Damian may be hard to crack though. 

“Of course William. I’m always glad to be of assistance.” Finally as the gates open and Peter is on the other side Alfred bows a bit. “I assume this is where we part for today?”

“Yup! See you next week!” Peter waves as he walks away, down the driveway and out of view. He’s quite excited for this to be honest. While the idea of having to meet people is nerve wracking, he feels as if it's going to be just fine. 

— — — —

Over the next few days, finally on Thursday Peter comes across Harley again, his streak of luck in avoiding danger apparently ending. 

“Li-Li! I have been looking everywhere for you!” Her laugh echoes throughout the whole street as Peter is left to stare awkwardly at her rushing towards him. He doesn’t particularly know what to do in terms of interaction so he lets her lead. 

Her terms of interaction are apparently bone crushing hugs as she lifts Peter off the ground and into her arms. He doesn’t understand how she has this much muscle strength.

“Ow. Okay Harley- kinda crushing my ribcage now.” It comes out as strained and breathy and luckily she instantly lets go.

“Oopsie! sorry bout’ that Li-li, I just got so excited when I saw ya!” Peter just rubs his stomach before looking back at Harley with a smile, he doesn’t think she’s too bad, honestly just a bit kooky in her

own little way. Besides, Jason said she was on the mend and trying her best to be better.

“Oof- yeah don’t worry about it Harley, good to see you too.” She gives him a little happy smile in return.

“So big guy! Why haven’t I seen you around recently? Haven’t been avoiding me, have you?” 

Ah shit, caught very quickly.

“No no! I just got a new job so I won’t be around here as often anymore.” Harley seems to nod along so it seems she believed it and also, he isn’t really lying.

“Aw shucks, are you busy then? I was gonna ask you if ya wanted some tea and biscuits at my place.” She pouts for about a minute, staring at Peter with ridiculously large puppy eyes so eventually he sighs and droops his shoulders in defeat. He already feels a fondness for her creeping up into his smile and tries to push it down but honestly, what did you expect? He’s Peter Parker, of course it didn’t work.

“Okayyy Harley, I can spare an hour or two.” She practically jumps for joy as she begins dragging Peter down the street to her apartment, inciting Peter to let out a small ‘woaHh’ at her inhuman strength. So, that’s Peter’s little side story of how his long friendship with ex-villain Harley Quinn started properly. That day Peter did indeed stay at her house gossiping about every new hero and villain drama, along with all the normie regular stuff like “who has Bruce Wayne slept with this time!?!” and “Who’s next?!” yet Harley narrated it as if it were a horror show. He hadn’t realised properly how lonely he’s actually been up until this point, to talk to someone who’s like minded about things that don’t even matter or stuff that isn’t about saving the world for once. It almost makes him feel like a child again.

After their hefty talk session they simply sit there in silence for a bit, happy to bask in the company of the other. Peter lets out a content sigh and Harley moves from her upside down position on the couch to look at Peter.

“Y’know Li-li, you’re a real good guy.” Harley yawns and starts curling into her couch blanket. A bloom of warmth spreads through Peter’s chest, hearing those words just made him feel that everything he does is worth it. Harley is already half asleep when Peter goes up to her and pulls her blanket up to cover her whole body before picking up his bag.

“Thanks Harley, I’ll see you around.” He makes sure to pat the snoozing Hyena friend before hearing Harley’s half asleep reply and walking out the door. Maybe he can make some good friends here after all.

— — — —

Peter is once again making his own way down the staff entrance to The Wailing Fool, quite happy with how his job is going, there’s only been 2 small tussles as of yet and neither has he been involved in or needed to be. 

Cobber made sure Peter was well tuned to all the situations that may arise and has gotten himself very attached. He loves talking to Peter no matter that the boy was a bit jumpy at times Cobber could tell that he was never scared of him, not truly. The two had become practically inseparable during work hours and they had a lot of time to bond over too. Peter learnt that Cobber was also a heavy animal lover. The two found it easy to go on and on about Cobber’s dogs and his other pet cockatiel. Regardless, right now they’re in a bit of a stitch with a drunk customer. Not  a violent one, just a very drunk one.

Who so happens, to be Red Hood. 

His entire face is flushed and planted firmly on the bar. Cobber bumps up behind Peter looking at the drunk Red Hood. 

“...What do we do with him?” Peter actually didn’t know. This place works differently to different bars since everyone who comes in here most likely has a criminal record of some sort, throwing them out isn't the smartest idea. Also making bad connections with THE Red Hood is even dumber. 

“What if I just put him on the staff couch? Y’know, the one that no one uses.”

“Goliath . . . no one uses that couch for a reason. That couch is practically the vomit couch.” Peter pauses, he knows that the couch is only there for the really drunk staff because getting a new couch every time there was someone drunk would be ridiculous.

“I know, he’s a vigilante though so maybe he won’t react as badly.” Cobber just pulls an unimpressed drawn out look. “. . . yeah okay but where else are we supposed to put him? We can’t throw him out the second he leaves these walls he’s going to get jumped.” 

“Yeah alright fine, you’re taking him there though. I’ll cover the bar.” 

“Thanks Cobber!” Peter hefts the vigilante over his shoulder and carries him to the vomit couch, suddenly feeling a bit mean for leaving his on said couch he decides to place a tablecloth over it before gently placing Red Hood down with ease. There was little to no resistance from him except for some drunken mumbles as Peter rearranges him on the couch. “Oof- there we go. All settled. Now, stay there.”  Yeah, as if the passed out drunk man is going to go anywhere.

Returning to his station at the bar Peter’s night continues relatively normally and as his shift closes up he and Cobber swap out for the next two bartenders. The two walk towards the stalls together and change separately. Peter calls out to say goodbye to Cobber as he hears Cobber take the staff exit.

“Bye Goliath! See you next week!” He hears the door clang and deems it safe to come out. Just as he’s about to leave though he has a sneaking suspicion he’s forgotten something. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OH MY GOD,

JASON!

Peter scrambles his mask back on quickly and shoots over to the staff room where Red Hood was still sleeping as peacefully as ever. Peter wasn’t sure what to do with him so he just picked him up, and walked out. 

Yup, simple as that. You just pick him up and take him home. Only then do you realise that you don’t know where his home is and you can’t exactly take him to Wayne Manor cause that would give a bit

too much away.

My home it is.

Peter is halfway up his apartment stairs, having made a swift way home when he’s hit with a question. “Wait, what am I supposed to tell him when he wakes up?” , shrugging Peter just decides to figure that out when he actually wakes up for now he was going to sleep.

Shrugging off his work bag and Jason, he lies Jason on his bed before grabbing one of his extra blankets and deciding to take the rusty dusty couch. Yeah, fixing the couch is also on his list now. He easily slips into sleep though as he’s definitely slept in worse places. Once again, another day over in this new world and Peter, well, he’s actually a bit curious to see what happens next.

— — — — 

When Peter wakes up, to the sound of incredibly loud groans, he rubs his eyes wondering what the hell the sound was before he remembered a certain vigilante in his home. He gets up and gathers a glass of water along with some panadol and puts it on the bench. As  Red Hood walks out from the room the second he sees Peter’s figure he points his gun before recognizing his face, his gun drops to his side instantly. 

“The fuck? Will? How did I end up here?”

Hmmm, maybe Peter should have thought about this just a little bit.

“Uhhh well, your drunk self was kinda. . . wandering the streets near an alley before you promptly passed out so I took you home. I don’t know where you live so I took you to my home.” There was a pregnant pause as Red Hood seems to be thinking the whole thing through while holding his hand to his head.

“. . .I don’t remember last night at all. I only remember having a hard mission so I chose to drink a bit.”  Hitting his helmet repeatedly in an attempt to remember last night's contents he realises that his

helmet is in fact still firmly on.

“Well, I remember last night considering I had to drag your butt all the way back here. You, my friend, are not light.”

“Ugh sorry about that, didn’t think about how much was going into my system, REALLY stupid move on my part.” Peter just huffs out a laugh, at least he can be sure that Jason wasn’t in any danger last night since he was there the whole time.

“Don’t worry about it, uhh I would offer you breakfast but I only got the power and water working about a week ago so coffee’s the only option right now. Oh and here’s some water and panadol. For the headache.” Jason just shrugs over to Peter,  slowly taking the stuff from his hands, obviously still experiencing a hangover.

“Sounds good to me. Thanks by the way.”

“You sound like me with how much you’re apologising and thanking.” Jason pretends to shudder in a sarcastic manner to make fun of Peter.

“Oi, don’t push it. I can still kick you out.” Jason just falls back onto the couch a retort dying on his lips the second his body feels the pillows. “Ha! How the mighty have fallen. Is it comfortable enough for your royal backside?” Peter can hear a muffled sound of approval from his helmet. 

Peter finds it funny that he should probably mention it’s 5am on a Monday, he has an appointment at his new job soon with Alfred. At Red Hood’s family home. Well, Jason’s,  but they’re the same person so it doesn’t matter. 

“Well, Red Hood you’re welcome to stay until you recover but I have work soon so I’ll have to go. Only rule is don’t go through my stuff which I think should be pretty self explanatory.” Red Hood turns his head to face Peter with a sluggish thumbs up.

“See you later, Will. Don’t die.”

“I won’t.” Peter leaves a knocked out vigilante on his couch to go get dressed and ready for his first day at the Wayne Mansion. As he walks out back past Jason he can tell the man is thoroughly asleep again. Peter is as stealthy as possible out the door being quiet as he handles the latch. 

Walking down the street Peter just thinks about how Red Hood is going to react if he ever visits the mansion himself. He’s amused by the thought and lets out a little snort. Well, time to get to his new job then.

— — — — 

The trek to the Wayne Mansion was less than he thought as he  has now appeared in front of the house 10 minutes earlier than planned. Being his awkward self Peter isn’t exactly sure whether to enter or not. So there he stands for 5 awkward minutes before he hears the buzz of the frontgate intercom.

“As much as I appreciate your attempt to be perfectly on time, please come in, William. I would prefer my employee does not freeze before their first day even begins.” The voice sounds mildly amused as the gates swing open for Peter to enter. 

Upon entering the house Peter is instantly greeted with Alfred’s presence.

“Hello again, Will. Are you properly prepared for today?”

“You bet! Superrrr excited.” Yeah okay the nerves were getting to him a bit. He always gets nervous over silly things, he wasn’t that nervous about working at The Wailing Fool, so why was this so stressful? He shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts and Alfred gives him an enquiring look. “Ignore me, it’s just nerves.”

“Perfectly understandable. Trust me when I say though, it will go away quickly.” Peter finds himself nodding along to Alfred’s words no matter what they were. Everything out of his mouth just sounds like historical wisdom.  Walking further into the house Alfred leads Peter to where he can get changed into his actual clothing attire. Alfred gives a nod to Peter before beckoning him to follow.

“Well, William, I hope you will be fine if I leave you to clean a room for a bit, I just realised before your arrival that I’m lacking eggs to make Master Dick’s favoured French Toast so I’ll have to pop out for a bit.” 

“Ah that’s completely fine, don’t worry about it Alfred!”

YOU ARE GOING TO LEAVE ME HERE?! BY MYSELF?!?? ALFRED PLEASE I LIED, I’M NOT INDEPENDENT AT ALL. DON’T LEAVE.

“Thank you William. I promise to return shortly but first can I get you to clean the first living room, the one just behind the kitchen? .” Alfred won’t lie, he is leaving Will there yes because he needs eggs

but he wants to test out how well William can handle himself on his own. 

“Of course, any specific rules about the room I should know?”

“Only one, everything in there can be touched and moved except the mahogany shelf. Please just gently dust it instead.” Peter takes notes in his head. He knows where all the cleaning tools are as Alfred showed him last time he got given a tour. 

“No problem Alfred, see you soon!” Peter gives Alfred a little wave as the older man leaves to go get the eggs and Peter gets to cleaning. He finds that Alfred was kind enough to already have moved the cleaning materials into the room for Peter to use.  Peter just decides to start with moving all the clutter away. The room is already relatively clean so there isn’t all too much to do except maybe the main job being the windows. 

Before the windows he decides to organise the furniture and give it all a roll down with a lint roller to make it cleaner. It was a quicker job and only took around 10 minutes. As his next job Peter decides to take another look at the windows.

He can see there’s some stains, particularly in places he bets Alfred would find hard to reach so he decides to take it upon himself to start there. 

Hopefully, the bat family won’t be up for at least the next half an hour as Peter decides to stick to the wall and climb to the top of the tall elongated window as a start. Working top to bottom Peter hangs onto the wall next to the window with his cleaning products weirdly adjusted on his lap. As he’s about ¾ of the way down he assumes it’s been about 30 minutes but now that he’s close to finishing the windows he can firmly plant his feet back on the ground to finish the rest. 

Just as he sprays some more window cleaner on he hears the sounds of footsteps getting closer to the living room. He decides to just continue washing the windows instead of reacting, his reason?

He doesn’t know how to explain what he’s doing in their house. Especially if it’s one of his known Wayne acquaintances. Like TIm, Jason, Dick, Cass. Any of those. He just hopes that Bruce warned his kids that he’d be working here from now on. 

Finally the footsteps reach the living room and Peter just keeps cleaning, pretending not to hear until-

“. . .Sorry, wait. . . who the hell are you?” Finally Peter turns around to see Tim. Tim’s face is nothing other than shocked when he sees Peter’s face. Also confirmed that Mr.Wayne in fact did not let his children know.

“Hang on, Will?”  

How do I respond? Do I respond like Alfred does? Not wanting to take too long Peter responds with a simple -

“Uhh hello.” They both stand there in awkward silence, Tim fully in his pyjamas and holding a half empty coffee cup.

“What uhh what are you doing here? Cleaning the windows, might I add?”

“From the reaction I’m going to assume Mr. Wayne didn’t tell you.”

“Somehow learning he didn’t tell us about something doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Go on then, what didn’t he tell us?” Peter fully rotates his body to be facing Tim now and he puts the window cleaner on a nearby stool.

“Alfred and Mr. Wayne has hired me as an apprentice butler. To be there to assist Alfred and also take over for when he goes away.” Full, pure , awkward silence is dragged out as Peter can see Tim mulling things over in his head like none of this makes sense.

“Oh. I had no idea. I must say it’s a surprise to see you in the living room but uhh I guess welcome to Wanye Manor then. How long will you be working here? I mean your daily hours by the way.” 

“Ah, I'll be working here from 6 in the morning to around 9-10 in the evening. Exempt from weekends.” A thought occurs to Peter at that moment, he’s aware that with this job he most certainly won’t need to continue working at The Wailing Fool but. . . he doesn’t want to stop. He’s grown incredibly fond of Bjorn and Cobber. He is so lost in that thought he nearly misses what Tim next says.

“Wow so I’ll be seeing you a bit. Sorry, can I ask a bit of an invasive question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Shouldn't you be attending school? You look around my age.” Ah shucks. Peter doesn’t look that young. He’s about to turn 18. Besides you're allowed to drop out of school past being 16 years old, it’s not like he has no education. They just can’t know he had an education or they’ll ask him where and he doubts that ‘where’ exists.

“I legally have no obligation to attend school. I can assure you that I have had my own methods of education though.”

“Oh, do you mind if I ask for your age?” Peter decides to just tell Tim. He’s only about a month of being an adult anyways.

“I’m nearly 18.”

“Ah, so you are really close to my age. I thought so, good to know my presumption skills are still up to scratch.” Both he and Peter share a soft laugh for a moment before finally falling into a more comfortable silence. Peter then notices that Tim had been sipping his coffee as they spoke and his mug was now empty.

“Would you like me to make you some breakfast, maybe some coffee on the side?” Tim looks down to realise his mug is also empty.

“That would be great, thank you. Where is Alfred by the way?”

“He went to get some eggs to make French Toast so you could wait for him to return or I could make you something else?” Tim seems to think on it for a moment before deciding.

“Could I have something more on the savoury side? Don’t think I’m really int the mood for straight up sugar just yet.” Another small laugh elicits from Peter as he nods.

“Of course. I’ll see what’s in the kitchen.” Peter thought he would be going alone to the kitchen but Tim just follows him and sits at the table before tiredly resting his head on his arms. In the meanwhile Peter scours what he could make. There’s a few options he’s confident with such as a BLT or maybe hashbrowns?

“There’s a few options, I could make something like a BLT or some hashbrowns or something simpler like avocado on toast.” Tim looks up from his resting spot and stares at Peter for a second.

“Could I have the hashbrowns please?”

“Of course, they’ll be ready in about 15 minutes.” He hears a muffled yet appreciative ‘thanks’ as Tim turns back into his arms. So Peter gets to shave some of the potatoes and make a binding mixture

of oil and starch in with the potatoes before turning the pan on and making them into nice round circles.

As they cook Peter sets out to make some coffee for Tim as well, turning on the coffee maker and basing it on the setting the maker was already on. It turns on with a quiet buzz and starts to pour coffee into the jug. Turning back to the hashbrowns he can see Tim has finally turned his head up to watch Peter cook the rest. Flipping the hashbrowns over he then grabs the coffee jug and pours some into Tim’s empty mug which earns him a thankful smile. Just when Peter is about to ask if he wants milk or anything Tim is already inhaling it. Decidedly he thinks the breakfast should be healthier than this and spies the fruit bowl.

“To balance it out would you like a fruit salad because while hashbrowns and coffee are a nice breakfast they aren’t very balanced.” Tim looks like he might protest but instead gives a ‘yes please’ to Peter’s delight. He adds in oranges, kiwis, strawberries and grapes before putting it in front of Tim along with the nicely served up hashbrowns and of course, coffee.

“Thanks Will.” Tim takes a bite and practically groans into the hash brown. “Jeez I didn’t realise how hungry I was but this is so good.” He starts shoving it down and Peter is now glad of the ridiculous amount he made. Just as he’s cooking the next batch of hash browns he hears another pair of steps coming towards the kitchen again, this time heavier but no less stealthy than Tim’s. A natural stealth though, more trained.

He’s proven correct when the next person through the hall is none other than Dick himself. He instantly sees Peter and pulls a face similar to Tim’s.

“Will? Um, did I miss something? Like a family meeting or other?” Tim stops his eating for a second to look at Dick but he only nods as his mouth is still full. At that moment ALfred finally re-enters, hands full of eggs and some other ingredients.

“Indeed you have Master Dick, I believe I left it up to Master Bruce to tell you about my new apprentice but he was apparently. . . preoccupied with his job.” Dick mouths an ‘ohhh’ before looking back at Peter and smiling cheerfully. 

“Welcome to the ragtags then Will! I’m normally in Bludhaven so you’ve joined us at a time we’re all around. Means you’ll probably get to meet everyone today since it’s family night!”

Family Night? The day I join is family night?!?! ALFRED WHAT HAPPENED TO “WE’LL START YOU OFF EASY” AUUGABHBUSKBHJD

“Can’t wait. It’ll be nice to finally meet the entire family.”  Guess there’s no escape for Peter. Also guess that he’ll at least have the chance to get a look at Jason’s shocked face. Makes everything worth it.  

Finally another 3 sets of steps make their way to the kitchen just as Alfred and Peter start on the French toast. Peter is whipping up some cream just as the three unidentified pairs of feet also walk into the kitchen space. 

“Who is the heathen in my kitchen?” Yup, he definitely matches his reputation.

“He, young master Damian, is the new apprentice butler.” Damian’s eyebrow twitches like that is the most unfathomable thing. Duke, next to Damian, just smiles and happily walks over to shake Peter’s hand.

“Well hi then, I’m Duke!” Peter enthusiastically shakes his hand back.

“You can call me William, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Duke's smile somehow gets even brighter than it previously was which is incredible. Peter wondered if that hurt his jaw. The thought is dispersed by the sight of Cass, his little hospital acquaintance, except in this situation, they’ve never met. She gives him a peaceful wave to which he responds in kind. Not to forget the child demon in the background still glaring his heart out at Peter.

“Alfred, you better not be bringing in this peasant to replace you. I will never accept it.” Alfred just sighs gently and shakes his head.

“Of course not Master Damian. As you’re all aware I will have to leave in a couple of months for a while to take care of some family business. While Peter will work most days, he’ll take over entirely during that time I’m gone. Nevertheless I ask you all to treat him with utmost respect as you do me.” There’s a chorus of agreements from around the kitchen even Damian eventually scoffs in acceptance, after all, he can’t say no to Alfred.

— — — — 

After everyone sits down comfortably they start asking for either a preference of hash browns or French Toast so as Alfred puts on some more French Toast Peter turns to Damian for his opinion.

“And what would you like Damian?” Peter understands the kid is standoffish and a bit arrogant but he doesn’t mind at all, if anything he thinks it’s a bit adorable. Once again though Damian just glares for a second before realising Peter is staring right back at him. Almost hesitantly Damian responds.

“I’ll have some cereal.” Peter raises an eyebrow expectantly at Damian hoping to convey his message, luckily it seems to pass on just fine. “. . . please.” smiling at his success Peter grabs an empty bowl.

“Of course you may.”

Naturally as everyone finishes their breakfast they start to dissipate to do their own thing just until the three of Peter, Tim and Alfred are left alone. 

“Master Timothy I hope you haven’t had more than 4 coffees this morning.” Tim nearly spits his coffee back into the mug before haphazardly choking on it and swallowing.

“W-what?? Me? Never! I would never!” A silence. “Okay fine, no more for me.” A nod of approval from Alfred and he speaks to Peter that he’ll be back momentarily. So now it was only two. “So, Will. How’d you meet Alfred?” Surprised by the question Peter turns from where he was doing the dishes to face Tim.

“Ah well we actually ran into each other and I spilled my coffee everywhere on the ground so he felt bad and took me to brunch. We just kept in contact after that.”

“Huh, just a surprise. Decades and Alfred has never even spoken about getting an apprentice so pardon me for the surprise. Guess he must like you a lot.” Peter laughs warmly, thinking about Alfred’s kind demeanour.

“I hope so. I’m quite fond of Alfred myself.”

“Hah! Don’t worry, we all are. It’d be stranger if you weren’t.” Another small silence as Tim downs his coffee and places the mug on the table he resumes his walk to be in front of Peter. Sticking his hand out in hope for a friendly, proper introduction -

 “Alright then William, welcome to the Wayne’s.” Shaking his hand felt warm as well to Peter, giving Peter a certain hope about staying here.

I think I might just be able to like it here.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7

Say hello to Cobber today and Bjorn is next time :D Lemme know if there’s any other side characters you want to see drawn so you can visualise them better!

Peter realised very quickly that this family, although he already assumed, was chaotic. Extremely chaotic. After breakfast he watched as Damian was tackled by Dick into a crushing hug in the front yard, which then led to Dick being flipped on his head. Just regular sibling behaviour he guesses. He never had a sibling but with him and May they also didn’t really need anyone else. 

But it might’ve been nice. To have someone else. To not be so alone.

Maybe he won’t have to be here. He’s yet to truly connect with someone in friendship other than Red Hood but that’s Red Hood, only one side of Jason Todd. He loves Alfred of course but he’s still getting closer to Alfred at this point and none of them really know anything about him. Not a single person.

And within a few seconds he’s back again to feeling ever so alone. Peter guesses he is. The dishes clank in the sink and Peter’s eyes are torn from the window. He simply gets back to picking up the remaining dishes on the table, resuming as usual.

Yet he did not even notice the trained pair of eyes watching him. As Tim was standing at the doorway with his illegal sixth coffee he noticed Peter’s distant stare. If anything it looked old, too old for him to be 17. Yet he understands that Gotham is just like that. It’s what it does to people and that’s what they’re trying to change. Turning away Tim promises to welcome Peter to this household as someone who is accepted. 

— — — —

Peter starts to head to the kitchen after his full day of housework. With how diligently Alfred cleans he’s surprised there’s still so much mess. Peter guesses it also has to do with them all being vigilantes AND teenagers, well, most of them are teenagers.

The family eventually moved out to do their own things such as the kids went to school and the older went out on their own errands. He sees there's a few plates and glasses everywhere from the people who have been moving in and out of the house for snacks throughout the day and Alfred was taking care of the “basement” today which Peter just pretends to not know that it’s actually their hideout.  Just as Peter is loading the dishwasher he checks the clock from his peripheral vision and sees that it’s 5:53 meaning he should start dinner soon. 

Alfred is fully aware Peter is quite a good cook so he decided to leave him with just a couple of recipes. And he left. 

ALFRED, PLEASE. YOUR TRUST IN ME IS TOO HIGH. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE CIORBĂ DE FASOLE CU CIOLAN!  I’VE NEVER MADE MORE THAN ONE ROMANIAN DISH IN MY LIFETIME. 

ALFREEDDDDDD COME BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK    

:’D please.

Crying internally Peter just starts the process of the side dishes before moving on to making the big task, the Ciorba de fasole cu ciolan one that’s set to cook he moves back to a salad. Of course as he starts making the side salad, Dick re-enters the kitchen with a happy yet tired look.

“Welcome back, is there anything you’d like?” Almost half asleep looking Dick looks up at Peter and for a second Peter thinks that he completely forgot about the new current resident of the manor.

“Uhhhh don’t think so. I’m just gonna crash on the table for a second.” With that he plops his head down face flat onto the table and Peter is pretty sure he heard snoring. Spending the next half an hour on the Ciorba de fasole cu ciolan he hears Dick Starting to stir and finally awakens so Peter decides to start on the garden salad while the main is cooking. Just as he’s about to finish up and add the vinegar, the second he picks it out from the fridge some touches his hand and it wafts towards him-

he nearly collapses. The pans near him all clatter and he ends up kneeling on one leg with his eyesight blurring.

“Will? Shit, Will! Are you okay!?” Dick has apparently woken up entirely as he rushes to Peter's side to hoist him back up to his feet. 

“Yeah yeah, no I- I think I’m fine. Just feel a bit off.” Still quite concerned Dick looks around the bench to see what caused his fall. 

“What happened, did something cause it?” Peter just looks around as well to try and discern what happened but all he can blame is the vinegar.

“It only happened when I touched the vinegar. It’s never happened before but I-uh guess I haven’t had vinegar for a while.” Dick is practically kicking the bottle away as he moves Peter to a chair and sits him down. Once he’s sat, Dick then grabs his arms in a bit of a panic and seems to be examining them but Peter still feels too woozy to properly care.

“Shit Will, I think you may be a bit more than just allergic.” Finally Peter looks down at his arms and sees red lines practically climbing up his arms and his arm being red in general now. So he assumes it’s a spider thing (an annoying spider thing). Because he most certainly wasn’t allergic to vinegar in his first world. 

“Apparently. So… no vinegar for me!” Dick just stares at him with a look he normally gives his idiotic brothers but he thinks it's pretty warranted in this situation. Peter shrinks under it a little bit but flinches when his arm grazes against the table side “Ow. That was not nice.”

“Jesus Will, I’m gonna go get Alfred cause he always knows how to fix things magically. Stay here, do not move.” Of course Peter has to have the final words.

“Where would I even go?” Grunting Dick just speeds out of the room to find Alfred and Peter is just wondering if this will take longer to heal because it’s a spider weakness. He hopes not. It actually stings quite a bit.

Stupid new spider weakness.

While being given some time to think he realises that he’s gained quite a lot of new abilities more spider based. 

Does this mean I have the allergies of a spider? ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 

In exasperation he tussles his hair in a newfound annoyance at the entirety of this ridiculous situation. Hearing footsteps in the distance Peter moves his head to see Alfred and Dick entering the kitchen again holding a first aid kit. Rushing over to Peter’s side Alfred then promptly pulls out antihistamines. 

“Well, an exciting start to your new job?” Cacking out a laugh Peter just sinks into the chair a bit more and hangs his head back. 

“Yeah, super exciting. Didn’t exactly expect to learn about this new allergy though.” Peter turns to see that Dick is still looking at him like a worried mother. He wouldn’t be surprised if he started pacing the room. Taking the antihistamines, Peter can finally feel his head returning to normal after a bit of waiting. 

“Are you alright now, WIlliam?”

“Mhmmm a bit funky but much, much better. Wow, sorry about this, I didn't mean to make dinner so eventful.” Dick is just shaking his head having finally calmed down and has rested himself by leaning on the table. 

“Sorry this happened to you on day one. I feel like we cursed you or something.” Peters smiles at Dick letting out a little laugh. Peter understands the feeling of thinking everything is your fault, hell, he even has a name for it, ‘Parker Luck’, his misfortunes in a phrase. Poor Dick is still looking over Peter like he’s going to poof out of existence, which isn’t impossible but it’d be weird if it happened twice.

“Stop worrying, I happen to have shit luck. I’d more likely blame it on that.” Alfred gets up and places the first aid kit on the kitchen bench while gently lifting Peter’s arms to check if the swelling has gone down, fortunately it has. Just as Peter reshuffles himself on the chair to get more comfortable he hears a large group of footsteps heading towards the dining room, which is directly connected to the kitchen aka ill Peter in full view.

As he suspects the whole family comes through including Mr.Wayne. Bruce pulls to a quick stop when seeing Peter look so pale and his arms and even eyes still a bright red. 

“What happened here?” Tim and the rest poke out from behind the beast of a man trying to see the commotion. Tim speaks first upon seeing Peter.

“Whoa! That’s a reaction. I second Bruce’s question.” Peter just shrugs looking down at his arms. 

“Apparently, I am heavily allergic to vinegar.” Practically everyone’s eyebrows rais and the silent Damian hiding behind Bruce was now not so silent. 

“See! He isn’t fit to replace Alfred. He must be fired immediately.” The threat held no worries over Peter though, he knew his job was secure thanks to Alfred. 

“Can’t get rid of me that easily, this is the best paying job in miles. Spoiler alert: I need money.” Peter says, his mind still slightly foggy. “Besides, I’m fine now, I was given antihistamines. Oh! And minus the vinegar being put in the salad. Dinner’s ready.” Pointing his thumb in the direction of the baked dish. 

Bruce intervenes before Damian can shoot any more words out. “- You won’t be getting fired, William, not by any chance, Alfred recommended you. I do suggest maybe you go home for the night though. One of the boys could take you.” Peter just shakes his head and stands up, shaking himself like a wet dog before giving everyone a thumbs up.

“Nope! I’m perfectly fine, right as rain. I’ll set the table. I just will no longer be touching vinegar.” Bruce just shakes his head, exasperated. 

“If that’s what you choose, please, take it easy though.” With a final thumbs up everyone just gathers at the table, some wary eyes still on Peter.

— — —

Before anything could even be properly settled there’s a loud slamming of the doors at the front of the mansion. Well, loud to Peter anyways. Everyone else still heard it although but no one seemed bothered so Peter assumed that meant it was an expected guest but the only other family member he knew of was Jason. Therefore Peter’s guess was that it was indeed Jason. 

Mere minutes later and Peter’s suspicions are confirmed when the other tall fellow walks through the door. 

“Hey brats I’m her-.” Peter nearly freezes too when Jason does as he spots Peter but he realises freezing would imply that they recognised each other rather than Jason/Red Hood recognising Peter. Jason shakes it off relatively quickly.

“I’m sorry- did I miss something? An adoption of a new family member perhaps? A kidnapping?” He smiles tightly at Bruce as if threatening him if he’s about to go mental. Bruce coughs awkwardly but shakes his head strongly in a firm motion to reassure Jason.

“No, Jason I did not adopt William, he’s the new apprentice butler. Alfred is actually the one who brought him in. I also most certainly did not kidnap him.” Jason visibly untenses at that and then cocks his head to the side.

“Okay, makes sense though. He doesn’t have the right hair and eye colour.” Tim butts in.

“Neither does Stephanie or Duke.” Jason scoffs with a small smile.

“Oh shut it, you know neither of them were actually adopted, instead they’re permanent honorary members.” Shrugging, Tim just goes back to serving food onto his plate. Peter just smiles nonchalantly and waves. 

“It’s nice to meet you Jason, I’m William. Please! Sit down and I’ll go get you some cutlery.” Moving around the kitchen he swiftly brings Jason’ set of cutlery, placing it neatly on his sitting area and pulling his chair out so he can sit. 

Poor Jason, on the other hand, is very very confused. Bewildered even. What was his rooftop roomie doing in his family house? He can only slowly walk to the chair and sit down. He continues to also pile food onto his plate, everyone throughout the night praising Peter for his cooking causing him to blush at the compliments. Peter pretends not to notice but he knows Jason’s eyes are still trained on him wherever he moves etc.

Then all of a sudden the clock chimes, for some reason signalling it for 8pm, which was Alfred said was the time he was going to go home because of his vinegar incident. 

“Is it 8 already? Well, then, I’m supposed to head off now, so I hope you enjoy the food.” Peter gives a quick bow before leaving the room to go get his things. Walking down the hallway to the front door he grabs his bag off the rack and pushes open the door only to be stopped by Alfred.

“William, I hope you didn’t plan to leave without taking any dinner. I also made sure there was no vinegar cross contamination, for your safety and wellbeing.” Peter looks at him with a warm smile as Alfred hands him the container. 

“Thanks Alfred. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Alfred watches as Peter(William) walks off into the night and can only pray he stays safe.

— — — (Dining room with the Bat boys.)

“Why the hell is William here!?” Of course Jason is now able to question his family to his heart's content. Dick raises an eyebrow at that.

“You know Will? I know Tim and I met him but when did you?”  Jason just leans back letting himself chew the remainder of his food.

“Remember that kid we met about to pitch himself off a roof?” Dick’s eyes widen.

“You’re kidding me? That was William???” His eyebrows furrow at this new information. “How did you recognise him so quickly then?”

“Ah I just kept running into him as Red Hood, so we ended up hanging out pretty often these last few weeks. He actually helped me last night, I got a bit drunk and he let me crash at his place, didn’t even take my mask off.” Everyone’s listening in at this point. Bruce just nods.

“So should we assume he’s not mentally well?” A slow nod is all Bruce needs but Jason elaborates.

“Will also lives in a- uhhh not so legal apartment. He doesn’t use enough power or water for the parallel apartment to realise but yeah. . . Hopefully this job lands him in a better living situation.”  Damian now interrupts.

“So, the peasant is actually very peasantry? No surprises there.”

“Hush, foul demon. I think I should also mention he lives borderline on Crime Alley and The Bowery and he’s friends with Harley Quinn.” He rushes the last sentence to try and avoid any confrontation on the subject.

There’s a silent pause. Bruce speaks. “He what?”

“Yeah. . . Harley’s real good to him though and he’s good at avoiding the bad parts of town, he’s used to the lifestyle now. I’m watching over him. He’s fine.” Bruce sighs leaning even further back into his chair.

“Do people in this family just have a tangent for finding overly traumatised people?” There’s a chorus of ‘yes’ throughout the whole table, followed by some small laughter. “Okay then, we take care of him, he’s one of us now.” Only a small grumble from Damian but even he doesn’t argue after his favourite person brought William in, of course he can’t argue. They all finish their dinner letting the family vibes come back in swing just enjoying eachothers company.

Before it gets too late on normal nights, those on shift get suited up and head off into the night. Tonight though, was different, tonight everyone went out on duty to enhance the ‘family vibes’ according to a certain Wally’s suggestion. He thought it would be good family bonding too and Dick somehow convinced everyone to do it just once a week. 

So together, they all head out but at the same time, there was an interaction going down somewhere else. . .

— — —

“So. . . you’re Catwoman?” Peter says as he’s perched on a building spire in his Spider-Man suit.

“Why yes~ Now you little one, are the new creepy crawly in Gotham aren’t you, Spider-Man?” She’s not getting too close Peter realises, keeping her distance in case the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is not so friendly.

“I don’t think I’m creepy. . . Am I creepy?” She laughs freshly, shaking her head. 

“No little arachnid, you are not creepy, cute? Definitely, though if you were anywhere other than Gotham most may find your size and build a little intimidating. Batman’s bigger though.” She adds that last part and Peter chokes out a harsh laugh. 

“WOAh- I don’t think you mean just body size from that. Don’t think I needed to know that about Batsy.” Peter thinks on it for a moment and instantly regrets it - “yeah no I definitely didn’t need to know that.” He shivers visibly, making Catwoman laugh even louder. 

“Oh, I like you.” She looks like she's in deep thought for a second, almost examining him, making Peter want to shiver again even though he knows she’s not a danger to him. “Hmmm, what do you say you hang out with me tonight? I wanted to rob a few baddies, you up for it~?” She watches as Peter cocks his head to the left and can’t help but think he looks more like a puppy than a spider. 

“Are they actually bad? Cause if they are, count me in.” She jerks her head in the direction off the roof-

“Come on then Spidey, we’ve got bad guys to rob.” She drops off the roof and Peter almost lunges forward to catch her before remembering she's Catwoman. Of course she’s fine. He watches as she reappears, moving nimbly through the roof tops, what can Peter do, except follow?

He swings in the streets next to her, both pulling out tricks and exaggerating moves. He hears her laugh at the fun of it all and can’t help but join in. 

“Hey Catwoman, gotta say, you’re pretty awesome!” He yells through the air, he can see her smile widely at his compliment.

“Not too bad yourself, little arachnid!” She turns to look in front of her, analysing the distance. “300 metres before stop.” Peter does a final swing before landing next to where Catwoman stopped by.

Before even being able to say anything she puts a finger to Peter’s lips . . . mask? A sign to tell him not to speak as she points to a shady group of guys unloading a truck.
“Ohh . . .” Peter says softly with a slight grin. Catwoman gives him a pat on the head before whispering back.

“I am going to go to the bottom floor. You, spider boy, take the roof. We’ll meet halfway, that’s where they stash everything. Also, this is a stealth mission, not a fighting one, our job is to get in and out, grab anything valuable or illegal.” She then jumps off the roof with inhuman grace to which Peter just sighs and swings quietly to the building's roof.

It’s an industrial type building, abandoned looking or just extremely run down, not an uncommon appearance in Gotham. The roof entrance though is blocked so Peter relies on his sticky self to climb upside down through a window. When he looks down he can see men playing Poker around a large amount of boxes all labelled a concerning ‘TNT’.

What is this, Minecraft?

Peter figures he should let Catwoman know about this but from what he’s read, she’s a thief, not a hero and even this is out of Peter’s level. He decides to just do what Catwoman told him to for now, steal the valuables.

There’s come other crates on the other side of the room that catch Peter’s eye. The labels are in another language so of course, he’s intrigued. Crawling his way over he lands silently in front of them. He stares at the box for a minute trying to decide how to open it without making any noise and goes with melting the nails keeping the lid bolted down. 

How will he melt it you ask? Through his newly developed acid webs! (pretend there’s sparkles or something.) 

Spraying it quietly he waits for the metal to dissolve before opening the crate with only the slightest creak, nowhere near enough to garner the thugs' attention. What he sees though, he thinks Catwoman will like. 

A large array of cats-eye diamonds. If Peter guessed their worth? One would cost about 10,000 dollars. Give or take. 

Peter sees a nearby bag and just starts delicately putting them in, most are in their natural form but some others are in the form of necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings. Not really for Peter but someone else will pay a pretty dime for them. Not that Peter’s just thinking about the money, his goal is mainly to screw over some bad guys.

For funsies. (ew I’m cringing at myself, stop it Peter.)

He thinks as he shoves more random items that could be valuable in the bag. Once he’s done that he just . . . webs away to the roof looking for the next floor but decides, maybe going through a window is just better. As he’s scanning windows on the middle floor he spots Catwoman and crawls up behind her.

“Hey.” He can hear her heart rate spike but she shows little reaction, very professional.

“You sure know how to sneak, little arachnid.” Peter smiles but he isn’t really sure if she can tell behind his mask. Then back to the matter at hand.

“Oh! By the way, they have like a tonne of TNT stacked upstairs. Soooooo I think it’s a little bit of an issue.”  He can see her eyes widen for a second before she hisses out her annoyance.

“God dammit. Now I have to get Batman involved.” Peter is annoyed but relents.

“Yeah, yeah I guess so. Do you have a way to contact Batman or do I need to go snatch him from somewhere?” She seems to contemplate for a second before coming across her own question.

“Did they look like the bombs were going to be used soon or were they being transported?”

“Transported, all still in crates with destinations on their labels.” Peter watches as a smirk crawls onto her face and he feels like she's come to a decision.

“Little arachnid, how about you go get him?” Peter sighs.

“Why did I already know you were going to make me take the difficult route? Alrighty, I’m off then.” She laughs quietly at Peter’s acceptance of his fate. Just as Peter just starts climbing out the window again, Catwoman stops him.

“Oh and when you find him, tell him the message is also from Catwoman, that ought to cause a stir.” Just nodding at her Peter wonders how the hell he managed to get himself into this situation. He was just patrolling.

— — —  (LESS ROLL IT BACK TO LIKE IDK 2 ISH HOURS AGO)

When Peter gets home he’s tired, tending to a mansion and like 8 people will do that to you apparently. Looking at his kitchen bench though he spots a package and a note prettily signed -

‘From, Red hood’

He opens the package to reveal a nice meal from a diner name Peter recognises from the nicer part of town. Smiling warmly Peter was happy he thought of, even if he now had too much food to eat in one night, luckily his fridge was now working. He put the leftovers from the dinner he made tonight in his small fridge and popped open the take out container from Red Hood. 

Peter nearly cried when he opened it to see a sandwich reminiscent of the ones he got in Queens. Okay so he did cry, especially when he took a bite. He’s allowed to be sad okay? Kid’s gone through a lot. 

After savouring every bite Peter just sits there for a bit, letting himself grieve for a bit, the life he lost. The life he could have had, with Ned, MJ, Tony, May. He sits there and stares at the wall, letting his thoughts consume him, then some foreign rage builds up inside him, starting to burn like kerosene to a flame. He can feel the rage, the anger, anger he’s never felt before.

“What- what the hell?”

He starts breathing heavily, his heart racing too fast for normal, these new emotions leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, leaving him clutching at his own shirt and then he realises.

He’s scared. 

He’s scared of himself. This anger.

He rushes to the bathroom, throwing himself at the sink and splashing water on his face. Gripping the side of the sink till it almost cracks. Only when he looks up into the cracked, rusting mirror does he see what might be the cause.

His once brown eyes, only tinged with green were now glowing an unnatural green, radioactive almost, the white streak in his hair seeming more prominent.

“What in the Hulk type shit is this??” His breathing is laboured, ragged, as if he has no control over himself. The reflection staring back at him does not feel like his own. It feels alien. 

. 

.

.

Which is funny considering he’s met aliens and some of them were much nicer than this. 

He takes deep breaths, using the calming techniques he took from Natasha and May. What feels like hours later, the green has subsided and his pulse has finally slowed. Letting out a sigh of relief Peter releases his grip on the sink to reveal a crack on one side, luckily not detrimental to his pipe system.

Peter decides he needs to get out of here though. He needs some fresh air. So he throws on his Spider-Man suit and swings out the side window, looking for any distraction.

Within the half hour, he finds one.

Catwoman, perched contently on a roof.

Perfect!

— — —  (Return back to the present time)

Peter swings through the city, looking for a sign or sound of the Bats. It really doesn’t take long because apparently-

-they were also hunting him.

“Well, it makes it more fun. But are these guys serious?” Peter swings to the top of a building and just waits for the Bats to come.

Of course, only moments later he can hear them all surrounding him from various angles. Except, there’s a few more people than at dinner. He can hear 2 extra footsteps who he assumes is the other blonde girl and the near silent footsteps? Is obviously Orphan. Without them he can also recognise all of the family, except Duke. Duke is probably the only one not here. Being a daytime hero and all.

Within the next minute Peter is lazing on a power box for the Bats to do something, happy as Batman emerges from the shadows.

“Ooohhhh well well well, if it isn’t Gotham’s favourite vigilante. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Peter mocks, he knows this is Bruce but in all honesty he and Batman are like different people and Batman, kinda a dick.

“You can start by leaving Gotham. I assume you know I don’t like rogues in my city.”

“I assume you know I don’t care? Considering I’ve been swinging around these streets for what? Weeks? Months? “ Peter cocks his head to the side, his white eyes expanded, like a uh . . . cat on catnip? 

Batman practically growls at the response, he is clearly not happy with the plain disrespect being shown to him. One of his children snorts a quiet, quick laugh. (Yes it was Jason) Peter can’t help his reflexes sometimes so his head instantly turns in the direction of where Red Hood is hidden, which makes a certain Bat, nervous.

“You know, Batsy, just tell your little minions to come out. It’s rude to be in a person’s space unannounced.” Peter quite enjoys Batman's subtle reactions, the grit of his teeth, the way his hands slightly clench at the mention of his kids.

“Amplified senses, then?” He grits out.

“And more!” Peter does some jazz hands, angering the cloaked figure. Seconds later though he does a signal and everyone comes out surrounding Peter’s sides. Peter does a slow spin, getting a good look at all of them. 

Red Hood, Robin, Nightwing, Spoiler, Orphan, Red Robin and of course, Batman.

Damian is always the first to speak.

“I’d watch your mouth, insect. Bats eat bugs.” 

“I am not a bug. I’m an arachnid. Hence the name, Spider-Man.” Peter shakes his head with a flair for the dramatics. “While I would love to stay and get to know you all since I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting Orphan and Batsy. I can’t.” Instantly they’re all on guard, ready for some sort of fight. 

“You’re not going anywhere, Spider-Man.” Batman says while bringing out some batarangs. 

“Oh calm down, you’re like a family of emos. I come bearing a message.” He watches as all the vigilantes look around at each other, confused. Nightwing steps up, always the negotiator.

“What type of message?”

“Well, a literal message. There’s a thug meet up/transport catch up down in Old Gotham, in the old abandoned factory bordering The Bowery. Beyond my capability to handle, there’s at least a tonne of TNT in crates waiting to be transported.” Peter shrugs nonchalantly. “Just thought you’d want to know.”

He sees (somehow) Batman’s eyebrows furrow in thought. Contemplating all the possibilities but Red Robin is the one to speak out.

“Why tell us this?” Peter hops down from the power box.

“Because, Red Robin, I’m not a villain, no matter how much Batman wants to perceive me as such. I care about the lives of the people here. And also, Catwoman sent me.” Slowly turning to Batman he adds. “She says hello.” They may not be able to see Spider-Man’s face but they can dam tell he’s grinning.

Batman tenses before he instantly relents, sighing as if he’s an overtired father (well he is but y’know.). “Of course Catwoman would be involved. Why couldn’t she just call me?” Peter laughs.

“Ohohoho you two share contact information~? Anyways though, she sent me because it’s funny.” He can honestly see the veins on Batman’s forehead about to pop when Red Hood joins in the laugh and even Cassandra lets out a small noise. 

Red Robin just smacks his forehead, sometimes he feels surrounded by children.

“Of course she did.” He runs a gloved hand over his mask. “Team, we’re going to the factory. I’ll deal with you later, Spider-Man.”

“OH nooo, I’m coming with you!” Batan pauses, turning to face him. 

“No, you’re not.”

“In case you haven’t noticed Bats, you’re not my boss. So, shall I lead the way?” And Peter swings off the roof, speeding past all the vigilantes. Red Robin watches as he laughs like a maniac swinging away and can’t help but find the vigilante a bit funny, even if he pretends not to.

Chapter Text

 Chapter 8

The air swirls around Peter like a whirlwind, pushing him further into the sky with every swing. He can’t help but laugh at the freedom he feels when he’s swinging around the city. He can hear the Bats trying to keep up but knows they’re kind of falling behind. Except for Dick, he’s doing fine. He can’t tell where Cass is with the wind in his ears but he assumes she is to.

Finally he lands on top of the industrial building where Catwoman happens to be waiting, giving her a little wave before plodding over to her. 

“Well, little arachnid, how did it go?” Peter shrugs and leans against the wall.

“To start, could’ve warned me they were on a Bat club night out. All of them.” She just laughs cheerfully putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry, forgot this was a Monday.” Peter cocks his head, his eyes widening in curiosity.

“They do this every Monday?” Catwoman pauses and realises she’s said a bit too much.

“Probably shouldn’t have told you that, ugh Bats is going to be mad with me.” Peter huffs a laugh as well, now putting his hand on her shoulder, replicating her previous move.

“Yeah, he will be.” He says putting on a voice as if consoling her but Catwoman is no fool, she can tell he’s taunting her. Catwoman turns her head up to him, looking unimpressed with a slight hint of amusement in her eyes.

“Alright I get it arachnid, we both made mistakes.”

“Actually both of the mistakes were yours. I was just a victim.” She goes to grab him and hisses as Peter shrugs and does a little dramatic spin on the ledge of the building. “Missed me~” He then pauses and smiles. “Looks like the cavalry has arrived.” He watches Catwoman turn to look where he’s looking as the Batfamily all rock up via their grapple hooks. He gives them a little wave and Batman still looks like he is seething.

Oh this is funny!

“Spider-Man.” He says with a polite anger his demeanour instantly changes when turning to Peter’s newfound partner in crime with what Peter guesses is his regular tone. “Catwoman, good to see you.” Of course Peter can’t have that.

“Favouritism much?” He can see Bats’ eye twitch and a grin appears on his own face. “For the stoic Batman, you’re really easy to rile.” 

“That’s because you’re breaking the rules of Gotham I implemented.”

“Because I’m a meta? Isn’t Signal a meta too?” 

“That’s different.”

“Why? Because he belongs to you?” Peter says, joy in his voice but none of the vigilantes miss the bitterness underneath. “I like to joke, Batman but do not mistake that for naivety. I know you like control. That you accept people like Catwoman because you know her, because she’s not a meta.” Batman doesn’t budge an inch but Peter can see Nightwing shuffle nervously and a few others go a little bit on the defensive as Peter stalks towards Batman. 

“Yes, I do. She is not destructive like a rogue meta can be.” He says it pointedly so much so that Peter just scoffs. 

“Tell me, isn’t the Joker, your greatest enemy, not a meta? I’m part damn spider. I’m not gonna ruin your life with some webs and acrobatics tricks. Lighten up.” He pats Batman on the shoulder before moving past him, getting a better look at the Batkids. He spots Orphan and almost literally skips over, happy to see a familiar face. She seems just as happy, unable to help reciprocating the happy energy Spider-Man is giving off by letting out a gentle laugh.

He gives her a  fist bump which she joyfully returns, signing to him that it’s good to see him again. He responds happy to know that even as Spider-Man he still has a friend. “Lovely to see you again too Orphan.” Batman irks at the interaction.

“Orphan, how do you know him?” She decides to speak her answer to Batman instead of signing.

“Met him working around Leslie’s clinic.” She pats Peter on the shoulder with a firm hit, almost proud of her achievement at befriending him first. Batman can’t help but sigh, his kids are never on his side.

Next Peter wanders over to Jason or as currently, Red Hood. Unfortunately, he is taller than Peter only by around an inch or 2 but damn he’s gotta be at least 6 '3. “Well, I recognise you as well Mr. Red Hood.” He can see the confusion on his face and Batman is annoyed. 

“You know him as well?” He practically growls out, annoyed at the lack of reports he’s received to do with Spider-Man but is even more confused when Red Hood shakes his head.

“No- I fucken don’t. I’ve never met him before, sure I’ve seen him on screen but we’ve never interacted.” Laughing at the drama he’s created Peter steps back. 

“I meant that I see him around. We do our stuff in the same area, Batsy. That’s why I said ‘recognize’.” He’s clearly not used to this level of disrespect but Peter hasn’t had this much fun in ages. All his previous rage from earlier forgotten. Next he gives a wave to Nightwing who warrily waves back.

He then spots Red Robin in the corner of the roof readying his weapon just in case of Peter’s prowling. “Hmmm, well hello. I haven’t seen you before!” Red Robin tenses at the instant closeness. Peter looks at him, with his big bug eyes, zooming in and out. “You all must like the colour red.” He says turning to Red Hood as well. An obvious smile in his words. Shrugging Red Hood leans on the wall.

“Says you. Besides, it makes blood less visible.”

“Well aren’t you a bundle of joy.” Peter snarks then looks back to Red Robin who is now just unsure what to do.

“Uhh hi?” It’s funny how Red Robin’s hello is almost a question. Peter’s eyes glitter, not literally but if they could, they would. He hasn’t talked to Red Robin before but he’s met Tim. And he knows Tim is a tech genius. Which makes him fun.

“Hi-”

“Okay little arachnid, back to the matter at hand.” Catwoman interrupts from the side where Batman is no longer seething but now looking like a tired father, rubbing his temples through the mask. 

“Sorry, sorry- you’re right.” He gives a quick wink to Red Robin who just coughs into his hand trying to play off the strange situation. Peter then toddles back over next to Catwoman. “SO- there’s a lot of bombs down there and quite a few bad guys. I can handle bad guys, maybe not bombs.” 

Batman seems to have finally gotten back into his vigilante groove, nodding his head and surveying the thugs sitting in a circle now playing cards. 

“We’re going to have to get Gordon in on this.”

“Gordon?”

“The Gotham City Police, Spider-Man.” Tim says.

“Ooohhhh gotcha. Yes, the police would be a good involvement. As long as they’re not corrupt.” Peter is nodding strongly with Red Robin looking at him like he’s silly. He sighs and just looks down through the glass ceiling to watch the thugs as well. Red Hood and leans over Robin. 

Who yes, Peter just remembered was here. He’s just so small and unseeable. Okay he’s like 5 ‘4 but still. Red Robin is only like 5 ‘10 the only one taller than Peter here are Red Hood and Batman. Nightwing just falls short. By like, a centimetre. Peter is revelling in his newfound height to be honest.

“ Tt . Remove yourself from behind me, cretin.” Red Hood just ruffles his hair earning Jason a very disgruntled sound and a slap to his hand from Damian. Nightwing and Red Robin start laughing at Damian, one laugh more evil than the other (I think you can guess who out of the two). Catwoman shushes them all, which works surprisingly well.  

He swears he saw Batman smile.

Catwoman then garners everyone's attention. “I say we just take them all out. Stealthily of course but even if it’s not, those bombs aren’t meant for being used today, they’re being transported.” Batman grunts.

“That may be but it’s still reckless, we can’t take them out without others noticing.” 

Peter interjects. “Why not?” Batman then turns to him, full of venom. (hehe spider puns)

“Because there are too many. You said you weren’t naive.”

“I’m not naive. Give me 2 minutes, and I’ll have them all.” He watches Batman’s eyes narrow about to strongly protest before Catwoman speaks first. 

“Are you certain?” He’s surprised by the acceptance but ultimately nods. He assesses, most of them are on the bottom level, about 13 on this level.

“Doable.”

“Go then.” Peter cheerfully stands up.

“Hang on a min-” Before another word from Batman he drops, quietly sinking on some web to the group playing cards. 

 — — —

Red Robin watches on in fascination, he knows how skilled Spider-man is, he’s seen him in action on video in the past few weeks. He swings around like Dick, more acrobatic than the rest of them but definitely less trained, so not a circus kid but something else, skating? No. Hmmm . . . maybe ballet? It looks elegant enough to him. Dick’s acrobatics are more thorough, even his movements, while smooth, are harsher than Spider-Man’s. Spider-Man moves like he’s liquid. He can’t help but be fascinated. He turns to see Dick’s face alight like a preschooler watching The Wiggles. He’s watching Peter drop down like he’s on ribbons (A type of gymnastics, look it up if you do not know for better understanding). 

Batman just watches on, his hand gripping the sill of the ceiling window. Within seconds though Peter has reached just above the thugs.

Peter on the other hand just whispers above them. “Hi.” Before they can even scrape back their camping chairs Spider-Man has already strung one up, now he’s hanging from the ceiling in silence, muffled by webs. Not even a minute later at least half of the men were now webbed somewhere on the wall or ceiling. 

Annnnd that’s seven!

Six more to go!

He’s webbed up the main guys in the centre and now needs to just get the outliers who are guarding the exits and extra valuables he assumes. He swipes one into the shadows from behind, the sound disturbing his patrol buddy who meets the same unfortunate circumstance. 

4.

The next two are standing together, controlling his strength as Spider-Man and hitting the nerve points on the backside of their napes. One makes a choked noise before falling and Peter pushes the other one to fall on his friend silently, having a bit of a giggle to himself at the awkward position they fell into.  

2.

Then instantly shooting webs to the next guy coming around the corner.

1 more.

He looks up at all the bats and waves a large array of expressions looking back and a wave from Nightwing. 

Finally he hears the last one making a confused noise to which Peter turns to see him staring at some webs stuck to the camping chairs. Hopping from afar to be in front of the poor thug Peter stares straight into his soul. 

“You’ll work.”

“WHat The-”  Attacking his legs with webs and throwing him onto the top of the roof where everyone else waited. With a funny plonk the guy groans only to look up and see stuff of nightmares. All the vigilantes of Gotham.

He could cry. He nearly does.

A second later Peter appears through the open ceiling window with a fun flip and landing silently. 

“Ta-daaaaaa~” Batman is not impressed. “Oh come on, that was good.” Nightwing interjects with some excitement. 

“Yeah it was! How do you move like that? Some of those movements were not possible.” Laughing he pats Nightwing’s shoulder.

“I . . . am part spider. I do not follow the same anatomical ways as you. My bones are, let’s say, more malleable than yours.” Damian perks up at this, he loves animals so he can’t help being interested. Not that anyone else will know but himself ( And Peter, cause y’know super senses).

“Seriously? Woah, that’s rad.”

“Thanks! Now, I did my bit. Here’s even a guy to get information from. I’m tired, you guys can handle the law part, I’ll just beat up guys.” He gives a double thumbs up to everyone, showing no room for argument because who are they to boss him around?

Bruce Wayne is his boss, not Batman.

“Finally, now stay back and we’ll do everything. You don’t need to do anything. Not even beating up ‘bad guys’ just staying here is fine.” This is way too fun.

“You know I can’t do that, Batsy.” Batman just groans like an extremely tired father before sighing.

“Fine, do not get in our way though.” They all then hop down with their grapple hooks, surprising Peter with how silent they can all actually be. He hops down with them, his fall only giving out a silent thud as he lands. 

The bats work fast and before he realises it they’ve all moved downstairs silently as Peter was poking at the guy he webbed to the wall with a giggle. Catwoman comes and stands next to him, the both just letting the emo group work their magic.

Remembering he had something of hers, he grips the bag.

“Hey, got something you might like.” Dropping the bag into her open hand as she then pries it open and a smile plasters on her face mimicking the smile on his own face.

“Oh little arachnid, you shouldn't have~”

“Expensive jewels for an expensive lady. Besides, they fit your theme better than mine.” She huffs out a gentle laugh, shaking her head at this spider's antics, the both now just completely ignoring the bats having their own intensive fighting scene in the background. She instead just uses one of her hands to squeeze his head and shake it like an excited aunty would.

“What a nice boy you are then! Oh- you are definitely my new favourite so do me a favour please?” Cocking his head to the side in a questioning manner she pats his cheek. “Annoy Batman for me, god knows he needs some humbling.” A chuckle escapes his lips.

“No problem, m’lady. I’ll annoy every single one of them down to their very bones.” She nudges Peter and then they both just watch as the Bats wrap it up while the police sirens gain ever closer, pulling up to the front of the factory, a familiar face coming out the car. Gordon- uh, something, a high up member of the GCPD known to work closely with Batman, a commissioner if Peter is remembering correctly.

Peter also saw him the day he arrived by the human trafficking boat in Gotham. 

He was kind to Tabby and Marty so he’s pretty alright in Peter’s books.

Everything unfolds from there, the thugs are rounded up and thrown into police vans and cars, the area is barricaded off to the public while bomb units roll up not even minutes later. Peter is watching all of the Bats’ except Jason bolted after he recognised everything was solved and both Damian and Cass hid thoroughly in the shadows. 

Who Peter does see though is Tim, or right now - Red Robin. 

“Boo.”

“Holy-!” RR spins at a startling speed, his stick (yes, it’s a stick. A useful stick but a stick nonetheless) hurling at Peter’s head who stops it with a hand. 

“Oops- sorry. Forgot to make my presence known.” Red Robin instantly relaxes after seeing it’s just Spider-Man. Letting out a deep sigh he then recoils his staff to his side again.

“It’s fine- what do you need though?” Cocking his head to the right Peter manoeuvres to the front side of the vigilante. 

“Nothing really, I’m just bored. And coming to give a goodbye but Batsy seemed busy so I chose you.” Red Robin can feel the smile from under the mask. He can’t tell whether he himself is more amused or annoyed by it. For his own mentality, he chooses to be amused. 

“Ahhh I see, not going to annoy him one final time then?”

“Nah, there’s always next time besides, I’ve done my damage.” It was Tim’s turn to turn his head.

“You did no damage, you were a great help if anything. I’m not going to be so stuck in Batman’s ways. He’s just angry because you’re a ‘rogue meta’, who likes to live to annoy him.” Peter huffs out a laugh, leaning on the wall behind him.

“Still, being a ‘meta’ is used as his excuse to dislike me.” Sighing Tim turns to look at Batman's figure as he converses with Commissioner Gordon and some other police officers who are rounding up the criminals 

“He - ugh he means well, most of the time. It’s not like he has anything against metas, hell, practically his whole team are. He’s just trying to keep the city in control and it irks him when there’s an unknown variable. Like you.” Peter kicks a stone he sees and it rolls across the ground.

“I know, he’s got people to protect but seriously, have I done anything but save them?” There’s a gentle pause as the wind blows around them, filling in the silence.

“No, no you haven’t.”

— — — — 

Peter sighs as he flops back onto his bed, creaking with his every move. He’s quite glad that he found something to entertain himself with where no one really got hurt (no one on his side at least).

From his lying down position he sticks his hand in the air, as if examining it, the dissociation of the ceiling behind it. He thinks . . . he thinks of the green.

The toxic neon. Bubbling. Building.

He’s never felt such rage like that before. Never felt such an urge to hurt someone else and yes, it scared him. To feel so unlike himself, so alien in his own body.

He pauses for a moment. 

Is this even my body?

Peter knows the answer. This is his body, it just didn’t used to be. Over the time he’s been here he’s discovered one thing. He belongs to this world now. His soul melded tightly to this similar body.

His splayed out hand turns into a firm grip, putting pressure until his knuckles turn white.

Whoever this body used to belong to . . . I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.

Peter isn’t sure if the other soul of well, him had a family or not. Friends. Instead of anger this time all he feels is guilt and sadness but somewhere in him he also has gratitude, he’s not entirely sure why.

Maybe because even though this world isn’t his and even though he misses all his family and friends, he’s still somehow finding some happiness here. Still finding a way to live and building himself new connections in and out of costume.

The only difference is that he still feels alone.

There is truly no one who he has that’s here for him.

No one at all.

Just at that moment he hears a thud on the roof and a heartbeat to go with it. A familiar heartbeat too. It puts a small smile on his face as he hears a knock on his window with a certain vigilante outside. 

Peter hops up and over to the bedroom window, pushing it open. “Well hey, bestie. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Peter can hear the slight scoff underneath the helmet of none other than Red Hood.

“ ‘Besties’. Are you a teenage girl?”

“Are you a stereotyper?” Red Hood pauses, one foot already through the window.

“ . . . Gods, you’re annoying.” Peter laughs, his mood already lifting. 

“I try my best.”

Maybe not as alone as I thought.

“What’re you here for though?” With a grunt he flops onto the bed almost like a starfish.

“Big night. Tired. Apartment occupied by asshole friends.”

“Ahh I see, so you’re hijacking my house?” He rolls back over and looks at Peter putting his hands together.

“Please?” There’s a pause but Peter already knows his answer, he just likes teasing. 

“Didn’t know you had manners but of course you can. I’ll take the couch.” Red Hood sits up with renewed vigour.

“Huh? No way. I will take the couch, it was very comfy last time.” Jason instantly crosses his arms, standing up and heading to the couch like a toddler. Watching in amusement Peter just lets him go. On any other day he might have argued but tonight was too hard, he really needed a good sleep.

“Fine, if you want the bed though, just come join me on it I really don’t mind.” (Okay y’all it’s me, the author. Just want to say that Jason/Peter is entirely platonic, they’ve just become each other's safe place subconsciously even without knowing about the lazarus pit stuff.) Jason nods tiredly and throws himself onto the couch and before he realises Peter has placed a blanket on him before he walks into the kitchen to make tea. Jason looks up at Peter from his position and makes a decision.

He takes his helmet off. 

Of course his domino mask is still on but it’s a moment of trust that Peter isn’t even aware of yet, still grabbing a mug from the bench. Jason places it down on the floor next to him and smiles a bit, he’s not used to taking it off, not even really in front of some of his other friends. Peter finally turns around, his eyes widening at the sight.

“Well hey there stranger!” 

“Oh shut up.” Jason flops back properly into the couch, letting himself sink into the slightly springy and creaky cushions. Peter laughs and just shuffles over, his steps becoming tired too. “You’re a weird one y’know? Most people wouldn’t like a crime lord in their house.”

Still smiling, just as he’s walking back to his room Peter turns. Besides, not like Jason's life is too far off Peter’s himself because he’s definitely breaking the law. “Crime lord or whatever, you’ve helped me on multiple occasions and by this point, I would hope we’re friends turnip head.” Jasons’ eyes widen as he turns to Peter in offence.

“Oi! I thought we dropped that!” Without responding Peter heads off to bed with a laugh, leaving a slightly annoyed vigilante in his wake. 

One thing Jason forgot, (I know, so unlike him to make identity mistakes BUT he did, that is the fault of trusting someone after all) Peter already knows Jason, more particularly he knows his hair. So when the day comes that Jason realises this himself, he will also realise that William knew his identity all along. 

But that’s for another time. Later. A lot later than you’d think for a vigilante to figure out. 

Peter then, even though he was joking with Jason a couple seconds ago, the second he shuts his door he leans his back on it. He finally had a good look at some of Jasons’ features without the helmet or him being affected by vinegar of all things.  More importantly - his hair. The white strand like a river flowing through his hair, a direct mirror of Peter’s own. It could be nothing. 

It could be nothing. He could’ve dyed it. Easy peasy, people dye their hair all the time.

Continuing to try and gaslight himself Peter dresses into his pyjamas, the white flashing as an image in his head every few seconds.

Dammit. Argh dammit all.

He walks over to the mirror placing his hands on either side of the sink before using one to push his hair back, the style solely there to hide the white strand. He watches as it gleams under the moonlight through his window. Hand slightly shaking. Taking a deep breath in, closing his eyes before opening them again, as if to steal himself against what he’ll see again. 

Once again, the green. He wanted to ignore it, but it looks like it’s grown since his panic attack from a couple hours ago. His curiosity is great yet . . . his sleepiness is greater. Sighing, rubbing his eyes he just sinks into the bed pulling the duna over him hoping it will all go away by tomorrow.

Spoiler alert! It won’t.

— — — — 

Peter wakes up to the early morning sun peeking through the cracks in the floorboards on his window, peering an eye open to the world. The first thing he sees after the sun is the familiar ceiling of his abandoned apartment. He stares at it for a second, nearly about to contemplate the meaning of life before he slaps his own face.

“No, Peter. We did enough brooding yesterday!” Jumping up in a swift motion he then walks happily into the kitchen, almost forgetting about his guest on the living room couch.

Almost.

“MOTHER-MNDJSBHBHABKUVGHUKCG!?” Peter nearly flings himself halfway across the room as he sees the groggy figure of Red Hood standing at the kitchen bench. There’s a pathetic, pregnant pause.

Jason morphs from his shocked face to a confused side eye. “You uhhh, good there Will?” Stiffening for a second, holding his ridiculous position Peter just lets his face flush in embarrassment.

So much for the almighty Spider-Man. 

He moves himself into a less embarrassing position before coughing awkwardly. “Yes. I’m fine. Forgot you were in my house to be honest.”  Walking into the kitchen, still refusing to meet Jason’s amused eyes, he grabs a mug and pours himself some water chugging it down.

“Anyways- thanks for letting me crash here.”

“I already told you it's no issue, not like I get many visitors in this tacky place anyways. Except Harley and her hyenas.” Jason just nods along, not really listening.

“Yes, yes just Harley and her hy- HARLEY and her WHAT?!” He turns to face Peter who is leisurely leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug in his hand. Looking up at Jason nonchalantly.

“Didn’t I tell you that? She comes around sometimes for a gossip or when Poison Ivy is busy.” Jason's jaw stays firmly open until he just bites his own tongue and sighs. He feels like he’s been doing that a lot lately. 

“Ugh not like I can stop you. I’ve already warned you about her but I can’t help it if you ignore me.” The rest of the morning goes smoothly with Peter getting ready and Jason hanging around a bit more before heading back off to his apartment and reclaiming it. Peter makes use of the short time he has before he’s supposed to be back at Wayne Manor by fixing the sink in his bathroom that he cracked yesterday. 

After that putting on his uniform and starting his way there is a breeze. The only issue is that walking and public transport gets more sparse as he gets closer to Wayne Manor.  Peter droops as he looks at the long stretch of driveway leading to the manor and starts his journey on the slight slant. He’s not against walking, not really but it just seems like a drag and lets his mind wander. 

— — — 

Once again before he could even reach the doorbell Alfred is already there and waiting with his normal relaxed face. 

“Morning Alfred.” Peter watches as his mouth tilts into a small smile as he approaches.

“Good morning to you as well William. I trust you had a good rest last night?” Nearly laughing, Peter holds back, remembering the many events. A heist/robbery then a coop mission with the bats and then a stray bat on his couch.

“Mm yes, it was good. Not very eventful just the way I like it.” Nodding Alfred walks back into the manor knowing Peter is going to be trailing him anyways. After walking in silence for a bit Peter is brought back to attention when he misses Alfred’s question.

“Sorry- what was that?”  

“No problem William, I asked if you have a driver’s licence.” A bit confused, Peter just nods before realising Alfred can’t see his face.

“Oh yes I do.”

Wait, no I don’t. New world. Ugh dammit I already said yes. Screw it, I'll just forge one later.

“That’s excellent then, I myself will be busy attending to Master Bruce later so I was wondering if you would be up to picking the kids’ up. Normally Tim would be able to drive but he unfortunately sprained his foot last night.” That confuses Peter more so.

How would Tim have sprained his foot in the time Peter had seen him last night and this morning? Peter just rounds it down to another mission going a bit wrong. 

“That’s no good, how did that happen?”

Like a tired grandpa Alfred looks up with a gentle hand on his forehead. “Predictably, he had too many coffees and too little balance on the stairs. He won’t be allowed to drive for a week so I do have to request you pick them up.” Smiling a bit Peter knows Alfred isn’t telling a full lie about Tim’s mishappenstance. 

“Got it, but yes of course I can.” Alfred nods and gives Peter a little up and down.

“You’re certainly tall enough to not get pulled over even if you aren’t holding onto your licence. That isn’t an invitation, you should always have your licence on you.” Chuckling they both continue to walk together, Peter realising his height was indeed different again to his past world. He has a few inches on his old body but now that Alfred has pointed it out he is noticing he’s actually taller than most of the Wayne household, minus Jason and Batman but still he’s pretty up there. He sees himself in the reflection of a full body mirror they pass, decorated intricately with vines and flora from black obsidian. He sees his full body and just looks for a second, takes in the changes, similarities. Everything.

It’s a weird thing to marvel at your own body and be appreciative, something many people don’t do enough. Your body can’t always be the perfect way you want it to be, it can’t always fit the lines of who you feel you are but it is what keeps you in this world. 

So while this body wasn’t truly Peter’s he can appreciate the way he was at least given a second chance with a body mirroring his old self, a privilege he knows many people would also wish for. He simply smiles, a bit solemnly and continues walking behind Alfred.

— — — 

The rest of the day continues much like the previous and Peter just goes around maintaining all different places of the manor. Today though he got to be in the garden fixing the fountain after he convinced Alfred he was good enough not to break it. Within a few hours of Peter working Alfred came to say his goodbyes and gave Peter the car keys, explaining where he normally picks everyone up from all the details etc etc. After he left Peter just continued cleaning and meal prepping for dinner since Alfred left a recipe out before his timer went off, notifying him to head to Damian’s school before going to Gotham Prep for the rest of them.

The car is not hard to find. Black and shiny and fancy as f-uhh-fudge. Also it’s the only one that looks like it’d fit the whole group in there. True to his thoughts once Peter clicks the keys the car beeps, notifying the driver it was ready to roll.

A little evil smirk appears on Peter’s face as he stalks towards the car. 

“I can work with this.” Sliding into the expensive, soft leather seats Peter exhales. “Oh yeah- definitely.”

The drive is pretty peaceful and the car is amazing. Ok so Peter got lost a few times but he still pulled into Damian's school on time. The bell rings just as Peter pulls into a waiting spot outside and he watches as Damian walks out, the same scowl resting on his face. He then sees Damian notice the car and his eyes relax just a tinge.

Wait till he finds out it’s not Alfred driving. 

He sort of revels in how Damians face drops as Peter rolls down the front window. “What the-” Before he can continue Peter interrupts.

“Hello Master Damian.” There is a shit eating grin on Peter's face when Damian all together stops walking towards the car about 3 metres out. His glare turns to down as he scoffs and his silent (not so silent to Peter) curses are thrown at the ground as he gets in the front passenger seat. “Good to know. Also Alfred is just busy with Mr. Wayne for a few days and since your older brother decided to overdose on caffeine, you’ve got me! How exciting!” 

The kid just crosses his arms and glares out the window the whole time. Peter isn’t bothered by it, just like how he isn’t bothered by the fact the glare had turned onto Peter himself except Damian is being vigilante level stealthy about it. 

Damian stares into William's face, analysing every detail he can. One thing he notices is the slight green tinge in his eyes but it doesn’t look exactly like Jasons, it’s not as neon as his. He still tilts his head, a bit of suspicion that dies out as quickly as it came when they pull into the pickup of Gotham Prep. He looks out the window to see all three of the other teenagers waiting out front for the car. Steph, Duke and Tim smile and start walking towards it, all happy that it was home time. 

Poor Tim though, stuck with one crutch on his unhealed foot. Peter huffs out a slight laugh watching Tim lag a little behind as the other two hop in the car.

Just as Tim awkwardly shoves his ankle and crutch in the car does he look up, also expecting Alfred. “Oh. Hi William.” That signals the other two to look up who had been previously, wholly entranced by Stephs phone. 

“Oh my god hiiii! Why’re you picking us up?” Duke interjects Steph with a slight huff, nudging the happy Steph off of him.

“Not that it’s a bad thing! It’s just normally-”

“Alfred.” Tim finishes cleanly.

“Well as we’re all aware, Tim is out of action,” To which he makes an annoyed grunt at. “And Alfred is too busy with Master Wayne for a while. I will be the one picking you up this week.” Peter says with a smile while changing gears and letting the car just glide. There’s some silence for a second as Damian also hardly acknowledges his family enter the car before Tim speaks.

“Um, no offence William, but do you have your licence?”

“No.”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“ :D ”

“Wait, what?” Duke says with a nervous smile, his voice hitting a small squeak at the end of his sentence. Peter can’t help it, he starts laughing.

“Sorry, let me reiterate. I don’t have my licence on me right now but I am fully equipped to be driving.” 

Or at all but they don’t need to know that.

Steph smirks after Williams' confession, sliding back into her seat with crossed arms. “Oh, you and I are going to get along swimmingly.” With a harsh laugh Peter looks in the mirror to see Steph and the lot.

“I would hope, who knows how long you’re all stuck with me.” Peter tries not to let that sentiment sink too deep into his mind as well.

“Tt.”

.

.

.

Finally they pull up to the manor and everyone hops out, Damian only short of running to the barn while the others leisurely meander their way inside. While locking up the car though Peter feels a rub on his leg, looking down to see a black and white cat cozying up to him. 

Leaning down Peter scoops him up with great care while cradling the cat like a babe. “Well hello there . . .” He checks the collar and holds in a laugh. “ heh, hello Alfred. At least you know you were named after someone good.” The cat, seemingly content in Peter's arms, just cuddles in further as they both head inside, letting the cool air settle his feelings. The wind in a good mood, whisking away any current worries Peter probably had.

It’s not too bad here.

(Stupid Peter, you should know better with your Parker luck not to say stuff like that . . . what a shame.)

— — —

The damp, vile smell carries throughout the whole amusement park, setting the perfect stage for a certain someone. The bright colours of the rides now dull as they bleed away at the toxic radiation of so many lives gone wrong, so many plans ruined.

Echoes of childlike laughter through the park have now become something much more vicious. Tormenting and cruel. Relentlessly vulgar.

No rest for the dead, no rest for the weary.

Even now that sickening laugh echoes through the chambers of once lively rides, a horde of tragic people in clown costumes, worshipping a leader who can never fulfil the promises he makes. The echoing gets louder and louder, now a chant, a summoning.

BOOM!

An explosion goes off and clouds of green smoke flood the place along with cheers as that laugh still gets louder before it's finally comprehensible.

“OKay BOys! Soon, soon Batman will rue the days he tried to stop me! Stop us!” The crowd cheers again, adoration drowning their reason. “WE’vE been waiting for this moment, yeah?!? HAeHahehahhaehaehAHA. SO! WHO’S READY TO DANCE?”

— — —

The hairs stand on the back of Peter's neck as he’s walking home that night yet he plays it off as the Gotham air.

Another mistake, kid.

Peter should know better.

Chapter Text

Peter stares into the ceiling light. It blurring his vision, warping the colours as he questions his life. Who is he?

Why is he?

When is he? 

.

.

.

It’s been so long since he’s seen daylight. When would this hell end? He’s broken out of his thoughts by a grating voice- 

“Let me speak to your manager then! You’re useless.”

. . . Yup, this probably isn’t exactly what you were expecting. Customer service. Peter’s worst enemy other than villains and himself. With a sigh he looks at the very drunk middle-aged lady in front of him who had been complaining about her not being served a drink when she asked for it. Again.

This is even after Peter told her about the drink limit this place has. Anyone without a recognisable name (such as villains or vigilantes) is put on a limit of 5 drinks- less if they’re over the standard. Bjorn said it was to prevent an excessive amount of arguments but this woman was well on her way to getting drunk before she got here.

“Ma’am, I’ve already said, I’m not allowed to serve you any more drinks as you’ve already gone over our limit by lying to the previous bartender.”

There can’t be Karens in every universe, right?  With an internal sob Peter looks back down at the raging woman.

“I-DON’T CARE. I’m the customer!” At that moment a familiar walks in, the jingle of the front door ringing, the woman still continuing to abuse Peter. It’s not exactly the face he expects though. 

…Batman? Well no- Bruce. Bruce is in my workplace. Oh dear. OH- oh nohoohoo.

Without taking his eyes off of Bruce, who walked in with a confident strut and an award-winning smile. 

Like seriously, the Joker is jealous - when Peter hears him laugh at a joke his unknown companion, some blonde haired fellow with an accompanying beard. Peter is brought back to the attention of his current situation by Cobber who pushes past to face the woman. 

“Hey mate, I’ve called you a car and the best thing you can do is nicely walk out or I’ll throw you out by yer neck flab. Capiche?” She stares up at the towering man for a second before making a disgruntled noise and promptly throwing up on the floor. 

Oh, ew- come on I have to clean that!

“That’s it. Leaf!” Cobber calls for security as the woman stops throwing up and he tosses her a plastic bag. Leaf, the security guard drags her out to the car, not so politely throwing her in and giving a safe address to the driver- a personal worker of the bar. Peter sighs gratefully as Cobber runs a hand through his hair, mimicking the same sigh back to Peter intentionally leading up to them having a small laugh.

Unbeknownst to Peter, Bruce was watching the whole thing- just ready to interrupt any escalation in his ‘Brucie’ persona. He knew it wouldn’t damage his reputation in any way- just a regular day on the Brucie Wayne basis. 

Content that the drama was over he looks away turning his attention back over to Oliver Queen, his friend on this night out. “Well, that’s one way to start out the night.” Ollie laughed leaning back into his chair. 

“Yeah and I brought you here so you could try and destress. I know you’ve had Joker up your ass recently, being too quiet and all.” They both laugh gently, waiting for their drinks to arrive patiently. The two honestly used to not get along this well. It used to be more on edge- bordering rivalry but as time went on and with Oliver being few of the ones who knew his identity as Bruce and Batman; shared secrets tend to draw people closer. 

“Yes well, whenever he’s quiet it just means he’s planning something again. I hate not knowing until he’s already started.” Oliver nods, letting them contemplate in a few moments of silence.

Differences aside they had actually managed to get along quite well once they started talking- without the masks that is. In their masks everything resumes to usual but that never changes the great respect Bruce has for Green Arrow as a hero and person in general. Bruce agreed to go with Green Arrow to this under the radar bar because 1. He owes it to him and 2. It’s a good way to see which villains and criminals alike visit the bar and maybe get information on Joker. Of course he came in aware of the rules- No fighting, no cops etc etc blah blah blah. He’s Batman of course he’s aware of all this, as well as the fact this bar is like a watering hole- a place for all walks of life to mingle and coexist peacefully if only temporarily. 

He watches carefully along with every newcomer and every retreating customer, only later letting his eyes rest on one of the bartenders. Wearing a lion mask that covers his entire face, similar to the rest of the workers, all with identity obscuring masks and voice changers even. Bruce has to admit he’s impressed by the security level of the staff considering The Wailing Fool is still just a bar. Eyes still lingering on the lion bartender, he watches as he taps his fingers almost melodically on the counter waiting for another customer in need of his help. 

It irks something in Bruce, like it should be something he should know. Very similar to when he’s on a case and there’s just one piece of information missing that’s crucial for it to be solved. As said, Bruce hates not knowing things. 

It leaves unmanageable variables and unavoidable consequences. Yet in this circumstance he reminds himself that the lion server is not a case. Nor is he someone Bruce can readily recognise so he brushes it off, or tries to at least.

He tried, okay? It is not his fault he’s a detective.

Oh wait. Nevermind- it is his fault. (Oh well!)

Still irked by the end of Oliver and his time, not to say he didn’t have fun but it was still in the back of his mind- tucked away for him to later uncover and that is how it will be left for now. Nodding a thanks at the bartenders, the lion and snake, they give a wave as the pair leave the front door. 

— — — 

Peter survived! He didn’t get called out by Bruce, he didn’t do anything too stupid and didn’t have to talk to him either. Therefore he counts tonight as a win. Just as he’s finally packing up though Bjorn comes into the change room and knocks on Peter’s stall. 

“Hey Goliath. I have a favour I need to ask.” Peter perks up and quickly finishes getting changed- leaving his mask on just in case. Upon opening the door he sees Bjorn leaning on the wall waiting for him. 

“What can I do for you?” He opens his mouth, pauses, closes it and sighs.  Huh okay so this isn’t some easy errand for me?

“I- ugh I need to know if you can house Cobbler for; a while. He’s struggling right now and even with this job's high pay he can’t keep up with the money demand he . . . needs.”  Raising an eyebrow Peter watches as Bjorn finally meets his eyes before dragging a hand over them. “I know it’s sudden and a lot to ask but he won’t ask for help himself and you two seem to get along quite well.” The burlier man pushes his hair back and looks directly at Peter, awaiting his answer almost nervously. 

With a smile Peter responds. “Of course he can, I’ve gotta warn you though- as proud as I am of my place it’s actually pretty drab. Half the stuff I’m in the middle of fixing and well . . . I haven’t cleaned up the second bedroom yet either.” He stops his ramble when he sees Bjorn looking at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“So. . . you’d be willing to take him. Plain and simple?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Yeah- you are not a pure Gothamite.” He laughs and pushes himself up from the wall, falling a couple centimetres or so below Peter. Peter still isn’t used to his new height. It’s only an inch or two but still. All the Bats are pretty tall as well, the shortest being of course Damian but he’s like 12- he doesn't count. Tim being second shortest in the male category was still not that far off Peter too. He’s like what? 5 “9, maybe 5”10? Ah whatever. Irrelevant.

“Hey- don’t gotta make it sound like a bad thing.” Peter says walking past Bjorn to throw his bag over his shoulder, deciding it is okay to now remove his mask. “This means I’ll be seeing his face and everything right? Because I don’t want to wear this mask any longer than necessary.” With another look Bjorn just sighs but not so exhaustedly as he seemed before. 

“Yes you will. I hope he will accept this offer though. Stubborn as a mule that one.” Peter laughs as he also hears Cobber coming in to clock out too, giving him a little wave as he walks in. 

“Oh hey- WAIT WHERE”S YOUR MASK?” He covers his eyes, practically smacking himself in the face in the process too. Laughing together with Bjorn he gets the idea he can take his hand off, hesitantly looking at Peter. “Oh- can I get a reason why I’m being given this privilege of seeing both your uhh. . . wonderful faces?” Peter walks up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re coming home with me.” A big smile is matched by Cobber’s confused and almost nervous one. 

“Okayyyy-” He turns to, very obviously, whisper to Bjorn. “What’s he on now?” Joining them both Bjorn shrugs. 

“He said he’d take you both in.” Peter raises an eyebrow, he has no intention of backing out but he wasn’t aware there were two. Cobber on the other hand looks at Bjorn and Peter, then back to Bjorn, then Peter- looking as if they had both handed him the sun.

“Both? Oh man, is there someone else? Jeez I hope you’re okay sharing Cobs because I only have one extra-” Cobber just drags him into a really warm hug. “Oh.” Hesitantly Peter reciprocates, feeling Cobber practically melt with relief into his arms. 

And for a few seconds, in what Peter thinks is a heartwarming moment, Cobber whispers. “I hope you know you’ve agreed to house not one- but two devils.”

. . .

“Wha??” Pulling out the hug to look at Cobber, who has teary eyes through the mask, also has a very evil looking grin. 

Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?

With a final, shuddering laugh, Bjorn leaves the room with a wave of good luck leaving a now very nervous Peter behind. Cobber looks at him with another smile but this one looks more genuine.

Damn my heroicness! How am I supposed to vigilante around if I have two more people in the house? Ah whatever I did it with Aunt May, I can do it again.

“So, do we need to pick up someone else, like, do you need the room tonight because if you want to go get them I can clean up while you do that?” Cobber looks at him with surprise. 

“Oh yeah no, that’s okay, we still have our place till the end of this week. For ‘time to find somewhere else and move’ as my landlord said.” There’s a bit of a sad, blank look in his eyes when talking but Peter decides it's not his place to ask just yet. 

“Okay, whatever you need. Should I come over to help you start moving stuff?” Cobber looks up at him with twinkling eyes. Peter covers his mouth to stop him laughing.

“Would you?”

“Of course I would. It’s quite early in the morning but I could help move a few things before I switch jobs.” He says it with a shrug, the nonchalance of it making Cobber tilt his head in confusion. 

“You have another job? Damn mate, you can’t catch a break can youse?” With a deep, heavy sigh- a smile finds its way to Peter’s face when looking at Cobber.

“You . . . have no idea.” 

— — — 

Between moving some things over to Peter’s house and just getting to know Cobber he discovered the other ‘mystery roommate’ was in fact, a child. Cobber’s to be more specific, his son Lachlan is the other needs Bjorn was talking about was child fees for school, clothing, food, housing etc etc. Now he’s panicking more because his household is not the best for a kid. It’s near Crime Alley and the Bowery.

Not exactly child raising material. But he felt better upon learning Cobber was already borderline living there as well, just a couple blocks away in a one bedroom apartment. Lachlan also happens to be a Spider-Man enthusiast (and adorable- he’s only 7). He was too tired when Peter and Cobber were moving things early in the morning so he stayed in bed a majority of the time.

Another thing- finally seeing Cobber's face was a shock. He forgot people had faces.

Okay, kidding. But he was used to the mask. There’s a nasty scar crossing over Cobber’s face, it’s coloration obvious against his tan skin. Peter didn’t say anything of course, just giving him a thumbs up when it first came off in show of support. 

Cobber stared at Peter, letting a warm smile overtake his face. 

Yeah- they were going to get along just fine.

— — — 

Bruce looks at the time. 6:45. He hasn’t managed to sleep a wink just yet. A certain case that Tim brought to his attention again after being buried for some months was now reeling its evidence through his head like a goddamned merry go round. The case is labelled-  HT402391P.

Human experiments.

The Penguin?

Lazarus pit traces.

Children . Dead Children.

Bodies found at labs that were abandoned months prior to the Bats finding them, as if the culprits were leading them in a circle. Including people like Penguin to throw him off.

It was all getting to him, particularly because Tim brought up the location last known to have seen two of the deceased kids was in Bludhaven and Gotham, orphaned and invisible. The only photo evidence- taken by an anonymous source is almost incomprehensible due to the severe pixelation of the image but it’s better than nothing.

Tim wanted the unsolved case to be revisited since it was seemingly linked to the increased human trafficking between villains like Penguin. It seems like general villain behaviour on the surface but Batman can’t shake the feeling he’s missing something vital, that someone the Penguin’s connection to it is minimal to a deeper, darker event.

So- as he stares at the screens pixelated image of what seems to be a lab with glowing green tubes and children either in them or on elevated tables nearby. He hates this. Hates how others have to go through maybe something similar to Jason- being stripped of your personality and changed. . .

 He’s so invested in reading what little evidence they have that he jumps at the sound of the doorbell. “Ughh . . . I should probably get that.”

Forcing himself up he moves towards the front door, wondering who it could be this early in the morning- his brain still majorly asleep. Until he opened the door that is. Upon seeing William’s sheepish smile he quirked an eyebrow, slightly looking down at the boy. “Ah, Will. I wasn’t aware you didn’t have a key to the manor yet. I’ll rectify that as soon as possible.” Will starts waving his arms around carelessly. 

“Oh no that’s fine I do already have one. I just left the house in a rush this morning.” With a smile Bruce lets him into the house, watching as he almost instantly starts getting to work. Bruce wouldn't say he’s fond of the boy but he certainly has a respect for his personality and work drive. Before William can truly go further into the  manor Bruce has a matter to speak with him about.

“Will, you are aware of the Christmas in July charity gala I’m hosting soon, yes?” With a small nod from the other Bruce continues. “Well normally we only have Alfred but I thought to give him the night off for once, would you be available do you think?”  

Peter looks at Bruce smiling. “Sure! I think Alfred certainly deserves that much. Do I need to do anything specific though?” Bruce damn near flinches at the kid. A flash of a past memory. He reminds him of Dick surprisingly. They don’t look all that alike but it was something about his energy. He almost smiles at him. Almost.

With that settled Bruce gives him a pat on the shoulder, heading back to the study and back to this godforsaken case. Sighing extremely deeply, he sinks into the desk chair, running another hand over his face.

“I think I might actually need to sleep this time.”

— — — 

The night of the charity gala arrives and Tim sighs as he watches more people pull up in their fancy cars, overpriced too. Not like he can say anything because his adoptive father is a billionaire. And he’s also the corporate executive to Drake Industries- which is also rich. Still, he’s allowed to hate on over decorated vehicles.

He takes place next to Jason with another sigh as he also sees Lex Luthor haughtily pull out of his car, acting like all eyes were on him. There were a lot of people pulling up, a lot of other important people and contrary to popular belief in the rich people world- it is not fashionable to be late, just rude. Well it’s actually like that in any situation with a time limit, Tim guesses.

“This is gonna be rough.” Jason says with a scoff.

“You’re telling me.” They let out a sigh in unison as Bruce is forced to welcome Luthor like an old time buddy- only the bulging vein as a sign of his ire towards the shiny headed man. The shiny headed man, who Tim does have to thank for his best friend's existence- which is really weird to think about. . . Yeahhhh he’s gonna stop thinking about that now. As a distraction he turns his attention to his other siblings, searching for them in the crowd. He quickly spots Cass and Damian in a comfortable silence next to each other- both by the buffet table. And another looming figure Tim recognises. 

*Oh, it’s Will.* 

The guy is standing by Cass’ left side, also looking around and incredibly bored apparently. A small laugh makes its way past his lips, causing Jason to look at him with a raised brow.

“What’s got you so happy, weirdo?” A scowl quickly replaces it but at least now- after many, many months of healing. The heat is no longer behind it, leaving an almost kind and familiar feeling with the both of them. 

“None of your business, you brute.” A dramatic gasp is heard from Drake's older brethren, leading to him sighing. “Ugh, jeez. I was looking at Will. He’s been here all of 30 minutes and looks half ready to bang his head into a wall.” With Jason now looking at Peter too he, sensing the eyes on him- he looks up to see the two brothers staring and waves gently as he’s knocked out of his funny looking trance.

“Woah” Jason says.

“Absolutely out of it, huh?” 

“Entirely.”

“Valid.”

“Fr fr.”

“. . . pffft.” The two laugh together for a bit while Peter on the other hand is having an existential crisis.

— — —

What the hell is Pinot Grois/Noir(Is that actually correct? Probably not. I’m not a wine drinker)?And- caviar? What??? Also, I thought patte was like a fake thing because who would eat blended, cold meat? 

He watches as a man picks up a fancy patte cracker from a waiter's platter and savours it like gold. Well, there is his question answered. Yes, so in the span of these thirty minutes poor Petey has discovered that he is indeed a part of the lower working class both here and was only slightly better in Queens because this was like stepping into an alternate universe. He has seen none of these foods before. At least not put together because he can guarantee that ‘crusted spinach and a blackberry concentrate gelatine with hints of mint’- is not a real thing.

What’s wrong with Pandaohno Ecspress? Or Diminisho’s Pizza? Or just some Shawtybucks drinks? Or even; as Peter has recently discovered, BAT BURGER? 10 times as cheap and 10 times as tasty. Aka fast food = everyone happy. The thing most rich people like to do the least is spend money. Which is ironic. 

Cass on the other hand is just looking at him with a very raised eyebrow. She is good at reading people- extremely. So watching William is entertainment in itself. He’s extremely expressive, with his hands, his face, his entire body language alludes to different things about him. 

There is one thing Cass has recently caught on to after seeing him at the manor for an elongated amount of time, is the amount of sheer finesse he has. It’s not obvious, it’s almost blended into his casual awkwardness so much so it is near invisible but seeing these things is what Cass was trained for, things that her eyes won’t miss. She hasn’t made any assumptions as of yet just mere guesses- most relating him to maybe acrobatics like Dick as their movement control is similar. Turning to look at him again, she sees him heave a sigh while trying his best not to make it obvious. Smiling, she touches his jacket sleeve grabbing his attention quickly (almost too quickly).

“Oh! Yeah?” Tilting his head to look at her she practically shoves a pastry in his mouth. “Mmf?” Within seconds Peter’s confusion morphs into delight, eyes lighting up. “Whuf if fthis?” A flash of a smirk is in Cass's eyes.

“Fancy profiterole.” Popping one in her mouth as well. More elegantly than when Peter had his shoved in.

Damian finally looks over at the two- seeing their faces stuffed with profiteroles grimaces at the indecency- cream on both their faces. “ Tt. You two are representing the Wayne family; you should learn to interact with decorum.” As Damian blabs on about being the ‘superior Wayne’ Peter and Cass make eye contact with raised eyebrows. Then smiles. Oh dear. Handing another profiterole to Cass they both turn to Damian. And yes- you can probably guess.

Cass plops it in his mouth the second he opens his mouth. “Ugh! Hew darethu!” It’s hard to take the boy seriously when one cheek is puffed. He looks like a dishevelled chipmunk. Especially as there are no more retorts because Damian is quietly eating the profiterole. Although no one would dare say it aloud. Not even Bruce who is warmly watching from afar.

Turning his head back to look up at the older teens he sees their cocky smiles and scoffs. “ Tt. You two are ridiculous.” A laugh erupts from the two, the moment being so strangely familial- even for Peter. 

It also made Peter realise too late.

Too late as his spider sense went haywire. Like the high pitched ringing you hear when your ears are blocked. Only moments as Peter whips his head up towards the glass ceiling, watching as a metal object crashes through the glass in almost slow motion.

Peter covers Cass and Damian as well as he can with his arms.

— — — 

He always questions later on why he couldn’t have done more that night.

Why couldn’t he have changed just a single thing? Been more aware in that moment?

Just- maybe even moved quicker. He could have saved them.

— — — 

As it concaves into the shattered marble of the ground Peter recognises the shape. A canister- Turns out Damian knew more than him as Peter hears him whisper with wide eyes.

“Joker Venom.”

— — —

The room erupts into chaos. Everybody scrambles to get out before the bomb goes off, the rich being directed out of the room in a huge wave of people. Peter himself is pushing Damian and Cass towards the exit, once safe the best he can do is try and find Tim and Jason. He’s well aware of their capabilities but sometimes you just run out of luck.

The only thing irking him is that his senses were so late to catch onto such a big threat. Now that he’s aware of it they’re practically screaming.

DANGER! Move away! DANGER! DANGER!!

It’s making his head even ring slightly, the buzzing distracting his thinking as he listens in to the sounds of people still inside. ‘The gas!’ - “Leaking-..”-- “Everyone– get ..out!” The voices being drowned out by one another. Yet he recognises Mr. Wayne's voice.

He can smell the gas now. It’s pungent. Wreaking of a smell he can’t even describe.

He’s ignoring the protests of Damian as Peter stops him from going back in there to find Bruce- or something. But Peter just turns to him again, shaking himself out of his absentminded state.

“Let me go! I can handle this, I need to find Father-!” Whipping his head around he makes eye contact with Cass who is giving him a strange look as if trying to figure him out. 

“Right. Okay. Damian I will go get Mr Wayne but you must stay here.” He starts jogging away only looking back to see Damian now angrily gripping the edge of his shirt.

“No way. You stay here too! As if you can handle the situation. I- will stay here too but I’m going to find Tim.” He just lets him go but Peter presumes he’s actually off with Cass to assume their other- better equipped identities. 

There’s no time for that though- Peter runs back towards the building and at the same time sees Bruce slink into the shadows to remove himself as Brucie Wayne. So instead Peter focuses on getting everyone else out the building too. He assisted an older, fancily dressed woman down the stairs and another couple where the man got his ankle sprained in all the chaos. 

Cheering then resounds throughout the crowd as a familiar black figure enters through the roof. Batman.

Wow- he dresses fast.

Peter slinks towards a window so he can watch what’s happening inside. There’s now a new face in the middle of the room. A new face but Peter knows who it is- the Joker. A sickening laugh echoes through the decorated hall. 

“Awww Batman! You were slower this time!” He tuts aggravatingly. “ A shame that the canister didn’t work. It was supposed to blow up on impact. Alas-” His eyes becoming menacing. “It doesn’t put too much of a dent in my plans.” Batman growls in response.

“I’m not here to play games, Joker.” A dramatic sigh comes out of Joker’s mouth. 

“Ugh trust me, I know. You never are. Yet. . . you are so fun to play with! And your little birds.”

Just as Peter thinks he can breathe he hears a faint crying sound. The next second- “Molli? Molli?!” The yelling outside turns his attention away to the screaming woman- then it clicks. A mother. The crying he can hear is a child inside.

God, why do I not feel good about this?

And so- being the hero he is. He ran back in.

— — —

Batman was confused. 

There had been no signs that Joker had escaped Arkham, no less any signs of him having been planning such a large event. How had he missed it? The goons surrounding him and the other available robins, Red Hood, Red Robin, Orphan, Robin, Nightwing who had sped over from his temporary apartment, and he heard over comms that Signal and Spoiler were on their way. 

The goons are what’s throwing him off- he knows some of these faces. They should be in prison currently and some, horrifyingly enough, were thought to have turned over a new leaf or even started at a rehabilitation facility.

He doesn’t understand why they would return to him so quickly. Bruce had personally talked to some of them and they seemed genuine. After turning over thoughts in his head he decided on one conclusion. 

They were given an offer they couldn’t refuse.

He scowls as the Joker continues to taunt about the Robins and almost dances on the spot as the gas continues to slowly leak out. Practically shouting into his earpiece, “Everyone- rebreathers!” He’s calmed when he sees each of them have their masks on hand and now firmly on their faces. With a short signal, everything starts. For both sides.

Joker is not daft- with a swift movement he’s activated the canister, setting it off in a large poof of Joker venom spreading into the air. 

“Dammit!” He hears Red Hood say while he pummels through the goons just as the ceiling creaks as glass falls with Spoiler and Signal in tow. “How’d this … psycho. Get out of Arkham?!” Bruce turns to see Jason at his side, kicking away one of Joker’s people. Others wouldn’t have noticed but Jason, no matter what Jasons says- is his son. He can see his hands shaking at the sight of Joker, voice dry. 

“I don’t know but Red Hood . . . you don’t have to be here.” Feeling the boy stiffen next to him he can only feel a bit guilty for pointing it out. Maybe making it obvious was worse. Despite being a detective and able to get into criminals' heads, he can’t even figure out his own. 

“Don’t make this about me, I’m fine. The priority is finishing this before the smoke spreads anymore and Joker pulls another shitty stunt.” Batman throws an oncoming goon over his shoulder before letting out a sigh, not looking at Jason.

“Okay, but I want you out the second something goes wrong. And I mean anything. That’s an order.”

“... Ugh fine, whatever B.” 

Assessing the situation Batman can see everyone struggling in their own battles because sometimes numbers can outweigh pure skill and regardless of how skilled, the Bats are still human. A wrench thrown at Batman's head gets his attention. 

“HEya Batsy! Not forgetting about me already are you?” A maniacal laugh sends shivers through Jason and an unbridled rage through Bruce. Something is still off. He can’t tell what. The joker venom is making it hard to see, it functions like a smoke bomb. The Joker’s silhouette is visible momentarily- then not. 

He spins in circles trying to preempt what Joker would do next but one thing about the Joker- he thrives on surprises. With most of the goons taken down everyone regroups in the centre, covering each other's backs and when the smoke clears they finally see him. He’s holding a gun of sorts? It looks more like a canon but they don’t know what it shoots.

“Be careful everyone.”There’s a light yet still nervous laugh from Steph. 

“No duh.”

“ Tt. Don’t be so childish, Spoiler.”

Duke lets a small laugh at the interaction. “Come on guys, I think we’ve got slightly larger problems right now?” Joker laughs but the laugh this time is aggravated, showing a clear distaste for the lack of damage he’s doing to the Bats.

“Larger problems indeed, day bat!” Bruce steps forward, as if covering his children, taking the attention to stop Joker from going after them first. 

“End this Joker, before I make-” A crying/laughing sound is heard over even the chaos as well as Batman’s voice. Batman turns to look and his eyes widen in horror. Joker’s widened in joy.

“Ohohohoooo, who do we have here?” He tilts his head to the side looking at the commotion makers.

And there Peter stands, cradling a little girl in his arms. 

. . .

“Shit.”

Chapter Text

Peter has made some dumb decisions in his life. Okay, ‘some’ is an understatement, he’s made a lot. So the choices he’s about to make shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Like running back into a building full of poisonous gas and then trying to grab a child before they’re also caught up in the action and too heavily affected by said gas to which Peter doesn’t know the full effect of yet.

He wishes he had his Spider-Man suit right now. It has the function to filter out gases which would be remarkably helpful at this point in time.

Holding onto this little girl as the gas envelops them both, he already knows what he’s got to do. He holds the cloth onto her mouth in hopes at least it would minimise the harm of the gas- and he tries to run. She’s been inhaling the gas much longer than him so much so that she’s already producing small maniacal giggles while both sobbing at the same time. It’s a terrifying sight.

Just as he stops for a miniscule of a second to try and find the exit in the gassed out room the girl lets out a loud, sob or a laugh. It makes it even more horrific- because Peter can’t tell. From nearby to worsen the situation he hears a voice drawl out in a freakish manner.

“Ohohohoooo, who do we have here?” He watches as the Joker has tilted his head in Peter’s direction, smiling so wide it feels like the villain's mouth should rip. Every inkling of his sense is screaming. His skin prickling. Get out. 

Get out. 

Get out! 

GET OUT!  GET OUT!!

GET OUT!!

Cradling the little girl in his arms, grip tightening, Peter can utter only the most appropriate thing for that moment. 

“ . . . Shit.”

Before he can even think of doing the next thing, Joker has wasted not a second. Pointing the blaster at Peter- and shooting.

The most hideous part about it all? Joker’s eyes never left Batman’s face. And Batman’s, never left Peter’s.

Holding the girl tightly he cradles her inward, facing her away from the projectile as it collides with his lower left shoulder. A loud grunt of pain escapes him as he keels over onto his knees. He sees the remains of the projectile exude into a similar looking green smoke and swiftly picks it up and throws it back into the direction of the Joker. He feels the corner of his eyes going green, an uncomfortable feeling bubbling up in his throat.

Peter clocks onto a side exit and just bolts, throwing his full body at the door to get it open out of his increasing desperation after he also hears the little girls laugh again. Once he collides, cradling the girl and landing roughly- he slams the door to try and stop the smoke from spreading too far beyond the building. 

There’s a pause, only sounds of sirens and distraught people out the front of the building. Peter breathes.

And then realises he’s not breathing.

He’s laughing. He turns to check on the girl and sees that she’s knocked out cold - only breathing now though. Her laughter has all but stopped. Good for her but Peter? Peter is panicking. He picks up the girl and to the first person he spots, a middle aged blonde man- hands her to him.

“Hospital, inhaled Joker ve-haehah.” Peter hits his chest to stop the bubbling laugh. The man looks at him worriedly. 

“Kid . . . I think you should come with me too.” The man is holding the girl with one arm and trying to pull on Peter’s sleeve with the other. Not before Peter rips it out of his hand. Feeling the green cloud his vision again. 

“Back off! I’ll-” Green. He laughs in between “- be fine.” Running off before he does something he’ll regret; all he can hear in the distance is the man trying to stop him.

“Kid! Wait-” Peter shuts it out and just runs, he doesn’t know how fast, he doesn’t know where. It feels like the wind is laughing at him, it feels like the honking cars, the screaming voices, the hustle of Gotham is all laughing at him and soon enough he’ll be laughing with them.

Because what’s worse than a normal person on Joker Venom? 

A mutated spider man on Joker Venom.

He can feel it continuously bubble up in his throat. It comes out in bursts, same as the green in his vision- both churning and clashing inside him like lava and ice. He doesn’t know where he’s running but he’s just relying on his senses to lead him somewhere away. Away from the noises, away from the laughs. He runs for what feels like hours, bumping into people and even random street objects like poles along the way.

His desperation is on display for every Gothamite out late tonight. Finally, heading towards some building in the distance, Peter’s senses finally stop laughing as loud; soon enough he can’t hear anything, falling to his knees and groping at his ears. His face is wet, is he crying? He can’t tell if he’s crying. 

His lungs hurt. It feels like they’re scratching against each other making his breathing-lAuGHiNg painful. His back hurts (missile? -The Joker! Projectile. Gas, LAUGHING GAS. Breathe. BREATHE! Rationalise. Calm! Calm.)

Peter hits his head repeatedly, even his spider sense is all over the place. His mouth tastes of blood. He can’t tell a threat between friends at the moment and it scares him. His fear is being drowned hopelessly, the lava melting the ice into a storm infested ocean. The sea is green. The sea is only green. Turning green? RAGE. ANGER?-___—_-.. _.GR_–rief? Grief. Oh.

“Breathe. Just Breathe.”  .    .    .That didn’t sound like his spider sense? His vision blurs. He looks up. Green. Green. Green. . . Red? 

Red?

Red. Vision becoming clearer Peter focuses on the red. Warm colour. Safe colour. Iron Man. Red Hood. Red–Robin?

Red Robin. Tim. Finally cleared he sees Red Robin all suited up trying to take him through a form of breathing exercise. Holding a vial? No, it looks similar to an epipen. Red Robin is showing it to Peter, trying to explain something. Peter can’t hear him. Why can’t he hear him? But then-

“Will. Will, you are safe I promise. You’re erratic. I need you to just trust me and relax.”He’s speaking slowly and softly. In the next second he feels a sharp pain stab into his thigh. The strange liquid drawing from the epipen into his leg. 

Green.

Red.

Gree-Red.

Black.

“Relax.” Relax. 

— — — 

Back at the gala the bats all watch in horror as the projectile flies off at a speed none of them can hope to stop. Towards Will. Even so Nightwing bolts in the direction the second he hears Will’s pained grunt. Yet when the smoke clears, Will is gone. His attention can’t even stay on it because one of Joker’s goons is already up and throwing a pipe in the direction of his head. The fighting has resumed, the panic of everything having given the goons time to recuperate. 

Nightwing is still worried about Will because he can’t see him or the little girl he was holding anywhere. He’s trying to multitask by fighting and whipping his head around to look- then he sees the side exit door swung open.

“Red Robin!” Tim turns his head to the voice, seeing Nightwing’s distraught face. All he does is point to the exit door and Red Robin can pretty much understand. Will.

He nods in confirmation and runs out the door, confident they can handle this themselves seeing the Joker be detained along with multiple other goons but Will may not have the time- Tim also saw how much gas he probably inhaled.

Bolting out the door he looks around for any signs of Will and instantly clocks the little girl being wheeled into an ambulance with who he assumes is her weeping parents but he has no time for giving sympathy- the girl was okay so his next priority was finding Will. 

As he runs up he spots a blonde man watching the child in worry and decides he may know something or at least have seen Will.

“Excuse me! Have you seen a man? Around 6 feet, brown hair, green eyes? He was with that girl last time I saw him.” The blonde man turns to him sharply,confused.

“Huh? Oh- oh yeah! I did. He was with her but gave her to me but he-he was in a real bad way. Laughing, you know?” 

“Can you tell me where he went?” Tim doesn’t have the time to waste here if Will is truly as bad as he thinks. Joker venom being inhaled is bad in itself but he was also hit with what is essentially a missile, one thing to be grateful for is that it was only the gas form. Still, the only way Tim thinks Will could possibly be moving is through his adrenaline.

The blonde man points in the direction and Tim speeds off in that direction scanning for signs of disturbance amongst the people who are out and about still. Luckily for him he finds it. Using both surveillance cameras and people, he sees people angrily looking back in certain directions and some looking concerned. Continuing to follow this path of disturbance he starts to lose track as the number of people shrinks, then decides it's time to rely on cameras and if he was right Will should be in this area.

He starts getting anxious the more he scans, he can follow Will but that doesn’t guarantee anything. For all Tim knows he could be choking on his own tongue right now. With that disturbing thought now implanted in his mind he tries to speed up the process and almost laughs when he sees Will run into an abandoned building. He immediately follows the route after him.

 . . .

The sight isn’t pretty. Will is collapsed in himself, mutterings of words that are incomprehensible and merged with dry gasps and harsh laughs as if he’s trying to swallow them before they get out. Inching closer Tim is getting lower and lower to Will’s crouched form before laying a calm hand on his back seeing how he reacts to the touch.

He doesn’t, so Tim takes that as he can proceed with trying to calm Will down. “Will, Will- I’m going to need you to breathe. Breathe.” He rubs his arm softly in circle motions speaking calmly as Will seems to be calming himself down, somehow able to listen to his voice through the hysteria. “That’s it, everything’s fine. Breathe- in . . . and out.”

After a long moment a final “Breathe. Just breathe.” and Tim watches the awareness start to reach his eyes again, the laughing not stopping but he’s shaking less so Tim takes the opportunity. “Will. You are safe I promise but I have to warn you. You’re erratic. I need you to just trust me and relax.” He pulls the Joker venom antidote from his bag and positions it best he can around Will's thigh and punctures it into him hoping it will help somehow. 

It takes longer than it should, much longer but it eventually seems to work as he slumps slowly into Tim’s arms. He knows he shouldn’t have used civilian names with Will but he can make up an excuse if he remembers. . . though seeing how distraught he was, he doubts he’ll need to. Tim swoops him into his arms all the while trying to reach anyone who can bring over some help because now he realises, Will got a really long way away from the gala.  

“Oracle, come in. Actually anyone will do. Minus the demon brat.” He waits a few seconds before getting a response.

“Here, Red Robin. Did you find him?” The line is interrupted by his other family members.

“Oh my god he’s fine right? He’s not dead?” Steph says darkly.

“Spoiler, why would you say that?” Dick lets out worriedly.

“Why not me? That’s insolent. I am the best Robin.” A grumble comes from across the line.

“Can we get back to our maybe dead Butler?” Jason’s voice comes in, albeit a bit more static.

Finally the rough, deep voice cuts through all the questions. “Quiet.” After everyone is thoroughly hushed Batman continues. “Red Robin, status report.” With a deep sigh Red Robin is relieved now that he can actually talk.

“Red Robin here. I found Will, he was quite strongly gassed so I gave him an antivenom but it fully knocked him out. I was going to ask for a ride to the cave but I think it’s best if I take him to Leslie’s clinic at least.” There’s a grunt on the other end of the line from Batman.

“Everything is under control here as it. . . can be, I’ll send someone your way. Nightwing. You have a car and are closest.”

“No problem B. Send me your location RR and I’ll be there in a bit.” With a simple click, Red Robin’s location has been pinged through to Nightwing. As Nightwing makes his way over Tim has a final question.

“How bad is it over there?” The line goes silent. 

And that’s all Tim needs to hear to understand.

— — — 

When Peter wakes up it is in a completely unfamiliar place. His head is ringing and he’s hurting in places he didn’t even know existed. 

Trying to refocus his eyes is hard as he’s being blinded by the white light above his head, it looks like a white(ish) room. There’s medical supplies. Hospital maybe? He tries to sit up with a groan but is shocked when he is instantly pushed down. He didn’t even sense another person in the room. He flops back down with a vocal ‘oof’. 

“Don’t get up yet. You need more rest than the little time you’ve had.”

Peter, confused as ever. Which is becoming too frequent these days, finally has his eyes fix onto the middle aged woman by the side of his bed. “Uhhhh. . .” She doesn’t dignify his confusion with an answer and instead starts towards his face. 

“Please keep still just while I shine the light across your eyes.” He flinches at the sudden light but stays still. Yeah okay he’s still extremely confused. “Okay-” She puts the light down, looking directly at Peter. “Any feelings of nausea or discomfort.” 

“Uh, no??” 

“Is that a question or a statement?”

“No. I’m uhm sore but I feel fine.” She nods and lets out a sigh.

“That’s good. A certain family has been on my ass about you.” That makes Peter focus a bit more. 

“Who?” She raises an eyebrow. 

“The Waynes of course, child. You’ve had them worried sick. How guilty do you think Bruce feels knowing you were injured under his care, at his gala? The man has been in here every other hour.” She huffs exhaustedly rubbing the bridge between her eyes. “I should give him a call. Unless you have any other emergency contacts but we didn’t see any in your information.” Peter blinks once, then twice.

Damn. I knew I forgot something when I was making up my new life. . . Ugh. Not like I’ve got anyone anyways. 

Dr. Thompkins looks at him with a slightly softer look on her normally tense face. “Please don’t tell me I said that last bit out loud.” 

“Sorry, but you did.” She smiles awkwardly but she seems to be trying to ease Peter’s tension. “Don’t worry I won’t say anything. It’s Gotham and reality in general- lots of people have nobody.” Shrugging, she hands Peter a lollipop. 

He stares at it for a second before sighing with a smile. “Thank you, Dr?”

“Thompkins. But most of the Waynes just call me Lee.”

Yeah, but I’m no Wayne. Besides, May would kill me.

“Thank you then, Dr. Thompkins. You have my eternal gratitude.” He says with a smirk, earning one from Dr. Thompkins herself too. 

“Oh cut it out, cheeky child. I’m going to grab Bruce- don’t go anywhere.”

“Where else would I go?” She leaves the room with a smile and Peter lets out a deep breath. This kind of doesn’t feel real. He hasn’t processed anything that happened in the last 24 hours. 

Taking a breath in he tries to calm himself, leaning back on the hospital bed. 

“. . .fuck.” He can’t even remember much about it. It’s all cloudy and it feels weird whenever he tries to remember it. He knows the gala went up in flames- literally. He knows that it was the Joker- he’s not a fool he knows he was hit with a damn projectile while holding the girl.

• The girl!

Bruce Wayne then walks into the room, a calming smile on his face. “How are you feeling champ?” Peter may work for Mr.Wayne but he hasn’t honestly seen much of him around the manor. So this interaction is a bit awkward.

“Uhh alright, like a fews things are definitely broken! But pretty alright considering that.” He relaxes a bit when Bruce huffs a gentle laugh at his joke- then he tenses again when he senses the humour leaving Bruce.

Ah damn. This feels like an oncoming lecture.

“Will. What you did- going back in there? It was brave but it was so stupid. You didn’t even have a gas mask.” 

Oh dear, he’s such a dad. 

“. . . Is the girl okay though?” Bruce looks at him blankly before sighing deeply. Wow. Lots of sighing all around.

“She was taken to hospital and thanks to you- she was fine. Only a bit of Joker venom, which meant she took the antidote well.” With a nod he lets his shoulders fall but there’s still a worry of his.

“-and everyone else?” The silence speaks. 

“13 people died from either overdose or injury.” It’s quiet in the room, Bruce seems to be giving him time to handle the new information. He wasn’t ready for the pained tone in Will’s voice.

“13?” The number catches tiredly in his throat. Bruce can only nod and watch as Will grips the light sheet covering him. Walking over he sits on the chair beside the bed seeing every bit of turmoil on Will’s face. 

“It would’ve been 14.” Will finally looks at him. Gently placing a hand on Will’s shoulder he feels the shudder at the touch. (3040 words atp) “But it wasn’t thanks to you. I know I reprimanded you but in truth you did save that little girl.” When he sees Will turn away again he shuffles forward a bit. He’s not the best at emotional situations but he is both Batman and a father. “Samantha Breighs. That’s the name of the girl you saved.”

Peter looks at Bruce again, a light in his eyes. “It’s a nice name.” Peter feels slightly pathetic, needing to be comforted about this. He’s Spider-Man. He's done things like this a million times.  As if he can tell, Bruce moves from his shoulder to his hand, gripping it softly. 

“I know how it feels. Thinking you could have done more. But you couldn’t have and if you spend the rest of your life considering the ‘what ifs’ it will ruin you. So don’t, focus on the amazing thing you did.” He pauses, standing and giving Peter a small slightly hesitant pat on his head. “That little girl gets a future with her family because of you. She’s been asking to see you- and her parents.” Peter tries to not lean into the contact, he’s been deprived of touch embarrassingly enough.

“Really?”

He nods. “Really. So have my kids. Cass and Jay in particular. She seems quite fond of you.” Peter smiles at that. He’s been lonely here- without anyone he once knew but the Wayne’s? Well, they made it just that little bit warmer in the bleak Gotham weather. “Do you want them to come in now? Or do you need some more rest?” Peter shakes his head. 

“They can come in if they want. I’m raring to go! Kinda, might just be the pain meds.” With a laugh Peter thinks Bruce is going to leave but all he does is raise his voice a bit.

“Okay, he says you can come in!” All of a sudden they pour in, tripping over each other. Cass glides elegantly next to Peter’s side. He decides to sign to her instead of talking cause he feels the other will have many verbal things to say so he can conserve his energy comfortably with Cass.

‘Hey stranger.’

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Not too bad all things considered.’ He smiles, she frowns with a smile. At least she’s not just frowning.

‘You scared us. All of us. Even Damian was on edge though he’ll never admit it.’

‘What about you all? No one was injured?’ She shakes her head, sitting lightly on the bed next to him.

‘Few scrapes here and there but fine. . . Alfred’s been baking constantly over the past few hours. He’s waiting for you to come back.’ He smiles broadly at that

‘Well- according to Dr. Thompkins I’ll be free soon. The worst of it was the venom residue, the actual missile part, did I mention that?’

‘No but we were told about it by the police, from the Bats.’ I call bullshit. But Peter doesn’t care, as long as everyone is safe. 

‘Ah you were told- good. Anyways, apparently I got lucky and the worst it did was a few bruised ribs and some slight back pain.’ Cass has no upfront reaction but Peter feels a slight spike in her nerves when he reacts to the Bats comment. Peter’s pretty sure she knows he knows. Like 80%. 

‘Thank goodness.’ After a moment they finally turn to the others who are waiting patiently and acting as if they were not reading into the conversation Cass and Peter were having. Jason is pretending to- checking his jacket seams? Dick is whistling softly. Tim is just staring at the floor. And Damian? Well, no he’s just staring directly at the pair.

“William, I assume you are alright?” With a smile Peter looks at Damian.

“Peachy.”

“Excellent, you will resume working at the manor then?” Before Peter can answer Dick butts in.

“Ah ah, only after he is FULLY recovered.” Damian scoffs and grumbles under his breath but there is a lack of bite in it that he usually harbors. His heart warms a bit, Peter hasn’t felt so. . . familial with people since coming here but knowing they care enough to even show up, it slightly healed something in him. 

Jason interrupts. “Oh and Steph and Duke send their regards. They both have a field trip today for school.” Peter looks at Tim with a raised brow. He shrugs with a smirk. 

“Eh, I’ve been before. Privileges of being a Grade A student too.” Bruce’s head pops back in past the curtain. He hears Jason mutter ‘and a billionaire’s kid.’ Bruce ignores it.

“Don’t be making a habit of that Tim, education is important.” Tim slouches as small laughs echo around the room. Peter notices Tim’s eyes on him, confused? Calculating? Soon after everyone is herded out leaving only Bruce, Leslie and well, Peter himself of course. 

“Peter, you’ll be released soon but only under the circumstances that someone can monitor you. Is  there anyone you have? If not- Mr Wayne has offered to take you for the time being.” Peter looks wide eyed up at Bruce. 

“Oh no I couldn’t possibly, besides I do have someone. Yeah so Uh it’s so fine cause I got a roommate (well, two) recently and he’d be willing to-. . . Oh my god I forgot I have a roommate. Shit uh , is my phone here somewhere??” Leslie holds it out in front of him, her face holding a blank look.

“You kids and your phones nowadays. . .”  With a laugh Peter takes the phone, unlocking it onto the homescreen. 7% shit. He quickly notices the 17 missed calls and even more messages. All he notices, from the coworkers chat, Cobber and Bjorn. Whoops. He sends a quick message to the whole group chat. *Still alive. Sorry I missed my shift. Got joker venom-ed :p * Then a separate one to Cobber. He sticks his tongue out with a smile as he types, mimicking the emojis he’s sending.

*I hate to ask this of you man but uh can you pick me up from the hospital. I need proof that I have someone to monitor me at home. AND congrats on moving in roomies!! :DDDDDDD*

Yeah, that’s an excellent way to let your coworkers and now roommate you’re not dead. He turns it off and looks back up at the pair who are in return looking at him questionably. Sue Peter, he’s a very expressive person. “Ahem, thanks. So- how long do I have to stay here?” Sighing Leslie turns back to her computer.

“We would like to keep you here till tomorrow morning just to monitor for any other possible side effects. But- if you’re anything like this man and his kids I doubt you’ll want to.” Peter nods. She sighs. Again. Lots of sighing all around honestly. “Okay, stay till tonight and you’re home free. Make sure that that friend of yours can take care of you.” Peter salutes her from his place and the bed all the while Bruce looks on tiredly.

With a guilty laugh Peter looks at Bruce. “Sorry, I’ve been told I’m a handful.”

“Explains why you fit right in.”

— — — — 

Tim skirts the chair up to the batcomputer after finally arriving home from the hospital, the blue light of the screen hitting his face as he breathes in. There’s no more casual fatalities, Will is healing nicely, Joker has been forced back into Arkham yet he can’t relax. He can’t relax because he can’t get the image out of his head. 

Will’s face. A face he thought was maybe generic enough that it just seemed familiar. But no. After seeing him front on in a hospital gown, things began to click. The case that was pushed only slightly under the rug due to a lack of evidence and well- anything. The information was so scarce there was nothing to go off. All they knew was that it involved the Lazarus pits and missing children, leading them in a circle-  Case HT402391P.

The one he and Bruce had been digging at a while prior to this. One thing they do have from the many empty labs and found bodies- were papers listing some names, not real names but ones given to the children deemed experiments. The images on most of them were ruined by the strange lazarus pit mixture in the tubes that had leaked and the fires left behind. But one image was slightly clearer than most, having nearly a half of the face visible, the rest of the information smudged or burnt. 

Subject A-05. The assumed fourth dead body that they found. A lot was burned or ruined in the fires, including the bodies and considering they only found 4 viable papers with different subjects they assumed the fourth body they found belonged to A-04. But Tim thinks they were wrong. 

Because as he zooms into the digital version of the image he can’t help but recognise the striking eye. There’s about a 40% chance he was wrong and just being presumptuous but Tim has learnt to trust his gut at times and right now it’s screaming at him. 

Subject A-05 was not the body they found. Considering the numbers went from A-01 to A-05 they had thought there was another but considering they only found 4 bodies the idea was put to the side that the body could’ve been moved prior to the lab’s destruction. If he’s correct then the 4th body they found was actually Subject A-04. He hates it but it makes sense. 5 files, 4 bodies. And half a face that he sees every day of the week. 

To make sure he runs a comparison match between the ruined photo and a newer photo of Will with the Waynes. 

Blip 7% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blip 23%. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blip 41% . . . . . . . . . .Blip 74%. . . . . . . . . . Blip 89%. . . . . .

Blip! 100%

Tim can feel his heart rate slightly elevate as the images both pixelate on the screen- showing a match.

“It’s a match. It’s a match. . . hoooh shit.” Subject A-05 or more accurately known to them, William - William what? He looks him up in the system, William Parker. He nods to himself, slightly out of it. 

Okay, this is fine. Oh damn it to Gotham herself. How do I tell the rest of them about this? Who do I tell first? All of them? Bruce? Cass? . . . Jason? 

I mean Jason does have experience with the Lazarus Pit. He mentioned he’s also close to Will but that’s mainly as Red Hood. Bruce then? 

Dammit is that my best option?

. . . ! I could just tell Dick? He’s calmer about these things, okay not really but he’s better at remaining calm. 

Before he can let himself dwell too much on it he picks up his phone, dialling Dick. There’s a click on the other side - “Tim? What’s up?”

Taking a breath through his nose he sighs.

“We need to talk about something.”