Peter knew he would be ordered around as soon as class started. He was asked to take roll call after the morning announcements. He figured it was so that he would learn the kids' names. But when he got stuck on a name, he turned to Barbara for help just to see her texting.

Rassum frassum…

He pronounced the name wrong but the kid in question simply said his name correctly. The other kids giggled and Barbara looked up with a raised brow. Peter ignored her questioning glance and continued down the list. But seriously, how was he supposed to know that Tadgh was not pronounced Tagged but Tie-gg? Sheesh!

After he took the attendance, he was tasked to deliver it to the office. He drew a blank. How was he supposed to do that again? From memory? Barbara must have read the confusion on his face. She brandished the attendance form he was supposed to fill out as he took the attendance, which she hadn't given to him prior to the attendance taking.

Rassum frassum…

After copying the who was there and who wasn't from the grade book where he'd marked the kids who were present or not, he went on his way. But he got lost on the way. Luckily, he found a custodian to help him. The problem, his English was broken. Peter thought it would be funny to speak to him in Spanish. But it backfired, the Turkish man knew the answer to "¿Dónde está la Biblioteca?" and took him directly there.

The librarian smiled sympathetically at him when he tried to hand in the attendance to her and had her assistant—a second-grader!—show him the way.

When he made it back to the classroom, Barbara sent him to make copies. In the copy room. He had no idea where that was. She gave him vague directions. He got lost again.

Rassum frassum…

The custodian found him wandering around and took him back to the library. Peter vowed to learn Turkish.

The librarian laughed when he walked up to her while rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. She printed out a map of the school grounds. She circled the library with a red marker and wrote 'you are here' in the margin. Peter thanked her and found the copy room after going the wrong way. He was holding the map upside down.

Rassum frassum…

Peter made the copies and went back to the classroom with a large pile of worksheets. Then he was sent back to the copy room so that he could collate and staple the papers. How the heck was he supposed to know that the printer did that automatically if he selected the right button when he wasn't told to do so? He had to do it all manually. He finished with a few papercuts for the trouble. He sighed in aggravation as he remembered Barabra's smirk when she sent him away.

Rassum frassum…

On his way back to the classroom, he ran into Barbara in the hallway. She was fraternizing with the enemy. Helena Bertinelli. They looked very chummy. They were both smiling at him too. He narrowed his eyes at them.

"The classroom is locked. You can leave the worksheets on my shelf in the copy room," Barbara said and kept smiling like she knew something he didn't. "If you didn't bring your own lunch, you can get something to eat at the cafeteria."

"Sure, right. Copy room. Cafeteria. Sounds good," Peter said and looked at the two women suspiciously before he turned to go back the way he'd come. He didn't know why but he had a suspicion that they'd been talking about him before he walked up to them.

"Lunch is over in thirty minutes," Barbara said to his retreating back. "Don't be late."

"Don't you mean, don't get lost?" Helena said in a stage-whisper. Both women giggled.

Rassum frassum… Note to self: the librarian has a big mouth.

When Peter stepped out of the copy room, he saw Todd waiting for him.

"I brought us lunch," he said, lifting up a plastic bag that had the word 'Batburger' written in bold red letters.

"I love you so much!" Peter said with a wide grin.

"I don't hear that every day," Todd said with a shrug while a hint of a smile played at his lips.

"Well, I was having a day," Peter said, walking in step beside Todd and knocked Todd's shoulder with his in greeting. "This." He gestured to Todd and the bag as a whole. "Makes everything better."

"What happened? Todd said with a small smile.

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. "You-you already know don't you?"

"Not everything," Todd said and pinched his fingers together. "A minimal amount of information."

"I don't think I can love someone who gossips about me behind my back," Peter said with a small pout.

Todd lifted the Batburger bag up so that it was in Peter's line of sight.

"Ok, I still love you...just not as much."

Todd chuckled and steered Peter in the right direction. He almost went towards the library automatically. "The teacher's lounge is this way."

"Ugh! Why are we eating there?" Peter asked, making a face.

"That's where the adults eat," Todd said with a shrug. "Or so I was told when I asked where you were."

"Who told you that?"

"Barbie."

Peter looked at Todd in surprise. "Who?"

"Barbara Gordon. Aiden's teacher," Todd said looking at Peter curiously.

"How do you know her?" Peter said, trying not to sound too eager. He forced himself to calm down. He couldn't let Todd know what he had just realized.

"Oh," Todd said and after a beat shrugged as if he'd decided that sharing the information wasn't a big deal. "She was my tutor back in the day. She was a little mean so I called her Barbie to piss her off. The nickname sort of stuck."

Todd chuckled at the memory and Peter let out a forced breathy laugh. He was mentally reeling. Aiden's teacher was Oracle. There was zero doubt in his mind. There was no way Todd knew more than one Barbara that he called Barbie.

"But, just to be safe, you shouldn't call her that."

"Yeah, of course." Peter nodded to emphasize his words. "You know what?" he said suddenly when the office came into view. He couldn't face Barbara. Not yet. He didn't know how he'd react. "I'd rather eat outside.

"Alright," Todd said, perking up as if he didn't want to go to the teacher's lounge either. "Car's this way."

When they crossed the parking lot and made it to the car, Todd jumped up on the hood and made himself comfortable. He gestured for Peter to sit beside him. He pulled out a burger and then handed the bag over to Peter once he had situated himself on top of the car.

"This is the best place to eat a cheeseburger," Todd said with a shrug between bites.

"You think?" Peter said and swallowed his bite. "I prefer rooftops."

Todd looked over at him and grinned. "Yeah, it's a close second."

Peter nodded but didn't say a word. He was lost in thought.

"Are you worried about Aiden?" Todd said curiously.

"Yeah," Peter said and cleared his throat. His mind was on the Oracle but yes, he was worried about Aiden.

"Don't worry, he has a lot of people in his corner," Todd said and scrunched up his wrapper. "I know Helena came on a little strong the last time we saw her, but she means well. She would never hurt the kid. To be honest, I think she was worried that you would hurt him."

"Me?!"

"With your amnesia and the fact that nobody knows where you've been the last two years," Todd said with a shrug.

Peter figured that it made sense for her to be suspicious of him. From an outside perspective, it didn't make sense that Peter would care about the boy. And that was with them thinking he was Richard, the cousin. Even from his own position, it didn't make sense that he was so involved with Aiden or Mila. Except for the fact that Mila reminded him of May and Aiden could've been him. The more time he spent with them, his feelings for them became more cemented. He couldn't help but think of them as family. The only one he had in this reality. They were his home. And he would do anything to protect them.

"When Mila hired me, she said she trusted you with her son's life and I see it too, you know. You really care about that kid. I had a chat with Helena and she's less skeptical about you now."

"What is Helena to Aiden? Why does she care about him?"

"Oh, right. You don't remember her. She's your cousin. Second cousin? I'm not sure how that works," Todd said and chuckled. "Mila was raised by her uncle or whatever."

She thinks I'm really Richard. Did Robin not tell her anything? Perhaps, that was for the best.

"But, wait a minute. Why was Aiden afraid of her then?"

"I'm not sure. I'm hazarding a guess by saying this but he may have thought she would do something to you." He stayed quiet for a bit as if he were mulling something over. Peter waited patiently for him to continue. "Helena has a dark past. I didn't know Aiden knew about it. Looking back, I'm thinking he does."

"How dark?" Peter asked as he looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Um," Todd said tightened his lips. Peter knew that Todd wouldn't tell him. He looked like he regretted saying as much as he had. "Maybe you should ask Mila."

"Yeah, okay," Peter said with a nod. "That's fair."

Todd pulled out a box from the bag and opened it. He placed it between them. Peter looked inside and scrunched up his nose.

"What the heck is that?"

"Jokerized fries," Todd said, taking a few and popping them into his mouth.

"First off, I have no idea what that means other than a fancy way to say health hazard," Peter said as he took in the colors of whatever was drizzled over the fries. Red, green, and white. What the heck?

"Your loss if you don't have any," Todd said and pointed to the fries. "I'll bet you ten bucks you can't just have one."

"You're on! But if you win you're gonna have to take a rain check because I haven't gotten my allowance yet," Peter said and carefully took one fry. He waited for his spider-sense to give any kind of warning that this was dangerous. When it didn't, he bit into it and looked utterly surprised. "These are good."

"You owe me ten bucks," Todd said with a smirk.

"Uh-huh," Peter said and kept eating. "I'll pay you tomorrow if I survive the consumption of these unholy fries."

Todd snorted.

The rest of the school day was fairly easy. Barbara asked him to take turns listening to the kids read while they were in groups and to let her know if any of them needed extra help. Peter figured it wasn't easy for her to get around the classroom due to her wheelchair. Though for Peter it was easier than she would know. His enhanced listening allowed him to listen to whoever he focused on. He took mental notes of the kids he heard stuttering or that had problems with certain words. There were a couple that skipped their turn reading.

When the kids went to P.E., Peter gave her a thorough rundown of how the students did during their group reading. Barbara was impressed. But she was taken aback by Peter's sudden coldness to her. He did a complete one-eighty during his lunch break. Which made no sense, because even though he'd been flustered in the morning he was still amiable towards her. Not even Helena, who told her that he'd figured out she was Huntress, had received this type of reception. Unless… Barbara mentally shook her head. He didn't know anything about her. Something else must have come to his attention during his lunch break. She decided to talk to Jay later to find out what they talked about. Then maybe she could understand his change in behavior.

When school let out, Peter walked with Aiden back to the car. Todd was waiting inside the car. He was reading a book but put it down when the door opened to greet Aiden. Peter closed the door and went to walk around the car when someone approached him.

"Mr. Richard Peter?"

Peter looked at the man with a raised brow. He was good looking. Black hair. Striking blue eyes. Pale skin.

Holy Gotham! This man is hot!

He could easily be GQ's man of the year or be at the sexiest man alive on People.

"I don't remember ordering a male gigolo for this evening," Peter said with a tilt of his head.

The man chuckled. Peter could've sworn a few angels received wings at the sound. Peter hated this guy.

How is it possible for someone to be this perfect? Life just isn't fair.

"My name is Richard Grayson. I'm here on the behalf of Bruce Wayne," he said with a small amiable smile and outstretched his hand. Peter took it automatically and shook it.

"What does Bruce Wayne want with me?" Peter said drawing a blank as to how he'd gotten the attention of a billionaire. Oh. Oh! "Is this about the filtration system at the soup kitchen?"

Richard put a finger on his nose and grinned.

"Don't," Peter said angrily gesturing with his hand for Richard to drop his. Richard looked at him in confusion. Stop being so dreadfully cute. I'm not gonna like you. I'm not. "What now? You take me to your leader? Because I gotta tell you, I won't go easily."

"What's the holdup?" Todd said, stepping out of the car. He walked up to Peter and raised an eyebrow at Richard.

"Jay?"

"It's Todd, Dick."

"Woah, rude," Peter said. "I don't like the guy either on account of how good looking he is, but there's no need for name-calling."

"I agree with you there, but he likes it," Todd said with a wide smile.

"Huh?"

"Name's aside," Dick said with a small smile directed at Jay and then he looked at Peter. "There's an issue that requires your attention. I'll throw in a free meal if you sit down with me for half-hour tops."

Peter sighed heavily and looked over at Todd who shrugged. "Fine. But let me get the little tyke home, alright?"

"Sure," Dick said. "I'll meet you at Pauli's Diner in an hour."

"Pauli's?" Todd said with a raised brow. "You're really going all out for him aren't you?"

That was when the perfect facade broke. A pained expression crossed his features. "Todd," he said with a nod.

"Dick," Todd said with a roll of his eyes and gestured for Peter to get in the car.

Peter looked from one man to the other as they both turned their backs on each other simultaneously.

"Okay, what the heck was that about?" Peter said. "Is he your ex or something?"

"Drop it," Todd said with a voice that brooked no argument.

Peter pouted. "So what's this place... Pauli's? You made it sound...not so great."

"You'll see."

A/N: New story, 'From the perspective of Charlie Parker'. Set in the MCU during the five years post-snap. On my blog.

diceysmiles.

wordpress.

com/category/fpcp/