A/N: A thousand apologies for the lack of updates. Life has been busy, and I've been focusing on school and working on other stories. I hope you enjoy this chapter though!

...

Robin wasn't exactly sure how, but when he woke up from his impromptu nap, he found himself back in the room he had commandeered on his first arrival.

Ngh, pull yourself together, Dick. You're getting soft. Bruce would never approve of this slacking off, he thought, mentally chastising himself for falling asleep so easily. Maybe that medication had been stronger than he thought.

As he pulled his legs around and sat up on the side of the bed, he was surprised that he didn't feel as much stiffness as he had earlier that same day. What was once a pulsing throb was now a dull ache, and he found that breathing didn't jar his system as violently as last time.

It was the little mercies in life, honestly.

Robin turned around to sneak a quick view of the unfamiliar city outside his window. But instead, he came face to face with what looked like a human spider.

"Ghah!!" he shrieked, instinctively reaching for his escrima sticks. The red and blue thing seemed just as surprised as it nearly fell off the window but seemed to hold on with just its knees and feet. The Boy Wonder blinked a few times before he realized that it really was just a guy in a spider-themed costume, and his surprise turned into curiosity.

"Um, how are you doing that?" he asked. The blue and red spiderling scratched his head.

"Does Mr. Stark know that you're in his building?" he asked, his young voice suggesting that he was only a few years older than Robin.

"Iron Man? Yeah, he knows," Robin shrugged, "Do you need help getting in or...?"

"Oh, no, I've got it."

...

As Tony passed Robin's door, he could've sworn he heard voices. Hoping to catch a glimpse of their visitor's "fearless leader," the Iron Man gently pushed open the door and was surprised to find a maskless Spiderman sitting on the bed talking to the dark-haired visitor.

"Hi, Mr. Stark!" the friendly teen greeted, "Robin here says he's from another dimension. How cool is that!"

"Amazing," he replied with an eye roll. There goes another hero caught in this troll's spell. The ebony kid had a habit of befriending almost everyone he meets, but anyone that could hack into his systems in under twenty minutes was labeled dangerous in Tony's book. If only the others could understand that.

But nope, they all saw him as some poor lost kid stuck in the wrong dimension and in need of a friend. He even had Natasha—an international assassin—wrapped around his finger. The kid had to have at least some form of psychic manipulation to get even her on his side.

Peter turned his attention back to the ebony troll, and their conversation drifted into the science behind dimensional travel. Tony leaned against the doorpost, his eyes widening slightly when he realized the little kid knew what he was talking about.

Robin was smart, very smart, and the billionaire thought back to the "interview" between the kid and Fury. Now that he thought about it, the teen probably could find his own way back if given enough time and resources.

"So wait, your world doesn't have vibranium?"

"Nope. Though your world doesn't have kryptonite either. So maybe each world has its own element? But then again, that doesn't make sense either," the boy wonder mused while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Why? It makes sense to me."

"There are other worlds almost identical to mine with identical elements. Sometimes the only thing differentiating them from mine is the choices people made." The whites of Robin's mask widened. "And those worlds are usually kinda close to ours..."

"What are you thinking, squirt?" Tony asked. Robin frowned at the nickname.

"That I might be farther from home than I thought. The differences get more and more obvious the farther you travel, and for there to not even be a Gotham—I would have to be really far away."

"We'll help you get home," Peter promised and looked up to his unofficial mentor, "Right, Mr. Stark?"

"If it gets you out of my hair any faster."

He wasn't about to get attached to the short, dark haired kid with a mind so similar to Peter's and his own. Tony knew better than to let a stranger, especially an alien stranger, anywhere close. He would tolerate Robin, help him get home, but that was it.

"Come on, Rob. I can show you Tony's lab!" Peter cheered, and two teen vigilantes raced out of the room.

"Don't break anything worth over two thousand!" Tony shouted down the hall. Robin gave a two-finger salute and released an eerie cackle that only suggested mischief.

"Careful, Tony. Your dad is showing," Steve chuckled. The billionaire definitely did not jump.

"Someone needs to put a bell on you, Capsicle."

"You don't trust him. Do you?"

"A random kid claiming to be from another dimension that can hack my perfectly crafted technology in under ten minutes? Of course, I trust him," he replied sarcastically, "We don't even know if he's actually a hero or a villain. All we have is his word."

"He helped us against Loki."

"Because he had to."

"He could lift the hammer."

"That could just be because he's not from this world. Maybe Thor's magic hammer is universe-specific."

"I think you're just looking for a reason not to trust him. He's a good kid."

"Then why the mask? Why does he still need to hide his face when he's in a completely different universe? There's something off about him, and the sooner we get him off our world, the better."

...

Tony's Lab

"So, I'm guessing Tony hasn't adopted you yet," Robin mused. Peter choked.

"Uh, no? Why would he?"

The Boy Wonder shrugged nonchalantly. The way Peter looked at Tony was the same way he sometimes looked at Bruce, but he wasn't about to say that out loud. His adoptive father had done so much for him, and he had a lot to be grateful for. But the way of the batfamily meant that neither ever said anything sentimental out loud. They showed it.

"You both just seemed kinda close, but not that close, if that makes any sense," he replied with a shrug, "And you climbed in through a window while in costume, not through a door."

"Spiderman isn't an official Avenger," Peter answered, "but Mr. Stark says I could be once I'm older."

"Are you his partner?"

"Nope. I fly solo," the meta-teen replied proudly. Robin grimaced.

"A friend of mine went solo, and that didn't turn out so well. But he was a lot more hardheaded than you about accepting help."

"Is he okay?"

Robin grinned. "He's fine. A little rough around the edges, but he needed to break free. I can respect that, no matter how many times me and KF try to get him to join the team."

"What's it like being on a team with people your age?"

Robin grimaced, "It's...not what I'm used to," he confessed, "I'm used to working with a partner, an older partner who knows what he's doing and doesn't have to say anything for me to know what to do. As much as I love the team, we all still make a lot of stupid mistakes."

"And you're worried that one day those mistakes will cost you," Peter finished with a look of understanding.

"How did—?"

"It's the same way I feel whenever I work with Mr. Stark," he replied with a shrug, "The Avengers aren't called 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' for nothing, and I'm just a kid with spider powers that doesn't know everything about the hero game yet either. Sometimes it feels like—"

"—what you're doing isn't enough?"

Peter smiled. "Yeah, something like that."

...

Tony frowned at his tablet as he watched the two teens explore his workshop, mulling over their conversation in his mind. They certainly gave him a lot to think about. He was pulled out his thoughts though when Robin continued.

"Batman once told me that, even though our best isn't always enough, what we were able to do still matters," the ebony vigilante explained with a smile so small Tony almost missed it, "There will be times when we can't save everyone, and there will be criminals that get away. But the crooks we do catch and the people we do save, they matter too. And sometimes, that's enough."

Robin shook his head and scratched the side of his mask as though something was irritating it.

"Enough of this mushy stuff," he determined, "It's time for us to get traught and figure out how to make a portal to my Earth."

"What does traught mean?" Peter asked.

"It's the opposite of distraught," the teen explained simply.

Peter shrugged. "Oh, dude check this out. Mr. Stark has the coolest tech for making holo-blueprints. It even runs simulations to see if what we're building will work."

"Asterous!"

"What does—you know what, never mind."

Tony scratched his short beard contemplatively.

Even though our best wasn't enough, what we were able to do still matters.

But the crooks we do catch and the people we do save, they matter too.

Iron Man would never admit that he'd ever fully trust the little troll, let alone actually start to care about the kid, but maybe, just maybe, Robin was on their side. Maybe he was a hero. They would just have to wait and see.