Peter Parker knew that the Wayne's were hospitable, but he hadn't expected the sheer intensity of it. Ever since going back to dinner after getting fresh air with Tim, they had been extra careful and nice with him.
Dick had taken his dish to the kitchen after he finished devouring the food Alfred had prepared, even though Peter had assured them that he was fine and could do it himself.
Stephanie, Cassandra, and Tim all hung out with him after they were all done eating. The four went to the same media room as earlier and continued playing Mario Kart. Peter had a sneaking suspicion that they had stopped trying to beat him. Whether it was out of giving up or pity he couldn't tell.
Duke and Alfred entered around eleven, with the Butler whisking everyone away to prepare for bed. While Tim and Cassandra shut their own doors quietly on the bedroom hallway, Duke stopped Peter before he could get his alone time.
"Can we talk for a sec?" Duke requested with a quiet voice and a small smile. Peter hesitated, his door halfway closed already with Duke standing on the other side. With a slight nod, he let the older teen in.
"I just wanted to make sure you're okay after everything that happened earlier."
Peter frowned. As friendly as these people were, it was starting to get irritating. "I'm good, Duke." he replied honestly, sitting down on the bed while the other teen stayed hovering near the door. "You guys don't gotta worry."
"Tell that to Bruce." Duke rolled his eyes, and his little joke had made them both smile a bit. "..but yeah. Just know if you need something you can come to any of us."
" Any of you?"
"Well, maybe not Damian- "
The two fell into a quiet symphony of giggles behind their hands, sharing a fond smile with each other.
"Right right.. Just remember that I'm not some baby." Peter teased. "I'm not made of glass, either."
"We know, we know." Duke raised his hands defensively with an eye roll. "I'll lay off. But seriously: we're all just a few doors away if you need anything."
"I'll keep that in mind." Peter assured. He noticed Duke visibly relax, and he took that as a sign that Duke would actually listen. "I guess you have school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but Alfred and Dick will be here. I don't doubt Bruce will try to work from home, too."
Peter sighed quietly through his nose but nodded. The longer Bruce stayed home, the longer it would be until he could investigate whatever was underneath the Manor.
"Get some sleep, Peter. Alfred will come get you for breakfast." Duke's smile shined through his words, and he closed the door with a quiet click on his way out.
Finally alone, Peter allowed himself to fall back against the bed. The soft cushions, pillows, and blankets greeted him like a familiar hug. He wanted to lay down forever on this mattress of magnificence.
"You've had a busy day, Peter."
"No shit.." he mumbled, eyes falling shut. One by one, he felt his muscles unwind into the plush comfort below his body. "...got any updates for me?"
"Bruce Wayne, Timothy Drake-Wayne, Damian Wayne, and Stephanie Brown have all descended the hidden staircase in the first floor study."
Immediately his eyes shot open in surprise. "The room with the signal blockers?"
"Correct. The rest of the household is settling in as expected."
The teen frowned softly. Whatever that room was must have been a massive secret. Did the entire family know about it? Maybe it was only certain members.
Slowly, Peter sat up. As much as he wanted to continue relishing in the comforts of the bed, his curiosity was itching at his neck. With soft feet he slipped off of the bed and crossed the bedroom, exiting silently into the hallway.
With Karen's guidance, a barefoot Peter Parker navigated through the Manor's halls and staircases like a stalking predator. His footsteps were calculated and precise, and thanks to the supercomputer talking in his ear, he was able to avoid any and all creaky floorboards and stair steps.
Getting downstairs was the easy part. Gaining access to the underground room would be the real challenge here.
When Peter entered the first floor study, it was much more normal than he had been expecting. The large wooden desk and tall shelves framed the room with a blanket of dark colors and organized knick knacks.
An entire shelf had been dedicated to framed photos. Upon closer inspection, Peter easily recognized the various members of the family at various different ages. Despite not actually being related, young Dick and young Jason looked extremely similar. It was hard to tell them apart aside from their different builds. The lack of baby photos of anyone made Peter's chest lurch uncomfortably. All of these kids came from some sort of bad place that required them to be adopted by a billionaire.
Peter left the family photos alone in favor of inspecting the back wall. Two bookshelves, identical in build and messiness, stood on either side of an exquisite grandfather clock.
"Staircase is located behind the clock."
"Yeah, I figured that one out…" Peter mumbled, glancing between the clock and the bookshelves. He was assuming that this was some sort of Scooby-Doo style hidden door that was activated by moving a book. "..but which one…" he wondered out loud, scanning the spines and titles.
Pulling on Bruce's row of mystery novels did nothing (though he was delighted to discover that Sherlock Holmes existed here, too). The encyclopedias, thesauruses, and atlases were too dusty to have been pulled recently, so he didn't even bother trying. The various legal dictionaries were of mild interest, but their lack of organization told Peter that they were all read too often to be connected to a lever.
Despite all of his deductions, Peter resorted to tugging on each book individually. The tedious task took longer than he would have liked to admit, and resulted in failure.
With a somewhat frustrated frown, Peter wiped his now dusty hand off on the purple sweater and moved back to the clock. He tried feeling along the sides for some sort of button or lever, but found nothing on the old polished wood. It was flush against the back wall, as well, meaning that this staircase was hidden well for a reason.
In a bout of frustration, Peter pulled away from the antique and kicked at the ground like a stubborn child. It was juvenile, but a good way to quietly let out his feelings during this escapade. Despite the immaturity of the movement, though, it made Peter look down at the floor, where very faint scratch marks had formed in the wood.
They were curved into an arch that started at the base of the clock and ended somewhere else on the floor. The path of motion was obvious, and after a few quick calculations in his mind, he was able to visualize the full angle of motion as well.
"...you said that Tim, Mr. Wayne, Damian, and Stephanie went down?" Peter asked, hearing a light tone of confirmation in his ear. "I know you can't see down there, but what about thermals?"
There was a brief moment of silence.
"The four heat signatures are still down there."
Peter huffed through his nose. If they were gonna stay down there all night, then there was no possibility he could even look around if he found a way down.
The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end in time with a faint buzzing up his spine. Momentarily, Peter held his breath, whispering. "Keep me updated on if they move."
A second later, the door to the study was pushed open. The figure in the doorway was one of the largest in the house, and the teen was quick to recognize Dick's surprised eyes looking at him.
"...Pete, you okay?" Dick asked carefully, keeping his eyes on the boy with a mild flicker of concern. "It's late, what are you doing down here?"
"I just thought I heard something, and I got curious." he replied readily, glancing away from the man with semi-fake embarrassment. It was shitty getting caught.
Dick's mouth pressed into a worried frown, and he sighed. "...C'mon, let's go back up to your room."
Peter didn't argue as the man led him out of the study and back up the stairs, down the long winding hallways and through archways until they stood in front of the room Peter was staying in.
Your room, he thought. That's what Dick had called it. Surely it had just been a slip of the tongue, though.
"Do you need anything? Water, or maybe a snack?" Dick asked, leaning on the doorway while Peter fell back onto his bed, wrinkling the blankets.
"No, I'm okay." he responded with a hum. "Thanks, though." After a pause and slight contemplation, Peter sat up enough to look at dick, propped up on his elbows. "...what were you doing down there?"
A little detective work never hurt anyone.
Dick visibly froze, and like a deer in headlights, he was reeling for some sort of answer. The behavior only made Peter all the more curious.
"I was getting myself some water and heard some shuffling in the study. Thought I would check it out. I thought maybe one of Damian's animals got stuck in there again."
The answer was less interesting than Peter had expected, but part of it did grasp his attention. "Damian has pets?" he raised his brows in light surprise.'
Dick smiled. "Oh yeah, he's got loads. There's a barn out back for his cow, there's a cat running around somewhere, two dogs…"
"Geeze, I didn't take him for the type." Peter joked, rolling his eyes and shuffling underneath the blankets.
"None of us did, but it's his soft spot." The man in the doorway smiled, standing to leave. He grabbed the doorknob, closing the door as he said his goodnight.
When the door clicked shut, and Peter heard Dick walk away, he let out a big breath he had been holding, tension melting from his shoulders.
"...that was too close, Karen."
"My apologies, I hadn't noticed him approaching."
Peter hesitated. "...you didn't notice him?"
"No."
He frowned, staring up at his ceiling as his brows slowly pinched together. This family just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"You guys really need to be more careful about coming down here." The voice of Dick made Damian, Bruce, and Steph turn their heads towards the stairwell leading up to the Manor. The man in question was frowning, hands shoved deep in his pajama pockets as he approached the group standing at the Batcomputer. "I found Pete in the study on my way down here. He said he heard something and wanted to investigate."
Tim, still in his own pajamas (which were Superman themed), turned in the desk chair to give Dick a confused look. "His room is on the opposite end of the house, let alone an entirely different floor. How did he hear something?"
"I dunno, but that's not the point I'm getting to." Dick rolled his eyes, then looked at Bruce, who was wearing his Batman suit minus the cowl. "You gotta be more careful. Pete's not like us, he doesn't know about us."
"You talk like Father was the one making the noise." Damian, wearing the Robin suit and mask, immediately stepped in, glaring at his older brother. "Do you forget exactly who he is ? My bets are that Peter Parker heard Stephanie or Timothy's loud mouth."
"Hey, don't drag me into this, you Demon-Spawn." Steph huffed, pushing blonde hair back out of her face. She hadn't suited up yet, but was preparing to step away to do just that.
"Kids." Bruce spoke, stopping any more accusations or theories from being thrown out. He gave Tim, Steph, and Damian similar looks of stop arguing , effectively silencing them. "Thank you for telling us, Dick. We'll be more careful." He nodded to his eldest.
Dick smiled, walking up the shallow steps and landing on the platform of the Batcomputer. He looked up at the screen when he noticed Tim turn back to the keyboard, fingers flying across the keys.
"Whatcha up to, Timbers?"
"Running DNA samples on Peter." he hummed. "Alfred brought me some. They're processing in the lab, so while I wait, I'm doing some digging on him."
"And?"
"There aren't any records for a Peter Parker from Queens, so I extended the search to the rest of the country. A few results, but I don't think that our Peter is a forty-eight year-old man from Wales with two kids living in Virginia." Tim rolled his eyes, and Dick snorted.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound very accurate. Have you filtered yet?"
"Yeah, still nothing."
"Tim, try looking into a May Jameson-Parker." Bruce interrupted, and his two sons looked over at his word.
With a nod, Tim went back to typing. By now, Stephanie had ran off to the changing stalls to get ready. Damian, despite reflecting sheer distaste for the topic, was glancing to the computer screen occasionally from his father's side.
After a few moments, an electronic file expanded across the wide screen of the Batcomputer. A picture of a woman with rosy-beige skin and rich brown hair stared back at the group of vigilantes. She had wrinkles from smiling, and a few stray silver hairs were mixed into her locks.
Along with her photo came a passport, driver's license, birth certificate, and death certificate.
"...she died four years ago in New York." Tim said. A few more presses of a button, and her immediate family members' pictures appeared on the screen. A mother, a father, grandparents, cousins, her own aunts and uncles, and…
"Benjamin Franklin Parker. Died at the same time as May." Bruce vocalized, a frown falling across his face. "...Peter never mentioned his parents. Just these two, and his mentor."
"Got a name?"
"Tony Stark."
Seconds later, a search was filtered through every American government database that existed. Bruce never failed to be impressed by Tim's abilities.
"...I'm not seeing anything that immediately stands out." Tim admitted with some slight frustration. The name was so unique, and only two results had showed up. One of those was for a three-year-old boy, and the other was for someone who recently had their name changed legally.
"That's alright. Not every lead will give us an answer." Bruce assured, noticing Tim's disheartened expression. "...why don't you hang back tonight, Tim. You can help us on comms with Oracle while you wait for the lab results."
Tim opened his mouth to argue, but the thought of being the first person to get Peter's results back was too good to miss. This kid had been so strange already that he couldn't contain his curiosity.
Satisfied, Bruce turned to Damian, Dick, and Stephanie who had recently come back from the changing stalls. "Dick, are you up for a patrol?"
The man in question sighed dramatically, leaning his head back. "I guess ." he grumbled, but was unable to cover up the little smile gracing his features. "Give me a few minutes to get ready."
While Dick trudged away to get suited up, and Stephanie joined Tim at the computer to ask about the DNA tests, Bruce's attention was grabbed by Damian.
"Father, I'd like a word with you." he demanded, voice tight.
Bruce frowned, but nodded. The two crossed the Bat Cave, getting far enough away from the others where they could speak quietly to each other in low tones without being overheard.
"...I do not like Peter Parker." Damian admitted, glaring at the stone floor below his boots. "There is something wrong with him. He's not–"
"Normal?" Bruce finished for his youngest. After a second, Damian gave a tight, affirmative nod. "...I know, Damian. Alfred said that he came here in some sort of super suit."
"I am worried that he is not who he says he is. Why didn't his name come up when Drake searched? Or his mentor's? What if he has been lying this entire time–"
"Son," Bruce cut him off quickly, kneeling down on a knee and resting a heavy hand on his shoulder. The contact made Damian blink harshly, forcing himself to look his father in the eye. "...your concerns are valid. He could be lying to us. But I think I'd rather him lie to us here , where we can keep an eye on him, than let him be somewhere else where we have no control."
Damian bit the inside of his cheek. It was a habit that Bruce quickly noticed both Damian and Peter shared. He got the feeling that they were more similar than Damian would want to admit.
"Alfred is going to make the call to Jason tonight." That made Damian's eyes widen a bit. "We've got some suspicions about Peter, and he's going to be able to help us quite a lot if he agrees."
"Jason is coming home?" Damian asked, having to mask his obvious hope with a forced scowl. "You think that's a good idea?"
"I do." Bruce confirmed with a nod. "And I think that having Jason around anytime is a good thing. He's mine, just like you are, Damian."
The youngest Wayne son could only nod, glare forming on his face when Dick approached the two, wearing his blue and black suit and domino mask.
"Alright, B, I'm ready when you guys are." Dick smiled, cracking his knuckles. He whistled toward the computer, grabbing the attention of Steph, who jogged over to the group after saying goodbye to Tim.
With his children gathered and all of their gear ready, the patrol group went to their respective modes of transportation, and took off into the night of Gotham.
"You want me to do what?" Peter asked, eyes widening at Bruce across the counter. The spoon in his own hand, full of milk and cereal, was left hovering close to his mouth as he stared in slight disbelief at him.
"I'd like for you to register for school, Peter." Bruce repeated, a careful smile on his face. "You're still young, and I think it would be good for you to get that opportunity."
The teen grew quiet, chewing the inside of his cheek. Bruce wanted him to go to school. That could be potentially great and disastrous at the same time.
On one hand, if Peter went to school, he could have access to a chemistry lab once more. This would mean he could start making his own web fluid again, and becoming Spider-man would be so much easier.
On the other hand, if Peter went to school, then Bruce would find out he had no papers. No birth certificate, no family, no proof of citizenship… Bruce would discover that Peter was not supposed to exist.
And that could be very disastrous.
"..I'm uh, not so sure, Mr. Wayne." Peter glanced awkwardly to the side, trying to make up an excuse at the speed of light. Despite his efforts, nothing he could think of made sense.
"We would take it slow, Peter." Bruce assured evenly. "You're supposed to be in the tenth grade, but since the term is ending so soon, we'll let you choose whether or not you progress to the eleventh."
Repeating sophomore year? That sounded horrible.
"Can you tell me the name of your previous school?" Bruce asked, folding his hands patiently on the countertop in front of himself.
Peter chewed his cheek once more. Did Midtown exist here? He hadn't thought that far ahead when he was doing research in the Library.
"Midtown School of Science and Technology. It's in New York." Oh well, he might as well take a shot.
Surprisingly, Bruce's eyes held some sort of recognition. "I believe I've heard of that one. It requires an entrance exam, yes?"
Peter nodded, looking down at his cereal bowl. The relief he felt was immense, but he couldn't outwardly show it.
"That makes you a very smart kid, Peter." The man of the house affirmed. "The school that my children attend, Gotham Preparatory School, also requires an entrance exam." Bruce explained. "I'm sure they aren't too different from each other."
"..would I take the exam now, since the term is ending soon?" Peter asked. "Or would I wait until August?"
"That would be up to you, Pete." Bruce smiled. "It all depends on when you feel ready to start."
Peter let the thought roll around in his brain. Overall, despite the risks involved, going to school honestly sounded really good right about now. The pros outweighed the cons. Besides, technically Bruce was already hiding Peter from CPS, and he was rich. If Peter didn't make his own fake records, he was sure that Bruce could have it done.
"...I don't uh.. I don't have any records." Peter mumbled, stirring his soggy cereal around in the bowl. He wasn't complaining, though. Soggy frosted flakes were the best.
Bruce seemed to mull this revelation over for a few moments, brows pinching together as he thought. "...we'll pull some strings, Peter."
Once again, the instant relief was satisfying, but he neglected to show it through his body language. Instead, he mumbled a quiet cool and finished his cereal in silence.
Bruce left the kitchen shortly after Peter finished eating, promising him that he could have everything sorted out in a few weeks. The teen smiled, waving to Bruce as the man exited the kitchen.
Alfred was surprisingly not around. After asking Karen, she confirmed that the man was currently cleaning the bedrooms, and was making Stephanie's bed at the current moment. Bruce had disappeared to the first floor study, which unfortunately meant no snooping there.
Once again, Peter was left with nothing to do. For a house so big and full of life, it was easy to get bored when the rest of the kids his age were at school.
" Boo– " A sudden shout and hands on his shoulders made Peter yelp, surprising him as his senses took over. In milliseconds he had grabbed the empty cereal bowl and weaponized the porcelain, swinging it back and turning his body in his stool to face the sudden presence that he hadn't noticed enter the room.
Dick shouted in surprise, catching Peter's wrist seconds before the bowl could collide with his head. His eyes were wide, and he stared down at Peter. "Woah– Peter it's just me–" he tried to quickly ease, a firm grip unwavering on the teen's wrist.
Peter sucked in a harsh breath through his teeth, eyes flickering across Dick's face. After a few seconds, he relaxed his shoulders, a feeling of unease washing over him.
"Shit- sorry– " he apologized, pulling himself away from Dick, much to the man's surprise. "I didn't hear you come in-"
"No, no it's okay, Peter-" Dick quickly affirmed, raising his hands up in mock surrender. For some reason, Dick was surprised when Peter pulled away. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you." he laughed awkwardly.
Peter allowed the rest of his body to fall out of its alert state, and fully sat back down on the barstool. "..sorry for trying to hit you with a bowl."
"Nope. You're good, kid." Dick smiled, slowly lowering his hands and dropping them into the pockets of his pajama pants. "You okay after last night? Hear any more suspicious sounds?" Dick teased, changing the subject.
The shift was welcomed readily by Peter. He sighed, rolling his eyes with a little smile. "..nah. That bed is too comfortable, though. I almost didn't get up when Alfred came to wake me up."
"Pfft– yeah, first night is always the coziest." Dick agreed, crossing the kitchen and getting his own bowl of cereal ready to eat. "You got a plan yet for today?"
"No, not really. Everyone else is at school, so I was just going to hang out. Maybe take a few naps." Peter snickered, shaking his head. He could never get too many naps.
"Oh, c'mon. Naps are no fun. It's a nice day, why not go outside?" Dick suggested, sitting one stool away from Peter. "The property is huge. Maybe you could go meet Damian's cow?"
"Pfft, I dunno. I think the kid might kill me if I went anywhere near his animals." Peter joked, resting his head in his hand. "..I could go outside, though. Maybe explore."
"That sounds like a good idea. You shouldn't stay cooped up all day, this place is so dark." Dick hummed, pulling out his phone.
Peter stared at the device, envy creeping up his neck. Oh how he missed having one of those, even if the ones in this universe were outdated. "...yeah, tell me about it."
After a few minutes, Dick glanced over to Peter from his screen and paused, realization dawned on him. "...you don't have a phone, do you?"
"Nope." The teen confirmed.
Dick frowned, looking back down at his screen. "..would you want a phone? It would let you easily keep in contact with everyone." he suggested. "Even while the others are at school, you could still text them?"
"It might be a while before I can pay for a phone, but eventually getting one would be nice." Dick opened his mouth to speak, but Peter started again before he could. "And I know you're gonna say something like Bruce can pay for it , right?"
Dick shut his mouth.
"Exactly. I'm not gonna ask Mr. Wayne for a phone, those are expensive. Even if he is a billionaire, I haven't done anything to warrant getting a phone." Peter shrugged. "I'll get one eventually."
"...if you say so, Pete." Dick relented, but still seemed mostly unconvinced. "...but if you ever do wanna ask-"
"I will, I promise." Peter snickered, lightly kicking Dick with his foot. "Aren't you a cop? Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?"
"I took the day off." Dick shrugged. "New kid in the Manor is a big deal to this family. I'll drive back to Blüdhaven tonight."
"So you'll be home all day?"
"Mhm."
"...wanna show me around outside?"
Dick smiled, setting his phone down on the counter and taking a bite of cereal. After chewing, swallowing, and clearing his throat, he responded.
"Why I'd love to, Pete."
Batchat
Dick ; Peter is HELLA strong guys
Steph ; oh yeah?
Dick ; Yeah. I just nightwing-gripped his wrist because he swung when I accidentally scared him, and he managed to pull away without even struggling
Steph ; DAM
Bruce ; Language. Dick, where are you two right now?
Dick ; About to head outside, he wants to explore the property
Bruce ; See if you can test any more of his abilities while you two are outside. I've got a suspicion that I'd like to see if you can confirm.
Dick ; You're talkin like Tim but whats up :D ?
Bruce ; Peter could potentially be a meta.
Duke ; guys I'm in class please stop spamming.
Duke ; WHAT.
Duke ; GUYS WHAT.
Duke ; BRUCE DON'T JSUT SAY TH AT THEN NOT RESPOND.