When Stephanie Brown first met Peter Parker, she did not think much of him. Sure, he had appeared out of nowhere, and was apparently dumpster diving when Alfred found him, but to her, he was like every other member of the family. When the possibility of him being meta was announced to the Batchat, she became much more engaged than she previously had been. This quickly escalated from regular Tuesday for the Wayne family to potential super under the Manor roof.
And now, coming home after classes at Gotham University, she stumbles upon the entire family peering into one of the many libraries, staring at Peter on the ceiling .
Huh. This just got about twelve levels deeper.
Dick Grayson left for five minutes. He just had to use the bathroom, and it seems that his timing was, as usual, was the worst . The first thing that he saw, when rounding the corner to return to the library, was Damian throwing the doors open and barging inside.
Isn't he supposed to be in the Batcave?
Dick reached the doors at the same time as Bruce, who did not even say hello. Instead, he ran in, shouting, with frustration laced in his tone. It caught him off guard at first- who was he mad at?
" Damian Wayne– "
Well that answered that question. Seconds later, in a blur of moving bodies and thrown punches, Peter fell back. Dick winced, bracing to hear the crash of the lanky teen on the table, and when it never came, he blinked in confusion.
And suddenly, Peter was on the ceiling.
"Shit, B–" Tim winced, stumbling after his father with wide eyes. "I'm sorry– someone should have been watching him, but he wandered off when we got home from school so we just assumed–" he tried explaining, but in the end knew that it would not make the situation better.
Way to go, Tim Drake, overexplaining your actions once more.
Bruce, despite his age, was miles faster than Tim, meaning that while he and the others got further, Tim only lagged behind. It was as unfortunate as it was handy, because at least he got to better prepare himself for what was waiting in the library.
Firstly, Jason was doing nothing. Good job, big bro. Real responsible of you. Even worse , Peter was nowhere to be found.
"Wh- Where is–"
Tim's eyes drifted up, and when he saw the teen hanging from the ceiling , palms flat against the surface, he could not stop his jaw from dropping.
Cass knew that Peter was different. She could tell from the moment that they met. She found it funny how he thought that he was good at hiding it, but the constant flickering of his eyes, and the way he tensed up almost all the time, gave it all away.
She just wished that he could understand that things would be okay.
She was not sure what she had been expecting when she reached the library door and peered around Bruce's side, but seeing Damian and Peter fighting certainly made sense in the grand scheme of things. But was it really a fight if Peter was not punching back?
His movements were all extremely calculated, though, she could see the gears turning at light speed in his mind. It was as impressive as it was surprising.
Then, next thing she knew, Peter had shot something out of his wrists, attached it to the ceiling of the room, and hoisted himself up with the strength of an olympic deadlifter. Once again, it was impressive.
Until she saw the expression of utter panic on his face, and her impressed feelings turned to those of concern.
Duke should have been expecting this. From the moment Bruce had proposed Peter being meta, he had started picking up on little things. The way Peter walked, the way he looked like he always had something to say… It finally started making sense.
He really wished that he could trust his gut more, because his gut told him from the moment that he and Peter had met that Peter was different. Different like him.
Hearing that he had Arachnid DNA had been a shock, but the radioactivity in his cells was even worse.
It was like his family had said: Peter, realistically, should be dead.
But here he was, going toe-to-toe with an al Ghul. Damian to be exact. At first, Duke wanted to step in the moment he spotted them fighting. Peter was going to get himself hurt, or worse.
But he kept dodging, weaving, and ducking. It almost looked like a dance. It confused him more than anything else- Peter had so much experience. He was not just a meta, he was a trained meta.
A trained meta who went from the floor to the ceiling in less than two seconds.
Jason was more confused than he had been in a long time. Clearly he was missing some sort of information, especially when Damian started accusing him of being a meta.
Maybe he should not leave the family group chat as much as he does.
"Dames–" he said through gritted teeth, reaching for his brother's shoulder only to be shoved away. "Kid, you gotta stop–"
But Damian ignored him, and while the kid advanced with a deadly glint in his eyes, Peter ducked, dodged, weaved, and avoided everything thrown at him.
Almost everything.
Damian side stepped and got a lucky strike, and it was from a move that Jason very clearly recognized as being from the League of Assassins. A deadly move.
Jason moved before he could even think, reaching and grabbing Damian once more. He wanted to shout, but before he could, the sound of fast movement through the air caught his attention.
He looked up, freezing with wide eyes and a slack jaw. Peter was on the ceiling.
Damian did not think that he was doing anything wrong. He had a duty to protect his family, and he would let nothing stand in his way. Not Father, not Jason, and certainly not the outsider.
The outsider was the problem, after all. The outsider was the reason that Damian even felt the need to protect at the moment. He did not belong here .
Honestly, he was not even sure what he was saying. All that he knew was that he was speaking, Jason was trying to stop him, and Bruce was shouting from the doorway to the Library.
But Damian ignored them, with his goal hard set in his mind. Peter Parker would no longer be a threat to this family- Damian's family.
He stepped forward, and Peter took two steps back. Damian went one direction and Peter went the other. He swung, and Peter ducked with seconds to spare. It would have gone on forever, if not for Damian's specialized training.
At least he could thank the League of Assassins for something.
But no amount of League training could have prepared Damian for Peter flying. Or at least, he thought that he was flying. Upon quick and closer inspection, though, Peter was not flying.
No, he had created webs from his wrists and pulled himself to the ceiling. And based on Peter's expression, he was just as startled as Damian was.
There was a ringing in his ears, a pounding in his chest, and a fuzzy voice in his right ear. Peter's senses had gone on overdrive, and frankly, he felt like he was dying.
He had not even lasted a week, and the Wayne's already knew he was not entirely human. Every possible horrible scenario came to mind- the inevitability of his outcasting hitting him harder than a brick to the chest.
They're going to kick me out, Peter's mind rambled. They're going to turn me into some freaky government organization. They're going to have me removed–
"Peter, your senses are working on overdrive. Would you like for me to advise?"
Peter's mouth was dry, he couldn't answer. He looked up to his hands, which were flat against the ceiling and sticking like his life depended on it- It does depend on it, Damian still hates me.
He looked down toward the floor of the library, legs dangling with the light fixtures. Peter glanced between the different members of the family, some having filed in, others standing in the doorway in shock.
There was no way he was coming down. Not yet at least. So, he hoisted himself up, flipping upside down and sitting on the ceiling, tilting his neck and watching the family.
"...I knew it !-" Damian lashed out, shouting expletives in a language that definitely was not English, and made the teen flinch. Peter wished he understood, watching as Dick dragged Damian out of the room by his arms. The door was shut behind them.
This room had windows, Peter could still get out. He wasn't entirely trapped. He still had an out.
"...Peter," Bruce started evenly, keeping his voice measured. "...I apologize on Damian's behalf, this is not how he should have approached this." When Peter didn't answer, he took it as his cue to continue. "...I understand that you're probably terrified right now, but let me try to assure you: we aren't upset."
Peter's neck hairs stood on end at his words. He glanced from Bruce's stony face to Jason's slack jaw, which he quickly snapped shut after a few seconds. He nodded in agreement, glancing from the teen on the ceiling to the man of the house.
"...Yeah, Pete, it's not.. Well, I mean it is a big deal, but we aren't gonna hurt you-" Duke stumbled over his words, trying to find the right thing to say. "We had some, uh, suspicions, but this just.. confirms them."
They, knew . Peter felt himself pale at Duke's statement. He had been so careful, and they somehow figured him out before he even had a chance to join the game.
"...you guys are gonna try sending me off, aren't you?" Peter asked, a shake in his voice that he failed to control. No matter how hard he tried steeling himself, it didn't work. So he swallowed his emotions as best as he could.
"No, Peter." Bruce replied, taking a small step forward, closer to where Peter was. "We won't send you away. We already told you that you could stay for as long as you wanted, right?"
"..yeah, but that was before–"
"Before this?" Tim cut in, crossing his arms and raising a brow at Peter. "...dude, do you really think we care?"
"...I read somewhere that Batman has a no metas rule." Peter replied, pulling thoughts together enough to remember his first night in Gotham. At the library, during all of his research, he had learned as much as he could about the city and its vigilantes.
The room fell quiet again, and Peter knew that he had struck something. "...he'll find out about me."
"...I don't think he'll mind." Jason spoke up, relaxing himself in hopes that Peter would mimic the posture. Peter didn't. "..Y'know, the daytime Vigilante, Signal, is a meta."
Peter paused once more, brows pinching together. Since when, nothing online said that.
"It's not commonly known, but I've seen him." Jason assured, picking up one of the knocked over chairs and sitting in it. "He's got some freaky ghost powers. It's pretty cool." he leaned back, propping his feet up on the table while he looked up at Peter. "...but the spider thing is even cooler. I mean- look at yourself, Peter. You're on the ceiling. "
"..yeah, and I don't know how I did that." he huffed, a bit frustrated. "I couldn't do that before-" he cut himself off, trying to think of the best way to complete his sentence without revealing the other Universe.
"...I couldn't do that before today. I've used artificial webs for a while."
"So you are a vigilante?" Steph cut in, smiling up at him. "That's so cool, what city were you based in before you came to Gotham?"
"...Queens."
"That's super cool, you must have been like, undercover or something. There hasn't been any news about a spider hero."
"Only spider villains." Tim snickered, rolling his eyes.
Peter wasn't sure how to respond. They were being extremely calm about this. Well, except for Damian. Inwardly, he wondered where Dick had dragged the kid off to. He hoped that Dick wasn't being too harsh- Damian was just… scared. He had every right to feel scared.
"...I'm uh, y'know.." Peter sighed. "..friendly neighborhood Spider-man." he gave a small, awkward smile, shoulders relaxing at his sides a bit. "...I do little guy stuff."
"Little guy stuff?" Jason asked.
"..yeah, y'know.. Cats in trees, stolen purses, catching the bus for someone…" he shrugged. "..Little guy stuff."
"A vigilante for the people." Bruce smiled softly. "That's great work, Peter. Though, I'm sure it was stressful working alone at such a young age."
"Ehh, I get by." he shrugged again, smile becoming a bit more real. "At least my grades were still high."
"So how'd you become meta?" Tim asked, sitting on the table that Jason had propped his feet up on. By this point, everyone in the family had their necks craned to look at the teen on the ceiling.
"I was bit by a radioactive spider." Peter rolled his eyes. "Not very impressive, but within a day, I was stronger, had better senses… y'know, basic stuff."
"That is far from basic." Duke huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm almost jealous."
"Don't be." Peter hummed. "I heal fast, but that means I have to eat more. I have a hella high metabolism."
"No wonder Alfred made you seven omelets." Bruce huffed out a small laugh. "...Peter, it's alright that you're meta, and it's alright that you're a vigilante. This city has many of those, y'know."
"Yeah, I know." Peter hummed quietly.
"Do you think you'll try picking up your vigilante work again here in Gotham?"
"...I wanna try. But my, uh, suit is a little messed up. I was hoping to find some sort of sponsor."
Tim paused, arching another brow. "Sponsor? What for?"
"Well, Batman has one, right?" Peter asked, glancing at everyone. "He's got all this tech, he has to have some sort of person or company funding him."
"...I guess so." Tim mumbled, glancing down. "That definitely makes sense." he thought for a few seconds. "...y'know, I'm pretty good with tech. Maybe I could take a look at your suit if you still have it?"
Peter hesitated. "...I wouldn't wanna rope you guys into it. Vigilante work isn't really something to play about."
Tim deadpanned. "We're a rich family living in the most crime-ridden city on the planet, Peter. We know ."
"...right." he huffed. "...I appreciate the offer, but uh, I'd like to work on it myself. Tony made my suit for me, and I don't want.. Anything to get messed up." he completed, and got silence in return.
That's right, they didn't know much about Tony. He had kept any information about the man sealed behind tight lips.
"...It's just important that I fix it myself."
"That's alright." Bruce assured. "Is you being a meta the reason that you don't have any documents?"
Peter nodded, following his trail of common sense. "Yeah, I'm not in any systems."
"Understood. I'll have that handled in no time." Bruce nodded, making a mental note to himself. "...Do you think you could come down now? I'm in no way doubting your… sticky powers, but I'd rather you be on the ground in case you fall."
Peter huffed, rolling his eyes with a little smile. "..yeah, I guess." Slowly, Peter released his hands and legs from the ceiling, falling into a flip and landing on his feet after the short fall.
Everyone in the room let out various sighs of relief now that he was on two feet once more, and Peter suddenly felt small once more. The ceiling had been safe, but he had no clue where Damian was.
"...don't worry about Dames, he'll get over it." Jason waved off the unsaid issue, as if reading Peter's mind. The teen nodded in understanding, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"You should go rest, Peter. I'm sure this was exhausting for you." Bruce suggested, taking Peter's shoulder and carefully steering him to the doors. When he pushed them open, Alfred was waiting on the other side with a gentle smile.
"Young Peter, allow me to escort you to your room."
The speed at which the family ran to the cave was olympic in measure. When Peter was safely in his room, and Alfred let the family know, they were all rushing to get to the confines of the Batcave.
"I can't believe that actually happened–" Tim said with wide eyes, following Cassandra down the steps behind the clock. Stephanie was behind himself.
"I know ! It was so cool seeing Peter on the ceiling- do you think he can crawl up walls, too? He has to, right? Since he's so sticky?" Stephanie gushed behind Tim, sounding rather excited over this all.
"Do you think he can control his sticky powers?" Duke asked from up ahead, already stepping down onto the cave floor with Bruce and Jason. Cass, Tim, and Stephanie followed closely after.
"I'd think so- he hasn't done anything like that before this." Tim hummed. "And he said that the webs were new, he couldn't do that before today."
"Do you think he made his own artificial webs?" Duke asked again as the family gathered together.
"Has to." Tim confirmed. "I'd love to see his formula."
"He wants to pursue vigilante work." Bruce added, changing topics completely. Though, in his defense, this was the more important discussion to be had. "Tim, I need you to do some research into Spider-man."
"Already planned on it." Tim nodded with a thumbs up. "Surely I can find something about him in a New York paper."
"We need to decide whether or not we'll be… working with him." Bruce stoned, crossing his arms as his brows pinched. "I don't want him to get hurt, Gotham's crime is much different than Queens'.
"Well, obviously we're gonna help him out." Stephanie huffed, rolling her eyes. "I thought that was a given?"
"We can help him, but do we tell him?" Jason glanced between Stephanie and Bruce. "Like, is he gonna know that Red Hood is also Jason Todd?"
"No." Bruce immediately replied, giving Jason a look. "Absolutely not. Not until we figure out who made him."
"You heard the guy, it was a radioactive spider, right?" Duke questioned.
"Who made the spider?" Bruce shot back, raising a brow. When he got no answers, he hummed, sensing that he had won that back and forth. "Exactly my point. Peter was made this way for a reason, and we need to know what that reason is before we can fully trust him."
"Woah, hold on now-" Tim glared a bit. "Peter wouldn't hurt us. I trust him- he'd have done something already." he crossed his arms. "Plus, you saw how terrified he was. He wasn't fighting Damian, either, he was dodging."
"He was holding back, Tim. We don't know what his capabilities are."
"He was holding back because he didn't want to hurt Damian- he won't want to hurt any of us."
"But would he hurt a fellow vigilante?"
"No."
Bruce and Tim stared at each other, a silent standoff being initiated by their eye contact. Wars raged in their minds, reflected in the intensity of their stares.
It was Tim who had to break away first, huffing in frustration. Bruce always won those. "I still trust him."
"Trust him as much as you want, Tim, but be careful . He can't know about all of this."
"Not yet." Jason adjusted Bruce's words, giving the man a look. "If we find out he's in the clear, I'm speaking up. The kid deserves to have someone on his side."
"Jason," Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's not that simple-"
"Yeah, it is actually. Bruce, I may work with you, but you don't have control over me." Jason stated firmly. "I make my own decisions, and it's been that way since day one. Don't be surprised if Spider-man starts working with Red Hood more than he works with Batman."
"...just be careful , Jaylad." Bruce urged. "For now, don't do anything hasty."
"Hasty is my middle name." Jason snorted, rolling his eyes. "I'm satisfied, so I'm headed back upstairs. I've gotta put away all of those books we were looking at."
As he started toward the stairs, Jason thought, then spoke.
"Oh, and Tim." He beckoned, not looking back. "While looking into Spider-man, do me a favor and look up a book called 'The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.'"
"What for?" Tim asked, nose wrinkling in confusion.
"Just do it."
The cave fell silent for a few moments, aside from the bats squeaking and flying overhead. The family all shared glances, listening to Jason's steps grow fainter as he went up the stairs.
"...What I'm about to say applies to all of you," Bruce started, giving all of his kids a testy look. "Peter cannot know your double identities. Is that understood?"
A chorus of murmured confirmations, and nods from the four teens, satisfied Bruce enough to let his shoulders relax down once more.
"Good. That's all. Tim, start on that digging as soon as possible."
"Mhm." Tim rolled his eyes, elbowing Stephanie as he walked past. "C'mon, blondie, I want company while I do this."
The two walked to the Batcomputer together, with Tim falling into the seat and Stephanie sitting on the desk. Cassandra, Duke, and Bruce all filed upstairs after a few more moments, going two different ways. The teens toward the library to help Jason, and Bruce toward the kitchen. His mouth was dry from the events of the day, and he could really use a water.
"Young Peter," Alfred said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed as the teen tried relaxing under the covers. Despite the deescalation that happened earlier, he was still extremely on edge. His tingle hadn't stopped tingling. "Do you know who Nightwing is?"
Peter hesitated. "...I've read about him, but I don't know the guy. I've never seen him in person."
"He's the shadow of Blüdhaven, a neighboring city to Gotham." Alfred explained, folding his gloved hands neatly in his lap. "Once, he was in Gotham, assisting our local vigilante's in a rather large stand off against the Joker. I'm sure you've heard of him, too."
Peter nodded.
"Well, Nightwing became incredibly injured. It was so bad, in fact, that he had to momentarily retreat to deal with his wounds. But Gotham is certainly not the cleanest, nor is it the friendliest. He was struggling to find a good place to recoup."
"Instead of finding an abandoned building, or an empty alleyway, though, he found Jason."
Peter paused, letting the thought sink in. He imagined Jason, the beast of muscle, encountering a trained vigilante. Jason could almost be a villain based purely on his looks.
"And Jason helped Nightwing patch himself up." Alfred finished.
"...okay?" Peter hesitated, not quite sure what to take of that short anecdote.
"...what I'm trying to say, Young Peter, is that this family is not adverse to the ways of vigilante's and crime fighters." Alfred stood, dusting off the front of his pants, then pulling the blankets further up over Peter. "We're well accustomed to their ways. Even moreso, the ways of metas. I wish to assure you that this house is safe . We would do nothing to hinder or hurt you."
Peter nodded, feeling exhaustion tackle him once more. Alfred's voice was just soothing, and the motion of tucking him in was so damn comforting..
"Get some rest, and I shall wake you for dinner."
"Thanks, Mr. Pennyworth."
"Of course, Young Peter."
"It's not fair, Grayson–" Damian threw a hard punch, which landed home on his oldest brother's torso. The man didn't flinch, but stepped away. He could play human punching bag as long as Damian stayed mad. "All I was doing was–"
"Protecting us." Dick finished for the kid, sighing and blocking another hit. "You've said that ten times already, Dames."
"And you neglect to listen–" Damian scowled, falling away for a few seconds and breathing hard. Frustration, anger, and adrenaline made his muscles pulse in time with his fast heartbeat. "Just like the rest of this damned family–"
"I am listening, Dames." the man tried to assure, taking this pause in Damian's assault to breathe for himself. They had been at it for half an hour already. "I think it's you who should start listening a bit better."
" What –" Damian scoffed, glare falling onto his face once more as he moved in to continue his attack. Dick fell back into his defensive motion, dodging and blocking the little assassin's fists and kicks.
"We get that you want us to be safe-" Dick started, blocking a punch with his forearm and lightly shoving Damian away. "But we're already safe- you would know that if you would listen to us, and the way we talk about Pete–"
"Peter Parker is an intruder, Grayson–"
"He's not intruding, he was invited to stay-" Dick reminded, side stepping the kid and watching him recover in a roll. The cushioned mats of the Batcave's gym kept Damian from hurting himself on a fall. Not that he would on a regular floor, the kid was agile as all hell.
"He's a threat–"
"In that case, so is Jason and Duke-" Dick argued.
"They're different, they're family –"
"Peter's close enough to family, wouldn't you say?" Dick questioned, wincing as Damian landed a hard kick to his ribs. He shuffled back, crouching low to recover for a second. "He's got a room, he's been to a dinner- Dad's getting him registered in school–"
"He is not a Wayne –"
"Neither am I."
"You're- you're different– "
"Peter being Meta shouldn't be an issue, either." Dick reminded as Damian advanced once more. He grabbed the kid's arms, turning and holding him hard in place for a moment, despite his thrashing. "You're friends with Jon, right?"
"I don't care that he's a meta–" Damian spat, yanking away from Dick in a quick motion. He reared around, roundhouse kicking toward the man's jaw.
Dick grabbed his ankle inches from his face, frowning. "Then what's your deal?"
"My deal is that you are all fine with a dangerous individual coming along!- He's in our home, doing God knows what while we're all at school or work– we don't know who he's working for, or who made him–"
"That's something we're looking into, Damian." Dick assured, lowering Damian's ankle until the boy was flat on two feet once more. "And I'm sure if you'd like to help, Bruce would let you."
Damian huffed, panting breaths out as his heart started to slow down.
"..but you should apologize to Peter. He's a nice kid, and you probably scared him shitless."
"Good." Damian rolled his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists. "...I will not be apologizing."
"I think you should consider it, at the very least. It's not his fault that he's the way that he is." Dick reminded, crouching down to get on eye level. Blue met blue, and they looked at each other for a few moments of silence, the world calming down around them.
"...what happens when we find out who made him?"
"Well, if they made him for bad reasons, then we fight. That's what we do, right? Take down the bad, uplift the good?" Dick smiled softly, putting a hand on Damian's shoulder.
The kid huffed. "...yes."
"...so far, Peter has been good. That means that it's our job to uplift him. All of us, even you, have a duty to help him grow."
"He seems grown enough." Damian rolled his eyes. "The Lazarus Pit has him as tall as Duke. I bet he wasn't that tall before."
"You're jealous that a sixteen-year-old is taller than you." Dick teased, earning another solid punch to his shoulder, which he chuckled off.
"I'm jealous of nothing that Parker has." Damian shoved Dick away, turning and storming to the other end of the mat. Dick's giggles persisted behind him.
"I dunno, the webs are really damn cool. I bet he can climb on walls, too. How convenient would that be? No more grappling hooks required!"
"It sounds lazy."
"I bet he's strong, too."
"..not as strong as me."
"Oh yeah?" Dick grinned. "Get on his good side, and I bet he'd let you test that."
Damian huffed. "I have no plans to befriend him. Especially not after today."
When Damian turned around, Dick was standing once more, with a determined smirk across his face. His hands were on his hips, and his stance radiated confidence. It made Damian slightly nervous.
"Then it is not my goal to get you and Peter to be friends. Or at the very least-" he snickered. "You don't hate him."
Damian rolled his eyes once more, falling into a fighting stance again with a hard glare. "Good fucking luck."