Chapter Text
Red Hood grappled onto the roof and walked to the edge. This wasn’t the roof he had to be on but it was close enough. It gave him a good view of the man waiting just a few buildings over. The man was average in height, about 5’7 according to Tim. He stood on the edge of the roof, staring off into the Gotham night as the sun was setting. Faded light illuminated the man’s outfit, a mix of red and blue metal that shimmered with every move he made. Spider-man. The vigilante had appeared out of nowhere a few months ago, taking Gotham by storm and helping people with the kind of things the bats couldn’t as stalkers of the night. It had taken pushing prodding and a little begging for Batman to grudgingly accept the new hero into their ranks. (He still wanted his kids to babysit the guy for a while but small victories.)
Today was Red Hood’s turn, and Jason was excited. He’d seen the people’s reactions to Spider-man in the alley, and it had been surprisingly positive. He’d seen him around the bowery a few times, helping the kids with their homework or just letting them rant about their problems. So yeah he’d developed a bit of a soft spot for the guy who clearly cared about his kids like he did. Jason watched as Spider-man seemed to freeze his slight swaying and turn. Large white eyes locked with his own and staring for a moment before the man waved jovially. Could probably add some sort of super sense to the list of possible powers Bruce had.
Jason grappled onto the roof where Spider-man stood and started to approach, when the man suddenly went rigid. Body still as stone as his head tilted to the side slightly. White eye lenses narrowed into slits as he stared at Jason for a little too long to be comfortable. Jason didn’t move, waiting to see what the man would do. Had he heard about Red Hood the crime lord, was he going to say something about how Jason had spied on him in the alley, or maybe it was something one of the other bats had done.
Just as Jason was going to say something Spider-man dropped into a crouch and stared at him with wide unblinking eyes before slowly reaching out an arm and shooting a web at the ground between his boots. It was only years of training that stopped the yelp that Jason almost made. He looked at the thread. It was thinner than the others said his webs were, and there was a slight golden shimmer to it despite the sun having set already. He looked up at the spider and paused. His web shooters were down by his wrist, but this one seemed to be coming out halfway up his forearm. Oh god did that COME OUT OF HIM. That's so cool but still GROSS. Guess he was more spider than they thought. Spider-man was watching him, head tilted as if waiting for a reaction. When there was none he seemed pleased and started to move.
With his other hand Spider-man strummed the web like a strange guitar and slowly took a side step closer. His limbs twisted in unnatural ways to make sure he was watching Jason the entire time. Jason watched Spider-man take a few stilted steps before he tensed slightly, watching the way the man practically twisted himself like a pretzel just to keep freaky unblinking eye contact. When he tensed, Spider-man froze. Body held half upright and legs bent in two different directions. They stared at each other, neither even daring to breathe until Jason forced himself to slowly relax. Arms moving to his sides, near his guns, just in case. Spider-man perked up at the seemingly calm gesture and began his terrifying approach once more, but now more fluid. His movements glided and he allowed himself to look away from Jason for a short while when he turned.
Strum, step, stare. Over and over until finally the man was within arms reach and Jason was doing everything in his power to not react to whatever was happening. He hadn’t acted violent, insane sure but not violent. So he waited.
Spider-man crouched in front of Jason and he watched the lenses squint happily before the man slowly stood up, eyes never leaving Jason’s. Should he say something? Do something? Was Spider-man actually some terrifying monster here to steal Jason’s soul for all his wrongdoings? Jason felt a shiver run down his spine, despite having a good few inches on the man. He wet his lips and waited a moment longer before speaking.
“Spider-man?” Whatever spell over the man was broken with those words. His lenses blinked frantically as he quickly looked around the roof before staring up at Jason. They widened in shock as the man took a few hurried steps back. The golden web snapped and drifted to the floor abandoned, still faintly shimmering in the Gotham moonlight.
“I’m so sorry I- Gods this is embarrassing i haven’t done that in years.” Spider-man scrubbed his face with his hands before staring up at Jason. Normal again. He stared at him a second longer to see if it might happen again, but it didn’t.
“Right… well let’s get to patrolling then i guess.”
From the clock tower, a search for spider habits was pulled up. ‘Golden orb weaver’ the page read. “When a male orb weaver meets one it considers a suitable female, it will enter the web whilst attached to its own. Strumming it to distinguish itself from prey.” She smiled as she minimised the tab. She wondered how long it would take for the others to realise what was happening.