Chapter Text
Damian Al Ghul-Wayne finds his brother Drake agitating in the morning.
On their way to school, Drake had fidgeted 7 different times, each resulting with an overly dramatic sigh. He prided himself to be unmovable, but this was a feat in of itself. Another moment passed, and Tim took out his late homework and a pen, clearly intending to not fail his socials class. Meanwhile, Alfred drives the old Rolls-Royce that he favors the most.
However, the tapping of Tim's pen grated on his nerves, and he glanced at him, irritated.
“End that insufferable noise. You already know that work well, I do not see any reason for you to act as though you do not.” He grumbled, one of his fingers twitching. Tim snorted, amused. Damian glanced out his window, huffing as the irritable tapping continued. He isn’t truly mad, but after an all night patrol where father had closed himself off more than usual had ticked him off.
As he was thinking, he watched a boy in way-too-baggy pants for his age and a thick coat run on the sidewalk. His eyes narrowed, watching the movements. Sloppy, a limp in his leg. Damian tsk’s, and moved back to his irritation.
He is Robin, the best of the best. He should not be ignored by his father, especially not for work-
The car breaks slammed, and he and Tim lurch forward by the gravitational pull. After a split second, Damian looks at where Alfred is sitting, hand already twitching towards his knife in case anyone tries to ambush them.
“Hey, Alfie. What’s with the sudden stop?” Tim asked, already going back to his papers.
“A child had ran across the road, master Tim.” Alfred responded, starting to drive once more. Damian glanced back out the window, seeing the same boy he was just watching on the other side of the road, right where Alfred had stopped at. He must have been the one who ran across the road, Damian thinks, eyes narrowed as he continued watching the boy until he was out of view.
How suspicious. He will find him again, he is sure of it.
——————
Gotham drivers are scary. Also, the layout. What place doesn’t have crosswalks? Peter inwardly groaned as he walked the streets. At least that fancy Rolls-Royce didn’t hit him, otherwise he would have more wounds to chalk up on his never ending list. Since his healing process was slower than before, and he has no makeup to hide it, he still looked like hell ran him over.
Peter picked up his pace, going into a jog. Well, jog for him. For others, it would be counted as a full run. Today, he planned to go to the library. More knowledge of this world means he can figure out how to get back home.
Maybe it’s because of how blank his mind has been, but the run felt faster. The time between him and the library shrank, and he found himself standing in front of the old building in a few minutes. Either way, Peter knows that his sense of time was off. He paced himself to a regular person’s run, not his run.
He shook his head, and headed up the stairs, past the doors. The familiar scent of books hit his senses, followed by the noise of many people inside. Peter blinked, a bit confused. Last time he was here, it was quiet, silent like a web. But this time, he sees it bustling with children and adults alike, a small playdate meet in the children’s section.
Peter turned, planning on going to the second floor of the library. However, he gets surprised when he found Barbara wheeling up next to him.
“Well, I see you have come back.” She smiled, amused. “I was worried you wouldn’t come back again.”
How did she not set off my spider sense??
His eyes flicked to her face, not sensing any hostility towards him. He smiled back, and her shoulders shifted down in relief.
“Sorry, my dad was needing my help in… construction. help building shelves.” He fibbed, rubbing the inner side of his wrist. Her eyes followed his movement, jaw tensing slightly. Before he could confirm what he saw, her expression went back to a usual calm. He shook off the confusion, assuming it’s just his exhaustion playing with his sight.
Barbara nods, seemingly understanding and unaware of his lie. “Ah, what kind of shelves? Seems like you worked a ton.”
“Hah, yeah.. my dad, he likes having me help. ‘building character’, he says.” Peter adds onto his lie, unable to stop it from leaving his mouth. “And it was a bookshelf. A few, actually. He owns a lot of books.”
Before Barbara could respond, a few children ran up to her, bumping into Peter. They giggled and talked quickly, not giving Peter any time to speak. Not that he would want to interrupt them. No, never. He knows social ques (read: often, but not in some moments), and especially to not interrupt children in fear of them learning to grow up silent.
After a few minutes, they scampered off, weaving through the crowd. A small huff of amusement left Peter's mouth, and Barbara looked back at him.
“So, building character, huh?” She said, clearly picking back up on the interrupted conversation. Peter nodded, tapping a finger against his jeans nervously.
“Yeah. Being a man and all that. He… well, he wants me to have a better life than what he did” He rambled, waving a hand to try and paint the picture. “But he’s out at work, has been for a bit. Traveling jobs.”
Barbara nodded sadly, a pitying glint in her eyes.
Why is she staring at him like that?? Is his lie not convincing enough? No way, maybe she just feels bad about the traveling work bit. Yeah, that’s gotta be it.
“Do you-“ Her voice got caught off as a tall man bounded over, grinning and a skip in his step. “Babs! I’m back!” He called, stopping a few feet away from him and Barbara. The man glanced at Peter, a small glint of worry crossing his eyes. So small in fact that Peter barely noticed. Just as quick, the man smiled, like he had no worry in his life.
“Hi! Sorry, did I interrupt your conversation? That’s my bad.” The man spoke, voice warm like a summer day. He stood tall, way taller than Peter, with deep brown hair that’s tousled, and a warm hue to his skin.
Peter swallowed, and shook his head. His spider sense spiked again, which confused him. He’s so friendly, so why does he hit the warning bells?? He shook off the feeling, not trusting his sense after it thought Barbara as dangerous.
Danger watch out sharp harsh climb away climb web bite chew poison danger danger—
“No! No, you didn’t interrupt anything.” Peter smiled at the man, though unease spread through his body as the man kept smiling. He noticed as his eyes flick down to Peter’s neck, where the bruises are not almost fully faded, then to the fresh bruises when he got jumped in the alleyway just yesterday. Barely noticeable, his smile wavered before perking back up.
A shiver crawled down Peter’s back, that his wounds are still visible. He forgot his fast healing doesn’t work anymore. He shifts his weight, ready to bolt if necessary. He knows the man doesn’t hold any hostility or anything to him, but still, it’s got to hurt smiling that much.
“Anyways..” He spoke, taking a step back. “I got to go. Bye, Barbara” A small nod, then he turned and left. A small protest left Barbara, like she wanted to call him back. But he ignored it, quickening his walk to leave. The whole time, he felt the stare of the man on his back until he got out of view.
God, that was creepy. Who the hell smiles that much? Peter huffed, going into a jog as he wandered in no intended direction. His spider tingle flared up as he passed certain areas, laughter hiding the noise of suffering in the streets shadows.
But he can’t do anything. He knows people don’t trust a 15 year old, never take teenagers seriously. He isn’t Spiderman right now, just a boy in people’s eyes. Not the hero he is, but a weakling in the teeth of cruelty.
back behind up move danger danger sharp-
Peter turned quickly, and came face-to-face with a woman and two children being shoved into a van across the road. He kicks off into a sprint, but having to make sure it isn’t inhuman, since he can sense the buzz of electricity from hidden cameras in the roads means he’s seen.
But that was a dumb decision. The van is already driving off, the poor civilians trapped in what’s clearly a kidnapping situation. God dammit. He curses himself for being too slow, for the cameras being around. But it also means that the perpetrators will be caught, that he could find them. With a huff, he climbs up one of the light poles, and rips off the two cameras.
With that, he goes back to sprinting, faster. Faster, and faster. He manages to just get onto the side of the van, and stick to it with his palm. Peter lets gravity take his legs off the ground, and he clings to the side of the van, crawling up it to be on its roof, so no civilians will see him.
Now, let’s see where these kidnappers are going with their crime.
——————
Across the city, sitting in his English class, Tim Drake bites the inside of his cheek as he watches one of his cameras being ripped by a teen boy. How the literal hell… He made sure to have those cameras set in so no one except Superman or Wonder Woman could rip those out.
But doesn’t the guy look familiar? The same face as the boy he saw with Jason at the restaurant, the one who ate like there was no tomorrow. The same one he’s been told to search for with no results. Like he doesn’t exist in the records anywhere.
Yeah, he already found out where the kidnappers are. However, this guy looks like he will do anything to get them. How curious…
“Tim Drake-Wayne! Are you or are you not paying attention in my class?” His teacher's voice cuts through the air, the rest of his classmates turning to watch the scene of him being chewed up for ignoring class again.
“Yeah, I am.” He mumbles. Duke snickers next to him, along with Steph. Both amused by him being in trouble, but thankful it’s not them this time. The teacher huffs and goes back to teaching, and he goes back to his computer.
He has to investigate this guy. He’s seen him in the school before, when he ran down the stairs. This’ll be another investigation, for science.