Chapter Text
The drive from Blüdhaven to Gotham took roughly under two hours, but to Peter it felt much quicker.
He sat in the passenger seat of Dick's car, his backpack was in his lap and he had his headphones on. He also decided to change into his own clothes before they left and was wearing an outfit Dick had picked out.
Beside him was Dick who had the radio on and was mouthing all the words to a pop song that was playing. He was really reminding Peter of his dad right now.
Since they were a good half hour away Peter decided to take out his notebook and started doodling, he wasn't to good at it to begin with and being in the car definitely wasn't helping, but it did make him feel better, especially about the constant reminder of his late father sitting next to him singing Taylor Swift.
Peter knew that eventually he was going to be able to look at Dick and see him and not Richard Parker, but for now it was still to fresh.
"What are you drawing there Pete?" Dick asked as he glanced at the notebook. "Uh just some heroes from my old universe" he responded.
Dick nodded before looking back at the road, his expression became more serious. "Hey, if at any point it's to much for you, just say so alright?". Peter stopped drawing as he looked at Dick, "Okay, um, thank you" his voice was a quieter then normal but Dick could tell was sincere. "Of course, I know that this can't be easy and I just want you to know that your not doing this alone anymore"
Peter didn't respond, but there was a small smile on his face as he went back to drawing.
It was raining when they had got into Gotham, by this time Peter was fatigued by the long car ride and had his face resting against the cold window. At some point Dick must've thought Peter was sleeping because when they were stopped at a traffic light he took off his jacket and threw it over Peter as if it was a blanket then he turned the music down a bit.
When they reached the manor, Peter had actually fallen asleep. He didn't mean to and was quite startled when Dick had woken him up. Fortunately Dick who had plenty of experience with his brothers, was quick to calm Peter down and reassure him that everything was okay. After Peter got his bearings he tried to give Dick his Jacket back but he insisted that Peter wore it until they were inside.
Peter walked up to the manor with trepidation, he stood just behind Dick while he knocked on the door. The person who opened the door wasn't Bruce, instead it was an older man who was wearing a suit and bow tie. "Greetings Master Dick and Master Peter, please do come in”
Dick nodded as he led Peter inside, the man who let them in had introduced himself as Alfred Pennyworth, and said he worked as the butler of Wayne manor. Peter only half listened to this as his gaze wondered around the room. While both Alfred and Dick were catching up Peter stared up at the chandelier.
“Is everything alright Pete?” Dick called when he realized his kid was a bit to quiet. Peter tilted his head as studied the chandelier once more. “I bet I could swing on that, with no hands” he said absentmindedly.
Dick put his hand over his mouth as he stifled a laugh while Alfred looked as if he aged twenty more years. “I swear, I did not give him that idea” Dick said defensively. Alfred side eyed him then turned to Peter, “Unfortunately we do have a rule about swinging on the chandelier do to the actions of Master Dick when he had first moved in”, Dick gave a sheepish smile before putting his hands on Peter’s shoulders and guiding him deeper into the manor.
Soon enough Bruce had approached both of them and was followed by a younger boy who seemed to be a couple years younger then Peter. “Hello, Peter it’s good to see you again” he then gestured to the boy “This is my youngest son Damian, he’s been insistent on being the one to show you around”
Peter didn’t notice the look of concern on Dick’s face as he shot Bruce a look. “Um actually, I was going to show him around myself since he’s-“ Dick was cut off as Damian grabbed Peter by the wrist and yanked him to his side. “I will handle this for you then” he told him, before dragging Peter down the hallway.
Dick stared in shock as the two disappeared, “What was that about?” he asked. Bruce pursed his lips, “I’m honestly not to sure”. Dick slowly turned towards him, “Peter’s gonna be okay, right?”
-
Despite being a good distance away from both the adults, Damian still kept an iron grip on Peter’s arm as he took him through the manor and explained where everything was.
“Hey, It’s um Damian right?” Peter asked, Damian stopped in his tracks as he sent Peter a glare. “It is Uncle Damian to you, Nephew”. Peter blinked in surprise but decided to go along with it. “Sorry, ‘Uncle’ Damian, I was kind of wondering if you could show me where to put my bag down?”. Damian straightened and nodded, “Of course, I will take you to your room now”.
When they got to the hall where all of the family member’s rooms were located Damian had shown Peter his which happened to be just across from Dick’s. “Also my room is on the left three doors down, if you need anything from me” he informed him,
Peter thanked him before opening the door to his room, he felt his mouth hang open at the size of it. “Is this satisfactory?” Damian asked while stepping in. Peter dropped his backpack on the ground as he looked around the room. “Yeah, yes, uh it’s great, This whole room is bigger than my old apartment!”
Damian watched as Peter walked around inspecting the room, “You know, you look a identical to your father when you are excited, you have his eyes” Damian stated. Peter paused and looked away embarrassed “Oh, Dick isn’t my actual Dad, you know that right?”
Damian raised an eyebrow, because he knew that Dick was his Father, at least that’s what the paternity test said according to Tim, did Peter not know Dick was his Father, that would explain the why Bruce’s explanation left out the part where Peter was Dick’s kid and instead made it seem like he was just taking in a random teen. It would make sense if Peter didn’t know, of course there were other possibilities but this was most likely at least that’s what Damian thought.
“Damian, It’s okay if you don’t really see me as your nephew anymore, I understand that you might have had the wrong idea” Peter stumbled over his words, it was only his luck that these people treated him family only because of a misunderstanding, he knew he shouldn’t have been as hurt as he was but he couldn’t help it.
Peter looked up at Damian who seemed to be studying him intently. He locked eyes with Peter, “You are just as much my nephew as Dick is my brother, so you are still expected to address me Uncle Damian, understand?”
Peter took a deep breath in before nodding, he looked relieved, well of course he’d be relieved to still have Damian as an Uncle, Damian is just so good at it, way better than Jason who still currently doesn’t know Peter exists, Damian almost smirked at the thought.
There was a knock at the door as Dick entered the room, “Dinner’s ready guys!”, he walked up to them before clapping a hand on both of their shoulders. “How is everything, are you two getting along alright?” He asked, Peter smiled “Yeah Damian-“ he was interrupted by Damian who cleared his throat, “Um, ‘Uncle’ Damian, was really nice, and he did a good job at giving me tour though we didn’t get through everything”
Dick raised an eyebrow at Damian, “You’re making him call you Uncle?” He said. Damian narrowed his eyes, “Yes, I am his Uncle, and he is to respect that” Damian harshly jerked his shoulder away from Dick’s grasp and grabbed Peter by the jackets hoodie. “Now if you’ll excuse us, he has yet to meet the others” and just like earlier Damian dragged Peter out of the room and away from Dick. “Damian you can’t just manhandle Peter like that, it’s rude!”
-
When they got to the dining room everyone was quick to introduce themselves to Peter, after Tim had finished he looked up to Damian gesturing for him to come over. “Is everything alright?” Tim asked as he stood by him, Damian didn’t look at Tim as he spoke instead kept an eye on Peter has he talked with Steph. “I don’t think he knows that Dick is his Father” he said in a low voice, it took Tim a second to register what he just said “That’s probably why Bruce lied to us earlier when he was talking about him. He doesn’t know about the paternity test”. Damian gave a nod “It is even more important that this remains between us, if Dick really is his father and Peter doesn’t know this then Dick should be the one to tell him”
“Yeah your right, I’ll tell Duke and Steph when I get a chance” Tim said before walking away and heading to the others were sitting.
At first Peter hadn’t even noticed the side conversations of the others, instead he stared at the plate in front of him, his mouth watering. It was only spaghetti but that just happened to be his comfort food and it had a lot to do with Aunt May being Italian and always making some sort of pasta dish.
He really missed Aunt May, but he couldn’t think about that right now.
Peter was about halfway through his plate when he felt the faint hum of his powers started. He could tell they were hiding something from him and although Peter already knew what it was his powers still picked up on it. At first it wasn’t so bad but then it got louder and it wasn’t just from one person like back at the diner with Bruce, he sense picked up all five of them, they were focusing in on him and it was starting to get way to overwhelming.
At some point Peter had dropped his fork and out his hands on head. “Peter, are you alright?” Dick asked concerned. “I-I’m fine my powers are just acting up, may I be excused?” Peter spoke quickly and his words were jumbled together. “Yeah, of course do you need me to-“ before he could finish Peter quickly darted out of the room without saying anything else.
“I’ll get him” Dick said as he to excused himself from the table. Damian had also followed suit despite Bruce’s protest. Unlike Dick, Damian actually knew where to look.
Like he expected, Peter didn’t go to his bedroom where Dick probably was and instead he was in the corner of the library sitting on the floor with his head in his knees.
It was at this moment that Damian realized he had no idea how to comfort people. He kneeled down to Peter’s level and hesitated before he spoke “Why are you so distressed?”. Peter looked up at him before sighing, “It’s my powers, I-I can sense that you guys are hiding something from me and even though I know what it is, the feeling isn’t going away and with everyone focusing so intently, it’s just a lot for me to handle”
Damian furrowed his eyebrows, confused “You know what we’re hiding?” He asked, Peter chuckled dryly “Yeah, Dick already told me about the whole stolen DNA thing, but it’s just way more complicated than that” although Peter was mildly unsettled and frankly offended by Bruce testing his DNA without his permission, he couldn’t help but think about how that was Tony would do if given the circumstance and he wouldn’t have stayed mad at Tony so he decided to forgive Bruce.
“Complicated how?” Damian pressed, Peter decided that he should probably just come clean now that he has the chance.
“I’m from an alternate universe and I was a superhero called Spider-man, something happened where my identity was revealed to the world and the people I cared about weren’t safe because of me. I asked a sorcerer friend for help and he cast a spell that would alter the collective memories of everyone, but it didn’t go right because I kept on asking him to alter it. Eventually it got messed up and tore a hole in the multiverse, some really bad guys got through and I lost my Aunt because of them. I thought that the hole was sealed when we redid the original, which was to make everyone forget me but it wasn’t enough, a few months later it ripped again and an alternate version of my Father or Dick fell through. This time the only way to stop it from happening for certain was for me to be taken out of my universe for good so Dick offered me a place in his”
Damian took a moment as the information settled in “You-You lost everything didn’t you?” he realized. “Yeah” Peter whispered, Damian stood up and offered a hand to Peter, Peter eyed it before taking it and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. “I am truly sorry” there was a rare sincerity in his voice.
“Thank you, but honestly… I think I’m going to be okay” Under normal circumstance it would be hard to leave everything behind but Peter didn’t have a lot to leave anyway and instead he actually gained more by coming here, he has a family again and although the thought makes him nervous he can’t bring himself to run away from it.