Chapter Text
“Food…please” Peter said, watching as the other girl, shorter than Stephanie, with black hair, ladled some soup into a bowl before he even opened his mouth.
“Gotcha! Feel free to stay as long as ya need, I know it’s starting to get chilly outside.” The shorter girl handed Stephanie the bowl, who then passed it to Peter and simply smiled at him, waiting for him to walk away before she got back to her conversation with the other girl.
Peter had managed to find an empty table off to the side so he wouldn’t interfere with anyone else. He sat and eagerly ate the soup, not even bothering to really taste it. He was just grateful for the nutrients.
When he went back up to return the bowl or ask where they needed him to put it Stephanie was gone. It was just the black haired girl and she turned around as he approached.
The way she moved made Peter pause for a second.
That wasn’t just her turning coincidentally to find him there, she moved like she heard him approaching.
Now that she was turned to him he could read her name tag. Apparently she was Cassandra.
“Hey- me again. Where do you guys put the bowls?” She didn’t respond. She stood there, looking at him before ultimately lifting her hands.
“*you don’t want any more?*” Peter was thrown off by the sudden use of sign language. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand he was just caught in this exhausted state with a bowl taking up his left hand.
He saw the way her face changed when he didn’t respond, already moving to grab a piece of paper.
“Shoot- ah no need! Sorry, I heard you. I’m fine, that was plenty” Peter quickly said, moving to set the bowl on the counter to sign his words as well in case she was deaf. “Thank you.”
Now it was Cassandra’s turn to be thrown off.
Cassandra nodded before grabbing the bowl moving towards the sink, Stephanie returning from the back now with some cleaning supplies.
“Heading out already? Did he not want anymore?” Stephanie asked, turning between the both of them before Cassandra waved her off and she offered Peter a bright smile and wave as he made his way out the door.
Back on the streets Peter started making his way back towards the alley he met that person in. It was barely 7 in the morning at this point and Peter wasn’t exactly sure what else to do with his day.
He got back to the alley around 8 and simply moved to sit behind a dumpster and wait.
His spidey senses were a quiet buzz but it was reassuring, allowing him to finally pass out in the alley. By the time he woke up it was dark again, who knew the time.
As he was opening his eyes he could hear talking. His spidey senses weren’t necessarily shooting red flags but they definitely seemed more panicked and as soon as he focused his gaze he realized why.
There was a man crouched over him, fingers to his neck to check his pulse which definitely skyrocketed as Peter caught his wrist and twisted.
The man let out a grunt of pain behind the red helmet he wore, retaliating quickly to pin Peter’s wrist to the wall he was leaning against.
“Fuck kid- what the hell do you eat?” The man’s voice was thrown off by some sort of voice modulator.
“Get the fuck off me!” Peter snapped as he tried to shove the bigger man away. This guy was built, Peter was struggling to shove him off right now considering the circumstances.
“Calm down- I was just making sure you were breathing” the man grumbled as he ultimately got up and away with no arguments, giving him the space he needed.
Now that Peter could get a full look at him he saw the symbol on his chest and realized that it was one of the vigilantes associated with Batman.
“I’m fine.” Peter stood and brushed the grime of the alley off of him. He wasn’t sure what time it was but if this guy was here the likelihood the person with his documents wouldn’t show up.
“You got a place to crash?”
Peter ignored him. He shouldn’t engage with the man, he still had no idea how beneficial these people were to this city and he didn’t want to risk having to deal with these people again.
“Kid, c’mon. I’m not letting you walk off, you look homeless” The man said bluntly as he moved to follow Peter.
“I’m not a kid. I’m 24” Peter corrected, he was used to being called kid, I mean fuck he worked with Tony for years.
“Yeah no…if you’re gonna lie at least go for like 18” The man scoffed, clearly amused at the idea that Peter was lying to him right now.
“I’m not lying-…” Peter paused for a moment when he saw a familiar hood on the street with a Manila folder in their arm. He saw the way they noticed him and immediately noticed the figure following behind.
That didn’t stop Peter from running into the person and slipping the folder out of their grip and tucking it into his shirt and pants.
He knew how to be stealthy, the man following didn’t have any clue.
“Well either way why are you wandering around? There’s a shelter an hour from here-“
“Yeah I know, I stopped by. I promise I’m fine, what’s it matter to you?”
Peter was still exhausted and fed up with having his plan interrupted. It was easily fixed but still.
“Okay seriously, do you have a place to stay? Cause I have somewhere that’ll keep you dry” the man explained as he casually followed like he had nothing better to do right now.
“Look dude, I have no clue who you are or why you’re pushing so much, but I’m fine. So please just leave me be” Peter snapped as he kept walking, not bothering to look back, but he could feel the way the man paused behind him at the mention of Peter not knowing who he was.
“You don’t know me? Really?” The man seemed stunned, like genuinely shocked.
“Don’t be so egotistical now” Peter muttered under his breath as he stopped at the road, waiting to cross.
“Well aren’t you interesting…what’s your stance on Batman?” The man asked curiously with a grin, clearly trying to mess with Peter while also figuring out just how much he actually knew.
“I don’t know. He’s a man that dresses like a bat” Peter grumbled, not even trying to bother making shit up as he began crossing, stopping in the middle of the road just before some jackass blew right past him.
“So…New Yorker then? Though I assume you’d still know about the Bat at least” the man chuckled, taking in Peter’s lack of a response to almost being isekaied.
“That obvious?”
“The voice too, there’s a certain tone and pronunciation you have” the man teased as he followed Peter down the street even longer.
“Don’t you have stuff to do? Like a patrol or something?” Peter finally asked, stopping to face him.
“I mean yeah…but it’s been dead tonight, plus we got some extra hands for the next few days.”
Peter was kinda surprised at how easily this guy was just handing out this information. Not to mention his spidey senses were…*weird*. He expected them to be a bit more erratic with the stranger, but he only felt the usual buzz when he was around guns. In fact his senses seemed to actually lessen around the guy, the threat of the city seeming to disappear with him here.
It was throwing Peter off.
“Red hood. Nice to meet ya” The man said with a grin as he extended a gloved hand to shake.
“Peter…not sure it’s mutual” Peter sighed as he moved to shake the man- the Red Hood’s hand.