Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bart is laying upside down on his bed, his head dangling off the edge of the bed as he focused on his TV screen. His fingers were a blur on the buttons of his gaming controller, his meta human abilities allowing his fingers to move at a pace a normal human's wouldn't.

Grandpa Jay and Grandma Joan had taken a rare trip to visit some old friends in Keystone. Barry had gotten wrapped up in some off-world Justice League mission. Iris had a meeting at the Central City Citizen. As for Wally, Bart had no real clue, most likely at his boyfriend's house in Gotham. 

Not that it mattered where his annoying older cousin was , Bart thought to himself as he dodged a bunch of giant fireballs and hopped onto a moving platform. 

What mattered was that Bart had the entire house to himself. And he was going to spend a nice relaxing day at home kicking ass in Quantum Combat: Strike Force 2.

The video game was paid for via Barry's credit card of course.

Bart’s fingers flew across the controller as he dispatched another wave of enemy fighters, his eyes glued to the screen. He was on a roll today, beating his high score in record time. The house was quiet, except for the occasional sound effects coming from his game and the distant sound of traffic outside.

He’d ordered a few boxes of pizza, the greasy kind that came with extra cheese and crust stuffed with more cheese, and it was on its way. Nothing like a day full of gaming and junk food to make him feel like he was on top of the world.

Also paid for via Barry’s credit card.

A loud ding-dong at the front door startled him, causing Bart to nearly fumble the controller.

“What the-?” He muttered under his breath as he flipped upright and glanced at the clock. The pizza delivery guy was early, which never happened. Maybe the universe was being extra kind to Bart today.

Bart paused his video game and threw his controller on the bed. He sped to the door in a blur of motion and arrived at the door with a soft woosh faster than most people could blink. He wretched the front door open just as the doorbell rang again.

However instead of being met with several boxes of cheesy goodness, he was met with a small kid standing at the door holding a little brown teddy bear.

Bart scratches the back of his head, tilting his head to the side."Uh...hey kiddo? Can I help you?"

The child (who was maybe six or seven in Bart's opinion) blinked up at him with long brown lashes and big puppy brown eyes. "Karen told me Mommy lives here."

Bart blinked again, uncomprehending. Does this kid have the wrong house? Who's Karen? There's no way this kid is looking for Iris, right?

"Is your mom's name Iris?" Bart squatted down so he and the boy were at similar height. The small kid shook his head, his messy curls shaking along. "...Then I think you've got the wrong house. Um…you wanna come inside? If you remember your mom's phone number I could probably phone her for you.” Bart offered.

The small boy nods, and Bart offers up a hand to lead him inside. Small cold fingers wrap around his own.

Bart led the boy into the entryway of the house, keeping a gentle grip on his hand. He couldn’t help but notice how small the kid was—his clothes looked too thin for the cool weather outside, and his face had a faint flush from the cold.

Bart couldn’t help but frown. Whoever left this kid to walk around with no coat or gloves in the fall was totally not cool.

“Hey, you cold?” Bart asked as they entered the hallway, stopping by the staircase. He looked up at Bart and shook his head, but Bart could see the way the kid shivered slightly.

Bart frowns harder, but says nothing. Instead opting to grab his phone.

The child’s eyes sweep the family pictures that hang in the foyer with sparkling eyes. Bart doesn’t notice, too preoccupied with pulling his phone out of his pocket.

As they walked into the living room, Bart glanced at the boy again, noticing the worn-out teddy bear clutched tightly to his chest. It was missing an eye, and the stitching on one of its ears was loose. “You got a name, little guy?” Bart asked, pulling up his phone keypad.

The kid hesitated for a second before answering. “Peter,” he said quietly. His voice was soft, but Bart could hear a little tremble in it, as if he was unsure about everything, about being in this strange house with a stranger.

“Alright, Peter. My name’s Bart” Bart smiled, trying to make the situation feel less awkward. He gestured to the couch. “You wanna sit here while I call your mom? Or… if you want some juice or something, I can grab you that too.”

Bart opens his mouth to ask for the kid’s mom’s phone number but is interrupted but the kid suddenly points at one of the pictures on the living-room wall. Bart startles in confusion as looks up, he whips his head up to look at the family picture Peter is pointing at on the wall.

It had been taken at a family gathering some years ago, with Bart standing in the middle, flanked by his parents, Barry, Iris, Wally, and their grandparents. Everyone was smiling, looking carefree and happy and in the middle of the group, Wally’s unmistakable grin was wide as ever.

Is he pointing at Wally? 

“Uh… that’s Wally,” Bart offers dumbly, to sate the child’s curiosity.

Peter, however, just nodded, his big brown eyes wide with something resembling recognition.

“Uh… hey, kid,” Bart said, trying to keep his tone light and friendly, but his confusion was evident. He took a few cautious steps closer, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You, uh… you know who that is?”

“Mommy,” he said, his voice still small but with a hint of certainty.

Bart stares at the picture Peter is pointing at, his mind racing. Peter turned toward Bart, his wide brown eyes shining. “Mommy,” he repeated, pointing again at Wally in the picture.

Bart whips his head back around to stare at the kid in front of him. His cousin Wally? It was impossible to ignore how the kid’s eyes seemed so sure of himself. Bart leaned closer, trying to assess Peter’s face again, searching for any sign of resemblance.

His nose scrunches up in the way it does whenever he’s trying to figure something out. He stared at the kid. And the more he stared, the more it nagged him. He didn’t look anything like Wally. He didn’t have Wally’s red hair or green eyes. The slopes of their noses were different. The shapes of their eyes. The kid’s jaw was soft and round from baby fat.

- So who did this kid remind him of?

Suddenly it clicked.

Bart’s jaw drops open and his eyes go wide as he is struck by a sudden realization. He took another look at the kid in front of him in horror, his face like a mirror of someone he hadn’t seen in ages. Someone who was currently dating his first cousin. 

Holy Shit. I’ve got a clone of Dick Grayson standing in my living room.

Chapter Text

Bart stood frozen in place for a moment, his mind reeling. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the small boy standing in front of him. The kid, Peter, looked nothing like Wally, but the more Bart stared, the more he saw it. The way the boy’s eyes were wide and innocent, the shape of his face, the slight curve to his mouth, with the exception of his hair and eye color—it was all Dick Grayson.

Bart’s heart was racing, but he spoke calmly, not hysterical at all whatsoever , trying to process the situation. “Wait, wait, wait. You—” His words faltered as he stood up straight, suddenly finding himself pacing back and forth, his mind spinning.

Bart paced in the small space between the living room and the kitchen. Peter watched the teenager with big innocent brown eyes. “Okay, okay, slow down. Think, Bart. Think.” Bart muttered under his breath, running his hand through his hair.

He was trying to think, but his thoughts weren’t coming together the way they usually did. Instead of solving the mystery in front of him, all Bart could think was that he needed to do something. What was he supposed to do?

He needed to think. To figure out what was going on. But it wasn’t coming together. It wasn’t making sense.

So, he did the only thing he could think to do in that moment.

“Peter you sit down on the couch, okay? I’ll be right back.” Bart instructed Peter and then he walked into the kitchen, the door swinging behind him.

Grabbing a bag of chips from the pantry, Bart ripped it open and shoved a handful into his mouth. Great, Bart. Good job. Just eat your feelings. He knew it was ridiculous, but right now, he wasn’t in the mood to be rational. He just needed to stop his brain from frying itself on the strange reality of what he was dealing with.

The crunching sound of chips in his mouth was the only thing that filled the silence for a long minute.

Bart blinked rapidly, trying to clear the haze in his mind. Okay. Just breathe. Get it together. This is nothing new. Clones, Multiverses, alternate timelines… all that stuff… it happens. Right?

He thought about the endless possibilities. What if Peter was truly Dick Grayson’s kid, and not just a clone of Dick, then what did that mean for his parentage? Was this some sort of parallel universe mishap? Another future timeline like Bart? Some alternate reality where Wally and Dick had a child together? Could this whole situation have anything to do with whatever crazy timeline-warping things were always happening around their family? He had no idea, but it sure felt like it.

He grabbed a soda from the fridge—because that was going to solve everything, right?—and popped the top open. The fizz didn’t calm him the way it usually did.

And then, another thought crossed his mind. Maybe I should call Wally.

This course of action seemed to be the most reasonable. So Bart took his phone out and dialed Wally.

Wally doesn’t answer.

Bart calls five more times with no answer. Then proceeds to call Dick ten times with no answer.

For a moment, Bart just sat there, chewing on a chip, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. It was the kind of moment where you realized there were too many things you couldn’t control. There were too many answers you didn’t have. And sometimes, the only thing you could do was sit back and hope the universe gave you a break.

The crunch of the chips was getting louder, the silence deafening. Bart didn’t know what came next.

Maybe after a few more chips, he’d be able to figure it out. Maybe.

After a small brief mental-break down. Bart exits the kitchen his arms full of snacks.

He brings them back into the living room, trying to keep himself composed. He didn’t want to freak out the kid. The poor kid was probably just as lost as Bart was.

Sitting down next to Peter, Bart put the food in front of him. The boy, still clutching the teddy bear, picked up a cracker but didn’t immediately eat it. He kept his gaze locked on Bart, waiting. It was as if Peter was trying to figure him out, too.

Peter’s small voice interrupted his thoughts. “Mommy… is she coming back soon?”

“Um…I called? He-Your mom didn’t pick up. But Wally will totally call back soon. In the meantime can I ask you some questions Peter?” Bart stuffs a cracker into his own mouth.

Peter copies Barts movements. Taking a small bite out of the cracker in his own hand. “Okay.”

“How did you end up here, Peter?” Bart asked carefully, trying not to sound too intense. “I mean, how did you get to my house? Do you remember?”

“Karen told me to come here.”

Bart sat cross-legged on the couch, his phone set aside for the moment, as he stared at Peter. “Okay…and who is Karen? Where is Karen right now? Did she drop you off here?”

“Karen is my friend. I think? I—I don’t know where she is,” Peter said quietly, his voice trembling just a little. “I just… I just remember her telling me to find mom. But I don’t remember how I got here. Everything’s blurry.”

Bart nods. Putting another cracker into his mouth. He glanced at Peter, the little boy’s face still full of innocence, but now also tinged with confusion and fear.

“Okay,” Bart muttered to himself, trying to make sense of it all. “So you don’t remember how you got here, or what happened before. That’s… great.” He sighed.

The front doorbell rings with a soft ding-dong. And Bart stands up to answer to the door. “One last question Peter. Do you like pizza?”

Peter’s face lit up with a tiny smile, and Bart couldn’t help but feel a little lighter at the sight. Maybe this was the only thing he could do right now—keep the kid calm and fed, and try to stay sane until he got some real answers.

But that was easier said than done. Because right now, Bart had no idea how the heck he was supposed to explain any of this to anyone, let alone Wally or Dick.

For now, though, pizza and waiting were the only things he could offer.

Chapter Text

I’m a bad boy. I told a lie. Peter thought to himself sadly as he took a bite of his pizza. His legs swung back and forth idly, his feet unable to touch the floor due to his size. 

He knew lying was the safest route at the moment. But now, seeing how nice his Mom’s cousin Bart, was to him, it made his stomach ache a little with guilt.

As if she could hear his thoughts, he hears a familiar voice sound through his ears. “You lied to protect yourself, Peter. While facial recognition scans suggest that Wallace Rudolph West could be Mary Parker in this alternate universe, you’re still dealing with a lot of unknowns.” Karen’s voice echoed in his hearing aid.

Karen’s voice was calm, logical, but it only made the guilt eat at him more. It was almost funny. He should be used to lying by now. Lying to protect- others-or even himself was something he was no stranger to. Hell some of the other Avengers had even given him courses on the subject.

This sort of childish guilt probably had something to due with the fact that he had been de-aged upon coming here. Back to an age where Peter Parker didn’t even know what lying was.

Peter kicked his feet back and forth mechanically. He wondered if he should even be sitting here right now. If he should have even showed up looking for the person who could be his Mom in this universe. They might not want anything to do with him.

But Karen said this was the best option at the moment. He was too young to make any sort of living on his own or rent an apartment. An orphanage had been a choice but given Peter’s powers if found out he was at a high risk of being a victim of meta human trafficking in this world.

And technically Peter hadn’t lied fully. He truly didn’t remember how he had ended up here in this universe. He just lied about Karen and left out a bit of the details that he did remember.

His eyes flickered to the ground and then back to Bart. Bart was nice. Bart was speaking to him again. Something about going upstairs and leaving to come right back. He spoke a little too fast, it made it a little hard to read his lips. Communication was going to be a real pain when his hearing aids eventually died.And unfortunately they hadn’t been charged in at least twelve hours, which meant that would happen sooner, rather than later.

Usually, his spider sense would give him a heightened awareness of everything around him, but it was a double-edged sword. It made him acutely aware of the world — too aware. Overwhelmingly so. The buzzing of the city was an assault on his ears, and voices became little more than jumbled static. The vibrations of the city would overpower normal sounds, and trying to have a conversation with someone was like trying to hear them through a storm of static. His enhanced spider senses could sense things that humans couldn’t, like the vibrations in the air, the slight shifts in the ground beneath him, even the whispers of his surroundings — but it made everything sound muffled. But when he put his hearing aids in, it was like a switch had been flipped. The world around him became quieter. The constant hum of his spider sense faded into the background, allowing him to focus on the voices of the people around him, on what they were saying, not just the vibrations they made.

Peter startled from his thoughts as a gaming controller was stuffed into his hand. He looked up at the red haired teenager in front of him who was grinning down at him brightly. He held up a video game and another controller in his hand. 

“What’s that?” Peter asked, feeling a little speechless. For someone Peter heard breaking down in the kitchen earlier, Bart sure was carefree now.

Given Peter’s new age. Maybe the older boy was just attempting to keep him entertained until he could get a hold of another one of his family members.

Peter doubted it would work.

Bart put the video game into the console sitting underneath the Tv stand in the living room. Then he sat back down beside Peter and  leaned back into the couch, grinning. “It’s only the best game ever. Just watch, I’ll show you how to be a pro.” 

Bart turned the game on and quickly dove into a match, showing Peter how to fight and dodge the enemy fireballs. Peter watched closely, his little brow furrowed in concentration.

“Okay, now you try!” Bart said, switching the game over to multiplayer mode. A second character appeared on the starting screen, next to Bart’s. Peter hesitated but gripped his own controller, his tiny hands gripping it with determination. The game didn’t seem that hard at all. 

However when the fighting started, Peter pressed a button…and instead of unleashing a powerful move and killing the enemy soldiers like Bart. He accidentally launched the character into a pit of Lava, immediately dying.

Peter stared at the screen, wide-eyed, clearly a little confused. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

Bart blinked and then burst into a fit of laughter. “It’s okay, it happens to the best of us!’ He quickly reset the game. “Let’s try again. This time let’s not jump straight into the lava alright?”

The two of them spent the next half an hour playing video games, with Peter giggling and or pouting every time something went wrong. Bart couldn’t help but get a kick out of how determined Peter was to win, despite his tiny hands and not-so-great coordination.

Then suddenly, Bart’s phone buzzed, and the sound made him freeze mid-laugh. He glanced at the screen, seeing Iris’s name flash across the display. Peter watched his face light up.“Finally! A real adult!” Bart said out loud with joy. He immediately answered it.

Before Iris could even start speaking, Bart launched into a rapid-fire explanation about Peter showing up at the house, the strange kid’s claims, and his odd resemblance to…well, someone whose name started with the letter D.

Iris’s voice came through the phone confused. He could hear the sound of traffic. She finished her meeting early and was on her way home. Thank goodness he had enough sense left her some pizza. “Wait, hold on. You’ve got a kid at the house? And he thinks he’s related to Wally somehow?”

“Uh, yeah,” Bart said, throwing a glance at Peter, who was still holding the controller but now looking curiously at Bart’s phone call. “Iris, I swear, this kid looks just like Wally’s boyfriend —”

“What?” Iris interrupted. “Did you—are you sure? Do you think this is a situation similar to yours? Bart, what are you guys even doing right now?”

“Uh…playing video games in the living room.”

Iris went silent on the other end of the line. Truly dumbfounded by Bart. 

Bart continued “And I’m not quite sure if it’s a stitch like mine. It’s not like I’ve run a DNA test or anything, but you should see the kid. And he’s calling Wally Mom.” Bart made a funny face.“Like, this is super weird. And neither Wally nor Dick are picking up their phones when I called.”

Iris sighed on the other end of the phone.  “Okay…just sit tight with him for now. I’m on my way home. I’ll try calling Wally as well.”

“Yeah, okay. Sure. No problem.” He stared at the tv screen. Peter was still trying to get the hang of the video game. The little guy had just launched his character into another pit of lava.

After another 10 minutes of waiting, a loud thud echoed from the front door, followed by the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the lock.

“Oh, that must be Iris,” Bart said, standing up quickly and rushing toward the front door. He left Peter to continue with the game. “Hey, buddy, keep it up! I’ll be right back.”

He was met Iris standing there, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, looking slightly bewildered but mostly in control. “You’ve been playing video games with him all this time?”

Bart scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh… yeah, pretty much. We also ate pizza.”

Iris shook her head, before walking further into the living room. 

Her eyes landed on Peter, who was sitting on the couch with the controller still in his hands, looking at her curiously. He was so focused on the game that he hadn’t noticed Iris enter yet.

Iris squatted down in front of Peter, smiling gently. “Hey there. You must be Peter, right?”

Peter hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly, clearly unsure about the situation.“Yeah… That’s me.”

Bart could practically see the little hearts in Iris’s eyes.

Iris’s smile softened even more. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Bart’s told me a little about you, but I’m sure there’s a lot more we need to figure out.”

Iris turned her head to the side and looked back at Bart who was standing off to the side.“You said you couldn’t reach Wally or Dick, right?”

Bart nodded sagely,“Yeah, I called a bunch of times. No answer. They’re probably having the craziest sex right now.”

Iris leveled Bart the most unimpressed look and Peter made a funny face.

Bart shrugged. “I’m not joking. Today is Saturday. So it’s definitely one of their date nights. You know last time at Wally’s apartment I walked in-“

Iris cut him off. “Okay. Enough. I get it. So let’s think about who to call now.”

“Oh! I know.” Bart exclaimed. Both Iris and Peter looked at him. He whipped his phone out and the call was answered on the second ring. A familiar sleep- deprived voice greeted him.

Tim.