Chapter Text
There was currently a small spider-person — complete with eight limbs, multiple eyes, fangs and non humanoid mandible — crawling on the top of one of the containment cells in the Batcave. There was a small spider web in one of the corners. The lunch they’d provided it (him?) was currently liquifying in the web he’d wrapped it in. The man-spider (boy spider?) was looking at Dick with the same look the spider that lived in the corner of his bathroom in Bludhaven did.
(Dick had named that spider Aragog and had told Jason it was after Lord of the Rings to irritate him. It had been worth the raged lecture as it distracted his brother from whatever criminality he’d been proposing. In all honesty Dick supposed that spider was likely Aragog the II or more since it had been a few years since it appeared.)
Dick wasn’t sure if the spider was simply taking in his environment with Dick in it or if it could form more complex thoughts or if it was contemplating the chances of eating him.
They’d caught him wrapping up several criminals for food. He hadn’t bitten any of them thankfully but the sight of several web encased humans would haunt his nightmares. The spider child had successfully bitten his food to eat though. Maybe he just hadn’t been hungry before and it had simply been chance that had stopped him from smoothing a criminal who now had arachnophobia.
“Hey, I got the DNA back from our bug boy.” Tim said.
Dick broke his gaze from the spider boy.
“Do we know who or what he is?”
“Uh well we don’t know who he was…is…as his DNA isn’t in the system. However we did have something interesting come up.”
“What?” Dick asked as he stared at the spider boy again.
“So…did you have sex in your mid teens?” Dick turned back to look at Tim incredulously. “Answer the question.”
“I lost my virginity when I was fourteen. Why?”
“Okay a bit earlier than we calculated but still good.”
“Tim.” Dick’s voice was a warning on its own.
“Right, uh he’s your son.”
“I did not fuck a spider.” Dick said at once. “Or whatever it is spiders do to reproduce.”
“What? What kind of reaction is that?” Tim asked. “He’s mutated or something. We can reverse it. I just… you don’t care you have a son?” Dick took a moment to consider.
“I…I can honestly say it did not cross my mind that a spider-monster was my son.” Dick said slowly. He turned back to the spider boy. It stared back at him.
“Da——ddy.” It got out with it’s mandible, considering it made non-spider sounds already it wasn’t that surprising it could possibly talk.
Dick put his head in his hands.
What the fuck was his life?