kismet

In the days after Tim left his apartment after mentioning that fucking Batman wanted to meet him, Peter did what he did best. He panicked, overthinking constantly.

He distracted with work and school as much as he could. Not to mention Spider-Man. He’d agreed to go to Wayne Manor to meet Bruce and the rest of the family on Sunday of that week. Apparently he’d be attending the family’s regular Sunday family dinner. Fun, right? He had a few days still to mentally prepare himself for the event. It wasn’t enough.

He wasn’t exactly sure he’d ever be ready to meet Tim’s entire vigilante family all at once. He’d met most of them already, except for Bruce of course, but he wasn’t exactly close with all of them. With the exception for Jason, Steph, and to some extent Cass.

So throwing himself head first into distraction, yeah. Sounds like a smart way to cope with his anxiety.

Work had been busy that morning, only a few minutes to breathe at a time. It was a Wednesday afternoon but Harley’s was almost always full to three brim. Peter stiffened as his spidey senses alerted him to someone dangerous approaching. Not unusual.

“Scotch on the rocks.” A familiar gravelly voice ordered just as Peter was finished wiping down the bar.

Peter turned a sweet smile up to Slade Wilson in full Deathstroke regalia. “You got it, Mr. Wilson.” He chirped. The merc came into the bar fairly regularly when Peter first began working at Harley’s but he’d disappeared after a while. He knew Slade travelled and didn’t live in Gotham so Peter didn’t ask why he was here. It had been about two months since Peter had seen him and for that he was grateful. Once he’d gotten over the strange similarities to Deadpool he’d realized that Slade gave him the creeps and set of his spidey sense an alarming amount.

Slade rolled his eyes, throwing a hundred dollar bill onto the bar with a grumble. “Hurry up, kid.”

Peter sniffed but did as asked and quickly turned to make the drink. “Here you go.” He said with another sweet smile, a shiver going down his spine as the mercenary strutted away, steps lost to the sound of the bar.

“Mr. Bartenderrrrr.” Another voice called out drunkenly, diverting his attention away from Deathstroke. Peter turned to see one of his regulars, a goon of Red Hoods, waving her glass back and forth as she fought to get Peter’s attention.

Peter rolled his eyes, huffing a laugh as he got back to work.

“Sweetie pie!” Harley chirped happily as she let him into her apartment, which sat above the bar. Pam was in the kitchen, humming as she moved around. Selina was lazing on the couch, one of the cats Mable, sitting on her chest.

“Aunt Harley!” Peter replied brightly. “Hey Aunt Pam, Aunt Selina.”

“Hey, Pete.” Selina said warmly. “What are you doing here? You’re not working tonight, are you?”

“Nah. Just finished up.” Peter said, kicking off his shoes and taking off his coat. He hugged Harley before moving to sit next to Selina on the couch. The catlike woman lifted her head, letting him sit, before resting it back in his lap. “Just thought I’d come visit.”

“Aww, sugar!” Harley let out a coo. “We missed you too.”

“Even though we saw you yesterday.” Pam added dryly, a smirk on her lips.

“What’s on your mind, kitten?” Selina questioned, looking up at him shrewdly.

“Ugh.” Peter groaned. “How do you always know?”

“It’s a talent.” Selina said with a snicker.

“It’s just- Tim invited me over to meet his whole family on Sunday. I’m nervous, is all.” Peter mumbled.

Selina burst into tinkling laughter. “Oh, kitten. It’ll be okay.”

“Don’t worry too much, little spider.” Pam added with a smile. Peter was just going to strategically ignore that nickname.

“Yeah!” Harley piped up, cackling. “Ol’ Brucie is a big softy.”

“I don’t know.” Peter hummed, biting his lip as he absently ran his fingers through Selina’s hair. “I don’t want to talk about it, anyway. I came here to be distracted.”

“Ooh! D’ya wanna hear about Pammy’s new pollen?” Harley asked excitedly, darting lovesick looks back at Pam as she maneuvered through the kitchen. “It’s suuuuper cool.”

“Ugh.” Selina grumbled.

Peter perked up, eyes wide with curiosity. “Yes!”

A day with his aunts was just what he needed, ending the night with a relaxed smile on his face. It was always wonderful talking to someone who could keep up with his scientific babble and while Harley and Selina were less versed in the science stuff, they still knew enough that they could keep up in a conversation. Pam though, she had an abundance of knowledge, specifically related to plants.

Peter had never been interested in botany in the past, never really having the opportunity to study it, but now he was interested. Very interested. Not enough that he would switch his major but enough that he added a few classes on the side and listened avidly as Pam explained her process.

The way his spider DNA interacted with the plants was also fascinating. They could understand each other in a way that should have been impossible. He could always tell what they were feeling and what they needed and on occasion he would receive the tell tale psychic imprint of a thought being shared. It was so fucking cool!

After leaving Harley’s place, he had gone out as Spider-Man for a few hours before falling into his bed and falling to sleep almost immediately.

The next day he woke up with a groan, his body pleasantly sore. He glared at his alarm before perking up when he remembered that he’d agreed to meet with Gwen and MJ for a study group. Tim would also be meeting them there.

Peter had been in charge of picking the location and had decided on Pam’s cafe, so after he showered and dressed, he headed straight there.

He was panting by the time he burst in the door of three cafe, fifteen minutes late. Tim, Gwen, and Michelle were all already sitting at one of the tables in the corner, chatting quietly amongst themselves. They looked up as Peter approached the table in a rush, almost tripping in his haste to get to them.

“I’m so sorry! The subway was delayed and then I had to run to the bus stop but then I missed the bus and I had to run all the way here.” Peter blurted, practically heaving.

“Babe!” Tim shot up from his seat, putting his hand on Peter’s chest. “Breathe, you’re good. You’re not even that late.”

“Yeah, loser. Your boyfriend’s been keeping us company.” Michelle piped up, voice deadpan.

“Here, sit down.” Gwen said, pulling out a chair with a concerned look on her face. “I’ll get you a water.”

“It’s fine! You don’t have to-“

“Sit.” Gwen said sternly, poking a finger at his chest as she moved towards the front counter.

Peter did as he was told, sitting and pulling out his laptop with a small clatter. “Sorry.” He whispered as he dropped his backpack on the floor.

Tim visibly smothered a smile. “You’re a mess.” He said, pressing a peck to Peter’s lips.

“I know.” Peter groaned, putting his face in his hands. “I was up late at my Aunt’s house and I almost slept through my alarm this morning.”

“Your aunt, huh?” Tim asked curiously.

“Yup.” Peter chirped back, before looking up at Michelle. “How’ve you been?”

“Eh.” Michelle shrugged. “Fine. Got an internship at WE in the PR department so that’s cool.”

“Going to go dismantle their whole operation?” Peter joked before shooting a wide eyed look at Tim, literal CEO of WE.

Tim waved him off with an amused smile just as Michelle answered a sincere “Yes.”

Peter burst into giggles, tears filling his eyes at his mirth.

Tim and Michelle both rolled their eyes, sharing an amused look over his head.

Gwen reappeared at the end of their table with a small smile on her face as she took in Peter giggling while Tim and MJ just smiled. “What’s so funny?”

“Literally nothing.” Michelle deadpanned, smirking.

“Ah.” Gwen hummed as Peter’s giggles died down. “Well, then. Drink your water and let’s get to work.”

Peter complied with a smile. It was nice to have friends. It had taken him a couple weeks to separate the couple from their counterparts but with how markedly different they were, it wasn’t too hard. Sure they looked mostly the same but their lives, their families, their personalities and habits were almost completely foreign. Peter was glad for that fact.

Sunday came faster than he could have anticipated. Nerves raced through his entire being as he waited at his apartment for Tim to come pick him up.

He’d spent the whole night before and morning agonizing over all the ways this dinner could go wrong. He knew it was unrealistic, that he was just meeting his boyfriend’s family. They’d been dating for almost two months. It was normal. To be expected. This wasn’t Spider-Man meeting Batman, he reminded himself, this was Bruce Wayne meeting his son’s boyfriend.

It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t! He just had to impress a billionaire and part time superhero. No biggie at all.

He’d spent a few hours on the roof of his building the night before, eventually being joined by Hood. When the man had asked about this thoughts, he’d decided to take the opportunity to make Hood sweat.

“I’m meeting my boyfriend’s family on Sunday.” Peter told him. “I’m just a bit nervous.”

“Ah.” Hood hummed, jerking his head a bit.

“And like they’re all totally rich and famous. What if I embarrass myself?” Peter continued. “Or what if they hate me because I’m poor?!” He cried, widening his eyes.

“Peter.” Hood huffed, exasperated. “The Waynes aren’t going to hate you for being poor. They’re not like that.”

“How do you know?” Peter asked suspiciously, squinting at the crime lord a.k.a. Jason Todd-Wayne. “Do you know them?”

Hood paused. “I’ve met them.” He said, rather unsurely.

“Hm.” Peter hummed, watching in amusement as Hood twitched slightly. “Alright!” He chirped, withholding a giggle when Hood visibly deflated out of the corner of his eye.

The man was just too easy to mess with. It was hilarious. The conversation had given Peter some much needed levity to the situation.

His head jerked to the side and he paused in his pacing when a knock sounded at his door. He took a deep breath and moved to open the door, smiling nervously at Tim on the other side.

“Hi!” Tim greeted a bit weakly, bags under his eyes. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Peter hummed, giving a short laugh. “You?”

“Same.” Tim breathed, leaning forward to kiss Peter on the lips. Peter sighed into the kiss, tension he didn’t even know he was carrying falling away if just for a moment.

Tim sighed heavily as they pulled away, biting his lip as his eyes darted over Peter’s face and body. “Okay, let go.”

“Right.” Peter said, feeling a headache come on. “After you.” He said, closing the door behind him with a flourish.

Tim smiled softly, leading Peter to his car and closing the door before getting into the drivers seat.

As they started driving, Tim reached over and grabbed Peter’s hand, pulling it into his lap. Peter gave a smitten smile, squeezing his hand twice.

“So, remind me who’s all gonna be there again.” Peter said, keeping his eyes on the side of Tim’s face.

Tim smiled reassuringly. “Bruce, of course, and his fiancé Selina-“

“Wait what? Selina is going to be there?” Peter squeaked.

Tim raised a brow. “Uh, yeah? Why? Do you know her?”

“Ugh! I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!” Peter growled, feeling flustered. “Yes, I know her. Aunt Harley introduced me.”

“Ah.” Tim hummed. “Well, yes, she’ll be there.”

“Sorry.” Peter blushed. “You were saying?”

“Oh yeah! So then there’s going to be my brother Dick and his husband Wally, my other siblings; Jason, Cass, Damian, Duke, and then Steph will be there too.”

“O-oh.” Peter breathed. “That’s a lot of people.” A lot of vigilantes.

Tim smiled, squeezing his hand again. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Okay.” Peter sighed, fighting not to fidget as they approached the gate to the manor.

The large iron wrought gates were intimidating but not as intimidating as the gigantic gothic mansion sitting about a half-mile away.

Peter felt a shiver go down his spine as the gate swung open soundlessly and they drove forward, gravel crunching under the tires.

Getting out of the car, Peter tried to shake the nerves out of his limbs uselessly. Tim smiled softly as he walked around the side of the car and approached him. Taking his hand, Tim led him towards the large double doors which swung open when they were a few feet away.

An older man in a butler uniform smiled warmly at them from the doorstep. “Master Timothy.” He greeted before turning to Peter. “And you must be Mister Parker. I am Alfred Pennyworth.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Pennyworth, sir. You can call me Peter.” Peter mumbled shyly, earning a nod.

“Please come in. Everyone is in the dining room.” Alfred said, guiding them through the house and towards another set of double doors. Peter could hear murmurs from inside the room and tried not to listen too closely as over half a dozen voices overlapped loudly.

The voices came to an abrupt halt as the door opened and Peter and Tim entered, hand in hand.

“Hey guys.” Tim said after a pause, his voice devoid of emotion. Peter was a bit taken aback, only ever hearing Tim speak like that when he was in mask. “This is Peter, my boyfriend.”

There was a silence that started making Peter uncomfortable before Selina spoke up. “Hi, kitten.”

Peter’s head snapped up, a small scowl on his face. “Aunt Selina! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were going to be here!”

He heard a few echoes of ‘Aunt?!’ but ignored them in favor of keeping his eyes on Selina’s face.

The woman smirked slyly. “It was a surprise, little one.”

Peter grumbled under his breath but before he could respond, Steph spoke up.  “Petey Pie! I missed you!” She crowed.

“I missed you too, Steph.” Peter said with mirth.

“Peter Parker.” Bruce spoke up, his quiet voice cutting through the silence. “It is nice to finally meet you.”

Peter met the man’s gaze shyly, running a nervous hand through his hair. “Uh, you too, Mr. Wayne.”

Bruce smiled in amusement, sharing a look he couldn’t decipher with Selina. “Please, call me Bruce.”

“Sure.” Peter coughed, shooting a pleading look at Tim who led him to a seat in between himself and Jason.

Peter turned to Jason, a bright mischievous smile crawling over his face. His nerves momentarily forgotten in favor of trolling his favorite crime lord. “Hi.” He chirped, obnoxiously shoving his hand forward for a shake. “I’m Peter, it’s nice to meet you. You’re Jason, right?”

Jason’s eyes widened and he slowly moved to meet Peter’s handshake. “Yeah, I’m Jason. Nice to meet you, too.” He said slowly.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Tim.” Peter continued.

“All lies, I assure you.” Jason interrupted.

“Not true!” Tim yelped, swatting at Jason over Peter’s head.

“I believe you.” Peter said to Tim with mock seriousness.

“Good.” Tim smirked. “He really did try to kill me when I was first adopted.”

“Extenuating circumstances!” Jason bit out, sending a wide eyed look at Peter. “That sounds so bad, Tim! What the fuck!”

“Well you kinda did try to kill him.” Dick piped up, a small smirk on his lips.

“No talk of murder or attempted murder at the dinner table.” Bruce said sternly, with all the air of a parent who had had this conversation repeatedly.

“Sorry B.” Tim, Jason, and Dick chorused sheepishly. Peter smothered a grin, but the urge to smile at all fell away when Bruce addressed him.

“So Peter, how are you finding Gotham so far? I hear you moved from New York.” Bruce asked kindly.

“Oh it’s nice! Different from Queens but it has its charms.” Peter answered honestly, flushing when the rest of them laughed.

“Yeah, sure, charms.” Jason snorted.

“Like it’s propensity to get its people killed.” Steph added, shaking her head.

“Well I like it.” Peter insisted, only partially telling the truth. He did like Gotham, but nowhere near as much as he had loved New York. His Queens would always be his home, no matter how far from it he was.

“Why’d you move, anyway? I’ve been to Queens once or twice and it’s much nicer than Gotham.” The man who he figured was Wally questioned curiously, Dick leaning forward in interest at his side.

“Yeah.” Peter agreed a bit shortly. “But I had nothing left for me there anymore.”

“Oh.” Wally winced. “I’m sorry.”

Peter waved him off with a smile. “It’s fine. And anyway, Gotham has been pretty kind to me so far.” He said, darting a lovesick look towards Tim who grinned in response.

“And how are your studies?” Damian asked sharply. “Drake says you are… intelligent.”

“Oh!” Peter blushed, smiling at the teenager. “Yeah, I guess I’m pretty smart. My classes are wonderful, the engineering course at Gotham U is much better than the one at ESU so that’s pretty cool.”

“Hm.” Damian hummed, sharing an unreadable look with Bruce across the table.

“What are you studying?” Bruce continued the same line of questioning.

“Um, biological engineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering.” Peter answered a bit shyly.

Bruce looked mildly surprised and Selina had a proud look on her face as she watched the conversation continue. As for the rest of the table, multiple shocked exclamations overlap, making Peter want to cover his ears.

Bruce spoke over the noise with a small smile. “That’s very impressive, Peter. What is it you want to do when you have graduated?”

“Oh well I had planned to work for my mentor before he passed away. He owned a tech company.” Peter answered honestly, ignoring the pinch in his gut and the green in his chest. “But lately I’ve been considering building my own.”

“Making your own?” Duke drawled, head tilted.

“Tech company.” Peter clarified, trying not to feel insecure at the shocked looks from everyone at the table, Tim and Selina included.

It was true, he had been thinking about it for a few weeks. He had so many ideas in his mind for things he could create, so many of Tony’s designs in Karen’s files, so much good he could do for this world. The idea had popped up in his head while he was sleep deprived and swinging through the streets but the next day he had considered it again and it had stuck. The more time passed and the more he talked about it with Karen, the more he wanted.

He had thought his future was over for a long time after the spell. What could a high school drop out make of his future? But after a year and a few motivational pep talks, he’d realized that was a stupid, toxic way of thinking. Peter Parker was a fucking genius and he could do anything he wanted with his life. So he’d gotten his GED and he’d gone to college. He’d been ambitious and gone for a triple major but he loved it. Loved the work he did, loved what he was learning. Before… dying and ending up in Gotham, he’d planned to apply at Stark Industries while praying he never ran into Pepper or Happy.

But now, now there was no Stark Industries. There was only him and his brain. He had thought about selling his designs too but he was too worried about them falling into the wrong hands. Tony’s contributions to technology were revolutionary in his world and would continue to be in this one.

When he had created Tony’s identity in this universe, he had made sure that ‘Tony’ who instead of being married with a daughter, continued to be a playboy till the day he died, left him everything in his will. Including the rights to his designs.

He hadn’t really thought too much about the implications of that when he’d done it, too wrapped up in mourning and rage. But now, with his plan, it would benefit him in the long run. He thought Parker Industries had a nice ring to it.

“Really?” Tim squeaked, eyes wide.

“Y-yeah.” Peter stuttered. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I don’t know how I’m going to do it exactly but I have so many ideas.”

“Ambitious.” Bruce rumbled, and Peter couldn’t tell whether it was approving or not.

“Maybe.” Peter laughed it off. “I just want to make my mentor proud, I guess.”

“Have you drawn up any plans?” Selina asked curiously.

Peter shook his head quickly. “Oh no. I only came up with it like two weeks ago. It’s all still very new.”

“I can help!” Tim blurted, eyes still wide as saucers.

“Oh- you don’t have to-“

“I want to!” Tim said. “I want to.” He repeated, grabbing Peter’s hand.

Peter smiled back brightly, eyes shining with adoration. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Tim breathed, licking his lips.

“Tt. Stop this sickening display. I am trying to eat.” Damian punctuated his sentence with a bite of his food.

Peter jerked back, face bright red. He noticed Tim stifling a laugh out of the corner of his eye and quickly elbowed his boyfriend in the side. “Sorry.” He said quietly to the sneering boy.

“Don’t mind, Dami.” Jason snickered. “He doesn’t get out much.”

Damian sent a scowl at Jason, brows wrinkling.

Peter waved his hands. “Oh no. He’s fine. He reminds me of one of my old friends, actually.”

Steph’s brows shot up. “Really?”

“Yup.” Peter nodded. “She was the best. Took no shit from anyone, ever.” He said a bit wistfully.

Damian looked a bit curious, so did everyone else if he was honest, so Peter continued speaking. “You like drawing right?” A nod. Peter grinned. “She did too. One of her favorite muses was anyone in distress. She had a whole sketchbook full of drawings of different people in distress. Me included.”

Damian narrowed his eyes at Peter before his posture relaxed slightly. “I should like to try this method. Your friend sounds like a very interesting individual.” He said with a sharp nod.

“She was.” Peter smiled again. “She was.” She whispered, clearing his throat and blinking his eyes. Damian nodded again, softening slightly.

“Woah.” Someone whispered.

“I like him.” Dick declared, looking towards Bruce with puppy dog eyes.

“You can’t adopt him, Goldie. He’s twenty-two.” Jason said jokingly.

Peter bit back a shit eating grin and turned wide startled eyes to Jason. “How did you know that?” He asked, voice shaking in a way that was barely noticeable if you were normal. Jason wasn’t normal.

Jason’s eyes widened minutely and darted around before landing back on Peter, no sign of his earlier panic. “Timmy filled us in.” He said, completely at ease.

“Oh.” Peter relaxed abruptly. “That makes sense.” He giggled a bit, unable to help it. He noticed Jason narrow his eyes slightly, scanning Peter with a suspicious look in his eye.

When Peter looked back up, he caught Cass’ eyes. She looked entirely amused, watching him with mirth shining in her eyes. The rest of her face was blank save for a slight quirk of her lips but her eyes gave her away.

“I like him too.” Duke and Steph said at the same time, fist bumping after they did.

Peter blushed. “Thanks?” He said with a questioning lilt.

“You’re welcome!” Steph chirped brightly. “I already liked you though. If only because you make a really good margarita.”

“Uh.” Peter laughed shyly, darting a look at Tim who looked completely embarrassed. “Thanks?” He said again, feeling bewildered and charmed in equal measure.

Maybe meeting the Wayne family wasn’t so bad after all.