Pieces are Falling in Place
Jason was a nice enough guy, though Peter wasn’t about to say any less about the man who paid for his tacos. They were utterly delicious, as he expected anything would be after three or so days of not eating. And Jason didn’t seem to mind buying more and more of them, just pulling out his credit card and going back up to get another round of tacos from the food truck that was his “taco place”.
“Jeez kid, slow down. I get that you’re hungry but keep this up and you’ll make yourself sick.”
Peter did not heed his advice, not that he needed to. His superpowers came with the downside of needing a super amount of food to keep up with it, which meant his digestion was more than enough to keep up with his current pace. He honestly wasn’t sure he could out-eat it if he tried. Not that he ever had.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Jason took the tacos just as Peter was going to grab another, sliding them out of his reach.
“Hey!”
Jason raised an eyebrow, before smirking.
“Here’s what we’ll do. Answer my questions, get a taco. Make sense? And don’t lie to me, I’ll know.”
Peter gave him a begrudging nod, sitting up straighter in his seat like he was in an interview.
“Fine, hit me.”
“Where are you from? You’re clearly not a Gothamite.”
Peter thought for a moment. How much could he really tell this man? Even if he seemed nice enough, sharing where he’s from probably wasn’t a great idea. Besides, this man wouldn’t believe him anyway.
“You may have bought me tacos but I’m not just gonna give a stranger my address.” He joked. Jason just rolled his eyes.
“I meant what city? Town? General area?”
“It’s complicated, but New York.”
“It’s complicated?”
“Yes.” Peter gave a shit-eating grin there, having answered the question.
Jason raised an eyebrow once again. It gave his face a concerned look, his bright blue eyes sunken into his skin, little wrinkles pressed into his forehead but partially hidden by his hair. The white strip of which reminded Peter of his own strange hair coloring battle, and he was suddenly very thankful it was hidden into his bangs. He didn’t want to have to explain that, especially considering he himself wasn’t sure what was causing it.
“I see you have no plans of elaborating.” He let out a sigh, Peter just grinned his grin.
“Alright, what about here, what sort of living situation are you in? Don’t gotta tell me your address but I need to know you’re safe.”
“I’m safe.” Peter lied through his teeth.
“Well that’s clearly a lie.” Jason replied.
“No really, I am!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then what was the point of asking?!”
“I wanted to see how you’d answer.”
“Alright then, if you’re so sure of yourself why don’t you tell me?”
Jason smirked, it had been a while since he got to use his detective skills in public. It was a skill he was rather fond of, even if it came from his Robin days. He’d never let Bruce know that, of course. Then again, his meeting with Peter when he was last patrolling gave him a bit of an advantage.
“Okay. I’d wager you're living out on the streets. Probably in some abandoned building based on the state of your clothes. You aren’t going to any of the shelters, not that I blame you, but you’re smart enough to realize you need some sort of shelter so you’re not just under some bridge. Either your folks ain’t around, or they ain’t treating you the way they should. My guess is the latter given your injuries and your strange set of skills. So did you run away, or were you kicked out?”
Peter opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, then opened it again, then closed it one more time for good measure. He looked like a fish out of water, gulping air that he just couldn’t breathe. Finally he got his senses about him again as he spoke up.
“It’s the former actually. Mom and Dad died years ago. I was taken in by my aunt and uncle, but then my uncle died too and it was my fault. And my aunt…” tears were welling in his eyes, but he wouldn’t let them fall. Not in front of this man, so he took a shaky breath and pushed on. “Well she died recently, and it was my fault again. I could have stopped it but… she died. And now…. Well now I’m here. A long way from home cause I just don’t have one anymore.”
Jason seemed quiet now, contemplative as he gently let out his next words.
“And there’s no one to take you in?”
Peter wasn’t sure how to answer that. He started with the truth.
“There’s one man, he’s… well he’s not my dad but… he’s about the closest I have.”
Even in that sliver of truth there was a lot left unsaid. He could never ask Tony to do that for him. Being an ‘intern’ was already more than enough, asking to be part of his family felt, well, greedy. Even if he did want it. Not that it mattered much right now. And this was the part that he would have to lie about.
“But he can’t. There’s a whole distance issue and we’re kind of cut off from each other and… well there’s a reason I’m in Gotham and not back in New York.”
Peter winced a little at the reminder of what he had done, just how bad he had ruined his home dimension over one childish request. There was certainly a reason he wasn’t in New York, and it was because his universe had crumpled him like a ball of paper and tossed him away.
There was a small thunk as Jason put the tacos back on the table. Both of them having forgotten their deal in the seriousness of the conversation.
“I’m sorry to hear that kid. It’s a rough life to lead, but I understand, probably better than you think.” Jason pulled his phone out from his pocket, either looking something up or typing a message out to someone, Peter couldn’t tell. “But there are people out there who can help you. The Wayne Foundation alone pours more money than any one man could hope to spend into the shelters and adoption programs and-“
When Jason looked back up from his phone Peter was already standing. “I can’t. I’m not going into any system.” He could make it on his own, he knew he could, and he couldn’t stand the thought of any other family, of even trying to find one when he knew he’d be longing for a way home the whole time. And how would he ever find that way home if he didn’t have the freedom to use his powers to get what he needed. To perform the experiments it would take. No, he just couldn’t do what Jason was wanting him to.
Seeing this Jason stood too, rising slowly from the table, one hand slowly reaching towards Peter, palm down in a soothing motion.
“Alright, no one’s saying you have to Peter. I was just trying to help you out but if it’s not what you’re looking for that’s okay. I’m not here to treat you like some charity case, just making sure you knew the options you had.”
He was lying, he had to be. Peter knew what he was, he knew he was a charity case in every sense of the word right now. But even so… his thoughts were cut off as he heard half-hushed conversation from behind Jason. Two girls were whispering (poorly) to each other.
“Oh my god, is that Jason Todd?”
“No way, what would one of the Wayne kids be doing here?”
“I heard he doesn’t like being called that.”
“Then why’d he hyphenate? He’s Jason Todd-Wayne after all…”
Peter couldn’t help but look past Jason at the two girls as he tried to make sense of what they were saying.
Jason was a Wayne kid? Wayne as in, Bruce Wayne? The guy he stole money from?? And here he was treating him to tacos and trying to help him out. He already felt guilty enough taking 300 dollars from the Wayne’s, taking the pity that Jason was offering him on top of that almost made him feel sick. He had to leave, now.
Jason seemed to notice that Peter was looking past him, maybe even heard what the girls had been saying as he turned toward them.
“Would you mind? I’m in the middle of a conversation here, I don’t need to be the middle of yours too.” There was the slightest hint of aggression in his voice as he said that, staring the two girls down for a beat before turning back to Peter.
Or rather, to where Peter had been, though he had taken the opportunity to slip away while Jason wasn’t looking. Slinking from their table by the food truck over to a nearby alley and hiding in the shadows of it. He could just barely see Jason looking frustratedly around him. Not seeing Peter anywhere he let out the sigh of a man far too familiar with disappearing acts such as this. Picking up the two tacos that remained he walked off, leaving Peter to reflect on his next move as he tried to fight back the waves of guilt and sadness that were wracking his body. Remnants of the conversation and his realization that he was leeching even more off an innocent family.
It was too similar to his worst moments with Tony. Those times where he felt undeserving of all the man was giving him. But here, there was no one to tell him he was wrong, that he did deserve it. He wouldn’t have believed them even if there were, but it still would have helped. It always did.
–––––
Bat Chat:
Dickie:
Wait, you see hacker kid?
Dickie:
Jay?
Jaylad:
I’m here, hold the presses.
Dickie:
Jesus Jay, what happened?
Jaylad:
Hacker kid got mugged, so I intervened.
Dickie:
Shit, is he alright?
Jaylad:
Yeah he’s fine. Honestly he probably could have handled them himself.
Jaylad:
Told me if I “kept playing hero” I’d get hurt.
Duke (of Earl):
wtf
Jaylad:
Exactly. He took a blow that should’ve knocked him unconscious, and still managed to beat the piss out of two armed thugs.
Demon Brat:
He sounds like an impressive combatant. Is he a meta?
Jaylad:
Probably, though he knows a little too much either way. Some of his flips looked like yours, Dickwad.
Dickie:
So he knows how to move and fight, that’s not too uncommon for street kids.
Jaylad:
Sure, but then he disassembled a pistol right in front of me.
Dickie:
OK, that is a bit odd.
Jaylad:
Anyway, his name’s Peter Parker. I actually met him on patrol a bit ago.
Jaylad:
Took him to eat after the mugging cause he looked like he hadn’t eaten in days.
Jaylad:
To put it short, we can’t let Bruce get his hands on this kid.
Babs:
Oh?
Dickie:
Not that I’m saying we should ever let Bruce get his hands on anyone, but why do you say that specifically?
Jaylad:
He’s a flippy kid with quips, sass, and no family. He’s already got one father figure he can’t connect with.
Spoiler Alert:
Ah, prime Robin pickings.
Jaylad:
Exactly. Hell the kid even looks like a mini Dick.
Dickie:
Really?
Babs:
You know now that you say it, he really does.
Dickie:
Huh. Neat.
–––––
To the library. That was where he needed to go. Not only was it the reason he had chosen a new building down on this side of the city, but now he had a new question in mind. What the hell did they mean Jason was one of the Waynes?
The building was the same as last time he left it, except perhaps for a tiny amount less stone making up the roof as it continued to fall as gravel. One of these days the library was going to fall apart, but for now it stood, tried and true. The inside was as echoey as always, though the red haired receptionist was already at the desk this time, tapping away at a laptop. That made sense, it was probably around 2 in the afternoon this time, so he wasn’t exactly a late visiter. He wished he had checked the library’s clock before coming in.
“Excuse me? Uh hi, could I get a guest login for the computer again?”
The lady looked up from her laptop and gave him a gentle smile. “Sure, though you know you could just get a library card, right?”
“I uh, I don’t really have any money so…”
“Not a problem, free access is kinda our whole deal.” She chuckled. Peter hadn’t really been to the library much before, if ever. He had access to his school’s library back home (where his school ID worked as his library card), and his own computer at that, so he knew embarrassingly little about how the whole system worked.
After a few replies back and forth, and a quick smile to an old looking webcam (“The one on my laptop is better, but regulations and all that.” she had said) his library card was nearly ready.
“Alright, now all I need is a name.”
He paused for a second, debating what name to use here. But ultimately decided he should just use his real name. Spider-Man was when he was in the suit, Richard Grayson was for anonymous interaction with the vigilantes (he had plans about that), and Peter Parker was him, just him. No need to add another identity to the mix.
“Peter Parker.”
The lady seemed to nod at that, as if it confirmed some suspicion of hers. A few taps later and the card was ready to go.
“Here you go Peter, computers are right down the hall where you remember them.”
She passed him the card and gestured down one of the many wood-lined halls of the library. Taking it he turned to go down the hall before thinking better for a moment. Turning back to the receptionist he spoke.
“Thank you…. Uh….”
“Barbara!”
“Ah, well thanks Barbara!”
Now he could go to the computers without feeling rude. He may be a long way from home. He may be in another universe entirely. By god he may be in New Jersey. But he was still going to be polite.
Finding the computers precisely where he had left them last time, he didn’t hesitate to log on with his newly procured library card. It sat in his pocket with the stolen money, weighing him down with guilt yet necessary all the same. He tried not to let it get to him as the computer booted to the desktop. Quickly navigating to a fresh webpage he googled “Jason Todd Wayne”. A few clicks down the first wikipedia page revealed to him that the man was one of the many Wayne children (and also had been presumed dead for years?). Clicking the link over to the wikipedia page for “The Waynes”, he began to read. Bruce Wayne was the sole heir to the fortune of Martha and Thomas Wayne, who had been killed in a mugging in Gotham years ago. That explained all the philanthropy at least…
While he was the sole heir to their fortune, there are plenty of heirs to his fortune due to his tendency to adopt children. A bit of a weird hobby for a man to have but who was he to judge? These children include Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain and-
Oh.
Oh.
OH.