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Peter had spent a lot of time in libraries growing up. After he started living with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, they weren’t able to afford to heat the apartment often. So most winters were spent either staying later at school, visiting May at work, or camping out in the library, scrounging off the free heating until closing time.
It seems like he might be doing that again now, as long as they don’t mind. The front of the building looks relatively well taken care of, especially for Gotham. Based on what he has seen so far of this city, the upkeep isn’t the best.
There is both a regular automatic door with a button and one of those cool spinny ones, of course, he is going to go through the spinning one, it would be a wasted opportunity if he didn’t. It is much warmer inside than outside, even with the hoodie he can feel the start of winter touching the air.
It’s a lot larger than he was expecting and cleaner. To his left is a spiral staircase leading up to the second level, what seems to be a sort of kitchenette to the right. As he walks further in, the space opens up with shelves upon shelves rising above him, and off to the side is the front desk. Not wanting to look like a gaping fish any longer, he walks up to the front desk to be met by a redheaded lady typing away on her computer with a scowl.
It doesn’t take her long to notice him standing there, even if she did seem immersed in what she was doing, she is still clearly very observant.
“Hey there, how may I help you?” She asked politely with a large smile on her face. Any sign of the previous stress was erased.
“Oh, uh, I am new to Gotham, and I was wondering if you have computers for the public to use?”
“Of course! Welcome to Gotham, I’m Barbara, you can just call me Barb. I run the library, so if you ever need anything just let me know. We have a very large selection of books both on the first and second floors, as well as a children's area, chill areas, computers, and free wifi. We also have a kitchen with drinks, snacks, and hot water all for free, don’t worry about asking for anything!" She lists off quickly. This library is definitely going to be a place he visits often. He wouldn’t touch the food, but free wifi and water are worth it.
“The computers are just up the stairs behind you, and the lift is opposite here to the left. Ya can’t miss them!”
“Thank you, Miss Barbara. Um, what time do you open and close?” He replies hoping he can stay as late as possible.
“Oh please just Barb, we open at eight am and shut at eight pm.”
That’s good, he thinks. It would be nice if public libraries were twenty-four hours, but a guy can dream. He thanks her, of course still calling her Miss, and goes to turn towards the stairs.
Suddenly, it feels like someone injected him with adrenaline, hit with a rush of anxiety he violently flinches out of the way of a man he was about to walk into. Looking up, he can see a slight look of shock on the man's face before he quickly schools it, replacing it with a small smile.
Peter slyly looks the man up and down. He can’t be older than twenty-one yet he stands half a foot taller than himself and twice the width. He has short, messy black hair with a pure white stripe at the front. He is carrying a large pile of books, a mixture of classic literature and what looks like astrophysics? On the bottom, it looks to be a book called ‘The Life of Robins’. He doesn’t really seem to be someone interested in reading about birds, or someone who would read in general, but guess you can’t judge a book by the cover. Oh god, what a terrible pun. As Peter makes eye contact he notices the tinge of toxic green hidden underneath the sharp blue.
The man stares back at Peter, then turns his gaze to Barbara with a questioning look. Peter doesn’t know what was communicated through that look but it makes him uncomfortable so he starts to fidget with the sleeve of his hoodie, rubbing the fabric back and forth.
“Hey, sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare ya.” The gigantic man says to him.
“It’s okay honestly. Sorry, I guess I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“No problem, it’s nice to see a new face in the library, I’m Jason, a friend of Barbs,” he replies.
Before Peter can think of something to say to get him out of this awkward situation, Barbara talks behind him.
“J, leave the poor kid alone, and go put these back on the higher shelves for me would you?” Jason rolls his eyes before walking past Peter and picking up another stack of books for Barbara who is looking too pleased with herself.
Using the distraction, he makes his way towards the stairs hoping they don’t try to talk to him anymore. He stares at the lower step for a second before making his way up them
Abit slowly, even days after his joints still hurt and ache as he moves, feeling as if his joints are a mixture of brittle elastics and over-chewed gum. Once he reaches the top, he huffs a deep breath, not realizing he was holding it on his way up, as well as gripping the banister like his life depended on it.
It takes him a second to compose himself before he takes in his surroundings. To the right are more books, and what looks like the toilets. In front of him, just off to the left, is a few rows of computers, each with two tables and two computers. There is only one space that isn’t taken up, right near the back next to someone hunched over a notebook, scrawling away as if his life depended on it,
With no other option, Peter makes his way over to the free desk. As he gets there he has a better view of the boy. He seems to be around his age, with shaggy black hair that he keeps pushing out his eyes. Around him are around a dozen cans and cups, ranging from what looks like tea to some random soda called ‘Zesti Cola’. He never thought about the fact that even the smallest things down to food and drink would be different in this universe. Oh no, what if they don’t have Snapple here?
Before he can continue his internal panic about what else could be missing in this universe, the boy glances up at him for a second and looks back down. He then takes a double look, not fully processing there was someone in front of him the first time.
“Uh, hey? Sorry, is it okay if I sit here and use the computer?” Peter asks, hoping he doesn’t seem that weird just standing there staring at the guy.
“Yeah, sure! Oh god, one sec. Sorry, let me move some of this.” The boy replies as he quickly gathers some of the books and papers that are spreading onto the second desk. Afterward, he picks up a small bin from beside his desk and swipes the empty cans and paper cups into the bin. When he is done he looks up a bit embarrassed and gestures to the other chair.
Peter smiles at him hoping it makes the guy feel a bit less embarrassed and plops himself down in the seat opposite. After placing his bag on the floor, he looks at the computer in front of him. It looks dated compared to the technology he is used to. With Stark tech in his universe, the advanced made are insane. These computers look like the kind he saw when he was younger, they must be around fifteen years behind.
“Sooo, I’ve never seen you around before. Are you new to Gotham?” the guy in front of him questions, he doesn’t seem to have much of a filter.
“I’m Tim, by the way.” he offers with a smile.
“Yeah, I’m uh, Peter. I moved here recently. Just wanted to get an idea of the place I’m gonna be calling home.” He doesn’t know if he should have said his real name considering he already told the lady at the shelter his name was Ned. but there is no harm in telling some boy in a library.
“Nice to meet you, Peter. How come you moved to Gotham? It’s not really a place people choose to come to.” Before Peter could respond he spoke again.
“Oh god, sorry it’s none of my business. I don’t meet new people often, I don’t mean to be invasive.” He panics.
“It’s okay, honestly. I don’t mind questions. I had some problems where I lived before, so we thought it would be best if I moved in with my aunt and uncle.” Thank god for Natasha and her lessons in defense and lying. He thought to himself.
With his internship at Stark Industries came a lot of people desperate for information. Natasha was thankfully there to help him learn how to keep composed and not panic and reveal any classified information he knew. Before he was horrendous at lying to the point Aunt May would just take pity on him instead of telling him off.
“Ah, that makes sense. Well, I hope you can settle in here. You’re from New York, right? Your accent kinda gives it away.” Well, that answers his question about New York City existing in this universe.
“Yeah, from Queens.”
“Nice, I haven’t been to Queens personally, but from what I have seen of New York it’s a cool place,” Tim replies.
“Yeah, it’s decent, a lot different from Gotham based on what I have seen so far.”
“Gotham can be rough, but there are some positives. I can’t think of any right now apart from the library but I promise there are some,” he says as he picks up his pen again.
“And if you need to login to the computers, the wifi password and free login are on the paper here.” Tim points to a piece of paper taped down to the desk next to him. Thanking him, Peter types in the information, clicking on this universe's search engine. He doesn’t really know what to look up. This universe could be completely different, they might have never even invented space travel.
The first thing he could think of to look up was a world map. Not much of the actual landscape seems different, but just in the US, there are cities that never even existed in his universe. He was hoping that Gotham just happened to be somewhere he never heard of before, but no. Gotham isn’t even far from New York.
In fact, it seems the majority of big cities have completely different names like Metropolis, – stupid name – Central City and Star City. Like what? They sound like names out of a comic book, not real places where people live.
Instead of researching the whole of the world in one day, he looks up just the place he was dumped in. What he found wasn’t exactly ideal.
Gotham City, located on the East Seaboard of the United States has some of the highest crime rates in the world. Riddled with corruption and danger, it is home to some of the most prolific villains such as The Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, Firefly, and Bane. With such extreme crime, comes the need for protectors. Popular Justice League member, Batman, is the resident hero of Gotham City, with him a band of fellow vigilantes like Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl he protects the city at night; thus earning him the name ‘The Dark Knight’.
So. Peter ended up in a good place. He could at least be dropped in a nice city filled with dogs. Instead, he is in one of the worst places for crime in the world. How he is going to be able to avoid that he doesn’t know. He can’t stay at the shelter forever, and the streets hardly seem like a safe place to stay.
After that, he deep-dived into things such as the Justice League (they do in fact have space travel as they have an insane amount of aliens as heroes), Gotham villains, and Batman.
This Batman guy seems to pretty much do whatever he wants here. He even set his own rules like no metas, which Peter realized must be like the enhanced and mutants in his universe. The people are lucky he doesn’t decide to be a villain because that wouldn’t be good. No one knows his identity, nor do they know who the people he works with are. There has been an oddly large amount of Robins, one literally being a space starfish, like what the hell?
He is confident that the Robins then become the new people like Red Robin and Nightwing because these random people suddenly turning up with the same build and characteristics as the previous Robins can not be a coincidence.
One of the villains also had a concerning likeness to Deadpool. He has the same weapons and morals. Even their outfits are similar, Wade would be insulted (Peter isn’t entirely sure how he became friends with Wade Wilson but he doesn’t dwell on it).
Just as he goes back to delve further into his research, starting with a news article reading ‘BRUCIE AND BATMAN: IS THE BILLIONAIRE THE DARK KNIGHTS DIRTY LITTLE SECRET’, Tim looks over and with amusement on his face as he sees Peters's screen.
“So, who's your favorite hero? I know a very generic question but your answer completely determines what kinda of person you are. No pressure," he asks, smirking.
Trying to keep his internal panic off his face, Peter quickly goes back through the things he has read and blurts out the first thing, hoping it won’t cause Tim to judge him too much.
“I quite like The Flash.”
“Oh cool! Not a bad answer I must say. My personal favorite has to be Blue Beetle, he is like insanely smart, rivaling Batman. And the tech he makes is so cool!” Tim says enthusiastically. Peter has no idea who that is but he is going to pretend and then look the guy up later.
“Nice! Honestly, I don’t know as much as I should about heroes” Peter replies with a nervous laugh.
“That’s chill, I sometimes hyper-fixate on these things.” They both go back to their own thing, Peter wants to know what he is doing as it looks like some sort of physics calculation, and other than Ned he hasn’t met a lot of people his age who are interested in science.
The thought of Ned sends a sharp pang through his chest, taking his breath away. He will never be able to see his best friend again. Even if he is missing him, Ned will never miss him because he doesn’t even remember him.
Not being able to handle those thoughts right now, he excuses himself to the restroom, ignoring the slightly worried look on Tim's face.
He didn’t mean to take a depressing turn, but it just snuck up on him. Trying to clear his mind. He splashes some cold water on his face and the back of his neck. After so controlled breathing and a poor motivational speech to himself, Peter steps back out into the library.
When he gets back to the desk, Tim dumps a bunch of snacks and drinks onto both their desks and places down two cups of noodles.
“I didn’t know if you were hungry or not, and I didn’t know what you liked so I picked up a bit of everything,” he tells Peter with a small smile. He doesn’t really know how to respond to it. It’s such a kind thing, especially from a guy he barely even knows. He told himself he wasn’t going to touch the food here, but he couldn’t just deny it after Tim took the time to go and get it all.
“Thank you, you didn’t have to, I can just eat when I get home,” Peter tells him as he takes his seat. Honestly, the noodles smell amazing, it's not even a cheap brand, it looks to be some fancy noodles with teriyaki sauce in it. He has had his fair share of cup noodles growing up, it wasn’t often that Aunt May could afford anything else, especially after Uncle Ben’s death and the Battle of New York. Most of the noodles he ate were the cheapest ones with ‘chicken flavor’ written on the front.
“Don’t worry about it! They restock it here every day, and it’s all paid for by the Wayne Foundation. I don’t know what drinks you like so I just got you water and some soda.” Tim replies, already digging into his noodles with a plastic fork.
I really need to look up what the Wayne Foundation is, Peter thinks to himself. Thanking Tim again, he starts eating his own food. God, he didn’t realize how hungry he actually was even after eating this morning. It didn’t take him long to finish the food, and afterward, he ate a cereal bar as well as sneaking some of the other snacks into his bag when Tim wasn’t looking. The shelter’s bag came with a few cereal bars, and he had around ten dollars, but he wouldn’t be able to buy much food.
For a while, he and Tim spoke about random things, some science where he finds out Tim is incredibly smart, different things about Gotham, and Peter spoke a bit about himself. He may not be able to go home but it was nice to talk with Tim about things his friends back home did, just laughing and sharing.
Before he knew it, it was already seven and they had been talking for hours. Tim started packing up his things and so did Peter.
“Did you wanna go get some food? There is a place nearby.” Tim asks him. He tries to reject the offer considering he can’t afford it but Tim isn’t having it. He offers to pay and is relentless. Peter follows after him downstairs, once again fiddling with the sleeve of his hoodie.
Instead of walking towards the exit, Tim walks up to the front desk where Barbara and the Jason guy are sitting. He doesn’t know what to do so he follows him, hanging back a little. Tim asks if they want anything and they both give him their order which he types into his phone while Jason jokes around with him.
As they head out into the almost dark streets, Peter asks Tim how he knows Barbara and Jason. Tim has a confused look for a second until he comes to some realization that he doesn’t share with the class.
“Oh, Babs is a family friend, or well, my brother's ex. And Jason is unfortunately my older brother.” Tim replies with a small chuckle.
“Wait, so Jason is just casually hanging out with his ex?” Peter asks exasperated. Now that gets him a loud laugh in response.
“No no no, my other brother, Dick. Jason and Babs are just friends. But Dick and Bab's relationship is fine, just the right person at the wrong time I guess.”
Peter knows how that is. He can’t help but think of MJ as the right person, wrong time.
They continue to talk on their way to the fast food place, Tim tells him about his gaggle of adopted siblings, and how their dad collects them like strays. Peter mentions that he is an only child and has always wondered what it was like to have siblings. Tim says he was an only sibling but he wouldn’t trade his family for anything. Talking about the time before he was adopted seems to be a sore spot so Peter keeps the conversation away from that.
After they get their food, Peter with his chicken burger, paprika fries, and water, and Tim with his two beef burgers, fries, and a large soda again, they head back to the library to eat with Jason and Barbara.
The library is closing soon and there is no one else left in the building apart from the four of them, but Tim reassures him he’s fine coming in and sitting with them.
They all take their food over to one of the chill areas with loads of bean bags to eat their food. Jason helps Barbara out of her wheelchair onto a bean bag and then sits on the one next to her. Tim and Peter take a seat opposite, sinking into the surprisingly comfortable bean bag. He thought he would feel more awkward like he was intruding. But it didn’t feel like that at all. He felt calm around them all, he felt like he was meant to be there.
They ask him a few things about himself, and he learns some basic things about them all. Tim and Jason didn’t used to have a good relationship, but over the years they became more tolerable to each other. Tim basically sees Barbara as a friend and big sister. They are all incredibly smart and aren’t nervous to talk about anything through fear of being called weird.
Jason quotes books a ridiculous amount, Barbara teases him for it, but they will even respond back in their cryptic eighteenth-century language. It’s nice seeing people be comfortable in their own skin.
Peter spent so many years being told to be quiet when he went on rants about dark matter or whatever his current fascination was, but he doesn’t get silenced by them. Instead, they actually have a conversation with him about it.
“Hey Peter, it's getting late, shouldn’t you let your Aunt and Uncle know where you are?” Barbara asks him, they had spoken earlier about him moving to Gotham.
“Uh, no not really heh. They both work nights so no one is home right now.” He shyly replies. He hates using his aunt and uncle as an excuse, but he can’t just blurt out that he’s actually a homeless kid from another dimension.
“Ah okay. That’s understandable. Just make sure you don’t stay out too late, it isn’t safe at night.” she says to him slightly concerned.
“You know, if you are interested, we have a job free here. I know you will probably start school here soon, so it can be part-time if you want. But it can be a good opportunity to get to know more people, and finding a job can be hard in Gotham.” Barbara tells him.
He didn’t expect her to offer him a job, he definitely didn’t expect to be able to earn money this quickly. He knows she probably looked at him, heard that about his aunt and uncle, and pitied him. It may be a lie but he did live that way before, and it’s a difficult life. He doesn’t know what employment is like in Gotham but it doesn’t seem like a good place to find a job.
School was something he completely forgot about as well. He doubts he can stay out of school for too long without someone getting suspicious and calling child services. Even at seventeen he still won’t pass as a high school graduate.
“Um, thank you, Miss Barbara. I haven’t really thought about a job or school if I am completely honest. I didn’t really plan to move, it was quite sudden. But If you are sure, I would really appreciate it. I don’t know when I am gonna start school here yet but it would be really helpful if you are sure?” He replies gratefully.
“Of course honey! It’s fine honestly, it would be nice to have someone else besides this loser working with me,” she tells him, pointing at Jason next to her who just huffs in return.
After sorting it all out, she tells him to come back the next day for a trial run. It was now reaching nine at night and he knew he shouldn’t leave it too late to get back to the shelter.
He says he is leaving, and has offers from both Jason and Tim to walk him home, but he declines them both telling them about stranger danger. Luckily it got some laughs, enough that he could leave without them being too worried.
It takes him fifteen minutes to get back to the shelter without much trouble. There is a different lady at the table to the side this time, he signs in his name again and makes his name to the back. Settling into the bed, he lays there thinking about how much he wishes he was staring at the bottom of the top bunk from home. The one he stuck stickers under. The one that has little notes written by his friends. Instead, he sees the metal of a bunk in a strange, lonely universe.
Well, he isn’t as lonely as he thought he would be.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Tim is worried about his new, maybe friend, Peter. He kept a smile on his face throughout, but there was something about him. He was very nervous, constantly fiddling with the fabric of his hoodie and he had this thing where he would rub his chest and tap it. He’s not entirely sure Peter knew he was doing this nervous tic.
Peter had this look in his eyes, one he had seen too often in his siblings and himself. He’s haunted by something. Peter said he moved away from home unexpectedly, Tim can’t help but wonder what that reason was.
The detective part of him wants to go and look him up, but he has been trying to just let people open up to him instead of finding out their whole life stories illegally.
Jason, who was making them drinks, walks back over and hands them each their. Babs with her millionth coffee of the day, and Tim with his tea. After sitting down, Tim decides to ask if he should follow Peter. Just to make sure he gets home safe of course, he’s new to Gotham.
“No, Tim. You need to quit with the stalkerish tendencies of civilians, It’s weird.” Jason tells him while Babs laughs behind her hand. Tim sits back sulking, staring at the ceiling wondering if Peter is okay, and why he was here in the first place.
BATCHAT:
Tim: BABS HAS A NEW PERSON WORKING AT THE LIBRARY!!!
Tim: He is pretty cool
Steph: Thank god for Barb, she no longer has to deal with J alone
Jason: Shut it blondie
Barbara: He is very nice
Duke: How old is he?
Tim: He’s my age I think
Tim: tbh I am a bit worried about him, he seemed skittish and his clothes were a bit rough. He also seemed to be in pain
Jason: Pretender’s right. He did seem nervous and hurt. But I couldn’t see anything wrong with him. Said he recently moved to Gotham
Duke: Who moves to Gotham??
Tim: Said something happened and he moved in with his aunt and uncle
Dick: If you want I can check it out? Do an actually semi-legal background check on him? I will need his whole name though
Steph: Would you people quit being creeps and stalking teenagers?! Please and thank you
Tim: I said I wasn’t going to stalk him!
Steph: This is why you have no friends Timothy
Tim: I DO HAVE FRIENDS
Steph: IMAGINARY FRIENDS DON’T COUNT
Tim: THEY ARE REAL
Steph: Gaining friends through stalking isn’t moral
Tim: THAT'S NOT HOW I MADE THEM
Bruce: Would you please stop acting like children, and do not refer to your training as stalking.
Tim: She started it :(
Bruce: And I am finishing it.
Bruce: Keep an eye on the boy and report if there is anything important.
Tim: Eye, eye, B!