Not So Lonely Space

Peter didn’t sleep the best, but not bad considering it was a random bed that wasn't his. He ignores the fact he won’t get to sleep in his own bed again. 

Today is his first day working at the library, he tries to be happy about it but it’s difficult when he knows if it doesn’t work out it will be next to impossible to find another way to make money any time soon, and right now he has very little money. 

Glancing at the wall across from the bed, he sees it’s seven in the morning, breakfast isn’t for another thirty minutes, and the library opens at eight. That gives him time to have a quick shower before and find some new clothes he can wear, luckily you can wash clothes at the shelter, but with only two outfits right now, he doesn’t want to make it obvious to Barbara that he is in fact, homeless. 

After showering using the toiletries he was given, he brushes his teeth, attempts to tame his hair, and fishes through the clothes bins for another hoodie. He’s fine with his jeans, and luckily they have packets of new underwear in a range of sizes. The hoodie he finds this time is what he thinks could be a Signal one, most of the Bat things honestly look the same to him, but it being bright yellow is a dead giveaway. It’s more dull than the Signal yellow, lightened from being washed so many times. 

After getting dressed, he grabs his things and heads out of the room, immediately he is hit by a cacophony of noise. There are people everywhere, the tables are almost full, and the calm area in the corner is filled with some adults and a lot of children playing with the toys they dug out from the donation box. 

His skin starts to itch with the overwhelming sounds, his eyes darting around the room with slight panic. However much he tries to play it off, he isn’t someone who enjoys crowded places. He can’t remember when he started having bad claustrophobia, but over the past few years, it has gotten pretty extreme. The ceiling feels too low, people feel so close to the point he swears he can feel their body heat engulfing him. 

Just as his chest starts to feel tight there’s a slight tug on the sleeve of his hoodie. Looking down he spots a little boy, probably no older than three, with big green eyes staring back at him. He’s still wearing dinosaur pajamas, and on his feet are Batman slippers that seem to have been worn outside based on their slightly ragged look. 

He tugs on Peter’s sleeve a second time before shoving something into his hand. Looking down at his hand, Peter sees he is now holding a toy car that is missing a wheel. His eyes jump between the boy and the car, his brain not yet having caught up with the world around him after it started panicking. 

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to think about what to do as a woman quickly rushes up to the little boy, lightly taking the top of his arm. She quietly scolds the boy – who turns out to be called Noah – in a rush, clearly having worried about him. Everything is still too loud for Peter, so most of it is just a grating sound blaring through his ears. She then looks up at Peter and he tries hard to watch her lips as she speaks, piecing the movements together with the sound. 

“I am so sorry for him, I haven’t slept and he slipped by me.”

“It – It’s okay. No problem, honestly.” His face tries to heat up with the embarrassment of his voice cracking. He hands her the toy back, and she thanks him, handing the toy back to her son. After they walk away, Peter tries to take a deep breath to ground himself and starts subconsciously tapping his chest. 

He was going to sit to have breakfast and plan his day a bit, but the idea of staying in the shelter right now makes him want to throw up. Instead, he heads over to the food, waiting a few minutes in the queue before taking an apple and an orange. Eating on the way to the library is much more appealing.

As Peter makes his way towards the front of the shelter and sees Julia at the desk again, along with a man standing next to her. As he gets closer, Peter notices the man is kind of young, maybe mid-twenties. He’s dressed semi-casual with a dark blue button-up shirt and dark gray dress pants. 

Peter approaches cautiously, not recognizing him and just wanting to leave without drawing too much attention to himself. Going up to the desk, he waits for Julia to finish writing so he can sign out, unfortunately, the man does notice him. 

It’s just Peter's luck that he looks over at the same time and makes eye contact with the man, giving him a polite smile in hopes it will be enough for him to leave him alone. 

“Hi, I’m Detective Grayson, but you can just call me Dick.” He tells Peter while showing his badge. “Do you mind if I ask your name?”

Peter doesn’t really want to be talking to a detective of all people, but he can’t exactly ignore the man. “I’m Ned.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ned. I'm just here at the shelter due to an incident that occurred last night. Unfortunately, there was an attack by Firefly which has led to a lot of people in the area needing to find temporary housing for the time being until things can be rebuilt. Most shelters are going to be quite full for a while so I am here just to make sure things go smoothly.” He finishes with a casual smile.

Something in the back of his mind tells Peter that this guy – Dick – is lying to him. Why and what about, he doesn’t know, but there is just something that feels off. 

Despite the feeling, Peter doesn’t intend to accuse a detective of lying and accepts his story, turning to Julia now it seems she has finished what she was writing. She looks up at him with a kind smile but with a hint of an apology.

“Unfortunately Ned, due to the housing crisis from the attack, we won’t be able to accept anyone else, so when you leave it’s likely you will not be able to come back for a few days until the space has cleared a bit.”

He knows they can’t help it, but this really isn’t what he needed to hear today. Getting this job was meant to help but that was when he had somewhere safe to come back to after. Now he is stuck without somewhere to come back to, nowhere to wash to clean his clothes, it's unlikely he can keep this job if he is in dirty clothes. 

Next to him, he sees Dick take a pen out of his pocket and bends down to write on a sticky note from Julia’s table. He then turns around to Peter with a slight look of pity mixed with determination. 

“Look I know it can’t be easy finding somewhere else considering the other shelters are most likely filled up as well, here are some addresses for some people I know who can offer you a place with cheap rent. They all check out and should have space for you.”

Peter takes the paper from him skeptically and slips it into his pocket, he knows somewhere recommended by a detective is probably safe, but he struggles to trust people. Especially considering Gotham’s justice system is corrupt as hell, for all he knows he could end up being trafficked. But he doubts Julia would just let him take the advice from this man, and she doesn’t seem to have a problem, if anything, she looks grateful.

He thanks the detective and leaves the shelter with a single glance back at the man who seems to be looking at him back, when he catches Peter's eye he smiles, but it still makes Peter anxious. 

The walk to work isn’t bad, he eats his fruit while glancing around him, taking in this part of Gotham. He has only been here a few days, and yet he seems to be able to fit into the place relatively easily. It doesn't seem like an easy place to live, but to many, it’s home. 

It’s very easy for people to judge a place from an outside perspective, but when you live there you find little things that make it home. Even if there are a lot of bad people around, there are still kind people who are here just trying to make a living. Peter is now one of them. 

When he gets into the library, he’s met with Barbara just unlocking the doors, she asks him to turn the lights on as well as tells him where he can put his stuff. It starts with just doing some small things to start the day such as restocking the free snacks and refilling the water for hot drinks. He realizes that Barbara definitely has a coffee addiction after he makes her one in a fresh cup, just to find around ten empty ones on her desk from the day prior. 

He does make himself a coffee because honestly, ever since he came to this world he’s been exhausted constantly. From there she asks him to reshelve the books left on the trollies and in the returned box, she reassures him that it doesn’t matter how long it takes him, just that it’s a good way for him to learn the layout of the books. 

So for a few hours, that's what he does. Making his way through the books while also trying to spot any books he knows from his universe to see if they exist here. Some do, but some sadly don’t. It’s easy for him to get lost in his own world while doing this, it’s calming. 

The repetitiveness of it lets his body relax and his mind drift. He tries to avoid the topic of where he is going to sleep tonight because it will likely make him anxious again. 

It’s when he’s ordering some of the books in the front area upstairs that he overhears Barbara talking to someone. However much he tries to mind his own business, for some reason it's almost like she’s having the conversation right next to him, so loud it's impossible to ignore. 

“B, I haven’t seen anything strange around here, but I can talk to Dad and let you know if anything shows up.” 

“That would be appreciated. The others haven’t found anything but we are mainly dealing with the Firefly problem. We are still waiting for the test results to come back, then it should be able to give us an idea of what’s causing these weird energy signals.”

“Okay, well keep me updated.”

From there their conversation ends, but Peter is just left confused. What kind of drama is the librarian involved in, and who is her dad? She talks as if he has power, but what could be so strange that a librarian and her dad would have to get involved? 

Peter tries not to focus on what he overheard, it’s none of his business but sometimes being nosey can be beneficial. Instead, he continues to put away the books and takes a pile someone left on a table downstairs to put away,

As he is putting them in the correct place he feels eyes on him. Turning around he comes face to face with a younger teen who just seems to be staring at him with the look of someone who’s trying to solve a complex puzzle.

Even after being seen the boy doesn’t say anything, instead his eyebrows furrow slightly as he makes a ‘hm’ sound. 

“Um, sorry, can I help you with anything?” Peter asks him, hoping to break the weird tension.

Even then he doesn't reply, just stares and squints his eyes at him.

‘Okay, this is getting really weird now,’ Peter thinks to himself as he starts to fidget with his sleeve. He decides to just ignore the teen back, but as he turns around to continue what he is doing, the boy speaks up.

“There is something peculiar about you.” He says. That’s it. Who even says that to someone they just met? 

Peter awkwardly looks around, he doesn’t know what to do. He looks for a camera, hoping this is some weird prank because what the hell is going on? He just wanted a peaceful day and now he is being dissected by the eyes of this oddly intimidating teenager. 

Thank the lord that he doesn’t have to attempt a reply to that surprisingly insulting statement, as the Jason he met before walks around the corner. Peter lets out a breath of relief as the man walks up to them, only for him to lean on the shorter teen's shoulder in front of him.

The scary boy pushes him off of him with a shove that looks like it hurts a lot more than Jason was letting on, his hand digging right into Jason’s ribs with practiced precision. 

“Apologies for the demon brat, my brother isn’t the best with people.”

For a second Peter stands there looking between the two trying to see the resemblance before the teen finally speaks.

“Todd is adopted. Luckily there is no relation,” he says with a disgusted look towards Jason who feigns hurt. 

Jason goes to push the side of his head but the boy dodges it easily, backing up so Jason can’t try to touch him again. He tells the boy to go and bother Barbara instead, and the boy makes a ‘tt’ noise before rolling his eyes and walking off. 

Peter stares at the boy as he leaves, an uncomfortable feeling crawling up his spine as the boy turns and looks at him like he can figure out all of Peter’s secrets.

“Sorry about him, Damian didn’t get enough attention as a child. Anyway, how's your first day going Pete?” Peter's attention is drawn back to Jason and they talk for a bit as he shelves more books. Jason criticizes each book as it gets put back, wondering how anyone could stand to read some of them. According to him, it would be better to be illiterate than to read some of those cheap romance novels that teens seem to love so much. 

After a while, Jason says he has stuff to do, and tells Peter that if he needs anything, he knows the library like the back of his hand. It feels nice to talk to someone, for some reason, it feels like it's been years since he was able to just have a stress-free conversation with someone. 

Peter continues on with his day, as well as making Barbara a concerning number of coffees, to the point he starts giving her bottles of water with them hoping she chooses a different liquid to hydrate.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Dick had finally finished work and was on his way to the Manor to get ready for patrol. Currently, he works between Blüdhaven and Gotham so he is either staying at his apartment or at the Manor. With the problem they detected a few days ago as well as Firefly, it was best that he stayed in Gotham for a few days and helped out. 

As he walks into the Manor, he says hello to Alfred who is cleaning up after dinner, Dick had gotten food out as he was working quite late. 

Walking past the family lounge he sees Duke typing away on his laptop, probably catching up on some homework he forgot to do, as well as Tim who seems to have passed out on the couch with his laptop balancing dangerously on his chest. Clearly, his homework isn’t getting done.

After opening the entrance to the cave, he heads down and sits at the Bat Computer, it seems Steph is already out on patrol so accesses her comm and hears her and Babs talking about some reality TV show that he has no interest in.

Behind him in the main training area are Dami and Cass preparing for their own patrol, stretching, putting on their uniform as well as restocking. 

Finally, Babs and Steph realize Dick has joined, or maybe had just now decided to acknowledge his presence and fill him in on what's happened so far. He lets them know that he didn’t find anything odd at the shelter earlier and looks at the map of the places the energy has been pooling in.

“How was the first day with the new librarian then?” He asks Babs as he continues going through the information.

“It was good, he’s really hard working. Your brother did try to harass him at one point but luckily J stepped in. He should be leaving soon. But honestly Wing, I am a bit worried about him. He can be really quiet and I have seen kids with his behavior before, he’s been through things.”

“Keep an eye on him and if there is anything of concern we can look into it. It’ll be okay.” Dick replies, hoping to reassure her. Most struggling kids in Gotham have trust issues, especially with adults, he doubts this kid is any different. 

Jason seems to be an exception most of the time, the kids end up trusting him more when they realize he knows what it’s like first-hand. It’s not easy what these kids go through, so having at least one person they can trust is important. 

It isn’t long until Bruce makes his way into the Cave with a yawning Tim trailing after him. Dick stands up letting his brother take the space in front of the computer.

“Stephanie is already on patrol, so I want Cassandra and Dick to help her with the mess left from Firefly’s attack. Damian, you’re with me handling other crimes that are likely to happen like they usually do after a big attack. Timothy will be on the comms with Oracle.” 

Bruce doesn’t mention anything about Jason who somehow ended up in the cave as well, he doesn’t come here often, but will sometimes show up just to annoy Bruce. There’s no point trying to tell Jason what to do so they just let him decide whether he is going to go with one of them or go off and be a mysterious loner. 

“Before we go out and waste time flapping about the city, can I bring up the demon brat’s absolute failure to make a new friend today? Instead of being nice to the new kid working with Babs, he instead thought staring at him would be a good form of communication.” Jason supplies with a smirk on his face, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

“There is something strange about the boy and I will get to the bottom of him and his secrets” Dami snarks back, giving Jason a dirty look.

“If there’s something strange about anyone here it's you, Satan's spawn. Peter’s normal, he’s just a little quiet.” Tim says to Damian, leaning back dangerously far on his chair.

“You are just incompetent Drake and clearly too foolish to notice.” Dami snaps back at him while taking a defensive step towards him. 

“That’s enough Damian, if you keep it up you will stay behind and Tim will go out instead.” Bruce cuts in, stopping it before it can get out of hand. Dick can see Tim smirk as he looks back at the screens while Dami goes and sulks his way towards the Batmobile.

“Like Drake would be as efficient as I, the imbecile cannot even stay awake on patrol.” his brother mutters under his breath. Bruce, who clearly heard what his son said, pinches the bridge of his nose while saying something quietly to himself as well. Probably some mantra to give him the strength to deal with his children. 

After getting ready as well, Dick gets on his bike with Cass and Jason next to him. Bruce leads the way out of the Cave with Jason pettily forcing his way in front of the Batmobile. From there, they start their patrol for the night.