Money, Money, Money
It turned out that Oliver wasn’t the only one with plans in Gotham, he’d gotten to the manor early, too distracted by his thoughts about Mary and her son to distract himself with anything else. So he just made his trip earlier with the hopes of being distracted by his friends in Wayne manor and their craziness. Now he was standing in the foyer in Wayne manor, Alfred was offering him breakfast after showing him to the guest room and how could he possibly say no to Alfred? When they got to the dining room Wally was there.
Both heroes paused and looked at each other with confusion, wondering what the other was doing there, there was a pregnant silence until Wally spoke up.
“Dick’s a terrible host, huh?” he was looking around a little awkwardly, waiting for Oliver to break the silence, which he did by letting out a slight snort at Wally’s jab at Dick’s hosting skills.
“I want you to know that I’m definitely better at hosting” Oliver said in a jokingly smug tone.
“Which is why I will go wake him up to give him a little lesson” Wally said before walking away (not speeding because Alfred doesn’t like it), muttering about “that darned Grayson and his beauty sleep”. Oliver was left smiling at Wally’s antics alone in the living room for a minute until Alfred came back into the room with a pot of coffee and cups.
“Do you need help with anything, Alf?” Oliver asked, seeing Alfred’s hands full.
“That would be much appreciated master Oliver” replied Alfred, handing him the cups to put on the middle of the table.
Oliver continued to help Alfred out by bringing multiple stuff to the dining room and setting the table, falling into an easy rhythm, it wasn’t long before Alfred broke the silence.
“Master Queen, may I ask what it is you’re preoccupied by?” so Oliver was a little distracted, sue him, he just didn’t think it was that noticeable.
“pfft, preoccupied? Me? No way, I’m just thinking” he said in the most nonchalant voice he could muster in such a state (because he was worried/anxious about the whole thing for some reason). Alfred gave him a blank stare in reply to his little outburst of defensiveness, clearly not believing him.
Oliver was seriously considering just spilling his guts there and then to Alfred, I mean. Could you blame him? Alfred is notorious for his great advice and he is just so understanding, hell, even Clark Kent had gone to him for advice (just not parenting advice). Alfred was looking at him expectantly as if he knew Oliver was about to crack, which he was but damn Alfred is perceptive about these things, almost like raising and enabling a litter of trauma riddled children has made him somehow gain abilities.
Just as Oliver inhaled just about to tell Alfred everything about one of his biggest regrets in life Wally came into the dining room, a groggy Dick behind him grumbling about people being way too early and whatever happened to being fashionably late? Thankful for the distraction, Oliver turned to his friends bantering, deciding to push all regretful thoughts out of his head for a nice (and chaotic) breakfast with his friends.
"Now that you're here to host your guests, master Richard. How about you all have breakfast before the rest of the brood get here to devour everything on the table" Alfred interrupted them, reminding them that breakfasts are not a light matter in this household. The three friends immediately sat down together on the table, quickly serving themselves breakfast and coffee. It ended up being a mostly peaceful and slightly awkward breakfast for about 20 minutes, the three of them catching up and bantering, Oliver ignoring the odd tension brewing between Dick and Wally before the rest of the Waynes decided that they were hungry and came downstairs have breakfast as well.
–🕸️–
The cold air felt so freeing and he felt alive, the city was loud, just as alive as he was and it was calling to him with its sirens. This whole week he'd felt like he was constantly on the verge of throwing up or having a panic attack or anxiety attack, which he might have done both before coming out to patrol as Spider-man and yeah, it's not healthy, mentally or physically but he didn't matter. It had been days since he'd gone out as Spider-man and you could tell, after one day of not going out it wasn't too bad but then people start thinking that he must've dropped his guard of gotten lazy or something of the sort and they just started going on crime rampages and it was all his fault because he was too busy having an existential crisis instead of helping people with problems bigger than his own, people that actually needed saving, unlike him who was just being dramatic.
At all of these thoughts, he started swinging faster, he needed to help people, more people, all the people, if he didn't then it's his fault if they don't come out the other side of it. God , he was so stupid, he couldn't afford to take a whole week for a crisis or his graduation, or for looking for a family that most likely didn't even want him anyway . So, why was he doing it? Although they all did reply, Peter didn't even know what the next step would be. I mean, will he even know who his father was when he saw him? He’s not so sure anymore.
As he continued swinging through the Alley and helping people, stopping crimes and ruining as many drug deals as he could, he kept thinking about his plan of action, maybe he could meet them all separately first, before actually having them at his graduation ceremony and party. He was the most nervous about tomorrow's rehearsal for the ceremony, at least a parent was supposed to be part of it, and right now, Peter had.... zero parents, which definitely complicates the whole ordeal, maybe he should meet up with all of them separately before the rehearsal, fuck it! He'll cross that bridge when he gets to it. He doesn't need parents, shit, he couldn't even remember having parents sometimes so to say he can manage without them is the understatement of the year. Being taken care of by a caring adult? Not being economically responsible for yourself? Screw that , he was fine all by himself, in his lonesome, just him and Kafka the Roach, it's fine , really.
He swung through the city, having just stopped another teen from making an awful life choice, once again pondering on his loneliness and thinking about how he'll die alone and won't be remembered when his phone buzzed with a message, a distraction! He climbed onto the roof of a decently tall building or average sized, as some (men) would call it, in the heart of the beautiful Crime Alley and took his phone out of his pocket, he turned it on to and * reveal* an email? It was from a now familiar address, Oliver Queen.
He had to muster up the courage to open the email, fearing the older man had somehow changed his mind and decided Peter wasn't worth the trip or something of the sort, but that wasn't what it said. It was something more along the lines of "Already in Gotham, if you have time maybe we should meet up tomorrow for coffee" Damn , that was quick, maybe he was some sort of unemployed slob. Did he seriously have nothing to do? for him to just pop over to Gotham so quickly over a dumb email written about a woman he knew more that a decade ago? Either Mary Parker was the one that got away or he really doesn't have anything better going on in his life, but Peter was technically also an unemployed loser, he lived off the weekly stipend given to him by his school, except for the few pictures he occasionally sells to the Gotham Gazette of the various bats and birds of the city and a single spider, let's just say a tourist dropped his camera on his trip to Gotham and donated it to the charity of Peter Parker’s livelihood.
Peter sent a quick positive reply to the email before deciding to sit down a bit on this building, listen for crime and also just chill out for a second, he had just settled on the corner of the roof when his spidey-sense went off, he quickly turned around to find Red Hood of all people standing there. He stood in the middle of the roof in all of his 6’2 glory, with his arms crossed and his posture rigid, his red helmet glinting in the darkness.
“Hey, no one’s seen you around this week, where’ve you been?” he said, sounding concerned ( he sounded concerned! ). Peter did not expect that to come out of Red Hood, he was convinced that his good luck had run out and that Red Hood had been here to finally kick him out of his territory but he was ...concerned ?! He was even speaking in a softer voice and clearly , and kind of unsuccessfully, attempting to look less intimidating. When the spiderling realized that he had just stood there staring he finally managed to snap out of the shock , the other vigilante had stayed quiet and looked at him expectantly waiting for his reply.
"Sorry. Were you…. worried ?" he finally said, bewildered at the idea of someone caring about his well being.
"Well yeah, it gets busier without you around the alley. People miss you" Said the Red Hood, reassuringly “Besides, I think even the bats and the birds get bored without you, they don’t get to chase you around” he added that last bit the grin on his face audible, even through his voice modulator.
“So you won’t kick me out of the alley?” said Spider-man, still unsure about Red Hood being so chill about him prancing around an area he pretty much governs without his explicit permission. And, to Peter’s surprise, Red Hood laughs , like full-on belly laugh, laughs, by the time his laughing outburst finishes the spider hero is extremely confused, Red Hood is now wiping his tears through. his. helmet and getting his breath back in his lungs as the masked spider keeps looking as confused as he could through his mask.
"Are you kidding?! Of course not! You're helping around, you haven't wreaked havoc in the city and you piss off the old bat , you're forever welcome in any territory of mine you end up in." The Red Hood sits next to where Peter had been sat before the other masked individual had arrived and continues talking "Besides, I'm about 89 percent sure you're not even eighteen and I don't hurt kids" He looks to the masked boy who gives up on protesting before even trying to defend his age.
"How'd you know?" Peter asked, sitting next to the older mask and looking down, feeling like a child being scolded for the first time since he was 14, like he was throwing a tantrum over being found out.
"I started out pretty young too" said the older man, knowingly "I know how it feels, to have so much weight on your shoulders, to just stop being a child as soon as possible" he continued, he was starting to project a little bit but he did know, and he also knew how much help it is to talk about it with someone who's been there.
"I was kinda having an existential crisis, and final exams and thoughts of impending death and dying alone in a dorm room with no one that cares... That's where I was these days" Peter decided to just talk while he had the balls to do so, if he waited he wouldn't be able to let it out "And I did try to come out a couple of days ago but a batarang hit my plans, and my shoulder". He felt a pang in his rapidly healing shoulder at the reminder of the wound. Now Hood looked mad, angry even, his eyes were glowing green, through his mask.
"HIJOS DE PUTA!" he yelled out, Peter couldn't help but slightly flinch at the sudden exclamation, Red Hood noticed and calmed down, taking a deep breath before speaking again.
"Sorry, I have a small anger management issue, being a child vigilante does mess with your head, y'know?" he asked before looking to his new spider friend for an answer, said spider just shook his head.
"Not really, no" he muttered quietly.
"Well, the dying thing also messed with my head too, I guess" Hood said with a thoughtful tone.
"ya think?!" was the first thing that came out of Peter's mouth, neglecting the memory of his own temporary dusty death.
Hood chuckled at the response and they continued to talk about various topics, the older man even bought them tacos from his favorite stand and they ate them peacefully on a rooftop before Spider-man heard a crime happening nearby and swung off into the dark night, yelling out a goodbye to his new friend(?).
Wait a second. Did he just… make a friend?