Chapter Text
Okay, Dick Grayson was not much of a planner, (or well, as much of a planner as being the first Robin of Batman allows) but he usually is more willing to go with the flow of things, let problems sort themselves out and provide soft-assistance, this was his main strategy when dealing with emotionally charged issues after-all.
But he was making a change in his strategy today. And it all started on what was probably around a week ago, he was doing a basic patrol through Gotham while he was away from Bludhaven on a case that B asked him about, something about some demons, B suspects magic to be involved, so he’s been eying to contact The Justice League’s local magic users to provide some assistance. Unfortunately for him, most of them were busy sparing for Captain Marvel, who didn’t have his League communicator active for some strange reason. This meant B himself had gone ahead and travelled to Fawcett, and Dick was left in charge.
But that’s not what Dick was worrying about, it’s just a simple magic problem, (a magic problem that he knew next to nothing about how it works, but still, he’s seen that Captain Marvel guy in action. The Big Red Cheese had punched monstrous demons with his fists, it shouldn’t be a problem. But what was a problem was what he found on one of his patrols.
Let’s start with how it went, Dick Grayson went across Gotham in his usual selection of interchanging routes, specifically his route around Crime Alley, he didn’t particularly enjoy being there, the unending, practically bottomless pit of crime and danger made his stomach ache. But he had to put up with it, he already had for well over a decade anyways, no stopping now.
But patrolling Crime Alley was one thing, the other thing was finding a homeless kid sitting in an abandoned building on his own, looking to be around Tim’s age. That wasn’t raising as many red flags as what he normally sees, even if it makes him feel pity for the kid and want to just walk up to him and scoop him up to take him back to the manor. He made a note to himself to ask Bruce to put a bit more funding into The Wayne Foundation’s efforts to provide for the homeless.
The thing about this kid that was raising all the red flags in his head was the fact that he had the signs of a Lazarus Pit being used on him. And he couldn't help but try to keep an eye on him, whatever the League of Assassins or whatever weirdo group that uses those things usually means trouble. And besides, he’s a kid, homeless and by the looks of it, starving. He’s not letting him be subjected to the pain that the pit destined you through.
Dick was already making an effort to meet up with the kid —Peter Parker, which he called himself when he asked his name— every time his patrol had let him make a detour to him. (which was only a detour for the first day, as he was then told by Oracle to check up on him every patrol, meaning it changed to begin exclusively Crime Alley and always overlapped that building Peter had made home.
He enjoyed Peter’s company, and he hoped Peter enjoyed his. He remembered when he and Peter were having a chat on the roof of the building he lived in, which he figured out was an abandoned apartment complex, surprisingly lacking any other people deciding to make it their own home. They were talking about superheroes, and Peter had gotten a solemn look on his face as if he missed someone, but Nightwing didn’t intrude, he let people let him in on their problems, waiting patiently for them right outside until they were ready to talk.
And that was where their last conversation left off, Peter remembering something sad and Dick having to leave due to a nearby smuggling being uncovered. Unfortunate and annoying. So here Dick was, preparing to try to meet up with Peter again without the awkward note from before, this time with the help of Alfred, as he mentioned bringing food to ease up any topics, and when Alfred heard him mention that he was going to get some fast food for him, Dick was met with a lecture from the old man about how a growing boy should both not be subjected to large amounts of fast food, (hey! He was only going to get him a couple double burger meals, at least enough to last him a week or two.) and also that he should let Peter have a healthier variety, which Alfred had decided to make himself for the kid. (Okay he was right on that part, but he mainly wanted to make sure he continued to have food without him, so Alfred relented and let him bring two double burger meals at least alongside Alfred’s cooking and the snack basket of long lasting food. Just to give him something to eat while they couldn’t provide for him. (Not until he most likely inevitably ends up at the manor, but yeah))
So, finally back on track to the present day, Dick Grayson was bouncing across Gotham’s rooftops with Alfred’s meal package, tied safely to him like a backpack, this did unfortunately mean he couldn’t do his classic 20-or more backflips across Gotham, but that’s not something to bring him down.
He was around what was most likely ¾ of the way there, he could practically see the building from here! (even with all of Gotham’s currently overbearing fog, which most likely meant no rooftop chats with Peter, but that’s fine, Peter would probably be fine with him seeing his living space right?)
So Nightwing was almost giddy, probably actually was, the stress of fighting criminals daily gets to you, and just helping people and being the friendly guy in your neighborhood meant a lot to him when it was a much needed break from the whole thing. But that Giddy-feeling left quickly as Oracle spoke up, almost in panic.
“Nightwing! Probable danger up ahead! A large energy signal is coming up, you’re the only one here who’s close enough to provide assistance, sorry.” Oracle explained through the comms, he’d honestly crack a joke or something if it wasn’t an obvious emergency. An emergency made even more obvious by the fact that he could see a separator spray of multi-coloured lights bloom within the fog. Fog that is close to Peter’s area.
No time to joke, Nightwing was already on the way almost immediately, Oracle providing info on what was currently happening to the best of her ability. He closed in on the central area of the light show to see… a child..?
He couldn't have been older than 11, maybe even less. He was certainly creaking out, their breath quick and strained, his eyes looking around rapidly, they looked glazed over. And worse of all, he saw the consistent white strand of hair and green eyes that should be all too familiar by now.
He almost thought they were Peter For a second, if not for Peter being like a whole head and shoulders taller than the boy. A small and oh so tiny child. He jumped down the alley the boy was standing in, making slow, calm steps to him, who knows what seeing an incredibly built grown man dressed in spandex would do while your mid panic attack. He didn’t want to find out.
Nightwing finally took in to examine the boy’s surroundings, the area was strange and distorted, it had still been an alleyway, but by the looks of it, it had been altered heavily and awkwardly, groups of wall and concrete were misplaced, not like an earthquake had went through, but rather what looked like of a level in a video game for corrupted. Mismatched assets littered the area, mostly being what he could only guess was lab equipment.
As Nightwing took another step closer, the boy had finally taken notice of him. Meeting his gaze almost instantly, the almost overbearing look of fear and panic over the boy’s face broke his heart, who would cause him to react that way? To be in the middle of all this?
“Just to remind you Nightwing, the source of the energy is most likely him, proceed with caution, he’s panicking.” Oracle put down on his mind with her words. He had to make sure this kid calmed down, he had to help him, and he was unsure if he could just twist for him to walk up to this stranger and say “Hey! I want to talk to you about my feelings I will almost definitely feel uncomfortable talking about!” Yeah, no.
So Dick was left with one choice, “H-hey..! Kid, you alright? You’re freaking out and, uh… glitching this alleyway.” Dick had said, a truly wonderful first greeting, I know. “I… I won’t hurt you, okay? I mean no harm.”
The boy stood there almost like he was examining him, most likely was, he also looked past him for what was probably his best chance of escaping into the streets in his head. But Nightwing didn’t want the kid running away on him.
Dick kneeled and put a hand out, “You can trust me, you look like you need some help.” He put on his best billion dollar smile, or at least what was probably something close to “Brucie Wayne’s Perfect Picture Smile” and Captain Marvel’s radiant one. Speaking of those two, B still hasn’t come back with any info on when he’s coming back to Gotham with Marvel, or if he even found the guy at all, was three days too long for the World’s Greatest Detective to find a flying bright red man who shoots lightning?
The thought was put on the back burner though, as the boy had taken their hand in his, holding it tightly, or well, as tight as a tiny child could do. With this action, Dick got to reexamine the boy’s face, the still very existent marking of what was most likely the aftermath of a used Lazarus Pit, and what looked to be scarring around his face. He couldn’t decipher what the scarring most likely came from, it looked like it had punctured him, but his face was fine, weirdly enough.
“Can… you tell me your name?” Dick asked, voice soft and slow, he wanted to make sure this kid felt no fear, and also so he could stop calling him “kid” or “boy”.
“E… Ev… Evan… A-Afton.” His voice was strained and raspy, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time, kind of like Cass. He also made note of the soft sounding British accent he had, tiny but noticeable.
“Okay Evan, you good?” Dick continued, “I know you’re probably stressed out, and all of this is confusing but I’m here, I can help.”
Evan stayed silent, kind of just looking at him, not really examining him or anything, just thinking, his eyes began glazing over again.
“Hey, don’t lose me here. I know it’s stressful but I need you to stay fully awake for me, okay?” Evan nodded in response. “Okay, how about we head over to a friend of mine? I’m sure he won’t mind.”
He nodded again, and Dick lifted himself up and stood, turning around to give Evan the heads up to follow, holding a hand out for him to hold which Evan immediately took. Grasping onto Dick like a lifeline as they walked the rest of the way over to Peter’s place.
Knocking on the wall to what he could only presume to be Peter’s floor (because yes, he had dedicated an entire floor to himself, the top one, close to the roof for when Nightwing passes by and down unknown reason Peter had possibly hinted at, which he was hoping was something more innocent than what he was thinking.) Dick could hear the noise of shuffling and something dropping, a clang hit the ground which scared Evan, who gripped Dick’s hand tighter in response.
“I-what, Nightwing?? What are you doing here??” Peter asked, mostly confused and disoriented, which made Nightwing chuckle, at least he wasn’t mad that he came inside without permission, he’ll make another mental note to himself to make sure to ask Peter whenever he wants to come in, at least until he trusts Dick enough.
“And… with a child? Y’know I’m not the best babysitter.” Peter joked, feigning and understanding of what’s going on.
“Ah no, just a boy I picked up on patrol, I’d tell you but I don’t want to bring down the mood or anything at the moment.” Dick had explained, “his name's Evan.”
“Uhhh… okay.” Peter replied simply, “well, great to meet you Evan.” He took out a hand to let Evan shake it. Which he did, quickly, so it’d be adequate and be done with soon.
Evan didn’t say anything, which gave Dick the idea to explain to Peter on how he’s a mute (or at least he thinks so, he hasn’t said a word besides his name and hasn’t actively answered his questions with more words, just hums or little noises. it was also how he found out that his parents were dead, he asked where his parents were and when he got silence and followed it up with a soft question on their living status followed by even more silence, he knew he shouldn’t pry further.)
“Well, with the introductions over with, I wanted to tell you I brought food!” Dick showcased as he turned the package around to show that it held a box of snacks, a fast food bag, and some neatly packaged containers of even more neatly packed food. Dick noticed Evan and Peter eyeing the food with hungry mouths.
“My, er, grandpa made too much food, so I decided to take it out to bring some over. The fast food and snacks were just another thing I had on me already. Wanted to share with you.” Nightwing explained, he already knew that he had to explain away why he was giving away all this stuff to Peter —and now also Evan— before they went thinking that their need to eat was a hassle on his end.
“Oh! Uhh… thanks Nightwing.” Peter thanked, it didn’t seem like a sincere thank you at first glance, but he knew he truly meant it, he was particular in that way from what Dick could figure out. He spoke awkwardly when confronted face to face, but had a lot of feeling and passion behind him, feeling and passion that he can see when he truly feels comfortable.
Peter had let them to a table in one of the rooms, it didn’t have anything in particular but it was cleaned up. This was most likely a room Peter specifically dedicated to when people wanted to visit, only seeing the nice stuff and nothing bad or private, which he was fine with, he knew Peter wouldn’t do something like do drugs or hold guns or something similar.
Dick had taken most of the food out of the bag, placing the snack bag on a nearby counter and Alfred’s packaged lunch and fast food on the table.
The dinner was mostly composed of Peter and Dick chatting, Dick firstly apologizing for possibly bringing up a sore spot, which Peter had just said he missed a friend who liked superheroes, since he’s all the way in Queens while Peter’s here in Gotham.
More conversations followed, Dick and Peter speaking to each other about “regular” life and whatever came to mind while Evan periodically hummed or made a noise to whatever they asked him. He seemed to be lost in some train of thought, but strangely enough, fully focused, just not in the right places, since he’s only getting half of what they asked him, with Evan making a confused noise every few times they spoke to him about whatever. But it was nice, like an awkward family unit, it reminded him of his own family in a nice way, and he was starting to debate bringing them over to Bludhaven and adopting them himself, but tried to keep his self control.
Dick was in the middle of talking about what sports the three of them had played when his phone rang, most likely Alfred or B, as they practically never texted. And lo and behold, it was Alfred on the phone.
“Hey Al, what’s up?” Dick greeted nonchalantly.
“Greetings Master Richard, but I’d like to inform you that another child will be joining the family.” Alfred had replied formally, the surprising topic left him speechless enough for Alfred to continue. “His name is William Batson, a homeless boy Master Bruce had found. He is twelve, currently 4 months younger than Damian.”
”Ah.” Dick thought, still speechless.