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Peter’s been staying with his dads at Wayne Manor for a few days now. It’s been a big change, considering he’s used to living with two people at maximum. Now, he has several aunts and uncles plus a grandfather that keep him company all day.
At night, they still patrol but Peter always stays with someone. Be it one of his dads, or his uncle.
Seeing Uncle Ben—or Uncle Jason— again after so many years brings him so much joy.
Not long after the first introduction he met Cassandra, his dad Richard’s sister. The name Aunt Cass came out on instinct and the woman had taken an instant liking to Peter. Following that, all his dad’s siblings—and family friends, since Steph and Barbara come to the Manor pretty often—demanded he call them Aunt and Uncle.
Also, Aunt Steph and Aunt Cass are dating and Aunt Barbara—formerly Miss Barbara, given their encounter at the library—used to date his dad Richard. Double Aunt title for them.
Having a grandpa—and a great-grandpa, if he considers Alfred—is also a very new thing to him. Having a rich grandpa? Crazy. The man bought him an entire wardrobe a few hours after they found out Peter was to stay with them, and he got all things he liked, somehow. Peter also walked in on conversations about his grandpa buying his dads and him a house in Bludhaven, but his parents shut it down pretty quickly since they can do it on their own.
Peter was happy they did. Can you imagine being gifted a whole house? Richard and Wally still explained to him he wasn’t a burden and that they were happy to spend money on him when he tried to stop the amount of gifts his family got him (house included).
He also asked if they could stay at the Manor for a bit longer, since Bludhaven is a bit far and he’s not quite ready to leave Uncle Jason’s side yet. They were very understanding and Uncle Jason gave him a big hug when he explained, his Uncle Tim laughed at that.
It’s early in the morning and he leaves his room, placed right next to his dads’, to go have breakfast.
He glances down at his wrist where his Karen watch rests and sighs. His days have been pretty hectic and he hasn’t had time to repair his AI’s speakers. He hasn’t had time to even think about Spider-man. His family also hasn’t asked, but he knows they’ll have to breach the topic soon. He is, after all, enhanced—meta human, as he learnt he’s called here—and there are some things that need to be talked about. It helps knowing that Wally is one too, it helps him connect to him in a way.
He hears Bruce’s voice in the kitchen and fastens his pace to greet his grandpa and to also to try to convince him to let him in a lab to fix Karen. He can do both.
“Hey, grandpa! Good morning, do you think I could—“ He stops in his tracks as he takes in the other man in the room.
He’s tall, and broad. His eyes are covered by thick black glasses but they don’t hide the surprise on his face at the sight of Peter.
“—um, hi?” He looks between Bruce and the mystery new man.
“Grandpa? B? What is happening?” The man turns to Bruce. His grandpa cleans his throat and looks at the man like he’s about to say the most normal thing ever.
“Clark, this is my grandchild. Dick and Wally’s son. Peter, meet Clark.”
“Hi, Mr. Clark.” He greets him politely.
“Grandchild?! Oh my God, B—Grandpa? Since—since when?! He’s like—a teenager. When—how?” The man, Clark, seems to be having a mental breakdown.
“Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very—“ Peter starts.
“Not now, chum.” Bruce stops him. Clark’s eyes widen.
“Is he—is he like Kon—Conner? When did—you didn’t tell me!”
“He is not like Conner, we checked.” Did the man think he was a clone, like his family had thought at first? “And I didn’t tell you because we wanted him to adapt first, Wally’s family hasn’t met him yet because ours can already be… a lot.”
“I really wanna meet his uncle and aunt and cousin but it’s been overwhelming so far so we’re hoping to delay that for a few more days. Wally says they’re excited too, though.” He shrugs.
The man is still gaping as his parents walk into the room.
“Hi, kiddo.” His dad says.
“Peter!” Wally ruffles his hair. “What do we have for breakfast?”
Everyone promptly ignores Clark and they all grab what Alfred offers them. They move to the next room and sit down to enjoy the food. Damian joins them not long after, and the family that’s still on the Manor is reunited.
“Dad?” He asks Richard. “Who is Clark?”
“He’s Bruce’s… friend . It’s complicated.” Everyone in the room nods at his statement. Bruce ignores the conversation.
“Alright.” Peter accepts it.
“Dad?” This time he turns to address Wally. “What should I call you? I can’t go around calling the both of you, dad.”
Wally seems to think it over and turns to Richard.
“Well, we’ve had the kids conversation and we always thought one of us could be dad and the other papa or pops.” Richard nods while looking at him, his breakfast almost gone.
“Papa.” He tests it out. “Pops.” That’s better. “Pops?”
“Yeah, Peter?” Wally answers his call. Peter grinds brightly.
The man, Clark, seems to recover from his shock and appears back at the scene. Took him long enough.
“Hello, Peter. Sorry for my rudeness earlier.” He apologizes and Peter gives him a smile.
He can’t really blame the guy, it’s a lot. Clark grabs his plate and sits down.
“Grandpa? Is he like you?” He puts two fingers next to his head in imitation of the Batman cowl. Both Clark and Dick spit their food at the gesture, his dad barks a laugh while the other man stares in disbelief.
“Richard, that is disgusting!” Damian berates. That only makes his dad laugh harder.
“What makes you believe that?” Bruce asks.
“Well, he’s your friend, I'm pretty sure he asked if I was a clone and his heartbeat is all weird.” He’s been trying to ignore the unusual rhythm coming from the man’s chest, but enough is enough.
“Right, enhanced hearing.” Bruce mutters out.
“Who do you think he is?” his pops asks.
Peter turns to look at the man and frowns. The last few days he’s had time to search a bit about the superheroes of the world so he thinks he can guess correctly. The man is huge, he carries himself like he’s shorter, though. His hair is messy, almost defeating his own curls in that category. He wears plaid and those huge glasses. He wonders if those are comfortable to fight crime, maybe he takes them off and—
Oh.
“No way.” His dads grin. “Superman?”
“Ding ding!” Wally chants.
“Crazy.”
“Good job, Peter.” His grandpa says.
“B!” Clark says in disbelief.
“A newcomer guesses your identity, Kent. Embarrassing.” Damian mutters and grabs his things to leave.
It’s only his dads, grandpa, him and a bewildered superhero left in the room.
“So, grandpa.” He turns to Bruce. “Can I go to a lab?”
.
Bruce did let him go to the lab downstairs. His dads took him there since Bruce and Clark were clearly going to have a talk about Peter’s presence.
He hasn’t been to the cave—the Batcave, he learnt eventually—since the first night he spent at the Manor. He stares in awe at all the things he missed the first time, like the giant dinosaur.
“Was this necessary?” He asks Richard.
“B has too much money to spend.” His dad shrugs. “Why did you want to go to the lab, kiddo?”
“I just wanted to fix Karen’s speakers. It’s annoying to have to read all she says. I think I'm too used to her quick responses.”
“Right, your AI. Would you mind having Tim and Babs with you while you do it? I’m pretty sure they want to ask about it but haven’t because this is very new.” His dad moves his hands to signal to, well, everything that’s happened.
“Yeah, Tim’s even texted me, of all people, to ask if you had brought up the topic.” His pops rolls his eyes.
“Sure, will they be here or should we set up a video call?” He says as he spots a workbench.
He points at it and his dad just nods. With his permission, Peter approaches the bench and looks at the tools. He has all he needs, he notes.
“A video call will do. Tim’s at work and Babs’ still at home.” Peter smiles.
While the call connects, he sees Wally look around.
“Hey, now that you’re doing all that I think I’m gonna head back to Blud to grab some stuff, since we’re staying for a few more days.” He finally says.
“Okay. Do you mind bringing my favorite hoodie? The one I definitely did not steal from you?” His dads says and Peter laughs a little.
Wally rolls his eyes but pecks his lips lovingly. He looks at Peter and walks up next to him to ruffle his hair.
“See you soon, love you. Both of you.” He smiles at them and disappears in a bolt of lightning.
“Love you too.” His dad and him say at the same time and exchange a look. Peter can’t help but feel warm inside.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to him disappearing like that.”
“You will, kid.” His dad assures.
“Aww.” A sound comes from the screen on Peter's workbench.
Barbara and Tim—mostly Barbara—look delighted at their exchange.
“How long have you been there?” Peter asks. He feels embarrassed.
“Since the start, our calls connect pretty fast.” Tim teases him.
Peter feels a rush of warmth travel to his face. His dad shakes his head.
“Don’t tease your nephew.” All of them minus Peter rolls their eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. So, Peter. I heard we’re fixing Karen?” His uncle says with a glint on his eyes.
“I’m very curious about that! She made my life impossible back at the library. Even threatened me.” Barbara says casually.
“What?! Karen!” He directs his voice to his watch. “Why did you do that?”
She was trying to keep you from investigating, Peter. I did what I had to do. The screen says.
“You can’t go around threatening people! You’re going to apologize to Aunt Barbara as soon as I fix your speakers.” He looks up to the screen where Tim and Barbara are. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Barbara. She can get a little protective sometimes. I hope she didn’t do anything bad to your servers.” He apologizes.
“Don’t worry, Peter. I understand now, it just took me by surprise when it happened. She just wiped all traces of your searches on the computer.” Barbara dismisses.
“Yeah, and toyed with the CCTV. You have to tell me how she works! Also, she’s sentient? Can she really apologize?” Tim says. That seems to get his dad’s attention as he sends Peter a curious look.
“She’s programmed to adapt and learn. Now she’ll know when it’s acceptable to threaten and when it’s not, or at least she won’t threaten you, especially.” He shrugs. “When I’m done we can try to make an AI for you guys, I'm sure she has the design somewhere. I’m pretty sure I can make one from scratch, though.”
“You’re something else, kid.” Tim says.
They spend some time working on Karen. Barbara and Tim ask several questions about her functions and Karen manages to connect to their devices to send them more in-depth answers. His dad chimes in from time to time, but he seems more content to watch him work. Peter glances at him and each time he has a proud look in his eyes.
Once Karen speakers are up and running, Barbara and Tim—and his dad— get to hear her for the first time.
“Thank you, Peter.” She says.
“Hey, Karen. Happy to hear you again.” He whispers.
His aunt and uncle seem in awe and proceed to ask her even more questions. Karen is more than happy to answer.
After a while, they have a very rough first draft for what’s going to be Gotham’s very own AI for vigilantes.
“We’re going to need materials you guys don’t have just yet, but we’ll manage. I’ll give us a month.” He finally says.
“Holy shit.” Tim says, earning an enthusiastic nod from Barbara and a glare from his dad.
“Alright, Karen!” He talks to his AI. “It’s time! Scan me.”
Everyone looks at him curiously.
After a bit, Karen talks.
“Scan complete. Peter Benjamin Parker, 14 years old, 5’6. No visible injuries. I sense a change in your mouth structure, Peter. I advice for a dentist appointment.”
“Really? I don’t feel different.” He touches his teeth. He touches some lumpy things. Huh.
“Benjamin?” His dad asks, having stuck to his name.
“Yeah, I was named after Uncle Ben.”
“What about my other me?” Jason appears out of nowhere, Wally in tow.
“Pops, you’re back!” Peter says brightly while Wally rushes to kiss him in the head. “Uncle Jason!”
“How’s my favorite nephew?” Jason says.
“He’s your only nephew!” Tim screams from the video call.
“Still the favorite!” Jason yells back. “So what about me?”
“Well, my name is Peter Benjamin, after my Uncle Ben.” He explains.
“Oh. That’s cute!” Wally exclaims and Peter looks at him curiously. “You guys match here too because Jason’s full name is Jason Peter.”
Peter looks shocked at his uncle, taking in the new information.
“Really?” He asks him.
“Yeah, kid.” Jason answers.
“That’s so cool.” Peter feels a little teary eyed.
“Aww, Little Wing!” His dad exclaims while trying to hug Jason, who steps aside to let his dad fall. “Mean.”
“Deserved.” His uncle retorts.
Peter looks at their interactions and preens. He remembers very little but based on his vague memories and some videos and stories his uncle told him, their relationship was pretty much like that in his former universe.
“Ben used to call me Little Ben, now I can be Little Peter.” He smiles wide at Jason. The man high fives him.
“What are you even doing there?” Tim yells from the video call. “It’s like 10 am.”
“I have a mission with Roy tonight and needed some stuff. So, I came here to steal from the old man and to see my favorite nephew.” Tim rolls his eyes at the repetition of the nephew thing.
“Oh, oh. Roy.” Wally wiggles his eyes.
“Shut up.” Jason says, rolling his eyes.
Huh?
“Who's Roy?” He can’t help but ask.
“Your uncle’s not-boyfriend.” Wally replies. His dad Richard just rolls his eyes and makes a face.
“Best friend and teammate.” Jason corrects.
“Jason and Roy, under a tree—“ Tim starts but Jason is faster and disconnects the call. Barbara, who was watching their interaction, manages to protest before the screen turns off.
His dad’s phone chimes in.
“Babs says that you’re mean.” Richard reads the text.
“Boo-hoo.” Jason mocks.
Peter’s stomach suddenly becomes alive, alerting everyone of a hungry spider-kid. He’d feel embarrassed if Wally’s own stomach didn’t grumble in response.
“Snack time to the guys with super fast metabolism.” His pops grins.
“There’s two now!” Jason says dramatically.
“We have to test your metabolism, Peter.” Richard adds.
“I can get Karen to send you a file about it. It might need a little tweaking but it should work.” His dad nods.
“Also—dentist appointment.” Peter groans at his dad’s words. “Karen said so and who am I to judge her judgment.”
“You’re my dad! You can judge!” He throws his arms up.
“As your dad, I say trust Karen.” Wally nods at his words. Jason gives a thumbs up.
Peter groans, again.
“Let’s go.” He mumbles, they laugh.
They all follow him to the kitchen.
.
It’s standard. They have something to eat, talk about their days and laugh at Richard’s jokes. Eventually they all move to the living room when Alfred starts preparing their actual lunch.
His dads ask him if he wants to come with them to the garden, for outside time, but he just flashes them a wide grin and says he wants to stay in with his uncle. Jason seems a little shocked at that, but takes it in with a smile. His dads leave them be.
And Peter is nosy, you see.
“Can you tell me about Roy?” He asks.
He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Uncle Ben only had eyes for May, since the day they met. He’s curious about the man his family tease him about.
Jason tenses at the question.
“He’s a friend.” He says. “We met a long time ago but only started hanging out a few years back. He’s an archer.” He smiles. “Been in the business for a while, too. He’s got a little girl about your age.”
Physical age, Peter corrects in his head.
There’s something in Jason’s eyes while he talks about Roy. He can’t quite put his finger on it.
“And what’s he to you?”
His uncle seems used to the question and just sighs.
“My best friend.” He says. “But that’s that. They—they all make it more than it is, but it’s friendship, kiddo. No more.” He seems to think it over. “That’s a lie, it’s more complicated than but—not like that .”
It's like he says, then. His heartbeat didn’t change so he’s not lying and Peter feels a deeper understanding of his uncle now.
“Do they tease you a lot?” It’s a silly question, he knows, but he can’t help being curious.
“Yeah.” He shrugs.
“It bothers you.” Peter states as a fact. Jason doesn’t say anything. “You should talk to them about it.” He offers.
“They wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t stop if you asked them.” He says.
Jason huffs and a small smile creeps up his face.
“I’m the adult here, why are you giving me an impromptu therapy session?” He jokes.
“What can I say? I’m very in touch with my feelings.” Peter jokes back.
Jason seems more relaxed now, and it brings a sense of relief to him. The man might be a little different from the Uncle Ben he has in his memories, but he still has his every tell memorized.
“I hope to meet him soon.” Peter says after a comfortable silence. “He’s special, whatever your relationship might be, and I'm here to stay. So, I wanna meet everyone.”
“Maybe when we get back from the mission—actually, tomorrow morning.” Jason smiles.
“Pops is going to be mad if I meet Roy before his side of the family.”
“Pops? Huh. Well, if it gets Wally pissed off it’s a bonus.” He laughs.
They hear footsteps coming up to them and both tilt their heads to get a glimpse of who's coming. Cass and Steph make their way into the room and Peter beams at them.
“What’s got you here, blondie?” Jason asks.
“Lunch with the family, my guy.” Steph winks.
“Aunt Cass!” Peter jumps to her arms.
“Peter.” She says softly.
Cass is definitely a new fixture in his dynamic. They all are, in a way, but she’s different. She’s, frankly, awesome. Everyday before patrol she takes time to find Peter and ask about his day. They haven’t talked about his story, just yet, but her presence reminds him of Aunt May. It hasn’t been long, truth be told, but they clicked instantly and Peter looks forward to the instances they have together.
“I see you already have favorites.” Steph says while a dramatic, and fake, tear runs down her face.
“I don’t feel guilty about it.” Peter deadpans and Jason laughs out loud.
“C’mon, kiddo. Go get your dads.” His uncle ushers him out.
Before he leaves, Peter sends a quick glance to him. He hopes he conveys everything he didn’t get to say before. Jason just smiles.
He goes to get his dads.
.
Shit hits the fan in the middle of the night.
Peter’s sixth sense normally tells him about things that are about to happen in the immediate future. A stray bullet, a punch, an object being thrown at him, the occasional car. It’s not a common occurrence that his senses wake him up in the middle of the night, and not often when the danger is nowhere to be seen.
It happened once, he remembers. On Titan, while fighting Thanos. The alien had disappeared and there wasn't anything that could directly endanger Peter but everything felt wrong. He got his answer to his sudden feeling of danger when one by one, the other people in the strange planet started disappearing. When it came to him, his sixth sense was screaming (metaphorically) at him to fight the threat. He couldn't, of course, and he died.
Sometimes, his senses flare when something is about to happen.
He's experiencing a similar feeling right now.
There's no threat, he knows. It's not that he's being warned of something like that, but the feeling of uneasiness is enough for him to go looking for someone.
He gets out of bed, heading straight to his dads’ room. Peter raises his hand to knock on the door and after an appropriate time, he enters. There's no one there. He knows his dad Richard would probably not be there, since he had said it's his time to patrol, but Wally should.
He frowns and the feeling ups a few numbers on the scale of wrong .
Thankfully, he has experience dealing with his own crazy powers, so he takes a deep breath and tries to concentrate on his surroundings. He follows the path his senses say to. He turns several corners and walks though many hallways in the Manor. He stops at a big wooden door and tries to open it.
The door doesn't bulge so he applies more strength to his grip. He’ll apologise later, the desperation to go wherever he needs to go is higher than the guilt of destroying his grandpa’s house.
He walks inside once it's done and ends up in front of an old grandfather clock. He squints at it, trying to figure out what to do with it.
Peter thanks his enhanced vision when he notices some of the numbers of the clock are more worn out than the others. Out of curiosity, he moves it around until something clicks.
10:48.
Huh.
A door opens up. It’s nowhere near as epic as the things he's seen with the Avengers in his old universe but it still earns a gasp from his part.
He goes inside to what looks like an elevator. A voice might say something but he's too preoccupied with the sudden movement the elevator thing makes to understand.
When the ride is over, he steps out and his senses flare again. In a panic, he starts looking around. He notices he's back in the Batcave. There's a lot of suited-up heroes, including his dads–though Wally is still in his pajamas.
No one notices him.
He keeps glancing around to try to find whatever it is that's making him go crazy with worry. He finds nothing, until his gaze lands on the medbay room he saw on his first day there.
Inside, laying unmoving on a gurney, there's a man. He's covered in bruises with several still bleeding wounds. There's dirt on his clothes and face and his hair is completely wet.
His Uncle Jason stands next to him, talking worriedly with Alfred as he treats the man.
And Peter–he can only see May on the stranger’s face.
Her smile, covered in blood as she says her last words. How she was covered from head to toe on dirt and rubble. How it was his fault.
He stumbles on step, falling down and in the process he alerts the other people in the room. His parents run to him. He knows they're worried and he knows they're asking questions but every sound is blurring together and he doesn't know what they're saying.
He’s crying.
The memory of her death is still present. It's too soon.
He glances up and focuses on his Uncle Jason, who somewhere in the last few seconds ran up to him and is standing in front of his mess of a person. He's also bruised and dirty and bloody. It makes it worse. Tears run down his face even faster.
He knows the man’s not May. He really does, but it's too soon. It’s too soon.
Too soon.
Voice barely a whisper, he asks even if he knows the answer is a negative. He just needs to know. “Karen, what is the possibility of a match with Roy Harper and Aunt May?” Because of course that man is Roy, he's not dumb, Jason has said he had a job with Roy earlier.
He thinks he hears several gasps at the question.
“Roy Harper is not a match for May Parker.” Karen replies. “Would you like me to find her?” She asks back.
“Yes, please.” He accepts, because he needs to know she's fine.
After a few minutes of absolute since form Karen’s ends and everyone that's surrounding him. the AI speaks again.
“There is a May Reilly currently living in Minnesota. She is 21-years-old and is studying to become a nurse.”
“Is she–is she okay?”
“She is, Peter. Healthy and safe.” Those words mean everything to him.
He lets himself go and lands in his dads’ arms, who’ve been waiting for a response from him since he first appeared in their field of vision.
He sobs.
Richard and Wally, dad and pops, whisper words of assurance to his ear while he cries his heart out. The sound is muffled by his pops' shirt and he knows it's gonna be wet once he's done.
“Oh, Peter.” Richard says while running his hand through Peter’s hair.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers, barely audible.
“What for, kiddo?” Wally asks slowly.
He means for May, but instead directs his eyes to Jason. “I'm making this about me, I’m sorry. How–how is Roy?”
“Don’t apologise for that, please, Peter.” Jason shakes his head. “He’ll be fine, I promise. There were a few wounds but half the blood is not even his. He’s just sleeping while Alfred treats him.”
“Dude, little ears.” Wally chastises him.
“I'm 17, mentally.” Peter rerminds him.
“He knows what we do.” Jason says at the same time.
Wally rolls his eyes but he and Richard look at them fondly.
“Peter, kiddo.” His dad asks for his attention. “What happened?”
He feels watched now. And he is, of course. Jason, Wally and Richard have their eyes on him and he feels several pairs of eyes a little further away. He knows his grandpa and his several aunts and uncles are watching.
“Later?” He begs.
His dads sigh but still nod in approval of his request. They help him up. Wally grabs a fabric from somewhere and dries Peter’s tears with it. He feels a little embarrassed but lets him do it, as silly as it is, he likes being cared for by his parents.
It makes him miss May even more, though.
“You promise he'll be fine?” He directs his question to Jason.
“I promise. Go to sleep, kid. You need it.” He smiles. It looks a little weird considering he’s still covered in blood and dirt.
The three of them go upstairs. His dads don't pressure him and they all sleep in the same room like they did the first day he got there.
He dreams of nothing.
.
The next morning, he’s awakened by his dads' quiet conversation. Although nothing is really quiet when you have enhanced hearing.
“We have to ask him what's going on, Walls. He has a panic attack after seeing Roy bruised. And what he asked Karen? I tried asking her myself but she wouldn't answer.” His dad Richard says.
“I know, Love. But we can’t pressure him into talking to us. We can only create a safe space for him so he feels comfortable telling us.” His pops Wally says back. “Or that's what the Internet says.”
“You asked the Internet about parenting advice?” He can feel his dad’s raised eyebrow.
“Parenting is hard! And I wanna be the best at it.” Peter hears the sound of a kiss. “We are gonna be the best at it.”
Peter melts a little. His dads are really trying.
“I feel safe.” He speaks up, his dads stop talking. “But sometimes it’s hard. I think I was waiting until you asked.” He looks at them.
They look back fondly at him.
“Let’s get breakfast, kiddo. The therapy session can wait until later.” Richard says.
They all go downstairs and wait at the table until Alfred gives them a plate. More people start coming in. Bruce, Damian, Jason, Duke and Roy sit with them to enjoy their breakfast.
“Hi.” He greets them all.
“HI, kiddo.” Jason says and Roy nods in greetings next to him.
“Hi, chum.” His grandpa follows.
“Hello.” Duke and Damian say, both with different tones. One more chipper than the other.
“I put him up to speed.” Jason says while pointing at Roy.
“You have a whole 14-year-old and I have to find out from Jay?” Roy directs his question at his dads.
“It's been a crazy few days.” Richard shrugs.
“Plus, there was no way we were letting you meet him before my own family.” Wally says. “I am very pissed off right now.” He glares at Jason, who smiles at him before grinning at Peter.
See? he mouths and Peter is reminded of the conversation they had the day before. He laughs lightly.
They spend breakfast having light conversations. Peter gets to know Roy a little bit more. The guy talks about his daughter a lot and in a very fond tone. He thinks that if he’d gotten the chance to share moments like this with Mr. Stark he’d talk about Morgan the same way Roy talks about Lian.
Throughout breakfast he feels several glances his way. He’s been very awesome at ignoring them but at some point he is going to have to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Roy and Jason share a look once the food’s gone and the older man leaves the room citing tiredness. Peter sighs.
He looks around the table at his dads, grandpa, Uncle Jason, Uncle Duke and it’s-super-weird-to-call-a-14-year-old-uncle Uncle Damian, plus Alfred. He really hates that the others aren't home because it means he will have to tell the story more than once. Aunt Cass would be a really good help at the moment.
“Okay, let's go–questions?” Peter starts. Damian huffs at the choice of words.
“Kiddo, if you don't want to, we can delay it until later.” His dad assures him.
“It's okay, dad. I swear.” He promises.
Everyone in the room looks at each other, no one seems to want to take the lead. Duke bites the bullet.
“So, powers?” He asks. “What?” He shrugs when everyone turns to look at him.
“Great start!” Peter claps. Its honestly the better topic. “You know this already and you’ve seen the videos. I got bitten by a spider on a field trip and I got my powers. They're, like, enhancements. So I have better eyesight and hearing, I’m stronger, faster–” He makes a point to look at Wally. “--and more resilient. I heal fast, too. That comes with a fast metabolism. I’m sticky and I’m also pretty sure that the things in my teeth are fangs but that’s new. I also have a sixth sense that warns me of danger, although it's a little more complicated than that.”
“Okay, glossing over everything else, it’s that how you were able to dodge me that time?” His pops asks, reminding him of their first encounter.
“Yep! I can also shoot webs but that's synthetic, they don't come out of me. I met another Peter that has that, though.” He shrugs.
He’s met with silence for a second.
“Okay, that's a lot.” Jason says.
“I want to ask about something you said days ago, Peter.” His dad ignores his brother. “You said something about dying?”
“Love.” Wally warns Richard.
“It's okay, pops.” He assures. “Um–so, an alien invasion! There was this purple alien, Thanos. He wanted to erase half the universe’s living creatures so create a balance, or something. He needed these–stones? To do it and the heroes of my universe joined efforts to stop him from getting them. We fought him but unfortunately lost. I was one of the people that he made disappear when he snapped his fingers.”
“Chum–” Bruce starts to talk but is too shocked to follow through.
“Oh, kiddo.” His dad laments. Both dads reach out to him in support, squeezing his hands.
“Anyways, five years later my mentor created a time travel machine to get the stones and do our own snap to get everyone back. The thing is that with the time traveling stuff another version of Thanos came back and decided to do it all over again. We fought him and won this time.” He keeps explaining, he had been doing good with holding back tears but the next part will surely break him. “My mentor died that day, he used the stones to make Thanos and his army disappear, but a human is not meant to hold that much power. I’m just glad I got to see him again once more. He was the one to hold me while I turned to dust when the first fight happened.” A tear rolls down his face and Wally dries it with his fingers. Peter’s pretty sure he's crying too.
“What happened next, chum?” Bruce gains his composure.
“It was weird, for a while. I reunited with May and started school. It was hard to adapt when half my class was 5 years older and already in college. I had my best friends, though! They got dusted too.” He says with a sad expression. “I continued with my patrols as Spider-Man and tried to be okay with it.”
“Did it get better?” Duke asks.
“It got worse.” He smiles in irony. “I trusted the wrong man and gave him access to some technology Mr. Stark had given me. He used it against me and in the end he exposed my identity and framed me for his murder. Which I did not–” He starts to clarify.
“We believe you, Master Peter.” Alfred interjects.
“Yeah, um--okay, sorry. Anyways, people started harassing my friends and May. They didn't get accepted into MIT because of it. I–I felt useless. So I tried asking a wizard for help and it backfired. That's pretty much it.” He shrugs.
“First of all, you're not useless. That man sucked and put you in an impossible position and you're not at fault, Peter. Second of all, holy shit.” His dad says and the last bit makes Peter laugh a little.
“Dick!” Wally chastises.
“Peter, you must tell me the name of that man. I, as your uncle, have to avenge you. I will talk to whoever is necessary to find him.” Damian states.
“He’s dead, don't worry.” He clarifies but that doesn't seem to appease Damian.
Jason, who hadn’t talked yet, speaks up. “How long ago did this happen?”
He's a little taken aback by the question but answers anyway. “The multiverse thing happened–um, 6 days ago?”
Everyone is shocked by the answer. Peter is a little confused since he's pretty sure he explained what happened days ago.
“What do you mean by that? We figured this had happened maybe months ago.” Wally asks.
“No–I’m pretty sure I told you about it? I asked for too much and the wizard lost control of the spell, a bunch of villains came through a portal, I tried to help them but that backfired and Aunt May died and then I needed I used the help of other Peters–that's where I met the Peter that has actual webs–to stop the villains and then I asked to be erased from everyone's memory because I was the one that was keeping them there. Then it was what Miss Zatanna said. I did say I only knew about the multiverse for two days that time ” He shrugs. Talking about May hurts like shit, though. He’s still crying.
“Oh my God.” Wally manages to mutter out.
There's several degrees of shock going through his new family’s faces.
“Is that why you had such a bad reaction when you saw Roy last night?” Jason asks. His voice is shaking slightly.
“Yeah.” He admits. “It reminded me of May. She died in my arms.”
He hears everyone gasp. Then he remembers he had also admitted that his Uncle Ben had died in front of him. Well, his life sucks so they better get used to it.
“I'm so sorry that happened, Peter. Oh my God.” Wally starts. “I’m wrapping you in bubble wrap, that's it. No vigilantism until you’re at least 30.” Peter tries protests at that but one look at the sheer distraught of his dad’s face tells him to shut up.
“C’mon, kiddo. It's gonna be fine. You’ve got us now and we're not letting you go.” His dad Richard says before wrapping him in a bear hug. He manages to catch everyone else nodding at his statement.
Peter melts in the embrace.
His parents are here, they are tangible and they're not leaving. His uncle is with him and he now has even more uncles and aunts who have shown to love him in the very few days he’s been here. He has a grandfather and a sort of great-grandfather who spoil him rotten and even more family he’s still yet to meet but that his pops Wally assures already love him. Aunt May is fine, studying to be a nurse; healthy and safe.
And it's gonna be hard, because he has Parker Luck and it seems that the others have Wayne luck because their lives have been just as hard as Peter’s. They’re vigilantes too so danger is going to be a constant presence in their lives. But they can do it, right? They have each other. Peter can find himself with a little bit of strength left in him to trust . To hope.
As cheesy as it sounds.
Jason gets up from his seat to add himself to the hug. Soon after, almost everyone else follows. It's nice.
Some people walk inside.
“Hey! No one invited us to the group hug? I’m offended.” Steph exclaims before jumping into the embrace. Cass follows. Tim doesn't but Peter knows he’s there.
Peter loses himself in the warmth that radiates from his family.
“So, what happened?” Tim finally asks.
Peter just sighs.
.
“Hey, kid. Can I see a picture of your aunt?” Jason asks with a curious tone.
“Sure.” Peter shrugs and asks Karen to show them a photo of May.
It's an old one, Peter and May smiling at the camera at Peter's Middle School Graduation. Ben was taking the picture, he always loved photography. He remembers the day with joy.
Jason smiles at the picture.
“What?”
“Nothing. Other-me had taste.” He gets up and leaves.
“Uncle Jason!” Peter exclaims.
He can't believe it, it's Mr. Stark all over again.