Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was swinging around New York like every other day. It was amazing seeing the buildings pass by him and seeing the people who were talking even if they didn’t see him come by. It was as if he could swing by like a guardian angel, ready to pounce on any villains, intruders, muggers, or robbers that may try to hurt the citizens that were walking by having a normal day, but this day would be different than anything Peter could possibly imagine. As he was swinging, he came across an alleyway; he could see the air in said alleyway sparkle and crackle.

“What the hell…” he muttered to himself as he lowered himself into the alleyway. As his spider-senses went crazy, they were yelling at him to get out of the alley right now, but he needed to investigate. If they were ringing that bad, what if a civilian stumbled into this alleyway and got hurt? He’d rather get hurt himself than a civilian, so he stood his ground even as his spidey senses yelled at him.

The sparks soon started forming a small little tear; it seemed like it was floating in midair. He looked at it and squinted. He hadn’t seen anything like it. Sure, Dr. Strange had magic, but it was uniform and organized. This tear was jagged, and before he could react, the tear shattered and broke open into a bigger portal-like size that swallowed him whole. Even as he tried to web out, the portal took him whole and shut behind him.

He flew through the portal as he yelled, the colors around him overwhelming his senses. His body was flying through the colorful portal before he crash-landed into another alleyway. His body slammed into a wall, causing a huge hole to be indented into the side of the building and most likely cracking a few of his ribs.

“Oh my god…” He slowly got up in pain. It wasn’t his first time being thrown into a building, but this one hurt way more, probably because of how fast he was going.

He got up, looking around him. There were rows of buildings next to each other, similar to New York, but this wasn’t New York at all. Peter knew what his city felt like, and this wasn’t it; the vibe was totally off.

But he decided to find out where he was later; he couldn’t go out in his Spidey suit if he wanted to blend in.

“Oh god, Karen, are you there?” He asked, almost forgetting about his AI friend; he hoped she wasn’t damaged from the slamming.

“I am here, Peter. Are you okay? I am detecting that your heart rate is accelerated, and there seem to be significant tears and rips in your suit.” The AI responded, though her voice seemed more raspy.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Can you figure out where we are?” He said, “I cannot seem to connect to the Stark network; it seems as if it has disappeared, though I can connect to a nearby library’s network.” She said as Peter sighed, not wanting to mess with other people’s networks, but it was necessary this time.

“Alright, connect to that, but please don’t mess with the libraries’ files or anything like that.” He asked, “Of course, Peter, shall I compile information you may need?” She asked as Peter paced around the trash can, debating to see if there were clothes in it, “Sure, Karen.” He responded absentmindedly before jumping into the dumpster.

Inside there was an old hoodie that had tears and was way too big for Peter and baggy pants. Although they did have holes in them and seemed about two sizes bigger than his, they worked, and they had drawstrings, so he put them on as well as the hoodie over his Spider-suit. The hoodie was so large it covered his hands, and while he could’ve kept his gloves on, he didn’t want someone to see any part of the suit.

“Peter I have finished compiling the information; would you like me to read it off?” Karen asked while Peter was looking around to see if it was safe to leave the alleyway, “Yeah, read off what you’ve found.” He responded after determining it was safe and started walking through the night as Karen talked into his ear; she had turned into a hearing aid since he thought it would be rude if someone talked to him and he didn’t hear them because of Karen talking in his ear. It also helped cancel out any loud noises. He had noticed his senses were more sensitive in this place.

Karen rattled off important information she found; most notably, the whole world was different. There was no Spider-Man in New York, and no Avengers. Instead, there was the Justice League protecting Earth, and most importantly, he was in Metropolis, not New York City.

“That’s a lot of information, but that’s for future Peter to handle, so Karen, could you find somewhere I could stay? I really don’t want to sleep on a roof or something…” He’d been wandering for nearly 30 minutes straight in the dark. Sure, his sight was good enough for him to travel in the dark with no problem, but he didn’t want to wander until the sun came up.

“Of course, Peter, there is a shelter nearby about 5 blocks away.” She said calmly while Peter sighed at the thought of having to walk so much more.

“Karen, are there any shortcuts I could take to get there faster? ...” He asked, dreading the thought of such a long walk. “You can take the rooftops, but I would not advise it, as people may see you.” She stated, warning Peter of the possible dangers. “Well, I have to do what I have to do, Karen.” Ignoring Karen's warning, he scaled the fire escape in a nearby alleyway onto a roof.

“Karen, are there any shortcuts I could take to get there faster?..” He asked, dreading the thought of such a long walk “You can take the rooftops but I would not advise it as people may see you.” She started warning Peter of the possible dangers “Well I gotta do what I gotta do Karen.” Ignoring Karen's warning he scaled the fire escape in a nearby alleyway onto a roof.

He made a running start leaping for the next roof as he landed with a thud as he felt a jolt of pain course through his legs and up to his spine causing him to kneel over “Agh! Karen, can you scan my body? Usually my jumps don’t hurt..” He was used to having no pain while jumping on roofs feet first due to his superhuman strength as well as enhanced regenerative abilities.

“Peter it seems as though your body is adjusting to where we are. You seem to currently be in a weakened state. I would recommend staying on this roof and walking to the shelter when you recover which should be in around 9 hours.” 

“Nine hours?! Karen the sun will be up by then I don’t need anyone seeing me!” He grunted attempting to stand up but a jolt of pain erupted from his feet “Agh! Okay okay I’ll sit down..” Peter had stumbled trying to balance his weight before laying down on his back the cold roof, noting that the same material they used for New York buildings “Maybe this city isn’t so different..” He stared at the night sky but was interrupted by his aching foot. He pulled up his pants to see it looked like a ball was inserted on the side of his ankle under his skin. “Great, it's swollen.” 

Using his strength Peter pulled himself onto the ledge of the roof sitting on it being careful that his ankle didn’t touch the building

“Peter, it seems like Superman has started his rounds earlier than what I’ve observed.” She stated referring to the blue and red blur flying in the sky “I would recommend you to hide from him if you would not like to be seen.” “It’s fine I don’t mind if he notices me after all he seems nice so maybe he’ll help me.” Peter said hearing the man in the air fly around his general vicinity while he sat on the edge looking towards the skyline.

As expected his spidey senses went off alerting him of the the man floating behind him before lowering himself on the roof taking soft steps despite his stature

“Kid are you alright? Could you get away from the edge, it's dangerous there” The man said with a familiar tone it was the same tone Peter would use whenever he saw a person sitting on the ledge of a building “Calm down I’m not gonna jump.” Peter said though he doubted that Superman believed him so he did get off the edge looking at the man covered in red and blue “Hey kid are you okay? If you don’t have a home I could take you to a shelter. A new one opened up not too far from here” The man said the care in his voice clear as he sat beside Peter, his large body contrasting to the teens' smaller one.

“Yeah I’m fine I’ll head home soon I was just” Peter stopped before finishing his sentence “getting some air.” The doubt on Superman’s face was clear but he didn’t ask any further instead offering his company as they both silently sat together the sun rising in front of them

“Peter, it seems as though Superman is using his x-ray vision on you.” Karen commented cutting through the silence trying to keep quiet due to not knowing the exact range of the man’s super hearing.

“Well I should get going if you need help just look up!” He said his smile as bright as the sun before flying away the wind blowing into Peter’s face “Yeah he totally knew about my ankle..” Peter sighed not currently caring about the injury nor the future consequences he just wanted to rest.

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“Hey Bruce, since Tim is coming over this weekend to help me with Brainiac could he patrol while he’s here?” The broad man asked pouring himself a cup of coffee in his small but cozy apartment the question was unusual for Clark and Bruce immediately noticed

“Usually you don’t want anyone patrolling while they’re in Tropolis what happened” Clark had never wanted any of the bats or birds to patrol before mainly as to not scare the people of Metropolis but also because of their.. methods of dealing with criminals

“Well I was patrolling and there was this kid right? And he kinda looked like one of yours.. he looked like a clone of Dick when he was Robin..” The line went silent as Clark’s previous statement hung in the air his best friend was eerily quiet

“I’ll tell Tim to bring his suit and make sure to keep a look out for the kid to make sure he’s safe.” Were the last words Bruce said before the line went silent.

“Oh gosh this is gonna be such a hassle to deal with..” Clark took a swig of his coffee, the warm liquid sliding down his gullet as he made sure his bag had his papers he needed before leaving his apartment and opening the door to his city, weaving through the people walking on the sidewalk to reach the Daily Planet.

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Bruce wasn’t sure the kid Clark told him about had maybe been his or even Dick’s, but one thing was certain: he needed to get the kid DNA tested just in case. You could never be too certain, especially in Bruce’s case; after all, he was the Batman. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a clone of him to pop up.

He had gone down to the batcave to calm down to distract himself from the possibility of where the kid came from

“Bruce I’m on for tomorrow to help Clark with the Brainiac case right?” The third Robin asked, clacking away on his laptop, his fingers filed across the keyboard as letters appeared on the screen.

“No names in the cave and yes.” The boy hadn’t said anything in response, simply humming as he continued typing “Tim bring your suit when you go to metropolis.” Bruce said absentmindedly as he continued sorting through the computers files when Tim’s chair stopped spinning from one side to another as he spun himself around his head whipping around before his body

“Wait my suit!? Dad, are you okay? You're not compromised are you no you couldn’t you’ve been indoors all day..” Tim got up from the chair to observe Bruce walking around him slowly as Bruce let out a slow exhale

“No I’m not compromised Tim you can do a test if you’d like it’s just-“ Bruce paused seeing Tim extended his hand out to reach for the blood tests in the bottom drawer of the large desk.

“What? You said I could do a blood test so I’m gonna do a quick blood test” Bruce sighed, pulling up suit to reveal his left wrist “Clark asked me to ask you if you would want to patrol.” The needle pricked Bruce’s skin into a vein as blood pooled into the syringe

“Wait really?! Why not Duke, he's the daytime hero” Tim asked, testing the blood letting the DNA sequence pulling up a reference picture of Bruce’s DNA he had tested the last time “No then no one would patrol during the day and plus do you want Duke to patrol instead of you? You seem pretty happy to be able to patrol in Metropolis” Tim shot up spinning around to face Bruce “No I’ll patrol! It’s just.. you don’t like us going out during the day so it was a shock..” Tim looked up to see Bruce’s new tested DNA looking between both of them “Well seems like your my Bruce” He replaced the old DNA picture with the new one throwing away Bruce’s blood sample.

 “So why exactly do you want me to patrol during my trip? I mean there has to be a really good reason.” Tim had been suspicious from the second Bruce said he could patrol and after confirming it was in fact his Bruce it had only made him more suspicious “There’s this boy that Superman saw while on patrol here I’ll pull up a picture.” Bruce sent the picture to the bat computer enlarging the image of the boy that was sitting on his ledge Tim held onto the desk looking at the boy his eyes widening “Is that Grayson?..” 

Tim thought of all the possibilities the boy could be a clone but the tech used had to be precise to be so accurate even then it would need another person's DNA to create a clone his friend Kon was a result of that and he didn’t end up perfectly like Clark so it couldn’t Lex's work if it wasn’t his then who made the boy?

A hand rested on the bat computer. It was Damian. “Who is this boy?” Damian’s voice was calm yet his eyes were narrowing on the boys features his hair was the same shade as Dicks his soft features looked just like Dicks when he was Robin despite his dirty clothes and disheveled hair it looked just like his older brother.

“Damian Superman found him. He said the boy was sitting on the edge late in his morning patrol. Apparently his ankle was sprained but he tried to hide it so I’m asking Tim to-“ Bruce was cut off by Tim’s voice “No names in the cave!” Tim said now focused on papers “Well I’m asking Red Robin to patrol during his metropolis trip to try to ask the boy a couple of questions.” The answer wasn’t good enough for Damian his eyebrows furrowed “Father may I go with him?” Damian was sure the answer would be no but he’d find a way to anyways “No Damian we need you to patrol.” Bruce’s gruff voice responded Damian nodded silently walking away.

When Damian left, Tim spoke up “You know he’s 100% tagging along with me right?” Tim asked and Bruce sighed quietly nodding along “Yes I know just make sure he doesn’t do anything drastic” Tim hummed in agreement putting the files away in their respective places “Oh and Tim” The boy stood up spinning on his heel to face Bruce “Yeah?” He asked "Don't tell Dick about the boy yet” Bruce was sure Tim would refuse and he was proven right soon enough “Bruce if that kid looks that similar to Dick he should have a right to know! I mean what are you gonna do when Dick finds out?!” Tim yelled pointing at the picture of the boy still on the large screen to emphasize his point.

 “Tim I’ll deal with it just please when you come back you can test his DNA and then if it’s truly Dicks kid we can tell him alright?” Bruce gently grabbed Tim’s shoulder not squeezing it just resting it “Fine but if Dick gets mad I’m blaming it on you.” Tim huffed, pushing Bruce’s hand off of his shoulder walking away and out of the Batcave.

Leaving Bruce to wonder if it was truly the right choice but he had no time he needed to research his possible grandchild.

Chapter Text

“Hey Karen, is my ankle healed yet?” Peter whined kicking up his left foot up and down repeatedly his right foot resting on the alley floor lifted by old cardboard boxes

“It is 86% healed although I would still recommend waiting at least one hour longer.” Peter happily ignored Karen’s recommendation instead opting to immediately stand up leaning on the green dumpster.

“That’s good enough” Peter used his webs sticking them onto the alley wall as he grabbed his webs with his hands pulling himself up

“Woah I did that way too fast..” He held his head with his left hand the world spun around him

“Peter, it seems you are severely malnutritioned. Your body used the food you ate previously to heal your ankle.” It wasn’t new to Peter but usually he’d have food available but now he was in a difficult universe with no one to help him.

Big, soft, helping.

His spider senses tingled alerting him of a man with the intent to interact with him but the intention seemed unknown.

“Hey kid, are you okay?” A tall man asked as he was peering into the alleyway Peter quickly ripped the webs off his arms but with nothing to support him he stumbled forward. “Kid!” The man caught him in his arms laying him down in the alley floor

“You okay champ you don’t look well” Worried laced the man’s voice Peter looked up to see a broad man with curly hair and black glasses sitting on his face.

“Oh yeah I’m fine, just a little tired is all..” He gripped onto the dumpster next to him using his enhanced grip to help his body up, making sure not to pull off a chunk of metal as he did.

“Kid, you look like you haven’t eaten in weeks..” The man kneeled next to a tired Peter, his eyebrows furrowed before he spoke “How about this I’m on my lunch break I can take you with me and you can get to eat to eat how does that sound?”

The man offered him a gentle smile as he spoke. Peter wasn’t sure to trust the man or not but he certainly needed the food if he wanted to start on planning how to get home.

“If that’s fine with you.” Peter got up with the man’s help leaning upon the alleys wall slowly walking out into the bright city. The man hadn’t told Peter his name but he was certain if his spidey senses weren’t alerting him then the man was safe to hang around.

“I’m Clark, what's your name kiddo?” The man asked as if they’d known each other for years. It was a type of casual that didn’t seem rehearsed; it was genuine.

“I’m Peter.” The teenager didn’t bother to continue the conversation but Clark didn’t seem to mind it the silence wasn’t awkward it seemed.. comforting.

The two walked down the sidewalk Clark letting Peter cling onto him to make sure he wasn’t using his injured ankle. The many people on the street walked around them. Peter's disheveled appearance gained him sympathetic glances as the duo walked around the crowd of people.

Clark stopped in front of a cafe opening up the door for the teen to walk in Peter giving a small nod as he walked in the warm air enveloping his body he stood still for a couple of seconds taking in the warmth “Come take a seat Peter.” The man said sitting on the chair as the boy sat across from him “Why don’t you order something? Maybe a hot chocolate? you seem cold..” Peter hadn’t noticed he was shivering; he quietly nodded as a barista walked over asking for their orders trying not to stare at the boy too long. “I’ll take a coffee with 3 sugars, 3 creams and a hot chocolate.” The barista nodded, walking away.

“So Peter, do you want to talk about what got you there? It’s fine if you don’t but I’d like to know.” The boy was hunched over his hand stuffed into his hoodie pockets “Uhm I got lost..” The claim was a lie anyone could see, but Clark decided to play along. “Well where were you trying to go?” The barista had returned with their drink and Clark thanked the worker taking a sip of his coffee “I wanted to go home.” The wording gained him a symbol look from Clark “Where is your home if you don’t mind me asking?” Peter didn’t know how to answer that. Where was his home? It wasn’t here so what could he even consider home? Did he have a home anymore? “It’s fine if you don’t want to answer. Do you have someone to call to pick you up?” 

Peter finally picked up the hot chocolate and took a sip. “I appreciate your kindness Mr. Clark but I need to head home.” Peter took a few more sips before placing the cup on the table “Pete do you have somewhere to go? I’d just like to know if you’re okay!” Peter ignored the man’s voice walking out of the cafe wincing due to his injured ankle pushing the doors open and rushing out as fast as he could.

Clark tried not to push him but it seemed like he did the opposite. He left the money on the table running out with his coffee and the kids hot chocolate but he was too late.

Already being late to the planet he sighed promising himself that he would search for the boy during patrol.

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“Your late smallville.” Lois stated worry across her face “First time in what a couple of months? You get sidetracked?” She inquired as he sighed, placing the drinks on his desk “No, there was this kid and you know how I’m a mandated reporter?” Lois nodded “I wanted to ask if he was okay you should’ve seen him he was so thin his ankle was broken and he was wearing these clothes that were way too big for him I- I wanted to help him but I couldn’t he ran before I could ask him anything..” Lois leaned on his desk sipping her own coffee.

“Well you’ll find him later during,, you know but maybe kids aren’t your things I mean you’ve gotten better with Jon but you know..” Kon was hard to accept. He came out of nowhere unlike Jon but he was still family. “Yeah maybe I’m just bad with them..” Lois patted him on the back and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking away.

“Gosh I hope the kid’s alright..” Before he could ponder about the kid more Perry called him over to his office with a yell he jumped up speed walking to his office “Yes White?” He closed the door just in case standing in front of his desk “Kent I need you to look for a new photographer boy. The last one quit and he wasn't even good.” He muttered the last part. “I’m opening applications. I'll email you the form and make sure to keep an eye on it until tomorrow when they close.” Clark wanted to comment on the short deadline but described not to as he agreed quickly leaving Perry’s office.

He returned to his cubicle slumping in his chair and opening his laptop to see the email Perry was talking about “They’re so harsh on these photographers I mean sure we need a good picture but really? Sure they weren’t the best but he was good..” The man muttered, opening the applications to see 5 already skimming through them quickly before he had to start his newest article.

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Peter was panting laying onto the alley's dirty floor regret filling his chest “God I’m so dumb. Ugh I should’ve just answered his questions..” His throat felt tight tears threatening to fall when a voice spoke up “Peter are you okay? Your heart rate is highly elevated.” Karen commented not like it wasn’t already obvious to a passerby “You saw.. or at least heard what it did right..?” It took a couple of seconds for her to respond “Yes Peter but it is not your fault we are in a difficult dimension from what I can tell. It is alright to be cautious of strangers.”

Peter knew it was alright to be scared of strangers yet he still felt ashamed for running away from the man. “Yeah.. Say Karen, are there any local billionaires I could borrow money from..?” His intentions were clear and Karen had quickly searched some up. “The most local billionaire is Lex Luthor.” Peter wasn’t sure what they were like but he was sure they didn’t need that much money.

“How much would it be to fix up the suit?” Pater asked, stumbling onto his feet “Considering the cost of making a new type of technology not yet existent in this world it would likely be around a quarter of a million to repair the suit.” The cost was high but he was a billionaire so he wouldn’t notice right? “Is it possible for you to steal enough to repair the suit and some extra money to get me set up?” The answer was obvious but he wanted to ask anyway. “Of course I’ll set up your identity as well.

A couple hours later and he was officially Peter Parker the adoptive son of a humble technician named Tony Stark. “Don’t you need to be 18 to have a bank account though?” He asked Karen “You do but you can have one as a minor if your guardian is a joint guardian.” With the rest of his papers now forged he now legally existed he just needed a place to live.

“Karen, could you find cheap apartments that accept minors as residents?” It was a long shot but he was sure there could be at least one place. “There is a spot not too far from here but before that I’d like you to buy yourself better clothes. There is an atm at the nearby gas station.” It was clear it wasn’t a suggestion so he walked 3 blocks over crossing the street to the atm making sure to only depositing enough to get clothes and food vowing to spend the rest of the money only on necessities.

Depositing the money needed he walked over to a thrift store despite Karen insisting clothing stores would have better options. The store was decently sized. He walked to the teen section rummaging through the second hand clothes picking out 8 sets of clothes making sure they would all fit each other to mix and match them. He headed to the changing room to make sure the clothes fit, shutting the door behind him, taking off his clothes looking up to notice how different he looked now. He was shorter, he could see his ribs through his thin body and his face was now softer. He ignored his reflection, testing out the clothes, taking the ones that fit and shelving the ones that didn't. Finally he picked his clothes, paid for them and left to finally get food.

“Karen, is there a close place nearby where I can get food..” His stomach rumbled asking Karen for a fast food place to eat something. “There is a big belly burger about two blocks away.” He wasn’t sure what it was but he knew it had burgers he just had to hope they were good.

When he arrived there were tons of people sitting down so it was clearly good so he went inside standing in line behind 3 other people looking up at the menu for the options. Quite soon everyone ahead of him ordered him to walk up asking for a triple belly flopper with a side of large fries and a chocoholic shake. He wasn’t sure what was in it but they sure did look good! A short 8 minutes later his order was called and he turned to look for a seat noticing one booth left empty he set down opening his burger wrapper and taking a bite it took everything in his not to demolish the burger in front of the packed restaurant so he savored it washing it down with the chocolate smoothie with the side of fries. 

His mouth was stuffed full of food when a man came up standing next to the booth “Hey there, do you mind if I sit here?” The teenager asked. He was tall with pitch black hair and blue eyes. He quickly washed the food in his mouth, coughing a little bit before responding “Ah yes nah you're all good man..” The interaction was definitely awkward but the teenager smiled sitting across from him unwrapping his food. 

“You like this place?” The guy asked “It’s my first time here. I'm visiting Metropolis and I just found this place walking around.” He quickly said averting the other teens gaze as he wrapped up speed running to get out of the skywards interaction.

“I’m Tim.” The teenager said as soon as he got up extending his hand “I’m.. Peter.” He shook his hand thanking Tim for his company and quickly exited the restaurant

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As soon as Peter left the restaurant Tim stood up grabbing the tray with his garbage still on it bagging all the wrappers hoping for some DNA.

“Damian Peters leaving, can you track him.” He asked his younger brother to which he responded with a tut “Do you really think I can’t track a civilian?” The line went silent shortly after as Tim threw away his garbage and put the bag or wrappers into his backpack. He clearly looks like Dick hell he even acted like him when he was younger but something seemed off but the DNA test would reveal everything.