Work Text:
The next few days were pretty weird. Peter let his family ask many more questions about his universe and his work as a superhero. The first time Peter showed them his web-slinging abilities his dads almost had a heart attack but after a lot of reassurances, his dad Richard was pretty excited about it. Acrobatics do run in the family after all.
Peter noticed some changes too. His enhancements had become slightly more enhanced. His eyesight was slightly better, he was hearing things from further than he'd ever heard and his sixth sense had a better response to danger. Plus, his weird teeth things that keep developing and he’s like 70% sure are fangs but he’s too scared to think about it too much.
Of course, he had voiced his concerns to his dads and grandpa and they had tested his powers and compared them to the data Karen had. The changes were confirmed and after a quick visit from Zatanna, she said that body changes were expected since travelling through universes was known to fundamentally change the base of the human.
It sounded a little bit more magic than science so Peter just accepted it. After all, the woman knew more about magic and stuff than him. Leave the sciency stuff to him, he’ll make sure to have the correct numbers about the new powers when the time comes.
His mini-breakdown helped him get close to his family. At first, he didn’t want to know much about their vigilante stuff since it reminded him of things he could never get back. But, he knows he’ll have to face it someday and it’s better to do it while nothing major happens. That’s how he’s back at the Batcave with his dads and grandpa, listening closely while they explain how they all became vigilantes.
“--and then I got struck by lighting the same way that gave Uncle Barry his powers and became Kid Flash. Not long after I met your dad–” Wally looks lovingly at Richard. “--and a very long time after we became a couple and two years later we’re here! With a child of our alternate self that is super adorable and we love very, very much.” His pops finishes explaining how he became a superhero.
“That surpases my origin story.” Peter notes.
“You’re one to talk, genetically-modified spider-bitten kid.” Richard rolls his eyes. “Plus, there were some chemicals involved.”
“There were!” Wally confirms.
Peter laughs at their antics.
“Peter.” Bruce gets their attention. “How do you feel about going back to vigilantism?” He asks.
In an instant, Wally and Richard’s face fall.
“Bruce–” His dad starts, frowning.
“It is something we need to know, Dick.”
“You can’t just ask that. We are his parents.” Wally steps in.
“You still should be asking–”
“He’s fourteen!” Richard exclaims.
“And you were nine.” Bruce states and that seems to shut him up.
Peter better step in. “Grandpa?” Heads turn to him. “I’m not going back yet, but I’ll tell you when I’m ready. I’m not giving up my responsibilities, but I'm not going back just yet. Spider-man always gets back up, though.”
“Of course, Peter.” Bruce nods. His dads look a little pissed off.
“You know it's not your responsibility, right, Peter?” His dad asks softly.
He ignores it. “Besides, I’m going to need a new suit eventually.” He shrugs.
“Oh my God, evading the question, huh. We’ll talk about it later, young man.” His pops points at him. Peter just grins.
“Anyway–” Richard cuts in. “Walls? Didn’t you want to ask Peter something?” Wally tilts in confusion before perking up.
“Yes! Peter, kiddo, how do you feel about meeting my side of the family? They’re growing impatient–which is pretty common with speedsters but right now? They’re terrible. No pressure, though. They’ll understand.” Wally splutters the words out. He knew already, but it's nice to make sure that he got his word vomit from him.
.
And, well, about the question. He’s ready. 100% ready.
“Yes, please.” He accepts quickly. “When can they be here?”
“Oh, kiddo. They’re speedsters, they can be here this afternoon. We'll have dinner with them.” Richard laughs as Wally disappears in a blink.
“We have to take into account Iris, chum.” Bruce says
“Let me have this.” His dad says dryly. “Anyways–why don’t you head up to tell Alfred we’re having guests?”
That’s definitely code for we’re about to have an adult conversation please leave so he just nods and leaves.
He feels a little guilty at leaving his grandpa behind but seriously, he can only blame himself. Bruce walked right into that one.
As he steps into the elevator he heard his dad yell. "What were you thinking?!"
Note to himself: don’t make dad mad. He knows that’s almost impossible, though. He has a habit of making his parental figures worried and in consequence, mad.
.
He’s bouncing off the walls.
“Kid, stop, you're bouncing off the walls.” Jason teases him.
“I’m not, but I could. I mean-if I throw a web up there and yank, it would send me flying and I could jump from wall to wall without much effort. I mean, I’ve thought about it already. Here, I'll show you–” He gets in position just barely noticing Jason’s panicked face.
Just as he’s about to do it, a voice interrupts him. “Master Peter, I do hope you’re not doing stunts that would end in inexplicable shoe marks on the ceiling, are you?” Alfred raised an eyebrow.
“Um–no?” He says.
“Busted.” Duke chants.
“I’m just happy!” Peter defended himself.
Not everyone could make it today, so it's just his dads, uncles Duke and Jason, Damian, Alfred and grandpa Bruce.
Tim was very sad (which he showed in a very dramatic way) he couldn’t come, but a WE emergency had him stuck in the building and couldn't leave. Steph and Cass had a date already planned and Peter told them to have a day for themselves when they offered to cancel. Barbara was swamped in work and couldn't come either.
“I’m happy too, kiddo.” Wally ruffled his hair after appearing out of nowhere, like he often does. “You’re gonna love ‘em! They’re, like, super weird.”
Peter glances at the people in the room. “Well, yeah, I can imagine.” Jason snorts at that.
The doorbell rings and Wally jumps in excitement. He runs past Alfred and goes to the gates.
“There he goes.” Richard stares at Wally lovingly.
“Will they like me?” Peter asks him, suddenly shy.
“They’ll love you.” His dad assures him.
They stand at the door watching the four figures talk animatedly.
.
Wally had a pretty intense week, almost two weeks. But he came out of it with a whole kid he absolutely adores that he had with his boyfriend and love of his life in another universe.
Crazy.
He runs outside to greet his family. Iris, Barry and Bart stand anxiously at the gates.
“Hey, kiddo!” Uncle Barry says almost immediately.
“Where is he? Is that him? Next to Dick? He looks like you, can I run up to him? How much does he know?” Bart sputters out several questions.
Some of them are valid, since Wally kept Peter’s things to himself so he can let his kid decide what to tell the others.
“Yes, it's him next to Dick. You can ask him when I introduce you two.” Wally says.
“At normal speed.” Aunt Iris chimes in. Bart nods at her words.
They walk the whole way and at mid walk, with Peter in better view, Wally points at him and turns to Barry.
“See? I gave the Batman his first grandchild.” Wally states proudly to his uncle.
“I feel like you should be more concerned about this whole situation, kid.” Uncle Barry says.
“Oh, I’m terrified.” The man seems taken aback by his confession. “But Peter’s so cute! He looks like me and Dick! I can’t wait to introduce you two. And Aunt Iris! C’mon, let’s go.” Wally ushers his uncle inside the Manor.
He’s scared, but the support he has makes it easier to enjoy it.
His Aunt Iris follows behind with a laugh, Bart is walking next to her.
They make it to the door and before anyone can introduce themselves, Peter, the angel child he is, jumps in.
“Hi, I’m Peter! Pops told me a lot about you, I’m so happy to meet you!” The kid flashes–pun intended–a smile and he notices the split second where his family is completely win over.
“Hi, Peter. I’m Iris.” His aunt is the first to speak.
Peter seems to look at her stomach and tilts his head before grinning widely. Wally is about to ask when Barry talks.
“And I’m Barry. This menace you call pops’ uncle. It's great to finally meet you.” He goes immediately for a hug, Peter takes it in.
Barry and Iris move on to greet Dick while Bart jumps excitedly behind them.
“And I’m Bart! And we’re cousins! Or sort-of cousins. The family tree is very confusing at times. But we’re related and that’s super cool! And we have the same grandparents too because Barry and Iris and grandpa and grandma! So, we’re not weird cousins, actually, we’re cousins cousins. Did you know that? Oh my God, I get to meet you finally! Do you have powers? You probably do if you came from another universe, no normal person hops through universes. Are you a speedster too? Wally wouldn’t say.”
“Bart, God, stop. No, he didn’t know that. I didn’t want to overwhelm him.” Wally says. He heard Dick mutter softly that we should stay whelmed.
“Grandpa and Grandma?” Both Peter and Barry question. Iris has a soft expression on her face.
“C’mon Uncle Barry, you have to know now you and Aunt Iris are more parents then my actual ones.”
“I mean–I had–figured. It’s just–we never said, and with Peter–I figured we’d be Uncle and Aunt too and–”
“Stop, dear, you're rambling.” Iris stops her husband. “We’re honored, Wally.”
Peter beams at her.
“Oh, shit, we have two grandkids that came to us under weird space-time-dimension circumstances.” Barry says and that gets a laugh out of everyone. “Shoot, shouldn't have cursed in front of my grandbabies. I’m a terrible grandfather.”
“Grandpa, I’m twenty.” Bart deadpans.
“And I’m a teenager. I know what swearing is!” Peter chimes in without his usual rebuttal that he’s mentally seventeen. “Also? Grandkid?” He looks at Bart.
“Did Wally not tell you?” Barry asks.
“That, he did not.” Dick says.
“How do you even add that in a conversation? I know Peter hopped universes but that doesn't mean he won’t be weirded out about it.” He defends himself.
“I’m going to need a run down on everything.”
“Of course, kiddo.” Dick answers Peter and it’s so dad-like it had Wally sweating.
Sue him for finding his boyfriend hot while he acts all responsible and like a dad to their baby boy (traumatized seventeen/fourteen year old).
“Wally, sweetie.” His aunt interrupts his impure thoughts. “Let’s go inside, we’re just standing here.”
“Yes, Aunt Iris.” He guides everyone to the inside of the Manor.
Bart engages Peter in conversation while they walk to the living room. Its word vomit versus word vomit as Bart throws rapid-fire questions that Peter answers just as fast. At the end of their very short walk, Peter is up to speed on the time-travel story that introduced Bart to the family.
“Crazy.” Is all his kid says.
.
“Crazy.” Is all Peter has to say.
Which is a lie, he has tons of questions. Time-travel works very differently than it did when Mr. Stark managed to make it a reality and Peter wants nothing but to ask . But he doesn’t, because he wants to make a good impression on his grandparents and weird cousin.
They’re amazing and he hopes they like him enough. They also talk a lot. Barry and Bart are much like Wally and himself while Grandma Iris seems a little more calm and collected. Although he can’t make assumptions just yet, maybe he just hasn’t seen her in her element.
They meet with the Bats further inside the Manor and Peter’s attention is caught by the two little faint noises coming from somewhere inside his grandma.
He wonders if they know.
“Spooky!” Grandpa Barry exclaims when Grandpa Bruce appears in their view. He also waves at the other people in the room, still his attention is on Bruce.
“Wonderful to see you again, Bruce.” Iris says.
“Spooky?” Peter echoes after Barry.
“You know, since he’s all dark and gloomy.” Barry shrugs.
“Hm.” Bruce protests. He’s come to realize his grandpa is not a man of many words.
“It's fitting.” Someone laughs. “And definitely better than my nickname.”
“And that would be?” His dad asks.
“Underoos.” Peter says.
At various degrees of confusion, his family stares at him. “Isn’t that an underwear brand? Why would that be your nickname?” Jason asks.
“Oh, I didn’t show you my old suit, did I?” He asks Karen to find a picture, thankfully she does. The suit Mr. Stark had given him was amazing but he would never be ashamed of the very first suit that started his Spider-Man crusade.
“You have a suit?” Bart asks with a curious glint. His grandparents look a little shocked at Karen’s sudden appearance but still look at the picture.
“My mentor saw me wear that and nicknamed me Underoos. He had a knack for nicknames.” He smiles, reminiscing of his time with Tony Stark. “Right after that he gave me a new suit and took me to Germany to fight against more experienced heroes in a sort-of war, all behind my aunt’s back.”
Now everyone is looking at him in horror.
“Kiddo, you have to stop dropping traumatic life experiences like that.” Richard sighs.
“Sorry.” Peter apologizes. “In my defence, you're not the pinnacle of healthy coping mechanisms.” His dad can’t even retort to that.
“Anyway–let's go to the dining-room.” Wally interrupts.
They all walk to the room and sit down. Bruce calls Damian to the table and the teenager complies.
If Peter has a say, he thinks Alfred outdid himself. The amount of food on the table is mouth-watering. He guesses he had to if he was going to feed 3 speedsters and a half-spider kid. And in such short notice, he really is an angel.
They start eating and conversation flows.
“So, you were a super in your universe thing.” Barry starts.
“Yeah, yeah! Your suit was super cool. You said you were given a new one too?” Bart continues.
Peter thinks he hears Iris mutter why is everyone a hero in this family?
“Yeah, I called myself Spider-man because I have the powers of a spider. Kinda.” Peter explains.
“He can stick to walls, Uncle Barry.” Wally continues.
“And I’m fast!” He smiles knowingly.
“Them fast?” Iris asks while pointing at Barry, Bart and Wally but Peter shakes his head.
“Like enhanced human fast. We actually didn’t test my speed the other day.” He looks at Bruce.
“That's right, we didn’t.” His grandpa looks pensive.
“You didn’t think to test a speedster’s son for… speed?” Barry asks, incredulous.
“To be fair, it's been a crazy few days.” Jason offers as an explanation.
“And Wally wasn't a speedster in his universe.” Duke adds.
“Yeah, mom and dad were as normal as they get.” Peter confirms.
“That’s another thing I wanted to know!” Bart changes the topic suddenly. “Wally, Dick and Jason were connected to you in your old universe but, what about us?” He points at everyone else around the table.
“Well. I don’t know. Dad and Uncle Ben were adopted by the Parkers but Grandpa Bruce is not one of them. Mom didn’t have a good relationship with her side of the family so I never met them.” He shrugs. “And then they all died so I couldn’t ask for information.”
That makes some of them flinch a little. Maybe his dad is right and he should stop dropping sad lore in the middle of normal conversations.
“I could ask Karen but there’s a chance she doesn't know either since she only needed information about my parents at most.”
“Is Karen a weird AI-thing? Because I want to know all about that weird AI-thing.” Barry says.
“Yes! she was a gift from Mr. Stark. She came with the suit but I managed to plug her in with my other devices and she hopped universes with me. Karen?” Peter asks for her.
“Yes, Peter?” She speaks up. The others that had not properly known about her stare in awe.
“Do you have information on Mom’s side of the family?” He asks, after a few seconds Karen has an answer for him.
“Unfortunately, I do not.”
Everyone sighs in disappointment and Peter apologizes silently.
The conversation moves on. Peter asks a lot of questions and Bart, Barry and Iris are more than happy to answer them. Peter also analyses them whenever he has a chance, he notices how Barry and Bart’s movements (as well as Wally’s) are sometimes more calculated and sometimes super fast, although almost imperceptible. Barry is more focused on his movements, Bart jumps from normal to fast a lot and Wally is the fastest. He hears how their hearts speed up from time to time, much as he had noticed his pops’ did.
They’re so cool.
Eventually, the food is gone and Damian excuses himself to his room. The teenager seemed almost bored but perked up at some of the things Peter explained to the speedsters. Still, he left to work on some art stuff Peter can’t wait to see when it’s done. Duke and Jason excuse themselves too, Duke to his room and Jason to see what Damian was doing.
With the others left, Bruce offers some wine to the grown ups–which is everyone but Peter and Bart. Seeing Iris get up and ready to drink some, he realizes she doesn't know.
“Um–Grandma Iris?” She turns around. He falls silent while waiting for everyone to leave, they don't get the memo and just stand there. Peter widens his eyes and shoos them away.
“Okay, okay. Understood.” His dad says and follows out.
“What's wrong, sweetie?” She asks.
How does he even explain this?
“You see, one of the things I found out about my powers pretty early on is that if I focus enough I can hear a lot. Like a lot–I’m talking blood running through our veins, but that only happens if I concentrate enough and–”
“You’re rambling, sweetie.” She says with a fond smile.
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”
“So–I started using that to check on pregnant people when I saved them–so I could tell them or the paramedics if something was wrong inside their belly so they could go to a hospital quickly. It freaked me out a little bit at first but Its very useful to help parents-to-be. At some point I started to notice when a heartbeat was from a baby inside a belly. It’s a different rhythm at a different pace and I–um–I hear two inside of you.”
He looks at her face to find one of complete shock. Her eyes are a little misty when she asks. “Are you sure?”
He nods, pointing at the two places he hears them from. “Here and here. So, please, don’t drink that wine.”
“Oh, baby. You were worried about me?” She asks, her voice slightly wobbly. “Come here.” She says as he nods.
His grandma embraces him in a hug. It’s full of love, he can tell. It feels nice.
“Thank you, Peter.” She cleans the tears that fell down her cheeks and smiles brightly.
“Is this unexpected?” He asks.
“Very.”
They stay together for a few minutes until Iris manages to calm down a little. They go to find the others and Iris refuses the wine very politely, it raises suspicions but not enough to find it super weird.
When they ask Peter about what they talked about, he lies and says that he just wanted a one-on-one conversation with his grandma. Iris winks at him.
They bring up the suit once more, this time Bart proudly shows him his Kid Flash suit. Barry follows, even if Peter assured him he has already seen pictures on the Internet.
Someday, he’ll start designing his new Gotham suit with the help of his family, and he’ll get to patrol next to them.
Maybe he will have to darken the colors of his original one to fit the vibe. Or, maybe, he can make his parents cry by using the Flash’s shade of red and Nightwing’s shade of blue.
For now, he grabs his dads’ hands and squeezes, gaining a squeeze back.
