Chapter Text
It was tough for Tim to let anyone else near Bab’s notebook. It surprised him how little his protectiveness had to do with the actual contents and more with seeing her handwriting again. He never really saw her handwriting, most of his communication with her was through comms or text, but he could look at her rushed scrawl for hours now. It was physical proof in his hands, that there was a world to return to. One that wasn’t an active war zone littered with the bodies of his team. There was an awful guilty relief that came with knowing that his family was safe when so many others had been altered forever.
Logically, he knew that the world was still there. Stephen Strange had confirmed it when he shoved Tim’s arm through the blender portal, and Jason had provided his own updates, but neither of those experiences had been very effective for soothing his anxiety.
Babs was taking care of everyone. She was making sure that Bruce wasn’t isolating himself. She was keeping an eye on Cass and Steph. Duke was with Alfred. She was making sure that everyone had someone and somewhere safe to go.
She wanted them to come home soon.
The Parker’s apartment was the safest location Tim had found, but it was still too unfamiliar to be truly comfortable. Peter’s bedroom had too much of his own personality to relax in, and only having the lower bunk as his own space made him restless.
He could almost fool himself from the dining table that he was in one of Jason’s safehouses back home, with Jason stretched out on the too-small couch, currently reading his way through Peter’s Animorphs books. Even though they’d eaten at Stark Industries, the smell of the lasagna that Jason was currently cooking wafted through the apartment. He’d picked up Alfred’s tendency to cook when he was stressed, and cookies just weren’t labour intensive enough for his current concerns.
Tim had spread out with his laptop and his phones, his updates from Babs.
Stark had sent over the list of expo proposals.
Stark’s tests had given them a better idea as to what exactly the anchor was made of and how it functioned. Though the part they could see was metal, it was less of a device than an artificial organ. It was powered by the blood that it syphoned from his veins and arteries and had gone as far as attaching itself to his nervous system. It had been designed for long-term use, something that would remain functional for as long as the host was alive.
He was going to have to trust Strange and Stark to fix that particular problem. Considering that Strange in addition to his ‘mystic arts’ abilities had a surgical background, and Stark’s understanding of technology, it hopefully shouldn’t take them too long to work out a solution to remove and deactivate the device.
That left Tim to focus on the expo.
Considering the accessibility focus of the expo this year, Tim was going through the proposed exhibitions, looking for anything even remotely similar to the anchor. It was too good a piece of tech to keep secret, too expensive not to try and profit off, but perhaps it was also too unique and easily identifiable.
He couldn’t help thinking as he went through the propositions that it was almost a shame that an event like this wouldn’t be possible in Gotham. It would be too easy for Mr Freeze to turn the whole place into an ice rink if he heard even a whisper about some medical advancement that might help his wife, the drugs and medicines would be too easily spiked with fear toxins. Scientists would end up being taken hostage, forced to invent machines for whatever villain of the week's next plot was.
Maybe it was the knowledge of this that was making him place so much importance in the event. Maybe Osborne wouldn’t make any attempts to reach out to him despite the publicity. If he didn’t, then maybe Tim wouldn’t be forced to make contact.
But Osborne knew that Stark had Jason, and Tim would have had to be living under a rock to miss the stories about whether a ‘retired’ avenger should be allowed to interfere on private property. If Tim wasn’t already in contact with Stark, he would have had to approach him after that. If Osborne wanted Tim to approach him directly, he’d need to present him with something worth risking everything over. Not just a way home, but answers.
Though if Tim hadn’t already known Peter, he wouldn’t have been at Oscorp and Stark would never have shown up. Would Osborn realise it was strange for Stark’s intern to be in the centre of the storm when he was meant to be at school?
His eyes drifted to Peter, who was fiddling with some new piece of tech for Spider-Man. The first time he’d gone to Stark Industries, Ned had mentioned that Peter would be the only one of them able to network, how as the hosts intern and protégé he’d have access to the presenters in a way that was completely above what Tim could hope for. Stark as the host would be too busy to fish for information in the way they needed, but Peter could. Osborne had already shown some familiarity with him.
Out of habit, Tim reached for the wrist where his watch usually sat. Of course, he wasn’t wearing it anymore, not since his dip in the river. ‘Alvin Draper’, a family friend of the Parkers from New Jersey, would not own an expensive watch. A broken expensive watch would only raise too many questions.
But Timothy Drake-Wayne knew how to fit in at a gala, how to network and get people to share their secrets. He’d helped Damian, who was naturally one of the unfriendliest people in the world, learn the ropes. Peter was a bit socially awkward but friendly enough, he was certain he could get him in shape in time.
As usual, Peter reacted just before Tim moved. As he went to slam the laptop closed and get to his feet, the other teen had already startled and was looking at Tim expectantly.
“Did you find something?” He asked, and Tim smiled
“No, but I have an idea. Can you show me what you were planning on wearing to the expo?”
It was hard to know if Stark had even asked Peter if he owned a suit, considering Tim had never seen the man himself wear one. While Stark had lots of AI machines that seemed to fill a similar role to Alfred, they couldn’t be expected to know that Peter had grown since the last funeral he’d attended, and so his black polyester monstrosity from Macy’s no longer fit.
Ai couldn’t be expected to educate Peter that a funeral suit was different than what he’d be expected to wear to a formal business event.
“Well…It’s a good thing you tried it on…” Tim said, painfully aware of how Jason was now watching him like a hawk.
“The jacket and shirt are alright, it’s just the pants...” Peter muttered, attempting again to tug them down and cover the inches of visible ankle on display.
The shirt had a prawn cocktail stain on the cuff of one of the sleeves.
“I might have something of Ben’s in the closet?” May said
Stained shirt. Cheap blazer. Secondhand trousers from a dead man.
Someone had made an effort to shine Peter’s dress shoes, but they couldn’t completely erase the creases in the pleather, the worn-out soles.
It would all give completely the wrong impression. An entirely unacceptable impression.
“We’ll need to get you a new suit.” Tim said, “You have Stark’s card at least…”
They wouldn’t have time to order Peter anything custom, but they should at least be able to push for alterations to be done in time.
“I don’t want to bother him…”
“You have Happy’s phone number right?” Tim asked May, bypassing the teen entirely “Could he take us shopping after school tomorrow? If he’s driving us, maybe you could even get us permission to leave early? This is technically expo business, for real this time.”
“He does have a job outside of playing chaperone.” May reminded him, but she reached for her phone anyway.
“If they’re going shopping, I’m coming to.” Jason insisted, much to Tim’s surprise
Jason had never shown anything but disgust for anything to do with galas and events. One of the benefits of being legally dead was that his attendance was no longer expected. Even in his Robin days, Jason was far more likely to be patrolling the city than mingling at Bruce’s side.
“I don’t need your help with this, I know what I’m doing.”
“Sure you do.”
There was a moment when the two of them were glaring at each other, but it wasn’t worth a fight.
“If Peter’s alright with it and May doesn’t need you.” Tim shrugged
—
Before he’d been dragged into an alternate universe, Tim spent most days and nights in some form of uniform. Gotham Prep’s was the standard private school blazer and tie fare. Once it was clear that Bruce intended to keep Damian as his Robin, he’d created his version of the Red Robin suit instead of the stolen one he’d travelled the world in.
Tim had always known he would inherit Drake Industries. His parents had always been sure to make sure that his face was known throughout Gotham amongst the people who mattered, and he learned from them how to handle anything that was thrown at him. He’d watched Jack’s undeniable confidence, the almost aggressive charisma as he refused to let anyone he spoke to intimate him. He could stroll up to the most important person in the room, straight into a sales pitch, and make them listen. Janet had always been more subtle, men underestimated how much their wives overheard. She had an uncanny ability to read a room, to anticipate and benefit from disaster. Despite their personal troubles with each other, they’d been an invincible partnership.
Until they hadn’t.
Tim knew how to navigate the corporate world. He’d already proved himself with his work at Wayne Enterprises. He had only returned to high school because it was one of Bruce’s conditions if he planned to return to the company.
Alfred usually ordered most of the family's suits for formal and business events. He always had their up-to-date measurements on file, and with Bruce’s bank card, it had never been an issue to ensure they had something appropriate for every event. Tim liked to choose his own, it allowed him to cultivate the image that he wanted to present. He couldn’t exactly become another Brucie, he was only a Wayne by adoption after all.
It was also just fun to go shopping with Alfred. It had been one of their things. They’d always make a day of it, looking over cuts and fabrics. Alfred always had a good eye for how things worked together, he appreciated quality and a good tailor. There was a tea shop nearby, where they went to discuss the upcoming social events and anything else going on in their lives. No masks or interruptions.
As far as Tim knew, Jason hadn’t worn a suit since he’d climbed out of his own grave, so he wasn’t quite sure why he’d insisted on coming, or why he seemed quite so hostile. Happy had clearly picked up on the tense energy, refusing to leave them unattended and making a great show of adjusting his jacket so they could see the gun on his hip when he opened the car door.
“You don’t want to wear black, you can almost never go wrong with navy blue. Grey is another safe option.” Tim said, rubbing a cuff between his fingers before dropping it in disgust. Acrylic wool.
They were in New York City, with countless suit shops, and there were plenty of brands that Tim recognised from home. Jason had been the one to insist upon the department store. Peter hadn’t known any better so had eagerly gone along with it and Tim had ended up surrendering to keep the peace.
When he did find a jacket that he approved of and passed it to Peter, the teen immediately flipped over the price tag and grimaced.
“It’s just for one night, we don’t need to spend this much…” He’d grumbled
“If you take care of it, then it’ll last you more than one event. It’s important that you make the right impression.”
Tim knew he hadn’t imagined the looks that Peter and Jason kept exchanging, and it was starting to grind on him. With an unnecessary sigh, Peter took a selection of pants and a few more jacket options before being herded off to the fitting rooms.
“What’s your problem?” Tim hissed to Jason
“Don’t know what you mean.” Jason muttered, with a clear scowl on his face.
Tim decided to ignore it and focus on the matter at hand. Peter was slim, but not scrawny, and the off-the-rack pants options that didn’t hang too loose around his hips were limited. Tim was eventually satisfied with a dark grey suit, single-breasted with a single vent in the back. Selecting a clean white shirt was simple enough.
“I already have a tie.” Peter tried to say when he saw Tim head in that direction.
His patience was starting to wane. He was sick of Jason scowling and Peter scuffing his feet and Happy watching ready to pounce. He felt like he was escorting a group of tired toddlers, he could see why Alfred often didn’t bother to involve the family in these shopping trips.
“The tie has to compliment the suit.”
He spent a fair amount of time comparing ties against the suit, before setting on a red and light grey striped option. The nod to MIT, Tony’s Alma Mater, could be a useful way to steer the conversation.
“And that’s everything?” Jason pressed
“We still need a belt, shoes, socks…” Tim shot Peter a cold look that dared him to protest that he already owned socks. Tim had seen the greying black socks scattered around his floor. “Cufflinks and a watch.”
“But I…”
“I know your size, why don’t you just ask Happy to let you wait in the car if this is too boring for you?” Tim snapped, harsher than he meant to. To his surprise, Peter didn’t recoil but hardened his own gaze.
“I don’t need a watch. I have Ben’s watch.”
“Everyone’s going to see your watch when you shake their hands, we need to make sure that you have something appropriate.”
“You haven’t even seen Ben’s…”
“Do I need to?”
“You need to shut up.” Jason scoffed, and Tim’s temper started to rise
“Why am I the only one of us taking this seriously? If we let him show up looking like some scruffy, snot-nosed kid, then no one of substance is going to talk to him!”
“I’d rather be a snot-nosed kid than a cold snob.”
Peter shoved the hangers on a random rack before storming out, closely followed by Jason. Happy dithered for a moment, gave Tim a reproachful look, then followed.
He’d worked too hard choosing everything to leave empty-handed. The rest of his purchases were practical and understated, selected without enthusiasm. He paid for the whole thing using Stark’s card and paid extra so that the alterations would be prioritised.
The only thing from his list that he didn’t buy was the watch. Let Peter show off whatever Ben had owned. It wasn’t his problem anymore.
—
Peter threw himself down on a display couch.
“I knew he was rich but seriously!” Peter exclaimed, not for the first time “What the hell is his problem?”
Jason, for the first time, wished that Dick had been the one to be dragged here.
He wasn’t sure exactly what lightbulb moment Tim had the night before, but he’d come up with some sort of plan he’d forgotten to share with the class. Ever since he’d been critical, snappy, and uncompromising. Peter had endured constant prods as reminders to fix his posture, he hadn’t retaliated when Tim made him repeat his words slowly, minimising his Queen’s accent. Peter hadn’t let his temper snap at the condescending looks that were constantly sent his way. Jason had stood by, watching the pot boil over without knowing how to divert the catastrophe.
If he called Tim out on his behaviour, he’d go off on his own. He’d take the criticism too personally, take it as a sign that whatever the hell he was up to, they weren’t on board with it.
If he didn’t call it out, then Tim would keep charging on ahead. Peter had reached his limit and Jason couldn’t blame him. He would have snapped a lot sooner.
The problem with Tim entering villain mode was that he didn’t monologue. It had been worse since Bruce’s disaperance in the time stream, only revealing what he’d been up to once he published it in his reports. Even then, they were brief.
“He’s never even met these people! I have! They already know what I look and talk like…”
“Have you gone to many of these sorts of things with Stark before?” Jason asked
“Not ‘many’ but I’ve been to like charity events and stuff, and I’ve met almost everyone before. Half of them have sent me job offers!”
Bruce had tried to ease them all into social events with charity galas, where the patrons were usually kinder towards those who didn’t know the rules. Once it was clear that you wouldn’t be attempting to outbid them for whatever art/yacht/lunch was being presented at auction, they could relax around you. There was the initial interest towards anyone new that was seen around Bruce Wayne, people keen to work out exactly what their relationship to him was.
Jason’s first charity event had been a disaster, where everyone had assumed that he was just the latest in Bruce Wayne’s schemes to clean up the alley. They had talked over his head like he didn’t exist and in less than an hour almost everyone had alcohol on their breath. He’d picked a packet of cigarettes and a lighter out of the cloakroom and hidden in the garden until Bruce found him to go home.
Tim wouldn’t see ‘charity events and stuff’ as the right sort of preparation for corporate brown-nosing.
“Don’t tell Tim that, or he’ll be creating some sort of weird latex mask to steal your identity.”
Peter opened his mouth as though to retort, then closed it again. Jason sighed, running his hand through his hair.
“There are two main ways to handle Tim when he goes off in one of his plan modes. The easiest route is to suck up whatever annoying shit he gets you to do and roll your eyes when he gives you grief about not reading his mind. He doesn’t really do things unless there’s a reason so you just kinda have to trust he’ll tell you eventually. Or you can kick up a fuss, and he’ll just do whatever he wanted you to do himself.” Jason met Peter’s eyes “That option usually involves a lot of yelling.”
“Can I guess which option you normally choose?” Peter asked, and Jason grinned
“I don’t need his plans, my plans are great.”
“I have good plans as well! He never even asked…”
“That is because, my friend, he’s decided that you are Robin.” Jason counted it off on his fingers “Bright costume, quipps, backflips, starry-eyed and youthful…”
“I’m not a sidekick! Especially not his!”
“Nothing wrong with a sidekick.” Jason shrugged “But Tim always saw it as more of a partnership. He’s got some sort of plan he’s trying to prepare you for, and he’s planning to send you in alone. For him, that is kinda a big deal.”
Compared to how Tim still was with Jason. Flinches. Coded notebooks. Closing laptop tabs when he saw Jason’s gaze drift to what he was doing.
“He’s only like a year older than me, why does he get to decide that he’s in charge?”
“That’s what he does. When he’s determined, not even Batman can get him to give up. It’s a good thing you’re on the same side.”
Peter slouched over, his face resting on his palm
“So I just have to let him keep being a jerk until the expo is over?”
“No, definitely not. He’s being a dick and someone needs to stop him. That’s why you need to counter with an alternative plan. Right now Tim’s plan is like…’ Make People think Peter is into Rich Person Bullshit. You need to present your evidence for ‘Peter knows what the fuck he’s doing.’ This is your world and your identity, don’t let him take charge of it.”
—
Happy hadn’t been very ‘happy’ when it became clear that Tim had made his own way back to the apartment. His tracker had gone dead sometime after he separated from the main group, and pinged back to life a few hours later when he was sitting at the Parker’s dining room table, writing out conversation cards to coordinate with the different expo guests. He’d borrowed a pair of earphones from May, and didn’t look up when the rest of the group came home. Happy was extra unimpressed to see that somehow, Tim had booked picking up Peter’s suit the next morning to his work calendar, he might have refused if May hadn’t defused the situation. The rest of the store bags were piled on the couch.
Jason and Peter vanished into the bedroom with a laptop. May heated up leftover lasagne for dinner. Tim kept writing even as his hand cramped. He debated going through the expo staff list to see if there was anyone who he could convincingly replace.
He pretended not to notice Jason sitting next to him, until the earphone was yanked out of his ear.
“Hey.” He snapped, reaching for it. Jason gestured to Peter, who was setting up his laptop for a PowerPoint presentation. Tim’s heart plummeted as the recognition set in. “Oh you did not…”
‘The Amazing Spider-Plan: Spinning a Web of Lies’ Screamed up at him from the screen, a gif of a spider spinning a web in the corner.
Tim looked at Jason in betrayal. The PowerPoint was trying to quip…
“Normal presentation rules apply. You gotta save all questions and arguments until after he’s finished.” Jason shrugged, settling down as Peter clicked on the next slide, showing a picture of himself with Tony Stark holding a certificate for the internship.
The early slides were mostly information Tim was already aware of and had been analysing himself. What the expo was, Peter’s relationship with Stark…
When they started to get to the more technical side of what the exhibitions contained, it started to get more complicated. Peter had much understanding about how the things on display worked, the selection process, and the rejected proposals. The insight into the personalities and work history of the scientists involved seemed to be mostly paraphrased comments from Tony with remarks such as ‘Good ideas, no follow through’ Or ‘jumps around more than a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader’.
Tim leaned forward, his fingers steepled, when an almost familiar face popped up on the screen. Reddish brown hair and perfect teeth, laughing loudly with his arm around Peter who, while looking a little overwhelmed, was smiling.
The title read ‘Harry Osborne’
“Tony has confirmed that Harry has his own invitation to the expo, so it’s not up to Norman whether he comes along.” Peter said “He’s still officially on the payroll there, and he’s still pretty mad at his dad.”
“And people will be approaching Harry to talk about the recent issues with Oscorp and the power outages…”
“Harry can legally drink at these things now, so there won’t be any stopping him. He’ll be desperate to make a good impression with the other companies to try and get some new job offers.”
“Will other people want to talk about their tech with him though?”
“They will if he’s sharing Oscorp secrets.”
There was a chance, however small, that Harry Osborne might know something about why Jason had been brought here. There was no way he’d missed the disturbance outside his father’s company, he must have asked about it.
Tim had been worried about Peter, who would no doubt be the least interesting person at an event with limited time to mingle. Peter was Stark’s intern, but he was also 16 and had been blipped the last five years. Since most of his work was related to Spider-Man and the Avengers, it wasn’t public knowledge and therefore off limits. Some people might have talked to him to be friendly and to make a good impression with Stark, perhaps hoping for insight into what he was doing outside Oscorp the other day. No one would be pitching themselves to Peter Parker though.
Harry Osborne meanwhile…That was a recognisable name, and linked to current scandal.
They could work with this.