Chapter Text
Peter spends his days re-catching criminals let out by the god awful criminal system and trying to figure out a way to get his class under control.
They’ve stopped being openly disrespectful, but he gets notes threatening him, weird pranks that usually end up destroying a thing or two, and reports of fights and sneaking out. It’s annoying, and he’s tired of having to clean up the mess.
Sure, they’ve been raised by mobsters and mass murders but they’re nearly adults! It’s quite embarrassing that they still act like toddlers.
At least no one blames him. In fact, he’s gathered a lot of respect from the teachers for not quitting in a week. Mark even offers to check some of his work when he sees how the eye bags underneath his eyes.
He graciously accepts the offer and Peter for the first time since he’s gotten here, takes a break.
His thoughts of rest immediately go out the window by the time he returns to his shabby apartment. He wants to go on patrol, but if he uses his body any longer, Peter knows that it’ll break and he’ll have to take 2 weeks off instead of just resting for the night.
Sure, he may be a mutate and one of the strongest people on this earth, but he’s also 39 and has done akin to extreme sports his whole life. He pushed himself too hard in his twenties and now has to pay the consequences.
The inability to do anything is the worst. He’s used to the pain; he can deal with the pain. He can’t deal with the sound of other people getting robbed, raped and murdered. But it’s just another thing on his long list of things he has to deal with.
Once he gets his hot pack, he sits down on his mangled couch he found in an alleyway to research exactly what is wrong with Gotham. Despite there currently being 3 confirmed superheroes active in America, they can’t help with Gotham.
The problem is within the justice system. The rich seem to get out of anything and everything while everyone else has to suffer. He can’t even find a case in the past 10 years against any of the gangs inhabiting Gotham.
It’d be so much easier if Peter took control and got them arrested, but as much as Peter wants to, he can’t become a tyrant.
Gotham can’t just be reliant on Spider-Man alone. Capturing criminals he took off the streets the night before is the easiest way to get burnt out.
James Gordon, Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock are the only police officers that Peter actively trusts right now. They’re low on the ladder, but the brief conversations he's had as Spider-Man and Peter Parker have put them in high regard in his books.
He spends approximately 30 minutes altogether before realising that they can’t help him. They all care for Gotham and its citizens, but 3 police officers and one vigilante can’t help with the rot that's cemented itself deep into the city. The more he looks into the history of the police department, the more he realises he shouldn’t involve them.
They have a history of killing cops who try to arrest rich criminals in the department. He has no clue what might happen when they actively work against them.
If Peter truly wants to make a change, he needs the help of someone rich and powerful. Someone no one will dare to hurt. It’s lucky he has one Bruce Wayne in his class who can help him with it.
.
.
.
Despite Bruce being the perfect candidate to pay the attorneys' bribes so they can actually do their jobs, he feels bad about manipulating him to spend his money. Sure, the money wouldn’t make a dent in his account, but Bruce is a teen and all that money came from his dead parents.
He doesn’t dare to approach Bruce during class and puts off finding him as Spider-Man until he sees one of the big time gang leaders on the street again. He webs him up and swings away to the good side of town, where he normally spots Bruce spying on one organisation or another.
It’s easy to find him, he’s predictable. Bruce is up spying on the same organisation that he was spying on before; with just some binoculars and a notebook. “You know staying up late is bad for your health.”
Bruce tenses up, glaring upwards at Peter. “You know whatever you say won’t convince me to stop.” There’s rage in that statement that’s in every vigilante. Stubbornness and spite fuel Bruce, that Peter knows all too well. It’ll get him killed one day.
“I know, but you should be more careful. I found you pretty easily.”
Bruce seems in no mood to talk. He just continues using his binoculars and writing something in his notebook.
Peter is tempted to flick Bruce on the head, so he does.
“What?” Bruce snarls out.
“You’re an idiot for sneaking out.” Bruce grumbles something under his breath that Peter chooses not to hear; “Fine, if you don’t want to stop stalking how about you help me out?”
His eyes light up, and he turns to Spider-Man excitedly, actually looking like a kid for once. He feels horrible about how excited Bruce is. “You’re rich, right?”
His silent anger comes back in full force as he mumbles, “I’m not giving you any money.”
“Ew,” Peter mumbles under his breath. He doesn’t want to take any money he didn’t earn. “I don’t want your money; I want you to bribe someone.”
“Pardon? Aren’t you supposed to be a hero? An upstanding citizen?” A posh, almost British accent slips into Bruce’s voice. It makes Peter want to laugh; this world is so new to the idea of heroes that they don’t know how horrible some of them can be.
“I’m an illegal vigilante working against a corrupt government that won’t take care of its citizens. Unfortunately, I must break laws on the daily, even if it includes bribing law enforcement and attorneys to do their jobs.”
Bruce is silent. Sure, he knew about the obvious corruption in Gotham, but he didn’t know it was that bad. Shame runs through him, he hates this place and how tied up he is to it. He wants to help; but why can’t he do more?
“I’ll help. But I want to be a vigilante as well.” Spider-Man crosses his arms, his body tense. Powerless vigilantes aren’t uncommon back home, and from what Peter has seen, Bruce is talented. He’s smart, he’s strong, and he cares so much.
But he’s also an angry, stubborn, traumatised kid. Someone who can’t get over the tragedy in his life. Being a vigilante wouldn’t be good for him, but it’d be good for Gotham.
He’s so much like Peter it hurts.
“I’ll let you be on call while I patrol.” He offers out. It won’t be enough to satisfy him, but Peter has to try.
“No. I want to go out.” Peter so desperately wants to give in. He’s so lonely. He has no one, just a class full of feral teens and coworkers who give him pitying glances.
If he had another vigilante he could talk to, maybe something in him could change, and he’d no longer feel as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
“I’ll train you.” He sighs out, relenting easily. “But you’re not going out until you finish high school. I expect perfect grades and no sneaking out. You can be my eyes and ears on Friday and Saturday night.”
A slow smile creeps up Bruce’s face. He wasn’t expecting Spider-Man to give in so easily. He was fully expecting to either use blackmail or sneak out until he eventually relented. “I’ll see you next week then.”
He walks away with a bounce in his step; quickly climbing down the building to go back to his dorm.
Once Peter can no longer hear him, he sinks down and starts to laugh. Saying no would’ve been the correct choice, but Peter is a sentimental, lonely idiot.
A sentimental, lonely idiot who’ll get them both killed.