Nathaniel Rogers-Wilson

   this situation had easily made it into at least the top five of the weirdest things steve had seen in his life. the multiverse collapsing was one thing in itself, but the idea of children from other dimensions coming through was a whole other. there had been one point in his life where steve had imagined settling down and having a family. after the war was fought and won – after everyone was finally able to come home and start living their lives once more. there had been that dream before.

   now… it felt out of reach. that dream no longer felt like the path he was meant to be taking in live. and the idea that there were children from other universes that were his ( or, rather, a steve’s from another universe ) it was enough to really get one thinking. and perhaps a little bit of stressing.

    so leave it to steve to be surprised when he catches sight of someone in the classroom, realization dawning on him once he sees exactly who it is. he’d read the file. of course he had – he’d been curious about him. who wouldn’t be?? “no need to be worried about a thing there. figured security would be around eventually.” he wasn’t buying it for one second but sometimes it was easier to play along. “you’re nate, right??”

nate’s not really sure what he was expecting, seeking steve out like this. he hoped, foolishly, childishly, that he would see some piece of his father. that somehow, when the multiverse collapsed.. maybe some piece of his father would latch onto the steve in front of him. some kind of familiarity of his home. but that’s not the case. they might share the same face, even the same abilities from what nate’s heard about him - but this isn’t his dad.

christ, what is he doing here?

    it doesn’t take a genius to realize that something is clearly up once nate returned from his shift. he can hear it just in the way that the hunter is dragging his feet along the floor or the way the other just all but slumps down onto the bed. more often than not percy was used to seeing nate a bit more good-natured whenever he returned from work. it was more than a little clear that the other was incredibly exhausted. 

    pausing for a moment in his reading, percy marks his spot in the textbook before he’s setting it off on the side of his bed. “as well as they normally do,” he remarked with a shrug of his shoulders. the classes were certainly full of information that was new to him considering he’d never really given a damn about the human body before. or, really, humans themselves. “but that’s hardly important right now. you look extremely worn out. thought the serum usually helps with things like that.”

it shouldn’t come as such a surprise. they’ve known each other for a while now, spent plenty of time together even before the multiverse collapsed and they landed here. their.. friendship.. isn’t exactly normal, but they care for one another. that much is obvious. even more so with the way percy picks up on just how tired nate is. and while he doesn’t want to worry her, he’s also a little relieved he doesn’t have to keep hiding it. not in here, at least.

“I’m naturally the sneaky sort,” Bobbi chuckled as she took in the tired eyes.  Being a science teacher, she didn’t need to be involved with security, but Bobbi made a tendency of wandering the Academy just to keep an eye on things.  Not that she’d intended to gain his attention, but … as he’d said - super-hearing.  “Doesn’t look like you’ve had a quiet day, hmm?”  Her part of the labs had been fairly normal - for a relative level of normal when discussing several geniuses in one location, but the Academy covered a lot of ground.  “At least I hope it was fun?”

it wasn’t as if winnie was a troublemaker – she was far from it, really – but she was somebody who spent whole days and whole nights holed up somewhere in the library. with her nose buried in a book and a cup of tea in her hand, she’d never been more comfortable – even in a far away universe like this one, it was easier for her to spend her time learning than living the new world. She’d run out from the library to grab a snack from the machine, her thick, homey socks gliding across the floor that had caused her to stumble and presumably catch his attention. “i–” she went bright red, immediately guilty. “i’m so sorry! i didn’t mean to– the time, was– i–”

Bruce leaned back on the office chair, brown eyes inspecting the documents spread out on the table carefully, making sure everything was in order before finally declaring work was done for the night. A sigh escaped his nostrils. He wished he could say the workload was unexpected, maybe even complain about not being aware of what he signed up for. But the truth was the detective knew exactly what awaited him once he took the job, and the amount was partially his fault considering he purposely wanted to overview as much as possible. Maybe his controlling tendencies were starting to be an issue…

He sighed again, deciding not to ponder on it. Bruce gathered the documents and neatly placed them in his bag, exiting the administrative board room. He made his way down to the main entrance, the doors leading to the lobby opening before he could reach them. “Force of habit,” Bruce replied, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. “How’s the night been treating you, Mister Rogers?”

it’s not the same bruce wayne. it’s absolutely not. it’s not the same blood-sucking vampiric threat he and his family have had to deal with for years. this isn’t their world. logically, nathaniel knows this. he knows there’s no threat. here, bruce wayne is a good man. an icon of change, and a member of the board. a founder of this school. he’s not a danger. not to nate, or to the school. but the sight of him still brings the same kneejerk reaction that has his hand resting on the concealed whip under his jacket without thinking of it.

   “ who needs to sneak ?? ”  wally asks, blase as anything.  “ i grew up around superhumans and super-detectives and a nosy-ass dad.  i gave up on sneaky a while ago. ”  he looks around the room before his eyes light on a thin stack of papers, coffee-stained and a little creased in places.  “ i let my little girl hold onto the papers, and then was surprised when they didn’t end up back in the shop. ”  he picks up the forms and double checks that none of them have been presumably-scattered through the academy.  “ if i didn’t want you to see me, you wouldn’t have !!  but that felt rude.  you alright ??  looking a little woozy. ”

it takes a lot to wear nate out like this. supersoldier serum works wonders like that, most of the time. he can scrape by with less sleep than your average guy as a result. but the security team sure as hell doesn’t have enough people and - alright, maybe nate’s not quite used to a world where they’re not constantly at risk of being overrun by night creatures, or where he doesn’t need to do regular patrols, or where he’s not battling monsters as his day - or night - job. just because it’s been a few weeks.. doesn’t mean it’s not still taking some adjusting.

it’s not that the classes seem overly difficult. not the art classes at least. nate’s peeked in on them once or twice. out of curiosity, of course. he could.. probably manage it, but it would do his head in. seeing his dad day after day - well, his dad, but not his dad. not really. which is hard enough to try and wrap his head around as it is, truth be told. he really doesn’t need to add to that.

and yet here he is, looking around the art classroom, curious as to what this universe’s version of his father would actually be teaching for art. to see... to see just how alike they could actually be. hoping maybe they might be.

terrified that they won’t be.