Chapter Text
Looking back, it should’ve been obvious from the start. But when one wakes up in their 11 year old body, there’s a reason to panic. Tim stared at his reflection in the mirror, still trying to process what happened.
It was vexing to see a face he hasn’t seen in many years. The aging and scarring that he gained during his time as Robin and Red Robin was gone, completely gone.
His hair was shorter compared to his 19-year old self, where he was attempting to grow it out more, his younger self’s was neat and tidy.
Tim grimaced, not much of the fan of the bowl cut his parents forced upon him. He lost all the muscle he gained as a vigilante, and was now scrawny and very small.
Turning away from the mirror, Tim scrambled for his phone, a much older model than what he had, and turned it on and went to the search engine. Seeing his phone was almost dead, he grabbed the charger that laid limp on the floor and plugged it in quickly.
After typing Batman into the search bar, he almost dropped his phone in shock. The results that appeared were definitely not what he was expecting.
Alongside the name Batman, Nightwing also appeared, but so did the rest of the family: Orphan, Spoiler, Robin, Signal, and….Blue Jay?
This wasn’t the past, this was a completely different universe.
Because there is no way that his Jason would ever call his vigilante name Blue Jay. Tim is pretty sure it had come up in a rare, random conversation that they had, and the older man just laughed in his face.
Well shit.
Tim threw his phone onto the bed and then himself. There was no way that he appeared in a whole different universe where he was almost the same age as Damian. There was just no way.
Tim rolled onto his back, staring up at the white ceiling.
The correct procedure for this situation would be to go to the Wayne Manor and give a code that Batman would instantly recognize. The other would be to not say anything and continue living as this Tim.
The Wayne family was already living okay without him in this universe, meaning they can last for a long time, and Tim….
Tim can finally initiate Plan Boot, where he can leave the family as he planned.
Tim sighed, turning his head towards his window, which showed the darkness of the night. Which would make sense as it is almost four in the morning.
Tim slowly got off his bed, stiffly walking towards his desk and pulled out a random notebook from one of the shelves. It was blank, which Tim appreciated, and flipped to the first page. Tim grabbed a pen and started to write down a list of things he need to figure out/
1) Figure out how he transported universes and bodies.
That was the main situation that he needed to figure out. Tim stared at the bullet point, frantically searching through his mind, trying to remember anything that may give a clue. So far, his memories were fuzzy, and he couldn’t remember anything.
That was…a bit concerning.
Tim shook his head and shoulders, trying to brush the uneasiness that crept in the back of his mind. It was unnerving with how fuzzy his memories were, but he shoved it to the back of his mind, leaving it for later.
But the thoughts kept coming up, and Tim sighed in defeat. Leaving the first, and only, bullet point alone, pondering what could have happened.
His first suspect was Ra’s, but from what Tim remembered, he hasn’t seen the man in months, which unfortunately removed him from the list. As a just in case, Tim flipped to the next page and wrote down a list of people that could have done this. Tim put Ra’s first on the list, but went blank on the other possible culprits.
This would be so much easier if he could remember.
And he refused to go to the Bats for this. Plan Boot was in action at the moment, and Tim could not disregard it this fast.
Tim continued to scourer through his mind, frantically searching for any possible clues that could help him in the process.
He refused to go to the Waynes for help, he just refused.
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A while later, Tim relented.
“Fucking hell,” his younger voice, which hasn’t gone through puberty yet, squeaked.
Apparently, Plan Boot is on hiatus.
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The walk to the Wayne Manor from the Drake’s is a path that Tim was used to, though he hadn’t taken this path in a while. During his walk, Tim couldn’t help but worry about the possibilities that could arise.
What if they don’t believe him? After all, he is only 11 with a voice that cracks every time he tries to speak. It’s half embarrassing and half annoying.
Walking up to the large front doors of the manor, he took a deep breath before giving the heavy wood three sharp knocks.
Then Tim realized that it was almost five in the morning, where he pondered for almost 30 minutes before giving in, and the walk was another 15 to 20 minutes. Hopefully, some of the family was still awake from patrol, or even Alfred being awake to start his daily list of chores he does around the house before everyone else wakes up.
A few minutes later, Tim could hear footsteps on the other side of the door. Tim straightened his stance, hoping that his face was blank from emotion. Or well, as blank as an 11-year old’s face could look like. The large doors creaked, and an old, familiar face poked out.
“Good morning, young sir,” Alfred greeted. If he was surprised to see a young kid out on the front porch of the mansion at five in the morning, his face didn’t reveal anything. “What can I do for you?”
An awkward pause arose, and Tim panicked internally, forgetting every word that he was supposed to say.
“Young sir?”
“Hi!” Tim blurted, not sure why he was so nervous talking to the elder man. “I’m, uh, Tim. I live next door. Drake! In, um, Drake Manor, that is.”
Alfred’s eyebrows gradually rose as Tim continued to babble and sputter. Tim snapped his mouth shut, took a deep breath, before speaking once more.
“Hi. I’m Tim Drake, and I live next door. I have a situation where I need to talk to B–Mr. Wayne as soon as possible.”
“Of course, Master Tim,” Alfred said slowly, “Master Wayne is currently asleep at this time. He will be awake in a couple of hours. Would that be an appropriate time to speak with him?”
Tim sighed. Well, he was trying to put off revealing that he knew Bruce Wayne was Batman, but apparently this universe wants to be a dick and not agree with him.
“I know that Bruce Wayne is Batman,” Tim interjected. “And I know he is awake at the moment. I don’t need to speak with Mr. Wayne. I need to speak with Batman.”
Like before, if Alfred was surprised or slightly panicked, he didn’t show it. Tim wished that he could be as composed as Alfred can be.
“Well then, Master Tim,” Alfred said stiffly, the only sign that Tim’s words had affected him. “I suppose I should invite you in.”
Alfred took a step back, gesturing into the manor as an invitation. With a small, but squeaky “thank you”, Tim stepped into the manor, relaxing at the warmth that radiated within the home. Tim didn’t even realise the chilliness from the cool air of early October. A small shiver came from him as Alfred closed the front door, which let out a small gust of air into the foyer of the home.
“Master Wayne is currently in his office,” Alfred said, which Tim knew was a code word for the Batcave, especially this early in the morning. “Follow me, if you will.”
Tim gave a small nod, and followed the butler as he guided Tim through the manor. Tim knew the path from heart, but followed anyway to not give anything away.
Arriving at the door to Bruce’s office, Alfred knocked twice before entering.
“Master Bruce,” Alfred stated, “There is a visitor for you. Particularly…asking for Batman.”
Silence came from the room, and Tim nervously shuffled his feet, unsure what was going to happen. Even throughout the years of knowing Bruce, Tim couldn’t predict everything that the man does, especially now that he is in a different universe. This is a completely different Bruce than what he knows.
“Let him in, Alfred,” Burce’s deep voice came from within. Alfred turned to look at Tim, gesturing to him to enter the office.
Tim took a deep breath before entering the office. Sitting at the desk was Bruce, and, to Tim’s surprise, standing next to the Bat was Jason himself, who was warily staring at Tim as he entered.
Tim almost did a double take seeing Jason, who looks completely different than his own. Instead of the hard, cold look that his Jason does, this Jason looks….softer almost. The white tuff on the top of his head was gone, just leaving the black hair. While he was still built like a tank, similar to his Jason, Tim could tell that he doesn’t have as much muscle as his did, and his notable scars that could be seen on his face were nonexistent.
He also looked a lot less traumatized than his Jason, which is saying a lot.
…….don’t tell his Jason that he thought of that.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jason snapped, not harshly, but very stern.
Well, some things don’t change over the course of the different universes.
“Language, Master Jason,” Alfred said, and Tim knew that the elder man was glaring at his grandson. Jason’s stern face turned sheepish.
“Sorry, Alfie.”
“I’m, uh, Tim. Tim Drake.” Tim piped up, gaining Bruce’s attention, and his interest.
“Drake?” Bruce questioned, his attention immediately gained. “Drake, as in our neighbors?”
Tim didn’t say anything, and just nodded.
Another awkward pause happened, before Bruce cleared his voice and clasped his hands together. “Well then Tim,” Bruce started, “Can you tell me why you need my help? Or particularly, why do you need…the other’s help?”
Tim had a plan.
It was a great plan even.
He was going to ease the vigilante into what his problem was.
He was expecting a proper conversation, with some side conversations appearing.
What he wasn’t expecting was this.
“GBL097JK239712LP01” Tim blurted out.
Well, fuck.
That wasn’t a part of the plan.
Bruce sat up, his face going through different emotions in a span of ten seconds. Clearly, and hopefully, the code was the same as the one back in his universe.
“What the fu–fudge,” Jason quickly corrected as he got a look from Alfred. “Does that mean?”
“Different universe.” Bruce replied, turning his back on Tim. “Come on, we’ll discuss this in the cave.”
Deep down, Tim can say that it turned out successfully, but his internal thoughts were screaming that this plan was absolute shit and how this ended up like so was an absolute miracle.
Tim wanted to say he agreed, but he didn’t know how that would end up in his internal conflict that he has going on at the moment.
“Master Tim,” Alfred said, touching his shoulder lightly and startling Tim out of his wandering thoughts. “I would suggest following Master Bruce.”
“Uh, yeah,” Tim said, his voice cracking. “Yeah, I’ll just, uh, do that then.”
Alfred’s response was just a slight amuse look appearing on his face. The butler gave Tim a little nudge, and Tim automatically obeyed, walking deeper into the office, shyly stopping behind the two vigilantes. Jason was still warily staring at him, but his body was more relaxed than it was before.
“Lets go,” Bruce ordered, opening the grandfather clock that leads down into the cave. “We need to figure out what is going on.”
Well, Tim couldn’t refuse that statement. He took a deep breath and followed the two vigilantes down the staircase, Alfred following behind.
The grandfather clock closed with a click, and Tim suddenly felt a pain in his stomach.
Suddenly, this wasn’t a good idea, but it was too late to turn around and go back to the Drake Manor.
To Tim, it would be easier to just get this done and over with.
So, he took another deep breath, and followed deeper into the Batcave.
God, this might end badly.