Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of A Tangled Mess Of Time
Stats:
Published:
2020-08-30
Completed:
2020-09-06
Words:
1,783
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
96
Kudos:
2,166
Bookmarks:
114
Hits:
19,780

Of Conclusion and Thought Processes

Summary:

Tim looked back at the time travel device, a half-baked plan forming in his mind.

What if he could stop Jason from ever dying?

The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed, after all, if Jason never died, then Bruce wouldn't gain that line of tension as a permanent fixture. Dick would get to have that closer brother relationship he always wanted for the two. Jason wouldn't be so bitter and angry, without Tim having any reason to become Robin, Jason wouldn't need to feel the sting of betrayal that came from being replaced, and wouldn't have the pit rage constantly at his brain. By the time Damian arrives, Jason would most likely have already moved on from Robin, or be at a point where he is already ready to give it up, and Damian would have no need to be quite as hostile, without anyone threatening his place as the "true Robin."

Really, it was a win-win situation for all parties.

~~

After taking a time travel device from a criminal, Tim has an idea on how to help everyone around him lead a happier life.

Everyone but him that is.

But since when has that ever mattered?

Notes:

So, this is the first fic I'm posting in the Batman tag, and I just wanted to apologize in advance if its a little OOC, I did try to keep it as in character as I could, but sometimes you need to bend characters a little to fit the narrative, ya know?

Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Tim stared at the little time travel device in his hand. It was painfully simple to use for such advanced and complex mechanics. Just set the date, year, and time, then press the little button on top. All in all, it looked like a travel sized alarm clock.

Tim took a peak at where Bruce sat on the other side of the cave, putting the finishing touches on the report from the mission. He took a moment to study the tense line of his back, something that had been a part of him for as long as Tim had known him. Sure it lessened from time to time. When Dick and Bruce first started getting along again after Jason's death and whenever he was over visiting, when Damian did something that was actively going against a league instilled teaching on his own or when he would get actively excited about something away from being a vigilante, when Jason and Bruce were on good terms and he spent time in the cave or at the manor just talking and hanging around.

Pretty much whenever he was happy and around his kids.

But it had just been the two of them that night, what with Damian spending the weekend with Dick in Bludhaven and Jason off with his outlaws, and Tim couldn't think of a single instance where Bruce lost that tension when it was just the two of them. Tim knew that he wasn't going to remove that line of tension, knew that it was likely his presence that helped cause it. After all, what was Tim but a reminder of Bruce's darkest times, just after Jason's death when the tension he normally only carried as Batman transfered over to Bruce, and he wondered, not for the first time, if it would be simpler if he just left, and took up in a city all on his own.

But Tim banished that thought quickly. They would come looking for him, even if it was easier when he was gone, because they would feel they had too. If he really wanted to remove himself, he would need a way to pretty much disappear from their memories too.

Just then, Tim looked back at the time travel device, a half-baked plan forming in his mind.

What if he could stop Jason from ever dying?

The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed, after all, if Jason never died, then Bruce wouldn't gain that line of tension as a permanent fixture. Dick would get to have that closer brother relationship he always wanted for the two. Jason wouldn't be so bitter and angry, without Tim having any reason to become Robin, Jason wouldn't feel the sting of betrayal that came from being replaced, and wouldn't have the pit rage constantly at his brain. And by the time Damian arrives, Jason would most likely have already moved on from Robin, or be at a point where he is already ready to give it up, and Damian would have no need to be quite as hostile, without anyone threatening his place as the "true Robin."

Really, it was a win-win situation for all parties.

All parties except maybe Tim himself that is. Without Robin, what would happen to Tim? He would most likely continue to follow the duo at night, over achieve in his classes to make his parents proud, he'd develop his photos in his dark room, prepared to take over Drake Industries, and spend every day coming home to an empty, spotless, mausoleum of a house, without warmth, or anyone around to give him praise or affection, or someone there to soothe his nightmares.

But it was ok.

Tim had survived like that for a long time before he came to live at Wayne Manor, and really, what was his own feels the warmth and safety Wayne Manor provided when everyone else would have better.

He could doom himself to a life of misery alone with his thoughts if it meant that the people he considers family would be happier.

And they would.

Making up his mind, he quickly set the date to 5 days before Jason's death, wanting to give himself plenty of time to fix everything.

But he couldn't leave without a goodbye. Even if no one would remember it, except maybe himself when he returned.

"Hey Bruce?" Tim asks, without looking at his mentor.

"Hmm?" Bruce replied.

"I just… Thanks for everything you've done for me. I don't know where I would be if you didn't eventually relent to my insistence that you needed a Robin." Tim felt a small smile creep on his face as moisture gathered just slightly on the outer corner of his eyes. "And thanks for showing me what family could be. I won't ever forget it."

“Your welcome,” Bruce looked up from the computer at where Tim was with a slight frown. “Where is this coming from?”

Tim toyed with the button for a moment.

"I just wanted you to know how much these last few years mean to me. Even though I can't have them anymore."

"Wait, Tim, whatever you are planning you need to sto-"

But Tim pressed down on the snooze style button and missed the end of what Bruce might be trying to say. he was a little sad that he had missed the last things he'd ever hear Bruce say to him outside of possible future business deals, but he knew that whatever it was would pale in complain to what he would accomplish.

After Tim felt a sensation that he could only describe as getting pulled slowly through a very cold straw, he sat up in his old bed, in his childhood home with a gasp. He took very little time orientating himself to the younger body he found himself in before pushing out of bed and all but stumbling to his computer.

He had 5 days to figure out how to save Jason, and he would be damned if he lost any time at all.

Chapter 2

Summary:

But lately Tim had been withdrawn. He spent more time at his apartment, very rarely teamed up with people on patrol, and didn’t really talk to any of them unless it was about vigilante stuff - or business for Bruce - and he really didn’t know why. Even him and Damian had reached a truce in the months just before Tim started to withdraw, and things between him and Jason had been calm longer than that. The only reason Bruce got lucky enough to spend this much time with Tim was because he had needed help on the case, and none of the others could help at the time, all of them wrapped up in their own thing, so Tim agreed, and the three nights it took to figure out it out, and another two to actually catch the guy.

-

Bruce can't help but miss his son a little, and wants to know why he isn't spending as much time at home.

Notes:

*posts this while on my break at work, then dips*

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Bruce was exhausted. It had been a very long case, but he wasn’t complaining, not when he had gotten to spend extra time with Tim. He couldn’t help but think of where he would be had Tim not planted himself into his life. Maybe he hadn’t wanted him there originally, the pain from Jason’s death too fresh to get close with a new Robin but as time went on, and they got to know each other Bruce came to like having Tim around.

But lately Tim had been withdrawn. He spent more time at his apartment, very rarely teamed up with people on patrol, and didn’t really talk to any of them unless it was about vigilante stuff - or business for Bruce - and he really didn’t know why. Even him and Damian had reached a truce in the months just before Tim started to withdraw, and things between him and Jason had been calm longer than that. The only reason Bruce got lucky enough to spend this much time with Tim was because he had needed help on the case, and none of the others could help at the time, all of them wrapped up in their own thing, so Tim agreed, and the three nights it took to figure out it out, and another two to actually catch the guy. Or, at least, that’s what they remember. Who knows how many times he had managed to go back before everything aligned to let them catch him instead of him going back in time.

Bruce wondered, for a moment, if he should bring up Tim’s recent absence in their lives. He wonders if he should sit him down, and just ask what is going on inside his mind when he looks at Bruce with the sad, thoughtful eyes when he thinks Bruce isn’t looking.

But Bruce didn’t know how to bring it up. He always felt talking with Tim was something of a dance. Tim had been taught from a young age exactly how to move a conversation around and away from topics he didn’t want to talk about, and while it wasn’t impossible to have an open and honest conversation with the bay, it was just so deeply ingrained in him that to give away the truth about oneself is to give up any power. And while he had been getting better at it recently, Bruce felt like this may be a conversation too deep for Tim to truly feel comfortable with.

But maybe he should regardless, lest Tim leaves, disappears into the cracks of the hero community and cuts ties with Gotham. It’s not as if he didn't have the resources, and with just a handful of signatures, Tim could easily sign over the rights of Wayne Enterprises back over to Bruce.

The thought made Bruce frown. He didn’t like the idea of Tim disappearing. It hurt. It hurt like it hurt seeing Tim retreat into himself, into his ball of self reliance, slowly but surely pulling himself out of the family and disappearing with claims of work, and cases, and plans.

So Bruce made up his mind. He would finish his report, and then he would talk to Tim.

Of course Tim decided to talk first.

"Hey Bruce?" Tim’s voice called softly from across the cave, sounding a little unsure.

"Hmm?" Bruce replied.

"I just… Thanks for everything you've done for me. I don't know where I would be if you didn't eventually relent to my insistence that you needed a Robin." There was a slight pause, and when he started talking again, it sounded a little thick. "And thanks for showing me what family could be. I won't ever forget it."

“Your welcome,” Bruce looked up from the computer at where Tim was, worried about the look on his face and the way he stared at the time travel device that he didn’t know he still had. “Where is this coming from?”

Bruce panicked as Tim toyed with the button for a moment before looking up, with obvious tears gathered in the corner of his eyes.

"I just wanted you to know how much these last few years mean to me. Even though I can't have them anymore."

And this was wrong. Wrong. Tim hated crying in front of anyone, most of all bruce. Something wasn’t right and Bruce had a sinking feeling in his chest, and a need to stop whatever it was that Tim was doing.

"Wait, Tim, whatever you are planning you need to sto-"

And then there was a slash of white.

And Bruce awoke with the feeling that he has just had the strangest dream.

Notes:

I was working on the next part of the series, but Bruce wanted his thoughts known.

Enjoy.

Notes:

I hope that you guys enjoyed this, I wrote it in one sitting and had my friend beta read it, so hopefully it turned out well! I am thinking of making a series beyond this, so I hope that might be something you are interested in!

Anyways, comments and kudos are appreciated, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week!

Series this work belongs to: