Hey Everyone! So I'm back to the virtual world of the living (after how many months?) Thanks to all of you wonderful people who've favorite/commented/followed my other story Dam You Auto-Resurrect! I was totally not expecting that! For those of you who have requested a follow up chapter…it's coming X)
As for this story…the idea snuck up on me, and I'm going to use the first few chapters as test chapters to see how it takes. Let me know!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters…yet?
"Do we tie them up?"
The two figures were peering down on the bed, where two unconscious boys lay. The only light illuminating the room came from the closet, so as to not attract any unwanted attention.
"We had better, otherwise I'd end up without a bedroom." Dick said.
"I think that will be inevitable when these two wake up." Jason drawled.
Dick threw him a quick glance before looking hurriedly away and stared intently ahead while tying Tim to a chair. Jason didn't blame him.
As a kid, he learned to survive on the streets. As a pre-teen he trained with the Batman. Then he proceeded to die at the hands of a maniac, and to top it off, he came back to life. To say Jason Todd learned how to survive in the world would be the understatement of the century.
But none of that prepared him for this situation. In fact, nothing of his previous experiences gave him any clue as how to handle such a predicament.
He glanced over his shoulder at Dick, not looking at him for too long. At least he wasn't the only one unnerved. He moved to tie up the brat, when he had finished he ran a hand through his hair, froze, and quickly brought his hand down.
"What the heck do we do now?" He hissed at Dick double checking his handiwork. He had tied Damian to the bed post (albeit using more rope than necessary) and was confident the binds would hold. What he wasn't sure of was whether or not Dick's bed was safe, but he didn't feel that it was necessary to bring that point up at that time.
Dick was pacing, and Jason made it a point to look anywhere but at him. They were back in Dick's bedroom now after their little escapade. The two oldest boys had miraculously managed to avoid Alfred when entering the manor, the unconscious boys, Tim and Damian, slung over their shoulders.
"Maybe we should give them some anesthetics so they stay asleep for a while longer?" Dick suggested. Jason scoffed. If Dick was suggesting such a ridiculous solution, then he was freaking out more than Jason had originally assumed.
"That will only prolong our problems, not solve them. Especially when they find out we drugged them." Jason stated, causing Dick to look guilty, which was awkward to see.
"Technically we knocked them out so they wouldn't make matters worse." Dick countered and Jason rolled his eyes.
"That's just a fancy way of saying 'we hit them on the head,'" Jason's words were laced with sarcasm, and for a brief moment he thought he saw irritation flash across Dick's face, but he couldn't be sure.
"Fine, but that still leaves us with this mess."
"Let's just roll with it. They are brothers after all, maybe that'll mean something." Jason froze the minute the words left his mouth. Has Dick infected me more than I originally knew? He panicked. He caught Dick staring at him eerily, obviously thinking the same thing.
"What?" Say it out loud. I dare you. Just as he thought, Dick avoided it completely. Not that he wouldn't do the same thing in this situation.
"Since when has that stopped them from trying to kill each other?" Dick waved to the two unconscious boys. "I think we need to contact Bruce now."
"Hello bird brain, we don't even know where he is." Jason stated angrily, then lowered his voice. "He took off for his little –I'm-the-Batman-I-must-go-brood-then-save-the-world gigs."
Dick glared at him, and Jason broke eye contact. "Regardless, this is getting ridiculous." He muttered.
There was silence for a bit, before Dick naturally perked up. "Right, all we need to do is find a way of preventing Damian and Tim from killing each other until Bruce shows up." he reasoned.
"I'm gonna kill that brat when he wakes up." Jason growled, being reminded why they were in this mess to begin with.
"Well if you wanted to do that you'd actually end up—"
"I know, I know!" Jason threw his arms in the air. Man that was just way too weird.
"Besides, we all got into this mess on our own accord." Dick was now massaging his left shoulder. The shoulder he fell on when the room exploded.
That had better not be a big injury, Jason thought, before retorting "Really? Because I'm pretty sure I was blackmailed int—"
"Blackmailed?" Dick asked, an all too familiar sneer on his face. Jason turned away. He was too tired to argue. An unusual amount of fatigue was making it hard to think straight.
"Regardless," he switched conversations. "How are we going to explain this?"
"We can't let this slip!" A look of panic set on Dick's face as he sprang off the chair he was sitting on. "Do you realize what that would mean? It would be the end of us! We would never be looked at the same way again – our lives would be over!"
"Your life maybe - I can make this really difficult for you," Jason grinned. Dick narrowed his eyes.
"Right, like I can't turn your world upside down either," He shot back.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this bloody mess!"
"Way to go shoving the blame on someone else…I never forced you to come. In fact, if I recall correctly you mentioned something about it having the potential of being entertaining. Now you get to eat your words!" Jason really hated it when Dick was right. The two were in a stand-off of glares, ignoring the growing discomfort of staring at each other, until a noise distracted them.
Just then Damian started to stir. The older boys froze, neither one having any idea on how to break the news to the ten-year-old. They both shot a glance around the room, as if their answer lay amongst the overstocked piles of paperwork, ripped sheets of forgotten phone numbers written in gel pens, and laundry.
"What's going on?" Damian started to look around. Realizing he was tied up, a look of anger came across his face. "Grayson, I demand to know—" He froze, seeing Tim starting to stir. Suddenly the color drained from his face, before he whipped his head back towards Jason and Dick, both of whom were still standing unsure of what to do.
"Yup. This is the worst thing ever." Dick muttered under his breath.
"Ugh." Tim came to. His reaction was almost comical as he saw Damian tied to the bed. Realizing he was tied himself, he searched the room till his eyes rested on Dick and Jason. All while Damian was staring at him.
"Why are there two—" He stopped suddenly, eyes going wide.
"Grayson. I demand an explanation. Untie me from these ridiculous bounds and allow me to desecrate this imposter…or…clone." Damian snarled, an expression the other three were completely unaccustomed to seeing on his face.
"Well…you see…"Dick wasn't sure where to begin.
"Shut up Todd, I asked Grayson." Damian interrupted. Dick and Jason exchanged a glance when Tim let out a strangled sound.
"Oh no. Ohnoohnoohnoohno."
"WHAT IS—"
"It's me. I'm Tim!" Tim yelled. Tim, who sounded uncannily like Damian. Damian froze.
"What?" his voice contained confusion. Then he looked down at himself, back up at Tim, then between Dick and Jason. Dick's face held Jason's signature smirk, while Jason was looking worried. Wait, did he see that correctly? That's when it clicked…
"….Drake?" Damian said slowly staring at his body at the other end of the room. Then his expression joined that of Tim's, as all the color drained from his face.
"Yup, this lovely adventure of yours has left us…" Dick trailed off.
"Switched." Tim sounded like a strangled horse.
"It's the freakiest thing ever." Jason agreed.
There was a moment of silence. Then, in the seconds that followed Jason realized why he used so much rope when tying Damian down.
"Get him out of me!" Tim hollered just as Damian tried to pry himself off the chair, twisting Tim's body in ways Jason was sure wasn't natural. But Dick had done just as good a job in keeping the boy in one place.
"Now listen both of you!" Dick tried to get their attention.
"Grayson remove Drake before he soils my body any further!"
"And how do you expect him to do that?" Tim growled, "Why do you think we're tied up?"
Man it's weird seeing Damian thinking so rationally, Jason thought as he watched both younger boys struggling against their bonds.
"Listen." Dick was trying to bring back order, "nothing will be solved until we all settle down."
"Shut up Todd," Damian snarled.
"I'm Dick – Jason's currently there." Dick pointed straight at Jason, who was leaning against the wall wishing the scene before him would simply disappear.
"Naturally, he's probably the reason we're in this mess," Damian stated, which got Jason on his feet.
"This is all your fault!" Jason hissed pointing at Damian which was just weird since it was Tim's body he was snarling at. "If you hadn't gone chasing that stupid magician the—"
"I had a mission I was carrying out!"
"We wouldn't have had to bail your butt out—"
"Drake slipped up—"
"And we wouldn't be forced to hang around each other!" Jason finished gripping the edge of the bed. Dick stared at him. Of course that's what Jason would be worried about the most.
All the while he was watching as what little control he had was quickly escaping through the open window. Tim however, was simply processing the news. He wasn't taking it too well.
"Damian is in my body. Oh dear Lord, someone shoot me now!"
"Shoot you?" Damian (in Tim's body) pulled against the rope, almost snapping the chair in the process. "I have an unworthy invalid residing in my body—"
"And I have a dimwitted demon spawn in mine!" Tim (in Damian's body) shot back.
"You two cut it out." Dick pleaded.
Jason was getting annoyed. A headache was adding to the fatigue and all he wanted to do was sleep and forget this whole nonsense.
"We were trying to save your life, you brat." Tim snapped, "I should have known something like this would happen with you—"
"With me? I was doing just fine on my own till you ruined it and—"
"ENOUGH!"
It was weird for Jason to hear those words come out with such ferocity, even if it was him who spoke. Who knew I could make Dick sound like Batman?
Just then the door opened. Alfred walked into the room and paused, taking in the scene before him.
Jason and Dick were standing, Damian (or his body at any rate) was tied to the bed, and Tim tied to a chair, all four looking at him as if he just sentenced them all to death, even though he hadn't opened his mouth.
"Ah, here you all are, young masters. Master Bruce has just arrived home and wants an answer to the missing motorcycles from the Batcave, the files that were hacked, and the state of the medical cabinets. I surmise that you have an answer?"
None of the boys spoke. Then Tim (in Damian's body) groaned.
"Worst. Tuesday. Night. Ever."