Things Don't Change

"so familiar"

Y/n's POV

It had been a year since Tim left and I still had so many questions.

"Hey, I haven't heard about Tim in a while, how is he?" my father asked me at the dinner table. "I don't know, I haven't heard from him in like a year" I stared at my plate. "Didn't he get accepted into that boarding school?" my mom asked me. "Yeah...we haven't talked since he got in" I replied. "I'm sorry Y/n, we shouldn't have brought it up" my dad apologized. "No, it's fine" I got up and put my plate in the sink.

A year ago: Third Person POV

Y/n was sitting at her desk, all alone. Her best friend hadn't come to school in two weeks and she didn't know where he was. It was really strange because they were labeled as nerds, which wasn't entirely false. But he would never miss school, he was the top student at their middle school and Y/n never saw him fail a test no matter how hard it was.

"Hey Y/n, do you know where Tim is, it isn't like him to miss two whole weeks of school without saying anything" the teacher asked Y/n. "I don't know Miss Williams" she replied to her teacher. "Oh, I thought you would know since you two are like this" she crossed her fingers.

It left Y/n thinking, Ms Williams was right; Tim always texted her whenever he didn't come to school and it had been two whole weeks and nothing. No random texts throughout the day, no FaceTimes until 2 am, nothing. When she got home that afternoon, she quickly headed to the Drake's house.

"I'm going to Tim's" Y/n called out to her mom before leaving the house.

She arrived at Tim's house and knocked on the door. She had been there hundreds of times but today felt different. It took a while for someone to answer the door but eventually, Janet answered the door.

"Oh hey Y/n, come in" she spoke in her usual soft, calming voice as she let Y/n in. "I'm guessing you're wondering where Tim is" she continued as she took a seat. "You read my mind" Y/n replied to her.

Janet's sweet expression turned into a saddened one within seconds.

"...he got accepted into this huge boarding school and we couldn't turn down this offer. He wanted to say goodbye but everything happened so fast, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner" Janet explained everything to Y/n. "It's fine, you must be sad yourself, your only son is going to be so far away for four years" she tried not to make the situation about her. "Yeah, but one day that was going to happen, I just didn't expect it to be so early" she explained. "It must be hard for any mother" Y/n got up. "I can take you home" Janet offered to Y/n. "No it's fine, you know I don't live too far" Y/n declined.

Deep down Y/n was hurting a lot but she didn't want to show any emotion, not yet at least. Y/n left the Drake household and it had started to drizzle. Usually she'd hate getting wet but she didn't care at the moment. When she got home, her mother had finished cooking.

"Why are you wet?" she asked her daughter. "It started raining when I was walking home" she explained. "You don't wanna change?" her mother asked. "I'll change after dinner" she replied to her mother.

Her mom didn't want to question Y/n. She knew better than to question a teen.

"How was school?" her dad asked. "It was okay, nothing new" she replied blandly.

Her mother looked at her husband with a worried expression.

"Is there anything you wanna talk about?" he asked his daughter. "No" she replied before leaving the dinner table.

Y/n got into the shower and the warm water hit her skin. She started to think about Tim. They've known each other since they were five and he left without saying a word and Y/n couldn't even get mad at him. She wanted him to chase his dreams but at the same time, she wanted her best friend to be with her. Once she got out, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked at her short hair and remembered Tim's reaction when he saw it for the first time.

"Why'd you cut it? Your long hair looked so nice" a ten year old Tim said. "It was a pain so I cut it. Don't you think it's fitting" Y/n replied to him. "It does give you a new look" he replied to her.

For the past four years, Y/n always kept her hair short even when people mistook her for a boy or when people pointed out that Tim's hair was longer than hers. She never cared, she barely cared about anything if it didn't concern her. There were only a few things that she cared about: her family, education and Tim. The person she cared about the most was gone and she finally broke down in her room.

As she was changing, she looked at all the photos on her wall. Most of them were of her with Tim and that's when the tears started coming through. Y/n laid down on her bed and quietly sobbed. No one ever saw her get emotional and this was the first time she really cried in a while. Her hand was over her mouth to muffle the noise.

Present Day: Y/n's POV

When I got to my room, I opened my laptop. I was scrolling on YouTube and saw a video of Batman and Robin fighting. There was a moment after the fight when Robin got close to the camera and smiled and that's when it all came together. That smile was so familiar and I know that I've seen it before and then it hit me. I looked at the photos on my wall and it was Tim's smile. The same wholehearted smile that never had any malice behind it.

I have to go to Gotham I thought to myself.

I quickly started packing my things and then my father came into my room. He looked at me with sadness in his eyes and then went back to his room. I continued packing my things and then he came back.

"I guess this is goodbye kiddo" he handed me some money. "Dad you don't need to do this" I said to him. "I don't know when I'll see you again and it's a scary world out there" he explained before handing me a gun. "Don't use that unless your life is on the line" my father said.

A small tear ran down my face.

"Go, just come back alive" my father begged me. "I will" I smiled at him one last time. "I'll keep this between us" I heard him say before I hopped out of my window.