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You know when you wake up in pure confusion, disorientation so intense that you have no idea where you are and who you are, and all you can do is blink and wait for your brain to finish ‘loading update 3 of 207, please do not restart your computer’?
Yeah, Tim is feeling a whole lot of that.
Bruce is here, which means that he got hurt Robin-ing, and also explains his massive headache. Dick and Alfred are also here, which means it was a really bad head injury, because he could’ve sworn that they were both in Bludhaven.
And… who the hell are the rest of these people?
“Rise and shine, sleeping ugly,” A truly massive guy with a weird skunk stripe in hair sing-songed. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
Bruce didn’t seem to care that there was a bunch of strangers in the Cave, which, weird, but maybe they’re people he knows from the JLA and work in the shadows or something?
“Tt, perhaps we would’ve found a use for your old coffin then, Todd,” A kid sneered.
Yeah, no, Bruce wouldn’t give out his identity to a random kid, JLA or not, his paranoia could nev– wait, did that kid just say Todd? Like, Jason Todd?
Tim squinted at skunk beefcake. Yeah, no, that looks like an older and far more muscular Jason Todd. What the fuck is going on?
“Robin,” Bruce said in that growling reprimand he does.
Tim looked at him confused, because he’s done absolutely nothing wrong, except maybe get injured, and he was pretty sure that’s not his fault, and… he was talking to the kid?
“Father,” The kid said back in the exact same tone.
Dick came up to sit next to him, “They’re just worried, Tim.”
Both strangers made identical protests.
Tim gave Dick a look of doubt, “Uh-huh.”
“How’re you doing?” Dick looked tired, “You took a really bad tumble there.”
Ah, so he fell, that explains a lot. Like the amnesia.
“My head really hurts,” Tim replied. “Do I have a concussion? I don’t remember falling.”
“Ooh,” A blonde wo– wait a second, Stephanie? What is she doing here? Is she still Spoiler? Oh no, Bruce is going to be so disappointed he didn’t stop her. “Must be bad if the dumbass is actually admitting to being in pain.”
Dick clenched Tim’s hand tightly, worry drawing his features. Bruce looked similarly worried if a lot more stoic about it. The sneers seemed to have lessened on Jason’s(?) and the kid’s faces.
Tim stuck his tongue out at her, then winced, “Ow.”
Alfred gently pushed him back down onto the bed, “Perhaps it is better if you lay back down, Master Tim, and I shall add some morphine to your IV.”
“Is anyone going to tell me what happened?”
Bruce pursed his lips, “We were taking in the East End’s Small Stacks gang, when Red Robin took a blow to the head while pushing Robin out of the way of a fatal attack and was subsequently pushed off the building. We couldn’t catch you in time.”
Alright, okay, so Tim is Red Robin, and Kid is Robin. Tim has no idea who the hell these Small Stacks are, or why they got the drop on them, but apparently, they nearly killed him and the kid.
Tim looked at the Kid, “Are you okay?”
Kid looked surprised, then bristled, “Unlike you, Drake, I am perfectly capable of dealing with lowly thugs.”
Okay, Kid doesn’t like him for some reason.
“Damian,” Dick scolded.
Kid is Damian, cool, name fits for the little demon.
Hey, look at that, he’d figured out everyone’s name without giving anything away! Take that, Superboy , Tim is totally a great detective.
“Alright, that is enough,” Alfred came back with a needle and a blanket. “It’s time for Master Tim to rest.”
‘Well, you can’t argue with Alfred,’ Was the last thing Tim thought before he blacked out.
***
Tim has no idea what he’s doing.
Logically, he knew that he should tell Bruce that he has amnesia because he’s currently a security risk and overall hazard, but it would be so weird and awkward to tell him now that he actually has no idea who the hell any of these people are and why there is a four-year gap in his memories, and nope. Not doing it.
Even if he doesn’t have any clue how to work the Batcomputer anymore.
Tim felt like crying in frustration. He suddenly understands why old people keep complaining about technology changing too quickly. It has been four years, why is everything different?
Everything is really different.
For some reason, Tim has the Wayne name, he spotted that on the signature at the end of his WE emails on his phone, which is a lot to unpack so Tim is just going to ignore that suitcase. On top of that, Tim definitely doesn’t live at the manor, Alfred made mention to that, but Drake manor is completely rubble from a giant cataclysm event earthquake that apparently rocked Gotham and killed thousands a few years ago. Tim is also going to ignore that. The thing is Tim most definitely going to ignore is his missing parents. He is going to ignore that very much.
Jason entered the room that Tim was using to hide in, “Didn’t Alfred tell you not to use your laptop while recovering from that concussion, you dumbfuck? You’re going to give yourself permanent brain damage and then what? How are you going to stick your nose into things?”
There’s this too. Relationships that he has no idea the dynamic of.
Tim can tell that he and Steph have broken up, that Dick has started treating him more like a ‘little brother’ instead of ‘idiot baby Robin that Bruce is going to push away’, Damian doesn’t like anyone but Dick, and that Jason is very snarky and rude to everyone but Alfred. Jason will never say a bad word about Alfred.
“I can be a detective with brain damage,” Tim said. Look! He’s doing it right now!
Jason snorted, “Yeah, that sounds like what B is doing. It’s how he’s such a fucking bastard.”
Tim does not know the correct response to that. Yesterday, Damian complained about Bruce, and when Steph agreed with him, he tried to stab her.
He laughed awkwardly.
Oh no, that’s awkward. Abort, abort!
Tim clutched his laptop to his chest, “Well, I have a few cases to damage my brain with. See ya!”
Tim cursed himself as he left the room. ‘See ya’? What is he? Thirteen?
Well, yes, but also no.
Ugh, maybe he should try to focus on breaking into the Batcomputer and filling himself in on everything he was missing.
***
Tim is acting weird.
Everyone knows it, and it started the moment he woke up from his fall.
Bruce and Dick seemed to be under the impression that after nearly dying for Damian, Tim was feeling uncertain about how to bridge the gap between him and Damian. Damian, pretending that he didn’t feel guilty for the near-miss, said that he got brain damage. Steph just shrugged and said Tim acts weird when he feels awkward, and nearly dying for the brother that he fights with 24/7 is awkward. Jason, however, suspects this is not a case of Tim’s terrible social skills.
Tim’s terrible social skills may explain how he was acting around everyone else, but not with Jason.
Jason had nothing to do with the whole patrol incident, so it didn’t explain why Tim always looked like a deer in headlights, so cagey, whenever they were in the same room together. In fact, Tim kept leaving the room . He wasn’t doing it just with Jason, but it was noticeable. It was like Tim was 15 and had no idea how to talk to him after the attack at the tower again.
Weird.
Jason had no idea what it was, but he had a secret weapon to bring in that would crack this entire case wide open.
***
“Little brother!” The Asian woman, who Alfred had specifically fetched him to see, said as soon as he entered the room. “Told you were injured. Was worried.”
“I’m fine,” Tim said lamely. “Barely a headache.”
The woman frowned, “Not fine.”
Everyone seemed to take her word as gospel, every eye on Tim, scanning him for invisible injuries.
“No?” It came out as a question, so Tim made his next few words more confident. “It was just a concussion, I really am fine. Nothing I can’t handle.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, “You are… confused. Not familiar.”
Tim felt a flash of fear. How did she know that?
“Little brother, who am I?” She asked.
“My big sister?” Tim gave her a puzzled look. “Stop joking around.”
She crossed her arms, “My name.”
Tim was stuck, “Uh… Emily?”
Everyone looked at him, then her, then back at him.
“Jesus fucking Christ on a bicycle,” Jason swore, rubbing his temples. “Timothy ‘Dumbass’ Drake-Wayne, tell me you haven’t been walking around with amnesia this past week and pretending like you knew what was going on.”
Tim flushed, “It’s rude to just ask people who they are.”
“AND YOU THOUGHT IT WAS BETTER TO JUST GO ALONG WITH IT?” Dick yelled, incredulous.
Steph started laughing and did not stop, “I told you he was being weird because he was afraid of making it awkward. I told you!”
Bruce just rubbed his face, looking exhausted. “Tim, what is the last thing you remember before you woke up in the cave?”
Tim perked up, he knew this one! “Young Just Us and I were playing intergalactic baseball to stop aliens from blowing up earth!”
“Tt. Drake has more damage than originally thought,” Damian commented.
“Actually, Master Damian, that did happen,” Alfred corrected. “Master Tim appears to have lost four years of memories.”
“I cannot believe you were just going along with it,” Jason groaned. “Do you even know who I am?”
“Jason Todd?” Tim said, a bit uncertain. “As a vampire?”
Jason stared at him, “Vampire?”
“Weird hair, very strong, very good physique,” Tim pointed out.
Jason made a face, “Gross. No. I'm a zombie.”
"Oh," Tim felt a bit disappointed. "At least I was close."
“Now, that we’ve established that Tim is an idiot,” Dick said loudly. “Can we move this to the cave where we can take an actual brain scan?”
Tim raised his hand, “I, uh, still don’t know who my new sister is?”
“Cass,” She said, grabbing his hand out of the air and holding it with a smile. “Let’s go, brother.”
“Okay,” Tim said, which was apparently his default reaction when something unexpected happens: going along with it.
“But in my defense, I totally had this until Cass showed up.”
“Cave, Tim,” Bruce growled.
“Going!”