"That has got to be the worst mission we've done in a while but we didn't deserve all that," Wally groaned as he flopped down onto the couch. Luckily none of them were hurt when shit hit the fan but unluckily since none of them were staying in the medbay overnight they got the chewing out of a century from Black Canary. The speedster didn't find it at all necessary and neither did his teammates if their bad moods were anything to go by. "I mean what were they expecting? Of course, we're going to do badly on a mission right before exam season. We were literally cramming on the bioship!"

"Exactly! We're out here risking our grades so they can get their recon for their League-level missions. We're not their lackeys, we should be given more slack or they should just go do it themselves," Artemis agreed, throwing her hands up defeatedly. 

"It shouldn't matter when our mission is, we just have to get on with it," Robin argued. His voice was tight as it usually was when he didn't meet his own standards with a mission. It wasn't like he was about to cry but more so like he was having to push past a mental berating to speak. Usually when that tone was pulled out, they knew not to fight him on whatever comment he was making but it wasn't fair this time. 

"Oh yeah, it's easy for you boy genius. The rest of us actually have to study," Artemis snapped.

"It's hard enough translating it all into Martian and then back again but then you have completely different cultures and histories," M'gann complained. "I got an F last time because I wrote my paper on a historical figure from Mars and not Earth. I'm lucky she let me redo it because she thought I accidentally handed in my creative writing assignment for English."

"The others have jobs too with deadlines and meetings. It's the same as school only they rely on the pay," Robin reminded them, sounding far too much like Black Canary for any of them to be patient with him. 

"You're forgetting two of us only just appeared on Earth and I just moved into one of the most demanding schools in Gotham!" Artemis defended. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Robin, as much as I appreciate where you're coming from, you must listen to your teammates," Kaldur said, stepping in before a fight although irritation was laced through his words. He too had exams coming up that were crucial in keeping him on land. If he couldn't keep up his studies, he'd be required to go back to Atlantis until he was caught up and who knows how long that would leave his time without a leader. 

"I'm listening to excuses. We all could've done better. Besides, do you think villains are gonna take the next month off because a bunch of teenagers have exams?"

"You're being mean," Connor huffed. "They should be doing more to help us. They all started as adults, we didn't." His other teammates nodded along. There should be more to help them. There should be a rule about springing missions on them during prime time to cram. 

"It's all well and good being heroes but some of us want careers," Wally stated. "Maybe we don't want to do this forever or maybe something happens that means we can't do it anymore. What're we gonna do then?"

"You're kidding," Robin replied, narrowing his eyes as though he'd been personally slighted. 

"No, you're kidding. Haven't you thought about what you're gonna do when you're older? You plan for everything."

"Yeah, and I plan to be a vigilante until I can't."

"And then what do you do when you can't?" Robin shrugged. 

"Nothing short of death is gonna stop me. That should be the same for the rest of you. We're all expected to be the next generation of heroes and you're sitting here talking like-like this is temporary! This isn't a fun little game for you to get your rebellious feelings out. There are expectations we have to meet."

"Oh I'm sorry I don't wanna grow up to be the next Batman like you but-"

"He doesn't want to be Batman," Connor interrupted. 

The room swiftly went silent and everyone's gaze fell onto the clone who didn't seem to understand the bombshell he'd dropped, simply staring back at them almost bored like he'd said something so incredibly obvious. He may as well have said that a power button on a TV remote turns on the TV. Yet at that moment, Robin went very still and very pale with the white lenses of his mask blown wide. He tried to recover from the blow but the gazes of his teammates had already flickered to him before he could put an undisturbed mask on. 

"Where did you hear that?" he asked carefully. 

"You said it in the therapy room. After the simulation."

"You can hear me in the therapy room?" His voice was barely above a whisper and shook ever so slightly. Connor nodded with a confused expression, not unlike the one Artemis had worn when M'gann found out the fridge light doesn't stay on when you close the door. Something had been said that was so painfully obvious to him but completely new to them. As if their day couldn't get any worse. 

"What the fuck Connor? You can't spy on us like that!" Artemis shouted, stepping in now that Robin's jaw had clicked shut and remained locked with his teeth gritting together. 

"It's not like I wanted to! I have enhanced hearing, I hear things in rooms that aren't soundproofed."

"Wait, Rob, you don't want to be Batman?" Wally asked, bringing them back to their previous argument. 

"That wasn't supposed- I need to go find Canary," Robin replied. He stormed off before anyone could prod him or better answers.

"You should've told someone you could hear the therapy rooms," M'agnn told the clone who seemed rather confused why everyone was upset. "They're private for a reason."

"I didn't know I wasn't supposed to hear. Every other room is soundproofed already and I thought it was okay."

"It's not your fault I guess," Artemis grit out. It really wasn't. He didn't know he wasn't supposed to be able to hear them and it must've slipped through the cracks on the jobs to do around the old base. He still didn't understand a lot of social conventions and apparently hearing Canary tell them all that nothing would leave this room, he thought it was just a turn of phrase or that they wouldn't talk about it later on. Not that he was never supposed to listen in the first place.

"In the future, you need to let us know if you can hear things like that. Privacy is really important to us, especially Robin. You can't just drop his secrets in a conversation," Wally explained.

"I didn't mean to make him upset."

"He'll know that but I have a feeling you just said something he's really not okay with all of us knowing yet. Be ready with an apology when he comes back."

"To be fair, Robin was riling us all up. What's wrong with the brat to think everything the League does is okay?" Artemis asked. 

"I know he can be insufferable sometimes but I think all that was just him being hard on himself and us being caught in the crossfire."

"That doesn't make it okay," M'gann argued. "He still hurt our feelings."

"He'll apologize later, you know he will. I would go get him now but," he trailed off and looked towards the door. "I don't think he'll be in a good headspace to realize what he's done." They nodded in agreement. At the end of the day, he'd been doing the job a lot longer than them so maybe he'd complained enough time with no change to know there was no point in venting their frustrations. 

Robin shoved Dinah harshly once he found her, almost making her fall had she not had the balance to save herself to stop herself from toppling over. She whipped around to glare at him and was about to ask what he was thinking when he pushed her again.

"You promised! You promised nothing would leave that room!"

"What're you talking about?"

"The therapy room isn't soundproof," he snarled. Her eyes widened with understanding, a flash of guilt went over her features and again she tried to get something out before being stopped by another outburst. "You promised me and you lied!"

"I assumed they were-"

"It's that sort of oversight that makes Batman not trust any of you and I'm starting to think I shouldn't trust any of you either. All trusting you did was make me show myself up and now the whole team knows my secret. Connor probably knows who I am and he'd say it if I thought it was relevant!"

"I'm sorry-"

"No, don't even try. You wanna talk about our fuck up today? Well, this is a major fuck up. I was such an idiot thinking I could trust anyone else. B was right. It's only a matter of time before one of you betrays us." He shook his head. "I thought I couldn't be Batman because I couldn't handle the burden of choice. I thought I was bad at leading. I'm not. I just trust too much far too easily and clearly, it's more trouble than it's worth."

"Robin, if you would let me get a word in edgewise you'd know that I want to apologize for not checking. If I had known then I would never have risked this. He never said he could hear the rooms."

"Because he probably didn't know he's not supposed to! He's never been alive before this, Dinah, he doesn't get these little things. He wouldn't bring it up if it didn't seem relevant or like a fact we're all supposed to know so don't you dare try to push off some of the blame onto him."

"That's not what I'm doing at all and you know that," she replied, her voice taught as though she was doing everything in her power to keep calm. "I agree that this was a failure on my part and I will do what I can to fix it but shoving and yelling at me won't do anything. You need to calm down so we can have a conversation about this." He sighed and flexed his hands, willing himself not to throw a punch over the subject no matter how much he wanted to. 

"I trusted you. Even after your protests to me being Robin in the first place, even when Roy went away and you did nothing to stop him, I still trusted you because you're a good person. You were looking out for him and I. Now?" He folded his arms across his chest and looked away. "I think I should get my priorities straight. First, being removing myself from your counselling sessions."

"You can't go back to not having a therapist," she argued. "Batman signed off on you attending them just like the others because you needed help."

"I think he'd be more than happy to amend that decision when I tell him about the serious security breach you enabled."

"Fine, even if he does agree to let you stop, you can't bottle up those emotions you have like you were before. It's not healthy." At seeing his expression remain unchanged, she conceded that she couldn't convince him to come back to her. "If you won't talk to me then at least talk to the others. They already know I'm guessing, and I'm sure they'd be happy to help you."

"I think I've learned my lesson," he replied, briefly making eye contact to make his point clear.

"I'm serious. You need to talk to someone, what we talked about were things no child should go through especially alone. I know your reservations but people are here for you." He wanted to believe her. Deep down he was still that little kid grasping at straws to keep himself afloat after being pushed under by a tidal wave of grief but if the rope kept snapping then there was no point trying to grab it. He didn't need the lesson to be hammered in again. 

"I'll be here for training and missions but nothing more."

Since finding out that the therapy rooms weren't soundproof and then the rapid correction to make sure they were, the team hadn't seen much of Robin. He only came back for training or missions or when they broke something and nobody wanted to tell the adults. Each time they saw him they recognised less of him. He seemed to retreat back into the person he was when the team began. At first, they thought it was unease over having his secret spilt so nobody brought it up but then he just got worse. Well, worse wasn't fair. They liked him still and if he was always like that then they wouldn't be disappointed but they had known him more than that character he played when he put on the mask. It was like they were halfway through a puzzle and took a break only to find the pieces no longer fit together and they were back to square one. Wally told them to give him time, that the secret spilt about him not wanting to be Batman threw him through a loop and he just went back to the stage where he felt the most secure around them. He conveniently left out how both Robin and Dick were acting distant now.

"What's wrong?" Connor blurted one day during training.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Robin stated. Now, unlike Wally, they don't know a lot about the person behind the mask. They couldn't tell you how he was brought up, or who his parents are and don't even ask them to bring up any sort of basic personal information like his real name. Hell, the one time they'd seen his eyes they couldn't be sure they were even his real eye colour. He was sneaky like that, he enjoyed giving them red herrings. However, despite their lack of knowledge of Robin's past, they were sure of one thing. When he said he was fine, he was absolutely not fine. See when he insisted he was okay to continue a mission only to pass out in a burning building he'd tried to convince them to leave him in. 

"No, you're not," M'gann insisted with certainty. "What's wrong? Are you nervous about exams? I know you put a lot of pressure on yourself especially with you still patrolling every night." 

"Nah, I'm feeling pretty confident about exams and work. I just worked out before I got here and forgot to cool down so I'm a little stiff. Nothing a cold shower won't fix," he argued although he kept his tone playful to soften the blow of it. It was almost convincing. Almost. 

"Rob, you got here at 3:30 pm. Schools in Gotham don't let out until 3:15. There's no way you could've worked out in that time," Artemis pointed out.

"I meant that I worked out before, as in this morning. I should've been more clear," he explained, not at all phased by the questioning. They decided to give him the benefit of the doubt on his excuse but they doubted that was the only issue going on with him. 

"Right well, you know where your room is if you need to lay down," M'gann said, an extension of comfort she hadn't expected him to reject.

"I'm going back to the Batcave after this actually," he corrected. "I don't see any point in using your facilities when I can just as easily go home and use my own." 

"But you always stay?" Connor pointed out. They hardly spent time with him as it was with his work being split between Gotham, Batman-only missions and their own missions not to mention his school work and other events that took up his free time. He had a routine where he'd train with them, take a shower, stay long enough to have a coffee or make sure nothing was set on fire whilst M'gann baked and then he went home. Altogether it took up a little less than two hours every other day of the week and sometimes he'd skip their sessions because of prior work. Now he was willingly giving up that time?

"Yeah but this way saves me using all your coffee and I'll get more done. No offence but you guys can be distracting."

"Are you sure you're fine? If you're still mad about the therapy situation-"

"I'm not mad about that, it was a failure partially on my part to make sure things were secure. I need to make sure I'm more careful with things like that. This isn't about Connor hearing me at all and he apologised. It's about making things more streamlined. It's not like I'm quitting the team."

"I know it's just we hardly see you as it is. Who am I gonna bully Wally with?" Artemis asked, punching his arm playfully.

"I'm sure you have enough comebacks to last without me. You can fill me in on all the dorky stuff he does when we go on missions." They weren't happy, to say the least, but they decided not to comment on the change any further. For now, whatever was bothering him was probably something to do with his secret identity and they'd find out more details in the roundabout way they found out about anything outside of work. 

Artemis wanted to be pleased with Dick finally leaving her alone but she couldn't. She missed how he'd invite himself to sit down at the table to talk with her, how he always somehow knew she was missing notes to a class she hadn't paid attention in and all the stupid things he'd say just to take her mind off things. As annoying as he'd been, dropping by every now and then to help out her with this smirk like he knew something she didn't, he reminded her of Robin so much. She'd been looking forward more to their weird little interactions ever since Robin started to push them all away. It only stood to make her feel shittier about the Robin situation when the acrobat decided to actually listen to her when she said to leave her alone. 

She had a free period that she usually used to finish her work for the next class but she'd managed to get it done the day before which left her bored walking around the school until her time was up. On her walk, she noticed a bag resting against a wall she knew led to a dead end. She raised an eyebrow at it and upon walking closer to it, she noticed the familiar Superman patch on it that was weathered with age. 

"Dick?" she called. He shouldn't have a free period at this time. He was always stocked up on some club or other that took up all his time. There was no reply which led her to believe someone must've taken his bag as a prank or just to be plain cruel to him. Maybe he was looking for it or maybe he hadn't even noticed it'd gone missing yet. Tutting, Artemis continued her path towards it with the intention of finding the acrobat it belonged to only to stop when she bent to grab it, seeing someone in the shadows. "Dick?"

Dick pressed himself into the corner of the dead end with his knees close to his chest and his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor. His hands danced anxiously, picking and pinching at his skin. Her frown deepened and she abandoned the bag to step closer to him. 

"Dick? Are you alright?" He blinked harshly, like he'd been frightened by her voice only he didn't seem all that scared. Maybe it was more like waking up someone who was deep in their sleep. He tilted his head up at her and for a painful few moments, there was no recognition in his eyes. It made her stomach churn. "Are you okay?" He blinked once, twice, thrice and then nodded. He stretched his legs out but remained in place.

"I'm fine," Dick replied almost robotically. The fond tilt his voice usually took on when speaking to her reminded her so much of Robin was missing and left his words flat. She wondered distantly if he knew what was going on with Robin because he too had started to talk to them like coworkers instead of friends. Maybe the pair of them had an argument and now both were left hurt. She doubted the young vigilante she knew was in a good mental space in the first place after finding out the therapy rooms weren't soundproof. 

"Oh yeah, you scream fine," Artemis snarked. 

"Leave me alone," he grumbled. She rolled her eyes, not at all deterred by his new frosty exterior. 

"Did something happen with Robin?" she questioned, keeping her voice low enough that only he could hear even though there was no one around to hear. His hands stopped suddenly and whipped around to meet her gaze properly for the first time since she'd greeted him. Fuck did he look tired. She'd only seen the same dark circles on herself after a long taxing mission followed by a lecture from Oliver and her mother so she had no idea what they were doing on the face of the ward of the richest man in Gotham. "It is something to do with him, isn't it?"

"What're you talking about?"

"Oh come on, everyone knows you're close. He and Bats are always saving you and Bruce. You've been weird at the same time he started being weird," she explained. He looked oddly relieved by her answer for a few moments before tensing up again.

"How do you know he's being weird?" Well done Arty, you really walked into that one. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and quickly came up with the best excuse.

"I've seen him on the news before. He always talks and talks in interviews, it's why they all go to him instead of Batman but now he's silent. More silent than his mentor, which is saying something." He narrowed his eyes with scepticism.

"How would you know that's a bad thing?"

"Because it's Robin! He's silent when he works but he's always been a people pleaser when it comes to interacting with the public. Crowd work comes naturally to him."

"Oh so you see a different person on TV and suddenly you know everything about him then you come to me accusing me of having some part to play in it? Let me tell you this, I don't have anything to do with it."

"You're awfully defensive for someone who claims to be innocent," she replied glibly. He shook his head and pushed himself onto his feet shakily. "Dude, don't be like that."

"I'm not being like anything! You came up to me and then start attacking me for Robin changing. Have you ever thought that maybe the guy has enough to deal with? Things that are bigger than some teenage melodrama."

"There's no need to be horrible about it," she snapped. 

"Yeah, well, who cares?" He made his way over to his bag which Artemis was now noticing was obviously thrown aside in a panic. Putting a few things together, she realised with dread what she'd walked in on and sighed loudly. She got up and put a hand on his shoulder which he shook off quickly. "What?"

"You've had a panic attack, sit down before you do yourself an injury." He glared at her and continued to collect his bag from where he'd thrown it. "Did I do something? You're obviously mad about something and I don't think it's just from me asking about Robin." He pulled his bag onto his back and looked back at her with an expression that could ruin the best of days. 

"I've got shit going on, Arty. A lot of shit that I don't know how to get through and I won't drag anyone down with me. No offence but I don't trust you with any of it. I don't trust anyone with it if I'm honest. You should just be happy I'm finally leaving you alone." He turned away. "Have fun in Algebra." As much as she wanted to, she didn't go after him when he began to walk away. It would just make everything worse to stop him now. He was like Robin in that way. Maybe she would get more out of the hero than the acrobat on why they were both acting so weird. Whatever it was, she could tell it was getting to some boiling point and all they were waiting on now was for the oil to breach the lip of the pan. She could only hope she wouldn't be standing close enough to get burned.

When she went to training that afternoon, she noticed Robin seemed tired and out of it as though he'd already fought a day-long battle before getting there. Although at his worst physically, he could still beat a lot of them in combat, once his mind wasn't in the right place he lost his edge. That was clear when he lost every spar. Usually winning against Robin was a good thing worth celebrating but today it only worked to make them feel more concerned about the young hero. He hadn't been the same since Connor told everyone he didn't want to be Batman anymore but there was something more than that. Connor had been the trigger to a concerning domino effect. The clone hated it. He didn't mean to cause something like this, he just wanted to offer an argument and meant nothing more than that. Perhaps it was his guilt that made his hearing focus a little more on Robin's heartbeat or maybe it was the fact it was pounding loudly like he was running a marathon rather than standing in place. Connor knew he needed to concentrate on his own fight but it was so loud. Too loud to ignore any further.

He whipped his head around to face Robin, frowning and losing interest in his fight almost immediately after it began. Luckily, M'gann noticed this before she took the opportunity to win their fight. He narrowed his eyes at the young hero who hadn't reacted to their shared eye contact which was worrying enough without what Connor could hear. He walked over and crouched slightly before waving his hand in front of the other's face. No reaction. 

"Connor?" Dinah asked.

"His heart rate is too fast. It's like he's running without running at all?" he explained with a confused expression. He knew a fast heart rate indicated panic but Robin didn't panic. He remained collected, even when he was angry at something or upset. If something was causing him to panic then it should be obvious but it wasn't. No one else was here, and if there was a danger on its way, he'd say something. Adding to Connor's concern was the lack of protest from Robin as being talked about like he wasn't in the room. He'd mentioned offhandedly that he hadn't parent's evening because they talked about him like he wasn't sitting there beside his mentor. It made him feel like a child, which he was, but a child much younger than himself. 

"He's frozen like a deer in headlights," Wally commented. The team has unconsciously moved closer to the young hero, almost as if protecting him from a threat none of them could see. Wally reached out and put a hand on his shoulder as though to shake him out of whatever this was. However, as soon as his hand made contact, Robin grabbed his wrist and threw him to the floor. 

"Don't touch me!" he yelled, his expression terrified. 

"Robin, you're safe. You're in the Mountain remember," Dinah said as she stepped into his line of sight. He shook his head slightly. "Remember, you're here for training. You're with your friends." He stared at her for a minute too long before seemingly coming back to himself although that came along with his whole body shaking. "Let's get you some water, hm?"

"I'm fine," he stated reflexively. 

"You just KO'd Wally," Artemis deadpanned.

"I just- I'll get it at home."

"You mentally tapped out and Connor said your heart was beating too fast. Something is going on Rob, I don't understand how deep it goes but I'm guessing it has to go with the therapy rooms?" Wally said as he got back onto his feet.

"Leave it alone."

"No," the speedster retorted. "I would've left it alone before it got to this point. I should've said something sooner but you're getting bad again. Did you have a run-in with Two-Face? Scarecrow?" He shook his head and shrugged dismissively. "Did you talk about something in therapy?"

"I stopped going," he replied, looking away like a guilty puppy being presented with the slippers it tore up. The team glanced at Canary and then back to him. "I couldn't trust her anymore! Batman trusts me to keep on top of things and keep so many secrets. I let my guard down once and everyone found out." He ran a hand through his head, tugging on the few curls caught between his fingers. "But now I'm even worse. I'm messing things up, I'm not hungry anymore, I hardly sleep which makes me way too honest and I'm having panic attacks over missing homework! I'm acting like the teacher will torture me for forgetting it on my desk. I'm freaked out about the future but I keep getting these flashbacks that make me think I'm stuck in the past so I space out of the present." To their horror, his bottom lip started to wobble dangerously. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"You lost a support system," Dinah told him. "When we talked in therapy, you were unpacking a lot of what you've been through. We addressed a lot of things you repressed and it's hard to put all of that back in the box once it's out."

"I didn't hear everything," Connor said suddenly. "I left most of the time because I didn't like hearing it. Hearing you hurt or cry made me feel bad and hearing your heart like that hurt me too. You're not okay."

"Robin, I think you've got enough stress going on and keeping all those secrets like who you are isn't helping. Batman wouldn't want you to give up therapy that you need because you can't let loose specific details," Wally insisted. "Remember when we first met and you were so stressed about making sure I didn't know your name you had a panic attack when I said it because it was the same as a criminal's?"

"Would it stop this?" he asked rather desperately. They hated how vulnerable he was, how he was practically begging to feel better. "I can't go against my mentor if it won't make me feel any better. I don't see the point."

"It might not right away but it helped us didn't it?" Wally reminded him. He nodded slightly and sighed. 

"Yeah, it did. Would it be okay to crash here for a bit? Just to get some sleep? Maybe the change of scenery will help." 

"Of course, you still have your room," Dinah replied. He smiled his thanks and began to walk to his room when he noticed Connor following him.

"Uh, what're you doing?"

"My hearing will alert me to when you have a nightmare. I can wake you up before it gets bad."

"You're gonna watch me sleep?" he asked with an incredulous smile but the clone just nodded earnestly. If he had the energy, he would shoo him off and lie about not needing anyone to look after him. He didn't have that energy though and honestly, it made him feel safer to have someone who was basically indestructible at his bedside. "Alright, big guy."