So this is based on my experience with trying to figure out what's wrong with me so maybe the conclusion won't be too concluding because I haven't found out yet past the point of a doctor being like oh yea that's hypermobility...sucks to be you - maybe when I do, I'll do a part two 

The team was hanging out together as usual and enjoying the quiet downtime they so rarely got to have. Training was over and they had no mission planned for the day. It was also one of the rare times that Robin could stick around to simply be around them like they were just a bunch of normal teenagers. Unfortunately, he had a habit none of them really liked. No, it wasn't that his self-preservation skills had been missing since he was nine. It was his habit of cracking his joints. 

None of them brought it up because it seemed that he just sort of did it. He'd move his legs and his knees would pop, he'd move forward to grab the remote and his arm would creak or his back would crack. He didn't seem all that bothered by it like this was a daily occurrence and therefore completely normal although sometimes his face would twitch with a wince before becoming impassive again. Other times it seemed to be on purpose. If he'd been sitting for more than twenty minutes he'd crack his back or tilt his head with a crunching noise following. Again, they didn't comment because he looked to be doing it out of necessity rather than doing it to intentionally piss them off.

Once again, Robin had his joints creak ominously as he got up to get a drink from the kitchen. Apparently, it was one time too many for Connor who huffed loudly and glared at the hero. 

"Stop doing that," Connor grumbled. 

"Doing what?" Robin asked.

"Making those noises. It's really annoying," he explained, his glare still heavy on his features. The younger tilted his head curiously and moved his wrist, getting a crunching sound from it.

"This?"

"Yes!"

"Sorry dude. I don't really know how to stop it. I just kinda do that. Everyone does, don't they?"

"Who do you live with? Not everyone does that. At least not people our age. Maybe the elderly waiting on some sort of replacement," Artemis griped. He seemed even more confused, a little surprised too, at that response. 

"Everyone does that though. That's just how bones sound. It's like how everyone is always in some amount of pain so maybe you guys just don't have it as much as me." The group all paused what they were doing and turned to the acrobat to give them their full attention. He only stared back as though he hadn't said something out of the ordinary, shuffling under their sudden gaze. "What?"

"Robin, are you always in pain?" Kaldur asked his voice tight with worry.

"I mean, it's not pain like gunshot wound pain or torture pain. It varies. One minute it's kinda achy, the other minute it feels like my bones are in the wrong place. That's normal. At least it is for humans, maybe some of you don't have that?" Yet their concern didn't let up so he decided to explain more. Surely they just didn't understand what he was telling them. Three of them weren't even human and Wally was mixed with the speed force so he understood why they didn't initially understand him but Artemis was looking at him like he'd grown a second head. Maybe it was a flexibility thing? "Maybe I'm not explaining it well enough. You know when you walk too long and it feels like your ankles are sliding inwards? Or when you sit for too long and your back feels like it's compressing? Or when it's cold and your fingers lock up?"

"I think you have something going on with you, dude," Wally stated, the others nodded along.

"Something? Real descriptive."

"I don't wanna say you have something wrong with you but I think this is a you thing we should get checked out."

"No way," he brushed off defensively. Batman would've done something if it wasn't normal. He would've noticed and he would've taken him to a doctor to have it all checked out like he did with every sprain he got no matter how often he got them. Hell, Alfred would've noticed signs that he wasn't in an ordinary amount of pain all the time. Clearly, he was talking to the wrong crowd even if Artemis was human enough to feel what he did. Maybe she was just trying to look cool in front of the others by denying it but then again, she looked genuinely worried when he explained something he went through every day. 

"You are flexible. Maybe too flexible," the archer began before she looked to the side thoughtfully. "We should get Canary or Batman to get you looked over, I have a hunch, and if it's what I think it is then you're better off knowing."

"You're acting like I'm gonna explode any minute. I've been like this for years, probably since I was at least eight. It's just growing pains and regular old pain we feel every day."

"The normal amount of pain to be in every day is no pain," Kaldur insisted. 

"There's no harm in getting checked out," M'gann assured him. 

"It might stop the noise," Connor added, still irritated from hearing it so often. It was probably amplified thanks to his hearing. The others sent him disapproving looks he swiftly brushed off.

"You know what? You guys are just overdramatic. I'm completely fine."

"Alright, we'll stop bothering you about it if you just do two things for me," Artemis bargained. Given that he was quite done with the conversation, he sighed dramatically and nodded. She waved him over and demonstrated what she wanted him to do. "Take your thumb and push it until it hits your forearm." Her thumb was a bit far off from her forearm but he didn't see any significance in the mistake in her wording. Robin grabbed his thumb and casually pushed it until it touched his forearm. Admittedly, the angle looked a little disconcerting, but if his body could bend that way, it couldn't be that bad. Only when everyone else tried it out of curiosity, they failed to get their thumbs to completely touch their forearms. "Okay, now stretch your arms out in front of you with your palms up." He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out what joke she was planning if she was planning any but he still did as he was told. She did the same only their arms didn't match. His elbows seemed to pop up which made his arm look like it had a broken joint. Hers remained straight whilst his tip was at the end. "Alright, I'm pretty sure you're hypermobile."

"Hyper what now?"

"Hypermobile. We should get you tested properly though. It could be EDS."

"Erectile dysfunction syndrome?" Wally giggled.

"Ehlers-Danlos syndrome dipshit."

"It's not gonna stop me working right?" Robin asked, a little fear bleeding through his voice.

"No, you'll still be able to be a hero. From what I can tell, your symptoms seem milder than the requirements for Ehlers and this is more about finding adjustments and being more aware of your body. Do you find that you get twisted ankles and stuff often? Or dislocate things easier than the rest of us?" she inquired.

"Uh yeah? I guess so but that's because we have different fighting styles and I'm smaller. I get thrown around more and I just thought I was doing the moves wrong," he muttered the last part to himself and frowned. "Although, it always has been a mixed bag. The condition sounds familiar, I think one of the contortionists had it."

"The what now?" 

"Secret ID stuff, it's classified," he waved off dismissively. "I'll talk to B about it."

It was weird how finding out not everyone else was in pain made Dick pick up on how often things hurt. He never really mentioned the pain to anyone else unless it was particularly hard-hitting and he needed to stop whatever they were doing but more often than not he worked through the pain. He'd been in pain since he was eight although he wouldn't be surprised if he'd been in pain beforehand that he wrongly put down to practising his routines too often. It didn't always hurt so bad he had to take breaks or mentally battle with himself to get out of bed. There was always something aching. The only reprieve he got was through medication he received when he was injured. In short, Artemis had him thinking and he couldn't brush it off. 

"Hey B, I have a question for you," he began slowly before realising he really wasn't ready for this to go wrong. Artemis told him that this wouldn't affect his ability to work but what if she only said that so he'd tell someone? He didn't want to give up this job so soon. He loved being a hero, his whole life and future revolved around being a hero. Maybe not as Robin forever or Batman but he'd be working as a vigilante. He didn't have any plans for his life outside of this. What if admitting to his problem was sealing his fate and he'd have to stop right then and there? His stomach churned anxiously at the thought. What was he without being a hero?

"Usually a question comes after that," Bruce told him after he got lost in his thoughts for too long. He hummed and sucked in a deep breath, silently hyping himself up. It could be nothing, he told himself, and it would be nice if they found a way for him not to be in pain.

"It's just- I was talking with the others and they were talking about how my joints make these noises a lot," he continued. "We also talked about what's normal for your body and what's not supposed to happen and uhm," he took another deep breath before rushing through the end of his sentence, "are you also always in pain?" Bruce's eyebrows furrowed in concern and he shook his head slowly. Suddenly Dick felt out of place as though something was irreparably wrong with him and him alone.

"Are you?" he asked.

"Not like always screaming in pain but it's like an ache pretty much all the time. I've always been like this even before Robin so I thought it was normal for everyone but the team said it wasn't. Artemis thinks I could have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or that I'm hypermobile at the least. Unless those two are the same thing. I don't know I sort of left before she could explain further and she said I could probably still be a hero right so you don't have to bench me if it turns out to be either."

"Let's not jump to that just yet but we'll get you checked out tomorrow," his mentor assured him. "Did you not mention it during your first physical? Or any physical after that?"

"Whenever Leslie asked about it, I just said it ached and she told me it's probably from working too much. I guess I never really specified that it's all the time and after a while, I just stopped mentioning it."

"Why didn't you say anything to me? You could've said you were in pain." He shrugged non-committedly because he didn't really know why he hadn't mentioned it. He just thought it was normal but surely he should've said something concerning enough for it to be picked up. "We'll get it sorted out chum but you have to tell me about these things. Is there anything else I should know?"

"I don't know? I never really thought about it as an issue." Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "Am I in trouble for not saying anything?"

"No, of course not. I suppose I should've known something was going on when you took far too well to fixing your own dislocated joints. I just thought kids were bouncy like that," he mused. 

"Suppose we both just assumed it was normal then. It's a miracle neither of us are seriously impaired at this point."

"That's what Alfred's for."