EDIT: TW SEMI-INTENSE INJURIES

Robin knew he was right but his team weren't so sure. Things had been so awkward after the whole Red X thing and sure he was wrong about that but he wasn't wrong about this. An island near the coast was having some suspicious activity. He was picking up energy spikes at all hours of the night that he couldn't attribute to an innocent source and he swore he'd seen better equipment being supplied faster to the criminal underworld. He was trying to convince the team to check it out but they weren't hearing any of it. "You're being paranoid. The energy spikes aren't even conclusively coming from there. They could be from some new build or something," Cyborg argued. "And the turn around doesn't mean anything. There are plenty of places they can get this stuff especially with Slade focusing here."

"You're not listening," Robin complained. It almost felt like he was back in Gotham trying to convince Batman that he had a case worthy enough for them to investigate. Only now he was standing in front of four smaller Batmans. Batmen? Grammar, his old nemesis, coming to test him again.

"No Robin, you're not listening. We have no good reason to go out there," Raven told him sternly. "You're being paranoid and connecting dots that aren't meant to be connected."

"I am not paranoid," he snapped. "You guys have to trust me on this, I know something is going on."

"The last time we trusted you, you were going behind our backs on a plan that blew up in your face. We're not going," Cyborg concluded. The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Robin just shook his head with a defeated sigh. They didn't trust him but that wasn't his problem. If bad things were going down then he was going to stop them with or without his friends. It was his job to do no matter the social drama. That Red X business was nothing compared to the things Batman did to his teammates and they still worked with him so why couldn't his team do the same? They'd have to forgive him eventually or there was no point in him being there as their leader. Maybe they didn't- no he wasn't going to think about that. Things will be fine and he was going to go to that damn island and prove them wrong. 

"Correction: you guys aren't going. I am." He stormed off to get prepared for his journey there.

Hours went by and Robin had been awfully quiet. A bit too quiet. He was pretty much silent most of the time but they would occasionally hear him yell because a case was annoying him or the sound of him tinkering away with some new project. Yet tonight he'd been quiet ever since they talked about that stupid island. "He went out didn't he?" Raven commented as they all walked to their bedrooms.

"Probably," Cyborg replied. "But there's nothing there."

"Should one of us check to be sure?" Starfire suggested. The eldest shook his head.

"As I said, there's nothing there. He'll get there, realize he's wrong and come back in the early hours of the morning." She gave him an uncertain look but she didn't make any move to go against him.

"He'd just lie if there's nothing anyhow. He'll be fine, Star," Beast Boy assured her.

"He will be fine," she repeated to herself. "Goodest of nights everyone!"

Robin was not fine as he docked the Teen Titan's boat. He stumbled off, hacking up more of the water he'd gulped down in a panic. Not his best move but he was having his head pushed underwater so he let himself off on that. He was soaking wet through and he was praying that the water trickling into his open wounds wasn't full of bacteria because he didn't want to deal with a cranky team plus an infection. He trudged over to the entrance to the tower, using his staff to help him walk along, before leaning against the walls of the elevator. He let his head fall back against it and stared up at the white light to keep himself awake. He never could sleep with bright lights. It's one of the reasons he didn't like hospitals. He'd have to either be really tired or on a lot of drugs to actually get some sleep in there. That and the hospital beds were always so hard to get comfortable on. He really hoped this wouldn't make him go to the hospital. Maybe he could get away with a nice shower. Boil the bacteria off of him. Alfred would cringe if he heard that thought and then put him on bed rest for the next week. He'd get to about three days and then the butler would give up taking him back to bed. Where did that energy come from? He certainly wasn't finding any of it now. He shivered as his drenched clothes clung to his skin uncomfortably and heightened the biting wind's chill. It was so gross. Top ten worst feelings: number five would be this. Number three would be having to walk past his teammates who were still extremely pissed at him for the whole Red X situation. He couldn't blame them though. Whilst he beat the man who tried to drown him within an inch of his life, he saw how he was coming off to his friends. That plan was very Batman of him and that was certainly not a good thing. At least he didn't make a contingency plan against them but undermining them and insinuating that he didn't trust them was probably not that much better. He supposed there was a silver lining. He was right about the island. If that was worth pissing his friends off more, he wasn't quite sure yet.

There'd been high tech weapons trafficking facility working just far enough from shore to be ignored. If he hadn't noticed the energy spikes, he doubted anyone would've figured it out. The police would've had no idea where it was all coming from until a few months down the line. He'd saved them so much money and time and resources yet he wasn't satisfied with the work he'd done. It wasn't even because he got hurt. That was just part of the job, and he still took the facility down singlehandedly, so that made up for the minor - maybe major depending on who you were asking and if that person was a trained medical professional - injuries. It would've been easier with everyone else there. More fun too. Sure he came to Jump City without the intention of building a team like the one he had but now he couldn't imagine doing missions like these without them. God damn his need to have some sort of family. He shook his head tiredly. What he needed was a coffee and some sleep if he had time. Coffee took priority though despite it directly impacting his sleep time.

Eventually, there was a ding and the elevator doors opened to a dark empty living room. He found some comfort in that. Walking past his team would be way too embarrassing and he could b-line straight for the coffee machine without hearing comments about it. He gripped onto his staff and stumbled over to the kitchen area. He tried to keep quiet as he moved around to get things so he didn't attract attention to himself. The last thing he needed right now was some comment on the Red X thing or how he shouldn't have gone out. He was in the right about this one thing but he wasn't in the mood to say I told you so right now. He wasn't in the mood to say anything. Probably because his throat hurt after having someone's hands around his neck. He pressed a button on the machine and listened to it slowly boil the water. It was satisfying to hear and certainly much better than explosions and gunshots. There was a soft pattering of the water running off his suit and dropping to the ground. He'd have to clean that up later. Maybe. Or he could just turn the underfloor heating up so it evaporated faster. Too far. If someone slipped on the water they must've been trying to slip. Besides, it's not like his reputation with them would get much worse. There was a small beep when the coffee machine was ready and put his cup into position. He supposed since it was late at night he shouldn't have it straight up so he went to the fridge to get milk. The cold from it somehow made the feeling of standing in wet clothes even worse so he quickly snatched the milk and closed it, shivering to himself. If this milk was off, he was going to throw a temper tantrum. A subdued tantrum since he was exhausted but a temper tantrum nonetheless. He grabbed his cup which was now filled to the brim with the dark liquid that substituted actually sleeping and poured what felt like half a bag of sugar into it. He then added a splash of milk, returned the carton to the fridge, and then took his soggy self to his bedroom to get changed.

After getting into some clothes that were sopping wet with seawater, he lazily performed some first aid on himself. Most of it was bandaging wounds and cleaning out scrapes. Something he noticed upon catching himself in the mirror was deep bruises around his neck. He ghosted his hands over them with a frown, knowing they would peek out from underneath his collar. Then again, if he were on shaky ground with the team they probably wouldn't waste any time seeing if he was alright. His hands dropped to his sides. He'd really messed up, hadn't he? They trusted him to do the right thing. Hell, he was an example for everyone since he was their leader and he should be better. Red X was such a good concept. He'd planned everything out yet when it came into fruition, he couldn't have thought it would be like this. He hurt his friends. He'd really hurt them and even worse, he knew how they felt. That certain type of hurt where you feel betrayed and undermined even though you knew you were perfectly capable of doing whatever that person thought you couldn't do. He'd felt that feeling at least once a week since he started! Robin shook his head. It was too late in the night to think about that and even later to apologize. Right now he needed to just drink his coffee and write his mission log. Not like anyone would read it. At this point, he was just doing it out of habit.

It was Cyborg's turn to cook breakfast that morning which more than not meant they were ordering out. Who could cook for others in the morning? Certainly not Cyborg. He insisted it was more ergonomic and they could get more done if they weren't cooking meals and washing dishes but they all knew there was a deal going on where he could get two breakfast burritos for the price of one. "Should we get something for Robin?" Beast Boy asked as he glanced over the order. Everyone else was crowded around the dining table though it was more like a dining booth you'd see in a diner and the only person missing was their leader. It wasn't a unique sight for him not to sit with them in the morning since he was doing his own thing but it was a more common sight since they called him out on going behind their backs. His presence was missed even if they were annoyed with him. He was entertaining to irritate over meals and mess with during board games. Beast Boy now and Cyborg had their own game of stealing some of his money when he was distracted. It was funny watching him having a meltdown over being short of a twenty. Running away from him when he figured it out was also good cardio so it was a win-win. Luckily, they wouldn't have to go on a manhunt for the teen hero as he limped in a few moments later looking like he'd just been pulled through ten bushes backwards. He stumbled over to the kitchen and went about his usual routine though it was now patterned with wet coughs he covered with the crook of his arm. 

"You okay over there?" Cyborg called.

"I'm fine," he responded hoarsely. "There was something on that island. Took it down last night. Wasn't paranoid at all." His hand subconsciously went to touch his neck, rubbing the spot with the bruises on it. It hurt but he'd certainly had worse before. Didn't make it any less aggravating to have.

"Did you catch something?" Raven asked, slightly disgusted by his coughs. She wasn't in the mood to be sick. In fact, she would never be in the mood to get sick but she certainly wasn't in that mood right now. He shook his head but they didn't trust him one bit. "Try again."

"Just got caught out a few times."

"What do you mean?" Starfire inquired. She flew over to him to get a closer look. She circled around him asking questions, "Did you get hurt? Where does it hurt? Does it hurt if I poke you here-"

"Star!" Robin whined, gently slapping her hand away before she could jab him in the ribs. "I'm fine." She took a step back - though she was still floating so it wasn't really a step - and gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes to try and pry the true answer out of him. "What do you want from me?" he croaked. He sounded exhausted. He must've been coughing all night either that or he was up because of some other horrible thing they were going to have to pull from him or find out on accident because his body had to give up on him. 

"An answer to Friend Raven's question please." He huffed but it cracked and made him cough harder than before. 

"You wanna know what happened? I got choked out, held underwater and tossed around for a few hours before I took that place down and carried my sorry ass here with the help of the boat," he explained, angrily thumbing to the window and hopefully in the direction of the boat. He couldn't actually remember which side of the tower he left it but the sentiment was there. "Why do you even care? You're pissed at me for my stupid plan!" 

"We said it was paranoid, not stupid," Raven corrected.

"Not this stupid plan the other one! The one where I was a douchebag and tried to be Batman and that's exactly what happened, I became Batman." His hands curled into fists and shook with frustration. "And that's one of the worst things I could have done." He abandoned his mission to get caffeine and stormed off somewhere he could cool down.

Starfire turned to go after him but paused to look at the team. On one hand, she wanted to be with him because he was clearly upset and she hated seeing him so upset. It was the right thing to do as a friend. On the other hand, she didn't want to stress him whilst he was already in a bad way. Plus he was showing regret for his actions and she didn't want to cuddle him so he didn't feel guilty anymore. It wasn't fair on them. "At least we know he regrets it?" Beast Boy started to break up the awkward silence between them. 

"Yep and had the classic "I've become my father" moment," Raven deadpanned. 

"And all he had to do was bite off more than he could chew," Cyborg commented. "I by no means am happy with what he did. It was dumb but he is only sixteen. I've seen people his age do dumber things. I'm okay to forgive him if we're all okay to."

"Yeah, the dude is bound to mess up and it's just weird now," Beast Boy added. "I'll forgive him." Raven sighed, not completely decided. She did know one thing though. Dividing the team would only lead to their downfall. Unfortunately holding a grudge wouldn't do. 

"Robin can have a second chance," she muttered. She wasn't content with forgiving and forgetting but she'd let him try again. Plus seeing him so defeated, something she thought would bring some kind of content, had left her dissatisfied. They all looked at Starfire for the final decision. 

"I agree with Friend Raven. He is our friend and we have all made mistakes. He is no different," she concluded. "I should go find him now, yes?" Cyborg shook his head and got up. 

"Stay here, I'll talk to him. Order me the deluxe meal BB."

As a leader, Robin put everyone before himself. As the eldest, Cyborg looked after everyone including his stubborn leader. Robin was only sixteen after all and, despite all the experiences he'd had, he still needed looking after at times. He wasn't even a real adult yet but he had so much resting on his shoulders. Although they didn't talk much, they did speak about things when they found the time to. Right now seemed like a good time. It felt like the universe agreed as the first place Cyborg looked he found Robin. This place was the roof of the tower since he always found seemed at ease when he was high up. He sat on the edge with his knees brought up to his chest and his chin resting on them. Cyborg walked over and sat beside him though he kept some distance between them. Robin didn't react much but knew he'd been joined by someone despite not taking his eyes away from the sunrise. "Wanna talk about that blow-up?" he asked.

"Doubt I have much of a choice," Robin replied quietly. 

"You do. You just feel like you don't because you know one has more cons than the other." Robin hummed and coughed into the crook of his arm, groaning a little. He sounded tired which wasn't too hard to believe. Working yourself half to death did that to you. "Taken anything?"

"Yeah." He glanced away from the horizon and to his feet. "I shouldn't have blown up like that."

"No, you shouldn't have." It went quiet between them as it so often did when chipping away at the walls Robin put up to protect himself. Cyborg guessed it was thinking time or the younger was acclimatising to the situation. Either way, he waited for him to continue the conversation. The ball was in his court. 

"I know I can make this right. I just don't know how."

"How would Batman do it?" Robin tutted at him. 

"He never really did," he mumbled.

"Well, what do you wish he did?" Cyborg asked. He shrugged. "C'mon you're a smart guy." He sighed and concentrated on the question. What would he want? Well, what did he used to want before he gave up on that? He doubted getting them a coffee and a new game was going to do the trick. Maybe a game for Beast Boy but he very much doubted everyone else would appreciate it as much. 

"I wanted an apology. A real one. Not one that apologised for how I took it but for what he did or one that happened because one of us nearly died." 

"See, you know what to do." Robin let his legs down with a sigh and let them swing. "You're allowed to make mistakes as a leader all you have to just is own up to it."

"That's probably one of the only things Bats didn't teach me," he joked morbidly.

"That and healthy coping mechanisms," Cyborg replied under his breath. "Let's get you inside, you've already got a gnarly infection brewing."

"I've told you about scanning me before," Robin tutted.

"When you learn internal bleeding isn't just a mild inconvenience I'll stop." Robin laughed to himself and turned back so his feet were once again on the ground. He paused before standing up, preparing himself both the apology and the rivets of pain that would go through him from moving. "You alright?"

"Putting aside the fact I'm in a crazy amount of pain and the fact I almost completely decimated the relationships I have with people I consider family, I'm just fine."

"You think we're family?" Raven asked. 

Robin looked up to find the rest of his team standing in the doorway where he assumed they'd been listening to their conversation the entire time. He nodded without hesitation. "I'm sorry about the Red X thing. I let my pride get in the way of things and I shouldn't have gone behind your backs," he apologised. "I'm also sorry it took a bad night for me to say it." 

"You got a lot of making up to do," Raven reminded him. He nodded with a frown. "But I can accept your apology in advance." He smirked, rolling his eyes at her misdirection. 

"I'm willing to do anything. Within reason of course. I draw the line at cleaning BB's room," he responded. 

"We would never make you do something so cruel," Starfire giggled. She floated over to him and snatched him up in a hug. "But you can clean up after Silkie for the next month."

"You're gonna have to loosen your grip otherwise he won't be moving let alone cleaning for the next month," Cyborg intervened. She let go with an awkward smile as Robin coughed harshly. "Bed rest then you make up for being a dumbass."

"This is probably the only time I'll agree to that," Robin wheezed.