Morally_Gray gave me this idea when we were doing the requests for Christmas but i ended up not using it so here's something a little fun and lighthearted because jesus christ i need that

"My EMP should make quick work of them," Red Robin announced proudly as he hit the button. Their enemies were stupid for relying so much on tech. Clearly, without their technology, they would be easy to defeat since they had no real fighting skill whatsoever outside of pointing and shooting. He would never leave himself open to such an attack. Sure tech was great and it could enhance your skill, if you're useless without it then you're just stupid. Well, he may have forgotten to factor in a few things about EMPs. Those came to the surface when Robin turned to him with an unreadable expression.

"Drake," he began, speaking slowly as though speaking with a toddler. "Did you set off an EMP?"

"I did just announce that demon spawn," the older snapped back. Robin was probably too deep in whatever inner monologue he was making to sound himself sound like the hero of the battle to hear who truly won the fight for the and helped everyone else as well in one swift move. He was going to make sure to add that Robin wasn't paying attention in his report even if Batman had told him to stop doing that since it wasn't "necessary" information. It was necessary to him when they were lumped together.

"So that would include our comm units?" He nodded. Sure it was a bit of a pain in the ass but it was worth it. Now they were picking everyone off far easier and it wasn't like they were spread out across some super secret base that required radio communication. They were all in the same room from what he could tell so orders could be easily yelled over the fight as it staggered off and he could fix whatever damage he'd done to their equipment by tomorrow. Robin was staring at him like he was stupid but he couldn't think why. It was a small downside. "Drake, what has Grayson's comm unit been made to include to be alongside a source of communication?"

"It's a hearing aid, why are you asking-"

"Ah, shit!" Nightwing shouted, taking out his earpiece to inspect it but finding nothing visibly wrong. Oh. Right. Nightwing needed a hearing aid and now he was left deaf on the field because it had been fried. The acrobat did a good job at masking his disability so it had slipped his mind.

"You failed to consider his hearing aid, didn't you?" Robin asked a vague smugness about him that irritated Red Robin to no end. It was simply a brief oversight but he just knew in Robin's report it would be made out to be some egregious lapse of judgement that could've cost them the whole mission.

"I may have overlooked it," he snapped.

"You didn't even think about it!" 

"Shut it!"

Dick had been born with bad hearing but over the years it had only gotten worse both thanks to his night job and the nature of his disability. 

When he was a child, his parents couldn't afford the hearing aids he needed so he went through a good amount of his childhood struggling to hear things over the muffling effect that tainted everything. The circus folk taught him ASL to make things easier and so they didn't ruin their voices by yelling at him all the time hoping he'd hear them over the static. He'd learned his routine cues through vibrations of the music and he still loved the crowd even though their clapping morphed into just one loud sound. Fans were usually kind at the end of the show as they took pictures and he even met some other kids who also knew ASL, holding brief conversations with them. There were moments where he wished he could hear without the muffle but he was thankful for it when his parents screamed as they fell.

Bruce got him hearing aids as soon as Dick told him of the issue and it caused some slight mourning of not having them earlier to hear his parent's voice without the warped effect. He still communicated with ASL mainly, finding the ability to suddenly hear clearly overwhelmingly frequently and needing constant breaks from being able to hear to calm down. His school soon admonished him for purposefully not using his hearing aids and he was forced to get used to them since it was apparently a privilege to be accommodated. It didn't matter how many hissy fits Bruce threw, the school didn't budge and Dick forced himself to get used to it.

Although he appreciated the gains he received from the technology, they were overall uncomfortable to wear and he was still suspectable to becoming overwhelmed by noise especially as they adapted to his ever-worsening hearing. Part of him reasoned that it only got so bad because he refused to take breaks nowadays but then that other part of him repeating what his teachers said drowned that voice out as suddenly as it appeared. 

To his knowledge, only Bruce and Alfred were the only ones fluent in ASL. Damian had mentioned learning when he found out but never expanded upon it and it wouldn't surprise Dick if Tim and Jason had some vague idea of the basics merely for the event they dealt with a deaf civilian. He knew if he mentioned them all learning ASL to accommodate to him, they would but he couldn't ask that. Not when it was easier for him to just deal with the noise.

When Nightwing noticed his hearing aid was now somehow broken for some reason, he didn't panic. Batman was a paranoid planner, always thinking of the worst outcomes for every situation, so naturally, he'd trained Nightwing to work without them back when he was wearing red, green and yellow. He was actually confident he could fight as well as he could before despite the fact he was now without his hearing since he'd done it so often in training. What he wasn't confident in was being left in the dark with every conversation until he got the hearing aids back working. He pocketed the now broken device since it would be of no use to him now and threw himself into the fight with relative ease. 

Thanks to Red Robin's EMP, the fight went by fairly quickly. Also, thanks to Red Robin's EMP, when Red Hood walked up to Nightwing and slapped him on the back in an attempt to be jovial he was thrown over his shoulder and flipped onto the hard concrete floor. Nightwing realised his mistake almost immediately and quickly helped him up whilst Robin laughed maniacally in the background and Red Robin ran over before a fight could start.

"What the fuck, Dickhead?"

"I'm so sorry," he apologised, his voice a little too quiet on account of being unable to hear himself. It also slightly overlapped the end of Red Hood's sentence, something he couldn't hear either. The helmet also proved difficult for him to guess what was being said but the gestures he was receiving were pretty telling. "Hearing aid isn't working. Didn't know it was you."

"What do you mean it's not working? Did you get hit in the head or something?" Nightwing knew how to lip read (although admittedly it wasn't a skill he'd been keeping up with since forcing himself to wear hearing aids all the time) but that was awfully hard when the person talking wore a red helmet to cover his face. The hero glanced around for the others, relaxing slightly when he saw them making their way over. At least he could see their lips and catch every other word.

"I set off an EMP," Red Robin explained once joining them. "His hearing aids will be busted till I fix them."

"Dumbass," the Red Hood snapped. "What're we going to do with him now?"

"Maybe start with taking the helmet off? He can't see your lips."

"I can't take it off. I don't have anything underneath it."

"Why would you have nothing underneath it?"

"I was late leaving the house. Besides, I already have the helmet. Why do I need a domino mask too?"

"Duh, in case someone takes your helmet off!"

"Duh, I'm legally dead whose gonna care?"

"Duh, those people who know you are still alive to recognise you."

"Duh, the pair of you are arguing whilst Grayson stand there deaf as a post," Robin interrupted. He waved his hand in front of Nightwing's face, catching his attention that had previously been set upon his brothers, and began to sign an explanation. He was slow at first since he'd not used it outside of the set phrases he'd been using in class but eventually, he got his sentence out.

Drake set off an EMP. Broke aid.

Nightwing's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the use of ASL even if it didn't flow very smoothly. He'd thought that Robin would only pick up a few key phrases just in case but he'd worked hard to sign full words and finger spelling ones he wasn't sure of. It was honestly adorable. He nodded to show he understood as the younger turned to his brothers with a smug look. 

"Some of us have busy lives, brat, we can't spend hours learning a new language," Red Hood huffed.

"I would've thought you'd make the time given Grayson's condition but if you find it too hard to engage with people then that is your own battle. Speaking of, given this one is over, I suggest we leave so Drake can fix his mistake."

"I hate you so fucking much."

Dick spent most of the journey back looking out the window and letting himself enjoy the lack of sound. The static that filled his ears was almost comforting and he felt his body relax in a way it hadn't done in years. He wondered if Tim was expecting him to be mad but honestly, he was sort of grateful. Now he could take a break without feeling guilty for making people accommodate him. He made a mental note to make sure Tim knew he wasn't angry and his silence wasn't pointed but rather him not wanting to unknowingly scream at people because he couldn't hear himself. Damian remained close to his side even as they reached the Batcave, ready to interpret when needed which Dick found utterly adorable. The young assassin was also ready to let Bruce know why Dick was so quiet and exactly whose fault it was.

"Grayson's hearing aid was destroyed by Drake's EMP," Damian announced. 

"It was an unexpected oversight," Tim snapped. 

"I'd argue it was very expected given you helped design the current hearing aids," Bruce agreed. He moved his hands with ease to sign along with his speech. It was perfect and practised like everything Bruce did or at least tried to do. Whilst it made sense for him to fall into it with ease, it didn't help Tim and Jason feel any less guilty they could only say thanks and run in the language. "Will you be alright until he fixes them?"

Don't worry about me, they were due an update anyway

"What did he say?" Jason asked.

"He says he's fine. Grayson, it may be beneficial for me to work as your translator since these imbeciles failed to see the importance of communicating with you in incidents such as this," Damian replied. His signs were still slow but he spoke slowly to match them so it was easier for the acrobat to catch every other word whilst lip reading. 

Just don't twist my words

"I would never do such a thing," the younger replied. He totally would if it hadn't been clarified.

Whilst Tim worked on the hearing aids he'd pocketed, Dick got changed out of his suit and enjoyed a shower where he was attacked by the sound of the water battering the drain. He did feel slightly on edge not knowing if someone was around but that didn't outweigh the comfort he'd got from the hearing break. Maybe since Damian knew ASL and sufficiently embarrassed the others for not knowing, he could take a break every so often. Just when it got too much. He remembered when he hadn't known that brushing his hair made noise since it was too quiet to hear properly and he couldn't do it with his hearing aids in for at least two months. He chuckled to himself at the memory. He put on a pot of coffee and watched it boil, jumping slightly when he felt Titus pawing at his pant leg for treats. Damian didn't know but every time he was in the kitchen he'd give the dog one just for fun. He couldn't help it when the animal pulled out those wet eyes as he'd cry without it. Maybe he was crying. and Dick couldn't hear it. He shrugged to himself and offered up the treat. 

He jumped again not a moment later when a hand patted him on the back. He looked up to find Alfred wearing a small smile and beginning to sign something.

You forgot the tap

Oh yeah. He couldn't hear the water running and forgot to turn it off. He cringed and went over to quickly shut it off. 

Where are your ears?

Dick smiled at the phrase since he hadn't seen it in so long. 

Tim's fixing

Alfred nodded and patted him on the shoulder, leaving him to the coffee. Part of him thought the butler would want to take over but he was glad that he'd been left to it. He prepared the cups in the way everyone liked and put them on the tray carefully, making sure not to put Tim and Damian's mugs together but also not put Bruce and Jason's together either, then headed back down to the cave.

Without his hearing aids, he didn't hear the squabbling between Tim and Damian but did see a pause in it for the name of coffee. He soon found himself sitting on an unoccupied office chair and scrolling on his phone. Although he would've liked to look through Tik Tok, he wouldn't be able to hear most of it and even those with captions were often inaccurate so he missed the joke sometimes. Instagram would have to do. He scrolled through until he got a text popping up at the top of his screen from Tim asking if he was mad since he wasn't saying anything. He wasn't mad. He turned to his sibling who was looking at him expectantly and tapped Bruce's shoulder to get him to translate. He moved his hands slowly and lip-synced along with them, hoping it would make it easier for Tim to pick up on some things.

"He says he's not mad," Bruce translated. "He adds it's actually nice."

"What? Being deaf?" Jason asked incredulously overhearing the conversation before getting a jab in the ribs from Damian. 

Jason wants you to explain 

Bruce told him.

"Hearing can be a bit much sometimes. I don't take many breaks anymore since it tends to cause trouble for the hearing so having a break now is nice," Bruce said, following the movements closely so as to not misspeak. "I can't explain it much more than that."

Dick remembered when Bruce came up with the idea to use a laser pointer to get his attention when he was taking a break. It was all fun and games until he accidentally flashed it in the young boy's eyes and thought they'd have to go to the hospital because he burned the retinas. After that, it was text messages so he always kept his phone on vibrate so he could feel it going off or Bruce would just stick his hand in his field of vision to get his attention. Nowadays it was too much work for everyone else if he took a break, especially by judging his brothers' reactions to his brief stint of complete inability to hear. Although he explained it as simply as he could, he still got confused reactions but he wasn't all that surprised. Those born with an ability to hear always assumed that Dick would be grateful for every moment of sound he could get and although he was thankful for the most part, it got hard. He'd spent his formative years without it and he was frankly more accustomed to the quiet than he was to the arrangement of everyday noises. 

Damian watched him carefully, acknowledging the resignation that he may never be able to explain it properly for them, before stepping in to take a crack at it.

"It's like listening to music. Most people listen to it all the time but there comes a point where you need a break and put on a different form of media or sometimes you block out all noise entirely. But unlike us, accommodations need to be made when Grayson requires a break from hearing so he doesn't take them hence why he's enjoying this long break."

"Huh. That was put pretty well," Tim muttered. 

"Once Drake fixes the hearing aids, we should discuss ASL lessons for the family," Damian suggested, moving his hands along so Dick could still understand what was being said. "It's not fair that we are all capable of learning but do you a disservice by not doing so." He shot a pointed glare at Jason and Tim at the addition because how could he resist such a well-timed jab?

"They should be ready soon. Maybe we should make them run on batteries?"

"Don't use batteries, they'll inevitably run out in the middle of a fight," Bruce criticised in passing. "Which inevitably means he'll go out and get himself into trouble because he gets overly confident in his fighting skills."

"Seems like you're speaking from experience?" Jason commented.

"Who do you think figured out the first hearing aid/comm unit design? He used to call them his Bat-Ears." 

That was partly your fault for putting a bat on them

"You asked for the bat!"

And you put the bat on them so

Bruce rolled his eyes with a ghost of a smile.