Robin one shot part 3!

Deaf Dick

peachrcses wanted this and we all know I'm a slut for aus to do with Dick and this was legit one of my favourite aus

The team knew Robin was deaf although when they first met the bird, it was difficult to tell from how he acted. He never seemed surprised when someone tapped him on the shoulder to talk to him and he seemed to understand what everyone was saying. He was just quiet but they put that down to being Batman's protege. It was only when they asked Robin a question that required more than a yes or no and he typed out his response on text-to-speech that they realised something was up. It was then explained to them that he couldn't hear. He was clearly good at what he did since he never seemed all that hindered by his inability to hear and could easily pass as hearing. 

Robin never pressed them to learn ASL though it would be much easier than lip-reading and he could cut the time he was spending on typing out his replies as Aqualad had once pointed out. He assured them that he could read lips just fine and there was no need for them to learn just for his sake but that didn't stop them from feeling a little guilty and feeling like he didn't push the point purely because he didn't want to seem like a burden. It had to be hard watching their lips all the time, especially if they were all talking at once or if they were out of his line of sight. M'gann had suggested that she set up the mindlink on a permanent basis but he refused, arguing that it would leave her too tired to maintain it for so long and that it really wasn't worth the trouble since he was so used to being unable to hear. Although he wasn't wrong, she still felt like she should've done it anyway. She remembered when she set up the mindlink the first time and the absolute joy that spread across his features upon being able to hear everyone. He was quite delighted upon hearing Batman's voice too. If that smile was the only thanks she ever got, M'gann would be happy with just that but he refused every offer she made to make it permanent. Typical really. Caring more for her than himself.

It wasn't until one event that the team was sparked to fit in learning ASL around their busy schedules. They'd all been talking when Robin returned from his third all-nighter patrol with Batman. He waved to everyone and they waved back before returning to their conversation. They were arguing about what movie they should watch that night and, in Connor's case, if they should watch a movie at all. They were at a stalemate with a tie between the two most popular choices. Surprisingly nobody else wanted to sit in silence as Connor wanted. 

"Robin, what do you think?" Kaldur asked. The teen stared at him, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes squinted. After a few moments, he typed out his response. 

"I have no idea whaat you sayin," he answered. There were a few misspellings too, making the robotic voice trip up on the words. 

"Did we talk too fast?" M'gann asked. He put up two fingers, leaving a little space between them and shrugged to show he meant a little bit. She frowned. "We can repeat it if you want?"

"Is fine, need nap anyways," he replied, getting up and walking out. They could tell he felt a little defeated about not being involved. Sure he couldn't hear the movies but he still liked them and he really needed the break after spending so long with his mentor. All that hard work and now he couldn't even sit with his friends because their lips were moving too fast for him. 

"We should really start learning ASL," Artemis stated. "I feel like a dick when he can't understand us."

"I can teach you guys some of it," Wally suggested. "I can send you some videos on it too if that'll help."

"That's perfect. I'm sure he'll appreciate us using as much ASL as we can," Kaldur stated.

A couple of days later, Robin came to the Mountain for a short visit before a long mission with Batman. He wouldn't be able to talk to them for a while so he made sure to get a lot of sleep the night before so he could understand what they were saying to him. The team was in the living room, as they had been a few days ago, and he walked in giving them a smile and a wave as he usually did. 

"Hey, Robin, how are you?" M'gann signed. He paused immediately. He stared at her blankly before signing back. 

"You know ASL?" She nodded with a bright smile. 

"We all know it. Not the best though." His face lit up and he looked at the others. They all signed hello to him. 

"Why did you learn it?" he asked, surprised by them suddenly using it. "I told you I could read lips just fine." He made no push to get them to learn yet here they were using it. It was so...nice. Not a lot of people bothered to make the effort to make communication easier. Even when he denied having the mindlink set up constantly, he'd thought it'd been a hollow offer. One of those things people did out of politeness but never really wanted to do because it would cause more problems. But if they were here using a language he understood perfectly then maybe those offers had been real. 

"We thought it would be fairer on you to learn it," Artemis answered. She was still a little shaky so she moved her lips along with the hand gestures so he could understand her despite the slip-ups. He didn't seem to mind though.

"You learned it for me?" He was going to cry. Obviously, he wouldn't in front of the team but he certainly could. They really cared. 

"Yeah, you always have to read our lips. We can use this more when you find it hard to watch our lips," Wally told him.

"Thank you so much!"