Work Text:
Damian was trained to be silent. A good heir knows when to speak and when not to speak. A good assassin knows how to remain quiet as they move. A good servant knows not to talk over their master. A weapon has no voice.
Children spoke, they laughed and yelled and cried; Damian did not. Damian was not a child. He was a tool to be used and discarded until he was needed once more.
When he came to the manor, it was different.
Grayson laughed when with father.
Todd sassed and yelled at father.
Brown made jokes and told off father.
Drake discussed his theories with father.
Thomas complained freely about school to father
Even Gordon instructed father.
It didn’t make sense. Damian wasn’t supposed to speak unless allowed, so why did they so blatantly disregard the rules. Why hasn’t father done anything?
Only Cain remained quiet, she was allowed to remain quiet. So why was he constantly demanded to speak. Only mother and grandfather could demand his voice. Maybe his father too.
—————
“Dami! Can’t you at least say goodbye to your brother,” Grayson wiped away a fake tear. Damian rolled his eyes and gave the barest of waves.
“Jeez, Demon, would it kill you to just speak. I’m supposed to be the one with attitude, stop stealing my style,” Todd commented. Damian resisted the urge to tilt his head, why would silence be seen as attitude?
Cain walked next to him and gave a small smile down at him. A smile that only they shared, watching Todd and Brown debate an irrelevant topic.
Grayson scooped Damian up into one of his “octopus hugs”—as Drake puts it. He put him down after a long 30 seconds. Wishing the family luck as he left, and giving Bruce a short hug before heading back to Bludhaven .
“Cass, we should get started on the case. I need your assistance to sneak in,” Drake stated bluntly as he moved towards the cave. He scribbled notes as he walked, not even bothering to look at Cain as he spoke.
“Damian can help too,” she said, barely above a whisper. That got Drake to stop, also catching the attention of Todd, Brown, and father.
“Why would you want the Demon to help, his communication skills are shit,” Brown questioned. Father cleared his throat and gave her a look.
“What? I’m just stating the honest truth,” she defend. Father looked back to Drake and then to the case he held in his hands.
“I see no reason to exclude Damian,” he stated simply before walking away. Damian caught only half of the conversation, he was busy looking at Cain in disguised confusion. She understood that you don’t talk without permission, so why did she do it?
She looked down at him and shared another rare smile before taking he hand and guiding him away. He was in too much shock to shake her hand off, or notice the snickers coming from Todd and Brown.
‘Why did you speak’ he signed when his thoughts finally caught up to the present.
‘You’re like me,’ she signed back, ‘we were raised not to speak, but we can make sound freely here. It’s hard in the beginning but you learn that nothing bad will come of it.’ Damian shock his head, he will not speak, to talk is to betray his heritage.
‘I won’t speak, I do not speak,’ he signed quickly. Cain’s eyebrows turned down slightly and she opened her mouth.
“It’s scary, I know that, sorry that we didn’t notice,” she apologized.
Damian stared up at her and looked around frantically. He felt like grandfather might emerge at any moment and reprimand them.
‘I have trouble still sometimes, but we can work through it together,’ she signed before adding on, “let’s make sound, Brother.”
—————
It was only a few days since Cain talked to him. They all sat around after an eventful patrol and Damian watched Cain as she spoke openly to father and everyone else. They were surprised too, when she switched from sign language to talking. Father even showed an uncommon smile.
He walked closer to the mingling bats, they all stood around Batman as he worked at the bat-computer. He had carefully made sure to never speak in the presence of anyone in Gotham. (It caused them to have to changed how they used comms because of his refusal to speak). The only person outside of the league to hear him speak was Cain. They had practiced taking to each other.
He sat at the table for the debriefing and waited patiently for his fellow vigilantes. It’s always the same routine. Wait for father to finish before giving the patrol reports to father, most the time verbally, but for Damian and Cain it was always a paper.
Father sat at the head of the table and soon everyone followed to their own chairs. Damian felt unprepared without his report to hand in, he was speak it today, just as Cain had done the night before.
Slowly around the table reports were given one by one. Working from oldest to youngest. When it came to Cain she handed over a paper, but still gave a report verbally.
“Robin, please hand over the report,” people turned to look at Damian. He normally handed his report over before the meeting. He took and deep breath and looked to Cain for support.
‘Make noise,’ she signed. It was simple but a phrase they repeated constantly. He looked at father at the head of the table.
“My report … is … verbal to-today,” he stumbled over a few words, not used to speaking. Cain Cass gave a thumbs up from across the table.
The room was silent for a few moments and Damian shrunk back into his seat. Did he do something wrong? Was he not allowed to speak? Maybe this was all an elaborate trap to get him to speak and get him in trouble.
“He has a lisp and stutter!” Brown’s voice suddenly burst out. She laughed and he cringed at her loud voice as the room filled with quiet conversation.
“That is perfectly acceptable, Damian,” father finally spoke. Damian nodded and retold the nights events—with some stuttering and stumbling from years of not speaking.
—————
“Soooo, Cass,” Jason said, sliding closer on the couch. He looked around the room before he spoke is a hushed tone, “what’s up with the demon?”
Cass looked up at him and tilted her head. Nothing was different with Damian. Jason stared at her for a few moments longer. He sighed and turned to Dick who sat on the other couch.
“Dick, you know the demon well, why’d he choose now to speak?” Jason questioned. Dick looked up from his phone. His face twisted as he thought about … something.
“Don’t know, I’ve never heard him speak before,” he finally replied. Jason looked taken aback in surprise and turned to Tim who only shook his head.
“I have also never heard him speak before,” Duke added on as he entered the room. Dick stood suddenly and declared, “well someone must have heard him before, all we have to do is ask.”
Cass smiled fondly as they left the room. Her siblings were great detectives, but sometimes blind to the most obvious of answers.
—————
“It’s official, the brat has never talked before last night,” Jason announced as even Bruce shook his head.
They walked back defeatedly to the living room from before only to stop in the doorway. Damian and Cass sat on one of the couches, playing a game on the tv. Cass was laughing and Damian shook with held in giggles.
Dick was the first to move, watching the game of Mario Kart on the tv. Cass crossed the finish line in first and Damian in second. Everyone prepared for Damian the throw his remote on the couch and leave, but instead he stay and … laughed?
His voice was high pitched and childish. Cass put her hand on his head and messed up his hair. He didn’t duck or swat her hand away, instead choosing to lean into the touch.
“Umm, is that really demon?” Tim questioned quietly. Damian and Cass looked up, noticing the audience of vigilantes now staring at them. Damian stood abruptly and shouldered his way past the crowd and out the door.
He disappeared around the corner and everyone turned on Cass. She smiled sheepishly and stood.
“Damian and me, trained assassin, no permission no speak,” she stated and walked away. Bruce walked into the living room as she left and nodded to Cass.
“B! Did you know?” Dick yelled. Bruce held up his hands to speak but Tim interrupted.
“We should have known, it was so obvious,” he sounded disappointed. Probably was disappointed, they all were.
“Yes, well, we can discuss later,” Bruce said awkwardly. He turned an hurried out the living room. Leaving a confused batch of teens and young adults.
—————
Damian walked down into the cave, moving towards the changing room. He peaked over at father as he talked to Grayson.
“Oh, hey Dami!” Grayson yelled as he waved. He waved back a turned to escape, but a new voice spoke up.
“Damian, what game for tomorrow?” Cass asked. He tried to open his mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come out. He looked up at Cass, she ruffled his hair and nodded to him. He opened his mouth once more but all that came was an unrecognizable half spoken word.
“Damian,” father interrupted and all eyes turn on him. Jason covered his mouth to laugh as Duke tried to pull his attention back to the case they were working on. Damian made eye contact and Bruce continued, in a softer tone he said, “you will always have permission in Gotham.”
It felt like a weight was lifted from his chest. Nothing had really changed, but everything felt different. This time he opened his mouth and spoke.
“A re-rematch in Mario Kart would be fun- I mean p-pleasant” Damian stuttered out. His voice cracking part way through the his sentence. Cass put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
“Let’s make all the sound we want,” she whispered before walking away.
Damian put his hand on his shoulder and nodded, not a nod like when receiving instructions, but a nod between friends, between siblings.
—————
He could talk, he wasn’t just a tool. Not a weapon or a servant in service of his grandfather. No longer a silent assassin stalking his prey or the perfect heir doing all he was told.
Damian made noice, made himself known. Everything felt right, he struggled and he overcame his past. Not alone, with his teammates family.
‘Make noise’ he signed to himself in the mirror. Just for himself to see. He was not a weapon or tool for anyone else. He was Damian Wayne and he lived for himself