Chapter Text
Where it all begins
You are 17. Bruce Wayne's newest legal adoptee. The sweetest little kid he has ever taken in - "Cipher Wayne"
No criminal records. No dead parents (they just happen to travel and work too much).
You were doing just fine.
You even had a dentist appointment scheduled when Bruce randomly decided to pick you up.
He thought he was finally "collecting" a normal child.
Someone sane. Polite. Great grades. Emotionally available. An actual sleep schedule. Know how to communicate. At least he thought so.
Little does he know the kid will be the death of him…
But for now? He's greatly pleased with the newest Robin. A strangely swift adapter.
A Golden Retriever.
Everyone has a soft spot for you.
Most of the time, you spend your time training with your greatest mentor - Nightwing. The rest is for finishing high school, drinking tea with Alfred and wild rides with Redhood.
Why Jason? You will know. Soon.
Puberty nonchalantly showed up and "Alright, kid. BET."
Your voice is cracking so frequently till the point that you sound like a crow choking on his own seeds.
You are in the middle of completely serious, articulate, mature speech.
"I read the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) report. The explosion radius was at least six bloCCH.. blockhm.. kHHHhk"
And Tim just gently pats your head like you're a child choking on his own spit.
Bruce is totally baffled.
"Is this normal?" He mentions while standing there watching you rehearsing your voice all over again.
"Average. Try not to startle him. The vocal cords are quite fragile, Master Wayne." - Alfred replies flatly.
Dick is supportive. WAY TOO SUPPORTIVE.
He casually shows up during the mid sparring session between you and Damian.
"Hey champ. Voice break, huh? Want tips? I nailed my puberty arc."
He adds with a playful wink before scooping you up from Damian and fleeing away without waiting for you to register him.
And he starts to giving you "voice acting lessons 101" warmups until you're embarrassed and genuinely uncertain if you will ever speak again without sounding like a child of a haunted flute and a broken record.
Meanwhile Dick's just casually doing scales: "Do re mi - hold on, try "mi" again. That's right. Good boy. Adorable. One more."
90% flexing his perfect voice and 10% giving actual tips. Typical.
Jason Todd? Chaotic evil.
He hears you call him "brother" ONCE and your voice just happened to break halfway mercilessly.
"Hey b-buh-bro-…"
Jason: "Buh? BRO?! DID YOU JUST YODEL AT ME??"
Then he proceeds to imitate your voice for SIX STRAIGHT DAYS. Also, he keeps records of your broken voice secretly for blackmailing later.
You try to speak once in front of him and he just clutches his chest dramatically like:
"WAIT WAIT- PLEASE DON'T TALK YET. I NEED A MOMENT." and along with the wheezing teapot noises from Jason.
Damian wants to put you down. Emotionally.
You are the only sibling who greets him like he's your three-year old baby and you gave birth to him biologically.
"Hey baby buhhhhhhh-BAAAaaahhH… bat"
YOU MAKE THAT NOISE AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED (with a beaming smile). Damian nearly combusts.
His voice trembles: "You sound like a dying goose."
You casually reply: "You are.. my favorite goose by the way."
Tim again. AWFULLY EVIL.
Every time you speak? "Click." "Click." "Click."
He has a soundboard.
You find out two weeks later. TOO LATE.
He programmed the Batcomputer to glitch and scream a tape of your voice cracking every single time anyone types "puberty."
You might or might not die at the moment you try to search for "how to overcome puberty".
Hell asides, you are still the favorite.
Because even with the horror of being seventeen in a cave of vigilantes, you are still the only one who calls Bruce: "D-d-dahhhhhhHDHDH… Dad"
And it melts him. Also, he almost chokes on his morning coffee.
Survived. Barely.
You wake up one morning…
And your voice?
IS SO DEEP that it could make Alfred pause mid-serving tea like,
"… Pardon? Who said that?"
It's SO SMOOTH. SILKY. CRIMINALLY UNEXPECTED. Like imagine someone just shoved six Hades and a late-night ASMR "alpha boyfriend hushing you to sleep" into your throat overnight.
The problem (or not) is your face is still all sweet.
You look like you should be asking Alfred for extra chips.
You smile like a kid on a scholarship interview.
You walk like a child who just got an ice cream from his dad.
And then you open your mouth and say:
"Good morning."
AND DICK GRAYSON DROPS HIS MUG.
Damian utters in horror: "You have been… possessed."
Tim just nods: "You sound like God… if he has a podcast."
Bruce? TRAUMATIZED.
You casually ask: "Hey, Daddd? Can I borrow your charger?"
And Bruce blinks like you just gave him a flashback to when he went through voice drop. He almost says "Yes, sir." out of instinct.
Guess what's next, sweetheart? Dick is embarrassed by his own voice now.
You speak once and suddenly Dick is trying to lower his tone in conversation again, going full Batman impersonator just to keep up as the big brother.
"OH YEAH? I can sound like that too - Justice… never sleeps."
You: "… You alright, Capt?"
Dick coughs as he waves his hand: "… N-no."
Jason loses his entire mind right now. He tries to mock you like always (out of love) and ends up flustered. Genuinely flaring that your voice makes him sound like the little brother.
Jason: "YOU. ARE. NOT. ALLOWED. TO. TALK. LIKE. THAT. Nope. I had the sexy gravel voice monopoly. I EARNED MINE through DEATH."
You respond calmly: "I just woke up like this."
Jason: "I will physically trip you off this roof-"
Tim recovers fast and first. He instantaneously pulls out his phone to record the new soundboard material. The internet does not survive what comes after. He posts a clip of you shouting in the mid mission and captions it: "Batman if he moisturized."
Back to you, sweetheart. You still smile sweetly. Still hold open doors. Still offer your seats on the bus for the ladies and the elders. Still apologize when someone bumps into you. But now you do it with a voice that could melt metal.
"Excuse me. Sorry about that."
"Ma'am, please take my spot."
"Ladies first."
And abruptly everyone's knees buckle.
Bruce pretends to be unfazed. Yet you catch him quietly turning down the bass on the Batcomputer so it doesn't rumble when you speak over comms.
Also he may or may not have added your new voice clip to the Batcave's "alarm deterrent system”.