I'm glad you guys like it!
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At the House, Damian's POV
Thankfully, when we got to the house it had stopped raining. We all walked through the moist, incredibly humid air (which definitely helped Tim feel better) into the house. The house was huge, almost the size of the Manor. It was light blue in the front and had shiny fountains made from recycled glass. There was a large art piece in the back room made of the same material, but the whole back of the house was glass, making the glass glitter in the sunlight. Ooooh, shinyyy… I want some. I impulsively took a step towards it, but Jason grabbed my arm, stopping me from taking another.
"Are you feeling better, Tim?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah. Could I open my window? The fresh air helps." Good cover. He won't question that… Shinnyyyyyyy… Damnit, stay focused and forget the shiny thing!
"Sure. I know taking a shower usually helps you when you don't feel good too." Bruce said.
Tim nodded, "I think I'll do that too."
"We'll go get unpacked, B. It is late afternoon for us so how about dinner soon-ish?" Dick asked.
"Sure. There is a seafood place down the street, so how about we go there in an hour?" Bruce said. Its shinnnyyyyy… Focus…
"Sounds good." Tim said, going upstairs, quickly followed by Dick.
Jason pulled on my arm, getting my attention back to bringing my stuff up and unpacking. We both went upstairs to unpack and get ready for dinner.
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Tim's POV
The humidity in the air came into the house through the open windows in my room and bathroom. I took out a towel, my shampoo, conditioner, soap, and a change of clothes before going into the shower. The shower felt amazing! I closed the drain and let the water build up around me, rehydrating my body. My physiology really sucks sometimes. Sometimes, I get so dehydrated it is hard to breathe. I was meant for the ocean, not dry land but I wasn't going to just leave. For as much as I love the ocean, I love my family just as much. Sometimes, it feels like I have to hold my breath or I'll drown in the air. It's a horrible feeling. Water makes it easier to breathe, which Dick, Damian, and Jason find easy to understand considering what I am.
I sunk myself to my neck in the water, letting it wash over my recently formed gills. My body absorbed more and more water as I stayed in the water for forty-five minutes. After forty-five minutes, I got out, quickly toweled myself off, then got dressed to be downstairs by the time we were going to leave for dinner. On the way down, I left one of my mother's shiny pins on a flower stem by the stairs.
"Feeling better?" Bruce asked, ruffling my hair before sitting down beside me on the couch, looking at the ocean and cloudy, foreboding sky.
"Yeah, a lot better." I said as he pulled me into his side.
"Great." Bruce said. "You said you like seafood, right?"
"Yeah, I love it!" I said. I wasn't lying. I don't know if it has to do with my mer-ness or not, but I love seafood. It makes sense though. In the depths of the ocean, not too much grows, especially in the open ocean, so, merpeople would probably eat a lot of fish.
"Grayson, quit fixing your hair and come on!" I heard Damian yell before yelping as Dick carried him over his shoulder down the stairs. Damian scowled at the ground. Poor Dami. Thankfully, the floor is carpet, not shiny. There is some escape from the need to take them. I'm glad I brought some of Mother's things. Damian is going to need it.
"Jason, are you ready?!" Bruce yelled upstairs.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" Jason came down the stairs, wearing his usual beat up pair of jeans and red tank top. We got in the expensive rental car and drove to the seafood restaurant. Thankfully, it was pretty casual. I looked at the menu. Shrimp cocktail, Coconut Shrimp, Mauhi mauhi, Oysters, Lobster tail, crab cakes, etc. were in the menu. I decided to go with the coconut shrimp while Bruce got Mauhi mauhi, Dick got lobster tail, Damian got oysters, and Jason got crab cakes.
It was a delicious meal and had a great view of a harbor. The sunset was right outside the window and the clouds had begun to dissipate. Good, the last thing we need is storms tonight. With the lighting, I wouldn't go into the pool.
When we got back, we all pretended to have jet lag and went to bed. At five am Jason and Dick heard Bruce snoring in bed and came to get me first, then Damian. As we were going outside, I discreetly placed one of my mother's old hairclips on a side table for Damian to sneak later. He'll enjoy the glittering.
When we got outside, I immediately changed the setting of the pool from chlorine to saltwater and waited for the change to complete. The chlorine tended to burn my gills and skin. Due to my physiology, I had extremely sensitive skin. Jason forced himself to change into wolf form and Dick took out a red ball and threw it for him. Damian and I were sitting at one of the tables by the pool, drinking iced tea, and watching the ocean shining in the rising sun.
"You must love the ocean." Damian said.
"I do. I miss it, but… there are hunters for my kind as there are for many others. They only search the ocean, though, not pools. Besides, my family is not of the ocean like I am." I replied, slightly ruffling his hair.
"We would visit and you could outwit any hunters." Damian replied, smiling at my show of affection.
"It would not be the same and the danger would always be present. I would much rather stay up here where my family is." I smiled at him. "The pool should be changed now. You do not have to wait for me to change, you know. I know you like flying."
"I am fine. There is time for flying." Damian replied as I got up and took my shirt and shoes off. I dove into the pool, feeling cartilage grow between my legs to make my tail. Fins grew on my arms and feet while gills grew on my neck and sides. I surfaced and slowly swam over to where Damian was waiting for me.
"You're turn, little brother!" I said to him.
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Damian's POV
I closed my eyes and felt the change begin. My body slowly began to shrink and the slight outlines of wings I have on my shoulders sprung to life, fluttering in the cool breeze. Once the transformation finished, I was about a foot tall. "There, much better." I said as I flew over and stood on the water, wings fluttering enough to keep me on the sparkling surface. Tim smiled and drifted on his back away from the wall, pushing gently with his arms.
"I've hidden a few shiny things around the house for you. It should help." I was grateful he had done that for me. I know that he and his parents weren't close, but it still meant a lot that he would lay out some of his parents' things so that I wouldn't end up stealing shiny objects.
I walked along the water next to him as he lazily flicked his tail. We usually do this; just float around. A red ball just missed me as it landed in the pool. Oh shit. Damn you Dick! Jason jumped in and swam over to the ball, getting fur all over the pool. "Eww, really, Jason?" Tim asked, glaring at him. Jason climbed out of the pool and looked pitifully at us, with his soaked fur clinging to him and his ears flopped down.
"That's gross. You are helping us clean out the pool, Jason." I said, flying and landing on his nose with my hands on my hips. He laid down and whimpered.
Dick ran up and grinned, fangs showing and holding a dead sea gull. He sat down on one of the chairs that Tim and I had been sitting on earlier and he bit into the gull. It used to be creepy when he sucked the blood out of things, but by now, it was normal. When we go with Bruce on a business trip to a big city, Dick has to drink from us since there aren't many animals. Thankfully, at home there are many animals in the forest behind our house.
Jason got up and trotted over to Dick, who reached down and pet him. I saw something shiny in the pool. Shiiiiinnnnyyyyyyy. I flew over and grabbed the fish scale out of the water. "Shiiinnnnyyyyy…" I said, tilting it in the sunlight. I sat down on the edge of the pool, dangling my feet in the water.
Tim's phone alarm suddenly went off and we all looked up. Jason huffed then turned back human, Dick retracted his fangs and I felt my wings go back on my shoulders as my body grew. Dick, Jason, and I went over to Tim and we carried him out of the pool and onto a few towels. I grabbed another and started to help him dry off. Jason and Dick began to get the wolf fur and Tim's scales out of the pool. Once Tim was dry, the scales turned back into skin and the cartilage between his legs dissolved into water. We all made sure to get inside by 7, when Bruce usually got up and got back into bed so he would never know we had been up.
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The End of Chapter 2. Did you like it? Please review!
