*PLEASE READ THIS CHAPTER ON AO3
Gifts From the Sea, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl
Batfam Bingo 2019: AU: Zoo
Chapter 7 - Happy Ninth (rough draft 2)
As months passed, there was some shuffling around with various animals moved in and out of Dick's habitat and vice versa.
There was a particular male dolphin the mer hated, and a female he loved; he got along very well with all the seals, sea lions, and most of the otters. He really liked ABAZ's walrus but the feeling was not mutual, and Dick spent too much of his time in that animal's habitat teasing the creature until Bruce and Mark were successful in convincing management to move the mer back out.
There was talk of trying Dick with the orcas even though the calf was frightened of both of them, but fortunately, the idea was nipped in the bud when the female orca acted aggressively toward Dick from the other side of a gate. Dick found the octopuses fascinating, but then refused to go anywhere near them when he woke up from a nap nearly suffocating because one had come to rest on his face.
A simple more-or-less educational performance was designed around him, mostly acting out simple skits rather than actual tricks, but he was so uncooperative, responding to every command with loud screeching or the exact opposite of the requested behavior, that management was forced to give up. Dick was deprived of food for two straight days after that, subsisting entirely on the scraps Bruce and the other trainers managed to slip to him.
When Alfred was finally successful in dragging his employers away from their work long enough for them to have a vacation, the three of them came to ABAZ to visit their son and finally meet in person the little mer they'd heard so much about and occasionally vidchatted with. They'd taken advantage of their wealth to book two hours of a private 'performance,' which in practice it was just hanging out.
"Dickie," Bruce said, crouching by the pool with his family a few feet away, "come say hello to my mother and father and Alfred."
Dick shyly edged up on Bruce's far side and grasped his sleeve, but he was smiling at the familiar faces. "Mahta...Tomma...Ahfed..."
"That's right, this is Martha and Thomas and Alfred."
"Hello, little one," Martha cooed. "I'm so happy to meet you face to face!"
"Dick, can you say hi?" Bruce prompted, and the calf signed a greeting. "Very good. Now, Dick-" He was interrupted by the mer pulling hard on him. He nearly lost his balance and fell in the pool; by the time he recovered, Dick had hauled himself onto Bruce's back and was peering curiously over the man's shoulder. Bruce awkwardly did his best to support the calf's tail and butt, and stood up with Dick riding piggyback. Dick chittered with interest, obviously eager to meet the visitors even though he was wary enough to use his caretaker as a human shield. "You can come closer," Bruce told his parents, "just reach very slowly if you want to touch him."
Dick basked in the attention, soaking up the praise and compliments and warily accepting caresses and hair ruffles. Bruce interpreted whenever he spoke mer language or ASL, though the calf grew more confident speaking English when he realized that was the only way to talk to his visitors directly.
"Boose is...my good- my good thing, I like him. Love my good Bruce," he murmured, and kissed Bruce's slightly blushing cheek.
"Glad to hear it, my boy," Thomas said, gently patting his shoulder. "We love Bruce very much, too."
"We're so glad he has you to dote on, sweetheart," Martha added. "You've been very good for him. We'd been worried before."
That was the first Bruce had heard of it. "What? Why?"
"Well, you know, dear, you don't have very many friends-"
"I have friends!"
"And when was the last time you spoke to Harvey, or Tommy Elliot, or anyone else you knew from your school days, for that matter?" Thomas challenged.
"I- I've been busy..."
"And you left school, honey! You were so close to getting your teaching certification, but then you changed your mind?!"
"I just- The student teaching was so- I wanted the teaching part, the kids, but I hadn't realize how much interference comes from- Dick, don't do that, it's not polite." He shifted so that Dick's reaching hand was pulled away from Alfred's head, and the calf screeched briefly in protest.
"An equal exchange of familiarity seems fair," Alfred pointed out, and bent his head down a little. Bruce, realizing that humans did seem to think they were entitled to handle the mer's body without permission, didn't move this time, and Dick cooed with interest as he patted the butler's scalp and played with the carefully styled combover.
"I'm sorry your hair's getting messed up, Alfred."
"Quite all right, my dear boy." Although the butler's expression was well-schooled, there was a softness in his eyes as he watched the little mer.
The rest of the session consisted of Bruce's family feeding Dick and playing with him, throwing balls for him to fetch and pushing him on his scooter board. Dick got it into his head at one point to show off his T-shirts, and spent a full half hour modeling all his clothes for them.
"He is adorable!" Martha laughed. "He has so many!"
"I wonder if he's an anomaly or if it's a species-wide preference," Thomas mused. "Mer would be the only animals we know of to prefer clothing, if that was the case."
"It puts the thought into one's mind that perhaps mer ought to be classified as something other than animal," Alfred murmured.
o.o.o
Ryan eventually found out about Bruce's extreme 'overtime' and threatened to fire him again, forbidding Bruce from setting foot in employee areas outside his official work hours. The director also kept trying to reduce Bruce's schedule to as few hours a week as he could, but Mark usually found ways of finding work for Bruce to do. Most of it wasn't even busywork, since Bruce had a natural inclination for learning random things and had a wide variety of skills.
It did mean more time away from Dick, though, and the mer threw fits. He even started flinging himself into other animals' habitats every time he caught a glimpse of Bruce in the distance. This resulted in injuries so many times that the trainers all protested en masse, and between them and zoo visitors constantly asking after the 'Mermaid Man,' Bruce was finally reinstated as Dick's primary caretaker.
The calf, as usual after separations from his favorite person, grew extra-clingy. Since Bruce couldn't leave the mer's habitat, Mark arranged for VIP guests to be brought in for closeup petting and photo sessions, which Dick grudgingly endured because it meant he didn't have to let go of Bruce.
Dick had his ninth birthday.
Bruce wanted to make sure the calf wouldn't have a bad reaction, so a few days before the planned celebration, he started showing Dick videos of human children on their birthdays.
"[*censored because FFN is stupid*]"
Dick stared, baffled, as the song finally came to a close and the little girl on the screen eagerly blew out the candles. "Light gone!"
"Yes. Those are candles, sticks with small flames at the top. These particular candles are to celebrate her birthday, because everyone is happy that she has...survived another year of life." It sounded a bit sobering when stripped to its bare essentials.
"Happy people."
"Yes. Let's watch another one."
Dick soon got bored of that and, expert at tapping through YouTube by now, accessed his favorite playlist, which consisted of various circus videos. "Pretty shiny," he cooed with both his hands and in mer language as he watched aerialists in colorful sequined costumes flinging themselves around as if their feats were effortless. That particular video had no sound, but the performers' athleticism and beauty still shone.
"[*censored because FFN is stupid*]" Bruce sang softly. He was very self-conscious about singing in public - or for anyone, really, who wasn't his parents or Alfred - but he felt safe singing for Dick. The mer leaned his head against Bruce's chest as he listened. "[*censored because FFN is stupid*]"
The day of Dick's birthday, the calf warily poked his eyes out of the water to watch Bruce, Amanda, Mark, and a few others enter the pool area, singing as they carried a fish-based cake.
[*censored because FFN is stupid*]
Dick suddenly shot to the edge of the pool and lifted himself up as high as he could, his body hanging from the support of his straight arms and braced hands. His eyes were wide in amazement.
[*censored because FFN is stupid*]
They set the cake on the ground in front of him, calling out congratulations and encouragements. "Happy Birthday, Dickie!"
"This is for you!"
"It's your birthday, buddy! You're nine years old today!"
Dick dropped back into the pool with a splash and grunted urgently, flapping his hands.
Bruce eyed his coworkers. "He wants to sign."
"Oh, no one's going to tattle on you guys, Bruce," Miki said, and Mark nodded.
"Safe," Bruce signed to the calf.
"Happy Birthday, blow fire, CAKE!"
"Yes. Today is your birthday, so this is your cake and your number 9 candle," Bruce confirmed, gesturing at the treat with its lit numeral candle. "Do you remember how we practiced blowing, Dickie?" He demonstrated, exhaling a controlled breath.
"Eee!" Dick eagerly blew at the candle, not quite managing to snuff the flame, then suddenly bit it. All the humans yelped in alarm, but the flame was small and Dick's natural moisture and protections shielded his mouth for the instant it took to extinguish the fire. He and Bruce grappled with the candle for a moment - Dick won and flung the candle across the pool. Screeching in excitement, he fetched and hurled the candle twice more in succession before throwing it out of the pool and rushing back to his cake.
"Cake!"
"That's right, Dickie. And since this is a mer-safe cake and is somewhat disgusting for humans, you get it all to yourself."
"Eeeee~!"
They let him stuff his face, and after Amanda passed out paper party hats and made even the most reluctant people put them on, Dick readily consented to having a birthday crown set on his head.
Then it was time for presents. Dick got two more T-shirts and several more toys; Bruce, who had gotten him a cell phone but was afraid to give it to him until they were alone, gave him a sparkly key chain as a decoy while the other humans were present. Numerous photos and videos were taken during the entire affair.
A trainer named Lenny, who adored seals, liked sea lions and otters, and couldn't care less about any other animal in the park but admired the bond Bruce and Dick had, suddenly rushed into the enclosure. "Ryan's coming!"
There was a flurry of activity as people grabbed the hats and gifts and the remains of the cake and shoved them into bags; Bruce ran to scoop up the candle and stuff it in his pocket. Dick, frightened, dove deep into the pool, and a semblance of order had just barely been established when Ryan came striding in. "Why are none of you at your stations?" he demanded.
"It's a milestone day, we need to take stats," Mark said.
"Dick, come," Bruce called as he slapped the water, carefully not looking at Ryan and trying to calm his elevated heartbeat.
When it became obvious the mer was not going to obey, Bruce took a deep breath and dropped into the pool.
"Scared!" Dick signed immediately from his corner.
"Safe. Pretending for Scary Face," Bruce replied, using the calf's sign-name for Ryan. "Please come. You are more safe if you come, you are less safe if you hide."
"Scared!" Dick signed again, but slowly approached. Bruce surfaced and handed the calf up to Mark and the others. Dick whimpered, staring at Ryan as he was laid on a scale and measured and examined, but Ryan, although watching coldly, said and did nothing. The man finally left, and everyone relaxed. "I'm sorry, Dick," Bruce started to say, and the calf threw himself into Bruce's arms. "It's okay. It's okay, chum, you're safe. No one's going to hurt you."
The others cooed at the calf. They showed him the bagful of presents that would stay in the office, gave him the last of the cake, and gingerly patted his tail when he cringed away from their attempts at reassuring caresses.
"We love you, Dickie," Amanda said. "We have to go back to work now, and I'm sorry Ryan cut your party short, but we just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, okay?"
"Happy Bir(click)day, Dickie," Dick whispered, and Bruce kissed the top of his head.
That night, when they were alone, Bruce brought out the waterproof and heavily child-locked new phone. Dick was delighted, and Bruce fell asleep to the sound of "Happy Birthday to You" playing tinnily beside him.
TBC
A/N: There are recipes online for how to make birthday cakes that are safe for your cat or dog to eat. XD (It should go without saying, but don't ever feed them human cake!)
