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Dick stayed huddled in a tiny ball in the back of his little bird cage, tail wrapped tightly around his small body. His wings were laying limp beside him, and Dick shifted his body for the millionth time to try and get comfortable.
Slade - Dick refused to call that monster Master in his head - kept crushing his wings whenever he picked him up. Dick tried to fight, clawing and biting at the pirates' hands when he was picked up, but it didn’t accomplish anything. Slade would still just laugh as he carried Dick to wherever he wanted a fire started.
Dick hadn’t shifted human in months . Slade had denied him the ‘privilege’ of shifting ever since Dick had tried to blow fire in the cruel man's eyes. Dick still had scars from the punishment - a punishment that made him shudder to remember.
Dick whimpered and curled tighter, dragging his sore wings in close to his body as he heard the door open. It never meant anything good when that door opened.
Sure enough, Slade unlocked his cage to haul him out. Dick gave a cry of pain as his wings were crushed again , struggling against the pirate Captain's hands. Dick’s sides were squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until Dick gave a cry and shot fire. It lit the cigar in the man's mouth, making him smirk.
Dick squirmed in his hold, he hated being held - it hurt so much . He jerked his head around when the door banged open. He squeaked breathlessly again as Slade’s hand tightened from anger around him.
“Why are you in here?” Slade snarled. He didn’t let Dick go, not seeming to care how much pain he was causing the baby dragon.
Dick mourned his circus. His Mama and Tati would care that he was in pain. They loved him. They never would have hurt him. Dick chirped quietly, a baby noise meant to summon family. He was ignored.
“Captain sir, I’m sorry - but sir. Sir, the Justice League’s ship is approaching - and quickly.” The person told them.
Slade cursed, and Dick yelped as he was violently thrown back into his bird cage. Dick whistled and squeaked in pain, unable to help himself even if he knew how much Slade hated him making noises.
Luckily, he was ignored. Slade strode off, slamming the door to the Captain's chambers with a bang !
Dick settled down, awkwardly twisting his neck to try and lick at his sore wings. He really, really hoped that Slade hadn’t cracked a bone… again .
Dick was trilling and chirping quietly, calling for anyone to come and help him even though he knew it was pointless. None of Slade’s people would help his pet. Not when there wasn’t anything in it for them.
Dick flinched and whimpered, crying out and wrapping his tail around his body as the door banged open. He hissed weakly at the unknown pirate, shrinking away from the man as he stormed over.
Dick hissed again, and spat a tiny flame at him. He inwardly cringed at the display; his Mama had had beautiful flames.
“You’re the only child on this ship, aren’t you little one?” The man rumbled. Dick quailed, squeaking in fright.
“Hush, little one. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said absently. Dick spat more fire - even weaker than before.
Slade never gave him enough water to be able to breathe more than a spark.
“Well, let’s get you back to the ship - I don’t like the look of those wings.”
Dick chirped and cried as the man picked up his bird cage, desperately trying to get out. Slade may have hurt and broken his wings - but at least the pirate let him keep them .
Dick couldn’t lose his wings; his ability to fly. He just couldn’t.
Bruce hummed down at the tiny creature, locked away in a rusty bird cage of all awful things. The little one had quickly lost the manic energy they’d had while trying to escape. Now they were curled in a miserable little ball, chirping sadly every few steps. Bruce would hum louder, rocking the cage cradled in his arms a little. He felt lost; the little one just seemed even more miserable at Bruce’s attempts to soothe.
Bruce knew that Alfred would be able to help.
He hoped Alfred would be able to help.
Bruce quietly told Barry to fetch Alfred. The Flash nodded quickly, before he zipped off. The baby trilled and cheeped, wriggling into an even smaller ball.
Clark and Diana started to prepare the ship to sail away, the other J.L. members coming together to help ready the ship to disengage from Slade’s.
By the time Bruce reached his and Alfred’s chambers, the older man was ready with healing and cleaning supplies, as well as thick gloves waiting beside him.
“Poor little one,” Alfred said softly, looking at the scrap of a dragon sadly. “Let’s get you looked after, little child.”
The little blue dragon lifted their tiny head, looking at Alfred curiously, if guardedly. Bruce stamped down a flare of jealousy at the fact that it seemed like Alfred had already won over the child. Alfred had always been good with children.
Alfred needed to be, to have handled him after his parents died.
Bruce handed over the cage, careful not to jostle the young shifter. Alfred cooed, speaking softly as he unlocked the cage. He opened the cage, and it took mere moments for the older man to have a handful of baby dragon.
“There we are, little shifter. I won’t hurt you,” Alfred said softly, cradling the child close to his chest. “Now, may I tend to you little one? Your wings look like they’ve been harmed, my darling.”
The little dragonling trilled sadly, before they twisted their small head and licked at their wings.
“I’m going to take that as permission, little one, and start to tend to your wings.” Alfred gently put them down on a soft blanket.
Bruce stayed in the room as Alfred worked, speaking quietly with the man about how the raid went. He also fetched Alfred anything the older man asked for, including water for the poor thing.
The little one drank greedily, whining in distress when Alfred pulled the small bowl away from them. Alfred hushed the shifter quietly, stroking down their scaly back.
“Hush, little one,” Alfred said softly. “We’ll give you more in a little bit. But if you drink too much too soon, it will come back up. I don’t want you to be sick, sweet one.”
The little dragon trilled sadly, before they put their head down. Alfred went back to tending to the other wing, speaking gently to the child as they shifted on the blanket.
“Ah, little one, no chewing on your tail,” Bruce scolded softly. He gently tugged the tail out of their mouth, ignoring the hiss the baby gave.
“Are your teeth hurting, little one?” Alfred finished up the part of the wing he was working on, before he moved to look at the tiny mouth. A little coaxing, and Alfred got their mouth open.
“Ah, poor child,” Alfred said sadly. “We’ll find you something softer to chew on, to help those teeth cut.”
“Do you have anything, Alf?” Bruce asked, looking around their room.
“No, Master Bruce.” Alfred shook his head, going back to tending to the shifter's wing. “Despite what you and the rest of the crew believe, I am not ready for everything.”
“You’re not?” Bruce mock - gasped. The dragon looked up at him; and Bruce was going to take their expression as a smile. “Is the world ending?”
“ Hilarious , Master Bruce,” Alfred deadpanned.
Bruce smiled down at the child, smiling wider when they chirped in amusement.
“Little one, your tail will harm you to chew on,” Alfred reminded them gently as they started to chew on their tail again. The little thing pouted at Alfred, who ignored their sad look. “No tail chewing, please.”
Since Alfred was busy, Bruce tugged the tail out of their mouth again. He replaced it with his own finger, and smiled fondly at their surprised look.
“It’s okay,” Bruce assured them. “Gently, and you won’t hurt me.”
The shifter still looked surprised, but started to gently gum at Bruce’s finger. Bruce looked away from Alfred’s fond smile as he started to clean scales.
Dick was purring in contentment, chewing on the pirate Captain’s finger. He was in a small sling across the man's chest, since he was too young to keep his own temperature up. He leached it from the Captain, who never seemed to mind. Dick climbed on the man often enough that Alfred had made him a little sling to keep him warmer.
Bruce had then conspired with him to climb on Alfred enough to make the man make a sling for himself. Dick hadn’t been put down since he had been rescued, except to sleep. And even then; Dick trilled, chirped, and whined until he was cuddled in bed with someone.
Dick was very proud of the little nest he’d made on Bruce’s pillow - even if he kept sinking between pillows and had to be rescued often. Dick was even pretty sure that Clark and Diana kept purposely ripping the edges of Bruce’s uniform when they would spar while Alfred carried him.
They, of course, denied doing it on purpose.
Bruce was telling him the story of how the Justice League and her pirates had come to rescue him, even though he’d heard the story at least once from everyone before. Dick didn’t care; he was more than content to listen to the pirate Captain speak.
They still hadn’t named him, or tried to gender him. Alfred had assured him that they would never invade his privacy by examining him to find out; they were content to wait until Dick had enough strength to shift back to tell them himself. Dick had nuzzled him and gummed at his fingers in thanks.
Dick was almost dozing, occasionally chewing on Bruce’s finger, by the time that the Captain settled into his chair to work on paperwork.
Dick yawned widely, before he blinked up sleepily at Bruce.
“We’ll get you groomed tomorrow again, little one.” Bruce scratched at one of his dying scales. Dick chirped.
He stretched and yawned again; he didn’t really want to sit and watch the same four walls for hours again. He wasn’t that tired. The Captain’s heat was what was making him sleepy, that’s all. It was all his fault, not Dick’s.
Dick looked up at the Captain and chirped, who quirked his eyebrow at him in response.
“I’m sorry, sweet. I don’t speak baby dragon,” Bruce said, scratching his back. Dick wriggled out of his sling, standing on his little paws on Bruce’s knees. Dick gathered all of his energy, before he shifted.
“Woah.” Dick swayed to the side, only for the Captain to catch him before he hit the floor.
“Easy there.” Bruce settled him properly on his knee. “Well, look at that. Alfred thought that you’d need a few more days before you could shift back.”
“I’m strong. Tati said so,” Dick said proudly. “I’m Dick.”
“Well hello there Dick, my lad.” Bruce ruffled his hair. Dick purred a little.
“Can I go play?” Dick asked him. “Auntie’s always doing interesting things.”
“Auntie?” Bruce tilted his head.
“Yeah, your sister.” Dick nodded.
“I - lad, I don’t have a sister.” Bruce looked confused.
“Uh, Diana’s your sister.” Dick was also confused. “And Clark’s your brother.”
“They aren’t related to me, lad. They’re simply very close friends of mine.” Bruce chuckled. “But I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me calling them your Aunt and Uncle.”
“Oh.” Dick used to have lots of Aunties and Uncles in his circus. “Okay.”
“Why don’t we go see Alfred first, and then if he says it’s okay you can go play with Diana,” Bruce suggested, standing up with Dick in his arms. “But no flying until you’re healthy again.”
“But Daaaaaaaaaaad,” Dick whined, wrapping his arms around Bruce’s neck. Bruce stumbled, smacking one of his shoulders off of the doorway.
“Dad?”
“Uh, yeah?” Dick was confused again. “Cuz you took me in? You can’t replace my Tati, but you could be my dad.”
“I - I would be honoured,” Bruce stuttered, before he headed off to find Alfred for a check up on Dick’s human form.