Fic: Pin Feathers!
Here's one more for the birdie'verse. This ended up longer than expected... mostly because it was hard getting Dick!muse to go to the vet! Hope you enjoy it!
Title: Pin Feathers!
Author: Singer
Characters: Dick, Roy, and Lian
Pairings: n/a but leans towards Roy/Dick.
Rating: Pg
Disclaimer: Not my Characters... *is blank inside*
Warnings: I reject DCU reality and substitute my own! (completely disregard the whole black hand fiasco). Hard to understand without reading the prequels. Unbeta-ed.
Summary: Dick has an appointment with the local vet, if Roy can get him there, that is! It's going to be a long day. The sequel to Feather In Your Cap and Flight Of Hope. Which was Inspired by Bright Essence I: Darkness Rising written by
bradygirl_12 . An adorable unofficial sequel, Ruffled Feathers, was written by
shiny_glor_chan too!
The apartment was quietly being bathed inch by inch in predawn light. Sunday morning moved slowly for the Harper household. Daddy Harper was cocooned in his comforter, little Lian was making up for her early morning yesterday, and certain aerialist-turned-avian was tucked away where he was certain the sunlight wouldn’t be able to reach him. Or at least, he used to be certain.
You win this round, Helios!
He was notably not in his comfy, if not slightly cramped, shoebox in Roy’s bedroom as he began his morning preening. This was mainly because Dick was avoiding Roy like the plague ever since he mentioned scheduling a trip to the vet. Dick didn’t even like going to regular doctors, no offense to Leslie, much less animal ones!
That’s why Dick had spent last night curled up on the top of the fridge and out of the archer’s reach. He had hoped it would be out of the morning’s reach too, but you can’t win ‘em all. It seemed that being a bird came with an internal alarm clock sans snooze button.
He fluttered off of the Frigidaire to start pacing the countertop. This would be his forth day with the Harper’s, and they still didn’t know who he was. Very much longer and that soul stealing, body hijacking, leech of a thing would permanently establish itself in his body and his soul would be stuck in eternal slumber. He wasn’t sure what would happen to this portion of himself, but he didn’t want to find out.
By this time the sun had fully risen.
Time to go annoy Roy! Rooster Richard, on the way!
He took off down the hallway to where Roy’s door was. It was shut tight.
So it’s the hard way, is it?
He “attacked” the doorknob. Wings fluttering as he grabbed at it with his feet until it twisted enough for the door to crack open. He plopped himself down in front of it. Not his most graceful landing, but no one was watching and that had been far more difficult than it needed to be.
I will never take thumbs for granted again!
He bumped the door further open so he could scuttle into the room. Roy was indeed, curled up under his blankets and sleeping soundly. Dick perched himself on the bed’s headboard and watched as the sunlight played off Roy’s fiery hair. It was incredible how serene he looked while sleeping.
Oh well!
“Chirp! Chirp! Twitter! Twitter! Chirp! Twitter! Chirrup! Chirp!”
Roy startled awake, smacking his head on the headboard. He grabbed his head and shot off a string of curses under his breath as he turned to face the source. The bird in question was currently having a squeaking fit.
“You!” he made a grab at the bird. Dick flew out of his reach and landed on the carpet several feet away from the bed. Roy stared at him from his bed, anger fading into confusion.
“How the heck did you get in here?”
Dick cocked his head to the side.
Honestly, Roy. If I couldn’t figure out how to get passed an unlocked door, I think Bruce just might disown me! I think I’d disown me!
He then fluffed himself and turned sharply to scuttle out of the room, his long tail feathers dragging behind him on the floor.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Dick watched closely as the Harper’s ate their breakfast. Today was bacon and eggs day. Dick felt slightly affronted.
He was currently hiding on top of the kitchen cabinets, high out of the Roy’s reach. He was waiting for just the right moment… There!
Roy had his glass of orange juice halfway to his lips when a green, red, and yellow blur dive-bombed his plate. It paused to snatch a piece of his bacon before flying back to the safety of the cabinets. This was all accomplished before Roy could set the glass back down.
Lian was laughing behind her hand and he could swear that little flying feather duster was too!
“Is there anything this bird doesn’t eat?!” he grumbled.
Chicken, turkey, and egg! I’m not a cannibal.
There was no denying it; this bird was smart. It was not going to be easy making it to their 1 o’clock appointment on time.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dick peeked over the edge of the fridge. Roy had left the apartment a little while ago and he just knew that his absence didn’t bode well for Dick’s anit-vet agenda.
He sulked around the fridge-top. He had two Harper’s conspiring against him. This was becoming quite the predicament. Roy’s apartment needed more dark corners. How was he supposed to hide in the shadows if there weren’t any there to hide in?
He heard the door open and scuttled back over to the edge of the fridge. Roy entered carrying a cat carrier, of all things!
Roy set the thing down on the dinner table and threw smile in the direction of Dick’s hiding spot before heading off towards his bedroom. Dick didn’t like that smile. That smile promised unhappy things for certain little bird, and he didn’t mean Robin!
Roy reentered the kitchen with Lian in tow, quiver over shoulder, bow in hand, and arrow nocked. Dick focused on the arrow. He’d seen that style before, in fact, he could swear that it was a-Oh shit!
Dick took flight, just getting out of the arrows reach as is deployed it’s nylon netting.
A Net Arrow!? Honestly Roy, the vet thing isn’t that important!
Hands grabbed at him as he ducked out of the kitchen, Lian hot on his trail. She hopped up onto the couch as he darted around the living room.
“Come on Birdie! It’s not gonna hurt. Promise!”
That’s what they want you to think!
He looked down the hallway as Roy entered the fray. They’d shut all the doors. It was a sure dead end. One of Roy’s hands nearly caught hold of his tail feathers.
“You are going to the vet’s one way or another, so don’t make it harder than it has to be!”
The hallway was a bust, and he couldn’t keep flying in circles in the living room, there wasn’t any place tall enough for him to land and avoid capture.
I wouldn’t be having this problem at the Manor.
He made a beeline back to the kitchen. As long as he stayed on the fridge or the cabinets, he could keep avoiding the Net Arrows until Roy ran out. It was a good thing those arrows were hard to reload!
He entered the kitchen, closing in on the cabinets. He could do this and-Is that another bird?
He came to a stop on the counter in front of the other, equally colorful avian.
Roy didn’t say he had any other birds! Why that-Oh! It’s me. Or a reflection. Shiny toaster! Is that a feather out of place I see? Well that won’t d-
A pair of little hands snatched him up.
“I got him Daddy!"
“Good job! Let’s get him in here and we should be able to make it on time,” Roy replied. Dick struggled, squawked, and cursed birds’ natural attraction to reflective objects the whole way to the carrier Roy had borrowed. He continued ranting on the trip down to Roy’s car and all the way to the pet clinic.
Roy was seriously wondering if there was anywhere he could purchase a bird muzzle.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Roy entered the pet clinic with the cat carrier in one hand and Lian’s little hand in the other. It was a rather large one-story building with tile flooring and teal walls. The smell was distinctly animal and there was a rack full of pet supplies for sale on the far wall.
He made his way over to the reception desk.
“Hello. I’m Mr. Harper. I’m here for a one o’clock appointment with Dr. Werther,” he said, addressing the receptionist. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was wearing a pair of scrubs covered in happy little cats and dogs, a pin stating her name was ‘Pam’ was affixed over one doggy’s face.
“Alright, and who’s this?” she asked, pointing her pen at the carrier.
“Oh! Um… Bow?” he said with an unsure smile. He hadn’t thought of name yet.
Dick’s rant, which had dissolved into angry little twitters at his own stupidity for being distracted, returned full force. No way was he going to be called ‘Beau’!
“I don’t like that name, Daddy.” Lian said, tugging on his hand.
The receptionist gave the trio an unimpressed look.
“We just got him, and haven’t really gotten around to naming him yet,” Roy explained.
“Just give me a name to put on the chart.” Those happy little animals really didn’t suit the lady wearing them.
“We’re gonna call him Robin!” Lian stated.
Dick whistled in approval.
I can work with that!
Roy shrugged and Pam wrote it down, “The doctor will call you when he’s ready. You can have a seat until then.”
Roy sat himself down in a chair in the waiting area next to lady with a fat Persian in her lap. He awkwardly rested the carrier on his knees and watched as Lian went through the pet magazines piled up on the waiting room table. Dick was more preoccupied by the way the Persian was looking at him through the “windows” in the sides of the carrier. As a master of nonverbal communication, he knew that look meant ‘dinner’. He shuffled himself over to the far side of his confines.
Roy was startled by a sudden string of terrified chirps. He looked down to see his neighbor’s cat with its paw stuck through the window of the cat carrier.
“Hey!” he yanked the carrier away from the hissing cat. “Keep an eye on your pet!”
The woman got a firmer grip on the displeased feline and apologized profusely. Roy picked up the carrier so he could peek inside. The little bird was breathing hard in the farthest corner.
“It’s ok little guy. Nobody’s going to eat you. You can calm down,” he tried to reassure it. Dick was to busy trying to catch breath to respond. He really wished he was human right now.
A nurse entered the area, “Robin Harper?”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
When Dr. Werther came into the room, Roy was seated in one of the chairs and Lian was talking to the little bird. She had her fingers stuck through the carrier windows to stroke its feathers in a soothing fashion.
The adults introduced themselves and she went to take a seat, telling the feathered patient to behave himself. The doctor produced a clipboard and gestured for Roy to take a seat.
“I’m just going to ask you a few questions about Robin, Mr Harper,” he said, clicking a pen and sitting down himself.
“First things first. How old is Robin?”
“Uh, we’re not really sure…”
The doctor quirked an eyebrow, but continued, “Do you know what gender Robin is?”
“No, I wasn’t sure how you could tell.”
“Alright, we’ll come back to that later. Now, what breed did you say he is?”
“I was hoping you could tell us,” Roy was beginning to feel like an idiot and the look Dr. Werther was giving him wasn’t helping.
“How, exactly, did you come to own Robin?”
“We found him. He smacked into my daughters bedroom window and it must’ve stunned him, so we took him inside to heal up. I know he isn’t a wild bird, and there weren’t any missing bird ads that matched him, so we decided to keep him…” Roy just let himself trail off at the end.
The doctor looked at him closely before nodding, “Ok. What have you been feeding him?”
“Well, we don’t actually have any bird food, so whatever we’re eating. He likes pancakes and bacon though.”
“Don’t forget pepperoni pizza, Daddy!” Roy had been planning on leaving that one out.
“What kind of cage does Robin live in?”
“He kind of has free run of the house, but he’s got this little shoebox nest that he usually sleeps in.”
The vet set his clipboard aside,“Why don’t we just start the physical…”
And here’s the part Dick really wasn’t looking forward to! Roy and Lian got ready to catch him if he tried to make a break for it as Dr. Werther went to open the carrier.
“He’s usually pretty flighty so just be ready,” Roy warned.
The barred door swung open and Dick contemplated just staying inside, but they’d just pull him out then. He took a deep breath and gave himself one more fluff before striding (well, as much as a bird could stride) out of the carrier and onto the counter with his head held high. There was an audience, and Dick wasn’t one to disappoint.
The vet’s mouth hung open as he fluttered up to perch in Roy’s hair, pecking him once, very hard, to show his displeasure. Good behavior now, he would peck more once they were home.
“Ouch!” Roy exclaimed. Lian apparently found it funny. He caught sight of the doctor’s Venus flytrap impersonation and took a slight step back. “Is something wrong Dr. Werther?”
Said doctor didn’t take his eyes off of the bird for even a moment as he answered, “No. It’s just… in all my years, I have never seen a bird like that!”
Dick shuffled nervously on the top of Roy’s head. The look that vet was giving him reminded him of the Persian cat.
“It’s incredible!” Dr. Werther continued, “You would expect to see those colors and that tail on a fully grown tropical bird, but he seems to be fully mature and no where near the expected size. I mean, the tail is nearly longer than the bird!”
Roy had taken several steps back at this point, and Dick was thankful for it!
“Let’s get him weighed and measured,” the vet continued.
Roy, please don’t hand me over to the creepy man. Please?
Roy, unfortunately, did. In his defense though, it was with great reluctance.
The rest of the exam was filled with a copious amount of biting, scratching, pecking, and general racket making as Dick was weighed, measured, poked, prodded, and generally violated. He was pleased to say that he drew blood more times than Dr. Werther did!
Score: Vet - 1, Bird Wonder - 12.
There was no doubt that those were I-want-to-cause-you-pain-bites and not little playful-friendly-I’m-showing-I-care-bites that Dr. Werther had talked about.
He had also decided that he would get around to being eternally grateful to Roy, for not letting the vet “sex” him, right after he got done being unendingly furious with him, for taking him here in the first place! He was just lucky they decided to call him a boy.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Roy didn’t know if he’d ever been more thankful to get out of a doctors office when he hadn’t been the patient before in his life. He slumped down into the couch cushions with the cat carrier still in hand. He had dropped Lian off at one of her friends’ homes for a play date they had set up on the way back, so it was just the two of them.
“I don’t think we’ll be going back there for a very long time,” he said, opening the carrier door. Its little occupant perched itself on his shoulder, chirping as it nuzzled the side of his face.
Amen to that!
Roy never wanted to go through that again! Werther had jumped miles on the creep scale after he had caught sight of Robin. Roy guessed the name would work. When he had explained how the little guy used the toilet after Dr. Werther had checked the carrier for droppings, he thought the vet might never give him back!
Robin apparently had the same opinion of the man. Roy had never known that birds could glare before, but when the doctor suggested clipping his wings, Robin had glared at him. Quite effectively, too! Roy felt capable of judging this due to his many years of working alongside various Bat Family members, and this little bird could glare with the best of them!
Hmmm… Maybe the name was appropriate.
When Dr. Werther had suggested letting him keep Robin overnight for a little while to observe, that had been Roy’s signal to get the hell out. Maybe he should talk to Animal Man about this.
He sighed, and it turned into a yawn, “How about we just take a little nap and order some pizza for dinner when we wake up?” In his rush to get out, Roy had forgotten about buying birdseed.
Dick chirruped his agreement and ruffled his feathers so he could settle in better.
“Sounds good to me too, Robin,” Roy said, gently scratching the top of the bird’s head before shutting his eyes.
Dick affectionately nipped at Roy’s ear in response. He could be mad at Roy later, when he wasn’t so tired and so glad to be home.
He tucked his head under his wing and dreamed about being human.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
END.
Title: Pin Feathers!
Author: Singer
Characters: Dick, Roy, and Lian
Pairings: n/a but leans towards Roy/Dick.
Rating: Pg
Disclaimer: Not my Characters... *is blank inside*
Warnings: I reject DCU reality and substitute my own! (completely disregard the whole black hand fiasco). Hard to understand without reading the prequels. Unbeta-ed.
Summary: Dick has an appointment with the local vet, if Roy can get him there, that is! It's going to be a long day. The sequel to Feather In Your Cap and Flight Of Hope. Which was Inspired by Bright Essence I: Darkness Rising written by
bradygirl_12 . An adorable unofficial sequel, Ruffled Feathers, was written by
shiny_glor_chan too!
The apartment was quietly being bathed inch by inch in predawn light. Sunday morning moved slowly for the Harper household. Daddy Harper was cocooned in his comforter, little Lian was making up for her early morning yesterday, and certain aerialist-turned-avian was tucked away where he was certain the sunlight wouldn’t be able to reach him. Or at least, he used to be certain.
You win this round, Helios!
He was notably not in his comfy, if not slightly cramped, shoebox in Roy’s bedroom as he began his morning preening. This was mainly because Dick was avoiding Roy like the plague ever since he mentioned scheduling a trip to the vet. Dick didn’t even like going to regular doctors, no offense to Leslie, much less animal ones!
That’s why Dick had spent last night curled up on the top of the fridge and out of the archer’s reach. He had hoped it would be out of the morning’s reach too, but you can’t win ‘em all. It seemed that being a bird came with an internal alarm clock sans snooze button.
He fluttered off of the Frigidaire to start pacing the countertop. This would be his forth day with the Harper’s, and they still didn’t know who he was. Very much longer and that soul stealing, body hijacking, leech of a thing would permanently establish itself in his body and his soul would be stuck in eternal slumber. He wasn’t sure what would happen to this portion of himself, but he didn’t want to find out.
By this time the sun had fully risen.
Time to go annoy Roy! Rooster Richard, on the way!
He took off down the hallway to where Roy’s door was. It was shut tight.
So it’s the hard way, is it?
He “attacked” the doorknob. Wings fluttering as he grabbed at it with his feet until it twisted enough for the door to crack open. He plopped himself down in front of it. Not his most graceful landing, but no one was watching and that had been far more difficult than it needed to be.
I will never take thumbs for granted again!
He bumped the door further open so he could scuttle into the room. Roy was indeed, curled up under his blankets and sleeping soundly. Dick perched himself on the bed’s headboard and watched as the sunlight played off Roy’s fiery hair. It was incredible how serene he looked while sleeping.
Oh well!
“Chirp! Chirp! Twitter! Twitter! Chirp! Twitter! Chirrup! Chirp!”
Roy startled awake, smacking his head on the headboard. He grabbed his head and shot off a string of curses under his breath as he turned to face the source. The bird in question was currently having a squeaking fit.
“You!” he made a grab at the bird. Dick flew out of his reach and landed on the carpet several feet away from the bed. Roy stared at him from his bed, anger fading into confusion.
“How the heck did you get in here?”
Dick cocked his head to the side.
Honestly, Roy. If I couldn’t figure out how to get passed an unlocked door, I think Bruce just might disown me! I think I’d disown me!
He then fluffed himself and turned sharply to scuttle out of the room, his long tail feathers dragging behind him on the floor.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Dick watched closely as the Harper’s ate their breakfast. Today was bacon and eggs day. Dick felt slightly affronted.
He was currently hiding on top of the kitchen cabinets, high out of the Roy’s reach. He was waiting for just the right moment… There!
Roy had his glass of orange juice halfway to his lips when a green, red, and yellow blur dive-bombed his plate. It paused to snatch a piece of his bacon before flying back to the safety of the cabinets. This was all accomplished before Roy could set the glass back down.
Lian was laughing behind her hand and he could swear that little flying feather duster was too!
“Is there anything this bird doesn’t eat?!” he grumbled.
Chicken, turkey, and egg! I’m not a cannibal.
There was no denying it; this bird was smart. It was not going to be easy making it to their 1 o’clock appointment on time.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dick peeked over the edge of the fridge. Roy had left the apartment a little while ago and he just knew that his absence didn’t bode well for Dick’s anit-vet agenda.
He sulked around the fridge-top. He had two Harper’s conspiring against him. This was becoming quite the predicament. Roy’s apartment needed more dark corners. How was he supposed to hide in the shadows if there weren’t any there to hide in?
He heard the door open and scuttled back over to the edge of the fridge. Roy entered carrying a cat carrier, of all things!
Roy set the thing down on the dinner table and threw smile in the direction of Dick’s hiding spot before heading off towards his bedroom. Dick didn’t like that smile. That smile promised unhappy things for certain little bird, and he didn’t mean Robin!
Roy reentered the kitchen with Lian in tow, quiver over shoulder, bow in hand, and arrow nocked. Dick focused on the arrow. He’d seen that style before, in fact, he could swear that it was a-Oh shit!
Dick took flight, just getting out of the arrows reach as is deployed it’s nylon netting.
A Net Arrow!? Honestly Roy, the vet thing isn’t that important!
Hands grabbed at him as he ducked out of the kitchen, Lian hot on his trail. She hopped up onto the couch as he darted around the living room.
“Come on Birdie! It’s not gonna hurt. Promise!”
That’s what they want you to think!
He looked down the hallway as Roy entered the fray. They’d shut all the doors. It was a sure dead end. One of Roy’s hands nearly caught hold of his tail feathers.
“You are going to the vet’s one way or another, so don’t make it harder than it has to be!”
The hallway was a bust, and he couldn’t keep flying in circles in the living room, there wasn’t any place tall enough for him to land and avoid capture.
I wouldn’t be having this problem at the Manor.
He made a beeline back to the kitchen. As long as he stayed on the fridge or the cabinets, he could keep avoiding the Net Arrows until Roy ran out. It was a good thing those arrows were hard to reload!
He entered the kitchen, closing in on the cabinets. He could do this and-Is that another bird?
He came to a stop on the counter in front of the other, equally colorful avian.
Roy didn’t say he had any other birds! Why that-Oh! It’s me. Or a reflection. Shiny toaster! Is that a feather out of place I see? Well that won’t d-
A pair of little hands snatched him up.
“I got him Daddy!"
“Good job! Let’s get him in here and we should be able to make it on time,” Roy replied. Dick struggled, squawked, and cursed birds’ natural attraction to reflective objects the whole way to the carrier Roy had borrowed. He continued ranting on the trip down to Roy’s car and all the way to the pet clinic.
Roy was seriously wondering if there was anywhere he could purchase a bird muzzle.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Roy entered the pet clinic with the cat carrier in one hand and Lian’s little hand in the other. It was a rather large one-story building with tile flooring and teal walls. The smell was distinctly animal and there was a rack full of pet supplies for sale on the far wall.
He made his way over to the reception desk.
“Hello. I’m Mr. Harper. I’m here for a one o’clock appointment with Dr. Werther,” he said, addressing the receptionist. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was wearing a pair of scrubs covered in happy little cats and dogs, a pin stating her name was ‘Pam’ was affixed over one doggy’s face.
“Alright, and who’s this?” she asked, pointing her pen at the carrier.
“Oh! Um… Bow?” he said with an unsure smile. He hadn’t thought of name yet.
Dick’s rant, which had dissolved into angry little twitters at his own stupidity for being distracted, returned full force. No way was he going to be called ‘Beau’!
“I don’t like that name, Daddy.” Lian said, tugging on his hand.
The receptionist gave the trio an unimpressed look.
“We just got him, and haven’t really gotten around to naming him yet,” Roy explained.
“Just give me a name to put on the chart.” Those happy little animals really didn’t suit the lady wearing them.
“We’re gonna call him Robin!” Lian stated.
Dick whistled in approval.
I can work with that!
Roy shrugged and Pam wrote it down, “The doctor will call you when he’s ready. You can have a seat until then.”
Roy sat himself down in a chair in the waiting area next to lady with a fat Persian in her lap. He awkwardly rested the carrier on his knees and watched as Lian went through the pet magazines piled up on the waiting room table. Dick was more preoccupied by the way the Persian was looking at him through the “windows” in the sides of the carrier. As a master of nonverbal communication, he knew that look meant ‘dinner’. He shuffled himself over to the far side of his confines.
Roy was startled by a sudden string of terrified chirps. He looked down to see his neighbor’s cat with its paw stuck through the window of the cat carrier.
“Hey!” he yanked the carrier away from the hissing cat. “Keep an eye on your pet!”
The woman got a firmer grip on the displeased feline and apologized profusely. Roy picked up the carrier so he could peek inside. The little bird was breathing hard in the farthest corner.
“It’s ok little guy. Nobody’s going to eat you. You can calm down,” he tried to reassure it. Dick was to busy trying to catch breath to respond. He really wished he was human right now.
A nurse entered the area, “Robin Harper?”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
When Dr. Werther came into the room, Roy was seated in one of the chairs and Lian was talking to the little bird. She had her fingers stuck through the carrier windows to stroke its feathers in a soothing fashion.
The adults introduced themselves and she went to take a seat, telling the feathered patient to behave himself. The doctor produced a clipboard and gestured for Roy to take a seat.
“I’m just going to ask you a few questions about Robin, Mr Harper,” he said, clicking a pen and sitting down himself.
“First things first. How old is Robin?”
“Uh, we’re not really sure…”
The doctor quirked an eyebrow, but continued, “Do you know what gender Robin is?”
“No, I wasn’t sure how you could tell.”
“Alright, we’ll come back to that later. Now, what breed did you say he is?”
“I was hoping you could tell us,” Roy was beginning to feel like an idiot and the look Dr. Werther was giving him wasn’t helping.
“How, exactly, did you come to own Robin?”
“We found him. He smacked into my daughters bedroom window and it must’ve stunned him, so we took him inside to heal up. I know he isn’t a wild bird, and there weren’t any missing bird ads that matched him, so we decided to keep him…” Roy just let himself trail off at the end.
The doctor looked at him closely before nodding, “Ok. What have you been feeding him?”
“Well, we don’t actually have any bird food, so whatever we’re eating. He likes pancakes and bacon though.”
“Don’t forget pepperoni pizza, Daddy!” Roy had been planning on leaving that one out.
“What kind of cage does Robin live in?”
“He kind of has free run of the house, but he’s got this little shoebox nest that he usually sleeps in.”
The vet set his clipboard aside,“Why don’t we just start the physical…”
And here’s the part Dick really wasn’t looking forward to! Roy and Lian got ready to catch him if he tried to make a break for it as Dr. Werther went to open the carrier.
“He’s usually pretty flighty so just be ready,” Roy warned.
The barred door swung open and Dick contemplated just staying inside, but they’d just pull him out then. He took a deep breath and gave himself one more fluff before striding (well, as much as a bird could stride) out of the carrier and onto the counter with his head held high. There was an audience, and Dick wasn’t one to disappoint.
The vet’s mouth hung open as he fluttered up to perch in Roy’s hair, pecking him once, very hard, to show his displeasure. Good behavior now, he would peck more once they were home.
“Ouch!” Roy exclaimed. Lian apparently found it funny. He caught sight of the doctor’s Venus flytrap impersonation and took a slight step back. “Is something wrong Dr. Werther?”
Said doctor didn’t take his eyes off of the bird for even a moment as he answered, “No. It’s just… in all my years, I have never seen a bird like that!”
Dick shuffled nervously on the top of Roy’s head. The look that vet was giving him reminded him of the Persian cat.
“It’s incredible!” Dr. Werther continued, “You would expect to see those colors and that tail on a fully grown tropical bird, but he seems to be fully mature and no where near the expected size. I mean, the tail is nearly longer than the bird!”
Roy had taken several steps back at this point, and Dick was thankful for it!
“Let’s get him weighed and measured,” the vet continued.
Roy, please don’t hand me over to the creepy man. Please?
Roy, unfortunately, did. In his defense though, it was with great reluctance.
The rest of the exam was filled with a copious amount of biting, scratching, pecking, and general racket making as Dick was weighed, measured, poked, prodded, and generally violated. He was pleased to say that he drew blood more times than Dr. Werther did!
Score: Vet - 1, Bird Wonder - 12.
There was no doubt that those were I-want-to-cause-you-pain-bites and not little playful-friendly-I’m-showing-I-care-bites that Dr. Werther had talked about.
He had also decided that he would get around to being eternally grateful to Roy, for not letting the vet “sex” him, right after he got done being unendingly furious with him, for taking him here in the first place! He was just lucky they decided to call him a boy.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Roy didn’t know if he’d ever been more thankful to get out of a doctors office when he hadn’t been the patient before in his life. He slumped down into the couch cushions with the cat carrier still in hand. He had dropped Lian off at one of her friends’ homes for a play date they had set up on the way back, so it was just the two of them.
“I don’t think we’ll be going back there for a very long time,” he said, opening the carrier door. Its little occupant perched itself on his shoulder, chirping as it nuzzled the side of his face.
Amen to that!
Roy never wanted to go through that again! Werther had jumped miles on the creep scale after he had caught sight of Robin. Roy guessed the name would work. When he had explained how the little guy used the toilet after Dr. Werther had checked the carrier for droppings, he thought the vet might never give him back!
Robin apparently had the same opinion of the man. Roy had never known that birds could glare before, but when the doctor suggested clipping his wings, Robin had glared at him. Quite effectively, too! Roy felt capable of judging this due to his many years of working alongside various Bat Family members, and this little bird could glare with the best of them!
Hmmm… Maybe the name was appropriate.
When Dr. Werther had suggested letting him keep Robin overnight for a little while to observe, that had been Roy’s signal to get the hell out. Maybe he should talk to Animal Man about this.
He sighed, and it turned into a yawn, “How about we just take a little nap and order some pizza for dinner when we wake up?” In his rush to get out, Roy had forgotten about buying birdseed.
Dick chirruped his agreement and ruffled his feathers so he could settle in better.
“Sounds good to me too, Robin,” Roy said, gently scratching the top of the bird’s head before shutting his eyes.
Dick affectionately nipped at Roy’s ear in response. He could be mad at Roy later, when he wasn’t so tired and so glad to be home.
He tucked his head under his wing and dreamed about being human.
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END.