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mathiwrites · 2 months

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the lighthouse, an au fanfic where orm is raised alongside arthur on the surface

baby bruce makes an appearance!

Chapter 6 - Little League

“These are my sons, Arthur and Orm, and that is my wife, Lana.”

A steady hand presses against Arthur’s back, supportive as Tom introduces his family to the Waynes—the freaking Wayne family. Half the things he owns have their logo on it, or a subsidiary of their Enterprises. Still, he insists on being the one to treat them to lunch, once everyone is settled and he feels comfortable enough to leave them if only for a moment.

Atlanna hadn’t wanted to interact. What she wanted was to take her boys and bring them back inside. She wanted to lock the doors and make sure that their little world can never be disrupted. It had taken some convincing, soft-spoken words of reassurance from Tom. Thomas and Alfred had helped their boys, and their children are alright because of them.

Her compromise was this: she would stay in the waters and keep watch. She trusts her husband to guard their sons on land.

Tom glances at her as she wades into the water, waist deep, and her long blonde hair trails behind her. She’s beautiful, but a deep part of him understands that she is equally terrifying. He loves her, and he mourns the part of her that cannot remember what it is like to be free.

Someone must have said something, because he tunes back into the sound of Alfred repeating a question.

“Does any of your family have food allergies? I will fetch us lunch.”

“No, no fetching. Lunch is on me. I was just going to give everyone a minute to get comfortable with one another.”

He’s not sure if he can stop Alfred from being too nice and too helpful. The lifestyle of the Wayne family is so far from anything he’s ever known; he doesn’t know how to act around a butler? Tom had fought with him (not really) when the man insisted on finding and unfolding more beach chairs for them. Alfred has done enough. God, it was so much yelling. He deserves a raise and extra vacation days, and Tom had told Thomas as much.

“Please, lunch is on us,” Thomas counters, and that is how the both of them begin a loop of arguing about who is buying lunch.

***

Arthur stares. He holds both of Orm’s hands while his brother dances on wobbly little legs. He hasn’t started walking yet, but Arthur knows it’s gonna be soon, and he knows he’s definitely not gonna miss it.

He blinks at the other boy, watching as his mother lathers him up with lots and lots, and lots of lotion.

“Do you want some,” the nice lady asks. “It’s sunscreen.” The staring must have tipped her off on his confusion.

“Why?”

His dad has never put sunscreen on him before. Lotion, yes, and it always smells like cupcakes or something cool like cucumbers, but never that much. It makes the other boy look like a ghost and he was already pretty pale.

“So you don’t burn from being under the sun too long.”

Oh. Oh, no.

Arthur has never burned, but his little brother comes from another place. He looks at the bouncing baby, frowning at him. Orm might need sunscreen. He doesn’t want his brother to burn!

“Dad!” He shouts, and he catches the way the sunscreen-ed boy jumps at the sudden noise.

“Yeah?”

With everyone staring at him, Arthur feels shy. It’s not like when Gramma and his cousins stare; they watch because they know he’s up to some kind of nonsense. These are strangers, and he thinks they’re looking at him weird? They all look so surprised.

“Does Ormie need sunscreen?” He points at the boy and his mother.

Tom looks at Orm, then at Atlanna in the distance who dives beneath the water. He’s never seen her burn. If she has, she would have healed before he could notice. He ponders the risk, and figures that for a baby, there are some chances he doesn’t want to take. (Oh, and shit, he never put sunscreen on Arthur. Woops.)

“Sure, but not too much.”

Arthur nods and the nice lady helps him get settled with Orm on their beach towel. She squirts a tiny bit into Arthur’s palm, and he meticulously spreads it across Orm’s skin. Orm giggles, clapping his hands, and makes a grabby motion to be picked up.

“After,” Arthur promises.

In the time he’s spent with his baby brother, there is one thing in the world Orm loves more than anything. Whenever Arthur holds him, Orm presses his ear against his chest, mooshing his cheek, and listens to the vibrations of his voice. He noticed it when Orm would cry, and he would stop as soon as Arthur picked him up and started talking. When he would go quiet, Orm began to fuss again.

He tickles his little brother, and the boy screeches with happiness.

“Seems like you’ve got everything under control,” the lady smiles at them. She leaves the bottle, just in case. “Be good, you can do this,” she encourages her son before joining the other adults.

The children sit together in awkward silence, waiting for someone to speak first.

“Hi,” says the boy.

“Hi,” Arthur answers.

Silence slips in between them again as Arthur rubs his brother’s arms. He’s very focused on the task, but he’s also very distracted in squishing Orm. Orm is very squishable.

“I’m Arthur,” he finally says because the silence was… weird. “This is Orm. He’s a baby.”

“I can see that.”

Well, this boy isn’t a good conversation-maker. Arthur knows that much.

“I’m Bruce,” he finally says.

Arthur whips his head around, bug-eyed and grinning at Bruce. “Did you say Bruce? Like Bruce the shark? ” He turns to Orm and picks him up, turning him to face their new friend. “Lookit, Ormie! Fish are friends! Not food!”

Bruce has no idea what’s happening, and he makes a face at the child being shoved into his face. Is he… supposed to take it? He figures he’ll be told if he has to do anything, but the baby is covered in lotion, sand and drool. He makes a motion with his hands, as if to rid himself of imaginary dirt.

“It’s Nemo!”

Orm mimics the cadence of ‘ne-mo’, gurgling happily. Nemo is a staple at the curry household. They even have a clownfish onesie for Orm and a very cool turtle shirt for Arthur.

Bruce gives Arthur a blank expression.

“Just keep swimming!”

(And Orm flails his arms to show that he can swim, too.)

None of the quotes stir anything in Bruce, he hasn’t actually seen Finding Nemo. He does make a note to watch it when he gets home. The talk of swimming does pique his curiosity. The… incident shook him. He’d worried that his father would get hurt or something would happen to Alfred. Yelling is harmless, but it is also the precursor to violence, he thinks.

“Were you really going to let your brother drown?”

That’s what the woman had intervened for, wasn’t it?

“Huuuuuuuh? ” Arthur says, confused and loud (but that’s par for the course). He giggles and lets Orm use him as a support to stand up. Orm bends his knees and bounces again, dancing to a silent rhythm in hopes of finding balance. “That could never happen!”

“His face was under water.”

“Yeah, that’s ‘posed to happen.”

“For a long time.”

“Yes.”

Bruce makes a frustrated sound. “You die if you can’t breathe.”

“Nuh, not us.”

“Not underwater.”

“We can!”

The Wayne boy glares at Arthur, slowly losing his nerve. “Why are you lying!”

“I’m not!”

The children argue between themselves and Orm tumbles against Arthur. He begins to cry. Apologies are exchanged between the parents, and though their first instincts are to intervene, they ultimately decide that it’s better for the boys to learn and work things out. Neither Bruce nor Arthur are used to new situations outside of their little bubbles; Bruce lives behind his family’s protection and Arthur only knows the abundance of his father’s family and community, nothing beyond it for his own safety.

“Okay, well, come and watch me swim, you knowitdall!”

Arthur hauls Orm into his arms, but Orm doesn’t want to be carried now. He wants to walk, so it’s a very slow, but determined toddle towards the water. Yeah, they’ll show Bruce.

Orm takes one wobbly step at a time.

“Careful,” Bruce warns, brow furrowing as he walks alongside them, holding his hands out in case the baby falls. Orm misunderstands the extended hand and thinks it's an offer for more support. Innocent and determined, Orm wraps his little fingers around Bruce’s hand.

“Oh.”

Arthur thinks to tell Bruce that he knows how to take care of his brother, but Bruce is experiencing the wonder that is baby Orm. It’s pretty cool, becoming a chosen one to the cutest baby on land and in the sea. He grins, forgetting why they were arguing in the first place.

Bruce is gentle with Orm, making sure not to squeeze his hand too tightly. As soon as they walk into the water, he’s the only one that flinches at the cold. The other two seem unbothered. Orm’s hand slips from his, and he tries to hold on, but the baby disappears underwater. He panics, trying to hold onto him, but he’s nimble and moves like no human he’s ever seen. Orm disappears under the water, and a moment later, he pops up out of the water into his mother’s arms, further down the beach.

“I told you.” Arthur smirks at him, a little too satisfied at his victory.

“That’s—That’s not possible!”

“It is,” he motions at his brother and his mother.

Bruce stumbles backwards, landing in the water. His gray eyes are wide with surprise; mermaids aren’t real and yet. He looks at Arthur, stunning. “Can you do that too?”

“Yup,” he grins, popping the ‘p’.

“Whoa, that’s awesome.”

“Yeah!” But Bruce hasn’t seen anything yet. Arthur gives into the water, too, and shows Bruce all the tricks he knows. What better way to make friends than to put on a water show?

Bruce is content to sit in the shallows, watching with fascination. His introverted nature makes him a perfect audience for Arthur’s shenanigans, and now that their misunderstanding has been cleared, their personalities complement one another greatly.

They end up playing in the sand together, building castles. Orm eventually comes back, crawling out of the water to see what his brother(s) are doing.

“This is pretty,” Bruce holds out a small shell.

“Pudit-back,” Arthur frowns. When Bruce looks at him confused, he sighs and explains. “Someone lives there.”

Right on cue, a little hermit crab pops up to say hello.

“That’s Shelldon.”

“Right, sorry.” Bruce sets it down with another muttered apology.

He’s mostly silent in their playing, happy to let Arthur make all the sound effects. Orm joins in too, copying Arthur. When he speaks, it’s after a lot of thought. He makes sure that it’s purposeful, a belief that his parents have ingrained in him as a child. It’s important to understand his impact on people, whether it’s individuals or entire demographics. It’s also a lot for a child to think about, but he’s not any child. He is a Wayne.

“Do you want to be pen pals?”

“What’sa penpal?” Arthur asks, pushing his longish hair out of his face.

“We would write to each other, since we live far from each other. It’s how we stay friends.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll send you sand.”

“Alright,” Bruce smiles. He’s looking forward to Arthur’s letters, and he hasn’t even left yet.

#dc fanfic #dc comics #aquafam #arthur curry #tom curry #batfam #bruce wayne #batman #aquaman #thomas wayne #martha wayne #baby bruce wayne #baby arthur curry #baby orm #my fics #the lighthouse

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