The human didn't show up for the next three days.

Tony spent the first two days grumbling to himself and swimming angry circles around the tank. So the human had decided he wasn't worth the effort if he couldn't perform a routine, it seemed. Well, fuck him. Tony didn't need him or his overbearing ways.

But by the third day, most of Tony's anger had started to fade and he felt restless and bored. The human had taken all the toys with him. The hoop, the ball, the rope, even the plain metal bar. It was so unfair. Even if the human decided he couldn't teach him anything else, the least he could do was leave the toys with Tony. It wasn't like the human would be using them.

He spent most of the day swimming through the cave system and chasing schools of fish, but he didn't find anything particularly exciting.

It was just like he had feared. The human had abandoned him and now that he had gotten used to the human's games, he was going to be miserable and bored for the rest of his life.

Despondently, Tony curled up for the night.

The next morning, as Tony swam up to his sunning rock, he was surprised and delighted to see the human standing beside the tank.

Eagerly, he swam up to the edge. The human hadn't abandoned him after all.

The human absently stroked a hand through Tony's hair. "I must leave you for the week, my pet. I have other matters to attend to." He hefted a massive trout into the tank. "This will have to tide you over until my return."

Tony whimpered. A whole week? The human was leaving him for a whole week? What could he possibly be doing that would take him elsewhere for an entire week? Did he have another mer in a tank somewhere, one that could do all the tricks better than Tony could?

The human chucked him under the chin. "It's just a week, my pet. You'll survive."

Tony doubted that. He was already miserable after three days without the human. Surviving another week was going to be torture.

He hauled himself up on his sunning rock and picked at the fish half-heartedly.

It was only a week, the human said. But what if the human really had another mer out there and he decided he was a better pet than Tony was? What if he never came back?

The only thing Tony could do was prove to the human that he was capable of mastering a whole routine. That way, if he did come back at the end of the week, he would be able to see that Tony was smart and skillful and worth spending time teaching.

Tony didn't have any music to practice with, but he had heard the human's song enough time, especially the part that went along with his sequence that he knew the words by heart. He hummed along with the song as he moved into the jump. He was going to master the human's choreography, even if it took him the whole week.

He spent the whole first day practicing the sequence over and over again until he could do all the moves without any conscious thought. The he focused on diving deeper and deeper, rocketing downwards as fast as he could and then immediately zooming back to the surface. It was tiring, but he wanted to do the most impressive jump he could.

After a few days working on his stamina, Tony went back to work on his timing. He felt reasonably confident about how well he could perform each task, but doing everything within the proper time frame had always been the more difficult part.

On the seventh day, Tony spent the whole day at the surface, anxiously awaiting the human's return. The human had said exactly when he'd be back and Tony was terrified the human might come and leave again if he left his perch for even a few minutes. Or maybe he wouldn't show up at all.

Late in the afternoon, the human finally walked into the room.

Tony was thrilled to see him. It had been an incredibly lonely week without him. But Tony tamped down on the impulse to rush to the side of the tank and press his face into the human's hands. Instead, he launched into his sequence of moves.

The human raised an eyebrow. "You still remember what I taught you?"

Tony bobbed his head.

"I know what a strain this has been for you," the human said slowly. "Do you really want to try it again?"

Tony nodded vigorously. He was so afraid that he still didn't have the timing right, but he was desperate to prove himself.

"Very well, my pet." The human went down the corridor and retrieved his laptop.

Tony sucked in a sharp breath as the human started up the music. The moment of truth. He could do this.

He threw himself into the choreography, sharpening his focus to the millisecond.

When he finally surfaced, he felt good. He had done his very best. If the human still wasn't happy, at least Tony could hold his head high and be proud of his efforts.

The human smiled widely. "Have you been practicing for your master while he was away? It definitely shows, my pet." He stroked under Tony's chin. "You're such a clever thing, aren't you? You can accomplish anything you put your mind to."

Tony purred contentedly and leaned into his master's touch. He had forgotten how good it felt to be praised.

"I have a nice, big fish waiting for you," the human said. "You deserve it, my pet."

Tony squealed with delight. He had also missed the delicious fish the human provided.

"Tomorrow, we'll work on adding more to your routine," the human said. "Today, we'll take it easy and celebrate your accomplishments."

Tony's eyes fluttered shut. The human was so good to him.

The day got even better when the human brought out some of the toys. God, Tony had missed having things to play with. And he loved them even better without the music and the pressure to perform. He loved a challenge and having a goal to work towards, but it was nice to spend the day just playing with his toys and his master.

The human stuck around for a couple hours, probably to make up for his absence for the week. Tony basked in the attention. He had been incredibly lonely all by himself and he was going to do whatever it took so the human would never leave him all alone again.

Unfortunately, that meant learning more of the human's terribly boring choreography. There were so many parts to the routine even though it was such a short song. And the human wanted everything timed to the millisecond. Tony sometimes spent days working on a thirty-second stretch of music, only to find that the next section was even harder. But he was determined to master everything the human threw at him. He was too afraid that the human would give up on him again if he gave up on his training.

At least there were still some parts of the choreography that Tony genuinely enjoyed.

His favorite part of the routine was at the height of the song. It was the most difficult part of the whole routine, but also the most thrilling. Tony had to dive up under one ring and launch a ball across the tank to land in another ring, leap over one metal bar, under another, and then use a third the third bar to fling himself into the ring after the ball. It had taken weeks to master the whole sequence and another week to time everything perfectly to the music. But it was all worth it when Tony finally had everything nailed.

"Bravo, my pet," the human said, applauding wildly. "That was flawless."

Tony swam up to the glass and angled his head for a congratulatory petting.

"It's taken some time," the human murmured. "But you finally have the whole routine down perfectly. You hit all your jumps, you kept up with the rhythm of the song, and you exuded spirit. My pet, I'm so proud of you."

Tony sighed contentedly and rubbed his face into the master's hands. It felt so good to finally master all that his human had been teaching him. It had been hard work, but he had prevailed and the master was pleased with his performance.

"Don't forget what you've learned," the human said as he scratched behind Tony's ears. "My scientists will want to see your amazing routine."

Tony wrinkled his forehead. He didn't feel particularly like seeing the scientists again. He associated them with being poked, prodded, and uncomfortably confined.

"Don't worry, my pet. They won't touch you," the human assured him. "They'll just come up to witness your triumph. And I'm sure they'll bring you all sorts of delicious treats to reward your performance."

So Tony dutifully repeated his performance.

The scientists didn't look sufficiently impressed. They only clapped politely and spoke bland words of praise. But they brought buckets of fish with them and that was really all that mattered.

Tony gorged himself on his fish and settled down deep in his cave to sleep off all the exertion.

At last, the human's crazy obsession with choreography had been satisfied. Now Tony could spend the rest of his days in peace. He wouldn't mind keeping the toys and he'd be willing to do some of the tricks from time to time to show off his awesomeness to the human, but he felt perfectly happy scrubbing the whole complicated routine from his memory.

Contentedly, he burrowed deep into the sandy bottom of his tank, intending to sleep for most of the afternoon, maybe the entire night as well. He felt like he'd earned it.

But he woke all too soon to a pain low in his belly.

He whined and scratched his scales with his claws, but it did nothing to alleviate his discomfort.

There must have been something wrong with the fish the stupid scientists had given him. Goddamnit. He knew he shouldn't have trusted them. They just liked to see him suffer.

With an irritated huff, Tony propelled himself back to the surface and hauled himself up onto his sunning rock. The warmth would probably ease the stomach cramps.

But no matter what position he laid in, his belly still hurt. And it only seemed to be getting worse. He wailed in frustration and thrashed about on the rock, beating the water with his tail.

The sound of his agony must have reached the human in his cave because the master was suddenly beside the tank, looking very concerned. "What's wrong, my pet?

Tony whimpered and pressed a claw against his abdomen.

"You feel unwell? Not to worry, my pet. My men will look you over." The human stepped over to the wall. "I need everyone up here immediately. Bring all the equipment."

No, no, not the scientists.

Tony bared his teeth in a snarl. Those assholes had done something to him, he knew it. There was no way he was letting them touch him again and make it worse. He hissed and swiped at the men as they lowered their net into the water.

"I know you're hurting, pet, but you need to cooperate and let my men look you over," the master said soothingly. "They're going to help you feel better."

"I think we're going to have to sedate him," the short scientist advised. "He's too agitated."

"Do what you must," the master said with a sigh. "We must have a look at him."

One of the scientists jabbed him with a sharp, pointy thing and then all his limbs went slack

Unable to fight them off any longer, they fished him out of the water and onto the metal table. He whined at the master plaintively, but he didn't have the energy or the ability to offer more protest. He didn't have much faith that things would get better down in the lab, but the master believed in his scientists and all Tony could do was trust his judgement. If the master was right and the scientists really were going to do something about the pain, it would all be worth it.

Down in the lab, the scientists eased him into the small pool of water and began fiddling with their equipment.

"I expect a little more urgency out of you," the master growled. "My precious pet is seriously ill and I'd like to know why and how you're going to fix this. I can't lose him."

"He's not sick. He's in heat," the skinny scientist explained.

"What? That's impossible. He's still biologically male."

"Not exactly. We weren't sure who'd you be able to find for him as a mate, so we thought it best to leave our options open."

Tony yowled over the rest of the scientist's words. He didn't care about a mate at the moment. Why were they so focused on finding him a mate when he was suffering so much?

"Don't just stand there," the master snapped. "Give him something for the pain."

The scientist approached with another sharp pointy thing on a string. Tony snarled at him and feebly tried to swat him away, but he successfully stabbed him in the arm and fixed the string to him.

Oddly, Tony started feeling just a bit better afterwards. A little sleepy too. Maybe if he could get the rest of the pain to go away, he could go back to his unfortunately interrupted nap.

"So what now?" the human asked. "He's just going to suffer like this every few months for the rest of his existence?

"If he gets pregnant or successfully mates with a females of his species, it should stabilize his hormones. But in the meantime, yes. He's going to go into heat every so often."

"You really should have cleared this with me beforehand," the human said with a heavy sigh. "But what's done is done. We really must do something for him, though. I don't like seeing him in so much pain."

"We're working on it as we speak," the scientist assured him.

Tony's eyes fluttered shut. For once, he believed them. The pain was dissipating, he was felt light and floaty. Definitely time for a nap.

When Tony woke up, he was back in the tank and all the pain was gone. But he felt weirdly empty, like he was missing something important.