[C] Brrrr

"I did. I do."

There was still a lot of love for Gennaro in him. That he doubted would ever fade.

"And Gennaro me, too. But he can make some very poor choices. Rachel, Matteo, Tomaso, Helena."

Those were the ones he knew about from their time together.

That... hurt. The present tense was unexpected.

"Oh."

He listened.

"Oh."

He lifted himself up a little to look at Fleck, the frown on his face deepening.

"He cheated on you?"

Fleck's lips stretched into a parody of a smile, caught somewhere between bitter and sad.

"A few times."

Fleck loved Gennaro, but not enough to stay with him when he slept with so many other people.

That was why they'd broken up.

Dick sat up and processed what he had just learnt: Gennaro cheated on Fleck. One way or another, they decided to just be friends. Somehow Fleck still loved him.

"I'm going for a smoke."

He clambered out of bed to pull on his lounge clothes, left folded on the couch.

Fleck sat up, watching Dick as he yanked on his clothes.

"Do you want company or do you want the time to think?"

He wanted to be there for Dick, but he was just going to make Dick angrier if he followed him when he wanted to be alone.

Dick paused, taken aback by the question. He headed over to where he left his phone and picked it up. Along with his tobacco pouch and Chry's lighter.

"I'll, uh, message you."

He quickly made his way out of the room. Out of the house to the designated smoking area of the patio. He rolled a cigarette and took a deep, grateful inhale as he lit it.

Taking out his phone, he dialled Giacinto.

"Okay." He leaned over to catch Dick's wrist before he could get too far away. Fleck pressed a sweet kiss to Dick's lips. "I love you."

Then he let him go and let him disappear down to the garden.

The phone wasn't left ringing for long before it was answered.

"And here I'd thought you must have died," came a rich, husky purr in greeting.

Dick chuckled gently at the familiarity on the other end of the phone.

"It's nice to hear from you too. Are you busy?"

Across the city, Giacinto leaned against the old brick of the wall behind her. She was attending a charity gala. She'd stepped out to take the call, standing alone in the car park.

"I'll try and free up my busy schedule for you." The feigned sarcasm in her voice was just as convincing as any real sarcasm she could produce.

She pushed off the wall and strode towards her car.

Dick shifted in his seat, feeling guilty that he was only phoning her for advice rather than a catch-up.

"Much appreciated."

He fiddled with his cigarette before inhaling again as he mulled his question over.

"Has anyone ever cheated on you? Not that Fleck cheated on me," he quickly tagged on, "or I him."

Giacinto stopped short and just stood for a long moment.

Did she even bother mentioning Ignacio there? Or was that the elephant in the room? The 'that's the obvious answer, but did someone else cheat on you?'

She decided the second one was probably more likely.

"Well, my second husband did. Frequently. And there have been a few here and there over the millennia." It was bound happen to at some point when you'd had hundreds of 'long-term' relationships.

Dick hummed and flicked some ash.

"And did, um," he shifted in his seat, "did you still love any of them?"

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and tilted his head back. Shit shit shit. This probably wasn't the best person to ask about this.

He was so wrapped up in his own feelings, he didn't stop to consider hers.

Fuck.

"I didn't love most of them to begin with," she admitted.

Love for others was a difficult emotion to come by when you were so old. It took a lot to bring up that emotion in her. Her many partners over the years rarely saw it in her.

"Who has you so twisted up?"

"Oh."

The tension in his shoulders relaxed.

He considered for a moment on dropping the conversation, but who else was there to talk to? 

"We bumped into one of Fleck's exes today," he started. "They decided to hang out, with myself tagging along. I mean, he had a baby with him but I couldn't help but feel," he hesitated, trying to find a word other than the first that popped in his head. In the end, he begrudgingly said, "jealous."

"Jealousy is natural." Who wanted to hang out with their partner's ex? Anyone that said they did was lying.

"But," she tacked on thoughtfully, opening her car door and taking a seat. It clicked shut behind her quietly. "There's a reason they're exes. Jealousy is one thing, insecurity another. Which one are you feeling?"

"Darling, he's a Pierce." In everything but name, that was. "That family are as full of love as they are stupidity."

They were like dogs that would love no matter how many times they were kicked. Though they did have the sense to not stand too close to the legs that had kicked them more than once. They were smart enough for that, at least.

"Yeah, I suppose..."

He leaned forward to stub out the cigarette.

"It didn't hurt any less though," he admitted. "Even if he did feel that way, I wish he just kept it to himself."

As grateful as he was for Fleck being honest, that felt like too much honesty.

"Again, he's a Pierce." Her tone was more dry this time.

"Oversharing is rather what they do. I've heard more than I ever wanted to from Chrys over the years. It's something you get used to." Eventually.

Giacinto leaned back in her chair and played idly with a loose lock of hair.

"He didn't say it to upset you. You're just being dramatic."

Dick's face turned sour. He pulled his phone away for his ear for just a second so that he had something to frown out.

"I'm not being dramatic," he snapped, "I'm upset and a little bit pissed off over a pretty significant thing right now."

Giacinto hummed mockingly.

"Let me guess. As soon as you found out you bolted from there like the hounds of hell were at your feet, without telling him anything." Dick was far too predictable. "Leaving him alone without any clue as to what's wrong except the fact that he'd upset you enough that you couldn't be around him."

She didn't even have to guess, really. She knew that he had done that just as sure as she knew that Fleck was probably back in his room worrying over how he could make things better between him and Dick.

It was very tempting to end the conversation there an then, as Giacinto was getting under his skin, but that was just proving everything she was saying was right. 

He let out a hiss.

"Would you like a prize?"

She let out a low chuckle.

Of course she had gotten it right. That boy was terrible for his predictability.

"What prizes are you offering?"

"A ticket to get off my back."

He stood and stretched, before quietly making his way indoors to fix himself a coffee. He snooped around for some mints he was sure were stashed away in a drawer somewhere.

"Pretty great prize if you ask me."

Giacinto smirked.

"I think I quite enjoy it there, though."

She certainly enjoyed getting under his skin, and it was easiest to do when she was riding him like that.

Dick would just have to suffer.