[C] Brrrr

"Thank fuck," Fleck muttered to himself, relaxing a little as Dick gave up on the song and the cab went quiet.



Fleck exhaled slowly, then reached out over his shoulder. "Pass me my sketchbook, babe?"

Dick opened his bag to take out Fleck's sketchbook and pencil case. Then held them both to his chest, far out of Fleck's reach, grinning.

"After you've disrespected my road trip playlist choice?"

"Yupp. Give it here."

He twisted around to try and grab at it, without catching Gennaro. Last thing he wanted was a car crash.

"Gimme gimme."

Dick kept the sketchbook close to his chest and scooted himself close to the door, as far out of Fleck's reach as possible.

"I don't think I want to."

"Then I don't think I want to share the bed tonight. You can sleep downstairs with the zoo."

He arched a brow in challenge.

He would hold to that, too.

Dick narrowed his eyes at Fleck, trying to judge of serious he was being.

Choosing the option that wouldn't result in a hissy fit, he passed the sketchbook over.

"Fine, but I'm still oh so hurt about your lack of enthusiasm about my playlist."

"You'll recover."

Fleck blew his boyfriend a kiss then settled down to sketching, shifting around until he was facing Gennaro and beginning to sketch his relaxed profile.

"We should. I love it here." Fleck was more than happy to come up here more often.

"Boy used to live here at one point. Its what started his obsession with sculpting those little clay fish." Gennaro made Cisco wave at a big fish nosing around the glass.

Sacha sent back a picture of him flipping the bird at the camera.

He gave Gennaro a small sincere smile. The first of the day.

A car ride together and Sacha's earlier text had put him a little more at ease about the whole day-trip-with-your-boyfriend's-ex situation. It shockingly turned out that sense was what he needed after all, not a chance to have a bitchfest.

"Ah, so that is where that obsession came from."

He made his way over to Fleck to wrap his arm around his waist, putting his hand in his back pocket.

"Yep. I was basically living with those fish. He'd just fire them and leave them everywhere. Does he still do that? Found a fish staring at you while you brush your teeth, or sharing your bed with you yet?"

Fleck rolled his eyes and shook his head, but wisely chose not to comment.

He leaned against Dick when his boyfriend wrapped around him, focusing on sketching a piece of coral right in front of him.

"I mean, they still make an appearance, but I wouldn't say it was that intense."

Besides, he ended up hoarding a few of his favourites in his draw. Never entirely sure what to do with them, but they took up space anyway.

"And I still think they're cute so it's not a problem - yet."

"Just you wait. After the tenth fish I found embedded in my spine, it got old."

Gennaro had really come to hate those fish over the years. The fish sucked. So did the little bunnies. And the foxes.

Though the tiny bears were always a favourite of his.

"Oh, but you love your fishy carousel, don't you, bug?" Cisco slapped at the thick aquarium glass, frightening a little group of fish swimming by.

Dick shrugged. Out of everything that came with Fleck's work, the tiny animals he made irritated him the least.

"At least I'm not alone appreciating the fish."

He pulled away to look into another tank that was unaffected by a baby's excitement. There was a funny eel peeking out from behind the rock. That was what he decided to sketch.

Right after he took a photo of it and sent it to Sacha.

I'm impressed by you're shapeshifting.

There were plenty of people that liked his fish. Gennnaro just suffered the worst of them.

Fuck off

Fleck settled on a bench, happy to sit and sketch whatever fish came into his line of sight.

 I'm just happy to see my friends.

Dick happily sat and sketched as well, only moving on to the next fish when the eel had enough of being in the limelight and hid back behind the rock.

A page full of delicate sketches of fish later, he stood and placed a hand on Fleck's shoulder, peering over to see what he's done.

"Shall we explore the next room? They have an octopus here and I think it might be in the next room."

Sacha sent a photo to Dick in response.

He stood in his uniform, long hair not yet tied back, tongue stuck out, middle finger raised proudly to the camera.

See this bitch

Fleck leaned back against Dick, tilting his head back and pursing his lips to demand a kiss.

He was in the middle of a watercolour painting of one of the turtles swimming around overhead.

He gave in to Fleck demand and bent down to kiss him softly. Getting the silent hint, he looked back down at his phone. The hand on Fleck's shoulder massaged it absently. 


Yes, I see a bitch.


Deciding to follow Sacha's suit, he lifted his phone and took a photo of himself. He had turned and angled it down, the back of Fleck and his painting in the shot, with that shit-eating grin Fleck claimed he had from time to time on his face.

Did you see a reflection in tank glass?

_________________________________________________

Fleck hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut, leaning in through the open window. "It was good seeing you 'Naro. Keep in touch, yeah?"

Gennaro grinned at Fleck. "Interaction goes both ways. Pick up your phone every now and again."

"Yeah, yeah." He leaned further into the car and stuck his tongue out at Cisco, who giggled and reached out to him. "You be a good boy to ma and pa, yeah, little man?"

Fleck stepped back from the car, and after a final round of goodbyes, Gennaro left.

After all the pleasantries of goodbyes, Dick wrapped an arm around Fleck's waist, his thumb hooked onto the belt loop of his trousers. He hummed as he watched the car leave.

"That was an interesting day."

He dropped his arm around Dick's shoulders and leaned down to kiss his temple.

"It was nice. I haven't seen him in so long."

It was great to catch up.

Dick hummed again, lips pursed. As he pulled away he gave Fleck's ass a friendly slap before he opened the door.

There was the round of greeting all the dogs - or at least the ones that remained excitable as soon as someone was home - as he stepped in. There was also the usual round of calling out that they were home. He made a beeline to the stairs.

"I'm going for a shower."

He tilted his head to the side, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Fleck was almost immediately knocked to the floor by Duke, who pinned him with big paws on his shoulders and drooled over his face.

Fleck wrestled the dog away as Dick made his way to the stairs.

"Need someone to wash your back?" Fleck asked, pushing himself to his feet, batting Duke away again when he went in for another round of love.

Dick turned, ascending the stairs backwards, watching as Fleck wrestled with Duke with a fond smile.

"If you'd like to," he said heavily. He wasn't particularly horny, but he wasn't about to turn down any type of fooling around.

"Well."

He chased Dick up the stairs with a grin.

"Wouldn't want you to have a dirty back." When he caught up to Dick, up on the landing, he wrapped his arms around him and lifted him off the ground.