[c] Coffee and Sketchbooks

It was quarter to two and he was a lot letter then he wanted to get to Tazza d'Oro. Dick wanted to get there at half past so he could relax and have a cup of tea to calm his nerves before his date arrived.

Having a conversation on the phone was one thing. A conversation face to face? That was another.

Sitting at a two seater table by the window and placing the sketchbook he promised on the table he decided to wait until his date got here before ordering a drink.

He took a little more time then usual this morning trying to get ready. He couldn't leave discarded clothes on the floor either, so it took him even more time to then tidy the mess up.

He settled on dark grey jeans, a light blue button up shirt partnered with a light brown blazer - which matched his brown shoes. He hoped it was casual enough for the date.

Taking a few deep breaths he waited.

Fleck walked in behind a couple holding hands, at about ten to two.

His eyes found Dick immediately and he crept up on the man. His hands dropped on Dick's shoulders and he leaned down so his lips were pressed to Dick's ear.

"I'll have get the coffee if you have the sketchbook."

Inhaling sharply his arm flew back with force to knock the hands off his shoulders.

"Fleck?!"

He flushed in embarrassment and stood up to make sure he was okay, he didn't really hold back there and if it wasn't for the awkward angle lord knows what he would of done.

"Are you okay? You scared the life out of me."

He must of seriously spaced out to not notice Fleck coming in.

Fleck was genuinely shocked that Dick's backwards push actually had enough force behind it to push him reeling back a few feet.

"Wow," he sounded more impressed than anything else as he grinned down at the man. "I don't think I want you to ever get pissed off enough at me to punch me."

He'd received more than enough punches from his family to drop him like a rock. Dick seemed to have enough power in his small body to be able to drop him, too, if he wanted to.

"It's good to see you."

Laughing bashfully, he stretched his hand to shake Fleck's. He was never too sure on how you greet someone on a first date but this is what came most naturally to him.

"It is good to see you too. The sketchbook is on the table."

Fleck was as handsome as he remembered, though his fashion was definitely not to his taste. Although it suited Fleck and gave him character.

He shook Dick's hand then swooped down to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Tell me what you want and I'll go get us something to drink. Then we can make the exchange and everyone can go home happy."

He winked, brown eyes sparkling muscheivously.

His skin burned from where Fleck kissed him to his ears and down his neck.

While he wasn't as much of a prude as he used to be, he was still a prude. Any type of romantic or sexual affection still embarrassed him.

"An americano please, no milk or sugar for me."

Stomach twisting from the wink he took his seat back down at the table to wait for the coffee.

"A plain Americano," he repeated back, before wandering up towards the counter.

After ordering and paying, he chatted idly with the cashier until his order was made.

When he returned to the table, he placed Dick's Americano down in front of him and settled into his own chair with a Marocchino in hand.

He reached up to idly toy with the gauge in his left ear.

"It looks like you've treated it well. I can't believe you managed to keep it in one piece." True enough, the half dead book was in one piece.

He thanked Fleck as the coffee was placed in front of him. He leaned forward and wrapped his hands around the cup to enjoy it's warmth and to wait for it to cool down.

"Miraculously. I still have no idea how it came home with me."

He must of held on to it for dear life from the time Fleck left to when he got back to the mansion.

"Also I can't remember telling you over the phone, but I was a bit nosey and had a look in it. They are really lovely sketches."

"I don't think they're anything special. Just scribbles mostly."

His cheeks pinked a little. Praise wasn't something he was used to for his drawing. Mostly it was his sculpting that got attention, followed by his painting. Sketching wasn't something he ever really showed people.

"You said you wanted to see some of my sculpting, right? I took pictures of a few things laying around my workshop this morning if you still want to see."

"Even for scribbles they have real character to them. You capture what you see pretty well too."

It was a shame that simple sketches weren't regarded all that highly. He found that it to real skill and talent to be able to capture something in just a few stokes, especially moving things like people.

"I would love to."

His fingers began to toy with his gauge again; a nervous habit he had when he wasn't sure what to say, or was embarrassed.

"Keep that up and you'll make me blush."

And, despite his comment, he pulled a phone from his pocket and opened the pictures. He set the phone down on the table facing Dick.

The picture on the screen was of an iguana, perched atop a log, painted in a beautiful array of greens and browns. If it wasn't for the shine of the glaze, the figure may have looked real.

"That one's my sort of mascot. We call her Nello." She was like his studio's pet, always perced atop her log, watching him work.

"Swipe at your leisure."

The idea of him making Fleck blush sounded nice. It was also a welcomed change.

"It's amazing. The detail in it is incredible."

He studied the picture a moment longer, wishing it wasn't a picture he was looking at. It was probably more incredible in real life.

"So what do I do, I just touch it and swipe? I am not too good with techko- oh my God."

He couldn't look away from the photo on the screen. It was most defiantly not a sculptor. Instead it was a picture of Fleck asleep and stretched out on a sofa. Half naked.

"I'm so sorry, I don't now how that happened."

"Jay is how that happened," Fleck said dryly, leaning over and swiping a couple of pictures, past Nello, and to a mock up of a corner of a stone building, with a gargoyle hunched over, glaring downwards.

"Sorry about that. Jay's getting into photography and wants to take photos of everything. If he doesnt have his camera with him when he sees something he wants to photograph, he just steals one of ours."

His brother had been driving them all nuts with his constant photograph taking.

He couldn't really concentrate on the gargoyle as hauntingly beautiful as it was. His mind was plagued with the image he didn't mean to see.

He cleared his throat.

"No it's fine. I guess it is good that he is getting into an art."

He tried to make it look as if he was entirely focused on the picture on the screen, the pink not leaving his ears.

"It is gorgeous, but you won't mind swiping for me? I will probably accidentally bring the photo up again. "

"I think we'd all much prefer he get into a less inclusive form of art. Well... maybe mom enjoys it. He makes her feel beautiful again."

His lips curled up into a fond little smile. It was clearly important to him that she felt good about herself.

"Accidentally, huh?" he teased, as he swiped again.

This bought up an iconic scene: Scar holding Mufasa over the edge of a cliff.

"Shut it."

His skin slowly reverted back to it's natural pale hue.

"Oh wow, it looks like it came straight out of the film."

He leaned forward to try and get a closer look at the photo one the phone, trying to pick out the details. It was hard to see on this picture.

A grin curled Fleck's lips. "Shutting it, sir."

His hand almost shot back up to play with his gauge.

"I had so much fun doing that one. I love sculpting animals, and being able to make this so simple yet effective was great. I still think its one of my best pieces besids Nello and Margherita. Margie, I think is my favourite, though."

Dick sat back up after studying the photo. He wondered if Fleck did any more sculptors from scenes from films and shows.

"Nello? Margherita? Margie?"

He raised an eyebrow at Fleck, trying to work out what he was on about. Surely they weren't the names of his sculptors?

"Nello is this beauty."

He swiped back to the iguana.

"And Margie is a scuplture I did of one of my pets. Margie's been my pet since I was fifteen, and I've loved every second of having her. Sculpting her I think was my crowning achievement in my work. I don't have a picture, though. I can never get a picture that I'm satisfied captures Margie perfectly."

He truly loved Margie and he wouldn't settle for taking a quick snap of that sculpture. Any photo of that sculpture had to be perfect, and he was yet to achieve that.

He opened his mouth and then closed it again. Maybe asking 'I would like to see it one day' may be too forward with what it was implying.

"So, you have pets? What do you have?"

He liked pets, he found they made good companions as long as they weren't too messy.

"A zoo."

That was the easiest answer to give.

"Everyone in the house has their own pets, then we have the family pets, then dad has his tanks. Sometimes I think it'd be easier to name the animals we don't have," he chuckled.

Really, they had so many that he couldn't even begin to count them off for fear that he'd forget someone.

He laughed. From the sounds of it, Fleck had a nice family set-up. They sounded close and to be one of those families where there was always something going on. It reminded him of the large ginger family from that popular book he couldn't quite remember the name of.

"It must get pretty crowded in there then. Okay, to make that question easier, tell me about your own pet or pets."

"I have Margie. She's a bearded dragon. She's coming up to seven years old now."

She was his baby, really. His first pet, and his most beloved.

"Then I have two cats: Solla and Sollew. Solla's an energetic nightmare. She kinda reminds me of Jay sometimes with the amount she bounces around. Sollew's the complete opposite. He's a lazy mound of fur. I'm not even sure he knows that there's a world away from the foot of my bed."

His eyes sparkled as he spoke, a grin curling his lips and his hands moving in animated gestures. He was getting excited talking about his pets. He truly did love them.

"Then there's Cream. Tehcnically she's Chai's, but she spends all her time with Sollew, so we all just sorta accepted that shes mine. She's the sweetest little skunk you've ever met."

Dick watched Fleck with a smile on his face. The man was... is adorable the right word? Adorable talking about the things he liked and interested in him. The was real energy when he spoke and he was sure he could see his eyes sparkling.

"A skunk? I have to say I have never heard of that before. You weren't kidding when you said you have a zoo."

He also wanted to ask if she stunk, but that was rude.