Dinner Date [c]

"Evenings, definitely. I'm such a night owl."

Usually as soon as work ended, he was in his studio, until the early hours of the morning. Then he'd crash, get a few hours sleep, then wake up with just enough time to scrap his hair back, yank on his uniform and sprint to work.

"Maybe a night owl would make a good tattoo design."

Nah. He'd probably want to change it pretty quickly.

"If you could step into the world of any book you've read, which and why?"

"Good, because I am one too." He laughed. He guessed that was one way of putting it.

"That is such a difficult question, give me a second."

There were so many books and wonderful worlds created it was hard to pick one. He would love to explore and see all of them if he could.

"This is going to sound so cliché and so many kids answer with this but probably the Harry Potter books. They are the biggest books of the last couple of decades. There are so many vast possibilities in the books universe. I would love to see what life is like outside of Hogwarts.

But ask me this question again in a couple of hours and it would be a completely different answer."

"We can stay up late and feed into each other's unhealthy insomniac habits then," he joked.

"I never did read those books." He'd just never gotten around to reading them. He was too busy in his workshop most of the time to read much. And most of what he did manage to read was comics.

"They are not literacy masterpieces but they are pretty fun to read. You can really get immersed in them."

There were his favourite types of books. Ones which sent him far away from reality. They didn't necessary had to be fantasy (he avoided vampire books like the plague unless he was drunk and wanted a laugh).

"If you could be any animal which would you be? Tell me why as well."

"Peacock," he answered immediately.

He didn't even need to think on that question. "Theyre such beautiful, proud animals, and yet theyre so scary at the same time."

Peacocks really were scary creatures. He'd been terrified of them for a long time. Though in the past few years he'd done a few sketches/paintings/sculptings of them.

"I love how contradictory they are. Beatiful but terrifying."

"A peacock?"

That took Dick by surprise a little. Peacock's he associated with stuck up and frivolous people. Defiantly not Fleck.

He listened to Fleck's explanation and hummed.

"To be honest I wouldn't say they are scary. I agree with them being beautiful though. That suits you."

"Then you've never been attacked by one. There's a zoo in a town near my dads parents and they have free-roaming peacocks."

Fleck tilted his left arm so his wrist was facing upwards. "See this here?" He traced a faint mark about three inches long across his forearm. It was barely noticeable against his tanned skin, and even less so in the dark. "My aunt had a toddler back then. He's grown up a bit now. But, yeah, a peacock got too close to the pram, and I jumped in to get it away from him. It got a good go at me before it left."

He clearly wasn't bothered too much by it. He had a fair amount of scars on his body and as far as his scars went, this one was one of his lesser scars.

"Peacocks can be scary and feirce creatures sometimes."

"You are not wrong there."

He could see the scar clearly in the dark. Through human eyes it would of been difficult.

His lips curved into a smile as Fleck told the story. he loved it when he spoke of his close family. Hearing that he protected one of them swelled Dick with pride for the other man.

"I will take your word for it then."

His head bobbed in a nod, affirming that Dick's choice to take his word for it was the right thing to do.

"If you could change one thing about any animal in the world, what would it be?"

Odd creative questions like this tended to reveal a lot about someone's character.

"Oh, you are definitely in the lead for weird questions on my one."

It was never something he gave thought about before. He never needed to until now. He ran through all the animals in his mind and focused what he didn't like about each.

"I hate dogs drooling - or any animal in that case. So I would probably change that."

"I try."

Fleck grinned. "But a lot of animals sweat from their mouths. Dogs particularly. A lot of dog drool is actually sweating and them trying to cool down because they don't sweat like we do."

Chai had been curious about why dogs drooled so much once and had educated the rest of the family.

"Oh, I never knew that! I will change my answer to: Dog's sweat in a less gross way?"

He hated it when he fussed a dog and was left with a wet hand. Especially with the dog has particularly bad breath.

"Going along the lines of animals, if you could merge two animals together which would they be?"

"I didn't know that until Chai myself."

Once again Fleck was able to answer without a second thought. "Cat and dog. I'd love a cat with more energy, or a dog with softer fur."

He liked his cuddly animals, an he liked being able to run around and exercise with his animals, so having one that could do both in the best way possible.

An image of a animal with the top part being cat and the bottom part being dog popped in his head. Probably not what Fleck meant.

"That is the best part about cats though."

He liked dog's, but sometimes they could be a bit too much. Cat's he liked as they come and go as they please.

"It can be nice to have that. Sometimes its a lifesaver with Solla, but I do like how energetic she is. Taking her for walks can be fun."

But he would love a cat that acted like a puppy all the time. It would be great.

He laughed a little. In all honesty he has never seen someone taking a cat out for a walk. It was a thing he knew that happened - he had seen rabbits and ferrets and such taken on walks before. But a cat? Nope.

"Hit me with another question then."

"Hmm, if you could have one skill that you've always wanted, what would it be?"

It was another question designed to find out more bout Dick. He was learning a lot about the man with these questions.

"Like super powers? Or normal skills?"

He had an answer for both, but he didn't want to answer the question with the superhero one. That would be a little bit embarrassing if Fleck meant normal skills.

"Normal skils for now. Super powers can be my next question."

He honestly hadn't thought that Dick would be much into a Superheroes. It wasn't a terrible thing to be into, though.

Dick has tried and practised a lot of different skills during his life. Even some he wasn't very good at, with enough perseverance, he soon got the hang of it. There was just one skill that he could never quite get:

"Cooking." There was not hesitation in his voice. "I am awful at it. Beyond awful, as much as I hate to admit it. I have been banned from the kitchen more times then I can count."

"I won't expect a homemade meal date then," Fleck laughed.

He'd be the one handling the homemade meal dates. He could actually cook fairly well when he applied himself.

"Or I can show you how to cook something someday."

He pinked a little.

"I won't let you suffer that."

He shook his head.

"The best have tried and failed. I am a lost cause - unless you have some secret way of teaching the worst of the worst."

As much as he loved the idea of cooking something with Fleck he also liked the idea of his date being intact.

"I've taught my little brother patience. I can do anything."

And he really did like the idea of having a kitchen date. Cooking something with someone was intimate in Fleck's mind. He wanted to be able to have a nice intimate date like that.

"You will have to prove it then."

He still very much doubted that Fleck could. If this date ever took place, he will make sure to designate himself as potato peeler.

"My turn. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?"

He gave Fleck a cheeky grin for stealing his question.

"Challenge accepted."

Fleck arched a brow. "Stealing my questions now, huh?" He gave Dick a playful poke in the side.

"Shapeshifting. I think its such a cool superpower."