[C] Black Dragon

Fleck groaned and laid back on the bed, arms spread out.

"Terribly," he grunted.

He wasn't an overly chatty person, but when he couldn't talk, he wanted to talk all the more.

This was hard.

He laughed again and followed him down, crossing his arms over Fleck's broad chest and resting his chin on his hands.

"I think I think I'm quite liking it."

Really, he didn't. He liked his chatty boyfriend. He liked that he managed to always have something to say.

But for the sake of teasing he pretended.

Fleck grunted and threw an arm over his eyes when Dick joked.

Let's see if he still liked it in a week when he still didn't get any kisses. He could hold out and torture Dick with no kisses.

Maybe.

Dick let out another soft laugh as Fleck grunted.

He leaned up and pressed a kiss above his hands and just bellow Fleck's collarbone. Then shuffled up a little higher to press another against Fleck's jaw.

"Does it hurt more or less compared to earlier?" He asked.

It was odd having their roles reversed. Him filling the air with conversation instead of Fleck.

His free hand made an upwards movement.

More. The adrenaline had worn off now. It was hurting like a son of a bitch. All the talking that he had been doing hadn't helped, either. He was going to quit talking all together from now on.

He was still going to be in pain.

"More?"

He cocked his head to the side and settled down back on his hands.

"How long did Ti say it would take to heal again?"

He had a lot of difficulty to paying attention.

Yes, more.

He held up four fingers at Dick's question.

This game of charades was going to get old quick, but for now it was going to have to do.

"Four... months?"

He didn't imagine it to be weeks. But even if it was it seemed a ridiculously long time. Four months seemed like torture.

His hand toyed with the fresh piercing in his ear. The sting wasn't there anymore and it has scabbed over. By morning it should be healed completely.

"When can you talk again?"

He made a lower motion.

Four weeks, on average, was how long it took for a tongue piercing to heal.

He didn't think many people would get them if it took four months.

He shrugged at the second question. He didn't actually know. A couple of days, maybe?

He huffed, then got up. This game was getting on his nerves very fast.

"Where do you keep scrap paper and pens?" He asked, searching where he thought Fleck might keep them.

He reached down and pulled open the cupboard door to his bedside table.

There were a few pads, and a leather-bound journal stacked in it. There were a few loose pens, too. He did a lot of note taking, and was an avid journal writer.

Dick's lips curved into a smile.

"Now I don't have to keep guessing."

He settled back on the bed, shoulder to shoulder with Fleck so he could see what Fleck writes.

"So how long do you think it will take for you to speak again?"

Couple of days?

His writing was scratchy, angular and a little jagged. His ability to draw was so fluid and careful, but his writing was just the opposite. He didn't take a second to think about the way he wrote.

Dick let out another huff and rested his head on Fleck's shoulder. Two days of this?

He ran his finger along the short sentence. He never really paid attention to Fleck's hand writing before. It was a complete contrast to his drawings.

"I like your hand writing," he said, unironically.

It was very Fleck

He blinked at the comment.

Thanks?

What did you say when someone complimented your handwriting like that? Was there an etiquette for that? He doubted it.

His shoulders shook a little at the question mark.

He reached out to take the pen from Fleck.

This is what mine looks like.

He wrote it next to Fleck's so they could compare. His was small, scrawly and cursive. Very different to Fleck's.

He took in Dick's handwriting. It looked... elegant. Something old and beautiful.

When did you learn to read and write?

He was a little curious. Was reading and writing something new to him? Or had he learned when he was human? But, back when he was human, wasn't it pretty uncommon for people to be able to read and write?

History was so interesting.

"English or Italian?"

They were both very different time periods in his life.

He didn't wait for Fleck to write, and just decided to answer them both.

"I learned English as soon as I could pick up a pen - well, quill. And as for Italian, it was either learn the language or not understand what was going on around me. English wasn't spoken on Giacinto's ship."

Normally he was a little dismissive of Fleck's questions. But considering that is was him that had to fill the air with conversation, he will let Fleck badger him a bit.

Not spoken? But, wasn't the English like, the rulers of the sea back when pirates were a thing?

He had to admit, he didn't know a huge amount about that time period.

He filed away that bit about learning English, though. So Dick had to have come from a wealthy family, right? That was something knew he hadn't known about him.

His lips quirked a little.

"As much as I would love to agree with that, the Spanish were pretty prominent too. So were the Dutch, French and Portuguese."

He shifted, curling his hand around Fleck's bicep.

"I mean there were a couple of other English speakers on board when I first joined Giacinto's ship, but they just spoke what the vast majority of the ship spoke. It was easier. When you have commands screamed at you in another language you don't want to stand there and look like an idiot - especially if it was urgent. Quickest way not to make friends."

He was speaking from experience there. The first six months was hell.

"I ended up learning French and Spanish, too," he added.

Are there languages you don't speak?

He sent Dick a teasing grin when he wrote that one. His boyfriend seemed to have a quite a few languages under his belt.

He wanted to know just which languages so he wouldn't be met with a surprise the next time Dick fluently spoke to someone h couldn't understand at all. Or tried to get him to talk in Spanish again.

Maybe he could use Dick to learn Spanish better. Then he could surprise Jay when he was bitching about them all in Spanish.

Dick smiled back at Fleck, cheeks pinking.

"I know bits of Portuguese and Dutch. Portuguese a little better since it is so close to the other Romance languages. But place me in Eastern Europe and I will be lost."

Although, with how the world seems to slowly starting to universally speak English, he was sure he would be able to find his way home.

Okay, so there wouldn't be too many lingual surprises. That was good to know.

He tapped the pen against paper.

Was there anything else that he could ask Dick while hew as being so conversational?

Dick watched as Fleck tapped the pen against the paper.

"Do you know any other languages?" He asked, continuing on with the topic.

He began shaking his head, then stopped.

A couple. Just conversationally. Jay and Chai have this thing with wanting to learn and dragging me along with them.

He tapped the pen against the paper, and then began scrawling his list.

Italian, obviously
English. Also obvious
Spanish
German
Mandarin. That's really hard

He underlined that one to emphasise it. He couldn't speak any of the last three much more than small conversation and directions.