[C] Pebbles

"Course you do, sweetheart," Fleck agreed lightly.

He didn't may Dick any mind while the man dressed, but when he strolled back over to him, Fleck let out the groan of a dying man.

"Trying to seduce me? There's no way you can go again so soon. There's no way I can go again so soon," he corrected, almost pained.

Dick had to know what wearing his clothes was doing to him.

Dick's eyebrows pinched together

"No?"

He looked down at himself. His whole body was drowning in Fleck's clothes. While he may lack experience, he was pretty sure this didn't count as seductive.

But thinking back to all the other times he wore Fleck's clothes it suddenly all made sense.

Blue eyes flicked up to Fleck curiously.

"Do you want me to change?"

"Never."

He curled a hand in the loose clothing, and pulled Dick closer by the waistband of his pants. "C'mere."

He drew Dick between his parted thighs, shutting off his hairdryer, then wrapping his arms around Dick's waist. He rested his chin on Dick's chest, so he was craning his head back and looking up at him.

He observed Dick for a few long moments, then gave a breath-taking smile.

Dick wrapped his arms around Fleck's neck was he was pulled closer. Chin on his chest, he looked down at his boyfriend, a soft smile on his lips.

It was Dick's turn to groan.

"You need to stop smiling like that. My heart can only take so much."

He smoothed a hand over Fleck's mostly dried hair. Then leant down to kiss his forehead.

"You keep saying I will be the death of you, but I'm pretty sure it is going to be the other way around."

The demand only had Fleck's smile widening. Full lips split over straight white teeth. His eyes shone adoringly.

"Well, how about we both agree to stick around and find out who'll eventually be the death of who, hmm?"

He pressed a kiss to Dick's clothed stomach.

"Deal?"

Dick laughed at Fleck's words at first when he kissed his stomach.

Then he pondered at the words. His face slackened. The smile on his face strained.

"Deal." It was spoken more softly then intended. A sadness in his tone.

He smoothed his hand over the hair again, forcing his smile up further.

Fleck pulled back, his smile dropping when Dick's grin strained.

"What's wrong?" Any trace of humour was gone now. Worry had taken its place. Dick's mood had dropped so suddenly and absolutely that the room seemed a number of degrees cooler.

His hands rested on Dick's hips as hazel eyes regarded him with worry.

Dick wasn't surprised when Fleck picked up on the sudden mood change. He just wished he hadn't They can go along laughing the rest of the evening.

His fingers brushed over Fleck's cheek bone.

"You're one of the best things that had ever happened to me, you know?"

His hands cupped Fleck's face. He turned his blue eyes up to the heavens for a moment. Slowly, he turned them back down.

"I don't age, Fleck."

He told him before when Fleck first found out he was a vampire. His boyfriend made jokes about his age all the time. He took his heritage well.

But while Fleck was young and they looked the same age, he guessed it was easy to forget.

"Huh, no way? I thought you just had a really good skincare routine." The joke came unbidden. Humour was almost always at the forefront with Fleck.

But he dropped the humour, one of his hands coming up to lightly grasp one of Dick's wrists, keeping his hand in place on his cheek. He was worried that his attempt at humour would make Dick draw back.

His lips parted, and his tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth as he tried to plan what he was thinking.

"And I do," he said carefully. "We weren't going to grow old together. I realised that very quickly. I..."

He just assumed that, eventually, Dick would make him a Vampire, if they stayed together. That had been his mindset when their relationship was fairly new. This could happen if they stayed together.


Their relationship was beyond that point now. They'd gone past the honeymoon phase, they'd dealt with rough situations together, and they still smiled and fawned over each other.

If that wasn't the sort of love that would last, nothing was.

And, he realised now, with a sudden weariness, that mortality was something that they'd need to talk about. Like some couples bought up marriage, or children, or any other big decision that would change their lives, they needed to bring up vampirism.

But how did you do that?

The joke caused a soft, sad laugh.

He bent down to kiss Fleck's forehead before he settled down on the bed, legs crossed. His hands fell to his boyfriend's knees, encouraging him to face him.

"We're not," he finally agreed after a stretch of silence.

Fleck was going to live out his life with his family. Dick was never going to look not a day past nineteen.

"But that doesn't mean that I won't stand by your side, you know?"

The hands on Fleck's knees gave them a squeeze. He didn't know where to take this conversation. Like with all of his other problems, he didn't think about. Thinking led to over thinking. It was easier to just pretend that the problem wasn't there.

Now he wished he thought on the subject a little more, so he wasn't lost for words.

"Is that what you want?"

His voice was quiet, soft.

"You want to stay with me for the next fifty, sixty years." It wasn't posed as a question, but the tone of it definitely brokered a need for clarification.

Was that was Dick wanted?

"That's what I want."

He would like longer. He would love for it to be longer. But...

The vampire's hands found his human boyfriend's hands. He gave them a squeeze, too.

"Is that what you want?"

His lips twitched at the answer.

That wasn't what he had wanted to hear. How could he broach possible vampirism when his boyfriend had just told him that he wanted to see him grow old?

"Of course I want you around. As long as you're okay with a silver mohawk and bad knees." He tried to keep the strain out of his voice as he spoke, making his tone purposefully light.

His mouth curved up, bottom lip jutting.

"Yeah. I guess I you wouldn't be picking me up anymore..."

He felt something hot and wet slid down his cheek. Quickly, rubbed it away. His blue eyes lifted back up and he willed the wetness away. He wasn't the one being confronted with his own humanity.

It's just that a life after without Fleck hurt. Hard to imagine. In such a short space of time, he had left an impact.

"Not easy to carry someone and use a zimmer frame at the same time." Another poor attempt at humour.

Which was again lashed quickly.

"Dont do that. God, don't cry!" He reached forwards to draw Dick against his chest, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Shhh. Shh. Don't cry, sweetheart."

Despite his attempts at trying to soothe his boyfriend, he could feel his own eyes prickle with tears.

Fleck's desperate soothing as he pulled him into a hug didn't help. But Dick was grateful. Appreciate of the hold when his arms curled around Fleck's neck.

Face buried in the crook of the neck, he couldn't help it; his shoulders shook. His eyes burned, hot and wet, against Fleck's skin. A few gasping sobs left him.

"Stop... please stop crying."

He was crying openly, now, too. His tears soaking into Dick's straight hair. He clutched at his shaking boyfriend, sobbing just as openly.

"Please. Please."

He didn't know if he was begging about the crying any more.

Dick continued to sob. His grip tightened around Fleck as he began to sob too.

When his sobbing subsided enough, he pulled back. His hands rested either side of Fleck's face, thumbs attempting to wipe away the tears.

"I'm sorry." For crying, for lowering the mood, for ignoring the one thing they both know could change this.

"I'm so, so sorry."

His lip trembled and fresh tears began to drip down his damp, blotchy face.

He tried for a watery smile when Dick wiped at the tears streaming down his cheeks, but failed pretty miserably.

"You can't apologise for crying."

His hand found the back of Dick's head, pulling him close again, pressing Dick into his bare shoulder.

He gave Fleck his own shaky smile before he was pulled back into his shoulder.

A new wave of sobs came over him. He held tightly. Staying close in Fleck's embrace.

Slowly, the shakes subsided. They just jolted every now and then as he in inhaled sharply.

"Can we lie down and cuddle for a bit?"

He didn't answer verbally, just tipped himself and Dick backwards, so he laid out on the bed.

He adjusted Dick a little so he lay comfortably on his chest, still holding him tight.

There was a long, long pause. Then a meek whisper.

"I don't want just sixty years."

In that long, long pause, Dick appreciated his boyfriend.

His hand laid in front of his face, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. Fleck's heart beat hard in his chest. The body was warm - much warmer than his own. There was a light smell of the fragrant soap they had used in the shower on his skin.

His splayed fingers clutched.

He continued to listen to the heart rattle in his chest.

Of course, it would be brought up. Even if he ignored it, Fleck wouldn't.

"I don't know if I could do that. " His voice was equally meek.

His eyes clenched shut.

He held Dick a little tighter.

His breath stuttered slightly in his chest as he inhaled slowly, trying to calm himself.

"So what do we do?" He sounded so small, so helpless as he asked the question in a breath, barely a whisper.

Dick bit his lip, his own eyes closed.

He didn't know how to answer that. So what do we do? About them? Fleck's humanity? His own anxious inability to turn him?

"We will handle it. One hurdle at a time," he said slowly, turning up to his boyfriend. His wonderful, beautiful, human, boyfriend.

His heart hurt again.

Fleck nodded, a small, unsure bob of his head, and held onto Dick tighter.

"One hurdle at a time. Hand in hand."

That was the only way they could get through this situation. Standing together and helping each other out. And maybe some time in the future, things would settle into place?

He could only hope.