[C] Do Unto Others

Dick snorted a little, even though he agreed that it would be a good idea. They would never have to deal with the horrid shoe cupboard again. Never have to worry about his shoes being a little scuffed or missing. He just wished they had thought of that sooner.

With Fleck leading the way, Dick followed contently at whichever route he decided to take and enjoyed the early morning air. The sun was pleasant on his face, but it wasn't so hot yet that he was uncomfortable. There was a general good feeling in the air knowing they were going to brighten a number of people's days.

With his free hand, he laced his fingers with Fleck's.

"So, how long have your family been doing this?"

Dick guessed a while with how routine it was for Fleck and his dad this morning.

"Since the second world war ended," Fleck replied.

"Ma's family has always been a military family. Her pa and uncles fought in the war, and her ma was a nurse. They all saw such horrible things. Ma's told me stories that they would tell her." He shuddered. 

"After the war, their fighting didn't stop. It did, physically, but there were still battles to be had. People were without families, without homes, without anything. So they turned to another one of their strengths. Cooking. Our family has always been able to cook well. I'll have to show you some recipes we've had in the family for a long time. Ma can't cook to save her life, but we've all learned, and ma's brother taught us what he knows."

He grinned widely. "So these soldiers, the men and women alike from my family, all gathered together and scrounged all they could, their rations and anything they could scavenge from the forests, or from other people wanting to help, and made these big batches of peasants soup. Thirty, forty, fifty portions, if they could. And just went out handing it out to anyone they could. Anyone that needed a warm meal in their bellies."

He walked with a little pride in his step. "And since then the family has always done it. Our family enlists. Leo's off with my uncle training right now, before he enlists. You haven't officially met him. And you haven't met one of my big brothers, or my oldest two sisters. They're twins. Those three are off right now. The rest of us, we do this part. We cook and we feed those that need a hot meal. The homeless, people that are down on their cash and just need a meal. You'll, um..."

He paused, hesitated, chewed on his lip. "You'll probably meet my mother while we're on this run. I always stop by hers and make sure she has a hot meal. You don't have to come with me for that one." That was something that he didn't want to push onto Dick.

Dick listened eagerly to what Fleck had to say.

Both of the world wars were something he remembered quite vividly. Never in his life had he seen something on that scale or as atrocious before. It wasn't a few hundred or a few thousand killed. It was millions - both soldiers and civilians.

The stories that were revealed after when everything came to light still made his stomach churn a bit.

But it was interesting hearing Fleck's family history about it and how they came together to help their community. It was something that was done a lot back then. Now, the idea of helping the community seemed to have faded from a lot of families. It was warming to hear that his boyfriend's family still helped where they can.

At the mention of his mother, he gave Fleck's hand a little squeeze, chewing on his lip as he thought how to delicately answer.

"I'll come," he said, after a pause. "Unless don't want me to intrude or anything like that. Which I understand. "

"There's nothing to intrude on," he assured, giving Dick's hand a squeeze in return.

"We're not close. I just, want to make sure she's okay, you know? She gave me the best life she could by giving me to pa, so I just want to make sure she's getting by."

He didn't know whether his siblings did the same when they went out to give out food, but he always stopped by her place, just to check up on her.

Dick nodded in understanding and squeezed Fleck's hand again. They were going to bruise each other's hands at this rate.

He followed the direction Fleck was going.

They gave out the first few hot meals along the way to some people who slept rough outside of the city centre. They stopped to chat with them for a few minutes, offering a little company, before moving on.

Fleck chatted happily with people, both new and regulars.

The two of them carried on, from one person to another, slowly handing out meals.

By mid-morning, they only had a handful of meals left. They were carting around an almost empty dolly. 

"Are you okay with us heading towards her place now?"

As the sun became higher in the sky and warmed the air his curiosity about Fleck's biological mother intensified. He didn't push Fleck for any answers about her and her situation. Fleck gave and still gives him that same respect.

Besides, with only a few meals left, he suspected they would be seeing her soon and his some of his unasked questions would be answered.

He was right.

"Sure."

"Just, keep your hand on your phone and wallet," he warned, feeling a little uncomfortable for having to warn him about it.

He didn't like the idea of bringing his boyfriend into an unsafe area.

But that was just what he was doing, as he led them towards the rough part of town.

It didn't take too long for them to find a run down apartment building. The lock on the front of the door was broken, so he elbowed into the place and made his way upstairs.

The number on the door was hanging from one screw, rusted. He pounded on the wood.

Dick took Fleck's warning on board. The area they were walking into he recognised.

It wasn't his safety he was worried about, living most his life with thieves and God knows what else. It was Fleck's.

His memory returned to when a group of men lobbed beer cans at Fleck and threatened them. He let his hand drop from Fleck's grip.

Following Fleck up the stairs, he took in the surroundings. There were bags of days old rubbish that reeked and graffiti along the walls that sorely needed filling and painting. As Fleck knocked on the door he turned around and spotted a few groups of teens racing past some construction work that had been abandoned.

He wasn't surprised that she lived here. Not with what Fleck described.

The woman that opened the door was thin, skeletal. Her hair was ratty and there were bags under her eyes.

And there was a white residue smeared over her upper lip.

"Really? Fucking really?" The yell came from Fleck, who threw his hands out in disbelieving anger.

The woman cringed back meekly, wiping at the powder under her nose. "Hank." Her eyes flickered between her angry son and the young man accompanying him. "You bought a friend."

Fleck shook his head. "Don't defer. You said you were getting off that shit. You promised me you'd help yourself out."

The tell-tale sign on the top of her lip answered a lot of his unasked questions.

The yell that came from Fleck shocked him. There had been very, very few incidents where he had seen him angry. Never had he seen him truly angry.

With him confronting his mother at the moment, he took a step back. This was something they needed to sort out.

"It's not so easy, Hank."

Fleck threw his arms up. "Of course it's fucking not. I get that." He slapped an open palm on the open door, making a loud noise echo down the hallway.

"You need to sort your shit out." He nudged past her, into the apartment. It didn't take long to find the little stash. She had a mirror set up on the counter of the kitchenette. 

He snapped up the little baggie and made his way towards the bathroom.

"No!" Guilia bolted towards her son, fighting him poorly, yanking on his hair and trying hard to get to the baggie as he held her off and carried on towards the bathroom. "No, no! Hank! You can't. It's mine!"

Dick hesitated at the as Fleck stormed into the house and the frail woman scrambled after him. If it was anyone else grabbing at his boyfriend like that, he would be furious. But her efforts were futile and she was tiny compared to Fleck.

There was nothing stopping her getting more later, one way or another. But he kept that thought to himself.

He took a few steps into the apartment as the made their way into the bathroom. Just in case she had a sudden bout of strength or attempted something more severe to get the baggie back. He was sure his boyfriend would never hurt his birth mother. It was ludicrous to even think that.

Fleck grunted as she tore some of his hair from his scalp.

He blocked the doorway to the small toilet with his large shoulders, wincing and grunting as his mother beat and scratched at his back and cried and cursed and screamed.

One scratch cut up his neck, but he managed to flush the bad.

That just had Guilia dropping to the floor and crying.

Fleck heaved a sigh, his forehead bumping against the doorframe and staying there for a moment. Fucking seriously. Couldn't one trip go right?

"Let's get you cleaned up and eating," he sighed, turning around to scrape the sobbing woman up off the floor.

He watched as the woman collapsed, sobbing, in front of him, a little unsure what to do. He felt like a spare part. In his years he had seen people many people go through bad situations. But he had never been thrown into a situation like this; never had to deal with his boyfriend's birth mother on a trip.

Blue eyes turned up to Fleck as he scooped the woman up.

Dick finally spoke up.

"Anything I can do?"

"Yeah, could you see if the gas is working? Heat up some water to clean her up."

No hot water was coming from those rusty old taps. Heating water up on the hob was the only way she was getting warm water.

He set his mother down on the couch and just stayed there in front of her, squatted and looking down at her.

He he reached up to feel at the bleeding scratch marks on the back of his neck. They hurt and were bleeding a little, but they weren't overly terrible. He'd have to clean them up, too.

"I'm sorry. I hoped this would be a little better." He didnt look up at his boyfriend, but he spoke in English, so the sentiment was obviously for Dick.

Dick checked the gas tanks. They were working, but needed replacing soon. From the looks of it, he doubted they would be replaced when they run out.

There wasn't much in the kitchen, yet he still had to clean the pan before filling it water. As terrible as he was at cooking, he still had the sense to put the heat on low.

He turned his attention back to Fleck, brows pinched together. With all the chaos, smells and the long hair that his it, he didn't see the bleeding scratches.

"Don't be sorry," he replied back in English. "There is nothing you have to be sorry for. It is what it is."

"I could have just taken care of this and met you back in town after. You didn't need to see this." Still English

He stood up and heaved a sigh as his mother curled up and sobbed.

He ran a hand through his hair and tutted when a sparse handful of hair came free.

"I'm going to sweep the place. I'll only be a few."

There was a short pause, filled with the woman's sobbing. His frown deepened.

Fleck asked if he wanted to come and he said it was fine. From what little he know of her, he somewhat knew what to expect. Sure, maybe not while she was tripping, but it wasn't the biggest shock of his life.

"If you didn't want me here you could have said."

He winced at his words. He didn't mean for them to come across so sharp.

"But I am here now," he quickly went on, "and I am going to help you."

While Fleck went to sweep the place, his own hands found the dishes to try and clean the best he could with cold water and the lack of cleaning products.

He flinched at the sharp retort.

It wasn't that he didn't want Dick here. It was that he didn't want Dick to see the ugly side of his life. They'd been doing so well, and a drug addict mom was a pretty strong dealbreaker for a lot of relationships.

He disappeared without giving a response, not sure what he could say to perk up the situation.

When he returned from the bedroom, he was carrying a handful of extra baggies that he threw onto the kitchen counter. He scrubbed his hands over his face in agitation.

"Is the water warmed up?"

Dick turned as Fleck threw the little plastic bags on the counter. He eyed them, then turned his attention up to Fleck. There was stress on his face. The helpless feeling returned.

"Oh shit."

He had forgotten about the water, throwing himself in his own task only to forget the one his boyfriend set him. Luckily, he got to the water before it could boil. He turned off the heat.

"It might need to cool a bit first."

"That's fine. It'll give her some time to cry it out."

Then he was likely to get all the curses and screaming under the sun, but that was at least better than all the crying.

"Thank you for doing the dishes."

He reached out to run his hand over the crown of Dick's head, pulling him in to give him a kiss to the forehead.

"That's okay."

His eyes slide shut as a hand ran over his head and he was brought in for a kiss. He opened them and looked up Fleck.

Slender hands smoothed over the lines of stress on Fleck's Face. Thumbs sliding under his eyes, along his forehead and between his brows in a way which he hoped was soothing. They cupped his jaw.

"I can keep tidying this place if you want me to. Whatever you need, I'm here."

The worried lines of his face smoothed out under his boyfriend's gentle, cool touch.

"There's not a lot that can be done for it short of performing a miracle. Huh... Do you still believe in it? I mean you had to, when you were a Prince, right?"

He caught Dick's lips for a quick little kiss then made his way towards the bathroom.

He returned with a face cloth in hand and checked the hot water on the hob. A bit hotter than people would usually use to clean themselves, but he wasn't feeling perfectly nice to her.

Fleck dropped the cloth into the water and carried the pan over to the couch, setting it down on the floor and kneeling there himself.

"Drop your hands. Let me clean you up." Back to Italian.

Guilia sobbed again, but her hands fell from her face. She cried and babbled sadly as Fleck wrung out the cloth and wiped it over her face.

Dick gave a sideways shrug to the question before he was kissed.

His relationship with 'it' was complicated. He wasn't entirely sure where he stood, but it was a discussion for another time. Now wasn't the time.

As Fleck walked away to clean his mother up, his hands twitched. He found himself cleaning again, boiling some more water to wipe down the surfaces with.

Blue eyes stayed on Fleck and his mother, keeping an eye on her hands he asked her to remove from her face.