[C] Surprise!

"So, what do we need?" Dick asked as they stood around in the cat section, his arms held out.

With the kitten and fancy dress stuff in Fleck's arms, he has already accepted his possible role of the donkey. Besides, he was also stronger. The strain on his arms wouldn't be so much on the walk home.

"Dry kitten food, some kitten milk. Lots of kitten milk."

He chewed on his lip. "I should really get him a bed and his own bowls, but I'm a bit tight after getting those costumes. He'll have to eat from a dish for a little while."

It wasn't too heartbreaking for him to eat off a dish for a while.

Dick rolled his eyes. Just because it was ugly, that didn't mean he was going to deprive the kitten.

Plus, he really wished Fleck had told him he was getting tight on money before buying those costumes.

"Pick some out, I'll get them. You can treat me to some homemade sweets," he insisted before Fleck could say otherwise.

"Is there anything else we need while we are here?"

Fleck wanted to deny Dick then, but he wisely kept quiet. That glare was sheer stubbornness. He wasn't going to win any tiff right now.

"Margi could probably do with more morios." Fleck never ran his store of morios dry, but it was getting pretty close.

He scratched behind the kitten's ear with his thumbnail gently, and the kittne melted into it, purring loudly. What a sweet little thing.

"More morios it is then."

He would grab them when they walked past the reptile section.

"Anything else...?"

Dick's eyes roamed over the purring kitten, the oil stain. Walking away from Fleck, he scanned over the shelves.

"What about this? They have a deal on, too."

He picked out the cat shampoo and showed it to Fleck.

"That's probably a good idea. We usually use baby shampoo for the cats, but actual cat shampoo can't hurt."

He should probably check and see how to bathe a sphynx. He knew that you needed to bathe them fairly often, but he didn't know any details about it.

He definitely had to check that.

Dick picked up a couple of bottles.

"Right, check out, and don't you even dare take your wallet out," he warned, somewhat playfully.

With his hands full of bags and his wallet a bit lighter, they let the pet store.

"Anywhere else you want to go, or are we going straight home?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" If his hand wasn't occupied, he would have playfully saluted.

He, wisely, didn't even try to take out his wallet.

As they ambled down the street, Fleck shook his head. "Nah, nowhere else to be. Homeward bound."

They went out to pick some costume and the returned with the unexpected addition of a kitten and a bunch of pet supplies. Standard.

Door unlocked, Dick opened it and called out to the family they were home. His voice didn't boom like Fleck's, but it wasn't the mousey tone he used to use. Anyone in the kitchen would hear.

"Upstairs?" He asked Fleck.

Half a dozen voices called out a welcome back from all around the house.

"Yeah, upstairs. We'll use the bathroom sink."

He followed Dick upstairs, stopping off at their room to dump anything that wouldn't be needed in the bathroom.

As much as it hurt not putting everything away instantly, he followed Fleck into the bathroom. He didn't do much but hover, not entirely sure what to do.

"Is he going to even like this?"

His eyes turned down to the sink and shampoo, then to the tiny gremlin in Fleck's arms. Not that it could do much to fight against them.

"Probably not at first," Fleck admitted.

Very few cats did.

He turned to Dick with an overly bright grin and handed off the little kitten. "Look after him for a minute."

Then he turned back to the sink to start running it and setting up for the bath.

Fleck's beaming expression was met with a deadpan one.

Dick gingerly took the little kitten burrito, careful not to brush any of its skin against his clothes. He didn't want his shirt facing the same fate as Fleck's.

He held it up so they were face to face. The kitten mewled. He frowned.

"I don't get it."

"That's because you're heartless."

He let the sink fill as he searched for a cloth he could use just for the kitten.

When he found one, he held it up in victory then checked on the water. It was maybe a little too warm, but in a minute it'd be fine. He shut the tap off and leaned against the sink, watching his boyfriend looking very uncomfortable with the kitten in his grasp.

"I will remember that next time you want me to be nice."

He made his way over to his leaning boyfriend. The kitten carefully held against him. One, because it was tiny and he didn't want to hurt him. Two, he really didn't want oils on his shirt.

"Maybe a kiss and I will forgive you?"

If it wasn't for the gremlin looking kitten between them, he would have pressed against him.

"You're terrible," Fleck groused jokingly.

But he leaned forwards and gave Dick his requested kiss.

"Now I'm forgiven and you have to be nice again. C'mon, let's get this boy bathed." Fleck wanted the kitten settled.

He took the kitten from Dick, and gently lowered him into the water, gently holding him still as he wriggled and tried to get away.

Dick, ever helpful, watched on the little kitten try to squirm his way out of Fleck' grip.

"Yep, he doesn't like that."

He leaned down, arms crossed over the edge of the sink.

"I might like you more if you're clean and don't smell."

"It's new for him."

Most creatures, human or not, didn't like new things when they were thrust upon them. It'd take the kitten a while to get used to it.

The poor kitten mewled pathetically up at Dick when he leaned over him.

Dick hummed as the kitten mewled.

Elbow still resting on the sink, he offered out a finger to the kitten, to see if he was put off by him. Then gently began to scratch the top of his head as Fleck's cleaned him up. An idle attempt to see if it reassured him. He purred up a storm when Fleck did it.

Then again, he wasn't finding out about the joys of bath time.

"He feels so weird... but soft."

The kitten pawed at the finger offered to him, hooking his paw around Dick's finger, and sniffing at it. His big blue eyes crossed as she tried to look at the finger he was sniffing.

He didn't purr, but he leaned into the finger scratching the top of his head, relaxing a little.

"Sphynxes are really strange cats. Cute but strange." Even he could admit they're weird. But they weren't half cute.

The corners of his lips curled up when the kitten relaxed.

"I only agree with one of those statements."

The kitten was strange. Very strange. It even lacked whiskers and eyelashes. He couldn't quite agree that it was cute.

Okay, maybe a tiny bit now it wasn't a grease ball.

"Do you know much about sphinxes?"

"I'm glad you think he's cute." Fleck was being purposefully obtuse here.

He carefully shampooed the kitten, making sure it didn't panic or squirm too much.

"Nope." He didn't know much about them at all. "The internet will tell me all I need to know." When in doubt consult the internet. It was easy enough.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

He was going to suggest to pick up some books. How long has it been around now? Enough so they had information at the touch of their fingertips.

He was starting to seriously consider an overdue upgrade on the 'brick'.

"Losing your memory old man?"

Fleck grinned at Dick as he lifted the kitten out of the sink and reached for a towel. He swaddled the kitten and carefully dried him.

It didnt take long for him to start purring again.

"I bet you're hungry now, huh? Let's go down to the kitchen." He crooned at the kitten as he led Dick down towards the kitchen, stopping off at his room to pick up the kitten kibble and supplement formula.

Dick flicked a bit of the soapy water at Fleck for the comment. Uselessly, since it just splattered on his already wet hands.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry, thanks for your concern. I wouldn't mind a slice of cake or ice cream."

He grinned at his boyfriend and followed Fleck down into the kitchen, where he expected some family members still lingering. He was curious to see how they will react to the new addition to the ever-growing family.