[C] Surprise!

"You can cut your own slice of cake. You know where it lives. Baby boy here can't mix his own gruel, can you, sweetheart?"

The kitten mewled at him, paw stretching upwards to try and bat at Fleck's bearded chin. The tiny little thing missed by a mile, but it was cute seeing him try.

Only Chai was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter by the coffee machine, a mug at her elbow, and her nose buried in her phone.

"What's happening?" Fleck asked, setting the kitten down on the counter and rooting through the bag for what he needed.

"Girl on tinder is DTF. We're talking kinks. You?"

"Found a kitten. He's joining the zoo."

Chai dropped her phone and was cooing at the little ball of wrinkled skin in a split second. The kitten was more than happy to play, batting at her fingers as she cooed.

"What a sweetheart," she crooned, scooping him up to cuddle him.

DTF? What did DTF mean?

The question was quickly forgotten about at the mention of kinks. One thing he was still getting used to, after knowing his family for a year, was how open they were with each other at times.

He started helping himself to coffee, eyes on the wrinkled kitten.

"We are all seeing the same kitten, right?" He asked as Chai cooed and awed over the tiny kitten.

"I see a tiny little testicle with big eyes," Chai replied, still poring over the kitten. It was so adorable. "He's adorable."

Fleck grinned as he mixed together the milk and kibble. "Isn't he? Dick thinks he looked ugly."

Chai sniffed. "Well, we think Dick looks ugly, don't we, baby?"

Dick looked between the two siblings. How they both found it adorable, he didn't know. What he did know, was that is was ugly. No matter what even of them thought.

"Ouch. That upset me so much."

Dick took a sip of his black coffee and raised a brow at Chai.

"I think you need your vision checked."

"You need your eyes tested. How could you think this adorable little baby is ugly?"

Chai hugged him protectively to her chest.

She wasn't going to lose this argument. This kitten was adorable. End of conversation.

"How can you not?"

He was being a little over the top. Slowly he was finding the kitten was sweet when he mewled or when he attempted to grab at Fleck's beard. The face Fleck made at him helped.

But for the sake of arguing, it was ugly.

Chai's brows drew together, quite visibly annoyed.

"That's the only reason you don't like him? Because he's not fluffy like other kittens?"

Fleck paused in mashing up the saturated kibble bits. "Chai," he warned.

They weren't going to start an argument over a kitten. It wasn't happening.

Dick's own brows furrowed at the sudden bite in her voice.

"I never said I didn't like him. I just don't find him cute."

Yes, he thought fluffy kittens were cuter. Some people didn't find cats cute at all. Some people, like Chai and Fleck, seemed to find something cute in everything.

Besides, just because he wasn't appealing didn't mean he was going to leave him in the rubbish.

"Sorry for having an opinion."

There was a lack of apology in his tone.

"You're serious?" Chai glared, set the kitten down on the counter and swept out of the room.

Fleck sighed as he watched her go.

She'd go off and vent her anger and be fine again in the near future, but it was never pleasant to see her pissed off like that.

Dick watched as she stormed off. Slightly confused and a little pissed off himself.

All of that because he didn't see the kitten the same way as her?

He threw his hand up in the air in the direction she left.

"Really? What did I do?"

Fleck braced himself for the explanation. It was never an easy one.

"She thinks you don't like him just because he's a little different, because he's not quite the same as others."

He stopped the kitten before it could jump off the counter, and held it against his chest, stroking it gently. "We were always raised to accept anything, no matter how different they are to the norm. With mom the way she is..."

They got many awful looks and comments when they were out with their mother. The disabled certainly weren't treated with the respect they deserved. It was disgusting, and their family refused to take part in such awful ways.

"Chai's very passionate about it. She - we - believe that you shouldn't judge anything because it's not the norm."

Well, fuck.

The anger subsided and he played with the rings on his fingers.

Now he felt like a complete and utter ass.

The family was always so accepting and caring. He never stopped to think or ask why. Now he had his answer.

Dick chewed on a lip as he thought Fleck's words over.

"I didn't realise. I'm sorry."

This time, he was truly apologetic.

"As I said, I don't dislike him, and I certainly wouldn't have left him there in the rubbish. But, I just don't have the same feelings as you both have towards him."

He wasn't about to gush over the kitten. That would do no one a favour. If anything, that would probably add more oil to the fire.

"It's like, I don't know, it's like I think you're cute, but I don't find Chai cute. But that doesn't mean I care about her less or think other people shouldn't find her cute."

Ah. Shit.

"I mean, I know I argued with her about finding the kitten cute. But I only meant it as, you know, teasing. Play fighting, I guess. Now that I know what I know now..."

He closed his mouth. He was rambling.

"I know you didn't."

It tended to be an unspoken truth that everyone in the family knew, but others tended to miss. Many people didn't realise how bad ableist attitudes could be unless they'd experienced it first hand, so their reasonings for being so open-minded were oftentimes overlooked by others.

His lips twitched up as Dick rambled, and he pushed off the counter.

Fleck leaned down to press a kiss to DIck's forehead, and carefully handed the kitten off to him. 

"I know, babe. She'll realise it, too. She's just very fiery."

He was sure Chai would cool down soon and they'd go on fine.

Dick hummed and relaxed as his forehead was kissed, taking the wrinkly ball of a kitten into his hands.

"I think that is something we have in common."

Instead of just backing down and finding out why she got mad, he had just fought fire with fire. Not the best personality trait.

The kitten mewled and Dick looked down.

He tried to see the kitten in a new light, how Fleck and Chai had seen him. The kitten still felt and looks weird, but it helped that he wasn't a grease ball anymore.

"I think he is still screaming for food."

"Definitely." He seemed to surround himself with fiery people, from his sister, to his boyfriend. He wondered how the house didn't implode with so many fiery temperaments residing inside it.

Fleck picked up the bowl of gruel that he'd almost finished making up, and began mashing the soaked biscuits again.

It wouldn't take long for it to be edible.

"Think he's cute yet?"

Dick held the kitten close to his chest, not worried about grease stains now. The kitten looked up at him with his big blue eyes and made some more tiny mewling noises. He gently rubbed his thumb behind its ear.

"No," he said airily, "but I do think he smells better. Better than whatever he is about to eat."

Dick wrinkled his nose at the gruel. He wasn't a fan of the smell or look of pet food.

Fleck laughed as he set the bowl down on the counter and gestured for Dick to set the kitten down, too.

"Just wait till it comes out the other end."

He could almost guarantee the kitten wouldn't be well. There'd be bad shit and throwing up and all manner of uncomfortable things for as much as a couple weeks, probably.

Dick made another face as he set the kitten down. It padded over and sniffed the contents of the bowl curiously.

"I'm electing you to deal with that."

He leaned on the counter, coffee cup back in hand.

"Also, make sure it is not in my shoe. I could still murder Solla for that."

She did it on purpose, he knew. Out of all the shoes, it was his. The one time he didn't put them in the shoe cupboard.

Fleck snorted, trying to hold back a laugh.

"You did deny her morning cuddles." Knocked her right off the bed trying to cuddle into the blankets himself. What did he expect her to do?

"Try not to make an enemy of this one," he suggested, stroking the wrinkly kitten's back as it ate.

"Hey, no one expects claws in their leg when their half asleep."

It made him jump and in turn, made the cat jump and fall off the bed. Not his fault. At all.

Unfortunately, Solla didn't see it that way.

"Depends on how vain he is and if he understands Italian."

"You have to expect it when you have a cat."

You had to expect everything when you have a cat. They were evil little creatures that always had something up their furry sleeves.

Fleck laughed lightly. "He's a cat," he pointed out. All cats were vain.

DIck was certainly gonna make an enemy out of him.

"Yet, somehow, I still don't."

Almost two years and he still wasn't used to living with pet cats.

Dick grinned at Fleck.

"Good thing he doesn't understand Italian- Really? We just washed you."

The over-eager kitten had his face and paws in the gruel, pushing it over onto the counter.

"Because you're slow on the uptake."

Dick did sometimes take a lot of time to figure some things out. It was almost funny sometimes.

Fleck laughed again.

"Don't complain. He's a kitten. It's going to happen."

Dick let out a little groan and shifted his weight to lean on his boyfriend instead as they watched the kitten eat.

Sure, he was a kitten. Didn't make the mess he was making any less painful.

The kitten took matters into his own paws. Ignoring the rest of the food in the bowl, he began eating the food on the counter, leaving tiny sticky paw prints as he did so.

"This hurts to watch."

"Get used to it. He'll be like this for a while."

The kitten was going to awkward and messy for ages. It's what kittens did. Especially feral ones.

They were cute and they made a mess. The two primary functions of kittens.

He wrapped an arm around Dick when he was leaned again.