Ora Pattiniamo [C]

Unlike Fleck, he didn't stay silent.

"I'm not acting like a child. I told them I didn't feel well and not to bring out my course so it would go to waste - until someone
interrupted me."

The frown had deepened on his face and he turned a little more in his seat.

"Besides, what has one person not eating got to do with celebrating? It isn't going to be a disaster because one meal went amiss."

"It will be an embarrassment when my guest, my son, doesnt eat."

Her brows rose and her stare was firm. She was funding the majority of this event, backing numerous of the skaters present. She wasnt going to let him embarrass her in any way right now, and her glare wasnt one to be ignored.

Fleck reached out, resting his hand gently on Dicks shoulder. "You just need to eat a few mouthfuls. Only a fe. Thers no need to start a fight over it."

Dick was felt Fleck hand on his shoulder, a tight knot of mix feelings arose from her words.

"You are making me do something that I don't want to do because otherwise, it is embarrassing for you?"

He had the sense to keep his voice down, at least.

Raising his voice in public seemed far more embarrassing.

"If this were for me you could do whatever the fuck you want," was her reply. "My guests and I are being watched. Judged. If I fall out of favour with these people, it wont be me that suffers."

She gestured to the next table over, where Chrys sat with his wife and parents. "He loses his chance at shows; the income he uses to feed his family. We lose funding to book out the rink to teach children."

Her eyes burned. "Many people are searching for reasons to oush me out of their favour. I wont have you ruining the lives of these people over a steak."

"Enough!" Fleck hissed. "This fighting is stupid. It's a few bites of food!"

Dick's eyes turned to Chrys.

Lips thin, he sat back in his seat.

He still didn't understand how him not eating was going to cause Giacinto to fall out of favour with some important people. Was her reputation really on thin ice here? That something so insignificant would cause such damage?

But for Chrys sake, he stayed silent.

He wanted to storm out, but that was acting like a child.

Giacinto huffed, clearly tense aft the argument, and sipped her wine, turning away.

Fleck sighed softly. He hated watching people fight. It was awkward and made him feel uncomfortable.

He squeezed Dicks shoulders gently.

Dick turned his eyes up to Fleck. The was still tension in his shoulders, now accompanied by the weight of guilt.

His hand found Fleck's and he gave it a squeeze in a silent apology for having him witness that. It wasn't the worst argument he had got in - far from it - but Fleck's easy-going nature meant he was never one for arguments.

Now he didn't know how to break the awkward tension in the air.

Fleck looked for something around them to spark conversation.

"Think Chai will be hom tonight?" Clearly it was a weak attempt, but it was an attempt all the same.

He couldnt think of much else.

Dick looked at the woman in question.

That table seemed to be having a lot more fun at the moment. The curvy woman was almost howling with laughter. Ciro looked a little embarrassed, his chair fairly close to Chai's.

"Probably not."

Dick didn't know if the tension was broken or made worst when beautifully presented steaks were placed down in front of them.

When Chai reached out to run her hand down the curvy womans arm, Fleck shook his head. "Shes definitely not coming home."

Fleck licked his lips when the steak was set down in front of him. He picked up his cutlery and swapped them over in his hands.

"Sorry if I nudge you." Right handed people eating next to left hnded people tended not to end well.

Dick looked down at his dish. It smelt good - he will give the chefs that. But it wasn't something he would ever choose to eat when he wanted to eat.

The vegetables weren't something he was going to touch. Giacinto was going to have to shove them down his throat if she was going to be that instant.

He nudged them away so they didn't touch the steak. Right to the edge of the plate. Then he spent some time just cutting and pushing it around before deciding he deserved a wine break.

"Any good?" He asked Fleck, taking a sip of his wine.

"Fantastic." They'd gotten the temperature spot on. Medium rare. Beautiful.

"Youd know if you ate it instead of playing with it." Dicks own steak was a lot less cooked than his, but that would probably suit the vampire better anyway.

Dick only needed to eat a couple of mouthfuls to satisfy them. He was being petty. But Fleck didnt say it.

Dick took it as the nudge it was supposed to be.

He looked down at his bite-sized cuts of steak that he made.

Begrudgingly, he ate one.

It was, admittedly, tasty. Just not something he would ever choose. He wasn't a fan of how it strung between his teeth.

He chewed it long and hard before swallowing. A petty show of going, look! I am eating!

Another wine break was needed.

Neither Fleck or Giacinto reacted to his petty show.

They didn't even glance at him. Giacinto had raised enough children in her time to know when not to rise to childish bait. Fleck himself came from a big family with a lot of children. He'd picked up a few things.

If they fussed over Dick's petty show of actually eating, it'd give him validation, and he'd do it every time he took a bite, and their reactions would mean they were all distracted from him not eating.

They weren't letting that happen.

Dick glanced side to side. Both of them were ignoring him.

Lips thin, he pushed around the pieces of meat. He was bored, and not entirely willing to keep eating.

But he glanced to Chrys and took another few bites. He still didn't understand why this was so important, and how this was going to impact Giacinto. Worst, how the aftershocks would affect Chrys. But if it needed to be done, then it needed to be done.

He took a few more bites until he noticed a few people had finished their meals. With a click of metal against ceramic, he placed his knife and fork down on the plate.

That was it. He was done.

He hadn't eaten enough to feel bloated. Nowhere near. But he had enough to feel aware of it in his stomach. It wasn't his favourite feeling.

Fleck and Giacinto both clocked that Dick had picked up his knife and fork again and took a few more bites, but they still didn't react.

Just a beat after Dick set his cutlery down, Fleck set his own down, having eaten the entire plate rather than just a few mouthfuls.

Giacinto set hers down just a few moments later.

"That was really good," Fleck complimented. 

"I'm impressed myself. they took my... constructive criticism on board well." Giacinto gave a crooked little smile. Constructive criticism was a nice way of putting it.

Dick turned his eyes up at Giacinto after the little pause and spotted the crooked smile.

"I didn't realise that storming through a kitchen in horror and kicking their asses was called constructive criticism."

Dick wasn't there, but he could very much imagine. Almost, he felt sorry for the chiefs. He had been on that end of the stick.

But didn't know if he was glad to be out of sight or if he wished he could have watched things played out in a comfortable chair and a glass of wine.

"I didn't storm through the kitchen," she denied lightly.

The rest of the comment was left without argument. So maybe she had kicked the chef's arses a little. They clearly needed some direction. The amount of mistakes being made were horrendous.

She dabbed lightly at her lips with a napkin, then took a sip of her wine.

Then her red eyes turned down to Dick. "I hope you put your dancing shoes on, princeling."

He smiled up at her.

"Of course."

He always enjoyed dancing, just not in the spotlight like Ciro and Chrys. It was always his favourite part of these fancy events, and one of the few times he wasn't such a wallflower.

"Just let me get a little more wine in me."

"Good. Save me a dance." Giacinto didn't often dance, but she did enjoy it when she did.

She leaned over. "And you? Are you ready to wow the elite of Sicily with your dancing?"

Fleck gave the woman an incredulous look as he drained his glass. "You won't get me on that floor," he insisted. Giacinto had been trying to get him to dance at these things since he was young. At home, or at small family parties, she'd often got him dancing with her. The most memorable times were when he, as a toddler, had stepped up onto her feet and she'd done all the dancing, holding onto his chubby little hands. But as he had gotten older? He'd put his foot down. 

No fancy dancing.

"Even with me?"

Dick turned his blue eyes up to Fleck. Puppy eyes. The only time he ever used them was with Fleck.

(Occasionally with Giacinto. Normally a little drunk. He would never admit it.)

Unfortunately, it seemed most of the time, Fleck was immune. Probably because he was so used to saying no to them growing up in a large family.

"Even with you."

He wasn't dancing. Not here, at a fancy to-do. It wasn't happening. He would stay a wallflower, and they would have to deal with it.

He set his glass down and relaxed back in his seat.

"It will be fun," he promised.

Their plates were collected, there was agreement from their table that the food was good. Dick ordered another round of drinks - one for Giacinto too.

He had just finished the third glass. There was a pleasant buzz going through him - especially now the awkwardness of the main course was out of the way.

"No," Fleck denied.

He wasn't dancing and no amount of wheedling was going to get him to.

Giacinto shook her head and gave a delicate little sigh, resting her hand on DIck's shoulder. "I've been trying to get him to dance at one of these since he was fourteen. You won't win, Dickie."

"You dance on nights out, though," he pointed out.

Hell, he got him to dance when they first met.

But what was the difference? Other than the fact they were wearing suits and weren't surrounded by young drunk people.

They will be surrounded by old drunk people instead. And the dancing would be more swaying then full of silly moves until later much in the evening. Much, much later.