¡Tink! (tinkhatespink) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-07-20 14:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, tinkerbell, tom branson |
Who: Tom and Tink.
When: mid-July?
Where: Tink’s shop.
What: Hanging out.
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete!
Tom figured that in all the madness lately, he hadn’t really had a lot of time to keep in touch with his friends. That included Tink, who Tom thought was pretty great company as far as friends went. On his way home from his own shop, he figured he’d swing by and see if she was busy, and brought a couple sandwiches and iced coffees with him.
He dinged the bell on the desk and leaned over it to peer around.
“Hello? Special delivery.”
Tink was actually under the desk when he dinged on the bell. They’d purchased a new printer for the office, and she was working on getting the thing connected. She stood up at the sound of his voice, but didn’t realize that she was still underneath the wood surface. Her head banged into the table and she fell back down again onto her knees with a yelp.
He winced at the sound, then moved around the desk to check on her.
“Christ, are you all right? That sounded right nasty,” Tom said, kneeling down. “Need some ice or something?”
“Yes! Oof, yes, I’m all right!” Tink said, lifting both hands to rub at her sloppy, blonde bun. She broke into a grin when she saw Tom there and started to climb out from under the desk the proper way--without banging her noggin.
“Head tougher than nails, right there.” He laughed and stood up, too, reaching for one of the wrapped sandwiches. “Think that means you deserve this. Do you have a break coming up soon?”
Tink laughed. "Well, my head's been called worse," she teased, giving a grin at the prospect of food. "Ooh! Gimmie gimmie!" Another joke, a bright grin, and Tink plopped down on the edge of the desk. She had the arms of her coveralls tied around her waist, a (used to be white) tank top covering her torso. "Yeah, I've got lunch. In like, ten minutes. Let me finish setting up the printer?"
“Are you sure you don’t need a hand with it?” Tom teased, looking amused. But he leaned against the counter and rested his arms on it, more than content to watch her fiddle around with the printer on her own.
“Pssh, this is child’s stuff.” Tink said, then gave him a bright grin before turning around to click a few things on the computer. It only took her a couple of minutes to get it set up, and pages started to spit out of it.
“See?” She was good with computers.
“Colour me impressed.” Tom gave her a cheeky slow clap. “Well done, then. Anyway, it’s probably too late to ask, but I figured I’d drop by since it’s been a while and all.”
“Hey, it’s never too late.” Tink said, dusting her hands off and pulling herself to her feet. “C’mon, there’s a little park thing nearby. We can go eat lunch there. I’ll take my half hour now.” She said, grabbing the sandwich from the desk to lead him out of the office.
“Great.” He grabbed his own sandwich and their coffees, following behind Tink. “How are things, then?”
“Oh, y’know. Good, I guess.” She gave him a grin as they moved out of the garage and half-way down the block. “Nothing super new to report. I mean, I’ve sort of been seeing someone. Kinda. I guess. That’s new.”
“Oh yeah? You know how much I love gossip,” Tom teased. He laughed as he sat on a bench in the park. “What’s he like, then?”
“Well, there’s not a lot to report. I mean, we’ve been to a movie or two. And uh... he’s twitchy.” Tink said, moving to sit down on the bench next to him. She accepted her coffee and set it aside so they both had hands free to unwrap and eat sandwiches. “But that’s part of his charm, you know?”
“Understandable.” He wouldn’t say it out loud, but twitchy seemed to suit Tink in a weird way. “Keep me posted on it anyway, won’t you.”
“Oh, yeah, I will.” Tink said, giving a grin. She wasn’t all that talkative about her romantic stuff, but for some reason today felt like the right time to bring it up. “What about you?” She asked. “Aside from work and stuff. How’s all the... y’know... personal stuff coming along?”
Tom just laughed a bit. “Strangely, at best. There’s this girl, and we have the same dreams, and she’s got this mad crush on me that I figured was just girls being girls. But in our dreams, she’s a bit out of my league and I still manage to convince her to run off from her family to marry me. It’s sort of made me rethink the whole thing. But it’s weird, you know?”
“Oh yeah, those dreams. They’re funky, right?” Tink had a girl friend whose skin was pink because of those dreams. “I’ve never had them. Like, I dream, but I don’t dream, you know? Though, if I ever do, I hope I get to rule the world. With a laser gun. And wings. I want to fly.” She shifted in her seat.
“So, you know this girl here? And she’s got a crush on you? Is she out of your league here?” She asked, rapid fire, then took a huge bite of her sandwich to chew while he hopefully answered.
“Whoa, slow down there,” he teased, taking a sip of his drink. “Well. She’s about eight years younger, which … I think is close to the dreams. Six years there. I suspect she’s a bit more well-to-do than I am. Wait, to answer your questions, uh … Yes, yes, maybe.”
Tink’s eyes nearly bugged out. Eight years younger than her would be... what, barely driving? That’s a pretty big difference. Not even legal. But then again, Tink and Tom were different ages, weren’t they? “Wow. Are you two...?” She asked, motioning back and forth with her finger--as if that was an obvious communication of what she was asking.
“Whoa - Relax!” He held up his hands in defense, because this had been his issue, too. “She pretty much literally just turned eighteen. And neither of us are sure what we’re doing about any of it. We’re just friends. Strictly nothing else.”
That was a bit of a relief. Tom wasn’t that much older than Tink, but still. Nearly a decade was a huge age difference when one was in his or her twenties. Going in either direction. The twenties were a strange age that way. Older than teen, but way too young to be considered adult adults... or so Tink thought. She had no idea when she became an adult.
“Well, if things are meant to be... they will be?” She said, and shrugged. “So long as you two like each other. I mean, she’s legal. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I dunno. It’d be a lot easier if any of us knew why we had these dreams in the first place. But we’ll see in the end. I’m in no rush to find romance with anybody.”
“Oh, I hear ya. I’m not in a rush, either, rushing leads to bad things. I had a crush on a guy, but he’s like... I dunno. And then there’s Billy, and he’s... I dunno.” Perfect. Billy was perfect. Tink just didn’t have the words to express it. She tore into her sandwich again and sighed as she chewed.
“Cheers to that.” Tom fell silent as he bit into his sandwich, too, then checked his watch. “Your half hour’s drawing to a close. I should get you back to work, you slacker.”
“Yes, yes, don’t get me fired over a sandwich.” Tink teased. She stood from the bench and tossed her sandwich wrapper into a nearby trash. Then she grabbed her iced coffee cup. “But thanks for lunch, man. I’ll treat next time.” She said as they turned to head back to the shop.