¡Tink! (tinkhatespink) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-21 09:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anders, tinkerbell |
Who: Tink and Anders.
When: Friday, Feb 20, dusk-ish
Where: Park
What: Flying Lesson
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Note: If anyone wants to say they saw a couple of people flying out over the boardwalk, that’d be fine with me! ;)
Soooooo, Tink had obsessed for a few days over this whole ‘date’ thing. That’s what he’d said, right? It was a ‘date’?? Or did he just mean it was like, a date on a calendar. The non-romantic kind of date. That must have been it, since he couldn’t possibly be interested in a broken little fairy like Tink.
Though, she wasn’t broken anymore. Her wings were repaired, her sister had her set, and Tink was on cloud nine. She’d sent some texts to him offering the flying lesson, and was elated when he responded positively. Then something even better happened.
Tink got a call from the Old Man’s lawyer. She went for a meeting at his office, and was told he’d left her everything. The house, the garage, his stocks and bonds, everything. She went from having a net worth of somewhere around $600, to being worth ten times that. ...a hundred times that. Maybe more. The house itself was probably worth $600k.
So she was confused about her feelings, and excited about flying, and baffled about this newfound… income. Wealth. Whatever it was.
She sat on the bench in the park where they’d first met, waiting for Anders to show.
Anders was having a very hard time controlling how excited he was. First of all, he was very excited that Tink’s wings had finally healed. He knew how much it had bothered her that she couldn’t fly, and he had been a little worried that she was going to try anyway and get injuries more severe than just a scraped up elbow and knee.
Secondly… he was going to go flying. Anything that could give him a sense of freedom was something he craved. That was the reason (well, that and free tuition) that he went to medical school in Germany. That was the reason that he had travelled so much while living there. That was the reason he had learned to drive a motorcycle.
And now, now he was going to learn to fly. Without a plane. Just him, and Tink, and all that open air.
He didn’t live far from the park where he had first met Tink, and so he ran there as fast as he could when she texted him. When he saw Tink on the bench, he ran even faster to her.
“Hi,” pant, “Tink.” Pant, pant. “How’s it,” pant, “going?” He tried very hard to suppress the grin on his face. He didn’t do a very good job of it.
Tink jumped up at the sound of rushing footsteps, and broke into a bright grin (like, uber bright, since this was Tink on possibly the best day of her life) at the sight of him. “Hey!” Beat. “Did you run here?” She asked, though it was impossible for her to look stern when he had such an excited grin on his face.
Anders nodded, and then stood up straight and placed his hands on his head. Opening the diaphragm would help him catch his breath sooner, no matter how much he wanted to bend forward. “Yeah,” he said. He took a deep breath. “You know, I go jogging when I have time at lunch in work, but I haven’t run like that in years. I thought I’d get here as soon as I could.”
Her smile was brilliant. “Oh, uh. I brought you something.” He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a Cadbury Creme Egg. “It’s not a lot. But I thought I’d thank you. In advance. For the flying.” Oh man, he was going to get to fly.
“I’m so glad that your wing is better, Tink. And not just because I get to fly. I know how much you’ve been missing it.”
Awww. Okay first, he wanted get here as soon as he could. Second, the Cadbury Creme Egg. Third... he was so handsome, and his smile sparkled. Tink was a goner. She reached forward and accepted the egg. "You didn't have to do that!" Her cheeks were burning.
"Here." She quickly unwrapped and bit the egg into two pieces with the skill of someone who worked often with her hands, then offered him half. "It'll get melty in my pocket, anyway."
They could enjoy the sweet snack before their flight.
“Thank you,” he said, taking the half an egg from her. He tried not to think too much about it when his fingers brushed against hers. He absolutely had to get these thoughts out of his head - she deserved so much better than him.
Once he had decided that he had gotten enough of his breath back, he sat down on the bench beside her. She had brought him the Cadbury Creme Eggs to his work the other day, so it wasn’t the first one that he had had, but he was still surprised at how much he liked it. The nuns hadn’t allowed him to have many sweets when he was being raised by them, but most of the ones he had tried once he came back to America were not nearly as good as he remembered.
He was having trouble sitting still while he was eating the Creme Egg though. He looked up at the sky. He knew that stars were lightyears away, and that they were basically huge, giant balls of fire, but in his mindseye, he could still see himself flying among them and touching them.
Tink could feel him practically vibrating on the bench next to her. And she couldn't blame him. It was exciting--getting to fly wasn't something everyone got to do. But for Tink it was a little less exciting and a little more relieving. She wanted be herself again, to go home.
It didn't take long for her to savor the sweet egg, then she was licking her fingers. "Well?" she asked him, grinning. "Ready?" She pulled out a small zip top bag of glowing dust.
“I have never been more ready,” Anders said, hopping up onto his feet. “So, what do we do? Are you going to do an incantation? Do I have to do a dance? Anders’ Spicy Shimmy?” He gave his hips a bit of a shimmy, to prove that he was more than ready to dance if he had to.
"Oh my god," Tink laughed at the shimmy. It was a gentle, good natured twinkling laugh. He was such a goof ball. She liked it. "No no," she shook her head, grinning. Beaming. "You just need a little pixie dust and some happy thoughts. Think you can handle some happy thoughts?" She took a pinch of the dust to sprinkle over herself, and shook her wings free of her hoodie. (It had slots for them to pop through.) There were still stitches in the wing he repaired, but her wings were glorious. Shimmering and happy.
“I don’t know. Happy thoughts are so hard to come-by.” His grin was still plastered on his face. He hadn’t been this happy in over a year.
His breath caught his in throat when he saw her wings. He had seen them before, of course, but somehow, now, they were more. She was beautiful. “Wow. You’re gorgeous,” he let slip. Then he cleared his throat. Really, the best way to deal with a slip like that was to pretend it never really happened. “I’ll have to get those stitches out pretty soon, I think. I figure I’ll be too full of energy after the flight, but maybe you can stop by the clinic tomorrow?”
Something deep in Tink’s torso twisted at the compliment. Her stomach? Her heart? In any case, it was the good kind of twisting. The kind that made her want to squee or chirp or let out some other far undignified noise. She hadn’t been this excited about a boy since… well, since she and Neal were first… Whatever that was. It wasn’t that long ago, but it felt like ancient history.
She cleared her throat, too, cheeks burning. “Okay. I’ll come by tomorrow.” She promised. Then she lifted up off the ground, wings fluttering, and took a handful of dust to sprinkle over him. Head, shoulders, arms, chest and back all coated with the stuff. It seemed to spread over the rest of his body, too. “Now just… think of something happy.”
She was already up in the air, holding out a hand to him.
Anders watched the pretty dust fall over him. It like magic. Well, if he was totally honest with himself, it was probably actual magic.
It wasn’t hard to think happy thoughts. Tink. Flying. Freedom. He felt himself lifting off the ground, and reached out to grab Tink’s hand. Once he grabbed it, he grinned wider than he thought was possible. His face hurt.
“I’m doing it!” he exclaimed. “Look! Tink! I can fly!”
Tink laughed--it was that twinkling, happy laughter that she belted out when he did adorable things. She took his hand and they were both up off the ground. “There’s a song along those lines, but I won’t bore you with the specifics.” She fluttered her wings a little harder, and they rose in the air. About twelve feet up. Fifteen.
“We just have to watch out for clouds. If my wings get wet, I fall. And you, too--if that dust washes off.” She was elated! She couldn’t take her eyes off of him as they moved through the sky together.
Falling didn’t sound good. “No clouds. Right.” It was too bad, really. He thought flying through clouds sounded like a great deal of fun. He smiled at her sometimes, but mostly, he was looking around at the ground getting smaller behind them, and the sky, and everywhere else. He wondered how far he could fly, and how high.
He let go of her hand for a moment to zoom up ahead of her and do a backflip in the hair. “This is amazing,” he said, and then held out his hand to her again. “I can’t - I would have never imagined…” He took a breath before he started rambling. “Thank you for this, Tink.”
When he had moved to Orange County, he had never imagined that he would be doing something like this. He had planned to be a hermit for the rest of his life, saving as many lives as he could in order to make up for the one he had taken. Just briefly, he thought about the man he had killed with his bare hands, and he felt himself starting to fall. Quickly, he changed the direction his thoughts were taking. He was flying with a beautiful girl, he had all this freedom. He righted himself in the air, and then let out a heavy breath.
Tink laughed. “Anders, you’re a natural!” She cried out when he did his back flip. She flipped around and zoomed in and out in a way that only a fairy could. Her wings glinted, her smile was bright. She circled around him like a butterfly would a flower. Together they went higher, doing spirals and whirls, and then Tink felt his hand in hers again. She flushed, laced her fingers through his, and gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re welcome.”
Then he faltered. Concerned, Tink flew down abruptly, bringing her free hand out to brace if he fell. “...are you okay?”
Anders nodded, and grinned at her. “Yeah,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “That was a little frightening, wasn’t it? You’ve really got to watch your thoughts doing this, don’t you? It’s a good thing I have a lot of practice looking on the bright side of things.” He was beginning to understand a little bit more about what made Tink special.
"Yes. Well, you do. I've got my wings, I can fly even when I'm grumpy." She admitted, almost sheepishly. "Come on. Let's go explore." With a twinkle in her eye, she led him away from the park, and off toward the ocean.
“Well, that’s just not fair,” he said with a laugh. Anders followed after her, occasionally doing some spins or flips or whatever came to his mind. It wasn’t very long after they started flying toward the ocean that he took his hair out of the ponytail. Ah yes, it was much better feeling the wind through his hair and letting it whip around. He’d probably have a hell of a time brushing it later, but that was a problem for future!Anders to deal with.
Tink probably should have worried a little more about who might have seen them out and about, flying through the air. Then again, with Iron Man zooming about… should they worry? Tink didn’t want to think about that now. She had much more important things on her mind. Like Anders’ hair. Damn.
She slowed and fluttered, hovering over a pretty nice beach house. It was a beautiful night at the shore. “...what do you think?” She asked. “The Boardwalk? Or is there somewhere else you want to go?”
Anders looked over the ocean, and smiled. “Do you think we could go out over the water?” he asked. Maybe they’d see dolphins or a whale or something.
Tink reached over for his hand again. “C’mon!” She grinned, then shot forward like a rocket, pulling him along with her. They could definitely go on out over the water, see some dolphins or a whale or something. There were a lot of sea gulls out and about. The farther they got away from the shore, the fewer birds there were. It was amazing to stretch her wings. And she loved the company.
Anders considered flying down closer to the water, but decided for now, that might be a little dangerous. Who knew when a wave might come down and get him, or if he’d think of something not-so-happy again and fall in the water. Maybe he’d save that for when he was a little more experienced. He did laugh with delight when he saw a school (herd? family?) of dolphins jumping out of the water, and he called down a greeting to them, even though he was sure that they wouldn’t hear him.
When he was far enough from the short that he could only kind of see the lights on the beach, he stopped, stood in the air, and didn’t let go of Tink’s hand. The moon was only a sliver in the sky, which was kind of a pity, but it, and the stars, reflected off the water. He thought it was breathtakingly beautiful. Then he looked at Tink, and didn’t take his eyes off of her.
“This is wonderful, Tink,” he said, his voice a little husky. “I know I’ve already thanked you, but I wouldn’t have been able to see something this beautiful without you.” He wasn’t just talking about the scenery. Oh Lord, he wanted to kiss her. There was a part of him that knew he shouldn’t, but he wouldn’t let himself think about that because he didn’t particularly want to fall from the sky and drown to death. He didn’t make any move toward kissing her either. For now it was enough just to look at her.
Tink moved with Anders. She would have been curious about getting down closer to the dolphins, but for now she was content to sit and watch. Fly and watch. She didn’t want to let go of his hand. It was a cool night, with the moon and stars sparkling on the water below. It was, she agreed with him, breathtaking.
“Hey, it’s … you’re welcome.” Tink said, sheepishly, a moment later. She squeezed his hand, gazing back at him. A long moment passed in comfortable silence. “C’mon, let’s get back to the park. I’m not sure if Pixie Dust works the same way here as in the dreams, and I’d hate for it to… stop working, or something.” She was pretty confident that it would be effective as long as it was on his skin, but she would much rather be safe than sorry.
Together they flew back to the shore, then over the boardwalk, and over buildings and roads. Tink couldn’t stop thinking about that moment over the water. It was her happy thought.
They landed at the park, and Tink finally released his hand.
The thought of the Pixie Dust wearing off was something that hadn’t even crossed his mind. He would have been happy to fly all night, but maybe going back would be a good idea. He was a little sad when she lets go of his hand. He stuffed it in his pocket for lack of anything better to do with it.
“I don’t know how many times I’m going to thank you,” he said, “But it just doesn’t feel like enough. If there’s anything else I can do to repay you for this, just say the word and I’d be happy to do it.”
“Well… you already did so much for me,” Tink said softly. She tucked her wings back inside her hoodie through the slots she’d sewn in. “I might have lost part of my wing if you hadn’t stitched it so carefully. You don’t have to thank me.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“You just… let me know when you want to go out for a fly. I’m free. Like, all the time,” she said, this time definitely sheepishly. “...though, I’m inheriting the garage from the Old Man, so I’m gonna have to figure out how to run a business. That might take some of my time away.”
It took a moment for it to register in Anders’ head what she said. “You’re-” he started, and then he grinned widely. “You’re inheriting the garage? That’s fantastic! Holy Knickerweasles!” Without particularly thinking of it, he gave her a huge bear hug, and then held her out at arms length so he could look into her face. “How are you going to celebrate?!”
Tink nodded, then gave a laugh when he pulled her into a big, bear hug. Which she returned. Damn, he smelled good. She buried her nose into his chest for just a moment before he pulled back. She was grinning brightly, nearly lighting up the area around them with her smile. “...yeah, I… I don’t know. They called me this morning, I haven’t even figured any of that out yet. I’m getting his house, and his stocks, and… like, everything. Should we celebrate?--I mean,” she corrected herself quickly. “Should I celebrate?”
“Absolutely!” Anders said. “You’re - wow. That’s. Wow. Well, at the very least you need to throw a housewarming party when you move in! Like, a kegger or something.” He paused. “Well, that is, if you want to. At the very least invite a few close friends over and have some drinks.” Pause. “Maybe out of a keg,” he added.
“I’m sensing you like this keg idea,” she teased, raising an eyebrow, playfully. Then she sighed gently, tucking wisps of stray, blonde hair behind her ears. Most of it was still in the ponytail on top of her head, but a few pieces escaped during flight. “I’ve never had so much space. It’s like, four bedrooms and three bathrooms and there’s like, a big room over the garage, and uh… I don’t know. It’s huge.” It would definitely be an upgrade from the one-bedroom apartment she was renting now.
She turned her attention to the ground between them and dug the toe of her shoe into the grass. “I kinda feel like… now I’m a grown-up. When did that happen?”
“You will love living in a house,” Anders said. “There is nothing better than having all that room to yourself. You can have an entire room just to work on your inventions! And you can get a cat.” The idea came to him suddenly, and he couldn’t help but blurt it out, saying it with far more energy and speed. Then he blushed. “Uh. That is. If you want a cat. A little kitten witten, just all tiny and cuddly and full of energy.” And now he was cooing.
He may have still been a little high from the flight.
Tink kinda loved the way he started talking all baby talk when he was talking to his cat. Or, talking about any cat, apparently. It was absolutely adorable. Why did he have to be so adorable?
“Well, after I’m moved in I’ll see about… I don’t know. Finding a cat or something. I’m sure my brother’s going to want to come and crash sometimes, so I’ll need a guest bedroom.” She brightened considerably (which was saying a lot, considering how bright she already was) “And a library!” The inventions room was pretty much a given.
“Oh, you would definitely need a library. My-” he faltered for just a second, but recovered quickly enough that it was barely noticeable, “home growing up had a library. I used to spend a lot of time there.” It wasn’t like he could go anywhere else, and so he spent a lot of time growing up either reading books, or studying so he could get into a good college, far, far away, or playing pranks on the nuns when he wasn’t trying to escape.
“I’m sure it’ll be filled with technical manuals, instruction books and science fiction,” Tink said apologetically. “Might not be as interesting as the libraries you’ve been to in the past?” That was more than Tink’s bread and butter; it was her passion. All things STEM.
“I’m counting on you to help me move, you know.” She took on a more playful tone. “When I get everything figured out. Do you want to see it? Sometime? After I get the keys?”
“I only help people move if there’s pizza involved,” he said, winking at her. “But of course I’d love to see it.”
“Oh, there’ll be pizza. And nachos.” Tink said, beaming. “Great. It’s a date.”