⸺ pretty boy.

The wolfish smile on Flynn’s lips grew wider and wider with every word Erik said. His luck had finally changed. Less than a few minutes on the clock and he had already managed to find the perfect mark. The filthy rich were usually so insufferable that he couldn’t imagine spending any considerable amount of time around them, no matter how much more he’d be able to pocket in the process, but Erik seemed tolerable at the very least. He’d yet to turn his nose up at the humble, albeit roguishly handsome, barista tasked with taking his drink order. He could tell Erik was struggling with how to respond to such blatant flirting, or else said flirting had gone over his head completely, because he definitely wasn’t flirting back, at least not in any way Flynn was used to. “My sentiments exactly,” he replied, abandoning the register to meet Erik at the other end of the counter. “Actually, I bet if I had a little talk with my manager he’d let me take the rest of the afternoon off, you know, for good behavior.” He started to untie his apron. “I think we both know how important proper boat safety is.”

Despite everything that had already transpired, he hadn’t forgotten the reason he was there. He took a mental inventory of all the jewelry she was wearing, trying discern whether or not any of it had any actual monetary value, but most of the things she wore seemed to be made out of clay and plastic, not diamonds and precious metals. Her accessories were bright and colorful, some actually shaped like candy, others were meant to mimic the same feel. He knew very little about her, and yet it felt like enough to determine that this hodge-podge of colorful plastic baubles suited her quite well. Unfortunately, they were useless to him; worth a dollar or less if he were to try and pawn them. And that was if the pawnbroker was feeling particularly generous, which had never been the case since the two of them started doing business with one another. He could take something just to inconvenience to her, like she had him, but he felt childish for even entertaining the idea.

He didn’t do this sort of thing. He had never been the type of guy who kept an eye on the clock in anticipation of anything besides the end of a work shift, or who checked his cellphone throughout the day in hopes that he had a new text. He had tried to play it close to the vest, allowing her to come to him whenever she wanted or needed anything, which was strange in and of itself. Usually, he only spoke to people if and when he needed something from them. She was his opposite in almost every way. On paper, a friendship between the two of them shouldn’t work, but it did.

He had to remind himself, several times already, why he had chosen to put his name into the raffle at all. Pacing on the sidewalk outside Tony’s, he could feel the nervous energy radiating off the other participants as they made their way inside the restaurant to meet their ‘randomly selected’ dates. It had been ages since he’d been nervous or excited about anything. Deep in his pocket was the slip of paper that had been given to him when he’d initially arrived. He’d read the name written on it, hadn’t recognized it, and then crumbled it into a ball. He made a habit of knowing the names of everyone in Bounds Bay with money and whoever he’d been paired with wasn’t one of them. The best he was gonna get that night was a free meal, whatever his date had in their wallet, and maybe a ring or a bracelet. It was a little disappointing considering the fact that he’d dressed up for the occasion. Sort of. He stopped pacing to lean against the brick wall beside the entrance, racking his fingers through his dark hair. There was one other person there with him, either waiting for their date to arrive or too nervous to go inside. He briefly met eyes with them, an ill-concealed smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Think it’s too late to cancel?”

​he had been hoping, with the event going on and all, that the pet store staff would be too preoccupied with with the animals, and those looking to adopt, to pay much attention to the other customers but, not long after a short demonstration about caring for a new pet, an overly perky sales associate strolled up behind him right as he was about to slip something into his pocket. a less experience thief may have panicked in this sort of situation, but he’d been caught, or nearly caught, so many times before that he knew exactly how to play it off. he returned the item to the peg and whirled around to meet her eye, a slow smile spreading across his lips when he got a good look at her. wow. “sure, i’d could use a little help,” he turned back toward the shelves and picked two pet toys at random, “in your opinion, which one of these would a frog like more?”

he stood there dumbfounded for a long moment, opening and closing his mouth several times. he was ready and willing to lie about why he’d taken over for his co-worker but she just. kept. talking. he tried to be patient and wait till she was finished, or stopped to take a breath at the very least, but in took all the self-control he had to keep from turning around and walking right out. he always treated his co-workers like that, they were all used to it by now. when he’d first start working there, they’d try to fight him but now they just rolled their eyes and went along with whatever he wanted, because it wasn’t that serious.

parading himself around in front of the one person in town who was the most likely to find him suspicious wasn’t exactly the best idea he’d ever had but, just to be clear, he hadn’t realized that was what he’d be doing that afternoon. he’d been so eager to get some fresh air that he’d volunteered to take a delivery before he’d known who it was actually for. when he’d read the name and location scrawled on a post-it note stuck to the top of the cup, he’d cursed out loud in the middle of a very busy coffee shop. his manager had given him ‘the look’ and he hated getting ‘the look.’ he knocked on the door before pushing it open with a bump of his hip. “oh good, i’m in the right place then,” he replied, setting down the drink down on the desk in front of basil. "tips are not required but are always appreciated,” he said, plopping down in the open seat across from the other man without asking. 

“yeah, something like that,” flynn replied with a lazy one-shouldered shrug. it was an obvious lie, one look and anyone could see that the co-worker in question had just joined the others preparing drinks. he grabbed a large cup, writing erik’s drink order across it in big, bold, block letters. while he bent over to grab the pastry from the display case, he watched erik from the corner of his eye and caught a quick glimpse at the inside of his wallet. not only did this man have money, he had a lot of money. “so, where you headed this afternoon?” he asked, meeting erik’s gaze through the glass. “i mean, that's fair amount of caffeine. a drink like that could get you into all sorts of trouble.” 

he uncapped a marker with his teeth then spit the cap onto the counter. “a medium vanilla latte,” he repeated as he scrawled the order on a paper cup. “you sure you don’t want something a little more complicated? wouldn’t want these guys getting lazy,” he gestured to his co-workers, hustling and bustling behind him, trying to keep up with drink orders. he tried to be subtle as he scanned the contents of her wallet. wallets were tricky. he had a strict ‘cash only’ policy, taking someone’s id, driver’s license or credit card was much more trouble than they were worth. he’d learned that the hard way. “what, them?” he glanced over one shoulder at the person he’d kicked off the register and waved dismissively, “it was about time for their break anyway. plus, what other opportunity was i going to get to talk to you?” 

​one of the positives of having a “normal” part time job (and there weren’t many) was the endless amount of people that cycled in and out of the coffee shop throughout the day. people always needed coffee, they were addicted it, and that was something that he could use to his advantage. he walked in the back door fifteen minutes late for his shift, his manager giving him a disapproving look as he passed by, but he could see the beginnings of a smirk hidden in the corner of her lips. his coworkers were used to his behavior by now, but they would never fire him, he made the work day a lot more entertaining for them. ducking his head to put on his apron, flynn nudged the person already at the cash register with his elbow, interrupting the customer right in the middle of their order. “sorry about that, what can i get for you?” he asked, reaching behind his back to tie his apron strings in a messy knot. his dark eyes did a quick scan of the person at the counter, checking for any visible valuables; watches, necklaces, rings, etc.