Jiminy jaminy!

“That it has, but it’s a good thing. It just shows off how hard you have been working in keeping the business going.” He would comment how proud he actually was on Felix but seeing the recent events it probably would make things just too awkward. “I got a bunch of flavors, Classic caramel, classic cheeze, crazycorn mix, jalapeño cheese, buttery toffee, vanilla and tutti fruti.” He tried out some of these before. “Oh School of Rock is one of my favorites. Haven’t seen click yet so maybe we can watch both, unless you are in a hurry.”

“Yeah well, we’ve been friends for a while.” That and he simply noticed things about Felix. He nodded, he didn’t take it to heart. After all the last thing he’d want is to create even more trouble for Felix. Confessing was enough. “Alright I’ll put the dvd in and let you work in silence, if the tv is too loud don’t mind telling me.”

-

“Aw, thanks for saying so. It’s definitely been a lot of hard work, but I think it’s been worth it.” As much as Felix may have had some reservations about Ralph’s work at the store, he really appreciated how he was always in his corner if he needed somebody. His eyebrows inched up slightly farther with each popcorn flavor Ralph listed off. “Well I definitely want to try out Tutti Fruti, ‘cause that sounds wild. Other than that, grab whichever one’s your favorite.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He grabbed the DVD from the pile and handed it off to Ralph before settling down on the couch with the schedule book. Somehow managing to tune out Jack Black on the screen, he got to work filling in the holes that were left after Sven and Kristoff’s sudden departure a few days prior. He was trying to be optimistic, but unless he wanted to burden everyone else with overtime, he was probably going to have to take a good majority of them himself. Another fun 60-hour week. He pursed his lips and fiddled with the pencil before making some notes.

“ sounds like a plan, bossman. ” she hated herself slightly for adding the bossman aspect to what she said but it served more of a reminder to herself than anything. a reminder that he was her manager and any feelings she may have towards him should stay at bay until she had at least changed jobs. if she got into the police academy. because flirting with her boss wasn’t something calhoun was particularly into, and she definitely didn’t want to be accused of sleeping her way up should she eventually get a promotion. perhaps, felix adding bernard to the outing was a life-line and a marking that he was her boss foremost and then her friend. taking another sip of her beer, almost emptying it she leant back in her chair. finally, looking at him again. damn, he was cute. “ any particular day you had in mind, i’m free on saturday if it works for you two ? ”

-

Bossman. Right, right, he was her boss. Anything other than a friendly get together would be inappropriate. Maybe Felix’s being a chicken was a blessing in disguise. He almost jumped in with the fact that he knew she at least wasn’t working on Saturday, but that seemed weird to say. “Yeah, Saturday evening should be good for me. Jury’s still out on Bernard, but I’ll let you know later.” He finished off his bottle before getting up and picking up the box of remaining beers. “Thanks for the chat, thanks for the beer, see you Saturday?” Belatedly, he realized that he was rushing her out the door and avoiding eye contact and overall being pretty rude. He took a moment of pause, glanced at the general area of her face to prevent himself from getting locked into place by how gorgeous her eyes were, and flashed a smile. He could stave off breaking down for a few extra moments for Calhoun’s sake.

“Ah, yes, I heard about that,” Bianca replied with a soft, sympathetic chuckle, thinking back to her evening of wining and whining with Anita. A family emergency made more sense, but practically ghosting one of her best friends in the process was less cool. Perhaps that was why she wasn’t quite as concerned about making the joke that she made next. “Personally, I believe that I’d make an excellent substitute Bjorgman. The first time I met Sven at the store I ended up coaching him on what I was looking for rather than the other way around. And I fixed my own kitchen sink. I didn’t even have to call Bernard.”

-

As Bianca went into detail about her encounter with Sven, Felix picked a spot on the table to stare through and sighed. “You know, I’m disappointed, but not entirely surprised.” At this point he was considering putting Sven back through training, with an added emphasis on keeping to contracts and receiving payment. “Oh, do you usually get Bernard for that kind of thing? How’s he doing, anyway? I’m assuming just about as stressed as you are.”

“ i know you do, ” features softer than usual, the face only one felix fix got to see on rare occasions. not even noticing it herself, calhoun didn’t force her features into an unreadable mask, and instead let herself ( unknowingly ) remain soft. “ but i think we need to keep a closer eye on her. she’s not ok, and it’s the least we can do. ” she didn’t know how but over the months she had become protective of vanessa. seen part of herself in her somehow even if they were so different and even if the chatty young girl had once grated on her she now cared beyond anything else. “ i’ll be happy to look into the legality of it… ” she trailed off with a smile, small laugh close to spilling from her lips. 

then, suddenly felix expression changed. his gaze looking upwards and calhoun trailed it only to rest her eyes on his features once more trying to read him as he spoke. beers? together? surely, he only meant as a friend but -– her heartbeats quickening behind her ribcage and her mouth opened to answer him. BUT before she managed to respond and tell him that yes, she’d actually enjoy that. he continued, and showed clearly that he didn’t want to go grab beers alone with her anywhere else but his office. silently she reprimanded herself for thinking anything different about his boss and smiled, nodding as he finished. “ yes, i’d enjoy that. ” ensuring that no disappointment was shown through her mask she chose to take a sip from the beer in her hand. smile still remaining on her features but a more neutral kind than previously. “ perhaps we can try out the new microbrewery down the road ? ”

Alright so good news: Calhoun hadn’t seemed to notice the scrambling backtracking, and she said yes. Felix’s poker face must be stronger than he remembered it. Bad news, though: he’d failed his initial mission to ask her on a date, and had now dragged Bernard into it. If he’d been paying more attention, he might have noticed the subtle change in expression from Calhoun, but he was too busy internally panicking to focus on much else. “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! I’ll have to text Bernard later, and we can figure out when we can all go.” All go. Not just two, all. Ughhhh what had he done. He’d invited his ex-fuckbuddy to what was supposed to have been a date with his crush is what he’d done. He chugged a big swig of his beer; the faster he finished, the faster he could go have an embarrassment-fueled breakdown in his car in peace.

“Ah, yes, I have that friend too,” Bianca chimed in with a knowing smile, nodding sagely as she picked up her glass and emptied the contents entirely. “And the friend with different variations on the same crisis over and over again. But you’re right, of course—making people happy is a great feeling. Unfortunately, I don’t get to do nearly as much of that in my current job as I would like.” Turning to the waiter, she waited for Felix to finish his order before asking for another glass of red wine, thanking them before turning back to her company. “Maybe I should start looking at switching careers. Are you hiring, by any chance?”

“I’d be more than happy to have some help, especially right now.” Felix sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Both Bjorgmans have abandoned me - there was a family emergency so it’s understandable that they’re both gone, but that’s half my handyman workforce!” He leaned his head against his hand before lightly chuckling to himself. “You do seem like someone who would pick that kind of thing up quickly, you’d probably do well.” It was fun to fantasize about, but he couldn’t make himself steal Bianca away and prioritize his own stress over Bernard’s.

“ well, i do have good taste in beer. i thought this was already a proven fact. ” leaning back in the chair she was sitting on, balancing it on the back legs slightly, calhoun couldn’t help but give felix a small smile. her features softening from the hard facade she kept up during working hours and most individuals, except for felix. for some reason she relaxed in his presence, but not enough for anyone to deem her unprofessional. her work at handy felix’s being one of her life lines and she’d do anything not to lose the job, even if it these days felt a bit bland and she was considering taking the police academy entrance exam.

“ of course, vanessa isn’t fragile. ” a frustrated sigh escaping her. “ but she’s young and she will pretend that she’s fine until she isn’t anymore. which isn’t good for anyone. ” calhoun’s instinct to protect vanessa humming in her bones, even if she knew that the girl could handle herself, she also knew how easy it was to pretend to be fine until one wasn’t anymore and if there was one thing she wanted to avoid, it was vanessa feeling like she herself had felt once. taking a sip from her beer she nodded along to felix’s comment on sven, long fingers tapping against her leg as she listened. “ well, if he wants to give away services for free maybe take it out of his paycheck? ” the comment meant to help felix ratehr than throw sven under the bus, but the words came out harsh and to smooth over the comment she smiled. “ at least then he’ll know things cost money. ”

“I never doubted that.” Felix smiled at Calhoun before noting her own smile, and the way her face softened, and his heart started beating so loud he swore she’d be able to hear it. He was grateful that her talking gave him a moment to compose himself. “Yeah, I agree. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on her, and there’s a reason why I try to put her where there’s low customer interaction.” Felix appreciated Vanessa as an employee (most of the time) but retail came with a lot of verbal abuse, and he worried about her. He laughed at Calhoun’s suggestion for Sven. “I don’t know if I’d ever go that far.” His brow furrowed slightly. “Also unsure if I could get away with it. Doesn’t quite sound legal.”

He noticed he actually had a pretty decent topical segue into something he’d been meaning to ask for weeks. He was still riding the wave of confidence from earlier - now or never. He took an extra large sip of beer for some liquid courage. “Soo speaking of beers, though,” he began, scratching the back of his neck and picking a spot on the ceiling to stare at in an attempt to look casual, “I was thinking that, some time, we could go out and grab a few. Together.” His confidence lasted until he looked back to her face - her gorgeous, amazing, out-of-his-league face - and he started floundering. “W-we could make it a whole thing - I recently found out we’re both friends with Bernard, he could come too!” He backtracked so hard he tripped over his heels and fell on his ass behind the starting line. Great job, Fix.

Ralph hoped for the same. He didn’t want the world to be a scary place anymore. He didn’t want to get angry when things went out of his control. he didn’t like the anger, it scared him even more. “Here’s to hoping.” It was strange that even though Felix had gotten him so angry to the point of breaking his arm and hand, he was also the same person that got Felix the calmest. “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.” Which wasn’t exactly true, he made a quick stop to get some snacks. Luckily he lives near the grocery store, took him about ten minutes to get home.

__

Ralph struggled with the same issue, a part of him wondered if asking such a thing of Felix wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, the confession wasn’t too long ago after all. Yet, they were friends. And Ralph needed Felix right now. Especially now they found out what his mother was dealing with. It was the worst news he had ever gotten, and it surpassed the rejection by a mile. 

“Yeah, I could use a drink,” Ralph said with a soft smile, he wasn’t really in a great mood. He urged Felix to come in. “You know the place, nothing changed except a few more blankets scattered around.” He’d been sleeping on the couch the last couple of days to stop rolling himself on his arm.

“Comedy would be good, I’m in the need of a good laugh. Luckily I got us some popcorn, thought we could make use of some snacks.” He said before heading to the living room. “Need some help with work, I know you are a workaholic so I can’t picture you not bringing any. The faster you are finished the more we can focus on the movie anyway.”

“Ah yes, Casa de Ralph. It’s been a minute, huh? Work’s been crazy.” Felix really had been wanting to hang out with Ralph more; he just wished it was under better circumstances this evening. “Oh yeah, popcorn and beers are perfect movie snacks.” He set the beers and his bag down on the coffee table and opened his bag to rifle through it. “Alright, for comedy... I brought Click, School of Rock, and The Mask. Any of those sound good?” He set the DVDs on the table as he listed the titles.

Felix brought out the binder and pens he’d brought as Ralph made the comment about work. “You know me too well,” he chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but scheduling is more of a one-person job. It’s hard enough to keep it straight in my own head, much less have two people’s heads involved.” He’d already seen all of the movies he brought, anyway, and none of them were ones that required a whole lot of brainpower or paying attention.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re talking to a fellow workaholic—working is absolutely a state of being,” Bianca joked back with a friendly smile. Felix was good company, and spending time with him had the added benefit of potentially helping her get over all of the unwanted feelings she was currently having about the situation. And the quicker she got over it and herself, the quicker she could go back to business as usual with her partner. “I’m glad to hear you’ve been doing well, though. Things with me are… Well, to be honest, things with me are pretty much the same as they were the last time you saw me. Work is hard and frustrating, and I always seem to have at least one friend going through some kind of personal crisis. But I guess that’s just life, you know? We do what we can to help people.”

“It always seems that way, huh? Sometimes it’s one friend with multiple crises, that’s always fun too,” he remarked sarcastically. He felt a bit mean venting like that, but as long as he kept it vague he didn’t really see the harm in it. “I feel you on the helping people, though. That’s one of the reasons I love what I do so much - fixing things and making people’s lives easier, making them happy... it’s a great feeling.” He flagged a waiter down as they walked by and ordered some chicken lo mein. It was food he’d come here for originally, after all, and he was hungry.

❤️- For a secret crush

His crush on Calhoun is hardly a secret at this point. I guess his lingering feelings for Bernard that he’s kind of been lying about not having would count too?

💃- For a talent that they like to keep hidden from others

🌧- For a heavy, emotional secret

Felix over-idolizes his dad and sometimes feels like a second-rate version of him. He’s constantly worried that he’s making poor decisions for the business and that his dad is going to be disappointed in him.

🙃- For a lighter, slightly embarrassing secret

For a short time before and after he came out he would forget which bathroom he was supposed to use, much to the confusion of his family.

🌟- For a secret wish or desire of theirs

It was conflicting with all that happened, and it meant that he needed a break. But he also needed Felix to be his friend. Which made everything even more complicated. Honestly, his head was spinning with guilt at this point and he simply needed someone to tell him it would all be alright. He just needed Felix to be there for him, they had been friends for so long and none of his feelings would change that - at least not to him. He wasn’t expecting more out of it, maybe a slap to his back or a comforting hug. He didn’t want to be alone in this.

“I know.” A small laugh escaped his lips because honestly, it had been so bad. A deep sigh followed and he found himself pinching the bridge of his nose. “At the positive side, I’m going to anger management now, though that would help better than you know - a hobby.” Therapy, he wasn’t too foreign with it and perhaps it could help him properly respond to situations.  “And yeah it’ll help me out, feel free to bring work - I just don’t want to be alone right now that’s all.”

@icanfelixfixit​

“Anger management! That’s great, here’s hoping it goes well.” Hopefully it would mean less broken limbs in the future, and overall a happier Ralph. “I’ll finish up here and be at your place later, alright? Bye!” Felix hung up the phone and sighed, standing in the middle of his kitchen for a moment before continuing to put his groceries away, with more urgency this time.

---

Felix rang the doorbell to Ralph’s place about half an hour later. A bag was slung over his shoulder, and he had a six pack in his other hand, gripping the handle tight. The line between normalcy and mindfulness was a precarious one at the moment, and he was nervous that he would either go too far or pull back too much. He quickly put on a smile as the door opened.

“Hey! I wasn’t sure what kind of mood you’re in so I brought a few things. Some beers, if you’re so inclined,” he said, raising the six pack for emphasis, bottles clinking as he did so. “And some movies - I picked the top three in my collection each for action or comedy.” He’d considered grabbing some romcoms, too, but quickly thought better of it. “We don’t have to do any of that, though, if you don’t want to. Just wanted to provide some options.” His scheduling book was also in the bag, and he could work on that if Ralph just wanted someone quietly near him for the evening.

There was a petty, distinctly unflattering side to Bianca who wanted to dislike Felix, in spite of the fact that she had no reason to other than jealousy. She didn’t like that side of herself. On the other hand, he had such a kind and warm presence that it was basically impossible to dislike him anyway. Even the brief conversation they had shared when she walked him out after that awkward lunch at the station had been utterly delightful. “Well, it is my favourite,” she replied with a smile, putting her glass down on the table in front of her. “So statistically speaking, Chinese food is bound to be involved at least a couple of times. It’s good to see you, though. How have you been?”

Felix thought he had wanted to spend his evening alone, wallowing in stress, but he’d misjudged just how extroverted he was as the possibility of human interaction brought his mood up considerably. The fact that Bianca had been a good conversational partner last time they’d met certainly helped matters. “Good to see you, too. I’ve been... well, is working a state of being? Because I’ve been working. A lot.” He paused for a moment, before realizing how depressing that sounded and attempting to rebound. “Not necessarily a bad thing though! I’ve been doing pretty well. How’re things with you?”

Ralph simply didn’t know what to do, because that wasn’t everything he had been dealing with lately. Aside from his father calling him up, there was an issue involving his mother as well. He decided it was better to come clean and tell him why everyone was getting on his nerves lately. “Mom’s sick-” The words tumbled out of his mouth though he couldn’t hide the choke. Honestly, everything was a mess. “Probably why he called me, she’s in the hospital and I suppose he has that much of a moral to leave her alone.” He leaned against his door and sighed. “Honestly this week has been pretty shitty-” He needed a friend that wouldn’t judge him right now. “I know I haven’t been on my best behavior due to it, but I’m trying to get through it but it’s hard. And although I’m not really one to ask such things…I could use a friend.” It was really hard. 

Felix stared at the wood grain on his kitchen cabinets as he processed everything Ralph was telling him. That was three distinct bad events, on top of what had happened at the festival; he felt a pool of guilt settle in the bottom of his stomach. What was he going to do about that part, though, tell Ralph he’d changed his mind? He wasn’t going to pretend to be romantically interested in his best friend because he was having a bad time. That wouldn’t fix anything.

“No, Ralph, you’re fine, it’s just... wow, yeah, rough week.” He tapped his fingers on the counter as he thought. “Do you want me to come over? I’ve gotta finish putting my groceries up but I’ll be free after that.” That wasn’t entirely a lie - he had some free time this evening, but he had been planning on using it to sort out some handyman scheduling, and/or just take some time to decompress. If Ralph needed help, though, that was the priority.

it was widely known around the team at handy felix’s that calhoun preferred to be addressed by her surname. it even went so far that she would actively ignore anyone who used her first name. but with felix the recommendation had never stuck. at first it had been grating and she had wanted to snap at him for saying tamora rather than calhoun, but slowly over time she had accepted  it. if he wanted to use her first name then he was allowed, and she wouldn’t ignore him. especially not when the sound of him saying her first name caused for a small spark within behind the walls she had fashioned around herself a long time ago. a small spark that she skilfully ignored when she nodded towards him at his thanks for the beers but a spark that made itself painfully reminded when he asked her to stay. the same very spark that caused her to turn around and accept the offer. “ fine. ” 

long legs carrying her over to his desk where the beers stood and with one movement she picked one up and removed the cap with one hit against the desk. a skill she had picked up in highschool and was oddly proud of. “ we need to talk about vanessa anyway. she had a run in with a nasty customer earlier and i think it’d be good if we kept an eye on her. ” she says as she moves towards the chair opposite felix’s desk and sits down. one dr martens clad foot moving up to rest against the desk automatically. “ and did you talk to sven about not working for free just because a customer is pretty and he decides that he’s oh so in love with said customer ? ”

It took Felix a moment to realize that Calhoun had accepted his offer, but he was quickly brought back to the present moment with the thud against his desk. “Hey,” he objected as he ran a hand over the spot she’d hit. No damage done, thankfully. “I have a bottle opener, y’know.” He dug his keys out of his pocket and cracked open his own beer with his multitool keychain. Going past the mild annoyance, though, her bottle opening move had been weirdly kind of attractive. He took a quick sip of his beer in an attempt to quash that train of thought. “Mm, that’s pretty nice. I’ll be taking the rest of these home for sure.”

He almost asked her to take her foot off the desk before realizing it gave him a nice view of her leg. And then feeling too awkward to say anything as his face flushed slightly. “Vanessa’s not fragile, but I remember being that age. Getting yelled at is rough no matter how old you are, anyway. I don’t know what makes people think they have the right to be awful to a teenage girl like that. Or any of the employees here, really. Some people just don’t know how to act.” He shook his head slowly. He raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together as Calhoun continued. “Yeah, I’ve talked to him about it before, but I don’t know if I stressed it seriously enough. It’s hard to run a business when your services are getting given away for free.” That was probably a bit harsh, and mean to say behind Sven’s back, but it was starting to become an actual problem. When you budget for shrink it’s usually for product, not services. He took another, larger sip of his beer.