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Tommy is having one of the worst days of his life. After a shift from hell, he goes across the street for a coffee and pastry on autopilot. When he walks out of the bakery, a poster taped to a lightpost catches his eye. In large black letters are the words: our world is better because you’re in it.

His breath catches in his throat. At the bottom of the poster, one tear-off paper remains. He hesitates, after all maybe there is somebody out there who needs it more than him. No—who deserves it more than him. He eventually rips the paper off, folds it, and puts it in his pocket.

He wishes he had a way to say thank you to the kind stranger who put the message there for anyone to find, wonders if they know they may have saved a life (maybe more).

Tommy doesn't overthink it, he walks back into the bakery and asks to borrow a pen. The woman at the counter hands him one, reluctantly, Tommy thinks. He walks back outside to the poster and writes at the bottom of the poster, far enough away from the message he hopes not to distract from it, and writes thank you. He goes back into the bakery and hands back the pen with a sincere 'thanks' and the woman is grateful (and obviously surprised).

Days turn into weeks and some days it feels like the folded up piece of paper in his wallet is the only thing keeping Tommy afloat.

He's out for drinks with Howie and Hen and they keep giving him weird looks every time he misses an opportunity to get a sarcastic quip in or quote a movie with Howie, communicating through their weird best friend telepathy like they think he won't notice. He knows he's being uncharacteristically quiet, but the words rattling around his head keep sticking to the roof of his mouth and he can't get them out no matter how hard he tries. He excuses himself to the bathroom, washes his hands until they're red and smell like oranges. Outside the bathroom is a wall of posters and flyers, most advertising different themed nights and drink specials and local bands, ripped and faded to various degrees. Right in the middle of it all, the stark white paper stands out. in black ink, the printed words tell him: you are perfect as you are.

A laugh bubbles up in his chest and spills from his lips, taking with it a weight he's been carrying set deep in his shoulders. He tears off a paper from the bottom and puts it in his wallet next to the other one. When he gets back to the booth, he smiles at Howie and Hen and he still doesn't say the words--he tucks them away for a later time--but he takes the verbal shots they set up for him and they stop shooting worried looks at each other.

Before he leaves, he swipes a pen from the bar and writes a thank you on the poster.

He keeps finding them around town and he wonders if he's only seeing them now because they're new or if he's subconsciously looking for them. He tries to write a thank you any chance he gets. And he takes the suggestion of taking more than one and passing the kindness forward.

One night, at the station, he can't sleep and he remembers the #thecomplimentproject he saw on the posters and decides to look it up on Instagram. He scrolls through the posts until he sees a photo taken at a place he recognizes, the bakery across from the station. The first photo in the post is the poster with all the tabs torn off and thank you written in Tommy's hand. He swipes through the rest of the photos and they're all similar; they're all the posters Tommy had written on. The post's caption says: this made me tear up, ngl

He clicks on the profile of the user who posted it, Evan Buckley, and is only a little ashamed at how quick he clicks follow. He spends what precious little time he has before a call inevitably comes in scrolling through years of Evan's adventures.

In the morning, Tommy wakes up to find Evan started following him back.

Tommy wants to send him a message, but doesn't quite know what to say, he types and backspaces and retypes before ultimately giving up.

One day, after his shift, Tommy heads over to the bakery. There's a new poster taped to the lightpost outside that says: you bring joy to those around you. After tearing off a tab, Tommy takes a pen out of his jacket pocket and writes at the bottom of the poster thanks. I hope you know that you are too. He's just finished adding a lopsided heart when he hears a soft "oh!"

He turns and sees Evan, standing in the doorway of the bakery.

Evan looks between Tommy and the poster and back again before joining Tommy on the sidewalk. "That--that was you."

Tommy tucks his hands in his jacket pockets. "Yeah. It meant a lot--means a lot--what you're doing. You got me through some tough times. I thought you should know." Evan smiles and Tommy thinks of the paper folded in his wallet that says: you're like sunshine on a cloudy day.

Evan gestures towards the bakery. "Why don't you let me buy you a coffee and you can tell me all about it?"

It's Tommy's first day at Harbor. He's early, so he sits in his truck and takes a few minutes for himself. He takes out his wallet, unfolds the familiar scraps of paper, one by one, and reads them. The last one is new, one he's never seen before: my life is better because you're in it <3 Tommy's heart swells in his chest and he lets the feeling of being loved carry him into the station.