Blend in.

Species: Human Sexuality: Bisexual Pronouns: He/Him Favorite song: Dull Boy — The Growlers Big three: Aquarius sun, Aries moon, Gemini rising

Though things had started to get a little awkward in the car ride over to Flik’s apartment, they’d only decided to address the ultimate elephant in the room once they’d had caffeine in their systems. She knew this was going to happen eventually, but she didn’t think that it would be addressed so soon. It was better to get it out of the way, she supposed, than to let it sit and stew in the silence. It was what she had tried to do with the whole Kit situation, to bring it up in the car than to let him mention it first. 

“You weren’t trying to be stupid, you were trying to be brilliant.” He needed to know that she saw it in him to be better than anyone had ever thought he could be. Whether he could find that brilliance in him again, Atta wasn’t sure. “I’m so glad we’re talking again, too. I mean, you’re my best friend, how am I supposed to get through all of this without you?” There was an entire wedding to plan and the last thing she wanted was for him to not be involved. Atta couldn’t tell him that, though, not yet. “Dot is going to be happy that we met up, you know. They kept asking me about you, and I never knew what to say, I think they miss you more than they want to admit,” she told him with a small smile.

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Flik wasn’t scared to be honest about everything quickly, despite that they hadn’t spent much time together just yet. They were childhood best friends, first — and best friends always stayed honest with each other. That was why he smiled as Atta mentioned her belief in his brilliance; he knew she truly meant it. Atta and Dot seemed to always believe in him, even if he didn’t believe in himself. “I agree,” he said with another smile. It was obvious Dot was keeping it from Atta that they’d still been hanging out sometimes, so he made sure to keep it that way for Dot’s sake. “I’m glad to hear that, I’ve missed having them around. And you too, of course,” he chuckled. “I’m glad we’re having this talk, I think we both needed it.”

Flik wasn’t sure when the next time was that he’d see Hopper. Truthfully, he’d hoped it would be at a time where he had more planned, more leverage, anything to make him feel a little more confident. That didn’t mean he couldn’t still say something, though, just like he had last time they’d seen each other. Now that he wasn’t working for the Dreyfus company, it was less of a risk. At least, he thought so. Hopper’s words didn’t hurt him or scare him — words were just words, after all. His laugh was a bit intimidating, though, his eyes glancing down at Hopper’s fingers holding a cigarette. “Something like that,” Flik replied simply, hands in his pockets. He missed Atta more than anything. Now that he’d found his new job, he’d grown comfortable there and didn’t miss working for the Dreyfus’ as much, but he still missed being around his best friend all the time. He was definitely hesitant; the last thing Flik wanted to do was spend time with Colin Hopper, but could the guy really do anything bad with so many witnesses nearby? He knew it was stupid to agree, but before he could stop he heard himself say, “Sure, I can tag along, catch up with an old friend.” He took a few steps closer to Hopper as he bit the inside of his cheek, dropping his hands from his pockets to look less nervous, less small. “What’re we drinking?” @mrcolinhopper​

Honey was feeling particularly hyper today. She was a naturally energetic person, but maybe she’d had a little too much caffeine, enough that she was practically bouncing around. It wasn’t on purpose, her coffee just tasted good enough for seconds… and thirds. What she needed was a good conversation to ramble it out, and lucky for her — and maybe unlucky for him — she’d found just the guy. “Hello, hello!” She smiled as she took Flik up on the offer, plopping herself into the open seat. “It’s not a problem at all! Did you come up with anything good? I, for one, would love to hear all about it!”

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With the way he’d been struggling with his ideas lately, Flik felt that maybe Honey could be the perfect help. Her upbeat energy might’ve been exactly what he needed. “Honestly? I think I’m in a rut,” he admitted with a small laugh, meeting her gaze as he finished gathering all of his scattered papers. “Nothing seems to be fitting together, and every time I think I’m making progress ... There’s something in the way from making it work properly, you know? Whether it’s something wrong with the invention or the inventor.” He knew he was flawed in many ways, but that always pushed him to work harder and be better. Too bad it didn’t often go as well as he’d anticipate. “Got any advice? I could use some.”

Flik couldn’t help but blame himself for everything that happened. It was always him who was making inventions that seemed to fail, always taking things to a next level that seemed to drive people crazy. Why did he always have to be so annoying and over the top? While it was nice for a moment to ignore the elephant in the room and pretend everything was fine, it was something they couldn’t avoid talking about forever. He wasn’t surprised that Atta was trying to be nice and not give him the blame. He shook his head. “Yeah, but ... None of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for my stupid mistakes.” He didn’t think that Atta had been wanting to reach out this whole time — he thought that she had wanted to create distance between them, and if that really were the case, he couldn’t blame her at all. “I could never hate you, Atta,” he admitted with a hint of a smile. “I’m sorry, too. I think we both do better when we communicate with each other, so .. I’m glad we’re talking again.” @attadreyfus​

Atta waved off his gratitude with a swipe of her hand; she was just grateful to have run into Flik in the middle of the parking lot, of all places. “Yeah? That’s amazing, Flik,” she said sincerely, giving him a melancholy smile. Every day that he wasn’t working for Dreyfus anymore was a hard one, knowing that she was part of the reason for it. All she could hope was that he would find somewhere that accepted him and his ideas. “Of course, I mean, anything I can do to help, if you need it. Even if you don’t need it. I just thought I’d offer.” She didn’t want to sound patronizing, but Atta was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that he was taken care of.

She hesitated to answer his next question: work was fine from the eyes of an outsider, but the thought of there being some sort of uprising coming terrified Atta. She had no idea how to lead a revolution, especially when it was against someone as powerful and dangerous as Hopper. She’d thought about asking Flik for his input a while ago, but had ultimately decided against it, not wanting to ask him for anything. “Work is … you know, it’s stressful, but going well.” She bit the inside of her cheek, debating how much to tell him. “Hopper is, um, as terrifying as usual.”

Speaking of her own worst enemy, Atta thought to the dinner she was supposed to have told Kit about that was scheduled for the same night, on Hopper’s terms. The thought of introducing the two made her stomach feel weak; the last thing she wanted was for Kit to get stuck in the middle of their complicated relationship. “I’m actually supposed to–well, I was told to meet Hopper at dinner later, with, um … with Kit. I don’t know if you saw, or read, I guess, but I’m supposed to get engaged. He’s really sweet, actually, and I guess my mom thought we’d be a good match, or something. I’m sorry if you already knew, I–I wanted to be the one to tell you, but I wasn’t sure how to just text you out of the blue about this kind of thing,” she admitted with a sheepish laugh.

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Flik smiled at Atta’s kindness, despite that he was anxious to hear how things were going with the business, curious to see if Hopper would get brought up. Her initial answer didn’t come as a surprise to him, nodding as he listened. “That’s .. Good,” he began, but then Atta continued. As soon as Hopper’s name was brought up, he felt his grip on the steering wheel tighten. He hated that Hopper had so much power over Atta and the business, and hated that he could still scare Atta. Nothing had really changed. 

Then, on top of that, her future engagement was mentioned. He was glad that they weren’t too far from his apartment now, as it was hard to fully focus on the road with these two topics being mentioned at the same time. He wasn’t really sure what to say. “Yeah, I .. Thought I saw something about that, I wasn’t sure —” he didn’t finish his sentence, though. His throat felt dry and he wanted to desperately get to his apartment. It would be a lot better to talk about this undistracted, over a cup of coffee like Atta had offered. Damn these groceries he had to go put away.

Flik wasn’t sure if hearing good things about her future fiance made him feel better or worse. He was happy to hear that he wasn’t an asshole like Hopper, of course, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Atta’s mother was right — that her and Kit were a good match. “That’s alright, it’s fine! I’m happy for you,” he reassured her, though it may not have been as convincing as he intended. “It’s too bad about, Hopper though.. I was hoping he wasn’t still a problem, but I can’t say that I’m surprised.” He definitely wasn’t, for he’d been hearing from some old coworkers that there was talk of an uprising. Truthfully, it needed to happen sooner than later. The longer Hopper had the upper-hand, the worse things could get. He debated whether to bring up his knowledge on the matter, but decided to hold off for now. “Like I said, if you ever need anything, whether it’s someone to talk to or actual help, you know I’m your guy.”

Jim kept walking alongside the other man, lost in his own personal contemplation as Flik talked his ears out. It was always the usual case that Jim got lost in his thoughts, while the other, who was equally lost in their own narrative, kept going about their latest invention. “Sorry, what?” Jim answered, snapping out of his trance. He wasn’t listening, yet again, though he knew fully well that Flik would go on about it the next time they met again. “Oh, no. I haven’t had the time. I did make a flying scooter once, though it still needs a lot of work.” He added. He didn’t have enough time to do pretty much anything else. The holidays meant the the Benbow Inn was going to be busier than ever, and Silver was overworking him far more than usual. The exhaustion kept him away from the wrong path, but it didn’t exactly lead him to the right path either. “I do have a question for you.” Jim looked at the older boy, hoping that he had some sense on a topic he had no idea about. “How exactly do you court a girl?” He chuckled, feeling a bit vulnerable as he raised the question. “It’s just been confusing, that’s all. Are there rules? Guidelines? A blueprint?”

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To be honest, Flik wasn’t even sure if Jim was fully listening, but he didn’t really mind. He was still there for him regardless, and he appreciated that. “Flying scooter, huh? You should let me check it out sometime,” he smiled at the thought. He probably wouldn’t be much help with whatever work needed to be done with it, but he still would wanna try regardless, just like he always did. His eyebrows raised curiously, wondering what it was Jim wanted to ask, and he had to hold back a laugh. He didn’t wanna make him feel bad, but gee, he’d never been asked girl advice by anyone before. In fact, no one really asked him for any sort of advice. He chuckled in return, pausing to think of the best thing he could come up with. “You’re right, it is confusing,” he agreed. “I think it just depends on the girl, honestly. Not everyone wants the same things..” He wanted to help more than that, though, not wanting to leave it so simple. 

An idea popped into his head, and he stopped walking for a second to pick up two rocks that he spotted on the ground near their feet. He handed one of them to Jim. “Here, I’ll give an example — imagine these two rocks are two different girls, alright? So this girl,” he held up the rock he was holding, “She likes big romantic gestures, you know? Chocolates, flowers. She probably watches a lot of romantic comedies and longs for the cliches.” Then he motioned to the rock he handed Jim. “But that girl, she thinks all that’s stupid. She just wants someone who ... Understands her like no one else does. She doesn’t want the big gestures, she wants someone she can trust to be by her side. You follow me so far?” He was rambling again, letting out a soft sigh as if thinking of a way to wrap up his ideas. “The point is, there’s not gonna be any rules or blueprints if everyone is different. So I think the best way to figure out how to do it right, is to get to know her first, maybe start as friends so you have the chance to do so,” he shrugged, unsure if this was any help at all. “Who’s the girl, if you don’t mind me asking? If you already know some things about her, maybe I could be better help.”

Atta saw his gaze flick down to her wrist, and she instinctively tugged the bottom of her sleeve in her palm. The charm that had gotten stuck on his shirt had of course been the one that Kit had gotten her for Christmas upon seeing that she had a bracelet already, with one from Flik that had been given to her for her birthday one year, too. She had been reluctant to take it off, as though removing something so small would mean the end of keeping a piece of her former best friend with her no matter where she went. It was so trivial, but meant so much to her.

Though she truly wasn’t sure what Flik was doing with his life, it was good to hear that at least he had some sort of job. Atta hadn’t been worried about him finding employment: he was so smart, it was just the execution that needed some work. Hopefully he would feel comfortable enough to tell her. “You don’t? Oh, perfect! That’s a perfect plan, yeah. Are you still, um, living in the same place? It’s been a while, I mean, you probably changed your lease, or something. I would still love to pop in and see the place. It would go a lot faster if I helped you carried your stuff up, too.” 

After helping him place his bags into the back of his car, Atta slid into the passenger seat. She was taken back to when they had ridden in the same car countless times, and she could feel the discomfort beginning to melt away. “So, you’re working?” she asked, breaking the brief silence as they pulled out of the spot. “That’s great! I mean, you’re so smart, I never had any doubts about that. I knew you’d find something else really quickly. You know, if you didn’t, or if you ever need any sort of reference, you can always ask, right?” Atta paused, turning to him. “Or, um, if you needed anything, in general.”

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Of course, Flik had recognized the bracelet on Atta’s wrist. He hadn’t been able to get a good look before she tugged her sleeve over the piece of jewelry, but he wondered if the charm that was from him still dangled on it— he hoped it was still there. He forced himself to break his focus from her wrist to her, savoring the moment that may easily be gone in an instant.

It was weird to think that Atta had no idea what he’d been up to since she fired him. She didn’t know anything about his new job, his new friends and coworkers. They’d once been best friends, but now they were practically strangers, only tied together by old memories that seemed so far away now. His heart ached at the thought. “Yeah, yeah, same apartment,” he smiled. Even if his apartment wasn’t much, he still loved it. It was the first place that was fully his own after finally moving out from his family’s house. “Sure, if you don’t mind! Let me just, get all this stuff in the car,” he chuckled as he opened his trunk, bending down to grab the bags of groceries and put them away. He hadn’t expected Atta to help him put them in the car, but he appreciated the gesture.

who: @luckeyflik​ where: coulter boardwalk 

Dee Dee was hiding out a little longer after her walk with Beaker, knowing her parents wouldn’t even notice they’d been late. He seemed to be enjoying himself anyway as he sniffed at all the booths as they walked by. She’d stopped at a few to window shop and let him dig at the sand. Maybe it was silly but these kinds of quiet moments with her dog reminded her just how much she’d hurt if she left the house without him. She knew this year was going to be the one, she’d finally tell her parents it was time to move out, but how could she without her best friend? Dee Dee was lost in her own thoughts as she stared blankly at a window when Beaker pulled at his leash, almost causing her to fling forward and right into someone. “Oh my gosh, Beaker!” She looked down at her dog with a slight panic in her face. “I’m so sorry, he’s a sniffer.” The girl tugged at his leash to pull him back as he tried to sniff at the guy’s feet. 

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Flik had a lot on his mind lately. It was a brand new year, which meant he was putting pressure on himself to do better, to be better. There were so many people he cared about that he wanted to help ( mostly Atta ), but he wasn’t sure how he could help everyone without hurting them. The more and more he tried to help, it seemed, the more and more things went wrong. It was why he decided to get some fresh air today — a change of scenery should surely do him some good. He was walking past one of the shops when he was broken from his thoughts, the sound of someone close by and the feeling of a dog sniffing his leg catching his attention. He’d briefly heard the name Beaker, catching a glimpse at the dog’s collar to confirm. “That’s alright, I don’t mind,” he chuckled, sticking his hand out to let the dog sniff. “Beaker, huh? I like that name.”

Atta couldn’t tell if there really was a right time to let up the act and tell him that, actually, everything was not great. In fact, her work was about ready to go up in flames (though it had already, literally), and she was supposed to get engaged to a guy she hardly knew. Not that she had anything against Kit, but there was some small part of her that wished she wasn’t stuck marrying the guy. Friends would’ve better suited where their relationship was at now, after the holiday away that had sent her company into backorder.

Before she could tell him not to worry, Flik was beginning to contort himself to try and help her, and Atta could feel the stares on her back as people passed by while in this wildly uncomfortable position. “No, no, it’s okay, I think I can–Flik!” she exclaimed with a laugh, being pulled with him as he arched his back to try and unhook her bracelet. For a moment, she’d forgotten how weird this really was, to be hugging her estranged best friend in a parking lot after not seeing each other in ages. “Wait–I think I got it! Just stand up straight for a second …” she started, trailing off as she bit her lip in concentration, finally unclasping it from the back of his shirt. “Sorry about that, I have this one charm that keeps getting stuck on everything, and you’d think I’d know by now to take it off, but here I am.”

Taking a step back, Atta looked at her watch. Her next meeting wasn’t for a while, and she wasn’t sure when she’d see Flik again, and, most of all, she couldn’t be the one keeping him waiting. Maybe he had to rush home to get something in the fridge, or someone else to meet up with. “I, um, don’t know if you have anything going on right now, but, you know, since we’re here, and all, I could … use a coffee, if you’re free. Not a big deal at all, if you’re not. We could totally set something else up before you get off to wherever you need to go. Also, you probably shouldn’t leave all that produce sitting out for so long, but then again, I guess it’s cold enough for it to be fine. Anyway, what was I saying? Right. Coffee. You free?”

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Flik wasn’t sure if this was going to be something where they just quickly caught up and went about their lives, much like the brief texts they’d shared, but sharing a hug with Atta reminded him how much he missed having her around. The smell of her perfume lingered as they both struggled to get her bracelet unstuck from his shirt, unable to help but laugh as she did. It was so silly, but he didn’t even care that she was stuck to him. Sure, some people in the parking lot were starting to stare, but why did that matter?

“You got it?” He asked, following her command and straightening his back so it would be easier for her to unclasp the bracelet. He could see how concentrated she was by her expression, and it made him smile. “That’s alright, we got it,” he chuckled, gaze moving to the bracelet that she was referring to as her arm finally pulled away from him.

As soon as Atta glanced down at her watch, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew she was a busy woman, and the last thing he wanted to do was mess up anything she had going on — he’d already screwed up her life enough, he thought. She caught him by surprise, though, asking him if he had anything going on. His eyes widened ever so slightly. “Me? No, I have nothing going on,” he admitted, quickly adding. “Not that I just don’t ever do anything, I mean .. I’ve been taking care of myself and working but — yeah, no, I’m free right now.” The mention of his groceries reminded him that they were just sitting in bags on the ground, waiting to be put away, and he contemplated for a moment how to get around this. He didn’t want to just leave Atta because of his stupid groceries. He wanted to spend some time with her. “How about .. We make a quick stop at my apartment, drop this stuff off, and then get coffee? ‘Cause coffee sounds amazing right now.” Spending time with her sounded amazing more than anything, but he was a sucker for some coffee, too. “Is that alright? We can set something else up otherwise, but .. I’d love to catch up, if you can.”

Popping a grape in her mouth she nodded as she listened to the genius brain of Flik. Barbie could listen to his ideas for hours, as well as toss in her own little thoughts that could make it that much better. “So tell me, do you have something that already one does this, or two - could be modified to do something like this… So any big event means I must adventure into the closet of what feels like doom. I mean I just get completely over whelmed and then there are cloths everywhere. What if.. we found something that was like a cloths roomba and just came behind us and picked it up and set it back where it belonged?”  || @luckeyflik​

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More often than not, Flik would get carried away with his ideas, sometimes rambling on and on without realizing. A lot of people found it awfully annoying, but he had a few friends who actually thought his ideas were cool and useful! Better yet, he had friends like Barbie, who pitched inventions his way as well that only expanded his thoughts and ideas. His eyes lit up as Barbie asked about her idea. “Don’t think it’s been done yet, but that doesn’t make it impossible,” he admitted with clear enthusiasm. “I’m sure I could mess around with some of my old inventions that never got anywhere and modify them to do something like that!”

This certainly wasn’t the big reunion that Atta had envisioned when she thought about seeing Flik again, in a grocery parking lot, but she supposed it was time to make the best of it. He already had his bags ready to be packed in the same car he’d had since they were teenagers, the same one she’d taken countless rides in. All she could think about was how she should be in the passenger seat. It was how it would’ve been before she had to lay off her best friend from her own company. There was still a pang of guilt every time she saw his name on her phone, any photo of the two together, and now, finally, here in the flesh. 

“Things are … good! They’re great, actually,” she replied, giving him a nod more confident than her words were. He had to have been talking about the stuff with Kit, right? How was she supposed to know if he read a stupid gossip blog? Flik had never really been one to subscribe to much social media, but maybe someone had told him. Atta should’ve seen the hug coming, but somehow it had managed to catch her off guard, and she felt a small yelp of surprise come from her lips. “That’s really good to hear,” she replied as she gave him a small squeeze back, letting herself fold into his embrace for a moment longer than she should’ve. As she went to pull away, she felt a small tug, realizing her wrist was stuck on his back. “I, um, think my bracelet might be caught on your shirt? Don’t move, I think I can get it off, but this may become more of an extended hug than you intended.”

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Flik’s mind was running with things to say to Atta, but his mind was going quicker than his voice could keep up. Besides, he couldn’t help but focus on her features as he first saw her, appreciating this moment in case he didn’t see her again for awhile. He was glad that he could have a happier moment with her after their last encounter. He didn’t want to have any hard feelings between them, even if he had been hurt initially.

“Great! That’s .. great to hear,” he smiled, unsure if he wanted her to elaborate or not. He wondered how genuine her words were; just as he had been stretching the truth a bit, she could have been doing the same. Or maybe her life really was better without him around. He wasn’t normally the type to keep up with socials, but .. For Atta, he wasn’t able to help himself. It was hard enough not having her around, so it was nice to see some sort of updates about her, even if he wasn’t sure what was true or not. 

The surprised yelp that escaped Atta’s lips shouldn’t have come to a surprise to Flik, but he jolted a bit nonetheless, anxious about scaring her off somehow. Still, the feeling of her arms around him as they embraced was worth it. He really did miss having her around. Attempting to pull away, he was surprised that Atta seemed to keep it going, or rather, wasn’t able to let go. As she pointed out being stuck to his shirt, he let out a nervous chuckle. “Oh! Uh .. Here, maybe I can help ..” He was quick to reply, always wanting to help even if he wasn’t actually able to. He was suddenly twisting his body in attempt to find where her arm was stuck, lanky arms wrapping around as if his body was able to physically bend so far around. “If I could just — reach around that way —”

closed starter for @luckeyflik​

There hadn’t been a day that had gone by in the past few years when Atta hadn’t thought of Flik. Now that she was building the company the way she wanted to (save for the adjustments Hopper had forced upon her), and was about to get engaged to someone else, she had been thinking about reaching out to him. The last thing she wanted was for the news to break from someone other than her. The text had been sitting open on her phone for ages, waiting to be drafted. It seemed like the universe wanted to do it for her, when she saw the familiar head of hair out of the corner of her eye while supposed to be on a check of one of Dreyfus’ biggest grocery store customers. This was how it was going to happen: at the grocery store, of all places? Part of her wanted to duck and hide, to run back to her car, but figured it was too late for that when she saw a hand waving to her in the parking lot. With a reluctant wave in return, Atta picked up her pace to catch up with him. “Flik? What are you–I mean, of course you’re here, everyone food shops. Um, hi! Hey! I can’t believe I ran into you, what a small freaking world it is. I, uh, wow, it’s been a minute. You look … good! You look good. Are you good?”

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Flik couldn’t deny that Atta was always on the back of his mind, ever since he’d been fired from the company. The two hadn’t completely broken contact from one another — they exchanged texts here and there, but there was clearly some awkward tension between them. Flik wished he could fix it. He knew he could think of a million different inventions, but he still couldn’t quite think of the right thing to somehow help his and Atta’s relationship. He didn’t expect for her to give him his job back, of course, he knew he didn’t deserve that back. He just wanted his friend back, and he wanted to help her despite how things had fallen apart in the past.

He wanted to keep up with her life despite the little contact, but it was hard to figure out what he did and didn’t believe. Hearing she was potentially to be engaged had thrown him off, for sure ( it had hit harder than he’d expected, but tried to pretend like everything was fine ), but he didn’t want to completely believe some potential rumors going around — he wanted to hear from the source, but he also didn’t want to pry. He just focused on ideas for the company and his job with the circus crew, to keep himself sane for now.

Fate had a funny way of bringing people together, though, and Flik had realized that as he recognized the back of her head, seemingly distracted until she’d caught his gaze. He smiled anxiously as she made her way toward him, a few bags of groceries in his hand as he stood beside his car. He didn’t mind letting the ice cream melt, if it meant seeing Atta for a moment again. “Hey! Atta, it’s — it’s so good to see you,” he said, exhaling a nervous breath. “How are you? How are ... things?” He couldn’t help but ask, though he kept the question vague. “Thanks, I mean, you look great, as always,” he chuckled, setting the bags down beside the car to let his hands be free. He almost wasn’t sure what to do or say, so caught by surprise, but he couldn’t help himself as he stepped forward to pull her into a hug. “I’m good, yeah. Doing good..”