Everything is Splendid

thackery chuckled softly and drew her in close for a kiss. “ then i’ll try to be quick, yeah? “ he offered. he hugged her close, lingering a bit before letting her go. he watched as she walked back into the store, sighing heavily. he hated to leave her, but knew he must. 

a couple hours later, he arrived back in front of her boutique. he had emily in a carrier draped over his shoulder, and a bag full of things for her in his left hand. in his right, he held a basket. he wasn’t much of a cook, but he was great at ordering take out. he walked in the store, looking like a lost puppy. a woman gave him a look that could only be described as “ oh bless his heart. “ finally, he spotted minnie and immediately made his way over. “ excuse me miss, “ he said as he walked up behind her. “ im looking for something and was wondering if you could help me? “ 

Minnie had been helping people for hours, her sale was going fantastically. She had just moved over to fold a large stack of blue polka dotted skirts that had fallen over a bit before. She was completely lost in the task, straightening up when she heard a voice behind her. “Oh, of course! How can I be of assistance? All polka dots are on sale as well as-” she finally finished turning around and giggled, realizing it was Thackery. “Let me guess, that’s not the kind of help you need,” She went to give him a hug before realizing he had brought Emily. “Emily!” She took the carrier from him and took the small cat out, cuddling her to her chest. “I get off in 5 more minutes!”

Flynn laughed softly, because yes, that absolutely sounded like Honey. “Do you now? That sounds about right.” Honey sent him selfies often, just quick updates of what she was doing during the day. She really loved her pictures. Flynn himself hadn’t really send any back, but always complimented her.

He eyed her at that little chime, asking the question without words. Another snapchat?

He gave her a charming smile. “But you two have talked about me?” 

Minnie nodded in agreement. It was a classic Honey move to send pictures to people throughout the day. She fought the urge to check the picture, laughing softly. “What do you bet that was her?” 

At his next question, Minnie faltered. How could she explain the awkwardness of the conversation the two women had had about Flynn? “We talk about a lot of things... You may have come up, once.” She tried to skirt the question.

thackery smiled and nodded. “ i will. i was thinking about getting her a collar, but you might have to help me put it on, “ he smiled. to be honest, he thought it was funny how emily seemed to just put up with him, but adored minnie. “ i can try. she might like getting out of the house. “ he smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “ i’ll see ya then, beautiful. try not to miss me too much, “ he added with a wink.

Minnie rolled her eyes as he kissed her forehead. “You missed!” She stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I make no promises that I won’t miss you more than anything,” She gave him one more quick squeeze before turning to go back inside. “I can’t wait!” she gave him a little wave before turning to the first customer of her sale.

thackery smiled and nodded. “ promise. “ he could think of nothing else he’d rather do than spend the rest of the day with her. truthfully, if it was up to him, he’d spend just about every moment he could with her. “ i just have to run to the pet store. get emily some food and toys. she’s getting bored with me, “ he joked. “ that was all on my to do list for today. i can be back by noon? “

Minnie grinned widely at the thought of Emily. “Make sure you get her something polka dotted from me!” It had been ages since she had seen the cat. “You could bring her with you, if you wanted. We can keep her behind the counter when the store is super busy.” She smiled happily, “That sounds perfect.”

“ anytime, pretty minnie, “ he said, using the nickname he had given her. he listened to her recount of the day and nodded. “ well, i gotta run some errands but i think i can be back in time to take you out to lunch, “ he smiled, kissing her gently on the forehead. “ and i can definitely blow off whatever else i was gonna do today to stay with you. “

“Promise?” Minnie asked, placing a hand on Thackery’s chest. An impromptu lunch date sounded perfect to Minnie. “Oh, don’t feel like you have to! I don’t want you to not get done the things you need to do,” as much as she wanted him to stay, she also didn’t want to keep him from living his own life.

He took the phone, giving her a playful smile as thanks, waggling his eyebrows. “I can think of plenty of ways to make that scandalous.”

His expression instantly softened again at the picture. Honey with her large, bright pink again nestled under her arm, flashing a bright smile and a cute V-smile to the camera. Her hair was held back by a hairband, but not the one Flynn gave to her. The whole picture just screamed of that cheerful, almost fidgety energy Honey had about it. It was unbearably cute. Everything about her was unbearably cute. Innocent.

His eyes lingered on the picture for a moment. The phone felt awfully heavy in his hand all of sudden and he handed it back to Minnie – to be rid of it, to show her he could be trusted after all, that he didn’t use the opportunity to scroll through the other pictures without her permission.

“I’ll tell her she looked lovely,” he promised. “Thanks.”

He hesitated, knowing full well he wasn’t Minnie’s favorite person. But she was the only friend he knew of Honey’s, supposedly her best.

“So, hey, uhm, these selfies – that something she does a lot, right?”

It wasn’t… especially for him, right?

Minnie made a small surprised noise. She fully expected the man to flip through all the other photos on her device, but he didn’t. Maybe she had been too quick to judge him after all... 

She went to put her phone away as it buzzed. Honey had sent her a snapchat. How timely. 

“Well, we do have a snapchat streak of 50 days,” she laughed. But Honey did send her selfies often to see if she thought Flynn would approve. Maybe there was something more to this guy than she had realized. 

he smiled at the embrace. he enjoyed being close to her like this. thackery moved back just enough to get a look at the woman in his arms. “ you look good in polka dots. “ his smile faded into an exaggerated pout at the thought of her being cooped up at work all day. “ oh. well that sucks. when do you close? “ 

“Why, thank you, dapper Thacker,” Minnie smiled up at him. “I get a break for lunch. I have some extra help today, and we close at 8. You could always stay here with me, though.” She batted her eyelashes at him, sticking out her bottom lip in a puppy dog pout.

Flynn shrugged again, signalling he wouldn’t know about that. Honey struck him as the shy type who would worry about sending too much, being too much, but Flynn couldn’t really care about that. He wanted more of her, wanted her to drown out thoughts of the past that had resurface. Even if that wasn’t fair.

He held up his arms in defeat. “I guess, if you say so. But I think it’s a shame to hold such a treasure to yourself.”

He grinned. “They’re not scandalous pictures, are they? Because I would have definitely preferred those.”

Minnie sighed, weighing her options in her mind. Finally, she dug her phone out of her pocket. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to show you one...” She searched through the photos, finding her personal favorite photo. “Here.” She handed him her phone.

“No, they were not scandalous,” she rolled her eyes, “Honey was literally walking to class.”

Flynn gave her a playful pout, swallowing back his comments about her being a total killjoy. If anything, her comments just left him confused. “Is it?” Perhaps, he wasn’t the greatest guide on what was appropriate or not. He shrugged easily.

“I wouldn’t know about that. But I already know the pictures exist, so wouldn’t it be nicer if I saw them and could tell her later how beautiful she looked in every single one of them? As I’m sure she does.”

Minnie let out a short laugh. “That is most definitely not how that works! If she had wanted you to see the pictures, wouldn’t she have sent them to you?”

thackery let a wide grin spread across his face. “ much better now, “ he said. he was glad to run into her. he wrapped his arm around her in a tight hug. “ national polka dot day, huh? how does one celebrate that? “ 

A contented sigh left her lips as he embraced her. She never wanted to leave his arms. “Well, As you can see, I wear polka dots for one! And my biggest sale is today as well. So I’ll be stuck here all day.” She pouted softly as she realized that meant they wouldn’t be able to spend much time together. 

“Well, sure, but did I lie?” Flynn quipped back easily. His smile brightened when Minnie mentioned the little anecdote. Honey had really gone through all that trouble for him?

“Do you…. mayhaps… still have those other pictures?” he asked, with an innocent tilt of his head and his most charming smile. “Not that I doubt her taste, I am certain she send me the cutest one. But, you know. Science.”

Minnie blinked before laughing. “That’s a wildly inappropriate question to ask me about my best friend.” 

Her hand instinctively went to her pocket with her phone in it. “I may. But Wouldn’t that be betraying her trust?” 

it was no accident thackery walked in the way of minnie’s boutique. his actual destination was the pet store. he had to get some more things for emily. there was a more direct way to get there from his apartment, but he secretly wanted to see her. he smiled as she spun around. he held out his arms to catch her in the event she lost balance. “ whoa, hi. it’s okay. it’s just me, “ he smiled. 

Minnie giggled, hearing that familiar voice. “Well hello there. Glad it’s you that I ran into.” She turned around a bit further to face him head-on before giving him a hug. “How have you been? Happy national polka dot day!”

He smiled and handed her the bracelet back, pulling it out of her reach only one before he carefully slid it over her wrist with a swift movement of his before she could protest, although he made sure not to touch her too much, like he usually did with that trick.

“There you go, because you asked so nicely,” he said with a playful wink, just because he knew it would get on her nerves.

“You are most welcome,” he said politely.

The mere mention of Honey made his eyes soften, the smug smirk fading into an almost dreamy smile. “Lovely, stunning, perfect, ” he replied, then thought of an actual response. “She’s doing great. She send me a selfie of her on her way to school, so she should be at the lab now.”

Minnie gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes as he put the bracelet back on her wrist. “Thank you,” she meant that one sincerely; well she did until he winked at her. 

She pushed her annoyances away and smiled partially, surprised to see that the man actually seemed to have some semblance of care and compassion for her best friend. “You know that’s not what I meant.” 

She nodded as he gave her a real response. “I know all about that selfie. She sent me about 17 other ones before deciding that the first one was the one you’d like best.” 

He only widened his smirk when he felt her eyes detesting it. He gave her a faux sympathetic smile. “Apology accepted, darling, how kind of you.”

He was a little disappointed she didn’t try to grab the bracelet out of his hands, he would’ve delighted so much in snatching it away right before she could take it. He twirled the bracelet around one finger, idly playing with it.

“Oh, old Woody? He’s a dear friend of mine, I’m sure he’d be delighted to come down here and see me. Perhaps not so happy to be bothered by you, though.”

He shrugged, deeply amused by her annoyance.

“I wanted to make my way down the street in peace, but instead I found your lovely company. I wouldn’t want to be rude and just leave.”

“May I have my bracelet back?” Minnie asked once more, “Please.” She hated being polite to flynn, but figured it was worth a shot. 

She knew that he knew she wouldn’t call the cops on him for a stupid bracelet and that frustrated her. Instead, she sighed and began to play with her necklace, using it as a way to calm herself down. 

“Well, I appreciate your kindness and chivalry.” She stood there, trying not to jump to conclusions about him. “How, ah... how is Honey?” she figured that was a safe conversation topic. 

“People like me? Why, darling, that’s hurtful,” Flynn drawled, a saccharine sweet smile on his face, completely unbothered by her demeanor. Flynn was more than used to dealing with people who disliked or mistrusted him. He deliberately eyed the empty boutique. “I am ever so sorry to take up time in your packed schedule of not looking where you’re going.”

He scoffed when she mentioned the bracelet, glad he hadn’t actually taken it in reflex.

“Oh, so we’re just flat out accusing me of stealing now? I must say it’s a better look on you. The thinly veiled jabs were pretty sad.”

He easily spotted the bracelet on the ground, where it had probably fallen off. “There it is. Say, what’s your policy on finder’s keepers?” he grinned, snatching the bracelet off the floor and holding it out of her reach.

Oh how minnie wished she could wipe that smug look off his face. Everything about it frustrated her. She saw how he looked pointedly at her empty store. “I’m literally just now opening up.” she motioned to the few other passersby that were starting to make their way to her store. “Sorry that my schedule interrupted yours of being a jerk.” She retorted.

She watched as he dangled it above her head. She was above jumping for her own property like an ill-mannered child. “If you don’t give it back, I’ll call the sheriff.” was the threat she replied with, holding out her hand. 

“What do you want?” she repeated.