Page 142 of Untouchable

"They remind me of Petunia," Parker says, snickering.

"Okay, Parker, I'll get you set up inside and then I'll show your boyfriend where the problem is," Mindy says, hands on her hips as she watches them get out.

“Will you stop,” Parker hisses at Mindy, and she bats her eyelashes at him.

“Stop what?” she says loudly. Parker punches her arm lightly. “Okay, Parker, if you go into the main office and ask for Elizabeth—you remember her, right?—she’ll get you set up with something.”

“Er—” Parker says, glancing at Harp.

Parker looks panicked, like he hadn’t thought about the possibility that they actually wouldn’t end up working in the same area.

"It's okay," Harp says in a reassuring voice. He really doesn’t mind. "I'll catch up with you soon."

He has a stupid impulse and decides to give into it, catching Parker into a one-sided hug and kissing his temple. Something rolls through his heart and it feels like flexing a sore muscle, satisfying and hopeful.

Parker nods and they part ways.

Mindy leads him down a muddy pathway between buildings.

“So, you and Parker, that’s… a thing now?”

"In that I asked if he wanted to be my boyfriend," Harp clarifies. "That thing. Yeah."

They reach a back door. Mindy grabs the handle but doesn't open the door, glaring up at Harp. He feels several feet shorter when Mindy looks at him like this.

"Watch yourself," she says, finally, before throwing open the door and bellowing, "Mandy, I have an assistant for you!" into a large, lofted barn.

As it turns out, Mandy is one of the women who works full-time at the shelter and she’s already halfway to fixing the problem. She's simply gotten stuck trying to access the main pipe under an ancient board wedged too tight in the crawlspace.

Although she approaches them cautiously at first with a wary look, a low ponytail, and a tool belt that is very obviously her own, she becomes warm and welcoming once Harp demonstrates that he’s happy to simply help—doesn’t want to take over or suggest that she couldn’t have done it without him. With the second set of hands, they're able to pry away the dry board and move forward with the repair.

Harp is careful not to step on her toes, spending most of the time with her running back and forth to fetch tools and putty and zipties. She’s quiet and capable and after a few minutes it strikes Harp how much Mandy looks like Mindy—but where Mindy is the version of Barbie that comes with a pink cell phone and convertible, Mandy is the version of Barbie that looks like she could crush Harp at rugby or field hockey or whatever it is she obviously plays to get the impressive muscles she sports.

She’s also patient, which is important since she keeps having to remind Harp what she needs and where to find it. It's hard not to be distracted, not to stop and pet the pigs, dogs, and cats that come up to investigate Harp as he works hip-to-hip with her.

Finally, she sends him to turn the water back on and when he does, the repair holds.

* * *

Parker is puton Duckling Duty, which ends up being an extremely enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. He spends the next few hours wrangling the various small animals that have been displaced by the flood of water—one chicken in particular seems hell bent on escaping from its makeshift enclosure and more than once Parker has to chase after it to keep it from escaping. It seems unfair to him, almost—everyone else is hard at work, but Elizabeth assures him that he’s doing them a huge favor by keeping tabs on the smallest residents of the sanctuary.

"Are you ready to go?" Parker asks as Harp walks up a few hours later, coated in a thick layer of grime, just like Parker.

Harp doesn't answer at first, bending slightly to pat a huge hog that walks by on the haunches.

"Oh my God. You're not are you?" Parker asks, grinning wide. "We can stay longer. I'm sure they have, like, eight thousand chores to do. Or, I mean, they probably wouldn't yell at us if you just want to pet pigs for a while?"

Harp laughs. "You read my mind. You up for some farm work?"

Parker nods and they go in search of a new task, finding Mindy who sends them to Mandy who directs them to Kimberley who has them change out the hay in two of the back outbuildings where the biggest of the farm's pigs live.

Together, they fall into the rhythm of the work the same way they had that day at Harp's place. It's sunny and muddy and every few minutes, a different animal comes up to bump into them and investigate.

* * *

Parker talksmore than he works, which is fine. Harp listens appreciatively as Parker tells him about how he saw an episode of Swiss Family Robinson late at night once and had become obsessed with the fantasy of living with his family on a desert island. Harp asks him if he's heard of Pippi Longstocking and when Parker says no, Harp tells him about Pippi and her horse and her monkey and all of Harp's convoluted fairy tales he'd made up as a kid about being in the same situation, self-sufficient, living on his own terms.

"Christ, that was prescient," Harp says, straightening out. Parker looks at him and smiles, maybe not following the precise train of thought Harp had, but appreciating that some connection had been made. It seems to happen more often when Parker is around than when he isn't, and Harp feels sharper when he can talk through things with an appreciative listener.

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