Work Text:
Of course it’s the morning of a double shift when her car decides to die.
In any other moment, Vex would scream in frustration, but it’s too early for coffee to have enabled anything beyond basic conscious function and so all she manages to get out is a rather sullen kick against the door of her obstinately silent Explorer.
“Son of a bitch.”
Fumbling beside her seat for the lever, she pops the hood and clambers out to investigate.
Looking over the tangle of engine components quickly reveals exactly what she’d been afraid of: she has absolutely no idea what the problem is. Her knowledge of automotive upkeep extends only as far as checking oil, fluids, and tire pressure, all of which she already maintains religiously in a gambit to stretch the lifetime of her two-decade-old vehicle even a little bit further. Vex pokes at a few extra hoses anyway out of petulance.
She shuts the hood with some force, wiping grease against the side of her jeans before digging her phone out of the pocket. Her fingers dial gingerly and she rubs her forehead with the other hand. There’s two rings before the call picks up.
“Vex, dear, it’s rather early.”
She winces, already remorseful.
“Hey, Zahra, sorry. Just had to let you know about the bloody delightful morning I’m having.”
“Now that is an interesting tone for seven a.m. What’s up?”
“My car’s dead. I’m going to have it taken in, so I’m not sure what time I’ll be able to get to work. I’m so sorry, I know I told you I’d help you cover Loran’s shift-”
“Hush, love, it’s not your fault. Besides, Tuesdays are usually fairly slow as far as the Take goes, and if I really end up needing extra help I’m sure I can persuade Kash into coming in a tad earlier.”
Vex smiles a little despite herself.
“You’re sure? If I were in your shoes right now I’d be positively furious.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You might razz me about it, though, so expect that when you do get here.”
“Of course. Love you, darling, and thank you.”
“Love you too. Keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
Hanging up, she opens a new message.
[TO: VAX] piece of shit car died. pissed
To her brother’s credit, his response is almost instantaneous.
[FROM: VAX] shit. are you ok, need a ride
[TO: VAX] i’m fine, don’t leave work i got it sorted with zahra
[FROM: VAX] ok. so did you just message me to complain
[TO: VAX] maybe. also wanted to let you know why there will probably be a decent chunk out of the checking account later
[FROM: VAX] ugh well i guess it’s for a worthy cause. let me know how it goes
Having both Zahra and Vax in the loop lets Vex’s shoulders unwind a bit, and she shuts her eyes to take a few deep breaths. This sucks, but it’s fine.
Opening Maps, she searches for the closest auto repair shops between her apartment and Slayer’s Take Outfitters. A handful show up, but only one appears to be currently open; despite the circumstances, Vex rankles a bit subconsciously at the inability to compare rates. With some resignation, she makes the call.
This time, the line hardly rings once before being picked up by a voice far too chipper for the early hour.
“Darrington Automotive Repair and Services, at your service! This is Taryon Darrington speaking, how might I assist you?”
Vex pauses for a long moment.
“Um. My car died.”
“A tragedy that befalls the unsuspecting far too often, I’m afraid. I would offer my condolences, but I believe our excellent services are their own consolation. Would you mind sharing your name and current location?”
Vex’s brows furrow, wary of giving out her information to this character, but she finds no workable alternative.
“...Vex’ahlia Vessar, at 22 Forest Glen Avenue. I’m in front of apartment 105.”
“Splendid. I am dispatching one of our finest associates as we speak. Expect him to arrive in approximately fifteen minutes.”
“Great. Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure. We appreciate your business!”
The call ends with the sharp sound of a receiver being enthusiastically slapped into its cradle. Vex stares at her phone for another twenty seconds, incredulous, before slumping back against the car to wait.
It hasn't been ten minutes before a bright red tow truck screeches to a halt in front of the apartment, ‘DARRINGTON AUTOMOTIVE’ splashed across the hood in large silver letters. Vex straightens up to see a short, spidery man in coveralls spring from the cab to peer rapidly about the parking lot. She hesitates before waving in his direction.
“Hello- I think you may be here for my car?”
The man jumps and points a finger at her.
“Aha! Yes, yes! Vexterra!”
She blinks at him.
“...Vex’ahlia?”
“Vexdalla!”
“Let’s just- go with Vex. But yes. Or at least I think so?”
The man is already hurrying up towards the car, and she moves to give him a wide berth but is unsuccessful in evading the wiry hand that shoots forward to give her own a forceful shake. Vex just gawks at him as he offers a huge, toothy smile across a pitted face smeared with grease.
“The name’s Victor- pleased to meet you! And your vehicle- Ford Explorer’s a good model. Shame that it broke down- but we can fix it!
Vex can’t help but grin awkwardly back.
“Er- delighted. How can I help?”
Victor releases her hand from its vice grip and moves to throw open the driver’s side door of the car, clambering into the seat.
“No need. Got it covered- just wait!”
Vex watches as he scrabbles about the dash, pushing several buttons and a lever near the steering wheel before reemerging and rushing back to the truck, which he throws into reverse so ferociously that her breath catches as it miraculously avoids dinging her front bumper. The bed lowers and Victor leaps back out, scrambling on hands and knees to shove a series of chains beneath the Explorer’s undercarriage.
He pops back up with a gleeful look on his face and motions towards the front of the truck.
“Get in, get in! Almost ready to go.”
After a moment of deliberation, she follows his direction and steps up to enter the cabin. The interior is bizarrely immaculate, dash pristine and glossy save for a few smears of grime across the wheel. She starts as Victor suddenly leaps in beside her, hands flying to flip a series of controls that cause the bed to emit a cacophony of grating hydraulic noises as it lifts into place.
He shoves fully into drive the moment the sounds end and suddenly Vex finds herself pressed flat against the back of the cabin as he sends the truck bulleting out of the parking lot and down the road.
Her fingers do not un-clench from the sides of her seat until nine minutes and thirty seconds later when the truck skids into a backwards stop in the garage of Darrington Automotive.
Victor’s already flicked several switches and leapt from the truck before she can get even her bearings, and by the time she’s shaken her head clear of whiplash and clambered out of the cab herself the Explorer has already been deposited neatly onto the floor. Victor pivots and darts around a series of shelving, so Vex follows.
“Car’s here!”
What was initially visible of the garage had appeared relatively orderly, but the corner of the shop that now meets her eyes is an absolute tornado. Numerous shelves and benches are crammed together against the walls, surfaces covered in loose hand tools, hardware, and bits of scrap. Mounted power tools interrupt regions of the clutter, all containing metal items in various states of partial machining. In the midst of the chaos sits a solitary car, or what would be one if its body wasn’t stripped of large swathes of paneling with the engine block sitting on a tarp in the floor. Victor stands on the near side of the hood with a hand across his eyes, and amidst a series of glowing sparks Vex can make out another figure across from him wearing a coat and face shield.
“Got it all set up in the bay for you. Owner’s here too to wait on it.”
The figure continues welding for a few more moments before the sparks stop.
“Excellent. You’re free to go.”
Vex’s brain acknowledges that Victor scampers past her and disappears through a side door, but the majority of its power becomes suddenly and irrevocably devoted to why the hell this mechanic sounds like a theatrical Robin Hood.
“Would you happen to mind fetching one of the welding rods next to you?”
She blinks for a moment before realizing that she is being addressed.
“I. What?”
They point a gloved hand to the side of her.
“On your right, there are a series of black shelves containing various metal rods. There should be a compartment four from the left on the third row labeled 6013 Steel. If you’d be so kind as to bring me one of those, that would be lovely.”
“Um, alright- ”
Sure enough, when Vex turns to look there is indeed a small shelf on the desk to her right that appears stuffed to the brim with dozens of different metal rods. Counting three down and four across, she plucks out a thin silver-colored one and moves over to the car.
“There you are.”
“Much obliged. You may want to take a few steps back.”
Vex shifts backwards and shields her eyes as the welding gun sparks back to life, a gritty crackling sound filling the immediate space. After several moments, the other person is seemingly satisfied as they set the gun aside and stand.
“Good. Now, I suppose introductions are in order- my name is Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III.”
They hold a hand out to shake as if having not just said something completely insane. Vex just stares.
“I beg your pardon?”
They sigh, and then pull off the face shield.
Vex stares more, because the man now in front of her is also ridiculously hot.
If she’s being obvious he doesn’t seem to notice, shrugging off the coat which leaves him in jeans and a white shirt streaked with grease; the gloves come off as well before straightening a pair of glasses that had come askew under the shield. He pushes a shock of brilliant white hair up out of his face and when he looks up she sees blue eyes.
“Percival will suffice. Or Percy. And you are?”
“Uh. Vex. Vex’ahlia.”
He gazes at her flatly and shuts the hood between them.
“Charmed. If you’ll excuse me, Vex’ahlia, I believe I need to go fix your car.”
And with that, he walks briskly past her and out of sight.
Vex remains, fleetingly wishing that she weren’t currently in her oldest pair of jeans and one of Vax’s baggy flannels, before turning and following after him.
By the time she rounds the corner, Percy’s already popped the hood of the Explorer and is leaning over the engine with an intent look. His glasses have slid to the end of his nose and he pushes them up with the back of his thumb, and Vex’s brain begins a quiet debate over whether or not he’s consciously trying to buy into the whole sexy mechanic vibe.
Regardless, she makes the decision not to let herself seem intimidated and strides up to lean against the driver’s door. He glances up briefly but doesn’t linger, hands sunk into the meat of the car’s interior. After another few moments, he speaks.
“Well, the immediate issue is that your battery's dead, but there doesn’t actually appear to be anything inherently wrong with it. There’s another culprit here.”
She cocks a brow.
“Which would be…?”
He frowns down at several hoses.
“Not sure yet. I’ll have to check a few things before I can tell you that.”
Ruefully hoping that those other things aren’t too expensive, Vex rolls over to put her back against the car and closes her eyes. After several minutes of muffled tinkering, Percy’s voice brings her back to the present.
“Found it.”
She turns back over to meet his gaze.
“And?”
“You’ve got a bad voltage regulator- the alternator hasn’t been charging the battery for a good while. It’ll need to be replaced.”
Her brows knit.
“How much?”
His eyes narrow, considering.
“For the new part plus wiring? Probably three-fifty, four hundred dollars.”
Vex feels her stomach sink through her gut and into the floor. She leans back heavily, running the mental math: she’s already missing the first of her shifts this morning, and the Take won’t send paychecks out until next Thursday anyway; Vax isn’t getting paid again either until after the weekend.
“Can you- is there any way to repair it?”
God, she hates how small her voice gets, and she feels stupider when she sees Percy’s quizzical expression at the request. Her jaw works as she holds his gaze.
After a moment, he looks back down to the engine, face unreadable.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
He moves towards her- for a split second Vex’s spine straightens and she’s instinctually afraid he’s going to try something shady- but he just walks past and drags a chair up from against the wall, dusting the seat off before depositing it in front of her.
“You can sit, you know. It’ll be a minute.”
“Ah- thank you.”
Abashed, she slumps into the seat with her palm against her forehead.
Percy wasn’t lying- it takes a good quarter of an hour for him to dislodge both the Explorer’s battery and a hunk of machinery that she assumes is the voltage regulator. Both disappear behind him onto the desk on the opposite side of the car, where he remains for a while longer, and despite the displeasing numbers running through her head Vex allows herself to become mildly entertained by the way his shoulders and triceps move as he works.
Eventually he finishes his repairs and goes to reinstall the parts, the battery and much cleaner-looking regulator disappearing back amongst the maze of other components. There’s a little smear of grease now along his nose where he’s pushed back the glasses again, and it garners her consideration for the duration.
“Would you mind lending me your keys?”
Vex straightens up in the chair and rapidly looks anywhere but at his face as Percy shuts the hood and turns towards her.
“Oh, yes- here you go.”
She tosses her keyring over, which he snatches deftly out of the air without bothering to look.
“Now, let’s see if this’ll work.”
Pulling the door open, he puts a leg up into the Explorer’s cabin and leans over the driver’s seat to crank the ignition. Immediately, the low rumble of a working engine shakes the nearby space; the self-satisfied grin that crosses his face is altogether much too attractive.
“Splendid. You’ll be on your way here in a moment.”
Relieved, Vex goes to fish in her bag for her wallet.
“Can you run my card, or do I need to- ?”
He nods, sliding off the gloves.
“I can handle it. By the way, that… repair knocked the cost down quite a decent amount.”
The weight in Vex’s chest momentarily lifts and she exhales, a smile flitting across her face as she hands over the card.
“That’s fantastic- thanks so much.”
He waves a hand nonchalantly over his shoulder as he disappears around the side of the car, returning a minute later to hand back her card with a receipt wrapped neatly around it.
“I believe that should be it. You’re free to go.”
She grabs his hand before he can turn away, fixing him with the most genuine expression she can muster.
“Really, Percy, thank you. I do appreciate your help.”
He glances down at her hand and then back up at her with a look of legitimate surprise. Vex thinks, inexplicably, that she sees the tips of his ears go pink.
“Well, er- this is my job, Vex’ahlia. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
She lets him go, at which point he immediately walks away and disappears around the shelving into his original corner of the shop.
Shoving the card and receipt into her wallet, Vex hurries to the car and checks the clock on the dash as she scrambles in. It’s already past nine.
Pushing the gear shift into drive while she buckles, she tears out of Darrington Automotive with a velocity that would give Victor a run for his money. A mile down the road she remembers that she was supposed to keep Zahra updated, hastily digging out her phone to dash off a one-handed “omw” in her messages.
It’s nine-thirty by the time she pulls into the parking lot of Slayer’s Take Outfitters, the Explorer skidding into the nearest open spot next to the building. She scoops her bag and phone into an unruly heap as she dashes up the sidewalk and through the entrance.
Inside, she sees both Zahra and Kashaw behind the front counter, Zahra finishing checkout of a veritable hoard of fishing lures for a large, bearded man while Kashaw visibly loiters on his phone. She looks up at the jingling of the door as she stuffs the last of the lures into a bag and hands it over to the customer.
“Vex! Glad you made it all in one piece, love.”
Vex sighs and sidles up behind the counter to accept a suffocating hug from the taller woman.
“Me too, dear. I hate disruptions to routine.”
From behind her, Kash blows a sullen raspberry.
“Yeah, same here. I sleep in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Vex looks deadpan at Zahra, who rolls her eyes.
“Waking up two hours earlier on one day won’t kill you.”
“It might.”
Zahra reaches over and flicks him on the forehead, to which he makes an indignant sound.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to make it worth your while. How’s a lunch date sound?”
Vex doesn’t have to turn around to know that Kash has gone red; Zahra’s satisfied expression confirms it.
“Fine,” he mumbles, before gathering up a handful of random orders from behind the counter and bustling into the stockroom.
“You’re going to kill that man with the way you tease him.”
To her credit, Zahra only flushes a little at Vex’s comment, her attention fixed on straightening a stack of receipts.
“It’s not teasing if you mean to make good on it, darling. What was wrong with the car, anyway?”
Vex looks at her a moment longer before allowing the subject to change.
“Ugh, it was the stupidest thing- some part went bad on the alternator and ended up draining the whole battery.”
Zahra tuts under her breath and hands the stack to Vex, who begins shuffling under the desk for a logbook.
“Awful. It’s always the smallest bits that cause the worst problems; I had to get a distributor cap replaced in the RAV4 last year and that alone was two hundred.”
Vex huffs through her nose.
“Don’t I know it, I asked the mechanic if he could repair the thing instead because a replacement was going to cost me- ”
It is at that moment Vex realizes that Percy never gave her a final quote, and her mouth goes numb. Dropping the logbook onto the counter, she reaches silently back to her bag and fishes out her wallet.
Zahra pauses as well and gazes at her, perplexed.
“Vex, dear, is everything alright?”
“Yes, yes, just- a moment- ”
The back of the receipt is still wrapped perfectly around the card’s width and she retrieves it with gritted teeth, desperately hoping that maybe, just maybe she’d managed to whittle the cost down by even a hundred.
What she sees on the line as she unfolds the receipt is a single zero.
“What?”
Dumbfounded, she scans the itemized list at the top- remote towing, replacement of voltage regulator, replacement of wiring, battery charging plus refurbishment- all costs have been zeroed out with an annotation reading charged to alternate card.
There’s another note under the total at the bottom, this time in tight, neat handwriting, and she squints to make it out: You helped me with my car, I helped you with yours. Fair’s fair.
She coughs out a laugh as tears suddenly prick at her eyes, fingers curling the receipt in her palm. There’s a gentle weight as Zahra’s hand lands on her arm.
“Vex’ahlia. What is going on?”
She turns to see the other woman’s face lined with worry and for some reason, it only makes her laugh more.
“I’m- fine, Zahra. Better than fine. I- he didn’t charge me.”
Her face immediately transforms into an expression of confused disbelief.
“What are you talking about?”
Snatching the receipt away before Vex can react, Zahra holds it up inches from her face and reads under her breath. After a few moments, she closes her fist and tosses the paper abruptly down onto the counter, grabbing Vex by both shoulders.
“What did you do? What, Vex’ahlia, tell me. If you let yourself get manhandled by some sleazy- ”
Vex shakes her head vigorously, desperately trying to quell the laughter that’s still spilling forth. After a moment, she composes herself enough to speak.
“No, darling, I promise, nothing of the sort. I didn’t do anything- I have literally no idea where this came from.”
There’s several beats and then Zahra starts to laugh too, grinning broadly as she gives Vex a shove.
“Well then I do, you bad little thing- raw sex appeal, no action necessary. Tell me, was he begging for your number as you drove off?”
Vex pushes back with a huff.
“Of course not, it was nine in the morning. I looked like a grizzly bear fresh off hibernation. Trust me, if I’d gotten him that bad I’d brag about it.”
Zahra arches a brow at that.
“Oh? Was he attractive?”
Vex slides the receipt back over to herself, looking at it with a smile.
“He wasn’t bad.”
Zahra squeals in delight and yanks her into another constricting hug that is mercifully cut short by the sound of tinkling door chimes. Releasing her, she shoots one last conspiratorial look before waving to the entering customer.
“We will certainly have to talk more later.”
Vex rolls her eyes as the other woman moves away, casually flattening the receipt out against the counter from where it had been temporarily crumpled. As her fingers reach the edges she sees a bit of writing dashed off at the bottom, previously unnoticed.
P.S. - Your air filter is going to need to be changed quite soon. Also, your tires need rotating.
She pulls a face, making a mental note to add those things to her schedule as she reads the last line.
P.P.S. - Did you know you’ve got grease on your forehead?
Vex feels herself go beet red as she lifts a hand to her face- goddamit, she must’ve done it when checking the car herself this morning- and it was there the whole time?
Scrubbing at her forehead, her brain flashes back to the moment of meeting Percy and her cheeks burn.
“Vex, dear, this lovely woman is in looking for some replacement bowstring. Would you mind helping her?”
Vex tosses her head rapidly, slipping the receipt from the counter as she forces herself back to the present. She looks over towards Zahra with a perfectly even smile.
“Of course- what might you be interested in, ma’am?”
Stuffing the slip of paper into her back pocket, she moves forward and into the practiced persona of work.
Despite everything, blue eyes linger on her mind for the rest of the day.