Work Text:
“Are you serious? Alexis muttered under her breath as her car sputtered, wheezed —who even knew a car could do that?— and eventually just stopped moving entirely. This, not being the first time her beloved 1973 Chevy Camaro had decided to unceremoniously ‘take a break’, Alexis deftly maneuvered the car to the side of the road, climbed out of it and opened the hood. Why? Because it felt like that was doing something useful, even if she absolutely had no idea what she was looking at.
After minutes of staring into the engine compartment, Alexis fished her cellphone out of her purse and hit the all too familiar number for the local mechanic.
“Did the Camaro break down again?”
“I don’t even get a hello now, Twyla?” Alexis fired back good-naturedly.
“Hello Alexis,” Twyla chirped, “Now, back to my question, the Camaro broke down again?”
After a long silence Alexis sighed, “Yes.”
Gentle laughter could be heard on the other end of the line before Twyla composed herself and answered, “I’ll be right there. Just, don’t try to fix anything yourself.” Her words were said in a way that made it obvious that Alexis had, in fact, in the past, tried to fix things herself. “Where did it break down on you this time?”
“Just outside of town,” Alexis supplied as she went to reach for the wrench she carried in her glovebox.
“Alexis.” Twyla’s tone had a slight, gentle warning to it, like she had heard the clank of the wrench. “Please, I beg of you, don’t try to fix anything yourself. I’ll be there in five minutes.” There was no goodbye on Twyla’s part; her haste to get to the car before Alexis got her hands on it facilitated a quick exit.
True to her word, not even five minutes later Twyla rolled up in a beat up Ford pickup, and jumped out of the cab with a tool bag in tow.
“Please tell me you didn’t bang that wrench against anything,” Twyla greeted as she approached Alexis and the stalled Camaro.
“Define bang,” Alexis countered with the wrench in hand. “I mean, I may have tapped this thing here,” she pointed to the part in question and Twyla barely held in a sigh.
“Why do I even try,” Twyla exclaimed gently, though the fond smile on her face was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t nearly as frustrated with Alexis as one might think she should have been after the other woman blatantly ignored her earlier request.
Twyla quickly disappeared under the hood and fifteen minutes later she declared it fixed with a ‘thunk’ of the hood as it closed, and directed Alexis to try starting it.
With a growl the car came to life and Alexis yelped in happiness. “You’re a genius, Twy!” she exclaimed.
“I don’t know if I’d say genius,” Twyla replied. “I just know not to bang a wrench against random parts of the engine.” Twyla threw a fond smile in Alexis’s direction.
“It worked once,” Alexis argued.
Twyla just laughed. “That doesn’t mean you should repeat it!”
“Fine. Next time I won’t touch the engine.” Was the response Twyla received, though even she knew that it was unlikely Alexis would keep to her word for long. Alexis was too much of a problem solver to leave it entirely alone. Still, she appreciated the gesture, even if she knew that temptation to fix it herself would likely overtake her the next time her beloved classic car gave out.here would, without fail, be a next time.
“You will,” Twyla replied as she packed her tools back into her bag and began moving back towards the pickup. “But, I’ll be here to fix it when you do.” Twyla climbed back into the cab of the pickup, gave a final wave and pulled back onto the road.
“What would I do without you?” Alexis asked the air, her own smile fond as she went to put the Camaro in gear and continue onto her destination.
Twyla heard Alexis’s arrival before she saw her. The growl of the orange Camaro is a familiar sound, especially here in the garage. So, by the time the car came to a stop outside of the open door, Twyla had extracted herself out from underneath the beat up blue jeep she had been tinkering away on.
Her coveralls were tied at her waist and the red coca-cola t-shirt she wore was clearly well loved and grease stained. Her red hair was tied up in a messy bun, and when Alexis climbed out of her car she was met with a wide grin.
“It’s still running,” Twyla exclaimed with a bright smile. “I have to admit, I’m both relieved and surprised by that fact.” Three weeks might be a record for how long the Camaro had gone without Twyla having to climb underneath the hood and tinker with it. “Honestly, I think when Ruth handed over the keys she half expected it would die the next day.”
“It’s only running because of you,” Alexis admitted, fully aware that if she hadn’t had Twyla in her corner her car would have died long ago. “So, the jokes on Ruth. She should have realized you’d keep it running until she returned to reclaim the keys.”
“Or, she was hoping for the safety of the Camaro and your affinity to wield that wrench at it, I’d just let it die until her return,” Twyla countered with a smirk. “Which, if I’m being honest is still a possibility.”
“You wouldn’t!” Alexis exclaimed in mock horror.
“I might.” Even as Twyla spoke she knew as well as Alexis did that she wouldn’t. If not because Alexis was oddly attached to the classic car, then because Twyla herself couldn’t stomach the idea of a classic like that just sitting in someone’s driveway to gather dust. “Although, it still seems to be running today. So, what brings you here?”
Alexis leaned back against the side of the car nonchalantly and gave a small shrug.
“Do I need a reason to visit you?”
“Well, no, but you generally have one,” Twyla replied as she wiped her grease stained hands on a rag, then shoved it back into her back pocket. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, I am, but we usually only see each other when your car has decided it doesn’t want to run anymore.” Which was true, so the unannounced appearance was a surprise —a welcome one— but, still a surprise.
“Well…” Alexis drug out the word as she reached into the pocket of her jacket. “This came off the gear shift.” And she held up the end of the gear shift so Twyla could see it. “Can you fix it?”
With a shake of her head and an amused laugh, Twyla replied, “Of course I can.” She moved toward Alexis with her hand outstretched. “Do I want to know how this happened?”
Alexis gave a small huff, as if offended that Twyla thought she might have done something. “It just popped off!” she explained as she handed the piece over to Twyla who tucked it into her pocket and then turned to grab some tools Alexis followed behind her.
Tools were quickly acquired and Twyla strode back over to the car. Soon all Alexis heard was the tink, tink, tink of tools against metal and soft muttering from Twyla.
She had learned while ago not to ask Twyla what she was muttering while she worked, because the answer always remained the same, that it was a conversation between Twyla and the car.
Soon enough the tink, tink, tink had stopped and Twyla emerged.
“It’s fixed,” she declared with a small smile, and then in a rush of words Twyla added, “You know, you don’t need a broken part on the car as an excuse to visit me.”
I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexis answered with a grin. “Thanks, Twy.”
And just as casually as Alexis had appeared she disappeared, the growl of the car heard long after she was out of sight.
It was late, probably too late for Twyla to still be at the garage, but the Jeep still wasn’t running and Twyla had made a promise to the owner that she would have all the duct tape that had been used to keep the engine together —and don’t even get her started on the horror of someone using duct tape on their car— replaced with actual parts within the week. Some of the parts had taken longer to come in than expected and her self-imposed deadline was up tomorrow.
So, there she was, grease stained, tired, maybe a little hungry —she had skipped lunch… and dinner— tinkering away.
“Twyla?”
She jumped in surprise and banged her head against the hood. Normally the Camaro’s growling engine declared Alexis’s arrival, but she had been so engrossed in her work she realized she hadn’t heard the car at all.
“Over here,” Twyla called out while she stepped around the Jeep, one hand rubbing at the back of her head. “I didn’t hear you come in Has Ruth’s baby finally decided it no longer wants to chariot you around?”
“No, it’s right there.” Alexis waved out to the parking lot where the car sat like a bright orange beacon in the dusky night. “Jocelyn told me she hadn’t seen you come home yet, so I thought I’d come keep you company,” she continued as she walked into the garage and glanced around at the surfaces near Twyla like she was trying to find a suitable place to sit.
“You really don’t have to do that,” Twyla started and Alexis cut her off.
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.” It was clear in the tone Alexis used that Twyla wouldn’t be able to argue with her or convince her to leave. So instead she went and grabbed a chair out of the office and set it down near the jeep.
“It might be awhile,” Twyla warned before she picked up her tools again and disappeared under the hood.
“I don’t mind,” Alexis replied and then proceeded to prove that was true as minutes turned into hours, and Twyla continued to work, Alexis retelling of her day drowning out the hum of the radio.
After what felt like both an eon and no time at all —because of Alexis’ company— Twyla declared, “It’s done!” As she climbed out from under the weathered and well loved Jeep’s hood. With a glance at the clock, her elation didn’t last long as horror then flashed across her face when realized just how late it was. “Alexis, you really didn’t have to stay with me!” she exclaimed, “It’s practically midnight!”
“I know I didn’t have to,” Alexis answered, unconcerned. “ I wanted to.” She paused. “ To be honest, it’s because I showed up here because I wanted to do this” Then she stepped into Twyla’s space and kissed her before the redhead fully processed what was going on. “But, I didn’t want to interrupt your work,” She finished as she stepped back, a smile on her face.
Twyla’s eyes had gone wide and her mouth shaped into an ‘oh’. “You could have interrupted my work,” she finally breathed out, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “Actually, you definitely should have interrupted me.”
Now it was Twyla’s turn to invade Alexis’ space. One grease stained hand cupped her cheek as she leaned in and kissed her.
Alexis deepened the kiss and all thoughts of grease stains left Twyla’s mind as she pressed herself against Twyla. It was only when her lungs screamed that they just couldn’t go without air much longer that Twyla broke the kiss, ignoring Alexis’s disappointed noise.
She pressed her forehead against Twyla’s and murmured, “I’ll remember that for the future.”
“Promise?” Twyla asked with a devilish little grin.
“Promise!” And that promise, unlike the wrench promise, would be one Alexis would gladly keep.