Work Text:
The midsummer sun overhead would be unbearable to most on a day like this. If Mel weren’t sheltered on the porch, the blades of the fan overhead spinning in a steady circle, the heat would've been oppressive. The glass of lemonade next to her still sweats under the heat, condensation dripping down the side of it and settling against the wooden table to the left of her cushioned seat. She has a sketchbook perched against her knee, but right now, her focus is elsewhere.
Jayce certainly makes an enticing view as he pours over the inner workings of a vintage car. It’s an old Pontiac GTO from the 1960s— something he had excitedly told her about when he first got it into their garage to work on. But the sleek red paint of the car is far less interesting to her than the muscles of his arms that are left exposed thanks to his black tank top. His long hair is pulled back to stay out of his eyes as he works, giving Mel a clear view of his face, sweat beading along his brow. His eyes are locked on the machinery in front of him, and even from the porch, Mel can practically see him mentally turning things over in his mind.
It’s endearing just how focused he gets on his work. One of the things that Mel loves most about him is his passion. It’s strange to meet someone who loves so freely, who doesn’t hide his feelings as if they’re a weakness. Jayce is open in everything he does, excitedly rambling on about his latest projects at home and work, never hesitating to tell Mel how he feels. How thoroughly he dedicates his heart and mind to what he cares about is refreshing, and she's found that it's easier for her to be open too when she's with him. There's never any fear of judgement or that what she says could be used against her. Feeling that she can share herself with someone freely is new and unfamiliar to her, but it’s something she thinks she likes.
As Mel watches Jayce work, she starts drawing in her sketchbook. While paint has always been her preferred medium, she's made good progress over the last months at filling the pages.
Today’s additions to it are sketches of Jayce. She draws him in profile, each scratch of her pencil against the paper coming together to capture his bearded jawline, the curve of his nose, the scar over his eyebrow.
By now, Mel has practically memorized each of his features. She's lost track of how much time she's spent thinking about what paints she would mix to capture the warm brown tones of his skin, how she might replicate the sparkle in his eyes when he's just come home from work and his gaze lands on her. She can remember the exact placement of the scarring on his leg from memory, can remember every little mark on his skin, each tiny detail contributing to the work of art that is her partner.
It doesn’t take long for Mel to nearly fill a page of her sketchbook with drawings of Jayce. The first was half a study of him bathed in the midsummer sunlight, eyes fixated on the car in front of him. But the other images she draws are ones she’s captured from memory. There’s one of him grinning at her so that she can see the gap between his teeth, another where he’s looking with furrowed eyebrows at equations for one of his projects at work.
Jayce has become a source of inspiration for Mel, one that she hadn’t expected, but has bit by bit become a constant in her life. As she looks back up at him, he has one hand inside the hood of the car. He must have been able to feel her attention on him, looking up from the car’s inner workings to give her a bright smile.
A feeling of warmth washes over Mel— not just from the heat, but from what she can only describe as love.
The moment only lasts for a brief second though, both of them quickly turning their attention back to the car as a crackling sound erupts from it.
“Shit!”
Jayce jumps back as a spark comes from the hood of the car. Mel’s quick to get to her feet after him, leaving her sketchbook behind in her seat as she rushes over.
“Are you alright?” she asks.
“Fine,” he says with a shake of his head. “Just some issues with the spark plugs. I’ll need to replace them, but the car’s not going to explode or anything.”
Mel raises an eyebrow, looking inside the hood of the car. “But there are parts of this that could cause an explosion?”
“There are parts of just about everything that could cause an explosion if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Jayce replies. “But luckily, I do.”
And Mel knows he does. There are few people she would trust more than him, even if the possibility of something going wrong does make her worry. Still, it’s easy to have faith in him, especially on a subject she knows he’s experienced with.
She settles behind Jayce, wrapping her arms around him as he looks back down into the hood again. At least as far as she can tell, everything looks normal. She’s never learned much about cars— she’s always left whatever is wrong with her car to people who know what they’re doing. But she likes just how fascinated Jayce is with this. She likes to hear just how excited he gets talking about cars, how knowledgeable he is of everything to do with their inner workings.
“Is there anything else wrong with it?” Mel asks.
“Oh, yeah, plenty. It’s always like this with these old cars— they look good on the outside, but they’ve got issues on the inside,” Jayce says. “It’s a lot of little, specific things you’ve gotta look out for, though. It’d take a while to talk about all of it.”
“I don’t mind,” Mel replies, peeking over his shoulder to meet his eyes.
He laughs in response. “I’m pretty sure if I do that, you’d find something else for me to do with my hands.”
“Maybe.” She does love when Jayce talks about his work. She likes getting a glimpse into that brilliant mind of his, likes seeing just how smart her partner is.
“But if you give me a minute to finish up, I’d be happy to tell you everything you could ever want to know about cars,” he says.
“A very tempting offer.” Mel strokes one hand down his side. “I’ll have to take you up on it.”
Jayce grins. “And maybe one day I can tell you all about a vintage car of your own. You could pick something nice out, maybe do some kind of custom paint job with it.”
She can’t help but smile at that. This isn’t the first time that he mentioned wanting to get her a car before. This is the third car that he’s worked on restoring, and he’s asked her about what cars she likes before when trying to pick out his next project.
It’s not as if Mel’s unfamiliar with being given gifts. Between being part of the Medarda family and her own political advancements, she’s gotten used to people trying to win her favor with various gifts. It’s a part of the social game, an exchange of favors in order to get yourself close to someone with power.
But Jayce is different. He’s not offering to get her something with the hope of getting something in return. The only thing he would truly get from restoring a car for her would be the enjoyment of puzzling out how to get it up and running again, arranging everything to function perfectly for her. There’s no ulterior motive to it, nothing beyond him wanting to do something kind for her.
Being cared for like this is still strange for Mel. But it’s another thing that’s strange in a good way. Jayce is nothing like anyone she’s ever met, and she can’t help but feel lucky to have met him.
“You're far too good to me,” Mel says.
“You deserve good things.” Jayce turns enough that he can lean down to give her a quick kiss. “And if you give me just five more minutes to make sure everything else here is fine, I’ll make sure you get treated exactly as good as you deserve.”
“No more than five minutes,” Mel teases, letting her hand brush against his back as she walks away.
She knows that Jayce may take longer than that. Sometimes he gets too caught up in whatever he’s doing, losing track of time as his mind fixates on whatever task he’s set it to. But that’s just another of the things that Mel loves about him.
As she settles back into her seat again, Jayce leans over to look into the hood again. Taking a sip of her lemonade, she has a good view of another of the things she loves about him, the muscles of his arms flexing just the slightest bit as he braces them against the edge of the car.
Jayce can take his time. And once he’s ready to stop his work for the day, Mel will make sure he gets treated exactly as well as he deserves too.