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lakritzwolf · 5 years ago

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All I wanted was a car

My spring raffle prize fic for @brandywinebridge-twentymiles (whom I cannot tag for some reason) I am so so so sorry for the delay, I simply couldn’t get my mind to cooperate. I hope this is what you had in mind!

The prompt was: Luke as a mechanic who fixes a car for Iolaus. Iolaus then keeps coming back, firstly because he has a crush on Luke and secondly, because he either has terrible luck with his car breaking down or he keeps inventing new mechanical issues....

Pairing: Ioluke Rating: G Characters: Iolaus, Luke Garroway, Hercules, Jason Warnings: - Other tags: Ioluke, Luke the hot mechanic, bad luck with old cars, first dates through shitty friends

All I ever wanted was a car

Coming to Ireland had been a dream for a long time, and one Iolaus had worked long and hard for. He had saved up money for a ticket and everything, and now, after graduation, he had made the dream come true.

True, the beginning was hard. He hadn’t been able to imagine the accent could be that much of a problem on occasion, and he felt terribly lonely at times because he couldn’t just call or face-time his friends or family, due to time zones.

But he had been lucky with his job, at O’Grady’s on the Pier in Barna, just a stone’s throw away from the city of Galway. The owner of the restaurant had been impressed by Iolaus’ determination and courage to leave his country for a year to travel to the other side of the globe, just to see more of the world, broaden his horizon, and learn his future trade in different settings. He had given Iolaus a hand with finding accommodation and a car, which had been a great relief.

So maybe he wouldn’t open a seafood restaurant, but he loved seafood, even if after a few weeks of preparing nothing else, shellfish lost a bit of its appeal. But he knew that the transition from hobby to job required determination and a lot of passion, and he had both; he would open his restaurant in Auckland, or die trying. Maybe that was putting it a bit strong, had made his friends laugh, but at the end of the day there was no alternative for him. He had been dreaming of this since he was twelve.

What he hadn’t expected was that his two best friends followed him after three months, because ‘they had missed him’, which Iolaus kind of doubted was enough to make them spend a fortune to fly across the world. But Jason and Hercules had decided to follow his example and dare to embrace something more of the world than the North and South Island.

Sharing a house had seemed like a good idea at the time, but he needed a lot of complaining and putting his foot down to make the other two look for a job as well because his wage couldn’t cover everything once their savings would run out.

The upside of Barna was that it was cheap, and quiet. The downside was that you needed a car to get anywhere interesting because public transport was a joke. But at least in Ireland they had left-hand traffic, meaning Iolaus didn’t have to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. However, the car he found himself in – both literally and figuratively – turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.

Not… as such. Not after Iolaus had found Garroway’s Garage in the north-eastern part of Galway. The first time he had been there was because his windscreen wipers had suddenly stopped working, and the mechanic, one of the most gorgeous men Iolaus had ever seen on either end of the world, had joked that he better fix that soon, being on Irish soil and all.

Iolaus still blushed at the memory of the ‘hullo?’ that had jerked him back into a reality where he wasn’t staring at the mechanic’s abs like a drooling idiot.

In his defence, it wasn’t his fault that it was summer, and the garage didn’t have air conditioning, and he couldn’t really blame the mechanic for taking off his shirt, could he?

‘Let’s hope the weather holds for another day, because I have to get a new motor for the windscreen wipers’, the mechanic had said with a wink.

Iolaus had done his best to not turn into a stuttering mess when the guy had turned around to bend over, his upper body vanishing under the engine bonnet.

Two days later Iolaus got the call from the garage, and an apology from the mechanic that it had taken him so long. Luckily the weather had been kind, so now Iolaus had working windscreen wipers again, even new ones, which the mechanic had changed for free, as compensation for the wait.

But. Windscreen wipers were of no use, really, when the car didn’t start.

“Did you leave the lights on?” Jason asked, arms crossed. They were about to head to town for a ceilidh night in their favourite pub.

“I never leave the lights on,” Iolaus replied testily. “The car is old, but it has an alarm for that, you know?”

All three of them stared at the elderly Fiesta whose previous owner really hadn’t been kind to. In the end a friendly neighbour jumpstarted them, and by the grace and mercy of the gods, the car started on its own when they were heading home.

It didn’t start the next day however when they meant to go for a grocery run. The friendly neighbour helped again, and ever-so-casually mentioned a few really good garages in the city. Iolaus thanked him, and instead of heading for Tesco, he made his way to Garroway’s Garage first.

“It won’t start,” Iolaus explained as the mechanic opened the engine bonnet. “But I was assured that the battery is new.”

The mechanic emitted a confirmative hum as he dived under the bonnet, and Iolaus turned away to look around. He couldn’t decide which was worse: trying not to stare at those abs when talking to him – or attempting to – when explaining his problems, or trying not to stare at that booty when he was working under the engine bonnet.

It really didn’t help when his wandering eyes encountered a pin-up calendar with men in various states of undress. No tits, no girls in underwear on engine bonnets, no, a guy in work overalls with no shirt, holding a massive wrench in front of his body in an almost cringe-worthy innuendo.

“It was a bit of a joke,” the mechanic said, and Iolaus almost jumped out of his skin, lost in contemplation has he had been.

“Huh?” He cleared his throat.

“The calendar.” The mechanic thrust out his chin towards said calendar while wiping his oily hands with a rag. “A friend of mind thought it was funny. Which it kind of is. People do a double take, some think it’s funny, and some never come again. Which is their loss, really.”

Iolaus, after having spent several months now in Ireland, and having also spent years before that getting familiar with the country, knew exactly what the mechanic was talking about, so he just nodded.

“Yeah, their loss,” he said, and flashed the mechanic one of his best Sunday smiles.

Those impressive eyebrows lifted, and his face transformed from a permanent scowl into a brilliant smile that took Iolaus’ breath away for a second.

“Brilliant, mate. I’m Luke, by the way, and I own this ramshackle workshop. I like being my own boss.” He looked at the calendar again.

“Iolaus.” Without thinking, Iolaus offered his hand, and Luke almost took it, but pulled his hand back at the last moment.

“Better not,” he said with a wry grin and showed Iolaus his still oil-stained palm.

Iolaus snorted and nodded, then looked at his car again. “So...?”

“So,” Luke said. “You are right, the battery is new, so it’s either the alternator or the spark plugs. They’re not the newest so I’ll change them, and then we hope that’ll solve the problem.”

“Right.” Iolaus nodded again. “I mean I heard lots of people say that changing spark plugs is no big deal but I’d rather not risk it.” He tried not to look too embarrassed.

“Mate, I prefer someone to not do the fiddling if they don’t know what they’re doing,” Luke said and stuffed the rag into his pocket. “I mean I get to write higher invoices, but it’s a waste of money and resources if you ask me.”

Iolaus kept nodding because he didn’t know what to reply, and Luke got to work changing the spark plugs. The car did start just fine afterwards, three times in a row, so Iolaus paid the bill and did his grocery run trying not to think of perfectly sculpted abs.

The car was fine for exactly three days.

Iolaus assured Mr O’Reilly, the friendly neighbour, that he had been to a garage and gotten the car checked and the spark plugs changed, to which Mr O’Reilly replied that it didn’t seem to have done the job.

“I guess not.” Iolaus watched him remove the jump leads and shook his head. “Off to the garage we go.”

“Good luck!” O’Reilly waved at him.

“Seems like it wasn’t the spark plugs,” Luke said after pushing himself out from under another car.

“Nope. Either that, or something else cropped up.” Iolaus pushed his hands into his pockets.

Luke opened the engine bonnet and rummaged around a little. “Guess I’m gonna have to change the alternator.” Then he looked up. “You’re pouring a lot of money into that rustbucket here.”

“I know.” Iolaus shrugged. “But I don’t have the money to buy a better car. I can only afford to keep this one on the road. Hopefully.”

“I know the feeling.” Luke vanished into his office, and came back a few minutes later with clean hands and a set of car keys.

“I’m gonna head to the junkyard and see if I can find an alternator for you,” he said. “Take a seat in the office, there’s a fan and a coffee maker. Make yourself at home, it shouldn’t be long.”

“Right.” Iolaus nodded, and headed for the office. It was a small room, but it was clean, with a desk covered in papers scattered around an elderly laptop. A radio was playing nineties pop, and the coffee maker made a really good coffee.

It was a bit more than half an hour when he could hear the engine of a large vehicle, and through the window he could see a pick-up truck pulling into the parking lot next to the building, eighties rock blaring out of the open windows. He quickly downed the rest of his coffee and headed back into the garage.

“Found one,” Luke said and immediately set to work.

Maybe he should have gone for another coffee, Iolaus mused as he tried not to stare at Luke’s ass while the latter was working to change the alternator. On the other hand, who could blame a guy for being unable to resist that sort of temptation?

“I... probably see you soon,” Iolaus said hesitantly as he got into the car. “I don’t trust this car.”

“If you do, then it’s not my fault,” Luke replied with a wink and a grin that could light up a whole room.

Iolaus waved and left the garage, did his grocery run, drove back to Barna, put the groceries away, took a shower, and then he fell onto the bed and closed his eyes with a deep, heartfelt groan.

“What’s wrong with you now?”

Iolaus looked up at Hercules who was standing in the doorframe. Since he hadn’t closed the door Iolaus couldn’t possibly complain about a breach of privacy, so he just shook his head.

“I think I have a crush on my mechanic,” he said after a moment.

Hercules snorted under his breath. “Good thing you have such a shitty car then. Gives you all the excuses to hang out around him.”

Iolaus couldn’t think of any reply more mature than sticking out his tongue, and Hercules vanished again with a chuckle while flipping him off.

“Something makes funny noises when I turn the wheel, and earlier I could hardly turn a left because the steering didn’t really react.” Iolaus crossed his arms and barely resisted to give the car a solid kick.

“Cardan joint,” Luke said without a moment’s hesitation. “It’s a Fiesta issue.”

Iolaus rolled his eyes with a heavy huff of breath.

“I should probably give you some sort of regular discount by now,” Luke said with a wink, and Iolaus felt a blush creep onto his cheeks.

Jason and Hercules, who were still in the car, snickered and snorted, and Iolaus spun around and flipped them off with both hands.

“I need a bit more time for that one,” Luke said and gave the car and the two guys inside it a look. “Where do you need to go?”

“Barna,” Iolaus replied. “I guess we can manage to find a bus.”

“I would give you a lift,” Luke said slowly, “but it’s only a three-seater.”

“Oh, I’m sure Iolaus would love to have a coffee with you!” Hercules called from the car as he was getting out.

“Shut up, you bloody asshole!” Iolaus snapped at him, but both Hercules and Jason just snickered.

Luke looked back and forth between a mortified, blushing Iolaus and his two snickering friends, and shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not?” His grin was bright, but had a trace of malice in it. “I’m sure you two can catch a bus, or a taxi, and we two can have a coffee and I’ll give him a lift home later.”

“Wait what?” Jason sputtered. “That was a joke!”

“Sure, I’d love to,” Iolaus said to Luke with a broad smile, and flipped his friends off again behind his back.

“You wanna wait in the office?” Luke asked, ignoring the two protesting guys. “It’ll be closing time in half an hour anyway.”

“Sure,” Iolaus replied, wiggled his fingers at his friends, and headed for the office again.

Hercules was trying to protest again, but Jason shook his head and dragged him along. Luke kindly gave the two a lift to the main road where they could – hopefully – catch a bus to Barna, and came back to close the workshop.

“Give me a moment,” he said to Iolaus on his way past the office. “I gotta take a shower.”

Iolaus had been leafing in mild interest through a magazine and looked up. “You have a shower here?”

“Yeah.” Luke grinned. “Last year I had an incident with a burst oil tray, and I had to drive home covered in engine oil smears. Had to cover the driver’s seat in plastic bags and shit. After that I got the shower installed.”

Iolaus nodded weakly and tried desperately not to think about Luke under a shower, with only moderate success.

Luke drove them to a small cafe on the outskirts of Galway, and on the way they engaged in a bit of small talk. So Iolaus learned that Luke had inherited the garage from his father, was single, and also had a Harley who he affectionately called his baby. He also was very impressed by Iolaus’ story, and freely admitted to also being a little jealous.

“I always wanted to see the world, you know?” Luke said after the waitress had brought them their drinks. “But somehow it never happened, and now I’m self-employed, and while I don’t have to skimp and save, I don’t think I could afford to close the garage for any significant amount of time. Apart from the fact that I can’t really save up much.”

“Too bad,” Iolaus replied with a small grin. “I’d have totally given you a tour of Auckland, or the whole of New Zealand for that matter.”

“One day, maybe,” Luke said with a wistful smile.

“One day,” Iolaus replied.

“I swear I am not making this up!”

Luke chuckled as he wiped his hand after closing the engine bonnet of a minivan. “What is it this time?”

“It kind of wobbles in every bend and when I make a turn. And it makes crunching noises at the front right.”

“Shocks,” Luke said with a nod.

“I don’t find it very shocking for that bloody banger.” Iolaus crossed his arms.

Luke snorted and shook his head with a small laugh. “A banger is a sausage, mate, and a shock is a part of your car. The shock absorber.”

Iolaus stared at him. Luke smiled back.

“Right,” Iolaus said after a moment, wanting the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

Behind him in the car, Jason and Hercules were laughing so hard they were about to suffocate.

Dropping his head with a heavy sigh, Iolaus shook his head. “Right,” he said again. “I hate this car.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Luke said with a wink before getting to work.

“It’s making funny noises again,” Hercules remarked on their way to Galway.

“I can hear it’s making funny noises,” Iolaus replied testily. “But I can’t afford to go to the garage every fucking week!”

The noise increased in volume, and Iolaus caved in. The car sounded like a motorbike without a muffler by the time he pulled into the parking space in front of Luke’s garage.

“Jaysus,” Luke said, meeting them halfway in a hurry. “You’re losing your exhaust pipe, mate.”

Iolaus shook his head with a sigh.

“Probably got rattled lose when you were driving around with a broken shock,” Luke said then and got into the car to get it onto the car hoist.

After a few minutes of examination he headed over again to where they were waiting at the edge of the open garage doors.

“Good news,” Luke said. “You don’t need a new pipe; I can weld that into place again.” Then he gave Iolaus a long look. “You really should consider getting another car, though.”

“And miss out on getting to meet you every week?” Hercules said with a shit-eating grin, and Iolaus tried to kick his shin but Hercules nimbly evaded the move.

“You know,” Luke began in what was almost a drawl, “you could’ve just said so instead of throwing that much good money after bad.”

“I swear it’s the car, not me!” Iolaus yelled in a mix of despair and embarrassment and spun around. “And you can go fuck yourselves!!”

“Yeah... sorry for the joke, couldn’t resist.” Luke gave Iolaus a small, almost hopeful smile. “So... I know you’re probably busy during the weekend, working in a restaurant and all, but how about dinner on Monday?”

Iolaus was just about to yell again at his friends and spun around, but it took him a moment to remember to shut his mouth again.

“Ah...” He cleared his throat. “Dinner on Monday?” He managed to rally himself. “Absolutely. Sounds great.”

“Crackin’. You still got my business card?”

Iolaus nodded and pulled out his wallet.

“Nice,” Luke replied. “Text me your address, and I pick you up on Monday. Six okay?”

“Six is perfect,” Iolaus replied, still trying to catch up. Did he really just snatch himself a date with his gorgeous mechanic?

“Right.” Luke rubbed his hands. “Duty calls.”

Luke welded the exhaust pipe, and sent Iolaus on his way with a cheerful ‘See you on Monday!’ before heading back into his workshop.

“Did you just.” Jason said after almost ten minutes of silence in the car on their way back to Barna.

“Did I just what?” Iolaus replied smugly.

“Get a dinner invitation from a gorgeous mechanic?”

“Gorgeous?” Iolaus cast a quick glance into the rear view mirror at him. “I thought you’re straight?”

“I can appreciate beauty when I see it,” Jason replied. “Also you should thank Hercules for setting the mood.”

“I thank Hercules when he stops laughing every time he looks at me,” Iolaus shot back. But he was grinning nonetheless.

Luke and Iolaus had a great evening that Monday. And went for a coffee that Friday afternoon. And for another dinner the Monday after. And brunch on Sunday the week after that, because Iolaus had the weekend off.

They took a trip to Dublin the next time Iolaus had a free weekend.

Jason and Hercules had long since stopped making jokes. They also had to leave again long before Iolaus had planned to go back to New Zealand, but this time around, Iolaus found himself not nearly as lonely.

“You know,” Luke said one evening, as they were watching the sunset together, “I really should thank your car for being such an excellent matchmaker.”

“I could’ve done without throwing so much money out, though,” Iolaus said and snuggled closer, resting his head against Luke’s shoulder.

“Well.” Luke nuzzled his golden curls. “I took you out to dinner a few times. So maybe it’s not that bad?”

Iolaus lifted his head to look up at him. “No,” he said softly. “It’s really not that bad.”

“Happy to hear that,” Luke replied equally softly, before he closed the distance between them for a sweet and tender kiss.

#lakritzwolf's writing #SpringFRE2019 #Ioluke #brandywinebridge-twentymiles

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