Parts Not Included

It had been quiet these past couple of days, but the shop has been left open whenever someone was home to man it. They've been leaving the overhead steel door of the garage-turned-workshop open, so the mess of tinkering with machines and also with the two black strange-looking motorcycles on one side, black grease, oil, dust, iron rods, nails, etc. were all laid bare to whoever was to pass by. The far left side of the shop was the least messy area, as the things there were arranged in shelves and tool boxes, and some equipment were also hung on the wall.

Addy was upstairs in their house cleaning since it seemed like another slow day for the shop anyway. So when she went down to check, the presence of a customer completely took her by surprise. She briefly froze, but was able to run quickly to the customer's side to assist him.

"Good day, what can I do for you?"

Only when she was close enough did she realize it wasn't just a customer. The man was more than a familiar face, and Addy felt herself turn red as she realized who it was and remembered their moments together at the same time.

"M-Matt," she muttered. "Hi. What... What brings you here?"

What a coincidence, Addy thought. While they did promise to keep in touch, it was funny how it seemed like they were meant to meet like this whether or not they did make such a promise. She made a sheepish laugh and nodded.

"Technically it's my brother's," she answered. She looked around, confused and quite flattered at how Matt said that it was a nice place, mainly because it was too gray and dirty to be worthy of that compliment. She glanced at the red bike parked just outside, making a brief whistle at its appearance before turning to Matt once more.

"You're buying parts? Small parts like screws, tube, wires..? May I see that paper? What does it need exactly?" She held out her hand to ask for it. "Does your bike need a fix? I can do that for you, you know. Instead of buying stuff to use for repairs and upgrades, you can just have your bike fixed here, if you want."

She smiled up at him before pointing with her thumb at the two black bikes in the other corner of the place. They were much more bulky than normal motorcycles; each had three big thick tires, two at the front and one at the back and the rest of the bodies followed that width. The surrounding area on the floor was stained with grease. "I do regular fixes for those bikes, especially mine, Svaðilfari. The other one's my brother's. I won't destroy yours I swear! If you want you can even stay to watch if we're not doing anything too major."

"Your bike is quite the ride, too," Addy said about Matt's bike. "Ours were designed by my brother, supposedly for combat. For front line use. So we're technically misusing them by bringing them with us here." Her eyes had genuine sparkles of interest as she looked at it, and after a moment she gestured for them to go and bring it inside the shop. Afterwards, Addy crouched beside it and inspected the tires, the chain, the exterior parts mostly, before taking a look at the small paper Matt had handed her.

Addy grinned. This was easy stuff right here, and she believed he'd manage to do this by himself. They just needed to check the torque for all bolts and fasteners, replace the chain and sprockets, and also do some inspection for the fuel cylinders and the exhaust-- that last part being Addy's own opinion.

She stood up and smiled. "Bolts, chains, no problem." They were on the paper and she was glad to fix them into his bike for him. She was thrilled to do this for someone else's bike, especially since that someone else happened to be someone she knew, someone she's tried being intimate with, someone she liked as a person and someone she'd love to be a friend. Even though this was technically work and business, she felt like she was about to have fun.

"Some parts have rusted a little. It's better to replace them now. We'll need some blowtorch to heat them up so we can undo them. Care to join me? I'll give you my minimum service rate. And just the cost for the materials. What do you say?" While waiting for Matt to think about it and reply, grinning like an excited little kid, Addy went to the tool shelves and started bringing out their needed tools.

Yes, Addy was excited, honestly mostly because she got to fix another bike than because it was Matt she was doing it for, but it also helped make her look forward to having fun with this that it was Matt. So she didn't really notice the fire coin immediately. She had focused on grabbing the wrench, the chain tools, and a blow torch. She only noticed the coin flame after turning around, and she watched as it changed form and began to circle around Matt.

Her eyes widened in awe.

"That's amazing!" she grinned, walking back to him to get a closer look. She chuckled as she grabbed the blowtorch and put it down. "I guess we won't need this one, then."

She placed the other tools beside the bike before pulling Matt closer to where she needed him, near the chains with the rusted bolts. She smiled at him, and the smile was almost as shy as it was excited. "We won't know that for sure until we're done," she said. "Besides, you're going to help. Let's have that fire of yours here--" she pointed at the rusted bolts, "--so I can loosen them up."


She'd watch with genuine interest once Matt begins to work with his flames, and she'd watch close and wide eyes like a curious child seeing something wonderful for the first time. Oddly, it brought some tears in her eyes. "This is awesome. I get to see you with your powers like this. It feels... safer."

She didn't know her best friend's true identity and capabilities until he almost ate her, after all.

Addy concentrated on the bolts, and later on, the chain itself. She took them off and replaced them with ease. However, she kept her conversation with Matt going. She had a sad smile on her face. "Not exactly. It's... It's this guy I like. He's kept something dangerous a secret from me in the past. I know he didn't mean any harm, but he tried to keep his problems to himself and uh... as a result I got these. He almost killed me that time." Addy turned her arm full of scars towards Matt. She was wearing her sleeveless work clothes, so he'd see them easily.

She felt her face heat up briefly, realizing Matt had already seen her scars before-- even those underneath her clothes. She didn't seem as affected by her own story as one might expect. "I'm not complaining about it. But I don't want to go through that again."


They've finished the maintenance after more or less an hour. It was a lot easier than usual thanks to Matt's flames, so Addy wasn't as exhausted as usual afterwards. Although she was still just as coated with grease and dirt.

She laughed at herself after scanning just how dirty she was. She probably looked silly. "Ah, I think I'd need to change my clothes. Uh... So, what do you think?— not my clothes, your bike. All good?" She was sure there were no more rust, and all bolts were perfectly tight. The cylinders were clean, and the chains were replaced with new ones. It was as clean and new as Addy was messy.