AN: Hello everyone! So, I've actually been wanting to write a LindyxPrecia story for a really long time but didn't have a good enough idea to go with. Until last night. For some odd reason, all I could think of was a Mechanic AU and so here we are. I'm leaving it as a one-shot for now, but if enough people find this pairing interesting and would like to see more of them, I'm not opposed to continuing this AU. I hope you enjoy!
Oil Stains and Meetings
Chapter 1
"Why didn't you tell me something was wrong with the car?"
"I though everyone knew to get their car looked at when the 'Check Engine' light came on."
Precia Testarossa was not having a very good day. Her assistant's snarky replies were doing little to help. Turning back to the source of her current problem, Precia assessed her situation. After the car rattled in a way that indicated something was probably wrong, smoke rose from the hood prompting her to pull over to the side of the road. The two women managed to pop open the hood of the car but they were met with the sight of smoke and lots of wiring and tubes that made no sense to them. Precia checked her phone. There was no way she'd make it to her meeting. Not unless she took a cab, but even then she'd still miss a good chunk of it.
"I guess we have no choice but to re-schedule."
"Things happen." Linith sympathized. "Car trouble seems to be the number one thing in your case though."
Precia chose not to comment and instead made a very important phone call to her business partner; who went ahead of them that morning. They should have taken up his offer to car pool. This whole mishap would have been prevent but hindsight was 20/20. No use in dwelling in what could have been. Precia begrudgingly dialed her partner to give him the news.
Linith, in the meantime, looked at the engine. It no longer smoked, which was a good sign. For a second, she'd been afraid it would actually blow up on them. She definitely wouldn't want to be starting it up again anytime soon no matter how okay it looked. She didn't know enough about cars to be the judge of that, however, she happened to know someone who did. Off to the side, she observed Precia tapping her foot impatiently while she tried to explain her situation to Jail. If anything, he could go through the meeting himself, but Precia always liked being present when deals such as this were being finalized. Her boss finally hung up, stomping gracefully back to her and their broken down vehicle.
"Everything alright?"
"He thinks he'll be fine without us."
"I believe him."
Precia's frown let Linith know exactly what she thought of her opinion. She sighed. For being business partners as long as they had, Precia trusted very little to Jail.
"Try not to worry about the meeting. We need to get your car looked at."
Precia rubbed her forehead. As much as she hated to admit it, there was nothing she could do about Jail. He insisted he would handle the meeting while she got her car situation sorted out before promptly hanging up on her. He was lucky they were related or she'd have him fired and living in the streets for doing such a thing.
"You're right. I'll have to trust him for once but if he messes up-"
"I'm sure he'll have his office cleaned out by the time we get back." Linith joked. She doubted something really bad would happen without Precia there. "Do you have anyone in mind to call?"
"Not really. I usually take it to whoever is close to me."
"If that's the case, then might I suggest someone?"
xxx
It took another hour of standing around helplessly before Linith's mechanic pulled up in a tow truck. Precia glanced over at her longtime assistant and best friend. She wore this odd smile she couldn't place. Even during her phone call, she seemed to have that same smile. It was almost like she was going to spring a trap on her and couldn't wait to laugh about it in her face. But what was it? Precia could not see how this would even be possible. They were waiting to get towed. How could that get turned on her? Unless the mechanic was someone they knew. Who though? Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to ponder her question.
"I'm glad you didn't get stranded on the freeway, but traffic is still not kind heading this way." A distinct female voice called from inside the truck.
'That voice.' Precia practically gave herself whiplash as she turned to Linith. There was that same smile still plastered on her stupid face; like a cat that caught its prey. The coward refused to look at her, instead focusing on the person walking their way.
"I appreciate you coming all the way out here, Lindy."
If she didn't hurt her neck before, she surely did by this point.
"Ah, you didn't tell me you had company with you." Lindy came to a stop before the two women.
"Must have slipped my mind." Linith wasn't even bothering to hide her lie.
"It's been a long time, Precia." Lindy's smile was unsure with a hint of nervousness.
Precia composed herself as fast as she could. Linith would not succeeded in making a fool of her. She was not that love struck idiot in high school who couldn't say more than two words to her crush.
"So it has."
No. She was still a love struck idiot but now she could at least form coherent sentences. The two stared at each other longer than would normally be deemed appropriate.
"So, car trouble?" Lindy picked up on the awkwardness of the situation, hoping to move this along before she said anything stupid. It had been a bad habit of hers when they went to school together and not something she wanted a repeat of at the moment.
"Right. Car trouble." Precia turned away, very reluctantly, to the culprit of this entire mess. "It was smoking."
"Well that certainly isn't something that should be happening. Give me a few minutes to see if I can figure out if it's anything really bad. Keys?"
Precia held them out for Lindy to take. Their fingers brushed for a split second. Precia had to abruptly turn away, lest Lindy see her rapidly spreading blush across her face. Linith came up beside her and patted her friend in sympathy. Some things never changed.
"I'm going to fire you." Precia whispered harshly.
"You don't mean that."
"Yes. I. do."
"Why?"
"Because you did this!"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." Linith was enjoying herself far too much, but she was playing with fire. She knew pushing Precia too far wouldn't bode well for her. Friendship or not, Precia would overlook their history if she crossed a line. "But really Precia, you can't tell me you're still too shy to talk to her?"
"I'm not shy."
"Sorry, I meant, hopelessly in love that you can't even look at her."
"You're fired."
Linith rolled her eyes. That threat lost most of its bite from being over used. Precia needed to find something better to threaten her with.
"I apologize for not telling you who I called, but you wouldn't have let me if I did."
"With good reason!"
Linith sighed. "Precia, she's a really good mechanic. I trust her to be honest when she does work on my own car, unlike some others I've been to that try to swindle me for more money."
"How long?"
She figured Precia meant how long she'd been in contact with Lindy.
"Probably a couple months. She happened to drive by when my car blew a tire. We exchanged numbers and she's been my mechanic since."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"It never came up. Plus, I thought you were over her."
The car roared to life, bringing their attention back to what Lindy was doing. She revved the engine a few times before turning it off.
"Well, I can safely tell you the engine is okay. Did you have your AC on while you drove?"
"We did." Linith answered.
"Did you notice it starting to overheat as you drove?"
"I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention to that." Precia mentally patted herself on the back for another successful sentence.
"That's alright." Lindy smiled at her. It nearly broke Precia into another round of blushing. "I'm almost 100% percent sure your car's fan is no longer working properly which is why it smoked like that. It'll be a simple fix."
"Thank you so much for your help Lindy." Linith held out her hand to take the keys back from the mechanic since Precia seemed frozen to her spot. "We really appreciate this."
"Not a problem. Let's get to the shop and get this car running again."
It took a couple minutes for Lindy to load the car onto the back of the tow truck. The drive was mostly silent from Precia but Linith took it upon herself to keep the ride pleasant for everyone involved. Once at the shop, she and Precia found a nice waiting area for customers. A TV even played some action movie to entertain those who waited. Precia, however, found Lindy working to be far better entertainment than some movie. Lindy had unzipped the top half of her coveralls, which was now tied at her waist, leaving her in a black tank top. Sweat slowly slipping down her neck and disappearing into the crevasse of her breasts. It was criminal to look that attractive.
"You're drooling."
Precia glared at Linith, who pretended to be busy watching the movie.
"I'm seriously going to fire you."
"But who else will you trust with all you appointments and your kids?"
Precia scowled. She had a point. Her daughters loved Linith too much for her to just get rid of her. Not to mention she was the only one she trusted to keep everything running smoothly. Curse her.
"Sorry for the wait!" Lindy walked into the waiting area, sadly her coveralls were back on. "Everything is up and running again." She plopped down next to Precia, much to her surprise and complete embarrassment. "Let me go over what I did so you know what you're paying for."
Lindy began to ramble on about the fan and how whoever did work on her car last should be fired for a shoddy job. Precia stopped listening when Lindy leaned over to her with a clipboard that listed the things she worked on. How did she still have this effect on her?
"But I'm just charging you for the fan and labor."
"Wait what?" Precia broke out of her Lindy induced stupor. "But all these things-"
"It's on the house." Lindy smiled.
Precia found herself unable to say anything. Not because her crush on the mechanic was impairing her again, but from this show of generosity.
"I can't." Precia looked at the list again. "You deserve to be paid for the work you did."
"How about this: you recommend me to others as payment?"
"That still seems like too little."
"It gets me more business. I think that's fair enough."
Precia sighed. Lindy wasn't going to let her pay no matter what she said. She supposed she could do something about helping her get more business at least.
"Very well. I accept your terms."
"Great!"
Precia followed Lindy to the register to pay for her repairs.
"It was nice seeing you again Precia."
"I'm surprised you remember me."
"You're hard to forget."
Precia's mind practically screamed.
"Well, you're pretty memorable too." Precia handed Lindy her credit card.
"For good reasons I hope?" Lindy ran the credit card through, waiting for the machine to signal the transaction was accepted.
"Perhaps."
Lindy found herself smiling. The machine printed the receipt for Precia to sign. Lindy returned the card along with something else.
"Call me next time you have a problem."
Precia schooled her face to not break out into a mad grin. Lindy gave her a personal business card which included her cell phone, something she certainly did not plan on losing. She tucked it safely into her purse.
"I'll keep you in mind."
Linith was already waiting by the car by the time Precia finished her business with Lindy. No words were spoken as the two made their journey back to their office, however Precia wasn't counting on Linith staying silent for the entire trip.
"Aren't you going to thank the best wingwoman ever for getting you Lindy's number?"
She hated being right sometimes.
"No."
"You're so mean to me."
AN: If you enjoyed the story and would like to see more, leave a review! Bug me on tumblr and let me know you're eager to see more of this pairing. Until next time!