Summary - (Slight AU, still with powers, the events in the film could have happened just remove Reid from them! Which isn't too hard as his part wasn't nearly big enough!!!!!!!)
Many years ago in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 the Garwin family lost their money and their social standing within the small minded town of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Looked down upon by the self righteous citizens of Ipswich and abandoned by the other Covenant members, the family have been forgotten by the older members and were never known to the younger generations, until the youngest descendant of the Simms lineage happens to need a cheap mechanic.
This is slash! If it offends do not read!!
I do not own the Covenant I have merely purloined the characters! In addition the basic plot for this story comes from 'The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love' which I strongly recommend!!
Enjoy!!
Tyler winced at the loud clunk that reverberated through the hummer as he turned the corner and prayed to the God of motor vehicles that the hummer would at least make it to the garage before she conked out completely. Finally a grotty grey sign informed travellers in peeling red paint that they were approaching 'Garwin's Gas Station and Garage'. Tyler sighed in relief and had to physically restrain himself from putting his foot down and speeding the final few hundred yards. He wouldn't even be coming this far for the repairs if his parents hadn't got so pissed off with his constant scrapes and scratches that all repairs were now coming out of his allowance. The repairs weren't even his fault half the time, he had learnt the hard way to never, never let Pogue behind the wheel of his hummer.
Finally the hummer shuddered into the garage forecourt and Tyler sighed in relief as he turned off the engine and hoped that Pogue was right about this place being cheaper than the in-town garage.
"Hey" Tyler practically flew out of his seat and let out a loud yelp that he would vehemently deny afterwards. Scrambling out of the hummer he tried to compose himself before returning the 'hey' with a shaky 'hi'.
"So, I'm guessing you either need gas, you have a problem with your car, or you're just really lonely." The blonde in front of him was dressed in possibly the scruffiest clothes Tyler had ever seen. He had baggy blue jeans on which were slipping down his hips, ripped in a variety of places and covered in a number of unidentifiable marks and stains, a once white t-shirt which was now streaked with mud and oil and an orange check shirt, creased and holey and rolled back to the elbows showing muscled forearms also streaked with oil. The sneakers that were peeking out from beneath the baggy jeans were once black converse all stars which appeared to have seen better decades.
"huh?" Tyler suddenly realised the blonde was speaking.
"I said, how about you take a picture, it might last longer" The blonde's cocked an eyebrow at Tyler and grinned.
"Shit, sorry, look, my car is making a really weird clunking noise whilst I drive and I don't know the first thing about cars so erm…"
"Ok, give me one second" The blonde popped the hood with practiced ease and stuck his head into the engine. "Hmm… aha …yep, you have a bad bearing shell. Pretty recent model so lemme go check, we might have some and I can fit it now"
Tyler watched the blonde wander back into the garage and frowned. He was sure he knew the kid from somewhere, he just couldn't place him. It was beginning to annoy the hell out of him as he went through every single place he could have met him; definitely not one of Spencer finest, not dressed like that anyway, he could have met him at Nicky's but he'd remember the guy better if he was a regular so…
"You, my weird spaced one, are in luck, we have some bearing shells." Tyler spun around and was met with another blinding grin as the blonde guy shook a bizarre engine part at him. Tyler sighed inwardly, there was not way he could keep calling this guy 'the blonde' it just felt stupid.
"So…" Tyler sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and tried to figure out how to ask this question without sounding incredibly rude. "I, erm, have I seen you around here before?"
"Lived here my whole life so unless you've been blind until recently I would be guessing that you've seen me before" The reply was muffled by the fact that 'blonde guy's' head was still stuck under Tyler's hood but Tyler still got the playful tone which accompanied the snarky reply. Relaxing slightly he continued.
"No I meant recently"
"Oh, well, I'm in great demand these days so public appearances have to be limited" Tyler rolled his eyes, this guy was nuts. He released a breath into his hair ruffling it as he glanced about the forecourt. Nothing out of the ordinary in a garage, a little untidy perhaps and the equipment was maybe a little unorthodox, a mop was just visible jammed into a car's front holding the hood open. Wait a mop, that's where Tyler had seen the guy.
"You were at the charity ball preparations on Friday weren't you?"
The guy emerged from under the hood, face now matching his arms and clothes, streaked with oil. "You caught me, what was it that gave me away, wait don't tell me I was careless wasn't I, left too many clues?" 'Blonde guy' was grinning again and Tyler couldn't help but notice how his ice blue eyes seemed to sparkle with his smile. Tyler shook himself hard and when he had re-zoned 'blonde guy' had his head back under the hood and was talking again.
"…lucky you dropped by, any longer and the whole bearing shaft would have gone, and that my weird friend is a very expensive job" Tyler blinked in confusion and then continued on his own strand of conversation.
"You were mopping the stage, I saw you" Tyler realised just how childishly self-proud that had sounded as soon as he said it and was wishing he could take it back when he heard 'blonde guy' laughing to himself from inside the car and thought he'd missed something.
"Huh?"
"You sounded so proud of yourself then, 'I saw you' made it sound like you'd witnessed something immense" Tyler scolded himself harshly to prevent the heat pooling in his neck from rising to his face but he suspected from the fact that the grin morphed into a smirk that he was unsuccessful.
"I'm Reid Garwin" 'Blonde guy' stuck out his hand, eyes still sparkling captivatingly and Tyler had to blink several times before regaining enough concentration to smile, clasp 'blonde…' no 'Reid's' hand and shake it.
"Tyler… Simms, Tyler Simms, pleased to meet you"
"The pleasure is all mine" Reid released Tyler's hand and swept his own outwards dipping into a low bow and Tyler was horrified to find he was disappointed to lose the feeling of the strong, calloused hand gripping his own.
"Now if you'll excuse me Mr Simms, I shall just get your bill" Tyler didn't see Reid go back into the garage as he was too busy inwardly yelling at himself for suddenly feeling, well, funny, over a strange guy who he had met twenty minutes ago, and strange was definitely the word.
"You really should stop that" Tyler nearly jumped three feet in the air as Reid suddenly appeared behind him.
"Stop, stop what?" Tyler tried desperately to stop his voice and his hand shaking as he handed over his credit card to Reid who stuck in the little portable machine he had and typed in some numbers.
"The spacing thing" Reid didn't even look up " I hear it can be very bad for your brain, gives it time to think of all sorts of wacky things before you bring it back to a very disappointing reality." Reid handed Tyler's card back and Tyler realised from the grin decorating Reid's features that he was gawping at the young man. Tyler closed his mouth, then opened it again to say something, anything to save himself from further embarrassment.
"Just sign there" Reid pointed to the receipt he'd given Tyler along with his card and Tyler looked from the receipt to Reid for a moment before scribbling his signature, thrusting everything back at Reid and hurrying to his hummer.
Tyler sat in the driver's seat, seconds away from a head in hands moment waiting for Reid to lower the hood. He didn't look up until he heard a polite tap on his window.
"Yeah"
"You gave me something that I think belongs to you" Tyler frowned momentarily before Reid handed him a small piece of plastic through the cars open window. It was his credit card.
"Thanks" for some reason desperate not to seem like a total idiot in front of Reid Tyler tried to repair some of the damage he'd done. "I'm not normally that spacey, or that much of an idiot or…"
"No problem, we all have our off days, it may be hard to believe but sometimes I am no where near this smart-mouthed and funny" Reid winked and Tyler couldn't help but feel so much better because of it.
Reid stepped away from the hummer and Tyler was about to drive away when something occurred to him.
"I guess I'll see you at the meetings for the Charity ball?"
"You will indeed, unless you go back to being blind" Tyler shook his head and started the car. He watched Reid disappear to a small blob in his rear view mirror and sighed. At least he knew the guys name, he couldn't exactly think of him as 'blonde guy' forever.
Reid grinned as he watched the hummer and its quirky occupant disappear down the road towards town. At least he'd found out the guys name, he couldn't exactly keep thinking of him as 'spaced out guy'.
TBC
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