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The next time Thor saw his elusive roommate again it was a week later. He went out to start his car to head to work that morning and was more the shocked when he turned the key and nothing happened.

"No,no,no,no" he prayed to himself. "Not now. What are you doing? Why are you doing this to me? Cooommmeee onnnn,start!,"

Nothing. Popping the hood, he stared blankly at the engine. Everything appeared to be normal. Nothing jumping out and saying 'Hey! I'm broken! Fix Me!'

With sagging shoulders he went back into the house to see if he could employ the help of Steve. He loved his car, but was all thumbs when it came to mechanics. He knew enough to add the latest aftermarket bits as recommended on Dodge Charger dot com, but beyond that, he was embarrassingly clueless.

"Hey, Steve," He greeted the other man who was preparing his coffee in a to-go cup to head off for work himself. "My car won't start. You know anything about engines?"

"No," Steve replied with a shrug, then motioned towards the bedrooms down the hall. "Go wake Loki though. The guy's a wizard with mechanics."

"No, no" Thor protested shaking his head. "He gets in late from work. I wouldn't want to wake him. I'll just take the bus."

"He won't mind," Steve urged, already heading towards the closed door. "It's cool. Really. I'll get him, go and meet us outside."

Loki emerged through the garage door with a wide yawn as he ran a hand through his hair, staring at the open hood thoughtfully.

"OK," He said rubbing his hands over his still weary face. "Try it. Let's see what you've got?"

Obediently Thor turned the key, secretly hoping it would magically fire to life, but was instantly deflated by the dull click that resounded from the engine. With a grimace he turned the key off and eyed his roommate hopefully. Without a word Loki leaned over the engine, all but the bottom half of his lean body hidden by the Charger's massive hood. Thor once again found himself inadvertently caught in a daydream, taking in the pale skin and taught muscles of his lower back as his tee shirt rode up above his waist, exposing the dimples above the waistband of his too tight jeans. Thor caught himself memorizing the view before quickly shaking himself out of it as he noticed Loki working around his engine. He could barely make out his lithe hands unplugging wires and plugging other parts back in.

"What do you think," Thor asked after a moment, wanting to get moving to avoid being caught staring.

Loki sighed and, approaching the driver window, unceremoniously dumped a handful of wires into Thor's lap.

"HEEEEY," He protested loudly, taking in all the latest and greatest parts now resting in his lap.

"I think you need to stay off Ebay," Loki informed dryly. "Try it now."

Thor dutifully turned the key and the Charger immediately roared to life. A wide grin spreading his lips as he turned to thank the leaner man. But Loki was already disappearing back into the house, presumably to go back to sleep. Thor bounded out to close the hood and noted Steve heading out to get off to work as well.

"Did he get you all fixed," Steve asked knowing the answer by the deep rumbling engine.

"He did, Thanks," Thor returned with a wave, climbing back into the driver's seat. "Tell him I owe him…again."

Steve just waved at him as they both pulled out to head down the road.

Thor sighed and blinked his eyes wide, clearing his thoughts. Why was he even allowing his thoughts to stray at the sight of the leaner man. He had been down this road before, back in Miami. He had found his interests constantly shifting, the women he bedded always left him feeling empty. Yearning for more. But often he found his eyes subconsciously taking in more details than was necessary of the men around him at the gym where he had worked. Not the weight lifters, the more heavy build sets like himself, but the leaner ones. The runners and racket ballers. Their tee shirts usually too tight over their equally tight rubber band built bodies, their hair always well groomed. And their smell, gods they always came in smelling so good. Just the thought of it caused a mild twinge in his pants. He had even caved under idle curiosity to watch a gay porn or two, turning it off quickly in guilt after satisfying the inevitable arousal and feeling the indisputable urge to suddenly shower.

It had been the same growing up, but he told himself it was just a normal curiosity. One not to be pursued and it would go away on it's own. But it didn't go away and he had finally fled his job and his life in sunny Florida to see if a change in geography and lifestyle would help finally quell his wondering bones. He had hit up his old buddy from college, Steve,who had supplied him with a place to stay with reasonably low rent. And in his defense, Steve had also filled him in on the particulars of their elusive roommate, though, informed him that Thor had nothing to worry about. Steve had told him that they had also been friends in college and despite Loki being openly and admittedly homosexual, he had never seen him with any other men, nor had he ever brought any dates back to the house.

Loki had also apparently dropped out after his second year at college and moved to this tiny hipster style community to pursue other interests. Those interests apparently included spending most of his evenings working down at a place artfully going by the name Aretha's. Although, Steve admitted he had never met anyone there by the name Aretha.

Thor had moved in despite the warning. Likely driven more by curiosity and the fact that he didn't exactly have a ton of options open to him at that moment. He had never spent any time with a gay man and didn't know quite what to expect. He had honestly pictured more frills and sass, not this pale skinned, leather jacket wearing, motorcycling and obviously well versed in mechanics gentleman. Thor laughed to himself as he cruised down the road. Goes to show what he knew. Stereotypes. Go figure. Maybe he'd make an effort to get to know his roommate a bit better. Strictly platonically of course. He did owe him twice over now.

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The next morning however, he found the garage suspiciously devoid of any motorcycle and felt an odd ping of worry gnawing at his chest.

"Did Loki not come home last night," Thor inquired hoping to sound as though his conversation was strictly mild curiosity.

"No," Steve replied, sipping his coffee. "Must be his day off."

"Does he do this often?" Thor continued, not sure what he was hoping to glean from such questioning, but unable to keep himself from asking anyway. He had in fact noticed several occasions where Loki had apparently not returned home in the past weeks, but now that he had a face to go with the name, felt more than just idle curiosity over his roommates disappearance.

"Yeah," Steve supplied, taking the questioning as a sign of concern for the missing roommate. "Usually just for a night or two, but occasionally I won't see him for a couple weeks at a time. I quit worrying about him after the second month or so."

"Any idea where he goes?" The question slipped out before Thor could catch it and immediately wishing he had. He didn't really want to know the answer, especially if it was any of the conclusions his far too graphic mind wanted to jump to.

"No idea," Steve answered with a shrug. "I don't ask and he doesn't say. But don't worry, you'll get to know him eventually and see, he's an alright guy. Stays to himself mostly, but it sure makes for an easy roommate."

"Yeah," Thor agreed with a chuckle and letting the subject drop as he decided to head out to explore the city some more. He needed to stop his brain from pursuing this train of thought on Loki any further. It was the exact thing he had left behind in Miami and he knew allowing such thoughts to continue would just lead to dead ends. He needed distracting.

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