Chapter 8

Shinji worked for several hours on his car, assisted by Rei, who brought him whatever tools he might ask for. Shinji grunted and sweated, twisting at overtightened bolts and pulling at compacted wires and switches. Occasionally at first, and then more frequently, Rei would hear a string of muttered curse words flow out from under the car. At about one in the afternoon, Rei tapped Shinji on the shoulder and said:

"Would you like some lunch?"

"I dunno," Shinji answered, "This thing's still got a long way to go before I'll call it 'driveable'. Whoever owned the thing before Misato kept the car looking nice on the outside and on the interior, but when it came to the engine and other working parts of the car, it's fallen into almost complete disrepair. It needs a complete oil change as well as every filter on the car, including air and fuel, the brake fluid and power-steering fluid needs replaced, the brake pads should be changed, the spark plugs and wires need replaced, and the air-conditioning system needs charging. The thing's a wreck on wheels! And speaking of wheels, it needs four new tires! It'll take me days to fix this thing up right. I need to keep working for as long as I can."

"Well, to keep working, you need to keep your strength up," said Rei, "And that means you should eat something. Come on, I'll start on lunch while you wash up."

And Shinji did, indeed need to wash up. In the course of almost three hours, Shinji's entire front had been coated in a fairly heavy layer of grease and oil, his hands and forearms especially. Shinji found some hand cleaner on the tool table in the garage and removed the worst of it from his hands and arms. Then, he followed Rei into the house and headed for the downstairs bathroom to wash off the hand cleaner and the remainder of the grease.

Once Shinji had finished washing up, he carefully peeled his oil-covered shirt over his head and hung it on the outside doorknob of the bathroom. He walked, bare-chested, into the kitchen and seated himself on one of the stools at the island. Rei eyed his muscular chest with a hungry look in her eyes as she remembered what he had given her the previous afternoon. Shinji caught her looking and smiled at her, causing her to blush and turn back to the stove.

"So," Shinji said, breaking the silence, "What's for lunch?"

"What sounds good?"

"Oh, anything," Shinji replied, "As long as it's quick, easy, and tasty."

"You really want to get back to working on that car, don't you?" said Rei with disbelief.

"Yeah, I really do," Shinji answered, "It's been a while since I last worked on a machine like that and it's my car, so I want to be able to drive it as soon as possible. If that means a few late nights and long days, so be it, as long as I get it done."

"You can be so narrow-minded about things sometimes," said Rei, shaking her head, "And yet at other times, you are the most charming, caring, and gentle person I've met in all my life."

"Thank you," Shinji said with a smile.

"You didn't sound too gentle when you were working on the car, though," said Rei seriously, "I don't think I've ever heard anyone swear as much as you did then."

"Oh," Shinji said, his voice falling apologetically, "yeah, sorry about that. It's a bad habit I fell into as I grew older. When I was working on a project and things weren't working as well as I thought they should, I'd string out a line of curse words until it worked. If I offended you, I'm sorry. I hardly know that I do it anymore."

"Well, you do," said Rei, "And it didn't really offend me, so much as it surprised me to hear it come out of your mouth. I mean, you talked dirty enough when you had me in bed yesterday, but…"

Rei let her voice trail off. She blushed furiously and turned away from Shinji again. Shinji walked up behind Rei and put his arms around her gently, crossing them just beneath her breasts. Rei sighed and leaned back against Shinji's torso.

"Why don't you let me cook lunch?" Shinji offered.

"You can cook?" Rei asked.

"Probably not, but I'll give it a try anyway," Shinji joked. He and Rei chuckled.

Shinji walked over to the refrigerator and looked inside. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he'd know it when he found it. He turned briefly to look at Rei.

"What are you hungry for?" Shinji asked.

"Can you grill?" Rei asked, "How about some hamburgers?"

"Sounds good," said Shinji, nodding and pulling out some ground beef, "You wouldn't happen to have any secret family recipes that you'd like to share, would you?"

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Rei said. This caused Shinji to chuckle heartily.

"No, seriously, there is a recipe that my dad uses for his burgers, but I'm not sure if Misato has everything here that he uses," said Rei.

"Well, what do we need?" Shinji asked.

About an hour later, with some tweaking and creative adjustments to the recipe, Shinji and Rei were sitting out on the patio next to the grill enjoying their burgers. After lunch, Shinji grabbed his work shirt and started to head back out to the garage. Halfway out the door, he realized that if he was going to fix the car, he was going to need the parts and fluids to do it with. He was going to need almost four quarts of 10W-30 oil, new air, oil and fuel filters, and all of the other assorted parts and supplies that were required to go with them. For that, he would need an auto parts store or garage. He decided to call Misato.

"Hello?"

"Misato? It's Shinji," said Shinji.

"What's up, Shinji?" Misato asked, "Is there a problem?"

"I'll say there is," Shinji replied, "The Vette's in really lousy shape."

Shinji proceeded to elaborate on the details of what was ailing his car. When he finished, he said:

"Is there an auto parts store nearby that I can go to?"

"Yeah," Misato answered, "Head down to Jackson Avenue. You'll find a small parts dealership there. Tell the guy at the counter that Misato sent you and he'll set you up on my tab. I keep a running line of credit with those guys because they do all of my repairs. Tell them what you need and they'll help you get it."

"Thanks, Misato," said Shinji, "See you later."

"Bye," Misato said. Then, she and Shinji hung up.

"Hey, Rei," Shinji asked, "How far is it to Jackson Avenue?"

"About three blocks," Rei asked, "Why?"

"There's an auto parts store there that I need to find," Shinji replied.

"Well, let's go."

"Hang on," Shinji said, "I'm not going out in my grease rags. Let me change quickly."

With that, Shinji hopped up the stairs to his room. Five minutes later, he came back downstairs wearing a clean pair of jeans and a dark green T-shirt. He carried his grease clothes to the garage door and dropped them on the stoop. Then, Shinji and Rei started off down the sidewalk, bound for Jackson Avenue. About ten minutes later, Shinji and Rei walked through the doors of a building that said Johnson Auto Supply and Repair.

"Can I help you?" a man with dark hair and glasses asked from behind the counter.

"Yeah, um, hi," Shinji said awkwardly, "I'm here to get some parts and supplies to fix up a Corvette Stingray."

"Model year?" the young man asked.

"'77," Shinji answered, "Black, hard-top. She needs a complete oil and filter change, new spark plugs and wires, new air and fuel filters, four new tires, and the brake system and power-steering system need completely flushed and refilled."

"That's quite a list," the man at the counter replied, "Do you know what you're looking for?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied, producing a list that he had jotted down as he worked. The young man examined it closely.

"Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "I can get you everything on this list today except for the fuel pump and filter. How will you be paying?"

"Misato sent me and told me to put it on her tab," Shinji answered.

"Oh, you know Misato?" the man asked, sounding pleased, "In that case, I guess we can call you 'friend' around here. My name's Hyuga. I really envy you if you're actually living with Misato. She's a real hottie."

Shinji smiled and chuckled at this. Privately, however, he wondered if this strange man would try to make any kind of moves on his lover. However, Shinji's dark suspicion didn't show on his face. He maintained an amiable tone of voice as he said:

"I'm Shinji, by the way. It's nice to meet you. Now, how about those parts?"

"I'll be right back," Hyuga said briskly, "Hey, Aolba! Give me a hand out here!"

Fifteen minutes later, Shinji and Rei left the store carrying six large bags that contained a wide assortment of parts and fluids. The walk seemed to take much longer now that they were carrying about 100 pounds of equipment between them. Once they were back at Misato's house, Rei turned to Shinji and said:

"Shinji, as fun as today has been, I think I'll go home now. I'll talk to you later, sometime, okay?"

"Sure, Rei," Shinji replied, "See you."

Rei put down her bags and turned to leave. Once she was gone, Shinji pulled off his street clothes and changed back into his grease clothing. He picked up the bags containing all of the filters as well as the bag containing the four quarts of oil that he would need and carried them out to the garage.

Shinji spent the next two hours working on his car. He took great pain to make sure that every detail of the car was tuned and fixed just so. In the course of the two hours, Shinji basically dismantled the engine in order to change the air filter, drain the oil and change the oil filter, find and remove the old fuel pump and filter, and pull the plug on the power-steering lines.

Next, he pulled the wires off of the spark plugs and alternator and threw them aside. After that, Shinji carefully unscrewed and removed all six of the worn-out spark plugs and put them aside. When Misato pulled into the garage at 3:45 pm, she found Shinji under the car working on the brake and coolant lines.

"I'm home," she said.

"How was work?" Shinji asked from under the car.

"It was fine," Misato replied, "The same-old-same-old. How about you?"

"Well, you can pretty much see how my day has been," Shinji replied, "I've spent about five hours all told tearing this beast apart at the guts in order to give it a face lift."

Shinji dragged himself out from under the car and stood up. Misato giggled a little bit at how covered in oil Shinji was. Shinji looked back at her, in her clean, pressed business suit.

"Any progress?" Misato asked, regaining her composure.

"Some," said Shinji, "I have to say: without Rei's help this morning, I wouldn't be this far along."

"Oh, Rei was here, how nice," Misato said happily, "I hope you two had a nice time."

"We didn't do anything if that's what you're drilling at," Shinji said, scowling a little bit.

"I certainly hope not," Misato replied, "You're my boy-toy now. I don't want to share you with anyone else. And anyway, ease off. There's no reason to snap, I was just picking."

"Sorry," Shinji sighed, "It's just that car. It's being a royal pain in the ass, you know?"

"Cars will do that," Misato said understandingly, "I'm sure that a hot shower will do you a world of good."

"It certainly will if you're in it with me," said Shinji with a sly grin.

"Ohh, why not?" Misato conceded, "It's been a long day for me, too. Just wash off the worst of the grease before you get in my shower, okay? That stuff's hard on a drain. And get rid of your oily clothes before you drip anything on my carpet."

"Yeah, oil stains don't come out very well," Shinji agreed, "Okay. No problem."

With that, Shinji peeled his shirt off of him right there. Misato groaned softly as she saw his hard, chiseled chest extract itself from its grimy exterior. Next, Shinji removed his shoes and socks. Following this, Shinji unbelted his oily jeans and let them fall to the floor. He now stood in nothing but his boxers again. His light skin made a startling contrast against the oil that stained his hands and forearms again. Misato looked lustfully at the youth who moved in front of her.

God damn does this boy have a fine body! she moaned mentally, Is it any wonder that he's got as nice a package as he does? I can't wait to suck him again.

"Shall we?" Shinji asked. He had used more of the hand cleaner and was now far less oil-covered than he had been.

"Definitely," Misato replied breathlessly. She was already imagining the hot water cascading over Shinji's body, and there was a wet heat between her legs that grew the more she thought about it.

Misato must have spent a lot of time today thinking about what she wanted to do to me when she got home, Shinji thought, reading Misato's face, Her cheeks are flushed, and I can hear her panting from here. She's really horny. I can only imagine what she's going to do to me once we're upstairs.