Disclaimer: I do not own Destiny or any of the characters thereof.

A/N: It's February which means in Destiny-land it's the famous "Crimson Days". Hope you all are enjoying Crimson Doubles while it's here. Perhaps you're too busy staring at all the lovely rose petals…or…has the gossipy lore tabs caught your attention, causing you to get shipping crazy? ;D Whatever it is, have fun with the festivities.

~ProphetessMinty

"Monkey Wrench"

This was the third time this week that Amanda's new assistant had gone AWOL. She messaged him at least a dozen times in the last couple days asking where he was and when he'd come to work next. There were no replies from the guy, not once. She double checked—triple checked even—that his name was still registered within the Tower's messaging distro. It wasn't until she got ready for her shift this morning, that a message from the distro postmaster came through announcing that she had been blocked by the user.

The blonde Shipwright tossed a wrench into her portable tool chest before slamming the lid shut. Standing to her feet, she walked over to one of her workbenches and leaned against it. The cool of the metal seeped through the back of her leather top, causing her to shiver. "He's totally fired," she mumbled angrily to herself. Furiously, she swiped her data pad off the counter and went straight to her messages. Amanda refreshed her inbox about three or five times in rapid succession, before gritting her teeth, and slamming the device back onto the counter. "Fired! Fired! Fired!" she yelled to her tablet.

"Whoa there, lil' missy!" a familiar voice exclaimed.

Amanda looked up and found a familiar Hunter Vanguard staring at her. She watched as he casually leaned against a speeder suspended by a jack on the stall's floor. As he crossed his arms and legs, the Shipwright groaned in annoyance. Placing a gloved fist on her hip, she swiftly found herself irked by the Space Cowboy's uncouth posture. Even the grey-blue color of his metal chassis seemed to bother her.

"What seems to be the—uh—problem?" Cayde-6 asked with a nonchalant air about him.

"Problem? Problem?!" Amanda exclaimed as she shot a warning glare in his direction.

"Oh, boy. Here we go!" the Exo droned sarcastically.

The blonde chewed at her bottom lip, doing her best to tamp down the mental frenzy within. Cayde always had a knack for getting under her skin, especially at the worst times. Now, was one of those times and he didn't even have to try. "This is the third time my new assistant has gone AWOL...THIS WEEK! I already fired at least a dozen people since the beginning of February for continuin' to neglect the job," she seethed. "The jerk even blocked me from messaging him."

Though the Exo couldn't completely smirk—Amanda believed otherwise—the air of his personality sure seemed to do so. As he listened to her, ranting and raving, the Exo went to rummaging through one of the tool cabinets at the back of the stall. "And I...Cayde! What—what are you doin'?" she asked, suddenly aware of his light-handedness. Cayde abruptly peeked out from behind the cabinet's door, staring at her like a child that been caught pilfering a cookie jar.

"I was actually coming over here for a monke—I mean, wrench. I—I need a wrench," the Exo explained, stumbling over his words.

If she didn't know better, then she would have thought he sounded slightly embarrassed. Amanda's sneaking suspicion caused her to squint her blue eyes critically at Cayde. As her Cayde-ar (Cayde-radar) alarmed internally, Amanda went to pursing her pink lips into a frown. The Exo seemed to regard her actions with intense thoughtfulness, his yellow optics lingering a fraction too long on her lips (or so it seemed). Quickly, she glossed over the idea recognizing that it was making her think of unnecessary ideas.

"I'm havin' a hard time believin' that's all you needed," she said crossing her arms. "Also, the wrenches ain't over there. They're in the top drawer of the bench I'm leanin' on," she said pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

"Ah," Cayde said as he shoved one of drawers inside the cabinet closed with a crash of metal. The blonde flinched, knowing full well her tools were now in complete, adulterated chaos. Cayde swiftly strode to the bench Amanda leaned up against, his cloak billowing marvelously behind him. Cayde had hoped that Amanda would move out of the way by the time he got there, but his hopes were dashed. The spunky Shipwright didn't budge. As much as she was blocking his goals of obtaining said gadget, he also didn't mind.

"Two can play this game," he thought cheekily.

Amanda went to drumming her gloved fingers against her toned arms. "D'you promise to bring it back as one solid—and I mean 'solid'—piece?" she asked snappily, her southern drawl becoming more pronounced. "The last time I let you borrow somethin', it came back liquidized." As she said this, the Shipwright shoved a hand into the Exo's chest. To her dismay, he stood there unmoved while staring at the gesture in momentary confusion.

"Yes, yes, yes. I promise," he whined playfully.

The blonde mechanic nodded—uneasily mind you—as she turned around and started rummaging through the bench drawer. "Here, do you need—" Amanda paused suddenly aware of Cayde's unnatural closeness as he hovered over her shoulder. She glanced at him with slight bewilderment, before looking away. Again, those obnoxious and unnecessary thoughts crashed impetuously against the dam of her mental fortitude. "Cayde, I'm gonna need you to back up," she said, feigning the dull tone she so desperately desired to have. "You're in my space."

"Yeah. Okay," he said bobbing his head as he stood back.

"Is this what you need?" she asked holding out an adjustable spanner between them.

"Ummm, no. That one," he said pointing back to the drawer, "the little "F"-shaped one. "F" for "fun."

"What? This ol' thing?" she questioned, pointing to the rusty tool.

"Mmmhm," he answered.

Amanda had grabbed the "F"-shaped wrench and closed the drawer when a shadow menacingly outgrew her own. Two hands dressed in black leather, appeared on either side of her, resting flatly on the bench. "You—you know, you—you're act'n kinda odd today," Amanda stuttered, finding herself abruptly flustered. A gentle heat crawled up the back of her neck and onto her cheeks. The heart in her chest hammered wildly, threatening to burst out of her rib cage. Glancing over her shoulder again, she found Cayde leaning in. Amanda expeditiously snapped her head forward unsure of how to interpret the current situation.

"You know...,"Cayde began, whispering into her ear. As Amanda listened closely, a quick shiver ran through her leaving behind a trail of goose bumps on her pale flesh. "Maybe the reason you have a hard time keeping your assistants is because you're all work and no play. It's intimidating—to most guys—but me...I kind of like it." The Shipwright went weak in the knees as the dam of her mental fortitude exploded, letting the flood of (possibly unrequited) romanticism gush through. Cayde transmatted mysteriously out of her meager shop leaving her to her own devices. Amanda didn't know where the joker went, but she was grateful to be left alone.

"What just happened?" her mind squealed as she righted herself. "Surely he was just playin'," she explained feebly to herself. "Yeah, that's it. That's all it was. Cayde was just messin' around." As she fanned the hot mess that was herself, she followed up with, "He doesn't think that way about you. Calm down!" A new wave of embarrassment washed over her and she went back to nervously fanning her cheeks. "My goodness! What was that about?" she questioned internally.

Throughout the day, Amanda couldn't help but think about the Hunter Vanguard. No matter how many times she tried to focus on her tasks, she would get flustered all over again. One time she dumped a grease pan on her stall floor. Not realizing her mistake, the mechanic skated across the grease spill, falling forward unceremoniously as a wrench flew out of her hands. An unfortunate soul—a Guardian—who happened to be passing by at that time paid for her colossal oversight with a huge lump to their un-helmeted forehead. She wanted nothing more than to melt into the floor as she apologized profusely.

After that event, Amanda became hypercritical of her surroundings. Doing her best not to spill anything, she had made it a whole two hours without incident. As fate would have it, other plans had been hatched against her. As the Shipwright sat down to take a break, her elbow smashed into a collection tray, launching about a dozen nuts and bolts into the hangar. With wide eyes, the blonde realized she would have to hunt all those pieces down. To her dismay, she lost an hours' worth of time looking for every single piece.

From then on, her work productivity decreased dramatically, leaving her a line of frustrated Guardians from stall to hangar entrance.

XOXOXO

By lunchtime, Amanda had made at least a dozen rookie mistakes. Amanda doesn't make mistakes! No. She's as particular as they come—dare we say it—anal retentive. But enough was enough! Cayde's earlier stunt would not continue to haunt her. She would see to it personally. As she grumpily bit into her sandwich, the tomato that had been so snugly mushed between ham, lettuce, mayo, and bread, shot out like a bullet. With a slimy splat, the tomato slice landed in a mayo murder scene on the floor. Amanda felt the tears rimming her eyes.

"I did not sign up for this kind of psychological harassment!" she cried internally.

"You can throw a monkey wrench into my work, but you can't have my sandwich!" she yelled, throwing her food onto the plate in her lap.

Then, it suddenly dawned on her. "Cayde picked out a monkey wrench earlier this morning," she thought to herself as her jaw dropped gracelessly. "He doesn't do anything without an ulterior motive behind it." Amanda quickly placed a "closed" sign on her desk as she stormed off to find a particularly sly Exo. The Shipwright jogged to Cayde's normal hangout, to the left of her shop, but found that he was missing. The only proof that he had been there recently was a pile of corn that the Colonel had been contentedly pecking at on the ground.

Resting her fist on her hip with a pensive look, she whispered, "I should have known this wasn't going to be easy."

XOXOXO

Amanda searched the tower, high and low, far and wide, with no luck. The blonde exited the bazaar, walking up a flight of steps, as she extracted a data pad from her pant-leg pocket. "Wow, it's already dinner time?" she groaned, her stomach promptly growling in reply.

"Looking for me?" a cocky voice whispered in her ear.

The Shipwright shrieked in terror, smashing her data pad into a grey-blue horn. "Cayde!" Amanda shouted as frustration flooded through. "You jerk!" she yelled, shoving a hand into the unmoved Exo's chest.

"You know," he pointed to his new attachment, "this doesn't do anything for my handsome, good looks."

Amanda growled and ripped the impaled data pad from his cranial horn. "You, Sir," she snarled, "have SOOOOOOO much explainin' to do."

The Hunter Vanguard laughed before pulling her to close him. "You'll have to tell me over dinner."

The blonde blushed as her mouth uncontrollably snapped from opened to closed. "Hang on!" Cayde ordered, transmatting them to Traveler-knows-where. In a quick blur of Exo and human, the two found themselves on a terrace overlooking the cityscape miles below. Just the two of them.

"What?!" she yelled in delayed response.

The Exo laughed as he walked over to a blanket that had been pinned to the ground by two, olive-green trunks. Cayde sat on the blanket, opened one of the chests, and started digging out supplies.

"Ugh! I hate when ya do that," she groaned, putting a hand to her mouth as a wave of nausea passed over her. "Transmattin' is not my favorite."

"Sorry, didn't know how else I was going to get you here," he said apologetically.

"Where's here?" Amanda asked, looking around.

"One of the abandoned towers. It's a great getaway—in case you needed to know," he said shutting the trunk. "Come sit with me." Cayde motioned for her to sit down on the blanket with a light pat. The Shipwright sighed, letting her head fall back as she stomped over. The moment between them was quiet, but the noise in her head was loud. Filled with the day's eventful disasters and a Hunter Exo that wouldn't stop taunting her thoughts.

Amanda's defeated blue eyes rested on Cayde's yellow optics, searching them for the truth. "I give up," she finally spoke. "I can't take it anymore," Amanda complained. The teasing had become too much for her to handle as it pushed her over the edge. She sat uncomfortably twitchy, thinking over how vulnerable she suddenly felt. Never in all her years, had she been so bewildered. Beguiled even.

"What do you mean? You haven't eaten yet," Cayde said, offering her a hot container, heavy with ramen.

Amanda gave a small smile to the proffered treat, before giving Cayde a demure look. "Thanks. And...that's not what I meant."

"Then, what do you mean?" he asked with slight reservation.

The two remained quiet as the mechanic went to opening the container. Tentatively, she dipped her chopsticks into the broth, pinching a thread of noodles. Amanda blew away the steam and took a bite. Her cheeks flushed as she realized Cayde was watching her every move. Quickly, she took a sip of broth and cleared her throat. "I'm really confused about what's goin' on. More importantly...what are YOU doing?! Like this mornin'—what was up with that?" she asked, bombarding him with questions.

"Calm down!" she chastised herself. "Cayde is just being himself. It doesn't mean anything to him."

Cayde slid a small, rectangular pink and red box across the blanket toward the Shipwright. Amanda eyed him suspiciously as she set down her bowl. "Just open it up," he stated somberly. The blonde grabbed at the proffered gift and pulled at the red ribbon that had been haphazardly tied together. "Sorry," he shrugged, "I'm not good at wrapping...or tying for that matter."

She laughed.

He laughed.

As Amanda pulled the top off the box, she looked down to find a shiny tool gleaming up at her. She looked to Cayde with a furrowed brow, then glanced back to the present. "This is the monkey wrench I loaned you," she laughed confusedly.

"Well, yeah. But look at it! It's practically brand new," Cayde said in playful defense.

"Waddya do to get it so clean? Spit shine?" Amanda cheeked as she eyed the tool.

"More or less," he quipped.

"Okay, this—this is what I'm talkin' about. What's goin' on here?" Her blue eyes regarded his yellow. Without a word, Cayde scooted closer and leaned in. Whatever sense of humility she tried to piece together fell to the wayside. A familiar flush rose to her cheeks as his closeness caused her heart to palpitate erratically. The Hunter seemed to grin like a fox cornering its prey.

"You don't remember, do you?" he asked suddenly.

The Shipwright cocked her head to the side, "Remember what?"

Cayde grabbed the monkey wrench and sat back. "I gave this to you when we first met. Don't you remember?" he asked nostalgically.

Amanda laughed, "If memory serves, you lost to me in a card game. It was the only thing ya had at the time."

"Eh—details," he said before placing it back into the box.

"Anyways, quit stallin' and answer my question," she said putting the box down, "What was that this mornin'?"

Cayde leaned in close to her again, laughing lightly as the blonde's cheeks went tomato red. "What day is it?

"Uh—Friday...?" she squeaked.

"No," he laughed. "What's the date?"

Amanda suddenly turned red all around as realization struck her. "February fourteenth—oh! It's Crimson days!"

Cayde fell back in a pile of laughter as his hand slammed into the ground a couple times in exuberance. "How could you not know?" he guffawed almost breathlessly. "The petals. The banners. All the lovesick couples strolling the promenade?" The blank expression on Amanda's was answer enough. She didn't have a clue!

"You really are all work and no play," he howled childishly. The Shipwright crossed her arms in an expression of agitation, though her face remained the same shade of red. Grabbing the wrench from the box, she went to hammering it against his chest, causing Cayde to laugh even harder.

"Excuse me, ya big jerk!" she yelled.

Cayde sat up in a huff of laughter, "Didn't you realize that all the job applications you've been given this month have been unusually high? Right up until this past week?"

Amanda paused her assault to scratch at the back of her neck, "Yeah, well, I thought we suddenly got an influx of new mechanics. I—wait! You mean to tell me ALL those applicants were guys tryin' to—to—"

Cayde busted into another round of laughter as he slapped at his knees.

"Wait! So, my new assistant stopped comin' to work because I didn't notice him?" Amanda face-palmed her forehead in clear understanding. "I'm an idiot!"

"Oh, Amanda," he sighed. "That's not completely all the reasons why," Cayde said swiping at fake tears.

"Please, don't tell me you had somethin' to do with—" she started to say.

This time Cayde leaned in real close, resting his forehead softly to hers. "No one is allowed to fraternize with the grease monkey. No one—except me," he whispered. Amanda thought she was going to melt or explode, or worse, have a meltdown.

"He…he likes me?!" her thoughts screamed.

Amanda didn't know what was happening and there was no time to process. She only did what she thought was right. Quickly, she tilted her head and kissed what would have been Cayde's lips (had he been human). As quick as she had done it, she leaned back suddenly shocked by her actions.

"Cayde, I..." she stammered, putting a hand to her lips.

The Exo glowed, "I've been waiting for the day you'd do that."

A spontaneous smile broke out cross Amanda's lips and she laughed. "I can't believe you! You did all this so I would kiss you?" she asked somewhere between disbelief and abashment while shaking her head.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," he shrugged. "Besides, I didn't want anyone coming between us."

"How long? How long have ya been waitin'?" she chuckled.

Cayde smiled again, "Since we met."

Amanda shoved at him playfully.

"And you?" he asked cockily.

"Since we met," she returned coyly, glancing elsewhere. "I thought ya didn't see me that way. That's why I never—"

Cayde smiled.

She smiled.

"I know," he said.

The two stayed on that side of the tower for the rest of the night. Enjoying each other's company and the fireworks lighting the night's sky. Cayde took Amanda's hand and held it firmly, making sure not to hurt her. A smile remained plastered to her face because she was happier than she had ever been before. "Thanks, Cayde," she said, leaning in slowly.

"For what?" he whispered, returning the gesture.

"For throwin' a monkey wrench in my day," she said before kissing him.

Cayde rested his forehead to her's and sighed happily. "Anytime."