Chapter Three – Ignition
The garage was very conveniently located, with a single door from the kitchen (locked, leaving Nick to force it open with several swift kicks) leading straight into it, and revealing a dark blue Honda Civic. Typical, Ellis supposed, as the damn things seemed to be everywhere. He couldn't even begin to count the number of Civic's he'd seen on the road or in his shop over the years, though at least they were reasonably reliable. He and Nick looked the car over, Nick taking an interest more in the aesthetics ("No blood on the seats. That's a good thing.") whereas Ellis's interests were more in the technical workings of the vehicle. Clearly this had once been a nice neighbourhood (or the owners had an unusual amount of trust in the security of their garage door), as lucky for them, the car doors were unlocked. No key (not that he'd expected to find one), but hotwiring wasn't a difficult task for him. He sat side-saddle in the drivers seat for a moment, reaching down to pull the handle that popped open the hood, before climbing out again and setting the car open before him, leaning in.
"Seems in pretty decent shape," he said out loud, though the comment was mainly to himself. "She might need a bit'a tweekin', seeing how she's been sat in here without movin' for a while, but reckon this'll do just fine."
Of course, he wasn't sure if it had gas. The easiest way to check would have been to try the ignition, but fear of the engine attracting unwanted attention made him wary of doing do. "Got what you need to sort her out?" Nick asked as he circled the car to lean beside Ellis, who pushed himself up from under the hood, giving a shrug. "Not really," he replied honestly, "But I'll manage. T'be honest, ain't a lot that needs doin'."
He bent over the car again, hands delving deep amongst the metal work as Nick watched over shouldn't have made Ellis feel awkward to see Nick's eyes on him like that, but it did, for some reason. Hell, it went as far as making the hair along the back of his neck stand on end, and yet it wasn't a bad sensation, if he was honest. He was quite glad to have Nick's attention, seeing as he vied for it so often. As for Nick... well, needless to say, the man was more than aware just what he was doing, and could probably have very easily explained the weird feeling Ellis was getting, were the hick to bother mentioning it. In the previous weeks adrenaline-fuelled survival attempts, most other wants and desires beyond the need for food and rest were easy to ignore. Now however, with things having wound down a little, Nick was all too aware of his mind and bodies other needs reminding him all too frequently that they were still there, awaiting his attention. Ellis, however, was enjoying the adventure of the zombie apocalypse to pay the matter too much attention... and even if he hadn't, sex had never been one of his top priorities in life as it was. Bros before hos, and all that.
"I'm gonna go try washing the suit," Nick announced after a hesitant clearing of his throat, pulling his eyes away from the young man bent almost double in front of him. "You be okay out here?"
"Sure," Ellis assured him, lifting his face to smile up at Nick, reaching a hand back to pat at the handgun poking out of his overalls pocket. "I'll be in soon. Gimme a couple just t' check this out a bit more, 'kay?"
Clearly this was okay, as Ellis set straight back to work and Nick didn't protest, instead leaving the broken door between kitchen and garage open as he returned into the main house, the sound of running water soon filling Ellis's ears as Nick began to fill the bathtub with water. It was several minutes before the mechanic finally tore himself away from the car engine, rubbing his hands on the legs of his overalls to smear off the grease (not realising he'd already managed to smudge it over his cheeks absentmindedly) and went after his friend. "Y'might wanna use this," he said from the doorway as Nick occupied the bathroom, sat on the edge of the tub as his white coat soaked in the cold water. Ellis held out a box of washing powder he'd found in one of the kitchen cupboards, still half-full. "Not sure how much good it'll be doin' ya with those stains, though.."
Nick took the box, glancing over it once before pouring a hefty amount of the white granules into the water, bending again to swish it around. "Blood washes out, sport. So does brains. And bile."
Ellis tilted his head curiously. "And yew know this... how, 'xactly?"
"Experience."
He always did this. Nick had an annoying habit of alluding to his mysterious past, then pulling away from giving any real information. It drove Ellis to distraction, and he had a feeling Nick was fully aware of this fact, owing to the smirk on his lips as he turned his attention back to the washing. At least, Ellis thought with a hint of venom, the stains didn't seem to be coming out. Probably because of the lack of hot water. He leant in the doorframe, gazing down at the water which was a not-too-pleasant mix of red and brown, before Nick piped up with "Wanna throw your shirt in here too?"
Ellis had no problem with that, pulling the Bull Shifters shirt off over his head with a slight shiver, handing it over to Nick who added it to the mix along with his own button-down blue shirt. Ellis thought to make a comment about how his mom always said never to mix white and colours, but held back when he considered the fact Nick was highly unlikely to pay a blind bit of notice to this advice. Both stood shirtless, the young mechanic couldn't help but watch as Nick emptied and refilled the tub with clean water and powder, the muscles of his back and shoulders shifting and flexing as he moved. They'd both put on a fair bit of muscles over their time together, a mixture of intense activity and lower junk-intake having a visible effect on the pair of them. Ellis had never been fat, but he did enjoy eating a little before the Infection hit. You'd never have guessed that now though, with his body devoid of almost all body fat and replaced with a well-toned physique like he never imagined he'd have. Ellis had taken a while to really notice this himself. Nick hadn't.
"Guess these could do with a wash too... Yours?"
Nick was plucking at his white trousers with a slightly disgusted look, as they were very far from their original colour. Pushing himself to his feet, he seemed to have no problem in undoing the waistband and pulling them off, slipping his shoes from his feet as he did. While he seemed comfortable, Ellis pointedly looked away, suddenly very interested in the bath water. Usually this kind of thing wouldn't bother him, but for reasons unknown to the young man, being in a small space with Nick only in his boxers (black, strangely. Ellis had expected white) made his stomach knot. Nick had noticed this, with a small grin to himself, as he threw the pants into the water with the other clothing. It'd need several rinses to even have a chance of returning to its original colour.
"Going to put yours in, or not?" he persisted, raising an eyebrow at Ellis, trying hard to keep his face as neutral as possible, despite the desire to chuckle at the kids discomfort.
"N-naw, it's cool. Only gonna get dirtier when I'm workin' on the car. Maybe another time," the mechanic hurried his response, his eyes quickly moving to Nick again, the short glance being enough to flush his cheeks slightly as he quickly turned and made his way back to the living room instead. The gambler couldn't help but grin broadly to himself at the young man's naivety. Shaking his head, he returned to trying to wash the now sodden clothing at the bottom of the bathtub, smile soon fading as he realised the blood wasn't shifting..
It wasn't the only thing.
Ellis sat down firmly in the armchair that was now defined as 'his', hands firmly clamped in his lap as he took several long, steadying breaths. What the hell, man? he exclaimed to himself as he pressed down into his groin. He'd never had a... slip-up like that at random, and let alone over a guy. Needless to say, this had freaked him out quite a fair amount. The mechanic screwed his eyes tightly shut, continuing take slow, deep breaths, and trying to sort out what the hell was going on in his clearly zombie-crazed mind. This was not normal, and he needed to get a handle on his. Hell only knew what Nick's reaction would be if he found out...
If only he had known how amused Nick would be over the Georgian's huge over-reaction to something as simple as getting hard by surprise.
To Ellis, this was clearly another sign of the apocalypse. It was at least ten minutes before he'd begun to calm down, and twenty before he got to his feet again. Nick was still washing clothes, and Ellis figured he'd leave him to it. He instead passed straight by the bathroom, grabbing a dish cloth from the kitchen as he did so, and returned to the garage once more, figuring he'd lose himself in unnecessarily cleaning and tinkering with the Honda once again. He polished metal that'd only get greasy again, checked the oil three times, considered starting the ignition and then reconsidered, and generally did a lot of tasks that were for little more than wasting time and occupying his mind. He was so heavily engrossed in the menial jobs that he didn't even notice, almost thirty minutes after starting, that Nick had been watching him from the doorway.
To save Ellis's sanity, he'd at least had the decency to throw a towel around his waist, though both men remained shirtless. The elder of the two had watched the mechanic move under the bonnet of the car, clearly throwing himself into his work as a thin sheen of sweat glistened across his back and shoulders. He couldn't see the young man's face, but he could imagine it was contorted in concentration, as he'd seen it several times before. Nick didn't have the awkwardness around sexual situations that his young companion had, and while it was a shame Ellis wasn't a girl's name, belonging to a tall, curvaceous blonde bombshell with a surprising ability to survive against zombies, he guessed that he could have done a lot worse. Sure the kid wasn't his usual type (his usual type being female, with one or two exceptions in his life that he preferred not to discuss), but there was nothing usual about his life anymore. Sometimes, you just had to see where the chips fell, and play the game by ear. You couldn't pre-plan everything in life, right?
He smiled, a rare, soft smile as he let his eyes wander over the body of the young mechanic, before turning and making his way back to the bathroom. When Ellis looked up, the doorway was empty.