Hanging Out

Who: Ash and Sasha
Where: teh shop
When: afternoon

Ash pulled his head out from under the hood of the Sentra that was sitting in the second bay, wiping his hands on his jeans and sighing. "Motherfucking piece of shit," he muttered under his breath, which wasn't even audible over the music. But it wasn't blasting today, seeing as how Sasha was there, and sometimes they actually had to verbally communicate. The angel wasn't in the best of moods today, and he couldn't really pin down why. The teasing promise of seeing Eury again, the guy-requisite period of time before he darkened Joey's doorstep again, the lack of snow so far, the engine in front of him, something else entirely, he didn't know. He just wanted to beat something senseless with the wrench in his hand. Instead he tossed it down to the concrete and turned to head for the oil-fingerprinted mini-fridge to dig another coke out.

Sasha was inside an Audi on the other bay, and lifted his head out the window as he heard his boss swearing. Ash was usually pretty easygoing, but his attitude seemed a bit edgier today. "What's wrong this time?" It had been almost ten minutes since Ash's last outburst, and he'd thought the big guy had calmed down some. Apparently not, naturally.

"Fucking transmission, I swear to god they don't make cars for mechanics anymore," he said, leaning against the counter and slugging back some of the carbonated sugar. He hadn't been drinking today, on purpose. Not yet anyway. It was a Mean Drunk day, and if he was going to have that vibe going on, he could do it later at a bar when he was alone, not at work. His eyes ticked over to Sasha and what he was tinkering with. "How's that goin'?"

"Electrical's fucked up. Some kinda mold or something ate the connectors, cleaning 'em out and replacing. Long and boring, couple bloody knuckles, but not hard." Sasha settled down on the seat, stretching his back, which had begun to ache from staying bent over. "No good for the posture, though." He grinned his boss's way, he'd learned pretty quickly that Ash didn't want him to cower just because the management was in a bad mood.

"Not exactly the most ergonomically-friendly job," Ash agreed with a very faint smile. Even with as in shape as he was, he went to bed muscle-sore more often from work than he ever did from his duty. It was definitely a career of stretching and reaching and wedging your arms into some tight spots. He glanced at the clock over the window to the lobby. "When do you wanna cut out today?" he asked.

Sasha's immediate thought was 'now', as he thought about running over to Sammy's for a bit of hanging out, and possibly other things, but he restrained himself. "Uh, I dunno. This won't take more than an hour from now to finish off, then an hour to run another diagnostic to make sure it's good. Half hour if I skip the steps that aren't electrical. So yours sounds like it's the one that'll take longer."

"I'm not gonna get that bitch pulled out tonight," he said, nodding toward the car he'd been working on and shaking his head. He could spend the time on it, but he wasn't positive that he wouldn't end up breaking more in it that he wouldn't want to fix later. "Wanna finish up the rewire, and I'll do the diag and you can head out?" he suggested, always willing to compromise on workload.

"That'd be nice!" Sasha nodded eagerly, then reconsidered. "Or uh...we could crack the electric together, get it done fast if you're not gonna do the transmission. Then maybe we can get something to eat? We hadn't had a chance to hang lately, and you said we should, so..." He shrugged. He didn't want to take advantage of his boss's good will, even if it meant delaying his chance to go surprise the cutest wereraven ever.

Ash considered. He wasn't sure that he really felt like hanging out, but maybe it would force him into a better mood. And working on the electrical on the Audi might actually make him feel less like he was spinning his wheels. So he nodded after a moment and slurped down more of the soda and setting it aside. "Sure, sounds good." He moved over to see where Sasha was and get down to helping.

All told, it took only half an hour of combined work to get the Audi back into good shape once they cracked down onto it. Sasha's nimble fingers got the connectors into place while Ash's superior knowledge of the diagnostics box let him test the parts that were already done, something Sasha just hadn't learned to grasp quite yet. The job finally closed up, they called the owner and left a message before starting to box up the shop with the eagerness of the 'off early' set.

"...so I'm underneath the car when the jack holding it up just BENDS and the thing lands right across my thighs. Now I'm still in that ditch so it doesn't do anything except bruise me cause I'm so low, but everyone was screaming and worried, so I just start shouting 'oh God, my legs!' And that was how everyone says I ruined Christmas." Sasha never really got tired of telling that story, though it was the first time he'd ever told it to his boss. He wiped at his face, feeling absolutely peppy now that work was done.

Ash cracked up into his hearty laugh, mostly because of the last line. After it had died down into chuckles, he plunked the wrench in his hand down into the box and stepped back, arming off his brow and shaking his head at the same time. "Shit man, that's one for the grandkids," he said, amused. He shut the hood on the car for the last time and picked up a rag to wipe the paint off. "Lemme run upstairs and clean off real quick and we'll blow this joint for food." He paused and looked the younger man up and down. "You wanna use my shower?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Uh, sure." Sasha nodded, pleased with the thought of cleaning up before they went to hang out. He had a spare set of clothes in his bag, usually just for changing if he spilled something caustic on his work clothes, but getting an actual shower and changing into something clean would feel pretty damn good. "Sure it's not a problem?"

The angel snorted a chuckle. "Yeah, god forbid some grubby man dirty up the joint," he said dismissively, motioning for Sasha to follow as he headed for the side door that opened up to the metal staircase that led up to his apartment. Ash had lived on the road, where showers were an absolute commodity, and he never minded sharing. Not that Sasha was nomadic, but still. They were filthy, and it'd be faster than him heading home first.

Sasha was quick with the shower. He grabbed his bag and rushed off, and was under the water in less than a minute. He took enough time to get clean, but that was about all. He knew the difference between a shower to become socially acceptable and a shower to relax under, and this was obviously the former. He scrubbed all the necessaries and then hopped back out, drying off and changing into his fresh clothes before headed back to his employer. Damn but that had made him feel good.