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“I have,” Luke said flatly. “And far as I can tell every coffee shop within miles don’t know how to take any order that ain’t fifteen bucks worth of weird seasonal flavors and gratuitous Italian.”

“I was literally just thinking the same thing.” she said. Her voice a bit grumbly. She was aggravated. There was no point in hiding it because it was obvious he was annoyed by the situation just as much. “I don’t even think I’ve tried anything else around here.”

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Luke followed the other’s gaze and nearly blanched in mild embarrassment; he, of course, didn’t have any problem with the noisy, rusted clunker he drove - it got the job done, and that’s all he needed - but the judgement from Mr. Shiny New Toy here was practically palpable. “Yes, I can handle it from here,” he muttered bitterly, dropping his gaze to focus on his seatbelt.

Luka shrugged his shoulders and brushed off the thanks. “Isn’t really a problem,” he said simply, glancing down at the car before looking back up at the other male. “Is there anything you need me to do, or do you think you can handle it from here?” he questioned, glancing back at his new car from the corner of his eyes- a graduation present from his father, of course.

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“Fantastic,” Luke groaned as he stepped away from the door. “Only decent cup of coffee around is closed for remodelin’. Where’m I supposed to get my caffeine kick now?”

“’We’ve currently shut down to do a little remodeling..’” Kristine read allowed the sign that was tapped to the middle of the glass door. In head head she continued but was obviously annoyed. The place had the best coffee in town and now they were closed for repairs. Just one more thing to add to her day.

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A part of Luke was a bit embarrassed as the car was pushed onto the shoulder of the road and out of the way of the coming traffic, embarrassed that he hadn’t been able to provide the fix himself. Of course, that was the part that wasn’t relieved to be out of the way and glad that he’d only had to do the steering to get there. He rolled down the window and muttered an obligatory, “Thanks.”

Rolling his neck slightly, Luka took a deep breath, before releasing it with a soft grunt, rolling the car forward. He’d never say it wasn’t heavy- that was absolutely ridiculous- but he’d definitely thrown around heavier things. It also helped that Luke was steering- when he’d done the same thing his senior year of high school as he’d moved his principal’s car into the tennis courts, he’d done it by himself. That’d been a pain in the ass.

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“Much obliged,” Luke muttered as he turned back to the car. “Then don’t let me hold you up. You got somewhere to be goin’, get goin’.”

“Well I have these things called legs that are going to enable me to get where I’m going, so you can block the road for all I care.”

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“Nah, roofer,” Luke answered. “And, you know, roof accessory expert. Plumbers handle the indoor stuff, I get the gutters.” His eyes darted to his watch again and he nodded. “Probably should. Hey, thanks again for the help. I owe you one, yeah?”

“You’re a plumber?” He asked before sliding his hands in his pockets. “I won’t keep you. If you hurry, I’m sure you’ll make it on time.”

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“But you were gonna, right?” Luke said, finally glancing up. “Or, well, if you weren’t, you’d be the first today. You’d think everyone here’s got the biggest emergency of their lives to get to, way they’re yellin’ at me to get outta the road.”

The early morning was always a fun time, though in Chloe’s mind it was only the coffee that made it that way. Making her way down the street, her drink in hand she stopped, seeing the boy having troube with his car. “I didn’t say anything.”

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“Work,” he said. “Well, work site, anyhow. House just past the highway here that needs its gutters fixed up.” He grimaced as he looked at his wristwatch. “And I just know they’re gonna try and weasel out of payin’ full price just ‘cause I’m a few minutes late.”

Zachary decided against telling Luke how easy the mistake was to fix, merely because the kid seemed like he was having a bad day. As soon as he saw the male’s hand reach out for his, he gripped it warmly and shook it with a small smile playing on his lips. “Zak,” he nodded. “Nice to meet you, Luke. Where were you going to before all this happened?”

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Luke was half-tempted to refuse to do what the other guy said, just on principle, but admittedly the car did badly need to get out of the road. So, gritting his teeth, he climbed back into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind him. “Whenever you’re ready, Hercules.”

Lukas couldn’t help but roll his eyes. What was with people assuming it was actually that hard to push a car? He’d pushed a damn short bus on his own before- it wasn’t impossible. “Get in the fucking car,” he muttered, walking around the the back of the vehicle. “It would help if you steered, got it?”

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Luke turned the keys in the ignition and, after the cars usual series of sputtering and growling, the engine finally gave in and roared to life. Luke’s brows shot up in surprise as he shifted the car into park and got back out to rejoin the other man at the hood. “How the hell’d you manage to get it back runnin’ so quick?” he asked. “Wait, actually - don’t tell me, it was somethin’ really small and stupid I missed, wasn’t it? Christ.” He sighed. “Well, thanks for the help.” He held out a hand still partly coated in grease. “I’m Luke, by the way.”

“Not a problem,” he responded almost immediately with a shrug. “This is only going to be the seventh time I use ‘helping someone with a broken down car’ as an excuse,” he shared a light chuckle before bracing his palms on the car’s back window. He began to push with a heavy force before giving in and using his shoulders as a stronger weight. The car jolted a bit to the left, pushing it further, giving the other cars enough space to drive round without causing traffic.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he repositioned his posture, wiping his palms on his jeans and walking back to the front. “Alright, let’s see what’s wrong with this baby.” He muttered as he pulled his head under the hood once again. Fiddling with the wires a little, he noticed a loose wire and it didn’t take him long to find where it was meant to be. A laugh escaped his lips as he shoved the wire back in place. “Try now?”

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“Well, if I could figure out how to get the car out of the damn road, I would,” Luke huffed. “But in case you ain’t noticed, cars run kinda on the heavy side. And I really don’t wanna have to shell out the cash for a tow truck.”

“Sir yes sir,” Luka muttered sarcastically, leaning farther over to look into the engine, eyes scanning it quickly. “Judging from the lack of anything looking badly broken, and the piece of rubber back there-” Gesturing to the road behind them as he looked up. “I’d say you broke a belt. Which means you need a new one in order to fix it. Wouldn’t take more than an hour to put in, but- you still need to get off the road in the mean time.”

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“Sure, I guess,” Luke said, straightening up and stepping aside. Not like he had been making much progress with it, no point in not letting someone else have a go. At the other guy’s suggestion, he raised a brow. “If you’re sure you’re up to pushin’,” he said as he stepped toward the driver’s seat, opening the door with a creak. “And, um, thanks,” he added. “Sorry if I’m makin’ you late or whatever.”

Taking in what the male in front of him had said, he nodded with intent. “Can I take a look?” He asked, though he didn’t know much about cars, with Zak’s luck he was familiar with the whole car-breaking-down-in-the-middle-of-the-road situation. Waiting for Luke to give him the go-ahead, he stepped forward bending his body under the car hood.

As his fingers trailed over the wiring, his attention was caught by Luke’s shouting. “Alright, bud, how about you get in the car, steer and I’ll shove the thing to the side, yeah?” He tried to speak as gently as he could, taking Luke’s mood into account. Pulling himself out from under the hood, he stepped around the car, hands on the back window. “Let me know when to push.” 

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“Thanks,” Luke said, barely sparing a glance before he was digging around under the hood again. “Somethin’ has to have come loose,” he muttered. God, he wished it had just been the fan belt. He actually knew how to fix the fan belt; for the rest of the car, he was certainly much more clueless than he pretended to be.”

Charlie looked at him and nodded, “Alright i’ll admit, all this is going over my head.” He spoke, with a small shrug, though when he mentioned the flashlight he nodded. “yea.. that I think I have.” He went back to his car and in the trunk pulled out the flashlight. “Got it.” 

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Whoever this jackass was, Luke was very quickly discovering that it was unlikely he’d just made a new friend. He glared daggers at the other man as he wrapped his hand into his shirt and gritted his teeth. “Wow, sorry, didn’t realize that it was Auto Repair Trivia Day,” he spat. “If you’re such a fuckin’ car whiz, you try and fix the hunk of junk. If not, then kindly shut up and go away.”

Luka rolled his eyes, arms flexing as he crossed them over his chest to watch the other male- well, hurt himself evidently. A quiet chuckle escaped him as he hissed, single eyebrow raising just slightly. “Actually, no. Seeing you hurt yourself is way more entertaining,” he said simply, smirk playing on his lips. “Yes, somethin’ is overheating. Can you tell me what it is? I promise it’s not a hard question- it’ll only take a few seconds of thought. I’ll give you a hint- there’s a few options. One or two, at most. I know. I rebuilt my car when I was a teenager because I got bored.”

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“Tires are fine, and there better not be nothin’ wrong with the battery, I just got it replaced,” Luke groaned, wiping his forehead and leaving a thick line of dark grease near his hairline before leaning back under the hood to continue his search. “Beats the hell outta me what’s goin’ wrong with it.”

He grimaced as another car honked, swerving into the other lane to avoid him. “I know!” Luke shouted at the driver. “It ain’t my fault! I’d move it outta the way if I could,” he continued, back at normal talking volume. “But it’s a bit heavier than what I usually can bench, you see.”

It was pretty much an average day, the highway was often free of traffic this early but there appeared to be a bit of a hold up. Though from Zachary’s distance he couldn’t tell what exactly had been going on, it was obvious it were either an accident or annoying traffic wardens.

After around ten minutes, he noticed what had been holding up all the traffic and instead of driving around the car, he decided to park just behind the car because he noticed the vulnerable boy’s face in need for help.

As he got out the car, the unfamiliar face threw a comment and rather than Zak shooting back, he gave the kid a break. “Relax, relax. I wanted to offer you some help actually. Dead battery? Flat tyre? What’s the problem?” He said as he approached the vehicle. “But first thing’s first, we gotta get this thing out the way.”

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“I don’t need help,” Luke snapped, shooting the other man a bit of a glare as he leaned over under the hood and started testing the gears, searching for something to have come loose. “And, yeah, course I know what I’m doin’. More or less...” he admitted. “Look, I ain’t no mechanic, but I know my way around this car here. But it takes a bit of time to figure it out. There’s enough room to go around me if you’re in that much of a hurry, so you can - shit!” he bit out, hastily yanking his hand back with a hiss. “Okay... somethin’s overheatin’...”

Luka raised an eyebrow and settled for staying quiet as the other male apparently searched for a way to fix the car that’d broken down. After a few more moments, he got fed up with the wait and spoke up, eyes slightly narrowed. “If ya woulda given me a chance to speak, I woulda offered some help,” he muttered, voice slightly scratchy- remnants of a hangover from the night before, mixed with the smoke that messed with his voice.

“You wanna tell me what happened so I can help, or should I just find an alternate route to work, since you’ll be here for a while, inevitably,” he added, leaning one of his hands on the side of the car, tilting his head. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

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Luke shook his head with a sigh. “Nah, I can figure it out, it does this sometimes. Although, normally this means the fan belt’s come off, but that don’t seem to be the case this time. Could probably use a flashlight or somethin’, don’t know if you got that on you?”

Charlie looked at him as he walked up to the guy, not wanting to cause any trouble. “Hey.. man it’s fine.. do you need help or something?”