#ltg kassam

[litgwritersroom]

The Fix

S2 | Kassam/MC | 5200+ words | @justtuesdays

Written to celebrate Tammy's bday, Kassam is working in technical support and comes across a memorable customer.

Standing behind the store counter, chin propped on her hand, Alix watched the front door open and close as every passing customer made their way in and out of the store. It wasn’t her first time at the store, but it was her first time on her own and it felt unusually quiet. She typically spent time discussing tips and tricks with the store manager. Except, he was out and it was only because she had offered to cover for him. Now, she almost regretted having to man the foreign counter on her own if it wasn’t for the clenched jaw and seething glare of the raven-haired man storming towards her with a laptop at hand.

Straightening up and quirking the corners of her lips into a smile, Alix gave the man a few seconds before she regurgitated her well-memorized script. 

“Hi! This is Pear Support, how can I assist you?” The man narrowed his dark-blue eyes at her as he set his laptop on the counter and peered over her shoulder. 

“I’m looking for Carl. Is he in?” Following his line of sight, Alix scrunched up her brows trying to jog her memory. The name seemed familiar.

“Car-Carl? Oh, you mean Healy. He’s not in today, and probably won’t be in until Monday.” The raven-haired man glanced at his watch and then at his laptop, mumbling under his breath. He gave one last glimpse over Alix’s shoulder before he ran a hand through his hair and huffed.

“But, if you tell me what’s wrong, I’m sure we can get this fixed.” Alix tilted her head hoping to catch the guy’s eyes and transmit assurances she couldn’t find the words to. 

“F**k.” Alix furrowed her brows, watching as the blue-eyed man vented his frustrations to no one in particular. 

“Shit.” He uttered as he grabbed his laptop aiming to slam it against the counter, hesitating only at the last second. Alix winced. 

“Right. Well, Mr–” Alix exchanged glances with the laptop and its owner, thinking through every possible scenario. She was sure she had the answer to the problem, but she needed him to drop his tight hold on the laptop. She swallowed down her worries about the piece of tech and opened her mouth to ask him his name once more.

“Look, I need this fixed, actually fixed,” his fingers loosen their hold on the laptop. Alix noted his voice lost some of its anger. “Not that bullshit, one of your guys pulled–” Alix's ear perked at the note, knowing well what the man was referring to. She had only been briefed the day before of the horror one of the Tech guys had a habit of offering in addition to his tech services.

“Leaving you the gift of their music as a bonus?” Alix cringed, voicing the fact. How the tech guy still had his job wasn’t a mystery, he was good at his job. The matter that baffled her was how he managed to not find himself with a list of restraining orders against him. He had no restraint when it came to his other enthusiasms. His music was evidence of that and so was his lack of fans.

“I wouldn’t even call it that.” Alix let her eyes meet his blue eyes and snorted. 

“Harsh, but true.” The man shrugged, his clenched jaw relaxing.

“Mind showing me the issue?” Alix tapped the laptop lightly and took a step back, giving him space to decide whether or not to trust her with his laptop. He bit his lip glancing between the laptop and Alix. She sighed. She was familiar with the bond between a man and his tech. Especially someone who had the misfortune of getting Felix as his Tech guy. Of course, the customer wanted Healy after that fiasco, she wouldn’t trust anyone else either.

“Ok. Do you want to start with what happened?” Alix pushed knowing she wouldn’t get her hands on the laptop soon. She could at least partially assess the issue if she could get some background on what had occurred, or what the man thought had occurred.

“I was editing a few tracks one moment when my computer blinked twice, I saw the pear logo and the screen turned black.” With pursed lips, Alix nodded as she ran every possible reason that the black screen of death would appear. 

“I’ve already plugged it into the charger– nothing.” Alix gave the man and mentally crossed that off the list. She probably shouldn’t have but noting that this was not his first time at Pear Support she gave him her vote of confidence.

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask. But, at least you got that one covered.” Alix kept going through the list. 

“I’ve also taken the battery out and tested it with the charger only,” he added and Alix stopped her mental assessment to give the man her full attention. His blue eyes met hers and she raised a brow seemingly impressed.

“This is definitely not your first rodeo,” she remarked, closing the distance between her and the laptop.

“—the first time,” she clarified, seeing his bunched brows aimed at her.

“Can you fix it?” He stated as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, laptop left on the counter on its own. 

“Is your work backed up?” Alix questioned. She knew of a few ways to go about fixing the laptop, but it was dependent on whether she’d need to be careful with its saved contents. She stared at the laptop waiting for an answer. But none came. She let her eyes wander up to the man’s face and if the hand rubbing the back of his neck was any indicator, that was a no.

“I’ll take that as a no. Hmm, give me a few hours and I’ll let you know if I’ll be able to fix this.” Alix restrained herself from shaking her head. This man was truly living at the edge, not backing up his files. Did this make things more complicated? Slightly. Would she cower under the new challenge? That was a no. She lived for a challenge. A technological challenge that is.

Alix went to grab the laptop off of the counter, but a hand pressed on the laptop stopped her. She stared at the silver rings around his fingers wondering how she hadn’t noticed them before. 

“Few hours?” Breaking out of her thoughts, Alix met the man’s stare. 

“I’m getting,” releasing her hold on the laptop, she waved her hands in their general direction, “that there’s some urgency behind this.” The man glanced between her name tag and her face. Alix let him take his time, he ultimately had two options and given his state, there was a 95% chance he would choose the one that got his laptop fixed. He sighed.

“Leave me your name, phone number and–” Alix began to recite another one of the lines she had memorized, though she had been promised that this would be the last she’d speak, she was finding that this man had never crossed Healy’s mind when it came to customer interaction.

“My phone number?” Alix nodded, noticing as his eyes narrowed once more on her. 

“So I can call you to pick up your laptop?” Alix pulled out a pen and a slip of paper and offered them to the man. His eyes scanned the piece of paper stamped with the Pear Company’s logo.

“Right.” He took the pen and paper Alix offered and quickly scribbled down his information. Once he was finished he left the pen and paper on the counter. Alix grabbed the slip of paper and read it to herself. His handwriting was legible.

K. Malek020-xxx-xxxX

“It’ll be a few hours, promise. And, I never go back on my promises.” Alix offered the man a smile, which felt a lot more natural than the one she had practiced multiple times this morning on her computer’s reflection. Fixing was something she could and promising to do just that was second nature. The blue-eyed customer huffed and didn’t say anything else before he turned around and left.

“Oi, bossy-lady?” Startled by the voice, Alix took a breath before she took a look at the intruder. She had placed a clear sign on the office door that she wanted to be left alone. Yet, it seemed that hadn't stopped the blue-haired guy, standing on the other side of the desk. 

“I think you mean, boss-lady, Felix.” Alix sighed. Felix was Felix, or so Healy had tried to explain to her after she had been first introduced to his team. Felix hadn’t needed an introduction, his hair had done it for her. But, somehow she had warmed up to the idea of Felix as a colleague. The guy was bright and so was his personality, someone only needed to remind him that they didn’t always run at the same wavelength as he did.

“But, Arjun said–” Alix raised a brow on that note. Felix rubbed the back of his neck, realization hitting. “Nevermind. We’re headed out for lunch, thought you’d like to join us?” Alix smiled at the offer. The first time he had asked, she was sure the others had put him up for them, afraid to ask Alix who had become their pseudo-boss. But, she’d come to learn that Felix just did Felix. She admired his authenticity and unbridled kindness. She peered over her glasses at the laptop in front of her.

“No. I’m fine, thanks, Felix.” Felix squinted in her general direction and Alix wanted to scold him for not wearing his glasses. Apparently, he had a reputation to uphold and his glasses didn’t fit the look, or whatever. He took a few steps closer to the desk and glanced between the open laptop and her computer.

“What are you working on?” Alix opened her mouth to speak, but Felix didn’t give her time to respond before he answered himself.

“Woah! That’s DJ King’s laptop.” Alix's attempts to grab the laptop away from Felix were useless as Felix turned the laptop towards him and took a look at the open command terminal. Humming as he read through the commands Alix had yet to run, Alix kept her eyes on Felix’s face. Felix's face always corroborated with his thoughts, and the current pout meant he was still working on putting together what she was working through.

“You know he’s playing the Underground this weekend…” he trailed off as he pursed his lips in thought. Alix had no clue what Felix was going on about. As far as she was concerned, Mr. Malek was just the owner of the laptop; everything else didn’t matter.

“He’s really making a name for himself. He could do with a few pointers– If you want, I can take a look at it after lunch,” Felix offered, his light blue eyes sparkling at the opportunity. Alix shook her head knowing exactly how it would end.

“No need, I think I’ve got it covered.” Felix shrugged, placing the computer back on her desk. Giving the command terminal a glimpse, Alix closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’ve poked around his laptop a few times, I can stick around and–” Alix groaned. Opening her eyes, she shot Felix a glare.

“Bloody hell, Haywood, weren’t you heading out?” Alix gestured to the office door. Rubbing the back of his neck, Felix offered Alix a sheepish smile.

“Um, yeah, right. I’ll go–” Felix fumbled over his words, as he walked backwards out of the office and out of sight.

“How does Carl do it?” Alix mumbled to herself as she pressed the palms of her hands against her cheeks down to her chin. With an exhale, Alix shook the previous few minutes off of her and locked her eyes back onto the laptop screen that waited for her.

“‘Ello?” Kassam answered his phone on the first ring. Voice still heavy with sleep he was putting off as he sat on the carpeted floor of his flat, notebook at hand keyboard under the other.

“Is this Mr. Malek? It’s Alix from Pear Support– I’ve managed to fix your laptop. It was a minor circuitry fix, one of the chips…” the voice trailed off. Slowly registering everything that was being said, Kassam sat up in his seat and cleared his throat.

“What I meant to say is that it’s all taken care of. I do recommend you be more gentle with the charger, it seems,” Kassam stopped listening as he stared out the window, noticing the warm darkness beneath all the city lights. 

“What time is it?” Kassam asked no one in particular, forgetting there was someone on the other side of the call.

“I’m not really sure, I’ve been working for a few hours– holy shit. I’m sorry. I lost track of time and,” Kassam chuckled, his exhaustion forgotten for the time being. The brunette had kept her word, so much so, she had called the minute she had resolved his issue not caring for the time.

“What of my audio files?” Kassam closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, waiting for the answer. He was sure there wasn’t any chance those would be saved and had spent the last hours trying to recover all his hard work through sheer memory.

“The system created temporary files, so I was able to recuperate the majority of your work.” Kassam sighed in relief, shoving the notebook out of his hand, a glimpse of a smile playing at the end of his lips.

“Can I pick it up, now?” There was a light hum at the other end of the line. 

“It’s three in the morning–” He heard the Pear Support technician say before she cleared her throat and continued, “I don’t see why not, it’s not like I’ve got to go far.” Kassam didn’t give the woman a chance to rethink her answer, he stood up from his seat, located his keys and was ready to head out.

“I’ll be there in thirty,” he uttered into the phone, with a smile on his face and made his way out of his flat.

“Hi! This is Pear Support, how can we–” Walking towards the counter, Alix examined the man standing at the counter back towards her, silver headphones on his head. With a closer look, she found herself examining his profile. Dark hair, pale skin, the man seemed familiar besides the bright headphones which made her think of Felix’s own pair. Shaking her head off her thoughts she tapped his shoulder to get his attention. She was met with electric blue eyes and a hint of a smile. 

“Mr. Malek? Did your laptop break again? I can assure you that we have no problem with providing you with a new laptop at –” Alix fumbled for words. She never encountered disgruntled customers. Her track record lacked failures. She was out of her league. Appeasing the customer was all she could think of.

“No. My laptop is fine. I actually came over…to–” Setting his headphones around his neck, Alix waited for the man to explain what the issue was. If the laptop was fine, what other reason could he have to show up at her counter?

“My phone, it’s acting up,” the man looked down at his phone and held it out to her, “I’ve tried to listen to a few samples and it just…um…freezes?” Alix bit her lip and looked at the onyx colored PearPhone in front of her. 

“Freezes?” Alix questioned as she grabbed the phone off his hands, their fingers briefly brushing against each other in the exchange. She mentally waved away the chill that ran through her as a byproduct of the blowing air conditioner. Leaning in closer, the man unlocked the phone for her and swiped the screen attempting to show her the exact issue.

“Uh, I try to click on the file and it just freezes the screen,” he explained as he pressed on the said file. The file loaded for a few seconds and stopped. Not long, the app closed off on its own and Alix’s was met with the homescreen.

“Oh. Well, let me take a look,” Alix looked up from the phone and found her face a hand’s width away from his. His gaze was on her. She opened her mouth and closed it right after, unable to finish her thought. She couldn’t figure out what she had planned to say next, not with him so close. 

“Kassam?” And it seemed that Alix didn’t have to. Clearing her throat she took a few steps back, giving the newcomer space to stand between them. Joining them was Healy the manager of the store, sporting a nicely pressed button up and slacks. Healy held out a hand to Kassam with a friendly smile on his face. 

“Carl! You’re back.” Kassam went for Carl’s hand, but Carl pulled him into a one-sided hug, giving Kassam a good pat on the back.

“It was a simple cold. I wouldn’t have taken off, but Alix here wouldn’t budge–” Both sets of eyes, one green and the other an electrifying blue, turned to her. Alix rolled her eyes, nudging Carl with her elbow.

“No one wants your snot in their tech, Healy. And you’re the manager, you’ve got to set an example— sick days are a healthy habit.” Alix repeated herself for the ninth time that day. Carl chuckled, nudging her shoulder with his arm. 

“The pot calling the kettle black.” Alix shrugged.

“I don’t actually work here, now do I?” Alix turned to give Carl a view of the smirk on her face. He shook his head, chuckling. She smiled and would have continued had she not felt someone stare on the side of her face. She turned slowly and remembered the phone she had in her hand.

“Right, sorry about that. But, seeing that Healy is here, and you asked for his help initially, I’ll let him take care of this,” Alix placed the phone on the counter and motioned for Carl to take a look, “nice seeing you again despite the circumstances, Mr. Malek.” Alix offered him a cordial smile and took her leave.

“So phone problems, huh?” Carl watched as his blue-eyed friend followed Alix as she returned to the office. But didn’t make any mention of it as he continued, “I’ve got this covered.”  

Kassam turned to look at Carl, waiting for him, phone between the two. 

“She doesn’t work here?” Kassam stuck his hands in his pockets, afraid that he’d take the phone off the counter and walk away defeated. Carl had already caught him staring, if he caught his lie, Kassam would be discovered. 

“Not exactly. Is there a problem?” Carl lost his smile, his eyes narrowed at him. 

“No. She fixed my laptop. I thought she worked here,” Kassam mumbled. Carl shook his head. Carl grabbed the phone off the counter and held it out for Kassam. Kassam looked at the phone and peered over his shoulder, staring at the brunette sat in the back, eyes focused on the computer in front of her.  

“Do you think she’d mind taking a look at my phone?” Kassam nudged his chin towards the office. Carl looked over his shoulder and back at Kassam.

“Not really. But, I can assure you I can have it fixed by tomorrow.” Kassam shook his head and Carl raised a brow.

“But, she can have it done before then, can’t she?” Carl sighed.

“Yes, but she’s not really–” Kassam narrowed his eyes at Carl, Carl held his hands up defensively, “Fine, Kassam, but don’t you go sharing that we’ve got her around. She’s only here for a few months as a personal favor.” That caught Kassam’s ear.

“Personal favor?” Kasasm questioned, his mind concocting several ideas of who Alix could possibly be to Carl, for a personal favor. He hoped it wasn’t something serious.

“Old college roommate of Persie’s.” Kassam let out a breath, he hadn’t even realized he was holding. Carl gave him a quizzical look. Kassam shook his head, gave Carl a friendly smack to his shoulder before he turned around and left.

“Hi, Mr. Malek, this is–” Phone between her chin and shoulder, Alix greeted the man on the other end of the line. 

“Alix.” Caught by surprise, the words became stuck in her throat. Alix grabbed her phone and looked at the number on the screen. Had she called the right number?

“How did you know?” Alix asked as she returned the phone back between her chin and shoulder. 

“A hunch.” Alix’s lips quirked into a smile, unknowingly. 

“Right, well, you can come to pick up your phone now,” Alix stared at the said phone on her desk. It hadn’t taken that long to fix the phone, it hadn’t been more than removing temporary files and restarting the phone. She planned to explain the procedure to him, so that he could do it himself.

“That’s great. I, uh, I actually have some trouble with another laptop, do you mind…” Alix hummed her response. It seemed she had found herself building that bond between customer and trusted technician.

“Yeah, sure, no problem. You can drop it off, and I’ll work on it later this afternoon.” Alix jotted down the new incoming tech into her schedule and blocked out the rest of the afternoon just in case.

“Nice. I’ll be there in thirty.”

“Hi! This is Pear Support, how can we help you? DJ King! Woah, your set last night was,” Kassam clenched his jaw at the sight of the blue-haired man in front of him. When he had rung the bell for help, he had expected to meet the familiar brunette with the light green eyes. Instead, he was met with the spawn of the bubblegum fairy with a name tag that read, Felix. 

“Anything I can help you with?” Felix eagerly smiled at him. 

“I’m actually looking for Alix. Is she around?” Kassam took a step back, afraid the blue-haired man would take their close proximity as an opening to engage in more conversation.

“The boss-lady? You’re the bloke that dropped the drink on their laptop? Shit like that always happens to me. I thought the great DJ King would be different…” Felix rambled on and on. Kassam didn’t even pretend to listen to him. He peered over Felix’s shoulder, looking for the brunette he was here for. 

“Have you given my demo a look?” Kassam stopped searching for Alix and shot the blue-haired man a piercing stare.

“Your music is utter–” Kassam never got to finish as Carl appeared beside the annoying technician as if to save his employee from his onslaught of insults.

“Kassam! What are you doing here, again? Is Tim’s laptop acting up again?” Kassam nodded, avoiding the curious looks Felix was giving him. He could deal with fans, but something about Felix always pushed his buttons.

“He spilled a pitcher of shandies all over his shite and couldn’t come to pick it up. So, I offered to come.” Kassam explained through gritted teeth. Carl turned to look at Felix and motioned him to move along. But, Felix’s eyes were locked on Kassam. Kassam kept his eyes on Carl, fist stuffed into his pockets.

“Right. What’s this, your sixteenth time in the shop? At this point, we should just have Pear Support build a place at your flat,” Carl joked. Neither Felix nor Kassam laughed. 

“Felix, can you call Alix, she’s in the back.” Carl patted Felix on the shoulder, shaking him out of his daze. Kassam rolled his eyes. Felix nodded his head still in his fannatical haze, turned around and walked towards the office looking over his shoulder every few steps.

“So, what’s next? You PearWatch isn’t syncing? Or is your Laptop running slow again?” Carl asked, hands on the counter eyes narrowed at him. Kassam returned the questioning look.

“What are you saying?” Kassam hadn’t showed up at the store for anything of his this time around. He was here to pick up for a mate of his. He didn’t see the issue.

“Persie says that you’ve been using all this tech support nonsense as an excuse to see Alix. I disagreed with her at first because you’re you,” Carl admitted and watched him closely. His eyes looked him over and Kassam glared at him while under scrutiny.

“I was only having issues because your wannabe DJ trashed my laptop the first time around,” Kassam spat out, trying to get Carl’s focus off of him. Carl groaned.

“I told you, we haven’t allowed Felix around your tech since then,” Kassam scoffed as he crossed his arms and gave Carl a look. Carl rolled his eyes. 

“It still doesn’t explain you bringing Tim’s and Talia’s tech with stupid excuses. Did he even spill anything on his laptop?” Kassam clicked his tongue and placed his hands on the counter, leveling off with his friend across from him.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Carl cleared his throat, looking around the store before he met his stare.

“I’m telling you to bite the bullet, you prat,” Carl lowered his voice. Kassam scowled, but that didn’t deter Carl from continuing, “Alix is only oblivious to this because she’s got a streak for helping idiots and getting sucked into her work. If you plan to ever ask her out, I’d do it soon. She’s good with idiots, not the insane.” Kassam glowered at Carl and yet, Carl’s stare didn’t waver. 

“Mr. Malek, as promised, good as new.” Kassam recognized the voice and looked in the direction it was coming. The brunette was walking towards them, face glued to the laptop in her arm, Tim’s laptop. Kassam watched as she tore her eyes away from the screen and offered him a smile. 

Carl cleared his throat and Kassam could feel warmth spread up his neck and on to his face. Kassam caught Carl’s smirk from the corner of his eyes and winced. There was no way he could lie his way out of this one now.

“Felix and I, have a few things to take care of,” Carl gave Alix’s shoulder a squeeze and shot Kassam a wink, “We’ll leave you to it.” Kassam waited for Carl to disappear before he softened his scowl into a friendly smile.

“Oh. Is there something else you’d like me to fix?” Alix held Tim’s laptop out to him and Kassam grabbed it from her hands, letting his fingers rest on hers for a few moments more than necessary. She stared back at him and smiled before she extracted her hands out of his. 

“I- uh- it’s my phone again.” Kassam placed the laptop on the counter and patted his jacket pockets for his phone. Finding the phone in his jean’s pocket, he pulled it out and held it out to her. Kassam looked around the store hoping for some sort of help, something believable.

“It’s the brightness…it’s still too bright on the lowest level and,” Kassam began, but Alix’s giggle broke him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, that’s simple. If you go into your setting,” Alix took his phone, plugged in the password he had taught her and showed him the settings page. He leaned in closer to her, watching as she scrolled through his phone and his eyes landed on her lips. She turned to look at him and the look she was giving him, of pure innocence shook him out of his enamored stupor.

“I lied…” Alix furrowed his brows at him. Kassam swallowed down his nerves. 

“Okay. Did you drop your phone? PearCare covers most–” Kassam would have let her ramble on and on as she tended to do whenever she wanted to appease his worries. But, he couldn’t do that to her now, not here where they had an audience.

“No. My phone is fine. I’ve been making up excuses and breaking most of the technology around so I could come here.” Alix stopped speaking and blinked a few times. She set the phone down onto the counter and pushed it closer to him. Kassam winced at the gesture.

“Why would you do that? Is this some sort of scam? Because I’ll have you know, I’ve fixed all your items and left them as good as new.” Alix took a few steps back, arms crossed, fixed gaze and a frown on her lips.

“No. No. This is coming out all wrong. I’ve been making up all these excuses to ask you out.” Kassam admitted, rather loudly but it didn’t matter to him anymore. Alix blinked once. Twice. But, no words came out of her mouth. Uncrossing her arms, she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. 

“Ask me out for what?” She questioned, tilted her head quizzically.

“On a date!” They both turn around startled by the holler. Carl shakes his head at the two of them and pretends to be looking at a clipboard in his hand. But, he was the only one around and Kassam was starting to believe he had been listening to their exchange this whole time.

“Oh. I– don’t know.” Alix stuttered out, her eyes looking at everything else but him. Kassam tried to take a step closer and grunted when the corner of the counter met his torso. 

“Say yes!” Both he and Alix turned to look at Carl, who had his eyes fixed on them. Kassam narrowed his eyes at his friend. Carl placed the clipboard down and huffed.

“What? If I don’t do anything to help you get together, Persie’s threatened to change our flat’s wi-fi password.” Alix burst into a giggling fit and Kassam couldn’t help the smile that quirked the corners of his lips. Kassam eyed the counter that stood between him and the girl. He turned to Carl looking for permission. Carl nodded and Kassam walked around the counter, closer to the brunette he hoped he still had a chance with.

“One date?” Kassam asked and closed his eyes waiting for the answer.

“One.” Alix whispered and Kassam opened his eyes. Her green eyes stared up at him and Kassam didn’t dare to look away. He never stared at her eyes for this long and he could stand there and do it forever. 

“Will you promise to stop breaking your laptop, your phone and your watch?” Kassam chuckled at the question and nodded. Alix offered him a smile he’d never seen before, a smile that brightened her eyes and emphasized the gold specks in her irises. 

“I think I can manage.” Kassam offered her his hand and Alix looked at it and then at him. Slowly, slipping her hand into his, she turned to give Carl a heads up before she gazed up at him.

“Then, I think I can do one date.” Kassam bit his lip and shot Carl a glance and a silent thank you. Kassam was a complete idiot, a complete idiot for the girl who promised to fix anything he gave her and maybe fix that hole in his chest.