singlemalts: (six | this)
Michel ([personal profile] singlemalts) wrote2023-04-09 05:13 pm
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onewildandprecious: (Default)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-09 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ So fine, alright. Theoretically, he could have checked the address of their client before leaving Paris in an absolute panic (his alarm didn't go off, come on) and theoretically, he could have also acquainted himself with a few key details concerning Michel Laurent beforehand, if not for the sake of the assignment then for the sake of his own sanity. Shit, one Google image search and he would've known. He would have been prepared. Instead, he's been sweating away for the past hour over the man's vintage R12, hating the fact that he's dressed in a shirt that he can't drop unless he wants to stand here half-naked.

And he doesn't, not particularly, because showing skin would absolutely make his own, hungry fantasies run rampant. Ewan would not approve. He would decidedly not approve. Anakin being an hour late to the appointment already has him on some pretty thin ice.

The little car itself doesn't excite him overly much - it's fairly predictable, as goes with this model, though he's had to spend some time, diagnosing the extent of its current issue. It's well taken care off, though Michel doesn't... really look like a guy who gets himself dirty in the work shed, so to speak. Not that kind of dirty... ugh. Exhaling loudly, Anakin slips out from underneath the engine, the alternator clutched the fingers of his prosthetic hand. He rolls to his feet and heads over to Michel, who's entered with - what, a tray of lemon juice? Nice! And peanuts! Anakin runs his hand through his hair, forcing the strands backwards and down, as much as they ever go. ]


Really? After holding you up for an entire hour?

[ Smiling slightly, he tosses the alternator into the air. ]

Here's your problem, by the way.
onewildandprecious: (observe)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-09 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Michel has an infectuous smile. Anakin's own broadens as he eyes the drinks tray, stepping past Michel to take a glass. The lemon juice or whatever looks delicious, exactly what you'd need after banging around in someone's old vintage car for an hour in the scorching heat and his mouth is watering slightly, though that might also have to do with the other man's current proximity. He's really... very nice-looking, Michel. And he's got the kindest eyes. Anakin tempers himself (using magic, probably) holding off on drinking before he's at least answered the man's question the best he can.

His mother did teach him manners. ]


I'm not Ewan's best.

[ He scoffs a little, twirling the liquid within the glass and watching it spin lazily. ]

I'm the best, period. Doesn't matter how old I am, it's always been like that.

[ Leaning back, he raises his chin and looks Michel in the eyes, unflinchingly, because he might not be worth much when you look at the whole story, Anakin, but working with engines is second nature to him, as is all other mechanical work. He will never back down from what few strong points he's got - that much, at least, he managed to learn from Seth before everything went to Hell. His expression falters slightly at the thought and he looks away, then down, fingering the alternator. ]
onewildandprecious: (be relieved)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-09 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Michel's smile broadens and Anakin straightens in response, emboldened. In general, people tend to find his self-confidence a bit off-putting - Ewan has told him many times to tone it down, so long as you know you're the best, Anakin, it shouldn't matter what other people think and that might be true but it doesn't feel like it. Not to him. It's not like he's got many other things to brag about, is it? People can deal with it.

Besides, Michel doesn't seem to take any kind of offense. Rather, he slips quietly into Anakin's personal space, not touching as he takes the alternator from him. Anakin looks at him, following his entire movement - he's pretty tall, Michel, tall enough to maybe crowd him a little - Anakin could crowd him, too, he thinks, if he got him in the right position for it. Shit. Positions. He flushes slightly, trying to swallow down his thoughts with a long gulp of lemonade that he hardly even manages to taste. ]


Uh.

[ He swallows a couple of times to clear his throat. ]

Sure. It's the rectifier. Fried, totally - so the question is, what do I replace it with? Does it have to be the exact same vintage part or can I branch out?

[ With other vintage car owners, he wouldn't necessarily be in any doubt - one category would simply head for their own drawers and throw him a suitable replacement (or more likely, they'd replace it themselves and send him on his merry way), the other would be offended at the mere idea of ruining the vintage cohesiveness.

With Michel, though, he honestly isn't sure.

Licking his lips, he tastes lemon and sugar. ]
onewildandprecious: (get lectured)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-10 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ Despite himself, despite his admittedly pathetic attempts at remaining somewhat - slightly - professional, Anakin can't help but watch. Michel drinks from his glass, his throat bopping gently as he swallows, his lips glistening. The shape of his face is beautifully emphasised by his beard, making his edges look a little sharper, more weighted. He forcefully stops himself from licking his lips again, though, and he counts that as a win, thanks. Shifting, he follows Michel's nod towards the door and oh yeah, the groundskeeper. Possibly the only one of them currently properly invested in the actual fucking car.

About to reply in the affirmative - because yes indeed, he's managed to come prepared because while he hadn't looked up Michel, he knew what kind of car he'd be working on - his words get immediately stuck in his throat at Michel's follow-up. Blushing, is he? Yeah. Yeah, he really, really is, especially now. He could get embarrassed about it but then again, that wouldn't exactly make him blush any less and if Michel's gonna bring it up, then maybe Anakin's just going to give it to him, his job be damned.

Sighing, he shrugs and looks down at his feet briefly before meeting Michel's eyes. ]


I'm not very good at hiding what I feel. Sorry.

[ He nods towards the alternator, squaring his shoulders. ]

I have a spare but not for this particular car - won't impact the car's performance at all, so long as you don't mind the anachronism.
onewildandprecious: (be honest)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-10 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, he's that kind of guy - there's an answer to Anakin's question, sure, but he has to draw it out of the man's lecture himself. That's familiar enough, isn't it. With a wry smile, he nods and opts for installing a different spare part - the one in his bag will do just fine, he had a hunch that this might be the problem. Draining his glass of lemonade, its coolness not quite enough to make him feel any less heated, he's about to turn away and get to it when Michel continues.

Don't dare getting better at hiding, he says. Meanwhile, here's Anakin who keeps trying to get his feelings under control, to avoid throwing chairs in the conference room, to avoid pouring water down the front of any co-worker, no matter how annoying they are - to check himself, because there's no one else to do it and he's seen what happens, hasn't he. He knows. He knows.

The issue is, of course, that he's desperate not to hide. Not the rest of him. Sure, there's stuff he can't - that has to stay buried but how do you love anyone properly if you can't show yourself, too? How do you become that close? He looks at Michel for a long moment, frowning. There's no how, he thinks. It's always black and white with you, Ewan would say and then, infuriatingly, he doesn't know how to fix it. ]


I'm Anakin.

[ He scratches the back of his neck, his metal fingers hard, even beneath his leather glove. ]

And yeah, before you ask - I'm named after a character in a kid's movie. My mom's friend was a fan and my mom, I guess, was too kind.
onewildandprecious: (succeed)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-15 10:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ A pause. Anakin looks at him for a long moment before taking the alternator. Turning it slowly between his fingers, his eyes finding the damaged part with instinctual precision, he thinks about days spent in Seth's enormous mansion right on the edge of the school grounds, looking out of the floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows and feeling both far away from the world and far above it. Even today, he isn't sure what he'd liked so much about that sensation, only that he'd missed it painfully when things had ended and he'd been back in the gutter, if only for the shortest time.

Even now, the ache remains like a small but persistent hole in his chest, right beneath his sternum.

Breath catching in his throat very briefly, he bites his lip. ]


Why?

[ It comes out maybe a little sharper than he'd intended and he looks up quickly, meeting Michel's eyes and giving him a small smile, shrugging apologetically. ]

I mean, not to be rude. This is a pretty quick job, I definitely won't need two visits to complete it.

[ He glances back at the car. Turns the spare part in his hand again, then squares his shoulders a little, the smile slipping into his voice along with a tint of something brighter, more confident - because if nothing else, he's very certain that if Michel were to ask, he'd probably get unprofessional right here, right now with little thought for whatever heart-attack Ewan would suffer as a consequence: ]

Even without the wining and dining, I wouldn't be opposed.
onewildandprecious: (implore)

[personal profile] onewildandprecious 2023-04-15 11:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh. Anakin swallows, the spare part feeling almost weightless between his fingers, like in another second it might just transform into nothing, into light and air. He's been hiding for years, hasn't he, from everyone except Seth. It's not that Anakin couldn't have his privacy, he thinks, it's just that he didn't want to, that he needed someone to know what he was, what he is, someone who wouldn't judge or use it against him. In the end, of course, he'd asked too much of the older man - after all, acceptance has to go both ways and Seth was never that kind of person, the type to blindly forgive and forget. He'd had expectations. Demands.

Michel simply tell him he'd like to be inspired and there's no demand in that but perhaps a little but of expectation, gently put, like a brush against his shoulder that he could choose to ignore if he wanted to. It's very different from anything he's known before and maybe that's why he takes a long moment to make up his mind. He looks down, following the motion of Michel's hand as he runs it up his prosthetic hand, forearm. The skin of his upper arm tingles uselessly in response - the prosthetic, of course, is a dead extension of him, though he's learned to use it with maximum precision.

He watches Michel's hand, frowning. Then, he turns his own palm upwards, taking hold of the other man's wrist lightly and shifting it, placing his fingers against his other arm instead by the wrist, the one of flesh and blood. Though his grip remains gentle, he doesn't release him.

Truly, Anakin has never been good at hiding. ]


Think it's only fair to warn you - I'm not so easy to get rid of.

[ He remembers breaking into Seth's house in a drunken stupor, thinking he'd bested him by way of familiarity, because he knew the other man and his house and his home and the world they used to share. Of course, in the end, he'd been allowed to break in - Seth had left him a message, though he hadn't bothered to be at home himself. If you break it, it had said, you replace it.

Anakin had learned, of course. That had been the extent of it. ]