The X-Project

Lil meets Logan in the garage to help him with bike maintenance, after which the two go out for a drink.


Donning a pair of faded jeans and old babydoll tee that only reached her belt when she slouched, Lil headed to the garage in search of Logan. Mechanical work had always been left to Madison for obvious reasons so the idea of 'gonna ride it, gonna learn to fix it' wasn't something the blonde was particularly thrilled about. Still, it was Logan and she owed him for the crap she'd given him weeks before.

"When you ask a girl to get down and dirty, this isn't what's usually meant, Old Man," Lil said with a smirk as she sauntered towards him and his motorcycle.

"So sorry to disappoint you." he said, his lack of sympathy blatant as it was sincere. "Not too much to do - just some maintenance." he said. "But since you're here, figure I'll show you what you need to know about how this thing works." he said. "You game, or you gonna get girly on me?" he smirked.

Lil snorted in a manner that was anything but 'girly' before bumping the tire with the toe of her boot gently. "I'm game for whatever you say, Logan. Just use small words, 'kay?" she requested with a teasing smile.

"Right." he said with a grin. "Maybe afterwords we can go get a beer, cool that overheated noggin of yours down." he smirked. "Anyway..." he said as he began to explain how the bike worked - from ignition all the way down to the engine to the drivetrain and the wheels. As he explained he tore the bike apart to better show her the wires and other mechanical bits that made the bike go.

Her nose wrinkled and brow furrowed as she watched him dismantle the motorcycle. So many parts and pieces that made her stomach tighten in a way she'd rather ignore - along with the images and memories they called up of Madison tinkering away on some project or another. He wasn't there now and if the blonde was going to get full reign on the bike - and then one of her own, eventually - she was damn well going to know how to take care of it.

"Sure I can't get girly and start cooing over big strong hands or whatever insteada trying to even pretend this is gonna stick in my brain?" Lil teased. It would eventually but being thrown all of it at once was only making the blonde's head spin a bit.

"Yeah. I'm sure." he said. "Just take it slow, one piece at a time. Trust me, it's better this way. If something breaks, you'll know what and where and maybe even how to fix it rather than relying on some garage to fuck you with repair bills." he pointed out. "You get stuck, I'll help." he offered.

Lil stuck her tongue out at him in a childish manner for the first bit but her confusion melted into gratitude. "Just like the mats. Takes a while to get shit drilled past the thick skull but it'll seep in eventually." She hoped. The Amazon fiddled with a wrench, twirling it between her fingers idly like a little baton, when her eyes dropped and she muttered, "Been helping me a lot when I get stuck lately, though."

"All part of the biz, kid." he said sympathetically. "Don't know where I learned this stuff, but I'm pretty sure I learned it the same way. By doing." he said. "People like us, we're no good with a book. Gotta get our hands dirty, see it for ourselves, experience it." he said. "So quit stallin' and get started already."

Her mouth twitched into a half smile as she settled in next to him, shoulder to shoulder. "I hate books," Lil snickered, looking over the motorcycle and taking a deep breath. "I do appreciate it, though; this stuff with the bike. And before when you brought me the beer. Coulda used it more a little later in the night," she lamented and lifted her shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, "but what you gonna do, right?"

"Don't worry about it, kid." he said. "You needed it." he said plainly.

"Yeah, I did," she agreed. One more smile for her former mentor and the blonde turned her attention to their project.

---------

The bike was reassembled, maintenance complete along with some improvements Lil still didn't understand but it was certainly back to looking like a motorcycle instead of a pile of scrap. "Not bad," she laughed, wiping the grease from the wrench she still had. Clothes were a little dirty but there didn't appear to be any extra bits laying around on the garage floor. Definitely a victory. "Think she runs right?"

"Why you asking me?' he said. "Get up there and fire it up if you want to know if it runs or not." he said with a grin. The mung on his hands felt - oddly right. Like he was used to working with his hands. He filed it for another day and returned his attentions to the here-and-now. "Final test, kid." he joked.

Lil smiled again and tossing the tool aside, straddled the bike. She bit her lip and praying to whatever gods existed, turned the key in the ignition. The bike came to life beneath her, purring perfectly which made the blonde giggle with pride. "Looks like I don't gotta do any extra credit."

He didn't answer her right away - he was listening to the engine with his keen ears. He didn't hear anything that sounded especially wrong or off, so he grinned at the blonde on his bike. "Good. Then you can drive. Let's go get a beer." he said, hopping up on the bike behind her.

A joyful look spread across her face, both pleased and proud but faded some when he suggested a ride to a bar. "Not Harry's. I've kinda been taking a lotta time off there lately and I don't really wanna stroll in there with you and get hit with questions about why I called in last night." Straightening out her head was taking longer than she thought it would.

"Fine, then." he said. "Take the north road out of town. I know a place. They got great coffee and nice cold beers." he said with a grin. The trip itself didn't take all that long but the place they pulled into was pretty much the antithesis of a classy place to get a drink. Instead it favored tacky neon signs, a gravel parking lot, and the required neon outline of a chick on a pole. The name of the place was, oddly enough, Venice. "May not look like much, but it's a nice place." Logan offered as he got off the back of the bike.

~Down, boy.~ he told himself mentally.

"You're such a pervert, Old Man," she half-growled, half-chuckled as she narrowed her eyes at him and likewise climbed off the bike. Her body was still humming with the vibrations the machine had produced and the feelings his arms locked around her waist had. "If I gotta sit there with you drooling over naked tits, you're paying for the drinks. Otherwise, I'm taking the bike and leaving your hairy ass here."

"Too early for the shows." he said knowingly. "First round's on me." he agreed. "And trust me. This place has the best coffee in town."

"Good to know you brought me here for coffee and not to get me drunk enough to hit one of the stages. I'd hate to make the other girls jealous," Lil smirked as she followed him. "And probably end up bending a pole or two."

~One thing at a time.~ he thought in the privacy of the scarred wasteland he called a brain.