title : somewhere, someone is having
fun and i'm stuck with you
oc / pairing : link taylor and lucy turner
trigger warnings : mentions of drugs.
maybe like one mention

DAY EIGHTEEN : " somewhere ,
someone is having fun and i'm stuck
with you . "

──────────── ✦ ────────────

LUCY DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD FIND AN
AUTO PLACE this late. A lot of them closed early, but he knew that if he didn't take care of this now, he didn't know when the next time he would be able to take it in. The brakes needed changing pretty bad, and he was pretty sure that he needed an oil change. But, he's always been busy with both his job, not to mention helping at Prance sometimes, though he didn't mind.

It seems like there's a light at the end of the tunnel when he finally found one. They looked like they were about to close, but the lights were still on. Someone was about to close the garage door before they saw the gray trans am slowing down. With their hand, they let the garage door back up. He couldn't see who it was, all he pretty much saw was the hand that was leading him in.

Whoever had been here was an angel on earth. It was one of the only auto shops open, and even then, they were about to close, and they let him in anyway.

And oh, how he hated that this actually made sense.

When he rolled his window down, it revealed Link Taylor, who instantly recognized him in that moment. And Lucy recognized him, too. Internally, he was already screaming, and not in a good way.

"Lucy?"

He could feel his hands slightly tightened on his steering wheel. As much as he didn't want to say anything to him, he had no choice but to.

"Hi, Link," the bleach blonde said back. He's unenthused, not wanting to be in his presence, "I didn't know you worked here."

"Well, I ... Own the place," Link said back.

Of course he did. Of course he did. God, was there anything that Link couldn't do? Lucy slightly gave a nod. "Oh," is the only thing that he could say back.

It's quiet between them. Link totally feels awkward, and Lucy secretly fuming inside. Though, it's technically not a secret. His body language told it all. The way he practically tightened around his presence.

"So ..." Link started, he's shifting awkwardly in the spot he's in, "what brings you in here?"

Lucy was so focused on Link being here that he almost forgot what he came here for. He thought for a moment, before finally being able to tell him what he needed done. He avoided looking at him. He couldn't look at him.

"I need my brake pads changed, the back ones, I believe," Lucy finally answered, "and I'm due for an oil change, I believe."

"Well, brake pads usually need to be replaced at the same time. On all four wheels," Link explained, "it's safer that way. I can do that for you If you want!"

He was nice. So goddamn nice. It almost made Lucy sick. He wanted to leave and try his luck tomorrow. But, he knew he had to stay. He was already here, and Link was already expected to fix anything that was wrong with the car.

"Sure," Lucy said back to him.

"Cool!" Link replied, "so, i'm gonna do the oil change first, it's the quickest thing."

Lucy gave a nod. "Okay," he said back.

"Pop the hood for me?"

Lucy almost immediately did so. An instinctive reaction. He blamed it on Link, being so nice and all that. He watched as the other lifted the hood once he pressed the button for it to open. He leaned back in his seat, watching carefully.

Link definitely noticed that it had been a while since Lucy had an oil change. But, that was never unusual, as he saw it all the time. Though, he asks the same question every time.

"How long has it been since your last oil change?"

Lucy honestly didn't know. The time always passed him. He barely had a sense of it at this point. He gave a shrug. "I don't remember," he answered.

Link hummed. It didn't look horrible. He could just tell that it definitely needed changing. "Well, I've seen worse," he said, "just ... Remember to change it in a timely manner, alright?"

"Yep," the blonde said back.

Lucy wanted to mock him so badly. But all he could do was pretty much sit there Link changed the oil. What luck, pulling into the place that Link owned? This was just a continuation of his string of bad luck recently. It was definitely a record for the worst couple of months, and he didn't even know why.

It didn't take long for Link to finish changing the oil. He moved onto the brake pads, which admittedly looked worse than the oil that he had to change, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. He could tell that Lucy was already in a mood, most likely because he didn't expect him to be working here.

And then Lucy decided to ask the burning question. Well, one of them, anyway. "So, you and Patsy ..."

Link doesn't look up from what he's doing. "What about me and Patsy?"

"You ever wanna sleep with him?"

Link looked up from what he was doing. That was a very odd thing to ask. But, it was Lucy. At some point, he should've expected something like this to come out of his mouth.

"I'm ... Dating Rob?" Link answered, though it sounds more like a question than anything, "Patsy is my friend. I like him, but not like that. Rob's more my type."

Lucy looked back at him. He's changing the back brake pads on the rear tires. He leaned back in his seat.

"So, he's not pretty enough for you? Is that it?" Lucy asked.

Oh. Here we go, Link thought. He shook his head. "I never said that."

"That's what you're implying," Lucy said back.

"No, that is not what I'm implying," Link told him, "Patsy is my friend. Nothing more, nothing less."

Lucy looked through his side mirror. Link's moving around. He must've been finished with the back brakes before moving to the front. He looked at him, shaking his head, almost in disapproval.

"So, you prefer the heroin junkie with the unibrow. Got it. You think Rob is more attractive than Patsy? You're saying he doesn't stand a chance?" Lucy asked.

Link didn't even want to respond. He knew he was egging it one with every response that he said back. He stopped what he was doing. What Lucy said kind of irked him a little bit.

"Insult me all you want," Link told him, "but do not insult Rob."

"But nothing I said was an insult. Or a lie, for that matter," Lucy replied back, "but, this does show just how superficial you really are."

"Somewhere, someone is having fun and I'm stuck with you ..."

"What?"

"Nothing," Link deadpanned, "but you've got it wrong. I've never been superficial."

Lucy crossed his arms. "You just said my boyfriend isn't attractive enough for you to sleep with him."

It was rare, but Lucy was actually pissing him off. Link didn't know what sort of vendetta Lucy had against him. He didn't even know why he hated him so much. He just desperately wanted him to be a villain that he imagined in his head, and in reality, wasn't. It honestly hurt more than anything.

And not to mention, Lucy was twisting his words all the way around. That was something that Link absolutely hated. It's what his dad did to get him in trouble with his mom. Link is still knelt down, fixing the brake. It's when he finally looked up at Lucy.

"You're twisting my words around," Link told him, "I don't like that. You know what I said. You heard what I said."

"If it wasn't true, why are you offended?" Lucy asked. It almost seemed as if he were enjoying this.

Link took a deep breath. All he wanted to do was do his job and go home. Lucy was making that extremely difficult. Mind games and insults being thrown around. It wasn't very nice. And frankly, he didn't see how Patsy could be with someone like him.

"I'm not offended, you're just twisting my words around. I don't like people who do that," Link answered.

Thank god he was done with the last brake pad. He could send Lucy out of there. Link didn't want to have to listen to him anymore, let alone talk to him. As much as he tried to befriend Lucy, he was tired of attempting, and he eventually wanted to throw in the towel.

"Well," Link said, before Lucy could even say another mean word to him, "everything is done."

"Oh," Lucy said back, "so you are good at your job. Good to know."

"Yeah, it only took working two jobs and going through trade school," Link quipped.

Lucy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay," he scoffed. He didn't believe him. Not one bit.

Link just shook his head. "You know," he started, putting the wrench down, "for that attitude you got there, I should make you pay full price. But, unfortunately, you're Patsy's boyfriend. Which means you get special treatment, or whatever."

After all that, he still wanted to be nice. Lucy didn't quite understand it. If someone had been talking to him the same way, he wouldn't have given them shit. Maybe that's what made Link so likeable. But, he wasn't too sure about that.

Lucy eventually started his car back up. He doesn't want to admit it, but he feels a little defeated. "Oh," is the only thing that could come out of his mouth at the moment.

Link then noticed the oil change sticker. He hadn't changed it. "Hold on a second before you go," he said.

Lucy watched in confusion as Link went to grab something. It didn't take long for him to come back. When he did, he stuck his hand through the window, taking off the old sticker, or attempting to, anyways. He then put the new sticker in.

"That's the next date of your oil change," Link told him, "If you come back."

Lucy looked at the sticker. It's even nicely designed. A sigh escaped his lips. "Yep. I know," he said, a bored tone in his voice.

"And tell Patsy I said hi, will you?" Link said back with a smile.

Lucy didn't even answer afterward. All he could do was back out of the garage. Not only was he annoyed, but he was also thinking twice about (some) of his reasons for hating Link. Though, he would never tell anyone, especially not Link. He needs to know that he wasn't playing around.