honk if you (insert any reason here) LUCAS

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle was sweating, stuck halfway into the front end of the 1975 mustang, trying to fix an outside wiring issue before she put the engine back into the car. This car had been her baby, rescued from the junk yard when she was fifteen and her grandfather and father had both walked her through repairing it well enough to drive. Today it was getting a somewhat new engine and (with minimal supervision from her grandfather) she was planning on putting it in today since her old engine was about to kick the bucket. Her hair was pulled back as it always was when she was in the shop, her arms covered in oil and sweat as she balanced on her tip toes to get herself far enough into the car to do her wiring. With immense concentration she focused solely on her task and shut out everything around her as she reached a grimy hand into the back pocket of her shorts for a tool, finished the job and replaced it.

Not surprisingly she lost her footing for a moment, kicked her feet with a squeal and finally righted herself without destroying the front end of her car. Feeling sufficiently successful she turned to the task of actually placing the engine into the car and hooking it up. She absently whiped her hands down the sides of her shirt and shorts, tiny little marks of black and brown peppered just below where the hem of her shorts ended. She saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye and turned to see someone, Lucas specifically, coming closer. Oblivious to the mess she was in she smiled and waved cordially. "Hey Lucas, what's up?" she asked as she walked towards her new engines, her steel toed boots clumping along the concrete as she looked the engine one last time, suspended in its hoist to make sure that it still wasn't cracked or damaged. "Hey give me a moment to put this in would ya?" she asked as she nudged the hoist with her new engine over with her foot and lined it up.

For the next ten minutes she carefully eased the engine into the car, holding her tongue between her teeth as she connected the new engine to the transmission without the leveler bar her grandfather had suggested. But since Axelle could manipulate the engine easily enough herself it became a moot point. Once the engine was connected to the transmission she straightened and stretched her back. "Okay, that can sit there for a bit, sorry about that," she apologized as she picked up a towel and dabbed at her neck and face, successfully smearing some oil down her face to land on her neck instead.

Potential tags for: Thoughts of a 17-year-old-boy that might be mature to come later.

[Lucas Blacke]

It took some wandering around before Lucas ever found the place Axelle had mentioned after their spar had happened, he was set on going from then but lacked the sense to actually pay attention at the time. This resulted in him entering, or ringing at, several houses. No need to mention how that went over. Needless to say Luke had began to get a little down when he suddenly heard something mechanical going on. He did remember there being mention of a garage, or so he thought he remembered. He saw the lips of Axelle moving vividly in his mind, but somehow whatever he could remember was always devoid of sound. He mentally noted he needed to learn how to read lips.

As he went to the source of the sound he came to see something he had definitely seen before. ''Sweet mother of ass.'' He whispered to himself as he looked at who he could only assume was Axelle working on what he knew beyond a doubt was a car. But that was pretty much all he knew about it.

The girl turned around, forcing Lucas to slam his mouth shut and greeted him as Luke just heard 'hey, look at my dirty body' and nodded absently. He then shook his head and went back to the real world.

''Axelle, hi.'' But afore he could actually answer the question of the girl she told him she needed a moment to put.. something rather heavy looking into the front of the car. And that something heavy was handled with ease which, knowing the girl possessed super strength, wasn't all that weird. She apparently focused deeply on working on it because she completely zoned Lucas out which he actually didn't mind. He got first row seats to the show of the century!

''Sorry? Why sorry?'' Luke replied as Axelle applied a towel to her neck and face. ''I didn't mind.'' He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb and leaned in to Axe. ''First class seats, baby!''

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle gave him a look that clearly stated that she thought he was strange before she dug the tool she had been using earlier into the toolbox and tossed the towel over the box as well. "So you dropped by!" she smiled. "I didn't think you would, I mean, not many people like hanging out in a garage. Actually my dad doesn't let many of my friends hang out in the garage with me," she thought for a moment. Except for maybe Kam, but Axelle didn't like being stuck in the garage when Kam was around because they were usually doing something anyway. She stood there a moment and tilted her head expectantly.

"Hey Lucas are you okay?" she chuckled. "Do you want a drink or something?" she asked as she walked a little ways into the back of the garage to a small refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of generic water that she tossed over to the boy still standing in the drive way before carefully opening hers to take a drink. Ugh, ice water wasn't allowed to taste this good, getting into the shower later was going to feel amazing. She looked at her guest and wandered closer once more, “What are you up to today?”

[Lucas Blacke]

Luke smiled as he caught the water bottle in mid air and began unscrewing the top immediately. ''I'm more than okay.'' He said as he threw the cap of the bottle into ther air and caught it with ease. He raised his water bottle and slightly nudged it in Axelle's direction as she had already taken a sip. ''Ad fundum.'' Luke smiled, not caring that the girl had gone ahead and didn't even wait for him to get ready. Instead he just put the bottle to his mouth and took a sip. He wasn't all that thirsty so there really wasn't any need to down the entire body at once so he just screwed the cap back on.

''I feel like you should know this.'' He said, not being entirely sure he should mention this to a girl he had only seen once before. But eh.. Happiness was strange. ''I met a girl.'' His smile widened as he said that and leaned up against the wall. ''Her name is Karalie,'' He continued. ''she's sweet, funny, smart, has a cool power and doesn't back away from mine. In fact, I think she likes my power. Which is a first!'' He said as his hand began softly squeezing the water bottle without him realizing.

His smile grew wider as he closed his eyes and Karalie appeared. He then opened his eyes and looked at Axelle. ''Have you ever been so in love that you felt like lifting a c-''

''You know what I mean.''

[Axelle Flint]

Lucas hadn't really expressed a fear of her that day in the training room, in fact it had felt as if there might be at least a little something between them. She had wandered close to him, caught the words "I met a girl." and immediately turned around to busy herself with something else. She wasn't sure what her feelings were doing at the moment because on one hand she didn't care, she honestly did not, but there was another part, of about equal intensity that was indignant and it forced her to speak up as she looked around for the tool she needed to finish installing her engine.

“So that time in the training room?” she asked sharply, looking over at Lucas, ignoring his slip of “lifting a c(ar)”. “I mean, obviously you don’t owe me any sort of explanation, but it would be nice to know if you were interested in this girl before or after we met,” she said as she began to carefully reassemble her car. “If it’s after then dude, congrats, I’m happy for you and she sound super nice and lovely and you seem really happy.” Axelle smiled at him, gave him the “you lucky dog” wink and tightened another screw. “If it was before,” she continued as she straightened and leveled an intensely irate glare in his direction. “You should know that flirting with other girls when you’re already interested in someone else is not nice and I would suggest that in the future you refrain from doing that,” she added before taking up another part to put into her engine.

God she was an idiot.

Her piece said she moved on, ignoring the sad little thrum that reverberated through somewhere in the vicinity of her chest. She didn't care if Lucas liked her or not, but it had been nice to think that there were some people out there (guys specifically) that weren't afraid of her, or found her attractive enough to flirt with. “But to answer your question, no, I’ve haven’t felt that way about anyone. Guys tend to run off pretty fast when they realize that the average weight of an American car is 2 tons and that “lifting a car” is like lifting a box of Kleenex. I imagine that “falling in love” would feel more like flying,” she added as she leaned over to tighten something else.

“Her name is Karalie eh? That’s a pretty name. Wait, what IS your power by the way? You never told me,” she added quickly, head turned to look at Lucas as she straightened again.

[Lucas Blacke]

She didn't respond like Luke had thought. It looked to him like Axelle was fervently trying to cover something, something he knew he had wanted to happen. But now that Karalie was in the picture.. He wasn't so sure anymore.

''After.'' He replied in a somber tone suddenly, hearing the girl go on and on about what he could best describe as some form of integrity. ''I met her after I met you.'' He added with a cough, trying to force a smile as he said that and get his voice back to being cheery.

She had changed the subject by asking him his power. He could've sworn he had explained his power before, but he wasn't all too sure. ''Assumed muscle memory.'' He replied with a smile. ''It basically entails that my muscles have a memory of their own, so they kinda know how to move and when and why.'' He slowly shuffled over to the girl inch by inch, hoping she wouldn't notice until it was too late. ''So what it means is that I can effectively copy any and all movement as long as I can see it happening.''

He seriously questioned if he should say what he was about to. ''So in the gym, with the boxing, you saw me mimicking you.''

He was nearly standing next to Axelle as he cracked a smile. His hand was placed upon the cheek of the girl. ''And since when is flirting a crime?''

All the while a voice in the back of his head reminded him of a simple fact. 'Dude! Karalie! What're you- you're fucking things up aren't you?'

[Axelle Flint]

"Well good," Axelle huffed as she continued to reassemble her new engine and make sure that things were tight without stripping the screws because she over tightened them. "Assumed muscle memory?" she questioned. Some of the trainers had that. Axelle rather thought that was like cheating. She grunted as she continued her assembly, not noticing that she was being approached until she stood up to react to the fact that he had been copying her while they were sparring. Her indignant "WHAT?!" was stopped in her throat as she felt his hand on her cheek.

Axelle jerked away as if she'd been burn, a scowl forming on her face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" she shouted. "You just told me that you met this girl and that she's "sweet" and "funny" and "smart" and "has a cool power" AND YOU WANNA THROW THAT AWAY TO FLIRT WITH ME?!" Her voice rumbled from deep within her chest, a veritable roar that deepened her voice at least half an octave. “Are you stupid?! Tell me yes because the fact that you’d do this on purpose makes me want to find your dream girl and tell her you’re a jackass!” she huffed. “SHIT!” she swore as she dropped the tool she’d been clenching watching it clatter onto the concrete with a now mangled handle.

[Lucas Blacke]

Luke stood perplexed at the tantrum Axelle threw his way, and although it wasn't entirely unexpected as the little voice in the back of Lucas' mind had implied, it did seem a bit over the top. She did raise a valid point about him throwing what he had with Karalie away to flirt with Axelle, though this did bring rise to a more personal question. Did Luke and Karalie have anything together that could even be thrown away?

He brushed that question from his mind and nodded slightly as Axelle mentioned him being stupid. It was true, he was, but being stupid was leagues better than being passive in his eyes. She then said she wanted to go look up Kara and tell her that he was being a jackass, which Karalie most likely did not see as much of a surprise.

She uttered one last word and dropped the tool in her hand on the ground. And despite it being solid iron the handle was pretty beaten up, crushed even. ''Got it all out of your system?'' Luke finally asked as he had crossed his arms over his chest. ''You done being a hypocrite?'' He added as he shook his head. ''I fucking think not!''

Luke threw his arms violently to his sides and turned around to create some distance between the two. ''You constantly fucking mention that boys avoid you, you even fucking flirted back as I was flirting with you!'' This was not he he had meant to react but it did feel good. And almost instantly he got flashbacks of the first time he lost it and broke up with Marnie because of it.

This angered him more than he would've ever wanted. ''Remember that fucking time you FELL ON TOP OF ME? Remember asking me to let you go?! Remember me saying you had super strength and would be able to just get up yourself?!''

''I am reacting to you, and sorry if i'm wrong for doing this, but I thought you'd like someone not backing away from you!'' Luke stared Axelle in the eyes and breathed heavily. ''So stop being a fucking hypocrite if you don't want me to do the things I do!''

''And stop being so fucking hot!''
He had half a mind to just walk away then and there, but a part of him wanted to see how Axelle would respond.

[Axelle Flint]

"I'm a hypocrite?! I'm sorry, those things happened since you know AT THE TIME neither of us seemed to have people we were all that in to. I'm talking about NOW Lucas. You have a girl that you like NOW, which means you don't get to flirt with me and I don't get to flirt with you, it's literally THAT fucking simple." She took a deep breath, fists clenched at her side, muscles tense with her anger.

"I fell on you because I am clumsy, it's a fact of my life, you can ask ANYONE in this town who's watched me grow up, I've lived here since I was two. I asked you to let me go because I can lift a four thousand pound car like it's a box of kleenex, and yes I could have gotten away by myself, but I'm all limbs when I panic, which means any part of you that comes into contact with me has a chance of being injured. I don't mean a break a bone, I mean shatter them, and OF COURSE I like when people don't back away from me, but that doesn't mean that you get to touch me after you come here and tell me that you like another girl!!" she snapped.

"AND DON'T FUCKING CALL ME HOT AND A HYPOCRITE IN THE SAME FUCKING BREATH!" she exploded. "I'm not the one with a potential girlfriend touching other girls in flirty ways!"

[Lucas Blacke]

Fucking newsflash Ass, I have tons of girls I like! And as you said, I like her. I am not sure she likes me! And I did have a girl I was into at the time. Do you want to know her name?'' Luke almost yelled as he constantly made an attempt to step over but ended up throwing his hands in the air out of frustration. ''Do you want to know her name?'' He repeated as he threw the half filled water bottle in his hand to the ground and stepped over to the girl. ''Do you fucking want to know her name?! Do you?! Do you want me to fucking tell you? I will tell you, Axelle! I will fucking tell you the name of the girl I was into?!''

He pushed his finger against Axelle's shoulder as he grew a questionable grin. ''Her name is Axelle.'' He finally said, trying to keep the volume down for that part as he retracted his hand and walked backwards a bit. ''And before this fucking dumb Axelle bitch there was this broad named Marnie.''

''There is always someone and I will always be a fucking dick! It is called being male! Get that through your thick head and just enjoy the attention you're getting!''

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle didn't budge as her personal space was invaded and only deigned lift her head in defiance to keep eye contact with the boy who had advanced on her. Her eyes narrowed during his tirade and she didn't flinch when he poked her shoulder. She had never been so angry before, or felt so stupid, or just...there were a lot of emotions right now. She didn't like being called a dumb bitch for one thing, and she didn't appreciate being yelled at for trying to establish boundaries by someone who clearly did not get the point. Cold fury enveloped her as she reached up to grab Lucas by the arm.

"You don't get to call me those things and I'm the only one that gets to decide if I enjoy the attention I'm getting at the time," she said quietly. "And I don't want yours. Get off my property." Without giving him a choice in the matter and adjusting her grip accordingly she dragged him through the side yard, past her on looking father and grandfather who had by now heard the entire argument and (gently ~ though it must have felt differently to him) pushed him into the street in front of the shop. "Don't come back, and I don't want to talk to you at school either," she said before turning around and stalking back towards her house, ignoring her father and grandfather and going up to her room. She was still disgusting from her work in the garage so she couldn’t sit down anywhere which meant she was caught pacing.

She began to cry. She was shaking and upset. She hated it; she hated fighting with people too. She hadn’t done anything wrong, she had flirted with him yes, but she wasn’t going to flirt with someone who told her they liked someone else. As far as she was concerned that person was off-limits. She also really hated being told that he had been interested in her for as long as it took to learn to copy her fucking hobby and that she was clearly not interesting, or sweet, or funny, or cool enough to warrant more than passing ire. Not that she wanted any more of his attention anyway, he was clearly not the kind of guy she thought he might be. He was mean and needlessly cruel. She sat heavily on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest as she cried herself out.

Did Benji think the same thing? Had she just been a “fucking dumb bitch” after they had finished kissing. Was he going to be cruel to her if they met again? Had he lied about all the compliments he had paid her? Did he prey upon her fear of her power and manipulate her? She had kissed him willingly enough; she had enjoyed herself, a lot. She was too scared to ask, too scared to face him now if she saw him again. She didn’t want to know the truth. She’d just be more careful from now on. Feeling emotionally drained and no less miserable Axelle laid down on her already stained carpet and took deep, even breaths and came to a decision her ten-year-old self had advocated regularly until puberty had hit.

Boys were stupid.