Starting to feel like destiny (Corbin)

[Axelle Flint]

Backdated to Mid-December 2014

Axelle was loath to leave the warmth of her mustang as she stared at the open garage door just in front of her. She had parked in the small lot provided and debated on if it was REALLY necessary to get these parts today but she realized that yes, she did or else the men she lived with would try and do things for themselves and that just wasn't allowed...unless they were cooking...because she wasn't allowed to.

Sighing with a little whimper the girl exited her car and trudged as quickly as she dared to the garage door and leaned in. Thankfully it was warmer than outside as a heater blasted hot air into the space to make it habitable as well as accessible, comfortable even. She could see a desk with what appeared to be a cash register and walked towards it. Somewhere in the mess was the guy she had come to see. She smiled to herself; she'd been running into this guy a lot lately, literally that first time. Axelle fished into the pocket of her jeans, eyes widening and then closing with a heavy sigh as she realized that in her haste to pull out the work order for the engine mount and the radiator she had ripped through the fragile lining in that was her pocket and was currently drumming her irritation out onto her thigh. This wasn't the first time this had happened and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Knowing that there was nothing she could do about it now she pulled the work order out of her useless pocket and looked around. Still no one in sight, she spied a small bell on the counter and debated ringing it. On one hand she didn't want to appear TOO eager to see him (even though he was superhot and who wouldn't want to see him?) on the other hand she really needed to get hte parts and take them back home. Then it belatedly hit her...she looked like crap, in one of her grandfather's old sweaters and jeans ripped more ways than ten. Why had she insisted on wearing the stupid headband with the cat ears on it over her ears…and the fox scarf? But maybe if she was really quick and stealthy she could go home and change clothes and come back in something cuter? She got excited for a minute; sure she could pull it off when she frowned. If she did come back wearing something “cuter” (which was debatable at this point because she couldn’t think of anything she currently owned that could be termed “cute”) would he take her seriously? Corbin seemed like the type that would.

He hadn’t questioned her at all when he’d brought that car into the shop for her to look at, and he never made fun of her for inspecting the things she’d picked up in the past. In fact, he was incredibly patient and not patronizing in the least. That was really rare and made him all the more attractive to her. But he was older than her…by more than a few years and she was pretty sure that he’d have no interest in someone as young as her. Well, that rather settled the argument didn’t it? No use “dressing up” for someone not looking at you. Sighing she reached over and smacked the bell harder than she meant too, flattening it into something resembling a pancake.

She sighed again and glared at it, just one more item to add to her list of “things destroyed this week”. At least she’d get to look at Corbin, that made it a little more worth it, unless she could glare it back to life, and she was certainly trying to.

[Corbin Jacobs]

Corbin had been in the house portion of his building after welding new fitting onto some rather large hydraulic rams.. They were either off of a bulldozer or an excavator, he wasn't sure.. but they needed to be moved with a fork lift. The shop had been pretty smoky afterwards from the welding sticks and the oil so he'd left the shop door open to clear it out.. Super durability didn't mean he wanted to coat his lungs with shielding gas for too long.. Being stupid was still just asking for something bad to happen, and surely if humans could become metas, cancer could keep up as well..

He'd just warmed up some spaghetti for a late lunch and was headed back out when he heard a strange combination of a 'ding' and a 'clomp' that made him wince.. Something had just had a very bad day. So, wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and some black work boots, he headed back out to the shop, spaghetti in hand. A lot of spaghetti. Enough to basically feed three hungry people. Imagine his surprise when he walked around a stock shelf to find none other than the redhead he'd been thinking about since that day in the park..

"Why are.." Oh yeah. Duh. Because that motor mount and radior had been from 'Flint'... Meaning the older guy who dropped them off must have been her dad.. or grand-dad.. Probably grand-dad. Dammit, why didn't she pick up orders more often?? He did work for their shop like every other week and she'd NEVER been in to pick them up! "Oh, heya Red! Good aftern-- awww...." He spied the decimated bell on the counter and his shoulders dropped. That hadn't been his register or his bell. They were both antiques that he'd been doing a bit of restoration on.. Fortunately she'd smushed the bell and not the register. He could make a new bell.

"Ya know, I aught to make you sit here for an hour while I make a new one of these.." He set the huge plate of food down right next to Axe and picked up the poor smashed brass not-bell, turning it over in his hands with a bit of a frown. Suffice it to say that only the solid base was salvageable. The bell and the stalk and the ringer had.. seen better days.

"In fact.. Unless you ask really, really nice, that's what I'm gonna do." Maybe Axe could at least take solace in the fact that... he wasn't pissed.. wasn't scared.. and seemed to have a sense of humor to go with his mild irritation. In fact... One would imagine this was probably almost identical to how Axe's dad and grandpa reacted when she accidentally broke things around the shop. With an eye roll and efforts to fix the thing or go make a new thing.

He slipped the not-bell into his back pocket and grabbed the spaghetti again, hastily eating several large mouthfulls before basically putting the plate in her hands and turning around to walk quickly between two shelves and out of sight.. If Axe didn't follow she'd find herself alone.. only to hear a lathe start up a moment later. Corbin was literally going to make her wait while he made a new bell.

If she did follow him, though, he'd turn once he got to the lathe and give her a solid once-over. "Don't mind the boots, dig the jeans, and the headband is adorable.. --And don't you dare let that spaghetti get cold." Too formal? Probably. But she did just break some shit in his shop.. Corbin got to be a little silly, right?

[Axelle Flint]

At first she had smiled to be greeted so casually by the object of her physical interest, but the smile quickly faded into an embarrassed cringe when he commented on her destruction of the bell. "Sorry..." she murmured, flinching a little when he mentioned making her sit and wait for him to finish. She had time, both father and grandfather had sworn to go nap when she had left to run the errands but she had homework waiting for her when she got back...well screw homework, not like she ever did it in a timely manner anyway. She frowned at the idea of having to ask "really, really nice," to be forgiven and glared at him a little, the same way she'd have glared at her male guardians for suggesting such a thing. She was a Flint, she knew how to take a punishment.

At the least the guy wasn't angry and he certainly wasn't scared of her, but he could actually stand up to anything she dished out too, she'd found that out the first time they'd met. She watched with her arms now crossed "protectively" across her chest as she watched him eat spaghetti and thought that it smelled (and looked) rather tasty. Then she had to think quickly as he suddenly shoved the plate at her and stalked off between nearby shelves. Feeling a little bewildered and now nervous feeling the ceramic plate between her hands she wondered just what the hell he was thinking. She heard the lathe start up not too long after and felt her mouth drop open. He really WAS going to make her wait! "OI!" she began as she made her way over to where the sound was coming from, though at a pace that could be described as comically slow.

She didn't get to say much else though because upon seeing him again he had comments to make...her headband was adorable? He LIKED what she was wearing? Axelle felt her face heat up and bravely tried to make it stop. He was just being nice, nice, the last time he saw her she was a mess too, so like, no grease meant that she looked nice right? Right. "Spaghetti?" she mouthed dumbly before remembering the feather-like pressure in her hands that was the plate. Not go to waste? What did he expect her to do with it? Eat it? Oh....maybe that was it...She took a step and caught her shoelace just right. She jerked, remembered the lathe and other equipment and twisted her body just so...

She landed on her ass as the spaghetti dumped itself down the front of her large sweater and pooled in her lap, thankfully away from her jeans but she sat there for a moment and with some embarrassment reached out to pick up a noodle and stuck it into her mouth..."Not bad..." she teased with a weak smile....shit this was not going well at all.

[Corbin Jacobs]

And so stood Corbin with one hand on a wheel on his lathe and the other hopelessly outstretched, nowhere near close enough to catch Axelle.. and he stayed that way, frozen, until she effortlessly diffused the situation. --Or that's how it'd looked from his perspective, anyway, as she reached down and nommed a noodle.

Corbin let his hand fall, then grinned, then brought his hand up to his forehead and lightly shook his head. "If you wanted to take your clothes off you definitely could have just done it without dumping spaghetti all over yourself."

Of course, immediately after he'd said it, Corbin realized what he'd said.. and went wide-eyed. He wanted to back-pedal.. but.. how? Where? "Er, what.. uh.. I.. meant.. was..." Shit. The silence was so loud that it was literally drowning out the lathe Corbin was working on.. and after being frozen for several more long moments, he reached over to throw the power switch and it spun to a stop.. the only noise in the shop being that of the heater. "Sorry, what I meant was 'that was the most skillful thing I've ever seen in my entire life'."

He paused again to let that sink in. "Look... You literally got every single noodle on you. Not one single spec of anything on the floor.... How you managed to do that.. while tripping over your shoelace and falling..." Okay. Maybe this wasn't helping. Because it basically just meant that Corbin had been very, very closely watching Axe...

"How.. about.. I go pry foot out of my mouth and grab you another shirt, yeah? You gonna need pants, too? I've got some sweats.. They'll be big but they'll work, ya know? I'd.. help you with that but.. I mean, really can't imagine you want me to touch you. Be back!" GAH! JUST SHUT UP CORBIN. He sprinted - sprinted through the isle and around into the house.. returning mere moments later with a burgandy sweatshirt (several sizes too large for Axe) and an arm full of clean shop towels. "Uh, you can.. I mean.. I can go inside and you can change.. or.. I can stay here.. --Not stay here while you change here! What I meant was.. I can show you were the bathroom is? Wash your shirt? You, uh.. want something else to eat?" Forehead in palm again. Bad mouth. Stop running. Ruining everything. Even the stuff that was never gonna happen to begin with.

At least flirty and funny were out the window at this point. Into the frigid December air. To be frozen before they hit the ground, break into a thousand pieces, thaw in the spring, degrade into excellent fertilizer for awkwardness, and help to make the most bountiful of harvests thereof.

[Axelle Flint]

At first Axelle's eyes had widened at Corbin's statement, her body going rigid with the idea that maybe she wasn't so safe after all but that faded rather quickly as she observed his reactions. It made the situation far less intimidating, and awkward realizing that Corbin was just as bad at this as she was...perhaps even more so. She'd only dumped some spaghetti on her lap, he was talking about undressing.

They COULD undress...HE WAS STILL TALKING. Axelle abruptly switched her attention back to what he was saying and realize that he was complimenting her, technically. She didn't think it was creepy at all, it would have been an eyecatching event at any rate, she couldn't have blamed him for staring anyway. "Ah well, I've had a lot of practice cuz I'm kinda clumsy," she explained as she managed to get to her feet and held her shirt out so that it formed a bowl for the spaghetti. She listened to Corbin, but missed anything potentially sexual because she was thinking about the wasted food that was now in her shirt. She looked up in time to see Corbin running back somewhere, presumably to get her a new shirt. He was really sweet and kinada cute with all the fumbling...that didn't actually look like fumbling. At least he wasn't dropping things. She smiled at him to try and reassure him that he was technically traversing the right path.

"Oh, well um, I'll just go into the kitchen and dump this out...it's kinda linty sorry..." she apologized before transfering part of her shirt into the other hand so she could take the sweater he was offering her and trotting off into the afformentioned direction of the kitchen. The trashcan was easy to find and after that it was just a matter of stripping off the shirt and switching it with the burgandy sweatshirt he'd brought her. As she did it was QUITE easy to imagine that he COULD have been helping her take off her shirt...his hands were really big and they'd probably feel a lot stronger than Benji's hands when he'd held her that night they had made out. She imagined them traveling up from her hips, up her wasit and around her shoulders once the shirt was finally off. She flushed an indecent shade of red and giggled slightly as she pulled his shirt back on....technically with leggings and a belt this could be a dress. But it smelled good...different from the detergent and fabric softener her family used. RIGHT SHE SHOULD PROBABLY GO BACK NOW.

She took a moment to calm down (because frankly her thoughts had momentarily taken on a life of their own and wow she needed to stop) before she shyly exited the house and made her way back into the garage. The sweatshirt was REALLY big on her, she felt as if she were swimming in it. She kept tugging the sleeves up and shifting her shoulders to keep her bra strap from showing, though eventually she just gave up. She took her sweater back out and made sure to hold it in a way to not get his shirt dirty. "I'll just throw this in my car really fast and come back," she blurted, quickly bolting outside again into the cold and tossing the garment into the passenger seat. She'd have to explain things later…maybe…but luckily for her her “fashion sense” was so eclectic that maybe her grandfather wouldn’t question the appearance and subsequent disappearance of this sweatshirt. She returned momentarily and found her way back to the lathe.

“Um, so…thanks…do you want more spaghetti? I can make some…maybe?” Corbin didn’t know it of course but Axelle was terrible in the kitchen. She’d only observed cooking, never tried it herself except in class and even then she usually left everything to her partner and read the recipe. But it couldn’t be so hard right?? She fidgeted nervously and pretended that she was way calmer and cooler than she felt.

[Corbin Jacobs]

If Corbin was to avoid completely and totally lying to himself, he'd have to admit that he honestly wasn't expecting Axe to come back when she headed to her car. He was also expecting that at some point in the future he was going to get a call from an angry male Flint informing him that he'd lost not only a great deal of respect, but also some business. There were other metalworking shops close enough that they could go elsewhere if they wanted.. It would just require more travel time.. and.. well.. the other shops within driving distance weren't as good as Corbin was.. But that only spoke more about how much that phone call would hurt. That's apparently how bad he'd messed up.

So when Axe returned Corbin was leaned over his lathe again.. most of the way done with the bell.. concentrating not only on the delicate job at hand, but also on not thinking about Axe or how he'd never see her again or how he'd probably just disrespected and angered her whole damned family...

Suffice it to say that he was surprised when she walked up next to him and started talking again. He very nearly jumped away from her. Fortunately, his hands were anchored to the lathe so he didn't go anywhere. Unfortunately.. he'd tried.. and in the process dug the cutting tool into the raw brass stock.. resulting in a deafening boom as the half-inch high-speed steel cutting tool shattered and lodged itself into the concrete floor only an inch or two away from Corbin's shoe. Ultra durable or not, it would be hard to imagine that such an impact wouldn't have been.. bad.

He'd instinctively hit the brake on the lathe to shut it off.. and just stood still for a moment to survey the situation.. checking himself, then looking over Axe, then letting his shoulders drop as some of the color returned to his face and he seemed to remember how to breathe. "Ya know, you must be something special.. I haven't done that in like.. eight years.."

Corbin backed away from the lathe, leaned against a nearby rack, and slid down it to rest his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Corbin was a teensy bit shaken. "Not your fault, though. Nah, that was all me. Thinkin too much, no situational awareness, ya know?" He exhaled a heavy breath and pushed himself back to his feet. "Food would be good, yeah.. C'mon." He would gesture toward, then lead the way back to the kitchen, posture relaxing the whole time until he looked normal by the time they were staring into his open fridge. Obviously the machine or the risk of harming himself wasn't a huge deal.. but Corbin was.. more than glad.. that his goof hadn't resulted in Axe getting hurt.

The fridge.. well.. Axe would like it. It was full. Lunch meat, condiments, cheeses, steak, ground beef, milk, juice, soda, water, fruits, veggies, and a bunch of tupperware containers marked with dates on little dry erase tiles stuck to them.

"If you wanna do more spaghet you're welcome to.. Otherwise there's sandwich stuff, leftovers, snacky stuff.. I mean, there's stuff in the freezer too.. Cereal and junk in the pantry.. Have anything you want, yeah?" Corbin would be having some or whatever that was, too.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle had also paled when Corbin's inattention almost injured him severely and felt some incredible guilt that some of that was her fault and that she had somehow snuck up on him. She continued to gape as her mind tried to start again. Shouldn't he have been expecting her to come back? She didn't get to ponder that much before Corbin seemed to recover and indicated that she should come to the kitchen with him. She broke out into a cold sweat...shit, she was going to have to come clean about not being able to cook because every appliance looked intimidating and dangerous...not to her of course because she was pretty damn tough but she could literally burn his house and livelihood to the ground because she really did not know the first thing about a damned kitchen.

"UMI'MSORRYICAN'TACTUALLYCOOKILIEDBECAUSEIFELTBADPLEASEDON'TKICKMEOUT!" she blurted all at once, huddling near the entrance of the kitchen in case she had to book it out of his house. TECHNICALLY she thought he might be justifiably angry, he'd been about to let a complete and utter incompetent moron touch dangerous cooking equipment without proper supervision. Also, she’d nearly injured him by distracted him while he was working on the lathe, and spilled his food…and she was wearing one of his shirts and honestly the fantasies about that hadn’t exactly stopped and it made her doubly embarrassed because…well…her libido refused to cooperate with her. Also he was still more or less a complete stranger and while he was friendly enough now, he could turn into a huge jerk later…maybe?? UGH but he was really durable so like she couldn’t hurt him right and EVERYONE seemed to be having sex and SHE really wanted to have sex (because everyone made it sound awesome and damnit she totally deserved to feel awesome).

She flushed red again because…damn her mind was imaginative with her flexibility when it wanted to be.

[Corbin Jacobs]

Well, Axe wasn't going to be burning the house down. He lived in an office off of what once was a garage.. Similar to Axe's. The fire protection stuff extended into the house portion. She might burn half the kitchen, but this place wasn't burning down. Not even from an Axe-strength fire.

Still, Corbin was more than surprised when Axe very suddenly and rather loudly blurted out that she'd lied and couldn't cook and ... she didn't want him to kick her out? He stared, blinked, his face scrunched up into a confused look.. he turned and looked back toward the door they'd come through, then back to her.. and after a brief moment he just shrugged and shook his head. "No, like.. Why would I kick you out? I mean.. You have every reason to leave and take your garage's business with you. I can't keep my foot out of my mouth and.. ya know.. you're.. a customer.. A young, hot redheaded female custoh my friggin god!"

Corbin literally punched himself in the mouth and buried his forehead in his hand. "I'll cook. I'll cook and you can take every bit of it home with you and next time you can send your dad or your grandpa and get a restraining order or whatever else so you don't have to be around me and why can't I shut up oh god words just keep coming out of my mouth and they wont stop and you are so freaggin cute when you blush especially wearing my shirt CRAP."

Corbin's left hand shot up and clamped over his mouth .. While he'd been rambling he'd already somehow put a pan on the stove and had hamburger in it as it was heating up.. His free right hand was now grabbing garlic salt and other seasonings out of a nearby cabinet, and would quickly have another pot in the sink filling with water as he grabbed a box of spaghetti noodles... only to stop before they hit the counter. "Or would you rather have like.. rigatoni or something?"

Then his eyes went wide and his hand clamped back over his mouth before it could betray him again, his right adding salt to the pot in the sink.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle's eyes widened as she continued listening to Corbin. He thought she was hot? HE THOUGHT SHE WAS HOT!!!

Suddenly she felt herself filled with the boldness that only 1950's detective movie vixens had as she sauntered across the kitchen, forcing Corbin up against his counter as she jutted out a hip with a hand placed on it, the other reaching up to juuuuust slightly pull on the collar of the shirt he'd leant her, tugging it down more to expose just to the start of her cleavage. She leaned forward into his personal space (she looked very good right now, she was sure of it) and opened her mouth just slightly before it closed again into an all-known smirk.

"I'm hot eh? Well, I think YOU'RE really hot, there's really nothing saying that we can't be hot together?" she purred as she stretched herself up on her tip toes, wrapped her arms around his ridiculously sexy, broad shoulders and proceeded to initiate an incredibly steamy make out session, at least until she heard Corbin ask a question about food.

"Huh? Oh....Rigatoni...I guess..." she stammered, desperately hoping that she hadn't ACTUALLY zoned out when he was talking to her, but according to the look he was giving her she must have, at least for a minute. "Uhm...so like, I don't HAVE to be a customer right now..." she fumbled. "I mean, I've met you twice so far, like...and my papa and grandfather seem to think you're a nice guy so like, I don't think they'd care if we were friends or...something," she mumbled the last word and began playing with the long sleeves and hem of the shirt she'd been lent. "I think you're really hot too," she let that hang in silence for a moment before she let out a little squeal and jumped up and down. "AAAAHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT IN YOUR KITCHEN WEARING YOUR SHIRT AND OH MY GAWD-!!" She took a moment to hide her face and finally faced Corbin again and squared her shoulders.

“Alright, you think I’m hot, I think you’re hot, lets be adult about this,” she said as maturely as she could because she WAS an adult damnit…she’d be 19 in July. She was trying very hard to look serious but she was still blushing a little because she had honestly no idea what exactly was going to happen. She really hoped she didn't have to throw him through a wall...but a large portion of her brain told her that would be unnecessary...

[Corbin Jacobs]

Corbin let his hand drop from his mouth.. because his grin was about bright enough that it was gonna burn his hand in a minute..

So.. Rigatoni.. Good. Corbin preferred rigatoni to spaghetti anyway. She didn't 'have' to be a customer.. Oooh, how he wouldn't mind making her more than a customer. She suspected her guardians would approve of her spending more time around him.. The gods were merciful. And she found him conveniently attractive.. and was blushing again. Literally nothing that wasn't good.

With a flurry of the spoon he'd been stirring the meat with, Corbin turned and leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at Axe. "Yeah, alright. Let's be adult. Adults have adult conversations, right? So, like.. If I wanted to discuss the more adult aspects about why I find you hot.. that'd be okay?" Now he was trying to get a reaction.. Because really.. why not? If he hadn't ruined everything yet, maybe it wasn't meant to be ruined?

"Or we could discuss, like, the glorious color of your hair.. Or how I'm calling you Red from now on. Is it okay if I call you Red, Red? We could also discuss what we'll have for lunch the next time you come over.. When that's gonna be.. How many times it's gotta happen before it's actually a date.. I mean, instead of just two hot people makin' all the mortals jealous and stuff.. Causing wormholes with their mutual, like.. good-lookin-ness."

He then realized how not adult he was being. "Hang on.. Problem. --Problem with the adult thing, not with.. any of what I just said. Like.. I really can't think straight when you're around. How am I supposed to 'adult' when you're around and, ya know.. you're just talkin about how sexy I am? And, like, how sexy I think you are. With that hair. And those lipmmf." Left hand once again clamped over his mouth, Corbin quickly turned to continue stirring the hamburger.

[Axelle Flint]

Corbin got his reaction as Axelle flamed red again even though she was busy telling herself that she WAS adult enough for that kind of conversation if she felt that she was adult enough to have sex with someone. "I'm old enough for sex, I'm old enough for that kind of conversation!" she repeated several times in a few seconds inside her head even as she nodded her acceptance of this particular term. He had a nickname for her already? And it was "Red"?! She wasn't entirely sure she even liked it but it did sound catchy. "Alright but...when we're alone or something you could call me by my name or...Axe?" she suggested. "It could be something cute between us when we're alone," she plowed on.

How many lunches together until it was a date...she pondered that for a moment and lighted on an answer almost immediately. It at least appeared that there was a bit of mutual physical attraction here so if she could be in close proximity but not TOO close perhaps they could foster an attraction away from that if she put a time limit on it. The idea came at a good time since Corbin was covering his mouth again after announcing a problem. Well, he'd also complimented her several times and seemed to be obsessed with her lips. "Well, how about this? I graduate Hammel in a few months. How about after I graduate, if we're still around and talking to each other you can take me on a date? If things go well maybe you can even kiss me goodnight?" she teased good naturedly almost not thinking about until she had finished and then realized what she'd said. "DAMNIT GIRL DON'T BLUSH!" she scolded herself.

She was scarlet.