| content: mechanic!jinx, modern au, men dni, kissing/making out, slightly suggestive, reader & jinx are a tiny bit mean first, mostly fluff, possibly ooc jinx, lowercase intended, probably car/mechanic info inaccuracies lol
mechanic!jinx who owns or either co-owns her shop with ekko, obviously named something ridiculously quirky. it looks like your typical garage/shop from afar but is definitely done up with her signature touch.
so when you’re driving through town, exhaustion sweeping over you as the heat and long day of driving catch up to you, the sight of a garage with the light up monkey sign illuminating the dark roads fills you with both a sense of relief and curiosity. you take a left and pull in, turning off the engine and resting your head on the steering wheel for a moment. coming back to your home town was always a taxing process, but it had almost been long enough to forget just how tricky the journey was. almost.
you pulled down the sun visor, scanning your reflection in the mirror as you smoothed out unruly pieces of your hair. you’d almost reached your family home, but the engine making strange sounds and stalling in the middle of the road was happening too periodically for you to ignore. now that you think about it - you definitely should have pulled over and got it checked out way before. there wasn’t a lot in your hometown, and at this time, practically everything still functioning had long closed for the night - so when the lit up ‘open’ sign in front of the garage came into view you thanked your lucky stars.
the cool summer air hits you the second you step out of your car. you wrapped your arms around your body, your flimsy cardigan doing little to prevent the goosebumps forming on your arms. you cautiously ventured further inside, stopping when you catch sight of someone inside.
mechanic!jinx who doesn’t seem to be affected by the chilly temperature, you figure, as your eyes land on the back of her figure leaning over a workbench, black tank top clinging to the top half of her body, showing off the intricate cloud tattoos wrapped around her bicep extending down her arm. two messy blue braids swing around with every movement as she’s seemingly caught up in her tinkering. you take the opportunity to scan the place you’re standing in. the space is clearly well loved and definitely lived-in, evident by the doodles and sketches of vehicles and their parts pinned up, tools, mini figures of cars and metal scraps strewn across every surface.
“we’re closed,” the figure speaks simply, finally noticing your presence despite not bothering to turn around.
you furrow your brows, checking the time. sure, it was just past midnight, but the open sign had been pretty clear, hadn’t it?
“the sign says you’re open,” you huff out, hating to be that person but also so worn out, wanting nothing but to crash into a bed as soon as possible.
the figure finally turns around, pulling the goggles to rest atop their head. the woman in front of you has the most striking eyes you’ve ever seen, magenta hue glinting under the lights of the garage. your breath catches in your throat as you take in the rest of the features of her face while she scans your form from top to bottom, eyes narrowed.
“huh,” she finally replies, “must be broken again.” she walks to some spot behind you, meddling with a switch before turning back towards your figure. “there, closed!” she quipped with something that looked suspiciously like a grin.
you spin around at her words, arms thrown up in exasperation. “are you fucking kidding me??” you bristle. jinx simply shrugs in response, a slight smirk playing on her lips at your annoyance. asshole.
you take a deep breath to attempt to collect yourself. you’re not going to get far if you piss off the only person around who can fix your car, however maddening she may be. “please, you guys are the only ones i’ve passed in this godforsaken town that look like you can actually help. it’ll be quick, and i’ll be out of your hair in no time,” you plead, swallowing your pride in hope that the woman before you would take mercy on you if she knew you were being genuine.
mechanic!jinx who toys with a spanner as she listens to you amusedly. she already knows she’s going to help - maybe she just wants to hear you beg. pretty women are her weakness, after all. she lets a beat of silence hang between you when you finish speaking, as if she’s weighing between decisions. she finally lets out a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest as she continues to scrutinise you.
“fine,” she relents, rolling her eyes slightly, “let’s go see what the damage is, trouble.”
she’s been hunched over the engine bay of your car for around twenty minutes already, twisting knobs and wiping areas with a rag, occasionally shaking her head and murmuring to herself at the sight. you stand to the side, thinking anxiously about the state of your car and how you’re going to get home but simultaneously fighting to overcome the thoughts of just how attractive she looks in her craft, unable to tear your eyes away from her. you think you’re actually going to have to slap yourself out of it, when she suddenly looks up from under the head to turn to you.
“damn it toots, did you ever get the oil filter cleaned on this thing?” jinx jabs, shattering your thought spiral.
of course, she just had to be infuriating as well as impossibly hot. you roll your eyes, scowling. “obviously, i’m not that stupid,” you shot back.
“ha, when was the last time?” she replies, raising an eyebrow. not giving you the chance to respond, she turns back to the engine, shaking her head. “it’s not just that, the engine clearly overheated - that explains the noises you said it was making. it’s going to take a couple of days to fix.”
“so i can’t take it now?” you ask in reply, mentally facepalming afterwards at the stupidly obvious question.
“are you out of your mind?”
“shit,” you mutter, running your hands down your face in dismay. “what am i gonna do?”
mechanic!jinx whose gaze softens as she looks to you, despite your words being directed to yourself more than anyone else. jinx hesitates for a moment, biting her lip as she figures out what to say. “i’ll give you a ride home if you need it,” she finally manages, watching you in anticipation of your reaction, though she’s surprised at herself too.
your gaze snaps back to her at that in confusion, that’s not the reply you were expecting from the snarky woman.
“really?” you reply, following behind her as she begins to swiftly walk away, packing up her tools.
“sure, lemme close up first,” she replies seemingly collected, but the way she stays with her back turned as she begins rolling down the shutters of the workshop is a little conflicting. your eyes narrow at her though she can’t see you. there has to be some sort of catch to this.
“wait, how do i know you’re not some creep, or like a serial killer or something-”
mechanic!jinx turning back to you, an expression of incredulousness on her face. “don’t make me retract my offer, toots,” she deadpans. that shuts you up, and you simply nod in accord as you trail after her to her car, far too tired to care or argue any longer. her car is just as sleek and cool-looking as you’d expect from someone in her profession , but the little modifications make it so her. you think you’re subtle in the way your eyes flick over it in quiet admiration, but the faint smirk painting her face is telling a different story.
once you’re situated inside, you can’t help but let your curiosity at the oddness of the woman’s behaviour get the better of you. who does that??? “so do you just offer rides in the dead of your night to all your customers or…”
jinx turns to you with a glare as the engine comes to life. “can you just be grateful?” her words carry no bite though, and the faint blush across her cheeks isn’t helping. she has a feeling she knows why she offered like that so quickly but she definitely isn’t admitting that.
“okay, yeah no i’m grateful. veryyy grateful, thankyou,” you emphasise, quickly turning your eyes back to the road as jinx simply scoffs lightheartedly in response. you tell her the directions, and only a few words are passed between you as she begins to drive, the fatigue from the long day getting the better of the two of you. you’re definitely not subtle in the way you admire the view of her side profile while she’s driving and her hands gripped around the steering wheel - but thankfully she’s too preoccupied with the road in front of her to notice.
once you finally park in front of your house, you’re more than ready to leave - though the eye candy in front of you is very tempting, you’re absolutely ready to sleep for a week. you’re also not sure how much longer you’ll be able to be near her without doing something embarrassing or regretful. jinx clears her throat just as your hand reaches the door handle, all previous confidence and smoothness apparently thrown to the wolves as you turn back to her questioningly.
“you can come by in three days, your car should be fixed by then,” she says. then, after a short pause, “i’m jinx, by the way.”
you tell her your name and thank her again, genuinely, before getting out. jinx waits till you’ve gone all the way inside, watching wistfully as your figure disappears from view before she turns the key back in, heading home for the night.
mechanic!jinx who is teased mercilessly by ekko the following day when she tries to casually bring you up. casually - who is she kidding? she’s never been casual about anything in her life.
“so wait, you’re telling me instead of, you know, doing the normal thing and asking for her number, you were just straight up a jerk instead???” ekko had laughed when she recounted the events to him.
“fuck you. how was i supposed to pull that one off?” jinx scowled, “and for the record - we were closed, it was that goddamn sign glitching again.”
ekko snorted in response, shaking his head. “well, you quite literally had a reason to, when she’s supposed to come back for the car?”
“okay, smartass, back to work,” jinx snarked, as ekko narrowly dodged the scrunched-up note aimed at his head, still laughing. she couldn’t argue with that, but in her defence, she was usually way smoother than that…somewhat.
mechanic!jinx whose breath catches in her throat when you eventually come back after three days during which she definitely wasn’t thinking about you. you can’t deny the fact that you put a tiny bit more effort in your appearance today, more than what was needed for just going to a garage on the outskirts of the town, kicking yourself when you realised as you looked at your reflection that afternoon. your mind short circuits as you’re walking closer to her, simultaneously thanking whatever powers were out there for blessing your eyes with the view in front of you and cursing whatever was in the air to make you feel this way.
“hey,” you say when you’re finally close enough to be within earshot.
“hi,” jinx replies, eyes refusing to leave your face. a few beats of silence pass while you both stare, before you snap out of it and clear your throat. “soooo…my car, is it ready?” you sound out tentatively.
jinx plays with the hair at the back of her head as she nods awkwardly, suddenly looking anywhere but your face as she starts walking. “oh, of course, your car. right this way…”
you follow her through the garage passing different areas before you reach your car, the two of you standing near the side doors of your car as jinx debriefs you on what exactly was wrong with your car and what was done to fix it. you’ve checked out of the conversation long ago, far too distracted by how ridiculously attractive she looks right now, tattoos on display once again, but also how charming she is rambling about things you probably barely have an idea about, let alone care about. it’s a shame it doesn’t last long though.
“the air filter on that thing…worst one i’ve seen in years, probably. and that fuel pump - what do you do, run the tank to the ground-”
“excuse me,” you snap, eyes narrowed at her jabs, spell broken. she’s almost civil one moment, the next she’s on your back once again?
“what?” jinx’s eyes widen exaggeratedly as she shrugs her shoulders. “it’s all true, in fact toots, i don’t think you should really even be on the road.” that was it - okay, maybe you weren’t the best at maintaining your car but you were perfectly good at driving it, thank you very much.
“do you actually do anything around here, or is running your mouth the only thing you’re good at?” you shoot back, barely controlling your rage at how easily she can rile you up.
“i’ll have you know i’m good at many things actually,” jinx taunts as she leans in closer to you, “like actually getting my car checked when the engine is on the brink of failure, though me personally i haven’t ever-”
“are you good at shutting the fuck up?” you interrupt, your glare scorching as the rest of your body heats in anger and maybe something else.
“should we find out?” her voice drops to a teasing whisper as she leans in even closer to your space. you’re internally berating yourself for the way your gaze immediately drops to her lips, though when you look back up to meet her eyes there’s a flicker in them as she does the same. a sweet smell mixed with the slightest tinge of engine oil clings to her, clings to you, overwhelms your senses and your body and your brain and what the fuck is actually going on?
mechanic!jinx who hums approvingly into the kiss when you meet her lips in the middle. your hands go to the back of her head, tangling your fingers as if to ground yourself while she places her warm hands on your waist, tugging you to the point there’s no space between you. her lips move against yours in the middle ground between delicateness and recklessness, and it’s almost maddening how good, how right, it feels - though that thought is quickly brushed away as her lips part from yours to move to your jawline.
you readily welcome the tenderness of her touch as she presses delicate kisses from your jaw down to your neck. her lips find your pulse point, and the quiet sound it draws from your lips makes jinx lift her head up quickly, meeting your eyes with a faint smirk. you glare at her playfully, and that’s all it takes for her to shake her head and swiftly resume, moving her hands closer to your hips to pull you flush to her own body.
“jinx there’s a customer asking for their keys out there, can you go-” ekko’s sentence ends midway as he enters the bay, his eyes landing on the two of you pressed against the side door of your car.
mechanic!jinx who is unwilling to let go of you, one hand still gripped firmly on your hip and the other on your shoulder as you watch the scene unfold with an embarrassed flush. jinx glares daggers at the clueless boy, more pissed at the fact that she was interrupted than the fact she was caught.
ekko puts his hands up in surrender. “i’ll see to it,” he says, doing little to stifle his snicker as he turns on his heel swiftly and walks out. jinx mutters something about getting him back, dropping the hand away from your shoulder as she turns back to you. you visibly deflate at the loss of contact, though the hand on your hip is unmoving as jinx, for the first time it seems, looks like she’s struggling to speak.
“canitakeyouonadate,” she finally manages to blurt out, and your eyebrows raise at the unintelligible words.
“what was that?” you reply, tilting your head in confusion.
“can i take you on a date,” jinx mumbles, barely able to keep eye contact with you as she repeats herself more clearly.
your heart skips a beat at her words, but you’re not letting up that easily. “oh, could you repeat that? i didn’t quite catch it,” you playfully mock, not holding back the grin that makes its way to your face.
jinx sends you a fleeting look before burying her head in your shoulder. “can i take you on a date?” she repeats, though her words are muffled, “please.” you giggle, both at the ticklish feeling and her antics as you nod slightly. “you may.”
she raises her head to meet your gaze, smiling slightly as you finally give in. “my car?” you tease.
jinx raises an eyebrow. “absolutely not,” she snickers, shaking her head in mock disbelief at your suggestion, before leaning down to meet your lips again.
a/n: finally, a post actually below 6k words ! i really need to stop starting to write one idea then getting too excited about another and jumping to that because i get nothing finished...anyways this is literally brain vomit i just had to get it out so not too sure abt the quality !! but if you enjoy pls be sure to comment/reblog, thanks for reading <3
Actually had so much fun making this. The first part is Ekko telling jinx of this alternate world he visited, and the second part is the envy Jinx must have felt over Powder.
