Mechanic 101 Who: Colin and Cleo What: Mechanic 101 When: Wednesday Evening Where: Their home Warnings: A smidge of nudity towards the end
A little light in the car of Colin's that she'd been driving had come on that evening on her way home from the daycare. Cleo had no real clue what it meant other than that something was wrong with the oil or that it needed changing, so she'd ignored it and figured she'd just let Colin check on it when he got home. She'd never learned how to check those sorts of things herself so she thought it was best to leave things like that to the mechanic. She wanted to learn how to do it herself and had every intention of at least watching him do whatever it is he had to do.
She mentioned it to Colin at the table that night and he'd promised that he'd look at it after dinner. Once she'd gotten dishes put into the dishwasher - there were never any leftovers in their house to speak of - she changed out of her regular clothes and put on something she didn't mind getting dirty and made her way out to the garage where she found him getting things situated. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready to learn. What can I help with?"
Colin had checked which light it was and wasn’t surprised it was the oil light. Her car (and yes, it was Cleo’s car to him) was about due for an oil change. He changed into the coveralls he kept at home and then was getting out the stuff to change the oil. Luckily, he had enough to do it at home and didn’t have to go to the store. He needed to pick some more up, since his truck was about due for it as well.
He couldn’t help but chuckle at Cleo in her farmer’s overalls. It was too cute. He was surprised she wanted to learn. “Seriously?” he asked. “I mean sure, but I didn’t think you were interested in this stuff.” His mom and Becky had pretty much always left this kind of stuff to the guys. “Grab the oil pan,” he nodded to the pan at the end of the bench. “And I’ll show you how to drain it. Then it’s just waiting for it to drain.” He looked at her again and laughed. “Not afraid to get dirty, huh?” He was pleasantly surprised, that was for sure.
"What's so funny?" she questioned as she looked down at what she had on. "Too much?" She blinked a little, but she walked over to collect the pan that he pointed to and held it up. "How do I know where I put it under there?" she asked. "And no, I'm not afraid to get dirty," she added. "I'm pregnant and I'll have at least a year or two of disgustingly filthy messes to clean up. A little oil isn't going to hurt me. Besides, what if I'm out and it needs changed and you're not around? I'll need to know how to handle this stuff."
Colin shook his head. “Nah, you look way cuter in that than I ever would,” he told her. “But if you wanna learn to be a mechanic, we’ll have to get you some coveralls. We don’t wear these because they’re fashionable. The stuff gets everywhere.” He chuckled when she commented about baby messes. “Yeah, the stuff that comes out of baby is way grosser than anything I’ve seen come out of an engine.” he agreed with a grin. It was still a pleasant shock, being reminded she was pregnant with his baby. “Well normally I’d haze the rookie by putting your right under it and having you loosen the cap and watch you get a faceful of old oil,” he teased. “But since I love you and you’re pregnant and I want to get laid again, well,slide under the car and I’ll show you.”
She nodded and knelt down and shifted to lie on her back so she could scoot under the car and actually see what she was doing. It wasn't difficult considering she was as tiny as she was. "Hopefully I won't have to do this when I'm as big as a house," she laughed, shifting the pan a little as she looked up into the engine and tried to figure out where this cap was that he'd been talking about. "Are there more liquids that come out from down here or is oil the only one?" she questioned. She wanted to narrow down the caps if there were multiple ones to be seen.
Colin chuckled and shook his head. “The only reason you’re doing it now is because you asked,” he assured her. “I’m used to keeping up all the cars by myself. Becky hates all of this stuff and thinks because all of the guys in the family are mechanics, she shouldn’t have to deal with. Teaching her to change a tire was a pain in the ass.” Everybody should know how to do that. Especially women who drove by themselves.
Sliding under the engine, he moved the pan under. “These are the quick release valves for draining fluids,” he explained. “All of these tanks have some kind of liquid in them, even if its just water like the radiator. This makes it easier to get whatever’s in them out. This one’s the oil. Scoot back a little bit, because it splashes all over when it first comes out. Gravity works, and all.” Once she was clear, he twisted off the cap with the wrench in his hand and let the liquid start to drain. “Simple enough?”
"You're going to have to teach me how to do that too," she commented. "I don't think I've ever had a flat tire, let alone changed one." She was still young yet, however, and there'd be plenty of time for her to have to change tires.
She watched him carefully as he explained the caps and pointed to the one with oil in it. Doing as he said, she moved out of the way and sure enough oil came from the place he'd said it would. "That's actually pretty easy," she agreed. "So we just wait for it to drain, put the cap back on and fill it up with good oil?" she questioned. She could do this mechanic crap. Or at least changing the oil.
He shifted slightly, moving to the oil filter nut. “Next we remove the old oil filter and change it,” he explained, handing her the oil drain plug. “Don’t lose that. It really sucks if you accidentally drop it in the pan. Generally have to get a big magnet to find it in the old oil.” He was strong enough to take off the old oil filter without a wrench, but considering he’d put it on last, he was ready to help her if needed. “Okay grab that and unscrew the nut holding it in place. Be very careful as you pull the filter off, because once again, it’s full of oil and messy. If you can’t get screwed off by hand, here’s a wrench.” He offered it to her.
She took the oil drain plug and tucked it into the pocket of her overalls. She did as he said, reaching out to try and unscrew the nut holding it in place but found she wasn't quite strong enough to do so. Taking the wrench instead, she used it and managed to get the nut off without making too much of a mess and tucked it into her pocket so it wouldn't get lost. She was decidedly dirty, at least from her wrist up, but she thought she was doing pretty damn good, thank you very much. "Okay, so this is trash?" she asked, handing him the filter.
“Yeah, dump it out in the pan with the rest of the old oil,” he told her as he checked to make sure the old filter’s O ring wasn’t still partially stuck to the engine. “Always make sure the ring from the old filter is off. If it’s there it won’t seal tight and get oil everywhere. Which is really bad.” He nodded towards the new filter he’d brought over, along with the bottle of oil. “Okay, take out the new filter. See the ring on the top,” Opening the oil, he held it out to her. “Dip your finger in the oil and rub it all over the ring. It’ll help it seal.” He settled back against the garage floor, content to watch. “Then screw it back in place. Don’t worry about it being super tight. Once it’s full of oil it’ll swell and be fine. That’s why you had such a problem getting off before.”
She checked to make sure the old O ring wasn't stuck to the engine and once she was satisfied that it wasn't, she took the new filter from him and let her eyes move over the O ring at the top of it. She nodded when he asked if she saw it and then did as he told her, taking her finger and dipping it into the oil before coating the ring. Once she'd done that, she put it back in place and took the nut from her pocket and collected the wrench to screw it on properly. "Tada," she grinned once she was satisfied it was done correctly. "Okay, what next?"
Colin doubled checked to make sure it was tight enough, then grinned. “Perfect,” he told her. “I’m going to be hiring you next and then never get any work done.” He reached out and brushed his none too clean fingers across her cheek, trying to get off a smudge of oil. “You look way cuter covered in oil than I do, too.” He checked the pan and nodded. “It should be done. Wipe away the yuck around where the plug goes and then screw it back on.”
The grin on her face only widened when she was given even more praise. She was a cat and ate that sort of thing up. "Don't tempt me," she teased. Reaching up, she wiped away the grime and got the plug from her pocket and put it back in place, screwing it on and feeling quite pleased with herself. "This is kinda fun," she commented. "No wonder you like being a mechanic so much. You get to get dirty all day and be paid for it."
“Tony and Carr would never forgive me,” he said. “You know they don’t want to deal with that.” Which was true. “Besides, you have a way more important job.” Colin laughed as he took the wrench from her and made sure the plug was on good and tight. “Damn, now you have me all figured out,” he teased. “Yeah, it’s fun. I like working with my hands, fixing stuff instead of breaking it. But it’s also hard work and you spend all day bent at weird angles trying to get to different parts. I used to have more aches and pains, but since I became a were it’s better.” Yeah, they needed to finish up. But this was way more fun than he expected.
“Leave the pan there. I’ll take it and the filter to work tomorrow to make sure they get recycled.” Nice perk of being a mechanic himself. He ducked out from under the car. “Okay, we’re done under there. Want a hand up?” He figured Cleo was more than capable of getting out from under the car alone, but had to offer.
Pushing herself out from under the car, she took the offered hand and pulled herself up from the ground. "I bet I can think of a couple of ways for you to work with your hands and be bent at weird angles," she smirked.
Colin chuckled and used the excuse to pull her close. They were both going to need another shower after this, so close contact wasn’t going to hurt anything. “I bet you can,” he agreed as he kissed her. This was the most fun he’d had doing routine car work in awhile.
Cleo didn't mind getting dirty, especially if it was from kisses and hugs from her man. "Mhm," she agreed with a little nod. "What do we do next?" she asked him. "Just fill the oil... what would that be called?" she questioned. "A reservoir?" Something like that likely. "But yes, fill that up with oil and we're done?" she went on, wiping her own hand across her cheek in effort to calm a tiny itch she felt. Succeeding in only making a big smudge across her face, she remained oblivious to just how dirty she was getting.
Damn, she wasn’t distracted by the kissing. Colin groaned a bit in protest, but got back to work. This was why he didn’t want her at his shop. He wouldn’t get anything done. He laughed when she smudged oil across her face. “Yeah, reservoir or tank,” he agreed, grabbing a rag off the the hood. “You’re turning into a greasy monkey.” Carefully wiping the worst of it off, he surrendered the rag to her so she could wipe her hands off. “Nope, not that simple. Pull out the dipstick. I’ll get the oil and the funnel.”
She laughed a little as he tried to clean the smudges from her face and then took the rag and wiped off her hands. Setting the rag aside again, she did as he said, looking into the engine and finding the little handle that she assumed was that dipstick thing he was talking about. Pulling it out, sure enough there was still oil stuck to it. She was pleased with herself for finding the right thing on the first go and grinned a little smugly.
Colin grabbed the open quart and the funnel, handing them to Cleo while he took the rag and dipstick and wiped it off. “Okay, pour in the oil through the filter up here,” he told her. “Only that one bottle. Then screw it back on.” He nodded towards the driver’s side. “Then I want you to get in and start the car. Leave it idling so we can check for leaks.”
Cleo took the funnel and the oil and did as directed. Once she'd poured the contents of the oil bottle into the tank, she sat it aside and screwed the cap back into place. Wiping her hands on her overalls, she got into the car and turned it on, letting it idle like Colin had told her to do. Getting back out of the car and onto her knees to check if there were any leaks, she watched for a couple of moments and then looked up at Colin. "Will it leak immediately if there's anything wrong?" she asked him as she stood.
Colin went over and shut off the car after a minute. “Sometimes,” he told her. “So far it looks good. Let’s put in the rest of the oil and see. This takes about five quarts usually, so we just need to put in four more.” Pulling out the dipstick and checking it, he shoved it back in. “You know how turned on you are making me right now?” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. Yeah, they weren’t done yet, but he couldn’t help it. It was sexy.
She smirked a little at him when he slipped his arms around her. "Behave you," she told him. "I'm trying to learn to be amazing and you're distracting me," she teased. She never thought that changing the oil in a car would be this much fun, but she was learning and apparently impressing her lover and that was just added incentive to spend more time in the garage with him.
“You get any more amazing and we’ll never get out of bed,” he warned her. Cleo really was amazing, although he’d have to admit he was more than a bit biased, since he loved her and she was his mate. “Okay, okay, pour in another three and a half quarts and we’ll see where we stand. I’ll show you how to read the dipstick, so you can check the oil level in your car and know if it needs any.” Yes, her car. He didn’t drive it anymore and preferred his truck because he could carry tools in it.
"My car?" she said, brow arching as she collected another bottle of oil and went to pour it in. "It's still yours, Colin," she reminded him, shaking her head a little. It was sweet of him just to let her use the darn thing to carry herself to work, but she certainly didn't expect him to consider it hers. "Thank you," she said after a moment, setting the first empty bottle down and grabbing another. "For being patient enough to teach me how to do this."
She was kidding, right? “Your car,” he insisted. “Cleo, we’re getting married. That means everything that is mine is yours as well. You drive the thing, you’re learning how to take care of it. So that makes it your car.” He gave her a pointed look, then grinned. “Are you kidding? I’m having a blast. You’re doing great and I get to watch you bend over repeatedly and the fact you’re interested in this at all blows my mind. Any time you want me to teach you more, just ask.”
She didn't bother arguing. Likely it would just have been a pointless argument anyways. Colin could be just as stubborn, if not more so, as she was. She smiled at the rest of his words and having emptied the third bottle of oil, began to pour half of the fourth into the tank. "Of course I'm interested in all this," she told him. "I love you and you love being a mechanic. I should at least know how to change the bloody oil in the car, shouldn't I?" she asked, shrugging a little as she capped the half empty bottle of oil and set it aside. "Okay, that's done. What's next, love?"
Good. Because this wasn’t an argument she wanted to lose anyway. He was still surprised that was why she was interested. “My mother and sister don’t know shit about this stuff,” he told her honestly. “They have no interest. They can both change a tire because Dad insisted they learn. Which I will teach you before you get too far along, although if you blow a tire, I expect you to call me and I will immediately come and help you. But it’s good to know how to do anyway.” He leaned down and kissed her again. “The fact that you’re interested in it just because it’s something I love is the best thing ever. I love you, Cleo.”
Okay, yeah, back to what they were doing. “Let it sit for about five minutes, then we’ll check it once the oil’s settled,” he said, grabbing her around the waist again. Sort of back to work. “Then once it’s full, we’ll have you drive it around the block once, let it sit for five minutes again. If its still full and nothing’s leaking anywhere, we’re good to go. Then you can brag about changing the oil in your car by yourself. Because I basically did nothing.”
She planned on learning as much as he'd let her learn. She liked spending time with Colin, regardless, but he really and truly loved being a mechanic and she wanted to experience that with him. If Becky and her mother missed out on all that fun that was their problem. She intended not to miss out on anything if she could help it. She smiled at him when he kissed her and nodded a little. "I love you too, Colin," she assured him, though likely he didn't need any convincing of that.
"Oh I intend to brag," she told him as she slipped her arms around his neck. "I feel extremely accomplished actually and I may have to walk around telling strangers that I'm capable of changing the oil in my car just so I can keep telling people," she laughed.
Colin laughed, leaning down to kiss her again, then nuzzle her cheek. “You did accomplish something,” he agreed. “And I don’t blame you. Kind of makes me want to start a restoration project. Really teach you how to do this. Then you can be all “I built a whole damned car.” Yeah, that would be fun. He and Robbie had thought about it, but it never happened. Maybe this way would be better. “Some sexy muscle car we can drive around for the fun of it. If this baby’s like me, driving around is probably the only way to get the baby to sleep sometimes. I was a motorhead from birth. You’ve been warned.”
Cleo grinned broadly. "Can we?" she asked, lighting up at the simple thought of it. "Please?" she went on, putting on a tiny pout because a restoration project sounded pretty darn amazing to the girl. Especially if she'd get to help out with it and be able to say she assisted building something that would likely turn out pretty amazingly with Colin's help and guidance.
He grinned. “Why not?” he said. “It might take us a couple of years, but it’ll be fun.” He reached up and brushed her hair back, before leaning in to kiss her again. “Maybe longer, considering how easily you can distract me.”
"If you didn't want to be distracted, perhaps you should have mated to someone less attractive," she teased. She returned the kiss and then snuck in a couple more. "I think it's been five minutes," she murmured against his mouth.
Colin scoffed at that. “I have the best mate ever,” he told her. “Therefore I’ll take being distracted.” And then she had to remind him they weren’t done. “Slavedriver,” he teased, giving her rump a good swat. “Okay, reading the dipstick.” He pulled it out of the car and showed her the marks. “It needs to be to here to be full,” he expected. “Since the oil is not, you need to add more. Just do little bits and check it. You’ll get a feel for it more, but from what I can see, maybe another quarter of what’s left in the bottle.” He put the dipstick back and let her take over for now.
She examined the dipstick and the little marks that he pointed out to her. Picking up the half empty bottle of oil, she poured and checked a few times before being satisfied that it was indeed right at the mark he'd indicated. "Alright," she told him. "Oil is full, so now time for a ride around the block?" she said.
“Yes ma’am,” he drawled, kneeling down to pull the oil pan from underneath her car. “Go ahead, I’ll deal with this stuff. You probably shouldn’t be handling it too much. Just to be safe.” A little grease and oil wouldn’t hurt her and the baby, but he didn’t want to overdo it. “Just drive it like you always would. If something’s not tight, it’ll be pretty obvious.”
"Alright," she told him, taking a moment to catch a kiss from him before closing the hood and climbing into the car. Turning it on, she left the house for a quick trip around the block. Thankfully nothing seemed to be amiss. Returning to the garage and closing the large door behind her with the controller, she parked the car and turned the engine off. "Nothing seems to be wrong," she told him. "And the light went off."
Colin had drained the old oil into a container and wrapped up the old filter in newspaper to take to work with him tomorrow. He smiled as she came back. “Give it about five minutes,” he told her. “But yeah, it smells and sounds fine, too.” He chuckled. “Even as a human, it was one of those things. Cars don’t sound or smell right when something’s off. Now that I’m a were, I can usually tell from like three blocks away. You’ll get what I mean when we do more work together.”
She nodded. She never really paid much attention to the smell or sound of a car, honestly, but it made sense. "I'll have to start paying more attention to things like that," she told him. "After a while I'm sure I'll get the smell and sound of them down and be able to pick up on it better. Perhaps not as good as you, but we'll see," she smiled. She liked the way working together sounded and looked forward to it more than she thought she might. "This was fun," she admitted, wrapping her arms round his middle.
He grinned. “I’ve been doing this my entire life,” he said. “Add in were senses and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who can identify a car three blocks away by what the engine sounds like. Although it might be a fun game for me and Carr when it’s slow.” He smiled and pulled her closer, nuzzling her neck. “It was,” he agreed. “You just keep blowing my mind, Cleo. My instincts are clearly smarter than I am, since they picked you.”
She smiled at his words and nodded a little. "They were quite smart," she agreed. "Sometimes I amaze myself." She was teasing, at least partly, but mostly she was just thankful that something about her had gotten to Colin. Whether it was him or his wolf or some higher power that had picked her for the man, she was thankful for it. Imagining herself being anywhere else was a ridiculous thought if there ever was one.
Colin chuckled and gave her another kiss. “Okay, go inside and get us a bath going,” he told her. “I’ll double check everything and get this stuff cleaned up. Then you have to let me seduce you, because I’m horny as hell right now. I have no defense against your amazing.”
Like she was supposed to deny him his wishes when he'd complied with all of hers thus far that evening. "Oh I suppose I can do that," she said, feigning disappointment with the task. She couldn't keep a straight face, however, and simply kissed him once more for good measure and headed off to the bathroom. Once there, she stripped herself out of her overalls and shirt and the undergarments beneath and went ahead and got the shower going so it could get warm. Looking into the mirror, she laughed a little at her smudged face and washed a bit of it off of her cheeks while she waited for Colin to finish up outside.
It didn’t take Colin long to get the garage cleaned up and check Cleo’s car one more time. Everything looked good, so he shrugged out of his coveralls and hung them up where they belonged near the door. He’d hardly done any of the work, they weren’t dirty enough to bother washing.
Heading into the bathroom, he growled softly at he saw her standing there naked. “Hey sexy,” he greeted. “Good job. No leaks. I’d better watch out or you’ll take my job away.” He grinned and moved over to her. “God, now you really smell like me,” he teased as he wrapped his arms around her. “Love you.”
"I love the way you smell, thank you very much,," she laughed as she turned to face her lover. She was pleased with herself and had every intention of bragging to anyone that would listen to her the following day. LIkely Isis would get the biggest earful of her bragging but she'd get over it. She wanted someone to tell and Isis was always the one that she liked to brag to. "I helped you change the oil," she commented as she slipped her arms around his neck. "You help me clean up, yeah?"