Charlie Pace (l_a_t_e) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-12-13 08:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, charlie pace, tinkerbell |
80s Lipstick color
Who: Charlie & Tinkerbell
What: Charlie has Obi-Wan's car painted hot pink
Where: Tink's Garage
When: Wednesday Afternoon
Rating: G
Status: Complete
Charlie was probably poised for serious trouble with his boss, if that’s what he was supposed to call Obi-Wan. Charlie thought of him more as the guy who occasionally called him up for house-painting jobs. But Charlie had a steady music gig for the rest of the holiday season, playing piano at a fancy hotel, so they were seeing less of each other these days. That only meant that he needed to find creative ways to make sure Obi-Wan didn’t go and forget about him
Alright, so it was a prank he was planning. Hopefully this Tinkerbell chick wouldn’t be opposed to a little fun. He suspected she was up for it. She seemed to be the mischievousness sort.
Tink was definitely a mischievous sort. More than others, though not nearly as much as some. She was reclining in the office today, with a motorcycle magazine spread in front of her. The work load was light today, and the boss had gone home early, so the rest of the shop was in relaxation mode. Tink loved flipping through magazines to get ideas. She was planning on building her own bike from scratch, so this was research.
She looked up, though, when someone drove up to the garage, and climbed up from her chair. Yay! More cars to play with! She broke into a grin, tossed the magazine aside, and the started out to meet the newcomer, lifting her hand in a wave.
Charlie rolled into the garage at the wheel of Obi-Wan’s old Camry, which was essentially a clunker at this point. It was dull silver in color and the interior was that cheap, fuzzy material that made your skin itch. He’d gotten permission to borrow it under the guise of needing a vehicle to drive to his music job. This, however, was Charlie’s day off.
He popped out of the car, looking more clean cut than he typically did. Of course, this Tinkerbell would have no way of knowing that. He had to shave and wear a stuffy haircut for the job. The rest of him bespoke a love of punk rock and and studded accessories.
“And you must be Tinkerbell,” he greeted, putting out his hand. “Charlie.”
Tink gave a little laugh. “Just call me Tink. It’s great to meet you, Charlie,” she said, giving him a bright smile. She reached her hand forward and shook his. Tink wasn’t a stranger to firm handshakes. She had to be confident and, well, perhaps a little manly in her line of work, or she wasn’t taken seriously. Even then, she wasn’t always taken seriously. Though she kept her femininity in her hair and light make-up, and her nail polish. The coveralls made her look like a boy, though.
“What’s up with the car?” She asked, motioning toward it. “Making funny noises? Needs interior work?” She added, taking a brief walk around the car, inspecting the body to see if there were dents.
Charlie smiled slyly, stepping aside so that Tink had room to maneuver. “No, actually... I was wondering if you could do a paint job.”
“Oh, paint! I haven’t done a paint job in ages,” Tink said turning to him with eyes lit up like Christmas. “I’ve just developed this new paint delivery system that should cut the amount of time it takes to paint the whole car in half.” Sometimes it was the prospect of using her new machines that made her more excited than the prospect of working on cars.
Charlie didn’t know anything about mechanics or paint delivery systems. What he did know was that when I girl’s eyes lit up like that, it was usually a very good thing. But he had to level with her. “Now, I have to be honest about something... This isn’t my car. It’s my friend’s. And... this is all going to be part of a little joke on him. Is that a deal-breaker?”
Tink gave her shoulders a little shrug. “If he freaks out terribly, we can always re-do the work. I won’t charge labor or anything, we can just repaint.” She was beaming as she came around the back of the car to him. “...practical joke for Christmas? Don’t they normally reserve that sort of thing for April Fool’s Day?”
His grinned broadened. She was in. “If you knew the guy you’d be looking for all sorts of opportunities for pranks”
A nod and a laugh escaped her. “If you insist. It’s your dime.” She gave him a grin, then motioned for him to come and follow her. “The painting’s pretty simple. We’ll just cover up the bits that we don’t want to have paint sprayed all over ‘em, and...” She led him back toward a different part of the garage, then motioned. There was a huge contraption of what looked like a firehose connected to a rake. It was odd, but Tink was proud of her invention.
“That’s your delivery system?” Charlie gaped. He laughed. Very carefully, he reached out to touch it, like he wanted to prove he was really seeing what he was seeing. “Aw man. This thing is awesome!”
He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Tink. On the paper was a half-decent drawing of the car. It looked like something a child would come up with, ignoring the laws of motion and physics. But the shape wasn’t so important. What mattered was the color. Because Charlie had colored (with crayon!) the car hot pink with yellow flames down the side.
“Is this a possibility?” he asked.
Tink grinned. She couldn’t help herself. When she made something this awesome she was proud of it. And she was definitely proud of her new painting... thing. She had to name it eventually, but right now it was just a rig. “Thank you!” She beamed, and ran her hand along the rake-like device’s sprongs.
She stepped closer to him and leaned over so she could see the design. It looked like a car. Kinda. But she definitely got the pink and the flames. A laugh bubbled up within her and she nodded. “I think we can make that happen,” she said, beaming. “Do you want me to find some flame decals, or should we hand-paint the flames on?”
“Decals, if you have them,” he said, feeling rather giddy that this was really happening. And after his disaster of a date with Mia, it was kind of nice to goof around with a cute girl. Er, well -- hot was really the word he wanted to use, but it felt kind of rude. Even if just in his own head.
“I’ll take a look and see what I’ve got.” Tink said, giving him a bright grin. “If I don’t have them, I’ve got some ideas what we can do to make the flames rather easily. Using painter’s tape and plastic wrap...” She could throw anything together with rubber bands and duct tape.
Tink moved away from him to start rifling through the decals they had in drawers. “Aha!” She said, pulling out some flame designs. “I guess we won’t need that plastic wrap.”
“Ha ha!” Charlie did a little victory fist-pump. “That’s perfect. This is awesome. You’re the best, luv.”
He got out of the way while she gathered the supplies she needed. Over his shoulder, Charlie looked back at the Camry. He thought about that scene in The Muppet Movie when Kermit’s car gets a crazy paint job, courtesy of that band they meet in the church. He giggled and turned back to Tink. Her rig looked like some kind of fireman’s worst nightmare. “So, how long have you been doing this?” he asked. “Working on cars and whatnot?”
“As long as I can remember,” Tink said with a smile. She was laying tape and plastic over the windows and the tires, making sure the paint wouldn’t go where they didn’t want it. She gave him a bright grin.
“My brothers and I are all technologically inclined. Maybe something about the way our parents raised us? I dunno. You should see the things my brother can do with html.” She finished the windshield and moved to the next. It wouldn’t take her long.
“Professionally, though, only since I finished school. My diploma’s over there on the wall.” She’d gone to one of the better trade schools to get her degree. ...of course, it wasn’t Harvard, or anything, but she knew cars.
He wondered how old she was, because she seemed pretty young, but didn’t ask. Charlie knew better. Besides, who really cared, as long as she knew what she was doing. He swiveled around to glance at the diploma. Seemed legit.
“I’m a musician,” he said, even though she hadn’t asked. He sounded nonchalant about it, even convincing himself. Sometimes, though, he felt like he had something to prove. Looking at diplomas always made him feel like an idiot for not going to the music conservatory.
It was a good thing he didn’t ask. That was the sort of question that put Tink on edge--just like the questions ‘why don’t you wear more pink?’ and ‘a girl who fixes cars?’ It made her go defensive, freak out a little.
“Oh yeah?” Tink asked, finishing up the next window. She only had one left, and she continued to work while they talked. “Anything I might have heard?”
At heart, Charlie was a ham. He whipped out his air guitar and wailed a bit of the chorus to Drive Shaft’s one hit You All Everybody. “Remember when that was on the radio? About two years ago?”
Tink burst into laughter. “Oh, yeah! I remember that song!” She sang ‘You all everybody!’ twice, joining in to add air drums to his air guitar. “That song played over the speakers in this garage every hour on the hour for the whole summer.” She gave him a huge grin. “That was you?? Seriously??”
He didn’t get recognized on the street like he used to, but it was nice to know that the song was still fresh in people’s minds. The hook, anyway. “Me and my brother. We called ourselves Drive Shaft.” Tink would probably appreciate that. He gestured to the garage in general around them.
She absolutely did appreciate that. “Drive Shaft! I remember. Great name.” She was beaming. “Who came up with that one? It’s awesome.” She said, finishing up on the windows and turning to get her machine ready.
“You’ll have to go take a look at the pinks we have in stock. There’s only three of them, I think, but you should pick out which one you like best.” One of them was a more baby pink, the other a darker one, but the last was rather bright. Tink motioned to the shelf where they had the paint samples.
“Pft. Me, of course,” Charlie said as he followed her to the shelf. It was the truth, but like everything he said about himself, it came with a laugh and claim to fame.
As for the color choices, it was no contest. As if Charlie could have picked anything but selection number three! “That one. The 80’s lipstick color! He’ll love that. And by love it I mean he’ll be horrified.”
Tink was starting to like this Charlie fellow more and more as the time passed. She was grinning as he claimed the name. “Good choice.” She said, shoving her hands in the pockets of her cover-alls. “I doubt I’d have thought of something as awesome.” Then again, what did she know about band names?
The words ‘80s Lipsitck color’ made Tink burst into laughter. She grinned as she reached for a can of the stuff. “80’s lipstick it is!” She said, and turned back to her machine. She poured the paint in, then grabbed a pair of goggles for herself, and held one out to Charlie.
“Don’t breathe this stuff.” She teased with a grin, then turned the machine on and started to spray paint all over the car.
Charlie backed away from the pink cloud, rubbing his hands together in fiendish delight. Oh, this was going to be so good. Maybe he could talk Loras into being on hand with a camera. Charlie would have to be far, far away from striking distance.
Tink was nearly laughing with mirth as she covered the car in two coats of the stuff, pausing only long enough for the first coat to dry. She took the goggles off and turned to him. “Decals, then a top coat?” She had a clear, varnish-y coat that she put on things, even though it wasn’t strictly for cars, she found that it worked wonders.
“Have I mentioned you’re the best?” But Charlie knew he already had. More than once. And Tink looked good doing what she did, too. His heart still felt bruised from that utter fail of a date with Mia. It was nice to be reminded there were other cool girls around, even if he wasn’t ready to ask anyone out just yet.
Tink gave a laugh. “I think you may have mentioned it, yeah.” She took her goggles off and hung them around her neck as she moved to get the decals. “Come help me figure out how you want the flames to look.” She said, giving him a grin. The decals would be fairly easy to place, but she wanted to make sure it was exactly what he wanted.
Even the pink by itself was already too good to be true. From the flames Tink had to offer, Charlie selected a pair that ran like racing stripes. Each streamer emanated from a skull’s mouth, as if he was screaming fire. “Those would be lovely.” he said.
Tink was still laughing. Or, she was laughing off and on. She loved her job, loved her work. “I hope that your friend won’t hate me.” She said, then took the decal and positioned it along the side of the car, using some painter’s tape to put it into place. “Help me make sure it’s straight, and positioned the way you want it. This is the easy kind, we just peel off the back and stick it on, then the top coat will seal it into place.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll act as lightning rod,” Charlie said, doing what she asked. “And you can fix it after he undoubtedly demands I put it back the way it was.”
“Of course I can. Well, I’ll have to put new paint on it,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t take the pink off without peeling off the old paint job, too. But a new paint job will make it look even better than it looked before you brought it in here.” She moved to stick the decal on permanently, making sure it was straight.
“Now the other side.” It wouldn’t take much to get the other flame on. “Did you want one on the roof or the hood?”
“Nah,” Charlie waved his hand and said in total seriousness: “That might be overkill.”
It really was just perfect this way. God, he hadn’t pranked anyone in so long. Tonight, when everyone was sleeping, he’d return the car as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. He’d definitely have to arm Obi-Wan’s flatmates with cameras.
Charlie was adorable and hilarious. Tink laughed again, then shook her head. "You're right, that would be total overkill."
She finished placing the flame on the other side, then moved back to her painting machine. "Goggles on!" She said, then grinned as she fired up the machine. When his goggles were on, she began putting the top coat on the car.
When all was said and done, Charlie would have a faint pink glow circling where the goggles had rested on his face. It kind of worked with with punk rock attire, but on the car it was glorious. Whatever this was going to cost him in the long run, it was totally worth it.
Tink moved around the car and removed the plastic wrapping from the windows and the windshields. The car looked absolutely fantastic in it's pink and flaming glory. "Looks like she's ready to go," Tink said, beaming. "What do you think?"
Charlie kiss his fingertips. “Que bella!” he said. He’d learned that while on tour in Italy. Lots of pretty girls there.
Tink laughed again. “Good! Oh, good.” She motioned for him to come with her into the office so she could figure out what to charge him. The pink paint was cheap, and the decals had been sitting in that drawer for god knows how long, so... it wasn’t going to be too expensive.
He fished through his wallet -- the sort kept on a chain -- for his credit card, following Tink to the office. A swipe and a signature later, the transaction was complete. Charlie felt very impish. Borderline evil, really. It was fun! “If I can manage to get his reaction on video, I’ll send it along. Unless it just goes viral first.”
Tink hadn’t seen a wallet on a chain in a while. It was … well, she remembered when they were very attractive to young women. It was weird to think that way now. She finished the transaction and gave him a grin as she handed over his receipt.
“I would love that.” She said, softly, then handed over the keys. “Or still pictures, that’d do too.”
Now that it was time to leave, Charlie seriously considered asking the pretty blonde for her number. A previous version of himself would have asked already, a version that existed before the dreams and before Mia’s nightmares.
For now, he’d walk away with her business card and leave it at that.
Tink gave him his goodbyes, sending him off with his receipt, a business card, and the promise to take good care of any car he brings into the shop, for any reason. Wink.