Chapter Text
He knew driving after getting about 2 hours of sleep was a bad idea. A terrible idea. So terrible of an idea, if Langa had the ability to go back in time he would do it only to punch his past self in the face. Several times.
“Yeah, buddy, this looks bad.”
It was 1 am. Langa had crashed into the side of the road, right into a birch tree. The only tree in approximately 4 miles.
“How bad.”
His hand wouldn’t stop shaking after he’d stumbled out of his car, carefully examining his body to look for any injuries and maybe to pinch himself to make sure he was still alive.
“Well, if we’re both looking at the same car, I think you know it’s really bad.”
After catching his breath he went back to the wreck, carefully taking his phone, which had luckily taken no damage. His shaking fingers somehow managed to google a 24/7 garage, calling the first one to pop up.
“But it’s reparable, right? Like- you can fix it.”
The mechanic had shown up 45 minutes later, finding Langa asleep, his head leaning against the bumper of the wreck.
“Ah, they don’t call me Mechanic Star Reki for nothing.”
The energy of the man in front of him was unbelievable. He’d never seen someone so happy to be on the night shift, picking up strangers who ran their cars into trees.
“How do we get it out of here?”
Please, Langa was begging for him to have a cheap solution.
“My truck should be able to handle it.”
Good.
“Good.”
Slowly the mechanic walked towards Langa’s car, with its front all scrunched up against the tree. It looked like it was made out of paper, not metal.
“I- Listen, I have to ask this… protocol and all.” The man had to squint at Langa, the headlights of his own truck blinding him. “How the hell did that happen?”
Langa let out a sigh. He was tired. And really that was the only reason. But that probably wouldn’t hold up.
“A deer.”
So, lying was just another point on his list of petty little crimes.
“A deer?”
He closed his eyes as he shook his head yes .
“A deer.”
There was only a clicking of a tongue against teeth and then footsteps approaching the bright red truck Langa was standing next to.
“Well then, let’s get this bad boy out of here.”
*****
Langa had absolutely no memory of what happened next. The entire trip to the garage was missing in his head. He had been helping, he knew that, but god, his brain was slowly giving up on him. He did remember the bright, flickering sign announcing that the garage, and the gas station attached to it, were open 24/7. For some reason his mind had classified that as vital information.
Say it is only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea, But it wouldn't be make believe, If you believed in me .
Out of all the possible music he imagined playing in the hall stuffed with car parts, reeking of gasoline and oil, jazz wasn’t what he would have guessed. The soft song was basically inviting Langa to fall asleep standing up.
“Oof.”
Langa’s eyes shot open. Fuck, this wasn’t the place to sleep. Not at all. But he was so tired. So tired he wasn’t even embarrassed by the mechanic seeing the bags from cheap fast food places spilling all over the backseat.
“Oh, shit!”
The voice of the mechanic was muffled underneath his car, but even the muffled curses were enough to make Langa want to run away.
“Okay, first impression…” A chest, then shoulders and finally a head full of red hair emerged from under the car. “This is fucked.”
Langa wanted to cry.
“Second impression-“ The redhead grabbed the already filthy cloth hanging from his shoulder. “It’s fucked but not impossible to be defucked.”
For now the only response Langa could muster was a slow blink. Eventually there were words making their way out of his mouth as well.
“That means?”
The mechanic slowly started to get up, he had been sliding around on a skateboard, Langa noticed. “That means your baby has to stay with me for a while.”
“No!”
No, this couldn’t happen. The car was, quite literally, the only thing he had.
For a month now, he had been living in it. It was filthy and uncomfortable but, as Langa had found out, nothing you couldn’t get used to. It was his home, as pathetic as that sounded.
“I’m gonna have to order a few parts and they’re not gonna be here until-“ the red eyebrows of the mechanic scrunched together in thought. “Wednesday? Yeah.”
Apparently he noticed how desperate Langa was; his next words were accompanied by a warm smile.
“Don’t worry, we’ll provide you a car in the meantime. You’ll get to work on time.”
On time for work. If Langa had a job, maybe this would have been comforting. But him being jobless was the reason for his current situation.
He averted the golden eyes of the mechanic, massaging his temples before he dared to ask the worst question.
“How much- How much is it gonna be?”
He heard the other man sucking in air through his teeth.
“I can’t say an exact amount yet , but I can try to get the cheapest parts and try to work fast…”
It still would be expensive. Of course it was gonna be expensive. It was gonna cost him everything and Langa had nothing. Everything of value had been sold or pawned a long time ago.
God, calling his mom wasn’t an option either. She was barely able to provide for herself after his father had died. Langa had been working since he was 16, trying his best to support her. But living was expensive. After years and years of saving up every penny, she had sat him down in the kitchen a few months ago, the halogen lamp above him humming. She had handed him an envelope, filled to the brim with small notes.
“So you can move out.”
Did she want him to leave?
“You’re an adult now, Langa. It’s time I pay you back for the years you helped me.”
“But-“
“It’s okay, you don’t have to move far away. I’m not sending you into exile.” His mother had laughed. “Just want to make sure you have your OWN life. Something that’s all yours.”
And Langa, of course, had listened to his mom. Just like he’d always done.
“Can someone pick you up for tonight?”
“What?” Langa’s mind was back in the present.
“Well,” the mechanic nervously rubbed the back of his head. “We will provide a car, but not until tomorrow morning. We’re out of cars right now, if you will. But another customer is returning one tomorrow and then it’s all yours. Well, not all yours, but you know...”
“Yeah.” Langa ran his hands over his face and into his hair, which was starting to feel a little greasy. “Yeah, I can call someone.”
“Alright!” There was a loud, enthusiastic clap. “It’s gonna be as good as new. Promise!”
Langa would have loved proposing to just forget about it, to just take him and his car and bury them both six feet under.
****
Obviously, there was no one to pick Langa up. He was sure that if he had friends or extended family, he wouldn’t live in his car in the first place. The only saved number in his contacts was his mother’s. His call list was made up of her and an infinite amount of unsaved numbers from hiring businesses that had never hired Langa .
After leaving all his contact information on a smeared piece of paper in the garage, Langa had grabbed his stuff and left for a fast food place just down the road. His stuff was nothing more than a pathetic little sports bag. All his belongings, one bag.
“Are you okay?”
Langa thought back to the red eyebrows, moving close together in a worried look.
“I totally forgot to ask if...you’re okay.”
Langa knew he was talking about the crash, but he hadn’t been asked that question in a long time. His chest tightened uncomfortably. Every time his mother and he talked, he shut down any possibility of her asking that question. He knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to her if she did.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
But apparently he was perfectly capable of lying to strange mechanics with flaming red hair.
For some reason he missed the jazz music now that he was being serenaded by the Top 40 charts in this fast food joint. The radio stations in this area sucked, he knew that much.
He sat down, far away from the counter, quickly calculating the amount of times he had to buy himself the cheapest thing on the menu to not get kicked out. Places like these were a little piece of comfort. There was disgusting, watery coffee, TVs that played either the news or distracting throwback music videos, toilets and of course free WiFi. It was almost extravagant.
Reki, that was the name of the mechanic according to the embroidery on his work suit, had told him to come back at 8. The car Langa was promised should be ready by then. It was 3:32 am now. 4 coffees to go.
****
No neck should crack the way Langa’s did. After his purchase of coffee number 4, he had somehow managed to doze off, his body now loudly complaining about that decision. But it probably wasn’t his cracking bones that earned him looks from the staff. He had been here the entire night and from what he could tell from their facial expressions, they were ready for him to leave. It wasn’t 8 yet but Langa figured showing up early wouldn’t be a problem.
“Wow, you look rough!”
The tired, little gremlin inside Langa’s stomach wanted to snap, ask for the manager, maybe yell a little, but Reki smiled at him. A warm, bright smile that somehow reached his own tired eyes and Langa remembered that getting angry demanded energy he simply didn’t have.
“You too!”
There was absolutely no bite in his words.
“Fair enough.” Reki laughed a soundless, tired laugh. He’d been up all night too, just like Langa.
“So, good news…” said Reki, moving over to Langa’s car, if he could call it that. “We have some of the parts I need already, they’re used but still intact. And of course there’s gonna be a discount.”
He lightly tapped on one of the doors, already scratched up from the previous owner.
“I ordered the rest; cheap but good stuff. I know the dealer and he owed me anyway.”
Langa fumbled for a response, but even if Reki had managed to get all these discounts, to make it as cheap as possible, it was still too much. There was a silence between the two of them, only disrupted by the trumpet solo from yet another jazz song playing.
“Listen,” Reki turned towards Langa, his eyes fixed on his tired face. “I’m- I wanted to apologize for not asking if you’re injured. ‘Cause I mean, that was a heavy crash, right? And whiplash and stuff… sometimes you don’t notice these things right away. I fell out of a tree as a child and hit my head pretty bad. My mom didn’t notice I was concussed till 3 days after. So, yeah… I hope whoever picked you up looked after you.” He took a deep breath. “I was a little worried.”
Oh, boy. There was a lump forming in Langa’s throat, a big one. He was so tired, this was all because he was so tired. Reki was genuinely concerned for him. For Langa. A stranger. The only other person worried for him was his mother, and whenever her voice was heavy with concern Langa felt guilty; dismissing everything, when he actually felt like crying.
“I’m okay.” Somehow he managed to answer. “Just...tired.”
“Yes, yeah… me too.” laughed Reki, before gesturing to a plastic chair that was standing close to the skeleton of Langa’s car. “You can sit down and wait there. Joe should be here soon with the car.”
With that Reki disappeared and Langa carefully sat down in the already cracking, old plastic chair. Sitting down was dangerous; his eyes were burning, screaming for him to close them already and sleep. The soft music once again lulling him in, demanding the same as his eyes.
“Catch!”
Langa almost fell not just out of the chair, but with it. The plastic legs screeched on the floor tiles.
“Oh, fuck, sorry!” Reki’s hands shot up apologetically, two cans of iced coffee in his hands. “I didn’t know you were sleeping.”
With the palms of his hands Langa rubbed his tired eyes. It didn’t help with the burning. “S’cool.”
The can was cold in Langa’s hands and he felt this urge to put it up against his eyes, maybe that would help. Anything was probably better than drinking it. He had had way too much coffee already; the caffeine was pumping through his system, making his heart race a little. He opened it anyway.
“You can try to sleep if you want.” Reki was already sitting on the skateboard again, taking a few sips of his coffee before putting it down beside him.
“No, I think it’s better if I don’t.” He didn’t think he would wake up if he fell asleep again.
“Alright.” Reki shot him another bright smile before being swallowed by the car.
Reki had stayed up all night. Reki had stayed up all night just like Langa and while Langa felt like the personification of death, Reki was working diligently while whistling along to the song coming from the radio. How in the hell did he do that?
For a while there was only the jazz, Reki’s whistling and the clattering of metal tools filling the air. Langa tried his best to keep his eyes open, focused on the strip of light inching towards Reki’s work boots. It took him a moment to realize Reki had started talking. Langa wouldn’t call it a conversation, the other one never expected an answer, he just talked. He explained what he was doing, how he did it and what he would do next. At some point Langa got the impression Reki did it to keep himself focused and awake, rather than talking to Langa, who started to creep further into the chair every second.
The other customer, Joe, was an hour late. He ruffled Reki’s hair, apologized for the inconvenience and then drove off in a vintage convertible, green hair flowing in the wind.
“There you go!” Langa grabbed the keys dangling in front of his eyes. “I’ll call you once your car is ready to go. Oh, and don’t worry about filling the tank for this one, it’s on me!”
“No, I can pay for it.” Langa couldn’t pay for it.
Reki rolled his eyes at him, hands on his hips. “Just let me be nice, please!”
Langa bit his lip, trying to not shout at Reki. He wanted to know why. Why was he being so nice to a complete stranger, buying him coffee and getting him discounts on parts and paying for things Langa should be paying for. But instead he swallowed it down, the lump in his throat making it hard to do so. He mumbled a thank you; Reki said he would text him about the payment and they said goodbye.
Once Langa was in the car he got his answer. His answer was staring right at him through the clean rear view mirror.
Langa looked like the most miserable person alive.
****
Langa received a call 4 days later. Another man explained that his car was ready now; he could come pick it up any time. He didn’t know why he was disappointed that it hadn’t been Reki on the other line. Maybe Langa felt guilty that he couldn’t say thank you every chance he got. Like he should have last time.
He had worked a different job every day. The jobs were hard and miserable, but they paid. Cash. They were also probably not as legal as they should be. Langa had sold his phone too and had bought a cheaper one instead. It wasn’t good, but it did the job, what else could he ask for?
An envelope full of money, similar to the one his mom had given him months ago, was now slithering around the passenger seat. He pulled onto the property, the already setting sun plunging everything in gold.
“Welcome back!” Reki obviously tried to compete with the sun, beaming at Langa as he approached the garage.
Next to Reki was another man, tall with shaggy brown hair. Langa wasn’t the one to talk, but apparently neither of them had heard of a hairbrush.
“You must be Langa.” said the other man. “Manager Oka, we talked on the phone?”
Oh yes, he recognized the voice.
“Hey.” Langa even gave them a smile, today the little gremlin was calmer.
“You wanna see your baby again, am I right?”
Langa wouldn’t necessarily refer to his car as “baby”, but he nodded without mentioning the fact.
He followed Reki, who was enthusiastically explaining all the stuff he had done to “defuck” Langa’s car successfully. Langa tried to listen, but it had been another long day and he really couldn’t keep up with the gesturing man in front of him.
“Voilà!” Reki presented a visibly less fucked car. “Come on, come on, take a seat!” He held the door open, bowing slightly as if Langa was some sort of celebrity, not a man living in his car.
It smelled good. New, somehow. Langa put his hands around the steering wheel, resuming to his default position behind it.
“It should purr like a kitten, hopefully!” This time Reki’s laugh was loud, not soundless like before. “You can try it!”
The key was already in the ignition, Langa only had to reach out and turn it. And fair enough, it did sound like a purring cat.
“Oh, yeah!” Reki slapped the roof of the car. “Another successful job for Mechanic Star Reki.”
Langa could feel Reki’s eyes on him, waiting for a reaction, a smile on his lips. Because apparently that smile never left his lips.
“Good.”
“Good? Aw c’mon, give me something here!”
“Really good?”
Another laugh. “Alright, I’ll take it.”
Reki probably didn’t realize how happy Langa was. He was happy, because his car was clean and it smelled good. And for some unknown reason it felt more comfortable, like Reki had installed new, better seats that just looked like the old ones. But all of that happiness was overshadowed by the thoughts of him being happy about all this, because it was his home. Because he was pathetic.
Langa’s emotions fought a tough war in his mind.
****
Of course Langa had to eventually face the most uncomfortable part about this whole ordeal. The payment. Reki had led him to the back of the garage into a tiny, messy office that, from what Langa could tell, was directly connected to the gas station next door. Through a line of small windows high up in the wall, the golden light illuminated the small dust particles flying around the room.
The walls were plastered with pictures of cars, people and greeting cards from all over the world. One list declared all the birthdays of the staff. Reki’s birthday was apparently coming up, a jar underneath the calendar asked for “Coins for Reki’s car”, a sloppy drawing of the gift right underneath.
Langa’s exploration was interrupted by Reki, who had rummaged through a particularly high stack of paperwork to find the right papers.
“Are you gonna pay with card?”
“Cash...please.” Langa couldn’t take his eyes off of a particular picture. It showed Oka and Reki, Joe and a pink haired man beside him sitting in plastic chairs that looked very similar to the one Langa had sat on the other day. It must have been summer, everyone was missing their shirts, beer in one hand and a bright smile on their faces. In the background the “Open 24/7 sign”flickered. It looked like captured joy.
“Okay, we have to go to the gas station to pay.” Reki’s voice was now next to him. “Oh, haha, yeah… that was when I first started working here 2 years ago. Signed my contract on my birthday.”
Langa’s eyes wandered to Reki’s face, tan and freckled and warm. Of course he was a summer child. Everything about him screamed summer.
“Well, let’s get this over with.”
The gas station looked as rundown as the garage. All around him was buzzing, the AC, the giant fridge taking up an entire wall and even the security cameras. There was white noise everywhere.
“Miya! Customer!”
A head of black hair looked up behind the register, a Nintendo switch in his hand, the game music adding to the noise.
“Welcome!” He didn’t sound very welcoming.
Reki casually leaned against the counter, putting the paperwork in front of Miya. The other one grabbed the papers and now there was also the steady clickety-clacking of the register.
“Reki, are you sure these are the right numbers?” Miya stole a glance at the redhead, eyebrows rising up to this hairline.
“Of course, I’ve done this a million times!” Langa could hear that Reki wasn’t actually offended. It was more of a show of arms, proving that he had the seniority in here.
“Sure, idiot!” Miya ignored that. “Anyway, you have to sign here after you pay.”
The last words were directed at Langa, who now took a look at the bill. His heart stopped for a second as he noticed that Reki had tried to charge him as little as possible, little discounts were noted every second line or so.
Miya cleared his throat and Langa redirected his eyes at him and then to Reki. He took out the envelope and slowly started counting the notes once again. Just in case something had changed from the previous 5 times he had counted it. In the meantime Reki piled up a variety of granola and chocolate bars on the counter.
“Put it on my tab.”
“Reki, this is a gas station, not a pub. You don’t have a tab.”
The redhead blew raspberries as he rummaged in the pockets of his work pants. Langa was almost done.
“There you go!” Several scrunched up paper notes were placed on top of the counter and Miya picked them up as if it was toxic waste.
“Get yourself a wallet, please.”
Langa was trying to focus on the money counting part, so he couldn’t tell Reki’s reaction, but he finished in time to see Miya flip him off.
“I-“ Langa was blushing for some reason as he carefully slid the money over to Miya. “Sorry, I don’t have any bigger notes.”
The cashier sighed a little before counting the money himself, way faster than Langa did too. He put a stamp on several of the papers, signed underneath again; some he stapled together. It was a routine Miya knew well, he probably could have looked anywhere but his hands and done it.
“Alright, your change and your copy of the bill.”
Langa put the few coins in the tip jar. It was the least he could do. There was more money left than he had anticipated, which meant he could go and get groceries after this.
Miya’s “Bye!” was swallowed by the bell chiming as Langa and Reki stepped out of the gas station. Beside him, Reki had unwrapped one of the chocolate bars, eating away while also holding out one of them towards Langa.
“Come on, take it!” He basically stabbed Langa with a Peanut and Salted Caramel Protein bar. “It’s really good!”
Langa considered his options. He didn’t want Reki to keep buying him stuff, or take less money from him than necessary. He felt guilty about all of it- but he also hadn’t eaten today yet. So, when given the choice between staying hungry or gnawing on a protein bar, he chose the latter.
“Thanks!” said Langa. “Thank you, really!”
“It’s just a protein bar, man!” Reki’s laugh was quiet, a little confused.
“No, I mean- Yes, thanks for the snack, but I wanted to say thank you for fixing my car.” Langa paused for a second. “And the coffee.” Another Pause. “And for paying for the gas.”
As a response Reki slung his arm around Langa’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, that’s my job after all.” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “Mechanic Star Reki!”
“Mechanic Star Reki.” Langa repeated and Reki started positively glowing.
“That’s right!”
On their way to the defucked car Langa basically inhaled the protein bar; it had been a long day.
“Well-“ Reki was leaning against the door frame as Langa got inside. “See ya!”
Langa didn’t even try to match the brightness of Reki’s smile, but he smiled nevertheless.
“See you!”
And he drove off.
****
Langa set up his nest for the night. He had managed to get some groceries, simple stuff, nothing fancy, and now he was ready to go to sleep. He opened the glove department to get one of the water bottles he usually kept in there, but he had to blink several times before realizing he was not looking at a water bottle; not even an empty glove department. Instead, there was a small mountain of protein and chocolate bars, the same kind Reki had bought earlier. Then, his eyes started burning again.