Coffee and a Tire [1/1]

[geenoway]

Title: Coffee and a Tire
Author: vamplover82
Pairing: Frank/Mikey
Rating: PG
POV: Third
Summary: Mikey gets a flat tire at Starbucks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the guys of MCR, and this certainly isn’t true.
Author notes: Comments and con crit. are much appreciated. Written at the request of mamoo13, who asked for some Frank/Mikey. Special thanks to sorrowful_eagle who helped with the premise of the fic.


Great, just great, Mikey thought as he got out to the parking lot. His car had a flat tire. Seeing as it was Saturday, he didn’t really have anywhere he needed to be, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to spend a good part of the afternoon trying to get his car working properly.

Mikey sighed, opening his trunk and pulling out his spare tire, car jack, and tire iron. He had no idea how the hell this had happened anyway, especially in a parking lot. It figured, of course, that he’d be out in the middle of fucking nowhere when this happened.

There was nothing in the vicinity, apart from the movie theater across the highway and the Starbucks whose lot he was parked in. So there would be no quick trip to a service station, and he’d be damned if he was going to wait for a tow truck (not that he really wanted to spend money on that anyway).

And besides, Mikey knew how to change a tire…theoretically, at least. It had been awhile since driver’s ed, and even then, he’d never actually had to put his knowledge into practice. But he was going to give it his best go, at any rate.

Mikey grabbed the tire iron, fitting it over one of the wheel lugs and giving a tug. Nothing happened. He pulled a little harder. Still nothing. After half a dozen tugs, Mikey stopped at the sound of quiet laughter. He turned around, glaring at the man standing there.

“What’s so funny?”

“You want some help?” the man asked.

“No, I’ll get it,” Mikey answered.

“I really think you need my help,” the other man replied, staring seriously at Mikey.

Mikey looked back for a minute. “Alright,” he finally said, stepping back from the car.

The other man took his apron off, handing it to Mikey. Mikey traced his fingers over the nametag on it. Under the Starbucks logo was the name he’d become so familiar with over the past months. Frank.

He looked up in time to see Frank twisting the tire iron in the opposite direction he had been…and having no problems. He promptly blushed; clearly his tire-changing knowledge wasn’t as good as he’d thought. Luckily, Frank didn’t see, as he was busy with the tire.

“Where’s your owner’s manual?”

“What?” Mikey looked at Frank blankly, having been lost in thoughts of his own stupidity. What a way to impress a guy.

“Your owner’s manual. Where is it?”

“Oh, just a minute.”

Mikey hurriedly unlocked his car, getting the manual out of the glovebox. He handed it to Frank, who flipped through it and stopped on the page about the car’s jacking points. He studied it for a minute and then got the jack under the car, cranking it until the tire was off the ground.

Mikey took the wheel lugs when Frank handed them to him, once again getting lost in his thoughts. Only this time, they were about Frank. He still remembered the first day he saw Frank, about four months ago.

Mikey had been running early for work, so he had decided to stop for coffee when he’d come upon a Starbucks on the way. He’d walked in and been greeted with the sight of a half-naked Frank. His jaw dropped as he took in the other man’s form, unable to look away, even though he knew he should. Frank had another shirt on in a minute, grinning abashedly at Mikey’s expression.

“Sorry…spilled coffee on my shirt. Can I get you something?”

Mikey had enough presence of mind to order the first thing he saw on the menu. As soon as Frank had handed over his coffee, Mikey had been out the door. It wasn’t until he was in his car and drinking his coffee that he realized he had ordered cappuccino, which he hated. But he made sure to come back every weekend since. That way he had time to sit around with his coffee and surreptitiously watch Frank. Mikey was brought back from his thoughts when Frank tapped him on the shoulder.

“I need the lugs back.”

Mikey handed them over, not even trying to keep himself from checking out Frank’s ass as he bent over to put the lugs back on. In another few minutes, Frank had the car back on the ground and was holding the flat.

“Open the trunk?” he asked.

Mikey did so, and Frank put the tire in the trunk.

“Looks like you’ve got a nail in your tire,” Frank said, pointing it out. “You can probably get it repaired rather than buying a new one.”

Mikey smiled at Frank as he shut the trunk. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem, man. Not like we’re overrun with customers.”

As far as Mikey could tell, they never were. He’d only ever seen a few people there at a time, even in the morning. Not that it was particularly surprising, given the store’s location.

Frank started to head back toward the building and almost got there when he realized that Mikey still had his apron. When he went back and grabbed it, Mikey didn’t let go right away.

“Um, let me take you out to dinner tonight,” Mikey blurted out. “To thank you,” he added when Frank cocked his head questioningly.

“Oh. Well, I’m busy tonight.”

Mikey’s face fell immediately, but he abruptly smiled when Frank continued.

“Would tomorrow night work?”

“Sure. Is six o’clock alright?”

“Yeah, that’s good. You have a pen?”

Mikey fished one out of one of his pockets and handed it to Frank, who wrote his address and phone number on Mikey’s hand.

“What’s your name?” Frank asked as he handed the pen back.

“Mikey.”

“Well, Mikey, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Frank said, waving as he went back in the store. Mikey smiled and waved back, eventually getting in his car and heading out to get his tire fixed.


*********


Frank stood in front of his mirror, critically assessing his appearance. He had already changed once, deciding that jeans were too casual since he didn’t know where they were going. Plain black pants were the way he chose to go. He thought he looked pretty good; not too dressy, but not sloppy either.

Frank looked at his watch, pulling on his shoes when he saw that it was ten til six. He went to the living room, turning on the TV to distract himself. Not that he needed to be distracted; of course not. He wasn’t nervous at all. Because there was no reason to be nervous. It wasn’t like this was a date or anything. Just because another guy asked him to dinner…right. But Frank still jumped when his phone rang five minutes later.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Frank?”

“Yeah.”

“This is Mikey. I’m kind of…lost.”

“What street are you on?”

“Um, 16th Street. By 23rd Avenue.”

“Oh, you’re really close then. Just take a right on 25th Avenue and then a left on 17th Street. I’m in the second building on the left. Apartment 1C.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

“Alright, see ya.”

“Bye.”

It wasn’t long before Frank heard a knock on his door. When he answered it, he had to take a minute just to stare. Mikey was wearing a form-fitting button-down with tight black jeans. Sure, it was simple, but damn, did he look hot. Mikey gave a small wave, and Frank snapped out of it.

“Ready to go?” Mikey asked politely.

“Yeah.” Frank stepped out, locking the door behind him.

They walked to Mikey’s car in silence, but once they got to it, Frank couldn’t help but comment. “Got your tire fixed, then?”

Mikey smiled a little sheepishly. “Yep. It was a quick fix at the tire place.”

“Good.”

After they got in and started off, Frank had the presence of mind to ask where they were going.

“There’s this really good Chinese place I thought we could go to, if that’s ok.”

“That’s cool. I love Chinese.”

The rest of the drive was spent in silence since neither could think of what to say. Frank was a little relieved when they got there, since eating would at least give them an excuse for the silence. Mikey paid when they got in, and Frank looked around, deciding he liked the place.

“Come on,” Mikey said, pulling Frank over to a buffet.

They each grabbed a bowl and began filling them. Frank hadn’t been to a place like this before, so he was kind of impressed that he was able to just pick everything he wanted in his meal. When he and Mikey got their meals back and started eating, Frank was glad this was the place Mikey picked.

“This was a really good choice, Mikey.”

“Thanks. It’s my favorite restaurant. I’ve been coming here since they opened.”

“Sweet. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna have another steady customer after this.”

Frank smiled, and Mikey smiled back. They got a little more talkative after that, discussing everything from movies to books to work. Frank thought it was actually a really interesting conversation, even though they didn’t have a whole lot in common.

Mikey worked in an office as an actuary, while Frank obviously worked in a coffee shop. And since Frank didn’t even know what an actuary was, let alone what the job entailed (doing statistics for insurance companies, as he found out), he thought it was pretty cool. Mikey seemed pretty enthused, too, having someone so interested in what he did.

It was really fun when they started arguing books (Mikey liking fantasy and Frank liking thrillers). But the best part was when they both ended up being into classic films. They sat talking about their favorites for the next hour, until Frank saw the host eyeing them annoyedly.

“Dude, I think they’re anxious for us to get out of here,” he said, looking over in the host’s direction.

Mikey looked, too, and laughed quietly. “Alright, you wanna go?”

“Sure.” Frank didn’t really want to go.

They went back out to the car, and Mikey started driving toward Frank’s place. When they got there, Mikey parked the car in front of the building and they sat in awkward silence.

“Do you want to come in?” Frank asked after a minute.

“Yeah.” Mikey sighed, sounding almost relieved.

Frank led the way, tossing his keys in the bowl on his coffee table.

“You want something to drink?” he asked as Mikey took a seat on the sofa.

“What have you got?”

“Uh…soda, water, milk, and V8.”

“You have V8?” Mikey was obviously trying not to laugh.

“Hey, it gets me my vegetables without me actually having to eat any.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” Mikey was definitely chuckling now. I’ll just have a Coke, if you’ve got it.”

“Sure thing.” Frank came back with two Cokes, sitting next to Mikey on the couch.

“You wanna watch a movie or something?” Frank asked after another awkward silence.

“That’d be cool. What do you have?”

“Well, quite a few. Why don’t you just look through them and pick one?” Frank gestured toward his box of movies.

Mikey shuffled through them, pulling one out triumphantly.

“I love this movie,” he said, handing over Swing Time.

“Me, too. Fred and Ginger are just so spectacular together.”

Frank popped the DVD in, and they both sat on the couch again. As the movie progressed, they ended up scooting closer together, until they were practically sitting on top of each other. Frank snuck a few glances at Mikey before planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

That was apparently all the catalyst needed, because they were making out almost before Frank knew what was going on. It was about when Mikey had gotten his hands under Frank’s shirt that the movie ended. Frank broke away from Mikey after another five minutes to turn the movie off.

“I really need to get to bed. I have to be at work by seven tomorrow.”

Mikey sighed, clearly disappointed. “Yeah, I’ve got work early, too. So I guess I should be going.”

Things got awkward again, and Frank didn’t know what to do. Finally he blurted out, “do you wanna come over again tomorrow?”

Mikey smiled. “Absolutely.”

They shared a quick kiss before Mikey left. Frank couldn’t wait for the next night.