It's Only A Little Loud (Pixel/Joe)

[connor]

Music pounding from the stereo set up on a table, it was just background noise to Connor as he took apart a car. Covered in sweat and grease, he wondered why the garage was never cool. It didn't seem to matter what time of year it was, it always seemed to be overheated. That thought was pushed away as he picked up his wrench again, sliding under the car and getting back to work. The only thoughts running through his mind were about the car, and to a small extent, the beat of the music playing. When he got to work, he focused, and it was hard to draw him out of the focus. That was part of the reason he played music when he worked - anyone who needed to talk to him could come in and pause the music, and he'd notice and come out of the focus.

Sliding out from underneath the car again, he wiped his hands and face with what was either one of his many rags, or the shirt he'd taken off earlier. Taking it off hadn't helped much, but it had some, which was all he needed. Grabbing a bottle of water, he chugged about half of it, before putting the lid back on and getting back to work. He had been hoping to get this car done sooner, but that just hadn't happened. Meaning now, he needed to seriously kick it into gear to get it done. That wasn't a real problem, though. Connor liked working under pressure.

[Pixel Ann Conner]

Pixel was having a fairly nice day. Well, as nice as she's had in a while, actually. Not that anyone besides the people close to her would notice a difference. Pixel was good at faking it. But her day had started out fairly well. Hooked up with her lover last night, and that was always enjoyable, because come on, it was sex. Or at least that was the only reason Pixel was going to admit to enjoying it. Not that she liked Anthony and wished to spend hours of her life wrapped in his arms, breathing in his scent and blocking out everything that was outside the room they were in. No, Pixel just did it for the sex part, she didn't like Anthony, he was a Price, and a gross, nasty Italian... yeah, she was gonna go with that.

Then, since she actually spent the night at her apartment, she got up and was able to take a nice, long, hot shower, get dressed in comfortable clothes(which for Pixel was jean shorts over tights, tank top, and a purple baggy sweat shirt.), and then she was off to do whatever she wanted, keeping her trusty sidekick, Joe, by her side. It wasn't long before Pixel saw something she wanted, of course in car form, and she was taking it. There was something about driving a stolen car that was just... amazing. Like cheating on her fiance. She just the thought that she should cheat on her fiance in a stolen car, and it would be double the amazing. At least that's how Pixel's brain worked. She was pulling into her crop shop a half hour after stealing the car, and she turned it off, jumped out, grinning as she saw who was already there. "There's my favorite grease monkey!" She slid across the hood of the hood she just stole, and skipped over to Conner, wrapping her arms around him, or caring if he was sweaty and greasy and didn't smell like peaches, she was going to hug him away. "Almost done?" She asked as she pulled away, looking over at the car he was working on. He didn't seem like he was, but what did Pixel know? All she did was run the shop, and steal cars, she didn't take them apart. She realized who was her tag-a-long for the day, and smiled more, looking at her. "Joe, Conner, you guys know each other, right?" She just knew she'd never introduced them, mostly because whenever Pixel stole cars it was normally alone, but they could have met another time. They were both in the same mob and lived on the same side of town together.

[Joseph Jeremy Adams]

Joe was used to rather sporadic days when he was following Pixel Connor around. Which considering it was his job to follow her around, happened a lot. So really, the girl bouncing around from one place to the next, happy and bubbly, wearing ludicrously short shorts, wasn't really out of the ordinary for him, he didn't really care all that much where they went or why, so long as he could make sure she didn't just bounce herself right off a cliff. He had to admit, she seemed happier today, at least more genuinely happy, than she had been for a bit. Not that the surly Irishman would ever really admit it allowed, but he preferred when Pixel was sincerely happy, not just putting on that bright smile for the sake of others. After four years being carted around behind her, he was pretty good at picking up which ones were real and which ones were for affect. The look on her face when she spotted a car she apparently had to have was a little priceless. It never failed to amuse him, seeing a girl who looked like every other little bubbly blonde college co-ed got such a kick out of the literal grand theft auto.

He stayed in his car, watching as the little blonde girl got her treasure started, and followed her to the crop shop. He didn't come here too often with her. Though strictly speaking, he wasn't supposed to let her go off and do things on her own, according to her father at least, he generally didn't listen to the elder Conner much, and if Pixel wanted time alone to do her thing, then he gave it to her, which usually was the time she chose to do her whole car bit. He got out of the car, a few steps behind her as she went into the shop. His eyebrow raised slightly as she jumped on the guy working in typical Pixel fashion, and used the moment while she was distracted to scan the place, an automatic response, checking for any threats. His dark eyes shifted back to her when she introduced Connor, apparently her favourite grease monkey. He looked the guy over, again, automatically assessing what kind of threat could be possibly pose. Aside from getting her clothes dirty, he couldn't see much harm. “ I've seen him once or twice in passing.” Joe said simply, giving the other guy a nod. It wasn't really like he had much reason to interact with the people that made up the fringes of the organization.

[connor]

Blinking as he was suddenly being hugged, he laughed a bit and hugged back. "Pixie! I wasn't sure if you'd be bringing me anything new." Connor grinned at her, and shook his head in response to his question. "Not as close as I was hoping to be. Ran into a little trouble with some of the parts. No big deal, though." He'd managed to work out the issue, and was working on finishing it. It was taking him a bit longer than he'd wanted, but that was okay. It'd still get done. Looking over at Joe, Connor nodded. He more-so knew of Joe, rather than actually knowing him. Connor was good at listening to people, and gathering information that way. Even if he'd never personally talked to Joe, he knew who he was. He was one of Pixel's body guards, and an enforcer for the Conner family. To be honest, he cared Connor, just a bit. Not because of his job, because he was fairly hopeful that he wouldn't need to be killed by the Conner's. But Joe was a lot bigger than the wiry mechanic, and while Connor knew that he wasn't weak, he also knew that there was no way he was as strong as Joe.

Finally answering, he had his grin on his face as he nodded back at Joe, before looking at Pixel again. "Pretty much what he said. Anyways, Pix, what did you bring me to play with? Anything good?" Pulling away, he went to look at the car that she'd chosen. "Oh, baby, we're going to have some fun with you, aren't we?" Cooing lovingly to the car, he pet the hood as he spoke. Even if technically, his job was illegal, Connor loved it. Cars were one of his favorite things, right up there with pretty girls and slobbery dogs. If he could spend his days working on cars, taking them apart, building them, fixing them... He'd be happy with that. Besides that, he was good at it. When he was under a car, doing whatever his task was, he knew what he was doing. And if he didn't know, he could work it out pretty fast. That was what he was good at. Some people were good with law and became police or lawyers, some were good with medicine and became doctors. Connor was good with cars, and had become a mechanic. And man, he loved his job. Especially when he got new cars to work on. He loved figuring out a new car, it's quirks and what made it different from other cars. IT probably seemed odd, his enthusiasm and affection towards the car, but it was how he was. It was one of his quirks.