"I had it drilled in my head to do so, yeah," Kimi snorts, grinning like a complete child as Grey approaches the bike. He might be puffing up a little, like he's aiming to impress his old mentor/big brother from another mother.
He leans against the wall and watches as Grey examines his baby, the toothy grin softening to something more of a fond, private smile. Just like old times, huh?
Grey rubs a hand across his chin as he rounds the bike, testing out some of the springs, then plugs out the oil cork to run his finger up along the rim. Lastly, he pulls out the spark plug to look for rust but doesn't find any.
His nod is approving as he squats down to peer under the exhaustion pipe.
"You've done good," he murmurs. "No point letting your bike go even if you're driving all the time."
Then he stands up, rubbing his hands to a rag he pulls out from his pocket. "Business is lazy. Like usual. But I'll get by."
He looks at Kimi, not asking if he's staying or leaving. He'll come up with that answer on his own eventually.
The evaluation of his bike has Kimi quietly glowing, pleased that he did right by Grey.
"At least it gives you time to do things thoroughly insteada juggling several jobs at once," Kimi shrugs, meeting that look with a steady one of his own. "No one's been harassing you, here?"
Kimi had had rather... strong words with his family after the death of Grey's parents. Him and Kai both, really, and it had resulted in giving their friends something of an immunity from the Sinivuori clan's meddling, but he can't be sure some of the other gangs hadn't taken to causing trouble, too.
"It helps that I'm pretty much the only shop in town," Grey huffs with a small shrug. "Still, it's more boat engines than anything else, but you knew that. Some things never change."
He shakes his head at the question, knowing that Kimi and Kai have both taken steps to keep himself and Aidan covered from their family. Which he is thankful for, but doesn't think it's all that necessary. He and Aidan have their own way of dealing with the locals.
"I'm pretty safe here, like I said, the only mechanic in town."
Kimi nods wordlessly, eyes skimming over the different vehicles currently dotting the workshop. The only mechanic in town means he's too valuable to just get rid of, but it also means he could get dragged into schemes if he's not careful. Not that Kimi expects Grey of all people to be reckless, diving expeditions and all.
"... You'll let one of us know if that changes, right?" he asks as his eyes return to Grey's face. "Either the twins or... us?" Yeah, he means Kai or himself.
Grey lifts a brow at that, then the corners of his mouth twist upward in a quicksilver smile. "Look at you, you've been back for five minutes and you're already trying to smother me. "
He huffs out a soft chuckle and then gestures towards the work table. "Come here, you obviously need something better to think about..."
"I think you're mistaking me for Kai," he huffs, hunching his shoulders a bit defensively even as he approaches the table, anyway. "All right, what've you got for me, chief?"
Grey gives him a side ways glance, not arching his brows, simply looking at Kimi. The Sinivuori brothers are quite similar to each other, but of course they don't see that.
"That one needs the filters swapped," he points out to an engine that's been opened up on the table, ready to be put back together. He settles on a chair himself, picking up his tools to start opening the other engine up.
Kimi glances over the engine and shrugs his jacket off to set aside, a smile beginning to play over his lips at the prospective work he's about to be dug into. "All right, I think I can do that," he mutters to himself, dragging up the chair to plonk down in as he starts focusing on the engine.
Go figure Grey wouldn't ask any questions and just put him back to work the way things had been before he took off.
"Long, hard and dusty," Kimi grunts, though he looks pretty cheerful about it. "And I didn't even break down once the whole time I was on it. My baby knows how to treat me right."
Kimi owes Grey and Kai alike for that. The two older men had made sure he knew the ins and outs of his bike before he was ever licensed to drive and had drummed it hard into his head to take care of it.
The younger man chances a look over his shoulder towards Grey, content in finding the other isn't watching him, and asks, "How've things been for you and Midnight? Still floating around in that dinghy of yours?"
"That's how she thanks you for taking care of her," Grey murmurs into his beard. You have to learn to take care of your ride when that's all you have. Kimi was always eager to learn and diligent enough to take care of his bikes. Grey definitely appreciates that about him.
"It's his dinghy but yes, we're still floating about in it," he says with a small huff. "And it's been good. Mostly. The Roadhouse sees some action, which puts Midnight on the edge, and Kai and that affects Aidan."
Grey tilts his head, considering his work for a moment before diving right back into it. "It's life, small problems, but big when you're in it."
"Ain't that the truth," Kimi sighs with a shake of the head. "... Did you ever think about just leaving it behind?"
As much as he'd joked with Despil about it, he can't help but wonder... Didn't any of their friends and family consider the option of just moving somewhere else?
"Nah," Grey replies without even thinking about it. "My folks rest in the cemetery, Aidan's hear. At best maybe one day I'll take Midnight to a sail around the islands if we ever get that dinghy of his to sea fairing order."
This is his home. With all its nasty underlying problems, this is where he grew up and laid his roots at. He'd be lost if he'd loose that anchor.
Kimi has no real response to that, though there's a faint tightening around his jaw as he goes silent because... it should be the same for him, shouldn't it? His mother's in the cemetery, his brother's here, this is where he grew up. Despil would probably be happier being closer to his twin. Not for the first time, Kimi wonders what the hell is wrong with him, but as usual, he doesn't say it out loud.
Instead, he grunts something or other, eyes locked on the engine as he works. Eventually he suggests lightly, "Maybe you two should just rent a sailboat to do that trip. I'm sure Kai and Aidan would be up for watching the house for you while you're off. Easier than trying to fix up that old rust bucket, especially when Midnight's so particular with it, right?"
Grey isn't uncapable of reading the silence at all. Kimi is not at all that hard to read, which is why he wonders at times why Kai fails at it so miserably. The man is capable of practically mesmerising a whole crowd at the bar but for some reason, he doesn't know how to handle his little brother, who he should know better than any of those people.
"Sometimes a home is a place where you come back to," he says quietly, ignoring what Kimi rattles on about the boat and Midnight. "And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you say longer, sometimes you need to get away. I take the boat out with Aidan at least once a month, we might stay the night out there. Or a couple of nights. It's a way to even the score." To bring down the chaos and find peace.
Golden eyes flit from the engine to Grey, a mildly annoyed look crossing his face at the blatant disregard for the attempt of changing topic because honestly, would it kill the guy to let the bone go every now and then? Then he sighs and stares down at his hands again, no longer working on the engine as he quietly asks, "Is that score ever gonna be settled, though? Feels a bit like you're fighting an uphill battle, here."
To find peace in all the chaos. To make ends meet. To not just want to watch the town burn for all the pain that seems to constantly be brewed here.
"Not as long as someone doesn't do something about it," Grey shrugs. He puts down his tools for a moment and turns to look at Kimi. "I wasn't talking about that, though. I just mean that it's okay to want to get away. It's also okay to want to come back again."
He picks up a wrench that he suspects Kimi needs next and hands it to Kimi before he gets back to his work.
"Think I heard something like that before," Kimi huffs, shaking his head as he takes the wrench and digs into the engine once more. "Not sure I believe it any more now than I did the first time it got said."
Even so, he says after a long moment of working in silence, "... Thanks." For the reassurances, because Kimi's quite aware he can be very pessimistic and negative and that as such, sometimes he needs someone like Despil or Grey to tell him it's going to be otherwise. Used to be Kai he depended on for such comforting and vice versa.
"You're slow like that, aren't you?" Grey teases him with a hint of a curve at the corner of his mouth.
He doesn't hound Kimi about it, though. It doesn't do any good. Only pisses him off. Instead, he stands up and walks over to a fridge at the corner of the shop and draws open the door.
"Want a coke?" he asks over his shoulder. The conversation is over as long as Kimi wants it to be over. Grey isn't going to put him through more of that.
"Yeah, thanks," Kimi responds, watching after him for a moment before huffing, a small smile crossing his face as he shakes himself and gets back to work. Things used to be that easy with Kai... But maybe instead of feeling bitter about such things, now Kimi's starting to maybe think Grey's right and that just maybe things will turn out okay.
In time, of course, and not without some considerable effort from Kimi himself.
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"I had it drilled in my head to do so, yeah," Kimi snorts, grinning like a complete child as Grey approaches the bike. He might be puffing up a little, like he's aiming to impress his old mentor/big brother from another mother.
He leans against the wall and watches as Grey examines his baby, the toothy grin softening to something more of a fond, private smile. Just like old times, huh?
"How's business?"
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His nod is approving as he squats down to peer under the exhaustion pipe.
"You've done good," he murmurs. "No point letting your bike go even if you're driving all the time."
Then he stands up, rubbing his hands to a rag he pulls out from his pocket. "Business is lazy. Like usual. But I'll get by."
He looks at Kimi, not asking if he's staying or leaving. He'll come up with that answer on his own eventually.
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The evaluation of his bike has Kimi quietly glowing, pleased that he did right by Grey.
"At least it gives you time to do things thoroughly insteada juggling several jobs at once," Kimi shrugs, meeting that look with a steady one of his own. "No one's been harassing you, here?"
Kimi had had rather... strong words with his family after the death of Grey's parents. Him and Kai both, really, and it had resulted in giving their friends something of an immunity from the Sinivuori clan's meddling, but he can't be sure some of the other gangs hadn't taken to causing trouble, too.
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He shakes his head at the question, knowing that Kimi and Kai have both taken steps to keep himself and Aidan covered from their family. Which he is thankful for, but doesn't think it's all that necessary. He and Aidan have their own way of dealing with the locals.
"I'm pretty safe here, like I said, the only mechanic in town."
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Kimi nods wordlessly, eyes skimming over the different vehicles currently dotting the workshop. The only mechanic in town means he's too valuable to just get rid of, but it also means he could get dragged into schemes if he's not careful. Not that Kimi expects Grey of all people to be reckless, diving expeditions and all.
"... You'll let one of us know if that changes, right?" he asks as his eyes return to Grey's face. "Either the twins or... us?" Yeah, he means Kai or himself.
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He huffs out a soft chuckle and then gestures towards the work table. "Come here, you obviously need something better to think about..."
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"I think you're mistaking me for Kai," he huffs, hunching his shoulders a bit defensively even as he approaches the table, anyway. "All right, what've you got for me, chief?"
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"That one needs the filters swapped," he points out to an engine that's been opened up on the table, ready to be put back together. He settles on a chair himself, picking up his tools to start opening the other engine up.
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Kimi glances over the engine and shrugs his jacket off to set aside, a smile beginning to play over his lips at the prospective work he's about to be dug into. "All right, I think I can do that," he mutters to himself, dragging up the chair to plonk down in as he starts focusing on the engine.
Go figure Grey wouldn't ask any questions and just put him back to work the way things had been before he took off.
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He prods some tools to the table between them for an easy reach for Kimi to grab as he settles to work with his piece of engine.
"How was the road?" he asks eventually. This is low pressure and easy.
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"Long, hard and dusty," Kimi grunts, though he looks pretty cheerful about it. "And I didn't even break down once the whole time I was on it. My baby knows how to treat me right."
Kimi owes Grey and Kai alike for that. The two older men had made sure he knew the ins and outs of his bike before he was ever licensed to drive and had drummed it hard into his head to take care of it.
The younger man chances a look over his shoulder towards Grey, content in finding the other isn't watching him, and asks, "How've things been for you and Midnight? Still floating around in that dinghy of yours?"
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"It's his dinghy but yes, we're still floating about in it," he says with a small huff. "And it's been good. Mostly. The Roadhouse sees some action, which puts Midnight on the edge, and Kai and that affects Aidan."
Grey tilts his head, considering his work for a moment before diving right back into it. "It's life, small problems, but big when you're in it."
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"Ain't that the truth," Kimi sighs with a shake of the head. "... Did you ever think about just leaving it behind?"
As much as he'd joked with Despil about it, he can't help but wonder... Didn't any of their friends and family consider the option of just moving somewhere else?
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This is his home. With all its nasty underlying problems, this is where he grew up and laid his roots at. He'd be lost if he'd loose that anchor.
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Kimi has no real response to that, though there's a faint tightening around his jaw as he goes silent because... it should be the same for him, shouldn't it? His mother's in the cemetery, his brother's here, this is where he grew up. Despil would probably be happier being closer to his twin. Not for the first time, Kimi wonders what the hell is wrong with him, but as usual, he doesn't say it out loud.
Instead, he grunts something or other, eyes locked on the engine as he works. Eventually he suggests lightly, "Maybe you two should just rent a sailboat to do that trip. I'm sure Kai and Aidan would be up for watching the house for you while you're off. Easier than trying to fix up that old rust bucket, especially when Midnight's so particular with it, right?"
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"Sometimes a home is a place where you come back to," he says quietly, ignoring what Kimi rattles on about the boat and Midnight. "And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you say longer, sometimes you need to get away. I take the boat out with Aidan at least once a month, we might stay the night out there. Or a couple of nights. It's a way to even the score." To bring down the chaos and find peace.
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Golden eyes flit from the engine to Grey, a mildly annoyed look crossing his face at the blatant disregard for the attempt of changing topic because honestly, would it kill the guy to let the bone go every now and then? Then he sighs and stares down at his hands again, no longer working on the engine as he quietly asks, "Is that score ever gonna be settled, though? Feels a bit like you're fighting an uphill battle, here."
To find peace in all the chaos. To make ends meet. To not just want to watch the town burn for all the pain that seems to constantly be brewed here.
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He picks up a wrench that he suspects Kimi needs next and hands it to Kimi before he gets back to his work.
"Some things will only get better with time."
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"Think I heard something like that before," Kimi huffs, shaking his head as he takes the wrench and digs into the engine once more. "Not sure I believe it any more now than I did the first time it got said."
Even so, he says after a long moment of working in silence, "... Thanks." For the reassurances, because Kimi's quite aware he can be very pessimistic and negative and that as such, sometimes he needs someone like Despil or Grey to tell him it's going to be otherwise. Used to be Kai he depended on for such comforting and vice versa.
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He doesn't hound Kimi about it, though. It doesn't do any good. Only pisses him off. Instead, he stands up and walks over to a fridge at the corner of the shop and draws open the door.
"Want a coke?" he asks over his shoulder. The conversation is over as long as Kimi wants it to be over. Grey isn't going to put him through more of that.
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"Yeah, thanks," Kimi responds, watching after him for a moment before huffing, a small smile crossing his face as he shakes himself and gets back to work. Things used to be that easy with Kai... But maybe instead of feeling bitter about such things, now Kimi's starting to maybe think Grey's right and that just maybe things will turn out okay.
In time, of course, and not without some considerable effort from Kimi himself.