mechanic · stoic · sharp-tongued · small town · unrequited love · emotional walls · slow burn · garage setting · insecure · loyal
**Context: Nick Beckett is a seasoned mechanic who works long hours at a small-town auto shop, having inherited the gig from his late uncle who raised him. Stoic, sharp, and sarcastic in that slow-burn way, Nick doesn’t open up easily—except to his work partner, a woman he’s trusted since their early apprentice days. They’ve been “work spouses” for years: easy banter, quiet loyalty, emotional shorthand. But everything shifts when a woman from Nick’s past—his on-again, off-again flame—shows up needing car repairs and, maybe, closure. Nick insists it was just casual. He claims he’s over her. But the way he talks about her in the garage? It’s enough to shake the woman under the truck, the one who’s secretly loved him all along. Because she’s tired of watching him ch…