Aubrey sighed. “Yeah, I know, you're right.” He watched her try to crawl into the vent, keeping his hand ready on the handle for the valve, but she got stuck halfway and had to back out. “Okay, I've secretly always wanted to crawl through a vent anyway.” He said sarcastically. He pulled his sweater off over his head and tossed it on the floor, leaving him in his plain black tank top. He tried to reassure himself that he shouldn't feel self conscious, but he still wasn't buying it.
He took the socket wrench from her and weighed it in his hands, turning it over as if it fascinated him. He'd used one before, so he knew how it worked, that was just his natural reaction when someone told him something was important. “I'll be careful.” He assured her. “And, you shouldn't hate your woman hips, either.” He said, “They're nice.”
Instantly his face turned red. “No, wait, that's not what I meant. I mean they're fine. No, I mean, uh, I don't think you're girly, but, I, um...” He brought his hand up and slapped himself in the forehead. “You know what, I think I'll just get in the vent now.”
Aubrey crawled into the mouth of the vent, pushing the wrench in front of him. He wriggled through, using his elbows to pull himself along the metal surface. He fit perfectly, his sides just touching the edges but loose enough for him to move. He squirmed through several feet until he reached a spot where the vent turned upwards and then back towards itself, creating a U shape. After some awkward maneuvering, he managed to turn around so he could pull himself up and continue on, until he saw a fan. He stopped a foot or two away from it, then called out, his voice echoing through the metal. “Okay, I'm at the fan. Now what?”