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“Seatbelt?”
“Check.”
“Mirrors?”
“One sec. Okay, check.”
“High beams?”
“Wait, do I need those?”
“That was a trick question. You don’t – yet. Okay, are you ready, Nico?”
Nico taps his fingers on the wheel. “Yep,” he says before biting his lip.
“Nico?”
“Yeah?”
“You need to put it in ‘drive’ in order to get the car moving,” Leo smirks a little.
“Right.”
Leo hesitantly, places a hand on Nico’s cool hand, “Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“You have to actually move the gear, remember?”
“I know,” Nico snaps, “I’ve driven with Annabeth before. I was just- I’m fine.” He pulls the gear of the car from ‘P’ to ‘D’ and presses a foot on the gas.
“Too much!” Leo yelps as the car lurches forward. They’re using his 2004 Honda Odyssey and Leo is kind of thankful that this car is already scratched up.
“I got it,” Nico reassures him, smiling weakly as he puts his foot on the gas again, a little slower.
“Good! Great! I have complete and utter faith in you,” Leo claps his hands together. “Alright, there’s a left turn up ahead.”
“A turn,” Nico mutters, “Great. That I can completely handle. A turn! No problem.” He presses on the brake slowly as they approach the empty parking lot’s ‘STOP’ sign.
“Turn signal,” Leo reminds him, “Look both ways. Make sure there’s no pedestrians.”
“I got it,” Nico grins as he flicks the turn signal lever upwards, then downwards upon realizing his mistake. “See?”
“Okay now, turn the wheel, then accelerate, then keep on- NICO!”
“I told you, I got it!” Nico frowns as he rapidly turns the wheel away from the ditch in the grass.
“You have to keep turning the wheel!” Leo shrieks.
“I AM TURNING!”
“Well then, give it a little more gas!”
“Like this?” Nico grips the wheel tighter and presses his foot entirely on the gas.
“OH, DEAR GODS IN OLYMPUS, NO!” Leo cries as he grips the assist handle.
Nico slams on the brakes, jolting Leo forward, and looks at the boy in the passenger seat sheepishly, “I kinda got it, right?”
“I’m just gonna pretend that turn didn’t happen,” Leo glowers at Nico. “Go along there, no, there. Yes.”
Nico lifts his foot from the brakes and presses onto the gas, slowly.
“Good. Now, what’s the speed limit?”
“15.”
“And you’re going?”
“8,” Nico replies before putting a bit more pressure onto the pedal.
“Very good,” Leo nods just as Nico goes to brake again, in preparation for another left turn. Leo still jolts, but Nico’s braking isn’t as abrupt as before so Leo doesn’t say anything. “Okay, so brake, turn the wheel, accelerate, and keep turning, got it?”
Nico bites his lip but follows Leo’s instructions. “Better?”
“Much, much better. Good job, Nico.”
Nico continues this for the next fifteen minutes. There are a few hiccups (like when he turns too sharply and nearly sends Leo into the side window or when he turns at 22 mph and Leo has to send a prayer to the gods of Olympus). But despite a few minor errors, like Nico turning in the wrong lane and forgetting his turn signal, it goes rather well.
Well, until the pedestrian.
“Shit,” Nico murmurs under his breath, “Look, someone’s running.”
Leo shrugs, “Nico, you’re fine. You won’t hit him. Just keep turning smoothly and-”
“Leo, he’s coming this way!”
“Nico di Angelo. You have battled monsters, giants, evil gods, and went through freaking Tartarus and the Labyrinth alone. I think you can handle some jogger,” Leo says.
“Right,” Nico nods, “I just gotta- SHIT!”
“Nico, stay in your lane!”
“I’m trying I just- I’M SORRY!”
“He can’t hear you.”
“Hey! That’s an obscene gesture!” Nico frowns as he abruptly brakes the car again, sending Leo flying towards the dashboard.
“Hey, hey, don’t get upset! He’s gone now,” Leo holds onto the assist handle tighter.
“I’m a good driver,” Nico pouts as he turns rather widely and quickly.
Leo looks a little green as he comforts, “Of course you are, babe. Don’t forget your turn signal.”
“What? Oh, yeah, sorry.”
“Okay,” Leo instructs, “Now, put the car in reverse. See, you’re too close to the ‘STOP’ sign. You won’t get a good turn.”
“Reverse? I’ve never used reverse before.”
“It’s easy,” Leo pats his forearm. “Change the gear to reverse and then you just gotta look behind you as you press on the gas. Same as normal.”
“Alright.”
“WAIT!” Leo cries as the car lurches forward, “You have to change the gear to ‘R’ first!”
“Okay, okay!” Nico pulls up on the gear, putting the car into reverse. “I don’t understand this modern machinery.”
“Nico, you were only, like, ten in the forties or whenever you grew up. You were not old enough to be behind the wheel,” Leo laughs.
“How would you know, you weren’t there, youngin’,” Nico smirks.
“Shut up, I have my license and you don’t. Okay, now brake,” Leo instructs, “and shift back to the ‘D’.”
Nico smirks, “The ‘D’.”
“Dude, so not the time.”
“Right, sorry.”
Nico turns again, successfully this time, and he’s beaming, “That was pretty freaking beautiful.”
Leo sighs, “I must admit that was pretty good.”
They drive around the parking lot for the remainder of the hour and even though Nico’s driving is full of awkward stops and wobbles and jerks, the ride isn’t extremely unpleasant. “I’m gonna be a bomb ass driver,” Nico murmurs as he smoothly pulls into a parking space. He presses completely on the brakes and they both jolt a bit forward but it’s not too bad.
“Yes you will,” Leo laughs, “Because you’ve got a bomb ass boyfriend who’s a bomb ass boyfriend. Now, come on and switch places with me so I can drive us home.”
Nico unbuckles his seatbelt as Leo gets out of the car on his side. Nico grabs Leo’s wrist as Leo is walking toward the driver’s seat door. “You know,” he says with a huge smile, “I can think of a few other things we can do in a car besides drive.”
Pulling Nico in for a kiss, Leo laughs, “Oh, can you? Like what?”
Their lips meet briefly, then again, and again. Nico runs a hand through Leo’s curls and playfully nips on his bottom lip. “Well, this, for starters,” Nico says as Leo grips onto his waist, “Not to mention-”
“Wait a second,” Leo interrupts him, “Babe, you did put the car on Park, right?”
“Um…”
“NICO!” Leo shrieks as he sees his car slowly rolling down toward the bottom of the hill.
“Well,” Nico says after the nearly deafening CRASH, “We could always shadow-travel!”
Fin.