Work Text:
“Get your feet off of the dashboard,” Paul growled. His knuckles were white, he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly and he had a strained expression on his face. John did as he had asked and put his hand on Paul’s thigh in an attempt to soothe him. At first the younger man tensed but eventually relaxed at John’s touch.
The car smelled of cheese puffs that John had been munching on earlier until Paul had taken them and thrown them behind him because he was being a ‘selfish bastard why don’t you share? You bloody fat cow’ so in the end neither of them ended up eating them. John had instead decided to focus on slurping on his milkshake that they had gotten at a Mcdonald’s in a service station, this too had made Paul clench his shoulders and scowl, however he was not willing to clean milkshake off of the car floor so chose to let it slide.
They were on the M1 behind a lorry who’s driver seemed to have no clue how to drive, Paul had complained as soon as he had to turn into the same lane and whilst John has found it somewhat amusing at first, he too was beginning to be somewhat apprehensive for their safety. How were their parents going to feel if they turned up in the evening half flattened by a lorry who accidentally started driving backwards on the motorway?
Mary would probably have a fit and Mimi’s slight frown would become much more prominent on her face when she saw her nephew limping up the driveway of Mendips ‘whatever will the neighbours think?’ would probably be the first thing out of her mouth as soon as they were both safely inside. Perhaps both him and Paul would end up like those cartoons that got rolled over by a steam roller and would become 2D cutouts of what they used to be.
Paul rubbed his other leg up against John’s hand to let him know that he was alright as the traffic decided to stop around them, giving Paul the realisation that there must’ve been a crash somewhere. He looked over to John with a solemn expression and pursed lips, John returned his gaze with a half smile. The younger man relaxed into his chair and turned the CD player on (yes they still had a CD player) which he had turned off when concentrating on the stupid lorry; Elton John’s Crocodile Rock burst from the speaker making both men grin simultaneously.
John immediately started making exaggerated motions with his hands whilst Paul pretended to play drums on the steering wheel. Both men began singing very out of key versions of the lyrics at the first chorus and continued throughout the rest of the song. As soon as it finished the traffic announcements came on, pausing the CD:
“There has been a crash on the M1 between Leicester and Nottingham which is causing major delays for all travellers going Northbound.” a Serious sounding woman announced from the car speakers.
“No shit,” John said, rolling his eyes after the rest of the traffic announcements had finished and the music continued.
He decided it was probably a good idea to message the parents to tell them they were going to be late.