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The car cabin jerked as Aoba slammed on the brakes. Mink’s neck screamed in protest and he prayed that he wouldn’t get a severe case of whiplash by the end of the day. “Ok…” Mink forced himself not to sigh or drag his hands down his face, but it was becoming increasingly hard not to. He considered himself a patient man, but Aoba had a nasty habit of changing who he was. In this case, his husband was clearly trying to kill him. Somehow.
Aoba turned to face him, teeth gritted together in an embarrassed grimace. “Did I go too fast?”
Despite his best efforts, a sigh finally escaped Mink. He crossed his arms, levelling his gaze at Aoba. “What do you think?” he said as solemnly as he could. Aoba narrowed his eyes at him and faced the steering wheel once more, expression twisted like a petulant child. Try as he might, he could not break Mink’s poker face.
“Mink…” he whined, dropping his forehead to the steering wheel. The force caused the horn to sound, and Aoba shot up immediately. That finally made Mink’s serious expression fade, a rumbling chuckle that eased Aoba’s tension. Aoba glared at him anyway.
It was mid-summer, almost three years after Aoba had barged back into his life and Mink had decided it was high time that Aoba learned to drive. Out in the mountains, towns were far enough apart that it took a considerable amount of time to walk to; In the winter, that time almost doubled. Should anything ever happen to him, whether he break a leg or fall seriously ill, it was extremely important that Aoba be able to make it into town quickly.
At the moment that the idea spawned in Mink’s mind, he knew immediately that Aoba would be as resistant to driving as a cat was to water. It was only natural, of course; In Midorijima, hardly anyone owned a car, much less drove. If Aoba needed to go somewhere, then it would be by foot or not at all. And while Mink admired his skill at moving quickly, far quicker than Mink was, this was not Midorijima. So it was that, through some small miracle, he managed to convince his husband to get into the driver’s seat and learn.
Mink finally stopped laughing just as Aoba was about to yell at him. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. “Let’s try again, hmm?” he murmured, cigarette dangling from his lips as he tried lighting it. Aoba scowled.
“I thought you were going to quit? Those things are bad for you.”
Gold eyes slide over to hazel one’s. “Well, instead of the truck, you’re driving me to smoke again.” Aoba smacked his arm, causing another spurt of laughter.
Taking a few drags, Mink waved at the ignition and, with much resignation, Aoba started the red pickup again. And again, he stiffly made his way around the clearing at the pace of a snail. Mink watched out the window as a squirrel swiftly moved in front of the tires, in no danger at all of being run over. Still Aoba stomped on the brakes again, nearly causing Mink to drop his cigarette.
“Fucking hell, Aoba!” Aoba whipped his head to glare at him.
“I didn’t want to hit the squirrel!”
Mink gestured widely at the large clearing where the squirrel disappeared from. “You were not going to hit a squirrel 20 feet from the damn truck! Stop slamming on the brakes.” His own glare matched Aoba’s. Despite how stubborn he could be, Aoba broke first.
Burying his face in his hands, Aoba moaned. “This is too hard, Mink! I can’t do it! I’m too nervous!” He leaned on the wheel, careful not to set off the horn again.
“Like hell you are!” Still, there was very little bite to his words. Mink took another long drag of his cigarette, sighing in exasperation. He wanted Aoba to learn to drive but he had to remind himself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Seeing Aoba so clearly nervous and upset unsettled Mink in so many ways. He cursed himself; When did he get so damn soft about this shit?
Uncomfortable silence hung in the cabin until Mink finally stubbed his cigarette out into the ash tray and opened the passenger door. “C’mon,” he called, crossing in front of the truck. Aoba opened his door and quietly took Mink’s hand as he helped him down from the seat.
The drive back to the cabin was broken by Aoba’s soft apology. Mink smiled softly at his passenger. “There’s always next time.”