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It was approximately 1:30 AM, and Askeladd was on his way home from a late night gas station run to pick up some extra beer, on which he had let Thorfinn tag along.
A mistake, really.
But the boy had begged, said he was "so bored", and, "please, Askeladd".
The older man couldn't say no. How could he? To that face? Although scowling and on the verge of bearing its teeth to him if he said no, it was still incredibly cute. he rarely heard the teen ask at all, let alone say the dreaded P-word.
Now, Askeladd would admit, he was a teensy bit intoxicated.
So when the teen had started to rant on about how nobody would help him learn to drive, which was "completely unfair," and, "everyone just ignores me," Askeladd had to respond somehow.
"Thats because adults are busy doing important stuff. like working."
The older mans words were the slightest bit slurred as he spoke.
"Shut up. You're the one who said you'd teach me in the first place." Thorfinn said and glared.
"I got a lot of shit going on, kid. Remind me."
"I did, last week. Five times."
Askeladd sighed and thought for a moment. He couldn't be driving around with him all day, because he was at work. And they didn't have much time to go out during the weekend either.
...they were out right now, Were they not? Sure, the older man might've had a few drinks, but hes a good driver, nothing bad will happen as long as he keeps his sipping under control.
This might be one of his worst ideas yet.
"Well, why dont we get some practice in right now?" he said with a sloppy grin as he swerved the car and turned into the parking lot of a grocery store.
Thorfinn gawked at him as Askeladd pulled in and slowed the vehicle to a stop, switching gears and putting it into park.
"Are you kidding? You're totally drunk."
"Im not drunk. Hop out."
Askeladd unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door, hopping out and stepping into the cold winter air.
"You're gonna get in trouble, old man." Thorfinn only watched.
"Nobody will care, kid. Switch seats with me."
With that, the older blonde rounded the front of the car and pulled open the passengers door.
"C'mon. You scared or something?" He said, flashing his teeth with a grin.
"Im not."
"Then lets go." Askeladd reached over the kids lap and unbuckled his seatbelt before dragging him out by the arm.
"I can get out myself!"
Thorfinn stumbled onto the concrete and scoffed before he walked to the other side of the vehicle, sat in the drivers seat, and shut the door.
"Adjust your seat, you wont reach the pedals with your short ass legs like that." The old man shut the passengers door and reached down to adjust his own seat that Thorfinn had taken to leaning back way too far.
"Shut it." Thorfinn responded but did it anyway, scooting the seat closer so he could reach the steering wheel and pedals.
After he got himself situated, the boy stared expectantly at Askeladd for the first instructions—only to be met with a disappointed sigh.
"Buckle your seatbelt for fucksake."
Thorfinn turned red from sheer embarrassment and grabbed the seatbelt before pushing it down and clicking it into place to strap himself in, Askeladd following suite.
"Okay. Everything good? Make sure you can see your mirrors."
"The mirrors?"
Jeez, the brat was an utter beginner. No wonder he put this off for so long. But the kids seventeen already, he should atleast be getting his permit this summer.
"Yes. You need to be able to see them properly, adjust them if you need to."
Thorfinn looked up at the rearview mirror, pushing it around clumsily and into a better position.
He glanced at the side mirrors, deeming them fine enough that he didn't need to adjust them.
"Alright. Now look down, see the pedals?"
Thorfinn looked down at the pedals infront of his sneakers. "Yeah."
"Can you reach them?"
"Yes."
"See the left one? Thats the brake, thats how you stop, got it?" Askeladd took another swig from the bottle of beer before putting it into the cup holder.
"Okay."
"Now the one on the right, thats the gas pedal,"
"I know, baldy. Just teach me how to actually drive already."
"Dont rush into it, brat. This takes patience." Askeladd rolls his eyes before glancing out the window, making sure they actually were alone in the parking lot.
He leaned over the center console and pointed at the gear shift,
"This is how you shift gears. Now look down here, See it?" The old man gestured to the speedometer.
"See where it says the letters? Its on P, because we're in park, that means the car wont move unless you shift gears." He explained to the kid who leaned in to see where he was pointing at.
"Okay." He confirmed his understanding and listened as the older man explained the other gears aswell.
"Now your gonna put it in drive. Keep your foot on the brake, alright? And dont go speeding off. If you crash my car, i'll make you pay me back every damn cent."
"Alright already! Im not gonna crash it, bastard."
"hands on the wheel." Askeladd leaned back into his own seat, turning up the heat in the car as it got a little cold.
Thorfinn placed both hands on the steering wheel before putting his right one on the gear shift.
"Foot on the brake, brat. It wont change gears unless you're on the pedal."
"I heard you the first time."
Thorfinn moved his right foot up to press down on the brake pedal, before pulling the gear shift down and switching it to drive.
"Now let off the brake slowly,"
The teen let up on the pressure of his foot and startled a bit as the car suddenly began rolling forward. They were in a pretty large wide open parking lot, there werent any cars and only a few lamp posts to look out for.
"Alright, see that sign? You're gonna drive to it and turn around." Askeladd pointed up ahead at a large sign that said the name of the grocery store that the parking lot belonged to.
"Fine." Thorfinns foot was still hovering over the brake pedal incase he had to stop again.
"Dont be nervous, give it a lil gas."
"Im not nervous."
As if to try and prove this fact, the teen attempted to speed up a bit, accidentally pressing down on the gas pedal a bit too hard, causing them to thrust forward abruptly and cover too much ground too quickly.
"Not that much, you little shit! Fuck, stop the car."
Thorfinn slammed the brakes, bringing them to a sudden stop.
Askeladd sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Listen, you gotta take this slowly, you fuckhead. Like i said, dont start speeding off all of a sudden like an idiot."
"Okay, fine." Thorfinn pouted and gripped the steering wheel.
"Let off the brake."
The man grabbed his beer bottle and took a sip, watching as Thorfinn took his foot off the brake and positioned it instead over the gas pedal.
"Gently now. Dont use all your might, all you need is a little press."
The teen slowly pressed the gas pedal down, progressively speeding the vehicle up.
"you're coming up on the sign now. Be prepared to slow down and turn."
They reached the edge of the parking lot and Thorfinn pressed the brake and brought them go an unnecessary complete stop before messily scrambling to turn the wheel.
Askeladd simply watched in silence at the inexperienced movements of the brat as he pressed down on the gas to move the car. He finally managed to get them turned around, looking around and beginning to cruise through the parking lot slowly. He nearly crashed into a cart corral, which he would have hit if Askeladd didn't take hold of the wheel and quickly turn it, causing them to swerve to the side.
"For fucks- Look out for obstacles, you idiot!"
"Shut up!"
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Aside from almost hitting the same lamp post twice, Thorfinn did a decent job driving around the parking lot. He now knows the basics of driving, but it'll take alot more practice to get him actually prepared to drive on the road.
Once they were finished and Thorfinn put the car back into park, Askeladd finally felt like he could breathe again. That was damn scary, he was almost one hundred percent sure the kid would wreck his vehicle. Somehow.
"You did alright, brat. But you still got a ways to go before you'd be allowed anywhere near a public road."
"Tch."
Askeladd managed to empty one and a half more beer bottles during the process of teaching Thorfinn how to drive, and honestly now he just wanted to get home and fucking sleep.
The older man pushed open the car door and and stepped out, breathing in some fresh air before shutting it behind him. He listened as Thorfinn also did the same, walking around the car and joining Askeladd on the passengers side. The man pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, holding it up and lighting it before taking a long drag. He let his back rest against the vehicle, hoping the cold winter air would sober him up a little for the drive home.
Apparently he looked as drunk as he felt, because Thorfinn spoke up.
"Goddammit, you're fuckin' hammered. can you even drive?"
"Sure. Its only a ten minute drive." He was most certainly drunk. Even Askeladd could hear it in his own voice.
"Its twenty minutes, old man."
"To my house?" The older man questioned in a daze.
"To mine." Thorfinn deadpanned, now also leaning against the car and attempting to steal the cigarette from Askeladds hand, which pulled away before he could snatch it.
"Hm." Askeladd took another long drag from the cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stepping on it to put it out.
"Lets go. Im fucking tired." He said as he walked to the drivers side before he quite clumsily sat down in the seat. Thorfinn joined him not long after. He pulled on his seatbelt and slumped into the leather seat with a disgruntled sigh.
"Shit, didn't mean t' keep ya out so late, kid." Askeladd said after catching a glimpse of what time it was. He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road before turning onto the highway to take Thorfinn home.
Thorfinn didn't respond and only went on his phone and checked to see if he had any text messages. Multiple notifications popped up on his lock screen, five unread from his sister, one from his mother, and fucking ten from canute. What the hell? He read through and responded to both his mom and his sisters texts, but once he opened canutes and saw the multiple paragraphs, he didn't even bother. He would respond to those in the morning. Probably.
He looked up from his phone, feeling himself shift in his seat from side to side very slightly. Then he looked at Askeladd.
"You're swerving, bastard."
"Am i?" The other responded, half lidded, as though he might be about to fall asleep right then and there.
"Pay attention! Or do you want me to take the wheel?" Thorfinn shouted, sitting up nervously and extending his arms like he was preparing to have to take over if the old man suddenly passed out.
"Fuck no...you'd drive us straight into a ditch." Askeladd swatted his hands away.
"You're already about to do that right now."
Askeladd attempted to steady the wheel, squinting his eyes to try and force them to focus on the road up ahead.
Then both of their eyes went wide as they caught on the unmistakable flash of red and blue lights in the mirror.
The older man cursed, pulling over on the side of the highway. Theres no fucking way hes getting away with this. Maybe if its a woman he could smooth talk his way out of getting arrested and could get off with a ticket. Even then, though, unlikely. Theres only so much he could pull off.
"Shit. What do we do?" Thorfinn asked.
"Dont say a word. Let me do the talking." Askeladd said and tried to sober himself up with a drink of some lukewarm water from a bottle on the ground that was probably a few weeks old. He tried to think up a convincing story, he and Thorfinn looked alike enough, the kid could probably pass as his son. As fucked up as it was, knowing the kind of relationship he had with the boy, he'd have to roll with that somehow.
The man watched the side view mirror out of the corner of his eye, observing as the cop car pulled up behind them and stopped. Askeladd rolled down his window. A figure stepped out from the car, very obviously male.
He was shit out of luck this time.
The cop walked up to the side of the car.
"How are you doing tonight, sir?" He said, perching an arm on the hood of the car.
"Just fine, officer. And you?" Askeladd responded, trying for a casual tone. Atleast he wasn't slurring his words anymore.
"Im doing alright.. Do you know why i pulled you over?"
Feeling a bit more sober than before, Askeladd tries his luck.
"I believe i was swerving a bit."
"Yes. And have you had anything to drink tonight, sir?"
And being the master manipulator Askeladd was, he decides to lie.
"Just one, about two hours ago."
Thorfinn has to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. Damned dirty bastard.
"And this is?" The brunette cop gestures to the scowling teenager currently in the passengers seat, who sits up a little straighter.
"my son."
Thorfinns got a look on his face that says hes about to rip Askeladds head right off. He wants to scream at him, but says nothing.
"I see. And what were you and your son
doing out this late at night?"
"Ah, well, see we just got back from a pretty lengthy roadtrip, but we're on our way home right now, sir."
The bastard just lies through his teeth. But if he's asked to step out of the car, its over. For both of them, honestly. For Askeladd because he would probably go to jail for driving while under the influence, and for Thorfinn because his mom would have to come pick him up from the station and he'd have to explain everything to her. Including why he was hanging out again with the forty-something year old man that he was told to stop talking to years ago.
The cop responded with a simple, "Hm."
Thorfinn had to give it to him, though, Askeladd was extremely good at hiding the fact that he was decently intoxicated.
Hes got some experience, no doubt.
"So you're sure you only had one drink tonight?"
"Im positive, officer. When i swerved I was simply messing around with my boy, here. but i assure you, it wont happen again." Askeladd said with a ruffle to Thorfinns already messed up hair. The kid had to hold back his glare.
The cop eyed them for a few moments, as if contemplating the story and how likely it was to be true. It was convincing, especially with Askeladds casual demeanor.
After a few more painfully long seconds, the man finally said,
"Alright then. Dont let it happen again."
And both Askeladd and Thorfinn tried not to raise their eyebrows in utter disbelief.
"Of course. have a good night, officer." Askeladd smiled and watched as the cop disappeared behind them and got back into his car.
"You piece of shit..." He heard the teen say as he rolled up the window.
"Fucking hell," The old man breathed out a massive sigh of relief, watching the police car pull away and continue down the road.
"Thought i was gonna spend the night in a cell..." Askeladd took another big gulp of water to calm his nerves.
"I cant believe you got yourself out of that."
Thorfinn said, crossing his arms and secretly also feeling quite relieved himself.
The older blonde took a few minutes to calm his own disbelief before turning back onto the highway and continuing on the way to Thorfinns mom's house.
"Not a word about any of this to anyone, got that?"
"You dont need to tell me."
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