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The car lurched forward, and Frank winced, yanking his foot off the gas and slamming it onto the brake, which only made them lurch again, harder.
“Sorry!” he yelped. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—“
“It’s okay,” Percy soothed from the passenger seat. Frank glanced over at him, and Percy’s face was just as calm as his voice, which forced Frank to take a breath as his friend continued. “It’s just you, me, and an open field. We’re fine. My stomach can handle it.”
Frank’s ears heated, and his hands twisted around the steering wheel. He wanted to bang his head on the wheel, but he didn’t trust himself not to accidentally hit the horn again.
“Again?” he asked quietly.
“Again,” Percy agreed, patting his shoulder. “Heel down, toes up. Slowly start to press down. You can do this.”
The Senate had handled his legal paperwork, and Frank now had a U.S. residency, which meant it was high time for him to learn how to drive. As praetor, he was expected to be able to lead in all scenarios, including leading a caravan of SUVs.
Percy had found him in his office, head in his hands, staring at a book of California road rules, and immediately offered to help.
Percy was a surprisingly good teacher, and he was almost as knowledgeable about cars as Annabeth was about architecture, rattling off models and specs and features in a way that would make Leo proud.
He’d been more than happy to shove his Intro to College Writing essay aside to take Frank to an empty field this weekend.
He’d spent the morning showing Frank all of the controls and indicators.
Then, he’d taken them for a test drive with Frank perched on his lap as a bearded dragon to better observe how he handled the pedals.
They’d checked tail lights, adjusted mirrors, and even moved the seat and steering wheel when Frank’s knees bumped the wheel—he hadn’t known that steering wheels moved.
Percy had faith in him, and that was a powerful thing.
“I can do this,” Frank agreed.
“Yeah, man. You’re Frank fucking Zhang, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, shapeshifter extraordinaire. Bane of katoblepones and giants alike,” Percy announced, as sincere as he was teasing.
“You really should take up storytelling. I think it runs in the family,” Frank told him.
“You’re changing the subject,” Percy replied, but there was a hint of a blush on his cheeks. Sally wasn’t the only Jackson who could wield a pen. And Percy wielded a literal pen-sword in battle. Frank was pretty sure there was a metaphor there somewhere. “Now, let’s try this again. We want to drive towards the cone. Slowly.”
Frank took his foot off the brake, and the car started to inch forward from its own horsepower.
Gulping, Frank slowly lined his foot up over the gas. Heel down, he slowly started to roll his foot down onto the pedal.
“That’s it,” Percy praised.
The change was so gradual that it took Frank a moment to realize he was making the car speed up. Startled, his foot twitched, and they gained speed a little faster.
“Don’t panic,” Percy cut in, silencing the anxiety, “just ease up a little.”
Frank obeyed and the SUV started to decelerate just an enough, back to a healthy 25mph.
After a few more seconds, they started approaching the little orange cone at the far end of the field.
“Uh…”
“Gently take your foot off the gas and let it pivot over to the brake. Same thing. Heel to toe.”
Frank’s knuckles whitened on the wheel, but he took a breath and moved his foot. The car started to slow, but they weren’t decelerating fast enough.
At the last second, Frank panicked and floored the brake.
Percy let out a soft “oof” as the seatbelts locked and dug into their chests.
“Sorry! Sorry.”
“All good, dude. It takes a while to get a sense for when to brake and how hard to brake.” Percy gently shifted the gear into park when Frank stayed frozen. “You can take your foot off the brake now.”
“I suck at this,” Frank muttered.
“No one is good at driving in the beginning,” Percy promised.
“I bet you were.”
He was startled when Percy cackled. Percy hadn’t been laughing as much these days. There was a lingering exhaustion and bitterness in his eyes too often as he watched the children of the Twelfth Legion and looked at the unfinished building on Temple Hill that Jason had started before Apollo’s trials.
Temples whose completion Percy and Annabeth had added to their plates along with college and quests.
Right now, though, his eyes were scrunched closed, laughing hard enough that it was easy to remember why Poseidon was called the Earthshaker.
“Are you kidding?” Percy wheezed. “I was so freaking eager to start driving, and I sucked at it. I’m pretty sure Paul blames that summer for most of his gray hairs.”
“Really?” The idea of Percy being bad at anything he’d since mastered was a bit strange to Frank. Even when Percy had been a probatio with amnesia, he’d still carried a quiet confidence and ease that spoke of experience and capability. It hadn’t been strange for him to be promoted to Praetor within a week.
Frank, like almost everyone else at both camps, had been drawn to him like a moth to flame, and he didn’t make that kind of allusion lightly.
“Absolutely. It’s just practice. Like sword-fighting or archery.”
Frank snickered, and Percy shoved his shoulder. “Hey. I know I’m next-level horrendous at archery. I was talking about you.”
Looking over at his best friend, Frank grinned. “Maybe you should take Apollo up on his offer. I wonder of the god of archery could help.”
Percy scowled, but his eyes were still glimmering with amusement, green like the waves of the Mediterranean. “Giving up on me already?”
Frank clapped Percy on the shoulder and pointedly did not mention the scar on his thigh. “There is not enough unicorn draught in the Legion to risk another Percy Jackson archery lesson.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Percy laughed. “Luckily, I’m a better driving instructor than you are an archery coach, and I’m not giving up on you.” Percy rolled his shoulders. “Now. Time to practice reversing. And use the mirrors. The camera is great, but not every car has one.”
“Yes, sir,” Frank snarked.
Percy gave him a playful shove, and they got back to driving.
With Percy leading, Frank trusted that he would come out the other side just fine.