Driving is Terrifying

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/2647955.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Relationships: Bolin/Iroh II (Avatar), Broh - Relationship
Characters: Bolin (Avatar), Iroh II (Avatar)
Additional Tags: Learning to Drive, standard car
Language: English
Series: Part 2 of 30 Day Broh Challenge
Stats: Published: 2014-11-20 Words: 488 Chapters: 1/1
 Driving is Terrifying
by Minatu

Summary

In which Bolin is learning to drive a car, and Iroh is teaching him.

Notes

This is for Day 4: Technology. Day Three is actually only available on tumblr, somewhere in
the ether.

I noticed that in the LoK verse they do not quite have automatic cars yet. I learned first to
drive an automatic then a standard, so this was kind of fun to write, since I learned the
standard more recently and all. There is a lot less panic with an automatic. There's only two
pedals!!
"The clutch! Put in the clutch!" Iroh shouted. Bolin nervously tried to feel out where that
particular pedal happened to be, near tears with panic. Then the engine was killed when
Bolin's foot landed on the brake instead.

"I'm sorry! Sorry!"

"Bolin... It's okay," Iroh soothed, "Now, tell me what went wrong?"

"I panicked?" Bolin replied, his shoulders curling upward around his neck.

"But what else?" Iroh responded patiently.

"I stepped on the brake instead of the clutch...?" Bolin answered, his eyebrows pressed
together because he was just so ready to quit trying to figure out this whole driving thing. He
knew that every time he killed the engine that car was losing its life... or whatever the words
they used for machines.

"That's right, so next time you should...?" Iroh prompted.

"Put in the clutch...?" Bolin said, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"Good, now let's try this again," Iroh replied with a confident tone, though his hands were
shaking - though unnoticed by Bolin - in his lap.

"Uh... actually," Bolin started, "How about we put this off until later...?" Iroh sighed.

"Then you'll just get more stressed out about it, and it'll be worse the next time. You forget
that I know you, Bolin," Iroh responded, ever the wise teacher. Bolin frowned slightly,
sighing.

"Okay..." he sounded a little dejected.

Iroh patiently waited for Bolin to start the car up again for several minutes before sighing,
"Whenever you're ready." Bolin glanced at Iroh, then started the car back up. It jerked and
shook as Bolin tried to put it into first gear.

"Go slower on the friction zone, you're pulling your foot up too fast," Iroh reminded Bolin
though he already knew this and just grit his teeth in vague annoyance. Through all the
starting, stopping and killing of the engine, Bolin was getting better at it. Though starting up
was always a little rough, switching between the other gears was only getting smoother.

First gear was hard, second to sixth were much more forgiving.

When they finally stopped for the day, Bolin was so relieved he forgot that he was mad at
Iroh for being a teacher like Bolin had asked him to. Though Iroh had not forgotten and was
being especially delicate with Bolin.
"Do you want to go to Narook's?" Bolin asked Iroh with a hopeful tone. Narook's was Bolin's
favorite place to eat, also those noodles really calmed his nerves. Bolin had really been too
stressed all day.

"You're not still mad, are you?" Iroh asked carefully. Bolin looked at Iroh curiously.

"No," he responded, "Why would I be- Oh. I'm sorry, Iroh... I just was nervous and freaking
out and you were the only person there..." Iroh smiled slightly, nodding in understanding.

"It's okay, Bo," Iroh replied gently. Bolin blushed and grinned, swinging an arm around Iroh's
shoulders and pressing a kiss to Iroh's cheek.

"Now, let's go get some noodles!"

Please drop by the Archive and comment to let the creator know if you enjoyed their work!