Say it Back - [ironstrange]

15: Do something fun

May 12th

"So," started Tony, walking over to the corner of the garage under the building where Tony's cars were reserved. All four of them stood there. "Which one you fancy?" He asked, leaning on the hood of the orange BMW. The fall car.

"Uh..." Stephen raised his eyebrows. "All of them?" He said in a 'duh' matter.

"You can pick any of them."

"But they're your seasonal cars?"

"Yes. My seasonal cars. You have the privilege to pick anything."

"Oh, okay..." Stephen gave it a few seconds. A few thoughts.

Now, the spring car - the Nissan that looked like a Challenger - was really cool and fast, also seemed easy to maneuver. The winter car had a lovely color and a pristine interior, the fall car he wasn't much of a fan of since he really disliked orange and the summer car was way too extra for Stephen.

"Spring car."

"Spring car it is!" Tony rejoiced and opened the car door for his friend, gesturing for him to take a seat. Stephen smiled awkwardly and did just that, waiting for Tony to enter the passenger seat to touch anything.

Once Tony saw Stephen, sitting still as if a poisonous snake was coiled in front of him on the dashboard, he laughed and put a soft hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's okay," he reassured.

Stephen chuckled nervously and looked down at his hands. "My hands are shaking."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Because I don't wanna crash the car? And kill us?"

"You won't be going fast enough to kill us yet." Tony realized he'd have to drive a little further out of town to be able to practice with Stephen but he figured he'd tell him the basics first and then interrogate him on the way out. "First and foremost; adjust your seat. You look really uncomfortable," he said watching as Stephen's knees nearly touched the steering wheel.

"Okay..." Stephen huffed and reached down to find the seat adjustment. He rolled back too far and struggled to roll forward again but managed eventually.

"And it doesn't look like you need to adjust the steering wheel but you're supposed to be around twenty-five centimeters away from it, so that, you know, you won't die if the airbag blows up."

Stephen barely said a word as Tony instructed him. His heart was thumping in his chest and he felt childish because he was so scared while Tony sat there next to him with this calm, soothing voice. Had he not had such a gentle tone Stephen probably would've cried.

"I may be screwing you over but I want you to reverse out of here so I can drive us further out," said Tony, watching Stephen turn to him with wide eyes. "It's fine," he reassured and put a soft hand on Stephen's thigh and adding, "there is a camera and if you get too close to something the car beeps. It's a piece of cake!"

"Okay..." Stephen hesitated and put a hand on the gear shift and put it on R.

Stephen successfully reversed the car, now the front of it was facing the exit of the parking garage. Tony smiled brightly. "You did amazing."

"Y' think so?" Stephen breathed, trying to sound like he was out of breath from fear.

"Yes," Tony chuckled and cocked his head to the right to signal for them to step out of the car. Stephen did as told and his legs suddenly felt like jelly. He didn't know why he was so terrified to drive.

It was just that you had to be so alert all the time while driving and yet everything can go wrong. And Tony said that you can never blame anything or anyone but yourself if you're in an accident, and how was Stephen supposed to shoulder that?