Raised by Lions

Chapter 26: Driving

Everyone in the Shishigumi could drive to some extent. Everyone, except Louis, so the moment he'd turned 16, the lions had taken it upon themselves to teach him how to drive.

While learning to drive a motorcycle had been a breeze for the deer, courtesy of Free, driving cars was a whole different story. It didn't help that the cars were supposed to be for adult lions and Louis is an underweight teenage deer.

°°°

Sabu had tried first, since he wasn't easily spooked by bad driving and would only give the necessary information for a beginner.

"That one is the brakes, that's the clutch and the last one is the gas. Step in the clutch and brakes before you turn the key." Sabu said and Louis did as the lion told him. He'd had to move the seat so far forward to reach the pedals that it wasn't even funny and Sabu had helped him adjust the mirrors so he could see.

"Good, now move into first gear," Sabu said, pulling his seat belt on in the passenger seat. Louis did as told but almost jumped out of his seat when the car revved high. Sabu sighed next to him, "That's third, move the stick to the far left and up."

Sabu was at least straight forward about the mistake and told him how to correct it. That made Sabu one of his favourites when it came to teaching him how to drive.

"Brakes," Sabu said sternly and Louis slammed his foot on the brakes before they hit a wall. The car stalled and turned off.

"I didn't mean that hard. Just a gentle step will do," Sabu said, scratching his ear. "And next time, step on the brakes and the clutch, then the car won't stall."

Louis nods and turns the car back on like Sabu had said earlier, "Okay, Sabu. Sorry about the sudden brake." Sabu shrugged and they started again.

°°°

Miguel was the next to try and it went well for all intents and purposes, but he almost lost his shit completely when Louis took a turn a little too fast.

"Slow down," Miguel said as they approached a sharp turn. Louis, with his hands clamped to the wheel of the car, said, "I am slowing down."

"Slow down more!" Miguel said, grabbing hold of the handle above the door with a panicky look.

"I DID!" Louis yelled back, swinging the wheel wildly as they took the turn at 60km/h and Miguel let out a very undignified sound.

Louis found himself laughing as they drove back to the mansion and parked the car there, while Miguel looked somewhere between embarrassed and worried.

Needless to say, the brawny lion refused to get into the car whenever Louis drove from there on out.

°°°

Jinma seemed largely indifferent but didn't like Louis going too fast. His definition of fast, though, was far different than that of Louis. Jinma also had the ability to distract Louis with something in the area and then suddenly pull him back because they are about to have a meeting with a wall.

"See, there's that nice sushi place I told you guys about. We should go there sometimes," Jinma said, pointing at a sushi restaurant they passed.

Louis glanced at it in the rearview mirror, his hands staying on the steering wheel.

"Wall!" Jinma suddenly yelled, pulling Louis' attention ahead of him to the street. Jinma also grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it sharply left, making the car turn and almost causing them to run over three tigers, who luckily jumped out of the way.

"Okay, now floor it before they decide to pick a fight," Jinma said, glancing at the aggravated tigers. "You hate when I go fast though."

"Right now, I don't care, so GO!" And with that, Louis floors the gas like he's told and they make several fast, sharp turns down random alleys.