To be honest, Mycroft was rather fed up of his brotherly duties that he had been given on the day of the birth of his younger brother. Despite the fact that Sherlock had little to do with him on most days and on the occasion had changed his mind about having little to do with him, Mycroft had just found himself on the receiving end of an argument or he would be facing his brother's rolling eyes as Sherlock was forced to say a half-hearted 'good morning' to him at breakfast at the request of their mother. However Sherlock's lack of interest in his life had seemed to have taken a sudden turn for the better, and now Sherlock had seemed to have as much focus on Mycroft's life just as much as he would have for any science experiment that involved dangerous chemicals or a body part that was being dissolved by said dangerous chemicals.
The only reason that Sherlock had taken interest in his life of late was due to the fact that Mycroft had passed his driving test and he was now the owner of a sleek and shiny, black Fiat that was given to him as a incentive to pass his test by his parents, ( Mycroft only reckoned that they had only done that in the attempt to save themselves a bit of money and they could get more sleep, as they seemed to dislike having to drive Mycroft to and from the train station so that he could go to London for his new job as a PA to a man who only had a 'minor position in the British Government.') Ever since Mycroft had mentioned that he was planning to take some driving lessons over the breakfast table one morning, Sherlock had been worryingly nice to him and if Mycroft had even dared to say it, Sherlock had been extremely pleasant and it was slightly fighting for him.
At first, Sherlock had started to say good morning to him without prompting from their parents as Mycroft had made his presence known at the dinner table. Then it had led to Sherlock knocking Mycroft's bedroom door when he was doing paperwork and offering to make him a cup of tea every few hours, (This alone was the beginning of Mycroft's fear, mostly as he was worried that Sherlock had been putting something in the tea, as it wasn't the first time that had happened. This lead to Mycroft pouring the tea out into the plant on his desk to see if the tea would immediately kill the plant. It didn't even do that.) Then Sherlock had started to ask him about how his day went, and soon it lead onto the development of asking about how the driving lessons were going. Clearly his brother was only interested in him for the car, Mycroft had soon discovered when Sherlock was talking about Mycroft taking him to certain places over the weekend and the holidays. So when Mycroft had passed his test on the second try and he got ownership of the Fiat, he soon had found Sherlock in the passenger seat dictating about where he would like to go.
At the start, Mycroft didn't really mind Sherlock only really wanting to spend time with him due to the car, as it was the first time in years that they had really gotten along and in the return of getting chauffeured around to places when Mycroft was at home, Sherlock wouldn't experiment on him or leave dead animals in his bedroom in the name of science as he decided that Mycroft's bedroom would be the perfect place to let something mummify in the time that Mycroft was away from home, and instead he would do the experiment in the guest bedroom. It was pleasant at first, Mycroft would take Sherlock to a museum or to a lecture that he was wanting to listen in the local university and the both of them could spend the day together and use the opportunity of the drive home to discuss about what they had learned and to point out the mistakes of the exhibit or the lecturer had made. However the good times seemed to just fade as then Sherlock had begun to demand for more rides and he would be requesting to go to places that were further away, and then asking if it was possible to allow the dead animals that Sherlock had decided were fit for experimentation to go into the boot of the car. Sherlock didn't even give him petrol money.
Enough was Enough. Mycroft decided that he couldn't go around being his brother's personal chauffer, as being blunt he had better things to do than cart his brother around during his rare hours of free time and Sherlock had been putting the dead animals and dangerous chemicals in the car without even asking permission to do so, even though the answer would be a firm 'no' from Mycroft regardless, but he would have been thankful for the gesture of being asked about if his brother could put the dead bird that he found at the side of the road in the boot of the car before Sherlock had actually done it-mostly so that Mycroft would know when he would have to get the car professionally cleaned in advance, as Mycroft soon found out that it was surprisingly difficult to find a professional car cleaner in short notice. Mycroft decided that Sherlock would have to either pay him petrol money or he would learn to drive himself, as it had been nearly eight years since Mycroft had learned to drive, and Sherlock had shown no sign of wanting to drive himself or showing no intention of giving Mycroft petrol money.
When he was over at home for the festive period, (on the first day of being home, Sherlock had requested to be chaffered to seven different places in the first half hour since Mycroft entered the house and removed his jacket,) Mycroft had decided to make up the bill of all the petrol money that his brother had owed him in the last eight years. All together the bill added up to £6,780. 25, however Mycroft was feeling generous due to the little Christmas spirt in him, and he was willing to leave out the twenty five pence and round the price down just because it was the holidays. Mycroft left the note on the breakfast table next to a leaflet for a driving school and a cup of tea for his brother when he went down for breakfast in the morning.
Sherlock had finally trudged down the stairs at eleven o'clock I the morning and he wasn't even dressed and he was still in his night clothes that had some scorch marks on them, clearly his brother had been doing an experiment late at night then that involved either; chemicals or fire, or both. Sherlock sat down at the table with a look of confusion and a raised eyebrow as he read the leaflet for driving lessons.
"Are you hinting at something Mycroft?" Sherlock asked with a long suffering sigh as he placed the leaflet down on the table and made a move for his tea. "That reminds me that I'm needing to get a ride to Chelmsford for two o'clock this afternoon."
"Why are you needing to go to Chelmsford?" Mycroft asked as he sipped at his own tea, and pushed the leaflet and the bill closer to his brother.
"There is some chemicals that I am wanting to pick up from a man I've been corresponding with for the last week. " Sherlock said, acting like it wasn't a big deal, despite the fact that he was corresponding with a strange man for a week and agreeing to meet up with him for chemicals, who knows what the man was wanting in return from his brother? It was the perfect set up of a murder or something unpleasant happening to brother.
"I'm not going to be driving you to Chelmsford for that." Mycroft said as he gave his brother his best intimidating glare. "You could end up being a statistic in the news about people being murdered by people they've just met. Besides I was wanting to talk to you about the car."
"Is this why there is the mysterious leaflet on the table for driving lessons?" Sherlock asked with a sigh. "I'm not going to be doing driving lessons, I'm not wanting to deal with someone telling me what to do and there are stupid people on the roads. I'm fine with you driving me places."
"I have a perfect agreement for you if you are not wanting to drive, there is a second piece of paper on the table and you may feel free to take a look at it," Mycroft said in a manner that made him think about the business meetings that he had to attend the week before. Sherlock picked up the bit of paper and he turned it around and almost immediately after scanning the bit of paper his eyes widened. "As you have noticed there is a bill for all of the money that you owe me for petrol over the years. If you are willing to contribute to your share of the car and pay me for my abilities of driving, I won't make you take lessons and I will continue our previous arrangement with the car, however I am wanting to make up a list of rules and the first one that comes to mind is that I'm not wanting animals dead or alive in my car."
"That is a lot of money." Sherlock pointed out, "Are you sure that it is it?"
"I've triple checked the numbers and I've used a calculator for them as well." Mycroft. "I've taken away the twenty five pence so you only need to pay me six thousand, seven hundred and eighty pounds as I'm feeling generous."
"I'm not going to be able to afford my chemicals if you make me pay all that money." Sherlock huffed.
"You can learn how to drive then." Mycroft countered back as he rested his fingers under his chin. "I have better things to do than act as your unpaid chauffer."
"I'm going to be moving to London next year, there is no point in my learning how to drive. I don't think I can afford a parking spot in London."
"It is a good ability to be able to drive, you might not be in London for all your life and you might need to drive somewhere else and you can't rely on my driving you around all the time, especially if you don't even contribute for petrol . "
Sherlock folded his arms and he pouted, making him look like an over grown toddler who had been told that they couldn't get the toy in the shop when their parent had just gone in for milk and nothing else. "This isn't fair. You are meant to be helping me through life, you are my older brother. So much for brotherly love and loyality that all brothers are meant to have."
"You don't seem to have much interest in my life unless you are wanting to get driven somewhere or you are wanting somewhere." Mycroft retorted back. "It is your decision, learn how to drive or pay." Sherlock still didn't look happy and his pout seemed to have grown larger and he looked even more like a disappointed child now. "If you learn how to drive, I will help contribute to your lessons."
"Fine if you must." Sherlock said with a long suffering sigh and a roll of his eyes. "I'm not wanting to have a stupid instructor to tell me what to do. "
"What are you wanting to do then?" Mycroft asked as if he was stupid.
"You can teach me. You can drive." Sherlock shrugged as he leaned back against the chair. "I can tolerate you slightly and you are over twenty one and you have been driving for a few years."
"I'm not a driving instructor." Mycroft protested as the thought of being responsible for teaching his brother how to drive seemed like the equivalent of being on hell on earth. Sherlock was a hazard most of the time when he was just walking and Mycroft would hate to imagine what his brother would be like when he was in control of a fully moving vehicle.
"I'm not wanting to have a stranger tell me what to do in a small confined space and we both know for a fact that it is going to be a very long time before you get your money back." Sherlock said with a raised eyebrow, not leaving much room for any disagreement. "I'm going to meet you in the car at twelve and you are going to teach me what to do." And with that Sherlock had left the table and had stomped up the stairs, making Mycroft wonder what he had gotten himself into a considerably stupid situation and if he should organise the will while he had the chance to do so now.
Mycroft grabbed the steering wheel as quick as he could and moved it to the left in the attempt to try and make the car get onto the right side of the country road before the car had ended up going into the ditch. "Use the bloody break!" Mycroft shouted over to his brother who seemed to have little regard for the Highway Code and was currently driving the car considerably over the recommended speed limit. "I've got a meeting tomorrow and I'm needing to be there and I won't be able to attend if I'm dead because of you."
Sherlock hit the break hard at his brothers command, the car jolted forward hard and Mycroft was nearly chocked to death from the seatbelt going into his neck. "We are switching seats and then we are going to go home right now and you are getting proper tuition from a proper instructor and not me."
"Stop being so over dramatic Mycroft. It isn't like I killed anyone or got into an accident." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes as he did move to the side of the road at the slowest speed that the car could move at.
"You could have killed someone though." Mycroft said as he rolled his eyes at how slow his brother was going, such as contrast to the speed that he was going at before. Sherlock did have the tendencies to do things in such extremes, and this would go into the field of driving as well. "Get out of the car Sherlock."
"I'm not going out of the car." Sherlock pouted as he moved his foot back onto the accelerator and the engine started to make a low rumble and it started to move. The car was gaining speed by the second. "I'm not going to learn anything unless you teach me."
"We are going to end up in that bush if you don't slow down and keep yourself on the road." Mycroft said in the attempt in his best level voice regardless of the fact that he was currently fearing his life right now and there was the possibility that he was going to end up requiring a coffin within the next few seconds and he wouldn't be able to attend very important meeting for work the next day if he was dead and Mycroft was positive that he would be frowned upon by his superiors. "I want you to move the wheel and put your foot on the break and apply it slowly and gently. Do it now Sherlock or god help me!"
Despite the fact that Sherlock had reluctantly slammed on the breaks after being screamed at by Mycroft, who was screaming about the breaks and avoiding going into the bush. Despite his best efforts, the car went into the bush nose first.
"You are not driving ever again." Mycroft exclaimed as he made his way out of the car, thankfully unharmed apart from shock from being in the car ride that was possibly from Hell. He quickly went over to check on Sherlock who stumbled out of the car with a look of unnerving nonchalance despite the fact that he had driven into a bush at an alarming high speed. "You could have killed us," he moved around to inspect that car. "Look what you did the car." He said in a tone that was probably rather pathetic for him with how exasperated he looked and the fact his voice was up several octaves than normal, (Mycroft would blame the fact it was him being nearly strangled by the seatbelt, as he didn't want to admit that his voice would go higher when he was extremely terrified or angry-both of what he was feeling that instant.)
The car was mostly undamaged and it was still in relatively good condition despite the fact that there was several scratches in the paintwork, there was a crack in the windshield and one of the right rear-view mirror was handing loosely by the side of the car. Mycroft sighed and covered his face in his hands. "My car it's ruined!"
"At least we both made it alive." Sherlock said in a cheerful tone as he brushed the imaginary dirt out of his clothes and he sorted his hair that still looked perfect however it was more windswept than it was before. "This was just a good experiment proving that Newton's laws of gravity are correct."
Mycroft gave his brother his best intimidating glare even though he was currently still rather upset at the state of his car that had been the pride and joy of his life for the last few years witch was currently in bush. "You are going to stay off the roads for the rest of your life willingly or I'm going to use my position to get my superior who has a minor position in the British Government to get you banned from entering a car."
"So I'm guessing that I will be owing you some money for the car then?" Sherlock asked as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a twenty pound note and he gave it to his brother who just looked like he was tempted to pull out his hair. "This can by my first contribution to the car then."
Mycroft wordlessly took out the money and went into his pocket and pulled out a Mars Bar and in his shock he ate in it in two bites-completely destroying his diet that he had been working so hard on, however due to the shock that he was in from nearly dying at the hands of his brother, the Mars Bar was very much needed. Sherlock only smirked at him, looking like the cat who got the cream when he saw the mars bar being taken out of his pocket.
"The next lesson when it comes to driving." Mycroft finally said once he had hastily shoved the chocolate bar wrapper in his pocket of his coat. "How to phone for a breakdown service."
The moment that Mycroft arrived at home, the first thing that he did was have another Mars bar in the attempt to finally get rid of the shock from the car, and the second thing that he did was arrange an appointment for therapy and he was rather sure that he had developed a case of post traumatic stress from being in the car with his brother. He had also made the agreement with his brother that they wouldn't be sharing a car together in the nearby future and Mycroft had decided to hire his own personal assistant who would act as chauffeur for him, as Mycroft felt that he couldn't handle even being in the driver's seat for a while. Sherlock on the other hand seemed to have not suffered any ill effect from the car, however he did have the nerve to ask Mycroft when the next driving lesson was going to be, this only resulted in Mycroft reaching over for the bill that he had given Sherlock earlier and throwing it in his head before threating to send in the most fearful person in both of the Holmes's brother's lives; their mother.
It was only that to get Sherlock to stop asking about driving lessons and the car.,
When Mycroft had found out that Sherlock had the ability to drive and passed his test years later, it was somewhat surprising as he found out that his brother actually had some talent in driving when he was given proper instruction. However he wasn't surprised when he found out from John, who had decided to take it upon himself to help his brother learn how to drive, that Sherlock had nearly sent the car into a bush on his first driving lesson from John. However regardless of the fact that Sherlock had passed his test, Mycroft was more thankful that his brother lived in London due to the fact that it was cheaper to just use taxis to get around rather than a car or even being a parking spot for a few hours. It was a lot better for his brother's safety and the safety of all the people around London. To make sure that Sherlock wouldn't get into any incidents that were caused by him driving, Mycroft created a tab with all the taxi companies in London to encourage his brother to use taxis instead of driving, just for the safety of all of society in London. It might have been a bit overcautious, but Mycroft claimed that it was for a safety measure for the people of London. He was happy to do it, regardless of the fact that he never got all the money that his brother owed him and Mycroft was rather sure that he wasn't going to see that money, but stragnlu enough he was perfectly fine with that, as long as his brother didn't ask him to go on a car trip together ever again.