Perfecting the Art of Driving
ONESHOT
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Hello, LLM here! This is just another random ONESHOT I came up with a while ago. I AM SO, SO, SO TERRIBLY SORRY. I said I wouldn't do the disappearing act but it seems like I did! It's busier than I ever would have imagined...but that just means I'll have to work even harder. Please read this as you wait for me to finish writing the next chapter of my FF! Thank you for your extreme patience.
Summary: ONESHOT: Years into the future in a time of peace in the Mafia, Tsuna manages to squeeze out a week of freedom from Reborn and his guardians. He thought of no better way to spend it than to help his two teenage children learn how to drive properly. What he didn't see coming was the adventure that acompanied this plan... Rated K.
It was his second day off of the week. Sawada Tsunayoshi, now a healthy and handsome mafia boss, dressed in a casual shirt and jeans. He jogged down the wide staircase and met his son on the ground floor. He was dressed similarly to his father. Tsuna and his seventeen-year-old son stared at each other outside the doors of Vongola's Italian Headquarters.
"Ready?" Tsuna asked. Sawada Dante-Katsu grinned.
"Whenever you are."
Tsuna nodded grimly. "Remember what I taught you and what you learned before that." They turned and walked towards the sleek black car. One of Tsuna's men held the door open for him. He had a nervous smile on his mouth. Dante opened his own door and sat. He fiddled with the controls and rolled the windows down.
"Have a nice ride, Boss," the man said. "And you as well, Dante. Have fun."
"Thanks," Tsuna said. He sat and turned to his son. "Alright. Let's move out. Slowly."
Dante, now nervous, nodded. The car purred to life and accelerated. They shot off like a rocket.
The subordinate usually wouldn't be worried, since he was confident that his boss could protect himself well enough. But he wasn't so sure today...
"Slower, slower...slower," Tsuna said calmly. But inside, he was beginning to panic. I hope it's not as bad as Yuna's driving, he thought, naming his younger daughter.
"I know what I'm doing, I know, I know!" Dante chanted under his breath.
"Yes, I'm sure you do," Tsuna flashed his son a confident smile. I worry for both our lives, Tsuna thought with an inward cringe. He didn't exactly recover from yesterday's adventure yet.
The guards at the outside gate waved them through, already aware of what their boss was planning on doing during his vacation. The two of them chuckled, having experienced the horrors with their own children.
"Just follow the route you memorized," Tsuna said softly. Dante nodded stiffly, and tightened his grip on the wheel.
They zoomed down the street with other cars blaring at them.
"My bad," Dante shouted out the window at the angry drivers.
"The road," Tsuna yelped for the second time in two days. "Watch the road!"
"I got iiit!" Dante yanked the wheel, barely missing the curve.
"And the red light," Tsuna said in caution when Dante showed no signs of slowing down. He hit the brakes, which let out a squeal. The pedestrians froze in shock and only when Tsuna gave them a confident and apologetic smile did they step off the sidewalk to cross the street. Even then, they did so with extreme caution.
Tsuna let out a breath. "Okay. Not bad. But start out slowly. You aren't playing one of your race car video games."
"I know," Dante sighed. "But it's fun—are you sure I can't try?" He looked at his father hopefully.
Tsuna cocked a brow and said nothing.
Dante sighed. "No, I didn't think I could."
The light turned green and Dante started out slowly.
Tsuna began to relax when nothing happened for the next two minutes.
"This isn't too bad," Dante said, also relaxing. Tsuna let out a nervous laugh. We'll see, we'll see.
Then they stalled.
"Oh, I hate using this stupid stick gear thing," Dante exclaimed. "Why can't I use an automatic?"
"You need to know both," Tsuna soothed. "Besides, you're lucky that Reborn's not teaching you." Tsuna winced at the memory of his own driving lessons—and they weren't pleasant.
Dante had the car going again.
"Looking good," Tsuna said. Dante grinned at his dad's compliment. Then he jumped when a bird flew inches away from his window.
Tsuna grabbed hold of his door handle when the car swerved out of its lane. An oncoming car honked long and loud.
Tsuna's eyes widened. "Turn, Dante, turn!"
"Turning! I'm turning!" Both cars dodged and went back to their own lanes. Dante took a left turn. I'm surprised we haven't been stopped by a cop yet, Tsuna mused. Tsuna wasn't even finished sighing in relief when they were faced with another problem: a steep hill.
"Ease off the pedal," he said quickly and turned to his son. "NOW."
"Yeah I got it," Dante shouted. He lifted his foot off the gas petal and began to step on the brakes. They were rolling down fast.
"Don't brake too fast," Tsuna said, still the image of calmness, even when they were about to crash to their doom.
They continued rolling down quickly. There was an intersection at the bottom of the hill. This street wasn't supposed to be on the map, Tsuna thought nervously.
"D-Daad..." Dante said shakily.
"Calm down, calm down. We're fine," Tsuna muttered.
"Dad!"
"We're fine—oh crap—the brakes, HIT THE BRAKES."
They were going down too fast for Tsuna's comfort.
"Daaad?" Dante was panicking.
"A-aah?" Tsuna was still looking calm. "Get ready to turn..." Oh my god we're going to die. He was debating whether or not to go into Hyper Mode, just in case, when Dante screamed.
"DAAAAAAAD!"
"HI—!" Tsuna bit the inside of the cheek to avoid embarrassing himself. I haven't screamed in years. It's not going to start now with driving lessons.
They picked up more speed, if that was even possible.
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Tsuna shouted at the same time. "Oh sh— Turn, Dante, or you'll kill us both!"
Damn, Tsuna thought as his left hand gripped the wheel with Dante's. He gave it a sharp jerk to the right and missed the telephone pole.
He relaxed his grip on it, only to tighten it a moment later. "Left!"
Dante turned immediately. "Dad, let go already!
Tsuna slowly released the wheel and let his son take charge again. He made a slow turn and straightened up easily. Tsuna nodded nervously. He glanced at the map in his lap. They were almost finished. Only a few more bends…
His head hit the window painfully as Dante gave a sharp right to avoid a goose crossing the street. "What the hell is that goose doing there!?"
"Next time, stop the car," Tsuna hissed and rubbed his head.
"Sorry…" Dante tried for a casual laugh and failed. He gasped and swerved again. This time, Tsuna was wise enough to keep his eyes on the road. I should have already learned that I need to be fully alert in a car with him or Yuna whether I'm the one driving or not, Tsuna grumbled in his mind.
"Steady now," Tsuna said when he noticed that they weren't driving in a straight line. "Even a drunk man can drive straighter than you. Take deep breaths…there…and release that…there you go…stay calm…"
Riiing!
Dante kept his eyes on the road. Tsuna did so as well as he pulled out his phone. He glanced at the caller ID quickly before answering.
"Good evening, kaa-san," Tsuna said.
"Tsu-kun!" Nana said sweetly from the other end of the line.
Tsuna made a wild gesture for Dante to be careful to not bump sides with the car next to them. Dante nodded.
"It's great to hear from you again," Tsuna said. "How are you today?"
"Oh, I'm doing perfectly fine! It was such a wonderful idea to start a cooking school," Nana said. "I'm having a lot of fun, and it's all thanks to Tsu-kun!"
"Ah, that's no problem. I'm just happy that you're enjoying yourself." Tsuna laughed. His eyes popped out at the sight of a barricade in front of them.
Dante gave his father a panicked look with eyes asking what to do. Tsuna bit his lip and looked around anxiously. The car screeched to a halt just in front of the barricade, and gently pushed the blockage back slightly.
"Hang on a minute," he murmured.
"Pardon?"
"Oh, nothing, I was just talking to my driver." Tsuna raised his left hand and made a gesture telling Dante to reverse. He examined the map.
"Oh? Are you heading to somewhere?"
"Not in particular. I was just driving around the city." He trailed a finger along another road and nodded to himself. He had Dante turn right, onto another street. They were lucky no cars were behind them.
It turned out that the road was a dirt path. Once they cleared the area, they would be back on the road.
"Mm. Iemitsu said he wanted to take me on a tour all over the world," Nana gushed out.
Tsuna smiled. "That's good. You two need to spend more time together. Iemitsu should be able to take a full year off, now that he's retired." Tsuna grinned at the word. Iemitsu hated it when people called him resigning from his post as retiring. Tsuna's grin turned into a frown as the rocks and pebbles made the drive harder for Dante. The teen hissed and swore.
"Was that Katsu?" Nana asked.
"Yeah, it's him."
He could hear his mother squealing. "Can I talk to him? It's been a while!"
Tsuna gave his son a quick glance before almost being jolted out of his seat in Dante's attempt to avoid a large tree.
"Um…he's quite busy at the moMEEENT!" Tsuna's calm voice rose slightly as he panicked, again. There was a gigantic tree right in front of them, between the two roads, marking the fork.
"LEFT!" Tsuna shouted. He mouthed, SLOW DOWN! Dante nodded vigorously but he showed no signs of doing so. Tsuna's side of the car was scraped by the tree as the car turned to take the left fork of the road.
"Dad!" He had the wild, nervous look in his eyes again. "There's a friggin chicken sitting on the middle of the road!"
"What?" Tsuna stared. "Honk at it then!"
"Chicken? Tsu-kun, why is there a chicken on the road?" Nana asked as she tried to make sense of the conversation.
"Uhh!" Tsuna said as he pressed a hand against the dashboard. Dante slapped his hand to the middle of the wheel and let out a loud honk. The chicken let out a flurry of clucks and ran off the road. The two occupants of the car sighed.
"Tsu-kun." He could practically feel her eyes narrowing from half way across the world.
Tsuna gulped when he heard the sharp voice. "Yes, kaa-san?"
"Is Katsu driving a car?"
"Uh…no…?" He said weakly.
"Tsu-kun," she warned.
A little lie wouldn't hurt, Tsuna thought. "No, he's not driving. Are you, dear Katsu?" Tsuna said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, no, absolutely not!" Dante cried out with almost too much enthusiasm as they ran over a ramp tilting upwards.
Tsuna swore and dropped the phone when the car flew in the air. He fumbled to pick it up as both he and Dante let out surprised shouts. The car landed on asphalt and stopped there.
A truck honked at them.
They turned their heads. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Reverse!" Tsuna ordered quickly. He shifted the gear when Dante fumbled. With inches to spare, they missed colliding with the truck.
"Hello, kaa-san?" Tsuna said.
"Tsuna."
"Oh! Bianchi. Hello, I didn't know you were there," Tsuna said in surprise after he caught his breath from the near-death experience.
"Mama's quite mad at the moment. I think she'll calm down soon though."
Tsuna could hear his mother muttering in the background, about her own sweet son teaching her grandson how to drive when he was just sixteen.
Tsuna blew out a breath of air. He looked around.
"Okay, Dante. Let's be really careful now. Turn right."
"Got it," Dante said firmly. That was one of the countless things Tsuna loved about Dante. He recovered from surprises quickly and usually managed to keep a cool head in all circumstances. The car jolted a few times as they continued.
"Oh, and tell Hayato I'll be back in Italy for a few weeks."
"Okay," Tsuna said.
"Ciao," Bianchi said and hung up before Tsuna could reply.
"It's pretty quiet around here," Dante said. Tsuna glanced at him and then at the road. He frowned as he looked at the headlights of the car in front of them…coming closer.
The realisation hit him dead on.
"Oh shoot! I'm on the wrong lane!" Dante yelped as Tsuna said, "You're on the wrong lane!"
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!
...
They rolled towards Vongola HQ two hours after Dante's driving practice. The car, surprisingly, was just slightly battered, thanks to Giannini putting thousands of layers of reinforcements on it. Dante stopped the car and pulled the handbrake for good measure. He even pulled out the keys.
Father and son sat in silence.
Tsuna's nerves were badly shaken up. He felt that they wouldn't have been this shaken even if all their enemies joined forces and attacked. Switching between relief and panic for two hours straight can't be considered healthy. He sincerely hoped Reborn wouldn't use it on him or his children.
"Well," Dante said after ten minutes.
"Yeah," Tsuna breathed out.
Someone with long, bleach-blond hair leaned into the driver side window. Dante's sixteen-year-old sister, Yuna, said, "Hey dad?"
Tsuna grunted.
"Can I have another go at it today?"
"Oh, hell no."
Yuna pouted. "Awe, come on! It wasn't that bad."
Dante snorted. "You destroyed the car on your first try. There was nothing left to salvage."
"It wasn't that bad," Yuna repeated, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "Just a few scratches here and there."
Tsuna decided not to comment on the understatement of the century.
o.O.o
THE END
Published 2013-09-20th
Edited 2013-09-25th (THANKS SO MUCH, Rekishichizu! :D)
Edited 2016-07-15th
-LLM