The actual instruction parts are going to either be implied, vague as hell, or inaccurate BS because I cannot drive a modern-day stick shift (I can drive, but only an automatic), let alone an old-ass 1914 stick shift. And unlike Milo here, I do not have someone who can do it and is willing to teach me.
You got a fast car
And I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
************
Lyle Rourke took less time than even he thought he would to adjust to his new life. It had only been a few days since the disaster that nearly wiped out Atlantis. He could still see the fiery pits for eyes of the crystal demon-he could think of no better name for the creature-that had once been Helga Sinclair fixed solely on him, like some predatory beast going in for the final kill.
He quickly shook the image out of his head, not wanting to relive the horrors that had come after that. The feeling of too much blood running onto his arms as he held a dying man in them, quietly begging him to hold on.
He looked over to where that same man lay, still asleep, beside him now. A hand went to the softly glowing crystal pendant around his neck as he remembered how it ended, with the great crystal taking him into it, only to return him, fully healed, to Lyle's waiting arms.
"I love you, too, Lyle." He'd said.
And that was how Lyle Rourke and Milo Thatch ended up where they were now, waking up in their shared room in the 'lost' city of Atlantis. The great crystal, now hovering above the city again, had brought back some semblance of night and day (its light grew dimmer at night, though no one was sure if this corresponded to night and day on the surface, and the two former surface dwellers had lost track of that long before reaching Atlantis anyway). Like the great crystal above, their pendants also dimmed and brightened, and Rourke could see his getting brighter. He reached over and gently shook Milo, who groaned in response.
"mmmm...quit it, Fluffy." He said sleepily into his pillow, though it came out as 'Fwuffy'.
"Come on, Mi, time to get up." Rourke shook him again, "We still have cleanup to do. And...probably a bunch of other things." Milo gave a defeated sigh as he finally opened his eyes.
"Alright, alright, I'm up." He felt around until he found his glasses on a table beside the bed and put them on. Lyle waited patiently while he stretched and adjusted the glasses, then faced the larger man, who was giving him an amused smile.
"What?" Milo said, still half asleep, covers sliding off of his left shoulder to reveal the stylized Heart of Atlantis tattoo he'd recently gotten there. Lyle had the same one, but on his right shoulder.
"You. You're cute when you're half asleep."
"Am not." Milo, said, " 'm not 'cute'."
"You're right, you're awful and repulsive and hideous." Rourke said, laughing softly when Milo half heartedly swung a pillow at him.
"Shut up, you...you...I can't think of anything right now, but I will. And when I do...you're it."
"Whatever you say, Thatch." He smirked as he stood up, causing Milo to miss him with the pillow.
"Ass." Milo fake-glared as he too got up, and the two got dressed and straightened their hair out (after snickering at each other's bedheads)
"So, you mentioned cleanup. What do we have to clean up?" Milo asked as they left the palace. They definitely looked out of place, dressed like Atlanteans as they were, with Rourke in a darker blue than Milo. Their lighter skin, darker hair, and Milo's glasses made them easily recognizable, and people that were already up greeted them with waves and smiles, which they returned, Milo more than Rourke. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he also wasn't quite used to people being happy to see him either (a fact Milo seemed to be hellbent on changing, if the big dorky grin he got whenever he saw Lyle was any indication)
"Our stuff, unfortunately. The Atlanteans don't know what most of it is, but they saw Vinny, or 'bomb man', near it, so you can probably understand the hesitation." Milo snorted with laughter.
"Yeah, I don't blame them. I still remember the nitroglycerin thing. I thought that stuff tasted funny. Can't believe I got so scared by that"
"Milo, you had Sweet check you over at least six times a day. One of which was because you were sweating...In a warn cave...Wearing a sweater."
"...okay, maybe I did overreact a little." Rourke just laughed, putting an arm around the smaller man's shoulders as they came to where there had once been a rope bridge from Atlantis to the (now mostly dormant again) volcano where their expedition had entered the city the first time. It was obvious Helga had been planning to get as much as she could. Most of what they were dealing with was empty storage containers, a few supply crates to go through, and the two trucks she had left behind. As they approached them, Milo spoke to the Atlanteans who were watching the site, telling them the two were there to start going through things. The two Atlanteans were tasked with making sure people stayed out until the two surface men could take care of the stuff and make sure everything was safe. Milo and Rourke planned to keep anything useful they found, such as any medical supplies or possibly provisions. Guns immediately got chucked (more like 'haphazardly tossed' for Milo) over the cliff into the lava lake far below. Suddenly, as they worked, Lyle heard a familiar honking sound. He'd heard it once on the original expedition to Atlantis,, and had hidden his amusement. But this time, he let himself smile at it.
"Are you sure you're checked out on this class of vehicle?" He said, leaning on the side of the truck and grinning as he saw Milo jump in surprise.
"Very funny, Rourke." He was smiling, though. But then his face fell a bit and he sighed.
"But no. I can fly a Ketak and a Martag like I was born on one,, but I can't drive a truck...Guess...you'll be moving these..." Rourke didn't let him finish, climbing into the first truck...on the passenger side.
"Get in. I'll teach you."
"Wha-wait, are you serious? B-b-but...why?"
"Milo, you taught me to fly Atlantean vehicles-I know it was you who figured out how to start it, Kida already told me-, you taught me everything I know about Atlantis, and you're doing your damndest to teach me the language-I'm sorry that's not proving very easy-so let me do this for you."
Milo nodded as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"Well...o-okay, if you really think I-"
"I do. Okay, first thing, take a look at the pedals. Your clutch and brake are most important." He pointed everything out as Milo watched attentively. Rourke had him go through the controls andpress the pedals when instructed to. Then he let Milo start the truck.
The Atlanteans-Nakim and Toshem, if Rourke heard Milo correctly-looked up at the sound, startled, one reaching for his spear. Rourke waved them off, managing a very basic, somewhat broken, but still understandable version of 'Fine. No danger' in Atlantean. He gave Milo credit, the language was not easy at all. But he was trying. At least he could get messages across, even if he sounded like a toddler doing it. They got his point and relaxed again.
"Okay, now. You're in Park right now. To go anywhere, you gotta put it in-for right now we'll stick with First-gear. Don't worry about the R and N on the shifter, well get there later. Right now, I just want you to go forward, okay?"
"Okay." Milo said, a little nervous. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You can do it, Milo." Rourke gave him a reassuring smile, "Want me to help you do it the first time?"
"...Please?" Rourke nodded, placing his hand over Milo's, gently guiding him through the shift.
"Okay, now you're in gear. Take your foot and-gently, just like a Ketak-press it down until you start moving." Milo nodded and did so.
The truck was nowhere near as responsive or smooth as a Ketak, and it lurched forward suddenly, throwing both men forward and earning a yelp from Milo.
"It's okay, it's okay, you're doing good. That's normal. Happened to me all the time when I was learning." Rourke assured a scared-looking Milo as he caught his breath, "Just try again and be ready for that." He did, and this time he didn't jump off the gas when they lurched, though Rourke was certain he'd get whiplash from the stop-start way Milo was going. But he wasn't going to mention that to Milo. Not when he saw how pleased Milo looked that he was accomplishing what he'd been told to do.
There was a circular area nearby, from which roads continued to other parts of Atlantis. But for now, he just had Milo steer around the circle, using the brake to stop, then having Rourke help him put the truck back in Park.
"Not bad for your first time. Want me to turn it around and we can go again?"
"Yeah. But I'll shift it myself this time." Milo said, an adorable, excited grin on his face. He watched Rourke expertly back up and turn around and repark without a single lurch, and he hoped he could get to that point soon.
They didn't lurch around as hard the second time, but Rourke had bruises from smacking into the windshield. He had a feeling he was going to get very good very fast at healing himself with his crystal. But it was worth the pain seeing that grin on Milo's face and hearing him happily exclaim 'I'm doing it!'. Which, technically, he was, just not very well.
They continued for a few days, with Milo being the one excited to get up and go work on it some more. Thankfully the other truck had containers of fuel on it, fuel that was useless for anything else in Atlantis. And through a lot of instructions and encouragement (and bruises for Rourke from all the lurching-he was amazed he hadn't gotten carsick yet) Milo learned the other gears, backing, parking (the Atlanteans used things they wanted to get rid of to make a parking spot, quietly cheering when Milo backed into someone's unwanted giant vase and smashed it).
"You are teaching Milo to drive the surface vehicle." Kida said to him as he watched Milo trying to parallel park one time, "Why? Are our vehicles not better suited for travel around here?"
"No, they are, believe me. But...on the surface, where we come from...this is something most people learn to do. It's kind of special when you start learning to drive. It's part of...growing up, I guess you'd say. Usually, when you reach a certain age,, your parents teach you, but some people might have someone else teach them. Then you take a test to show what you've learned and that you can safely drive by yourself. If you pass it, you get a license, a document that says you passed and are allowed to drive-it's against the law to drive on public streets without a license, because it's not safe-and some people then go and get their own vehicle after they get their license. But Milo...he never got to learn. His parents died when he was very little, and to my knowledge his grandfather didn't drive. So he...kinda feels like he missed out on this special thing in life that everyone around him got to do."
"So you are giving him what you and the others had. You are giving him what he missed out on when you lived on the surface." Kida stated. Rourke nodded.
"Also...he got teased and humiliated for being the only one who couldn't do it on our way here. He won't say it, but I think that bothered him more than he lets on." She seemed to understand.
"You want to make him feel like he is just like others of his age in your world. That those who thought less of him because he couldn't do this were wrong."
"Yes." Rourke agreed, "But most of all...I'm doing it because it makes him happy. He was so excited when I offered to teach him and he's so excited to keep trying at it. I like seeing him that way. I know there's not much use for a car down here, or the ability to drive one, but...he's enjoying it, so why not let him be able to say he can do it."
"We do strange things for those we love," the queen said, "and often they are meaningless or even foolish to others. But perhaps that only makes them more special." From the cab of the now successfully parked truck, Milo's grinning face appeared.
"That," Rourke said, nodding at Milo's expression, "That right there is the biggest reason I'm doing it."
Once he'd gone through all the instructions, Rourke devised a road test for Milo. He used the same route throughout Atlantis that they had practiced (they ventured onto the other roads when Milo started going faster) and a few of the Atlanteans helped him set it up. Others gathered along the route to watch. Most weren't really sure exactly what was going on, only that it was an important day for Milo. A sort of ritual, rite of passage for surface dwellers. Unbeknownst to Milo, Rourke had even gone so far as to make up a stone 'license' to give Milo at the end, and Kida had the idea to make it into a small ceremony for him. Rourke had a small smile as he thought about it now, climbing into the truck beside Milo.
"Nervous?" He asked.
"A little." Milo admitted.
"Don't be. You're going to do great, Mi. I know you are." He gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.
"Okay, whenever you're ready, go ahead and start it."
Milo nodded and got That Look on his face. The same look he'd had when reading the Shepherd's Journal on the way to Atlantis. His focused, concentrated look. Rourke had borrowed one of Milo's many (still unused?) notebooks and written out a sort of scoresheet based on what he could remember his own test being like. He watched Milo take them out of park and start off along their route.
The ride wasn't as rough as when they first started, but Rourke still got plenty of bruises. Oh well, he would just impress Milo with how quickly he could heal them now at the end. He made marks on his sheet as they went, but kept it from Milo's view, telling places to turn, having him merge at one point (Nakim and Hoshem on Ketaks volunteered to be other 'cars' for Milo to merge into traffic)
Finally, they arrived at the end. Milo put it in park, then shut off the engine.
"Did I pass?" He asked eagerly.
"Yeah", said Rourke. "You passed. I knew you could." Milo had the biggest smile on his face...until he turned to face Rourke and screamed. The man looked like he'd been in a fight with how bruised his face was from the windshield and its frame.
"Oh my gosh, Lyle, I...oh, I'm sorry. I did that, didn't I. Ugh, stupid question, of course I did. I-" He was interrupted when Lyle pulled him closer and used part of his tunic to dry the tears forming in Milo's eyes.
"It's okay, Milo. Really."
"Why did you say I passed then? I couldn't have if I threw you around that much." He muttered sadly.
"Because you did, Milo. Sure, maybe it wasn't very smooth, but you did everything and you did it all correctly. That's the point. To show that you can do it all and do it correctly." His next response...To say Rourke was unprepared for it was an understatement.
"But...I wanted to be good at it," Milo said softly, looking up at Rourke with probably the biggest, saddest eyes the man had ever seen, "Like you are." Suddenly, Lyle felt his own eyes sting.
"Ohhh Milo..." Now he actually hugged him close and rubbed his back gently. "You will be, I promise you will be. Maybe you'll even be better. But that takes time, and a lot of practice."
"It does?" Milo sniffed, looking up from where he was held tight in Rourke's arms. The larger man nodded.
"I was about like you when I took my test...actually, I was worse. I didn't parallel park on my first try. But you did. I hit stuff when I backed up to turn around. You didn't. Believe me, Milo, you did wonderfully, and I'm so, so proud of you." He lovingly kissed Milo as he held him for a moment, feeling Milo return the embrace.
"Thanks, Lyle," he finally said. "Thank you for doing this for me."
"Hey, I love you, and when I saw how happy it made you when I offered to do this, I didn't really have much choice. I never minded getting thrown into the windshield when I looked over and saw that smile on your face. That's all the thanks I needed." Now Milo was smiling again. That was good.
"Well...can I give you a little more thanks and clean those bruises up for you?"
"If that's what you'd like, you go right ahead." He barely finished before Milo had his crystal in his hand, going all over Lyle's face with it, "And then I'd like you to drive me somewhere. We aren't quite done yet."
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder
And I, I, had a feeling that I belonged
I, I, had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
Crystal powered lamps and lanterns lined the road to the palace. At Rourke's instruction, Milo switched on the headlights of the truck as he drove them up the road, his smile back, Rourke's arm around him and a smile of his own on the former commander's face. As they got closer, people appeared along the road. More and more of them until they reached the square before the palace, where Queen Kida stood waiting.
"Jeez, it's like all of Atlantis is here." Milo said. Rourke only nodded as he told Milo where to stop and park. He took the keys as Milo got out.
Kida gave a brief speech, explaining to those gathered what was going on and why it was special. Rourke didn't understand most of it, as it was in Atlantean, and even if he could understand it, he was too busy mentally rehearsing what he was going to say. He'd been working on it ever since he started teaching Milo to drive. And so, when it was his turn, he spoke to Milo in somewhat slow and stunted, but grammatically correct Atlantean, even pronouncing words correctly.
"You've worked so hard and so much for this, and I have greatly enjoyed teaching you. And so I am honored to congratulate you on passing your test." In a more conversational tone, he added, "I know it isn't the same as one from our world, but I made this for you in honor of this occasion. You have earned it."
Milo was so stunned for a moment, he almost didn't notice the carved stone, with an image of his face, his name, and the words 'Atlantis Driver's License' in Atlantean on it (Lyle had gotten help with that part.)
"Lyle, you...you're speaking Atlantean! That was really good!" He then looked down and saw the item in his hand, and he smiled again as he threw his arms around the other man. And, also in Atlantean, Milo added "I couldn't have done it without you. I love you." He kept his words simple, and to words he knew he'd taught Lyle already.
"I have one last thing to give you." Yes, he really had rehearsed in Atlantean everything he wanted to say. He'd wanted to make the occasion special for Milo, and he couldn't think of a more appropriate way to do so. Beside, he needed to learn it anyway.
"Once someone passes this test, they usually receive a vehicle (there wasn't a word for 'car' specifically) of their own. And so, I am happy to say this one is yours now, Milo." He handed Milo the keys to the truck. Sure they couldn't go anywhere, but it was the meaning that was important. Milo had effectively earned his license and his first car.
"Besides," he added in English, "you'll need it if you want to drive like me someday." Milo just smiled and hugged him again.
"I love it, Lyle. And I will be."
"And don't worry about gas. I, uh, may have figured out with the other one how to start it with a crystal...Probably should've made sure it was in park before I tried it and almost hit one of those dog things that lives near the lava lake." Milo couldn't help a laugh at that mental image.
"Thanks again, Rourke. This means a lot to me."
"Not a problem. And now I can honestly say, you ARE checked out on this class of vehicle."
"Yep," Milo agreed blowing the horn once, "I can drive a truck."
I don't know if this is how driving and licensing and such worked at the time this movie takes place, but whatever, it works for the story and Disney gives historical accuracy in its films a giant middle finger anyway.
Part of Rourke's reasoning, namely Milo feeling left out as he's unable to drive, was inspired by my own experience as a visually impaired person who was not able to get a license until I was in my 20s because safe and legal accommodations for my disability didn't exist when I was 16.