Kids Inc | Kiss Me: Prompt #4 - Celebration

[luxken27]

Title: Kiss Me
Fandom: Kids Incorporated
Universe: Canon (Season 3+)
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss…and sometimes it means so much more. Seven pivotal moments that defined Stacy’s life and shaped her perceptions of love. A Valentine’s Day ficlet serial.

Links: FF.net | DW | AO3

7snogs prompt table here.

The 7snogs challenge is this: you can interpret the prompts however you wish, but the story must contain a kiss in some way, shape, or form. My twist on this is that my main character - Stacy - would *not* be on the giving or receiving end for each of these kisses.

...okay, so it also wouldn't be one of my stories without at least one installment of adrenaline-coursing dramatic action, LOL. Of all the chapters, this was probably my favorite to write; I've had the idea simmering in the back of my mind ever since completing that writing exercise last September. When I was mulling over prompts and scenarios, I knew I wanted to find a way to expand upon this one:

#47 – Highway
He offered to teach her how to drive, expertly winding his way through their dense Brooklyn neighborhood to a quiet stretch of highway, but quickly realized his mistake when he found himself hanging onto the door handle for dear life as she careened, carefree, down the open road.

Doesn't that read like a story begging to be told? :P

So, in this ficlet, we jump to the next teenage rite of passage, especially back in the 80s and 90s ~ learning to drive a car. I still remember driver's ed, LOL, and it seems like most of the people I've talked to had similar experiences - their "teacher" being one of the coaches at school, driving to somewhat inappropriate places during 'practice' (my teacher/coach was having a house built in the next town over, so every day, we drove him over to his property to see how it was going; he even asked us to help him pick out a front door for his house!), and having at least one life-altering experience (my best friend nearly crashed the drivers' ed practice car). It was a riot, and a lot of fun, but I certainly learned more about driving from my parents than from school.

I learned how to drive on an automatic (and, in fact, that's what I still drive to this day), but since everyone *else* in my family drives a stick, I had to learn how to do that, too. I'm not exactly coordinated enough to drive a stickshift long distances (and I'm not brave enough to drive such a car in stop-and-go big city traffic), but in a pinch, I can do it. And, well, a lot of the way I was taught is what I transferred over to the fic - minus the flirtatious implications, of course :P Even the hand-over-the-gearshift thing comes from my own experience: when I was a little kid, my parents would let me shift the gears from the passenger's seat :)

I liked the idea of using the 'celebration' prompt for this ficlet, because I needed an excuse to work in the kiss - and let's face it, driving lessons aren't exactly scintillating. The idea of surviving a somewhat embarrassing "accident", however, can get the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing and suddenly make a few murky things seem crystal clear.

So Stacy has finally had her first kiss from the boy she's admired from afar - and she's only fifteen in this fic! =) Where do we go from here? Hmm, the possibilities seem endless... =)