#and some of their formulas were pretty fun to set up. always love the little glimpses of behind-the-scenes in special exceptions

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 10

"The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” by Death Cab for Cutie

[vanishingcherry]

MARRY ME?

pairing: charles leclerc x reader

warnings: alcohol consumption, mentions of jules bianchi and herve leclerc, google translated french, marriage and proposals (self explanatory)

summary: the 4 times charles has asked you to marry him and the one time you said yes

masterlist

๑ ⋆˚₊⋆────ʚ˚ɞ────⋆˚₊⋆ ๑

── 6 years old

Your parents had brought you to a wedding.

Your mother was the bride's closest friend, meaning you had the honour of being the flower girl. The ceremony itself was short and sweet, you watched the bride in awe, in love with her dress.

Not too long later, you were joined by a young boy your age. He was the ring bearer, also watching as the ceremony came to a close.

As the newly married couple walks out together, the boy turns to you.

"We should get married too" He suggests.

"What?" you ask, eyebrows furrowing in surprise. "I don't even know your name"

"C'est Charles. Et toi?" it's charles, and you?

"Y/N."

"Ok so now we can get married, yes? It will be fun."

"Je ne sais pas Charles, i dont know, I need to ask mummy first." You reply. On the outside you were trying to act as normal as possible, but on the inside, you kind of wanted it to happen.

To be fair, why wouldn't you want to wear a pretty dress and get some pretty flowers. You could picture it now, walking down the aisle with a bouquet in your hand and a sparkling dress with thousands of glittery sequins.

It was settled then. If she said yes, you would get married. It would be perfect. Grabbing Charles's hand, you scan the room for your mother, spotting her at the main table, awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom.

Running up to her, you tug at her dress with your hand, still holding Charles's in the other. She looks down.

"Mummy he asked me to marry him." You say in excitement, raising the hand that was entwined with Charles's.

Everyone at the table laughs at that, and you frown in response, not understanding what was wrong. Your mother, stifling a laugh herself, replies, "And what did you say?"

"That I had to ask you first. Is it okay if I marry him mummy?"

"Hmm are you sure you're not a little too young?"

"But i'm 6 years old. That is an entire hand plus 1". Adamant to get a pretty dress, you press on. Charles is still holding your hand, standing behind you patiently. He didn't want to say anything that would ruin his chances.

His mother had explained to him a few days ago why weddings happened. She had said that he would know when he met the person he wanted to marry, that she would be beautiful and kind and the best person in the world.

Pascale had explained to Charles that day that if he loved the girl, then everything would be alright, and they would be together forever. Upon meeting Y/N, he knew that she was his forever, it was just incredibly unfortunate that her mother seemed to think 6 was too young when it was obviously the perfect age.

You were still trying to convince your mother that it was perfect, everything was already set up and you were sure the bride wouldn't mind if you got married too.

"How about this", she suggests, "what if you and Charles get married when you are 25?"

"25!" You're shocked, 25 seemed so far away.

"I think 25 is the perfect age, yes? Both of you will be old enough then."

Knowing it was the best deal you would get, you agreed. Leading Charles away, you told him what your mother and you had compromised on. He seemed slightly disappointed at the news, but figured it would be okay, it was only 19 years after all.

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise."

Unbeknownst to you, your mothers were exchanging numbers at the table, knowing it would be impossible to keep you two apart after today.

── 17 years old

Charles had gotten into Formula 1.

Not too long after winning the F2 Championship, Charles had started getting calls. He was almost always on the phone with his manager, before finally announcing that he signed with Sauber. Years of hard work and months of negotiation had paid off.

That was an interesting day. Both your families were sitting together in the Leclerc's living room. You were sitting between Charles and Arthur, playing games on the TV. After boasting about winning agains the two of them in Mario Cart, you slumped against the sofa, not wanting to play anymore.

Before the two brothers started the new game, Charles got up and stood in the middle of the room, calling for everyone's attention.

"As you all know, we've been trying to figure out a deal for Formula 1", he started, referring to himself and his manager. "And I'm going to be joining Sauber next year!"

Shouts of excitement were all that could be heard for the next few minutes, everyone overjoyed for the young boy who had spent his entire life working towards this very goal.

You were the first to get up and hug him, squealing in delight at the news. Your arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, everyone else in the family forming a big group hug around the two of you.

That was months ago. Now, the two of you stood in his room, 2 weeks before the start of the new season. Charles had to go to the airport early next morning, joining the team for a few days in the simulator. However, as normal, he had left packing till the very last minute.

He'd called you over a few hours ago, freaking out over what to pack and what to leave behind. You went over, entering his room to see clothes scattered everywhere. Rolling your eyes, you start directing him, telling him to clean up while you sort through the piles to figure out what he needs.

Over an hour later, the two of you fall on the bed, tired after having run all over the house to find everything Charles needed. Everything was done, packed up in the suitcase that would accompany him around the world.

Too late to sleep, the two of you opted to stay in his room and talk, whiling away the few hours before he had to head to the airport.

"My god Y/N, marry me will you?"

Blushing in response, you turn to face him. "What?"

Oblivious as he was, Charles had absolutely no idea of your growing crush on him. It had been going on for years, but you never said anything to him, too scared to ruin your friendship.

You were already the subject of teasing from both Lorenzo and Arthur, who had been blackmailed into not telling Charles. Pascale and your own parents hadn't yet commented on the relationship, choosing to let young love play out.

Charles had no idea, none at all. Never had he made any move that suggested he knew or felt the same way. Hence, a proposal was definitely not what you expected when you walking into his house earlier in the day.

"I don't know what I would do without you Y/N. Honestly Fred would've killed me if I showed up with only half the things I needed."

You let out a small chuckle. "We are a bit too young to get married, no?"

He turns back to face the ceiling. "I guess so."

2 hours later, you found yourself waving him off as he entered the terminal, heading to the Sauber headquarters for a week before pre-season testing, your heart still beating faster any time you thought of the conversation that had taken place.

── 20 years old

Charles was drunk.

It was a night out in Monaco. Most of the drivers could be found in the club, packed together, dancing and drinking following the grand prix earlier in the day.

Charles hadn't finished in a good position, meaning he was more than eager to drink the night away. You, tired after a day at the paddock, decided to go home instead.

From the moment he got the first drink down, all he could talk about was you. He would go around to all the drivers, asking them if they had seen how pretty you looked earlier today, or telling them a story about something you did as a child.

"Have I told you about the time we were matching on halloween?"

"Y/N got in so much trouble in school that day."

"She was so excited when she got to meet her favourite singer today!"

He was smitten, all of them knew it, and so they sat there and listened with smirks on their faces. Finally, tired of all the whining, Pierre dropped off Charles at your apartment.

Waking up to a phone call and multiple knocks on your door, you walked into your living room, quickly opening the door to see a grinning Pierre at your door, Charles leaning against him.

"He was being annoying, you can keep him", the frenchman says, tilting his head in Charles direction. "He's drunk."

"I can see that", you mutter, still slightly annoyed at the fact that you were woken up in the middle of the night, but grateful that Charles hadn't ended up walking the streets of Monaco alone.

The drunk man stumbled into your arms, waiting patiently for you to finish thanking Pierre who swiftly headed back to the club.

So, at around 1 in the morning, you found yourself awake and half carrying Charles to the sofa. He fell against it, leaning back and closing his eyes as you went to get a glass of water.

You see his face light up when you enter the room. Leaving the glass on the table for him to drink, you go get some pillows from your room.

Coming back, you see that he had already finished his water, and was looking at you intently.

"Tu es si belle. Have I ever told you that?" you are so beautiful

"Oui, et tu est tout aussi beau" yes, and you are just as handsome

Your crush still existed, perhaps even more so than before. It was impossible to deny the fact that he had only grown more attractive in the last few years. However, knowing it was just his drunk self talking, you chose the ignore the butterflies in your stomach.

He doesn't reply, watching as you set everything up comfortably before lying back. Just as you're about to leave to switch off the light, he grabs your hand, forcing you to turn around.

"Marry me Y/N."

The surprise on your face was as clear as day, but Charles's drunk self seemed to see right past it. He kept his eyes on your own, waiting for a response.

"How about you take me out on a date first?" you laugh in response, fluffing up the pillow and placing a blanket on his body. He falls asleep within seconds, and you sport a small smile as you watched him, before making your way to the comfort of your own bed.

The next day, you woke up to breakfast in bed. A stack of pancakes accompanied by grinning Charles and a note that read "Will you go out with me?"

Regardless to say, the date went amazing. It was simple, just the two of you hanging out in your favourite places in Monaco, drinking coffee and making jokes.

It was only a month later when Charles officially asked you to be his girlfriend during a movie night at home, to which you promptly replied a yes. And just another month after that when you heard him whisper a small "je t'aime" as you drifted off to sleep in a hotel room.

── 24 years old

Ferrari had finally made a good car.

It was the final race of the season and the battle raged on between Charles and Max. Both had an equal chance of winning the championship, Charles only 2 points behind Max in the leaderboard. Whoever won this race would win it all.

You were sitting in the garage, gaze not shifting from the screen in front of you. You watched the two drivers continuously switch positions, going from P1 to P2 and vice versa.

Max having lead for the last few laps, you stood up in joy when Charles overtook him at the end of the penultimate lap. Just 1 more lap. Charles was one lap away from being the World Champion.

You watched as Max's rear tire locked up in the second sector, increasing the gap to 2 seconds. The joy in your heart was bubbling up as Charles got closer and closer to the finish line. Joining the rest of the engineers, you leaned over the railings, watching as he crossed the finish line.

Immediately you ran to the pit wall, grabbing a pair of headphones.

"Amour you did it! World Champion!" You couldn't contain your delight, tears of joy falling as you go around hugging everyone in sight.

"Oh my god. We did it! We did it!" You heard his voice come through. "Thank you to everyone oh my god. I cannot believe it. I love you." Your grin becomes even wider at the last line directed towards you.

"Je t'aime Charles. Oh my god you did it."

Shouts of "yes" and "oh my god" were all that could be heard for the next few seconds. You stood there and listened, knowing just how much Charles deserved it. He had worked every day, either by himself in the gym or with the engineers, figuring out strategies for the next race. He deserved this more than anyone else.

Leaving the headphones near one of the many computers, you run to where the rest of the engineers were gathering. The red car parks at P1, and you look on in unfiltered glee as Charles jumps out, raising his hands in celebration.

He runs over to you, grabbing your face before pulling you in for a kiss. Knowing that there were people watching you, he keeps its short, but its passionate nonetheless.

When he pulls away, you see the shine in his eyes, helmet still on as everyone working at Ferrari rushes over to pat him on the back or give a hug.

Arthur, Lorenzo and his mother are there as well. The former having come P3 in his race earlier in the day, and the latter two having made the trip from Monaco to watch the climatic ending to the season.

You stand to the side with them when Charles heads to the cooldown room, talking to Pascale.

"Herve serait fiere, si fiere" herve would be proud, so proud.

"Et Jules aussi", you add. and jules too "He won it for them."

She smiled. Not too long after, an engineer walked over to you, directing you to the stage. He claimed that Charles wanted you to watch from closer.

5 minutes later, standing off to the side, you look on as he is handed the championship trophy. Cheering alongside everyone else, the delight is evident on your face as he raises it above his head.

The celebrations start. You watch as the engineers filter in, each holding their own bottle of champagne. Catching your eyes, Charles walks over, pulls you up on the podium with him, immediately drenching you in champagne. The celebrations continue as more and more people join.

He hugs you tight, blocking your line of sight. The noise is overwhelming, but in that moment, it's just the two of you. You hug him back, whispering in his ear, unaware of everyone else leaving the podium. I love you, I am so proud of you.

When it's just the two of you left, Charles pulls back. You look around in surprise, turning back to Charles to tell him to get off the podium, gasping when you realise what he was doing.

He was down on one knee, looking at you as though you had hung the stars in the sky. In his hand was a small box that held the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. The diamond in the center shone under the bright lights, but nothing could distract you from Charles.

"Veux-tu m'epouser, mon amour?" will you marry me, my love

You nod almost immediately, tears still falling as your hands cover your mouth in shock. Yes, yes, yes. You get down to Charles's level, hugging him tighter than ever before. You hear him chuckle in your ear, kissing your neck as he too feels a few tears fall out.

You aren't sure how long the two of you stay that way, finding comfort in each others embrace, but you are startled when you hear the roar of the crowd. Leaning back, you can't help but laugh when you see all the drivers and thousands of fans clapping and celebrating your engagement.

Arthur is standing next to Pierre, the both of them hooting and cheering, knowing just how much behind-the-scenes encouragement it took for Charles to agree to proposing.

Looking back at Charles, you find him already looking at you. Giving him a kiss, you let him put the ring on your finger, cheek's hurting from how much you had smiled in the last hour.

It slips on with ease, and the diamonds seem to sparkle even more under the bright lights.

"Only took 4 times for you to say yes, eh?"

[hockeyandhrsepwr]

Montreal

Je t'aime series

F1 driver reader x hockey player bf

When the Montreal GP & Eastern Conference finals fall on the same weekend, certain worlds collide….

The insta edit

Notes: Takes place in 2024 so everyone is a year older - reader is an 01 baby so 23 & all the hockey guys are playing for their respective NHL teams. (For plot purposes, Montreal is the second last race before the summer break - still takes place in mid-June though) Danny, Mick & Seb are still on the grid because I say so & I’m trying not to have a breakdown over Seb being gone gone. 

For Formula 1 driver y/n l/n, this weekend marks her return home as we head to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. We sat down with the championship leader to talk about what that means for her.

Thanks so much for talking to us today Y/n. How excited are you to be back home in Montreal? 

I’m pretty pumped. It’s always nice to be back and have so much of my family be able to come. The track is always a special one to race on & I’ve had a few good races here before, so hopefully this weekend will add to that. The little break after means I can spend a few days here before heading into Silverstone so that’s nice. 

Any exciting plans for those few days?

Definitely catch a hockey game! It’s hard to watch games live with the travelling & living in Monaco, so while I’m here I’m definitely going to get to the Bell Centre. It worked out really well that the Habs are playing on Sunday night & it’s such an exciting game, with it being Game 7 in the conference finals. Montreal fans are absolutely incredible so hopefully the boys can bring this one home! The city’s going to be pretty wild on Sunday, and hopefully I can add to the excitement with a win here too!

I never would have known there was a game this weekend. It’s not like there’s stuff all over the city. Hopefully they can win it at home! Actually, speaking of hockey, your dad played, correct?

Yeah, so he played pro in the US and then Switzerland and Germany. So, I spent about 8 years over there before moving back here permanently, and then when I was about 14, moved back over for racing. but Montreal is definitely home. 

Did you ever consider hockey or were you always set on the formula, single seater series? And how did you settle on motorsport?

So, I played hockey growing up but once I hit 12ish I had to choose since both were getting more competitive and there wasn’t enough time. I would’ve loved to go pro in either, but F1 is where my heart is. I still play whenever I can though. Lance & I like to try finding rinks when we travel and have a little battle. I’m currently 4 wins up, just fyi. Or whenever I visit my best friend, we go out & have some fun, even though that’s not often. I’m not beating him unfortunately but it’s pretty hard to beat a pro when he’s working on his skills constantly and I’m playing maybe 20 times a year. As kids though I could whoop him. The decision for karting/single seater over hockey was hard, but I’d been hooked since I sat in my first kart. I think part of it was being able to travel all over racing & just experience so many cool things. And with Formula 1, there’s 20 spots, right? So, if you make it as a driver, you’re one of the top in the world. With hockey there are so many incredible female players already, and as we know not many in motorsport. I wanted to be able to inspire young girls in sports as well. I think I made the right decision for me. 

 My dad was a big F1 fan, so I’d been watching races basically since birth. We were living in Germany during the Schumacher era, so everyone was really into it and that definitely helped ha-ha. It’s kind of crazy that I ended up going through all the feeder series with Mick in the end & we obviously became good friends when his dad was one of the main reasons I started racing. And having him show up to watch races was insane! But yeah, once I sat in my first kart I was hooked! If three year old me who had that Schumacher Ferrari merch could see me now ha-ha. 

Ah the Schumacher era, that’s how so many people got interested. And your best friend is a hockey player? I don’t know if that’s ever come up, so can I ask about that? 

Ah so actually, our dads played together in Switzerland & bonded over being from Montreal, so once my parents moved to Germany, about two years after I was born, they still visited each other. The two of us spent a lot of time together as kids during those visits, especially playing hockey. We moved back a few years before his family, but they were always around in the summer & we stayed pretty close. We’re apart a lot but were both living our dreams so its pretty special when we can get together. he’s one of my favourite people so shoutout to Thomas. You’ll probably see him in the paddock this weekend since he’s around here somewhere. 

That’s such a great story! What team does he play for, and for anyone who’s maybe looking at which team to support, who would you recommend?

So he plays for San Jose, the Sharks, but I’m a Canadiens girl all the way. You can’t grow up in Montreal and not get support them. We’re having a great season, so fingers crossed for Sunday! But I do support the Sharks, definitely my favourite Western team, no bias here ha-ha. I’ve met a lot of great guys through Thom too who play, so I do try and keep up with their teams, but Habs all the way baby!

Alright, there you have it folks. Y/N thanks for sitting down with us, good luck this weekend! I’m sure we’ll see you soon!

You shake Natalie’s hand & thank her for having you. Exiting the media pen, you start making your way back towards the Ferrari garage, waving at Lewis when an arm’s thrown around you shoulder.

“Ready for Sunday’s game?” Lance says, “Time to kick some Devil ass and then get the cup.” 

“Yeah, I just have a race to win first” you stick your tongue out at him as he punches you in the arm. 

“Your boy toy coming today?” You roll your eyes “yes he has a pass, so he’ll be around somewhere. There’s a bunch of them coming. Not sure when though…”

“YO MCQUEEN!” you hear from down the lane. “There it is” you shrug off Lance & speed up as Thomas comes running at you. Damn he’s quick. You meet in the middle and grab him in a hug. “tu m’as manque” (I’ve missed you) he whispers in your ear, squeezing the life out of you. It’s been a while since you’ve seen each other, mid-January at least. When you were still on break and made it to a game of his where you hung out for a week before heading back across to Italy for training. You talk almost every day though

“Missed you too Bords. It’s been too long. Congrats on your run though. You guys played really well.” It sucked that the Sharks got knocked out in round 2, but they had a good team. Next year they’ll have it. His phone starts ringing and he pulls it out.

“Ah shit, the idiots are lost.’ He rolls his eyes as you laugh.

“They’re at the Ferrari garage. We should probably go before they end up breaking stuff” We start off towards Ferrari, when Lance catches up to us. “Hey man, how’s it going?” The two have met before, when you were all kids in Montreal. They catch up as you walk over, when you notice a bit of a crowd. You nudge Thomas

“Those yours?” and point towards the commotion. You get there & see a few familiar faces. You run over to give Thomas’s sister a hug before turning to the hockey players gathered. You count five, but there may be more floating around. Thomas had 10 passes altogether. 

“Sup boys” you give Brendan, Matty & Owen a hug, then do your handshake with Truss. You visited Michigan a few times when Bordy was there, so you got close with his roommates & friends. You managed to stay pretty off the radar since F1 isn’t as popular in the US, so you got some of that college experience that you missed out on. Plus, he’s brought you to the Hughes Lake house a couple of times so you got to know a bunch of the other idiots there. 

“Y/n you traitor!” Lance calls from somewhere behind me. “What did I do?” You yell in indignation as someone spins you around to see Jack Hughes making his way towards you. “Ah Fuck off Lance, we all know he has no chance!” Cheers from people around tells you that there’s quite a few Canadiens fans in the paddock right now.

“Hell yeah they don’t” You see Cole behind him along with Luke Hughes & Phil. 

“Is this everyone?” They nod “okay, come with me. Lance, I’ll see you later.” You lead the crew of hockey players into the Ferrari garage, taking them up to the hospitality area. “As nice as it is to see you all, why are all of you here?”

“Osheaga (Music festival – it usually happens in August but for the plot it’s happening in June) was last weekend, so we all just stayed, especially once Bordy told us he could get tickets. And we’re going to the game on Sunday” Briss pipes up. 

“Yeah, I know nothing about F1 But it looks pretty cool so I’m excited” Luke says. You gasp, the blasphemy.

“How much time have we spent together Hughesy, and you still know nothing? I’m wounded” Dramatically you hold your hand to your chest. Your phone starts going off, your timer that your trainer set going off as Charles approaches you. He beckons you since he has the same reminder.

“Alright boys, I’ll see you later, but I’ve got practice. Ask any of the lovely workers here if you need a hand with anything. Peace out” You walk off with Charles, making your way further into the motorhome. Once you get to your driver room you start your usual routine. About 20 minutes in, as soft knock on the door interrupts you “babe? You free?” 

You open the door & pull your boyfriend in. ‘“God, I missed you.” You press your lips to his, savouring the kiss. “ the minute I can I’m taking you out properly. I don’t care where, but we’re going out. Hopefully with something to celebrate” You wrap your arms around him and nod “sounds good. When are you leaving?” “Monday early afternoon” he pouts and he’s so cute you just have to kiss him again.

“Two more weeks then I’m all yours for the summer.”

“Deal. Now get back to it.” He slaps your ass and you continue your usual routine with the occasional commentary from him. He slips out a few minutes before you leave, heading down to the garage for practice. 

Two successful practice sessions later, you’re done for the day. You’re chatting with Charles when Thom finds you. You introduce him around since he hasn’t met many of the boys, just Lance & Mick. The other hockey boys have left but you make your way back to the hotel. As much as you’d love to stay at home, it’s a little further out so you stay at the hotel with the rest of the crew. Once you enter, you spot a crowd exiting the restaurant. Ah, apparently the Devils are staying here.

You whistle, “damn, who let some losers in?” As others laugh. Jack flips you off, but someone else comes running over

“y/n/n!!” Nico hugs you. You knew each other as kids, his dad being involved for the team yours had played for. Whenever your family would visit the Bordeleau’s, you’d see him. You & T would bug him lots since there weren’t many kids to hang around with. “Can you introduce me to Sebastian Vettel?” He whispers in your ear. “Get out of here” you push him away. 

The rest of the team us standing there, mouths open. “Sup McQueen” Luke waves. You’re going to kill Thomas for that nickname, but you wave back before dragging Thomas towards the elevator. You’ve got catching up to do & he knows that tomorrow you’ll be in race mode & not want any distractions.

“Where are the rest of the boys staying?” You ask him. Obviously, Jack & Luke with the team here, but he tells you that the rest of them managed to get 2 rooms in this hotel, so they’re close by. “My parents offered to let us stay with them, but we’ve been pretty rowdy so I thought this would be better.” 

A few hours later you need to get ready & go to bed so you’re in top form for quali tomorrow, so Thomas heads to the room he’s sharing, wishing you luck beforehand. He knows that tomorrow you won’t want to see anyone until after qualifiers. You’re almost done your routine when Ring. A soft smile takes over you face. He always calls before he goes to bed, just to say good night. You do same & most of the time you miss each other so you have lots of cute voicemails saved on your phone. 

“Hey superstar. This whole being in the same time zone thing makes it a little bit easier hey?” He chuckles “yeah babe, it definitely does. Hang on” you hear some shuffling on his end and then a door open. “Roommates kick you out?” you laugh as he huffs, “I don’t want to disturb them so I’m going to the conference room so I can facetime. How are you feeling for tomorrow?” The request pops up & you see him sitting in one of the rooms. 

“Pretty confident. It’s a good car & it’s nice that everyone was able to come so I’d love to get a win for them. Think you’ll be able to sneak out tomorrow night?”

“Are you sure? I know how much you need your routine. I don’t want to mess anything up for you.”

“No, I want cuddles” you pout “and you know I sleep better when I’m next to you” you can hear the smile in his voice as he says “I’ll see what I can do. Now you’ve gotta go to bed so you can kick butt tomorrow. I love you & I’ll be watching.” He blows a kiss. “Love you too. Tomorrow night, okay?”

“Yep, I’m all yours. Ill text you before you go out tomorrow since I know I’m not going to see you. But you’re gonna kill it.” You lay down on the bed and just look at him.

“God you’re cute. I still can’t believe you’re mine.” He blushes, like he always does when you complement him.

“You better believe it. nearly four years in and I’m never letting you go.” Damn it now you’re blushing. “Okay Casanova, I really should go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you” you blow a kiss & hang up because you know from experience that you’ll just go back and forth for the next hour otherwise. 

Saturday

You wake up fired up & ready to go. Moving quickly, you and Charles meet up & drive to the circuit. There’s a lot more people here today which you love. You go through practice & then it’s time for qualifiers. Q1 & 2 go smoothly, with you landing in the top five, but you want that pole position. It’s so much sweeter especially with this being your home race. As Q3 gets underway, that’s what you’re aiming for. Unfortunately, it’s only P2, but at least its only Charles in front. You know you can get ahead of him with the right strategy.

Meeting up with Thom & the crew at the hotel, you grab a quick dinner in the restaurant. You stop by the front desk & grab an extra key, slipping it onto your boyfriend’s pocket when you’re giving all the guys hugs. After about an hour you have to excuse yourself for a team meeting, and 2 hours later you finally make it back to your room.

You’ve just closed the door & are turning around when “BOO!” & you jump a foot in the air. 

“Putain! Jesus Christ you fucker.” Your heart is racing a million miles as you take in the sight before you. Jack has half his body still in the bathroom but has fully on the floor, just about crying from laughter. “That’s not why I gave you the key, connard.” You say as you help him up. “I ha-ha couldn’t ha help myself.” He dissolves into another fit of giggles. You move towards the bed as he comes up behind you. Arms around your waist as he buries his head in your neck. 

“This is harder than I thought” “I know, let’s just get through this weekend. A couple weeks then well be back at the lake with everyone who knows & we can do this every night.” He places a kiss at the junction of your neck.

“Promise?” you turn your head and give him a kiss. “Promise. Well talk about next season too. I’m sick of not seeing you for months.” He nods.

“you’re coming to the game tomorrow, right?” “Do you even have to ask?”

“Okay smartass, but will you root for me?” He sounds a bit sad as I turn in his arms. “I want you to win, I really do.”

“Oh yeah, not your precious Habs?”

“Wow. The sarcasm is strong with this one. I want both of you to win, but since that’s not possible, I’d say I have a slight interest in Jersey winning the cup.” “Only slight, eh?” he tickles my sides.

“I know how hard you’ve worked so yeah. As much as it pains me to say, and if you tell anyone else, I’ll kill you, but I do hope you win. If only so we both get one this weekend.” 

You kiss him again before pulling him into the bathroom & running the bath. It’s your regular night before race routine, made much sweeter by him being there. “I don’t know if I ever told you, but Thomas was my favourite person that summer.” He mumbles into your hair as you sit in the tub. 

“The one we met?” “Yeah, when he brought you to the lake house for a few weeks.”

Now your confused. You tilt your head back & raise an eyebrow “when you barely said four sentences to me?” he grins sheepishly.

“I was intimidated. You were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen & you drove fast cars for a living. It took me a whole year to gain the confidence to ask you out the next summer. And then you didn’t even show up with him! I was this close to asking for your number when you turned up a week later.”

“Aw, well I’m glad you manned up.” He sticks his tongue out. “I can’t believe that was five years ago. We were babies”

“Yep and now you’re stuck with me.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way”. 

(They meet when they’re 18, but he doesn’t ask her out till 19 & now they’re 23) 

You both get out & go about your night routine with some additional commentary from Jack. When you finally settle into bed, he wraps his arms around you from behind, pulling you to his chest.

“je t’aime” He whispers and a smile creeps onto your face like it does every time he uses his limited French. “je t’aime aussi.” You whisper back as you snuggle back into him.  

Sunday Morning. 

You wake to a kiss pressed on your cheek. “I’ve got to get back to my room before the team meeting. I won’t see you before the game but go kick some ass. I love you & we’ll be celebrating tonight” Jack whispers in your ear before pressing a kiss to your lips and leaving. About a half hour later your alarm goes off & you start your pre-race routine.  Thomas stops by to wish you luck before you head to the track with Charles & your trainer. Ten minutes before you need to head to the garage your phone pings. It’s a picture of Jack & Luke with the caption ‘good luck!!!’ 

You smile before heading out to get into your gear. Soon it’s time to line up on the grid & you hop in. 

You settle in, ready to go as the countdown starts & the lights go. 

“It’s lights out & away we go here in beautiful Montreal!”

59 laps in you sneak past Charles, an early stop strategy paying off in your favour as ten laps later you take the win. After pulling your car in behind the first-place stand, you jump out & soak in the noise. Cheers from fans and your team ring out, as you spot one person in particular.

Hopping off the car, you run over to the barriers and grab Thomas in a hug. It’s the first F1 race you’ve won with him there, so you know he’s excited. After letting him go you hug your engineers & team before being pulled into a quick interview with Natalie. 

“Y/n, that was a beauty of a win, how are you feeling? What’s it like to win it at home?”

“Oh my god, amazing! Winning any day is an incredible feeling but to do it here, in front of my city, friends & family is so much sweeter!” 

“Anything to say to the fans here today? Or for anyone watching?”

“Mom, I did it!! You told me I’d win here one day & here we are. To my team at Ferrari, Merci! Superstar, merci d’etre ici ce weekend. Votre soutien signifie la monde et je t’aime. Montreal, ca c’est pour vous, et ALLEZ LES CANADIENS!” 

Cheers go up from all around as you just take it in. 

After the podium ceremony, you make your way back to the hotel to change since you’re soaked in champagne. Opening the door to you room, you spot a box at the end of the bed & a bouquet of lilies on the bedside table. You smile as you make your way over & see a note on the box 

Knew you could do it babe! Here’s a little something that I hope you wear tonight. See you on the ice ;)  xxx J

“I swear, if he put a Devils jersey in here..” you trail off as you see just that, but also a gorgeous lingerie set in the same bright red underneath. “that cheeky shit”, there’s a pair of new red converse in there too.

Putting the set on, you take a picture before finishing getting dressed & send it off to Jack, making a face. ‘Good Luck babe'. Then you finish getting ready & head down. 

You meet the boys in the lobby & make your way to the Bell Centre. Outside, you meet your mum, who’s brought you one of your old Canadiens jerseys since you didn’t have one on you. You pull it on over the hoodie & make you way in. Someone on the marketing team meets you inside. After your interview aired yesterday when you mentioned going to the game, they contacted your team to ask if you’d like to do the ceremonial puck drop, which duh you would. You split up with the rest of them and follow the guy. You’ll meet up with Bordy & his sister at your seats, but you won’t see the rest of the guys until later. You wait, chatting to various workers as warmups happen and finally its time for you to go out.

Making your way to the tunnel, you hear PK, who’s on the ice

“We have a special guest for you all tonight! She’s back in town, she goes fast and she won today, it’s your favourite race car driver Y/N L/N!!! 

You walk out on the carpet, waving at the crowd. “Well y/n, were glad to have you here to get us going here at the Bell Centre. But first, we have a little present for you. Your very own Canadiens jersey!” He holds up a jersey with my last name & racing number on the back.

“Oh my god that’s so cool. Suck it Lance, you’re not so special anymore!” you know he’s laughing from wherever he is in the arena. You take it & the puck he’s holding out. 

“Let’s get the captains please.” Pk says as Nico & Nick skate towards you and get in position for the photo.

“Nick, kick their ass.” You say to the Canadiens captain before posing and then walking off the ice. Someone shows you to your seat, where you find Thomas & Jade. The energy in the arena is absolutely electric as the anthem singing comes to an end and the crowd cheers. Thomas passes you a beer, as someone taps you on the shoulder. 

“Sorry, but would I be able to get a picture?” a young girl sitting behind you. You oblige & tell her you’ll get a better one during the intermission before sitting back down as the game starts. 

The Canadiens take an early lead with a beauty of a goal scored halfway through the period. The games intense with lots of back and forth between the goals. The Devils manage to knock one in with just a minute to go and then its intermission. You send Thomas off for snacks while you take a few photos & sign some stuff and before you know it it’s time for period two. No one scores for a while, but there’s quite a few penalties being called as the game gets a little rougher.

The second period ends still tied 1 all. You & Thomas chat about summer while you wait for the third. You’re planning on going to the lake house and you know he’ll be there at some point, but he’s staying here in Montreal for a bit first. You grab a couple more beers before the buzzer sounds and were off for the final period. Canadiens score a minute in, then Jersey gets one.

Back and forth again, shot after shot on each net with no more success. The whole crowds on their feet, cheering & screaming for Montreal as the minutes count down.

“Mon dieux its going to be OT” you whisper as the final minute hits. The crowds are practically silent as the seconds tick. Ten seconds left and all of a sudden Jack gets the puck, making a breakaway to the Canadiens net.

Go, Go, Go!!! you’re screaming internally as the defense rush after him, but not fast enough. He shoots and it flies past the goalie’s shoulder. The crowd explodes with boos & angry yells, but you’re smiling.

Thomas nudges you “he’ll be happy about that"

“Yeah, he will” you say back, a soft smile on your face as the final buzzer sounds and the Devils all celebrate on the ice. The fans are none too happy but there’s nothing you can do. You take out your phone & text jack.

That was amazing superstar!! I’m so so proud of you. I’m going out with the boys, but I’ll see you later<3 text me whenever you guys are done if I’m not back. 

“let’s get out of here” you turn to Thomas, knowing that Jack’ll be caught up for a few hours with team celebrations & media stuff. “Mick texted a while ago, a couple of them are downtown so let’s go celebrate your win” he says.

A pit stop back at the hotel to drop off jerseys & make sure you have all the boys then you’re making your way downtown to one of your favourite clubs. The drinks are flowing, drivers & hockey players are all around and lots of dancing means that a few hours pass in the blink of an eye.

About 3 hours in, you check your phone and see a message from Jack.

Got about 20 minutes left then I’m heading back. I’ll be in your room. See you in a bit xx

Looking around, you spot Thomas & Charles and make your way towards them. They’re chattering in French, but you butt in.

“Hey boys, I’m heading out in 10” Turns out most people are pretty done for the night, & you end up having a big group heading back. You all grab a couple of cabs back, and as you make your way through the lobby, you spot a piano in the corner.

“Ooh!!” say, making your way over to it & sitting down. “Is it okay if I play?” you ask one of the workers who nods. The boys follow you and stand next to the piano, staring at you. Except for Thomas. He knows that you can’t play for shit, all those lessons you took as a child being absolutely useless, so he’s laughing.

You crack your fingers and start playing la vie en rose absolutely terribly. The boys laugh as you stand up & bow. “Merci, merci! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a sexy man waiting for me” you wink before heading to the elevator & making your way to the room. He’s not there you, so you get undressed so he can see the gift he left for you. 

The door opens a few minutes later. “Hey champ” you drawl as he comes into view.

��oh, fuck me” “I plan to” you respond jokingly. He pulls off his shoes & shirt before jumping into the bed next to you. 

“You did it,” the smile on his face is absolutely massive “I did it. We’re going to the finals. Holy fuck” 

The two of you lay there, lazily making out & cuddling until you fall asleep, too worn out for more. The next morning brings sad goodbyes with promises of more in a few weeks time. 

F1 GOSSIP

Alright folks, we all know that Y/n L/n has been romantically linked to former F2 teammate Mick, who she sort of grew up with, and Charles Leclerc, her current teammate, for a while now. The Mick theory is more likely, as we’ve seen. I’ll show the evidence that has been collected here. But this weekend, a new player entered. Thomas Bordeleau, another childhood friend of Y/n & a pro hockey player, was in and around the paddock. Now we didn’t really know about this connection until an interview that y/n herself did on Friday, where she called him ‘one of her favourite people’. Apparently, we weren’t looking hard enough. Obviously, we had to do some digging, and the team here are starting to think that he may be the real deal when it comes to y/n’s heart. Let’s break it down.

Childhood friends – we found some photos from y/n’s early karting days, both in Europe and Canada. Know who makes an appearance in a few of them? Thomas. Now there aren’t too many pictures of them as teenagers, as it appears he lived in the US & obviously y/n had moved back to Europe for racing. However, we were able to find this picture, of Y/n at a hockey game with one of his jerseys on. 

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Thomas attended the University of Michigan and based on a video out of the paddock Friday, y/n knows a few of his college teammates. So, we did some more digging and found that y/n visited Michigan no less than six times over the 2 years he was there. And if that’s not convincing, take a look at these photos we dug up. Tell me that the way the two of them are looking at each other doesn’t scream in love (Photos of the two at various different parties looking cozy). Flirty comments left on posts, photos from friends that show the two cuddling or laying on top of each other, years of appearances in the back of each other’s photos, and a few references to a boyfriend in y/ns comments by close friends. All of these point towards the two of them being together, but the most damming evidence came out of Montreal. Lance Stroll was overheard asking y/n about her ‘boy toy coming’ mere seconds before Bordeleau made his appearance.

On Sunday, Y/n fought her way to a first place, and once she exited the car ran over to him at the barriers, practically flinging herself at him for a hug. Not two minutes later, when talking to a reporter she was saying thank you to the fans, and let this slip in French “superstar, thanks for being here this weekend. It means the world to me & I love you so much.” Now who speaks French & was there this weekend? Her best friend.

But that’s not all!! They made their way to the Montreal Canadiens game on Sunday night, where they lost in the final seconds. Several other players who appear to be friends of Bordeleaus & some of the guys who were playing in the game attended, however they watched from one of the boxes. y/n and Thomas, on the other hand, were smack dab in the centre of the action, accompanied only by his sister. Photos from the official sports accounts & fans were all over social media showing the two very close, joking around & cheering passionately for their home team. They were then seen out partying in the city with some of the other drivers and hockey players. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m pretty convinced. This isn’t what we were expecting, but it actually seems the most plausible. What are your thoughts?

 

Xx

[ladyvictory22]

Fall into Temptation (V: Renaissance)

"In the garden of storms, the roots of redemption intertwine, blooming with the promise of a rebirth after the tempest."

Endings are not always happy; sometimes, they need work, many things need fixing. It took Christian a while to understand, but he realized that after the hurricane, after being distant from Toto and coming back together, they had to work to stay united.

Initially, the atmosphere felt tense for them. It wasn't about winning a battle; they didn't feel like their love had won because the remorse was still there.

That was something they had to improve. Despite the Grand Prix events flowing smoothly, they still had the habit of meeting in secret, as if someone would discover them. And they did have to hide because everything that happened hadn't come to light.

To make things flow organically in public, their separations would occur with a time differential of months or even a year. Toto would announce his public divorce first, due to Susie's commitments in Formula One and because she would be reconnecting with her ex-husband, revealing the lack of affection.

However, before all this happened, everyone was taking some time to process everything and leave behind the remorse and regret, just to get up and move on.

Since Toto suggested that he could stay at Christian's house, it was a pretty appropriate idea. Christian liked to wake up feeling an arm around his waist, feeling Toto's breath on his neck.

There were times when he woke up with kisses that Toto left on his neck, which then turned into kisses on the lips. And if they were in the mood, which was almost always the case, it ended up becoming a panting and heated mess.

So, in a way, while everything is settling into a new order, they are living their own honeymoon.

Sometimes Christian feels that things may be moving too fast or that they have become quite accustomed to being domestic. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that in the Grand Prix events, they stay together.

Although it's a bit different now, Christian has taught Toto how to feed his animals, with some grace, as Christian never imagined Toto Wolff with animals around him, yet there he is, helping.

One thing Christian truly confirmed is that his partner is really afraid of cats. Toto can approach any of Christian's pets except his cats.

So, Christian had set himself the task of making Toto overcome his fear of cats, so he came up with a plan.

They hadn't talked to Geri about the distribution of their pets, at least the ones at home. They had two dogs and two cats, so they had some idea of how it would be.

Venus is usually a calm cat that sometimes needs brushing, so Christian thought Toto could help with that.

"Is this a joke?" The Austrian said, watching Christian pet Venus.

It's not that Toto runs away when he sees a cat, but he keeps them at a safe distance.

"Come on... Venus is affectionate and sweet, she won't harm you," said Christian, pushing the brush toward Toto.

Toto gave a look, resembling a terrified and angry child at the same time.

"Don't look at me like that," said Christian, holding back laughter.

"Like what?" Toto said.

"Like a forced child," Christian smiled.

"I feel like one," murmured Toto.

Then Christian gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"If you don't try, that fear will never go away," he said.

Toto sighed in defeat, took the brush, and started brushing gently. The cat started purring, stretching because she liked it. Maybe for a moment, he felt the cat would pounce on him, but fortunately, it didn't happen.

"Have you never tried touching a kitty before?" Christian asked, watching the scene.

"Honestly, no. I used to be the type to say 'No means no,' and that's it. No one used to contradict me," he replied.

"Well, what a coincidence... I'm someone who contradicts you," Christian said, stroking Toto's arm.

They both smiled, and a little kiss.

The next days were fun for Christian, as Venus approached Toto, and he could see how gradually the fear or apprehension disappeared. Soon, Toto had Venus sleeping in his lap.

"It seems like you guys have become friends," Christian said. "Now you're going to have to get used to cat hair on your clothes, love."

Toto huffed in response with a half-smile.

~~~~~

It's not that they always spent time together, most of the time they did, but they also needed to dedicate time to their children. Explaining why they were no longer with their mothers, though it was something they would understand as they grew older.

Bluebell was probably the most complicated for Christian. Maybe Geri had never mentioned anything about it, but he felt very guilty. When they talked after Geri left home with the children, Christian became too emotional. All he said to his daughter was, "Forgive me," and she kindly just hugged him and said everything was fine, even though she ignored what had really happened.

With Olivia and Monty, it's different. They are kids, there's a different way to explain, but they are quite mature, and they don't get upset about it. When they are, they say it.

With Toto, it's different. His older children understand the situation a bit better. They looked down on Susie, but they didn't want to pry, especially out of respect for their father and stepmother, so they waited for the news to come.

But Jack was very different. He used to ask a lot, and sometimes Toto really didn't know how to answer. And on those days when he couldn't answer so many questions, Toto would just gently hug Jack, telling him that he would always be there for him.

~~~~~

They didn't bring their children together quickly; they waited for some time. First, they had to get to know them, so everything was slow and turned into a personalized introduction for each child.

Christian doesn't know if he's really paying some kind of karma with Olivia, since his little one not only looks exactly like him but also tends to... play pranks like him. She usually responds to jokes with other words. She's a very clever girl.

So one day, she managed to make her father nervous and embarrassed. That day, she got to know Toto more personally, having already seen him in the paddock when Christian took her to the races.

But she hadn't seen him in the way she sees him now. Toto gave her a gift, a lamp that, when lit, reflected stars and also rotated.

There, the little one noticed something, how her dad looked at Toto and how he smiled when Toto gave him his gift. Maybe in the past, she had seen that look between Geri and her dad, and her dad also looked at Geri with affection.

But she understood that they were no longer together, and now her dad had fallen in love with someone else. Little Olivia, who watched movies about princesses and fairy tales, for some reason compared Christian's gaze to that of a princess.

So, while they were eating after playing, and she saw her dad talking to Toto, the girl spoke up.

"You two look like a princess and a prince," said Olivia.

"Sorry?" said Christian, smiling with curiosity. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you remind me of Cinderella and the prince at the ball. You look at each other just like they did," the girl said, taking a bite of her dessert.

Toto smiled upon hearing that; he found it sweet. But when he looked at Christian, he saw the man so embarrassed, Toto held back his laughter.

"What things you say, Olivia," said Christian, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Shortly after, the girl would approach Toto stealthily.

"Can I ask you something, Toto?" said Olivia.

"Yes, tell me?" Toto smiled kindly.

"If you marry my dad, can you dance with him to the Cinderella and prince song?" the little one asked.

Toto smiled.

"Do you want me to marry your dad?" Toto said, surprised.

"Well, that's what couples do, right?" the girl said. "But it doesn't matter if it's not at a wedding, I just want to see you two dance to that song."

"I promise it will be at a wedding then," Toto smiled.

And maybe it won't be a wedding any time soon; that's something they would have to talk about in the future. For now, they had many things to resolve.

~~~~

On the other hand, it was Christian's turn with Jack; they went for a walk together. Christian realized that the boy would be a great pilot from the way he talked about cars and his interest in MotoGP.

Certainly, it was evident that he was the child of two sports enthusiasts. The little one resembled both parents; sometimes, it was as if you saw Susie, and other times, it was as if you saw Toto. The sweet side that Christian knew of Toto still came out when Jack was around; sometimes, it seemed like he wanted to protect him from everything, which Christian found endearing.

There was a moment while Toto went to buy some snacks for them that the boy approached Christian to speak directly.

He had asked many questions throughout the outing, if he had children, what his name was, what his dad was like at work.

But there was something Jack had to ask Christian, and he found the moment.

"Can I ask you something, Christian?" the little one said.

"Of course," said Christian, smiling kindly.

"Can you promise me that you will take care of my dad?" the boy said, taking Christian's hands.

A gesture very similar to Toto's, which made Christian smile with tenderness.

"Yes, I promise I will take care of your dad," he said, gently caressing the small hand on his.

"And me too?" the boy smiled.

"Yes, Jack, you too," he smiled.

The little one then gave him a hug.

"What are you two talking about?" Toto asked as he approached.

"Secret things," Jack said. "You can't know.""

~~~~~

It turns out that children can see beyond in someone's gaze; in their innocence, they say things just as they think them. Both Christian and Toto felt fortunate to have the children they had.

Both thought that this stage would be difficult, but it wasn't. It was just them with their thoughts. And in a way, it was normal, considering everything that had happened.

~~~~~

So gradually, they could bring their families together. They often went out with Monty and Jack, and it turns out that both kids got along very well. Sometimes there were outings to the beach, walks, and during one of these outings, Jack called Christian "Dad Chris" for the first time.

~~~~

Amidst the idyll of bringing their families together, or at least getting to know each other, the shift from their bittersweet ending to their happy ending, the moments when they were romantic with each other couldn't be lacking—sometimes with the help of their own children.

Christian remembers the time he arrived at his office in Milton Keynes and found a bouquet of red roses with a small note:

"You are the sweet illusion I dreamed of."

Immediately, Christian knew it was probably Olivia's idea, although he was surprised to hear that it wasn't.

He didn't go home that day; there were days when they took turns and stayed at Toto's apartment.

When Toto opened the door, Christian showered him with many kisses.

"Mmm...hello," Toto said amidst the kisses.

"Hello to you too," Christian smiled.

"Someone liked their roses," he grinned.

"I loved; I love you," said Christian. "I guess that phrase came from Olivia."

Toto smiled.

"You'll be surprised to know it wasn't from her," Toto said. "Apparently, Jack and Monty were discussing what phrase someone might say to you someday, and they decided this phrase would be good." Then Toto took Christian by the hips. "And I couldn't agree more."

Christian smiled with tenderness. "Wow, kids... well, they're right."

"At this rate, they're going to want to plan a lot of things," Toto said.

"I believe you."

They both laughed and then joined their lips in a sweet kiss.

Slowly, it led them to the bed; Christian sighed as he felt Toto's kisses on his neck, leaving small licks and bites as the clothes gradually came off.

On some occasions, everything started more relaxed, with slower caresses, feeling the warmth of each other's bodies, kisses becoming slower, feeling more.

Toto slowly moved down, leaving kisses all over the abdomen, until reaching Christian's pelvis. Then he would open the younger man's legs, kissing his thighs gently, causing Christian to moan satisfied.

Gradually, everything began to heat up, and when Toto entered Christian and moved just touching the younger man's sweet spot, he elicited sweet moans that were like music to his ears.

Christian then started with his usual marks, which Toto longed for him to do. Although something had changed, and it was that now Toto could mark him, he could do whatever he wanted.

And so he did, when they were reaching the climax, Toto bit Christian's collarbone, making him moan from overstimulation and climax again. Toto smiled at the fact and kissed a dazed but ecstatic Christian.

~~~~

The connection between them had only grown; it took them a while to get used to the idea that now they could be more freely intimate.

But the change in their lives was helping them stay in sync.

Although, while the part with the children was a challenge with a certain degree of difficulty, there were other challenges where everything increased.

The news of their divorces.

When Toto and Susie's separation was announced, there were more than a few media outlets in the middle of a Grand Prix talking about the couple's breakup, seeking statements.

That didn't bother Christian much, considering there would always be some journalist of that kind.

What he didn't like, and he doesn't know why really, was those media outlets already pairing Toto with either a businesswoman, a pilot, or a model, creating stories where their hosts introduced him to these girls. God, Christian couldn't help but feel angry and more possessive.

Sometimes these behaviors were reflected when he was with Toto. He would get angry, not want to talk too much, not understand why he was upset with Toto when he knew the reality of things.

But the mental image of seeing his partner talking to women who think he's single bothered him. What bothered him more was knowing they might be right to approach; Toto is a handsome man and always attracts attention...

So, it was one of those days when Christian was upset just because of these things, and he couldn't get it out of his head. For some reason, he responded in a very rude manner to Toto.

But Toto remembered that they had talked about this in the past, about communicating, so he was going to figure this out.

"Let's talk about what's bothering you, or you'll keep being rude," Toto said straightforwardly.

"I'm not upset," said Christian, checking his papers.

"Yes, you are. I want to know why," the older man responded.

"It's something... absurd," Christian didn't look at him, especially out of embarrassment.

"So absurd that it makes you bother and be rude... to me?" Toto said.

Christian sighed.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Toto said, taking Christian's hands while kneeling in front of him.

"It's just that... sometimes certain news can be annoying," Christian said, looking away.

"What news?" Toto asked.

"The ones that say you're with models or very beautiful women..." Christian lowered his gaze and sighed. "And then, you know, I compare myself and wonder what people would think if they knew..."

"I would let them know that I'm with such a handsome man..." Toto interrupted.

Christian looked at him.

Toto then leaned up, starting to kiss his neck. "I would let them know how much I enjoy getting moans out of you," he said, kissing and biting. Christian shivered. "I would let them know how sexy you are, what they don't realize."

Toto stayed close to his lips. "I would let them know how much I love you."

Christian smiled and let himself be kissed; he had forgotten this part, forgotten how much talking works.

And with Toto, he had started working on that, conveying what he wasn't saying, thinking before speaking. He no longer said as many hurtful things, unless he was in Team Principal mode.

Since "No Relationship," he had tried to work on his words. So, being rude to Toto was no longer about saying hurtful things; it was behaving distant and swallowing any insult.

~~~~~

On one occasion, they decided it was time to gather the family. Christian's divorce announcement hadn't been made yet, as they were waiting for some time. Not because they thought there would be something between Christian and Toto or a connection between the divorces, but rather to avoid being the subject of gossip.

It had been almost a year, and the four of them hadn't gathered, not like this. Toto spoke with Susie about things related to Jack, and Christian talked to Geri about things concerning their children.

But the four of them in the same place was a different situation. It's worth noting that Christian felt uncomfortable about showing any affection toward Toto. They didn't usually do it much in front of the kids, as they gave hugs or held hands. But with Susie and Geri present, they were more distant, and it was like a silent agreement between the two. But love simply can't be hidden.

~~~~~

In the months that Susie gave herself to recover and cope with everything, she focused on her work, on loving herself, on not thinking about anything other than Jack and herself.

And in that time, she learned many things. One day, to fight her own demons, she dared to look at photos of Toto and Christian from long before everything happened. It felt quite strange to look at the pictures now, knowing what blossomed between them—the smiles, the looks, always with affection and warmth, yet they never dared to get closer... perhaps destiny wanted it to happen later in their lives.

So, in that gathering where the kids were present and they were interacting as a family, she saw both of them talking while taking care of Jack and Monty. She saw the sparkle in both of their eyes, maybe they weren't being very affectionate with touch, but sometimes it's not necessary; just a look is enough.

So after a while, Christian approached with Jack, who ran to the kitchen because Geri had prepared some snacks.

Cautiously, Christian sat in a chair next to Susie. They hadn't spoken since the last incident.

"So, the kids have adjusted well," Susie mentioned, breaking the silence. "Jack speaks very highly of you."

"Oh... well, we've tried to connect individually with each of them..." Christian said somewhat timidly.

"Thank you... for including my son," she mentioned.

"Thank you for allowing him to connect with me... I thought..." Christian began.

"It's okay. I wasn't going to convey any of that to him. I admit that I acted out of a lot of pain... but maybe sometimes these are things that have to happen..." Susie said, watching Toto talk to Monty. "Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you two had been involved earlier?"

"I... I... maybe..." Christian stammered.

Susie then looked at him. "Imagine if Toto had been a shareholder at Red Bull Racing... who would be your husband now."

Christian couldn't help but blush because, indeed, he had fantasized about that.

"He was close to being part of Toro Rosso," Christian mentioned. "So, we could have met earlier... but destiny didn't want it to be natural."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"That Toto's and my relationship wasn't... you know, natural, but both with partners..." he mentioned.

Susie sighed.

"Hey... even if the circumstances weren't the most normal, love, love was natural," she said, and after a pause, she continued, "Because even though you're not making physical contact now, you can see how you long for each other with a look."

"I just wanted to apologize for causing pain, even though I know it won't be easy for you to forgive me," Christian said.

"Honestly, maybe it will be difficult, but for the sake of the new family forming, it's better for us to get along in peace... you also forgive me for treating you poorly," she smiled gently.

Susie now felt more prepared to face things after months of resting, giving herself time. Even using her maiden name felt strange but not unpleasant.

Perhaps life doesn't prepare you for breakups, but you must learn from them to cope with other aspects of life. She hadn't said anything, but looking at her ex-husband and his partner, it wouldn't surprise her if there was a wedding in a few months or a year.

After all, sometimes loving is also letting go, and it had been hard for her to understand.

~~~~~

Geri also had a conversation with Toto. She had been an observer for longer than Susie. She had even detected the affection between them when they claimed not to be friends; it was a complete lie.

When Christian made those controversial statements about his relationship with Toto, Geri had to endure how grumpy her ex-husband became because now he didn't have his friend in the paddock.

Yes, she endured it for almost two years, of him talking about how Toto wouldn't even let him speak, and they only greeted each other when the cameras were in front of them.

It seemed that the time they got stuck in the elevator was the trigger for a reconciliation and for something more to emerge between them.

Geri wondered many times what kind of lesson life was giving with this, but maybe it was something she would discover with time.

Toto entered the kitchen to give Olivia a soda, who quickly joined the other kids.

"The kids get along very well with Jack," she said.

"Yes, their siblings are older, and having kids their age seems to have delighted them," Toto replied.

"Now they are brothers," Geri said with a sweet smile.

"Yes," Toto said, returning a smile.

"Olivia insists she wants to see you dance with Christian," Geri said. "Have you thought about..."

She fell silent, but Toto understood the message...

"Yes," he said. "Although I don't know if it will be the right time."

"Look, things happened, yes, but it's been almost a year, and I have some time before announcing my divorce... you have time to plan this," Geri took a sip of her juice.

Toto chuckled softly.

"I didn't think you would support this idea... or any idea about us..." 

"Well, it's just something I thought should happen," Geri mentioned. "Have you never looked at your photos with him? The way you looked at him?"

"I... I think I looked at him as a friend," Toto said.

"Maybe... at that moment... but it was the omen of what was to come after," she said, smiling. "Sometimes we just shouldn't seek answers."

"I guess you're right..." he said.

"So I hope the news of your engagement comes soon," she said with a smile and then walked away to join the kids.

~~~~~

For many things to happen, they had to talk to trusted people for support, so as they approached their biological children... there were other "children" to approach... their drivers.

~~~~~

The first to find out was Lewis. Toto asked to talk to him privately, sounding so serious that for a moment, Lewis was afraid it might be some kind of reprimand. But he was surprised by the topic of conversation. Toto expressed how much he cherished their long years of knowing each other.

He said he wanted to talk about this because, in a way, it had to do with his work. When he mentioned that he was dating someone and with whom, Lewis was left dumbfounded.

"But tell me something, don't just stare at me," Toto said, seeming nervous.

"Well... I'm surprised," Lewis said. "Really, after things with the rivalry, it's weird... to imagine you two together... but nothing is impossible."

Lewis smiled.

"Does it bother you?" Toto asked.

"Why would it bother me? We have to separate the track from work," Lewis said. "Your personal life is very different... and here the heart decides... I hope you are very happy, Toto."

"Thank you, Lewis," Toto said with a soft smile.

From then on, Lewis became somewhat more amicable with Christian, unless there was controversy in the press. They knew not to take it seriously because the show must go on, although they almost didn't do it as they used to.

~~~~~

Max was another topic of conversation. Christian had to explain to him that he had been separated from Geri for a long time, and then he told him about his new partner, for which he needed reinforcements. So he called Checo.

The behavior of both drivers changed with Toto. Not so much with Checo; he always treated Toto the same way. It was Max who acted like a little boy when he spoke to Toto after the news.

"Hello, Max," Toto said, finding Max in the paddock.

"Hi... sir... I mean Toto... um... how are you?" Max felt like a fool... should he treat Toto normally, right?

"Fine... how about you?" 

"Also fine," Max said.

"That's good... well, good luck in the race, although I don't think you need it," Toto said with a smile, and before starting to walk away...

"Toto, wait..." Max said, and Toto turned. "I just hope that Christian and you are happy..." he said in a low voice.

Toto smiled and nodded. "Thank you," he murmured.

~~~~~

So everything seemed to be taking shape, and both were happy with that. An advantage of having discussed this with their drivers and trusted personnel was that they could move around in both team motorhomes, just to talk or spend time together. This was part of no longer hiding and now being more authentic.

When they spent time with their older children, it was a different atmosphere. Their older daughters had become very good friends.

Rosa mentioned that one of the two was the temptation of the other because both are from rival teams.

So they were arguing about who was the angel and who was the demon.

"You once said that Mercedes was heaven and that Red Bull was something like hell," Toto said, looking at the TV.

Both were lounging on the couch, while their daughters had snacks on the table and were also watching TV.

"Yes, I said that, although it could be different," Christian said.

"Then you're Beelzebub," said Toto.

"And what about you, the Archangel Gabriel?" Christian mentioned.

"They could be another type of angel and demon," Blue said.

"Who?" Christian asked.

The two girls looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"We're not going to tell you," Blue said.

"Although we'll just say that sometimes Christian looks like that angel, and dad looks like that demon, and sometimes they switch roles," Rosa said.

It seemed that both girls had managed to compare their parents to characters from books or television.

As part of a separation agreement, Christian knew that he couldn't stay all the time in the house where he mostly shared with Toto.

Of course, not all of Toto's things were there, so before making another move, they had decided to find a new home.

A home where there would also be space for the older children and the younger ones.

They had found a quite beautiful, spacious, and private villa, a place where they could walk together without the need to go out.

They planned to move until the next winter, just after the announcement of Geri and Christian was made.

The kids loved it; they had been given a playroom, and the karting places were nearby to take them for practice.

They also decided that there should be some moment in which they would tell their colleagues.

Not everyone, of course. Now both were the oldest Team Principals, and if they spoke of a real friendship, the only one left was Fred.

So one day, they scheduled a meeting in the paddock, gathered in the Mercedes hospitality. They chatted and joked as they always had over the years.

But before they found the right moment to tell him, Fred spoke.

"So, are you guys finally going to confirm that your relationship has changed?"

Both froze, and Fred laughed.

"Come on, guys, I've known you for years, and I really don't think it's a coincidence that both of you are getting divorced almost at the same time."

"Well, yes, we were planning to tell you..." Christian said with a smile.

"The question is, how did you come to that deduction?" Toto asked.

"Well... unlike the public, I am close to you... I know that your looks have changed... before, you looked at each other with affection, but today... there is a lot of longing in your gazes."

For both of them, the support was crucial. They didn't have to delve into how their story influenced them, they didn't have to know. They just had to understand that they loved each other now.

There were some people Christian had been hesitant to approach his parents. He was afraid of what they would say, fearing their disappointment after two failed marriages, wondering what they would tell him.

When Christian was in front of his parents, especially his mother, he turned into a child again.

But there he was at his parents' house, sitting with his mother for tea. His father had gone out and would be back soon. So, he was nervous.

His mother asked about the divorce, obviously, and he spoke about it only superficially. Then came the part where he had to mention Toto.

Although his plan was to speak fluently, he was being curt. Then his mother asked, "Are you with someone now?"

Christian nodded and felt like a child.

"And? Is that why you're being shy?" She said, stroking his cheek.

Christian sighed, "It's just that I don't know what your reaction will be," he mumbled.

When he told her who he was dating and, fearing her reaction, his mother only asked one thing.

"Does he love you?"

"Yes, I'm sure he does," he responded immediately.

"That's enough for me, then," she said. "Christian, dear, you're an adult now; you shouldn't fear the decisions you make. I appreciate you coming to tell me. I hope you find happiness."

Soon after, they planned how to tell his father; generations are different, and thoughts vary.

His mother liked Toto; she whispered praises to Christian about his good taste, making him blush. She said his boyfriend is a gentleman and loves him a lot.

---

When they told Toto's mother, it was different. Christian accompanied him to Vienna. Christian got to know Austria beyond just Red Bull, learning a bit more about its customs and the places where Toto spent his youth.

Toto's family gave him a warm welcome, and they talked about things Toto did when he was a child sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing, making Toto blush. Spending their days in Austria that way connected them even more. Not that they weren't recognized; more than one person would. Still, they felt somewhat free.

Talking to Toto's mother was quite sweet; she wished them happiness and asked them to take care of their children.

Then they had a symbolic moment, going to the cemetery. Toto left flowers for his father, and Christian did too. He made sure to tell him that his son had taken good care of his family and that he is a great man.

---

So, this time, the garden was slowly blooming after the storm; everything seemed to be adjusting to a certain order.

For now, they didn't need anyone to know about them; they just needed to understand each other, to comprehend and love each other.

---

Christian opened his eyes slowly, and as usual, Toto was hugging him. Still drowsy, he smiled faintly; they were in their new home now.

In their now-home, they had decorated everything in both their styles. It turns out both loved the classic, though in different aspects Toto, more modern classic, and Christian, classic but rustic. Their home was a perfect blend of their tastes.

It's worth noting that their kids loved their rooms; they had thought about everyone's preferences and designed rooms that could be remodeled over time as some of them grew.

It was summer now, and they decided to spend it at home before going on any trips. Almost two months had passed since they started this new chapter, and everything felt quite settled, as if everything was in its place.

---

A few days ago, one evening, Toto invited Christian to watch the sunset. On the vast grounds, a beautiful green view spread out, with a fairly orange sun. Toto had prepared some small snacks with wine. So, they were nestled, back to chest, when Toto asked:

"Have you ever thought this way?" he said, hiding his face in Christian's neck.

"I really started fantasizing after the first almost-kiss," Christian was honest about it.

He could feel Toto's smile.

"You know... we still owe Olivia a waltz," Toto said.

"Right... Do you already have a plan for when?" Christian asked. Toto had been mentioning it lately, and Olivia wanted a specific song for them to dance to.

"Yes, but I need to know if you like how I want to dance it," Toto said.

"And how is that?" Christian asked.

Then Toto rummaged in the pockets of the jacket he was wearing, then embraced Christian again, clasped their hands together, and placed a small box in his hands.

And Christian's heart raced... because he already knew what it was. When he opened the box, two beautiful silver rings with stones were shining.

"I wanted to know if you want to dance that waltz... but let it be at our wedding... will you marry me?"

And Christian turned to him with a smile, sealing it with a kiss, "Yes, I do."

Smiling at the memory, his ring sparkled in the morning light; then he felt sweet kisses on his cheek and neck.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning," Toto responded. "How is my fiancé?"

"Good... if I'm by your side, I'm always good."

---

It turns out that happy endings can exist when everything feels bittersweet, but you have to work for it to happen, overcome challenges. Leave the fear behind—the fear of facing situations, people... and as Toto once mentioned to Christian, he would look forward even though the past would hurt for a while. They could march forward.

There was a moment when so much calm made Christian feel quite dazed; he thought something different would happen at any moment... but no, turns out that amid the storm, the light returned.

So, in the Garden of Eden, spring arrived, and it came to stay for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~

Helloooooo

Well and we come to the end of this adventure

Today there was a lot of sweetness❤️

[lackablazeical]

Addams! AU Snippet 6: 'Freakshow'

FULL CREDIT TO WRITER NewFallenLeaves ON A03!!!!!! SHE MAKES KILLER ANGST AND FLUFF ALIKE, CHECK OUT ALL HER WORKS!!!! NOW!!!!! IF YOU LOVE OR CARE ABOUT ANYTHING, DO IT. NOW. BEFORE I GET U /J

As usual, art to add on! It was a 1 layer challenge I gave up on partway thru, mostly just cus I wanted to be done with it, lol! Greyscale is always so fun, tho!

Full snippet below the cut! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

---

“Hold still, you little scumsucker.” As the burly human patted Mikey down, he came up quickly with two small daggers tucked into Mikey’s belt, as well as the ones hidden in the holster at the small of his back. “Shit, kid, how many more knives have you got, huh? Cough ‘em up.”

“Well,” said Mikey, “There’s the whole family with Mr. Stabby, and Miss Gashy, and the Puncture Brothers, and Auntie Slicer, and–”

The pile of small blades was already over half-a-dozen strong, and the man still managed to find three more.

“Oh, no!” Mikey wailed as the last one hit the table. He twisted against the tight ropes that bound his wrists behind his back, “You’re going to take all of them?”

“We know who sent you, we’re not taking any chances.” Finally satisfied, the man hauled Mikey none-too-gently by the elbow and dragged him out of the covered wooden cart that served as the freak show’s ‘office.’

The small encampment was reminiscent of a traveling gypsy convoy, with colorfully painted covered wagons. Some were cages for “FEARSOME GRUESOME MUST-SEE MUTANTS” with bold-lettered signs and warnings to stay back. Others were smaller, with striped awnings and shelves of cheap merchandise or galleries of rigged carnival games, with “STEP RIGHT UP AND TAKE A CHANCE” invitations for any fool willing to throw away hard-earned coin.

The heavy-set human dragged Mikey toward one of the larger cage carts. “Gonna put you someplace where you’re too worried about stayin’ alive to think about running off or causin’ trouble.”

He stopped in front of the enclosure. It looked as sparse and uncomfortable as any of the other terrible accommodations in the traveling freakshow. Unadorned iron bars, no straw or hay strewn for the mutant held within. The guard shoved Mikey through and slammed the cell door behind him.

Mikey tumbled onto the grated metal floor, lying prone while he waited for the man’s footsteps to fade. As soon as everything was silent, he flipped upright. From the corner of the cage came a low, throaty growling, and the occupant of the cell rose to his feet.

Even hunched, the alligator mutant was massive. Four times Mikey’s size. Larger than Raph, even, and little else save teeth and muscle.

“Don’t be…alarmed.” Every word the alligator spoke was slow and deliberate. “I…won’t harm you.”

“I know!” said Mikey. “I made Donnie do research on everything before I came.”

“You…know?”

“Woulda been pretty stupid for me to run in here without knowing everything about this lame-o sideshow. Besides, getting details is easy. It was supposed to add to Mama’s Spectacle Spectacular, after all. She bought it. And it woulda been such a cool thing, too! Everybody loves her circus, she has all the nicest hotel rooms for her performers, and you get to eat at the buffet, and the bar is open all night, and–”

“You…don’t seem…concerned,” said the alligator. “Were you…not poached…like the rest of us?”

“Ha! Nobody could poach me if they tried. Know how much Donnie has to add to his tranq formula to knock me out? Betcha don’t, because it’s a lot. I have resistance.” With a quick roll of his hips and shoulders, Mikey twisted his bound hands from behind his back and hopped over them like a backward jump rope. “Boy, am I glad they put me in here, you’re my first choice, anyway.”

“For…what?”

“For helping, of course! These humans turned out to be a bunch of dirty, no-good, double-crosser, deal-breaker cheaters, and they took Mama’s money and tried to cut and run. So now Mama wants me to burn the whole thing to the ground! Isn’t that great?! Anyway, are you good with pulverizing all the stuff? Because Raph didn’t wanna come, he was busy watching the Mrs. Cuddles’ Puppets-in-Peril Halloween Specials marathon. So if you could go ahead and do all the smashing, that would be awesome.”

“…smashing?”

Instead of replying, Mikey stuck out his tongue as he reached for a spot on the back of his neck, just below the rim of his shell. He withdrew a short, narrow length of sharpened metal, and proceeded to cut through the ropes.

“You managed…to sneak in a weapon,” the alligator marveled.

“Pffft,” said Mikey. “He only took my knives. This is my shiv.”

With his hands free, Mikey took a moment to stretch like a dancer before a routine. Then he promptly flopped down into a sitting position, legs crisscrossed. He set the shiv down on the floor of the cage and began pulling random assorted items out from non-existent pockets in his clothing and lining them up. “I still got lots of good stuff, see? This is my bolo, and this is my garrote, and this is my ice pick, and this is my can opener, and this is my bookend, and this is my cherry pitter, and this is my…”

The alligator watched as Mikey continued unabated. He blinked slowly at each new addition to the stockpile, his face becoming more and more skeptical as the items became less and less…perilous. When Mikey placed a penny down, he finally spoke.

“What…exactly…do you intend to accomplish…with a coin?”

“Ooooo, goody, I’m glad you noticed, I like this one.” Mikey flipped the penny with his thumb and caught it between his fingers. When he held it up to the light, the sharpened edge all around its circumference gleamed. “We’ll use it first!”

He tugged loose a lacing from the knee of his pants and looped it around the penny. Then he stood, approached the bars of the cage, took a deep breath…and began shrieking.

“HELP HELP MISTER JAILER GUY, I’M SCARED I DON’T WANNA GET EATEN BY AN ALLIGATOR!” Mikey twisted and rammed his shell against the bars to make even more noise. The camp echoed with resounding, repeated clang-clang-clang. “LEMME OUT LEMME OUT LEMME OUT OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!”

Several of the freakshow guards were on ‘patrol,’ roaming the perimeter of the camp. One who was nearby didn’t exactly come running, but he did seem annoyed and stepped quickly in the direction of the cage. “Shut up, kid. The more you screech the faster that freaking monster’s gonna chomp on you, just to get the goddamn noise to sto–”

The guard’s yells pitched up into a howl as a razor-edged penny, launched like a slingshot, lodged in his eye.

“What’s wrong?! What’s wrong?!” a fellow guard hurried up to assist him.

Mikey grinned as he picked up another weapon from his cache, aimed it between the bars, and punched a button.

Two metal barbs pierced the second man’s chest and an electrical current lit up his entire frame with sparks. He collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

“That’s my taser,” Mikey said. He reached through the bars and fished a keyring out of the guard’s pocket and quickly released the lock. He jumped onto the cage door and rode it as it swung open, dropping the taser in the dirt beside the unfortunate human, current still running.

“Come on, mister—ah–” Mikey craned his neck to look at the advertisement emblazoned across the top of the cage, “--Lethal Leatherhead! Smashy-smash, while I torch everything!”

Tentatively, Leatherhead stepped out of his enclosure. “You wish…to burn everything? With what…?”

But Mikey had already withdrawn a liquid-filled bottle from some hidden pocket in his coat. He drew a long, silken scarf from his glove by sleight of hand, flicked it to catch the flame on the tail of his mask, and then stuffed the burning wick into the neck of the bottle. “Molotov cocktail!”

He flung the bottle through the window of the largest wagon. The resulting explosion blew out the remaining glass, and Mikey dashed forward to intercept as guards raced to escape the inferno.

“What the hell is going o–”

“Machete!”

The man who had unluckily blundered closest to him gurgled, the handle blooming from his throat.

“Clothespins!”

Another guard screeched and flailed as two small wooden clips were driven into his eyes.

“Lanyard!”

Strangled gagging.

“Teacup!”

Wailing.

Leatherhead watched from the open door of his enclosure as Mikey continued his spree, shrieking the name of every item he produced and laughing maniacally as he dashed from one victim to the next.

A rhinoceros mutant in the cage next to his leaned towards the bars. “Friend of yours?”

“If it will convince him…to not jam a small kitchen tool down my throat…” Leatherhead ripped apart the hinges on the rhino mutant’s cage, “...then I will readily be his friend.”

The screech of “Rice paddle!” and a subsequent choking sound echoed across the grounds. Both mutants cringed.

“...rice paddle. Sure.” The rhino tagged along after Leatherhead as he moved to next cage. As that door bashed open, a warthog mutant jumped free and clasped hands with the rhino. They jostled briefly before turning to flee into the night. “Good luck with your crazy friend.”

“Bottlecap!” Mikey cackled from somewhere across the camp. “Stapler!”

Wet, squelching thumps and more screams.

A gangly mutant with mantis-like arms lounged near the door of his enclosure, watching Leatherhead expectantly. “That kiddo yous got over there has the right idea, I say,” he drawled.

Leatherhead nodded. “Fist,” he said. And punched the cage.

[the-offside-rule]

George Russell (Mercedes AMG) - Boyfriend Reveal

Requested: on wattpad

Prompt: Y/n Horner falls in love w George Russell but they have to tell her dad somehow

Warnings: angst??

The young Y/n Horner had fallen and fallen hard for that matter but of course, it had to be Mr Saturday himself, George Russell. Y/n and George met during the second half of the 2019 season, when George's friend and fellow driver Alex landed himself a seat at the raging bulls.

George knocked on Alex's door repeatedly, wondering when his friend would answer but even after a good thirty seconds, it was clear Alex wasn't there. Why on earth was he not there? George whipped out his phone and scrolled down to Alex's contact before pressing it and waiting for Alex to answer the phone. After a few rings, Alex picked up. "Hello?" he asked. "Hello?! What do you mean hello? Where on earth are you?" George asked, slightly agitated. He'd had such a bad race and just wanted to hang out to calm himself down a bit. "I'm leaving the track right now." Alex replied. George's confusion only grew by each question answered. "Why are you still at the track?"

"Because I was talking to Y/n." George knotted his eyebrows in confusion. "Who's Y/n?"

"Why do you keep asking questions? She's Christian's daughter." Alex chuckled. George nodded his head. "Oh alright then. Any chance we could hang out anytime soon?" Alex sighed. "Not unless Y/n can come. Otherwise, no." Alex responded. "She can come, she can come." A few more moments of planning this small get together and they hung up. George was very much intrigued to see who this Y/n was. He'd obviously heard of her but he'd never actually seen her so like any logical human being, he googled her.

Up popped a few pictures but they were all blurry, so he couldn't get a proper look at her. He tried and tried to find a better picture but alas, the best he could do was a photo of her in sunglasses, just about covering the top half of her face. George decided it was time to make his way down to meet Alex and Y/n so away he went, anticipating finally meeting this fabled woman. After a while, George made it to where he was supposed to be meeting the Red Bull driver at any moment. He sat scrolling through his phone to pass the time. "Hey George." He looked up to see his friend and not too far beside him, who he presumed to be Y/n. His mind suddenly filled with thoughts about her. Why? If you saw her you would know why. "Hey Alex. Not going to introduce us then?" George laughed. "Well you both know each other but if you insist. Y/n, this is George. George, this is Y/n. Now that we have the introductions out of the way, food."

Alex walked away to go and order some food for the three of them which left Y/n alone with George. "So, Christian Horner's daughter. How eventful is that?" George asked, cringing at himself. What kind of question is that? "Pretty meh. Overrated. So, Formula one driver. How eventful is that?" she almost mocked. George smiled. "Pretty meh sometimes. Usually fun." She nodded her head. "I couldn't find any pictures of you so I didn't see how you looked before." George said, desperately trying to keep a conversation going. "Well?" she asked. "Well what?" He asked, shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. "Do I disappoint at all?" He set his fork down and shook his head. "Not even a little bit." Y/n picked up her glass and leaned forward on the table. "I like you, George Russell." She smiled, sipping her drink. "I quute like you too, Y/n Horner."

George had walked by the Red Bull garage for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He was meant to just stay in the Mercedes garage but he just wanted to see his beautiful girlfriend who was almost always looking out from the garage. They would wave subtly to one another and they loved it but a problem raised in the last few minutes. George noticed Christian talking to his daughter, looking quite stern. Her eyes quickly darted over to George, silently pleading for help and he understood immediately. "Hey Christian!" George called, a smile perched upon his face. Christian turned around, now looked incredibly annoyed at George. "George! I didn't mean come here, I meant go away!" Y/n told him. George looked between both Horners. What was going on? "George, what the hell is going on?!" Christian asked. "Honestly Christian, when you figure it out tell me because I haven't got a-"

"Dad, this is my boyfriend."

Both men looked back at Y/n. Now George understood fully what Christian meant. "Oh! You meant-" Christian nodded. "Yes! That's what I meant! When did all this start?" George did all the explaining. He became nervous at times but was but to ease almost immediately as he felt Y/n squeeze his hand to confort him. "So basically, I'm in love with your daughter." Y/n bit her lip in anticipation. What was he thinking now? Christian took a deep breath in and out. "Does he make you happy?" Y/n paused before nodding her head. "He really, really does Dad." Christian shared a look with George and quickly came to his decision. "Well if he makes you happy I can't exactly break you up can I?"

"So you aren't angry?" Y/n asked. "Not at all. I'll be angry if he ever makes you sad but until then, no." Y/n's smile grew wider hearing her fathers approval. She jumped into her dad's arms and squeezed him as tight as humanly possible. "Thank you." she whispered. George looked on, his heart warmed by the scene. "I won't make her sad so I don't think I'll ever make you angry." George laughed. "We'll see when you get into the Mercedes." Christian responded, earning a nervous chuckle from the driver. "Just make her happy and I won't have a problem with you off track." George smiled down at her and curled his arm around her shoulder. As if that would ever happen.

"I'd never dream of it."

[thefactsofthematter]

43 for sprace but race said that

43: “YOU DID WHAT?”

y’all ready for some fluff??? i’m absolutely loving this little au and i hope you do too!! no content warnings here, just pure sweetness and stupidity 🤩

-

It's a Saturday afternoon in the middle of July, it's gorgeous outside, and Racetrack Higgins is stuck in his bedroom, doing homework.

He's not sure how long he's been staring at the same page of his textbook, his eyes unfocused and not really reading anything anymore, when he hears the door of the apartment swing open. His roommates went out a couple of hours ago to go enjoy the beautiful day, like any other sane people who opted not to take an unbearably hard summer course would do— they must finally be back now.

"Hi Race!"

There's really no need for Spot to shout, as their place truly isn't that big, but the man seems to only have two volume settings— silent and stoic, or obnoxiously loud. It's kind of hilarious.

"Hi Spot!" Race calls right back, silently thanking all that's holy for the interruption and excuse to leave his desk for a bit. He stands up to head out to the living room, and his whole back cracks. He's clearly been sitting too long. "What's up, dude!?"

"You gotta come see this, bro!" Spot continues. "Me and Olivia got matching tattoos!"

Immediately, Race's brow furrows in some mixture of amusement and confusion.

"Wait, you did what?"

When he turns the corner, there stand his two roommates— or rather, one sits happily in a baby carrier, strapped to the chest of the other, because she's only ten months old and not very good at standing yet. They're a very cool pair, in their matching sunglasses and tank tops, and they're both grinning like absolute devils. It's adorable.

"Lookit," Spot beams, holding up Olivia’s chubby little arm to show the temporary tattoo of a sparkly purple unicorn that's been applied to her bicep. He's got the very same one shimmering on his cheek, as his face is one of the only parts of his body not covered in real tattoos. "We're twinning!"

Race can't help but laugh.

"You are. Where'd you get those?"

"There was this street fair thing going on a few blocks down, some booth was giving away all these little stickers and tattoos and stuff," Spot replies, toeing his shoes off and dropping his diaper bag by the door. He pulls something from his back pocket. "We got you one too— Livy didn't want you to feel left out." He passes the square of paper into Olivia’s tiny fist. "Here, give it to Racer, baby."

Race walks over to grab it from her, and she giggles and blows a raspberry at him.

"What did your daddy do to you, Liv?" he teases, crouching down to coo at her. "Pretty soon you're gonna be all inked up, just like him!"

She babbles and reaches out for him.

"Can you hang out with her for a minute?" Spot asks, carefully unclipping the carrier to take her out. "I need to give her a bottle and put her down for a nap, but I gotta piss first."

"Of course. I'm always down to hang out with this little princess." Race takes the baby, making all kinds of silly faces at her to distract her as Spot walks away. He bounces her gently in his arms and wanders over to the kitchen. "Where should I put my tattoo? What do you think, Olive?"

He opens the fridge to grab a pre-mixed bottle— Spot usually keeps a few on hand— and gives it a good shake. Olivia has gotten picky lately and only likes cold formula, rather than warmed or room-temperature, so he passes it straight to her and she's happy to go to town on it.

"Man, you were hungry," he chuckles. "Look at you go. You're drinking like your daddy doing a keg stand— did you know he was a party animal? Believe it or not, your dad used to be cool."

Spot is still cool, Race supposes, but it's fun to pick on him; he obviously doesn't go out as much as he used to, even though he's finally legal now, because he's a little busy looking after a tiny human most of the time. In fact, it's incredibly cool that Spot balances part-time school, part-time work, and full-time single fatherhood so gracefully at only twenty-one, because Race is rather sure he'd have some kind of stress-induced mental breakdown every other week if he were in Spot's shoes.

Actually, Spot is kind of the coolest person alive, if you really think about it.

And Race does think about it... a lot.

Not in a weird way, because he's been best friends with Spot for over three years, ever since they were randomly assigned roommates in their freshman dorm, and he's also seventy percent sure Spot is straight— but, like, he probably admires the guy a little more than would be considered normal for your best pal.

"Now, about this tattoo, huh?" He changes the topic from his own overthinking, keeping Olivia cradled in one arm as he rummages around for some paper towel with his free hand. "There's no chance I'm putting it on my face. What if I match with you and put it on my arm?"

Race doesn't have nearly as many tattoos as Spot, just a few doodles all around his arms and chest, and he's currently shirtless because it's hot as balls in his bedroom, so he could really stick the sparkly unicorn practically anywhere. He wets the paper towel in the sink and uses it to press the little square of paper to the bicep of the arm that he's holding Olivia with.

It's just as he's peeling the paper off to reveal his new ink that Spot emerges from his bathroom break.

"Aren't you two just the cutest?"

Race grins.

"I know, I'm pretty adorable. I guess she's okay too."

Spot rolls his eyes. He looks totally exhausted but incredibly content, which has basically been his default ever since Olivia came into the picture. He never complains about his situation, though it surely isn't easy— he just keeps trucking along and doing his best, rarely even asking for help.

"Dumbass," he laughs. "Thanks for feeding her, though. She was getting super fussy while we were out— I think the heat was a little much."

"I'll go put her down when she's done eating," Race offers. "You look beat. Just chill for a bit, I've got her."

Spot leans against the counter, rubs his hands over his face, and lets out a deep, tired sigh. He clearly needed this little break.

"Fuck. Thank you. You're amazing."

Race rocks Olivia gently— she's settled right down, looking very comfy and sleepy. He truly didn't think he was good with kids until this little angel came along; he's apparently got some kind of magic touch, because she's always perfectly calm for him.

"No problem, bro. I'm always happy to help."

Spot sets to work on making himself something to eat, so Race just paces around until it looks like Olivia’s about done with the bottle, her eyes starting to fall shut.

"Alrighty. Time for a nap, little dude." He sets the bottle in the sink and heads off to Spot's bedroom to lay her in her cot. He carefully wiggles her into her sleep sack, pops a pacifier in her mouth, switches on the white noise speaker, and draws the curtains. "Have a good sleep, Livy. I love you."

He gently shuts the door behind him— he knows she sleeps like a rock, but he still gets paranoid about being too loud— and when he steps back into the living room, Spot is unabashedly staring at him from where he’s settled himself on the couch.

"Dude," Spot says, after a second, "I think I might be in love with you."

Race stops short. His heart skips a beat.

"What?" He shakes his head. "I mean... awesome. Sick. That's great. But, like... what?"

Spot laughs a little to himself, with that stupid sparkly unicorn still shimmering on his cheek.

"I can’t believe I just realized it. You’re just, like, the best person ever— you’re hot, and you’re smart, and you take such good care of Liv, and I’m so into you… is that weird?”

Race blinks.

“No, not that weird.” He sits down next to Spot on the couch. “I don’t think so, at least. It’s chill.”

“I just told you I’m in love with you,” Spot laughs, “and all you can say is it’s chill? What does that even mean?”

Now, for someone who talks an awful lot, Race is terrible with words. He’s got absolutely no clue what to say, so he simply pulls Spot in for a kiss.

“Does that answer your question?” he asks, after a few seconds.

Spot rolls his eyes.

“You are so fucking stupid.”

But he kisses Race again, so he can’t possibly be that annoyed.

Race smiles into it— everything about Spot’s kiss is perfect, and he can’t help but think that this is exactly how their weird little family was meant to be.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Channel Z: The Best of Vol. 1 2000 Alternative Rock / Nu Metal / Hard Rock / Alternative Metal / Rap-Rock / Rap-Metal / Pop-Punk / Big Beat / Reggae / Skate Punk / Industrial Metal

Can't say that I've ever really thought too much about what the alternative rock landscape might've looked like in New Zealand at the turn of the millennium, but this double-disc from the country's once-popular, but now-defunct Channel Z radio station has given me a much better idea. Apparently when the station first opened up its doors in 1996, it was far more alternative and local, but at some point, before the release of this comp, management decided to alter the programming and incorporate massive acts from outside of Oceania too, which led to some internal backlash and resignations.

But as a result, that means that with this particular release, whose selections were voted on by the general public through Channel Z's own website, we not only get a pretty ample and generic cross-section of such a weird time for mainstream rock music writ large on an intercontinental scale—when all of the awkwardly unnatural and transactionally rap-infused angsty discord of nu metal was somehow firing on all cylinders and duking it out with much more palatably poppy streams of formulaic alternative and self-awarely moronic punk—but we also get a bunch of stuff that never made its way outside of Oceania too.

And to that end, besides the sprinkling of lovely electronic big beat tunes from the likes of Moby, the Chemical Brothers, and Fatboy Slim that close out both of these discs and provide a nice, little alternative to all the alternative, my favorite song on here is definitely "Calling On" by a New Zealand band who aren't around anymore called Weta. No idea what the rest of this group's output was like, but if this song's any indication, it seems that they had a good bit of that alluring Radiohead droniness to them. "Calling On" definitely doesn't start out that way, but after the splashy intro, I think you'll definitely hear it, as the chords shimmer and frontman Aaron Tokona goes harmoniously multi-tracked, with a clearly soft and high-pitched Thom Yorke affect that progressively grows in intensity as he keeps on repeating the song's two-word chorus, until the whole thing boils over with a cathartically noisy push towards the end 🤘.

So with this two-disc set, I suppose as a non-New Zealander, you come for the late 90s-to-2000 staples like Papa Roach's "Last Resort," Incubus' "Pardon Me," Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy," and Goldfinger's always fun cover of Nena's "99 Red Balloons," but you stay for some Kiwi rock education too. Just be sure to skip over Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass," because not even the ironic side of me that revels in terrible shit can find a way to stomach that one. I don't passionately hate every single thing that that guy has done *as a musician,* but I don't think that I'd heard that song in almost a quarter-century until I put this album on this week, and now I'm upset that I have to start my streak all over again, because that's really gotta be up there as one of the worst songs that's ever been made, period. It sucks that KR ended up occupying that sleaze-greasy midwestern trailer trash-blaxploitation crossover aesthetic all by himself too, because surely, someone or some band could've done something far less tackier and more enjoyably creative with it than he has 😒.

Highlights:

CD1:

Papa Roach - "Last Resort" Foo Fighters - "Generator" Goldfinger - "99 Red Balloons" Weta - "Calling On" Staind - "Mudshovel" P.O.D. - "Southtown" Goodshirt - "Green" Moby - "Bodyrock"

CD2:

Incubus - "Pardon Me" Lit - "My Own Worst Enemy" Slim - "Bullet in My Hand" Supergrass - "Mary" Betchadupa - "Empty Head" Sprung Monkey - "Super Breakdown" Chemical Brothers - "Out of Control" Fatboy Slim - "Build It Up, Tear It Down"

[bundracky]

Summer Recap: July 2024 ♡

Hello my dear Vampunnies!

Here is the next part of my summer recap blogs. This time I'll be covering my visit to Los Angeles for Anime Expo 2024!

This post includes my experience with working at AX for the first time, my favorite parts of the con this year, visiting WeHo and Little Tokyo, & more!

Read all about it under the cut, and maybe grab a snack or a beverage because this one's a long one...

July 2024

AX 2024 - Day 0 (July 3)

I decided to attend AX totally last minute, so on Day 0 I had to pick up my badge from the venue-- the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was actually a pretty quick and easy process, and I liked being able to snap a couple pics of the outside of the venue before all the crowds arrived the next day. As a huge Dragon Ball fan, I personally loved seeing Sparking! ZERO having a giant ad this year! Zenless Zone Zero ads were also present around the area, and really fit the LA vibe.

Since I wanted to make the most of the day, I decided to visit WeHo with a friend! We went to Bottega Louie for lunch, which is honestly one of my favorite restaurants in LA. Their Italian cream soda is so good, especially when dealing with the summer heat! This time I got the vanilla one~

Lunch for the day was the carbonara with chicken, and I shared a pepperoni pizza and a side of portobello fries with my friend! It was so delicious! (I'm getting hungry while reminiscing about this...) For dessert we shared a Celebration cake, which is a vanilla cake with cotton candy mousse, strawberry marmalade, and topped with vanilla macarons! I also purchased a box of macarons to eat at home later, because of course I did. Truly a decadent meal, but I really wanted to treat myself since I was in the area for AX and knew I'd be busy with other things soon!

Before heading back for the day, I also visited the Glossier store which is always a must when I'm in the area. If you haven't been to a Glossier store before, it's a very cute and aesthetic experience, because well, it's Glossier. I ended up getting a Lavender Balm Dot Com, since I haven't bought one in so long. (Thank god they finally reverted back to the OG formula... if you know, you know.) Unfortunately we got there a little too late to get a drink at Alfred's, but there's always next time~

AX 2024 - Day 1 (July 4)

This year, I was hired by Sekai Project to work at their booth in the Exhibit Hall! Sekai Project works on the English localization for a lot of visual novels, such as Nekopara and Amairo Chocolate! They were selling a lot of cute goods this year, including the Chocola and Vanilla Hangers, and Amairo Chocolate tapestries and acrylic stands!

I arrived at the venue around 6:30 am to help set up their booth, and seeing exhibition hall quiet and chill before the crowds was pretty neat! My boss was really nice and let me roam around after for a bit to check out some of the booths I wanted freebies from before the crowds rolled in ^^ Also, as my "tutorial" sale on the POS, I was able to buy a Chocola hanger ahead of time as I knew those would be a hot commodity~

It was honestly a really fun experience, I really enjoyed interacting with customers and talking about the games! Actually, the first customer of the entire con was a father who ran to our booth and had a long shopping list from their daughter! It was really sweet and I'm glad I was able to make sure he got everything for her~ Another customer that made an impression on me was someone who bought one of each Amairo Chocolate acrylic stand, and while I was ringing them up, we also chatted about Shiratama's art and Jewelry Hearts Academia, which was pretty awesome.

After my shift was over, I visited the ATLUS booth because I wanted to get the giant Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance totebag! The booth activity was taking a picture with their Qaditsu cosplayers, who looked absolutely amazing! I've attached a photo of the cosplayers from the official Twitter since I don't want to post my personal one, but it was a really great experience!! I also picked up a Jack Frost mobile accessory set from the ATLUS shop as it was part of their Japan imports for the ATLUS 35th anniversary~

Before going home, I passed by Philz Coffee and got a Mint Mojito iced coffee which was a great pick me up after a long day!

AX 2024 - Day 2 (July 5)

One of the highly sought after freebies this year was definitely this Firefly/SAM giant totebag. Of course, Honkai: Star Rail being the hit game that it is, plus Firefly being a fan favorite, a lot of people wanted it. I really wanted to get one for my friend, who is a Firefly oshi, and wanted to do the stamp rally for the other freebies for myself. So, I lined up super, super early just to be in front of the line into the Entertainment Hall where the Hoyoverse booth was located.

Now, for reference, the hall opened at 9 AM. The line for the Hoyoverse booth capped at 9:03 AM. Unfortunately, the staff did not respect the line, and gave away all their bags to the blob of a crowd that was pooling around their booth that were absolutely feral over this thing. Despite not being able to get the bag, I figured I might as well stick around for the booth activities anyway since I was practically at the front of the line.

The first activity was writing a sticky note of your "dream" related to Penacony or something, and I think I just wrote E6 Acheron LOL. The next activity was taking pictures with the March 7th and Stelle cosplayers who were super cute! And the next one was voting in some sort of character popularity contest with the "Stellar Jade" they would give you. Acheron had the most Stellar Jades in her jar. (slay)

After the booth activities, I wanted to purchase some Honkai Impact 3rd goods after, but I guess this year it was also being sold with the Star Rail stuff... which the line for merch also capped.... soooo I was like, okay, I'm just going to go around for a bit instead and try my luck around noon.

One of my other friends requested I buy them a few things from the Cygames booth, so I got that shopping done, and stuck around to play the Granblue Fantasy: Relink demo (Lancelot my beloved <3) as well as the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Party Dash demo with one of my friends who found me! Cygames had a lot of cute freebies, and I swear to god, I know nothing of the horse girls, but the freebies are so dang cute it actually makes me want to get into it LOL.

Some other highlights for me was seeing the NIS America booth and saw a very early build of the new Phantom Brave game and Reynatis! I also loved the Kotobukiya Bishoujo exhibit with all their different figures throughout the years. (Which by the way, I have the new Sadako one preordered~) I think I also visited the Blue Archive and Arknights booths to pick up things for friends around this time too.

Around noon, I was back at the merch line for Hoyoverse, and thankfully, I was able to get in! Now this is where I feel rather lucky. I ended up getting an adorable badge set of the Herrscher trio, which I feel like was dead stock in some Mihoyo warehouse. I also got the very last set of Mei's Stigmata badges, which may be out of print? I'm not sure.

As I was in line to check out, the person in front of me asked the cashier for a Firefly/SAM bag. And he was able to get one?! So I also asked when I was up front and she was super nice and also gave me one. So, it all worked out! I'm glad I decided to spend money that day lmao.

With a skip in my step, I spent the rest of the day pretty leisurely with my bestie who I met up with after. We did the Persona 3, Project Sekai, and some other random booth activities to pass the time for an exciting panel I was looking forward to~ Oh yeah, I also came across Nerissa Ravencroft's acrylic stand at a Hololive booth, and decided to pick it up since it has been on my wish list for some time, and it was there, so might as well.

So, what was the panel that I was looking forward to? Well, seeing Aniplex's Twisted Wonderland talk show with Silver's seiyuu, AKA MY FAVE TWST CHARACTER AND MY #1 FAVORITE MALE SEIYUU, Nobunaga Shimazaki!! He was so cute and sweet in person, I'm really glad I was able to make it!! ^w^

After that, I briefly went on a mission to Artist Alley to pick up something for another friend, as well as visit one of my favorite artists, BOMHAT, to purchase some stickers for myself! I have a few of their goods from a previous AX, and really liked them so I had to buy more! And with that, Day 2 complete!

... Or so I thought. I had plans with my bestie to cry about how stressful AX was over dinner. We were both exhausted after Day 2 and were really looking forward to getting food together. One of my other friends who was driving my car for the day went to Little Tokyo early, and was going to pick us up when we were ready to go meet up for dinner. Well, come to find out, my car battery died in the Little Tokyo parking garage... thankfully, my bestie's mom is super nice and picked us both up and dropped me off in Little Tokyo to figure out the situation.

I am so very lucky to have such sweet friends, as a different friend of mine offered to swing by after work to help jump start my car. While waiting for them to arrive, I got dinner to soothe my weary soul after such a crazy day.

While my friends were jump starting my car, a kind stranger also came by to help make sure they were doing it correctly, and all was well afterwards! I was able to drive home safe and sound!

AX 2024 - Day 4 (July 7)

For the final day of AX, there was only one more thing I really wanted to do: visit the NIKKE booth! I haven't mentioned it yet for a reason-- it was also a very crowded booth. It was managed a little better by having a virtual queue... However, to get into that virtual queue, you had to be there at the very beginning of the day to check in. It was pretty hectic with everyone shoving each other, trying to scan the QR code from one of the staff's clipboards, but I successfully got in!

While waiting for my turn, I went back to the Project Sekai booth because I really wanted to do more freebie card pulls trying to get Ena and Toya. I ended up being super lucky and getting both of them!! Afterwards, I also played the demo for Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, which is a game I am so hyped for!

I returned shortly after to finally do the NIKKE booth activities. The booth was themed after the in-game summer event Beauty Full Shot! The first activity was of course, making sure you followed the game on social media. Next was a bean bag toss themed around fighting against the Raptures, which was pretty cute. Then you could take a photo with the cosplayers, which I opted to have this really cute Viper cosplayer (LoveHimeKing) pose with my little Alice acrylic block I had with me.

Sadly, since I got there Day 4, they sold out of the bigger freebie prizes. But, I still got the commemorative giant gift bag featuring Crown and Modernia! I love those two, so I'm not mad at all~ I also got a little blind bag magnet with Dorothy, which is super cute, and I actually have her displayed on my magnet board on my desk right now!

And as my personal tradition, I got celebratory In-N-Out for surviving another anime convention. This is like the most unaesthetic photo I'll ever post, but it's the proof of my victory!!

Post-AX Shenanigans

Later in July, once all the tourists have gone home, and I was rested from the hectic Anime Expo season, I went back to LA to properly visit Little Tokyo!

Before my activities for the day, I passed by one of my favorite bakeries, Okayama Kobo, for brunch~ I got a yakisoba-pan and my favorite drink from them, the banana creme matcha latte!

After brunch, I visited Sora Gumi's Little Tokyo store, as they had a NIKKE pop-up with a summer themed photo booth. You got to shoot a photo with your summer event Nikke of choice, so I picked my favorite of them, Sakura! I also brought my silly Alice plushie with me to take photos with. It was a really cute experience!

And lastly, I had a reservation with a friend for the Akiba Maid War pop-up Maid Cafe! I remember watching the anime when it first came out, and really enjoyed it with how ridiculous it was (in a good way). I totally had to come to this pop-up!

The Oinky Doink Cafe theme was well implemented-- instead of the usual 'moe moe kyun' fare we did some incantations with the syllables of 'tontokoton' to remove the poison that rival maid cafes put in our sodas or something. Just another day at the Oinky Doink Cafe, really.

We also got ice cream topped with a cookie with Ranko on it. I couldn't bear to eat her face so I tried to just eat around her! >.< Overall I had a great experience (shoutout to Maid Aki) and am happy we're getting more fun pop-ups out here.

And that was my Anime Expo experience in July! If you've never been to an Anime Expo before, I hope my war story gave you a glimpse of some of the craziness of that anime convention. When it comes to AX, you just learn to love to hate it, and hate to love it.

Anyway, thank you for reading if you got this far! Next post will be the last part of my summer recap series! Until next time~

[libraryofbaxobab]

March 11, 2024:

This book comes out in June! I requested this ARC from the author via BookSirens so I could review it early! Cause I'm like that!

First, the premise: the last 4 contestants on legally-not-The-Bachelor, their basic-ass bachelor, and a camera crew go to a spooky mansion in the woods to film the season finale, but somebody has ulterior motives and shit gets weird.

Yes please! I love reality TV in horror novels. Weirdly, the characters in this book act more reasonably than I'd expect from characters in a reality show like this one. Also I strongly suspect the behind-the-scenes is not even close to how shows like this are made, BUT if that part was totally accurate none of this would happen and we would have no fun. I suggest we let it slide.

Positive notes:

The Scary Thing is pretty unique! There is eventually a physical being which is cool but I mean more the process and mechanism is pretty out there. It's telegraphed early, but why it's happening is left ambiguous

Interactions between contestants was so much fun. There's alliance, intimidation, attraction, paranoia... very cool watching their feelings toward each other constantly shifting

Great character arc as one overly-dependent woman becomes more powerful & confident but watch out!

Catharsis at having some of the contestants lose interest in the bachelor and start noticing each other. Everyone has always wanted that to happen, right? Not just me, surely

Camera crew polycule

Negative notes:

The writing is pretty unpolished. I understand this ARC is uncorrected, so hopefully most of the typos are cleaned up by time of publication, but there were a LOT of them by the end.

In a few places it was very unclear what the characters were doing/ talking about/ reacting to, which were likely just misedits that took out crucial scene information. At some points the narration seemed uncertain on exactly how many people had died, misplaced details like that.

Neutral notes:

I found it interesting how often the narration referred to the contestants as "women" vs how often the characters referred to them as "ladies." There's something there

There's not the kind of creepy progression I expect from a book like this. The bizarre tree-themed house is a fantastic setting and has some very good secrets, but scary happenings don't escalate in a familiar pattern

This results in a definite "feel" with this book. Like you can just tell it's a little unusual. It tastes like it didn't follow a recipe. Your mileage my vary on this: you could love it for its less-formulaic vibe, or you might prefer a more tried-and-true experience.

Overall, this is a tough one to review because on one hand it's rough around the edges and I can't say it's objectively great... but I feel some pressure to be kind to an author who likely won't get a lot of press. And here's the important thing: I did enjoy this a lot! How does it stack up to books in the same vein? I like it less than Hide by Kiersten White, but WORLDS better than The Holy Terrors.

7/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

[crittercrossing]

Rest in Peace, Smokey

March 28th, 2005—February 15th, 2021

I met my best friend on the day he was born in 2005. I was nine years old. In the prior year, I had befriended a couple of semi-feral cats who took up residence at my childhood home, a male and a female. Growing up in a very rural area in the mid-2000s, spaying and neutering pets was a rare thing that was usually reserved for dogs, and practically unheard of in indoor-outdoor cats. And so, it was no surprise when these two cats had kittens, born on my front porch.

Smokey's mother was pregnant when I went to school that day, and when I returned home, I peered into the box we'd set up for her on the porch and saw six impossibly tiny kittens. I still vividly remember the sight of them and the fierce excitement I felt. Of the six kittens, I immediately noticed that one of them was much smaller than the others—a little grayish-tinted black tabby. I adored him from the moment we met.

He was named Smokey, for his smoky-gray color and my belief that he was a gray tabby. (It was several years before my fascination with cat colors and genetics took hold, when I would learn that he was, in fact, a black tabby.) Smokey was always the runt of the litter, a tiny kitten who stayed smaller than his siblings throughout their first few months of life.

I can't recall now exactly when this happened, but at some point, Sassy, the mother, seemed to give up on Smokey, perhaps because he was so small and weak. She stopped letting him nurse and even went so far as to remove him from the nest and from the other kittens. Determined to help him thrive, my mom and I began bottle-feeding him with kitten formula and spending lots of one-on-one time with him. I loved him wildly, and we began to develop a close bond.

After several weeks of supplemental feedings, Sassy accepted Smokey again. The little guy acted as though he never even knew that his mother tried to abandon him, and he became a mama's boy. He followed Sassy everywhere she went, and rarely left her side.

Being a kid and living with six kittens was one of the most fun experiences of my life. I loved all of the kittens tremendously, but Smokey was my favorite.

I don't have a lot of specific memories from that time period once Smokey got strong enough to fully rejoin his feline family, but I know I spent hours and hours playing with all of the kittens, cuddling them, and getting to know them as individuals. Smokey remained very close to his mother, to me, and to his only brother, Sammy—he seemed to feel very net neutral about everyone else, human or animal.

Thankfully, Smokey thrived with the extra feedings and special attention. He always remained very small—even as an adult, he was smaller than most female cats—but he was healthy and strong and full of energy and life. By the time he was six months old, he fit in so well with his siblings that you never would have guessed how drastically smaller than them he used to be.

Sassy, a tremendously patient mother, continued to let all six kittens nurse until they were nearly six months old. This is my only photo of the entire family together, with Smokey at the bottom.

We decided to keep Smokey and Sammy, and to rehome the four females. Though they were already close, Smokey and Sammy became inseparable once they were the only two indoor cats (their mother went missing not long after the above photo was taken, and their father lived almost entirely outdoors).

As a young adult, Smokey had a pretty different personality than his brother, and was less slightly less social. Sammy was the first one who would approach people, and he would jump up on their legs in the way that small dogs do. Smokey would follow behind and rub on people's legs in a more typical cat fashion. When other people came into the house, Smokey would run and hide behind the furniture, while Sammy would hang around to greet them. But that never bothered me at all, because when it was just Smokey and I, he was still the sweetest little guy in the world, someone who would sit with me and let me hold him and dress him up in silly things sometimes.

For eight years, Smokey and Sammy shared their lives together, with the closest bond between animal brothers that I've ever seen. Sammy passed away suddenly in 2013, and for the first time in his life, Smokey was the only cat in the house. He immediately became closer to people again, and from that point on, he never really hid anywhere, even when other people came over.

Not long after Sammy passed away, I took Smokey to the vet for a check-up just to make sure he was okay, as the vets were unable to determine what had caused Sammy's death. That was when Smokey was diagnosed with a heart murmur. I can't recall now what grade it was at the time, but it was either a grade four or five, as I know it started with a 'f.' There are six grades of heart murmur in cats. At the time, the vet assured me that he was otherwise healthy, and that the murmur was just something to keep an eye on. It might cause problems later, or it might not. Smokey was eight years old then, and I just desperately hoped that I would get at least a few more years with him. Little did I know then that he would live nearly another eight years.

Smokey very briefly shared the home with another cat, Crowfeather, a young male who unfortunately didn't live long—less than two years. Smokey didn't particularly like Crowfeather, but he tolerated his adopted younger brother surprisingly well. Kudos to Smokey for being so patient when Crowfeather was super high energy and loved to annoy him.

For several years, Smokey was allowed to go outside during the day, before I did my research and learned about how bad of an idea that is for cats and for the natural environment around them. I'm very glad that nothing bad happened to him in that time. Smokey loved being outside, but he was always very good about coming home when the weather started to get bad or before it got dark outside. And once I made the decision to keep him indoors only, he re-adapted very well.

Smokey's everyday life was very routine and predictable for the second half of his life. He was just always there, living everyday life with me and my mom. His middle age and his elderly years were relatively peaceful for a long time, until his health started to worsen—gradually at first, and then all at once.

At about nine years old, Smokey developed strange stomach symptoms that never were explained, even though he saw multiple vets. All of his bloodwork and other tests came back fine. His heart murmur worsened gradully over time, but nothing could indicate what was going on with his stomach. He struggled to keep food down. He would throw up after almost every single meal. I tried everything under the sun to help—different foods, prescription foods, vitamin supplements, scheduled meals, different sizes of meals, and nothing seemed to help. He had good days and bad days with it, but overall, he struggled to keep on weight. Through it all, he remained in great spirits and had lots of energy, and it honestly didn't seem to bother him. This part was relatively manageable, and as the vets said that it probably wasn't super dangerous, I held out hope that he would stay with me for much longer.

Smokey dealt pretty well with his stomach problems, but unfortunately, his heart problems did catch up with him eventually. And with that came one of the scariest time periods of my life.

(Content warning below for detailed medical problem descriptions and discussion of euthanasia. If you want to skip this, scroll until you see the next photo of Smokey.)

My mom woke me up in the middle of the night in November of 2020 to tell me that Smokey had somehow become paralyzed while he had been taking a nap. She saw that he walked into the bottom of one of his cat trees normally, fell asleep, had woken up, and couldn't seem to move. Panicked, I ran to him. I found him there, seeming generally unworried. He tried to stand up and walk, but he couldn't. He crawled out with his front legs, his hind legs and tail dragging behind him. He was paralyzed in his back half. I can't even start to describe how scared I was.

He went to the vet in the morning. Smokey was diagnosed with a saddle thrombus. The vet explained it to me as a blood clot in the aorta, sitting where the aorta branches out into the two main blood vessels that go into the back legs. Smokey had somehow had this clot break loose from somewhere else, possibly within his heart, and it traveled there while he slept, hence why he was fine before his nap. His heart murmur, at that time, was a grade six. He had what was only described to me as severe heart disease. To say I was devastated would be putting it lightly. He had been acting completely fine, and there had been no indication that something so serious was going on. The prognosis for this kind of thing is usually pretty bad, and especially so in Smokey's case. The vet gave me options. I could have let him go that day, or I could take him home and try treatment. I was told that he may very likely never regain movement in his back end. He was in pain and would need pain medication daily. He would need blood thinners to try and prevent more blood clots from happening. Nothing could be done to slow down his heart disease. But I looked at Smokey, and he looked back at me as though nothing were wrong. I decided to try. I took him home.

The next several months, my life revolved around keeping him happy and comfortable. I made a special area for him on the living room floor, in a corner, with lots of soft blankets, a short-sided litter box that he could crawl in and out of easily, and food and water. He hated taking his medicine, and given how often he threw up, he didn't actually end up keeping most of it down. He still had a great appetite, though. He ate a lot of chicken in those days, as much as he wanted. I sat with him for hours. He would lay his head in my hand and look at me and purr.

Then, about a week later, the seemingly impossible happened. I watched him pull hard with his front legs, and he somewhat propped up his back legs beneath him. His toes weren't really working, and he couldn't move his hind legs individually, but he started kind of shuffling along the floor in a mostly-standing position. I had so much hope. I cried when I first saw him shuffle over to his old recliner and climb up it to get to his favorite spot on top of the headrest. By the time another week passed, he was walking again. His toes never came back all the way, but he did start to move his legs individually again and he held them mostly normally beneath him. He wasn't paralyzed anymore! He could walk! He returned to an almost entirely normal life by the beginning of 2021. Through it all, he never once looked scared or upset.

At the time, I had a lot of trouble admitting to myself that his time was still limited. His heart wasn't going to recover. He was at an extremely high risk of having another blood clot. I pushed away the sad, scary thoughts, and focused on the positives. He was getting around pretty much fine. The vet was blown away at how much progress Smokey had made. I couldn't imagine not having my boy around, so I didn't.

In February 2021, I couldn't ignore it anymore. In retrospect, I am angry with myself for waiting so long. I've read a lot since then about how well cats hide pain. He could have been hurting that entire time. He maintained his good spirits up until about a week into February. He got lethargic. He lost interest in eating. His whole body shook with the effort of breathing. It was past time.

Early 2021 was a really awful, difficult time in my life for multiple personal reasons, and this on top of it seemed unbearable. I honestly didn't know if I would survive it, but I knew I had to do it. I couldn't let him suffer any longer. On February 15th, I took Smokey to the vet to find out what kind of shape he was in. I was pretty sure going in that that was it, but I still foolishly hoped that there was a way out. There wasn't. He was in active heart failure and was, according to the vet, already on his way out. I wasn't going to let that go on indefinitely.

I held him, wrapped up in a towel, cradling him in my arms. I was sobbing so hard I could barely speak words that were understandable, but I talked to him. I told him I loved him. Oh, how I loved him so, so much. I told him he was a good boy. I thanked him for choosing me to be his person. I know it wasn't technically a choice—he was just born at my house and I was there to love him and care for him—but, I don't know. His beautiful, loving soul could have been born into any kitten anywhere in the world. I don't know if he got any say in it, but if he did, I was glad that he chose to come into my small part of the world. And then, he left my world.

I try not to dwell on that time too much. I try to focus on his life, his wonderful little soul, all of the memories with him that I wouldn't trade for anything. I focus on how I knew him and I loved him every single day of his life—15 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

There were so many delightful little things about Smokey, and about my relationship with him. His favorite food was green beans. He would do nearly anything for a green bean. From adulthood onward, he almost always had a perpetually serious, grumpy-old-man-looking expression on his face, which was really funny given how unserious and sweet he was. He was such a handsome cat—the most handsome black tabby I've ever known. I was obsessed with the beauty of his fur color and pattern. His eyes were the prettiest shade of green. For much of his life, he had these funny little fangs that always stuck out of his mouth. His upper canine teeth were long, and so in many of my photos of him, he seems to have a little fanged smile. (Sadly, the fangs eventually began to crack and had to be removed.) His meow was always very squeaky, his voice cracking in the middle of pretty much every single meow. He knew his name very well, as well as his collection of nicknames: Cinnamon Roll, My Boy, El Niño, Little Man, Smokey Boop, and Little Love.

Smokey didn't love a wide variety of cat toys, but he really loved his orange feather wand. In his middle age, even with little toy motivation in general, he would always drop whatever he was doing and bat wildly at the feather wand, looking just like his baby kitten self when he did. He loved to be brushed and combed. There was one particular comb he liked—a flea comb, even though he rarely ever had fleas—and if I stopped combing him before he was ready, he would grab at the comb with his paws and rub his cheeks on it. The only other inanimate object he really loved was this random purple ballpoint pen. I don't remember whose pen it was originally, or where it came from, but it was one of the little ones with a cap on it. I don't even remember how I discovered this, but Smokey adored that pen. He loved for me to hold it so he could gently chew on the end of it—always supervised, and he never bit anything off or swallowed anything. He just liked to gnaw on it, and he never seemed to grow tired of it. I now carry that purple pen with me every day. It's one of the very few things I have left of him.

Smokey was always in the center of home's activity, no matter what was going on. He sat with me and watched TV for hours on end. He took naps with people on the couch. He even sat with the dogs on the chairs or couch sometimes. Smokey was never afraid of a dog in his entire life, and he was never aggressive with them. He never seemed to think twice about rabbits, rodents, and chickens coming in and out of the house.

Smokey claimed one recliner in particular, and it became known as "Smokey's chair." First thing every morning, I enjoyed walking into the living room for the first time in the day and seeing him curled up on the top of the headrest. And every morning, he would stand up, look at me with his big green eyes, and headbutt me. He would wait for me to bend down just enough for him to be able to bonk his forehead against mine, and he would always headbutt me hard enough that I don't know how it didn't bother him. But it didn't seem to. We did this several times every day, and he seemed to love it. Often, when he pressed his head to mine, he would stay put there, our heads together, and he would purr so loudly that I could feel it rumbling in my bones. I still think about that feeling all the time.

I feel like I don't have the right words to explain what sharing my life with him was like. It was just simple and easy and unbelievably filled with love and affection and trust and friendship. He was a constant in my life, a faithful companion.

In a way, I am really sad that so few people got to meet Smokey. He was such a good cat, the kind of cat that seems to be one in a million. I know that objectively, that might not be true, but that's how it feels to me. It feels weird for me to think about how my partner of several years now never met him, when he was such an important part of my life and I talk about him a lot. (He passed away a few months before my partner and I met.) I wish I could tell the whole world about him, but this is probably as close as I can get to that.

I know that time heals most wounds to some extent, but in all honesty, I don't think this wound has healed at all. I think about him pretty much every day. I miss him more than I can explain. I miss the soothing sound of his purr—I am very glad that at some point in his old age, I thought to record a video of his loud purring. I miss the feeling of our heads together, the vibrations of his purr. I miss feeling that purring when he would lie on his side, curled up like a cinnamon roll, and I would press my face into the fur on his side, and he would purr even louder. I can remember exactly how soft his fur was. I miss the gentle tapping of his paw when he would reach out for me, the touch of his claws (never painful, as if he was being careful not to scratch me), the warmth of his paw pads. I miss the brush of his whiskers, the rhythmic flicking of his tail tip when he laid beside me.

I miss his steady presence in the house, almost always in the living room. I miss sitting with him while I watched TV or played video games, looking over at him every now and then to see him gently sleeping or seemingly watching the screen with me. I miss how sometimes, I would look at him to find that he was already looking at me first, gazing up at me with the warmest expression I've ever seen in a cat's eyes. He just looked at me like he loved me. I could feel it.

I hope he knew how much I love him. I'm sure he knew, to some extent, but I just really, really hope that he knew that I love him with a ferocity, with all of my heart, with the kind of love where I know that I would have done anything in the world for him, the kind of love where I still, over three years later, don't really know what to do without him.

I can't really talk about him at all without choking up and, often, crying. It happens when I think about him. I'm kind of falling apart writing this.

And while writing this, I have a song in my mind. It's "Goodbye May Seem Forever" from The Fox and the Hound—the really unbelievably sad song that plays during the scene where the widow who raised the fox drives him to the woods and leaves him there, for his own good, never to see him again. I don't know that I'll ever be able to listen to it again. I can't honestly even think about it without tearing up. But I think it's the most fitting song I know of to describe my grief, and it reminds me of my Smokey.

"We met it seems Such a short time ago You looked at me Needing me so Yet from your sadness Our happiness grew And I found out I needed you too ... Goodbye may seem forever Farewell is like the end But in my heart's a memory And there you'll always be"

There you'll always be, my little love.

[leclerced]

what are ur fav games?

oh baby i have a lot to say, im sorry. ive been gaming my whole life so theres a lot. i know i’m forgetting some, but here we go. im adding a read more because it accidentally got kinda long bc i nerded out

im a whore for godd howard sorry i mean todd howard games, just games developed by bethesda really. top two of all time are skyrim and oblivion from the elder scrolls franchise, they are impeccable games. oblivion has the strong nostalgia factor, it’s definitely outdated graphically but i love the way it looks. its like a dreamland to me. i’ve been playing skyrim since release, i have bought it on just about every console, multiple times. well worth the money in my opinion. both have incredible story telling, world building, characters, gameplay is pretty simple. i could go on forever. it is the only game ive ever played that i have always wanted to pick up and play again immediately after, i have hundreds to thousands of hours on it. oblivion is just in the hundreds, but still a lot.

the other games by todd howard are incredible too. i love new vegas and fall out 3 and have played those a few times each, but didn’t play much of 4 but i need to tbh. post apocalyptic isn’t generally my style but these games fascinate me and have since i was a kid.

starfield is my latest obsession and i put it down after one playthrough to give myself a rest so i could come back to it and enjoy it fully! its an incredible game that fucks your mind up, beautiful graphics and lovely characters that feel incredibly lifelike and weirdly like real people to me. love everything about it.

onto other games ! i play a lot of fortnite with friends it’s just simple and easy, fun. not a lot to it other than that but ive been playing for 5 years so i feel like if i don’t call it a fav im doing it a disservice.

portal and portal 2 are my favorite puzzle type games, also a mind fuck but very very very enjoyable. super satisfying to beat. have been playing since childhood. was playing portal 2 last night and its still just as fun as it was 10 yeas ago

star wars jedi survivor and fallen order were beautiful, i’m not a star wars fan or a souls like fan generally speaking but i had a ton of fun. it was challenging at some points but its really satisfying beating the bosses they throw at you.

i played it once but it takes two is a super fun two player game that made me cry.

little big planet, little big planet 2, and sackboy (skipping 3 and karting bc i didn’t play much) are all super super fun!!! i think lbp and lbp2 may only be available on ps3 so you may not be able to play those, but sackboy is on ps4 and ps5! lbp and lbp2 are games i grew up playing and love so so much but i can’t explain them tbh. just fun.

cyberpunk is another super fun one, ive only played it once but i tried to 100% it and gave up. im gonna go back to it and start a new game soon though because there’s multiple endings and i need to see the secret one.

the borderlands games are good and kinda brain melty. cool stories, incredible art style, great characters, there’s a lot to the game i can’t begin to describe. it’s food if you like to focus/fixate on something because there’s a ton of grinding and enemies respawn after leaving areas and returning. there’s different characters to choose from and perks to create different skill builds, theres an entire community that has created builds you can follow and guides to farm the best loot, so if that’s your thing i recommend it!

love playing assetto corsa and pretending i am a formula one driver. i wanna get a sim racing set up but they r expensive.

[ch0c0-cake]

Let Go

five hargreeves x gn!reader

part two

part three

summary - getting teleported to the literal end of the world isn’t too fun, especially when you lose the person you came there with. (I might do a part 2?)

warnings - mention of death, cursing, angst, unaliving thoughts

note - this is set before viktor comes out, although i will be using his correct name and pronouns

What you definitely were not expecting that day was to be dragged out by your best friend and start time traveling all willy-nilly. It was supper time for The Umbrella Academy last time you had checked, thus you were simply sitting on the balcony of the home you shared with your guardian(s), which just so happened to be two buildings over from the home of the Hargreeves ‘household’.

After your guardian discovered your powers that consisted of telekinetic abilities, they had started searching for a solution. For about a decade they had searched endlessly. A cure, something. Anything. When you were thirteen, they had barged into your room and proudly announced you two were moving. They found something. While the two of you were in the car, you were handed a magazine with six children on the front, deemed The Umbrella Academy.

“So, your solution is for me to join a group of superheroes?” You had asked skeptically, eyeing a particularly cute boy on the front. “After all the shit I’ve broken, I don’t think a superhero group would be the best for me.”

“Language,” they had said. “Mr. Hargreeves trained these children himself, not knowing their powers fully at first. He agreed to train you almost immediately after I told him of your capabilities. Wanna know what’s funny, too? Those children have the same exact birthday as you! Isn’t that wild?”

“…small world.” You sighed out.

Meeting the family was interesting to say the least. When you and your guardian first entered the building, a boy showed up and started yelling about how you were intruders, straight up tossing a knife at you from the doorframe. It swerved and about impaled your guardian in the chest, but it stopped when you furrowed your eyes at it and it flew back and stuck into the wall next to the boy.

That had been your first introduction to the kids you’d be spending pretty much all your time with. Reginald’s training was hardcore, that’s for sure. You remembered crying and throwing up countless times due to how hard he pushed you. However, there was one boy who was there to pull your hair back and offer you water when this happened.

Number Five.

He didn’t have a normal name like Luther or Klaus, which you found strange, but he tended to stick around.

One time you had asked him a question after he’d gotten you some water after another night of crying and throwing up your insides.

“Why do you help me so much?”

And his response was what made you decide that you wanted to stick with Five for a while.

“Well, unlike my siblings…you’re tolerable.” He had smiled ever so slightly at you. “You’re strong, even without Dad’s training. I sorta admire you, y’know? I dunno, maybe we could be partners or something like that.”

You and Five were partners in crime ever since then. You guys did everything together. Reginald didn’t seem to appreciate this, since apparently in his words…

“Being too close to somebody can jeopardize a mission. Friends, lovers, they are all just liabilities.”

The both of you weren’t meant to spend as much time together like you had been doing, but you were teenagers. One of which had the ability to teleport. Five always had a sort of brash and rebellious nature. He hated being told what to do. So when Reggie instructed him not to bother with his time travel idea, he was pissed. You knew Five had secretly developing this little formula and trying to time travel, you’d sometimes sit quietly in his room while he made calculations. You didn’t know if you liked his idea. Five was dead-set on it, and he got a little irritated when you spoke against it.

“Cinco, are you sure this is…the best idea?” You brought up the idea quietly, tearing your eyes away from the book you were reading.

“…” the only sound that you got back was the pen meeting the paper Five was meticulously writing upon.

“Five.” You spoke up a little, drawing him out of his little trance.

“Hm? I would really appreciate no interruptions, Eight.”

Of course, you weren’t officially in the Hargreeves family, and you didn’t have a tattoo or number. But Five always thought of you as a partner, thus he gave you an unofficial number.

“Yeah, I know.” You said, placing a bookmark in your book and laying it on the bed. “Just…I have a few…concerns.” You stood and walked to Five, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“What do you mean concerns?” He frowned, looking up at you.

“Well like…what if you get hurt or something y’know?” You voiced. “Like, yeah, time travel is awesome and all. Reggie could be right, you know.”

Five’s brows furrowed. “What? Come on, I know you’re better than that. He just doesn’t understand.” He sneered a little.

You shrugged. “I dunno, I guess I don’t understand either. I don’t want you risking your life over something like this.” You said with a sigh and decided to leave the conversation, not wanting to bother arguing with Five. He was a very stubborn boy. You picked up your book and continued reading.

Then you heard a familiar sound and a flash of blue light popped up in the corner of your eye. The mattress sunk down next to you and your book was suddenly taken out of your hands and tossed on the ground.

“Hey now,” Five’s hands were on your shoulders and he had you look at him. “I just need you to trust me, okay? We’re partners after all. Imagine all the amazing things I could do with this!” He said, hope shining in his eyes. “That we could do!”

You couldn’t stop a smile from appearing. “You’re so ambitious, Cinq.” You marveled, putting your hand on one of his. “You just have to promise you’ll be careful.”

“Always am, Huit.”

That didn’t turn out too well.

Five teleported to your balcony. “Come on. I think I have it figured out, and I am about to prove this old man wrong.” He grabbed your copy of Frankenstein from your hand and shoved it into his inside pocket before taking your now-empty hand.

“Five, what are you talking about?!” You asked as he kept a firm grip on your hand, a wave of nausea going over you as the boy teleported the both of you to the sidewalk, walking with you. His grip on your hand stayed tight, forcing you to up your pace to keep up with him.

“You’ll see, my dear friend.” He said with a mischievous grin. He sped up his pace and you heard the familiar warping sound of him teleporting, only this time…

The trees were red, brown, orange, and yellow. They fluttered to the ground and different people than before walked by.

“Five! Did you-” you stopped yourself when you saw a huge grin on your best friend’s face. His eyes shone like a thousand fireflies. You had never seen him this excited. “Can you do it again?!”

“Just what I wanted to hear, partner. Don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

After another flash of blue, a chill suddenly blew through your being. White, delicate snowflakes descended down from the gray clouds above. The trees were bare and not many people roamed the streets.

You laughed from excitement, joy, and adrenaline. You two were time-traveling. You didn’t think it would be possible.

“I think I underestimated you, my dear partner!”

“I told you so, didn’t I?” Five grinned, squeezing your hand, staring at the look of wonder in your eyes. Have you always had eyes like that? He wondered.

“Oh, Five! Can you take me somewhere else?” You laughed, touching some snowflakes that fluttered around the both of you.

“For you my dear friend, anywhere.” He breathed out, keeping his fast pace. “Just don’t let go!”

You both kept running and running, and you braced yourself for another change in scenery. Would it be springtime? How far could Five take both of you? You heard that familiar noise and then…

He let go.

As soon as you felt his warm hand disappear from yours, you stopped and took in the scenery around you. If you could even call it scenery.

More like hell.

The skies were muddied with dust, smoke and ash billowing up into the air casually. The buildings that were previously standing tall and proud had been reduced to rubble all around. The once lively and bustling city you were able to call home was now…nothing. Red and orange flames licked around the ground, the smoke coming from them causing you to begin coughing. Wind blew your hair into your face, but only one thought occurred to you.

Five.

A broken gasp escaped your throat, before crying out. “Five!” It was almost as if you’d forgot how to say anything else. “Five?! Five!” Without thinking, your legs started moving and you started wandering aimlessly. Screaming out his name until your throat went dry was all you could think to do. With every cry, hopelessness and despair pulled you down. Where could he have gone?

Tripping on a pile of rubble, wet tears fell down your face as you hit the ground. Five was nowhere to be seen. Blood slowly trickled down your nose from where you landed, and you glanced to where you had tripped. A scream was ripped from your throat from seeing the dirty, lifeless face of Klaus Hargreeves. You tried to fight against the thought that nobody was left, but you felt as if you had to face that reality. Not a single soul was left in sight.

With shaky hands, you used your power to lift the rubble away from Klaus’ face, flinching at the sight. Moving more bricks away, the bodies of the other members of the academy were discovered. Except for Five and Viktor. Where could they be? That thought lingering in your mind, you used your powers to create several holes in the ground before gingerly moving the corpses of your friends into them. You had no clue what had happened, but they’d always shown you a lot of kindness. You figured they deserved a proper burial.

Afterwards, thus began the waiting.

Waiting that Five would eventually come and save you. But you knew you couldn’t just sit and wait. You had to survive. For your partner. If he was still out there. It turns out, you were pretty damn good at surviving on your own. Food and water was very scarce, but luckily you were just one person. It was still hard, though. Being alone for so so long was slowly starting to drive you mad. You had absolutely nothing. Days passed, then months, then years. Every single day was filled with nothing but despair. You began talking to yourself, since you had nobody else to talk to. You knew you were pretty much going crazy, but there wasn’t anything you could do about it.

It had been 40 years.

40 years you counted by using tally marks. 40 years of scavenging for food, water, anything. 40 years of pure isolation.

Your stomach ached. It had been a while since you’d found something to eat. You gently lifted your hands and brought yourself into the air with your powers, scanning the whole area but finding nothing. Your eyes eventually averted down. What would happen if you let go? Right now? You would fall to your death, and maybe not have to deal with this anymore. Would you see Five? You had no clue what happened to him, but you knew that you’d give anything to see his face again.

“Hello! How about you come down from there, sweetheart?”

You yelped and accidentally let go of yourself. Right before you touched the ground you remembered to catch yourself, and you discovered you were staring at the heeled shoes of a slim woman, smoking a very thin cigarette. She definitely did not look like she belonged in the apocalypse. She held a briefcase in her other hand, which hadn’t been damaged in the slightest. Where had she come from?

You pulled yourself away with your powers and stood in a fighting stance.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!” You barked at the woman, and her red lips smiled calmly at you.

“No need to be so aggressive, dear (Y/n).” She crooned, almost like a mother addressing her child.

“How the hell do you know my name, lady?!” You snapped, not lowering your defensive attitude.

“I’ve come to offer you a deal, is all. A job. A way out of here.”

Turns out, this woman was called The Handler. She worked at this strange place called The Commission, where they dealt with all things time-related. Making sure certain events happened the way they should. You were confused as to why or how The Handler found you. Why you? Her response made you feel something you hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I believe you’re familiar with a Five Hargreeves? He requested we find his partner.”

Hope.

[astaroth1357]

How Often They Worry about MC…

For those who don’t know, I have a little dog named Charlie and she is a large portion of my world. There's no need to be alarmed, my dog is fine, but there are days where I hold her and all I can think about is how much I worry about her health down the line… I suppose we often do that for the people we love, particularly the ones who may not last as long as we will. Take that as inspiration if you'd like.

Lucifer 

Near constantly. 

If you tracked his blood pressure on a grid, you'd see it start to continuously rise about when he decided they were worth having in his life.

Lucifer is the eldest sibling to a whole crew of brothers so he's no stranger to worry. He worried about his brothers when they were young, he worried about them after the Fall, and he still worries about them now (even if he's less open about it).

But a part of him knows that his brothers can handle their own, at least to varying degrees. The MC, though? He's far less sure…

They've proven rather resilient, but also headstrong and reckless. Neither of which are good things to be in a place this dangerous...

If Lucifer isn't careful, he can catch himself staring at a wall or window just wondering where they are and if they're doing alright… If he called them every time he had a passing worry, their inbox would be full by the end each week.

He holds himself back because he doesn't have the time to constantly protect them, but that doesn't stop him from sending a text once or twice a day. They better respond or he'll start (secretly) panicking.

Mammon

He forgets their mortality from time to time, but every time he remembers it hits like a ton of bricks…

Mammon is a pretty "in-the-moment" person. He doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the future, but whenever he does the thought of losing MC always comes back to him again and again.

Like. It's gotta happen eventually, right? They're human, humans die, hell they don't even live that long to start with!

The MC can always tell when Mammon's getting worried because he'll get uncharacteristically quiet and pace around or hover by them…

Every little injury or strenuous task will suddenly seem like too much to him as well. 

If they need to carry some boxes, he'll carry them all.

If they have to jog to class, he's carrying them. 

If they so much as get a papercut, he'll have a heart attack.

It's not very hard to get Mammon out of these funks - he really does want them to reassure him that they're okay - but he's never going to get fully over it…

Not until he can steal whatever top secret immortality formula Solomon must have used anyway… He'll get it off that bastard eventually.

Leviathan

Thinks about it so often he has to actively try not to just to get any peace…

He dodges his fears for MC like a protagonist dodges lasting consequences. Every time he feels one creeping up, he's always got a distraction waiting…

"Hey where's MC at? I hope they didn't fall into the riv-OH HEY CHECK OUT THIS NEW GAME!!"

"What are they doing over there…? That looks hard, what if they bre-WAIT DIDN'T MY FAVORITE VOICE ACTOR JUST RELEASE A NEW PODCAST???"

"What if the MC dies tomorrow and they leave me all alo-DEVIL FIGHT 200! YOU CAN'T BEAT DEVIL FIGHT 200, LET’S BREAK MY HIGH SCORE!!"

Cut him some slack, his psyche cannot handle the idea of losing them on top of everything else he grapples with every day.

If, on the rare occasion, he does let himself fall down that rabbit hole he becomes extra clingy and practically begs MC not to leave his room… like ever. He'd bubble wrap them if he could.

Anytime they get really hurt or really sick he refuses to leave their side even if it means he has to awkwardly sit on the floor. He just needs to be able to glance at them every so often to be sure they're alive… Still breathing?? Phew…

Satan

He worries, preps, rationalizes, then worries again…

For Satan, knowledge is power and every scrap of information he can learn about MC is more power he can use to keep them safe and healthy.

Yes, he will want their medical history. Yes, he's going to need a list of prescriptions. Family members too. And no, you do not get a choice.

He'll read up on as many things as he can - pawn medical journals off of witches and get magical alternatives from Solomon.

The cycle usually goes: 

1. He's lying awake at night because he just heard about some terrible bacteria that makes human's skin peel off or something.

2. He does all the research he can on this bacteria, its treatment options, best prevention methods, etc.

3. Gets right about to break out the rubber booties for MC to wear around, then realizes they have a very slim chance of catching said bacteria since it's only native to incredibly remote parts of Indonesia.

4. Feels instant relief that MC will probably not catch flesh-eating bacteria and can finally sleep again…

5. Hears of some other human medical horror from Solomon and starts to worry…

It's a vicious cycle indeed… But at least he's getting a lot of medical training. Soon enough he'll be the Devildom's version of a human vet (which I guess is just a doctor, come to think of it. 🤔)

Asmodeus 

Lives so "here-and-now" that he doesn't remember often, but when he does it's always heartbreaking…

Asmo usually tries to worry about things as little as possible. It’s bad for the skin, you know? But when the MC is involved, all of that goes out the window.

Like how a delicate blossom eventually wilts in the snow, the MC is bound to leave them in time… Usually there's supposed to be something beautiful in that kind of tragedy, but perhaps he's just too close to them to find any romance in it.

The thought of their death gives him breakouts and anytime they get hurt or sick he's the first brother to offer them comfort. Every time.

Because he doesn't feel like he's as physically strong as he brothers, he tries to make up for it by minding their health in other ways. Anything to keep his MC strong and beautiful as always!

If Asmo is in a worrying mood, then he may also compensate by trying to take the MC out to a party or some fun event. Why sit around worrying by himself when he could be making memories with them now, right?

Beelzebub

It comes in waves, mostly at night.

When your thoughts throughout the day are mostly, "I wish I wasn't so hungry," it doesn't afford you a lot of time to think about much else.

In a way, it's a good thing since he experiences a lot less stress. But those worries are still there and they mostly plague his dreams…

Beel doesn’t feel hungry when he's sleeping, so a lot of his fears will make themselves known overnight. An injured or dying MC is often in his rotation of nightmares though, of course, he'd rather it not be…

After having one of these dreams, his first instinct is to always make sure the MC is okay. If they're with him, he'll hug them and check their heartbeat. If they're somewhere else, he'll go to them or shoot a text.

He has woken up without realizing his nightmare was all a dream though, and usually it's up to Belphie or MC themselves to console him while he cries… It's so heartbreaking, sweet boy just puts a lot of pressure on himself to be sure they're safe…

When he worries, it's like they're the most beautiful and expensive China set in a room full of bulls and hammers. If he could tape them to his side, he probably would. He gets scared for them that much…

Belphegor 

More scared about it than anyone else in the House.

Despite his calm demeanor, Belphie is truly afraid of losing his loved ones beneath the surface… He's already lost one of his most dear siblings before, going through that again may just break him.

Unfortunately, he's also felt just how fragile the MC is firsthand... He's not even the strongest of his brothers, yet he was able to snuff them out so easily… Who's to say someone else won't try?

Like Beel, MC's death is a recurring nightmare for him but he can usually shake off his dreams fairly well, if not change them mid-sleep. More scary is when something is actually wrong with them or they're not feeling well.

Belphie always sets his inner laziness aside for the MC when he can. If they get sick, he'll usually be right along with his family to take care of them - even if he has to skip school to do so (not that he cares about class anyway).

When he's worrying about them, he tries to play it off at first, but soon enough they'll notice him acting overly concerned and losing sleep… Best to calm him down before he starts getting cranky.

[hangesangel]

I cannot stop thinking about Yelena that knows you have a massive crush on her, and she is lowkey teasing you by staring at you for too long or brushing her hand over your own, maybe even flirting with you to get you all shy and quiet 💕 pleassse a fluffy one shot with this Yelena 😭💓✨

OMGGG hiii Azelma <33 IM SO SORRY this was late,,, ran into some health issues but! one Yelena one shot coming RIGHT UP ☝🏼

- OKAY SO, this is absolutely the cutest thing and honestly i wanted to write a couple of things/head canons before— and pls when i was reading your description and imagining it, deadass got me like: 

- bc i would love to ASSUME, that i can see right past Yelena’s games, but nahhhh Yelena’s too clever to let you get a read on her.

- she stops, retreats, and starts acting different. To the point of making you think you’re a fool for taking it too far. or thinking it had a deeper meaning. making you blush and avoid eye contact.

- she knows you are into her(she’s into you as well, if not more), and has to make you fall into her grasp.

- But it isn’t too far, it’s exactly where she wants ya. Bc you could be looking away, or at a textbook(a school/college setting for this would be perfect for Yelena, especially for your Yandere!Yelena, Azelma ;)

- And when you’re too busy looking over the chapter in the textbook, she’d just probably lightly place her hand over your own thats holding the side of the page, to get your attention, but her words are all related to whatever convo you’re having.

- literally making you go insane on the inside. HEHEE anyways so heres the senario!!!! (sorry this is a lot!)

Cheeky

(i didn’t know what to title this, don’t judge me pls )

Genre: fluff

yelena x reader

Summary: even though the end of the semester is still weeks and weeks away, you were struggling so much with current piled up assignments. It was so much you decided to schedule and meet up with a tutor. Attending one of the largest universities in your city, your tutor could’ve been anyone. So then, little did you expect your classmate to walk in-

- Groaning, and getting more frustrated by the minute, as you were trying to understand the formulas to solve the algebra problems, for your current lesson.

At some point your back was starting to kill you and ache more, from being hunched over, this past half hour. You really were starting to regret the college life, not because of how fun college can sometimes be, or how many benefits you have as a student. But because of the never ending unexpected piled up work that you end up with, the moment you look away for three seconds. Though at least this semester you were able to get out of your comfort zone, slightly and make some friends, which made you look more forward to going to your classes. 

Although teacher wise, you had luck on your side this time, since they’re pretty flexible and understanding. It was the course work that, overtime made your brain utterly stop functioning while doing it. At some point it became a rather, rapid habit for you to use excuses for going to cafes, or libraries, in order to “study”. In reality you’d have the assignment open but it ever barley gets any progress. And that was the routine, for two months later.

Not even your friends could’ve been able to help you now, and you didn’t wanna pressure them more, so you applied for a meeting with a tutor. This time you made sure to understand and put more effort, in make up for the other times you’ve neglected your assignments. Had already gone into the schools system to check what time worked for you and which tutor was available, and then after setting it up to be in person, you now wait. However, there was one other thing lately that had made you look even MORE forward to one of your classes, was a crush you had grew later for your classmate and seat mate, yelena. 

Yelena had always caught your attention. But at the time, it wasn’t enough for you to feel things and to turn you into a heat packet whenever you’d see or talk to her.

Her calm and quiet demeanor, put you under such a spell, it felt like you had to reflect her behavior. Or hide away every time she’d look straight at you, and stare your outfit, down and back up. You absolutely pool into a heated mess and all  her silent flirting made you wanna close off, and hide. Though, you never did, you weren’t so gushing over her that you were blind to her games. You knew exactly what she was doing, and most times you did fall for those games, but you’d do it all over again if it meant spending more time and getting her attention.

Now, here you sit and finally feel the slight uncomfortableness creep in slowly, from smiling for too long. You sit up in your seat, and fix yourself to for more comfort. As looking up in realization, that your tutor still hasn’t arrived and the cafe room you rented for the day is almost up if they don’t come any sooner.

“damn... where are they”, slightly whispering, when you’ve picked up your phone to check the time and open it up. Might as well allow it to entertain you, as you dread these passing minutes. Some part of you thinks you should just collect yourself, give up and just ‘treat yourself’ again. The thought of a delicious meal, with a donut after it was slowly possessing you to act upon the idea. But the other half of you wants to stay, and get some help so you can pass and move on.

But you didn’t need to dread for any longer. Not when, you barely see a figure from the windows, pass next to and pause at the door handle. When the door handle creates it’s own alarm for you to feel relief that the tutor had shown up. Closing the door behind them and settling in, at the same time you, bend to the side at your bag  to get some notes and your assignment. 

“Sorry, i’m late, had a talk with the professor after class.”

You forgive them, and bite down your frustration at them for being a bit late. however, then it all completely flushes away and your frustration turns your blood cold upon, your brain clicking together at who just possibly walked in by the sound of their voice.

“Yelena....!” your voice utterly exposing a bit fear, as you’ve turned to make sure your ears weren’t playing tricks on you. Her light chuckle, at your reaction, reminded you to collect yourself. Yelena seated herself, “Yea! it’s me, Y/N.” looking away to the other side, with a grin and quickly, she pulled out her own laptop on the table in front.

“why? did ya miss me?..” 

automatically turning your head away to the side, with a pfft, to scratch the side of your head. Yelena knew how to pull your strings, how to play with your physical and emotional state just by a single glance. But of course, you aren’t oblivious, you can read exactly what those looks were saying with those eyes.

That’s why you try your hardest to somehow not fall for her games, or at least take control,

“please.. how would i miss you..” mumbling the last part. 

“hmm? you said something?” Not even bothering to look up at you, making you think you were able to get away with that. It was hard for you however, to do that, not when you’ve started to crush hard on her.

Stressfully you take your bottled drink and gulping some of it down, “No, i was just not expecting you to be my tutor, is all.”, not noticing Yelena’s pause in her searchings on her notes, just to slowly look up at you with a smirk but slight jealousy brewing inside. 

“Of course,” Her statement halting to pull her chair closer to you, “i’m your tutor for today, and i’m guessing you must be failing if you need my help.” And here the cycle started, however you were to taken back by her comment, to register how close you both are at the corner of the table, and her forearm touching your own.

“huh?! i’m NOT failing...”, the heat in your face from the physical contact fillling in, “i just couldn’t understand this section, and needed a tutor”, confessing as you turn your head away all shy and offended.

Looking then down and grabbing your pencil to point and to start discussing with Yelena, what you needed help with. You needed to distract yourself and you won’t know how long you’ll last, with your personal bubble constantly being poked at. Quick witted, she takes notice of this and plays along, but doesn’t stop.

Not when everytime she had you peek over at her own notes, she wouldn’t just be nice and give them to you to let you read it over. But rather, make you slightly bend over the table, with your knees still bent, as she stares you and all over your body. Taking a deep breath and then half assed giving you “mmm”, or “yeah, that’s correct”, whenever you ask about something, as if mentally still tutoring you and not at all in her own world sometimes.

After an hour passing, of what should’ve been mainly studying. Turned out to be some studying, teasing, lots of laughing, and you ending up with a cramp in your cheeks. This session, with being able to have time to spend with Yelena is not something you were trade. Feeling far more drawn to her, and got to understand her better. From both ends what started as small verbal battles, the tension turned into a more comfy, relaxed and almost loving atmosphere. 

You’ve both taken breaks now, hand in phone, scrolling thru it as you both laugh at what you find and send it to each other,

(did i mention you exchanged numbers.......)

Finally, the tall blonde taking a deep breath, and sitting up with a suggestion in mind. Almost allowing temptation to take over her, and almost grabbing your hand in hers, she hesitates, enclosing her fingers back to her palm and pull it back. You look over with your eyes still glued to your screen, “Yelena, whats up?”, “you okay?”, sitting up as well and matching her position, as you try to scan whats on her mind, and curiously tilting your head to the right.

She looks at the walls digital timer, and then down at her watch on her left writs, “our time for this room is almost over..” the tone in her sentence, displaying disappointment, as her last words fade quietly. “yeah.. it is.” agreeing before upon continuing,

“Thank you for your help today... though i know we didn’t do much of our assignments or study, but i think i’ve got the hang of it now!” as you looked over the papers in front of you as if to remind you to what had happened as you confessed your words, and ending it with a genuine smile.

Yelena already slightly smiling, but then returning back your big smile, when she looks up to lock her eyes with yours. Suddenly, that flustered feeling creeped in quickly, and you look down out of shyness. Breathing in, “Y/n..”, eyes widening at the gesture of her calling for your name. It does something to you, makes you feel more than just special, especially special to her.

“yea..?” you still avoid contact but respond. She lowers her head hoping it would get you to meet her eyes but for probably, the first time, she failed.

“well... i was just thinking if you’d like to hang out somewhere...after this” Yelena, might’ve failed the first silent gesture, but certainly her verbal proposal halted your actions and you looked up at her in slight awe, but more shocked. “are you serious?”, trying to mask your excited shock as much as possible before continuing, “i mean... where would we go?”, other than the request shocking you, you’re surprised by Yelena’s calmness, she hasn’t teased you in minutes. 

Some part of you hopes Yelena will ask for a small date, or at least hinting at that. Yelena looks around a little and thinks

Before allowing her to respond, you speaking getting her attention, and suggest, “maybe we can go to that cute cafe at the corner, and get something to eat? i am hungry, how about yourself?” asking and curiously waiting for her answer.

Her ears perking at the idea, “A cute cafe at the streets corner...? you mean that couples’ cafe?” Yelena selectively dragging her words, as you nod and respond “yes! that one!”

Although Yelena’s behavior took you back once again, because sure it was a “couples’ cafe”, because to your local UNI, it’s common people go on dates there and even couples hang round there oftenly

But, for you, it was your favorite cafe because it was also a “nature” cafe. The delicious scent of coffee and food, along with the aromatherapy the workers apply there, and the best part was they had two cats that roamed the cafe. It had became your comfort place over time.

  Pursing her lips inwardly together, the muscles creating a small, tiny smile, Yelena looks to the side and regains herself. To look back and say “aahh.. Y/n so you did you wanna go on a date with me?” She laughs a little cooing at you, and continues, “....our sweet, innocent Y/n, why didn’t you just ask me out?”, “instead of just teasing me and beating around the bush?”

  At this point you were beyond baffled, and frozen at her comment, and teasing remarks. If anything she was playing around with you. You would’ve kept your likeness towards her as closed off as possible. Not ever thinking they’d have an interest in you.

The past small, but lingering time you spent with her, maybe even start to consider getting close. At the same time keeping a distance so she wouldn’t notice. Oh, but as the universe saw this and pushed Yelena to your game. As you’ve started to calm down from the shock and back to reality. You see Yelena almost rushly collecting her stuff and to get up out of her seat afterwards.

“so? what do you say?” the question turning your attention to her, still stunned. “oh!, oh yeah,” agreeing and suddenly your body is functioning again, and even without your own control. Gathering your stuff along with her. wanting to say something, to add on unneeded context, “i don’t have much plans for today, at all so, i’m down..” , finally cleaning everything up. Picking up your backpack to swing it to your back, as you’ve continued talking, “It’s a really pretty cafe! i think you’ll love it there!” walking around the table to meet where Yelena had waited for you at the door. Finishing off with giving up, a smile at her, and she too returns the expression with adoreness in her eyes as she looks down.

Yelena, had never shown it but deep down loved hearing you talk, especially when you forgot yourself  and just kept rambling. Absolutely her favorite thing.

“mmhm,”, “c’mon, i’ll drive us there too.” she offers, right before opening the door. 

You won’t understand how fast you got to this point, but you’re not complaining. In fact, your even thanking the universe, you feel like a hyper, excited child on the inside. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

also smth else i wanna add, i saw that audio from tiktok that goes

    “you left your diary at my house.”

“and i read those pages- you really love me... baby”

this really was Yelena x Reader, in this.

[tonnerredebrest]

Max being the youngest on the grid and he feels a bit lonely and left out due age difference. Everybody thinks max is just an aggressive teenager and nobody invites him to hang out.

Max caused an accident and since almost all of the grid hates him nobody cares to see how severely injured he is. The only ones that see and help him are Kimi and Sebastian.

If you wanted some fluffy parents!Simi, I'm terribly sorry Anon. I went overboard and decided Seb/Kimi/Max will be a thing now 🗿

(please don’t take this seriously, I’m mostly writing for fun. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY - including the F2004 - DONT SHOW THIS TO ANYONE INVOLVED.)

Thank you to @wolfsbanesbite for proofreading this! Go check their works on AO3, they literally wrote 16% of all the Simi works.

*****

From the start, Max knew he won't get it easy. He had come to Formula 1 without going through F2, quite literally being parachuted into a world he had only vaguely seen in his younger years and F3. The fact that he never hid he was there to win, to get promoted to Red Bull, and eventually win a Championship. He knew what he wanted, and that reflected on the track. 

People said his driving style was aggressive and dangerous. He just replied by saying he always did what it takes to get where he wanted. Press said he was too immature, too hot-headed. Max wished he could remind them that he wasn’t even an adult yet. Drivers said he was too young to understand, that he couldn’t and won’t relate with them if they included him in their activities. Max wished they would stop treating him like a baby. 

The driver was in a stalemate, where everybody had so many contradicting expectations of him. He was either too young or not old enough. He was either a rookie who can make mistakes or a professional who couldn’t permit himself to make a single one. He was either too aggressive or too ignorant.

On top of that, he discovered peer pressure never stops, even if you are a professional driver. Girls were expected to fall before him, everybody thought he would have partners upon partners. Yet, Max never showed up to the paddock with someone at his arm. All of it weighed on his shoulders, a constant emotional package people kept putting things in. Max tried his best to ignore them, but sometimes it would him stumble off his feet. 

The only ones who weren’t passive-aggressive towards him were Kimi because that guy couldn't be bothered by anything, and Seb, who seemed to have taken a liking to the youngster. The Finn's silence was a benediction in the rumour-filled paddock. Seb never failed at laughing at his jokes, and even gave him some advice back when he was at Toro Rosso. Max was glad, at least some people on the grid didn't hate his guts or belittled him. He quite liked to be in the same conference group as them.

Max had spent some time looking at them, just out of curiosity. One of the first things he saw, was that they were always together. It was pretty normal, they were teammates after all, but it went to a point where Max wasn't sure whether they had two separate hotel rooms or just one for both. 

The second thing he saw, was that Seb was the only one who could make Kimi smile, truly smile. It was small, a twitch in the eyes and the corners of his mouth getting upwards a bit, but it was a genuine smile nonetheless. 

The third thing he saw, was their blatantly displayed love. Max couldn't understand how people didn't catch that up, for him, it was as obvious as the sun setting in the west. He was happy for them, really. He was glad to know other queer people existed on the grid.

If Max was to be honest, he was incredibly jealous of them. He wanted what they had, craved it so bad. Max could only imagine how it would feel to be strongly held in loving arms. He could only imagine how it would feel to get a sweet kiss after a long and gruelling race, or falling asleep against a warm body...

He spent so much time wondering who was the little spoon, who liked to be kissed before exiting the privacy of their room, who liked getting a hug after a hard race... In his mind, Kimi was a polar bear with a kind heart, who couldn't wait to kiss the living daylights out of Seb. Seb, who always playfully smiled before turning an innocent kiss into something more explicit ...

Sometimes, in the deadc of the night, he would indulge anything in his touch-starved mind. He would imagine a blond, blue-eyed, absolute unit of a man holding him tight, mouthing at his neck, while a brunette would kiss his chest, going further down. Max would moan at those thoughts, and literally see stars in his pitch-black hotel room.

Max, like an obsessed fan, had made up so many scenarios in his mind, that he didn't know where reality ended and his fantasies began. They were so vivid for him, they could very well have existed outside the realms of his tormented mind. 

He was confused, hurt, and angry. All his teenage angst was kicking him in full force. Even if he was twenty now, he still felt like he was back in high school, where nothing about his feelings and emotions made sense. It was dangerous, he knew, but he had to race either way because that’s what he was made for. Racing fast cars against faster drivers. 

~~~~~

He got into the race day in an even more distressed set of mind. His father had screamed at him for hours about a minor mistake which cost him pole in qualifying. He had left his motor home almost in tears, but more determined to win a race than ever. 

Max tried to shut down all his thoughts, all his brain, really. Yet, that proved to be a stupid decision. 

He had gotten into his race suit, and into his car. 

It’s lights out, and away we go!

Max pressed the throttle, and immediately overtook a Williams. He had a good pace, he was confident he could grad the podium. Changing gears into the curb, he didn’t see a sleek Mercedes looming behind him. 

A sudden oversteer made him lose control for a second, and the Mercedes crashed into him. Max went spinning into the gravel, and he had the reflex of letting go of the wheel. He closed his eyes, waiting for the car to stop. Yet, it didn’t come. He felt another car crash into him, sending him into the walls. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was how his whole body hurt, and how angry he was that he didn’t even finish the race. 

~~~~~

Max hurt as he had never hurt before. It was much deeper than a simple physical wound. It ran deep into his soul, tearing it apart. After he got discharged from the medical centre, he went back to the paddock, to avoid his dad. He knew Jos wouldn’t try to lecture him in front of the whole world, he knew he was safe for a second. 

As he entered the RBR garage, the race had just ended. The winners were already on the podium, the other drivers going on about in the paddock.  All gave him dirty looks as if he had been responsible for this whole mess. 

It’s not my fault! He wanted to scream at them. I couldn’t know the car will oversteer that much! I swear it, please, believe me!

Yet, not a sound left his lungs, he just inhaled qsharply. Immediately, he felt a vivid pain in his abused and bruised ribs. Tears got to his eyes, and Max had to seat down. Mechanics passed in front of him, not caring about him much. He clung to his torso, trying to alleviate the pain. It didn’t do much, but it did make him feel just a little better. 

He was almost rocking himself back and forth, trying to calm himself down. Yeah, he knew it wasn't exactly the best place to have a mental breakdown, but it's not like he could control those kinds of things. Suddenly, a warm hand grabbed his shoulder. Max lifted his eyes, only to see too silhouettes in front of him.

"Hey, are you ok?" It was Seb who asked, Kimi, didn't have that sweet tone in his voice when he was talking to Max.

The Red Ball driver nodded, he didn't want them to worry. Yet, his particularly weak nod didn't fool the German.

"It's very visible you aren't," the Ferrari driver stated. "Come on, let's get you out of here.''

Max felt two sets of hands strongly grabbing him, lifting him from the ground. He winced, pain emerging from his bruises. As he was on his feet, the hands left his arms, only to support him by the shoulders and waist.

"Are you hurt?" Seb asked again, and Max nodded. "Shit, we'll be careful."

Kimi grunted  in approval. They slowly made their way towards the parking lot, using dark corridors and forgotten passageways. Max couldn't remember exactly what route they took, but they arrived in front of a car without being seen by either their teams Or the public. 

"Don't hurt your head," the Finn mumbled, gently pushing Max into the backseat of the car. 

The Dutch driver let himself be carefully seated, not wanting to hurt his ribs any farther. He didn't put his seatbelt on, it would have caused too much pain. Seb took the steering wheel, Kimi riding shotgun. They didn't say a word to each other, just occasionally checking up on Max. The latter felt like he was intruding on their private space, and the sinful thoughts which ran in his mind definitely didn't help.

They arrived at the hotel where Team Ferrari was staying soon enough. Max was glad his own wasn't that far away, he could go there on his own.

"Thank you, Seb and Kimi," the youngster said, opening the car's door. "My hotel isn't far, I'll walk to there alone."

As he put a foot on the ground, a hand touched his shoulder. Looking back, it was Seb. The German was looking at him with eyes full of compassion and pity. Max didn't want anybody to feel those things when looking at him.

"Stay," the Ferrari driver said, his voice as sweet as last time.

"I can't, I have to go back to my father," Max croaked out, already thinking about the scolding he will receive. 

"At least go upstairs with us, just for a drink."

Seb had this capacity of charming almost every damn person he ever met, and Max wasn't an exception. He knew what, or rather who awaited him in his own hotel room. If going with the couple he had so much fantasised about would delay the inevitable, then Max was willing to lose his sanity. 

"Just one drink," he said, getting fully out of the car. 

Both older men smiled and got out too. They insisted on helping him, even if Max felt a lot better. He wasn't on the verge of a panic attack anymore, he could walk on his own just fine. Yet, the Ferrari drivers still directed him to the lobby and towards the lift. 

The ride to their floor had been an awkward one, as nobody talked. Max was too flustered by the proximity to say anything. Seb and Kimi were too busy having a silent conversation. 

They arrived on the floor, and helped Max out of the lift. Seb still had an arm around his shoulders, Kimi still tightly holding his waist. It would be a lie to say the Dutch driver wasn’t as red as the other’s shirts. 

The room wasn’t far, fortunately. Max didn’t know if his ego could support someone seeing him like this. Kimi fumbled a bit with the keys in front of the door, but they eventually got in. The room was spacious, and the two lots of luggage on the ground clearly showed that the room was shared. 

Seb and Kimi delicately left him on the bed. Max tried his best to stay seated, even if the mattress seemed oh so very inviting. The Finn went to search for some alcohol, while the German went for the glasses. They worked like a piece of well-oiled machinery, they were definitely in love for a long, long time.

“What do you want to drink?” Kimi asked, bending over to look in the mini-fridge. 

Max swallowed hard, trying hard to not ogle the older driver. Seb must have caught him doing that, as he chuckled. 

“He has an amazing butt, right?”

Max blushed immediately, almost choking on his own saliva. Kimi acted as if nothing was said, and looked back at the Dutch, as if to ask to hurry up.

“Erm, yeah- I mean, a Red Bull if you have?”

Both Ferrari drivers chuckled, it was predictable the RBR wonderkid would have asked for that. Luckily for the latter, they did have some, and the Finn came back with a cold can in hand. 

Max used that opportunity to hide himself behind it, trying to make himself as little and small as possible. He was positively overwhelmed by the race and whatever was happening here. He just needed to catch a break, really. 

Seb and Kimi were in front of him, sipping what seemed to be wine. 

“So,” the German started, “We’ve noticed you look a lot at us.”

“More like ogle,” Kimi added.

“And we wondered why?" 

Seb’s eyes were seeing right through his soul, and Max was afraid that somehow, he would know what shameful things he thought about. 

“Erm…” The younger could only blush and try to avoid all eye contact. 

“It’s OK,” Seb said, getting closer to him. “We’re fine with it.”

“Wait, really?”

Max couldn't believe his ears, maybe he had heard wrong.

“Yes,” Kimi looked at him, and slightly smiled.

“I...” Max was speechless. “I don't know what to say.”

“We understand if this is a lot for you to process, especially after today," Seb put his hand on his shoulder. "And we want you to know that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Just say the word, and we get you back to your hotel room.”

May looked wide-eyed at them. Had his deepest, darkest dreams just come true? Kimi seemed to have seen his confusion, as he got closer to the Dutch too. He put his glass away and cupped Max's face between his hands. Their faces were very, very close. 

“Can I kiss you?” The Finn asked.

“Yes,” Max whispered, afraid that if he raised his voice, the moment would be gone.

Kimi smirked and gently pressed his lips against the Dutch's. The latter closed his eyes, feeling his stomach get warmer. He didn't move, and the Finn seemed to have taken it as Max wanting for the kiss to end. When Kimi went away, Max moaned at the loss. He opened his eyes back and chased the Finn's lips.

Once again, he was kissing the older driver. This time, Max didn't hesitate to begin the kiss. More, he wanted more. Kimi gladly answered. Their tongues were dancing with each other,

“Hey, don't monopolise him,” Seb joked.

Immediately, his teammate left Max. The latter didn't even have the time to feel the loss, as another pair of warm lips pressed themselves against his own. A curious tongue poked, and Max gladly opened his mouth. A pair of lips came mouthing at his neck, and the Red Bull driver could only moan.

They fell on the mattress, all three of them, and Max couldn't be happier.

*****