#and i was so normal about it btw that's not even me making a joke i had such good normal guy slay back then

[azulpitlane]

american wedding l ln4

summary: lando dating zak brown's daughter leads to a lot of pr disasters, like getting married in vegas

notes: can be read as a part two to boss' daughter or a stand alone

masterlist

yourusername

liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri and 38,329 others

yourusername wasnt gonna drink tonight but i miss my bf like a mf.

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user real tbh

user i miss u like a mf. show ur face at a race already queen.

user no cause it's been forever since she went to one and i miss the chaotic content with her and lando

user you know damn well you were gonna drink regardless liked by yourusername

landonorris i miss u more😓 just drop out of uni and come to all my races

zbrownceo excuse me?

landonorris JUST A JOKE! ha ha ha.

user LANDO😭😭

landonorris but i just booked a flight to nyc because of this post btw. see you this weekend😈

yourusername i was about to start crying until i realized what emoji you used😐

oscarpiastri dont we have be at the mtc this weekened??

yourusername SHHHH OSCAH

landonorris yeah oscar shhh

user poor oscar is always getting tag teammed by those two

user lando getting that in-law privilege by skipping important meetings to see his boss' daughter😭

user i love this relationship's dynamic theyre so perfect for each other

f1gossip

23,432 likes

f1gossip Lando and Y/n's Brown's weekend in New York City! It seems Lando skipped his trip to the MTC to be with his girlfriend where they were pictured clubbing and walking around the city multiple times.

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user IN THE CLURB WE ALL FAM

user he finally met his match lol

user lando is a clingy drunk confirmed✅

user i really want to know what their drunk conversations sound like

user hot take but if she wasnt zaks daughter most of you guys would hate her

user shes making him blow off important meetings so he could be with her? she sounds like a distraction from racing

user girl what- her dad is literally the ceo? if there was an issue im sure he wouldve let them know bffr

user zak brown is probably tired of these two😭

user is partying all they do together?

user no cause she lowkey seems like a bad influence

user i agree🫣 shes always posting herself partying and drinking, thats not wag material

user she might be a pr nightmare but i stand with my canceled wife💜

landonorris

liked by yourusername, oscarpiastri and 820,429 others

landonorris nyc to vegas🛩 aaaand i brought the bad influence with

tagged yourusername

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user the caption IM-

user nah hes lowkey dissing y/n haters😭

user how did he bag someone 10x cooler than him

user the bottle of alcohol and the vape, she really is ready for vegas

user Y/N'S BACK!!!

yourusername vegas aint ready for us

landonorris no they arent😈

yourusername enough.

user no hate to the other wags but y/n is truly the realest one out of all of them

user fr she truly is just a normal girl in her twenties

oscarpiastri 🙂

yourusername what is that suppose that mean OSCAH!!! my father will hear of this

oscarpiastri ok calm down draco malfoy

user why is there lowkey beef between y/n and oscar LMFAO

yourusername he hates my swag!!!

oscarpiastri she brings a lotttt of energy to the garage when shes here🙂

user im crying at oscars response😭😭😭 hes had enough of yn and lando

user idk if her holding a bottle of alcohol is appropriate to post!

user pls grow up omg

yourusername

liked by carlossainz55, danielricciardo and 59,329 others

yourusername postt race partoes >>>>>> the avtual race

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user THEE party girl

user i need to party with them so bad

user lando.jpg when???

user the typos😭 shes already drunk

user yup theres already videos of her and lando drunkly dancing together all over twitter

user yeah and oscar was in the background of those videos looking miserable LMFAOO

user oh to be a wag partying in vegas with lando

yourusername posted a story

user i voted fall to my knees and cry btw…if you even care

user um this is a random question to ask at 3am…

user what stores are even open rn😭😭

-

oscarpiastri Y/N??? IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU AND LANDO FOR LIKE A HALF AN HOUR AT THE CLUB AND YOURE NOT EVEN HERE??

oscarpiastri if you guys dont pick up your phones i swear to god…

oscarpiastri of course i get stuck as babysitter to the two most drunk people at the party

yourusername heY oscah😊😊 sendingg u my lpcation now cuz we need a witness so come ASAPPPPPP

oscarpiastri WITNESS FOR WHAT?

-

danielricciardo if this means what i think it means, youre both so dead🤣

user babes didnt u just post at the club like an hour ago

yourusername

liked by danielricciardo, landonorris and 1,392,321 others

yourusername do u guys thonk my dad will be mad thaT oscar walked me down the aislee?

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user OH MY GOD??

user mclarens pr team are going to have a rude awakening in the morning😭

user shes never beating the bad influence allegations i fear

user crazy to think that this time last year he was flirting with her through her instagram comments😭

user and now theyre married omg i remember everyone was teasing lando but he truly got the last laugh

carlossainz55 i dont know if i should congralute you guys or be concerned?

user mind you, its almost four in the morning in vegas

danielricciardo getting married is crazy, you should be at the club

yourusername u mak a grrat point! otw now

mclaren we cannot congratulate until the boss says its okay sorry😕

zbrownceo answer your phone.

oscarpiastri sir, i would like it to be known that she blackmailed to be there

yourusername okay snitch!

zbrownceo im not kidding y/n

danielricciardo ouuu youre in trouble

user its so over for them

user zak finally putting his foot down with these two LMFAO

f1gossip

25,532 likes

f1gossip Wedding celebrations at the club! Seems like the newlyweds are back partying after their wedding announcement was made just a few minutes ago. Congrats to them?

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user everyone is freaking out and theyre literally at the club im cryingg

user "congrats to them?" is literally all of us rn😭

user they are not real omg

user zak is probably blowing up their phones and they do not care at all lmfaooo

user truly winning the idgaf war

user real question is are they getting an annulment once they sober up???

user i really wanna know what zak will make them do

f1gossip

20,329 likes

f1gossip Newly weds update! The two were seen this afternoon leaving Las Vegas with Zak Brown himself. Neither were seen wearing wedding rings, possible divorce?

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user well that was fun while it lasted

user damn they beat kim kardashians record of the shortest marriage

user at least theyre still dating😭

user they definitely got yelled at lmfaoo

user cant tell if zak is happy or angry that his daughter married norris considering how much he loves him

user oh hes def happy about it but not happy they posted it LOL

user good for him for getting an annulment. shes a mess

user and hes not? bye theyre both messy

landonorris 📍qatar

liked by carlossainz55, yourusername and 2,424,232 others

landonorris annulment? we're in our honeymoon

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user oh so theyre fr about this marriage😭

user does bro know theres a race on sunday

user they look so in love im honestly really happy for them

yourusername we beat the fraud marriage allegations💜

mclaren now thats its been approved by the boss, congratulations to the best papaya couple theres ever been🧡

user wow so zak approves! im shocked tbh

user i wish i couldve seen their reactions the morning after the wedding

yourusername ohhh we didnt remember any of it tbh but were happy now!

user LMFAO OMG....

user she finally got her ring!! and here you guys were thinking they got a divorce bc she didnt have one

danielricciardo never thought id see the day

yourusername me neither tbh

landonorris excuse me WHAT

landoupdates

50,242 likes

landoupdates Lando was questioned on his Vegas wedding in new interview.

"We decided not to get any annulment or anything and just keep this Vegas marriage as sort of like a promise for a real one in the future." 🧡

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user omg😭😭they are too cute

user not to be dramatic but i would honestly cried if they broke up

user no literally they mean everything to me

user "i really do think y/n is the one" DO YOU HEAR ME SOBBING

user he gets so smiley when y/n is brought up ughhh me and WHO

user and to think y/n has haters is crazyyy this man is so in love with her

user if oscar isnt the best man ill riot for him, he was there for the og wedding

user imagining them trying to convince zak to not get a divorce is the cutest but funniest thing ever

-

more notes: has anyone seen anora?? it inspired this haha A FRAUD MARRIAGE!!!

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

Wow, what an interesting premise, I can't wait to see where this fic/comic/etc goes-

*Lilith character assassination*

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

do—

Do Howdy and Barnaby ever get together in your human au 🥺🥺

of course they do, who do you think i am

oh BOY do i have things to say about human!Laughingstock! im so unwell about them allow me to talk and talk and talk and ta-

~

so in this au they're like... the ultimate slowburn. their feelings for each other slowly simmer and grow over the course of *checks nonexistent watch* a lil over a decade i think. it's not very dramatic - just soft & silly w/ just a heap of pining and a pinch of angst for Flavor

it starts when they were teens - Howdy had a lil crush on Barnaby in middle school. and how could he not? Barnaby was cute, hilarious, and kind. at this point, they weren't friends! Barnaby knew Howdy's name, but only because they'd shared a school since elementary (as with 6/7 of the other neighbors) & speaking from experience, you just Know Those Names. Howdy slowly "grew out of" this crush, especially when the friend group started forming and he & Barnaby became actual friends.

that crush would fluctuate over the years. It starts out strong and then softens into just this hum in the back of Howdy's mind. always there, often easy to ignore, just... part of him, in a way.

Barnaby has a similar experience. when he and Howdy became friends, he got a lil crush - how could he not? Howdy was cute, laughed at all of his jokes and had a few of his own, and was endearingly eccentric. but at the time, Barnaby didn't recognize the crush for what it was. so he elected to ignore it until the crush dwindled to something easily manageable, something he wouldn't realize is still there. as with Howdy's, it'd never fully go away

and its noticeable enough to their friends that they'd all kinda side-eye how touchy Howdy & Barnaby are with each other (Barnaby is a physical guy, but damn. if Howdy is nearby they Will find a way to be touching at all times), the way they always laugh at each others jokes, the way they always ask "where's [x] / is [x] coming with" whenever the other is absent. but the group couldn't be sure if they were looking into it or not. it's too subtle. over time they get so used to it that they don't bat an eye - Howdy is Barnaby's best friend after Wally. of course they're close!

but then there's this one college party Howdy drags Barnaby to (and by extension, Wally). they're drunk off their asses, Wally's edible has kicked in, the party is pretty chill and everyone is having a decent time. all three of them are on the couch, and Barnaby and Howdy start drunk-complimenting each other. naturally, this feeds their mutual attraction, and one thing leads to another! they make out on the couch. naturally with Wally sandwiched between them, snacking on chips and committing the moment to memory (it's a surprise tool that'll help them later!) neither Barnaby nor Howdy will remember this

now, something i'd like to state for Barnaby in this au! he has had a lot of relationships - from one night stands to actually dating someone for months. sometimes the one night stands were a "he takes someone home after a date, & they leave while he's sleeping and ghost him" situation. with actual dating, the other person always breaks things off after a few weeks, if not days. it breaks Barnaby's heart a little bit every time. to the point where in his mid-20s, he just... stops dating. he avoids other people's advancements towards him, he always takes a friend with him to bars/etc as a buffer, he becomes an expert at gracefully turning people down

("why, pray tell" no one asks "do they always leave him? he's such a catch!" that he is! when he was in school, it was his friend group. he'd try to introduce his 'girlfriend' to his friends, and it'd be an immediate "eugh, you're friends with those freaks? no way!" as an adult, people found it off-putting how (by societal standards) unusually close he was with Wally. also, again, a "weird" friend group. they'd think it's too much, or just not their scene, or 'why don't you date your little blue haired boyfriend', etc. Barnaby never holds it against Wally or his friends. he has the mindset of if that person was the one, they would accept every part of Barnaby - and his friends are indeed part of him. Howdy has also dated around a little, but to a much lesser extent. he's too busy! he doesn't have time for that!)

but the ball really starts rolling in their late 20s. something the group does together - as a fun lil rare hobby - is LARPing. they get really into it! Sally made them all custom costumes, Julie helped make the weapons (like a giant sword for herself), etc etc. they fully commit to the bit (even Frank <3). so at this event's point in the timeline, Eddie is fully integrated into the clique, but that's unimportant - just to show where we are!

so they're all doing their thing, it's a pretty big LARP event - there's always way more people than our dear neighbors, yk. they're just part of the crowd! & there's a big battle hosted, the group is split between teams, but Barnaby & Howdy are on the same side! yay! during the battle, Barnaby is "mortally wounded." Howdy half-drags him away from the main battle under the cover of their teammates (including Eddie and Julie) and sits him down by the tree. now, Howdy & Barnaby are the ones who get into the roleplay the most. they get lost in the sauce! they perform the hell out of everything they do!

& since Barnaby is "dying", he really acts like it. Howdy acts accordingly, but again, they get a little too emotional, a little too into it, a little lost in the sauce. genuine tears are in their eyes, Howdy's voice is genuinely shaking a little as he holds Barnaby in his "dying moments" (Barnaby is holding the sword between his arm and his side. he has ketchup on his armor.) Eddie and Julie are getting choked up just watching this happen. and as Howdy & Barnaby look into each others' tear-filled eyes, those little feelings that have been so quiet for so long come right back babey! full force! but then they all get hit with "arrows" and have to die right there and then, and the moments over. but! both Barnaby & Howdy walk away from this LARP session grappling with Partially Realized Feelings.

Barnaby struggles with this the most, since yk at this point he's sworn off dating. he's being careful with his heart! but when he tells Wally all of this, cause he tells Wally everything, Wally's like "oh. yes, i know! remember that one college party where you two kissed for an hour". and then he goes on to point out every instance where he's thought "right, Howdy and Barnaby are in love" (bc Wally is way more observant than he lets on! he saw that shit! his peepers were peepin!)

BUT IT'S STILL A SLOW BURN BABEY!

Barnaby and Howdy don't approach each other about this. they're both in the boat of "well, i'll just keep going and see what happens" to the point where they're practically dating without ever saying anything to each other. Howdy notices how Barnaby lingers around the store more. Barnaby notices how Howdy keeps turning up at his work to talk more. (they already chat so much...) but they still! dont! say! anything! but they both Know! they're not emotionally circling each other they are Dancing to their Own Music!

and Barnaby is letting himself believe that this can work because, well... Howdy already accepts him as he is. Howdy is part of the group. Howdy loves Wally just like the rest of em. Howdy has seen Barnaby at his (presumed) worst and didn't even flinch! as for Howdy, well, he just thinks this is right! his whole life no one has really caught his eyes or heart, but Barnaby is different. he's always been in Howdy's peripherals. it feels natural to love him so deeply. Barnaby slots into his life like the final piece of a puzzle!

there's a lot of stuff that happens in this inbetween state - Howdy's store burns down & almost takes him with it, there's some family drama that needs to be handled, The Crash happens, etc etc etc - so it's a while before they "actually" get together. but they're both patient! they've waited this long, even if they didn't know they were waiting. neither of them are in a rush. they're young. they have time.

[honeyconez]

guys hear me out would painis cupcake pay taxes? Because he’s not like mega insane like ass pancakes I think he’d pay his taxes in my professional opinion.

[dootznbootz]

@thehelplessmortals shared this with me and...Penelope coded.

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A post shared by Chere Reck Ellis (@chere_ellis67)

She definitely tried to gross out Odysseus in a dumb "You think you can handle me, idiot? >:) " way. (She's stubborn and in denial at first. When she realizes she actually likes him, she's a mess.) And while eating raw fish is normal for naiad-born in Sparta, when she learned Odysseus wasn't used to naiads in daily life, she just really went wild with it.

He's just staring at her kind of expressionless and she thinks "Ha, see? You don't really like me."

But he's just like

"You like carp? Cuz if you do, we got plenty on Ithaca! Many more fish too! And if we don't, I'll get you some!"

And she's annoyed because her plan didn't work. Girlie is self-sabotaging even though she thinks he's neat.

[snow-and-saltea]

yesterday i spent 45 minutes of my life watching a video essay criticising the use of cheap shock values and crossing of taboos for a video game and i went from "he has a point even if he's explaining it in a really inflammatory way" to "oh umm... i can see how he thinks that way even if i don't agree" to "oh this guy's just straight up using people on tumblr as material for an audience to get mad at like other outdated people on the internet. nvm he's just an asshole"

[sonknuxadow]

"they should give jim carrey a fat suit in the next sonic movie to complete his transformation into eggman" actually they should have just cast a fat actor to begin with i think. also its kind of fucked up that you only want him to be fat Now to show that hes "more unhinged" or whatever. Peace and love

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

anyway back to thinking about fionna and cake for the night because simon compels me

[lonesomedotmp3]

miss having a huge crush on my close friend when I was sixteen that was so good bad good bad evil good for me

[bobosbillionsknives]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! THIS ISNT FAAAAIIIRRRR !!!!!!!!!!! LIFE. ISNT. FAAAAAAAAIIIIIRRRRRR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are all so beautiful. Looks like some prototypes that never got past this point.

Sobbing at the only full Milly figure I've ever seen.

[snekdood]

i just feel like if you cant debate someone w/o insulting them then you're kinda just using it as an outlet for all of your asshole-ness

[cy-cyborg]

So, there's a lot I want to say about the paralypics, but every time I try I just... can't articulate what I want to say without it turning into a monster of a post that puts my writing advice posts to shame lol. This includes in response to the anonymous asks I got on the topic btw. So I'm going to try and summarise my thoughts here.

As someone who was working towards the Rio paralympics - who was basically one of the people they were actively training to be the next paralympians and who got to go if their choice first athletes had to drop out, the Olympics and paralympics are a... touchy subject for me. I loved playing. I loved my sport. I loved the people I played with. I loved the people I played against. But the way the public and people in power treats disabled athletes sucks. It Really really sucks. and it hurts to talk about.

The vast, vast majority of us aren't paid. We are expected to train at the same intensity as the Olympians with none of the breaks and none of the support to do so, resulting in injuries that are disabling in and of themselves, while juggling normal jobs. many of the paralympians are also in school or at university as well. both schools and jobs see these elite athletes as dedicated hobbiests at best.

I had a friend who were fired from their job because they were denied time off to compete at the paralypics and well, if i had to choose between the paralympics or stay at a shit job paying minimum wage, I know which one I'd pick, and so she didnt have a job when she came back. I have friends who are still in the closet because their sponsors would drop them if they came out as gay, who ended years-long relationships to keep the funding that allowed them and their teams to compete - funding that just covered the costs of travel by the way. They never saw a cent of it themselves, but it was the difference between us having to pay $50 each for our plane tickets and accommodation and having to pay $2,000Aud + for every away game. I have friends who were supposed to go to Tokeyo but were kicked off the teams weeks before the games because of a rule change that decided they weren't disabled enough anymore, wasting years of work with absolutely no warning. They weren't even given the decency of an appology from the people who made the call. Several went through terrifying mental health spirals over it. It was their life's work, gone. I saw so many friends just give up because their disabilities were "too hard to classify" into the International Paralympic Commity's boxes and who were made to feel they weren't welcome by the system spouting off about its diversity and inclusion and empowerment of disabled people.

And then with all that, the best we can hope for is for the social media teams to turn us into a joke for ableds to laugh at or into inspiration porn to make them feel good about themselves - because at least theyre not us. Because obviously, there are no other options in how to show us/sarcasm.

My phone doesn't even have "paralympics" as a recognised word. I have a Samsung. The company that is currently at the paralympics using them as a marketing opertunity. We aren't even recognised as a word in the phones made by the company that is currently using the paralympics as a marketing opportunity. The phones they're giving the athletes won't even recognise the name of the event that they got it at. If I've spelt it wrong, it's because it autocorrects it every time I try to spell it right, and im dyslexic and can't see the difference until I stare at it for a minute or so.

I just... this isn't even scratching the surface of my thoughts. But I wanted to say at least some of it. It will be the last I'm going to talk about it, at least until the event is over.

[k0mmari]

SYSTEM! SHEN YUAN AU

Okay, look, I've head a System SY idea for a while now (in fact, some of the ideas for this were used when I was first planning out Locked & Loaded), but after seeing @/artsarasp's System!SQQ AU, the brainworms have been once again come alive and I just need to get this out into the world. This is a very bare bones idea that I (probably) won't actually write, so walk with me for a second! Also this is going to be a very, very long post.

In this idea, the System actually is an interdimensional organization that deal with creating new worlds based on stories and making sure these worlds continue working as intended and (eventually), sending transmigrators to worlds that need 'improvement' (this improvement being very subjectice depending on which worker is assigned which story).

In SY's case, he's just someone who usually works behing a screen, in the most exciting cases he gets to guide transmigrators around but most of the time he just makes sure the stories 'code' is running normally and nothing world-breaking is going on in the stories (like someone managing to find a hack to skip defining plot points, or activating God-Mode somehow). He's very happy with this arrangement, btw! He was never one to run around and his boss has warned him once or twice for apparently being 'way too harsh' on the few transmigrators he got to be a System for.

Unfortunately, one day he is assigned to 'manually inspect' a world because a certain co-worker of his (Shang Qinghua) had been sent down there to handle a glitch but had gone missing instead. When SY asks why was he being the one asked to do this (not that he doesn't care for his friend, but he REALLY isnt made for running around), his boss says SY is the only other one who is familiar enough with the world to not get lost.

So that's how he find out SQH had managed to get himself stuck on the world he created (as a joke even, he hadn't even expected that when he was messing around with the company's program he would actually be able to create a new world based on the shitty novel he'd written as a human). And of course, SQH only having one friend, subjected SY to the story.

SY grumbles and denies ever seeing anything about SQH's story (or liking it, even if his boss kindly points out they never mentioned SY liked it) but eventually he agrees; and that's how he finds himself being teletransported onto the world of PIDW, carrying a pair of Debugging Sheers he'd never thought he would have to hold (he calls them Big Scissors), with the mission of finding SQH and dealing with the glitch that was still somewhere in the world.

Though, when he goes to message his supervisor about the specifics (where he should go or what was the last known location of SQH), he finds out that his Personal System has apparently already been affected by the glitch ("ALREADY??") that he was realizing worked more like a virus. Fortunately some messages were still going through, and his supervisor notified him they couldn't send him directly to the location he needed to be, specially because the virus seemed to have fragmented and spread to various parts of the stories timeline. SY now has to jump around through time a few times and slowly cut doen the glitches caused by the virus.

Thus begins Shen Yuan's Great Narrative Haunting (in real time.).

Luckily, for him, the place he first appeared was already one of the spots the virus has infected the world, and it seems to be in a town not too far away from him, so with a quick activation of the 'Ghost Mode' function (avaiable for all System staff to make it easier when they have to manually fix something, making them invisible and untouchable), SY heads to the town.

The glitch actually doesnt take too long to find (it was a buggy tree clipping onto a nearby river, which only needs a snip of the Big Scissors to disappear from reality), but when SY and passing through the town to find some better signal for his Personal System so he can jump forward to the next stop, he sees a group of snickering kids leaving an alleyway. A bit curious, he passes by the alley and barely manages to see through the pouring rain and spot a trembling figure on the floor. Of course, PIDW was never meant to be a happy or forgiving world, so SY is not surprised at the idea that some kids were bullying a smaller kid, though it still makes him upset.

He kneels close to the child and turns off 'Ghost Mode', pulling out an umbrella from his inventory (yes, System staff ALSO get an inventory, no one wants to have to carry aroung those big ass scissors), covering him from the rain. The boy is shaking from the cold, and even if SY can't check the boy's identity (since his system is still buggy), he reasons the probability of him coming into contact with an important character is very small, and even if System staff aren't supposed to interact with characters, he limits himself to at least getting the boy out of the rain.

Luo Binghe later wakes in a bench underneath a small shop's roof, covered in a thick cloth, having no idea how he'd gotten there besides the vague dream (or memory?) of a strangely dressed person patting his hair and taking him into their arms. He notices the rain has stopped and he's perfectly dry. Shen Yuan, seeing the kid seems to be doing well, finally jumps to his next location.

It doesn't take long for SY to figure out where he is when he loads onto the next mission location, in fact, he's almost certain he'd recognize the bamboo forest and calm, almost dream-like atmosphere of Qing Jing Peak anywhere. Seeing there that Qing Jing even exists in the first place, he deduces Binghe is still not emperor, so this time he makes sure to not be seen by any characters. It also doesn't take for SY to find his next target, as a commotion behind him catches his attention.

And oh, if he isn't familiar with the scene. A few older looking disciples push around a smaller looking boy, while a girl insistently shouts for the leader of the older disciples to stop. SY barely managed to appreaciate how Luo Binghe looks so cute as a child before (who he assumes is) Ming Fan snatches rips an amulet out of Binghe's neck. It's quite the heartbreaking scene to watch live, poor Binghe fighting for the only remaining piece of his adoptive mother without even knowing he's destined to never see it again. SY's Personal System may be buggy but it's still functional enough to detect if SY has a direct impact on the main storyline, so SY is basically forced to stand still and watch.

Though, since he had a clear view of the whole scene, when Ming Fan throws the jade pendant into the forest, SY can perfectly follow the arch of the necklace and sees where it landed, which is when an idea pops into his head. Distantly hearing Luo Binghe and NYY frantically searching for a necklace they'll never find, SY spots where the fake jade glimmers high up on a tree brench, though it's glimmer is distorted by the distinct sight of a glitch corrupting it's form. If SY were to follow standard procedure, he'd just have to bring out his Sheers and snip the necklace out of existence, but looking at it... Would it be so bad if he debugged the necklace the longer way?

Besides, if Binghe has the necklace or not, it's not like this one item is going to interfere with the major story anyways. SY isn't stopping Binghe from falling into the Abyss, he's just... Returning a lost item to it's intended owner.

Later, after an exhausting afternoon of what seemed to be searching through every nook and cranny of Qing Jing Peak's surrounding forest, Luo Binghe goes back to the shed he sleeps in utterly defeat and feeling strangely hollow; that is, until he opens the door and finds a new, thick blanket neatly folded in the middle of the shed, way too clean to be anything he had previously owned, and atop of it, his precious jade pendent, sitting there as if it never even dissapeared. Luo Binghe distantly notices that nobody that visits the shed ever lets the door closed after they visit.

The third location SY goes to leaves him no time to acclimatize, as he's immediately attacked by a beast, and only after (struggling to) kill it, does SY notice the unfortunate situation he was placed into: the Immortal Alliance Conference. By this point, he's already figured out his Personal System is most likely using Binghe's energy as Protagonist to make up for the energy it can't use due to it being partially corrupted, and the energy it needs to save up so SY can go back to the System's head quarters, so it really wasn't a surprise that he would be sent to this specific plot point, but dammit can't he avoid having to be near the place where his favorite character is thrown into hell??

And, well, there's also the problem that a beast attacked him, which meant it saw him, which meant his Ghost Mode was also glitching out, and after fiddling around which a half functioning System interface, it seems that the presence of the virus here is stronger than the other places, though still not the biggest chunk. Truly, just the cherry on top of his situation that he'd have to scurry around and somehow manage to not bump into anyone.

As is his luck, as SY tries to head closer to where his System is signaling the glitch's presence, other monsters continue attacking him, which besides slowing him down a considerable amount, it also causes the risk of him being picked up by the people watching the Conference through the Spirit Eagles circling the area, which is the last thing he needs.

Eventually he goes to the closest spot he can to the glitch, but a snapping sound behind him sends him into full panic. A person stands behind him, which leaves SY wondering how he managed to miss someone sneaking up on him like this. "You seem to have dropped something." the person says, and SY eyes immediately fall to his body, scanning himself to what he might have lost, and his hand basically flies to his throat when he notices the tassle that is usually nestled there is missing. He quickly turns around, only to come face to face to the golden protagonist, mister Luo Binghe himself.

Binghe tries interrogating SY as to what he's doing, sneaking around the supposedly sealed off Conference grounds, and SY, in his panicked state (slightly fuelled by a fanboy-induced craze) tries to fumble for excuses, but only when Binghe finally understands that the feeling he gets when looking at this strange person is an undeniable sense of deja-vu and tries asking SY if they'd met before, a loud rumblind shakes the ground: the Abyss has opened.

SY feels even more panicked, cause what this means is eventually, not only will he be discovered by Luo Binghe (his supervisor is going to kill him), but he could possibly be discovered by Shen Qingqiu, of all people! He doesn't get too much time to think about his grand escape however, as a piercing shriek comes from the Abyss rift. Right, how could he forget about the Black Moon Rhinoceros Python? And-- Oh, of course! Of course the damn thing would be virus-infected object!

After teaming-up with Binghe, the both of them manage to subdue the monster long enough that SY managed to snip it, though while they both catch their breath, SY belatedly realizes he just helped Binghe fight with the monster he was supposed to fight. Alone! The monster who was supposed to break his demonic seal! And, like clockwork, he can distantly hear what can only be SQQ's hurried steps through the forest! FUCK!!

With no other option, and Binghe now wanting to continue his interrogation, SY hurriedly start to walk towards the Abyss rift, frantically giving Binghe tips about what he could do in the Abyss to have an easier time, though when he catches a glimpse of green robes between the trees, SY types something on a floating screen and jumps backwards, Binghe letting out a shocked scream. Unfortunately, the protagonist won't be able to do nothing about the seemingly insane and way too familiar man who just jumped into the Abyss, as a rustling sounds behind him, and he's met with a newly regenrated Black Moon Rhino.

SY feels horrible about spawning a new one after Binghe just finished fighting one, but the story must continue, and with his Personal System finally free from most of the virus corruption, SY leaves one last gift as an apology and warping away before hitting the Abyss' ground. Later, when Binghe wakes up at the bottom of the rift after being pushed by SQQ, the first thing he sees is a qiakun pouch, full of useful items and tiny note at the bottom that reads 'Sorry!'

Pt.2

[scwheeler]

— how to get a girl’s attention

luke castellan x fem!daughter of demeter!reader

warnings: near-drowning experience…

summary: as the daughter of demeter, you’re the first person that everyone turns to when injuries need to be tended too, questions need to be asked, and any type of advice is required, however what’s going to happen when you’re the one in need?

a/n: this one’s quite lengthy guys! i really just got derailed like ten times and love adding details and the ending is kind of basic but whatever; don’t mind me making up random camper names btw lol 👼👼

waking up to the sound of constant bickering was just a normal tuesday morning as your younger half-siblings were already at each other’s throats about some stupid thing. yesterday it was borrowing boots and the day before it was who had to take the trash out.

you groaned, wishing that you could still sleep in peace and quiet but your cabin clearly suggested otherwise. so you gradually got up and put on your little slippers, approaching the main fighters who continued to argue with each other.

“hey hey hey, what’s going on now.” you had to physically get between the two children, separating them with your arms.

“he slipped paint all over my skirt and now it’s ruined!” the young girl cried, holding up her stained skirt to prove it. you took the clothing in your hands and knelt down to face her.

“why don’t i go to the river later today and try to get the stain out myself. it seems washable to me, what do you think?”

with a slight frown, she nodded her head to comply. you were relieved to say the least before turning to the boy, “how about you apologize and come with me to the river after breakfast?”

the boy stayed silent with his arms crossed, trying to avoid your insisting stare. but intimidated enough, he looked to the floor and whispered a small “fine, i’m sorry” with a glare.

you smiled as the situation was deescalated and told the rest of the kids surrounding the pair to hurry and make their beds in order to head to breakfast.

holding hands with the now puffy-faced girl, you tried to tell her about all the fun activities she could do today to forget about the unfortunate morning incident.

before reaching mess hall, the child already had a a bright smile just thinking about the bracelet making and embroidery you promised for the later evening. pleased with your peace-making skills, you sat with the rest of your campers and half-siblings that you were in charge of.

as the eldest sibling and one of the camp counselors, you took on the responsibility of looking after the young ones and caring for almost everyone at camp.

thus, when most of the camp half-blood children had troubles or dilemmas of any sort, they would disregard their own counselors and go straight to you. your kindhearted, yet sociable personality rooted from your mother: demeter.

you were often found laying around in the fruit fields or by the river listening to the water flow through the ground and hit the rocks. like your mother, nature was where you felt at peace, especially with the lack of quiet in your own cabin.

but you still loved your fellow campers and half-siblings, except for one boy who would not leave you alone.

luke castellan.

he liked to push your buttons and see how far he could take you until you’d explode. of course, you always kept your calm until either you just left the conversation or it would be interrupted by a camper in need who was like a knight in shining armor.

it wasn’t that you didn’t like the guy. you liked everyone at camp, including mr. d for gods sake! but something about luke was different. you occasionally saw him with his campers or his friends, he would joke around but never act like he does with you.

when you least expect it, he sneaks up behind you and gets close enough to whisper something in your ear. it could be just a random comment or sentence started but in an alluring voice as if you were friends or even more.

he knows what he’s doing. the moment he finishes, you flinch and get flustered, cheeks heating up and instantly standing up to avoid making eye contact. as you walk away, luke only watches and smiles to himself.

he knows how much power he holds over you, as with just a few words he can make you nervous.

“okay so once everyone’s done, we’ll first go to the archery range and you’ll stay there with counselor clarisse while damien and i go to the river to get that nasty stain out.” you explained and first looked at the boy who begrudgingly agreed to helping you earlier and then winked at the little girl you promised to help.

“counselor clarisse…!” one of the boys exclaimed.

“oh no she’s the mean one!” “yeah, she’s a bully!” your campers all started to agree and mutter remarks about their fear in staying with clarisse.

you couldn’t help but chuckle at their scared little faces, “clarisse? oh gods no! clarisse is not scary, she loves you guys and she’ll take good care of you.”

the children stared at you in disbelief while chowing down their eggs and bacon. “why can’t we just come with you to the river?!” one of the girls begged and began to pout alongside the other ten kids beside her.

you sighed and pursed your lips into a thin line, trying to come up with a compromise but you couldn’t.

“please it’s only for a couple of hours and then i’ll be back for the rock wall and some capture the flag!” you persuaded, trying to lighten up the mood.

but the kids still looked dissatisfied, now poking their breakfast around with their utensils in objection.

“well—” before you could plead another case why clarisse is a perfectly reasonable and responsible counselor and guardian, you were cut off by the one and only.

“aw don’t worry guys, you should listen to your counselor. plus i’ll be there too so if counselor clarisse gets even just a little too scary, you can come and hang with awesome counselor luke!” a voice announced from behind you.

you nearly choked on your food, startled in the surprise voice cutting you off. but the campers were overjoyed to see their second favorite counselor appear. there were an overwhelming amount of comments from the once so silent children, mostly regarding “luke!” and “yay!”

you whipped your head around to face the boy, standing right behind you with nothing but a smug grin on his face. then he leaned in just as he always does and whispered a quick, “you’re welcome” and turned to leave just as fast as he came.

“can we please hang out with counselor luke instead of clarisse?!” all the campers plead with their hands put together and lower lip puckered. left with no other choice by that damn castellan again, you inhaled deeply and slightly nodded which was shortly followed by an array of cheers and excitement.

after dropping off all of the campers in the hands of luke, you put a hand on damien’s back and led him to the river. but before leaving, you had to make sure luke would actually clock in as a responsible counselor.

“so i can count on you to keep them safe for the next couple of hours?”

“wow you sound like you doubt me!” luke said and took a step back with his hands up in fake surrender.

“enough with the games, castellan. are you going to make sure they don’t kill each other and stay unharmed until i return?” you asked again, ignoring his previous comment.

luke tried to hold back his smile after you called him by his last name. most of the time, his sparring partners or other counselors would use his last name rather his first. however, when the way you let the ‘n’ slightly my drag after saying it sent chills throughout his entire body.

to hide his delight, he lightly scoffed and crossed his arms at your hesitation. “i assure you that i will protect them with my life. i mean i am the best swordsman at camp,” he added as the corners of his lips just couldn’t help themselves to lift a little.

you rolled your eyes at his self-confidence and how he kept complimenting himself. luke only did it to impress you though, something that hasn’t been very successful.

“okay well alissa has a nut allergy, georgie has a bee allergy, and please keep thomas and will away from the poison ivy. i do not want to spend another summer knee deep in tomato juice.”

luke could only watch and admire as you kept expressing your deep concern for all the kids. he loved how much you cared. but a few more seconds and you would be driving yourself crazy over all the possibilities of something going wrong.

that’s when luke stepped in and softly grabbed your right arm.

“hey, it’s fine. go do whatever you have to do and i’ll come running down to the river if anything goes wrong but i doubt it, i’m pretty responsible y’know.” he reassured and stared straight into your eyes, indicating his sincerity. his smile wasn’t conceited or to drive his ego but rather held a tender emotion.

you looked up into his hazel eyes and suddenly the worries stopped and your nerves were calmed, other than the ones beginning to stir in your stomach. but this was far from the regard about the kids.

this feeling was something else. something new.

“are we going to go already?” the young boy you almost forgot about, whined and rugged on your orange camp t-shirt.

snapping out of your trance and back to reality you answered, “o-oh yeah, i think counselor luke’s got it from here.”

with that you turned away from luke and immediately headed for the river alongside damien but the paint-stained skirt was farthest from your mind now. you tried to shake the new feelings and thoughts out of your body and replace them with your past ones of the kids.

until, “is that guy your boyfriend?”

you quickly looked down to the boy asking the question, with such seriousness in his eyes.

“counselor luke? gods no! i wouldn’t even call him a friend!” you answered swiftly, picking up your pace and hurrying damien in front of you.

“geez…i was just asking!”

as soon as you two got to the river, settling on a few rocks by the edge, you started rubbing the blue-stained skirt with the clear water. damien sat next to you, fiddling his thumbs and staring at the water’s constant movement.

“so are you going to tell me why you did this or not?” you began, keeping your eyes on the skirt.

“i just wanted to.”

“damien.” you urged and this time, you stared directly at him with your eyebrows raised.

he sighed in defeat and gave up on lying to you.

“okay…well i just didn’t know how else to get clara’s attention,” the boy admitted and refused to look at you.

his response warned your heart and prompted your to smile to yourself.

“so you did this, just to get clara’s attention?”

you held up the now drenched skirt and demanded damien to look at you. for a moment, he did and nodded quickly before instantly going back to staring at the rock he was sitting on.

you stifled your laughter at how adorable the young boy you were with was being.

“damien…there are a lot of different and more efficient ways to get clara’s attention. may a suggest one that doesn’t destroy her belongings and ends up with her being angry?” you insisted and squeezed the excess water out of the skirt.

he looked up and nodded again but this time he continued.

“what should i do?”

“why don’t you make her a bracelet when we go back and sincerely apologize.” you suggested while laying out the wet skirt on the rock to dry.

he smiled at your suggestion as you went to sit closer by him. before speaking again, he pulled out a small daisy from his pant pocket and presented it to you.

your eyes focused on the blooming flower that lost a few of its petals due to being stuck in the boy’s pocket for a while now. but the remaining petals still standing were enough to maintain the flower’s beauty.

“when did you become such a gentlemen?” you nudged his shoulder and took the flower from his hands.

“oh, i’ve been giving him some lessons.”

alarmed, you turned to see the familiar face that had been surprising you all day.

“what are you doing here?! how about the kids—who’s watching them?!” you immediately stood up and marched towards the too calm figure standing amongst the trees. but he caught you with both arms, preventing you with ease.

“woah woah, take a breather, they’re with clarisse.” he said and stopped you before you ran back to the mess hall.

reading your expression, luke could tell you were not convinced nor pleased so he had to fix his answer.

“—and annabeth and chris.”

with that you stopped fighting against his grasp and stepped back, finally exhaling.

“you haven’t answered my first question.”

“oh! i just uh wanted to um come and tell you that they’re asking for damien back at camp. they were practically begging me to come over here and get him!”

you narrowed your eyes after he finished, easily indicating the lie.

“okay…you can go damien but remember what i said,” you smiled and patted his shoulder before sending him off back to camp.

the young boy ran off without a care and ready to make that bracelet with a formal apology. luke stood there, quite surprised that his lie that chris helped him think of in fact worked.

“soooo do you need help with whatever that is?” luke pointed at the skirt laid out on the rock.

“no.” you shortly responded and walked back to your rock but luke followed like a lost puppy.

“are you sure? i mean as head counselor for cabin 11, i can cook up a mean batch of laundry,” he insisted and trailed behind you.

unbeknownst to him, you rolled your eyes and cringed at his wording.

“your words don’t even make sense.”

caught in a lie, luke decided actions spoke louder than words and walked past you to the skirt. you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion as he picked it up and crouched down near the water before dunking it back into the water.

shocked and a little annoyed, you hurriedly ran to him.

“what the hell are you doing?! i just washed that! i’m waiting for it to dry dumbass!”

“oh she curses!” he exclaimed, finally getting a real response from you.

you reached for it until luke raised it a little higher, just out of your reach. using his height as an advantage, he held out the clothing as far as he could and to the river.

fed up and exhausted, you went on your tippy-toes and lunged for the skirt. swiftly, luke pulled it close to his body just as you reached leading you to accidentally lean too far.

with a splash, you fell straight into the freezing cold water, unknown to how deep the river was. luke’s eyes widened, he thought you falling in would be funny but once you hadn’t resurfaced within a few seconds he became worried.

without a second thought, he dropped the skirt, pulled off his camp shirt, and dove into the biting waves. as soon as he saw your bright orange t-shirt in contrast to the clear water, he put his arm around your waist and swim towards the surface.

pulling you out to the rocks and laying your body on the ground, he waited for you to gain consciousness. luckily, you started to gasp for air and spit out gulps of water as you sat up.

luke sighed in relief at once. you wiped your face of water and blinked repeatedly until your sight returned to normal. then your eyes were fixated on something else, rather someone. his bare chest stood directly in front of your face, it wasn’t like you were trying to stare!

“i’m sorry, y/n. I’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to do that and i’m really sorry.” luke recited.

“i-it’s okay.” you stuttered, the cold water chilling your body.

“here take off the wet one and take mine.”

luke grabbed his discarded camp shirt and handed it to you. if you weren’t on the verge of frostbite you would’ve refused, but without another word you agreed and luke turned to face the trees as you pulled the wet shirt over your head and put on luke’s.

“thanks. for saving me and the shirt.”

luke turned back to face you and smiled, “i mean i was the one to make you fall into the water in the first place, it’s the least i can do.”

“aren’t you cold?” you signaled to his bare chest.

“no, i’m okay don’t worry. but your jeans are still wet so let’s head back to camp.” he reassured and helped you get up.

you nodded and let him take the lead. with your wet shirt and skirt in one hand and the other grabbing onto luke’s arm, you two finally made it back to camp. before dropping you off at your cabin, you had to ask.

“why did you come to the river anyway?”

luke awkwardly put his hand on the back of his neck and looked away.

“oh. i just uh wanted to spend time with you.” he admitted, ultimately facing you.

you stopped attending to your dripping pants and looked up at him. he had a genuine smile, now with both hands shoved into his pockets.

how was it that you had never noticed the golden flecks in his deep brown eyes? or the way the orange hues of the sunset highlighted the amber shade his eyes would turn?

“y’know, there are a lot of other ways to get my attention in the first place, that doesn’t involve us falling into freezing cold water.”

luke laughed at your comment which eased the awkward air.

“i had this almost exact same conversation with a little boy of about seven years, and gave him some valuable advice.”

“what was the advice..?” he carefully asked.

“to make her a bracelet and apologize, one of…you’ve already done profusely.” you raised your eyebrow to imply his previous attempt in apologizing nonstop.

“ah, a bracelet you say, okay got it,” luke said and nodded his head.

with that, he bid you a good day and you asked to meet him later at the campfire to return his shirt.

“alright you two sit there, i don’t want to see anymore fighting over the dinosaurs, you can sit here with him, and you three over there—” guiding the campers for the campfire that was just about to begin, you made your way to an empty bench.

smiling to yourself, you watched as your campers finally calmed down and enjoyed the music, giving up on fighting and arguing with one another. someone jumped over the bench and leaned back to sit right next to you, and you had a feeling who it may be.

“luke?”

“yes ma’am.” he replied with a tilt towards you and two fingers from his head.

the campfire lit up his face and highlighted his sharp features that you had somehow missed until this moment. his charming smile urging his dimples alongside his dark curls freshly washed with a new scented shampoo was enough to make you realize you were hooked. damn.

“oh i have a little something for you, give me your arm and close your eyes,” he spoke up and put his hand in his pocket.

raised eyebrow, you reluctantly closed your eyes and gave him your right arm. suddenly in fear of some bug or scary animal on your hand, you slowly retracted it back to yourself until he gently got a hold of it.

he pulled your arm towards him slightly and slipped something on around your wrist. waiting for his approval, you sat questioning what the mystery item could be.

“okay, open.” luke did a little ‘ta-da’ motion once you flickered your eyes open, adjusting to the dark yet orangish lit surrounding.

you looked down at the intricate, handsome bracelet that appeared on your wrist. it was similar to the camp necklaces but the beads were translucent with flowers imbedded into them. except for one bead that was painted a heavenly green, your favorite color.

astonished and at a loss for words, you observed the bracelet, moving around the small beads on the string.

“i’m sorry.”

snapping out of your trance, you instantly stared up at luke after his words in confusion.

“what?”

“you said earlier, ‘there are a lot of other ways to spend time with you that don’t involve us falling into freezing cold water, for starters make a bracelet and apologize.’” he repeated your words from back by your cabin. he remembered.

“so you made me a bracelet and apologize just like i said?” double-checking, you glanced once at the bracelet and back to the dashing boy who looked as if he had stars in his eyes, waiting for your reaction.

“not only for you, i also helped damien make one for that girl he’s got a crush on,” he continued and looked over to the little boy doing the exact same hold-out-your-arm-and-close-your-eyes trick on the girl sobbing about her stained skirt earlier.

she opened her eyes to a freshly washed skirt and matching bracelet, along with a smiling boy who was apologizing and waiting for her reaction. she leapt into his arms with a bunch of ‘thank yous.’ the boy then briefly peered at luke who proceeded to wink and give an approving nod.

happily surprised, you sat gaping at the boy you thought was so infuriating just a couple of hours before. luke knew exactly what he was doing. he knew how much you cared for the campers and your half-siblings, how you would always chose their safety and happiness at the expense of your very own.

it was one of the traits he admired the most about you. even when in a bad mood or not feeling your best, you would put on a brave face and make sure to put their needs in front of you own.

he witnessed it first-hand last week when your campers wanted to go rock climbing but there were dozens of poison ivy already there. thus, to not disappoint the kids, you stayed up all night removing the dangerous plant and relocating them to another area deep in the forest for them to grow.

even with your plant manipulation abilities, with the large amount of the poisonous plant, it took you quite a while. afterwards, you went as far to replace them with lovely daisies you summoned from the gardens in front of your cabin.

during the move from the rock climbing course to the forest, luke had spotted you while some late-night sword practicing because he couldn’t sleep due to apollo cabin next door.

he debated approaching you and settled on only admiring you from afar after you almost finished anyway. he didn’t want to disturb you or aggravate you further than you already were. but leaving you here in the forest during midnight would be wrong.

what if a monster were to come? how were you to defend yourself if you were distracted! therefore, it was just common sense that luke had to keep watch, i mean he even had his sword with him after all.

but once the sun peeped from the tall mountains, he came to a realization that he had just sat and watched you for more than a couple hours. so in order to not get caught, he ran off back to his cabin before anyone would wake up.

only a little after luke headed to bed, morning arrived and you were the first one to break the happy news to your campers that today would be the day for rock climbing. greatly proud and feeling accomplished, you even invited other cabins to join and have a spin at it. including luke’s.

now he was the one to show you how much he cared for the campers as well, focusing on a feature you had great respects for. your shocked expression softened and now leapt into his arms.

“thank you, castellan. really.”

blood rushed to his cheeks and he tried to hide his excitement, but you felt his genuine smile on your shoulder. before pulling away, he stopped by your ear and whispered.

“do i have permission to kiss you, counselor?”

you could’ve giggled at his words and how close his lips were to your ear. without wasting another breath, you pulled his face closer to you and put your lips on his.

feeling the warmth of his breath, you could taste the sweet taste of strawberries he must’ve eaten earlier. only centimeters away, your bodies were attracted to each other almost pressing. the kiss wasn’t long but not short either, somewhat leaving a lasting impression on the other.

yet again you felt a small grin of his lips during the kiss, making you pull away for air. but your eyes were still glued to his, moments away from repeating the act but you both realized where you were and how irresponsible it would look as counselors. so instead he grabbed your hand, now giving you the absolute cutest puppy dog eyes before asking.

“do i have your attention now?”

[postracehair]

true north

max verstappen x reader | 3.8k

Four times you and Max find each other over the course of your relationship.

cw: softness, aftermath of a race crash (that i totally made up, btw), growing relationship, fem!reader

a/n: this came out of a dream i had about max. no joke. thanks for that one, brain. --

A BEGINNING

This whole thing is very new to you, but it's not as intimidating as you expected.

Partying with race car drivers and their friends and girlfriends at a club you'd normally have to wait for hours to get into isn't how you've been spending your weekends. In reality, it's much the same as going out with your friends. Drinks, dancing, laughter, flirting. It's fun. And you're just dipping your toe into this world, thanks to one guy -- Max Verstappen. 

Somehow you ended up in his orbit and he asked you to come out with everyone so here you are. It's a bit unbelievable, really. And now that you're here, you're not sure what to do about it. Do you talk to him? Do you ask him to dance? It all feels so big, even though you know it's not. You're just getting to know each other. 

The club is loud, crowded, sweaty. You need another drink and maybe the bathroom, just a moment to collect yourself. You slip away from the area where the others are dancing, spying Max talking to Charles as you head for the bathroom. He's laughing, drink in hand, blue shirt unbuttoned around his throat. You look away before he can catch you, but you swear you feel eyes on your back as you head across the dance floor. The hallway with the bathrooms is all the way on the other side of the club, and it takes a bit to get through the throng, but once you're there you take a few deep breaths in front of the mirror. 

This is fun, it really is. You just -- you don't know why, but you want to be near Max so badly you're avoiding him. It makes no sense but it's true. You're not even together, barely seeing each other, but already you know he's something special. The way he makes you feel is special. 

God, you wish there were some drunk girls in here with you to give you a pep talk. You try the next best thing. 

"Go out there," you say to yourself. "Go out there and dance with him."

You return to the hallway and get two steps towards the bar when the back of your neck tingles. It's the strangest thing, like all of your senses are dialed up to 11. And then --

Max is in front of you. 

"Oh," you say, smiling. "Hi." Something in your chest slots into place at his arrival. 

"Are you okay?" 

There are lots of people around, but he steps close enough that it feels like it's just the two of you. He's a little sweaty, hairline damp and cheeks flushed. The drink he was holding earlier is gone, his hands floating in the space between you like he doesn't know what to do with them.

"Yeah," you tell him. "I just needed to go to the bathroom. And get another drink."

You didn't realize how tense he was until he relaxes before your eyes, shoulders rolling down his back and his jaw unclenching. Did he think you were in trouble?

"Okay," Max says, boyish and easy. "Let me do that?"

It's a question more than anything, somewhere between confidence and shy flirting. Maybe he's just as nervous as you, even though he asked you to come.

You nod and he places himself at your side, palm firm on the small of your back to guide you to the bar. He orders what you were drinking before -- you didn't even know he noticed that -- and you wait. He leans on the bar, the cuffed sleeve of his shirt exposing his tanned forearm, golden hairs visable all the way up to his wrist as his eyes sweep across the room. 

"How did you find me?" you ask him. Though you're in the pocket of space he's carved out at the bar, Max doesn't hear you over the music. His brows furrow and waves his hand in annoyance and steps closer, so close you can feel his breath on your cheek. 

"What?"

You repeat it, lips close to his ear. 

"Oh," he says, leaning back so he can look at you as he talks. "I looked around for you but didn't see you. Then I just headed in the right direction, I guess." He shrugs and absentmindedly rubs his chest with his palm, right in the spot where you felt something shift when he found you.

"Impressive," you tell him. You mean it.

He grins crookedly. "That's me." The bartender hands him your drinks. "I'm glad you came," he says, so quick you wonder if he meant to say it at all. 

"I am too," you reply. You smile at each other like idiots until Max seems to realize you're taking up space at the bar and hands you your drink. His palm finds your back again as you make your way back to the section where your friends continue to dance. 

"You found her!" Charles shouts when you get there. "Nice job."

You duck your head and lean into Max before you realize you're doing it, but he doesn't take his hand from your back, just slides it around so his palm rests on your hip. Charles just laughs.

It's easy to stay close to Max for the rest of the night once you realize you don't really want to be anywhere else. He seems to feel the same, if the way he keeps looking at you is anything to go by. You dance, you laugh, you feel the world righting itself.

Later, much later, when you're waiting outside the club for the car he's called to take you back to your hotel, you lean into his side again, and wind an arm around his waist. He drapes his across your shoulders and you breathe together.  ___

A FRIGHTENING MIDDLE

It's not your first race, but the first one you're present for where it's ended like this for Max. 

Watching from the Red Bull garage has taken some getting used to. The noise, the people doing a thousand things at once, and Max at the center of it all. You do your best to stay out of the way and not worry too much but it's hard. Especially on days like today. 

He had a great getaway from the front row, capturing the racing line and heading into the turn just ahead of everyone else. It continued like that, as it so often does, until the first pit. Max came in, losing a few places you were sure he'd make up. But then -- someone, you're still not certain who, went in the wall at the worst possible part of the track. A curve that they all know in their sleep, but if you come around it and find a car stalled in the middle? 

Carnage. 

Max got there first, reflexes quick enough to avoid the car but there was nowhere to go. The rear went out from under him and you could only watch in horror as the Red Bull sailed into the wall. Red flag. Verstappen in the wall at lap 32! Verstappen out!

Later, you'll see stills of your face. Your hand over your mouth, your eyes wide. Sheer horror. Max will look at them with his mouth pressed into a grim line before he pulls you close.

But in the moment, you hear his radio and nothing else. Not the commotion in the garage, not the whispers around you. Just GP asking Max if he's okay and his voice, staticky down the line: I'm OK. I'm OK.

They cart him off to medical anyway. 

You get told to wait. 

"It's not that bad," the chatter says. "It's just a routine check." Not that bad? you think. He hit the wall at 200 mph. 

"Bruised ribs," someone says. "Probably. Maybe neck strain. Classic stuff."

You're going to lose your mind. It's no one's fault that they won't take you to see Max. You have no way of knowing if it's a top-down order, or if you're just being overlooked. You're newer in the paddock than most, so it wouldn't surprise you. But, God, you want to see him. Your chest is tight and all you can do is wait. 

A kind employee whose name you don't yet know says you can go to a hospitality suite but you say you'll sit in Max's driver room, thank you very much. You know he has to stop there before the debrief and you want to catch him. Waiting in there is nothing new, but the deep pit of anxiety in your stomach is. You don't care that you're missing the rest of the race. The reason you watch them went in the wall.

"It's fine," you say out loud. "He's fine." They would have told you otherwise, right?

After what feels like a thousand years, you hear voices come down the hallway. Max's voice. 

"She could have some with," he's saying. He sounds annoyed. "You made her wait here? The whole time?"

You stand up just as the door flies open and Max steps into the room. There are people behind him but he shuts the door before they can follow. 

That thing in your chest happens. The one you're used to, by now. He takes another step towards you and everything feels a little bit more okay.

He looks fine. Stressed, honestly. Jaw clenched, eyes wide, but otherwise fine. 

"Max," you breathe. Your hands flutter in the space between you, reaching for him but not sure where you can touch. 

"I'm fine," he says, immediately. "Come here."

He envelops you in his arms and you inhale. He smells like sweat but you don't care. 

"Are you okay?" you whisper. His hand presses up and down your spine.

"Yeah," he sighs. He's holding you so tight that you feel his ribcage against yours. "I'll be sore tomorrow. I'm sore already. But nothing major."

You pull away just enough to kiss him, a closed-mouth press of your lips to his. Proof that he really is okay.

"That was scary," you say. "They said you were fine, but I was scared."

The tension returns to his jaw and you cup his face to try to smooth it away. 

"The rear just got away from me when I swerved," he grinds out. "I can't believe they didn't let you come to the med tent."

You pull out of his arms to gather the clothes he'll change into before going to the press pen to recount the crash. 

"It's okay," you say, though it certainly was not. You feel much better with him in the room, so much so that you're willing to let this go. "Don't yell at anyone." 

Max gingerly balances his foot on the bench to unlace one race boot, then the other. 

"I think I should yell at some people, actually," he says. "It's fucking ridiculous. I can only imagine how awful it was to wait."

He unzips his race suit and you help him shimmy it off. 

"Fucking? That'll be 30,000 euro, please," you tell him. It earns you an eye roll. You tug off his fireproofs and he winces. "Careful."

His chest isn't bruised but you worry that it will be. Max shrugs on a clean Red Bull shirt and frowns. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," he says. You want to protest but honestly, you agree with him. He traces your bottom lip with his thumb. "I was looking for you the whole time."

"Yeah?"

Max nods. "Always am. You know that."

You smile at him. "You seem more angry about this than the crash," you tease.

He clicks his tongue. "Oh, I'm angry about that, too. But one thing at a time."

There will be plenty to say about it later. Why the red flag took so long, why the grip abandoned him, the points lost. A thousand things to analyze, per usual. 

You hand him his pants. "Do you need help with these?"

"I can put my jeans on by myself, thank you very much," he deadpans. "Feel free to take them off later, though."

"Flirt." He finishes dressing and you perch on the table to watch. "Come here," you say, once he's done. "Let me fix your hair."

He frowns and makes a disgruntled noise. "I'm sweaty."

"Max." Maybe you just need to touch him. Maybe he can tell, because he steps between your knees and allows you to fuss. 

"I'm just going to put a hat on," he reminds you, but doesn't pull away. For a second, you have a hard time pushing away all of the things that could have happened. He came back to you. That's what matters. 

Max, as he always seems to, senses the train of your thoughts. He pulls you close, pressing your ear to his chest so you can hear his heart. 

"Don't you have to go to the media pen?" you say into his shirt. He strokes your hair and sighs.

"They can wait." ___

REUNION

He's never explained why, but Max likes to pick you up at the airport. It's a bit of a drive from Monaco to Nice and he could easily send a car, but he refuses every time. 

If you won't ride on the jet at least let me drive you, he says. So you fly commercial to Monaco and he meets you. You try to arrive late at night so the airport is mostly empty, and, despite being a World Champion, Max knows how to blend in when he wants to. That, or maybe the people of Monaco don't mind all that much that he picks his girlfriend up at the airport. 

The terminal is dotted with people doing what you do late at night in airports. Sprawled in seats, feet up on their luggage, yawning or asleep. You shoulder your duffle and head for baggage claim, an old Red Bull cap of Max's tugged low over your brow. Immigration, Customs, and then, finally, the exit doors to the arrivals level. 

As soon as you're through them you see him. 

Max stands there alone in his hoodie and jeans, scrolling on his phone. He's got one hand tucked in his pocket and a decidedly not Red Bull hat on his head -- this one is just a solid black. His under the radar look.

You're looking at him for barely a moment before he looks up, right at you, and grins. The hook in your chest warms, pulls, sings. You pick up your pace, practically jogging over to him, duffle banging on your hip. 

He's ready for you, catching you with one arm and wrapping you in the other when you collide with his chest. Your bag drops at your feet and you laugh into his neck.

"Hi," he says. "That didn't take long."

You'd texted him when you landed but expected it to take longer to come out the other side. "Guess I'm lucky today."

He gently puts some space between you so he can whip off your hat, cup your jaw and kiss you lightly before replacing it.

"This looks familiar," he says. "Have you at least washed it?"

"Probably," you tell him. "What if I like your sweaty hats?"

"You're weird." Max leans down and shoulders your bag, laughing. "How was the flight?" You can't help it, you kiss his cheek quickly just to feel his stubble under your lips. He looks amused but allows it before draping his arm across your shoulders. 

"Fine," you tell him. "Long." 

He smells good. Freshly showered, probably, with a hint of cologne. You could tease him about it, about tidying himself up for you, but god, you've missed him. There are probably paps somewhere, people you don't know snapping pictures of moments that should be just the two of you, but you can't bring yourself to care much this time. 

"What have you been up to?" you ask. 

It's a little chilly once you step outside, but Max never parks far from the doors. 

"Eh, not much," he says. "Cleaned the litter box." Ah, that might explain why he showered. 

"You spoil me," you tease. "What more could a girl want? And how are your darling cats?"

Max pinches your hip and you gasp. "They missed you," he says. "Expect them to want to sleep on your face tonight. Did you eat?"

It's a little late for dinner so you shrug, but Max says your name in his no-nonsense tone. 

"A snack," you confess. "Back before takeoff."

"Hm. What do you want?" he asks. "We can stop somewhere, or I can make you something when we get home."

Home. "You can cook for me, if you want," you say, a bit shy. "But don't you have meeting tomorrow morning? We don't need to stay up late."

Max waves away the idea. "I pushed everything."

You want to argue with him about it but you don't. Max will do anything for you -- to make sure you're comfortable, you're fed, you're happy. It makes you feel very loved but it is also overwhelming, to be loved like that. All he asks is that you let him, so you try. 

He fishes the car keys from his jean pocket and unlocks it. His car -- a fancy thing with too many buttons for a street car, in your opinion -- flashes its lights. Max pulls away from you and puts your bag in the car as you head to the passenger door. 

It's a low car, so you flop into the seat and then he's there, one hand on the top of the car and the other on the door, looking down at you. Even in the vaguely lit parking lot he is so handsome. Blue eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiles, dark blonde hair a bit windswept from the French breeze. Sometimes you don't know where to look. His jaw? His cheekbones? The freckle on his lip?

Max seems to be staring at you just as intently. "What?" you ask, squirming a little.

He smiles even wider. "Nothing," he says. Then he leans down and you lean up and out of the car, tugged forward by that damn string between you, to meet him in another kiss. Firmer than the first, but still quick. His teeth flash in a pleased grin when he pulls away and then he's closing the door. 

You press the back of your hand to your cheek and feel how hot it is. Truly absurd, how flustered he can make you. 

Max slides into his car and starts it up, reversing out of the parking lot and heading for Monaco. It shouldn't take too long to get there, maybe a half hour. He turns on the radio and you wince.

"You can pick the music," he mutters, eyeing your grimace. 

"Oh, thank god." You turn off his club hits playlist and put on something more to your taste. He shakes his head at you in mock disgust and you just laugh. 

The lights of the highway from Nice illuminate Max's face and you just watch. His brow, his jawline, his nose. He reaches over between shifting gears to squeeze your knee.

"Missed me?" he asks. 

"Missed your pretty face," you reply. He flushes.

"Enough," he says, but he grabs your hand and brings it to his mouth so he can kiss your palm. ___

TRUE NORTH

It's not new, not anymore. You know the ins and outs of a race weekend. Where to be, what to expect. And by now you've seen it all -- crashes, losses, safety cars. Rain, botched strategies, podiums. 

And this. 

Wins.

It's clear that Max has it with more than 20 laps left, but anything can happen on track and everyone knows it. So you hold your breath. The McLarens disappeared from contention back at the start. 19. 15. He makes his way through lapped cars with no issue. The Ferraris can't catch up. The interval only increases. Verstappen ahead by 15 seconds! It's a remarkable showing after such a poor qualifying and what seems like everything against him. 10 laps to go. 5. Final lap.

The garage rushes out to the fence to wave him by. You can't tamper down your grin as you're ushered with everyone else to the barriers, the team knowing to have you right at the front. FIA officials put out the podium place markers and the other two cars  -- Charles and Carlos -- come in but you only have eyes for one. 

Max takes his time getting out, but when he does, he pumps his fists in the air and points at the number on his car. 1. That's right. 

He hops off his chassis and full-out runs to the barriers, jumping into the arms of his team. The mechanics who work tirelessly every weekend, who are behind him 100%. Cameras flash and everyone roars. They set him down and he turns to find you, doing so with ease. He winks, but Carlos's hand on his back pulls him away to congratulate the other two and get his weight ticket. 

You wait your turn. He always comes home to you. 

Max makes quick work of it -- taking off his helmet, his balaclava. A quick swallow of water, hat shoved on his head, and then he's jogging back to the barriers, straight for you. 

You're ready. He wraps his arms around you in a tight and sweaty hug. He's still calming down his heart rate based on how it pounds against you through his race suit and he steals your exhale with a kiss, quick and hard. 

"There you are," he says. "Found you." Thousands of people scream around you and cameras flash but, as it always is with Max, that all fades away. It's just the two of you, the thread between you pulled taught. 

"Always do."

He really should leave you to do his post-race interview, but he keeps his gaze on your face, smile wide and eyes bright. 

"How was that?" he asks. 

You purse your lips and tilt your head to one side. "Decent," you tell him. "Simply lovely."

He laughs. You reach for him, trace the helmet lines on his cheek with your thumb, and kiss him again. Someone whistles and your smiles only get wider pressed against each other.

Later, he stands on the top step of the podium as his national anthem plays. You hum along, chin tipped high to keep your eyes on him. And Max, as he grins ear to ear, finds you in the crowd instantly. You feel it in your entire body when he does -- a flame that's lit beneath your ribs, a skip of your heart in your chest like he's holding it. His eyes return to you again and again. When he waves at the fans, when he hoists his trophy high in the air, when he sprays his fellow drivers with bubbly. He'll do his post-race responsibilities and celebrate with the team, and then you'll leave together. It's a beautiful future.

Magnets, you think. A compass, always pointing you home. 

[55szn]

obsessed - ln4

lando norris x singer!reader smau

summary; where yn is obsessed with lando’s ex

warnings; cursing, tiny bit of suggestive content

fc; tate mcrae (sorry didn’t want to use olivia again😣)

notes; requested!🌷 oh how i love song smaus <3

INSTAGRAM

yourusername

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yourusername obsessed is yours now xx💋

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landonorris hooooly fuck🫣

landonorris jaw’s on the floor

landonorris my lil crazy😍

landonorris obsessed with YOU

yourusername I LOVE YOUUU

user need to get myself a lando norris😣

user HAAAWWWTTT

user new crazy bitch anthem just dropped the girls are grateful😍🙏🏻

user definition of serving cunt:

oliviarodrigo so talentedddd💞💞💞

yourusername love u pretty girl 💘

user girl YOU are the ex everyone’s obsessed with what are you talking about

MESSAGES

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landonorris

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landonorris bet u wanna stream “obsessed” after looking at that face (don’t look too much though)

tagged yourusername

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landonorris (it’s about me btw)

user oh yn you’ve created a monster

yourusername oh i know🫠

user his ego must be through the roof rn😭

user can’t blame him cause if a girl that looks like that wrote a song about how crazy she is for me i too would make everyone and their mothers listen to it

user we love a supportive boyfriend🫶🏻🫶🏻

yourusername i’ll stop writing songs abt you if you keep getting like this 🙄

landonorris don’t even joke about that.

user i love how unhinged they are😭

user i need what they have 👹👹👹

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

yourusername

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yourusername you would be obsessed too🤷‍♀️

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user MOTHER HAS BLESSED US ONCE AGAIN😩

landonorris damn look at all those pics you took of me

landonorris are you like in love with me or smth

yourusername i literally hate you

landonorris 💔

user the last pic omfggggggg

user totally normal about them

user tbh who can blame you

user the helmet pic i’m🥵

user i love them your honour

user THE 4TH PIC DONT TALK TO MEEEE