#and there WILL be a jacopo guarnieri cameo

[oneminutefiftysixseconds]

oh well I simply have to hear more about pretty in pink

ahah yes!! of course, here you go💗

so. this actually started as a discussion with you, i opened the doc while we were having that conversation i believe; what if tadej was outed as gay and basically forced to leave UAE. yes he's their beloved superstar and their most valuable asset. but. the majority of the team's money comes from a sponsor that would have an inherent "issue" with their main rider being gay, and although the initial outing is against his will, good old cycling media getting invasive and awful, he doesn't deny it (even though it's something he's tried very hard to hide since entering the at times hypermasculine world of professional men's sports, where it feels like everyone's married with a kid or two by the time they're 27)

it follows tadej through the initial aftermath (which timeline wise actually happens in a couple of weeks, just at the end of december '23) and through trying to find a new contract in a relatively short space of time. in a pinch, desperate just to get back to racing again, he ends up on the first team that has a spot and will have him. that's EF <- giving the piece its working title

for the first time in his career - he started with UAE when he was 20 - he has to be the New Guy all while the peloton and everyone knows this secret he's kept for practically his whole life. there is a fair amount of Emotion and hypothetical events of the 2024 season, and hopefully some fun mixed in there too

here is a buffet breakfast of random bits, featuring:

well meaning yet unhelpful jasper!

“So,” Jasper folded his arms, “who’s the hottest in the peloton? I’ve always wondered, and there's that thing on Twitter, but maybe you could pass a better judgement.” His tone was clearly joking, but Tadej couldn't bring himself to match the humour. “Nobody. I don't– I don't look at anyone at work like that.” he scraped at the tabletop with his fingernail, tracing the patterns in the wood. “Come on, Tadej, I'm sure you can think of someone – Mathieu? Ganna? A teammate, maybe? There's got to be somebody that's not too bad to look at. Anyway, I won’t be offended if it isn’t me, but you know, I think I should really be in consideration here– ” Tadej sighed and set his cup down a little too firmly. The coffee swirled and wavered, nearly spilling over the edge. “No. There's not. Jasper, stop it, please.”

crashes!

“Please, please, médicale, I – need – help – with – my – shoulder,” Tadej half-shouted, pleading and pointing towards his arm. It hung at his side at an awkward angle. At last, the mechanic seemed to understand and leant the bike against the grassy roadside verge. Tadej’s elation was short-lived as he turned around and walked back to the service vehicle.

and last but not least the biking-liking bi king viking mads pedersen...

Their arms brushed as they walked down the narrow pavement, synchronised steps accompanied by the swish-swish of jacket sleeve against jacket sleeve. “When did you know?” Tadej asked. “When did I know what?” Mads stopped them at a junction, looking right and left before crossing. Tadej bit his lip.

thank you SO much for asking me about this i love it to bits even though it's often very hard to write. as a queer person who has been forcibly outed myself, it's tough sometimes to put that on paper and try and consider what a famous figure might go through, the situation being made 100x worse by media attention, losing his goddamn job and navigating an environment that from an outsider's perspective doesn't seem like the most supportive

ironically while searching through my docs i found another file also called pretty in pink but that is much much shorter and more lighthearted (and also about tadej! but in the other thing he wears a dress to a halloween party and has a lot of fun)