#but i now have a Monaco fic idea that's making me VERY excited and happy indeed 😍😍

[singsweetmelodies]

SO! not to make everything about rpf, but also...

i didn't want to say this ANYWHERE publicly before the race in case i somehow jinxed it, but i thought to myself on saturday: you know, if charles wins in monaco, i HAVE to write a fic about it. i just have to.

so, uh. guess what i'm doing tonight? 👀

[cutielando]

FIC IDEA WITH LANDO: So reader recently moved to Monaco bc of her job (any remote job u want and content creater) anyways she is working at a café just to get some money and lando is a customer. He flirts with her and stuff and she writes her number on the cup without him noticing at the moment. The reader then like a week later mentions it to her friend and talks about how he did not respond yet and like what exactly happened not knowing her friend was on live and her fans get invested and call this mystery boy “café boy” (kind of like Alix Earle with nfl man) Then McLaren invites the reader to the paddock and lando sees her and then have like a talk together in his drivers room and he mentions how he was nervous to text or something. After she makes a soft launch post captioned “my café boy 🤎”. IF U DO IT PLEASE TAG ME!

my coffee boy | l.n.

a/n: thank you so much @idkyet101sblog for the amazing idea 🤎

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📍Monte-Carlo, Monaco

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user1 mother is finally living her dream 😭

francisca.cgomes yayy!!!!!❤️❤️

yourusername ❤️❤️

yourbestfriend can’t believe you left me behind 🥲 JK I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU ❤️❤️

yourusername i miss you already 😭😭❤️

user2 who is she?

user3 she’s a content creator and up-and-coming model🫶🏻 she makes a lot of F1 content since she is very good friends with Kika

user2 how come i’ve never heard of her until now?

user4 she’s only starting to become famous and accustomed to the public eye, maybe that’s why

yourmother so proud of you!!❤️❤️

yourusername love you mom!!!!

user5 if i don't grow up to be just like Y/N, i'm giving up

Real life

Moving to Monaco had always been your dream. Living in the beautiful country right on the water, starting a new life in such a peaceful place and being able to follow your dreams.

It had been your dream ever since you were a little girl.

However, moving to Monaco was in itself very pricey. It hadn’t been easy, gathering the money you needed to lead a relatively comfortable lifestyle in the exclusivist country, but you had managed to do so.

And now, you now had to step up a bit until things got going for you.

And you figured that working at the local coffee shop was the best solution. At least just until you got settled in your new home country and your career kicked in.

You knew that Monaco was the home to a lot of athletes, especially Formula 1 drivers, but you didn't really expect to meet any of them. Monaco was not really as small of a place as people thought, you wouldn't just run into an F1 driver in the street that casually.

No, you run into them at coffee shops.

You had been minding your own business one day, thankful that it was still early and people were not yet coming for coffee. But then the entrance bell rang, and your eyes met the most beautiful man you had ever laid eyes on.

The one and only, Lando Norris.

You didn't want to seem like an obsessed fan, so you tried to keep your excitement at bay the best you could.

"Hello" he greeted when he approached the counter, that famous smirk adorning his features.

"Hi. What can I get you?" you asked sweetly, praying to God that he wouldn't notice the furious blush on your cheeks.

"I'll just have a cappuccino, love" he asked, giving you a dazzling smile.

You blushed even more and nodded, getting to work on his drink.

He didn't say anything else for a second, he just watched and admired your movements as you effortlessly prepared his coffee.

"I haven't seen you around here before, and trust me. I would have remembered a face as beautiful as yours" Lando suddenly asked, leaning forward against the counter.

You almost did a double take, not wanting to get your hopes up. Was he actually flirting with you? Were you just dreaming?

You cleared your throat before you answered, which made Lando smile even more cockily.

"I just moved here a couple of days ago, got a job with a modelling agency and figured I would work for some extra money until the modelling gigs kick in" you explained, looking at his from the corner of your eye to see his wide eyes when you mentioned being a model.

"With a face as beautiful as yours, figured you were a model of some sort. Nobody would pass on someone as pretty as you"

You blushed again, thankful that the shop was almost empty and people couldn't see you falling apart just from talking to the man.

"Do you flirt with every barista you meet, Mr. Norris?" you teased, pouring the drink into a to-go cup.

"Just the insanely pretty ones"

You chuckled and shook your head, taking the sharpie in your hand to write his name on the cup. As soon as you wrote his name, your hand moved on its own, scribbling your phone number underneath and the message 'call me <3' next to it.

Biting your lip, you gave him the drink with a smile, biding your goodbyes.

"I'll see you around, Y/N" he said, looking at your name tag.

"Okay" was all you could say, your mind too fuzzy to come up with a better response.

He turned around just before he exited the cafe, winking at you before departing.

What the hell had just happened?

♡♡♡♡♡

Much to your disappointment, a couple of days had gone by without a single text from the driver.

You hadn't thought much of it, way too busy with unpacking and such to even think about your encounter. It was our friend who kept asking you about it, going out of her mind when you mentioned you had given your number to an F1 driver.

"Y/N, come here, you left me all alone" Samantha, your friend, called out for you from the living room.

You sighed, unwillingly getting out of your very comfortable position on your bed and walked into the living room.

Not even paying attention to what Samantha was doing, you fell on the couch face first, your sore limbs tired from the short walk from the bedroom to the living room.

"I was very comfortable in bed, thank you very much" you mumbled, but Samantha paid you no mind.

She knew how grumpy you got in the evenings, so she had learned to ignore your comments in such instances.

"Has he texted you yet?" she asked, making you glare at her.

"I don't know how many times you've already asked me that and how many times I've given you the exact same answer. No, he hasn't" you grumbled, hiding your face in your pillow.

Samantha hummed, casting a sneaky glance to her phone.

"But like what exactly happened?" she pressed, making you sigh.

"It's not that interesting of a story. He came in the coffee shop, ordered a drink, we flirted a little and then I wrote my number on his cup" you explained once again, and unbeknownst to you, your fans were going wild over the information they had just heard.

Samantha almost wanted to laugh when she saw the dozens of comments flooding in, calling Lando the "mysterious café boy" that hadn't texted you.

"If I were him, I would have texted you the minute I walked out" she defended, making you sigh.

"But you're not him. There are numerous reasons that could explain why he hasn't texted me, he's a busy guy, Samantha" you defended, getting up from the couch to head back to your bedroom, so done with the conversation.

Samantha waited until the door was closed before switching her attention back to her phone.

"And there you go, ladies and gentlemen. Our girl is finally finding love" she giggled, clapping her hands.

If only Lando would have the courage to make the first step.

♡♡♡♡♡

You had always been a fan of Formula 1, you got that from your father. He would always bring you with him to races when you were younger, and his love and admiration was passed onto you from a very young age.

However, you hadn't attended a race in a while, you hadn't had the opportunity or the time to go to one.

Until now.

McLaren had contacted you a couple of days before the Silverstone Grand Prix, inviting you as their VIP guest for the weekend. And who were you to refuse a weekend with the team of the guy you were crushing on?

That's how you found yourself walking towards the McLaren hospitality, bag clutched tightly in your hand as you approached the brightly papaya colored building.

Sighing with a smile on your face, you had just put your hand on the handle when the door opened from the inside and Lando stepped out, stopping in his tracks when he saw you in front of him.

The both of you froze, not knowing how to react. The first one to break the tension was Lando, who smiled at you widely.

"Hey, Y/N. Long time no see" he said, making you chuckle and nod.

"Yeah"

He nodded, and silence settled for a split second between the two of you before he spoke up.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't text you. I saw your number, even saved it in my phone and was meaning to say something. I was just too nervous to screw things up, cause I really like you" he confessed, making your heartbeat quicken significantly.

Your eyes widened, and relief finally settled into your troubled mind. There had been so many thoughts and theories in your head about why he hadn't contacted you. Maybe you had misread the situation, maybe he wasn't interested, maybe he didn't see your number written next to his name, countless possibilities had been swirling around in your head.

But now, you were finally content. He was just nervous, bless his heart. If you were being fair, you would have been way too nervous to contact him if the roles had been reversed.

"Don't worry, it's okay" you reassured him, which made Lando feel better.

"I want to make it up to you. How about dinner tonight? My treat, I'll show you around the city" he suggested, his eyes full of hope.

You couldn't possibly deny him, so you found yourself nodding.

"Great" he smiled and leaned in to plant a kiss on your cheek before departing towards the garage.

You bit your lip, trying to suppress a smile.

He hadn't forgotten you after all.

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francisca.cgomes i’m so happy for you guys!!!❤️❤️

yourusername thank you babe!!!✨❤️

user1 who is that????

user2 i’m so jealous 🙂‍↕️🥲

pietrapilao ❤️

yourusername 🫶🏻

user3IS THAT LANDO?????

user4 why would you think it’s lando?

user5 some people saw him with someone at the race and think this is his girlfriend

maxfewtrell smooth

yourusername thanks 🙂‍↕️

user6 this is basically confirmation that’s Lando 😭

maxfewtrell don’t take my word for it, people

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[onboardsorasora]

Needed a break from all my WIPs and wrote this little holiday bit. It's set in what I'm now going to call the 'Relaxed & Happy Verse' and this AU is going to be only happy fluffy established relationship drabbles. slices of life if you will. This is the same verse as the Love Letters fluff prompt.

Here are the previous fics in this verse.

Christmas Shopping.

Max leaned back into Daniel’s chest, staring proudly over at the Christmas tree the other had insisted on. This was their first Christmas here at home in Monaco. The first one where they weren’t jetting off to be with the other’s family. It wasn’t planned, it kinda just happened that way and Max couldn’t find it in himself to be mad.

This meant that they actually had to put effort into celebrating. The first step was agreeing to decorate the apartment. They argued about the tree– what size, what shape, even the colour. Then they argued about the coloured theme to decorate the tree. It was then they both realized how truly out of the loop they were when it came to actually making a home Christmassy.

So they went to a store and just picked things up that caught their eye. There was no rhyme or reason, no theme or plan. In the end their tree looked beautiful in Max’s opinion. They had unconsciously agreed to not go over the top, so there was still a lot of ‘tree’ to be seen. It was very them but in a simple way.

They didn’t decorate the rest of the apartment, not really. They got a wreath for the front door and Daniel saw some cute tea towels with Christmas puns on them. But outside of that, the tree was the focal point.

Daniel tilted his neck so that his cheek rested Max’s head. He kissed the crown of his head and pulled him closer.

“I have an idea for presents.” Daniel began ominously. Max peeked up at him curiously. “Ok hear me out.”

“Go on.”

“So– well firstly. Are we gonna do that thing where we agree not to buy each other a gift but then buy multiple gifts and like just hand them to each other and not wait til actual Christmas day? Or do you wanna like have everything be a surprise on one day? Because if you do…..”

Max snorted as Daniel’s speech got faster the more he got excited. It was a good thing he was an expert at translating Daniel’s brain trains. 

“Do you want us to wait until Christmas morning to open presents?” Max asked instead.

“Uh, yeah. I think it’ll be fun.”

“Then we’ll do that.” Max said it like it was simple. Because it was.

“Ace! Okay! Then that means we have officially entered an embargo on buying things for ourselves. Lock the doors! Blare the sirens! The embargo has begun!” Daniel cupped his hands around his mouth for his voice to echo around the room. Max laughed heartily at his antics. 

This would be their second ever shopping embargo. The first one happened when Victoria gave birth to Lio and Michelle to Isabella and they both had just been sending gifts without even thinking about it. Grace had to call to put a stop to it. They embargoed for four whole months. It was a dark time.

“Ok, now what?” Max leaned onto the arm of the couch so he could see Daniel properly while he laid out the plan. He lifted his feet to rest in Daniel’s lap and Daniel immediately dropped his palm to circle Max’s ankle.

“Right! So.” Daniel grinned. “Now, we figure out whatever gifts we wanna get and we buy them. BUT like, they have to be a secret. Like we have to promise to not like search for them or go poking at them when they're under the tree. Deal?” He held out his pinky and Max eyed him seriously for a minute before hooking his own pinky around Daniel’s.

“Deal. Of course we’ll both be here the whole time, Daniel.” He said it clearly like Daniel hadn’t considered that fact. Daniel grinned a wolfish grin.

“Oh Maxy Max. That's the best part!” He rubbed his palms together deviously. “So like, literally use everything to your advantage. If you need to lock me out onto the patio and close the blinds while you wrap, just like give me some water and my phone charger yeah?”

Max gave a confused eyebrow lift and Daniel continued.

“Yeah like for this to work, we actually have to play along- suspend our disbelief, pretend we’re in a play and there's a backstage or whatever. We’re both gonna be here almost the whole time so there's not many opportunities to sneak shit. So yeah, if you ask me to lock myself in the bedroom so you can go pick up whatever and take your time to put it under the tree. I’ll be in the bedroom, headphones on– music on loud. Until you let me out.” He shrugged. 

“Ok. I think I got it. Deal.” Max affirmed and Daniel’s answering smile was as blinding as it was mischievous. What had he gotten himself into?

– - –

Max had gotten lucky within a week of their deal. Daniel needed to fly to the Factory for some last minute set up testing before everyone closed down for the holiday. He’d been able to take his time and picked out a gift he knew Daniel would find hilarious and fall in love with.

Max wrapped the box with Sassy’s management and hid it in one of his suitcases in the storage closet. He then ended up buying two more things, deciding they would make perfect dummy gifts and set them for delivery.

Daniel had come back with a flourish, announcing that he had bought Max’s gift and it was on its way. Max had shaken his head fondly. Daniel was enjoying this thoroughly– Max was too, but Daniel was seemingly brimming with excitement about the whole process.

That excitement reached a peak one afternoon. Max was on stream with the Redline boys, playing one of the geography games where Gianni kept lessening the amount of time every round, when Daniel came barrelling into the sim room.

He dipped into the frame and waved to the camera before plucking the headset off of Max’s head. Max’s complaints were heard in the background even while Enzo and Crane both dissolved into giggled and Gianni tried to calm the chat from asking Daniel a barrage of questions. They knew he was only here to cause chaos and leave.

“Hey boys! Can you do me a favour real quick? I need you guys to keep Max distracted for like 30 minutes.”

“Daniel! You can’t just–” Max was laughing in the background, his glee broadcasting for everyone.

“The rules are that I can use whatever is at my disposal!” Daniel argued. “Thanks guys! Hey chat!” Daniel waved and deposited the headset back on Max’s head and left the room. Leaving Max to deal with the fall out while Daniel wrapped whatever gift he’d bought.

“Mate the chat is going crazy, you’re gonna need to give us something here.” Bennett couldn’t keep his grin off of his face. Max sighed in the most fake, put-upon way. They all knew he was extremely private with his relationship– for obvious reasons. It wasn’t as if they weren’t out or open, but they were both very private people. 

“Ok ok! I’ll answer three questions. Make them good Crane.”

“Why give Crane the power?” Gianni complained.

“Because he’s gonna choose shit questions.” Max grinned mischievously into the camera.

“Ok got it. First question Maxy Taxi.” Crane steepled his fingers and raised an eyebrow in a poor evil villain imitation.

“Oh boy.” Bennett couldn’t hold back his giggles.

“First question. What the fuck was all that about?” The group laughed loudly and Max covered his face in his hands.

“I think my Christmas gift just came and of course he wants to make sure I don’t see it.”

“That’s a bit over the top mate.” Gianni pointed out.

“Daniel’s a bit over the top, mate.” Crane shrugged as if it all made sense to him.

“I mean– we are under embargo. Shocking, right?” Max announced to the surprise of the group who nodded sagely, remembering him complaining about the last embargo. 

“OG chat knows.” Enzo piped up.

“That counts as a second answer by the way. So one more!” Max cackled when everyone started arguing loudly into their mics.

“Ok ok ok! Fine, last question. What did you get him?” Crane asked.

“Of course I’m not telling you! Then it’ll end up all over the internet and spoil the surprise.” Max snorted, thoroughly enjoying how everyone started ganging up on Crane for the silly question. He didn’t even realize the door to the sim room finally opened until after all the games were done.

“Am I allowed to come out?” He called out into the hallway tentatively. Sassy rubbed her body around his shins.

“Yup! You’re free to go!” Daniel called from what seemed like the kitchen. Max walked into the living room and snorted a laugh. Daniel cackled from the kitchen at his response. 

The tree was dwarfed by a large wrapped box leaned up on the wall beside it. It was comical.

“It's just a small gift you know? Something tiny that I saw and thought of you.” Daniel’s grin was so wide it was almost manic. It was clear how proud of himself he was. Max couldn’t help but grin back, hopeless against Daniel’s joy.

“Daniel, you told me it was ‘ornament sized’!” Max laughed breathlessly as he looked at the tree.

“Max, it's so tiny! Look at it getting lost by the tree, you’ll never know it was there if I didn’t point it out to you.”

They laughed for a bit before Daniel’s grin got smug. “Well it seems like I’m in the lead Maxy Max. My gift for you is already here. I’m what you call prepared with a capital P.”  Daniel folded his arms and nodded his head. All cocky and self-satisfied.

Max rolled his eyes and looked down at Sassy who seemed to be sharing his reaction to Daniel. He’d had a plan, to present the dummy gifts (that actually were small) before bringing the original gift out with a flourish. But Max was nothing if not a competitive asshole who loved to win. So he smirked at Daniel before turning and walking back down the hallway.

“Max?” Daniel called curiously, hearing the sound of a door opening and shuffling. His eyes widened comically when Max re-entered the room with a large box and placed it gently under the tree. 

“Actually Daniel. Your gift, of course, has been here.” Max’s lips quirked upwards as Daniel rewarded him with a breathless laugh, complete with a clap and little hop.

“That's the spirit Maxy!” Daniel walked across the room and pulled Max into his arms. Max was curious as to the nature of Daniel’s gift, but he truly didn’t care. Because this was already one of the best Christmases they’d ever shared.

“I love you, Daniel.” Max murmured, feeling warm all over.

“I love you too, Maxy Max.” Daniel planted a wet kiss on his cheek that had Max dipping his head into Daniel’s shoulder, blushing wildly. Even after all this time.

[studentville-struggles]

A Double Life

Chapter 5!!

A self-indulgent Daniel Ricciardo fic.

Summary: Returning to old passions results in the start of chaos and living a double life. We say we hate chaos, but the thrill is unlike anything else.

Words: 1,941

Masterlist // Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

F1 was no joke.  

PhD’s were no joke.

You were exhausted. Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover how you felt. Were you dying? Who even knew at this point.  

One monday your legs finally gave out as you were walking into university, collapsing from the exhaustion you were fighting. Thankfully you had just made it into your building, the porters quick to call a medic. You actually ended up having to take a couple of days off of lab work and go home and just spend some time sleeping and spending time with your parents. Your supervisors were so worried for your health and the stress you had been putting yourself under they pretty much banned you from the lab for a week.  

You still did the workouts you needed to and prepped for races from home. You just did everything on more than five hours sleep. The luxury. It was so damn needed.

Speaking on the phone to Lando one night, the two of you becoming closer friends since being team mates and him checking in more frequently since finding out about you collapsing, you had been joking about how nice sleep was. 

“I used to think that being ordinary was boring. Now I’d do anything for a 10 hour nap and a chippy.”

Your little exhaustion moment had scared you a little bit. You’d always managed to do everything. You could have two intense lives and work it. You had felt that for the last three years you mastered juggling a double life. Was it finally coming to crumble around you? Was this it, was the dream over?  

You wouldn’t allow it. You couldn’t. Youd fought so hard for this, to have your cake and eat it. It was never meant to be easy and you knew that, this was just one more thing to overcome. Once you had your PhD you would be able to live any life you wanted. You might even be able to sleep seven hours a night on the regular.  

You would make this double life work for a little longer, you had to.

Having re-evaluated routines and switching things up so that you could make the most of both lives whilst still being healthy, you were feeling confident, comfortable and it was growing with each race that passed. Sure, not all of the results were what you dreamed off; after all you were yet to tip Lewis off his pedestal, but you were getting there. Getting the car to do your bidding was the first half of the challenge. Now you just needed to do that, but better than every one else on the track.

The other thing to come out of your health scare; especially after some of the drivers have commented on your less deathly appearance was an interesting change in your friendship with a certain Australian.  

Sure, you had the big change from thinking he was rude to being caught smiling at his texts, to hanging out in Australia at the start of the season. That you had kind of seen coming; but this? This was unexpected, and you weren’t quite sure what to make of it currently.

After finding out about your little incident, Daniels’ entire energy changed. He was visibly concerned about you, whether you were better now, how you were doing getting everything under control for good. His reaction to discovering the in-depth extremeness of your routine having binged watched your show – he claimed it was a curious interest to occupy his flight but you knew it was to be nosey and you didn’t mind that – was even stranger He had effectively cornered you at the paddock in China with a written out list and spluttering of expletives with the general message of “what the fuck, no wonder you're exhausted.’.  

The frequency at which you two texted and chatted was steadily rising as your friendship bloomed but after his discovery of ‘the incident’, it had sky rocketed. Both in general conversation, but also in his concern for you overdoing things. He’s started to make a point, like Lewis often does, to ensure you take a bit of time for you and to relax; so movie and game nights are now a little thing you get when you meet up for a face to face catch up.

The vibes between the two of you were shifting ever so slightly and you weren’t entirely sure where there were setting themselves.

---

You were very lucky in that your family would often come to support you, especially your mum and dad. Albeit your mum couldn’t watch half of the races due to her fear that her little girl was going to be hurt, but she was there every chance she had.  

As the season progressed and you were getting some races closer to home, you felt it was about time to invite the main group of people who were yet to see this side of you. Given the intense patience and grace they had given to you, supporting you though everything and allowing your camera crew all access; it was time to invite your boss. Well your other boss. Your supervisor.

Getting back into the swing of things at work in the lab after the Spanish Grand Prix, you felt it was finally time to give back to your lab family.

“I’d like to take you to work next week, and maybe a few others once I check numbers.” Your supervisor knew what ‘work’ meant for you but with more and more people questioning your regular three day weeks, you were starting to feel like letting your two worlds collide a little more.  

“Where is work next week? Monaco?”  

“Yup. I’ll give my media team a ring and see how many we can take including hotels and go from there”  

“Including?!”  

“Full VIP, would be rude of me not to.”  

A short phone call later, with some rough numbers figured out, you had five full VIP passes at your disposal. Given you rarely have guests at Grand Prix’ they allowed a few extra tickets this time. As one would imagine with a free weekend in Monaco, the academic staff in your research group snapped up those tickets in no time. Of course, with the amount of time spent in your offices and labs, you were safely assuming three of the five had no idea what your job was, though were very curious as to how and why it was taking you to Monaco.  

Academic life was no joke. Everyone was busy, everyone had very little free time. Watching sports was only done by super fans really. There weren’t any motorsport super fans in your office and somehow both your show and driving career had still remained unquestioned. How that was true with the camera crew still following you around, you had no idea.  

You had sent out a rough, and very vague itinerary, reminding them to be ready to leave work at 6 pm on Wednesday, heading straight to the airport. You had also sent strict dress code instructions- the smarter end of smart casual, knowing that they would likely, if not definitely, be appearing on camera.  

With some of your team meeting you at the airport, ready to get your race weekend media started, the confusion of your university colleagues was growing. It peaked as they had you film a short clip to start the weekends media off, it was only a short Instagram story, post hair touch up, to say hi to fans.  

“Hey guys, just me taking over the Instagram stories! We’ve just arrived at the airport to head over to Monaco! Can’t wait to see you guys this weekend and I’ve even brought a few colleagues from the university so you’ll be seeing my two worlds collide as well! See you soon!” Waving at the camera, you cut the video. With all thumbs up from your team, you uploaded it to your team Instagram, views piling in almost immediately.  

“Rachel what the hell do you do?!”

“Oh you’ll see soon enough, I don’t want to ruin the surprise now.” You teased, surprisingly enjoying the suspense.  

Walking up to the private jet having gone through security with ease, the shock was only increasing, though you everyone was feeling very excited for the flight now they saw the plane. Things were fairly calm after this, the journey quick, smooth and you avoided giving too much away.  

Arriving at the hotel you sent everyone off to their rooms, giving timings for meeting the next morning. You would be leaving before them to start greeting the media and doing some press conferences before your track walks, and so had arranged for a few cars to be sent for transferring the rest over to the main hub. Once they were all happy with the plans, not that you’d given many details, merely timings, you could head to your room where Daniel had snuck over waiting to reunite.  

He had many complaints about spending the evening having your catch up in a hotel when he had a perfectly good home a few minutes away. At some point during the evening, after the food had been demolished, the words said and a crappy Netflix original on the tv, the two of you had fallen asleep. When you woke a couple of hours later, you were awkwardly hunched on the sofa still, somehow having entangled yourself with Daniels body.  

Realising that it was far too late to send Daniel home, you both needed sleep if you were to survive the media day, and you couldn’t send him on his way in the small hours of the morning. Trying not to wake him too harshly, you start untangling yourself from the mess of legs. With Daniel starting to stir, you grab his hand, wordlessly pulling him from the sofa, over to the hotel bed.  

Still in the silence the middle of the night brings, Daniel shed the majority of his clothing, slipping under the covers in only his underwear, with you following soon after as you quickly change into your sleepwear.  

For something so foreign in your friendship, the ease and comfort at which you snuggled together, falling asleep again under the covers, was almost unnerving. Almost. In your sleepy state, you couldn’t recognise that, only time would reveal that.  

--

Having snuck off to begin your media day trackside, you were eager to see your lab colleague's reaction to where they were. It was as you were heading back into McLarens hospitality that you, as well as the whole group, could see the full magnitude of this job and how it differed to the Rachel they were used to seeing in the office.  

“You’re a driver?”  Shock? Disbelief? You couldn’t quite tell but the reaction was  

“Yes”

“What the fuck? But you’re in the lab like 10 hours a day”

“Now you know why I don’t have time to get things done otherwise in my three-day weeks.”

Once the shock wore off, the excitement and initial questions had settled, you set the group up with timings for the day and let them wander round the paddock freely as you headed back to your meetings, promising to see them during the lunch break.  

Having your worlds united felt good. It felt as though some of the pressure you hadn’t realised was there from keeping them separate, was melting away.  Although the feeling that was beginning to bubble away every time you bumped into Daniel was very close to being a distraction.

You needed to drive; just get in the car and block everything else out. 

[nazario-sayeed]

Grey area (Sonia x F!MC)

Author's note: I've had part of this fic written for weeks but I just couldn't finish it; I was experiencing some serious writers block. But last night I got inspired and somehow manage to write all of it. I'm Brazilian who lives in Rio and I wanted to use that in my fic. My MC's name is Agatha. English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes. 

Summary: One year after the heist, Sonia wonders where Agatha is, and whether they'll meet again (WC: around 2,100).

Rating: pretty sure it's PG-13 (kissing, sexual tension but very light) 

tag list:  @nazariortega  @duchess-ash-flame  @lahelalove @poeticscolt @donutsgirl36 @queenkaneko @msjpuddleduck@quinnskelly @flyawayboo @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard@jlpplays1 @desiree-0816 @sibella-plays-choices @mfackenthal @unwrittennovel @shreya-mackenzie @emomoustache (I'm using my general tag list from my Nik and Jaime fics, feel free to ignore me and/or let me know if I got anyone wrong) 

Sonia was sitting on her usual table, at her usual bakery, having her usual breakfast. Nothing about the present day seemed anything other than ordinary. But as she put down her coffee mug, something caught her eye on the tiny tv screen against the wall, a picture she knew all too well by now: the empty case of the crown jewels of Monaco. She didn't even need to check the calendar to realize what day it was. It's been one year.

It’s been one year since Agatha and her crew successfully stole the crown jewels of Monaco, which went down on newspapers all over the world as the greatest heist in history: no traces left behind, and none of the crew members had been located yet. All of this was being said on the morning news, and Sonia smiled despite of herself as she started to reminisce about her last encounter with the criminal who completely changed the way she viewed the world.

After the night they spent together in Vegas, Sonia hadn’t seen or heard from Agatha, but that didn't mean she hadn't been thinking about the blonde thief; she still couldn’t believe she had fallen for a career criminal. How clichê was that? Her feelings for Agatha were part of the reason she hadn't gone back to work- she was too biased to be useful.

Sonia used to think it was so simple. In her head, there used to be the side of the law and the mischievous side. Everything used to be black or white, right or wrong. But as the law favored people like Ansel, and Agatha was one of the “bad guys”, how could she ignore the grey area?

After the security fiasco at Carlisle’s wedding, Sonia decided to take some time off from work. Her head wasn’t in it anymore; she didn’t feel like she could be a part of justice when she didn’t even know who the true bad guys were. As the reporter on TV talked about the heist, Sonia couldn't help but think about Agatha; her lips, her blonde hair, her green eyes, her stunning body… A warm feeling that had nothing to do with the hot coffee spread across her body at the memory, and she let herself wonder where the now multimillionaire thief might be. Sonia hated to admit how often Agatha crossed her mind, and how much she wished she could see her again.

When she got back to her apartment, still thinking about Agatha and absently smiling, Sonia noticed something inside her mailbox, something that wasn't there before.  She picked it up and frowned in confusion. "A postcard? Who would send me a postcard?", she thought to herself. 

It featured a picture of the famous black and white sidewalk design from Copacabana Beach- a couple of miles away from Sonia's apartment in Laranjeiras. At first, it seemed like there was nothing written on it. No date, no name, no address. But as she looked closer, Sonia noticed there was actually something: a tiny note on the corner saying "2 pm".

She glanced around but there was no one on the street, no one who could possibly know who sent this. She decided to just go up to her apartment and take a closer look at it, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. As she stared at it, eyebrows furrowed, something clicked inside her mind: "Wait, 2pm? People in Brazil don't write time like that. Could it possibly be…? No, I won't let myself think about it. It's not her. It can’t be."

As much as she tried to push her own thoughts away, it made sense. Didn't it? Or was it just wishful thinking? Sonia had always loved puzzles and solving riddles, and she was good at it. She was good at following leads and finding logical patterns when nothing seemed to make sense. But all her logical, rational side would disappear when it came to Agatha, and she couldn’t think straight anymore- one of the reasons she decided to step down from her job. She sighed and looked at her phone. 9:17am. She had a long morning ahead of her.

Sonia tried to distract herself from the stubborn clock that seemed to have stopped. After what felt like an eternity, the time finally came. She swallowed her lunch in five seconds, took a quick shower and headed to Copacabana Beach. As she sat on the bus, she let her mind wonder to the possibility that it was actually Agatha waiting for her.

As an ex police officer, she knew better. She knew it was probably a bad idea to follow an anonymous, almost ominous, instruction like that. It was most likely a trap, but that small voice inside her head telling her it could be Agatha waiting for her made Sonia ignore all the obvious red flags.

Copacabana Beach was crowded, as always, and most of them were tourists enjoying the hot spring sun and photographing the illustrious, breathtaking landscape. The beach was 2.2 miles long and she didn’t know where to wait, or whom to look for, so she just walked towards its most touristy spot: the sidewalk in front of Rio’s most famous hotel, Copacabana Palace. She sat on a table of a kiosk on the beach, with her back to the sand, enjoying the warm sunshine on her skin as she took a sip of the most overpriced coconut water in the city. 

Sonia began to meticulously examine the crowd; she would feel her heart skipping a beat everytime a blonde woman walked by, which made her feel pathetic. She checked the clock and it was 1:58 pm; she was already absently tapping her foot on the wood board and biting her lips, her head frantically turning from side to side, looking for any face she might recognize- but, mostly, for one face specifically. When she realized how quickly her heart was beating, she took a deep breath and counted to three. "You need to calm down and lower your expectations", she told herself.

As her breathing began to slow down, she felt soft fingers touching her exposed shoulder and a woman's voice behind her, talking in Portuguese with a strong American accent "Com licença..." Sonia turned her head and she could swear her heart stopped for a few seconds. "Do you know what time is it?" Agatha continued, in English, smirking at Sonia through her sunglasses.

"It's… 2 pm" Sonia somehow managed to answer, not even bothering to check if she was right. She stared in disbelief at the woman in front of her, unable to move. Her hair was shorter and darker, but it was her. It was Agatha.

"I'm right on time, then" she announced, walking around Sonia and sitting at the chair next to hers.

"You're here. I can't believe you're really here, Agatha." Sonia babbled, trying to convince herself. Agatha casually leaned in on her chair and stole a sip from Sonia's coconut, before placing her hand over Sonia's on the table.

"I'm really here. And for the rest of the world, I'm not Agatha anymore, I'm Emily. But I can make an exception for you." Agatha removed her sunglasses and smiled at Sonia, looking into her eyes. The ex security agent couldn't believe her instincts were right and that Agatha had found her.

"This hair suits you, Aga… Emily." Sonia commented, dumbfolded.

"Thank you. After my last job, I had to make some changes, keep a low profile. But I'm glad you enjoyed. And you look just as good as I remembered" Agatha said, letting go of Sonia's hand to tug a lock of the Brazilian's thick hair behind her ear, their eyes locked on each other.

But Agatha's gentle touch surprised Sonia, which made her jerk away from her hand. She looked down, breaking eye contact, and bit her lip. Agatha lost her smile, looking worried. "Should I… have not come back?" she tried to catch Sonia's gaze again, but she kept looking away.

They were both silent for a few minutes. Sonia tried to understand what she was feeling before saying something. She finally let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest, and began talking with a tone that was something between angry and hurt.

"You're probably one of the most wanted criminals in the world. Interpol interrogated me for weeks, trying to locate you, and I know they haven't given up. You ruined my last job, and I helped you, and then after Vegas you just… disappeared. I should want to lock you up. I should want to handcuff you and call the agent who interrogated me and turn you away. But I..." she lost track of her thoughts, finally looking up to meet Agatha's gaze. She felt her heart melting. "I don't. At all. I should be feeling a hundred different things now and none of them should be happiness, or excitement. But here I am. And all I can think about is kissing you" she admitted, her voice breaking a litte. Agatha smirked at her.

"Well, you know I'm not against the idea of you handcuffing me. But maybe we're too exposed here" she teased, and Sonia could feel her cheeks blushing when she thought of their encounter during Carlisle's wedding, when she first admitted to herself that the thief had her smitten. Agatha leaned forward, her face coming closer to Sonia's, whose breath got caught in her throat as she felt the other woman's breath on her lips. "And I'm definitely not against the idea of you kissing me" she whispered, her lips almost touching Sonia's. She cautiously placed a hand on Sonia's thigh, and touched the agent's cheek with the other. The Brazilian woman felt her skin on fire where Agatha was touching her, and she let out a small gasp as the thief closed the distance between them, capturing her lips on a gentle kiss.

Sonia seemed to wake up from a trance when she felt Agatha's lips on her own. It took her a few seconds to react but once she realized what was happening, her whole body responded to the familiar feeling of Agatha's kiss and touch. Sonia put one hand on the woman's neck, pulling her close, and hugged her waist with the other. Agatha couldn't help the small moan that escaped her lips when she felt Sonia pulling her closer. Their kiss grew more passionate by the second and after a few minutes they broke apart, both a bit breathless, their faces flushed. Everyone around them was staring uncomfortably at the two women, but they only had eyes for each other.

"Now do you believe I'm here?" Agatha teased, placing a kiss on Sonia's cheek, who let out a small laugh before meeting her eyes. She placed her hand over where Agatha's rested on her thigh, running soothing circles on the back of her hand.

"I might need a little more convincing." She provoked, and Agatha smiled and bit her lips. She gave Sonia a quick peck on the lips and reluctantly pulled away, gesturing as to acknowledge their very public setting.

"Don't worry, I'll take my time convincing you. But maybe we can get out of here? I wouldn't want to break the law by committing public indecency, you know." the criminal joked, and Sonia laughed despite of herself, rolling her eyes. She was feeling light and content for the first time in months.

"My place is close. We can go there. But I have to warn you about something…" Sonia leaned in, letting her mouth brush over Agatha's ear "I still have my handcuffs. Maybe I should use them on you, just in case you're planning on running away from me again."

Agatha felt a shiver run through her body, despite of the warm weather. She tightened her hold on Sonia's leg for a second, holding back a moan.

"I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. But maybe you should cuff me, just to be sure… And then you can do whatever you want to me" she teased, pulling back and smiling seductively at Sonia. "What do you say? Let's get out of here?"

Sonia didn't bother answering. She grabbed the thief's hand and pulled her away from the uneasy looks from the people around them, clearly uncomfortable with their passionate display of affection, but the women didn't care about any of them. As they made their way to Sonia's place on the back of the cab, they couldn't stop smiling at each other.

Sonia wasn't thinking about the irony of it all. She didn't care that Agatha was on the most wanted list and that she once was a law enforcement agent. She had tried to fight her feelings ever since she and Agatha left that prison island together, but when she finally let go at Carlisle's wedding, she knew there was no going back. That was the first time she wasn't thinking about right or wrong. If the grey area meant she could go back to her place with Agatha and do all the things she's been thinking about since they parted ways in Vegas, then grey was her new favorite color.

[sleepyverstappens]

Let Your Heart Be Free

Title: Let Your Heart Be Free

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen

Rating: Explicit

Word Count; ~6.7k

Summary:  “You should really just ask him out or something bro, because this is getting really embarrassing.”

“I can’t,” he sighs.

“Why not?”

“You know why.” They’ve had this conversation over and over again, but his answer never changes. He won’t put his career in jeopardy like that, his father’s voice reminding him that racing is the most important thing.

Or Max has a lot of feelings after seeing those pictures of Daniel wall climbing, but does he have enough courage to actually let Daniel know about them during an eventful race weekend at Silverstone?

A/N: I'm back! With another fic and also from holiday. Honestly watching Max win Austria on a tiny little phone screen on a beach in Gran Canaria was the best. Come to think of it, I've now watch half of Max's wins on tiny little phone screens...Does that mean I should leave the house on race days more often (I still vote no tbh :P)

Anyway here's a fic that was supposed to be just another 2k of smut, but then whatever this is happened. This fic was partly brought to you by this picture: x (and this one as well tbh x )

Also I have no idea if Victoria still works at the Red Bull Racing social media team, but for fic purposes she still is.

So yeah uh, enjoy the journey that this fic definitely is :)

Read on AO3

They’re having a little break in between games with Ryan to do some set up changes, so that he can teach Ryan how to drive in the simulator, when he checks his phone. He’s just scrolling through his Twitter feed, which consist of mostly boring stuff he skips past quickly until he sees the new pictures the Red Bull Racing account has just posted. His eyes bulge slightly as he clicks on the pictures to open them fully.

It’s not often that Red Bull separates them for the pre-race activities, wanting to make the most of their friendship by letting them do silly things for social media. But today they’re not even at the same venue. He hadn’t known what Daniel would be doing today, so seeing those pictures are a bit of a shock to the system.

He can’t stop looking at Daniel’s arms in the picture. The way they bulge as he holds onto the climbing wall, shimmering a bit from his sweat. The arms are what make him stare at the picture for far too long, but it’s the whole image that keeps him mesmerised. The focus in Daniel’s eyes as he looks at the next ‘rock’ he needs to grab, the way his leg tattoo is poking out from underneath his shorts, his curls in slight disarray from the sweat and then back to those gorgeous arms.

“You ready for the next bit Max?” His sister breaks through his reverie.

“Why did you make me play FIFA in here when I could’ve been rock climbing with Daniel!” He says to Victoria, sending his sister an incredulous look. Vic was the only person who knew about his stupid crush on Daniel and having her deny him those visuals in real life feels like some weird form of betrayal.

“I just post the stuff online and help with coordinating sometimes I don’t actually plan what you guys do for these things Max and you know that,” Victoria smirks at him. “And they were making both of you do things you like anyway, you like FIFA, he likes climbing and stuff. I’ve got a bunch of outtakes for you to drool over though after you finish with your stuff,” she adds with a wink.

Having someone know about his crush on Daniel was nice. She’d sort of found out by accident, walking in on him scrolling through Daniel’s Instagram feed (all the way back to before they’d even been teammates). It’d been nice to have someone to talk to about his feelings, someone that cared about him apart from the race driver he was.  But it also came with a lot of teasing from his sister. He couldn’t even tell you how many times he’d gotten outtakes of pictures where he’d been staring at Daniel with his hearteyes on full display with a silly caption send to him on Whatsapp by her. But then she would also send him outtakes of pictures where Daniel looked especially hot, so he figured he could deal with the teasing.

They film Ryan and him racing in the new F1 game and finish of shooting for the day. Ryan making him promise to play some online FIFA games after the race weekend. He’s looking for his phone so he can exchange numbers with Ryan to set up a time for their rematch when his sister hands it to him with a pointed look. And sure enough when he opens his (password protected) google drive account there are some new pictures added to his already embarrassingly full photo album, all of them picturing Daniel.

“You should really just ask him out or something bro, because this is getting really embarrassing.”

“I can’t,” he sighs.

“Why not?”

“You know why.” They’ve had this conversation over and over again, but his answer never changes. He won’t put his career in jeopardy like that, his father’s voice reminding him that racing is the most important thing. He doesn’t even bother reminding himself that his father never minded him having girlfriends before. That Daniel would probably be one of the only people who would actually understand that racing would always come first no matter what. Anyway he doesn’t even know if Daniel feels the same, doesn’t know if he is into guys as well like Max.

“You don’t have to go public you know. You can keep it for yourself and I know how to keep a secret and I’m sure so do his family.”

“I don’t even know he’s into me sis or any blokes for that matter, I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“I’m sure you could bounce back from this if worse comes to worse, but you never know if you don’t at least give it a shot Max.”

“I dunno.”

“Just think about it yeah,” she says with a soft smile.

“Okay,” he sighs.

---

He’s scrolling through his Twitter feed again later that day, Twitter ‘helpfully’ showing him what he might have missed. He doesn’t know why Twitter thinks he would’ve missed those pictures the first time, but they’re there back at the top of his feed. When he clicks over to the Red Bull Racing account he sees the pictures they had taken of him and Ryan there, as well as a video of Daniel actually climbing.

He knows he should probably be focussing on the girl, how she shows off her skills with ease, muscles working under her tight clothes. But even when the focus isn’t on Daniel he can’t help but let his eyes stray to the man. His excited grin whenever he manages to pull off one of the moves is contagious and he can’t help but chuckle when Daniel declares he’s stuck.

As the video ends and he scrolls down the feed to the earlier pictures, he's reminded of the pictures Victoria had send him. He closes out of the Twitter app and let’s his thumb hover over the Google Drive button for a second, letting it press down on it before he can talk himself out of it.

The first picture he sees is of Daniel grinning a broad smile as he balances himself between two walls. Eyes squinted nearly shut as his fingers wrap loosely around the makeshift rocks. The muscles in his arms and legs are even more prominent in this photo and Max can’t stop his mouth from watering. He scrolls further through the new pictures, most of them are similar to the ones that were posted online, but then at the very end of the picture roll there’s one that makes him swallow roughly.

Daniel is there spread out on the mats underneath the climbing wall, his arms are raised over his head pulling his tank top up so that half his stomach is visible. A happy trail trails down into where his shorts are loose around his hips, showing off the v-shape of them perfectly. His curls are drenched in sweat and a satisfied smile lingers on his face and he altogether looks like he’s just had the fuck of his life. And Max really can’t stop his brain from filling in the blanks then, imagining Daniel next to him in the bed like that. Preferably wearing less clothes of course, but he can just see that same satisfied look on his teammates face as he starfishes out after Max has fucked him into the bed. His own cum mixed in with Daniel’s, leaving pearly white streaks over Daniel’s toned belly.  

He really can’t be blamed for the way his hand finds his aching cock in his shorts, can he. The image already enough to get him hard, but that image that his brain so helpfully provided him tells him he can’t just wait for his hard on to die down like previous times. No he knows his brain will just keep up the steady stream of images of Daniel in his bed, Daniel underneath him with those muscular thighs wrapped around Max’s waist.

It doesn’t take long before the tell-tale feeling of his orgasm starts swirling in his belly, the image of Daniel’s arms bulging as he hovers over him before closing in for a kiss and round two, sending him over the edge.

“Fuck,” he breathes heavily, chest still heaving. As he gets his breathing back under control he lets out a loud groan and another ‘fuck’ as he realises what he has just done, the guilt settling heavily in his stomach.    

---

He does his best not to avoid Daniel’s gaze as he enters the garage in Silverstone. He knows he should be fully focused on the race weekend and if he starts acting weird around Daniel now it’ll only fuck things up. Daniel will ask him what’s up in that worried voice of his. The one he used after the race in China and after the third free practice in Monaco. The voice he can’t stop himself from reacting to, the one that makes him spill all his feelings. So no he really can’t make Daniel use that voice on him this weekend, because he doesn’t know how he would stop himself from fessing up to his embarrassing crush and what he did last night if he did.

So he greets Daniel like usual, a happy smile tugging at his lips when Daniel sends him one of his trademark smiles in return. Then his race engineer beckons him towards him to start prepping the first practice session and everything seems to go as normal.

It doesn’t end up going like normal at all. The first free practice had been going all right, though the pace had been lacking a bit, but then his car gave out on him in the last few minutes of the session. A gearbox issue giving his mechanics a lot of work. And then if things couldn’t get any worse he crashes his car on his first outlap in the second practice session. It turns out to be another technical issue making him lose control over his car, but that doesn’t settle his mind at all. He needs to find a way to fully focus on the race and not having his mind whirling with what ifs.

As he walks back to the pitbox, head hung low he thinks about what he should do. He can’t just go and tell Daniel now can he. They’re in the middle of a race weekend he can’t just demand his teammates attention like that and screw with his head before they’ve even done qualifications. No he needs to make a plan and then put that plan to the side until Sunday evening so he can stop worrying about it and focus on the race.

So while he waits to see if his mechanics can pull off another miracle today and get him back onto the track in time he sits down to make his plan. No matter the race result, he’ll tell Daniel on Sunday before the other man flies back home to Australia for a few days. If things work out then they can figure something out, maybe Daniel can meet him back in Monaco after a home visit or he can fly out to Australia for a while now that they have 2 weeks off between races again. And if him telling Daniel goes bad and fucks everything up, well then they have 2 weeks to try and get back to normal. For Max to get over his stupid crush and for Daniel to wrap his head around the fact that his teammate has been lusting after him for a while now.

That settles it, he’s gonna tell Daniel at the end of the weekend no matter what and hope that whatever the result ends up being it doesn’t fuck up whatever they have now too much.

---

The mechanics are miracle workers, but this miracle just asked a little too much from them and since it was only a practice session they decide to take their time and get the car back in perfect condition for tomorrow’s FP3 and Qualification. With that knowledge he heads back to his hotel with too much adrenaline still coursing through his veins. He changes out of his race gear and into a loose pair of shorts and t-shirt before heading down to the hotel’s gym. With his favourite work out music blasting into his ears he starts pedalling on the spinning bike. He feels his energy and adrenaline drain out of his body along with the thoughts whirling through his mind as he pushes himself on the machine.

Body exercised and exhausted, though in a different way than he’d have liked, he starts making his way back up to his hotel room and its shower. He’s in the hallway and almost at his room when he bumps into Daniel, literally bumps into Daniel.

“Shit, sorry,” he rushes out.

“No worries mate, where’s your head at though,” he asks, a hint of that worried voice already there. And Max needs to stop that voice from fully forming, he had only just managed to get his thoughts sorted.

“Nowhere.”

“Sure,” Daniel chuckles.

“No really, got no energy left to think after my gym sesh to work off the adrenaline just now.”

“Ah yeah, shame about that crash. Did they figure out what happened, I heard it might’ve been a technical issue again.”

“Yeah, was the same shit as in Bahrain Qualifying,” Max says remembering the crash during Q1 when his engine had suddenly spiked with an extra 150hp.

“That sucks, at least it was only practice this time though hey, better luck tomorrow mate,” Daniel says before pointing towards his hotel room in a way of saying goodbye.

Max cringes as the word mate leaves Daniel’s lips, was that really all that Daniel saw him as?

“Yeah, I guess,” Max sighs out a little too late, Daniel already at the door to his own hotel room.    

He pushes open the door to his own room and wants to bang his head against it repeatedly. Why won’t his heart stop racing whenever he talks to Daniel, when his teammate clearly sees him as just that, a mate. He guesses it could be worse, he knows of plenty of teammates who hate each other’s guts. Still, how could he ever be so stupid to think Daniel would feel the same for Max. He stubbornly pushes his plan from his mind again as his brain reminds him that he would tell Daniel on Sunday no matter what. Now that the worse result seems more likely to happen he doesn’t feel like going through with it anymore.

And after what feels like hours of twisting and turning, trying to get his brain to shut up, he finally falls asleep somewhere way past midnight.

---

His phone wakes him up by buzzing annoyingly on his bedside table at 7.30 am the next morning, an hour before his alarm was supposed to go off. It feels like he barely got an hour of sleep, so he ignores the incessant buzzing in favour of a few extra winks. He figures whoever it is can call back later or leave a voicemail. The buzzing stops and he sighs out in relieve, but it starts up again almost as soon as it stopped. He groans and reaches for his phone, seeing the silly picture of his sister pulling faces that indicates that she’s calling.

“What?” He whines, not bothering with a nicer greeting. It’s too early okay.

“Damn, someone is cranky,” Victoria says in a voice that’s way too bright.

“It’s fucking 7.30 Vic, this better be important.”

“Just wanted you to approve some of the pictures for your Instagram I have planned.”

He groans again, really that’s why she woke him up!

“Victoria-Jane Verstappen, that better not be all that you woke me up for!” he hisses down the phone line, running an annoyed hand through his sleep ruffled hair.

“Have you figured out what you’re gonna do about the Daniel situation yet,” Victoria says after a moment of silence where she probably weighed up whether telling him about the real purpose of the early phone call would end up with a better or worse reaction.

“Victoria please,” Max moans, his brain overflowing with a disarray of thoughts once more.

“Max come on. You were off all day yesterday and it’s only gonna get worse if you keep pushing away the inevitable.

“I know.”

“And yesterday was only the practice sessions, you won’t have that leeway today or tomorrow, you need to get your head straight,” she continues on as if he hadn’t said anything.

“Vic! I said I know. I’m sorting it on Sunday okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, after the race, no matter the results, I’m telling him,” he says. And just like that the plan is back on again.              

---

He qualifies 5th just like in Austria, but he has a feeling tomorrow’s race won’t go as well as Austria’s had last week. For one Vettel doesn’t get a 3 place grid penalty at Silverstone, meaning he really does start in 5th and doesn’t get boosted up to fourth. The racer in him wants to always be first and if that isn’t possible then he wants to at least end up before his teammate. So when Daniel qualifies third it irks him slightly as he’d been out-qualifying him for quite a few of the races again.

The rest of his day is pretty uneventful. He gets done with the press quick enough and has dinner with his family before he retires for an early night.

As soon as his head hits the pillow he’s out. Qualifying always took quite a lot out of him, he only had to drive a few laps but his focus needed to be at the max. Qualifying demanded a different kind of focus than the actual race. During the actual race a few seconds of weaker focus didn’t matter that much, so long as it was after the first few laps. But during qualifying a loss of focus could cost him a place on the starting grid or worse a crash that would cause him to drop all the way to the bottom of the grid. He’d managed to hold his focus pretty well, but the lack of practice on Friday had left him with a less than perfect knowledge of the perfect race line, costing him those precious few seconds to Daniel.

The next morning comes with the familiar race day nerves, with an added dose of nerves in anticipation of his conversation with Daniel later in the day. He’d told himself he would tell Daniel no matter the race result, but having a double podium would definitely help ease the conversation so he would be doing everything to get himself on one those steps.

He fights hard during the race, but knows the limits so apart from one tiny bit of wheel banging with Daniel all of his overtakes are clean. He ends up in second place, with Daniel joining him in first place, whilst Valteri fills up the third spot. Lewis and Sebastian had crashed into each other early on after a race restart when Romain had crashed out, causing a safety car to come out. After another failed tyre strategy on Mercedes’ part late in the race both of the Red Bulls had gained a position. And with Valteri trying to keep Kimi from taking third place, him and Daniel had been free to finish out the race in first and second place. Their first 1-2 since Malaysia in 2016.

Though he had fought hard enough to try and get onto that highest step he knew they couldn’t afford a Baku redo. So when Daniel had fought his way back in front of him when there were only 5 laps left and his tyres had started to blister he’d played it safe and held his second position until the end of the race, scoring those much needed points.

Right now he’s grinning brightly back at Daniel who’s grin is even bigger as he tries to hand him his shoey. “Come on, I’ll buy you a beer if you do it,” he teases.

The longer he waits the louder the crowd starts chanting for him to drink from Daniel’s shoe and with the promise of a free beer from Daniel he grabs hold of the soaking wet shoe. The champagne surprisingly doesn’t taste all that bad considering its makeshift cup and he triumphantly holds it up when it’s empty, grinning when Daniel pulls him into a hug. Wanting nothing more than for those arms to stay wrapped around him, but he’s all too aware of the crowd and cameras still fixed on them.

The press conference is boring as usual. The same questions asked slightly differently are exciting for exactly no one, so when he’s in the middle of talking to the Dutch press Daniel thinks it’s funny to soak him in his water, after they’d only just cleaned up from the champagne sticking to them. He splutters as the ice cold water runs down his neck and before he has the change to invoke his revenge on Daniel his teammate has already grabbed Max’s water bottle away from him. He shakes his head, answers the question Jack had asked and then half listens to Daniel and Valteri answer some questions.

A plan forms in his head whilst the other two answer their questions and as Valteri is answering a question from the Finnish press he bends his head down toward Daniel.

“Mate can I get my water back, ‘m thirsty,” he says trying to sound innocent. Daniel send him an appraising look before shrugging and handing him the bottle disguised as a Red Bull can back. Max takes a sip to play out his plan. He looks over at the press and sees that most of them have asked their questions by now. So as Daniel is about to answer his last question he screws open the top of his water bottle, reaches over for the other driver’s cap and fills it up with water as quick as he can before planting it back on the Aussie’s head. A satisfied grin breaking out on his face as Daniel first looks confused and then splutters loudly as the cold water runs down his head.

Watching Daniel try to answer the last question as if there wasn’t water dripping down his back was way too funny and Max could barely hold in his laugh until they’re back in the waiting room.

“You should’ve seen your face!” He laughs as Daniel stomps into the room after him. “Pay back is a bitch ey.”

“I’m so gonna get you back next time.”

“Ooh, fighting talk from mister Ricciardo.”

“Oh shut up you. You still up for that beer later?”

Max swallows heavily, pulled back to reality like he had been doused in the cold water again. “Yeah, ‘course,” he manages to choke out. Daniel sends him an inquisitive look, but shrugs it off quickly as he gets pulled away by his press managers to do some more interviews. Max’s own manager waiting patiently for him to do so as well.  

---

He manages to talk his family out of a celebration dinner, because he’s not sure he’d be able to eat anything right now even though his body is exhausted from the race. He doesn’t get away before his sister pulls him aside to give him one of her weird peptalks though.

“You still going through with it?” She asks with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, we’re gonna get a beer later, I’ll tell him then.”

“Great, you can do it big bro. And you know he sends you almost as many looks as you do yeah. He even asked Ella were you were during the rock climbing thing.”

“That’s just because we usually do those things together though.”

“Maybe, maybe there’s more to it, you won’t know until you tell him.”

“I know. Look I’ve gotta go get changed.”

“Okay I’ll let you go. Don’t wear that black shirt though!”

“Why?”

“It’s too big, wear the dark blue one with white dots instead and tuck it in those dark wash jeans. You’ll look ready to eat up.”

“Vic, please.”

“What? I’m just trying to help here, it can’t hurt looking extra good right.”

“I guess,” Max shrugs before giving her a hug goodbye.

---

He’s fiddling with the label on the beer bottle as he waits for Daniel to show up at the bar near the hotel that they know is discreet enough.

“Hey I thought I’d promised you one,” Daniel says by way of a greeting as he plants himself down on a barstool next to Max.

“You’re late and I felt silly sitting here without a drink,” Max shrugs.

“Yeah sorry about that, had to sort out a new hotel room for my mum and dad after theirs got flooded by a clogged toilet.”

“Ah so that’s what I’m smelling.”

“Oi! I’ll have you know I showered and put on cologne especially,” Daniel chuckles.

“Really?” Max asks, a flutter of excitement in his belly.

“Yeah of course. Anyway you done with that one?” Daniel asks as he waves a bartender over to order a new round of drinks.

“Yeah.”

“There ya go mate, to a double podium!” Daniel cheers, clinking their bottles together.

“To a double podium,” Max agrees.

They chat about everything and nothing for a bit. How the race weekend had ended up so much better than either of them had expected beforehand. What they were going to do with their 2 week break after the Triple Header they’d now finished. Daniel tells him about visiting his family back home and how he might go hiking with them. After Max tells him about his plans to visit the Netherlands for a while before going back to Monaco they hit a bit of a lull in the conversation.

Max is twisting his finger together nervously as he tries to summon up the courage to finally tell Daniel his secret as the other man leans over the bar to order them another round. As Daniel hands him a new bottle of beer he takes a quick sip before finally speaking up, the noise around them seemingly dying down in his head.

“Listen Daniel, I’ve got something to tell you but I really need you to listen to all of it before saying something yeah.”

“Okay?” Daniel says with a slightly unsure smile.

Max takes a deep breath and tries to get the words in the right order one final time before speaking.

“Okay, so uhm, uh. Shit sorry, lemme try that again.” Another deep breath and a wipe down of his sweaty palms before he lets his eyes flick up to Daniel’s for just a second.

“Okay so this might sound stupid, but uhm I’ve, I’ve had the biggest crush on you since like Malaysia last year. I was feeling like total crap that whole weekend coming down with the flu or something, but you just being there got me through it. Through the stupid mocktails and that disgusting fruit even though I was ready to vomit before we’d even arrived at the place. Then after the race you made sure they got me that sugary drink I needed so bad. And you made sure that I got myself into bed even though the crew were pestering me to join them for drinks. I felt delirious with sickness pretty much all weekend, but you coaxed me through it.”

“And then in Austin you made sure to check on me after that penalty cost me the podium even though you DNF’ed. Making sure I was alright even though I still got praised for my overtake and I’d learned how to deal with those kinds of disappointments after the season I’d had.”

“And just, just every time the media team made us do stupid shit it would just be a lot of fun because I got to do it with you.” He pauses, trying to get the words straight again.

“Was, was that it? Can I talk now?”

“No! Shush.”

Daniel just holds up his hands in innocence and waits for Max to continue.

“Anyway, my sister kept telling me I should tell you, if only to get me to fully focus on the races again. But she told me to give it a shot and not give a shit about what it might do to my career or what my dad would say. She said she’d keep it a secret if she needed to and, and… It was just really unfair we didn’t get to do the rock climbing thing together this week because you looked unfairly hot whilst I was stuck playing FIFA,” he decides to end on a funny note.    

“Can I talk now?” Daniel asks and after Max nods he pauses for a second before saying, “Do you know how much I wish I could kiss you right now.”

Daniel looking around at the other people in the bar with an annoyed look on his face as if he wished he could snap his fingers and make everyone disappear. Blood is rushing through his head and the noise from the people around them suddenly snaps back loudly and Max doesn’t know what to say as he finally looks up at his teammate. His teammate who just told him he wanted to kiss him.

“What?”

Daniel leans in to whisper in his ear, making sure Max hears each word from his mouth perfectly, “I said, I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“Really? You feel the same?”

“I feel the same Max, I’ve felt it ever since Mexico when you won and still took your time to check up on me after my car crapped out. How you didn’t just let me deal with it on my own because finally the car issues were happening to me instead of you.” Max tries to tell him that he would never do that even if he didn’t feel anything for Daniel, but Daniel tells him he needs to be quiet like he had been with a grin.

“How you came to celebrate with me in Monaco this year even after what happened in FP3, when you could’ve been up there on the podium with me. And those media things definitely wouldn’t have been so much fun if I wasn’t doing them with you. I really missed you during the rock climbing thing and you definitely looked hot playing FIFA don’t worry, my little gamer nerd.”

Max doesn’t know what to say. Daniel felt the same, and for a long time as well. Mexico he’d said, that was only a few weeks after the Malaysia race and yet neither of them had had the guts to fess up between then and now.

“We could’ve been kissing for months already,” Max laughs, “If only one us had had the balls sooner.”

“I was almost gonna in Austria, but then I DNF’ed and I was just so gutted I just couldn’t get myself down from my hotel room. Guess I just needed a good sulk, it probably wouldn’t have made for a great conversation.”

“Wouldn’t me returning the feelings have cheered you up though,” Max laughs nervously.

“Yeah well if I’d known with 100% certainty I would’ve, but I didn’t wanna risk putting even more of a downer on the weekend, sorry.”

“That’s alright, took me long enough as well.”

“Sooooo, should we perhaps find somewhere a little more quiet?” Daniel asks, the cheeky grin back on his face.

“I think we should.”

---

They're back at the hotel and quickly make their way upstairs.

“Which room?” Daniel asks.

“I’ve still got some champagne left over in mine,” Max grins back at him already walking towards his hotel room backwards.

The door clicks shut behind them loudly. Max looks around his hotel room quickly, it looks fairly decent. There’s some clothes hung over a chair, but there’s no discarded underwear lying around so he considers that a win for earlier Max.

He grabs the half empty bottle of champagne he got for getting second place from the fridge. He normally left it on the podium afterwards, most of it sprayed out of it anyway but for some reason he’d asked someone from the team to make sure it got to his hotel room today.

“So champagne?”

“Yes please,” Daniel says with a glint in his eyes as he reaches for the bottle after Max takes a sip.

Daniel swallows down the golden liquid messily before wiping a hand over his mouth. “So how about that kiss?” He asks, suddenly seeming a lot more nervous.

Max doesn’t have to be asked twice and happily takes the few steps forward it takes to get to Daniel. He lets his fingers curl around the loops on Daniel’s jeans and tugs him closer, the beers from earlier mixed with the champagne giving him some much needed courage. Looking down ever so slightly to look into Daniel’s eyes, their height difference only very small. He gazes into his teammates eyes for a little while, the same twinkle from before still there even if his eyes are darker now, pupils blown. And then he leans in, pressing their lips together softly. Daniel isn’t having any of it though and presses down harder, running his tongue over Max’s mouth in a question. And when Max opens up he can taste the champagne still lingering on Daniel’s tongue.

They kiss and kiss and then they kiss some more. Both of them wrapped up in each other, neither of them willing to let the other one go again now that they’re finally here. As he presses in even closer he can feel Daniel’s hard length press against his thigh, his own hardness pressed into Daniel’s leg. They break the kiss to let out needy groans and as Max presses his forehead against the other man’s he can’t help the grin plastered on his face.

He curls his fingers into Daniel’s belt loops again and gently pushes him towards the bed until his knees hit it. Daniel lets himself fall to the bed, arms wide and suddenly the image Max had conjured in his mind just a few days earlier plays in his head again. He has him in his bed now, he actually has Daniel in his bed and he feels like he should be pinching himself.

Daniel pulls himself further onto the bed so that Max can climb in between his legs. He hovers over the other man for a second before leaning down to press another kiss to those kiss ruined lips. Daniel’s fingers start working on the buttons of Max’s shirt. “You look really hot in this shirt, but I’m sure it’ll look even better on the ground,” he smirks.

“Mhm,” Max hums as his own fingers start pulling at the hem of Daniel’s t-shirt. Daniel’s shirt definitely looks better on the ground he concludes once he’s thrown it to the other side of the room.

The rest of their clothes join their shirts quickly and Max can only kiss each new part of Daniel that is revealed to him. He starts with his arms of course, those biceps looking amazing even when the muscles aren’t pulled tout as they try to hold up Daniel’s body. Then there’s his pecs and that toned belly that he got a sneak peek of in those pictures Victoria had send him. Lastly as he curls his fingers into the waistband of Daniel’s boxers he presses a kiss to the head of Daniel’s cock as it springs free from its confinement. Lapping up the drop of pre-cum that’s already forming there. He delights in the groan that escapes from Daniel’s lips as he wraps his lips around his cock.

He doesn’t waste too much time sucking him off though, figures he’ll get plenty of time to work Daniel over with his mouth later. But right now, right now he wants to make that image in his head come true. He reaches for the drawer in the bedside table where he keeps his toiletries in each hotel. It’s become some weird tradition that he doesn’t dare break. And right now it comes in very handy as he can get access to his lube and condoms a lot quicker.

“You okay with this?” He asks Daniel, to see if he’s really on board with this. If he’s on board with bottoming as well. But before he can even finish his sentence Daniel is already nodding fervently.

He clicks open the bottle of lube as he gently pushes Daniel’s legs up so he can get better access. He rubs his fingers together to warm up the lube before he presses them between Daniel’s legs. The other man letting out a pleased sound as one of his fingers rubs over his hole, before pressing in slowly. Daniel is tight around his finger, but once he relaxes and Max starts to move it he’s quickly asking for more. As two of his fingers stretch him open he releases a harsh breath, bearing down on the way they fill him up. Two turns into three not long after and sweat is starting to drip down Daniel’s brow.

“’m ready,” he breathes out.

“You sure,” Max asks just to be safe, he really doesn’t want to hurt Daniel.

“Yeah, come on.”

He wipes his fingers on the bedsheets, hotel bedsheets be damned, and grabs the condom. The wrapper crinkles as his clumsy fingers try to open it, before he gives up and carefully bites into the fabric instead.

Max pushes in slowly until he’s fully bottomed out, Daniel a vice like grip around his cock. He presses his forehead against Daniel’s chest as he tries to calm his body down.

“Move… please,” Daniel moans as he takes too long to start moving.

He starts up a slow rhythm, moans now falling from his own lips in a joined rhythm with Daniel’s. Daniel has wrapped his legs around his waist pulling him even closer and Max leans forwards to reach for his lips. They end up breathing into each other’s mouth more than kiss, but as he watches Daniel’s eyes close as his head tilts up in pleasure when he hits his prostrate he doesn’t care that those lips aren’t actually on his own.

It doesn’t take long before their movements start to become more erratic, both of them barrelling down towards their release already.

“Close,” Daniel breathes into his ear. Max’s hand wraps around Daniel’s hard cock as he tries to keep his balance on just one arm whilst he pulls him off. As his hand twists around the head of Daniel’s cock for the third time Daniel’s body bends upwards, his head pressed into the pillows as his eyes squeeze shut tightly and cum lands onto his heaving stomach in pearly ropes.

Max twists his hand up and down until he’s milked every last drop of cum, before pulling out and quickly discarding the condom as his still sticky hand wraps around his own cock. It takes embarrassingly few strokes before he comes over Daniel’s stomach, his own cum mixing in with the Aussie’s.

He lets himself fall down onto the bed next to where Daniel is starfished out just like in his head. His curls soaked with sweat and the golden skin of his body shimmering with it as well. Both of their cum streaking over his still rapidly moving stomach as Daniel tries to take in enough oxygen to calm his heart down.

He wipes down his cum sticky hand on the bedsheets, really hotel sheets be damned, before speaking.

“You know, if I knew all of my sexual fantasies would become true I would’ve told you way sooner.”

“What?”

“I kinda jerked off to this exact scenario playing out in my head,” Max confesses, blushing even though he’s lying naked in bed next to Daniel.

“Hmm, maybe we should play out some of mine next then, it only seems fair doesn’t it,” Daniel grins down at him from where he is leaning over him, arms bulging just like in Max’s head earlier in the week.

--- The end ---