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[aussiebusinesstips]

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[akawifeyy]

RISK! | smau & fic (FC43)

description: franco colapinto is a playboy — everyone knows that — but he does have some boundaries that he’s unwilling to cross. that is, until he meets you. the younger sister of oscar piastri. then he’s willing to risk it all.

tropes: forced proximity, mutual love, forbidden romance, age gap (18 and 21), op81 sister!reader!

face claim: gracie mckenna

trigger warnings: suggestive content, swearing

| note: this is a combination between a smau and a fic, meaning that some social media snippets are mixed throughout, along with blocks of prose. hope you enjoy!

tagged: @ williams, @ francolapinto, @ f1

comments (2718):

@ user1: this is so ridiculous, he's literally just being used to get girls to watch F1 🙄

-> @ user2: I agree, he can't even drive

@ user3: CONGRATS FRANCOOOO #argentina 🇦🇷

@ williams: We're so grateful to have Franco on our team, and can't wait to see what he will achieve in these upcoming races!

Melbourne, Australia (2025)

There was no way you could ever do this. Get in a tiny metal race car and go spinning around in circles against nineteen others for almost two hours? That was a tall order for anyone, yet your brother always exceeded expectations. You watched him glide through the track, his papaya car shedding sparks as he pushed the engine to the max. He was incredible, carefully looping around and setting records.

It was his home race; nothing lesser would have been expected. Oscar needed to excel, to survive against the pressure. Over the past few weeks, it was like he was glued to the sim, practicing this circuit repeatedly, making sure every movement was executed flawlessly. This was the final countdown: FP2, meaning that in less than a day, Oscar's skills would be put to the test.

Behind you, your best friend Georgia, wolf-whistled. Lando Norris, Oscar's teammate, had just entered the paddock. His curly hair was obscured by his classic neon-green helmet, his race suit hanging loose around his waist. "I'm so ready..." You heard him say to Zach, and then you turned your attention back on Oscar, who was on his final practice lap.

The car moved around as if it were a dagger, slicing through the track like the weapon it was. When he finally slowed to a halt, you rushed to meet him. He exited the car, removing his helmet, chest heaving with exertion. "Hey, Y/N," he said, smiling.

"Hi, Osc! You did amazing!"

He flushed, not one for compliments. "Sure. Where's Mom?"

"I think she went inside because it was too hot. I'll go get her," you said brightly, trailing after him.

Oscar shook his head. "It's OK, don't worry. Stay out here a bit, I think Lando's about to go on."

"I don't really care about him," you blurted. "I was waiting until you were done to go walk around the track."

Oscar raised one eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Even though you were younger than him by only five years, he acted like you were still a child. You were eighteen, and just one semester away from going to uni! You wouldn't have constant supervision there.

"Mom said I could," you pouted. "You're not in charge of me, I'm an adult now."

"Yeah, but you can't read a map, and you're naive," Oscar pointed out. "You trust everyone."

You gave him a look. "Like that's a bad thing. Anyways, I'll see you later!"

Oscar hugged you quickly, his eyes watching you concernedly, and you rushed off to explore the circuit.

Melbourne, Australia (2025 / continued)

You exited the McLaren paddock, tugging off your jacket and tying it around your waist securely. It had been a while since you'd been able to go to a Grand Prix; your parents hadn't let you because of all your studies. But this was Oscar's home race, and it was monumental. After months of arguing (and failed attempts at bribery), you'd finally convinced them to let you tag along.

The sun beat down on you, warming you from head to toe. It felt nice to finally feel a bit of a breeze, since you'd been cooped up in your room all week, prepping for your finals.

As you wandered through the grounds, you watched as fans cheered for their favorite drivers. You saw a few Australian flags here and there. One even had Oscar's face on it, next to a koala on a eucalyptus tree and a kangaroo, and you laughed.

You passed the Mercedes and Haas motor homes, where you saw Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman talking. They were close to your age, and potential friends, but whenever you tried to talk to them, Oscar ushered you away.

"They're guys. And F1 drivers. They can't be trusted," he told you.

You rolled your eyes. "So that means I can't trust you."

Eventually, you found yourself in the Williams paddock, watching as they prepped the car for its final practice before the race. A man with the most attractive dimples you'd ever seen was talking animatedly with his race engineer, discussing potential strategies.

You were enthralled by his lilting accent, caught on every word and phrase. He finished with the race engineer and turned to his car, but then he stopped, noticing your presence.

You were wearing a bright orange blouse, and the jacket wrapped around your waist had Oscar's number on it, immediately incriminating you.

"Hello there," the man said, a grin dancing on his lips. "I'm Franco. And you are?"

Seven words, and you were hooked.

Text messages between Oscar and Y/N (2025):

@ yourusername: home is where the heart is 🩷

tagged: @ oscarpiastri, @ f1

comments (182):

@ yourbffusername: had sooo much fun w you!

-> @ yourusername: i love being with youu

@ oscarpiastri: I already miss it

-> @ yourusername: go kick ass in china 😼

@ user4: Just dropped to my knees in the middle of the grocery store. She's just that beautiful

Two weeks after the Melbourne Grand Prix

You flopped down on your bed, feet kicked up in the air as you texted none other than Franco, the same driver you'd met in the Williams paddock. He was funny and flirtatiously silly, but he was smart too. You had a lot of conversations about your upcoming university days, and he gave great advice on the topic.

"You don't always have to listen to your brother," he texted you a few nights after you'd met. "You're your own person, cielo."

You two had bonded over your mutual love of horse riding, a hobby of yours that you were trying to continue despite all the stress of the past year. Franco sent you a few photos of his horse, and one where he was shirtless. You spent more time ogling that picture than you'd care to admit.

Talking to Franco was therapeutic, and you didn't want to hide the blossoming friendship (or more?) that you two had. But you knew how overly protective Oscar was of you. You didn't want to spark a rivalry that could play out poorly on track. It wasn't worth the drama.

You weren't going to avoid telling your brother forever, but you wanted to wait a while to make sure that you didn't give him an aneurysm for nothing. Franco had a reputation as a playboy, like all other F1 drivers, but he was still young and a rising star. He could be using you — at least, that's what the little voice in the back of your mind warned. It spent too much time listening and believing everything Oscar had told you.

There was a knock on your door, and you jumped, turning the screen off so that no one could see the conversation you'd been having.

I've never met a girl like you before.

You're my princesa, you know that? All pure and perfect. I wonder how long it would take for me to absolutely ruin you.

"Dinner's ready," your mother called through the door.

"Thanks, I'll be there in a minute!" you responded. Once you heard her footsteps recede, you texted Franco that you had to leave, and hurried outside, your cheeks blushing red.

@ francolapinto: ¡P8 en el Gran Premio de China! Es muy emocionante ver todo el progreso que ha logrado Williams. Estoy agradecido de ser parte de este equipo. ¡Hasta la próxima carrera!

(P8 in the Chinese Grand Prix! Very exciting to see all the progress Williams has made, I'm grateful to be part of this team. Until next race!)

tagged: @ williams, @ f1

comments (489):

@ user11: Amazing work, Franco!

@ yourusername: podium coming when???

-> @ francolapinto: Soon 😏

Text messages between Franco and Y/N (2025):

The Confrontation:

You fidgeted under Oscar's heavy stare. Even through a phone screen, his brown eyes pierced you. "I need to tell you something, but you can't flip out, OK?" you said.

"Oh God, what did you do now?" Oscar responded, preparing for the worst.

You shook your head, putting your palms up in a gesture of surrender. "Nothing bad! I swear!" You hesitated. "Well...I've been talking to someone. A guy, for a bit now."

Oscar sucked in a breath. "Not Lando."

Your jaw dropped. "Absolutely not."

"Good. Who is it, then?"

You closed your eyes, praying to God that Oscar wouldn't explode from anger. "Um...Franco?" You waited for the name to register.

Oscar blinked. "The new Williams driver?"

You nodded. "Yeah, that's who it is."

"That's who you chose?"

"Yeah?" you questioned, cocking your head to the side in confusion. "Is there something I should know? I mean, other than the fact that he's a supposed playboy and —"

"— He's fine, I suppose," Oscar mused under his breath. "Just be careful, alright?"

You froze in shock. "Yeah, I will be. Thanks for not freaking out."

"You're eighteen, I can't stop you from being romantically interested in someone. All I ask is that you don't engage in activities that should be done after marriage." Oscar pursed his lips. "I love you, Y/N. I'm always looking out for you."

"I know, and I'm thankful. You're the best older brother in the world."

@ francolapinto: Felices tres meses para mi hermosa novia, Y/N. Gracias por escucharme hablar y estar siempre ahí, incluso en los momentos más difíciles. Hasta pronto, corazón mío.

(Happy three months to my beautiful girlfriend, Y/N. Thank you for listening to me speak and always being there, even in the most difficult moments. See you soon, my heart.)

tagged: @ yourusername

comments (5895):

@ user11: I KNEW IT 🥳🥳🥳

@ user12: we weren't delusional guys!!!!!

-> @ user7: I love clowning and then being right

@ yourusername: hard launchhhh ‼️

-> @ yourusername: love you so much franco, i don't know what i would do without you!

-> @ francolapinto: Muchos besos, mi amor 💋

─── ୨୧ ─── THE END ─── ୨୧ ───

[httpiastri]

paul aron's hair throughout the 2024 season 💁‍♂️

(also known as pt2 of jack being obsessed with a certain blonde curly-haired boy)

hello everyone and happy new year! i hope your 2024 has been lovely and that 2025 provides you with tons of joy and love. 💗

i'm back again with yet another paul hair appreciation post! i loved making it last year and so ive been thinking about it all year and collecting pics 🥰 last year i remember having to search really hard fo some of the pics – two weekends i even had only three pics 😭 but this year i've really had to kill my darlings because i've deleted so so many pics that i like just bcs i didn't want to make this too overwhelming... and i still ended up over 300 pictures..... 😶

last two things before we get started: the wind is my best friend nowadays because of how it affects his hair. so many pics here of his hair in all kinds of directions (and esp the gifs).... anD if you see any pic here that you want in it's original form, lmk and i'll post it for you!! i will keep the pics saved on my phone for a few days before i delete them to make space lol.

soooo hope you enjoy!! and check out last year's edition hereee if you want. 💗

‎‎ ‎

bahrain

some pics from before the season started (testing & media days) and some from the first weekend! very messy at times, esp after sessions, but very cute. feels like maybe this was before he started caring a lot abt his hair and how it looks even during the race weekends? if you get what i mean? like some weekends it looks a bit too perfect that it feels like he made sure it looked like that… maybe? anyways very cute!

‎‎ ‎

jeddah

pretty long hair? very cute!! also looked pretty light despite how dark it was there when they drove during the evening etc. the middle row from the prema lap from when he was talking to ollie 🫶

‎

melbourne

shorter than in jeddah so a little haircut? looks pretty thin also?? hmm but very curly 🥰 love the middle and most right pics in the top row also lmao, love mid-workout expressions 😁

‎

formula e

pics both from his tests and his race round in fe! his hair looks so fried in the top left pic eye 😭 it was very fly-y this weekend? wanted to escape everywhere all the time so i had tons of pics of little strands everywhere! curls go crazy 🥹

‎

imola

looks very dark here actually!! and kinda short also? love the little tips of the curls like that too aaaaa 😭 and the ways some certain individual curls are so spirally and just……. aaaaaa cute

‎

monaco

love the sight of his hair poking out of his cap/balaclava etc (first three pics) aaaaaa !!!! and his hair in the belvita pic 😭 looks like he has little horns :(( so messy and cute. and the post-race interview? it was high at the back that it looked like one of those old hairstyles??? idk what its called but i think you understand

‎

barcelona

also very dark despite the sun! 😯 and not super fluffy or cute etc but still yk very good hair. 😌

‎

spielberg

TOP LEFT PIC. THE LITTLE 🌱. I CANNOT TAKE THIS GUYS I JUST CANT. his hair after the sprint race was truly something new also…. i mean yes it was very warm so obvs very sweaty but damn it looks so crazy 😭 (stupidly enough i didnt put them together, but it's the top four pics on the right side and bottom two on the left side)

‎

silverstone

bad weekend race-wise but amaaazinnggggg weekend hair-wise. so so long curls, so curly, so poofy!! actually probably my favorite hair weekend. just so adorable. never needed to brush my fingers through his locks this much before….

‎

hungaroring

pole aron >>> everything 🥰 dont have a lot to say, i just adore the post-race messiness and esp in combination with his pink cute cheeks? also maybe i shouldnt comment his looks since this is a hair post buttt the middle pic on the left side? baby baby baby???? (and the middle middle pic still gives me nightmares ngl)

‎

spa

probably my second fave hair weekend? so so light!!! actually managed to sneak a pic i took of him into this 🥺 (the quality is terrible BUT i took it!! yay!!!!) i actually never watched this episode of "chasing the dream" until last night (was heartbroken bcs of the feature 🥲) and oh my goD it was such a good paul episode? so so many amazing paul shots?? of his hair yes but just him in general and his cute face and his smile?? his pretty baby blue eyes?!?!?!!!??!!!!! insane. will be watching it every night to have happy sweet dreams 🥰

‎

summer break

cowboy paul ��� hair looked a lot lighter after his italy visit but idk how much time he actually spent in the sun? considering his fair northern european skin? (like im also northern european so i know it's hard to keep your hair in the sun to bleach it and still keep your skin safe 🥲) it was SO hard to make this collage without spending five hours just staring at his abs, ngl.

‎

monza

why do the top four pics give me like… golf vibes? like he's sitting there trying to see if the ball went into the hole?? ANYWAYS. kinda dark considering how light it looked during the summer break?? but very defined curls. *chefs kiss*

‎

baku

not as curly as sometimes, just… very messy? kinda flat at times, pretty light and fluffy other times. very cute nonetheless <33 (also speaking of him and his hairline… some pics here are ruthless in that way aaaa)

‎

qatar

looove the way the hair curls around the cap he's wearing when he's out in the wind!! like he has some kind of fluffy padding in it yk?? b a b y. the pics of him right after the feature race are crazy, the hair is everywhere but i understand that he had other things to care about 😭

‎

abu dhabi

the pics on the far right are from a vid on the f2 story from that weekend and i was kinda heartbroken that i chose the collage format to only include his hair and not his facial expressions, because he was SO babyboy in that video. (it's still available in their story highlights! check it out if you havent seen it yet!!!) the curls are so defined and curly but so so pretty, like not very messy just !!! feels like maybe he properly styled them very well this weekend? because the curls look so perfect at times that im like "yeah he didnt just wake up like that". (and that's more than okay!!! 🥰) except for when he just got out of the car lmao like the bottom left pic. insane

‎

other breaks/postseason

mixed pics from random breaks, and pics from after the season (like his seat fitting with alpine)! some of the pics from the parc ferme photoshoot are also very very 🌱, like the top two on the column row! adorableeeee!! the curls also look definitely styled from the family's trip to rome? and the bottom two pics of the second and third column from some forest visit with karl, the hair was adorable :(

‎

gifs !!!

just some random gifs of his hair movement 🫶 as ive already said, i love the wind! thank you mother nature for your hard work!!! also paul running and his hair flopping up and down like a dog's ears will NEVER get old, just saying

if anyone made it this far, thank you for looking & reading!! hope you enjoyed and hope you're maybe at least somewhat near as obsessed as me <33

[piastrixpole]

v. down under

pairing: logan sargeant x fem!oc (daisy shaw)

genre: written

based on the 2023 season

prev/ masterlist/ next

youtube!

porsche f1 team

recently uploaded...

DANIEL AND DAISY TAKE AUSTRALIA

loading comments...

user 1 so obsessed with them and their dynamic

-> user 2 the way daisy acts more like the older one is insane

user 3 HELP😭did anyone else catch the way daisy smirked at 0:18 when daniel referred to them as double d

-> user 4 girl was trying so hard not crack a smile

—> user 5 she was not about to get lectured by stella and the porsche pr team

user 6 danny's reaction to her turning up to the beach in a hoodie and docs will never not be iconic

-> user 7 "YOU'RE IN AUSTRALIA MATE NOT FUCKARSE ENGLAND."

—> user 8 "exactly mate. i'm not looking to get barbecued by the fucking sun."

timestamps! 0-0:30

"Hey guys, I'm Daisy Shaw."

"...and I'm Daniel Ricciardo."

"And today Daniel is going to be bringing me all around his hometown before we head back over to Melbourne next week for the race."

"Yeah baby," Daniel hollered towards the camera which was currently held by a very entertained Isla Wilson, their reserve driver "double D taking on Straya'"

Daisy couldn't help letting a little smirk slip past her professional composure at him unironically referring to them as 'Double D.' Still, she managed to keep an otherwise straight face at his words as she nudged him in the stomach slightly with her elbow.

"Oh...we can cut that right?"

Isla snickered from behind the camera "sure, just don't think they will."

☆

1:15-2:04

"Raincloud is going to take the first drive in Stacy, our lovely ride that the team has hooked us up with."

Daisy took a moment to admire the sleek red exterior of the Porsche GT3 RS the team had arranged for her and Daniel to be driving around during the video. "Stacy," she raised her eyebrow in what she hoped was the most judgemental manner possible "seriously?"

"Oi," Daniel's grin was full of mirth "Stacy's a perfectly acceptable name for a car."

Biting back with a rare glimmer of personality for the camera Daisy simpered "oh definitely, for an older generation sure."

"Actually I take it back," Daniel said to the camera following their every move "I don't think Daisy is even old enough to drive - wait you do have a road licence right?"

Driving was a touchy subject for Daisy. Which was ironic considering her profession, but Daisy Shaw had one real enemy in life. Not a misogynistic reporter, not Christian Horner who had very publicly disapproved of her acceptance into the sport - no, it was the man who had been her driving tester.

In her opinion though, girlhood was having personal beef with either your driving instructor or tester. It was a right of passage practically. Daisy was literally in her rookie season of formula 2 when she sat her driving test and it wasn't until after the championship ended in her second season that she finally held a drivers licence. And she liked to consider herself an incredible driver! Clearly Gary, the red-faced epitome of British men who looked about one pint of Stella away from imploding didn't agree with that judgment though because he had failed her four times.

"Just about," Daisy hummed, rather than admitting straight up that she had a licence she found it much funnier to let Daniel temporarily believe that she was in formula 1 but couldn't legally drive outside of that setting.

Daniel's eyes widened comically at her nonchalant dismissal "don't tell me you're still on like a provisional

"Oh, absolutely," Daisy replied with a smirk, playing along with the joke. "I have to have a supervisor in the car at all times, you know. It's for the safety of the public."

Shaking his head Daniel laughed "see I'm kind of nervous about getting in the car with you now."

"Nah it'll be fine," Daisy waved a hand to silence him "I've only failed my driving test four times."

"Four times! Mate- is it too late to swap places."

With a mischievous glint in her eye, Daisy revved the engine of the Porsche feeling the raw power coursing through the car. "Buckle up, Daniel," she said, flashing him a grin. "It's going to be a wild ride." And with the them sat in the car ready to go, she pressed down on the accelerator.

☆

5:17-5:39

Something about Daniel's exuberance had rubbed off on Daisy during this little roadtrip but she didn't know how he maintained such high energy constantly, she was exhausted just observing him! His enthusiasm for the beach though was entertaining, even to her whose main experience with beaches were the rocky English shorelines that could hardly be classed as the same thing.

"I'm not built for the beach," she remarked wryly, shaking her head as she followed him at a more leisurely pace.

They were polar opposites in appearance. The kind of stark difference so noticeable that it would probably end up as some reaction meme format.

"Not with that outfit you're not," Daniel retorted "you're in Australia mate, not fuckarse England."

"Exactly mate," Daisy deadpanned "I'm not looking to get barbecued fucking sun. I'll literally shrivel up and die on the spot."

"Sheesh, can't be having that D Shaw."

Daisy gave him a look. A look of neutrality laced with a hint of disappointment "call me that again and we're going to have problems," she joked "out of all the nicknames and you go with that one - even raincloud is better and I don't love that one."

messages!

race car barbie daisy future grammy barbie holly man eater barbie katie mother of all mothers barbie faith

man eater barbie @daisy is the dick good?

future grammy barbie katie💀

she's not shagging daniel ricciardo he's like over ten years older

man eater barbie it's not impossible!

mother of all mothers barbie maybe if it was you, but it's daisy we're talking about! not her type at all

race car barbie first of all ew

he could literally be my very older brother

and yeah like faith said not my type at all

man eater barbie oh come on dais

are you seriously saying there's been no little moment of sexual tension between you two all alone at his place ;)

race car barbie isla is literally here as well and he's over at his parents half the time

and no, i don't really fancy stealing verstappen's man i like being alive😌

future grammy barbie oh i bet you liked being alive after you crashed the other day

mother of all mothers barbie holly?

future grammy barbie shut up i was still typing

obviously talking about the guy that helped her out of her car after it

talk about a meet cute :) even if he did ruin your car✨

race car barbie logan...holly how are we twins

i aspire to have the same level of delusion as you sometimes

future grammy barbie literally name one time i've ever been delusional

man eater barbie you do realise you have a full discography of evidence for that right

future grammy barbie jail.

man eater barbie just because i'm right

also daisy if you're not going to hit that any chance you want to get me in to the race in aus?

race car barbie how embarrassing do you plan on being

man eater barbie very

calling up mum for the baby pictures

race car barbie oh would you look at that

no spare passes :(( what a shame

mother of all mothers barbie deserved

man eater barbie faith omg

you're meant to be on my side

future grammy barbie back to my point please!!

daisy x captain america was lowkey cute like i could see the vision

race car barbie ok grandma🧚‍♀️time to take your pills again

man eater barbie he's kind of cute though-

in like a kicked puppy sort of way

race car barbie i hate it here

[onboardsorasora]

one of my melatonin ideas lol I hope its good lmao my asks have been so full of pregnant Daniel recently that this was clearly the next step on forward.

Dewis Hidden Pregnancy 1400wrds part 2

cw: omegaverse, mpreg, so if you're not into that sorry.

Lewis walked into the paddock in Albert Park. Past the Melbourne walk and through the wall of photographers waiting for his entrance. The alpha took a left by the FIA building and stopped up short at the crowd in front of him.

There were drivers and media handlers surrounding someone and he could smell the excitement of the group. He slowed down, trying to see what was causing the large crowd when he heard a sound he hadn't heard in person in a while. Daniel's laugh.

Daniel was back?

Lewis thought back to the last time he'd seen the omega, back in Silverstone last year. They'd gone on a date after the race. It had been a lovely time, Lewis had thought. Daniel had done the test for Red Bull the following week and then he’d gone back to Australia after and kinda stayed off the grid. 

Lewis hadn't heard from him at all, he'd hoped to invite Daniel out on another date and maybe another after that. Hoped to eventually be able to call the omega his. But Daniel hadn't returned any of his calls or texts until Lewis just stopped.

He'd asked around if anyone had heard from him but people weren't very forthcoming. Lewis had been hurt, but he'd let it go as best he could. He hadn't expected Daniel to ghost him, but there was nothing he could do about it except accept that it was a problem with Daniel and not with him.

The crowd dispersed a little and Lewis was able to see just what drew everyone together. Daniel looked good, he wore a creme sweater and his usual skinny jeans. His hair had grown out a little, looking more like his Renault days than anything. 

Daniel bent over a bassinet and Lewis watched with wide eyes as he lifted out a small baby, bouncing the bundle and making shushing noises. Daniel looked over at Lewis and froze, the alpha felt sick at the fear that enveloped his normally sweet scent. His eyes were wide.

Lewis prided himself in being quick on the uptake, but he honestly felt like his thoughts were swimming through sludge right now. A pudgy brown hand with a tiny golden bracelet patted Daniel's lips, gripping at his nose. 

Daniel had a baby. 

Daniel had a baby with darker skin.

Lewis always figured he was good at math and equations. He knew that Silverstone was roughly nine months ago give or take a week or two. 

Daniel had a baby.

“Hi.” Daniel placed the small bundle back in the bassinet, making more shushing noises when the baby started to fuss again. “Uhm, we should talk I guess?” Daniel's voice was soft, timid. Lewis had never heard it that way before.

Lewis took a deep breath. There was a benefit to being stunned silent, he had additional time to collect himself and assess the situation. They were still very much in public, he couldn't afford any amount of reaction right now. 

The alpha nodded, “ok.”

Daniel led them into a small office with curtains on the windows and locked the door behind them. Lewis stared at the covered bassinet, he couldn't see the baby inside but he could hear and smell them. Daniel started wringing his hands together, the odor of his nerves was pungent in the room.

“I'm sorry.” Daniel whispered.

“You were pregnant?” Lewis looked between the bassinet and Daniel's nervous face again. The omega nodded jerkily and Lewis felt his chest seize. “It's mine?”

Daniel uncovered the basket with shaky hands and lifted his little girl out of the soft interior. Her little beanie fell off leaving her soft curls to spring free. Her caramel colored skin was darker than Daniel's but lighter than his own– a perfect blend of both of them.

“I have a daughter?” Lewis' voice cracked and Daniel looked painfully contrite. “Why?” 

Lewis locked eyes with Daniel's wet ones.

“I was scared. You– I–we'd only been on one date and I didn't know how…serious you wanted to be. I was afraid that you'd react badly– I hadn't known what I wanted to do if I wanted to keep it so I went home to try and figure it out. Then I got offered the Alpha Tauri drive and–and I would have had to- to get rid of her and I hadn't wanted to.”

“You didn't tell me?” Lewis accused.

“You didn't sign up for this, I didn't wanna like burden you.”

“That wasn't your decision?!” Lewis raised his voice before biting back his reaction. He had a daughter. He was a father. He didn't even know Daniel was pregnant. “So you were just going to hide her from me forever?” 

Lewis looked at him betrayed when Daniel stayed silent for longer than a moment. “You were!”

“... Not forever.” Daniel whispered, clutching the baby close.

“Why..?” Lewis felt like the bottom of his stomach dropped out. The room stunk of upset alpha. 

“Please don't take her from me…” Daniel pleaded and Lewis' eyes widened as if the omega had hit him. 

He left the room quickly, shutting the door behind him firmly while walking down the corridor to get some air. He had a daughter. He had a daughter and he didn't know. All this time Daniel had been pregnant and hadn't told him. Daniel was afraid of him.

Lewis' chest hurt. He never thought Daniel could think that of him. He'd never claim to understand the mind of a pregnant or nesting omega but he and Daniel had known each other for long enough that the alpha was sure Daniel knew his character.

Or at least he thought he did.

He paced the empty space for a while, taking deep breaths and trying to get control of himself again. He looked back down the empty corridor before taking another deep breath, in for seven out for ten. 

He had a daughter. He had a daughter that he hadn't known about. Daniel had been pregnant and had been alone. Lewis was going to meet his daughter and he needed to fix things with his omega. 

Because Daniel was his omega, that had always been the plan. Underneath everything, the hurt and upset and general shock, he knew it to still be true. He wanted Daniel and he wanted his family. They would figure this out.

He walked back to the room and paused at the door, listening to the sounds inside. Their daughter was crying and Daniel was attempting to quiet her, Daniel’s voice was raspy too as if he’d been crying.

Lewis pushed open the door.

“I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry. I messed up but I’ll figure it out with your Daddy, I’ll make it right. I’m so sorry my love.” Daniel was stooped on the floor in the further corner of the room, rocking their small bundle to his chest.  He fingered a chubby cheek, trying to smooth out the sharp shape of her frown. “My bad decisions won’t ruin your life, I promise baby girl.”

“Is that why you came? To tell me?” Lewis asked quietly. Daniel’s eyes snapped up to look at him, he stood quickly and flashed away his tears with his palm.

“You deserved to know. To like be in her life if you wanted…” His voice cracked but he powered through.

“What if I want to be in your life too?” Lewis asked softly and Daniel sniffled.

“You’d– you’d want that? After what I did?”

Lewis took a moment to answer, to think about how to explain it. “Yes.” He settled on. “I don’t trust you, and I’m very hurt and I feel betrayed…. But I want to work past that.”

Daniel’s scent soured, no doubt hating himself for what he’s done. But he nodded and stepped forward slowly, meeting Lewis in the middle of the room. He offered the now quiet baby to the alpha who looked down at her bright dark brown eyes with his own wide ones.

“Her name’s Ava. She’s two months old.”

Lewis smiled when Ava smiled up at him, reaching a chubby hand towards his face. “Hi Ava, it’s lovely to meet you.” 

To Daniel he said, “we’ll figure this out. No more secrets.”

Daniel nodded, “no more secrets.” 

“Good.” Lewis grabbed his hand.

[the-offside-rule]

Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) - Champagne Problems pt.2

Champagne Problems: Part 1,

Farewell: Part 1

Max and Y/n had found themselves at Melbourne, the first race back for the 2023 season with their last encounter still lingering in the air. Awkward glances and hasty greetings marked their initial interactions, both carefully avoiding the elephant in the room. They managed to avoid eachother for the whole of testing somehow, but now it was near impossible with Marketing wanting to do teammate challenges and interviews as well as having to be in the same space almost all the time.

Y/n tried to keep her focus on the race, avoiding eye contact with Max whenever possible. Max, on the other hand, couldn't shake the memories of the gala and the unspoken emotions hanging in the air. Pit lane conversations became stilted, and team briefings turned into silent exchanges. The unspoken words lingered between them like a fog on the racetrack. To make matters worse, the team started to speculate what was happening between them. Most believed that it was just a rivalry or argument, whereas the small few suspected an...incident, which would be right.

The Saturday had rolled around and tensions were high in Red Bull. Max walked as his PR manager filled him in on what was to be expected with the plans for today. He was fully engrossed in the conversation until he looked up towards the hospitality and spotted Y/n at the Red Bull station where fans would be coming to get things signed. She must have a sixth sense, because she had managed to feel his eyes on her. They stopped and simply stared at eachother. Max gave a small smile. "Y/n." He said. "Max." She replied.

"Have a nice winter?" He asked. "I mean, if you had caught up with me you would have heard by now." Max looked at her confused. "What?" She sat down. "I've been going on dates." She explained. "Any successful?" She didn't reply. "Oh. I mean, hopefully one of these days you'll find someone who will meet your requirements." He said, a glint of hope in his voice. "There is someone." She said. Max's smile drooped slightly. "That's nice. Who is the lucky guy?" He asked. "Just a guy." She said bluntly as the first fan had come forward to get a cap signed. "He's lucky." He whispered. Y/n sighed and nodded mindessly as the line moved on, trying to pay as little attention to Max as possible, but it didn't work as effectively as she would have liked.

As the tension grew, and the crowd had died down, Max had become fed up with making conversation and not getting a response. Finally, he broke the silence. "Look, about last time-" He began, eyes flickering nervously. Y/n interrupted the dutchman. "It was a mistake and we will ignore it. Just sign the stuff for the fans and we can I our separate ways." She continued on smiling and signing while Max signed, just less enthusiastically. "Listen, we can't exactly pretend it didn't happen, Max. But let's keep it professional, okay?" She smiled as the new fans approached. "I'm trying but I just can't stop remembering what happened-"

"Can you shut up?" Max looked at her. She had changed over the winter. She wasn't as bubbly as she once was an turned cold, towards him anyway. "Okay." He replied quietly. "Sorry." Y/n felt guilt wash over her.

Max looked deep into her eyes. "Y/n, I can't deny how I feel. I know I have a girlfriend, but being around you…it's different. I need to be honest with myself." Y/n tapped the marker off the desk trying to get her frustration out silently. "Max, this is a bad idea. We can't do that again. I won't be kept a secret." She said, signing a new sheet of paper. Max's determination flickered in his eyes. "I don't want to keep you a secret, but I need to figure things out. Please, just give me time." Y/n shook her head. "No, Max. I won't let you break up with Krlly because you've confused love and lust."

Max clenched his jaw, frustration evident. "Y/n, you can pretend all you want, but we both know you're just lying to yourself. We have something going on and we can'tpretend it doesn't exist." Max said sternly. Y/n's voice wavered. "Max, we can't do this. It's not fair to anyone involved." The stopped for a moment before the last fan had come and gone. Y/n got up and began to walk when Max followed her. "We have to talk about it, everyone else is. And besides, it's affecting our performance." He said closing the door behind him. "It's affecting your performance. Mine is fine. My lap times are on time, my set up is perfect. It's affecting your performance." She said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Oh what? Because this means something to me?" Y/n stopped right outside the Red Bull hospitality lounge. "If I mean something to you, you wouldn't still be with Kelly." She said. "And I am not being the factor of your breakup so do better."

"Y/n." He said helplessly. "I'll see you later Max." She said, walking in and making her way to her driver room, whilst Max had to be whisked away to his other driver duties.

[chussyracing]

What is happening in the world of motorsports?

a very long post summarizing the stuff that happened across the last two weeks

Racing updates:

Pacal Wahrlein became the FE champion for 2024

Yuki started from the back of the grid after taking multiple new components outside of allowed (so Guanyu who was p20 in quali and got 3 places grid drop penalty for impending was actually promoted to p19 because of this), Max got 10 places grid penalty only for new ICE outside of allowed ones

Yuki was ordered to rest after his check up following the crash in Hungary and he was seen limping after getting out of the car after the GP, because he bruised his tailbone and it was confirmed that the impact of the crash was worth 68G

FIA announced that a selected part of the teams will be checked for the flexibility of their wings in Spa

Hungary was really a mayhem for everyone: McLaren messing up the strat and then spending 20 laps telling Lando he is a dick for not letting Oscar swap after the pitstop, Lance ignoring multiple team orders telling him to let Fernando swap, Max made a rookie mistake and Nico Rosberg blamed him for staying up till 3am sim racing, RB messed up Daniel strategy while pulling out a one stopper for Yuki and Alpine messed up quali strat and then after another pitlane start had to retire Pierre

Haas extended their engine deal with Ferrari through 2028

after suspecting an illegal cooling duct on the McLaren car, Red Bull filed a complaint about it to FIA (but FIA claims that check after race showed that the holes they thought were there, were closed up)

also to have a bit more fun with McLaren, they got their motorhome back only for them to lose the roof of the front of it in the wind during a storm at the start of the race weekend in Hungary (and Oscar indirectly joked that their motorhome needs to get destroyed for Lando to get pole)

Antonio Lobato believes that the drop of performance for Red Bull is not just because of Newey leaving, but also because FIA caught them cheating and they had to change some parts (and he claimed that some teams found out about it and at least two of them confirmed it to him)

McLaren might have ruined Oscar’s first ever win but Australian GP plastered his posters all over the city (because he was actually born in Melbourne)

Aston Martin’s quali got fucked after the red flag because of a mistake FIA made thanks to APX GP in the parc fermé

George was disqualified from Belgian GP after his car was found to be underweight and Horner claimed that he believes the difference in the weight was made by the decision to only stop (and our comm claimed that Mercedes knew about George's car being underweight before they started, that's why they purposedly left a lot of fuel in the car and also that recounted the weight dofference would be worth around 4 or 5 seconds)

Stoffel Vandoorne will test Aston Martin in the summer break

Liam Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo will test an older Red Bull spec while Yuki will fulfill a filming day in the summer break

Silly season:

Mattia Binotto, the devil himself, has been appointed the new head of Audi after both Seidl and Hoffmann „leave the team“ (= got fired for not hiring Carlos alongside Nico who said the decision shocked him since he had no idea) – they were also eyeing Mike Krack according to some reports so it is very much possible they might want to hire him alongside Binotto

Carlos congratulated him on the move and then everyone thought he is going to Audi for sure because of him

but he goes into Williams on multi year basis (2025, 2026 and beyond) instead

There's a rumour he has clauses allowing him to leave when he pleases which James Vowles technically denied saying they only wanted someone that wanted to be a part of the team and who wouldn't come for money or as a last resort option (and he also said they were talking to Carlos since AD 2023)

Sauber/Audi also hired Stefan Strahnz (previously in Merc) as program director

Kevin Magnussen will leave Haas at the end of the season, Este signed with them on multiyear deal

after rumours that Alpine F1 team wants to find new engine supplier and become a customer team, Renault explained to their employees they would like to focus more on new projects like hydrogen and battery development instead, according to the gossip they are not ready and French labour union is interested in the case, because it could lead to mass firing and nobody wants that

also if it wasn’t enough, Bruno Famin left his position of Alpine’s team principal after Spa to focus on the Renault’s car division instead and Oliver Oakes from Hitech becomes their new team principal (that could also mean signing up Paul Aron to their junior academy)

fun fact: Hitech was among the teams trying to become 11th team on the grid (what if… Briatore sold it off to Hitech? to Andretti?)

there are some talks about who could partner Pierre in Alpine and gossip started seeping out that in the internal Jack/Mick test, Mick was pretty impressive

Marcin Budkowski said that everyone at Alpine knew Este was talking to Williams because he had a GPS in the car that they were tracking in the company

Enrico Cardile who left Ferrari with immediate effect to get replaced by Frederic Vasseur as head of chassis technical team before Loic Serra can join the team after his gardening leave, was officially announced as Aston Martin’s new chief technical officer for 2025 and Vasseur said that Ferrari will officially announce the new technical department structure after the summer break

Autosport believes that Alpine is in advanced talks with Mercedes to get engine, gearbox and suspension from them (which might come as early as next year instead of 2026 like previously suggested, Toto met up with them in Spa)

Helmut Marko confirmed to stay with Red Bull till 2026 (which supports the claim that Max stays in the team considering he had a clause to leave alongside Marko)

Toto spoke to oe24 and said that they are not interested in Adrian Newey because he trusts James Allison and therefore

PlanetF1 thinks that George is a candidate for the other Audi seat in the future when Carlos didn’t sign with them and that would open a way for Max to Mercedes

Marko confirmed that they will evaluate Checo’s chances to keep his seat after Spa and Daniel said that these two races are the two most important ones in his career and the team ruined the Hungarian race for him

Isack Hadjar, Yuki, Liam Lawson are also linked to RBR and RB mess

finally Red Bull confirmed that Checo will continue with them for the rest of this season (but there are rumours that LM and Carlos Slim asked them to keep Checo after Verstappen jr and sr already got told that Checo is leaving after the break on sunday, because they need Checo staying at least for Mexican GP due to high volume of ticket sales Checo brings at his home race)

today Daniel and Liam are having sort of a shootout that would be for next year's seat (Yuki is in Imola as well but for filming day with current car so he is NOT a part of the seat discussion)

also fun fact from press con where Yuki hinted he thought he is signing a Red Bull Racing contract not a RB one

Marcus Ericsson claimed Logan and James Vowles’ relationship is so bad that they do not even speak each other and cited Kyle Kirkwood as his source because they spoke about it in the Indycar paddock, Logan denied it and basically said that Marcus is just running his mouth (the only thing he was right about is Logan being out of Williams confirmed by Carlos’ move)

more gossip about Kimi to Merc for 2025 after his feature race win, he will also test W13 in Belgium after this race weekend (and he was very friendly with Bono after Lewis won in Spa)

Future of F1:

Audi announced their first two sponsors they will come into F1 with in 2026: BP and Castrol (Castrol is currently sponsoring Alpine so they will probably depart next year)

FIA warned drivers to stop swearing on team radio after Hungarian GP (so almost all radios we got this weekend were full of swear words)

Osaka made „Convention and Tourism Bureau“ to help support the F1 race in the future (Suzuka has a deal till 2009)

F1 will test new cooling system inside the cockpit to help with extreme heat (initiated in Qatar last year with extreme temperatures) in Dutch GP

F1 commission made some rule changes/decisions

-they decided not to change the point system which they speculated about (like 12 drivers scoring or all 20 driver scoring etc)

-the minimum weight will increase by 2 kgs to help drivers keep more healthy routine (it is time to address some eating habits that drivers speak about although this change is not enough to just end it)

-testing for new regulations for 2026 will be 9 days long to help teams get used to such big changes (also there is still talk about how bad the racing will be with the active aero and how fast or technically how slow the cars might be)

-these 9 days will be spread over 3 venues (probably Bahrain, Barcelona and??)

-those rules will be updated and presented on World Motor Sport Council on 17th October and then on 2nd F1 commission will meet to discuss it further

-parental leave, sick leave and team entertainment will stay outside of budget cap

Mastercard entered F1 world as expected, they became McLaren’s sponsor (after also speaking to Mercedes allegedly)

Otmar Szafnauer said he is part of american project evaluating 11th team on the f1 grid

Rumour has it that Spa and Zandvoort might stay on the calendar but only as alternating tracks (only one of them would be raced each week and they would alternate

F1 partnered with Las Vegas Convention and Visitos Authority to help promote tourism

Other series:

McLaren and their driver moves in other series jeez: Theo Pourchaire is back in the team after getting fired when he signed a multi year contract previously, because Alex Rossi got injured

they are also making moves in FE where Jack Hughes will leave them and join Maserati next year instead

other moves in FE include Stoffel Vandoorne leaving DS Penske and joining Maserati as well, Nico Müller leaving ABT CUPRA

At Goodwood, Newey drove a Ferrari and introduced the hypercar be worked on, but also he gave interviews and mentioned that he can start working for a new team in March 2025

Excel London might host the last Formula E race in 2025, because the corners are tight and it is no longer sustainable with bigger cars although they want to keep London as a venue

Tuukka Taponen replaced Nikola Tsolov for this weekend after he got a race ban for participating in another FIA race without authorization from the federation

Fun stuff:

Charles and Pierre played Box of Bluffs (the video is somewhere on Youtube)

Leo Leclerc and Roscoe Hamilton met and it was as iconic as everyone expected it to be

Mercedes had limited data on Friday after the global blackout caused by Crowdstrike issues (and Red Bull made fun of their non-working computers on Twitter while F1 footage focused on shooting the Crowdstrike logo on Lewis’ helmet help)

Lando was at Euro 2024 final while George snapped a pic with Djokovic at Wimbledon

Este got his Alpine car which he won the Hungarian GP with and placed it in his family’s private collection

funnily enough, Lando and Este had almost the same helmet for the Hungarian GP, Lando because he broke an extremely expensive driver trophy last year, Este because he got his only ever F1 win here, they are not the same (side note about Lando is that he wrote a short note for the company making the trophies and made a lot of mistakes in it and then people said he is actually dyslectic and I don'tfeel like it is appropriate to spy for any proof but if you want to know more, the articles i saw mention tiktok as a source)

Max was “banned” from late night sim racing after binning into Lewis in Hungary after he raced till 3am, but Max said to media that it’s not like he was banned but rather there are no more events on the calendar in the same time as race weekends and that he also doesn’t tell the team what they do in their free time (not funny side note: apparently Will Buxton pointed out that the biggest mistakes and outbursts in Max’s performance so far were on race weekends where his father was in the garage and I will not be getting into that because it’s a personal thing and I find it rather distasteful to dig into it)

Alpine cosplayed Ferrari with Wolverine slash Deadpool inspired livery (and suits and helmets) in Spa

Vogue made an article about Lando rivalling Lewis for best dressed driver in F1………

also Lewis became Dior’s ambassador and host designer :))

Lando got a new Defender they were editing for him for half a year (apparently it even features a pizza oven)

Seb went into a cycling competition in Norway but used his wife’s birth last name as a kind of disguise (and finished 44th in his category)

Checo's docu series Never give up comes out today on Disney +

Grill the grid is back for the summer break

Inspiring stuff:

Ralf Schumacher came out as gay in a form of Instagram post with his partner in his arms

2024 is the first year of FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship since FIM was founded in 1904, there are 24 riders from 18 countries and they all have Yamaha YZF-R7

Iron Dames won 4 hours of Imola in ELMS category with Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting (they also got Hyperpole in 6 hours of Sao Paulo btw)

also it’s 10 years since Susie Wolff took part in F1 weekend (being the last woman to do so)

Sophia Floersch tested an F2 car and Chloe Chambers tested an F3 car to give their feedback on the accessibility of the machines and help women in the motorsport proceed into the highest categories

on 14th July Sophia Floersch also drove an F1 car at Goodwood

Lola Lovinfosse (why her…) got chosen for 2024 Lamborghini Young Driver Program

Other, because I have no category for this:

British F4 had record number of women in the race with 8 of them racing (5 of them from F1 academy)

Jamie Chadwick will test Indycar in September

Max says he had vision problems after Monza 2021 crash

[acknowledge-reigns]

Somebody truly had the nerve to say Roman has never had to deal with or wrestle with injuries/set backs in his career and that he "could never power through like C*dy did with his torn pec". First of all, comparing how these two athletes deal with injuries is big fucking weird but since we're going there and I take my role of #1 Joe Anoa'i defender to heart what I'm not about to do is let y'all set up here on this internet and make it seem as if my Tribal Chief ain't ever fought through shit because this man is a WARRIOR, do you hear me???

(HE'S A TWO TIME LEUKEMIA SURVIVOR SINCE Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS LIKE TO FORGET HE KICKED CANCER'S ASS TOO.) Generally speaking, not just that situation but in many others in Joe's life, some of your faves would have folded. (especially those two yt men that run from company to company when they don't get their way) . Really this ain't shade to C*dy, I give him his props for powering through injuries and shit too. Most of these superstars have. And saying some of them would probably fold (hell, I would. Most of us would.) Isn't saying they're weak. I'm saying Roman is a badass on a different level and you can argue with your momma or with the wall on that one, not me.

List of injuries/illnesses known to us throughout Roman's career -

Back + Hip injury 2023 (Sumerslam, v Jey Uso.)

Ruptured Ear Drum 2022 (Survivor Series, v Kevin Owens who surprised him with a spot that was not planned and resulted in the injury. There however is no bad blood between the two.)

Had COVID 2022 (https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/32974962/roman-reigns-wwe-biggest-star-tests-positive-covid-19-scratched-atlanta-event)

Lingering affects from COVID 2022 (due to being immunocompromised https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/roman-reigns-discusses-his-covid-experience-says-he-still-feels-chest-tightness)

Shoulder/Arm injury 2022 (Wrestlemania 38, v Brock Lesnar)

Reveals Leukemia treatment side effects (including Nausea and arthritis in arms and legs, mentioned in 2019 and 2020 interviews. Ex. https://www.leukaemiacare.org.uk/support-and-information/latest-from-leukaemia-care/inspirational-stories/roman-reigns-wwe-cml-and-me/#:~:text=Previously%2C%20Reigns%20revealed%20to%20the,in%20terms%20of%20being%20sick.)

Knee Injury 2019 (Hell in a cell tornado tag with Daniel Bryan, v Erick Rowan and Luke Harper.)

Second battle with Leukemia 2018

Eye injury, required stitches 2018 (after 6 man tag match on RAW https://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/wwe/roman-reigns-gets-stitches-raw)

Shoulder injury + Cracked ribs 2017 ( RAW, v Braun Strowman)

Shattered nose + Surgery 2016 ( v Triple H. See attached article https://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2016-02-22/article/reigns-surgery)

Needed stitches May 2016 (live show, see photos https://www.wwe.com/worldwide/gallery/roman-reigns-receives-stitches-in-melbourne-australia-photos#fid-40042095)

Head Injury that required staples 2014 (https://youtu.be/OYMce1GDiDc?si=KtbVybtoQVr7FKDL)

Emergency surgery for Hernia 2014 (which he wrestled for some time while dealing with, see WWE.com article herehttps://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/2014/roman-reigns-breaking-news)

This list does not include FCW injuries, football injuries or his 2007 leukemia diagnosis durring which he was unhoused with a child on the way. And these are just the instances we know of!

Say what you will about Roman in kayfabe but do not minimize the struggles Joe has been through or his resilience. And if you're a Roman "fan" buying into the the rhetoric that he hasn't faced any adversity then as my dear friend @love-islike-abomb says, Please "Go whistle in the woods". IYKYK.

Oh and while we all here...

Acknowledge him, Bitches ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾.

[blamemma]

"Daniel, you must tell them, okay, if it is too tight or uncomfortable!" Max insists.

I AM MAKING THESE FACES 😵‍💫😳👀🧐😜 WHAT A BEGINNING

sorry to report this wasn’t as scandalous as people thought it maybe was, and was simply a small little fic about pregnant Daniel in Melbourne and the beginning is him doing his seat fitting and max worrying but i just lot momentum writing it oops!! anyway lil rest of the beginning underneath, unedited etc cause its basically an abandoned wip at this point x

mentions of mpreg under cut

“Daniel, you must tell them, okay, if it is too tight, or it is uncomfortable?” 

“I know, Maxy.” Daniel replies, pulling the zipper of his race suit up, fingers pushing the velcro around his neck together. 

“I just…worry, you know.” Max says, eyes downward, avoiding Daniel’s gaze, the way he gets when he doesn’t want to push too far, but wants his opinion to be heard. 

In the comfort of Max’s drivers’ room, everything is serene, the buzz of the paddock locked behind a door. No one knows about the baby yet, they only found out two weeks ago, Daniel waiting until Max got back from Jeddah to take the test. They’ve been living in romantic bliss since, elated about the news. They’d gone to the doctors shortly after to make sure everything was okay. Max had paid extra to get an early scan. Daniel was now 7 weeks along. They’ll tell Daniel’s family first, heading straight to Perth after the Melbourne race. Daniel knows they’ll be happy for him and Max, but he still feels nervous, letting them in on their little secret. 

Daniel moves to grab Max’s face between his hands, kissing his forehead gently, before making eye contact with him. 

“If it begins to hurt, or it feels too tight, I’ll tell them I fell off my motorbike last week and I’m all bruised up okay? I promise.” Daniel reassures him. Max nods, moving Daniel’s arms with him, before leaning in, pressing a quick kiss to Daniel’s lips. 

“Ok.” He replies, voice soft. 

“I should get going,” Daniel says, leaning down to grab his shoes. “Don’t want to be late on my first day!” 

“I will come with you!” Max responds, grabbing a cap to throw on his head. 

“Max…” Daniel draws out, not annoyed by Max’s volition, just aware of how busy a race weekend can be and how he doesn’t want Max to feel responsible for Daniel on top of all that. 

“I have a free half hour, and I need to speak to GP of course anyway, so I will come. I will just stand to the side, I will not interfere.” He insists, and Daniel can’t stop him as Max is halfway out the door, leading the way for Daniel, still convinced he doesn’t know his way around, even though the Red Bull corridors still feel the same as the day he left them. 

Daniel huffs under his breath, knowing he won’t win this battle and so follows suit behind Max, taking a few quick steps to catch up with him before grazing his pinkie against Max’s palm to let him know he’s there. 

The engineers are stood waiting for him, chatting whilst stood around the RB19. Max veers off to where GP is standing, and Daniel has to stop for a moment, glance around and settle his stomach. He doesn’t feel dread or disdain, just utter happiness, and joy, but he still feels nerves bubbling at the surface. 

He reaches forward, arm extended towards the engineers, fist closed, a confident “Alright boys,” said in his Australian accent, and lets them all fist bump him as a greeting. Some old faces, some new, but all of them are smiling at him.

“So, where do you want me then?” He asks jokingly. 

“Just hop on in mate, we’ve got a stool there for you if you need it, obviously be a bit careful, we’ll take care of the rest.” Chris tells him. 

“Sweet!” Daniel responds, stepping forward and placing his hand on the halo before he can second guess all this and get too in his head. He looks down the nose of the car, a number 1 staring back at him and an overwhelming sense of pride washes over him. It’ll never look as pretty as the 3 that used to be emblazoned across the front, he thinks to himself, letting the thought flitter away quickly before he gets ahead of himself. 

He uses the provided stool to hoist himself upwards, feet either side of the halo, his arms bent forward, clutching the halo to steady himself. 

A loud wolf whistle comes from behind him, and Daniel’s head whips round to see Max and GP leant against the side of the garage, Max grinning to himself as he stares Daniel down. Daniel blushes, all the way down his neck, as he realises his arse was bent straight towards the two of them, quickly trying to laugh it off as playful banter before the mechanics realise. His left foot goes down into the seat, right leg following shortly, so that he’s stood in the seat. He takes a moment to adjust himself, after crouches down, bringing his legs in front of himself and sliding forward. 

The seat is tight against his hips, pressing inwards, and he moves slightly, alleviating the pressure. The main thing he can feel though is the burning in his cheeks. His smile so wide and bright, a giggle almost escaping him that, his cheeks have begun to ache, saliva building in his mouth. Tommo is stood in front of the car, snapping photos, and a social media person who Daniel is yet to learn the name of is moving around the car filming him. He feels excited to see the photos, see the smile that’s cracked all over his face. 

“How does it feel?” Chris asks him. Daniel looks up to where Chris is leaning over him and nods once. 

“Feels good mate. A little tight on the sides, but nothing I can’t handle.”

[aussiebusinesstips]

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[chrisevansonly]

The Hospital Visit Headcannon (Harry’s Angel Au)🦋

pairing: Harry Styles x Female Reader (Angel)

summary: after falling ill recently in Australia, Harry decides it’s hospital time to figure out what’s going on with his favourite girl in the world

warnings: none besides hospital talk, tests maybe slight angst but not really? LOL

a/n: i still haven’t figured out where I’m going or what i want to do with this mystery sickness so for now i’m gonna leave it somewhat open ended….maybe not..? 👀

For the past 3 days you’d been in bed with a stomach bug, at least you were labelling it that. You hadn’t been able to keep anything down, waking up early in the morning and being up late at night emptying the contents of your stomach

The first day Harry had given you medication and made sure to keep you hydrated, when he couldn’t, he made sure you had someone near the hotel to help you if you needed anything

By day 3 Harry had enough and that’s how you found yourselves in a private hospital room in Melbourne, a few wires hooked up to you as you both waited for a plethora of tests to come back in

You looked over at Harry who was holding your hand and resting his head on your thigh, his eyes looking into yours

“How you feeling angel..?”

“Been better, but that anti nausea stuff is working”

He nodded pressing a kiss to your hand, going to say something until there was a knock and the doctor came in

“Sorry for the wait Mr. & Mrs.Styles”

Even thought you weren’t married yet, hearing that caused your cheeks to flush, warmth filling your chest

“S’all right, we’re happy to wait”

The doctor nodded

“Alright Y/N, well most of your tests have come back normal, the only thing is we are waiting for of course that pregnancy test to come back, as well as the one for appendicitis seeing as you did have some cramping”

You nodded, Harry squeezing your hand

“We should know those in a few hours, so as long as you’re both alright to hang around for a bit, we should have you both discharged by end of day?”

“Perfect, thank you so much”

The doctor excused himself and you couldn’t help but feel anxious at the thought that maybe you could be pregnant, it wasn’t as if you both weren’t ready, it just wasn’t what you planned at this moment

“Y/N?”

You hummed looking back to Harry who was staring at you

“Are you okay?”

“Just nervous…maybe anxious too, I don’t know what if I am pregnant H…?”

He shrugged, sending you a dopey smile

“Then we’re pregnant, you know i’m ready for anything, even if it is wasn’t planned, i’m ready for everything with you”

That answer helped calm your nerves, a small smile on your face as Harry leaned forward to press his lips to yours

“I love you Harry, so much”

“I love you more Angel, always and forever”

You didn’t know what was in store for you and Harry but you knew one thing, no matter what, you both would tackle anything life threw at you together, for better or for worse, and you couldn’t help but be slightly excited at the idea of expanding your little family…but only time would tell what the outcome of those tests would be…🤍

[hypnotisedfireflies]

This prompt idea came from @ruemondetour and I’ve trimmed it down from a larger ask so just to concentrate on this particular concept.

If I was to write this part of the story you all would need to strap in for another 50k words or something because I have no restraint (cue chapter counts going up and up during Dawn and Dusk…) I’m not sure I’ll get around to ever writing this, but I do have the bones of it in my head and fortunately, not all of it is just retelling of this scene from An American Tail, if anyone even remembers that?

While Joel and Ellie are escaping the Capitol Building, Firefly reinforcements arrive and clean up the remaining FEDRA patrol.  Lachie is among them and recognises Tess and, as we know, he takes a big risk on taking her with them because she’s infected.  For science, he says! And because of the two other witnessed events of bites not taken, it’s permitted.  

Tess’s head wound is treated and she’s monitored and experimented on for a long time.  Lachie’s part of it but not in charge.  The Firefly team delays in the Boston area while this takes place.

Tess clears the infection and the Firefly team has their data and really have to get on with the rest of their mission, which is closing up the other medical caches/labs/bases dotted across  country on the way to Salt Lake City.  Fireflies aren’t winning the war and now there’s this immune girl and the manifesto is changing.

There are five Fireflies plus Tess.  She is initially a prisoner, though her plans match up with theirs: she wants to get to Utah, too – it’s possibly where Joel has gone, and it’s definitely on the way to Wyoming.  But Tess doesn’t have a splendid relationship with them due to what they did to her all that time and she really would rather to kill them all and take their shit and do it alone.

Although the Fireflies have decent equipment – including a FEDRA truck with a fresh FEDRA battery (sore point for Tess:  this was probably the same vehicle she and Joel were earning) there’s only five of them and going cross-country is still dangerous as fuck.

Tess and Lachie get back on track slowly.  They haven’t seen each other in something like 15 years(?) and they’re very different people.  Lachie has grown up a lot, he’s got his doctor thing happening now, he’s much more capable and, well, sad.  The first time he chooses Tess over one of his companions of 10+ years he tells himself it’s because she’s hot research property and it’s important they get her to the hospital. But that delusion doesn’t sit with him long, because the man’s homesick, right? He can never go home, but the Indianapolis group was the closest thing he had to family since leaving Melbourne.  He saves Tess because she feels like family to him. 

And, you know, Lachie is a pretty nice guy.  He knows what Tess and Joel meant to one another.  There are so few happy endings nowadays – maybe he can be part of this one.  He wants them to find one another the way he will never be able to find his own family.  And through Tess as they begin to form a relationship, he starts to see the Joel she knows. 

She wouldn’t tell him a lot, certainly nothing about Sarah or their most personal moments.  But he has literally never heard her really talk about him before (and Joel never gave him the time of day in Indy) so he starts to see him through her eyes. 

It’d be things like, “Where’d you learn to shoot?”  “Joel found out I’d never picked up a gun until all this,” and he’d hear about learning in Illinois and Missouri.  They’d go through a music store and she’d mention in passing that Joel had a thing for Springsteen.  And then this would happen, some six months into the journey when everyone else is dead:

Lachie tested the lowermost shelf and it seemed willing to hold his weight.  He used it to boost himself up and sweep the highest pantry corner with his eyes – and there! There was something, knocked back into the dark by years of hungry scavengers.  Lachie grimaced as he thrust his hand through the spiderwebs and retrieved the little glass jar.

“Sick!” He grinned and let himself drop down.  He wiped off the spiderwebs on his pants and returned to the kitchen.  Tess was looking into a cabinet by the stove, rummaging amongst the plastic cutlery and twist ties for something edible.  “Servopoulos! Check it out.  Am I good or what?”

Tess turned in time to catch the jar.  It smacked into her palm.  Lachie waited for the delight that never came.  She paled.  To Lachie’s horror, her breath started coming short and fast.  Someway – he didn’t know how – but he’d miscalculated this.  He stepped forward to try and take it from her, understand – anything.  But Tess hurled the jar with a shout.  Glass shattered, honey oozing down the wall.

Lachie looked from the honey to Tess.  A few seconds slid into oblivion … and Tess dissolved into tears.  He had never seen her cry before.  He did not even know she was capable of it.  He didn’t know what to do.  He tried to approach her but she held out a hand, pressing the other hard against her chest, and warded him off. 

“Don’t, Lachie.  Just don’t.”

She sat down hard on the floor and banged her back up against the cabinetry in frustration.  Cautiously, Lachie sat beside her.  He realised she was fighting off a panic attack - fighting it as if it was some physical foe she could lay her hands on.  Only when she had won – alone, doing it her way – did Lachie stretch out his hand.  Tess didn’t move away, so he gently placed his arm around her shoulders. 

“Joel?”  He asked.

“Joel.”

They take a different route to Ellie and Joel.  They follow the Great Lakes and come to Wyoming through the Dakotas with a truck full of Firefly and FEDRA medical equipment (Merry Christmas, Jackson!)

The journey was difficult for Tess – she had to contend with survival without Joel for the first time in like, nineteen years, and learn to depend on someone else.   It caused some friction between her and Lachie, because they couldn’t read one another.  Tess had to learn to communicate like a normal person again instead of being able to depend on her partner in crime to intuitively know what she would do/need.  It nearly got them killed several times until they worked it out, which happened some time after Lachie finally lost his temper with her:  “I’M NOT JOEL, I DON’T KNOW YOUR CREEPY LANGUAGE, TESS.  SPEAK HUMAN.”

They start to bond after that and it’s actually good for Tess to learn to work with someone else again.

They find Tommy not long after Ellie and Joel are gone from Jackson and he lies to her so she won’t go after him.  Lachie recovers (mostly) from his pneumonia and Tommy and Tess have some good initial times together, but her worry starts to manifest (cue last chapter of Knight of Cups … which I think finishes answering the question?)

… wow, this was  a lot longer than I intended.  I hope that fills it in somewhat?

[oiladgivememoney99]

MD-5 Cruelty Squad: Depression Nap

Violence.

It was all the woman, her hair a shining blue. Somehow genetic these days was raised in.

Violence.

The water that turns the wheels of history, it keeps the world running, and makes it move forward.

Violence.

The thing her father performed whenever work mistreated him, or whenever he got gum on the bottom of his shoe, or whenever he felt like it.

Violence.

It was funny, the only thing her father ever told her that she found any stock in was this “If you live in Violence, you’ll die in it,”

Tari put it to the test, and it was true! He lived in violence, mother lived in violence and both of them were ended in it, ended by the paragon of violence. She didn’t know about body reconstruction; it didn’t apply to him anyway. The super poors don’t get the gift of eternal life, eternal sustenance of the Lord’s teet, an existence without their divine link to him.

Tari had no real opinion on that.

---

Wake up early, set a ten year plan, invest, CEO Mindset. That was the message drilled into Tari’s head as she woke up from a particularly bad depression nap. She trudged out of bed, and looked on a nearby table.

NOTICE OF TERMINATION

TARI C. NESSA

While your service as part of TASCorp™’s enforcement squad has been greatly appreciated. Budget cuts have required that we let you and several members of your division go.

As of Article 192 of the Constitution, and Article 26 of Cancer City official law, we are in no way required to offer you any form of severance package, nor any financial support.

Please understand that this is in no way personal, we would’ve loved to have you continue your great service within the TASCorp™ family.

We wish you best of luck in your further endeavours.

TASCorp™ “You’re everything, We’re everything,”

Bastards, corpo bastards kicked her out cause of “budget cuts”. She still couldn’t believe it after a week.

She looked around her dingy apartment, one of the lights flickering cause Tari hadn’t elected to put in the effort to fix it… also cause she couldn’t afford it right now cause of those corposhits firing her.

Tari sighed, sitting on the couch, and turning on the TV. Hands firmly stuck in the pocket of the still somewhat bloodstained pants she was wearing.

Boring nothing show, boring nothing show. God being unemployed really mad every single piece of mindless entertainment seem completely boring, huh?

She flipped through the channels, looking for something that could distract her from her desire to go full No Russian on a TASCorp building (It’s not like they’d stay dead anyway)-

“Hey, do you wanna be part of a deathsquad?” A Blonde woman with half shaven hair clad in a tanktop stained in what looked like a mix of blood and dark pink biofuel.

Tari’s eyes quirked. She was already one of those but someone had fired her.

“I know you do, but are you tired of Poorhead Megacorps taking all the fun out of contract killing? TASCorp, for example,” The woman asked, excitement clear in her soulless, yet pretty blue eyes. “Do you want a local, family owned company of contract killers suited to your incredibly specific needs?”

Tari nodded, even though the woman couldn’t see or hear her.

“Well why don’t you come on down to 32 Carcinogen Street, and apply to Cancer City’s very own MD-5 Cruelty Squad!” The woman waved her hands, excitement completely and utterly abundant in her high pitched voice. “We have no qualms, no morals and no one we won’t target!”

Tari was utterly captivated, she could do what she was made to do with no restrictions, no suit breathing down her neck.

“But don’t take it from me, take it from the Butcher of Melbourne himself, Masa Shimamoto!”

Tari’s eyes widened, silently fangirling as the man walked onto screen. Red eyes, messy black hair, metallic arm implant with the TASCorp logo scratched off. It was the real deal!

Tari had idolised the man, one of the most prolific hitmen, someone who worked in the top of TASCorp’s deathsquads! Someone any Hitperson that took themselves even a little seriously strived to be.

“Yes, it’s the real me,” Masa chuckled. “After my resignation from TASCorp, I needed a new way to keep doing what I loved most. That’s why I started my own deathsquad. Here at MD-5, we care about the individuals we work under,”

A man with dark skin and braids appeared, aiming a sniper rifle from the top of a tower with a smile on his face.

“We value the individual opinion of each and every person under our family,” Masa continued to speak. “Unlike those bastards at TASCorp. MD-5 Cruelty Squad, we’re murderers who care,”

Tari was already out the door.

---

Sofia sat boredly at the front desk of the… raggedy ass building she was working at. Masa couldn’t even afford a decent building for his brand spanking new Deathsquad. She thought about how they only had like 15 employees, grumbling in her head as the-

DING DONG

“Welcome to Cruelty Squad, who do you want dead?” The blonde woman asked, grinning widely at the idea of a new job.

Tari gently placed her resume on the desk.

“Oh shit, that ad actually worked?” Sofia’s eyes widened in joy as she began to read the blue haired woman’s resume. “Oh damn, this is an impressive record,”

Tari nodded, leaning on the table; completely still.

The blonde woman continued to read and read. “Eh, fuck it… I’ll give you a tour and let you in,” She chuckled. “You’ll wanna log on the MyWork app to see your hours n’ jobs,”

Tari nodded as the woman left the desk, and began to walk from the lobby into a hallway behind it.

“By the way, I’m Sofia Porter. Used to work for TASCorp, they fucked the lot of us over too,” Sofia slapped Tari on the back, the blue haired woman having zero reaction.

Sofia paused for a moment as she lead Tari past small amounts of people wielding cheap guns.

“Wow… you don’t speak at all, huh?”

“Sometimes,” Sofia stumbled, nearly tripping, and fracturing her skull as the recruit spoke.

“Unexpected,” Sofia chuckled a little. “I like that; what’s your name Ms. Mute by choice?”

“Tari,”

Sofia smiled, Tari looked briefly at the woman’s eyes; she noticed the distinct lack of a soul. The only real drawback of cheaper body reconstruction programs, losing your very Divine Light; only a mild inconvenience to most anyway.

Sofia led Tari to a small room at the end of the hallway, three other people were situated inside: The black guy with dreads from the ad, Tari could now see his modified metallic legs alongside the beanie and hideous anime themed shirt he was wearing. Masa Shimamoto himself, and finally a new woman; similar facial structure to Sofia, but with long purple hair, brown yet equally soulless eyes, and a metallic arm with a medical logo carefully carved into it. The three people looked between Tari and Sofia for a moment.

“Sofia, why is there a random woman in the meeting room?” Masa sighed, moving forward slightly to stand in front of the two women.

“Yeah, I love you n’ all, but I’d prefer you keep your flings away from our… y’know secret meetings… that are meant to be company secrets,” Purple-y (Not the best but it’d have to do for now) chuckled.

“Yeah, man what the-”

“Hey! She’s not just some random woman, nor a random fling” Sofia blushed a little as she raised her hands rapidly, interrupting the black man as he began to speak. “Tari over here is a masterclass hitwoman who’s been personally fucked over by TASCorp,”

“Dicks, she seems chill… more sane than you at least,” Black dude chuckled causing Sofia to pout.

“You want Masa to hire her, huh?” Lucinia smiled smugly.

Sofia nodded energetically, enough to cause severe, severe whiplash. “And best of all, she still has a soul! You’ve gotta be like… a super bro to work for 5 years and not die once!”

Masa looked deep in thought, looking between Tari and the members of his team. “I suppose, we could trial you as an unpaid intern first off,” He straightened her tie.

“Laaaaame,” Sofia pouted. “But better than not getting the job at all,”

“Yes,” Masa smirked briefly before returning to his neutral face. “Lamar, introduce her to the company,”

Black weeb dude, who was Lamar now apparently walked over to Tari. “That’s Sofia, head of advertising, and explosive slash mechanical expert.” He pointed to Sofia, who gladly waved in response.

“That’s Lucinia, Medic and head of Human Resources. If anybody touches or talks to you in a way that makes you uncomfortable just tell her,”

“Glad to have another body to work with,” Lucinia snickered, covering her hand with her mouth.

“That’s Masa, CEO, squad lead… Butcher of Melbourne,”

“I still get around, huh?” Masa shrugged, Tari’s face quirked in a smile for a millisecond as he confirmed. “Don’t ask for an autograph,”

“And I’m Lamar, marksman, only other person with their soul still here and uh…” Lamar paused for a minute then sighed. “Chief Diversity Officer,”

Tari quirked an eyebrow as she leaned on the wall behind her. Sofia snorted while Lucinia smirked slightly.

Lamar sighed again. “Y’all are assholes… what’s your name?”

The blue haired recruit paused for a moment, she opened her mouth to-

“Tari! It’s Tari!” Sofia confirmed. “She’s like… selectively mute sometimes,”

Tari closed her mouth and nodded.

“Interestin’ enough, follow me Tari,” Lamar said as he walked out of the room, Tari followed closely behind.

“You’re gonna love it here!” Sofia smiled.

“You won’t go hungry,” Lucinia snickered, Masa stayed silent as Tari was lead around the building.

This would be an interesting work environment.

[lifetimeroofingmelbourne]

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[dreamy625]

This rockstar life - 4.2 On the road again

Words: 3580

Content: One scene is, um, smut-adjacent

This rockstar life master list

----------------------------------------

After three days of trying to adjust to the time change while wandering bleary-eyed around the city, and several times phoning the hotel front desk to ask what time, and what day, and, on one particularly confusing… morning?… what year, it was, Steve and Alice meet the rest of the band in the Perth Entertainment Centre car park to begin their old-school touring experience.

“So it’s me and Karla, you two, and Phylis in that one,” Joe, who always loves a clipboard, waves it in the direction of one of the grey-with-blacked-out-windows buses parked behind them, “and the rhythm section in the other. And Menschy’s going in with you when we get to Melbourne…”

Karla raises her finely plucked eyebrows in surprise, “Peter’s slumming it on a bus?”

“Yeah, I said if we had to do it, there was no way he was getting to jet around and stay in swanky hotels!”

“Great, so we get the adult supervision,” mutters Rick, sharing an eye-rolling expression with Sav.

“…and Ross’ll come in with us, also from Melbourne. So make sure you leave him a bunk free.”

“Probably piss in the sink again,” mutters Phil under his breath.

“If you’re all quite done griping, grab your stuff and let’s get loaded up.”

“YES SIR. RIGHT AWAY SIR.” The two guitarists salute and high-step their way over to the van that has brought their luggage from the hotel.

Joe shakes his head as he watches most of the group straggle off behind them, with the exception of Rick who has wandered off in the opposite direction. It’s going to be a long ten days.

At the top of the steps, Karla stops and turns around, “So, bus rules…”

“No shitting! No singing! No garlic!” chant the three boys in unison.

“And no groupies!” adds Joe, pointedly in Phil’s direction.

“Hey, I’m a respectable married man I’ll have you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re unsupervised and we know what you’re like.” Phil attempts to adopt an angelic expression. It's not very convincing.

“Bagsy next to the lounge!” calls Joe, slinging his rucksack onto the upper of two stacked bunks.

“Bagsy far away from Joe’s snoring!” laughs Phil, springing up into the one diagonally opposite.

“Since Ross isn’t here to argue, we can give him the one next to the bathroom, so I guess these are ours.” Steve turns to Alice, “Do you want the top or bottom?”

“I don’t know. I’m an only child, I’ve never even slept in a bunk bed!”

“You get more swaying at the top, but more road noise at the bottom,” Phil chips in helpfully.

“Also obviously you have to climb up and down for the top one.”

“Would that be easier for you? As you’re tall?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Promise you won’t drop things on me though.”

“I’m promising nothing,” says Steve with a grin as he puts one foot on the steps and swings himself up with surprising grace. “Ahh, this brings back memories,” he muses, settling back on the pillow.

Alice ducks into the compartment designated her home for the duration. “Wow, they really are tiny.”

“You’re lucky we get the luxury ones these days. Back in the day, it was three bunks stacked up, not just two,” notes Phil.

“They were like actual coffins, you had to kind of slither in sideways.”

“It’s alright for you shortarses, I don’t fit in ’em whatever,” says Joe gloomily.

Everybody has now climbed in to test their chosen beds and have their heads poking out through the curtains, except for Joe who has his legs dangling out instead.

“Oh yeah, that’s another thing - watch out for Joe’s feet sticking out if you’re walking through at night.”

“I don’t want details, but how did you manage to, um, entertain groupies in these?” asks Alice.

“Ah, we were younger and bendier in those days,” reminisces Phil with a wistful expression.

“To be honest,” says Steve looking down at her with a serious expression, defending his honour, “it didn’t happen all that much. All of us crammed on the one bus, nobody wants an audience.”

“Except Phil!”

Phil flicks his middle finger in the direction of the dangling feet and disembodied voice.

Oblivious to the gesture, Joe groans, “Ugh, my back hurts already.” He drops down out of the bunk. “I’m going to find Sav, you coming?” This last part is directed at Karla, who nods and follows him out. “Soundcheck at three, don’t be late!” he calls behind him.

“And I’m going for a run,” says Phil, digging around in his duffel bag, “You’re welcome to join me?”

“Ha!” says Steve, and Alice just giggles.

Phil heads for the front of the bus, shaking his head at the laziness of his companions.

Alice twists her head to look up at Steve. “You going to be lonely up there on your own?”

Steve makes a sad puppydog face, “You can always visit for a cuddle.”

Phil’s voice comes from the front lounge, “If you’re gonna shag in there, the bottom bunk is usually less rattly. And missionary’s your best option. No room for any kinky stuff!”

“Thanks for the tip, mate." Looking back at Alice, Steve waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Haha, no thankyou.” She stands up and gives him a kiss. “Come on, let’s go do something Australian before soundcheck.”

----------------------------------------

It’s 1am by the time the three artist buses (B.B. Steal’s vehicle crammed with not just the whole band and their manager, but also a number of fans of the female and scantily-clad variety) and the first of the crew buses set off on the long, long drive to Adelaide. It will be an even later departure, after completing a four-hour load-out, for the rest of the roadcrew and the eight equipment trucks. On the Joe-bus at least, with the aftereffects of jetlag and two hours of running around a sweaty stage, no one is really in the mood to party; once the shuffling up and down for teeth-cleaning and hair-brushing purposes is done, all is quiet.

Sometime later, Steve wakes from a confusing dream where he is on the High ‘n’ Dry tour but in Ozzy’s band instead of Leppard, to the muffled sound of fast breathing from somewhere on the bus. With his brain still half in 1981, his first thought is to wonder who got lucky. But then he recognises that those are not noises of ecstasy but of fear, and it’s coming from directly below him. Instantly wide-awake, he rolls out of his bunk, drops to a crouch, and yanks back the curtain of Alice’s bed. All he can see in the faint glow of the walkway lighting is a huge pair of frightened eyes above an open mouth gasping for air. He reaches in and cradles her head.

“What’s the matter?”

“Roof… too close… can’t breathe…” is all that Alice can manage.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Just a panic attack.” With one hand each side of her face, he turns her head towards him. “Just focus on me. Now breathe in… and out… and in… and ooout… and in…” He hears someone stir and mutter in one of the other compartments, so he lowers his voice to a whisper “…aaand ooout…”

Gradually Alice’s breathing slows, and when he asks if she’s okay, she nods.

“I didn’t know you were claustrophobic.”

“Neither did I,” she replies with a wan smile. “I just woke up and felt like I was trapped, like the ceiling was coming down on me.”

“Do you want to swap? The top one might feel less of a box, because the roof slopes. Or you can share it with me?”

“Is there room?”

“Sure, you’re titchy.”

Trying to stay as quiet as possible, he helps her to climb into the upper compartment and, with a bit of shifting around, they find a way to fit around one another. Eventually Alice drifts off to sleep lulled by Steve’s steady heartbeat.

“Rise and shine matey! First stop’s in ten minutes.” Pulling back the curtain on Steve’s bunk, Joe is surprised to see not just the expected blond head but a brunette one as well. “Oops! Sorry guys, didn’t know you were… busy!” He gives a dirty chuckle.

Steve, not a morning person at the best of times, protests, “We were sleeping.”

Alice waves vaguely in Joe’s direction before putting the hand over her eyes. Lying with her head on Steve’s chest - so, given the size of the compartment, basically on top of him - had turned out to be the only arrangement that allayed the claustrophobia. It had been comforting but not exactly conducive to a good night’s sleep.

Still smirking, Joe rattles the curtain back into place and moves on to wake Phil.

“Sorry sweetie,” Alice whispers when Joe’s footsteps have receded down the bus, “this cannot have been comfy for you.”

“‘S fine. Nothing to do today but watch the scenery go by. Napping is part of the schedule. We’d better get up now though if you want to use the bathroom at the service station. Remember rule one!”

----------------------------------------

“Why is it so fucking cold on this bus?”

Alice, who had been reading in their bunk until her boyfriend stomped into the sleeping quarters and started rifling through their luggage, answers, “Air conditioning. You’ve been complaining the last three days that it was too hot. Maybe they finally found the cold button?”

There is some unintelligible muttering from the depths of the 'junk bunk' and then, “And I can’t find a jumper.”

“Probably in the luggage bay. Didn’t think we’d need jumpers in a tin can in one of the hottest places on earth! Come on, come up here under the covers.”

Steve kicks his shoes off, clambers up into the bunk and settles into the narrow space, lying arms folded with the duvet pulled up to his chin.

“I’m so sick of being trapped in this bloody box. Flying’s bad enough, but at least it’s quicker.” He glances across at Alice, who is lying propped up on one elbow watching him with an amused expression. “What?”

Alice smiles, “You are such a spoiled brat!”

“I am not,” says Steve huffily.

“Look at you, all pouty.” She leans forward and kisses first the protruding lower lip, and then the little frowning crease between his eyebrows.

“They’re supposed to look after us properly,” he grumbles, but less vehemently.

“Because you are an artiste,” says Alice with mock seriousness.

Involuntarily, the corners of his mouth twitch up. “Yes, ackcherly.”

“Are you warmed up now?”

“Mmm? Yes, much better.” He wriggles into a slightly more relaxed position.

"And are you done being spiky?"

"Spiky? I'm not spiky. It was a justified complaint."

----------------------------------------

Joe is woken by a loud thump and some swearing. “Everyone okay out there?” he calls.

“Yup, no problem,” comes back in an indistinct male voice. This is followed by giggling and shushing noises.

Joe squeezes his eyes shut and makes a concerted effort to ignore whatever’s going on. He needs sleep and does not have the patience for any shenanigans at this time of night.

The following morning while attempting to achieve full consciousness over cups of coffee, Joe notices Steve wincing and flexing his fingers.

“You alright there mate?”

“Fine, fine. I’ll be able to play, no problem.”

On closer examination, there is also a large bruise blooming on his right elbow. Joe sighs, “Go on, what happened?”

“I… fell out of my bunk.” Both he and Alice are looking distinctly sheepish, not looking at Joe or each other.

“What were you doing? Or do I not want to know?”

“Nothing like that!” Steve points an accusing finger at Alice, “She tickled me!”

“You started it!”

“Only because your hair was tickling my nose!”

“Not on purpose!”

Joe leans his head in his hands, “Oh god, as if the Terror Twins weren’t bad enough, now we’ve got the Tickle Twins. A whole new form of shared stupidity.”

----------------------------------------

When Alice wakes it is still dark and the bus is purring along straight and smooth, so she surmises they must still be on the highway enroute to Melbourne. She’s used to the sound and the motion now, so it can’t have been that that disturbed her. Maybe just the discomfort of lying in one position, with her boyfriend’s bony chest as a pillow, for too long? After just one more night attempting to sleep in their separate beds, which resulted in Alice lying awake for hours worrying about having another panic attack, and Steve lying awake for hours listening for any signs of Alice having another panic attack, they had resigned themselves to sharing one bunk for the rest of the trip. It’s a tight fit for two people, even two skinny people, so they have not been the most restful of nights. Trying to ease the soreness in her hip, she wriggles the leg that is wrapped around Steve but encounters a slight… obstacle… and lets out a little ‘oops’ in surprise. There is a low chuckle in response - Steve is clearly awake too.

“You, um, okay there, sweetie?” she whispers.

“Feel like I’ve been trying to sleep with a hard-on for a week now!” he replies in a low gravelly voice.

Alice stifles a giggle.

“It’s not funny.” But she can tell from the flash of teeth visible in the low greyish light from the walkway lights showing through the curtain that he’s grinning as he says it.

“Poor baby,” she murmurs with her lips moving against the exposed skin just below his collarbone.

“Stoppit! You’re not helping!” hisses Steve.

“Am I not?” She flutters her fingers where they rest against his ribs just under the hem of his t-shirt, “Sorry.”

He makes a little frustrated growl in response.

“Sorrysorrysorry. I’ll stop.” After a minute of silent stillness she whispers conversationally, “Is this the longest we’ve ever not had sex?”

“No, because we’ve been apart for weeks at a time before. But this is definitely the longest we’ve laid on top of each other and not done it!”

“We’ll be in Sydney in… three days? Then we’ll have a hotel room. That’s not… so long… to wait?”

Steve is trailing his hand gently up and down her back, and three days actually, kinda, seems like a long time now she says it.

“I guess not,” he sighs.

There is another pause, and Steve tries to turn his mind to less interesting topics. Which is not easy with a warm, soft body pressed to his. He can smell her familiar scent, like incense and jasmine, now mixed with a hint of coconut from sunscreen. With effort he drags his reluctant brain away from matters of the flesh and on to chord progressions, trying to hear the music in his head. Now how does the bridge in ‘Have you ever needed someone so bad’ go? The song title is not helping either.

Alice pipes up again, “I’ve never done it on a bus.”

“Not much opportunity on the 414 to Hyde Park Corner.”

“But you have?”

“Long time ago. In my wild younger days.”

“How does it work? Logistically speaking?”

“Well, like this.”

He gently tips Alice over onto her side, reaching down to hook her leg over his hip.

Feeling his erection, poking out of his boxers, now nestled neatly between her thighs, Alice blows out a little puff of air in an ‘oh’ and murmurs, “Yes, I can see that… um… all fits nicely.” She rocks her hips back and forth, just as an experiment.

Steve’s breath catches and he mutters into her hair, “This is torture.”

“D’you think anyone else is awake?”

“I can’t hear anything…”

Alice tilts her face up to him and, warm breath tickling his neck, whispers, “We could be very, very, quiet?”

Stroking his hand up her thigh, he murmurs, “We shouldn’t…”

Sliding her hand further under his shirt and brushing a thumb across his nipple, she agrees, “We mustn’t…”

Steve lets out a breathy moan and Alice smothers it in a kiss.

Across the aisle, Phil pulls his pillow over his head and prays for a quick conclusion.

----------------------------------------

Ross’s arrival to join the tour is announced by a sudden flash of light from the open door of the bus, which makes Joe jump and spill his cereal, followed by a cackle and the words ‘that’s a keeper’. The resulting picture - Steve, wearing boxers and sunglasses, with tufts of hair escaping from the plait Alice does for him every night, scratching his arse while staring into the fridge - surfaces some weeks later adorning Steve’s laminate for the Madison Square Garden gig, with the moniker ‘Sex symbol’.

“We ready then boys? I’ve scouted some great locations.”

Joe squints at his watch, “It’s nine-thirty?”

“I know.”

“In the morning?”

“We’ve already missed the best light, better get going pronto.”

Steve, until this point seemingly frozen in place in front of the fridge by the flashbulb, lets out a groan and flops into a seat, dropping his head onto the table.

Ross reaches over and pulls the sunglasses down the slumped man’s nose. After a moment considering the reddened eyes underneath, he pushes them back up, “Yeah, best keep those on.”

Joe stands and slings his bowl into the sink, “I’m gonna get my towel and go shower in the venue.” He disappears into the sleeping quarters, shouting “Phil-o! Shake a leg. Some weirdo wants to take photos of you!” as he walks past the still-closed bunk on his way out.

A few minutes later Phil, looking like a newly-hatched chick, emerges, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, hey Ross. Or should I say g’day?”

The photographer turns his camera from capturing the detritus scattered around the galley sink and focuses on the sleep-crumpled guitarist, “Ready for your closeup Mr Collen?”

“Absolutely, give me twenty seconds.”

Phil pops a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and removes the carton of orange juice from Steve’s unresisting hand to pour a glass for each of them and one for Ross. “So where we going then?”

“Well, there’s a national park quite near - the hills would make a dramatic backdrop…”

A groan emanates from the vicinity of the tabletop. “He doesn’t like hills,” translates Phil.

“…and obviously we have to do some beach shots to get the full Aussie atmosphere…”

Another groan. “He doesn’t like sand either. Or sunshine. It’s the freckles, he tends to blotch.”

“…and I’ve found a scrapyard that’ll be great for a really gritty nighttime shoot…”

They both turn expectantly to the grumbling blond head - silence.

“Apparently that one’s fine?” hazards Phil.

“Or he’s fallen asleep.”

Phil wafts a slice of the just-popped toast in front of Steve’s face. There is no reaction. “You could be right. I’ll get Alice. Steve-whispering is her job now.”

“Help yourself to toast,” he calls over his shoulder, “and there’s loads of beans…”

The shoot is the usual mix of shouted instructions and semi-successful attempts at following them. “Chin up, Joe.” “Stop pouting, Sav.” “Rick, turn to the left.” “No, your left.” “The other left.” “Get back here, Collen.” “Chin down, Joe.” “Clark, you look like your dog died.” “Less flirty, Sav.” “No, actually, more flirty!” “Chin up, Joe.” “Collen… where’s…? COLLEN! GET OUT OF THE SEA!”

Getting pictures of the show proves just as entertaining. Ross, quite understandably, refuses to hang from the lighting rig this time and instead scampers around the understage area, popping up out of the stairways like a gopher to snap whichever band member is passing at the time. Phil and Joe regard this as a giant game of photographer-whac-a-mole, aiming a kick, in jest of course, at the camera everytime it emerges in their vicinity. Sav, who doesn’t enjoy surprises, is less keen and all the photos taken of him look startled! And Steve’s habit of galloping around the stage without looking where he’s going almost spells disaster with a collision that sends the two artists and the tools of their trades flying! The show crashes to a halt as the rest of the band rush to help, finding, thank goodness, the two men lying in a tangled heap of limbs, strings, and scattered lenses, laughing too hard to get up! One camera down and a bruise the size of, he claims, a dinnerplate on his arse, Ross declares his assignment over and adds danger money to the Q Prime invoice.

Photos which were mysteriously rejected from inclusion in the behind-the-scenes tour booklet included:

Sav buying the entire stock of Tim Tams at a servo

Steve’s kangaroo impression

Karla and Stacy getting chatted up by two buff-looking surfer dudes

Rick flashing his arse in the bus window

Joe with curlers in his fringe

Steve drawing a moustache on Phil while he’s sleeping

Phil drawing a cock and balls on Steve’s forehead while he’s sleeping

Joe wearing a balaclava while he’s sleeping

Sav and Dara dancing to Achy Breaky Heart in the car park outside the National Tennis Centre

Alice sitting in Steve's lap, plucking his eyebrows with intense concentration

Rick balanced on one leg and using the other foot to hold a tomato while he slices it with a six-inch knife, entirely insouciant despite being stood in the galley of a bus moving at 70mph

Joe throwing Phil’s harmonica out of the window

Joe’s face when Phil pulls a second harmonica out of his pocket

Peter threatening to clout Ross with a didgeridoo if he takes any more stupid pictures

[princetorn]

VERSES .

⋆ verse — to be a boy among the boys ( 1939 – 1954 )

canon . A childhood spent in the shadow of the Appalachian mountains – long summers, Little League, sweet tea, Sunday sermons – and a briefly awkward adolescence of braces and coltish limbs.  A child prodigy, they say.  He is a scab-kneed boy marked for sporting greatness.

⋆ verse — six cylinders underneath the hood ( 1955 – 1957 )

canon . Baseball was once his greatest love, but now he fixates on hot-rodding and his ‘Little Sweetheart’ – a Chevrolet Corvette that he spends his weekends diligently working on and his nights racing.  Royce has grown into himself.  He has motor oil under his nails, Brylcreem in his hair, and butane in his blood.

⋆ verse — all a ghost can do is haunt ( 1958 – )

canon .The end came sharp and sour, in a twist of shrieking metal and the lick of flames.  Murder, though he does not know it. Royce Clayton is dead, buried in a small plot overlooking the baseball field.  He has become a cautionary tale to the people in the town of Marshall, and his ghost is doomed to walk the earth.

⋆ verse — caged within jars like fireflies ( 1997 – 2001 )

Captured by wealthy explorer, collector and ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos – with the aid of his psychic assistant Dennis Rafkin – Royce is transported to Pennsylvania and kept contained by Latin barrier spells.  He and eleven other spirits form the Black Zodiac, with Royce representing the Torn Prince.  Cyrus intends for the enslaved spirits to power the Basileus Machine, a contraption designed by a fifteenth century Italian astrologer while under demonic possession.  If successful, the device will open the Ocularis Infernum ( ‘The Eye of Hell’ ) allowing him to see all things, past and future, divine and damned.

⋆ verse — college is fun as long as you don’t die ( 1958 – 1962 )

Royce doesn’t die that fateful October night.  He lives to see prom, to graduate, to take up a baseball scholarship and move on with his life.  He still harbours a great love of hot-rodding, but baseball is his ticket out of small-town misery and he grabs the opportunity with both hands.

⋆ verse — it ain’t over ‘til it’s over ( 1963 – 1968 )

He did it, he made it, he’s finally famous.  Royce is a Major League Baseball player, his face is printed on posters and in the newspapers.

⋆ verse — when you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed ( 1969 – )

By 30 years of age, Royce is past his peak and his time in the spotlight comes to a close. Retiring from baseball, he starts coaching the up-and-comers – but it isn’t the same as standing in the home plate with a crowded stadium screaming your name.

⋆ verse — professional crash test dummy ( 1958 – )

Royce doesn’t die that fateful October night, nor does he seize the chances baseball presents. Instead, he follows his hot-rodding dreams, and goes on to become a sports car racer.  James Dean would be proud.

⋆ verse — we’re gonna be together forever baby

exclusive to @shellcrack . Royce Clayton is in love with Miriam Ross – the prom king has found his queen, and he is saving for a ring.  What started out as a jockish bet has ended in something serious, with the hot-rod playing for keeps, making big plans for them to leave their small town behind.  Whether they make it or not, Johnny refuses to get out of the picture.

⋆ verse — crazy fun park

A teenager from a quiet corner of North Carolina is offered a baseball scholarship in Melbourne.  Generously bankrolled by Henry Clayton, Royce and Johnny jet off to Australia to tour the university.  Following an argument, Royce is involved in a fatal car accident.  Many years later, a theme park is built on the crash site.  It thrives, it dies, and it collects spirits along the way.  Alternative premise:  Royce is attached to a vintage baseball glove or card which Violetta gifts Nimrod, unwittingly bringing Royce’s ghost to Crazy Fun Park.