#i dont actually speak german this is courtesy of google translate

[andrew-03-minyard]

in german we don't say "i think you're cute, we should date" we say "heißt nicht, dass ich dir keinen blasen würde" which roughly means "your beauty is devastating and I cannot live a day without experiencing you" and I just think that's really beautiful

[wettyres]

side chatter G, 600 words. AO3 Link

ficlet under cut

"We'll now talk to the drivers in their own languages"

That was usually the cue for Lewis to zone out. The English speaking portion of the press conference was over for right now. And while he could pay attention and catch the odd word he understood or a mention of his name, he's learned it's not worth it. Whatever said is something he probably doesn't need to know, or something he could google translate later on; especially if it was controversial.

He was so used to not being included in the conversation that when Sebastian leaned over and whispered in his ear he jumped. He was sat next to Sebastian in his Red Bull blues and reds, another podium shared between the two. Seb stopped, looking a bit concerned at the sudden movement

"What are you doing?" Lewis whispered.

Sebastian look turned to confusion, "Don't you want to know what we were talking about? I know you don't speak German so I'm thinking that was complete nonsense to you."

Valtteri from Williams was opposite Lewis, answering his questions in Finnish, ignoring their side chatter like he always does.

"I dont speak it yeah, but no ones translated it here for me so you don't have to do anything extra."

"It's not extra, it's common courtesy. Are you telling me that Nico or any of the other Germans on your team don't tell you what they're saying?"

Lewis thought back to the last time this came up. When Nico just kept talking to the paddock in German, to his engineers, to Toto, to Lewis' engineers and not getting Lewis involved in the conversation with a little English. It got to him, he freaked out and yelled and Toto promised that they would follow their rules about language in their international company, and wouldn't speak German where not everyone could understand.

Lewis shuffled in his seat, frustrated just thinking about that situation.

"It's complicated. They don't speak it in the paddock, not anymore at least. But uh, no, yeah no one lets me know what's said here unless I ask first, or someone mentions me or Mercedes and they want me up to speed."

He wants to offer excuses, say it's fine, but he doesn't want to admit to this one power play Nico actually won at. He doesn't want to give him the smallest satisfaction that to get under Lewis' skin was to deny him information and act like they were conspiring even though it was just casual conversation. He might have lost that battle but he was going to win the championship, this year and against him in the future.

He looked up to find Sebastian shocked. It's minute on his face, probably recognizing the camers that surround them. With raised eyebrows and an small frown twisting his mouth.

"Well that's not right."

And Lewis huffed, leave it to Seb for the brutal honesty.

He keeps looking at him, and Lewis has to look away again, feeling a little flushed that he's just going to attribute to the hot stage lights. Not look into why Seb giving him his undivided attention gets him flustered.

"I'm going to tell you what I said, and the next time they have us do this while you're here, I tell you that too."

"For real man? That's a lot of work"

He shook his head, "Not at all. And it's common fucking courtesy to translate for non speakers."

"Thanks" Lewis smiled at him and patted his arm. Sebastian smiled back.

"Going back to Lewis, you said before the race you were hoping for rain, where you expecting it halfway through the race, and did you struggle with worn down intermediates?"

Lewis turned away from Seb and faced the room to answer the question. He could see Sebastian looking at him still from the corner of his eye.