#i might just reread that

[bellaroles]

Finished reading the Regency Buck for the second time. Hmm...this couple dynamic really reminds me of the one in Crown duel.

[gojosbf]

[obsob]

bedtime story with my love !!

[tumatawa]

I wish she had more scenes... Whateva

[keferon]

"thinking about how no one wanted to be swerve's roommate" excuse me who said you could break my heart at the end of the communication post in the tags

Sorry haha

But really though. Swerve's plot line in IDW felt so bitter for me because It was supposed to show that Swerve has people who care about him and yet no one wants to share a room with him.

It's like. Yeah you're fun and all, but there's too much of you so imma go live anywhere else.

Also the implication of like....Swerve's body was laying there, and no one noticed until Swerve's hologram collapsed. Which means that not only no one wanted to live with him, no one was visiting him either.

I'm not 100% sure I remember It correctly though. It was some time since I read mtmte.

[winnie-the-monster]

“My god,” he said, his voice a mere shadow louder than breath, “you’re so beautiful.”

And for the first time in her life, Penelope truly believed that might be true.

[degenerateshinji]

oops its been a year

[ruporas]

invisible scars (referenced previous talk here)

[ID: A colourless, digital Trigun comic of Vash and Wolfwood talking about Wolfwood's scars. They're both laying in bed and topless. Vash lays on top of Wolfwood, playing with the rosary around his neck. Then, Vash kisses a spot on Wolfwood's chest. Wolfwood asks, "What are you doing?" Vash smiles sadly, "You got shot here. In the last town we visited. You didn't even bother moving."

Vash props himself up over Wolfwood, who frowns slightly. Wolfwood is quiet for a moment before he says, "You remember that, huh?" Vash grabs Wolfwood's left wrist and brings it to his face. "And here." He kisses another spot there. "When you helped free the hostages from that robber..." Wolfwood dismissively says, looking away, "Was a lucky shot." Vash huffs, “Don’t brag. Jeez.”

Half of Wolfwood's expression is shown, eyes returning to Vash who is now sitting up, continuing to say, "And..." Vash goes on and kiss Wolfwood's right palm. "You got cut here, even though that girl was aiming at me." A moment from the past flashes, of Wolfwood grabbing a knife aimed at Vash, his hand bleeding.

At present, Vash moves down and puts another kiss on Wolfwood's right shoulder. "And here, from watching my back." Another memory flashes of Wolfwood and Vash back to back. Vash looks back as Wolfwood grins while holding Punisher, bleeding from multiple gunshots in his shoulder.

"And," Vash combs up Wolfwood's hair to reveal his forehead, "Here." A final memory shows Wolfwood with a regeneration vial in his mouth while getting shot on his temple. The next panel is framed in blood with Vash at the center, eyes wide and stunned in horror. The next panel is a closed up shot of Wolfwood's eye, locked on Vash's face.

Back to present, Vash’s head is bowed down as Wolfwood raises a hand to his nape and says, “Spikey.”

Wolfwood looks serious and frowns as he says, "We talked about this. Those were my decisions. They're not there anymore. Forget about them." Vash looks very sad before he smiles ruefully and says, "I still see them. All the time." He leans down so they touch foreheads. Wolfwood’s sorrowful expression can be seen as Vash says, "You protect so much. I could never forget what you've done to me. And many others..."

In the last image, they're drawn more cartoonishly. Wolfwood sweats and asks, "You don't actually remember every wound, right?" Vash points at a spot on his chest. "Kuroneko left a scratch here 7 times." Wolfwood, startled, says, "Why the hell are you keeping count—" End ID]

Credits for ID here and here

[ambrosiagourmet]

There’s actually some wonderful terrible parallels between the way Kabru evaluates Laios and how the Winged Lion evaluates Laios and the Lion KNOWS this and lowkey points it out in canon and Kabru hates it so much he fully leaves the conversation.

Do you think this keeps him up at night sometimes.

[myokk]

Sebastian Sallow's List of Priorities (in no particular order):

Figure out what the hell I'm going to do when I graduate;

Figure out how the hell I'm going to finish this bloody Charms essay before tomorrow; and

Figure out what the hell is going on between us

Sebastian sits in an undisturbed corner of the library - nobody ever comes to this table because it's tucked away between shelves of incredibly dense magical theory books - and is twirling his quill in his fingers, watching the ink splatter on the list he spent his precious time writing instead of the Charms essay he should be working on. He's far away from the first-years who like to congregate by the windows and watch the leaves fall softly to the ground rather than study for their classes. He's made especially sure that he is far, far away from her.

It's not his choice, mind you, but he needs to be a gentleman about these things. If she needs some time and space to figure out that she's as crazy for him as he is her, fine. But even Sebastian Sallow's patience runs thin, and he's not sure how much longer he can give her to come to her senses before he snaps and takes matters into his own hands. If things were up to him, the two of them would be sitting far too close together now in this secluded corner, and maybe he would need to put a hand over her mouth to ensure her complete silence as he runs a hand up her thigh.

Now that he knows what delicious sounds can come out of her mouth - sounds that he caused - he's been having a hard time concentrating on, well, anything. Sebastian surreptitiously glances across the library to where she's sitting and studying with his sister and Imelda. Ever since the events after their Divination class, Sir Cadogan has taken it upon himself to follow Sebastian around the halls of the castle, tripping through frames and disrupting their inhabitants as he lectures Sebastian on love. The tea party women had managed to convince the knight that he had disrupted an amorous exchange, and Sebastian fervently wishes they hadn't.

The whole school is abuzz with rumors about who it could be. Nobody has even come close so far with their guesses, but Anne and Imelda are having too much fun teasing him about it. Somehow, she has managed to avoid suspicion - he wonders how this is even possible, since she's never been able to hide what she's thinking. He makes eye contact with her - has she been staring at him this whole time? - and she flushes before looking over to Imelda, who's laughing too loudly at something Anne's just said. Sebastian can't tear his eyes away from her profile, his eyes following the curve of her eyebrow, the slight upturn of her lips as she smiles at her friends, her eyes as they dart back to him, her cheeks as she turns an even darker shade of red as she realizes he's still watching her. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and rests her chin on her hand as she tries to look absorbed in what Anne is saying to her.

Sebastian wonders if she's thought about him as much as he's thought about her. Judging by how she had snogged him back, he's positive that she feels the same way, but then he remembers how she had looked at him before she fled, and he's not so sure. He sighs as he looks back to his list, bringing his quill back to the third item and ripping the paper as he crosses it out again. His mind has been going in circles since that moment and he doesn't know what to think. He slowly puts everything into his schoolbag before heading out of the library for yet another freezing cold shower that hopefully tempers his now-permanent state of arousal whenever she's around.

He doesn't notice her eyes following him as he walks out of the library.

He doesn't hear her hurried excuse to Anne and Imelda as she shoves her things into her bag and rushes to follow him.

He doesn't hear her light footsteps as she gets closer to him.

When she puts a hand out to touch his arm as he waits for the moving staircase to stop, with a soft, "Sebastian" accompanying it, he nearly jumps out of his skin. He was so absorbed with thoughts of her, that to see her standing at his side, closer than she had been since they kissed was almost his snapping point.

"Can we talk?" she asks, looking almost embarrassed as she avoids his eyes. She instead looks determinedly at his collar. He thinks she probably notices that he swallows nervously before acquiescing, but she says nothing as she turns and starts hurrying away from him without waiting to see if he follows her.

She must know that he would follow her anywhere at this point.

from my oneshot🫶🫶🫶

I just really wanted to draw these two idiots😭💘

[blueberrybeomgyu]

virgin drug dealer soobin !!

+*:🫐:*﹤ warnings : 18+ mdni, intercrural sex, drugs (weed) / masterlist

✧･ﾟ: *

soobin who is your friend and dealer, and asks if you wanna smoke with him when you come by his apartment to get your weekly order. he promises not to charge you, so you agree, why not?

and when you’ve got that warm fuzzy feeling circling through your head, soobin lets it slip that he’s a virgin. you definitely don’t believe him – he’s easily the most perverted person who you know – but he swears, words slow and eyes pink, and he’s looking at you so intensely that you can’t stop yourself when you ask, “wanna know how it feels?”

he’s moving closer to you on the couch immediately, causing a lazy giggle to escape from you at his eagerness. sure you’re under the influence, but you’re not positive this situation would’ve turned out differently if you were sober (he’s one of your closest friends, and he’s so big and cute, who wouldn’t be attracted to him?), so you make quick work of getting your (and his, ‘cause he’s moving too slow to do it himself) pants off

you try to start with a little foreplay, but the second you see his dick – long and red, and there’s already precum dripping down the side – that plan flies out the window. you’re too desperate to feel him inside you to take your panties off, so you pull them to the side and straddle him, lining his tip up with your opening

“fuuuck–” he whines out when you sink down on him, voice thick and raspy, head falling back on the couch. you’re not doing too well yourself, having to take a moment to adjust to his length

neither of you last long, the feeling of him twitching against your sweet spot causing sparks to fly behind your eyelids. he’s babbling something like “s’ good, s’perfec– you’re so–” before he’s pumping you full of his cum, and it spills back out, mixing with your own as he fucks himself through it <33

✧･ﾟ: *

a/n : now im a drabble bot now apparently...

[sweeneydino]

I have mastered the art of no thoughts head empty.

WIP.

[orcelito]

ok, i cant resist the urge to make a post about it after all, especially since it's related to a post i made prior

one of my favorite moments in trimax is By Far this part in chapter 35

[ID: Two pages from Trigun. The first starts with Wolfwood thinking, "Now that I think 'bout it, it may be one of the major differences between our species." That deep rooted dear I felt on the ship…" He thinks of Vash crying blood and, swearing, wonders, "Is he the one who can save humankind? That monster?" Wolfwood is briefly shown in resolution before someone calls, "Hey, Wolfwood!" and he looks up with surprise.

Vash sits with a smile at the edge of a rooftop, backed by the Fifth Moon and its prominent crater. Vash asks with a smile, "Just coming back now? You're a bit of a night owl, huh?" Wolfwood looks taken aback and wary. End ID]

Right Here. Vash is just sitting there, smiling like normal, but he's got the backdrop of the damage he caused on the moon set Perfectly behind him. it's a glaring reminder to Wolfwood of who exactly he's dealing with here, and that TERRIFIES him.

& the fact that Wolfwood still remembers that moment of crying blood as a moment of true fear. because for all the cheer Vash shows in the average moment, Wolfwood just recently saw him nearly lose control Again (at the Dragon's Nest). the second time he witnessed it, & the third time he would know about.

Vash is a walking atomic bomb with multiple charges. even with how cheerful & kind he is, he's shown Multiple Times that he does not have full control. he is decidedly something different, something Hazardous to humans, and Wolfwood knows this very very painfully.

for all that Wolfwood loves Vash, he is also terrified of him. and at this point in the story, that terror is potent enough to nearly eclipse his affection for Vash.

leading to some of the next most iconic pages:

[ID: The next page starts with Wolfwood standing behind the sitting Vash, his expression hard and the moon bright behind him. Vash seems sad and has one eye open. A close-up focuses on Wolfwood looking down.

Wolfwood thinks, "So easy to pull the trigger. So easy to remove half the problem." Another close-up with bright lighting obscures his face but for one eye. Then Vash turns around curiously and asks, "What's up?" Wolfwood sits behind him and says "Nothin'. Come on. Let's go." Vash seems surprised as Wolfwood scolds, "Don't get yerself tangled up in every little skirmish ya see. It'll be pointless if ya get yerself killed before ya meet him." End ID]

the manga frames it like Vash doesn't know Wolfwood was pointing the gun at him, but I think he did know. he's freakishly perceptive over and over again throughout the story. he HAS to be in order to survive like he has. he'd hear the movement of the gun & sense Wolfwood behind him...

he'd know. i really think he knew.

but he doesn't do anything about it. there is zero fear in his face. he turns to look at Wolfwood curiously, a bit confused, but not afraid. he never once thought that Wolfwood would shoot him. there's full faith and trust there in that moment.

Wolfwood pretends that nothing happened, & Vash lets him. they both move on, not talking about it, because they never talk about Anything of substance like this (not until much, Much later).

overall, it's just such a great example of their relationship's development. Wolfwood's fear & Vash's trust that he won't act on it... it's just. Man.

(EDIT: people have made some good points about how Vash's expression when Wolfwood points the gun at him shows that he probably did know and YEAH that's a good point! & probably why I was so certain he knew lol, I just hadn't realized it myself)

[romanscool]

Hey I love ur stories so I was wondering if u could give me recommendations for the best AO3 MAXIEL stories you've read if u don't mind, thnx 💜💜

hi anon! thank you so much for this ask!! I always love recommending maxiel stories,,,

i have way too much, but I've tried to skim through them and pull out the ones I could read over and over again without ever being bored of it. so anyways, here you go, my fav 13 maxiel fics in no particular order:

I know your name (but not who you are) by @prongsofficial (rated G)

“Hi, Daniel,” the man at his door says, tentative with a sideways smile. There’s sweat on his hairline and two cage-like boxes in his hands. He hears a meowing come out of them when he shifts to set them down. “Max,” Daniel breathes out, floored and caught in the way Max rubs at his own arm awkwardly. Max just smiles. -- Based on the Stick Season (Forever) album by Noah Kahan

a hauntingly beautiful nine-chapter non-linear fic about what could've happened if Daniel had to retire after his hand injury in Zandvoort 2023. Gorgeous. Just the right amount of angst, fluff and crushing dialogues.

dead heat by @powerful-owl (rated E)

"Oh my god. Okay, you’re an alpha. Yeah, Max? You’re an alpha?” Max looks up, tongue lapping at the webbing between Daniel’s fingers. He waits for his thoughts to print into words: paper roll unfurling, sticky nozzles stamping please, need, yours. He just nods. “You’re an alpha.” Daniel laughs, reedy and weird. “Max, what the fuck. Why are you on your knees?”

I'm not usually into a/b/o fics but this one. this hit and still hits me everyday. I have read it almost three times now (keep in mind this is a 35-chapters/200k words fic) and I can't believe how well written it is. the smut is beautiful, angsty and punch-to-the-gut. worth every seconds spent reading it. I also really liked the fact that this is not your traditional a/b/o dynamics, with the little weak omega getting roughly fucked by perma-rut alpha. nope. it's so much more.

breaking every rule for you by @magicalrocketships (rated E)

Daniel's always been competitive. He's never backed down from a challenge, even if it's one he doesn't understand the rules of and doesn't remember signing up for. But he knows this: if Max sends him a dick pic, then Daniel sends one back. Or, it’s Daniel's first year at Renault, and Max hasn't spoken to him in months.

soul-cushing, kink-finding, whatever the fuck even fic. no words to describe this one I think. it's messed my brain up. anyway. 200k words of max and Daniel being idiots, max with a girlfriend he doesn't love and Daniel not accepting he's in love with max. all that while sending dick pics everyday. hot. beautiful. made me cry and bite into my own arm because of how I wish I could just grip both their heads and smash them like barbies so they can kiss.

that's where I am by @flawlessassholes (rated E)

“Her name is Emily,” Daniel says softly. Max’s eyes snap down to the baby, still sleeping on Daniel’s chest. It’s—she’s snoring a little. In that snuffly way that babies snore. “Short for Emilian.” His eyes snap back to Daniel’s face, so serious, and Max knows it’s a joke, of course, but he still opens his mouth to say— Then Daniel’s face breaks into that wide grin, the real one, the one Max hasn’t seen since. Well. In a while. It feels at once so familiar, and also like seeing something rise from the dead.

There’s a month between Melbourne and Baku. A month to convince Daniel to return to racing. A month to learn and relearn how to love. A month for everything to feel right amidst a season that has felt nothing but wrong. A month to create a family, and a month to maybe lose it all.

daniel has a baby and max learns how to deal with that. all that while Emily (dan's kid) is the cutest baby ever. made my heart ache in the best way, had me having a baby-fever for 8 chapters. the smut is gorgeous, the story had me weeping and I could not believe how someone could even come up with such a well-rounded idea. gorgeous.

haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds? by vivienne_xoxo (rated E)

Daniel is on the verge of quite possibly nothing in his last year of high school. Max is on the verge of everything in his sophomore year. The one thing that connects them is soccer, squash, and track and field. Being at different schools, they only see each other once per season for games. However, they find themselves meeting in the spaces between, unknowing of what it all really meant. As Daniel nears graduation with a GPA of a whopping 2.0, a sexuality crisis, and a blonde twisted in his bedsheets and his brain, the one thing he really knows is that he's so, so fucked. OR: A sports rivals with benefits, strangers to lovers Maxiel fic that no one really wanted. Literally just the school I go to right now but with changed names.

everything a teen!maxiel fic could ever want to be. teens in love, max and Daniel going through everything that comes with that. sexuality crises all over the place, hormones, too. love it. this is the fic that made me want to start my own teen!maxiel. it's funny, angsty, has way too many crack-worthy dialogue. I love it.

a sure thing by @thewindowatkirkland (rated E)

Afterwards, once they’ve headed back inside on unsteady legs and showered in Max’s insane ensuite, Daniel pulls on his clothes and watches Max do the same. He’s always quieter after sex, once the adrenaline and dopamine have receded some. Daniel gets it, the whole hooker thing is more awkward for most people once the fucking is actually over. “How much do you charge for a full night?” Max asks, after he transfers the fee for today, the little notification pinging on Daniel’s phone. M. E. Verstappen has sent you a payment. Daniel doesn't bother to check the amount, Max will have rounded it up to the nearest thousand anyway, just like he always does. OR: daniel is an escort, max is a five time world champion, and also one of his regular clients. (aka, the hooker!dan au)

gorgeous. no words. 30k of hooker!Daniel that had me going a little crazy. so many good smut scenes, so many insane dialogues, so many insane angsty moments that aren't angst but feel like it... love love love it. I've read it a couple times already and it always has me on the floor. beautiful and breathtakingly so.

growing sideways by @thewindowatkirkland (rated E)

“We’re in Monaco,” Max says, “and you haven’t lived in either of those places for a very long time, Daniel. Since 2013.” It must be fucking amnesia, Daniel reasons, because when he went to bed last night it was July 2012. And here a grown up Max Verstappen is, telling him 2013 was a very long time ago. OR: daniel wakes up in a bed he doesn’t recognise, next to a man he doesn’t know.

what if Daniel woke up as his 2012 self with braces and awkward limbs but he's in his 2024 self bed, next to his 2024 self boyfriend (max) and he can't understand how any of this is happening? that's it. that's the plot. loved the little references, the race watching, the max trying to make Daniel learn everything they've had since 2012. the virgin smut. hot. but. everything about this fic is so, so sweet. it's gentle. like a hug after a long day, it takes you in and you never want to let go, especially because it has Daniel's fucked up teeth/braces in it. (joking but you know how I am with teeth, right?)

(just let me) adore you by @sillystappen (rated G)

One night, Max confronts the monster under his daughter's bed. Turns out, that monster is a very kind mothman called Daniel.

adorable. mothman!daniel (beautiful, beautiful, woah) takes car of max's daughter because other monsters might want to hurt her. so, so sweet. max is gentle but obsessed, and who can blame him even, Daniel is gentle, gentle, gentle, and caring, and so. argh. sorry. I'm obsessed with the fluff, the daughter, the developing bond between max and moth!Daniel. short and so cute.

auditory stimulator by togenkyo (rated E)

There are no rules for falling in love. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Max may not be well experienced in love, but he's pretty sure that "Falling in love with a guy you met when you accidentally picked up the phone at a sex hotline." should be a rule.

so funny. had me giggling in a public space over silly roommates trying to get max laid/in a couple. so fun and quirky, really had pulled in from seeing 'Phone Sex Operators' in the tags. I'm glad I read this. great dialogue, story and characters.

hey, remember that time by @powerful-owl (rated E)

There’s a snowstorm outside and a snowstorm in Max’s head. “Yes, okay. What.” “I think I’m gay? Pretty sure. Or like. Hella bi. Cause I think I’d still – if you were a – sorry. My body likes you, Max.” — (Max owns an inn and Daniel has amnesia.)

so funny... love, love, love. I always love those kind of stories, the AU with amnesia and all, but this one is genuinely the best I've ever read. I love all of @powerful-owl 's fics, but this one. it has me in a chokehold. read it again during the holidays for the snowy/angsty/smutty vibes and the scenes always have me giggling or crying. sometimes both at the same time. can't believe she has the power to write such good scenes like the bathroom one. description is just gorgeous, smut is always really good and goofy and. yeah. love it. can't say I've ever been let down by one of her works.

new wave (new emotions) by nothoughtsjustvibes (Kitkatieb) (rated G)

In which Max realizes he’s in love with Daniel and flies to Colorado to make it Lewis’s problem. Lewis just wants him to leave – preferably on a plane to Australia.

so so fun. lewis' POV, which is always really fun to read, especially since it's maxiel. just. lewis objective on the whole 'yes max, Daniel is in love with you, too' situation without actually saying it out loud. cause max has to figure it out for himself. really, really cool and original. loved reading.

two's company, three's a crowd by Whippasnappa (rated E)

“I need to be good at these things so it does not matter when. When they see.” Max says. He's- Daniel's chest feels like its caved in. Max looks so fucking ashamed, and his eyes are wet, lashes fluttering like he’s trying to blink away tears. “See what? Max?” He can’t- there’s nothing about Max that Daniel could imagine would be so off-putting that someone wouldn’t want him. Clearly there’s more to it, then, the reason why Max hasn’t hooked up before. “It is small.” Max says.

whippasnappa is a genius on this one. small dick!max is alway shy fav max but this one,,, gorgeous. breathtaking. couldn't stop staring at y screen even if I died. could've died actually. had me having three heart attacks. have never come back from this one. arghhhh

we predict blue skies and tight pants by dontburnme

The sight just made him dizzy. The hottest man he’s ever fucking seen flipping off a cliff into the murky Oslo waters twenty seven meters high up. Or, Daniel’s a Red Bull high diver and Max experiences an out of body experience watching him.

in which, Daniel is a diver and max watches him dive. and dies, a little. it's crazy, crazy good. had me a little crazy, pulling my hair out by the end of it. I, too, had an out of body experience. crazy, crazy, crazy, and such a fun concept. alway love me some short and sweet AU-fics.

bonus!!: high and dry by @jermeows

real cowboys ride cock, y'know right?

technically not a fic but. it's such wonderful fanart I HAD to include it. maxiel cowboys; what more is there to say...

[finelythreadedsky]

JSTOR Wrapped: top ten JSTOR articles of 2023

Coo, Lyndsay. “A Tale of Two Sisters: Studies in Sophocles’ Tereus.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 143, no. 2 (2013): 349–84.

Finglass, P. J. “A New Fragment of Sophocles’ ‘Tereus.’” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 200 (2016): 61–85.

Foxhall, Lin. “Pandora Unbound: A Feminist Critique of Foucault’s History of Sexuality.” In Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Mark Golden and Peter Toohey, 167–82. Edinburgh University Press, 2003.

Garrison, Elise P. “Eurydice’s Final Exit to Suicide in the ‘Antigone.’” The Classical World 82, no. 6 (1989): 431–35.

Grethlein, Jonas. “Eine Anthropologie Des Essens: Der Essensstreit in Der ‘Ilias’ Und Die Erntemetapher in Il. 19, 221-224.” Hermes 133, no. 3 (2005): 257–79.

McClure, Laura. “Tokens of Identity: Gender and Recognition in Greek Tragedy.” Illinois Classical Studies 40, no. 2 (2015): 219–36.

Purves, Alex C.  “Wind and Time in Homeric Epic.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 140, no. 2 (2010): 323–50.

Richlin, Amy. “Gender and Rhetoric: Producing Manhood in the Schools.” In Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Mark Golden and Peter Toohey, 202–20. Edinburgh University Press, 2003.

Rood, Naomi. “Four Silences in Sophocles’ ‘Trachiniae.’” Arethusa 43, no. 3 (2010): 345–64.

Zeitlin, Froma I. “The Dynamics of Misogyny: Myth and Mythmaking in the Oresteia.” Arethusa 11, no. 1/2 (1978): 149–84.

[lost-in-fandoms]

Winter warmers day 11: virginity. I went slightly off course, but technically not off-topic. 1.7k words, mostly sfw until the end.

5 times Max and Daniel take each other "virginity" + one time they actually do.

Neither of them really remembers how it had started, they just know it's an inside joke they can't, and don't want to, get rid of anymore.

Every time one of them is doing something new, they say they're losing their virginity. It's not funny, not really, but inside jokes don't really have to be.

It usually goes something like this.

1. "What do you mean you've never had tiramisu in Italy, Max?" Daniel asks, looking at Max as if he had just told him he had decided to stop driving and go sell stamps instead. "I am pretty sure they could revoke your right to race here, mate."

Max rolls his eyes, even if he can't really hold back a smile at Daniel's theatrics.

"I don't drive for Ferrari, Daniel, I don't have to do all the Italian things."

"No, but this is probably illegal or something. You can't keep living this life of crime, Maxy, I won't let you!"

Max rolls his eyes again, but doesn't argue when Daniel, still shaking his head in disbelief, grabs his phone to look up the nearest restaurant.

That evening, tucked away on a table for two in the back corner of a little restaurant, Daniel looks expectantly at Max while he takes his first bite of tiramisu.

"Well?" he asks, before Max has even finished swallowing, "happy to let go of you tiramisu virginity?"

"It is good," Max nods, smiling his squinty eyed smile and offering Daniel the second bite from his own fork. Daniel takes it without even thinking about it, closing his eyes to savor it better.

"Good virginity tiramisu," he agrees, making Max snort.

The finish the slice together, sharing the same fork.

2. "You've never gone rollerblading?"

Daniel remains on the floor, spread out over the yoga mat where Michael had left him after killing him during a training session, but he cracks open an eye, to see Max looming over him, sweaty t-shirt sticking to his skin.

"What?" he asks, lazily gesturing for his water bottle until Max hands it to him.

"You said, when Michael made that joke, before, that you have never gone rollerblading," Max explains, watching Daniel trying to figure out the logistics of drinking his water without having to sit up and without dumping it all over himself. "Is it true?"

"Yeah, mate." Daniel gives up on the effort, pushing up on one hand to be able to drink. "I have gone ice skating, though, so I guess it's the same."

Max frowns, crossing his arms just to immediately uncross them again grimacing when they stick together with sweat.

"It's not the same," he declares, walking towards the bench to grab his phone. "We are going to find a place and go rollerblading tomorrow. We are taking your rollerblading virginity."

Daniel flops back on the mat, giving Max a lazy thumbs up.

(Unsurprisingly, it turns out they are both really bad at rollerblading, even if Max claims he's been many times before. The fact that they spend half the time trying to make the other fall probably doesn't help.)

3. It's probably not very polite to sit in a strip club, low lights and beautiful women dancing on stage, and be unable to stop giggling, but in Max's defense, it had been Daniel's fault.

It had been a long weekend, a bad race, and Max had been very ready to leave everyone behind and go play fifa in the solitude of his hotel room when Daniel had stopped him, a determined look in his eyes and a smile on his lips that had immediately told Max he wanted to cause trouble.

"I'm going to take your strip club virginity, Maxy," Daniel had said. "Go change!"

And Max had gone.

It had been a bit weird at first, neither of them drunk enough to not find it slightly awkward, a simmering tension straining between them.

And then Daniel had pointed to a girl and had leaned over, whispering straight into Max's ear, causing a shiver to travel down his back.

"Doesn't she look a bit like Seb?" he had asked.

Max had been so surprised he hadn't been able to hide his surprised bark of laughter, which had caused Daniel to start laughing, which had made Max laugh harder.

Half an hour and one drink later, they were both sitting there, giggling every time they met each other's eye.

They had left the club two hours later, much drunker than when they had gone in, but Max didn't have any memories of the girls dancing. He remembered Daniel's smile though, bright under the flashing lights.

4. "What's this?"

Daniel blinks down at the bouquet of flowers Max is thrusting towards him, cheeks slightly red.

"I'm taking your flowers virginity," Max says, pushing them closer to Daniel's chest.

"Mate, I've had flowers before." Daniel still takes them, because Max is insistent and because they're pretty, but he raises a confused eyebrow at Max, frowning.

"You said," Max pauses, frowning too. His cheeks are redder now, Daniel notices distractedly.

"I said?" he encourages, not stopping himself from bowing his head, inhaling deeply. When he looks up again, Max is smiling slightly, eyes soft.

"You had PR flowers, yes? And for wins? You said nobody ever gave you flowers just because. In that interview."

Daniel blinks.

He had said that, yes, but it's news to him that Max watches the interviews they don't do together, especially ones that aren't f1 related.

"Uh," he says, very eloquently, looking down at the flowers again. His heart is beating a weird, stuttering rhythm he is set on ignoring.

"If you do not like them..." Max starts, and Daniel snaps his head up again, seeing how Max's expression has changed, doubt and regret seeping onto his face as he reaches for the flowers again, as if to take them back.

Daniel takes a step back, snatching them away.

"Nu-uh, they are my virginity just because flowers! You're not having them back!" he tells him, closing both hands around the stems.

Max looks stunned for a second, but then smiles again, eyes crinkling, and Daniel's heart does a weird swoopy thing he should probably bring up with his doctor.

Maybe he's allergic to these flowers.

5. "Max, open up," Daniel calls, knocking on Max's motorhome door, "I need to take your clothes virginity."

It's only after it's out of his mouth that he realises how the sentence could be interpreted, and he has to hope nobody of the people milling around are paying attention to him. By the looks some of them give him, he's not that lucky.

He's raising his hand to knock again when the door opens, and Daniel pushes inside without really waiting for Max to invite him in, wanting to get away from his own embarrassment.

"Hello Daniel," Max says, unfazed, stepping aside so they're not squished next to the door. "I am of course already wearing clothes."

"Can see that you are, mate!" Daniel replies, stepping further into the room and dropping his bag on the small couch. "But I brought you better ones!"

Max steps closer, looking over his shoulder as Daniel extracts a hoodie, a t-shirt and a pair of sweats from his bag.

"Enchanté virginity, baby!" he says, gesturing towards the clothes with a flourish.

He knows, both because he knows Max and because Max told him, that Max won't wear them outside, but he had brought it up enough times for Daniel to understand that Max wanted them anyway. So he had picked out the most comfortable items of the collection, in the most muted Max-colors, and packed them away to offer them in private.

Max reaches for the hoodie first, picking it up and gently running his hand over the design on the front, before looking up and smiling at Daniel, stars in his eyes.

"This is very pretty, thank you Daniel."

And then, as if Daniel wasn't already melting a little, he pulls off his own sweater, tugging the new hoodie on in its place, emerging from the head hole with his hair all ruffled.

"Good virginity?" Daniel asks, voice coming out softer than he intended.

Max looks at him with happy eyes, nodding with enthusiasm.

"Very good. I love it, Daniel."

Daniel smiles, nodding too, not really sure on what to say.

"I'm glad you do," he settles on in the end, even if the words feel like they are the wrong shape in his mouth, different ones swirling in his brain.

+1 Daniel finds Max in the exact same position he had left him in when he comes back from the bathroom, condom disposed and wet towel in his hand.

He's laying on his back, come drying on his stomach, lovely pink flush still spread from his cheeks to his chest, eyes half closed and a blissed out expression.

He smiles at Daniel when he leans over him, cleaning him up gently, but doesn't make any move until Daniel is done, when he grabs his wrist and tugs, making him lose his balance.

Daniel falls back on the bed with a groan, letting Max move him around so that they're pressed together, sweaty skin against sweaty skin.

"On which side does this go?" Max asks, voice slightly hoarse, nosing along Daniel's neck, hands firmly wrapped around his waist.

"Hm?" Daniel tilts his head to the side when Max nips at his skin, too distracted to try and figure out what Max means.

"Which side. Of the list."

"List?"

Max pulls back just to roll his eyes at Daniel, as if he's the one being stupid and not Max being cryptic, before going back to his previous task.

"The virginity list, Daniel," he finally explains, words pressed right below Daniel's ear. "Guy virginity. Was this you taking mine or me taking yours?"

It makes Daniel laugh, the Max-ness of it. Wanting to keep count, even right after sex, even while looking like he might want to go for round two, if the way he's been pushing closer and closer to Daniel is any indication.

"We can count this as a tie, babe," he says, squeezing Max's hip.

Max hums, then nods, seemingly satisfied.

"Okay," he agrees. He pushes up on one elbow, smiling down at Daniel. "I guess I will take your rimming virginity then."

And if Max is so set on getting one more point on the virginity list (which Daniel didn't even know they had), Daniel is very glad to let him have this one.