#i've ranted about how much i hated certain things from this ep so unless i do a comprehensive break down of why i didn't like it i'm going

[iristial]

She cares, he cares, it's coming full circle

[blorbocedes]

I have been perusing the brocedes tag on ao3 (not an easy confession to make) and I've noticed that a lot of the fics make Nico out to be... desperate... trying to get Lewis to look at him etc etc. And Idk if it's just me but, and this is nothing against Lewis, I get the feeling like Nico was the one who dealt w/ the friendship breakdown better? I'm not saying Lewis is doing badly (he's got 7 WDC!) but. Nico is able to talk about him, yknow? Meanwhile as you said Lewis makes a point not to mention Nico's name (unless that has been played up by fandom as well, which is possible. I haven't watched Every Lewis Interview That Mentions Nico).

hahha you are forgiven for your crimes of perusing the brocedes ao3 tag.

you are correct in your observation that people do write nico like that, and if you're on my blog long enough you'll see me ranting about his mischaracterization in fanon. I'm going to ramble a bit; bear with me

there's actually a very simple reason for this: Lewis has a bigger fanbase. F1 has exploded much bigger than 2016. There's entire swaths of fans who have never seen Nico race live (me included), whose idea of brocedes comes from present day lewis who does not speak of nico, and nico rosberg f1 commentator who anytime he mentions lewis goes semi-viral cause he's clearly obsessed with him (it's a circle).

i actually got into f1 pretty recently so my first take on brocedes was that this Nico dude did a lot of shady shit and broke their friendship to win in 2016 and then retired. (Lewis' part and share of war crimes in that breakup is minimised as narratives are written by winners and Lewis is definitely the winner in the long run) so obviously the fics written now will reflect that, with Nico profusely begging for forgiveness/apologising and Lewis as someone hurt and in the position to forgive/accept reconciliation. (🙄)

if you're not 500 hours deep into Nico lore (and why should you be) you will accept fanon as your perception of him, which is how you'll write him, and the cycle continues... now obvious disclaimer: people can write and enjoy whatever they want, it's all made up anyway. I'm simply explaining why one particular narrative is more persistent. I'm not even going to say my perception is correct, bc I'm not immune to bias either but I have certain things I find more interesting than other things. the real reason brocedes is so compelling is bc everyone's had one explosive friendship breakup that's left them reeling and they're the perfect representation of it

my self appointed job is to comb through every Lewis interview that mentions nico haha because it's so notable the rare times he does! He has improved slightly on that regard, here's him mentioning how Nico's place was the first place he'd ever stayed in monaco, and here's him talking about Nico to Martin Brundle while looking back at some of his races.

so he Can say the nico word lol but he generally avoids it. there's also the parallel that Nico was willing to be friends after 2016 while Lewis was the one who was flipping through pages that contained his picture not wanting to look at it. but he has improved since, prob the wound was still fresh and I enjoy Lewis being sensitive and petty.

It's just Lewis wouldn't say his name for things like the DTS netflix ep where he talks about how sometimes the guy you're teammates with is your best friend, and how it creates a lot of friction. LIKE WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT MAN.

or how he had to deliberately decline sky sports interviews with Nico cause back when Nico was on paddock (🕊😔) he interviewed all the drivers except for Lewis and you KNOW sky sports would be all over that shit.

and yet, they Could stand to talk when there's no cameras filming. so... yeah. i hate those bitches and I know too much about them. whoever won the breakup, we all lost 😔

anyways happy brocedes anon, or sorry for your loss idk!