#ngl i did comepletely forget about this fic thank u anon this was fun!

[milflewis]

Please do more of the Yukierre fake dating AU, I'm quite invested now. (I am from that "they're looking at us" one)

prev fic.

They come out at pretty much the same time. It wasn’t planned.

Or, well, Yuki’s wasn’t planned. Pierre’s was — months upon months of Pierre talking to Lewis over the phone, early in the morning, sun just peeking over the tops of buildings, having seen the way his smile lived in the lines on his face in between drivers briefings and race weekends, the rainbow flag on his helmet then saying to the world something more than allyship; weeks and weeks of video chats with Sebastian, who never had all the answers, whose career both with and not with Redbull was so completely different from Pierre’s but whose advice was hoarded all the same.

Pierre had told all his family; not one by one individually but group by group. Not that he wasn’t straight, not that he was bisexual, but that he was coming out as not straight, coming out as bisexual.

He had let Alpine know a working week — five business days — before he announced it. “Give them time to react, to prepare, to strategise pr amongst themselves,” Lewis had said, eyes kind. “But not enough for them to really worry, not enough for them to do anything.”

The paddock had exploded, the media having a field day.

When Lewis had come out two years earlier, six months before he retired, the racing world cracked wide open. For all that there had been speculation over the years, a lot of it slimy and disingenious, based on his clothes and his proud support of anyone other and the gentle way he moved through the paddock, sparkling from ears to nose to fingers, it had still come as a surprise to many.

Most of the drivers had stood by him — or at the very least, not stood against him. Fernando’s reaction had made Pierre stop, unsure on how he thought he’d respond but knowing that he wouldn’t have guessed this.

Lewis had only laughed when being faced with the clip of Fernando giving out; his first race win in over a decade outshone by Lewis’s announcement, “Stop asking me about Lewis and penises. Who cares. I won, he lost, did you not see me win?”

Pierre is sure that it wasn't a coincidence that Sebastian turned up at the race following Lewis's coming out.

His coming out video had 4, 452, 981 more views than his retirement announcement. Both broke the internet; Formula One once again seeping into mainstream media.

A handful more drivers stood with Pierre when he eventually came out, a perfectly planned instagram post with a caption that had been edited and edited and edited.

The buzz of it all was finally dying down - Pierre being asked more racing questions than not - when Yuki, exhilarated and giddy and pink-cheeked, sweat damp under his eyes, straight from his second race win with Mercedes, said, unthinking to an inane fluff question about the dating, "Hmm? Yes. I was seeing someone, very casual, but no longer. He couldn't keep up with all the flights and countries! I understood him."

Yuki had even laughed after, moving away quickly to join Ted, eager to talk about the race, his pr attaché left pale behind him.

A lot of people had expected Yuki to shrug it off, say how difficult it is to filter questions through two languages and back again, especially right out of the car, to do another oh, sorry, sorry, it's like when I called Pierre a boyfriend or girlfriend years ago haha. A slip of the tongue.

Yuki had not meant to say it, that Pierre knows. He's sure he had stewed over it for weeks, angry with himself, frustrated at something so stupid. Pierre could picture the shape of his jaw, the tilt of his chin.

Yuki hadn't laughed it off - not that Pierre had thought he would. Yuki had never been one to blink first, to call chicken when he was still in the race.

One month and three weeks. That was the gap between them. Seven weeks. Close enough for people to joke - and not joke - about how maybe they were connected.

And it would've been - a joke that is - if Yuki had rolled his eyes and laughed when asked, a race later. But instead, he had stared the camera down, face blank, team coat sipped up to his throat, and said, "I am here to talk about the car. Not who is in my bed."

Or maybe, if Pierre is being honest with himself, which is something he tries to do nowadays, it wasn't because of Yuki and his refusal to play along with the media, maybe it was how Pierre went bright red, choking on his straw, and a little wide-eyed, when he was asked. The way his voice broke on Yuki's name as he tried to answer was equally as damning.

Turns out, having two drivers, who have a history together that fans already adore, especially when only one of them is regularly at the front, date is great for viewership. And Mercedes had been gathering pro-LGBTQ+ whatever sponsorships for a while now since Lewis, so they stood firm behind Yuki and pushed and pushed and pushed until Alpine agreed.

(The blurry photos from last year's end of season party where Pierre is helping Yuki up, hands on his waist, head bent low, and Yuki is looking up, face turned towards Pierre, and it looks like it's more than it is, more than just two friends, didn't help.)

And so, they fake date. Which is - fine, Pierre supposes. Except for the part that he's been in love with Yuki since Alpha Tauri - known it since that first year in Alpine - and Yuki, well, Yuki doesn't love him back, now does he?