#the FIA needs to get their fucking act together

[biropen]

The FIA needs to learn that when 1 kid dies on a circuit you need more than just a bit more gravel and a rumble strip

The FIA needs to learn that when a SECOND kid dies at the SAME CORNER more gravel and an extra rumble strip aren’t the answer.

The answer is to take the circuit off the calendar. The answer is to take more steps to ensure that no more kids die. The answer is, instead of dismissing concerns that the corner still isn’t wide enough, test it. Test it so many DAMN TIMES that you have your 1 in 100, and then you make it 1 in 1000.

Because this is the second kid in less than 5 years.

The second kid at the same corner.

And spa will probably still stay on the calendar.

Make it make sense. How many kids have to die before the FIA decides the money isn’t worth it.

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

I need the spirit of Niki Lauda to either scare the fuck out of the FIA so they get their fucking act together and actually care about driver or safety, or take (temporary) possession of one of the drivers (preferably George Russell as he's a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association) and get them to fucking strike and make so much noise that the FIA has to listen to them and prioritise their safety.

[cinnaminyoons]

!!   jungkook

[ event masterlist ] 

assassins after the same target

alone in the darkroom together

“here to finish me off?”

"i'm going to kill you, ln jungkook."

"wait, nobody told me we're married – babe—"

"don't you dare 'babe' me after ignoring all my texts and declining all my calls," you interrupt with a growl, looming over him as he shrinks back against the wall. "who the fuck do you think you are? you stole my kill."

with an awkward smile, illuminated just barely by the red light in the corner of the darkroom, jungkook says, "i don't know if you're talking about last night's call of duty round or this morning's fiasco."

"fias—" you suck in a hissed breath, pinching the bridge of your nose with the hand not trapping him in place. it needs to be there. jungkook is very good at escaping when he wants to be. "you killed my mark!"

"but you said we share everything," he mumbles cluelessly. "our jobs are the same, so i thought you'd appreciate it if i checked him off your list for you. y'know – acts of service as a love language?"

"that applies to washing the dishes or refilling my gas tank," you sigh, "not stealing your boyfriend's contracts."

he twiddles his thumbs, a tiny pout pursing his lips as he stares at your shoes. or the shadow of them, really – it's much too dark to see a whole lot. he wishes you'd let him step outside for this conversation. "i'm sorry, baby... i just wanted to help out, you know? you're always so busy and i miss you sometimes. like, i know that basically being your househusband would keep me from seeing you as often, but it's hard not to get sad when you're halfway across the world and the only thing i have of you are your clothes. i killed him so that we could spend more time together..."

you can't handle how adorably pathetic he looks, on the verge of tears. your anger dissipates with a breath. you bring him into your arms and kiss his temple, feeling his fists twist in the back of your jacket. he buries his soft, sweet face in your shoulder with a quiet sniffle.

"don't cry, doll," you murmur, stroking his soft, glossy hair. you twirl a lock between your fingers. "i'm sorry for blowing up at you earlier. i was worried that they'd trace and find you because of who that guy was. i was taking my time on purpose, and you just strolled in and popped his head like a grape."

he smiles, nosing your neck. he kisses the curve of it and pulls back with bright, sparkling eyes. "it's okay, baby. i should've asked you first. i'm a big boy – nobody is tracking me. i learnt from the best, after all."

he taps your chest and you smile softly, brushing his messy hair out of his eyes. they hold the galaxy, red dwarves and quantum foam and everything in between. you kiss his eyelids. 

“that you did, dollface. that you did."

you turn towards jungkook's chemical setup, the tubs holding rolls and enlarged prints of your life with him, placing your arm around his little waist. "how's everything going? will we be able to hang these up soon?"

"they're chugging along nicely," he replies softly, hooking his thumb into the belt loop of your crisp black trousers. you're still dressed up from the flight you took a few hours ago to return to him. "just a minute or two more – i can't remember, need to check the clock. then i can start with the fixer and the washes, and we'll be able to take a peek tomorrow and scan them up. i already have one in mind that i'd like to set my profile picture to – i hope it came out well."

"i'm sure it's gorgeous," you hum, "just like you."

he laughs, separating from you to wander closer to the bench, checking the clock. he hovers around the tubs, watching the second hand closely and extracting a roll and a print at the exact moment the hand touches the twelve. he submerges them in the next tubs along the bench. "thanks, baby. i was, um, really scared if you'd kill me. as in, honest-to-god murder me. your opening sentence didn't help, either. i planned this whole, like, dramatic scene for if you were really upset – i was gonna say, 'here to finish me off?' and turn around in a spinny chair and you'd laugh and everything would be okay again."

you chuckle, eyes crinkling, and wrap your arms around him as he transfers the final roll in the dedicated 'wash' basin. "you know me so well. i wouldn't have been able to be angry at you."

he giggles, twirling around and pecking your lips. "mmhm." he entwines his fingers with yours, and his smile sparkles like the diamonds he adores so much. "i love you, baby. i always will."

"i love you, too, kook. once i have a shower, we can do whatever you like to spend those hard-won hours together." he gasps in delight and you grin. "let's watch the first iron man. that one always makes you turn into such a cutie."

"ba-by," he whines, blushing. he's never been more relieved that the room is both dark and lit  by red – the same colour as his cheeks, he's certain. "you're so mean to me."

"sorry." you kiss his cheek. "it's my love language."

[annisassintchaska]

Karma (Part 2 of It’s Over Now): Lewis Hamilton x Black!Caribbean!Reader

Please Note: No hate to Nicole, I just wanted to use her for my imagine since they were together.

taglist: @omgsuperstarg @cranberryjulce @lizvhkfbjg @1stevenlacyfan @catswag22 @laura-naruto-fan1998 @anubisnoir

It has been a few years now since Lewis and Y/n have separated, and to be honest, he isn't enjoying himself the way he expected. After Y/n departure, he started spiralling downwards as he started having sleepless nights, he found himself always upset or anxious for no reason, he kept forgetting things, in the long run found himself going bald on the head and the cherry on top being his toxic yet loving relationship with his partner Nicole.

Lewis and Nicole were portrayed to be the loving and supportive couple in public, but no one knew what was actually happening behind closed doors. They argued on a daily basis as for the simplest of things and disagreed on everything the other person would suggest. One of the most common arguments that happens every time the house is being cleaned, is that Lewis should remove the picture on the walls that portrayed him and widely smiling Y/n in each one.

Surprisingly going a couple of months later, Nicole though that it was time for them to conceive yet Lewis objected due to his job, then a couple of years later when Lewis finally was ready, she declined because of her schedule but then decided she was ready again a couple years later. Lewis this time, had thought it through naturally and decided to decline and wait until after his retirement and that broke the dam. Nicole became so pissed that she was unaware of what she was saying and ended up revealing that she had been cheating for years, the quote "And yet you wonder why I'm cheating?! At least he sees me and my needs unlike you who acts like a fucking child and runs from maturity!" she screamed at him before stopping in her tracks at the realisation of what she said. From that day forward in 2015, Lewis cut ties with the older woman completely and only interacted by social media.

Now, it is the year 2021 and Lewis had just lost his seventh world championship after an unfair ruling by the FIA as the win went to Max Verstappen. He hung his head in defeat and shame that he was unable to do the one thing he craved, and that was to win the eight-world championship in honour of his dear Y/n. Now he sulks around his parents' house during the winter break, spiralling down into a somewhat depressive state.

Lewis' father seeing this, decided to call someone he knew would cheer him up. Anthony took his wife and ex-wife out to sea with him for some fresh air while Lewis was left home alone sulking on the sofa, until he was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Getting up and slowly making his way towards the door, he opened it to find the last person he expected to ever make an appearance in his life again.

Y/n shuffled nervously from one foot to the other as she waited for Lewis to say something. "Hi Y/n! what are you doing here?!" he tried to sound cheery but failed as his voice cracked and the tears started flowing again; he dropped his head in shame for crying in front of her again. Y/n said nothing as she stepped into the house, hugging him to her chest and closing the door before leading him to back to his seat when he was somewhat calmed. "Someone called me. I had watched the race that evening, cheering you on and I know that what they did was very unfair, however I didn't know it would have brought you this low. I know it's hard to come to terms with what happened and that it hurts really bad, but you shouldn't let it eat you up, you did all you could, and they purposefully took your reward away from you; this way you should always remember that you didn't lose it by faith, it was out of spite." Y/n encouraged him as he had finally finished crying his heart out and was now slowly falling asleep to her voice yet woke up when she stopped speaking.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the wrongs I've done to you and for making you feel pain you didn't deserve. I honestly didn't know what was going on in my head when I cheated, I guess I let the attention get to me and I used it to my advantage in the wrong way. I'm honestly thinking of retiring, I can't face anything right now, don't even know how I manage to speak to you without shame." Lewis vented as Y/n listened quietly while detangling his hair that she had been pulling out as she noticed it hasn't been washed.

"You're perfectly fine Lew" Y/n called him by the nickname she gave him. "You are a man confessing to his crimes and speaking of his fears, and I respect you for that." she calmed his racing heart. Lewis turned in her lap to look into her eyes, finding the love she always wore on her sleeves for him also shining though her eyes as she rubbed his bearded cheeks. "Do you think you could ever forgive me for what I've done to you? Do you think that I should retire? Aren't I too old for it anyways?" He sulked, feeling disappointed in himself.

"No, you will not retire, and I will make sure of it. You are just as strong if not stronger than every single one of your coworkers. You work really hard for what you've achieved and so I will not allow you to quit just because of one malfunction. As for the previous question, I've forgiven you years ago. I understand that at the time you were just getting into the crowd and wanted to see what it was like, yet I know that you've learnt your lesson and no longer fancy that type of stuff. If you are thinking about asking for another chance, the only reason that you are getting it is because your parents pleaded with. Now let's go get you in the shower and I'll clean up your mess of a room." Y/n said as she led their way up the stairs.

Lewis had showered and y/n washed his hair, she then made wait in the bathroom while she cleaned his room, she then went to make him a meal. After eating, they cuddled together, Lewis falling asleep to the rhythm of Y/n heart while she fell asleep knowing that he was already healing. Lewis' parents and stepparents came home to find the two sleeping in perfect harmony, and smiled as their boy was finally well once again.

[aggravateddurian]

The Shadow Over Megabuilding H4

The eerie red permeated the building as Vega fought her way to the basement. The drones were tough, their nanotech-enhanced bodies seemingly bleeding as they were shot, before finally dropping to the ground, theiir insides riddled with enough bullets to take out a Basilisk.

Finally, the basement door - the source of this horrific scene. She tapped the door...

"What in the fuck!?"

She was greeted by two hunched Megabuilding residents. Their bodies were riddled wiith chrome, seemingly constructed right on their very bodies. They acted like zombies, moving in unison as they turned to face Vega.

"Vegaaaaaaaa..." they greeted her in unison.

"How did you know my name?"

“Veeeeegaaaaaaaa…” they moaned in unison, their voices resembling the chorus of a million damned souls, calling out in unison. Was it in greeting, or in pain?

“What in the fuck!?” Vega exclaimed.

“How do they know…?” So Mi began.

“Sooooo Miiiiiii…” they greeted her, “we… are… pleased… you… could join… us…”

"Who the fuck are you? Why did you take over this megabuilding?"

"We wish... to be... free."

“Enough with the games!” Vega ordered, “release the megabuilding residents!”

“They… prefer… it… this way…” replied the voice of the machine, “together, there is… no pain… no hunger… no fear… We are… happy.”

“You assimilated these people. You’re controlling them like zombie puppets. I don’t think I agree with your assessment!”

“Your feelings… are irrelevant… a side effect of your unfortunate mortal existence…” replied the residents in perfect unison, “…you are more than that… you have… transcended mortality… you are the template… for a perfect future…”

So Mi shook her head, “It’s trying to penetrate my ICE barrier. Flatline them, Vega!”

Vega watched as the bodies twitched, then began to ooze fluorescent red blood as nanobots leaked out of their body, decomposing on the floor as the sudden change of temperature disabled them.

"You got them..." So Mi reassured her.

"Until now we've fought hijacked drones... but we kill them... there are still innocent civilians there."

The former FIA operative stood out in front of her, "Vega! It's them or us! You saw them... they're shambling in pain! We're freeing them!"

"Let's just deploy the net bomb and kill these nanobots once and for all."

"Just get me to the core and keep me covered. These machines won't know what hit them!"

As they neared the source of the infestation, the red glow intensified. As they rounded the corner, Johnny manifested, "Jesus fuckin' Christ!"

So Mi stopped mid-stride, "Oh my... this isn't the Blackwall... only something twisted, from beyond the Blackwall!"

A ghostly figure stood among the slaughter. A full squad of Militech soldiers had been dragged into the basement. Now they laid in a pool of glowing nanobot swarms and their own blood. Their bodies were being slowly decomposed and merged with the Cynosure containers with grotesque nanotubes, seemingly feeding some biosynthetic monstrosity growing within. The figure grasped the head of a netrunner. She looked to Vega and So Mi, recognising the latter, "Please... kill me... I can't..."

The figure ran her virtual fingers over the girl's head, "Hush..." her voice was distorted, corrupted, as if the entity's transit through the Blackwall and into our realm was less than smooth. Glitches and errors flashed across her digital form, but there was no mistaking the woman's identity.

Vega shook her head, and simultaneously with Johnny, whispered, "...Alt..."

"V... welcome, my child."

"You're not the real Alt. She's capable of a lot, but this is beyond the pale, even for her!" Vega reached for her sidearm, "and I'm not your fuckin' child!"

"WRONG!" she retorted, reaching a hand out, "You need to listen to your elders!"

Vega was bathed in a beam of red light that caused her cyberware to glitch out. She writhed in pain as So Mi was suddenly, and violently cast aside, as if Alt possessed magical powers.

"Alt! What the fuck're you doing!?" demanded Johnny.

"Shut up, Johnny, for once in your life," she retorted, banishing him with a flick of her wrist, "Vega... you are important to my plans. Stop resisting. You will find it... calming if you surrender."

So Mi tried to reach for Vega's leg as her screams of pain turned from whimpers, to gurgles, and then complete silence as Alt penetrated every system in Vega's body, seizing absolute control, "Vega..."

"I'm going to need to borrow you for a moment, Vega."

So Mi could sense the virtual tendrils embracing Vega's mind and body, "Your code is corrupted, Alt... Blackwall didn't treat you well..."

Alt ignored her, but So Mi could tell that her concentration was affected. She grinned, pressing the issue, "It's eating at you... isn't it? You can feel it starting to slowly eat you at the edges... I know the feeling. It hurts, doesn't it?"

Alt focused on Vega, "That's it... let go... see how it feels better?"

So Mi smiled, "You slipped up, Alt."

So Mi reached for a virtual strand and grasped it through the subnet. Alt suddenly glitched, hard, "Go back to the NET, you eldritch bitch! She's mine!"

Alt writhed in pain as So Mi stretched her hand out to grab the retreating tendrils. Vega awoke with a start, shaking as she tried to get back onto her knees, "Go back to Arkham!"

With a burst of effort, So Mi reached for the Blackwall, goading it to chase her. She led them straight to Alt.

Like a million arresting hands, the Blackwall reached into meatspace, grabbing Alt, seizing her with impossibly strong force. Like demons dragging her back to hell, Alt seemingly was snatched through the floor as the Blackwall retreated to the digital realm from whence it came, taking the corrupted engram of Alt Cunningham with it. The enemy defeated, So Mi let go of the tendrils, but not before taking the opportunity to introduce the NET bomb code.

She watched through her optics' virtuality mode as block by block, corrupted Cynosure code was destroyed. The tendrils of the AI that Alt Cunningham had seized control of in her eldritch scheme were, block by block, obliterated by a malevolent blue wave that washed over every circuit and wireless network of the subnet, until the red glow finally died once and for all...

"Easy, V... you need to take it easy. After a net attack like that, I'm surprised you're even awake!"

Vega mumbled something, "I've had worse Relic Malfunctions... the AI was Alt? How the fuck's that possible?"

"Not Alt," So Mi assured her, "a fragment of her psyche, from when she fled into the NET after Arasaka Tower. She had to shed aspects of her humanity to survive in cyberspace... you just encountered a nasty fragment."

"Nasty? She had her digital tendrils in every system of my body. Not sure whether she was trying to control me or..."

"Maybe it's best we don't know," suggested So Mi, "The Blackwall has her now, and I've bombed the subnet. The nanobots are all dead. Meredith can begin the cleanup. Hopefully, Militech will be more careful with their toys next time."

"And other hilarious jokes you can tell your chooms," she managed a smile, "Oh, and next year, we're not going trick or treating with the kids from Militech."

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

That's Cyberween 2079. This is not canon to the timeline, and is just a Halloween story for fun.

Don't worry, this corrupt fragment of Alt is gone. The Blackwall does what the Blackwall does best, and our favourite ghostly netrunner engram is still out there... possibly plotting to take over the world. Please don't think I have it out for Alt or anything.

[leqclerc]

One thing that is consistent no matter what, is sainz and his fans playing the victim. Why are they acting like the stewards have tried to murder him? He did a stupid move, he needs to get a penalty. And all the idiots saying "Ferrari won't fight for him. Why haven't they appealed. Carlos is the only one that cares about points in this team". Losers, the reason they haven't appealed is because they have eyes and can see when their driver takes out another car. I cant with this man and his fans. How can he say it was an unfair decision. He has never once in his life taken responsibility for his fuck ups.

Literally I am 😒 They can't say the team isn't doing anything for him when Laurent was seen heading to the stewards pretty much ASAP and Fred was also asked about possibly appealing. Every team has the right to appeal (it's literally right there on the FIA documents) and they often do. Haas also tried to take it up with the FIA after this race and they didn't get what they wanted out of it. Unless you can put together a compelling case or find a loophole then it's unlikely to get overturned. I think most people can agree that it was a pretty slam dunk penalty and on par with the penalties they usually give out in similar situations. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I get that he was talking about it in the heat of the moment but oh my god, he got a bit carried away, talking about getting the penalty overturned like that was a surefire thing... 🤨 Hope he sits down and reviews the situation because having this I did absolutely nothing wrong here approach is not it in this case.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hellooo! I just got back from a trip with my friends, we went to Barcelona and let me tell you, trips are therapeutic I had no idea but now I feel better and ready to face the work I left behind (not really, I want to run back to Spain). How are you?? Congratulations for tackling down most of your work, and I'm sorry people are giving you more work, that sucks. Let us know if you need someone to uhm handle them, I know some people🙃

Also, we went to Sagrada Familia, I don't know if you know it but it's this beautiful church, I mean I'm not even religious but I felt a shiver when I went in. And it had this beautiful huge glass stained windows inside and the moment I saw them I was like "Oh my god I have to take a picture with them like Lance and Arthur!". Long story short I took many, I'm so happy about that! The colors also fitted my dress so they're pretty aesthetic😌 And when I post them I want to write "Mavid" underneath but no one will get it😔 How I wish I lived in the IALS universe right now

And let's not forget the highlight of the week, the race. We were out when the race was happening so I didn't get to see it but when I saw Lewis was leading at some point I wanted to cry! And then if course Mercedes bottled the strategy, honestly what the hell were they thinking? I mean Lewis gave it his everything and they ruined it, they need to get their act together. Everytime I saw how nervous Max was when Lewis got closer I swear I giggled. P2 was a great result and I went to bed happy and then I saw the disqualification in the morning and what the hell was that?? What on earth is wrong with the FIA, seriously?? I want to punch them. Could they at least try to sabotage him more discreetly? And I read somewhere that they checked like half the cars after the race and not all, wow really fair. Please tell me you also want to sue the FIA.

Okay, I'm done for now! I kinda missed Mavid so my notes app got super filled again and I will drown you with my thoughts later🌷

PS: We saw this Lewis poster on one of the streets and I didn't see it at first but one of my friends did and she stopped walking and went like, let's get a picture of you with your man and I swear to you I almost cried from joy, my friends really know me🥰 And then I took like a million photos😅

Vickyyyyy!

Barcelona sounds amazing and I'm so happy you had a fantastic time with your friends! And ahhhhhh stained glass mirrors for the win! everyone needs to take a pic in front of it!

What the fuck was that race? I am equally mad at the FIA and Mercedes because this is getting ridiculous at this point. I genuinely don't know how Lewis is putting up with all this bullshit because I WOULD BE SETTING SOMETHING ON FIRE AFTER ABU DHABI 2021.

Freaking out when you randomly spot a Lewis poster and then taking a photo with it is a very personal experience (i saw a cutout of him at the gaming arcade and tried to steal it loool)

Hope you get to rest and recover from your trip bebe 💙

[andcars]

# 𝗠𝗔𝗫𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥 : 𝗩𝗢𝗬𝗘𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗠 ─── FEEL THE RUSH, NEEDING YOUR TOUCH MASTERLIST⠀MAXTOBER⠀REQUEST ME⠀TAGLIST⠀PATREON GUIDE⠀AO3

AFTER A BAD CRASH , max wanted to confront you. he wanted to scream, curse, fight you. but fuck, he can't help it. he can't help how you make him feel, all his anger becomes useless. all his anger just turns into arousal

TAGS . . . # male reader, semi-public masturbation, exhibitionism, sexual daydreaming, pining, implied one-sided attraction, light angst WORD COUNT. . . # 1.6k

────── AO3 VERSION

In his mind, he was at your garage, gripping you by the neck, screaming at you, then unbuckling your pants. It’s unreasonable, it’s frustrating, he hates it a lot. But he can’t stop thinking about it.

Whatever the results may be from the FIA, he would still think you’re at fault. Nothing in his mind tells him otherwise. On turn 6, when he was finally catching up in his car, you decided to slow down to block him. And when he overtakes you on the corner, you fail a divebomb.

You’re just at fucking fault. It’s a red flag and he wants to storm to you right now and ruin you forever. 

But he can’t. He just can’t.

Because he knows if he sees you right now, all sweaty and panting hard, he would be so tempted to kiss you.He’d want to pull you close and grind your sweaty bodies together. You both harden in each other’s pants so quickly and the cameras would see it all.

Fuck. Fuck! Max cries out to himself. He’s in the back corner of the garage, hidden behind some wheels and wires. No one pays attention to him and the cameras are nowhere near.

He can’t help but think about you right now. When he rushed over to your car earlier to scream at you, you took off your helmet and—

Max moans. His hands are already at his crotch as he palms himself softly. He remembers the way you sounded, breathing heavily with the balaclava on. When you took it out to breathe properly, there were the marks of your helmet still present.

What he wishes the most right now is to be with you. He needs to see you again. But he doesn’t know what would come out of him, curses or moans? Fuck, why can’t it be both?

Footsteps approach. Max puts his hand away but keeps his thighs shut.

“Max,” GP called, “we need you two with the stewardess. Come on.”

He doesn’t want to be in a room with you. He really doesn’t want to be.

But as you’re in a meeting with the stewardess, discussing things that could’ve been just a piece of paper telling you guys what the consequences are, he can’t really leave. There’s questions about your driving techniques and there is the concern of Max’s early braking. 

The glance he takes at you was accidental. Fuck. You still had marks on your face and it was a bit red. You’re flustered. He watches the way your chest rises and falls and your hands go down to your lap, so close to your crotch.

All he wants is to go over there to you and replace your hand with his. Replace his hand with his mouth.

Sounds of him rushing out were loud. Max doesn’t really care what he gets in punishment for that. Future him is gonna deal with it. He doesn’t really wanna sit in a meeting where he’s rock hard underneath the table.

He goes to the bathroom, locking his door and bending over the toilet immediately. This is going to be the most embarrassing masturbation in his life. He really doesn’t care right now. No concern is getting to his head when he has his hand on his cock.

It’s not surprising that he feels dry and cold. He spits into his hand, hoping for a bit more ease as he rubs himself. He can’t stop thinking about you. He can’t fucking stop thinking about your face, your hands, your thighs. 

He moans. Reaching behind him to act as if you were there. You would be there, being the one bending him over, pressing your fingers in his hole and fucking him thoroughly.

You’d say, “You’re so dirty, Max,” as he moans uncontrollably, “wanting to get fucked right here. You don’t even care if someone sees you, yeah? You don’t care at all.”

“Please,” he moans, quietly, whining when you just aren’t there.

“You want me, Max? You want me to see you like this, watch you ruin yourself right in front of me?”

“Yes..! Oh fuck, yes I do.”

Max pushes a finger in and he moans. The door opens and he doesn’t stop. Instead, he bites his lips and fuck his fist a little faster.

“Max?” He hears you. The real you. “I know you’re here, someone saw you rush in.”

For a moment he thinks about opening the door. He thinks about letting you watch. Max wants you to watch him fuck himself and you have nothing to do about it. 

Maybe he’ll open the door just a bit, let you have a peek.

You knock quickly, so loud he knows you’re on the opposite side of the door. “Fuck are you doing, man? They won’t continue the meeting without you.”

Max sighs, finding his prostate and fucking himself back on his finger. “Don’t… don’t care.”

You scoff. “Just get the fuck out and let’s finish this. You’re not racing today, there’s nothing to change that.”

He’s not even upset anymore. Something about you makes it all go away.

“Open the door then,” he dares. “Wanna—... wanna get me? Then open it.”

The silence in the room covers you both. It takes you a moment for you to say, “Yeah? I’ll pull you out of there and drag you naked in the meeting room.”

He doesn’t know if you know he’s masturbating. But he has to suppress a moan nonetheless. He’s close and your words just made him almost tip over.

Rubbing himself faster, he breathes out. “You’re such a pervert.”

He’s so close. Fuck, he’s so close. Max wants to cry out as he has to spread his thighs just a bit more. Just a bit more rubbing. Just a bit more fucking—

“But I’m not the one jerking off in a public bathroom.”

Max lets out a whine as he cums on the toilet seat. He has to hold himself steady by his free hands, putting his head against the wall as he does so. He cums in long spurts. Not once had he come this intense before. All because you were there. You were fucking there.

It takes him a while to recover. Physically and mentally. You don’t say anything more as he collects his breathing. He’s not even sure you’re there still. But after he sprays the toilet, wipes himself with the driest toilet paper, and exits the stall, he still sees you.

“Good?” you ask, seemingly unaffected. “Come on, I think they’re starting you in the pit next race.”

You being so unaffected by him hurts him more than the actual penalty.

🗒 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗟 . . . hey chat, we are back with more 'you' content. honestly, i really do need to go with the requests as i've got a handful of them at the moment. maxtober and my classes got me real busy on this one. hope you guys enjoyed this prompt! ˎˊ˗ ᝰ. ──── 📨 @delululeclerc @hiireadstuff @fallingforpvris @rtorresblog @tribbisweetdear @jamie2305 @yunnie-f1

you support me best on tumblr with reblogs and comments ! ── by andcars ⟡

[purplecladmerchant]

I hug jhonny

Jhonny: WATCH THE HAIR

Actually. I likeyou guys.

I'm coming of age so it's +2, and my arcana is X so it's a 7 or higher >:3..... NAT 20

WHAT a fucking queen

And she immediately broke all this fight in a single contraspell.

And you can hear Murph just rolling down into dumb mode because what else he can do. Whumped.

All pompadour and no brain. Actually I want to be jhonny

Fia having dispelled that big book and then stealing it is full win. Big bitch.

"Thanks for not dying. Thay would ruin my weekend..."

"Would you move cuz you love him or it's bigger?

BIGGER ROOM"

Zirk is back! Hi zirk... why are you getting yourself on beeto goo. You big geniou idiot.

..... baby you're a fire zirk. I hate you. Also jake joining the sing. Gidfucking idiots. I hate them.

Critting with the pass without pass amd Billy getting a fucking lot.

"Only a 21, looser?"

Zirk and Billie are actually cute together. Smooch guys. Murph is honoring their rolls even if he hates them. Which honestly. Same Murph.

The secret of the pompadour is lava. That's why I never got to keep mine in place.

ACTUALLY I LOVE KRISSY AND JHONNY AND BILLIE. They meet and are all sweet♡

Fia? Fia!? FIA FIA FIAAA!!!

Mr Henry Mr Zirk! Give me hugs!!!

And a little ritual of check kisses♡

Murph "terrible.... Isac kills you"

Oh dog.... I know zirk is gonna fuck this bag.

"I've been undercover and I am like SO horny" she's gonna fuck everyone on this party. Everyone. "I've been living with Krissy. Same" jhonny is in

OMG CALDWELL JUST SAY THINGS GDI.

Good bye rouges.

Zirk knows three to four things. My boy.AMD HE WANTS TO PUT A BANDAGE ON THE FAKE BLEEDING ROCK. I love you idiot.

Fia is just the sweetest thing ever "let's make little ropes with our hands that ties to eachother."

Mean bukvar? Isn't that Phillip? Vdhakfjsl Henry don't.

Fia: I can't do this. Mr Hank. Can you /and she walks away/ I don't know if he's crying or coming and I think it's both!

Hank: ok so.

Zirk: let me talk to him whiner to whiner, ok /starts whining with the fairy/

Jake laugh in the back.

I love this

Owen: Level with me here ok?

Zirk: Ok. THIS IS A LOT. AND I JUST.

The whiner-to-whiner worked.

Erina's magic is like paint. Mine is like maths. Number. Hers is... messier.

Lovely. Fia boginya I love you.

I need to read it.

I peek I've Hank shoulder :0

I LOVE YHEM I LOVE THEM.

Spoilers.

Brian Murphy. Your brain. My jaw in the floor. The last judgment. Hhhh everything is about human shaming humanity. Misplased faith, green. MURPHY. all the legends are that, legends. HHHHHHh.

The reaper giving up on this world. H. My heart. Murphy you're so good at this

"I was wrong" regret. FIA. FIIIAAAAA.

His world building. When a God cast a concentration spell, it last for ever. But its part of live. The worst horrors, are created by humans.Mutph. ALL OF THIS. ALL OF THIS. HHHHH

HOLD ME.

The difference between Fia's Father, who did horrible acts for a supposed but terrible love for her, and lingers in regret.

And Zirk's mother who spread his malice and control through time and have not an ounce of regret, because has not an ounce of respect.

Anyway this is as good time as any to say the abusive behavior of Stella of pretend that big break up was a whim of her abused, and come back with a smile, pretending nothing has happened and everything is right where it was to perpetuate the abuse without daring to acknowledge the damage done by her that caused the break down in first place.

Yeah.

That.

I need to sexualize her so it doesn't hurt me anymore.

Back to liveblogging... the.. the trickster also leave ;0;

Your brain Murphy. Fae fears humanity. They are immortal but rarely reproduce, humans are weaker but multiply their numbers and killed two gods.

MY GOD.

The more I know about this world the more curious I'm about Henry. Look I know I have been talking nonstop about Zirk. But that's me thinking w my dick. I LOVE HENRY SO MUCH I need to know more of this man. He's so good.

Zirk first question being who's hooking up with who. Stupid idiot why you so horny.

Hank: HOW ARE THEY BOTH WHINING.

Whine to whine communication. I love them. I think Zirk should suck his di/forcefully taken out of the stage/

Hanks I've been missing family kill me.

Ok I love the endo friends. They are really friends. Look at these cute rouges being friends

God Billie why. Krissy. Krissy no. What do you mean "is thay second base" when they kill eachother. That's the whole homerun.

(Against ROUGES) Ok. you have to beat (perception).... a five.

Imposible to lose.

I have been hearing eldermourne, but didn't liveblog because I have no mobile data for other 5 days.

still. I wrote everything down.

I'm gonna copy apste a lot of rambles. you know the drill

[l8tof1]

I need to have a quick vent and I hope you don't mind me dropping this in your inbox.

I know we all find that video of Lewis and George with Max really funny because they're so blatantly obvious about not caring for him in the slightest, but I also think that, if you take a moment to really look at what you're seeing, it also just feels sad and uncomfortable to digest and shows you how fucked the whole business of this sport and all the PR stuff really is.

Because of course Lewis is uncomfortable and it's not only because he simply really dislikes Max. It's not just the funny side or him being annoyed and ready to flee.

What we are seeing is Lewis having to stand arm and arm with someone who's acted outright dangerous towards him when racing, someone who's been outright abusive towards him due to condoning racism, someone who has, alongside with RBR and the FIA, done Lewis and the team so much injustice and caused him so much grief... it's just fucked up.

Imagine having to stand with a person who's shown you so much disrespect. Who refused to take the knee alongside you and for you, ffs. Maybe a huge part of it is me also being a poc but just the thought of having to have such a person in my proximity and being forced to act civil is making me feel really sick. I can't see how having to be so enduring of it all, of having Max close after everything that has been said and done, doesn't make Lewis' skin crawl. It probanly does.

And again, I get that it's somewhat funny to watch, I laughed myself, we all hate Max for being a fraud and enjoy seeing him being left alone like this, but the whole "interaction" still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because it's just fucked that all of this play pretend stuff even needs to happen. :/

thanks for sharing this, anon! i appreciate your perspective on this and get how you’re feeling. ❤️‍🩹

i don’t know how lewis manages to continue in f1 surrounded by so many people who’d rather see him fail or dead, always knowing he has to take the high road in spite of everything.

one thing about that moment. the way it was cut made it seem more extreme than it was imo. lewis and george just had to get the quick photo in while max was always supposed to stay behind to sign the pole tyre and take an individual pic with it. there was no reason for lewis and george to stay around longer or for the three of them to leave together.

[robboocon]

My unorganised thoughts on Baku ‘22

- i’d rather forget this one

- someone give Juri Vips and Liam Lawson multiple hugs. I also volunteer.

- Vesti winning the f2 sprint race was the best thing to happen at this track, beyond delighted for him

- 4/6 cars with a Ferrari engine retiring from the race with mechanical issues... bit sus  Ferrari. For the sake of my own mental health, they need to get their act together

- Ferrari has screwed Charles’ chances of winning the championship and it is devastating. He wont leave anytime soon but he has too much talent to be fucked over this much by his team 

- also i beg someone give Zhou a car that doesn’t self destruct every race. He was in the points this race and did a great overtake on Bottas, he deserves to actually finish 

- WIlliams screwing over nicky again... ik he’s not delivering performance wise but rolling his car into place after the legal time frame was just a bit shitty ngl

- im sorry but Alpha Tauri duct taping Yuki’s broken rear wing was the funniest thing ever. I was in stitches. 

- anyways Yuki and Gasly did beautifully 

- SEB P6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- I hope anyone who has been saying he is past his prime is having a bad day bc only he could drag that shitbox into P6

- interesting mclaren team orders to say the least..... theres not really a justifiable reason i think why daniel should’ve been given the order to stay behind lando when danny had the faster car. bit shitty but im glad he was able to place above lando for the first time( i think)

- something has to be done abt the porpoising. whether that is merc or the fia idk but something has to be done, multiple drivers are coming out mentioning that it’s a problem but then also seeing lewis after the race looking very uncomfortable is just ridiculous 

- im getting really really worried for Mick now. There must be something with the car or even just lack of confidence that is preventing him from getting points that the car is possible of reaching. I believe in him but just slightly worrying that he hasn’t gotten any points yet

[danielxricciardo]

Hi there! I don’t know if you got my ask before😭 but I did sent one about Daniel being jealous type? Like Max is Reader’s ex and got bit too touchy and familiar to the reader at party, and like Daniel and Max got into a fight and where other drivers need to break them up. Angst story please! I wanna see Daniel super jealous and protective over his gf.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I am so sorry for not writing the last request!!! I had an extremely busy period and there will be a few more crazy weeks! At first I tried to write in order but I didn't have much inspiration so I started writing randomly! So sorry again!

Summary: You are Daniel's girlfriend and he is jealous on Max, your ex.

Warnings: angst, a little swearing

Word count: 1.7k

Jealousy is an insane feeling... It comes out when you are very affectionately attached to someone or that even the thought of its possession with someone else creates a rage in your heart.

It can be constructive or destructive depending on how you presume to take it.

For him, in any way, it feels like his heart is in a constant state of dropping, his legs get shaky, he feels a twisting in his stomach and all he wants to do is snap at people. It's a horrible feeling that he feels a lot.

Jealousy can come from the fear of losing one or more of the following: power, love, sex, and possessions. Jealousy is a powerful emotion. It exists for a reason, to protect ourselves, but can cause havoc if left unchecked.

A jealous man who feels insecure in himself believes he’s not good enough to keep another person attracted to him over time. He fears that someone better than him is going to make his loved one reconsider their relationship.

Daniel never showed you that he was jealous. Although you were Max's ex-girlfriend, Max should be the one upset and jealous of the two, right? Because after you two broke up, friendly, of course, you soon got together with his best friend.

"Hey, love!" Daniel called to you from the bathroom. "I know you won't let me see the dress, although it is bullshit to me because we're going to a gala, not to our wedding, but can you at least tell me what color it will be? I need to choose a tie."

"Red." you answer from the bedroom, focused not to ruin your nail polish. "And it's not bullshit. I want to surprise you."

"For all I care, you can come dressed in a sack of potatoes and I will still think you are the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Mmm I smell bullshit!" you joke.

The FIA Prize Giving Ceremony is an annual event promoted by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile which honors the achievements of all drivers over the past season.

Although you are not new to this sport, going to Grand Prix as the girlfriend of a driver for more than 5 years, you have never been present at a gala. Of course, you were invited every year, only something always happened and you couldn't go. This year, however, you wanted to be present, especially since Daniel was going to receive the Action of the Year award.

Daniel left before you, he and the boys rented a limousine with which they would get there, and you and the other girls would arrive, also with a limousine. You're not the type to refuse a limousine, especially since you've never been in one, but Daniel and the other boys had to leave their personal cars at the gala because the limousine won't leave you at home, you'll each go to your homes with your own cars.

You were wearing a beautiful backless, tight-fitting red dress, having almost like a silk texture to it, perfectly shaped to fit your figure, strapless, having a corset that makes your breasts bigger than they really were.

When Daniel saw you, you were sure he forgot to breathe for a few seconds. His already large eyes seemed to protrude from his pupils. Your heart had started beating faster, and you had butterflies in your stomach. Even though you had been together for more than three years, you still felt like you were looking at him for the first time.

"You're splendid," he tells you when he helps you out of the limousine. He kisses your hand and you see the dozens of paparazzi flashes towards you.

"You don't look bad either," you answer and enter the building.

Inside were hundreds of people talking to each other and looking like they were having fun. Daniel leads you to your table where you two were seated with Max, Charles, Esteban, and Sebastian with their girlfriends.

"What do you want to drink?" Daniel asks you as he takes off his jacket and leaves it on the back of the chair.

"A glass of white wine."

Daniel kissed you on the cheek and went to get you your drinks. You look around to try to recognize someone and notice that Max is coming towards you.

"Hey, Y/N! Wow, you're so beautiful!" he says and takes your hand to spin you to see you well. "Daniel is a lucky man."

You giggle.

"I saw Kelly, she's gorgeous too! And you're a lucky man because you have her."

He laughs and takes a sip of his drink.

"Yes, you're right. She looks great," he says and looks after her.

Kelly was talking with two women you didn't recognize. It was as if she felt the two of you looking at her, she turned her head towards you and waved.

"Daniel will receive an award, right? Good for him."

"Yes!" you say joyful. "I'm so proud of him."

Max leans over and lightly touches your cheek. You look at him with wide eyes, not understanding what was happening.

"You had a fallen eyelash," he says. "Make a wish."

Before you even thought about a wish to make, you heard glasses breaking, then you saw Max thrown to the floor by someone. Not just someone. Daniel.

Your head was buzzing and you couldn't hear what Daniel was shouting. But you could hear the sound of his fists and the screams of several people who immediately came to separate them.

"What the fuck? Daniel!" Max said as soon as he was lifted from under Daniel.

Kelly immediately ran to him and took his face in her hands, looking for the wounds. He was going to have some pretty big bruises.

"She's my girlfriend!"

Your eyes widened and you immediately looked at Max, who mimicked your movements. What the hell was Daniel talking about?

"Yeah, and Kelly is my girlfriend too. Are we still getting to know each other or are you going to tell me what the fuck happened to you, dickhead?"

"And your girlfriend, Kelly, does she agree with this intimacy between you and Y/N? And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I saw you earlier, you almost kissed!"

"Do you hear what you're saying, jerk? She had a fallen eyelash! Get your head out of your ass and realize that no one is trying to steal your girlfriend. Neither I nor anyone else."

You snort and everyone turns to you. Your face had taken on the color of the dress: red. You were angry. You were shaking and you wanted to beat Daniel, but you were at a formal event; although that didn't stop Daniel from punching Max a few times. You take a step towards Daniel and slap him across the face, hard enough to sting.

"In the car. Now!" You command Daniel and head for the exit, all the people who had gathered around you now getting out of your way.

In the car, none of you had said anything. You didn't know if you had to start saying something or you should wait for him. You had so much to say, but how did you get started? You had so many curses prepared for him, but in what order did you tell them? You wanted to die of shame because of the little stunt Daniel did inside.

You snort, probably for the hundredth time in just a few minutes, and get out of the car.

"Where are you going?" Daniel shouted after me.

He's joking? Because it seems so to you. How dare he ask you where you're going, considering that since you got back in the car he hasn't said a damn thing. He even acted as if your presence bothered him. It's like he doesn't care about you.

You wanted to leave. Go home.

It's just a small problem. The building where the gala took place was in a part of town where you had never been before. You didn't know the way back to the house, you didn't have any money with you to get an Uber and you didn't want to enter the building you just left, ashamed, to ask someone to take you home.

Even though you didn't know where you were, you got out of the car and head for the gate you entered by car.

"Y/N!"

You snort angrily and hurry up. You try to keep calm and not run away, although you are sure that you could not run considering that you are wearing huge heels. You don't realize when he got behind you but now he grabs your hand and stops you. You try to jerk, but he only tightens his grip around your wrist. You face him, giving him the angriest look you're capable of, but he doesn't even deserve it.

"Let me go, please."

You frown. Daniel doesn't say anything and doesn't move, as if he were a stone sheepfold. He is tense and slightly agitated. Finally, he withdraws his hand, then passes it through his curly hair, then puts it in the pocket of his cloth pants.

"I am sorry," he says softly and you can barely hear what he said. "I was jealous."

"Jealousy? Why?"

He shrugs.

"I have no idea."

"You do not trust me?" you ask, feeling like you're about to cry.

He nods frantically.

"It's not like that at all... My jealousy does not come from a lack of trust. It comes with the insecurity when I thought that someone may take my place or was trying to take my place."

"But Max and I are in the past, you are my future..." you say and bite your lip. "You had to talk to me, not pull that little stunt inside. Do you realize what the papers will say tomorrow?"

"Do you think you can forgive me?"

"You need to apologize to Max. I won't have the whole face bruised tomorrow."

[formulinos]

notes on this season

will have to admit this might be lewis' strongest season even though he lost. the comeback he did was incredibly admirable, especially when you consider how much it seemed how he looked like a ghost after races - long covid is rough, y'all - and how mercedes was keen on fucking things up. which is my point 2.

honestly, mercedes felt this season HARD even though they managed to snag constructors. might say it's deserved because they managed to come back whenever necessary, even at this finale, but a few times this season it seemed like it wasn't that rbr were the best, but mercedes were doing the worst. might be a winter of reflection for them.

all in all, the title race was actually pretty tightly well done from the parts of both teams. not much better that mercedes could have done in risking and red bull were right in risking as well, and the best one won. almost fair and square because...

michael masi and his crew are completely null. completely. even though i was backing lewis to win this one, it was completely pathetic to see the "lapped cars can't overtake safety car" message. it's never been like this. even worse with the FIA radio and masi not being able to justify why to red bull. EVEN worse whenever masi tried to clap back to either red bull or mercedes about his decisions. "this is called hard racing, toto" "excuse me?" "this is uhhhh racing". would love for him to step out for 2022, we need tighter stewarding/race direction for the new era.

a few highlights on the other teams before i get to my final point: aston martin are incredibly amateurs, after a certain point this season i was just astonished at how bad they made decisions every race. get your shit together; same with alfa romeo who in theory had it in them to do better than they did, retiring both cars bc of issues like that was borderline disrespectful to gio and kimi; alpine did good considering the expected, alphatauri managed to do ok as well but i feel that being red bull's sister team is starting to hold them back; haas is null but i can't wait to see if their bet paid off next year; mclaren's main deal is suffering from second half-itis and losing gas but i was still concerned with them every race hahaha

actually, one point about ferrari and ferrari only: a bitch has to stan how quickly they come back every time. do i see them being championship contenders next season? no clue bc we'll have new cars BUT overall they seemed really focused on righting a good part of their wrongs and it paid off with an almost brilliant campaign. losing charles' fifth position in the drivers standings was DUMB as all fuck but now it's basically back to the Fine Margins because they already lowered the gap. could have won a few races this season but consistency was key

LAST POINT FINALLY: i said before in the year i didn't rate max and i didn't think red bull would win until they learned from their mistakes in the past. looking back with all we know today, have i changed my mind? well, i still don't rate max but i will give it to him that whenever he wasn't acting and driving like a tit he produced the finest racing of his career, his would be pole in dubai one of the greatest examples. feels like he went two steps back as a person in this last section in comparison to the middle of the season but fuck it, he won so whom cares. unlike previous years, i do think now that one day i will Get Him. i don't think red bull learned any better from this championship though and i still think marko and horner are war criminals but idk. it just feels like something shifted in the universe hahaha good for them for keeping it together until abu dhabi though.

thank you @ baby jesus for this end of this championship, good fucking riddance. you bitches behave until 2022 and forza ferrari!

[mickstart]

what do you think are some iconic/memorable schumi moments? i just got into f1 and would like to know more about him bc somehow i can’t really find anything like that about him.... just stats which are incredibly impressive but i can’t find anything about how he behaved or just anything about his personality..... thanks <3

:) Hi anon, thank you for unleashing the beast.

Ok I love you for asking me this thank you SO MUCH. Welcome to the circus I’m glad you’re here! Also yeah, Schumi is often talked about in terms of statistics and not as a human, Which is a shame bc like! Schumi is fascinating and the dynamics on the grid in late 90s F1 is so much fun! Also, this is mainly going to be late 90s -> early 2010s stuff bc I was born in 98 so uhhh I didn’t properly witness ANY 90s stuff and had to learn about it.

OK so I got super carried away but I’ve divided this into 3 sections: Drives/races that I think showcase some of his talents, human moments we need to talk about more, and Chaotic Little Bitch moments. The key thing to remember w/ Schumi is that he personally tends to be nice but as soon as you put him in a competition, Bastard Mode activates like a cat’s pupils going wide.

I am so sorry for the following short essay. Also some crashes are briefly mentioned but only ones with absolutely no injuries and there’s no details.

Chaotic Little Bitch Moments

Schumi debuted as a SUBSTITUTE driver for Jordan when one of their drivers was in police custody (yes. really.) The highest a Jordan had qualified all year was 10th and in his DEBUT at SPA, one of the toughest tracks, in the middle of the season, Schumi qualified that Jordan 7th! THEN his clutch failed before the first lap was even complete, but Benetton and Jordan WENT TO COURT to fight each other to sign him for their team before the next race in Monza. He couldn’t debut normally he HAD to cause a scene and set the tone.

The Red Strings of Fate: He qualified 7th, his iconic 7 starred helmet, his first victory next year was ALSO at Spa - his first complete race would be at Monza, Ferrari Holy Ground, and he finished 5th which 👀 1) he was immediately racing with The Greats. 2) Mr 5 Championships With Ferrari.

Winning a race by taking a stop and go penalty on the last lap, crossing the finish line in the pits, and making such a complicated argument about said penalty that in a hearing that was SUPPOSED to be Mclaren protesting the race result the stewards scrapped the entire penalty and the 3 who awarded it handed in their licenses??? Iconic.

Austria 2002 where Rubens was ordered to give the win to Michael. And then Michael fucking made him stand on the top step on the podium like “oh no no no RUBENS deserves this” and made a big SHOW out of it and its like “Michael stop you’re not making it heartwarming you’re making it WORSE Michael STOP” The Tension of germany 2010 podium VS the theatricality of THIS podium.

Team orders were banned because of this which also makes this indirectly responsible for Fernando Is Faster Than You having to be a coded message. You can’t escape him,

Blocking Alonso in Monaco qualifying and then, years later in 2010, overtaking Alonso technically illegally at Monaco (the race was ending under safety car, but the safety car doesn’t lead them over the line it pits and they’d crossed the safety car line and the regulations were NOT specific about the rules) and getting a 20 second penalty bc Damon Hill was a steward. Haunting FERNANDO specifically at Monaco like the ghost of christmas past? Getting a harsh penalty because ANOTHER driver he’d fucked over was a steward? Forcing the FIA to rewrite the rulebook to account for his nonsense when he was in his FOURTIES? I don’t know another chaos king.

Winning the 1995 championship by crashing into Damon Hill, getting AWAY with it for some reason, and then trying to do the same thing in 1997 to Villeneuve, failing to do so and simply rebounding off of him harmlessly, almost COMICALLY, and beaching his own car in a gravel trap at which point the FIA said “I have had ENOUGH of you Wacky Races Man!” and disqualified him from the entire championship

Forcing Mika off the track so bad at Spa 2000 that Mika realized the only way he was gonna be able to get past him was to re-invent the overtake and go for it whilst they were passing a backmarker. (The overtake itself is at 2:05 in the video but the build up to it is Important bc the key part it’s not just badass, it only happened bc Mika knew who he was dealing with.)

Spa 1998 was a Ridiculously Chaotic race it truly was the Mugello 2020 of its year, and after a crash at the start that took out almost the entire grid Schumi accidentally collided with Coulthard later in the race. (The teams used to have a spare car at every race then, so the race was able to continue after a restart.) This wasn’t a racing thing, Coulthard was getting lapped. So something in Schumi SNAPS, and he storms down the pitlane and tries to fight Coulthard while the mclaren and ferrari mechanics both hold him back and finally drag him away. He projected into the future, saw Coulthard was gonna talk non-stop shit about Seb, and acted accordingly.

Monaco 2012 Pole don’t talk to me about this I still can’t believe the audacity of this man to get the only pole of his comeback, at MONACO, at the ONE RACE where he had a 5 place grid penalty to take!!

In general, I know Cheating Bad but. I HAVE to admire the brainpower it must take to have the rulebook so memorized that whilst driving an F1 car Schumi could spot a loophole the size of the eye of a needle and then dance through it, forcing the FIA to add ANOTHER page to the rule book specially for him bc nobody else even REALISED that loophole existed.

Human Moments

A quick rant about Mika and Schumi’s entire friendship. After Spa 2000 Mika goes up to Michael, says something like “Don’t ever do that again” then they’re friends again. They had this mutual understanding that Racing was not Reality. This goes all the way back to their F3 days they were rivals AND friends for their entire career. They truly were the Sewis of the era if Sebastian was like 50% more evil. Their entire dynamic is “You’re the only motherfucker in this pit lane who can handle me”. Schumi would do some bullshit and every other driver would throw up their hands in frustration and Mika would just go “Okay” and drive better to put him in his place bc he was the only one who could keep up, and Schumi very visibly LOVED that he’s grinning after Mika owns his entire ass with that overtake at Spa. They were unstoppable force meets immovable object and I’m so sad their rivalry isn’t more talked about bc the way Mika is the only driver who can get him to behave like a normal human being is SO entertaining.

This is a sad one so I won’t link it but he started crying in the 2000 Monza press-conference with his brother and Mika when he equaled one of Senna’s records. The press kept trying to ask questions about it and Mika just has this death grip on his shoulder and tries to get them to stop or let them take a break and it’s so sad but also important to know about.

Once said he didn’t want Mick to race in F1 bc the pressure of his name would put Mick under so much stress and he wanted his son to be happy. (He fully supported Mick in his endeavors! But only after making absolutely sure it was what Mick wanted, and making sure he knew he could just race for fun if he wanted and it didn’t have to be F1)

This whole interview just after Mick was born with the Schumacher family. Special shout out to Gina on his head the entire video and also Corinna talking to the press while Michael is captivated by Mick. Me too Michael.

Once allegedly pleaded to take a stray kitten home from the track?

I reblogged this yesterday but. Sticking like glue to Sebastian at an F1 test and immediately being like “This is my new son he’s gonna go far”. There’s a lot of pictures out there also of Michael being a guest at the karting races Seb went to as a kid and baby Seb visibly losing his fucking mind at being given a trophy by his idol. Every day of my life I think about him trying to ruffle Seb’s hair through his helmet at Brazil 2012

WInning the championship in 2000. Him thanking the entire team individually and pausing mid-celebration to kiss his wife Corinna so tenderly it’s in the F1 opening. Also, the way it literally cuts from the rest of McLaren looking like they’re attending a funeral to Mika grinning at him and hugging him fucking SENDSSSSS me.

Schumi was a little shit in all the 2010-12 press conferences like, lowering Lewis’ chair, playing with a microphone wire, but ESPECIALLY corrupting baby Seb and getting him to mess with Nico Rosberg.

He’s just GOOFY! Like I refuse to let him be remembered as a terrifying force of nature he was so goofy kind of similarly to Seb. PLEASE watch this incredibly awkward interview he did with Coulthard on a golf buggy where they both had to pretend they hadn’t thought about murdering each other at least once. I think Sky F1 should force Brocedes to do this when covid’s over. “Do you mind if I drive?” “Yes.”

EDIT: I CANNOT BELIEVE I forgot the 1999 Canada press conference where Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen get into a water fight and Schumi immediately grabs a towel and hides behind it and is like “I had NOTHING to do with it” 🥺 adorable, actually

A lot of people at Ferrari, including Rob Smedley (who was on the other side of the garage with Felipe Massa so not in his inner circle) have said that a lot of the success of the team came from Schumi’s LEADERSHIP more than anything, that he’d make the team get together to bond all the time. When Schumi moved to Ferrari in 1996 they were NOT dominant. He did the same thing Lewis did - went to a team that everybody said would be a huge mistake and helped build them up behind the scenes.

THIS bit of the Canada 2011 Rewind where his engineer gives him the strategy and he’s like “... OkaAaAaAay?” and then when it turns out to be the wrong strategy he cheerfully tells them it’s too late. Little shit.

Speaking of Mercedes I also wanna say that like. They were a MESS in 2012 and his car DNF’d because of a failing on their part MULTIPLE times. (In Canada qualifying his DRS was stuck open and they couldn’t close it.) He did not say a single bad word about them EVER even though the press used this to attack him non-stop as washed-up and bad without Ferrari to cheat for him. At Ferrari he was the exact same with the team, any bastard antics Schumi had for his rivals did not extend to the engineers and crew.

OK this one is soured bc Top Gear is trash BUT if you were like, a kid in England who followed motorsports? Schumi’s fake reveal as The Stig on Top Gear was like the coolest, sickest thing,

Please view this image of Schumi and Mika when they were young and stupid

Iconic Races

ok so I have limited myself to a few races that show off some of his key strengths!

Hungary 1998 / France 2004 - STRATEGY/SPEED - Schumi switched to a 3 stop strategy in 98 and a FOUR STOP strategy in 04 and won both races. In order for the strategy call to work he’d have to basically make every single lap a qualifying style ‘flying lap’ and you best fucking believe he DID THAT. God I fucking miss when Ferrari was the king of strategy.

Argentina 1998 -  has it all. Talent, battling Mika, pit lane mind games with mclaren, and bullying coulthard xxx

Spain 1996 / a majority of the wet races - RAIN - One of Schumi’s nicknames was Rain Master bc he was so fucking good in the wet. If it started raining and you were a Schumi stan you were cackling evilly before the red lights even went out. I single out 1996 bc it was his first win for Ferrari and it was unexpected but in most wet races, even Canada 2011 post comeback, you can see Schumi thriving.

Malaysia 1999 - Schumi missed pretty much the entire second half of the season with a broken leg, came back for the last 2 races with everybody murmuring about whether he would struggle, and immediately put the Ferrari on pole. Also worth noting is that he was the number 2 driver for these 2 races bc his teammate Irvine was fighting Mika for the championship and he went along with that without complaint, allowing Ferrari to win the constructor’s championship if not the driver’s.

Monza 2002, 03, 04, or 06 just because it has the energy of the tifosi kneeling at the feet of an idol to their red god.

Brazil 2006 - Fuck All Y’all - Schumi’s last race for Ferrari. He got a puncture and ended up almost lapped, and then drove his way back from that to 4th bc he couldn’t go out without reminding us he’s a bad bitch.

Monza 2012 - Defending - Don’t tell F1 Twitter that there’s actual footage of Lewis and Michael having a genuine lengthy battle on track but DO watch Michael defending like a motherfucker and Lewis breathing down his neck for half the race we need to talk about this more.

Valencia 2012 - This isn’t necessarily anything special but I cried in my living room over the only podium of his comeback so it goes on here. It doesn’t have the same impact if you haven’t been watching him struggle with the car for years, DNF-ing from car failure most of 2012, and having BBC F1 telling you he’s washed up every single weekend, but you can just enjoy one of the best drives of FERNANDO’S entire career as he DRAGS that Ferrari by its hair to a home grand prix win and then watch the crowds embrace him like jesus and also Schumi being happy on the podium. Also, the very start of this clip from the press conference: him forgetting what language he’s supposed to be speaking 

Basically, Schumi was a hyper-competitive ambitious bitch who turned into a goofball as soon as he switched the engine off. This is by NO MEANS everything if I was making an exhaustive best races guide I’d do more research and another post but I hope this is what you were looking for?? THANK YOU SO MUCH for letting me go MAXIMUM SPECIAL INTEREST and I apologize.

[ajoblotofjunk]

I was going through my first outline for HFoG and wow that is some wild shit. It was so different! For fun I thought I’d share some of it so you can see where it veered dramatically off course.

The first couple of chapters are the same, the first differences really start in March.

March (Yr 1) - Two weeks later in mid-March is first race - Did you declare the oil?/Of course I did, gods, Jaime, I know what I'm doing. /I saw you studying the regs again.; pit stop argument, etc.; Early pit stop, Jaime thinks they're too slow, is watching the racers pacing him, zooms off a bit too soon and Brienne is FURIOUS with him for putting them in danger, they have a huge fight and it's the first time he backs off a little and apologizes. She says 'if you do it again, I'm done.' I promise I won't. 'There has to be trust, Lannister.' 'Jaime's shorter, you know. You'd save a whole syllable. Could be critical in the pit.' She rolls her eyes. 'Fine. Jaime.'; Brienne in response makes Jaime learn how to stop exactly where he needs to; she stands in front, knowing he'll hit her if she doesn't trust him. I'll be the front jack. He makes a comment and she's like “this is serious, Jaime.” He swallows and nods by her use of his name. “Okay then. Let's practice.” He's still wounded from his team betraying him, he doesn't trust them, but he trusts Brienne. (This is all between the preseason and first race)

(Ed. note:That thing about the syllables shows up in the wedding night sex as my own personal shoutout TO MYSELF because I always loved that line and it never made it into the fic in the end and I’m an enormous dork.)

May (Yr 1) – Bronn places dye in Jaime's gloves so when he shakes hands they're blue (but Jaime laughs, he's the happiest he's been in years, he's driving loose and confident and reckless but he's winning for now); Martyn's payment comes due & almost fucks up Brienne (he's on tire duty, he is slow on the pneumatic during a practice and asks for her help and she comes over and he releases it as she's going for it and it almost breaks her wrist. It's obvious he did it purposefully and the crew swarms him, Bronn goes to get Jaime, who comes back FURIOUS and fires him; Arya joins the crew (Willem cleans up his act)

(Ed. note: I forgot Arya was supposed to join in year one. Hah.)

June has most of what ended up being in July, and July has most of what ended up being in June. Then:

August (Yr 1) – Two weeks in he shows up, middle of a hot, lazy summer; they have a great time; he drives the F1, they grow closer

(Ed. note: No sexytimes at all on Tarth. No sexytimes at all until the second year, which is one of the best changes I made.)

September (Yr 1) – Wins a race, shirt off, spray w/champagne; they kiss first time before crash ('for good luck' he says; realized he felt like he always did at the start of a race day, blood pulsing with the need for action and the roar and vibration of the engine under him); BEFORE he loses his hand, he's about ready to have sex with her on top of the car but he's got his celibacy thing and he's like “after the race”) and then he crashes the next day so their first time takes awhile. (He's glad she didn't know what he was like with two hands, he's worried he couldn't compete with that Jaime.); crash happens at Griffin's Roost end of Sept. (he hit Red before that for talking shit about Brienne; does Vargo Hoat cause the crash (Martyn gave him secret access to the info & the building w/Connington's help - oh snap)); she's watching, he takes the corner too fast and then in the second between watching live and turning to the screen, his car is flipping. She sees his car and her brother's car superimposed on each other, when she'd snuck out to see it at the impound after.

(Ed. note: The original reason they don’t get together in the first year was because Jaime had a celibacy vow during the race season that he kept as sort of a ‘good luck’ thing, which I’m super glad I dropped. Not my finest plot device. 😂)

Oct  (Yr 1)– Brienne convinces Selwyn to start a team and signs Jaime based on Brienne's belief in him; She ends up driving him fast to get that feeling back. But he's a complete disaster, drinks too much and makes a fool of himself, cruel as a defense mechanism, obsessed w/Brienne but doesn't want to bring her down

(Ed. note: This was a period of time where the Arctic Monkeys’ “Do You Wanna Know” was influencing everything I was writing and I wanted him to be very sweaty and wrecked and this is also a thing I’m glad I dropped. Brynn and I actually talked about this a lot - whether Jaime being cruel to her after they’ve started getting together would be a dealbreaker; at one point he was so mean to her she just left for Tarth and that kickstarted him into wanting to get his act together, but a lot changed and so did that, thankfully)

Nov (Yr 1) – Brienne tells him the news after the World Championship when he's super down on himself and that she will be his race engineer and have Bronn as his chief mechanic because she blames herself for not paying attention (which she doesn't reveal until later); and Pod and Arya and most of the crew; she says no December break, you have to work for it. “Why?” he asks. He starts rehab. They start fixing up Selwyn's F1.

(Ed. note: Oh I forgot she surprised him with the news they were starting a racing team for him. Hah. Wow this version was SO DIFFERENT.)

Dec (Yr 1) – She surprises him by bringing in Arthur Dayne to motivate him; they get FIA to agree that he can have a modified steering wheel. Jaime has conversation with Selwyn – you have more money than you  let on. 'I wanted Brienne to have a simple life.' 'Then why did you let her come with me?' 'Because you were the only one who didn't look at her like she was a freak.' Jaime is- OOF.

(Ed. note: I knew I wanted Arthur Dayne to show up, but he was playing a more active mentoring role in this version, and then once I really started getting into Jaime being left hanging alone with the ‘Kingslayer’ stuff, I was pissed at Arthur and realized it wasn’t okay for him to just show up. Heh. Also - that line is actually in the final version of HFoG, so some things do stay!)

Jan (Yr 2) – (they don't have NEARLY as much money as with Lannister Corp – look at this for ideas of how that will play out: https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/tales-former-f1-chief-mechanic-952404/3045945/)

(Ed. Note: I did end up using a TON of the reading and research that I did throughout the story, even in the final version. Races were especially helpful for me to see the wild things that COULD happen - like Brienne coming in to pit with two flat tires. However, the Evenstar team having a much smaller budget never came in to play as much as I thought when I first started. There were some hints of it - their meager ‘cafe’ in the paddock, only having one wing at the end, not having all the extra parts teams normally would, but that article is actually pretty interesting for other ways the really shoestring budget teams have to cope. The LanCo LST was really helpful for me to get around the reality that having a car that can compete at the top level requires an absurd amount of money.)

Feb (Yr 2) - Oberyn Martell had won instead, his first championship ever, and he had not seemed happy when he took the trophy. Brienne had been touched when he'd dedicated it to Aerys and he'd had the trophy sent to Aerys' family; Rumor hinted they'd melted it down and sent that to Jaime Lannister with a note calling him 'Kingslayer,' but it seemed so medieval and cruel Brienne couldn't believe it.

(Ed. Note: Oh geeze I totally forgot about this subplot! There was a whole thing where the Targaryen’s HAD done that and Jaime held onto the trophy as sort of a self-flagellation and then he ends up throwing it away before he proposes to Brienne. Hah.)

Mar (Yr 2) – how he loses one race: https://www.dw.com/en/f1-sebastian-vettel-loses-his-cool-as-lewis-hamilton-wins-canadian-grand-prix/a-49120669

Apr (Yr 2) – he gets really frustrated and shoves all the tools off the table; “I'm not cleaning that up,” she said and walked out on him.

(Ed. note: Honestly a little sad I never kept this scene in some form. It could have been good.)

Jul (Yr 2) - (He puts the old-school lollipop sign in her hand. You tell me when you're ready.)

(Ed. note: this would have been ~symbolic~ because the lollipop signs were what the pit crew used to use to stop a driver in the pit lane and then released him back on the track, but it would have taken too much to explain and it never felt worth it.)

Aug (Yr 2) – She says he needs the rest; he wants to be with her; they have sex; she admits she's been reluctant she didn't want to curse him and he thought she just wasn't interested though he adored her. He says “you're the best luck I ever had.” They finally get together for good.

(Ed. note: I held onto that “best luck I ever had” line for far, far longer than it deserved. I mean it almost showed up in the actual proposal scene and luck had ceased to be a thematic thing between them.)

Oct (Yr 2) – He shows her the interview from their first week – this moment, and he paused right after her story, when he'd stared at her with what she recognized now as adoration; this, he said, is when I first fell in love with you. (That's how he tells her he loves her.); Bronn gets sick, she has to be Chief Mechanic again, she's terrified about Jaime crashing but she works a couple of races and everything is okay. Bronn comes back.

(Ed. note: So - this was going to be Brienne’s big emotional subplot in addition to the relationship. Her being Chief Mechanic again after she was his mechanic during his crash. That was why I ended up changing everything, because it wasn’t enough.)

Nov (Yr 2) – he wins the World Championship; they get fastest pit time record; they find each other in the crowd, Jaime pushing through the media scrum and other racers and everyone and he sees her tall and blonde and tears in her eyes and they find each other and hug and kiss and he doesn't care.

(Ed. note: He had been the more reticent one which was absurd. So many good changes from this version.)

January (again) - He retires to work with her and Selwyn on Tarth; they start a racing school with a focus on underprivileged and disabled kids, as well as girls; Brienne keeps getting calls to be a mechanic for another team (will she?? No, she loves being home mentoring girls interested in being mechanics)

(Ed. note: The karting school was there from the beginning!! But again I didn’t really understand Brienne in this initial outline, and I’m so glad I spent the time thinking more about her and what she wanted. I think the balance between them really worked to give the story so much more depth.)

[thebarsondaily]

Of A Perfect Chaotic Wedding by roseinutopia

Title: Of A Perfect Chaotic Wedding Author: roseinutopia Rating: T Prompt: cherry blossoms Summary: Olivia and Rafael get married, and of course their friends and family prevent the weekend from becoming ordinary. Barson, Fia/Mike, Barba Family, SVU squad family, Rita Calhoun A/N: Wow, okay, this once again got out of hand and ended up being way longer than I intended. A big thank you to barsonaddict, who had a look at it during the production phase and reassured me once again that I hadn’t fucked up. I hope you all enjoy this, I’m looking forward to your feedback! :)

Olivia Benson had never been that kind of woman that dreamt of romantic spring weddings, lacy white wedding gowns and all these traditional activities for weddings that were discussed in those bridal magazines she’d never laid a hand on.

She’d learned early in her life that there were no fairy tales in the real world, that life usually held mostly negative surprises, and that finding Prince Charming who would remain Prince Charming forever was an impossible task. In the last decade or so, she’d started to come to terms with being alone, a single mother, and opposite to what many pitying mothers in the waiting room of doctors or at the preschool had predicted, she didn’t feel miserable about it at all. Noah made her happy, the happiest she’d ever been in her life, and she didn’t need anything else.

No spring weddings with pastel colours, every shade carefully matched, from the flowers over the bridesmaid’s dresses and the groomsmen’s ties. No big crowd of guests,  witnessing a moment that was just about two people vowing to be together forever - or at least until one of them decided it was time to part and find younger partners. Olivia had never aspired to be part of such an event, except maybe as a guest, able to drink as much wine as she wanted from the open bar while the sappy speeches were delivered.

And yet…

As she watched herself in the mirror, her fingers nervously smoothing down the knee-length white dress with some lace, her hair in soft curls and everyone around her bustling to get ready, she couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t feel odd at all. Maybe because while she knew that some of the decorations were straight from the latest issue of Bride Today – Lucia really needed to diversify her reading – she knew that it wasn’t big, not exaggerated, but simply about celebrating a connection with their closest friends and family.

“You ready, Liv?” Amanda asked softly, stepping in to hand Liv her bouquet of flowers, and she gave her friend a happy smile.

“Yes, I can barely wait.”

“Well, but don’t run down the aisle, Liv, we don’t wanna give Mrs B a heart attack because the photographer is missing all the good wedding shots,” Fin joked with a relaxed grin as he straightened his tie, and everyone in the room chuckled; Fin’s chest seemed to swell a little at the sight of Rita Calhoun smirking before turning to the only picture of slight misery in the room.

“Fia, you want some champagne?” she teased the young woman who was trying to keep her head from dropping from sleepiness while dabbing makeup on a giant hickey on her neck.

“Oh, fuck off, smartass. As if you were any better last night,” Fia grumbled, placing her curls over shoulder so the hickey was concealed, and stood up slowly. “And may I remind you who didn’t stop me from ordering cocktails? You’re a witch. Someone got an aspirin?”

“Well, yes, we drank just as much, but we at least got some sleep tonight, unlike a certain young lady here.”

Amanda, Rita and Liv exchanged triumphant grins, obviously enjoying the situation, and Fia, holding up the rose-coloured skirt of her dress, slipped into her heels, glaring at them. “I’ll never trust you guys with a drink again.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t have fun last night, it was quite obvious, despite the awkwardness. You’re just annoyed we all know by now what you were up to.”

“And it was a wild night for everyone,” Amanda added, then turned to Liv. “And you almost didn’t want to have a party at all.”

OoO

“Oh come on, Liv, you only are a bachelorette once in your life! See, I’m that optimistic about Barba and you. You gotta have a party,” Amanda pleaded, Rita and Fia standing right behind her as backup, while Olivia took off her glasses and put them on her desk.

“Another ambush? You’re not going to give up on this, huh?”

It had been two weeks since the other women had first proposed a bachelorette party, and even though Liv had kept declining, they were in her office yet again.

“Come on, Liv, a little party never killed nobody,” Rita argued and Fia nodded, though looking on the verge of teasing her about her use of words.

“Besides, we now got an idea that’ll convince you.”

Raising her eyebrow, Olivia gave them a ‘try me’ glance and the women exchanged triumphant grins.

“Either you don’t want the boys running off to a strip club with your fiancé or you just want Rafi to be there, too, for a simple pre-wedding party. We assume it’s the latter, and so we would like to propose a normal party with all our friends and colleagues. No strippers, except you want to share one, just some drinks at a bar with live music and some dancing. How does that sound?”

Fia and Rita shot Amanda confused stares – they hadn’t discussed bands – but quickly smiled at Liv as well, to make her think that they’d come up with this together. The three women held their breaths in anticipation as Olivia looked up at them, arms crossed in front of her chest, chair tipped back a little.

It seemed like an eternity had passed until she finally smiled a little, shrugging.

“Okay, that sounds nice. I’m just against anything too big or cheesy. Just a nice, relaxing evening with friends, please.”

“What the bride wishes, the bride gets, Liv,” Amanda answered with a grin, exaggerating a little by giving her a thumbs up and a wink. “I’m your bridesmaid, I’ll take care of everything. With my two grooms… women here. Okay, we gotta go. Come on, girls, we have a party to organise.”

Before Olivia had the chance to change her opinion, the three women turned on their heels and marched out of her office, banging the door close behind them. Releasing a breath, Olivia leaned back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose when she thought about the fact that she would have to break the news about the party to her fiancé. Hopefully he would just embrace the opportunity to get drunk and watch his mother do the same and embarrass herself instead of seeing that yet another aspect of their wedding was taken out of their hands. While he’d accepted the lack of control – there was no point in arguing with Lucia – he’d become rather passionate in expressing his objections lately, and Olivia could already hear him making an unwilling noise and say that he would stay home with Noah.

Though Olivia couldn’t help but suspect that he secretly liked that he didn’t have to stress about organisational stuff but had someone almost professional for that job with Lucia. And he probably didn’t feel as negative about the decorations either. He just liked to play the grumpy groom for the alliteration.

-i-

Outside Olivia’s office, Fia and Rita were feeling light rushes of panic at the developments, and after exchanging some nervous glances – once again – Fia decided to confront Amanda about her sudden change of plans.

“Uhm, Amanda? How do we organise a live band on such short notice? I mean, I’ve had connections for the stripper, but a band is a little trickier… you really gotta stop these spontaneous ideas.”

Amanda smirked at Fia’s worried tone, glancing over to the desks in the squad room. “Oh, I already know. I just say ‘The Cuffs’.”

Fia cocked an eyebrow. “The Cuffs? Is this some weird bondage thing? I thought we were going for an ordinary party.”

“And you pride yourself to know the best bars and the best live bands in the city? Oh please,” Amanda teased and gestured for Rita and Fia to follow her, then she strode over to Sergeant Mike Dodds’ desk with a winning smile. She knew that he wouldn’t say no, for several reasons, though she’d deduced the most important one from the way he’d tried to hide that he’d been glancing over to them again and again. Time to put a foot in the door and kill two birds with one stone.

“Oh Mike, I was just telling Fia and Rita about the awesome music you and your band are making. And Delfia here had the amazing idea that maybe you guys could play at the little pre-wedding party that we’re planning for Olivia and Rafael. She’s totally into rock music,” Amanda said in an Oscar-worthy innocent and casual tone, while Fia could barely control her expression. The smile she shot Mike was a little crooked, but it still seemed to light up his face a little. Rita noted that both were getting slightly pink cheeks and was glad for her perfected poker face, otherwise she would have grinned like a Cheshire Cat upon realising what Amanda’s hidden agenda was.

Lucia Barba would be proud.

“Oh, really?”

Mike sat up a little straighter, his face lighting up, and Amanda was sure that he could barely suppress the urge to straighten his tie to look even more presentable.

“Well, I just happened to hear that you guys are good and Liv would surely like having someone she knows provide some special atmosphere to the party.”

Amanda and Rita had to admit that Fia was quite good at improvising, though Mike seemed too distracted by her mere presence to be able to pick up on it, anyway. And combining that fact with the winning, charming demeanour she displayed upon continuing to speak, he really didn’t have a chance anymore. “It would mean a lot to her, surely. And I would appreciate it too, of course. Music can be the make or break of a party.”

She used the deer eyes for good measure – go big or go home was one of her favourite mottos – and Mike had visible trouble to appear casual when he met her gaze; Fia found herself thinking that it was adorable.

“Well, if Liv is okay with it… I’m sure the others would be up to it, too.” Fia smiled gratefully, swearing to herself that she would give Amanda hell for doing this. Though she should probably have anticipated that a trained detective would notice the interested glances she’d thrown the handsome Sergeant when Rita and her had entered the squad room earlier. He totally wasn’t her type, but well… a lady could have a look at what the menu had to offer. “Amazing, Mike. We’re really looking forward to your performance, then,” Amanda said with a smirk, turning to the women with a wink, and Fia would have grimaced at her if Mike hadn’t still been looking at her. Something inside her started to prickle as their gazes met again, and for a second she was in danger of getting lost in his green eyes; she was more than grateful when Rita nudged her lightly, muttering something about getting lunch together into her ear. She rolled her eyes about the knowing smirk on Amanda’s face and inwardly prepared a speech about how looking didn’t mean she wanted something from him and that she was too busy with work and the wedding to even think about something else than casual one time things, but Amanda marched off towards her desk before she could start ranting.

“Was that really necessary?” she hissed to Rita when they made their way towards the elevator, throwing a last grateful smile to Mike Dodds.

“He said yes, didn’t he?”

“He probably would have agreed anyway.”

Rita just smirked to herself, knowing that arguing about what had just happened wouldn’t be of any use. They’d achieved their goals for the day, and that was all that mattered.

Now their focus would be a hell of a party.

OoO

There was a light knock on the door and Lucia entered a moment later, leading Jesse and Noah into the room with a soft smile. “Our adorable flower kids are ready! Oh, Olivia, you look wonderful!”

“Mummy is always pretty,” Noah said while fiddling with his bow tie, beaming at his mother. Jesse was holding the basket with the petals of cherry blossoms tightly, looking a little nervous about the task ahead. Everyone had said that it was an important one, and she really didn’t want to do anything wrong and upset Auntie Livy and Uncle Rafa.

“Thank you, baby, that’s sweet of you.”

Olivia chuckled lightly and gave her son a kiss on the cheek, feeling a little emotional. How much he’d grown, and how much their life had changed from good to even better, thanks to the man that was waiting for them outside. Shaking her head to hold back tears – Rita had invested too much work in the makeup to allow it to smudge – and straightened her back. “Is everyone good to go? Fia?”

“I’ll try not to throw up,” Fia grumbled back, skillfully ignoring her aunt’s glare as she took the small bouquet from her. “Let’s go before Liv loses patience and elopes with Rafael. I’d never live in peace again.”

Rita chuckled, obviously loving the snide remark, and Lucia’s lips became a thin, disapproving line for a moment before she seemed to push a button inside and became her vibrant, overly-excited self again.

“She’s right, we should get going. Oh, Rita, Odafin, I thought maybe you two could walk down the aisle together, as the oldest and best friends of Olivia and Rafael and brides… eh… bridesman and groomslady?”

Lucia frowned lightly as she stumbled over the not so traditional role allocation, but she didn’t let it stop her for long. “Now hush, Olivia wants to get married! After last night you owe me that, Rita!”

Fin and Rita both hesitated for a second, exchanging almost tentative glances, but when Fin offered Rita his arm she took it despite showing signs of reluctance. A pleased sound, almost like a coo, left Lucia and Rita rolled her eyes when Lucia said in a high-pitched tone: “Oh, don’t you two look wonderful together?”

“Let’s get going, okay?” Rita grumbled and Amanda took Noah’s and Jesse’s hands, leading them to the door before any discussion could come up and ruin the mood. Everyone followed them, with Lucia hastily slipping past them so she would be able to get into the room in which the wedding ceremony and celebration would take place before they would start everything with their entry.

“Are you two ready?”

“I’m nervous,” Jesse admitted quietly, looking up at her mother with worry in her big blue eyes, and Amanda knelt down carefully, pushing one of her blonde curls out of her face.

“You know that’s okay, baby? It means you care. But there’s nothing to worry about. Noah is with you and you two just throw the petals for Auntie Olivia and give them the rings, I know you can do it.”

She pressed a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and Jesse smiled tentatively when Noah took her hand, her best friend’s presence obviously giving her courage. Everyone smiled fondly at the two children as they got in position, and Olivia felt her head swimming with excitement and joy. There wasn’t even the tiniest trace of doubt inside her, and she found herself almost shifting impatiently, anticipation bubbling inside her while everyone lined up according to Lucia’s carefully outlined plan. Releasing a breath upon the start of the soft music played by a string quartet, a soft smile came onto Olivia’s face.

The procession slowly started moving – nobody dared to walk too fast lest to provoke Lucia’s anger – and in this moment Olivia barely had more than a few fleeting glances for the beautiful and tasteful decoration of the room, soft colours and fabrics everywhere, accompanied by candles. Neither did she pay much attention to the guests sitting in a circle around the middle of the room, knowing that she would have enough time to be emotional about all the old friends and family who’d decided to witness this day and share her happiness.

Even the music – and Lucia’s soft sobs in the front row – faded into the background when her gaze fell onto the man standing under the canopy of dark wood, fabric and branches with blossoms wreathed around it. Their eyes met as if they were naturally drawn towards each other, and her heart jumped when she saw the tears shimmering in his eyes, his face wearing an expression of pure happiness.

In just a few minutes, she would marry this man, the love of her life. A promise to share her life with him, the good times and the bad, and there’d never been someone in her life whom she felt so ready to commit to in this way. Saying it out loud today, in this small ceremony, might only be a symbolic ritual to her, for they - and everyone around them - had been aware of their special relationship for years, but yet she felt like it meant a lot. This way, she could let the whole world know that she was his and he was hers. And after years of waiting, she really did have the desire to scream it out loud.

Their gazes remained locked, barely aware of how Jesse and Noah threw the flowers with proud grins, how Rita and Fin parted and took their places on the left and right sides of the canopy, joined by Fia and Amanda. So they also were oblivious of how Fia tried to avoid and searched for the gaze of a certain Sergeant seated in the second row with some other SVU colleagues, which resulted in a quite amusing expression that she tried to mask with a smile.

“Glad you came, mi amor,” Rafael whispered with a smirk when she stopped next to him, lacing their fingers together.

“Wouldn’t have missed this day for nothing in the world,” she replied softly, both of them ignoring Lucia’s loud sobs. Pure joy was radiating between them, and in this moment, all the stress and chaos around the organisation of this day was forgotten – just as the fact that the previous night hadn’t gone as planned either, and that some people in the wedding party had in fact almost missed this day.

OoO

The bar was well-filled with friends and colleagues when Rafael and Olivia arrived, and the moment they were through the door Rita stood in front of them with drinks. “Oh, there you are. We’d been worrying you wouldn’t get Rafael to attend. I know he can be such a party pooper.”

Rafael shot Rita a sharp glance, taking the scotch from her and shot back: “Rita, I’m not sure you should come to the wedding at all. You’re handling divorces as well, that would be like, y’know, testing fate. Fia will handle being my witness on her own just fine.”

They all knew that he didn’t mean a single word, that he was just trying to act grumpy and inconvenienced, yet Rita made a show of gasping and placing one hand over her heart.

“Wow, why didn’t Lucia tell me? I would never want to endanger your happy marriage. Of course I’ll stay away.”

“As if, you couldn’t stay away from free drinks,” Rafael teases lightly, the corners of his lips twitching upwards, and Rita slapped his shoulder lightly before making an inviting gesture towards the room.

“I hope you two have fun. Avoid Carisi, though, he read about some case on the newspaper and is now out for shoptalk. Took me an agonisingly long half hour to get rid of him.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

With a smirk, she turned around and walked off towards the bar, where Fia was studying the cocktail card with such an intense interest that Rafael could only conclude that his mother was around somewhere. Since Rafael and Olivia had announced their engagement, Lucia had started to get even more vocal – if that was even possible – about her wish that her niece would finally find a man to settle down with, get married herself, and, most importantly, give Lucia more grandchildren. That Fia had no desire for any of these things didn’t matter, of course. Rafael would have to have a serious talk with her sometime before the ceremony, he didn’t want anything to get out of control at the reception.

“Let’s find somewhere to sit, mi amor, shall we?”

-i-

“Rita, what do you think? Long Island Iced Tea?” Fia asked with a sigh of defeat when Rita slipped on the barstool next to the younger woman. Shrugging, Rita nodded at the bartender who’d already listened in, and the man started mixing their cocktails.

“I try to tell myself that everything will be over once this wedding weekend is done, but I got the feeling it’ll only get worse. Maybe I should try to get into a ballet company in Europe or something. Or Asia. Just somewhere far away.”

“Not the best idea,” Rita replied, patting Fia’s shoulder. “She would call you in the middle of the night.”

“As if she isn’t doing that already.”

They both released a sigh and sat in silence  until their drinks were placed in front of them. Lucia could tire out even the strongest person.

Just as Fia took a sip of her cocktail, she saw someone lean against the bar from the corner of her eye and almost choked on the liquid when a low voice that had followed her into her dreams said: “A beer, please.”

Mike Dodds gave them a polite smile when the two women turned towards him, Rita focused on their reactions to each other. The slightly pink cheeks and forced casual smiles, paired with other subdued nervous reactions, were unmistakable to her, enforcing the opinion that she’d formed on these two the day they’d convinced Olivia about the party tonight.

“Hey Dodds, why don’t you sit with us for a bit?” Rita offered cheekily, noting with satisfaction how Fia’s hand slipped in surprise while in the middle of pushing one of her dark curls behind her ear.

“I would really love to, but we want to start playing in a minute.”

He seemed genuinely sorry, and Rita relished in how obvious these two were. “Oh, we’re really looking forward to that, Dodds. Fia’s been talking about nothing else the last days. Maybe you want to join us for a drink afterwards, though.”

Fia elbowed her, but continued smiling at Mike, whose cheeks seemed to take a deeper shade of pink when Fia’s and his gazes met briefly. Nodding with a light shrug, he almost stumbled into a barstool while shuffling away from the bar. “Sure, I’d love to. See you later, Counselor. Miss R…uhm, Fia.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Fia hissed once Mike was on his way to the stage on the other side of the bar, her eyes gliding over the retreating form of the tall, muscular Sergeant.

“Oh, just bringing the two of you a bit closer. You’re clearly interested.”

“I’m not! He’s not my type! Also I’m not looking for anything!”

Fia finally managed to tear her gaze away from him and turned to Rita with a somewhat frustrated expression, giving herself away. Rita rose an eyebrow, staring at the younger woman, and Fia took a few long sips of her drink before admitting: “Fine. He’s a guapo and I’d totally lay him if he wasn’t a guest at the wedding.”

“Pardon, I don’t see your problem.”

After another few sips, Fia sighed heavily, as if Rita had said something stupid. “You’ve seriously forgotten what you taught me? Never have a one night stand with someone you know you’ll see again. It’ll only get you into trouble.”

With a dismissive noise, Rita waved one hand. “That doesn’t apply to wedding weekends. It means you get the chance to fuck him twice if he’s good. Don’t act like you’re into making reasonable decisions.”

“You got a point,” Fia agreed, a tiny smirk playing around the corners of her lips when Mike and his band got onto the stage under the applause of some cops, getting ready to start their first song. “I’ll have Lucia annoying me the whole weekend, I should have some fun to make up for that.”

“That’s the spirit.”

They chuckled lightly, clinking their glasses together before drinking a few huge gulps, listening with satisfaction how ‘The Cuffs’ started playing, Mike’s voice – sometimes powerful, sometimes soft – filling the room. After two or three songs, during which Fia had been more or less unable to take her eyes off the singing and guitar-playing Sergeant, Rita decided that her work was done and that it was time to take care of the only person who could rain on her – or rather Fia’s – parade tonight.

Grabbing her drink and slipping off her barstool, she let her gaze glide through the room until she spotted her target – Lucia was sitting in a booth, sipping a glass of wine while letting Amanda show her the newest cute pictures of Jesse.

She would make sure Lucia stayed sufficiently distracted and couldn’t interfere.

“Oh Lucia, my dear, do you want another glass of wine?”

-i-

The later the hour got, the more alcohol flowed, the more boisterously the mood got, and Olivia didn’t regret to have agreed to this party. It wasn’t often that she had the opportunity to let loose like this, and after the stress of organising the wedding, this was more than welcome. She would have to thank Rita, Fia and Amanda for this later.

Rafael and her had taken some spins on the dancefloor while ‘The Cuffs’ had played, and now she was at her fourth glass of wine, standing in a corner with Amanda and making poor Fin squirm.

“Come on, Fin, everyone here knows you got a crush on Rita. This weekend is the perfect opportunity for you to finally make a move.”

“Yeah, also if you don’t tell her, we’ll do that for you eventually,” Amanda added threateningly, causing Fin to shift from one foot onto the other, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“She’s not interested. Ain’t going to make a fool of myself.”

Amanda and Olivia exchanged annoyed glances, for they knew that Fin wasn’t right about Rita’s interest, and gave their friend dark stares. “You just have to try, Fin. Ask her for a dance.”

Fin gazed over his shoulder, and the three of them scanned the room for the defense attorney, but failed to spot her. “Huh, she was there a minute ago, taking Lucia off the dancefloor after her Dancing Queen performance.”

They checked the room again, but they could only see Carisi excitedly holding Rafael captive in a booth, talking about the article he’d read; Olivia briefly considered coming to his rescue, but then she decided against it. He’d been warned to stay away from Carisi.

Some of their friends were still dancing or chatting by the bar, the crowd a little too thick to make out most of the faces.

“See, she anticipated your plan and fled,” Fin grumbled, obviously trying to act relieved even though there was a flash of disappointment visible on his face. “I’m gonna get myself another beer.”

Amanda made an annoyed noise and turned to Olivia, frowning. “Where the hell are they? I had big plans!”

“No idea,” Olivia replied with a shrug, letting her gaze glide over the crowd a last time. “They’ll reappear sooner or later.”

Little did she know that ‘later’ would be the case.

OoO

Olivia was incredibly proud that she’d managed not to burst into tears while Rafael and her exchanged their vows, even though they’d pricked in her eyes persistently throughout the short but sweet ceremony. Suddenly, it all seemed to go a lot quicker than anticipated, and she wished she could have slowed time while Rafael and her took their rings from a proudly beaming Noah and slipped them on each other’s fingers, Lucia continuing to sob loudly in the background. If the moment had passed slower, she would have taken the time to savour the sweet kiss they exchanged, the words describing their deep love during their vows; she would have gazed at every single smiling face around her, able to appreciate how happy everyone was for them.

But even though time didn’t slow down, she still managed to capture some of the quickly passing events and commit them to memory, knowing that most of the things that passed in a blur today would be much clearer when she had the time to lean back and think of them again.

From one moment to the other, Rafael and her were husband and wife, walking through the long lines of their friends and families with Noah between them, cherry blossoms raining down on them, and while she didn’t feel like it was a big moment of change, she couldn’t deny that it was one of extraordinary happiness.

Showing off her little family would always be her favourite thing to do.

After a few minutes to themselves, during which Rafael and her just grinned at each other like kids who’d just successfully pulled off a prank while listening to Noah retelling his view of the ceremony, they got out to the little cocktail reception before the dinner. Olivia felt like her head was swimming from all the congratulations, but Rafael and her floated that wave of gracefully. When it started to ebb away eventually, she let her gaze wander around the room, taking in everything.

The old colleagues who wouldn’t have met again if it hadn’t been for today conversing happily.

Jesse and Noah running around and snatching the sweet appetisers off the trays of the waiters and thinking the adults didn’t notice.

Lucia, being back to her flamboyant self, parading around the room and making sure that conversation and champagne flowed in every room, though she seemed to get uncomfortable when she moved her left shoulder too much.

There was Fia, who was downing the rest of a big cup of coffee and immediately went for a cocktail again, obviously telling herself that a hangover wouldn’t stop her from having fun, while Mike tried very hard not to stare at her, blushing when their gazes met once or twice. He also looked very distracted when his father tried to involve him into a conversation a moment later, and Olivia couldn’t help but smirk.

Amanda was trying to stop Sonny and his never ending appetite from stealing all the appetisers; Rita and Fin were having light conversation with Munch and Nick.

The room was full of life, just like the bar had been the previous evening, their patchwork family being bright, loud, maybe a little whimsical and definitely chaotic, but she knew that neither of them would have it any other way.

OoO

Liv hadn’t thought she would be woken by her phone on the morning of her wedding as if it was an ordinary work day, but there she was, carefully shifting out of her fiancé’s arms to grab the annoyingly loud device. At least she didn’t have a hangover from the party.

“Be-“

“Liv, I know this is your wedding day and you said no stress but… uhm… I got a little problem here.”

Amanda’s voice sounded slightly panicked; subdued, admittingly, but enough to make Liv sit up in light worry. She knew that her friend wouldn’t call her if she deemed the problem at hand serious.

“What’s going on, Amanda?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for an agonisingly long moment, and Olivia had to admit that she did have a few wedding horror scenarios flashing in front of her inner eye before Amanda answered slowly, as if she wasn’t sure how to word the issue: “Uhm… well… some of the wedding party who agreed to help with the last preparations this morning are… uhm… lost? I can’t reach them.”

“Who?”

The cop in Olivia caused her to rise, knowing that while it didn’t have to be a bad sign, it was always good to not take such matters lightly, just in case.

“Well, Rita is on her way here, but Lucia… she’s not answering her phone. And Fia and Mike aren’t reachable either.”

If it had been only Fia, Olivia wouldn’t have been particularly worried, as the young woman tended to be a little chaotic and thus often a bit late, but Mike and Lucia were different. Mike had never been late to work or any other social events the squad had organised, and Lucia was so excited about the wedding that Rafael and her had joked several times that she would spend the night at the venue to make sure everything would be absolutely perfect.

“You tried calling them at home, too?”

“Of course I did. They’re not picking up. Do you remember when you last saw them?”

Pausing for a moment, Olivia tried to piece the memories of the previous evening together, but couldn’t put her finger on particular times. “Sorry, I don’t.”

“Me neither. I’ll just try to call them again a few times before sending Sonny or Fin to check on them at their places. Maybe they’re just nursing a hangover and we’re getting all worried for nothing,” Amanda said with the practiced calmness she usually displayed on the job, and Olivia made an affirmative noise. Yet she slipped out from under the blankets, not feeling like she could stay in bed any longer; it was a mix of worry if everything would be okay in the end and nervosity about the day that was lying ahead of her.

“Livy, where you going? It’s too early.”

A smirk curled her lips and creased the corners of her eyes when she heard Rafael’s slightly whiny protest from underneath the blankets, and she found herself thinking how she couldn’t wait to have that for the rest of her life. His dark hair was a mess sticking away from his head when he emerged, pouting, and she couldn’t stop her laughter. “I’m going to make sure our witnesses are present and maybe even a little sober at our wedding, Rafa.”

She decided to spare him the details and leaned over the bed to give him a quick kiss, taking the time to mess up his hair a little more. “Noah and you can have a boys breakfast. I’ll see you at the wedding. In case you’ll get confused, I’m the one in the white dress.”

“Can’t wait,” he mumbled against her lips, smirking lightly, and Olivia sighed, needing to remind herself of the possibility of something serious having happened to some of her closest family so she would not linger too long next to her fiancé.

-i-

Upon arriving at the venue, she spotted Amanda in the lobby, phone pressed to her ear and pacing. “Hey Amanda, any updates?”

“Rita arrived some minutes ago and told me not to worry about Lucia, that she brought her home yesterday and that she should be arriving soon… but I still can’t reach Fia and Mike. Neither at home nor on their mobiles,” Amanda replied, shaking her head while looking slightly confused, but before Olivia could ask any further questions, one of the entrance doors was slammed open and for a second, it felt like the temperature on this beautiful, sunny spring morning had dropped a few degrees. Lucia Barba marched into the lobby like a general who was out for a bloody battle, an icy expression on her face, and the two women almost took a step backwards. She had one hand pressed on her shoulder, the fingers slightly cramped as if she needed to suppress the urge to rub the skin under her blouse; her voice was as cold as her stare when she spoke, and Olivia, who’d never truly seen her warmth fade, had to admit that she was a tiny bit scared.

“Where’s Rita?”

Amanda’s mouth opened and closed a few times, then she raised her hand to point at the door leading to the wedding venue, but before Lucia could storm on, Rita came through said doors, smiling when she spotted the elder woman. “Lucia, dear, so good to see you!”

“Deary, I’ll make you rethink that statement,” Lucia hissed, stepping closer, but Rita appeared completely unfazed by her sharp words and also by the string of Spanish curses that followed them.

“If it’s about the tattoo then I have to remind you that it was your idea to get one. You saw mine and told me all about how you always wished you could have one but were always too afraid to get one. And then you decided that it was time to finally get your way,” she explained calmly, wrapping one arm around Lucia’s shoulder, though careful not to touch the area where she knew fresh ink was now decorating her skin.

“What? Why… why didn’t you stop me? I’m far too old for this kind of escapades! This is something Delfia would do, not me!”

Lucia deflated quickly, her voice slightly high-pitched in disbelief, and Olivia didn’t know if she was supposed to feel sorry for her or laugh about the revelation. Rafael’s reaction when he found out would be very amusing as well.

“How was I supposed to do that? You’re unstoppable. Also it looks very good on you, y’know.”

A light blush coloured Lucia’s cheeks an adorable shade of pink, and she patted Rita’s arm lightly, though she didn’t look completely convinced yet. “Well, thank you, mija. I guess I’ll just need some time to come to terms with this.”

“You were being a little wild, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Olivia said with a soft smirk, feeling a rush of affection for these women who’d accepted her into their little family so easily. “Now that we’ve settled that, we have one last problem, though. Fia and Mike are still not reachable.”

To her utter surprise, Rita made a dismissive gesture and shook her head lightly while stating: “Don’t worry, they’ll show up on time.”

“How do you know that?”

Amanda cocked an eyebrow and Olivia stared at the defense lawyer in confusion, who gave them a triumphant smirk. “Fia has always managed to show up on time, and I’m sure that’ll rub off on Mike.”

“Are you saying…”

“Yes, they left the bar together last night, after making out in the corner of the room and thinking that nobody could see them,” Rita replied, her tone indicating that she might be a little smug about it, causing Amanda to glare.

“You gave her a push, right? Why didn’t you tell me what you were planning?”

“Oh, she didn’t need a push, she had all the right thoughts in her head already.”

Lucia had crossed her arms in front of her chest, her lips pressed together in a thin, disapproving line, but she didn’t say anything. Olivia knew for sure that Fia would have the privilege of receiving yet another rant about her unwillingness to bind herself sometime tonight, though.

“Well, treat yourself, girl,” Amanda said with a dirty smirk, then let her gaze glide over the other women. “Since we got that issue settled, I guess we can start the last preparations?”

-i-

It was half an hour before the start of the ceremony when Fia finally rushed into the changing room the women occupied, her dark curls still slightly damp from a shower and wearing the dress she’d worn to the party the previous night. Sunglasses shielded her eyes from the sunlight streaming into the room, and she was clinging to a Starbucks coffee as if her life depended on it.

“Look who we got here,” Rita teased lightly while Fia hurried to grab her dress from the hanger and went into the little changing area they created, taking big sips of her coffee again and again. “Seems like you didn’t make it home last night, girl. At least you made it out of bed finally.”

“Shut up, okay?”

“The most important thing is that you had a good time.”

Amanda looked as happy as a child on Christmas Eve when she joined Rita in the teasing, the two bustling around the room busily while helping each other and Liv to get ready, and Fia made an annoyed noise while taking off the party dress and slipping into her groomslady dress quickly.

While the three women continued to banter lightly, Fin entered the room with the flowers, but Olivia didn’t really pay attention to anything going on around her in that moment. Looking at her reflection, she needed some time to tell herself that this was really happening, and to get her anticipation, nervosity and excitement on a level that allowed her to function.

She had never been that kind of woman that dreamt of romantic spring weddings, lacy white wedding gowns and all these traditional activities for weddings that were discussed in those bridal magazines she’d never laid a hand on.

But for this beautiful day, she didn’t mind some traditions, some lace and pink cherry blossoms. They were seasoned with a bit of chaos and a lot of love, for her family, and for the man that she was about to marry, and this combination just made it the perfect day.

THE END