#what has maxi done for me though

[fazcinatingblog]

dunno whether to cricket tonight and die in 38 degree heat or

[cressidagrey]

Such A Mystery - Part 5

Pairing: Max Verstappen x Colette Leclerc (Original Character)

Summary:

Max Verstappen fell in love at the ripe old age of 12 and never looked back.

Colette Leclerc really regrets posting that particular Taylor Swift Lyric to her private Instagram account, because it made George Russell go insane.  

The rest of the world has absolutely no idea that the Dutch Lion and Charles Leclerc’s twin sister have been a couple for 15 years and are expecting a baby. 

Warnings: 

Pregnancy, Mention of multiple miscarriages, Pregnancy complications, George Russell Bashing (he's probably really nice in real life but in this, he's the bad guy, sorry), Jos Verstappen

Author Notes: Huge thanks to @llirawolf for holding my hand through this. Currently thinking this will have like 5-7 parts? (That was a nice fever dream. I am now thinking maybe 8-9?)

Max didn‘t wait until he was back at the hotel to call Colette. He was attached to his phone as soon as he got done with that horrible press conference. 

He really didn‘t care what anybody else had to say about that. As soon as he could, he called Colette.

It wasn‘t Colette that picked up though, it was Pascale, her mother.

"Max," she greeted him.

Max was surprised to hear Pascale's voice on the other end of the line. He had been expecting to hear Colette's voice, and hearing her mother instead sent a jolt of anxiety through him.

"How is she doing?" He asked. He didn't need to say more. Pascale understood.

"She's...she's not doing well," Pascale said wearily. He could hear the exhaustion in her voice. "She's been crying almost non-stop since the news broke."

Max closed his eyes, his heart clenching painfully at the news. The thought of Colette crying, of her being so upset and distressed...it was unbearable.

"Can I talk to her?" he asked, desperately needing to hear her voice.

He needed to hear that she was okay, that she was holding up. He needed to know that she was coping.

Somehow. 

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Max held his breath as he waited for Pascale to respond. He could hear muffled voices in the background, and he knew that Pascale was likely talking to Colette.

"Maxie?"

Colette had cried. That was clearly obvious in her voice, how hoarse it was...how even these two syllable seemed to take so much effort from her, her voice hitching. He could hear her shaky breathing over the phone, clearly her trying to get a grip on herself and not worry him even more.

But that had become impossible the moment George Russell had decided to get completely bananas.

"Hey, liefje," he said softly. "How are you doing?"

Colette's voice caught on a sob, and Max's heart ached at the raw emotion in it. He could practically picture her, sitting in their living room, tears streaming down her face as she tried to hold it together.

"I'm...I'm not okay," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Max's heart clenched in his chest, and he desperately wished he was there with her. He wanted to hold her, to comfort her. But he could only listen.

"What can I do?" he asked, his voice thick with emotions. "How can I help you?"

He needed to do something, anything to ease her pain and make her feel better. "Do you want me to come home?" He asked her. "I'll do it, liefje. Say the word."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. He could hear Colette breathing heavily, clearly trying to compose herself.

"No," she finally said, her voice sounding a bit more steady. "No, please don't. You have a race tomorrow. You need to focus."

Max's heart squeezed at her words. He wanted nothing more than to hop on the next plane back to Monaco and be with her. But he knew she was right. He couldn't just abandon his team and the race like that. "If you change your mind..." he trailed off.

"No, we are not doing that," Colette said shakily. "Your races are yours, and I'll be waiting once you come home."

"You are more important than any race ever could be," he disagreed sharply. More important than anything else to him. He loved her so much. "I want you to know that."

He needed her to know that. 

She had always been a pillar of support to him. Had never questioned how much of his time his career demanded. Had never once thrown it at his head in an accusatory way. She had always accepted it. Had supported him every step of the way, from his first practice in a Formula 1 car, through his first point finish, his first race win, four championships…

She had always supported him. 

But no race win…no trophy, no world champion title was ever going to be as important to him as Colette. 

He would happily give all of that up, if it meant that he got to come home to her. 

He heard her exhale shakily.  "I do know that," Colette said softly. "I know that. But...But even if you were here, you couldn't do anything but hold me. Everybody is..." she trailed off and he could hear another hitch in her breath. "Did you...Did you see what Arthur did?" She asked him, and he could hear the tears in her voice.

"I did, liefje," he agreed softly. "He shouldn't have done that without talking to you first."

"Or to you. This is your life too," Colette disagreed.

"Colette," he said carefully. "I don't care that the public knows. You were the one that wanted to keep this private, which was completely alright with me. I agreed to that. It didn't bother me, liefje. But I wouldn't have cared if it was public knowledge either. I am only upset with Arthur because he upset you."

Colette didn't answer. He could picture her sitting on their bed, cross legged, one hand resting on her baby bump…she took deep breaths, clearly trying to keep her tears at bay.

"I just...I feel so stupid," she mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. "I feel so stupid...I shouldn't be so upset by this. But I am and I..." her voice trailed off.

"Hey," he interrupted gently. "You are allowed to be upset, liefje. You are allowed to feel however you feel," he reminded her carefully.​​

There was a knock at the door and he looked up to see Gemma stick her head into the driver’s room, a grimace on her face. "Can it wait?" He demanded from her, not caring at all, that he was being rude.

"No, it can't. George Russell had some more stuff to say," Gemma said hesitantly.

Colette must have heard it, because he got to hear another choked off sob from her.

"Liefje," he said softly. "I want you to let me deal with this, alright? Don't look online. Don't search it out. Just ignore it. Your only job right now is to take care of you and our baby," he told her fiercely. "Let us take care of the rest."

Colette let out another shaky breath on the other end of the line. He could hear her trying to compose herself, trying to push the sobs back.

Finally, she said quietly, "Okay," in a small, meek voice, and he hated how defeated she sounded.

"Go cuddle with the cats," he told her softly. "Let your Mom spoil you."

"M…Maman’s making hot cocoa," Colette offered weakly, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

It was faint, but it was there. And that was all he could hope for right now."I am jealous," he teased her lightly.

"I'd save you some, but it's too good to share," she teased back before her voice caught on another sob, and he knew that this was it. This was the end of her being able to converse with him.

"Hey," he said gently. "I love you. So much."

"I love you too," Colette whispered in a broken voice. "So much."

Max hated that he couldn't be there, he hated that he had to hang up. He just wanted to hold her, to remind her that everything was alright.

"I want you to do something for me," he told her in a firm voice. "I want you to take a bath. And a long one," he told her. "One of the nice lavender scented bubble bath, I always make fun of you about. And I want you to eat dinner. And I want you to watch some of those stupid tv shows you love, and for you to relax. And rest. Can you do that?"

"I...I'll try," Colette said weakly over the line. He could hear her crying getting slightly worse again, the realization that they were ending the call obviously hitting her.

"And then you will take the best nap. And cuddle with our cats," he continued. "Alright? You'll do all that for me?"

"Yes," she answered him, her voice breaking on that one word.

Max closed his eyes, his heart hurting as he took a deep breath. "I am going to hang up now. I'm sorry, love."

"I know," she whispered, and he could hear the desperation in her voice. The need to keep the phone line between them open. But he knew that she was tired and he knew that she was distraught. And he knew that she needed rest. He needed to let her go.

"I love you," he said fiercely. "I love you so damn much, liefje. I'll talk to you as soon as I can."

"I-I love you," Colette managed back, before her voice broke on a sob again. "More than anything. Please...be careful tomorrow, okay? Be careful."

"I will," he promised her. "I swear, I will be careful. I'll come home to you in one piece, okay? I promise."

"You better," she told him in a wobbly voice. It was half pleading, half joking, and it just about crushed him.

"I swear. I'll try my damn hardest," he promised her. "And when I get home? I promise I will hold you for hours. I won't let you go, liefje."

He hung up on her then. And then he turned to Gemma. "What could Russell possibly have said that I should care about it right now?"

"How about that you have spent the last 15 years living a lie and that he wouldn't want you to date his sister, because your girlfriend probably is the one dealing with all your anger issues?" Gemma offered drily.

Max looked at her in disbelief for a moment, his mind refusing to process her words immediately, they were so completely insane.

"What?" He finally asked, his voice coming out in a disbelieving croak. Gemma handed him her phone, a grimace on her face. And there it was in black written text. Screencaps of statements George Russell had made.

 None of it making any sense whatsoever. Max had no idea what the other driver had snorted that had sent him off the rocker like that.

"They tried to get Charles Leclerc to comment as well, but he said it was insulting and that he has not once worried about you and Colette, more the opposite," Gemma said quickly. "Everybody that has ever seen the two of you together knows that it's complete bullshit, Max."

Still. He swallowed.

"I would never lay a finger on her," he said weakly. Not ever.

Colette was...Colette was everything. Colette had been his safe place before he even knew what that was or that he needed one. 

He would rather cut off his own hand than to put a finger at her in anger.

Gemma stepped over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Everybody knows that," she told him gently. "Everyone that knows you knows that you would never. Just like everyone knows that the other stuff Russell has said is nonsense as well."

Max closed his eyes, letting Gemma's words sink in. He knew that they were true. The people in his life, the people that knew him and Colette...they knew that those accusations were completely ridiculous. That even thinking he would ever hurt Colette was laughable.

"But..." he said quietly. "Social media won't care that it's complete crap."

"It'll blow over. You know the online world has the attention span of a goldfish," she said with a shrug. "We'll send the usual suspects to talk to the media tomorrow to make it clear that you neither have anger issues nor that anybody needs to worry about you laying a single finger on Colette," Gemma promised. "I know that this is hurtful, Max, but I think it just makes it very clear that everything that Russell has said has been completely made up."

Max leaned his head against the door behind him, his mind racing, trying to process everything. He knew she was right. That everything she was saying was reasonable. But it still hurt. It hurt that somebody would come at him and his relationship with Colette like that. Especially when it was so clear that they knew nothing about them.

"I'm going to call some people," Gemma told him gently and with a final squeeze on his shoulder left the room.

Max took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, trying to process everything and calm his racing thoughts. He wanted to call Colette again. He wanted to explain again and again that he would never hurt her. That all of this was complete and utter bullshit.

But he didn't want to bother or upset her even more, if she had even been able to rest at all.

And he hated this. He hated this so much.

He really did. He hated that there was nothing he could do.

He hated that the next day was going to be a media circus. He hated that he was going to have to sit in a car for an hour and a half tomorrow, without being able to see or talk to her.

And most of all, he hated George Russell.

Bath. Lavender. Warm Water. And hot cocoa.

She felt like a child again.

Her Maman had been hovering around her all afternoon and early evening, fussing over her when she really didn't need it, but Colette was glad that her mother refused to leave her alone.

Especially when her mother tucked her into bed like she had done when she had been a wayward 6-year old. 

"Arthur didn't think," her mother said softly. "He didn't do this on purpose to hurt you."

Colette let out a shaky breath. "I know he didn't," she said thickly. "But I am just so mad at him. And it just...hurt," she admitted. It hurt more than she had thought.

"I know," her mother said softly.

Another shaky exhale, and Colette closed her eyes, just to keep the tears at bay.

"I knew it was going to come out one day," she admitted weakly. "But I never wanted it to come out like this. Not now.”

Bébé rumbled unerneath her skin, striking out to kick against her ribs once more. She laid her hand over where he had just kicked her. 

Her mother gently sat down next to her, gathering her in her arms and pulling her close. Colette melted into it and leaned into her Mom with a soft, shaky sigh.

"It wasn't right of Arthur to say anything," her mother told her quietly. "He had no right to share that picture. Nor to talk about your relationship. Not without talking to you about it first."

Colette swallowed back another bout of tears, hiding her face in her Mom's chest. "I know," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I know, it wasn't his news to share, but...it's still just...it's just so upsetting."

Her mother ran a hand over her hair while the other circled her back in a soft, circular motion. "I know," her mother agreed, her voice kind and soft. "But this doesn't change anything. You know that, right? The important people already knew," she continued softly. "Your family and friends. They all know that Max and you are in a relationship."

A quiet nod, Colette still hiding her face in her mother’s chest, her fingers clinging onto her shirt.

"It's just...." she said weakly. "It still hurts. A lot."

Her mother's arms wrapped around her a little tighter, a gentle kiss placed atop her head. "I know," her Mom agreed again, gently rubbing Colette's back. "It hurts, and it sucks, and it's not fair that he didn't talk to you about it before. I'm sorry, Choupinette."

Colette swallowed again, and exhaled, trying to hold it together. But a few tears escaped anyway. "I just...I just wish that he hadn't. I feel so exposed now," she admitted in a half-whisper.

"I know," her Mom agreed again, letting Colette let out another round of quiet tears. "I know, Choupinette," her mother repeated, gently rubbing her back again, her arms tight around her.

Colette sniffled again, her emotions a tangled, swirling mess, and clung on tighter to her Mother. "I just...I just wish Max was here," she admitted in a broken whisper.v"He asked me if he should come home," she admitted softly.

Her mother’s hand ran gently up and down her back, still hugging Colette tight.

"What did you tell him?" she asked quietly.

Colette swallowed past the lump in her throat and breathed in shakily. "I told him to race. I told him I didn't want him to come home," she said shakily, more tears escaping her.

Her mother hummed quietly and hugged her a little tighter. "Why?" Her mother's voice was gentle and curious, no judgement and accusation to be found.

"Because I fell in love with a 12-year-old boy for whom racing was the most important thing in his life,” she answered, her voice soft. “Max has this...passion for it. This incredible love. And I promised myself then, that I was never going to be the one to take it from him," she explained softly. "I was never going to make him chose. Between me and racing."

And maybe that was also because for years...she had wondered if she was going to be the one of the two he would chose. 

Her mother was quiet behind her for a moment, only the soothing motion of her hand rubbing along Colette's back continuing.

And then her mother said, softly.

"You know he would chose you in a heartbeat, don't you?"

Colette buried her face further into her mother, her tears starting to flow again as she let her mother's words sink in.

Because she wanted to believe it. She really, really wanted to.

"He will never need to," she said simply. "He said ​​the same thing but…I would never take it away from him."

Her mother hummed again and tightened her arms around her a little.

"I know you wouldn't," she assured. "But he still wouldn't hesitate, love."

Colette took another shaky breath, trying to keep herself from completely falling to pieces just from the thought of it. It was true. She knew it deep in her bones. Max would drop everything to get to her, if she only asked. And it just made her feel like crying more.

"I just...I just miss him," she admitted in a sniffly voice, her nails digging in her mother's soft shirt.

Her mother's gentle hand was running over her hair again, trying to soothe her as best as she could. "I know, baby," she whispered. "You'll see him soon."

Colette huffed a breath against her mother’s chest, the thought both a comfort and a curse.

She wanted to see him. She wanted to crawl into his arms and just listen to him tell her everything was going to be okay, and believe every single word of it.

Another shaky inhale and exhale, and Colette's hands gripped her Mom's shirt, just to keep from completely falling apart.

It was all so overwhelming, with Max so far away, and just everything in general.

Her breath shuddered again when her mother's arms tightened around her once more, pulling her even closer to her chest, as if she was trying to protect her through sheer force of will.

Colette let her, burying her face in her Mom's soft chest and trying to hold it all together.

[pandoras-box-27]

kiss it when you're done pt 1

max verstappen x reader x charles leclerc

wc: 1445

summary: In 2014, friends max verstappen and charles leclerc watch a race led by y/n l/n, a rising star in the racing world, with whom max and charles become infatuated.

warnings: boners? nothing beyond that yet

a/n: the first bit of my lestappen challengers au! hope it's worth the wait.

“Maxie,” Charles teasingly calls for him. Max stops, rolling his eyes as he watches the boy run to catch up with him. “Can you not demolish me tomorrow?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Max scoffs, sipping water from his blindingly bright red bottle.

“No, look, I’m at peace with the fact that you’re going to win-”

“It’s still the air, it’s not a fact,” Max interrupted, Charles was known to be rather self-destructive and Max wasn’t known for tolerating it.

They’d known each other's quirks since they were just children, battling their disagreements out on the karting track. They’d grown closer as friends but continued playing rivals once they got in the car. They were both prodigies for their age. Max just seemed more confident in his skills, constantly pushing himself to the limits, and it was abundantly clear when he was put against Charles. A smug, charming young boy, who got praise, win or lose. Was Max jealous of Charles’ familial situation and unconditional support? Not that he’d ever say out loud. However, Charles was equally jealous of Max’s genuine skill. It fueled their fighting on and off the track, though it was more like sibing rivalry.

“But, statistically, it’s much more likely,” Charles rambled. Max laughed, practically spitting his water out. Charles scoffed before continuing. “I’m just saying, like… throw me a bone? Let me lead for a moment?”

Max stopped in front of him, turning to face him. “If it matters to you so much, I can just give it to you.”

Charles paused, in shock. “Wow. Okay. Thank you.”

“I’m kidding,” Charles rolled his eyes, which made him smirk. He continued down the path, already knowing Charles was still behind him. “Do you have money on this or something?”

“My mum’s coming.”

——

Max and Charles situated themselves in between the packed bodies in the paddock. They stood unbothered, suddenly thankful they still weren’t famous enough to be recognized, just the occasional local throwing themselves at Charles’ pretty feet. Max just watched, jaw slack, his eyes as he watched each of them have to dust themselves off after being rejected. 

“You don’t want any of them? The last one was pretty hot.” Max guffawed, shamelessly ogling the ass of the last girl as she stomped away.

He scolded the other man, playfully, “Too desperate, it makes me, by proxy, seem desperate.” 

Max nodded along, as if he understood what he was saying. If it had been Max he would’ve ‘disappeared’ to the nearest broom closet with the first girl. Charles was devishly handsome, and was annoyingly aware of it. He knew he had every girl at his feet. Max was charming as well, though. He just wasn’t as confident in them, not as much as he was in his skill. 

Max was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by the cheers from a nearby garage. His head tilted back up at the screen in front of him. He watches the replay of the moment. 

“What an amazing overtake, once again, by the Y/N L/N!” 

“Wow, in that car? That’s impressive.” Charles remarked, 

“Did you know she already has gotten the team multiple sponsors? Just cause she’s driving it.” Max stated like he had her fact sheet already memorized.

Charles’s eyes flipped back and forth between the screen and Max, his mouth agape. “What? How?” 

“She’s probably going pro in like, a month. I watched her at the last race as well. She could win the real thing tomorrow.” 

Charles and Max stared at the screen with wide eyes and a lethal dose of curiosity. To say that Y/N is smoking the competition would be an understatement. In a car most wouldn’t bet on, she’s making them look like less than karting champions. As Max and Charles watch, both of them steadily. 

Charles glanced down at his crotch after a particularly incredible point. As swiftly as he realized what was happening, he picked up his popcorn from the table next to him and held it over his prevalent bulge. 

Barely a moment later, Max looks down, blushing as he sees his own boner, before doing exactly the same thing. They both looked straight ahead at the race, trying to look as casual as possible, neither of them realizing that the other was in exactly the same boat.

—

“The L/N Foundation,” Charles read slowly from the pamphlet sitting on the table, “Inspiring young women in motorsports.”

“Wow, a foundation in her second year Formula racing?” Max asked, his eyes tracked on her as she glided through the crowds like they were the Red Sea.

“It’s her family’s,” Charles explained, flipping through the pages, “Her mother was in motorsports but it wasn’t as acceptable in the 70s. Her father raced in her honor but it wasn’t the same-”

Charles looked up and noticed Max had drifted away to a table further up, closer to the dance floor. He swiftly came up to the empty space next to him. 

“Did you know she's from a small town just outside France?” Charles pretended to read the small printed text, “It’s near where I grew up.”

Max looked over at him, curiously smirking, “Yeah?”

“Born and raised, she doesn’t know much English,” Max slowly nodded along, his eyes rising back to her. 

“You should read the pamphlet,” Charles teased the blond, poking his side. Max shook his head, not being able to take his eyes off her. The music suddenly changed from something slow and soft to one of the big American ‘club’ songs with lyrics their mothers wouldn’t approve of.

Max’s lips curled into a wide smirk and Charles’ eyes went wide as they watched Y/N's hips sway to the rhythm of the song playing in the background. Her dress was tight around her chest, accentuating her perfect tits, and flowed out over a layer of petticoat that moved dramatically with every swish of her hips. She was the perfect mix of alluring and elegant, just as she had been on the track, which left both of their heads spinning. 

“I’d let her fuck me with that trophy of hers,” Max whispered into Charles’ ear, only making him blush harder as his imagination went wild.

“Oh my god,” Charles muttered softly under his breath. He couldn’t believe it, he’d never seen anyone so perfect. He watched her whisper-shout something to her friends before slowly exiting the dance floor.

“Oy,” Max slapped Charles’ arm, before running over to the couch she was heading towards. Charles followed suit (once he realized what was happening)

Just as she reached the sofa area, they were on her tail. She turned around in shock. Max raced to start and, easily slipping into the little French he knew, spoke first.

“Bonjour, madame, je m'appelle-”

“I’m Charles Leclerc, it’s nice to meet you,” Charles interrupted, smiling widely and eagerly.

“Nice to meet you,” Y/N bit back a smile, shaking Charles’ hand, a firm handshake as his hand lingered just a second too long. She pulled back after a moment, reaching for Max’s as she started to speak again, “Uhm, enchante. I, uh-”

“Don’t speak French,” Max sighed, mentally cursing himself for his stupidity. Charles wasn’t necessarily lying, Y/N was born and raised from a small town just outside France, and it was near Monaco. It was just in Italy. His mistake was immediately apparent. The thick accent laid on her tongue and rang like choir bells in their ears.

“Well, yes, not well. But, I was going to say, ‘I already knew who you two are.’” Y/N shrugged, laughing a little to herself. She plopped herself down on the couch behind her, staring up at the two men. “You’re Formula’s next big thing, my father doesn't shut up about you.

You’re racing in Formula 3 next year, yes?” Charles swears he’s never seen Max’s head move faster. 

“You’re not signing to -”

“Yeah. How did you -- ?”

“Me too.” Y/N says, leaving silence among the group. 

 “What?” Charles exclaimed, excitedly.

“I just accepted the offer, and they mentioned you,” she smiled brightly, they couldn’t tell if she was more happy for Charles or herself. Her head whipped around at the sound of someone calling her name. She sat up off the sofa. “Nice to meet you two,” She stared at Max, and with her best (terrible) French accent, “Au revoir.”

Charles held back a laugh as he watched her leave. Max punched him in the gut, not hard, more playfully, but it still hurt. Charles bent over, holding his stomach simultaneously for the large belly laugh he was letting out and the pain.

“I can’t believe you believed me,”

“You little shit.”

taglist

@ananyasr1bughead @akkklys @meglouise00

[leclarifies]

Girlie, please do part 2 to letters!! That was so good!!!

kiss me, under the paris twilight (MV33)

part II to letters

꒰ max verstappen x childhoodbestfriend! reader ꒱

synopsis┊after max announces his retirement and the both of you publishing your relationship to the world, he has a devious plan up his sleeve.

genre┊fluffy, slight smut.

word count┊3.1k

aria yaps┊ask, and you shall receive!!! anyways, i FREAKING LOVED WRITING THIS as per usual, this has been my favorite series i've done so far. it's so fluffy, so cute. the traction the first part got had me SCARED. the amount of people asking for a part 2 was crazy, so here it is! i hope you enjoyed it! i threw in some social media posts in there to keep it entertaining as well :3

"(blue eyed dutch boy) got me trippin', how your skin is always soft? how your kisses always hit? how you know just where to-" - lisa, "moonlit floor (kiss me)"

PARIS, FRANCE.

max had wanted to get away from the landscape of formula one, he had told her that he wanted some alone time after being away from her for so long and she accepted, not being in belgium long even though she just moved there.

her mother had some things to say, not knowing that it was max who planned the trip but when she explained herself to her mother, she had a twinkle in her eye and told her good luck with raised her eyebrow.

they had arrived to paris in the night time, wanting to get a bit of rest from their flight before exploring paris, just the two of them.

she was doing some skincare in the bathroom when she felt a familiar presence behind her, it was her max, looking at her through the mirror, "you look beautiful," he murmured in her ear, she could only smile softly at her boyfriend.

yes, boyfriend. he had practically shouted it out to the world when he claimed her as his, not literally though. he wanted to keep things quite private since their relationship was quite new, not wanting to shove her into the spotlight like that.

"thank you liefje," she had responded back, equally as soft as she continued her ministrations on her face, wanting her skin to look nice, not only for herself but for when she was inevitably thrust into the public-eye.

max littered kisses on the side of her face, hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him, he had been so clingy. so much clingier than what she remembered. maybe is was the time and distance between the last time that they met that made him this way, but he absolutely did not want his hands not on her.

eventually, they both got settled into the bed of their suite. she had scolded max for getting a room so expensive but he responded with something along the lines of, 'i am no longer that little boy that you first met, let me spoil you.'

she wanted to smack him but he didn't care, all he wanted to do now was spend the money that he earned from being in formula one on her. he didn't need that much money, but she knew how much money girls spent to keep their appearance, so if it's his money that she used, he didn't care.

max rested his head on her chest as the both of them put a movie on to watch, something about a fighter pilot romance, she didn't really understand but he picked it, so she didn't complain.

"did you end up reading all the letters i sent?" max asked with a quiet voice, his hand caressing her hips mindlessly, just wanting to touch. she shook her head no, he had written her a lot. she had barely gotten through half of them. the letters were filled with love, always asking about how she's been, his achievements and how much he's missed her.

"you had written me a lot of letters, maxie. i can't get through all of them, i've been back barely two weeks," she had reminded him and he could only hum a response back, his eyes were already drooping, tried from the flight and today's activities.

her hand was on his head, softly petting max. she only stopped when she heard his soft breaths, signaling that he was indeed asleep already. she wanted to laugh at how fast he fell asleep around her, he had complained about it at first, not understanding why he fell asleep so fast in her presence. he just wanted to spend time with her without feeling sleepy.

she then later researched about it and found out that max felt safe around her, and that's why he felt sleepy a lot around her. she didn't tell him though, figuring it'd be nice to keep this one thing a little secret between her and herself.

she fell asleep not long after, feeling quite sleepy in his presence as well.

hand in hand, max and her were walking through the streets of paris. she understood why he picked paris though, it's the city of love after all.

"i have a place where i get my pastries, i really like it," max had spoke as she continued to walk with him, "i've been there a couple times just as a vacation by myself, i think you'll like it too."

she smiles at max before letting him lead the way, eventually they found themselves in a small quaint corner of the city, entering the bakery. the smell of freshly baked bread and pastries entered her senses and she sighed in content.

max made the initiative to go up to the counter and ordered a few pastries that he thought she would like while she looked around to see what she would like, maybe a pain au chocolat? she's been wanting to try those ever since she got to paris.

"liefje, maybe a pain au chocolat for me?" she called out to max, and he nodded. he had ordered it first because she's mentioned it a few times on their trip, he was very attentive when it came to her needs, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable or unhappy with him or the trip. he just wanted her content and that's how she felt, fortunately for him.

they exited the bakery with a few pastries and a pain au chocolat for her in her hands, she bit into it and a cute sound escaped her lips, "oh my god, this is so good maxie."

max could only smile, he hated that he had to suggest the bake shop first, now they couldn't hold hands. he was very big on skinship and skin-to-skin contact, she could tell.

lunch was where they were headed next, and she hoped that it was going to be as romantic as how the day was going.

liked by charles_leclerc, danielriccardo and 98,054 others

mv33updates some fans spotted max with a mystery girl around france, who could she be?

user1: NOT CHARLES AND DANNY BEING IN THE LIKES

user2: PFT NO WAY I JUST SAW

user1: THEY ARE SOOO MESSY AND THEY KNOW WHAT'S UP

user3: are we sure that's max? his face is covered in most of them 😭

user4: GIRL ARE YOU BLIND?

user5: honestly very happy for him and the mystery girl! he looks like he likes her very much

user6: they look so cute with eachother :(

user7: she looks pretty tho, can someone let me know who she is??

user8: from research and a little snooping around, i think she's @/yourusername but!!!! i may be wrong :D

MONACO.

"uh oh," left her lips as she scrolled past something on her instagram explore page, "maxie, i think we've been found out."

max was sitting up straight on their bed now, eyebrows raised in panic.

no, this was not how it was supposed to go, they were supposed to have a small private trip to france outside of the public eye. he really screwed this one up.

"i'm gonna call my lawyer," max said as he took out his phone but she stopped him, looking down where he was sitting. he was mad at himself for letting this happen, of course fans were going to be everywhere. he should've thought about that before inviting her out to france.

"maxie, stop. it's okay. you're worried over nothing, it's just fan speculation. they don't know until you react and by sending them cease and desist letters will only confirm that it's true," she had reminded him, and he knew she was right.

max captured her in a hug and sighed against her stomach, "i'm sorry schatje, i just wanted to keep you away from the public eye for as long as possible," he mumbled, he knew how harsh the media was going to be, it was always hard when new relationships were forming.

they were back home in monaco now, settled in max's apartment, safe from being bombarded with paparazzi. his big blue eyes were now looking up at her, she gave him a small kiss on the forehead, "you are fine max. maybe if you want, you can take the horse by the reigns and post something yourself?"

"your mind amazes me sometimes, schatje."

liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri and 1,709,348 others

maxverstappen1 Hi, just wanted to come on here to say that I do indeed have a girlfriend and we had a fun time in France 🥐 Please be nice to her, she is my best friend and the love of my life and I hope all of you have the respect to love her as equally as you do with me 😊 Don't bombard her Instagram as she would like to keep it private for the time being, please respect that. I didn't want to share her with you guys at first, but here she is. I love you schatje 💕 tagged: yourusername

yourusername: i love you too, liefje. liked by creator ♡

maxverstappen1: 😘

user8: OH OKAY MAX, DEFINITELY NEEDED THIS ON THE TL THIS MORNING.

user9: hand placement??? max, the man that you are.

redbullracing: ❤ liked by creator ♡

user10: nooo, her insta is private :(

user11: please respect her privacy, max said it himself.

user12: woah, we can barely see her face but i know that she's gorgeous...

user13: right????

user14: please drop more faceless y/n content, we wanna see T__T liked by creator ♡

user15: fist in my mouth rn

user16: NEW WAG ON THE STREETS

"schatje?" max's morning voice croaked out from the bedroom, she was in the kitchen with the two cats cooking some breakfast for the both of them, she called out from the kitchen, saying that she was cooking them both breakfast before she felt arms wrap around her middle and face being buried in the crook of her neck.

"you left bed without me," max mumbled, and she hummed a response, still focused on the stove which was still on. it's been a few months of her being back and he's been savoring these lazy mornings when he could.

there was a two week formula one break, which meant more time with her and max loved spending time with her and she knew how much he did, the clinginess was going down a bit more everyday, maybe because he was getting used to her presence being a constant in his life again.

they spent a lazy morning together, eating breakfast in bed with the kitties. they seemed to love her, preferring her to feed them over max. she would laugh when max would feel betrayed after calling them over when they were in your arms, not wanting to move an inch.

he understood why though, he loved her as much as the cats did, maybe more.

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL.

a beautiful performance by max on the race, and an even more beautiful face waiting for him as he finished first place. the first person he ran to was her, it was muscle memory at this point. wrapping her in an embrace, even though the race suit he wore was soaked in rainwater and clung onto him like a second skin.

"this one was for you, schatje," he whispered in her ear as everyone erupted into cheers for max. he had an incredible drive, starting from p17 to finish off winning the race. an absolute masterclass if she did say so herself.

to say that he only specifically dedicated this race for her, was a lie. he dedicated every race to her, and she was always there for him whether he finished first place or maybe got the result that wasn't satisfactory to him, he still dedicated it to her and she was always there. cheering him on, unconditionally.

he was so proud of himself, and so happy that the love of his life was able to watch his incredible performance.

kisses were trailed down from her neck all the way down to her stomach, max was going to worship her tonight if it was the last thing he did.

she was wearing his favorite set he had bought for her, maybe because of his win earlier today, maybe just to relieve some stress but he didn't care. all that he cared was his girlfriend looked delectable and he was there to feast tonight.

his kisses ended just right as he reached her core, a soft whine erupting from her throat before he gently tugged away at the panties that were covering her.

god, he loved her so much. she looked like a goddess on his hotel bed like that.

and feast he did, he pulled her legs apart and ate.

her hands automatically reached for his head of hair, tugging on it gently as moans escaped her, whether she was willing or unwilling to let them out.

he knew how to make her feel good and he was going to exploit that tonight.

the next morning, she was sore all over, bending in some weird positions max insisted on trying. she wasn't mad though, just a tiny bit sore, "you okay, liefje?" max mumbled against her lips, they were both very indecent under the covers.

she pecks him on the lips before she had a sparkle in her eye, "i think i'm ready to take this thing officially public."

"oh i've been waiting to show your pretty face off, schatje."

ABU DHABI, UAE.

"AS MAX VERSTAPPEN CROSSES THE FINISH LINE, HE WILL BE CROWNED KING OF THE WORLD DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP. AN INCREDIBLE DRIVE FROM HIM, MARKING THIS HIS FOURTH IN A ROW."

the first face he searched for in the crowd when he got out of the car was hers, the smile she had on her face was unforgettable. she looked so proud and happy for him.

she almost fell over from the force of the hug that she was captured in, she had so much love in her heart for him and seeing him win his fourth world driver's championship in person was so much better than seeing it from the screen.

max kissed her, hard. he worked so hard for this. he earned this with blood, swear and tears all so he could impress his pretty girl, he promised that he would all those years ago, and here they were.

"i did it for you schatje, i want you to be proud of me, so i got my fourth wdc," he spoke after he disconnected from the kiss, and all she could do was smile at him, not having enough words.

soon, he was whisked away to celebrate with his team and all he could see when he looked back to meet her eyes filled with love.

liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, danielriccardo and 5,09,643 others

maxverstappen1 As the year comes to an end, I would like to announce my retirement from Formula 1. It has been such a pleasure to work with splendid people whilst at @/redbullracing, I could have never asked for a better team. Cheers to spending the rest of my life with @/yourusername!

tagged yourusername

yourusername: we look so cute in the new years photo :( liked by creator ♡

maxverstappen1: You are the cutest, liefje.

yourusername: i love you

maxverstappen1: I love you too.

user17: is this.... an marriage announcement........

user18: WELL HE DID SAY "CHEERS TO SPEDNING THE REST OF MY LIFE" SO...

user19: patiently waiting for the engagement post...

user20: she is so pretty T___T liked by creator ♡

"this is the area that i used to live in," she had offered a trip around asia, wanting to feel the various seasons that asia had to offer, their first stop was korea, she wanted to show max where she basically grew up in. the area, the food, the culture. she loved every piece of korea even though it did prevent her from being with max.

it didn't matter though, they were here together now.

she walked max through all of it, her school, her university. her favorite places to eat, and meeting up with some of her high school friends, all of them not knowing that she were indeed friends (and dating) the ex-formula one driver, four time world champion max verstappen.

the looks on their faces were priceless, she wished she could've snapped a pic. all of them were formula one fans, of course. courtesy of her, she forced them to watch the races even when they didn't want to and turned them into fans of the sport. now they watched on their free time, she never mentioned that she used to know max though, not wanting to sound delusional.

"it's fucking cold here schatje," max's teeth were chattering against eachother, she could only laugh. the winters here were definitely colder than the ones he would usually experience in belgium, so she wasn't bewildered when he didn't feel comfortable with the cold nipping his skin, "how the fuck did you survive this for ten years? my ass is freezing out here."

she could only laugh before hooking her arm around his and guiding him to the nearest convenience store to warm up.

liked by maxverstappen1, alexandrasaintmleux, and 193,093 others

yourusername hi everyone, i've finally decided to unprivate my instagram due to popular request. me and max are very much having such a fun time holiday-ing in asia! thank you for supporting max through his formula one journey and i hope you will continue to support him as he retires and moves onto new things <3 tagged maxverstappen1

maxverstappen1: The third picture basically sums up how much I love you. liked by creator ♡

yourusername: oh stop it.

maxverstappen1: You love me, don't deny it. liked by creator ♡

yourusername: that i do :D

user21: OH MY GOD SHE IS SOOOO PRETTY? liked by creator ♡

user22: better than my expectations, she blew it out of the park.

alexandrasaintmleux: finally the world sees what i see every week! you are such a gorgeous girl, i'm so happy max has you as his girlfriend. liked by creator ♡

yourusername: oh stop it, you are too sweet alex <3

user23: SO UR SAYING U'VE BEEN SEEING THIS EVERY WEEKEND WHILE WE'RE STARVING?

user24: oh my goodness, you look beautiful liked by creator ♡

fransisca.c.gomes: lovely girl! hope you're having fun touring around in asia!! liked by creator ♡

yourusername: thanks so much kika!

lilymhe: omg you should come visit me and alex in thailand! the food is superrrr good here liked by creator ♡

yourusername: we'll stop by once we reach south east asia!! i promise!!

PARIS, FRANCE.

max had planned everything out, once they finished their tour around asia, he would fly her out to paris to finally propose to her. he had it planned for months now, he didn't want to ruin this. he wanted this to be perfect so he had both sides of the family be there to celebrate the occasion.

he had always dreamt about proposing to her in paris ever since their first trip when she first came back to europe, he just wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, it was crucial to his well-being that she was going to be there for the rest of his life or else he might throw a tantrum (he says he's joking but i bet he will).

max had been in contact with her mother, planning it to her expectations, making sure that every single detail was in place and nothing was going wrong.

his heart was beating out of his chest when they boarded the jet to go back to 'monaco', she absolutely had no idea and he needed this to go perfectly or he might have a heart attack.

getting settled in the plane was easy for her, it was second nature at this point by how much they were traveling. she would always ask the cost to max but he would avoid the question and tell her that it doesn't matter what the cost is, as long as she's happy.

she would roll her eyes and blow him a raspberry at the response.

"you are such a child, schatje," max would laugh but she just pouted and looked the other way, not wanting to see his face while he teased her. it was annoying, but she loved him either way.

she had fallen asleep in his arms halfway through the flight and max thought that this would be a perfect opportunity for him to surprise her.

she was confused at first when she arrived in paris, she did remember correctly that max had told her that they would be going back to monaco in order to wind down and just relax after the long year of the two of them traveling around the world to chase races.

but what confused her even more was the blindfold, what the hell was max planning?

max had a grin on his face the entire time, he felt giddy even though he was the one proposing. he just couldn't wait to see the look on her face when her blindfold was off.

"so what are we doing in paris again, liefje?" she had asked but max could only laugh in response, he didn't want to reveal whatever he had planned, so he simply just told her that it was a surprise and she would know once she got there.

he had booked out an entire restaurant, wanting this to be a private event just for friends and family. they were arriving soon, and soon enough, they were setting foot into the outdoor part of the restaurant.

"keep your blindfold on until i say so, okay schatje?" max had told her and she nodded in response, all of their friends and family were in attendance, watching quietly as max got into position. he had ordered the words "WILL YOU MARRY ME?" in big bold letters filled with peonies, her favorite.

and in the middle was him, holding out a little ring box while being on one knee, "okay my love, take off your blindfold."

a gasp escapes her lips when she sees what's in front of her, realizing that this was indeed a proposal, tears quickly pricked her eyes as she saw max kneeling on one knee, "hi schatje, we've been best friends for our entire lives, and i want to ask you to be my best friend forever. our lives have been filled with ups and downs and i want you to be there for every up and for every down in my life. so what do you say, schatje? will you marry me?"

a sob sounded out from her as she covered her mouth, tears spilled out freely before she choked out a 'yes, of course i will marry you max verstappen'.

max came up to hug her as the crowd erupted into cheers and applause from behind them which scared her, she cried even more when she realized how much thought was put into this surprise, all of her family and friends were there, celebrating their engagement together.

"oh my god, you did all this for me?" she sobbed into max's embrace before he chuckled and nodded, he wanted this day to be so special.

the couple shared a loving kiss before greeting the crowd.

taglist > @seonghwaexile @dying-inside-but-its-classy @angstynasty thank you so much for the support on the first part, i absolutely adore every single one of you guys <3

[maxlarens]

⭐️ - Max - prompt: I will ease your mind (from bridge over troubled water) please thank you 🫶🏻 ily darling

You’re fine. It’s Friday. You’re fine.

You’ve got an afternoon and two whole days of being able to pretend your job doesn’t exist. To bury your work phone at the bottom of your handbag and only fish it out Monday morning. To get the tube home, go straight to bed and fall asleep without dinner—

fuck. Shit.

You’re meant to be getting dinner with Max.

That’s why you wore the cute (but still work appropriate) outfit today. The slightly nicer shoes. Your hair is even done. But you’re already on public transport going the opposite way to where dinner is supposed to be. You’re exhausted, you’re sinking into the seat like it’ll swallow you whole. Like if you try hard enough you could teleport straight to your bed.

You sigh, you fish your (non-work) phone out of your bag.

It only rings once before Max has already picked up.

“Schat,” he breathes, worried, like something might have happened to you, “What is it?”

You’re shaking your head, “Nothing. Nothing. Except I got on the tube home, instead of to dinner. It’s— hmm— it’s been a long day. To say the least.”

You hear a noise from him, a contemplative hum, the scrape of a chair, “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“I—”, you frown glancing at a map of the stops, trying to puzzle through your memory, “Like halfway to my apartment… I dunno though, Maxie. I’m wiped. I won’t be any fun at dinner.”

You hear footsteps echoing, “You don’t have to be fun for me”, then, “Get off the train, schat. I’ll take you home.”

You hum, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m already in my car.”

Max picks you up on the side of the road by the train station ten minutes later. You slide into the passenger seat of his car, lean over the dash and kiss him. He mumbles a sweet hello against your mouth, his hand hovering at your jaw, drifting into your hair. After the kiss is finished you press your forehead into his cheek and sigh. A prolonged tired thing.

“Work bad?”, he asks, hand gently cradling the back of your neck now.

“Awful,” you breathe, “So bad.”

“Mm,” he strokes the skin on your neck, “Let me take you home, liefje. We’ll order your favourite.”

“Please,” you murmur, “Can we watch Tangled too?”

Max snickers a little into your hair, “Whatever you want.”

You pull yourself from his grip, kissing his cheek before settling into the passenger seat. It’s not a long drive home, but as it goes on you feel the exhaustion sinking deep into your bones. The work day wearing on you even more now that it’s over. Max can see it on you, the way your thoughts are still fumbling through the issues of the day, the things you’ll have to deal with come Monday.

You’re distracted on the elevator ride to your floor, while you fish your keys from your bag, even as you flick the lights on by the door and set your bag on the kitchen counter. Max trails behind you, crowding you in the kitchen. He puts his arms around you, puts his nose into your shoulder. Kisses the junction of your neck.

“You should quit,” he says, quiet, low— you feel something skitter down into your gut as you lean back into him, “Move in with me and the cats. They love you.”

“Yeah,” you say, fishing for something else, “Do they?”

“Of course, schat,” his breath fans against your ear, “and so do I.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

ohhhhh to have someone tell u to quit your job so they can take care of u. anyway i hope this is kinda what u had in mind🥰 also tangled like is the ultimate comfort movie for me

send me a prompt/request + a driver and i’ll write a drabble. pls check my requests are open first💖

[love44lew]

day 5: push aside

彡drivers pouty!max verstappen x reader

彡genre dabble? idrk

彡summary max gets home from a long day of work and just wants some love

၊၊||၊ i am just finding all these like old/scrap fics in my notes and it makes me so sad because the reason i didnt post them was because i didnt think they were good :/ feedback is always appreciated, enjoy!! ၊၊||၊

彡warnings none!!

(tysm for 200💕)

——-

you can say you and max were kind of opposites. he plays video games and drives cars for a living while youre more into books and film. his favorite food is something on the savory side while you prefer more sweeter foods. he doesn’t spend much time on social media while you build your career on it. still, the two of you were nothing but perfect together.

so when he comes home after a longggg day at work, he was expecting you to be home to eat dinner, shower, and go to sleep with him while you watch your favorite movies—his favorite kind of chill night. “im home” he announces as he enters and slips off his shoes. dead…

its okay! sometimes you were far in another room or had your headphones in/music blasting. “love, im home-!” he announces, louder this time. still nothing. you usually came skipping down the hall by now, excited to shower your man with hugs, kisses, and cries of how much you missed him. max still didnt think much of it though, he just calmly walked into your shared bedroom to find you sprawled out on the bed, nose burried in your phone with your headphones covering your ears. he walked up and tapped your knee, “liefje~” he called softly.

you sat up with your eyes still fixated on your cellular and gave him a side hug. A SIDE HUG!? what was he? your friend? are you crazy?

“are you okay?” maxs eyebrows furrowed, his head cocking to the side. “yeah, just..” you never finished your sentence. max frowned. he never minded when you were on your phone, i mean you rely on it for your career. plus, when your hands were so carefully scratching his scalp while his head rested on your plushy thighs, there was not a care in the world. but right now, especially after a long ass day, he wanted you to be engaged in him and him only. you had alllll day to be on your phone, its maxie time now!

“um.. what do you wanna eat?” he attempted to approach you with love, but once again, you just brushed him off. “you pick tonight” sigh. cant you see he just wants to talk to you??

max had already given up, your phone was obviously more important than him. he cant deny though, after today he really just wanted to escape through you. especially after all the roomers about redbull and the hours of meetings about upgrades while max was trying his best to pitch in what he can to help himself, his teammate, and the constructors with. he just has to push to do his best to at least keep both hands on the drivers championship. all this stress about the outcome of this season and the future of the team are just all too much for max and all he wants is to hold you, smell you, feel your baby-soft skin on his finger tips. to hear your voice and have his pink lips connect with yours. he missed you all day, his life with you at home keeps him pushing through the day. so when you’re dismissive as you are now, he’s honestly more sad than anything. but max being the stubborn man he is, when you come out from the room back to your usual self, he is not having it.

“okay, what are we eating tonight-!” you funnily waddled your way over to him, leaning on his side as you glance over at his phone. “takeout” he responds dryly. you’re confused, but maybe hes just really tired

“you sound really tired, maybe you should lay down and i order the food.” you gestured to the bed

“no! i’ll— i’ll do it” he scoots away from you, scoffing as he looks back down at his phone. now youre sad, you didnt understand what you’d done wrong.

“hey..” you called softly toned. his head just focused on his own phone.

“hellooo, maxemil” the cute petname flowed smoothly from your lips, max could swear his knees would buckle and hed just cry at your feet about how you ignored him and it hurt his feelings. instead though, he just huffed and attempted to walk away before he felt two hands wrapped around his forearm. “baby talk to me” your fingers slipping into his sleeve as you rubbed smooth circles on his sore arm.

he finally gave in and turned to face you, his pouty lips and sad, puffy eyes revealing themselves to you—which automatically triggered the instinct to protect him within you. it made you wanna storm into that redbull factory and beat up everyone who tried to hurt your beloved.

“what happened? who did this to you!?” your face contorted into a sort of angry, concerned look.

“hmph-“ his eyelashes fluttered as he averted his gaze.

“you did” max mumbled

“what?? me??” you were confused, what could have you done to hurt him? “what did i do?”

he built up the courage to say his feelings, which is something he has a hard time doing a lot. but with your soft calming voice he feels super tempted to.

“because—!” he was gonna say it in a louder angry stern voice but upon seeing your face, your eyes, the way your brows furrowed into a cute little frustrated expression, not for him but for yourself—he couldn’t even stay mad at you. “i wanted to see you and you pushed me aside”

“oh—“ your heart shattered, how could you choose your phone over the love of your life? it was a really important email you were waiting for but you couldve at least explained that to him. “im so so so sorry baby it was a really important email i was waiting for but i should’ve told you im so sorry honey” you were like a target recipt of apologies as you embraced him, which he happily accepted. what can he say? hes a simple man who likes to be buttered up with affirmations and kisses.

cerise tinted his face as you kissed his pink pouty lips and caressed his even pinker face. “how can i make it up to you sweetface” your pretty eyes worked on him like witchcraft his heart melting at the sight of your lashes fluttering at him. he sighed

“you already have” his lips connected with yours into a sweet tender kiss.

[michuga]

turkish coffee

summary: there is a custom in turkey of adding salt instead of sugar to the coffee of the suitor who visits your home to ask for your hand. imagine jeongguk's surprise when he takes a sip of the coffee his soon-to-be-dear-wife made him, to be met with.. salt? or what is a little salt in return for marrying the love of your life?

pairing: jeongguk x reader (interethnic rs)

content: korean boyfriend visits your home to ask for your hand in marriage, requesting a place in your very turkish family. sickeningly cute, i love this sm.

warnings: cursing, mentions of sex

wc: 1k

a/n: hope y'all don't get sick of me.. i finally finished exams and i love writing little drabbles like these ㅠㅠ enjoy!

you can hardly believe it; you’re buzzing with nerves. tonight, your boyfriend is finally meeting your parents to ask for your hand in marriage.

it feels surreal, you never thought you'd see the day. on jeongguk time, one day is an entire year. after four (and very rewarding, of course,) years of dating, this is nothing short of a miracle.

you can't say it's been easy. dating someone outside of your culture has been.. a whirlwind, to say the least. some jokes would get lost in translation, traditions needed to be learned, mannerisms getting used to..

but it didn't matter when it came to jeongguk. nothing mattered when it came to him. you were willing to learn the entire history of korea, if need be. he wouldn't even have to ask you to, the very prospect of being able to understand him wholly burned you blue. you knew there was only so much you can learn about a person outside of their culture, their heritage, their roots.. you wanted to know him inside out.

in fact, you would crawl into his skin if physically possible. but that's besides the point.

as for your parents, they were on the fence at first, but they came around. you knew they were only looking out for you; in the best way they knew how to.

when you hear the doorbell ring, you jolt. seated on your vanity chair, you take one last look at your reflection.

your hair is done up, simple makeup enhancing your features and beautiful jewelry adorning your body.

and of course, the star of the show, your dress.

you wear a satin maxi dress, elegant and timeless.

here goes nothing.

walking out your bedroom door, you spot your father motioning jeongguk inside your living room.

your boy looked dashing. you didn't think it possible for a human being to look so other-wordly; it's like he gets better looking every time you see him.

all done up in a black turtleneck and slacks, he was dressed to the nines and ready to impress.

your heart melts. he knew how important this was, and you had no doubt he wanted to do his absolute best for you.

you and jeongguk knew everything about eachother. there was simply no room for secrets in your relationship; you knew him like the back of your hand.

there is one thing you haven't told him, though.

a certain.. custom in turkey.

you add salt instead of sugar to the coffee of the suitor who visits your home to ask for your hand. it's a custom that's been carried on for centuries, the bride-to-be and her parents being in on it.

the act of drinking the salted-coffee demonstrates the groom’s patience, tolerance, and willingness to endure challenges in the marriage.

failing to drink the coffee or reacting negatively however, might be seen as a lack of patience or commitment. the bride’s family could take note of his reaction as a sign of his personality, or how he might handle challenges in marriage.

you would be lying if you said you weren't a little worried. your parents were a wild card.

so when you get up to obey your father when he tells you to make them coffee, you brace yourself.

buzzing with anticipation, you prepare 4 cups of coffee.

sugar, sugar, sugar, salt.

you just hope he doesn't get mad. oh god, what if he spits it out in front of your parents? that'll be a hard one to come back from. you're not as fickle, but your dad will surely lose all respect for him.

slowly coming out of the kitchen, tray in hand, you walk back over to the living room.

you lean to place the tray down, locking eyes with jeongguk, who sits right in front of you.

"thank you, love," he coos with adoration, immediately getting up to take the tray from your hands and help you set it down.

you smile lovingly in return, taking your seat on the opposite site.

and you watch in anticipation.

a few minutes pass, and nothing happens. you breathe in, out.

jeongguk makes small talk with your mother, slowly bringing the small porcelain cup to his lips. finally, show time.

he takes a sip.

gaze catching yours; he stares directly at you.

one second, two seconds pass..

and then he gulps.

tight smile plastered across his face, he shifts his focus back to your mother, picking up their conversation. as if nothing happened.

did he just..

in awe, you keep watching him. surely he has to give some sort of reaction? you wouldn't blame him; god knows you would have thrown up had it been you!

but nothing.

minute after the next, he drinks more and more, finally finishing his cup and placing it on the coffee table in front of you.

no more tricks up your sleeve, you finally focus on the conversation unfolding in front of you.

and the night went on.

"it was so nice meeting you, mom and dad. i look forward to planning the engagement," jeongguk says, the evening finally coming to end.

he continues, "and thank you darling, for the delicious coffee. bless your delicate hands."

with a subtle smirk only you notice, he takes a hold of your hand and brings it up to his lips, to kiss.

"you look beautiful, by the way," he whispers in your ear.

your parents bid him goodbye, closing the door after him.

"i'm impressed," your dad starts. "i didn't think korean boy had it in him, to be honest with you," he says with an amused chuckle.

"you've gotta give it to the kid. when i tried that with your father, the poor guy's face turned beet red! killed us all of laughter," your mother adds, reminiscing. "a real catch you got there."

"come on now, it wasn't that bad.." your dad says with a roll of his eyes, huffing in disbelief.

"you pushed that cup so far away from you it almost fell off the coffee table! yeah, right."

as your parents bicker back and forth, you retreat to your room with a besotted smile. you can't believe he did it either.

you are sooooooooooo going to fuck his brains out.

[shineon3]

hi friend! we had a fire drill today, so for a prompt: fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night in a building and everyone is in various states of undress, but this one person is butt naked wrapped in a blanket meet-sort-of-cute? (if maxiel, i'd say daniel is butt naked but up to you!)

Hi lovely ❤️ Thank you for the prompt!! Here's a little maxiel meet cute for you ^^

There’s a completely naked guy standing in front of him, and Max can’t stop starring. 

Well. Not completely naked. The guy is wearing what looks like either waaay too short shorts, or boxers, and he has a blanket wrapped around him. Max himself is in a somewhat similar level of undress, wearing only his pyjama pants with a blanket draped over his shoulders and clutching Jimmy and Sassy’s carriers in each hand. They had just gotten evacuated from their building because of a fire alarm going off. It was around three a.m already and Max just wanted to go back to bed, at this point. 

And then, the naked guy turns around and gives him a blinding smile, and Max wants to stay out there forever, if that means staring at this angel some more. He’s breathtaking, absolutely gorgeous. His hair is adorably messy, some curls falling over his eyes. God, his eyes. They’re a mesmerizing mix of hazel and golden honey, and Max wishes he could drown in it. And he hasn’t even gotten started on the dude’s plush, lovely, kissable looking lips! If it wasn’t for the cold keeping him alert and awake, Max would’ve thought he was dreaming, and would’ve probably done something insane like ask his probably neighbour to marry him.

After a moment, Max realises the guy is shivering a lot, and is barely able to stay still. Which, fair, it is awfully windy, and the dude is mostly naked. It does gives Max the perfect opportunity to strike a conversation, though, and he goes for it, throwing, somewhat literally, caution to the wind.

“Here,” He sets his cats’ carriers on the ground and hands the blanket he was holding onto to the brunette. “You look like you need it more than me.”

The guy beams at him, smile so wide it could split his face, and Max is suddenly wrestling the need to kiss him till sunrise.

“Thanks, mate! I’m definitely not built for the cold, fuck,” The brunette wraps Max’s blanket around him, over the one already on his body, and Max mourns the loss of the little stripes of perfect golden skin he could see peeking earlier. “Weird way to meet, but eh,” He shrugs, easy. “I’m Daniel.”

Embarrassingly, Max can feel his whole face flush, and he prays to whatever deity listening to him that it’s not too obvious. 

“I’m- yeah, I guess it’s weird, uhm…,” He stammers, stumbling over his words and embarrassing himself further. “I’m M-Max…” 

“Nice to meetcha, Maxy!” Daniel shuffles closer to him, blinding smile still stretching his lips. “Would ya be interested in some coffee later, maybe?” 

Max, bent over to pick up Jimmy and Sassy from the ground, stumbles and almost falls face flat on the floor. He has a feeling his cats are mocking him, the little shits. He straightens up, trying to give the brunette a smile. It feels weird, but good weird, and Max hasn’t felt that way in a long, long while. 

“I’d love to, Daniel.”

Danyul.

Such a pretty name for such a gorgeous person. 

Max will do his best to keep him around.

[naanima]

I wrote this in between RL commitments and 3 in the morning. I haven't done any editing. So sorry for the mistakes. Will edit later and probably post to AO3 sometime later this week. My grasp on soft Max is just not as strong as my grasp of Daniel's character.

Over 900 words.

Max after receiving Daniel's message congratulating him on his 4th WDC win. Maxiel. Soft and squishy.

Lovely

He rewatched the video later that night, alone in his hotel room. Well, he rewatched all the parts with Daniel in it.

Daniel's hair was longer, the curls escaping from under his cap and flicking everywhere at the side and back of his head. He was rugged up in what looked like a very soft and warm hoodie, probably one of his Enchanté ones. He looked soft, comfortable, and happy. It was a private message sent with the knowledge that it could potentially become public. Daniel had used his real voice, the voice he spoke in when he wasn't in front of a camera or trying to Danny Ric. His voice was lower, and his accent flatter, less Australian, evened out by touches of Europe.

It was the voice Daniel used with Max when the cameras weren't on. When he was too tired, when he was comfortable, when he felt safe.

Daniel looked so happy. And so lovely.

Max has always thought Daniel was lovely. And not just physically, though Daniel was that too. His large smile and soft brown eyes had caught Max's attention first, and then everything else about Daniel drew Max to the man like a moth to the flame.

Max spent years being allowed to touch Daniel whenever he wanted, a hand on his shoulder or neck to get his attention, an embrace to show their exuberance, and a jokey touch of thighs, and so much more. And when Daniel left, Max had thought he couldn't touch him anymore.

But that didn't last, Daniel had all but tore down those thoughts the first time they saw each other after he left Red Bull. He had greeted Max with a tight hard embrace and a sincere whisper into his ear.

"I missed you, Maxy."

And Max had clung back, and never let go.

Daniel on the screen was happy for Max. For Max's fourth WDC. Daniel was always happy for Max's successes, he had always found Max after a win, a tight hug and words of congratulations, had kept at it even when he wasn't on the grid, sent him texts and voicemails telling him how happy he was for Max, how amazing he was. And Max had saved every single message from Daniel, and would look over them whenever the need to bask in Daniel's overwhelmed him.

And Daniel had sent him a message to Max after his fourth WDC win via Red Bull PR. Even when Max knew Daniel had cut all contact with Red Bull. But for Max, well, Max was always the exception to Daniel, as it was the same for Max.

Daniel was Daniel. Daniel was Max’s exception. Daniel was the man who had seemed larger than life to a young Max, someone who had taken in all of Max’s sharp edges, and instead of running the other way, he had smiled his beautiful smile, swung his arm around his shoulders, and looked down at Max with so much warmth and confidence.

“You and me Maxy, we are gonna fuck shit up.”

And Max believed him, and Daniel had never broken that trust in all the years since.

Max rewatched the video one more time, let Daniel's voice wash over him, let his smile warm the gaps inside of himself, and then he smiled.

It was never in any doubt really.

Max had made his decision about Daniel the first time they met, the seed of what he felt planted when Daniel had sent him that first video to congratulate him on getting his super licence. He had just been waiting for Daniel to arrive at the same point as him. But maybe Daniel had already crossed the finishing line without Max realising it.

Max picked up his phone, scrolled through his contact list and hit Daniel's name.

Daniel picked up straight away but didn't say anything. Max could hear his soft breathing over the line. And every part of Max relaxed, letting the sound of Daniel's breathing sink into his bones.

A small laugh came through the line. And Max found himself smiling hopelessly fond.

“Maxy,” Daniel sing-songed across the line.

“Hello Daniel.” Max’s voice was soft, unable to contain the tenderness that welled up in him. “Daniel, I received your message.”

“Yeah? Did you cry?” Daniel asked, a hint of uncertainty. And Max couldn't have Daniel doubting how much his message, his sincerity meant to Max.

“I did not cry. But it was very nice.”

Daniel hummed softly, a question in the sound. And Max felt all soft and fond.

“Daniel, it was lovely.”

“Oh.” Daniel sounded surprised. “I - well, I'm an awesome person. Beautiful and smart, and just fucking aces.” And Daniel was joking, avoiding the naked truth in Max’s voice.

Daniel was the bravest person Max had ever known, but had so many fears because he didn't want to be hurt.

Max would never hurt Daniel on purpose, would try to curb all the accidental ways that he could hurt Daniel.

“Daniel, you are of course fucking aces.” Daniel laughed softly. Max felt a soft ache in his heart.

“The message was lovely, but what I also wanted to say was that Daniel, you are lovely. You have always been lovely to me.”

A soft gasp, and silence. But Daniel did not hung up.

Max waited. He trusted Daniel, and Daniel has never broken that trust.

“Max.” A shuddery breath, and then a long inhale. “Max, you are lovely too.”

Max smiled, and let the soft fondness, the certain love he has carried for years flow over him.

[leggerefiore]

could you maybe do hcs for poke villains with an s/o whose love language is physical touch?? preferably fluff but i would not mind light angst regarding a few who would reject it at first but learn to love it :3

(not even arceus, creator of the universe, could pry me away from cyrus’ thick ass arms. i need to sink my teeth into him RAHGHGHSAG)

maybe part 2 eventually with volo, lys, gio, and colress

cw: fluff

characters: Cyrus, Guzma, Archie, Maxie

🌌Cyrus🛰

☄️ He struggles. Touch is not his forte. There is an urge to keep a distance from everything. You clinging to him makes him nervous. The physical closeness feels like a boundary he struggles to surmount. Gifts seem to be where his love language mostly lies, and physical touch is what he most avoids. Cyrus never grew up with it. His family was never the type to give comforting words or any kind of touch… He genuinely tenses up at first when you embrace him. It is all so foreign, and his mind simply feels frozen. Any gentle caress or hold is simply too much. He needs to be freed and given ten minutes alone to process everything. Then, he needs to remain untouched for another hour to reset. It is a difficult time getting him adjusted, needless to say. But, he does. He shifts to accept the touches for longer periods of time.

☄️ Slowly yet not so steadily, he becomes accepting. Alas, there will remain little reciprocation from him. While you may cling to him for long periods of time, he still prefers that it remain during private times. Any kind of touch in public will almost always be rejected outside of a quick kiss or hug. His image is something that he feels must be preserved. And, in private, he still battles with his complicated feelings about touch. While he understands what you prefer, his body physically freezes and hesitance claims his muscles. There is no harm meant by it, and a part of him slowly does come to enjoy the feeling of your embrace during longer cuddle sessions or a peck to his lips or cheek as a greeting. That part begins to crave it, even. He feels lost as to what is going on with him.

☄️ Perhaps, one day, he will overcome the mental boundaries that prevent him from coming to accepting this. When he gets over everything related to his madness and rejection of feelings, he may find himself wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your nape, letting out a contented hum. Or even initiating the greeting kiss instead of waiting on your lead. Maybe, even, those late night cuddles his body craves and unconsciously initiates will finally be done openly in the evening rather than slowly overnight. The physical closeness of your body allowing his mind a rare of kind peace that he cannot believe he denied himself for so long. But… It will be a rocky road to get there.

💀Guzma🕶

□ He is touched-starved. Guzma's parents were not the most affectionate, and Team Skull is not exactly a place where you just find a cuddle buddy. Well, not for Guzma. Part of him is relieved that you seem more than giddy to wrap him in an embrace and just cling to him, and another part wonders if he really deserves it. A good for nothing… Maybe there was a nice bone in his body because he does worry about your choice in him as a boyfriend. But, when you smiled up at him, those feelings disappeared. Whatever his shitty old man used to say did not matter – You loved him despite his flaws and showed it almost constantly. Those dark thoughts faded. Your opinion was the only one that mattered.

□ He struggles a bit in public, wanting to keep up his tough appearance. There is a strange thought that he might lose his edge if he has you clinging to his side. He understands your preference in showing love, and he accepts it – but, being intimidating is an important part of his image. Though, there is something funny about his beating someone down speech while his partner clings to one of his arms. It adds to it, actually. His grunts at least say it does. Guzma believes it, too. (Kukui gives a good laugh at it and is happy his old friend found a partner for himself. He thinks it is a good balance for him.)

□ Ultimately, physical touch becomes his main method of affection, too. Guzma loves to pull you into a hug and rest his head on your own. Having you close to him reassures whatever unwanted thoughts enter his head or just reminds him that you are close to him and that your support is always there. Anything you want to give him is eagerly accepted, too. He loves anything you are willing to give him. Hugs are a favourite, though. Kisses are second… They are nice but sometimes feel too intimate for whatever you might be doing. Kisses are a common greeting between you both, usually ending up bringing multiple to different areas. His favourite of all has to be you napping on him, though. Something about seeing you sleeping on him feeds his ego in all the right ways.

☀️Maxie🌋

🪨 He struggles. Maxie genuinely does. Everything he does is so structured and guided that even something as simple as your preference for giving affection gives him pause. What example would that set for him as a leader? You cannot just cling to him whenever you feel like. There were rules to these things, right? Especially in public… His mind races at the most simple of touches from you. He was given adequate affection growing up, but… Rules. He struggles to find a good way to accommodate your needs.

🪨 Public touching seems completely impossible with him. Even just holding his hand results in him pulling away and trying to pretend that he did not notice or react. It may hurt, but it is something that you will have to work him on. Maxie does apologise when you are both alone and attempts to explain his actions, so you do not think they were done in malice or rejection. He does wish that this pressure was not on him, but he really does think that his example is most important. It is difficult to sway him away from that line of thought. He does feel bad about rejecting you just showing your love so frequently.

🪨 In private, he seems like an entirely different person. Any kind of touch is accepted with pleasure and whatever tense air that surrounds him is completely gone. Cuddling is a common way to spend time together – Maxie simply adoring the warmth that the shared contact brings. Kisses are common, too. Mostly quick pecks to the cheek, but he allows a kiss to the lips all the same. He initiates fairly often, too. In truth, Maxis adores the warmth generated from physical touch. It is a nice comfort on his stressed mind, and he finally can let go of all his stiffness. Your way of showing affection is adored by him in secret. He will never let it break his stern facade, but, well, when you are alone with him, you will know.

🌧Archie🌊

💧 He loves it. Archie simply cannot get enough. The pirate is exactly the same way, so he is glad you feel just the same as him. Physical touch is the best way to show love, right? Letting yourself be so open and vulnerable with another is a special thing… Not to mention the endorphins! He is ready to let you do anything and everything with him. His family was pretty much all like him, so it was really no surprise he brought the same energy out himself. A guffaw can only leave him when you sneak a tentative touch, and he turns around and deepens it. You might meet your match in him.

💧 He loves doing things in public. Why should he hide anything? The whole world should know how much you two love each other! Kisses are shared whenever you and he want to, and public cuddles are not a common sight around Lilycove or the Aqua hideout. If anyone comments on it, they get a glare. Why does it bother them? He does not really care – All that matters is that you are happy. He loves making you grin whenever you come in to hug him or kiss him or even just hold his hand. There is a certain pride he gets in knowing that he meets your needs so well. You really seem almost made for each other.

💧 In private, everything is cranked up to ten. He loves for you to just sit in his lap and have your arms wrapped around his neck while you both just relax from whatever was happening in your day. Kisses are longer and perhaps a little more passionate – something he does actually draw the line at in public just a tad. He loves catching you from behind and pulling you into a hug, or you even doing the same to him. There is probably very little time you two spend apart from each other at home. Cuddling when in bed is a must, too. He loves holding you close to him like a plush toy. Really, he is the best partner for someone inclined towards physical touch.

[astonmartinii]

can i pls request an insta au for max verstappen where the reader is a professor??

teacher's pet | max verstappen instagram au

pairing: max verstappen x professor!reader

redbullracing

liked by maxverstappen1, yourusername and 708,563 others

tagged: yourusername, maxverstappen1

redbullracing: happy national teacher's day! while we say a big thank you to all the teachers around the world we give a big shout out to our very own professor y/n who finally taught max something other than racing and the world map.

view all 27,056 comments

user12 omg this is so cute

maxybaby i wish we got to see more of y/n in the paddock but i get why we don't

danielricciardo happy national teacher's day y/n - i've got an apple with your name on it for the next time i see you

maxverstappen1 suck up

yourusername don't be mean maxy

user77 y/n breaking up fights in the comment section i can't

maxverstappen1

liked by yourusername, pierregasly and 708,456 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: happy national teacher's day my love !! i know how hard you work everyday, so i wanted to help out where i could (also these textbooks are unreasonably expensive)

view all 34,023 comments

yourusername thank you so much maxy - we're all so grateful xx

yourstudent1 you're all of our sugar daddy now

yourusername lets not make it weird

user23 max's relationship with y/n has been the best pr red bull could've ever asked for

georgerussell63 and they call me the teacher's pet

user14 LMAO GEORGE

pierregasly not on the wholesome post bro

christianhorner geri and the kids would like to know when you're next over for dinner?

yourusername easter is good for us !

user3 not them making plans in the comments

yourusername added to their story

[caption: weekends off with you]

danielricciardo added to their story

[caption: when did air max become a school bus?]

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, redbullracing and 103,899 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

yourusername: end of semester trip to zandvoort !! these guys annoyed me all term but in the end they deserve everything - plus points for max winning his home race xx

view all 11,067 comments

maxverstappen1 i don't know what you mean about them being annoying - they were angels, i do wonder where all of my champagne went though ?

yourusername they're students they'll take any free alcohol they can get

yourstudent1 love you max - can you pay off my student loans?

yourstudent2 and mine?

yourstudent3 and mine?

yourstudent4 and mine?

yourusername he didn't even pay off mine he's not going to pay off yours and STOP TRYING TO MAKE MY BOYFRIEND YOUR SUGAR DADDY

user46 wtf is happening in this comment section

maxverstappen1 added to their story

[caption: max u can have ur phone back if you pay off our loans]

yourusername added to their story

[caption: i'm never taking them anywhere ever again]

maxverstappen1

liked by yourusername, danielricciardo and 1,012,451 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: happy anniversary my love - you're a massive inspiration to me and keep me going despite being so busy yourself, you have so much knowledge and love and patience (your students are insane) xx

view all 31,067 comments

yourusername i love you maxy xx

danielricciardo haps anniversary you two - double date soon?

yourusername done.

maxverstappen1 done.

redbullracing congrats parents

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, yourstudent1 and 108,675 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

yourusername: happy graduation to my class !! you guys have given me hundreds of grey hairs, sleepless nights and a coffee addicition, HOWEVER, i'm so so proud of all of you and can't wait to see what you do in the future (stop asking my boyfriend to pay off your loans)

view all 13,451 comments

yourstudent1 i miss you already :(

maxverstappen1 was an honour to help give out degrees to the inspiring (and annoying) next generation

yourusername thank you maxy

danielricciardo so like when are you proposing?

charles_leclerc did you just spoil her own proposal?

maxverstappen1 ur so dumb i can't

yourusername added to their story

[caption: sunset walks]

maxverstappen1

liked by yourusername, pierregasly and 1,430,788 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: max verstappen-y/n and professor y/n verstappen-y/ln reporting for duty

view all 102,098 comments

yourusername love you so so much

user45 OMG PARENTS

yourstudent1 do we get to come to the wedding?

danielricciardo CONGRATS MAXY ONLY TOOK YOU 6 YEARS

christianhorner congratulations you two - christian, geri and the kids xx

note: hope you enjoyed - i took a lot of creative liberty so i hope it's okay xx

[pixelplayground]

PXL'S Anatomy of Screenshots

So you want to take better screenshots? There are multiple factors to consider, and if you don't enjoy tweaking reshade settings for every image, my ultimate method may not be for you. That being said, there are tips and resources in this guide that are applicable to everyone and you can select to explore those that are useful to your specific situation.

Disclaimer: I am not claiming to be an expert, nor am I offering to provide troubleshooting on an individual basis. This is a general guide and if you are unfamiliar with any of the concepts, please use the mighty power of the internet to find tutorials. I promise everything that I have learned over the years has been published and documented a thousand times better than I ever could.

There are five factors to address:

Your computer's inherent capabilities

The game's limitations

The mods you're using

Reshade

Post Processing

Graphics Card Settings & Drivers:

Become familiar with your graphic options. If you don't have a dedicated graphics card (i.e. a desktop or gaming laptop, these features may be unavailable and you should skip.)

I have an AMD Radeon Pro card which is designed for workstation level systems. It's overkill for sims, but useful for 3D rendering and modelling work. I have changed the following settings for DirectX 9 applications:

anti-aliasing - enhance application settings

anisotropic filtering - enabled

anisotropic filtering level - 16x

texture filtering quality - high

surface format optimization - high

Consider overclocking your graphics card to unlock it's full potential. DO NOT pursue this venture unless you are ok with the risk of burning out your card prematurely. I use at present, overclocked Bootcamp Drivers from BootcampDrivers.com obviously, if you're not playing on an intel based mac through Bootcamp, this is irrelevant to you.

None of these settings are useful until you address the default games limitations, which leads nicely into the next factor.

Addressing The Sims 4's Graphic Limitations:

Everyone should be familiar at this point with lighting mods, 4k, textures, disabling ssao, etc. but, I'm still going to spell it out. None of this is new information and has been covered many a time by various players ad nauseum.

remove ugly blue toned lighting in the world by choosing a lighting mod from @softerhaze here

overhaul your graphics.cfg file (i use a custom blend with features specific to me), however @simp4sims has done a ridiculous amount of work in providing a simple to install file that can be found here - read through their tutorials!! they have provided an excellent oversight of exactly what this does and why it matters

improve the indoor lighting for your sims - previously i used @luumia's no blu, no glo - recently i switched to @northernsiberiawinds better in game lighting mod here, though i have tweaked some of the settings to suit my own personal preferences

i don't use the HQ mod, i don't find that it makes enough difference for the amount of effort it requires to convert CAS CC

It should go without saying, but tweaking your graphics config file is absolutely useless if you can't play TS4 at it's maximum in game graphic settings!

The Mods You're Using:

Now that you've put in all this work into getting the game ready to make use of quality mods where do you start? Well, the CC you install matters. Whatever your preference, whether it be maxis-match, alpha or somewhere in between, priority should be given to using items textured in 2k or 4k resolutions, and specific attention should be paid to using wall and flooring textures with bump maps, and or high quality resolutions (this is important later for reshade if you intend to learn about ray tracing).

I will separately post a guide to creators with crispy textures because that is it's own novel.

Reshade:

Phew. Still with me?

There are many many many reshade presets out there, most are alike, but none employ ray tracing, and that is because a) it needs to be manually adjusted for every screenshot, b) they are paid shaders, and c) this requires advanced knowledge of reshade and a decent enough graphics set up that won't overheat - games running native ray tracing recommend a minimum VRAM of 8GB (please note RAM and VRAM are not the same) - i therefore do not recommend pursuing this option if your system does not meet those minimum requirements.

Start here to understand what ray tracing for reshade is. In my opinion, the shaders are well worth the price of $5 for the amount of work that has gone into creating them by the talented Pascal Gilcher. That link is a comprehensive starting point into expanding your knowledge of reshade and it's capabilities.

I have always created my own reshade presets from scratch, and while the core colorization settings I utilize remain largely the same, using ray tracing and re-light means every screenshot needs to be manually adjusted (lights repositioned, bounce and AO factors adjusted, etc) before being captured. @pictureamoebae just published a very timely post discussing the re-light shader and you can read it here.

Post Processing

Reshade does 99.99% of the work that traditionally would be accomplished in a photo editing software like photoshop. Occasionally, I need to adjust exposure manually, add depth of field manually, or color correct. Beyond that I use it to scale images to fit the resolution and file size limits of various platforms. Conceptually this reduces the amount of uncontrolled loss encountered when platforms like tumblr auto compress files that are too large. In reality, tumblr still makes images crappy compared to how they appear in my file folder.

optimize your images for various social media platforms using this guide

fix exposure or colorization issues using a software like photoshop

I hope that this gives you a starting point into expanding your methodologies. My process is continuously evolving and I find this aspect of the game most entertaining. For others who don't enjoy this process, it's probably not worth it!

Thanks for reading ❤ PXL

[catzz089]

“Omg could you imagine how terrifying it would be if your just having fun matting with your friends then suddenly an F1 driver pulled up??”

No, I couldn’t. I’m shit at imagining.

I Like writing though

“Charles, please. We are going to be late if you don’t hurry up.” Max called through the door to their bedroom.

“I’m almost done!” Charles screamed back, still rifling through something in their bedroom, causing an overflow of mess that Max would somehow be coerced into cleaning up.

Max sighed, how come this happens every single time Max tries to plan something nice for them both, he really just needs to let Charles stick with the planning.

Charles slammed the bedroom door open, waltzing up to him and spinning, throwing his arms out,

“How do I look?”

What idiot stares at Max with the most gorgeous looking face known in history, and a perfectky accentuating outfit and then has the gall to ask how he looks?

Well, aside from Max’s idiot bug that’s a conversation for another time.

“Gorgeous, get in the car.”

He sighed dramatically, “it’s like you don’t even love me anymore, baby.”

“That’s because I don’t,” Max deadpanned, “Now please get going, we are cutting it way too close right now.”

Charles grabbed his hand, and began walking outside, “We’ll be fine mom cœur, you’ve left us ages of time, stop stressing.” He brought their hands up, planting a delicate kiss on Max’s hand.

Max pouted, “you can’t just kiss me and expect me to forgive you for taking literal hours ti get ready.”

“Yes, I can. Now hop in.”

“Wait I thought I was driving?”

Charles opened the passenger door, forcing him down inside.

“Nope,” he said, popping the p, “you thought wrong. You’ve done too much, let me drive.” He began doing the belt on Max’s seat.

Which was entirely unnecessary.

But quite sweet.

Not that Max would ever admit it, Charles would get far too big a head.

Charles jumped into the drivers seat, resting a hand on Max’s thigh and high-tailing the car out of their, knocking over their own bin as he did.

“Seriously? If your going to destroy property, at least make it someone else’s, I don’t want to deal with that.”

“Then pay someone to deal with it, I’m pretty sure you have the money for that.”

Max sighed, leaning back in his seat and gripping onto the car door, it probably wouldn’t save his life but security was security when you’re in a car with Charles Leclerc.

By the time they reached the track, they very much were late, only by 10 minutes or so, but still.

Late.

Max grabbed at Charles’ hand, running off to the changing rooms and dragging him behind.

“Max! Come on,” he whined, “Slow down, I haven’t gone for a run this entire off season, I’m going to get a stitch.”

“Your not that unfit, Schat, I want to get in the track, hurry up!”

“Maxie,” he complained, again, “we are on the track like every weekend, why are you so desperate to go back, it’s our holiday.”

Max just huffed, shoving on his race suit- Redbull, obviously, he’s not wearing some rental- and dashing down to the karts.

Charles groaned, running after him.

There was already an array of kids, all around 6-14 years old already down there and driving.

Charles had the pleasure of watching first hand as their jaws dropped, and nothing but pure terror filled their eyes.

His oblivious little boyfriend however, was far too focused on finding one of the remaining karts with the best tires and bagging that for himself to notice the kids trying to escape the track.

It’s not like they were even going to be racing strangers, just eachother.

Yeah, sure, they may just happen to be driving in the exact same track at the exact same track, but neither of them would ever dare to cause an accident.

Hopefully.

When the started their karts, Max bolted it into the track, making some poor 10 year old serve his car out of the way to maintain a good distance away, Charles screamed an apology behind him and followed in quick pursuit.

Their two hour session lasted a lot like that.

Charles ramming his kart into Max, subsequently banging into another kid

Max screaming in delight at overtaking Charles, scaring the child in front, making her flinch so badly she binned it into the wall.

Charles realising that the kart he thought was Max’s, was in fact a slightly older kid, so yelling “I beat you!” Into his face as he crossed the start line a millimetre in front was NOT the flex he thought it was.

In Charles’ defence, Max was arguably far worse than him, deliberately falling behind Charles to beat into him one too many times that he too, forgot the difference between a monegasque F1 driver, and a teenager, swerving his car into hers, knocking them both out of the track.

It was the most fun either of them had felt in a long while.

Neither of them were allowed back.

[mothlau]

Hello 👋 for the kink game, what would you think of number 5 and 29 for leztappen please? Have a good day 🧡

hiiiii, sorry for the wait my love!! have some virgin gp!max and some slightly unhinged charles:3 kink meme here

621 words

Charles wishes she could always have Max like this, crying and begging above her, cock barely touching Charles’ cunt. She's been teasing the blonde for hours now, first by touching her lightly, fingers caressing Max's arms, down her neck, over her thighs, then by taking a seat on her lap and grinding down, to make myself more comfortable, Maxie.

She wanted to make it good for Max, her first time, her first proper time, with a partner that loves her. But there's something about dangling the fruit in front of Max's face and seeing how she gets cross-eyed with wanting.

Max took it in stride, though. She took all of Charles' relentless teasing and let it get to her, quiet and pliant, face slightly pink, pupils dilated. Charles loves her, she truly does; loves her like this, barely able to hold herself back from thrusting in, loves her as she was seconds ago, face wet with Charles’ slick, loves her as she will be once she gets to finally push in, to be where she most desires.

Now, however, Charles feels dizzy with the amount of adoration that's surging through her. She feels on top of the world, as if she alone could rule it from where she is, just under Max’s weight.

“Baby,” Max whines, the head of her throbbing cock pushing against Charles’ wet folds. “Baby, please let me fuck you, please! I– I want to be inside you so bad–”

Charles' pussy leaks against Max's dick and she wants it just as bad, if not worse. She's awfully empty, without Max filling her up, but she knows it will be worth it, for both of them, when Max slides in.

After all, she can feel herself making a mess down her thighs, making a mess of Max's cock. The wet of it will make it easy, and she needs it easy with how big Max is. The stretch will make it burn, Charles can already imagine how sore she will be after Max is done with her.

“Baby, please, please, please let me fuck you– Been so good for you, please–”

And that's true, Max has been nothing but patient as Charles took everything she wanted from her. But still, she smirks up at her pathetic lover and grinds down on her dick, just moves her hips so that she can feel some of the precum spurt over her clit.

Except it's not pre that Max shoots out. She's moaning above her and shaking from how unexpected the orgasm was, and she's pushing inside Charles because the warmth is all she wants and Charles can't blame her. She can't scold her for wasting the cum that was meant to fill her up, because she is not done with her handsome boy. She needs to fuck her stupid.

Charles reaches between their bodies, fingers gathering some of the semen. The pearly white looks beautiful against her red nails and she wants more, all of it, until she's swollen and her stomach is round with it.

Charles brings her hand to Max's lips.

Of course she opens them without a thought, eyes hazy and cloudy with unshed tears. The overstimulation must be getting to her, but Max has never been inside a pussy before, so Charles can only imagine how dumb she must be getting from the sensation.

The cum mixes with some of Charles' slick that has yet to dry, and the brunette drags her fingers until Max's lips are painted in it. Until the freckle above her lip is covered and all she wants to do is lick it clean.

Charles moves upwards and does just that, pussy tightening against the softening cock inside her, milking it dry.

[luthsthings]

Sims 4 x 10 Years!

Ten years ago today, I booked the day off on my work schedule and played a lot of Sims 4.

I'd been a Simmer since 2000, after one of my kids asked for the game because they'd seen it at a friend's house. I played The Sims, and then Sims 2, and then Sims 3. Sims 3 and my computer didn't get on too well, and I fought it a lot, wanting to play rotationally as a micromanager! When the Sims 4 trailers started coming out, I felt like they'd finally made a version of the game that was really for me, as a micromanaging rotational player who doesn't want to restart for new packs and new worlds, and who likes some quirk and exaggeration.  

So on September 2, 2014, I installed Sims 4. (I'd preordered, of course!) I downloaded trailer Sims from the Gallery (I still have a soft spot for Amber -- in one of my saves, back around 2015, she married Elvis Presley). I giggled at Sims sticking their fingers in their ear while they cooked. I got annoyed by the push-ups. I completely failed at making a roof. A Sim read a book while on the toilet and I was delighted. I took my Willow Creek Sim to visit the bar in Oasis Springs and enjoyed the view there (I like the dinos).

I made a self-Sim and spent lots of time tweaking her face till my husband came into the room, glanced at my monitor, and said, "Hey, that's actually you!" She's still my self-Sim (over on my avatar there). I just update her look now and then as I update my own.

I had a lot of fun, and I found myself using Sims as a new creative outlet in ways I hadn't so much before. I felt creative.

Eventually I confessed to my daughter that I'd actually played with my self-Sim. Here she is as a scientist back in 2015. Once upon a time, in an earlier version of the game, we -- me and my kids -- were playing with "us" in game and I died in a model rocket accident. This was traumatic and I was not supposed to play with "us" anymore. This time I did not die.

And here I am still playing! (But my hair went white.) I've had three-day saves and seven-year saves (RIP that save!). I've played every pack, but there are still base game things I haven't done! Sometimes I get really caught up in too much micromanaging with the game (townies really do often need fixing), then a new pack comes out and I try new things and it's a lot of fun again. It makes me laugh.

I've also made new friends in Sims communities and helped lots of Simmers keep playing the game. I started doing that back in 2014. A lot of the Sims community back then was focusing on what was bad about Sims 4. I was having fun with it, though, and enjoyed helping other people on the Forums who just wanted to do that.

That just kind of... morphed. It turned into some Forums posts gathering scattered info about upcoming packs from the various places SimGurus were saying things (I stopped doing those a couple of years ago -- there are websites gathering that info now, and a lot less places it turns up too). It turned into threads gathering info about mods that got broken in big game patches... and that was way back in 2015! I'm delighted that it turned into a whole thing in the community, with different places providing the info different ways. Getting to know the modding community after starting that has been a lot of fun. I even brushed off my old programming knowledge from high school and took over some mods from a modder I'd gotten to know well. I do like the lack of punch cards in modern programming!

I'm also super thankful to EA and Maxis for inviting me some years ago to be a Game Changer (the program that morphed into the EA Creator Network). I love the connections I have with other creators and storytellers and support people in the EACN, even if I feel really tiny next to the big names with their thousands and thousands of followers (but a quick thank you to my little group of Patrons! I appreciate you a ton!). I am also very appreciative of the gifted packs from EA that I receive as part of the EACN. They've helped make it a little bit easier to volunteer my time to supporting other Simmers, even if I do now have to put disclaimers on gameplay content I post, which sometimes feels a bit silly.

tldr: Happy 10th Birthday, Sims 4! I hope it's a fabulous one.

And now I'm going to grab some lunch, do some chores, then dive back into my current save. Cassandra has two love interests to consider, and that jewel is charging up. Plus she really needs a cat. And some actual income. And some improvements in her spellcasting (my previous save's Cassandra was a Mermaid). And that's not to start on Alexander building some skills before he heads off to uni for Robotics...

Psst... 

Don't forget to mark on your calendar the next anniversary. The Sims franchise will be 25 on February 4, 2025! 

[f1amboyant]

Omg, I wasn't expecting to elaborate on this but you know what, I will bc it makes me happy and I am not confident or secure enough to write something long but I still want to share.

About everyone's colors:

-Ferrari: Rosso corsa for Charles and bright yellow gold for Carlos

-Mercedes: royal purple for Lewis and turquoise for George

-RB: burnt orange for Maxy and forest green for Checo

-McLaren: soft orange for Lando and periwinkle for Oscar

-Aston: sky blue for Fernando and cooper for Lance

-Williams: lavender for Alex, cherry red for Logan and sunshine yellow for Franco

-Haas: ochre for Nico and ice blue for Kevin

-Alpine: navy blue for Pierre and blush pink for Esteban (he swears it's beige for years)

-VCarb: warm orange for Yuki, pistachio for Liam and mahogany brown for Dan

-Stake: dove grey for Guanyu and coral for Valtteri

-Other important colors (?): silver for Nico Rosberg, emerald green for Seb, garnet for Kimi, steel grey for Toto, teddy bear brown for Ollie, sage green for Kimi Antonelli, petrol blue for Mark Webber, brass for Jenson.

Source? Just vibes really.

Some drivers are sure to wear long sleeves and be careful of being to close to fans but Carlos is of the opposite view, hundreds of centimeters of skin showing and a belief that if you get a new soulmates, it was meant to be and it drives Charles nuts even though it has never happened and Carlos has only bonded with people who are indeed close to him. In one occasion he takes pleasure in seeing how a pretty girl at a club who has been flirting with Carlos (who is oblivious and a little tipsy) all night gets mad when she grabs Carlos' forearm and nothing happens, not a bit of pigment on sight so obviously Charles has to go get his teammate and holding him by the point where he KNOWS his red mark is under the fine linen shirt make sure he makes it back to the hotel 🫣

Thank you everyone for the encouragement, I'll keep you posted 🥰🎨

Asdkjhgdjkhglq that's amazing!

No note on the color choices for each driver. I could never have done it myself and I love them all! Perfect 🎨

And jealous possessive Charles?? Yes please, I need more of that. Oh Carlos would be absolutely oblivious (he always looks so lost when he is with fan, he would absolutely be lost about this too). And Charles putting his hand back where his mark is on Carlos?? Daaaaaamn 😵‍💫 I love it so much!!!

But now tell me anon (if you want to, of course), this is charlos, right? So how do those two idiots go from 'oh yeah we have each other's mark but that's because we're teammates, no?' to 'together or nothing, we are real soulmates'? Do you have ideas? I need my babies together 🥺