dickgrayson
♫ can't stop - red hot chili peppers
liked by yourusername, st4rfire, mercedesamgf1 and 15,028,485 others
dickgrayson suzuka isnt ready for us 😈
╰┈> tagged: yourusername
user1 DYNAMIC DUO YAY NIGHTCAT
yourusername sniped on the main is CRAZY
╰┈> dickgrayson u cant even see our faces 🙄
╰┈> yourusername and what a blessing it is to not have to see urs
╰┈> dickgrayson WHY R U SO MEAN TO ME
╰┈> yourusername ur name is literally dick?? the jokes write themselves
user3 theyre so cute!! literally my parents
╰┈> user4 they arent dating??
╰┈> user3 oh cmon u rly think nothing is going on??
╰┈> user4 newsflash! women are in f1 to race, not find a bf
user5 AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!!
dickgrayson acting as if u werent snoring the whole time
╰┈> you WOAH WHY SO VIOLENT
╰┈> dickgrayson keeping the WHOLE cabin awake bro
zatanna_z so r we going drifting or what cuz im in tokyo for a show rn...
╰┈> you idk if i can :/ my weekend is packed and technically im not supposed to do that anymore
╰┈> zatanna_z when have u ever done what ur supposed to?? pleaseeee u need some fun in between all this serious stuff
╰┈> you i'll see what i can do
╰┈> zatanna_z yay!!!!
selinakyle good luck this weekend
╰┈> you thanks 😽
╰┈> you btw...u wouldnt just so happen to be planning on going drifting in tokyo this weekend right...
╰┈> selinakyle i wont snitch
╰┈> you YAY THANK U
14:02 ── Suzuka Circuit, Japan
The start to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend had been less than ideal for Jason. Free practice hadn't been great. He was distracted, hesitant, slow.
Jason had a complicated relationship with Suzuka. It was a new thing, only starting last year when he was fighting Dick for the Formula 1 World Driver's Championship. Jason was looking at his third championship title, having won the last two seasons consecutively. Dick was fighting to take that title back from him and eventually did go on to win his fourth WDC that season. It was raining hard and droplets of water covered Jason's visor, impairing his vision. Under different circumstances, he would've just accepted P2 and laid off of Dick, it wasn't worth the risk that comes with racing hard in the rain.
But Jason was driving angry.
That morning, he had gotten into an argument with his childhood mentor and father figure, Bruce Wayne. Bruce owned a karting team, meaning he knew a lot of the kids who eventually made it to F1. The billionaire had taken an interest in Jason years ago and decided to sponsor him, paying for every expense on his road to F1. But when Jason finally made it to the league, he hadn't expected to be forgotten so easily for one person.
Dick Grayson: the golden boy.
Jason had raced him before in the junior leagues, but Dick had made it to F1 two years before him. He knew Dick was close with Bruce, he was the first kid Bruce took under his wing and mentored, but he didn't expect the blatant favoritism. Bruce had tried to mentor both kids, he really had, but at the time he was still driving for Mercedes and Dick was his teammate. Jason could understand it then, it was for the team win, but when he retired? Nothing changed.
In the three years since Bruce's retirement, Dick had filtered through teammates like they were nothing. Bruce was fully focused on molding Dick into the greatest driver F1 has ever seen. Jason didn't even exist to him.
The morning of the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix, Jason and Dick had been talking and joking around in the Mercedes garage. Dick was trying to devise a plan on how to get Kori to go out with him, each idea worse than the last. Babs had joined in on the fun too, helping feed Dick's delusions and coming up with even worse date ideas just to mess with him.
"You're hopeless, you know that? And Babs, for an engineer you can't devise a good strategy for shit." Jason had said dryly which made Barbara burst out laughing.
"Oh yeah, like you're so much better," she quipped.
"Everything alright over here?" a rough voice asked from behind Jason.
Turning around, he was face to face with his former mentor, Bruce Wayne.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Jason said coldly.
Bruce and Jason were engaged in a mini staring contest when Dick made the idiotic decision to attempt to crack a joke.
"Jason was just telling me how hopeless I am and how Babs is a bad strategist," he drabbled.
"Was he now?" Bruce asked.
Catching Jason's glare, Dick decided to take it further, not noticing the tension between the pair. "Yep, said how I'm horrible at this...how I don't deserve this 'cause Kori is-"
But Bruce had heard enough, completely missing the part about the woman Dick was trying to win over. All he heard was Jason insulting his star prodigy before a race.
"I think you should leave, Jason." Bruce said firmly.
Jason, who had been flipping off Dick playfully, immediately snapped back to face Bruce with a confused look on his face.
"You heard me. It's time for you to go."
"Jason was just kidding." Babs piped up, hoping to defuse the tension.
Bruce scoffed. "Kidding or not, I don't need Dick getting worked up by the competition before a race."
Bruce had said it as if that's all the Jason was to him — competition to be snuffed out.
"Leave kid. Let's not make this a scene," Bruce continued.
"Ironic," Jason muttered as he pushed past the man, intentionally knocking his shoulder hard.
"I said it's ironic, you not wanting to make a scene when you're the one who came up to us. You must think I'm some piece of work, huh?" Jason snapped, causing a few heads to turn to them throughout the Mercedes garage. "I won't disturb you or your 'star prodigy' again."
As Dick watched Jason leave, his mind was telling him to say something, anything. He knew how much Jason had looked up to Bruce as a kid, he was his favorite driver and Jason had been so excited to work with him. Dick knew Bruce didn't mentor the other kids as much anymore, it was kind of hard to do that when each kid was on a different team, but he didn't think Jason was upset about it.
That afternoon on the race track, Jason heard Bruce's voice ringing through his ears, calling him "the competition". Well, if he wanted competition, he was going to get competition.
On the last lap of the Japanese Grand Prix, Jason had caught up to Dick and was in DRS range. His race engineer had come on the radio, warning Jason not to push, that the weather was too poor and it was dangerous, but it all felt so far away. Jason zeroed in on Dick, mashing the DRS button for a speed boost.
He was coming into the final turn of the race, his very last chance.
Desperate, Jason dove to the inside line, squeezing in where there was no existing gap, no space for his car. Dick didn't move to let him pass and Jason didn't let up. But the rain was thick and heavy, meaning the two were virtually driving blind through the haze. Jason's front tires locked up and he hydroplaned, the speed and the water rendering the track essentially frictionless. His front wing slammed under Dick's rear and Jason's Red Bull was airborne. He flipped once in the air before landing on the gravel and rolling several times, eventually slamming into the barrier at mach speed.
The 40G impact left Jason's head reeling and ringing. His vision was going in and out and he felt like his head was going to burst open. Marshals had come to pull him out of the wreck and he felt hands yanking him from under the car. Someone had a fire extinguisher as per protocol, but any fire that erupted would've been put to rest immediately by the relentless rain. Jason's car was completely demolished; the front wing had been smashed flat, his tires were rolling somewhere across the track, and the whole thing looked like a crushed soda can.
Dick was on the other side of the track, stepping out of his car that had slid rather gracefully, leaving the golden boy untouched, which only made Jason angrier. It was as if the universe was trying to stick it to him that no matter how much he tried, Jason would always end up broken from the wreck and Dick would walk out untouched.
14:01 ── Suzuka Circuit, Japan
Unlike Jason, you had no quarrel with Suzuka and were on top of the world. Qualifying had gone really well for you, and you were just behind Dick in P2. You didn't know what was going on with the Red Bull driver, but Jason had been off all weekend. Yesterday, he ended up qualifying P10. As far as you could tell, Jason's car was fine, but then again you really didn't know much. It did feel nice, however, to not be staring at the back of his car on the starting grid. Instead, you were looking at clear air, nothing but open track in front of you.
As Clark was welcoming the audience to the grand prix, you looked over at Dick on your right. He waved excitedly at you and you could just tell he was smiling under his dark blue helmet. Dick pointed at you and then held a thumbs up, silently asking if you were okay. You sent him an overenthusiastic response, attempting to mock him, but the insult flew straight over his head. That was one of the things you could admire about your slightly annoying teammate — he was always optimistic.
When the fifth red light went out, you pressed forward with an expert reaction time, shuffling into order behind Dick. In the team meeting after qualifying, the strategists had informed you that racing between you and Dick was allowed, but you should avoid anything risky. Toto Wolff, your team principal, had been nervous about this because of the forcasted rain. Rain was a game changer. It made the cars more equal as no one had grip, meaning lap 1 brought a slaughterhouse. Five cars were out of the race by the start of the second lap. Rain at Suzuka meant a massacre on track, everyone knew that.
But while the rest of the grid was fighting against the rain, you were embracing it.
There had been a lot of talk on social media lately about how you would perform in your first wet race, with most everyone speculating you would crash on the formation lap. What a lot of people didn't realize, however, is that being a street racer meant you were used to driving with low grip. In fact, you were almost more comfortable in the rain.
On lap 22 out of 53, you made your pit stop to get a fresh pair of intermediate tires. It was a dangerous gamble, seeing as everyone else was on the wet tires, but you were willing to take the risk for the speed boost.
"Now this is interesting," Lois commentated as you left the pit lane and rejoined the track in P6. "For those unfamiliar with tire compounds in F1, most races you'll see the drivers on slicks, choosing between soft, medium, and hard compounds. Soft tires are the fastest, but they have low grip and wear down quickly. Hard tires are slower, but also your best bet to battle tire degradation."
"Everything is shaken up in the rain, though," Clark adds. "Drivers will be on either intermediate or wet tires depending on how wet the track is. In this weather, almost everyone is on wet tires for the extra grip, but it seems Y/N L/N has chosen to take the intermediates. This is quite a risky gamble for the rookie, seeing as this is her first wet race ever. Could this be a strategic error by the team or an intentional attempt at gaining some more speed?
"See for me," Lois cut back in, "this is an unnecessary risk the team is taking. They have their two cars P1 and 2 once Y/N makes her way back up the order — which we assume she will seeing as the cars in the front haven't pitted yet — and shouldn't be taking chances like this, they can't afford it. Putting a rookie on lower grip tires in her first wet race? I wouldn't be surprised if we see her slide off soon."
Back in the Mercedes garage, Barbara was anxiously tracking your every move. After a solid two laps on your new tires, she said "Dick just pitted, he's on wets."
"Does that make him faster? That he's on new tires?" You yelled back over the roar of the wind.
"No," Barbara replied. "You are faster. Just hang on while the other teams pit and you have a shot at the win."
As Babs predicted, the remaining cars in front of you eventually all made their way into the pit lane, leaving you as the race leader. You could see Dick in your mirrors, gaining on you.
"We've heard from the Mercedes garage that they are allowing their drivers to race each other today, so we could be getting some great action within the next few laps or so." Lois announced.
"Astonishingly, rookie Y/N L/N seems to be the faster of the silver arrows! Especially in those corners, where we can see Dick Grayson taking them cautiously, braking early making him lose time. L/N just keeps pulling away, maybe the intermediate tires were the move!"
"You would expect such a seasoned driver to be comfortable enough to push in the wet, but he is definitely holding back. Grayson had an unfortunate crash with Jason Todd here in Suzuka last year, but he came out relatively unscathed so I can't imagine he's being that held back by it. Todd on the other hand, you can't help but wonder if that's the reason he's down in P11 right now." Clark added.
"Clark, take a look at her technique here going into these turns." Lois stared intently at the screen, watching you take turn 2 bravely. "It almost looks like she's drifting! Most of the time, sliding like that in corners just makes you lose time, but in the wet it seems to be giving her an advantage. Oh, looks like we're getting some team radio between Grayson and his engineer."
"Am I catching her?!?" Dick yelled.
"You are three seconds behind currently," his engineer replied calmly.
"FUCK!" he exclaimed. "Did we make the wrong call on the tires? Is that it?"
"We do not believe so, no."
"The what the fuck is she doing to make her so much faster than me?!?"
Dick's engineer was quiet for a moment before saying, "She isn't following the racing line. She's drifting in the corners and taking the straights wider."
"Is there anything I can do to catch her?" Dick asked.
"Let's just focus on maintaining P2, you have Tim 1.8 behind you. Do not take any risks, play for the team."
As the radio message ended, Clark let out a laugh. "I can imagine Dick was not very happy to hear that. As the seasoned driver of the pair, you never want to hear your rookie teammate is faster than you."
"Yes, but he's a good sport. And they're right, he needs to play for the team right now. He can't afford chasing her and crashing, not with Red Bull so close in the Constructor's Championship," Lois agreed.
Ten laps later, you had millions of viewers on the edge of their seats as you crossed the line in P1, checkered flag waving behind you.
Clark's voice boomed through the speakers. "Two months ago, Y/N L/N made her Formula 1 debut in Bahrain and on her third ever race, she's beaten out her title holder teammate. She went into the season with little to no professional racing experience and even less support, but she's proven us all wrong. This is a race to remember and a historic day for the sport."
"Street racer turned rookie sensation Y/N L/N wins the Japanese Grand Prix!"
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