A Piarles fanfic by EspiTheWarlock | M | Complete | 61k
“Hello,” Pierre said breathlessly, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. I’m Pierre.”
The man’s smile grew even wider and Pierre felt something tug at his chest. He looked down to see a beam of light shoot out of his own chest and fly towards the man. The stranger somehow caught the light and it swirled around his hand a few times before sinking into his skin.
“Thank you for giving me your name, Pierre,” the man extended his hand outwards, “you may call me Charles.”
Five-year-old Pierre makes a deal with a stranger from the Feywild. Twenty years later, the terms of the deal come due.
hii espi!! xx could I please ask about fae lando/pierre for the wip ask game? 💗 that sounds like such a cool premise!!
You can ask, but I can't talk about this one too much since it's for an upcoming fest! 🫣
(Although, I'm 99% certain that anyone familiar with my works will see a Fae Pierre/Lando fic and be able to guess it's me near instantly)
It's set in modern-day, Fae!Lando x Human!Pierre that meet in a nightclub and, well, Pierre gives Lando his name. Gives it, in the Fae sense. So obviously Pierre wants it back and Lando makes him jump through some hoops to get it. I won't say much more, but I will give you a snip with your man George for leaving me such a lovely ask! 💚
Out from the toolbox came several spools of thread. From what Pierre could tell, each of them had that sort of fuzziness around them that he had come to associate with magic, though this didn’t feel like illusion magic. Somehow.
“What color for the runes?” George asked, this time very clearly at Lando since he flicked several of the spools over to the Fae for consideration. In the mirror, Pierre could tell that there was a basic white, a solid black, and a couple different shades of blue and green, as well as yellow.
“Runes?” Pierre repeated. His request for clarification was quickly answered by George, who smiled at him while making some minor adjustments to the darts.
“For a Midsummer event, it’s traditional to wear runes as a hope for blessings for the next year,” he explained. “I’ll enchant ones for prosperity, health, fortune, joy, and anything else you want to try and court. Fertility, perhaps?”
George’s suggestion was made slyly and Pierre couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not. The way Lando laughed told him it was, but the Fae was also prone to laughing even when something was asked in earnest.
[*coughs and a cloud of dust billows off of my blog*]
I got tagged by the lovely @hrhgeorgerussell for the WIP game and, as little as I use this blog anymore, I do love to talk about my works! Ask away!
rules: make a new post with the names of your WIPs and tag as many people as you have WIPs. people send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it.
Escort Pierre (F1-Driver Lando/Escort Pierre. Actively being posted M/W/F, Chapter 4 of 8 goes up tomorrow!)
Grid Gets Snapped (starts Pierre/Lando & Charles/Alexandra, eventual slow-burn Pierre/Charles, eventual-eventual Pierre/Charles/Lando. Follows the 2026-2031 F1 seasons but there are Circumstances™️)
Pierre/Lando+Oscar (what it says on the box. A PWP with established Pierre/Lando with Oscar as a third. There might also be a sequel involving a fourth.)
Modern Fae (Pierre/Lando with a billion background pairings. Modern-day fantasy AU)
Camp Counselors (Pierre/Lando with a couple background pairings. Non-famous modern-day AU)
A Pierre/Lando fanfic by EspiTheWarlock | T | New Chapters M/W/F
"If you ever feel…unsafe…at home with your partner, my door is open to you. I know I’m just a stranger that lives in your building–”
“What are you talking about? I’m single. I live alone. This was just because I’m an idiot.”
Lando accidentally gives himself a black eye live on his Twitch stream. His super hot neighbor is concerned in the sweetest way and Lando can't help but ask him out. His chat is going to love this.
AND I will be including Twitch Chat in the fic! If you would like to see your username there, like or comment on this post! 💚
He only breaks the kiss a moment later because that reminds him of the questions he meant to ask earlier cause he’s frickin, curious, or whatever, and it’s cool to know that there’s another queer driver on the grid. Pierre’s clearly done this before, like. “Both, you’re not, like, fully gay then? Cause I am. Like, you like women too?”
“Kay,” Lando says, kissing him again, fingers tightening in Pierre’s hair. Can’t get over how soft it is, remembers Pierre saying it, that he hadn’t had time to put anything in it earlier and thinks about telling him to never put anything in it ever again. “Thought you were Catholic.”
"I am," Pierre replies, laughter still in his voice and a stupidly handsome smirk on his face that Lando very much would like to kiss off his lips.
“So how’s that going for you?”
"People can be bi and Catholic it’s not-” Pierre interrupts himself searching for the word, and Lando very much is not someone who could help with that. “Mutually exclusive,” Pierre settles on. Fancy.
or; about Lando struggling with being queer in F1 because he's constantly hiding, about longing, and about letting yourself have good things - which for Lando is Pierre, from now on. set after the Monaco GP 2026.
read on ao3 here
check out the other fics in the 2026 @f1playlistficexchange fic collection on ao3 here
(writen for @espithewarlock as my contribution to the fourth round of the f1 playlist fic exchange!! xx my first time writing lando/pierre but had so much with it that it definitely won't be the last time, and my first time writing more explicit smut. hope you enjoy!!)
Have you ever wanted to read a fic based on your favourite song? We’re happy to announce that the F1 Playlist Fic Exchange is going into the fourth year and is about to kick off!! <3
Just as in the past three years, every writer who participates will offer three songs to a fellow author for them to create a fic that will be based on one of these songs, and you will receive three songs from someone else in return to write them a fic inspired by their favourite music.
As always, there will be a playlist with everyone's song choices that we'll share once assignments are out for everyone who's curious about what songs are in the mix. Last year, we made a Discord server for every writer who participates but you can of course still join even if you don't plan on writing a fic for the exchange - to perhaps help the writers brainstorm, cheer them on, beta read, pinch hit if needed, or just hang out there together.
More information, the rules, and all the links you'll need under the cut:
How does it work?
This is a fic exchange, so everyone will write and receive a fic.
To write your gift for someone else (Offer): You submit a few pairings you're willing to write. You can of course indicate any content or rating(s) you wouldn't feel comfortable writing. You'll then receive someone else's request that matches with your own, and you pick one of their songs to base a fic on.
For your gift (Request): You submit the pairing(s) you'd like to read and three songs that you would love to receive a fic based on. You can indicate any characters and content you don't want, and you can also opt in or out of explicit content, specify the rating(s) you would be comfortable with receiving, anything that you feel would be important for your gift giver to know. You may request anything (themes/kinks/tropes) you want, but understand that your gifter is under no obligation to write them. Another author will be matched to you and will pick one of your songs to inspire a story they write for you!
Can I pick any song?
Sure! Any era or style of song is fine. With a few logical constraints - please make sure the gift giver can access the song easily (ideally it should be available on Spotify, YouTube, or another major service). At least two of the songs must have lyrics.
Some advice on choosing songs! Consider adding variation to your selections to give your gift giver the best chance to be inspired. For example, if you pick 3 break up songs, then you're giving your writer less to play with.
What if I'm not inspired by the songs I get?
'Inspired by' is a very loose term! You can take any element of the song to turn into a story. Don't feel pressured to literally write the plot or use the entire song. It could be a story inspired by the whole song or just by some of the lyrics or by the title or by the vibe of the song.
The mods are also around to answer any questions you might have and help brainstorm options/plots/vibes. You can find Ceci as @carpe-dracon on Tumblr, Ann as @hrhgeorgerussell on Tumblr, and Pauli as @golden-fairylights on Tumblr. Alternatively, you can message us under [email protected]. If you'd like to join our Discord server for the exchange, you can also @ us there or message us directly. And as always, chatting about your fic idea(s) with friends also helps! <3
How long does the fic have to be?
The minimum length is 1500 words.
What's the timeline?
Sign-ups will be open for about a week and a half from today, the 20th January until they close on the 31st January.
Once sign-ups are closed, you'll receive your assignment on the 1st February.
You will then have a month and a half to write your fic until the deadline, which will be on the 15th March this year. We'll check in with everyone a few days before the deadline. <3
What if I can't finish my story?
No fandom stuff is worth feeling stressed about. With an exchange, it's important that everyone who writes a fic also gets one in return! So if you can't complete something by the deadline, please let us know ASAP so we can organise a gift for that person.
How do I post my fic to the collection?
In your Ao3 Dashboard, go to the Assignments tab and follow the prompts.
Is it only fic or can I make art?
It is just fic for now!
Is it only F1 pairings (or also Formula 2, Formula E etc)?
To increase the chance of everyone getting a match, this exchange will only be Formula One pairings. The exception is if two people want to sign up and put the same F2/FE pairing, and be matched with each other. That's completely fine, just please let us know as soon as possible. <3
You can request and offer fics about any F1 pairing you would like, whether that is modern F1 or classic F1.
The more ships you request and offer the better we can match you.
Do I need an Ao3 account to participate?
Yes.
What if nobody offers to write my pairing?
If anyone is unmatched, we'll do our best to find them a match or, worst case situation, message them to discuss a different pairing.
The more pairings you put in, the more likely you are to get a match.
For example, you can put only classic F1 pairings, but it might be easier to match you if you put both modern and classic F1 pairings, just to make sure. Similarly, you're of course welcome to request as many rarepairs as you'd like, but depending on who else signs up and who offers what, it'd be great if you had a little bit of a range of options for us to match you as well as possible.
I have another question that you haven't answered.
Oh no! Hit us up on this Tumblr (@f1playlistficexchange) or message us directly on Tumblr under @carpe-dracon (Ceci) @hrhgeorgerussell (Ann) or @golden-fairylights (Pauli). You can alternatively write us an email ([email protected]) for any help. If you choose to join the Discord (or are already in it from last year, in which case, hi, welcome back!!) tag @moderator in our Discord server or message us directly on Discord.
If you have any questions or need help with brainstorming, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us or other members of the server. Please try to avoid reaching out to your giftee, for example on Discord, to keep the element of surprise. If you have a question for them, message a mod, and we'll be your messenger.
Links:
Here is the link to this year's 2026 Ao3 Collection where you can fill out your sign up form until the 31st January. (The link should take you to the profile page of the Ao3 Collection, and you will find the sign-up form via the Collection menu.)
(And if you're curious how last year's exchange worked and what fics were written for it, this is the 2025 Ao3 Collection with all the wonderful stories that were posted last March!!)
Here is our Discord server for the exchange.
Please let us know in case the links don't work for you, and we'll look into it.
in 2026, remember how GOOD writing feels. remember how satsfying it is to get your characters to the point you have been dying to get to, where they will experience the love, fear, relief or whatever the feeling you want to bring to life may be. let this year be the year of writing, prgress and of satisfactory endings.
As of posting this, the final chapter of Safety in your Arms has been posted! I have a lot of thoughts about writing this, so you can check below the cut if you're interested in my rambles.
When I first had the idea for Bodyguard Pierre, I’ll admit I was both excited and terrified. This was the first idea that I had that I felt really had the potential to be 100k+, and I was eager to hit that milestone.
For a long time, I felt like a 100k fic was the only thing I was really “missing” as an author. I passed a million words very early this year, and yet my longest fic was just a hair over 73k. I really wanted to make the 100k fic happen, and I’m still a little surprised that I did it.
There were a lot of things I did with Bodyguard that I had never done before. I’m a big fan of making thorough outlines so I know what I’m writing and how the story will unfold, but I couldn’t do that for Bodyguard. By following the actual results of the season, I knew I had to be flexible. So my outline was incredibly minimal – only a single sentence with Lando’s mindset for each chapter, and several later chapters just had “????” when I first started.
Honestly, I was a little worried that McLaren would pull a Ferrari 2022 and be incredibly competitive at the start of the season and then Max wins the WDC with four races left. Lando actually taking the driver’s championship to Abu Dhabi (and winning it!) worked insanely well for the narrative, but starting out I had no clue how the season was going to go.
The other big change I made to my usual writing habits was posting as I write. I have never done that before since I prefer to have a story finished before I start posting. I never want to make my readers wait for too long or worry about a fic staying incomplete. I also like having the ability to tweak early details as I’m writing later scenes. For me, especially with my fantasy AUs, that helps me build the world if I have the ability to change things that happen early on. I definitely couldn’t with Bodyguard.
Perhaps the strangest thing was that I wasn’t sure if I could write on that schedule. Posting a chapter with every race weekend seemed intimidating, and yet I was never behind. Even on bad writing weeks, I had still written far enough ahead that I always had at least two chapters “in the bank” minus race flavor.
Sometimes, I had such good writing weeks that I actively had to stop myself from writing because I was adding more placeholders than plot. (I was writing COTA/Mexico/Brazil before the race in Zandvoort!)
I was also (strangely) worried about not hitting the 100k goal. Starting out, I planned for 27 chapters. One for each race (24), a pre-season, summer break, and post-season. That meant I needed each chapter to be roughly 3.7k to hit that goal, which felt like a stretch, yet possible. I knew some would be long and some would be short, so as long as I kept around that average I could do it.
Then I decided to split the F1-75 event from pre-season testing. Later I realized there was a decent break between Silverstone & Spa, and I wanted a little bit of Domestic Bliss & Falling in Love before the break-up. Then I wrote a 9k+ chapter for Mexico and decided to split it into two parts with the cliffhanger. All of that added up to 30 chapters, and a good number of them far exceeded that original 3.7k goal.
Hitting 100k by Brazil was not expected, but it was a lovely surprise. That gave me the breathing room to finish the story how I wanted without worrying about word count. Some chapters were easier to write than others and I’ll be the first to say that the Zandvoort – Singapore chapters were a slog. However, they were important to the story and (I hope) the payoff with COTA/Mexico was worth it.
Another major change to my mindset was resetting my expectations. I knew that going from writing mostly Piarles (the 6th most popular pairing in F1 RPF [when did it drop to 6th???]) to a rarepair like Pierre/Lando was going to drop pretty much all of my stats. And it has, but that hasn’t stopped me.
I always write for myself first and foremost. There are stories I want to tell and I’ll keep sharing them as long as there are people who want to read them, no matter how “popular” they are. Kudos and Comments are a wonderful bonus, and as long as I’m happy with what I’m writing I will keep doing it.
There was a very real point early this year where I seriously considered stopping writing because I wasn't happy. Without Kit's endless support and belief, there was a chance I would have abandoned Bodyguard and stuck all of my published fics into a private collection. Now I'm glad I didn't, but I did come very close.
I never expected Bodyguard to cross 100 kudos, let alone 100 subscribers. It’s actually my 2nd most popular fic by subscriptions and 5th by bookmarks, which is insane. Having that kind of support helps to motivate me to see a story to the end. So, if you read or subscribed or left kudos, thank you for that showing of support. If you left me a comment at any point, you’re a superstar. I get really self-conscious about replying to comments and I appreciate you more than what I can put into words. (And I have a lot of those!)
To be honest, I don’t know if I can do something like Bodyguard again. It took a lot of mental energy to plan ahead and make sure I was on-schedule for such a large commitment.
Looking at my stats, I have about 75% of the words this year than I did last year. A large part of that I attribute to having to switch from whatever other WIP I have to Bodyguard and back, which definitely hurts the writing flow. I’m super proud of myself for doing it, but I’m probably going to go back to only posting completed works. There's plenty more Pierre/Lando coming from me once I take a well-deserved break after finishing this 120k fic.
A Nortrell fanfic by 14CookesGone | G | Complete | 22k
“There’s a thing called the sweater curse,” Ethel begins, curling her hands around her mug of tea as she gathers her thoughts. In another life, she’d probably be a great storyteller. “Supposedly, if someone were to give a hand-knitted sweater to a significant other, then there’s a chance that they might break up. In some stories, the couple break up before the sweater is even completed.”
“I don’t -” Lando begins, darting his tongue out nervously, heart pounding in his chest. “I don’t think that would happen to me.”
OR Lando Norris and the mortifying ordeal of learning to knit.
Not sure how often you check these, or how often you return to previous worlds, but was reading your Lando/Pierre fae fic, and hoping to maybe get a bit of jealous Lando side-eyeing Pierre and Charles one day. Heck that fic or another, just know I'd love it.
Thank you for the ask! 💚
I don't check my Tumblr feed these days for my mental health, but I have (finally) turned on email notifications for asks so I can answer these when they come in! (or become relevant...)
As far as previous worlds, it depends on if I'm inspired to write anything more! I have plenty of fics that I'm satisfied with where they ended and plenty of fics where I thought I was satisfied with where they ended, then had an idea for a continuation.
Keep Your Garden Open is such a special story for me and, as it happens, I already had some ideas for snippets from that world! Your ask tied into one of those ideas super well so I hope you enjoy I Bloom Just For You!
I just found your tumblr so I apologize if you've gotten this question before haha
What day are the Safety In Your Arms updates posted after race week?
Hello! 💚 Sorry it took me a hot minute to answer! Updates get posted at the start of the next race weekend, just to give me a little breathing room to edit and format and actually write the chapter.
So the Spain chapter will go up on Thursday, June 12th (ahead of the Canadian GP), the Canada chapter will go up Thursday, June 26th (ahead of Austria!), and so on.
The only exception to this is going to be summer break. Let's be honest, several weeks without racing (or updates) will kill all of us, so I'm planning to post the Hungary chapter in the middle of summer break and post a "Summer Break" chapter ahead of Zandvoort.
All of this depends, of course, on my ability to write the chapters in time to post them. Staying motivated is difficult and inspiration comes and goes.
In any case, I hope you're excited! I'm enjoying writing it alongside the season and I've been thoroughly surprised at how much of a following it has! 💚
Are you gonna write more lando/pierre fanfics with no alternative universe?
I mean...the odds are pretty decent that I will, yeah.
I have 63 posted fics and, of those, 23 have the pairing as both F1 drivers and 8 more as "WAG" fics with one of the pairing as an F1 driver. That's pretty close to half of my fics that involve F1 in some capacity.
It shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that I love fantasy. (Look at my username!) I know that can be a little niche, but I enjoy both writing and reading it. But it also shouldn't surprise people that I'm a big fan of the sport of Formula One and I want to write about that too.
So, a long story short, yes. There will be more F1 fics. There will also be more AU fics.
(If you want to drop me any prompts go ahead! I always accept those, and I reserve the right to do what I want with them.)
Hey, I read your fanfictions between Pierre and lando and I loved it, it became one of my favorite ship. Your writing is just so good and it would be so nice if you could write just some one shots about them or a new story?
Hello! Thank you for the compliment! 💚
I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure what you mean since the Fae Arranged Marriage fic is still in the process of being posted and Bodyguard Pierre will be getting new updates with every race weekend, so I have plenty of new content going up!
If longfics just aren't your jam (which I totally get! Sometimes all you want is a little snack.) then you'll (hopefully) be happy to know that I have three short fics ready to be posted in my drafts! Two of them are new standalone oneshots and the third is another installment of the A Good Boy (For Once) series.
I get super self-conscious about flooding people's inboxes. Especially with weeks like next week where I have the last 3 chapters of Fae going up Monday/Wednesday/Friday and the Miami chapter of Bodyguard going up on Thursday. It's a bit silly that I feel like I'm being annoying, even though the people who have subscribed to me or to the fic have chosen to do so because they want to read what I'm posting.
If you want to come back into my asks or my DMs with a "Please, Espi! Flood away!" then I could pull those oneshots forward a little.
Also, I do work well from prompts, so you are more than welcome to drop a prompt in my asks! I prefer those to be non-anon so I can thank you for it (and even gift it to you!) but I'll accept anon prompts too. 💚
Hi! Just read the latest chapter of bodyguard Pierre and it’s such a good story, I’m really enjoying it. I noticed you’ve been writing the lando/pierre pairing a lot lately and was just wondering what drew you to them? I’m not sure which story of yours I read first but it was definitely piarles so I was just surprised to see this pairing popping up and it made me curious. It’s just not a pairing that had occurred to me, but it’s totally a fun one! This is absolutely not a complaint or anything like that btw, I’m excited every time I get an email notification that you’ve posted something new!! Sorry this got very rambling 💕
Thank you so much for the compliment! I'm honestly surprised at how many people are reading Bodyguard Pierre right now and I'm excited to see how the season develops and to write the story alongside it!
As for what drew me to the pairing? That fault lies entirely with @gaslybottoms. They rolled into my DMs with this video of Pierre joining in Lando's interview after Austria 2023 (the track limits violation extravaganza galore). Pierre got a violation, but Lando didn't and he called himself a "good boy" and Pierre replied "for once". This sent both of us absolutely spiraling and we wrote Catch Me When I Fall together based on that premise, which is now a series!
That was my first time writing Pierre/Lando and I found them extremely compelling. So I kept going. The story ideas I had worked really well with the pairing, especially Bodyguard with Lando in the championship fight this season.
Pierre has always been my main guy (see: this entire blog) and I've always liked Lando (see: Carlando Coffeeshop AU), so it made sense to stick them together. In hindsight, that Coffeeshop AU had a lot of the Pierre & Lando friendship and it's not surprising that I eventually moved into writing a Pierre/Lando relationship.
It means the world to me that you're enjoying my works regardless of pairing! I've got more Pierre/Lando cooking and also more Piarles cooking. I really love writing fanfic and getting messages like this (along with kudos/comments) motivates me to keep going. 💚
