An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
My complete Whumptober 2021 Collection!
All 31 fics are Star Wars The Clone Wars fics focusing on the clones. They’re all SFW and rated either G or T. All fics take place in my Force-Touched Clones AU. None of them are angst for the sake of angst; they all have comfort shown or implied.
Force Touched Clones AU
A strange amulet is passed around Kamino while the clones are cadets. Those who have it in their possession find themselves with some extra abilites.
Characterizations heavily inspired by Project0506's incredible series Soft Wars
Thank you to @whumptober2021 for hosting this wonderful event!
in a kart > didn't make sense why max was faster on the straight even tho the other driver ran the same kart n engine, jos was confused as well n asked to swap engines to test it
in a f3 car > in one of the races another team was basically accusing the engine provider of giving max a special engine bc he was too fast
in a f1 car > gets accused year after year that the car is developed n tailored to suit what he prefers to make him look good against his teammates
in a gt3 car > gets accused that he was running with DTM BoP at nords after accidentally breaking a lap record (unofficially)
in a super gt > he simply is not allowed to be faster by almost 2s than an experienced super gt driver bc the wet weather kept changing *it got worse* #disrespectful
Fuckinggg cryingggggg the way that gt500 car is visibly squirming sliding all over the track and max visibly isn't lifting even a little bit, he is so scary and crazy and good at his job, he is the only driver ever
It’s a long time coming but below I present to you my list of favorite lestappen fics ✨
There are probably no hidden gems but I do recommend to read all of these <3 (also it’s a way for me to catalog my fav fics so I can find them in the future)
Amnesia trope (my favorite trope of all time ever since my grandma made me watch korean soap operas)
I’ll be right beside you by @fabbyf1 : the bible and i am rereading it as we speak
The clauses of commitment by sixteenthirtythree
Killing me slowly by @saiyanwitcher: keeping me up at night and very angsty; wip
Best Kept Secret by @goldsbitch
Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat by @shoutitallout: charles max patrick dempsey terrorist bomb fic
The Kingdom, The Power, The Glory: heartbreaking, reversed amnesia, as in charles slowly starts to lose his memory aahh
i remember the colour of your eyes, cerulean blue by tournesol: technically not an amnesia au but people are being forgotten so
Fics that made me cry
Lazarus rises by @ladysomething: this one is truly special and so close to my heart, one of the first fics I ever read (time travel involved which is also a favorite trope of mine)
Cursebreaker by @usedtobetam
it's an endless night, it's a starless sky by @ladysomething: following the horror movie that was the abu dhabi gp 2025 charles deals with his feelings and his affair with max
Hope under Gravestone by @usedtobetam: the fact that the conclusion of this fic is literally happening in real life at the moment is haunting me
we'd keep all our promises by @toppamplemousse: just this sentence will convince you to read it -> He has to watch from afar and be glad that flowers grew where he chose to water them.
I made my home (underneath your ribs) by @madamcontrition: It’s unfathomable—a love like that 😭
drag my feet along the floor by @toppamplemousse: lestappen boarding school love story this one hits really close to home about growing up and being afraid of what comes next
Soulmate au (something something about the inevitable and the predestined, the rain of milton keynes, the sun of maranello, whatever souls are made charles and max’s are the same)
i loved you before i knew i was supposed to by 3_33
mr. invisible and the thing by Cazio
in dream by @unlapped
Predestined by @usedtobetam
second soul by @fueledbyremembering
red string by @reythemandalor
Lestappen hall of fame
(i love you) it's ruining my life by @chock-and-bates: lestappen sex tape gets leaked and i have read it 5 times already (one of my absolute favorites)
fourth finger by @drivestraight: wonderful 🥹
Where You Go, I Go by @ladysomething: literal masterpiece
Long Live (The Walls We Crashed Through) by @fabbyf1
morning comes (and you're not my baby) by @chock-and-bates
been blooming alone (over you) by @sedicivincere: hanahaki disease story; wip
The Suspension of Disbelief by @drivingstuff: wip
Sweet / angst stories with happy ending
sweet tea in the summer by @valyrfia: this one is so cuteeee
in a room full of people (i look for you) by luserstappen
old before i die. by @ladysomething: bee princess charles (who is utterly unhinged and keeps almost dying every chapter)
We were never really strangers, after all (Because of You) by leafycats
beholden to no gods by @chock-and-bates
there you’ll stand (next to me) by @toppamplemousse
60 seconds by @braakingpoint
love is our secret by @fueledbyremembering
lay all your love by @breathofnyx
hopelessly devoted to you by @alanalevenof1
Miscellaneous stories
et circences by @formulaocean: lestappen hunger games au (i was obsessed with this fic in 2024)
marked me like a bloodstain by @chock-and-bates: nosferatu au; wip
cry for me by @breathofnyx: i am such a geek for greek mythology so this one is chef’s kiss
I Feel The Rain by @adutchlover: lestappen olympics au
dull knives (taking my life) by hm132050: charles crashes max realizes his feelings and carlos overthrows ferrari
your future had a voice (and he spoke like me) by saltshaken: max can suddenly read minds
Remember the Name - Fort Minor
This is ten percent luck
Twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure
Fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name
We talk a lot about how nice it must have been for Max to have Fernando's support so early in his career. Defending his age, exchanging helmets, the goofy selfies etc. But imagine the whole thing from Fernando's POV. You're Fernando Alonso, 2xWDC and one of the unluckiest drivers in the world. A British rookie spawned into your British team and everything went to shit. New rookies have come and gone. Rookies are regularly asked who they admire in the sport, and naming the current WDC is the popular response. But a psychotic Dutch teenager has appeared on the grid! He admires your ability to drag your shitbox to absurdly high positions. He thinks your success has been limited by your shit luck and shit cars. Not only does he say this loudly, in press conferences and interviews, but he likes to double down and sing your praises to Lewis Hamilton's face. And he commits acts of terrorism on the track. That kid is your grid son now.
When I was training to be a paramedic, we had one student ask the instructor what to do in the event of a marijuana overdose. The instructor said "Tell him to take two twinkies and call you in the morning."
If the Please Do Not Eat That Professional thinks it's inconsequential enough to be funny, then the concerned caller knows it's no big deal. When I was a kid my mom called poison control because I ate not one but several crayons, and their advice was to make sure I didn't stray too far from a toilet for a few hours because suppositories are made of wax, too.
Also several years ago I ate half a sandwich while wondering why the hell it tasted so funny only to realize the Goo Gone I'd been cleaning with was leaking, and did so onto my sandwich. Poison Control now has an online form where you can put in what you ingested/how much/when/etc. and someone basically triages those out, so the kid who just drank a bunch of drain cleaner isn't in line behind the kid who ate a crayon. I got a call like twenty minutes later from a nurse who told me I was fine.
Oh! And if you want to know what the tool looks like, it now gives a "this is not a real case" option to let you test it out, so I became a hypothetical worried patient who accidentally took 1000mg of ibuprofen (max dose should be 800) instead of 1000mg of acetaminophen (which has a max dose of 1000) and ran the entire thing. It took me less than two minutes from this:
To this:
Below this screenshot I was advised to drink some water and that if symptoms developed in the next four hours, I should only be concerned in certain cases (e.g. nausea is normal, heart palpitations are a problem).
So what if it's a serious problem? Suddenly, hypothetical Nina was cleaning xir bathroom sink and got hit with some Drano splashback with xir eyes and mouth open! Here's what the tool suggested. As soon as I selected that I'd gotten Drano in my eyes, this popped up:
So I hypothetically went to rinse my eyes, came back, and indicated it'd also gotten into my mouth and onto my skin. Here was the result:
And finally, hypothetical!Nina made an extremely bad decision, then decided this wasn't how xe wanted things to end after all. So I selected the option that says I'd attempted self-harm, and this popped up. (I didn't get it in the screenshot, but there's a drawing of a sad snail at the top of the screen. I think it's supposed to remind you someone is there, this just isn't the best route to reach them.)
The tool covers literally thousands of substances, and it's fast to use. It'll ask your age, assigned sex at birth, what you were exposed to, how (ate/drank it, breathed it in, got it in your eyes, etc.), how much you were exposed to, how long ago, whether you notice any symptoms, and what zip code you're in. That's it, and it's right here if you need it, and as they told me when I said I felt dumb over my Goo Gone-ified sandwich, they'd rather I check and be fine than not check because I "felt silly" and end up dead.
So Max Verstappen told a journalist to leave. Here’s why that’s not the story you think it is.
If you’ve been on F1 Twitter/Tumblr today, you’ve seen the discourse: Max Verstappen told Guardian journalist, Giles Richards, to leave a Red Bull press conference in Japan. Cue the predictable takes about “disrespect,” “bullying the media,” and “why can’t he just answer questions.”
But here’s the thing: the story isn’t that Max told someone to leave.
The story is who he told to leave, why, and why multiple top drivers have had the same problem with the same reporter.
Let’s break this down with receipts (this is long so I have it under the keep reading break). TL;DR at the bottom!
Discourse #1) Max told a reporter to leave.
So what? Drivers control their media access all the time.
The only thing that’s “controversial” here is that Max did it openly instead of getting Red Bull's PR team to handle it quietly. Max has an 11-year history of telling reporters off directly. This isn’t new.
2018, Daily Mail reporter: asked why he’d had so many accidents. Max’s response?
“I get really tired of all the questions so, yeah, I think if I get a few more, I’ll headbutt someone.”
2022, Sky Sports UK: Max refused to talk to them entirely after Ted Kravitz said Lewis was “robbed” of the 2021 title and after Sky used footage of Max’s 51g Silverstone crash in a Christmas advert.
2024, Singapore GP: Max gave minimal answers as a protest against the FIA after being penalized for swearing.
2024, post-Qatar (winning his 4th title):
“The problem in F1 is that 80 to 85% of the media is British. And I did feel that some things which were written about me were not fair.”
Max still speaks to all FIA-accredited journalists at FIA events. He’s not refusing to do his job, but he is refusing to engage (in a setting he is in control of) with someone he feels has been deliberately provocative. That’s a ban on one journalist from a non-FIA team event, we aren’t seeing a ban on the press.
And let’s not pretend drivers don’t control their media access:
Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, & Max Verstappen (Netflix 2025): all three world champs refused to do interviews for Netflix DTS in 2025.
Lewis Hamilton & Netflix (2019): blocked them from using footage of a bad German GP weekend because he didn’t like how he’d be portrayed. Fair enough!
Kimi Räikkönen (entire career): walked out, gave one-word answers, ignored questions. Iconic and GOATed for it.
Sebastian Vettel (2016, 2020): skipped or gave minimal participation in FIA press conferences when unhappy with narratives.
Fernando Alonso (2007): repeatedly refused interviews with British outlets he felt were biased toward Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren under Ron Dennis: journalists were informally frozen out for negative coverage. It was a whole scandal.
Ferrari historically: heavy preference for Italian media; international journalists often struggle for access.
Drivers and teams have always chosen how they’re perceived where they have control. The only difference is that Max is blunt about it.
But another point to be made is that Max has a low tolerance for what he perceives as disrespect — not just to himself, but to the people he works with. He’s been known to be protective and:
End interviews when questions target his engineer or team
Call out journalists who try to manufacture intra and inter-team drama (e.g. shutting down the line of questioning to Lewis after Silverstone 2021, or Checo’s “pressure” in 2024 to keep his seat the next season)
Defend rivals when he feels the media is being unfair to them (e.g. his defense of Lewis after the 2021 Abu Dhabi fallout, where he repeatedly said the controversy was not Lewis’s fault).
He’s also been known to call out disrespect towards female reporters and fans.
This is part of why the Giles Richards situation escalated the way it did. Richards’ Abu Dhabi 2025 question wasn’t just about Max — it was about opening a wound (that had already been asked and answered multiple times post-Spain), isolating a single incident, and implying Max’s single action cost him (and his team) the title. Max saw it as disrespectful, clearly stating that no one was mentioning all the good things that happened (“birthday presents”) and all the good work the team did during the season. He was protective of his team, and months later, he still remembered.
Discourse #2) The real issue: Giles Richards has a pattern of asking provocative questions to drivers at their most vulnerable.
Let’s look at the receipts.
Japan 2024: Lewis Hamilton
Race result: P9. Disappointing weekend. Final season with Mercedes before Ferrari move.
Richards’ question: “Are you a little bit jealous of the Ferraris at the moment? Because they are faster?”
Lewis responded: “No”
And Richards dug his heel in more: “No? Looking forward to being with them, yeah, because they are faster or just…”
Lewis snapped: “Do you have any better questions?” and after a bit of Richards trying to back track, Lewis walked out.
The word “jealous” is emotionally charged and accusatory. Drivers like Lewis are usually very protective of their team, by attacking not only his performance, but the Mercedes car itself, Richards is implying that the team let Lewis down. Lewis loves Mercedes, and he knew the team was doing their best. Then Richards rubs his lack of results this race in his face MORE. A neutral version would be: “Does Ferrari’s current form make you more eager/excited for the move?” But that doesn’t generate a viral clip, does it?
Lewis Hamilton has another 20 races of the season to go with Mercedes before heading to Scuderia Ferrari. The 7-time F1 Drivers’ World Champ
Abu Dhabi 2025: Max Verstappen
Context: Max had just lost the world championship by two points to Lando Norris. Minutes after the race. Maybe the most painful moment of his season. His team is in tears, he’s trying to be gracious and happy for Lando, he knows he’s about to be attacked in the conference and expected to keep his cool.
Richards’ question: “You lost out to Lando by just two points. What do you think now about the incident with George Russell in Spain? Do you regret that looking back in hindsight?”
Max’s response at the time: “You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season. The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. You’re giving me a stupid grin now.”
The question isolates one error from a 24-race season and asks him to own it immediately after the title loss. A neutral version would be: "Looking at the season as a whole, where do you feel the biggest swings in points happened?" Which had already been asked previously that week (something that has been asked repeatedly the second half of the season and Max had answered numerous times, any good journalist would stop asking this question after the first 2-3 times it had been reported).
Notice the pattern?
Both questions came immediately after a difficult/disappointing result.
Both questions were framed to elicit defensiveness or emotional responses rather than substantial analysis or meaningful reflection (jealousy? regret?).
Both drivers reacted negatively.
When two multiple world champions from different teams with different personalities both react the same way to the same journalist in similar emotional contexts, it stops being a coincidence.
Richards himself has admitted he’s been called “anti-Lewis” and “anti-Sebastian Vettel” in the past. That suggests this isn’t a one-off misunderstanding. I couldn’t find any explicit examples of Richards and Seb’s interactions, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an article out there somewhere.
Discourse 3) Free speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.
There’s this weird discourse that journalists can ask anything and sportspeople just have to take it. No. That’s not how it works.
In any profession (or even in life), if you’re deliberately provocative or disrespectful, you face consequences:
A store can ban you.
A school can suspend you.
Your spouse can divorce you.
Your job can fire you.
A team can revoke your media access.
Richards is choosing to word questions in ways that provoke negative reactions. After 10 years of being a sports journalist, he DOES know how to word his questions appropriately and is CHOOSING not to. This is rage-baiting disguised as journalism. And when you do that to elite athletes in their most vulnerable moments (just minutes after a performance, when they haven’t spoken to their teams or had the chance to reflect or analyze their performances, to let the emotions settle), you’re welcoming criticism and consequences.
Some things people might not know: F1 media operates under strict accreditation rules.
The FIA controls media access, and they don’t mess around.
Accreditation requirements include:
Permanent accreditation requires attending 14+ events in the preceding season.
Race-by-race requires commissioning letters and proof of publication.
Applications require professional insurance, press cards, and media coverage samples.
All applications are subject to approval with no guarantee.
If a journalist repeatedly causes issues, teams can push for restrictions. We’ve seen it before.
Some examples of recent FIA enforcement: Johnny Herbert & Derek Warwick
The FIA has shown they will act when someone crosses a line:
Johnny Herbert (2025): removed from stewarding duties because his media work was “incompatible” with impartiality. Herbert had repeatedly criticized Max Verstappen in gambling site interviews. Jos Verstappen and Fernando Alonso have openly accused Herbert of bias (even his fellow pundits have made remarks about it on broadcast). The FIA’s statement: “his duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible.”
Derek Warwick (2025): suspended for the Canadian GP after unauthorized media comments criticizing the FIA’s choice to penalize Verstappen in Spain. The FIA said his comments were “ill-advised.” He was replaced and only reinstated after apologizing.
If a steward can be sidelined for biased or provocative commentary, why should a journalist be immune from consequences for deliberately provocative questioning?
Discourse #4) The difference: “soft bans” vs. “hard bans”
What Max did is a “hard ban” it is direct, public, explicit. This is a world-wide sport with fans and personnel from a vast variety of cultures. Max’s way of dealing with this may have come off as disrespectful or harsh to the fans of cultures that are more soft-spoken. Max himself comes from a background that is stern, direct, and merciless. He gave Richards multiple chances to leave without extending the interaction, Richards chose to argue to get more press from it.
What makes this “news” worthy is that what usually happens is “soft bans”:
Ignoring specific journalists but not overtly
Giving access only to preferred outlets
Quietly excluding critics
Giving one-word answers until the journalist moves on
Max doesn’t do subtle. He’s been this way since his Toro Rosso days. But let’s not pretend soft bans don’t happen constantly.
The bottom line
Max Verstappen has a long history of being direct with reporters. He’s not banning all journalists. He’s banning one — from a non-FIA team event — after a pattern of provocative questioning that he, Lewis Hamilton, and probably others have reacted negatively to.
Giles Richards has now had two publicized incidents with top drivers (Lewis 2024, Max 2025) where he asked emotionally charged questions at vulnerable moments. The pattern suggests either a lack of training in paddock etiquette or a deliberate editorial strategy of rage-baiting. Neither is a good look.
Free speech means Richards can ask what he wants. It also means teams and drivers can decide who gets access to their events. And if the FIA can remove stewards for being “incompatible” with impartiality, they can certainly review whether certain journalists are maintaining professional standards or acting like paparazzi antagonizing drivers for a big story.
The only thing that was unusual here is that Max said it out loud. But that’s always the “problem” with him, isn’t it?
TL;DR:
Max Verstappen told Guardian journalist Giles Richards to leave a Red Bull hospitality session. The discourse is acting like this is unprecedented "bullying" of the press. It's not.
Drivers control media access all the time. The only difference is Max is blunt about it. Lewis blocked Netflix. Kimi gave one-word answers. Vettel skipped FIA pressers. Alonso refused British outlets. Soft bans happen constantly.
Richards has a pattern. In 2024, he asked Lewis Hamilton if he was "jealous" of Ferrari right after a bad race. Lewis snapped and walked out. In 2025, he asked Max if he regretted the Spain collision minutes after losing the championship by two points. Both questions were emotionally charged, asked at vulnerable moments, and designed to provoke.
Free speech isn't consequence-free. If a journalist repeatedly rage-baits athletes, teams can revoke access. The FIA has sidelined stewards (Herbert, Warwick) for biased commentary. This is the same principle.
"Soft bans" are normal. "Hard bans" are just honest. Max didn't ban all journalists. He banned one — from a non-FIA team event — after a pattern of disrespect he'd had enough of.
The only thing unusual here is that Max said it out loud. But that's always been his style.
the crane video made me realise that max really is way more smart than people give him credit for. There was this one max and check rbr video I saw yesterday, where they were asked agree/disagree questions and one of them was drivers should have a salary cap. Max then went on to explain how drivers don't earn much in the junior series and are mainly backed by and rely on sponsors who want a percentage of their future earnings, so if you put a salary cap that would decrease the amount sponsors back young talent as they know they might not be getting as much money with a salary cap he phrased it a lot better than this actually but a lot of the comments were genuinely shocked at how nuanced and thoughtful his answer was. I also know there's a few other cases of something like this with people being surprised at the intelligence with which he answers questions so I think its definitely something he's not given appreciation for
[the crane video]
ooo yes i think i know exactly the maxcheco video you mean anon it's the agree to disagree from 2022 isn't it? yeah i agree both the content of max's statements in the video itself+the comment section is fascinating like
interesting trio of remarks! i think what gets me the most about that particular bit of it (-> the salary cap discussion i mean) is that his argument is obviously not something he's just come up with this is something he's already spent time thinking about (especially considering we know he actively tries to keep up with drivers+happenings in the lower categories) and probably discussed with the drivers in earlier stages of their careers he's personally acquainted with and friends with (browning, gabi, etc--in terms of the financial burden of getting up through the ladder quite possibly also lully). and of course it's not just talk we know he's since put large chunks of his already INCREDIBLY occupied time (seriously jesus christ how does he do everything he does) into trying to change the system (with trl/verstappen sim racing) so that young drivers have less of a financial burden to carry and thus have to rely less on the sponsorships to begin with
