☆ NATSUME @kunikame - Tumblr Blog

Aug 8, 2025

Don't Kiss And Tell | LL30

Pairings: Liam Lawson x interviewer!Reader | platonic Isack Hadjar x childhood friend!Reader

Summary: After rekindling your friendship with Isack, you can only hope to befriend his teammate in the process. And despite him blowing hot and cold, Liam actually wants that too - plus more if you two hit it off.

Author's Note: if y'all saw the poll from last week, no you didn't❤️ ngl i had already started writing this fic w liam in mind even if he hadn't been leading the poll bc i mostly wanted to see if there was any interest in liam fics (he did finish 4th out of 6 so i consider that a win lol) but dw i will write a kimi fic soon (i got a request for him that I'm excited to start!!) Until then, please enjoy my longest fic ever🫶🏻

F1 MASTERLIST🏎

It didn’t start when you attended your first race to shadow your superiors, nor did it start when you did your first real interview in the paddock with Charles Leclerc – according to you, it had been a disaster but the driver had been very kind to you and had eventually wished you luck for the future after noticing how nervous you looked.

No, it started when you were actually assigned to the media pen for the first time ever. Because that’s when you met Liam Lawson.

He had just scored some points, and was your first post-race interview of the day. It made you slightly less nervous to not have to interview one of the more experienced drivers straightaway, and you hoped that everything would go well.

“Hi Liam, congrats on a fantastic race today.”

“Thanks”, he replied.

The first thing he noticed when seeing you was that you were new, and that he had actually never met you before. The second thing he noticed was that you were young – you were probably his age so it wasn’t that relevant, but it was more so that you seemed young for this job. The third thing he noticed was that you were exactly his type. Liam didn’t mention any of those things out loud, but you could feel in his eyes that he was somehow analysing you.

“Can you talk me through the race, please?” You asked. “Was the car and strategy what you were expecting today?”

“Yeah, yeah. Strategy was good,” he confirmed. “We managed to do what we wanted to do, and the car really helped fulfil the goals we had. Yesterday’s quali was helpful as well because I was starting from a good position, so very positive things today.”

“Great to hear. You’ve been slowly improving since the beginning of the season, is it due to the car also improving? Or can we also give credit to you feeling more confident as time goes by?”

“Oh, hmm…” Liam thought for a second. He quickly glanced at his PR manager a few feet away, who nodded in order to give him some liberty to reply without criticising the car’s issues too much. “Well, I wanna say it’s mostly due to confidence. Sometimes the car isn’t what it should be, and that’s something we work on together with the team. Everyone’s doing what they can to make it perform but we have unlucky days, it’s hard to always be perfect. But yeah, I know the work I did on myself has proven very useful. I’ve really been feeling better compared to how the season started. So, it can help turn things around when the car…” – sucks, he almost said – “doesn’t perform like I’d like, because I know that I’m still able to take the most out of it and somehow make it work.”

When he was done talking, Liam realised that this was probably the most he had ever said in a post-race interview without being asked another question. He wished he could claim that it was due to his good result, and that it had made him more prone to share his feelings. But part of him knew that your welcoming smile and your sweet voice were the ones to blame.

“This is more than I expected”, you said with a chuckle. “Thank you very much for this insight; it does seem like the efforts everyone in the team make have all come together. Well done again, and good luck to keep it up for the next races.”

“Thank you.” Liam simply nodded, before choosing that as his cue to leave and follow his PR manager to the next interview.

And just like that, you had successfully done your first post-race interview. You were glad that it had gone so well, and you mentally thanked Liam for being a wonderful person to talk to. Now, you were ready to interview anyone who would come your way – even if it was Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen.

…..

You hadn’t expected the interviews to be so fast-paced like that. It had been less than fifteen minutes since your first one with Liam, and you had done at least six more since then. Some had been quicker than others – like Lance Stroll or Oscar Piastri – while some had taken a similar time as Liam’s interview – such as Lando Norris or Alex Albon.

But there was one driver that you had really been wanting to interview, because he would definitely be surprised by your presence here today. And as if the Gods above could hear you, they chose to indeed send Isack Hadjar to stand in front of your mic.

He hadn’t noticed you yet, as he was finishing a conversation with Ollie Bearman. But when he did, the expression on his face turned into the perfect mix of shock and happiness.

“Bonjour Isack.” The smile on your face was as professional as possible, but the tone of your voice was teasing.

To say that Isack was surprised would be an understatement. You were the last person he had expected to see today, but he was definitely not mad about it.

“Parti en dehors des points, vous avez réussi à remonter pour finir neuvième. Comment s’est passée la course pour vous par rapport à la stratégie prévue?” (Starting outside the points, you managed to climb up to ninth. How was the race compared to the planned strategy?) Acting as if everything was normal, you asked your usual question without caring that Isack was about to have a meltdown.

“Attends–” Isack had a hard time forming thoughts, his brain currently being all over the place. “Alors déjà, tu vas pas me vouvoyer comme si on était des inconnus. Qu’est-ce– qu’est-ce que tu fais là, même?” (First of all, you’re not gonna use “vous” like we’re strangers. What– what are you even doing here?)

“Je travaille,” (I’m working) you replied like it was obvious.

“Nan, mais–” Isack sighed at the teasing smile that was now on your face. “Ici”, he clarified. “À faire des interviews.” (Doing interviews)

“C’est ma nouvelle mission,” (It’s my new task) you explained. “Apparemment je fais assez bien mon travail pour enfin être sur le terrain, donc tada!” (It seems like I do my job well enough to finally be on the field, so ta-da!)

Not thinking about the fact that everything was still being broadcast live, Isack leaned over the barrier to give you a quick hug. You hadn’t expected it at all, but welcomed it nonetheless.

“Bravo, hein. Je peux que te féliciter pour en être arrivée là.” (Well done. I can only congratulate you for reaching this stage) Isack was being genuine, truly happy for what you had achieved.

“Merci”, you answered. “On peut réellement faire l’interview maintenant? Tu vas me faire virer alors que j’ai même pas encore fini ma première journée solo.” (Can we actually do the interview now? You’re gonna get me fired when I haven’t even finished my first solo day)

“Ouais, désolé. Tu peux reposer ta question? Sans vouvoiement, par contre.” (Yeah, sorry. Can you ask the question again? Without using “vous”, though)

Obliging due to Isack having completely forgotten what you had asked at the beginning – also due to him not having actually listened to any word you had said after bonjour because his brain had short-circuited, you started the interview over and repeated your question.

It was probably the happiest Isack had ever been while giving an interview, and he was now hoping that you would be there every weekend from now on.

There was also one other person who was kind of hoping for the same, and who had witnessed the exchange between you and Isack. So when Isack eventually left the media pen, he was somewhat cornered by none other than his teammate.

“Heyyyy,” Liam started as he put his arm around Isack’s shoulders. “Isack, my man, my favourite teammate.”

“Really?” Only caring about the title Liam was giving him, Isack’s eyes lit up at the sudden affection. But then, he quickly realised how out of character this was for Liam. “Wait, you sound suspicious.”

“What? No way, mate. I’m just happy right now,” Liam claimed. “We both scored points, it was a good weekend. Team effort was great, interviews went well.”

“That I can agree with.” Actually trusting Liam and not overthinking it anymore, Isack was quickly forgetting his teammate’s unusual behaviour. “I can’t believe she was there to interview me, it feels insane that we’re in the same paddock.”

“She?” Liam repeated. Bingo, he thought. He had successfully brought the conversation to you, without Isack noticing.

“Oh, yeah. You probably didn’t even notice but Canal has a new interviewer,” Isack explained.

“I did think she didn’t look familiar indeed,” Liam pretended. But he knew. He had obviously noticed Canal’s sweet and gorgeous new reporter. He had also very much noticed how close you and Isack seemed to be, and it was now his goal to discover why.

“Well, anyway. I’ve known her since we were kids, but we lost touch a bit as we grew up so…” Isack tried to remember your time together, which brought a nostalgic smile on his face. “I think I last saw her before I started competing in international karting. But we did local and national karting together, you know?”

“Well, I obviously didn’t know that.” But now Liam knew, and that was more information that he had hoped to have about you. He hadn’t expected you to have done karting, and wondered why you hadn’t pursued a professional career. “You never mentioned her, ever.”

“No, yeah, I know. But we barely kept in touch, honestly. I knew she was going for journalism at one point, but it’s still a surprise to see her here.” Isack was now reminiscing about the time you had spent together as kids, mostly on track. “She was good, you know? She was with Doriane and I in the French junior championship.”

“How good?” Liam wondered.

“She beat us both”, Isack said with a laugh.

“So do you know why she didn’t keep racing, then?”

“I told you, mate. We haven’t seen each other since then, and we barely talked apart from saying congrats to each other. She texted me when I went to F3 and F2; I texted her when she graduated. And our last conversation was about me getting into F1 so I had no idea she would eventually be there, especially with Canal. She told me at that time that she had a job in sports journalism, yeah, but I just never knew it was with them.”

“Okay, yeah.” Liam nodded, memorising everything Isack was telling him.

“Damn, now I really want to have her back in my life. Didn’t realise how much I had missed her until I was talking about all this. Also I should properly introduce you to her next race”, Isack offered.

“Sure, why not.” Liam was acting casual on the outside, but he was definitely cheering on the inside. “I briefly talked with her, but one interview is definitely a short time to gauge someone.”

“I’m sure you’ll like her”, Isack claimed.

Maybe Liam already did, but Isack didn’t need to know that for now.

…..

Unfortunately, Liam had to wait a couple weeks before seeing you again. But there was a triple header starting this weekend, and he hoped that you’d be there for every race so that he could see you more often. Upon arriving at the track on Thursday for media day, Liam was trying to figure out a way to bring you up to Isack without being too suspicious. But it seemed like the Gods were in his favour, because he didn’t even have to do that.

“Liam”, Isack called out when he saw his teammate enter the Racing Bulls motorhome. “Remember my journalist friend? Who works for Canal,” he added.

Of course Liam remembered you, but he had to pretend to be chill about it. So he simply nodded, waiting for Isack to give whatever new information he had on you.

“I texted her after the previous race to catch up, you know, and she said she’d be there until the end of the season! Isn’t that super cool?” Isack was definitely excited to see you again, and he was glad to be able to rekindle your friendship.

“Yeah, mate. That’s great to hear.”

“I’ll introduce you to her later on. She told me she’ll do the interviews on Saturdays and Sundays so we’ll be able to see her after qualifying,” Isack said. “I might ask her out for some dinner, what do you think?”

Hearing those words, Liam’s brain short-circuited. Ask her out? He thought. Did that mean that Isack was romantically interested in you? Liam had genuinely thought that Isack wanted to just be friends with you again, but maybe he had been too busy playing mastermind alone that he hadn’t taken the possible competition into consideration.

“Ask her out?” Liam eventually voiced his thoughts.

“Yeah,” Isack confirmed with a nod. “Do you think she won’t say yes? Is it too early for that? Maybe I should wait until we’re closer again in case it’s too much for now,” he assumed.

“I didn’t think this is what you wanted when you said that you wanted her back into your life last time.” Liam wasn’t necessarily mad about it, but he was now feeling insecure. Because between a random driver you had talked to once and your former karting bestie, the choice felt obvious. “But dinner is a good idea, don’t worry. She’ll definitely appreciate the offer.”

Liam shouldn’t be giving up so easily, but maybe he never had a chance to begin with. If he was lucky, maybe you’d gently reject Isack and he would then shoot his shot later on. But right now, Liam felt like he had to support his teammate.

It hadn’t even been that serious to him yet anyway. It was just a silly and innocent crush that might not even evolve into something else. Hell, maybe it was just misunderstood curiosity and Liam would realise when seeing you again that what he had felt was just a friendly crush and nothing more.

He was just trying to convince himself, not caring whether it was working or not.

…..

Two days later, you were finally entering the paddock. It still felt unreal to you that you would be coming here every race weekend from now on, and you couldn’t believe it. You had expressed your excitement to Isack, whom you had been texting non-stop since you landed. You were really eager to see him again, and even more so to recreate a bond outside of a professional relationship.

When qualifying ended, you were already waiting in the media pen. Isack had reached Q3, which meant that you would probably wait a bit more to see him as the drivers currently present were all ones who had been out either in Q1 or Q2. Amongst them, you interviewed Pierre Gasly as well as Esteban Ocon. They were both really kind to you, and expressed once again their support to you like they had done after the previous race. You were glad at the prospect of the French drivers appreciating your work, and it made you feel more confident.

Therefore, by the time Isack was finally in front of your mic, you were more than ready for him.

“Bonjour Isack”, you said with a warm smile.

“Coucou, ça va?” (Hey, you good?) He asked, a matching grin on his face.

“Je suis censée poser les questions”, (I’m supposed to be the one asking the questions) you reminded him. “Mais oui, très bien. Et toi? Heureux de partir sixième demain?” (But yeah, I’m great. What about you? Happy to start sixth tomorrow?)

“Carrément!” He replied. “La voiture est top ce week-end, donc je sens qu’on peut marquer des bons points.” (The car is great this weekend, so I feel like we can score some good points)

“Ok, j’ai même pas besoin de poser plus de questions en fait.” (Ok, so I don’t even have to ask more questions then) You laughed, Isack immediately joining in. “Est-ce que tu sens que le podium peut arriver bientôt ou c’est encore trop tôt dans la saison?” (Do you feel like a podium could happen soon or is it too early in the season?)

“Je pense c’est encore trop tôt,” (I think it’s still too early) Isack admitted. “C’est sûr que j’aimerais bien, mais je suis pas encore à ce niveau-là; et c’est encore compliqué de pouvoir se battre avec ceux de devant donc on se concentre sur des points par-ci par-là.” (I would really like that, but I’m still not on that level yet; and it’s still complicated to fight with the guys in front so we’ll just focus on scoring here and there)

“Super, ça fait plaisir de te voir confiant sur ce point-là en tout cas.” (Great, well it’s good to see you confident about that) You were genuinely happy for Isack, and you would definitely be rooting for him. “Bonne chance pour demain.” (Good luck for tomorrow)

“Merci! À plus tard”, (Thanks! See you later) Isack said before waving at you and walking away.

You were glad to be able to have those casual interactions with him, even if it still had to remain professional. After the previous race, you had expressed your worries to your superiors as you weren’t sure if they would appreciate you already knowing a driver personally. But they reassured you that they didn’t mind, and that it had actually done numbers with the fans. It seemed like people had found you refreshing, due to you being closer in age to the drivers – especially the rookies – compared to the usual interviewers.

After Isack, you talked to the two McLaren drivers before you had the second Racing Bulls driver in front of you.

“Hi Liam.”

“Hey, good to see you again.”

“Oh, thanks.” You hadn’t expected Liam to remember you as it was only your second time meeting him, and it took you a couple seconds to recover from that. “So you’re starting P7 tomorrow, right behind your teammate. Isack said the car felt good this weekend, do you agree with him?”

“Well, yeah, of course. The team has been making massive efforts in the past few weeks and it’s paying off. I really think we’re on the right path, especially if we do as great as the previous race.”

“How’s the strategy for tomorrow? Are you allowed to say if any team orders have been decided yet?”

“Ah, the dreaded question.” Liam let out a dry chuckle, knowing that he was definitely going to keep it vague and give an answer that his PR manager wouldn’t complain about. “We haven’t had a debrief yet, so I can’t say anything for now. But I know Isack and I will work together to maximise our chances, no matter who’s in front.”

“That’s a very nice answer from someone who is well PR-trained”, you teased. “But in all seriousness, good luck for tomorrow. I might become your biggest fan if you score again for my second time seeing you race.”

“Like my biggest fan?” Liam asked.

“Yours and Isack’s,” you clarified.

“Oh, yeah… we’ll be glad to have you rooting for the team, then.” Despite the bittersweet feeling due to you mentioning Isack, Liam was truly glad to have your support for the race to come. And deep down, it was extra motivation to eventually overtake Isack tomorrow if it meant that Liam could finish ahead of his teammate with you watching him.

Liam then bid you goodbye before his PR manager led him to his next interview, while you were already moving on to talk to Max Verstappen. Even if the world champion would be starting on pole, he was still a man of a few words. The following interviews went by quickly as well, and you were soon enough released from your duties.

Ready to have a small debrief with your colleagues, you texted them to notify them about having finished all your interviews. Surprisingly, they told you that you were free to go and that it could wait until tomorrow morning. One of them sent you some recommendations of things to do near the track, and made it sound like they wouldn’t accept it if you didn’t try to have fun after your workday. You thanked them for their kindness, and therefore turned your work brain off as you got ready to enjoy your evening.

…..

The next day felt like a blur. One minute you were watching the race, supporting the Racing Bulls drivers as promised; the next one, you were getting engulfed in a hug by Isack as soon as he entered the media pen.

“P5 baby!” He exclaimed as he swayed you from side to side. “J’espère que t’as bien célébré quand j’ai passé la ligne.” (I hope you cheered when I crossed the finish line)

“Évidemment”, you said as you rolled your eyes at him before pulling back from the hug. Isack’s joy was contagious, and you couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him being so happy. “Super course de ta part, vraiment. Bravo Isack.” (Great race from you, truly. Well done Isack)

“Merci, je suis vraiment super content.” (Thanks, I’m for real super happy)

“Ça se voit”, you told him. “J’en conclus que la stratégie prévue a bien marché? J’ai vu que vous prévoyiez à un moment de faire un seul arrêt, mais y en a eu deux au final. Dis-m’en plus par rapport à ça.” (I guess the strategy worked well, then? I saw that you had planned a one-stop at one point, but there were two in the end. Tell me more about that)

“Ouais, on y a pensé. Les hards marchaient plutôt bien aujourd'hui donc ça aurait pu être possible de faire un seul arrêt,” (Yeah, we thought about it. The hards didn’t work so bad today so we could’ve done a one-stop) Isack explained. “Mais dès que la safety car est sortie, on s’est dit qu’on allait pas s’en priver donc on en a profité pour mettre les softs et c’était franchement bénéfique donc merci à l’équipe pour ça.” (But as soon as the safety car came out, we decided that we wouldn’t miss the opportunity so we took advantage of it to put the softs on and that was truly beneficial so thank to the team for that)

“Est-ce que c’était surtout dû au fait que tu t’es arrêté vraiment au début de la safety car? D’autres pilotes ont malheureusement attendu son dernier tour et ils sont ressortis juste après qu’elle soit rentrée.” (Was it especially due to the fact that you boxed right after the safety car came out? Other drivers unfortunately waited until its last lap and they came back out right after she went in)

“Justement, c’est le timing qui a été parfait. Même un tour après, je pense pas que j'aurais été trop pénalisé parce que c’est ce qui a été décidé pour Liam – le double pit stop était compliqué vu qu’on avait pas beaucoup d’écart – et il a pu ressortir sans perdre de positions une fois que ceux qui sont rentrés plus tard ont décidé de passer aux stands aussi.” (Exactly, the timing was perfect. Even boxing one lap later wouldn’t have penalised us too much because that’s what happened to Liam – the double stack was complicated because our gap wasn’t really big – and he managed to leave the pits without losing any position once others boxed later on)

“Que du positif alors?” (Only good things to report, then?)

“C’est ça”, Isack confirmed with a grin. “Ça vaut bien un dîner pour célébrer, nan?” (It deserves to be celebrated with dinner, right?)

“Ça dépend, tu m’invites?” (Depends, are you paying?) You were teasing, but Isack actually agreed to that. “Je vais pas me plaindre de manger gratuitement ce soir alors. Tu me laisses finir mon travail et on en reparle?” (I won’t complain about eating for free tonight, then. Let me finish my job and we’ll talk about it later?)

“Oui, oui, je te laisse tranquille. À ce soir,” (Yes, yes, I’ll leave you alone. See you tonight) Isack said before leaving the space for another driver to eventually come up to you.

You took advantage of the couple seconds you had alone to face the cameraman, silently asking if it had been alright to publicly accept Isack’s invitation. He nodded at you, and reassured you that the fans would definitely once again enjoy witnessing the friendship between a reporter and a driver.

Even if most interviews felt similar to one another, you could never get tired of asking the same questions because you were never getting the same answers to them. And so it was with a smile that you were once again concluding your last interview of the day, congratulating Charles who had won today’s race.

True to his words, Isack was ready to bring up his dinner offer again as soon as he saw you on the way to exit the paddock. He had been waiting for you to pass by the Racing Bulls motorhome, forcing Liam to stay with him as he wanted to formally introduce the two of you.

Isack called out your name when he noticed you approaching.

“Obviously you two have met each other, but now it can actually happen with me there.” Isack then acted as if it was truly your first time meeting Liam, as he officially introduced you to each other.

“Glad to meet the girl who apparently terrorised Isack in karting”, Liam said as he reached out for a handshake.

“Glad to meet the guy who can equal Isack in a Cars fan competition.” You took Liam’s hand in yours, firmly shaking it.

“Okay, introductions done. Where are we going to dinner now? I’m starving after the race,” Isack announced.

“There’s this restaurant that a coworker recommended, it seemed nice from the pictures and reviews. Not so far from the track”, you added.

“Works for me, let’s go.”

This was the moment when Liam wondered if he was supposed to come with you and Isack or go his own way. Technically, Isack had only told Liam to wait with him just so he could introduce him to you before he would go have dinner with you. Was Isack planning to confess to you tonight? Or was this dinner, one to gauge the situation? Either way, Liam was unsure. So he played it safe, and decided alone to remove himself from possibly third-wheeling you and Isack.

“That’s my cue to go, guys. Have fun together”, Liam said before going the opposite way.

“What? Liam?” Isack hadn’t expected it, finding it sudden. “See you next weekend, I guess…” Isack muttered, more to himself than anything as Liam had already left.

“I thought he was coming with us, wasn’t he?” You asked Isack, not knowing if you had misunderstood the plans.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. This was to celebrate our points, and I also wanted you two to get to know each other.”

“That's a shame, I definitely would’ve enjoyed that.”

Not wanting to dwell on it – Isack thought that he would later talk to Liam about what the hell was this, you and Isack therefore left the track together to have dinner just the two of you. The restaurant you had chosen was the perfect place to catch up with the driver, and you spent most of the evening reminiscing about your karting years.

As Isack’s career had been pretty public, it had been easy for you to keep up with where he was racing as the years went by. Therefore, Isack tried to keep the conversation focused on you as he genuinely wanted to know how you had ended up working for Canal – it had been a pretty straightforward and lucky journey: a master’s degree following your bachelor’s with several internships here and there.

You didn’t think you’d had such a fun time since… well, since so long ago that you forgot when it was. Slowly but surely, it was as if you and Isack had never stopped being friends. It would definitely boost his morale for the next races to come, while you would be more comfortable entering the paddock each weekend and knowing that there would always be a familiar face for you to see.

This was exactly what you both had needed in your life: a steady factor that would mix nostalgia and prospect. This renewed friendship would benefit the two of you, as you and Isack were agreeing to never lose sight of each other again.

…..

During the rest of the triple header, it was hard to find Isack without you close by and vice-versa. Not that you two were constantly glued next to each other, but people now knew that you were the first person Isack would go to when entering the media pen and that Isack was the one driver who could interrupt your interviews with other people without getting reprimanded for it. Safe to say, everyone was appreciating the breath of fresh air that your friendship was bringing to the paddock.

Well, everyone but Liam.

The weekend following your dinner with Isack, Liam had been slightly grumpier than usual. So when Isack had tried to talk to him about having missed the fun evening, Liam pretended that he hadn’t heard his teammate and immediately brought up a different topic. Not wanting to upset Liam, Isack quickly decided to dismiss it and to not mention it again. It was then as if nothing had ever happened – which was kind of what the situation was – and the two Racing Bulls drivers were soon back to their usual antics.

A comfortable, although never dull, routine then settled in for the next few weeks: Isack landing on Wednesday in whichever country he would race, him texting you all about it so that you could eventually arrive in the paddock on Saturday without feeling lost, the two of you creating fan-favourite interviews, and hanging out after the race was over. It had become your ritual, and neither of you would trade it for anything else.

Still, there was always this little detail that kept bugging you as weeks went by. Remembering your first two races of the season, you had truly thought that you would have become friends with Liam due to you being close to his teammate. But it had now been two months since your first interview with the Kiwi driver, and it had somehow worsened between the two of you.

Isack had even told you that Liam had been excited – okay, maybe Isack was selling it a bit too much – to meet you back then, and it made you wonder if you had done something to offend Liam at some point. During interviews, you were still being your usual warm and lively self but it was obvious that Liam wasn’t matching your energy like he had done at the beginning. So you could only hope that it would eventually get better in the future, preferably before the end of the season.

And it did, but at what cost.

Today’s race was marking three months since your arrival to the paddock. Three months of shenanigans with Isack. Three months of befriending the rookies one by one. Three months of still not exchanging more than the mandatory interviews with Liam.

Even when the Racing Bulls driver would score, he was still withdrawn when it was time to stand in front of your mic. And today, more so than ever, you truly didn’t think that you would be able to get more than a couple words from him due to his race result.

Liam had been forced to retire the car after only a few laps. His first DNF in seven races.

He had been doing well for the past several races, scoring almost every time – except for two unluckier races where he had been on the doorstep of points.

So when you saw Liam return to the paddock, you knew that he would soon be in the media pen and you were therefore waiting for him by the time he arrived. You had been the first one there – the other reporters had not rushed as quickly as you, which meant that Liam had no choice but to walk up to you.

The expression on his face was enough to make your heart clench, but it then broke when you noticed Liam’s red eyes.

“Hello Liam”, you softly said. He didn’t reply anything, simply nodding at you to show that he was listening. “Can you tell me what happened out there?

“Just some bad luck,” he answered with a shrug. “There was an issue with the engine, which we’ll look at more in detail when I come back again to the garage after this.”

This. Like this interview was the worst experience of his life and Liam was only wishing to cut it short.

It wasn’t like it was Liam’s first DNF. But it had been such a while since his last one, that he had thought he was free from them until the end of the season. And it hadn’t even been his fault, but he still felt like he was partly to blame for this.

“This is ending your streak of three races in the points, and five amongst the last seven races. Did you think you could have kept it going if not for that engine issue?” You didn’t like asking hypotheticals like that, especially after an early race ending, but it was your job and you had to ask those if the occasion was there.

“Well… we were starting P11 so there definitely would’ve been opportunities to score.”

You thought that would be it, that the interview would finish here and now after barely three full sentences from Liam. And you wished that you could have ended it, especially when looking at Liam’s face that was only expressing how badly he wanted to wrap his interviews up. However, it seemed like you couldn’t manage enough of a good poker face because Liam quickly understood that you were trying to find a way to get more from him. It was a requirement from your job after all.

“But that’s racing”, Liam eventually added. With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair and watched from the corner of his eyes the way your expression shifted to a surprised one. Liam was even surprising himself, and he didn’t know why he had suddenly decided to help you out by talking again. But he knew why. He wouldn’t have done it with any other interviewer, except you. “We’ll analyse what went wrong today, and we’ll come back stronger next race.”

“This is just a temporary low,” you reassured him. And forgetting where you even were, you didn’t even notice when your own hand mindlessly went to rest over Liam’s on the barrier. “You proved everyone, including yourself, that you’re capable of great things. So the fans and I will be waiting for your points in the next race.”

Liam had expected everything but that. He froze at your gesture, slowly looking down to where your hand was on his. It shouldn’t feel like that, so reassuring and familiar. And yet, the warmth of your skin was making Liam feel less tense.

Following Liam’s gaze, your eyes eventually noticed what you had done without thinking. Swiftly removing your hand from his and putting it behind your back, you couldn’t help blushing at your own action.

“Yeah, hmm… I’ll let you go now. Thank you for your time,” you quickly said before looking away and waiting for Liam to go.

“No problem, see you next time.” Liam then looked around, before he walked up to a reporter standing a few metres away from you.

The embarrassment you were now feeling was off the charts, and you were truly glad that what you had done hadn’t been in frame. The cameraman next to you patted your back in comfort, as if he knew how you were feeling. Thankfully, there wasn’t any other DNF happening anytime soon and you were therefore able to leave the media pen before finding a place to watch the rest of the race.

…..

When the race ended, you were still overthinking your interview with Liam. You couldn’t get it out of your head, especially as you watched a replay of it after you had settled down somewhere in the paddock. It wasn't like anyone watching the interview could guess what had happened, but you knew. And Liam knew. Which was enough for you to keep spiraling until it was time to go back to the media pen.

Even if Isack didn’t have a race as unlucky as Liam’s, it was still far from his best one as well. He had finished P10 – only reaching the position because Fernando Alonso collided with Carlos Sainz, and because Ollie had received a penalty for track limits. Safe to say, Isack didn’t really feel like he had been deserving of that one pity point.

“Salut…” Isack said once he was standing in front of you.

“Bonjour Isack.” You sent him a comforting smile, which seemed to work a bit as he relaxed a bit. “Un point gagné après que quelques pilotes aient écopé de positions perdues, comment tu te sens de finir dixième?” (One point scored after some drivers lost positions, how do you feel after finishing tenth?)

“Bah, c’était pas trop le but d’y arriver comme ça. C’est sûr que je vais pas me plaindre de l’avoir, mais j’aurais préféré le gagner moi-même.” (Well, it wasn’t really how I wanted to get there. I’m not gonna complain about it, but I wished I could’ve scored that point myself)

“Je comprends. La performance de la voiture y était-elle pour quelque chose?” (I get it. Was it due to the car’s performance?) You asked. “Tu as dit à un moment qu’il y a avait un problème avec les freins durant les derniers tours.” (You said at one point that there was an issue with the brakes during the last laps)

“Ouais, c’était un peu compliqué aujourd’hui. Faudra revoir tout ça avec l’équipe, parce qu’avec ce qui est arrivé à Liam aussi… bah c’était pas trop notre week-end, quoi. Mais on apprécie le petit point gagné, c’est déjà ça.” (Yeah, it was a bit complicated today. We’ll have to look back at everything with the team, because with what happened to Liam too… It wasn't our weekend. But we’ll enjoy that one point, that’s something) Isack shrugged, as a way to emphasise his mixed feelings regarding the race.

“Le prochain grand prix arrive rapidement, dès vendredi. Est-ce que le résultat d’aujourd'hui va te motiver encore plus pour la prochaine course?” (The next grand prix is quickly coming, starting next Friday. Will today’s result motivate you even more for the next race?)

“Oui, oui. Y a pas de doute,” (Yes, yes. For sure) Isack confirmed. “Tu sais la phrase: être aussi bon que sa dernière course? Bah, je veux pas rester sur une dixième place du coup. Surtout quand je sais que j’étais septième la dernière fois et que j’ai gagné ces points en faisant le travail moi-même. Donc oui, ça motive pour faire mieux.” (You know the saying: you’re as good as your last race? Well, I don’t want it to be a tenth position. Especially when I remember that I was seventh last time and that I won those points by putting in the work myself. So yeah, it motivates me to do better)

“Je serai là pour te soutenir en tout cas. Merci d’avoir pris le temps de venir, et je te souhaite déjà bon courage pour le grand prix qui arrive.” (I’ll be there to support you, then. Thanks for taking the time to come, and I’ll wish you good luck already for the next grand prix)

“Merci, ça fait plaisir.” As usual, Isack gave you a quick hug before walking away to his next interview.

You were a constant in his life, and he was always glad to see you after his race. No matter the result, Isack knew he had your support and reassuring words waiting for him.

This would definitely be a race weekend to forget – whether it be for you, or the Racing Bulls. But maybe, just maybe, it would still be a blessing in disguise. Because later on, when you were back in your hotel room and already preparing your notes for the next grand prix, your phone buzzed from the most unexpected messages:

Thanks for earlier

You were the least worst interview today

To say you were confused when noticing the sender would be an understatement. You didn’t even know how Liam had found your Instagram – well, probably amongst Isack’s following – and you didn’t think you were deserving of his gratitude after your unprofessional action.

Not wanting to overthink your reply too much, you didn’t waste any time writing something back:

That’s a title I didn't expect to get

But thank you for having made my job easier

I imagine it’s not always easy to talk about a bad race right after it ends

As if today wasn’t done being full of surprises, you and Liam kept messaging each other for the following hour until he notified you of his early flight tomorrow. You wished him a good night, before you also decided to go to sleep.

Progress, you thought as you reread Liam’s last messages:

Good night to you too :)

I promise to be more talkative next weekend

Even if you would have preferred to be back on Liam’s good side after a positive race, this was more than you could have asked for. Maybe the next grand prix would finally be your occasion to get closer to him. And maybe you would finally get an opportunity to show Liam that you could be more than just an interviewer to him.

…..

Thankfully, history didn’t repeat itself when you entered the paddock the following weekend. Because Liam had noticed that nothing had happened between you and Isack, he deemed it safe to finally shoot his shot with you. He assumed that either Isack’s crush on you had disappeared by itself, or that you had rejected him before you two decided to stay friends.

Either way, Liam chose to stop giving you the cold shoulder when he saw you in the paddock before qualifying on Saturday. You had simply expected a smile from the driver, maybe a nod alongside it. But you were over the moon when Liam actually stopped walking and waited for you to approach him, before starting a conversation:

“Hi, you doing good?” He asked. Thinking that it was his chance to have you alone, maybe it was time for Liam to stop being a coward and take advantage of the fact that Isack was for once not glued to your side.

“Liam, hey!” You couldn’t help the bright smile making its way on your face, truly happy that whatever had not happened between you and Liam was water under the bridge. “I’m doing fine, excited for the race tomorrow. How are you feeling ahead of qualifying? I saw that you were doing well in FP3 earlier.”

“Why do you sound like you’re interviewing me?” Liam teased, a chuckle escaping his lips as your idea of small talk was weirdly similar to how you worded your questions in the media pen.

“It’s not on purpose,” you argued. “Professional habit, I guess…”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, sorry. But to answer you, I am indeed feeling confident that I can at least reach Q3.”

“That’s good. Does that mean I shouldn’t expect to see you very soon?”

“That’ll be the goal, yeah. Later means I qualified higher.”

“Okay,” you said a nod. “I’ll wait for you, then.”

“Not like you have much of a choice”, Liam reminded you. “Aren’t you required to interview everyone?”

“If you have an attitude like that after qualifying, I’ll give myself permission to skip yours.”

“I’ll be good as gold, don’t worry.”

“You better be.” Although you weren’t really successful, you tried to look as menacing as you could. But the ghost of a smile that appeared on your face betrayed you, and showed Liam that you didn’t really mean what you were saying. “I’ll see you later, yeah? Good luck for quali.”

“Thanks, I’ll count down the minutes ‘till I’m speaking to you again.”

While Liam was now walking to his garage, you were already making your way to the media pen. Or at least, to somewhere you could watch the start of qualifying within range so that you wouldn’t have to cross the entire paddock to get there following Q1.

After you found a nice seat to peacefully watch qualifying, you were suddenly hit with a realisation regarding your conversation with Liam. Was it…? You replayed in your head what he had told you, what you had replied, and most of all how everything had been said. You hadn't really thought about it at the time because you were just happy to finally be on good terms with Liam, but right now you were definitely overthinking it. Right now, you were ninety-nine percent sure that Liam Lawson had tried to flirt with you.

I’ll count down the minutes ‘till I’m speaking to you again, which had been said while his eyes were sparkling with mischief. Fuck, you thought. Liam had definitely been flirting with you, and you had completely missed it! What were you even supposed to do now? Flirt back? Not in front of the millions of F1 fans who would be watching the post-qualifying interviews on Canal+, that’s for sure.

Should you message him? Should you do this in person? You didn’t know. You were completely lost about what to do now that you had understood the situation. And you were overthinking so much that you weren’t even paying attention to qualifying. Getting a hold of yourself, you then decided that you would do your best to put this whole Liam thing in the back of your mind in order to focus on what you were here for: working. You weren’t about to get distracted by a hypothetical love interest – whom you had definitely not been interested with from the beginning – at the cost of doing your job well.

…..

The rest of the afternoon went fine. You successfully managed to temporarily forget about the Liam situation, even when you eventually interviewed him after qualifying – he had reached Q3 as promised and would start P8 on the grid tomorrow. During your interview, both you and he stayed professional. No flirting from him, although his smile had brightened when his eyes met yours as he had entered the media pen; and no physical contact from you like the previous week.

On the outside, everything had gone well. But on the inside, you were once again panicking when you got back to your hotel room in the evening. Being alone with your thoughts felt dangerous right now, and you feared your own overthinking. You couldn’t stay like this. So you did the only thing that felt right at the moment: you texted the only person who could somehow help with the situation.

On peut se voir? (Can we meet up?)

Genre là maintenant (Like right now)

It didn’t take long for Isack to text back. He expressed his worry about what was going on, and immediately imagined the worst. You reassured him that it wasn’t a life or death situation, but more so an internal dilemma. Isack therefore reminded you of his room number, telling you that you could come whenever.

Barely ten minutes later, you were knocking on Isack’s door – the perk of booking the same hotel as your best friend was that you two were never far away from each other in case of emergency. Not bothering to put a t-shirt on, Isack opened the door shirtless.

“Je pensais pas que t’étais pauvre au point de pas avoir de pyjama” (Didn’t think you were that poor to not have a pyjama), you teased him. “Ça paye pas assez la F1?” (F1 isn’t paying well enough?)

“Super drôle,” Isack replied with sarcasm obvious in his voice. “À quand le one-man show?” He rhetorically asked. Motioning for you to sit on his bed, Isack went to grab a couple drinks from the mini-fridge in his room. He then sat beside you, offering you some water as well as the unopened bag of crisps that he had reserved for later. “Ok, c’est quoi le problème du coup?” (Ok, so what’s the issue then?)

“Alors… y a ce mec–” (So… there’s this guy–)

“Pardon?!” Isack didn’t even give you time to elaborate that he was already interrupting you. “Il sort d’où?”

“Laisse-moi finir, nan?” You waited for Isack to close his mouth and nod before you could finally start your story. “Donc, je disais: j’ai rencontré un gars, avec qui c’était un peu compliqué au début. Je pensais ça avait bien commencé, juste en amitié déjà, mais en fait d’un coup il m’a ignorée. Hyper bizarre parce que je me disais, bah y a moyen de devenir bons potes vu qu’on a un ami en commun.” (So, as I was saying: I met a guy, with whom it was kinda complicated at first. I thought it had started out well, just friendship-wise, but then he ghosted me out of nowhere. Super weird because I was thinking we could be good friends given that we had a mutual) Taking a crisp, you thought about how to keep going without revealing too much about who you were talking about. “Et après y a eu un truc chelou entre nous; je me suis retrouvée à lui remonter le moral mais c’était toujours un peu gênant quand même. Puis là on s’est revus, et je m’attendais pas à ce qu’on se tape la discut’. Sauf que si au final, et il s’est passé un truc encore plus bizarre que tout ce qu’est arrivé avant.” (And then something weird happened between us; I ended up comforting him but it was still a bit awkward. Then we saw each other again, and I hadn’t expected us to casually talk. But we did, and something even weirder than before happened)

“Attends, mais tu veux pas me dire son nom déjà? Et où tu l’as rencontré?” (Wait, can’t you just give me his name first? And where did you even meet him?) Isack needed more details. You were being way too vague, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to help when he had no idea about what the real situation was.

“Ouais, ouais. Après”, you promised. “Donc, oui, il a commencé à flirter avec moi! C’était pas évident sur le moment, mais j’ai capté une fois qu’on s’était dit au revoir et du coup je sais plus quoi faire maintenant. Est-ce que je flirte aussi avec lui quand je le revois?” (So yeah, he started flirting with me! It wasn’t obvious at all, but I realised after he had said goodbye and now I don't know what to do anymore. Do I flirt back the next time I see him?)

“Bah, il te plaît le gars?” (Do you like the guy?)

That was the million-dollar question. Did you like Liam? Sure, he was extremely cute. He also had that nice accent. He was very-hardworking. His smile was warm. And his hair was always messy just the right way. And–

“Bon, ok. Si t’hésites c’est que tu kiffes le gars,” (Ok, well. If you hesitate then you like the guy) Isack concluded. And when you didn’t even manage to deny it, he knew that he was right. “Est-ce que maintenant, je peux enfin savoir son nom pour pouvoir t’aider un peu? Je te demande pas son numéro de sécu, tranquille.” (Can I just finally know his name to be able to help you? I’m not asking for his social security number, no worries)

“Nan, mais… est-ce que c’est vraiment important de savoir son nom? Je t’ai décrit la situation, ça suffit pas?” (Is it really important to know his name? I described the situation, is that not enough?)

“Dis-moi au moins où tu l’as rencontré,” (At least tell me where you met him) Isack requested. “C’était un mec de ta fac? Un gars random qui va au même supermarché que toi?” (Is it a guy from uni? A random guy who goes to the same supermarket as you?) At this point, Isack was ready to list every possible scenario. “Il travaille chez Canal? Il– attends, t’as réagi là!” (Does he work at Canal? Does he– wait, you reacted!)

“Quoi?” You didn’t think you had shown any sign to confirm that one of Isack’s theories was true, until you remembered that you had the worst poker face known to mankind and that your body had betrayed you without you noticing.

“Quand j’ai parlé du travail, ton visage il a fait un truc.” (When I mentioned work, your face did something)

“Un truc?” You repeated.

“Oui, bref. C’est un gars avec qui tu travailles, j’ai raison?” (Yeah, anyway. It’s a guy you work with, right?)

“Pas vraiment…” (Not really…)

“Par contre si c’est un des autres journalistes Canal, ils sont pas tous trop vieux pour toi?” (If it’s one of the other Canal journalists, though, aren’t they all too old for you?) Isack thought about everyone he had ever met from there, and couldn’t remember a single person who had looked your age.

“Il a mon âge, je te rassure. C’est pas quelqu’un de là, mais c’est un peu le travail quand même.” (He’s my age, no worries. He’s not from there, but it’s still kinda work) Thinking that Isack was already getting way too close to finding the answer by himself, you figured that you couldn’t keep it for yourself for much longer.

“Alors oui, je veux bien. Mais ton travail, c’est…” As Isack realised what you meant by a guy from work, his voice automatically died down. He looked straight into your eyes, now knowing the implications of your words. “Oh putain, c’est un pilote.” (Oh fuck, it’s a driver) And when you quickly avoided Isack’s gaze on you to focus on the water bottle in your hands, Isack knew that he was right. “Putain, mais fallait le dire plus tôt! On a perdu dix minutes à tourner autour du pot!” (Fuck, you should’ve said it sooner! We just wasted ten minutes beating around the bush!)

“Oh! Ça va, oui?! Déjà je suis venue t’en parler, estime-toi heureux.” (Calm down, yeah?! Count yourself lucky that I came to talk to you about it) You sighed, before rolling your eyes at Isack. “La prochaine fois j’irai voir Ollie…” (Next time I’ll go see Ollie…) you mumbled.

“Donc c’est pas Ollie,” (So it’s not Ollie) Isack easily guessed. “Ça fait déjà un en moins, on a encore quatre options.” (Already one down, four options left)

You groaned at the way you had helped narrow things down for Isack, without even meaning to.

“Ce serait plus simple si tu me disais d’office. On gagnerait du temps”, (It would be easier if you would directly tell me. It would save some time) Isack argued.

“Ça suffit pas de savoir que c’est un pilote? Déjà t’as capté direct c’était un rookie, y a même pas de suspense.” (Isn’t it enough to know that it’s a driver? You already guessed that it was a rookie, there’s no suspense left)

“Je peux pas t’aider si je sais pas c’est qui!” (I can’t help you if I don’t know who it is!) Isack claimed. “Ils ont tous des personnalités différentes, donc ils agiraient tous différemment pour flirter avec quelqu’un – surtout en sachant que t’es journaliste. Donc tu le vois à chaque grand prix; tu lui parles au moins deux fois dans le week-end; et t’as dit que tu lui avait remonté le moral. Ça veut dire qu’il a sûrement DNF récemment…” (They all have different personalities, so they would all flirt differently with someone – especially due to you being a journalist. So you see him at every grand prix; you talk to him at least twice during the weekend; and you told me that you had comforted him. That means it’s someone who recently DNFed...)

Isack was too close to figuring it out. You could see the gears turning in his head, and you knew it was only a matter of minutes before he would narrow it down to one driver.

Not even paying attention to your silence, Isack kept listing what he knew to try and guess who it was:

“Je sais que je peux écarter Franco: il serait direct venu me voir pour me demander des choses sur toi. C’est pas Ollie du coup. Bah Gabriel, il est déjà en couple en fait.” (I can already disregard Franco: he would’ve immediately come to ask me stuff about you. It’s not Ollie either. Gabriel, well, he’s already dating someone) Isack was now down to two people, and it suddenly felt obvious to him. “Kimi a littéralement pas abandonné depuis deux mois. Donc…” (Kimi literally hasn't DNFed in the past two months. So…) Isack looked at you, silently asking if it was who he thought it was.

The only reply you could muster to confirm Isack’s thoughts was a nod. At that, Isack almost cheered to celebrate his success in figuring it out. But then, there was the realisation.

“Mais– c’est mon coéquipier!” (It’s my teammate!) Isack exclaimed. “T’es tombé amoureuse de mon coéquipier et je l’apprends que maintenant?!” (You’re in love with my teammate and I only hear about it now?!)

“Alors, on va se calmer déjà. Je suis pas amoureuse de lui,” (Calm down. I’m not in love with him) you denied. “C’est vraiment juste un crush. Et puis c’est un peu lui qu’a commencé,” (It’s really just a crush. And he’s the one who started it) you reminded him. “À ce que je vois, Liam t’a clairement pas dit qu’il était intéressé par ta pote d’enfance.” (From what I see, Liam didn’t tell you that he was interested by your childhood friend)

“C’est vrai, bien vu. Mais j’avoue, j’aurais jamais pensé ça de lui. Je vous ai jamais vu parler en dehors des interviews, et il avait pas l’air d’être le rookie avec qui t’avais le plus sympathisé.” (You’re right, yeah. But I gotta admit, I never would’ve imagined that from him. I never saw you two talk outside of interviews, and he didn’t seem like one of the rookies you had befriended the most)

“On est d’accord? C’est quand même bizarre qu’il ait jamais fait d’efforts pour me connaître, et bam: il DNF une course, je le réconforte vite fait, et la semaine d’après il agit comme ça.” (Right? It’s for real weird that he never made any effort to get to know me, then suddenly: he DNFs, I kinda comfort him, and he acts like that the following week)

“Il est peut-être timide dans ce domaine”, (Maybe he’s just shy) Isack supposed.

“C’est plus de la timidité à ce niveau-là,” (It’s not even being shy at this point) you argued. “Tu te rappelles le resto au début? Il a littéralement fui.” (Remember the restaurant? He literally ran away)

“Ouais, j’avoue que là je sais pas. C’était grave chelou,” (Yeah, I don’t know. That was really weird) Isack agreed. “Est-ce que tu veux que je lui en parle? Discretos, bien sûr. Genre je lui dit qu’on va au resto tous les deux après la course demain soir, et je vois si cette fois il vient avec nous.” (Do you want me to talk to him about it? Low-key, of course. Like I tell him you and I are having dinner together after the race tomorrow night, and I see if he’ll come with us this time)

“Et s’il refuse, tu demandes si c’est moi le problème.” (And if he refuses, you ask if I’m the issue)

“Ça marche.” Isack high-fived you at the prospect of his plan working. “Je peux faire autre chose pour t’aider? Maintenant que je sais, je suis trop investi là.” (Can I do anything else to help? Now that I know, I feel invested)

“En mode c’est toi qui vit l’histoire, carrément.” (As if you were the one experiencing the situation) You laughed at Isack’s enthusiasm, glad to have his support. “Mais sinon… je sais pas. Ça sera plutôt entre lui et moi après; je veux vraiment apprendre à le connaître maintenant qu’il paraît prêt à me donner une chance.” (But… I don’t know. It’ll mostly be between him and I then; I really want to get to know him now that he seems ready to give me a chance)

“En tout cas, tu sais où me trouver si t’as besoin.” (Well, you know where to find me if you ever need)

“Merci, ça fait du bien d’avoir quelqu’un pour en parler.” (Thanks, I’m glad to have someone I can talk to) With a sigh of relief, you lay down on Isack’s bed. “En espérant que je me suis pas trompée sur la situation.” (I hope that I didn’t misunderstood the situation)

“Mais nan, t’inquiètes. Tout va bien se passer”, (No, don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be fine) Isack reassured you.

As if on cue, it seemed like the universe had a knack for comic timing; someone was knocking on Isack’s door.

“T’attendais une autre fille avec des problèmes de coeur ce soir?” (Were you waiting for another girl with boy problems tonight?) You teased.

“Absolument pas”, Isack replied. He stood up from the bed and walked towards the door before opening it. “Ah, Liam.”

Hearing Isack say the name of the guy you had both been talking about for the entire evening made you immediately sit up. You had no idea what he was doing here, and it seemed like Isack was as confused as you.

“Do you need anything bro?”

“Yeah”, Liam confirmed with a nod. “I think I forgot my charger at the track, you have one I could borrow for the night?”

“Yeah, no problem. I should have one lying around somewhere.”

As Isack left the doorway to go find his charger, he left the door ajar. And it was open enough for you to see Liam. But if you were able to see Liam, then he was also able to see you. Then followed the most awkward eye contact you had ever experienced as Liam’s expression turned into one of surprise at the sight of you.

“Here you go.” Isack handed his charger to Liam, bursting the bubble that had been surrounding you and him.

“Thanks, mate.” Liam took the charger, but he didn’t leave immediately. He lingered for a few seconds, his gaze still on you. Then, he looked at Isack. And that’s when Liam started overthinking as he was noticing the little details that shouldn’t have mattered so much: Isack shirtless, you on his bed. “I didn’t know you two were…” Together. Liam didn’t even want to finish his sentence, scared that his assumption was true.

“She just came here to talk about some stuff, yeah.” Isack didn’t pick up on the tone in Liam’s voice, nor did he notice the way his teammate’s expression fell. He was just focused on not letting it show that Liam had been their topic for the whole evening.

“Cool, cool, cool. I– I’ll get going then, have fun.” Strangely similar to that one time three months ago, Liam just left without waiting for Isack’s answer.

Isack closed the door, before returning to his spot next to you on the bed. While he seemed completely chill, you were slightly nervous.

“C’était pas chelou?” (Wasn’t that weird?) You wondered. “Genre la vibe.”

“Je sais pas, j’ai pas eu l’impression. Juste aucun de nous s’attendait à se voir ce soir, c’est tout.” (I don’t know, didn’t think so. None of us were expecting to see each other tonight, that’s all)

“C’est sûr que je pensais pas le voir après qu’on ait passé trente ans à parler de lui. Et il devait pas s’attendre à ce que je sois là, en venant te voir…” (I was certainly not expecting to see him after we talked about him for ages. And he was definitely not expecting to see me here when coming to see you…) The realisation dawned on you. “Isack! Putain…”

“Quoi?” He asked, not noticing the panic rising in you.

“Imagine”, you started. “Imagine tu crush sur une fille; et le soir même après avoir tenté de flirter avec elle, tu la vois dans le lit de ton coéquipier.” (Imagine you like this girl; and the evening following you trying to flirt with her, you see her in your teammate’s bed)

“T’es pas vraiment dans mon lit là. C’est plutôt sur le lit”, (You’re not really in my bed right now. More like on the bed) Isack corrected.

“C’est pareil!” (It’s the same thing!) You exclaimed. “En plus t’es torse nu, et je suis vraiment en pyjama. C’est horrible, il doit croire que je m’intéresse pas à lui maintenant…” (On top of that you’re shirtless, and I’m in pyjamas. That’s terrible, he’s gonna think I’m not interested in him now…) Putting your head in your hands, your only wish was now to wallow in misery until the end of time.

“Peut-être pas, t’inquiètes…” (Maybe not, don’t worry…) Isack had to admit that you made a good point, but he still wanted to reassure you. However, the stern look you were giving him showed that he wasn’t very successful. “Nan mais, on est amis. Il le sait. C’est normal entre amis de faire des soirées pyjama, tranquille. Mais je lui en parlerai demain et je lui dirai qu’on a juste passé un moment entre potes, t’inquiètes.” (We’re friends. He knows that. It’s normal to have sleepovers with friends, no worries. But I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow and I’ll tell him we just spent some friendly time together, don’t worry)

“Arrête avec les t’inquiètes s’il te plaît parce que je vais finir par faire que ça en fait.” (Please stop saying don’t worry because I’m gonna end up doing just that)

“Ok, ok.” Isack raised his hands in defence, not wanting to upset you further.

“Je pense je vais aller me coucher,” (I think I’m gonna go to sleep) you then announced. “Tu devrais faire de même; t’as la course demain et que tu sois en forme.” (You should do the same; you have a race tomorrow and you need to be in good shape)

“Ouais, t’as raison. Ça va aller?” (Yeah, you’re right. You’ll be fine?)

“On va faire au mieux, écoute. En tout cas, merci.” (Gonna try my best, thanks) You smiled at Isack, before making your way to the door. “Bonne nuit, on se voit demain.” (Good night, see you tomorrow)

“Toi aussi, dors bien.” (You too, sleep well)

You then left Isack’s room and went back to yours. You were certain that you would overthink the Liam situation for a bit before eventually being able to sleep. However, you were determined to do everything but focus on it tomorrow. It would have to wait until after the race.

…..

The next day, you were still as resolute to keep Liam at the very back of your mind. Thankfully, you wouldn’t see him until the post-race interviews and that enabled you to spend the day in peace.

Meanwhile, Isack was having the complete opposite goal from yours: he needed to settle the issue with Liam before the race. Isack would try to sort it out without divulging your feelings, but he was also ready to confront Liam the second he would notice his energy getting weird. Therefore, before the drivers’ parade, Isack was waiting for his teammate in the Racing Bulls motorhome.

He had chosen his timing well: every briefing had been done in the morning, and no one cared about what the drivers did during their free time. And even though he knew that no one would come bother them until it would be time to leave for the parade, Isack still decided on a somewhat secluded place upstairs.

While waiting for Liam, Isack had been pacing around the room. He had already done a dozen laps around the couch by the time he heard footsteps approaching. As Liam entered the room, Isack tried to act natural – as if his face wasn’t already betraying him with how nervous he looked.

“Hey Isack, you need anything?” Liam had thought it weird that Isack had asked him to meet here when they usually spent their time with some engineers before the race.

“Yeah, thanks for coming. I won’t be long, but I just needed to talk to you about something.”

“Sounds extremely vague and suspicious, but go on.”

“About yesterday evening, when I was with–”

“No need to explain it to me,” Liam interrupted. “I know.”

“Really?” Although surprised about it, Isack had to admit that it was making his job easier if Liam hadn’t misunderstood the situation. “Okay, cool. So we’re fine, then?”

“Yeah, of course. Good for you, mate.” Liam patted Isack on the arm. “Didn’t know that you still liked her, but I’m happy for you two.” That wasn’t completely true, but Liam didn’t have much choice but to pretend.

“Wait, what do you mean?” To say that Isack was lost would be an understatement. He thought that Liam and him were on the same wavelength, but they were apparently not.

“Well, you told me that you’d ask her out back then – after her second race weekend. Then, I thought you had either backed out or she had rejected you. But after yesterday, it’s obvious you actually succeeded.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Liam?”

“I’m talking about you two dating?” It felt more like a question than anything, as Liam didn’t understand why Isack was so confused. “I would’ve liked you to tell me, by the way. Because now I feel like a fool after trying to flirt with her.”

“I’m not dating anyone!” Isack said. “Let alone her,” he added.

“But– yesterday? She was in your room, all cozy. And– just– you two are always hanging out, all close.”

“Bro, yesterday was not a date at all. She came to my room because she needed a friend to talk to about some stuff, I told you that!”

“Sorry that it looked ambiguous, then!” Liam argued.

“I can’t believe she was right, though.”

“About what?”

“She was scared that you would think that – that we were together – and I told her she was overreacting. She thought you wouldn’t like her anymore if you believed we were dating,” Isack explained.

“Who said I liked her…” Liam muttered, now avoiding eye contact.

“You literally said two minutes ago that you flirted with her.”

“Yeah, true.”

A moment of silence passed, as the atmosphere felt less heavy now.

“Does she like me back?” Liam eventually asked.

“She was pretty bummed at the thought of you not liking her anymore. That should tell you something.”

“I feel stupid now.”

“You are”, Isack said. “So now if I offer you to come eat with us tonight, will you accept or will you escape last minute again?”

“What do you mean again?”

“You make no effort, bro.” Isack sighed, not believing the amount of misunderstandings he and Liam were currently going through. “The restaurant? Like two months ago? I introduced you to each other, but then you bailed on us not even five minutes later.”

“Because I thought this was a date between the two of you!” Liam had to sit down. After doing so, he deeply inhaled. Closing his eyes, he then exhaled as he could already feel himself being less tense. “The day before, you said that you would ask her out to dinner. Why would I tag along to what was literally a date.”

“It wasn’t,” Isack denied. “Why would I tell you about it if I didn’t want you to come with us? I’m sure it was right after I told you I would introduce you to her, which I did. And then we were supposed to go to dinner, to which I asked her to come with us.”

“Oh God… Isack, do you actually know the difference between asking and asking out?”

“It’s the same thing.”

“No. No, it’s not.” Liam leaned back on the couch, now realising that this has all been due to Isack not knowing proper English grammar. “The first one literally means to ask someone a question. Now, asking someone out means you’re asking them to go on a date.”

“Ah… my bad, then.”

Okay, maybe Liam hadn’t been the only one at fault; because Isack was definitely to blame as well. Now just looking at each other, the duo didn’t really know what their next step would be. Isack decided to join Liam on the couch, hoping that it would help.

“Do you really like her?” Isack wondered, turning his head to look at Liam.

“Yeah”, Liam admitted. “I’ve been a dick, and yet she always managed to remain professional with me. She’s way better at her job than I am. And she’s kind. Did she tell you about last week? When I DNFed.”

“Just said that she comforted you a bit.”

“She did, yeah. She’s a good person.”

“She is”, Isack agreed. “You’re gonna ask her out, now? Like properly”, he specified. “Not my version.”

“If that’s alright with you.”

“Of course it is. As long as you never act like that with her again, and that you communicate instead of ending up with like ten misunderstandings at the same time.”

“I think I can manage that, don’t worry.”

“Okay, then go.” Isack motioned to the door, signaling Liam to go talk to you before he would change his mind.

“What? Like now?”

“Why not?”

“Isack, we have the parade in like…” Looking down at his watch, Liam noticed how long they had actually spent together. “Fuck, we have like– less than five minutes before we gotta be there.”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

“Because we were arguing!”

Now frantically leaving the room, Liam and Isack were running as they made their way outside the motorhome. While one almost tripped down the stairs, the other had barely missed falling into a plant. They were as quick as they could, and arrived breathless to the meeting point.

“Why are you guys looking like you just ran a marathon?” Kimi wondered, before peacefully sipping his water.

“Because we did run”, Liam replied.

“You didn’t need to. The parade is delayed for a bit,” Ollie told them. “George sent a text to the groupchat so that we didn’t have to rush to get there. That’s why it was fine for you two to take your time.”

Both fishing out their phone from their pocket, Isack and Liam noticed that they had indeed received the information. Exchanging a glance, they just began to laugh at their shared braincell. Kimi and Ollie looked at them before looking at each other – the former Prema teammates were definitely confused.

“Are you two alright?” Kimi asked, genuinely worrying about his friends who looked like they had gone insane.

“Yeah, we are. We’ll be”, Liam said.

“If you say so.” Kimi then went back to the conversation he had been having with Ollie before Isack and Liam had arrived, therefore leaving the two Racing Bulls drivers to catch their breath.

…..

When the race was over, you were truly happy for your favourite drivers. Liam had managed to keep his starting position – P8 – while Isack had fought his way from P15 to eventually finish P10. You knew that this time, the French driver would definitely feel worthy of that single point.

Having arrived at the media pen slightly early, you took the calm surroundings as your opportunity to check your phone. You saw a text from Isack that you hadn’t noticed before, and wondered how you had missed it as it had been sent right before the race. When reading its content, your expression quickly turned into one of confusion:

Tu me remercieras + tard<3

Why would you thank Isack? There was no context whatsoever, and you hated that you wouldn’t be able to bring it up during your interview with him. Speaking Thinking of the devil, Isack was now entering the media pen as he sipped his water.

“Isack, bonjour.”

“Attends, faut je bois là. Je suis grave déshydraté”, (Wait, I gotta drink. I’m so dehydrated) he told you. Isack then spent the next minute just drinking, not saying a word as the camera was still recording. “Okay, c’est bon.”

“Cool. T’es arrivé dixième aujourd’hui,” you started. “Même position que la semaine dernière, mais une course complètement différente avec un bon nombre d’overtakes de ta part. Comment tu te sens par rapport à la course d’avant?” (Same position as last week, but a completely different race with a good amount of overtakes from you. How do you feel compared to the previous race?)

“C’est pas du tout pareil, ouais. Entre finir dixième parce que les gars devant ont été pénalisés et finir dixième parce que j’ai doublé, bah c’est sûr la deuxième situation est bien meilleure. Cette fois, j’accepte vraiment le point avec fierté.” (It’s not the same at all, yeah. Between finishing tenth because the guys in front of me got penalised and finishing tenth because I overtook, for sure the second situation is way better. This time, I proudly accept the point)

“Ça fait plaisir de te voir de si bonne humeur en tout cas. On continue sur cette lancée pour le prochain grand prix?” (It’s great to see you so cheerful. Let’s keep it that way for the next grand prix?)

“Absolument”, Isack confirmed with a nod. “En espérant finir au moins une ou deux places plus haut.” (Hoping to finish one or two positions higher)

“Bon bah c’est ce que je te souhaite alors.” (I’ll wish that for you, then) Thinking of a way to subtly bring up the message he had sent, you tried to stay natural. “Autre chose à ajouter après cette superbe course?” (Anything else to add after this wonderful race?) Raising an eyebrow at Isack, you hoped that he would manage to read between the lines.

“Je veux juste remercier l’équipe parce qu’ils font un taf de fou chaque week-end et c’est vraiment top de voir la voiture performer comme elle l’a fait aujourd’hui, donc merci à eux du fond du cœur.” (I just wanna thank the team because they do an incredible job every weekend and it’s truly amazing to see the car perform like it did today, so thanks to them from the bottom of my heart) Isack had not picked up on your words, and you internally sighed. However, it seemed like your intentions had somehow still reached him because he then brought up the topic himself. “J’espère que tu me diras merci aussi, d’ailleurs; même si c’est pour d’autres raisons.” (I hope you’ll thank me too, by the way; even if it’s for other reasons)

You thought that you would have an opportunity to reply, but Isack simply grinned before leaving as if everything was normal. You were flabbergasted at his audacity to not acknowledge your confusion, and you turned to the cameraman in annoyance to silently ask him if he had understood anything about Isack’s attitude. He shook his head, being as lost as you.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t dwell on it and had to quickly get back into your interviewer mode when Lando walked up to you. The Brit had won today’s race, and you were glad to notice that he was particularly chirpy as he happily detailed everything good that had happened to him. Then followed another driver, and another, before you were soon enough reaching your last interview of the day.

You hated to admit it, but it truly bothered you that Liam hadn’t come to you sooner. He had walked past you four times, not glancing your way even once. However, he now had no choice but to come talk to you as you were also his last interview for today. The media pen was rapidly emptying and soon enough, everyone was leaving – except for Nico Hulkenberg who was still talking to a German channel.

“Liam, so nice of you to finally join us.”

“Saved the best for last, yeah.”

“How was your race?” Ignoring his comment, you did your best to not let it show that his words were affecting you. You hadn’t expected Liam to be smooth like that, and maybe it meant that what had happened yesterday evening wasn’t an issue. “You managed to defend your position really well, especially when you had Esteban Ocon right behind you on fresher tyres. Tell me more about that.”

“Yeah, that was tough. It was hard to not get caught up, especially when he had DRS. But thankfully, I also managed to get it as well towards the end when I got closer to Lewis so that really helped me.”

“Speaking of, you boxed two laps before Hamilton. I understood that you tried to undercut him with your second stop?”

“We did try, yeah. It wasn’t the backbone of our strategy so we didn’t dwell too much on it when it didn’t work, but it would have been nice to get P7 because of that.”

“How do you feel being able to compete with such a legend like Lewis Hamilton? Do you think of that when you’re right behind him on the track? Or is he just a regular guy you want to beat?”

“I don’t think it’s something I focus on”, Liam admitted. “Obviously, I see the Ferrari in front of me and I know there’s an amazing driver inside no matter which car it is. But it always seems to like, dawn on me after the races when I realise that I’m fighting with literal champions out there.”

“Maybe someone will think that about you in several years”, you suggested. “And there probably are some young kids watching F1 who already think that.”

“I wish.” Liam chuckled, appreciating the possibility. “Do you think of me as a champion, even just a potential one?”

“Oh, hmm…” Not expecting the question, it caught you off-guard as you pondered on the meaning behind it. “Well, I definitely can’t deny that you’re part of the twenty best drivers in the whole world. Would it stroke your ego if I said yes?” You hadn’t meant for it to sound as teasing as it did, but the words left your mouth before you could overthink them.

“Coming from you? Yeah, definitely.” Liam’s tone was now more playful than ever, matching yours. However, he quickly went back to a more serious one as he remembered that your conversation was still broadcast live. “But I’m not there yet, I know that.”

“One day”, you told him with hope in your voice. “P8 is still a great result from you today, though. So congrats for that, Liam.”

“Thanks,” he said with a grateful smile.

After those last words from him, it was time to cut the camera as you had officially finished your last interview of the day. Your cameraman congratulated you for another good day of work, and you did the same before finally switching your journalist persona off.

Looking around, you quickly noticed that the media pen was literally empty as you stretched your arms. Had you really been so engrossed in your conversation with Liam that you hadn’t realised you were the only ones left? As if the driver could read your thoughts, he commented out loud on it:

“Guess we did talk for a while.”

Turning around to where he was standing, your eyes met his teasing ones. Liam was leaning on the barrier separating you, which had brought him slightly closer to you.

“Yeah”, you replied. “We should start our own podcast at this point.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind that if it meant that we’d spend more time together.” Liam took advantage of the fact you and him were currently alone to test the waters. He didn’t want to come off too strong, but he also needed you to understand his intentions before he would explicitly express them.

Meanwhile, you were becoming more flustered after each word coming from Liam. Yesterday hadn’t affected you that much when you two were talking – although it eventually did trouble you when you had realised what Liam had been doing – but today was different. Because you knew Liam was flirting with you, and there was no other explanation as to why he was looking at you like you were a P1 trophy. Still, you were unsure how to react and Liam sensed your hesitation.

“You remember when we met?” Liam asked.

“Our first interview?”

“No, later – like officially met with Isack being there.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I’m sorry for blowing you and Isack off,” Liam apologised. He figured now was a good time to make amends with you, and to explain his point of view from back then. He thought that it would be better for the two of you to start over, before Liam would try anything with you – whether it be to start a platonic or romantic relationship.

“It’s fine, no worries.”

“It’s not,” Liam argued. “Let’s be honest, I was a total dick to you. So I’m sorry about how I acted after that, too.”

“It’s all forgotten”, you reassured him. You had to admit that you were now more curious than ever about what had led to him acting so cold to you, and you hoped that him currently opening up would help you get that information. “You don’t have to answer, but why were you like that? I really wished you would have told me if I had done something to upset you.”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t you at all!” Liam didn’t want you to think that you were the one at fault, as it was the complete opposite – you had truly done nothing wrong. “You’re gonna think it’s stupid.”

“Come on, it can’t be that bad?”

“I thought you and Isack were together, or that he at least liked you. And I didn’t wanna get in the way”, he explained.

“Okay, that’s stupid.” You really tried not to, but you couldn’t help laughing at Liam’s words. “Me and Isack, really?”

“Well, yeah? But it’s kinda his fault too, because he told me that he wanted to ask you out to dinner when he actually meant literally asking you to get dinner. So that’s why I didn’t come back then.”

“Not gonna lie, English grammar was never his forte.”

“Yeah, I realised that when we talked things over earlier.”

“You did?” You repeated.

“Before the race, yeah, Isack and I smoothed things out – he confronted me about my shitty attitude, after we had a misunderstanding about yesterday because I had once again thought that you guys were together.”

“You mean… yesterday evening?” When Liam nodded, you nervously chuckled. “I was scared that it would happen, yeah. But I can assure you, nothing has ever happened and will ever happen between us. Hell, I came to his room to talk about you.”

“Really? Isack didn’t mention that.” Liam straightened up as he acknowledged the information, and he couldn’t help the teasing smile making its way on his face.

“Don’t get all smug about it, now. I had to mention your shitty attitude to someone, didn’t I?”

“Touché. But we’re good, now?” Liam wondered, hope obvious in his voice.

“We’re good,” you confirmed. Once again realising how much you and Liam were talking, you looked down at your watch and noticed the time. “Shit, aren’t you supposed to be debriefing with your team?”

“They can wait”, Liam shrugged off. “Though I can start making my way back to the motorhome, if you’ll walk with me?”

“Sure”, you accepted. You checked your phone to see if there had been any message from your colleagues, and you sighed in relief when the only one was a text from your superior congratulating everyone for another successful weekend.

If you had told the you from only last month that she would be having flirty conversations with Liam Lawson and would then spend time with him outside of the required interviews, she wouldn’t have believed you. But here you were, walking in the paddock next to him as if everything was normal. The silence between you was peaceful, but there was still an underlying tension that was only waiting to see the light of day.

When you and Liam reached the Racing Bulls motorhome, you were almost disappointed that the way there had been so short. And it seemed like Liam thought the same, because he wasn’t making any move to leave you.

“Well, this is me. Thanks for walking me back.” For someone who had been strangely confident earlier, Liam now wanted to disappear from the face of the earth with how awkward he currently sounded. Get a grip, he told himself. And get the girl. However, you weren’t really reacting to his words and Liam thought that maybe everything that had happened today had been enough for you. So he figured that he wouldn’t try anything else for now, and that it could wait until next time – he would be seeing you soon again during the next weekend, after all. “I’ll go, then. See you–”

“Are you flying out tonight?” You then blurted out, not realising you had interrupted Liam.

“What?”

“Sorry, that was like– way too random. But, are you?”

“No, I'm not. My flight is tomorrow around noon I think”, he told you.

“So you’re free tonight?”

“As soon as the team debrief is done, and after we end up being forced to film some stuff for the socials, then yeah. Why? Wanna ask me out?” Liam was joking – although he was actually hoping that it could happen, not expecting you to positively answer.

“Yeah, actually.” It made you nervous that Liam had apparently seen through you so easily, and you hoped that it wouldn’t be a detriment to you. “If you want, of course!” You then added when Liam didn’t react. “I was under the impression that you were also trying to get to that, so…”

“Yes!” He exclaimed, which startled you from how loud he had eventually replied. “Yes, yeah. Of course I want that, yes. Sorry, you beat me to it.”

“It’s fine, no worries.” You were now a blushing mess, but also definitely a happy one. “So, dinner tonight? You and me?”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect. No Isack”, Liam stated. “Just us two.”

“No Isack”, you repeated with a smile.

“Isack is there right now, though.”

At the sound of another voice, you and Liam immediately looked around to find where it had come from until you realised that it had come from above. Neither of you had noticed him before, but Isack had actually been standing on the balcony of the motorhome from the beginning. When he had seen you and Liam walk back together, curiosity overtook him and he couldn’t help spying on his two friends.

“How long have you been there?” You asked, horrified at the thought of Isack having witnessed the entire conversation.

“Long enough to know that this” – he said while motioning between you and Liam – “could’ve happened a long time ago.”

“Well, this is currently none of your business.”

“It is”, Isack claimed. “Especially when it concerns two idiots I care about.”

“You were also an idiot in this”, Liam accused. “Now, can you let us finish this conversation alone?”

“Yeah, don’t take too long. Briefing’s in five,” Isack told his teammate.

“Okay, now where were we?” Liam asked, focusing his full attention back on you.

“She was asking you out to dinner,” Isack said from above. “Which wasn’t what I did with her.”

“Isack! Fuck off!” You yelled at him.

Looking at what you had in your hands before quickly shuffling through your bag, you made a choice in record time as you thought about what you could sacrifice and threw one of your notepads at Isack. You proudly grinned when the object did hit him, and your smile expanded with satisfaction when Isack then ran back inside the motorhome to avoid you throwing something else.

“Nice aim”, Liam complimented.

“Thanks. Now where were we actually?”

“I recall that I was saying yes to dinner with you.”

“Sounds about right,” you agreed with a nod. “Text me when you’re done with your driver duties, and then we’ll meet up. We’re staying in the same hotel anyway, so, we can go from there?”

“Works for me. I’ll bring your notepad back,” Liam offered.

“That’ll be much appreciated, thanks. See you later?”

“Yeah,” Liam confirmed. “See you later”, he said before reluctantly leaving you and entering the motorhome.

While you would be making your way back to the hotel to eventually get ready for your date, Liam would be impatiently waiting for his debrief to end. But before that, he had to face Isack’s smug expression when he arrived in front of the briefing room.

“Do not even start”, Liam warned as he walked past Isack who then followed behind him into the room.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re thinking so loudly that you don’t need to.”

“You are also thinking very loudly, mate.”

“Okay, then care to enlighten me about what’s currently on my mind?” Liam crossed his arms, looking at Isack with a deadpan expression.

“You’re thinking about your little date, obviously. I bet she’s all you can think of,” Isack claimed.

“Absolutely not”, Liam tried to deny. However, the way his lips slightly turned into a smile at your mention was betraying him. “Right now, I’m thinking about how I really want to shut you up.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re only mad because I’m right.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night”, Liam grumbled before taking a seat next to his engineer.

Of course Liam had been thinking about you, and he had kept doing so for the entire debrief, then as well while he and Isack had recorded a video for the team’s socials to talk about their race results.

You were still the only thing on Liam’s mind when he left the paddock and made his way back to the hotel; still when he changed out of his team kit and shuffled in his suitcase to search for some nice clothes; still when he eventually left his room to walk to yours; still when he knocked on your door and he could only think about how unreal this whole situation felt.

When you opened your door, you didn’t even have time to say a word that Liam was shoving two things in front of your face. In his left hand, your precious notepad that you had thrown earlier at Isack. In his right hand, a small bouquet of your favourite flowers – Liam wouldn't admit it, but he had asked Isack for that information when he noticed the flower shop right across the street before entering the hotel.

“That”, you said as you took the notepad first. “I was expecting. But that?” You carefully grabbed the bouquet, trying not to focus on your fingers brushing Liam’s.

“Didn’t want to come here empty-handed”, Liam explained.

“They’re beautiful, thank you so much.” There wasn’t a vase in your room, but you figured that the bouquet was small enough to fit in the water bottle on your nightstand. After you made sure that both items had been safely put away, you walked to Liam who was still standing in the doorway. “But you know, there is now one advantage to you not carrying anything in your hands.”

“Which is?” Liam stepped back in the corridor as he watched you lock your door before holding out your hand to him. He looked down at your palm facing towards him, and it took him a few seconds to realise what you wanted him to do. Not hesitating as soon as he got the memo, Liam grabbed your hand in his. “That was smooth,” he told you. “Did you rehearse it while waiting for me?”

“No need. I’m a natural charmer when it comes to you now,” you teased.

“Can’t deny that”, Liam agreed. “I’ve been charmed since the day I first saw you”, he admitted.

“And you still chose to back away when you thought Isack liked me?”

“What can I say? I’m the best teammate he’ll ever have. He should thank me for that.”

You chuckled at Liam’s words, still finding it crazy that things would’ve never improved between the two of you without Isack clarifying the situation to Liam.

“That reminds me, Isack texted me earlier that I should be thanking him later. Now it makes sense.”

Even if Isack’s lack of fluency in English had unfortunately been the trigger to months of misunderstandings, you had to admit it was still thanks to him that the issue had eventually been solved and that you could now finally get that long-awaited dinner with Liam. Speaking of, you were now realising that you had no idea where Liam was taking you as the two of you were currently walking under the streetlights. You didn’t mind it, though, and settled for looking at the scenery around you while wandering hand in hand with Liam.

“Don’t do it, though. Or else it’ll get to his head. We can’t have him know that he succeeded.”

“True”, you agreed. “But it’ll be hard to ignore him if he expects it, because I’m certain he’ll text me as soon as he sees my location being back at the hotel. Hell, he’d even be capable of waiting in front of my door.”

“I’m already regretting getting involved with you if it means that Isack will be even more present than before”, Liam complained with a groan. “That guy has no boundaries.”

“We’re a package, sorry. You wouldn’t be able to avoid him even if I wasn’t in the picture, though – unless you changed teams.”

“Sounds like a hassle. Guess I have no choice but to go through with this date, now.”

“Seems like a nightmare, doesn’t it?”

“Right? I hope I at least get to kiss the girl before the night ends,” Liam joked. “Or it’ll have all been for nothing.”

“I don’t think she’ll be opposed to that.” Despite the blush settling on your cheeks, you didn’t necessarily feel embarrassed. This little back-and-forth teasing with Liam was surprisingly fun, and you knew that it was because being with him made you feel at ease. “I just hope the guy is a good kisser, then.”

“He’d like to think he is, indeed.”

You stopped walking – hand still in Liam’s – and decided to lean on a low wall beside you before you sent a challenging look to Liam.

“Any chance I can be sure of it before being with him in the long-term?”

“The only solution is a free trial, and then you can decide if the product is good enough for you.”

“I guess that works for me.”

You hadn’t realised how much Liam had gotten closer to you, but the gap between the two of you was now smaller than ever. He glanced down at your lips, before his eyes went back to look into yours.

“Can I kiss you, then?” His voice was barely a murmur, not wanting to ruin the moment.

“Sure”, you replied with a voice as low as his.

Liam leaned in, and you could feel his breath on your lips. He looked into your eyes one last time, and you nodded at his last wish of confirmation from you. And then, he kissed you. However, Liam soon realised that he wasn’t actually kissing your lips. He slowly pulled back, and saw that your cheek was now facing him. His expression turned into one of confusion, before he noticed the smirk on your lips – the lips he wished he could have been kissing.

“Really?” Liam scoffed, not having expected you to pull this move.

“Yeah, buy me dinner first. Do you not have any manners to try and kiss a woman before taking her out?”

“You said– I asked if I could kiss you and you said yes!” Liam reminded you of the conversation from barely two minutes ago.

“Never specified where, though.”

And while Liam’s face was now harbouring a dumbfounded expression, you winked at him before starting to walk again. Because you were still holding hands with him, he had no choice but to trail behind you as you giggled. He couldn’t even be mad at you, not when you turned around to face him with a bright smile while looking absolutely breathtaking under the moonlight.

Liam eventually caught up to your pace and went back to walking beside you before he announced that the two of you were arriving at the restaurant he had booked for your date. Even though you had been the one to ask him out, Liam had eventually texted you to tell you he already had the perfect place in mind for tonight.

And perfect it was. Not only the restaurant, but the date as a whole. Liam had been nothing if not a gentleman – holding the door for you, pulling your chair back, refilling your glass as soon as it was getting empty. The food had been amazing, and it was probably the best date you’d ever had – mostly due to the company.

After sharing a dessert, Liam didn’t hesitate paying the bill before you could even notice that a waiter had brought it. He pulled your chair again when you stood from the table, and held the door for you before leaving the restaurant.

The air outside wasn’t cold, but you could still feel an underlying chill in the breeze. You didn’t even shiver, nor did goosebumps have time to appear on your arms. And yet, Liam was immediately putting his jacket on your shoulders as if it was second nature.

“Seemed like you were ready for this from the beginning,”, you teased before adjusting the jacket to cover your arms. You were quickly feeling warmer, and you could only be grateful for Liam’s awareness.

“I was born to be at your service, that’s all.”

“Careful, or I’ll be exploiting you before we’re even back to the hotel.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Liam replied before taking your hand in yours as if he couldn’t survive without having some sort of physical contact with you.

The walk back to the hotel was quiet. There weren’t many people outside by that time, which made for a peaceful atmosphere surrounding you and Liam. The silence between you was comfortable, only interrupted from time to time by chuckles from either of you as you kept stealing glances at each other.

When you arrived at the hotel, Liam insisted on walking you to your door. Without thinking twice, you invited Liam into your room once you were in front of it. Not because you were expecting anything more than a kiss or two – you actually still owed it to Liam from the stunt you had pulled earlier, but simply because you didn’t want tonight to end yet.

The warmth you felt as soon as you entered your room was welcoming, and you were almost disappointed when it forced you to remove Liam’s jacket. You put it on the back of the chair, before joining Liam who had made his way to the balcony.

“Your view’s way better than mine”, Liam said once you were by his side. “Isack was the one to get the good room while I’m stuck with the back yard.”

“I could always offer you to stay here.”

“Nah, it’ll have to wait ‘till the fifth date at least.”

“Good to know, I’ll remember it. What am I allowed to offer after the first date, then?”

“Well, I’m still waiting on that kiss from earlier. Any chance I could have it now?”

“Seems like your lucky day. There’s currently a promotion: two kisses for the price of one.”

“That’s a really good deal, indeed.”

This time, when Liam leaned in, you didn’t turn away from him. You just slightly tilted your head when his lips touched yours, therefore allowing the kiss to slowly deepen. It was soft, and gentle. It was everything you could have expected from a guy like Liam.

When you both pulled back, you still stayed close. During the kiss, Liam’s hands had come to hold your waist while yours were currently resting on his chest.

“I guess that I can now confirm the guy is indeed a good kisser,” you said in reference to your conversation from earlier.

“Satisfied enough to consider long-term with him, then?”

“Yep,” you confirmed with a nod.

Things felt easy with Liam. It really looked like your relationship would be one based on banter, and you were truly excited to keep this dynamic going between the two of you.

You noticed that Liam was about to add something, when a knock interrupted him before he could get a word out. Glancing at the door, then at Liam, your eyes widened when you realised who it probably – definitely – was.

“Don’t tell me…?” Liam asked, really hoping that it wasn’t true.

“Stay there, give me two minutes.”

Walking to the door like a woman on a mission, you sharply inhaled before opening it. And as you had expected, Isack Hadjar was now standing in front of you with an innocent smile.

“Isack, what the fuck you’re doing here?”

“We’re doing this in English?” He raised an eyebrow at you, ignoring your question. “Does that mean that Liam is here?” Isack tried to peek inside your room, but he was prevented from doing so as you were now blocking his view.

“Just answer.”

“I saw your location,” he explained as if it was obvious. “And I saw you coming back from my window.”

“Not creepy at all.”

“I’m just invested,” he said with a shrug. “So, how was it?”

“I’m not telling you anything”, you argued.

“Why not?” Isack whined. “At least tell me if he was nice to you, if he paid the bill, if I don’t have to threaten him, if you kissed…?

“I hate you”. You sighed, before accepting your fate and figuring that you needed to give him a few details if you wanted him to leave you alone. “Yes, he was the nicest ever; he did pay the bill; and no, please don’t threaten to drive him off track or some shit like that.”

“And did y–” Isack tried to ask again, as you had avoided the only question that had mattered to him.

“I don’t kiss and tell”, you said with a sarcastic smile before closing the door in Isack’s face. You then turned to Liam – who had come back inside during your conversation with Isack, before bursting out laughing. “Oh my God, can you believe it?”

“I wish I could be surprised that he stalked your location all night, but I’m actually not.”

“He’s insane. I love him, but he’s insane.”

“Guess we’ll have to get used to this added chaos, now.”

“He was always chaotic, this isn’t new. He was already a menace back in karting”, you told Liam.

“I’m not even surprised. Though I’m scared to go outside, now. Do you think he’s still there?”

“Should be fine,” you assumed. “He might have stayed like thirty seconds then left thinking that I was telling the truth when I denied your presence.”

After waiting five more minutes, you and Liam deemed it safe for him to leave your room. He opened the door, stepping out in the corridor without his eyes looking away from yours.

“Same time next week?” You asked with an expectant smile. If post-race date nights with Liam could become a new part of your routine, then who were you to complain about it?

“Same time next week,” Liam confirmed before he gently kissed you again – he still had that one free kiss you had promised him and he wasn’t going to leave without getting it.

When you pulled back, you could only feel giddy from all the emotions you had felt today until now. Liam wasn’t any better, and he knew he would be missing you and your lips like crazy until the next race weekend.

While you two were too busy gazing into each other’s years, someone hadn’t missed a thing.

“I knew it!” was what Isack exclaimed as he now had the answer to the question you had avoided earlier.

“Fuck”, you and Liam both said with a sigh.

Isack was definitely not leaving either of you alone, now.

..........

This fic still feels unreal to me😭 wdym i had this silly idea and suddenly it turned into 18k words

Probably gonna be my fav thing ever written like I'm just so proud of it<3 i truly never expected to have sm inspo for liam but I'm so so happy w this one

Also I'd like y'all to let me know if the french parts were annoying or if it was fine, bc i don't want it to have negatively affected the reading experience :/ (there are 2k words of french so i would totally understand if it was bothersome)

Anyways, i hope y'all still enjoyed it and I'm excited to know your thoughts!!

See you soon, take care of yourselves, love y'all xx

#🖇「rb」#YEEAAHHHHH 🔥🔥🔥 THANK YOU FOR THIS OP THERES NOT ENOUGH LIAM FICS #A MAN WHO YEARNS IS A MAN WHO EARNS 🙏🏻 AMEN #this is my bare minimum if hes not like this i dont want him #op i am sending u a BIG fat virtual kiss

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