#cruzon

[toipunut]

something i made

[stormy-boy]

Rivals to What? (Part 2/2)

Part 2 of the first ask.

Cruz Ramirez couldn’t believe it. Of all the people she could have fallen in love with, it just had to be him. The guy who insisted that she couldn’t be a racer. The guy who slammed her against the wall at the Florida 500. The guy whose ego was too big for his cab. But it happened nonetheless. It must have been because he wasn’t just “that guy.” He was something more.

When she first started approaching Jackson, it was with the goal of making amends. Cruz didn’t like the idea of there being bad blood between them, so she wanted to at least let him know that there were “no hard feelings.” But he rejected her. She expected as much. So she tried again… and again… and again…

She didn’t know why she was so persistent. She should have just given up the first time. But Cruz wasn’t one to give up, especially on other people. So maybe that was part of why she kept trying. Or maybe it was because she thought she saw something in him. Some potential. The potential to be better. And after that night at the bar, she believed it.

It took a while. All her usual tactics of motivating people seemed to be wasted on him. Those tactics included being annoyingly positive to the point of driving him crazy. They also included song and dance, which made Jackson roll his eyes so far back that all you could see was white.

“Morning, Storm! Ready for another great day of practice together?”

“Ughhhhhh.”

But they must have had some effect, because he started doing things that she normally wouldn’t have expected him to do. Things that could almost be called nice.

The first time she fell for him must have been at the race at the Heartland Motor Speedway. She had placed fifth, her worst race of the season. She was driving away from a recent interview to the trailer lot when a few other Next-Gen racers, those of which she didn’t know very well, gossiped loudly as she passed, with the intention of being overheard.

“Ramirez hasn’t been doing so well lately.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason why she’s the only girl in the Piston Cup right now.”

“Girls like her just can’t keep up with men.”

It took everything in her power not to burst into tears on the spot. And she probably would have, if Jackson hadn’t happened to overhear them as well.

“Ohh, so you’re all men, are you? Last time I checked, men insult other people to their faces. So go on then—”

Jackson revved up next to Cruz, just daring them to come forward with his eyes.

“—tell it to her face.”

The boys exchanged looks. They weren’t willing to go that far.

“Thanks,” she had told him after they scampered away.

“They’re not even in the top 10,” Jackson scoffed as he watched them leave.

It wasn’t much, but it did prove to her that he cared. That he cared for her, when it seemed he didn’t care for anyone but himself.

She wanted to know how he could be like that. So confident. He admitted he wasn’t as confident as he looked, but he was at least more self-assured than her. So he could impart some of that courage to her, even if it was in the form of crude demands to “Just be more confident, duh” or half-assed suggestions, because Jackson wasn’t too good at raising people up. But he’d get better at it. And the effort alone somehow helped.

Cruz was also relatively new to the racing scene, so she benefited from learning a few methods from Jackson, who was no longer a rookie himself. Methods that a veteran like Lightning wasn’t so aware of himself. And that was when she realized just how much of a talented racer Jackson really was. That he was a hard worker who very proud of his expertise. And though he was snarky and sarcastic, there was something charming about him. And that was when she fell for him a second time.

The third time was a little different.

—

The day was like any other day. They had just gotten done practicing at the local racetrack when Cruz decided, right then and there, she was going to tell him how she really felt. The trouble was, though, that she had no idea he felt the same way. As far as she knew, he perceived her in a solely platonic manner. And the very idea of Jackson Storm rejecting her feelings—brushing them off like they were nothing, laughing at her even—was enough to stall her engine. But she had to tell him. She was Cruz Ramirez after all—there wasn’t a challenge she refused to face.

It almost seemed like Jackson knew, because there was an tense mood in the air that neither of them could quite put their tire on. They idled awkwardly by the tunnel leading to the outside, like they were waiting for one of them to say goodbye first, but neither of them quite wanted to leave just yet.

“What?” Cruz asked suddenly, though Jackson hadn’t made a sound.

“What?”

“Did-did you—?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh…” Cruz shifted the dirt with her tire, refusing to meet Jackson’s gaze.

Jackson narrowed his eyes at her, sensing that something was up. “You’re acting weird, Ramirez…”

“Am—am I?” Cruz uttered a crazed kind of laugh. “HA! Ha ha…ha…”

Jackson watched her do this with cool composure. “Are you going to say something, then?”

Cruz tensed up. This was it. Would she go for it? “Uhhh…nope!”

Jackson continued to study her with an vaguely inquisitive look on his face, which made Cruz all the more nervous. He must have seen right through to her. His ability to read people was like none other.

“What is this, anyway?” he asked suddenly, giving her a quick up-and-down.

“What?”

“This?” He gestured to the track. “You and I hanging out and stuff. What are we—friends or something?”

Cruz was conflicted. Was this the moment? Would she finally tell him how she really viewed him? Did she really think of him as a friend?

“….no.”

Cruz observed the most crestfallen look flash across Jackson’s face. It was akin to what she saw at the Florida 500 when she had beaten him. But it was only for a split second. His face hardened just as quickly, and he gave a dry laugh.

“Ha. I knew it. You were just trying to siphon some racing secrets from me. Either that, or you think I’m some poor lost soul that needs guiding. Well I’m glad you told me, so I can stop wasting my time.”

Jackson swiveled around to exit through the tunnel, and she could have sworn she caught his features adopt a pained quality.

“Because… because it’s not even like I liked you anyway—”

“We’re more than just friends!”

Jackson halted in his tracks. He froze like this for a second, facing away from her, not moving an inch. He slowly turned back around, and there was that look again. He was trying to figure her out. “What?”

Cruz winced, and she drew back slightly, wishing she could have worded her feelings more eloquently. “At least—at least that’s how I see you.”

Jackson didn’t look surprised. It was like he knew all along. But he did appear… pensive. What? What was it that he was thinking? Was he considering the best way to turn her down without hurting her? But no, he was Jackson Storm after all. Maybe he was determining the perfect way to reject her as viciously as possible. Maybe—

He locked onto her with a steady gaze. “Why?”

Cruz thought only for a second, and then her words started spilling out faster than she could produce them. “Because… because you’re what I wish I could be! Confident. Sure of yourself. You never let anybody tell you you can’t do something, because you always believe that you can! You never stop working to get what you want. And you defended me at that one race, so maybe you do care. And you’re actually sort of nice sometimes, like how you’ve been helping me with my racing. And you’re really talented at that, and not to mention, you’re—you’re really attractive and—”

“Huh.”

Cruz glanced up and Jackson was taking this in with a calm but curious expression. ‘Huh’? What does that mean? Just tell me already! I don’t even care anymore if you don’t like me, I just need to know if you do or you don’t, the suspense is killing me!

“I wish I could be you.”

Cruz frowned. That wasn’t the response she was expecting. “Really?”

Jackson dipped his hood, training his eyes on the ground. “I would never say what I really felt about someone like you just did.”

Cruz didn’t know how to take this. Did she make a mistake by saying all that? But didn’t he just say he admired that about her?

A cryptic, faint smile spread across Jackson’s face. He still didn’t look her way. “Not to mention you know how to make everybody love you.”

“Oh… didn’t you tell me that at the—?”

“Including me.”

Cruz’s jaw dropped open, and her crankshaft started rotating at what seemed a million RPM. Was he saying what she thought he saying? She found it hard to breathe. Words no longer made sense to her. “Wha….WHAT?”

When she peered up at Jackson, she noticed that he still avoided her gaze. He pressed his lips together and moved them around aimlessly, something she noticed him doing whenever he had a lot on his mind. He shifted his weight back and forth, and Cruz realized that he must have been embarrassed. Embarrassed?! Jackson Storm: embarrassed??

The two of them bathed in that awkward silence for what seemed like hours. Cruz reckoned she would overheat from the very thought of him and her together. As more than friends. She wondered if Jackson was experiencing something similar. Then suddenly, both at once, they felt the need to speak the thoughts racing through their minds.

“Jackson—”

“Cruz—”

And then their eyes finally connected. And Cruz watched Jackson’s face take on such an innocent look of intrigue toward the future—their—future, that she felt herself grow warm with mirth. Then he relaxed into something mildly content. He gazed at her like he suddenly appreciated her for just being there. And it felt so out of place on someone like him, and yet… she believed it.

“Sooo…” Cruz’s eyes darted around. “What does that make us now?… Friends?”

“No.”

“Rivals?”

“No.”

“Then…?”

“Lovers.”

I got the idea of Jackson doing the weird lip movement from a similar thing he does when talking to Lightning after the “Morning, Champ!” line.

[wizardz-dreamz]

Cars AU where Cruz works for Biggs and trains Jackson instead of Ray

[stormy-boy]

Can you write a fic about Jackson being in love? I need some romantic stuff with him involved!

YOOO, me too!!! Thank you for requesting this, I’ve been wanting to write some romantic Jackson stuff! Since you didn’t specify who he would fall in love with, I’m just going to default to Cruz (also since I enjoy that ship). I feel like it’d be too hard for me to write a romantic scene between Jackson and someone nameless… So I hope that’s alright, and that you weren’t thinking of someone specific? 

Rivals to What? (Part ½)

Jackson Storm wasn’t a very romantic individual. In fact, the concept of “love” rarely ever occurred to him unless it was the self-love kind. So the realization that he was falling in love with someone other than himself was startling enough. But the fact that it was her—of all people—was just flat-out inconceivable.

He never liked her. From the moment he saw her, he thought she was beneath him—just some silly Costume Girl trainer who thought she could race with the big kids. But she proved him wrong. And that made him dislike her all the more.

But one way or another, she managed to get through to him—to knock down those walls he had built up so high, to keep everyone out because he couldn’t bear to have anyone know that there was nothing behind them. Nothing but a racing machine built to win races like they were X’s on a calendar. Nothing but a robot that only knew how to put up an unaffected front and repeat “Yes, sir,” “Thank you very much, sir” until he drove back home to his empty mansion at the end of the day where there was nothing too. But she saw something.

She must have. Why else was she so persistent in getting to know him, despite the fact that he wanted nothing to do with her? But she just kept coming back and coming back, and somehow convinced him to grab a drink with her—to exchange sob stories, is what he called it. Cruz first detailed her troubles growing up and being tight on money. Her self-confidence issues and how she was so afraid to fail. Jackson listened, and maybe it was the alcohol doing its work on him, but he was beginning to understand. And it was the last part that really struck a chord with him.

“I’m sorry,” he had told her.

An apology—he would give her that much. And then they could be on their merry, separate ways.

But then it was his turn.

He wasn’t planning on telling her a thing. But the alcohol must have really done a number on him, because he found himself spilling out all his agonies on the table before he even knew what he was doing. “I’m not good enough either.” “Because I lost to you.” “I’m supposed to be the best because if I’m not what else is there?” “How is it so easy for you to make everybody love you but so easy for me to make everyone hate me?” And she heard it all, and she found something good in all that that he couldn’t even find in himself.

“But how?”

“I use to be a trainer. It was my job to find the best in people and use it to bring out their fullest potential.”

She told him she thought he was a hard worker, with strong drive and in fact, did have passion, but it had been switched off for so long that he swore the switch no longer existed. But she found that switch and turned it on for him again. And it was like light had come into his life for the very first time. She saw something in him that he didn’t even see in himself. And he was proud of what that was. So maybe, up until that point, he hadn’t loved himself as much as he thought he did. So step one was complete: Love yourself. Step two was the trickier part.

Jackson was aware for a while that Cruz had something of a crush on him. It wasn’t uncommon. He was a very famous, talented, attractive race car, after all. But Jackson had hordes of fan girls who perceived him the very same way. They were just in love with Jackson Storm: The Piston Cup racer and champion. Not Jackson: the young. Jackson: the lonely. Jackson: the lost. Just another resident of this here planet Earth trying to make it, but kept running the wrong way. Though that night at the bar led him to believe that maybe she did like him as Jackson, and not Jackson Storm. But even with that in mind, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down and allow her into his heart. No, Jackson Storm had very high standards. His significant other had to be perfect.

He hated to admit it, but she was kind of cute. Cute, but plain. Jackson Storm could have had dozens of other girls that looked just as good as her and better. So maybe it was the other qualities that imbued him with the unyielding belief that he hadn’t seen another girl more beautiful.

Her cackling laugh that he couldn’t stand at first which later became infectious. Her bubbly, positive, happy-go-lucky attitude that first gave him a headache, but then gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of his engine. He must have spent too much time with her, like her goodness was rubbing off on him or something. Because she was so kind and considerate that—by some act of God—he felt the urge to be the same.

Jackson couldn’t tell any difference in how he was acting outwardly, but he must have been at least a smidgen more friendly, because even Gale could tell that something was unusual about him.

“You seem happier today, Jackson!”

“Oh? I must be spending too much time with that Ramirez girl.”

But he didn’t say it like an insult. More like a fact of life.

Her love for life was alluring—something that he wanted more of. Maybe that’s why he found himself coming back to see her after every race. And then they started hanging out outside of racing. He taught her how to improve her racing line and how to be more confident, and she taught him how to feel something that was akin to love. Though he never fully came to terms with this emotion. Partly due to the fact that he was unfamiliar with it, and partly due to the fact that he was subconsciously suppressing it. But it all came to fruition once someone mentioned the possibility to him.

“There isn’t anything going on between you and Ramirez, right?” Ray had asked him.

Jackson snorted at the idea. “Me and Ramirez? Please.”

“Okay… I just wanted to make sure, since I don’t like there being any… distractions on the racetrack.” Ray watched him closely with these next words. “After all, the two of you have been spending a lot of time together, and you talk about her quite a bit…”

Jackson was still unfazed. “Right…” But then all those memories started rushing back to him. Of all the times he would spend with her—trying to act as cool and detached as possible, but somehow she would elicit a laugh from him every once in awhile in response to something silly she did or said. And when he would return to his empty mansion in the night he yearned for the next time he could see her again in the light. And when she smiled, she showed off her teeth, those of which were crooked near the edges, but there were someone endearing about that because Jackson’s own teeth were perfect in every way, and this little imperfection somehow made her feel more real, like he could reach out and touch her. Speaking of touch, sometimes he would accidentally brush his fender against hers and he would jolt away at the contact because how dare he get within even two inches of Cruz, and how dare he wish he could do it again, because there was something about that that made him feel whole, and he prayed to whatever gods were out there that Ray wasn’t catching any of this, but the epiphany was clear enough on his face.

“Shit… I’m in love with Cruz Ramirez…”

Look who got carried away with this. I hope it wasn’t too sappy. I’ll probably make this into a two-parter, since I literally just sat here and typed out this whole thing in one sitting. Just as a little side note, I listened to the “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” soundtrack while writing this, so it must have set the mood for me (Beautiful movie, by the way!). I’m not gonna lie, I was planning on making this into a full-fledged fic in the future. Some of these ideas are actually going to be a part of my current fic I’m working on.

[stormy-boy]

I love your Jackson/Cruz stories! Is it too much to ask about a scenario where Cruz gets advice from Sally and Flo about Jackson? Like Cruz being worried how Lightning may take the news that she likes him and how to reveal that they are dating? Thanks in advance your stories are the best!

Thank you so much!! :) I can give it a try.

Cruz took a deep breath as she drove up to Flo’s V8 Café. Luckily, the very car she was planning to discuss was not present in the immediate vicinity. Instead, Sally and Flo were chatting idly by the shop, with a few other residents lounging by the pumps.

Cruz rolled up to the two women, her eyes lowered in apprehension.

“Hi, guys!” she greeted, lifting her hood as she approached. She plastered on the most convincing smile.

“Hey, sugar!” Flo said.

“Hi, Cruz. How are you?” Sally added.

“Good!” But Cruz couldn’t prevent her positive expression from faltering. She bit her lip before continuing. “There’s just… something I need to tell you guys…”

Flo and Sally exchanged looks. This could mean anything.

Sally turned back to Cruz, assuming a comforting demeanor. “Of course, Cruz. What is it?”

“Well….” Cruz shifted some dirt with her tire. “There’s this guy…”

Flo was delighted. “You got yourself a man, honey? Good for you!” She leaned forward and shot her a side-glance. “But don’t you forget that you don’t need no man to make you happy, alright?”

Sally lifted her lids. “Ohh, so it’s boy trouble. Who is he?”

“That’s just it!” Cruz was hesitant to elaborate. “This guy… he’s…”

Flo and Sally leaned in close, waiting with eager eyes.

“It’sJacksonStorm.”

Sally inhaled sharply, a slight grimace on her face. “Ohhh.”

Flo frowned. “Jackson?” Her face lit up in recollection. “Ohh, you mean that Stormy boy from your first race!” Her content expression faded into something disapproving. “Ain’t he the one who slammed you ‘gainst the wall?”

Cruz cringed at the memory. “Yeah…” She perked up, keen on explaining herself. “But he apologized for it! And we got to know each other better, and it turns out he’s really not such a bad guy. We hung out…” She became fascinated with the asphalt again. “And well, one thing led to another, and we just… started going out.”

Flo took this in. “Hm. So what’s the problem?”

Cruz peered up at the two ladies, entreating them for their aid. “How I am going to tell Mr. McQueen?”

Sally inclined her hood. She expected as much. “Yeah… that might be a problem… I don’t think he’s going to take it so well…”

This didn’t reassure Cruz in the slightest. “I don’t think so either! So…” She looked from Sally to Flo, and then back again. “What do I do?”

Flo careened back, taking a trip down memory lane. “Ooh, I remember when my mama first found out I was dating my Ramone.”

Cruz’s eyes widened. “Why? What happened?”

Flo gazed off into the distance, shaking her hood once in disapproval. “She said my baby wasn’t good enough for me. That he was just some broke artist with no talent, livin’ in the middle of nowhere. That I was askin’ for trouble by goin’ with him. She wanted me to find a man with money and a ‘real job.’”

Cruz waited, expecting a twist. “Well… what happened?”

Flo broke into a grin. “She ended up lovin’ him! Thought he was the most charmin’ Impala for miles. And more importantly…”

She locked eyes with Cruz when she spoke this next line, intending for her to catch on.

“She told me I never looked happier.”

Cruz considered this for a moment, realizing the message she was trying to impart to her.

“Explain it to him the same way you explained it to us,” Sally told her. “It might take him a while to get used to the idea, but he’ll understand eventually.”

Cruz shot her an uncertain look. “But what if he doesn’t?”

Sally was firm. “He will.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he cares about you, Cruz.” Sally settled into a gentle smile. And there must have been no doubt in her mind, for she knew him well. “He wants you to be happy. And if you’re happy… he’s happy too…”

Apologies if Flo or Sally are out of character or something. I don’t have too much experience writing the Radiator Springs townsfolk.

[theirfinesthour]

George and Mary Curzon, 29 December 1902, on elephant Lakshman Parad