when someone leaks that oscar piastri is a young father, oscar feels like his whole world is about to cave in as he tries to protect you and your daughter.
oscar piastri x f!reader ୨୧ warnings : language, fan culture, tabloids/hate comments, invasion of privacy ୨୧ note : n e ways– oscar gave me baby fever so enjoy 😅 if you enjoy don't forget to comment/reblog!
📅 august 30, 2025
deuxmoi an insider has just leaked exclusive photos and information of formula one driver, oscar piastri, stating that him and long-time girlfriend, y/n, have been parents since 2022. the pictures provided have been revealed to come from y/n's private instagram that reportedly only close family and friends follow.
the insider states that while they can't give away too many details, they confirmed that their daughter's name starts with an 'r'.
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user WHOA WTF OSCAR'S A DAD???? THIS WAS NOT ON MY BINGO LIST
user not them covering the kid's face with a koala cause oscar is australian 😭😭 why is that actually kind of cute
user someone is about to lose their job 😬 hope the quick cash was worth it
user all those jokes about us calling yn mother and HERE SHE WAS AN ACTUAL MOTHER THE WHOLE TIME
user omggggg that picture of oscar with baby r is literally the cutest thing in the world
user he looks so young in it too 🥺
user so apparently oscar's stroke game is just too good huh 🤨
user sorry we doubt you king 😔
user have they never heard of protection??? seriously how could someone with a career like oscar's be so careless 🙄
user at least deuxmoi covered the kid's face...
user wowow wtf is wrong with people???
user what kind of person would expose something like this????
user clearly someone without anything better to do
user no offense... but i doubt oscar does any parenting with how often he's probably gone
user just say oscar isn't your favorite driver and move along 😪
user maybe yn should be more careful on who she lets follow her private account and this wouldn't have happened 🙄 typically pick me wag behavior
user hey!! your comment is a little unnecessary, not yn's fault someone she thought she would trust decided to leak the photos
f1gossipupdates oscar piastri talks about recent rumors of him being a father.
🎙️ : so, oscar– first off congratulations on the win
OP : thank you 🙂
🎙️ : secondly, we have to ask about the recent rumors that have come out this weekend. would you like to make any statement about them?
OP : umm, i mean nothing really to say except that my family's privacy has clearly been invaded. my daughter has nothing to do with racing, and i plan to keep it that way. she's still growing into her own person and i would like to keep her out of the spotlight until she is able to decide whether she wants to be seen or not. the pictures going around were taken from my girlfriend's private instagram that she uses to share those pictures with long-distance friends and family, so quite disheartening to see them being used to 'expose' our daughter.
View all 1,283 comments
user OH HE'S MAD MAD GUYS
user can you blame him though 😭 someone literally just exposed the biggest secret of his life during his wdc title fight 😭😭 i would be pissed too
user he handled that better than i would have honestly
user not saying he wouldn't be but oscar seems like a great dad so i hope fans respect his daughter's privacy
user kind of weird that she got pregnant and oscar didn’t marry her 🤨 cause he def gives the vibe of marrying his gf if he knocked her up
user frrrrrrr maybe he didn’t marry her so it would be easier to leave her if he wanted 🤣🤣
user i wonder what their baby's name is???
user heard some theories it might be rosé or reba but no one knows for sure and i doubt we'll ever find out
ynln and oscarpiastri updated their stories !
📅 december 7, 2025
clip #1 — baby piastri spotted running to oscar after the race
the clip is taken from the grandstand, zooming in on oscar as he's standing in parc fermé trying to cooldown from the race he just finished.
that's when the camera catches oscar turning his head and large smile breaking out onto his features as he's kneeling. that's when a tiny body jumps into his arms and he stands to his full height, hugging his daughter close to him. you are then seen coming up to join oscar and your daughter, the australian driver holding one arm out so that you could join in on the hug.
the clip zooms in even more to catch oscar kissing you sweetly on the lips before he's kissing your daughter on her cheek as she smiles brightly at him.
💬 comments :
👤 : oh those are HIS girls
👤 : oscar didn't win the championship but he sure won the family lottery
👤 : still hate that someone went and leaked baby r's existence before oscar and yn was ready, but i'm glad it didn't stop them from bringing her to the last race
👤 : i agree... i think oscar really enjoys having yn and their daughter at the races with him
👤 : BABY R WAS AT THE RACE 😱 NOT A THREE YEAR OLD GOING TO MORE F1 RACES THAN ANY OF US EVERY WILL 😭 life is truly unfair mannnnnn 😭😭
📅 december 25, 2026
🔒 privyn rowen told oscar every room needed a tree🎄 so guess what every room got 😂
View 92 comments
oscarpiastri ❤️❤️❤️
nicolepiastri she's getting so big 🤧 can't wait to see you guys soon
hattiepiastri still can't believe oscar made literally the cutest baby everr
oscarpiastri thanks 😑
lando lmaoooo why is she making that last face 😂
privyn oscar made a lame joke and she wasn't impressed
ediepiastri glad to see you and ro putting some whimsy into oscar's life 😆 it was very much needed
privyn can never have too much whimsy is what ro says 😆
📅 march 29, 2026
ynln godzilla was r's favorite thing from japan 🇯🇵🗼
View all 82,203 comments
oscarpiastri taking home a trophy and several godzilla action figures
ynln i'm afraid japan unlocked a new obsession 🤭
user STOP THATS SO CUTE– r being so cute and obsessed with godzilla is literally so adorable
user glad to see oscar and yn letting r explore different interests!
lando cutest godzilla lover i know
haasf1team hope she liked our livery this weekend then 🙌
ynln she was obsessed with it! thank you for letting us come by to see it 🖤 hope ollie is okay ❤️
olliebearman a little bruised but i'm good!
user the cherry blossom emoji to cover r's face is very on brand for this japan dump
user little r coloring in hospitality 🤧🤧 she seems so well behaved
user oscar is so boring cause he gave all the potential personality to his daughter
user OMG I SAW THEM WALKING AROUND THE PADDOCK ON SATURDAY!!! YN AND R WERE VISITING SOME OF THE OTHER WAGS
user ohhhhhhh they took r to japan 🥺🥺 seems like she had a good time too
clip #2 – oscar was joined by his daughter during his post-race interview
"uh, yeah, pace was really good today. very happy with the results. turns out we're not so bad when we actually start a race."
both oscar and the interview laugh a little bit. the sky sport's interview is about to ask another question, when oscar suddenly looks down. the camera just barely catches the top part of a tiny head now standing in front of oscar before arms were also appearing, gently patting oscar's stomach.
"daddy up," the microphone just barely catches and oscar can't bother to hide the smile on his face as he looks down at his daughter. then without a second thought, oscar leans down and picks the small girl up. him holding rowen on his hip as she immediately rests her head on his shoulder – clearly content with being held.
"hope you don't mind someone joining us," oscar says as he fixes his daughter's sweater.
"would you say your daughter was a good luck charm for this race?"
"probably, but i wish her good luck would have kicked in back in australia," oscar laughs looking from the camera to rowen. "either way, p2 is a great result for the team, so i'm glad i was able to start and finish this one."
rowen is caught watching as her father talks into the red and blue microphone. her bright eyes then looking towards the microphone and seemingly curious about it.
"daddy, what's that?" she interrupts him, leaning forward to where her tiny fingers just barely grazed the microphone.
"it's a microphone, baby, they use it so people watching on tv can hear me," he explains softly, his hand coming up to gently move her hand away.
💬 comments :
👤 : STOP SHE'S SO CUTE I LOVE BABY R SO MUCH 🥺🥺
👤 : oh that little girl has oscar wrapped around her finger. i've never seen oscar look this soft before
👤 : "i wish her good luck would have kicked in back in australia" OSCAR STOPPPPP 😭😭😭 IM SCREAMING
👤 : i love how oscar doesn't ask where she came from and just picks her up without thinking 😂😂😂😂
👤 : using this as future evidence when haters try to say that oscar doesn't care for his daughter
📅 april 26, 2026
oscar81updates oscar talks about baby r in recent interview and what it was like becoming a young parent in his recent interview.
🎙️ : so, it's been a year since it was revealed you have a daughter. you had her at a young age, what was that like? having to juggle going from f2 to f1 while also learning how to change diapers.
🐨 : it was definitely something i struggled with learning how to do, but more so learning how to juggle being a racer and a dad. me and my girlfriend we both struggled i think, and there were times i thought i was failing the both of them. but y/n was always there to pick me up even when she was exhausted. i'm thankful that my parents really helped us in the first year. they really helped me grow more confident in being both a loving dad and partner; i was able to be there for y/n like she was for me.
🎙️ : how does your daughter feel about you being an f1 driver? does she realize what you do and why you are constantly leaving?
🐨 : umm, she knows i drive a really fast car. she's always had that kind of understanding, we have pictures of my car along with my old helmets all over the house, so she's grown up with seeing the f1 cars. when she was about two, she was obsessed with the little hot wheels cars, and so i was constantly buying them whenever i went to a new country for her. she still plays with them, we got her one of the race tracks – the one with the shark – and she played the hell out of it.
at the very beginning when she was like one and half to two years old, she was always very distraught when i left. she would burst into tears whenever she seen my suitcase by the door. i remember she even took her first steps towards my suitcase, not me or y/n, because she wanted to push it away *laughs* it very cute and we were both shocked. but now she does much better with me leaving, i always tell her that i'll call her and to watch me on tv. obviously, she still has her moments where she throws full tantrums, but she's four so it doesn't surprise me and usually me holding her and rocking her gets her to stop.
🎙️ : i bet you've almost missed your flights cause of that!
🐨 : oh, one thousand percent, but i wouldn't trade it for the world. i hate leaving knowing that she's crying. it really messes with me.
🎙️ : has she been to any races?
🐨 : yeah, she’s been to a few. we don’t take her to a lot just because it can be a lot for someone so young. we didn’t start taking her to any until 2024, and that was only a handful. she’s been to the australian one for the past three years. she’s been to the british and monaco one, and we also took her to abu dhabi last year.
🎙️ : i remember seeing the clips of your daughter running up to you after the race.
🐨 : *laughs* yeah, seeing her run to me kind of just… i felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. and i knew that even if i wasn’t world champion, i was still champion to her — as cheesy as that sounds, and i wouldn’t change it for the world.
View all 738 comments
user dad!oscar is my fav genre of oscar 🤧
user he may not be my favorite driver but i have mad respect for him and how he's able to balance such a crazy life
user so glad he's more comfortable talking about his daughter now 🥺 you can really tell how much love he has for her
user like that's HIS baby
user omg r being obsessed with hot wheels is so cute and them even getting her one of the tracks too STOPPPPPPPP
user so being obsessed with cars is just a piastri thing then 😂😂 bless y/n's heart for now having two car obsessed people lmaooooo
user still can't wrap my head around oscar being a dad 😵💫😵💫 certified dilf if you ask me
📅 may 9, 2026
oscar81updates oscar was spotted attending his daughter's dance recital in monaco last night and also posted an update of r in her recital outfit.
View all 2,390 comments
user oh he looks so proud of her 🥺🥺🥺
user this just confirms that oscar was always meant to be a girl dad
user dude grew up with three younger sisters, it would have been weird if he WASN'T a girl dad lmao
user i heard the dance recital was for mother's day which i think makes it even sweeter, so glad he was able to go see her dance
user i love that he's slowly posting just a little bit of r here and there
user glad he can trust us 🤧
user NO ONE RUIN THIS FOR US GUYS I SWEAR TO GOD
user 2026 is the year of girl dad!oscar and i'm LIVING for it
user oscar living in peace now that he doesn't have to worry about winning a championship with that tractor mclaren like to call a car
user he literally looks so happy to be there watching his daughter
user normalize not recording celebrities in public esp when they are at private events or with their kids 😭😭
📅 may 10, 2026
oscarpiastri happy mother's day to the love of my life and the one who always keeps me steady and sane. every year i grow more and more thankful to you, my dear y/n, and i know i'm not usually good with words, but i hope you know how much i truly adore and love you.
i remember when we first started dating you asked me if i believed in soulmates, and i told you no. and i didn't. but i realize that even if i didn't believe in them at the time, you were always my soulmate. my other half. the mother of my daughter, my precious world. last year was a crazy whirlwind for us and i'm glad we got through the storm together.
i love you so much, y/n 🧡
View all 213,389 comments
ynln oh oscar 🥺 you are literally so sweet and i love you so much
lando happy mother's day y/n! oscar would literally be a chicken without its head if it wasn't for you and little r 😂
mclarenf1 happy mother's day y/n 🧡🧡
user can't believe we got sappy oscar before gta6
user omg i literally can't 🥹🥹 the different photos throughout the year has me SOBBING
user such a beautiful family!
user omg that first slide is from the originally ones that were leaked!!
user oscar reclaiming that picture from the loser who leaked it to begin with 🙂↕️🙂↕️
user the mixture of pics of yn by herself and with r are so sweet 🥹 she's literally so gorg
user oscar pulling such a pretty girl just isn't fair 😤😤
f1atelier photos are just placeholders! yn doesn't have an actual faceclaim please imagine yourself or whoever you want in these pictures! thanks.
Pairing: Oscar Piastri x Violet Graves (Original Character)
Summary:
Lando Norris has a very reasonable theory: Oscar Piastri’s girlfriend, Violet, is probably going to murder him.
Evidence includes the black clothes, the braids, the lace parasol, the unsettling hobbies, and the snake named Belladonna.
Oscar insists she’s just shy.
Lando remains unconvinced.
Warnings and Notes: Lando is an unreliable narrator in this 😂 Also, I have plans tomorrow, so I have no clue when I could upload it, hence why you get it now.
Big thanks to @llirawolf , who listens to me ramble and entertains all of my ideas 😂
Lando Norris was not a dramatic person.
This was, admittedly, a statement that several people in his life might have disputed. Loudly. With evidence. Possibly with screenshots.
But Lando knew the truth.
He was observant.
He was intuitive.
He was, in many ways, a man of science.
And science told him that Oscar Piastri’s girlfriend was going to murder him one day.
Her name was Violet, which Lando thought was, frankly, false advertising.
Violet sounded like someone who wore floral dresses and had a favourite kind of tea.
Violet sounded like someone who owned pastel dresses and called people darling. Violet sounded like a girl who pressed flowers into books and maybe had an aesthetically pleasing Pinterest.
A person named Violet should have been soft and floral and maybe owned a lot of cardigans.
Oscar’s Violet looked like Wednesday Addams had grown up, discovered Formula One, and decided the paddock was where she wanted to start her reign of psychological terror.
(Her surname was Graves. That was not false advertising. She was going to put Lando into a grave, mark his words.)
Not Oscar.
Him.
Lando.
Specifically.
Probably in a very artistic, emotionally detached way that would somehow involve candlelight, a handwritten note, and possibly a Victorian mourning veil.
Lando had evidence.
So much evidence, actually, that he had started a note in his phone titled:
REASONS VIOLET PIASTRI? IS PROBABLY PLANNING MY DEATH
The question mark was because he didn’t actually know if she was going to become Violet Piastri one day, but Oscar looked at her like a man who had already picked out a mortgage, three children’s names, and a preferred matching pension plan, so Lando felt it was sensible to prepare.
(Lando had woken up multiple times at three in the morning and typed “signs someone is planning to murder you” into Google, which had not been as helpful as he had hoped. Mostly because the internet seemed to think he was the problem. Lando was NOT the problem.)
***
Reason 1: Violet Only Wore Black
Violet only wore black.
And Lando did not mean that in the normal way.
Not fashionable black.
Not model-off-duty black.
Not “I forgot to do laundry and this was the only hoodie that didn’t smell like airport lounge” black.
No.
Violet wore black like she had signed a lifelong contract with the concept of mourning.
Black boots. Black tights. Black skirts. Black jumpers. Black coats, even when the weather was warm enough that Lando personally considered passing away from heatstroke. Black ribbons tied neatly at the ends of her braids. Black nail polish, always perfect, always glossy, always sharp-looking in a way that made Lando suspect she could probably use her pinky finger as a weapon.
Sometimes there was lace involved.
That was when things became properly alarming.
Lando was not saying lace was inherently threatening.
He respected lace. Lace had its place. On dresses, on fancy tablecloths, probably on things he didn’t understand but had been told were fashion.
But when Violet wore black lace, with her hair braided down her back and her face completely unreadable, she looked less like Oscar’s girlfriend and more like someone who had personally attended Edgar Allan Poe’s funeral and judged the catering.
Harshly.
Once, because Lando had no survival instincts despite frequently accusing Oscar of the same thing, he had asked, very casually, “Does Violet own anything that isn’t black?”
Oscar had been eating a banana at the time, standing in the McLaren garage with his race suit half-undone and the unbothered expression of a man who had never once considered that his girlfriend looked like she belonged in a haunted oil painting.
He frowned thoughtfully.
“She has a dark grey cardigan.”
Lando stared at him.
“That does not help.”
“She likes black.”
“Serial killers also like patterns, Oscar.”
Oscar blinked. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Oscar continued eating his banana.
Lando continued fearing for his future.
The thing was, Oscar said it like it was simple. Like Violet liking black was the same as Oscar liking plain rice, or Lando liking hoodies, or Zak liking ways to put them in front of cameras when they were already spiritually deceased.
She likes black.
That was it.
End of discussion.
Except it was not the end of discussion, because Lando had eyes.
He had eyes and instincts and a deep appreciation for not being murdered by a girl who looked like she had an excellent working knowledge of Victorian poisons.
In Monaco, he once saw Violet wearing dark grey.
Not black.
Dark grey.
Lando had almost stopped walking.
It had been outside Oscar’s apartment building, early afternoon, the sun bouncing off the pavement and making everything look aggressively expensive. Violet had been standing beside Oscar, one hand tucked into the sleeve of her cardigan, her black hair in two neat braids, her expression soft in a way Lando rarely saw because usually she looked at him like she was trying to decide whether he was worth haunting.
The cardigan was grey.
A deep charcoal grey, admittedly, but still.
Grey.
Lando had opened his mouth to say something. Something helpful. Something kind. Something like, “Wow, branching out,” or “Look at you, embracing colour,” or possibly, “Congratulations on the personal growth.”
Before he could get a single syllable out, Oscar glanced sideways at him.
Not dramatically.
Oscar was not dramatic.
Oscar merely turned his head half an inch and gave Lando a look.
A warning look.
A very clear, very Australian, very Oscar look that said: don’t be annoying.
Which was rich.
Rich, coming from Oscar Piastri.
Oscar Piastri, who had brought a haunted Victorian doll of a girlfriend into Lando’s life and then expected him to behave normally about it.
Lando closed his mouth.
Violet looked between them, eyebrows drawing together slightly.
“What?” she asked, very quietly.
“Nothing,” Oscar said immediately.
“Nothing,” Lando echoed, because he wanted to survive the afternoon.
Violet blinked at them.
Lando tried not to flinch.
That was another thing.
The blinking.
Or lack thereof.
“She’s not haunted,” Oscar said one afternoon, without looking up from his phone.
Lando froze.
They were sitting in McLaren hospitality, waiting for a briefing neither of them particularly wanted to attend. Lando was slumped in his chair, Oscar was doing something on his phone with the expression of someone answering emails at gunpoint, and Violet was across the room beside the coffee station.
She was silently stirring a black coffee.
Black coffee.
Obviously.
She was wearing a black dress with long sleeves and a collar that made her look like she had strict opinions about candlelight. Her black-painted nails tapped once against the side of the cup. Her face was blank in a way Lando usually associated with people who either knew where bodies were buried or had buried them personally and were now at peace with it.
“I didn’t say she was haunted,” Lando said carefully.
Oscar looked up at him.
“You were staring at her like you think she crawled out of a well.”
“I was not.”
“You absolutely were.”
“I was observing.”
“You were staring.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Not when you’re doing it like that.”
Lando leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Oscar.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“You’re going to say something weird about Violet.”
Lando sat back, offended. “It is not weird to be concerned.”
Oscar’s face did not change. “Concerned about what?”
Lando glanced across the room.
Violet lifted her coffee cup with both hands. She did not look at anyone. She did not speak to anyone. She simply stood there in her black dress, black boots, black braids, and black nail polish, existing like a person who had been summoned by a séance but was trying to be polite about it.
Lando lowered his voice further. “She doesn’t blink.”
Oscar sighed.
It was not a normal sigh.
It was Oscar’s Lando is being Lando again sigh, which Lando found deeply unfair because this was not him being difficult. This was him being vigilant. There was a difference, and one day, when the inevitable true crime documentary came out, everyone would regret not appreciating him.
“She blinks,” Oscar said.
“Not enough.”
“She blinks a normal amount.”
“She blinks when you look at her.”
“Yes, Lando. That’s usually how eyes work.”
“No, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“You are not. You’re doing that thing where your face looks like a wall.”
“That’s just my face.”
“Exactly.”
Oscar finally put his phone down.
This, Lando felt, was progress.
“Oscar,” Lando whispered, “your girlfriend looks like she knows Latin curses.”
Oscar stared at him for several seconds.
Then, very calmly, he said, “She took French at school.”
“THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT BETTER!”
Reason 2: Violet had braids
Violet had braids.
Two of them.
Dark, glossy, perfectly neat braids that fell over her shoulders like they had been arranged by someone with both excellent hand-eye coordination and a worrying amount of patience.
Lando did not trust people with that much patience.
Especially not when they wore black every day and had the resting expression of a girl who had once been asked to smile more and had responded by placing a hex on an entire bloodline.
The braids were important.
The braids were not a small detail.
The braids completed the whole thing.
Because without the braids, Violet might have simply been a quiet goth girl with a fondness for black clothes and unsettling jewellery. Still worrying, obviously, but manageable. Lando had met goth people before. He was modern. He was open-minded. He was not here to judge anyone’s aesthetic choices, except privately and with Oscar, who deserved it.
But with the braids?
With the two perfectly even, dark braids?
Violet looked exactly like Wednesday Addams if Wednesday Addams had grown up, moved to Monaco, and started dating a Formula One driver for reasons Lando did not understand and frankly did not trust.
She had the entire Wednesday Addams thing down.
Pale face. Big dark eyes. Straight posture. No unnecessary smiling. The general air of someone who had never once been surprised by thunder.
And the braids.
Always the braids.
Sometimes they were tied with black ribbons.
Sometimes they were tied with tiny black bows.
Once, at a race weekend, Lando had seen her with one braid pulled over her shoulder while she read a book in the back of the McLaren garage, and he had become convinced she was waiting for someone to wrong her so she could calmly add their name to a list.
“Vi’s reading Jane Austen,” Oscar had said when Lando mentioned this.
“That makes it worse,” Lando had whispered.
“How does that make it worse?”
“Because it means she understands social manipulation.”
Oscar had stared at him for a long time.
Then he had gone back to eating his pasta.
Which was typical.
The first time Lando met Violet, Oscar had brought her into the garage like it was normal.
Like it was casual.
Like he was not introducing McLaren to a woman who looked like she had stepped out of a haunted dollhouse after successfully overthrowing its previous owner.
It had been one of those afternoons where the garage was loud and hot and everyone was moving around with headsets and tablets and purposeful expressions. Lando had been minding his own business, which was rare and should have been rewarded, when Oscar appeared beside him.
With her.
“This is Violet,” Oscar said.
Just like that.
No warning.
No preparation.
No quick text beforehand saying, by the way, my girlfriend looks like a Victorian child ghost but don’t worry, she’s very nice.
Nothing.
Lando turned.
Violet stood beside Oscar in a black dress, black boots, black nail polish, and two perfect braids. Her hands were clasped in front of her. Her posture was immaculate. Her face was calm.
Too calm.
Lando looked at Violet.
Violet looked at Lando.
Violet blinked once.
Lando immediately forgot every human greeting he had ever learned.
“Hello,” she said quietly.
Very quietly.
Softly, even.
Which, again, should not have made things worse.
But it did.
Because it was not a nervous hello. It was not a cheerful hello. It was a quiet, level, very composed hello, delivered by someone who looked like she could win a staring contest with a porcelain doll.
Lando opened his mouth.
His brain, which usually had no issue producing words whether or not anyone wanted them, gave up completely.
“Please don’t kill me,” he said.
There was a pause.
A long one.
Not long in a normal awkward way.
Long in a the grandfather clock has stopped ticking way.
Oscar slowly turned his head.
Not toward Violet.
Toward Lando.
His face was blank, but Lando knew Oscar well enough to read the silence. It said: why are you like this?
Violet tilted her head.
Just slightly.
The braids moved with her.
Lando’s soul briefly attempted to leave his body.
Then he laughed, because obviously he had meant it as a joke. Mostly.
(About sixty percent as a joke. Maybe fifty-five.)
“Sorry,” Lando said quickly. “That was— I mean, obviously, you’re not— I just meant— You know. Because of the…” He made a vague gesture toward her entire person, immediately realised that was worse, and lowered his hand. “Aesthetic.”
Oscar closed his eyes.
Violet looked down at herself. Then back at Lando. Her mouth moved.
Not into a smile, exactly. More like the ghost of a smile had considered visiting and then decided the commute was too much.
“I’ll try not to,” she said.
Lando stared.
Oscar made a small strangled noise beside her.
Violet looked at him. “Was that wrong?”
Oscar pressed his lips together.
“No,” he said, and his voice sounded suspiciously tight. “No, that was perfect.”
Perfect? Perfect?
Lando looked between them, horrified.
That was not reassuring. That was not something a normal person said.
That was exactly the kind of thing a future murderer said so they could claim plausible deniability later.
I said I’d try not to. I never promised.
Lando could see it already. He could see the true crime documentary. He could see the badly lit reenactment. He could see himself played by someone much shorter and less handsome, saying, “Please don’t kill me,” while the narrator said ominously, But the warning signs had been there from the very beginning.
***
Reason 3: Violet didn’t make a sound
Violet appeared silently.
All the time.
You would be standing there, minding your business, maybe eating grapes from the hospitality fridge even though you weren’t entirely sure they were meant for drivers, and suddenly she would be beside you.
No footsteps.
No greeting.
No warning.
Just there.
The first time it happened, Lando had made a noise that he would later describe as a controlled exhale and that Oscar described as “a scream.”
“I didn’t scream,” Lando insisted.
“You absolutely screamed,” Oscar said.
“It was surprise.”
“It was very high-pitched.”
Violet, who had been standing there holding a tote bag with a small embroidered skull on it, had looked at Lando with wide dark eyes.
Then, very softly, she said, “Sorry.”
And then she disappeared behind Oscar.
Literally behind him. Like a shadow retreating behind a larger, more Australian shadow.
Oscar had put a hand lightly against her back, murmured something Lando couldn’t hear, and Violet had nodded without looking at anyone.
Lando watched this exchange with narrowed eyes.
Because yes, maybe she seemed shy.
Maybe.
But assassins could also be shy.
***
Reason 4: Violet didn’t talk
Violet didn’t talk.
Well.
That was not strictly true.
She talked to Oscar.
Of course she talked to Oscar.
Oscar got the soft Violet. The quiet little smiles. The murmured comments. The hand curled around his wrist. The way she leaned into his side when she thought nobody was looking. The way she tugged lightly on his sleeve when she wanted to leave somewhere crowded, and Oscar immediately looked down at her like she had just handed him secret state intelligence.
With Oscar, she was apparently capable of full sentences.
With everyone else?
Nothing.
Just silence.
Heavy, atmospheric silence.
(The kind of silence that made Lando feel like he was being evaluated for weaknesses.)
He had tried to be friendly.
He really had.
Contrary to what Oscar said, Lando was very good with people. He was charming. He was funny. He was approachable. He could make conversation with almost anyone if given enough caffeine and the promise that there would be no surprise marketing content involved.
But Violet was different. Violet didn’t give him anything.
No nervous rambling. No awkward small talk. No fake laugh. No polite paddock chatter about the weather or travel or how busy the weekend had been.
She simply existed.
Quietly. Watching. Occasionally blinking. (Like a very pretty crow.)
Oscar insisted she talked all the time.
Lando had literally never seen evidence of this.
“She talks,” Oscar said one afternoon, sounding deeply tired already.
Lando pointed across the garage.
Violet was sitting in the corner, all in black, her braids falling over her shoulders, a book balanced neatly in her lap. She had been there for nearly twenty minutes and had not said a single word to anyone. Someone from comms had offered her a drink. Violet had smiled politely, shaken her head, and returned to reading.
No sound. No words. Just a tiny smile and the immediate restoration of silence.
“She has not spoken more than 3 sentences today,” Lando said.
“She doesn’t know them.”
“She knows you.”
“Yes.”
“And me.”
Oscar looked at him.
Lando narrowed his eyes. “She knows me.”
“She knows of you.”
“That is worse.”
Oscar’s mouth twitched.
Lando did not appreciate that.
He glanced back at Violet.
She was not scrolling.
Not texting.
Not pretending to be busy on her phone like a normal person avoiding social interaction.
She was reading.
An actual physical book.
The cover was black.
Of course it was.
Lando, because he was brave and also very bad at leaving things alone, walked over.
Oscar looked up immediately. “Lando.”
“What?”
“Don’t be weird.”
“I am never weird.”
Oscar’s silence was offensive.
Lando ignored him and stopped in front of Violet.
Violet looked up slowly.
Her eyes were large and dark and calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that made Lando feel like she had known he was coming for three minutes and had already prepared six possible outcomes.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Violet said softly.
Progress.
Good.
Words had happened.
Lando gestured at the book. “What are you reading?”
Violet blinked.
Then she looked down at the book, as if surprised anyone had asked.
For one second, her face changed.
Not much. It never changed much. But there was a tiny flicker of uncertainty there, her fingers tightening on the edge of the cover.
Then she held it up.
The title was something about Victorian funerary customs.
Lando stared at it.
Victorian.
Funerary.
Customs.
Of course.
Of course Oscar’s silent girlfriend was sitting in the McLaren garage reading about old funeral traditions like that was a normal way to spend a Thursday.
Lando looked at Violet.
Violet looked at Lando.
The silence stretched.
Lando nodded once.
“Cool,” he said.
Then he turned around and walked away.
Oscar watched him return.
“What did you do?”
“I asked what she was reading.”
“And?”
“You’re going to be found dead one day,” Lando said, sitting down heavily, “and I’m going to have to tell the Netflix cameras that I saw the signs.”
Oscar sighed. “Vi is just shy.”
“Oscar, she looks at me like she’s deciding which one of my organs to harvest first.”
“She doesn’t.”
“She does.”
“She told me yesterday she thinks you’re funny.”
Lando paused.
He did not like that.
Somehow, that was worse.
“She said that?”
Oscar nodded.
“Out loud?”
“Yes.”
“With words?”
“Yes, Lando.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
Lando leaned back in his chair, unsettled.
Because that was the truly disturbing part.
Violet did talk to Oscar.
Lando had seen it.
Not often. Not directly. But enough to know Oscar was not lying.
Violet was silent around everyone else, all stillness and black lace and watchful eyes, but with Oscar, something unlocked.
Oscar would say something completely normal, like, “Do you want tea?” and Violet would look up at him with the softest expression Lando had ever seen on another human person.
Her whole face changed.
The corners of her mouth lifted.
Her shoulders relaxed.
Her eyes warmed.
She would lean toward him like a plant toward sunlight.
And then she would say, “Yes, please,” in the tiniest voice imaginable.
Oscar would smile back at her.
Oscar Piastri.
Smiling.
Like an idiot.
Like a man unaware that love had compromised his survival instincts.
Then Violet would take his hand, and Oscar would let her tangle their fingers together, and Lando would stand there watching in horror because apparently the haunted doll had a favourite person and it was his teammate.
His stupid, emotionally constipated, Australian teammate.
It was terrible.
It was also, unfortunately, fascinating.
Because Oscar understood her.
That was the annoying thing.
Violet could say almost nothing, and Oscar would still know what she meant.
If she looked at the door twice, Oscar would say, “Do you want to go?”
If she touched the inside of his wrist, Oscar would shift closer.
If someone asked Violet a question and she went very still, Oscar would answer smoothly, not over her exactly, but around her, giving her space to join in if she wanted and an exit if she didn’t.
Lando hated how good he was at it.
Mostly because Oscar was terrible at so many other things.
Media banter. Showing enthusiasm on command. Understanding memes quickly enough. Pretending he cared about whatever nonsense Lando had sent him at two in the morning.
But Violet?
Oscar read her like telemetry.
One tiny change in expression, and he knew.
It was disgusting.
One afternoon, Lando watched Violet drift closer to Oscar during a particularly crowded sponsor event. She did not say anything. She just appeared at his side and touched two fingers lightly to his sleeve.
Oscar turned instantly.
Not eventually.
Not after finishing his sentence.
Instantly.
His eyes dropped to her face, and his voice went quieter.
“Too loud?”
Violet nodded once.
Oscar looked at the McLaren staff member they had been talking to. “We’ll be back in a minute.”
Then he put a hand lightly at Violet’s back and guided her out.
No fuss.
No explanation.
No making her ask twice.
Lando watched them go.
Then he looked at the comms person beside him.
The comms person sighed dreamily. “They’re so sweet.”
Lando pointed toward the door. “She didn’t even say anything.”
“And he understood her.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“That’s romantic.”
“That’s surveillance.”
The comms person looked at him strangely.
Lando took a canapé and left.
***
Reason 5: Violet carried a black lace parasol
Violet carried a black lace parasol in the sun.
A parasol.
Not sunglasses.
Not a cap.
Not one of those little handheld fans people bought at tourist shops and then abandoned after five minutes because they realised they were more effort than they were worth.
A parasol.
A black lace parasol.
In the paddock.
In broad daylight.
Lando had seen a lot of things in Formula One. He had seen grown men nearly cry over tyre degradation. He had seen engineers argue with printers. He had seen Daniel Ricciardo commit psychological warfare with nothing but a grin and a well-timed compliment. He had seen Max Verstappen eat an amount of tomato soup that made him question human biology.
But nothing had prepared him for the sight of Oscar’s girlfriend walking through the Monaco paddock beneath a black lace parasol like she was waiting for a funeral procession to begin.
It was sunny. Beautiful, even. One of those annoyingly perfect Monaco afternoons where the sea glittered, everyone’s sunglasses cost more than Lando’s first kart, and the paddock looked like someone had spilled money across a harbour and called it a sport.
And there was Violet.
All in black.
Braids over her shoulders.
Black boots.
Black dress.
Black nail polish.
And the parasol.
Open above her head, lace casting little shadow patterns over her face.
Lando stopped walking so abruptly that a McLaren media assistant nearly walked into the back of him.
“What,” he said.
Oscar, beside him, glanced up from his phone. “What?”
Lando lifted a hand and pointed across the paddock.
He did not mean to point.
Pointing was rude.
But sometimes survival instincts overruled manners.
Oscar followed his gaze.
Violet was standing near the edge of the walkway, half-shielded from the sun, speaking very softly to one of the hospitality staff. Or, at least, Lando assumed she was speaking. Her mouth moved slightly. The staff member leaned in. Violet gestured once with one black-painted hand, delicate and careful, like she was either explaining where to find the coffee machine or issuing instructions for a séance.
Oscar’s face softened.
Obviously.
Because Oscar had no sense of self-preservation.
“She brought the parasol,” he said, sounding pleased.
“The parasol,” Lando repeated.
“Yeah.”
“You say that like that’s a normal sentence.”
“It is.”
“It absolutely is not.”
Oscar looked at him. “It’s for skin protection.”
Lando turned slowly. “Skin protection?”
“She burns easily.”
“She looks like she’s waiting for a funeral procession to start.”
Oscar sighed. “Lando.”
“She looks like she knows where bodies are buried.”
Lando leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Exactly. That’s how she gets away with it.”
Oscar’s expression flattened.
It was his I regret introducing you to people face.
Lando knew it well.
“She rescues injured hedgehogs,” Oscar said.
“Classic cover.”
“And kittens.”
“Even more classic.”
“She cried when a three-legged dog got adopted.”
Lando paused.
That information did not fit neatly into the evidence file.
He disliked that.
“How do you know it wasn’t a performance?” he asked.
Oscar blinked.
Then he very slowly put his phone into his pocket, like he needed both hands free to process the idiocy in front of him.
“Because she cried into my hoodie for twenty minutes.”
Lando opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Oscar lifted an eyebrow.
Lando changed strategy.
“She carried a black lace parasol while doing it?”
“No.”
“Would have helped my case.”
“You don’t have a case. You have anxiety and too much access to horror films.”
“I have evidence.”
Oscar pinched the bridge of his nose.
Lando felt no sympathy. Oscar had brought this into their lives. Oscar had chosen to date a woman who looked like she had strong opinions about moonlight and revenge. Oscar could not now complain that Lando was reacting appropriately.
Someone had to be vigilant.
Because nobody else seemed to understand the threat level.
Zak thought Violet was “lovely.”
This was alarming on several levels, mainly because Zak was a businessman and therefore should have been trained to recognise danger in human form. Instead, he had met Violet once, watched her quietly thank a catering assistant for finding oat milk, and declared her delightful.
Andrea thought she was “very polite.”
Which, again, was exactly what people said about mysterious women in black right before discovering the locked room in the east wing.
“She is very respectful,” Andrea had said, with the calm confidence of a man who had never once considered that politeness could be weaponised.
“She doesn’t speak above a whisper,” Lando said.
“Some people are quiet.”
“Some people are haunted.”
Andrea had smiled, because apparently everyone had decided to be useless.
Max had met Violet once and immediately declared her “adorable.”
Adorable.
Max Verstappen.
Four-time world champion. Professional menace. Man who could detect weakness in a braking zone from three postcodes away.
Adorable.
Lando had stared at him. “Are you serious?”
Max shrugged. “She reminds me of a cat.”
“That is not helping!”
But the most damning betrayal had come from Nicole Piastri.
Oscar’s mum loved her.
Loved her.
Lando had thought Nicole would understand. Nicole was sensible. Warm. Kind. Sharp in the way mothers were sharp, where they could see everything and politely not mention half of it until exactly the worst moment.
Surely Nicole would take one look at Violet’s black lace parasol and wonder whether her son had accidentally become a boyfriend to a haunted governess.
Instead, Nicole took one look at Violet and melted.
Absolutely melted.
It happened in the McLaren garage.
Violet had been standing beside Oscar, one hand holding the folded parasol against her chest, the other tucked into the sleeve of her black cardigan. She looked nervous, which Lando only recognised in hindsight because at the time he had mistaken her stillness for quiet pre-murder composure.
Nicole came in with Chris, bright-faced and happy to see Oscar, and Oscar immediately did that thing where he became slightly less of a robot in the presence of his family.
“Mum,” he said, “this is Violet.”
Violet went very still.
Not murder-still, maybe.
More like someone had turned the volume of the world up too loud and she was trying to remember how her hands worked.
“Hello,” she said softly. “It’s really nice to meet you.”
Nicole’s face did the thing mothers’ faces did when they had decided someone was to be adopted immediately.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Nicole said, and hugged her.
Hugged her.
Without warning.
Lando, watching from a few metres away, genuinely feared for Nicole’s safety.
Violet froze for half a second.
Her eyes went wide.
The parasol was trapped between them.
Oscar shifted, just a little, like he was about to step in if Violet needed rescuing.
But then Violet carefully — very carefully — lifted one arm and hugged Nicole back.
It was stiff at first.
Awkward.
Painfully gentle.
Like she was not used to human affection and might accidentally break someone’s ribs if she got the angle wrong.
Nicole squeezed her anyway.
Violet blinked very fast over Nicole’s shoulder.
Oscar’s face softened so dramatically that Lando wanted to file a complaint.
Everyone cooed.
The mechanics. The media people. Oscar’s dad. Possibly a passing FIA official.
Lando watched from behind a stack of tyres.
Not hiding.
Observing.
There was a difference.
“Mate,” Oscar said, appearing beside him.
Lando nearly died.
“Jesus Christ.”
Oscar looked at him, then at the tyres, then back at him.
“Are you hiding from my girlfriend?”
“No.”
“You are literally crouching.”
“I dropped something.”
“What?”
“My survival instinct.”
Oscar stared at him.
Lando stared back.
Oscar was not holding the parasol, but Lando felt the parasol’s presence looming over them spiritually.
After a long moment, Oscar said, “Violet thinks you don’t like her.”
Lando straightened so fast he nearly hit his head on the tyre rack.
“What?”
Oscar’s expression shifted.
Only slightly.
But Lando knew him. Oscar was not laughing now.
“She thinks you avoid her because you don’t like her.”
Lando looked past him.
Violet was still with Nicole, though the hug had ended. Nicole was holding both of Violet’s hands now, talking animatedly. Violet was listening with her head slightly bowed, cheeks pink, looking entirely overwhelmed and entirely pleased.
The parasol was folded neatly against her arm.
For some reason, Lando felt bad.
Which was irritating, because he had been having a very good time being correct.
“I don’t dislike her,” Lando said.
Oscar’s eyebrow moved.
“I don’t,” Lando insisted.
“You hide behind tyres when she’s around.”
“I avoid her because I think she’s going to kill me.”
Oscar’s face did something complicated.
Mostly, it looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh and slightly trying not to be annoyed and a tiny bit fond despite himself.
“That’s not better,” he said.
“It’s honest.”
“It’s insane.”
“It’s a valid fear.”
“She bakes, Lando. She doesn’t plot your murder.”
Lando narrowed his eyes. “What does she bake?”
Oscar sighed. “Biscuits. Cakes. Brownies.”
“Black ones?”
Oscar stared at him.
“With poison in them?” Lando clarified.
“No, Lando.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I eat them,” Oscar said, with exaggerated patience. “And I am still alive.”
“Exactly. Maybe she’s building your tolerance.”
Oscar pressed his lips together.
It was his little almost-smile. The one he did when he was trying to remain the mature, sensible one in the conversation, which Lando found deeply offensive because Oscar was younger than him and therefore had no right.
“She is not building my tolerance to poison, Lando.”
***
Reason 6: Belladonna
Belladonna.
That was the snake.
The snake.
Oscar’s girlfriend had a snake named Belladonna, and somehow, somehow, everyone expected Lando to behave normally about this information.
(He would not. He could not.)
There were certain things a person could reasonably be asked to accept in life. Flight delays. Media days. Zak Brown appearing with a camera crew and saying, “This’ll be fun,” when it absolutely would not be fun. Oscar Piastri answering heartfelt questions with the emotional range of a toaster.
But Oscar’s girlfriend owning a snake named after a poisonous plant?
No.
That was not something Lando could simply absorb and move on from.
He had found out during what had, until that moment, been a very normal conversation.
A boring conversation, even.
They had been sitting in the McLaren motorhome between sessions. Oscar was in the chair opposite him, scrolling through his phone, one ankle crossed over his knee, face doing that blank Australian thing where he looked like he was thinking about nothing but was probably cataloguing tyre data or silently judging someone’s sandwich choices.
Lando was bored.
This was often when problems began.
Oscar’s phone buzzed.
Oscar looked down.
And then his face changed.
Not dramatically. Oscar’s face did not do dramatic things unless someone had asked him to film TikTok content after a bad qualifying.
But it changed enough.
His mouth softened. His eyes warmed. The corners of his lips moved in a way that was almost a smile, which, for Oscar, was basically him standing on a balcony during a thunderstorm and declaring undying love.
Lando noticed immediately.
Obviously.
“What’s she saying?”
Oscar tilted the phone away. “Nothing.”
“You smiled.”
“So?”
“So that means it’s either about your girlfriend or food.”
Oscar ignored him.
Which meant Lando was right.
Lando leaned farther over the table. “Is she sending you nudes?”
Oscar finally looked up.
Slowly.
With the exhausted expression of a man who had been teammates with Lando Norris for too long and had begun to wonder whether early retirement might actually be peaceful.
“No,” Oscar said.
Lando wiggled his eyebrows.
Oscar’s expression went flatter.
“She sent me a picture of Belladonna.”
Lando froze.
He did not know why he froze.
At that point, he did not yet know what Belladonna was. It could have been anything. A dress. A book. A bakery. A weirdly named candle. Violet seemed like the sort of person who owned candles called things like Mourning Mist or Widow’s Breath.
But something in Oscar’s tone was wrong.
Fond.
Too fond.
Suspiciously fond.
Lando narrowed his eyes.
“…Who is Belladonna?”
Oscar’s face softened again.
“Her snake.”
Lando stared at him.
Oscar stared back.
The room went silent.
Not actually silent. Somewhere nearby, someone was talking into a headset. There was the low hum of machinery, the distant clatter of catering, a laugh from one of the engineers.
But to Lando, everything stopped.
The world narrowed down to Oscar Piastri sitting across from him, holding a phone, looking far too relaxed for a man who had just revealed that his girlfriend had a snake.
“Her what?” Lando asked.
“Her snake,” Oscar repeated.
As if that was normal.
As if that was information you could simply drop into conversation without a warning siren, a safety briefing, and possibly a priest.
Lando slowly sat back in his chair.
“Your girlfriend has a snake.”
“Yes.”
“Named Belladonna.”
“Yes.”
“As in the poisonous plant?”
Oscar shrugged. “She thought it was pretty.”
Lando opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Nothing came out.
This was rare enough that Oscar should have been more concerned.
“She named her snake after poison, Oscar!”
“She’s not poisonous,” Oscar said. “She’s a ball python.”
“I don’t care what kind of pasta she is.”
Oscar blinked. “Python.”
“Whatever.”
“She’s harmless!”
“That is exactly what someone says before the snake eats their neighbour!”
“Ball pythons don’t eat people.”
“Not with that attitude.”
Oscar sighed.
Deeply.
Annoyingly.
Like Lando was the unreasonable one in this situation.
Then he went back to looking at the photo.
The photo.
Of the snake.
The snake named Belladonna.
Lando stared at him in disbelief. “You’re just going back to the picture?”
“She’s cute.”
“The snake?”
“Yes.”
“The snake named after poison?”
“Yes.”
“You think the snake is cute?”
Oscar turned the phone around.
Lando flinched.
He did not mean to flinch. He was brave in many circumstances. He drove Formula One cars for a living. He had gone wheel-to-wheel with Max Verstappen. He had survived British weather, Twitch chat, and Daniel Ricciardo’s impulse control.
But he was not emotionally prepared for a snake photo.
On the screen was a dark, patterned snake curled around Violet’s wrist.
Only Violet’s hand and forearm were visible. Black sleeve. Black nails. Snake.
Of course.
The snake’s little head was resting near Violet’s thumb, and its tongue was flicking out.
Lando recoiled.
Oscar frowned. “What?”
“It’s looking at me.”
“It’s a photo.”
“It knows.”
“It absolutely does not know.”
“You don’t know what snakes know.”
“I know they don’t understand phone cameras.”
“That’s what they want you to think.”
Oscar stared.
Lando stared back.
Oscar turned the phone back toward himself. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“No,” Lando said, pointing at him. “No, this is a perfectly normal reaction. Your girlfriend owns a snake called Belladonna. That is not a pet. That is foreshadowing.”
“Vi rescued her.”
Lando paused.
He hated when Oscar provided context that made things inconvenient.
“She what?”
“Rescued her,” Oscar said. “Belladonna belonged to someone who couldn’t care for her properly. Violet took her in.”
Lando narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like something a villain says in Act One to make you sympathise with the snake.”
“She was underweight.”
“Oh, don’t do that.”
Oscar looked up. “Do what?”
“Make the snake sad.”
“She was.”
“I don’t want sad snake lore.”
“She had mites.”
“Oscar.”
“She’s much better now.”
Lando pressed both hands over his face.
This was a nightmare.
A snake named Belladonna was bad enough. A rescue snake named Belladonna with a tragic backstory was much worse. Now Lando could not even fully commit to being against her, because apparently she had overcome adversity.
Like a tiny scaly protagonist.
Lando hated his life.
***
Reason 7: Violet didn’t like Sweets
Violet didn’t like sweets.
This, to Lando, was one of the most alarming things about her.
Not the black clothes. Not the braids. Not the black lace parasol. Not even Belladonna, the snake named after poison.
(Well. Maybe Belladonna.)
But the sweets thing was high on the list.
Because Violet refused sweets with the same calm politeness she used for everything else, which somehow made it worse.
Lando had offered her a gummy bear once.
A perfectly normal, friendly, non-threatening gummy bear.
Violet looked at it. Then at him. Then she said, very softly, “No, thank you.”
Lando stared.
“You don’t want one?”
“No, thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
Oscar, without looking up from his phone, said, “Lando.”
“What? I’m asking.”
“She said no.”
“Yes, but she said no to a gummy bear.”
Violet’s cheeks went slightly pink. “I’m okay.”
That was not an explanation.
That was an evasion.
Lando slowly withdrew the gummy bear.
Oscar glanced up then, his expression already flat with warning.
“Don’t,” he said.
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re making your thinking face.”
“I don’t have a thinking face.”
“You have several, and this is the stupidest one.”
Lando ignored him and looked at Violet, who was sitting beside Oscar in her black dress, hands folded neatly in her lap, looking like she had never once experienced the joy of eating Haribo in an airport at midnight.
“You don’t like sweets?” Lando asked.
Violet hesitated. “Not really.”
Lando looked at Oscar.
Oscar shrugged. “Vi doesn’t really eat them.”
Lando sat back.
Right.
Of course.
Of course Oscar’s girlfriend didn’t like sweets.
Of course she wore black and had a snake and rejected gummy bears.
“She bakes,” Oscar added, as if that helped.
Lando pointed at him. “That makes it weirder.”
“How?”
“She bakes sweets but doesn’t eat them.”
“They’re not all sweets.”
“What does that even mean?”
Oscar looked at Violet. Violet looked at Oscar.
Something silent passed between them.
Lando hated when they did that.
It felt like being excluded from a secret club where the membership requirements were emotional repression and gothic accessories.
“Vi makes really good lemon biscuits,” Oscar said.
“I know,” Lando said. “I ate twelve.”
“Fourteen.”
“That’s not the point.”
Violet’s mouth twitched.
Lando narrowed his eyes. “See, she finds this funny.”
Violet looked down, smiling into her sleeve.
Later, Lando caught Oscar eating one of Violet’s brownies and immediately pointed at him.
“Aha.”
Oscar paused mid-bite. “What?”
“She does eat sweets. You said she doesn’t.”
“This is mine.”
“She baked them.”
“Yes.”
“For you.”
“Yes.”
“But she doesn’t eat them?”
Oscar blinked. “No.”
Lando leaned closer. “Why?”
Oscar stared at him for several seconds.
Then he said, very slowly, “Because they have eggs and butter in them.”
Lando stared back.
There was a pause.
A long one.
Oscar waited. Lando waited.
The information floated between them.
Then Lando said, “And?”
Oscar closed his eyes.
From across the room, Violet made a tiny sound.
Lando looked over.
She was laughing silently into her hands.
Oscar sighed. “Vi is vegan, mate.”
Lando froze. “Oh.”
Violet’s shoulders shook harder.
Oscar looked at him with deep, personal disappointment.
Lando cleared his throat.
“Well,” he said. “That would explain the gummy bear.”
notes: last chap for driver!yn's mercedes lore!!! her next one will give her wings 👀
reblogs, likes, and comments are so so appreciated! if you want to read more from me, kindly submit in my inbox !!! xoxo
f1 ✔
liked by yourinstagram, lando, and 18,329,034 others
f1 ✔ BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of the season and join Ferrari on a multi-year deal.
After seasons with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton will begin a new chapter in red. The move marks one of the biggest driver transfers in Formula One history.
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scuderiaferrari ✔ Welcome to the family!
lando ✔ i woke up to WHAT
user89 chat is this real
user9 unfortunately yes
user60 i've refreshed this post 14 times hoping it'd disappear
user7 somebody check on toto
user3 nah somebody check on YN
user4 this notification ruined my lunch
user74 imagine being the dude who had to schedule this post
user63 Y/N HAS BEEN SO QUIET WRU GIRL
yourinstagram ✔
liked by lewishamilton, oscarpiastri, and 14,238,498 others
yourinstagram ✔ i'll miss having you on the other side of the garage more than words can explain. go make history in red.
i love you always, lew ❤️
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lewishamilton ✔ So proud of the person you've become. Keep making them believe. I love you forever.
user74 can't be crying over people i've never met
user6 i don't even watch f1 like that and i'm crying???
user72 i know lewis saw this and had to sit down for a second
user80 this is what closure looks like ig??????
user23 "go make history in red" STOP SHE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING
alex_albon someone get me tissues this is too much
LEWIS HAMILTON TO LEAVE MERCEDES.
Inside your pocket, your phone was vibrating relentlessly. You didn't need to pull it out to look. You already knew exactly what every single notification said.
George. Lando. Alex. Charles. Oscar. Your parents. Friends you hadn't spoken to in months, suddenly resurrected.
Hundreds of mentions. Thousands of notifications. The entire motorsport world was screaming into a void, looking for answers, for confirmation, for a sign of life.
Across the crowded garage, cutting through the sea of mechanics an engineers who were trying very hard to look busy, you spotted them. Lewis was standing near the back of the tire racks, speaking quietly to Toto.
Neither of them looked surprised. They didn't look angry, either. They just looked profoundly tired. As if the announcement hadn't actually exploded this morning.
Toto said something, gesturing faintly with his hand. Lewis nodded, his eyes scanning the floor before lifting.
That's when he caught your eye.
For a fraction of a second, the overwhelming noise of the garage completely disappeared. The chaos faded into static. Lewis offered you a small smile. It was a heavy look that asked a single question:
You alright?
You swallowed the lump forming in your throat and answered with a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
I'm okay.
It was the biggest lie of the weekend. Neither of you believed it.
mercedesamgf1 ✔
liked by georgerussell63, yourinstagram, and 10,329,582 others
mercedesamgf1 ✔ The end of an era, but the bond remains forever. Catch the ultimate trio before the paddock dynamics change forever! 🏎️👑
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georgerussell63 ✔ Gonna miss the chaotic energy. And don't worry, I'll look after her. 👊
user6 GEORGE PLEASE I AM ALREADY CRYING DO NOT START
user51 "i'll look after her" oh he's taking the older brother role offically
user9 NO MORE TIKTOKS OF GEORGE AND Y/N PRANKING LEWIS. NO MORE MATCHING FITS. I AM SICK
user76 standardly deleting instagram for the rest of the year because this press will take ten years off my life
The press conference room had never been this suffocatingly full.
Normally, it attracted a healthy, predictable crowd. Today, there wasn't an empty seat left. People lined the back walls three rows deep, camera operators stood shoulder to shoulder, and late arrivals lingered helplessly in the doorway.
The moderator leaned into the microphone, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. I think we all know where this is going."
The room erupted into a wave of intense, knowing laughter just as the side door opened.
Lewis entered first, still wearing his team kit, still smiling, and still impossibly composed. Yet, there was something undeniably different about him - he looked lighter, as though the crushing weight of carrying the secret had finally lifted.
Behind him came you, your hands tucked into your pockets to hide the slight tremor in your fingers. George brought up the rear, already looking resigned to his his role as a spectator at his own team's press conference.
As the three Mercedes drivers settled into their chairs, the wall of cameras exploded into a deafening roar of shutters.
Lewis adjusted his microphone. You reached for your water bottle, taking a slow sip just to give your hands something to do. The moderator barely finished introducing the panel before the first hand shot into the air like a rocket.
"Lewis," a journalist stood, gripping his notepad. "Why Ferrari?"
Lewis smiled softly, his eyes lingering briefly on the iconic logo across his chest. "I've achieved things with Mercedes that I'll sped the rest of my life being profoundly grateful for. This team made me who I am. But every driver dreams of wearing red at least once in their career. This isn't about leaving something behind because it's broken. It's about challenging myself one more time. I wanted a brand-new chapter."
The room fell completely quiet. "You don't make a decision like this lightly," Lewis added, his tone lowering. "I've thought about it for a long time. And now... it just feels right."
The moderator turned his gaze toward another raised hand. "Question for you."
Every single head in the room pivoted toward your side of the table. The journalist offered you an apologetic smile. "I imagine this is going to be the question you've been asked most frequently today, but... when exactly did you find out?"
"...Earlier than everyone else."
Another immediate wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd. "Were you surprised?" the reporter pressed.
"I think the entire world was surprised. I just happened to have had a little more time to process the shock than the rest of you."
Immediately, another hand went up. "There's been an immense amount of speculation surrounding a private conversation you and Lewis had on the grid after qualifying a couple of weeks ago. Were you two discussing this specific announcement?"
Lewis glanced sideways at you, a subtle tilt of his head. He was giving you the floor, giving the choice of how much to reveal.
You nodded once, leaning into your mic. "We were. He trusted me with something incredibly important, and I was deeply, deeply honored that he felt he could do that."
Another journalist immediately jumped on the answer. "Was it difficult keeping a secret like that?"
You let out a breathless laugh. "Oh, it was unbelievably difficult. I'm not exactly known for having the most impressive poker face in the world."
"She's being modest," Lewis interjected, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "She was fantastic."
Even George couldn't stay silent anymore. "There were a few morning briefings where she looked like she desperately wanted to blurt something out just to stop her brain from exploding."
"I absolutely did," you agreed, throwing your hands up in mock defeat.
The laughter eased the weight in the room for a fleeting moment, until an older, sharp reporter stood up from the front row, holding your gaze.
"This is for you. Mercedes has just lost arguably the greatest, most successful driver in the entire history of the sport. In your honest opinion... can Lewis ever truly be replaced?"
You didn't answer immediately. Instead of looking at the journalist, you looked to your left. You looked at Lewis. Really looked at him. This was the man who had become an irreplaceable mentor from the moment you joined the team, a supportive teammate, and a genuine friend.
You turned back to the microphone. "No," you said. "You don't replace Lewis Hamilton. You simply learn how to continue after him."
The silence that followed your words somehow felt louder, more resonant, than the deafening applause after a victory. Several journalists slowly lowered their pens.
Lewis blinked once, looking down at the table for a long second, his jaw working as he swallowed down the sudden wave of raw emotion creeping into his throat.
George, sensing the gravity of the moment, reached over without looking and gave Lewis's shoulder a quick, firm nudge.
The moderator cleared his throat, his own voice a bit tighter. "Next question, please."
A journalist stood up, a vibrant energy back in his voice. "Lewis, what do you think the future of Mercedes looks like without you leading the charge?"
Lewis managed a warm smile. "I think the future of this team is in very good hands, very capable hands." He gestured openly toward George, and then turned his hand toward you.
"They are both extraordinary, fiercely talented drivers. I've watched them grow over the races. I've watched them make mistakes, take their knocks, and come back infinitely stronger every single time. I don't think Mercedes needs to search for another me. They don't need a copy. They need this next generation to fully become themselves."
You looked down at your hands, a sudden swell of pride and bittersweet gratitude warming your chest.
"A question for both of you," another reporter chimed in. "What are you two going to miss the most about working alongside each other as teammates?"
Lewis took the lead, a nostalgic laugh bubbling up. "Oh, definitely the completely random, unhinged conversations we have. We'll spend forty-five minutes intensely analyzing strategy..." He grinned, looking over at you. "...and somehow, we'll end up debating whether penguins have knees."
George leaned over his microphone, his face a picture of deadpan comedy. "I'd just like everyone in this room to know... I walked into that exact room halfway through that debate, and neither of them even acknowledged my existence."
The laughter lingered longer this time, filling the press room with a comfortable warmth. It felt exactly like watching a tight-knit family teasing one another at a dinner table.
Eventually, a journalist stood up near the back of the room.
"This question is specifically for Lewis," the man said. "If you could leave your teammate with just one piece of advice before you put on the red racing suit and move to Ferrari... what would it be?"
The room went dead silent again. Lewis didn't answer right away. He folded his hands together on the table, staring at his knuckles, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. When he lifted his head and spoke, his voice was quieter, stripped of any performance.
"Don't become the driver everyone else expects you to be." He looked up, his eyes locking onto yours. "Become the driver you promised yourself you'd become when you were just a kid."
Your throat tightened instantly, a sudden, sharp prickle of tears threatening to blur your vision. You had to look away, focusing intently on a random spot on the floor before anyone could notice the crack in your composure.
The moderator checked the time and signaled to the room. "We have time for one final question."
A journalist stood up near the back. "This one if for both of you. When this final, long season eventually comes to an end... what do you hope people remember about this partnership?"
Lewis leaned in first. "The victories are nice, of course. The trophies, the poles, the championships - they're incredible milestones. But when I walk away, I just hope people remember that I tried to leave this sport a little bit better, a little more inclusive, than I found it."
Then, it was your turn.
"I hope..." you started, searching for the right words. "...I just hope people remember that I got to spend my years here racing alongside one of my absolute heroes."
Lewis looked away almost immediately, his jaw clenching tightly as he fought back his own reaction to your words.
"And I hope they know," you continue, your voice steady and clear, "that I never took a single lap, or a single day of it, for granted."
For the first time all afternoon, the press room didn't erupt into frantic typing. Instead, a wave of applause broke out.
The moderator officially closed the session, thanking everyone for attending. As you turned to walk off the stage, Lewis reached out, resting a hand briefly against your shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Neither of you spoke a word as you walked down the steps and back toward the garage. You didn't need to.
lh44archive
liked by user and 4,390 others
lh44archive i'm genuinely so sick to my stomach just looking at these photos knowing we're never getting this dynamic back. mercedes colors belonged to them and them only. goodbye to the greatest era to ever do it!!!
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user15 please delete this it hurts too bad
user89 "mercedes colors belong to them" pull the trigger why would you say that
user4 oh! i was planning to keep my sanity today but i guess not
user12 looking at these pics you cannot convince me he wanted to leave. ferrari threw a bag at him and he threw away the love of his life i'm sick
user62 they really used to match their fits every single week and now we're just supposed to accept him wearing red??? 😭😭
Canada, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve
Everywhere Lewis went, fans stood three rows deep behind the barriers. They held up handmade signs that read: THANK YOU, LEWIS! ONCE A SILVER ARROW, ALWAYS A SILVER ARROW!
Lewis stopped for nearly every single one of them, signing caps, mini helmets, and faded merch that looked older than the fans holding them. You waited patiently nearby, having learned long ago never to rush him during a fan walk.
"You know," you said playfully once the crowd finally began to thin, "at this rate, you're going to miss FP1 entirely."
Lewis looked over, uncapping yet another marker with a grin. "Worth it."
You smiled, shaking your head. "Knew you'd say that."
The media was relentless. Every broadcaster wanted one last feature. It became almost comical - Sky Sports, ESPN, and even high-fashion lifestyle magazines that had never previously uttered the word 'motorsport.'
Lewis took every interview with infinite patience, and whenever he grew visibly exhausted, you found ways to break the tension between takes.
One afternoon, halfway through recording a particularly serious segment, you slipped behind the camera operator and held up increasingly ridiculous cue cards. BLINK TWICE IF U NEED SAVING!!!
Lewis almost choked mid-answer, causing the producer to call a halt to the recording. Lewis pointed a finger directly at you.
You widened your eyes, trying to look completely innocent. "What?"
"You know exactly what."
"I have no exactly what you're talking about." You smiled broadly. You knew exactly what.
@/user tweeted!
lewis arriving at canada and stopping for every single person even when the crowd is three rows deep is just the sweetest.
@/user tweeted!
i am literally sobbing right now 😭 lewis is an actual angel. y/n joked he was going to miss fp1 and he just smiled and said "worth it"
Mexico City, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
After media obligations finally wrapped up, Lewis disappeared from the hospitality suite. Knowing his habits, you tracked him down and found him sitting alone on the pit wall.
You didn't ask for permission. You simply hopped up and sat down right next to him.
Neither of you spoke for a long time. The paddock behind you hummed at a low, quiet frequency as the garages slowly locked up for the night.
Lewis broke the silence. "You know... I've probably spent more time sitting on pit walls in my life than on my own sofa."
You let out a quiet laugh. "I actually believe that."
Another peaceful minute passed before he spoke again. "You'll miss this."
"The racing?"
He shook his head. "No. The quiet. When it's just you... and the circuit."
You let yourself really look at the environment - the empty grandstands, the low hum of the lights overhead, and the faint smell of scorched rubber still lingering in the cool evening air.
"I already do," you admitted softly.
Lewis offered a small smile. "So did I."
@/user tweeted!
oh my god look at them ☹️ someone snapped a pic of lewis and y/n in the dark. it's giving such core memory energy
@/user tweeted!
finding out lewis skipped the post-media chaos just to go sit with his favorite person is doing things to me.
Brazil, Interlagos
Sprinting from the hospitality building toward the safety of the garage, your boots caught on the slick concrete and you immediately lost your footing.
You barely managed to catch yourself before taking a full dive. A firm hand shot out, grabbing the back of your jacket and hoisting you back upright.
"You've driven open-wheel cars at three hundred kilometers an hour," Lewis teased, letting out a loud laugh, "but walking across a flat floor completely defeats you?"
"The floor attacked me," you shot back, adjusting your jacket.
George walked past the two of you without even slowing his pace, staring straight ahead. "I saw absolutely nothing."
"Traitor!" you called out after him. "You were never going to help me anyway!"
"I support your rights," George shouted over his shoulder, disappearing into the engineering office, "...and your wrongs."
Lewis doubled over, laughing so hard he had to lean back against the tire stacks. "So that's what we're doing now? Is that the new line?"
"He spends way too much time with Alex," you muttered, though you were laughing too.
@/user tweeted!
LEWIS'S LOUD GIGGLE IS AN INSTANT SEROTONIN PLS THE WAY HE DOUBLED OVER
@/user tweeted!
honestly this trio has zero brain cells when they get together the mercedes garage is just a massive sitcom at this point
Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit
Abu Dhabi approached far too quickly. Nobody wanted to admit it, but the reality was settling into everyone's bones. The final weekends had stopped being entirely about championship points and had become entirely about preserving memories.
One evening, after a particularly long meeting, one of the mechanics wheeled a karaoke machine into the lounge.
Lewis backed away immediately, raising his hands. "No. Absolutely not. I am not singing."
"Oh, you are absolutely singing," you replied, grabbing a microphone from the table and stepping into his path.
"No."
"Yes!"
"I have a choice, and I choose no."
You thrust the microphone toward him as the surrounding mechanics erupted into a chant. "Le-wis! Le-wis! Le-wis!"
Lewis looked around the room at the sea of grinning faces. Traitors. Every single one of them.
Five minutes later, he was standing right beside you on a makeshift stage, singing hopelessly off-queen to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now.
Half the lyrics you both sang were completely wrong, but neither of you cared. The garage crew cheered louder than they had for actual podium finishes.
The final races blurred together, not because they didn't matter, but because everyone was trying to so desperately hold onto them before they slipped away.
Every autograph took a few seconds longer. Every walk through the paddock slowed down. Every post-race conversation stretched out for an extra twenty minutes
Nobody wanted to be the first to say a definitive goodbye - not while there was still one more race on the calendar, not while Lewis was still dressed in Mercedes black, and not while this chapter hadn't quite reached its final paged.
So instead of mourning the end, you all laughed. More than you ever had before. As if laughter alone could somehow convince the clock to wait.
@/user tweeted!
yeah that's family right there. nobody wants this chapter to end i can't handle the abu dhabi vibes this year, it's too heavy for me 💔
@/user tweeted!
the chaotic energy of forcing a multi world champion onto a karaoke stage is insane behavior LMAOOO his team doesn't care about boundaries, look at his face when they started chanting his name 😭
That afternoon, the FIA organized one final, special media session dedicated entirely to Lewis. Unliked the highly clinical press conferences from earlier in the season, this one wasn't an interrogation about contracts.
It wasn't about Maranello, and it wasn't even strictly about the mechanics of Mercedes. It was simply... about Lewis.
As the interview progressed, various drivers from the across the grid began wandering into the media pen. Some appearances were planned, but many were completely spontaneous.
Fernando stopped by first. "I've raced against three different generations of drivers now," he told the room, prompting a wave of laughter from the journalists.
He smiled, looking directly at Lewis. "I raced Michael. I raced Sebastian. And I raced Lewis. Every great era eventually comes to an end, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch it happen."
A little while later, Lando wandered past the pen holding a coffee. Spotting the live interview, he immediately froze and tried walking backwards out of the camera frame.
It was entirely too late.
"Lando!" the presenter called out, laughing. "You might as well come over."
Lando sighed dramatically, stepping onto the small stage. "I knew making eye contact was a massive mistake."
"What's one thing you're genuinely going to miss about Lewis being at Mercedes?" the presenter asked him.
Lando didn't even have to think about it. "The black race suit."
Lewis frowned playfully. "...Really? That's it?"
"No," Lando’s smile softened, his voice turning genuine. "I’ll miss looking across the grid before a formation lap and just... expecting you to be there in that car. You’ve always been there since I started. It's going to be weird not seeing it."
The guarded media smile on Lewis's face melted into something deeply touched. "Thanks, mate."
Then came Charles. The atmosphere in the media pen shifted instantly. It wasn't awkward or tense, but it was undeniably surreal.
Because everyone in that room knew what was coming next season: teammates, wearing the same iconic red overalls. Charles stepped up, shaking Lewis's hand firmly before pulling him into a brief hug.
"I am incredibly excited," Charles admitted openly to the cameras, before his eyes drifted to the Mercedes garage across the pit lane. "But... I understand this isn't an easy transition for anyone here."
Lewis nodded quietly. "It isn't."
Charles offered a warm, reassuring smile. "We'll take care of you over there, don't worry."
Standing just behind the main cluster of television cameras, you smiled to yourself. You completely believed him.
georgerussell63 ✔
liked by lewishamilton, yourinstagram, and 6,328,563 others
georgerussell63 ✔ Sharing a garage with you has been the privilege of a lifetime. Proud of what we've built together. 🫡
lando
liked by charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri, and 7,329,681 others
lando grew up cheering for this guy, and now i get to share a track with him. enjoy the next chapter (just don't be too quick in that red car)
charles_leclerc ✔
liked by alex_albon, arvid.lindblad, and 9,810,049 others
charles_leclerc ✔ It is an absolute honor to welcome you to the family. Let's make some history together. 🐎
The rest of the weekend passed in what felt like a matter of minutes. Free practice dissolved into qualifying, and qualifying bled directly into race day. And then, just like that... it was over.
The chequered flag waved one final time on Lewis Hamilton’s legendary Mercedes career. The actual race result barely even mattered; not today.
The cooldown lap took an eternity as Lewis drove slowly around the Yas Marina circuit, letting the moment breathe. In the grandstands, thousands of fans remained standing long after the cars had filed into the pit lane. Many were applauding loudly, while others were crying openly into their team flags.
When Lewis finally climbed out of the cockpit for the last time wearing his Mercedes race suit, the garage crew was already waiting for him.
He hugged the first mechanic he reached, then another, and then another. Someone near the front of the circle started crying, and like a domino effect, the emotion caught on. Soon enough, almost everyone was tearing up.
You stood a few paces back, quietly watching the scene unfold. You knew this specific moment belonged to the people who had spent a decade building his championship cars, and you wanted to give them their space. Eventually, through the sea of people, Lewis reached you.
Neither of you spoke. He simply opened his arms, and you stepped forward immediately.
The hug lasted much longer than either of you had anticipated. When you finally pulled apart, Lewis looked down at you, his eyes searching your face. "You alright?"
You let out a breathless laugh, blinking back suspiciously glassy eyes. "You ask me that every five minutes, Lewis."
"Because I know you."
"I'm perfectly fine."
"Liar," he whispered gently.
You rolled your eyes, sniffing slightly. "Takes one to know one."
He chuckled, a sound of pure relief. "Fair point."
The two of you stood there on the grease-stained garage floor for another long second, neither wanting to be the one to officially walk away first.
Finally, Lewis reached out and gave your shoulder a firm, reassuring squeeze. "I'm incredibly proud of you."
The weight of those words landed much harder in your chest than you expected. You swallowed hard. "You know, you don't actually have to say goodbye."
He smiled, shaking his head. "I'm not saying goodbye. I'm just changing garages. I'm only going to be a few doors down the pit lane."
You nodded, trying to match his optimism. "I know."
But looking around at the empty tire blankets and the settling dust of the season, it still felt unmistakably like goodbye.
That evening, Mercedes hosted one final, strictly private celebration in the hospitality building. There were no media passes allowed, no television cameras, and no corporate sponsors. It was just the team. It was designed as a celebration, but it carried the undeniable weight of a farewell.
Toto stood up first, raising a champagne glass. The low chatter in the room gradually quieted down until you could hear the faint hum of the air conditioning. He looked around at the hundreds of familiar faces before him, his gaze finally resting on Lewis.
"I’ve spent the better part of two decades trying to find the right words to describe what you mean to this team," Toto began, his deep voice echoing slightly. A small laugh rippled through the crowded room. "And honestly, I still haven't found them."
More laughter broke out, easing the tension.
"So instead, I will just say... thank you," Toto said, his expression turning entirely serious. "Thank you for every single lap. For every historic victory. For every heated disagreement in the briefing rooms. For every seemingly impossible engineering idea. For every world championship. And most importantly, thank you for making every single person in this room believe that 'impossible' wasn't actually a word that applied to us."
Silence held the room for a beat, and then the applause broke out. It was long, deafening, and completely relentless.
When the noise finally subsided, Lewis stood up to speak. His own speech was notably shorter, and visibly much harder for him to get through. He didn't focus on his own trophies; instead, he thanked every single department individually.
Halfway through thanking the garage crew, his voice cracked completely. Nobody in the room pretended not to notice. By the time he lowered the microphone and sat back down, there wasn't a dry eye left in the room. Not even Toto's.
You caught yourself looking around the brightly lit room, consciously trying to memorize every single detail. You memorized the sound of the laughter, the background music, the silver race suits hanging decoratively in the corner, and the sight of Lewis smiling warmly despite the tears still shining in his eyes.
You didn't entirely know why, but you had an overwhelming, distinct feeling that you needed to remember this exact moment. Every single second of it. Because a quiet, heavy intuition told you that this wouldn't be the last difficult goodbye you'd have to survive in this sport.
lewishamilton ✔
liked by carlossainz55, maxverstappen1, and 8,419,610 others
lewishamilton ✔ How do you sum up years of magic in a single night?
Last night was full of tears, entirely too much laughter, and some absolutely horrific karaoke that I will be erasing from the internet permanently.
Thank you for letting me be exactly who I am. I might be changing colors next year, but a piece of my heart will always stay black and silver.
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yourinstagram ✔ thank you for the wildest ride of my life :(
user5 lewis and y/n screaming their lungs out is literally the definition of "instead of mourning we're making it everyone's problem" and honestly i support it
user90 okay cool cool cool i'm just gonna go lie down on the highway
user8 can someone PLEASE leak the unedited audio of the don't stop me now cover i am literally begging on my hands and knees i need to hear how off-key they were
The morning after Abu Dhabi felt disorienting. It wasn’t a dramatic, cinematic ending; it just felt like the world had failed to update itself overnight. The trucks were being packed, and engineers reviewed data out of habit, but Lewis’s side of the garage already felt hollow.
You noticed it first in a tiny detail: his name strip above the workstation had been half-peeled away, like even the building itself wasn't ready to let go.
You stood there, fingers resting lightly on the desk, as Lewis appeared a few minutes later carrying a travel bag. No helmet, no headset, just a man ready to set down a life he’d carried for over a decade.
He caught your eye and walked over. "Flight’s this afternoon," he said quietly.
You nodded. Even goodbyes had logistics.
Lewis exhaled softly, looking around the dismantling garage. "You know what's weird? I've left plenty of circuits before. But this is the first time it feels like the garage is leaving me, too."
You let out a faint laugh. "I get what you mean."
Toto appeared at the far end of the garage, his calm demeanor carrying the weight of something important. “Hey,” he called out quietly, gesturing toward his office. “Can I have a word?”
Lewis gave you a subtle nod.
You followed Toto down the corridor, the door closing with a heavy click. Neither of you sat.
“We’ve made a decision about next season,” Toto began, his tone measured. “We’re bringing Kimi in.”
You nodded, your brain instantly shifting into professional driver mode. “Okay. That’s great for the team. I’m sure he’ll adapt quickly—”
Toto gently cut you off. “He’s not taking Lewis’s seat.”
You frowned slightly. “…George’s?”
Toto shook his head. The silence stretched for a brutal half-second before he said it: “He’s taking yours.”
The words hung in the air. Your expression stayed perfectly composed for exactly one more heartbeat before going entirely still. “So… I’m being replaced.”
“Yes. It’s a long-term strategic decision. It’s not a reflection of your performance.”
It was the standard corporate cushion, but it didn't make the ground any softer. You swallowed the sudden lump in your throat, tightened your jaw, and extended your hand. “Thank you for telling me directly.”
He shook it—firm, respectful, and entirely final. You turned and walked out before the silence could break you.
Back in the garage, life continued exactly as it should. Mechanics were still working, and screens were still running. But when you reappeared, Lewis noticed the subtle shift in your pace immediately.
“You alright?” he asked.
You opened your mouth to give the automatic response, then stopped. “…I think so.”
He studied you for a second, not pushing for details. “Come on. Walk with me.”
You moved through the half-empty paddock together, past the closed hospitality suites and packed-up banners, until you reached the concrete pit wall. The track ahead was silent, almost unrecognizable without the roar of the engines.
“You didn’t look surprised,” Lewis finally said, breaking the quiet.
You gave a short, humorless laugh. “I’m getting good at that, apparently.”
“You don’t have to pretend with me.”
Those words caused your shoulders to finally drop. “I just didn’t think it would feel like this,” you admitted softly.
Lewis nodded slowly. He understood completely. “You know they’ll come for you,” he said, looking out at the empty asphalt.
You blinked. “What do you mean?”
A faint, knowing smile touched his face. “Other teams. They always do.”
You didn’t answer right away, because for the first time all day, that didn't feel like a theory. It felt like an inevitability.
In your pocket, your phone buzzed. Once. Then again. You didn’t look at it yet, but you already knew exactly what it meant. Somewhere in the silence behind you, the rest of the grid had already started to move.
The first message came from an unknown number.
Red Bull Racing.
You stared at the screen for longer than you intended. Not because you didn't understand what it meant, but because you understood it perfectly.
Your thumb hovered over the phone. Then, another notification popped up. Ferrari. Then Aston Martin. Then McLaren.
You let out a short, sharp breath through your nose, almost amused by the brutal timing of it all. Lewis was right. They always came. Not when you were available—but when you were vulnerable.
You locked your phone without replying. For now.
An hour later, you found yourself back in the Mercedes motorhome. It was emptier than it had ever been.
Lewis sat opposite you, his elbows resting on his knees and an untouched bottle of water gripped in his hand.
“You saw it,” he said quietly.
You didn’t ask what. You didn’t need to.
He nodded, and a heavy silence settled between you. You gave a small, casual shrug. “Apparently, I’m popular now.”
That earned a faint, genuine smile from him. “About time.”
You glanced up, locking eyes with him. “You’re not going to tell me what to do, are you?”
He shook his head immediately. “No.” He paused, his voice dropping. “I learned a long time ago that advice only works if someone is still in the same chapter as you.”
Lewis broke the silence again. “I meant what I said yesterday. You’re not done.”
You let out a faint exhale. “That’s not really up to me, is it?”
“It never is,” he said. "But it’s also never decided by a single garage."
The words landed heavily. You didn't respond right away because you knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn’t trying to persuade you; he was reframing the entire geometry of your situation.
This wasn't about Mercedes, or Toto, or one sudden boardroom decision. This was a grid. A market. A system. A sport that moved on ruthlessly fast when it realized it could profit from a new narrative.
You stood up slowly and walked over to the window. The pit lane was mostly deserted. In the distance, a transport truck idled, ready to head to the airport.
Without turning around, you spoke your mind. “They replaced you within a day in their heads, Lewis.”
He didn’t answer immediately. Then, softly: “They didn’t replace me.” A beat. “I left.”
The distinction hung between you, sharp and impossible to ignore. You turned back to face him. “That’s different.”
He nodded once. “It is. But not as much as you think.”
Later that evening, Mercedes held its final debrief of the year. There were no formalities, no technical slides—just a room full of exhausted people trying to summarize a season that no longer needed summarizing.
You sat at the very edge of the table, trapped in a strange, liminal space. You were no longer fully a part of the team, yet not entirely outside it either.
Toto spoke for most of the meeting, running through strategic notes, areas for improvement, and the outlook for next season. Kimi’s arrival was mentioned briefly and casually, as if it were just another data point on a telemetry sheet.
You listened professionally, but your mind kept drifting. You didn't feel anger, or even sadness. You just felt a profound, quiet clarity. Something had shifted irreversibly.
When the meeting finally ended, chairs scraped against the floor and laptops clicked shut. Routine goodbyes were exchanged—the usual, temporary 'see you next week.' Except you wouldn’t. Not in this garage. Not in this jacket.
Lewis caught your eye as the room emptied out. He waited until the last of the engineers filtered through the door before walking over.
“You coming?” he asked.
You nodded, then hesitated. “Yeah. I think I just need a minute first.”
He understood instantly. “Okay.” He didn’t press, giving you a supportive nod before stepping out into the corridor.
You stayed alone in the debrief room for a long time, listening to the distant, mechanical sounds of the paddock shutting down. Finally, you pulled out your phone. The notifications had piled up. More messages, some longer and carefully worded by PR agents, others blunt and direct. All of them saying the exact same thing: Opportunity. Future. Seat. Discussion.
You opened the Red Bull message again.
Laurent Mekies: We should talk.
You stared at the text. Your fingers hovered over the keyboard, and you typed out a short, controlled reply.
Summary: Lando took his wisdom tooth out and is still not over anaesthetic when he asks you out
Song: Belong To The City · PARTYNEXTDOOR
Author’s note: Please like, reblog and share this! 🫶
Word count: 1.8k
MASTERLIST - F1
The fluorescent lights of the private surgical suite hum with a sterile, clinical indifference that makes your skin crawl. You are sitting in a stiff, uncomfortable leather chair in the corner of the recovery room, a stack of racing magazines you didn’t read resting on your lap.
Your phone buzzed thirty minutes ago—a notification from the team’s press officer asking where the hell Lando was—but you silenced it, keeping your eyes trained on the man currently slumped in the clinical bed.
Lando Norris, the man who navigates the tight, unforgiving corners of Monaco at two hundred miles per hour with the precision of a surgeon, currently looks like a chipmunk who has been hit by a wrecking ball.
His cheeks are packed with gauze, his face swollen into a soft, puffy caricature of his usual sharp-jawed self.
The surgeon exits, offering you a weary smile and a packet of instructions about ice packs and pain management.
"He'll be groggy for a while," the doctor says, his voice hushed. "The sedation was quite strong. He might be… talkative. Or he might sleep for the next six hours. Just keep an eye on his breathing."
You nod, standing up as the doctor leaves. You walk over to the bedside, your heart pulling in a way that feels dangerously like a confession.
You’ve been Lando’s assistant, his confidante, and his best friend for three years. You’ve held his helmet, managed his media, and wiped the sweat from his brow after grueling podium finishes. But you have never seen him this vulnerable. This exposed.
Lando’s eyelashes flutter. They are long, dark, and currently trembling. With a groan that sounds like a rusted hinge, he cracks one blue eye open. It’s unfocused, glassy, and swimming in a haze of propofol.
"Lando?" you whisper, leaning closer. "Hey. You’re done. It’s over."
He blinks, his head lolling to the side. He stares at you for a long, agonizing moment before his pupils dilate. A slow, lopsided, and entirely ridiculous grin spreads across his face, hindered by the gauze.
"You," he slurs, his voice a thick, gravelly mess. "You’re… you’re the angel."
You laugh, a soft, nervous sound. "I’m not an angel, Lando. I’m just Y/N. You’re just loopy from the drugs."
He tries to lift a hand, but his arm wavers and drops back onto the starched sheets. "No," he insists, his words tripping over each other. "You’re the… the sky. The whole sky. Why are you so bright? Did you eat the sun? You shouldn’t eat the sun, Y/N. It’s too crunchy."
You bite your lip to stop from giggling, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair away from his forehead. His skin is warm, flushed from the anesthesia. "I didn't eat the sun, Lando. Drink some water."
He ignores the water, his gaze locked intensely onto yours. His expression shifts from confused whimsy to something startlingly earnest. The anesthesia takes away the filter, the British reserve, the carefully curated media personality. It leaves only the raw impulse.
"I have a secret," he whispers, leaning his head toward your hand.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." He pauses, struggling to form the consonants. "My mouth feels like a balloon. A big, sad balloon. But my heart…" He taps a finger clumsily against his chest. "My heart is doing flips. Like a car in a wall. Ker-choo."
"Ker-choo?" you repeat, your heart hammering against your own ribs.
"It’s because of you," he says. The seriousness in his voice is jarring, even through the slurring. "I drive really fast. I’m fast, right? Everyone says I’m fast."
"You’re very fast, Lando."
"But I’m slow at this," he mutters, furrowing his brows. "I’m so slow at telling you. It’s been three years. Three whole racing seasons of me being a complete… a complete… what’s the word? A total pillock."
You feel your breath hitch. You knew he loved you—you hoped it, at least—but hearing it while he was under the influence of heavy sedatives felt like opening a letter you were never meant to read.
"Lando, maybe you should rest," you say gently, your voice trembling.
"No, wait," he grabs at your sleeve, his grip weak but persistent. "I have to ask. My brain is all fog, but the truth is… it’s glowing in the fog. Like a neon sign in the rain."
He looks at you, his eyes searching your face with a desperation that makes your chest ache. "Go out with me."
The room goes silent. You can hear the distant hum of the hospital’s HVAC system and the muffled sounds of the hallway. You stare at him, stunned.
"Lando, you’re high on anesthesia," you whisper, though your hand stays in his.
"I’m high on you," he counters, trying to look suave and failing miserably as his mouth hangs slightly open. "Is that a pickup line? It sounds like a pickup line. I’m a professional athlete, I should have better lines. But you’re the only thing that makes sense when everything hurts. The dentist—he was mean. He took my tooth. But he can’t take… he can’t take this."
"Take what?"
"Us," he breathes, his eyes fluttering shut. "Please. Just say yes before I forget how to speak English entirely."
You look down at him. Even with the gauze, even with the drool beginning to dampen the collar of his hospital gown, he is the only person you have ever wanted. You’ve spent years suppressing this, keeping the line sharp and defined between assistant and driver. But looking at him now—so unguarded, so painfully honest—the line doesn’t just blur; it vanishes.
"Lando," you say, leaning down until your forehead rests against his. "You’re asking me out while you’re recovering from oral surgery."
"Best time to ask," he mumbles, his voice fading into sleep. "Can’t say no… when I’m this… this cute…"
He drifts off, his breathing evening out into a deep, rhythmic slumber. You stay there for a long time, sitting in the silence of the room, your hand still laced with his. Outside, the world goes on—the press wants their statements, the engineers want to debrief, the fans want their updates. But in here, under the hum of the lights, everything is quiet.
You know that when he wakes up, the fog will lift. The inhibition will return. He might be embarrassed. He might pretend it was the drugs talking.
But as you look at his sleeping face, you decide that you’re not going to let him forget. You’re going to hold him to it. You’re going to be his sky, and his neon sign in the rain, and everything else he needs.
You squeeze his hand, leaning in to whisper against his ear, "Ask me again when you're sober, Norris. And I’ll say yes then, too."
The next morning, the sunlight streaming into Lando’s home studio is blinding. You’re sitting on the edge of the sofa, watching him gingerly sip a smoothie through a straw.
His cheeks are still bruised and swollen, and he looks like he’s been through a war, but the manic, glassy look is gone. He looks human again. He looks like Lando.
He stops drinking, his eyes meeting yours. He looks down, a flush creeping up his neck.
"So," he starts, then winces as the movement pulls at his stitches. He clears his throat, his ears turning bright red. "I remember…"
You don't let him finish. You stand up, walking over to the coffee table, and pick up the notebook where you’d jotted down some notes for his next press appearance. You close it and set it aside, facing him fully.
"You remember the part about being a pillock?" you ask, a small smile playing on your lips.
He groans, burying his face in his hands. "Oh god. It was exactly that bad, wasn't it? I think I called you a piece of the sky or something? I’m mortified. I’m going to retire. I’m retiring from everything."
"You called me the sky," you confirm, stepping closer. "And then you told me that your heart felt like a car in a wall."
He lowers his hands, his blue eyes wide with panic. "I am so sorry. The drugs—they make you say the weirdest things. I just—I didn't mean to make things awkward. I know the professional boundary is important, and—"
"Lando," you interrupt, placing a hand on his knee. He freezes, his breath hitching. "Are you retracting it?"
He looks at you, his gaze searching your face for a sign of mockery, but finding only the same quiet, steady hope he’s carried for years. His expression softens, the panic fading into something more familiar, more grounded.
"Retracting it?" he repeats, his voice low. "No. I’ve been trying to find the right time to tell you for two years. I just didn't expect the catalyst to be a dental drill and some heavy-duty sedation."
"It was effective," you tease, feeling your pulse jump.
"Was it?" He leans forward, wincing slightly but not pulling away. "If I were to ask you again—properly, this time, without the drool and the anesthesia—would the answer stay the same?"
You look at him, really look at him. You see the man who worries about his lap times, the man who loves video games, the man who cares for his team, and the man who has spent three years looking at you like you’re the only thing in the paddock that matters.
"If you ask me properly," you say, your voice steady despite the nervousness fluttering in your stomach, "I’ll say yes. Over and over again."
Lando lets out a breath he seems to have been holding since the hospital. A slow, genuine smile breaks across his face—the one he saves for when he’s truly happy, away from the cameras and the noise.
"Okay," he says, reaching out to take your hand. His grip is warm, firm, and fully conscious. "Let’s start over then. Properly."
He doesn't ask right then, though. He just pulls your hand to his lips and presses a soft kiss to your knuckles, his eyes never leaving yours. It’s a promise, written in the quiet space between you.
"I’m still on painkillers," he mutters, a mischievous glint back in his eyes. "Does that mean I get a sympathy kiss?"
You roll your eyes, but you lean down anyway, brushing your lips against his. It’s light, careful of his mouth, and tastes like the start of something you’ve been writing in your head for years.
"You're a menace, Norris," you whisper.
"Yeah," he agrees, pulling you closer until you’re sitting on the edge of the sofa beside him. "But I’m your menace now."
The silence in the room is no longer heavy with what wasn't said; it's filled with the quiet, electric hum of what is finally beginning. You rest your head on his shoulder, his arm coming around to pull you against his side.
The racing season is coming up, the pressure will be immense, and the cameras will be everywhere. But for now, in the stillness of the afternoon, there is only the two of you—and the realization that sometimes, the best way to move forward is to let the anesthesia wear off and finally speak the truth.
"You really did eat the sun, didn't you?" he murmurs, his voice sleepy and content.
"Shut up, Lando."
"Make me."
You smile, closing your eyes and leaning into him. The race, for the first time, feels like it can wait. You’ve already won. . . .
SUMMARY: Lando Norris taught Y/N that sometimes love isn't enough to overcome fear. Max Verstappen, however, seems determined to prove that love was never supposed to be so complicated.
After years of believing her place in the world made her impossible to choose, trusting someone who chooses her so easily might be the hardest thing she'll ever do.
WORD COUNT: 11K
NOTE: Hi! Thank you so much for all the love and support you've shown my Max stories. I have to admit he's one of my favorite drivers to write about, and I absolutely adored writing him in this one. I really hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed creating it. English isn't my first language, so you may come across some grammar or wording mistakes.
masterlist
The first time I realized there were people who were born in places different from mine, I was eight years old.
It wasn’t because someone explained it to me. It was because I overheard two of my grandmother’s neighbors talking while they played dominoes in her backyard.
“That little girl’s mother sends money from England, doesn’t she?” one of them asked in a raspy voice as she placed another tile on the table.
“She does.”
“Poor thing… Growing up without a father, and with her mother raising other people’s children instead of her own.” The woman took a long drag from her cigarette before continuing the game, as if she had just made the most ordinary comment in the world.
I kept drawing in the dirt with a stick, pretending I hadn’t heard a thing. Children learn very early which conversations aren’t meant for them.
That night, while my grandmother peeled potatoes for dinner, I couldn’t keep the question to myself any longer.
“Grandma…”
She looked up for only a second.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Is it true that my mom takes care of other children in England?”
Her hands froze over the cutting board for a few seconds.
“Your mother works.”
“But… taking care of other children?”
“Yes.”
I lowered my eyes to the concrete floor. I remember staring at a tiny crack, unable to understand why such a simple answer hurt so much.
“Then why doesn’t she take care of me?” I whispered.
My grandmother didn’t answer. She simply set the knife aside, walked over to me, and gently stroked my hair with a rough hand, worn by years of hard work. Then she quietly returned to the kitchen as if nothing had happened.
As I grew older, I learned that some silences weigh far more than any answer ever could.
When I was twelve, the sweet woman who had raised me my entire life passed away.
Something inside me froze that day. Not even the hot cup of coffee one of our neighbors handed me made me feel anything.
The house was filled with people who, until that moment, had never bothered to show up, and suddenly everyone seemed to have an opinion about what should happen to me.
“She can’t stay here alone.”
“She’s still just a child.”
“Someone needs to call her mother.”
No one asked what I wanted. It was as if being twelve meant I had no right to make decisions about my own life.
Two days after the funeral, my mother arrived carrying a single small suitcase, making it painfully obvious she had no intention of staying for long.
“Tomorrow we’re going to take care of some paperwork,” she said. Those were the first words she spoke after settling into my grandmother’s bedroom.
“What are we going to do?” I asked quietly.
“We’re getting your documents ready. You’re coming back to England with me.” Her voice left no room for questions.
So I stayed silent and let the woman who had spent years away come back and rearrange my entire life.
When we arrived at the Norris family’s house, I finally understood why my mother had chosen to build a life here instead of coming back for me like she’d always promised.
The house was beautiful—bright, spotless, and full of life. It couldn’t have been more different from our little concrete home back in our country, which always felt dark and cold.
My mother showed me the bedroom we’d be sharing, and without another word, she left to begin her daily chores around the house.
I was alone. So I wandered outside into the enormous backyard. Everything felt so unfamiliar… so cold… so depressing.
Or maybe that was simply the way I saw the world now that my grandmother was gone.
My relationship with my mother had always been distant. While we lived in different countries, our conversations rarely lasted more than ten minutes. We spoke only about practical things, never about feelings. That’s why I didn’t trust her enough to tell her everything that was happening inside my head.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a football ball slammed into my arm.
“Ow.” I immediately rubbed the sore spot.
When I looked up, I found myself staring at a green-eyed boy wearing an apologetic smile.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. Those were the only words I understood.
I didn’t speak English. To me, everything else sounded like an endless stream of meaningless sounds.
“I… don’t speak English,” I managed to say.
“Oh…” His eyes widened with understanding. “Lucía?”
He cradled his arms as if rocking a baby, and I quickly realized he was asking if I was Lucía’s daughter.
I simply nodded. I thought that would be the end of our interaction. Instead, he stayed exactly where he was.
First, he pointed at himself.
“Lando.”
Then he pointed at me.
“Y/N,” I replied.
His smile grew even wider, clearly pleased that we’d managed to communicate despite the language barrier.
He bent down, picked up the football ball that had been forgotten on the grass, and held it out toward me. Then he pointed his thumb toward a makeshift pitch a few yards away.
He was inviting me to play.
I wanted to say no. But the simple kindness of someone making such an effort to communicate with me, despite neither of us speaking the other’s language, awakened a warmth in my chest that I hadn’t felt in a very long time. So I said yes.
After that day, our friendship blossomed.
Lando was the one who practically taught me how to speak English, while I taught him bits and pieces of Spanish.
We spent countless afternoons playing on his PlayStation or running around the backyard whenever the sun was out. When my mother grounded me and refused to let me leave my room, he’d sneak candy under my bedroom door. Whenever he got into trouble, I’d do the same for him.
As the years passed, our little friendship slowly became something else. Somewhere along the way, the flame of love had ignited within my heart, and from the way Lando looked at me, I was certain that it burned just as intensely within his.
One ordinary afternoon, in the middle of one of our usual games, we shared our first kiss. It was shy, awkward, and over almost as quickly as it had begun.
Afterward, we avoided each other for days. Neither of us knew how we were supposed to act after crossing that line.
Eventually, though, we slipped back into our old routine. We depended on each other too much to let a single kiss ruin everything, so we quietly agreed to pretend it had never happened.
Until the day we crossed a line no friendship ever should.
We slept together for the first time.
The next morning, Lando tried to act like nothing had changed. He laughed, joked, and spoke to me exactly the way he always had.
But eventually, the weight of the question hanging between us—What are we now?—became too much for him to ignore.
“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he said quietly. “I never meant for this to happen. You mean so much to me, and I don’t want us holding onto hopes we both know can’t become reality… You know we can’t be together.”
As he spoke the most painful words my sixteen-year-old heart had ever heard, he couldn’t even bring himself to look me in the eye.
I simply nodded and forced a small smile. It hurt more than I could ever describe, but I understood. Someone like him—someone with endless opportunities, someone destined to conquer the world—could never be with someone like me.
The daughter of the housekeeper.
The years that followed were some of the hardest of my life. Lando threw himself completely into his racing career, and little by little, we stopped spending our days together.
At home, things weren’t any easier.
My mother became unbearable. To this day, I don’t know whether it was my teenage hormones or her constant need to control every aspect of my life, but every conversation between us turned into another argument.
By the time I turned eighteen, our relationship had reached the point of no return. One fight escalated until it became physical. So I packed the few clothes and belongings I owned, walked out of that house, and never looked back.
For the first time in years, I was ready to start over. Free from my mother’s control and free from the feelings that had kept my heart tied to Lando for far too long.
(…)
Eight long years had passed since that day.
Time had brought maturity with it, and little by little, I had managed to heal many of the wounds I’d carried inside me.
Life hadn’t become any easier after leaving the Norris household. I’d had to work incredibly hard just to support myself, and although I still hadn’t reached the goals I’d set for myself, I could finally say I was stable.
My relationship with my mother, while still complicated, had improved somewhat. At the very least, we could now have a conversation without arguing. Sometimes we even laughed together.
Things with Lando were much the same. Every now and then we’d call each other to ask how life was going, but that was the extent of it. I couldn’t even say we were friends anymore. We were simply two people who shared the nostalgia of the past we’d grown up together.
One ordinary Sunday, I was invited to the Norris house for a small New Year’s lunch.
Lando was there with his new girlfriend, along with several of his friends.
Watching him be so affectionate with her made my stomach twist. I wasn’t in love with Lando anymore—that had been left in the past—but I couldn’t help mourning what we might have become if social class hadn’t mattered so much.
I was helping my mother clean up in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Since no one seemed to hear it from the backyard, I decided to answer the door myself.
“Good afternoon,” a blond man with striking blue eyes greeted me.
He looked strangely familiar.
“Hi. How can I help you?” I asked, studying his serious expression.
With that same curiosity, he began studying mine.
“Max! I thought you weren’t going to make it!” Lando’s cheerful voice broke the strange silence between us.
I looked back at the blond man, and suddenly his face clicked into place.
Max Verstappen.
Just like Lando, he was a Formula One driver.
I stepped aside to let him in. He gave me one last lingering glance before following Lando toward the backyard.
The afternoon passed without anything particularly remarkable happening.
Everything felt perfectly normal… Except for the fact that Max Verstappen kept looking at me.
We were all scattered around the garden. Lando’s girlfriend settled beside him on the outdoor sofa and intertwined her fingers with his the moment I walked over to set a few plates on the table. The gesture was far too deliberate to be accidental.
I chose to ignore it or at least, I tried to.
“So, what do you do for a living?” she suddenly asked.
“I work as a dancer at a theater, and from time to time I also work at art exhibitions.”
I conveniently left out the job that actually occupied most of my time: working as a barista at a coffee shop.
“Really?” She smiled. It was a beautiful smile, but completely hollow. “That’s interesting. I honestly thought you’d still be working here with your mom.”
The silence that followed was almost imperceptible. But it was there. I could feel several pairs of eyes turning toward me. I took a slow breath before answering.
“No. I’ve been living on my own for years.”
“I see…” She took a sip of her drink. “I suppose growing up here must have opened a lot of doors for you.”
She hadn’t raised her voice. She hadn’t said anything openly offensive. But every single person there understood exactly what she was implying.
That anything I’d achieved was because of the Norris family. Not because I’d earned it myself.
Lando opened his mouth.
“She got her job on her own—”
“I was only saying she’s been lucky,” his girlfriend interrupted with a flawless smile.
I didn’t want to stay there anymore.
I picked up my glass and announced that I was going to the kitchen for another drink before turning away, not giving anyone the chance to stop me.
The moment I stepped into the kitchen, I had to take several deep breaths to keep my anger under control.
Who the hell did that bitch think she was?
Who had given her the right to judge me like that?
I’d worked my ass off these past eight years to build a life for myself. No one had ever handed me anything on a silver platter… Like they most likely had with her.
Stupid bitch.
Stupid Lando.
A few years earlier, I probably would’ve destroyed her with a comeback so brutal everyone around us would’ve been clutching their pearls.
“You’re actually pretty nice, you know? If I were you, I wouldn’t have let that slide.” A deep, raspy voice pulled me out of my murderous thoughts.
I turned around to find Max filling a glass with water.
“Are you trying to start a fight?” I asked, crossing my arms as I looked at him with amusement.
Max simply shrugged.
“Only if you want to.” He took a sip of water as if he’d said nothing unusual.
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. Half disbelief. Half amusement.
“I don’t think the Norris family—or my mother—would appreciate me starting a fight in their backyard.” I sighed. “So I’ll just stay in here until I calm down.”
“Then I’ll stay with you,” he decided, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs.
We talked about everything.
Anyone watching us would’ve assumed we’d known each other for years instead of having met barely an hour earlier.
He told me a little about his life, his racing career, and the end of the previous championship.
I told him about my home in my country and all the different jobs I worked.
“How do you manage to have three jobs?” he asked, frowning.
It genuinely seemed impossible for him to understand how anyone could take on that much responsibility.
“Well, I only work at the theater on Friday and Saturday nights,” I explained before taking a sip of my lemonade. “Sometimes Sundays too, if Monday’s a holiday. I only have rehearsals two evenings during the week, which leaves my weekdays free to work at the coffee shop. As for the art galleries, I only work whenever there’s an exhibition, usually on weekend mornings and afternoons.”
Max looked genuinely horrified. I couldn’t help laughing, it wasn’t the first time someone had looked at me that way.
“Trust me,” I said with a shrug, “it’s not as bad as it sounds. It helps knowing it’s only temporary. I’m saving as much money as I can, and once I have enough, I’ll find a job that isn’t nearly as demanding.”
After that, our conversation drifted toward lighter topics. Nothing serious or complicated.
The truth was, Max was an excellent conversationalist, and I found myself genuinely enjoying his company.
We talked until late into the night, until almost everyone had gone home and only the two of us—and a couple of others—remained in the garden.
When we finally said goodbye, it felt like we were old friends. In my mind, I told myself it would be the first and last time we’d ever see each other. But deep down my heart hoped there could be something more.
The next morning, the first person to question me was my mother, as always.
“Remember your place when it comes to men like them. They have money, power, and connections, and they look for women of the same caliber to be with. Don’t get your hopes up over nothing.”
With a disapproving frown, she made it very clear what she thought about how close Max and I had seemed the day before.
“I know that, Mom,” I replied, rolling my eyes as I stirred my bowl of oatmeal with my spoon.
“It didn’t look that way yesterday. Open your eyes, Y/N. You’re far too old not to realize that men like them only want a one-night stand with you.” My mother continued her lecture.
Before I could answer, Lando’s voice interrupted us.
“Can I steal her for a minute?” he asked my mother, nodding in my direction.
She picked up her coffee mug.
“I’m going upstairs to take care of a few things.” Without another word, she left the kitchen.
Lando walked over to the coffee maker, poured himself a cup, and took a slow sip. I simply watched him, trying to figure out what was going on inside his head.
“So…” he began, leaning against the counter. “What did you think of Max?”
Lando was so predictable that I almost laughed.
“I actually liked him.” I took another spoonful of oatmeal, deliberately leaving it at that.
Lando simply nodded and kept watching me.
“What?” I finally asked after a few moments of silence.
“He’s a good guy,” he said after a brief pause. “But…”He stopped, searching for the right words.
I gestured with my hand for him to continue.
“He can be very impulsive.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“When he wants something, he usually goes after it without thinking too much. And… I don’t want you to get hurt.” He set his mug down and leaned against the kitchen island so we were standing face-to-face.
I rolled my eyes with a quiet sigh.
“Lando… you don’t have to worry, okay? I know how to take care of myself. I’ve been taking care of myself for practically my whole life, and I’m doing just fine.” I motioned toward myself as if presenting proof that I was perfectly alive and well.
Lando let out a long sigh.
“It’s just…” His voice softened. “You mean a lot to me. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I want your heart to stay safe.”
For a moment, I could see the sixteen-year-old boy I’d fallen in love with reflected in his eyes. The warmth in his gaze made my stomach twist. I swallowed discreetly before forcing a small smile.
“Don’t worry. We only had one conversation yesterday. It’s not like we’re going to get married.” A nervous laugh slipped from my lips.
(…)
A few days later, it was Tuesday.
Tuesdays were usually the most boring days at the coffee shop. It was always half empty, and time seemed to move painfully slowly. I was restocking one of the display cases when Elena, one of my coworkers, walked over to me.
“There’s someone at that table asking for you.”
She pointed her thumb toward a table tucked away in the corner, occupied by a man sitting with his back to us.
Confused, I made my way over. Customers almost never requested a specific server.
“Good morning. How can I hel—” The words died in my throat before I could finish.
The man looked up calmly and offered me an easy smile.
“Good morning.” His deep voice sent a shiver down my spine.
“Max?” I blurted out. “What are you doing here?” The disbelief in my voice was impossible to hide.
He slowly closed the menu.
“Having coffee.” He tilted his head ever so slightly “Isn’t that obvious?”
I stared at him for several seconds, completely dumbfounded. Shaking my head with a small laugh, I took his order and walked behind the counter to prepare it.
There was no way this was actually happening to me.
A few minutes later, I placed his drink in front of him, unable to hold back the question that had been bothering me.
“How did you find this place?”
“You told me where you worked.” He shrugged before taking his first sip.
“No, I’m sure I didn’t.” I frowned, folding my arms across my chest.
“You told me what neighborhood it was in,” he replied casually. “That was enough. There weren’t that many coffee shops around, so it wasn’t hard to find.”
He took another sip while looking at me over the rim of his cup.
He was lying. We weren’t close to downtown, but this wasn’t some hidden corner of the city either there were plenty of cafés around. There was no way he’d found this one that easily.
“So why did you come here?”
“Because I wanted coffee.” He shrugged like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
But that smile… There wasn’t a single innocent thing about it.
“I don’t believe you.” I narrowed my eyes.
“Fine.” He raised both hands in surrender. “I wanted to see you.”
He admitted it without hesitation. Without embarrassment. Without the slightest trace of shame. It was as if he’d just commented on the weather.
“You’re weird.” I laughed, mostly out of surprise.
“Why?” he asked, genuinely confused.
“Because we barely know each other, and you’re doing… this.”
“Exactly.” He adjusted himself in his chair until he was sitting perfectly straight. “It’s hard to get to know someone if you never see them again.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic. So I laughed once more and went back to work.
Even as I moved around the café, I could feel his eyes following me. He watched every movement carefully, and every time our eyes met, even if only for a second, he’d give me the smallest smile.
“When are you finally leaving?” I asked, growing increasingly frustrated with his relentless staring.
“Wow.” A laugh escaped him. “Customer service isn’t exactly your strongest skill.”
When my expression didn’t change, he added,
“I’ll leave as soon as you give me your number.”
For a moment, I was speechless. The man had absolutely no shame.
“Does this little performance usually work on women?” I finally asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’ve never tried it before.”
He said it so naturally that I found myself laughing again. It was impossible to tell when he was joking, but I had a feeling he wasn’t.
“Are you always this straightforward?”
“Yes.” He answered without the slightest hesitation.
“It’s a little intimidating.” Now it was my turn to admit something.
“Do you want me to stop?”
I studied him carefully. I expected a grin. A joke. Something. But there was nothing, he was simply waiting for my answer.
I slowly shook my head.
“No…” Then I caught myself. “Well… yes. I don’t know.”
A quiet chuckle escaped him.
“Make up your mind.”
“Don’t change the subject.” I pointed a finger at him.
“I’m not.” He defended himself immediately.
I sighed.
“Do you always get what you want?”
“No.” He paused to think. “But I can be very persistent.”
I couldn’t help remembering my mother’s words.
Men like them look for women from their own world.
Then I remembered Lando.
We can’t be together.
Two men from the same world. The same social standing. And yet, they seemed to speak completely different languages.
In the end, I gave him my number. Only so he’d finally leave me alone or at least, that’s what I told myself.
He stood up, took out his wallet, and paid for his coffee. Before leaving, he said with the same calmness he’d arrived with,
“See you in a few days.”
I watched him open the door and disappear before I could even think of a response. I stood there for several seconds, completely frozen.
Elena appeared behind me with the biggest grin on her face.
“Did that man just shamelessly flirt with you?”
I kept staring at the door. Still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
(…)
Sunday of that same week arrived with the usual chaos that came with exhibition days.
People drifted in and out of the gallery, the constant murmur of conversations about artists most of them barely knew, and the clinking of wine glasses every few minutes. It was exhausting, but it was also the only job where I never felt like I was pretending to be someone else.
Here, I wasn’t the daughter of a housekeeper. I wasn’t the barista who served coffee all week. I wasn’t the charming, flirtatious dancer.
Here, I was simply someone talking about something she loved.
I had just finished explaining one of the pieces when I excused myself from the group to get a glass of water.
“So this is where you disappear to on Sundays.” The voice made me turn around immediately.
For a split second, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.
But it wasn’t.
Max was standing beside one of the sculptures, his hands tucked into his pockets and wearing such a calm expression that it looked like he’d been waiting for me for quite a while.
I couldn’t help smiling.
“What are you doing here?”
His gaze wandered slowly around the gallery before settling back on me.
“I came to see you.” He said it with the same ease most people would use to say good afternoon. He didn’t even try to dress it up.
A strange warmth tightened in my chest.
I shook my head, somewhere between amused and bewildered. There was something deeply unusual about him.
He didn’t flirt the way other men did. He didn’t try to impress me. He simply showed up, like wanting to see me was reason enough.
I motioned for him to walk with me as I resumed my tour of the gallery.
For nearly an hour, he didn’t interrupt me once. He simply followed me with his hands in his pockets, listening to every explanation with an attentiveness that genuinely surprised me. Every now and then, he’d stop to study one of the paintings for a few moment. But somehow, his eyes always found their way back to me.
It was unsettling.
When the last group moved on to the next room, I let out a relieved breath.
“So?” I asked as I walked over to him. “What did you think?”
He studied the painting in front of him for a few seconds.
“I didn’t understand much of it.”
I laughed.
“I figured.”
“But I liked listening to you.” The answer caught me completely off guard.
“Why?”
This time, he didn’t answer immediately. He looked at me with that infuriating calmness that seemed to define everything he did.
“Because you’re different here.”
Almost instinctively, I looked around. I’d never really thought about it before, but he was right.
Here, I didn’t measure every word before I spoke, I didn’t worry about being judged, I simply existed.
“It’s the only place where I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing.”
He nodded, like my answer had confirmed something he’d already suspected.
We continued walking among the artwork.
The silence wasn’t awkward. With Max, it never seemed to be.
Until my eyes landed on a group of elegantly dressed women chatting over glasses of wine. They all looked like they belonged there.
Then I looked down at myself. I was wearing a simple black dress I’d bought on sale nearly two years earlier. For the first time that afternoon I felt out of place.
“I don’t understand what you’re doing here with me.” The words escaped before I could stop them.
Max barely turned his head.
“I already told you.”
I slowly shook mine.
“No…” I swallowed. “I’m not the kind of woman men like you usually go for.”
I expected anything. A smile, a compliment, a ‘Don’t say that’. Instead, he simply frowned. Like he was genuinely trying to understand what I meant.
“And what kind is that?”
A short laugh escaped me.
“Max…” I gestured around the gallery. “Look at them.”
He did. For several seconds, he watched the women talking nearby before looking back at me.
“What about them?”
I sighed.
It was difficult to explain something I’d believed since I was a teen.
“They belong in your world, I don’t. I spend my week serving coffee just to pay my rent. My mother spent half her life cleaning other people’s houses, and she’s still cleaning your friend’s house too. So I hope you can understand why it’s hard for me to believe that someone like you would show up at two of my jobs just because he wants to get to know me.”
The silence that followed was brief, much shorter than I expected.
“I don’t understand.” His answer was so firm that it completely disarmed me. “Because all of that seems important to you. Not to me.”
Something shifted inside my chest. All my life, I’d been taught that the differences between people were impossible to ignore. That sooner or later, they always outweighed everything else.
Lando had taught me that without ever having to say it aloud.
But Max… Max seemed incapable of understanding why we were even having this conversation.
“You’re used to making decisions for other people.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You’ve spent the last five minutes telling me what kind of woman I should like.” He took a single step closer, not enough to invade my space. Just enough to make sure I was listening. “And you still haven’t asked me what I want.”
I didn’t answer. Because, for the first time in a very long while I didn’t have one.
A faint smile appeared on his face. The small one he seemed to reserve for only a handful of moments.
“It’s a lot simpler than you’re making it.”
And just like that, the conversation was over.
He didn’t insist, didn’t try to convince me. He simply turned his attention to the next painting like we’d just been discussing something as ordinary as what he planned to have for dinner.
Oddly enough that was what unsettled me the most. Because while I’d spent my entire life turning the differences between us into an impossible mountain to climb, Max didn’t seem capable of seeing that the mountain even existed.
(…)
My third job was, by far, the hardest one to explain.
Everytime I told someone I danced at a late-night theater, they always gave me the same look. The look of people who assumed far too much without asking a single question.
Eventually, I stopped explaining.
The pay was good, I loved dancing, and no one had the right to decide what I did with my own body to make a living.
Friday performances were always sold out.
The theater transformed completely after nightfall. Warm lights replaced the starkness of the stage, and the air filled with the scent of perfume, alcohol, and makeup.
By then, I’d learned how to tell the difference between the customers who came for the performance and those who mistook a stage for an invitation.
I was adjusting the last garter on my stockings in front of the mirror when one of the dancers gave me a playful nudge.
“There’s a really handsome man asking for you.”
I laughed.
“Which one?”
“No… this one’s different.”
I peeked through the side of the courtain and nearly choked on my own saliva.
Max.
Sitting at a table near the stage with a glass of whiskey in front of him.
He was wearing an immaculate dark suit and observing the room with the same quiet calm he seemed to observe absolutely everything else with.
The moment our eyes met, he lifted his glass ever so slightly in greeting.
I shook my head, fighting back a smile.
He was officially a stalker.
I’d never been embarrassed to step onto that stage. Not because I was an exhibitionist. But because, over time, I’d learned that my body could be an artistic instrument instead of something I should be ashamed of.
The music began and he lights did the rest. For several minutes, I completely forgot Max was sitting in the audience. Until one of the choreographies brought me almost the entire length of the runway.
As I passed his table, I looked at him.
He wasn’t smiling. He didn’t have that smug expression so many men wore when they walked into that place. He was simply watching me. Like he was trying to memorize every movement.
And for some reason that look made me far more nervous than all the whistles coming from the rest of the room.
The show ended nearly an hour later and that was when everything went to hell.
I slipped a satin robe over my costume and stepped outside through one of the side doors to get some fresh air.
I hadn’t even finished closing the door behind me when a man stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“You dance beautifully.”
I smiled politely.
“Thank you.” I tried to walk past him, but he stepped in front of me again.
“Are you always this hard to get?”
A knot formed in my stomach.
“Excuse me, I need to get back inside.”
This time, he grabbed my wrist hard.
“Five minutes. I’m just trying to talk to you.”
Before I could react, someone forcefully pulled his hand away from my arm.
“She said no.” Max’s voice was colder than I’d ever heard it before.
The man let out a drunken laugh.
“And who the hell are you?”
“The one telling you to let her go.”
There wasn’t any more conversation. Everything happened too fast.
One shove.
Then another.
Then the first punch.
And suddenly several people were trying to pull them apart while someone shouted for security.
“Max!”
It was useless. He didn’t even seem to hear me.
The last thing I saw before walking away was a chair flying through the air.
I turned around. Not because I didn’t care, but because I knew that kind of chaos far too well. I’d spent too many years watching men decide that violence could solve everything.
And I wasn’t about to stand there and watch another one. I ended up sitting on the curb in the parking lot.
I couldn’t even remember when I’d started crying.
My makeup had to be completely ruined. I was wearing false eyelashes. Red lipstick. A sparkly dress underneath a satin robe and I was crying in a parking lot at two o’clock in the morning.
What a depressing picture.
I heard footsteps approaching, I didn’t bother looking up. I already knew who it was.
“If you’re here to explain why you got into that fight, don’t bother.”
A brief silence followed.
“Okay.”
I frowned slightly. I had been expecting an argument, not obedience.
“You’re not going to insist?”
“You said you didn’t want to hear it.”
I finally looked up.
Max’s lip was split open. The corner of his mouth was still bleeding, and a cut above his eyebrow had already begun to swell.
I sighed.
“You look like shit.”
He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand.
“He looks worse.”
I couldn’t help laughing through my tears.
“You’re an idiot.”
For the first time since he’d walked out of the theater he smiled.
He sat down beside me without saying a word. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. We simply listened to the distant sound of passing cars. Until I was the one who finally broke the silence.
“So…” I looked over at him. “Did you win?”
He turned toward me.
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“At some point they stopped punching me and started holding me back with four guys.” He shrugged. “I guess that counts as a win.”
I burst into laughter. Completely inappropriate laughter.
He ended up laughing too.
Suddenly, all the drama from the last twenty minutes felt absurdly ridiculous. I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand.
“Now tell me.” I looked at him “Why did you do it?”
His expression turned serious again.
“Because he grabbed you.”
That was it, no speech, no heroic explanation. Just those four words.
Something shifted inside my chest. No one had ever reacted like that because of me. Not even the people who’d actually had the right to.
“I’ve spent my whole life trying not to be a burden to anyone.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“You’re doing a terrible job.”
A laugh escaped me.
“Was that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.” He looked completely serious. “Just an observation.”
I laughed again. It was impossible to stay dramatic around him for very long.
I took a deep breath.
“I’m hungry.”
Max blinked.
“What?”
“I want sushi.”
He looked at his watch.
“It’s two in the morning.”
“I know.”
“Now?”
I nodded. He stared at me for a few seconds before standing up.
“Alright.”
“Seriously?” I hadn’t expected him to agree.
“Yeah.” He lifted his car keys “Let’s go get sushi.”
I followed him across the parking lot. Halfway to the car, he looked me up and down.
“Are you really going in dressed like that?”
I looked down. High heels. A sequined costume. Mascara streaked all the way to my chin.
I laughed.
Then I looked at him.
His suit was wrinkled, his lip was split open. There was dried blood on the collar of his shirt.
“And you?”
He shrugged.
“We make a pretty good pair.”
I completely agreed.
Half an hour later, we were sitting in a tiny all-night sushi restaurant.
The waitress looked at him. Then at me. Then back at both of us. Finally, she asked as casually as if nothing were unusual,
“Extra soy sauce?”
Max looked at me. I shrugged.
“Obviously.”
She nodded without asking a single question. I waited until she’d walked away before turning back to him.
“We just ordered sushi dressed like we walked out of a fight in a cabaret.”
Max opened the box of gyoza.
“Because we did walk out of a fight in a cabaret.”
That night I laughed until my stomach hurt.
(…)
After that chaotic night, an unusual calm settled over my life.
Max stopped showing up unexpectedly at my jobs, and as much as I hated to admit it, something inside me withered a little.
Every time the café door opened, my heart would race only to sink the moment I realized it wasn’t him.
I forced myself to forget about him and buried myself in work. It was obvious that, for him, I’d been nothing more than a brief distraction before returning to his real life.
Three weeks passed.
Then one night, while I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, my phone buzzed.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Hi. How have you been?
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Sorry I didn’t text you sooner. Somehow I lost your number.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: I had to fight with this piece of crap technology just to get it back.
I frowned as I read the messages.
Who the hell was this?
ME: Hi, who is this?
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Seriously? 🙄
ME: Well, if I weren’t serious, I wouldn’t be asking 😒
UNKNOWN NUMBER: I’m the love of your life and your future husband.
The smile I’d been missing for the past few weeks returned instantly. Like an idiot, I kicked my feet beneath my blankets before immediately saving his number to my contacts.
ME: Jacob Elordi?
MAX: He’s dating Kendall Jenner, so I doubt he’d be texting you something like that.
ME: A girl can dream 🥲
ME: How have you been, Max?
MAX: So you did know it was me. Does this mean you’re admitting that I really am the love of your life and your future husband?
ME: I’m admitting you’re the only lunatic I know who genuinely believes that’s possible 🙂↔️
MAX: Ha. Ha. Ha. 🤡
MAX: You’re hilarious 😒
MAX: But seriously, I’m sorry I didn’t text sooner. I really couldn’t find your contact.
ME: Don’t worry about it. Although I was starting to think you’d given up on me.
MAX: That’s not a word in my vocabulary. At least not when it comes to you.
My heart skipped a beat as I read the message. He had an incredible ability to send shivers down my spine without even trying. I knew that probably wasn’t a good thing, but I couldn’t help it.
MAX: I’m in Monaco. I had to come back because I have to spend a certain amount of time here every year. You know… taxes and all that.
ME: Yeah, it’s pretty much the same with Lando. I get it.
A couple of minutes passed without another message. I assumed that was the end of the conversation.
Then the three little typing dots appeared.
MAX: Anyway, I wanted to ask if you’d like to come spend a weekend with me. I know you have work and everything, but do you think you could get a few days off?
ME: Max… Work isn’t really the issue. It’s just I can’t exactly afford to pack my bags and fly to Monaco on a whim.
What the hell did he think? That I was rich? I worked three jobs, and even then, if I went two months without work, I’d probably end up homeless.
MAX: Y/N, please. You didn’t actually think I’d let you pay for any of it, did you? What kind of man would that make me? I’ll pay for everything, I just want you to come visit me and spend some time together, not make your life any harder.
ME: Don’t you think that’s a bit much? I can count on one hand how many times we’ve actually seen each other.
I tried to reason with him. Although I already had a pretty good idea of what his answer would be.
MAX: So? I already know your family, I know where you work. Why does it matter how many times we’ve seen each other?
ME: This is all happening way too fast.
MAX: Not at all. If it were up to me, we’d already be married. I’m just trying to move at your pace.
A laugh of complete disbelief escaped me.
This man was insane. But it was the kind of insanity that felt oddly refreshing. Being around him made me feel something I hadn’t experienced in years.
Comfort.
Joy.
A sense that maybe life didn’t always have to feel so heavy. I didn’t want to admit it, but I wanted more of that feeling.
The last few years of my life had felt like I was constantly one step away from falling apart. And somehow, Max felt like a breath of fresh air.
ME: You’re going to have to do a lot more than that. But, lucky for you I accept. So when’s the trip?
It was that very same weekend. Max didn’t want to waste any time or risk me changing my mind. Which, if I was being honest, I had almost done a couple of times.
When I arrived, Max picked me up in Nice, and from there we took a helicopter to Monaco.
Everything about it was completely new to me. I tried my best not to let my amazement show, but it was obvious Max noticed.
He just laughed every time.
It was Friday, and Max had a few media interviews to get through, so he introduced me to a woman who turned out to be a fashion stylist.
Yes.
Max had arranged an entire afternoon of shopping for me.
I wanted to refuse. It felt like this was far too much. But he hadn’t exactly given me a choice, considering the stylist was the one picking out everything and insisting I try it on.
If I tried on a thousand outfits that afternoon, I still think I’d be underestimating it. Once our shopping marathon was finally over, Max came to pick me up and took me back to his apartment.
The moment I walked through the door, I threw myself onto the bed with every intention of sleeping until the next morning.
Max, however had other plans. He practically forced me out of bed and told me to get ready because we were going out for dinner.
I ended up wearing one of the beautiful dresses he’d bought for me earlier that day.
Max looked incredibly handsome himself.
That night was wonderful.
We laughed and drank far too much. By the end of the evening, Max decided it was smarter to leave his car in a parking garage.
The two of us practically stumbled all the way back to his apartment.
It must have been a ridiculous sight. Anyone watching us would’ve had no idea whether I was helping Max walk or if he was the one helping me.
On Saturday, we went to the casino.
On Sunday, we spent the afternoon on a yacht.
I felt like I was floating, completely relaxed. Without a single worry in my mind.
Max was the funniest, kindest man I’d ever met. Which was exactly why, on Sunday night, as I packed my suitcase to return to my complicated reality, the apartment felt unusually quiet. Like sadness itself had settled into the room.
“I don’t want you to leave.” Max’s voice was barely above a whisper.
I turned to look at him. He was leaning against one of the bedroom walls, watching me.
“I don’t want to leave either.” My voice caught slightly “But I have to go back to work.”
The moment our eyes met, I had to look away. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold his gaze without bursting into tears.
Max walked over and sat down beside me on the bed.
“Stay this week.” He spoke so naturally it almost sounded obvious. “Take a few more vacation days. There’s still so much I want to show you.”
He smiled softly.
“You can go home next Sunday.”
I looked at him, trying to figure out whether he was joking. He wasn’t.
His face showed nothing but determination.
“Max…” I shook my head. “It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”
“It is.” He crossed his arms. “Unless you just don’t want to spend more time with me.”
Then he looked away with a deep frown, looking every bit like an offended child.
I almost laughed.
“No, that’s not it.” I reached over and took one of his hands. “I do want to stay with you.”
“Then stay.” His voice softened “Please.”
The way he asked completely melted my heart. After letting out the deepest sigh imaginable I gave in.
The smile that spread across Max’s face was so wide it looked like he’d just won the lottery.
I contacted all three of my jobs to let them know I’d be extending my vacation. Fortunately, none of them had a problem with it.
The days that followed were just as wonderful. We did everything. We wandered through Monaco without any real destination.
We visited a nearby town and spent the day sightseeing.
Every moment felt effortless. I felt like I was living inside a dream. But nothing in my life had ever stayed perfect for long. Sooner or later reality always found me.
It was Thursday when Max asked me to accompany him to a charity dinner. The event didn’t allow media or unauthorized cameras, so he assured me that my presence wouldn’t attract much attention.
What neither of us had taken into account was that several of the other Formula One drivers would be there.
Including Lando.
Some time after we arrived, my eyes met another pair that I recognized instantly. Lando’s girlfriend, Marie.
The moment Marie recognized me, she raised an eyebrow and looked me up and down. She let out a quiet laugh before leaning toward the man I immediately recognized as Lando and whispering something in his ear.
He turned sharply in my direction. Before our eyes could meet, I looked away.
Max had stepped aside to greet someone, so I forced myself to pay attention to the elegant older woman who had been talking nonstop for nearly five minutes about the venue’s décor. Out of politeness, I smiled a couple of times and made a few meaningless comments.
My heart was racing. I held onto my wine glass so tightly because I was terrified someone would notice my hands trembling.
When the woman finally excused herself, I nearly cried with grief.
I didn’t want to be standing there alone.
I was about to go find Max again but that was the exact moment Lando decided to walk over.
“Out of all the places in the world…” His familiar accent caught me off guard. “I never expected to run into you here.”
I turned toward him and offered him a slightly shaky smile.
“It’s a small world.” I shrugged like it was nothing.
Marie appeared beside him wearing the same perfectly practiced smile.
“What a surprise to see you here.” Her eyes slowly traveled over my black lace dress. “I never imagined events like this were the kind of places someone like you would attend. No offense.”
She tilted her head ever so slightly. Not once did her smile leave her face.
Bitch.
“You’re right,” I replied at last. “I usually avoid places full of fake people and events like this tend to be full of them.”
Lando covered a laugh with a fake cough. For the briefest moment, Marie’s smile lost some of its shine.
“Did I miss something?” Max’s calm voice interrupted us.
His eyes moved from me to Lando and finally to Marie.
She smiled at him with that same rehearsed kindness.
“I was just telling Y/N that I was surprised to see her here.”
Max nodded once.
“I’m not.”
Marie blinked.
“You’re not?”
“No.” He picked up a glass from a passing server’s tray. “Wherever she is, the atmosphere usually gets a lot better.”
Heat rushed to my face.
Marie let out a short laugh.
“That’s very sweet.”
“I wasn’t trying to be.” He answered with complete calm before taking a sip of his drink. “I was just saying what I think.”
As he spoke, his hand came to rest lightly against the small of my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lando’s gaze immediately follow the movement.
“You came here together?” he asked, unable to hide his surprise.
I opened my mouth to answer but Max beat me to it.
“Yes.” He offered no further explanation.
“I had no idea you’d become this close.” Lando’s jaw tightened ever so slightly.
If I hadn’t spent half my teenage years watching him I probably wouldn’t have noticed. But I knew exactly what that gesture meant.
He was uncomfortable.
And somehow his discomfort became mine. I hated seeing him like that.
I shifted my weight and took another sip of my wine, hoping it would settle the knot in my stomach.
Apparently, Max noticed. Because without saying another word, he came up with an excuse to pull us away toward another part of the ballroom.
As we walked away I could still feel Lando’s eyes burning into the back of my neck.
(…)
The awkwardness disappeared as soon as we got back to Max’s apartment and our mouths found each other.
Our hands didn’t stay still for a single moment, and with some effort we managed to get out of our clothes.
Max bent me over the couch, pulled the thin fabric of my underwear aside to get better access to my wet pussy, and without much consideration, thrust into me hard. My eyes fell shut as I felt him hit the deepest part of me.
His thrusts were hard and rhythmic. The pleasure was so overwhelming that moans began spilling from his mouth, and with a quick movement, he gave my ass a hard slap.
That made me arch my back even more, and matching his rhythm, I began moving to meet every one of his thrusts.
At one point, I stopped lubricating and began to feel a slight burning sensation that drove me even crazier. My moans of pleasure grew louder, which made him lose himself in the pleasure even more.
We changed positions a couple of times until the pressure building inside me became too much, and I came hard.
A few more thrusts from Max, and he came too with a guttural sound. He spilled the result of his orgasm across my stomach.
It was the first time we’d had sex, and the son of a bitch had passed the test.
A while later, we were already in bed. Max was asleep beside me, but I couldn’t fall asleep.
My mind kept racing, and with a growing sense of concern, I replayed everything that had happened throughout the evening.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one feeling restless. A few minutes later, my phone lit up with a text message.
From Lando.
LANDO: Can we talk?
LANDO: I’m outside Max’s building. Please come down.
My heart immediately began pounding. This couldn’t be happening.
I looked over at Max.
He was fast asleep, one arm stretched across my side of the bed, a faint crease between his brows like he somehow managed to overthink even in his sleep.
I let out a slow breath.
I grabbed a jacket, scribbled a quick note telling him I’d gone out for a walk, and took the elevator downstairs.
Lando was leaning against his car with his hands buried in his pockets. When he heard my footsteps, he looked up. For a moment neither of us spoke.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked at last.
A tired smile crossed his face.
“I guessed.”
We walked in silence until we reached the edge of the harbor. The lights from the yachts shimmered across the dark water.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked suddenly.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
Silence settled between us again. I knew this kind of silence far too well.
Lando’s silences were never empty. They were always filled with questions he didn’t know how to ask.
“So…” He finally looked at me. “What’s going on between you and Max?”
There it was.
I slipped my hands into my jacket pockets.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
I slowly shook my head.
“We haven’t talked about it.”
“But you’re together.” He pressed a little harder.
“We’re spending time together.”
I watched his jaw tighten.
“That’s not the same thing.”
“Maybe not to you.”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“And to you?”
I lowered my gaze to the water.
The truth was I didn’t know how to answer. All I knew was that, with Max, I never felt the need to question where I belonged.
He simply made room for me.
“You don’t have to answer.” His voice was noticeably colder this time “I’m just trying to understand.”
I smiled sadly.
“Understand what?”
“What’s happening.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
His breathing changed ever so slightly.
It was barely noticeable. But it was enough for me to realize he was losing his composure.
“Do you like him?”
I didn’t answer.
“Y/N.”
“I don’t know.”
It was a lie.
Of course I knew. I just wasn’t ready to say it out loud.
“So you do like him?”
I sighed.
“Lando…”
“Answer me.”
I looked up.
“Why?”
The silence stretched between us. Because he couldn’t answer that question without admitting something he’d spent years burying.
I slowly shook my head.
“You don’t have the right to ask me that.”
I watched his expression change.
“Why not?”
“You’re seriously asking me that?” A bitter laugh escaped me. I took a step toward him. “You have a girlfriend.”
Another step.
“And years ago, you made it painfully clear that there could never be anything between us.”
My voice remained calm.
That was the worst part. I didn’t even have to raise it anymore to remember how much it had hurt.
“Y/N…”
“No.” This time, I interrupted him “Do you know what the hardest part was?”
A knot tightened in my throat.
“It wasn’t losing you. It was spending years believing there was something about me that made me impossible to choose.”
The words poured out on their own. As if they’d been waiting years to be spoken.
“After that day, I started looking at everyone like they belonged to different worlds. I started believing there were doors meant for other people… but never for me. That I could work twice as hard, push myself three times harder, and I’d still always be nothing more than the housekeeper’s daughter. Because the only man I’d ever fallen in love with taught me exactly that.”
Lando closed his eyes.
“I never wanted you to feel that way.”
“But you did.” My voice barely rose above a whisper.“And the worst part is… I understood. I never hated you for choosing that path, because even I believed you were right.”
He swallowed hard.
“Things changed.”
“No.” I slowly shook my head. “They changed for you. I was the one who had to learn how to live with what you left behind.”
For several long seconds the only sound was the water lapping against the dock.
Then he spoke again.
“You think Max is different.”
I frowned.
“He is.”
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
“No, Y/N. He’s just more impulsive.”
A terrible feeling settled in my stomach.
“What do you mean?”
“When he gets bored, he’ll move on with his life, like everyone else. He’s not taking you seriously.”
My chest tightened.
“Don’t talk about things you know nothing about.”
He took a step closer.
“Do you honestly think a guy like Max Verstappen is planning to marry you?”
The question landed between us like a stone.
“Lando…”
“He takes you on trips, he buys you beautiful clothes, he brings you to events. Don’t you see it? For him, you’re…” He hesitated for only a fraction of a second. “…an accessory.”
Something inside me shattered. But he still wasn’t finished.
“A pretty girl he can spoil for a while. His sugar baby.”
The slap echoed across the silent harbor. I didn’t think, it just happened.
Slowly, Lando lifted a hand to his cheek.
I struggled to catch my breath, tears blurred my vision.
“Never…” My voice broke. “Never degrade me like that again. Because if there’s anyone who knows how hard I fought to build the life I have it’s you.”
He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak.
“For years, I thought my last name was the problem, my mother, my money, my background. But tonight you proved something. The problem was never where I came from. The problem was that you never found the courage to choose me and now you’re trying to convince me that no one else ever could.”
I slowly shook my head.
“I don’t believe that anymore.”
I turned around before he could answer.
I didn’t want to go back to the apartment. Not yet.
I needed to walk.
I needed the wind to remind me that I was still breathing. So I kept walking along the harbor without looking back while the tears washed away what little makeup I still had left.
I had no idea how long I’d been walking.
The gentle sound of the water against the docks was the only thing keeping the chaos in my head from swallowing me whole.
My tears had dried a long time ago. But the weight in my chest hadn’t gone anywhere.
“I’ve been looking for you for twenty minutes.” Max’s voice startled me.
He was walking toward me quickly, his hair completely disheveled and a hoodie hastily thrown over the T-shirt he’d fallen asleep in. He stopped in front of me and took a deep breath.
“What happened?”
I shook my head.
“Nothing.”
“No.” His answer came immediately. “Don’t lie to me.”
I looked at him for a few seconds. I’d never seen him like this before.
He didn’t look angry, he looked scared.
“Y/N…” His voice softened. “What happened?”
The knot in my throat returned.
“I talked to Lando.”
I watched his jaw tighten. But he didn’t say a word, he simply waited.
“He texted me… so I went downstairs to talk to him.”
I told him everything. How Lando had come all the way to the building. How we’d walked along the harbor. How, at first, he’d only asked questions. Then I told him about the jealousy. About our teenage years together. About the way he’d rejected us before we’d ever really had a chance. About the argument we’d had that night and finally about the words that still echoed inside my head.
“His sugar baby.” I couldn’t repeat that part without my voice breaking.
Max stood perfectly still through my entire story. He didn’t interrupt me once. Only after I’d finished did he finally speak.
“He said that to you?”
I nodded.
He let out a slow breath.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“No, you’re not killing anyone.” A laugh escaped me through my tears.
“Alright.” He corrected himself with complete seriousness “Then I’m just going to break his nose.”
The image was so absurd that I laughed. For real this time.
He frowned slightly.
“I wasn’t joking.”
“I know.”
“I’m completely serious.”
“Please don’t.” I shook my head as I wiped my cheeks.
He sighed dramatically.
“You’re no fun.”
Silence settled between us again. Then he took a step closer.
“Look at me.”
I did.
“Did you actually believe him?”
I didn’t answer. Because part of me had. And, of course he knew it.
“Y/N…” He shook his head in disbelief. “Do you know what the very first thing I thought when I saw you?”
I slowly shook my head.
“That you were beautiful.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks.
“And then I thought you were far too smart to ever end up talking to me.”
I stared at him, completely confused. A small smile tugged at his lips.
“I was wrong about the second part.”
“Idiot.” I lightly punched his arm.
“A little.” His smile slowly faded. “But I never once minded how much money you had, where your mother was, where you worked. Not once.”
He took a slow breath before continuing.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t see everything you do. I do, I know you work harder than anyone I’ve ever met, I know you’ve spent years building your life on your own and I know nobody handed you anything.”
His voice remained calm. So calm that it hurt.
“What I don’t understand…” He paused. “…is why you still believe any of that makes you worth less.”
I lowered my eyes.
“Because for a long time It was true.”
“No.” His answer was immediate. “For a long time, people convinced you it was true. That’s not the same thing.”
The words hung between us. No one had ever put it that way before. I’d spent my entire life believing my insecurities were simply the logical consequence of my circumstances.
It had never occurred to me that they might also be a lie I’d heard too many times.
“Lando didn’t stop loving you because you were the housekeeper’s daughter.”
My head snapped up.
He continued before I could speak.
“He stopped fighting for you because he was afraid and fear always finds elegant excuses to hide behind Sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s family, sometimes it’s social class. But underneath It’s still fear.”
My eyes filled with tears again.
Not because I was sad, because I felt relieved. For the first time someone had separated my worth from the choice Lando had made all those years ago.
“What if one day you’re afraid too?” The question came out so quietly I almost regretted asking it.
Max smiled. That same calm smile that somehow managed to frustrate me and comfort me at the exact same time.
“Of course I am.”
I blinked. I hadn’t expected that answer.
“You are?”
“Terrified.”
“Of what?”
“That one day you’ll get tired of me.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.
A disbelieving laugh escaped me.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged “But that fear doesn’t make me want to push you away. It makes me want to be closer to you.”
Something inside me finally gave way or maybe finally settled into place. I still wasn’t sure which.
“I’m not Lando.” His voice was quieter than ever. “And I’ll never ask you to make yourself smaller just to make my life easier. If this ever ends…” He pointed to himself “It’ll be because I did something wrong. Not because your last name is different from mine, not because your mother cleaned someone’s house and certainly…”
He shook his head, almost offended by the thought.
“…not because anyone thinks you can be bought with a dress or a trip. You’re not something that can be bought, you’re not a thing. You’re the woman I’m falling in love with.”
The world seemed to fall completely silent.
There was only him and me.
A tear slipped down my cheek. This time I didn’t try to hide it. For years, I’d confused one man’s rejection with my worth as a woman.
I’d allowed a decision born from fear to define the way I saw myself and now, standing in front of me, was another man.
A man who came from that exact same world. But who had never once asked me to change who I was to make room for me in his life.
He had simply made room for me.
I smiled through my tears.
“I think you’re completely insane.”
“I already knew that.” A grin spread across his face.
I laughed, shaking my head.
“And for some reason I still don’t understand I think I’m starting to like all that insanity of yours.”
His eyes lit up instantly.
“Does that mean I can officially say I’m your future husband now?”
The laugh that burst from my lips echoed across the entire harbor.
For years I’d mistaken fear for reality. I’d believed love always came with conditions, with explanations, with sacrifices.
That night, I finally understood something. When someone truly wants to stay they stop looking for reasons to leave. And Lando’s decision had always spoken about his limits.
Never about mine.
(…)
Eight months later, I still found it absurd that anyone could call a paddock “home.”
And yet, there I was.
A cup of coffee in one hand, a paddock pass hanging around my neck, and a team radio that I understood absolutely nothing from, waiting for Max to finish the pre-qualifying engineering briefing.
One of the mechanics walked past me.
“Five more minutes.”
I nodded like that information had been meant for me. Leaning against one of the garage walls, I watched the organized chaos unfolding around me.
The first time I’d ever stepped into the paddock, I’d felt completely out of place.
Now I didn’t.
I still understood barely half the conversations about setup changes, tire degradation, or telemetry, but I’d stopped feeling like I needed to understand everything to deserve being there.
“Have you been waiting long?” Max had just stepped out of the garage, zipping up the top half of his race suit as he walked toward me.
“Seven minutes.”
He glanced at his watch.
“It’s been nine.”
“I was giving you a little margin so you wouldn’t feel bad.”
“How thoughtful.” A quiet laugh escaped him.
He stopped in front of me and, without saying a word, took my coffee from my hands. He took a sip before casually handing it back.
“Thanks.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“That was my coffee.” I frowned.
“It’s our coffee now.”
“That’s not how that works.”
“It worked.”
I rolled my eyes.
I’d learned that arguing with Max was an absolute waste of time. Not because he was always right, but because he never seemed interested in winning. He simply kept talking until the other person gave up.
One of the engineers appeared at the garage entrance.
“Max. Time to go.”
He lifted a hand to let him know he’d be there in a second. Before leaving, he turned back toward me.
“Where are you going to be?”
I looked at him, confused.
“Here.”
“Good.” He nodded once “That way I’ll know where to find you when I’m done.”
And then he was gone.
There was no kiss.
No I love you.
He didn’t even look back.
He simply disappeared into the crowd of engineers like it had never crossed his mind that, when he came back, I might be anywhere other than exactly where I’d said I’d be.
And I would be.
I smiled without realizing it. Sometimes I forgot there had once been a time when I believed love meant waiting for someone to find the courage to choose you.
With Max there had never been any waiting.
He had simply shown up.
First at a coffee shop, pretending he’d driven halfway across the city just because he wanted a cup of coffee.
Then at an art gallery, listening to me talk for hours about paintings he probably wouldn’t remember.
Later, sitting beside me on a curb at two in the morning with a split lip, like getting into a fight was the most natural ending to a first date.
And now I was the one showing up at racetracks.
Waiting for him among engines, radios, and stacks of tires, in a world that had once felt completely out of reach but had, little by little, made room for me.
I suppose, in the end we became each other’s favorite coincidence.
“Verstappen!” one of the mechanics shouted from inside the garage. “Move it! Your future wife isn’t going to do qualifying for you!”
Laughter immediately erupted from inside the garage.
I rolled my eyes automatically.
I didn’t even have to look to know exactly what expression Max had on his face.
Pure satisfaction.
I buried my face in my hands as I laughed.
For the first time since I was a little girl, the future no longer felt like a place I needed permission to enter.
Because, in the end, love hadn’t come into my life to give me a place in the world.
It had come to remind me that the place I belonged had always been mine.
pairing: oscar piastri x fem!reader, andrea kimi antonelli x gf!fem!reader
summary: kimi has everything oscar has ever wanted. and oscar knows kimi doesn’t deserve any of it. not the praise. not the wins. and especially not you. so when the envy becomes too much, oscar decides he’ll take it all from him. every single last thing that makes kimi happy. even if that means taking you.
warnings: fluff, LOTS of angst, jealousy, established relationship, very innocent and slightly dumb reader, technically infidelity, toxic childhood!bf!kimi, gaslighting, arguing, yelling, manipulation, possessiveness, kimi disrespects reader a lot, kinda cunning!oscar?, 18+ (minors dni), teasing, p in v, unprotected sex, degradation, public sex, voyeurism, handjob, poor humour // poorly proof read as usual
word count: 12.3k
a/n: based on this request! first piece of my 6000 follower celebration!!! letting you know you may be triggered at many points of this fic and that's okay! 😬
Oscar Piastri had never really let anyone get under his skin. Early in life, he had learned the art of calm and composure. Underreaction had always been the silent winner. No one ever got to him. Nothing really pissed him off. He treated people fairly. He always thought that if he went by the books, one day he'd reap the rewards.
But very quickly into his Formula One career; he had learned that was not the truth. And nor was he as calm as he once thought he was.
In the very same time frame Osar was supposed to be receiving praise and getting race wins, came Kimi Antonelli. The monster rookie. The new Verstappen who replaced the Sir Lewis Hamilton's seat.
It wasn't like Oscar hadn't heard of him. He had always heard of him down the line. The kid in the Mercedes' junior line up. A racing prodigy. A sweet guy with all the Italian charm. When he heard Kimi was racing in F2, skipping the previous level, he had even thought of extending his hand. Sure, you couldn't be friends with everyone on track. But it didn't hurt to try.
But Oscar was sorely mistaken.
The ego-boosting headlines and the compliments had gotten to Kimi. He walked, no—he strode with pride. Innocent brown eyes filled with a disgusting shade of smugness that no driver could fathom. His lips in a constant curved smirk. Complaints and complaints on the tip of his tongue when nothing went his way. The coy downplay of his achievements at such as young eage. How easily he manipulated Toto and Susie to get what he wanted.
It was different kind of art. A sick, satrical version of it. How easy the Italian charm had faded away.
And always by his side was you. Kimi's pride and joy. His girlfriend of three years, always wrapped around his arm.
You... You were the worst part of it all.
Oscar had seen you like everyone else had. You were simply gorgeous. Oscar could never forget how slowly his head had turned when you had first entered the paddock. The double take he had taken along with everyone else, watching your every move.
Everything about you seemed perfect.
Your sparkly wide eyes. Pretty painted lips. Soft, boisterous laugh. Perfectly styled hair. Perfume that made all in your trail dizzy. You talked with your heart rather than your mind. You were a good person. Pure. Whole. Anyone could see that from a mile away.
It was then when Oscar had locked eyes with Kimi, spotting that smirk on his stupid face and that evil glint in those brown eyes. A look of acknowlegement. Yes. It was you next to him. Not next to Oscar. Not next to anyone else.
Oscar would never forget that very moment where Kimi's head had leaned down just a little, lips gliding over your ear to whisper something that made you laugh while his hand creeped down your waist, to your lower back and right over your ass. Fingers slightly while as he groped you shamelessly. And not a second later, his lips were on yours, kissing you deeply and messily, tongue out without any hurry. Like there weren't any cameras on him.
He remembered your flushed cheeks while you kissed Kimi back. Eyes a little wide with disbelief but still you had kissed him anyways, smile apparent on your face. Small hands reaching for his sleeves to brace yourself.
Then there was that mix of disgust and anger that rushed through Oscar's body. He genuinely couldn't believe it. How could anyone dating you treat you like that in public? Like you were a plaything. A trophy.
And that's how it had gone on for months. That superiority Kimi welded with you by his side. Making you sit on his lap at dinners, hands travelling carelessly under the short skirts and dresses he had gotten you. Interrupting interviews just to go and kiss you on the camera. Letting those videos of you and him in the nightclub get posted where you danced together.
And while it seemed like things were all sunshines and rainbows for the both of you, Oscar could see the truth for what it was. Kimi had no respect for you. In fact, he was horrible to you.
Because behind Kimi's handsy fingers and clingy mouth were the arguments in the quiet parts of the paddock. The ones where he would make your pretty eyes cry and then pretended to kiss them better. Where he constantly made you question yourself and belittled you in front of others. Then he'd let your eyes light up with the fake promises of a future together. He didn't really let you talk to anyone either unless it made him look good.
And you had no idea. Simply believing him with your heart. The epitome of 'love makes you blind.'
You were like an innocent lamb in the dirty hands of Kimi's.
It had gotten worse this season.
The consistent wins and praise had made Kimi delirious. If he was careless before, he had not a single inch of it in him any longer. With the whispers of a Championship-winning car and a talent one people wouldn't see for years, he was driven by the foundation of immature confidence.
Perhaps that's why Oscar had heard what he had heard in China. Seen what he had seen.
It was Lando, Oscar, and George conversing between the Mercedes and McLaren garages. Talking about the cars and whatnot while the paddock had finally become quiet after the race. Some teams were still in their debriefs, some packing up. The sun threatening to settle, orange mixed lightly into the air.
The conversation was coming to a swift end, Lando and George citing how they needed to grab their things from their hotel before they all met for the private flight back to Monaco. The two of them had barely walked away before Oscar had heard it.
A deep mewl in the air.
Oscar blinked, brows furrowed as he turned towards the Mercedes' garage. He couldn't see anyone nearby. The place empty with a majority of the team still in another debrief. He would've taken a step back and joined Lando but then he had heard it again.
"Oh fuck!"
Call it curiosity. But Oscar's legs seemed to move on their own, defying the rules of non-personnel entering the garage while he quietly walked onto enemy territory. It didn't take him long to navigate, the ins and outs similar to any other garage. The sounds became louder and louder with every step he took. Yet he couldn't quite discern them.
But when he did, it made his feet stop and his blood freeze.
He stood outside of Kimi's driver's room. It not just any sound coming into the air. It's yours. Hands imprinting onto the blurred iced-glass door, your shadowed figure could barely be made out. Your moans travelled through the glass with bare deviation from the lewd, deep slaps of skin echoing around what felt like his skull.
"Louder, belle. Let them hear who makes you feel this good," Kimi grunted shamelessly. "God, you're so pathetic. This turned on when anyone can hear you. You make a good whore, don't you?"
His chuckle was deep and mocking. And yet, your trembling moans merged into the air.
Oscar could hear it. Your sharp pants. Desperate and needy. "More," you begged. "Deeper."
Oscar blinked, breathing in deeply while he took a shaky step back. Fuck, this was so wrong. He could barely think with your sweet sounds tainted by Kimi's disgusting insults. It felt like he was watching a crime being committed.
The struggle grounded him for a few moments. Not willing to move. But the idea of you reaching any sort of end with Kimi made a thin layer of bile crawl up Oscar's throat. So he moved before he could hear it, feet quick and light.
He was sweating by the time he reached the McLaren suite, mind haywired, breath erratic while he tried to block out those sounds. That was a mistake, right? Something he had come across on pure accident. Yes. That was it. Kimi wasn't so vain that he'd just put you out there for anyone to listen to. That was an accident.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
But by the time Oscar had reached the private jet, he had once again been proven wrong. He was there, backpack slung across his back and suitcase rolling next to him as he arrived to find Lando and George waiting near the stairs of the plane.
Oscar raised a brow. "What are you guys waiting for? Shouldn't you be onboard?" He queried.
"I..." Lando said wordlessly, awkwardly looking over at George who looked slightly paler than usual. Neither of them could bring it up. The mere idea too shameful.
"What?" Oscar pressed, sighing when no response was given. He moved forward, pushing past them to get up the stairs. By the time he was through the door, it had become evident as to why those two were waiting outside.
"Oh fuck. That's it," Kimi's voice flew from the bathroom down the aisle.
Oscar's fingers instantly tightened around his suitcase. His stomach churned with disgust as his brain familiarised itself with the situation once again. The sounds of you against one another was far less muted this time. Your whimpers curling around Oscar's ears.
He couldn't tell what was worse. The fact that the plane hadn't even gotten off the ground yet or the fact Oscar wasn't the only one subjected to this. His coworkers down below. The staff of the plane awkwardly trying to resume their job. All while Kimi was burning your dignity to the floor.
"You gonna cum for me, belle? Yeah?"
Oscar's breath quickened as Kimi's voice tightened.
"Tell me, baby. Who makes you feel this good?"
Oscar sucked in a sharp breath, annoyance simmering in his blood.
"You. You do, Kimi," you sobbed, gasp heavenly with every push forward harsher than before. "Kimi, Kimi—I'm going to—"
A smug moan fell from his lips. "I know, I know. Everyone's going to know how good I make you feel, belle."
Oscar regretted staying this time. He should've left the moment he had realised. He shouldn't have stayed to hear the sinful draw out of your voice nor the useless wavering grunt of Kimi's. Then he wouldn't of seen Kimi coming out of the bathroom, still shifting his pants on tighter, adjusting his zip with you following behind him, red in the face.
Kimi breathed with a drop of sweat worked up on his brow. "Hey, Oscar," he greeted, tugging at his shirt without a inch of shame in the world. He looked past him, spotting the emptiness in the jet. "Are Lando and George still waiting? I'll go them, yeah? Takeoff's soon."
Oscar's lips curled in disgust as Kimi walked past him, shoulder bustling into his before Kimi's hand, still covered in the musk of sex, patted him. His brown eyes flickered to yours, now seated with the imprints of Kimi all over you. Purple on your neck, hands on your bare thigh, poorly hidden beneath your skirt. You were tainted with Kimi. He swallowed, meeting your flustered gaze.
You gave him a timid wave. "Hi, Oscar."
Oscar's breath caught. He was sure that was the first time he had heard his name fall from your lips. He enjoyed the way it rolled of your tongue. It sounded much better than Kimi's. He gave you a hesitant nod of acnknowledgement. He couldn't peel his eyes away from the shame beneath your kind expression. He could feel the judgement pouring from the staff in the cabin. Remember the awkward look on Lando and George's faces. And it was all because of Kimi.
Oscar hated Kimi. He hated that Kimi had everything he ever wanted. An easy fight for a title. The potential to win more races than he ever had in his rookie years. And you. He had you.
Oscar was going to beat Kimi. One way or another, he was going to beat the stupid smug smirk off that Italian face. He would take everything that he had away from him. Even if that something was you.
It was a brief glimpse Oscar had gotten from you. But that was all he needed to stop in his tracks. The sight of you in tears, cheeks flushed, and hidden in behind some corner of the Mercedes' suite. No. That just wouldn't do.
You sniffled, tip of your nose red as Oscar placed down a cup of freshly steamed hot chocolate and sat across you. With a tight, thankful smile, you held the burning cup between your fingers.
"A-Are you sure its okay for me to be here?" You asked, eyeing the unfamiliar shades of papaya around you.
Oscar watched you quietly, nodding unconsciously. He blinked as your eyes drifted to his. The tips of ears reddened as he had been caught. He cleared his throat, nodding more definitely. "Of course, it is. I couldn't possibly have just left you like that."
You swallowed tightly, cheeks pouring with heat once again as you thought about how Oscar had found you just sobbing away. The concern in his eyes had been surprising. You had never seen anything like it before. A part of you wished you had. In a different pair of brown eyes.
Oscar pursed his lips at the silence brewing in the air. He sucked in a sharp breath, leaning forward. "I know it's not my place but... is it Kimi?"
You looked down at the mention of your boyfriend before smiling much to Oscar's surprise. "It was my fault really. I made a mistake. I just thought..."
He raised a brow. "You thought?"
You chuckled softly, blinking through your sore eyes. "It sounds crazy now that I think about it. I thought he was cheating," you laughed a little deeper, sighing as you shook your head in disbelief. "There was the girl and— well. He was right. I was overreacting. I just really thought..."
The ache in Oscar's chest was unwelcome as your voice grew small and strained. He blinked at your sudden smile yet again. "I was stupid, wasn't I?" You sighed, taking a sip of your hot chocolate.
"No, you weren't."
Your eyes flew to Oscar, wide. Your heart thudded in your chest, fear growing like diseased vines. What did he mean by that?
"It's not stupid to ask questions. That's the least you deserve. It's your right," Oscar murmured gently, fingers curling to move the loose tresses in front of your face but stuck at his side.
You pulled your brows together. That's not what Kimi told you. He always said questions weren't important. Useless, really. That only stupid people ask and answer. That's why he acted the way he did in interviews—disruptive and indifferent. But what you were hearing now...
You tilted your head, curiosity swarming through your brain. "Can I ask you questions then?"
A gentle smile sprawled onto Oscar's face as he leaned back in his seat. "You can ask me anything you want, sweetheart."
He watched you hum almost silently. Like you were thinking of all the new options you could explore. And for a split second, he saw it. That sliver of excitement swirling in your eyes. The expanse of your pupils. And it made his breath catch.
"Do you believe in aliens?"
Amusement coursed through his veins. There was something so mundane about the question. Out of all the things you could have asked... But he pushed down the quirk of his lips. "In a world of unexplained things, I think there's room for aliens."
Your brows pulled again, doe-eyes looking at him for a second. Maybe a second too long. Long enough for Oscar's heart to test new unhealthy rthyhms. "That's the most media trained answer you could've given. Nice job."
Oscar blinked at your response, brown eyes watching you stand as you looked at the digital clock that counted sixty minutes to the start of the first free practice. Sixty minutes that required you to be near Kimi. He breathed slowly upon your small smile beaming.
"Thank you for... well, just thank you," you mumbled, scratching the back of your neck sheepishly. You turned on your heel before pausing, head tilting back to the brown eyes still on you. "Question. Do my eyes look puffy?"
Oscar could've remained seated and told you from where he sat. But he stood, taking those few closer steps near you. The world seemed to slow as he leaned in, inspecting your face from a careful distance. Or the lack of. It was silent for a brief moment. "No," he decided.
You swallowed, releasing the breath you had unintentionally been holding. You smiled lightly. "Good. Kimi doesn't like it when they are," you chuckled. "Okay. Bye, Oscar."
Oscar pressed his lips together, biting down the distaste lingering on his tongue as he bidded you goodbye. His turmoil seemed to linger even when you were gone. Every time he thought he couldn't hate Kimi anymore, you gave him one more reason to do so.
The crowd roared as usual. A fundamental noise that your ears had become used to as you stood beneath the podium and metres away from the finishing cars. It was Silverstone. Classical and traditional. Every driver's dream race to win. And Kimi had done it.
You stood between the neverending Mercedes' team, dolled in Kimi's jacket waiting for for him as he did his final few victory laps around the circuit, basking in the cheers and exclaims pouring from the stadium. Yet, he wasn't the first driver you saw. It was Oscar, cladded in papaya, and the claimer of P2. You watched him down the line, greeting his team. And for a moment, you expected him to sweep right past you.
But someone at Mercedes knew him a little better, pulling him aside with a handshake. And then those brown eyes flickered to you and over the teal and black clinging to your shoulder with an emotion unfamiliar to you. But a smile graced his face nevertheless. Boyish as usual, you noticed.
You returned the gesture. "Congrats on second," you said loudly, hands curling over the barricade.
"Thank you," Oscar breathed, hand dishevelling his sweat-ridden brown locks, lines of his balaclava etched into his slightly reddened face. “If only I had one more lap," he sighed tiredly, reminiscing the hundredths between his and Kimi's finishing times.
You pressed your lips together, smile hanging awkwardly. "Next time. I'm sure of it," you nodded astutely, brows pulled with firm belief.
A chuckle fell from his lips. Cute. His head tipped in agreement. "Yeah. Next time," he mumbled. He took a quick breath in. "I was wond—"
Oscar's words were quelled as the supporting shouts grew louder with Kimi's pull into parc fermé. You both silently watched him remove his steering wheel, topping the his car with his fists in the air triumphantly. His small jump off was smooth after every recent win. You felt his head glide towards you while he inched closer to the weighing scale. Nothing decipherable about those eyes behind the helmet.
Kimi didn't waste a second. Helmet and balacava off. Sponsor watch on. Marching towards the crowd of teal and black. Marching towards you. Aware of every lens following his every move. His stagnant gaze on you purposeful. Gait with a force so casual yet demanding.
Forceful enough for Oscar to take a step back as he watched Kimi's hand, the very one with the sponsor watch, fall to your face and bring his lips to yours. The grandstands and pools of fans around cheer as expected. The cameras zoom in hungrily, too blinded to see the quirk of Kimi's lips. Instead disguised as the loving boyfriend depicted across fanpages and headlines.
But Oscar could see it. He stood behind Kimi, jaw locked, teeth clenching so tightly the pain swells in his gums. He hadn't realised it until Sophie, his press officer, put her hand on his arm to attend the trackside interview, grounding him back to reality. He swallowed tightly, taking a slow breath in and out before turning on his heel, fingers curled tightly at his side.
With every step closer to the cameras and the waiting interviewer, Oscar couldn't shake the image of you two out of his head. This was the very same guy who had sent you crying just a few weeks ago, leaving Oscar to pick up the pieces. Who had the sheer audacity to make you feel like shit just for doubting him.
What a fucking asshole.
Monaco was not home for Oscar. It would never be. Nowhere near as comfortable and easy as Australia was. He preferred the scorching heats and casualness of the people around him. Not the sports cars or luxury yachts collecting dust on the Monégasque waters. This was well and truly just a perk of his job. Nothing more, nothing less.
But just when Oscar couldn't find anything happy about it, a walk outside to get his groceries left him finding you nearby, eyes glued to the clothing store nearby.
You blinked at the call of your name, tearing your eyes away to find a familiar mop of brown hair. The smile on your face was instant. You waved in a way that made his cheeks tighten. "What are you doing here?"
Oscar breathed in, looking around the streets he had become used to, hands shoved into the pockets of his shorts. "Uh, I was going to get some groceries. How about you? Not in Italy. Well, obviously," he chuckled awkwardly.
Christ... was he always such a loser?
You grinned, nodding in agreement. "Kimi finally moved in so I came to help. Now... I'm shopping," you said, lifting your arm with the few shopping bags you had collected so far.
He suppressed his frown at the mention of Kimi's name. "So I guess I'll be seeing you around more often?" He queried, brows raised with hope.
"Yeah. I mean maybe. This place is a lot," you laughed softly, eyes tracing over the endless cars, stores, and yachts. This was definitely not Bologna or even Milan. Monaco was a in a league of its own.
Oscar nodded. "It's overwhelming at first," he agreed, swallowing tightly as a new thought popped into his mind. "I mean, if you don't mind, I could be your guide when you're here. You can give me your number. Call me when you're around."
You mulled over his offer, surprise light but evident on your face. You never really gave your number to anyone. Especially not any of the drivers—Kimi's rule. But Oscar was just being nice. It would probably be good too. That way you didn't have to bother Kimi.
"Sure," you said, hand reaching out to grab your phone. "Give yourself a miss call."
Oscar's eyes lit up, faint smile on his face as he punched in his number into your phone, letting the call linger briefly. Satisfied, he saved his name into your phone. Oscar :)
"Perfect," you breathed, eyes crinkling with a thankful glint as you pocketed your phone. "I'll let you get back to it then. I still have a few more places I wanna see."
Oscar tried not to let his disappointment show. You just got here. "If you wanted some company... I'm happy to join," he shrugged, hoping that was as casual as it was in his head.
Your eyes widened slightly. "Really?"
"Yeah, sure. I know a few places too," he nodded, unable to understand your shock. As if Kimi never joined you—oh who was he kidding? Of course that asshole didn't join you. And if he did, it would be for him.
You grinned. "Lead the way."
You pursed your lips, eyeing the skirt you hovered over yourself as you stood in front of the store's long mirror. It was a sparkly little thing. Silver. Small. Sequined. Your eyes flickered to Oscar's reflection, finding him standing nearby some rack (as if he hadn't been quietly watching you). “Oscar, can I ask you a question?"
Oscar raised a brow, swiftly moving away from the rack he had been pretending to rummage through. "You know you don't have to ask that every time, right? You can just ask," he grinned, inching closer to you.
"Oh," you pursed your lips, blinking blankly as the heat in your cheeks grew. "Right. Sorry," you smiled lightly, looking back at yourself in the mirror. "What do you think of this?" You asked, gesturing to the sparkly skirt dangling over the hanger.
He swallowed. It was pretty thing really. Made him imagine things he didn't want to imagine. But as he had watched you, he couldn't help notice the light in your eyes missing. Or the frown of your lips. He shrugged. "You don't seem to like it very much."
You fell silent for a moment, eyes slightly wide while you blinked. How Oscar knew that... you had no idea. You sucked in a sharp breath, staring at the skirt in the mirror with a small pout. "Kimi likes these things."
There it was. The perpetrator behind everything miserable and unbalanced in your life. Of course, Kimi liked these things like this. Short and tight. It was a way to claim you in all those parties and night clubs. One hand always on your exposed leg or on the curve of your ass as he practically screamed, "Look at me."
Oscar bit his lip, pushing away the rousing annoyance in his chest. "What do you like?"
The question was simple. Yet it seemed to leave you stumped. Doe eyes a bit dazed. Lips parted. Like you had never really given that much of a thought. And that only worsened the ache in his chest.
You tilted your head, directing your gaze behind Oscar. "I think that's pretty," you murmured, eyeing the semi-long white sundress nearby.
Oscar turned his head. With no sly comment or look of distaste you usually recieved, he stepped towards it, grabbing the hanger with ease before bringing it back to you. "Then wear it."
You pursed your lips, unsurely flickering over the dress. "But—"
"Just try it. You won't know if you don't try," Oscar said, firm yet gentle as he took your previous shopping bags slung on your arm and moved them to his. He pushed forward the dress again. "Go on."
He watched you swallow awkwardly, gingerly picking the dress out of his hand before drifting towards the fitting rooms. He followed after you, stopping when you suddenly turned back to face him.
"Will you wait for me?"
Oscar blinked. He hated how foreign the idea sounded to you. That you actually had to question it because your piece of shit boyfriend couldn't spare one second that wasn't for him.
He smiled warmly, not missing a beat to respond. "I'll be right here. Don't worry."
You nodded thankfully as he took a few steps back, taking a seat while he waited. And with every second the passed, Oscar couldn't help but think of it. The few times Kimi would come with you. Probably when the fans were out or along with the paps. How he'd probably walk around, not paying attention to you. Picking out clothes that he liked. Standing there, convincing you that you liked it as much as he did.
The clothes were just one example. Oscar was almost a hundred percent sure it was Kimi who had gotten you to publicise your socials to get more coverage. Every second post being a photo of you together where you looked happy and Kimi looked like presumptous asshole he was.
Had Oscar spent an unhealthy amount of time looking at your account? Yes. Maybe. But he couldn't help it. It was almost intuitional. The more he found to despise about Kimi, the more he seemed to sink deeper into the world that was you.
"Oscar?"
Oscar blinked, head lifting up as though he had been called by a siren. He found you peeking out of the curtain with a fretful smile. He raised his brows curiously. "Yeah?"
"Do you think you can help me with the strings? Or find someone who can? I can't really do them by myself," you chuckled awkwardly, cheeks slightly flushing.
He was standing on his feet when you called his name. Walking as you asked. Without as much of a fight or resistance you usually experienced, he had said yes.
You breathed in, feeling the narrow confinements of the fitting room become even smaller as Oscar entered. You pursed your lips, eyes darting between anything and Oscar in the mirror. "Just... those ones," you murmured, hovering over the two long strings sitting at your lower back.
Oscar held his breath in his lungs, fingers stretching and curling around the two attached pieces. He told himself he shouldn't look up as he looped each string. Because if he did, he was scared to see what he'd find. But he did.
He wasn't sure what fucked up his brain chemistry more. The heat radiating between your bodies from something a simple as a little knot. Or the brush his fingers over the fabric of your dress. Or perhaps the bob of your throat as you caught his eye. Like he made you nervous. And that thought alone made him warm all over.
He fastened the last knot, watching your breath hitch. "There," he said, voice gruff and strained while he committed the sinful cling of the fabric to your body to his memory.
He kept quiet, observing your eyes drift over yourself in the mirror. He saw it. That missing light. The small look of approval in the quirk of your lips. "Buy it," he simply said. "If you don't, I will."
Your lips parted with nothing quite to say as Oscar excused himself from the room, finally taking a breath of fresh air. His lungs burned as if he had denied the right to breathe with you, happy to let you suffocate him.
"Jesus Christ," Oscar muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose.
He was so fucked.
You swallowed tightly as Kimi threw his phone in front of you, left open with a picture of you and Oscar talking outside the store yesterday. He stood in front of you, arms folded with an incredulous smile on his face. "I called you here to help me," he said chuckled, shaking his head. "I mean... I can't believe you thought I was cheating. How hypocritical can you get?"
You blinked, scatter of red creeping up your neck and cheeks instantly. "I... we were just talking, Kimi. I bumped into him on accident."
The scoff from his lips made your eyes sting. Not an ounce of trust rested in him as much as it did in you.
"Accident?" He questioned, raising his brows with amusement. "Nothing accidental about that prick. Don't think I haven't noticed him being around you more often. I mean come on, ___. Are you his girlfriend or mine?"
You frowned. "Of course, I'm your girlfriend, Kimi," you instantly said, not missing a beat to respond. "Why would you even ask that?"
Kimi tilted his head. "You're asking me that? Then don't do things that make me question you, belle," he grunted, jaw tight. He sucked in a breath when he spotted the thin shine over your eyes. He almost rolled his own. Of course. You couldn't go a conversation without crying.
"Why are you being so mean?" You murmured, eyes brimming with tears, tip of your nose beginning to flush.
After a moment a sigh fell from Kimi's lips. He stepped forward, hands holding you at either side of your arms. He leaned forward, meeting your gaze, brown eyes suddenly gentle. "I don't want to be. You just make it difficult, belle. You know I love you so much, yeah? Don't cry. I hate seeing you cry."
You blinked, feeling Kimi's lips gided over your eyelids briefly. For a moment you felt like your soul had separated from your body. Like you were watching yourself from another plane. You breathed in, sniffling quietly to yourself as he pulled away, thumb grazing your cheek.
"You understand, hmm?" He hummed, tucking your hair behind your ear.
You smiled tightly, giving him a nod. "I understand, Kimi. I won't do it again," you promised, pressing a small kiss to his cheek. "Ti amo."
Oscar hated clubs. There was nothing more uncomfortable for him as an introvert. The loud music, flashing lights, sweaty bodies, and an unhealthy amount of alcohol. All features of a nightmare he's had time and time again.
But he was here. Under the strobe lights, music vibrating throught the floor he stood on while his eyes searched through the dancing crowd. He was here because you were here. A small detail you had slipped into your texts with him recently. A night out with the drivers and their partners.
Lando spotted him first, surprise evident on his face as he came closer. He eyed the blue jeans and black polo shirt his teammate wore and chuckled. "Well this is out of the norm. I wonder why."
Lando wasn't as daft as some made him out to be. Of course, things were a lot easier when his usually composed and calm teammate was riled up by the simple mention of you. Oscar had made the mistake many other drivers had once made. Everyone had seen you once Kimi moved up racing categories. No one was going to deny it. You were a gorgeous girl with a pure heart. But you were young. And that was always risky territory. That fact you were Kimi's... it rubbed everyone the wrong way. Where as everyone saw you for what you were, Kimi saw you as the shiny trophy to put his on his arm.
But no one had tried to go against him. The effort against someone so cocky and arrgoant was tumultuous. Formula One was already bad enough as it was. The last thing any driver wanted was an extra target on his back when they raced.
But it seemed Oscar had willingly taken it up. And it ws going well. By sheer luck or pure talent, he had finally thwarted the neverending Mercedes domination and Kimi's winning reign. With a few race wins up his sleeve, Oscar loomed over the championship leader with a confidence Kimi would almost find familiar.
"Shut up," Oscar rolled his eyes at Lando, returning his gaze back to the crowd. There was no question as to who he was searching for. And he found you where he had expected. On Kimi's lap. His chin nestled into your shoulder, hand over your thigh while he talked to Ollie like you weren't there. And there you were again, dressed in the clothes that your fingers threatened to tug down.
Oscar watched silently as your lips dipped towards Kimi's ear, whispering something that made him nod and made him loosen his grip on you. His own feet moved across the club before he knew it. But he wasn't so obvious, blending with the crowd as you seemed to near the bathroom. At least from Kimi's angle. But from his, he could spot the right turn towards the stairs immediately.
The strobe lights turned red as Oscar walked up the stairs. The atmosphere up there, though still loud, seemed different. Slower and slurred. Crowded yet less chaotic. And in the mix of it all he found you. Sitting in an empty booth, head in your hands, resting on the table.
"You okay?"
You lifted your head at the voice, ears perked instinctively. You breathed a little more calmly when you realised who it was. "Oscar," you greeted with a small smile though you didn't hide your surprise. You watched him slide into the booth, sitting across you. "What are you doing here? This doesn't really seem like your scene."
Oscar rested his arms on the table. "Doesn't seem like yours either," he simply retorted. He grinned at your pursed lips and briefly stoic face. Like he had caught you in a lie.
You sucked in a sharp breath, leaning back into the booth. "It's not," you admitted with a sheepish nod. The sheer amount of eyes and people made you want to throw up. "But—"
"But Kimi likes it... right?" Oscar bitterly finished, brows raised.
You smiled lightly, nodding once again as your eyes drifted across the dancing crowd, swaying a bit more softer to the electric beat. "I came up here to breathe a little," you mumbled. "It's better than down there. He would've found me outside."
It was silent for a moment. Just Oscar watching quietly and you basking in something that didn't have Kimi's name scrawled all over it.
"Can I ask you a question?"
You blinked, peeling your gaze away from the scene and back to Oscar. You furrowed your brows. That was usually your line. But hearing it come from his mouth was humouring. You smiled lightly, gesturing for him to continue.
"Do you like to dance?" Oscar asked. It was a bold ask. One that made him regret it almost instantly. Lodge his breath in his throat as he waited.
You folded your arms, pondering over his question. "At home. Usually by myself. Kimi doesn't really enjoy it anymore," you sighed sadly, corners of your mouth frowning. You had tried asking once or twice. But the outcome was always the same. He was too busy or too weirded out.
Your eyes fell to the outsretched hand in front of you and then to the standing Oscar. You raised a brow.
"Let's dance then," he breathed.
You swallowed tightly, thinking back to the night just weeks ago where you and Kimi had argued about Oscar. About the promise you had made. You rubbed your lips together, looking at him fretfully as your stomach churned. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
Oscar tilted his head at you. "Stop thinking about Kimi and think for yourself. If you want to dance, then dance."
You should've kept your hand to yourself. You should've gone back downstairs. Whether it was those brown eyes staring back at you or the determination in Oscar's voice, you couldn't decide. But you gave him your hand and let him guide you to the floor.
It was a tight fit with the occassional bump of a shoulder or body nearby. Your eyes locked under the flashing red lights as you stood in front of each other. The music you could feel through your heels. For a moment, you do nothing. Just stare at each other.
"Do you even know how to dance?" You asked with a small but teasing smile, eyeing his frigid posture. He was like a frozen block of ice. Unable to move. Cautious of the surrounding movements. The awkward tipped grin on his face told you everything. And it made you laugh. Earnestly and genuinely.
Oscar bit the inside of his cheek, preventing him from smiling too hard when he felt the brush of your head fall against your chest. He watched as you lifted yourself up, amusement littered all over your face. Your hair dishevelled, tresses flying in different directions. Eyes sparkling under the lights. Smile beaming at him. And he could've sworn his heart stopped.
"They say to just feel the music. Move your body," you advised, brows scrunched like you were trying to remember.
He raised a brow. "They?" He repeated with a grin. "Who's 'they?'"
You pursed your lips, shrugging. "Club people. You learn a thing or two when you just sit there."
Oscar snorted. There was something unexplainably enjoyable when you became a little more loose-lipped without Kimi nearby. He cleared his throat. "So... you just move your body? That what you said?"
You nodded, beginning to move your hands. "I think if you imagine yourself like a fish it works better," you wiggled your brows, trailing your hands across your body to the beat thundering around you.
For a brief second, Oscar laughed. But the picture of a fish dancing died in his head quicker as the rhythm filtered through his ears and his eyes fell to you. The world instantly lingered in his head. Siren. That's what you reminded him of. Every twist and turn of your body making the movement of your hair seem like some art.
He wasn't sure when he himself had begun moving. The bob of his chin. The shuffle of his feet. But he couldn't call it dancing. It was more the appreciation of you in front of him. Admiring how lost you were for just a moment in time.
He couldn't believe it.
How could Kimi deny this? Deny you?
To not dance with you was a sin in itself. The mere idea of missing this bright smile of yours... his fear grew stronger.
The gap between you and Oscar had substantially gotten smaller. Like it was the natural order of things. Heat radiated from every angle possible, the air thick with sweat and something you couldn't quite pinpoint.
You hadn't realised how close you were till you felt the glide of Oscar's hand against the curve of your waist. Your gasp was soft and barely audible. But you could feel the small electric sparks running down your body. You flitted your eyes to Oscar hesitantly and it almost made you take a step back.
He was looking at you already.
Darkened brown eyes strained with red underneath the lights. His large hand pulled you a little closer, letting you see the traces of his moles and freckles. Feel the heat of his skin against yours. The press of his fingers. The scatter of his breath. Any closer it would be his pacing heartbeat.
Oscar looked... good.
More than good. Hot. He looked hot.
You breathed in as he turned your body, leaving your back pressed against his chest. His arm curled around your waist. You pulled your lip between your teeth when you felt his lower half press into you. Not forceful or insistent. Just there. Teasing. And for some godforsaken reason, you couldn't bring yourself to pull away.
You swallowed hard, feeling his breath skim past your ear. His lips rested close by.
"The dress... Kimi's choice?"
Your thighs pressed together at his tight voice. As though he was struggling. You didn't understand the extent of the heat unfurling in your stomach. You had never felt this way. Not even with Kimi.
You cleared your throat, nodding against him. "Hate it?" You asked, breath shaky when you felt the tip of his nose graze the column your neck. You could've sworn your knees melted when you felt his smile lines ghost your cheek, lips brushing against the curve of your ear.
Your eyes widened slightly as you faced him once again. His hand never left you, snug and comfortably around your waist. Your body burned as he rested his head against yours, brown eyes holding your gaze so carefully. So heavily.
"I was taught that if I don't have anything respectful to say, I shouldn't say it at all," Oscar breathed tightly, jaw half clenched.
It was no ordinary beat your heart followed. With large gaps and ample opportunity to miss as you tried to decipher what he was saying. But before you could, it was Oscar who stepped away.
You struggled to catch your breath, staring back at him with your doe-eyes and your stomach churning.
Oscar blinked, brown eyes raking over you for one last time that night. Because if he stayed here a second longer, he'd do something he couldn't. He smiled at you, tight yet warm. "You're a good dance teacher, ___."
You hadn't talked to Oscar since the club. You couldn't quite bring yourself to. Neither did Kimi really let you, keeping you by his side at all times.
You were confused. You still didn't have a full grasp on what had happened. One moment you were dancing and then the other you were... God, you had no idea. You could just feel him. Hear him. See him. For a moment, everything was just Oscar.
But things had dampened down since then. You ocassionally saw Oscar here and there. You'd look. But you never quite did much more than that. Especially as Kimi fought with Oscar on track. Both contenders for a championship. Both their first. It was like a cat and mouse game. If Kimi won once, it was Oscar's turn the next.
And today, Kimi had taken back that victory chainmail, standing on the podium with a smirk so wide, you almost hadn't recognised him. Nor the extra clingy behaviour as he came off of it, kissing you, hand on your waist, and showering you with sweet little comments.
But you supposed this was why.
To have you all pressed up in the men's bathroom with rushed urgency after his media duties and debriefing. Shorts and boxers slung low around his legs. You propped up against the sink, skirt bunched up. His head tucked into your shoulder, groans and grunts muffled. Hips moving into you with desperation and pleasure.
It seemed Kimi had it all planned out.
Except for one little thing.
The door cracked open.
You weren't sure what it was. Whether he had genuinely forgotten or he thought no one was actually going to walk by. And well, if they did, it was only his ass that was going to be seen.
But you couldn't have counted for the possibility of Oscar passing by and stopping, frozen in his tracks.
Your heart almost stopped right there and then. Your eyes stuck with the brown orbs staring right back at you. Your lips parted. Perhaps with the intention to stop Kimi. But you didn't. You didn't understand why you didn't.
You hadn't been wet for the past ten minutes but now the slick was beginning to pile up. The squelch of Kimi's cock driving into you, lewd and obscene.
"Oh fuck," Kimi swore into your skin. "You're getting so wet for me, belle," he panted, grunting as his teeth nibbled into your shoulder. "So fucking wet."
You could see the bob of Oscar's throat. Like a deer in headlights. He didn't move either. Instead the press of his teeth against his lip made you moan against Kimi's ear. The first sound you had made since you had gotten in here.
You focused on the betraying pull of Oscar's brows at the sweet sounds pouring from your mouth. How his fingers curled so tightly against his side. You wondered what he could see. how much of you he could see. The thought only made you clench tighter around Kimi's cock.
"Cazzo," Kimi hissed, hands digging into your hips. "Doesn't that feel so good, baby? Yeah? I'm making you feel so good," he groaned, pushing deeper into you. The sound of your skin against one another now escaped the bathroom with ease.
You choked on the air, hand falling to Kimi's brown curls while you eyed the flush of Oscar's skin. How dark his eyes were. How they fell to where you and Kimi met, enchanted. And for a moment, your breath matched his. Every heave of your chest... it was like he was guiding you just metres away.
You could barely comprehend the heat in your core. All you knew was it was messy. Juices running down your thighs. So wet a ring of white formed around Kimi's cock as he pushed in and out of you. The soft sounds tumbling from your throat uncontrollably as you watched Oscar's tongue swipe his bottom lip.
Oscar should have moved. Like he had done all the other times he had heard the both of you. But he could see it in your eyes. With every praise Kimi gave himself or you... the only thing turning you on right now was him.
His shorts, unexplainably tight around his more than obvious large bulge, only worsened as he watched your hand move between your and Kimi's bodies. Your eyes never moved off of him. His own lips quirking when your fingers pressed against your desperately sore bundle of nerves.
Because Kimi couldn't get you off.
Oscar could have laughed if it wasn't for the situation he was in. Or for the fact he could see this new pleasure so clearly on your face. Your brows furrowed tightly, teeth sinking into your lip, cheeks red, eyes dazed... he could tell. You were close.
Kimi seemed to be too. Speeding his hips up against yours. Still in his own little fantasy where he was the one making you feel so good. He came quick, stuttering against you with his lust-driven grunts. He was decent though, still moving for you.
Oscar had to give it to him. If Kimi hadn't continued and left you there to fend for yourself, it would've been him taking out his own cock and making sure you saw stars.
It was wrong. God, it was so wrong. You knew it. Oscar knew it. But you had never felt like this. So... good. Still the mix of shame and pleasure coursed through you simultaneously, hand gripping Kimi's brown curls while your fingers pressed and rubbed your clit breathlessly. This was it.
"That's it. Cum for me, belle."
But it wasn't it Kimi you were listening to. At least not directly.
Your hazed eyes capturing the small, encouraging nods of Oscar's head. His uneven silent breaths. And you can see his lips mouth the words.
Cum.
Cum.
Cum for me.
Oscar wanted to fall to his knees as he watched the peak of ecstasy hit you. You were seeing white. He could almost fucking feel it with how tight your body locked up, your lips parted in pure awe. But especially as you ensured your eyes were on him for every goddamn second.
Holy fuck.
Oscar had to step away. Any moment now it would be Kimi turning around. And this... whatever it was, would be over.
The walk to his driver's room was faster than anything he had ever done. He did his bare duties; strained smiles and nods. A brush past the few team members packing up. His door was locked in an instant, back pressed against the wall, and his hand under his waistband.
It was a wonder Oscar hadn't cum right there and then as he looked down at his cock, hung with urgency. His red tip leaked profusely, throbbing with a need he had never succumbed to before.
He had been careful in the past few months. Not to get wrapped up with your name on his lips and his hand on his cock. Because that journey would never go down well for him. But that night in the club... his hand on your waist and your ass against him... it had ruined him. He had gone home, jerking off like it was the first time he had ever felt someone this close to him.
But this... this was different. Oscar's brain was rushing. No. Overflowing with what he had just seen. And he couldn't get it out of his head. The way your breath caught when he had walked by. The honey-like sounds falling from your lips. The obscenely wet sounds coming from your cunt. And the most damning fact of all—you had kept going after you had seen him.
Oscar bit down into wrist, face contorted with pleasure, moans muffled as he fisted himself. His eyes and hips rolled with as much desperation as you had just shown. It was almost mimickable how wet he sounded, shaft and tip just doused in his neverending pre-cum.
He couldn't decide what set him off. The orgasmic bliss on your face or the knowing that it was him. Him that made you cum. Maybe not physically. But it was not Kimi and his idiocy. Your fingers and his presence... that was what had done it.
Oscar's body convulsed, hips stuttering as the pleasure climbed over him rapidly. His teeth clamped harder into his skin, spurts of hot cum coming out in long strings. Leaving his hands and shorts stained with the mess you had created.
Removing his wrist from his mouth, he breathed silently and hard, staring at the idle components of his driver's room.
Jesus. He might have been fucked before. But there was no going back after today.
You couldn't count how many times you had been like this recently. And by this, you meant curled up somewhere and in tears.
You had been a mess since Kimi's race. What you had done... that was so wrong on so many levels. There was no beating around the bush. You had cheated. One way or another.
And it was humiliating. Because that was probably the best you had ever felt in your life. But not because of your actual boyfriend, Kimi. But because of Oscar.
You had skipped as much races as you could without Kimi getting suspicious. You couldn't look at him without feeling ashamed. Nor could you look at Oscar. He had sent you texts. Too many of them. So you had blocked him and deleted his number.
But you couldn't get out of this one. You could see the questions brewing in Kimi's head when he had asked you if you were coming. And you had run out of excuses.
You thought it would be fine. That you could get through this weekend without any tears or any fights. But much to your disappointment, you were wrong.
Kimi's fixation with winning had turned into agitation now that Oscar was taking even bigger chunks of points out of his lead. He wasn't happy with the car's performance during practice. He had given the team hell after it. And when that wasn't enough, you were the next available target.
You had lost count of the type of things he had said to you in front of the team. How you weren't supportive enough. That you never stuck through with him like he did with you. How it was your fault that his car, which you had no connection to whatsoever, was bad. That you had somehow bewitched Oscar into being good.
The message was clear: it was your fault.
Humiliation didn't even cover it. Mortified was more like it. The awkward gazes of the team. The tears ramping up in your eyes. Your flushed cheeks. You hated it. And you hated it even more because it was your fault.
So you sat on the dry concrete in Belgium, between the awkward space of two team suites, head tucked into your knees as wave after wave of anger and embarrassment hit you. Your tears had partially died down, caught on your trousers and shirt.
Your jaw clenched as you glared at the concrete, chewing your lip anxiously. Why did you have to go screw this all up? You should have listened to Kimi. You should have never accepted that dance because then you would've never found Oscar like this. So good. So ugh... you wanted to scream at yourself.
"Hey, hey," a familiar voice echoed into the air, making the hairs on your body stand up. “What’s happened?"
You lifted your head slowly, reddened eyes meeting the concerned brown pair staring right back at you. It was Oscar, of course. Bent down, knees embedded onto the concrete and hands on the sides of your own knees. Your chest ached at the sight of him and yet the anger seemed to roar in your head when you thought about what you had done. You sighed almost annoyed, tilting your head back against the wall.
"Nothing. Just forget about it," you wiped your tear-stained cheeks with the back of your hand.
Oscar's brows mended together at your reaction. As if it was a crack in the perfect glass world you had been living in. "___, you know you don't have to be embarrassed around me—"
"This is embarrassing," you gritted out, hurt eyes drifting to him. "It's always embarrassing that you always finds me like this. Crying like some pathetic waste of space."
"No. That's not true," Oscar murmured, head shaking as he tucked your hair behind your ears. "Kimi should be the one that's embarrassed. Making you cry like this," he said, jaw twitching. He could only imagine what he had said to you. Piece of shit.
You chuckled dryly. "I'm a horrible girlfriend, Oscar. What I did that day... that's unforgiveable.,'" you whispered, eyes tearing up yet again. "I deserve this. It all makes sense now. The paddock was never boring. People don't talk to me because they know how bad I am."
Oscar almost wanted to laugh in disbelief. How bad you were? All you had done was dance a little and feel the best you had ever felt in your life. All you had done was live a little and here you were denouncing Kimi's actions like he had done no wrong.
"Sweetheart, people don't talk to you because of you. They don't talk to you because of Kimi. No one wants to tell you but I will," he swallowed the lump in his throat, chest sore at the sight of your reddened eyes.
You sniffled, confusion visible on your face. "What?"
"That Kimi doesn't deserve you."
Your brows furrowed, affronted in an instant. The memories seemed to hit you one after another. He was your first for everything. First kiss. First time. First boyfriend. First love. He was perfect, wasn't he? "That's not true. Kimi's—"
"An asshole," Oscar cut in firmly. "Someone who loves you doesn't hurt you. Someone who loves you doesn't make fake promises. Or put limits on how you act. Who you can see."
You shook your head. No. Your Kimi wasn't like that. "He's just protective—"
Oscar's hands moved to grab your face, holding your gaze so fiercely, for a moment you forgot to breathe. "___, someone who loves you doesn't make you question yourself."
You fell silent, not bothering to wipe the fresh tears spilling from your eyes. Your brows quivered and your stomach churning. Your heart echoed in your ears while your brain flashed between your altered memories.
It was like watching some sort of stained glass shatter right in front of your eyes. Your perfect Kimi no longer perfect.
"He wasn't like that at the start. I swear," you whispered, looking back at Oscar, lip trembling.
Oscar sucked in a sharp breath at the crack in your voice. Fuck. He sighed quietly, arms wrapping around you and bringing you to his chest, lips pressed to the side of your head. "I know, sweetheart. I know."
"Can you stop brainwashing my girlfriend?"
Oscar looked away from his trainer, conversation coming to a screeching halt. His eyes travelled around the room, ensuring it was still cladded in papaya. He smiled at Kimi. "Are you even allowed to be in here?" He raised a brow, folding his arms, leaning back in his seat.
Kimi tongued the inside of his cheek. He was sure he had never met anyone as obnoxious as Oscar Piastri. "Did you hear me? Stay away from my girlfriend. Or else," he glowered, jaw tight, turning on his foot.
"Or else what?" Oscar goaded, making the Italian stop dead in his tracks and his trainer sigh. He stood up from his chair, eyeing the figure in front of him with disgust. "Kimi, piece of advice. You should probably try treat your girlfriend better."
It was like something in Kimi had snapped. Turning around with such force, the air had bended as he stalked up to Oscar, his breath in his face. "Don't fucking tell me how to treat my own girl," he spat, chest heaving.
Oscar's mouth quirked. "You treat her like shit and come here acting like you don't," he chuckled, shaking his head, brown eyes hard with annoyance. "You don't deserve her. You don't deserve anything you have."
Kimi blinked, scrutinising the man in front of him before letting out a scoff. "I get what this is."
Oscar raised his brows, bored and tired. "Do you now?" He asked dryly, not so easily entertained by Kimi's smirk.
"You're jealous," Kimi deducted, smirk widening with every passing second as he thought back to the past year. His debut compared to Oscar's. "I'm so young and yet I have everything you were ever promised. The team. The car. The wins."
Oscar, the master of composure, remained stoic. Not a budge on his face to give him the true inkling—that he was right. That this was how it had started. But that wasn't going to be how it ended. "If that's all you can think about after treating her the way you do... you are exactly who I think you are," he muttered with distaste heavy on his tongue. "She's not yours, Kimi. She's her own person."
Kimi stood in front of him, unimpressed as his lips parted to retaliate. But Oscar leaned in, lowering his voice to a more inaudible frequency. "And even if she was yours, no honourable man would leave his girl to get off by herself," he murmured with a gentle smile, basking in the drop of Kimi's smirk.
Oscar patted Kimi's shoulder with feigned condolences, heading towards the exit of the McLaren suite. Leaving Kimi to stand by himself, pale in the face and sick to his stomach.
Kimi had crashed. it was horrible. Pieces of the car flying everywhere. The gasp of the crowd. The bang of his fist against the snapped halo. The replay was all you could think of as you finally made your way to the medical bay, eyes glossed with tears, stomach churning, and heart pacing erratically. You hadn't taken a breath until you opened the door, finding him sitting on the couch, icepack to his hand .
You sucked in a shaky breath, feet rushing before you could even think your hands flew to his face, frantically examining his entire body for something that maybe the doctor or nurse had missed. "Oh Kimi," you choked, tears spilling. "A-Are you okay? D-Do you want me to call anyone?"
A piece of your heart broke as Kimi slapped your hand away with his bandaged fist, icepack falling to the floor. He glared at you, disgust swarming in his eyes. "Don't do that. Don't pretend you care."
You kept your hand close to your chest, brows furrowed. "Kimi... what are you talking about? Of course, I care. I—"
"I crashed because of you."
You froze at his words. "W-What?"
He stood from the couch. He jammed his finger into your chest. "This is your fault," he gritted out, lip trembling with pure anger. " Oscar this. Oscar that. Oscar, Oscar, Oscar," he spat out.
"Kimi—"
"You might as well come out with it. Luring Oscar to mess with my championship. How could you do this to me? When I've been here for you since the very start?" Kimi exasperated, own eyes pricking with tears.
You swallowed the bile creeping up your throat as the tears seeped into your cheeks. You looked at him, repulsed and with your brows mended. Your skin ached where his finger landed, invisible bruises already forming. "You're really questioning my loyalty? Once. Only once did I ever question you. After all those signs... the looks to those other girls. I ignored it because I thought you really loved me. And I questioned you once and you ridiculed me. And you really think I did something as elaborate as tricking Oscar?"
"Who knows?" He heaved dryly. "You've changed, ___. Years ago, you would've stuck by me," Kimi hissed.
You chuckled despite the tears falling one after another. "I have been. Every single goddamn day. You’re the one who's changed, Kimi! I don't see the guy who stayed up all night outside my house to wish me happy birthday. Or protected me from the photographers. No. Now... with you it’s... it’s clubs. And parties. Cameras following our every move. You degrade me in front of your co-workers. Disrespect me in front of millions. You show me off like I'm some trophy and put me to the side when you don't need me."
"Right..." Kimi laughed bitterly, shaking his head with utter disbelief. "Oscar doesn't do that then?"
Your face burned with anger, lip twitching. How dare he...
"Well at least he doesn't make me cry!" You exclaimed with an exhausted sob, shoulders heavy and burdened. "That's all you ever do, Kimi. You make me cry, then you love me. You criticise me, then you love me. I do what you want and it's still never enough for you. I will never be enough."
And suddenly, you were young kids all over again. Facing each other outside of school under the blues skies and warm winds of Bologna. Your smile so bright for him, he promised never to make it go away. Eyes so full of light, he never wanted to see a single tear.
Kimi blinked, lips parting for a response but nothing ever came out. Just the croak of realisation as he stood in front of you, finally taking in your reddened eyes, tear stained cheeks, and flushed skin.
It was like a slap to the face.
That was his doing.
He had made you cry.
He had hurt you.
What had he done?
You wiped your cheeks hastily as he stepped forward, hand hesitantly reaching out. Your throat burned, raw and sore from yelling. "I'm done, Kimi. Don't call me. Or my parents. Don't come by my house," you sniffled, lip quivering with disgust. “I don't ever want to talk to you again."
Oscar had recognised your downbeat face in a heartbeat as you sat in the McLaren motorhome, in his room, waiting with a cup of hot chocolate in front of you. A familiar sight. But something was different. He could tell.
No longer could he see the awkward, nervous demeanour Kimi had elicited from you. Instead a frame of exhausted freedom in your sunken eyes. Tip of your nose red and cheeks flushed from crying.
Oscar could tell this would be the last time he'd ever let you cry.
He breathed in quietly, removing his cap as he took a seat next to you. For a brief moment, he didn't say anything. A minute of silence for what was gone. For all your efforts that had been disrespected in every manner.
"We don't have to talk about it," Oscar mumbled, grabbing your hand, frowning at your cold skin. Warming your hand gently, he took in another breath. "Or do anything. As long as you're happy, I'm happy."
You moved your eyes from the coffee table drearily to Oscar, your hand, and then back to him. "Can I ask you question?"
Oscar swallowed, nodding with a perfect ease. "Of course," he said softly.
"Would you ever make me cry?"
Not one second wasted to think when he already knew the answer. "Never," he breathed, moving to tuck your dishevelled hair behind your ear. "There is no world or universe where I could even fathom it."
You pursed your lips, searching his eyes, trying to understand the weight of his words. Waiting for a split second to see if you could find the lies you had ignored in Kimi. But you found none. Just his warm gaze and the feel of his hand on your cheek, resting.
The corners of Oscar's lips teetered. "Was that a good media trained answer?"
You couldn't help but laugh a little, chest just a bit lighter now. You nodded your head. "Nice job," you murmured teasingly, nudging him with your elbow.
Oscar smiled, boyish and gentle as his thumb grazed your cheek back and forth before tracing over the small crinkles near your eyes, raised from your own smile. His chest ached slightly. Happiness looked far better on you.
You watched Oscar's eyes dip, falling to your lips for a brief moment. A silent struggle he decided to shake away. You sucked in a quiet breath, gentle fingers raising to brush over his lips, making him freeze. Meeting those brown eyes, a new shade you had come to enjoy, you tilted your head up and leaned in, pressing your mouth to his briefly.
Oscar's breath caught and his pulse jumped as you pulled away a smidge, shy smile faint on your face. Without a second thought, he brought you right back to him, lips pressed against yours with a barely contained urgency. His nose knocked against yours, head tilting while he parted your mouth with a simple ease.
The air in your lungs seemed to burn, caught and stuck while your brain turned into mush. It had been a while since someone had kissed you like they had meant it. Not for any camera or audience. A moment just yours. Your breath to steal.
You shifted against him, feeling his hand move to your waist in an attempt to bring you closer. The soft noise from your throat made the both of you shudder. The thud against the couch was gentle as you fell on top of him, never quite parting. as though the taste of each other was all consuming.
Oscar begrudgingly pulled away, breath shaky as he rested his head against yours. He swallowed, trying to compose himself. A gentle laugh fell from his swollen lips, brown eyes flickering to you and your flushed cheeks. "I was supposed to take this slow," he sighed.
Your body shook lightly with an amused laughter. "You have all the time in the world to try," you teased. "I'm giving you my heart, Piastri. Don't screw it up."
Oscar softly blinked, smile slowly stretching onto his face. "I promise," he breathed, pressing a long kiss to the top of your cheek.
Radio silence. That all Kimi had heard from you. He had ignored your warnings. Called and called. Text after text to try and rectify his wrongs. But you had quickly blocked his number. And it wasn't the only gruelling problem in his life.
Kimi didn't know what was going on but he was losing. He was losing bad. Every race... it was like he was taking a thrashing. And each one from them coming from Oscar. From wins and podiums... he was stuck at the bottom of top ten towards the end of a season. His big point lead now heavily eaten into. His confidence on thin ice.
And it was all Oscar's fault.
It was driving Kimi crazy. Leaving him in tears. because nothing quelled his anger. No workout. No crash. Nothing. He was even beginning to hallucinate. Hoping to turn around in the paddock and see you nearby. Hearing echoes of your voice in the air. Anything to keep him sane.
But you weren't here. Because he had fucked up. because Oscar Piastri had decided to get in the way.
Here Kimi was. After all of it. Entering the paddock miserably for the third to last race of the season. One of the championship deciders. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep on the plane. Long hours spent in silence and with his brain.
He needed to head towards the Mercedes' suite for a morning brief. Pick up any instructions from the communiations team, maybe train a little before he went off to complete his media duties for the day.
His smile was tight and dull for the nearby cameras, hand hanging onto the bag slung over his shoulder. He walked with no extra pep or ego in his step. No cocky cadence that he once exhibited. Only with a sliver of hope that he could win. Even by a single point. Because suddenly the season he had been dying to start was the same one he was dying to be over.
Kimi's brows furrowed at the surprised looks of the photographers and people nearby. Their eyes travelling to the scene behind him, wide and cautious. He paused in his steps, body slowly turning to satiate his curiosity. But what he saw made his heart freeze and his blood run cold.
He blinked once. Twice. And another two more times.
But the sight never changed.
Kimi wasn't hallucinating. It was you.
For a second, Kimi's heart soared. A genuine smile threatening to spring onto his face. But as his eyes dropped down to your hand intertwined with another, he followed the arm to the familiar face of Oscar's and whatever happiness he had felt for a brief second had been smashed to smithereens.
He watched silently. Forced to do so, if anything. Watched as Oscar did the opposite of everything he ever did. Guiding you through the hoard of photographers and fans, keeping you close by as you both meet with Lando nearby. Watched as Oscar noticed your untied shoe and bent down to tie them without a second thought. Coming back up to give you a gentle kiss on your cheek as you enthusiastically engaged with his teammate.
Respectful and gentle with you. Fufilling all the promises Kimi had once made.
You looked unexplainably happy. Talking to someone that wasn't him. Someone that was no longer afraid to reciprocate any conversation with you.
For the first time in a while, Kimi could see the very same light in your eyes and your bright smile under these blue skies. None of which were for him. And it was like a stab to the heart.
But nothing worse than the smooth swivel of Oscar’s head, brown eyes meeting his as he smiled at him. Not a grin. Or smirk. A smile. Innocent and kind on the outside was the gesture. But the lingering stare emphasised it all.
It was official.
His wins.
His podiums.
His reputation.
His happiness.
His first love.
Oscar Piastri had stolen everything Kimi once had.
Pairing: Oscar Piastri x Violet Graves (Original Character)
Summary:
Lando Norris has a very reasonable theory: Oscar Piastri’s girlfriend, Violet, is probably going to murder him.
Evidence includes the black clothes, the braids, the lace parasol, the unsettling hobbies, and the snake named Belladonna.
Oscar insists she’s just shy.
Lando remains unconvinced.
Warnings and Notes: Lando is an unreliable narrator in this 😂 Also, I have plans tomorrow, so I have no clue when I could upload it, hence why you get it now.
Big thanks to @llirawolf , who listens to me ramble and entertains all of my ideas 😂
Reason 8: Violet’s unsettling hobbies
Violet had hobbies.
This should have been good.
Healthy, even.
People were supposed to have hobbies. Lando had hobbies. Golf. Streaming. Annoying Oscar. Accidentally agreeing to Quadrant ideas that later became his problem. Perfectly normal things.
Violet’s hobbies were not normal.
Violet pressed flowers.
That sounded normal at first.
Sweet, even.
Until Lando found out that half the flowers she pressed were poisonous.
“Vi likes botany,” Oscar said, like this was supposed to be comforting.
“She pressed foxglove in a book.”
“It’s pretty.”
“It can stop your heart.”
“So can your driving sometimes.”
“That was unnecessary.”
Violet also embroidered.
Again, normal in theory.
Except she embroidered tiny skulls onto tote bags, black flowers onto handkerchiefs, and once, horrifyingly, a tiny anatomically correct heart onto the sleeve of one of Oscar’s hoodies.
Oscar loved it.
Of course Oscar loved it.
Oscar walked into the McLaren garage wearing it like Violet had stitched his name into the stars.
Lando pointed at the sleeve. “Is that a heart?”
Oscar looked down. “Yeah.”
“Like a Valentine heart?”
“No.”
“No,” Lando said slowly, staring at the little red embroidered organ. “Of course not.”
“Vi made it.”
“I gathered.”
“She said it suited me.”
Lando stared at him.
Oscar stared back.
“Mate,” Lando said, “your girlfriend embroidered an organ on your clothes and said it suited you.”
Oscar’s face softened. “Yeah.”
Lando turned away. “You’re beyond help.”
Then there was the taxidermy.
Not real taxidermy, Violet insisted.
Ethical taxidermy.
Which, according to her, meant she only collected things that had already died naturally.
According to Lando, that did not make it better.
It made it sound like she had terms and conditions.
He found this out at Oscar’s apartment.
Obviously.
Because Oscar’s apartment had slowly become less Oscar’s apartment and more Violet’s tasteful little gothic nature museum.
There were pressed flowers in frames.
Antique books.
Black candles.
A tiny cabinet full of bones.
Bones.
Lando had stopped in front of it and gone completely still.
Oscar, carrying drinks from the kitchen, said, “Don’t be weird.”
Lando pointed. “There are bones in your living room.”
“They’re Vi’s.”
“That does not help.”
“They’re cleaned.”
“Again. Not helping.”
Violet appeared beside them silently, because of course she did, and looked at the cabinet.
“They’re mostly from owl pellets,” she said softly.
Lando stared at her.
Violet looked back.
Oscar took a sip of water like this was a normal evening.
“Owl pellets,” Lando repeated.
Violet nodded. “Owls can’t digest bones and fur properly, so they regurgitate them.”
There was a pause.
Lando slowly turned to Oscar.
Oscar looked at him.
“Your girlfriend collects owl vomit bones.”
Violet’s eyes widened.
Oscar closed his eyes.
“I clean them first,” Violet said quickly.
“Oh,” Lando said. “Brilliant. That fixes everything.”
Violet’s mouth twitched.
Lando pointed at her. “Don’t laugh. This is deeply concerning.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“You’re doing it silently.”
“She does that,” Oscar said fondly.
“Stop being fond about owl vomit bones!”
Violet laughed then. A real little laugh.
Oscar looked delighted.
Lando looked at the cabinet again and decided there were some battles he would simply never win.
And then there were the books.
The books were a separate category of concern.
Violet’s books had titles like:
Victorian Mourning Rituals.
Poisonous Plants of Europe.
The Social History of Death.
Witchcraft, Women, and Medicine.
Funerary Jewellery and Memory.
Oscar said she liked history.
Lando said there were better historical periods to enjoy.
“Has she considered the Romans?” Lando asked once.
Oscar looked up. “They killed a lot of people.”
“Fine. The Renaissance.”
“Also a lot of death.”
“The moon landing.”
Oscar stared at him. “That’s not a period.”
“It has less embalming.”
Violet, sitting beside Oscar with a cup of tea, whispered, “Not necessarily.”
Lando went cold.
Oscar started laughing.
“No,” Lando said immediately. “No. I don’t want to know. Keep your moon embalming facts to yourself.”
Violet smiled into her tea.
That was the other problem with her hobbies.
They gave her facts.
Terrible facts. Unsettling facts. Facts nobody had asked for.
You could say something innocent, like, “I hate the smell of almonds,” and Violet would softly explain that bitter almonds were historically associated with cyanide.
You could mention wedding rings, and Violet would tell you about mourning jewellery made from human hair.
You could say, “That flower is pretty,” and Violet would say, “It can cause paralysis.”
Always gently. Always politely. Like she was offering someone a biscuit.
Lando began to fear educational conversations.
One afternoon, he found her sitting in hospitality with a small embroidery hoop, carefully stitching something black and delicate onto fabric.
Lando approached with caution.
“What are you making?”
Violet looked up. “A moth.”
Lando relaxed slightly. “Oh. That’s nice.”
“A death’s-head hawkmoth.”
Lando stopped relaxing.
Oscar, without looking up, said, “Don’t start.”
“It has death in the name.”
“It’s a moth.”
“It has a skull on its back.”
“It didn’t choose that.”
Violet looked down at the embroidery. “I think it’s beautiful.”
Lando opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Because she said it softly, with such genuine affection, and suddenly the whole thing became annoying again.
Because yes, it was unsettling.
But Violet did not like these things because they were creepy.
Not really.
She liked fragile things. Forgotten things. Misunderstood things. Things people looked at once and decided were ugly or frightening or morbid before they bothered to understand them.
Poisonous flowers.
Snakes.
Moths.
Old mourning jewellery.
Tiny bones cleaned carefully and placed in glass jars.
Oscar.
Actually, that one made sense.
Lando looked at Oscar, who was sitting beside Violet, entirely comfortable in the middle of her gothic little ecosystem.
Oscar had one hand resting near hers on the table. Not touching, exactly. Just close enough that Violet could hook her little finger around his whenever she wanted.
She did.
Oscar’s thumb brushed over her knuckle.
***
Reason 9: Oscar was brainwashed
Reason 9 was the most disturbing reason of all.
Oscar was brainwashed.
There was no other explanation.
Lando had considered the evidence carefully, as any reasonable person would.
Oscar Piastri, who reacted to most things with the emotional intensity of a printer loading paper, had become soft.
Not generally.
Not in public.
Not with Lando, obviously, because Lando was apparently not worthy of gentleness despite being charming, funny, and essential to team morale.
But with Violet?
Oscar was gone.
Completely.
Tragically.
Embarrassingly gone.
He smiled at his phone.
He saved her the quiet seat in every room.
He carried her black tote bag without complaint, even though it had a tiny embroidered skull on it and made him look like an unwilling assistant in a gothic bakery.
He knew exactly how she liked her tea.
He could tell, from one tiny glance, when she was overwhelmed.
He listened when she whispered.
He leaned down so she didn’t have to speak louder.
He did not even blink when Belladonna was mentioned at the dinner table, which Lando thought was a very clear sign that Oscar’s survival instincts had been tampered with.
“He’s under her spell,” Lando told Max Fewtrell very seriously.
Max, who had unfortunately met Violet and decided she was “nice, actually,” did not look concerned enough.
“Maybe he just loves her.”
Lando stared at him.
“That’s what I said.”
“No,” Max said. “You said brainwashed.”
“Same thing.”
“It’s really not.”
“It is when she owns a snake named Belladonna.”
Max considered that. “Fair.”
Exactly.
Exactly.
But then the situation got worse.
Because Lando found the ring.
Not on purpose.
That was important.
He was not snooping.
He was not.
Oscar had asked him to grab a charger from his backpack. Those were the words Oscar had used. Can you grab my charger? It’s in the front pocket.
A normal request.
A teammate request.
A request that did not, in any reasonable world, suggest that Lando Norris would end up holding evidence of Oscar Piastri’s complete and irreversible emotional destruction.
The backpack was in Oscar’s driver room.
The charger was not in the front pocket.
Which was typical Oscar, because for someone who acted like a very organised spreadsheet, he was terrible at knowing where his own things were.
Lando opened the side pocket.
Nothing.
He opened the bigger pocket.
Still no charger.
He opened the smaller zipped pocket inside the bigger pocket, because at this point he was committed and also slightly annoyed.
There was no charger.
There was, however, a small velvet box.
Black velvet.
Of course.
Lando froze.
“No,” he whispered.
The box sat there innocently.
Too innocently.
Lando looked at the door.
Then back at the box.
He was not snooping.
He was investigating.
There was a difference.
Also, Oscar had put it in a backpack pocket and then sent Lando into the backpack unsupervised, which was practically entrapment.
Lando picked up the box.
It was heavy in his palm.
Not very heavy. Just heavy enough to feel ominous.
Like a cursed object.
Like something Violet would own.
“Oh no,” Lando whispered.
He opened it.
Then immediately shut it again.
Then opened it again, because his brain needed confirmation that it had not invented what it had just seen.
Inside was a ring.
An antique ring.
Not a normal shiny modern ring from a jewellery shop with clean lighting and champagne and sales assistants who said things like timeless elegance.
No.
This ring looked like it had a history.
A backstory.
A potential haunting.
It was Victorian-looking, all delicate gold scrollwork and tiny old-fashioned details, with little pale stones around the outside like stars caught in metal. But in the centre, where Lando assumed something normal was supposed to be — a diamond, a sapphire, maybe some romantic pastel thing — there was a black diamond.
A black diamond.
Deep and glossy and dark, catching the light like a secret.
Lando stared at it.
Then he stared harder.
Then, very calmly, he said, “Oscar Piastri, what the actual fuck.”
Behind him, Oscar said, “That is not the charger.”
Lando screamed.
Not a controlled exhale.
A scream.
The box nearly left his hand.
Oscar crossed the room in three long steps and caught Lando’s wrist before the ring could become a very expensive tragedy.
“Careful,” Oscar said sharply.
Lando clutched the box to his chest. “You appeared silently.”
“I walked in.”
“You and Violet are becoming one person and I hate it.”
Oscar’s eyes dropped to the box.
His face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
He reached out.
Lando held the box away from him.
“No.”
Oscar blinked. “Lando.”
“No. Explain yourself.”
“It’s a ring.”
“It’s a Victorian death ring.”
“It is not a death ring.”
“It has a black diamond in the middle.”
Oscar’s ears went slightly pink.
Oh.
Oh, Lando hated that.
“I changed the centre stone,” Oscar said.
Lando stared.
“You changed the centre stone.”
“Yes.”
“To a black diamond.”
“Yes.”
“On an antique Victorian ring.”
Oscar nodded.
Lando inhaled slowly.
“Right,” he said. “Right. Of course. Obviously. Why would you propose with something normal when you could give Wednesday Addams a ring that looks like it was pried from the hand of a tragic widow?”
Oscar’s expression went flat, but his ears were still pink.
“Vi will like it.”
That was the problem.
She would.
Violet would like it.
Violet would probably look at this alarming little piece of jewellery with its old gold and its black diamond heart and its faint air of moonlit inheritance drama, and she would go completely soft.
Worse, she would probably cry.
Silently.
Into Oscar’s shoulder.
And Oscar would look at her like he had personally been entrusted with the last fragile thing in the world.
Lando suddenly felt ill.
“You’re proposing,” he said.
Oscar was quiet.
Then, very simply, “Yeah.”
Lando looked at him.
Oscar Piastri, standing in his driver room in McLaren kit, looking infuriatingly calm except for the pink at the tips of his ears and the way his eyes kept flicking back to the ring box like he needed to make sure it was still there.
“You’re proposing,” Lando repeated.
“Yes.”
“To Violet.”
Oscar gave him a look. “Yes, Lando.”
“With this.”
“Yes.”
“A Victorian ring.”
“Yes.”
“With a black diamond.”
Oscar’s mouth twitched. “You’ve covered the important details.”
Lando sank down onto the little sofa.
He still held the ring box.
Oscar did not take it from him immediately, which meant he was either very trusting or very stupid.
Possibly both.
“You are brainwashed,” Lando said faintly.
Oscar sighed. “I am not brainwashed.”
“You bought an antique gothic proposal ring for your girlfriend who owns a snake named Belladonna.”
“I didn’t buy it because of the snake.”
“That is not the defence you think it is.”
Oscar sat down beside him.
Carefully, he took the ring box from Lando’s hand.
Lando let him, mostly because Oscar was looking at the ring in a way that made jokes feel slightly more difficult.
Annoyingly.
“It was originally an old mine cut diamond,” Oscar said, quieter now.
Lando blinked. “You know ring facts?”
Oscar ignored that. “It was pretty, but it didn’t feel like her.”
“Right, because it wasn’t ominous enough.”
Oscar gave him a sideways look.
Lando shut up.
For once.
Oscar opened the box again.
The black diamond caught the light.
“It’s old,” Oscar said. “Not perfect. The setting’s a bit unusual. The jeweller said some people wouldn’t like that because it’s not symmetrical enough.”
Lando looked at him.
Oscar’s thumb rested against the edge of the box.
“But Violet likes things with history,” he continued. “And she likes things that other people think are strange before they bother looking properly.”
Oh.
No.
Lando hated this.
He hated Oscar’s soft voice. He hated the stupid ring. He hated that it suited Violet. He hated that Oscar had clearly thought about this for longer than he had ever thought about anything Lando said to him.
“I thought about getting something modern,” Oscar said. “Something easy. But she wouldn’t want easy.”
Lando swallowed.
“She’d want haunted,” he said, because he needed to say something.
Oscar’s mouth curved.
“Probably.”
“And the black diamond?”
Oscar’s eyes stayed on the ring.
“She likes black,” he said.
“Yes, Oscar, we’ve all noticed.”
“And she doesn’t like being looked at too directly. Big bright diamonds felt wrong.”
Lando went quiet.
Oscar turned the box slightly, making the stone flash darkly under the light.
“This felt like her,” he said. “Soft around the edges. Strong in the middle.”
(Oh, come on. Come on.)
That was illegal.
Oscar was not allowed to say things like that.
Oscar was supposed to be emotionally constipated and deadpan and slightly annoying. He was not supposed to sit there holding an antique Victorian engagement ring with a black diamond and say things like soft around the edges, strong in the middle about his terrifying gothic girlfriend.
Lando rubbed both hands over his face.
“You are so gone,” he said.
Oscar did not deny it.
That was worse.
He simply looked at the ring for another second, then closed the box.
“I know.”
Lando froze.
Oscar did not look at him.
His ears were pink again.
Lando stared.
“You know?”
Oscar shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah.”
“You admit it?”
“I’m not brainwashed.”
“But you’re in love.”
Oscar was silent.
Then, very softly, “Yeah.”
Oh.
Oh, no.
No, this was becoming sincere.
Lando did not do well with sincere. He could mock. He could tease. He could turn anything into a joke and then pretend the joke had not revealed something deeply emotional. But Oscar saying yeah like that, quiet and certain and not even embarrassed enough to hide from it properly, was a problem.
A serious one.
Lando looked away first.
Obviously.
He had to preserve himself.
“Disgusting,” he muttered.
Oscar huffed a laugh.
“You can’t tell anyone,” Oscar said.
Lando turned back to him, offended. “Do I look like someone who would ruin your proposal?”
Oscar just looked at him.
“That is hurtful.”
“You told three people when I changed shampoo.”
“It smelled different.”
“Lando.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Lando said. “Obviously.”
Oscar studied him for a second.
Then nodded.
Lando sat back, unsettled.
The ring sat between them in its black velvet box like a tiny gothic bomb.
“When?” Lando asked.
Oscar hesitated.
“Soon.”
“Soon?”
“After the triple-header. She hates big scenes, so not anywhere public. Not at a race. Not around cameras.”
Lando nodded slowly.
That made sense.
Violet would probably dissolve into the floor if Oscar proposed in front of people.
Or summon fog.
Either.
“I thought at home,” Oscar said. “After dinner. Just us.”
“Just you, Violet, and the snake named after poison.”
Oscar’s mouth twitched. “Belladonna will be in her enclosure.”
“That’s not the same as not being present.”
“She’s family.”
Lando pointed at him. “That remains concerning.”
Oscar smiled down at the ring box.
Idiot.
Complete idiot.
Brainwashed idiot.
And the worst part was that Lando could see it now.
Not the proposal exactly, because that felt private in a way even his imagination hesitated to intrude upon.
But the shape of it.
Violet in Oscar’s apartment, probably wearing black, probably barefoot, probably with her braids loose or half undone after a long day. Oscar making tea because Oscar always made tea when Violet seemed nervous. The quiet of it. The softness of it. Oscar, who could barely perform romance for a camera to save his life, kneeling down in their living room with an antique ring that looked like it belonged in one of Violet’s gothic novels.
Violet would go still.
Completely still.
Then her eyes would fill.
Then she would say his name in that tiny voice, like she could not believe someone had chosen her so precisely.
And Oscar would say something low and simple and devastating, because apparently he had that ability when it came to her.
Something like, It was always going to be you.
Lando groaned.
Oscar looked at him. “What?”
“I just imagined it.”
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Then stop.”
“I can’t. It’s in my head now. You’re going to propose with a haunted ring and she’s going to cry and you’re going to look at her like that.”
Oscar frowned. “Like what?”
“Like she’s the softest thing in the world even when she’s reading about corpse flowers.”
Oscar looked down at the box.
His face softened.
“That,” Lando said, pointing. “Exactly that. Stop it.”
Oscar did not stop it.
Obviously.
Because he was useless.
Then, because apparently the universe had decided Lando had not suffered enough, the door opened.
Violet appeared.
Silently.
Of course.
Both Oscar and Lando jolted.
Oscar snapped the ring box shut so fast the little click sounded like a gunshot.
Violet stopped in the doorway.
She was wearing black, obviously. A long black skirt, black cardigan, black boots. Her braids were tied with little ribbons, and she held her skull tote bag against her side.
Her eyes moved from Oscar to Lando.
Then to Oscar’s hand.
Then back up.
“Is everything okay?” she asked softly.
Lando’s soul left his body.
Oscar, somehow, remained calm.
“Yes,” he said.
Lando nodded too quickly. “Yep. Normal. Very normal. We were just talking about chargers.”
Violet blinked.
Oscar slowly turned his head toward him.
Lando smiled.
Badly.
“Chargers,” Violet repeated.
“Yes,” Lando said. “Phone chargers. Electrical. Very modern. Not Victorian at all.”
Oscar closed his eyes.
Violet’s brows drew together.
Lando wanted to throw himself into the harbour.
Oscar stood, sliding the box into his pocket with a smoothness that frankly suggested he had been practicing hiding evidence from his terrifying girlfriend.
“Lando couldn’t find my charger,” Oscar said.
That, at least, was technically true.
Violet looked at Lando.
Lando looked at Violet.
For once, she did not look like a murder suspect.
She looked suspicious.
Which was fair.
Because Lando was acting like a man who had just been caught holding an engagement ring with a black diamond in a driver's room.
Which he had.
Violet tilted her head.
Lando panicked.
“I’m going to go,” he said.
Oscar said, “Good.”
Rude.
Violet stepped slightly aside to let him pass.
As Lando moved by her, she said softly, “Bye, Lando.”
He stopped.
Looked at her.
Black clothes. Braids. Pale face. Big dark eyes. Glossy black nails. Skull tote bag. Probably a book about death in there somewhere. Probably vegan snacks. Probably the emotional centre of Oscar’s entire universe.
Still suspicious.
Objectively.
But not dangerous.
Not to Oscar.
And maybe not to Lando either.
“Bye, Violet,” he said.
Then, because he had no self-preservation and possibly never had, he added, “Nice ribbons.”
Violet’s eyes widened.
Her hand lifted to one braid.
“Oh,” she said. “Thank you.”
Her cheeks went pink.
Oscar looked at Lando.
Not smug.
Not annoyed.
Grateful.
Again.
Absolutely unbearable.
Lando pointed at him. “Don’t.”
Oscar’s mouth curved. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking something.”
“Occasionally I do that.”
Violet made a tiny sound into her sleeve.
Lando narrowed his eyes. “You two deserve each other.”
Oscar looked at Violet.
Violet looked at Oscar.
And there it was again.
That stupid, quiet, obvious love.
Lando left before it could become worse.
But after that, Reason 9 changed.
Because yes, Oscar was brainwashed.
Or in love.
Whatever.
But Violet was not exactly escaping unharmed either.
Violet, who barely spoke to anyone else, spoke to Oscar like words were something she had been saving just for him.
Violet, who moved silently through rooms like a ghost trying not to disturb the living, always drifted toward Oscar.
Violet, who hid behind her sleeves and her braids and sometimes, absurdly, her black lace parasol, looked at Oscar like he was the safest place in the world.
And Oscar was planning to propose to her with a ring that understood her.
That was the part that kept bothering Lando.
Not because it was weird.
Although it was weird.
The black diamond was insane.
The antique Victorian setting was insane.
The fact that Belladonna would probably witness the proposal from her enclosure like a tiny scaly chaperone was insane.
But the ring was not random.
Oscar had looked at Violet — really looked at her — and chosen something strange and old and dark and delicate, because anything else would have been wrong.
That was harder to make fun of.
Lando still tried.
Obviously.
But it was harder.
One evening, after a long day at the track, Lando found them in the quiet corner of McLaren hospitality.
Oscar was sitting on one of the sofas, hoodie sleeves pushed up, phone abandoned beside him. Violet was tucked into his side, black skirt folded neatly over her knees, one braid falling across Oscar’s shoulder like it had decided to live there.
She was reading.
Oscar was not.
Oscar was just sitting there, perfectly still, one hand resting loosely over Violet’s, thumb moving in slow, absent strokes over her knuckles.
Lando stopped in the doorway.
Neither of them noticed him.
That was unusual, because Violet noticed everything.
But her head was slightly bowed, her face softer than Lando had ever seen it, and Oscar was looking at her like the rest of the world had gone quiet for once.
Violet turned a page.
Oscar looked down. “Good?”
She nodded.
Then, after a moment, she tilted the book slightly so he could see the paragraph.
Oscar read it.
His eyebrows drew together. “That’s grim, Vi.”
Violet’s mouth twitched. “You say that about all my books.”
“Because all your books are grim.”
“They’re interesting.”
“They’re grim and interesting.”
She leaned a little more into him. “You still listen.”
Oscar’s face softened.
“Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”
Violet looked up at him.
And there it was.
The thing Lando had been trying very hard not to look at directly.
Love.
Not creepy gothic brainwashing.
Not snake-related enchantment.
Not whatever parasol-based spell Lando had originally suspected.
Just love.
Quiet and obvious and deeply inconvenient.
Violet looked at Oscar like he had found her in a world too loud for her and decided to lower his voice instead of asking her to be different.
Oscar looked at Violet like she had handed him all her sharp, strange, shadowy pieces and he had found every single one worth holding.
It was disgusting.
It was beautiful.
Lando hated it.
Mostly because he suddenly felt like an idiot.
A charming idiot, but still.
He cleared his throat.
Oscar looked up first.
His face immediately flattened into its usual public setting, which was rude because Lando had just witnessed softness and now Oscar was trying to pretend he was furniture again.
Violet looked up too.
For once, Lando did not feel like she was assessing his organs.
She looked nervous.
Not ominous.
Just nervous.
“Hi,” she said softly.
Lando looked at her.
Black clothes. Braids. Pale face. Big dark eyes. Glossy black nails. Book probably about death. Snake owner. Parasol enthusiast. Silent walker. Vegan gummy bear refuser.
Still suspicious.
Objectively.
But not dangerous.
Not to Oscar.
Maybe not to Lando either.
“Hi,” Lando said.
Oscar narrowed his eyes. “Why are you standing there like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’ve had a thought.”
“I have thoughts.”
“Occasionally.”
Violet made a tiny sound into her sleeve.
Lando pointed at her. “See? That. You’re getting meaner.”
Her eyes widened.
Oscar smiled. “She is.”
“I’m not,” Violet whispered.
“You are,” Lando said. “Quietly. It’s very unsettling.”
Her mouth twitched.
Then, to Lando’s complete horror, she looked almost pleased.
Oscar looked at her like he wanted to wrap her in a blanket and give her the moon.
Lando groaned. “Oh, for god’s sake.”
“What?” Oscar asked.
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Sitting there all brainwashed.”
Oscar blinked. “Brainwashed.”
“By love.”
Violet went very still.
Oscar’s ears went pink.
Excellent.
Finally.
A reaction.
Lando folded his arms. “Don’t deny it.”
Oscar looked away.
Which was Oscar for screaming.
Violet looked down at her book, cheeks turning pink beneath the black curtain of her braids.
Lando stared between them.
“Oh my god,” he said. “You’re both useless.”
Oscar muttered, “Shut up.”
“No. I won’t. I’ve been living in fear for months.”
“Of Violet?”
“Yes.”
Violet looked up, stricken. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
And there it was again.
That softness.
That awful, earnest little voice.
Lando immediately felt like a monster.
“No,” he said quickly. “No, not like— I mean, yes, technically, but not in a bad way.”
Oscar stared at him. “How is that not in a bad way?”
“Because it was funny.”
“To whom?”
“To me, mostly.”
Violet blinked.
Then, very quietly, “I thought you didn’t like me.”
Oh.
Lando froze.
Oscar’s expression shifted.
Not angry.
Exactly.
But protective.
Very protective.
Lando swallowed.
“No,” he said. “No, I like you.”
Violet looked surprised.
Painfully surprised.
Which made Lando want to walk into the sea.
“I do,” he said, because apparently this was happening now. “You’re just… terrifying.”
Her mouth parted slightly.
Oscar closed his eyes.
Lando rushed on. “But in a good way. Mostly. Like a small, polite ghost. With baking skills. And alarming books.”
Violet stared at him.
Then her mouth twitched.
“You think I’m a ghost?”
“A polite one.”
She looked down, smiling now. “That’s nice.”
“It was not meant to be nice.”
“It still is.”
Oscar opened his eyes and looked at Lando with the most unbearable expression he had ever worn.
Grateful.
Lando could handle smug Oscar. He could handle sarcastic Oscar. He could handle blank Oscar, annoyed Oscar, and emotionally unavailable Oscar.
He could not handle grateful Oscar.
Absolutely not.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Lando said immediately.
Oscar’s mouth curved. “Like what?”
“Like I’ve done something good.”
“You have.”
“Stop.”
Violet looked between them, still pink, still smiling a little.
Then she reached for Oscar’s hand.
Not dramatically.
Just quietly.
Her fingers slipped around his.
Oscar turned his hand immediately and held on.
Like it was instinct.
Like breathing.
Lando watched them.
And suddenly the whole evidence board in his head rearranged itself.
The black clothes were not mourning clothes. They were armour.
The braids were not sinister. They were comfort.
The parasol was not a funeral accessory. It was something to hold when the world was too bright.
The silence was not judgement. It was shyness.
Belladonna was not foreshadowing. She was a rescued snake with a strong name.
The unsettling hobbies were not murder preparation. They were Violet loving strange, fragile, misunderstood things because maybe she knew what that felt like.
And Oscar?
Oscar was not brainwashed.
Oscar was in love.
Completely.
Stupidly.
Quietly.
Hopelessly in love.
And Violet loved him too.
That was obvious now.
In the way she looked for him first in every room.
In the way she relaxed when his hand touched her back.
In the way she saved her best sentences for him.
In the way she trusted him to understand the words she did not say out loud.
In the way Oscar’s whole world seemed to narrow down to making sure Violet never had to become louder than she wanted to be.
Lando hated how romantic that was.
He hated it so much he had to sit down.
Oscar watched him warily. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
Violet’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”
“You two,” Lando said. “You’re in love.”
Oscar stared.
Violet turned scarlet.
Lando pointed at them. “Disgusting.”
Oscar looked down at their joined hands.
Then, very quietly, he said, “Yeah.”
Violet looked at him.
Oscar looked back.
For one second, neither of them seemed to remember Lando existed.
Their hands stayed tangled together.
Violet’s eyes were wide and soft.
Oscar’s face was open in a way Lando almost never saw.
Then Violet whispered, “Yeah?”
Oscar’s thumb moved over her knuckles.
“Yeah.”
Oh.
Oh, that was private.
Lando stood up so fast the sofa squeaked.
“Right,” he said loudly. “I’m leaving before you start being emotionally sincere at each other.”
Oscar did not look away from Violet. “Bye, Lando.”
“Unbelievable. Months of concern for your safety and this is the thanks I get.”
Violet looked at him then.
She was still blushing, but she smiled.
A real smile.
Small, shy, and entirely un-haunting.
“Bye, Lando.”
He paused.
Then sighed.
“Bye, Violet.”
He made it three steps before turning back.
“For the record,” he said, “if you ever do murder him, I will still tell Netflix I saw the signs.”
Violet’s smile widened.
Oscar groaned.
“I won’t,” Violet said softly.
Lando narrowed his eyes.
Then she added, “Probably.”
Oscar dropped his head.
Lando pointed at her. “See? This is why the list exists.”
But he was smiling when he said it.
And Violet was smiling too.
Oscar looked between them like he could not decide whether to be annoyed or happy.
He settled, unfortunately, on happy.
Lando left before it got worse.
That night, he opened the evidence file one last time.
Reason 9: Oscar was brainwashed.
He stared at it.
Then deleted brainwashed and rewrote it.
Reason 9: Oscar was in love.
Supporting evidence:
One, Oscar smiled at Violet like an idiot.
Two, Oscar understood Violet’s silence better than most people understood full speeches.
Three, Oscar carried her skull tote bag in public without complaint.
Four, Oscar considered Belladonna part of the family, which remained concerning.
Five, Oscar looked at Violet like she was the softest thing in the world, even when she was reading about Victorian funerals.
Six, Violet looked at Oscar like he made the world less frightening.
Seven, Violet loved him too.
Lando stopped typing.
Then added the final footnote.
Additional note: Maybe I am going to survive after all.
He considered that.
Then added:
Further note: Still do not eat any unlabelled brownies without checking if they are vegan or cursed.
And finally:
Further further note: Violet is not going to murder me.
i’m thinking cockwarming with Lando, like a family movie night where he just has reader sitting in his lap cover on as he whispers sweet nothings in her ear, while he thrusts so slightly when she started to get comfortable, he would play with her clit when she actually somehow managed to pay attention to the movie, warning his big, red cock in her cunt all the movie long, and in the credits, he gives a dumb excuse to take her to the room and fuck her as he wants to.
this sent my head spinning, anon i like your thinking. a lot. please enjoy my angel babies <3
You wanted to swat his hand away but you couldn't help yourself, instinctively leaning back into his chest as he slowly dragged circles against your sensitive nub, careful to not emit any sounds from your mouth as you pushed your head back against his shoulder.
But he'd prop you back up, using his free hand to hold your chin so it would look as if you were watching the movie just like everyone else and not stuffed with your boyfriend's cock whilst his fingers played with you. And my god it was the hardest thing to do; the delicious stretch of your walls around him making you want to claw his back and have him move inside of you. But you knew it'd be game-over if you made so much as a squeak so you stayed impossibly silent, full to the brim of your boyfriend as you let out a shaky breath.
"Be a good girl and stop moving." He'd whisper to softly against your shoulder, peppering clothes kisses to the curve as you let your eyelids drop. The head of his cock nudged that sweet spot inside of you, the feeling of him balls deep inside of you whilst people were around sending shivers running up and down your spine. And he could sense the way you were feeling, the tears brimming in your eyes because my god you just wanted him to destroy you but he couldn't.
So he'd fasten his fingers that were slipped down the waistband of your bottoms, the insides of your cheeks bitten raw at the ever-building knot that was balling in the pit of your stomach with every delicious circle of his forefinger against your clit. And your attention was snapping from thought to thought as you needily searched for something to concentrate on out of fear of making a noise, or worse - cumming.
As soon as the movie finished he'd remove his fingers, bringing them hastily to his lips as he'd suckle on them for a second or so before helping you off his lap. And all it took was a breathy moan and a disguised cough before you were left feeling completely empty, the blankets hiding your little game wrapped tightly around your lower half as you smiled awkwardly at your guests as they'd all start to stand and stretch, slowly milling out of your shared apartment.
There would still be one or two people left giggling in the kitchen as you'd finally have the chance to wrap your fingers around Lando's wrist, practically dragging him to the bedroom. Desperate to have him inside of you properly. Absolutely, disgustingly desperate.
And the first rock of his hips would draw the shakiest whimper from your throat, hands fisting the bedsheets beneath you as he'd coo from above, "Finally getting what you wanted, hm?"
His pace would be relentless, one hand pressed to the side of your head whilst the other would snake between your sweaty bodies and play coyly with your clit. And the room would be silent apart from the slapping of bare skin, your pussy clenched dangerously around his length as he'd threaten to slip from you completely before you locked your ankles round his back.
Because there was no way he was waiting to make you cum, his cock slick with your excitement as he whined impatiently at the feeling of you so snug and tight around him. His fingers becoming rhythmless as you teetered on the edge of an orgasm, finally, your whines and cries growing louder with every thrust. And truthfully you didn't care if there was anyone still left, forced to listen to you mercilessly fuck, because you were finally getting what you wanted.
Lando's thrusts would grow sloppy, his head cradled in the crook of your neck as he whimpered at how good you felt and how tight you were, all praises going straight to your cunt as your vision turned a blinding white. The orgasm would rattle through you, leaking through every vein as your toes curled and your back arched from the bed; Lando trying his hardest to hold on and help you through it but failing miserably, his own mouth hung open as he'd twitch once, twice, inside of you before cumming. Hard.