Sarah, PLEASE write about them figuring out their love signal, i am begging you on my knees
ask and ye shall receive.....
⋆⋆⋆ indicates pov change!
wc: 900ish
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Ben knows Ilies and Pierre are dating.
For most people, they probably slide under the radar. Everything they do is easily explained away by Ilies being Pierre’s friend and brand-cum-social media manager. It’s only natural that they’d be together so much. Anyway, Pierre wouldn’t be the first—or the last—Formula One driver to have a steady support posse accompanying him everywhere.
it helps that Ilies likes to stay out of the limelight. It’s admirable, the way he evades opportunities for publicity. Instead, he tucks himself in the garage, like a teddy bear Pierre put up on the shelf. He doesn’t use Pierre to gain his own notoriety, so for many people, he’s probably just another face at the paddock. Just Pierre’s helpful friend.
Still, despite all of that, Ben’s figured it out.
He hadn’t meant to, but he spends more time with Pierre than the average person, and after a while, one starts to notice things. The way Pierre and Ilies will seek each other out in a room of people, or the fondness that comes over Pierre’s face when he sees Ilies. The way Ilies seems to preternaturally anticipate Pierre’s needs and his moods.
Above all, it’s their closeness that gives them away. They way they move through space together, a call and response. Ben knows what that is. He has the same thing with Victoria–the way he moves through the world is forever conscious of her, even if she’s far away.
“Pierre, it’s time to go,” Ben calls. He turns to see Pierre talking with Ilies, his whole body tilted towards his probably-boyfriend.
“Got it,” Pierre calls back, giving Ben a thumbs up. He turns back to Ilies and gives him a quick hug. Ilies leans into it, closing his eyes briefly, and when he pulls away he reaches down to tap the inside of Pierre’s wrist.
In an instant, Pierre’s face is aglow with something so tender that Ben feels like an interloper. Then Pierre returns the gesture, a gentle one-two tap on the skin of Ilies’s inner wrist.
Looking away, Ben feels a pang in his chest. Of course they have some kind of signal. Something inconspicuous, something that conveys the words they want to say but can’t in public.
He can’t help but study Pierre’s face as he hands over his helmet.
Pierre smiles, squinting a little. “What? Something on my face?”
“Uh–no. Sorry, just spacing out,” Ben says. “Ready for quali?”
“Ready.”
As Ben helps Pierre get his helmet on, he glances over at Ilies, who’s watching them. Ilies smiles and waves.
Ben waves back.
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“I think Ben noticed the tap-tap,” Pierre says, settling into bed next to Ilies. They’re in the cool, clean cocoon of his motorhome bed, the lights dimmed.
Ilies looks up at him. “Really?”
“Really.”
“What makes you think that?”
Pierre chews his cheek. “Uh…after we did it, he was sort of looking at me funny.” Well—funny isn’t the right word. Actually, Ben sort of looked…thoughtful.
Ilies massages the bridge of his nose, taking off his glasses. “In a bad way?”
“No,” Pierre says. He slides an arm around Ilies’s waist, pulling him closer.
“Do you think other people’ve noticed? Should we stop?” Ilies’s voice gets a bit tight.
“No,” Pierre repeats. “We shouldn’t. I like it. It helps.”
Their signal—the tap-tap, they’ve started calling it, which makes Pierre feel disgustingly cutesy–-always gives Pierre a little boost. During race weeks, he used to have to wait all day for some affection from Ilies, or have to check his phone surreptitiously when no one was looking.
Now, he can give Ilies a small double tap—usually on the inner wrist, where he can feel Ilies’s heartbeat—and get one back, and it says I love you. It gives Pierre a soft, warm feeling, and he can take that feeling with him to interviews and into the car.
Of course, nothing can compare to hearing Ilies’s voice actually saying it, but it’s better than nothing.
Tap-tap. Ilies came up with it.
“I like it too,” Ilies says, a small flush starting on his cheeks. Pierre smiles and tugs him in for a kiss. llies’s lips are so soft, and he smells good. His eyes are warm.
Pierre glances at the bedside table on Ilies’s side of the bed. Next to his glasses and his phone is his hotel key card, almost completely unused this weekend. He thinks about Ilies going to his hotel room just for appearances, alone.
“Would it be so bad if Ben knew?” Pierre asks.
Ilies blinks. “I–that’s up to you,” he says, haltingly. It makes Ilies nervous, Pierre knows, to expand the circle of people that know about them. Not for his own sake, but for Pierre’s.
His eyes search Pierre’s face. “But I wouldn’t mind.” The flush on his face grows.
“He’d be cool about it,” Pierre says.
“I know.”
“It’d be good for more people to know.”
“I know.” Ilies sighs. His hand finds Pierre’s under the covers.
“We’ll think about it,” Pierre concludes, squeezing Ilies’s hand before reaching over him to turn out the light. In the cool darkness, he pulls Ilies even closer, until they’re curved around each other. “I love you.”
Ilies presses a kiss to his skin. “I love you, too.”
“Ready for this?” Ilies asks. The race doesn’t start for an hour and a half, but Pierre has to get briefed and warm up, so he won’t see Ilies again until after.
“Yeah.” There are engineers and other Alpine staff buzzing around them, everyone doing last minute tweaks and checks. Pierre reaches over and tap-taps Ilies’s wrist. Ilies smiles, and returns the gesture.
15. Do they always say 'i love you' before leaving?: answered here
21. Who would get into a fight to defend the other's honor? Who tends to the other's wounds?
i mean first of all i cannot even conceive ilies getting into a fight. it seems so....severely Not his thing. i do think he'd be aggravated by someone shit talking pierre and his career but i feel like he's the type to let pierre's success and ability to even reach f1 ("pinnacle of motorsport") speak for itself.
buh!!! as im writing this up, i considered: pierre gets into a fight for ilies's 'honor' before they ever start dating....
pierre could get into a scrap, if he's got enough alcohol in him and someone shit talks ilies enough. like maybe some idiot is coming at ilies for no reason and while ilies is happy to just walk away from it, pierre'll get a little hotblooded. his reaction is a little disproportionate, even to ilies, but pierre is just so fucking bothered by the way the other guy got in ilies's face and laid his hands on ilies's body (pushed him).
he won't throw the first punch, but he'll fight back. i doubt it'll go anywhere (pierre has enough people in his posse for others to break it up) but he'll get a little scuffed up, a scrape on his cheek or even a black eye....
ilies is not the type to freak out and panic (externally) over pierre getting into a fight. he stays calm and collected, holding pierre's hand (even in public, because the situation warrants it) and firmly getting him back home so that he can mop pierre up. they don't talk while this happens, pierre sitting on the couch with his head hanging because he feels like an idiot, ilies carefully dabbing alcohol and wound cream with brisk movements. he's quiet until pierre is all patched up, then he sits next to pierre.
"What was that all about?" he asks, softly. He's not sure how to bring it up. He's never seen Pierre get so heated over something so stupid. The other guy was annoying, sure, but he didn't do anything they couldn't just laugh off the next morning over hangover breakfast.
"Nothing," Pierre grimaces. The scrape on his face hurts when he talks. "Alcohol got the best of me."
Ilies chews the inside of his cheek. It'd scared him to see Pierre get hit, and hit back. "You didn't have to do that," Ilies presses.
"I know." Pierre's getting frustrated. How can he explain himself? How can he explain the way he felt seeing someone attack Ilies, when even he doesn't understand it?
He looks at Ilies. His friend looks anxious and pale, and his hand is on Pierre's forearm. It's cleary fucking devastating to Ilies that Pierre got hurt, and Pierre loves him.
Pierre loves him. He looks at Ilies's dark eyes and soft lashes, and pulls Ilies in for a tight hug, unable to put anything into words.
27. Who is the light weight that needs to be taken care of after a party?
honestly i doubt either of them are lightweights because they're not particularly small people and i bet they drink of a semi-regular basis (nothing crazy). i also think they know their limits, and ilies especially tries not to get too sloppy because i perceive him as slightly more concerned with the opinions of others...but i'm going to guess he can drink comparatively less than pierre can.
i think they end most nights out on the same level of happily buzzed-to-drunk, and getting home safely and drinking water before bed is more of a giggly, collaborative affair, the two them trying to get their keys in the keyhole at the same time, water being spilled, that kind of thing.
i could see ilies getting drunk on a night that's all about him, like his birthday. his friends throw him a big party and everyone keeps pushing champagne and shots at him and pierre's sticking to his side in a way that makes ilies feel comfortable enough to go for it, and by the end of the night he has to be poured into bed, boneless and grabby and messy. Pierre kind of likes seeing ilies like this, because it's so rare, so he's smiling as he unties Ilies's shoes and gets him a gatorade and tugs his sweaty club shirt off. ilies is in rare form when he's drunk, sloppy and useless and knocking over the glass of water pierre got him and not even trying to pick it up, trying call their other friends to come over !!!!! and pierre has to take away his phone. pierre likes seeing him loosen up this much, when he's normally holding everything together with finesse.
49. Does either of them have a hard time being away from the other?
they both do. for some reason i'm thinking of that picture where pierre is facetiming ilies on his birthday, and you can tell from his posture that he's so focused on his boyfriend's face on his laptop screen. i think it's the worst when their schedules don't align and they have to miss big moments, like birthdays or good race performances, which is why they've woven their lives together. like, yeah, it sucks when their lives don't align perfectly, so the solution was to make it so that their life schedule is nearly the exact same. same cities to visit, same flights to catch.
60. Who pulls the other closer when they’re sleeping? answered here!
for the otp asks - 5, 11, 31, 54, 60 with ilierre ❤ (I went through your headcanons, hope I'm not repeating any questions now lol)
5 - answered here!
11. Do either try to hide their emotions if upset? Can the other still tell?
i could see both of them doing this, actually, but for different reasons.
normally, pierre doesn't try hold his emotions in around his friends and family. there's something about pierre that tells me that he is intentional about things like this and wants to appreciate his loved ones for what they are and not hide parts of his genuine self from them.
still, though, it's not always easy to transition from his public-facing persona to his regular self. there are probably a few days where it's been a fuck-all day of fighting with the car and having a bad race and then having to trudge through interviews about "looking towards next week" and "going to work on the car with the team" and "learn from mistakes" and he's just sort of simmering in dissatisfaction and an emotional bad taste in his mouth. he's not unpleasant to be around, but he's not talkative, he doesn't ease into ilies's touch like usual. ilies being ilies, he's figured out when this is happening and how to deal with it.
it's simple, really. pierre's receptive to touch, so he'll hold him from behind, resting his chin on pierre's shoulder, hands flat on pierre's stomach and wait until they're breathing in sync. or he'll have pierre lay his head in his lap and stroke pierre's hair, not really saying much. slowly, pierre relaxes. the bad mood might linger, but he's ready to talk about it and not in pr-robot mode anymore.
on the other hand, i think ilies will hide being upset because he's not sure how to communicate it, or he doesn't want to burden pierre with his problems. i'll sound like a broken record saying this but i think pierre is too perceptive for it to work. maybe the first few fake smiles and laughs slip past, but pierre can tell when ilies isn't his usual relaxed, easy self. he's more direct than ilies, asking him outright if he's okay, if he wants to talk, and i think ilies likes that.
31. Can they sit side by side without touching the other or are they handsy? (lacing fingers, touching knees, etc.)
they can - and do - all the time for appearance's sake. tbh i don't really see ilierre as a couple that can't bear to not be touching all the time - i think they both appreciate their space, despite being very affectionate. i see it more like this - if they're on the couch together watching tv, or sitting at the dining room table doing work, at opposite sides and not touching, pierre every so often will bump a knee or a foot against ilies's, and they'll look up and smile at each other.
i do think that when they're at parties with friends and it's all people that know about their relationship, pierre can get a bit handsy with ilies, like having ilies sit in his lap, or an arm around him. especially if he's been drinking. :>
54. Who’s more likely to carry the other to bed?
hah! i think i wrote pierre carrying ilies to bed in my sick!fic. he doesn't do it all the time (and has on a few occasions decided that he'll just sleep on the couch, too). i don't think ilies has even tried lifting up pierre LMAO....that's not his game......
60. Who pulls the other closer when they’re sleeping?
pierre - in his sleep. ilies will feel a huge heavy arm land on him and start dragging him across the bed and he just lets it happen even though pierre is radiating heat and ilies was pretty comfortable where he was....
it's fine, though. it's comforting, the solid weight of pierre's body at his back, the heavy breaths, the tight arm around him, clinging..
So, the otp thing for ilierre. I don't know if ive got your tags correctly because im pretty sure youve done the begging the other not to leave part (which has killed me, just to point it out again).
But. 5 and 15, please? 👉👈
you're right, i did! i fixed it in the tags :-) my weakest point is numbers.....i'm terrible with them... :'3
5. Describe their cozy night in.
during the season these can get kind of far and few between - between travelling for fun and travelling for races, they don't get a lot of nights where they're staying in. they get the very weird experience you have in serious relationships where you're together all the time but you sort of miss each other, somehow....pierre hates hitting the 10pm mark of a day and realizing he hasn't tugged ilies over for a kiss or a hug since they've been out in public all day, and ilies realizes they've barely spoken all day because they were too busy talking to everyone else around them...
so when they get a night in, they take it seriously. ilies puts away the endless email vortex that is his phone and computer, and pierre does the same. they thrown on another one of the stupid reality tv shows they both like (clearly i have a headcanon for them enjoying shit like love island and love is blind) and order in food and pick at it over the night. eventually they lose track of the show and end up sprawled on the couch, pierre reclined on the cushions and ilies laying on top of him, head propped up on his hands on pierre's chest. they catch up on the different parts of their lives, talk about their friends, about formula 1--not too much--and future plans. in the moment they're focused on where they'll go tomorrow, next week, next month, but on their nights in they can think about where they'll be in a year, in five years, in ten...pierre rubs a lock of ilies's dark hair between his fingers, or ilies toys with one of pierre's hands.
they usually fall asleep like that, and when pierre wakes up, a little stiff from sleeping on their couch (even though it's a nice couch!) and ilies is heavy on his chest, he feels pleased. it's nice to pretend that the only weight of the world on him is ilies sleeping on top of him.
15. Do they always say 'i love you' before leaving?
i mean, not out loud, probably. they're in public too much to do that. maybe before a race pierre gets a minute with ilies where he can murmur it, and ilies will murmur it back. but they can't always do that, so instead they figure out a little signal. ilies will give the back of pierre's hand a gentle tap, and pierre will do it back.
Ilies in kym illman's recent video about paddock fashion?? 👀 (from 1:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypdE47Y7vY
i literally hate kym illman but jesus fucking christ he has given me so much also he apparently fucking digs ilies (millionth person marked in love with ilies)
THIS ISSOOOO ???? FUCKING ??? FUCKED UP ??? ? ? ? HI??????,
i'm so kin with him i also never close my mouth. he looks so hot here. big guy
Saraah, do you think Ilierre shared a scooter? How did it go? Was Pierre just like, hey come on, hop on. Was Ilies nervous to touch and grab a hold of him? Were they just being their nervous and in love selfs in general?
Also, that Ilies post had me dying <333
hmmm. part of me wants to say that they both leaned into it (regardless of whether they've established the relationship). pre-dating!ilierre probably would relish in the chance to have some bodily contact where they have to touch and be close and press up against each other without revealing that they want to. ilies loosely wraps his arms around pierre and pierre (without turning around to reveal what's happening all over his face) tells him to grip tighter, because the road is bumpy and he wants to keep ilies safe. so ilies hugs tighter, face burning, and it's nice. it's really nice. pierre can feel ilies's heart beating against his back, and ilies can feel pierre's abs clenching whenever they go over a bump, and while ilies does like driving his own scooter, it's nice to ride along with pierre. the scooter isn't big, either, so it's tight quarters, and when the ride's over they're both pretty red in the face and adjusting their (thankfully) loose jeans and not looking at each other. >:3
ilies posting an insta story from annecy suggesting that he isn’t with pierre at a grand prix for the first time this year… trouble in paradise? 👀
he was busy hanging out with the "best barista in town" like girl if you don't get your ass over to canada ..
firstly, anon, you're messy. but i like that. maybe there IS trouble in paradise. there could be a hundred reasons for ilies not to go to canada---maybe he's just exhausted from all the travelling! maybe he finally caught that cold we've been manifesting for him. or maybe they got into a fight (like the one i imagined up a few weeks ago). a snappish "fine. don't go if you're tired." "okay. i won't," then ilies flounces out of pierre's apartment and over to his own and then flounces out of milan entirely. in another universe ilies is posting on his story all week, showing off his friends in france that he's been missing and distinctly making it clear that he's soooo happy and busy without pierre!
they're having a cold war, pierre posting his shit, ilies posting his own, but neither of them will text or press call. they're both, like, fucking terribly sad inside, neither of them understanding how such a small fight could turn into this and both of them wishing ilies was in canada, helping pierre in the many quiet ways he normally does.
it's okay though. pierre's going to fly home to milan, and unlock his apartment, and ilies will be there, curled up on his couch sleeping, phone screen open to a picture of them together.
because you and i both have finite lifespans i'm going to limit myself to moments/pics i've already made a note of on my blog before (rather than deep diving their igs). this is in no particular order!
this was fucking devastating. i've already written ad nauseum on my blog why i love this picture so much, but this shit is literally devastating. curled up like that watching his boyfriend play golf. hands in his lap. obviously smiling. why? why is this happening to me? who decided i was capable of witnessing this?
i mean dude. what is there to say. actually can i just copy and paste what i said about this the first time i discussed it:
"pierre you just love seeing his little face, don’t you. the cosy blue sweater the matching balloons that i bet he sent… [vomiting blood]
also tbh on closer inspection it looks less like a video call and more like a prerecorded video? did ilies film a happy bday video for pierre. my weak feeble mind can hardly stand that premise. look at how pierre seems so focused on the screen…"
um ... ilies glasses moment ...
their entire greece vacation was a Moment!!!!! and really helped me keep momentum when i was writing my first ever fic for them. in a way i feel like this was peak ilierre, where the romance was fucking strongly in swing. the matching fits, the dancing together---carefree and while watching the sunset, the way ilies is smiling and looking at pierre.....i kind of fucking feel like crying dog
this too.
lastly this from that one SI article. i think it's like. almost the ilierre thesis, if you think about it.
