@tealias : "i'm rather good at educated guesses." / otto
there is a thought that, despite his very best efforts, he can not quite seem to shake. gnawing with increasing annoyance at the edges of his mind and leaving him distracted enough that he misses a good part of the speech the team principal is delivering with leveled enthusiasm. it should be harder. even with his more recent upset with his team, even after everything he's learned in the past weeks, it should probably be a lot harder to throw away a legacy at the mere promise of a new one. maybe later, if asked, he'll claim he grappled with the decision. he might say he lost sleep over it, that it was not easy to leave the team that gave him everything (the team that took everything). he might lie. it should be harder, but it isn't and aaron finds himself with his leg bouncing restlessly, waiting for otto to finish his monologue so he can finally put ink to paper and make it official.
otto, flawed as the man may be, makes no promises of family, of home or purpose or even belonging. there's no talk of prestige. otto talks about winning, about opportunity, about statistics and the car, about plans for the team and progress. factual, almost analytical and aaron finds that he appreciates that a lot. perhaps all of this would've been enough to convince him. perhaps it would've sufficed to make him feel like he'll get an actual say in his own future and he would've signed either way. but if otto wanted to prove to aaron that he has an exceptional eye for strategy, he does so by sealing the deal with repeating something so simple and yet so brilliant, aaron almost chuckles. a name. his name. the reason he sits here in the first place.
"i don't think you'd let all this depend on an educated guess." he reaches for the pen even though otto does not quite seem to be done speaking. his agent should be here to look through the fine print but he hardly cares about the details. it's trivial, payment and requirements and brand deals, none of it will make a difference to him. "i think for this to work, we need to agree to not bullshit each other. we both know what this is and i admit that it is... brilliant." no intention to stroke the man's ego and no illusion that he needs it. it's a simple fact. the sound of pen on paper seems almost comically loud in the mostly bare office. aaron does not miss how harsh the contrast is to gia's where the walls are filled with pictures of the team, of victories and of his children. for a brief moment he wonders if otto is actually doing this out of sympathy. and then it is done. "i want to be the one to tell him. " he does not know how yet, isn't even certain how nicki will react. last thing he wants is for him to think this is another opportunity taken from him by aaron. the only reason he hesitated at the offer to begin with. "i need to be the one to tell him. please."