summary: no matter how much she despised monaco, it was important to nikola. she just didn’t expect to experience a slowburn romance with his teammate
warnings: one ( 1 ) joke about wanting to die, cursing
pairing: fem! reader x tasanapol inthraphuvasak
genre: fluff, slowburn ( not really )
requested: yes
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flashback:
monaco looked and smelled of rich people, at least to y/n. being here in person felt odd since she’s only ever watched the race from behind a screen, but nikola had begged her to come with his family — even using the “we’re basically siblings” talk since they’ve known each other for a majority of their lives.
racing is his thing, his world, and much to his dismay, y/n didn’t want to be apart of it.
“wipe that stupid smile off your face” nikola just rolled his eyes before bringing her into a hug
“can i not be happy to see my best friend?”
“don’t say it like that”
“you always put me down”
“it’s my job”
the pair continued to argue while some of his team laughed as they passed. it was only thursday which meant he only had the track walk and media stuff to do, which is why y/n can't comprehend the fact that nikola insist that she accompanies him.
“is this the y/n we've been hearing about?” their bickering came to halt as they both turn towards the two boys that were making their way towards them
“the one and only” nikola slung an arm around y/n's ( neck / shoulder ) and pulled her into his side
“y/n, meet my teammates!” mari smiled brightly while tasanapol’s was a bit more small, yet calming
oddly enough, the three boys seemed to easily mesh well with each other despite only becoming teammates this year. nikola and mari were basically the same person, but in a different font, while tasanapol was more calm but still as chaotic ( it just didn’t seem that way when he’s around her best friend and mari ).
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monaco was the tip of the iceberg.
it started slow, something that could be easily overlooked, almost missable if you didn’t pay close attention.
y/n found herself attending more races, but instead of staying beside nikola, she gradually moved towards tasanapol whose much calmer presence was always more welcomed than whatever scheme her best friend was cooking up with mari.
the way he carried himself sent tingles up her spine and how he would lower his voice to tease or make fun of his teammates made y/n’s heart flutter.
liking him came easy… confessing to him wasn’t.
y/n has had crushes in the past, but she’s always kept them to herself — and also avoided them when she recognised her feelings. y/n couldn’t avoid tasanapol, but what could she do? tell him? y/n would rather die.
what if he didn’t feel the same? she would NEVER attend another race again out of pure embarrassment.
“y/n” she hummed and glanced up at nikola who had finally finished putting on his race suit
“have you seen my pen?”
“what pen?”
“umm…” she watched him glance behind her quickly and y/n went to turn, but was cut off by nikola putting his hands on her shoulder
“it’s a plain pink pen!”
“pink?”
“yes! i got it in… um…” she raised an eyebrow at seeing him looking behind her again
“spain… yeah! spain! it’s really precious to me”
“okay?”
“i need you to look for it”
she blinked at him.
“what?”
“i need to warm up”
“you have still have like an hour before you need to be on the grid”
“exactly” he sighed and patted her shoulder with a smile
“you’re such a good friend”
y/n watched as he walked towards mari who gave him a thumbs up which only confused her more: what the heck are they doing?
she rolled her eyes, but still got up. she wasn’t doing anything important and her legs were feelings a little numb from sitting down for so long anyways. y/n hesitated to ask one of the team members since they were all busy preparing for the race, so she just sighed and walked into the motorhome in hopes that he just left it ( if it even existed ) in the cubby hole with his other things.
however, y/n froze the moment she entered.
“y/n?” tasanapol questioned with a curious head tilt
“oh so we’re just going to ignore the fact that he’s shirtless? okay, cool, yeah, uh —“
“s — sorry! nikola said he couldn’t find a pen or something, and uh, asked me to take a look, yeah, um, sorry” she kept her eyes on the ground, silently wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her
“pen? what pen? one of social members normally give us one if we need it”
“fuck. i knew something was up. i’m going to kill him”
she inhaled deeply with closed eyes before exiting the motorhome and walking over to her ( unsuspecting ) best friend.
“you!”
his trainer immediately recognised her anger and stepped aside: nikola could defend himself.
“y/n i can explain!”
“why would you do that?! DON’T RUN AWAY!”
“mari help me!”
“oh wow, look at the piece of grass”
“mari?!”
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the team quickly stepped in after that since they were going onto the grid pretty soon, which left y/n feeling upset and embarrassed: why would nikola do that? he knew that tasanapol would’ve been getting dressed.
he couldn’t know that she has crush on him, nikola isn’t that observant plus she hasn’t been acting any different ( she thinks ).
“what the hell was he thinking?”
she hadn’t paid any attention to the race, how could she? her mind raced with thoughts about what tasanapol must think of her now — all of which were negative.
y/n was so busy trying to control her emotions that she hadn’t even paid attention to the race until someone tapped her shoulder and asked if she wanted to go down to parc fermé with them or go back to the team.
“who won?”
“tas. mari finished seventh and nikola was fifteenth”
she froze, but eventually shook her head.
“i should go to nikola”
y/n made her way over to the other crews who were already travelling down the pit lane. she couldn’t help, but stare at tasanapol who stood on his car proudly. she wanted to reach out and congratulations him the same way she does with nikola, but instead y/n just looked away and quickly made her way out.
completely unaware that tasanapol hadn’t taken his eyes off her until she disappeared.
~
listening to nikola complain was something that y/n is all too familiar with and had mastered the art of blocking him out.
“are you even listening?” his tone was harsh and she looked at him in surprise. completely caught off guard
“no? look if it’s about the championship —“
“he could win it tomorrow!” nikola angrily ran his hand through his hair and down his face
the championship battle had been mainly between him, rafael câmara, and tim tramnitz, but now mari is also in contention. nikola would never ask mari to help him keep the championship going to monza, but with where he’s starting compared to rafael câmara who got pole was absolutely agonising for the bulgarian.
“well, we can only hope for rain and that he doesn’t get a good restart if the safety car comes out” nikola groaned loudly and glanced behind her before letting out a scoff
“looks like your boyfriend’s back” she furrowed her eyebrows before looking to see tasanpol with a tilted head meaning he head that
“niko! what’s wrong with you!” she kicked his shin making him cry out in pain
“i can’t race now!”
“i didn’t even kick you that hard!” the thai driver behind her let out a chuckle making her turn
the first place cap rested neatly on his head as he wore calm and kind smile with a lightly flushed cheeks. he held his trophy in one hand while the other was empty, the champagne bottle nowhere to be found. tasanapol raised an eyebrow, but kept his mouth shut making her cheeks warm.
“sorry about him”
“i don’t mind” he shrugged before placing the trophy on the table near them
“what?” tasanapol raised an eyebrow
“don’t you want to be my girlfriend?”
“…huh?”
“do you?”
“i — i mean…” she trailed off, quickly scanning over him
“how are you so like… nonchalant about this?”
“it’s just easy with you”
y/n blinked at him. there have been times where she’s been told the exact opposite: how people struggle with her in all sorts of ways. hearing him imply that she’s an easy person to be around stunned her.
“really?”
“yeah, so?” she could only nod silently, afraid that her voice might crack
“cool. want to celebrate together later?” she smiled making him grin
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bonus scene:
“this is so embarrassing”
“i think it’s quite funny”
tasanapol had taken y/n to a thai restaurant he found last year. the food was good, the service even better ( she loved hearing him talk in thai ), but one thing stuck out amongst the large place of warmth.
nikola and mari were sitting in a corner dressed in large business attire with fake moustaches and sunglasses: how could they tell it was them? because nikola seemed to have forgotten that she has his location ( and vice versa ) and was wondering why he hasn’t texting back — nikola never left her messages unanswered unless he was racing.
“i should’ve turned it off, sorry” tasanapol shook his head before taking a sip of his drink, glancing towards them to see nikola playing with the rings on his fingers
“don’t worry. i overheard their plan anyways”
“what?” he shrugged
“they’re awfully loud. how’d you think i knew that you liked me” she stared at him with a stunned expression while he grinned cheekily
“i have liked you for a bit, but since we’re going into a break i figured i should ask you now”
it went silent between them for a few seconds before y/n spoke up.
“…you’re a menace”
“thank you”
