nikola tsolov &/ arvid lindblad ; 770 words ; shortshot
: healthy (for once)
c/tw : none :]
a/n : i got inspired so badabing badaboom i wrote a little bit of tsoblad for you people! (yeah the brainworms got to me.) anyway this isn't meant to be anything so interpret it how you will. enjoy :D
there's a lot of moving parts behind the scenes. nikola always knew that. watched them reorder drivers in seats like they're trying to make the prettiest pattern that gets them more efficiency. watched yuki get dropped in the process, the light in his eyes extinguished for what feels like forever. watched it chew through him. watched arvid's eyes light up with that same excitement that rose up before races as he got to benefit from yuki's misery.
cut-throat, that's what this team is.
nikola never got off the ride on time.
though to be fair, he didn't even know that that time would come so soon.
it's 2027. the grid shifts. the grid shifts a lot. and suddenly nikola finds himself a seat at racing bulls along with liam, while arvid moves up to redbull. and suddenly they're spending every few weekends within an arm's reach of eachother. and it unsettles nikola a little. because of course it does - it's difficult to adjust to an entirely new environment while also adjusting to suddenly having that one person you always looked up to but saw rarely be within your vicinity all the time.
yes, as much as nikola hates to admit it, the truth is the truth - he's fascinated by arvid. to the point that when they speak, he feels the need to remember every single detail of each conversation.
he isn't sure where it came from, but he'd always just pause whenever arvid turned up around him. curious. unable to stop looking back at him every time. and.... arvid was just generally nice to look at. generally nice to feel as a presence. nikola wasn't sure what to call it, but it felt nice to know that arvid was nearby and that he could turn his head a little and see him. and it's always like something sparks in his head when he does. it's always like-
arvid!
arvid, arvid, arvid. he's a constant in nikola's life now. nikola sees him more often. the paddock is always bustling and noisy, but arvid sounds louder than that to him. arvid is a redbull driver now. nikola joins racing bulls. and it may seem like there isn't a lot of time to interact - but liam and isack have proven everyone otherwise countless times in the previous season. arvid takes after them in this one, obviously.
nikola wants to hate arvid for always being around his garage on race weekends more than necessary. wants to hate him for being so happy to talk to nikola both on and off camera. wants to hate arvid properly. but nikola knows it's not happening - he adores arvid, just like everyone else on both senior and junior teams does. because arvid is joy itself, sticking out of the crowd, bright and himself and never apologetic about it.
nikola would be shamelessly lying if he said he didn't like it. arvid felt like the sun to him. optimistic, head always up, smiles bright and warm. competitive as fuck, too. that's what always gets nikola. it's something that he longs to see in his rivals - the fire and passion that overpower everything on track, the ones that bring fierce defences and daring attacks.
nikola would be lying once more if he said he didn't want to take his passion and get it to arvid's level. he'd also be lying if he said he thought of himself as an equal to arvid.
arvid has achieved a lot more than nikola. in nikola's eyes, at least. but it's not like he's a god because of it immediately. nikola has to remind himself of that as he pushes through qualifying, trying to outpace arvid. and arvid himself reminds nikola of it too before every qualifying, or sprint, or race with laughs of being afraid that nikola might just catch arvid slipping and jump at it.
it feels healthy. for once in his life, nikola feels like this is genuinely a relationship that would only flourish from higher stakes of competition. would only reap the benefits of redbull's moving parts. would only come out stronger every time the checkquered flag waved and their cars passed the finish line.
arvid gets nikola to push for more. arvid gets nikola to work harder to be on the same level.
in formula 1, your one mistake is somebody else's perfect opportunity. it's competitive. and when you race for redbull, it becomes cut-throat. but it doesn't feel as dangerous to nikola. not when it's in relation to arvid.
and it truly feels like the healthiest relationship they could form in this sport.
