there will be rambling

pharmacist | she/her | ao3: HereForTheDrama

[usedtobetam]

Thinking of Hope Under Gravestone!Charles in these tumultuous times. Imagining Ferrari giving him a symbolic contract extension (assuming that they haven’t revealed to the public his deal) and Max having an ultimate crashout over a contract that Charles may not be here to fulfill :(( my babies they are forever in my mind and heart

They are haunting me this season, i have never written something that would stay with me this way. Every other fandom event brings me back to how would that be in Hope Under Gravestone, what would that change?

Sempre Rosso indeed, Charles. What is lifetime commitment when the deadline might be so near. I think that yes, Max would carry his resentment about Ferrari for some time and rightfully crash out, but I think in the end he would see that the love is there.

And eventually it would lead Max to propose, because he will not let Ferrari claim him as theirs only, he loves him too. His love matter too, till death does them part.

As you can see with Hope under gravestone this season has grown into a unique experience of unmatched selfinflicted angst. The unique wonders of being a fic writer in sports RPF.

[charitydingle]

魔女の宅急便 / Kiki’s Delivery Service 1989, dir. Hayao Miyazaki

[verbumproxen]

Thinking about the final pas de deux from Manon… and Marianela’s genius. The control. The agony. The story of Manon haunts me on a good day. God.

As a fellow ballerina, one day somehow I wish I could perform this (pas de deux gives me the biggest ick rn like 😭😭😭 I could barely let a man touch my waist for pirouettes I cannot imagine letting them lift me like that)

[maranello]

I believe in you until the end.

[verbumproxen]

*quietly shelving my dashboard x charles edit* jk how many years do we think this one is this time?

[verbumproxen]

in this weird liminal space between something you’ve dreamed of your entire life and the love and laughter you’ve discovered in the absence of it. Putangina.

[elizabethsinclair]

there is a love in which i will always know you, just incase you forget.

love elizabeth s.

[verbumproxen]

its time for my end of month special blue moon edition crashout over San Sebastiano because this fic is haunting my brain in all the ways. I could be having the greatest day and then BAM chapter 22 comes up from the depths of my subconscious and reminds me one of the most gut wrenching lines of fanfic that follows me EVERYWHERE. I feel like I had an out of body reaction when I first read the last chapter bc my brain was just going “this isnt happening” or “maybe i read too fast lemme go back up” and man… what a time to read it (i just woke up back then) anyways yes go read San Sebastiano by notforpenance truly one of the greatest fics of the lestappen fandom 😭

[pikaclerc]

You can just say Charles had a bad race and call it a day there. You don't need to insult him. You don't need to start writing dissertations on how he doesn't know how to drive in the rain, which is just false.

What happened to Charles could have happened to any other driver in these conditions and it did! Almost every driver had a moment where they lost control of their car, it just had worse consequences for some. Max started on pole and lost a bunch of positions because he spun. Lewis got off track multiple times. Are you gonna start calling them names too? Are you gonna say Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton don't know how to drive in the rain?

Charles is gonna look at this race, think about what he could have done better and learn from it. That's what he has always done. I think criticizing your drivers is a healthy way to consume this sport, if you're being reasonable of course, but like I was talking about yesterday the reactions I'm seeing to Charles' race to me feel more like attempts at getting likes from people who dislike him and insist he's not world champion material than opinions that people actually thought about for more than 2 seconds.

You can say I'm babying him, being parasocial or whatever, I personally think it's more reasonable to look at this race go "Well that sucked but I know he can and will do better than this next time" and move on instead of going on social media because you want to start "uncomfortable conversations". The only uncomfortable conversation I wanna start is, once again, about why some of you are Charles fans when you have zero faith in him.

[verbumproxen]

i’ve given up on f1twt purely bc ppl there seem like they have zero interest in engaging in good faith and thats just not my scene.

in example: last race week everyone was up in arms about charles’ mistake and how he “shouldn’t try so hard” when he knows the car isnt there and now… same people mind you… want him to crash the car to show that he’s trying. It’s like everyone is getting lobotomized in between race weeks.

[verbumproxen]

if you think hard enough half of The Great Divide can be about Charles lol

(keep the editors away from End of August… please)

[almostquinoa]

All I Ever Wanted (Nothing I Ever Gave) Chapter 16

1. Max

Jimmy took the opening to skitter past, darting to investigate inside the pantry. Charles yelped, Max dove in to rescue the bread- Jimmy's favorite target, always -and the thought that he was still missing something important slipped from his mind entirely.

2. Lando

That made him pretty nice, he reckoned. Some people wouldn’t have even given Oscar that much of a chance. And he’d even sorted it out all by himself, sparing Oscar the fuckass-awful conversation it would’ve spawned. Never let it be said Lando didn’t do shit for his boyfriend, because this definitely counted as a big one.

3. Charles

The weather was gorgeous, his belly was halfway full, and he was spending precious time with one of his dear friends. His baby was healthy and active, kicking away cheerily- while it was true, Max was missing from the perfect picture, he'd be back from Milton Keynes tomorrow. Charles wasn't so far gone as to dissolve after just 48 hours without him. So why did he have this sudden tightening in his chest, gripping his lungs and making it hard to breathe?

[almostquinoa]

one last snippet, before the chapter 16 drops next week:

In bed that night, Max ran his hand along Charles’s side with a deliberate firmness. Searching, perhaps, or feeling for something.

He slipped underneath Charles’s oversized sleep shirt, eventually settling the pads of his fingers delicately on his ribs. Charles had been pleased with himself earlier in the day, watching the bones shift under his skin as he’d twisted back and forth in front of the mirror, but under Max’s careful ministrations he felt a sudden sense of shame. He knew there was still a layer of softness over them that needed to go, even if Max was able to rest his digits in the shallow grooves once more.

Was that what Max was seeking? Proof of his worse body? All he had to do was glance, there was no need for an investigation.

When he eventually spoke, Max’s words were all he needed for confirmation. Charles was turned away and therefore unable to see his face, but he could hear the quiet discomfort in Max’s voice as he asked, “Have you spoken with Andrea lately?”

It was an odd angle to take, but Charles could perhaps see why he was approaching it this way. Framing it around health was a little gentler than simply coming out and saying it, and Max had been unfailingly kind in his honesty for the last two months. “Yes, chéri,” Charles answered tiredly. “I spoke with him just Monday to discuss any necessary tweaks to my exercise plan.”

He’d had a few suggestions. Charles had made his own additions, as was usual at this point.

There was a moment of silence while Max digested his answer, long enough for Charles’s eyes to slip shut. Then- “Charles, are you eating when I’m not here?”

Charles went still, scarcely breathing as his eyes snapped open. “Yes,” he whispered. “Obviously.” Was he not supposed to? Charles couldn’t stop eating entirely; he’d tried that so long ago, and it’d resulted in clawing nausea and shaking and a blackout on the treadmill that Lewis had had to save him from. And Max knew all of that, so why was he–

[wolfythewitch]

Muse, sing to me of this slippery slick

[wolfythewitch]

It has come to my attention that slick means something different to me than it does to the general public

[deadpoolisabottom]

Op, pray tell what does slick mean to you

[wolfythewitch]

A shrewd untrustworthy person :( like it says on the Miriam Webster:(

[wolfythewitch]

[captiandirtnap]

do you wanna see my wounds from being nailed to the cross or are we not chill like that yet

[captiandirtnap]

this post is doing numbers in the f1 fandom. Who is Charles leclerc

[lecmonica]

It’s a long time coming but below I present to you my list of favorite lestappen fics ✨

There are probably no hidden gems but I do recommend to read all of these <3 (also it’s a way for me to catalog my fav fics so I can find them in the future)

Amnesia trope (my favorite trope of all time ever since my grandma made me watch korean soap operas)

I’ll be right beside you by @fabbyf1 : the bible and i am rereading it as we speak

The clauses of commitment by sixteenthirtythree

Killing me slowly by @saiyanwitcher: keeping me up at night and very angsty; wip

Best Kept Secret by @goldsbitch

Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat by @shoutitallout: charles max patrick dempsey terrorist bomb fic

The Kingdom, The Power, The Glory: heartbreaking, reversed amnesia, as in charles slowly starts to lose his memory aahh

i remember the colour of your eyes, cerulean blue by tournesol: technically not an amnesia au but people are being forgotten so

Fics that made me cry

Lazarus rises by @ladysomething: this one is truly special and so close to my heart, one of the first fics I ever read (time travel involved which is also a favorite trope of mine)

Cursebreaker by @usedtobetam

it's an endless night, it's a starless sky by @ladysomething: following the horror movie that was the abu dhabi gp 2025 charles deals with his feelings and his affair with max

Hope under Gravestone by @usedtobetam: the fact that the conclusion of this fic is literally happening in real life at the moment is haunting me

we'd keep all our promises by @toppamplemousse: just this sentence will convince you to read it -> He has to watch from afar and be glad that flowers grew where he chose to water them.

I made my home (underneath your ribs) by @madamcontrition: It’s unfathomable—a love like that 😭

drag my feet along the floor by @toppamplemousse: lestappen boarding school love story this one hits really close to home about growing up and being afraid of what comes next

Soulmate au (something something about the inevitable and the predestined, the rain of milton keynes, the sun of maranello, whatever souls are made charles and max’s are the same)

i loved you before i knew i was supposed to by 3_33

mr. invisible and the thing by Cazio

in dream by @unlapped

Predestined by @usedtobetam

second soul by @fueledbyremembering

red string by @reythemandalor

Lestappen hall of fame

(i love you) it's ruining my life by @chock-and-bates: lestappen sex tape gets leaked and i have read it 5 times already (one of my absolute favorites)

fourth finger by @drivestraight: wonderful 🥹

Where You Go, I Go by @ladysomething: literal masterpiece

Long Live (The Walls We Crashed Through) by @fabbyf1

morning comes (and you're not my baby) by @chock-and-bates

been blooming alone (over you) by @sedicivincere: hanahaki disease story; wip

The Suspension of Disbelief by @drivingstuff: wip

Sweet / angst stories with happy ending

sweet tea in the summer by @valyrfia: this one is so cuteeee

in a room full of people (i look for you) by luserstappen

old before i die. by @ladysomething: bee princess charles (who is utterly unhinged and keeps almost dying every chapter)

We were never really strangers, after all (Because of You) by leafycats

beholden to no gods by @chock-and-bates

there you’ll stand (next to me) by @toppamplemousse

60 seconds by @braakingpoint

love is our secret by @fueledbyremembering

lay all your love by @breathofnyx

hopelessly devoted to you by @alanalevenof1

Miscellaneous stories

et circences by @formulaocean: lestappen hunger games au (i was obsessed with this fic in 2024)

marked me like a bloodstain by @chock-and-bates: nosferatu au; wip

cry for me by @breathofnyx: i am such a geek for greek mythology so this one is chef’s kiss

I Feel The Rain by @adutchlover: lestappen olympics au

dull knives (taking my life) by hm132050: charles crashes max realizes his feelings and carlos overthrows ferrari

your future had a voice (and he spoke like me) by saltshaken: max can suddenly read minds

[burkiningalerisi-deactivated202]

[redscharlach]

I feel you, Artoo.

[redscharlach]

May the 4th be with you, tired people of the universe.