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putting-it-into-parc · 2 months

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jealousy, jealousy - chapter 1: sometimes, it’s good to just sit one out

f1 fanfiction: lestappen (max x charles)

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summary: we know em and love em as one of f1's spiciest rivalries. but the ferrari boys and their disgustingly cute chemistry makes max realize there's a fine line between love and hate...

chapter 1: sometimes it's good to sit one out

Two exhausting practice sessions to kick off the 2024 season later, Max Verstappen lay as motionless as possible in his bed. He glanced at his watch: 7:48pm local time. He had exactly 12 minutes of peace left, 12 minutes before he and some of the other guys on the grid would be hunting for a source of food together. He wished the Max of three hours ago hadn’t told them all to meet in his room; present Max wanted to just exist as long as possible alone.

As if someone heard his thoughts, there was a tentative knock at the door. Max flipped over, let out a groan into his pillow, and peeled himself off his bed. He looked through the peep-hole at Charles Leclerc, who was shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Well, if it had to be someone, better Charles than…most of the others, really.

Max cracked open the door. “You’re 10 minutes early,” he huffed. “That’s 10 minutes I can never get back.”

Charles stiffened, but relaxed when he saw what he thought was an amused glint in Max’s blue eyes. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “They have McLaren staying in the same hall as us. And I think Lando’s trying to show Oscar some horrible new mixtape.”

“Right then,” Max allowed him in. “But I’m not in a mood to chat. I’m fucking tired and plan to be as inactive as possible until the clock literally hits 8.”

“That’s okay,” Charles said quietly. He took his shoes off and climbed onto the other bed, scrolling through his phone. Max returned to his horizontal position, but no longer felt relaxed at all. He kept stealing glances at Charles, who had changed from his racing suit into a pair of linen pants and a breezy matching button-down, perfect for the muggy Bahrain weather. His curly hair was damp, and Max noted the vague citrus of his shampoo. He became acutely aware of his comparatively boring uniform of his usual Red Bull polo and skinny jeans. And then realized how ridiculous it was that he was thinking about fashion at all.

“Rough practice,” Max mused out loud to banish his thoughts.

Charles started at this unexpected comment. “Yeah—Hamilton was on one though. And Carlos did well for himself. I think he’s feeling the car more this season already.”

Max rolled over so that he could look Charles in the eye. “I saw some of the turns you made. Carlos isn’t the only one who’s feeling the car.”

Charles’ eyes widened and his lips parted, but nothing came out. Max instantly regretted his impulsive words. The two awkwardly stared at each other for a few long beats, and were mercifully interrupted by another knock, infinitely most obnoxious than the last. Actually, make that several annoying knocks.

“Oi, let us in!” Lando Norris crowed from the hallway. Max rolled his eyes at Charles, who jumped out of bed and opened the door for Lando, George Russell, and Alex Albon.

“Hey guys,” Charles greeted the group. “Where’s Carlos? I thought he was coming too.”

Carlos Sainz was Charles’ teammate on Ferrari, and although Charles himself was supposed to be one of Max’s biggest rivals, the Spanish driver had been getting on Max’s nerves as of late. There was no reason he should—Carlos was, honestly, one of the best guys on the grid. Funny, charismatic, ridiculously athletic, the owner of an enviable mane of hair and a tanned jawline that you could grate cheese over. And wholesome. So goddamned nice. Fucker could banter with literally anybody on the grid, and Max was pretty sure Carlos inspired a couple hashtag with every teammate he’d ever been with. Carlando. Charlos. So why did hearing Charles ask for him—so fast—make Max’s palms itch?

Lando furrowed his brows. “Carlos? I dunno, he might still be in hospitality. Or in the shower. Could’ve sworn I heard Smooth Operator through the bathroom wall…”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Charles said. “Well, Max is here and Danny should join us any minute, so I’ll try to go find him.” And he left the room as quietly as he’d come in.

Max rolled his eyes. “You guys are early. I said 8.”

“Be thankful we showed up early,” Lando scoffed and rubbed his hands together. “I’m a growing boy and I’m HUNGRY. You prats ought to tell me what you want to order or I’m going to call in a pizza, and I’m not sharing.”

“Carlos said he’d cook,” George reminded him. Max frowned at the thought of Carlos showing off his cooking skills, although of course since it’s Carlos, it wouldn’t be showing off.

“Well, I don’t see Carlos, nor anything he’d be able to cook with, so he’d better get a move on before—”

“Better get that pizza, Lando,” Danny abruptly strided into the room. “Carlos said he’d make breakfast, not dinner. You’ll have to wait to taste his carbonara another day.”

“Why carbonara?” George looked confused.

“Carlos and Leclerc made carbonara for that Ferrari challenge,” Max filled in. “Go watch it yourselves.”

Lando giggled, momentarily distracted from his plight. “I’ve gotten it pulled up, mate.” He tilted his phone towards George and Alex, showing them the video of Charles and Carlos duking it out in front of two induction burners in an effort to create a passable carbonara as fast as possible.

George took one look at the men clad in aprons and ridiculous red toques and burst out laughing.

Video Charles’ voice singsonged through the speakers. “Oh my god, what a mistake! You start with the eggs! Mate! You neeed to start with the guanciale, maybe a little—smell, smell the smell of carbonarrra. So then, you break the egg…right? The white of the egg, we take it off—”

“I disagree,” Video Carlos cut in.

“So the yellow of the egg only—” Video Charles attempted again.

“I disagree,” Video Carlos snapped again, and Alex lost it as well.

“Is this what they call Leclerifying?” Lando smirked.

Max felt his cheeks grow warm, dreading the inevitable mention of “Maxsplaining” that would come next. He averted his eyes from the screen as Video Charles began pacing around the studio, interjecting his clearly unwanted opinion as Video Carlos slowly lost his patience.

Lando suddenly paused the video and zoomed in with his fingers. “Bro.” He motioned for the others to see. “Leclerc has an ass.”

“Mate, that’s so gay,” George raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t know me,” Lando retorted. “That’s not very inclusive of you.”

George’s smile suddenly faded. “Hold on, you know I didn’t mean it like that, there’s nothing wrong with—”

“Aaah, I’m joking mate,” Lando smirked.

He let out a yelp as George aimed a kick as his shin.

Max cleared his throat. “Restroom, be right back.”

In the bathroom, he took two deep breaths and willed himself to calm down. He had seen the video himself too, of course…and he had certainly also noticed how Charles’ white pants, expertly cuffed at the ankles, accentuated his backside. He just didn’t expect fucking Lando to point it out so readily. Max didn’t like watching the video in general, though. Something about the way Charles pranced in those goddamned pants around his teammate, peering over his shoulder at Carlos’ pasta, calling mate to him over and over again, almost like he was teasing Carlos on purpose. And of course Carlos was eating it up, even as he feigned irritation. Max could practically picture him steering just a little too close to Charles, brushing him to the side as he made his way over to the judges to explain his dish to the judges like he was competing on fucking MasterChef.

Come to think of it, Lando was the least afraid of the boys to show physical affection, even more so than Carlos. Maybe he was actually into guys. And maybe that would be a good thing for the grid, might make other people more willing to talk about that kind of stuff. Max wasn’t blind, he’d seen some questionable, tense moments among the drivers. But not him. He was just…observant. There just wasn’t any other reason why he couldn’t help but watch Charles and Carlos’ Ferrari challenges as soon as they dropped. Hell, if anything, they were his biggest rivals. Something about keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer.

He heard the door open again, and Charles laughing—a progressively rarer sound over the past year. The Ferrari effect. And then the deep, rolling laughs of Carlos blending with Charles’ breathless chuckles.

“Carlos, my dear lad!” Lando exclaimed, delighted. “We’ve been waiting for you to grace us with your presence.”

Carlos snorted. “What am I, some kind of king? That’s how you should be talking to Lord Perceval over here.”

Charles giggled. A sour taste filled Max’s throat at the affectionate nickname. He walked out of the bathroom and positioned himself in front of the two teammates, whose arms looked practically intertwined with each other’s.

Carlos smiled at Max. “Hey, mate.”

Max had to remember to tear his gaze away from Charles’ crinkled eyes, still harboring a ghost of his laugh, and return Carlos’ greeting with a nod. “Hey. Uh, good work on the track today.”

“Thanks,” Carlos beamed. Charles gave Max a circumspect look, and Max gritted his teeth, willing himself not to turn red in front of him. What on Earth was up with them today?

Lando clapped impatiently. “So are we getting food or what?”

The other guys murmured their assent. Max avoided looking at Charles and Carlos, wishing he had just sat this one out entirely after all.

notes: carbonara video creds to the c2 challenge ;) took a tiny bit of creative liberty

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lovelyleclercs · 1 year

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Open When- DR3

Daniel Ricciardo x Fem!Reader

-> With Daniel traveling to race and you being stuck at home to work, Daniel gives you 8 letters to make the distance a little easier.

word count: 8567 (my longest one yet hehe)

warnings: small mentions of birth, cheesey romance, fluff, not proof read oops

A/N: This was by definitely kind of just me typing whatever came to my head, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. I hope you love it as much as I do!

“Happy Birthday, baby. I hope you like it.”

You looked over at your boyfriend, his curly hair a mess from running around outside with your niece and nephew all day. “Honey, you already got me a gift, what’s this one for?”

“Just open it” Daniel said with a laugh as he sat down beside you.

As you very carefully untied the red ribbon, you could see Daniel’s smile get wider and wider through the corner of your eye. He had put a lot of thought into this gift- you could tell already.

When you looked inside of the box, you saw a stack of ten brown envelopes. Setting the box down on the table, you took all of the envelopes out. You smiled and ran your finger over the black ink of the envelope on top.

Open when you get this present.

You turned the envelope over and very carefully opened it, not wanting to ruin whatever was inside. After successfully opening it, you pulled the small piece of white paper out of the envelope and began to read it aloud.

Happy birthday, my love.

I know that you won’t be traveling to the track with me very often this year, so I wanted to do something a little special for you. Inside this box, there are 8 open when envelopes. Congratulations on opening 1/8 envelopes already! I hope these make the distance a little easier. If that's even possible. I love you.

Love, Danny.

You smiled and teared up a little. Daniel knew how hard this season was going to be on both of you. With you working insane hours with clients, and Daniel being at the peak of his career with Redbull, the two of you had already discussed how little time you would be able to spend with each other from March-November. The idea scared you- terrified you even. In the seven years you’ve spent by Daniel’s side, the two of you had never spent so much time apart- not even when Daniel moved away from Australia to Europe. Daniel knew how much this season terrified you, hell it terrified him too. That’s why he was doing everything in his power to make it somewhat easier on you.

You pulled Daniel into a tight hug as you let a few tears escape down your cheeks. “Thank you, honey. These are so special…” you managed to whisper as he wrapped his arms tightly around you.

“You’re welcome, baby.”

Open when I leave for Australia - March 20th, 2017.

As you had gotten home from dropping Daniel off at the airport, you had seen the small brown envelope left on the counter. Daniel had taken it out of the box for you before the two of you left for the airport that morning in hopes that you would have the courage to read it when you got home.

Saying goodbye to Daniel was a lot harder than you thought it was going to be. Goodbye’s were a common occurrence in your relationship- that’s what happens when you date an F1 driver- but this goodbye held so much more behind it.

Not only was Daniel going back to your shared home country without you, but he wouldn’t be back home to your shared apartment in Monaco for a little over a month. Daniel had several media events to attend during the week following the Australian Grand Prix due to the fact that it was his home race. After that, he was off to China, Bahrain and then Russia before he would finally be able to fly back home to you.

“42 days my love. I’ll be back in 42 days” Daniel said quietly as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to him. He had said it like time was going to fly by- like 42 days was a normal time to be apart from someone you loved.

“42 days…” you whispered quietly as you rested your head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat closely.

Daniel placed a gentle kiss on top of your head before taking a deep breath. “We can handle this, baby. I know we can.”

You looked up at him, his eyes mirroring yours as the tears welled in his eyes. “I love you, honey. Be safe, don’t do anything stupid… please come back to me in one piece, ok?”

Daniel held your face in both of his hands gently, giving you a small nod before he rested his forehead against yours. “I love you, too. I promise I’ll come back in one piece.”

After hearing Michael, Daniel’s trainer, call for him from the private plane, you kissed Daniel deeply, knowing that this would be the last one for a while. He returned the kiss before pulling away and wiping away a few of your tears. Without another word, Daniel stepped away from you, his hands no longer holding your face as he grabbed his bags off of the ground. With a small nod and sad smile, Daniel turned around and walked onto the plane, leaving you standing in the middle of the parking lot.

As you grabbed the envelope off of the counter, you opened it carefully, pulling the small white paper out. The moment you saw Daniel’s handwriting, you started crying all over again. For the next 42 days, all you had to remind yourself of him was his hoodies, a few phone calls whenever he had the time, and these letters he had given you nearly a month ago for your birthday. Taking a deep breath, you wiped away your tears and began to read the letter.

Hello, my love.

If you are reading this, it means that I am currently on my way to Australia for the first race of the season while you are back home in our apartment focusing on work and clients. Not having you with me at our home grand prix absolutely sucks.

You couldn’t help but smile when he referred to the Australian Grand Prix as “our home grand prix.” Ever since the two of you started dating, Daniel had always told you that whatever was his, was also yours too. He loved the idea of the two of you being a team- that all the highs would be celebrated together and all of the lows would be survived through together. It was honestly one of the main reasons why your relationship has always worked.

I already hate the idea of being home without you. This trip won’t be the same without you by my side. I’m not even sure if I will be able to go visit all of our old spots like we usually do. It just doesn’t feel right. Anyways, I want you to know that I love you deeply. I know that this is the start of a rough eight months for us, but we are strong and I know we can handle this. I’m always just a phone call or a text away- unless I'm in the car, but I doubt you would text me while I'm literally driving 300+kph around a circuit. I love you to the moon and back, baby. I’ll see you in 42 days.

Love, Danny

You placed the letter back inside the envelope before setting it back down on the counter. This was about to be the longest eight months of your life.

Open on our eight year anniversary at 4pm! - April 17th, 2017.

The days had continued to tick down slowly but surely. 14 more days. It was easy to distract yourself from thinking about him too much most days, as you were practically buried in work from sunrise to sunset- however today was different.

Eight years ago, Daniel had taken you out to this small little restaurant down the road from his house. It wasn’t anything fancy, the two of you were 19 at the time, not much money between either one of you. At the time, the two of you had been best of friends for nearly six years, however both of you had a major crush on each other. So, on April 17th, 2009, Daniel took you to that small little restaurant down the road, finally feeling brave enough to confess his feelings for you.

“What are you gonna get, Danny? I’ve never been here before, I don’t know what's good”

Daniel shrugged, glancing over the menu fairly quickly. “Probably a burger, like always. You can never mess up a burger” he said, a small smile on his face as he glanced up at you.

You laughed a little and put your menu down, finally deciding that their caesar salad seemed like the safest option. After ordering your food, you turned your attention back to Daniel who had been looking at you so lovingly. “Is there something on my face? Why are you staring?”

Daniel turned the brightest shade of red you had ever seen. “No, no. Nothing on your face, your face is perfect i- uhm.. Sorry”

You frowned a little, noticing how Daniel looked had suddenly gone from relaxed and confident, to embarrassed and tense. You reached your hand over to his, squeezing his hand gently as you smiled up at him. “Danny, relax. I was just messing with you. I’m not mad or anything, I could care less if you stare at me” you said with a shrug and a small laugh.

Daniel laughed a little and looked down at your hand resting on top of his. “Look, I'll be honest, I didn’t bring you here just for fun. There is something I wanted to ask you…”

You looked up at him, confusion written all over your face. “What is it, Danny?”

Daniel took a deep breath and squeezed your hand gently. “I can’t keep denying my feelings for you… Everytime I’m around you, I think about how much I wished I could be the one to hold you close at night, everytime I watch you go out with some random guy from that stupid dating app I want to tear my eyes out because I know that I could be better than him, whenever you’re around, my attention and focus is 100% on you, you are the center of my world whenever we are in the same room.”

You stared at Daniel in disbelief. Never in a million years did you think that your feelings for him were reciprocated, let alone that he would take you out to dinner and pour his whole heart out to you. “Danny I-”

“Let me finish” he said gently, locking his eyes with yours. “I was wondering- hoping I guess- if you would like to maybe possibly be my girlfriend?” he asked, his cheeks turning an even brighter shade of red than before.

You couldn’t help but smile as you squeezed Daniel’s hand tightly and nodded. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me for months!”

As you ran your thumb gently over the photo the two of you had taken on that day eight years ago, you couldn’t help but tear up a little. When Daniel had asked you to be his girlfriend, you never in a million years imagined that the two of you would still be going strong to this day. It wasn’t that you ever doubted your relationship, but more so the fact that typically F1 drivers had a tendency of not having a girlfriend for longer than a year at a time. It had worried you a lot in the beginning- how many more days until our downfall? How many days until he decides he's not ready for a relationship? How long until he realizes that he could be with anyone in the world, so why choose me?

The fact that Daniel wasn’t home for your anniversary completely ruined you. It was the first time the two of you would be apart on your anniversary. What made the whole day even worse was Daniel’s lack of time to communicate. It was currently nearing 4pm and you still hadn’t gotten a text or a call from him. Maybe he was on a plane from Bahrain to Russia, maybe he was asleep in some random hotel located in the heart of Sakhir. Who knew what Daniel was up to or where he was.

As you glanced over at the pile of envelopes that sat on the coffee table in front of you, you noticed that the envelope on top had more specific instructions than the rest. “Open on our eight year anniversary at 4pm!” Glancing at the clock, the time read 3:59, so you picked up the envelope and slowly began opening it. Even though Daniel wasn’t there to stop you from opening it a minute early, you were a rule follower and had every intention on following the instructions. When the clock struck 4pm, you finished opening up the envelope and removed the letter.

Happy 8th anniversary, my love.

I can’t believe you’ve been by my side for 8 years. I don’t know how you have been able to tolerate me for this long. I am so incredibly grateful to have you on this journey of life with me. I am so proud of the woman you have become, so proud of you for working so hard everyday, and so incredibly amazed by you every single day. You are the center of my world, my love. Without you, I’d be a lost, crazy wild F1 driver getting drunk every night of the week and ruining my career slowly but surely. Thank you for keeping me grounded, humble, and most importantly- loved. With all of this being said, there will be a surprise for you later on tonight. Be ready by 6pm. I love you, baby.

Love, Danny.

You smiled down at the letter, feeling so many different emotions at once- happiness, love, and sadness. In a perfect world, you and Daniel could be together tonight, but sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to.

After reading the letter over a few times, you finally looked at the clock. 4:15. An hour and 45 minutes to get ready. You made your way up to your bedroom and over to your closet where you spent the next hour trying to decide what to wear. Considering you had no idea what Daniel had planned for you, you decided to wear jeans and a black blouse, wanting to keep it casual, yet also dressed up-ish.

Now that it was pushing 5:15, you decided that there simply wasn’t enough time for hair and makeup. You quickly put your hair in a high ponytail and put on some mascara before looking at yourself once more in the mirror. It wasn’t perfect, but your boyfriend wasn’t home so it wasn’t like you had anyone to please.

At exactly 6pm, there was a gentle knock on the apartment door. Getting up off the couch, you grabbed your purse before opening the door. When you first opened the door, you hardly recognized the man standing in front of you. He was wearing all black, his hood pulled up over his head with a sleepy smile on his face. He looked exhausted. After looking at the man once more, you very quickly realized that it was Daniel standing in front of you.

“Honey??” you whispered, tears brimming your eyes as you smiled a little.

Daniel smiled sleepily, holding his arms out for you. “C’mere my love” Without another word, you ran into his arms, hugging him as tightly as you could. You couldn’t believe it. Daniel had somehow managed to fly to you during his crazy busy schedule, just to be here with you on your guys’ special day.

“I can’t believe you’re here, honey. God I’ve missed you so much…” you whispered as you buried your head in the crook of his neck.

“I’ve missed you too, my love. So much.” Daniel said as he rested his head on top of yours, rubbing your back gently like he always did.

After a few moments of standing in the middle of the hallway, you finally pulled from Daniel’s embrace, grabbing his hand as you pulled him inside the apartment. “Honey, you look exhausted… you didn’t have to fly all the way back here… I feel bad.”

Daniel shook his head. “Yes, I am exhausted but there was no way I wasn’t going to see you on our anniversary.”

“How long are you here for?” you asked as you took his bags from him. Deep down you didn’t want to hear the answer- he was probably only here for a few hours, if you were lucky.

“Four days.”

You looked up at him, a huge smile appearing on your face. Four days was like music to your ears.

Open when you can’t sleep- April 21st, 2017.

It was 11:35 pm and you had just gotten back from dropping Daniel off at the airport. The two of you had the most amazing four days ever, spending most of your time cuddled up in bed watching movies and eating take out food. While the two of you would usually find something to do around Monaco, neither of you had the desire to do anything but hold each other close and enjoy the limited time you had together before he had to leave again.

After locking the apartment door behind you, you made your way over to your bedroom, leaning against the door frame as you looked at the empty bed. You couldn’t help but tear up at the sight, knowing that for the next ten days, you would be the only occupant of that bed. You then glanced over to Daniel’s side of the closet, his door open just enough for you to see that your favorite hoodie of his was hung up nicely without any hesitation, you walked over to the closet and grabbed the hoodie off of its hanger, quickly changing into the piece of clothing that still smelled so much like Daniel, despite being washed the day prior.

After finishing up getting ready for bed, you climbed under the covers and looked over at Daniel’s side of the bed, the memory of your conversation from three hours ago suddenly flooding your mind.

Daniel climbed into bed, getting himself comfortable before holding his arms out to you. You moved closer to him, lying your head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat as his arms wrapped around you tightly. “We only have about an hour before I have to go to the airport,” he said quietly, almost like he didn’t want to say it at all.

“Yeah…” you said quietly, feeling yourself already shut down about his departure.

“Hey…” he said as he tilted your chin up, looking into your eyes sweetly. “I love you. I know this is hard but ten days is so easy compared to the 28 days we spent apart before this. After the Russian Grand Prix, I will be home with you for 2 whole weeks, my love.” he said gently before placing a kiss on your lips.

The kiss was soft and gentle, but full of love and promise. Everything that Daniel said was true. You two would survive this. You had no doubts in your mind.

“I know, honey. I’m just going to miss you so much…” you said quietly, forehead resting against Daniels as you intertwined your hand with his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Daniel placed his calloused hand on your cheek, rubbing your cheek with his thumb as he looked into your eyes. “I know. I’m going to miss you too…”

Moments like these with Daniel were your favorite. Just the two of you, cuddled up in bed while the tv played as background noise. It was moments like these you knew you were going to miss the most over the course of this entire season.

As you finally snapped out of your thoughts, you glanced at the clock. It was now 2:30 in the morning. Another sleepless night. You glanced at your phone, noticing that Daniel had texted you that he landed in Russia and was off to bed. ‘At least one of us is getting some sleep tonight’ you thought to yourself as you rolled over to Daniel’s side of the bed.

His pillow was still indented from where he laid just six hours prior. Everything still smelled like him- the pillow, the comforter, the bed sheets. You thought that maybe laying on his side of the bed would lull you to sleep, however it didn’t seem to work. By the time you had given up on all sleep, the clock read 3:45.

Climbing out of bed, you walked out to the living room where the stack of envelopes had been. She picked all the envelopes and began flipping through them until she saw the one envelope she had been looking for.

Open When You Can’t Sleep!

You laughed at how sloppy Daniel’s writing was on the envelope- so sloppy that she could barely read what the sentence said. Daniel always struggled with writing neatly, even since before the two of you got together. He always wrote as quickly as he could, no matter what he was writing. Part of you was convinced it had to do with all of the signatures he's ever had to write over all of these years.

Hello, my love. I know sleeping is always hard for you, especially while I’m away. While there is nothing I can physically do to help you, I do know exactly what helps you fall asleep and I would love to help you from afar.

For starters, turn on a movie from my list on my netflix profile. You always seem to fall asleep whenever it's my turn to pick a movie (part of me thinks you do it on purpose:( )

I’ve noticed that Days of Thunder seems to bore you the most, which is interesting considering I thought you liked it! Anyways, come back to this letter once you’ve turned on a movie!

You couldn’t help but laugh at the comments made in such a small paragraph. Daniel was right, you did fall asleep during almost every movie he chose. While you would prefer a movie like ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ Daniel would prefer a movie like ‘Days of Thunder” which wasn’t exactly something you wanted to watch for two hours straight.

Following Daniels instructions, you climbed back into bed, his note still in your hand as you turned on Days of Thunder. Once the movie began to play, you picked the letter back up off of your nightstand and continued reading

I almost know for a fact that Days of Thunder is playing on our TV right now. Anyways, if you haven’t done so already, throw on that purple hoodie of mine that you adore. I know I’m not there to physically hold you right now, but maybe having my hoodie on will feel like a hug from me as you lay in bed.

Before you turn all of your attention onto the movie, there are a few things I want to remind you.

1: You are beautiful. Like mind blowingly drop dead gorgeous.

2: You are my soulmate. Always have been, Always will be. I am so glad that I get to do life with you.

3: I know that you miss me right now, believe me, I miss you too. But soon enough, you’ll be in my arms again, head on my chest as you listen closely to my heartbeat.

4: I love you. So much. Always remember that. Even though I’m thousands of miles away, I love you and always will. You’re mine forever, my love.

With that being said, put this letter away and try to get some much needed rest. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do in the morning, and good sleep helps make working a little bit easier. I love you & sweet dreams, my love.

Love, Danny.

Oh Daniel. He always knew how to cheer you up, even if he was in a totally different place in the world than you. After placing the letter on the nightstand, you pulled the covers onto you and turned your focus towards the TV, seeing the black number 51 car drive around the track at a high amount of speed. That was the last thing you remember. Daniel was right, this movie really did put you to sleep.

Open when life starts to feel too heavy- May 29th, 2017.

Work was swallowing you whole, Daniel hadn’t been home in almost a month, and to top it all off, you had a head cold that was by far one of the worst you’ve ever had. It was nearing 1pm as you were sitting in your office at the apartment going through page after page of a client’s contract, trying to figure out where things all went wrong. You were overwhelmed, there was no doubt about it.

When you reached page twelve of the paperwork, you noticed several mistakes. Incorrect agreements, incorrect amounts of money offered, and incorrect dates of signatures as well. That seemed to be the absolute last straw for you. Dropping the bulky packet of paperwork onto your desk, you pulled your knees up to your chest and buried your head into your knees as you let your emotions finally take over.

Work shouldn’t be this hard.

Daniel should be here.

This head cold should be gone by now.

Maybe all of this was too much. Maybe you weren’t meant for this career. Maybe you were meant to quit your job and travel the world with Daniel like he had always offered you to do. Maybe you weren’t strong enough for all of this.

As you saw your phone light up with a text from Daniel, you remembered all of the envelopes he had given you. It had been over a month since you opened one last, but you knew that there most certainly had to be something in there to help you through this rough day.

Flipping through all of the envelopes, nothing had seemed to fit how you felt. After getting through half of the stack, you stumbled across one that you were sure was meant for this exact moment.

Open when life starts to feel too heavy.

You grabbed the envelope out of the stack before plopping yourself onto the couch. Normally you would carefully open each envelope, not wanting to ruin it, but today you anxiously tore into the envelope, ripping the letter by accident.

“Stupid stupid stupid!! Fucking stupid!!” you cried before throwing the envelope on the ground. As you laid down on the couch, tears streaming down your face again, you heard the door open.

“Hello, my love! I’m home!” Daniel yelled, unaware that you were in tears on the couch in front of him. When he finally noticed you, he dropped his bags and knelt down beside the couch, placing a hand on your cheek gently. “Baby.. what’s going on?”

You looked at Daniel, feeling completely numb. There were absolutely no words that could define how you felt.

Daniel looked on the ground and saw the torn letter as well as the messy desk in your office. It was a rough day, he could tell. Daniel sat down beside you on the couch, pulling you into his lap while allowing you to cuddle up to him however you wanted. He pulled out his phone and opened up his notes app where he had kept every letter he wrote, in case something like this did happen.

“Hello, my love.” Daniel said, starting to read the letter out loud as you buried your face in the crook of his neck.

“With how challenging of a year you have ahead of you, I can only imagine how hard work and life can get from time to time. Not only do you have clients breathing down your neck for answers to all of their questions, but you also have a separate battle of loving me from a distance going on too. For that, I am sorry. Every part of me wishes that we didn’t have to do this, that you could just travel the world with me forever, that in a perfect world, you would be the last thing I see every night and the first thing I see every morning, but I could never ask you to give up the job you love for me. While this job might be brutal at times, I know that the good times make up for all of the bad ones. You seem to enjoy the job, and most of the people you meet. Life can get heavy, life can be brutal, but just know that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, I love you. You are strong, brilliant, beautiful, and hard-working. I believe in you and everything you do. Every client is lucky to get the chance to work with you. I am lucky that I get to love you. You are such a light in so many people’s lives, my love. Including mine. Don’t let that light burn out. I love you.

Love, Danny."

When Daniel finished reading the letter out loud, you looked up at him. You had managed to get the crying under control, however your cheeks were still damp and your breathing was still shallow. Daniel looked down at you and wiped your tears away, allowing his hand to rest on your cheek for a moment as he looked into your eyes. “I meant every word I wrote, my love.”

You smiled a little, leaning into Daniel’s hand for comfort. Every word he said touched your heart in such a way you didn’t think was possible. It was as though whatever you had been crying over, suddenly didn’t matter anymore. Daniel’s words had healed you.

“Honey?” you said after a few minutes of sitting in silence.

“Yes, my love?”

“I think I want to be done with this job. I want to travel the world with you, wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep next to you every night. While this job might be enjoyable at times, there is nothing better than being by your side 24/7. I could help you with your financial bullshit instead of helping ungrateful, snobby companies.”

Daniel smiled softly, placing a gentle kiss to your forehead. “You can help with our financial bullshit”

You let out a little laugh before resting your head on Daniel’s shoulder. “Yeah, our financial bullshit”

Open when you’re upset with me- June 11th, 2017.

It was the first race you had finally been able to attend this season after choosing to quit your job, well sort of. While you were no longer controlling random companies’ finances, you had been hired on by redbull to control their finances. It was certainly a surprise to you, as you never expected one of the biggest sports teams across the world to trust you with their money and finances, but you were honored to do so- especially if that meant you got to travel the world with Daniel.

As you were walking through the paddock, your hand in Daniel’s, you could tell that he was a bit nervous for some reason. Daniel was never usually nervous for a race, which is why you were concerned.

“Honey?” you asked, looking up at him.

Daniel smiled a little when you spoke to him. He loved that you always called him honey. It was actually kind of a coincidence that you even started calling him that in the first place. You had started calling Daniel ‘honey’ the moment the two of you started dating. When he had finally entered formula 1, he had quickly become known as ‘the honey badger.’ It was kind of funny in a way. “Yeah baby?”

“You seem nervous today. Is everything ok?” you asked, giving his hand a light squeeze.

“Yeah, I am a bit nervous, only because it’s supposed to be a wet race and you know how much I hate driving in the rain” he said with a shrug, not really wanting to go into further detail. If there was ever one thing that frustrated you about Daniel, it was his inability to be vulnerable. He never wanted to seem like he was struggling, nor did he ever want anyone to have to try to care for him.

Over the years of being with him, he had slowly allowed himself to be vulnerable around you, but in a paddock full of people there was absolutely no way he was going to openly discuss his worries.

When arriving into the garage, you wandered off to the back of the garage, wanting to be out of the way of any mechanics or other team members who were working hard to finish getting the car set up. You looked at your watch, noticing that there was just under 25 minutes left until lights out.

As chaos continued to roar through the garage, you looked to your right and noticed that Daniel was sitting in the corner, headphones on, suit zipped all the way up, staring outside as the rain fell. Whenever Daniel had his headphones on, you always knew that meant not to bother him- so did everyone else in the garage. Daniel was very particular about his routine before the race, and you knew better than to mess it up.

With about 10 minutes until the start of the race, Daniel took his headphones off and placed them in his small little locker in the garage. You saw this as a chance to go wish him luck before the race. When you approached Daniel, you noticed that his hands were shaking a bit. It wasn’t something you hadn’t ever seen before, but it was something you hadn’t seen since one of his first races in the sport.

“Honey? You’re shaking.. Are you ok?”

“I’m fine”

“Daniel i’m not stupid. We can go in your room and talk if you don’t want to do it here”

“I said I'm fine, that means I'm fine. Just drop it ok?”

“Daniel you are literally shaking, You can’t drive a car if you can’t control your hands”

“Just drop it!!” Daniel snapped, the whole garage going silent as they all looked over at the two of you. Daniel grabbed his helmet off of the table next to him and walked to the car, leaving you in the back corner of the garage with tears in your eyes as you tried to pretend like the entire garage was looking at you.

You had decided that it would be best to watch the race from the hospitality room upstairs. The last place you wanted to be was in that garage while people whispered about your little argument with Daniel moments before the race.

Despite the rain pouring down and Daniel’s nerves making themselves known, Daniel was able to secure third place. You were incredibly proud of Daniel, knowing that he was able to overcome his fears and race to the podium anyways.

Although you were proud, you were still incredibly embarrassed and upset with Daniel’s behavior in the garage. Instead of standing up close to the barricade at the bottom of the podium, you stood in the way back, watching him celebrate with the team from afar. When he took his helmet off, he found your eyes in the crowd, giving you a small smile and a wave. It was by far one of the most awkward interactions you had ever had with him in the eight years you’d been together. He knew he fucked up, but there wasn’t anything he could do to fix it right now.

After the podium celebrations were over, you sent Daniel a text to let him know you were going back to the hotel. You had no desire to sit in the garage all night while he did media interviews and team debriefs.

However, shortly after you arrived back at the hotel, the door to your room opened and Daniel appeared in the doorway, soaked in champagne and sweat. The two of you made eye contact yet again. You had nothing to say to him right now, so you continued to look at him as you waited for him to speak.

Instead, he opened up his suitcase and dug the box of letters out of the bottom of it, flipping through the remaining envelopes. When he finally found the one he was looking for, he pulled it out and handed it to you. Without another word, he walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

‘Open when you’re upset with me’ was written across the top of the envelope. With a deep sigh, you opened the envelope and began reading the letter.

My love…

I can’t even begin to imagine what I might have done to upset you. With my luck, I was probably in my head about something to do with a race and I took it out on you. I’ve really been trying to improve myself in that aspect, I hate that I take things out on you sometimes. I know there isn’t a lot I can say through a letter to fix things, so take a look inside the envelope for what else I’ve included this time. Hopefully it reminds you of how much I love you and hopefully somehow you’ll be able to forgive me.

Love, Danny.

You looked inside of the envelope and found nearly 20 polaroid pictures of Daniel and yourself throughout the years. In each photo, the two of you were either smiling, looking at each other lovingly, or kissing. One specific photo in particular stood out though. It was a photo from new years eve.

You remembered every single thing that happened that day. You and Daniel had discussed how much time you would be spending apart this season, which caused a small argument between the two of you. You were both upset for different reasons. Daniel wanted you to travel with him to every race, so he was upset when you told him you’d only attend two or three. You were upset that Daniel was upset with your decisions, even though deep down you knew that he supported you 100%.

The two of you had hardly spoken another word to each other all day. You got ready for the New Years party downstairs while Daniel got ready for it upstairs. The car ride was incredibly awkward, neither of you speaking a word to each other. It wasn’t until a little bit before midnight that Daniel had finally approached you out on the balcony.

“Love? It’s cold out here, you should come inside. I don’t want you to get sick” he said quietly as he stepped out onto the balcony and stood beside you.

“I’m fine. What do you care anyways” you mumbled, still pissed off at him for everything he had said earlier.

Daniel looked at you, almost on the verge of tears. Although he was upset that you wouldn’t be traveling and he had expressed that very clearly, he couldn’t believe that you thought he didn’t care about you. “Baby woah… that… just because I'm upset you won’t be with me this season doesn’t mean I don’t care about you…”

You looked over at Daniel, hearing the pain in his voice. You knew that what you had just said to him hurt him way more than everything he said to you earlier hurt you. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean it like that i’m just… frustrated I guess. I’m upset that you are upset, you know?”

“I know, baby. I didn’t think about how hard this is for you, and I lashed out. For that I’m sorry.”

You smiled a little and wrapped your arms around his neck when you heard everyone start to countdown from ten, indicating that it was almost 2017. “How about we leave all of this argument in 2016 and move on?”

Daniel smiled and wrapped his arms around your waist. “Sounds good to me”

When the fireworks started going off behind you, you smiled and kissed Daniel deeply, not failing to notice someone taking a picture of the two of you from inside.

“Happy new year, danny.”

“Happy new year my love”

When Daniel walked out of the bathroom, showered and changed into comfier clothes, you looked up at him, a small smile appearing on your face. “You know, you should be out celebrating with the team, not cooped up in some hotel room with your boring girlfriend.”

Daniel laughed a little and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up at you. “Well for starters, you're not my boring girlfriend. Secondly, I do believe I fucked up today and have to figure out how to fix it.”

You shrugged, putting a hand on his cheek. “We promised we would leave silly arguments like these in 2016, so I think we should just forget this one even happened.”

Daniel laughed and looked down at the polaroid from new years that was in your hand. “I’m sorry I snapped at you”

You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Consider yourself forgiven… this time. If you snap at me in the middle of the garage like that again I will not forgive you so easily”

Daniel laughed and pulled you into a hug. “Noted, do not yell in the garage ever again” he said with a laugh.

Open on October 5th at approximately 8pm- october 5th, 2017.

It was early October, roughly about 7:30 pm when you and Daniel were walking the streets of Japan. This had been one of the only races that you had originally planned on attending this season.

You had always wanted to go to Japan, but it was just about the only race you hadn’t attended with Daniel in the few years he’s been in F1. As you walked down the street with Daniel’s hand in yours, you looked to your right as you saw a beautiful line of cherry blossom trees. “Oh my god! Daniel!! Honey!!! Look!!” you said with a squeal as you pulled him over to the trees. It was a bit dark outside, not many people out and about at the time which you thought was a bit strange, but it made it easier for you to enjoy the scenery and your time with Daniel.

Daniel couldn’t stop smiling at you the entire time you were admiring the pink trees in front of you. He loved how the simplest things always made you the happiest. As Daniel stood behind you, listening to you talk about how beautiful Japan and the trees were, he couldn’t help but grow more and more nervous.

At 8pm, Daniel was going to hand you your second to last envelope. After you read it, Daniel would be on one knee behind you, asking you to marry him. The entire idea made him nervous.

When his watch finally read 8pm, he gently tapped on your shoulder. “It’s eight pm on October 5th, which means you have to open this one!” he said with a nervous smile on his face.

You laughed and took the envelope from his hands, opening it carefully before beginning to read the letter.

Hello my love.

I know that I’m currently standing behind you in Japan, so it seems odd that I would want you to be reading a letter right now, but I wanted to somehow incorporate this moment into these letters. We have been together for eight years. These past eight years have by far been the best of my life. Watching you become the best version of yourself has been an honor, getting to be by your side through every step of life has been incredible, and I can’t wait for many more years to come. I can’t wait until we are old and wrinkled, sitting on a porch swing while our grandchildren run around our backyard. I can’t wait to look down at your left hand and see the ring I bought you on your finger, indicating to all other men in the world that you are mine. I love you to the moon and back, baby. Now turn around.

Love, Danny.

At that point, tears were streaming down your face. You knew exactly what was happening- and you couldn’t believe it. After being with Daniel for such a long time, you had kind of figured that marriage wasn’t exactly what he wanted- that maybe he was ok with staying as boyfriend and girlfriend. You didn’t mind, as long as he still came home to you in the end.

When you turned around, you saw Daniel on one knee, a red velvet box open in his hand with the prettiest ring you had ever seen sitting snug inside of it. Daniel had tears in his eyes. It was the first time that you had really seen him get this emotional over something in a long, long time.

“My love, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Every second of every day being fully committed to you, our future children, and anything else in between.”

Tears were streaming down your face as you smiled at your boyfriend, pulling him into a tight hug before he could say anything else. “Yes, honey, I’ll marry you. Absolutely yes.”

Daniel smiled and hugged you tightly, the two of you sitting on the ground underneath the cherry blossom trees. This couldn’t have been a more perfect proposal. No extravagant gestures, no paparazzi or fans, just you and Daniel in the middle of Japan.

Open when we are living the life you had always dreamed of- February 9th, 2019. Two years later.

“Careful baby, I don’t want you to tear a stitch” Daniel said as he held onto your hand, helping you climb the porch steps one at a time.You smiled at your husband, who had also been carrying your son in his carseat with his other hand. “Honey, I’ll be fine. It’s just a few steps” you said with a little laugh.

Daniel let go of your hand and held onto Henry's seat with both hands as he finished climbing up the steps. “We should have really thought about all of these steps before we bought the place”

“Are you sure having this many steps will be ok, Danny? When we have kids I don’t want them to get too tired or even worse hurt themselves trying to climb up and down them…”

Daniel shrugged and kissed your forehead gently. “My love, this house is everything we both wanted and more. Don’t let some steps persuade you away from your dream home.”You laughed at Daniel’s comment, knowing full well that all of these steps was something the two of you discussed back in 2017 before you bought the house.

You laughed a little, thinking about the conversation that the two of you had over a year ago. It was hard to believe that in such a short, yet long, period of time, the two of you had gone through so much.

Shortly after purchasing the house in December of 2017, the two of you had gotten married in April of 2018, only to find out that you were expecting little baby Henry a month later. You and Daniel had discussed having children several times before, but neither one of you ever expected it to be this soon, though that didn’t deter either one of you for being happier than ever at the news.

“I’m pregnant” you managed to say after you finished chewing your last bite. Daniel’s fork stopped moving and he looked up at you, almost as if he thought he hadn’t heard you right.

“What?”

“I’m pregnant, honey. I took a test this morning, my period was two weeks late.”

Daniel looked closely at you, trying to read your expressions. He couldn’t tell if you were happy or not. “How do you feel about it?” he asked, trying to hide his excitement in case you didn’t feel the same way.

“I’m excited, we’ve always wanted this. It’s a little soon and I'm a bit nervous, but I'm happy over all” you said, a smile finally spreading across your face.

“My love, are you coming?” Daniel asked from inside the front doorway, snapping you out of your thoughts.

You flashed your husband a smile before making your way into the house. Daniel placed Henry’s carseat on the floor before carefully undoing the buckles and removing Henry from his seat.

You sat down on the couch and motioned for Daniel to come sit down next to you, which he did while holding Henry close to his chest. You rested your head on Daniel’s shoulder as you gently rubbed Henry’s cheek with the back of your pointer finger.

“He looks so much like you.. I can’t believe it” you whispered, admiring all of your son’s facial features.

“Everything except for my eyes, baby. Those baby blues are all from you” Daniel said with a smile before placing a kiss on your head, as well as Henry’s head. You smiled a little before pulling something out of the pocket of your jacket. It was the last brown envelope from Daniel’s gift 3 years ago.

‘Open when we are living the life you’ve always dreamed of’ was written across the front of the envelope. Daniel looked at you with a smile as he noticed what you had in your hand. “You still have one?” he asked, sort of shocked that you managed to keep track of it after all these years.

“Of course I do. I wasn’t going to lose this one” you said as you opened the envelope and pulled the white paper out.

My love,

I hope that this letter doesn’t get lost as I’m sure you have no intentions on opening it for several years. By the time you do open this, I hope that we are married with at least one child, living in our dream home together. Our relationship means so much to me, you mean so much to me, and I can’t wait to watch you become a mother. Ever since you agreed to be my girlfriend, it’s been something I’ve dreamed about. That sounds creepy, but I always knew that if I was going to have kids, it was going to be with you. Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. Happiness, love, kindness, and of course hopefully by now, our child ( or children depending on when you open this )

I love you, baby.

Love, danny.

You smiled and teared up a little as you read through the letter. “Your brain seemed scrambled in that letter”

Daniel laughed. “Probably because I was writing about something so far in the future that I kind of just had to guess what would be going on when you opened it”

You kissed Daniel’s cheek gently before resting your head against his. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“Thank you for what?”

“All of these letters, this house, our marriage, our son… all of it. I’m so thankful for you and everything you've done.”

Daniel smiled and leaned down to kiss you. “Anything for you, my love.”

Taglist: @Cl16msc47 @majkaftorek @hammickk @lizziebitch333 @viktorie16

#daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo x reader #f1 imagine #daniel ricciardo imagine #formula 1 imagine #f1 fanfic #formula one fanfiction #f1 x reader

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heartsoftruth · 2 months

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Lewis after qualifying P8 in Saudi Arabia | 08.03.24

“It’s similar to previous years, I would say. There are so many elements to this car that are better, but we’ve been hindered by the bouncing that we have. The bouncing we have through 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… Probably affected George. It’s something they haven’t been able to fix. We made some changes overnight and this morning the car felt so much better. I was regaining confidence again, and then we get to qualifying and it disappears again. But George was doing a great job, he’s a lot more comfortable in the car. Similar to the last couple of years. But, we keep our heads down, we keep working. I’ve got a bit of a better feeling where the issues is coming from so I’ll try and adjust it with the team.”

We thought the bouncing was gone? “We’ve tried every set up change, we can’t get rid of it. It’s difficult to explain. We had some bouncing in Bahrain, but nowhere near as intense as here. That first sector is super high speed, a lot of lateral load, and the bouncing really offsets the car quite a bit. Your balance shifts forwards and rear wards [as the car bounces] and if you’re doing that at 170 miles per hour, correcting that each time… For example Max is flat through 6, 7, 8 and the balance is just stable. That’s what we’re working towards. We gotta fix it, three years in a row. We gotta get on top of it.”

#08.03.24 #truly PAIN #lewis hamilton #lh video24 #lh gpsa24 #lh pq24 #f1

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wejustvibing · 2 months

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we've tried every set up change, we can't get rid of it. it's difficult to explain it. we had some bouncing in bahrain, but nowhere near as intense as here. that first sector is super high speed, a lot of yaw in the car and a lot of lateral load. and the bouncing really offsets the car quite a bit. if you imagine when the car goes up and down with the back, your balance shifts forwards and rear wards, if you're doing that at a 160-170 miles an hour, correcting that each time is really… you know the others, for example, max is flat through 6, 7, 8 and the balance is just stable. that's what we’re working towards. we got to fix it, this is like three years in a row. we've got to get on top of it.

- Lewis Hamilton

#🙂#shame on you for not being able to drive a shitty car #lewis hamilton #f1 #jeddah gp 2024 #saudi arabian gp 2024

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umlewis · 2 months

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lewis hamilton is interviewed after qualifying, saudi arabia - march 8, 2024 (transcript under the cut)

Interviewer: "As qualifying sessions go, how difficult was it for you today, to get the lap you wanted out of that car?" Lewis: "It's similar to previous years, I would say. There are some of the elements of this car which are better. It's just we're being hindered by the bouncing that we have, and the bounce we have through six, seven, eight, nine, ten, which I think probably effected George, and it's something that they've not been able to fix. And we made some changes overnight, and this morning the car felt so much better. I was re-gaining this confidence again, and then when we get to qualifying it disappears again. But George was doing a great job. He's a lot more comfortabe in the car, a bit similar to the past couple of years, I would say. But we'll keep our heads down, we'll keep working away, and… I've got a bit of a better feeling as to where the issue's coming from, so I'll try and address it with the team." Interviewer: "As you say, it's a problem that you've had before with this car. We thought it had gone away. It looked like at testing, when we were watching closely, it seemed to be better and that's a really bumpy track. So is it characteristics of the circuit? Is it when you make setup changes? Can you explain sort of what happens; why it changes?" Lewis: "We've tried every setup change. We can't get rid of it. It's difficult to explain it, but… We had some bouncing in Bahrain, but nowhere near as intense as here. But that first sector's super high speed, a lot of yaw in the car and a lot of lateral load, and the bouncing really offsets the car quite a bit. If you imagine when the car goes up and down on the back, your balance shifts forwards and rearwards. If you're doing that at 160, 170 miles an hour, correcting that each time is really… No, the others that are going… For example, Max is flat through six, seven, and eight, and the balance is just stable and that's what we're working towards, but we've got to fix it. It's like three years in a row. We've got to get on top of it." Interviewer: "Hope the race is better tomorrow. Thank you. Thanks."

#lewis hamilton #f1 #formula 1 #saudi arabian gp 2024 #fic ref #fic ref 2024 #saudi arabia #saudi arabia 2024 #saudi arabia 2024 friday #with george #tw max

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lennies-blog · 1 year

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Translation: "Trackcheck in Bahrain with Mick Schumacher"

Source: Sky Sport Germany

I: "Yeah Mick, new role! Third man so to say at Mercedes - how us it for you at such a weekend, especially working together with the drivers?"

Mick: "I try to watch as many videos as possible to see that if I notice something I can immediately share it, but my job above all is inside the simulator, to try the (different) setups. Therefore I already have an idea of the were driving here, but it'll definitely get interesting (for me) when we drive home after the race."

I: "So there will be more to play? Since thee long runs haven't been thaaat good, yet."

Mick: "Yeah, they definitely still have some things to work on, but I'm sure that we'll work on that for quite some hours now and try to squeeze out the best that we can."

I: "You certainly will! We can take a look at a lap with Lewis Hamilton. This right here now is a lap with weights, so a long run lap. What is there to say about this lap, especially with weights on board?"

Mick: "Lock ups, so standing tyres are always a big topic here. Of course you want to have as few as possible of those since the tyre degradation will increase if you have too many lock ups. First corner, you have to see to prepare this second corner well so that we can get onto the first straight well. Turn 4 (there is) pressure on the left front wing for a long time, of course that will immediately get onto the back tyre later on and of course track limits here where you have to stay in. That will of course be a(n important) point."

I: "Right here? *shows it on screen*"

Mick: "Exactly."

I: "You cannot drive over the white line"

Mick: "(It's) where race control and the stewards will have an eye on. Then we'll have (turn) 6 and 7, two very fast corners (which are) definitely very strenuous for the tyres, so we gotta see that we have a bit of tyre management here to keep the stint as fast as possible."

I: "Now it's going down into the depression (I don't know if that was the right translatio for the term). I think that one is tough as well, the 7? Or 8?"

Mick: "That's turn 8! Yeah, (in) turn 8 traction control for the foot is very important - since we don't have traction control - but here in turn 9 and 10 again where the tyre oftentimes locks up, so quite important to be gentle with the brake there. Sadly especially with DRS an eventual possibility to overtake of 15%, roughly. Overtakes have happened there. Then turn 11, quite fast, but the fastest corner is following right up, turn 12, very tough in the left side in particular."

I: "Especially the under body touches the floor quite often, right?"

Mick: "Yes, exactly. Probably a bit less than last year, but definitely an important point here."

I: "And now the kerbs here, I stutters quite a bit."

Mick: "Yeah, but one of my favourite corners to be honest!"

I: "Really? Why?"

Mick: "Yeah, because it's just so tough and because you get there right from turn 12, from this long corner and everything has to be just right to get through. The last corner, of course, really important as well to get the exit (right) there, since there is a lot of lap time in it. Yeah, so a really really nice track."

I: "I'd sign that! So let's see what's actually in it for Mercedes. Thanks Mick! And we'll talk some more this year anyway! Thanks!"

#mick schumacher #mick interview #sky sport germany f1 #new mick content!! 😊#this was actually quite hard to translate due to all the technical term!#please excuse any major mistakes 🥴

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viper-motorsports · 6 months

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The all female Iron Dames driving crew scorches qualifying for the 2023 Eight Hours of Bahrain where their N°85 Porsche 911 RSR went on to win the final race of the FIA World Endurance Championship after starting from the LM GTE-AM pole.

#porsche 911 rsr - 19 #8 hours of bahrain #iron dames #bahrain international circuit #fiawec #lmgte-am #2023 8hbahrain #porsche 911 rsr #porsche911 #dusk

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irondames · 6 months

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Sarah Bovy takes the last ever LMGTE AM pole position in Bahrain (2023/11/03).

#iron dames #sarah bovy #wec #8 hours of bahrain #8 hours of bahrain 2023 #iron lynx #rahel frey #michelle gatting #userirondames #porsche 911 rsr

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sixcylinderdean · 5 months

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Iron Dames, Porsche 911 RSR, 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain [x]

#iron dames #iron lynx #wec #cars #porsche #porsche 911 #porsche 911 rsr

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redbullcateringfiction · 5 months

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Chapter 7 -

Cantata

Arabella is the executive assistant for Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff. 10 years into her career, it looks like the tide is changing, and she's beginning to question her relationship with him. Is it something more, or nothing but an idea lingering in her head?

F/M, Fluff, Boss/Employee Relationship, Romance, Pining, Love, Slow Burn

Seventh chapter below the cut or click here for AO3

Click here for the previous chapter on Tumblr, and click here for a list of all chapters

(Total: 30502 words thus far)

Sorry about how long this chapter took. I am, in fact, getting a literal PhD. So sometimes I have to focus on that and not Toto Wolff, although it is really hard. There's a joke somewhere in there about fanfic authors. Feel free to make it.

~redbullcateringfiction

“So…how was dinner with Toto?” Bono asked.

“How did you know about that?” I shot him a glance.

“You do know that you’re in a hotel filled with your coworkers, right?” He responded. Fair enough.

“Well…it was nice,” I shrugged.

“That’s good, that’s good. Hey,” He said softly, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me in. This was never good. Bono only ever pulled me in for a whisper when he was about to tell me something very, very bad. The list of previous times was short.

The engineering supervisor had just fired the craziest person on the team. It’s good to be a little crazy in Formula 1, but Gino had taken it 5 steps too far, and was lucky to have not gotten hit by a car. Anyway, the engineering team desperately needed me to distract the media and coordinate his removal with security in such a way that no one would happen to notice the short Italian man being dragged out by his ear.

My mom collapsed during a race. Turned out to just be heat exhaustion.

In most recent memory, Lewis has COVID. I had just spent a few hours with him and Toto, in close proximity.

Bono had a talent for lowering his head in such a way that no one could possibly hear what he was about to whisper to you, and this was no different. “Look yourself up,” He whispered, while simultaneously gently letting go of me. This could not be good. At the same time, my phone buzzed with Jeffrey’s contact popping up for a phone call. This has to be bad. There is no alternative.

I declined his call, and immediately went to Safari as Bono looked over my shoulder.

“Who was that?” Bono asked.

“My lawyer.”

“Your lawyer? You have a lawyer?” He asked, with such a sudden expression of shock.

“More a friend who’s a contracted lawyer. A lawyer friend. Who I have a contract with. A friend who is a lawyer who I have a contract with,” I explained.

“You said ‘contract’ so much I’m starting to think it’s some sort of freaky 50 Shades thing.”

“Jesus, Bono,” I complained.

“You have to admit you made it sound like that.”

“Fair,” I groaned, finally typing my name into the search bar.

Trending ~ 1 minute ago - It’s not silly season, right? How is there F1 drama already? with a picture of Cathal and me from years ago.

Trending ~ 1 minute ago - Why is Cathal Lynch obsessed with his ex-girlfriend? Cathal Lynch appears in…

Trending ~ 1 minute ago - Cathal Lynch shows for Pre-Season Testing wearing Red Bull shirt

“Jesus, you gave me a scare. That’s not that bad. He’s just being weird again,” I sighed, turning to Bono. My heart rate started to slow down. Bono raised his eyebrow.

“And yet…you’ve clicked on none of them,” Bono sighed. “Keep scrolling.”

I did as he said. Suddenly more recent articles pop up.

2 minutes ago - Four Odd Bottles releases new song, “Bitch”, moments after Cathal Lynch spotted in Bahrain

4 minutes ago - It’s time to cancel Cathal Lynch: “Bitch” is a retelling of Radiohead’s “Creep”…and somehow creepier

8 minutes ago - Was Arabella a “Bitch?” A lookback at Cathabella

10 minutes ago - “Bitch,” please. How Arabella Lazaar used Cathal Lynch to make her seem more integral to Mercedes than she really ever was

23 minutes ago - “Bitch,” is a great song. Sorry, not sorry.

45 minutes ago - Is “Bitch” that bad? The conversation on new Four Odd Bottles song takes over Twitter.

48 minutes ago - Expletive-filled song by Four Odd Bottles is the newest crazy ass song from a fucking creep

“Oh…oh no,” I sighed.

“Listen, I wasn’t going to not tell you,” Bono explained, grabbing me by the shoulders again. “Here’s the thing. And listen to me carefully. This is about Cathal. Not you. Public Relations is about to call Toto and ask that he puts forward a request to have him banned, even if temporarily. I had them wait until the two of you got back. Are you still listening?”

I was, but I couldn’t blame him for asking. I knew my eyes had glazed over. “Yeah, yeah. PR. Banning. All that.”

“Okay. Arabella, this guy is a fucking creep. But we’re going to fix this,” Bono explained.

“No, no. I will,” I sighed.

“No, no. You will not touch this. Yes, it's almost entirely your job, but this is the time you pass off a responsibility to someone else. And you will absolutely not listen to that song. Do you understand? Do not listen to it. It’s fucking weird,” Bono pushed his hair back.

“I imagine it is. I also get the sneaking suspicion I should listen to it,” I explained. “I can’t understand what’s going on without it.”

“Arabella, all you need to know that’s going on with it is that your ex-boyfriend is still writing songs about you, but this one is just plainly mean and weird. And he used you as a publicity stunt for it. Like, c’mon. That’s what you need to know about it.”

“Arabella, come over here for a second,” Toto called, suddenly appearing in the hallway behind me. Shit. I stepped towards him, and he grabbed my shoulder. That had now happened a bit too frequently in the past few minutes. I know this is a shit show. But this must be a real fucking shit show. “I’m sure you already know about it. After all, no one can really seem to keep their mouths shut. Anyway, I’m about to call the FIA. This is the first time something like this has happened, so don’t hold your breath. Hopefully though, they’ll seek to make an example out of this kind of behavior. Regardless of how messy this is for you , no team should be dealing with shit like this. Bono!” Toto suddenly called out.

“Yeah, yeah?” Bono asked, nearly running over.

“Who invited the little…Lynch? Who invited Lynch? Do you know?”

“I’ve asked around. Don’t think he was invited by anyone,” Bono shrugged.

“Oh, good. I was worried someone had invited him. Since he just showed up with a paddock pass, this is a different situation. Alright, I’m about to make the call. Arabella, I know it’s difficult, but I need your complete focus, alright? 100%. This is no one’s problem, except his. Thankfully, this has to be a violation of something. Yeah, celebrities are publicity stunts in and of themselves, but usually they’re invited.”

“I’m just going to head off to Lewis’s team meeting while you make the call, okay?” I offered.

“Of course you will. Schatzi, you’re brilliant. This is why you’ve been doing this for so long. Only you could handle this,” Toto smiled. He patted me on my back and walked off, immediately hopping on the phone.

“Alright then, let’s go,” Bono answered, guiding me to the meeting room. As soon as we walked in, all of Lewis’s team quickly set down their phones and looked at me with horrified looks.

“If I can keep my mouth shut about this, everyone else can, alright?” I nodded. “Toto will be in here in not 5 minutes. If we aren’t talking strategy when he comes in, he’ll keep us here all night.”

“Okay everyone. Goodnight. See you all in the morning. Bright and early,” I waved goodbye to Aero. I looked at my watch. 9:35pm. We had really pulled it off with plenty of time for many people to get a full night of sleep. Except the engineers, but that was by choice. Many of them would be practically foaming at the mouth at the gate wanting to run in and get to work on the car. All night they would discuss different strategies to turn everything into a well oiled machine. For many of them, the driver is just driving their good work. Yes, a good driver makes all the difference, but to them it's their car.

“Arabella,” Toto called after me. I had gone into autopilot and started walking towards the elevator without a thought to whether Toto needed anything from me. I turned around with my hands up.

“Sorry, sorry. What’s up?” I asked, approaching him.

“You’re absolutely brilliant,” He said, opening his arms and giving me a great hug. First kiss, second kiss. Each cheek, just a brief touch. “Just absolutely brilliant. No one but you, yeah? No one but you. Okay, I have good news.”

I looked up at him as he finally let go. “Yeah, and what’s that?”

“He won’t be let in the gates tomorrow. Or all weekend. Or all season. Temporary ban for the season. Turns out it's a violation of some rule to use a paddock appearance for personal gain when it’s not written into your contract. Since he wasn’t invited, the contract was pretty explicit in not allowing that,” Toto explained. “Bad news is when he gets turned away at the gates tomorrow, I expect the press will be all over that. But it’s not too bad. The FIA won’t name you or the team as the cause or anything. Just plain breach of etiquette. I can only imagine what ridiculous thing that psycho will say about it though.”

“Thank you. Really, thank you,” I answered. “Did PR have any notes for me?”

“They’re hands off of you if I’m honest. Main concern is the look for the team. Even had to call Red Bull’s PR since he tried to make it seem like they invited him. I recommend you take a look at the new news if you want a laugh about it. Crazily enough, I was the 2nd call to the FIA. Red Bull had already called them about it to get him banned because of the implications,” Toto laughed. Yeah…I have to admit. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. I laughed with him.

“So…I can do what I want when it comes to it?” I asked.

“I know you very well, and I imagine the worst thing you could manage to do would be good for the team. So, yes. Whatever you want. I trust you more than them,” Toto smiled.

“Well, let me think about it, yeah? I’ll let you know before I go through with it,” I explained.

“Don’t bother. Like I said, I trust you.”

I gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, well now I’m concerned. What is that supposed to mean?” He asked with a slight giggle.

“Speaking about it at all? Is that fine?” I asked.

“I had no idea what you were about to say. Don’t mess with me like that, Arabella! Yes, of course, speaking about it is fine. Just nothing stupid, obviously.”

I nodded. “Well…I ought to be off to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I shrugged.

“Oh, of course. Goodnight,” Toto nodded, as I wandered towards the elevator. As I arrived in my room, I stared at my phone. My mind begged me to check to see the updated news. Afterall, who could resist reading the various essays that weren’t really about themselves, but were instead about their ex-boyfriend talking about them. We had dated for some time, but not nearly long enough for Cathal to still be this pissed off about it. In fact, I had started to doubt whether he really still cared, or was just using a shitty microcelebrity like myself to constantly relaunch himself into fame. All the songs he had written about me when we were together were just crappy love songs, but they had so many little suggestions as to who the woman (or women) might be, that the fans and media couldn’t resist speculation. Since we have broken up and he has yet to find another muse as satisfactory, instead he just keeps milking a years-old break up.

It would be sad if it weren’t so frustrating. I never really quite liked the spotlight. Yes, I had been photographed with several celebrities, especially drivers and Toto, but there was always an understanding among the media that it was nothing more than business. Maybe a few F1 articles might mention me by name, but nothing quite like the sudden spur of attention I got when Cathal “accidentally” went public with our relationship. I tried to make it work after that. I had just spent 2 weeks being the face of a multi-year search for “the girl,” and then spending the next several months being the center of attention because I was a famous singer's partner. Not to mention, I also happened to be brushing shoulders with a world-champion driver and was the certified micromanager of a world-champion team principal.

But after the breakup, nothing for Cathal changed. I guess things for me didn’t change either. I kept the same exact life going. Maybe he figured since I hadn’t really had some sort of breakdown, quit my job, and moved continents, that I hadn’t moved on, and he gave himself permission to keep going on and on. But I have changed. I have moved on. Cathal only remains relevant in my life because he forces himself to be. I can’t allow myself to give him what he wants by obsessing over the news articles. Nothing will change for now, at least until Cathal is turned around at the gates tomorrow morning.

Instead of torturing myself, I called Jeffrey back.

“What time is it there?” He answered instead of a hello.

“Not even 10pm, calm down,” I explained.

“Well, have you seen the news?”

“Obviously, I’ve seen the news, Jeffrey.”

“Sorry, sorry then. Have you heard the song? It’s fucking amazing. He manages to sound like a misogynist, a lemon, and a weasel all at once,” Jeffrey laughed.

“No, Bono told me to avoid it.”

“Bono? Like, Peter Bonnington? You’re friends with Bono?” Jeffrey asked, sounding so very impassioned that it began to feel like he didn’t believe me.

“Yes, Peter Bonnington. And yes we’re friends. He’s practically my work husband.”

“I thought your work husband was Toto,” Jeffrey cackled, evilly.

“Very funny. Listen, I called you back not to be your court jester. I called you back because I need your help.”

“Oh, you finally admit it, yeah?”

“Jeffrey. I will cut you out right now.”

“Alright, alright. You did sign a contract though.”

“Jeffrey!”

“Fine, Arabella. I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath. “I need to do something. This time Cathal took it too far,” I explained.

“You don’t even know how far though, Arabella. Not without listening to the song,” Jeffrey groaned. “Before you do anything, you need to understand the full scope.”

“I’m not listening to it.”

“Fine, don’t. Let me explain it to you at least.”

“No quotes.”

“No quotes, got it. Alright, get in your head for me the song Creep by Radiohead. It’s not quite a cover, probably to avoid any copyright issues with him writing a freakish song, but it’s similar enough for you to imagine. Then, he must say ‘bitch,’ 40 times. Basically, the whole argument in the lyrics is a woman who tries to appear incredibly nice but is trying to keep some sort of hidden motive under wraps. That motive? An obsession over a celebrity that she constantly stalks. But instead of her calling herself a bitch, it’s the celebrity calling her a bitch. The funniest part about all of it though, is that he is obsessing over you.”

“Is that quite as funny as you think it is?”

“Oh…yeah, I guess not. I guess…it’s just creepy.”

“No, it’s hilarious,” I laughed. “He just seems like an idiot, doesn’t he?”

“More like a stalker who completely misunderstood the appeal of Creep. Absolute nonsense.”

“Well, what do you think I should do about it?”

“Honestly, you could just write an extremely short tweet and it would probably destroy the European internet. This man competed in Eurovision with a song about you.”

“Yeah, and didn’t even qualify,” I mumbled. “Anyway, no. I want something serious.”

“Well, then, write a statement. I’ve got a friend at The Guardian. It’ll be published in 20 minutes.”

“You’re bullshitting me,” I replied, starting to mess with the skin on my fingers. An unfortunate hold over from my more anxious days.

“Not at all. He’s an editor for the essays column. If you write it well, we can get it published. But I’d wait until the morning at least to see what happens when he comes through the paddock.”

“He won’t be coming through the paddock. FIA issued a temporary ban. He’ll be turned around at the gate,” I explained. I could hear Jeffrey tap his fingers, and I waited for his response.

“Write the essay tonight. Get it to me in the morning. Just remember, I’m 3 hours behind. You have to send it before 6am there, so I can make any necessary edits,” Jeffrey ordered me.

“Hold on, hold on! What do I even write about?” I asked. I picked my fingers faster.

“You know what to write about. Send me a cute headshot for the article too, and any pictures you might have of the two of you together,” Jeffrey continued.

“No, no I do not. I am an assistant, not a writer.”

“Oh hush. Give me everything, I’ll take out anything that needs to be gone.”

I took a deep breath. “Alright.”

“Alright, go on and write! Talk to you in the morning.” Jeffrey hung up. I sat staring at my phone for a few seconds before jumping up and grabbing my laptop. There was no time to hesitate. I sat my fingers on the keys and began to write.

“I’ve got a surprise for you!” Cathal smiled, as he threw down an envelope onto the couch.

“What is it?” I asked, barely looking up from my computer. He picked the envelope back up and placed it in my hands.

“Sundae, don’t touch my laptop,” I sighed, setting my computer off to the side. Sundae immediately began typing on it. I couldn’t shoo her away. It was too cute. I opened up the folder he gave me and there sat a whole bunch of pamphlets.

“Uhhh,” I began filtering through them, just picking up on little details here and there.

“I booked us a resort in Morocco! We can visit your family!” Cathal cheered. I looked at him. I could feel my eyes nearly bulging out of my skull. I tried to tone down my expression, but my face was fighting my brain.

“So we can do what?” I asked. I couldn’t have possibly heard that right.

“Oh no. Did I mess up? To visit your family,” Cathal remarked, quickly sitting down next to me. This sent Sundae right to his lap.

“No, no. You didn’t mess up. Not a mess up. Not one at all. I just wasn’t expecting it,” I smiled.

“Oh, good. It's during the winter break. Ramadan is then, right?” Cathal asked.

“Ramadan is in May this year,” I explained.

“I thought it was a winter holiday?” Cathal questioned.

“It’s a Lunar calendar. It was in January in the 90s or something.”

“It can’t be a Lunar calendar. Don’t Jewish people have one too? Chanukkah is always around the same time.”

“They have leap months,” I explained.

“Oh…sorry. Well, when will it be during the winter break again?”

“Like…10 years or something?”

“Well...hold on...actually, I don’t know if I can reschedule it out that far.”

“I actually think visiting during Ramadan would be the worst possible time considering I’m not religious,” I explained.

“Oh, then good!” Cathal smiled. Yeah. Awesome. I can’t wait.

“This was really nice of you. I’m so excited to visit them.”

“Great! Yeah. Maybe we can make it an annual thing.”

“Let’s not. I mean…I’m just not close to them. I’m happy to visit my parents in the Netherlands, though.”

“I thought you were super close to them. You visited them every year, didn’t you?”

“As a kid I did. It’ll be good to see them though. Don’t worry. I’m really excited,” I beamed.

“Good. Quit scaring me though. You’re making me worried I did something wrong.”

“Sorry.”

I kept writing, and starting over. I’d write the whole thing, and start it over again. There was no way I’d be happy with it though. Every edit and every change only made me more frustrated. I do know that it’s time I finally put this to rest. So as I desperately searched for the words to say that in a way that would make sense, I kept writing. I wasn’t thinking about what I was writing, just the words I wanted to use somewhere, at some point. By the time I looked down, I had it. 3am. A whole 3 hours early. I sent it over to Jeffrey. My phone buzzed just a few seconds later.

Jeffrey: I’m looking it over now. Passes the smell check though. Go to bed.

No way he read it that fast. I stared at his text and started to think of a snarky reply to his order, but he was right. I didn’t have much time to get a lot of sleep. I would have to smush 8 or so hours into only 3. I shoved my face into the pillow, trying to force the sleep to come. Instead, I think I just suffocated myself until my brain was deprived of enough oxygen for me to be knocked out.

It worked though. I woke up just 3 hours later, and rediscovered what I already knew. You cannot possibly smush 8 hours of sleep into 3. I decided to spend most of my morning routine trying to get rid of any signs of sleep deprivation on my face, and thought I did a pretty good job. I stepped out of my room and knocked on Toto’s door.

“Coming,” I heard him call. He swung the door open, and there he stood in the process of buttoning up his shirt.

“Oh, how did you sleep?” He asked, turning his head as he looked at me.

“Shit, do I look tired?” I asked, trying to adjust my hair as best possible.

“It’s a common greeting in the morning, is it not? You look fine,” Toto smiled. He took his hand through his hair and stepped to grab his bag. I caught the door with my foot. “But you must be tired if you thought that was the implication, yeah?”

“I think I sort of…forced myself to go to sleep somehow. I don’t feel too tired though.”

“That’s a lie,” Toto smirked.

“Yeah, that was a lie,” I sighed.

“Alright. Let’s go. First day of the season. First day of the season!” Toto cheered.

Tag list: @daddyslittlevillain, @littleheaven

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