#also they were teammates before in junior category

[leclercskiesahead]

“Charles, Yuki, and Carlos”

#pierre gasly #charles leclerc #yuki tsunoda #carlos sainz jr #i love this #love how everybody is surprised that Carlos is the third one but I love it #is it because Charles brings him along all the time #brother getting along with boyfriend energy but either can fit in either role #the pierre/Charles/Carlos trio fascinates me #and piarlos is underrated #also they were teammates before in junior category #toro rosso trauma #and fifa buddies #bonding over how they can’t talk to Charles about footy probably #piarles #yukierre #piarlos #charlos

[porcelainseashore]

Teenage Headache Dreams (3)

Series Masterlist

Pairing: High School! College! Leon Kennedy x Dancer! Fem! Reader

Summary: You’re a bored, but ambitious high school student who can’t wait to escape small town life and make it in the big city. You thought you had it all figured out, until you unwittingly befriend the resident golden boy, Leon. A series of events beginning from junior year to college until Resident Evil 2 Remake.

Warnings: 18+ Swearing, Recreational Drug Use, Eventual Smut, No (Y/N), Ambiguous/Open Ending

Content: High School AU, College AU, Pre-Resident Evil 2, Fluff, Romance, Cliche, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Lack of Communication

Author's Note: More fluff, might be cringe, who knows? Leon’s facade is starting to slip up, but I think he rolled a natural 20 at the end. There’s also a tinge of childhood trauma and hurt/comfort. I hope I did it justice somehow and that you like it.

AO3 Link

Chapter 3: Before You Slip Away

Just as summer and fall came and went, your school days merged seamlessly into one another, passing by like a blur. You kept your part of the deal and spent what free time you had with Leon. Likewise, he fulfilled his end of the bargain by attending your informal study sessions, which pulled both of your Grade Point Averages up, much to your relief.

In the meantime, Leon had competed in the track and field competition against other high schools in the surrounding Midwest region, coming out top overall in the short sprint category. You had never cheered so hard from the sidelines in your life. To you, it was a crime that cheerleaders mostly focused on football and basketball games, ignoring the other sporting events. 

Flashing his winning smile with a shiny medal raised in his hand, the cameras adored him. Throngs of his teammates came over to celebrate with him and his coach patted him on the back, proudly exclaiming, “That’s my boy!” 

Despite all of the commotion, Leon kept an eye out on the spectator stand, scanning it from one end to the other. As soon as his eyes met yours, he leaped off the podium and sprung towards the bleachers, as if another race had started. You scurried towards him, weaving in and out of the crowd. Once both of you were in closer contact, he reached out and pulled you in, lifting you off the ground as you felt the air knock out of your lungs.

“Oof, Leon, put me down!” You laughed hoarsely, as he complied and your feet landed softly on the ground again. He was perspiring profusely and his damp hair clung to the sides of his forehead in a mess. Some of his sweat had rubbed off onto your clothes, but you didn’t care. “You were amazing!”

“As always,” came the shameless reply. His hands traveled to your shoulders, gripping them keenly, as he confessed in exhilaration, “I’m really happy you made it out here!”

“You think I’d miss this for anything else?” You cried out amongst the usual racket that followed the end of a sports meet. Sure, it was a good few hours’ drive from your hometown, but it was more than worth it.

He met your rhetorical question with a pearly white smile, his eyes sparkling as he hugged you again. 

“Wanna get some tacos? My treat,” you offered. You knew about Leon’s whims and fancies when it came to food. Tacos were his latest obsession, so you dangled it like a carrot before him.

He was tempted, but also embarrassed that you were the one taking him to dinner. Was that a date? Shouldn’t he have made the first move? He shrugged off those thoughts, convincing himself that you didn’t mean anything by it.

“Hellooooo…? Earth to Leon?” you waved your hand in front of his face, seeing as he was lost in daydream land again.

“Uh-” He blinked, shaking his head and composing himself. “Nah, I can’t make you pay for that,” he argued.

You ignored what he said as you started jogging towards your car, turning back briefly to him, yelling, “Last one to get in is a loser!”

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

━━━━━━━━━━━

Although you didn’t think it was necessary for Leon, or anyone else for that matter, to catch your dance showcase, he never gave up pestering you about it. Your parents weren’t entirely fond of you pursuing a further education in the arts, preferring that you would pick up something “useful” instead. So you learnt to avoid the topic and keep these interests to yourself, even though you knew both sides were playing a cat and mouse game, which would end up in disappointment and begrudging acceptance anyway. You viewed Leon’s presence as an added pressure to perform well in front of a person you knew in the audience, but he only saw it as being supportive towards his friend. In the end, you relented, knowing there was no way of changing this stubborn boy’s mind.

The days leading up to the showcase had you throwing yourself onto your bed in a heap of exhaustion and fatigue every night. You hardly had any time to spare, except eat, sleep, dance and repeat. Occasionally, you had to skip school with permission, to attend the rehearsals. Thankfully, Leon being the good friend he was, dropped off whatever class notes and homework assignments there were to your place. He also had the tendency to add motivational “You can do it!” sort of quotes in marker pen on sticky notes, which he pasted within the pages. He claimed that doing so helped him get through more difficult times. You found them cheesy, but you couldn’t deny that they made you smile each time you opened a page and found one there, just like an easter egg.

On the day of the performance itself, your nerves were a wreck. You had done this countless times, but nothing could cure the intense stage fright you usually suffer from just before the show curtains are drawn. Your co-dancers were busying themselves in the dressing room, applying last minute touch-ups to their makeup and costumes, or stretching their limbs to keep warm. Meanwhile, you puked out nothing but air and water for the umpteenth time in the adjacent bathroom.

There was a gentle knock on the toilet stall. “Is everything alright?”

Quickly flushing the toilet and wiping your mouth with the back of your hand, you opened the door cautiously, as you peered out at a bespectacled lady in an all black outfit and walkie-talkie attached at her hip. It was one of the crew members. “Yeah, um, I’m done here.”

“Great,” she heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s five minutes to standby. We need to get you to the stage wings pronto.” You nodded and followed her immediately, as she darted out of the lavatory. 

On the way, she stopped abruptly, as if she remembered something. She pulled out a folded note and handed it over to you. “Oh, I almost forgot. Your… boyfriend? He was very insistent,” she shook her head and huffed wearily.

Boyfriend?

As you peeled it open, you were greeted by the same handwriting in marker pen you had grown accustomed to over the past few weeks: 

YOU GOT THIS :)

A wide smile spread across your face, as a wave of renewed energy coursed through your veins. How this silly boy could brighten up your day with random scribblings on loose bits of paper confounded you. Passing it back to the crew member for safekeeping, you strode onwards purposefully, mumbling to yourself the only words you knew at that moment, “I got this.”

Once the performance started, you eased in, forgetting the outside world as you crawled, flew and spiraled through the dark room like an uninhibited creature. Illuminated only by the intense beam of spotlight, you glided across the floor, synching your breath together with that of the other co-dancers.

Time always passed so strangely during your dance pieces. Just as soon as it began, it ended, and you panted heavily as the lights came back on to a roaring sound of applause. You and the rest of the dancers walked up hand-in-hand to the stage front for a deep bow. With the harsh light in your face, you couldn’t see anyone in the crowd, but then you heard the distinct sound of your name being called, followed by a shrill whistle. Leon. 

You exchanged looks with your co-dancers and laughed. “Someone’s got a fan,” one of them whispered. You continued clapping with the rest and gestured towards the sound and light technicians in gratitude, before heading backstage, hugging each other in relief and celebration.

After packing up and saying your last goodbyes to your fellow performers, you threw on a coat over your attire as you headed out to the foyer. Leon was waiting patiently against a pillar, watching the crowd disperse out of the theater. You observed that he seemed a little out of his element in this place, with the way he was fiddling with the program brochure and his clothes. The outfit he had picked out for the evening had caught you by surprise. You’d never seen him in something so formal before. His navy blue blazer and matching colored trousers fitted perfectly against his form. He wore a white collared shirt underneath, with the top unbuttoned, but the bottom tucked into his pants neatly, and donned a rather smart pair of chestnut brown leather shoes. He looked almost… dashing. You mentally lectured yourself to shut down that thought immediately.

“Hey,” you called out meekly as you approached.

He turned around, flipping his bangs out of his eyes as he spotted you. “Hi.” You detected a sense of shyness - or was it hesitance? - emanating from his greeting, which seemed odd considering how boisterous you both could be with each other.

“I, uh-” he scratched the back of his head, before revealing a long-stemmed rose and pressing it into your hands as quickly as possible, like it was searing hot coal. “-got you this.” 

He tilted his head downwards with his gaze glued to his shoes, as you inspected the flower in your hand. Before you had a chance to say anything, he spoke up again.

“My parents, t-they,” he stuttered. “I didn’t know-” he paused again and exhaled heavily. “Well, I wasn’t sure what was appropriate.” 

He searched your eyes for any sign of mockery but found none. You nodded at him to continue.

“So I, um, researched.” He coughed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “They said, it’s customary to bring red roses.”

The poor guy was so flustered, you were beginning to feel sorry for him. “It’s-” you began, but were immediately interrupted.

“If it’s too much, I can take it back, no problem!” He reached out for the flower, but you sidestepped and evaded his attempts to grab it, chuckling softly.

“Leon, it’s fine,” you reassured him. “I’d like to keep my gift, thank you very much.”

At this, he relaxed a little but shook his head in dismay, “God, I feel like an idiot.”

“Well, finally!” You jested. “About time you realized.”

Without waiting for his comeback, you embraced him, thanking him for all the support he had showered you with recently and of course for showing up. You didn’t know how much you needed it until he did.

“That’s what friends are for, right?” he grinned, realizing that you managed to receive his last note of encouragement before heading on stage. And he was back to normal Leon. “By the way, in case you didn’t already know, you were awesome up there.”

“Oh yes, very awesome.” A husky, feminine voice piped up from the side. She was definitely European, but you couldn’t quite place where her thick accent came from more specifically.

Something about the way that sentence was said unnerved you. You weren’t sure if it was because a stranger had been listening in to your conversation or that she had just gatecrashed it without asking.

It didn’t seem to sit well with Leon too, as he placed his arm in front of you protectively, while you both came face-to-face with a rather peculiar-looking older lady. Her platinum white hair was slicked back into a tidy bun and she was draped in a plain brown dress which reached all the way to her ankles. Her hands and arms were covered in long, black leather gloves and the weirdest thing of all was that she adorned pitch black sunglasses indoors.

“Don’t worry, I won’t bite.” Her thin lips curled into what you thought might be a smile, as she gave him a flippant wave.

Glancing up at Leon, you could tell from his furrowed brows and tensed expression that he didn’t like this woman. Not one bit.

“Hm,” she scoffed and readjusted her sunglasses, obviously unimpressed at his defensiveness. Directing her attention to you, she fished out a white business card between her fingers from her chic clutch. “Here.” With a flick of the wrist, she passed it over to you swiftly. You caught Leon’s disapproving frown as you accepted the card. It felt weighty and luxurious in your bare hands.

“Maybe this might interest you at some point,” she added, and with that, she spun on her heel, giving the slightest of waves as she sauntered off.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Leon muttered. It didn’t take a genius to notice a fuming rage brewing within him.

“I don’t know…” you trailed off as you turned the card over from side-to-side, examining it. In white bold embossed letters, it read:

TANZTHEATER SILJE VÖLKER

━━━━━━━━━━━

When it was time to break for the Christmas holidays, you honestly felt a little lonely without Leon. He was celebrating a family reunion with his relatives in another town and wouldn’t be around until the new year. Nonetheless, both of you had exchanged presents in advance and failed miserably to follow the age-old tradition of waiting until Christmas Day to open them.

“No way,” you and Leon uttered simultaneously, right after tearing off the wrapping paper. It turned out that the two of you had thought of the same thing. There was a rock band you shared a mutual interest in and constantly listened to together. You had gotten him a limited edition CD signed by the band members, knowing it would pair well with the second-hand stereo he had picked up a couple of months ago at a thrift store. 

He, in turn, had gifted you a pair of tickets to see them live in Chicago in spring, seeing as you had always dreamed of catching all the bands you liked in the city one day. You enthusiastically chatted about your travel plans together, since you were obviously taking him with you. At the same time, he proudly displayed the CD on his bookshelf, commenting on how Blood Sugar Sex Magik was the best album ever released.

Christmas itself was rather uneventful. It was the same story of families huddling together around the dinner table and eating too much over a couple of days. Then there were the usual prying questions from relatives, which was mainly used to compare you with their offspring. How have you been doing at school? Which colleges are you applying to? Have you thought of your major? Are you dating someone?

Sometimes you were able to escape from the madness by excusing yourself for some fresh air. You took whatever chance you could to take long walks on your own around the neighborhood, breathing in deeply as the crisp evening wind chilled your nose and cheeks. The days had grown shorter, but you didn’t mind the cyclical nature of seasons at all. It made you appreciate light and warmth, as well as the cold and darkness even more. You enjoyed the stillness of the streets as you trudged along, admiring the decorative lights people had hung up in their homes, which contrasted with the velvet night sky.

You missed Leon. He always had a way of making things more bearable. You imagined his charming smile winning over your relatives, the inside jokes both of you would pull, and bunking off to hang out at your favorite small town haunts. Still, you couldn’t avoid the niggling feeling that there was something more to your interactions with him, even though the topic was being avoided like the plague. It had always been there from the start, masked under being all fun and games, especially with Leon’s antics and wisecracks when it came to anything vaguely romantic or sexual. However, it appeared as if he was beginning to lose his touch. Things that wouldn’t have bothered him before, now caused him to stumble over his words and turn away red-faced. You were a visual person. You caught him stealing lingering glances at you when he thought you weren’t paying attention, only to divert his gaze the minute you turned towards him.

You were so adamant about having a friendship, you didn’t really plan for anything else to happen. Plan. That’s a funny word. As if you could plan such things. And now both of you were on the verge of breaking the rules again. The rule of not falling for a friend.

Maybe you just didn’t want to admit that your nosey classmates saw it coming all along. Or maybe you just weren’t sure what you wanted anymore. Which brought you to the million-dollar question: how did you actually feel about him?

Ignoring the tingling sensation in your stomach that crept up steadily to your chest, you kicked a stray pebble into the drain, deciding to leave your thoughts where they were for the moment and headed home.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Soon, the temperatures began to dip even further as the Midwest entered into the coldest period of the season. You were used to the continental effect of living inland, surrounded by mountain ranges, where the weather could be rather extreme. This meant sometimes braving through heavy snowfall and tundra-like winds to get to wherever you needed to go. You had taken up a new part-time job assistant teaching in a children’s ballet class, whilst Leon volunteered at a nearby dog shelter. You took turns picking each other up from work, but there was hardly any time for a break until mid-February, when the locals organized the annual winter market, to stave off the seasonal blues.

You had gone out to the market with Leon to drink warm punch and eat some hotdogs, while having a go at some of the stall games. He did unexpectedly well at the target shooting one, which garnered him a neat Swiss Army knife that he gave to you. “For safekeeping,” he quipped, bestowing you with another one of those bashful smiles you’d grown used to.

“Wanna get outta here?” he offered out of the blue.

“Sure,” you replied, even though you were mildly puzzled by his abrupt request. He took your hand and led you out of the market square.

It was a while before the flood lights came into view, as you slowly sidled up to the school’s football field.

“You dragged me all the way out here?” you guffawed.

“Uh huh.” He unlocked the gate and pushed it open with ease, holding it for you to go through.

“I can’t believe you still have the key!” Now you were jealous. You shook your head with your arms akimbo, laughing in disbelief at how the blonde boy in front of you managed to keep getting a free pass at things.

“I’m just that amazing,” he shrugged, as you both made your way towards the stand. It was thankfully rid of snow, courtesy of the local community who took care of it on a regular basis.

“More like, annoying,” you scoffed, plonking yourself down on one of the benches.

“Keep saying that if you wanna get locked in,” he shot back. God, you missed his banter.

Luckily, you still had a few tricks up your sleeve. “Won’t stop me from getting out.”

“I know.” He paused, taking a moment to sit down beside you. “That’s what I like about you.”

Your breath hitched as he mentioned that. Was that a confession in disguise? You tried to read his expression, but it was impossible to decipher.

“So why did you bring me here?” you inquired, as a way of breaking the awkward tension.

“I started to get what you meant back then, when you said it was peaceful. Sometimes I sit out here myself, just to think things through.” He gestured to the field. “Kinda nice, isn’t it? This wide, vacant space.”

Your eyes glittered as a smile tugged at your lips, glad that he understood what it meant to you.

“Also, I didn’t want to be a creep by bringing you into the woods.”

“Leon the serial killer. Has a ring to it,” you teased. He laughed in response, as his breath turned into misty puffs swirling in the air. “But yeah, this place holds a lot of memories,” you added.

“Of meeting you and getting stoned.” You recognized the look of mischief in his eyes as he finished your sentence. “Best day of my life.”

“Mine too,” you murmured, while something stirred within you to share your innermost thoughts with him. 

“You know, before that, there were times where I’d sit here after a game till late on my own. Even after the flood lights shut off, I’d stay on in the dark, feeling like nothing could get rid of this emptiness… not even the crowd earlier.” You weren’t sure why you felt compelled to tell Leon all of this or where you were going with it, but it was important to you. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, more than you know,” he remarked quietly under his breath, such that you had to strain your ears to hear it. 

His answer piqued your curiosity. “Do you ever feel like you don’t belong anywhere?”

“All the time,” he huffed.

You were taken aback by this. Leon never struck you as someone who’d feel the same way you did. You thought he fit in with the suburban lifestyle and he was well-liked by his peers. Was there a missing piece? Not knowing how to deal with this newfound information, you blurted out without thinking, “Well, whaddya know. A jock and a cheerleader just faking it till they make it.”

He didn’t respond. As your eyes briefly darted in his direction, you noticed the discomfort that dumb sentence had caused him.

You felt a pang of guilt in your chest, regretting that you had inadvertently touched upon a sensitive subject. “It was a bad joke, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head sadly. “No, it’s fine. It’s just a lot more than that.”

“We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” you reassured him. 

However, Leon seemed determined to continue. “I want to, with you.” You realized his hand was trembling as he ran it through his hair. “I’m guessing you’ve never been in foster care?”

“No?” There was a tone of apprehension in your voice, as you wondered where this conversation was headed, though you had a vague idea.

“Just wanted to be sure.” He smiled sardonically, before explaining further. “What it’s like is… moving from one family to another every few months, never really knowing where you’ll end up next,” he sighed. “And praying to god that they won’t be scumbags.”

Gradually, you started to make sense of what he was going on about, and everything fell into place as your jaw fell slightly ajar.

“Thing is, I’m lucky my current family took me in long-term.” At this, he paused for a minute, frowning at an invisible threat. “Many aren’t.” 

Then, it came as a cracked whisper. “Sometimes I’m scared… I’ll be taken away again.”

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, as you placed your hand over his, squeezing it tightly. “I won’t let that happen.”

He turned to face you with a dry laugh. “What, you’re gonna fight the authorities for me?”

You saw the fear and pain in his eyes, but you wanted to let him know that you were completely serious. You would do anything to make sure he was safe. “To hell and back. I mean it, Leon.” You gripped his hand firmly again. “We’ll find a way.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled, relaxing a bit.

“I’m sorry… I wouldn’t have said such stupid-” You started to apologize again, but he stopped you, curling his fingers under your chin and tilting it towards him.

“Shhh, it’s ok. You couldn’t have known,” he surmised. “I mean, people have their questions, but my parents are really good at protecting me, and shutting down small talk.”

You continued listening empathetically, as deep down you had a hunch that he had kept this to himself for a very long time, and he couldn’t bottle it up anymore. He just wanted someone, specifically you, to hear him out.

“I can’t deal with shit like explaining to people all the time, over and over again, why I don’t look like my parents, who my real parents are, how I fit in… just so they can pretend to be my pity party.” His mouth twisted in distaste at the memory.

“The funny thing is, I don’t even remember much about my real mom and dad. It’s like a blackout. Like that part of life just died.” Closing his eyes, he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his fingers, as if trying to recall something in vain. “I heard they were assholes though. Or, I dunno, ‘very bad people’ as they said.”

What he had just articulated hit you like a ton of bricks, yet you wanted to be there for him, no matter what. “Leon… I will never know what you’ve been through. But one thing I’m certain of, is that they did not make you who you are.” 

He gave you a look of skepticism, but you pushed forward. “You’re a good person.”

“A really, fucking good person,” you emphasized, and you truly believed that with all your heart. “Remember that.”

“I’ll try,” he sighed. The doubt still remained. You weren’t expecting it to magically disappear, but at least this was a step in the right direction. “That means a lot to me.”

“Do you still feel alone?” you asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Since meeting you? Not a chance.” You narrowed your eyes at him as laughter spilled out into the night. “Do you?” he questioned back.

“No.” You bit your bottom lip and professed, “I’m really glad I met you.”

Stroking your hair gently, he began to inch closer towards you, leaning in till the tips of your noses touched as you held your breath. It felt like time had slowed down, and despite knowing what would come next, you’d never felt more unprepared.

As if on cue, the flood lights switched off and you were enveloped by the obsidian night. Damn, the timer.

You were used to it, but it was clear to you that Leon wasn’t faring so well. You felt him wince, his breathing getting shallower and more uneven, as he tried to cling on to you. A part of you suspected that his vulnerability had something to do with previous foster placements. 

You interlaced your fingers with his, linking hands as you comforted him. “I’m here. Don’t worry,” you asserted. “You’ve gotta let your eyes adjust to the darkness and you’ll be able to see again. It just takes time.”

He nodded as both of you waited in silence, with only the sound of the wind whistling and each other’s breaths to keep you company. He started to calm down, as you caressed the back of his hand with your thumb. Just as you had promised, he began to make out shapes in the darkness and slowly regained his sight again.

You gazed up in wonder, admiring the celestial winter sky that lay before you, as Leon followed suit. The moon and stars seemed to hang close to the ground, as if frozen in stasis. They glimmered to the point of being dazzling.

“Do you see that?” Leon pointed upwards, captivated by brilliant light that shone across the sky.

“Yeah, they’re really bright when it’s cold.”

“Hm, yeah they’re beautiful,” he muttered thoughtfully. “I should do this more often. Just stop and take a moment to appreciate things.” Once again, he turned towards you, his words laced with double meaning. “Before they slip away.”

You caught the subtle implication behind what he said, as he waited to see how you would react. Your heart was racing, but this time, you decided to shut off the rational side of your mind and follow your gut feeling instead. It was as though an unseen force was guiding you, as you closed the gap, delicately brushing your lips against his. 

Just as you were about to second-guess yourself, he responded by cradling your cheek in his hand and pressing his warm, soft lips on yours. His hot, shaky breath tickled your skin, as you entwined your arms around his neck and kissed back, taking in the sweet taste of his mouth even further, and causing him to hum in satisfaction. You could get addicted to this. You really could.

Apparently reading your mind, Leon murmured through your parted lips, “You’ve no idea how much I’ve wanted this.” As you locked lips again, consumed in yet another tender kiss, you didn’t want to think about what would come next. For tonight, everything was perfect.

#leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy #leon kennedy fluff #leon kennedy smut #high school au #college au #re2 leon #re2 remake #resident evil 2 #resident evil #porcelainscribbles

[goaliekisses]

Malkin’s teammates share what sets him apart; favorite memories before his 1,000th game

they’re all like ‘he’s so BIG AND FUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL’ and sid is like, repeatedly ‘he’s so DOMINATING also let me rattle off a list of my favorite geno goals and also did i mention, he’s so dominating? i’m so lucky to have seen them close up i’ll cherish them forever (like i cherish him)’

Sidney Crosby still remembers the first time he saw Evgeni Malkin play.

It was the 2005 World Junior Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was the second World Junior appearance for both Crosby and Malkin, but the two hadn't gone head-to-head in the tournament in Helsinki, Finland the year prior. They finally met in the gold medal game, with Crosby and Team Canada winning the tournament with a 6-1 victory over Malkin and Russia.

Malkin made his World Championship debut with the senior Russian team later that season. Watching that tournament, Crosby couldn't help but take notice again of the young Russian prospect who had been drafted by the Penguins the year before.

"He was just dominating," Crosby recalled when I sat down with him earlier this week. "He was just 18 then. I thought he was pretty special from the first time I saw him play."

Crosby and Kris Letang were both drafted by the Penguins that summer, and Crosby made his NHL debut in the season that followed. Letang and Malkin joined Crosby in Pittsburgh a season later, and the three have been together now for 17 seasons.

Through Malkin' career 999 games, he's amassed 451 goals, 714 assists and 1,165 points, ranking No. 3 all-time in franchise history in each category behind Mario Lemieux and Crosby. When the puck drops for the Penguins' game against the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday, Malkin will join Crosby in the record books as the only players in franchise history to play 1,000 games with the Penguins.

I spoke with Crosby, Letang and a number of other teammates of Malkin about what makes Malkin so special and some of their favorite memories of Malkin over the years.

Crosby remembers it being "pretty hard to communicate" with Malkin during those early years together, when Malkin's English was extremely limited. Still, that didn't stop Malkin from quietly tagging along with his teammates when everyone would hang out outside of the rink.

"I mean, he didn't say anything," Letang said. "He would just come and have dinner and not say a word. He would just say the same thing, 'hamburger,' all the time. ... He was so shy earlier on and didn't speak much, but his humor is funny, like joking around making fun of everyone."

Letang was a little amused recalling that Malkin insisted on his teammates calling him "71" rather than his name back then.

Players who made their debuts with the Penguins later in Malkin's career remember being a little intimidated by Malkin at first.

"Obviously, you're pretty scared," Jake Guentzel said with a laugh about his first time meeting Malkin. "He's a superstar. My first game I sat alongside him and Phil (Kessel), I think you get pretty nervous. You don't want to mess up."

"It was a lot of intimidation on my part," Bryan Rust said. "I was probably feel a little nervous to meet him, just a guy of his stature both physically and with what he's done."

Brian Dumoulin said that he felt like he was "tiptoeing" around Malkin early on, and was a little nervous being around someone of Malkin's stature, until he realized he just had to talk to Malkin like any other person.

"I wouldn't say he's the most outgoing guy when you first get to know him," Dumoulin said. "It takes some time to get to know him and for him to open up and for you. I remember people were saying to Geno, like 'Why don't you say hi?' He's like, 'Why don't you say hi to me?' That's kind of how it was for 'G'. I mean, you've got to approach him just like anyone else. That's how he wants to be treated."

A common trend in players' first interactions with Malkin is Malkin getting their names wrong, much to the amusement of his teammates.

"It's such a Geno thing to do, to not remember names," Kasperi Kapanen said. "I don't know, I actually should go ask him now to see if he remembers my first name or not."

Consensus seems to be that Malkin's gotten better with names over the years, but it's still a bit of a running gag for a teammate to ask him what a newer teammate's name is to see what he says. Marcus Pettersson remembers being in the stick room with Patric Hornqvist in his first week after being traded to the Penguins when Malkin walked in the room. Hornqvist pointed to Pettersson and asked Malkin what his name was. Malkin paused, then pointed to the stick Pettersson was holding, and read the "Pettersson" label out loud. Players used to do the same at the yearly rookie parties, making it a game to see if Malkin knows the actual names of the younger players. He might know a guy as "Rusty" or "Dumo," but beyond that?

"That's the thing," Dumoulin said with a laugh. "He might not know my first and my last name, but he knows my nickname, you know? That's all that really matters, I don't care. He doesn't have to know my name or anything like that. It's pretty funny."

Some players think that Malkin's notoriously bad memory with names might be a little bit of an act, given his sense of humor.

"He called me 'goalie' for the longest time," Casey DeSmith said. "He's definitely a character in the room. I remember the first time he said like, 'Good game Casey' I was like, (shocked face) 'What'd you say?!'"

"He just kept calling me Jack," Guentzel laughed, recalling his rookie year. "I don't know if he was just messing around with me, playing a prank on a young guy. But it was just funny, because nobody really knows."

When you ask players what makes Malkin so special or how they'd describe him, it's that sense of humor that is often mentioned first. He keeps his teammates laughing, and keeps the room light.

"There's no filter," Letang said of Malkin. "It comes out raw with that kind of broken English. It's the broken English that makes it funny."

"His sense of humor, I think is awesome," Rust said. "He just kind of sticks to himself, he's kind of quiet most of the time. Then all of a sudden, he'll just start cracking jokes, he'll just kind of pop in there just at the right time. He has the whole room laughing."

"Every day, he always says something," Kapanen said. "He's got those one-liners that make everybody laugh, and he's just a funny, fun guy to be around. He's one of the funnier guys I've ever met. So it's been a pleasure to be here with him.

"He's always got some smartass comment to make or something sarcastic," DeSmith said.

"He's spontaneous," Tristan Jarry said. "He's just always yelling, always getting the guys to laugh."

On the ice, it's Malkin's passion, drive and skill that get mentioned by his teammates as what sets him apart.

"It's just his natural ability," DeSmith said

"He's generational talent," Jarry said. "Being able to watch him every day in practice and in every game, it's something special."

"He's passionate," said Rust. "He loves coming here and he loves playing hockey. He loves being with this team, in this organization, in the city. You can see it when he's playing well, you can see it when he's playing bad. He just wears his emotions on his sleeve and he just wants this team, he wants himself, and he wants everybody else to do so well. You can see how much he cares."

Pettersson compared Malkin to a train, and spoke about admiring that same passion Rust spoke of.

"He's fire," Pettersson said. "He's like a locomotive when he takes over the game, he's so powerful the way he drives the puck. I just think about whenever he gets fired up on the ice, scores a big goal or something like that. Like when we were in Toronto and he had a pretty bad tripping call on him then scored. When he gets fired up, he creates so much energy for us and it's fun to see him in beast mode when he gets like that."

Dumoulin said that Malkin is a "magician" with what he's able to do on the ice.

"Pittsburgh is very lucky and I think I'm very lucky to be able to watch him play for so long," Dumoulin said. "I mean, on the ice, he's the magician. You never really know what he's going to do with the puck, whether it be D zone, offensive zone, neutral zone. It's just fun to watch him get the puck and just go. He's always a game changer every time he's out there. It's exciting to watch."

"I think of him as a beast," Letang said. "He's just so strong, so big, skilled. He's kind of unstoppable when he's playing well."

Crosby said that if he had to choose one word to describe Malkin, it would be "dominant."

"The way he can take over a game is pretty rare," Crosby said. "There's not too many guys who can do that, and he's done it for a long time."

Crosby said that he has "tons" of favorite on-ice memories of Malkin, with a big one being his first NHL goal against the Devils in 2006.

"Then against Tampa, when he walked through everybody," Crosby added, referring to this goal in 2012.

"Edmonton, the spin-o-rama," Crosby said, talking about this goal from 2015.

"That Carolina game, the hat trick he had in the playoffs," Crosby said, on Malkin's performance in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2009.

"I've been lucky," Crosby reflected. "I got to see a lot of those close up. Those are memories that I'll cherish forever."

Letang mentioned Malkin's entire performance in the 2009 playoffs -- when Malkin led the team in scoring with 14 goals and 22 assists in 24 games -- as one of his favorite memories. He also named Malkin's goal in the last game of the 2011-12 regular season against the Flyers: It was the first (and only) time Malkin hit the 50-goal mark in his career, and capped off a regular season in which Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer, the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league MVP, and the Ted Lindsay as the league's top player as voted by the players.

Letang was asked what he thinks Malkin's legacy will be in Pittsburgh, and he thought it was a tough question to answer. He mentioned the three Stanley Cups they won together, and Malkin's impending 1,000th game, but said that Malkin's legacy to him will be something different.

"I don't remember those guys for the hockey part," he said. "I remember those guys for being with them. He's funny. He's hilarious. He's loud in his own way."

If one were to make a Mount Rushmore of the top four Penguins in franchise history, Malkin would surely be on it. His skill, dominance and passion are what has made him one of the greatest to ever play for the Penguins. But it's who he is off the ice that has him so beloved by his teammates.

#HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SO BEAUTIFUL AND FUNNY AND TALENTED #THEY LOVE HIM ahhhhhh #i love him #evgeni malkin #sidney crosby #kris letang #tristan jarry #jake guentzel #brian dumoulin #marcus pettersson #kasperi kapanen #pittsburgh penguins

[acanthusarchive]

This is not a new thought on my physical disability situation.

But my body being like this right now is because of my heavy training in childhood.

This is going to be a long one so, more under the cut.

CW: for brief mentions of anorexia and the Eteri expiration date

I will start by explaining a couple of examples of this with the team Tutberidze.

The team Tutberidze is managerd by Eteri Tutberidze and is mostly known for her olimpic winners, all being trained through their early teen years until they're able to finally get to the olímpics.

Issue is, the way she trains them, notably to do quads, is via starving them (they're not allowed to drink any water or eat anything on competition days as Alina has mentioned before), the main way you can do quads is if you weigh very little.

So she focuses on that, low body weight, and forgoes a lot of strength training that is not needed for that technique. Now, in the early teens everything is okay, issue comes at 16-17.

Yulia Lipnitwkaya, in 2014, was the first in this long line of hers. She did great in her individual olimpic category and went home with gold through the team event.

When she went back to Russia her body started crumbling down, all her skills slowly diminished, her technique became poorer and failed most jumps.

At 19 she retired from competitive skating.

Then there's Evgenia Medvedveva, she went undefeated for two years after junior categories had been fully won. She then went to the olimpics.

She was 17-18 when she went to the olímpics with her teammate Alina Zagitova (being 15 and much less injured). Six months before the olimpics Evgenia fractured her foot, which she still skated on during europeans being beaten by her teammate Alina.

She went to the olímpics still, both skated great, Alina won by 1.31 points and for the first time Evgenia cried in a competition. After 11 years of training under Eteri she went to another team in Canada.

Alina slowly lost her skills at 16 and by 17 announced she was going to take a pause in competitive figure skating. At 19 she left competitive and was hospitalized for three months to battle her anorexia.

Eteri has never been able to train boys into the Olympics (in single category) as far as i know, this plus how all this athletes slowly crumbled down physically after a certain age has created the term "the Eteri Expiration Date" which is 17 years old.

My specific case was similar, artistic/sincronised swimming, competitive training that favored girls of 11-15 and while we trained our strength and all, it was favored to be on that skinny side, not fit, low body weight focus.

My chronic pain started at 15 with my articulations then moved to my back with the scoliosis at 16. By 17 I stopped going to training for personal reasons.

At 18-19 I was also battling with anorexia and semi successfully got out of it on my own, to this day I still have to battle with that way of thinking.

I recently had the chance to talk with one of my old teammates, she basically told me our trainer ignored questions about me when they asked why I wasn't there anymore.

Most importantly, I asked her about the physical side, if she remembered it being LIKE THAT, now, she doesn't have any physical disabilities, but she did leave at 15 a year later (she was younger than me) and did agree that the training was brutal, bruises were common nearly every week, and that our trainer was probably thinking Olympics when training us. Plus, she also went through ED issues.

I'm not sure if this is a few isolated cases or this is a genuine phenomenon at this point, I always second guess myself, so.

If you have had this experience, know someone, have any more info on this, etc. Please comment it.

I won't make a paper or anything but putting a name to it, or maybe there already is one, would help.

If nothing comes of this at least I put it out there, this is half a vent half that reaching out thing honestly.

#cpunk #disabled #physically disabled #competitive sports #artistic swiming #sincronized swiming #team Tutberidze #yulia lipnitskaya #evgenia medvedeva #eteri tutberidze #alina zagitova #eteri expiration date #mine #cw:anorexia #anorexia #i might get yelled at for this one in anon tbh

[myimaginarywonderland]

The curious case of one Lance Strulovitch

Ah yes. Lance Stroll. Hated by many, cared about by a few and adored by even less. A man whose career and accomplishments are among some of the most underrated across the grid (note: This is biased as I am in fact a fan if you couldn't guess it before. )

Moving on, let's get serious. This is a post I have debated doing for a long time and seeing how some of the few fans of him are getting some of the worst treatment (probably nothing that will ever compare to his) I thought it was time to finally sit down, spend my night researching and get to work.

This will be an semi analysis of Lance career with the point of proving why Lance is in fact severely underrated and deserves more recognition for his accomplishments. It will also try to paint the picture of why he is not at all the villain some of you want to make him out to be but most importantly I am doing this for the fans, the lovely few who have made me laugh so many times and stuck with me and him through some of the highs and lows. You guys deserve to have a post (even if it's by me) that you can actually use to show people when they once again try to discredit our boy. Of course there will be biases in this but I am trying my very best to try to be as objective and give as many references for the facts I am going to state as possible so it is easy for you to fact check and correct me if I made mistakes which might happen, I am just human after all.

Enough about me let's start with the beginning of Lance career aka Lance early carting career.

Lance started carting in Canada when he was about 10 years old. In his first two years (2008/2009) he won every single thing in Canada he competed in. He then in 2010 was signed as a an eleven year old to the Ferrari Driver Academy which started his move to Europe where he for example finished 9th in a series. In 2012 he won yet another championship and finished 4th in another as well. Bear in mind this was during a time where he had to adapt to a whole different continent and had way more competitors whose names you might be quiet familiar with. He raced another year in a European carting championship where he finished 6th. 

https://www.racefans.net/lance-stroll/

On to his Start in the Formula categories

In 2014 Lance moved up to Formula Racing. He competed in the Florida Winter Series 2014 where he once again was behind Max Verstappen. In the Italian F4 championship the same year he won it by nearly behind 100 points while still missing the last three races. In 2015 he firstly won the Toyota Racing Series by over a 100 points over his next teammate. Then he competed in the European FIA F3 championship where he came 5th behind drivers such as Felix Rosenqvist. He was the second highest placing rookie behind Charles Leclerc. Notably this season was not great for him and he made some errors. The next year he won the championship by over 150 points. Yes we can’t ignore the huge amount of money and resources that were put into Prema that year. But can you really blame anyone? Every parent would do what Lawrence did especially when you have seen the way your kid can perform while doing what he loves even if it seems immoral to some. There are rumours he got some places because of team orders but nothing has ever been proven and frankly you don’t get that huge advantage with just orders. He consistently finished in the top 10, only 2 times not in the top 5.

Now, it is important to mention that just like Verstappen he immediately went to F1 after his win of F3. Once again Lawrence contributed to him moving but looking at stats you really can’t argue that Lance was bad or did not deserve it. I mean you don’t become a Ferrari junior driver at 11 purely by being some wealthy guys son. I have said this already for Max whose career at that time looked even more promising than Lance but it still applies the same: Both should have done 1 or 2 seasons in F2. They were both still inexperienced when they came into F1 which is why I think Lance rookie season is both quiet impressive and yet to be taken with a grain of salt and more treated like an extension to his Formula career. 

https://www.autosport.com/fia-f3/news/prema-orders-to-help-stroll-ruining-european-f3-russell-believes-4991939/4991939/

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a1857276/report-lance-strolls-father-spent-80-million-get-son-f1-seat/

Let's now move on to his F1 career which I will divide into the seasons

The start to Formula 1 aka 2017

His start wasn’t great. His first race he had break problems. But immediately in his second race he got into Q3 only to be taken out in the race. Next race the same thing with a different car. In his fourth race he was one place of from being in the points. Fifth race still bad qualy which equals bad race. Monaco crash happens, this time his fault as he pushed to hard. By now people are mad at him even though his bad start was entirely not his fault.

And then comes Canada. After what probably to Lance feels like his worst qualy yet, finally he gets point in the race with a P9. Sure there were DNFs but Lance did great overtakes and we finally got to actually see and experience why he was chosen so early by Ferrari. You can hear the relief in his voice. Now follows Azerbaijan arguably one of his best races. He just drove and kept cool. Hell, he nearly would have gotten P2 had it not been for the last seconds. A podium, the last real podium for Williams since years (nothing against George but Spa was a joke) and the only podium of that season by a rookie who until last race was completely butchered by everyone for his bad performance in qualy especially. Next race there’s not really an attempt to score points since Lance has a penalty for a gearbox change. Next race he qualifies right behind his teammate and gets P6 in the race. Next race another small penalty and bad qualy lead to P11, two positions behind his teammate. Another bad qualy+ suspension problems lead to no points. In Malaysia he is just about 3/10 of and finishes P8, one position above his teammate. Singapore is quiet crazy and even though it’s another bad qualy  it’s P8. Lance in Italy not only finishes P5 but also due to penalties becomes the youngest front row starter at P2 and gets P7 in the race. Next race it’s P11. The Hungarian GP is bad all around as is the British without any real result. The Austrian GP sees him finish P10 just behind his teammate. 

His season is bad but considering his poor qualifying some of his results are genuinely impressive. As is the fact that he was just thrown in there. The reason he looks so bad is truly due to his qualy and the fact that many compare him to Max who was hyped as a prodigy since day one yet had the same path say in skipping F2. 

2018- a season to forget

Williams had a big performance drop. So there’s barely any hope of Q2. The first three races are P14 which are bad qualifyings but semi good races. Azerbaijan sees both drivers in Q2 and Lance finish P8. The next raced are uneventful expect the Canadian GP where Lance’s car gets loose and he takes out Brendon with him on accident and Monaco sees him just of the points. France sees his tyre poop. The British GP saw him not set a time in qualy yet still finish P12. Italy once again good race, sees him qualify P10 and finish P9. The rest is unsuccessful because of the poor car performance and still the lack in consistent qualy pace.

Not really a bad season as much as a bad car and therefore lack of performance.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/06/10/369966/

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.williams-strategy-in-france-optimistic-stroll.2DQi6GCUlay0sie64KwqSw.html

2019- The first real competitive season

The first race sees Sergio qualify higher yet Lance finishes higher. Next race Sergio finishes 4 places ahead of Lance. Next qualy Lance is once again behind but only 3/10 behind Sergio and the next it’s 4/10. Azerbaijan where he was 4/10 of has Lance in P9. In the Canadian GP Lance is just 1/10 of Sergio and finishes in P9. The most remarkable has to be Germany where he finishes P4 in a crazy race. In Belgium he finishes P10 even though he has an engine penalty making him start at the back. In Monza Lance out qualifies Sergio with P9 but finishes P12 behind Sergio and his P7 in the race. Japan has Lance out qualify Sergio yet again and in the race finishes P9.

Sergio generally outpaces Lance by 3-4 positions which definitely gets closer and closer towards the end as well his qualifying pace improving (obviously excluding any retirements/DNFs). Considering his teammate was one of the best drivers the two seasons prior that wasn’t in a top team I think this season was pretty impressive towards the end. 

2020- What could have been

The first race Lance was only 2/10 of Sergio’s pace but suffered a lose of the engine in the race. The second race Lance out qualifies him and finishes just behind Sergio. Third race Lance once again out qualifies Sergio and gets 4th. When Sergio is absent because of Covid Lance qualifies P6 and scores P9 in the race. He also qualifies P6 the other race Sergio is absent and finishes the race in that position. When Sergio is back Lance qualifies behind him in P5 and finishes the race in front of him. The next race he is once again just behind Sergio in P9 and finishes the race in that Place in front of Checo. Italy sees Lance 3/10 of Sergio and finish in P3. 

The Tuscan GP sees Lance half a tenth of Sergio just behind him until a picture took him out of the race while has was in P4, potentially on the way to another podium. This is where his bad luck kicks in. First lap in Sochi, taken out by Charles. Then he misses Germany for Covid. Portugal he and Lando crash (I would say racing incident.) Imola is uneventful. 

In Turkey Lance obviously takes pole but people don’t realize how impressive that is. Beside Max the closest is his own teammate who is over a second and a half behind him. He lead the race for over 30 laps until a wrong pit strategy that he openly disagreed with put him 9th where he eventually finishes the race which could have been at least a top 5 or podium finish (he was in the top 3 before the pit stop and came out 4th), most likely would have been a double podium for the team. Bahrain saw him being taken out (though again in my eyes no fault of himself since Daniil made a risky move too late.)

In Sakhir after another mid qualy he takes third! Coming from 10th to 3rd but this is obviously overshadowed by Sergio’s win (even though they were the only non top team to get both drivers on the podium at the same race if you consider RedBull a top team) The last race where he finished tenth. 

So now, let’s truly look at his performance. In the races where both participated, Lance outqualified Sergio four times. The other times he was within four spots of Sergio or in 4 instances were he performed badly up to 9 behind which puts him an average of about 4.3 positions of Checo which is including penalties and stuff. 

Now let’s look at the actual result. He did not participate or rather finish 6 races in comparison to Sergio’s 4. 4 of those (accidents and Covid) are completely out of his control. In terms of race finishes it’s also very impressive. From the 8th races they both finishes Lance has scored better in 3 by around 1.5 points. Lance scored around 4.6 worse when Sergio was better yet again one was butchered strategy. They were very much behind each other when they both performed which everyone ignores? Lance also looks bad because his qualifying was and still is not good Hut he definitely improved and at some points was on pare with Sergio. He could have only been like 30-40 points off which with Checo’s win is not that bad once again.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-tuscan-grand-prix-puncture-causes-massive-stroll-crash-at-mugello.1687519877478116194.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-russian-grand-prix-sainz-and-stroll-crash-out-in-chaotic-sochi-race-start.1687515300528811143.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-portuguese-grand-prix-stroll-and-norris-collide-at-turn-1.1687510148078074772.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-bahrain-grand-prix-stroll-flips-and-crashes-after-kvyat-contact.1687510862145773128.html

2021-the fight against a world champion 

The first race Lance qualifies P10 and finishes in that position why above Seb. He once again gets P10 and finishes P8, above Seb the next race. The next race Seb is above Lance and neither finish in the points. The story off Lance out qualifying continues and Lance finishes just out of the points. It switches the Seb outqualifying and both finish in the points, with Seb P5 and Lance P8. The next race sees Lance struggle all weekend, eventually out with a tyre failure while Seb gets a podium. The next race sees Lance once again not set a qualy time yet still finish only 1 place behind his teammate in P10. In Austria he once again out qualifies Seb in P10 and finishes P8. In the Austrian GP he qualifies 10 and finishes 13. The British GP eventually sees Lance P8. In Hungary Lance is 1/10 off but crashes into Charles so he doesn’t finish. The Dutch GP sees him 12th since Qualy. The Italian GP sees him finish 7th.  In the Russian GP he qualifies 8th and finishes 11th, just outside the points and in front of Seb. Turkey sees him qualify and finish 9th. In US he is 12th, two places behind Seb even though he started further back. In Mexico he starts from the pit lane duo to gearbox change and finishes 14th. Brazil seems him collide with Yuki (in my opinion more Yukis than Lances fault.) We move to Quatar where Lance is 3/10 of Seb and finishes 6th, clearly one of his better races. In Saudi Arabia the Aston Martin pace sucks ass and yet Lance is only just outside the points. Abu Dhabi he deserves any credit for managing the cluster fuck that the FIA decision was which he was in the middle where neither he nor his engineer fully knew what was going on and he rightfully complained. 

So, that means that there were 4 times Seb qualified better than Lance yet in the races where both finished, Lance finished ahead of Seb more often and was only about 2 places of expect for 2 times. That is impressive and if it weren’t for Sebs podium Lance might even be ahead. The car was shit yet that was the season Lance was closest to any teammate with maybe his most consistent qualies against a 4 time WDC. 

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-hungarian-grand-prix-stroll-crashes-into-leclerc-at-race-start.1706897442128904725.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK5SbgqcjIA

So now, what's our conclusion?

Now look at all these years and some of the bad luck and tell me how Lance is so mid/bad. He had an incredible rookie season that most didnt expect after his bad start, he was really close to Checo in the second season racing against him and he has pretty much been on pair with Seb a former WDC since day one. Lets not forget that Seb has had a world champion.

Lance has had a world championship driver, Sergio (one of if not the best mid field driver since 2015) and a guy who for a few seconds was world champion to go against when he was put way too early into F1 in machinery that most of the time was less than ideal. 

When you discredit him remember who he was against. There’s drivers like Pierre who are rated better than Lance yet someone like Pierre has had an equal performance with less challenging drivers if you exclude Verstappen who no one expected him to beat. He’s been against Hartley who was not highly rated in F1, Kyvat who is mid and a rookie that wasn’t really hyped. Meanwhile Lance with less experience almost managed to match his formerly highly experienced teammate. 

This isn’t meant to discredit another driver but people need to realise that Lance has had anything stacked against him since day 1. That is crazy. And yet if you truly look at it besides his admittedly still often bad qualifyings he has done great and matched a lot of teammates at one point if not beaten them through pure skill. 

The only reason why he truly is as bad as some of you claim is his qualy which you also can see clearly improved even if it's still not ideal.

You also have to realise that Lance might have been regarded as a direct Verstappen rival would he have grown up in Europe. Many people don't want to admit this but F1 at it's core has a direct link to Europe and it's very much harder if you are from any other continent to ever be regarded as highly as someone who has grown up here and whose junior career has been watched since day one. Yet still people tried to compare him to Max who had a direct road to a top team since his junior career. It's just not possible. They are similar in some ways but completely different in most.

Lance is as deserving as everyone else in his F1 seat. He's also underrated because people refuse to see him when he actually just does his job. The media only pays attention to him when he makes mistake but even then compared to some of the most beloved drivers who get defended every time his mistakes in terms of racing incidents have been rare and often not his fault. People refuse to admit his talent and the potential lying within him.

Some of you are so focused on why certain drivers are so good that you forget that for those drivers everything had to align just right to actually make them show their talent and that that can't happen to everyone.

Some drivers are like Max who had a top team promised to him since the beginning. Some drivers like George have proven themselves over and over again. Some drivers like Charles have an aura of natural talent. Neither of those applies to someone like Lance. He also doesn't have the natural sweet charisma of Lando or the redemption story of Pierre.

Lance is just performing to the best of his abilities and it's quiet enough if you ask me. He has steadily improved and there have been more than a few occasions where we saw the flashes of brilliances that have gotten him a seat.

Maybe you read through all of this. If you did thank you. I really tried to be honest and objective until the conclusion. I get that I might not even change anyone's opinion but I had this one my chest for a long time and felt like sharing it so yeah.

#f1 #lance stroll

[foul-milk]

Ok going anonymous to unpack some thoughts on Martin’s “revelations”:

1. Eeeew, airing all of your friends and fellows rivals/teammates laundry is kinda shady to me, sorry.

2. I have an ongoing theory on good boy Charlie facade that could be very much confirmed soon, if things at Ferrari will keep on rolling the way they are rolling now. Golden boy not so golden and so on.

3. Lando. Not a fan of Lando at all, but reading all the stuff Martin said about him made me side eye Martin more than Lando. I get roasting him for crashing cars(outside of track), or maybe not being able to at least cook an egg or look a bit after himself since he’s an adult now, but the personal digs like being introverted, close circle of friends etc… yeah Martin, you’re a cunt, not even sorry. And I hope you don’t call yourself a friend of Lando because if I were him, I’d drop you like an hot potato after those comments.

3bis. The introverted stuff and so on can’t help but shine a new light on Lando’s bit of saltiness towards George not spending as much time with them (him) as he did before joining Mercedes. Lando did say George is a very funny guy and you can read between the lines he meant he feels a bit stiffed by George having less time to spend assing around with them now that he’s in a different team that absorbs most of his time. Bitter statements aside, I’ve seen Lando act more closely to George than what everyone would maybe expect them to be, so I think he did (in the past at least) considered him someone of trust if not even a friend.

4. That bit on George is 50/50 hilarious and disgusting at the same time. George being a menace trackside, cunting and haunting Martin around with threatens of crashing him out is 100% him😂😂😂 man has always been uber competetive and either knew he would get under Martin’s skin with such a statement orrr maybe he was just clapping back to some shit talk that Martin was giving him pre race with some of his own. Either way, nothing too serious, especially considering how Martin stated he still sees George today.

The bit about George’s dad instead… man, how out of place that was. Even if it’s true, drivers’ parents are sometimes (not very happily) more ruthless than their own kids because they want them so bad to achieve a result in a higher category. Is it fair? Not really, but so is the racing industry. But even if George’s dad was really that angry or bad in general, once again, why air it on main when George himself rarely speaks about his relationship with him? It’s not a take that is Martin’s to make and not something he should dare touch in my opinion, because it’s just very low and inappropriate.

All in all, if George or Lando got Martin’s ass handed back to him in junior categories, seems like he deserved it or maybe would deserve done it now, because, with this take, he just turns out to be a gossipy, salty big mouth.

Thank you for this anon, I loved reading your opinion. I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt a bit uneasy about this interview. I'm going to answer you point by point.😁

1. Yes exactly.

2. Hmmm. I haven't thought of that yet. I would love to hear why you think that. There is a lot of drama going on behind the scenes for Ferrari, but however things turn out, I don't know how that would affect Charles's persona specifically. But anything could happen. I feel like soon there are going to be some major changes at Ferrari.

3. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Lando either, but half of what Martin said about him felt unnecessarily judgemental. Especially him saying that he used to be introverted and that made him "weird". Like what? That's exactly what a bully would say... Regarding Lando's friendship with George: Yes, I also got the impression that Lando felt a bit... "abandoned" by him? The George, Alex, Lando trio used to be pretty close together while in F2, but to me it felt like they gradually drifted apart since they graduated to F1. Maybe Lando misses that old friend group. But in defence of George, (sorry I'm not unbiased😆), Lando seemed to gravitate towards Max and his "group" more and more lately. Which is fine, because everyone is allowed to be friends with whoever they like, but he was really giving off the vibe that he's not very interested in George. And yes, George has been very busy since joining Mercedes and he probably wants to spend the free time that he has with his family and girlfriend.

4. Yes, George has always been a menace and this just proves that. He clearly used to put the fear in his opponents' hearts.😂 The comment Martin made about George's dad was completely out of line. Personal life is clearly something that drivers keep close to themselves, and don't share generously with the media. If George's dad is really that bad, and considering that he basically almost never speaks about him, then Martin bringing him up and making a family issue they have public is just so disrespectful. This was not his information to share. The other option is, is that George's dad is not that bad, and is just the normal level of strict and grumpy that is expected of a successful driver's dad and Martin embellished his story and made him sound worse because he has some kind of internal resentment towards George. Either way, he absolutely shouldn't have said that.

I think Martin needs to learn to not blabber to the press and learn to not be pressured into revealing personal information to journalists. It feels a bit like he didn't get the memo that after a certain level of fame, you really have to think through what you do and don't share with the world.

#f1 #✉️

[httpiastri]

crash into me – pa1

being forced to share a room with paul, your enemy, in spa makes you discover new feelings for him.

genre: fluff, touches of angst? enemies to lovers!au, one bed!au

pairing: reader x paul aron

warnings: mentions of death, crashing... i think that's about it

word count: 7.3k (how did that happen....)

requested: yes !!

author's note: writing this was 110% self indulgent (did i use that term right), i loved it. maybe because i love paul.... felt weird to write about dino though shdkfhdkfj he feels like my swedish little brother in some way? anyways! i haven't ever written enemies to lovers i think, so this was interesting. i honestly don't know how it got this long, my longest fic on here by a loooot. hope you enjoy, and thank you for requesting!

also, lowkey a spoiler but i got paul the feature podium that he deserved in belgium <3 this fic contains subtle backhanded prema slander, sorry not sorry

f2/f3 masterlist

you and paul have been enemies for as long as you can remember.

it all started back in karting, in your first race against each other. you were racing in karts on a circuit in france, and practically no one had any grip in the rain. during your last lap of qualifying, you and paul had been side by side when you lost control of the kart, resulting in you swerving into the barriers, taking paul with you.

when you got out of your kart, you wanted to apologize to paul – but he had already stormed off. you thought nothing more of it, seeing it as just an incident – but apparently, he didn't feel the same way. in the actual race the day after, paul took you out in the first corner as revenge.

safe to say, you both loathed each other before the end of the weekend.

as the years went on and you two continued driving in the same categories, the hatred between you two grew. there have been multiple occasions where one of you broke the rules to mess up a race for the other, sometimes even going as far as crashing into each other on purpose. needless to say, neither one of your teams, managers or engineers were especially supportive of your childish actions.

it didn't matter if it was in karting or when you both started racing in formula cars; you never really grew out of the feud. with you being a member of the ferrari driver academy and paul joining the mercedes juniors in 2020, the rivalry only grew over the years. both of you had a massive need to be the better one; it wasn't important to beat the other drivers on the track, only each other.

maybe this competitiveness was the reason one of you two would always be the winner of pretty much any race you took part of. unless you both crashed, that is. if one of you had been much better than the other, if it had been easy to tell who the best one actually was, then maybe you would've just stopped several years ago. your determination to crush each other made you better drivers, and your closeness on track was probably what made the rivalry so strong.

when you got the news that you would be joining prema in 2023, you were over the moon. but when it was revealed that one of your teammates would be none other than paul aron, you were horrified to say the least. and so was he.

the two of you were forced to act nice in front of the cameras and the fans. you had to give each other congratulatory handshakes when either of you ended up on the podium, and you had to act polite in team meetings, but you never spoke more than necessary to each other.

on top of that, the prema team managers made it very clear that if you were to purposefully cause a crash with each other, both of you would be replaced on an instant. the team could not afford to have two immature idiots ruin the team over something that started back when they were children.

you'd both managed to stay civil for most of the season, not being pushed or forced together too much. in prema videos, you would never be paired up, and you would rarely be seen together at any other times. but this was all about to change when it was time for the next round in belgium.

as usual, the team had booked rooms for all their drivers at one of the hotels near the track. being the only female driver in the f2/f3 prema team, you usually got a room for yourself, and so you were told it would be this weekend too. as you check in on thursday, get your key card and make your way up to your room, you can't wait to throw yourself onto the bed and catch up on some of the sleep you missed getting ready for your early flight this morning. but your mood instantly changes when you see someone standing right outside the room with your number on it.

not just anyone; paul aron.

he's blipping a key onto the door when you step closer, a frown taking over your face. "i'm pretty sure this is my room," you tell him.

"what?" the light on the door flashes green as he looks up at you, just as confused as you. "pretty sure it's mine."

"it literally says 782 right here." you show him the paper cover you've gotten for your key, but he just pushes the handle down and lets the door swing open. when he's about to step inside, you pull him back by his shoulder, dragging the door closed again. "let me try..." you pull out your own key, holding it against the door – and the light blinks green again.

"there's no way," paul mutters. he seems frozen in his place, just staring at the door as you push it open.

you tell yourself that maybe it isn't as bad as it looks, maybe there are two rooms in one? or maybe there's some kind of wall separating your beds?

but when you enter the room, you realize that it's even worse than you'd feared. there's just one king size bed. no other single bed, not even a couch.

"there's no way."

"there's been a massive mistake," you tell the lady at the hotel desk once you make it down again. you drop your bags next to you with a thud, feeling sore after having carried them for way too long now. "i'm here with the racing team prema. i was placed in the same room as another driver, but we were supposed to be in separate ones."

"let me have a look," she answers, looking down in her computer. "may i have your room number, please?"

"782." paul's voice surprises you; you thought he stayed upstairs, but suddenly he's right next to you again. you had told him that you'd never share a room with him, let alone a bed, so you would do anything to get yourself out of the situation. you just assumed he wouldn't even care enough to help.

the smattering of the lady's nails against her keyboard fills the otherwise silent lobby as you patiently wait. you don't even shoot paul a look. "i'm very sorry," she starts, still typing away on her computer. "it seems like there's been some kind of mistake in the booking."

you try to put on an understanding smile. "that's alright. do you have any other rooms available? any room will do."

the lady finally looks up at you both, an apologetic look on her face. "unfortunately, we're fully booked. we always are during race weekends."

"you've got to be kidding me..." paul groans, his hands coming up to cover his face.

"i'm sure we can refund you for the mistake, but for now, we have no other rooms." the lady sighs before looking down in her computer again. "i'm sorry to say that there's nothing i can do for you at the moment. i hope you can manage to have a wonderful stay here anyway!"

wonderful? how could staying with paul possibly be anything other than horrendous?

your next step is to talk to all of the prema staff members you can find about the situation. you beg for their help to solve the issue, to let you switch rooms with someone – but they all think that you two sharing a room will be the perfect opportunity for you to get to know each other better.

this is going to be the worst weekend ever.

dino almost cries laughing when he hears about the whole room incident. as a best friend of both you and paul separately, he never understand how you could hate each other – you are both really cool people, so how does it make sense that neither of you like the other?

he's sitting in the single chair next to the desk, still quietly giggling even when you send him deathly glares, when you get to work on the soon-to-be wall in the middle of your bed. you've seen people build barriers out of pillows this in the movies a bunch of times, so you decided it will be the best way to keep paul on his side of the bed.

"is this really necessary?" paul asks. he's sitting on the edge of the bed but he's far too occupied with something on his phone to watch you, or help you. "i don't want to be near you either way so i'll stay put on my side."

"oh, it totally is necessary. i will not allow you to accidentally roll over to me in your sleep." dino laughs out loud at your comment, but he puts his hands up in the air as defense when you threaten to throw a pillow at him.

"i'll just sleep on the floor. we have plenty of pillows, and i think there was an extra blanket-"

you cut paul off. "there's no way i'm letting you sleep on the floor during a race weekend." as much as it hurt to admit, it wouldn't be cool to force him into something like that. he has, just like you, sacrificed to much to be in f3 and it would be cruel to rob him of one of these weekends.

besides, you want to beat him when he's at his best, not just because he hasn't slept in a few days.

dino speaks up, his eyes moving between the two of you. "oh, so you care about his racing? that's so sweet o-"

"i care about the team, not about him individually." your voice is stern as you finish placing the last few pillows.

"why are you talking about me as if i'm not here?" paul groans – for probably the hundredth time today – and throws himself back onto the bed. the crash makes the bed bounce and some of the so perfectly placed pillows fall down.

"hey, careful!" you scold, frowning as you start to rebuild the wall.

"can you two stop fighting for just a second?" dino says between giggles. "we need to go, our track walk is in like... five minutes."

"thank god, i really need to get out of here," paul says, standing up instantly and heading towards the door.

"that makes two of us," you mutter under your breath as you make some finishing touches on the wall. "this is going to be a long weekend..."

paul is surprisingly respectful all of the time you're both in the hotel room. he lets you shower first when you get back, and he makes sure to never step a foot in your side of the room. he even waits for you when you get ready for the team dinner to make sure the two of you leave together instead of just going off alone when he's done getting dressed. not that either of you say even a single word in the elevator down to the lobby.

when you think about it, you haven't actually spent a lot of time alone with him. there is always a third person on the podium, and there are always staff members around you during all meetings and such. it feels weird, to say the least, but... not as bad as you imagined?

by the time you're all sitting down in some restaurant nearby, the word about your rooming situation has spread to everyone. it's a great laugh, and the teasing seems like it will never stop. when the food is finally served, you're more relieved than ever to see food. thankfully, it fills everyone's mouths and stops them from talking so much.

when you finish dinner, you expect to just go back to your room, get some good sleep and prepare for tomorrow. but on your way to the car, angelina stops you and pulls you to the side along with paul.

"i've been talking to the other staff members," she starts. you raise your eyebrows at her – could this mean that they realized that this arrangement was awful after all? had they found a way to solve it? "and we decided that we're going to give you a task to make sure you actually talk to each other."

you let your shoulders slump, covering your face in your hands. until now, you'd thought that you would at least survive this if you just pretended that paul wasn't even there. but this could be the death of you.

the death of you both, apparently. because paul doesn't seem like he is enjoying the situation more than you. "shouldn't we focus on racing this weekend?" he says, trying to keep his voice as polite as possible, but you can practically see the steam blowing out of his ears.

"oh, you'll have a lot of time to focus on racing and still manage our tasks." angelina smiles at the two of you. "it won't take too long."

"what do we have to do?" you ask, looking up at her again.

"well, i made you these cards." she pulls out a couple of pieces of paper from her bag, holding them out to you. "they contain questions that you are going to ask each other to get to know each other. they should be answered in the order of the numbers written on them." she points to the corner of the top card, showing off the number one. "on monday, we will quiz you on what the other person has answered for these questions. so pay attention to each other!"

"well, that could've been worse," you say, almost as if to try to convince yourself that it's alright. paul looks at you with a frown, shaking his head at your words. you ignore him, reaching out to take the cards and place them in your purse. "i think it's best if i take these, no?"

"i think so too," angelina jokes, bringing a little smile to your lips.

paul doesn't as much as twitch, though. "are we done?"

the second she nods, paul storms off towards the other drivers again. angelina lets out a sigh, giving you a pat on your shoulder. "i'm sorry for this, but i really do think it's for the best. you might be teammates for a long time, so it's really not good for you to hate each other."

you nod, trying to see it from her perspective. chances are high that you and paul are going to work together a lot in the future, so it isn't smart to keep fighting just out of habit. plus, it must be hard for her and all of the other staff members to have to deal with you. but why was it so hard to just throw it all away, to just ignore it and make up with him?

"i hope you don't snore," you mumble as you sit down on your side of the bed, plugging your phone in to charge it.

"i hope i do."

you both agreed that you would get started on the questions tomorrow, being far too exhausted from the day to do it now. although it hasn't been a very physical day, the emotional roller coaster you experienced was enough to leave you completely worn out.

there are several things that make it hard to keep hating paul. one of them is how he actually seems like a decent and respectful person when he's around other people. but the worst of them all is,

paul has grown up to be extremely hot.

he was cute as a child, sure. but this was something new. you hated the way you could grow hot by just thinking about him, the way his pretty blonde curls framed his gorgeous face, the way his laughter could light up a whole room. and his body? his muscles? he looked like a god damn body builder, but not in an excessive way.

and now, those muscles and that face was lying just a meter away, only a couple of pillows separating you from each other. you hate it.

and you hate the fact that it's getting harder to hate him.

"are you ready to do this?" you ask, looking through your purse for the cards you'd gotten from angelina.

"as ready as i'll ever get," paul answers as he slumps down on his side of the bed.

after yet another long day, all you want to do was relax and focus on tomorrow. but you also don't want to procrastinate on your task or save it for the last possible minute.

paul seems distracted, as he has all day. he made a few mistakes in the qualifying session and only reached an eleventh place, which will be good for the sprint race but not as much for the feature. dino's seventh place looks better, and your third even more so, but something feels off about the whole thing. paul doesn't usually qualify that bad, especially not in these mixed conditions. but you decide not to push it or ask him about it.

"okay, question number one..." you sit down on the bed, holding up the first card to read the handwriting. "what's your favorite color?"

"wow, that's boring." he sighs. "i like blue, i guess."

"i'll say prema red, just so it's easier for you to remember." you put the card at the bottom of the pile, reading the next one. "when did you start racing?"

"i started karting when i was seven."

"i was six."

this is easier than you'd thought. "why did you start racing?"

"because my brother did it, i think. i wanted to be like him." he chuckles, shifting slightly on the bed.

you nod along to him. "my dad took me karting once, and i was hooked instantly. i guess he just wanted me to try and compete, to see if i actually had any chance..." you throw away the card, picking up the next one in the pile. "have you always enjoyed racing?"

paul thinks for a moment and then shrugs. "i mean, it's always fun. as long as someone doesn't crash into me for no reason." you roll your eyes but let him go on. "but there's a lot of pressure to do well, to perform..."

"totally," you say and cross your arms over your chest. "but i think that, besides the crashing and pressure, it's a lot of fun. and i enjoy it a lot."

you look over at him and he looks like he wants to add something, but then he just shakes his head. "go ahead."

you read the next card. "have your parents always been supportive of your racing?"

paul nods instantly. "yeah. both of mine and my brother's racing." he makes eye contact with you for what feels like the first time tonight. "and you? i haven't heard you talk about your parents a lot."

"well, it's..." you sigh. "complicated, i guess."

"how so?"

you take a deep breath. "i'm not sure if you know, but my dad races. or, he used to." you look down at your hands, taking notice of how they're already shaking slightly. "ever since he passed, my mom has been... i wouldn't say less supportive, but... she doesn't really want me to keep racing. i get what she means, it's a dangerous sport, but..."

the sudden change in the mood is surprising to paul; he didn't expect you to open up like this. he looks over at you, the concern clear in his eyes.

"i knew i couldn't not race. it's what i live for." you let out a sigh. "i also want to do it to honor him, you know?"

he nods, even though you aren't looking at him. he's unsure what to say, if he should try to comfort you or just let you speak. he has never cared about, or even thought of, your feelings like he does now.

you look up at the ceiling, blinking a couple of times to force back the tears threatening to spill at the thought of your dad. "i'm sorry, i don't know why i just said that," you say, letting out a laugh. "i'll think of another answer for you."

"don't worry about it." paul pauses for a moment, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. "i'm... really sorry you're going through that." when you look over at him, the look he gives you is sincere and kind. "your dad is watching you proudly from heaven, i'm sure."

hearing those words, it's like he's broken down all of your defenses. all of the walls you built these last years since your father's passing are torn down, all of the feelings you've worked so hard to push away come up in one second. you've mourned his death, of course, but you always make sure not to think about him too much during your racing weekends, since he passed from a crash on track, and since he was the reason you started racing in the first place. you couldn't allow your feelings affect you when you were competing. but to think about him watching you still, him being proud of you...

this time, you can't stop yourself from crying. a few single tears roll down your cheeks, but you turn your head away and wipe them away instantly, hoping paul doesn't see.

he pretends not to. "when did the questions get so serious, huh? are there no more questions about colors?" he tries to joke, hoping it will cheer up the mood a little.

he lets out a sigh of relief when he sees you chuckling, turning back to him when you're done cleaning away your tears. "i'll take a look."

for the first time ever, paul is kind towards you even when he doesn't need to. when you wake up the morning after, he seems to be in a good mood, chattering off about how excited he is for the race. he even tries to make some small talk about the rainy weather as you get dressed for breakfast, and although it feels weird, you join in. it's strange, but most certainly not awful – and you catch yourself thinking that you could get used to this.

sprint race means reverse starting grid, which is good for paul but less fun for you. he starts from the first row, while you are back in tenth place. while paul in the front has a good start, you get stuck in traffic in the first corner, losing several positions in just a couple of seconds. it doesn't take long before you are half a lap behind the leading cars, still fighting for space but getting caught behind several cars.

just as you feel like the track is drying up and that you have a good opportunity to make some overtakes, the only thing that isn't allowed to happen happens.

coming up to eau rouge, two cars a bit ahead of you have made contact, but you are unaware as you speed up the hill. from out of nowhere, a car hits your side, sending you flying into the wall.

paul hears the call about a crash over the radio instantly, but he doesn't think of it too much at first. he's waiting to hear about a safety car coming out when his engineer instead tells him that there's a red flag and that he must go back to the pits immediately.

paul realizes that it's worse than he expected and he instantly wonders about who could be involved in the crash. he isn't surprised when he rolls up to the famous corner and sees the random car parts on the ground – but his jaw drops when he sees the car that has crashed into the wall.

a horrible feeling spreads in his gut when he sees the red prema car with your number on it. out of all people, did it have to be you? "is she okay?" he asks over the radio, slowing down as he goes up the hill. when he doesn't get an answer, he repeats himself, his voice louder and more stern. "is she okay?!"

there's another pause on the radio, before someone answers him. "we're not sure, paul."

something in his body pulls him to do something he has never done before. he pulls his car over to the side before his shaky hands unbuckle his belt and take off his steering wheel. he can hear several staff members tell him over the radio that he shouldn't do what he's about to do, it's dangerous, he can-

he unplugs his earphones and jumps out of the car, sprinting over to you. he doesn't care if it's dangerous; he needs to make sure you're alright.

he doesn't really understand why he cares so much. maybe something happened in him when he heard you talk yesterday about your father; maybe he's just terrified because he doesn't want you to go meet the same fate.

when he reaches you, he crouches down to your level. "hey, are you okay?"

the impact of crashing into the wall in such high speeds made you hit your head on the side of the car. your entire field of vision is spinning, and you can't even comprehend who the person standing by your car is. in just a moment, everything turns black. your head slams forward onto your steering wheel as you pass out, and paul too feels like the world is crashing as he watches you.

he stands up again, waving for the marshals and medics to hurry up. he doesn't care that all of the prema staff will be furious with him for not following their orders, he doesn't care if it's dangerous for him to stay where he is. he only cares about you getting the help you need,

but he has no idea why.

the race never resumed after your crash, both because of how shaken up everyone got after seeing you get transported away in the ambulance, and because the cleaning of the track took too long and almost even delayed the f1 sprint shootout.

paul and dino spend the rest of the day in your and paul's room, mostly sitting in silence and just waiting to get a message about how you're doing. they don't eat and they don't watch any of the other races of the day as they're both worried sick, only thinking about you.

dino's phone eventually flashes up with a call from his manager, letting the boys know that you've been lucky and thankfully only suffered a minor concussion. the message doesn't exactly throw away all of their worries, but it does make them calm enough to leave the room and have dinner with the team.

it's late when you come back to your room. when you arrive, you merely greet paul before instantly popping into the bathroom to brush your teeth. when you're done, paul is sitting on his side of the bed, staring into his phone.

there are a couple of silent moments before he speaks up, eyes still glued to the screen of his phone. "i'm glad you're okay. i saw the replay, it could've been a lot worse..." you sit down on your side of the bed, not sure what to say. me too? i'm so lucky? thank you for letting me know that it could've been worse? "well, either way, i'm glad i have one less opponent to overtake tomorrow."

you frown, shaking your head. "...i'm not skipping the race, paul."

his eyes dart over to you, eyebrows raised. "what?"

"i'm starting in p3, and i need points for the championship." you place your phone on the bedside table, turning off your lamp. "i'll take some painkillers and i should be fine."

"did the team say they agreed to that?"

you groan. "i told them that i'll be driving and that they can't do anything to stop me." paul is speechless – you have just been in a massive crash on one of the most dangerous circuits in the world, and you were still going to race the next day? "so now, if you'll excuse me," you laid down, turning to face the wall and pulling your duvet over your body. "i think my head needs some rest."

you want to make it seem like his questions bother you, like you want him to stop talking to you because he's just that annoying. but in reality, you want him to stop because his caring words are making you feel something you never thought you would feel for him.

do you actually... like it? do you like the way he is worried for you? do you like the way he looked at you, his eyes filled with concern when he thought about you injuring yourself even more?

did you like him?

even though it's late, paul can't fall asleep. he still feels unwell about the whole situation. it bothers him, and there's something inside him regretting that he wasn't able to express himself properly before.

after turning around in bed for what feels like forever, he calls out your name. "are you awake?"

when there's no answer from you, he lets out a sigh of relief.

"okay, good." his voice is low, careful not to wake you up, but you can still clearly make out his words. "i just need to say that... i'm really thankful that you're okay. that crash was awful, and..." paul pauses for a few moments. "when you passed out, i swear i have never been as scared. not even when i have crashed."

you're not sure why you aren't saying anything. something inside you tells you that you should hear him out, and that interrupting him now will stop him from saying the things he needs to get out.

"and especially after the things you told me yesterday, about your dad... i didn't want you to face the same fate."

paul lets out a loud sigh, and it's followed by a small chuckle.

"this is so weird. i don't understand why i care so much. we're enemies, but..." you hear him shuffle a little from his side of the bed as you wait for him to continue speaking.

never, not even in your wildest dreams, could you have guessed what he would say next.

"i think i like you."

your breath hitches at his words but you try your best to act natural and pretend like you're sleeping. revealing now that you've been listening all along would not be ideal.

"i mean, i don't just think so. i'm pretty sure. but you hate me, so..."

paul is quiet for a long time and you assume he's done with his rant, so his voice startles you when he speaks again.

"i don't know. i think i'm done." then, he lowers his voice even further, a bare whisper leaving his lips; "sweet dreams."

paul falls asleep soon after his confession, having gotten everything off his chest. but now, it’s your turn to stay sleepless.

when your alarm goes off in the morning, it feels like your head is about to explode. having to be at the track at six in the morning means waking up even earlier, which always feels like it should be illegal. but today, it was even worse than usual.

maybe you'd underestimated this concussion and how it would affect your day.

but this weekend is the second to last round in the f3 championship, so the points are important. you'll have to at least try and do your best.

you know you won't be able to say anything to the staff members, because as soon as they hear even the slightest sign of doubt from you, they'll prohibit you from racing. they do want your best, after all. so you take several pain killers straight after waking up and put on your best possible smile when having breakfast in the hotel.

paul doesn't speak to you all morning; he seems tense and somewhat distracted, just like the last couple of days. though, now you feel like you understand why. you don't exactly feel relaxed yourself, constantly being reminded of his late-night confession and your sudden realization of your own feelings. it's almost like you see him in a new light; when he's chatting away with dino at breakfast, you don't find him annoying for occupying your friend's attention like you usually would; when you're forced to sit next to him in the shuttle to the track, you find yourself enjoying the way his broad shoulders graze against yours every once in a while; and when he does his warmups for the race, you find it hard to take your eyes off him because his white fireproof shirt makes you feel things you didn't know you could feel for him.

you take one last painkiller as you stand in the truck, moments before you're supposed to get into your car. you're all alone, taking a couple deep breaths to try and forget everything about yesterday, and everything about paul, so that you can concentrate fully on the race. that's why you're startled when a hand lands on your shoulder – but when you turn your head and see that the hand belongs to paul who's standing behind you, you get surprisingly calm. "how's the head?"

"it's better," you answer. it's not a full lie; it is better than when you woke up. he doesn't need to know that it's not as good as it should be.

paul nods, walking past you to his bag in a corner of the truck. you're standing in silence for a few moments as he rummages through his bag, not sure what to say. "you know you still have time to change your mind, right?" he pulls out his headphones, standing up properly. "no one will be mad if you say you can't race."

"i know." when his eyes meet yours, it feels different. closer, more intimate, more personal than ever before. you wonder if he can feel it too. "thank you."

and then another thing happens for the first time ever.

he smiles at you.

it's not a forced smile like the ones he could sometimes give you in prema videos or after a race, and it's not a gloating one like the ones he would show off after overtaking you in the last corner of a race. no, this is a real smile.

and you smile back. "good luck out there," you say.

"you too."

surprisingly enough, you're the only one in the top ten who starts with wet tyres on your car. the track still is very wet and the sky is covered in dark clouds, so while it currently isn't raining, it still feels like a given to you that the wet tyres are the best choice.

dino is starting on slicks – you're not sure why – but back in eleventh place, paul is starting on the wets just like you. as you'd hoped, the wets are the best tyre for the conditions, and you soar past the two people starting in front of you in the first corner. it doesn't take long before paul comes up behind you, having passed nine cars in just the first parts of the race. the other cars on wets overtake all cars starting on slicks too, but you and aron have no problem fighting them off for the rest of the race.

when the two of you pull into the pitlane along with taylor barnard who took the last spot on the podium, you let out a sigh of relief. you had been scared, both before and during the race, that something else would happen. driving on a wet track is never easy, and another shunt could've made your head trauma much worse. you're thankful for an easy race – and especially thankful that paul is there to share the podium with you.

instantly after getting out of your car, you pull off your helmet and jog off to celebrate with your team. when you've hugged and shook hands with everyone and you make your way over to check your weight, you find that paul is already standing on the scale. when he gets off it, he turns to you instinctively. his blonde curls stick slightly to his sweaty forehead before he pulls a hand through them, standing still and just looking at you.

paul is so genuinely happy for you; after the day you had yesterday, and the things you told him the day before, you really deserve this win. the joy practically radiates from him, his smile bigger and more pure than ever.

you can't exactly contain your happiness either, which explains why you crash into him, engulfing him in a big hug. your emotions are all over the place, so happy for the race and still thinking of his confession last night, and you just want to hold him in your arms forever.

paul is used to the regular handshake and nod after a race, so he is surprised that you're embracing him all of the sudden. "what are you doing?" he asks as confusion takes over his face, but he's at the same time beginning to blush at the feeling of your arms around him.

you pull away slightly, your arms still holding onto his shoulders. you can't hold back now. "i heard you," you whisper. "last night." his expression morphs into one of horror, and he's about to explain himself when you cut him off. "don't worry, i feel the same way."

he just blinks at you for a few moments, before he drapes his arms around you, holding you close. a laughter erupts from his chest and you grin at the feeling of his chest vibrating against yours.

this is the first time you've ever actually hugged him – but you hope there will be many more hugs to come.

having someone you like instead of hate with you on the podium is a new feeling to you. there's something about the little glances you steal of each other, the shared smiles as you get your trophies, and the way both of you completely drench the other in champagne; it's a feeling neither of you will forget.

paul even enjoys the sound of your national anthem for the first time.

as soon as you possibly can, when you are both done with your interviews and whatnot, you try to find a place where you can be alone and talk. thankfully, the prema truck is empty as all other staff members and drivers are watching or working at the f2 race. paul pulls the door open for you, watching with a smile as you bow gratefully before stepping inside. "well..." he says, closing the door behind him.

"well..." you set your trophy down on a counter, seeing from the corner of your eye how paul does the same with his own trophy next to you. "do you want to... say something?"

you can practically feel his eyes falling on you, but yours are fixed on the trophy in front of you. not because it's so beautiful, but because you don't dare look at the other beautiful thing in the room. you've never felt shy around paul before; you've never been scared to talk in front of him, look at him, or just be near him. but now, even the thought of him being next to you makes you a bit nervous.

"why didn't you say anything?" paul asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans on the counter. "last night?"

you take a deep breath. "i don't know, i didn't want to interrupt you." you close your eyes, shaking your head slightly. "it's just all so new to me. these feelings i have for you..." you pause, trying to come up with something to say about what you feel for him, but your mind is blank. "i mean, just a year ago, we would make each other crash into a wall during races because we hated each other so much, and–"

"do you still hate me?"

you instantly turn your head towards him. "no! no, of course not." when your eyes meet his, you find the thought of ever hating him ridiculous. it's like you're reminded of the paul you've gotten to know these last few days. the paul who is not only freakishly handsome and a great driver, but also sweet, kind, caring. the paul you've found yourself thinking about so many times every day, the paul you really like.

"does that mean that you like me?"

no matter how hard he tries to push it away, a grin is forming on his lips. the grin only grows when you answer his question. "yeah. it does. i like you."

"good." paul takes a step closer to you, letting his fingers brush away a few stray hair from your face. "because i like you too."

your cheeks redden from the sensation of his fingers against your skin, and the combination of his soft gaze and his genuine smile could make you melt on the spot. you blink up at him, thinking of what to say, when he speaks again.

"can i kiss you?"

you nod before you can even register your own actions, and paul's hand smooths over your cheek again before landing right below your jaw. he pulls your face closer, stopping just a centimeter away for a moment before he leans in to close the distance.

it's delicate, gentle, and so tender. the feathery kisses he's giving you make you grow weak in your knees, but all the nervousness you felt before is flushed away in a millisecond. your hands come up to wrap around his neck to keep you steady as you tilt your head, moving your lips along with his. it feels so right, kissing your ex-enemy like this, yet it was so unthinkable just days before.

just when paul is about to deepen the kiss, you hear a sound from behind you; the door is opening and in comes dino, calling out your names. "are you in here?"

you pull apart quickly, both scrambling to look as natural and as far away as you can in just a second. dino senses what's up – how can he not, when you're basically attached by your lips when he walks in? – but he decides not to push it. he'd rather keep quiet and bring it up another time, when he has a better opportunity to tease you both.

"there you are!" he beams, waving for you both to come with him. "the race is about to start, let's go and watch it."

if your cheeks had been red before, they are now burning like never before. you hide your face in your hands, groaning at the thought of dino seeing his teammates lip-locked. paul lets out a chuckle at the sight, draping an arm around your shoulders as he leads you towards the door with him. "it's fine, he didn't see anything." he presses a short peck to your temple before letting go of you as you exit the truck. "i think."

dino has already gotten a good head start towards the track, and paul is just about to jog after him when you turn to him, pressing your finger to his chest. "just one thing," you start, and he raises his eyebrows at you. "i hope you understand that this," you point at yourself and then at him, and then at yourself again. "doesn't mean i'll be nicer to you when we race. i'm still going to crush you in every race."

paul throws his head back as he lets out a hearty laugh. "oh, i'd love to see you try."

#paul aron #f1 #f2 #f3 #formula three #formula 3 #prema #paul aron fluff #paul aron fic #paul aron fanfic #paul aron x reader #paul aron x you #paul aron x yn #paul aron x y/n #paul aron blurb #paul aron drabble #f3 fluff #f3 x reader #f3 fanfic #paul aron imagine #f3 imagine

[yuki-tsunodas]

The Player's Tribune: I will never forget the tears I shed that day

Article published 25 March 2021, originally written by Yuki Tsunoda in Japanese.

I translated the article with help from Google Translate and Naver Translator + my own interpretations of their rubbish translating, so apologies in advance for any mistakes! Anything I had trouble translating will be bolded with a (?) next to it!!

　I think that was the last time I cried in frustration, in regret.

　Four years ago, I was only 16 years old and was a student at Suzuka Circuit Racing School. It was the final selection to join Honda's Driver Development Program. If I pass, I can run in Japanese F4 the following year, but if I failed...I was thinking of quitting racing at that time.

　Now, I'm standing at the entrance of the stage called F1. Looking back, that was the turning point of my life.

　Of course, I didn't know if I would pass that year's trial because there were not only those who had already run in F4 but also some drivers who had come back from overseas.

　However, I've been racing in karts since I was four years old, and I've been doing well. That year, I was the youngest ever podium finisher in my debut race in the Japanese F4 championship, which allowed me to participate in the spot (?) race, and won the Super FJ Japan's first championship. At the selection test, there were good results until the final round of selection, and I was in a position to compete for first and second place overall. So I thought I could afford to make a big mistake in the final selection, and I was confident that I would still be in the top two in the end.

　I am a strong driver. But if you can't get results here or if you can't fascinate the judges with your running, it's already known (?). So I was prepared to give up my racing career if it didn't work. I think there were many other routes to go, such as running in other training programs or non-formal races, but I don't like it when it's not the direction I want to go. I decided to live a different life rather than to do it half-heartedly.

　However, the worst result awaited. At that time, I was very weak mentally and, of all things, it showed in the final round. Even before the race, I found myself tense and stiff. My fingertips were also stiff. I was not my usual self. I started like that, but suddenly I was flying...I had to drive through the pitlane and then rejoin the course. I felt like I was running alone, far away from the previous group. I felt sorry for myself, and I didn't even feel like running anymore. As a result, the points in that race were almost zero, and Tsunoda lost in the final round.

　I was so frustrated that tears welled up naturally on the train home. It was the first time since I started racing in earnest. I was the youngest among the participants, but I was shocked because I was confident that I wouldn't lose, and I couldn't imagine anything even if I tried to think about the future. I still remember clearly that I was so depressed that I didn't even want to see my parents on my way home from the Shinkansen.

　But there was only one faint hope. That was what the then Honda F4 coach said in an interview after the screening.

　"As a training driver for Honda, you will not be able to participate in the race next year, since the Formula 4 Honda has four cars. Maybe I can put you in one of the remaining two cars running as Suzuka Racing School."

　That was because former Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima recommended me. Mr. Nakajima was the principal of the school at that time, and at the time of the final selection, he was watching us run in the final chicane.

　I was given a penalty at the start, and I was racing without emotion, but I was running hard so that I wouldn't regret it. Through the visor, I saw Satoshi Nakajima standing in the final corner. I didn't want to show Mr. Nakajima a careless run. It was a hopeless ranking, but I thought I should not give up until the end and keep running toward the group in front of me. Then the road opened.

　In 2017, Suzuka Racing decided to enter me into F4 instead of making me a training driver. Then, I suddenly ranked 3rd overall in the annual overall ranking, and the following year in 2018, I was selected as a Honda Formula Dream Project driver, and was able to become the champion.

　It's all because I was frustrated at that final selection.

　The most unusual thing is that I think it's mental. Until I had a setback, I had a feeling that I would do well until the end without doing anything. I knew I wasn't good at starting even though I failed in the previous round, and I had time to practice before that, but I didn't. There was something sweet about overconfidence. And at that time, I was afraid of making mistakes, so I didn't know how to grow up.

　After failing the selection, I realized that I was still not perfect and that I had to be faster. I realized that it is important to make a lot of mistakes without fear of making mistakes, and to make new discoveries and grow from there. Therefore, I didn't feel impatient when I didn't get points as I wanted in the early part of the F3 and F2 seasons last year after I went abroad. Rather, there was no hesitation in the process of making a lot of mistakes first and learning a lot from them.

　Takuma Sato, a former Formula One driver, now driving in Indycar, is famous for saying, "No attack, no chance," but I think that's exactly right. If you don't try beyond the limits of any sport, you won't find the future, and if you don't try, you'll stop there. Therefore, even if there are times when I make mistakes or get no results, I don't feel strangely distressed. Even if you make a mistake, it's up to you to take it. Mistakes make me want to investigate the cause. If you think that you can overcome it, you can be faster than if you regret the mistake, and you can always face it positively.

　Now that I can race in F1, I feel grateful to my parents. I've liked to move since I was a child, and I played swimming, soccer, mountain biking, and also, not sports, but piano. Now that I think about it, I feel that my father and mother were letting me do what I was interested in. And the reason why I started driving karts was also influenced by my father. My father liked motorsports and played gym carna himself. One day, at the circuit venue I was taken to, I was allowed to drive a real cart. That was the first time. Actually, I also experienced a pocket bike at that time, but after trying two, I said, "The kart is more fun." I don't really remember at all (lol).

　But there were times I got sick of karts...

　For example, when I was about seven years old. When I was playing a game while waiting at the track, my father told me to "focus more on the race," and my game was taken away, and I felt like, "I don't like it anymore." Then my father became getting tougher and tougher on me to improve me, and he scolded me for many things. To be honest, I didn't really appreciate my father until I was 15, and there was a time when I hated him. 'This is "The Rebellion Period".' I think I was in the middle of it.

　Not only my father but also my mother was strict in terms of academic matters. I was always told to study in case I didn't succeed in motorsports. My junior high school was not a public school (?), so after the race, I would go home on the day, get ready for school, go to school, study, and take the test. To be honest, it was hard and I never liked it, but I continued to study anyway.

　At that time, I couldn't thank my parents, but now I have the opposite feelings. I think I am what I am now thanks to their harshness, scolding, and teaching me a lot of things back then. Thank you so much.

　I didn't expect to be able to get to F1 this quickly. Not only are there few Japanese drivers, but they are also those taking the shorter route compared to foreign drivers.

　When I first went to see F1 at Fuji Speedway at the age of seven, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were running. At that time, I wasn't longing for it, but I thought "I wanted to race with drivers like this someday", and those feelings are still the same. Hamilton is already a legend, and it's an honor to run with him, but when I get on the circuit, both Hamilton and Alonso are just drivers. Think of them as enemies.

　It's the same for Max Verstappen, who I think is the fastest and strongest opponent in Formula One, and Pierre Gasly, who's my teammate in Alpha Tauri. I want to know as soon as possible how well I can handle Verstappen and how well I can compete. Gasly was active in Japan's top-category, Super Formula, when I was running in Japanese F4, and I hope I can learn a lot of things from him, but I think he's also my biggest rival that I have to beat someday because we're in the same machine.

　'In the world of F1, "speed" is ultimately required.' No matter how fast you say you are, if you show off your speed, you can make an impact, and if you have speed, you can get back in front in the second half even if you were overtaken or separated from the pack in the beginning of the race. However, it is actually the most difficult to show "speed" in a situation like this. My biggest strength is speed, so in addition to that, I want to learn more of what I lack.

　Come to think of it, at an online conference held this off-season, my goal came out big like, "I'll be a Formula One champion more than seven times, the most ever tied," but that's not what I meant.

　I haven't done a single race in Formula One yet, so I can't say that (bitter smile).

　What I'm thinking about right now is to give the best performance I have in the first race, and to get as many points as possible throughout the season. Just like F2, even if you go up to F1, you will make a lot of mistakes from the beginning to the middle of the season, but I want to learn a lot by making new discoveries there. After saying such a thing at the press conference, there was a question like, "What is Tsunoda's ambition?" So I replied, "Maybe I'll win the championship seven times like Lewis Hamilton?" which became a big headline.To be exact, I really want to concentrate on everything in front of me now, and I hope that my ambition will come true as a result of that accumulated effort.

　What kind of scene will I see in the future? I want to improve my ability and become a race driver representing the F1 world, and I think it will be a different pressure and motivation, so the expectations of the fans may be even higher.

　That's why I want to never forget how I felt when I drove in Formula One for the first time in 2021. I want to cherish the current feelings of a rookie and continue to make mistakes to my heart's content, learn a lot from them, and enjoy them.

　I don't think I'll shed tears like I did four years ago in the final selection. I will never forget the tears I shed that day. But if I were to cry from now on, what kind of tears would I have...?

　I think it's realistic to say when I first win the championship. It's very difficult to get to Formula One, but it's going to be a tough road ahead. It's really hard to win, so if I'm going to shed tears, it's probably not "regretful tears" but "happy tears".

#yuki tsunoda #f1 #well this was a pain to translate #but it was a very nice read :D #mine

[trashforhockeyguys]

Don’t Hold Me -6- Carter Hart

A/N: Hey guys, I’m still alive lol. AND DHM IS FINALLY BACK!!! Buckle up my loves, things are finally starting to happen. I’m super excited for where this story is going, and I can’t wait for yall to see it all unfold! 

As always, all previous parts are linked in my master list!

"Y/N, can I move yet?” Nolan asked you. 

“Hang on,” You started to chew on your lip as you continued to draw, “Move your head a little to the right? Yeah! Like that, the shadows are good like that.”

“Sorry Patty, I offered to be a nude model or whatever.”

“Travis shut up. No one wants to see that.”

Travis laughed from the kitchen. For one of your classes, you had to draw a portrait of someone, unfortunately for Nolan, he’d volunteered to sit for one. Although, you knew he didn’t exactly think that this was going to take this long. He thought it would take a few minutes at most, not over an hour.

“Nolan stop laughing! I’m almost done.”

You didn’t even notice that someone else had walked in until a cup of coffee from your favorite place down the road was put in front of you. You didn’t look over your shoulder, you already knew who it was, but you couldn’t help the simple smile that crept across your face. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but it was there. 

“Thank you.”

“Woah, she actually said two words to him,” Nolan said in sheer surprise. 

“And they were nice!” Travis added. 

“Shut up. Nolan I swear to god if you move one more time I will beat you with a stick.”

“That looks really good,” Carter said from behind you, ignoring what his teammates were saying. 

You hummed and began to drag your pencil across the page again. You tried not to think about the fact that he was still standing behind you, close enough that you could feel his presence. A small part of your brain started to wonder what it would be like if he just wrapped his arms around you. You almost wanted it. 

You tried to snap yourself out of it. But the longer he was there, the more you wanted to just be closer to him. You had no idea what was going on. This wasn’t like you. You didn’t do things like this. You didn’t need anyone else. 

“For your class?” Carter asked. 

“Yeah. Nolan was a better choice than Travis. At least he can sit still for more than five minutes, and be quiet.”

“Rude,” Travis mumbled.

Your body seemed to almost tingle from how close Carter was to you. You weren’t sure what was happening. You didn't do things like this. You could control everything. But this, this didn’t feel like something you could control. Your body seemed to be taking over from your head.  You didn’t know how to handle this anymore. Everything seemed to be cloudy and unclear now. 

You cleared your throat, “Yeah, okay, done.”

“Yeah? I can eat now?” Nolan asked. 

You weren’t done. You were far from done, but you needed to put space between you and Carter before you did something potentially stupid. All you could think of was getting his arms around you. You wanted to be close to him in a way that you knew was an awful idea. 

“Yeah, go do whatever Nols, I can do the finishing touches without you modeling for me,” You laughed, trying to sound normal again. 

He nodded and moved on. You wanted to go hide now. You wanted to get away from Carter. The buzzing tingly feeling was spreading throughout my whole body. You had no idea what was really going on. All you knew was that you were starting to feel things for Carter that you shouldn’t feel. 

Everything seemed to be blurred now. There were lines you weren’t meant to cross, you knew that, but where were they? What fell into the category of things not to do? Because strangely enough, all you wanted to do now was let yourself sink into Carter’s arms, and just stay there for the rest of the day, and that’s something you absolutely couldn’t do.  

You didn’t want to leave the boys behind, but you also knew that you needed to get some air before your body took over and made you do something you knew would lead to some serious trouble.

“I’m going to go get some food, does anyone want anything?”

“Just sit your little ass down, I’ll make lunch,” Travis told me, pointing to the couch. 

You huffed and plopped back down onto the couch.  Carter was on the other end. Too close for comfort, or maybe not close enough for your body to be comfortable. You couldn’t understand what was going on, how your body was reacting to this. You weren’t meant to like Carter Hart. You’d sworn off hockey players after the last time, that didn’t mean you could just drop everything for Carter. You wouldn’t drop everything for him. You’d figure out how to get yourself to stop feeling whatever you were feeling for him. You weren’t going to do this again. 

“When do you leave for that road trip?”

“Day after tomorrow,” Nolan replied, “We’ll try not to let you get beat to hell, Carter.”

You tried to laugh with them. But the idea of any of them potentially getting hurt made your stomach twist. You hated when they went on road trips because it meant that something might happen and you wouldn’t be there. You weren’t their protector, you knew that. But them being gone also meant they wouldn’t be here for you, should you need them.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Travis said, “We’ll be back before you know it.”

You forced a smile, “Maybe that’s what I’m worried about..”

“Liar,” Travis smiled sadly at you and pulled you in for a hug.

What you didn’t notice was how Carter was looking at you. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he should heed TK’s warning and stay away from you, all for your sake. But you had a way of drawing him in, and making him want to know more about you. He wanted to be a part of the close inner circle you’d built with TK and Patty. He couldn’t explain it, he had girls throwing themselves at him all of the time, but for some reason he wanted you. 

The shy girl who hid under baggy sweatshirts and didn’t seem to notice how amazing you could truly be. Everytime he was near you he thought about the night he had to bring you back to his apartment after that stupid party. 

You’d started screaming and crying in your sleep. He’d never tell you that, but he didn’t sleep on the floor of his bedroom because you were getting sick all night. It was because something was haunting you, causing you to wake up screaming. It’d scared the shit out of him. 

He’d automatically called TK and begged him to tell him what to do, or tell him what happened. But TK was quick to tell him that it was your story to share, and if you ever wanted Carter to know, you’d tell him. But that didn’t stop Carter from constantly worrying about the girl in front of him.

“You said you were going to make food,” You mumbled, poking Travis’s stomach. 

“So needy.”

“You’re the one who decided to call me when I moved here,” You pointed out, “Brought this on yourself.”

“Fine,” Travis sighed dramatically, “What do you guys want?”

“Pasta!” You were quick to say, “A big heaping plate of that buttered garlic pasta you make.”

Travis smacked Nolan on his way over to the kitchen, telling him that he needed help. That left you and Carter all alone. You felt uncomfortable, because you didn’t know what to do. You weren’t sure how you were meant to even talk to him. 

Everything just seemed too strange to you now.

“So, how’re classes going?” Carter asked you. 

You shrugged and brought your knees up to your chest, “They’re alright. I’ll be happy when the break rolls around.”

He laughed, “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the All Star break.”

You nodded. Travis and Nolan talked about how wonderful breaks were all the time. Their schedule was more than grueling, so you knew time off was more than precious for them. If they didn’t go off somewhere tropical to just relax, it was rare that they’d even leave their rooms. 

Even in lower level juniors, your brother always treasured whatever time off he could get. Some of the things all of you would do during breaks were honestly astounding, and probably borderline illegal, but that was years ago.

“I’m sure.”

“You don’t really like hockey, do you?” He suddenly asked you. 

“What? No! I love it.”

“Really? Sorry, you just don’t seem like it.”

You swallowed and tried to plan your reply, “No, I love it. I’ve grown up on it. It’s just my relationship with hockey is…..complicated.”

You felt like you might throw up. Having to explain it felt different. You could watch games just fine now, not that you always liked to watch in person, but you could watch them. You could talk about them, and give Travis shit for hours about things he’d done. But having to explain your reasonings for being why you were the way that you were...it seemed impossible. 

He already saw you differently, you could tell by the way he looked at you. You were sure that he saw you as someone wounded and broken. You didn’t want him to have another reason to see you differently. Carter was one of the few people that didn’t know, and he didn’t need to know. You could keep him in the dark, you would keep him in the dark. 

“I love hockey,” You said again, “I wouldn’t know Travis without it. I love hockey.”

“Okay,” His voice was calm, like he was trying to calm you, “Okay. I’m sorry I asked.”

You tried to blink away the burning feeling in your eyes. You weren’t going to cry. You weren’t going to show how much pain that simple question brought on. Your stomach churned and you couldn’t do a thing to stop it. 

“I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a minute.”

However, rather than going to the hall bathroom, like you normally would. You quickly made your way back into Travis’s bathroom, far enough away from the living room that you wouldn’t be heard. Especially over the sound of Travis and Nolan in the kitchen, and the music they’d put on. 

Without having a chance to try to stop it, you hunched over the toilet and threw up. You were shaking and crying. A simple question, one that no one else would’ve thought twice about. Any normal person would have a smile yes or no answer. You couldn’t answer simply though. Not without opening a door to something you liked to keep locked away.

You loved hockey….you just didn’t love what hockey had done to you.

#carter hart imagine #carter hart imagines #carter hart fanfic #carter hart fanfiction #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl fanfic #nhl fanfiction #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #hockey fanfic #hockey fan fiction #hockey fanfiction #flyers imagines #flyers fanfic #flyers fanfiction #flyers imagine #nicolewritesthings

[maranello]

If all f1 contracts were to end tomorrow and you could build a new grid for 2022 where money wasn’t an object and there are no constraints on which drivers could go to each team (alpha tauri isn’t junior Red Bull, teams with Ferrari engines don’t need a Ferrari driver etc), what would your grid look like?

this is where I admit I have not yet known enough drivers to give a good answer, so take this as a half-crack and half-serious answer:

Nico Rosberg back in the Mercedes- [sniped, presumably by Lewis Hamilton himself]

idk how but maybe bring back Daniil Kyvat and/or Alex Albon? I just think they’re neat.

I still would like to see Callum Ilott in an Alfa Romeo, I just think he looks neat in those colors + I want to see what he can do with an F1 seat

I’d still keep Mick in the Haas if it was comparable to the old Haas before it became a backmarker fjkgg. I think he’d do well with a few years of cutting his teeth in a midfield team before moving up. Otherwise, Mick to Alfa Romeo because Fred Vasseur is good at developing young drivers/future champions (I think?)

Ngl, I would like to see a Lando and George pairing in the McLaren. I want to hear what the British commentators (derogatory) would say when you pit these two together in the same team, and also I think it would be a great opportunity for George to show what he can do in a strong midfield team and prove that he deserves a higher seat. 

Charles stays in Ferrari because I cannot physically imagine a better match of driver and team in terms of vibe. They are both insane/stupid, chaotic, narratively important, somewhat downright mythical, and exude feral bastard energy. 

Carlos has so far proven to be a good fit as a Ferrari teammate to Charles, but otherwise, I am saying that I would love to see an Italian (Antonio Giovanazzi) in a Ferrari again :3 (Also, two FDA boys in the Ferrari.......)

I would like to see Guanyu in a seat. Maybe Alpine, maybe Williams. He’s leading the F2 championship rn and it would mean a lot to me to see a Chinese-speaking F1 driver even if I ideologically disagree with China 💔

Unlikely scenario but like imagining Daniel Riccardo and Oscar Piastri in the same team makes me happy so...yeah :’)

Likely an unpopular opinion, but I want Yuki to stay in F1. I think maybe he got promoted a bit early, but one more year to develop on all levels would be good to see what kind of driver he really could be in F1 imo and...I just would like to a see a Japanese driver be able to make it? You see a lot of them in junior categories, but idk why they just seem to have a hard time actually moving up to F1....

Pierre to Mercedes intrigues me. I would like to see it. 

Okay, that’s enough thinking from me I have no idea how to arrange a grid

#maranello.ask #anon #thanks for stopping by! #i'm not really thinking! #my brain!

[drethanramslay]

A funny thing called Fate: Chapter 1

Pairing: Bryce X MC (Aisha Khurrana)

Word count: 2.6K words

Series Masterlist 

Masterlist

Warning: None really, just some cursing

Author's note: Hello!! I am back with the first chapter of "A funny thing called Fate" and this time this is in Bryce's POV

Like I said last time, there would be time jumps so you will be seeing both- 16 year old Bryce and present day Bryce

Just a word of caution, 16 year old Bryce (according to me) is your typical bad boy who is a jerk and upholds his reputation and prestige as the most important priorities

I decided to take part in @choicesseptemberchallenge20​ the prompt being- LOST

Also decided to take part in @choicesweeklychallenge​ the prompt being "I just... don't know. Honestly."

Both of them will be in bold

TERMS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

-> kanilehua: Motherfucker (I literally googled curse words in Hawaiian language so please forgive me if they are wrong 🤧)

-> okole: Butt/ Ass

-> budhiya: old woman in Hindi

Forgive me if I make any mistakes

10 years ago- Bryce's POV

"Aloha!!" Bryce's cheerful voice ran clear through the hallways as he approached his teammates, instantly capturing the attention of the people.

"Hey Bryce, my man." Jason, his best friend stepped forward and did a complicated handshake with him before patting his back.

"How was the summer?" Kai, his other best friend spoke up as he leaned against the lockers, his dark hair falling on his eyes.

"You know the usual. Practice and stuff. My parents did take us to Australia. The waves there are sweet." Bryce whistled lowly, remembering how he spent numerous days surfing at sea.

"What a lucky bastard. Do you think your parents would adopt me?" Jason asked causing Kai to chuckle.

At this point, they would want anyone but me as their son. A dark look passed on his face but he hid it behind the over cheerful and happy go lucky mask.

"So, what's up with you guys?!" He asked, smoothly changing the topic.

Jason began. "Well I for one, had a fun summer hanging out at the beach, enjoying the sun-"

"-having flings left, right, centre." Kai completed the sentence, snickering.

"As if you weren't the one who fooled around more. You broke so many hearts, Kai!!" Jason rolled his eyes.

"But I finally settled down, unlike your unsettled ass." Kai exclaimed.

"50 bucks you will break up with him in ten days." Kai narrowed his green eyes and smacked the back of Jason’s head. 

"Wow, seems like I have some catching up to do." Bryce smirked.

Kai turned towards Bryce, suddenly serious. "Glad you brought it up. We have a proposition for you."

Bryce incredulously raised his eyebrow.

"Your two o'clock. Short brunette with glasses. Don't be too obvious."

Bryce ran his hand through his long hair and his amber eyes fell on the girl.

He leaned against the locker near Jason.

"What's her deal?"

"Apparently, she joined the school last year and has been on the low. Keeps to herself, certified nerd, teacher's pet and super uptight."

Bryce eyed her and he recognized that she was in his chemistry class last year.

Aisha Khurrana.

"Wait... That's Aisha. She was in my chemistry class last year. Introverted and quiet."

Jason did a double-take. "Wait really? Well, that makes it easier for us."

"Good. I will make y'all talk to her-"

Kai stopped him midway. "Woah, woah, woah. We don't want to interact with her. You are the one doing this."

"Will one of you kanilehua tell me what the fuck is going on?" Bryce asked, getting annoyed.

"After the legendary prank Ano pulled last year, it's time we step up. So while you were tanning your okole in Australia, Jason and I were brainstorming to come up with a better idea."

Jason continued. "So we decided that you could get her fall in love with you before the finals and boom! We could pull the prank on prom."

Bryce's eyed widened. "Woah, don't you think that's extreme?"

Kai rolled his eyes. "Please, Ano humiliated a teacher and exposed that he was having an affair with a junior. I don't think it's that extreme."

"What is this prank you have planned on prom?"

Jason waved his hand. "We haven't worked out the details but we have the entire year to do that. You on the other hand... Are running out of time."

Bryce's eyebrows furrowed. "And why can't either of you take this up?"

"Because Kai here is surprisingly getting cosy with Kaeo the jock from Sunset High while I am on the principal's radar for the shit I did last year. I am this close to getting expelled." Jason enunciated his point by touching his pointer finger and thumb.

"Jas... you're touching your fingers."

"Exactly."  

"So will you take one for the team?”

Bryce sighed. "I just... don't know. Honestly." 

“Bro, this could literally make or break our popularity bro. You don't want to be the laughing stock of the school, do you?" They asked with puppy eyes.

The peer pressure and the need to uphold his reputation as the golden boy made him raise his hands in defeat. His eyes glanced at the losers down the hall, who people were blatantly ignoring.

Definitely don't want to fall in that category.

"Fine. I will do it. But you will owe me."

"That's our boy." The boys whooped as they clapped his back.

Bryce's eyes wandered to his new target, finding her brown eyes staring right back at him. The flecks of hazel shone with curiosity but her face was impassive as if she didn't want to let anyone in.

Well, this is going to be an interesting year, Aisha Khurrana. Bryce thought to himself.

PRESENT

When Bryce woke up this morning, he didn't think his day would turn out this way.

Who would have fucking thought that the one girl you could never get over shows up at the hospital you are a surgical intern at?

Not me.

He was looking forward to this fresh start. A new city where no one knew who he was and he hoped it stayed that way. To hone his craft and become one of the best surgeons in the country. Anything to get rid of the stains on his name.

After Aisha left at the beginning of Junior year of high school, things were hard. Not that anyone was going to believe him but he actually loved her and no matter how many people he hooked up with, no matter how much he drank himself to oblivion, there was just no getting over her.

He often wondered- no believed that he had lost his one shot at love.

You only get one great love and of course, I had to blow it up, and for what? Popularity? Reputation? That already went down the drain because of my beloved dad.

When he finally got his head in the game and things were bearable, the scandal happened towards the end of the Senior year. Sure, he could hide face during the summers, lounging in his gaudy compound. But he could hear the occasional shouts and protests out of the gates of his home, reminding him that he couldn't escape the truth.

To distract himself from his dad going to trial, his mom selling out to the feds and his baby sister crying from the stress, he dove right into his studies, hoping to score well in his SATs so that he could get away from Maui.

But there was still one year of high school left, and that was fucking awful. He was relentlessly bullied at every turn of the corridor, got the stink eye from the teachers and people jumped away from him as if he was a social pariah.

Technically, I was.  

Though his parents were very tight-lipped about the details of the case, it wasn't that hard to get to know more from the internet. And the fact that the people in his school always made it a point to remind him.

Aisha's dad was one of the people who worked for the company that got screwed over by his dad.

Bryce had given up after all these years that he will ever find her again. He often wondered what would he do if he were to meet her again. The apologies he would say and the monologue on how ‘he was never the same after she left’ had been practised over and over again.

But right there she was, half-naked in front of him, completely at the loss of words. His eyes wandered, making sure if it was the same girl from tenth grade. There was a nose piercing and he saw a little ink near a hip.

"Aisha?" He repeated, completely shocked, his jaw dropped. Never in his entire life has he felt the loss of words.

They stared into each other's eyes, chocolate brown eyes meeting his amber ones, completely lost.

But that moment didn't last for long because Jackie shutting the locker made them realize that this was indeed reality.

Aisha managed to snap out of her reverie. "Oh my fucking god, I don't have time for this shit." She rapidly threw on her fresh sets of scrubs and slammed her locker before making a move.

Bryce stepped in her path, blocking her. "What are you doing here?!"

Her eyes snapped up to meet his, the familiar fire and hatred flooding in those brown orbs. "Well, I could ask you the same thing Mr. I-will-become-a-lawyer. Now out of my way, I'm getting late for the orientation." Though she was short (5 feet 3 inches to be precise), she still managed to slam her shoulder against his chest and walk away.

"Oh My God!!" Jackie's voice resounded after a few quiet moments.

"Put a cap on it nose wipe." He muttered as he rubbed the area where Aisha slammed against him.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah but that expression says it all." He rolled his eyes as put his stethoscope into his breast pocket.

"But, for real. Who is she?" Jackie asked, inquisitiveness laced in her voice.

Bryce flicked her nose. "I found your nose in my business, why don't you take it right out?"

"Ugh. Fine. Keep your secrets. C'mon, let us get to the orientation before it gets over."

"Yap. Right behind you."  The duo headed towards the main atrium and made their way towards the front so that they could hear the hospital chief. The rest of the interns were already gathered in front of the stairs upon which an impressive, statuesque woman stood and spoke.

That is Dr Harper Emery!! Bryce thought to himself, as the very thought of standing in the very same room as his inspiration made him giddy. He turned to talk but the excitement instantly vanished because thanks to his amazing luck, he ended up standing right next to Aisha.

The universe, what games are you playing against me? Bryce let out a sigh which caught Aisha's attention. She just gave an annoying glance and stared up, as if to ask why was this happening to her.

Both of them turned away from each other and focused on what Dr Emery was saying. "... because as of today, you are no longer students, You are doctors."

Aisha turned towards Jackie and whispered. "Psst. Who is that?"

Jackie whipped her head towards Aisha's short build. "I don't know if you are joking or are serious."

Aisha's ears getting red was the only confirmation Jackie needed. Her jaw dropped and she was physically incapacitated, unable to speak before she finally managed to string together words.

"Seriously? Did you learn medicine in the woods or something?"

Aisha's eyes narrowed and Bryce just knew that if he didn't intervene Aisha would absolutely roast Jackie and her lineage.

So, in a low voice, he spoke up. "That's Harper Emery, the hospital's new chief." A smile made his way on his face as he continued to talk about her. "She's a total badass! World-famous head of neurosurgery before she got promoted."

He turned towards Jackie, smirking. "Guess she's just a scalpel jockey too, huh?"

Giving a Cheshire grin she responded. "She's the only scalpel jockey who deserves rights."

Aisha gave a stiff nod before turning back towards the Chief.

Someone is definitely a ray of sunshine. Bryce thought to himself. His conscience promptly snarked. Bold of you to assume that this isn't your fault.

Brain... Stop. as he shook his head to shake off the guilt that slowly swirled in his chest.

"More will be demanded of you that you've ever experienced. Some of you will buckle under the pressure. Some of you will quit. But some... some of you will thrive."

"Damn... She is so inspiring... I feel like I can do anything." Aisha whispered, her brown eyes sparkling with admiration.

"Well then, can I inspire you to pipe down? I'm trying to listen."

"Can I inspire you to get your ears checked, budhiya?" Jackie looked offended but you could see the glint of amusement and respect in her eyes.

"Girls, can this fight wait until after the speech?" Bryce muttered.

"This is not fighting. This is us bonding scalpel jockey. Get on the same page." Jackie whispered causing Aisha to smirk.

"I give up. But please for the love of everything good can we keep it on the low." He shot a pleading look and they managed to shut up.

"You've been entrusted with a sacred duty: the care and wellbeing of every man, woman and child who enters this hospital. Are you ready?"

The interns promptly burst into applause and they look around, sharing excited smiles with their new colleagues.

Harper Emery raised her hand, to silence the applause. "You'll be introduced to your senior residents tomorrow but for now, you'll be partnering up for your first patients. Your assignments are posted on the board. Good luck, doctors!!"

Bryce swaggered up to his board and searched for his name and found out that he was paired with a Samantha.

Wait for a second... that name sounds fami-

"You?" He swirled around towards the feminine sound and as soon as his eyes landed on her, the memories hit him.

Him running his hands through her hair whilst they kissed passionately against the door of her apartment. Her running her hands down his abs and pulling him by the loops of his belt. Both of them lost in the sensation of each other and Bryce still had the scratch marks on his back to remind him of the amazing night they had the previous day.

"Sam? I didn't know you worked here!!"

"Well fate is a funny thing, isn't it? So apparently we are partners?"

"Yap and we need to take our cases from the residents and be on our way. Are you ready?" Bryce asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

"I was born ready baby." Sam winked as she started pushing her way through the throng of interns and Bryce followed suit.

When they finally were free, Jackie showed up next to him followed by Aisha and another girl who had a striking resemblance to Chief Emery.

"See you later meathead."

"Try not to miss me too much." He winked before glancing towards Aisha. Their eyes met and she immediately looked the other way, chatting with her partner.

"It's a beautiful day to save lives. Let's have some fun, shall we?" Sam asked her eyes twinkling which just made Bryce smile.

-------------------------------------------------------------

It was going good so far. He had been allotted two cases that day. One with a routine appendectomy and the second one being a benign tumour removal from the right lung. With a cool, calm collected mind, the two of them diagnosed the patients, raising eyebrows.

"Dr Lahela, what is the treatment plan?" Dr Tanaka, the head of cardiovascular surgery asked.

"Well we are administering her with tumour shrinking drugs like bromocriptine so that we could decrease the size and then after a couple of days we will take her for surgery."

Dr Tanaka gave a nod of appreciation. Sam turned and held the young patient's hand. "Miss, you are in good hands and if you have any more questions you can always ask for us."

"Thank you so much, Dr Anderson."

They stepped out of the room and Bryce shut the door behind them.

"Keep an eye on her and do checks every four hours. Good job." Dr Tanaka turned on his heels and only when he was out of earshot Sam fist-bumped Bryce.

"The surgical society is back at it again."

"God Sam that was awful." He groaned as he pulled his pen out to sign the charts.

"Well, that just means I need to keep thinking of names for the dynamic duo. See you later byeee."

He shook his head and gave the charts to the nurses' station before whistling down the confusing corridors of Edenbrook when suddenly he heard a thud sound from the nearby supply closet.

Must be a doctor who is not having a good day.

He stopped before the door, contemplating whether he should enter or leave but his instinct to help overpowered and he cracked open the door to see Aisha leaning heavily against the racks, her back towards him. Her shoulders were shaking and he could hear her heavy breathing.

He was about to leave unnoticed when Aisha’s voice wafted over to him. “get in or get out. Don’t hold it open.” She glanced towards the door and Bryce knew that he could kiss his unnoticed exit goodbye.

Oh boy. 

Oh? so we have a new character 👀 And um that really wasn't the reunion Bryce was looking forward to lol

And now the supply closet yikes yikes yikes okay now i will shut up heheheh

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[acioo]

anybody who knows anything about me will be able to tell you i spend a bunch of my time ice skating & i’ve never seen a guide on how to write a character that figure skates , so i thought i’d compile some tips & explain things , because my whole childhood i was travelling across the country to spin on ice with nothing on but a leotard & some tights , and now i have nothing but a bunch of tacky costumes and this post to show for it . this is pretty in-depth , about 2.5k words , but if you have any questions about specific aspects or want me to clarify anything , feel free to shoot me an ask . oh & a like  or reblog if you found this helpful would be sweet ! tw : injury, mental illness, eating disorders

most people that wind up as figure skaters started ridiculously young. i was probably six, but at my rink, we train kids as young as four and five. if your character has competed professionally at a state-wide level or up, they most likely started super young and have been professionally trained. figure skating is not a sport that you can do casually, most of the time. ice skating, casually, however, totally different thing. but competitive figure skating, being on a figure skating team, and the like, it’s a lot of effort, time, and discipline. in a lot of families, it’s a tradition to teach your kids to ice skate. at my rink, there’s a lot of people who come from slavic families whose parents signed them up - or athlete parents in gen. so, if your character is SUPER GOOD, they’ve put hundreds of hours of work into it, and have years of practice. it is not something you can pick up in a day, and i’d even say you have to be at it for at least two years before you get good good, and it takes a while to even become comfortable on the ice before you can start to do any kind of trick - THAT is why they start young, so by the time we’re pre-teens, we’re really, really good. the problem happens, famously, at puberty, because your balance gets knocked off, your bones are growing, and you have to basically relearn everything you know.

there are so many different types of figure skating. i specialize in singles, but i’ve done showcase and solo dance ( but both of those skills are more for me to be a well-rounded skater, not for competing ), and would sometimes be put into pairs to help learn skills and work together. you NEED to be in one of these categories for competition because they are what all comps are based upon. singles is, as you think, one single ice skater individually doing their routine. singles will do various dances, jumps, spins, etc. i won't lie, it’s hard, and really, really competitive. singles is the most competitive of all these categories. it’s usually a short program ( jumping, spinning, steps - the easier portion of competition because it’s really just a routine that you need to get down pat so you can boost your score. you will learn to do it in your sleep. ) and then a free skate ( longer than the other, it’s more complicated and difficult ). pair skating is really, really difficult, tbh, and you need a good relationship with whoever you are doing it with because there’s a lot of trust involved. it’s hard to break into pair skating because you need a partner that you’re equal to in skill and you like as a person. you guys spend a lot of time together and you need to get along. you guys need to be equally proficient at ice skating. most pairs get put together when they’re still very young. it’s very difficult to from singles to becoming a pair skater. it’s two skaters and they skate around each other, they lift each other, and move in synchronized patterns. it’s highly technical, like all figure skating, but it is more difficult because you have to keep in mind both your own feet and someone else’s. you do NOT want to bump skates with someone. at best, that is very uncomfortable. at usual/worse, you’re both about to eat shit on ice. in pair skating the partner that lifts needs SO much strength. like, so much. i’ve tried to lift fellow skaters, who are the same weight as me, and it’s near fucking impossible for me. ice skates are HEAVY and skaters have a lot of lower body muscle. we are not light people. for example, once time my team and i were out of practice and just skating around and we started playing around and i did a cartwheel on ice and i fell very hard. wiped tf out. and that’s me, trying to handle my own weight. like singles, it’s a free skate and a short program. pair skating is typically male + female ( what a sad world, i know ), but i encourage every writer to take some suspending of reality. ice dance is, basically, dancing. it’s a lot more performative than other types of skating. it’s done in pairs, but can be performed alone, in a different category called solo dance. in the nicest way possible, singles/pair skaters usually look down a bit on ice dancers because it’s a bit less technical, and doesn’t have any jumps of lifts. but ! that doesn’t mean it’s easy because it’s not. it’s rooted in ballroom dancing and they have two parts of competition: rhythm dance and free dance. fun fact: pair ice dancers scott moir and tessa virtue, who are famous to be suspected dating, are the reason we had a no dating rule at the rink. showcase ice skating is usually for some kind of platform, or in front of a large crowd. i’ve done showcase for investors for our rink. there’s usually costumes involved ( there are costumes for all competitions, but their costumes are more, like, theatre - y ), and props, and acting. it’s actually very fun to watch, but you need acting skill. theatre on ice, however, is just what it sounds like. theatre on ice is popular with children and good for ways to show off an entire team of skaters, because you can have eight to thirty skaters on the ice. they can also compete and they can go international, but they aren’t in the olympics and there aren’t many competitions for them. it’s usually just a fun way to get together with your teammates, bond, and then show off what you did.

so, competitions. super complicated, and as a writer, i suggest really glossing over them, because it’s difficult to get it down completely right. there are nonqualifying and qualifying comps. the difference is that in qualifying competitions, you’re looking to start moving up, basically, so if you qualify in the first one, you go onto the next one, then state eventually, then national, and so on. you start with regionals ( singles ) /  sectionals ( pairs and ice dancers ). then, if you succeed, you go to sectional singles / pairs + ice dance finals. the goal is to get on the national team ( i’ve watched ameatur skaters tell other rinkmates they want to compete in the olympics - it was NOT pretty ), basically. which, let me say this. it is nowhere. near. easy. like, just go into youtube and search “ yuzuru hanyu “ ( gold medal in pyeongchang olympics for mens singles ) and watch ANY of his performances. now he’s the gold medalist, right. he started at four years old. so let’s go smaller. google elsa cheng and watch one of her routines. she’s a member of the us national figure skating team. she’s fifteen. YEAH. not an easy sport. nonqualifying is more laid back and for fun, or trophies. nonqualifying is also a way to practice before you enter into qualifying. competitions are really nerve-racking. it’ll cause stress between you and your rinkmates, because more often than not you’re going against one another. you and your coach will usually spend all the prep season creating your two programs, which you will almost always repeat in every single competition you attend. i have about 20 different routines stored in the back of my head. sometimes my coach would give us exercises of coming up with a routine during a time restraint. my friend junior learned a routine that was on yuri on ice. 

for competitions you arrive, you get ready. you’re almost always wearing some kind of elaborate costume/dress leotard thingy. this is a time to start getting mentally ready, talk to your friends, and do each other’s hair and makeup. costumes are bought way ahead of time, and are usually related to the theme of your routine. you do NOT want a wardrobe malfunction. it’ll mess you up & you’ll lose precious points. your hair will most likely always be back and, more often than not, braided or in a bun. the comp will begin and you have a practice session so that you can get warmed up and ready. it’s not long. you will get the music for your program played one by one, and you rehearse - this is usually to check to make sure your music is right & to get acclimated to the ice then you get off the ice and another group will warm up. your coach can’t be on the ice whatsoever, and has to stay outside the rink. usually, competition order is done by a random draw. one by one, you will do your routine. no one but you can be on the ice. then you go off to the “ kiss and cry “ ( because you’re either about to celebrate or get your ear chewed off by an adult in a tracksuit ) where your score gets announced. then, competition continues. your warmup + when you start is not based on how you placed in the last part of the comp ( usually started with lowest ) and you perform the second routine. then, and this is usually determined by like how serious the competition you're going to, but there are trophies handed out, a podium ceremony is held, or medals or flowers are given out. my coach would always make the team pose together after competitions and go out to eat - lots of coaches hold bonding exercises esp after comps. if we did well, we could skip our 9 am practice. if we did poorly, the team meets up at a local park and runs the three-mile trail, and then they do technical corrections at the rink. after your medal/etc ceremony, you’re done. sometimes the top people will perform, but by that time you’re usually exhausted and want to sleep for a billion years ( or, if you did really well, you want to go eat 15 ihop pancakes and conquer the world ). the competition season is from august to april. this is a BASE of what happens. it’s different at different kinds of competitions and for different categories of skating, but it’s almost always something like this. offseason is for practice, rest, and fun, basically, but if you're a serious skater, by the time you’re hitting july, you’re spending more time at the rink than at home. the most well-known and the hardest competitions to qualify for are the grand prix, europeans ( european championships ), worlds ( world championships ), and the, of course, olympics.

another aspect of almost any professional sport is injury. think about any ice skating routine you’ve seen. there is no protection. you’re wearing a thin sheer leotard. you have basically knives on your feet. it’s VERY easy to get yourself beat up by ice. the ice is very hard and not very forgiving. meaning, if you hit, you hit hard. you usually are putting a lot of force into it, too, because you’re falling. don’t even get me started on the BRUISING. you will look like you have gone thru something, all the time. ice skates, which have to sharpened routinely, are, as you imagine, SHARP AS FUCK. knife shoes. i’ve been recreationally skating, because i work at a rink, and just monitoring the skaters and usually messing around with my rinkmates, and i fell, and i sliced open my thigh. i didn’t need stitches, or anything, but there was blood everywhere. very gross. ( ask abt this answered here ! ) and i wasn’t even doing anything particularly hard. and this has happened before. they WILL cut you. ankle injuries are super common. i’ve seen someone break their ankle feet away from me. i’ve twisted my left ankle five times. as for dislocations, they also happen a lot. when i was twelve, i was at the top of my figure skating career. i was qualifying to competition after competition. during a regular, normal practice, i was doing a jump i had usually aced, and i landed the wrong way and i dislocated my knee and blacked out. it’s a very disgusting injury and extremely, extremely painful. like, a good 50k in hospital bills for the surgery to fix it. i was very good and it was my favorite activity on the planet, but it was so awful that i quit. when i was fourteen, i started skating again, joined my team, etc, etc, but it was very difficult to recover from. and that’s a very common story. most people get injured and they have to stop. i know a girl who got a bunch of concussions, and wasn’t able to skate. i’ve been concussed on the ice. people tear their acls or their hip. we have a sports medic at all figure skating practices and comps. and a lot of injuries, once you hurt something, you will hurt it again because you made it weak. we are all very flexible but overuse will make your bones brittle. there’s also stress fractures and different things you can get from just overworking your muscles. shin splints, tendonitis, jumpers knee, etc. you name an overuse injury, and i’ve had it. i was one so exhausted after practice that i laid down on the ice and cried until my coach ( who i love very dearly ) gave me a bag of skittles and told me to suck it up. that’s not saying my coach is a bitch ( john mulaney vc my coach is a bitch and i like her so much ), that’s to say there is no break, no stopping. you get better, and move on, or you quit.

as-is with basically any competitive sport, if you get serious, you will probably go onto some sort of diet along with it. you want to be eating a lot of nutritional stuff ( granola bars are HOARDED in my locker room & to this day i gag at the sight of protein shakes ), anything with a lot of calcium ( because we do be breaking bones ! ), and iron. i used to eat pasta before comps ( like wayyy before not an hr or anything ) because it gives you ~energy~. you need to be eating a lot because you’re exercising a lot. gatorade is banned by my coach because it's so much sugar. you need to drink so. much. water. we all take a bunch of vitamins. usually will eat chicken / meat in general. but keep in mind, like any sport in which you are cutting things from your diet / eating specific things / etc, it can easily lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. there’s a lot of shitty mindsets you will encounter with coaches and fellow competitors about what weight a figure skater should be, and it's even worse in pair skating ( because of lifts ). when i was eleven, one of my old coaches told me that she hoped i never hit puberty because it’d fuck up my balance & when i did i cried. a fellow competitor once told me she wished she had my “ figure skater “ body ( and at this point of my life, i had very unhealthy eating habits ). another time a group of older kids made fun of how gangly i was while i was in earshot. the amt of times my coach has SCREAMED at ice skaters for making fun of / putting down fellow ice skaters is astronomical. it’s rough. a lot of figure skaters have opened up about how figure skating caused / contributed to their mental illness. it’s very easy to fall into because of how “ perfect “ you need to be. you can look up various figure skaters stories on this: adam rippon, gracie gold, and yulia vyacheslavovna - a very famous one as it was part of the reason her career ended & she was the youngest ever skating gold medalist. and i will say, personally, my unhealthy relationship with food ( that would eventually lead to lots o problems & i still feel the impact of today ) began when i was figure skating. there are other risk factors for mental illness as well because there’s so much focus on winning / losing. more than once, competitions would give me panic attacks because of the great stress.

another thing is MONEY. as fucked up as it is, you need money, or a grant, if you want to get good. you need expensive skates, costumes, travel fees, and more. my pro figure skates, not my casual ones, cost upwards of 300, and that’s low balling it. when i was ten, my parents spent upwards of 10k on figure skating. there are rink fees, there are competition fees, there are coaching fees. it adds up extremely quickly. i know a lot of skaters who stopped competing because it was just too expensive. i work for my rink by teaching classes and monitoring open skates and additional things, but if i added up every single dollar i ever made, it would be nowhere near enough to pay for everything. but the thing is, if you get really good, you can make money off of competitions, but getting there is the hard part. at one point in my life, my parents were paying $100 an hour for my private coach who i was seeing multiple days a week. figure skaters also oftentimes will take additional classes to help. my coach made the entire junior team take ballet one year. i took a ton of gymnastic classes as well to help with skating.

so, who are the kind of people that ARE figure skaters ? what do we act like ? there’s a lot of stereotypes that figure skaters are cold people. that’s not necessarily true. i would say that we are extremely competitive people. i’ve seen rinkmates get into full-blown fights during competitions. one of my best friends, who i met at my rink once i returned from my hiatus, HATED me because she knew i was competition. we are on-edge.  stakes are high and the pressure is on. a lot of us are very perfectionistic because you sort of got to be to get to our level. we can have control issues and we can become easily frustrated if we flop jumps or keep stuttering coming out of a spin. the other stereotype is that we are super delicate little flowers. probably because of the way we have to move. realistically, we’re a tactile bunch of people who would probably wind up hurting someone if we played hockey. ( another stereotype : figure skaters and hockey kids. the closest i’ve gotten to a hockey player is the one time i threatened to quick him in the nads because they came early and insisted we get off the rink. ) we all love skating and have a lot of fun while doing it. it’s dangerous, and that’s part of the thrill. speeding around the rink at extremely high speeds is, honestly, exhilirating. we love our sport and, though we can get on each other's nerves, love our rinkmates. it’s not easy, but it’s our favorite thing to do.

#writing guide #character guide #sport guide #rph #rpt #i wrote this in a shakespearean fury #can u tell i miss my rink : ( #i should be doing finals ! #ch: axel mendoza

[bangtanislife-0612]

Impulse~ Part 13

Group: BTS

Au: Superhero

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x OC

Summary: Main Character has lost their job and needed money to pay for college, so they become a villain because it pays really well. The boys are a superhero group named Bangtan under organization named The Elite. The evil organization is called The Organization because I'm super original. Jungkook and OC are freshman  in second semester of college. Jimin and Taehyung are sophomores in college. Namjoon and Hoseok are juniors in college. Yoongi is a senior and Jin is graduated and working at The Elite. Basically Jungkook has a crush on OC in college, but doesn't know she's a super villain working against him so it's that kind of story.

                                               Impulse Masterlist 

I know I never wanted to become a villain, but I honestly kind of miss it. After The Organization was informed of everything that happened with the kidnapping situation(excluding Pyro’s involvement of course) I was told to take the next two weeks off. Unfortunately with Sunny taking the first week to stay home and recover I’ve had to go to school without her, and would likely be bored out of my mind if it weren’t for the boys. 

“Mina?”

I turn to the sound of my name to see Taehyung looking at me expectantly.

“Oh shoot I must have spaced out. What was that?”

I see most of the boys looking over with playful exasperated looks and can’t help but laugh at how quickly they’ve adapted to my spaciness. 

“I asked which superhero do you think is cooler. Phase or Riptide?”

I scrunch my eyebrows at the oddly specific choice and tilt my head up to the sky thinking my options over. Finally coming to a conclusion I look down to see Taehyung and Jimin waiting in anticipation for my answer. I can’t but giggle at their odd behavior; however, to give them credit it’s not too odd. These two are always asking me weird questions about superheroes. 

“It’s a pretty close call, but I would have to say Phase. My love for animals is too strong!”

Taehyung yells out in joy while Jimin falls back in fake anguish and the whole group can’t help but laugh at the two boys. 

“It’s your turn now! Ask us a question!”

We’ve been playing extended twenty questions for so long now I’m a little stumped for a good question. Deciding to stick with the super category we’ve stumbled upon I realize the perfect question to ask them.

“Who’s your favorite supervillain?”

It seems the question has thrown everyone off because all of the boys begin to look extremely uncomfortable.

“Why are you guys looking at me like that it’s just a question!”

Nobody looks willing to answer the question even after my statement and I almost decide to change the subject until Yoongi pipes in.

“I’d have to say Voltage, she’s pretty cool.”

I look up in surprise at his answer, and see his cheeks turn a little red at my facial expression. Then a flashback of the first time I talked to the whole group where they were teasing him for his crush on my alter ego pops into my had and I understand. I give him a tiny smile as the other boys give him teasing looks and nudges. He brushes it all off before continuing.

“Well since I answered you guys all have to come up with one!”

That seemed to have stumped the group and they each take a second the think over their options. Hoseok is the first to come up with an answer.

“Penumbra is pretty cool! It would be awesome to have a teammate like that for quick getaways.”

I can’t help but beam with pride from someone finally acknowledging how cool Jay is and his power. Most people overlook him since he’s usually a villain’s getaway plan like Hoseok mentioned.

Jimin voices his agreement and gives Hoseok a quick high-five. Jungkook follows up with a basic well-known villain who has a strength quirk like him, and Jin mentions a female villain that funny enough I’ve shared coffee with in the break room.

Last but not least we all turn to Taehyung, who has a thoughtful look on his face.

“I think I would have to agree with Yoongi and say Voltage is my favorite.”

I blink in surprise wondering how my villain persona has won over these boys. The boys tease him like they did with Yoongi; however, unlike Yoongi he doesn’t act embarrassed. I can’t help but notice the stare he seems to have leveled at Yoongi almost as if he’s trying to say something.

I turn to see whatever Yoongi is doing and I’m just as surprised as I was with Taehyung.

He looks scared.

Like the kind of scared when your parents catch you in a lie and you just know you’re in for it.

Feeling uncomfortable with the tension this stare off is causing I pull my gaze away and focus on the other boys who haven’t noticed whatever is going on between the two.

I turn my head to the side where Namjoon is sitting beside me, just now realizing he never answered the question. Part of me is curious about what his answer may be but something about the look on his face stops me. He looks concerned, but not at the boys like I was just seconds ago. 

I follow his eyeline down to where his phone was placed in his hands. I lean over just slightly to see if I can read anything but before I can my phone goes off suddenly.

I look away quickly as Namjoon, as well as the rest of the boys, looks over to my phone ringing. I quickly check the contact and feel happiness and just a tinge of worry bubble to the surface as I quickly answer the phone.

“Sunny! How are you doing, is everything okay?”

Out of the corner of my eye I see the boys begin to pay more attention to my conversation, probably wondering the same after listening to me worry about her condition for so long.

“I’m doing good, should be back to classes in a few days. Although, that’s not the reason behind my call.”

My eyebrows involuntarily crease in confusion and I quickly excuse myself from the boys. After walking a couple feet away I ask her what’s going on.

“There’s been a bit of a situation at work and Jay asked if I could call you to see how soon you could come by.”

My confusion and concern somehow increases at her words, and I quickly go over my schedule in my head before explaining I could come by after my next class. Sunny thanks me for the information and we exchange goodbyes. 

I walk back over to the boys and they quickly stop their conversation and look up to me, clearly waiting for an explanation of what the call was about.

“Uh that was Sunny, and before any of you ask she says she’s doing good and will be back in a couple days.”

A couple of the guys give encouraging smiles and surprisingly enough I see a few gives little sighs of relief. Honestly, I swear the more time I spend with these boys I realize how unbelievably kind they all are.

“Unfortunately she did mention that a friend of ours needs my help so I won’t be able to hang around after class today.”

The next reaction from the boys brought a smile to my face. Half of them were giving very exaggerated sad faces and Hoseok may have even been fake crying? I giggle a little in response until Taehyung pipes up with a question.

“Do you know what he might need help with?”

I open my mouth to answer, but stop myself once the words actually register.

“How did you know it was a him?”

I meant to ask it in a bit of a joking way, considering the likely explanation is he just assumed. However, I got a completely different reaction this time around. 

Taehyung stops still and almost looks like he did something he shouldn’t have, and weirdly enough all the other boys are looking at him the same way.

“Geez Tae just because she’s a cute girl doesn’t mean she has boys constantly asking for her.”

It’s an odd statement; however, it’s even more odd when it’s coming from Yoongi. My sentiment seems to be shared considering all the boys are looking at him like he’s crazy. Oddness aside I still feel my cheeks heating up in response to his words and I can feel myself smiling.

The boys notice my reaction and seem to find it perfect ammunition to tease Yoongi.

“What do you think you’re doing trying to flirt with Mina? You already have Voltage, don’t be so greedy!”

I can’t help but laugh at the boys as they begin to wrestle around before realizing class will be starting soon. I yell out a quick goodbye and begin walking off with a wave over my shoulder. Just missing the moment Jungkook joined the pile and Yoongi’s screech of pain. 

Hello! I know it’s been awhile but I’m hoping to start posting more now that I have some time to do so. Also be ready because next chapter I will be introducing a possible rival love interest??? 

#bts #superhero au #superhero bts #bts superhero au #bts college au #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook #bts min yoongi #bts park jimin #bts kim taehyung #bts kim seokjin #bts kim namjoon #bts jung hoseok

[race-week]

Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez Parallels

Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez both had really promising junior careers and both their F1 careers looked exciting and their careers have quite a few parallels but eventually their careers have gone very different ways with one ending up a race winner with multiple podiums and a seat in a top team whilst on the other ended up in a back marker team before being kicked out the sport.

So, what happened and why did their careers go such different ways?

I have a lot to say on this topic so this will cover their Junior Careers up to the end of their career with McLaren, and there will be another instalment of their careers ARD (after Ron Dennis)

 Junior Careers

Sergio

They both had moderately successful junior careers, 

Sergio competed in the 2007 British Formula 3 Championship in the National Class (which used older chassis) he won the championship by a comfortable margin. Taking two-thirds of the race wins and a similar amount of pole positions and finished all but two races on the podium. 

For 2008, he graduated to the premier International Class of the championship, after leading the championship early in the season, he eventually finished fourth in the drivers' standings, behind Alguersuari, Turvey and Hartley.

Sergio contested his first year of GP2 in 2009 after coming 7th in the 2008-09 GP2 Asia Series finishing 12th in the standings behind Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Maldonado and di Grassi. However, when he would compete again in GP2 the following year he won five races and finished second in the standings behind Pastor Maldonado.

 Kevin

Some of Kevin’s best years being the 2009 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, where he was on the podium 12 times (one being a win) out of 14 races, he finished the Northern European cup second to Antonio Felix da Costa. 

He then came 3rd in the 2010 German Formula 3 Championship with 3 wins as the highest placed rookie. He then came 2nd in the British Formula 3 Championship with 7 victories. 

However, he did not win a championship until his second year in Formula Renault 3.5 for the 2013 season claiming five victories, eight other podium places and eight pole positions. He finished the season as champion, 60 points clear of runner-up McLaren junior Stoffel Vandoorne.

 F1 Rookie Season

Looking at their first seasons in F1 Sergio for Sauber and Kevin for McLaren

Sergio was partnered with Kamui Kobayashi for the 2011 season and they finished 16th and 12th respectively with Kamui getting 30 points to Sergio’s 14. 

Whilst Kevin in 2014 got 55 points (including a 2nd place in Australia) resulting in him being 11th compared to Jenson Button’s 126 points and 8th in the drivers. Kevin did show a lot of potential at tracks that he visited in junior categories with seventh place finishes in Austria and Great Britain and a fifth-place finish in Russia where it was new to everyone. However, the rest of his points finishes throughout 2014 many of them were ninth or tenth place finishes, the car was not great but with Jenson getting a 6th place on average it did not look promising for the young driver.

 Joining McLaren 

In September of 2012, Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 was announced, and Pérez was subsequently confirmed as Hamilton's replacement. This also ended Pérez' association with Ferrari, as he was released from its driver academy. However earlier in the year a move to Ferrari had been speculated after his incredible drive at Malaysia, where he had come second but had nearly overtaken Fernando Alonso in said Ferrari.

Kevin Magnussen was fast tracked to Formula 1 as McLaren looked for its next superstar (i.e., someone to fill the shoes of Lewis Hamilton). He had his first experience of the McLaren Formula One car at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver test in 2012 and set the quickest time of 1:42.651 which was the best of the three-day test and had impressed McLaren's sporting director.

It was announced that Magnussen would drive for McLaren for the 2014 season, replacing Sergio Pérez. At the Jerez and Bahrain pre-season tests he topped the timesheets, and at the first race in Australia he qualified fourth.

Where things started going wrong

I think that the main reason things started going bad for McLaren is the fact that they did not know what they had in Lewis Hamilton before they lost him, in addition the 2013 McLaren was not a good car. 

Martin Whitmarsh decided it would be a fantastic idea to go for revolution rather than evolution for their 2013 car. For example, McLaren changed the suspension from pushrods to pull rods, which alone requires a total re-design of the car's chassis. Button has commented since that it was extremely pitch-sensitive and far too stiff, and that if you managed that well it 'could' be very quick, as evidenced by races like Spa or Malaysia (which are not very kerby). Brundle said that trackside it had 'the suspension of a skateboard'.

They also didn’t react very well to the 2014 regulation changes and suffered quite badly with aero issues and reliability at points.

Having two experienced drivers’ like Hamilton and Button was good for McLaren however they struggled a lot after Hamilton left, partly due to the influx of inexperienced drivers and partly due to the team’s poor decisions.

Their issues at McLaren

 One of the biggest issues was Pérez was expected to get in that car and drive it like Hamilton he finished the season 11th with 49 points and teammate Jenson Button was 9th with 73. However, this was the team that a year prior their drivers had finished 4/5 with plenty of podiums and wins. However, in my opinion McLaren did not want to own up to the fact that their car was the reason that they were so low, so it was a lot easier just to throw out the new guy for their promising young junior.

Kevin meanwhile was touted to be the next Lewis Hamilton, however he struggled in his rookie season whilst Hamilton had shone and McLaren ended up replacing him with Fernando Alonso and relegating Magnussen to the test and reserve driver role for McLaren. He had talks with Honda-powered team Andretti Autosport to compete in the 2015 IndyCar Series, but McLaren blocked the deal.

So within two seasons McLaren’s car had gone downhill and they had potentially ruined the careers of two promising young drivers Sergio was 23 and Kevin was 22

#f1 essay #Drivers compared #kevin magnussen #sergio perez #f1 #f1blr #Formula 1

[suckmyballshoney]

Could you maybe recommend some good fics?

Okay mom, this is the list of the best things I’ve read ! And because I am incapable of choosing only a few, there is like 100 fics in there, it’s crazy. I’m a fucking mess, it’s a fucking mess, there are all amazing fics and I have no self-control so take it all 😂 (please appreciate it, I spent so loooong on it ! 😂)

For anyone reading this, here’s an important note I need to make before we start : this only comes from my opinion, with ships I like and my own preferences in themes. If one of your fics or a fic you liked is in there, well good for you because I loved it ! And if it’s not, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad or anything like that, just that I haven’t read it or that I missed it yesterday when me and my tired eyes went through the historic of the THOUSANDS of fics I’ve ever read in the fandom, it’s a fucking lot and I surely missed some.

Also, some fics are locked so if you don’t have an account, you won’t be able to see them.

I tried to organize it, I really tried, and for the sake of safety I’ll note the NSFW ones, if you go read, take care of yourself and read at your own caution, because I can read pretty much about anything doesn’t mean anyone can and have too so check the tags every time ! Take care of yourself and enjoy the ones you read ! 💙

Emotional fics

Like ribbons by heroics (Dan/Max, NSFW)

I will always be there for you, brother by someone_worth_racing_for (Nico/Carlos, NSFW)

And in the end I will seek you out amongst the stars by mandzilkos (Charles/Max)

Bitter/Sweet by Tianvette (Seb/Mark)

Night Bus by EverythingIsAJokeIncludingMe (Lando/Carlos)

Black Over Red (the death of a King) by onehonor

not magnificent by secondlifetime

toffee by simplyverstappen (Dan/Max, NSFW)

terrible sting, terrible storm by singlemalter (Lando/Carlos)

I got everything at my fingertips (How can I resist when it feels like this?) by komkommertijd (Dan/Max)

Holding together what can not be held by Quagswagging (NSFW)

The spleen of monte carlo (and how to deal with it) by altissimozucca (Charles/Max)

Interlude/infatuation by toro (sapoeysap) (Alex/George)

I’ve not hate (that’s how I know I lied to you) by GufettoGrigio (Lewis/Nico)

Phantom limb by Charona (Dan/Max, NSFW)

(Dis)closure by Charona (Nico/Kevin, NSFW)

Under Greece’s stars by Lily_Anna (Lewis/Nico)

Hate is a terrible feeling by scarletred

Fluff and/or funny fics

be still my foolish heart by jorgelorenzo (Carlos/Lando, NSFW)

That's What Friends Are For by KyoukayKanata (Carlos/Lando)

Some Boys Just Wanna Watch The World Burn by onehonor (Lando/Charles)

you ('cause you feel like home) by maxverstappens

amor (la leche style) by toro (sapoeysap) (Carlos/Lando)

Nico’s Greatest Achievement by F1_rabbit (Lando/Max)

Mystery Man by simplyverstappen (Lando/Carlos, Dan/Max)

There’s love in this life, there’s no obstacle by Pericardiaca (George/Alex)

Drowned in oxygen by scarletred (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

We’ll Always Be Okay by Thatsrightmyhype (Max/Lando, NSFW)

Tying Cherry Stems in Knots by WhiteWolfCraft (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

And they were quarantined by scarletred (Charles/Max)

50 Sentences of Carlos and Lando by palalabru (Lando/Carlos)

The Day Kevin Magnussen Attempted Murder (and Fernando learned not everyone likes to be babied) by Quagswagging

You Say We're Just Friends (But Friends Don't Know the Way You Taste) by WhiteWolfCraft (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

it's not that hard to open eyes that close when they couldn't have by circuitricardoporno (Lando/Carlos)

An analysis of inappropriate behaviour between teammates, featuring Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Junior by WhiteWolfCraft (Lando/Carlos)

Darling, we’re a paradox (but I think we’ll manage) by altissimozucca (Pierre/Daniil)

Far away truths by raikkonen (armario) (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

Thank you, Anytime by sensibleshoes28 (Charles/Max)

Game Stops and Spanish Restaurants by Anna_banana (Lando/Carlos)

Catch you when you fall by maxverstappens (Dan/Max)

soulmates (or: max has a love-hate relationship with coldplay) by altissimozucca (Charles/Max)

your love I’m lost in by maxverstappens (Lando/Max, NSFW)

Last night you were in my room (and now my bedsheets smell like you) by LostInSpace and MerlinSpecter (Dan/Max)

Abu Dhabi 2035 by Charona (Dan/Max)

A Drink Too Many, Or Maybe Less by ColdWhiteLight (Kimi/Seb, NSFW)

Oh, Sandman, bring us a dream by bonotje (Lando/Max)

So happy Christmas (back on the bad list) by toro (sapoeysap) (Alex/George)

You’ll pull at my neck and we’ll break what can’t be broken by grwyish (Charles/Max)

Set alight my skin (and I’ll melt like ice) by Directionless_Foray (Lando/Carlos)

irish spring 5-in-1 by Anonymous (Pierre/Daniil)

Others

Like Magic by Rizz07 (de-ageing fic)

Even though you know we fly (Don't call me angel) by Alexa_Plays (George/Alex)

Have You Come Up A Name For Your Chassis? By Asahi_9L1314

Rule 63 by WhiteWolfCrack (George/Alex, NSFW, genderswap)

I took the stars from our eyes and then I made a map by Directionless_Foray (Lewis/Seb)

kiss me under the light of a thousand stars by altissimozucca

if you wanna come back, it’s alright by raikkonen (armario) (Pierre/Daniil, NSFW)

F1 Rarepair Drabbles by raikkonen (armario) (NSFW)

Fringe contender by redpaint (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

www.tumblr.com by legolasass

Lady, I need my dog back now…and my Nico too by Anonymous (Lewis/Nico)

A moment you need me to stay by circuitricardoporno (Lando/Carlos/Isa, NSFW)

McLaren Unboxed | The Papaya Boys | #2020 by legolasass (Carlos/Lando)

The Performer by theinanitor (Jenson/Seb)

spotlight on me and i'm ready to break  by Pericardiaca (NSFW)

The banterzone by groooovybaby

Lance stroll’s exclusive hallowe’en party by raikkonen (armario)

So, let’s dance (when we’re not supposed to be) by Directionless_Foray (Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

Long fics/series

Three Wishes For Verstappen by PoemAboutCitylights (Dan/Max)

Solar Flare by Tianvette (Jenson/Seb, NSFW)

Baby I'll Rule (Let Me Live That Fantasy) by komkommertijd (Dan/Max)

knife's edge by restless5oul (Charles/Max, NSFW)

In High School by Zig_Zag_F1 (Charles/Max, George/Alex, Carlos/Lando, NSFW)

Everyone’s shagging because I said so by Wellthisdidntgotoplan (serie, NSFW)

The Experiences of Blossoms by magic_one (serie)

New love old love by circuitricardoporno (serie, Alex/George/Lando, Lando/Carlos, NSFW)

Every colour illuminates by circuitricardoporno (serie, Lando/George, NSFW)

Bad baby by Directionless_Foray (serie, Charles/Seb, NSFW)

Max and Pierre by kakkakerssi (Pierre/Max, NSFW)

The five last fics of sirius (Alex/George/Lando, NSFW)

All Behind A Mask by JustAnotherF1Fangirl (Lando/Carlos)

Youtube AU by simplyverstappen (serie, NSFW)

Sons of the gods by EverythingIsAJokeIncludingMe

Falling and finding by Directionless_Foray (serie, Charles/Seb, NSFW)

Can’t go on without you by FadingDragon (Dan/Max)

Magic verse by simplyverstappen (serie, Dan/Max)

The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly by RosaNautica (Romain/Kevin, NSFW)

Ten Important Events In My Life by komkommertijd (serie)

Crowns by simplyverstappen (serie, NSFW)

Sebastian and Kimi raising the chaotic trio (aka a Highschool AU) by greeny1710 (serie, NSFW)

The Grid’s Apocrypha by singlemalter (serie, NSFW)

Quiet healing by Directionless_Foray (serie, Charles/Seb, NSFW)

Max and Lando by kakkakerssi (serie, NSFW)

Our families by greeny1710 (serie, NSFW)

French fics (of course I had to include that category)

Passer le temps by Jae_Universe

Dead Hearts by Laeana (serie)

10 façons de mourir by Laeana (serie)

Love is a seduction game by Laeana (serie)

Pffffiouuuuuu that is DONE ! So long 😂 MP/mom I hope you have enough to read for the next WEEKS !

All the writers mentioned above that have a tumblr are here and they deserve a fucking lot of recognition : @someone-worth-racing-for @onehonoramongstthieves @verstappened @nicorosberg @komkommertijd @bwoahtastic @havertzs @alphatoro @gufettogrigio @kyoukai-kanata @landonenorris @f1rabbit @shellhaeds @scharletred @palalabu @landolait @bottasvaltteri @sleepyverstappens @yxllowish @storm-in-my-teacup @rizz07 @redpaint @nxrrislandx @laeana @lilyanna13 and all the others that I didn’t find their tumblr account 😂

#THIS IS SO LONG AND I SPENT SO MANY HOURS ON IT OMFG #i ALMOST put one of my fics but i was like nah not yet i need to write a better thing #ANYWAY ALL THESE FICS ARE FREAKING AMAZING #some are my go-to when i’m bored #one of them i spent two hours looking for it and i yelled when i found it #i lived an adventure for that post really #also napsi you’ll never get bored with all of this #HAVE FUN READING ALL THAT EVERYONE #fic rec

[debbiechanclub]

You’re Welcome

Pairing: Wardlow/OC

Category: Fluffy fluff

Word count: 1,824

Fluffy little Wardlow fic request for @lancearcherinrippedjeans starring her OC, Camryn Morgan. I hope you like it! It’s the least I could do after you wrote me THREE fics. Also tagging @what-does-mine-say :D

Find more of my fics here.

********************

Nothing irked Camryn more than when someone interrupted her while she was in the zone at the gym. And, for whatever reason, no one managed to irk her more than one Nick Jackson.

“Ah!” She let out a startled yelp when she looked up and saw him staring at her with his crazy eyes through the mirrored wall. She ripped out one of her ear buds and whirled around. “What the fuck, Nick?”

He smiled. “We just got here and I saw you so I thought I’d come say ‘hi.’” He paused. “Hi.”

She arched a curious brow. Of all her teammates in The Elite, no one was quite as peculiar as Nick. “‘We?’ I don’t see anyone else, bud. Are you feeling alright?”

Just as she asked, Matt and Kenny rounded the corner—and Wardlow was with them. Camryn’s pulse quickened and she stood up straighter. What was Wardlow doing with them? And oh my god they’re coming over.

“Camryn!” Kenny proclaimed with a smile. “We thought you might be here.”

She tried to smile as casually as possible. “You know me, just trying to get it in before the show tonight.” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Trying to get a workout in!” she quickly corrected.

“Phrasing,” Matt smirked.

Her entire face went red. “You meant what I knew.”

“Anyway,” Kenny segued. “Have you two met?”

He motioned back and forth between Camryn and Wardlow. She stole a quick glance at him before shaking her head. “Not officially.”

“Well, then,” he started. “Camryn, this is Michael Wardlow. Michael, meet Camryn Morgan.”

They shook hands, and Camryn practically had to tilt her head all the way back to look him in the eye; he was more than a foot taller than her tiny five-foot-one frame. “Nice to meet you,” she smiled.

“Likewise,” he returned; but then his brow furrowed. “Wasn’t your hair red last week?”

Her cheeks flushed again, both surprised and flattered that he’d noticed. Then again, it would’ve been hard to miss someone changing their hair from fire engine red to lilac purple. “Oh, yeah. I change it a lot.”

“Like every other week,” Nick commented.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not that often; more like every month. I just get bored easily.”

“Well, you should keep that color,” Michael said. “It looks good.”

Camryn’s whole body flushed that time. “Thanks.”

“Well, we’ll let you get back to getting it in,” Kenny smirked; she rolled her eyes. “And hey, make sure to get to the arena a little early tonight, alright? We’re filming some stuff for BTE.”

“Will do,” she said.

“It was nice meeting you,” Michael said as he walked off with Kenny and Matt. Camryn smiled as she put her ear bud back in.

“You too.” She turned back around to grab some weights; and when she stepped back she jumped in surprise again. Nick was still staring at her through the mirror. “What?”

“Bye,” he grinned, and he took off after the others.

“Weirdo,” Camryn breathed as she resumed her workout.

*A few months later*

It was a beautiful day, and Camryn needed to get outside—even if it was only on her patio. She fixed herself a glass of iced tea and grabbed a book; but as soon as she sat down in the patio chair her cell phone rang. It was a FaceTime call from Michael. She couldn’t help her smile as she answered.

“Hey, good looking.”

Michael didn’t even say hello before he proclaimed, “Your hair’s blue! It was pink like three days ago!”

She rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “We’re in quarantine, Michael. Do you know how bored I am?”

“Okay, but don’t be surprised when all your hair falls out,” he smirked.

“Worry about your own hair,” she playfully returned. “It’s looking a little rough.”

“Shut up, no it isn’t.”

Camryn bit her lip. It really wasn’t; he was looking just as delicious as ever. But she had to tease him a little bit. “Okay, what do you want? Did you just call me to harass me about my hair?”

 “No,” he said. “Obviously, I called you to wish you happy birthday.”

Camryn’s stomach fluttered. A small part of her had worried everyone had forgotten about her birthday, especially with the pandemic going on. It meant a lot to her that Michael thought to call.

“How old are you now?” he asked. “Twenty-one?”

She let out a loud laugh; he knew damn well she wasn’t 21. “Yes; twenty-one plus seventeen.” Unlike some women, Camryn had no qualms about sharing her true age—she was turning 38 today, and damn proud of it. Besides, not to sound vain, but she thought she looked better than a lot of women 10 years her junior.

“I can’t believe that. Honestly,” Michael said. “You look late twenties, early thirties, tops.”

“Well, thank you,” she grinned. “It’s my top-secret skin care routine.”

“Nah, I think it’s good genes.”

He gave her that look, and Camryn suddenly wished she could jump his bones, quarantine be damned. She and Michael had become fast friends ever since that day Kenny had introduced them in the gym, and they’d developed quite the flirtatious relationship. She loved the attention, of course—who wouldn’t?—but she often had to remind herself that it could never go beyond flirting. No matter how good she looked, Michael was still six years younger than her; a relationship between them simply wouldn’t work.

“You flatter me,” she said; and then she abruptly changed the subject. “So, have you heard anything about getting to wrestle again yet?”

“Actually, yeah,” he said. “I have a lumberjack match against Luchasaurus on Dynamite in a couple weeks.”

She smiled when she heard that. “Cool. I’ll be there, too.”

“Yeah? Nice,” he smiled. And then he added, “You better not be bald.”

“Alright, goodbye, Michael!” And she hung up on him before he could say anything smart in return.

********************

It was the night of Michael’s lumberjack match against Luchasaurus, and Camryn couldn’t be more excited. She hadn’t seen Michael in person since Double or Nothing—in other words, it had been far too long.

But, as excited as she was, she needed something to eat first. She stopped by catering and made a beeline for the snack station; but before she could grab a bag of chips, someone came up from behind and picked her up in a bear hug.

She let out a yelp and kicked her legs. “Michael! Let me go!”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Because you’re the only one dumb enough to ambush me!”

She felt a laugh rumble in his chest. “Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do about it, small fry?”

Camryn groaned; she hated when he called her that, and he knew it. She struggled in his grip, but it was no use. He was far too strong. “Please put me down,” she pouted.

“Fine,” he gave in. “But only because you asked so nicely.” He set her feet back on the ground; but before he could completely let her go, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back in a hammerlock.

“Shit!” he proclaimed.

“What’re you gonna do about it, Wardlow?” she taunted.

He shook his head. “Nothing. It doesn’t really hurt.”

Her mouth dropped and she shoved him away as he laughed. “Rude!”

“Oh, did you want to hurt me?” he returned. “I didn’t know you were into that, Cam.”

Camryn’s face went beet red at his roguish smirk. “And on that note, I’m gonna go,” she said, and she snatched a bag of chips off the snack station and hurried down the hall.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re not bald!” she heard Michael call, and she extended her arm to flip him off without turning around. If she had, he would have seen her smiling.

********************

Later that night, taping had wrapped and everyone was heading out. The Elite were headed to grab a late dinner, but Camryn had told them she would catch up—she needed to do something first.

She walked down the hall headed toward Michael’s locker room, her heart thumping in her chest. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing. All she knew was that she had feelings for Michael, and after seeing him for the first time in weeks, she just couldn’t ignore them anymore.

She was nearly there when she suddenly stopped short. She could hear two familiar voices just around the corner: Michael and MJF.

“So are you headed back to the hotel orrr?” Maxwell asked.

“Actually, I’m gonna see if Camryn is still here and ask if she wants to grab dinner,” Michael answered. “Sort of a late birthday thing; I know she was bummed she didn’t really get to celebrate because of the quarantine and everything.”

Camryn’s heart fluttered. He wanted to do that for her? That might be the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.

“Well it’s about damn time,” Maxwell returned.

She heard Michael give an awkward laugh. “What do you mean?”            

Maxwell scoffed. “What do I mean? Dude, come on. You two have been dancing around your feelings for months.”

There was a pause. And then Michael returned, “Nah, it’s not like that. She always clams up and changes the subject whenever I flirt with her.”

“That’s because she’s awkward as fuck,” Maxwell dismissed. “It doesn’t mean she’s not interested.”

Camryn turned on her heel and took off as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to hear the rest of the conversation. Maxwell wasn’t wrong; she was awkward as fuck, and this had been a terrible idea—

“Cam?”

She abruptly stopped and closed her eyes against Michael’s voice. They’d been closer than she’d realized. She put on a brave face and turned around. “Hey!”

Michael’s face fell; it was obvious he knew she’d overheard them. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “I was actually just leaving. See you later!”

She tried to make her escape—but Maxwell stopped her. “Wait!” he said. “Michael wants to take you out for a late birthday dinner. He also likes you, but he’s too chickenshit to admit it.”

Michael shot him a look. “Really?”

He smirked. “You’re welcome, bud,” he said as he smacked him on the back.

Camryn froze. She wasn’t sure what to do or say. So she said the only thing she could think of. “Is that true?”

For the first time since she’d known him, Michael looked nervous. “Well, yeah.”

She bit back a smirk. “All of it?”

He mirrored her grin. “Yeah.”

Before she knew it, Camryn’s legs were carrying her forward; and before she could think better of it, she reached up and pulled Michael’s lips down onto hers. She pulled back and smiled up at him. “I like you, too.”

“YOU’RE WELCOME!” Maxwell proclaimed, and Michael flipped him off as he kissed her again.

#aew imagine #aew fanfic #aew fanfiction #aew one shot #wardlow #wardlow fanfic