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littlegrapejuice · 3 days ago

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Grid Mum 10 | MV1

Pairings: Max Verstappen x Reader | platonic Rookies x Reader

Summary: Between the highs and lows of the Belgian GP to the Hungary Games, it was clear that you would be deserving of the month-long summer break coming after. But for now, it was time for another double header as chaotic as usual.

Author's Note: this one's for the anon who suggested the rookie competition<3 it was v funny to write, so thank you sm for the idea!! Hope y'all like this one😊 next chap will be the summer break, and it will def not be out before zandvoort bc i obv wanna wait till i know what everyone has been up to during it

F1 MASTERLIST🏎 | Previous Part | Next Part

Only a few days after your return from Italy, you were back to the paddock for the Belgian Grand Prix. Because it was Max’s favourite track, it was also yours by association – especially due to the fact that he had won it three times already.

Like every year, you were hoping for a clear lack of rain during the weekend. And like every year, your prayers wouldn’t be answered. For now, though, the weather was fine. You had a drink in your hand, your phone in the other, and were talking with a couple mechanics about the free practice from earlier. Max had finished second, which made the team feel hopeful about having good results during the rest of the weekend.

You spoke with the mechanics for a bit more, until the person you had been nervously waiting for arrived – Max’s mum: Sophie Kumpen.

You liked Sophie. And according to Max, she liked you as well. But there was always this little part of yourself that was doubting it, due to you and her not spending that much time together. Every time you had seen her – which wasn’t often, you were either with Max or Victoria.

So today was actually your first time ever being alone with Sophie. It kind of made you more comfortable that it was in a public setting like the Red Bull garage, and you hoped to make a good impression after not having seen her for a while.

After making a bit of small talk, the two of you were currently watching the Sprint Qualifying together and it was surprisingly one of the best times you’d had in the garage in a while. Sophie had been more talkative than what you expected, especially regarding the rookies.

“I see things on social media, you know. I’m not the best with it”, she admitted. “But it’s not difficult when Max is pictured everywhere with you while you two are being followed around by half a dozen kids.”

“Yeah, the rookies are a bit clingy sometimes. But they’re truly the sweetest, and it’s always fun to be with them.”

“I imagine. It’s not necessarily something that Max would talk about with me, but I know it’s doing him good to be with them – and I hope the same applies to them when they’re with Max.”

“It does”, you confirmed with a smile. “They look up to him so much, and they have every right to do so when it’s to admire someone like Max. He cares for them – I do too, and that’s because he's just a wonderful human being. He helps them figure things out as they’re still discovering the ins and outs of F1. That’s who he is: just a kind person who grew attached to some kids whom he doesn’t want to experience what he did.”

“I’m glad you see him like that”, Sophie said as she took your hand in hers. “It makes me really happy to know that Max has them, and you, around. And I hope he still treats you well, by the way. I wouldn’t bear learning that my son hasn’t been spoiling my future daughter-in-law like he should.”

“He’s always treating me like royalty, don’t worry about it.” You wouldn’t comment on it, but you had to admit that Sophie calling you her future daughter-in-law was making your heart swell with joy. The thought of her already accepting you as part of the family made you feel warm inside, and you squeezed her hand to thank her for the previous words. “You have a very loving son, Sophie. You can be proud of who he is.”

“Thank you,” she replied. She was grateful for your words and now knew for certain that there wouldn’t be any other person more perfect for Max.

Still holding each other’s hand, you and Sophie then focused your attention on the Sprint Qualifying as Max was about to leave his garage. Unbeknownst to the two of you, he had seen you talking in his wing mirrors. Even if he had no idea what you two had discussed, he had been able to see the smiles you both harboured and that was enough for him to know that everything was going well between his two favourite people.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Your heart wanted to break when you saw Kimi appear on the screen in front of you. He had just qualified P20 for the sprint, due to a mistake he had made during his hot lap. He had gone wide at one point, making him lose a lot on time.

The screen showed him back in his garage, as he was still in the car. He had removed his visor to rub his eyes, and it was obvious that he was crying.

“Sorry, sorry…” He said on the radio as he tried to wipe his eyes again. The break in his voice was obvious, and everyone could guess how unwell he currently was.

It was a hard thing to witness, especially after the previous grand prix. Since his podium in Canada, Kimi hadn’t been having much luck and it was frustrating him. He wasn’t having the rookie season he had expected to get when driving for Mercedes, and it was obvious that it would take a toll on his morale.

Because SQ2 would be starting soon , you figured that you would go see Kimi later. You knew that his team and Eli would be there for him in the meantime. But what you hadn’t expected, was to eventually receive a text from Eli when the Sprint qualifying was over.

Sorry to bother you, but i think kimi needs you here :(

Can you come see him?

Your heart definitely broke at that moment. You reread the message a couple times, now thinking that it was quite serious if your support was needed. Having noticed the shift in your attitude, Sophie immediately understood what was going on.

“You should go if you’re needed elsewhere”, she told you with a warm smile. “I’ll be fine here, I know my way.”

“I had a really great time with you. I hope we can see each other again soon?”

“Of course! Now go be a mother – or grid mum as I think they call you, those kids are lucky to have you.”

“Thank you”, you mouthed to Sophie before slipping away from the Red Bull garage.

It didn’t take long to reach Mercedes. And when you did, Eli was already waiting for you. Her eyes lit up when she saw you approach, and she sighed in relief at your presence.

“How is he?” You asked Eli, while she led you to where Kimi was.

“A mess”, she only replied. “I think I helped, but I know you’ll be better for him.”

“I’ll try my best”, you told her.

When your eyes eventually settled on Kimi, your first reaction was to walk up to him and crouch down to his level. His eyes were red and puffy as he looked up at you, and you noticed the tears that hadn’t even dried yet on his cheeks. If you thought his state had been bad in Austria after his collision with Max, this one was actually worse.

“Oh, sweetheart…” You quickly wrapped your arms around Kimi’s shoulders while he wasted no time putting his around your waist. You began rubbing his back, hoping to bring him some comfort.

Kimi sniffed in your shoulder due to his runny nose, but you didn’t care if he would ruin your t-shirt. The two of you stayed like that for a few more minutes, hugging on the ground like nothing else mattered. To be honest, only Kimi mattered to you at that moment. It really felt like you were experiencing your own child’s first heartbreak, and could only hope that this would be the last one.

“Your hugs are always very comforting,” Kimi eventually said as he turned his head to the side so that his temple was now resting on your shoulder. “That’s like… kinda unfair how one hug from you could heal anything.”

“Don’t tell anyone, but it’s actually my superpower.” A smile appeared on your face when Kimi chuckled at your words. Even if it would take more time and effort than just a warm hug, you were glad that this was working for now.

“I know it’s not real, but right now it does feel like it…” Kimi’s eyes drifted to the doorway, where Eli was still standing. He smiled at her, silently expressing his gratitude for having brought you here. “Come here”, he motioned for her with his hand to join the hug.

Eli kneeled on the floor next to you and Kimi, as one of your arms brought her closer. Kimi grabbed her hand in his, before he slowly took in the situation. He had two of his favourite people there for him, and he could never feel luckier for the support he was currently having.

The three of you were now basking in the comfortable silence that settled, as the tension was getting lighter. Kimi could feel the ache in his heart becoming less painful, thanks to you and Eli. He thanked the two of you with a whisper, his glossy eyes thankfully not shedding tears anymore. Kimi truly thought that right now, this moment felt like–

“Family time, hmm?” Someone else voiced Kimi’s thoughts out loud.

You, Kimi, and Eli all turned your head towards George. He had wanted to see how Kimi has been doing, since he had just finished his media duties. Not wanting to impose himself on the emotional situation, George stayed in the doorway as he leaned on the wall.

“How are you holding up?” He softly asked, truly caring about his young teammate.

“Not perfect”, Kimi admitted. He glanced at you and Eli, before looking at George again. “But I'll be fine, it’ll get better.”

“I’m glad,” George replied with a small nod. He took Kimi’s relaxed demeanour as a sign to also come sit on the floor. “So, who am I amongst this little family? If I’m allowed to join, of course.”

“You’re like the annoying uncle,” Kimi said without hesitation. “Kinda overwhelming, but sometimes cool… like a big brother, I guess.”

“I’ll ignore the first two adjectives and take the last one, thank you.”

“Wouldn’t he be the ex-wife?” Eli cluelessly wondered. “Because he has this weird divorced vibe with Max, so he could also be” – she looked at you and thought of how to word it – “like the mistress or side chick. I read about it online”, she explained.

While you and Kimi bursted out of laughter – the tears rolling down his cheeks would this time be happy ones, George’s expression turned into an offended one.

“If anything, she’s” – George pointed at you with an accusatory tone – “the mistress! I won’t accept such a low and minor role,” he dramatically complained.

“That’s wild,” you retorted. “Coming from the guy who talks shit about my man every chance he gets.”

“I’ll have you know that things are very fine between us now”, George argued. “We are both extremely mature people who overcame any personal issue that was interfering with our professional relationship.”

You could now only double over with laughter at the way George was talking. The sudden solemn tone in his voice was hilarious to you, and you truly couldn’t take him seriously. So as George was now feeling insulted by your reaction, he – jokingly – began to lecture you on your disrespect. The two of you kept pretending to argue, while Kimi just observed the exchange with a smile on his face.

Yeah, George was definitely the annoying uncle/big brother in all this. Eli was obviously his beautiful and sweet girlfriend. And you? Well, you were his one and only grid mum. The person who cared so much about him, that Kimi would never accept to ever let you leave his life.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

On the next day, you could only focus on one thing: Max reminding everyone why he was a four-times world champion. His performance at the beginning of the Sprint race was very reminiscent of Imola, as he overtook Oscar while Charles overtook Lando. The move was clean, precise, and once again enough for Max to keep the lead for the entire race before claiming victory at the chequered flag.

“I’m pretty sure I predicted this a couple weeks ago”, you teased Max when he came up to you in parc fermé. You didn’t hesitate hugging him, a proud smile on your face.

“Didn’t you say I’d win the actual race, though?” Max hugged you back, always thankful for your support.

“I don’t think I specified which one. But maybe it’ll work again tomorrow, who knows?”

“If my luck has run out by qualifying, then I’ll have had today’s victory at least. But thanks for this one”, he said before kissing you.

“That was all you, champ.” You let your eyes linger on Max for a couple seconds, looking at him like you were falling in love all over again.

Even after years of wacthing Max race and witnessing him win, you never ceased to be impressed whenever he would perform like he did today. You could never get tired of it, especially when it was happening in his second home.

After Max’s Sprint win though, there was unfortunately nothing else much positive to remember about the Belgian GP. Despite some good points for Gabriel and Liam as well as a P4 for Max, the rest of the weekend had been disappointing. Isack had qualified P8, but he eventually finished dead last. Kimi had qualified P18 – which had lead to him giving a heartbreaking post-qualifying interview, and he had only managed to climb up two positions during the race. Finally, Ollie and Franco’s races were definitely not their best either.

Safe to say, you were really wanting to raise everyone’s spirits for the next Grand Prix. Which is why, you would then end up spending the couple days following Spa to think of an idea that would motivate everyone for Budapest – including your boyfriend.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

On Thursday evening, you were having dinner with Max and the rookies. It was a way to unwind before an eventual restless race weekend, and to give them something else to think about. Which is what you did, when you finally felt ready to announce your plan for the weekend:

“You know what, I think you deserve extra motivation for this weekend.”

When you said those words, the rookies all turned to you in expectation. Even Max was patiently waiting for you to keep talking, despite him pretending to not be interested.

“With the summer break approaching, this is an essential grand prix to prove yourselves to the world. But I also wanna make it fair by not putting too much stress on you for the actual race. So what we’ll do is that whoever can perform the best during the practice sessions, can fly back with us after the Hungarian Grand Prix.”

“So like…” Liam thought for a second, replaying your words in his head. “The best of each session? Which means only three of us get to come?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of the best average,” you clarified. “That way, you have to show consistency and not just focus on being the best in only one free practice. But yeah, it can be the three best.”

“But what about…?” Kimi stopped himself before finishing his question. “I thought that…” He knew he shouldn’t say anything, but your plans were now slightly clashing with some other plans.

“Thought what?” You asked.

The rookies all looked at each other, silently debating what to say next. Even Max seemed ready to intervene, but he trusted them to not mess it up.

“What Kimi is trying to say, is that we had all hoped to catch a ride after the race weekend.” Ollie was quick to whip up something, which made the others sigh in relief. “Just so that we could then spend a couple days together before each going on our respective holidays.”

“Well, I won’t say no to that.” You found it cute that they all wanted to hang out with you even during the month-long summer break, but you wouldn’t give up on your idea so easily. “We can still do that, but some of you might have to hitch a ride back to Monaco by yourself. I promise we’ll all see each other once everyone manages to get here safely. But obviously, the ones that won automatically get the entire first day for themselves.”

“Meaning?” Isack wondered.

“Meaning that you’ll have my full undivided attention,” you explained. “And that applies to you too, Max, by the way.”

“What?” Your boyfriend had thought that he was safe from all this because he was literally your boyfriend, but he was now realising that you had other plans for him.

“Well, obviously I can’t ban you from your own jet so you get a pass for this.”

“So generous of you”, Max said as his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“But”, you warned. “You might not get to see me for more than five minutes the next day if some of them perform better than you this weekend.”

“Oh, you bet that it’s on now.” Even though he hadn’t planned for all of this, Max had to admit that a little competition wouldn’t hurt.

“Glad that everyone feels motivated now. Welcome to the Hungary Games!” You were excited for this, now hoping for a fun Grand Prix.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Therefore, the rookies were more motivated than ever when Friday rolled in and it was time for FP1.

“May the best driver win”, Franco told the others.

“It’ll be me, don’t worry about it.” Isack was harbouring a confident smile, already expecting to top the two practice sessions happening today.

“Now I’m glad that Paul isn’t replacing me today,” Gabriel chimed in. “That way I can smoke all of you early on.”

“You’re dreaming if you think you’re doing better than me in a Sauber”, Kimi said as he rolled his eyes.

“Well, at least my Sauber scored last week.”

“Okay, chill guys. Why are you so worked up today?” Having heard the conversation heating up, Lando had decided to join. “It’s just FP1.”

“It’s not just FP1,” Ollie argued. “We’re playing big this weekend.”

“Yeah, how so?” Lando was definitely curious now, and he wanted to know more about why the rookies were more motivated than ever. “Knowing you, I feel like it has something to do with Max’s girl.”

“Exactly,” Isack confirmed. “The stakes are a flight back home,” he explained.

“And an entire day with her,” Ollie added. “Like full focus on the three best drivers in practice sessions.”

“Does the race not count?” Lando asked. While the rookies didn’t notice the gears slowly but surely starting to turn in his head, Lando was definitely getting some ideas of his own now.

“Nah, it doesn’t. So we’re giving it our everything from the beginning of the weekend.”

“Interesting to know. Thanks for the info, Ollie.” And with that, Lando left the rookies with a plan already formed in his mind. He was ready to put it into action, especially when he saw the two drivers whom he wanted to talk to from afar.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Following FP2, the rookies and Max all met up to debrief about their respective results. They had all been scattered around the grid in both practice sessions, and the three who for now had the best average were fired up.

“You guys have nothing on me”, Isack bragged. “I’ve beaten all of you both times.”

Having ended up P4 in FP1 and P8 in FP2, Isack was currently leading the competition. Right behind him, were Ollie and Kimi who had finished the day with the same average. Safe to say, the trio was feeling so confident that they weren’t expecting anyone else to steal their positions tomorrow. Even Max, who was currently fourth, was close to giving up. He would have to at least finish in the top three in FP3 to claim a spot on the podium of your Hungary Games, and he already knew that it would be hard to achieve with the car he had. Putting things into perspective, Max thought about how he was at least guaranteed to fly back on his jet – which felt like the bare minimum – and he figured that he would easily survive a day without you.

The rookies, however… Max looked at Gabriel, Liam, and Franco. They all seem dejected at the idea of not winning the competition, and Max therefore thought of something to raise their spirits.

“I know it might not be worth much, but I can offer a counterproposal.” When his words caught the attention of the young drivers, Max hoped that his plan would work. “The ones who don’t win this little thing can spend a day with me. All-inclusive day”, he explained. And that had definitely not fallen on deaf ears.

“Tell us more”, Gabriel requested.

“I’ll take you out and treat you to whatever the fuck you wanna do, eat, drink – you name it. And we’ll see if a day with your grid mum is better than with your grid dad.”

“You’re finally calling yourself our grid dad?” Liam immediately reacted to the words, feeling like a milestone had been hit.

“You guys haven’t been giving me much choice”, Max replied with a sigh. “But I can promise you I can be as good – if not better – company.”

“You swear you’ll take us wherever we want?” Gabriel wanted to confirm the conditions, before starting to get excited about this opportunity.

“Yes, I swear.”

“You have to pinky promise”, Franco then chimed in.

“Pinky– what?”

“Pinky promise”, Liam repeated. “That means you won’t bail on us when the time comes,” he explained.

“Does my word mean nothing to you?” Max raised an eyebrow at the three rookies, not appreciating their lack of trust in him.

“Of course, it does. But that’s like a bonus”, Gabriel told him. “And to really prove your credibility.”

“Okay, fuck it. Bring it on”, Max said before holding his pinky towards them.

Gabriel, Liam, and Franco were now bound to Max by their sacred pinky promise. And suddenly, they didn’t really care much if they bottled FP3. Spending a day with you was a great opportunity; but spending a day with Max? Now, that was rare and it meant that they couldn’t miss this chance.

So when Gabriel finished P9, Liam P14, and Franco P13 the next day; well, they were already debating about the order in which they would do their planned activities. Meanwhile, the three winners had mixed feelings. Sure, they were happy at the prospect of having your full undivided attention for an entire day. But it had been slightly less fun to win the competition when there was no competition anymore.

“Crazy that I could have finished P20 and still not lose”, Isack said to Kimi and Ollie. “Those guys for real turned their back on us.”

“Max still had a chance, though. Does it mean that he didn’t want to spend the day with us?” Ollie wondered with a scowl.

“He hates us, that’s the only reason. He clearly has his favourites among us”, Kimi concluded.

“Shut up, mate. You’re literally his golden child”, Isack claimed. “Remember who has the fucking key…”

“But there’s Gabi on the other side”, Kimi argued. “He’s my direct competition at being Max’s favourite, if he’s not already.”

“Oh God…” Ollie exchanged a glance with Isack, not knowing how to comfort their friend.

“We just have to show them that we have a better time together,” Isack suggested.

“How so?” Kimi asked.

“Simple: whatever the other guys plan to do with Max, we do the same but at a better place or like– in a fancier way.”

“Go on.”

“For instance, I heard Liam mention wanting to go on Max’s boat to have lunch at sea.”

“And what do we do with that?”

As the conversation kept going between Isack and Kimi, Ollie simply watched the exchange like a tennis match.

“We…” Isack thought for a second about to up that when neither of them owned a boat. “We rent a helicopter tour and have a picnic on a hill?”

“Seems very extravagant, I like it.”

“Small question, though.” Ollie had been thinking on his own as well, and he needed to share his worries. “Is the day meant to be only for us to enjoy or not? Because Max said he would treat the others to whatever they wanted. But mum– hmm… she just mentioned that we had her for the whole day, not specifying what we’d do.”

“Why wouldn’t she enjoy the helicopter, though?”

“I don’t know, Isack! What if she has a fear of heights?”

“She literally flies to every grand prix”, Kimi reminded.

“Ollie, mate. You’re stressing for no reason”, Isack reassured. “And if you’re nervous about her not liking our plans, then we’ll ask her about it on the plane.”

“Yeah, seems good.”

It shouldn’t have gotten them into a state. It was just a day with their grid mum, after all. But maybe Ollie’s bad feeling about it had been foreshadowing about what would eventually happen the next day after the race.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Because yes, something had to happen on Sunday as the afternoon was nearing its end following the Hungarian Grand Prix. On your terms, neither qualifying nor the race results had mattered to the innocent competition for your attention.

So here you were, sitting in front of the Red Bull hospitality and waiting for your three winners. But when Ollie, Kimi, and Isack eventually arrived; well, they had an unpleasant surprise. Because you weren’t alone. And it wasn’t Max’s presence that was bothering the rookies. No, it was that there was the Ferrari prince on your right and the two McLaren drivers on your left. The three of them had smug smiles on their faces, clearly satisfied with their achievements.

Safe to say, the three rookies were confused. Especially when they noticed Max side eyeing the group from the table right beside.

“Are we missing something?” Ollie eventually asked, not liking the ominous feeling that crept up in his chest.

“Well, I was fine with losing my girl to you three. But I think there was a small issue in the terms and conditions of this stupid competition”, Max explained. “Those idiots claim they won.”

“What?!” The three rookies exclaimed in sync, not understanding why their prize was suddenly being stolen.

“Allow me to elaborate”, Lando began as he now harboured a proud smirk. “This little thing was supposed to reward the three best drivers in free practice, right? You told me so yourself, Ollie.”

“Yeah, I guess so. But it was only between us, the rookies, and Max!”

“Was it?” Lando raised an eyebrow at his fellow Brit, challenging him to say otherwise.

Now replaying your words from a few days ago in their mind, the rookies were starting to doubt themselves. Surely you wouldn’t accept such a ridiculous idea? But they noticed that you hadn't made any effort to move or deny Lando’s claims.

Deciding to ask the source and origin of it all, the rookies faced you with determined expressions.

“You can’t do this to us?” Kimi whined. “I– I was in the top ten for all sessions!”

“Well, we were in the top three for all sessions.” Finally deciding to back up his teammate, Oscar reminded the rookies of the McLaren domination.

“I’m sorry, boys. But they found a loophole,” you admitted. “I did say whoever can perform the best during the practice sessions, and that’s actually them.”

“This is fucked up… so fucked up”, Ollie complained.

“T’es mort, Charles. Je vais me venger au prochain grand prix”, Isack threatened.

“Oui, oui, fais ce que tu veux.” Not caring one bit about Isack’s warnings, Charles dismissed his words with a wave of his hand.

“You’ll all regret this”, Kimi told the three drivers around you. “And you?!” He added, addressing Max. “You’re not gonna say anything else?”

“I’m not any happier about this than you”, Max confirmed with a sigh. “But rules are rules, so…”

“Have a fun time flying back to Monaco in economy”, Charles said to the rookies who looked at him with widened eyes.

And that’s when it hit them: Ollie, Kimi, and Isack now had to get last-minute flights. Leaving the Red Bull hospitality with dejected expressions on their face, the three rookies were devastated.

“Do we think I can ask Fernando to fly us back?” Ollie eventually asked. “It went well when I was with him and the others last week.”

“Doesn’t hurt to try”, Isack accepted the suggestion.

The three would ultimately find a solution, not before planning a future revenge on the drivers who had stolen you from them. They were not ready to forget it anytime soon, and the thieves wouldn’t either when the time would come for them to reap what they had sown.

Meanwhile, Max was now suffering on his own jet due to the presence of the two McLaren drivers and Charles. You weren’t paying attention to him at all, and Max almost thought about jumping off the plane as it was currently flying over the Alps.

It didn’t get any better the next day when Charles, Lando, and Oscar were ready for their day with you at an ungodly hour. Max debated throwing one of his chairs on them from the window as they repeatedly rang the doorbell to announce their presence. The worst part of it all? You just chuckled at their excitement, actually amused at how annoyed Max was. Obviously, it was all done in teasing manners and there was no real animosity between the drivers.

“See you later, yeah?” You kissed Max on the cheek, before making your way out. “Have fun!”

Max would definitely have fun.

After a quick call with the rookies – Max would now take out six instead of only three, a plan was made following Isack’s idea from two days ago: everything Charles, Lando, and Oscar were making you do today; Max and the rookies would do it better.

So with Max tracking your position for the whole day, the rookies were able to suggest ideas based on wherever you were with your new and fake grid kids as they now described their prize stealers.

Lando asked to go bowling? Ollie immediately took the others to do some archery.

Charles brought you and his fellow winners shopping at APM? Suddenly, Max and the rookies were hanging out at your favourite store.

Oscar had the idea of playing table tennis? Liam knew to up that one by going to an actual tennis court – and this one finally made you notice what they were trying to do.

So now, you were the one who had to find an idea that the rookies would never be able to exceed.

“They wanna play?” You mischievously asked yourself and your temporary grid kids, as the gears turned in your mind. “We’ll definitely play.”

“What’s the one thing they can’t do better than us?” Land wondered.

“There must be something that can’t be more fun to do with Max than with you”, Charles added. “Is there anything you did with Max and the kids that none of them can recreate without you?”

“Let me think…” You ruffled through your memory, thinking of all the things you did outside of races with them.

“Or maybe,” Oscar chimed in. “Something you once said you wanted to do specifically with them – either you promised to do it all together or not already – but that you never had time to do?”

“Yes! That’s a good one!” You exclaimed, glad that Oscar had this idea.

There was one activity that you had once briefly mentioned with Max and all the rookies there. A suggestion you had made one day, claiming that it would be a family day. Obviously, the rookies had all been excited for it to happen in the future and you wondered if they still remembered it months later.

“I absolutely love aquariums, and I once joked about privatising the Oceanographic Museum for an evening. If my memory serves me well, they were all on board with the idea and Max said – I quote: consider it done whenever you want.”

“That’s actually such a green flag from him”, Lando acknowledged.

“Yeah,” Charles agreed. “Do you rent him from time to time? I might need that kind of energy sometimes.”

“I’ll tell Alex you said that”, you teased the Monegasque with a chuckle before he immediately took back his words.

“So, aquarium tonight? We’re not that far,” Oscar pointed out. “I think they close soon, but we clearly have time to walk there and organise it.”

“Would you guys even enjoy that?” You were glad that they were seemingly ready to indulge your little dream night, but you also wanted the drivers to have fun. “Do you” – your eyes settled on Lando – “actually want to spend your evening looking at fish?”

“For you? Yeah,” Lando confirmed without any hesitation. “You’ve accepted to spend this day with us, not refusing even one thing we wanted to do. So now, let us be the ones to treat you.”

“That’s so sweet, thank you so much. Dinner at the aquarium, then?”

“Consider it done”, Charles told you with a wink.

And easily done it was. This was how you were therefore having dinner on the terrace before eventually getting a private tour of the different aquariums. From turtles to sharks, with octopuses and starfish in between, you were currently having the time of your life. Sure, the company wasn’t the one you had expected to experience it with. But Charles, Lando, and Oscar were being such gentlemen that it was hard to not appreciate the time spent with them.

And even if you would never hear the end of it when you would come back home later that night to Max waiting on the couch with the rookies, you would never once regret the day you’d had today. It was worth all the complaints you would get from your true grid kids – which they all emphasised at least once when lecturing you. Obviously, you would have to promise them another special activity that you would definitely be forbidden to ever do with other people; and they would also make sure that any future competition between them was to never include anyone else from the grid.

Safe to say, you had chuckled at their attitude – until you weren’t laughing anymore when Max pulled out a printed contract that would formally bind you and prevent you from ever “betraying them” ever again.

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Thanks for reading<3 don't hesitate to like, reblog, or leave a comment so i can know your thoughts!!

Lil wip update so y'all know what to expect in the next couple weeks: currently writing 2 requests (kimi & isack) + a personal fic (lando) which i want to finish/post before i start work again in september - it should be fine, i hope😭

See you soon, take care of yourselves, love y'all xx

#f1 #formula 1 #f1 x reader #formula 1 x reader #max verstappen #max verstappen x reader #f1 x you #formula 1 x you #max verstappen x you #mv1 #mv1 x reader #mv1 x you #grid mum series<3

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