#casually calling charles his happy place

[scuderiahoney]

*word counts next to fic titles!*

all works written and owned by me. please do not repost these works to other websites, or copy them in any way. thank you!

OP81

In Motion - in progress Hockey AU Series Oscar’s a certified hockey prodigy, and the new kid on the block. You’re the adopted best friend of his new hockey team. You take it upon yourself to make him feel welcome. What could possibly go wrong?

Take Care- 7.4k feat. Lando Norris! You, Lando, and Oscar are roommates. The three of you promise to take care of each other. It takes you all far too long to admit just how much you mean it.

Color Theory- 6.6k 18+ mdni! Oscar’s an old friend of yours. This time when he comes home to visit, things get messy.

Ache- 1.9k 18+ mdni! Leaving you behind makes Oscar’s chest hurt. Sometimes coming home is just as hard.

Be Brave- 5.2k You’re a teacher, and someone’s had the brilliant idea to send your class full of 5 year olds to the McLaren Technology Centre. Chaos ensues. Oscar’s there to help.

In From The Rain- 7.1k Oscar’s looking for an easy to care for houseplant. You have just the solution.

Stick Around- 4.1 k You’ve been searching for your soulmate your whole life. Maybe you’ve just been looking in the wrong place.

Tangerine- 6.8k You’re definitely not an insomniac. But Oscar keeps finding you awake at all hours, and he’s starting to get worried.

tangerine series masterlist

CL16

Every Second - 2.6k The world is ending. you’re right where you belong.

All You Got - 5.4k You hate Charles Leclerc. The feeling is mutual. He’s made that clear from the very beginning. (driver reader, enemies to friends to lovers)

After All- 3.6k Charles Leclerc is your best friend. According to everyone who’s ever seen the two of you together, he’s also madly in love with you.

MV33

Always Walk Me Home- 4.3k You and Max are keeping things casual. Sooo casual. You can be casual. Right?

🍓 can be read as standalone, but for more parts in this universe, check out Strawberry Wine!

Pick You Up- 6.7k When Max has one too many gin & tonics, you’re the one who picks (him) up, every time he calls.

DR3

Blackbird- 10.1k You’re a bartender at a mountain lodge. When Danny shows up, you’re determined to keep your distance. It doesn’t really go to plan.

Sweet Like Grenadine- 5.6k You love weddings. However, you don’t love being stuck by yourself at a wedding, a plus one to a boyfriend who’s too busy for you. Enter Daniel Ricciardo, your knight in shining armor.

LN4

Puzzle Piece - 3.6k You’re always drawn to Lando. He’s always happy to have you near him. Finally, the pieces might just click into place.

Take Care- 7.4k feat. Oscar Piastri! You, Lando, and Oscar are roommates. The three of you promise to take care of each other. It takes you all far too long to admit just how much you mean it.

Blurbs:

I Want Your Midnights // NYE Blurb Drop

1k Celebration Blurbs

[merchelsea]

took care of your girl - max verstappen

pairing: max verstappen + fem! driver!(charles' gf) reader

summary: charles is too busy celebrating his P2 to care about your home dnf, but max is not.

author's note: this is my first time writing for tumblr and im so excited!! i cant believe i actually came up with is.

word count: 4k+

PART TWO

"ugh, you're so boring." charles sighed.

he had been trying to convince you to go celebrate his p2 with him for the last five minutes, but you were just not in the mood for a party.

i mean, this was monza. ferrari's and alfa romeo's home race, but your home race too. you had big expectations for this one.

of course you didn't mind ending up 6th, like you thought you would 4 laps before the end. you just wanted to cross the line. but you didn't.

at lap 50, you collided with sargeant, who was trying to overtake. the williams got to the end, and you didn't. you thought it was so unfair, but there was nothing you could do.

you had done an amazing race, managing to go from 15th to 6th. it was more than enough after a terrible qualifying, and you couldn't understand how someone took that from you in a heartbeat.

you were so angry. all you wanted to do was cry. but you still got out there with your best smile and watched the drivers getting to the podium.

first one to get up there was lando, who once again did a great race for mclaren, ending up 3rd after an 8th in qualifying. he was a great driver and everyone could see it.

then they called charles. the man in ferrari red stepped into the 2nd place with the brightest smile. he was really happy, and so were you. you were happy for him, genuinely.

you smiled and applauded just like everyone. you were so proud of your boyfriend. of how he managed to get that thing they call a car from 13th to 2nd.

the tifosi were out of their minds proud, and so were you.

in that moment, just for that one tiny amount of time, all you felt was happiness.

and then they called max verstappen. you sighed and applauded when the men got to his place. your smile never fading, but growing wider. you were beyond proud, more than what words could ever achieve to show. so you just stood there applauding.

you knew it was boring to see the same person win race after race, always getting to step on that ridiculous number one. but he deserved it, and you were delighted to be able to see his dreams coming true. because he was talented, that’s something no one could deny, but he worked his ass off.

you didn't get to watch them celebrate tho. because, unfortunately, someone called you in the garage.

lewis was already there when you arrived, and he was the first to talk to you.

"hey listen, i'm sorry for what happened. you deseved that 6th." he pat on your shoulder and you smiled, thankful.

"it was a great race, just a bad outcome." you sighed after hugging him casually like you always did after a race. "you nailed it today, congrats!" he thanked you and toto arrived, wanting to talk to both his drivers.

"you were absolutely amazing out there today. every person in this team is very proud." he smiled. "of both of you." his eyes fell on you when he said that. he knew you well, and he could tell you blamed yourself for what happened, even if you didn't show. "the incident with the williams was a shame, but you two fought like hell. i am proud of you."

you faked a smile and thanked toto. his words were comforting but they didn't do much. you were still upset.

that's why the first thing you did when you were free was lock yourself in your driver room. letting your body fall into the couch you reached for your phone to focus your mind on something that was not the race.

but after a little, you heard someone knocking in your door.

"mon amour? it's me. can i come in?" you got up and unlocked the door, facing your smiley boyfriend. he greeted you with a wholehearted kiss, showing you how happy he was for his race.

"hey baby." you smiled to him. "you did so good today, i am the proudest girlfriend in the world." you whispered into the tight hug you pulled him to.

"thank you!" he said simply, not even acknowledging your race. you weren't surprised because he never did, but it was your home race. and somehow you thought that changed something. "so, does the proudest girlfriend in the world want to come and celebrate with her man?"

and that is just how you got into this 'fight'.

"i'm not boring. you know that i would go any other day." you tried to explain yourself. it was kind of embarrassing, having to explain that to the person who's supposed to love you and understand you. "i just dnf'ed, charles. in my home country. after a freaking perfect race. that´s not easy."

"aren´t you happy for me?" he asked, looking at you with a fake sad expression.

"of course i am. you know i am." how could you not be? the monegasque deserved this more than anything.

"then come. why don't you make an effort for me? you know how important this is. and i want you to be by my side." he begged.

he didn't understand you. god, he didn't even try to. he was the one who wasn't making an effort here. he never made, and that's what you've been realizing for quite sometime.

"i'm sorry charles. but not today. you go and enjoy for me." his fake expression suddenly faded to give room to a frown.

"fine." he sighed and left, slamming the door on his way out.

you stood in the drivers room, this time not trying to avoid any thoughts. in fact, you were analyzing the race. from the start to the moment you went out.

all of your overtakes were perfect, not once colliding with other cars. you knew that because you were in the car, but you were looking for something to blame, some other touch that could've damaged the car slightly. but you never found it.

so you cried. you cried looking at the roof of the room. you cried your heart out because you were this close to proving people wrong, you were this close to making your people proud.

you cried until you heard another knock on the door, this time around being the last mechanics in the garage, telling you they would go for dinner and would come back later, leaving you alone for sometime.

when they left, you went to take a look at the car. and observing it, you realized what went wrong. but instead of putting your mind to rest, you started to think about what you could've done to prevent it.

"what are you doing here?" you heard a familiar voice, and turned to face its owner. the dutch was looking down at you, who cried with her head between her knees, in front of her racing car.

max had changed into his normal people clothes, whilst you still wore your racing suit.

"it's my team's garage. what are you doing here?" you asked, highlighting the 'you'.

"i was on my way and saw you here. what happened? why are you here on your own?" he asked. genuine preoccupation in his eyes. you could recognize any expression of his. any and every.

"nothing happened. i just wanted to be alone." you lied. straight up lied into his eyes. that was not something you were used to nor something you liked to do. but you did. and you knew he didn't buy it for a second.

"oh yeah. you decided you wanted to be alone, sitting against a wall, crying, for three hours after the race without showering and changing, just for fun? sounds like something i would do." max ironically said.

"look verstappen, i just wanted to be alone. and i still do, so if you could go away i would appreciate it." you said, getting up to walk to your room.

"don't call me verstappen." he says seriously. you never call him verstappen. "and i'm not leaving you alone after today. i know better than to do that." he follows you, leaning in the door frame when you are about to close the door in his face. "where is your so called boyfriend?"

your left eyebrow shot up as your head turned to look at him. his face remained serious, waiting for an answer.

"celebrating his podium. aren't you supposed to be celebrating your win?" you asked carefully, trying to get him to leave.

"maybe." he crosses his arms in his chest as you turn off your laptop and put it in your bag.

"then go." you said simply, collecting your stuff to go home. you wanted to stay there, but alone.

"not unless you're coming with me." he changes his position again to be more comfortable as you sighed, making him know you were getting tired. but that didn't change anything for him.

"leave, max." you said firmly, looking at him. he mimicked a 'no' with his mouth. "why?" you tried to get out of the room, but just as you passed through the door, the dutch caught your arm, making you look up to face him. your height difference was not too big, but it was still noticeable.

"because i know you, and leaving you alone after a dnf here, is a mistake i don't want to make." he let go of your arm, but you didn't move. "a mistake i'm not going to make." you stepped back, and proceeded to pick up your stuff. "go shower and get dressed, i'll get your stuff. if you are going home, i'm going with you."

"no. i don't want you to come." he laughed.

"care to guess who doesn't give a fuck, darling?"

"do not call me darling. and you are not coming, i wont let you in." you threatened, knowing you would never do such thing.

"then i hope you have money for a new door." he was determined, and you knew he was damn serious about not leaving you alone.

"i hate you." you laughed and as soon as the sound got to his ears his mouth formed a big bright smile. oh, what that laugh did to him. it was even better than winning races.

"if that means i get to come, i'm more than happy. now go shower." you did as he said, going straight to the bathroom.

once inside, you never thought about stuff like not giving the interviews you were supposed to, or how charles never once said he was proud of you.

the only thing you thought about was max, in your room, picking up your stuff so that you could go home with him. and the fact that it wasn't strange nor weird, it was fine.

from the beginning, you two had a special connection with each other. that's why you became best friends so easily, and also why you fell in love with him.

but he never showed reciprocity, so you thought it was a one way thing. god knows that if he had gave you one minimal sign, you would've never ended up with charles. the thing his, he didn't.

since your red bull day's, in his eyes you were just friends. or at least that's what you thought.

cause it turns out that the world champion is a way better liar than you could imagine. or you are just blind. because the signs were always there, you just doubted yourself enough to be oblivious to them.

it was the little things. like you being the first person he talked to after every freaking race. or how he was always in his best mood for you, but only for you. how he always said he was proud of you after a race, it didn't matter if you ended up first or last. he always came to you, hugged you tight and whispered "you were amazing, i'm so proud of you".

that's the kind of thing you noticed but never payed attention to. and that's exactly why you are with charles now. because he, on the other hand, was direct and shoot his shot.

he didn't love you and you didn't love him, but you felt good with each other, and it was nice having someone. you both knew it from the start, even if you denied with every thing in yourselves. it was just so obvious now.

you got out of the bathroom with hair still wet, but already dressed in your black sweat pants and your light pink top. max had picked every single thing, leaving your room exactly how you found him.

"let's go?" he asked, after a couple of seconds observing and admiring you.

you nodded in response and tossed your car keys to him.

"you drive, i sing." he picked them and laughed.

"deal." you made your way to your, brand new, white mercedes in a comfortable silence. but when you closed the doors, he broke it. "i don't want you blaming yourself, williams got a 10 second penalty for a reason. you were amazing, i'm so proud of you."

"you always say that." you smiled, looking at him.

"because it's true. i am proud of you."

"i know, and i am proud of you too. it's just that you always say the exact same thing." you noticed. max was sure you never took note of his words, but he didn't know how much they meant to you.

"i guess it became kind of our thing now." with now, he meant the past 3 years. you just nodded and smiled, searching through your phone for a good song.

"hey max?" you called, still unsure if you should mention it. he muttered something you didn't understand due to being focused on your words. "you know you don't have to do this, right?"

"do what, y/n?" he asked, fully focused on the car as he started driving.

"care because he didn't." straight to the point, we can see some improvements.

"omg, you can be so dumb sometimes." he talked, out loud, to himself. you didn't understand, so he might just be right. which is something you'll never say.

"huh?" you muttered, confused. he was indeed right.

"i care. i always do. i would have cared even if he had some decency in that shitty brain of his and had, at least, taken you home. do you actually believed i would have to go through the mercedes garage to get to my car?" he laughed, your face full of confusion, reflecting what was happening inside of your mind. "i was looking for you. i thought charles had took you home, or out, but i had this little thing inside of me telling me to check."

"oh yeah, that was me sending you telepathic messages." you joked. "thank you for coming, max. this is just a very important day for charles."

"whatever helps you sleep at night, y/n. and i would always come, any day and anytime." max took his eyes off the road to face you.

"are you saying racing is not important for him?" you focused on the first sentence.

"i'm saying he would do this on a regular tuesday. and i'm saying i would come after winning at zandvoort if you were needed me." he sighed. "you should stop lying to yourself." now was your turn to sigh. just as he layed his eyes on the road, your right hand went through your hair.

frustration, anger, sadness, loneliness.

"i'm not lying to myself, you don't know him like i do."

"i may not, but i know you. better than he ever will. you don't love him, and i bet my career you never even managed to lie to him about it." ding ding ding, max verstappen, the mr. knows it all was right once again. you are mad at him for knowing you so damn well.

"if i didn't, then why would i be with him?" you tried again. fooling max was getting more difficult by the day.

"we both know why." he said to your eyes, turning his head when he was done talking. damn, max.

the rest of the ride was completely silent, you wanted to say something but you couldn't. you simply could not. you couldn't even put on some music to relieve the tension.

all those questions coming to your head like gun shots "does he really know?" "why didn't he say something?" "does he see me the way i saw him? the way i still see him." every single one of them wounding you, creating a whole you couldn't close.

he was silent as well, his mind a little quieter than yours. that had been stressing his mind ever since you told him about charles, and now he couldn't keep it in.

not when the girl he loved was left alone by her boyfriend for a fucking party. he would've never do such thing, max would've been by her side, letting her know how proud he was, how loved she was.

the dutch was so angry, it took him everything to stay silent in that ride. but he did it, because it wasn't your fault. he was mad at charles, for not being a good enough boyfriend. he was infuriated because the monegasque couldn't make you happy. he was out of his mind because the greened eye ferrari driver took the place in your life that he wanted. that, in his head and heart, was supposed to be his.

the first glimpse of voice came from his mouth, when you were already in your apartment. monza was the only racing place you had somewhere to call home.

"come here." he opened his arms, when you looked at him. you expected him to talk, you wanted him to talk, but that was the only thing max said. the only thing he wanted in that moment was to feel you close, feel like he was protecting you from every bad thing.

of course you went, you would always go. his armes embraced you almost immediately and you closed your eyes, trying desperately to feel him closer. you could try to deny it but you missed him more than anything.

"i'm sorry." you apologized. none of you knew what you were talking about, yet at the same time, you both knew exactly what you meant.

max didn't respond, not with an "it's okay" nor a "not your fault". he simply kissed the top of your head while stroking your hair, and you knew it was okay. everything was fine between you two.

maybe not fine, but they were okay for now.

"break up with him." he half advised you half asked you. everyone knew that was the right thing to do, but he wanted you to do it for other reasons too, not just because it was right.

you chuckled into his chest, causing him to push a little just to face you.

"you talk like it's easy." he stepped back, separating the two bodies completely.

"breakups aren't easy, but yours, particularly, is. it's as simple as it sounds." he went back to the serious features.

"it's still a break-up."

"breakups only hurt when you love each other. do you love him?" you stood silent as he stepped closer. you watched as he brought his hand to your chin, caressing him once there's contact. "tell me. do you love him?"

"i don't." you let out as a sigh. instead of smiling, like you expected, max's face did the exact opposite.

"then why are you with him?" he asked in a low, tired voice. he was trying to find an explanation where he was not in the middle. he wanted to know that he was not involved in the why you weren't happy.

max knew, deep down, that you felt something for him. he always had that feeling. but, in his defense, you didn't make it easy for him. hiding it, locking the feelings in a deep part of your yourself, where no one could find them. bringing up some made-up-boy whenever you felt like you where being to obvious, constantly telling him he was like a big brother you could talk about that sort of thing. you had covered up the truth pretty damn well.

but even with all of that, he knew. something in him just knew. and all he could think about now was how he could've changed something, how you wouldn't be with someone who didn't deserve you if he had just done something.

he had tons of opportunities to ask you out on a date, or tell you how he really felt. it was just hard to believe you would feel something for him sometimes, so he waited for you. he waited until it was too late.

"i like him." you lied again. it was the second time you lied straight into his eyes in such a little time. that pissed him off. you should never feel the need to lie to him.

"bullshit. we both know that you're with him because i never risked losing you for how i felt. i never got to shoot my shot, and he did. that's why you are with him."

you lowered your head, both hands going to your face immediately. you felt like crap.

"what do you expect me to say?" you asked, raising your voice. your eyes finally fell on his.

"i don't expect you to say anything. i just want you to cut this thing you two have going on." his gaze never left your face, not even when you weren't looking at him. "you don't deserve this. you deserve to be happy. to be treated right. you deserve to be loved right."

another sight and then silence filled the room. no one could say anything.

"just..." he started, leading your eyes to look for his. "do you still..?"

"yes, max" you shot automatically, your voice sounded like a cry, but that didn't matter.

he sighed, relieved. and then stepped closer again, pulling your body to his, in a hug. he let you cry against his shoulder, while he cried silently against yours.

you pulled away to look into his eyes, smiling silently. even being like this, you had just found out that this was no 'one way thing', he felt the same.

"stop smiling. i'm fighting over here not to kiss you." you laughed, that was the best thing you could've heard that day.

"don't." you searched for his hand, taking it into yours once you've found it.

"i would love to, believe me. but as much as i want this, you have to be fully single first." his eyes were so bright that you were sure they could glow in the dark. you always loved his eyes.

"i love you, max." you whispered with the biggest smile on your face.

"i love you too." he whispered back. your smile growing impossibly wider.

max kissed the top of your head before leaving your room. it was a bit past 4a.m. and you had just finished watching a rom-com movie you liked.

it's fascinating how you two fit so perfectly. it's like you've been handmade for each other.

of course that, on his way out, max had to find charles coming. because that's just your life.

the dutch and the monegasque spent a little of time just staring at each other.

"what are you... what did you do in there?" charles asked breaking the awful silence that had been installed. you could hear everything from the inside of the room due to the paper thin walls.

"i took care of your girl." you would pay to see charles’ face that moment. "not so yours anymore, i guess." max said with his most serious face. he definitely won the idgaf war.

"not so mine anymore? mate, what are you talking about?" his confusion was deeply amplified by the alcohol in his system.

"i don't know man, figure it out." the world champion responded and walked out.

he knew that the moment he walked out charles would enter that room and lay in the same bed you were. but he didn't mind, he trusted you fully. and on top of everything, he knew that no matter what, he was the one you loved.

so when he closed that door, he had a smile on his face, knowing damn well he would open her soon.

[leclsrc]

happy 3k mother! "quick speaking" and "animated" for dad!charles? thank you!

first words – cl16

Your daughter says her first word, but you’re the only one that seems to think so.

“Omygod omygod omygooood!”

The squeal from down the hall gradually grows louder as you bound into the living room, facing a roomful of your friends. You wave your phone around, where you’ve just hung up on your daughter’s babysitter, hopping up and down. “You guys, you’re not going to believe this. Felicite’s babysitter put her on the phone, and while I was saying goodnight, she said her first word!”

The game of Monopoly (you all wish you were cool enough for poker) ceases and Lily and Isa sit straighter, excitement drawn bright all over their faces. The seat directly in front of you shakes with how quick Charles gets up, smiling dopily. “Are you serious?!”

“Oh, yes! It was—oh, you guys, it was so cute.” You’re speaking so quick you can barely register what you’re saying.

“Okay, okay—ooh, okay, what’d she say?” Isa asks, clapping her hands together and gesturing for you to get to the point faster. 

“She said bloviate!” You exclaim with a flourish of your hands, smiling widely.

The room visibly deflates and the game picks back up instantly. Charles even sits back down.

You frown, mouth hung open in disdain instead of excitement now, huffing quietly as your friends express amusement over your fit of unwarranted thrill. You pout, tapping several times on your fiance’s shoulder. He moves his Monopoly piece out of jail before turning to you.

“Hel-lo? Isn’t that exciting?” You emphasize, humming.

He smiles. “Oui, it’s great, honey.” He turns back to examine his money.

You pat again. “Uh? You don’t sound excited!”

“Oh, I am. I am!” He stands, disengaging himself from the game and turning to you. He places both hands on either side of your waist. “But sweetie, bloviate is not a word.”

“What?” You place your hands around his neck and scoff, laughing. “Um, yes it is?”

“Okay,” he tests slowly, “then what does it mean?”

“I don’t know—hey, you don’t even speak full English, mister.” You roll your eyes. “I’m telling you, Charles, it’s a word.”

“I love you. But it isn’t.” Alex calls for Charles to roll his dice. “Count me out of this round, guys.”

“Sure, we’ll bloviate your money,” Carlos says casually, sipping a beer.

You sputter, wrestling out of Charles’ arms and pointing at Carlos with animated excitement. “See! He just said it! Carlos just said it, it’s a word! Say it again.”

He sips again, inhales a bit. Then smiles. “I was kidding. That word doesn’t exist.”

You groan, flipping him off and turning back to your fiance’s amused, fond face. He presses a sure kiss to the corner of your lip. “It’s so cute, honey, but it really is not a word. M’kay?” He kisses you again for good measure and leaves you standing idly as he resumes his turn.

You nearly can’t believe it—you had all taken this trip with friends to spend a weekend off, and not only do you physically miss Felicite’s first word, but nobody seems to believe it’s a word at all. You huff again. “I’m looking it up, Charles.”

“Honey—”

“Up, up, up!” You silence him. “This is the real deal, guy. You’re about to be proven so wrong. You’re going to wish you stayed on the call a few seconds longer.” You type, frenetic, for a definition on Google and start hollering once you’re given a result. Your verdict is right—it’s a word.

“A-ha!” Charles stands up again, stationing himself beside you and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. He kisses your forehead, smiling and shutting his eyes with how adoring he is not only of his daughter, miles away, but of you, giddy over a word that sounded like total gibberish to him just a few seconds ago. Screw it if he’s a bit jealous. Your happiness makes up for it.

“What’s it mean?” Lily asks, rifling through her stack of cash.

“Um, let’s see…” You pause, clearing your throat to read. “‘To speak a lot in an annoying way as if you are very important.’”

Everyone hums and nods, a light round of cheers and applause at the confirmation of Felicite’s first word. You smile up at Charles, slotting your mouths together in a chaste kiss.

“Can we babysit Feli next week?” Alex chimes in. “By the looks of it, you’re leaving her with Max a bit too often.”

[silvervioletvalentine]

🦋It’s true, it’s always been you 🦋

Pairing: Max verstappen X Cherrie!

Word count: 13.3k

Summary: in which Cherrie and max hate eachother so much that they fake date. Fall in love and traumatise their friends in the process.

Max swore that he hadn't meant to lie to his friends , he really didn’t . He had just made the small mistake of not really paying attention , already growing annoyed at the relationship talk that was taking place at the table around him .

Everybody else all happy with their partners and so grossly in love that it made max feel sick just to hear yet another cute little story about the picnic dates, surprise trips and romantic walks on the beach that they were having. Christ , talk about sickly.

Was he also feeling a tad bit bitter about his own long term singleness and dried up love life? No, not at all!

In fact he was completely happy on his own. He didn't need a woman messing with his head anyways , he already had Cherrie for that. She wasn't even his girlfriend and yet the annoying brat drove him mental and most of his days were spent trying to one up her in their petty arguments .

Even going as far as finding something that she couldn't do... like when she told them that she couldn't bake, max had found it in him to become a bakery overnight . Smugly shoving his homemade cupcakes in her face the next morning while she glared at him like he was the devil killing puppy's, threatening to shove her heel up his ass if he didn't back away from her immediately.

Which was why it was completely cherries fault that he did what he did next .

Having been caught up with gazing over at her by the bar, watching as she threw back vodka shots like they were water. Her silver dress shining underneath the lights , long legs crossed over each other as she gossiped with her friends.

So when Lando was teasing him for not having a girlfriend still, he found himself rolling his eyes in annoyance and opening up his big mouth before he could even think of the consequences of his next actions.

He looked at them blankly and straight up lied for no reason. "I do have a girlfriend actually." Enjoying the Brief feeling of watching the rest of the drivers pause their chatter to look over at him in shock.

Daniel was looking at him in disbelief , blinking rapidly . Opening and closing his mouth several times before a loud "what?! Who?!" Came hurling his way in shock.

Lando quickly echoing his disbelief as he looked at max with wide eyes. "You have a girlfriend?!" He repeated in surprise "since when?" He wanted to know.

Charles , Pierre and Carlos were looking at him with similar expressions of 'what the fuck?' And 'no way!'. Charles even going as far as snorting , smirking over at him . Having been spending way to much time with Cherrie , who happened to be his best friend, which meant that her bitchy meanness had started to rub off on him.

It was another reason why he couldn't stand her, even when she wasn't there in front of him. Her sidekick was doing her bitchy trade for her instead.

She had trained the Ferrari driver well and max was sick of seeing the two of them together, gossiping between them and judging everybody that passed them by.

Charles on his own was just fine , max could deal with him without any problem. He could even chat with him casually if he felt like it.

But Charles with Cherrie? Was a total fucking nightmare. They were like the terror twins and Cherrie was nothing but a bad influence on him.

Before meeting her Charles would have never had dared to look max in his face and laugh . Would never have had the confidence to scoff and give him a judgemental glance, snickering underneath his breath at him.

That was all Cherrie. Max was certain that her bitchiness was contagious . That had to be the reason for this bullshit.

"There's no way you have a girlfriend." Charles muttered in amusement , squinting his eyes at him. Already glancing over his shoulder to see where Cherrie was at the bar , ready to call her over so that they could gossip about this shit together like they usually did.

There was nothing more that Cherrie loved than teasing max for his long term sickness (singleness. Again. She was a mean little bitch!). Many a hour she had spent teasing him and rubbing it in his face about how she was never single and he always was.

The two always ending up fighting when max shot back that the only reason she wasn't single was because she was a attention seeking whore who couldn't stand to be alone .

He was right but Cherrie would never admit it. Instead she would argue with him instead. Neither of them yielding , trading insults and sarcasm until the sun started coming back up and one of their friends had to forcibly separate them.

Max narrowed his eyes at Charles, his grip on his beer bottle tightening at the condensing tone in his voice .

That two week holiday with Cherrie had turned him into a catty bitch. A complete replica of his best friend. Max thought in Annoyance. Trying to stay calm.

"Yes I do. And it's been going on a while.. it's just private." He continued to lie. Unable to pinpoint the reason to why he kept up his bullshit, only knowing that he wasn't go to stop now.

As soon as he saw Charles roll his eyes and the rest of his friends grin between themselves like it was so disbelieving that he could have a girlfriend , as though it was completely impossible.

He knew he was fucked.

"Oh really?" Charles smirked at him in amusement , exchanging a glance with Pierre beside him. "Who's the unlucky girl then?" He asked him.

And max. Max didn't know why he did it. Why he said it or why the thought even sparked up in his mind.

But he glanced over to the bar again and caught sight of the bane of his existence laughing loudly with her head thrown back, long hair shining and eyes squeezed closed in mirth as she giggled with her friends.

And he opened his big, lying mouth and blurted out "Cherrie. You'll know her very well I suppose."

The whole table froze. Mouth dropping open as Lando gasped loudly in shock, Daniel bursting into laughter while Charles smile slowly slid off his face, eyes going wide in disbelief.

"Cherrie? My Cherrie?!" He exclaimed loudly , slamming his glass down onto the table in shock. Looking at him as though he was expecting max to just burst out laughing and tell him that it was all a joke. That he wasn't dating Cherrie at all.

Max didn't laugh. He stuck with his lie, enjoying wiping the smug look off of his face.

He hid his smirk behind his beer bottle "I think you mean my Cherrie now." He simply responded , trying not to laugh at the look on everyone's faces.

Charles was shaking his head in denial . "No! There's no way mate. You hate each other!" He reminded him as though he had forgotten their constant arguing.

Pierre was nodding along in agreement , beyond confused . "Yeah.. I mean just last week she told you that she was going to break your knees If you ever touched her compact mirror again." He said.

Max paused for a moment , pursing his lips as he glanced over at said threatening , gorgeous maniac at the bar. Oblivious to the shit that he was currently dragging her into .

"That was..just a joke. She was joking." He muttered , lying through his teeth. Grimacing as he recalled the utter fury on her pretty face when he had been fiddling around with her Chanel compact mirror , trying to wind her up.

Then he had dropped it and she had almost dropped him , Face first onto the floor with her fists. That girl was completely material and max was certain that if she had to choose between her designer wardrobe or her friends , she would proudly declare Chanel as her new best friend instead.

Charles looked at him with a frown, mouth gaping open. "No she wasn't! You- you can't be serious! She would have told me!" He exclaimed, not believing his lie in slightest.

Max was in far too deep to start backing out now. Instead he rolled his eyes, actually getting annoyed by how they all seemed to think that there was no way on Earth Cherrie would ever look at him that way. It was more than insulting and he honestly felt a little hurt by their snickering and disbelief.

He knew that Cherrie was like... a thousand on a scale of ten. When she wasn't spitting venom on him and going on her sarcastic rants , she was a pure vision to be seen.

Max might have hated her but he wasn't blind. She had the kind of looks that made you stop in your steps and do a double take . Or a triple take.

Max could still remember the first time he had caught a glimpse of her at the paddock, there with Charles for the weekend. He had been stunned, stood frozen in his place like he had seen an Angel , watching her laugh freely , a smile so bright and beautiful that it lit up her entire face.

Then she had opened said mouth and all that attraction had went rushing down the drain because she was mean. A real Mean woman that had a razor for a tongue and could be a weapon for men's egos everywhere .

You had confidence? One look from Cherrie and no you didn't! She had the judgmental glance cut down to a T. It was honestly impressive.

In fact sometimes she and max argued without even saying a word . Simply arguing through squinted eyes and pinched expressions on their faces , it honestly freaked out their friends to witness the way that they could silently communicate from across a crowded room like that.

But instead of using their obvious connection for good, they used it for petty arguments instead.

"She doesn't need to tell you everything." Max countered back to him.

Hiding his grimace as he caught cherries curious eye from across the bar, lifting a eyebrow at him as she slowly lifted up her fist up to rest against her cheek, then lifted up her middle finger at him. Giving him a sarcastic smile too.

He looked back a frowning Charles, stomach turning as he just began to realise what the fuck he had done.

He had told their friends that he and Cherrie (who was still swearing at him from across the bar) that they were dating. There was absolutely no way that she would go along with this and he knew that she would happily call him out on his bullshit and get a good laugh at out if too.

So it was with that humiliating thought in mind that he quickly got to his feet , gave his still shocked and confused friends a casual nod of his head before turning around and beelining it straight towards the she devil herself .

I just need to get to her before Charles does. He thought to himself in a slight panic , hurrying over to her as fast as he could without physically running.

Cherrie looked up at him with a scowl as he came to a stop beside her , pursing her lips as she looked up at him from her seat. Twirling her straw around her cocktail glass, looking at him expectantly.

"Cherrie..." he breathed out , clearing his throat awkwardly as his mind went blank. Forcing his eyes away from her red. Pouty lips that were sucking at the straw, her eyes never leaving his , feeling his heart pounding in his chest.

Cursing everything that she had to look like a Goddamn sin in front of him. Why was it the crazy ones that were always so fucking hot?

How was this fair for his sanity?

She blinked up at him blankly . "Yes max? How can I help you today?" She drawled out , giving him a fake smile. Elbow resting on the bar as she rested her cheek in her hand, swinging her legs back and forth in front of him boredly.

He swallowed, giving her a tense smile as he leaned against the bar next to her as casually as he possibly could. Aware of their friends watching their interaction closely . Charles especially.

Cherrie eyed him suspiciously when he gently brushed her perfectly curled hair over her shoulder, eyes narrowing up at him dangerously.

"You look very pretty today." He tried to be nice , he really did. And it wasn't a lie. She looked beautiful but the look she gave him in response wasn't so pretty.

She looked him up and down judgmentally "I always look pretty. What have you done max? Actually I don't care. Whatever you've done I want no part in it!" She told him firmly. Sipping on her cocktail again casually. Glancing away from him.

Max sighed , expecting this. But he couldn't pussy out now. His pride was resting on this and the stubborn woman in front of him.

Why had he blurted out her name? He wondered in misery. Why had he told his friends that the one woman that loves to torture him and get underneath his skin was his girlfriend? Why?

Then he glanced at her smirking red lips and pretty eyes and knew exactly why he had said her name.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life and a tiny part of him (a huge part of him. All of him) wanted to be able to have a woman like her by his side. To be able to brag to his friends that he had the most gorgeous partner out of them all.

Because despite their constant arguing, he looked forward to her petty remarks and sarcastic rants. He looked forward to their bickering and the little looks she would give him when he would deliberately say something stupid just to get her reaction . One which she always gave him without missing a beat.

He enjoyed the way she would send him little texts throughout the week. A picture of a bull's ass along with the sweet words 'didn't know you were in Texas today!' . Continuing to send him pictures and insults all throughout her holiday just to wind him up.

He liked the way that they were both so similar , the same mean and judgemental humour. Because she might have been an asshole but so was he. He liked the way she would immediately look over to him whenever someone said something stupid , both of them sharing a look between them, a quick raise of the brow and a silent 'can you believe this guy?'.

He would never admit it but he enjoyed their bickering just as much as he enjoyed her bitchy remarks and sarcastic looks. She was the only one that dared to even go up against him like that, the only one that wasn't afraid to match him with his bullshit.

It was nice. She wasn't and he wasn't but he liked that they could be assholes together. Was that so bad?

He sighed loudly , looking at her pleadingly. "Cherrie..I may have.. fucked a little bit." He admitted to her as though it pained him because admitting that he was in the wrong to her did bite at him. It was hard.

Cherrie just side eyed him. "That's not new. But what has it got to do with me?" She muttered over the rim of her glass.

Looking over his shoulder and frowning slightly as she caught the way Charles was scowling over at them, meeting her eyes with a unimpressed look on his face .

"The fuck? Why is Charles glaring at us?" She questioned , confused as fuck to why her best friend looked so pissy.

Max grimaced , clearing his throat a little as he looked at her a little apologetically. "Yeah.. that has something to do with me fucking up. I may have .. lied to him." He mumbled , embarrassed.

Cherrie frowned at him in confusion "okay? About what?" She asked him warily , finally paying attention to him properly . Getting uneasy at the little, sheepish smile he gave her .

"I-er- I told him and all of them- that I had a girlfriend." He told her , fidgeting with the bar top anxiously . Unable to meet her eyes.

Cherrie looked at him in confusion "but you don't have a girlfriend . Unless you're calling your right hand the love of your life now." She snorted , giggling when he glared at her sharply.

Gritting his teeth as he inhaled deeply, trying to stay calm.

"Cherrie.." he gritted out "I told them that you're my girlfriend." He bluntly told her , knowing that there was no point beating around the bush.

Cherrie was still giggling at her own little joke, barely paying attention as she wiped underneath her eyes to make sure that her mascara didn't smudge from her tears of laughter.

"Ahh god. Well that's too bad but-" she abruptly stopped laughing. Head snapping back over to him with wide eyes, mouth dropping open in shock.

"Did you just say I'm your girlfriend?!" She exclaimed loudly , looking at him like he was insane .

Max quickly hushed her, repeatedly tapping at her arm to get her to quieten down. Glancing over his shoulder to see their friends still sending them curious looks, Charles looking like he wanted to kill him.

He hissed at her quietly "shut up! Not so loud! I told you that I fucked up! I just blurted out your name and now they think that we're together." He rushed out, quickly explaining his situation to her.

Cherrie scoffed at him, slapping his hand away from her arm. "Then tell them that you lied and that it Isn't true!" She said as though it was that simple.

It was Max's turn to look at her like she was insane . "No way! They'll never let me live it down! You have to help me!" He pleaded to her desperately out of options.

Cherrie laughed in his face "I don't have to do anything! As If they'd even believe it!" She snapped back at him, cheeks flushing despite her attitude. Not expecting to be demanded to be his girlfriend all of a sudden .

Max looked at her, insulted. "What’s that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that i date the Tom Brady's and the Henry cavill's. Not the verstappens!" She exclaimed at him, letting him drag her along to the corner of the bar , out of sight from their friends. Tucked in the dark corner of the room, max glared down at her in disbelief.

"Are you saying that I'm ugly?!"

She rolled her eyes at him . Huffing. "No. Just that I can do better!" She shot back at him.

Max pulled a face at her, scoffing at her arrogance. "You'd be lucky to have me! You're not that great! You've got a nice face but everything else isn't as good!" He insulted her, reaching down to adjust her necklace so that the hook was at the back of her neck instead.

Cherrie didn't even flinch at his hand near her neck, used to him fixing her clothing and jewellery for her. He had been doing it ever since he overheard her complaining about her hair getting caught in her necklace to her friend once.

It was the same way that Cherrie silently fixed his tie for him at events , muttering that she was going to strangle him with it if he continued to do it so sloppily. It was their weird normal.

"Shut up! I'm not pretending to be your girlfriend max. That means I'll have to spend time with you... willingly." She complained , leaning against the wall with a huff .

Max stood in front of her with his hands pressed to his hips. Frowning at her . "Come on Cherrie! I can't be humiliated like this. They'd never let me live it down. They've all got these perfect relationships and it just- I just was sick or being teased for be the only single one alright?" He sighed out to her, looking at her pleadingly . "I wouldn't ask this of you for no reason..."

She looked at him in silence for a moment , chewing on the inside of her cheek with a pissed off frown that he was dragging her into this and asking her to lie to her friends too.

"What do I get out of it? I don't want a boyfriend yet." She whined , looking up at him with a pissy pout on her face .

Max sighed, rolling his eyes at her. "Hawaii?"

She paused , pout quickly disappearing at the thought of a free holiday. "Two weeks?"

"One week." He negotiated.

She looked at him sternly "two weeks. And I want to drive your new Ferrari for a week too." She told him with a grin, wrapping her arm around his neck loosely as she looked up at him through her dark lashes prettily .

Max pursed his lips, looking down at her, unimpressed . "Two weeks and you're not going anywhere near my car."

She sighed dramatically, slowly going to pull away from him as she casually shrugged her shoulders at him. "Well I guess you can go back there and explain to them that you lied about me being your girlfriend"

Max groaned loudly and quickly pulled her back to him, rolling his head in defeat. "Fine. But You're not driving it without me being in the passenger seat." He sighed out .

She let out a small squeal, clapping her hands together in excitement while max tried to hide his amused smile at her behaviour. Shaking his head at her .

"Yay! I can't wait! Okay!" She grinned up at him happily, mood completely taking a full turn at getting a free holiday and getting to drive his Ferrari too. "Let's go then boyfriend!"

She stepped away from him and starting to walk back in the direction of the table where the rest of the drivers were sat, confidently strutting ahead of him while he hurried to catch up to her. Reaching to take ahold of her hand , making her look over her shoulder at him In surprise.

"We need to hold hands. Look affectionate . Otherwise they’re never gonna believe it." He told her , his lips twitching as he intertwined their fingers together slowly , watching her look down at their hands with a grimace. Unused to the casual affection from him.

The closest their hands had been was when they were slapping at eachother childishly during another petty argument.

"Why?" She blurted out , looking confused. She was never that affectionate with her past boyfriends either . She hasn't grown up with people hugging each other or her. Her family were never the caring or affectionate type.

In fact , the last time any of her parents had hugged her was for a press photo at her schools graduation.

She was used to casual moves. She had no problem sticking her tongue down someone's throat in a crowded room. But holding hands? She never held hands with anyone. It felt too intimate . Which she knew was ridiculous.

But she couldn't help it. Her arm erupted in goosebumps as she felt max softly caress her knuckles with his thumb , fixing the strap of her dress with his free hand casually. His eyes never leaving her flushed face .

"Because that's what couples do. Try to be nice?" He muttered to her with a teasing grin, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his as he slowly led them over to the table.

Charles already frowning up at them, looking like he was questioning his whole life

Cherrie didn't answer him. Just shoving him down into the booth and plopping herself down on his lap, giving him a smirk when he let out a startled huff, his pupils widening as he glanced up at her in surprise.

She just wrapped her arm around his neck loosely , feeling everyone's shocked eyes on them.

He wanted her to be nice and affectionate? Alright. She could do that. She'd show him how nice she could be.

It was with that sly thought in mind that she meant her head down and kissed him square on the mouth, a loud and noisy kiss. More for show than anything. Hearing max inhale sharply as he wrapped his own arm around her hips, his eyes fluttering closed as he tightened his grip around hips in response.

Kissing her back more gently than she kissed him, tasting her coconut lipgloss against his lips before she pulled away with a soft hum. Wiping gently at his now lipstick stained lips with her thumb, tapping his cheek with a smirk as she took in his flustered face as he swallowed thickly.

She then casually looked around the table at the gobsmacked friends and smiled brightly. "Having a good night guys?" She chirped at them, reaching for the cocktail glass in Charles hand and swiftly stealing it from him.

Charles was too busy gaping at the two of them to care, his eyes flickering bwgeeen them rapidly in shock. "But- Cherrie- what the fuck?!" He stammered out in  disbelief , feeling like he was going crazy.

Because since when was his best friend dating and kissing max verstappen?

Cherrie just shrugged casually , lifting the glass to her lips about to take a sip before max swooped in and took it from her. Setting it aside on the table and handing her his bottle of beer instead, not wanting her to drink from the same glass as Charles.

Cherrie just  gave him a amused glance, rolling her eyes at him. Max just raising his eyebrows at her with a small shrug, not explaining himself.

"What?" She acted like she had no idea why he looked so shocked. As though it was normal for her to be kissing max instead of fighting with him.

Charles looked at her in disbelief "what?! What do you mean what?! What are you doing? What is this?!" He motioned between her and max with his finger . Mystified and wondering what the hell was going on.

Max smirked at him as he hugged himself against her back, squeezing his arms around her waist , sighing softly as she buried her hand into his hair and gently scratched her nails against his scalp soothingly.

"Me and max are.." she tried not to cringe at the thought of saying boyfriend and girlfriend. "Fucking." She ended up saying instead like the mature woman she was.

Max rolled his eyes at her "we're dating." He corrected her , giving her a look.

She just shrugged "same thing." She muttered leaning back against him and getting comfortable on his lap.

"No it isn't." He muttered back to her.

"Yes it is. That's my dating."

"Just- just shut up." He sighed. Shoving the bottle of beer into her mouth to shut her up and to stop her from arguing with him.

Charles was gaping at them in disbelief "Cherrie! Why didn't you tell me? You told me that you wanted to strangle him yesterday!" He reminded her with wide eyes, wondering what the hell he was missing.

They both paused , Cherrie clearing her throat as she felt max scowling at her, his fingers squeezing her hips a little harder this time.

She smiled sheepishly , laughing as she patted Max's shoulder repeatedly. "Oh ya know!.. that was just..foreplay!" She exclaimed , grinning proud of herself for covering their backs with that one.

Max tried not to face palm, instead digging his forehead against her shoulder blades and trying not to scream. Holy fuck was she a terrible liar.

He glanced up at their friends disbelieving faces and grimaced. Oh dear. He was fucked. Completely fucked if she kept this up.

"I love wrapping my hands around his throat and.." she placed her hand around his throat , her mischievous eyes meeting his amused ones as she mimicked strangling him. Laughing loudly at the unimpressed look he gave her. "Just -yee haw!"

Daniel was laughing hysterically while lando looked between the two of them in amusement , eyeing Max's blushing face, cherries hands around his neck while she grinned obliviously at her best Friend casually. Charles just looked at her in disbelief , speechless.

"Yee haw?" Lando snickered , eyeing the two of them with a grin.

Max shifted in his seat , swallowing as he felt Cherrie shuffle around on his lap again. Swinging her body sideways so that she could rest her feet against the seat instead, her body still facing their friends as she sipped at her beer casually. Not at all bothered by what was going on.

"Yeah. Cause when I ride him-" max slapped his hand over her mouth before she could even finish her sentence but the damage had already been done.

Their friends were laughing at his flustered face while Charles just looked like he was going to be sick.

"But.. max Cherrie? Since when is he your type?" Charles still couldn't believe it. Frowning at her in confusion.

Cherrie swallowed her beer and simply shrugged, glancing down at max silently for a moment. Eyes flittering around his features , lingering on his lipstick stained pout for a moment too long before looking away.

She sighed "I like it when guys bully me." She said.

Pierre gave her a amused look "have you tried therapy? That seems like a personal issue." He snorted. Not at all surprised by her comment. He had heard her say crazier and more unusual things before.

Cherrie looked over at him with a grin, unbothered by the looks she was receiving from around the table. Ranging between amused, concerned and confused.

"Why do I need therapy when I have max to bully me? I mean just one insult and whooooo-" she might have been a little drunk at this point. Having already been drinking endless cocktails before max had even arrived . "My panties are gone! I love it when he's mean- it turns me on-" she told them shamelessly , giggling.

Max carefully pried the bottle from her hands , setting it aside quickly. Laughing awkwardly as he flushed bright red , patting cherries side with a small , amused grin.

"Okayyyy I think- I think we're gonna go!" Be announced . Pulling Cherrie up to her feet before she could even blink. Wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her as she wobbled on her heels , winking up at him drunkenly.

He had to laugh. It looked more like she had something in her eye than a wink. But she looked cute trying. He could give her that.

"Charles!" She said way louder than necessary making him cringe . Her best friend looked up at her tiredly . Far too confused to be dealing with her shit.

"I'll tell you everything.. but not tonight because this is my night. And Max's night. And max is gonna take me home. Aren't you max?" She rambled , hugging him from the side as she clung onto him with a drunken grin. Batting her eyelashes up at him.

He laughed and nodded his head, helping her out of the booth. "Yes I am." He agreed . Grabbing his jacket from his chair and helping her put it on so that she wouldn't be cold when they got outside in her tiny dress.

He huffed as she almost slapped him with her arm, leaning all of her weight against him as she made it more difficult for him to fasten up the jacket. Giggling like a naughty child as she moved around, trying to see Charles properly over his broad shoulders .

"Love you!" She called over to him, waving her hand at them chaotically.

Charles sighed long and hard. "Love you too but this isn't over!" He warned them, more to max than Cherrie. Narrowing his eyes at him. "I still don't believe this." He said . Not believing his lie.

Max just looked at him blankly "I don't care what you believe. It's the truth." He countered back, untucking cherries hair from his jacket so it didn't pull and hurt her head. "So..." he gave him a sarcastic smile, shrugging dramatically . "Bye bye!"

And with that max practically carried Cherrie out of the bar while she giggled incoherently against his neck, hugging him and refusing to let go.

So far. Max would say that it was going well. And he felt like he was definitely getting the full girlfriend experience when he was sat behind her on his knees at three o'clock in the morning , holding back her hair while she threw up her body's worth in liquor. Sobbing against the toilet lid as she promised to never drink again, max patting her back with a grimace as she babbled away to him tearfully.

It reminded him quickly that even the beautiful ones were a complete mess sometimes. And he had to laugh when he wiped her mouth and brushed her teeth for her, her eyes blackened with mascara from crying. Clinging onto him , still drunk and still such a mess as she spoke around the toothbrush tearfully

"Am i a good girlfriend yet?"

He just laughed and wiped her makeup streaked face with a wet towel affectionately. "You're doing a great job honey."

A week later and Cherrie was stood in front of her mirror , turning this way and that way as she tried on different dresses. Max sat at the end of her bed with his head resting in his hands, watching her get ready quietly.

"Do we have to go? I think they already believe us." She whined a little , not wanting to go to fancy restaurant when she could just stay at home instead.

Over the past week max and her and hung out almost everyday to sell their act. The first day that max had arrived at her door with a grin and a demand to come golfing with their friends, Cherrie had threatened to run him over with the  golfing kart.

Now , when he turned up at her door with a smile and a invitation to dinner with their friends , Cherrie had greeted him with a smile and dragged him to her bedroom to give him a small Fashion show of all her new dresses that she had bought . Max just humming along and nodding at them all, telling her that she looked pretty in them all.

"Yes we do. Do you really want to say no to free food?" He knowingly looked at her , fidgeting with the heels in his hands that she was having him hold onto while she tried to find ones that looked best with her dress.

Cherrie sighed loudly "no." She mumbled as she clipped earrings into her ears with a pout. "But still..oh my god..." she got distracted by her own reflection. Running her hands over the dress in amazement.

Eyes going dramatically wide as she looked in the mirror and met max eyes that were already on her . He hadn’t looked away from her since the moment she opened the door to her home and let him in with that damn smile lighting up her pretty face .

“Do you think my ass has gotten bigger?!" She wondered , Turning to the side again and running her hands over her butt in the skintight dress she was wearing , admiring herself with a small smile.

Max looked down at her ass silently , blinking heavily as he bit down on his lip, slowly nodding his head up and down in a daze.

“Yeah ..it's - it’s perkier." He said in amazement , unable to look away. Instead he slid his eyes up to her chest that was hanging out of the thin material too.

He grinned cheekily at her "I think your boobs have gotten bigger too." He told her casually. As though they were chatting about the weather.

Cherrie turned around with a loud giggle, looking pleased. "I know right! My bra size has gone up! Isn't it amazing? I mean .." she gushed confidently , excitedly. "I can't wait till Hawaii. I'm going to look amazing in a bikini!" She exclaimed.

Max chuckled , nodding his head along to her as he handed her heels back . Smiling to himself when she placed her hand on his shoulder to balance herself as she quickly put them on. Her chest right in his face as he shamelessly stared at her definitely bigger than before boobs in awe.

"For sure. I think your mouth has gotten bigger too."

She slapped the back of his head without missing a beat as she straightened back up, rolling her eyes at his teasing as he laughed loudly at her reaction . Grinning up at her slyly.

"Asshole!" She picked up her clutch bag and strutted out of her bedroom, max quickly hot on her heels . "Anything you want me to do tonight?"

Max groaned loudly like he was in pain "don't say stuff like that Cherrie! You're setting yourself up!" He almost whined. So many jokes and such little time.

Cherrie just giggled and let him take a hold of her hand again, used to it now. "Ya know.. this is going to ruin my reputation. Holding hands and all that.." she told him as she locked up behind her, max swinging their hands between them happily .

He looked down at her in amusement , smirking. "You're whorish reputation?" He mused , laughing at the look she gave him. Exasperated.

She huffed at him, side eyeing him as they walked down to the restaurant that was around the corner from her apartment where they had agreed to meet their friends.

"Yes actually." She said proudly , not ashamed of her whore era at all. "How am I going to bag a footballer now?" She joked, grinning up at him teasingly.

Max snickered "are they any left? You've already gone through them all haven't you?" He shot back at her with a shit eating grin.

Laughing hysterically when she started hitting him with her clutch bag, cursing him out . Paying no Mind to the looks they were getting as they entered the restaurant, max leading her over to their table while laughing still.

"That's unnecessary! It wasn't that many!" She complained to him. Handing him her clutch bag absentmindedly as she smiled to their friends.

Max took the mini pink bag from her, holding it casually as he pulled out the chair for her . "Just a team or two.." he grinned unable to help himself from winding her up.

She huffed , sliding into her seat carelessly. "Keep trying me max. I will body you." She threatened him , picking up her wine glass that Charles had already ordered her. Taking a big gulp , oblivious to the amused stares they were getting from around the table. Too immersed in their own little bickering bubble to care.

"In bed?" He resorted cheekily , laughing when she just rolled her eyes at him.

Charles looked at her with a small smile, still not used to the sight of the two of them together . Watching the way max passed her a napkin and topped up her wine for her as their food was served.

"Are you coming to qualifying next week?" Charles asked her. The two of them usually travelling together and Cherrie hanging out in the Ferrari garage supporting him.

She glanced over at him apologetically "er- no. I'm gonna hang out with max this time. Cause he's-" she hesitated , glancing over at max who gave her a small encouraging nod. Still not used to calling him

Her boyfriend. Fake or not. "-My boyfriend and I should support him right?" She poked at her plate with a small grimace after taking a few small bites.

Charles frowned at her "and I'm your best friend. You're team Ferrari . Not redbull."

Max smirked at him smugly "actually she is team redbull now seeing as she's dating their driver.

No more red." He proudly stated . Before glancing over at Cherrie when she made another small huff.

"What?" He muttered , raising a brow at her curiously.

She nudged at her plate with a small sigh "I don't like the chicken." She muttered with a subtle pout , glancing over at his steak with hearts in her eyes.

Max frowned back at her , completely exasperated "why did you get it then?!" He countered back. Used to her doing this by now.

Just last night they had gotten a takeaway, a pizza for her and a Chinese noodles for him. He hadn't  even gotten to take a second bite of his food before she was eyeing up his plate with a pout, giving him pleading eyes as she told him that she didn't fancy pizza anymore.

She was an absolute nuisance!

"Because I wanted it when I ordered it but now I don't . Can we swap?" She asked him hopefully, eyeing up his steak, not even bothering to be subtle about it now. She knew that she would get her own way eventually , a few pretty blinks of her lashes at him and he was done for .

Max huffed at her "absolutely not. You've made your bed so lie in it." He told her firmly .

Lando and Charles could only watch in silent disbelief as Cherrie pouted at him, nudging his arm quietly , tilting her head at him prettily, looking at him pleadingly. Going all out with the puppy look towards him, seconds away from whining too.

She had no shame. Especially not where food was involved.

And max caved . Max, who didn't share food.

Max, who had threatened to break lando's fingers the last time he had tried to take a slice of his pizza for himself .

He slid his plate over to Cherrie and swapped their plates with a exasperated sigh, giving her a judgmental side eye as he did so.

"You're so annoying. You need help." He muttered to her before taking a bite of the chicken , watching her happily dig into his steak with a pleased look on her pretty face.

Lando looked over at him in pure disbelief "how come you'll give her your food but not me?" He exclaimed loudly making them both glance over at him with matching , uninterested looks on their faces.

Oh wow. He thought grimacing. They have the matching bitch looks down to a T now. That was scary.

Max just shrugged , hiding his grin behind his fork as he swallowed his bite before answering him. "Because if I don't she'll just take it anyway." Plain and simple .

Cherrie nodded along to his statement proudly , grinning at them slyly. "Yes I would. A good woman takes what she wants, whenever she wants it." She told them seriously , taking lando's glass of wine and sliding it over to herself . Taking no mind of him gasping and trying to take it back from her.

She just pretended she couldn't hear or see him, sipping on it happily.

Max just shook his head at her  "that's a crime. You're a criminal Cher." He laughed, grinning over at her in amusement.

Charles's scowled deepened "Cher?" He muttered , unable to believe that she had gone from being called a bitch by him to a affectionate 'Cher' so quickly.

Max glanced at him with a subtle smirk "yes. Cher. Baby. Love of my life. Fire to my loins-" he started listing off nicknames , Cherrie giggling beside him at the repulsed looks Charles was giving them.

"By the way.. I'm going to Hawaii next week Charles. Can you look after my cat?" She blurted out to him suddenly , recalling her upcoming plans.

Her suitcases were already packed and max had booked their tickets the moment that they had gotten home after she had agreed to play along as his girlfriend. Only things had gotten more serious and real than either of them could have Expected but in a good way.

Cherrie seemed to genuinely forget that they were playing pretend , having been enjoying spending time with max one on one. He was a lot funnier than she gave him credit for when she wasn't so set on picking a fight with him.

Who would have thought that the man that made her scream in fury the most , could also make her laugh like a hyena with his stupid jokes?

"Hawaii? Why? Since when? I thought we were going to Spain for holidays this summer.." he said while looking at her in confusion. Having heard nothing of these sudden plans.

She just shrugged "max is taking me. The pool has a pool ontop of a pool  Charles! A pool with a pool right in front of an ocean view man.." she sighed dreamily , already picturing herself laying in the sun and swimming all day.

Lando looked at max, impressed. "Wow! What's this for... a anniversary? or did you fuck up that bad already that you had no choice but to leave the country?" He joked . Giggling to himself as he looked between the two of them. Not at all surprised by their closeness now that he had time to think it over.

It actually made sense to him he supposed .  He knew that max only wound her up because it was the only way he could think of to get her attention , bypassing hello and going straight to annoying her instead.

But someone that hated someone so much wouldn't look for them in a crowded room and get all pouty when they couldn't find them there.

And if max hated her so much then he wouldn't have spent the last year chasing off any man that even so much as looked twice at her. That wasn't normal for 'enemies'.

And it was the same for Cherrie too. For someone that claimed to hate him so much , she spent a awful lot of time talking about him.And she spent a awful lot of time willingly in his company too.

Considering that Charles was her best friend and not max, she spent more time in the red bull hospitality than she did in Ferrari. Claiming the she was just going to wind max up some more , to 'jinx him' for his race so that he wouldn't win.

But Lando had once seen the two of them having a intense game of Mario kart , bickering at each other, sat thigh to thigh as they carried on like they were the best of friends. They would deny it but Lando had heard them laugh together and make plans for a rematch after the race.

And what kind of people that 'hated' each other played mario kart together willingly?

"Just a holiday. No reason other than Cherrie is starting to disappear into the walls without her tan." Max casually replied, quickly finishing up with his food and picking up the fancy desert menu as he waited for everyone else to be done with their first course meal.

Cherrie nodded along in agreement with a serious look on her face . Swallowing her bite before replying "so fucking true. I was going to put on a white shirt this morning but then I looked into the mirror and could only see my hair. I'm fading away."

Max snorted , chuckling to himself as he shook his head. Grinning at the sigh of misery she let out.

"So sad. Can't think of anything worse than you being pale." He muttered sarcastically, laughing loudly when she reached out and smacked his forearm without even glancing at him. Muscle memory by now .

"Shut up max." Was all she muttered back to him before focusing her attention back to her best friend, shifting in her seat once she finally noticed the contemplative look that he was giving the two of them.

She hated having to lie to Charles, she really did but honestly ... it was a little fun winding up their friends like this. And she was having fun bickering with max without their usual aggressiveness and truthful threats.

When she told max she was going to kill him before, she usually meant it. Now when she told him that, they both knew that she was just joking around. No harm done. Not at all serious with her violent warnings anymore.

It was nice. She kind of wished that max had come up with the idea of being her fake boyfriend before this. It might have been a more easier and less tense few years between the two of them.

"You should hang out with us tomorrow night Charles!" She suddenly suggested , both of their heads snapping towards her with two very different reactions.

Charles was smiling At her, pleased to finally have the chance to hang out with her again after being blown off for max lately . Meanwhile max was looking at her like she has completely lost her mind. Sighing loudly and crossing his arms over his chest like a pissy child that wasn't getting their own way.

"No way." He blurted out just at the same time that Charles replied with a pleased "sure! Sounds good!"

The two of them meeting eyes while Cherrie and Lando just looked between the two of them in vague amusement. Lando looking a little offended as he looked over at Cherrie with a frown "what about me? Can I come?"

Max scoffed "no. Neither of you are coming!"

Cherrie just smiled brightly "of course you can! I'll cook for us!" She exclaimed getting excited at the thought of getting to play around in Max's fancy kitchen.

All three men paused at her words , grimacing deeply as they shared wary looks between each other. Charles clearing his throat and refusing to be the one to tell her that was a bad idea.

Max easily did so, the only one unafraid to look Cherrie in her eyes and tell her straight. "No you're not. You'll put us all in hospital! Remember what happened when you baked us all cupcakes ?" He gave her a pointed look. Cherrie looking away with a stubborn purse of her lips.

"I ended up in a intimate relationship with my toilet Cherrie. So no. You will not be cooking." He sternly told her before adding on a firm "ever again."

Cherrie looked between them with a scowl. "That was baking! Cooking is different! I'm sure that I can handle making a - a chicken-" she tried to defend herself weakly.

Charles scoffed , shaking his Head at her wildly . "Absolutely not! You are not going anywhere near chicken Cherrie! You can kill us! You should not be anywhere near raw meat!" He exclaimed .

Still traumatised from all the others time that she had tried to 'cook' for them. All of them nights ending up with a horrific case of food poisoning that she always denied giving to them.

Max and Cherrie shared a smirk as the same dirty jokes filled their head. Snickering between each other little little kids. Cherrie snorting childishly as she nudged Max's arm repeatedly in a fit of giggles.

"There's some raw meat that I can handle just fine on my own-" she wiggled her eyebrows , still giggling only max was joining her this time. His cheeks flushing red when she winked at him suggestively.

Charles sighed loudly , looking at the two of them with a unimpressed look on his face while Lando cackled beside him.

"Children." He said shaking his head "you're all children."

An hour and a half later and Cherrie and max were saying their goodbyes to Charles and Lando , Cherrie quickly being dragged over to the corner of the exit door by Charles who insisted on speaking to her before they left.

"What's up?" She mumbled to him smiling, cheeks flushed from the endless jokes and wine that they had all shared over dinner.

Charles sighed quietly , looking at her for a moment with a serious look on his face. Enough to sober her up slightly as she realised that he wanted to 'talk', no doubt about her sudden relationship with max.

"What are you doing Cherrie?" Was all he said to her , hands on his hips as he waited for her to answer. Giving her a pointed look. "And don't lie to me. You've spent years denying even liking max as a person, never mind a friend.. and now you two are suddenly in love?" He scoffed, seeing right through her. He was her best friend after all.

Cherrie shifted on her feet, grimacing at the ache in her ankles from the high heels she was wearing. Wishing that she had worn her converse instead.

She looked at Cherrie silently for a moment , trying to gather her thoughts. A month ago and she would have been agreeing with him, happily cursing out max and talking shit about him to all her friends.

But now.. now she had a great night . A great week even. She was happy, she was fed and tired. All she wanted was for max to walk her home like he had been doing lately , wanted to talk to him about everything and nothing underneath the stars before saying goodnight with a warm embrace between them.

Something that max had taken to doing when she had casually told him one night that she wasn't used to easy affection like that. Her own parents had never hugged her after the age of six. And well, it has become the reason why she shied away and cringed from simple affectionate hugs. She simply wasn't used to it.

So max had made it his silent mission to fix that. When he arrived at her door, he greeted her with a smile and a hug. And when they said goodbye , he would pull her to her chest and let her hold onto him for as long as she deemed comfortable before pulling away.

And she was enjoying it. It was nice. Even if max was the same asshole that she had spent the past few years arguing with and getting in to petty fights with.

He was still the same asshole but so was she. She was a little bitch. A big mouthed asshole just like him.

And well, was that so bad? It was pretty fun to have someone you could be a cunt with without having to worry about offending them. The rude , the sarcasm and the insulting jokes just bouncing between the two of them perfectly.

She loved it. So she told Charles just that.

"I think that I've been taking max the wrong way this whole time. All those times that I thought he was insulting  me because he hated me.." she sighed out with a small smile. Clutching onto her clutch and swaying slightly , glancing over her shoulder to see max grabbing something from the waiter after settling their checks.

"I think he was just copying my sense of humour Charles. What do you always jokingly call me when I've done something shocking again?" She looked at him with a raise of her brow, trying to prove a point.

Charles hesitated before sighing in realisation. "I call you a stupid bitch." He muttered, pursing his lips stubbornly when she let out a giggle.

She grinned "exactly. And I find it funny because I call you a dickhead too. And it's no harm right? That's just us being affectionate towards each other. That's our sweetheart or honey." She rambled to him, pulling Max's jacket that he had thrown around her shoulders even closer to her body.

Charles slowly nodded his head, still frowning. "Yeah but-"

She shook her head, cutting him off. "And max does the same thing. That time that I parked my car on golf terf because I thought that was what I should do.. what did he call while laughing?"

"A stupid bitch." He mumbled, looking away from her smug little face. Getting it now.

Cherrie laughed softly , glancing over at max again. Smiling to herself when he looked up and met her eyes, pulling a silly face at her. Then he shot her a middle finger and Cherrie stuck up both of hers at him in retaliation, both of them laughing beneath their breaths.

She looked back at Charles with a quiet sigh "exactly. And I went off on him because I didn't know him then. I thought he was just being mean even thought you called me the exact same thing when you found out what I did. I think I- I think I might have been deliberately taking everything he's said to me the wrong way so that I didn't have to face the truth." She told him quietly , looking down at the floor between them for a moment as she really thought about their past together .

Chewing on the inside of cheek as the lines between covering for max and telling the truth blurred until her honest feelings were spilling from her lips like the red wine she had been drinking all night long .

Charles looked at her curiously "and what's the truth?" He asked her quietly, giving up on being mad at her for keeping something like this from him as soon as he saw her swallow, eyes going glossy as she let out a long , shaky sigh.

A small, pitiful laugh escaping her as she shook her head at herself . "Fucking hell Charles...I like him. I like that asshole. I like his stupid jokes and his sarcasm. I like his bluntness and his lack of filter. I like the way we  both laugh when we watch someone fall over instead of helping them.." she breathed out so in her own thoughts about max that she missed the squint of the eyes Charles gave her as she casually told him that she and max liked to laugh at people getting hurt.

"He- as stupid as it seems- he gets me. He's just as much of a cunt as I am!" She giggled , biting down on her bottom lip to suppress the silly grin that wanted to appear . Snapping out of her tipsy daze and looking back up at her best friend who was now just watching her silently, a look of realisation on his face .

There was a moment of silence between them before Charles slowly nodded his head , coming to a understanding then.

"I suppose I should of expected this really." He sighed, smiling at her as he brought her into a side hug. Seeing the way max kept peering over at them as he waited by the exit doors for them to be done talking.

“I Should have known that he liked you when you lost your phone on that night out . You and max were bickering about how stupidly clumsily you are..you ended up nearly fighting him in the parking lot. It was a pretty nasty fight." He recalled with a small laugh . "And then- then the next day he casually dropped a new phone into your bag alongside some painkillers for that hangover you had." He mused, smiling now. Wondering how he didn't see it sooner.

It was cherries turn to be speechless. Swallowing soundlessly as she glanced over at max who was texting on his phone as he waited for them impatiently . She could almost hear him huff and puff from here.

Then her phone buzzed in her hands and she glanced down at it to see max texting her.

Hurry the fuck up Cherrie! Do I need to remind you that You're wearing a dress?? Ten more minutes and your legs will turn into ice blocks. Do you want to get hypothermia?? Let's goooo!! Now!

She giggled and shut off her phone, a giddy feeling entering her chest as she looked back up into the knowing eyes of her best friend.

"Yeah..he did do that. That's not something someone who hated me would do is it?" It was more spoken to herself than Charles. Realisation hitting her hard.

And as she made a hasty goodbye to her best friend, she hurried back over to max as quickly as she could on her heels. Max rolling his eyes at her as she nearly tripped down the three steps that led to the open street.

Taking ahold of her arm to pull her into his side , wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her as they began their walk back to her apartment.

Huffing at her as he looked down at the sky high heels on her feet . "They make your legs look beautiful but there not good for you. You should keep a spare pair of trainers or flats in my car for next time.." he told her casually , stopping in his tracks for a moment as he slid himself  around to the other side of her body So that he was the one walking on the side of the path closest to the road instead.

Then they continued walking as though nothing had happened . Cherrie leaning her cheek against his arm to hide her smile , sighing contently as she cuddled into his side. Sliding her arm around his own waist and squeezing his hip gently.

"Next time? There's gonna be a next time?" Her voice was quite and surprised.

Max just glanced down at her with a blank look on his face. No expression as he casually answered her (more like informed her) that "yes. There's going to be a lot more ‘next times’ . I liked getting dinner with you and our friends so we're definitely doing this again."

Cherrie just rolled her eyes at him with a snicker. Pinching his waist and making him flinch, shooting her a look to behave.

She pinched him again, laughing when he cursed her name loudly into the almost silent street. Still not removing himself from her side.

"Ok boyfriend. You can put my converse in your car then... maybe some sweatpants too." She mumbled tiredly . Yawning dramatically and missing the way max smiled to himself , his cheeks going pink as she called him her boyfriend so easily.

Neither were very good liars . Their feelings were written all over their flushed faces . It was a good job then that it was too dark to see the love in their eyes as they cuddled all the way home.

The next night and Cherrie let herself into Max's apartment excitedly , kicking off her shoes and hanging up her coat before rushing into the front room and scaring the living shit out of max who hadn't heard her come in.

"Max!" She exclaimed loudly , throwing herself over the back of the couch and landing clumsily by his side as he jumped half a foot into the air.

Gasping loudly in shock as he clutched at his racing heart with his hand, slapping her thigh scoldingly as he looked at her with wide eyes. "Cherrie you can't do that! I almost had a heart attack!" He shouted in shock. Leaning back against the couch with a huff as he tried to calm his poor pounding heart down again.

She just laughed and turned so that she was facing him on the couch. Crossing her legs beneath her with a grin as she held out her hand to him excitedly.

"Look what I found! It's you!" She exclaimed while showing him the toy redbull car that she had bought while getting gum at the local store.

Max glanced between her proud grin and the small toy car, feeling himself soften as he smiled back at her softly. Gently taking the car from her as he looked at it in amusement . "No Ferrari?" He couldn't help but remark. Smirking at her as she got comfortable beside him.

Glancing up at the tv and gasping once she noticed which movie was playing. A smug laugh escaping her as she slapped his arm "you're watching the labyrinth! You told me that you hated it!" She accused him, squinting her eyes at him.

Max pursed his lips, avoiding her knowing gaze. "Yeah well.. I changed my mind. Plus you talk about it so much that I thought I might as well give it a second chance.." he mumbled , fiddling with the toy car in his hands for something to do.

Cherrie smiled, heart melting . "Aw! Look at you- watching something just because I like it!"

He huffed "I didn't do it for you." He stubbornly denied.

She smirked . "Yes you did! I told you last night that the goblin king is the love of my life and now you're watching it! Your competition!" She teased him.

Max side eyed her. Crossing his arms over his chest with a huff. "I thought you didn't believe in falling in love." He threw back at her. Smirking smugly when she fell silent.

Looking at him quietly for a moment before clearing her throat , scratching at her collarbone awkwardly. "That- things change. And I didn't say that I didn't believe in love-"

Max scoffed , shifting on the couch and stretching out his legs so that they encased her body between them. Used the heel of his foot to press into the bottom of her back, pushing her between his legs even further, Without a word even being said.

Cherrie just shuffled over and wrapped her arm around his bent knee. Resting her chin on her arm as she looked at him. Their faces only a hands length away.

"You said that falling in love is for stupid people." He stated matter of factly . Amused as he carefully slid his arms around her lower hips , watching closely for her reaction to his touch.

She just sank into him with a soft sigh, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. Eyes to his neck instead of meeting his own As she mumbled "yeah well- I categorise myself as stupid people sometimes." Quietly. Barely audible if they hadn't had been so close.

Max paused. Eyeing her closely as he felt his heart Jump in his chest. One hand sliding up from her hip to her waist as he gave it a gentle squeeze, never taking his eyes from her pretty face. Inhaling deeply as he watched the way her nose twitched , her eyelashes fluttering as she refused to meet his curious gaze.

"Yeah? You believe in it now?" The hope in his voice sickened him. Yet the way she sheepishly  glanced up to him with a shy smile tugging at her painted red lips had him grinning like a fool.

Maybe he categorised himself as stupid people now too.  Only if she did as well.

She sighed shakily , carefully wrapping her arms around his neck and playing with the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Tugging at it gently between her fingers as Max's eyelids lowered , tilting his head up to her as she knelt up on her knees so that she was above him now.

It gave her the confidence to laugh softly , taking in the way his breathing grew uneven beneath her. His face a permanent shade of red since the moment she had arrived.

She smiled down at him in defeat. "Yeah I do. Some mean little bitch made me fall in love even though I didn't want to. And even though I still want to strangle him sometimes.." she leaned her face down closer to his own so that their noses brushed together gently .

Max let out a soft laugh, their darkened eyes briefly meeting before they fluttered closed again.

"Don't talk about yourself like that." He breathed out teasingly before closing the gap between them and kissing her before she could say something snarky back to him again.

He kissed her like he should have kissed her so long ago. Clinging onto her body as she lowered herself down above him, fingers sliding into his hair to pull his head back as she deepened the kiss. Straddling his hips as he slid his hands up her thighs , taking the soft material of her dress up with his fingers too.

Between hungry kisses, max panted against her mouth breathlessly "you-this isn't fake Cherrie." Needing her to know that this had never been fake to him. Not even for one moment.

Was it a stupid idea to trick her into being his 'fake' girlfriend instead of just finding his balls and asking her out? Maybe a little bit.

But did he really care? No fucking way. Because at the end of the day he had the love of his life straddling his lap with her dress riding up her hips as she kissed him like he was her air, their tongues brushing together messily as she cupped his jaw and scraped her nails against his scalp while she grinded her hips down onto his own.

Max moaning lowly against her swollen lips as she smirked smugly, nudging their noses together as she whispered . "I know max." Her fingers hurriedly unbuttoning his shirt .

Max panted as he followed her rushed movements, quickly pulling her dress up over her head. Eyes wide and lips parted in awe as he gazed down at her body , swallowing thickly as his heart raced in his chest.

"You do? You get it now?" He muttered against her skin as he kissed over her shoulder and down to her chest . Pulling her closer to him till there was no space between them. The toy car falling to the ground as max flipped them over so that her back was against the couch with him hovering over her this time.

Pulling away to breath , he looked down at her with a  affectionate smirk tugging at his swollen and stained red lips. Panting breathlessly as Cherrie looked up at him with a small smile .

"That you like me?"

He huffed out a laugh . That was an understatement.

"That I love you moron. And I want this to be real.

No more play pretend." He corrected her, heart in his mouth as he waited for her reaction to his love.

But Cherrie just smiled and nodded her head casually . Wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him close again, running her fingers through his hair.

"Okay. Sounds good." Was all she muttered. Giggling girlishly at the way Max's eyes went wide , his breathing hitching as he looked down at her in surprise.

"Okay? That easy?" He couldn't believe it. Having expected some bickering or smart ass comments on her behalf.

Instead he was getting soft eyes and an open heart. Max almost wanted to cry when she smiled up at him as though everything was going to okay.

Because it was. Finally.

"That easy." She confirmed kissing him again , smiling against his lips as she murmured. "I love you max. You're such a asshole but you’re my asshole."

Max couldn't have kissed her any harder if he tried. Then his pants went flying over their heads, her bra landing on a lamp in the corner of the room as max showed her just how much he loved her right there on his couch.

Completely forgetting about their guests for the evening who let themselves in after knocking for a while and getting no answer.

Charles Impatiently huffing as he held the bags full of takeout in his hands while Lando held onto a bottle of champagne for them to share.

"What if he's murdered her?" Charles worried after knocking for the fourth time and getting no answer. His protectiveness kicking in full force. Cherrie was his best friend and as much as he could see now that they liked each other. He still didn't trust max in the slightest.

In his head .. no man would ever be good enough for his best friend.

Lando snorted a laugh "don't you mean her killing max? Cherrie is the crazy one." He said while grinning.

Charles frowned over at him "she's not crazy . She's-" he struggled to find the right word for her chaotic behaviour. "She's-creative." He settled with.

Lando giggled at him "yeah . Creative with her threats. Didn't she say she was going to unhinge his jaw if he ever ate her pasta again last month when we were getting lunch at the track?" He reminded him in amusement.

Charles sighed loudly , looking exasperated. "Obviously! It was good pasta and max just ate it all!" He defended her easily . "And anyways- oh my god-" he paused mid sentence as they both froze as they heard noises coming from inside the apartment.

A loud whine and grunting had both Charles and Lando freezing warily, exchanging concerned glances as they then glanced back to the door in front of them.

Another loud scream had Lando worriedly biting his nails . "You don't think they're - you don't think that they are actually killing each other so you? It's sounds like someone's in pain!" He whisper shouted at Charles. Clutching onto his oversized bottle of champagne worriedly.

They heard cursing and then Max's voice grunting "Cherrie-fuck! I'm gonna-" before a woman's cry sounded out through the door.

And automatically Charles thought the worst. Eyes widening as worry shot through him like a sharp arrow to his chest.

"I knew that something was wrong! He's attacking her!" He exclaimed angrily before bursting through Max's door without any hesitation. Ready to rescue his best friend from his evil clutches. Lando quickly scurrying after him .

"Cherrie! Don't worry I'm here to save you-!" He called out loudly as they both came skidding around the hallway corridor and into the front room.

Screeching to a abrupt stop as Lando let out a shriek of horror from beside him as they looked at the scene playing out in front of them.

Both max and Cherrie's head snapping over to them in shock. Naked and tangled around each other , and definitely not fighting .

"Oh my god. You guys are fucking." Charles blurted out in shock. Glancing between the two of them with a sheepish chuckle as the both of them slapped their hands over their eyes quickly.

Lando was gagging frantically beside him "my eyes! My eyes! I've just seen Max's-"

Max huffed loudly as he carefully rolled off of Cherrie , passing her his shirt to throw on as he pulled his boxers back up over his hips. Glaring at the two of them in annoyance .

"What the fuck?! Can't you knock?!" He shouted at them with a scowl as he buttoned his shirt to cover up cherries body. Untucking her messy 'I've just had sex' hair from the collar so that it wouldn't pull at her scalp painfully .

Charles scoffed at him "we did! Like a hundred times! We heard noises and thought someone was in pain!" He defended them loudly .

Lando still moaning like he was scarred for life beside him. Bashing his head against the wall as he tried to get the image of Max's ass and dick from his brain to go away.

Cherrie just giggled as she got off the couch, making sure that the shirt covered everything it needed to before bouncing over to their friends shamelessly, unbothered by being caught mid fuck. It wasn't the first time that this had happened in her life , probably wouldn't be the last either.

"We really need to lock the door behind us next time." Max muttered with a annoyed sigh . Running a hand through his hair that was ticking up in every direction , glancing over at Cherrie and silently admiring the way she looked in his shirt .

"I don't know why you're so pale Charles. You've walked in on me getting railed before." She casually mentioned as she walked into the kitchen to get them large glasses for the champagne that Lando had brought.

Charles scowled at the both of them while Lando collapsed onto the dining table chair, taking deep breaths and unable to look max in his eye now.

Max scowled too at the thought of Cherrie with anybody else , huffing underneath his breath as he snatched the bags of takeaway from Charles hand so that he could plate them up.

"But-but it's max! It's very different! I didn't know all those guys!" He exclaimed. Glaring at max in disgust. "Defiling my best friend! How dare you!"

Max rolled his eyes "shut up. She's fucked around with half of the top favourite footballers and actors.. and singers.. and billionaires and-"

Cherrie frowned over at her now real boyfriend "hey! Do you mind not making me sound like a slut max?"

He just gave her a pointed look. Kissing the side of her head apologetically as he passed her to get the plates.  "Cherrie. I love you so much but- there was about two years of you slutting around. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We all have a past.” He simply replied.

Cherrie pulled a face back at them "I'm not ashamed. I'm proud of myself . It's quite impressive really isn't it? And about three of them wanted to marry me-" she proudly grinned. Reaching up to give max a quick kiss before forcing Charles to sit down at the table, seemingly still frozen in shock by the doorway, still traumatised from what they had walked into.

Max scoffed and pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at her as he slid her plate of food to her first. "The only man you'll be marrying is me." He stated to her casually like it was no big deal.

Charles looked like he was about to have a stroke. While Lando had quickly gotten over his horror as soon as the plate of food was put in front of him.

Glancing up from his plate as he shovelled a spoonful of noodles onto his mouth, looking over at Cherrie curiously. "Cherrie?"

"Yeah?" She slid Charles a extra large glass of champagne. Patting his back encouragingly as he gaped between her and max, still in shock.

"Are your tits real?" He asked her. Genuinely curious .

Max and Charles snapped their heads over to him in disbelief . "Lando!"

Max scowled "that's my girlfriend ! Watch it!"

Cherrie just smiled and nodded her head, completely unbothered as she dug into her food. Max wrapping his hand around the arm of her chair and pulling at it, with her sitting in it calmly, pulling it to be beside him so that they were side by side instead.

"Yeah they are. Nice huh?" She winked at Lando jokingly. Patting Max's thigh when he glared at her, huffing at her in disbelief.

Lando grinned , laughing loudly at the look on Max's face . Enjoying winding him up far too much now.

"Very lovely." He agreed with a grin before motioning between the two of them with his finger. "So.. this is very real then? The two of you?"

Cherrie and max glanced at eachother with knowing smirks, laughing beneath their breaths. She nudged Max's arm gently with her own, max leaning down to give her another kiss. Just because he could now.

And also because he loved seeing the way Charles grimaced at him in disgust . "Best friend stealer." Charles mouthed at him with narrowed eyes. Miming stabbing him with his fork.

Max just snorted and gave him the middle finger.

He grinned "it's always been real. We're in love and this.." he looked down at Cherrie with nothing with love in his eyes. "Is a forever thing. So you might as well get used to seeing me around her now Charles. Because she my best friend now."

And Cherrie had to hold Charles back before he could throw himself across the dining table for that comment.

Giving her smirking , finally real , boyfriend a shake of her head as he continued to wind up Charles for the rest of the night. Deliberately kissing her in front of him and telling Charles that if he was lucky he could be one of her bridesmaids at their future wedding.

And just like that. They were in love. And their friends were traumatised for life.

[verstppism]

Boy's Talk (About You) - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - take me anywhere but home

word count: 1957

masterpost.

synopsis everyone has their secrets, a group chat formed by charles leclerc, pierre gasly, alex albon, lando norris and george russell knows all of them. the 'kill the grid' chat has only one purpose: gossiping about other drivers' lives, romantic and social

or, a casual chat leads to charles confessing a crush on max, who's has been his rival since childhood

If Charles was still half asleep, the iMessage notifications coming from Max definitely woke him up. All the nervousness and anxiety from last night made sense: Max was leaving Brazil and his girlfriend to spend New Years in Monaco. But what were his intentions behind such a sudden decision? If Max really broke up with her, then he wouldn’t be texting the older one on a cold December morning. Or would he? Max Verstappen was a confusing person. One night, he says he’s not happy with his girlfriend, the other he goes on a private padel match with his ex-rival. Things seem to go well between them.

It’s when he posts a photo with his girlfriend after the race that tears everything apart. Still in his racing suit. Messy hair. Still sweating. Everything that belonged to Charles and to him only. In fact, Max was his. Who does she think she is? Charles only thought about how he could talk so casually about Kelly right before calling him “Charlie” and pushing him as far away from Lance as possible in the sprint podium. It was driving him insane — More than he already is. After eternal minutes discussing his own love life and its frustrations, Charles notices he left Max on read, he had accidentally opened the app and his conversation with the other one.

“charlie: good morningg “

“charlie: i am! are u okay? “

Charles was really at a loss at words, so he decided to pretend that he didn’t know where Max was nor that he was a few meters from the blonde’s house.

“maxiee: yeah “

“maxiee: just had a little change of plans and came back to monaco “

“charlie: oh really? “

“charlie: did anything happen or? “

“maxiee: can we talk about this in person? “

“maxiee: we can go to that café you mentioned in the padel match “

He… Remember. Their meeting (date?) was months ago, and he remembers it. Something he slightly mentioned once in a lifetime, and he recalls it in perfect detail. Charles wonders if Max remembers everything that pondered his mind. He asks himself if he recalls their discussions back in their karting days, or when they slowly started to use pet names for the first time. In the end, did Max realize that they were made for each other, even though they were predestined to fight for a whole life?

“charlie: of course! what time? “

“maxiee: im just getting ready, i’ll be there in a couple minutes “

“maxiee: nothing is too far here “

Charles giggles at the last message, like he always did when he exchanged messages with his beloved. After all, it was more of a date orchestrated by Max — he is good at setting up dates so subtly. Or maybe Charles just accepts every invite from the other. — and again, alone together. A more casual reunion this time: without any sport or anyone that could get in their way. It seemed like a dream, Charles hoped it wasn’t.

He didn’t even mind telling his friends of such an important event, just got up from his bed and quickly got ready. Casual clothing and sunglasses to go unnoticed. It wasn’t easy to go on a date in broad daylight in a city as small as Monte Carlo.

—————

It really didn't take long for them to meet. That little cafeteria was one of the secret gems of Monaco, hidden between beautiful historic buildings. As Charles arrived, he already could see Max, stirring coffee and sugar on the delicate little cup. He was looking down, his face with little to no emotion, more like hesitant of… something. 

The doorbell ring filled the quiet place when the older entered the place getting the other's attention, which gave a soft and kinda sad smile to him. A smile that wasn't common as the post race ones or those shared in press conferences. ‘This is not the moment to overthink your relationship with him.’ Charles thought. 

“I’m not late this time. '' Leclerc broke the awkward silence between them as he sat down. “Yeah… I mean, you live around here, no?” Max sounded somewhat different. Nervous? Sad? Reading his feelings through his face wasn’t Charles’ best ability. “So remember when I told you I would spend New Years in Brazil?” 

“Of course! I was also about to ask you about it. Why did you come back home?” He said as he sat down. Home. Not the best wording at the moment, given that he’s actually Dutch and we are somewhere around near South France. It’s what they say: ‘home is where the heart is’. “Like… Did anything happen?”

“Yeah, uh…”  Apprehensive. A worried tone filled his voice. “Me and Kelly had a little fight right after Christmas and I thought it would be better for us to part ways. She wasn’t very willing to but… Can I be honest? I was growing tired of being stuck with her.”

Stuck with her. Stuck. Max was tired. Max doesn't like her. At All. Charles felt like his chest was collapsing in the best way possible. How was he supposed to act normally and feel pity for them when butterflies filled his stomach?

“And you know, I only kept the relationship up because of her daughter…” Verstappen smiled while looking at the cup. The older’s intrusive thoughts were telling to adopt a child with that man. He was such a good dad after all! “And PR too. I think our love wasn't reciprocal… I was there for the kid and she was for the status of being a Formula One driver's girlfriend.” 

“Oh Max… That's too bad. I’m so sorry for you” A pitiful look surged on Charles’ face, trying to show empathy and not that he was going insane over all of this. “I’m sure you and her will be able to meet again.” A shy smile appeared on the younger’s face when ocean and emerald eyes met. A comfortable silence surrounded them, only the ambient sound and smell of fresh coffee filled the empty café.

“Now that we are on the topic, it may sound rude but I need to get this off my chest. I doubt you two would still be together if you didn't win in 2021.” Still apprehensive, Charles felt safe to talk shit about Max’s ex-girlfriend. When he saw the other’s eyes glitter at the comment, he was sure: the blonde has been waiting forever to do this. “You doubt? I'm 100% sure! After we left RedBull’s party she started talking about marriage, mate. Can you believe that!?” 

Minutes that felt like hours passed by. Charles and Max talked about many secrets they've kept for each other for the mere thought of “this is not something you usually tell your best friend, especially when he’s dating a person you don’t really like”. In fact, they would never get to these specific topics – mostly about relationships. Maybe both were scared of oversharing and confessing their true love, ruining it all for once. The older didn't know if delusional thoughts took over, but he felt things were getting intimate, at some point, their feet touched and so their legs proceeded to slightly intertwine. 

They didn’t even bother to order food or anything. — and so the waiters did not ask them to. Perhaps it was an obvious date to whoever passed by. When leaving, Max only paid for this coffee cup that was now cold, half drunken and long forgotten on the table. Both got so deep in conversation they forgot the world keeps spinning, and the day goes by, like they always do. Like it always happens. If you didn’t know, you would guess that they were long-distance boyfriends meeting for the first time.

It was almost dusk when they left the café. The orange-ish colors in the sky implied the sun was setting, and so Max and Charles decided to walk home. Staying side by side on a very narrow sidewalk made their shoulders brush at all times.  

As they got closer to Leclerc’s house, he noticed that Max started to tense up. Was he scared of something? Scared of leaving Charles? That reaction started to worry him but as soon as they got to the older’s doorstep he spoke up, point blank:

“I… Charlie, the true meaning behind this all-of-a-sudden meeting is that… You are the love of my life. I’m sorry for not noticing it earlier.” Max stuttered, a subtle way to let the other know it was hidden and buried deep inside with fear for years and years. Maybe even his whole life. It drove Charles insane. It’s like he was feeling every single emotion at the same time. He swore he was dying or something. The older man fought every desire to kiss him right here in the middle of an empty sideroad right in front of his house, but he knew it would appear in every headline in worldwide newspapers. “Charles ‘il predestinato’ Leclerc is found kissing Life-long rival Max Verstappen”. That is not the best way to be in the news, probably something that would end their careers or worse: their friendship. With no words left to say, Charles just hugged him tight as if he would disappear at any time. “Je t'aime moi aussi, mon amour” He said as one or two teardrops slid across his cheek.

Feeling something wet hit his shoulder, Max broke the hug but still kept their bodies suspiciously close. He held the other’s face with both big hands as their eyes met once again, but now with much more compassion. After all they’ve gone through, all their ups and downs brought them to this moment. What they’ve been waiting for. 

“Wait wait wait.” Charles popped the little bubble they builded to protect themselves from the rest of the world. “Can we get inside first? I mean, it’s very romantic to kiss in the middle of the crosswalk I know but we’re kinda famous so yeah…” Max chuckled at the comment. “Of course we can, schatje”

He unlocked the door and let Verstappen enter as if nothing almost happened a few seconds ago. “Uh… So are-” He’s interrupted by the softest of lips crashing into his own, almost cornering him into a wall like a (ironically) raging bull. For the very first seconds they are both surprised by the feeling but locked in very quickly. This kiss felt like heaven, the way both mouths swayed together felt like they were pieces to a puzzle, just waiting for it to be finally found and placed together. It was definitely not what Charles thought it would be like but it was good nonetheless. 

They only broke the kiss when there was no oxygen left in their bodies still, they stayed close, panting and hanging on by a thread of spit. Leclerc hid his face on his lover’s shoulder and started giggling, ending up with a lowkey confused Max.

“Why are you laughing?” He said, with a broad smile on his face. Charles’ laugh was contagious.

“This is so stupid. Why did we take so long to do this?” 

It all came down to them snuggling together in Charles’ bed. The moonlight that invaded the room through a slightly opened window shines in their features, giving both an godly look. After a whole day spent with Max, Leclerc seemed to forget about his friends, who might’ve gone insane by his disappearance. So he was right: when checking his phone he’s welcomed with 86 missed calls, – all coming from 4 different people – and at least 300 messages coming from his group chat, Kill the Grid. Charles opens it, doesn’t read any of the past messages and starts typing.

“charlie: guys, youll never know what just happened '' Send it.

taglist: @mrsbrxkkxr , @nyxstice , @thedecalcomania-blog ,@sebastianize <3

[adventuringblind]

Catch me because I'd hate to fall

Charles Leclerc x reader

Synopsis: Reader is afraid of heights and a game of truth or dare puts them in the last place they want to be.

Warnings: panic attack, flashback, not proofread (We die like the Ferrari strategists)

Notes: Google translated French, no use of Y/N, Charles is a simp

Genre: fluff, hurt/comfort

Truth or dare is a game for teenagers who are determined to learn eachothers secrets. Or that's what you originally thought.

Racing drivers are not normally the type to sit around on the floor playing games that are used for diabolical purposes. Or that's what you had assumed.

You had been wrong on both.

It's a calm weekend, no races or PR obligations. Max thought it would be nice to have a small get-together with some of the drivers who are currently in Monaco.

Charles thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and convinced you to join him at Max and Kelly's apartment for dinner.

"It this a casual thing? Or do I need to dress up?" You rummaged through drawers looking for something that felt right.

"I think it's casual, but if wanted to wear a ballgown I wouldn't stop you because I'm happy when you're comfortable." Charles days from across the room where he is currently getting dressed.

"What if I wore pajamas?"

"My prior statement still holds true. You are the most beautiful human regardless of what you're wearing." His smile makes a hint of red creep into your cheeks. You've been dating for two years, and he still manages to make you get flustered.

You ended up settling on a pair of jeans and one of your charles' t-shirts. A small dinner with friends didn't call for anything much.

You examine yourself in the mirror, making sure everything looks correct before charles appears behind you. An exaggerated look of amazement crosses his face.

"See! Gorgeous! Beautiful! Completely stole my breath away!"

You spin around and place a quick kiss on his cheek.

When you arrived there were already people there. Lando, Daniel, Pierre, Carlos, zand George (most with their respective significant other).

After a pleasant dinner and a few drinks, everyone found themselves laughing at the dumbest thing while sitting in a circle around the living room.

"I have the most amazing idea!" Daniel practically screamed at everyone. Everyone eyed him nervously as his idea's somtimes were not the most wise. Lando Max makes a gesture for him to continue since his outburst got everyone's attention.

"We should play truth or dare."

You looked at Charles nervously. This game never led to anything good back in your high-school years. But the air of the room made you relax and agree to it.

Before anything could start, shrles leaned into you and whispered "You don't have to play mon amour if you don't want to." His words only reassured you that you would be okay playing.

"You suggested the game you go first," Max pointed at Daniel. "Truth or dare, mate?"

"Dare obviously"

The game went perfectly. Everyone is laughing, doing weird and embarrassing things, and sharing stories.

Until it came back to you.

Lando, who had just finished attempting the alphabet backwards, made eye contact with you.

"Truth or dare?"

You feeling a bit risky decided on "dare."

Lando rubs his chin for a moment. "Okay, I dare you to go up to the roof and recreate that one scene from the titanic with charles."

"You mean the one where they are dangling over the edge of the boat?" Pierre asked.

"Yup! Exactly! All happy and lovey dovey, it'll be so cute!"

It seemed harmless. But the mete mention of the top of the building had your breath caught in your throat.

Charles having noticed this leaned in discreetly once again and whispered "don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to."

You, however, were terrified of everyone discovering your deathly fear of heights. Charles knew because anytime you got on a plane, it was rough. You used to not be afraid, but after having to jump into the safety of firefighters from twenty stories up in a burning building, things hadn't been the same. Falling had become something that haunted your nightmares.

Regardless, you shook your head and went to get your shoes. Since Max lives close to the top anyways, you decided on the stairs. Only hoping to delay the inevitable for a while.

The top of the stairs came too fast. Having opened the door to soon.

The night air brings you back to the present and reminds you why you were here. You could blame the shaking on the crisp Monaco air, but that would be a lie.

You step onto the roof, everyone shuffling out behind you.

One foot in front of the other, closer to the ledge.

Charles never lets your hand go. "I promise that if you back out I will not laugh and I will not let them say a single thing about." He pauses and turns you to face him. "But if you get on the ledge, then I promise I will not let you fall." His eyes and voice are determined and concentrated. Every ounce of you wanted to just leap into his arms and run away. Yet the other emotion, the pride he has for you for making it this far, makes you push just a little more.

Soon your toes are one step up from the edge. An inch of cement guarding you from what could be a disaster.

Your body shakes, your mind going white at the thought of falling. The feeling of your stomach flipping as you fall to your demise.

Inhale. One foot up. Exhale. The other meets it.

Your eyes screw shut. Your body is practically giving out on you.

Charles stands behind you now. His arms encircle your torso and waist. Tying you down to reality as everything else slips away.

Your eyes open. Then they fall.

It's the same thing. The heat makes you want to take the leap. Into to safe embrace of first responders. When did it get so hot? Why are you sweating so much?

There was no time. The building was about to collapse. They are shouting. Comforting words of encouragement. Maybe you can jump.

Your arms go out to help you balance. Then you lean into the pull of gravity. But you don't budge.

"Amour!"

Charles, why was he in the building with you?

Realization came flooding back through your senses. Charles' arms straining to hold you in place.

"Shift your weight towards me, you can do it." His voice gently coaxing you made you realize the building is safe. There is no fire.

You shift your weight backward and fall in charles. The both of you gracefully find the ground.

Warm tears roll down your cheek as Charles refuses to let you go from his embrace.

"I'm so sorry," you sob.

"I'm so proud of you," he whispers.

The night ended quickly after that. Lando apologized for giving you such a dare, and you countered that he didn't know.

Later that night, fast asleep in Charles' arms, your dreams were not haunted by the smell of smoke and your body flipping through the air. Instead, you were meant with Charles holding you upwards to touch the clouds.

[sainzfilm]

begin again - charles leclerc

a/n: such a long wait but if you’re new, check out the first part to this drabble right here!

taglist: @svechyaho @squderia @idkiwantchocolatee @koufaxx @melonunicornbby @myescapefromthislife @leclerclvr @slut-era @pachiibatt @nicolesainz @estevries @sidcrosbyspuck @barzysreputation @uhhevie @verclercswiftie @mick2mercedes @mehrmonga @frenchgirlsblog @idontknowwhoshereither

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

Charles stared at the picture that still hung on his wall – one where you were kissing his cheek while he had the biggest smile on his face from winning the Italian Grand Prix in 2019. He knew for a fact that he was the one at fault, he treated you like complete shit and stood you up countless times by the end of your relationship.

“You know you’re staring at the picture again.”

Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Charles averted his eyes from the picture and looked at his older brother, “Tais-toi, Lorenzo.” Shut up, Lorenzo.

“I’m not the one who’s going to shut up from what I’m about to hear,” The eldest Leclerc snickered, leaning against the doorframe, “Maman invited her over for Arthur’s birthday dinner today.”

“Today…Y/N is coming over, today,” Charles trailed off, mumbling to himself, “How long have you known about this?”

“Maybe a month or two,” He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eye before walking off, “Don’t forget to stop making those lovey dovey eyes at her later!”

Groaning in response, Charles dragged himself to the closet and stood there to figure out what was he supposed to wear for tonight. Why does he even bother? You wanted nothing to do with him – or maybe that’s what he assumed since that fateful day half a year ago.

“Maman!” Charles called out, pulling the shirt over his head and walking down the stairs, but freezing in place as soon as he sees you sitting beside his mother, “Where’s Lor- Y/N.”

Looking at Charles standing in his place at the staircase, you smiled softly and gave him a small wave, “Hi, Charles. It’s been a while.”

Pascale patted your back softly and stood up, walking over to Charles and whispering, “Don’t mess it up. You’re welcome.”

Charles chuckled softly and bit the inside of his cheek, walking over to where you sat and took a seat in the couch across you, “How have you been?”

“A lot better actually, you know from…what went down between us,” You casually replied, a hint of bitterness from the words escaping your mouth, “But, no hard feelings.”

“I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you,” Charles blurted out, mentally scolding himself for possibly opening up healed wounds, “There isn’t any excuse. I was an asshole and that’s it.”

Humming in response, you drummed your fingers on your lap, “I probably caused you pain as much as you did to me, so I’m sorry if I did hurt you in anyway during our run.”

“I did come to our spot that day,” He stated, looking up to meet your eyes, “I was just really late.”

“Charles…” You sighed, pulling the sleeves of your jacket down to cover the bracelet wrapped around your wrist, “You don’t have to explain it. What’s done is done.”

“I don’t want our story to be done, Y/N,” Charles chuckled softly to himself, feeling foolish for trying to open a book that was shut close, “You probably moved on, it’s nearly been a year, but I haven’t.”

Shaking your head with a sigh, you stood up and made your way to the front door, “Wish Arthur a happy birthday for me.”

“Y/N, please, just hear me out,” Charles asserted, following you and reaching out for your arm, “I don’t want to let you go this time around.”

“This time around?” You replied bitterly, frowning from how your heart responded differently, “It won’t end well, Charles.”

Charles caught sight of the bracelet that he gave you for your birthday the other year. It was definitely that one from the way the letter ‘C’ and the number ‘16’ hung from it.

“I know that there are still feelings lingering,” He retorted, gesturing towards the bracelet, which caused you to pull your sleeve down further, “I’m not asking you to trust me right away. I just want to win you back.”

You were certain the universe was playing tricks on you from the way the rain started pouring – just like the day when Charles messed everything up. It was as if your body went on full autopilot, running out the Leclerc’s household and into the rain, trying to catch a taxi.

“Y/N!” Charles called out, running after you and getting drenched by the pouring rain, “You’re going to get sick!”

You shook your head, turning around as you walked backwards, “I already am! I’m sick of this shit act you put up, Charles!”

“I’m not putting up a shit show, Y/N! I meant every word I said!” He exclaimed, closing the distance between you two and holding the jacket over your heads, “Please. I still love you.”

You looked in Charles’ eyes, a sudden montage flashing in your brain of countless nights of you crying from what happened between you, sulking whenever you heard your song on the radio, or even feeling your heart skip a beat when you heard his name achieving great things in the world of motorsport.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever missed anyone or anything as much as I missed you. Every day I regret letting go of the greatest thing I’ve had in my life,” Charles explained, voice shaking from the cold breeze of the rain, “I want you by my side. Through my victories and my downfalls, even ordinary days like grocery shopping or going to our spot. You’re my endgame, Y/N.”

It didn’t take a fool to miss the way your eyes were watering from his confession. You rolled your eyes playfully and crossed your arms, “Swear on your future WDCs that you won’t fuck it up again?”

“Cross my heart, Y/N,” He replied, crossing his heart with his finger and a glint of hope shimmering in his eyes, “I’ll spend every single day making it up to you.”

Charles dropped the jacket to the ground and held your face gently in his hands, slowly leaning in and whispering, “Can I…kiss you?”

As you felt your breathing pick up its pace, you took a quick glance to his lips and nodded slowly, “You can.”

Closing your eyes, Charles kissed you softly while his thumbs rubbed your cheeks as the rain continued to pour. You laughed softly to yourself, causing Charles to pull away and lean his forehead against yours, “I’ll never let you go this time.”

“You better keep up with your word, Leclerc,” You mumbled, nudging his nose with yours before kissing him briefly, “To be fair, I never stopped loving you.”

In that moment, Charles knew for a fact that after weeks of feeling like the same day repeated itself, tomorrow finally came and he got to begin again with who he deemed as his greatest love.

[lookismstuff]

Highlights of Ep 486

SPOILER ALERT

"I can't breathe. I can't breathe! Take me out of this darkness that has lost its light. I can't stop it anymore. It's swallowing me up. Save me from myself..." - SONDIA, Nightmare

Some time during the night, Vin let the girl in but his mind kept him awake, thinking that the shaman must've sent the girl to kill him.

In anger, Vin was thinking of kicking the girl out but was stopped by the sight of her tears in her sleep.

The next day, Vin met the Cheonliang fam and apologized, but they teased him saying they wanted the old (rude) him back. Vin was embarassed but he insisted that he really meant to apologize to them (and that he was thankful). And that from then on, he was a Cheonliang Fam member, and called Seongji "Master".

Seongji called Vin to help him with kimchi, which Vin thought as maybe Seongji's way to trick him. Jewoo explained that they were running out of side dishes, while casually asking about the girl who was hiding behind Vin.

The girl then helped Seongji with the kimchi, and Vin then told the Cheonliang Fam kids that she was a servant of the Cheon household. She specially served Taejin, and had since ran away.

Taejin seemed to have vented his frustration of losing Vin and Seongji on the Yakuza and the servants. So the girl ran away out of fear of being killed.

Jewoo realized that this means Taejin must've been even more furious and would want to find both Vin and the girl.

The girl announced that she was a perfect servant: good at cooking, doing laundry, and doing dishes, which made Taebong and the others felt both pitiful and uncomfortable about her presence there.

Jewoo asked whether they would send her back, and Vin retorted that she would die since Taejin would never save her life, as his errant property.

Then Mary chimed in that they should take the girl in, and the girl thanked her (mistakenly called her "bro" and got hit in the head). Jewoo teased Mary whether she made this decision because of her rice diet plan and she kicked him mercilessly.

Seongji decided that the girl must stay at Vin's place (to his shock) since it was Vin who took her in the first place, then he got inside his house and left the kids behind.

Seongji also told Vin that he'd better take responsibility for her, and Vin was struggling with it but eventually said yes, on condition that Seongji taught him how to fight.

Vin told Seongji that he had no power to protect anyone yet, so with the new strength he'd be able to protect someone. Seongji told Vin that it wouldn't be just ssireum that he taught, but the classes would be so hard and vomit-inducing, the way he himself learned it, but Vin was happy anyway.

Seongji then proceeded to lock his door, and inside, he was gasping for air in what seems like a panic attack. In a daze, the young king took some pills to ease the attack.

Jewoo, perceptive as ever, realized that something was wrong and went knocking on his Master's door. Seongji deflected Jewoo's concern and told him to go and not to come in. In sad understanding, Jewoo complied.

Meanwhile, Charles was confident that the Shinmyeong would relinquish Cheonliang land ownership to him to deflect treason accusation. But the shaman showed the Red Paper that he obtained from Seongji: the evidence of Charles' treason, allegedly worse than Shinmyeong's. Shinmyeong called up the Kojima brothers and the other Yakuza lackeys just as Charles moved to attack him.

But Charles still had another ace up his sleeve: Enter young Gun, with a taunting smile on his face, to the foray.

[once-upon-an-imagine]

Here Is Gone - Charlie Weasley

A/N: ahhhh xD I am back, baby! as promised here is our winner, Mr. Charlie Weasley! :D I hope you loves liked it! this turned out suuuuuper long so :)  also, we are all going to pretend that Sirius and Remus are a lot older in this fic (like Molly’s age) because they have a daughter that is Charlie’s age AND Bill never worked in Egypt he always stayed at Gringotts!

Request -  Anonymous asked: Hi, love! I saw you wanted some angsty Charlie request, and although I'm not so good at coming up with angsty ideas I'll try... How about Charlie and you are best friends at Hogwarts, both pining for each other but neither says nothing, so when you graduate Charlie goes to Romania and you stay there, so don't see each other again for years. When he comes home, you are engaged to someone else, but you both still like each other. Okay, I don't know if that makes any sense at all and you can ignore it 🙈 Also, if you decide to write it, you can make the ending whatever you want (I love a happy ending, but you choose). Thank you ❤️

Warnings: wolfstar!daughter! this is a bit angsty but Bill is here to diffuse the tension xD jealous!Charlie, reader cheats on boyfriend with Charlie (one kiss) and please let me know if I missed anything! 

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter :D gif isn’t mine :)

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Here Is Gone

And I want to get free, talk to me I can feel you falling And I wanted to be all you need Somehow here is gone

You weren’t sure what was the weirdest part of coming back to your childhood home. That your father hadn’t taken down the portrait of your stupid grandma. That it was now invaded by members of the order. Or…

“Love?”

Five years. It had been five years since you heard that nickname. Nobody else called you that. You made sure of it because that nickname was reserved for him. You slowly turned around, holding on to your mug to make your hand stop shaking and there he was.

“Charlie” you smiled. You always smiled when you saw Charlie.

He looked the same. But not really. He looked absolutely enthralling. His fiery red hair was longer than when you last saw him and tied in a small bun with some loose strands. There were burn marks on his (very) muscular arms and several tattoos were visible, peeking from under his shirtsleeves and collar. His eyes were the same deep blue eyes you loved so much. And now, the top of his face was covered in freckles, but the bottom part was decorated with a lazy beard.

You didn’t know it was possible. You couldn’t understand how your heart still fell to your stomach and your knees went weak just by looking at him, flashing you that bright smile he always had when he looked at you.

“Hello, sunshine” he said, opening his arms to you. “Don’t I get a hug?”

“Of course, you get a hug” you smiled, walking closer to him. You were going to wrap your arms around his waist but his arms quickly wrapped around yours and lifted you up, twirling you around, making your mug fall out of your hand and break on the floor.

“Shit! I’m sorry, love” he said, pointing his wand at your mug and fixing it in no time, placing it on the counter. “Please don’t tell your dad I broke your favorite mug” he chuckled, making you do the same.

“Your secret’s safe with me, Charlie” you smiled, feeling horrible at the fact that the word ‘love’ almost came out of your mouth so casually.

“It’s been so long, my little Hungarian Horntail” he laughed.

“Seriously? It’s been five years, Charles, I think we can retire that nickname” you smiled nervously, hating how much you had always loved that nickname too.

“No, never. That is the best way to describe you” he smiled, placing his hand on your cheek. He felt his heart racing as fast as it did every single time he saw you. He hadn’t felt that in five years and when Bill told him that they would be seeing you, he was 100% certain his feelings would come back. Well, not really because they never left. But this time, he was not going to let you go again. “I’ve missed you so much” he whispered.

The words were stuck in your throat. You wanted to say them out loud but something wasn’t letting you. You sighed in relief when you were quickly interrupted by your other favorite Weasley.

“CASSIOPEIA!” Bill burst into the room, pulling you away from Charlie and wrapping you in a bone-crushing hug like he always did. You couldn’t even protest at the fact that he still used your stupid middle name, which you hated. And Bill knew he was the only one that could get away with it. Other than your parents when they were reprimanding you for something.

“William” you laughed, trying to unglue yourself from him. Since he used your middle name, you used his full name, which he didn’t particularly love. “I kind of… need to breathe” you smiled.

“Oh, Merlin, I haven’t seen you in forever!” he said, finally putting you down.

“I literally saw you like two weeks ago” you laughed.

“You look bloody amazing!”

“Thanks, Bill, so do you” you smiled. “B-both of you” you said, turning to Charlie.

“Oh look, honey. The Weasleys are here” Sirius said, walking into the kitchen with his husband following him. “Broken any windows yet, boys?”

“Sirius” Remus warned him. “I’m sure these Weasleys are old enough now to not break any more of our windows” he smiled. “Hello Bill, Charlie” he smiled. 

You noticed Charlie widening his eyes at you and then at your now-fixed mug, making you laugh a little.

“Mr. Lupin” Bill and Charlie nodded at him. “M-Mr. Black” they said, looking at your other dad. You knew they were still a bit afraid of him. Or maybe a lot. “Sorry about that, again” Bill smiled nervously.

“It’s okay, boys” Sirius smirked at them. “It’s been a very long time since you’ve broken something of ours” he said, glaring a little bit at Charlie.

“Dad!” you rolled your eyes.

“Sirius, love, come help me in the other room” Remus quickly pulled him away and you thanked him with your eyes. Bill quickly followed them, nodding his head towards you to Charlie without you noticing.

“So, I see your father still hates me” Charlie told you.

“He doesn’t hate you” you chuckled.

“He doesn’t love me” he argued.

“Don’t take it personally. He doesn’t love anybody who’s not my dad, me, or Harry” you told them.

“Fair enough” he chuckled, walking closer to you. “I was wondering if… uh-” he said, suddenly getting nervous. “We could talk?”

“Talk?” you asked. “About what?” you smiled nervously.

“W-well-”

“Hey, there you are pumpkin” Charlie felt your hand fall from his the minute a guy stepped into the kitchen. A very handsome man, with dark hair, blue eyes, and about as tall as Charlie, made his way towards you and kissed your cheek, hugging you to him, and making Charlie’s stomach drop. “Hi, you must be one of Bill’s brothers” he said, offering his hand to Charlie.

“Oh, darling” you smiled nervously and then looked at Charlie. “Um, this is Charlie” you corrected him. “Charlie, this is Nicholas” you said, looking back at the redhead. “My boyfriend” you informed him.

“Oh, right! The one that works with dragons” he smiled at the redhead, as Charlie shook his hand, still dumbfounded. “She has told me all about you and your brothers, but it might take me some time to get it correctly” he chuckled.

“R-right. No worries, mate, everyone gets us mixed up” Charlie said, still looking between the two of you. “Wait ‘till you meet Fred and George, they’re twins” he laughed slightly.

“Sounds fun” Nicholas smiled at you, kissing your head and pulling you closer by your waist. You quickly looked at Charlie and noticed his ears were getting the same color as his hair and beard. He was angry. “Your father says the meeting’s about to start, pumpkin” he told you.

“Oh, r-right. I’ll be right there, I’m just getting some tea” you said, motioning to your empty mug on the counter.

“I’ll save you a seat” he smiled before he gave you a small peck on the lips before he left and you smiled nervously. Why were you nervous? Why did you feel the need to explain this to Charlie? You didn’t owe him an explanation.

“So… pumpkin” Charlie smirked at you.

“Don’t be an asshole, Weasley” you glared at him as you started preparing your tea.

“I’m not being an asshole” he defended himself. “I just… thought you hated pumpkin” he said as he walked through your kitchen as if it was his own house and he grabbed the milk to bring it to you. “Milk and no sugar. Right, love?”

“Um… yes, thanks” you said, feeling your heart flutter at the thought that he still remembered. “And for your information, I don’t hate pumpkin!”

“You hate pumpkin juice, pumpkin pastries, and even that princess from the muggle story your dad used to read to you where her carriage turns into a pumpkin” he laughed.

“Well, I don’t mind the word pumpkin” you informed him as you finished making your tea and you started walking out of the kitchen.

“Mhm, sure you don’t” Charlie smirked to himself, following you.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was currently day five. The day when the ‘kids’ (making you feel like 100 years old) left for school. Each passing day was worse than the last. You tried your hardest to avoid him. You really did. But it was easier said than done. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. Your father told you that Charlie was going to stay in Romania and recruit foreign wizards to join the Order. But at the last minute, he changed his mind. And you knew exactly what that meant. Bill told Charlie you were coming, and then, suddenly, Charlie was coming.

During the days, you tried to keep yourself busy and did whatever you could not to be in any room alone with Charlie. Because, if you were being honest, you didn’t trust yourself around him. You were with Nicholas. And you loved him. You were sure. On paper, he was probably the best boyfriend you could ask for. But Charlie had this stupid magnetic force that made you want to go back to him. Because that’s what he told you when the two of you went your separate ways. ‘We will always make our way back to each other.’ And now here you were. And you were with someone else. And you felt extremely guilty for the way your heart did a leap every time you saw Charlie. You hated the fact that you felt at home when he hugged you or when he smiled at you.

And at night. That was the worst time. You were staying in your old childhood bedroom and you knew Charlie was just a room away. With Bill. Like they shared when they spent their summers with you. And he would always sneak out of his room and come over to yours to spend the nights with you. And it made you sick to your stomach that some part of you still kept eyeing the door. Waiting for him. Not only because Nicholas was lying next to you. But because Charlie was no longer yours. He hadn’t been for five years.

When you walked into the room where today’s meeting was being held, you saw that your seat was between Nicholas and Charlie.

“Alright, now that we’re all here. We can begin” your father, Remus, started.

You tried extremely hard to concentrate on what your father was saying. You really did. But it was very hard when Charlie ‘casually’ threw his arm on the back of your seat. He was closer to you than Nicholas was and you started feeling extremely guilty for just wanting to lean into Charlie’s shoulder. Like you always did.

While your father kept explaining about the first order and what the ideas for this one were, Charlie finally removed his arm from behind you and placed it on his leg. You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, hating the fact of how nervous Charlie still made you. But, surprisingly enough, Charlie wasn’t even your worst problem. It was Bill. The fact that Bill was sitting in front of you, with a look you knew all too well wasn’t helping.

“Sweetheart, did you hear what your father said?” you heard your other father snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Uh, what? Um, sorry I was distracted” you smiled nervously.

“Really? By what? Care to share this with the rest of the room?” Bill asked, fascinated, resting his head on his hand and you glared at him.

“Yeah. I was distracted by that stupid ugly fang in your ear” you smirked.

“Kids!” Mrs. Weasley warned the two of you, knowing how quickly you could get back into your old antics with Bill.

“Ah, you leave my fang out of this, Cassie” he laughed, making you roll your eyes.

“Cassie?” Nicholas asked, confused.

“That’s… uh your girlfriend’s middle name, mate” Charlie said as if it was obvious.

“No, I know that” you saw him glaring a little at Charlie. “But… she hates it when people call her that” he said.

“I do” you intervened. “Bill just doesn’t care” you informed him.

“Wrong! She gave me permission to be the only one to call her that” he smirked. “Isn’t that right, little Horntail?” he mocked you and you heard Charlie laugh next to you while Nicholas looked confused between them and you.

“WILLIAM!” you said, getting up. Could I see you for a moment?” you asked as politely as you could. You saw your fathers share a look between them but none of them said anything so you walked out of the room with Bill behind you. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing” he shrugged innocently.

“Bill!”

“Why are you with him?” he blurted out.

“Excuse me?”

Bill knew about your relationship with Nicholas. Actually, you had met him through Bill since Nicholas worked at Gringotts. He had never seemed happy about you two being together and you assumed he had told Charlie, but apparently, he never did.

“You heard me. Why are you still with Nicholas?”

“What do you mean still? Because I love him!”

“Do you? Really? Because I honestly cannot think of two more opposite people in this world!”

“Yes! Really! How is this any of your business?”

“I have heard you like a billion times, whenever someone asks you about him, like my mum, saying how lucky you are to be with him” he said.

“I am lucky” you argued.

“Right, lucky, not happy” he said, making you frown your eyebrows at your best friend. You sometimes hated how much Bill could read you. “You know? When you have to remind yourself how lucky you are over and over again, it’s because you’re afraid to ask yourself how happy you truly are” he told you.

“That’s not true” you argued, nervously.

“Isn’t it? How happy are you, Cass?”

“I know that Nicholas has never been your favorite person, but I am plenty happy, thank you very much!”

“You sound so convincing” he said, sarcastically “Look, love” he said getting serious, making you pay closer attention since he rarely talked to you like that. “I am not saying this to be an asshole to you or your boyfriend. But I have known you for a very long time and I love you, and I care about you, and I just want what’s best for you.”

“Bill, why are you even doing this?”

“Because I love you, and I care about you. And I have seen how much this relationship has changed you. I’m not saying is a bad thing, but each day you become a completely different person! I know you think that being with Nicholas is the right thing to do because he’s like a grown-up that has his shit together-”

“He’s like your age” you interrupted.

“But is that what you really want? I have heard him many times referring to your job as a hobby. A job that I know you love, and I know that because you gave up going to Romania with Charlie so you could pursue it. You rarely come to the Burrow anymore, do you have any idea how much everyone missed you? The twins were so excited to see you and you didn’t even play one stupid prank with them! You never say no to them, especially when they prank Charlie!” he reminded you. “Look, if you can honestly tell me that Nicholas is the man of your life and you are the happiest woman on Earth being this way, I’ll back down but we both know that the man that you’re supposed to be with, was sitting on your other side, don’t we?”

“Hey kids, we kind of need you back in there because your father wants…” Sirius said, walking out and looking at you. “Honestly, I don’t know what he wanted. I didn’t pay attention, just come back, okay?”

“Sure, Mr. Black” Bill smiled before he walked back in. You were about to follow him but your dad stopped you.

“Princess, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, dad” you said, trying to smile at him.

“Are you sure? Did the Weasley boy do something? Because-”

“No dad, Bill didn’t do anything” you rolled your eyes.

“Okay” he said, still hugging you. “You let me know if one of them is bugging you-”

“Dad!”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

You were exhausted and you spent the rest of the day avoiding everyone, really. You just wanted to be by yourself but it was hard when your house was filled with people. So, you hid in your fathers’ bedroom, knowing nobody would go there. When it was late, you finally went over to your room, hoping to find some peace, but when you opened the door you saw candles and rose petals everywhere, as Nicholas stood in the middle. Shit. You felt your stomach get twisted in knots.

“Um… honey, what’s going on?” you chuckled nervously.

“Hey, pumpkin” he said, as you walked closer to him. “I know that you have been stressed these couple of days and I wanted to do something special” he smiled.

“Oh, that’s… very sweet of you” you said, walking closer to him.

“Also, I kind of had a whole thing planned for our anniversary a few weeks ago but, then you had to go back to work and I didn’t get to do it there, and then we came here so… I thought there’s no better time than this” he said, starting to kneel down.

Oh no.

“Um, N-Nicholas,-”

“Would you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?” he asked, smiling at you and getting out a small ring box, opening it.

“I- uh” you sighed. “I don’t know what to say” you admitted.

“This is kind of the part where you say yes” he chuckled nervously.

“Honey” you said, kneeling down to his level. “I love you very much, it’s just… this is too much right now” you tried to reason with him.

“Why? I can’t think of a better time” he insisted.

“Nicholas, I… I don’t know if I’m ready for such a big step” you told him.

“So… you’re saying no?”

“N-no, I just… I guess I need to think about it” you told him.

“You need to think about it?” he asked a little upset. “We’ve been together for two years!” he said, closing the ring box and standing up. “Is it because of Weasley?”

“W-what?”

“Bill’s brother, the one that works with dragons” he continued. Maybe you hadn’t been as subtle as you thought you were.

“Charlie has nothing to do with this!”

“Doesn’t he? Do you think I haven’t noticed the way he looks at you? How he talks to you, the little nickname him and Bill have for you?”

“Bill calls me Cassiopeia! That is my least favorite name” you argued.

“You don’t even let me call you that! But you don’t seem to mind when Bill does-”

“I’ve known Bill my entire life! He’s like my annoying old brother!”

“And what about Charlie?”

“What about Charlie?”

“What went on with you two?”

“I told you we dated in school and then he left for Romania!”

“And that’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it!” you lied.

“There’s nothing else there?”

“No!”

“So, why won’t you marry me?”

“Excuse me?” you scoffed. “Is that what this is about? Are you asking me to marry you because you what? You feel threatened by Charlie?”

“That’s not what I said-”

“What is this, some sort of possessive thing that you need me to flaunt a ring around so everyone knows that I’m yours?”

“How can you say that? I want to marry you because I love you! And I want to be with you!”

“And I told you a million times that I am not ready to get married right now! I told you I love my job and I have so many opportunities now where I can travel or even move-”

“Well, yes, but we both know that once we get married and have kids your job will be more like a hobby” he chuckled. You felt your entire heart shatter as you kept repeating Bill’s words in your head. ‘We both know that the man that you’re supposed to be with, was sitting on your other side, don’t we?’

“Nicholas” you said, quietly. “I love you, but I can’t give you an answer right now” you told him. He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair.

“Fine” he said, grabbing the small box and placing it in your hand. “Then, think about it okay? I love you and I want us to be together” he insisted.

“Okay. I will think about it” you said, as he stood to give you a peck on the lips before he made his way over to your bathroom.

As soon as the door closed, you grabbed one of your sweaters, which just happened to be Charlie’s Christmas jumper you had stolen at some point, and you made your way down to the kitchen to clear your mind. You were glad that it was empty because it was already a bit late and you started making yourself some tea. When you sat on the kitchen table you heard some footsteps coming towards you and you sighed.

“Nicholas, I don’t really want to talk right now-” you stopped when you noticed someone else standing there.

“Not Nicholas, love” Charlie smiled sweetly at you. “You alright?”

“I’m fine” you said, looking at your hands as the kettle announced that the water was ready. You were going to stand up but Charlie quickly stopped you.

“Let me” he said, making his way around your kitchen as he brought two cups of tea. Yours with milk and no sugar. You smiled grabbing the mug in your hands. “So… what’s wrong?”

“Nothing-”

“Love I have known you long enough to know that you can’t sleep when you’re upset” he told you. “Remember how you always sneaked into my dorm when you couldn’t?” he smirked.

“I just… have a lot on my mind, I guess” you said, quietly, taking a sip of your perfectly prepared tea.

“So, are you going to tell me about it or are you just going to keep avoiding me?”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t been avoiding you?”

“Really? This is the first conversation we’ve had since I got here” he told you. “Come on, love, please stop pushing me away” he said, placing his hand on yours. When he did, he noticed something under your arm. “Hey, what’s that?”

“Oh, n-nothing” you said, trying to keep your arm in place but Charlie pulled it up, revealing the ring box.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked, quietly. You felt your heart racing.

“Charlie I uh-”

“You’re getting married?” he asked, grabbing the box and smirking. But you could see in his eyes that he was far from happy about this. “Congratulations, Mrs. Pumpkin” he mocked you. You glared at him, grabbing the box from his hand.

“You’re an asshole” you said, starting to get up but he quickly followed and pulled you back.

“No, come on, love. I’m only joking” he chuckled.

“Well, it is not funny!”

“Fine. Why are you so upset? Aren’t you marrying Mr. Perfect?”

“Why do you even care about this? Is not like you have any idea what’s going on since you have been away for the past five years!”

“That is not fair! We both made that decision!”

“Exactly! So why do you even care if I am with someone else?”

“Because you can’t marry him!”

“Oh, really?” you asked starting to breathe heavily. “And why not?”

“Look, even if I am not yours, you are still my best friend and I am allowed to care about you and say something when you’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life!”

“Excuse me?”

“I did not leave you here for you to follow you to get your fucking dream job and then throw it all away when someone asks you to be his trophy wife!”

“How dare you, Charles!? How can you claim you know me so well and then assume that’s what I’m gonna do!” you snapped.

“That’s how you’re acting! Whenever you’re around him you’re an entirely different person!”

“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t end up together!”

“Oh, believe me, love. Best idea I ever made!” he snapped at you.

“And for the record, Bill is my best friend” you smirked evilly at him and he gasped offended.

“Take that back!”

“No” you shrugged and he started slowly walking closer to you.

“Take.It.Back.” he said with his deep voice between clenched teeth as you bumped into the counter behind you and he placed his hands on each side of you.

You were no longer able to ignore this. You felt how heavy your heart was pounding and you knew Charlie was the only one that made it beat like this.

“Make me” was the only thing that you were able to say before Charlie grabbed your face between his hands and he pulled you to his lips.

When his lips touched yours, the world seemed to melt away around you. Nothing mattered. Just you and him. His hands quickly started roaming around your body bringing you closer as he started deepening the kiss. It was like the first time he kissed you. Like the first time that he said he loved you. Like the first time that the two of you had sex. Nothing had changed. You couldn’t keep on denying it any longer. Your heart belonged to Charlie Weasley. You belonged with Charlie Weasley.

But then, you felt a pang of guilt pull at your heart. This was wrong. You were with Nicholas. Nicholas who had just asked you to marry him. Nicholas who was upstairs, waiting for you in your room. So, you pushed Charlie away.

“L-love” he said, breathing heavily.

“No!” you said, pushing yourself away from him and he finally let go. “I c-can’t do this, this isn’t right” you said, starting to feel sick to your stomach. You were a horrible person. “Fuck, what have I done?”

“Love, look at me” he tried, getting closer to you.

“No, don’t get near me!” you cried. “I can’t- I can’t think straight when you’re around me!” you said stepping closer to the entrance. “I need to leave” you muttered to yourself, running out of the kitchen and upstairs.

“Fuck” Charlie muttered to himself before he punched the counter.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hi, bug” you turned around to see one of your fathers, Remus, staring at you through his window.

“Hi dad” you smiled weakly as he climbed through the window and sat down next to you.

“What are you doing out here? Hiding?”

“No” you chuckled.

“You do know this is where you hid every time you stole the chocolate chip cookies, right?”

“Right” you smiled, looking down at yourself.

“What’s going on, bug?”

“Dad… do you think I'm a bad person?”

“What? Of course not, love why would you ask me that?”

“I did a terrible thing” you said, feeling tears streaming down your face.

“Sweetheart, whatever it is, you are not a bad person and your father and I love you very much” he insisted.

“Nicholas proposed to me” you said, taking out the small box and showing him the ring.

“And… you’re not happy about that?” he asked.

“I don’t know! I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t want to get married right now” you told him. “There are still so many things I want to do and so many places I want to go and…” you cried.

“You told him no?”

“I told him I’d think about it” you explained. “And he said it was fine, but I could tell he was upset” you said. “And so I said I needed some space and I went down to the kitchen to make some tea and then I ran into Charlie and I-” you took a deep breath. “We kissed” you told him.

“You kissed Charlie Weasley?!” the two of you turned around to find Sirius standing at the window.

“DAD!” you complained.

“Sirius, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough” he said, climbing outside and sitting on your other side.

“Dad, please don’t make me feel worse than I already do” you begged him.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing? Are you not happy with Nicholas?”

“I don’t know!”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Sirius” Remus warned.

“You two have been together for two years now and you seem perfect! You are lucky to have a guy like that!”

“See, that’s the thing! I don’t think I am! I thought I was and then Bill started saying how if I have to remind myself how lucky I am, it’s because I am afraid to ask myself how happy I really am! And then… I can’t believe I got Bill stuck in my head! But he was right! I started to question how happy I really am and I realized how much I have changed since I have been with Nicholas, and… this isn’t me! I haven’t felt like myself in so long! Since… since I was with Charlie! And so, that’s why I told him I would think about it and then I ran into Charlie and he started saying that I shouldn’t marry Nicholas and I got mad at him and we started arguing and then… we kissed and now I don’t know what to do!” you cried as Remus hugged you closer to him. “Why can't I stop thinking about Charlie?”

“Because you're scared of the first real adult relationship with the perfect man” Sirius told you.

“Or because you and Charlie still have a special connection and you still love him” Remus said, widening his eyes at his husband.

“Honey, she’s with Nicholas. We like Nicholas. Stop defending Charlie!”

“Charlie would die for our daughter, and you know that!”

“Can you guys not talk about me as if I’m not here-?”

“Why are you rooting for him? He broke our girl’s heart! And I will be dammed if I let him do it again!” Sirius snapped, making you look at your dad.

He looked defeated. And then it clicked, why your father never liked Charlie. He didn’t seem to mind him when you were in school. Only the ‘hurt my little girl and I’ll kill you’ way. But after Charlie left for Romania, you came back home and stayed with your fathers for weeks. And you had cried every single day.

“Dad… Charlie didn’t break my heart” you said, pulling out of Remus’ embrace. “We both decided to break up. I didn’t want to stop him from following his dreams of working with dragons. And I was going to go with him. But he wouldn’t let me because he knew I wanted to stay here to follow my dream” you explained. “He said that if we were meant to be together we would always make our way back to each other” you told him. “I know you don’t like him and I know that you saw how hurt I was… but that wasn’t Charlie’s fault” you insisted.

“You see, Sirius? Charlie did everything he could so our girl would follow her dreams and do what she wanted instead of following him all the way to Romania. I’m sure you would have hated that” he said as Sirius hugged you.

“Of course, I would have hated that! He would have torn my only daughter away from me” he said, kissing your head.

“See? So, it is actually thanks to Charlie that she didn’t leave. So maybe cut the boy some slack” Remus said.

“Fine” Sirius said begrudgingly. “I guess… he’s not that bad” he admitted as Remus hugged the both of you.

“Can we go back to my problem please?” you said, pushing both of them away. “I still have no idea what to do! I feel like a horrible person!”

“Sweetheart, you’re not a horrible person” Sirius insisted. “As much as it pains me to say it… I guess… I kind of understand why you still feel drawn to Charlie” he sighed. “And… you should always be able to feel like yourself with the person you love” he told you.

“You’re going to have to make a decision, honey” Remus told you.

“They are both great guys but so different! How did you guys do it?”

“I’m not gonna be any help here from the minute I saw your dad I was done for” Sirius smiled at Remus. “I knew that I had met the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and I did everything I could to make him as happy as he made me” he admitted.

“That was really sweet, dad” you smiled at Sirius before you turned to your other father. “What about you?”

“Well, first of all, I’m a sucker for guys who say things like that” Remus admitted. “And… he always helps me find the fun in life” he smiled at his husband.

“Look, sweetheart, you should just ignore everything we said and try to imagine your life with each of them and… if there’s one of the two that you just can’t live without” Sirius told you.

“Well…” you said, taking a deep breath. “With Nicholas, I guess I see a big beautiful house lined with books and interesting people coming in and out, raising kids with a brilliant man” you said with a soft smile. “And with Charlie…” you said as your parents noticed your smile getting bigger. “I see us in a cute little place that needs a ton of work” you chuckled. “And we may not have all the nicest things but… there's music and laughing and I know I can always be myself and he’ll always love me for it” you finished with a few more tears running down your cheeks. “And as much as I love Nicholas, I can see myself living without him but… I don’t think I can picture my life without Charlie” you admitted.

“Well, sweetheart, I think you just answered your question” Remus said, as he and Sirius wrapped you in a hug.

“And we support you no matter what” Sirius assured you, kissing your head. “We just want you to be happy” he said.

“I know” you smiled back at them as you stood up. “Thank you” you said, kissing each of them on the cheek. “I love you guys” you told them, moving over to the window.

Remus turned back to hug Sirius closer to him. “That was very mature of you, Pads” he said, kissing his temple.

“Please, Moony, you act as if I am still the same immature boy from school” he laughed.

“You do know that since she is choosing Charlie and she can now easily move in her job, there’s a chance this might end up with her moving to Romania, right?”

“WHAT!? I never agreed to that!”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hi” you said, walking inside your room, and finding Nicholas sitting on your window nook.

“Hey” he smiled sadly at you. “I take it you couldn’t sleep either?”

“No” you admitted. “Um… I think… we need to talk” you said, grabbing the small ring box and placing it on your bed. You saw the look on Nicholas’ face and you were certain he knew what was coming was not good.

After about two hours, and the hardest conversation you had ever had since saying goodbye to Charlie, Nicholas was done packing all of his things and he walked towards the door. You had tears streaming down your face and he stopped in front of you, cupping your cheek one last time.

“I’m really sorry” you repeated. “I want you to know that I really did love you” you assured him.

“I know” he smiled like the gentleman he always was as his thumb brushed your cheek. “Just… not as much as him, right?” he said, kissing your temple. “I loved you too” he said before he opened the door and exited the room.

You followed him down the stairs where you found your fathers waiting for you. Acting as if they hadn’t just been outside your door, listening to your entire conversation.

Nicholas smiled awkwardly at them as he made his way out. “Uh, thanks for everything Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black” he told them.

“Take care, kid” Sirius told him.

"Keep in touch" Remus said, kindly before the door closed.

"I don't really see us keeping in touch" Sirius told his husband as you walked down the stairs. “How are you feeling, bug?”

“I’ve been better” you admitted, wiping away the remaining tears on your cheeks and yo sat down at the sofa. Your fathers quickly sitting next to you.

“You did the right thing, sweetheart” Remus said, kissing your head. “We’re really proud of you” he told you.

“We love you, bug” Sirius added before the three of you heard the door burst open and you saw Bill and Charlie walking in, laughing about something.

Their laughter quickly died down when they spotted you. You knew they were a bit drunk. Most likely, Charlie told Bill about what happened and Bill’s solution was to go out and drink.

“Boys” Sirius said, standing up. “Just coming in, are you?” he smirked.

“Y-you’re not gonna tell our mum, right?” Bill asked, a bit worried.

“Well-” Sirius started.

“No, we’re not” Remus said, standing up as well. Charlie’s eyes were glued to you. And your dad noticed. “Why don’t we make some coffee?” he suggested pulling his husband and the oldest Weasley with him into the kitchen. “Let these two talk” he said, ignoring the complaints from both of them.

“Hi” Charlie said, sitting down on the coffee table in front of you.

“Hi” you smiled at him as you tried to wipe some new tears away.

“Are you okay? Why are you crying?” he asked, worriedly, kneeling in front of you and placing his big hand on your cheek, making you smile sweetly at him.

“I’m okay, Charlie” you assured him.

“Love, I am really sorry for what I did” he started. “And for what I said, I had no right to talk to you that way and I had no right to kiss you, I know that I just-” he sighed.

“Charlie” you started but he kept rambling on.

“I was just scared because you are my favorite person in the entire world and not a day goes by that I don’t regret leaving you. I should have stayed here with you! I should have fought for you! Because I love you!”

“Charlie-!”

“I know I have no right to dump all of this on you right now, but I at least owe you the truth. And the truth is that I am completely, madly, and hopelessly in love with you Cassiopeia Lupin-Black” he said, making you glare at him a little. “I have been my entire life. And I know I may not be able to give you the life that Nicholas can give you but, I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone and I promise to try and make you as happy as you make me if you let me and-”

You cut him off by leaning in closer and placing your lips softly against his. Charlie was taken aback for a moment before he wrapped his arms around your waist and hugged you closer as you pulled away.

“I broke up with Nicholas” you told him.

“Y-you did?” he asked with hope waving over his heart as you nodded.

“I told him I couldn’t marry him” you explained. “A-and I love you so much, Charlie, it’s just…I just got out of a relationship. I’m a complete mess right now” you cried, smiling at him.

“I love messes. We can take this as slow as you need to, my little Horntail” he said, brushing your tears away as you chuckled. “So… that means that…”

"It's you" you said with a weary smile as Charlie wrapped his arms around your waist and you rested your head on his shoulder. "It's always been you, love" you told him, making his heart race faster when you called him that.

“Fucking finally!” Bill shouted.

The two of you turned around to see him at the entrance of the kitchen standing with Sirius and Remus before they disappeared into the room.

“We… kinda have to face them now, don’t we?” Charlie asked you, standing up and pulling you with him.

“We kinda do” you said, kissing his cheek.

“Are your dads gonna kill me?” he asked as you held his hand and started pulling him towards the kitchen.

“No” you assured him. “I promise they won’t” you smiled. You were about to enter the kitchen but Charlie pulled you to him once more, wrapping one arm around your waist and placing his hand softly on your cheek. “What?”

“I told you we will always make our way back to each other, my love” he smiled, kissing your temple. You smiled placing your head on his chest feeling completely content in his arms. This felt like home. You had never been more certain to have made the right decision. “I love you” he whispered.

“I love you too” you smiled, looking at him.

“My little Hungarian Horntail” he chuckled.

“I hate you again!”

“You love me!”

The End

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A/N: ahhh I missed writing for Charlie so much xD I hope you all liked it! let me know what you think! Spencer’s coming up next! 

[lovelytsunoda]

baby, it's cold outside // daniel ricciardo

summary: daniel and his wife celebrate his first christmas without f1 with their daughter while they reminisce on how they got there.

pairing: daniel ricciardo x wife! reader

warnings: just family holiday fluff : )

author's note: why do so many of my christmas collection stories involve kids?? ( george, daniel, charles )

it was bright outside when daniel ricciardo woke up, the bright australian sunrise streaming through the blinds as he stirred in the king sized bed, pulling his wife closer. she hummed in contentment, turning over to nuzzle her face into daniel's warm, bare chest.

"morning, darlin'" the former mclaren driver chuckled, pressing a kiss to y/n's forehead. "how did you sleep?"

"fine." she hummed, eyes still closed as y/n ricciardo absorbed her husband's warmth.

the couple were spending christmas in perth with daniel's parents. y/n had always loved the ricciardo family farm, and she knew that it had always been daniel's happy place. it was a place filled with love and laughter and it had meant even more to them since they had someone else to share it with.

their little girl, cadence elizabeth.

it was march of 2018 when y/n found out she was pregnant. the couple had been married for just under two years and had been casually trying to get pregnant, and daniel would have been lying if he said that news of his daughter's impending arrival hadn't been a big factor in his inevitable move to renault. they'd tried to shield their little bundle of joy from the media for as long as they could, protecting her from the horrors of the world while she was still too young to understand.

as if on cue, the door to the guest bedroom creaked open, floorboards bending under the weight of tiny feet. daniel and his wife giggled, trying to hide further underneath the blankets as they felt the mattress dip under the weight of their new guest as she jumped up and down.

"mommy! daddy! wake up, it's christmas!" cadence elizabeth ricciardo shouted with glee, a stuffed giraffe tucked underneath her arm as she jumped up and down, her parents giggling as daniel sat up and pulled the girl into his arms.

"good mornin' kiddo." daniel laughed, pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead as cadence giggled. "let's let mommy sleep just a little longer, okay? we'll go find grandma and grandpa and make some breakfast, what do you say"?

"and then can we do presents?" cadence begged, eyes wide and pleading.

y/n laughed, the top of her head sticking out from underneath her blanket cocoon. "eat your breakfast first, cadence. and then we'll open the presents with your grandparents, okay?"

daniel got out of the bed, lifting cadence up so that the four-year-old could sit on his shoulders as he left the bedroom. y/n watched them go with a smile, her heart filled with love for the man she married, and the bundle of joy that they created.

life hadn't always been easy. cadence had been born in january of 2019, and while daniel had been able to take the rest of the month off, he eventually had to go back to work, flying to england to help renault prepare for the season. some of the hardest moments of those first few months had been hell for y/n, having to weather it on her own as daniel travelled the world.

and it hadn't always been easy for daniel either. he had missed cadence's first steps, her first words spoken over a video call.

y/n and cadence had been in the paddock a few times before the 2019 season ended, but never for very long before she had to leave cadence with daniel's pr rep, not wanting the noise and the energy levels to upset the poor darling.

twenty-twenty had been considerably harder, but at least daniel got to spend some of it at home, making up for all the lost moments as cadence reached her first birthday. because of covid logistics, y/n and the baby hadn't been able to come to any of the races, out of concern for cadence's fragile infant immune system.

and daniel thinks that might have been when he first started to consider settling down, slowing his life down a bit. he'd always wanted a family, and now he felt like he had been neglecting the ones that he loved the most.

so when it came down to it, looking more and more likely that he was going to be ousted from mclaren, the driver wondered if it might be for the better that he took some time off to reevaluate his career and spend more time with y/n and cadence.

y/n carefully tip toed her way down the large staircase that opened up into the main floor kitchen, sleeves of her sweater pulled over her fingertips and arms crossed over her chest as she stood in the doorway with a content smile on her face.

christmas carols played on the radio while daniel stood in front of the stove, dancing subtly as he fried up some eggs. cadence was sitting on the bar stool in front of the island, grace ricciardo braiding her granddaughters hair as cadence laughed at her father, a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her.

“merry christmas, candy.” y/n giggled, pressing a kiss to her daughters head. “did you sleep well?”

cadence grinned, looking up at her mother. “look, mummy, santa was here!”

“oh, wow!” y/n played along, looking over at the sparkling christmas tree. part of her surprise was genuine, as she didn’t expect grace and joe to have bought cadence so many things. “I think santa is spoiling you.” she grinned, with a knowing and pointed look at grace, who just shrugged.

“my granddaughter has been very good this year.” grace smiled, pinching cadence's cheek.

"you spoil her." y/n mouthed with a laugh before walking the perimeter of the island so that she could stand behind daniel, wrapping her arms around his midsection and resting her head on his cheek. "merry christmas, baby."

"merry christmas, hon." danny smiled, kissing his wife on the nose before extricating himself from her hold and sipping around to face her.

the radio next to the stove was playing softly, and when the song changed, the australian couldn't help but grin as he started to sing along, taking her hand in his.

"i really can't stay, baby it's cold outside."

its the same thing every year, a family tradition if you will. that family tradition being daniel's terrible singing and a dance with his wife, who will usually humor him and join in with the singing. every time the song came on the radio, they had to stop and sing.

despite all of it's controversy, it had always been y/n's favourite christmas song, partly because for twenty-seven years of her life, she had never seen snow before. the year after they started dating, daniel had helped her make that a reality by spending christmas in austria.

"my mother will start to worry." she couldn't stop the smile spreading on her face as daniel spun her around the kitchen

"beautiful what's your hurry?" daniel sang into the whisk that he was holding while grace and cadence clapped int he background, the younger girl still attempting to teach herself the words

"my maiden aunt's mind is vicious." she sang sweetly, looping her arms around daniel's neck as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, his baritone voice churning out the next lyric.

"gosh your lips look delicious."

"well, baby it's cold outside!"

grace and cadence clapped, and joe looked very confused as he came back inside from tending to the farm.

"what did i miss?"

"how about we start opening presents now that grandpa is back?" daniel suggested with a laugh. "cadence, why don't you go with your grandparents and pick one out. your mother and i will be in there in a minute."

"okay! come on, grandpa!" cadence laughed, running across the room to launch herself into grandpa joe's arms.

y/n laughed thoughtfully, looking at her daughter and her in-laws. "wanted some time to ourselves, did you?"

"wanted to give you something." daniel hummed, taking a small box out of the pocket of his sweatpants.

"daniel joseph ricciardo!" y/n rolled her eyes. "we talked about this! i told you not to get me anything. i have you and cadence, i don't need anything else."

"you say that every year."

"danny."

the driver laughed, passing her the box. "babe, just open it."

rolling her eyes again, y/n slipped her fingernail inside the seam of the box, opening the lid before taking in a breath. inside, on a fine satin pillow, was a pair of earrings. a pair of pearls stacked on top of each other to make little snowmen, with tiny diamonds for eyes and strips of silver for arms.

"daniel, they're gorgeous. thank you." she said softly, one hand on his cheek as she pressed up on her tiptoes to kiss her husband. "i love you."

"i love you more. taking time off from the track will be good for me. i can't wait to spend all of next season by your side, watching our little girl grow up."

"mommy! daddy! hurry up!"

the couple laughed, y/n's head still resting aginst daniel's chest as he kissed the top of her head.

"come on, let's go see what your parents bought her this year."

Tags:

@magnummagnussen @libraryofloveletters @sidcrosbyspuck @daydreamingleclerc @flannel-cures @mignonricciardo

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye has virtually no shame about public displays of emotional vulnerability and mental instability, imo.

I’ve seen a lot of people who place a lot of importance on Hawkeye’s “If this keeps up, people are gonna realize I'm as crazy as I think I am,” line in Hawk’s Nightmare but honestly I just see it as mainly a wry acknowledgement that he’s acting less than sane in public and weirding out his childhood friends back home by detailing his nightmares to them, with a side of alluding to his actual fear, which is being crazy, as he tells Sidney over and over during that conversation. The key word there is “think” not “realize” imo.

Sidney reassures him by telling him his nightmares mean he’s sane, not by telling him that they’ll go away and he’ll stop publically sleepwalking. In fact he implies it’s something that will continue until the war’s over, and Hawkeye doesn’t seem to have a problem with that as long as it doesn’t mean he’s actually going insane.

And Hawkeye never really demonstrates any concern over people witnessing his breakdowns, and in fact seems to go out of his way to make them public half the time. I mean you got your most blatant example in Bananas Crackers and Nuts where he’s happy to exaggerate his feelings to make people think he’s insane to get a break. But even when it’s genuinely serious (and less cartoony, tonally), he’s also got no issues making public scenes.

He doesn’t quietly seek out Potter or BJ alone when he decides yes he is in fact seriously ill in Bless You Hawkeye, he walks right into everyone having a meeting and announces that he’s gonna die. He’s not only perfectly fine with Sidney visting him for a consultation in Hawk’s Nightmare, he’s the first to acknowledge why he’s there during the poker game while Sidney’s trying to be politely subtle (”Mind if I come along?” “Fine with me Doc, as long as your couch has wheels on it.”) He also ofc calls his childhood friends and tells them he’s having fucked up nightmares about them, tells everyone else about them to ask for their opinions, and tries to have a heart to heart with Frank about being afraid to go to sleep.

He makes a joke about cracking up at the farewell party in GFA, and tells some random patient he just had his “head in a cast,” apropros of nothing. He throws a tantrum in Adam’s Ribs, he publically screams out his feelings at the end of For Want of a Boot, he loudly narrates his impending panic attack in CAVE (and says that the reason he kept quiet about it for a while is specifically because he didn’t want Potter to choose a less safe place to retreat to on his account), he casually describes his emotional state as “mania” to Potter in Depressing News while, yk, building a big tower for 2 days without breaks in the middle of the camp, he breaks down in front of BJ - a guy he’d only recently met - in The Late Captain Pierce, he angrily confronts everyone about feeling betrayed and abandoned by them in the phone scene in GFA. We don’t see what he does after Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde but he casually mentions the insomnia to Winchester in Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde so he’s fine talking about it. He has two public breakdowns in the O.R. that I can remember off-hand.

And he never demonstrates any shame or regret about the public nature of any of this.

He never tries to hide his feelings - I think the closest he gets is in Sons and Bowlers, and he proceeds to tell Charles how he’s feeling for the entire rest of the night in that one - and while nearly everyone else gets plotlines where something’s troubling them that they don’t want to talk about, Hawkeye never ever does. He’s usually the one prying these feelings out of other characters and chiding them for not talking about them. Even in GFA what’s stopping him from talking about it is the amnesia - he’s reluctant and upset about having the conversations about the bus because he’s subconsciously afraid of remembering, but he still does, and after he has his breakthrough he willingly talks it through with Sidney multiple times afterwards as well, both offscreen in Sidney’s mention of follow-up sessions (including Hawkeye explicitly wanting more of them), and on screen when Sidney visits the 4077.

And in Bless You Hawkeye, the other trauma amnesia episode, he’s perfectly willing to a) accept it could be psychosomatic, b) talk about it with Sidney to find the root cause, and c) joke about it afterwards during a poker game.

And then you got a bunch of moments and jokes where he shamelessly reveals personal information about himself, sometimes likely exaggerations that he’s still fine with people believing, sometimes clearly accurate. I sucked my thumb until my twenties, I can’t get hard, here’s the kind of niche sex I like, I’m a coward and proud, I’m fucking my married ex, I was jealous of my dad’s girlfriend, monologue about how much I miss my dad to a stranger, monologue about how miserable I am to a stranger, monologue about how terrified I am to a stranger, etc etc.

There’s also overt commentary on this - in Check-Up for example, Hawkeye suggests that Trapper got an ulcer because he’s the strong silent type who keeps his feelings in, in contrast to himself. In Bless You Hawkeye Sidney points out that Hawkeye never holds back when it comes to his feelings about the war, which is why he’s assuming the root cause is something Hawkeye isn’t even consciously aware of and goes back to Hawkeye’s childhood.

When it comes to Hawkeye it’s very difficult for me to imagine a scenario where he would try to hide anything about himself, whether that’s his feelings or something about his life, and I have a feeling it was the same for the writers of the show most of the time too lol, hence relying on amnesia twice for the mystery and reveal structure.

[dailyunstableeve]

Together

Hobie Brown x witch!Fem!Reader

Chapter Three

a/n: I know this took so long, because Spidey decided to throw Vulture at my window so my window just got fix 👌 I'm joking, I just been editing it again and again ;-; sorry for the wait enjoy ;)

Masterlist

°:. *₊ ° . ° .•°:. *₊ ° . ° .•°:. *₊ ° . ° .•°:. *₊ ° . ° .•°:. *₊ ° . ° .

"Again."

You close your eyes, remembering the image of a bottle they placed in front of you, adjusting your usages of power and only aim for the bottle but every time, you end up blowing the whole table up together with the bottle, and they have to bring the extra tables in.

"I can't, can we just call it a day?" You're exhausted from the hours of just trying to hit that one single bottle.

Charles Xavier and Wanda Maximoff are the ones who are willing to train you, and Hobie stayed with you during the whole training just like he promised.

"Give it a one last try Miss Y/N, I believe that you just need to focus," Charles gave Eve a warm smile, "your power is indeed hard to wield but you should never stop trying."

"Maybe try only visualizing the bottle, not the table," Wanda suggested.

"You got this," you saw Hobie mouthed at you, giving you a smile which you managed to relax a little and focus on the bottle only like how Wanda suggested.

You did it, the bottle was knocked off and the table had some marks on it, at least it's not explode like the last many tables.

"Good job," Charles congratulated you.

You let out a breath to relax a bit, looking at the bottle on the ground, deeply happy that you managed to do it.

For the next two months, your training went great, studies continued at the Xavier Gifted School, Tony Stark helped you to cover all the fees, basically your salaries. Charles, Wanda and Jean are the main ones who will always appear in your training as Hobie will be there for you, he's a promise keeper.

Throughout the two months, you tried to come up with new spells in the recommendation from Wanda. Both of you are witches, she gains her powers from the Mind stone and you're born with it. Which made you and Wanda the best friend. You can bend elements, together with healing spells but that's not your limit. You would love to find out about your power, in exchange it could lead you unable to control your power.

"Let's try with a new spell every one or two weeks, depending on how well you manage to control your power," Wanda said.

Other than focusing on training, you and Hobie got closer than usual.

"Here you go luv," Hobie just casually handed you your favorite soda drink.

"Thank you," you took it from him with a soft smile.

This feels bizzard for you, all the crushes you have on Hobie, after highschool, you both didn't even contact at all, until now. Hobie's the Spiderman, your admired hero, behind the mask is the boy you like.

"It's been two months, what do you think?" Hobie asked you.

"It's great, everyone is nice here, haven't really been around people like them, it almost felt like a dream," you chuckled, "thank you Hobie, for the millions of times you've shown me the light of life. I mean it, even if you're just doing what heroes do."

"I'm not doing it because I'm Spiderman," Hobie scoffed.

"What?"

"Just drink," he stared at your drink and you, the way his eyes shift is him telling you to drink.

Hobie looked away from you, with his side profile, a slight redness painted the tip of his ears.

Normally both of you will meet at the training ground, sooner you both hang out outside. Band performance, cafes, movies, arcade, night walk etc. As if it's a date everytime you both are hanging out.

Soon enough, five months passed by. It's your final day, and also the day you make your decision, but before all that, it's a party.

You watched Hobie performing on the stage, many crowded around the stage, having their hands raised up hopping on beats, singing along to the song. You stood on the empty spot far from the stage that's enough for you to watch Hobie on the stage. It reminded you of graduation, how you were holding on your graduation scroll tight in your hands, standing at the other end of the four basketball court gym when everyone was dancing around the stage.

Same position, different location, same music, different people, same feelings.

Before you were pulled away from Wanda and the others, you and Hobie met eye but you looked away because Wanda and Natasha are asking for you to join them to dance.

The party was a blaze, it ended before you knew it, and with Natasha being the great drinker, she managed to get you into tipsy mode.

"Y/N," Hobie called you as he walked towards you.

"Hobie?"

"You alright? Hear from the redheads you drank a lot," Hobie adjusted himself to meet the same leve height as you.

"Yeah I think I'm fine," you giggled, thinking that you're not tipsy but drunk, literally drunk, the alcohol must've been kicking in right now.

"You sure?" Hobie frowned, he has never seen you like this before since you mostly in serious mode, only crack a few laughs if the joke is really funny but now you're giggling on nothing (on the handsome face of Hobie), and constantly have a smile on your face.

Hobie would do anything to make this scene last but he also can't help but to worry about you.

"Dance with me Hobie," you took out your phone, playing the same music you watch Hobie plays on stage, reaching your hand out to him.

Hobie let out a short chuckle and took your hand.

This moment is what fulfilled the things you missed out on during highschool. A dance with the one you love, laughing along with Hobie, enjoy yourself.

Reaching the ending point of the song, Hobie pulled you close to you which caught you off guard that you almost fell but he caught you, pulling you even closer. This is the closest you've been with Hobie, in which your heart starts to beat insanely fast, you feel the air around you feels hot, and there's a possibility that you might faint and you did.

Before you fainted, you felt something soft touching your lip with Hobie telling you, "you better not forget what happened tomorrow, I'll be very pissed if you do."

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⭒─⭑─⭒──⭒─⭑─⭒──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

a/n: this is not the end if that's what you think 👀, I've been planning to make this into a long series, hopefully around ten chapters, stay tone for more and thank you for reading ❤️

Chapter One <-

Chapter Two <-

Chapter Four ->

[leclsrc]

happy 1k! 38 with charles please <3

words unspoken – cl16

genre: fluff :), drabble, 1k celebration

38: whispering “I love you” before a chaste, delicate kiss. title from this

“And it painted a mural all over our kitchen. You know, on the back wall, the green one where you accidentally chipped off a bit of the paint? Yeah. With its hind legs, and a paintbr—just a huge—just, like, angels, and babies. Honest to God, it was better than the Sistine Chapel.”

“So this was a Michelangelo deer?” Your boyfriend asks humorously. “That’s funny. I just had a turtle painting Picasso in my dream the other night. What are the chances?”

“You are such a little shit,” you say, but you’re both laughing. Another day of sharing your dreams to each other—a habit that started out of a way to start morning conversations and continued because of how much you enjoyed listening to each other talk. Your dreams varied, from nightmares, to those of the ordinary type, to the weirdest, most obscure kinds of figments you could possibly conjure.

Like this one. “But that’s not all. So this deer. It’s done painting this magnificent mural, right?” 

Charles nods, genuinely interested, adjusting his glasses as he pulls you onto his lap, wraps his arms around your waist. “So it finishes the painting, and it turns and faces me, and behind it, the painting totally melts off! Like, gone. Just—all of it—poof. The wall’s all green again. And I’m begging the deer to paint it back.”

“Oh, it betrayed you!” Your boyfriend clutches his chest. “How could it possibly?!”

You flick his cheek to shut him up. “And it repaints another painting over it, as per my request, but it’s a totally different painting. It’s not even a painting. It’s just your and my initials, tiny and accompanied by a little heart. No angels. Or babies. Or chapel ceilings.”

“And that’s it.” He fiddles with the sleeve of your knit sweater.

“That’s it.” You turn from the couch and toward the kitchen, where you can spot the wide, forest green wall you’d been talking about. “Just by the fridge. A heart and our letters.”

“Okay. As a professional dream interpreter,” he says, eliciting a scoff out of you, “I would say this means we need to do the same thing.”

“Paint the Sistine Chapel?” You joke, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Or adopt a deer?”

“I’ve got my own animal in the house already, thanks.” You roll your eyes at the offhand joke but allow him to continue. “We still have spare paint in the kitchen cabinet from when you begged me to repaint the bookshelf white.”

“Race you,” you whisper, clambering off his lap and bolting toward the cabinets.

Unfortunately, you’ve hit a caveat. You can’t find the tube or can of white paint for the life of you, so despite your headstart, you find yourself staring at your boyfriend’s proud, paintbrush-and-paint wielding grin. You roll your eyes, gesturing for him to start.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he says. “How’d it look like?”

“Just let me—” you fight briefly over the paintbrush but eventually you’re drawing careful strokes of each initial, housing them inside a tiny heart. You place the brush down and step back, proud of your handiwork. “It’s just like the deer’s.”

He hugs you from behind, and you clutch his arms, both of you just staring at this new, human, lovely as it is imperfect, addition to your home. He leans down, stops right as your lips brush together, then whispers delicately, “I love you.”

You kiss him back, smiling. When he pulls away, you poke his nose. “I love you, too.”

—

“So it’s an extra 40 euros to get the green color matched and have that splotch painted over,” the super says boredly. 

You stare at the white. A “splotch,” he’d called it.

You wonder how many times you’ve called something a splotch, garbage, irrelevant, when in truth it meant so much more to a total stranger. You want to turn to the super, say, coolly, casually, “Oh, my ex-fiancé and I drew that a couple years ago, so it’s not a splotch, you son of a bitch.” But you’ve no time for deep thinking or mapping out possibilities. You need to empty the place by today.

“Yeah, just go ahead and add it to the charge,” you say politely. “I forgot what that splotch was all about, actually.”

[blorbocedes]

thinking about max and charles being on vacation with their respective partners (idk where......greece? spain? france?) and running into each other. maybe there's been some tension between them recently so they've been talking/hooking up less in the lead up to summer break. they're both happy to see the other but it's awkward and difficult to fully be themselves around each other with their girlfriends there. some sexual tension, some glances across the room, maybe discrete text messages. idk just thinking thoughts

hello OP this is such a 🥵🥵🥵 prompt I've been thinking about it for days. I've brocedes'd too much today, so here's a lestappen for my crimes

cw: cheating, jealousy

also look at this asofterworld edit I made hehe

"Charles?"

Monaco is tiny. The elite one percenters of celebrities and athletes even smaller, practically living on the same street as each other.

So obviously, Max bumps into Charles in some coastal Italian city instead. It was such a surprise, seeing Charles and his girlfriend at the entrance of the restaurant Max's entourage had booked out so they wouldn't be bothered by fans, that Max found himself calling his name before he could catch himself; similar to Charles calling out to him at the end of last year's celebrations on the yacht.

Charles turned, and yes, it was absolutely him -- pink and damp hair probably from the sea, holding his girlfriend's hand both in casual, lounge wear. His face is just as surprised as Max feels, registering Max's presence.

Max gets up to greet them. "Wow, hi. What are the chances!"

He makes sure to play the role of welcoming host, trying to not think of the last time they -- well, the last time he saw Charles was at Hungary. He hadn't stuck around, and Max had been busy with the podium and then celebrating ending the season on a high. He's pretty sure Charles didn't want to see him then, even to blow off steam. It was an unspoken, unofficial thing -- meeting up after they'd both finished on podium, and finishing each other off. The last time had been Austria, fuck had that been one to remember. But they kept getting rarer, with Charles avoiding Max after a bad race, their points gap ever widening. He wasn't sure where he stood with Charles, going into summer break, and now here they were; in the flesh.

"Yeah...," Charles smiled haltingly, "Uh, this is my girlfriend, Charlotte. Charlotte, Max." He introduced them, wrapping an arm around Charlotte as if to prove a point. They were cute together, in matching prints, both delicate and mousy -- a bit like siblings, Max thought unkindly. "We were here to lunch but since it's booked, we are just gonna--"

"Please, join us." Max says immediately. His mom is at the table and she'd be disappointed at his inhospitability if he didn't even offer. It wouldn't be awkward, there was a whole group of people, they could be normal around each other and meet in circumstances out of racing. "It's our fault the place is booked out anyways, the lobster is very good."

"Ah, we couldn't intrude--" Charles' eyes flashed, keeping the smile on. By this time, some of Max's entourage walked up to them as well.

"No, come sit, there's plenty of room." "My mom is a Ferrari fan." They were much better at haggling than Max was, that's how they had his card to book the place in the first place.

Charlotte tugged at his sleeve, and after they shared a look -- Charles seemed to give in, smiling politely at everyone, the perfect charming son and not looking at Max.

Adding a few extra chairs, Max found himself with Charles on one side, and Kelly on the other; with Charlotte on Charles' other side and Max's mom and sister across from them. He's worried it is going to be awkward, but the group reinstates the "No racing talk" rule and he can see Charles visibly relax slightly. He wants to pat his back to reassure him, but keeps his hands clear off Charles, resting it on the back of his chair instead. No need to stoke fires, here.

Charles orders in perfect Italian, of course he does, and they commiserate on yachting. Apparently, there had been a shark in the waters yesterday, nobody saw it but everyone was dramatic about it, Victoria sharing a story of how she freaked out feeling some seaweed around her foot, and Max teasing her about it. Charles was looking at him, with a smile incredibly fond.

"It is so nice you boys can share a nice meal together even being lead rivals now. Of course, I remember Charles from your karting days too, so I know you're both good boys." Sophie comments, and Max's heart swells. Somehow it was important to him that his mother liked Charles. Charles tended to be catnip to older women, who kept trying to feed him and ruffle his hair but he ducked his head shyly at the words too.

The food arrives, and it is delicious, fresh, definitely worth whatever Max was being charged. Max was listening to a story Charles was saying when Kelly interrupted his listening with a, "babe" and put a piece of buttered lobster in his mouth. He might have moaned, it was so good. She smiled, pecking him on the lips -- no one else batting an eye, used to their PDA. Max didn't see Charles narrowing his eyes, continuing his story.

Max turning from Kelly to Charles dropped his fork, and he bent down the same time as Charles to pick it up, who got it first and handed it to him... and then rested his hand on Max's thigh, skin on skin since he was wearing shorts.

Max stumbled on his words, Charles not even looking at him -- turned to talk to Charlotte, hand still there; the weight of it burning, hidden under the table. Nobody could see but if anyone knew to look, maybe a passing by waiter -- they could be caught. Out in the open. He knew all about Charles' exhibitionist streak, taking off Max's fireproofs and getting on his knees in an empty storage room in the paddock anyone could walk in, not allowed to lock because of safety regulations but that was fooling around on the grid. Both their respective partners were here. Max makes no move to take Charles' hand off, in fact leans forwards to hide the visibility with his body as much as he could.

Charles doesn't even react, still smiling in some other conversation. Max wished just this contact wasn't enough to rile him up, but it had been so long with him and Charles; and suddenly to have him here, golden, beautiful, tanned right beside him...

"You alright, Maxy?" Someone asks, and Max is happy he forwent sunscreen yesterday and his whole face is red anyways.

"Yeah, just a bit tired." He shifted, feeling Kelly's hand massaging his neck and leaning into the touch. Charles keeps his hand where it is.

"Course, you are. We could hear you lovebirds all night." Someone else joked, and Kelly flipped them off, grinning. Charles' hand climbs higher, where the ends of his shorts met his inner thigh, slipping inside and squeezes the soft flesh. Max is proud he doesn't yelp.

He turns to look at Charles, who was looking straight ahead, completely innocent with the corners of his lips upturned, hiding a smile like he got away with a sneaky move on track that should've been penalised. Oh this absolute motherfucker. Across the table, he saw Charles holding Charlotte's hand on the table, rubbing a thumb across her hand. A true romantic, with his hand inside another man's pants. Sophie looks at them quizzically, probably wondering why Max looked like a deer in headlights and fuck, Max was going to kill Charles if he got him hard here, hand slowly massaging his thigh in measured squeezes.

As charged as the moment is, Charles' touch electrifying, it's gone as soon it when the second a server made their way with the platter of desserts and Max wished they had some code, multi-21 Plan C box box to the nearest bathroom, his thigh left unattended with no one to leave small crescent moon nail prints which would disappear. Unfortunately, as tense and on edge as he was at the possibility of more -- dessert went uneventful, Charles and Charlotte sharing one together, very cute, Max wanted to roll his eyes at them as Kelly fed him a bite of her cake.

By the time they're all finished eating, any potential embarrassing situations in Max's shorts have gone down, Charles reverting to his polite self everyone thinks they know him as. Max knows better, he'd had him come undone in his hands at their motorhome, knows how terrible Charles can be after a win and how much he looks forward to it.

When it's time to get up and leave, Charles shakes Max's hand and sincerely thanks him and the whole for the invite, the interaction much like how they are after a race -- so cordial and polite, one could almost mistake them for friends.

"I'll text you, yeah?" Charles said, winking at him before taking Charlotte's hand to leave.

Max is stood there, stunned. Since when did they text? Or speak outside of the paddock? Did Charles even have his number?

He didn't have to wait long to find out, his phone beeping later that night from a Monaco number.

"Thanks for lunch. Looking forward to meeting on track after summer break."

It's such an innocuous text, and Max presumes it has to be -- his girlfriend is right next to him, but he knows what the weight of those words carry, what it implies. His mouth goes dry. Clearly, someone is hopeful about Ferrari's performance after break.

"Let's make it a good one." He texts back, saving Charles' number. When Kelly goes down on him that night, he asks to leave hickeys on his thigh.

[irenethewoman]

Mrs. Shelby - Chapter 21 - Christmas

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"Are you spending Christmas alone this year?" "Ada, you know, to solve the problem, you must ring the bell." I sighed. "They are still resentful of Tommy. Except for Michael, who is still working, they don't even want to see me." "But our little Ollie hasn't met his cousin yet, has he?" Ada gently rubbed Orlando's head. The little guy was looking up at us, bubbles coming out of his mouth. I bent down and wiped his mouth. Last Christmas Eve, I gave birth to our second child with Tommy, a boy, and named him Orlando. Tommy was a bit disappointed; he thought it would be a girl. But Charles and Carl were happy; they finally had a new playmate. "Danny… we are a family…" "I know." I kept my head down, not looking at Ada. I looked at our son and eventually swallowed the complaints that were on the tip of my tongue, just pulling out a smile. "We are family, dear." I stood by the window, watching Ada leave in the car. I knew there would be a family gathering at John's big house during Christmas, and I think my husband knows that too.

"Family" is a somewhat unfamiliar term to me. It sounds more stable than a spouse but colder than close relatives. In 1914, I fled London and was taken in by Polly, but until I returned to Birmingham in 1920, I always felt like a lone soul, never truly integrated into the Shelby family, even after Tommy and I fell in love—we were more like an ordinary couple with our own families.

"Family" now has their own little families. Before that, the Shelby family was a united force, unstoppable. But Ada has Carl, John and Esme developed feelings through marriage, Polly found Michael again, Arthur met Linda, and everything started to develop in unpredictable directions. I'm not asking them to dedicate their lives to the family without personal feelings. But they have their own calculations, considering their family interests, putting the Shelby family's interests behind.

Yet they demand Tommy to be unwavering.

I still remember the unreasonable demands of the Shelbys when I was injured from the gunshot—Tommy "should" come back. Things they couldn't do, they demanded from my little prince, forcing him to put his beloved wife and child in second place, a position that would continue to torment him with guilt and worry. I dare not imagine what kind of life Tommy would lead if I had slept forever after being shot.

"Family" may be a curse buried in the blood of the Shelby family, a debt that Tommy cannot escape in his lifetime.

After June last year, sometimes I wonder, if the Shelby family only had Tommy, he might have broken through the class barrier long ago, stood in Parliament like other MPs, looking righteous and glorious.

I lower my head.

Ada is now the bridge of communication between Tommy and the rest of the Shelby family, and I can't let him lose this sister because of my grievances.

I didn't say these things just now, and I won't say them to Tommy.

Never.

Tommy has been busy lately, coming home much later than before, and when he comes home, he locks himself in the study. If I didn't have confidence in Tommy and didn't "patrol" the house every day, I would suspect that Tommy had a third party hidden in the study.

I intercepted the maid who brought him wine. "Give it to me." "Please come in."

After getting Tommy's permission, I opened the door and placed the tray of wine on his desk. By the time he saw a hand different from usual, I had already walked behind him. I bent down, my gaze passing over him to look at the documents in his hand.

"Danny."

I heard him calling me, with a pampering and helpless tone. I casually responded.

He hugged my waist, stood up, and kissed my lips. "Caught you, a little cat running around." "Your mouth is dry." After a gentle kiss, I raised my hand to touch his lips. But he opened his mouth and took my fingertip into his mouth. "Pervert!" I glanced at him, pulled out my hand, and gave him the wine.

Tommy took the glass, raised his head, and drank it all at once. Then he continued to hug my waist.

"You've been busy lately. Is there a problem with the company?" "Almost suspected you were keeping a lover in the study." I smiled and avoided his kiss. "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the company?" "But I think you already have a plan?" My curiosity was aroused by the smile on his face.

"Come on, Tommy." I held Tommy's hand and coquettishly said.

He took advantage of it to hug me and stood up, leaning over to kiss me, with small, warm kisses falling on my skin, tickling.

Too ticklish, I couldn't help laughing, gently patting his shoulder, trying to make him stop this childish thing that only Charlie would do.

"It's time, Tommy. I haven't fed Ollie yet!" "You should feed me first, dear."

After the rain stopped, we sat face to face in the bathtub.

"Do you know Jessie Eden?" Tommy leaned against the other end of the bathtub as if sitting on a throne.

"I've heard of her." I thought for a moment, recalling the cute round face woman with an apple. "She's famous, a union leader. Last year, if I remember correctly, on Good Friday, she led other workers to the streets for more women's toilets."

"She's always causing trouble. She thinks the wages of the factory girls are too low."

I looked at my husband sitting on the opposite side with a calm smile, but his smile disappeared.

The Shelby Foundation has always been my responsibility. I know it's a way for Tommy to whitewash, to improve our image in the eyes of the public. Before Ollie was born, I visited the factories under my husband's name. But what I saw shocked me—some pregnant women had to sit in front of the machines.

I was pregnant with Ollie at that time, and I knew how difficult pregnancy could be. Even if Tommy wanted someone to take care of me 24 hours a day, he couldn't make up for the physical pain and discomfort.

My background and assets mean that I never need to work like those women. I just need to take care of Charlie at home, occasionally show my face in Birmingham like a mascot, and enjoy the careful care of the maids and the love from my husband and son. Those women, even when pregnant, had to run for the family's livelihood, and when they returned home, there might be countless chores waiting for them.

Whether it's for the future of the Shelby family or out of sympathy for those women, there are some things I must say.

"Tommy, no matter what, you can't lower their wages. Maintaining the status quo is the best."

"You know my job, dear. If we can win over the union, it will be a great help to us. We need to unite all the forces we can unite, Tommy."

"But I think you already have a plan."

My curiosity was aroused by the smile on his face.

"Come on, Tommy." I held Tommy's hand and coquettishly said.

He took advantage of it to hug me and stood up

, leaning over to kiss me, with small, warm kisses falling on my skin, tickling.

Too ticklish, I couldn't help laughing, gently patting his shoulder, trying to make him stop this childish thing that only Charlie would do.

"It's time, Tommy. I haven't fed Ollie yet!" "You should feed me first, dear."

After the rain stopped, we sat face to face in the bathtub.

"Do you know Jessie Eden?" Tommy leaned against the other end of the bathtub as if sitting on a throne.

"I've heard of her." I thought for a moment, recalling the cute round face woman with an apple. "She's famous, a union leader. Last year, if I remember correctly, on Good Friday, she led other workers to the streets for more women's toilets."

"She's always causing trouble. She thinks the wages of the factory girls are too low."

I looked at my husband sitting on the opposite side with a calm smile, but his smile disappeared.

The Shelby Foundation has always been my responsibility. I know it's a way for Tommy to whitewash, to improve our image in the eyes of the public. Before Ollie was born, I visited the factories under my husband's name. But what I saw shocked me—some pregnant women had to sit in front of the machines.

I was pregnant with Ollie at that time, and I knew how difficult pregnancy could be. Even if Tommy wanted someone to take care of me 24 hours a day, he couldn't make up for the physical pain and discomfort.

My background and assets mean that I never need to work like those women. I just need to take care of Charlie at home, occasionally show my face in Birmingham like a mascot, and enjoy the careful care of the maids and the love from my husband and son. Those women, even when pregnant, had to run for the family's livelihood, and when they returned home, there might be countless chores waiting for them.

Whether it's for the future of the Shelby family or out of sympathy for those women, there are some things I must say.

"Tommy, no matter what, you can't lower their wages. Maintaining the status quo is the best."

"You know my job, dear. If we can win over the union, it will be a great help to us. We need to unite all the forces we can unite, and the union is the most critical one." I knew it wouldn't be so simple. I took a deep breath and looked at Tommy. "I understand your thoughts, but you also need to consider the interests of the Shelby family. If you hurt those women, not only will you lose support, but it may also cause conflicts within the family." "Jessie Eden is a thorn in my side, but I can't just eliminate her. The union has too much influence in Birmingham. We need a plan to control the situation and achieve our goals without causing too much trouble."

I nodded. "I will think about it, and I will help you find a way to deal with this matter properly."

Tommy's eyes softened as he looked at me. "Thank you, my love. I know I can always rely on you."

We finished our bath and got dressed, heading downstairs to join the family for dinner. As we walked hand in hand, I couldn't help but think about the challenges ahead. The world was changing, and the Shelby family needed to adapt. I would do my best to support Tommy, but I also had to ensure the well-being of our family.

As we entered the dining room, the atmosphere shifted. Ada and Michael were sitting at the table, discussing something in hushed tones. John and Esme seemed tense, exchanging glances. Arthur was unusually quiet, his eyes darting between Tommy and me.

I could sense the tension in the air, and I knew that the Shelby family was on the verge of a new chapter, one that would test our bonds and loyalties. The storm was brewing, and I had to navigate through it, not just as Tommy's wife, but as a Shelby with her own convictions.

The dinner table was filled with both the aroma of food and the unspoken weight of the challenges that lay ahead.

[spcrklings]

🎬 just announced, sloane xù richards has been cast as spencer hastings in the upcoming pretty little liars reboot. the twenty9 year old is trending as people are debating if the scent of lavender & honey, plethora of crystals lining windowsills, fresh set of acrylics every three weeks, matching mother daughter matching vintage charm jewlrey, children’s art scattered along every room of the house, & a strong caffeine addiction that they are known for is enough to make them as good as original. a quick google search shows that their fans call them adaptable, but internet trolls think they’re more overwrought. i guess their newest interview for variety where they talk about the tarot deck she keeps in her purse will let people to know them better.

lil stats !

full name: sloane xù richards nicknames: n/a. gender: cis woman. pronouns:  she/her. orientation: bisexual / biromantic. parents: matthew richards ( father, deceased ), elisabeth xù ( mother, deceased ) & nathaniel richards ( uncle / adoptive father ), sydney richards ( aunt / adoptive mother ) children: brooklyn ( age 7 )traits: adaptable, overwrought, reliable & anxious. 

lil bio ( tw car accident & parental death ) !

the richards family was well known in the industry. brendan richards was the original patriarch, a rich man with a taste for the arts. getting into producing was a natural step. he had five sons, johnathan, nathaniel, charles, edward, and matthew. each son had their own path, johnathan and edward were talented actors, nathaniel an esteemed director, charles became a literary scholar. then there was matthew.

matthew wanted absolutely nothing to do with his family's legacy and made that very clear even as a teenager. when he was eighteen, brendan cut his son off. matthew moved to the east coast and lived humbly ( compared to his upbringing ) as a carpenter.

when he met elisabeth it was love at first sight and matthew was thrilled to start a little family of his own away from the spotlight. the only one of his brothers that matthew stayed in contact with was nathaniel.

sloane's birth was the best thing that happened to the pair. the beginning of sloane's life was filled with love, laughter, and adventure. all that happiness came to an abrupt end right before her first birthday.

elisabeth and matthew had taken a short couples trip, leaving sloane home with nathaniel and his wife sydney who had come to watch over the little girl. they'd gone up to maine during the winter, roads were slick and treacherous, and on their drive back home they got into a fatal car accident.

nathaniel and sydney had been who matthew and elisabeth had chosen at sloane's birth to take her in if anything happened to them. she spent her first birthday at her aunt and uncle's place back in la.

while nathaniel was a very prestigious director and sydney was a housewife who casually traveled with her husband to various sets and none of that stopped when sloane was in their care. they absolutely doted on her, and spoiled her with attention and care ( not necessarily monetarily ). from a very young age sloane was an extra in just about every film her uncle made, mostly uncredited as it was simply just because he had she and sydney around on set.

as she aged sloane naturally gravitated to film as she essentially grew up on sets, surrounded by talented actors and professionals. her first lead role in a feature film was as katniss everdeen in the hunger games trilogy. her name certainly got her in the door, but the girl had talent.

being the daughter of the late matthew richards and in the care of her extremely famous uncle nathaniel, being in the public eye wasn't entirely new. but the boom of attention after her role as katniss made her very very self-conscious and anxious.

in her early twenties sloane had a rather rocky relationship that had really messed with her emotionally and when it came to a disastrous end she and her hands down best friend, tobias, drunkenly hooked up ( something she would have never done sober ). it wasn't long before she was having some very troubling symptoms.

when the plus sign popped up on the pregnancy test sloane was entirely stressed and out of her mind with worry. though she did consider herself lucky, she and tobias' relationship wasn't strained in the slightest with this new adventure. co-parenting as close friends was the absolute best possible situation in her eyes.

during brooklyn's first few years of life sloane's career took a bit of a backseat, wanting to be there with her daughter as often as physically possible. a project here and there to keep herself relevant enough, but leaving her able to have time with her child.

film had been her bread and butter, but now with brooklyn older, sloane wanted something a little more consistent, and a tv series felt like a natural move. she's also beyond excited to get to really dig into a character ( as long as the show is continuously renewed that is ).

wanted connections !

hook-ups: since her daughter's birth, sloane has not had many long term relationships, but hook ups ? yeah lots of those sdkfjskdjf

ex from her early 20s: pre-brooklyn. this was a super messy relationship where specifics can be plotted out, but the gist is that they were pretty toxic & they honestly probably never spoke to each other after or if they did, it was not pretty ( or nice )

more recent ex: a more long-term, or at least pretty serious relationship that came to an end for ( insert reason here im not picky dfjghdjfhg ) they could be on good or bad terms now!

close friends

frenemies

literally anything & everything pls <333