#daniel ricciardo x oc | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

callmewrinkles3 · 2 months

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Castles Crumbling - DR3 x Fem!OC

Summary: There's just four races to go until Em never has to be near McLaren again, but her anxiety isn't getting any better. With fractures growing in their friendships and people in the media talking, how could it? Not even a gift from her husband could help.

Words: 15.5k

Warnings: The 2022 F1 season, COTA 2022, mental health issues (anxiety, depression, social anxiety, issues with food, one instance of accidental self injury), Zak Brown opening his mouth, hospitals, mentions of assumed domestic abuse, medical staff, smut.

AN: Remember us? Yeah it's been a while, we know. But we're back! Tumblr is a mess right now and with this we decided to make it worse. Please, please heed the warnings here. This is probably the lowest point Em gets to, and it's not a good place. It’s a hard, complicated one. If it's not something you feel comfortable reading, that's alright. Stay safe out there. See you around. 🫰🏻

October 2022

Em had no idea why she was so nervous the day they got to Texas. There was absolutely no reason to be, they'd had some time off and it had been lovely. Her anxiety kept going up and making her stress which was the last thing she wanted. She was tucked in under Dan's arm, their friends were there, and they were in one of her favourite places in the world. Even if when Dan asked her what she wanted to do on their days off she'd said nothing. She didn't have the energy to do it.

The cancelled Russian GP felt like a miracle, giving them a full three weeks off instead of a week in London and one in Sochi. It was an oasis after the triple header of Spa, Zandvoort, and Monza. As soon as Dan finished media after the Monza curse kicked in they left the circuit. Like the year before they were holding hands, but this time it was anger and misery. He'd been on for points. Good points. And then the car just died under him. Fuck McLaren.

They'd gone straight to their favourite pizza place, getting a smile from the staff when Em ordered in Italian. Even the Tifosi in the restaurant chilled around them. There were nods and smiles, Em returning them when she could. It was there to the hotel for some sleep, and the next morning they had quick goodbyes to everyone before renting a car and driving up to Lake Como.

It was normal for them to have a getaway in Italy after races. It started with the beach trip after their first night together in Monaco, and 2019 was the nights in Milan after two impossible feeling races. But finally, after a quarantine year that cancelled their plans and then Em having to cancel them when Dan won. But finally they got to spend their time together. Dan had promised her that even if he won they were still going.

But the car gave up, so instead they said goodbye to Blake and Micahel for three days away. Em adored them, but she'd spent so much time with them that they weren't her usual safe places. Things with Michael still felt awkward, and time apart just felt right. The three days were spent alone, actually getting to wear their rings while they tanned, ate pizza and pasta, and spent hours making love on any surface they could.

The best part of the three weeks off wasn't sunny Italy, it was going to Perth. Dan had to be at the MTC for two days for sim duty before the double header so they went back to London, but as soon as they could they were on the direct flight from London to Perth to see family. It had only been two months since they'd seen Joe and Grace, but they hadn't seen the rest of the family since the super quick trip they'd made to Perth after they got back together.

All they wanted to do was hug the kids and be home. They just wanted to be uncle Danny and auntie Emmy. Even thought it was winter it was warmer than Em was used to. It was healing being back at the farm. Silence at night, family arriving in the late morning or early afternoons, it was perfect. Either they went to see people or people came back to see them at the farm for a full two weeks.

It helped Em's anxiety lessen, as did the regular therapy sessions. They had one on a Monday evening while Em was in Perth, set for a time where no matter where in the world she was she'd be able to make it. On race weeks she had one on Thursdays too. Plus seeing the constant smile on Dan's face while he was home. That put a smile on hers. If anyone deserved to be happy it was her Danny, and Em would do anything in her power to make sure he was.

The fun days ended all too soon, hugging everyone goodbye and promising to see them in Abu Dhabi for Isaac's birthday before they went back into the swing of things. Singapore and the race wasn't bad, Dan finishing with 10 points. But Japan was awful. Lando barely in front but the team acting like he was on the podium, and the weather and recovery vehicles. Dan had talked to her about Jules once before, about losing one of his best friends as a result of those conditions on that track. Her heart was in her throat as she watched Dan go around and round. It was another weekend watching the man she loved be disappointed at a track he adored, but at least they got to spend a week in London before Texas.

Once they got on the plane to head to the US, Em could feel the nerves building in her. It was different from the - high grade if she was honest - anxiety that she usually had most days. This time there was a reason. Dan was showing her the house he bought them that she still hadn't seen in person.

It had started from 2019 when she was tipsy and half asleep and whispered it while dozing in his arms that Austin would be a nice place to live. Since then he'd been searching, revealing it to her when they were in Montreal. The original plan was an apartment with a balcony and natural light, but getting that in the delivery radius of their favourite barbecue place was nearly impossible. And then between the pandemic and everything it turned into wanting so much more than a one bedroom apartment. Plus hiding it from the woman who he spent almost every waking moment with felt impossible.

He'd signed the papers when she was in Liverpool, a desperate dream that maybe Em would come back to him.

Telling himself it was an investment and worth it even when he wasn’t fully sure it was. He knew in his heart he’d never rent it out but he had to try something. It was a total lie. But then he flew down to Texas before landing in Miami to sign for the house. The original plan had been to show her when she arrived in Miami. Dan’s sick hope that she’d turn up. But then she didn’t and he just kept hoping until she was finally there.

They’d said they’d stop off on the way to Montana, fly an extra few hours so Em could see it. But she was too fragile and exhausted and trying to put her pieces together. Then it was the summer break but the news about losing his job put the kibosh on that. So finally they were in Austin and couldn’t be disturbed and Em was about to see their home.

October had felt like it would be a lifetime away then. It would be autumn and starting to get cooler. But then she was there and they’d landed in Texas, gone through immigration and were in the rental car on the way to their brand new home.

It was scarier than moving into their apartment in London had been. London had been quick, necessity thanks to living in an Airbnb and needing to find somewhere to pick together. There’d been two weeks thanks to Dan between viewing it and getting the keys. But they’d viewed it holding hands, decided what room would be what.

This was different. Dan had picked it out entirely on his own, she’d had no idea. And she’d known about it for five months, desperately wanting to see more than the photos. If Em was honest she’d half thought the photos weren’t right, the oh so normal suburban home with a little garage attached. But as Dan put the car into park in their driveway it hit her. This was their home.

A lot of the time they had similar tastes. Food, music, and clothes were the big ones, they’d match in a lot of ways. When it came to TV and movies and podcasts they had differences, but unless it was one of his UFC podcasts she was usually happy to watch what he wanted, the same way he’d watch what she put on. One of the things they almost always agreed with - except for LA but Em wasn’t going to have a discussion about how ridiculous a full mansion for himself was - was where they lived and how they decorated. They always liked the same places and were interested in the same things when it came to a home. If there was something weird or one of them didn’t like it, the other generally didn’t either. It was how it worked when they’d found the apartment in London, they’d walked in holding hands and just knew.

It’s how Em knew Dan had to have done a good job when he chose somewhere in Austin. If he liked it, she’d like it, and when the car stopped she knew she was right. Her expectations were that it’d be an apartment in a high rise building, but it was in front of a house. A little country style 1960s house, like the stereotypical one you’d see. It was nothing like the ridiculousness in LA or the farm in Perth. It wasn’t even like the place in Italy Dan was looking at for them to have as a wedding present. It was so normal.

A one family home on a suburban Texan street. A couple of houses had lawn signs out, there were kids bikes on the street. It felt idyllic as Em looked at the pale brickwork and dark door. It felt like somewhere they could relax and just be.

“I know we said an apartment, but when I saw here it was perfect. It feels like us.” Dan held up a key on a cowboy hat keychain, the Longhorns orange logo visible.

“I’m not complaining at all, it looks cute. Time to go inside?”

They walked up to the front door holding hands as a smile spread across Em’s face. She wanted to stop and take it all in, but her excitement was too much. She could stand out in the front yard later, right now was for going inside. All she could do was look up at Dan and how peaceful he finally looked. It had been literal years for him and she couldn’t be more grateful that he’d kept holding out hope for them.

Opening the front door of somewhere new was always exciting and this was no different. She slipped the key in the slot and twisted to feel the lock disengage. Em went to push the door open but before she could Dan lifted her into his arms, nudging the door with his knee.

“Dan, what?!”

“Gotta carry the bride over the threshold, right? It’s my job.” She laughed at the grin on his face as he brought them inside, carefully depositing Em back on her feet in the living room so she could fully take it in.

The room was a blank canvas. Wooden floors with lots of windows and light, white walls just waiting for paint and decoration. Somehow he’d gotten a Welcome Home sign put up in front of the fireplace. It was cosy but had enough space for them and friends to be there. The work and effort Dan had put in was making her tear up before she’d even seen anything else. Then when she did turn around and saw the lavender door she actually did shed a tear.

The one thing she’d wanted in life was to paint her front door lavender. She’d seen photos of colourful seaside towns with different brightly painted doors and decided she wanted hers to be lavender. It wasn’t from Friends, as much as people might think. She’d never been a fan of that show really. But there was no possibility she could do it as a kid, and then in her rented apartments it was never going to happen. But Dan had promised her that he’d do it, and he had just for her. She turned to hug him and held onto him until she could get herself together for a moment.

“I told you we’d have it, it was just a matter of time. I know we can’t have the outside in London, but I thought the inside in Austin would work?”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. I love it. I love you, Danny.” His arms tightened as she said it, a kiss pushed against Em’s head.

“Love you too. Wait until you see everything else, I think you’ll love it.”

Dan held her hand as they moved through the rest of the house. The kitchen was gorgeous and sitting out on the counter was a set of orange Le Creuset pans that matched the purple set they had in London. It was like her perfect kitchen was right in front of her. The doors to the back garden were there, a deck leading down to grass and it was carefully enclosed. It was safe and beautiful. She wandered outside and looked at the wildflowers growing at the end of it.

She had no idea how she’d gotten so lucky. How did he love her even after everything? After everything she’d done, everything she’d nearly ruined? But Dan loved her with everything and he did all of this for her. It was a home, not just a house, and part of her hated that they wouldn’t really spend enough time of the year here. He’d given her everything, and she didn’t know what she’d do if she didn’t have him.

A quiet sob made her turn around in panic to see a smile on Dan’s face as tears streamed down his cheeks. Her arms wrapped around him, holding onto her husband as he cried. They were both too familiar with tears by this point, and her job was to hold onto him and love him and wait until he was able to speak. These were the overwhelming tears.

“I thought I might never see this place. Especially not with you. I was waiting until you were here to see it in person and I think I’d come to terms that it wasn’t going to happen.” The rawness of his words cut her deeply, Em kissing his jaw as a reminder she was here before she could speak.

“I’m right here, Baby. I’m here. And you’re here with me. We’re together.”

“I know. I know.” Dan kissed her so gently Em thought it could have been a dream until she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Good…what do you mean you didn’t think you’d see it? You flew out to sign?” He squeezed her and Em knew no matter what he was about to say she was going to worry.

“I did. But I didn’t come here. I signed the contract and hired someone to keep an eye on it and do what I needed. But I couldn’t come here without you. It was for us.”

“You bought an entire house without seeing it?” The disbelief was clear in her voice. Her insane, brilliant, generous husband.

“It was a bad time, don’t judge me.” She never could. Not in a million years. “I wanted to do more things, y’know? I thought about changing the windows out for ones with bigger panels of glass so you have even more light to read, put some screens up so you can open them without bugs. Have some of the flowers out the front under the living room window. Maybe change the roof? The one there is fine but it’s gonna need replacing in a few years. Plus I wanna change the fireplace cause that’s original from the 70s when this was built and I don’t like the tiles. But not without you. Even looking at furniture to buy felt wrong. That’s what you do. You turn the places we live into homes without even thinking about it. Plus, I thought it could be like an anniversary present. Five years ago this week is when I met you for the first time.”

Em settled into Dan’s arms with her head pushed against his neck for an extra moment as she took in what he said. She’d so nearly blown their lives up in April - walked away without so much as a word. But even though she did that he loved her and still believed she’d come back somehow. How could she not be utterly in love with him? She didn’t deserve him but he loved her anyway.

“We turned them into homes. Us. Together. That’s what made them into homes, and it’s what’ll make this into one too. So thanks for waiting for me to do it.” It was a sweet kiss and wiping away the tear tracks from his cheeks as she smiled up at him. They’d turn it into one. She wouldn’t ruin yet another home for them. She couldn’t do that like she had with their first flat. “Show me everywhere else? Please? I wanna see our room.”

The rest of the house was just as perfect. A bathroom with a gloriously big bath for her and Dan to fit, two spare rooms, and finally the master bedroom. It wasn’t stupidly huge, but it was perfect. She could see all the flowers that Dan had gotten planted outside through the window. Em had no idea how he managed to get it done but he did and she’d be forever grateful for it. The other thing he did was get a proper mattress for each bedroom. It wasn’t a full bed yet, there weren’t even sheets, but she could actually lay down. As comfortable as the business class seats were, she just wanted to lie down and stretch. Her sneakers came off in a heartbeat and that was about as quickly as Dan was lying on top of her.

"You like it?" Dan whispered as if to not break a spell. His head was on her shoulder while his arms wrapped around her body to pull her as close as possible.

"The mattress? It's amazing, I wonder how I'm gonna get up again. The house is very nice too." She kissed his forehead while her smile grew even wider. "I love it. I really, really love it. It's absolutely perfect, Love. I still think you're insane, but thank you."

"I'm happy you like it. You know you never need to thank me."

"Really? Cause I think I know a way to thank you and bless this place together."

All Em needed was one kiss on her neck and feeling his grin against her skin to get going. Clothes were thrown off and left on the floor, and the luxury of not sharing a wall with anyone else was perfection. The loud moan as Dan finally entered her with one slow push echoed around the near empty room.

Usually on race weekends she was careful to not mark Dan's neck or scratch his back or shoulders. Usually she'd do her best to leave no marks at all unless it was a break but that day she couldn't care less. Her hands were all over his back and holding him as hard as possible. Part of her brain screamed at her that she was fucking everything up and she needed to stop, but Dan's frown as she went to let go and the way he squeezed her made her continue. If he was prepared for any comments and wanted her to keep going then she was going to.

At least now people knew that she was the one responsible for anything. She sucked a small dark mark against his collarbone, watching as the skin reddened and bloomed. She didn't care about it in the moment. The next day she probably would when his shirt moved the wrong way and everyone saw it but right then she couldn't care less. For once her head was quiet, focusing about how warm her Danny was against her, the way his hands made her feel so good. How he was hitting the perfect spots in her, the whispers of how good she was and how she was his best girl, his only girl. The marks he was leaving against her that screamed she was his. His, his, his.

When they finished it was like magic. Like every time he held her tight and kissed as they came down from their highs, the two of them keeping the other there. It was one of her favourite moments with him since that very first time they'd slept together. The world stopped for a few moments, silent and the only people who mattered were them. When she opened her eyes Dan was there, that smile that made her fall head over heels all those years ago on his face as he stole a kiss and made her smile against his lips.

Years ago the next thing in their routine had been one of them - usually Dan - asking to stay the night even when they shouldn't. That part of their routine was long gone. But the comfort and cosiness of the moment was ruined by Em's "oh shit!" and running to the bathroom, too afraid to mess up the brand new mattress that didn't even have sheets on it. The only thing there to clean up was Dan's shirt and she wasn't doing that to him.

When she came back feeling better Dan still kissed down her legs to make her giggle, Em looking at him smiling up at her. She ran her fingers through his curls as she looked down at the love of her life. How did she get so lucky? She didn't deserve him.

It took everything to get up from that mattress. She was jetlagged and tired and wanted to stay there and fall asleep beside him. She was comfortable and didn't want to leave. But they had things to do, shopping first on the list. If they were staying there for a night before moving to the team hotel they needed basic stuff. Dan insisted they didn't need sheets for the mattress, they had toilet paper and paper cups for their celebration and could get takeout. Even while Dan was trying to say nonsense Em was rolling her eyes and pulling clothes out of one of their cases to put on. She made Dan do the same, even as he insisted she looked better without clothes on.

"Do you really want me to go to Target naked, Love?" The wide eyes and rapidly shaking head was all that Em needed for him to get up and shimmy his jeans on.

For most couples a trip to the supermarket was a normal thing. But they weren't a normal couple, or at least not that normal. Usually groceries were delivered, and the occasional times they did something like this was during the winter break in Perth. They'd go some weekday morning when it was quiet and people didn't notice them. She loved it though. It was like going out with an excitable kid who looked at everything and kept stopping. She got to hold his hand and be normal for rare occasions.

So that afternoon it was a rare opportunity for Em to drag him around. It took a pout to convince him it was a good idea, but an oak milk latte from the Starbucks before they started shopping was all the extra incentive he needed to keep going. But as they started wandering Dan was the one who kept stopping and looking. He wanted the perfect glasses, Em got distracted looking at lipsticks for a new perfect pink. Then they spent time deciding on towels and bedding for not just their room but the spares too. After all that a coffee maker and mugs had to be bought, along with the matching plates and bowls. All of that, plus a lamp, cushions, a fake plant, fairy lights, candles, and groceries for that night and the morning that could be frozen when they were leaving ended up in the trunk of the rental car. Em couldn't stop grinning the entire drive back to their house.

London was a mix of things they'd had in both of their apartments, choosing what they preferred and putting them together with new things when they really needed them. Perth, Monaco, and LA were kind of like that, Em turning professionally interior decorated places into actual homes instead of places where they just spent time. But Austin was different. It was a blank canvass where she could start from scratch and turn it into colour and home and happiness. Even if this trip was just a few things to make it better she could take time and decide what they were going to do.

She barely got to put the sheets on the mattress before Dan was dragging her back down, covering her in kisses. It had been since the summer break when they felt like this, able to hold and love each other and Em able to shut her brain up enough to enjoy it. Thye spent the afternoon and evening moving from bed to couch and back again, ordering takeout from the restaurant Dan made sure they were near, before returning to loving each other. Dan held onto her as they fell asleep, Em content and cuddled in.

The next day was when they were supposed to move to the hotel but neither of them really wanted to. The boys landed and they met with them, checking in, but deciding to spend that night in their home before having to go back to the F1 circus. Instead they spent it with Michael and Blake, Em watching the three of them laughing and joking. It was easier to stay a little on the outside of it all and watch, Dan's hand around her waist as they sat in their favourite bar in Austin yet again eating barbecue and Em drinking a coke and stealing sips from Dan's one beer before the race weekend.

Getting out of their uber and being completely alone once the front door closed was a luxury for Em. They were always surrounded by people, she knew that. Dan loved having family and friends around, loved being with everyone. She'd known that since the beginning. It was one of the reasons - besides the obvious - why she was around the boys so much. Dan loved to bring his people around and Em loved watching him be happy and glowing no matter how loud it was. Usually she could put her earplugs in and smile and it was fine. But at the track and in offices and media centres it was more of the same. There were always people, Dan was always busy.

She'd known from the beginning that Dan wasn't always hers. She had to share the man she loved with the rest of the world. And she knew this, she married him knowing it, but it was hard sometimes. She'd gone in with eyes open that especially during race weeks it was a good week to have a couple of hours alone together. The only thing she asked was that they went to bed together. She'd stay up as long as she had to to do it with him. She always fell asleep with her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. Dan always woke her up with a kiss on her forehead if he had to get up before her as a quiet goodbye and a heads up she'd fully wake alone. It was what they did. So one extra night where they got to wake up completely alone felt nearly perfect.

But some nights, even when they were alone, she could tell Dan's head was somewhere else. This was one of those nights. They were curled up to sleep, arms around each other, but Em could see that his eyes were open and his jaw was tense. Even with the way the last few days were nice it wasn't an easy time. Everything seemed to be slowly crumbling around them. Apart from their relationship it seemed like so much was falling apart and it was impossible. She was doing everything she could to keep the man she loved going but Em didn't have much left to give. There were some things she couldn't fix. She couldn't magic up a seat in a team for him no matter how badly she wished she could do it. She couldn't even negotiate with him, because that wasn't her job. Doing it for the McLaren severance was different, that was for their pride and to prove that team hadn't ruined them. It was personal. But talking to other team principals? She couldn't.

The one thing she could do was reach up and push a kiss to his jaw, watching as he looked down at her with sad eyes. She could ask the questions and support him and love him and give him advice.

"Penny for them?" It was quiet until Dan took a deep breath.

"Should I talk to Haas? Guenther sent over a proposal. It's a seat for n-"

"Absolutely not." The vehemence that she came out with worried even her but she kept talking. "That team ruins people and makes them miserable, and as much as Guenther has been decent to me in the paddock they're run ridiculously. Look at what's happening to Mick, he told Mick last week that he might keep the seat but now you're being offered it? They won't listen to you, they won't care about the setup. They'll mess it up and blame you. They did it to Kevin and then begged him to go back. You deserve better than it."

"It might be the only way for me to have a seat next year."

"I'd rather we call it a day and just go home." Em was blinking back tears as Dan held her closer, watching as she got herself together. "I can't spend another year watching you suffer for a team and their stupid car while you're trying to smile. This year has been so hard, Danny. You deserve better than that. You're so much better than that."

"Do you really want that? Do you want to go home?" The words echoed around her head. Home. She still didn't know what it was. Dan was her home, but she couldn't say anywhere really was anymore. But her tears began to fall and she couldn't stop them.

"We lost too much this year, Danny. We lost a baby. We nearly lost us too. We did lose us for a while and we nearly didn't make it back. I don't have anything else to give it. This sport and this team has taken almost everything. It even took my dignity in Spa. We've given it everything. Baby I love you with my whole heart and you know I will do anything for you. You know that." She took a deep breath as she tried to get the courage to ask.

"I know, Baby girl. I know. And I love you just as much. We're us, that's not changing ever." His words and the warm arms around her made her able to say it.

"You can't ask me to watch you go through another year like this one. You can't do that to me. We can't go through another year like this and you know we can't. If we try it's going to break us. Please. If you love me just...please don't. Be a reserve driver or try something else or any other driving, I'd rather watch you do ovals. Please don't make me have to go through watching you suffer like this again."

She broke down after speaking, feeling Dan hold her even tighter than he had before. She'd never said it. She never wanted to tell him not to drive, she adored him and trusted him to do the right thing. But this was terrifying to watch. She didn't know what she could do except ask him not to drive for once.

"Hey Baby, I've got you. It's alright, Emmy. It's alright. It's going to be fine, Baby girl. I promise. You just take deep breaths. Breathe in with me Baby." She followed his exaggerated breathing until she'd calmed down from the panic attack she'd nearly worked herself into yet again. Her fucking brain. She needed to be calm for this.

"I'm so tired, Dan. I'm exhausted and I don't know if I can deal with another year at a team that won't respect you. This year was too much. I can't lose you again. Please don't make me lose you again."

"It won't happen, Emmy. I swear it's not going to. I'm gonna be right here."

"It happened twice."

And that was her fear. They'd basically lost each other last Christmas, and what should have been the final nail in the coffin was Melbourne. They shouldn't be together. They'd fought for so long, they'd promised each other. But she didn't know if she could fight for another year to try not lose him.

"That was different and you didn't lose me. I fucked up but we're right here. Remember that forever promise we made?" He kissed her ring finger, Em smiling through her tears.

"I almost did and it felt like I couldn't breathe. I can't go through it again. Call me selfish but I just can't."

"You're not selfish. You're the exact opposite of selfish, Babe." The pain in Dan's voice made Em feel even worse than she did saying it.

"I feel like I am. I know how much you love racing."

"But I love you more." He punctuated his words with a kiss before continuing. "I'm chasing loving racing again, and I've stopped loving it now. Maybe it's time to let it come back to me. If it works I can try get a seat in 2024. If not I've got you, and we can work it out from there. I can be a househusband. I was thinking about it, y'know? Maybe it's time for me to be a househusband, you get your year. I'll stay home, make breakfast, do laundry, all that. You deserve a year of not doing anything after taking care of everything I've thrown at you."

"You and I both know you'd go insane if you did that. It'd be fun for a week." A watery giggle escaped, Dan smiling at her ability to laugh.

"Maybe two? But it can be your year. I want you to be happy, not just following me around the world while I'm doing it."

"All I wanna do is be with you. I just...I want you to be my Danny for a while. I don't want to have to share you with the world for once. What I really need right now is to wake up on a weekend and not go anywhere. I want us to stay in our bed, not in a hotel unless we're on holiday. I hate myself for being this selfish and asking you, but I need this."

"A weekend in bed not going anywhere sounds really good right now." Dan kissed her nose, brushing the hair out of her face to make sure Em was looking at him. "I'm telling you, you're not selfish."

"I feel like I am. I feel like I'm making a decision for everyone. Michael's gonna need a new job, it's a mess."

"I was thinking about telling him I think it's better for our friendship to not work together so that'll be fine. Jack's looking for someone for F2 next year, that might work. But you're not making a decision for everyone, you're telling me how you feel. I told you before. If you asked I'd walk away. We deserve to be happy. You deserve that."

"I love you." She held onto him tightly, desperate to make it clear how much she loved him. She didn't deserve Daniel. Not at all. Somehow he loved her even though she'd made a mess of so much. "It's just one year. Then we can go back. You can keep racing till your forties if you want like Fernando. I don't care if you do."

"You really think I want to race that long? Two or three babies and racing around the world for twenty something weeks a year?"

"Seb is. For now." She wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye to someone who'd always been kind to her.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'll be able to do that after our kids start school. There's a difference between Switzerland and Perth."

"If you want to do it the option will be there. As long as you want to keep racing and you're happy you know I'll support you. We can work around anything else." Em snuggled into him at his words, at the knowledge. He wasn't lying. They'd be happy. She'd make herself be happy.

"We can talk about it then. But Toto and Christian have already been in contact about a reserve role. Christian rang before I even did the video. But I'm focusing on you and me first."

"Thank you," Em breathed out.

"For what?"

"For being you. I just wanna be your girl. I wanna be your girlfriend in public and nothing else. I...I need to be your girl for more than a week, not your assistant. I love my job and I love working but I need this. I need to not think about the fact that I share you with the world for a weekend. I know it's a lot to ask but I need that. Just one year. Can you give me a year?" She felt awful asking, but they were there together. She knew he wouldn't feel bad about her asking.

"With one condition."

"Anything you want."

"Marry me. I'll take a year off as long as you marry me."

"Did you hit your head or something? Want to do it again?"

"We said we were going to do it properly, right? I'd propose and we'd have a wedding with our family and that's what I want for us. A year off and we can plan our wedding. Go wherever we want for our honeymoon. No schedule, no fitting it into a two week gap and a honeymoon over the summer break. Just us and the people we care about. So marry me, Emmy?"

"Yeah. This sounds perfect." She kissed her husband, grinning against him as he held her left hand and kissed the perfect engagement ring he'd given her in August when she'd proposed in LA. Getting to do this their way was more important to them than revealing anything else. It felt right.

The next morning when Blake came over for breakfast before the three of them went to the hotel they spoke to him about their decision. It was easier than Em expected it to be, Blake agreeing with both of them entirely. Dan was burnt out, Em was a mess of a human, they were shadows of who they were just a year before. It made sense.

He didn't admit it, but Em knew Blake was exhausted too. He'd been carrying her and Dan for the last six months on his own, a year away from all of their travelling and chaos would be good for him too. They could recharge and focus and next year Blake could start putting feelers out about potential seats.

The other thing they agreed was Em was taking a leave of absence from work. She hated it. She hated feeling like she couldn't do her job. But she needed to look after herself and both of her boys agreed. As soon as Dan said it she knew he was right, nodding and hugging him. At least they got to tell Blake about planning the wedding, and the hug her big brother gave her was worth everything.

Once they got to the hotel it became the normal race weekend whirlwind. Dan was in media and strategy meetings while Em stayed in her hotel room, Criminal Minds on tv while she smiled at her ring and took down little notes about the wedding they wanted. Blake was there showing her the progress he'd made on hiring the horse for Dan's grand entrance to COTA the following day. Her idiot was actually attending press day on a horse. It was entirely Blake's fault for encouraging it months ago.

When Dan got back they facetimed his parents to give them the news, Em crying as Joe said he was happy to finally get to properly call her their daughter now. It was a good day. She was taking the good day.

The only downside to arriving to the circuit was firstly that she couldn't hold Dan's hand because of the horse, and secondly having to hide her engagement ring. She didn't want to take it off, but it was an unspoken agreement that they weren't telling anyone outside their people until after the season was over. They didn't want McLaren using it for media. She didn't want an instagram post from anyone who was firing her husband congratulating the happy couple. She didn't want that orange team involved in her personal life, so the announcement could wait. The nice part was getting to pet the horse Dan was riding. Before Bluey was saddled up she got to brush him down under his groom's careful eye, and afterwards she brushed him and gave him an apple as a treat. It felt like back in Montana, brushing the horses there and her anxiety disappearing for a gorgeous few moments.

Once that was done she didn't have much to do for the afternoon. Blake was officially taking over what she'd been doing, following Dan from meeting to meeting instead of Em. To avoid even more rumours and speculation she wandered the paddock every hour or so with her iPad in hand, chatting to people she knew and acting like it was normal.

It was a weird relief that not working was a help. She still had her therapy sessions with Mildred every Monday - plus a Thursday one before most race weeks - still had her every two weeks psychiatrist appointments to talk about her medication levels, but it felt like it wasn't working. She felt like she was jumping out of her skin, anxiety a constant in her head. A decent part of her wished she could stay in their hotel rooms on any given weekend, but she had to be there for Dan.

Her weekends were most comfortable when she went from the entrance to Dan's room and back again. Nobody bothered her in there, she hid away while her friends and husband were busy, and she felt awkward sitting in hospitality with people looking at her like she was a dead woman walking. So instead she lay along the massage table pinning things to a pinterest board to start wedding planning. Her plan was to show Dan what she liked and they could decide after.

Between taking notes about not wanting designated seats so it could be a mix of people and looking at flower options she dozed off where she lay. Sleep was at a premium for Em on race weekends, but having something nice to think about helped her doze.

She woke up to Dan's kisses against her forehead, not even opening her eyes but reaching out for Dan to squeeze her hand. It was a quick murmur that he'd be back soon, he just had one more meeting and then they could go. Before she knew it Dan was back, helping her stand and fixing her hair so she didn't look like she'd spent the last hour sleeping. They walked out of the paddock hand in hand, ready for the hotel and to curl up in bed together.

"I wish we could just stay in our house instead of here," Em whispered as she looked out the window to the city view in front of them. It was gorgeous, the room was luxurious. But she wanted their house with the mattress that they didn't even have a bed frame for yet. Dan stood behind her, Em resting her back against his front. She could relax and let her anxiety float away for the next few hours until they had to get up and do it the next day and the next and the next, before the brief reprieve before Mexico.

"Saturday night after Blake's birthday dinner? And next time we're here we can stay there full time."

"That sounds perfect."

Waking up on Friday morning was nearly impossible. The universe knew Em wasn't an early bird, but she felt absolutely drained. She didn't want to think about it, but something was wrong with her. She knew when it took Dan shaking her shoulder to wake her up. Usually kisses against her forehead would wake her but the last week or so it had been harder and harder to wake herself up and move more. The kisses were still there but not enough.

"Morning Baby, hey. Sleep well? I've been trying to wake you for a few minutes." Dan was smiling at her as she blinked blearily at him.

"Jetlag? Mornin'. Do we have five more minutes?"

"We're down to ten, but we've got time." He always woke her a little bit early before they actually had to get up. Usually it was fifteen minutes but she'd burned through that time already.

"Mmm, thank you."

It was quiet for a moment before Dan spoke again. "When's your next blood test for?"

She'd been getting them semi regularly since the first doctor's appointment when she came back, the realisation that her iron and calcium levels were low not helping her mental health. The supplements were helping, but the exhaustion remained.

"Before Christmas? I think?"

"Want me to make a doctor's appointment for after Mexico? I can call when they're open on Monday for you. You're sleeping a lot, I just wanna make sure your iron didn't drop or anything. You haven't really been eating much."

She'd been exhausted and barely eating. Part of it was just not being hungry, part of it was nothing was appetising. Even her usual foods that would always make her want to eat weren't it. Even the snack plates that she'd usually pick at weren't worth it.

"Yeah, ok. Just...don't tell Michael? I don't wanna hear about it from him. I don't want more supplement ideas and stuff."

"I won't even think about it."

She went to move to get up but didn't, too comfy there. "'m sorry 'm so tired. It's just been exhausting the last few weeks."

"We'll go home after Mexico and find out. Maybe you just need a med tweak. Or we can go see a doctor here. Go to a clinic, get an iron test to see if it's something to do with that?"

"Nah, we can wait till we're back. Extra naps will work?"

"You'll be all good, Love. I've got you."

Em didn't want to get out of the bed when she was warm, comfortable, and safe in bed with her husband. She didn't want to go to the paddock, and she definitely didn't want to sit in the orange decorated building while the rest of the team just waited for Dan to fail. Again.

But she didn't have a choice, so she got up and got dressed to go stand beside him. Her makeup hid the circles under her eyes, her hair was pulled back, and her outfit was perfect. She could do this. She could absolutely do this. Before they left the hotel room Dan gave her a hug and the sweetest kiss to make her smile.

They held hands for every second they could going through the paddock. All the way down to the car, on the drive in, and walking through the paddock. Dan held her hand proudly as they went in, getting her to go through the barrier first before following her in and taking her hand again.

Em didn't want to be at the track so early, especially when Dan wasn't even driving for FP1. Palou was in Dan's car for it as a rookie driver test, and while she had nothing against Alex she didn't want to watch him. She didn't care about motorsport. It had taken her years of trying to be interested but she didn't care. She cared about Dan driving and that was it. So instead she stayed in Dan's tiny room in hospitality, reading her kindle. The second the interviews and press conferences were done she switched the tv off and kept reading. Her friends were working and getting Dan ready for the rest of the day but she stayed there.

The nice part was that between chapters and looking at pinterest on her iPad for wedding ideas Dan would come upstairs for the briefest hug. He always came with tea and a smile, a quick kiss and a "miss you". He could go back knowing she was fine there.

"You need to go back to work, you're in the car in twenty minutes," Em told him as he dawdled going back downstairs once he was in his orange race suit.

"What if I don't wanna? I wanna stay here with you." She put her kindle away and stood up to take his hand, ready to go stand in the garage to watch him for the hour.

"I could kidnap you and we can go home? Nobody knows where our house is, we can hide there maybe?"

"Is it kidnapping if I'm your husband?"

"I mean not if you go willingly." Dan laughed and his loud honk made her smile. He was there with her and it was worth it.

"You gonna stay here or wanna come down to the garage with Blake?"

"Garage. You know I'm not gonna miss you in the car, no matter what."

"If you need anything just head out, ok? I'll find you after. Just tell Blake."

"I'll be fine, don't worry." She leaned up to kiss his cheek and watched as Dan smiled at her.

"I always worry. Same way you worry about me. It's what we do."

They were about to walk out when Em pulled him back for a moment, watching as Dan looked at her. "I know weekends at your room here used to be more fun and sexy and great. I...I'm sorry it's not like that anymore. Now it's just a mess and yeah. I wish it was like we used to be. I'm just boring now."

"Baby girl, we're married and in our thirties. We're supposed to be boring."

"I'm being serious."

"I know you are." She looked away but Dan's fingers cupped her chin, pulling her up to look at him. "Look at me Emmy. You are the smartest, funniest, most interesting person in the universe. You're my favourite person. You're my wife and I love you. I don't care if we just sit in silence doing nothing for a week. As long as I'm with you I'm happy and having fun. Nobody does it like us. right?"

"Right. And I love you too. Forever and always."

"And to the moon and to Saturn. Let's go and it's one more driving session to the end of the year."

She walked down holding his hand, kissing his helmet and telling him to go fast and be safe before taking her spot beside Blake. Her headphones went on and she stood there holding Blake's hand as they watched the time tick down.

The worst part of the sessions was having to hide her anxiety, the cameras flashing to her and her name appearing on TV. Emma Smyth, Daniel Ricciardo's partner. It still felt surreal that the world knew it. It was pure anxiety as she stood waiting, taking slow deep breaths as Blake squeezed her hand. It was one more hour until she could hide away again.

She hated seeing him in that car. She'd always trusted the cars he drove, always trusted the teams he had. But not anymore. And it was hard because she knew he didn't trust it either. She hated living with the feeling that he didn't trust the car to perform the same way lap after lap. The feeling kept growing in her chest until he was finally wheeled back in when practice ended. He sent her a wink as he got out of the car, Em's smile returning seeing him there safe. If he could have Dan would have given her a hug but he was immediately surrounded by engineers to give feedback to.

By the time Dan was free to leave the circuit it was nearly dark outside. The debriefing took time, and then he had to do partnership stuff that took longer than expected. For this time she decided to be brave and go into hospitality, sitting beside Blake. He kept her distracted by asking questions about things that he really didn't need to ask. For years they'd worked beside each other and it felt totally normal, and even now she wasn't working it felt normal and looked normal. She didn't know what she'd do without him.

Saturday was a day when she had to put her bravest face on because it was Blake's birthday. Despite another day of not wanting to leave the hotel room she got dressed and smiled, following Dan to their best friend's hotel room to give him a giant hug and the presents they'd gotten for him. Her big brother gave her a hug in return, a whispered thank you more than enough for her. She had to hold on for Blake's day. Had to.

She spent practice and qualifying in the garage, holding Blake's hand as usual when they watched Dan get into the car. It had been a happy week in one of their favourite cities, her rings hanging around her neck as she looked on. But instead she watched as the man she loved got out of the car frustrated after Q1, qualifying seventeenth. This stupid team and this stupid car and she had to keep herself together because she didn't want cameras on her.

Dan coming over to say sorry to Blake because he wanted to make his friend proud but didn't broke her heart. It was all Dan ever wanted to do, to make his wife, his friends, his family happy and proud of him. She knew he was aware of the sacrifices people had made to help him, and he was determined to make it worth it. But for nearly all of this two year stint at McLaren it hadn't worked. She'd watched him try. But yet again he was putting a brave face on and a fake smile about how he was going to make up places on Sunday.

She watched him blame himself yet again in front of the media and the world and Em wanted to whisk him away. She wanted to make it all better. He deserved more. She'd seen it with her own eyes, she'd been there when he'd won races. He'd never won them easily. All she wanted was to take him away from the stress and the constant criticism. But she couldn't.

As soon as they were finally alone - after Dan had done media and cooled down with Michael, finally entering his room where Em was waiting. Her arms went straight around him, holding tightly so he could know she was there.

"I'm sorry, Baby. I thought I could get into Q2 for Blake and for you. Make this weekend good for us." She looked up at Dan, trying to keep herself from falling apart.

"It's already a good weekend. You did everything you could, Baby. I don't blame you." Dan just held her tighter, doing everything to keep it together for a few more moments. But then he had to go back to the debrief while Em packed their stuff up. The hotel restaurant was booked for that evening for Blake's birthday. Just the four of them, a chill evening before some of Blake's friends from other teams went to a booking they had in a barbecue place after the race on Sunday. Part of her wished it was just the three of them, pushing that thought away from her head. She loved Michael. She did. He was just difficult to be around lately.

In a shocking turn of events Dan's debriefing didn't take as long as expected. But even with his performance there were fans there to ask for autographs and photos. Em soaked in the love everyone else had for him as he got to glow. Even with that delay they were in the hotel slightly earlier than expected and going straight to their room to get ready.

"We don't have time for a bath, right?" Dan asked, Em kissing his cheek.

"No Baby. We have to be downstairs in half an hour. You have time for a quick shower if you want one."

"Will you come with me? Please?"

It took nothing for Em to agree to go with him, walking into the bathroom and helping Dan to undress as she got her own clothes off. Dan set the shower up while Em stepped in, feeling his arms around her as he got under the showerhead too.

"Can we have a bath tomorrow when we go home?"

"That's the best plan I've heard all week."

Em wanted to spend more time than they had there, trying to get Dan to relax. But instead she carefully washed and conditioned his hair, giving them the love Dan didn't in a normal shower. He did the same for her hair, the apple scent of her shampoo filling the steamy room. Ten minutes wasn't nearly enough but they were out, Dan pushing a kiss to the 3 tattoo on her wrist before he let her go.

Five minutes later Em was nearly ready, just running the hairdryer over her so the wet strands didn't dampen her clothes. Once it was mostly dry she was happy, taking Dan's hand to go back downstairs.

Blake and Michael had arrived before the two of them, Em catching the tail end of their whispered conversation with "-my night out, don't do that." all she could hear. As soon as they realised they were there the two men stepped apart as Blake greeted them.

She knew it was serious when Michael didn't make comments about what Dan should order thanks to his race weekend diet. It was even weirder when he didn't say anything about what Em should eat, or how much, or how she should avoid certain foods. She may have been exhausted but she knew it was Blake. The tail end of their conversation was the only evidence she needed to know he'd said something about keeping suggestions quiet.

Em hated to admit it, but it was glorious. She got to watch Dan eat an actual meal that he enjoyed and she was even hungry for the first time in a while. Finishing the whole plate was a challenge but she ate slowly, sipping her drink and putting her fork down when it was finished. The fond look on Dan's face was everything.

The three others at the table looked at her surprised when Em nodded and took a dessert menu. Michael wasn't having one and she didn't want Blake to have his birthday dessert alone. It was easy to pick a strawberry and apple crumble and ask for a second spoon. She ate it carefully in layers, smiling as Dan took a couple of spoonfuls of fruit and left the icecream for her. She ignored the looks Michael gave them as they shared, the plain green tea sat in front of him telling her everything she needed to know.

It was an early night by birthday celebration standards but with the race the next morning they didn't have a choice. It was a hug for Blake and a promise that tomorrow night would involve drinks and dancing and fun. She'd get through it for him, he deserved it.

As soon as the door to their hotel room closed and the latch went on their clothes disappeared to go to bed. The way Dan's arm had been around her waist was all Em needed to know that her husband needed her extra close that night. It was a quick trip to the bathroom to wash their faces and get themselves ready as Em pushed kisses across his face before dragging him to bed.

She really didn't think anything would happen between them, just holding each other and goodnight kisses. Dan had to get sleep before the race, but then his lips moved down her jaw and to her neck, one hand on her ass pulling her in as his knee slipped between her thighs. It was like a flame was lit in her, she needed her husband. She needed to feel him as close as possible. She needed to hear him whisper her name like a prayer, hands holding her tightly and leaving the fingertip bruises that sang she was his and nobody else's to the world. It was electric and everything she could have asked for, groaning Dan's name out as he begged her to tell him everything he made her feel.

Dan helped her up and helped her clean before she went back to bed with him, wrapped up in his arms to sleep. For once on a race night she was able to actually get asleep at a reasonable time, the lub-dub of Dan's heartbeat steady under her ear.

Getting up on race morning was the worst feeling. Em wished she could have stayed in bed. Staying there with a bottle of wine - even if she wasn't meant to be drinking because of her medication - hot water for her favourite tea, some snacks, the latest crappy romance series she was reading on her kindle, and maybe ice cream as she curled up beside Dan in bed would have been the best day. Instead she had to go to a paddock filled with people who wanted photos and autographs from Dan.

If she had her choice she'd stay back in the hotel with her favourite people but she couldn't. She had to make herself look presentable because cameras didn't lie, and she didn't need another "concerned" instagram commenter asking about if she was ok because of a photo where she didn't look perfect. Dan didn't care if her hair was a mess or if she wasn't wearing makeup or if she was in casual clothes, but the world did. So she forced herself up and prettied herself and was ready to leave. It took a deep breath as she held Dan's hand and walked out of the bubble of their hotel room. They were going to their house that night. She could make it work.

The entire drive to the circuit was cuddling under Dan's arm. Holding his hand on the backseat wasn't enough for her. She needed Dan to hold her until they got there and had to let go, and he never ever complained about it.

It was another morning of faking smiles in front of everyone, cameras recording and fans taking photos and calling Dan's name. She'd put her earplugs in before they even reached the circuit to block some of the noise but it didn't fully help. She focused on Dan's warm hand in hers and took deep breaths to keep herself calm. Em ignored the cameras and photographers watching them, instead looking at her husband and at Blake to remind herself she wasn't alone. She focused on Dan's fingers squeezing her hand. He'd promised not to let her go and he wouldn't.

Once she settled down in his driver's room he kissed her goodbye to go to the different race morning duties he had, making sure she was ok. Dan promised to see her as soon as he could and Em sat there and breathed deeply, earplugs replaced with her Beats to match Dan's and music playing. A couple more hours and they were out of there. Dan just had to go around the track and then they were free to go home. Back to their actual house to get changed and celebrate Blake, and go back to sleep on that mattress she'd already fallen in love with.

Dan came back up to get changed, Em standing up to go back to the garage with him. He'd taken the time to come up and give them enough time to see each other and make her feel better before facing the cameras. Usually he was surrounded by Blake and Michael before getting ready but this time it was just the two of them in a moment alone.

When he pulled his shirt off he took the necklace he was wearing off too, handing his rings over to Em to keep safe. She watched him get into the nomex and saw just how slim he was getting. Let the year end. Just let it end. As he stood and stretched he held out his right hand, Em taking it with her left. Just like they had in Baku and Montreal already this year they were going to the garage together. He was walking through the paddock holding her hand and not caring what the world thought. Reason one million why Em loved him.

"Ready to go?" She thought she'd hidden how she was feeling but it was clear from Dan's reaction that she hadn't really.

"You know, right?" Em whispered in response to avoid his question with the one she knew the answer to. They'd tattooed it to keep it front of mind.

"I know, Baby Girl. I love you too." Dan nodded and raised their joined hands to kiss her ring finger. Like always her wedding and engagement ring were on her necklace hiding below her shirt, Dan's joining them for safe keeping for the race. He'd be allowed wear it but that meant publicity and neither of them wanted that.

"Good. Go fast, be safe, and come back to me. Please." She nearly got it out without the final word but Em couldn't help herself, looking up at Dan and trying not to cry. Please be safe. Please come home. She was panicking more and more about what he did.

"I always will."

It was one final kiss and a long hug before they left the room. Blake was standing outside the door waiting for them, clearing a path through the crowd to get them into the garage and away from prying eyes and just where the tv cameras could catch her but nobody else. It was clear he didn't want to leave where she stood, but one nod from their best friend and Dan kissed her on the forehead and went to get into the car.

Em wished he never did.

Qualifying was bad, but finishing second to last was even worse. He'd been overtaken by nearly everyone he qualified ahead of, and he was forever behind a Haas. As much as she adored Mick Dan shouldn't have been down there with him. As soon as he was weighed he came straight to her, the two of them finding a corner to just be for a few moments before the real world had to intrude again. She knew Blake and Michael were making excuses but she didn't care, arms around Dan and holding him tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Emmy. I'm sorry I fucked up and disappointed you." The heartbreak in his voice was too easy to hear and she was so angry that he thought she could be disappointed in him.

"Hey, no. No, Danny. You can never disappoint me. Not ever. Not about a result in a race. I love you. I love my husband. I love my Danny. Fuck this entire circus, I care about you. Not cars on a track."

"I love you too. So fuckin' much. You don't know how much I do."

"I've a slight idea. You're gonna be ok. We're gonna be fine. Three to go."

"Three left. Yeah." He was quiet for a moment and she could feel him taking a deep breath in. "I don't wanna go to media."

"I'll pay the fine if you want. I offered to in Monaco. Whatever makes you happy." She nearly thought he'd take it, but instead she watched as he stood up and pressed his thumb against where he knew their rings hung on her necklace as if for good luck.

"I'll see you after? We can go and pick up our bags from the hotel before we go to dinner with everyone."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll pack up." She went to separate but took her necklace off, unthreading her thin gold wedding ring from the chain before putting it back on. Dan watched as she held it up before handing it over. "For your pinkie. I'm right there with you while you're doing it."

It took everything in her to let Dan leave and go in front of the media. She knew some of the reporters, knew the ones who'd be good to him and wouldn't ask awkward questions that left him with no hope for a good answer. They could leave soon and that was what mattered.

Her brain kept boiling over with revenge plots that she knew in her heart and soul she couldn't let happen. She couldn't destroy McLaren, as much as she wished she could. It would hurt more than help. So instead she focused on putting everything into backpacks. Usually it was done neatly, clothes folded and cables coiled up. This time she just put it all in as fast as she could. She wanted to be out of the room the moment Dan arrived up to say they were free. The TV in the corner was playing an interview with him, and the moment "I don't know how I'm continuing to continue on" came out of his mouth she was so angry. She needed to be out of the circuit.

Everything was nearly done when she heard it. The remote was in her right hand to switch the TV off when Zak Brown's face appeared on it talking about Dan's performance and how he wasn't performing. She knew but seeing him talk about personal problems made her want to scream.

Em remembered Dan's description of his anger that day in Baku when the photo of them was made public. The way everything took over because the woman he loved was hurt and he couldn't change it. He had to control himself because Em needed him. And that evening in Austin she felt the exact same way, but this time there was nobody else to stop her. Without a second thought her fist made contact with the metal door hiding her from the world, a sickening crunch heard as she made contact.

“Fuck. Fuck!” Em clutched her hand to her chest as she stared at the dent in the metal door of the drivers room. She hadn’t meant to do that. It was supposed to be a little hit just to get her frustration out. Instead she couldn’t bend her fingers and she wanted to cry.

The fucking race and Zak Brown opening his fucking mouth because he couldn’t stand that the attention wasn’t on McLaren for one damn weekend. But no he had to say the cost cap penalty wasn’t enough and talk shit about Dan and if it was his face or the door at least his face wouldn’t have hurt so much.

“Ems? You ok?” She looked up to see Blake walk into the room as concern spread across his face. “TimTam what happened?”

“Punched the door.” He moved her hand and she groaned while a tear fell. “Fuck that hurts.”

“I want Michael to look, I think you might have broken it.”

“I’ll be fine till we get to Mexico. I just need to get out of here. Please Blakey.”

She nearly got through to him and convinced him to stay quiet until the door opened and Dan and Michael arrived in.

“Emmy?”

“She punched the door, her hand’s swelling up and it’s already starting to bruise. I think she might—“

“Don’t say it. Just don’t.” She was hanging on by a thread. Someone actually saying it was broken would make her lose every moment of composure she had left.

“Let me take a look.” Dan held her waist as Michael got her to twist her wrist. Flexing her fingers was completely out of the question and even in the ten minutes since it happened it was clear that her hand was swelling quickly.

“Looks like a boxers fracture Wriggle, but you need an X-ray. It might be the finger beside it too. Hospital.”

“I can’t go to the hospital. If I get spotted? If someone realises I’m there? It’s more bad fucking publicity. I’ll be fine.” She rambled for another minute before Dan stopped her with a kiss.

“Give us a sec?” Blake and Michael left the room to let them be alone and Em looked up at Dan. “You need to go, Baby. You need to. I don’t want my wife getting any more injured. I’ll go with you and we’ll be in and out and it’ll be fine. But please. I need to make sure you’re ok.”

“Fine.”

She didn't know how they managed to get out of the circuit without attracting more attention but she would forever be happy about it. Blake found a hotel near their house and pulled up, Dan walking in with her wearing a Ric3 hat to try avoid attention. He had to fill in the paperwork because she couldn't balance the clipboard with her injured hand. Em grinned watching Dan put her married name on the sheet and marking himself as her husband. The hospital needed to know it.

The triage was miserable and she was called back with Dan, leaving Michael and Blake behind. They did the same tests before and then asked Dan to leave the room for a few moments to go out to the waiting area. Her anxiety was ratcheting up as he left after the confirmation that she'd broken a bone in her hand, the medical staff asking her exactly how it had happened and if she was protecting herself. She didn't understand why they were asking until it was too late and Em was left alone in a room with a doctor and nurse.

"You can tell us what's going on. We can protect you." Her exhausted and anxious brain didn't make the connection.

"Protect me from what? A door I won't see again because this was Dan's last race there for...possibly forever? I'm not going to punch it again. I just want to get fixed up and go home."

"Is home safe for you, Mrs Ricciardo?"

They didn't ask that. They didn't. They couldn't. Home was the only safe place she had left in the world. Whether it was the farm, the apartment in London or one of the ridiculous places they called home it was safe for her. Anywhere that wasn't another Hilton hotel room was safe. Lying down with her husband and feeling him hold her was the best thing she had going for her. That was what she needed, to curl up with Dan on their mattress and have him hold her and tell her it was going to be ok.

"Home is my safe place. I've got my home and my husband and my family. Why are you asking this? Where's my husband? Why did you make him leave?"

"We think it might be better for you to-" The soft voice of the nurse made her angry. They were trying to convince her that something was wrong and as little as Em believed in her brain right then she knew Dan was right. He was the glue holding her together.

"You don't know me. You don't know what's best for me. You have no idea. I want my husband. Please. I just want my Danny. why isn't he here?"

"Ma'am, we're just trying to protect you." Em shuffled back on the bed, away from the nurse who had medication in her hand.

"Are you not listening to me? There's nobody to protect me from! I told you already, I punched a door in COTA. My husband didn't do anything, I'm the one who made a stupid mistake. Go ask anyone out there or my therapist or my psychiatrist, my husband isn't a violent man. Danny wouldn't hurt a fly. Why aren't you listening to me? Isn't that supposed to be your job to listen?" The yelling in her head was getting even worse, she didn't want to be there. She wanted Danny and could feel the tears pricking against her eyelids as she shut her eyes. She just wanted Danny.

"Mrs Ricciardo, please. Let-"

"Don't touch me. Don't you dare touch me. I want my hand fixed, and if you think you're touching me you're only doing it in front of my husband or brother. I'm not doing it without them here."

She felt ridiculous. She was like a child throwing a tantrum but her head was screaming. She felt like her skin was on fire, the questions and insinuations about Dan making it even harder to think. Her broken hand was held against her chest as she brought her knees up, good arm wrapping around her legs.

The medical staff moved away from her and Em focused her breathing. She could do it. She'd be ok. If they didn't let her go she could run the second the door was open. She couldn't stay. The boys were outside and she knew they wouldn't leave her alone. They were just sitting outside and she could go out to them once the doctor was gone. All Em could do was try to hold herself together until she could go back outside.

When Dan came back out Blake could tell something was seriously wrong. His best mate was shaking his head, worry and fear spread across his features.

"DR?"

"They think I'm hurting her. They think I'm hurting Emmy. My Emmy? I...they think I broke her hand. The doctor all but wrestled me out of the room. She was crying and they made me leave. They might want to keep her in. I heard someone mention a psych consult for her room. B I can't. She can't." The guilt rushed through Blake's veins at the mention. They knew how fragile Em was. It was obvious that she'd barely made it through the weekend, they all knew that she was barely keeping herself together. But he thought Dan needed him more and left her alone and this had happened.

"It's gonna be ok. She's not staying here. It's not happening." He didn't know where the conviction came from but it did. "They came over and said they needed her insurance information. I have some stuff but you need all of it. Plus pay whatever they need before she comes out and you have to tell her whatever the treatment costs. I'll be here for when she comes back."

"Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Both of you, I dunno what we'd do. She has to get out."

"She will. Go." He watched Dan be directed to a back office before sitting down and thinking who he could call. Who had the pull here? He wasn't sure.

"Maybe it's better she stays here. Em needs help. Travelling isn't helping. She can get better and Dan can focus on racing and after the season's over she can come back." Blake didn't believe what he'd heard.

"Take that back."

"We both know she's struggling. And you won't let me help her physically at least. Maybe this is a good thing." Michael sounded so sure and that felt like a kick in the teeth.

"We're in Texas. Austin's the good part of it but this state is dangerous for women. Add to that do you really think he'd focus? After how he was when she left. And the one person who calms her down is Dan. Why do you think I keep changing his schedule to give them five minutes?"

"But if she needs-"

"No. Just fucking no. You're fired." Dan had been considering it but after this? Once the season was up he was done. So done.

"Huh?"

"We'll talk about it later. But go back to the hotel. I don't know where we're staying tonight but just go. I don't want you anywhere near her. Not a fucking chance. Get out and stay away." Michael stood to leave as Dan came back, confused.

"What happened?"

"He's going back to the hotel. Remember we were talking about him leaving at the end of the year? I told him."

"But..." Blake didn't want to do it. Didn't want to shove another thing on his best mate's plate. He couldn't.

"He thinks Em might be better staying. He's worried about her too. I told him to go back to the hotel, it's stressful."

"If it was London or Perth I might say yes. She's been sleepy, she's been miserable. Getting out of bed is impossible. But not here, I can't leave her in the States. We just need to get to Abu Dhabi. We can get her there?" He was nearly begging and Blake nodded. Whatever it took he was getting them through the next four weeks. However he could.

"Mr Ricciardo?" An unfamiliar nurse came over and Blake stood at the same time Dan did. "Your wife needs painkillers and a cast. They want to get a psychiatrist down for her but there's nobody on call tonight. I'm assuming from what she said she has one?"

"Yeah. And a therapist. It's been helping but this year has been bad." Understatement of the fucking year as far as Blake was concerned.

"I'm a fan, I know what's happening. I've got an ortho to wrap her hand and get you both out but she won't let anyone in unless it's you or her brother? I don't want them seeing you there, is her brother here?"

"That's me." He watched her take in the clear differences between him and Em, the accents being the most prominent.

"Parent trapped or something? As long as she says you are that's what matters. Come back and we can get her out in ten."

"Deal." He followed her straight back, terrified to see how Em was when he got to the room.

Em was ready to fight anyone when she saw the door open, a new nurse walking in with an IV kit in her hand. But Blake was standing right behind her and Em thought she could breathe again.

"B?"

"Hey Timmy." He came straight over and took her right hand, squeezing once and it was like the crushing weight on her chest lifted slightly.

"Where's...I don't know where Dan is? A doctor took him out to ask him questions and they think he hurt me and they don't believe me? I told them. I told them what I did but they didn't believe me."

"It's ok Emmy, calm down. I'm right here, I told them it was you who hit the door. It's fine. Dan's fine, he's out there filling in forms and billing stuff so he asked me to come back to stay with you. You know what American hospitals are like." She started to calm until the bill hit her. This was going to be insane and he shouldn't have to pay it.

"No, no it's gonna be so exp-"

"You think that health insurance we have doesn't cover America? He just has to give details. As soon as you came on full time he added you to the health insurance. It's all good."

"Thanks Blakey."

"Any time, Timtam. But you need to let the nurse do it, ok? It's just a painkiller so they can set your cast. There's a new doctor who isn't a dick outside. But they can't do it unless you've got fluids and a painkiller cause it'll hurt."

"I dunno what I can take with my medication. I don't want to feel fuzzy." Tears of frustration were there about to fall. She didn't want to talk. She wanted to go back to when she didn't need to talk because Dan knew what she meant. It was too much.

"Do you trust me?"

"You know I do." It was the honest truth. She trusted him more than she trusted anyone, even herself.

"Then let her give you this so you can get fixed up and we can go home. It's all good."

The only reason she agreed was because Blake asked her. He was safe. He was always safe. He was the reason she came back in the end, the reason she agreed to go to Monaco and see Dan again. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her, and she knew that. So she took a deep breath and squeezed his good hand as the needle went into her elbow, the nurse showing her the bag of saline and the bottle of IV paracetamol before it was hooked up.

Blake held her while they went through everything, a thick white cast wrapped around her hand feeling heavy as she sat there. He kept telling her how brave she was and how good she was doing while Em just sat looked at the floor. Once she was ready to leave he helped her up and put his hoodie around her, the nurse smiling and wishing her well.

If Blake didn't have an arm around her shoulders she would have fallen when she saw Dan outside. His eyes were red, face in a frown and he just looked defeated. He hadn't looked like that since they'd gotten the call that his contract was being ended. Her husband sat in an empty corner of the hospital waiting room with a cap on trying to be unnoticed, totally lost in his thoughts. It wasn't until Blake called him that he realised they were there, standing up and arms immediately going around her. Em felt like she could finally, finally breathe again.

"Can we go home? Please?" She whispered against his chest. The terror that someone would hear and not let her leave was all encompassing.

"Let's get out of here. I finished all the paperwork, they said you were just finishing up. We're all good, let's go home."

"Can we stop for pizza? I want cheese pizza and they said I need to eat." Dan had his arm around her directing her out, agreeing that they'd stop. "Wait. Where's Michael?"

"He went back to the hotel to pack, it's all good. Let's head." Blake led the way to the car so they could finally leave. Em slid into the back seat, Dan across from her and holding her hand.

She didn't remember much of the drive back to the house. She knew they stopped for pizza, Blake getting back in the car with boxes. There was a conversation about what the official story would be, how they'd tell people she'd broken her hand. Honestly she didn't care. She didn't want to give a shit about telling people what she was doing or how she'd been hurt but she didn't have a choice in that anymore. The world got to know everything about her.

When they made it inside Dan brought her to their room, helping her get her jeans and bra off and instead putting on cosy pjs. Blake had seen her in worse, this didn't matter to her. Instead he brought her back to the kitchen where Blake had shared their food out.

She made herself eat two slices and it was enough, after that Em curled into Dan and held onto him so tightly she thought she'd burst. The painkillers had dulled her hand to a throb and she just wanted to sleep. There was talk of moving a flight and sorting stuff and she didn't care. She just wanted to sleep.

But there was a voice in the back of her head getting louder and louder. Dan wiped her face down with micellar water and helped her into bed, pulling her close once he'd stripped down. Her ring was still on his pinkie and it made her smile.

But she'd tied him down to a crazy wife who couldn't keep her shit together. She'd given him the option in Montreal. Chloe had told her about a walk up Mont Royale where you could see the city laid out beneath you. She'd said it to Dan then, that he could leave. She wouldn't blame him for leaving then. He could go and be happy and find someone who deserved him.

He didn't sign up for a girlfriend with mental health problems. Who was having a breakdown and ruining their lives. Who had days where speaking was too much for her, the words wouldn't come.

It had happened since she was a kid. Maybe not exactly like this but she'd always had to find coping mechanisms and now it didn't work. It wasn't her fault as a kid when her parents wouldn't help her and when she was in uni and couldn't afford anything apart from the six sessions from her uni gave her of therapy. But it definitely wasn't Dan's responsibility.

He deserved to be happy, he deserved to be with someone who loved him and wanted him to take a reserve role or the job with Haas. He deserved a happy wife and life and a family that she didn't know if she could give him. She didn't know if her anxiety would ruin them. It was so much.

So she was going to tell him he could leave. He deserved the world and maybe she wasn't the one to give it to him. She couldn't pull him out of drowning and she'd pull him down with her. She was going to ruin him and his reputation and his life, and she couldn't do that to him. She couldn't hurt him the way her mental health had hurt her. Anyone in their right mind would have walked away from her by then, but with the stress no wonder Dan didn't. Everyone else had left. Her parents, her extended family, her friends, her boyfriend. But Dan had been emotional and she'd proposed to him and it was so wrong. She'd basically forced him into it. It was a stupid, stupid decision and she'd ruined his life by doing it. So she was letting him go for his own good. He'd be happy to.

"Baby? Emmy you're crying. Do you need more painkillers? What's going on?" She hadn't realised she was crying. She didn't even mean to. Em took a deep breath before saying the words that were going to ruin her.

"I won't blame you. Y'know. If you want to leave. We've only been married for nine weeks, you can leave. No fault divorce, we leave with what we came in with. I don't want anything. You deserve better than a broken wife who can't keep herself together. I don't want to hold you back. I don't want anything. I can go."

The room was silent and Em could feel her heart break the longer the silence went on. It was over. Married for nine weeks to the love of her life and she had just ended it. In the same room he'd proposed to her so they could get married properly less than a week ago. How had she said yes then? She went to move out of the bed but Dan's iron grip kept hold of her.

"Don't ever say that. Never. Never ever. You are the only woman I want in my life. You're not broken, Emmy. You are here and whole and alive and beside me. I can't lose you. Please don't ask me that. Please don't ask me to leave you because I can't. I'd walk away from all of this before I lose you. You're my wife, Emmy. I promised I love you. I'm not leaving."

"You're not leaving?"

"No. I'm not going anywhere. Never. The day I got to put that ring on your finger was the best day of my life. I love you. The same way you love all of me for some reason. We're gonna fly to Mexico in a few days and we're gonna make you feel better. It's gonna take time, but we're going to be here. It's going to work. I promise. Come and sleep, Love. I'm not going anywhere."

Em curled into him, pushing a kiss against his chest. Sleep didn't come easily to her, but the noise of Dan's heartbeat and the warmth of him against her let her finally sleep.

@dr3lover @sabrinaselina55 @majx00 @tall-tanned-tattoo @lovingdennishauger @lauehr @msolbesg @f1medlife @idkwtfimdoing2 @leclercsbae @hiphopdancer101universe @mehrmonga @lewispool @saintandrea-droidsmuggler @coldheartedmar @sugarbabygirlofdaddy @nonsensical-nonce @a-distantdreamer @tita010 @leslizzle @javden @mloyer @saintandrea-droidsmuggler @magical-imagination-kgp @danarysstormborn @kakorrhaphiphobia @g-l-o-b-e-w-h-o-r-e @elizanav @neiich @luckyladycreator2 @scotlynaurora @belledawnidk

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writing-about-current-obsessions · 1 year

Text

Favourite piece

Pairings: Daniel Ricciardo x reader

Words: 3515

Summary: Daniel may have been acting like a creep, he also may have made a fool out of himself... But, in the end it was worth it.

>Click here to check out my masterlist<

This is weirdly specific, but I really enjoyed writing it and I couldn’t get it out of my head until it was all out!

“Why are we meeting only in this coffee shop lately?” Blake huffed in frustration as he sat down across from Daniel. “I need to drive across the city to get here.”

Daniel ignored his complaints, not really willing to explain why unless he absolutely had to. “Nice to see you too, mate.”

If Blake pressed him further about why they were meeting here recently, rather than somewhere closer to them both, Daniel would probably joke that it was because of good coffee, just to annoy him further. The truth was, Daniel came across this coffee shop by accident, and while it wasn’t anything particularly special, it was situated across from a very special art gallery.

Actually, the gallery wasn’t that special either. There was only one part that Daniel was interested in about that gallery and it was her.

He saw her for the first time when he was sitting at one of the tables on the terrace at this exact coffee shop. She was at some other table, not too far from him. She was absolutely stunning. Probably one of the most gorgeous women he’d ever seen. She had this effortless elegance and this air of confidence around her that piqued his interest further. But what really drew him in was one simple situation.

As Daniel was finishing his coffee and waiting on Blake who was uncharacteristically late, he noticed a boy excitedly running up to the ice cream display they had in front of the coffee shop. He had his palms on the glass and his nose was almost sticking to the barrier as he was picking out which flavour to get. After he finally chose, he asked the employee for a strawberry scoop in a cone in the politest and shy voice. Then he pulled out a couple of nickels from his pocket and started counting. As the employee reached over the glass display with an ice cream in hand, offering it to him, the little boy realized that he didn’t have enough money to pay. Daniel was ready to stand up and buy it for him, but the beautiful woman he was ogling earlier beat him to it.

She smiled at the little boy, greeting him and telling him in a soft voice to keep the money, because she will buy the ice cream for him. The child didn’t know what to say at first, clearly tempted by the offer, but still wary of the stranger in front of him. She simply crouched down, explaining how she was going to buy an ice cream for herself too and that it was no trouble in getting him one as well. ‘It would be a shame to waste it after you picked it out, right?’, Daniel remembers her saying, before the little boy nodded and smiled happily. As the boy got his ice cream, thanking her excitedly, she smiled wide and Daniel was done for. If he thought that she was gorgeous before, she was absolutely breathtaking as she smiled and chuckled at the boy’s enthusiastic demeanour.

Daniel could only stare in awe as she said goodbye to the boy, still smiling light-heartedly as she took one scoop of vanilla ice cream for herself and then made her way to the gallery opposite the street. She unlocked the doors and got in and Daniel’s heart soared as he watched her eat the ice cream contently through the huge glass doors of the entrance. He stayed just a little while longer, observing her as she worked, greeting everyone who came in the gallery with a polite smile and giving them her undivided attention.

“Are you even listening to me?” Blake snapped his fingers in front of Daniel’s face, making him return back to reality.

“Yeah, sure. I am.”, he replied and Blake looked at him with an exasperated facial expression.

The waiter approached them then, taking their coffee orders. Blake didn’t comment on it much, but he could see that Daniel was distracted. As they talked about their upcoming plans, Daniel responded with quick answers, which was unlike him. On top of that, he kept glancing away, looking somewhere else. By the end of their casual meeting, Blake was about to broach the subject and ask him what was wrong, but he didn’t get a chance.

“Where are you going?” Blake furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Daniel get up from his seat.

“I need to do something. Before we head to L.A.”, he simply explained, which only made Blake more confused.

They were leaving in a couple of days, but as far as he knew, there was nothing urgent to take care of.

On the other hand, Daniel looked incredibly nervous as he counted the money and left it on the table, before gathering his things so he could leave. During his conversation with Blake, he realized something. Amongst all the planning and travelling, he figured out that this could be his last chance to get inside that gallery and try to talk to that woman, maybe even ask her out.

If he didn’t at least try, he would definitely regret it. And Daniel wasn’t the one to back out from a challenge; he was determined and courageous. At least, he usually was. But now, it was a bit more difficult.

Still, he said goodbye to a confused Blake and made his way across the street.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to do something before we leave in a couple of days!” Daniel explained in a hurry, only turning around to glance at Blake as he was walking and then finally stood in front of the glass doors he was staring through earlier.

“Mate, that’s an art gallery!” Blake called out after him, like Daniel entering a gallery could be realistic only if it were by mistake.

Okay, granted, that was true.

But still, Daniel didn’t listen to him and carried on, adamant as always.

Once he entered the gallery, he realized quickly that he was out of his depth. It’s pretty silly, but he didn’t even consider anything else except looking into her eyes and what is he going to say to her in order to make a good first impression. Which was a very tough thing to do, he realized, when he was entering a sophisticated space as an art gallery wearing a t-shirt, shorts, his signature black Vans and a pink cap on backwards. He didn’t particularly look like the type of clientele that visited these places, and while usually standing out wouldn’t bother him too much, he was painfully aware of it at that moment.

Nonetheless, Daniel pretended like he knew what he was doing and decided to take a look around. He stared at the paintings with a thoughtful expression on his face, mostly trying to seem like he was contemplating the art in front of him.

Soon enough, he saw her approaching from the corner of his eyes. He didn’t turn to look at her before she was only a few steps away.

He was met with a wonderful, light smile and charming eyes. She looked even more gorgeous up close and Daniel momentarily forgot how to speak or even breathe.

“Hello.”, she greeted him politely. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Uh… I…”, Daniel stammered, eyes wide as his brain short-circuited.

“Are you searching for anything in particular or just looking?” she didn’t seem phased or weirded out, giving Daniel enough time to compose himself.

“Just looking.”, he smiled as well. “I saw it from outside and I was just curious.”

She nodded. “I can tell you something about the artists we have displayed right now, if you’d like that.”

Daniel hesitated. He wanted to keep talking with her, but he also didn’t want to make an ass out of himself.

“Uhm…”, Daniel scratched the back of his neck nervously. “This may be a good time to tell you I don’t know anything about art.”

She actually giggled at that. “Not to sound presumptuous, but I kinda figured that.”

Daniel sighed, smiling guiltily. “What gave it away?”

She simply beamed at him. “Doesn’t matter if you know anything about it or not. For whatever reason, you’re here.”

He furrowed his eyebrows at her and she smiled even wider. Daniel sincerely hoped that she won’t ask for the real reason he found himself in this art gallery.

“Art can be enjoyed even if you don’t know anything about it.”, she said with a shrug, like it was something obvious.

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked, his interest growing.

“It’s not about knowing the artist, or the technique, or the period the piece belongs to. It’s what it makes people feel and think.”, she got serious as she explained what she meant. “Art shouldn’t be about the price tag, but about how people respond to it.”

Daniel nodded at that. It sounded reasonable and simple, but they were still standing in an art gallery, where people come to spend huge amounts of money for a piece of art that they will hang on the wall in their expensive houses.

“I think the owner of this gallery may disagree with you.”, Daniel joked.

The woman grinned. “I don’t think she would.”

Daniel looked at her strangely, before realization dawned on him. “You’re… Fuck. You’re the owner?”

“In the flesh.”, she laughed at Daniel’s surprised reaction. “I mean, my surname is above the doors still, I think.”

“That’s your surname?” his eyebrows rose up in interest and he plastered on his award-winning smile. “Mind telling me also the name that goes with it?”

She chuckled, looking down on the floor in a moment of brief shyness, before telling Daniel her name. They shook hands and a spark of electricity shot up his arm when her soft hand enveloped his own.

“That’s a very pretty name.”

“Not nearly as famous as yours, I’m afraid.”,

Once again, Daniel was astonished. “You know who I am?”

“Are you surprised?” she teased a little, smirking.

“Maybe a little.”

It was like she flipped a switch; Daniel suddenly eased into the conversation, feeling much more comfortable than at the beginning. He didn’t know a single thing about art, so the fact that she knew who Daniel is could hopefully be a point in his favour.

There were only a few seconds of silence as they stared into each other’s eyes. She was absolutely captivating and her eyes were drawing Daniel in like he was under a spell. The light smile she wore was confident and her posture was the same, but there was a light pink tint on her cheeks that wasn’t there before. On top of that, she glanced briefly at Daniel’s lips, almost too quick for him to notice, which was another sign in his favour.

She cleared her throat, glancing away for a second and breaking the tension that was growing between them. “What can I say? I like my Picassos as much as I like my Ferraris.”

“A Ferrari girl, huh?”, Daniel pretended to frown, acting displeased.

“I’ll root for whatever team when they give you a seat, Ricciardo.”, she winked at him and Daniel almost passed out. "Until then, I'm cheering on the Ferarri boys."

He laughed. “Sounds good.”

They were interrupted for a moment when she was called away by a customer. She smiled at Daniel, excusing herself and walking away. He couldn’t help it; he didn’t keep his eyes off her as she made her way across the gallery to an old man who was standing in front of a painting that Daniel could only describe as a child’s drawing.

Instead of standing there waiting and staring at her like a creep, Daniel decided to walk around the gallery and take a look at the other paintings. There were actually a few that he liked and actually thought were impressive, although he didn’t recognize any of the artists’ names written under the frames. His gaze escaped every now and then to her frame; watching as she talked with the customer enthusiastically. She seemed passionate about what she was doing and it showed.

When she finished with the old man, Daniel was also at the end of his tour of the gallery. She joined him as he stood in front of a painting that looked like someone splashed buckets of different-coloured paint on a canvas.

“What’s your favourite?” he turned his head towards her.

She seemed confused by the question. “My favourite?”

“Favourite piece in the gallery?” he tilted his head at her. “You must have one.”

She hummed absent-mindedly, glancing around the space decorated by costly art. “I have a few.”

“Show me.”, he pleaded in a soft tone and she smiled broadly.

They were now alone in the gallery and she seemed even more relaxed than before. She showed him three paintings, offering brief descriptions of the work and the artist, occasionally answering a question that Daniel had. In the end, they stopped in front of a painting of a boat near a rocky coast. The waves were big and it seemed like the beginning of a storm. The details were absolutely incredible; Daniel could almost hear the waves splashing against the shore as he inspected the painting.

She started talking, but it was like Daniel’s mind switched off. He gawked at her as she looked at the piece of art, saying something about watercolours, imaginative landscapes and expressive colourisations. Daniel’s eyes were fixed on her lips as she explained the metaphors and mentioned a thing or two about the dramatic effects of natural light. For all he cared, she could recite the alphabet and she would still be able to hold his attention.

At the end of her explanation, she looked at him and Daniel immediately sobered up, nodding and pretending to understand everything she just said to him.

“I think I’ll buy this one.”, he blurted out.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Really? Why?”

Daniel shrugged, like he was buying a carton of milk and a loaf of bread at the supermarket, not an art piece which cost thousands. “I like it.”

She looked at the painting, frowning.

“Besides, maybe as an expert, you can come over to my place for a coffee and help me decide where to hang it up?” Daniel offered, his smile wide and confident.

She shook her head, still staring thoughtfully at the artwork. “I think you missed my point, Ricciardo.”

“What do you mean?”, he seemed confused as she looked at him, disappointment evident in her face.

“I’m not selling you the piece.”, she said firmly, her smile gone.

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “Money can’t buy you everything, Daniel.”

And with that, she turned around and walked away from him. He accepted defeat in silence, sighing heavily before leaving the gallery in a rush.

He was surprised to see Blake still at the coffee shop. It seemed like Daniel’s facial expression revealed all of the negative emotions that he was feeling in that moment, because his friend winced when he approached his table.

Blake tsked. “You fucked up?”

Daniel nodded, taking off his hat and threading his fingers through his hair in frustration. “It was a major fuck up. Catastrophic, even.”

“That bad, huh?” Blake looked at him with sympathy.

Daniel replayed the conversation in his head, groaning as he realized how stupid he sounded. She clearly explained to him how she feels about art; how she wanted people to feel something when appreciating it and how she wanted people to buy it because of its emotional value, not the price tag, prestige or something else superficial. And then he went and offered to buy an artwork and asked her to his place to help him decide where to put it. It was a poor attempt at flirting, certainly not his best, but he was also so nervous around her that he barely had the mental capacity to think through what he was saying before it already passed his lips.

“I think she thought that I tried to buy her time.”, Daniel slumped down in a chair.

“What the hell did you say to her mate?”

“Let’s just go.”, Daniel sighed, glancing at the gallery with regret.

For the rest of the day, Daniel couldn’t stop thinking about her. He also couldn’t get out of his head how he managed to make such a fool out of himself.

So, like a true athlete he is, tomorrow he tried again, refusing to admit defeat.

He gave himself one more chance to approach her and ask her out, but this time he would try to do that without sounding like a dumbass. If it doesn’t work, then he’ll leave her alone. There’s a fine line between being persistent and too pushy after all.

She was standing behind the front desk in the gallery, typing on her laptop as Daniel entered.

She only glanced at him briefly before turning back her attention to the laptop and resuming typing. “Back for another piece? Or an art lesson?”

Daniel hesitated, leaning on the high desk with his forearm, trying to appear as casual and confident as possible. “Back to right some wrongs.”

“Oh?” that seemed to pique her curiosity, her eyebrows raising as she looked at him. “Do tell.”

“I think you misunderstood me yesterday, which is my fault.”, he sighed, staring at her eyes. “So, I’m sorry about that.”

“Nothing to apologize about, really.”, she simply shrugged it off, typing some more on her laptop.

There was a beat of silence when the only thing that could be heard was the fast clicking of her fingers on the keyboard. When she realized that Daniel was not moving to exit, she stopped and looked at him again.

“Is that all?”

Daniel gulped. “I wasn’t trying to buy that piece just to ask you back to my place.”

“Okay, then.”, she nodded, her face expression unreadable. “Did you like the piece then?”

“I did.”

“Really?” she dragged out the word, asking him this question like she truly didn’t believe him.

“I’m being honest.”, Daniel replied in a serious tone as she studied him.

She walked around the desk, standing in front of him. “Why did you like it then?”

Daniel shifted the weight on his legs, suddenly appearing awkward and shy. “Well… It’s the way you were describing it.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him, almost as if in a warning. Then she folded her arms under her chest defensively, waiting for Daniel to explain.

“Your face lit up when you stood in front of it.”, Daniel smiled a little, looking away from her scrutinizing gaze. “And then you started to talk about it…”

Her face was still impassive, but Daniel pushed on, adamant about changing her mind.

“You couldn’t keep the smile off your face. And you were explaining everything with so much passion.”, he made eye contact with her. “I just thought… I like this piece because I know that if you let me buy it and I hang it up at my place…”

Daniel looked down bashfully with a smile on his face, before forcing himself to look into her eyes again. “Whenever I look at it I’ll always think of the happiness on your face as you showed it to me.”

Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened.

“So, yeah.”, Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly. “I really do love the painting.”

He still couldn’t tell what she was thinking as she only stared at him incredulously. But then, there was a flicker of a smile, before her lips widened and her eyes sparkled with joy.

"Uh, the colourisations and the landscapes are pretty good too.", he scratched his head, trying to remember everything she was saying about the painting yesterday.

She laughed heartily. "You really don't know anything about art."

"I really don't.", he grinned, relief flooding through his body upon seeing her positive reaction to his attempt at redemption.

“You can have the painting, Ricciardo.”, she bit her lip, her so wide that her cheeks almost hurt.

In a few weeks, when Daniel was back from his travels and the painting got delivered to his home, he couldn’t believe the sight in front of him. She was standing in his living room, holding a glass of wine he just gave, gesturing with her hand at the empty space on the wall she considered would be best for displaying the art piece. She laughed at Daniel when he was carefully putting the painting up and he didn’t mind one bit when she teased him about how bad of a handyman he is.

They shared some wine while sitting on the couch, gradually getting more comfortable with each other as they talked and found out more things about each other. Daniel was amazed even more. She was irresistible from the moment he saw her, but turns out that she was an incredible person from the inside as well. He had never been more glad about entering an art gallery and stumbling over his words, before finally winning her over.

#daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo one shot #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo fanfiction #daniel ricciardo x ofc #daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo x oc #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo fluff #f1 fanfic #f1 fanfiction #f1 one shot #f1 imagine

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hockeyshmockey · 4 months

Text

FEA- Daniel Ricciardo

summary: in which daniel's return to the redbull family brings her back into his life too

warnings: none other than some cursing

“Did you hear?” Max asked her casually in between interviews, the Dutchman trying to be nonchalant but failing epically.

“Hear what?” Shay asked the driver as she looked up from her phone with squinted eyes.

“Mclaren dropped Daniel,” Max revealed with a frown, making Shay's jaw drop.

Rewind to 2016.

Shay, a young assistant media manager had been called by a frantic Stella, who was the head of Red Bull F1 PR at the time. One of the two media managers had come down with pneumonia and been unable to travel to Melbourne for the first race of the season.

It was that moment that Shay had been thrown head first into her role she held now. Stella had told her that Shay was now the Media Manager for hot shot Daniel Ricciardo until told otherwise. The moment the Aussie and the girl from Cambridge started working together began what many called two years of pain.

Professionally, Shay and Daniel were a dream pairing. The two had a rapport many other drivers tried to have with their media managers. There had to be a delicate balance of friendship and work, which Shay was able to achieve with the never ending enigma that was Daniel. She never hesitated to joke around with him, but was also able to bring him back to earth and out of the slumps that became more common further on in their partnership.

Personally, Shay and Daniel were the biggest “will they won’t they” the paddock may have ever seen. Shay had blushed around Daniel their first few weeks working together non stop. Daniel would never hesitate to flirt with Shay, smirking when eventually the girl learned to give it back just as good as she got.

On celebration nights, Daniel and Shay were almost always found together in a dark corner leaning in close and sipping their drinks. The two spent time together away from the track, Shay meeting his family and Daniel going on vacation with Shay and her brothers one summer break. When Daniel was on the podium, Shay was on the barrier waiting with a hug.

When Max joined Red Bull, even as tensions within the team rose, the Dutchman never failed to tease Daniel about Shay. When the time came for Daniel to announce his move to Renault, most of the Red Bull staff expected him to announce at the same time he and Shay were in love and she was heading across the paddock with him.

Little did they know, Shay heard about Daniels departure at the group meeting with everyone else.

Things after that were tense. Daniel spent the rest of the season soaking up his last moments with the team, but things with Shay were off. He understood he had hurt her, but her never realized how badly until she iced him out. The last five races of the season, there was none of the banter that their relationship thrived on. Shay was all work while Daniel tried to revert back to their normal.

The last race of the season ended with a party in a club. And instead of hanging out in a corner, Shay and Daniel were in a screaming match that ended with Shay in tears and leaving and Daniel pounding beers till he couldn't see straight.

The next four years, Shay and Daniel kept their distance. They nodded to each other across the paddock, but there was no chats. They usually ended up having polite conversation when Max would force them together. But overall, Daniel's handling of his departure from Red Bull had clearly damaged their relationship.

"God, what is he going to do?" Shay was unable to keep the concern out of her voice as she looked at Max.

"I don't know yet," Max shrugged. "Theres some options, but I'm sure they aren't ideal for him. I'm sure Blake is working in overtime."

"God," Shay shook her head. "I really thought after all the comments made about his contract, Mclaren would've been smarter than this. Dan better get his money out of that one."

"Maybe you should reach out," Max said lightly, throwing his hands up in surrender when Shay whipped around to glare at him.

unknown

fuck em all. show them what they've lost

daniel

did you literally change your number to ignore me?

shay

and now im going to do it again

shay

I was trying to be nice but nvm

daniel

no no. I appreciate it

daniel

FEA

"Hello?" Shay asked with stuttered breath as she answered her phone. Her chest had gotten tight as soon as she saw the caller ID.

"Hi Shay," Daniel sighed into the receiver. "I'm sorry to call out of the blue. Do you have a sec?"

"Yeah Dan," she smiled slightly as she leaned on her desk in the Red Bull F1 office. "What's going on?"

"I just," he sighed. "I want you to know I understand that the blame of how things went down between us is on me. I should've-."

"No Dan," she cut him off. "It's not all on you. I reacted poorly. I knew you were struggling and I could've cut you some slack, but I let my hurt cloud everything. I could've been a bit more forgiving."

"Well, thank you for saying that," he smiled to himself. "I do regret things. And thats why I wanted to be the one to tell you this. Christian wants me to come on as the third driver. And as long as you and I are good, I want to say yes."

"Oh Dan," Shay beamed. "You are so fucking back baby."

And so the game began again. Daniel was back with Red Bull and in the garage, and though Shay was Max's Media Manager this time around, it just meant the three of them were attached at the hip. But the Daniel and Shay betting pool had absolutely been restarted.

The energy in Red Bull was at an all time high. The team doing so well, and having Daniel back was like a double boost in morale. Daniel's reputation within Red Bull was excellent, clearly so since Christian had jumped at the chance to bring the Aussie back.

The team though had a lot of new faces since Daniel had left. And so he was learning a lot of new names and team members. And he already had a few to keep his eye on based on the way they acted with Shay.

"Have you not shut that down?" Daniel asked Max quietly as the two stood in the garage and watched as one of the newer mechanics put his hand on Shay's shoulder as the two spoke.

"Mate," Max laughed. "No. She's my friend, I don't care if she dates a mechanic."

"She's too good for them," Daniel frowned. "I always gave my boys the shovel talk back then."

"Dan, you did that because you wanted to be the one dating her," Max said dead pan. "You gave me the shovel talk too. Everyone knows why you're doing it."

"Do you think she knows?" Daniel asked with a panic, running after Max's retreating form

"You okay?" Shay asked as she peaked into the drivers room in Alpha Tauri where a down trodden honey badger resided.

"Think it's broken," Daniel said with a sad smile. He had been racing for three weekends before it was ripped away again.

"Okay, we can work with that!" Shay tried to encourage as she went as sat next to him, resting her hand on his thigh. "You'll see a doctor, and then we can get a treatment plan in place and-"

"You know I'm in love with you right?" Daniel interrupted, watching Shay's face as his comment sunk in.

"I mean I love you too bud," she laughed nervously.

"No, like, I'm in love with you," Daniel said assuredly. "I think we're meant to be together. And today, flying toward that barrier, I couldn't help but think that I didn't want to go another day without saying it."

"Daniel," Shay murmured as she looked into his brown eyes for a moment before smirking. "Come here you idiot," she grabbed a hold of his collar and yanked him in for their first kiss of many.

Christian and Gerri split the multi thousand dollar pot, compiled over years of betting with attendees across the paddock. A phone tree had to be used to inform everyone that the bet terms had been met. Retired drivers, old team principals, and even ex partners had to be called to let everyone know that Daniel and Shay were finally, Daniel and Shay.

#daniel ricciardo x oc #fluff #f1 #formula one imagine #formula one #f1 imagine #f1 driver #f1 driver imagine #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 driver #imagine #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo

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visionofvoid · 1 year

Text

Better To Be Safe Than Sorry - Daniel Ricciardo

Summary: two australians dressed by the same designer for the 2023 met gala. surely its not all just chance?

Warnings: shameless flirting

Pairings: daniel ricciardo x plussize!oc

Word count: 2.3k

She couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked back at her reflection of the tinted car door, the dress hugging her in all the right ways and accentuating her natural curves. She had never seen this body representation at something so prestigious such as the Met Gala save for a few household names such as Ashley Graham. She couldn’t believe it when she first received the invitation on behalf of designer Thom Browne who reached out via a handwritten letter and pitched his idea to her. At first the Australian actress was very apprehensive; was she famous enough for an event like this? She wasn’t used to dressing up like this, so incredibly fancy and she had only just become noticed since her role in Daisy Jones and The Six. She even had a whole team do her makeup and hair for her which she wasn’t used to unless she was about to film a scene.

She expected the tag stitched into the dress to scratch her back but instead it sat flush. It only had Thom’s name, her name and the Met Gala handwritten and the small gesture meant a lot to her surprisingly, it was a garment made just for her plump body. It was organised so all of Thom’s guests were arriving at the same time to showcase his work in a cohesive way, and it meant that organising a group shot was just that little bit easier. Stepping out of the car she was blinded by how lit up the walkway was, a cream colour leading her and ushering her towards the famous steps of the Met and towards the screaming crowds. She wasn’t entirely sure who else was dressed by Thom so she was excited to see and meet some famous faces as well as by other designers.

“Just follow me.” Lucille was met with a smile from some volunteers who rushed to both her side. She wasn’t overly excited to be walking in heels but she had a lot of practice to make sure she wouldn’t fall. The dress, however, hugged her thighs enough that it meant she had to take small and careful steps. She sucked in a deep breath, seeing the ‘TB’ embroidered between her breasts on the bodice move with her breathing and she plastered on a smile.

With each and every step Lucille found that the shouts of the photographers grew louder and the fans screaming in anticipation for the next guest to arrive. There was a little bit of a wait for the celebrities to allow a steady flow at the base of the footsteps and Lucille found herself beaming at Thom Browne when she saw his familiar face talking with presumably his other guests.

“Ah, my dear, my muse!” It seemed as if she was the last of his guests to arrive, eight more heads turning adorned in black and white, tulle and lace, camellias and different patterns. They all looked fabulous and as Lucille scanned briefly over their faces she found that it all suited them. Thom rushed over, embracing Lucille quickly and then pulled away, his arms on her bare shoulders as he stood back to admire his work. “Stunning. Absolutely stunning.” Lucille found her rosy coloured cheeks flush at the compliments but thanked the designer nonetheless.

Daniel was incredibly privileged to say the least when he received a handwritten letter from Thom Browne regarding an invitation to the Met Gala. He had watched Lewis attend and will admit, he found it to be a guilty pleasure to keep up with it every year. He admired the hard work the designers put in and the fuss about it. Now that his main focus was not on racing full time, it was a no-brainer that he would attend the Met Gala. He was all smiles when he first met Thom and that all continued to him actually seeing his suit for the first time to arrive second for the designer. A few months out of a long term relationship and he was thriving, he was just in awe as he looked around the tunnel leading to the waiting area. One by one the remainder of Thom’s guests arrived and piled up behind him, compliments flowing through the air, everyone's agents taking care of phones, bags and other items.

The naturally extroverted racer enjoyed meeting new faces, happily discussing his projects and the projects of others while they slowly moved forward. His back was turned as he anxiously looked past the people in front of him when Lucille arrived. The two were familiar with one another naturally being some of the few Australians that were famous outside of their home nation however when Thom gushed over her Danile found himself turning around. She looked absolutely stunning. The two had never crossed paths with one another before but Daniel was kicking himself over it now. She exuded confidence, kindness and warmth. He could tell she was nervous but as Thom greeted her she seemed to calm herself.

Lucille blushed as Thom showered her in compliments, some of the other guests commenting on her outfit, her makeup and her work in Daisy Jones. It was her first big event she had attended outside of small premiers where she played a menial side character; this was all quite different and overwhelming, in a good way. Lucille spotted Daniel Ricciardo in a black suit with delicate black ruffles that added different hues to the suit. Her body felt warm and fuzzy when he gave her a warm smile. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a fair few Melbourne GP’s growing up so she was quite familiar with the sport and with the man herself. He was easily top twenty of her male celebrity crushes. Okay, maybe top ten. Top five?

“Where is Rhonda?” Thom questioned, knowing that Lucille was usually accompanied by her manager.

“In active labour. I will be hopping up the steps while she’s pushing.” Lucille joked though Thom could tell she was nervous. Daniel felt guilty for eavesdropping but instead found an opening to introduce himself. He apologised as he pushed himself past Teyana Taylor and Jenna Ortega, his eyes focused solely on Lucille. One by one they slowly got called to make their way to the main area where all the hustle and bustle began and there was no set order so Daniel slowly held himself back. Thom moved forward to introduce his pieces to the Met Gala and hype up his team.

Lucille played with her nails as the team slowly dwindled down into just herself and Daniel and their volunteers got ready. Daniel went first and then it was just Lucille with the next guests arriving behind her and soon she was called up. Her steps were small as she held her head high, walking past several other volunteers who seemed to gush over her look. A few metres later she found herself surrounded by photographers and celebrities, fans turning to look at her and call out her name.

Daniel remained nearby Lucille, feeling somewhat wanting to introduce himself formally or be near her presence. Everyone else had a team of agents or PR representatives to help them pose or engage in interviews with certain people but being a new actress on the scene meant that she didn’t quite have her own team. At least being in a suit meant that it was easier to navigate the stairs leading into the Met.

Lucille found herself being called over to a young interviewer and smiled when the interviewer seemed surprised when she made her way over.

“Lucille Craig, I loved you in Daisy Jones, you look absolutely stunning on the carpet tonight and for your first Met Gala. Can I ask, who is dressing you and what was the inspiration?” It was incredibly loud all around her but at that moment her sole focus was on the interviewer.

“Thank you so much! I’m dressed by Thom Browne. We both collaborated and drew inspiration from Claudia Schiffer’s Spring 1993 Chanel bride look. I am thrilled to have been invited and to see so many different looks on different bodies and people. It’s a bit overwhelming.” Lucille let out a chuckle at the end of her sentence and patiently waited for the next part of the interview.

“We all look forward to seeing what's next for you. It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope you enjoy your night. Thank you!” Lucille thanked the woman before she was ushered in by the volunteers, the stairs coming closer and closer. She was growing more and more nervous but tried to keep herself contained. She smiled at some photographers, said some hellos to other celebrities and continued on her way.

Daniel smiled through a couple of interviews though he kept himself open towards the carpet, his eye always landing on Lucille from a distance. He answered questions to do with his career and his outfit to the best of his abilities but his mind kept going back to Lucille.

“Do you need some assistance, Miss Craig?” The Met Gala volunteer questioned Lucille as she made her way to the dreaded stairs. Lucille went to protest before she felt someone slide her arm through theirs causing her to snap her head to the stranger.

“No, no. I’ve got it from here, thank you.” Daniel spoke, offering a tight smile to the volunteer as Lucille’s hand clutched onto his bicep. The volunteer nodded, walking a few steps ahead of the duo. The small gesture seemed to spark excitement among the spectators and photographers as well as Thom as he stood at the top of the stairs, beaming down on the duo. Lucille sucked in a breath as she lifted one leg, testing the integrity of the dress and sighed with relief when it remained a couple of inches below her behind. “You’ve got this.” Daniel mumbled just loud enough for Lucille to hear, the girl grateful for the support. She gained confidence with each and every step she took, photographers calling out their names to get a pose. This would without a doubt cause some rumours the next day.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do this.” Lucille spoke back, turning her head over her shoulder with her hair following elegantly as she looked back. They were about halfway up the staircase now.

“How could a gentleman like me not help a fellow beautiful Australian? Would be blasphemous.” Daniel joked, Lucille looking up at him briefly before letting out a rather unfeminine laugh. Daniel loved being a joker, he loved making people laugh however this felt different. He suddenly cared about her opinion, he cared about what she found funny.

They made it to the top of the stairs where a number of celebrities were posing for higher end magazines or being interviewed by much more important people. Lucille was fine to walk on her own now but found herself not ready to pull away from Daniel’s arm, and he wasn’t putting up much of a fight either. The two slowly walked with the small crowd on the carpet, both unsure of what to do next. The other guests for Thom Browne were scattered about with the designer standing even further along where guests were to be greeted by Anna Wintour herself and engage in a quick hello before moving along to tour the museum and potter around before the formal dinner.

“There’s so many people. Anne Hathaway, Jared Leto as a fucking furry, oh my God! Is that Ashley Graham?” Daniel admired this side of Lucille, or this side of anyone. Lucille had quite a following, especially after her role in the TV adaptation of Daisy Jones and the Six so she hadn’t quite warmed up to being a loved celebrity just yet that was grouped in the same calibre as these well known movie stars, singers and models. Lucille went to apologise for her behaviour, preparing to call it cringe worthy when she was interrupted by Anne Hathaway turning around, her eyes widening slightly and her perfectly poised smile turning into something genuine. “Daniel, please tell me Anne is looking at us, the Anne Hathaway?” Daniel went to respond but he found himself leading Lucille towards the famous actress.

“Daniel Riccardo! I’m a big fan of F1.” Daniel was taken by surprise that she knew who he was and then she turned to Lucille. “I loved your role in Daisy Jones, you were absolutely fabulous. You’re definitely a force to be reckoned with. I must get going, enjoy the night you love birds!” Anne bid them a farewell, bringing Lucille in for a brief kiss on the cheek and hug before rushing off. Daniel nor Lucille mentioned the last statement out of Anne’s mouth and instead they were both taken back by the interaction.

“She knew who I was.” It was like Lucille’s hand was a part of Daniel’s arm. It just felt so natural and conversation, no matter how small and lacklustre it was between the two, came naturally. Daniel wanted to get to know the girl a little bit more.

“She would be a fool to not know you are, Lucille.” Daniel flirted shamelessly, grinning as he noticed her cheeks flush darker than her rosy makeup. Lucille noticed she was still holding onto his arm even though they were no longer tackling steps. Had Daniel been too nice to tell her that her hand was on his arm. God, what a blunder.

“I am so sorry! I didn’t even realise.” Daniel only chuckled in response, pulling her back towards him. It was as if the two of them weren’t surrounded by flashing lights and people shouting, that it was just the two of them. It just felt natural for the both of them.

“Don’t be silly. I’m sure there’ll be more stairs. Better to be safe than sorry.”

#daniel ricciardo imagines #daniel ricciardo smut #daniel ricciardo x oc #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo fanfiction #formula 1 #formula one #f1 #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 imagines #formula 1 smut #formula one x reader #formula one x oc #formula one imagine #formula one smut

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sunsetloverrsss · 10 months

Text

Let it snow

December 2020

Evie woke up that Tuesday morning earlier than daniel as per usual those last couple months during quarantine since she had to teach her class. Glancing out the window of their apartment they shared together she saw it was snowing. Usually when Evie saw snow she'd be over the moon happy it was her favourite but not this time she wasn't in the mood.

Pushing it aside even continued about her morning which consisted of feeding oreo and taking her medication in the hopes of preventing the flare up happening that she knew was coming and no amount pain meds would stop it. Though her only hope was to prolong it. She chose a simple breakfast that morning of just some yoghurt and fruit before she settled down infant of her computer for the day.

As daniel awoke and got up he to also noticed the weather he knew it should bring a smile to Evie's face. He walked into the kitchen with a pep in his step looking forward to seeing Evie. "Hey good sweetie how are you feeling" he asked her giving her a pack on the forhead. " yeh I'm okay just a little crampy. I'm done work for the day it was just a quick check with the kids" she smiled at him. In the 3 years Daniel has known Evie he was surprised she wasn't more happy over the idea of it snowing outside. Though then he also knew she had alot going on at the moment.

He walked over to the counter hopped onto it and he started to eat an apple. He figured he'd bring it into the conversation. "Sooo I see it's snowing outside you must be happy" he said to her in-between bites. She glanced at him and give him a small smile before mumbling "yeh I guess it's nice". That was it daniel knew the last few couple months had been hard on her not being able to see her family bit also she had been in alot of pain and suffering alot of flare ups since her endometriosis surgery's kept getting canceled due to covid. Daniel knew she wasn't doing good and I pained him to see her in pain. He knew he had to try and do something to atleast get her smiling for awhile.

That's when he jumped of the counter and grabbed Evie by the arm and dragged her over to their door. He didn't say anything and she was very confused. "Daniel what are you doing" she asked questionably as Daniel picked her hat gloves and scarf up and put them on her. Next was her jacket he zipped it up the whole way before taking a step back and looking at her. "You look beautiful my little squishy marshmallow" he said to her jokingly. Evie laughed back as daniel put on his winter gear too. "Come on" he said to her dragging her outside.

Daniel and Evie stood outside when he turned to her. "Look at this isn't it amazing its your favourite time of the year Evie. I want you to forget about everything for awhile and just enjoy this" he said to her seriously. "Okay I will" she replied as she bent down and formed a snowball in her hand. "Don't you dare THROW THAT AT ME EVIE" he shouted at her happily. She didn't listen and threw it at his arm. "Oh that's it your on" he replied also throwing one at her. "DANNY" she shouted. Next minute she just burst into a fit of laughter.

Daniel walked over to her smothering her in a hug. Evie continued to laugh along with Daniel. He gave her the best hugs it was one of her favourite this about him. Daniel was so happy the hear Evie laughing even if it was only for a short while he knew she needed this. She needed to be able to forget about her endometriosis and everything relating to covid at the moment. "So how about we go build a snowball danny" she said looking up to him. " I think that would be a very good idea." He replied before he got to pull away fully Evie pulled him back. "Thanks for this Dan I really needed it and thanks for always knowing what I need I know sometimes I can be a handful." She said to him "Hey your welcome and you know your never a handful to me all I care about is hearing you laugh. I love you" he replied. "I love you too. Now let's go make that snow man" Evie said enthusiasticly

Enjoy this short little blurb. As always send in and questions you have I'll be happy to answer. Anything at all. 🥰

#daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo x ofc #sunsetloverss🌸#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1blr #f1 #f1 x oc #daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo x oc

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disneyprincemuke · 3 months

Text

outtakes: the dynamics [fast times and fast nights]

the princess and the prince -> camellia ayudisha x charles leclerc

the seeker and the unreached -> sonnet pham x mick schumacher

the hated and the endeared -> jupiter nightshade x oscar piastri

the wicked witch and charming prince -> kelly piquet x max verstappen

the bassist and the drummer -> alexis mun x atticus singh

the gifted and the burnt -> aella gutierrez x logan sargeant

the hardworker and the privileged -> natalia bunbury x carlos sainz

the shadow and the silhouette -> venus nightshade x arthur leclerc

the queen and the king -> roxxane castle x fernando alonso

the honey badger and the honey -> daniel ricciardo x heidi berger

the driver and the golfer -> lily muni he x alex albon

the chef and the feaster -> yuki tsunoda x pierre gasly

the definite and the maybe -> charlotte miller x liam lawson

the known and the unknown -> marta garcia x selene liu

the homie hopper and the best friend -> joanna matthews x frederik vesti

the demure and the spirited -> carmen mundt x george russell

the racer and the model -> lance stroll x sara pagliaroli

the hopeful and the accomplished -> shaina villegas and lewis hamilton

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thewritingofspencerrose · 10 months

Text

Requests are open for all Formula One drivers and the NHL players listed in the masterlist below. NHL Formula One

#nhl fanfiction #the writing of spencer rose #formula 1 #formula 1 fanfiction #nfl fanfiction #charles leclerc x oc #jack hughes x oc #quinn hughes x oc #trevor zegras x oc #lance stroll x oc #max verstappen x oc #daniel ricciardo x oc #lewis hamilton x oc #logan sargeant x oc #pierre gasly x oc #mick schumacher x oc

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lecsainz · 1 year

Text

Sister's Support

pairings: daniel ricciardo x sister!reader / charles leclerc x ricciardo!reader / max verstappen x ricciardo!reader / lando norris x ricciardo!reader / carlos sainz x ricciardo!reader

warnings: a day in the paddock with the ricciardo’s siblings, daniel being an annoying and funny brother, 2022 grid.

authors note: i think i don't need to say BUT I LOVED WRITING THIS VERY MUCH, apparently i love writing them all 😅 and i just miss ricc 😭 well, i hope you all like it.

word count: 1.7K

Y/N had always been too busy with college to attend her brother's races, and she never wanted to be in the public eye. As a result, she chose not to accompany Daniel through the paddock, opting instead to stay in a reserved family room or in the grandstands.

But one day, something shifted inside her. She woke up and realized that she wanted to experience a race in all its glory - to walk through the paddock, meet the drivers, and feel the energy of formula 1. And so she made the decision to join Daniel at a race, fully immersing herself in the world of motorsport.

And here she was stood in front of the mirror, smoothing down her dress and adjusting her hair. Today was the day of the race, and she was excited to be joining Daniel in the paddock.

She had flown in from Australia to Monaco just for this event, and she was determined to make the most of it.

As she finished applying her makeup, there was a knock on the door.

"Hey sis, you ready?" Daniel called out.

Y/N opened the door to find her brother grinning at her. "Ready as I'll ever be," she said, rolling her eyes.

Daniel laughed. "You look great. Although, maybe a little too great," he teased.

Y/N scowled at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Daniel just grinned. "Nothing, nothing. I just don't want any of the other drivers to get distracted by my little sister."

Y/N rolled her eyes again. "Please, as if."

As they walked through the hotel lobby, Y/N couldn't help feeling a little self-conscious. She was wearing a tight dress and heels, while Daniel was dressed in his usual casual attire.

But as they stepped outside and made their way to the paddock, Y/N started to relax. There was a buzz in the air, a sense of excitement that was contagious.

And as they walked through the paddock, Y/N felt her spirits lift even higher. There were so many people, all dressed in team colors and milling about, chatting and laughing.

Daniel introduced her to some of his colleagues, and Y/N tried her best to keep up with the racing lingo. She was a little intimidated by all the technical jargon, but she could tell that everyone was impressed by her enthusiasm.

She watched in amazement as her older brother Daniel climbed out of his race car, his face beaming with excitement. It was the first time she had ever come to a race with him, and the atmosphere was electric. Everywhere she looked, there were people milling about, mechanics tweaking engines, and drivers zipping around on their scooters. It was a world unlike any she had ever seen.

"Come on, sis!" Daniel called, grinning from ear to ear. "Let's go check out the paddock!"

Y/N followed him eagerly, taking in all the sights and sounds around her. As they walked, Daniel waved to other drivers, slapped high fives with mechanics, and generally acted like he owned the place.

"Hey, there's Max!" he said excitedly, pointing out the Red Bull driver as he walked by. "Hey, Max, over here!"

Max turned to look at them and raised an eyebrow in greeting. "Hey, Daniel. Who's your friend?"

"This is my sister, Y/N," Daniel said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "She's a bit of a newbie to all this, but I'm showing her the ropes."

Max nodded, giving Y/N a polite smile. "Nice to meet you, Y/N. You should come hang out with me and the guys later. We'll show you how to party properly."

Y/N felt a blush creeping up her neck. She had never been good at handling attention from guys, and Max was one of the most handsome drivers on the circuit.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she stammered, hoping she didn't sound too eager.

Daniel chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Don't mind her, Max. She's still a bit star-struck. Come on, let's go find some food."

They made their way to the hospitality area, where teams had set up tents and tables for their guests. As they approached the McLaren tent, Daniel saw a group of his teammates sitting together, laughing and joking.

"Hey, guys!" he called out, striding up to them. "Mind if I introduce you to my sister?"

The guys looked up, their eyes widening as they saw Y/N. She was wearing a tight-fitting dress that hugged her curves in all the right places, and her makeup was immaculate. They had never seen Daniel with a girl like her before.

"Hey, Y/N," Lando Norris said, grinning widely. "Welcome to the crazy world of Formula 1."

"Thanks," Y/N said, feeling a little overwhelmed by all the attention. "It's amazing to be here."

They chatted for a few minutes, with Daniel teasing Y/N mercilessly about her lack of knowledge about the sport. "She doesn't even know what DRS stands for," he told his friends, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Y/N rolled her eyes, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm learning," she protested. “And I know what it is DRS stands for Drag Reduction System, it's a...”

Daniel interrupts his sister “Or... DRS could stand for Daniel Ricciardo Supremacy. I mean, let's be real, that's what it's all about, right?”

Just then, they heard a voice calling out from across the paddock. "Hey, Dan! Over here!"

It was Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari driver, waving them over. Daniel grinned, giving Y/N a quick hug before leading the way.

"Hey, man!" he said, clapping Carlos on the back. "What's up?"

"Not much, just hanging out," Carlos said, grinning at Y/N. "And who's this lovely lady?"

"This is my sister, Y/N," Daniel said, proudly introducing her. "She's come to watch me race."

"Ah, I see," Carlos said, winking at her. "Well, you're welcome to hang out with us if you want, Y/N. We could use a bit of glamour in the Ferrari garage."

Y/N felt her cheeks flush again at the attention. "Sure, that sounds great," she said, trying to act cool.

For the rest of the day, Y/N found herself in the middle of a whirlwind of activity. She watched as Daniel went through his pre-race routine, making sure that everything was in place for a successful day on the track. As she stood by his side, Daniel made sure to include her in every step of the process, explaining things to her and answering any questions she had.

During the race itself, Y/N watched from the pit wall as Daniel battled it out with the other drivers on the track. She felt a thrill of excitement as he made daring overtakes and defended his position against his rivals.

And while Daniel didn't end up winning the race, Y/N still felt a sense of pride and excitement as she watched him climb out of the car, sweaty and exhilarated.

As the celebrations wound down, Y/N found herself wandering around the paddock, feeling a little lost. That was when she saw him.

Charles Leclerc was standing a few feet away, talking to some of his mechanics. He looked up and caught her eye, and Y/N felt her heart skip a beat. She had always had a bit of a crush on Charles, with his charming smile and piercing green eyes.

"Hey," he said, walking over to her. "You're Daniel's sister, right?"

Y/N nodded, feeling a little shy. "Yeah, that's me."

Charles smiled at her, looking genuinely interested. "So, what do you think of all this?"

"It's amazing," Y/N said, feeling a little more at ease now. "I've never seen anything like it."

Charles nodded, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Yeah, it can be pretty overwhelming at first. But once you get used to it, it's just another day at the office."

They chatted for a few more minutes, with Charles asking Y/N about her life and interests. Y/N found herself relaxing more and more, feeling like she could actually be herself around him.

"Hey, would you like to grab a drink later?" Charles asked, sounding a little hesitant. "I know this great little bar down the road."

Y/N's heart skipped a beat. She had never expected something like this to happen.

"Yeah, that sounds great," she said, feeling a little giddy.

Charles smiled at her, and Y/N felt a flutter in her stomach.

As Y/N and Charles walked away, Daniel spotted them from across the paddock. He jogged over, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" he asked, nudging Y/N in the side.

Y/N rolled her eyes at her brother's teasing. "Just hanging out," she said, trying not to sound too excited.

Daniel turned to Charles, giving him a playful punch on the arm. "Watch out, mate," he said, grinning. "Y/N's a bit of a heartbreaker."

Charles laughed, looking a little embarrassed. "Is that right?"

Daniel nodded, his eyes twinkling. "Yeah, you better keep an eye on her. She's trouble, I tell you."

Y/N groaned, feeling herself turn red. "Daniel, stop it," she said, swatting him on the arm.

"Charles, did you know that Y/N has a crush on a certain number 16 driver?" he said, grinning at his younger sister.

Y/N felt her cheeks turn bright red.

"Daniel, please." she hissed.

"Really?" Charles started teasing her. "Maybe I have a crush on her too."

She looked surprised at the monegasque and he gave her a wink. Y/N was sure she was redder than ferrari.

But despite her embarrassment, Y/N couldn't help feeling grateful to have her brother there. He might tease her relentlessly, but she knew he had her back no matter what.

As they continued chatting, Daniel made sure to include Y/N in the conversation, joking and teasing with both her and Charles. Y/N felt herself relaxing more and more, enjoying the company of her brother and this charming young driver.

And as she looked over at her brother, grinning from ear to ear, Y/N felt a sense of happiness that she had never felt before. Maybe, just maybe, she had found her place in the crazy, wonderful world of formula 1 after all.

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sebscore · 1 year

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MONZA MANICURE

pairing: daniel ricciardo x driver!reader

warnings: swearing. broken nail. being taken out on track. middle finger.

author's note: I don't even know how I came up with this idea, it came to mind and I couldn't get it out of my head. maybe because of the lack of danny ric on my page.

masterlist

• • • • • • •

''SCREW THAT FUCKING CARROT ON WHEELS! OH MY GOD!'' Were the words that Y/N's team heard through their headphones as Daniel took her out of the race.

She let out a big sigh as her car came to a halt, disappointed that no points would be earned this racing weekend. Y/N felt a throbbing pain on her nail that caused her to hiss, she took off her gloves and saw blood around the nail of her ring finger.

''The idiot broke my nail!'' She exclaimed, garnering laughter from her engineer and commentators as her radio message was replayed on television.

She disconnected her steering wheel and stepped out of the cockpit, too much damage to continue her race. A bit further from where she was, Daniel also got out of his car.

The Australian noticed the young woman and did a thumbs up, asking her if she's alright.

Instead of copying his action to let him know she's okay, she held up her middle finger. Daniel simply laughed, no taking offense as he knew she was joking around with him.

He waited for her by his car, ready to apologize. ''Danny! You broke my nail!'' Y/N latched onto her throbbing nail, trying to reduce the pain even if it was just a little bit. She held up her hand to his face, giving him a close-up.

He grabbed her wrist, inspecting the bloody nail. ''I'm so sorry, does it hurt a lot?'' Daniel felt guilty. He hadn't meant to take her out of the race, he dodged out of the way for someone else and accidentally touched her car from behind.

''It hurts like a bitch! Oh, I just got them done this week.'' She groaned, trying to put more pressure on her fingernail.

The McLaren driver put his hand on the side of her helmet as if it was her cheek. ''I'm really sorry, love. Kevin was gonna hit me and I got out of the way.'' He explained his action.

''I'm honestly more concerned about my nail than the race, Danny.'' Y/N laughed it off, she wouldn't have ended up on the podium anyway. The two walked back to the paddock, being scurried off by the marshals.

Daniel offered her a smile, one that wasn't visible because of his helmet. ''If there's anything I can do to help with your nail, I'll do it.'' He easily took the helmet off of his head, figuring that being able to see his face would make his words more personal.

Meanwhile, Y/N had more trouble taking hers off as her nail was still hurting and she couldn't use her full strength. ''Can you help take off my helmet? It's hard with my nail.'' She asked him, tapping his arm.

''Of course.'' Daniel moved in front of her and used both of his hands to grab the sides of her helmet. Instead of gliding off easily like usual, her head seemed stuck and Daniel was almost lifting her from the ground. ''Oh my god, my helmet! Not my head!'' She exclaimed, grabbing Daniel's arms to stop him from helping.

The Australian looked down and noticed her standing on her tippy toes, making him giggle and he pulled his hands back. ''I think your head's too big, Y/N.'' He teased her, patting the top of the helmet.

''And your ego's too big, but you don't see me complaining, Ricciardo.''

''Alright, missy.''

''I don't know how I even ended up here.''

After the race, Heidi, Daniel's girlfriend, had suggested to Y/N that she and her would get their nails re-done together, sponsored by the Honey Badger himself. The female driver had found it a great idea, looking forward to spending time with Heidi as they had never really hung out with just the two of them.

However, Heidi fell sick and wasn't able to make it anymore to their little manicure date. At first they texted back and forth, planning to reschedule it, but Heidi had a proposal: that Daniel joins Y/N at the salon.

The young woman wasn't too sure about it, not because she didn't want to spend alone time with Daniel, but because she didn't want it to come across that she wanted to have something romantic with the older driver. Fortunately, Heidi was able to assure her that she didn't mind and that she wouldn't suggest it if she didn't have full trust in either of them. So, here the two Formula One drivers were in a beauty salon in Monza.

''You broke my nail, that's what happened.'' She replied in a sarcastic tone.

While Y/N got her nails re-done, Daniel opted for a facial as he claimed his nails were ''decent for a 33 year-old man''. They had charmed the specialists into putting them into the same room, so they could talk with one another.

Daniel wanted to laugh, but the woman spreading all kinds of creams on his face prevented him from doing that. ''Hey, I'm making it up to you, aren't I?''

''Yeah, you are,'' Y/N smiled, watching him getting his facial treatment, ''anyway, now that it's just the two of us- I have a question for you.''

Daniel raised his eyebrows, intrigued by her words. ''Go on…''

''So, what do you really think of Lando?''

''What the fuck, Y/N.''

#f1 x y/n #f1 x reader #f1 x oc #f1 x you #f1 fics #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo x oc #formula 1 oc #f1 fic #formula 1 fic

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paddockbunny · 1 year

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All Too Well – Chapter Eight

Summary : Alessandra Lucciano tells herself she has it all. She is Daniel Ricciardo's girlfriend after all. Isn't she? Well, sometimes she has to work hard to feel like it and no more so than when some girl shows up and makes her question her life as she knows it. So what happens when someone else starts paying her more attention than her boyfriend? Pairing : Daniel Ricciardo x (OC) Alessandra Lucciano + Max Verstappen Rating : 18+ Word Count : 6,506 Trigger Warnings for this Chapter : NSFW, Angst, relationship issues, language, PinV sex, undiscussed protection, fantasising about someone else, adult themes, strong emotions Song Inspiration for this Chapter : "Never be so kind you forget how to be clever, never be so clever you forget to be kind." - Marjorie

💞 Authors Note: Please enjoy this chapter. Remember this is a LONG angst filled story so if you're looking for short and sweet then this is certainly not it. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has dropped a line or two to say how much they like the story and honestly, you have zero idea how much it means to me. Thank you also to all of the incredible rebloggers!!! Reblogs honestly work wonders for all us writers so I appreciate each and every one you guys bestow on me. Please be aware this chapter will be proof read at a later date as I'm working on something else at the moment.

10:00 PM – 10th of October 2020 – Suzuka – Japanese Grand Prix

A low groan slipped passed Max’s lips as he ran his hand up and down his engorged cock, readying it to push in. Running the throbbing tip up and down her dripping wet folds – ones that were a mixture of her arousal and his own salvia after he had gone down on her – only sent an excited wave wash through his body. It had been at least two weeks since he last had sex and by now he was utterly desperate. Elin had been ridiculously busy since the launch and although he was overjoyed that she had found something she was passionate about, he had to take care of himself too many times to count and by now just craved another person’s touch.

Elin gasped and it practically echoed around the room as Max finally slipped inside of her. He had been elated when he managed to convince her to come this weekend. Initially she complained that it was a long way to Japan, especially as she was trying to build a business, but he knew she would enjoy it while she was here. In truth it was really because he needed time away from Monaco with her. He wanted some time when the discussion wasn’t about jewellery nor all the people she thought had backstabbed her by not supporting her dreams. Max wanted to reconnect with her and remind her that he needed a little support too sometimes. But, the thoughts were pushed out of his mind when he started moving, thrusting his cock into her the way he knew she liked, and he realised he was getting what he wanted right now and to have been thinking about all the other stuff made him feel a bit guilty.

His name ruptured out of her when he gripped her hip harder and continued his fast paced rhythm. The sound of their skin hitting each other’s bodies mingled with the loud moans pouring from her open mouth. Max’s eyes squeezed shut when he bottomed out inside of his girlfriend and all the could think about was how good she felt, how soft her skin was, how her legs wrapped around his waist and how it felt to hear his own name being sighed breathily in his ear. And right as he began thinking he wouldn’t be able to last very long after being touch starved, in his mind the bright blonde hair of his girlfriend were slowly transformed into long flowing raven coloured locks. His girlfriends pale, Scandinavian toned skin faded away to a sun kissed, rich, olive one. And Elin’s small crystal blue eyes transformed into large, golden tinted doe like ones that were the final piece in who his mind was now thinking about.

Alessandra.

Daniel’s Alessandra.

As he momentarily paused fucking his blissfully unaware girlfriend, he fought with his mind to stop imagining the stunning Italian beauty – whom was very much dating his teammate – but the attempt was futile. Elin’s hands grasped at the flesh of his back and all he could think about were Ali. He thought of her perfectly manicured nails scratching and digging into his flesh and how he would moan for her instantly. He huffed at the thought of her moaning and sighing while he was the one to give her pleasure. He battled himself as the thought of Ali’s naked body being under him could have temporarily made him insane. Her collarbone that he wanted to kiss, the roundness of her breast that he wanted to graze, the curve of her hip he wanted to grasp all flashed before his eyes. He knew it was wrong of him to continue but his cock twitched inside of his girlfriend and he figured it wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was only in his mind after all. It wasn’t as if anything was going to happen, he would have to tell people for something to happen and Max wasn’t about to go do that. So, as he proceeded, he allowed himself to lean more into this fantasy this mind had dreamt up for him until finally he was teetering on the edge of climaxing. As hands gripped his arms tightly and a loud cry found his ears, Max’s mind made him believe it was Ali. As his rhythm got sloppy while he could feel his balls start to tighten, Max thought about himself being the one who could make her orgasm. He thought about her mouth open, eyes squeezed shut and her body feeling like it was being licked by electricity. He envisioned how her pussy would start fluttering around him, tightening and squeezing his pulsating climaxing cock. Max’s mouth suddenly fell open and as he began to succumb to the high, he groaned; “Fuck….Al…” before catching himself about to allow say her name. But while he felt his seed leave his body and begin to spill into his girlfriend Ali’s name still perched dangerously on the tip of Max’s tongue.

It wasn’t until he finally rolled over on to the bed beside Elin – who was unsatisfied and looking at him rather pissed – that Max allowed his mind to realise what had just happened. He had only actually met Ali a few times so why the hell was his brain thinking of her while he had sex? What the fuck did this mean? He was happy, relatively so, with Elin and although he wouldn’t say Ali and Daniel were the picture perfect example of such they were very much together. He felt guilt initially for thinking about another woman but it wasn’t cheating, was it? It was certainly different but he never said anything that would allow Elin to catch on during the act and like hell would he spill that he had been thinking of Daniel’s girlfriend while the came inside of her later. It was an innocent crime really. The only problem was, how could he be around her now he had thought about her like that?

09:30 PM – 16th of October 2020 – Max’s new Apartment – Monaco

As Daniel drove them through the well-known streets of Monaco Ali observed the fancy stores illuminated by their dazzling lights dotted in between restaurants with patrons sat in windows finishing their dinners. Things had somewhat returned to normal with Daniel. His parents accompanied him to Japan where they then returned to Australia once the race was done. The memory of Grace arguing with her son about her getting to go with them had played on her mind constantly since. If his own mother couldn’t convince him to have her with him during race weekends what chance could she have? She watched the race alone and paced through her own apartment when Daniel’s teammate went flying into barriers on turn 6, causing a red flag and lengthy delay while marshals had to help get him out of the car. The fact she now knew Max – that she liked him very much – had made her stomach drop to her feet and she realised how easily it could have been Daniel and he would have had no one there for him.

While Daniel braked for a red light she glanced over at him. They had argued before leaving earlier. Daniel wanted to stay home and not attend Max’s apartment warming. He complained and said he couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do less but Ali said if he didn’t go, when he had been invited, would make people talk. The thing was, Ali had also invited. She saw the text invite on Daniel’s phone first and then practically burst when the notification came though on her own phone from Max inviting her too. She remembered the last time, Elin’s launch, and knew she couldn’t attend solo again if she didn’t want to be questioned about who she was and how she knew the couple, so had worked hard on convincing Daniel this time. Before they left his apartment – after it took a little bribery (in way of a blowjob) – Daniel had told her she looked nice and they should blow it off and go for dinner instead and then the slightly jovial mood flipped. As he asked her again to reconsider, Ali didn’t realise that he saw her roll her eyes and sigh in the mirror and for some reason her innocent enough reaction instantly pissed him off. He said she didn’t have to be such a bitch and hurried her out of the door. When they got into the elevator she happened to say she should have chosen different shoes as way of lightening the situation but Daniel interjected, telling her; “you’re getting what you wanted so don’t complain.” It wasn’t what she wanted. Going to Max’s house warming wasn’t exactly the thing she craved. All Ali really wanted was to have a good night with Daniel, amongst his friends and perhaps be introduced to people within his world. She wanted to be on his arm and for him to proud she was there with him.

After arriving at the lovely new apartment block that overlooked the new extension to the marina, Daniel and Ali exited the elevator on to Max’s floor. Music flowed out of the open door to the apartment and Ali felt a little jittery so grabbed hold of her bag tighter. She would have felt a little more relaxed if Daniel would have just taken hold of her hand as they walked in but he did nothing of the sort. As they crossed the threshold into Max’s brand spanking new abode, she figured Daniel was still somewhat mad with her as he breezed in in front of her. She felt a little stupid as she trailed behind her boyfriend, four or fife feet away, but Elin’s voice came from a wide open cut out in the wall which Ali registered was where the kitchen must have been. “I’m glad you came. I was just telling my friend Emmanuelle about you.” She took Ali tenderly by the arm and led her off to meet her friends. “About me?” Ali breathed out nervously and glanced back to see where Daniel was. “Yes, about how magnificent you look in the jewellery and what a fabulous photographer you are.” Elin pretty much thrust Ali around and directly in front of the four friends that she was now standing in front of. With a shaky breath she tilted her head down in a coy fashion and said a hello.

“This is Emmanuelle, Camille, her boyfriend Sandro and this is Ines my business partner.” She was such a natural hostess. She was like something from a Fitzgerald novel but with a modern twist. Instead of a lit cigarette hanging off the end of a long golden holder, it was a thin-stemmed glass of rose wine. It made the memory of Ali being called a “housewife” came flooding back but instantly she pushed it aside again. She didn’t want to remember that unpleasantness. A glass of the same rose wine that Elin was drinking was suddenly thrust into her hand by Sandro, the boyfriend of Camille who was dangling off his arm to the right. They seemed like the typical French set that frequented all the bars and restaurants in Monaco. The ones whom always had black Amex cards and had the latest designer pieces before they were even released to the public. The type that Ali would often find herself amused by but not wanting to ever join. She listened to them pouring on about something and thought how strange it was that Max was involved with this. He was incredibly low key, relaxed, down to earth, somewhat like herself. Surly all of these money orientated social climbers weren’t his thing, but then when it came to men and their characters Ali figured she might not be the best judge.

As she slunk back from the bathroom Ali was tempted to crawl on her knees so the group in the kitchen wouldn’t see her as she passed. She had spoken to them for nearly forty minutes and it was forty minutes too long. She gathered that these were new friends to Elin as it was obvious she didn’t pick up on some of the thinly veiled digs like Ali did. It was obvious they didn’t actually like her line and that the wine they were all drinking wasn’t too their taste. She figured the allure of Elin being an out and very proud “WAG” was what the draw was to these rather ghastly humans - they probably only wanted free garage passes to the next Monaco Grand Prix. And for the smallest glimmer of a moment she actually thought she should thank Daniel for not having her around people like that. But then again, that should have been her choice to make, not one he was constantly making for her. Figuring Elin was perfectly happy to get to know her new fake best friends, Ali went to find the man whose apartment she was standing in.

The apartment was roughly the same size as Daniels but with a larger balcony, better views and in a better location. It was decorated well and although there was an undercurrent that it felt like a bachelor pad there were glimpses of feminine touches that were clearly provided by Elin. Ali spied Max standing amongst a group of friends – noting Daniel was not one of them so glanced around quickly to see where he had gotten too but she couldn’t see him – but didn’t want to interrupt and bother him so instead stepped out on to the lovely wide balcony. As Ali leaned forward against the stoned balcony wall she registered the slight chill that ran over her body. It was getting cold enough to need a jacket when out at night now. The cool air would whip off the Mediterranean Sea and would catch out any unsuspecting visitors to the Riviera at this time of year. As she thought about the first winter after she moved here her name was gently called from behind her and she turned to find Max. He had come to her. She registered that no one else was out on the balcony so he must have thought she was crazy to be stood out side with only a thin silken top on.

“Congratulations on the apartment, Max. It’s splendido!”* He seemed genuinely happy at her comment and nodded while flashing a glance back inside. “I’m quite happy with it.” He added and she smiled back at him. The last time she saw Max was at the jewellery launch but the last time she had spoken to him was that night Daniel came home drunk and wounded her heart with his harsh words. That night still loomed heavily on Ali. The fact he was so quick to involve her with his family after it only gave her more cause for alarm. She still wasn’t entirely sure if Daniel had told her the truth the following morning - that he hadn’t done something he would have upset her with someone that she very much by now hated – but she wouldn’t bring all of that up at a housewarming.

“I was watching on Sunday, I don’t want to bring up the memory but how is your neck?” As Ali asked the question she saw the crinkle in Max’s eyes and then how they seemed to take a second to register that she was genuinely asking him how he was, did no one else do that?

**MAX POV

She just asked if I was ok after Sunday. She was the only one to ask this whole fucking night. And as I stared into those pools of tempting golden honey that she had as eyes, I knew she was completely and utterly genuine. None of the other fuckers here had bothered. Even the ones that claimed to like racing enough when they were trying to show off too me. Fuck, Elin hadn’t bothered passed Sunday if I was ok.128 miles per hour was what I went into that barrier at and my own girlfriend hadn’t asked how I felt since because she was too preoccupied. When I answered and thanked her for caring, the fucking glimpse in her eyes that showed she simply liked being appreciated made my cock twitch in my jeans. And that sent the memory of fantasising about her as I fucked Elin the Saturday night before the race coursing through my brain. “Stay calm, Max.” My conscience ordered me. She was just another girl. That happened to look like a fucking angel and be completely and utterly selfless but she was just another girl.

“I wanted to say, thank you for inviting me. I uh…” She stalled and looked down as if she didn’t want me to read her anymore but she plastered something of a fake smile on her mouth when she finished the sentence “…well I’ve improved since the last time, at least he came with me this time.” She joked and suddenly I remembered Daniel. Fucking, Daniel. He came with her alright – yes, as soon as he arrived he came straight over to me complaining he needed a drink because they had just argued about coming here which I thought was a little ungracious of him if I was being honest but I could brush it off as it just being his humour - and yet she didn’t seem as though she was happy about it but I let it go. I didn’t want to enquire because I had already had his one sided view (which I didn’t like) and that was enough. Perhaps if we had known each other a little better I would have confessed I didn’t actually want to invite Daniel at all and I only wanted to invite her. Being forced to spend time with Daniel during race weekends was enough let alone socially too. He could be rather difficult and immature at times and suddenly he had this strange pre-occupation with his phone that bugged the hell out of me. The thing was, we had always gotten on and had a good bond considering we were rivals as much as teammates, but Daniel sometimes did things that I couldn’t agree with as much as I tried. The way he treats Ali for one but also this “thing” he has going on with Haylee Bircher-Bruckner. Which everyone knew about and gave me a horrible twisting feeling in my stomach as I stood in front of the rather gentle soul in front of me.

I realised I hadn’t said anything in quite some time and the memory of what happened last week flashed right in front of my eyes. I recalled it so easily. How my conscience seemed to crave her without me even realising it. I still didn’t fully understand how exactly my brain went to her when we barely knew each other. But then again, you hear about those kind of things don’t you? You hear about people having a pull to one and other for some unknown reason as if the universe was doing some weird magical shit. Now I had a quickened pulse and I felt a little worried the yearning to act might overpower me – if she wanted it of course – and that turned my mouth dry. Without realising I glanced down toward her boobs. They would fit in my hands perfectly and I couldn’t help but wonder how sensitive her nipples were. “Fuck! Stop it, Max!” I warned myself when I took a second glance and I was sure on that occasion she caught me but thankfully she shivered and I immediately grabbed a blanket from the furniture beside me.

“Are you cold?” I asked but I already knew the answer and so put the blanket around her shoulders. Her body was only inches from mine, so close I could feel her body temperature, and I instinctively swallowed because if she were single - if I were single - then I would absolutely have kissed her in this moment. I willed myself not to stare at her because there was something about her eyes that were mesmerising; I found that out at that weird dinner when her eyes seemed to stare straight into my inner soul and now it was apparent she had made herself at home there.

I opened my mouth; about to say something to break the now strange and somewhat awkward tension that had befallen us when I heard the loud, rather unwelcome sound of her boyfriends voice from behind me. “What’s this, Verstappen? Making a move on her?” Daniel’s hand went to the top of my shoulder and gripped it harshly, squeezing it as if to give a silent warning. He knew I was sore and tender, still hurting from the crash a few days earlier so I gritted my teeth in my mouth. “Daniel, his neck!” Ali’s voice spoke from in front of me and it sounded protective. I couldn’t believe that this sweet, gentle girl was with Daniel, of all people. His hand gave my shoulder another squeeze and he laughed; “Maxy’s a Formula One driver, Ali. He’s got one of the strongest necks out there. Don’t you, mate?” I could tell the several glasses of wine had started taking effect and sighed with a nod hoping he would get his fucking hands off me.

“So? Are you making a move on her?” He seemed to change tact and brought it back to what he first entered the conversation with and I scoffed. I was going to tell him not to be ridiculous but I didn’t want her to think it would be ridiculous for me to have made a move on her because how would she feel if I said that? But what registered with me most was how Daniel seemed to get possessive and jealous at me talking with Ali. It crossed my mind that he wasn’t actually that self confident and assured as he makes out he is and that actually he felt threatened by us talking out here alone while I wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm. He glanced at her and I realised he had been firmly fixed on me this whole time and I clenched my jaw at how the way he was behaving was obviously making her feel. “Daniel…” She said in nothing above a whisper but before she had a chance to say anything else – something that potentially lend itself to my defence because that was just the type of girl she was – I piped up. “Ah…. You had me for a minute there, mate!” I played it off with a pat to his stomach praying to God he would by it. And he smirked and laughed that loud laugh of his and I physically saw a nervous breath leave Ali’s body as she let a small-pleased smile dance briefly across her lips. Whether or not Daniel actually did catch on I was making it into a joke (or if that was what he was intending and it simply wasn’t landing) I decided to never ask. He would forget about it in the next hour or so as he sipped on his fourth glass of wine. I motioned to Ali with a slight head to make sure she was comfortable now it was simply taken as a joke and those eyes stared into my core again and could have melted me into pure puddles.

***

Ali swallowed nervously. Ever since Max put that blanket around her shoulders she felt like she hadn’t breathed. In the moment she felt nothing but a strange calm. Having Max so close to her, doing such an innocent action but striking something deep inside of her. It was how Daniel made her feel, at first. Back in those five or six months at the start of their relationship where they couldn’t keep their hands off each other and there was an intense burning in her soul for him. She wondered if there was something by Max doing such a pure and genuine action that made her mind recall those blissful months with Daniel that could be chalked up to earning for something she missed. Because surely it wasn’t just because of Max, right? Max was very much not available. The gracious, polite girl in the kitchen (probably still being belittled be her “friends”) was his and evidently he was madly in love with her to want her around all the time and show her off to everyone. It made a slight jealous twinge way down low in the bottom of her stomach as she realised Elin had exactly what she had always wanted. A happy, loving relationship with the man she adored above all others.

Ali thought something must have been wrong with her for thinking thoughts like that about Max. The ones that swirled around her head and made her mouth go dry. His body being close enough to her own that she could feel his warm body temperature and all the could think was how badly she wanted to creep her arms around his waist and hold on to him. But then Daniel stepped out on to the balcony and his words instantly put her on edge, seeped in a boorish attitude that even she was somewhat unfamiliar. And as if it couldn’t get any worse for her, it did. Daniel insinuated something untoward was going on between her and Max as he roughly manhandled his neck and she could see the slight pain flash across his eyes. All Ali could think about in that split second was the pain Max must have been in from Daniel’s harsh grip on him that she found words leaving her, pleading with Daniel to take his hand away from the innocent man who was clear of any wrong doing. When Daniel turned his attention to her and rather mockingly said something about being a Formula One driver Ali realised he was clearly in this strange headspace he got himself into sometimes. It was one that she didn’t care for nor enjoy. It was almost like he was faking being egotistical and had to make himself the life of the party – even if it wasn’t his party to be the life of. And then without really saying a word, Max broke the tension with words that Ali didn’t even take in what it was exactly he said but Daniel seemed to be laughing and it allowed her to finally take a large inhale of much needed air. Instinctively she looked to Max and thanked him silently for making the situation less awkward and he would never know how he had managed to calm her.

There was a little small talk between Max and Daniel to which Ali felt herself a little lost. It was something to do with the race the prior weekend – the one she watched at home in her apartment – and so it wouldn’t kill her to have zoned out. It gave her the opportunity to realise that while Daniel seemed clothed in the darkness of the shadows cast upon him by the stone pillared balcony, Max stood in direct contrast and was bathed in the soft glow of the light from the forgotten about party beyond. Ali practically giggled at how it seemed almost Shakespearian that Daniel was in the darkness and Max was in the light based upon how they had just both behaved. Then two men coming out to join them dragged her out of the moment. They both patted Daniel on the back and shot Max a knowing glance before finally settling their attention on Ali while she stood between them.

“And who might this be?” His eyes pooled over her, taking her in with an almost uncomfortable stare. The other smirked and she was ready to turn her head toward Max for security before it dawned on her that she should have been turning to her boyfriend instead. Daniel seemed to stand awkward, frozen even, as if he had turned into a statue. Ali wasn’t sure he even heard the question proposed by the Englishman before them but then when he did she swallowed. Ali wasn’t sure why but she felt like Daniel had all of a sudden turned nervous. “Rob, Mark this is Alessandra. Alessandra, this is Rob and Mark. They’re apart of the team. Uh…” And he stumbled. Daniel only stumbled on his words when he felt uneasy – Ali practically confirmed this only recently when his parents were visiting and his mother said something about Cartier making lovely rings while they drove past. On that occasion Ali watched, as Daniel seemed to bumble a little and not be able to form a proper sentence as he tried to divert the conversation away from the luxury jewellers. However, the performance tonight was not quite on that level.

“Alessandra is…uh…. she’s a great photographer and friend.” Ali felt cold again. She felt cold from Daniel’s words. She was a photographer and friend. Photographer. And friend. She couldn’t grasp what he had just said. Ali felt her lungs burn, as she couldn’t will herself to take a breath of air. The word “girlfriend” was too much for him, again, and she had no clear indication as to why. He had introduced her as such to Max and most importantly only a few weeks prior to his parents and yet to more inconsequential people he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. Ali felt like he had cut her straight to the core and he had to have seen how she looked like a kicked puppy.

She was so preoccupied in how wounded she felt she failed to notice a third man appear on the balcony right in front of her. His hand suddenly thrust itself out in front of her and she simply looked at it. It wasn’t until she heard his loud looming accented voice that she snapped her head up and heard him say; “Ah, you must be Haylee…”

Ali felt like her legs were about to go from underneath her. A quick, exasperated breath ruptured from her slightly agape mouth and she felt her blood run cold. Why would he say that? How could he think she was the person he thought she was? What the fuck was going on? Ali suddenly felt like she was underwater. She could hear her blood swooshing around her head. Somehow instinctively she turned her head to look at Daniel and he wasn’t saying anything. He was just staring at her expecting something to come out of her first. Ali couldn’t bare to give him the satisfaction of her words when she felt so utterly humiliated and embarrassed.

And then before even knowing she was doing it she had turned on her heels and purposefully strode into Max’s apartment. Ali waltzed intentionally across the room and across to the corridor where she would have to pass back in front of the kitchen to start toward the door of the apartment. She couldn’t have known how long it took her, seconds possibly. She didn’t even know how she hadn’t toppled over in her heels she was taking such deliberately long strides to get out of the apartment. She heard her voice being called but whose it may have been she didn’t know but she was sure it wouldn’t have been her fucking boyfriends. Ali managed to breathe when she was out in the hallway and pressing the button for the swanky new lift a million times. Everyone knew pressing it like that didn’t work, it didn’t make it come any faster and it was an utterly futile action but to her it was so important as a pure diversion technique. She had to think about absolutely anything else because if she didn’t she could feel a sob already waiting to burst out of her throat and she refused to give Daniel the satisfaction of hearing it – if he was the one who called her name again from the open doorway back from where she had come from.

Finally, the door pinged open and she crossed the threshold of the marble floored lift instantly. She didn’t care if anyone wanted out, she wanted in. She wanted as much distance between her and that apartment as possible. She only cared about getting out of the building and getting away from the situation. She pressed the button marked for ground level and just as the door slowly began to creep along, a body was immediately stopping it from closing. “Ali…” She looked up. It was Max. And written right there in those sapphire blue fucking eyes was concern and worry mixed with tenderness and understanding. She bit down hard into her bottom lip because she would be damned if she let it tremble.

“I’ll take you home.” He stated and Ali realised Max was pulling on a jacket and had his car keys in his hand. His voice was so soft and mild with no shred of anger or annoyance, emotions Ali figured he had every right to be displaying toward her. After all, he was leaving his own house warming because some silly inconsequential photographer and friend had stormed out of his party making herself look ridiculous. He didn’t have to treat her anything more than the embarrassment she was and now she realised that Daniel would call her a liability – considering he didn’t want to come in the first place.

11:45 PM – 16th of October 2020 – En route – Ali’s Apartment – Monaco

As Max pulled out of the underground car park Ali shivered. She hadn’t worn a jacket tonight and although she would normally have regretted by the time they were on the ride home, she would usually reach into the back of the car and pull out one of Daniel’s sweatshirts to pull on for warmth. But now she sat in Max’s car as he drove her home instead of Daniel.

“Would you like the seat warmer on?” He pressed a button and turned a dial and her seat began warming up. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything yet. Ali felt like her mind was frozen, stuck thinking about that man’s voice and how he asked if she was THAT girl. Of all people, it had to be her. She knew it had to mean something and that was what gave her this inability to have the basic functions of speech. Her eyes felt glued to the dashboard in front of her as Max whizzed them through the streets of Monaco. It wasn’t until they hit a red light she realised he was actually heading toward Daniel’s and not her own apartment – possibly thinking she actually lived with him, as if he wanted her too - so had to finally swallow the lump in her throat and tell him.

“Uh, I have my own place in Moneghetti. If that’s too far, I understand, just pull over here and I'll catch an Uber. I’ve already been too much of a hassle.” And without missing a single beat, Max replied quickly; “You’re no hassle. I’m sorry for, well…. I’m sorry.”

Ali felt that lump return and her bottom lip quivered. She willed herself not too cry but the attempt was useless. Silently, a few tears slipped passed her eyes and trailed slowly down her cheeks. She didn’t like anyone seeing her cry. She didn’t want people to see her weakness. She didn’t want people to think she was the fragile little ten year-old anymore but as always Daniel never failed. She was so embarrassed in fact that she was ready to tell Max to pull over and just let her walk home because she couldn’t bare the thought he would think less of her for crying over what had happened. But something deep inside her ordered herself to stay silent.

While Max drove the soft hum of the engine mixed with the gentle voices coming over the radio. The words were in Dutch and she couldn’t understand a thing but for some reason she allowed herself to focus solely on that. She listened to how the words were formed and the use of the presenters intonation as they spoke. They were clearly passionate about whatever topic they were discussing and she felt her mind easing as she listened. She was glad the lights from Max’s dashboard were all that illuminated them and mixed with the glow of the street lamps outside as they flickered passed. As they drew closer into the area Ali resided in she gave directions in a low, soft voice until finally they were outside of her apartment block. Silently they got out of the car. Ali would normally have protested Max’s gesture, citing there was truly no need to be so gentlemanly for her, but tonight she allowed it. He held the door open for her, called the elevator and rode with it up to her apartment. He stood and watched and her trembling hands struggled with her key before taking over and never in her life had she ever felt so grateful for a man. He pushed open the door for her and she took the few steps to continue inside but suddenly something invisible made her pause. Ali felt herself turning instinctively and she finally looked in the eyes she now felt like she found herself loving before sliding her hands around Max’s neck and pressing her body against his. Ali figured she caught him off guard and perhaps he didn’t like this familiarity when then she felt his hands go around her waist and he pulled her into his firm body even more. Ali’s teeth ground together as a method of keeping herself from crying but finally, just being held the way she longed to be, she was overcome with the emotions of the evening. Tears poured from her cheeks and she now couldn’t give a damn if Max saw her crying.

They stood like that for what felt like an eternity. Max allowing her to dampen his jacket with her tears and she knew she had to ask him. The urge had only intensified due to what transpired earlier. As she pulled back she allowed herself to feel the gravitas of what she was about to say. She wasn’t mentally prepared for the answer he would give her, not at all, but still she had to ask the question.

“Max, that night you went out for…her…. birthday, did something happen between them? Daniel and….” It was out there and Ali could finally breathe better, even if she couldn't bring herself to say the name of someone that man had mistaken her for. Max was looking back at her so intently but blankly and it was starting to feel like she was going to have to suffer, that all of her horrible, vile thoughts were about to be made truth. Her heart was about to be blown into smithereens, wasn’t it?

* - wonderful

💞 TAG LIST :

@inkfablesandstories @ggaslyp1 @thelightnessofthebeing @deathmet-al @pleasantducktimetravel @scotlynaurora @squidwardsluverxx @zxlla @anonymitysden @ravena-xx @onelovelife @tita010 @fishtankcleaner1000 @lenniebordeaux @bellasummer03 @melinoeg @organasith @lu-morningstar @lu-morningstar-2 @puglover12 @welcometomyworldwithoutrules @eitak-t @f1medlife @sophierose463 @ivegotparticulartaste @ccrobbs

^ I feel like I'm forgetting someone from the list so if it is you please let me know & again I know about tags not working but I will continue to tag you in case it does randomly work.

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agendabymooner · 10 months

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mamma mia (again) ! daniel r. x ofc (måneskin member! ofc)

“they ask me why i’m so hot, ‘cause i’m italiano.”

summary: a series of video clips, but it’s only just danny ric being in love with a certain lester alessandro.

content warning: hint or two of suggestive comments (nothing detailed or graphic), use of explicit language, filler blurb or something, danny being a simp for few videos straight (“have my kids” type beat), lester being an etsy and pinterest enthusiast, literally posted this blurb from my phone so they’re crazy about their image limits 😩

note: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE 105 FOLLOWERS?! UHM? seriously, i’ve never been so happy. i honestly only started posting these because i have them ingrained in my brain and won’t let go until i write or make something. just indulging my imagination you know? enjoy xx

masterlist

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐔��𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐏

【VIDEO ONE — daniel ricciardo is a gatekeeper】

[1st image: yeah, i dunno. everyone just found out that i made it official with my girlfriend and i’m pretty sure i just saw lando weeping in his room. max was the second to react to it and i’m so sure he recoiled. he did say that he didn't want to know what happened in imola few months ago.]

[2nd: interviewer: what happened in imola few months ago? daniel: *chuckles* wouldn’t you like to know - nah, i’m messing about. nothing happened in imola besides from me retiring to my bed early. i think we were both drunk when i posted that photo and i know it looks lewd but there's no way we could've done anything questionable.]

[3rd: d: but yeah. we didn't really want to catch that much attention until maybe i don't know... when we're married or something *chuckles* i: keep it a secret until the wedding? d: yeah. but charles, the absolute fool, posted videos during the concert with me in the background. It would've been real nice if no one caught onto it until we had a mini ric running and racing, you know? just to wreak havoc.]

【VIDEO TWO — daniel ricciardo talks about lester’s love language in his gq video】

[1st: i got this journal from lori. it has my initials "DR" on it for daniel ricciardo*laughs* it's one of those many first gifts that i’ve gotten from her throughout our first few months of dating. her love language isn't just shitting on my life -she has every single aspect of love language within her and this is one of them.]

[2nd: when she gave this to me, all she said was "you can write out your thoughts if you can't let them out through your mouth. *giggles* "she clearly had her thoughts sorted out that time especially when she showed me a page with an embossed phrase or nickname, "tasso di miele" - it means honey badger. she apparently bought the custom embosser from etsy and almost fought tooth and nail just to get it in time. *laughs even more* i love her so much, i honestly wanted to cry that day.]

[3rd: lori actually has a laptop with *laughs* itunes on it and she still got some playlists from 2010-2014? yeah. she’s put a lot of old taylor swift songs in my ipod during the christmas break. my favourite album right now is speak now. she loves red.]

【VIDEO THREE — lester hates ashy hands confirmed】

[1st: daniel: i think i should just cover my hands with gloves all the time. lando: that literally has nothing to do with anything that we're about to do. d: lori tells me that my hands are rough whenever she holds them.]

[2nd: l: or you know... you can just use a hand lotion all the time because your hands dry up real fast? d: ah that's true. i wonder if that's why lori just casually put a bottle of hand cream on my travel bag. the thing smells nice though. it’s chamomile.]

【VIDEO FOUR — it’s okay to spoil your partner; even if it’s an accent chair from her pinterest board】

[1st: d: lori just sent me a picture of an armchair from ikea. l: why was she randomly in ikea, by the way? I saw the text. d: window shopping. but anyway, she saw this armchair that she had on her pinterest board. she asked "pretty or no?" with the green velvet chair. l: what did you tell her?]

[2nd: word to word? I texted her "LOL you should see the accent chair I've gotten you for our flat in monaco." l: are you serious? *laughs* d: she wouldn't tell me what she wanted for her birthday. I only got a brief idea when she left her phone in my pocket once and gave me a free access to her pinterest boards.]

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callmewrinkles3 · 4 months

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When Emma Falls in Love - DR3 x Fem!OC

Summary: Christmas involves the same thing every year for Em. A week in Liverpool, formal clothing, and returning to her apartment to shower and have a bottle of wine to forget how bad it was. But this year she's spending it in Australia with Dan and his family. No big deal.

Words: 11.4k

Warnings: Mentions of past bad relationships, mentions of cheating, mentions of toxic family relationships. Panic attacks, worry, mentions of sex (but nothing explicit) and mentions of sex toys.

AN: HEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY remember us? First things first - apologies for how long this took. The plan was Christmas, but life has been ridiculous and too busy and we just apologise. Thank you for still being here and enjoying reading more about Em and Dan!

December 2018

When she was growing up, Em never kept a diary. She was the odd one out for many reasons in primary school, that was just one of them. She was too afraid of her mother finding it when “cleaning”, reading what was on her mind and telling her to stop. She hadn’t started it as a kid, and it didn’t begin when she was an adult either. But if she did have one, the first words on the page for December 22, 2018, would have been "I think I'm in love with Dan." And to say "I think" would have been a blatant lie because she knew.

She knew that night in the bar for his birthday that she was going to fall for him. She knew in Philadelphia as she sang that she only bought that dress for him to take off. She knew in Austin when he kissed her in front of another woman.

That morning in July when she woke up from one of the greatest nights of sleep in her life with Dan’s arms around her and his snoring lulling her back to sleep like white noise. Every single time he let Blake out of their shared taxi first and circled the block to come into hers when he got back from travelling. The way he never arrived home without a bouquet of flowers because she’d once said she never thought she could buy herself some. But that afternoon in Perth she couldn’t hide from the realisation anymore.

She’d been working in the early afternoon after she made lunch for the two of them and Isaac, coming out to find her boys napping on the couch. The plan had been for them to watch a film while they waited for her but toddlers were not known for their patience. She couldn’t blame Isaac for sleeping, and once Dan got comfy he could nod off anywhere.

The two of them had been up early that morning picking Isaac up for a day out and a sleepover to let Michelle finish getting ready for Christmas. Once they made it back to the farm it was running around and playing at the pool with a stop for lunch. Em had prepped sandwiches for their lunch before disappearing to work for a few hours so she didn’t fall even further behind. And now they were fast asleep, blond curls against Dan’s off season stubble.

The craving to curl up on the couch and cuddle into them was overwhelming. There was nothing else she wanted at that moment, just hug them and kiss Dan and stay there forever. But she couldn’t.

Yes, she was Auntie Emmy to Isaac - a fact he’d announced to them that morning running to greet her with chubby cheeks and “ANNIE EMMYYYYYYYY” - but Auntie Emmy was Uncle Dan’s friend. And nothing else.

She was just his friend. Even though she was the only one sleeping in his bed, even when he was basically living in her crappy flat in London. Even when it was her name he groaned out when they were together as he pulled her close. And that was why she couldn’t admit it to him. Admitting it to herself felt nearly too much.

It hurt. Oh it ached. But it was better to hurt a little bit and enjoy getting to have Danny in the way that so many people didn’t know Daniel Ricciardo, than say how she felt and break the spell. She could suck it up and bury her feelings and stay by his side as his best friend. If she didn’t say it out loud then it wasn’t real and if it wasn’t real then it couldn’t hurt her badly.

And she couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t see his face fall, couldn’t hear “we said we were just friends, nothing more.”. Couldn’t bear to have to leave people who for the first time in her life seemed to actually like her because she’d ruined it. So she’d stay quiet and get to have Christmas with people who seemed to want her there. She’d enjoy summer in December and have those weeks. Especially if it meant she got time with Isaac.

Em had fallen in love with him the first time she met him in real life in Abu Dhabi, and the feeling was mutual. She could count how many times she’d seen him in person on both hands, but he was as crazy about her as she was about him. His cheeky smile warmed up her heart. The way he ran to give her a hug after the first time they met was one of her favourite things in the world. How he reached out to her so she would hold him during the insanity of that first weekend. But it was the way that he was so much like Dan that made her heart grow ten sizes.

Physically they didn’t look alike apart from those curls they’d all inherited from Grace, but their personalities were identical. Dan joked it was why Isaac liked spending so much time with her, but she smiled and brushed it off. For her own sanity she couldn’t let that get into her head. She couldn’t do it. Not when whatever they were had an expiration date and she didn’t know how long it would last.

All of that combined meant she couldn’t resist watching them for an extra couple of moments, enjoying how relaxed they were snoozing together. She took a photo of them with her phone to secure the memory forever. She wasn’t sure what caused him to stir, if it was the small noise from the camera or if it was her moving, but Dan opened his eyes slowly and focused on her. A smile began to go across his face.

“Wanna join us? We can stay like this for a while.”

She desperately wanted to say yes. She wanted to lie down next to Dan and fall asleep with his arm around her. But she shouldn’t and she couldn’t. Anything that wasn’t at least platonic seeming had to stay just them. Sure Dan had put an arm around her shoulder or waist with his parents, but not with Isaac. She didn’t want that with him. He was too small and she didn’t want to confuse him with acting like a couple when they weren’t. If she couldn’t explain what was happening to herself then she couldn’t to him.

“I’m gonna get a start on dinner,” Em whispered, blurting out the first excuse she could think of. “Is pasta ok?”

The moment the words left her lips, she made her one fatal mistake. Kissing the top of Dan's head and then Isaac's cheek. It was supposed to be the briefest moment, a peck and then go to the kitchen. But the moment she leaned down to kiss Isaac's head his litttle hand reached out for her, not letting go. He didn't say anything, just grumbled and rubbed his head against Dan's chest before settling back down.

"I think you have to stay for a while. C'mon." He shifted slightly to let her slip beside them, settling down. "I know what you're thinking. It's fine."

"Danny-"

"I promise. It's fine." She should have stood straight up and headed out. Before she could even think about moving away Isaac woke up enough to smile at her, moving across to have half his body over Em, half on Dan. Then she was definitely not going anywhere, not when his tiny hand clung to her shirt to hold her there.

"I always knew he'd be a heartbreaker and steal someone's girl at some point in his life. I just never imagined it'd be mine."

"He's got that Ricciardo grin and those curls, what can I say?" Dan chuckled lowly at her words, his chest shaking as he held it back.

"That's not fair, I saw you first."

"I'm not some toy, you don't need to fight him over me."

"I mean if I need to I will." It was Em's turn to keep her laughter down, swallowing it so she didn't wake the sleeping toddler.

"No, it's fine. You don't need to."

"Just had to be sure."

She really didn't mean to fall asleep. She shouldn't have, she wanted to just stay for five minutes before carefully moving Isaac across and standing up to do something. But having Dan's chest as a pillow and Isaac as a tiny weighted blanket didn't help her. Dan smelled like the shower gel they were using and home, Isaac's baby shampoo mixing and making her feel peaceful and dozing off easily.

When she opened her eyes she thought she'd find her fast asleep boys, but instead they were wide awake. The youngest was staring at the film he hadn't finished, the oldest looking straight down at her when Em looked up.

How was she not supposed to fall in love with him? That broad smile and big eyes and how was she supposed to keep it platonic when he looked at her like she hung the moon and stars every single day. He called her his moon once and the compliment made her blush for a week. It was impossible to not fall in love with him, and that was the moment she admitted it. The way he stole tiny kisses while Isaac was distracted. She was gone.

They stayed like that for the afternoon, what was supposed to be a homemade meal turning into driving out for pizza for the three of them. Isaac stayed on her hip until they got him into a highchair, laughing and enjoying his food. She felt at home and happy and was so glad she was there.

It was why she said yes when he asked her what she was doing for Christmas and if she wanted to come to Australia with him. She missed him when he had a double header abroad, she couldn't imagine spending six weeks apart when he went home for Christmas. They could have done it and would have been fine. They'd done it before, but that was before feelings and sex and friends with benefits was added to the mix they had going on.

Em missed him back when they just texted and had a couple of calls, so she had to say yes. But it was terrifying to get on that plane with Dan to go to Perth. It took a call from Grace insisting she wanted Em there and everyone was looking forward to seeing her to make Em feel like it was ok.

Once she made the decision to go to Australia to spend weeks there with Dan it wasn't too scary, but the fact that she was introduced to Dan's world was. Especially now that she was slowly admitting that she'd fallen in love with him. Since the start Em had tried to deny it to herself, insist that it wasn't true. That she had no feelings for him apart from friendship and being proud of him.

But that was like saying the sun wasn't going to come out the next day. On those days where Em wasn't sure about it herself, he made her sure. If she didn't know better she'd think that was his own personal mission to make her fall in love with him. There were texts, calls, facetimes when he probably didn't have time. A text telling her to open the door because she had a delivery. How could she not fall for him?

The easiest way to fall in love with him was what he did every single trip home. She'd leave a sandwich in the fridge before she went to bed, and he came back to her tiny apartment. He had his own one that he could be in, he could go back to somewhere comfy and warm rather than her tiny one bed where the heating rarely worked. But he stayed with her. He took over doing things to make her life better, buying new sheets that were more expensive than she'd ever pay because they were softer and calling the landlord to make him fix the heating after he came back from Brazil and the apartment was freezing.

She couldn't help falling deeper and deeper in love with him when he slid into bed and wrapped his arms around her, whispering how happy he was to be back home. He could have been comfortable and warm in his apartment but instead he was there with her. The chill in the air was ignored as they pulled whatever clothes were on off, Dan marking her body as his. Week after week that was exactly what happened in beds around the world as she travelled to the US and Abu Dhabi to watch him race. She was starting to believe that maybe they did belong together as night after night they got into the same bed, whispering sweet nothings and bringing each other pleasure before curling up to sleep.

It's what happened at the farm when they were alone. Officially Em had a guest room to herself, but Dan's room became theirs. She spent so much of her days stepping outside of her comfort zone, it was exhausting and made her stomach ball up, but being with him was easy. Waking up with his arms around her was perfect. Getting into bed with him every night felt normal. It was terrifying and normal and brilliant. It was easy for her once she got over her worries, especially after that day with Isaac on the couch. His tiny hand over her chest became the reminder that what she thought would be a bad day wasn't so bad. It's part of why she wished Isaac could have been there the night she met Dan's friends.

She knew what coming to Australia when Dan went home for the winter break involved. And when she was invited she didn't even think about it, just went for it. She knew she was going to be introduced to his favourite places in his hometown, spending most of their nights out on the farm, getting to be around his family, and some nights out with his home friends to meet them. She could excuse herself once or twice from nights out because she was never a big fan of it, but she could let the social butterfly she was accompanying go out to hang out with people. He didn't get to see his friends for most of the year, she was more than happy to stay home with her huge to read list on her kindle or a good movie.

But Dan wanted her there. He wanted to spend time with her and his friends and have them all together, and she couldn't say no to those big brown eyes. Spending time with his family was easy, she knew most of them and those she didn't know at least knew of him. But the bigger issue was when she met his friends.

It was supposed to be easy. A get together with his mates so they could catch up and everyone who lived in Perth could finally meet the famous Em. There was just one problem.

Em wasn't good with people.

It wasn't that people didn't like her, it wasn't even that she didn't like people, it was that whenever she was around people she got tired quickly and couldn't deal with them for too long. Dan was one of the rare people she didn't hate being around for more than a few minutes. He'd promised it wouldn't be anything fancy or crazy, that she didn't need to stress about it, but she still worried.

She liked to think that it would have been different if they met somewhere else. In a bar or club where she could have made an excuse to go outside for a few minutes, be somewhere neutral. But meeting at the farm was somehow worse. Dan had told her to stay by his side and she did, but she felt like she was being a bother. He told her that she didn't need to do anything, she was a guest too, but her mother's words kept going around in her head. She should be helpful, she should be useful, she should be this that and the other. If she didn't help at gatherings then what use was she? Sitting next to Dan cutting tomatoes and onions for the burgers wasn't enough.

She shouldn't feel like she was suffocating when she was with his friends. They all seemed lovely, the guys who'd known Dan since he was a kid and told her stories about what he got up to in school, girlfriends who were genuinely sweet asking her about England and her work. But it felt like it was too much. The flickering light from the firepit and the music playing and the voices made her brain go a million miles an hour, all she wanted was to get out of there. Curl up and bed and read a book. She stood there smiling and she couldn't even lean against Dan because they were supposed to be just friends. They were friends. It's how he introduced her. Em, his friend from England. Not Emmy, that was only for him, but Em.

Nobody there had any idea that as soon as the parties and dinners were over he snuck into her bed. That when he got back from being all around the world he came to her home. She was just Em and she had no idea what she was doing there. She didn't know what they were but just friends didn't cut it anymore, and even being outside on the farm it felt like she couldn't get a deep breath into her lungs. The air slowly left her body and she could barely get it in.

She wouldn't forgive herself if she ruined Dan's night. He was so happy there, tanned and grinning as he talked to people. Em decided another beer to replace her empty one and a deep breath in the kitchen would help. Just two minutes away from the crowd. She went in, grabbed two bottles from the fridge and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She could do it. She'd be fine and she'd get through the rest of this night. She could do it.

"Thought you were into blondes, mate," it was clear as a bell even through the noise, a dagger hitting into Em's chest. Did she seem like just a girl?

"Shut up, it's not like that." She knew they were just friends. But hearing it like that was different. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and she didn't remember the last time she wanted to cry that badly. She wanted the ground to open up beneath her and just swallow her whole so she can hide but she wasn’t lucky enough. She blinked back tears, ignoring the knot growing in her stomach and the anxiety seeping into every pore. Em’s heart raced and she could hear the whooshing sound in her eardrums. Why was she there? The questions bubbled through her brain but that was the loudest. Why did Dan invite her there? Why was she there? Why did he want her to be in Perth?

Em couldn’t stay there anymore. If she stayed out with everyone she’d break down and start crying and the last thing Dan needed was her dramatics. She didn’t want to ruin the reunion and the good time he was having. So she took a deep breath, had a sip of her beer, and pretended she heard nothing. She just needed to keep it together for long enough so Dan didn’t suspect anything. She could smile and nod as if she didn’t care about what his mates said.

All she needed to do was pretend that she was fine, and then she could run back inside and be alone. She felt terrible just thinking about it. She couldn't do one fucking thing right and be a normal person for one night and have a normal night. It just made her feel awful for Dan because he had done everything to make her comfortable. Not just that night, but he'd changed his home so she felt at home. He insisted he was in charge of the burgers so that he could make one that was cooked the way she enjoyed it - a squirt of ketchup, one slice of cheese, wrapped in two napkins so her fingers didn't get greasy. He got her a Coke Zero or a lemon San Pellegrino so she had options when she didn't want a beer. There were even some of her favourite songs on his playlist for that night, Paramore playing out over the group. He did every single thing right. But she was ruining it all.

Em tried hiding how she was feeling but it was useless. The second she was back at Dan's side he knew something was wrong. The question was quiet, asking if she was ok, but her nod was too fast and she could tell that he didn't quite believe her. Dan's brown eyes stayed on her as she tipped the rest of her bottle back.

"Mind if I head to bed?" She was proud of how even her voice sounded.

"You sure you're ok? What's up?"

"I'm fine, just jetlagged and tired still. I'll be fine."

"See you in a lil bit?" She didn't answer him, making excuses and quick comments so she didn't start crying around new to her people. It was saying how lovely it was to meet them and saying they'd get coffee or meet before she went back to England. She was so polite and correct she almost sounded like her mother and it made her want to vomit. A final quick squeeze on Dan's shoulder and she was gone.

As soon as she was in the house she just had to do a quick trip to the bathroom, change her clothes, and go into bed. But she couldn’t go into the room she'd been sleeping in. That was Dan's bedroom and she couldn't switch the light on or people would see. So in the fading light of dusk she grabbed her pjs, the book she'd been reading, and the bottle of water she kept on her nightstand. From there she went to the guest room that was supposed to be her room. Dan had mentioned it'd be her room in Abu Dhabi, just across from his. That first night he'd insisted she didn't have to sleep there if she didn't want to and they'd ended up in his bedroom and Em didn't want to leave. But now she had to be in her own room. It'd be fine.

The last thing she wanted anyone to see was her crying. Somehow she got the door of the guest room closed without letting out a sob, panic growing in her chest. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She shouldn't be crying. She had no reason to cry. She knew what she was doing.

Her back slid against the door as she ended up on the ground. Her sobs turned to gasps as she struggled to get a deep breath, thoughts burning her head. She wanted to be curled up in the bed that she'd spent the last week sleeping in. She wanted Dan's arm around her, wanted to sit on his lap and sip from his beer bottle. Wanted to forget that the night had even happened. That the man who'd been sharing her bed for the last six months preferred blondes. That the man who she'd been falling in love with might not feel the same way, and they'd agreed they were just friends and said that they weren't going to break the rules and love each other but she had. She wanted her brain to shut up with the "why the fuck does he sleep with me then" that was filling her mind with doubts.

But more than all of that she wished she was brave enough to leave. Pack her bag and go to the airport and fly back to London. Because Dan deserved so much better than anything she could offer. He deserved a beautiful blonde woman who didn't freak out during a party and could afford to rent an apartment with working heating and didn't run away to hide and cry because she couldn't cope. Of course he wouldn't pick her.

But she could barely move. Somehow she managed to stand up once she'd caught her breath, pulling on her tshirt and leggings to sleep in. From there she made it to the bed, lying and pulling up the blanket to try cocoon herself as her tears kept falling. All she wanted was for Dan to magically appear and hold her to stop her chest from feeling so tight. A hug from Dan was magical, it'd make the pressure go away in no time. But he was with his friends and she didn't blame him. She was his friend. They were just friends and she had absolutely no right to be upset about it, but it hurt.

She wasn't planning on getting a lot of sleep that night. The awful feeling in her chest wasn't getting any better, her heart was still racing, and her head ached thanks to crying so much. Finally the tears stopped and she turned onto her side in the too big bed.

A knock on the door made her close her eyes and force her breathing to even out. She didn't want Dan to see her like that. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, she couldn't start rambling about it because then she'd have to admit how she felt and that wasn't going to happen. She couldn't admit that she'd broken every rule they'd come up with and fallen in love with him. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't lose his friendship and what they had so she had to stay quiet.

"Emmy? You awake?" Em should have known he wouldn't leave even if she didn't answer, listening as he padded around to her side of the bed and knelt down, his thumb brushing the still damp skin on her cheek.

The second Emmy squeezed his shoulder as she said she was still jetlagged and going to bed, Dan knew something was wrong. She hadn't been ok since she got back from the kitchen with their drinks, but watching her nod and fake smile as she went back inside felt so wrong. And then he stared at their room, waiting for a light to go on and the curtains to close. But nothing happened and it felt even worse.

He knew she wasn't a fan of big parties, his friends were more like him than her and were loud but she'd been ok. He made sure she was stuck to his side for the evening, she smiled when he handed her a perfectly wrapped burger made just the way she liked them. Dan knew it wasn't easy for her, she'd told him that she found big groups hard to deal with. She was the dictionary definition of an introvert who preferred to sit with a book in silence rather than be surrounded by loud people. But she was fine.

He'd asked a couple of times, not wanting to annoy her by constantly thinking something was wrong. He'd offered if she wanted to go inside and hide out for a while he'd make excuses but she insisted she was fine. Emmy ate her burger and snacked on some chips while chatting with his mates. He heard her laugh and one of the lads made a comment about how Dan kept staring at her. He was happy.

And Em was fine until she'd leaned over to offer to get him another beer when she was getting hers. He knew she heard what Mark said, his quip about blondes. The shut up didn't go fast enough and she'd been close enough to hear. She came back looking like someone had punched her in the stomach, big eyes sad even under her fake smile. There was nothing Dan could do to make her feel better.

What he wanted to do was pull her onto his lap, arms around her waist as they shared a drink. He'd tell her that yeah he'd slept with blondes before, dated some as well, but he was hers. He was so fucking crazy about her it was insane. Dan was absolutely in love with her, and terrified to say it because she could do so much better than him. They'd promised they'd stay friends, falling in love wasn't on the list.

But he couldn't even describe how much he loved her. He loved her long brown hair, the way it fell down her shoulders and back. He loved standing behind her and brushing it out to apologise for the mess he'd made it by wrapping it around his hand and pulling her hair the way that made her groan in all the right ways, using it as an excuse to kiss along her neck. He loved the way she smiled at him. How she made jokes and laughed at them herself. How she wrapped her arms around him and welcomed him home. The carefully covered sandwich that waited for him.

He didn't want any blondes. He wanted his gorgeous, brunette Wrinkles, and just maybe in the future if he was lucky enough he'd get to have gorgeous little babies with her hair and eyes and personality. He'd never, ever wanted that until now. And then it felt like she was slipping through his fingers with one evening.

She finished her beer, excused herself saying something about jetlag, was sweet and polite and so un-Emmy it hurt, and whispered to him that she was going to bed. The going to bed wasn't a surprised, she was still jetlagged and had been tired before they even got to Australia. She was the first to head to bed every night anyway. But the way she did it worried him.

Even around his family she kissed his head before she left the room to go to bed. It was what they did when there was people around and they couldn't actually kiss because of the comments. She'd move his curls from his forehead and give him a quick kiss there or on his cheek, or if he was sitting she'd kiss the top of his head. When they were alone he'd go to bed with her, but if he was staying up she'd peck his lips and wait for him in bed.

There was none of that. Instead she gave him a tiny, sad smile and squeezed his shoulder. Like they were just friends. Like she didn't share his bed every night. It was like a knife in his back, a kick in the stomach. That was enough to tell him that something was very, very wrong. He didn't expect a kiss, but he never thought that would be it.

It was all his fault, and the second he realised their bedroom light wasn't going on he knew it. She was nothing like his friends, his life was so different to hers, but he wanted his people to love her. He needed them to. He was so used to the way their lives were intertwined that he didn't think. He was so excited to be home and happy to see his friends and introduce them to her that he made the wrong choice. He should have had it at some neutral place, brought her to a bar to meet everyone. The way he'd done it when she met his family, how it was easier because it was a new place for them all. But he took the party to her one safe place in a foreign country and that wasn't fair on her.

It wasn't how he imagined the night ending. All he wanted to do was hold her. That was his plan for the night. Get into bed, hug his girl, steal some kisses, and call it a night. He wasn't even thinking about sex that night, just curling up with Em. He knew she'd be too tired to do anything and he'd probably have too many beers to make it good for her. So he wasn't even going to try to make a move. He'd hold her, sleep drooling into his pillow, and not have the alarm on so he could have a chill morning with her. Dan was too used to going to bed holding his Emmy, falling asleep with her in his arms and her hand against his chest. And then she was gone and he had the biggest hole in his chest knowing he'd ruined it all.

Dan had no idea what to do. He couldn’t kick his friends off the farm telling them his girl wasn’t ok and needed him. Firstly Em wasn’t his girl, not to them. He’d said over and over that they were friends and she was visiting. Nobody truly believed him, but it was the official story. He couldn’t make them leave but his brain was screaming that he needed to go to Em right then. Something was wrong and he needed to fix it. He needed to make sure she was ok. But all he could do was wait and yawn.

"You alright, DR?” One of the guys asked him.

“Yeah, just exhausted. Nightmare of a season if I’m honest. Looking forward to next year! Maybe I’m getting too old now I’m turning 30?” It was a half joke that got a laugh from the assembled guests. Fortunately they took it for what it was and started making their excuses to leave. An hour later he watched the last people leave as he waved. Once those lights were gone from the driveway he ran back to the house as quickly as he could get in.

His heart broke as he opened the bedroom door to find the empty room in complete darkness. When he switched the light on it was even worse, Em’s belongings still there. Her pillow, the blanket she loved, her Snorlax plushie he’d brought her back from Japan, even her Kindle. Only her water bottle and the book she was reading were gone.

It was a punch in the gut to realise the only other room she could be in was his least used guest room. The fact that Emmy thought she needed to stay in another room felt wrong. His room was their room. He’d made sure to decorate it to be similar to their room in London, parcels arriving to the farm the week before they arrived. The fairy lights, the purple curtains, the scented candles, the extra soft sheets and bed linen to make her smile. It was all for them. It was to make Emmy happy and feel like she was at home because in the back of his head there was a hope that it could be their home in the future. Dan had thought it was working, but now it felt like it was falling apart.

It took a few seconds for Dan to get the courage together to knock on the spare room door. He was scared Emmy would tell him to leave, would tell him to go away. But instead there was silence. He knocked again but the same lack of answer was the response so he decided to go in.

The room was in absolute darkness apart from the faint moonlight coming through the window. It was enough that Dan could make out Em resting on the bed, blankets up to her chin. All Dan wanted to do was get into bed with her, to spoon against her and hold her close, but he knew she wouldn’t like that. So instead he walked around to her side and knelt in front of her, stroking a lock of hair falling over her cheek. He didn’t know if she was in the mood for hugs, didn’t know if she wanted anyone, so he didn’t want to do too much. He saw how her eyes were closed and could feel her damp skin under his thumb. Em’s breathing was too even, she wasn’t really asleep.

“Emmy? I know you’re awake Baby girl.” It took a moment for her eyes to open as she looked up at him.

“I was tryna sleep.”

“I know. But why aren’t you in bed?”

“I am.” Her words were short. “This is a bed.”

“It’s not our bed, Beautiful.” She was at least looking at him, but something still wasn’t right. “C’mon back to bed.”

“I’m fine, D. Go on, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You’ve been crying.” She looked like she was about to start crying again, Dan holding her hand and running his thumb along the back of it.

“I’m fine, Dan. I’m fine. I’m just tired, it’s been a long day. Go to bed.”

“Not without you.” He watched as her gaze softened slightly and he just wanted to kiss her to make her smile. “Can I like down here with you and give you a hug?”

“You don’t have to, Dan. We can just go to sleep.”

“But I want to. If you want me to.”

“…That’d be nice.” It took a few seconds for Em to respond and Dan was terrified she’d say no. He’d accept it, but he wouldn’t like it. He got in behind her, pulling Em against his chest. Her whole body was tense as he turned her around so they were in their usual sleeping position. She began to relax as his hand rubbed her back, Em’s head finally resting against his chest.

“You know, Snorlax is all alone in the other room. And our bed is way comfier than this one.” He kept his hand moving as she tensed up again, looking into Dan’s eyes.

“I’m too tired to move.”

“Nobody said you have to move. Trust me?” There was a nod and he pulled her over to the other side of the bed before stepping out. It was easy to pick her up and carry her out to their room, carefully depositing her back in their bed before he got in beside her. “See? Back where we belong and without you needing to move a single one of your cute toes. And back with your fluffy friend.”

It was quiet between them for a few moments, something Dan mostly expected. Whenever Em got like this she always went quiet while she thought. Finally he heard her bare whisper.

“I’m sorry I ruined your night.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You didn’t ruin anything, you never could. I’m sorry I invited everyone around and had them all invading your space. I shouldn’t have.”

“Dan.” She leaned up and kissed his jaw to make him smile. “It’s your house and your friends, of course you should have. It’s fine.”

“No it’s not. I should have done it differently, we should have gone somewhere else. And believe me when I tell you that you can’t ruin anything. Even if you tried to ruin something you couldn’t.”

“You’re too nice to me.” The hollow way she said it broke a little part of Dan’s heart.

“Emmy I promise. Everyone should be nice to you because you deserve it. You deserve happiness and goodness. And a whole lot of cuddles.”

“Will you cuddle me?” He couldn’t help but hold her even closer at her request.

Dan had no idea which lucky star was looking out for them but it felt like there was a whole constellation instead of just one star. He knew Em wouldn’t do it but he was ready for her to kick him out of the room. Instead he was so damn lucky that he got to hold her while she dozed asleep. He didn’t have the guts to try to explain the comment she’d overheard, he wasn’t going to push his luck, but at least he got to hold her. They could keep going from there.

—

Em couldn’t remember when she actually fell asleep. She was positive that she wouldn’t sleep at all that night, but Dan’s arms around her and his heartbeat under her ear was the best sleeping pill to ever exist. She didn’t know how he did it but he always managed to make her drift off. Even on the worst nights when her brain wouldn’t shut up he did it.

She woke up too early, the sun barely rising and illuminating the room through the blinds. She shot awake at the realisation that Dan wasn’t against her back anymore. At some point in the night she moved from Dan spooning her to her turning around and cuddling into him like she always did. Her face was buried against Dan’s chest, his arms holding her tight, and their legs tangled between each other. She raised her head slightly, Dan grumbling at her moving, and kissed his chest before going back to sleep with him.

The next time she woke up it was full morning. The sun was coming in through slits in the blinds and felt completely opposite to her emotions. She was so exhausted. Em had cried herself to exhaustion, her anxiety and nerves filling her. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed with her book and preferably with Dan cuddling her. But she was so tired she barely even noticed Dan kissing her shoulder and gently leaving her in bed. He was probably just going to the bathroom before coming back to the warmth and cuddle her.

She must have dozed off, she had no idea how long he was gone for, but she woke up to kisses on her cheek and the scratch of his off season stubble against her skin. The smile on her face was automatic. Waking up that way was one of her favourite things in the world, kisses from the man she was falling for were the best feeling and she wouldn’t change it for anything in the universe.Without even thinking Em hugged him back, almost forgetting the words from the evening before. After a horrible night all she needed was Danny. Em just wanted her human weighted blanket over her.

“I made breakfast,” Dan whispered, lips still glued to her skin. “I’ve got your coffee and toast and that jam you like. Figured you wouldn’t want to get up so it’s here whenever you want it.::

“Huh? You didn’t have to do that.” She looked up at him with disbelieving wide eyes. How could he get up to make breakfast and bring it into her after everything that happened? He did it more often than not when they were in England, but she didn’t think he’d do it that morning.

“You always say that, and I always say I do it because I wanna. Are we gonna have this conversation again?”

“No, not really. Thanks for doing it anyway.” She caught him in a kiss but as she went to move he didn’t let her.

“Don’t thank me. Especially considering it’s gonna get cold cause I’m too comfy to move.”

“Dan…”

“Five minutes.”

Like every morning when Dan asked for five minutes in bed with her, those five turned into ten, then fifteen, and then she lost count. It started with kisses against Em’s neck and her hands running along his shoulders and back. But it ended with their clothes somewhere on the floor, fingers laced and moaning each other’s name. Coffee could be reheated, toast could be eaten cold or remade. But none of it mattered when Dan was inside her, whispering how good she felt and how she was the best girl, giving her another reminder that it was still them. Inside the walls of their bedroom it was always going to be them. If that was all she was going to get, it was going to have to be enough. Dan’s groans and gasps helped silence Em’s ghosts for a little while so she took advantage.

The rest of the day involved Dan looking after her while they had a lazy day. A few small excuses, a rescheduled afternoon with his family blamed on hangovers, and they decided to either stay in the bed or on the couch and do nothing. Dan insisted it was payback for the mess of the night before. Em didn’t particularly care about his reasons as long as she was by his side.

It was how they spent their days in Perth, mostly glued to each others sides except for if Dan was going to Michael to start working on a training plan or see his friends. She started to get used to being a part of his life in Australia. Dan made sure that none of the events were at the farm, always at a restaurant or bar unless it was just his family. Every single time they went anywhere Dan whispered in her ear before they went in that she was the one in charge. Say a word and they’d be on the way home. She was trying to fit into his life just like he was trying to keep her safe, and Em couldn’t thank him enough for it.

She was starting to get used to Perth, relaxing more as she spent more time there. But as Christmas got closer she lost her chill. Two days before Christmas she went through the clothes she’d brought with her and none of them were good enough for an event. She had no idea what a Ricciardo Christmas involved, but none of her outfits were right. She had some cute summer dresses, but they were normal everyday things. She’d wear them to the beach or to lunch or maybe even to dinner with Dan’s friends, but not for a proper day. There was nothing formal like what she’d wear to her family’s Christmas dinners that met her mother’s approval.

Em knew Dan would say she looked good in anything she wore, but she was terrified. All she wanted was for them to like her. The idea that Dan’s family might not like her was scary, and she needed to make sure that she was perfect. She couldn’t ruin it over clothing. Em had hidden most of the anxiety she had around being good enough for them but that night it was too much. Her stomach was in knots and she kept fidgeting in bed. The same page was read over and over, but she had no idea what it said. She pretended it was fine until Dan kissed her cheek, pulling her book from her hands as she jumped.

“Emmy what’s wrong?”

“Huh?” She shook her head and looked over at him.

“You haven’t turned the page in like fifteen minutes, you jumped when I kissed your cheek, and your feet keep moving. You’re overthinking. So talk to me, what’s going on?”

“What if they don’t like me? I didn’t bring anything proper to wear because you kept saying it was hot and I don’t look proper. I should have brought something proper with me.”

“If who doesn’t like you?” The concern in his voice made her want to melt.

“Your family, Dan.”

“Emmy…Baby you know they lo-like you already. Mum’s the one who invited you. Isaac absolutely loves you and is obsessed with you, ‘Chelle made a joke that you’re gonna have to have him on your lap when we’re eating. You can wear any of the dresses you’ve been wearing. You look phenomenal in them. I’m gonna wear shorts so you’ll be fine. What’s this about?” Her head spun. Shorts? At Christmas? No no no. What?

“Huh? Not a suit? Or at least trousers and a shirt? You’re wearing shorts?”

“I’m not wearing a fucking suit, it’s summer. It’s way too warm to do that.”

“Oh.”

“We can head out tomorrow, find a new dress for you if you want. But if you want my opinion you should wear that little red one you have, it’s cute. You look good in all your summer dresses, but red is kinda Christmassy, right?”

“But it’s a summer one?”

“And it’s probably gonna be like thirty. What’s wrong with that?”

Her head was filled with the reminder of the year before, of her mother’s glare at the heels Em made herself wear because if she didn’t she’d barely be allowed into the party. But they were only Primark so they weren’t good enough. And she didn’t have many presents for Dan’s family and

“Emmy. What’s up? Talk to me.”

“It’s stupid. But if I didn’t have changes for the different parts of Christmas Day and if I wasn’t wearing a formal dress and heels and men weren’t in suits then it wasn’t acceptable. Plus I only have little presents not proper gifts, I don’t know what to do.”

“Calm down. It’s ok. All you need to do is turn up as yourself, that’s it. We’re having a barbecue and hanging out by the pool cause it’s way too hot for anything else, I promise. We’ll be in swimwear most of the time.”

The next morning Em was still half convinced she should try to have something proper to wear, but Dan convinced her there was no need. If she wanted to go shopping he’d drive her in and help her choose, but she didn’t have to. She didn’t need to do it so his family would like her, they’d like her anyway. Instead it was a morning of soft kisses on the couch to convince her but Em agreed to wear the red dress Dan liked so much. It had a shallow v neck, was knee length, and the fabric had a white floral pattern. Dan insisted it looked wonderful with the soft tan she’d picked up since they got into the country. Pairing it with black slip on sandals meant she’d be ok. She’d look fine.

Which led her to the freak out of how could she appear at Joe and Grace’s home to stay a few nights without bringing anything as a thank you? She couldn’t do that. So they stood in the Cole’s checkout queue for far too long on the 23rd as Dan watched her pick out her baking ingredients. By that evening there was a berry tart and a three layer chocolate cake packaged up in the fridge awaiting delivery with them. It was entirely stress baking, even Dan knew it. But he didn’t make any comments. Instead he sat on the kitchen counter and watched, stealing strawberries and taste testing her concoctions.

Christmas Eve morning arrived and Em wasn’t as nervous as she thought she’d be. The full day of Dan talking to her about how it was going to be alright and everyone was looking forward to see her had helped. There were still nerves, but she was going to spend a couple of nights with people who wanted her there, wear cute clothes, and she had host presents to give as a thanks for being invited. Really she couldn’t wait.

Plus Dan had made it his personal job to make sure that she was completely relaxed that moaning. It started with slow morning sex, Em waking up to kisses along her shoulder and wandering hands. After that a shower for the two of them and waffles with her leftover berries for breakfast really helped, Em fully relaxed. She double checked that the presents were all perfectly wrapped and packed to go, and after lunch she decided to finally start getting ready for heading over.

Dan was sitting on the side of the bed switching between watching her put makeup on and fiddling with his phone. She knew she wanted to look mostly natural but she put a red lip on to go with her dress. She was put together and ready to go. She could do this. It was going to be good. As soon as she opened her lipstick up Dan spoke.

“You know red’s a risky colour when you consider I’m definitely stealing kisses under the mistletoe.”

“The package says it’s kiss proof. You’ll be fine stealing a peck.”

“Ah my sweet, innocent Emmy. You thinkI’m gonna steal just one little peck?” He grinned and kissed her briefly but filthily, tongue slipping between her lips as Em kissed him back.

“That’s the last one, your entire family will be around.”

“And?”

“And that means your family and kids. So no.”

“We’ll find somewhere, you’re not gonna make me go a full day without a kiss.” He pursed his lips at her but Em ignored them, focusing on making sure her liner was perfect and her lipstick matched it.

“You know you’re ridiculous, right?” It was supposed to be a joke, but he got the look on his face that she knew meant he’d done something.

“Talking about ridiculous, actually-“

“Daniel what did you do?” He went to his side of the wardrobe, pulling out a red glittery box from behind some bedsheets.

“Before you say anything, I did nothing. It was all Santa. Not me.” He handed Em the box and she looked up at him carefully. They’d agreed that he wasn’t getting her a present this year because he’d paid for her flights to Austin and Perth. She never wanted him to ever think that she was friends with him because of his money. None of it mattered to her.

“Dan we said.”

“I know. But it was Santa. And he couldn’t give this to you in front of everyone so it had to be now.”

“What have you done?”

She opened the box he’d handed her carefully, lifting the lid and pulling back two layers of tissue paper to reveal the gifts. The main one was some of the most beautiful lingerie she’d ever seen in her life. It was sage green and lacy, the fabric soft against her finger. The corset wasn’t a proper one, not boned but she knew it’d look amazing. A pair of stockings at the bottom of the box made her realise how perfect it would be.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted—“

“Oh this is pretty. This is really, really pretty.” She lifted the underwear out to let the lace catch the light, admiring the design through it.

“You like it??” Dan sounded nervous.

“I really like it. I mean, I could wear it Boxing Day when we get b…what’s this?” As she moved tissue paper a smaller box she hadn’t realised was there hit off her fingers. Em picked it up and looked at the sleek silver lettering. For her pleasure. When she opened the box there was a light lavender vibrator in the black box. A charging cable was neatly beside it along with a dust bag.

“Look if you don’t wanna use it, it’s fine. If you want to pretend that you never saw it and throw it away, that’s completely fine. But we were talking and you said you’d never tried one, so I thought why not? It could be an option for you.”

Em’s cheeks were on fire as she realised that Dan was doing it for her. She’d barely made it through the awkward conversation when he’d asked her what she liked in bed. It was impossible to explain how bad her sex life had been before him. She’d never thought it was, but the way he acted when she said it was ok for him to not worry about her orgasms had soon taught her the opposite. She still remembered the way Gregory looked at her when she said she wasn’t enjoying their sex life. Now she knew he’d been with Millie that entire time when he insisted she was enjoying herself.

She forced herself out of her thoughts, staring at Dan. He looked worried and she forced a smile. His face relaxed when he realised she was ok.

“Will you use it with me?” She felt like her body was about to rip apart from shakes and nerves as she got the words out but Dan’s grin made it worth it.

“Absolutely. We can do it right now.”

“We have to go to your parents, so when we get back. And thank you. But Dan you didn’t have to. I don’t need presents, you paid for my flights. That was enough.”

“I mean I think it’s technically more for us than just you, so it’s fine. Right?” She grinned at him and leaned against his shoulder for a moment before getting up.

“Get dressed or you’ll be late.” Em started to fix her makeup as Dan looked at her.

“Can I watch you get dressed first?”

“No touching, but you can.”

“You’re killing me here, woman!” It hurt to not just sit in his lap and kiss him but they were already starting to be late. She couldn’t be late for a visit that involved staying over.

As a little nod to his request, Em slicked on a light pink lipstick instead of the red one she planned on wearing before putting on her red dress. The no touching rule was ignored the second she moved past Dan. Instead he squeezed her butt and kissed her neck before going to get changed. As promised he was casual, one of his party shirts, a pair of shorts, and Vans. Effortlessly handsome as normal and Em was jealous of how good his slightly longer curls and stubble looked.

If she was honest to herself all she wanted to do was take her dress off, get rid of the stupidly expensive shirt he was wearing and spend the day kissing him. Ask him to use the new toy sitting in the box. But they couldn’t. They needed to get going. When they were about to head out the door Dan decided to steal a kiss. It was supposed to be just one final one, but it turned into two. Then three. Then Em was pinned against the wall, hands running through Dan’s hair as his hands gripped her hips and waist. She pushed her lips to wherever she could reach, kissing up the bridge of his nose and along his cheeks.

Em would never admit it in a month of Sundays to him, but it was the right decision to not wear the red lipstick. Her whole face would be red. They needed to go. Get in the car and leave, but he was addictive. It was one of the things she adored about him and sometimes hated, how hard he was to leave behind. Every time they said it was the last one there was just one more.

She knew they wouldn’t be able to do this for another two days. The plan was to stay with Grace and Joe for Christmas Eve and Day, so they could be around all the family for the festivities before coming back on Boxing Day. Which meant no touching or kissing, and she couldn’t say no to the last make out session for 48 whole hours. She giggled at Dan’s expression as he moved away, Em using her thumb to clean the sheen of lipstick from his lip.

The one thing she didn’t expect was Dan grabbing her hand when they walked to his truck, and holding it again in between shifting gears while he was driving. It had never been a thing for them until they arrived in Perth. They’d been grocery shopping and picking up last minute presents in a crowded supermarket, everyone out to prepare for the season. Out of the blue there were fingers linking hers, Dan holding her hand while they walked through the aisles. His fingers interlaced with hers until they got to the checkout, and then went back as they walked back to the truck.

Grabbing someone’s hand for a moment in a crowded place was fine. Friends did that in busy places so they didn’t lose each other, especially when one of them was new to a place. You don’t lace your fingers with them. And Em couldn’t bring herself to let it go while she tried to ignore the size difference or how good it felt.

She really did try not to think about it, but it was impossible while his thumb rubbed lazy circles against her skin. He was soft and warm and his long fingers were one of her favourite things in the world. Sitting in the car then she could admit it to herself, she loved him. She loved the way he made her feel about herself almost as much as she loved him. And then the playlist flipped over and a grin spread across her face while she heard the opening fiddle strains of Our Song.

Em didn’t even need to say anything. All she did was look over as Dan was intently staring at the road with a grin on his face to know he did it deliberately. He’d learned pretty early on that a surefire way to cheer her up was to put Taylor on. Em could still never thank him enough for that night in Philadelphia when they’d gotten to see Our Song live without the band. It had been magical. Dan started to sing along with his exaggerated accent to make her giggle. There was nobody else for her, all she could focus on was being happy. The nerves, the worry faded away as she sung with hi, and collapsed into giggles when they finished. Em sang it looking over at him, watching how he grinned and shimmied in his seat as they drove the road back to the city instead of staying out at the countryside. All she wanted was to kiss him silly and start her Christmas Day sharing a bed with him. It’d still be worth it, but it was weird.

She may not have gotten a Christmas Eve kiss from her favourite member of the family, but Isaac wouldn’t let her go and kept kissing her cheek. He insisted on sitting next to her at dinner, Dan on Em’s other side. Dan casually ran his hand along her thigh under the table cloth as they all ate. She joked and laughed along with everyone, getting Isaac to eat his veggies thanks to the joy of stealing from Auntie Emmy’s plate and not even realising what was happening.

The best part about the meal was nobody judged her for her plate of food. Everyone else was eating the Feast of the Seven Fishes, plates piled with seafood that she didn’t particularly enjoy. Instead Grace had handed her a plain one, with pasta and sauce and cheese. She smiled when she got it, getting a “enjoy”.

There was no pressure on Em to try new things. The serving platters were spread on the table for people to take what they liked. If she wanted something and it looked good to her she could have it. If she liked it, great. If not Dan was happy to eat off her plate. Once they started talking and sharing drinks she couldn’t remember why she was so nervous. She knew the Ricciardo’s. She’d spent days with them, relaxing and watching Dan race. This was just another dinner like the ones they’d had before, except here they had a celebration as an excuse.

When dessert came around Grace brought out Em’s cake and tart, placing them in the centre of the table.

“Em made these, so I’m saving the pav for tomorrow. I hadn’t put it together and these are fresh!” Grace announced as she handed out bowls, Joe cutting into the cake first and showing the layers. It was congratulations and compliments towards Em, Isaac grinning as he ate his tart. It felt strange to get complimented for what she’d done by people. Usually she stayed quiet and in the background because she didn’t want to speak too loudly.

Even with the worry that someone would ask questions Em could feel herself relaxing beside Dan. He had his arm resting on the back of her chair, hugging around her shoulders like it was nothing. She wanted to move away but she couldn’t, Isaac on her lap before she lifted him and carried him into the living room for Christmas Eve presents. They settled in on the sofa, Isaac waking up a bit more and looking around.

Em wasn’t expecting anything. They’d welcomed her into their home, offered her somewhere to stay and it was more than she thought. But as stockings were handed out Joe offered one over to her.

“Everyone gets a stocking. We guessed on the pjs, apologies if they’re too big.” She smiled as she opened it, Isaac handed back to Michelle so Em could open it. Inside was new shorts pjs with red and black checkers, shampoo and conditioner, and a mixture of sweets. There was also a new notebook and a smooth writing pen. She couldn’t believe it. It was presents chosen specifically for her. The tiny little gold E in the bottom right corner of the notebook cover proved that for her. It was the middle of summer, she was in Australia for Christmas, and there was a group of people together who genuinely liked each other and somehow liked her. It didn’t feel real.

As midnight hit it was hugs and congratulations, everyone heading towards their rooms as they were shooed away with the promise that Santa was on his way so everyone had to go to bed. For the first time in far too long she didn’t have to suppress a shudder as someone who wasn’t Dan hugged her, smiling at Grace and Joe and returning the hug. Michelle and her husband got a one armed one that she gave willingly. It felt magical. And it wasn’t weird that the biggest hug was from Dan. She wouldn’t kiss him in front of everyone, but once everyone was going to bed he followed her into the guest room she was staying in.

“Two hands or the hug doesn’t count, right?” Em asked as he pulled her into a hug. His head leaned against hers and Em pushed her head into the spot where his neck and shoulder met. Alone she was able to run her hands along his warm back, pulling him close as Dan nodded and squeezed her waist. “That’s my huggy boy.”

As he hugged she didn’t want to let go, holding onto him in the privacy. Dan pushed kisses to the top of her head and her shoulder as much as he could. Em was just glad to have him there. He made things easier for her. She’d come with him and been so nervous but it was easy with him. Terrifying, but easy. She looked up at him and saw the smile, reaching up on her toes to kiss him.

The smile on Dan’s face as he realised what was going on and what she was doing would sustain Em forever. He was contagiously happy as they kissed, and Em was so close to telling him everything. But for the first time in years she was going to have a good Christmas and she couldn’t say no. She couldn’t ruin that on herself. So she held onto him as he kissed the top of her head and pretended everything was fine. She could do it.

“You need to go back,” Em whispered, afraid of breaking the spell between them.

“Can I stay here?”

“You need to go. What if your parents find out?”

“It’ll be fine. I’ll go back to my room early in the morning. Please?” She couldn’t resist him and he knew that.

“Fine.” It was one more kiss before she went to get her pjs on. They were curled up in bed and Em heard him barely whisper.

“Merry Christmas, Emmy.”

“Merry Christmas, Dimples. Thanks for inviting me tonight,” she murmured before pushing a kiss to his shoulder and cuddling in to sleep.

“Any time, Wrinkles. It’s gonna be the first of many.”

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