"Max Emilian!"

The offended shout had multiple heads turning in their direction, only to be met with the sight of two eleven-year-olds having a face-off. The shorter of the two gesturing wildly and face pink from exertion, while the taller stood there with his arms crossed and an amused smile plastered onto his face.

It had been a little over a year since the pair had become friends and they were now much more comfortable around each other than they'd ever been. Cielo had taken to finally shedding her shy demeanor around Max and he had finally let his true competitive nature show with her.

"What?" he teased. "Are you mad that I was faster?"

"You cheated!" she poked him in the chest. Not hard but enough for him to feel it. "I was going to win!"

"Please, schatje," he scoffed playfully. He might've been a smug winner, but Max knew better than to really piss Cielo off. He had seen her get angry at someone exactly once and he was not eager to see that again. "We both know that with my height advantage, you and your short legs would fall behind no matter what. It is fact."

"Oh, it is?" Even though she was acting as if she were angry, Cielo couldn't help but be amused by the fact that Max had taken something as trivial as a footrace down the sidewalk so seriously. She went to open her mouth again and argue further but she was rudely interrupted by someone else.

"Max."

Jos Verstappen, who was already a large man to other adults, was an even larger man to children who were half his size. With his pristine clothes, his impeccably styled blonde graying hair, stern frown, and piercing blue eyes that geared toward icy, Jos Verstappen was an intimidating figure to approach. He was even more intimidating when you were an unassuming child who was just trying to have fun.

Cielo did not like Jos. She'd made that abundantly clear from day one, it just so happened that the feeling was entirely mutual. Jos saw the girl as a distraction for his son, too childish and someone who wouldn't amount to anything within her lifetime. The only reason he let her near his son was because her father was a reporter, and as long as Max was her friend, he would continue to bring Jos and his son good publicity.

"Dad," Max replied, the smile gone from his face and posture now tense.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Don't play dumb, that race. I saw the whole thing, you gave her the half-second headstart from the beginning, and it cost you energy. Pull something like that on the track and you'll be in the wall before you can even make it to P2. Don't do it again."

Cielo stared at Jos in disbelief. Max really couldn't do anything without being subjected to scrutiny, not even something as simple as having a little childish fun in his downtime. It was always work, work, work with Jos Verstappen. Never satisfied with anything, especially not with his son.

Max had been karting since he was four years old and since then he'd always have to work to receive his father's love. A bad placement meant that he'd be due for an hours-long lecture about what he did wrong and what he could improve, a crash meant that he'd be in for it in bigger ways than he realized.

To be caught now, even in fun, giving the opponent an advantage? Oh, Jos would not be pleased.

Just as Cielo opened her mouth to step in and defend Max from Jos, said boy stomped on her foot to keep her quiet.

"Of course, Dad." Max apologized. "It won't happen again."

Jos nodded firmly and walked off. As they watched him leave, Cielo turned to look at Max and saw the conflicted emotions that played along his features. She wondered what was going on in his head.

Her father had always encouraged her to follow her heart and pursue her passions, seeing Max's relationship with Jos was like a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped over her head. Sure, Max did love racing, but it wasn't like there was ever any other choice for him. From the moment he was born, he was raised to be a racer. To live, breathe, and die for Formula One when—not if—he makes it that far.

"What was that?" Cielo asked him once Jos was safely out of earshot.

Max sighed and turned back to look at his best friend. She was always very vocal about how she felt about his dad, which normally wouldn't bother him, but it was different when his father was standing right in front of him and could see how Max reacted to such things.

"He doesn't know I am teaching you Dutch."

"So? That was a perfect opper- oppor..." she huffed frustrated and crossed her arms again. "You know what I mean!"

Max laughed, "Opportunity."

"Yes! That!" she immediately lit up, happy that instead of making fun of her, Max simply told her the right response. "It was the perfect opportunity to show Jos that I can understand what he says."

"But I like that he doesn't know." Max kicked his shoes uselessly against the cement. He liked the fact that he could teach her Dutch and nobody else knew. It was like their own secret thing, something between the two of them that nobody else could take away. Not his dad, not the press, not his fellow racers. Nobody.

"Besides, if he knew, he would change how he talks around you."

"So what if he knows that I know the type of shit he's been saying? Serves him right to know that he's been caught being a giant piece of mier—"

"Cici."

"Alright I'll stop," she huffed, not at all pleased with the fact that she had to play nice. "But only because you asked. Do not think that I am giving him the bene- benefit of the doubt."

A pause.

"Did I get that right?"

Max laughed loudly and pulled Cielo into a side hug, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Yes, you did Cici."

She beamed, "Thank you for being patient with me, Maxie."

❛ ━━･❪ ✫ ❫ ･━━ ❜

It was a weird feeling, having hair that hung all the way down your back and just, stayed there. Cielo had gotten so used to fighting and trying to wrangle in her unruly and wild curls that the absence of them left her feeling as though something was missing. As though an integral part of her had been stolen right before her eyes.

The thought stayed constant in her mind as she quickly made her way through the bustling paddock in the early hours of the morning. She didn't plan on having any pre-race interviews today, but she was due to meet up with someone before they both got preoccupied with work.

Weaving through the wandering mechanics and race engineers, Cielo quickly spotted who she was looking for seated at one of the hospitality tables. The blonde head of hair was impossible for her to miss, especially not when she'd known it most of her life.

"Good morning," Cielo smiled as she set her things down on the empty chair next to her. Placing a quick kiss on the other's cheek and taking a seat and stealing a piece of fruit off of her companion's plate in the process.

Jenson looked up from his phone, momentarily startled, before realizing who was now sitting in front of him and allowing himself to relax minutely. Only to then sit up again when he notices her new appearance. "Oh, hello darling. You've changed your hair."

"Hello darling," she mocked teasingly before stealing another piece of fruit. "It's good to see you, Jense."

"It's good to see you too," he smiled briefly before repeating himself. "You've changed your hair."

A quick shrug of the shoulders was all Jenson received in answer. He batted her hand away when she went in for more fruit. "Get your own food, this is mine."

There was a quick pause, where the pair just looked at each other. Soft blue eyes stared challengingly at determined brown ones before Jenson sighed and pushed his food toward her, "Never mind, eat. I doubt you've fed yourself this morning."

"How rude of you to assume I haven't eaten today, Jense," Cielo said, digging into the plate unashamed. "I am a grown adult, I can function without supervision."

"Mhm," Jenson raised an eyebrow at her. "And have you eaten today?"

"It...might've slipped my mind," she said slowly.

"I rest my case," he chuckled softly and leaned back into his chair, arms crossed across his chest.

Jenson Button,  the now retired Formula One driver, had known Cielo since she was a young girl. Friends with her father, he'd watched her grow from the free-spirited child to the headstrong young woman she was today. It was a journey, filled with both good and bad moments. Sometimes, the bad heavily outweighing the good, but she was strong and she pushed through the pain with a strength of will that he had never seen before in anyone but Sebastian Vettel in his prime and Lewis Hamilton.

He was willing to bet, that if racing itself had interested her, she'd no doubt be at the top of the grid. Taking podiums left and right and giving him a run for his money.

"You're so mean to me, Tio Jense." she pouted teasingly at him, before bursting into laughter.

"I am not mean," he rolled his eyes but the smile tugging at his lips betrayed his true emotions. It was always amusing to him how childish Cielo acted when with close friends and family when she usually presented a very put-together and professional front to the masses. The contract from chaos magnet to perfection personified was neck-breaking, to say the least. Like getting into a crash at full speed in the middle of a race. "It's not my fault that you pretend to be a functioning human being when you are really just a little demon who spawned to haunt me."

"That's a lot of words to say you're bitter I took your food."

"Did you need something, Cici?"

Cielo scowled at him from over the strawberry she had just picked up, "Don't call me that."

Jenson raised his hands in a defensive manner, "Hey, don't look at me like that. It just slipped my mind, now what did you need?"

"Why do you assume I need something?" she tilted her head to the side, getting a better angle of Jenson's face from where she was hunched over the plate of fruit. "Can't I just come and see my favorite unofficial Tio during work hours?"

"You can but you know as well as I do that you wouldn't, so you obviously need something. What is it?"

Cielo sighed, "Okay. You've caught me. I don't need anything, I just...I'm nervous."

Jenson perked up in his seat. He set his phone down and leaned forward, closing the gap between him and his goddaughter. "About?"

Cielo wasn't the type of person to let her doubts control her, headstrong and stubborn she'd rather suffer in silence than ask for help. Especially after 2016. 2016 changed a lot with her, with them, with everything. The fact that she was here asking him for advice? It was enough to get him to focus on the woman in front of him fully.

"I am going to see him." she bit her lip gently. She wasn't sure if she should disclose any more details about what she had planned. Especially since she was certain that Jenson would try and talk her out of it, but she wanted to confide in somebody about seeing and talking to Max again. Someone that actually knew of their history seeing as how Max went out of his way to erase any traces of her from his life.

"I'm sorry," Jenson laughed in disbelief, "I must've misheard you, did you say you were going to see him?"

"No, you heard correct," Cielo smiled sheepishly, "I have been given an assignment for my job, you know because I actually do things with my life other than work out–"

Jenson snorted and smacked her shoulder playfully, "The point."

"Right," she sat up straighter. "The assignment, basically I just have to write an article about him and my boss wants me to include some quotes from him, or like personal statements. And to do that I'll need to actually...speak to him."

On the surface, it sounded entirely plausible.

But Jenson knew his goddaughter. She'd never do anything that she didn't want to without good reason. She'd fight tooth and nail to not do something she didn't agree with. If she so easily agreed to an assignment that included physically speaking to Max Verstappen, it must've meant that there was more to this than she was letting on.

"What aren't you saying?" he asked her bluntly. "Does this have anything to do with why your hair is suddenly straight?"

"I-" she spluttered. "I'm not hiding anything! And maybe."

"Darling..." he sighed and reached for her hand. "I don't want you to fall apart over another man. Well...the same man a second time– you get the point."

Cielo shut her eyes and squeezed his hand, not trusting herself to speak at this moment.

"What I am trying to say is..." Jenson gently took hold of Cielo's chin and guided her head up until she was looking at him and the soft expression that graced his face. "I just don't want to see you get hurt and lose yourself again. Trust me when I say that no man is worth you falling apart over. This change to your appearance and attitude...I'm worried."

Cielo smiled tightly at her godfather, "I'll be fine, Jense. I've already learned my lesson with getting too close, it won't happen again."

"Good," He placed a kiss on her forehead, "I hope so."

She did too.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

chapter three was a bit of a rush job but she's here!!

Jenson being Cielo's godfather was a complete last minute decision but it was too cute to pass up so, JENSON MENTION!!

In honor of my pookiebear graduating I've decided to post this today!! Congratulations bompous / fyleclerc on finally graduating!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!

until next time,

charley xx.