ੈ♡˳ TEN
embarassing

IMESSAGE — THE FUTURE OF F1 (ITS BLEAK)

LILS + EX #1 + BEAR 🐻 + AVES + ANDREA + 🦖 + JAKSTON

JAKSTON
sooooooooo

ANDREA
soooooo mimi

🦖
lilllllll

LILS
what

don't you guys literally have a
race to prep for

AVES
the boys wanna know abt u and franco
in his garage...

BEAR
which is rude and disrespectful bc
paul is in the chat and it might make
him uncomfortable

...so what did u two do in the garage.

ANDREA
💀

JAKSTON
spill rn

LILS
we didnt do what you think we did if
thats what youre asking.

BEAR
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

boringggg

LILS
youre crazy

🦖
thank god i thought i was gonna have
to ask if you were being safe

LILS
this is insane

my parents arent even this bad

ANDREA
we're your friends we care abt u

LILS
more than my parents????

JAKSTON
occasionally

EX #1
well when u have ur mum blocked
and ur dad as a bad influence then yeah

LILS
my parents are great wdym

EX #1
u can be a fantastic parent and still a bad
influence lils

BEAR
the man was buddies with jenson button i
think you get our point

LILS
true

im the safest person ever dw

EX #1
not true

LILS
PAUL.

EX #1
🤷‍♂️

x

"GIRL, THIS IS NOT fucking funny."

"uh, yeah, it is," jemma laughed off, "seriously, mila."

lounging around on a picnic blanket in the paddock under the warm sun looked a little out of place. it was out of the way in a quiet spot, a little tripod and her camera laying down, ready for later. jemma decided to hang around when she could've been doing literally anything else with avery, so that was nice to know that mila had left a good impression.

jemma was going to go watch the F2 race with avery soon while mila conducted cute picnic-style interviews with some up-and-coming F3 drivers now that their weekend was over. the picnic interviews had done well a few years ago when she was experimenting with different ways of doing her job so that the drivers weren't bored throughout it, and the only bit of feedback she'd gotten was that lance stroll wanted ice blocks. that was doable, and though she wasn't speaking with him for this, she had an esky full of them by her side.

"okay, and what do your friends think about you and paul," mila glanced up at her from her notes, bookmarking it with the pen and closing it so that the hardcover covered the notes from any other journalists that may walk past. "'cause surely at the least you are unhinged enough to garner something."

jemma's cheeks flushed pink, "they don't really . . . know," she shrugged off, "i don't have as many friends as you do."

"no fucking way," mila's jaw dropped, dropping her notebook down and reaching over to grab her phone. with a few quick taps, she was switching her phone off like nothing happened. "i told paul to add you to the group chat. it makes more sense if he does it."

"and . . . you're okay with that?" jemma asked softly, unsurely. "i just don't want to cause some kind of rift between the group."

"the group needs less masculinity, i promise you that," mila giggled. "and aves and i rely on each other to cover when we disappear from the group." it was easy to distract the group whenever they went out, and mila was pretty good at making up excuses for when ollie and avery mysteriously disappeared, and avery did the same back. jemma understood what she was hinting at. "we got your back, is what i'm saying."

"i think i'll take you up on it," she smiled back with a nod.

"hey," avery's cheery voice cut in like they had summoned her into existence. "we're gonna be late."

glancing up, mila smiled at her best friend. avery's hair was split down the centre, each side tied with a red hair tie that stood out against her blonde waves. red for ollie was cute, and mila remembered her doing the same thing when ollie filled in for carlos earlier in the year. "you look cute."

"so do the two of you," avery grinned at them both, "but we do need to go."

"text me kimi updates," mila added as jemma stood up, flattening her skirt with her hands. "i'll meet up with you after."

avery blew mila a kiss in goodbye as her and jemma made their way to the grandstands just as alex dunne appeared, water bottle in hand, and a pr rep by his side. "hey," mila waved at alex, shuffling her things around so that there was room for him to sit down on the rug. she then looked at the rep, "you can come sit, too."

"oh, thank you," the woman said kindly, a little taken aback, and followed alex in sitting down on the red chequered rug, sitting off to the side so she wasn't in the camera's frame.

"i've been waiting for this," alex smiled brightly, pushing his fluffy hair out of his eyes. he held his hands out in front of him like a child demanding their parents' phone. "ice block, please."

chuckling, mila pushed the esky in his direction, "pick a flavour. they're sugar free, i didn't want you guys to get in trouble." flipping the lid open, alex dug through until he found a pineapple flavoured one and opened it.

"thanks," he pushed it back over to her to zip it back up. "who else have you got on?"

"nikola, sophia, christian and kacper," mila flipped through her book, their names written in purple pen. "anyway, i sadly can't keep you for too long, so . . ." mila trailed off into some of the topics she had written down under his name.

x

AFTER SAYING GOODBYE TO avery and jemma so that she could go interview ollie bearman and oscar piastri, mila didn't get very far before she was tugged in a completely different direction. she didn't even have to look before she started rattling off, "franco, you can't just—"

"you're not interviewing me," he shrugged, "i can do what i want." franco had that post-race glow: warm cheeks that glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, damp hair that he'd pushed up out of his eyes, and that tired yet determined attitude that he was using to keep her rooted to the spot. on top of all that, he hardly looked surprised that she had clocked that it was him without even needing to look.

"i know for a fact that you also have media," still, mila would be lying if she said she wasn't completely melting into him, gravitating to him like they were opposite magnets. "ziggo, sky, espn . . ."

"i was disappointed when your name wasn't there," he admitted, reaching for her free hand with his own, grasping both of her hands delicately. he didn't seem to mind that they were pretty much out in the open — which she expected, but he was more the type to pull her down a secluded spot, or between motorhomes were few people lingered. she didn't hate this one bit.

"i have you booked in for singapore,"  she said, and he looked shocked that she had to book him for an interview a month in advance. "yeah," she laughed like she had read his mind, "you're a popular man, franco."

"maybe, but i like all my time with you more," franco sighed. mila could feel him playing with the rings that adorned his fingers. he could see the media pen from a distance, and how everything was starting to begin. "but speaking of . . . what are you doing for the month off?"

"i don't know," she had no clue which home she wanted to go to — her main place was in italy, but she also had a place in the uk, or she could go visit her family in chile. "might take you home with me, if you're free."

"yeah, bet, why not," franco shrugged — he also had no clue as to which home. he was partially hoping it was not santiago in chile because then he had to mentally prepare for that. "would love to have you all to myself for a month."

"you're very greedy," she giggled softly, pulling him closer so that she could press a quick kiss to his lips. "and i have to go."

"mhm, fine," he pulled a face like a child getting upset that their toy was getting taken away, and begrudgingly let go of her hands. "i'll text you probably later tonight, i am in debriefs all afternoon until late." he was a little paranoid, not wanting to make it seem like his lack of communication was because he was no longer interested. he was so interested, so incredibly interested that he wanted nothing to go wrong. was he overthinking? certainly. mila understood how it went, and she knew how lengthy F1 debriefs among other things could get, but she did appreciate it. especially when she could tell he was a little nervous.

instead of rattling off something like 'you don't have to tell me that, i know', she instead said, "i'll talk to you tonight if you're not too tired . . . see you later."

"bye," franco waited as she left, eyes glued to her until she made it to the media pen where she had set up her camera earlier. he still had five minutes until he had to be over there, and so he stood with his water bottle and its stupid straw, not watching creepily of course, but admiring the way mila did her work from a different angle. he saw the point of view of himself when he was on the other side of that camera, or when he went and watched the interviews of himself later on, but he had never seen it from the outside perspective he had now.

it was so unlike every other journalist — that he knew, but just witnessing it was special. the connection she had built with each driver to where they were greeting her in passing when they were heading to other media outlets, he had never seen it before her. he couldn't recall a time where he'd been that genuinely happy to see a journalist like all his coworkers were before his very first race in formula one.

mila had reached over the barricade between her and ollie bearman to hug wrap her arms around him in greeting, ignoring the looks she got from the outlets on either side of her. it didn't look professional in the slightest, even without being able to hear it. ollie barely glanced at the camera, talking more than he normally did in an interview because it was structured like a conversation rather than a Q&A session — and that was saying something because ollie was notorious for yapping a little more than journalists liked.

MILA of course enjoyed interviewing her close friends more than anything. it was easier, more fluid, and she could waffle her way through an entire article better. "points in jeddah . . . points here . . . if you don't get a seat next year i'm going to be pissed."

"tell me about it," ollie chuckled, "can you write a mean article to get teams to feel bad if they don't sign me?"

"duh, you know i will," mila brought her microphone back to her mouth. "do you prefer the haas seat or the ferrari seat. . . just so i know who to target."

ollie smiled, his face flushing a light pink at being put on the spot. the haas rep by his side was staring at him in hopes that he wouldn't start an uproar between the two teams. "uh . . . i prefer whichever will take me," though they both knew it wouldn't be ferrari who gave him the seat because lewis had taken carlos' spot there and they weren't getting rid of their golden boy charles, but mila knew he, like many others, would want a spot in ferrari over haas.

either way, ollie's first team potentially being haas would be the best possible outcome: a midfield team that had been performing well recently meant that he wouldn't be burnt out too early . . . unlike how mila was already stressing for kimi's mercedes debut.

"they've already media trained you, it's over," mila sighed, all her questions ( the ones about the race and also just the ones in general ) now out of the way, and in perfect time, too, because she could see oscar wrapping up when she peered around ollie. "what are you up to later?"

ollie's eyebrows furrowed, "did you not get paul's text? he invited us all over to his."

which meant . . . mila tried to hide her excitement at the realisation. "i haven't been on my phone," she rolled her eyes, "i'll see you there."

"see ya," ollie waved her goodbye before he was led off by the haas rep to the next area. oscar was immediately making his way over, fixing the mclaren cap atop his head. his smile was contagious when he was close enough.

"where've you been hiding?" oscar asked, "i haven't seen you in ages."

"i had to fight to get in for another interview with you," mila sighed, reaching across the barrier to hug him briefly. "you are getting too popular for me."

"it's 'cause i got verified on twitter," he chuckled quietly, pulling back from her, "when you do, we'll talk."

"bet," she agreed, flipping open her notebook once more. "insane win here, by the way, congratulations. the family podium was super cute, i love the piastri-leclerc representation . . ."

x

"ANYONE KNOW WHAT'S GOING on?" ollie asked as the group ( minus paul ) made it to the door of paul's hotel room. hand in hand with avery, he held a bag containing varieties of liquor that they had just picked up from downstairs. most of it was either premixed vodka or the spirit on its own because everyone else was too picky and beer was not the vibe unless you were too drunk to taste it, so they went with the safest bet. "like, what if its an intervention we've just brought booze to."

"then it will be an exciting intervention," kimi commented. the leather jacket he had on was new and fit nicely, unlike the old jacket mila's father had given him a while ago now. he had a black helmet tucked under his arm, keeping it with his luggage pretty much all year round because of how much he actually enjoyed spending time with mila on her motorcycle. mila was just excitedly waiting for the day that he had the confidence to go on his own.

snorting, jak elbowed kimi, "if we open the door, we'll find out," he said obviously, and dino chattered inaudibly in agreement as he pushed through to be the first to open the door with the room key he'd stolen from ollie ( who stole it from paul ) earlier.

in the most dreadful fashion anyone had ever seen, dino's shoving caused a domino effect with the rest of the group. he managed to trip jak, who tried to grab onto kimi like he was his saviour, but kimi was unprepared and awkwardly threw his arms out towards mila, but he missed and his foot caught her ankle, dragging her down too. avery swiftly stepped out of the way with ollie so that they didn't get tangled up in the mess in the doorway.

"you guys are embarrassing, actually," ollie rolled his eyes, stepping over them into the hotel room, and helped his girlfriend across like chivalry wasn't six feet under.

"ugh," mila groaned, untangling herself from kimi so that she wasn't squashing him into the floor any longer than necessary. "blame dino."

"you guys were the ones waiting at the door like idiots," dino groaned under pretty much everyone, trying to push jak off him.

it was an awkwardly silent few moments, broken only by a giggle that was so unfamiliar to majority of the group. by the time they were untangled and all standing inside the room with the door closed behind them, the source of the giggle was clear: jemma jazairi, covering her mouth with her hand and trying to act like she hadn't just been laughing.

"you guys are embarrassing," paul groaned, his face a light pink at what could possibly be the worst introduction of jemma to his friends.

mila and kimi set their helmets on the little table just before the door, where two sets of car keys were already laid out. mila gave jemma a little wave, and she waved back quickly as kimi spoke up. "paul, is this to prove you have a friend outside of us? could you not have texted?"

ollie snorted, and avery whacked his arm. paul sighed, "no, i invited you here because i wanted you to properly meet jemma," he slipped his hand into her own, and jak let out an immediate whistle. "she's, uh . . . we're dating, and i didn't really want to mention it by text."

"yeah!" avery cheered, the first to break away and celebrate. "i fucking knew it! welcome to the group, jemma!"

jemma's face flushed, "thank you!"

she wasn't really expecting them all to make their way over and congratulate them like they had just announced their wedding or something, but she didn't mind at all. really, jemma was loving the fact that she was included in something so fluidly; without difficulty. the added bonus of mila hugging her super tightly while awkwardly trying to figure out an appropriate way to congratulate paul was definitely worth it, too.

"so . . ." ollie set the drinks on the table near where they had all migrated to, "we brought vodka and stuff. we're not alcoholics, jemma, i swear," he quickly added, not wanting to leave the wrong impression.

"unless we're in ibiza," mila shrugged, a laugh tumbling out of her, "have you been?"

jemma shook her head. "no. i've heard alright things, though."

"you're coming with next summer," jak decided, throwing his arms around the shoulders of mila and dino as he wedged between them. "so . . . vodka time?" no one disagreed with that.

IMESSAGE —

FRANCO 🩷 + MILA 💗

MILA 💗
are you busy?

FRANCO 🩷
never too busy for u

what's up?

MILA 💗
i might be drunk

was wondering if you
could pick me up or i'll just
stay with the boys

FRANCO 🩷
drop ur location i'll be right
there 🤍

u type well for a drunk

MILA 💗
i'm drunk not sloppy

notes,

F3 is making an appearance in baku bc i said so

i have no motivation recently but im trying to get back into it :) end of year annual depression it seems lmao

filler chapter but !!! i've got so many ideas rn i'm getting back into being motivated :)