Nothing Better (I'll Keep Him Forever)
“Where’s your hotel?” Lando asked, his eyes locked on Daniel’s mouth.
“About fifteen minutes by car,” Daniel replied, the words heavy on his tongue. It was starting to get hard not to stumble over his words, especially with the way Lando was staring at him.
“That’s closer than mine,” Lando said, eyes flicking back to his mouth.
Daniel swallowed. “Do you want me to call an Uber?”
Lando looked back up at his eyes. “Do it.”
OR: The one where Daniel and Lando were inevitable.
Lando Norris/Daniel Ricciardo | 35k | Read on AO3
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ok sure i'll talk about farleigh start. i'll talk about his tragedy of never being enough as it were and then having to deal with fucking oliver. sure. disclaimer: it's about class (and race) and the horrible reality of the rich. the horrible reality of living as farleigh.
another disclaimer: i'm white! and poc definitely pick up on everything i'm talking about here as it is, and better. i was and am specifically interested in farleigh vs. oliver but it's impossible to examine without considering race. definitely let me know if anything abt this sucks!
farleigh and oliver are similar. it's annoying because every intruder that is not himself is annoying, partly because felix's attention swaying from farleigh is dangerous; there is always a threat of being discarded, even if no precedent existed. the potential is terrifying.
but you'd think he's seen this before, every summer (if venetia is telling the truth) or at least often enough to learn to recognize it fast, so he should know this will pass. part of it is i think still the deep anxiety, and i think he hated every boy that was there before, and it is sort of routine.
but definitely a huge factor in farleigh's annoyance is the fact that he's a biracial (black for cattons, that's all they see) man in a white rich household. he's alert and exhausted all the time. of course he's angry at oliver, regardless of whether he's the first to crash at saltburn for the summer or the fifty-first.
but the important thing is this.
farleigh is very jealous of and angry and pissed at oliver because farleigh sees all the similarities between them. outsider, in financial trouble, whatever it is, in need of cattons; and yet oliver is preferred. and farleigh seems to be the only one to really consider it. felix does not pick up on the hint when farleigh brings up the birthday party vs. his mother. felix's clumsy "different or... anything like that" is as much about race as it is about class, of course. the "we've done all that we can" bit is felix absolving himself of guilt because surely they had, surely the mysterious collective cattons that he's not really part of had tried all they could do. to him, farleigh is different from oliver, because farleigh has been helped. felix is rich and white and twofold uncomfortable with farleigh, even if he's nice about it, even if he genuinely enjoys his company; he doesn't look too close at farleigh because he feels too guilty to come too close. and farleigh can't do anything about it. he can't nice himself into it. the fucking tragedy of him is that he's never enough in the world of the ultra-rich white, even if (especially because!) he's born into it.
farleigh is very pissed at oliver because farleigh also sees all the differences between them. you know who can be nice poor white enough to fit in? fucking oliver. felix says "just be yourself, they'll love you" when oliver first moves in. farleigh was also probably told the same thing, and felix also probably believed that farleigh could just be himself, but even if the cattons were magically not racist at all (impossible), it wouldn't make a difference to farleigh. he would still self-censor, keep in check, be in dangerous waters (because racism is not just about the individual, but about the system). we see that he'd won himself leeway by years of trial and error by the way he speaks to the family, but it's still within the boundaries of acceptable, built by the cattons. he's part of them because they allow it, and farleigh is very, very aware.
the annoying thing is oliver can be himself. like, truly, genuinely, he can just be. and farleigh can't help but envy that.
as a side note, oliver is obviously jealous of farleigh in the beginning as well, because regardless of the reality of farleigh's situation, he was born into it, and hence, at least in oliver's mind, has his position solidified. oliver's whole thing is unquenchable thirst and hunger for whatever and everything the cattons have (including themselves!). he wishes to have been a catton from birth. to oliver, at first, there's nothing farleigh can really do to lose it. and until he figures out the cattons completely, he can't help but envy that.
but i think farleigh senses something different about oliver early on. at least on the level of the text, we have "you're almost passing [for] a real, human boy", which is so important because farleigh is the first to point out oliver's weirdness. the next to do so is venetia in the bath scene calling him a freak, but it's too late. farleigh is too early.
and i like to think he clocks oliver too early because he sees the jagged edges that he recognizes in himself. i think that one other thing that farleigh envies is oliver's freedom to let go. freedom to let go is very similar to freedom to be, but not quite the same.
to be is about perception: farleigh knows he cannot fall out of line, but would like to, and oliver does not have to worry about it at all (i mean, he does, because oliver also performs for felix, but farleigh doesn't know that).
to let go is about the self: farleigh is too scared to even want what oliver eventually does, to even consider the possibility. oliver can let himself want. oliver can let himself act. oliver just can do things and want things. i'm not sure farleigh can.
and so in this scene, when oliver's wants and actions have landed him nowhere with farleigh, felix, venetia, the cattons, of course farleigh gloats. he can let himself do that, because if the cattons are slowly discarding him, farleigh can allow himself this one small victory. he's relieved because despite the dangerous similarities, oliver is, thankfully, not really the same as farleigh, right?
but like. this movie is a love letter to all things gothic. oliver is a white man. he prevails. the brief performance that oliver put on did eventually end up more effective than farleigh's lifetime of constraint. my heart fucking breaks for him to be honest.
the issue that remains is the fact of farleigh's survival. i like to think that oliver came to respect him. oliver is smart, but farleigh is clever. he picks up on everything oliver does (to refer back to the karaoke scene, farleigh immediately retaliates in the cleverest way, in the moment), and he's the only one to do so consistently (venetia, again, for example, comes close, but too late; oliver doesn't like that, there's nothing to work with). hence, stay with me for a little longer, the paradox: farleigh survives because he was never enough for the cattons, but he is very worthy of oliver's attention. in his own freaky way, oliver wants him. look at that.
so. farleigh. farleigh might come back. he always comes back. and i think oliver wants to try harder next time.
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Ride 770: Response
Pag 1
1: Don't give up yet!!
Let's chase Sohoku and Hakogaku who are ahead of us!!
Yeah!!
2: It's not “two people” that caught up
3: Who is it
I've never seen that jersey before
There's one more person!!
4: He easily keeps up with us at this speed!!
Pag 2
1: From now on I'll use my legs
By brute force
Pag 3
1: Waaaa
The lead if here!
It's three people – do your beest!!
I'll defeat you!!
2: Chicken!!
Buooooo
3: One
4: two
Pag 4
1: Go!!
3: Uoooooo
Pag 5
1: He passed me so easily!?
2: “?ill use my legs”....!? I've been pedaling almost at my limit, and yet in one breath, he-!?
Garua-
3: Don't underestimate Hakogaku's “third years”
4: Sohoku's....
Pag 6
1: second year boy!!
2: He left me behind in a second!!
3: Dammit
4: Dammit
and then keep going like that and escape!!
5: Get it together!!
Pag 7
3: Issa is next to me!!
Sorry, I couldn't escape
4: But I'll catch up to him somehow, I'll recover from here.....
What power....
6: I'm sorry, Issa!!
Pag 8
1: What speed....!!
Pag 9
1: He's smiling!?
2: That guy's.... so fast...
He's strong....
3: He really is fired up to get revenge for last year!!
4: This is bad, Danchiku!!
5: No wait, Issa, if yous ay it like that it seems that you're the one who won last year....
6: Are you excited!? Issa
7: Ahh, I wanted to let Danchiku escape, but when I see him running.... ahgh!!
Issa
Pag 10
1: Can I go, Danchiku!? To defeat that guy!!
2: Issa's
3: feelings' boiling point
Pag 11
1: is rising all at once!!
2: He's focused on just that one thing in front of his eyes!!
3: He's holding the handles low and took a crouching stance!!
4: Ohhhhh
In times like this....
Pag 12
1: Of course you can, Issa!!
Ho-
Pag 13
1: uruaaaagh
2: In times like this I have to push his back without hesitating even for a second
That's
4: That's my duty!!
Go, Issa, to your heart's content!!
Pag 14
1: Hooo
2: oooo
3: raaaagh
Pag 15
1: I'm going, Danchiku!!
3: What's this explosive sound!?
4: It's getting closer....!?
Pag 16
1: I'm here, San-na!! In response to your fired up soul!!
Pag 17
1: So you came!! Orange!!
2: Wasn't I supposed to race against that Danchiku guy? For Sohoku
3: It changed now!! That plan!!
4: Buah!! Seems like it was already decided that I'd fight you!!
Orange!!
5: That's what the cells in my body are telling me!! That there's no enemy other than you!!
Pag 18
1: It's been a year!!
Have you gained enough experience!?
2: It's already more than enough!!
5: Those two's wave of fighting pressure has reached until here!!
6: What terrific pressure!! It could raise so much? The heat of the Inter High!!
7: They're passing the....
Pag 19
1: 3km mark until the finish line!!
2: Hooooo
3: Buoooo
4: This is the fight's
5: Hahaha
Pag 20
1: gong!!
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