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ultrasofts · 3 years

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director's commentary on rumor has it, especially the pierre part, or a chunk of it! <3

this was interesting because this fic was just early enough in my experience in this fandom that i’d write a lot of it differently if i wrote it now, although this section less so than the others. i do feel like this section makes it clear how much i like pierre.

“Sebastian!” he says, surprised but pleased to see him. [he would be! pierre really likes and respects seb! i find the way he talks about seb extremely sweet] He didn’t realise Seb was in Monza for the weekend; he’s seen him around the last few races [just another reference to just how much seb has been around but no one (except vb) has put the energy into wondering why], but hasn’t had a chance to speak to him much.

Seb is clearly trying to convince a very complacent looking Roscoe to run around with him [this whole section was 100% motivated by my desire for 1. pierre and seb to interact, obviously, but mostly 2. seb looking after roscoe. seb has phenomenal dog dad energy], but he looks up when Pierre calls out to him.

“Hey, Pierre,” Seb says, raising an arm in greeting, before returning his gaze at Roscoe, who gives him a lazy stare back.

“You’re here for the weekend?” Pierre asks, jogging up to him.

“I am,” Seb says. “Monza’s hard to resist.” [even after all the shit that happened this year, seb is still a bit of a sucker for ferrari]

“No argument from me,” Pierre agrees.

“You did well out there today,” Seb says, without a hint of condescension in his voice, and Pierre ducks his head. [seb has this way of being very complimentary and up front about other drivers’ accomplishments without sounding at all patronising] “Unlucky getting caught up with Sainz and Albon [rip alex] for your last lap.”

Pierre sighs. “I was too impatient.”

“Just a bit, maybe,” Seb says with a smile, “but you did fine from P10 last year.”

Pierre grins at him and ducks his head, pleased and a little embarrassed. [pierre’s whole characterisation here is just... he’s a nice thoughtful boy who really admires seb. i think he’d be really proud to hear seb mention it, but also a bit abashed]

They fall into an easy conversation about the weekend so far and Pierre can’t resist the temptation to pick Seb’s brain for ten minutes, slowly talking through everything he’d worked out on his circuit of the park. Seb doesn’t offer advice exactly, but he does have some interesting perspectives on what strategy Pierre should use tomorrow. [seb really seems like the kind of guy who will stay out of everyone else’s business and not tell them what to do, but still have Opinions that he can’t help voicing]

“It’s very helpful,” Pierre says earnestly. [there are. a lot of adverbs in this fic. (a discussion for another time). but i do find pierre very earnest.] “Thank you.”

“I’ll send you a bill,” Sebastian says. “I shouldn’t be giving my consulting services away for free now that I’m unemployed.” [a bad joke (of the sort i think seb would make), but a little reminder that seb is actually here for no apparent reason]

Pierre grins at him and crouches down to pet Roscoe, who butts up into Pierre’s hand enthusiastically. [roscoe knows and appreciates that pierre follows him on instagram]

“How are you, anyway?” Pierre asks, moving to scratch under Roscoe’s chin.

“Me or the dog?” Seb asks, but carries on before Pierre can respond. “I’m pretty good, can’t complain.” He looks good, too - relaxed, smiling, something looser in posture than the last time Pierre really spoke to him. [i wrote this fic right before seb’s aston martin announcement came and i was really just trying to manifest good and peaceful times for him, free of all of the...everything attendant with being a ferrari driver, especially a 2020 ferrari driver]

“You don’t miss racing?” Pierre blurts out, unable to resist, and then immediately backtracks. “Sorry, that’s rude, you don’t have to answer.” [pierre is genuinely interested in what’s going on with seb, but is worried about sounding like he’s just after some gossip or about bringing up bad memories. a nice boy!] He stands up and tries to subtly wipe the hand that Roscoe has now slobbered all over on his shorts.

Seb doesn’t look offended, though.

“Of course I miss it,” he says, “but there’s other things in life.” [seb says things like this a lot, especially this year - he does genuinely come across (to me!) as a very balanced person, which is weird in an elite athlete imo]

“I suppose so,” Pierre says doubtfully. Objectively, Seb is right, but Pierre can’t imagine what he’d fill all his time with if he wasn’t doing this. [pierre, by contrast, is a baby driver who doesn’t have a lot of perspective yet]

“Getting this guy to exercise, for one,” Seb says, fixing Roscoe with a look. He’s now rolled over on his back and is lazily swatting at a fly buzzing around him.

“He’s not very energetic,” Pierre agrees.

“It is pretty hot,” Seb says, as if he hadn’t just been tacitly complaining about his laziness. [not subtle, but going directly for the ‘i can insult my family but no one else is allowed to’ energy here]

Between the two of them they coax Roscoe off the ground and start slowly walking back towards the paddock.

“How did you end up taking him for a walk?” Pierre asks, curious. [this line was initially right at the start, but i thought it was more interesting / fitting for it to take pierre a while to really twig that it was unusual for seb to be out and about with roscoe; further testament to how like that seb and lewis have been] Roscoe follows Lewis around extremely faithfully; he’s a friendly dog (Pierre always stops to pet him when he sees him and Roscoe always seems to enjoy it), but Pierre’s never seen him about with anyone other than Lewis or Angela, or sometimes Lewis’ brother.

“Lewis just mentioned that he was restless, and I don’t have much to do now that qualifying’s done,” Seb says with a shrug, which doesn’t quite answer Pierre’s question.

“My girlfriend used to make me walk her dog on my days off,” Pierre says after a moment. “He was pretty energetic though, so we used to go for runs.”

Seb is giving him a strange look and Pierre replays the last sentence in his head.

“Oh, he’s not dead or anything,” he says quickly. “We just broke up.” [pierre making the wrong assumption about why seb gave him a weird look was fun...]

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Seb says, still looking a little confused. [...as was seb not quite understanding what pierre was getting at. i love a cross-purposes exchange]

It’s only then that Pierre’s brain puts together the alternate interpretation of what he’d said to Seb, and he blushes. Seb hadn’t seemed at all offended though, so Pierre lets it lie. [don’t make it weird!]

They’ve reached the main avenue, and Seb turns in the direction of the Mercedes building.

“Good luck tomorrow,” he says to Pierre, holding his arm up for a fist bump.

“Thanks,” Pierre says, beaming back at him. [a nice boy with a smile for everyone but especially seb!]

“See you around,” Seb says, and Pierre watches as Sebastian ambles down the road, Roscoe on his heels. The two of them run into Lewis outside Pirelli, and Lewis immediately crouches down to pet his dog. [lewis and roscoe are just insanely endearing to me, so just a little glimpse of something we get to see a lot around the paddock to ground this in reality a little bit] Then he looks up and gives Seb a smile that makes Pierre think huh.

He has a qualifying debrief in ten minutes, though, and he still has to get something to eat, so he turns and hurries back to his own team building.

It’s not really any of his business, anyway. [from the outset, i did want pierre to be the only person to be like....wait is it? are they? but equally to be respectful enough to be like, it’s none of my business. it was easy to cast him in this role vs. other people potentially being messy about it]

#kuckooclock #ask #fic post #ask games #ty!!

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