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the week after monaco always felt quieter.

no engineers roaring past the paddock. no producers rushing you from one interview to the next.

just you and your apartment.

and the suitcase you’d been avoiding since yesterday.

“one problem at a time.” you whispered, deciding the suitcase could wait another hour.

you sighed, dropping onto the couch with your laptop balanced on your lap. your producer had already sent over the schedule for barcelona, and although you told yourself you’d look though it after unpacking, you knew exactly how that would end.

you reached for your phone while the kettle boiled, unlocking without much thought.

a few emails.

two missed calls from your mum.

“i’ll call her later.” you told yourself. you knew that probably wasn’t true.

there was nothing really exciting on your phone.

your thumb moved on instinct, tapping the instagram icon.

the app opened straight onto your notifications.

a few new followers.

comments from people still talking about monaco.

you smiled yourself, shaking your head as you scrolled.

they’re really not letting this go, are they?

you were about to lock your phone when something caught your eye.

your thumb stopped.

“no way.”

you blinked, reading it again.

judebellingham started following you.

you frowned, your eyes darting to the top of the screen before looking back at the notification.

“...what?”

without thinking, you tapped his profile.

there it was.

the little blue button that had read follow back only a few seconds ago had disappeared.

he was following you.

you let out a short laugh, more out of disbelief than anything else.

“this has to be some kind of joke”

you refreshed the page.

nothing changed.

once.

even twice.

you locked your phone, setting it down on the coffee table as if that would somehow make the notification disappear.

it didn't, of course.

almost a minute passed before you reached for it again.

“okay, whats going on?”

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╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴

yourusername

liked by landonorris, judebellingham, charles_leclerc, and 52,184 others

yourusername home for a while

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landonorris unpack your suitcase

yourusername never

alexandramalenaleclerc gorgeous as always ♥︎ by author

yourusername love u queen

charles_leclerc enjoy your days off

yourusername trying my best 🫩

username1 WAIT WHY IS JUDE HERE AGAIN

username3 guys stay calm

username4 IM NOT STAYING CALM

username5 this is either the beginning of something or im delusional

judebellingham looks like someone’s enjoying the time off ♥︎ by author

username6 EXCUSE ME???!!!

username7 i was here before this gets deleted

username8 SHE LIKED!!!!!!!!!!

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you stared at his profile for longer than you cared to admit.

there wasn’t much to think about.

he followed you.

you followed him back.

that was it.

so why did it suddenly feel like the biggest decision you’d made all week?

you let out a quit laugh, shaking your head at yourself.

“get a grip.”

with one tap, the blue follow back button disappeared.

you locked your phone before you could think twice about it.

“now,” you sighed, pushing yourself off the couch, “i’m unpacking.”

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about twenty minutes later, you dropped the last hoodie into your dresser and looked around your room with small smile.

“see?” you muttered. “that wasn’t so hard.”

your phone vibrated somewhere in the living room.

you ignored it.

another vibration.

“one second.” you muttered, finishing what you were doing before making your way over.

you picked your phone from the couch.

instagram.

you frowned.

“a message?”

curious, you tapped the notification.

your stomach tightened.

“…you’re kidding?”

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first of all, whose idea was this? the admin's? definitely within the realm of possibility. they're big fans of repackaging lisack and presented it to us as lawblad. they certainly haven't changed their marketing style for the new season and teammate duo

what compels me more: arvid did this on his own. he's already proven himself to have near stalker levels of info about liam, so surely he followed vcarb's social media last year. maybe it's not even planned, maybe he just yells nikola's name and suddenly remembers and subsequently tells the joke isack made

did isack know about this? it's easy to imagine that he didn't until it was posted. he probably already had Thoughts about arvid taking his seat, but this is the most visceral moment to date of "arvid has replaced isack." not just his seat, or his place in the team, but him as a person. he is telling the jokes isack made last year, he's making the content isack made last year, and he has the relationships with the team (cough liam cough) that isack had last year