63 enthusiast

“Did you like my gift?”

George asks him first thing first the moment he sees him and Alex out on a brunch. Charles isn’t in the mood to talk much with him. Unfortunately for him, his sweet Alex uses this moment to tease him and hence starts a conversation with Carmen. It’s just rude to stop them. So now he’s stuck with him at least for a few minutes.

“George.” He greets with a smile he hopes looks polite enough to mask his wince. If anything, though, he can just blame… the sun. “You went out of your way to make me have that one framed. I was surprised.”

George’s grin widens. His head tilts to the side, and Charles glances once at the perfect curls falling over his sunglasses that do little in hiding those blue eyes. “It wasn’t much of a faff for me anyway.”

“A… what?” He doesn’t get his answer because the Brit is busy calling for a waiter. “What are you doing?”

“The girls seem to enjoy their conversation. Why not we eat together?” George simply offers and before Charles can argue, the order is made after a waitress stops by with a notepad. “Tea or coffee?”

“Espresso. Double shot.” Charles grumbles, crossing his arms. Alex glances at him and giggles — she’s liking this so much.

Months ago, when he had gotten the name he’d be a secret santa for, he hadn’t any idea what to give the man. Well, of course it couldn’t be that difficult considering they are already familiar with each other for many years, though he isn’t close like George is with Alex or with Lando. Those three are sort of their own friend group at this point.

With George, he’s mostly alright with him. What fights they have only happen on track, and maybe in the steward’s room.

That being said, he’s still, only a little, tiny bit, affected after the Dutch GP race. It did hurt his pride having been criticised in such passion for pulling out that move at the turn. George had been so bitter even though he was the one who got to finish the race with P4 and a damaged floor, while he had been taken out by his young, careless teammate. The guy had been bitter as if the DNF wasn’t enough of a punishment.

The idea to gift him a framed picture of their cars side by side at that corner was to poke fun at him and his reaction back then.

Alex, the woman Charles has been complaining to back when he’s still exasperated by his DNF after the weekend, has gone into a laughing fit. “C'est mesquin, non ? Mais aussi drôle.”

Petty? …A little.

Once he’s seen the reaction to the gift in the video, he still feels disturbed by it. Maybe it’s the insincere thanks he’s gotten.

“Thanks for nothing” — yet said with such a fond smile he can’t seem to get it out of his head.

Clearly George is still bitter about it, to take it further and actually given him a gift of return like he joked in the video. Who’s the petty one now?

Charles doesn’t know what to do with the annoyance blooming in his stomach at the question whether he likes the framed photo of his DNF’d car or not. As for now, he’s so much as want to rub the smirk off the man’s face. “Did you end up hanging that photo, by the way?” He asks with the same teasing tone the other has used.

George pauses before taking a sip of his own espresso after it arrives. His smile curls cheekily. “I have it in my boxers’ drawer.”

“You—“

Charles scrambles to come up with a comeback but has none at the moment. Instead, he huffs and starts sipping his drink. But he forgets how hot it is still. “Ow. Merde.” His tongue burns in his mouth.

“So did you like it?”

“It’s rude to throw away a gift,” Charles mutters. “Ou placez-le à un endroit inapproprié…” He turns his head after only silence he gets, but nearly causes himself to jump out of his chair at how close George is into his personal space. This man… “What do you want me to say, George?”

George suddenly looks down at the table before he chuckles in his hand. Charles waits for what the man has to say but he continues to laugh instead. He narrows his eyes at him. “Are you done?”

“Sorry. I was being very petty, wasn’t I?”

“Un peu..” He folds his arms and half-expects George to move away. Up close like this, it’s harder to look annoyed.

Finally George leans back to give him back the space again. “I’ll behave next time, Charles.”