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终于从人群中挤了出来，Carlos合上房门躺在床上，明黄与亮黑的颜色不停在他脑海中交织碰撞，绘着过去一年多来自己与RSTeam的一幕幕。连告别都是温暖的。他眼睛有些发红，看着天花板，长长地舒了口气，嘴角还带着笑意。躺了好一会儿才打开手机，回复了几个朋友的简讯，又切到了ins首页。
就在刚刚，他的队友——或许现在已经可以说是前队友了——录了段快拍说起自己今天的退赛。Nico的语气和心态一如既往那般风格。Carlos翻了两条，很快就看到了他事故的那段重放，整整两圈的翻滚太过惊险了，team radio里那人有些破了音的“fire，fire”，魔咒似的穿出屏幕。
收官站退赛真是个遗憾啊，Carlos想。不过他这位优秀的德国队友仍然凭借69分拿稳了年度第七，尽管被称为the champion of F1.5……听起来总有一点点小尴尬，但成绩还是很值得欣慰的。
不知道Nico现在何处，也许还在P房。Carlos抓抓自己的头发，心道我也该去好好跟他告个别吧。友善又亲近地相伴着的时光，一晃可过得真快。
脑子里有些乱糟糟的西班牙人正冒出这点念头，房外倒是响起了敲门声。出乎意料地，说谁谁到，刚一开门就见Nico探了个头，笑着倚在门口看他。
休息的地方十分宁静，团队成员们在小庆祝过后忙着处理其他事情，而此处的过道里没有半点其他人的影子。他没说话，只倚在那看他，金色的头发被通道里的灯映得披了一层光，整个人样子看起来很精神。
Carlos有点惊讶，愣了一会才请对方进屋来。
“你不和他们继续庆祝了吗？”
Nico耸耸肩，手里拎着一个盒子，还自顾自地直接放在了他的床沿才说：“差不多了，周二还有测试。”
“也对，”Carlos点点头，又指着盒子问，“那是什么？”
“A farewell gift？或者就当成个普通的小惊喜吧，我觉得应该没人不喜欢小礼物。”Nico说。
见Carlos眼睛亮亮的，意外地看起来有些局促，Nico被他这小表情逗笑了，侃道：“嘿Carlos，你是不是被我感动了？”
西班牙人一下子就笑出声来，没计较什么，走到房间另一边的桌子上也拿来个小礼物盒，对他说：“好吧，你说的对，应该没人不喜欢的。一个礼物，或者说是惊喜。”
互赠送别礼物的气氛正如他们平时的相处一般轻松愉快，但谁又不是精心挑选了很久的呢。
Nico看着他手里的盒子，挑挑眉，没怎么多想就握住了它，以及顺带着的，无意识握住了Carlos的手。这个德国人确实有时神经大条得过分，有小孩子指着自己帽子找他要签名的时候，他想都没有多想过，直接像抓西瓜一样抓着人家的头在帽子上签名。然而这一来，Carlos就有点尴尬地抽了抽手。直到对方看了他一眼，才反应过来这个西班牙人似乎……是有些害羞？
“wow”，Nico突然就笑得嘴都合不上，俨然一副恶作剧得逞的样子，像是抓着什么毛茸茸的小动物似的，反而凑上去轻轻捏起了Carlos的后颈，“一个Chili颜色的Chili。”
Carlos又被逗笑了，毫无威慑力地拍掉他的爪子。两个人坐在床沿，Nico一只手拄在他边上，也没再胡闹了。Carlos低了低头，一副欲言又止的样子，而Nico没有说话，空气显得安静而柔软，他只沉默地盯着对方——他的西班牙队友眼睛大大的，目光总是明亮又温柔，深栗色的长睫毛浓密上翘，这刻正垂眼抿着唇，像是要鼓起全部勇气说出什么不得了的话来。
这下，Chili的脸真的被自己憋成了Chili色。最后还是德国人盯着他轻轻颤动的睫毛，打破了沉默，很平静地说：“嘿Carlos，你知道……今年我过得特别愉快，以及，很幸运……”
“我也是！”始终不知道怎么说话的Carlos听到这里突然就很激动地作出了回应，然而猛地冒出来这么一句，实在让Nico哭笑不得——其实到底还是个比自己年轻五六岁的小孩啊。德国人没忍住，大声地笑了出来。
Carlos想起自己刚来雷诺的时候了。似乎德国人给人的普遍印象，大多是有些刻板或是骄傲的，所以见到这个即将相伴一年多的队友竟然以一束摆在他房间里的玫瑰花作为见面礼，看见花束上小卡片留着Nico名字的Carlos实在惊讶坏了。这种事情总觉得……是二十岁上下的少年会做的吧！千想万想，也很难想到对方竟是一个三十岁的德国人。
但新的队友并没有想象中那么每时每刻浪漫细胞爆棚，Carlos意外地发现他平时似乎还有些神经大条，也爱笑爱闹，而比赛和训练中遇到事情时，却也有德国人那股子一是一二是二的劲头来。后来相处久了，一切又都变得自然且亲近。
他总爱逗他。其实德式幽默的点也没有传言中的那么冷嘛，Carlos心想，虽然偶尔会被捉弄吧，便宜他了。
他实在难以想象Nico居然细心地在盒子里面放了张小卡片解释这个farewell gift的代表含义：可以是Chili加RS，也可以是Spanish加RS，还可以是Germany……
Carlos的ins账号发布了一条动态，照片里的西班牙人围着一条红黄黑三色的围巾。
说起社交媒体，可就别指望Nico能勤劳地发超过三句话的动态了，“A lovely day！Hahaaa”配着张摄影水平全围场倒数的自拍已经是极限了。
他有时候的衣品实在会糟糕到Carlos简直想随手举报影响市容，继荧光粉鞋子、大红花短裤和前不久的紧身豹纹长裤之后，德国人这次穿了个荧光绿的短款羽绒服。
Carlos敢打赌，如果自己送的这块手表配的是一套西装——不，哪怕只是一套普通的大衣——那说不定就会像个守规守矩的高档装饰品，既能显得很有品位也不至于太夸张。但他几乎把手表戴成了个大金链子，仿佛下一秒就会说出“好热啊我要把戒指脱了”之类的话。
“Carlos，我们再来一场吧！”
“……”
“Carlos？”
“啊？”西班牙人这才听见呼喊，连忙放下手机转过头去看他的朋友们。
“真是，在看什么呢。”朋友们拿着高尔夫球杆，好笑地问。
照片上的莱茵河畔，Emmerich小镇的阳光似乎比前不久在阿布扎比还要温柔。
“没看什么，再来一场吧！”Carlos想了想，又小声补了一句：“Sunshine。”
[END]
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Carlos closed the door and lay in bed. The bright yellow and black colours kept intertwining and colliding in his mind, drawing scenes from himself and RSTeam over the past year. It's warm to say goodbye. His eyes were a little red, and he looked at the ceiling with a long breath and a smile on his lips. He lay down for a long time before turning on his cell phone, answering several friends'newsletters and cutting it to the ins homepage.
Just now, his teammate, perhaps now a former teammate, recorded a snapshot of his withdrawal today. Nico's tone and mentality are the same as before. Carlos soon saw the replay of his accident. The whole two-lap rollover was too dangerous. The man in the team radios had some cracked "fire, fire" sounds and came out of the screen like a magic spell.
It's a pity to retire from the final race, Carlos thought. However, his excellent German teammate still won the seventh place of the year with 69 points, despite being called the champion of F1.5... It always sounds a little awkward, but the results are very gratifying.
"I don't know where Nico is now. Maybe he's still in Pit." Carlos grabbed his hair and thought that he should go and say goodbye to him. The time they spent together amicably and intimately passed quickly.
Meanwhile, there was a knock on the door outside. Surprisingly, as soon as the door opened, Nico leaned forward and looked at him with a smile. The rest place was quiet and the team members were busy with other things after the little celebration. There are no other people in the corridor here. He didn't speak, just leaned there and stared at Carlos. His golden hair was covered by the light in the passage. The whole person looked very energetic. Carlos was a little surprised and stunned for a while before inviting the other person in.
"Don't you keep celebrating with them?"
Nico shrugged, carried a box in his hand, and put it directly on the edge of his bed. "Almost, there's a test on Tuesday," he said.
"Yes," Carlos nodded and pointed to the box. "What's that?"
"A farewell gift? Or as an ordinary surprise, I think nobody hates small gifts." Nico said.
Seeing Carlos's bright eyes, unexpectedly looking a little embarrassed, Nico was amused by his small expression and said, "Hey Carlos, are you moved by me?"
The Spaniard burst into laughter and ignored everything. He went to the table on the other side of the room and brought a small gift box, too. He said to him, "Well, you're right. No one should hate it. A gift, or a surprise."
The atmosphere of giving away gifts is as relaxed and pleasant as they usually get along with each other, but who hasn't chosen them carefully for a long time?
Nico looks at the box in his hand, picks his eyebrows, holds it without much thought, and, incidentally, unconsciously holds Carlos's hand. This German is really careless at times. When a child pointed to his hat to ask for his signature, he did not think much about it. He grabbed the head of kid and signed it like a watermelon. Carlos, however, pulled his hand a little embarrassingly. It wasn't until Nico took a look at him that the Spaniard seemed to be... a little shy?
"Wow," Nico suddenly laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth. As grabbing at some furry animal, instead, he gently pinched Carlos's back neck. "A Chili in the color of chili. You are blushing."
Carlos was laughed again and clapped his paws without any deterrence. They sat on the edge of the bed, Nico leaning on him, no more joking. Carlos lowered his head and looked like he wanted to stop talking. Nico did not speak. The air was quiet and soft. Nico only stared at Carlos in silence. His Spanish teammates had big eyes, and their eyes were always bright and gentle. Their long dark chestnut eyelashes were thick and warped. Carlos was closing his eyes and licking his lips, as if to summon up all the courage to say something terrible.
Now, Chili's face was really choked into Chili's color by herself. Finally, the Germans stared at his lightly shaking eyelashes, broke the silence and said calmly, "Hey Carlos, you know... I've had a very good time this year, and I'm very lucky...
"Me too!" Carlos, who never knew how to speak, suddenly responded with great excitement when he heard it, but Nico couldn't help laughing and crying. Carlos is still five or six years younger than himself. The Germans couldn't help laughing loudly.
Carlos remembered that it was time for him to come to Renault. It seems that most Germans are stereotyped or proud, so it's amazing to see this teammate who is going to be with him for more than a year present a bunch of roses in his room and see Carlos with Nico's name on the small cards on the bouquet. This kind of thing always feels like... it's a teenager in his twenties who can do. It's hard to imagine that Nico is a 30-year-old German.
But this new teammate is not as over romantic as Carlos imagined. Carlos unexpectedly found that he seemed to be careless and laughing, but when things happened in the competition and training, there was a German spirit of seriousness. After a long time, the relationship became natural and close.
Nico always likes to tease him. In fact, German humor is not as cold as rumors, Carlos thought, although occasionally it will be tricked. Forget it, I don't care about these pranks.
It's hard for him to imagine Nico carefully putting a small card in the box to explain the representative meaning of farewell gift: Chili plus RS, Spanish plus RS, Germany...
...
Carlos'ins released an update showing the Spaniard in a red, yellow and black scarf.
Nevertheless, don't expect Nico to diligently exceed the dynamics of three sentences: "A lovely day! Hahaaa, "with a self-portrait, is the limit.
Sometimes his clothes were so bad that Carlos wanted to curse. After phosphor shoes, safflower shorts and the recent leopard-print pants, the Germans wore a fluorescent green down jacket this time.
Carlos would bet that if the watch he gave was accompanied by a suit --- no, even an ordinary overcoat --- it would probably look like a well-behaved high-end ornament, both tasteful and not too exaggerated. But Ncio almost wore the watch into a big gold chain, as if the next second would say something like "It's so hot, I'm going to take the ring off."
"Carlos, let's have another one!"
“……”
"Carlos？"
"Ah?" The Spaniard heard the call and quickly put down his cell phone and turned to see his friends.
"OK……What are you looking at?" Friends with golf clubs asked funnily.
On the banks of the Rhine River, the sunshine in Emmerich seems softer than in Abu Dhabi not long ago. Nico is resting in his hometown.
"Nothing to see, another one!" Carlos thought about it and added in a whisper, "Sunshine."
[END]