Chapter Text
———
2021
“We have come to the decision to let Mumbo go.”
Grian blinked for a moment before speaking, “What?” Obviously, he could’ve thought of something better to say, yet nothing came to him at the moment.
“Mumbo has signed with Mounders for this season.”
Grian took another second to process, “Okay…” he said slowly, almost carefully, “Who’s my teammate then?”
“We’ve decided to sign on a new talent, Scar Goodtimes. He was going to sign with GIGS but they decided to renew Gemini’s contract.” The team manager said.
Grian nodded, “When will I meet him?”
“Two weeks. The announcement will be made in one week.”
——-
1 week later
Maybe Grian just hadn’t warmed up to Scar yet, but he didn’t like him as much as he liked Mumbo. It wasn’t like he hated the guy, their personalities didn’t conflict at all, if any. Grian decided he was mourning the loss of his teammate being on his team and to give Scar a chance, after all they were only a little over one and a half years apart in age. Scars smile was very bright, as it reached from one year to the other. The team meeting was fairly uneventful, Grian had been spacing out for the most of it.
After the meeting Scar had approached him cheerfully, exactly how he did everything else.
“Hey!” Scar smiled.
“Hi, um, so, you drove for GIGS in F2?” He attempted to make small talk.
Scar laughed softly, “Yeah!” You did too, right?”
Grian was caught slightly off guard at what Scar knew, “Yeah, that’s cool.”
The conversation was terribly awkward, nothing like Grian had known with Mumbo.
——-
4 years later
The rush of the wind and soft jerks of the car had always been thrilling to Grian, of course, he had never actually been on a winning team. This season was different, with new regulations in the air. Hope was high for Desert Duo. Fans had been claiming for years that every single year would be “Desert Duo’s year” but the promise never actually got fulfilled. Grian had been practically yearning for the WDC since his rookie year and, unfortunately, his best friend and first teammate, Mumbo, had been signed onto a different team about 4 years ago.
“Grian.” Mumbo said sternly.
“Oh, yeah, I agree.” Grian smiled.
“You weren’t even listening but okay…” he trailed off, letting the “o” linger in his speech.
“Sorry, just a lot of stuff has been going on.”
Mumbo quirked an eyebrow, “I’m aware.”
Grian blinked, “God, I’m out of it. I have to do media stuff, sorry.” The lame, only partially true, excuse leaves Mumbo without a goodbye.
The fleeting interaction quickly ended, Mumbo is his best friend, but he’s also on a different team so race weekends don’t leave much time for them to interact. The Desert Duo motorhome was mostly empty, so Grian opted to sit in his driver room. Grian heard a small crash from Scars room, who he hadn’t seen practically all day apart from the team debrief earlier. The absence of Scar wasn’t too unusual but it was certainly odd. The absence quickly ended when 3 knocks were heard on his door.
“Hello!” Scar brightly announced to the empty-apart-from-Grian room.
“Hi Scar.” Grian smiled, Scar's presence could light any room up, “Did you need something?” He finally says after Scar had been standing in place for a minute.
“I’ve been waiting for that question!” He exclaims, sitting down on the floor instead of opting for the couch, “The answer is no, but I thought a better answer would come in the moment.”
“I see.” He let out a small laugh.
Scar fiddled with his fireproofs, “You did good in quali.”
Grian raised an eyebrow, wondering where the conversation was going, “Thank you,” he answered reluctantly, “you did good too.” The sentence came out as more of a question but Scar didn’t seem to notice.
“What’s up?” He asked, he could tell something was up at the tone of Scars speech.
“Nothing! I’m just sort of stressed out, Gems a good driver and she’s kind of right behind us for the race start, but I’m sure it’ll be fine because you’re a super duper good driver and she probably won’t overtake you but I’m still stressed because a 1-2 podium is kind of exactly what the team needs right now-“ Scar rambled on.
“Scar.” Grian was holding back a laugh, not that the stress wasn’t valid or that his worries were stupid, but his rambling did get a bit much sometimes.
“Sorry, yeah?” He almost grimaced at how much he was rambling.
He smiled at the other man, “It’s literally going to be fine, we’re both good drivers and we have good cars and I promise you I will not let Gem pass us.”
The reassurance seemed to work on Scar, the team had given the 2 a slight plan for the race but the main plan was to let them race, which usually worked but when it didn’t it often didn’t end well for either of the drivers.
“G…” Scar said quietly.
“Scar.” Grian mimicked.
“If I really wanted to win the championship would you let me?” He asked innocently.
Grian automatically threw a pillow at him.
—-
The smell and taste of champagne was good, but it was better on the top of the podium. Currently, as of the first race, Grian was in first place for the WDC. The adrenaline was insane. The goal for the first race had also been achieved, a 1-2 podium. Unfortunately, Scott had just made it onto third place, he beat Gem by less than a second. Scott had always been a strong driver, winning 3 consecutive championships in the past years.
He shook his bottle of champagne, spraying it all over himself and Scar. The liquid wet his dirty blonde hair, turning it a darker brown. He smiled against the alcohol, licking some off his lips. His eyes diverted from the crowd back to Scar, who looked unfairly attractive, even with champagne sticking all his hair together.
—-
The reality of the situation only set in while he was leaving the paddock with Scar.
“Oh my God scar.” He breathed.
“What’s up?”
“We’re literally leading the WDC and the WCC.” He exclaimed, practically bouncing.
Scar laughed, a real joyful laugh that most likely wouldn’t be stopped for a while, “You’re going out tonight then, right?”
“Why would I not?”
Their shoulders bumped, once, then twice. Physical contact was normal between two good friends.