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Ilya felt the excitement stirring inside him as he watched outside on the way to the Canada GP circuit after picking him up from home. He had loved fast cars for a long time and had been watching Formula 1 races whenever he came across them since he was younger. Even though he had never been able to go so far because of the intensity of his own schedules, he loved the unexpected excitement of Formula 1 races.
This year’s Formula 1 race had coincided with a short break in his schedules and now the car that picked him up from home was moving forward to pick up Shane. He already hadn’t seen Shane for two days and didn’t think he could focus on anything because of how much he missed him. The car stopped at the place where they would pick Shane up. And the moment Shane jumped into the private section reserved for them, Ilya felt like he could breathe. Looking at Shane was like looking at the sea, it brought peace into him.
The journey to CanadaGP circuit hadn’t lasted long and they had brought them directly from the VIP section to Ferrari hospitality. Today they were Ferrari’s guests. Back when Ilya last followed races closely Sebastian Vettel was at Ferrari but he had heard he left a few years ago. Seeing the new drivers and work environment was exciting. Ilya could feel the fanboy inside him clapping his hands excitedly. People were working in the Ferrari section, everyone was running around somewhere, while they escorted them to the guest section they offered coffee and after giving a short briefing about the surroundings they said they would come back shortly and left.
“Hm this feels like it’s going to be fun! I checked out a few social media videos on the way, guys seem fine and kind. You should be very excited tho all these fast cars!” - Shane smiled while looking at him.
“I can’t believe you even came prepared to the place you’re coming as a guest!” teased Ilya
“Oh you don't?" - Shane rolled his eyes affectionately.
“Well I guess I do. Yeah im really excited actually and all these cars are very different from my cars so im looking forward somehow. i know its ridicilous.--”
At that exact moment Ferrari drivers entered the room and greeted them with a bright smile. The man who introduced himself as Carlos Sainz extended his hand saying “Sorry for keeping you waiting, it took us long to get here because this man couldn’t wake up.” grinned widely and with this sentence the man next to him whom Ilya recognized as Charles coughed violently enough to almost get into a coughing fit.
“oh my god Carlos! I apologize on his behalf, since teasing me is one of his favorite activities in life he never misses any opportunity. Welcome, I’m Charles Leclerc.”
“Shane Hollander.”
Ilya carefully observed the way these two were bickering with each other the moment they walked in. hmm interesting.
“Ilya Rozanov”
Charles turned to him and asked kindly “today you’ll be our guests, I think we’ll visit the garages first. Have you ever watched an F1 race, have you ever been interested?” his eyes were bright and his smile was warm like a child. Ilya could understand why people loved him so much.
“I follow it very closely, but Shane no. He is boring so he is not into exciting stuff.” While Shane rolled his eyes at him with an annoyed expression, just as he was about to say something Carlos interrupted “Honestly I can’t imagine someone who won the Stanley Cup 3 times being that boring, you probably never got the right informing about f1. Then let this be a challenge for us today!” while smiling towards Shane and Ilya didn’t miss Charles’s look towards Carlos. hmm.
“Ah, thank you! it’s nice to know someone has hope in me - Shane smiled and added - so you are interested in hockey then?”
“No, even if Carlos isn’t a follower he likes knowing everything because he loves every kind of sport” Charles answered by jumping in. Ilya could swear he sensed irritation in his voice. hmm
“Exactly! I think hockey requires incredible discipline and honestly I respect you a lot.” Carlos said and smiled making sure he looked at both of them.
“Ilya told me that f1 drivers also need to be in really good shape physically. I guess your races are very demanding? Was it Singapore Ilya?” when he asked, Ilya was watching him smilingly, Shane Hollander couldn’t accept not being the best in every environment he entered.
“Wow. I didn’t even think you listened while I was talking nonsense Hollander.” he looked at him and held his eyes.
“Yes! Singapore is really one of the most physically demanding races. Carlos loves telling the story of the day how he warned me about this.” he added while turning to Carlos with sparkling eyes. Ilya could see this had a special meaning for the man. While Carlos started enthusiastically telling the story of their first meeting, a red-haired employee who introduced herself as Sylvia entered the room and said they were ready for filming and that they could head towards the garages.
The Ferrari garage was an incredible place, people were running around everywhere, everyone was seriously busy with something, the vibe was buzzing. Ilya thought about how well the red color suited this team. While approaching the car Carlos was coming a little behind with Shane and Ilya could hear him explaining all the details of the sport to him. The man was really determined to make Shane love formula 1. Let him try then. As he himself approached the car he started watching it enchanted by its beauty. Charles came next to him and handed him the steering wheel and started explaining what every button did, the small but important details of the car. While Ilya listened eagerly he could feel how passionately Charles was attached to the work he was doing. Then when his eyes turned towards Shane he watched Carlos also informing him with the same passion about general but important details, Shane was listening to him with a careful and focused expression. Ilya loved those determined and curious eyes of his.
When he turned to Charles he caught him watching Shane and Carlos too. There was a different expression in his eyes.
“Your teammate seems like he set his mind on turning Shane into a formula 1 fan.” Ilya said jokingly.
“That’s how he is. Once Carlos sets his mind on something he doesn’t hold back.” said Charles, Ilya could swear he heard the same irritation in his voice. But Charles quickly gathered himself and looked at him again with sparkling eyes and asked if there was any other question he wanted answered.
While the filming and conversations in the garage continued at their own pace, Sylvia came again announcing the room was ready for the other shoot and that they would have a small race.
Apparently these videos filmed for Ferrari youtube channel were like small challenges and in today’s video they would divide into teams and race remote controlled cars. While Ilya was still looking at the controller trying to figure it out he could understand from the way the two drivers joked with each other and reminded each other of the result of the previous race that they were taking this game seriously as if talking about another championship. He laughed to himself, these kids loved kicking each other’s ass at least as much as him and Shane did. While lifting his eyes and catching the moment Carlos leaned on Charles showing him something he couldn’t stop a thought from crossing his mind that wondered if they were also doing other things they loved doing with Shane. Charles’s high pitched laughter pulled him from his thoughts and whatever Carlos whispered to him had clearly made Charles blush. hmmm
Ilya moved his eyes to Shane, even though for now they publicly announced they were friends they were still incredibly cautious while around people and Ilya couldn’t stop imagining how it would feel to be able to be like this with Shane while around people, while doing his work. Shane was still asking the Ferrari employee next to him questions about how the controller worked. His curious kitten. He smiled to himself.
Soon he watched Charles notice the Ferrari employee’s helplessness and approach Shane to start explaining the rules of the race and how the controller should be used. Carlos watched him with his eyes then with a sigh returned to his phone. Soon after he appeared next to Ilya too. Carlos seemed like someone whose brown eyes looked straight ahead, someone with no hesitation in his eyes, someone grounded, someone aware of the effect he left on the person in front of him while taking steps and forming sentences and someone pleased with it. One wanted to believe he never doubted himself, but then Ilya kept catching his looks towards Charles, when his eyes found the other driver it was like something entirely different got added into all that certainty and distance, then Ilya observed how even though he stood more distant and composed around everyone else he became lively and restless around Charles, how comfortably he moved inside the other man’s personal space. hmm
Turning to Carlos who was standing next to him waiting together for the camera angles to be adjusted, he suddenly asked the question that had been occupying his mind since earlier.
“Isn't it hard?”
“Excuse me?” Carlos turned to him surprised. It was obvious he couldn’t understand what he meant. Ilya smiled while his eyes were still on Charles and Shane and turned to Carlos.
“Being teammates with your rival. Hollander is my rival too but we are not on the same team, we never competed for the same goal. We always tried to defeat each other and it somehow helps keep the rivalry more stable. I don’t know maybe I’m wrong but competing for the drivers championship while also working for the same team. Doesn’t it get hard?” Ilya completed his thought. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries but he was still curious, the environment here was different from hockey. And these boys. He didn’t know, they touched somewhere entirely different inside him.
Carlos only looked at him for a long time. It was obvious the question may have annoyed him but also that he wanted to speak from some strange different point. He took his eyes off Ilya and turned them towards Charles and stayed there for a few seconds. At that moment Ilya felt like even looking at Charles was hard for Carlos.
“Of course it is hard. You have to get along well, work for the team and also carve your own path.”
“Especially when you are like –” Ilya stopped and looked at Carlos not sure which word to choose “-good friends it must be really hard.” he completed. He decided not to test the limits too much and stay within safe words. A smile almost sorrowful passed over Carlos’s face like wind.
“Friend is a big word for me. I can’t call someone a friend that I don’t fully trust. I can’t call someone a friend if I cant share my secret with –” his eyes turned to Charles again and for a few seconds he watched him enthusiastically explaining the rules of the game to Shane. “- and you know at the end of the day how can you share your secret with your rival…” Ilya could almost swear the topic had long gone beyond friendship or rivalry or the team but soon Carlos’s eyes turned back to Ilya. He had taken back his old distant and cautious demeanor and put on his distant smile. Ilya chose not to push too much.
“Yes. I can imagine.” he said. But truthfully he couldn’t understand. Of course he couldn't. He had chosen to trust his rival. From the very first moment, the first moment he saw him. The first day Shane smiled at him with all those freckles Ilya accepted that he had no choice but to trust. He had no other choice. Maybe Ilya was reckless at 19 but today looking back he was happy he took that brave step, happy he went to that hotel room that night. He couldn’t imagine otherwise. His gaze turned to Carlos. Had they… tried any chance? Was the man in front of him someone who tried his chance and regretted it? Or someone who never reached for that chance so he wouldn’t risk what he had now. For some reason Ilya wanted to continue. “I think especially with the pressure of the media it must be very hard to mentally get out of the rivalry too. Looking back now we were two rookies who had just entered the sport, everything was already hard enough and we were trying to hold on but the media fed this narrative every day as if two rivals should hate each other. Every goal we scored, every success of ours was always inside a comparison. And after all of that even being seen as friends somewhere terrified everyone. They acted like we betrayed the sport.” Ilya laughed in disbelief. He still remembered how much this situation terrified them. He noticed Carlos listening to him with pure attention. Opening his vulnerable side had made the man in front of him feel safe.
“Yes.” Carlos confirmed. “-sometimes you wouldn’t believe how even one sentence we used on the radio in that heated moment stayed as a news headline for days. People really want us to hate each other.” while all we wanted was just to love each other remained unfinished. Ilya looked at him compassionately.
“Oh tell me about it really.” he let out his breath. what a fucking day.
Soon Carlos and Ilya teamed up, and Shane teamed with Charles. And none of them questioned why all four of them were this excited just for a remote controlled car race.
“Okay, the race will consist of three rounds-” Sylvia announced “-we will blindfold one member from the team and they will use the controller while the one whose eyes are open will give directions to quickly guide the team to the finish point. Opening eyes during the race is forbidden, interfering with the other players’ car is forbidden (while saying this she carefully looked at Carlos and Charles. Charles shouted “Woo boring!” everyone laughed.) and the team that reaches the finish line fastest wins. And the points will be written to the driver’s board!”
After long arguments it was decided that Ilya’s eyes would be covered and Carlos would guide him. In Shane’s team everything was smoother, Shane would close his eyes and Charles would guide him. At one point those two started speaking French and from Shane’s tone Ilya could sense he had relaxed and maybe even started having fun. He looked at them. Golden boys. Ferrari’s prince and Canada’s golden boy. It wasn’t surprising why they got along so well. If Ferrari’s prince could take his eyes off Carlos or stop laughing with high pitched laughs at every joke he made, maybe Ilya would be jealous of this situation but right now he only smiled to himself. He looked at his own team, two men with thick accents who would do anything to make the golden boy in their lives smile: himself and Carlos. What a strange quartet.
The race was, in the simplest terms, chaos itself, Ilya realized how much they loved defeating each other as much as they loved making each other laugh. Each of them took the race incredibly seriously. And while the first round consisted of complete chaos, it was hard to grasp the controller, listen to directions and apply them. Ilya smiled at how excited he had become. Beside him he could hear Carlos constantly throwing remarks at Charles and giving directions with even louder enthusiasm from excitement, it was funny how much they got carried away. On the other hand he could hear Charles and Shane continuing in French.
“Hey! Can everyone speak in a common language please! I don’t know what he is telling him or how he is directing him, maybe he is giving secret clues?!” Ilya protested loudly. The group burst into laughter.
“We don’t need to cheat to defeat you Rozanov.” Shane announced from behind his covered eyes. Ilya could feel from his voice how focused he was on the game.
Two rounds had ended, Charles and Shane won the first round while Carlos and Ilya won the second. Every time the result was announced they took off their blindfolds to reset and every time Ilya caught either Carlos shoulder bumping Charles or Charles saying something to annoy Carlos. Lingering touches, inside jokes… hmm
Finally the last round had started and during the last round anyone passing by the room could think a war had broken out inside, Carlos and Charles’s shouting mixed into each other, while Ilya tried to figure out where he should go Shane reacted in a more adapted way. Charles and Shane took the 3rd round and celebrated it with a joy not very sportsmanship like. Even though Carlos made a huge fuss because he lost, he was watching Charles with a bright smile on his face, seeming like he could feel how much he enjoyed this. Shane looked at the controller in his hand and smiled “I don’t like fast cars but I loved this!” Ilya smiled too.
“I’ll keep this on my mind, Hollander.” checking Shane with his eyes. And he could feel how satisfied that competitive side inside Shane was. It was obvious he hadn’t expected to have this much fun coming here. But maybe being around Charles and Carlos was like this, somehow it made you feel like you were speaking the same language as them.
***
Sylvia announced there would be a short break to set the cameras and set for the other challenge and turned to the drivers offered “We’ll have 15 minutes. If you want you can also shoot the content for tiktok in the other room so it’ll be out of the way.” Another Ferrari employee approached Ilya and Shane to offer them something to drink or eat. Charles and Carlos went to the other room and Ilya could see them through the glass separating the rooms. As they turned on the camera and introduced themselves, they looked harmonious, as if they were performing a dance they had already memorized.. From what he heard Charles greeted everyone, Carlos continued and after a short pause they talked about how excited they were to race. While looking at the camera Carlos leaned towards Charles, their hair almost touching. Did these men have no issue being inside each other’s space? Ilya looked around wondering if he was the only one seeing this, everyone was rushing around somewhere, beside him Shane was still searching for tricks to play the remote control better, murmuring things to himself. Ilya smiled to himself. When he lifted his head and looked at them again he saw they were still filming, while Carlos looked at Charles with intense eyes and said something Charles blushed again. He couldn’t hear their voices anymore but he could guess Carlos challenged him with something and Charles got caught off guard by it. And he knew that passionate expression in Carlos’s eyes. Shane looked at him with the same dark and passionate expression. Sometimes during face offs, sometimes in bedrooms. Charles’s loud high pitched laughter at something he heard from Carlos pulled him from his thoughts again. They had finished the video and were standing pressed close together watching something on the phone. Carlos elbowed him to annoy him further and somehow this made Charles blush even more. Somehow all the jokes they made, all the laughter, all the subtle movement landed differently between them and made the air tickier. Ilya wondered if they knew, if they were really letting themself to know, to be aware of this. Because he knew how it felt, he was familiar with how running away and resisting felt. He sighed. Shane lifted his head and looked at him with curious eyes.
“You good?” he asked quietly, his voice sounding worried, Ilya’s heart flipped.
“Yeah all good, помидорик. How you doing?” Shane must have seen the soft expression in his eyes because his expression relaxed too.
“Fine, I am really having fun I guess.” Ilya smiled at him affectionately.
***
After Ferrari employees announced the set was ready everyone gathered again. The second challenge was in the form of question sets. “Between Rivals” they would again split into two teams and ask each other questions in turns. Without giving anyone a chance Shane said “I think we became a good team!” and walked towards Charles and Charles smiled at him. Ilya scoffed. Okay the Ferrari prince in front of him saw nothing but Carlos but Ilya was standing right here?! When he turned to Carlos he saw his eyes were also focused on Charles, his expression relaxed but his gaze sharp. Shane and Ilya were used to sharing each other, this was their dance too. But it was obvious Carlos and Charles weren’t used to this.
This challenge didn’t include a point system, they just had to give answers as correct and sincere as possible and in this way fans in the comments would rate both teams.
The teams took their places in front of the camera sitting while looking at each other. A few funny trivial questions flew around, Ilya noticed how passionately both men competed to show how much they knew each other. He wondered if they ever thought about what this meant, how much attention they paid to each other, the effort they genuinely spent to remember these things, what it all really meant.
When similar questions were directed towards them neither Shane nor Ilya rushed to answer. Ilya even knew the shades of red that fell on Shane’s face when he got angry, embarrassed or excited, whether he knew his favorite karaoke song (even if somehow they managed to convince Shane into karaoke) meant nothing. Shane knew this too. And anyway they still had to act distant in public, after all in the media’s eyes they had only recently become friends. But these boys were trying to show this with so much passion that Ilya watched them with a smile.
Now it was Ilya’s turn and he looked at the question card in his hand.
“Okay next question for Charles, what quality of your rival do you admire most?”
“Awww!” – Carlos shouted with unbelievable earnestness. Ilya could see how much this question delighted him. “– Tell them darling, how much you love me!” While Ilya still hadn’t processed the petname he heard, Charles giggled while dramatically rolling his eyes. Ilya glanced at Shane, he was watching them curiously.
“Okay the quality of Carlos i admire most…–” his eyes were fixed on Carlos. Ilya could feel he was deciding whether he should choose the safe answer or something sincere. “– it’s going to sound a little cliché but I guess as my rival I admire his hardworking nature and his ability to reset. No matter how bad a race is he can reset everything and focus on the next race with the same motivation and strength. And I find that’s very inspiring.” he smiled. He had gone with the safe answer but Ilya could see in his eyes he genuinely meant every word he said. Charles looked like he wanted Carlos to see that too. Then suddenly he smiled and added “–and of course I admire his hamburger cooking skills too. He is really good.” Ilya could feel the man next to him blooming. As Ilya observed in this dynamic Carlos was usually the one teasing the other man and making him blush but with the answer to this question Ilya could see the pink settling on the man’s cheeks beside him.
“T-thank you Charles!” he didn't push any forward. It was almost like he didn’t want to break all that seriousness. Charles looked at him. With the brightest eyes.
Ilya felt the atmosphere around them changing again. What exactly was going on in this Ferrari house? He looked around. Was nobody suspicious of anything? Was this an ordinary Thursday in the Ferrari? Wow.
“Oh man, are you really cooking hamburgers that good?”
“Well, yeah I'm very confident about this” Carlos smiled brightly.
“This is great, Shane also makes great hamburgers on some days he feels really crazy. Of course if he remembers to divide the recipe by two.” He teased and looked at Shane. His beautiful boyfriend.
“Asshole!” Shane threw one of the cards in his hand at him and Ilya burst into loud laughter. The moment Shane did that he turned towards the people behind the camera “Oh my god im sorry. Should I take them? Sorry. Getting along with Rozanov is seriously an incredible challenge. Sometimes” he glared at Ilya. Ilya let out a delighted laugh. Even after years he still loved how he could get under Shane`s skin.
Carlos let out a soft laugh, looked at the card in his hand and continued, “Okay Shane, the same question goes to you. What quality of your rival do you admire most?” Shane turned to Carlos. The playful spark in his eyes was gone, he had returned to his distant, detached expression.
“Hmm right now answering this is very annoying but -” he grumbled “-okay. I guess the trait I admire most in Rozanov is that he is a really good hockey player. probably one of the best.”
“Oh my god! I never woke up expecting to hear from Shane Hollander that I’m the best hockey player today! Everyone got that on camera right?!! Wow!” Ilya shouted mischievously with a bright face.
“I said one of the best as–” he stopped himself “–Rozanov.” Shane tried to look annoyed but Ilya could see the smile reaching his eyes.
“Nope. All I heard you said is that I'm the best! Everyone heard it right? Everyone?” Ilya pushed a little bit again. Beside him Carlos was laughing hard.
“Mate chill out, he said one of the best.” Carlos pointed.
“Traitors.” Ilya whined.
“Well that's enough and the next question fits perfectly–” Shane continued, “–Carlos, what trait of your rival annoys you the most?”
“Aaah. This one is easy.–” he smiled. Ilya saw Charles watching him with curious expectant eyes. He knew this question would also be directed at him and that he needed to think about it too but he was invested in Carlos’s answer. “–the trait that annoys me most is his ability to fall asleep almost immediately!” he rolled his eyes dramatically. And Ilya heard Charles burst into high pitched laughter from across. “–this man could sleep anytime anywhere.” Ilya was trying to understand in which universe complaining about your teammate’s sleeping abilities had become this normalized.
“Well I have nothing to object to this. He is right and I'm very proud of my sleeping skills” Charles smiled proudly. Ilya shaked his head in disbelief and smiled.
“Okay, Ilya same question for you, what trait of your rival annoys you the most?” Charles turned to him. Ilya pretended to think.
“That he is so boooooring.” answered dramatically and then turned to Shane and held his gaze for a second. That this was his way of telling him he loved him so much. Others didn’t need to hear it. It was enough if Shane understood. And judging by the sparkle in Shane’s eyes he had understood. Ilya smiled. “And I will not add any other detail.”
“What do you mean by boring mate?” Carlos asked with genuine curiosity.
Ilya turned to him and shrugged “No further comment, i said.” he answered.
“Alright. Okay I guess the last question goes to all of us.” - Carlos started while turning to the paper in his hand. - “What's the best and worst part of being in a rivalry?” The question landed silently between four men.
“Ah this is such a good question. I guess the best part of being in a rivalry–” Shane lifted his eyes and looked at Ilya for a brief second then turned back to Carlos. “– especially being rivals with Rozanov is that we can constantly challenge each other. Like I said earlier he is a really good hockey player and constantly pushes me towards improving too. And the worst part is… ah I guess always feeling like you need to feed a narrative. Being rivals doesn’t mean hating each other. It means wanting the same goal with the same passion, people confuse this.” Shane completed his sentence. Ilya noticed the pink settling on his cheeks. He had given a sincere and honest answer. Ilya loved looking at Shane’s freckles closer when he blushed. Moments like these made him feel like he could count every one of those freckles.
“Yes actually I think we’ll all give the same answer to this question.–” Charles took his turn answering. “–Because actually for me it’s the same too. Rivalry works a bit differently in Formula 1 actually we are rivals with every driver on the grid and of course this pushes us forward. But working for the same team with your teammate while also trying to individually improve and win is an incredible challenge. Still despite all this the best part of being rivals with Carlos is that he turns me into my best version every day. On track both of us are incredibly fast, we have similar abilities. And throughout all these years we helped each other improve incredibly. And I guess on another side the best part of being rivals with him.. uh is knowing that even if things are said during the highest moments we can come back, talk and solve it.–” Charles smiled faintly at Carlos. Ilya wasn’t sure anymore if they were still talking about rivalry. Did these boys really have no awareness of themselves? “–I guess this provides freedom and makes everything more breathable.”
Ilya looked at Carlos. He looked stunned. His gaze focused on Charles. Ilya could tell he was barely holding himself back from making some funny comment and changing the intensity of the topic. So was that a confession? An apology? What more did this man need to understand? Ilya wanted to dig a little more.
“Well if we focus on the continuation of the question then what is the worst part of being rivals with Carlos?” Charles lost himself for a second and turned to Ilya.
“Oh. Right, yes. Hmm i guess, about the worst part I’ll agree with Shane. The media part. We are both very fast, our results are very close, always being in such close competition can get exaggerated and interpreted by the media. That could be the bad part. I guess. Just that, yes.” he completed his sentences. He held Carlos' gaze for a minute. And for a moment the air in the room got thicker. What kind of bubble were they really inside. Ilya shook his head in disbelief. He wanted to grab these boys by their heads and smash them together. Then after a few seconds that felt like a lifetime Charles pulled his eyes away from Carlos and turned to Ilya, his expression had changed back into his old distant state.
“Alright Ilya, what's the best and worst part of being in a rivalry with Shane?”
Ilya’s answer was ready, for years he had learned to brush off questions like these with memorized answers. He couldn’t give any of the answers actually in his mind so he lined up his rehearsed answers. Shane must have recognized his answers because without wasting time he turned to Carlos, now it was his turn.
“Carlos, what's the best and worst part of being in a rivalry with Charles?” he asked. Carlos looked detached from the environment and the moment he heard his own name he returned. Ilya wasn’t even sure he heard his own answer. His eyes still drifted to Charles, he looked affected by the answer he gave. Carlos cleared his throat.
“Actually I think my answer won’t be very different from everyone else’s. One of the best parts of being rivals with Charles is not only how well we understand each other on track and immediately get each other but also being a good duo offtrack too, we have common tastes and interests, we love playing chess together and turning that into a competition too. So being able to get along with someone you see more than your own family provides some kind of comfort. But in the same way being able to work together, both of us being equally hungry to bring the team upwards, both of us being equally fast allows us to improve and push each other forward.–” his eyes focused somewhere on the floor, then he continued “ –and the worst part I guess. he is complicating my life. sometimes.” he smiled faintly at Charles.
Ilya could feel this was some kind of language just like the one he used with “boring” to Shane right now. So that's why he didn't push. He only looked at Charles. There was a flirty almost shy smile in Charles’s eyes.
From behind the set they announced that time was up, and Charles and Carlos looked at the camera thanking everyone watching and also Shane and Ilya for accompanying them. The intense atmosphere from earlier had disappeared and been replaced with the same light mischievous mood again. Ilya wondered if living this on edge all the time exhausted the two of them.
***
Now it was time to leave the garage. While waiting to say goodbye Charles came with the remote controlled cars from earlier in his hands.
“You had a lot of fun with these. We wanted them to be a memory from us. They are yours.” he handed them to Shane and Ilya.
“Aw man. You guys are really nice! Thank you!”
“If you are not in a hurry, stay for dinner with us. It was really nice meeting you!” Carlos continued.
“Thank you really but we also have to make it to our schedules. But we will be here at the weekend that's for sure! Good luck to you!” Ilya answered. He was genuinely glad to have met them. While the men in front of him looked at them with bright eyes they were again standing very close and Ilya could sense that even with the cameras off these men enjoyed being in each other’s personal space.
He looked at Carlos once more. He wanted to tell him that sometimes taking the risk was worth it, that sometimes giving your rival a secret could become the best thing in this world. Carlos lifted his head too and for a moment they made eye contact. They smiled. Ilya hoped he understood at least a little.
After saying goodbye and leaving they settled into the car that had brought them there. And while the car slowly moved away from the circuit area Ilya looked at the Ferrari remote controlled cars gifted to them in front of him. Then he leaned closer to Shane who was watching outside the window and whispered.
“Hey Shane…” Shane turned to him with curious eyes.
“Yes?”
“Did you feel something between them too?”
***