racing hearts - a Fabio Quartararo fanfiction [🇬🇧]

chapter 4

[Accidentally in love - Counting Crows]

I was fortunate that the press has not yet found out which hotel the Redbull Racing team was staying at. So I was able to get into Fabio's car without any problems.
After a short greeting, he hugged me.
"Finally we meet again," he said, to which I could only agree. I had to admit that during the two weeks I missed him sometimes.
If I had told that to my "six months younger me" I probably would have gotten hit from her and would have been asked if I was still okay.
Fabio started his car and we struck up a conversation while driving.
We informed each other about everything that had happened in the last few weeks.
Sometimes the topic "upcoming racing season" came up, but neither of us wanted to waste the time by talking about work at the moment.
Sure, it was easy to talk to Fabio about motorsport, since he did it himself, but you still want to switch off and not constantly talk and think about work.

That was also the case with Mick and me. We can talk very good about work because we do the exactly same thing, but it was almost never our main topic.

Suddenly a question occurred to me, which I asked Fabio directly, "Can you finally tell me why I had to take my bathing suit with me, even though it's the end of February?"
Fabio slowly smiled and said, "No, you still have to be patient for this answer. But you'll see it then."
I realized that there was probably no point in asking further.
We got back to other topics when the car stopped shortly afterwards."So here we are," said Fabio as he parked the car in the garage.
I got out and looked at his house from the outside. I had to say that the wording house was a bit of an understatement. It looked a lot more like a villa.
"Wow," I spoke slowly.
I heard Fabio's short laugh as he watched my reaction.
"Looks like you like it."
I nodded and he unlocked the door and let me into the warm building.
I, like him, quickly removed my shoes and jacket before we continued inside.
"Shall we start with a normal little house tour first?" he asked, whereupon I tilted my head to the side asking, "Little?"
Fabio's laughter rang in my ears again and suddenly I felt something warm inside of me but we set off before I could think about whad I just felt.
He showed me the kitchen, the bathroom and then the living room.
I suddenly heard a sound behind me that resembled a tapping.
When I turned around, I saw a younger, black cat walking towards us.
"Hey, I didn't know that you're also a cat person," I said with a quick look at Fabio and then back at the black cat.
"Yeah, I don't have her that long, but she seems to like it here."
As the animal circled around my legs, I decided to pick it up.
I started scratching the back of the cat's head.
The cat's eyes closed and it began to purr loudly.
"Well, at least it looks like you guys are getting along really well. As soon as I get visitors, the little one always takes center stage," said Fabio, addressing the cat.
I couldn't help but laugh a little, so I put her down again, but my eyes were still on the cat.
"What's her name?" I asked.
"Jules."
I looked after her as Fabio led me further and showed me his training room, among other things.
"You can quickly put on your swimsuit in the bathroom and then I'll show you my favorite part of the house," he said, but the end of his sentence was drowned out by a noise.
He pulled out his cell phone as he got a call.
"Oh, I can do that later," he said more to himself than to me.
But I grinned at him though.
"Arctic Monkeys fan?" I asked since his ringtone was snap out of it from the Arctic Monkeys.
He smiled, "Yes... Arctic monkeys. They're probably one of my favorite artists."
"I guess we have something in common then," I said before I disappeared into the bathroom.
I quickly changed into my black bikini, which was closed with a bow at the back.
When I had changed, I went back out into the hallway. I heard noises from one direction, which I then took up.
I ended up in the kitchen and saw Fabio doing something with his back to me. He, too, was already in his swimming trunks, which meant that logically he was no longer wearing a shirt. I couldn't help but keep my eyes on his back.
Even though I quickly tried to put that strange thought out of my head, I had to admit that his muscular back threw me off balance for a moment, because it looked really good...
I caught myself staring and quickly averted my gaze before he noticed anything.
He turned to me.
"Here," he said, handing me a glass of pink liquid.
I gave the mysterious drink a quick pull on the straw.
"Hey, that tastes good, what is that?" I asked.
"I made it by myself. This is my special drink. But the recipe is secret, so I can't pass it on," he said in a mock pompous tone, which made me laugh.
Fabio motioned for me to follow him and he led me down to the bottom floor.
After the stairs, we were walking down a short corridor when I saw it. Looks like Fabio has an indoor pool.
"An indoor pool? Can I move in with you right away?" I asked ironically, looking up at him with a laugh.
"Sure, there's still room in my bed," he replied, although the ironic tone wasn't quite as clear as in my earlier sentence.
I looked up at him with a questioning look and at the same time we started to grin, not being able to keep eye contact for long and looked away from each other again.
I don't think either of us really knew what the grin meant, but we stood side by side in silence for a few seconds.
"Um... should we go in?" Fabio asked, breaking the silence. I nodded hastily, whereupon we parked our drinks at the edge of the pool and went into the water.
"You've been to Austria again since we last met, haven't you?" he asked. He must have seen my Instagram Stories.
"Yes, in Salzburg," I answered, nodding.
"Did you live there back then?"
"Well, I was born there, but moved to Spielberg relatively early. I think when I was five or six. Around the beginning of my karting days. Although I spent most of my childhood in Spielberg, I still feel more at home in Salzburg."
"And your family? Do they still live in Spielberg or did they move back to Salzburg after you got into the formula series?"
I didn't answer. It was too early to tell him. I did trust Fabio, but so far only Mick and Daniel knew.
"Let's talk about this another time," I spoke quietly as I stepped out of the pool and settled onto a lounge chair with my towel and drink.
Fabio looked at me confused and got out of the pool like me.
"Oh... I- um sorry. I didn't mean to- I...", Fabio spoke up desperately, apparently a little angry at himself for probably asking something inappropriate.
"Fabio, no problem," I said, "don't take offense, it's just... It's pretty complicated."
He sat down next to me and briefly stroked my back.
"Don't stress. If you're willing to tell, then you can do it. If not, then don't. But I'm here to talk, okay?"
I appreciated his words and nodded my thanks.
The depressed mood disappeared relatively quickly and we still enjoyed the time before Fabio finally drove me back to the hotel.
When he stopped the car, I looked at him.
"Thank you for the nice day."
"Thank you for finding the time and coming," he replied, smiling.
We looked away from each other as we start talking again at the same time, "We shou-"
Laughing, we cut each other off and made eye contact again.
I didn't know why, but we didn't interrupt it even though nobody spoke.
Suddenly I felt something on my hand and I knew without looking down that it was Fabios hand.
Something interrupted us. A tone.
Fabio's hand immediately disappeared from mine and the eye contact broke.
I pulled out my phone to see who was calling.
It was Mick.
"I should probably answer that. Bye then," I said goodbye.
I heard a bye from Fabio before I closed the car door and took Mick's call.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked.
"How do I use the washing machine again? There are too many buttons."
"How do you- Mick seriously?" I asked, thinking that he was trying to make a joke.
"Yes, you do that always, not me. Now help me!" he urged.
I couldn't suppress a short laugh when I finally made my way to my room explaining to Mick how to use the washing machine.
"And why is it glowing now?" he asked.
"Is it blue?"
"Yes."
"Then wait a minute, it should start right away. But Mick a quick topic change-"
My sentence was interrupted by Max, who was on his way to his room.
"So how was the date?" he asked with a grin.
"Oh shut up," I said and slammed the door to my room.
"So Mick-"
Once again I was interrupted.
"You had a date?" he inquired, hearing the smile he just had, though I didn't see it.
"Yes, so no, but... Oh God, I don't even know what it was and I'm absolutely confused!"
I said and described the moments to Mick that made today's meeting a little different.