Moscow Mule - [Pierre Gasly]

XX

            Pierre let himself fall on the bed with a groan. It had been a long day at the track and his whole body felt sore. The porpoising of the car was worse than ever here on the street circuit of Baku, and his back was aching terribly. Pyry had been loosening up his muscles for over an hour before applying some tap to his back and shoulders. "How are you feeling, baby?" Azar asked, her hand rubbing the back of his neck while he was still face down in the sheets. He hadn't moved for at least five minutes already. "Like I turn 80 next year instead of 28," Pierre complained, turning over to his back. "Just tomorrow is left of the race weekend," she said, knowing they couldn't do much about it. "And you did amazing today," Azar continued, caressing his face. Pierre qualified P6 for the race on Sunday, and it was an amazing result, even though the car was horrible to drive on the bumpy circuit. The aerodynamics of the car caused the floor of the car to be suctioned towards the ground, the so-called ground-effect, and the drivers could clearly feel it in their backs after multiple sessions of driving.

"Do you want me to fill up the bathtub with some hot water?" Azar asked, taking her shoes off and reaching for the fluffy hotel slippers that were placed next to the bed by the hotel staff. "Yes, please," Pierre replied, moving to sit up. "Order some room service meanwhile, some wine? A cocktail?" Pierre followed up, starting to get his shoes off his feet. "I'm up for anything, just order something," Azar called from the bathroom as she let the water run and become hot. They were going out for dinner with his crew later to celebrate the great result of qualifying. "No champagne?" Azar asked, leaning against the wall as he ended the call to the hotel staff. "Champagne is for Sunday," Pierre answered with a grin, making him chuckle. He joined her in the bathroom, checking how much of the tub was filled already. "Does it matter if the tape gets wet?" Azar asked as he took his shirt off. "No, it's fine, Pyry said he'd replace it tomorrow before the race," he hummed in response. "Are Daria and Nadri coming tonight?" Azar asked. "Yeah, I suppose they are, I didn't speak to Nadri before we went back here," Pierre said.

He stripped from the rest of his clothes and swung his legs over the marble edge of the tub before sinking into the hot water and the foam of the soap she added. Azar went up to the door when the staff knocked and came to bring their drinks. She handed them over to Pierre before stripping from her clothes as well and putting her hair up in a bun. Azar joined him in the tub, resting back against it. "You ordered me a Moscow Mule?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "I did," Pierre said, offering her a lopsided grin. "It was the first drink you made me order when we met in Miami," he continued. "You can be as cold as Moscow in winter and taste so bittersweet, mon amour." Azar cocked her head sideways. "That's supposed to be a compliment?" she asked, sipping from the cocktail. "Yes, because it's what made me addicted to you after meeting you for five seconds," Pierre said, putting his glass down on the floor and tugging on her arm. Azar moved into his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders without spilling her drink. "I bumped into you in the paddock while you were taking pictures and you accused me of being in the way," he chuckles, while she rolled her eyes.

"I'm embarrassed, please stop telling me this. I felt like a baddie that weekend," Azar said, causing him to laugh. "And then I begged you to have a drink with me, and you looked so fucking hot when we had that drink in your hotel," Pierre continued. "I was hoping you'd be nice to me, but you kissed my cheek and slammed the door of your room in your face," he said, still smiling. "And you were teasing me so bad the whole weekend. Pyry tried to talk you out of my head, but I couldn't stop thinking about you." That made her smile too, and she looked into his eyes. "And ever since I haven't been able to either," Pierre said. "Aren't you a romantic person," Azar brushed her fingers over his cheekbones. "I love you," Pierre said, her eyes flickering up to his, and the movements of her fingers stopped. "I love you too," Azar softly said, kissing his lips. "We need to get ready for dinner," she said then, making him groan when his lips were about to descend her neck. "That line keeps interrupting the nasty, filthy, se-..." Azar snorted, pushing his face away before finishing her drink. "Come on, let's celebrate your amazing qualifying day," she said, getting out of the tub to get a towel.

Azar and Pierre got ready for dinner and met his crew and some friends an hour later in the heart of Baku. She had already met his part of the AlphaTauri garage before, but it was nice to interact with them in a less serious setting. They told her all sorts of stories about the many years they had spent with Pierre already. Pierre told her earlier that he was part of the Red Bull family for a long time already, but that changes might be coming at the end of this season. Azar just wanted him to be happy. She'd be fine supporting him from another garage as well.

             "Good luck, be careful, hmm?" Azar kissed his cheek before he nodded at her. He let go of her hand till she was out of reach, and she smiled at him over her shoulder. There was an hour before the race left, and Pierre had moved back into his driver's room, preparing to get into the right headspace. She didn't want to distract him, and she moved into the back of his side of the garage to get her headphones and chat with Daria, watching the ceremony that followed not much later, seeing her boyfriend on the grid and waving to the people during the parade. Azar's heart rate went up a little each minute that inched closer to the time of lights out, and she realized that she really, really loved being here, watching him race and supporting him from his garage. Azar drummed her fingers on the panel in front of her when the cars approached the grid after the formation lap, watching how Pierre lined up on P6. All five lights were out and he sped away. She needed Daria to shut up whenever she started talking, because Pierre was doing so well.

The pitstops went perfect, the strategy worked out well. She knew how important the points were for him and the team, and she knew how much he wanted to do well after the qualifying on Saturday. The final ten laps were nerve wracking, even though the gap to Lewis in front of him and Sebastian behind was sufficient for him to keep it up till the end of the race. She had gotten nervous after some drivers DNFed with engine issues or hydraulica issues, but Pierre kept going, and it looked like he was going to bag some serious points. Azar couldn't care less about the winner and the other two drivers on the podium. She also couldn't care about the Ferrari drivers who couldn't score any points (sorry). She knew this race and Pierre finishing in P5 would feel like a win to him, and that was enough for her. Azar couldn't wait for him to get out of the car and to hug him tightly, to kiss his sweaty cheeks and squish his face that would have the lines of his balaclava and helmet all over them. She had to wait awfully long for him to come into the garage after he needed to be weighed and was called over to the media penn.

She was patient nevertheless, not moving from her spot in front of the AlphaTauri hospitality. Azar finally saw him walking up to her, his cap was backwards on his head, his suit was dangling around his waist and there was a grin on his face that had to hurt the corners of his mouth. She wrapped her arms around him, and he lifted her from the ground. "You did so well, baby," Azar said as he put her back on the ground, leaning down to kiss her. "You were my lucky charm, mon amour," Pierre smiled, kissing her once more. "Come on, let's go." His arm wrapped around her waist, and they made their way into the hospitality, knowing they never wanted to be separated again. 

F I N I S 

A/N: Ahw girls and girlettes, this was the last chapter of the book <3 I loved Azar's character and I loved writing about them together. I think their energies matched so well and I hoped you experienced it the same way. Especially with how playful she was at the start and making him chase her (maybe a little tooooo long). Anyway. The epilogue will be up soon and then it's definitely the end of the story.