"I belive I found a love the night you walked my way"
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Iso never thought that he would once drive down these legendary racetracks... not to mention doing it with a special someone.
He was a young boy who won some local races and got the opportunity to actually go and learn from professionals. He was overjoyed, to say the least, and accepted amidiedly. And that meant, that he also agreed to go overseas all alone... Oh, why was he not thinking more about it?
On his first day, he was more than scared.
It was the first time he have ever left Chonqing, not to mention China. Hungary was completely foreign, not just from his history books but geography too. He only knew that he was going to a random country that has a good track where he can train.
He drowned himself in music and tried to relax, but that was not very possible when other training lessons were held just under his window. Hungaroring was a challenging racetrack, lot of turns and technical parts, and that guaranteed a lot of yellin from the coach and of course, deep rumbling from the cars.
And so, he decided to check out the boxes. He was free to walk all around the place, but he still felt unwelcome. No one greeted him nor tried to talk as he walked past a group of adults, most likely mechanics. He reached his own assigned part. A beautiful honda greeted him, the NSX's black surface reflecting the surroundings: it seemed to be newly painted.
Iso allowed himself to step closer and ghost his fingers over the car's roof. It was cold, as expected in november, the warmth of his hand left soon fading marks of fog on it.
Suddenly, another car arrived into the box street, pulling him out of the short trance. He moved away from the vehicle like he did nothing and watched the white-green auto slowly turn to the box on his right and turn off the engines.
This was one of his teammates, he noted.
A young boy around his age opened up the door, a sligly tired but happy smile written all over his face. Tan skin, green hair, dark brown eyes... oh shit, Iso was staring.
"Ah, hey! Youre the newbie, am I right?" The other wawed at him.
"U-uhm yeah. Just arrived yesterday." He tried to tune his accent down sligtly, "Its nice to meet you, Im Zhao Yu."
"Im Mateo, welcome to the gang! Your weekends are free, correct? I can show you the track if you want." Mateo offered.
"Are we allowed to go out there alone?"
"Yep, on sundays everyone's got a green light if we tell the coaches. You know, explore and stuff with other cars outside of training." The shorter started to walk towards the exit after sheding his gear and grabbing his backpack.
The chinese instinctively followed as the other showered him in all kinds of welcoming and friendliness. Almost like time flew, they somehow got to the viewer's stand. They sat down and watched as some other pilots completed their laps and tried out different positions.
"Ay, you see that blue guy there?" Mateo signalled at a sleek azure car rolling out of the stables.
"Yeah?" He squinted at the vehicle.
"He was trained by Liam too, and actually won a race on this track before."
"Oh."
He knew that their coahes were 'legendary', but now teammates too? Holy shit, how did he even get here. He is just a random guy from Chonqing.
"You talked to him before?" Iso asked quietly.
"Yeah, but I was scared like shit, so it didnt go really far. Omen is a genius, so as a starter, I didnt even try to talk to him." Mate snickered.
"Omen? Like, Dimitri Oaks?" Purple eyes widened.
"Yep yep, that would be him."
"Oh shit. I mean, oh, thats unexpected." He corrected himself.
They shared a laugh at that and just watched as the bugatti crossed the finish line before them, completing it's first lap. Zhao felt so amazed. The man in question was just 26, only 9 years older than them, and was already such a well-known racer.
A mixture of many emotions weighed his stomach down as he observed the greek's car take the first narrow ( maybe too narrow for Iso's liking ) turn perfectly and move on, out of their sight. There was admiration, but also jealousy in his mind, tho he was more scared about sunday's ride with Mateo. It would be his first time driving on Hungaroring, and he dosent want to hold anyone up like an amateur, or in the worst scenario even cause an accident.
"It seems like everything they said about VALORANT is true." He sighed, a hint of a smile coming across his features.
"Hey, no need to be nervous. They are all chill." Those dark eyes were suddenly filled with care, so suddenly that Iso was taken aback.
"Easier said than done."
"Ayy, Im a nice guy too, arent I?"
"Yes you are?"
Did he just admit it? He did...
"See, and the others are friendly too. Even the seniors."
"I-... Ill see for myself or something like that." Iso tried to calm both Mateo and himself.
"Oh. Well, we have a groupchat, I can invite you. Everyone is a little more talkative there, you know?"
"Aaah, I see. Okay."
They exchanged discord IDs and well, now he was in the offical Valorant server. The coaches only had access to some channels, it was made by the youngers for 'fun', it seemed. He scrolled over the list of users, all having their own special roles like: Ramsay Stan, Minecraft alex, Samurai Jack...
Most of the references were foreign to him, but it was still somewhat funny even whitout knowing the story of how they got those roles and nicknames.
"You are now offically here."
"I was already recuited weeks ago." He looked up questioningly.
"A contract is nothing like joining the server, belive me!"
Suddenly, a bell sounded from somewhere far away. Was it for the jetlag, or Mateo, but Iso didnt feel tired even if the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.
Sadly, It was nearing dinner time and they both retrieved to their quarters, but Mateo never left Zhao's mind that day. He tossed and turned in bed, revisiting the moments that happened just some hours earlier.
If he was honest, Mateo never left his mind from the moment he saw him.
