peridot | lando norris

7|monaco|

lando pov.

its the next day, and we were packing up to go back home. it was around 2 pm and i'd brought the yacht back to the shore since our time with it was up. niamh had spent all morning the water and we went for a couple jet skii rides, maeve went on one with niamh too which was definitely good to see.

"lando i can stay at the hotel-" "bullshit. you're here for like 8 hours more. its not worth it. come with us" i tell her and niamh nods from the passenger seat. "mom please? monaco is fun" she sighed in the back seat and gave in. niamh wanted to have a lunch day out with the both of us. last night, when i put her to bed she mentioned it. i knew neither maeve nor i could say 'no' because there wasn't a proper reason to decline it and that's why we were now on our way to lunch at niamh's favourite restaurant here.

i never liked pasta as much as niamh did, and probably ate more pasta with her than i do in the rest of the year. she'd love italy for sure.

we reached the restaurant and were brought to a table immediately since i'd made a reservation. maeve looked at the menu and then up at niamh who was sitting beside me, beaming in her seat. "you've never been before, have you? they have the best ravioli" she tells maeve and nods. "i see, how's the risotto?" she asked me and i blink. "sorry, zoned out for a minute there. mushroom one's nice" i tell her. we place our order and niamh looks out of the window at the sea. 

"can we go to the aquarium today?" niamh asks, turning around to look at me. "aquarium? i think so" i unlock my phone and check the timings. it closes at 6 so we'd definitely be able to make it there before then. it's been on her list for  while but somehow we just never end up going. it'll be nice change of scene from the coast.

"do you think we'd have time to go play padel?" niamh spoke up and i looked at maeve who was looking at me. i pout and shake my head. 30 was catching up to me because i was exhausted from the night before. being in the water for so long really drains you out, unless you're niamh because her energy goes through the roof.

"i dont think we can. maybe if we'd left earlier. we can do the aquarium and keep padel on the list for next time. besides there's only three of us since oscar left" she huffs and nods. "okay." we ate our lunch, with niamh talking mostly. maeve was listening for the most of it,  not speaking up as much. she did this a lot whenever i was around. she really tried to give niamh and me time without her because that's how niamh's life was with her but she never understood that, that it's not what i want.

niamh's questions lingered in my head, two very specific ones. and spending the day with maeve, i couldn't not think about them.

i brought us to the aquarium and niamh was literally taking everything in, spending a good amount of time near each specie studying them. of a decade of living here, i'd only been here once many years ago by myself. it was good coming back, it was a cool place. not something i'd go to by myself ever again though because it quite literally smells like fish everywhere.

"lando, stand right there" i heard maeve say and i freeze. niamh has her mouth wide open as maeve clicks a picture on her phone and shows it to me. "that was so cute!" niamh says, looking at the photo and i look her creeped out. "a stingray halo is cute?" i ask her and she nods. the stingray was swimming upwards, whilst facing the glass making it look like a back halo behind my head. it was a silly picture and niamh didn't stop giggling about it every couple of minutes. she was a happy kid and that's all that mattered at the end of it all.

we make our way around the aquarium, niamh and maeve both oogling over certain tanks while i felt content with their smiles. there were a few bizzare interests the two shared that never necessarily appealed to me but all of my hobbies were sports so i wasn't exactly one to object it. "that was so awesome" niamh said as we walked out through the gift shop. a shark plushie caught my eyes and i walked up to it, grabbing it to see if it was of good quality before calling niamh over.