Fast.

Game Face.

"THAT'S MONEY YOU JUST COST MY SPONSORS, WATCH YOURSELF BITCH."

~☾☘︎︎☽~

I breathed in heavily as I tightened the Velcro of my gloves around my wrists.

"All I ever wanted was you."

I shivered remembering Iida's words, remembering his voice in my ear making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Hey, (Y/N)!" Exclaimed my manager Mari as he made his way across the room to me. "You ok? You ready for your win today?"

"Yeah, yeah. My mind is just wandering." I explained.

"Hey, look at me," Mari said, putting his clipboard down and putting his hands on the sides of my face. "That interview? Nothing. You hear me? The media will forget about it in no time. But now it's time for game face."

"Right. Game face." I said.

"Game face. Ok? Let me hear you." He said, patting my cheek.

"Now? Really?" I whined.

"Yes, now let me hear you, come on." He patted my cheek again, shifting his weight and making eye contact.

"Game face." I said unenthusiastically.

"Come on, you can do better." He said sternly.

I let out a weak 'Game face!' that sounded like it was trying to be a yell but didn't make the cut and rolled my eyes.

"Come on!" He yelled at me, slapping my face lightly and then gripping it tighter.

I yelled it again, louder and more annoyed at his pushing.

"Louder! Game face!" He screamed.

"Game face!" I screamed from the top of my lungs. He smiled, tapping my cheek with his hand.

"That's my star. Go win you a race."

(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)/(/)

I slammed the gas, bracing myself against the wheel as I lurched forward. The inside of the car was hot, my racing suit not making the heat any better. The padding on the inside of my helmet pressed against my face, making my cheeks puff slightly.

"All I ever wanted was you."

Stop it, stop it, stop it! You can't think about that right now, you're on the track!

I shook my head as slightly as I could with my helmet on and kept my eyes on the road. Iida really couldn't have picked worse timing to tell me his feelings.

Now he's all I can think about.

I glance at my mirror, looking behind me to clear my head. Slowly the cars behind me multiply as I pass them, and I watch as a few go even farther back.

I hear the roar of the crowd outside my car, cheering different racers on. Over it all, I hear my fans chanting for me. The chant becomes louder and louder as I get closer to a turn in the track.

A group of them must have sat together.

I stuck my hand out of the open window of the car, waving and listening to the excited shouts of my fans.

I continued on, staying in second place almost the whole way around the track. The only person ahead of me wasn't far up, and we were teasing each other. He would swerve in my direction, trying to deter me, but it never worked.

I sped on, trying to keep Iida off my mind.

Iida.

Iida.

Iida.

Iida Tenya. His name rolled of my tongue so easily, making my mind fuzzy with how love sick I was over him. His hair was perfect, I thought, remembering the short time we had spent in each other's presence. Not a hair out of place either time. I wondered what his glasses prescription was. His eyes didn't look big or small through the lenses really, so he can't have that bad of an eyesight issue.

"Fuck." I whispered, hitting the wheel with my fist. I couldn't stop thinking about him. About what he said.

"You alright?" Mari asked through the earpiece I had on.

"Yeah." I said swiftly, coming back to reality. I breathed slowly, looking around. I was at the beginning of the track again, on my second lap. There were more cars in front of me, I had let myself get passed. I sped up slightly, trying to get back in higher rankings.

"You sure? You're falling behind, what's happening?" Mari sounded worried, he always was whenever I went out because of that crash I had a few years back.

"I'm fine, I'm in it now." I assured him, nearing the starting line again and now in second place.

This track curved and twisted in so many different ways, it wasn't a normal loop. I only had five laps to do instead of the usual two hundred required on a regular loop track.

I jerked to the side in my seat, quickly regaining control of the wheel.

"Asshole." I said in regard to the guy who hit me. It wasn't much, he didn't crash me. It was more of a warning. "That's money you just cost my sponsors, watch yourself bitch."

"Forget him, leave him in the dust star." Mari said.

"You got it boss."

I sped up, trying to get around the guy. We played around for a little bit, him acting like he was gonna hit me again with me dodging.

I finally got past him, speeding up as much as I could.

"Ata girl, ata girl! That's my star!" Mari exclaimed, making me laugh.

"When is the pit open?" I asked, watching the man who hit me in my rear view mirror.

"Pit is open now."

"Got it." The rest of the racers were pretty far behind, while that one guy was still pretty persistent. "God damn dude, lay off. You're right my ass." I whispered, glancing back at him. 

I pulled over into the pit, letting the pit crew work on my car. I leaned out of the window, taking off my helmet and taking a bottle of water from Mari's outstretched hand. I drank it down, pausing to let him wipe my face of sweat.

"Game face right? No distractions."

"Yep," I panted, "game face."