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Cecil pulled into the pit lane, his whole body jittering with adrenaline as he rolled into the spot marked #1, his spot, and sat in his car, engine off, hands pressed to the visor of his helmet as he grinned and laughed and cried, just a little, to himself. He could hear muffled noises of the crowd cheering, hear the pit crews pouring out of the pit boxes, ready to celebrate. Out of the corner of his eye Cecil saw Kevin’s car pull into the spot marked #2 and he watched as a cameraman descended on the other driver like a vulture, circling the car as Kevin pulled his brace and wheel out angrily, all but throwing them onto the nose of his car and watching them slide along the orange paintwork as he unbuckled his belt to get out.
Cecil turned away from Kevin, it was a fair move he’d pulled, the stewards agreed, and no one had been hurt. Kevin was only bitter because it locked him into second place in the driver’s Championship, for the third year running, unless Kareem beat him in the next race. Cecil took a series of deep breaths as he watched Kareem pull into his spot, #3, and crossed his arms over his chest, unclipping each side of his brace and pulling it out over his head, setting the carved foam upside down on the nose of his car and tugging his wheel out of its slot, placing it between the brace’s arms where it wouldn’t slide off.
Cecil fumbled with his belt buckle, laughing as his fingers shook and made it hard to separate the clips, resolutely ignoring the camera creeping up beside him, splitting itself between watching him and Kareem climb out of their cars. Kareem managed to get out first, shaking his head fondly at Cecil as he slapped a hand on top of his helmet, reaching down to tug the top buckle out of the harness and letting Cecil free. Kareem offered Cecil a hand out of his car, an offer that Cecil took gladly, heaving himself out of his car and throwing his hands in the air victoriously, letting the cheers wash over him as he patted his car gently wrapping an arm around Kareem’s shoulders and waving at the crowd with his free hand.
Kareem tugged his helmet off, tucking it under his arm and leaning into Cecil’s embrace before shrugging the older driver off, running over to their crew with a camera hot on his tail as he all but jumped over the barrier to celebrate. Cecil followed slowly, tugging his own helmet off and running his fingers through his hair as he watched hands reaching out to ruffle Kareem’s hair, pat his cheeks and shoulders, pull him into hugs. Cecil grinned, descending into his crew, his second family, all the people that worked on his car, making it run, making it safe, making his pit stops as smooth as possible and helping him win.
He saw the Erikas, their joking name for their pit team when they found out they had an Eric, an Erika and an Erickson in their ranks, and grinned at them all, reaching out to embrace them first and shouting a thanks into as many ears as he could. Cecil then moved on to the engineers and the race managers, hugging Tamika, their lead strategist who grinned and ruffled Cecil’s hair, congratulating him on a job well done, and Megan, their mute second-in charge. When they parted, Megan waved Cecil across further, towards Carlos, sweet Carlos, the engineer that had only started this season and had taken such good care of Cecil’s car, doing everything in his power to make it the best car possible, and doing an especially astounding job considering the crash Cecil had had yesterday.
“Cecil!” Carlos shouted excitedly, grinning broadly and leaning out over the barrier to grab Cecil, pulling the driver into a hug with one hand across his shoulders and one in his hair. “Congratulations you did so well out there!” Carlos’ cheeks were flushed with his enthusiasm, his nose almost busing Cecil’s as they locked eyes, both beaming and riding the high of victory.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, you know.” Cecil said, the hand not holding his helmet wrapped around Carlos’ waist.
It wasn’t unusual, the way Cecil pressed his forehead against Carlos’. No, lots of drivers did that after a win, sharing their victory with their team and engineers, and the camera circling away from Kareem to focus on them, on their moment of pride, wasn’t anything new either.
What was new was the way Carlos’ eyes darted downwards, his tongue darting out quickly to lap over his lips before the hand fisted in Cecil’s hair pulled slightly, tugging on the sweat slicked hair as the engineer pressed forward, fitting his lips to Cecil’s and kissing him suddenly. Cecil gasped, his grip on his helmet loosening and dropping the head gear, getting swept up in the emotion, in the feel of Carlos pressed against him as he wrapped his now-free hand around the engineer, all sounds of the crowd fading into the background as he kissed Carlos back, licking at his lip and humming softly as his eyes slid shut.
They parted with a gasp and a slight feeling of head rush as the sounds of the crowd came back into focus, staring wide-eyed at each other before Cecil laughed, loud and bright and pulled Carlos in for another kiss, nipping at the engineer’s lips and not caring about the camera moving in, trying to get a better angle, or the way Tamika was rolling her eyes, or the Erikas sighing and passing money between themselves. Carlos broke the kiss, grinning slightly maniacally at Cecil and stroking his cheek.
“You have to go, get weighed, get your trophy .” Carlos laughed, pressing his forehead to Cecil’s again. “I’ll be here, watching, and waiting when you’re done.” Carlos pushed at Cecil’s shoulder, shoving the driver towards the weigh bridge and cool-down room. “And well done!”
Cecil scooped his helmet up off the ground and jogged backwards, waving at the crowd, the fans, the cameras, and blowing kisses to Carlos, grinning as the engineer laughed, shaking his head and making a shooing motion with his hands.