You Have Me

Chapter 1

"Are you ok?" Daniel asked Aurora, his teammate. They were doing a sit down for some McLaren YouTube content. It was kind of a "answering fan questions" type thing. He could tell she wasn't feeling comfortable, constantly shifting around in her directors chair style seat. However, he could see it in her face too.

They'd been teammates for 2 years and had both just renewed their contracts with McLaren, securing atleast another 2 years together. Over the last 2 years, they had become closer than any of the other drivers on the grid. They often joked how they could communicate just by looking at each other. Which was no exception right now as he watched her brows furrow, clearly in agony as she shuffled in her chair again.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with" she brushed him and the pain off as she finally found a comfortable position in her chair. Daniel looked at her with a stern face, silently saying "I know something's wrong and I'm not going to let this go" to which she gave him a knowing look with a small apologetic smile.

"I promise I will talk to you after this ok? They've been on us to do these questions for weeks and I don't want another stern lecture from our PR's".

Daniel thought for a second and then nodded in agreement, also not wanting another lecture. He got up and moved his chair closer to her, fuck social distancing he thought. After he sat back down he reached his hand over to give Aurora's hand a gentle squeeze while picking up the question cards to look through them. He briefly, unconsciously, laced his fingers with hers, making her smile and sigh contentedly before she let go to look through the cards she had.

Daniel felt protective over her ever since they first met. He knew she would be subject to much more scrutiny than him or anyone else just because she was a woman in a heavily male dominated sport. She also wasn't as young as some of the other drivers when they first join f1. She was only a few years younger than him, as opposed to the late teen to early 20s the rookies usually are nowadays.

She had been a reserve driver for Williams for years when McLaren had taken an interest in her, so she wasn't really new to the sport, but just new to the grid and the spotlight. Daniel had 10 years of experience and wanted to make sure she knew she could count on him to have her back.

Which he did on several occasions that first season, often speaking up during press conferences or interviews when a journalist would overstep. He respected her though, giving her a moment to stand up for herself first, which she often did. It was only when the question was pushed that he'd speak up.

Over time, it became apparent to Daniel that he had strong feelings for his teammate. He wasn't sure if it was romantic, but he knew it was more than just friends. He began to think maybe they were soulmates, destined to always be in each other's lives in some way. He was always happy to see her or hear from her whenever they weren't together and he texted her constantly in the off season, just missing her presence.

She had become his favorite person, his best friend. During the racing season, he would always miss his close friends back in LA or Perth, but during off season he realized he missed Aurora just as much. It was like they'd always known each other. He had just as close of a connection with her as he did his childhood friends and it surprised him. He was the type of guy that could easily make friends in a room full of strangers, but he'd never met someone else who had that same ability. He figured that was what created their strong bond so quickly.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when Aurora spoke up. "Ready?" she asked him. He nodded and smiled at her as the team turned the camera on. This was going to be fun, they hadn't done a video like this in a while and they were always his favorite because he was allowed to goof around since it was for the fans anyway.