F1 One shots

PT1 - Pierre Gasly

It's Thursday, and you walk down the stairs, stopping at the bottom step to take your shoes off before stepping on to the warm sand. It's golden hour, and you always come down to this beach to stare at the sunset. There's a nice breeze and there's only a handful of people on the beach, which makes you smile. You walk towards the spot you always occupy, frowning when you see someone else sitting there. You look around to find another spot, realising that for the best view you definitely need to sit at your normal spot. You decide to sit down a few feet away from the man, observing him while you calmly look and listen to the nature around you.

He's wearing a pair of white linen pants with a white hoodie on top, his wild hair pushed back with a bandana. His posture makes it look like he's tired, but you can't be sure since his eyes are behind a pair of sunglasses. His arms are wrapped around his knees, and he stares at one point in the horizon. 'He seems sad' you think to yourself, before grabbing your notebook and pencils. You try to draw the sunsets every evening you're here, which is almost every day. It calms you down, and it's created a nice community on social media as well. A lot of people follow you and send in their sunset or sunrise drawings, which is motivating and inspiring for you.

It's fun to see so much difference in colours and landscapes all over the world, which is something you can use for your work as an illustrator. While you set up the landscape around you, you realise that your eyes keep drifting back to the man on your left. You don't fully realise you're drawing him with the sunset behind him, until you're almost finished. He hasn't moved an inch, only stretching his legs once before returning to the same position. You continue your drawing, finishing it when the sun is almost fully down into the water. You take a few pictures of it, looking at the guy again before ripping the drawing from your notebook and walking over to him.

"Hi!" you say with a smile, stepping back a little when he turns towards you with a jerk. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" you say apologetically, "I just wanted to ask if you wanted to have my drawing? I wanted to capture the sunset, but you intrigued me, so I drew you in it." You stretch out your hand with the drawing while he stares at you. He takes it out of your hand after a few seconds, looking at the drawing before he pushes his glasses in his hair to see it better. "Wow, you're very talented" he mumbles, and your heart flutters when you hear the accent and his voice. "Thank you very much" you say with a smile.

"D-did I really look this sad though?" he stutters, looking at you with a shy expression. You debate your answer for a moment. He might be upset if you say yes and walk away immediately, or he likes that you're honest and you can maybe talk to him about it. "You did, actually. Yeah" you say softly. He nods, looking away from you towards the sea again. You point at the spot next to him, "may I sit down next to you?" He looks at you confused, before nodding while a blush spreads over his cheeks. You put the blanket you brought on the ground before sitting down on it, wrapping your arms around your knees. "What's your name, and why are you sad?" you ask him softly, looking at him with a curious expression.

"My name is Pierre, and I'm not really sure if I'm honest. I guess I'm feeling a little bit lonely" he says, looking down at his hands while he fiddles with his fingers. "I-I booked this vacation away for myself you know, to get out of my stressed head a little and just spend some time with myself." You hum, nodding while looking at the birds that fly around, relaxing their wings in the breeze. "I guess I'm not really sure what to do with myself when I'm alone. I don't even like eating alone, so I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. The hotel I'm staying at is also very luxurious and I'm not even in the mood for luxurious stuff" he sighs, and you smile at him. "So, you booked yourself a trip to this island, got a luxurious hotel room for yourself, and now you think to yourself 'I don't even like a luxurious hotel room'?" He nods, groaning before chuckling softly.

"I don't know what I was thinking to be honest. I kind of want to fly home tonight" you gasp, looking at him with wide eyes. "Are you crazy! Pierre, that would be a waste of money. Let me show you around, I have a flexible work schedule. You'll need to have fun on your own for a few hours during the day, but after that I can show you around" you smile at him. He looks at you with raised eyebrows, "are you serious?" You nod, telling him about some exciting hiking routes you know, nice restaurants and cool buildings he should definitely see. "But I don't want to stay in that hotel" he sighs, "they're also treating me with all these extra's and I just wanted to chill."

You hum, "alright, how about this? We have dinner together tonight, and if I still think you're a nice guy, you can stay at my place. I live in a cottage kind of house down the road," you point down the path you just walked on, "I have a spare bedroom where you can sleep." He looks at you with a confused face before he laughs. "You're not even joking!" you smile at the sound of his laugh, shaking your head before telling him you're serious about this. "Okay... Let's do that dinner then" he says, standing up before offering you a hand to get up from the blanket. He holds the blanket for you, while you walk towards one of your favourite small restaurants close to your place.

Before you know it, you're waiting in the lobby of the most luxurious hotel on the island, looking at the chandelier and wall art while Pierre is grabbing his bags from his hotel room. He looked much happier after dinner, opening up a little about himself, but mostly asking you questions. You didn't mind though, if he really decided to stay with you for the entire time that he was staying here, you'll probably get to know him soon enough. You look up when he calls your name, smiling at you when you walk towards him. "Do you have everything?" he nods, leading you towards the exit. "What did the hotel say?" he shrugs, "that I could get another room or treatment if I wanted to, but I just said that I found another place to stay and that I'll pay for the room." You look at him with raised eyebrows, but he exclaims "ice-cream!" before you can question him about it.

On Friday you're working until 2PM, while Pierre decided to stay at your place, reading a book that he found on your bookshelf. You walk into the living room after finishing up for the day, telling your colleagues that you'll some more work tonight if that's needed, but it's a calm week so everyone is taking it a little chill at work. You look around confused when you don't see Pierre anywhere, walking through the hallway before you walk onto your small veranda at the back of your house. You smile when you see Pierre sitting in the afternoon sun in one of your lounge chairs. He's wearing a white linen shirt on top of the same pants that he wore yesterday; his feet are bare, and his hair is ruffled. Probably from running his fingers through it, that seems to be a habit of his that you've observed the past few hours.

"Hello, you" you say with a bright smile. He looks up from the book, smiling shyly at you while his eyes rake over your body. "You look pretty today" he says, blushing furiously when he realises what he's said. "Thank you very much! You look handsome. Are you in the mood to go out into town or in the mood for a hike? Or do you want to stay and read? I'm fine with all options" you say, leaning against the railing while you look at Pierre. "Let's go for a hike, I haven't moved around a lot today" you hum, looking at him while he stands up before he stretches. His shirt rides up a little, and you groan inwardly when it doesn't go higher to show off his abdomen. You clear your throat, "okay, let me grab my socks and shoes. I'll pack some water and fruit as well." He hums, making sure there's a bookmark in his book before following you inside to put his socks and shoes on as well.

You wipe the sweat from your forehead before slumping down against a rock. You look at Pierre who seems to not have sweat a droplet during the hike, while he grins at you excitedly. "This view is awesome!" he exclaims, looking around and climbing a bit to take some pictures while you're catching your breath. You take out the water bottles and fruit, munching on the apple you cut up for yourself when Pierre finally sits down next to you. You hand him the water bottle, and he smiles at you before wrapping his hands around it. An electric shock goes through you when your hands touch, and you gasp before chuckling. "I guess we have great chemistry!" He chuckles before coughing, avoiding your eyes while he blushes.