【Ｆ１ ＩＭＡＧＩＮＥＳ】

[Ｍｉｃｋ Ｓｃｈｕｍａｃｈｅｒ]

I had been woken up at eight in the morning, on my first real day off in months, because my mom had agreed with Corinna that we'd go there early in the morning to enjoy the whole day at a lake nearby, all of us. Which meant my younger siblings and my father were coming along, as well as the Schumachers.
Now, I didn't have anything against the Schumacher family, I loved Michael, Corinna, and Gina dearly, but Mick and I were weird.
We'd had an on-and-off thing since we were fifteen, which usually meant we either were nearly a couple or wanted to drown each other in a pond. 
I figured this had been set up because for the first time in Lord knows how long, both Mick and I were home.
As a nurse, I didn't get much rest. I had just finished my degree and had been stuck working late nights as well as double shifts because most of the time the hospital was severely understaffed.
From our homes to the lake was about an hour-long walk, but there were no hills, so we could walk there just fine. I was planning just to get there, take off my dress, squeeze on some sunblock, and sleep away. I had brought a book I knew would get me sleepy, and I was about ready to just sleep. I had gotten used to short naps in the noisy hospital rooms, so my younger siblings running around and screaming shouldn't bother me much.
As Mom and Dad knocked on our neighbors' door, I turned to my siblings. My youngest sister, poor her, was only five and absolutely exhausted, so I picked her up, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. I looked at the twins, who seemed a little antsy as they shuffled from one foot to the other. 
"What is it?" I asked as I adjusted little Henriette on my arms. The twins shared a look as the small kid cuddled into me.
"We haven't spent much time with you lately, and we were wondering if you wanted to play for a little when we got to the lake?" They asked and I heard my other brother trying to hide his laugh. 
"Just a little okay? I really need to sleep." I said and the twins agreed, celebrating as I turned to Lukas, the second oldest of the five of us. "And what was the laugh all about?"
"With the way you usually oggle Mick, I don't think you'll be focused enough to play whatever complicated game those two come up with." He smirked and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Look at that," I said with a huff, "Just because he's eighteen he thinks he already knows stuff." 
Lukas rolled his eyes as our parents came toward us with the Schumachers. "Deflect all you want, we both know I'm right."
"We both know you're an idiot, that's what we know."
I watched as the twins ran to Mick as soon as they spotted him.
I took the time he was interacting with the twins to look at him, noticing the dark bags under his eyes. Someone hadn't been resting as he should have.
Henriette lifted her head slightly, giving a tiny wave to Mick before laying her head back on my shoulder. I adjusted her, using my thin scarf to cover her, because it was a little chilly still and I didn't want her to get cold.
Lukas and Mick did their bro hug or whatever that was, before Mick and I shared a look. I nodded at him, acknowledging his presence, before I turned to our parents. 

"Let's go kids! We have a whole day of fun ahead of us!"

(...)

As soon as we got to the lake, Henriette had woken up and started playing with the twins, and as Mick and Lukas stood off to the side talking, I entertained the kids, giving my parents some respite from the youngest lot. My mom smiled gratefully at me as she and my dad spoke to the older Schumachers.
I was building sandcastles with the kids, feeling my lack of sleep catching up to me. I stood up, keeping an eye on the kids as I went over to Mick and Lukas.
"Sorry to interrupt," I began softly and they both looked at me, "Can you keep an eye on the kids Lukas? I'm trying to, but I'm about to drop dead."
"Of course, go take a nap. I'll wake you up for lunch." 
"Thanks." I smiled as I went to my towel, laying on my back in the warm sun. I soon turned to lay on my stomach, which wasn't really comfortable but prevented me from getting the sun to hit me right in the face. 
I closed my eyes as I let the laughs of everyone lull me to sleep.

"Hey, Y/N." I slowly opened my eyes, waking from what felt like a 5-minute nap, and took off my sunglasses, seeing Mick. "C'mon, lunchtime, come eat something."
I shook my head, laying back down, "Thanks for the warning, but I'll eat later, I'm really dying." 
As Mick never answered me, I assumed he had gone to relay the message to the rest of the family. As I was almost asleep, someone sat down next to me, which made me sit up. 
"Here, I got you some food, I'll eat with you here." Mick said, and I looked around, seeing our families a little further away from us, already eating.
"Thanks, Mick, but you don't have to." I said softly, feeling bad that he was spending the little time he had with his family, with me, "You must miss your family a lot." 
"I've been home for the past four days, by now I'm up to the ceiling with any of them." He said with a laugh. "You're the one who went MIA."
I sighed as I looked at the food he had brought. "Yeah, my schedule's been hectic."
"Hectic? Your mom was saying to me the other day she barely sees you anymore, and when you do have time off, you barely come out of your room. And when you get home it's like, you're getting home and everyone's leaving."
"That's the job I chose Mick." I said softly as I popped a chip in my mouth, "Congratulations on making it to F1, by the way. I thought of calling you, but I wasn't sure you wanted to hear from me."
Mick sipped his water, "Don't be stupid, I always want to hear from you." 
I smiled, "Yeah, but last time..."
"We both acted like a couple of idiots honestly." He said, and I couldn't agree more. "But, what matters is that we both know what we did and we'll try to not repeat the same mistakes again."
I sighed, turning to Mick. "We always say we won't repeat the same mistakes, but we always do."
"You know what our problem is?" Mick asked and I shook my head. I wish I knew. "The problem is we both say we don't want anything serious, but we both do. That's why we always have issues with boundaries. That's why we always fight and have no contact for months." 
My eyes widened, surprised at his unusual bluntness, but I had to admit what he said made sense. 
"I guess you're right," I whispered and Mick grabbed my hand.
"Since I was 15, I never even looked at other girls, I never even thought of other girls like this, want to know why? Because the girl I've been in love with has always lived right by my side but never wanted anything serious." Mick looked ahead as I watched his cheeks turn red, "Do you think we should give us a chance?"
I blushed as well, asking, "Going official? Real relationship? No friends with benefits bullcrap?" 
Mick nodded, "No more friends with benefits."
"I say we do it." I said and Mick turned to look at me, his smile threatening to split his face in half, "Serious relationship, no more running or pretending there are no feelings. This one, we play to count." I said and Mick put down the food on the other side of his towel and pulled me to his lap.
"Serious relationship. We'll make it work, girlfriend." I smiled as I heard the word fall from his lips.
"Of course, we will, boyfriend." I said before Mick pulled my head and our lips connected as our families cheered for us in the back as if they'd been waiting for this moment their whole lives, which they probably had.