Lovely to sit between comfort and chaos

The Start Of It All

The party was supposed to be sooner. After the race on his birthday, which obviously was won by Max, so it would have been kind of a double party, but then the news came in about Dilano and Daniel did the most sensible and best thing he could do. He canceled his birthday party. He had no doubt in his mind that it had been the right thing.
His party could wait another week or so.

He does go out to have a drink with Michael, because he insisted, but it's just at a quiet bar where nobody knows him. Or if they recognize him, they don't make a move to 'bother' him. It's nice and quiet and so not like him. But it'll make do for the moment.

He doesn't pay attention much to anyone around them anyway, cause he's a little lost in his own mind, so when Michael nudges him and inclines his head towards the bar, he frowns. The frown turns into a look with raised eyebrows when he sees a familiar blonde sitting on one of the stools.

"Isn't that---" Michael starts, but Daniel is already standing up and moving towards the person in question. Michael sighs, taking another sip of his drink before taking both his and Daniel's glasses up and trailing after his friend.

"Nico Rosberg. As I live and breathe." the Australian grins widely, not noticing the short tensing of Nico's shoulders as he claps him playfully, friendly, on the back.
"Daniel," he answers, schooling his features in what he hopes is a friendly smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Well, there was a race. And today also happens to be my birthday." Daniel responds lightly, not surprised in the slightest by the sudden sense of dawning he sees in the other's eyes and waves away the apology that's surely about to come.

"uh... Congratulations." what else is he supposed to say? He'd say that he's sorry for forgetting, but Daniel is clearly motioning for him not to do so, so he doesn't. He looks around then, noticing Daniel isn't really partying that much. "so, where's the party squad?" At least Max should be there, right?

A chuckle leaves the dark haired man's throat, "no squad tonight. Just Michael." he nudges his thumb towards where his friend is standing, said friend raising his hand in greeting, Nico gives him a nod back. "Figured a party wouldn't be appropriate right now. With Dilano and stuff..." Yeah - - - stuff.

"oh yeah. Right." Nico can kick himself for being so forgetful, but hey, he has his own reasons for it. Same reason why he's hanging at a bar alone instead of with Jenson. "he was still so young. But we all know the risks."

Daniel hesitates, just for a second, but he noticed something while looking at Nico's hands. Why he was looking at the other man's hands, he had no idea, but here he was... And he couldn't not ask... "how's Viv?"

There's a wince. A moment of his full body tensing. His hands twitching. Shoulders sagging. "I wouldn't know. Haven't heard much from her."

Daniel blinks, turning his head to look at Michael, to check if he heard the same thing he did, and Michael gives him a surprised look in return.
Daniel would feel surprised too, but somehow he doesn't. He knows a little more than Michael. Or at least he has his suspicions.
"Jeepers. That sucks man."

A shake of the blond man's head, "it's alright. It was a mutual decision."

And that.... That's interesting.

"Well, that's good?" Daniel doesn't really know what to say, so it's silent for a little while. That's until an idea strikes him.
Now--- if he told this idea to his friends, especially Michael, they'd tell him it was a bad idea. Told him not to do it.

But......

He really, really wanted to do it. So, he didn't say a word to Michael and instead grabbed one of the carton place holders for their drinks and stole a pen from the pocket of Michael's jacket to write something down, sliding the carton in front of Nico when he was finished.

Nico blinked down at the card, seeing a number scribbled down on it, "what's this?"

Daniel's grin was almost like that of a Cheshire cat as he swung his arm over   Nico's shoulders, "you should text this number sometime. I think it will help you."

"How exactly will texting some random number help me? Whose number is this?" Nico was so confused. He glanced over at Michael, but he looked just as confused as him. "Daniel. What is this? One of your jokes again?"

All Daniel did was shake his head, "I got this number from someone too. They said they'll help people with a broken heart."

Nico gave a quiet snort, "I don't have a broken heart."

Daniel shushed him, patting his shoulder. "Just give it a try, mate. You'll never know." he lifted his arm off the other man's shoulders turned to Michael. "I think it's time to go." he noticed his friend had brought his drink with him and quickly drank it all up before starting to move.

Nico was still staring at the scribbled numbers, noticing the movement, he lifted his head, calling after the two men, "What am I even supposed to say?"

Daniel grinned over his shoulder, "whatever you want, man. Good luck!"

Nico sighed as he watched the two men walk out of the door, then turned back to the bar, staring down at the card again. He turned it over between his fingers a few times, contemplating, before shrugging and tucking the card into his jacket.
He'd probably forget about it anyway.
He decided to shrug it off and ordered another drink.

------------------------~-------------------------

Outside of the bar, Michael gave a reproachful look to his friend. He really didn't trust that smirk and those sparkling eyes.
"Dan. Who's number did you give him?"

Daniel's grin got impossibly wider. "Lewis'"

Michael blinked, "Hamilton? But they have each other's numbers, right?"

Daniel shook his head, still smirking. "not this one. This one not many people know about. I'm sure he didn't give it to Rosberg."

Michael didn't know that much about what happened between the two former team mates, just that there had been a lot of drama.
They probably still hadn't even fully recovered from it, nor worked it out together...

And Daniel's smirk was scaring him.

"Are you sure this was a good idea, Dan?"

"Mate! It's the best idea I ever had"

Oh man... Still that devilish smirk.