F1 Imagines (BOOK 2)

Birdy? (P1) II Carlos Sainz

"Welcome, how can I help you?" You'd just arrived at the garage ready to get to work when a customer walked in not long after. 

"Hey, I called in a few days ago, I bought a car and want to make a few changes they told me I could speak to Birdy." The tan man with hair straight out of a Disney movie spoke to you. 

"Of Course...Uh, Carlos?" You remembered Flash, your boss, telling you something about this. 

"Yeah." He smiled happy that his call had been taken into account. 

"So can you show me the car?" You asked him tying your hair up in a bun in the process. 

Carlos looked at you confused. Of course, he'd be more than happy to show you his car, you were gorgeous he'd be blind not to see that but he did come here for other reasons. "Uh sure, will Birdy meet us outside or?" 

You laughed used to sexist and assuming men more than you'd wish to admit. "Sure..." You decided to play with this man a little bit. 

Walking outside Carlos showed you a beat-up yet still gorgeous Ferrari 195 Inter. The gasp that escaped you paired with the clear awe on your face was impossible to hide. "Is the engine-"

"V12." Carlos interrupted you before you could finish. 

"How the hell-" You admired the car, which you could see contained most of its original pieces and you could only imagine how much this could've cost. 

"I know some people-" Carlos smiled, there was a weird feeling in his stomach at watching you admire his car in a way most people could never. It was when you bent and leaned into the front passenger window that Carlos was able to see the bird tattoo on the back of your neck. 

"This is fucking beautiful." You admitted unashamedly. 

"Birdy?" He connected the dots. 

You straightened up having admired the car enough noticing the way Carlos's eyes had left your tattoo. "So what exactly would you like me to do with this baby?" You asked Carlos as you patted the roof of the car.

Now it was clear Carlos was the one in awe, his mouth having a hard time catching up with his thoughts. It was a harsh reality check into how his sexist brain had gotten the best of him once again despite being sure he'd fought hard to better himself. 

"I'm sorry I - " Carlos began.

"You're not the first and certainly won't be the last." You interrupted before he could finish his apology.

"Doesn't make it okay. So please, forgive me." Carlos decided to extend his apology regardless of you not deeming it necessary. "Uh so it's obvious the Chassis has had better days, Brakes need tweaking, the transmission and frame could also do a bit of work-" Carlos began explaining.

This immediately intrigued you, 99% of the time you were faced with men with too fragile of masculinity to even let you get near their car or simply with too much pride to admit they assumed your gender wrong and chose silence instead...this was new.  

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"Oh fuck." You hissed. 

"You okay?" Carlos was quick to ask hating how he couldn't see you right now, simply hear your voice over the phone. 

"Yeah, just dropped a torque wrench on my toe...no biggie." You replied your voice normal once again as if nothing happened. 

"D'you need me to get you some ice delivered?" Carlos joked. 

"hmm, although tempting I'm sure it wouldn't get here in its solid form with this heat." You joked back. 

Unlike him, Carlos somehow had completely and fully entrusted Birdy, or y/n as he'd learned her real name was to rebuild his car while still keeping it as authentic as possible. Having to be away for most weekends Carlos was only able to come a few times a month to check on how things were going. 

Eventually, he started receiving texts from y/n with updates...which at some point turned into daily texts that weren't always necessarily about the car. Carlos truly had no reason to deny he was catching feelings for her, her intelligence attracted him in ways he hadn't even known possible, the way she could excitedly talk to him for hours about her work, the vehicles he worked on never failed to have him smiling like an idiot no matter where or what time it was.

"You know it'd be really cruel of you not to let me give this baby a spin after I'm done with it."  You faked a dramatic sigh. 

Carlos laughed, only imagining your cute pout across the world. "It would be cruel wouldn't it?" Carlos teased. 

The goofy smile that appeared on your face almost made you want to punch yourself, he'd said nothing special and already had you acting like this. "I'd take that any day over a hefty tip." You continued joking. 

"Ooo then I might have to heavily consider it." Carlos was quick to continue. 

He could hear you laugh before there was a short but comfortable silence.

"When are you coming to visit again?" You hoped it didn't sound as desperate as you felt. You missed him despite never truly hanging out with him outside of the garage. 

She was no better. Despite having other jobs to finish before Carlos's car she found herself rushing to finish these instead of taking her time to enjoy them as she always did just so she could get back to working on that Ferrari. She tried to convince herself that it was simply the fact that she had never really had the honor to work in a car of such grandeur but it seemed to have more with the fact that she knew with each update she'd have an excuse to text him again.

As she neared the end of this project she found an ache in her chest. Finishing this meant there would be no more reason to keep in touch with him and that felt worse than she'd like to admit. 

"Guess what?" Carlos excitedly spoke over the phone missing the way your voice was softer than usual. 

"What?" You asked trying to sound your usual self but it was hard knowing the next time he came to visit would be the last. 

"I'm coming this weekend, I'm excited to see the updates," Carlos spoke and you could picture the large smile on his face right now. 

"Oh, really?" This time Carlos could hear the fake excitement. "Uh, well lucky you...I'm actually-" There was a momentary pause which made Carlos nervous. "I'm actually done with your car." You finally spoke after clearing your throat. 

"Oh." You could hear the obvious shift in tone in his voice despite only hearing one word. You almost thought his emotion could match yours but it would truly make no sense, this is what he'd been waiting for the past 8  almost 9 months.

"The last parts arrived yesterday and I was able to put them in today." You quickly explained trying to cut through the silence which didn't feel comfortable like it had normally felt with your conversations before. "You can take it home now."

"I-" Carlos wasn't sure what to say, he thought getting this car fixed/restored would have felt more exciting but right about now he kind of wished he'd picked a more beat-up car. "Wow, that's great. That's amazing news y/n, thank you."

Was it? Why did it feel completely opposite to amazing news?

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A/N:

Honestly, this was meant to be a really short and quick imagine but I got carried away and now apparently I'm doing 2 parts...why am I like this. 

Anyways hope you enjoyed xx.