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Part 16 of ZaZuPrompts September 2024
Collections:
tell me if the distance was enough, F1 masterpieces
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Published:
2024-09-25
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2,123
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Tell Me It Wasn’t Spain 2016, Please! (It Was Monaco.)

Summary:

Daniel: HEY GUYS FUN FACT! DID YOU KNOW THAT MAX IS PACK ALPHA???

Pierre: ?

Alex: ?

George: ?

Lance: ?

Zhou: Yes??

Max: Don’t worry, Daniel. I do not know how the fuck I got here either.

— — —

OR: It's 2022, Seb is retiring from Formula 1, and Charles just wanted to know if he should ask Max for advice on the transition from pack member to pack leader.

Notes:

Omegaverse chat fic, because I came up with an idea I thought was funny.

It’s not super important, but here is everybody’s designations:
Omegas: Sebastian, Charles, Lando, Daniel, Yuki
Alphas: Max, Lewis, Valtteri, Pierre, Esteban, Carlos, (Nico, Nico)
Betas: Fernando, Checo, Geroge, Alex, Lance, Nicholas, Mick, Zhou, Kevin

**Once again, this is not connected to my other omegaverse fics.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

The Omega Chat

 

Sebastian
You’ve all seen the news?

Charles
Yeah :(

Yuki
We’re gonna miss you Sebastian.

Daniel
The grid won’t be the same without you mate.

Sebastian
But there will be someone new!

And that’s exciting.

It also means that the grid will need a new Pack Omega.

Lando
What?

Nooooooo!!!!!

But you are so good at it.

Can’t you just stay?

Sebastian
It is time for me to retire, Lando.

Lando
Okay???

But you can just stay Pack Omega, can’t you?

You’re still coming to every race, right?

Sebastian
No.

Lando
I tried.

Yuki
I vote Charles.

Lando
Danny, I think we’re supposed to be offended.

Daniel
Yeah.

But I don’t really want the job either.

Lando
Charles would be much better at it.

Charles
Thank you everyone. If none of you want it, it should probably be me anyways.

Yuki
Sorry.

I am already helping with the Red Bull pups, and it is not going well. I am not cut out for this.

Charles
It is fine. Big shoes to fill.

And you seem to be doing okay with them! Max is helping, non?

Sebastian
It’s really not that bad. You’ve been doing part of the job for a while now with the pups.

Lando
Yuki, I think we’re supposed to be offended.

Yuki
 Max is great with the pups. Pierre too.

Me? Yes. You? No.

Daniel
Ooooo! Burn! Sorry Lando, but you're definitely still a grid pup.

Lando
YUKI.

Charles
Yuki.

Sebastian
Yuki.

Yuki
Daniel? No.

Lando
HA!

Daniel
Oi!

Charles
Seb, I am not ready.

Sebastian
You’ll be fine, Charles.

Yuki, be nice.

Yuki
I am nice.

Charles
Should I ask Max for advice?

Daniel
Never.

What for?

Charles
I am going to go ask Max how he coped with the transition to Pack Alpha.

Yuki
Oh yes. Because Lewis is still here.

Daniel
MAX IS PACK ALPHA???

Charles
?

Yuki
?

Lando
Yeah?

Daniel
WHAT?

WHEN?

Sebastian
Is it not Lewis?

Charles
No. It is Max.

Seb you are in meetings with Max and Nando about pack stuff all the time.

Sebastian
I–

When did that happen?

Lando
Danny, we went to him about getting more blankets for the pack room in Silverstone.

Sebastian
Not me?

Lando
Found Max first.

Sebastian
But acquiring additional nesting materials is usually the Pack Omega’s job, and I don’t remember him coming to me about that.

Yuki
Max always has extras in his driver’s room.

Very wide selection too.

Don’t know how he fits everything in his suitcase.

Daniel
I am having a crisis over here, mate.

Charles
What’s wrong?

Lando
Max brings extra suitcases for nest / den materials. No limit to checked bags when you own your own plane.

Daniel
When did Max become Pack Alpha?

When did Lewis stop being Pack Alpha?

Why didn’t I notice?

Lando
He’s always been Pack Alpha.

Sebastian
He has not.

Yuki
Yes he has.

Charles
He obviously has not, because we all knew that Lewis used to be Pack Alpha, but Max has been Pack Alpha since I came into Formula 1 at least.

Daniel
WHAT.

I was still at Red Bull in 2018!

How did I not notice?

Lando
What do you mean you didn’t notice?

You are the one who said ‘Let’s go find Max’ when I was freaking out about not having good nesting blankets.

Sebastian
I will talk to the FIA about providing us with better blankets.

Charles, you are coming with me. It will be good practice.

Charles
Okay!

Daniel
Well now that I think about it!

Yeah.

Yeah he’s Pack Alpha.

And I guess he has been for a while.

BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG A WHILE IS!

AND IT’S FREAKING ME OUT BECAUSE WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?

SEB??

Sebastian
I am also realising for the first time that Max is Pack Alpha.

Let’s figure this out in the Grid Chat.

Daniel
Most of the grid came AFTER Charles.

Sebastian
We do not have an old guys group chat.

Lando
So you can call yourself old, but we can’t.

Charles
Yes.

Lando
Old.

Charles
I am not old, Lando.

Lando
Older than me.

Yuki
Charles? No.

Lando
Yukiiiiii!

Sebastian
Charles is absolutely my pup.

Charles
Which is why I need advice.

But I don’t need advice to tell you to stop bullying Lando, Yuki.

Yuki
I might be bullying Lando a little bit.

Lando
At least you admit to it.

Be nice to me every once in a while, yeah?

Yuki
I am very nice.

You make the best nests, Lando.

Lando
Thank you! I try.

Sebastian
And I will help guide you into this new role, Charles.

Once I get to the bottom of this.

Because Max is also a pup, and I would like to know when the switch happened. Because I should have been there to help him transition into the role as well as Lewis and Fernando.

Daniel
Okay I’m going in.

 

 

The Grid Chat

 

Daniel
HEY GUYS FUN FACT! DID YOU KNOW THAT MAX IS PACK ALPHA???

Pierre
?

Alex
?

George
?

Lance
?

Zhou
Yes??

Max
Don’t worry, Daniel. I do not know how the fuck I got here either.

Lewis
Wait.

Hold on.

Max
DID YOU NOT KNOW???

Daniel is one thing.

Actually, Daniel, you do not have an excuse. I became the Red Bull Pack Alpha when I beat Carlos in 2015.

Which, for the record, I also do not know how that happened.

I do not think it was because I beat Carlos, that would be a very stupid reason. Especially because I was eighteen at the time.

Eighteen!

But Lewis????

Lewis you had to know that I was Pack Alpha, simply because you have not been.

Lewis
I am aware that I am not Pack Alpha anymore! And, I do know that you do that job now, I guess.

Max
So you know I’m Pack Alpha, but have never realised it before?

Lewis
Yes.

Daniel
Yes.

Sebastian
Yes.

Max
DID YOU NOT KNOW???????

SEBASTIAN WE HAVE PACK MEETINGS EVERY RACE THURSDAY.

Lando
Can confirm that Seb did not know.

He was just as freaked out as Danny in the Omega Chat when Charles brought it up.

Max
Why was Charles bringing it up?

Yuki
Seb’s retiring, so Charles is taking over Pack Omega duties.

Max
Good.

The rest of you would be terrible.

No offence Daniel.

Daniel
None taken.

Lando
OI!

What about me?

Yuki
Or me?

Max
Yuki you resent the job in the Red Bull Pack, so you would of course hate it if it became a bigger thing.

Lando you do not actually want the job.

Lando
And Danny does?

Max
No, but Danny would pretend to if it came to that.

Luckily it won’t because Charles is here.

Charles
Thank you, Max.

I was wondering if you had any advice on how to make the transition from pack member to pack leader?

Max
Nope.

But if you give me a moment, I will come up with something. It was all a very confusing blur, the transition.

Esteban
YES IT WAS!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN NONE OF YOU NOTICED?

Fernando
Didn’t notice. Didn’t care.

Max showed up at the Pack Leaders meeting one day, and never left.

Checo
I also did not notice the switch happening.

Lando
What are you guys talking about? Not knowing that Max was Pack Alpha?

He’s always been Pack Alpha.

George
Maybe not always, but he was by the time we got to the grid.

Alex
Yeah. He was Pack Alpha within Red Bull, and that sort of just carried out to the paddock for me.

Yuki
Same.

Pierre
Same.

Sebastian
Same? Pierre, when did you get onto the grid?

Pierre
2017.

Valtteri
I do not remember Max becoming Pack Alpha either.

But I do know that Lewis was not Pack Alpha when I was at Mercedes.

Lewis
2017????

Lance
Oh yeah, Max was definitely Pack Alpha when Pierre and I joined.

I felt really welcomed by him. Like I had a place immediately.

Max
Oh good.

I still didn’t know what I was doing in 2017.

Sebastian
Did Lewis not help you?

Max
I think we just established that neither you nor Lewis realised I have been Pack Alpha since 2016.

No, Lewis did not help me.

Lewis was busy with Britney.

You were busy trying to keep them from killing each other.

And Fernando was picking up the slack with the FIA stuff.

Charles
So what was the transition like?

Daniel
2016!

We were teammates. How did I not know?

Max, you were a pup!

Max
You think I was not aware of that?

I do not know why I became Pack Alpha. It just happened. I don’t know why me? I was there? Maybe?

The transition was stressful, Charles. But Seb is noticing this time, so he will help you. And you have half a season to come to grips with the job.

Nicholas
It’s a little irrelevant, but yes Max has always been Pack Alpha to me.

Mick
He was really helpful last year when I was starting.

Zhou
He’s a very good Pack Alpha.

Kevin
That was never in question. He wouldn’t still be Pack Alpha if he was bad at it after six years.

Lando
Then why are you all freaking out?

Daniel
Because we have no idea when that happened. And like, I love you Max, but Pack Alpha? Grid Pack Alpha? You? When?

Max
You have such faith in my abilities Daniel.

I don’t know, mate. It just happened.

Esteban
I remember the shift from Lewis to Max.

Because it was MAX.

Max
So much faith.

Carlos
It was also 2016, when Max was still eighteen. I felt like I was losing my mind watching it happen.

Max
Lance, tell me I did a good job again.

Lance
You did great. I don’t know what these guys are talking about.

Charles
So the transition did not go well?

How long did it take?

Kevin
The transition must have gone very well if none of us noticed. Lewis didn’t even realise.

Max
The transition?

Charles
Yes.

Max
There was no transition.

Lewis
You were eighteen?

Max
Yes.

It was fine.

Sebastian
What do you mean there was no transition.

Max
It was fine.

Esteban
It really was fine.

The most confusing bit was that it was not confusing at all. One week we went to Lewis for Pack Alpha things, and by the next race we were talking to Max. It was very strange.

Carlos
It might’ve been fine, but Max wasn’t.

He’d be halfway through solving a problem, and then have an existential crisis when he realised what he was doing.

Daniel
So you both noticed?

Carlos
He was younger than me.

Esteban
It was Max. The boy who I beat in F3, but beat me to F1.

Picture Max, it’s 2016, he’s eighteen, and he’s just been promoted to Red Bull.

Max
I can feel every single one of you shudder.

Sebastian
Just?

Please tell me it was not Spain.

Max
Monaco.

Carlos
The race after Spain.

Esteban
Strangest weekend of my life.

Max
Like I said. There was no transition.

Charles
But do you have any advice?

I am nervous about stepping into Seb’s shoes.

Max
Do not try to be Seb.

You will probably find yourself asking ‘What would Seb do?’ Don’t do this. Seb is great, but you are not Seb.

You are Charles. Solve problems like Charles.

Carlos
I am trying to imagine 2016 Max asking ‘What would Lewis do?’ and it is not working.

Max
Of course it is not working.

2016 Max was asking ‘Why are you not going to Lewis about this?’ and then remembering that he’s busy trying to kill Britney.

I would not have gone to Lewis either.

I went to Nico when I had problems. Hulk, not Britney. Britney was busy trying to kill Lewis, also.

That’s another piece of advice Charles: have someone that you go to when you need help. It becomes a lot whenever everybody is expecting you to save the world. Something your world needs saving, and that is okay.

Charles
Who do you go to?

Max
You asked for advice, not what I do.

Nico, still. When he is around. Daniel, if it can’t wait.

Charles
Can I still come to you?

Max
Yeah, sure.

Lando
Gross. If you’re going to flirt, go do it to DMs.

Charles
We are not flirting.

Alex
Dad and Dad are finally going to actually be Dad and Dad!

Max
Stop it.

Alex
Yes Dad.

Max
You are older than me.

You are older than us both.

Alex
You're still dad.

Max
I can't ground you without proving you right.

I hate this.

Notes:

Day Twenty-Five ZaZuPrompts September 2024: Group
— — —
Group chat? Chat fic anyone?

I'm on Tumblr at @chandelier-book, but the writing stuff happens at @chandelier-s-notebook. Come say hi anywhere if you feel like it.

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