THREE

Lennox Knight was in her studio, drawing some new designs.

Her pencils sketched on the paper roughly, being the only sound in the studio besides the sound of her breathing.

It was quiet. It was nice.

She had a warm cup of coffee placed beside her, which wasn't decaf which would disappoint Gina if she was aware, since her best friend had been trying to get her to lay off the coffee because it doesn't help her anxiety.

Which was a fully valid reason, however, with the lack of sleep that Lennox suffered from every night, coffee that wasn't decaf was the only thing keeping her body functioning.

A knock on her studio door behind her jolted her out of her working trance, making her body jump in fright.

Her coffee was spilt over her table, narrowly avoiding her new designs.

"Shit!"

Lennox jumped up from her spot to grab a cloth, wiping the spilt coffee and soaking up as much as she could to avoid having it run down and on to her new drawings.

"Sorry, mon rayon de soleil." Leon Knight apologised to his daughter.

She turned to face him as he entered the studio with a bag of food for her lunch, since he was very aware of the lack of food that she ate when she was in the studio due to wanting to concentrate.

He'd almost go as far as saying that his daughter was suffering from an eating disorder, but he wouldn't put a title on it without a professionals diagnosis.

"Papa." Lennox released a sigh at her father's entrance. "You know that you're supposed to call before you arrive, I could have ruined my drawings."

Leon nodded his head at his daughter, knowing that it was their agreement, making him feel bad for interrupting her and almost ruining her drawings.

"I'm sorry my love, I didn't think. I was just excited to see you, because I haven't seen you since before you and Gina went to Haas." Leon apologised once more to his daughter, placing the bag of food down to help her tidy up.

"It's okay, papa. I'm sorry for being mad at you." Lennox apologised, taking a deep breath to allow her father to hug her.

She did not like hugs, or any physical contact, except with Gina, but that was purely due to the fact that the German girl was around her almost every day, whereas her father was not.

She loved her dad, she really did, but she couldn't help but internally squirm at the contact. She was getting better around him, allowing him to hug her occasionally, but it still made her become nervous.

Maybe it was due to the fact that her mother had left them both not long after her diagnosis of Autism, when she was child, she didn't know.

"My love, you are zoning out again."

Lennox blinked repeatedly, her eyes clearing to see her father smiling softly at her, his eyes staring adoringly at his beloved daughter.

"How was it at Haas?" Leon changed the subject, though he rose an eyebrow as his daughters cheeks started to tinge a soft pink.

Lennox gulped rapidly, nodding her head with small smile. "Busy, very busy but good, I think."

"Did you meet Gina's brother? Whenever he visited the apartment, he seemed sad that you weren't there, so please tell me that you met the poor boy." Leon chuckled, remembering the fallen face of the Schumacher boy at the realisation that Lennox was once again not at the apartment when he visited his sister.

"Hmm." Lennox nodded. "Yep. He was nice."

Leon couldn't help but smirk. "Just nice?"

Lennox didn't say anything else, just nodding her head to hopefully get her point across.

When she was at Haas, it was a complete sensory overload for her, with too many people, too many voices and way too many scents.

Mick somehow managed to calm her down and keep her that way, even without Gina's help, which amazed her.

She had realised that Gina must have mentioned some things to him, but she didn't exactly mind it, because whatever she told him had worked.

Maybe it was his eyes, the sparkling, beautiful blue that reminded her of the ocean because of their beauty.

Or his calming voice, since whenever he spoke to her, she found herself feeling much calmer and relaxed purely from the soothing voice that he used when he was around her.

Or maybe it was the aura around him, the sweet and innocent and caring feeling radiating off him, as if he was cancelling out all of the bad feelings around them.

Or maybe it was just him.

Maybe it was just Mick Schumacher himself, that made her feel the calmest that she had ever been.

Lennox wanted to get to know him, she really did. She was scared though, scared that if she opened her circle to allow herself to get to know him that it would backfire, and cause her personality to scare him off, or cause her to be hurt.

She also, really really didn't want to hurt him in any way, because of how sweet he seemed.

She'd never forgive herself if she did.

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"Len, Mick is coming round tonight for dinner, do you think that you'll be okay with him being around?"

Gina Schumacher questioned her best friend, watching as the American-French woman looked up from her diary, one that she always wrote her personal thoughts in.

"Um, yeah. Is it just him? Nobody else is coming with him?" Lennox questioned as she chewed on the top of her pen that she was using.

"Nope. Just my brother." Gina smiled, ruffling at her best friends curly brown hair with her hands.

"I'll be okay." Lennox assured her best friend, all whilst slapping her hands away from her hair that she had tied back in to a ponytail.

"Great!" Gina grinned. "Because he'll be here in ten minutes."

The Knight woman's eyes widened, turning to stare at her friend in horror. "Ten minutes!"

Gina rolled her eyes. "You look great! Don't worry, Len."

Lennox frantically stood to her feet, and began tidying the table in front of her. "The apartment is a mess, Ginny! I won't have time to clean it before he arrives!"

Gina smiled softly at the frantic state of her best friend. "Okay, well I'll tidy the kitchen, you tidy in here, we'll get it to how you want it in time."

Gina walked in to kitchen, placing the items that needed putting away, back in their place before wiping at the surfaces.

She knew that her best friend was overreacting, since Mick had been in the apartment multiple times, even when it was messy, but she knew that it was only due to Lennox's anxiety and OCD that was making her panic about it.

Lennox frantically cleaned the living area of their apartment, worried for how messy it would look for the both of them to live in.

As she was placing the small potted plants and photo frames that they had, on top of the fireplace, there was knock on the door.

Lennox's left eye twitched as she chewed on her lip, twisting the potted plant furthest to the door to the right ever so slightly, making sure that it was in the correct position.

"Hey, Gina."

Mick Schumacher arrived with food, from his favorite takeaway near to his sisters apartment, in his hand.

"Hey Mick." Gina hugged her brother gently, taking the food from his grasp so that he could close the door behind him.

The Schumacher siblings made their way in to the living area, seeing Lennox chewing on her lip as she repeatedly moves things around, feeling like they weren't in the right position.

"Hey, Lex."

Mick smiled at the girl, his voice gaining her attention in an instant.

He noticed how the brunette furrowed her eyebrows together at the unfamiliar nickname that he had used for her.

No one had ever called her Lex before.

Gina noticed her best friends confusion at the name, and smiled. Gina knew that her best friend would be battling with herself internally as to whether she liked the new nickname that her brother had called her or not.

Mick's eyes widened as she hadn't responded to him and began to panic.

"Do- do you not like it when I call you Lex? Be-because I can call you Len, if you would prefer me to?" Mick stuttered, worried that he would cause her to panic.

His eyes shot to the blue eyes of his older sister, to see her watching the brunette carefully.

"I like Lex."

As soon as the important words had left the brunettes lips, a smile burst on to the face of Mick, relief flooding through his body.

"Okay, that's great." Mick breathed a sigh of relief, his happy face and soft blue eyes smiling at her, causing her to smile back.

Progress.

Gina placed the takeaway food on the table before quietly heading to the kitchen to grab some plates and cutlery, leaving the two of them alone for a couple of minutes.

"Hi." Lennox smiled at the boy who smile back at her, finding her smile infectious.

"You look beautiful, Lex." Mick complimented the girl, seeing a soft pink coat her cheeks.

"Thank you, as do you." Lennox spoke, before she closed her eyes at the realisation of what she had just said hit her.

"I mean, that you look nice." She couldn't hold back a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed at her own ability to words things wrong.

"Thank you." Mick's grin grew even bigger at the sound of her laughing, with her laughter sounding like heaven to his ears.

"Do you want to watch a movie with me and Gina?" Lennox questioned, her heart beating rapidly and her breathing starting to quicken.

She was doing it.

She was getting to know him.

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A/N

going for golden retriever vibes with Mick, which is literally his whole vibe but you know

My baby Lennox is learning!!!

-RUBY