When you grow up traveling around the world on a weekly basis with no sense of stability to your life, you learn to make connections with the people around you. Deep, profound connections that could not be explained to the average person.

Most would call this being codependent or trauma-bonded, but Cielo Cruz just knew it as having friends.

She was only ten years old the first time she'd met him, he had been hiding—from what she'd later learn was his father—behind one of the garage walls, in a secluded little alleyway that was cool and damp from the constant rain.

Whether it was the sense of uneasiness that had shot through her or the sound of sniffling emanating from the alleyway, something had compelled her to walk toward the isolated area. What she saw just about broke her young heart.

There sitting on the dirty floor, drenched in rainwater, was a young boy about her age. He was pale–although his cheeks were dusted a rosey red with the cold–with light blonde hair. She couldn't see his face due to the fact that he was hunched over and trying to curl up into a ball, but she could see that he was shivering.

"Estas bien?" she called out softly, her unruly curls frizzed up and damp from the humidity in the air falling into her face as she leaned forward to get a better look at the boy.

He didn't respond and it took her another moment to realize that he probably didn't speak Spanish.

So she tried again, "Are...you...okay?"

Cielo wasn't sure if that was grammatically correct or pronounced properly, but it got him to lift his head up from in between his knees and look at her with bright blue eyes, so she counted that as a win. Then she tried for what she hoped was a friendly smile, but by the way he just stared at her, she supposed she had failed.

"What are you doing here?" his quiet voice echoed through the empty alley. There was an accent to it, so Cielo guessed that his first language wasn't English either, but there was also a bit of a slur to his dictation, like a lisp of some sort.

Cielo thought it was adorable.

"I hear you crying," she wrinkled her nose at the sound of her own speech. That was definitely not correct, but it was the best she could muster up with the limited lessons she's been given so far. "I came to see. Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said shortly, minutely glancing over her shoulder. He seemed to be looking out for something.

"I'm Cielo," she gave a little awkward wave as she went and took a seat across from him in the narrow alley. "Como te llamas?"

The boy's head tilted to the side and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He looked like a cat, curious but cautious. "What?"

Cielo pointed at him and simply said, "Name?"

He opened his mouth, most likely to respond to her question but the sound of loud and heavy footsteps echoed around them and he immediately huddled back into himself—trying to hide.

Cielo said nothing, only watched in childish curiosity as two adult women walked by and the boy sighed in relief. Instantly relaxing, he loosened his posture enough for Cielo to make out the name on his race suit.

"Max," she whispered, causing the boy—Max—to look at her with an intense gaze. Much older than a ten-year-old should have.

"How did you know that?" Max asked, but Cielo couldn't understand him because he spoke in a language she didn't know.

Now it was her turn to do a confused head tilt, although if she were to be honest, she would label herself as more of a lost puppy than a curious cat.

"What?"

The two kids had an unofficial staring contest in silence to determine who would break first and speak up, but they were both completely unaware that the other had a fighting spirit and a stubbornness that could outwit even the strongest of wills.

Finally, Max sighed and spoke, "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"My name."

Cielo sat up a bit, remembering the perfect posture her mother was always telling her about, and let a gentle smile grace her soft features. "It says on your clothes."

"Oh," his cheeks flush an ever brighter color, slowly morphing from pink to red. "I did not think of that."

"So," she bit her lip, frantically trying to think of ways to keep the conversation going. "You race?"

Max nodded shyly, his hands coming up to pick at the seams of his race suit's pant legs. He didn't know what to do here, one second he was hiding from his dad and the next he had this frizzy-haired girl sitting in front of him asking him questions.

When he first heard her approaching, he panicked thinking it was his father coming to find him and he frantically tried to wipe away the tears that had fallen down his face after his poor performance in the race—a measly P2—but instead he found himself face to face with the girl that was now in front of him. She was short, which might have been due to her age as she looked to be around the same age as him, with darker tan skin and brown curly hair. It was uneven and frizzy due to the weather but he could see that they had once been beautiful and bouncy. Her eyes were a dark brown framed by long lashes and her nose was straight but just the tiniest bit upturned at the end. Her mouth itself was small but her lips were full and had a natural state of pouting that helped balance out her features perfectly. She was pretty–in the sort of vaguely appreciative way boys found others pretty.

It took Max a full minute to register that he had just been staring at her blankly.

"Okay?" Cielo asked when he did nothing but look straight ahead, expression far away.

He blinked, "Sorry."

"Don't worry," she grinned, bundling up her large coat tighter to her torso as the cool air began to bite at her. "You are having a bad day. We all have them, no need to be embarrassed."

Deciding that he wasn't going to get rid of her anytime soon, Max thought he should play nice. Like his mother told him to, she always said that not everything was about winning. His father would always disagree with that sentiment but Max figured that here, with Cielo, it would be okay to listen to his mother's advice.

"I'm Max," he introduced himself again. "Max Verstappen."

Cielo's eyes seemed to light up in recognition at the sound of his last name and Max had a brief moment of panic run through his mind. Did she know his dad? What if he sent her here to find him? He would be so disappointed in Max when he realized that he was out here crying like a baby instead of going over everything he did wrong in the race and how he could improve.

But that wasn't the case.

At the sound of his full name, Cielo instantly recalled that this was the boy that her father was here to write a story about. The 'second generation Formula One prodigy in the making' according to her Papa.

"You're Max Verstappen?" she asked, a bit of wonder seeping into her tone. Accent heavy with every word she spoke.

"Yes."

"Mi Papa–ah my dad," she flushed red at her mistake but pushed through the embarrassment. "He's a—how do you say, re-por-ter?"

She looked to Max for confirmation but since English wasn't his first language either, he simply shrugged in response.

"He uh...he does the news." she tried again, hoping this simplification was enough to get through their obvious language barrier.

"Oh!" Max said and nodded in acknowledgment. "I know, yes."

"Yes, yes!" Cielo giggled, tucking some of her unruly curls behind her ear. "He is writing a story about you and your, um, achievements."

"Is that why you are here?"

Cielo nodded. She had never really been interested in her parents' work before, always found it to be boring adult things, but now meeting Max...she realized that maybe there was a certain intrigue to wanting to find out more that drew her father to journalism.

"Why are you hiding?" she asked, pulling out a bag of chocolates that she'd stolen from her mother from her coat pocket. She offered some to Max but he politely declined, he was already teetering over the edge of overweight for karting regulations according to his dad, any more sweets and he would ruin any chances he had at being successful.

Max bit the inside of his cheek, "I lost the race. My dad is not very happy with me."

Cielo's brows furrowed, "But you came second, that's good no?"

"Second is terrible," he scowled. "That is the first loser."

"That is mean," she frowned at his negative outlook on the placement. Second place was good, she thought. At least it meant you were better than everyone but one person. To her, it signified all the work you put in to be there within the same ranks as the best. It was one step away from being the best, your dream well within your grasp, but apparently, Max did not see it the same way she did.

He shrugged, "It is the truth."

"Why do you," she paused, trying to think of the proper way to phrase what she wanted to say, but she couldn't seem to find the correct words. Deflating, Cielo simply put the bag of chocolate back into her pocket and scooted across the damp ground until she sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Max. "You are good. You are nice. I want to be your friend."

Max's head snapped to look at her, his eyes wide and mouth ajar. "What?"

Cielo just smiled at him toothily, "Somos amigos."

❛ ━━･❪ ✫ ❫ ･━━ ❜

16 years later...

"Excuse me?"

Cielo Cruz, now a seasoned sports reporter with a specialization in Formula One and anything to do with it, was baffled. A little over two months ago, the media outlet that she worked for had been bought out and designed to function under new management. This normally wouldn't have been an issue—except, it had been bought out by a media gossip conglomerate.

This meant that now, instead of spending her time getting into the nitty gritty of F1 politics and regulations, she was forced into the role of gossip rag.

Cielo had gone her entire career priding herself on being one of the only reporters in her profession to not try and dig deeper into driver's personal lives. Found the entire practice to be unbecoming and completely inappropriate. The day her former boss came to her and announced the news, Cielo felt as though she had been sucked underwater. The blood running through her veins shocked still and the loud roaring rush of the waves pulsing through her ears, blocking out all outside stimulation.

All of this brought her here to the present, where she was currently standing within the confines of her new boss's office, in front of her spotless glass desk.

Where she had just been told what her new assignment was.

Pretentious bitch, Cielo thought snidely as she continued to try and process what she had just been ordered to do.

"I must've been mumbling or something," her boss, an older English blonde woman with striking green eyes and rosy red lips, said. When Cielo said older, she meant older. Her boss appeared to be in her late forties or early fifties, not something you would expect from somebody running a gossip rag but then again, you know what they say about older women. They were always sticking their noses in other people's business. "I said that I want you to write an expose. A tell-all of sorts."

Cielo continued to stare in disbelief, "Why me?"

Her boss just looked at her as though she was stupid, "Darling, look at you. You'd easily be able to worm your way into anyone's good graces and squeeze out every tiny minuscule detail of their life without raising any suspicion whatsoever."

"Okay but what does that mean?" Cielo bit out, she was already on edge. The overwhelming feeling of dread filled her stomach as she slowly grew more nauseated with the insinuation. "What are you asking me to do?"

"Oh, I'm not asking," she tossed her blonde hair over and smiled tightly. "I'm telling you that you are going to do whatever it takes to get this story if you want to keep your job."

Cielo's eyebrows raised dramatically. Was she trying to blackmail her?

"If I want to keep my job?" she repeated, crossing her arms across her chest. "That sounds like a threat. Which is bold considering I have about ten other news outlets vying for me to transfer over at any given moment."

"With the salary you're on?" her boss scoffed. "I'd like to see you try and find as good of a rate somewhere else that you have here."

"Say that that's true," Cielo shifted on her feet. Her boss wasn't necessarily wrong, with the money she was making here, Cielo was able to both live comfortably and support her parents' everyday needs and medical expenses, but that didn't mean she liked being used as someone else's lap dog. Only being contacted when someone needed something from her. She'd gone through that before and she was not eager to do it again. "Who exactly am I supposed to be investigating?"

"Well now that's where things get interesting," the shark-like grin that had spread across her boss' face was impossible to miss and Cielo suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of dread fill her body even further. Like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped over her head. "Your target is somebody who's been in the public eye their entire life, yet, we surprisingly know so little about. I want you to get to the bottom of that, by any means necessary."

"Yes, yes. You've said that," she barely restrained the urge to roll her eyes. Cielo's tone as it was alone, was enough to be seen as disrespectful. Add in an eye-roll and she'd be meeting with HR within the hour about proper workplace etiquette. "Who am I writing this story about?"

"Max Verstappen."

It was as though a switch had been flipped inside Cielo's head the second Max's name was said. Her defensive and irritated stance quickly morphed into something else, something more determined. Something predatory.

Her hand reached out and hung in the air between them, blonde and brunette staring at each other in silence, "I'll take it."

The blonde blinked, momentarily stunned. The older woman figured she'd have to do much more convincing to get the stubborn brunette to stray from her oh-so-closely guarded morals. She stuck to them more steadfastly than an English person did to tea. Cielo's quick agreement to the assignment was a surprise, to say the least.

"Just, like that?"

Cielo's determined gaze locked onto the bewildered blonde and nodded firmly. "Just like that. I accept the assignment, do not worry."

"I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth," and she wasn't. Getting Cielo to agree to this was possibly her biggest achievement to date, but it also made her question. What was so different about this assignment that had her turning her back on her beliefs? In all honesty, she was expecting for Cielo to quit her job right on the spot, too proud to stoop to levels so low that she deemed them to be unacceptable. "But I am curious...why?"

"Let's just say that I have a vested interest and leave it at that."

Without another word, Cielo picked up the file that had sat ignored between the two of them the entire time and left. She walked out of the room without looking back and a fire burning within.

Round two.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

this chapter is pretty short but I thought it was a good one to help kick off this story !!

please let me know what you guys think, any and all thoughts are appreciated!! also don't be a ghost reader! I love getting comment spams, don't be shy in letting me know what you're thinking every step of the way! <3

until next time,

charley xx.