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Tommy had seen crowds before, of course.
He had raced at Daytona, in the Southern 500, in the British Grand Prix, among other races. Those crowds had been really, really fucking huge.
But this was truly the first time he had felt chills.
The crowd's roar filled his ears before he even left the tunnel. It was the parade of the ten teams that would be racing in the Formula One Championship.
They were in sets of crew, and Tommy knew to his left and right in matching red jumpsuits were Tubbo and Techno. Ahead of him, he could see the telling deep blue of the crew for Wilbur Soot. Behind him, he knew, was the crew of Eret.
The person missing is what made his nerves not remain settled like they normally would have.
Phil wasn’t here.
They say that you form a family with your crew, and Tommy knew that to be the truth. They were a little family with all the travel. A group of misfits that had all created a name for themselves. It was to the point that they were all brothers.
Phil filled the role of being Tommy’s chief. He was the one telling Tommy things on the track. There were whispers all throughout the industry that Tommy didn’t deserve a big name like Philza Watson on his team.
He knew that Phil had taken a shot on him being the rookie on the track.
But, in those five years they had raced together now, Tommy had proven them all wrong. He had soared to heights that none of them had expected. He was at the fucking championship.
And Phil wasn’t here to see it. Tommy had never felt panic as he did when he heard Phil’s stressed voice saying that the flight wouldn’t be there in time.
Tubbo had stepped up and taken the role for this race.
That had been all they could do.
Tommy felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked to his left at Tubbo, who was smiling.
He took a deep breath and nodded as they stepped into the sunlight, and the announcer called out his name.
The cheers of his name and number echoed through the crowds as he raised his arms and faced the stands.
The chants of his name soaked into his body, sending chills down his spine as he closed his eyes and laughed.
His favorite quote from one of the many magazines that had interviewed him was that he came to win.
This race was no exception.
All he could think was how no one could claim he was a disappointment or didn’t deserve Phil if he won.
He was going to make Phil proud that he took a risk on him.
His name was Tommy Danger Innit, and he was here to take the trophy.
“Tubbo, can you hear me?” Tommy said into his headset as he slid into his seat. He could see Tubbo up on the stand next to the other chiefs.
“I can hear you,” Tubbo’s voice crackled through. “Does Phil give you a brief now or on the start line?”
Tommy pulled the harness over his chest and clipped it in. His attention was split between Tubbo and running through the prechecks of his car. He had done all of the major testing before he had pulled his card out of the garage that it was stored in before the race.
“Now. I can’t focus when I pull out to the track,” Tommy mumbled as he switched the visor down on his helmet. The quiet rumble of his car beneath and all around him helped settle his nerves.
He knew Tubbo knew how to do this, but it still wasn’t what they prepared for. The plan had always been that Phil would be on the other side of the headset.
“We can do this,” Tubbo said as if he knew what Tommy was thinking, which he probably did. It was a side effect of knowing each other for so long.
“You’re talking to the Tommy Innit, so yes, we can do this,” Tommy shot back.
He could almost hear Tubbo roll his eyes.
“Welcome to Melbourne, where the track is nice and dry after a long summer of no rain. I am your eyes in the sky from the middle of the track. You are number number seven with Wilbur in front of you and Eret behind. So prepare for their tricks. It’s a nice and easy three-lap race.”
Tommy snorted. “Best racers on earth are here, and you call it easy ?” He turned out onto the track and kept pace as they did a slow lap around the track. “Tubbo?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Tubbo said, and Tommy was surprised by the serious tone to his brother's voice.
“When am I ever an idiot? Don’t you know my nickname is slow and careful? You sound like Phil.”
“I know you forget to think when you race. I know that you take risks which got you here, but these people take risks too. They aren’t going to back down and let you recover if you make a stupid mistake. These people want to eat you alive .”
“I’ll live, Tubbo.”
“You better.”
Tommy grimaced at the fact that Tubbo didn’t match his joking tone as he pulled into the start position.
“You ready to be the honorary chief to the newest champion, Tubbo?” He asked as he gripped the steering wheel harder. His red-gloved hands found their position with ease as he held his breath, watching for the light to drop from red.
“Let’s do this,” Tubbo shot back, matching his tone this time.
The light dropped to yellow, and he raised his foot to hit the gas as soon as it changed.
As soon as the light showed a bright green, his foot slammed against the pedal, and the car shot forward.
“Where am I at Tubbo?” Tommy shouted over the engine as he tried to avoid being trapped by Niki, number 3, who was weaving in front of him.
“Stay where you are. Fundy is behind you to your left, trying to pass.”
He drifted the car slightly more to the left as they came up on the first bend. Fundy wasn’t passing him because Tommy would have an annoyingly difficult time to get the place back.
Holding the position the same, his car stayed locked in the pack as they sped around the first corner and came up to the straightaway before the second turn.
Niki was busy dealing with Wilbur trying to pass, so as they started around the second bend, he used the opportunity to pull forward into the area that Niki had left open to guard against Wilbur’s advance.
He sped around her as the tires beneath him skidded along his path in the turn.
They were halfway through the first lap, and he was still fighting in the pack. By now, he preferred to be much further in front.
“Where am I at?” He yelled into his headset before swerving in front of the green car belonging to Charlie, who was trying to pass him.
Not happening.
“Barely holden’ third.”
Tommy grimince as they sped around the third bend. They were all going to be the most competitive in the second lap. That was the time to take more and defend the place you had.
The third lap was just a battle of holding on to the place you had.
“Game plan. Get to first,” Tommy said as he pressed harder down on the petal, crossing the line to signal another lap right as Niki came up on his left.
“Option B is to keep your place and get a podium.”
“I want the title,” Tommy yelled as he split his attention to try to keep Niki trapped behind him.
They came up on the first bend of the second lap, and Tommy saw just enough of a gap that he could steal that second place from Wilbur.
“It’s a trap! You saw Wilbur race before. You know it’s bait,” Tubbo screamed into his ear. “Don’t even try to deny that you weren’t thinking to go for it.”
“I’m not.”
“Not denying it or not going for it because it better be the fucking second one.”
Tommy pressed down on the petal as he started to gain on Wilbur.
“I’ve seen his trap enough. I can get around it. He’ll start to drop his guard on it right after we go around the second bend.”
Tommy had noticed the pattern after they had been examining old videos of Wilbur’s racing. No one would cross on the interior of the curve, especially at this speed…
He made it his goal to be no one.
He would be the racer who would do what no one else would…
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Tubbo said with a quiet anger that he had only heard his friend use once before.
“I’m winning that fucking title.”
He could see the other cars start to drift upwards as they prepared for the turn.
He stayed low.
If he miscalculated this turn, his car was going to go slamming into the barrier. Just like it had to the last person that had tried this move. Their crash had taken them out of racing for the year…
“PULL BACK OR I FUCKING SWEAR TO HAVE PHIL PULL YOU FROM EVERY RACE,” Tubbo screeched.
Tommy’s only response was to lift his right hand to his helmet and switch his headset off.
He had to focus, and he couldn’t do that with Tubbo screaming at him…
The feel of the road beneath him stayed steady as he turned the wheel as tight as it could go. There was the screeching of his tires rubbing against the pavement as he drove.
A quick glance to his left showed that he was passing Wilbur with a decent amount of room.
The spot must have been bigger than he expected.
He started to breathe easier, but a grating noise made any excitement he had about passing Soot fade immediately.
He spun his wheel to try to drive up from where his side was rubbing against the barrier, but it was too late. His wheel caught a piece of metal or debris that was hanging off the edge.
If he was going any slower, only one of his tires loosing traction would have been recoverable, but not at this speed.
The seatbelt dug into his skin as it held him firmly in his seat as the sound of crashing and crunching metal surrounded him as he slammed into the barrier. His eyes squeezed shut on instinct.
The number one rule of a crash was get out as soon as fucking possible. Fire was always a threat and if his car caught, his chance of surviving went down.
A lot.
His eyes flew open as his hand flew to his headset.
“MMY. TOMMY RESPOND,” came Tubbo’s screaming voice.
“I’m alive,” he managed to spit out. If only to get Tubbo to stop screaming his name. His head was already spinning and throbbing.
“SMOKE,” Tubbo screamed, and that broke Tommy from his daze.
He needed to get out of there now .
The smoke was starting to fill his cabin now as he hunted for the buckle to free himself from the harness.
It was a losing battle to keep his breathing slow like they had been taught. The longer it took to find the buckle, the quicker his breathing got, the more smoke he sucked in.
Finally, his hands found the telling metal of the buckle, and he undid it faster than any of the other million times he had done it.
Now that he was free of that, he moved to the next challenge of trying to get his door open. After a couple of quick kicks at it, it was clear that the door wasn’t budging.
“I can’t get the door open,” he choked out to Tubbo. “How far is the crew?”
His heart plummeted even further into his stomach as felt the heat licking against his back.
“Not close enough,” came Tubbo’s out-of-breath confirmation.
It was up to him to get out of the car’s crumpled body.
He kicked again, this time closer to the handle, and he felt the door give way just enough. Crawling toward it, he was able to shove the door open enough for him to crawl out.
Tumbling over the first barrier and over the rubber barrier, he collapsed into the grass of the middle section of the track.
His head was spinning, and he couldn’t see straight. The sunlight was only making his pain worse as he clenched his eyes shut against it. His body felt like it had been run over and beaten up again, which made sense.
Someone pulled him up from where he had collapsed. He opened his eyes just enough to see the telling brown hair of Tubbo. More of his weight was shifted to the right and he could see the telling pink hair of Techno.
Tommy laughed before it turned into a cough. The smoke was still stinging his lungs.
“Should’ve listened to you, Tubbo.”
“You’re alive, and that’s the most important,” Techno added.
“But, next time, fucking listen to me,” Tubbo shot in a very pointed way.
All Tommy could manage to do was nod.
Even some risks weren’t worth it.
No matter the glory.
He had a family, and he couldn’t risk that.
Even if he didn’t have the highest title or win…
They would still love him and be by his side for all the races to come.