Fics like there's no time left to stay

“I just couldn’t do it again,” Nico says, and it’s barely a whisper. He doesn’t say because each season took something I didn’t get back. Doesn’t say it felt like returning to the same cliff, convinced the ground would eventually learn to hold him. Lewis stares at him, chest rising and falling. For a moment, it looks like he’s going to argue. Like he’s going to tear into that sentence and pull it apart until it means something else. Like he’s going to demand an explanation that leads somewhere other than here. “I know you’re tired,” Lewis says, voice tight. “I know this sport takes everything.” He gestures vaguely between them, encompassing the years, the circuits, the fights that never quite ended when the engines shut off. “But don’t sit there and tell me you didn’t know that when we got into it.” - OR: After Nico retires, Lewis shows up to have a conversation that’s been years overdue, only to learn that some decisions aren’t undone by understanding them. It’s not about blame or reconciliation, but about the cost of staying, and the quiet finality of choosing yourself.

Fics like there's no time left to stay

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