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Simon sat slouched on the couch in the post race conference room, Alejandro and Rudy sat the other side of him. Despite having crashed out of the race, Laswell sent him to be there because he'd fallen asleep with Soap before Media duties were done- Curses to Laswell and her cow- and her boss- and her pen- not her wife- Maggie is a gem, blessings to her.

"So Riley, after your crash with MacTavish, are there any talks of how to improve the car?" One of the journalists asks, of course they were asking about the crash- it had been one of the more prominent events of this race...aside from the actual racing...Simon swore he heard a snicker from Alejandro, one of his dearest friends, and made a mental note to thrash the man later- even if he was, of course, correct in laughing about bettering the car...
"Ask Shepard. Sure he's got somethin' under his belt... 'side from the obvious" He answered vaguely, completely uninterested in being there, salty that he wasn't curled up, still napping with MacTavish like he wanted to be- curses once more to Kate Laswell and her cow.
"What sort of plan? To do with the car? Replacing you as a driver?" The journalist pushed. A twitch reached Simons right eye. He forgot why he avoided these things like they helped birth Phillip graves. The media always prodded places they had no right prodding into. Home life, plans for the car as if they're told everything from the replacement of a screw in the seat or the rear end of a wing being replaced.
"Dunno. You'd have to ask 'im. As for replacin me. I sure as fuck hope he does." He said through gritted teeth, cameras flashing and pens scribbling his reply down like he'd declared he'd solved world hunger. Another snicker from Alejandro who he subtly elbows from one side whilst Rudy hits his arm.
"Ale- so help me lord- if you don't behave I will tell your mother." Simon overheard Rudy mutter, his classic glare being shot at the grinning man who held his hands up in subtle surrender

"Alejandro- you almost crashed on lap 42 into your teammate, do you foresee this being an issue with the championship?" someone asked in the pen, the man hummed lightly and looked at Rodolfo with chaos glimmering in his dark eyes. Simon snickered and kicked the mans shin lightly
"Not especially... Me and Rudy go back a long way, we know how we drive better than anyone. Whatever happens with the championship will happen. fair game." Alejandro responded carefully, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Someone might almost mistake hi for being wise if it wasn't for the glimmer of something mischievous in his eyes all the time- Simon noted.
"Rodolfo! are you going to be looking to get those points back from Alejandro in the next race?" another journalist asked. Rodolfo looked confused and looked to Simon or help, but the brit shrugged and tried to stifle a laugh
"...How would I take them back? They're points...he earnt them- uh- No.. At this point in the season im not...too worried about Ale running away with the championship..as he said, We've driven closely for many years so we're attuned to the others driving. We'll see how the rest of the season goes from here.." He replied gracefully. Simon swore Alejandro had hearts in his eyes as he was watching Rodolfo answer the question attentively and considerately. He nudged the mans ankle with his foot and made an overly dramatized face of how he looked. Alejandro blinked a few times, unsure of whether to be offended or to go along with it
"Riley. How do you feel about ruining MacTavish's race because you crashed into him, will you take accountability for it?" Someone from the back yelled, any playfulness left in the brit stiffened into gnawing guilt. He had ruins MacTavish's race, he couldn't avoid it- it was a fact- facts don't lie...most of the time
"Todays incident wasn't something MacTavish or I planned for...I felt an impact from behind me...Likely Kuragi or Vynn.. I lost control of my car and hit MacTavish.. I cant take full responsibility because its not truly all my fault but I will take the penalty given to me. At the end of the day, I've spoken to him, and we agree that so long as both of us were unharmed that there was no hard feelings.." Simon responded, his hand finding the necklace around his neck. The room fell into quiet, save for pens scratching away for fingertips connecting to keyboards but eventually they moved along.

The two Las Almas drivers answered more questions in drones and keep everyone occupied for a while whilst ghost sipped his definitely not energy drink to calm himself down and reconnect with reality but a pair of familiar blue eyes at the back of the crowd had any tension bleeding from Simons shoulders and a soft, almost fond smile touching his face
"Riley, you've gone all relaxed- spot someone important, Hermano?" Rudy leant over to ask in a brief intermission, Alejandro grinned mischievously as though he'd already connected the dots he probably didn't even have on his piece of paper yet- or maybe he believed he had all the information to connect dots not yet visible
"Rudy it'll be his Marido-" he replied, getting elbowed from both sides this time but it didn't stop the giggles from erupting into hearty laughter that was contagious to anyone within earshot of it- such a sound should be bottled up and treated like something precious- like something to cherish. Rodolfo had this soft and all too fond expression on his face whilst watching Alejandro- perhaps he had bottled up that sound and had it locked away for safe keeping or maybe he just wanted to listen to it all day, everyday.
"Alejandro- shut up- Im going to kill you-!" Simon hissed, pulling him into a playful chokehold, no real strength behind it. but the group began to laugh more, smiles no longer able to be hidden behind hands.

Naturally that's when the conference has to start back up again and force the 3 of them to behave once more...or behave as much as those 3 were willing to behave
"I've got a question for Riley-" the next speaker spoke up, the Scottish accent making Simon drop Alejandro and hide a smile as he looked to the microphone to see Johnny standing there, buried in the fabric of his hoodie, still looking a little sleepy but more awake than he had when they were forced to split off
"Is it true you're movin' teams next season?" The Scot asked, a fond glimmer in his expression. Finally, Simon could answer the question he'd secretly hoped would be brought up earlier in the session. He was certain Alejandro and Rodolfo were whispering behind him but he didn't particularly care when Johnny was right in front of him
"Oh, Johnny...you know the answer to that." Simon crooned, leaning forward in his seat slightly, Mischief in his eyes which made the Scots grin widen at his purposeful avoidance of the question
"Answer the question, Riley." He teased, a quirk in his brow. Simon tapped his chin for a moment, considering his answer for a moment before deciding it was time to drop the figurative bomb on the media who probably had guessed as much already- but hey- at least true information wouldn't cause harm
"Yeah. As of next season I'll be racing alongside MacTavish for Tf141 f1 team after Gary Sandersons retirement from motorsport. I look forward to being a part of their team and racing alongside MacTavish rather than against him very much." He answered, never taking his eyes off the Scot in front of him. The joy that rippled across those magnificent blue eyes was like staring into ripples on the sea, addictive and mysterious. The man with the stupid mohawk shot him a wink before he turned to leave the room- Riley was written across his back in large letters making Simon smile fondly- probably stupidly wide-
"Does Shepard know about your move?" "Will Shepard be happy to lose his star driver?!" questions started firing at the brit all at once but his attention was now focused on the two Las Almas drivers sat beside him, watching him with worry and something Simon decided looked like pride in their eyes
"Finally moving, Hermano?" Rudy asked softly.
Simon nodded
"Good. your talents wasted over there." He smiled, patting the brits hand. Rudy wasn't as affectionate as Alejandro, so the small gesture felt like he'd squished him in a huge hug.

By the time The conference was over, Simon was in need of more than a nap- he wanted to simply drop into a coma and sleep until next season. But he knew he couldn't, he had to go and talk to the boss and alert him that he was leaving the team...