Chapter Text
A year earlier
Minho’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He couldn’t hear anything besides the sound of his car tearing down the track, the distant cheering of the small audience drowned out as he narrowed his feline eyes on number 72.
His race engineer’s emotionless voice crackles through the headset. Minho wished it had been Seungmin giving him the orders. “Lee, you need to box this lap.”
Like hell I do.
He knew it would be a strategic move; pitting now would give him a small opening later on, given that number 72 eventually did the same, but it was a risk, and he was so close .
He accelerated slightly, despite knowing that his tires wouldn’t be able to take much more of this pace. The rubber would burn off from the inside out. But he had to make the pass.
It was easy . An easy win like always.
“Lee, box.”
Minho grit his teeth as the car roared, sticking to the inside as he inched closer. Every limb on his body was shaking with adrenaline as the pair spun around the corner. He didn’t even have to push the car this far. It was only a national event, but you can bet your top dollar that Minho was going to win it all the same.
“Box, BOX.”
It was when he pushed passed the pit lane, between 72’s outer side and the barrier that he heard it. The scream of his tires on the track before he felt the burn as though it was his own body pressed against the rubbery tar.
No, NO, NO.
Cliche as it was, when everything slid wildly out of control, all Minho could comprehend was the fact the world had slowed down. Pieces of carbon fibre seemed to hang suspended in the air as the car spun out, skidding across the grass in an almost soundless exit from the track.
Minho’s head snapped forward as the back of his car collided with the barrier, destroying the expensive frame immediately. Half of the car was gone, just like that.
“LEE KNOW HAS HIT THE BARRIER-”
It all stopped at once, but then Minho felt the heat. He blinked dazedly at the start of the fire inside what was left of his rear end, his mind trying to process what it was.
“Minho! Are you okay?”
His head spun as he croaked out a reply to Seungmin’s question. “Yeah, I’m okay but there’s fire, there’s a fire-”
“The crews heading there right now. They’ll help you out, just try and get out.”
Minho’s hands were quick to understand the request, shifting to the halo above his head as human shaped things run towards his car. His hands somehow cleared enough room between the halo and the frame for his shaking body to squeeze out of the car. The track swayed as he stepped out onto the tar, his entire body numb.
Someone put a hand on his arm and spoke to him in a language he could normally understand. His head nodded as though it knew what was going on, but all Minho could pay attention to was his car. His car .
It was doused in retardant, but he didn’t know why they even bothered. There was nothing left.
And if he hadn’t gotten lucky, there would be nothing left of him either.