Everybody keeps saying it’s all about the sunshine-and-smiles fluff, which, yeah, there’s a ton of that. The whole cheeky-grin, post-race celebration, coffee shop meet-cute thing is huge. But I’ve been scrolling through AO3 lately and I’m seeing way more of a trend toward hurt/comfort where the reader’s the one providing stability. He’s exhausted from a bad season, dealing with the pressure, maybe even injured, and the story focuses on quiet support—making him laugh when he’s down, just being a calm presence. It’s less about the glamour and more about the person behind the helmet.
Then there’s the rivalry AUs, which are honestly my favorite. Setting him up against the reader who’s, like, a driven journalist or a mechanic from another team, all that competitive banter that slowly melts into something else. The tension there is so good. I also notice a lot of fics playing with the idea of hidden relationships, keeping things secret from the paddock, which adds a layer of anxiety and stolen moments that really works for his public persona versus a private life.