Chapter Text
As George pounded his fist against the hotel room’s door, his heart was pounding. He was half drunk, looking disheveled, and fairly panicked, and, well, it was around midnight now, but he knew Lando, and he knew the man wasn’t asleep, and he was indeed proved right when the door was opened by a pretty confused looking british man
“George-?”
“I need your help.”
George pushed past Lando, leaving the McLaren driver puzzled. He only stopped when he entered the room and was met with an equally confused Alex Albon, an xbox controller in hand, Forza loaded up on the TV.. For a moment,he forgot why he had bursted in the room and turned toward Lando, a small look of betrayal on his face.
“You guys are playing without me?”
“I tried texting you but you didn’t answer! I assumed you needed some time alone, considering the whole, y’know, situation…”
Ah. Yes. The situation. George groaned in embarrassment, rubbing his face
“Yes, yeah, wishful thinking.”
He sighed, and looked at Lando, then at Alex alternatively.
“I’m in trouble.”
“Yeah mate, we’re aware, the picture is pretty public now-”
“No, no it’s not- it’s not about that- well, sorta? I guess? But not really, it’s- ugh.”
He sighed, throwing his head back in annoyance at his difficulties to explain himself, which made Lando and Alex exchange a slightly worried look. Lando took a step closer, and put a hand on George’s shoulder, his voice a mix of confusion, care and worry
“Listen, dude, I don’t know what’s going on, but you seem drunk, and freaking out, so maybe you need to take a breather-”
“I think I’m in love with Max Verstappen.”
The words flew out of his mouth without his total control, his tone small, almost shy, and made a sudden silence fall upon the room. Both Lando and Alex were frozen, the controller slowly slipping out of Alex’s hands, falling on the floor with a quiet thud.
“... WHAT-”
George jumped slightly at the loud tone from Alex, a hint of panic flashing across his face
“Be quiet it’s midnight for the love of- CHRIST!”
He hissed, as he shook Lando’s hand off his shoulder, and started pacing along the room, only freaking out more now. There was clear confusion in the other men’s eyes, but thankfully no judgment. George didn’t feel like he could handle judgment right now.
“Didn’t you guys hate each other, like, a week ago?"
Alex asked, looking rightfully dumbfounded, grabbing the controller off the floor and putting it on the bed. George stopped his pacing, leaning his back against the wall, and crossed his arms over his chest, almost in a defensive position as he started rambling.
“I mean, yes, I guess? But then he helped me with the whole… Situation and defended me against a journalist, and earlier he showed up to my room with a bottle of whiskey, and we had a pretty good night, and we spoke, and- and we almost kissed, and I freaked out-”
“YOU ALMOST WHAT?!”
This time the two men were in sync in their bewilderment, which would’ve been funny if the situation wasn’t that confusing and panic-inducing for George.
“Shut up, you’re gonna wake up the entire hotel at this rate!!”
“You almost kissed Max?!”
Lando’s eyes were wide in a mix of surprise and excitement. George sighed.
“Yes.”
“Max Verstappen?”
“Yes.”
“Max Emilian Verstappen?”
George rolled his eyes in growing annoyance
“Are you gonna do every one of his names or..?”
There was a moment of silence, before Lando looked at Alex.
“Does he even have any more names than that?”
The thai shrugged, and George pinched the bridge of his nose
“Can we re-focus on the issue? Please?”
Getting the hint, Alex scooted over, leaving space for George to basically collapse face first on the bed. The Englishman was a mess, he had a headache, and he was still fairly panicking about basically everything. He got outed to the world, people were calling him slurs all over the internet, and now he almost kissed his rival and supposed enemy. Needless to say, the situation was far from ideal. Silence once again filled the room, as the two men looked at George, unsure what to say or do. After some more seconds of heavy silence, Alex cleared his throat, and spoke, voice hesitant.
“Maybe Max has a crush on you.”
“Oh please, don’t say crush, we aren’t 16 year old girls-"
George froze before he finished his sentence, his intoxicated brain taking time to process the information, before he shot his head up fast enough to make him wince a little, his head pounding almost as much as his heart. He blinked at Alex, and whispered, as if unsure he hadn’t made up what the other man just said
“Wait. What do you mean?”
“I mean. He did wait until you were outed to make a move on you, no?”
Lando snapped his fingers, grabbing a chair from the corner of the room to sit in front of them
“Wait wait, okay. George, when you said you almost kissed, who started it?”
George hesitated at the question. He turned around on the bed, laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling as he thought about it, recalling the moment.
“I mean… It was a pretty… Common movement between us, but… I think he started leaning closer first?”
“Yeah, and he started defending you against the journalists and all.”
“Yeah.”
Lando and Alex shared a look, a smirk blooming on their faces, both of them silently agreeing, then Lando clapped his hands together, an excited smile on his face.
“He 100% has a crush on you.”
George rolled his eyes as he waved his hand dismissively
“Don’t be ridiculous. He doesn’t. It was just… An alcohol-induced mistake. Nothing more. And he only defended me out of sportsmanship. He hated me two weeks ago.”
Alex scoffed
“You hated him too two weeks ago, and now look at yourself.”
“Shut up. I hate it when you have a point.”
Alex chuckled at that. Lando crossed his legs, and added.
“And I’d like to say, it’s Max Verstappen we’re talking about here. He’s not exactly known for being the best at dealing with his feelings. That "hatred"? Could've perfectly been something else.”
George scoffed, rubbing his face.tiredly.
“No one on the paddock is good at dealing with feelings.”
Alex barked out a laugh, and Lando nodded, letting out an amused chuckle
“True. But my point still stands. I’m saying it’s a possibility.”
George let out a sigh, as he looked up at the ceiling. Could it? Could it be a possibility? And if it was… Could they be together? The world of F1 wasn’t exactly open to that sort of thing, he didn’t get in trouble because he didn’t come out on his own terms, but if he and Max were dating…
He shook his head. He was projecting far too much. He sat up, and sighed.
“This is a mess.”
The two other men nodded slowly, and, after another moment of silence, Alex picked up the forgotten controller, and poked George’s arm with it.
“Do you wanna play a little? To change your mind?”
There was a moment of quietness, before he grabbed the controller. A bit of Forza couldn’t hurt.