Chapter Text
Charles should scares him. Or rather, it's the terrifying hold he has on him that should.
Time and time again, Lando tries to convince himself he's slowly growing immune to his rival's existence, but all Charles needs to do is to throw a little smile on his way and Lando's nothing more than malleable clay in his hands.
Tonight certainly won't prove him wrong, not when he's here, standing awkwardly in front of Charles hotel room, spikes of anxieties running through his body as he waits for the Monegasque to open his door. One look down at his current clothes and he suddenly wonders if he hasn't come a little bit too under-dressed in his comfortable sweatpants and simple plain black t-shirt. Charles told him he had planned nothing more than to just try the new Call Of Duty's map with him for a few games, but... Well, he's grown familiar enough with the end results of their frequent private encounters to know that a night of gaming alongside Charles always ends up slipping into a very different territory.
The sound of approaching steps pulls him back into reality seconds before the door is yanked open.
«Lando !» Charles exclaims, his eyes widening in a way that would be almost comical if it wasn't just so...Charles.
« Finally you're there ! Come inside !» he says as he pulls Lando by his free arm. «You bought something for me ?»
«Ah, yeah, raspberries ? You like them ?» he extends his right arm in his direction to show a small wooden box filled with the small fruits. Lando is suddenly hit by a wave of embarrassment. He picked the basket on a small shop on the way there, remembering how Charles had complained to him a few days ago about his craving for them...Are small attentions like that okay between the two of them ? Is it too much ? He starts asking himself in panic.
«Yes, yes of course ! I've meant to buy some tomorrow on my way to free practice ! Now I feel bad I just have one pack of chips to snack on with you...» Charles rambles as he closes the door beside them.
«Nah, no problem.» Lando reassures him and Charles worried expression shifts instantly into a beaming smile that manages to turn upside down Lando's stomach.
«Alright, sit down, I'm loading up a new game for you !» he says, before letting himself fall heavily on the right end of the massive couch in front of the TV. Lando follows, already feeling more relaxed once he is comfortably settled on the couch.
«Y'want me to close the windows, mate ?»
«Uh ? No, it's fine, just leave me some of those, eh ?» Lando asks playfully while he watches with an almost morbid fascination Charles inhaling handfuls of raspberries as if they were small biscuits.
«Uhm-» he swallows «You'll have to win the first game for that !»
And just like that, any lasting anxieties Lando had disappears to be replaced by his competitiveness. When Charles invited him over by texts, he pretended he had never tried the new content added in the game. But, truth to be told, he has already spent a good hour yesterday training himself on the map, hoping to be able to impress the Monegasque.
The next minutes that follow seems to do just that, Charles acting as a personal commentator and hyping up his every kills. Games after games, they exchange the controller between the two of them in a carefree atmosphere.
Caught up in the game, he's momentarily distracted when he hears the curtains move with the wind. When he throws a quick glance at it, he notices Charles is staring at him intently.
«Do I-» Lando begins before this attention is sharply put back in the game when he hears rafts of bullets near his avatar's position «Do I have something on my face ?»
«No....I was just wondering if you look the same when you're racing, you know ?» Charles says in a casual tone as he swallows one of the last raspberries.
«Uhm- Erm okay ?» Wow, really smooth there Lando, he congrats himself as his cheeks heats up mortifyingly and he tries to shift his attention back to the game.
He's leading his virtual avatar on the second floor of an abandoned warehouse when he feels the couch shifts under the moving weight of Charles, but he ignores it, too focused on finding new guns for his character to be armed with. Then, a wet and hot sensation on his neck startles him.
«Charles ! I'm trying to win there !»
«Then stop being so cute !» Charles whispers as his kisses go up his jaw. Lando's heartbeat picks up and he turns his full attention toward Charles. Instantly, his lips are captured into a heated kiss. His hands remains clutched on the controller, not knowing what to do with them.
And....Okay, that's the thing with their encounters that make him feel destabilized whenever he thinks about the nature of their relationship. One minute they are just playing video games, Charles is calling him mate and the next...Well, they behave like a couple of touch-starved lovers who have reunited after weeks, when actually they've seen each others more regularly than ever before in the current last months.
Lando isn't complaining. He really can't, not when he's unceremoniously draw up on Charles lap, only to be secured in place by warm hands. His rival is so assured, so precise with the way he handles him around and maybe Lando would feel conflicted about it, if it didn't leave him gagging for more everytime.
After a few minutes of making-out that leaves him feeling lightheaded, Charles pelvis searches frictions against his in a sharp movement. Lando lets an embarrassing squeak at the movement and the wave of heat that coils deliciously in his abdomen. On reflex, he lays one hand on Charles abdomen to hold him in place.
«You want to stop ?»
«Yeah- Uhm. I mean no...Just...Slower please ?»
«Ah, slow...I can do that !» Charles answers with a devilish smile, as if he just gave him another challenge to take. In a matter of seconds, hands creep under his shirt and Lando hopes for the sake of his dignity that he makes a decent job at hiding the shivers that travels through his entire body.
For a moment, light touches roams his chest followed by wet pecks on his upper torso and okay, this isn't just slow, this is torture . His heartbeat might have finally been back at a non-dizzying frequency but god his head feels light with the attentions of Charles solely on him.
«Regarde-moi...» Charles says firmly in french.
Look at me.
Throughout their encounters, those two french words always come up at one point, and each times Lando knows they signal the appearance of another facet of Charles. One intense, one that isn't playing anymore and searches on his face for something he doesn't know.
Lando has never really figured out what's so fascinating about himself in those moments, he must look like a mess by this rate, yet Charles gaze never waver.
Moments later and in a tantalizingly slow pace, Charles lets his fingers skim teasingly over the fabric of Lando's sweatpants, ones that make a poor job at covering his now obvious erection.
At the explosion of sensation the touches provokes, Lando can only let a shaky exhales and lean toward Charles shoulders to hide his face. Charles isn't even caressing him directly, yet his pulse is quickening drastically and he's almost embarrassed to become so high-struck with nothing more than lingering touches.
Charles, on the other hand, seems content enough to just observe him, his lips parted while he scrutinizes every micro-expression that cross his face as he pleasures him. It's like he's studying him, taking mental notes to gather enough data and...God, he wants more. More than just the pressure of Charles fingers through the fabric of his clothes. He wants to feel his soft skin entirely on his, without restraint.
And most of all, he wants to wash over the smug expression on his face, so he slides his hand under the Monegasque's underwear, but his hand is immediately swatted away as if Charles couldn't afford the distraction.
And this rush of power he feels, knowing that somehow Charles is enjoying the sight of him combined with the teasing pressure he applies on his shaft...It's enough to make him come without warning in his sweatpants.
«Fuck, Lando are you serious ?» Charles says dumbfounded as Lando keeps hiding his face on his shoulder while he breathes heavily, still riding the wave of pleasure washing over him.
Against him, he feels Charles sneaking his own hand under his underwear to touch himself in a frantic rhythm.
A few moments later, when Lando still feels boneless he senses Charles tensing under him before letting out a small groan.
They stay against each other for a few moment, unmoving and trying to regain control of their breathing. Lando revels in their closeness and the heat they share so intimately.
«Ah, I feel gross !» Charles ends up breaking the silence in the room, showing him his hands covered in both their come. Lando is too tired to do anything else but wrinkles his nose before maneuvering himself out of Charles lap «Thanks mate ! Back in two seconds !» the Monegasque says before disappearing into the bathroom.
Ah, here it comes...the familiar queasiness that assails him whenever Charles switches back to his friendly, bro-ish demeanor with him and actively ignores that what they just did is everything but the behavior of two mates.
«Here Lando !» a cleaning tissue falls on his lap.
«Thanks...» he says in a small voice as he rubs the tissue on his hand.
«Alright, let's go back to business !» Charles says while he casually jumps over the couch and takes the controller in his hand.
And as Lando pretends to be interested in Charles ongoing game, he wishes he was courageous enough to voice what has been running on his mind for too long. In his heart, he knows his rival enough to know he's not ill-intentioned, that they've never talked about whatever was in between the two of them and that even if it hurts him, it's a discussion they need to have. But...He's afraid.
If they knew, his friends would call it a typical Lando-move™ to overthink the nature of their relationship instead of just talking it out. The thing is, he talked about it with no one so he's left on his own to deal with his inner-turmoils.
And when he looks at Charles who now use his chest as a personal body-pillow and who look so comfortable, so relaxed next to him...He wonders if he really wants to take the risk of having this discussion and to be shut down, to learn this growing crush and fondness he feels for the Monegasque isn't mutual.
Charles certainly doesn't look like he's willing to overcomplicate things when he's the picture-definition of contentedness by his side.
Lando's answer on the matter is of course that no, he isn't willing to have this discussion.
What they have, even if it stands on unclear grounds, it's enough.
It's more than enough, he repeats to himself with vehemence.
It has to.