Chapter Text
The holidays feel different this year. Lando is not entirely sure why exactly he feels that way but it’s probably the sum of several reasons.
The whole year had been odd obviously. And the season ended really late into December leaving him unable to get into the Christmas spirit.
Also he won’t be able to spend Christmas with his extended family like always. This time it will just be his parents and his siblings which is new to him as well, but he’s also looking forward to it.
Lando is lying in bed, desperately trying to fall asleep. But it’s just not happening. He cuddles himself closer to Carlos and he tries to stop his mind from racing but that’s easier said than done.
It had been a difficult day so it’s no wonder that he’s restless. He and Carlos spent the day at the MTC. It was the last day of this season and Carlos’ last day at McLaren ever.
Tomorrow his Spaniard will fly to Italy, to fulfil his first duties at Ferrari and on the weekend he will go home, to spend Christmas with his family in Madrid.
Lando knows that their relationship will not be affected by Carlos’ change of teams, but he is still upset, thinking about the next season. Some things will inevitably change and he’s scared.
Not being able to spend the holidays together doesn’t make it any better. Lando understands Carlos fully, in fact he convinced his boyfriend to go home. Both of them hadn’t been able to see their families a whole lot during the season and also none of their families know about the two of them being together, so it wouldn’t even have made sense to celebrate together.
Lando sighs and wraps his arm around Carlos’ waist, trying to savour his warmth and their closeness.
~
Lando and Carlos are having breakfast in Lando’s kitchen. They are not talking much, it’s still way too early in the morning for that. In fact Lando wouldn’t have gotten up if it weren’t their last meal together for this year.
Lando lets his head rest on Carlos’ shoulder, his hands wrapped around a big cup of tea.
„I didn’t sleep too well.“ He admits. „I was thinking about how much I will miss you. Over the holidays and also next season in general.“
Carlos pulls him closer but the Spaniard doesn’t get to answer anything because his phone starts ringing.
Caco, Carlos’ cousin and manager is calling. Carlos sighs but he knows that he has to answer this one. His cousin wouldn’t call if it weren’t important. Especially because he’s already in Italy, waiting for him to arrive, maybe he has some news.
He shoots Lando an apologetic look but the younger one just shrugs his shoulders, motioning him to answer the phone.
Caco indeed has some news. Bad ones.
„Have you looked at the news?“ He asks. „I don’t think you’ll be able to come to Italy and probably you will not even make it home for Christmas. I’m so sorry.“
Lando, who can hear Caco’s voice through the speaker is clicking away at his phone and then he shows Carlos a news article, his face startled.
Carlos skims the text. Apparently they found a new mutation of the corona virus in the UK and now all the countries in the EU have closed their borders to the UK. He swears.
„What do I do?“
Lando looks at him, compassionately. He takes his hand and squeezes it softly. Carlos forces a smile.
„I don’t know mate.“ His cousin sounds frustrated. „I’ve been trying to find a solution for at least an hour but I couldn’t figure out one. Unfortunately I think you will have to stay in the UK. I’m so sorry.“
Carlos sighs again. „What about you?“ He asks, still not really comprehending.
„I think I’ll be fine.“ Caco admits. „I’m lucky I left the UK a few days before they changed the rules.“
Carlos can’t help but feel envious.
Lando tries to comfort him silently again but suddenly his phone rings as well. He quickly gets up and leaves the kitchen to not disturb Carlos’ conversation and so that nobody would be able to notice that the two of them were together at Lando’s place.
„Hi mum, what’s up?“ He answers the call.
„Good morning Lando, darling. Did I wake you up?“ He smiles at his mum’s voice. He really does miss her a lot.
„No, I was already up because of Carlos.“ He notices that he shouldn’t have said that the second he finishes the sentence. His mum doesn’t know that the two of them practically live together.
„What?“ His mother is confused. Rightfully so.
„Uh, he called me.“ Lando quickly makes up an excuse. „He just found out he won’t be able to go home because of those covid regulations.“
His mum luckily buys the story. „Oh no, that is really unfortunate. What is he going to do now?“
„He doesn’t know yet. I think he’s trying to figure it out.“ At least this part is not a lie.
„But he won’t have to spend Christmas alone, won’t he?“ His mum sounds worried which is weird. She shouldn’t really care that much about Carlos. But then again she is a mum and mums always worry about these kinds of things.
„I’m not sure. He doesn’t have any family in the UK tough.“
As soon as Lando had heard the news from Caco he was already thinking about the possibility of the two of them staying at Lando’s place. He felt really bad for his boyfriend, knowing how much the Spaniard missed his family. Lando already made the decision that he would miss out on meeting his family in order for the Spaniard not having to be alone.
„He could come with you and spend Christmas with us. We have enough space for another person.“
„Really?“ Lando is honestly surprised. He hadn’t even thought about this being an option.
„Of course. I wouldn’t want you to be alone on Christmas so I suppose his family feels the same. And you two are close friends anyways, aren’t you?“
„Yeah.“ He hopse his soft voice doesn’t give away how close he and Carlos actually are.
„I think you should invite him then.“
„I will ask him. And I’ll let you know.“
He keeps talking to his mum for a while but when Carlos enters the living room he tells his mum that he has to hang up.
„I’m so sorry, Carlos.“ Lando closes the distance between them and hugs Carlos tightly.
„I still can’t believe it if I’m honest.“
Lando caresses his cheeks, hoping to comfort his boyfriend at least a little bit.
„Do you know what you’re going to do about it?“ He wants to ask right away, if Carlos wants to join his family. But at the same time he doesn’t want to overwhelm him.
„Caco promised me to keep looking into it. But I don’t think he’ll find a solution. He told me that Ferrari would like to do an online meeting to figure out some first things. Could I use your desk for that?“
„Of course.“
Carlos nods, obviously trying to figure things out for himself. „But apart from that I guess I’ll stay at my flat.“
Lando’s heart breaks at how sad he sounds. He clears his throat.
„Uh… My mum called me and I told her about the situation. And she basically forced me to invite you to our place. If you want you can spend Christmas with us.“
Carlos stares at him with wide eyes and Lando fears that maybe it’s too much for his boyfriend. Maybe being with Lando’s family would make Carlos miss his own even more.
„You don’t have to. It was just an idea. I get it if you don’t want that.“ He makes sure to not pressure Carlos into anything. But he can’t help but hope that he agrees.
„Oh cariño.“ Carlos actually has tears in his eyes. „I would love to spend Christmas with you and your family.“
Relief flushes through Lando’s body. „Really?“
„Yes, of course.“ Carlos is smiling brightly and he wraps his arms even tighter around Lando’s waist. Lando brings their lips together and they hug and kiss for a while, before Lando shuffles away a little bit.
„Am I selfish for being happy about this situation?“ He blushes lightly. „I know you won’t be able to see your family and that is really unfortunate and I wouldn’t want to be in your situation. But I can’t help myself, I’m so happy that we get to be together.“
Carlos smiles softly at him and caresses his cheeks. „You’re not selfish, Lando. It actually means a lot to me that you want to be with me. Of course I’m sad that I wont get to see my family but if I’m completely honest I am also quite excited for our first Christmas together.“
Lando returns the smile and pulls Carlos close again. He’s imagining how it will be for the both of them at his parents’ house. Especially because nobody knows about their relationship. He sighs. „You are aware that we won’t be able to be ourselves with my family, right? At least not if we don’t want to tell them about us.“
Carlos doesn’t respond right away. He moves Lando over towards the couch and they both sit down.
„Do you want to tell your family?“ He asks, his voice surprisingly soft.
Lando instantly panics at that. He didn’t think about that at all. „Do you want me to tell them so that we can be open about it?“
Carlos runs his hand through Lando’s hair. „That is for you to decide. I just want you to know that I think I would be okay with it. Both ways.“
Lando hides himself in Carlos’ hug. He is quite overwhelmed as he didn’t expect things to go this way. And Carlos telling him he would be ok with telling his family is actually a big thing.
When they first got together over a year ago they both agreed on not telling anybody. And it kind of just went on like that. There was no necessity to tell anyone and they didn’t talk about it much. Lando somewhat enjoys being secretive about their relationship. But he knows that it can’t go on like this forever. At some point he will have to tell his family. He wants to. But he’s not sure if he’s ready yet.
Carlos seems to be able to read his mind. „You don’t have to decide yet. Just think about it.“
So Lando does. He spends the whole day imagining the different ways telling his family could go. He also thinks about what it would mean for them hiding their relationship at his parents’ house, versus being open about it.
Carlos disappears into Lando’s office for some hours, talking to Ferrari engineers and mechanics and Lando just stays on the couch, contemplating.
During dinner Lando tells Carlos the result of his contemplation. „I think I want to see how it goes when we get to my parents’ place. I haven’t seen them in a while and I don’t want this to be the first thing I tell them. But maybe I’ll feel more confident after some days.“
„That’s totally fine, darling.“ Carlos grabs his hand to squeeze it firmly. „And if you decide it’s not the right time then that will be fine as well.“
„Thanks.“ Lando is a little moved by the support Carlos always shows him.
~
They spend the next days enjoying their well-deserved vacations. They just stay at home, not doing much apart from watching movies, playing games and cooking together.
Lando instructs Carlos on what Christmas is like in his family. He tells his boyfriend about British and Belgian traditions and the unique mixture they celebrate in the Norris family.
Lando also warns Carlos about all the banter they always share at his home, especially between the siblings.„They surely won’t make any exception for you. And they will certainly tease us for being close. So please try to hold back your Spanish intenseness.“
„What do you mean?“ Carlos pretends to be annoyed and he pokes Lando between his ribs. He gasps, trying to hold back his laughter.
„I mean that if you look at me like you normally do, with your intense gaze that drives me crazy, they will instantly know that we’re fucking.“
„What do you mean?“ Carlos repeats, smiling smugly now. „We’re fucking?“ He crosses his arms in front of his chest, pouting playfully. „And here I was, thinking that what we had was somehow more special than just fucking.“
Lando is laughing unrestrained now. „Oh Carlito. I was just teasing you. You know how special our relationship is to me.“
„Yeah I know.“ Carlos grins and pecks a kiss on Lando’s lips. „And don’t worry too much. I’ll be fine at your family’s. I’m sure I can deal with the banter and I will try not to be too obvious about how much I love you.“
„I love you too.“ Lando sighs contently, kissing Carlos again.