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Esteban only needs one look at Lance’s face for him to tell Lance to go see Seb.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” he says soothingly. “It was just a shitty accident for me, that’s all.”
Lance nods half-heartedly even as he refuses to unstick himself from the hug he wrapped Esteban in the moment he saw him. Esteban knows that Lance is barely listening to him, too busy with the thoughts racing through his head, and he smiles fondly at his friend’s selfless ability to comfort others even as he’s twisting himself into anxious knots.
It really did suck, finding himself out of the race before it even truly started, and Esteban is grateful that Lance came to see him as soon as he could. However, he knows that every second Lance is spending with him is one less second that he isn’t where he truly needs to be. As much as he prides himself on being an awesome best friend, he knows that the person Lance really needs to see right now is Sebastian.
Seb’s crash with Kimi came out of nowhere in the remaining minutes of the race, and it was big enough to where Esteban’s mind immediately jumped to worrying about the condition Lance would be in after hearing about it. Which is why he was surprised when he found Lance knocking on his door so soon after the race, but then again he should have learned by now to not underestimate his friend.
“Lance,” he gently chides and uses the hug to squeeze Lance a little and get his attention.
Lance looks up at him. “Are you sure? I can stay, if you need me it’s fine. I’m good, I’m—”
“Go, Lance,” Esteban untangles himself from the embrace and pushes Lance firmly out of his room. “Go to Seb,” he calls out the door and shuts it behind him, but not before he sees Lance’s face color red at the mention of his teammate’s name.
Esteban grins knowingly. This thing between Lance and Sebastian may be new, but Lance had come to Esteban sighing over look-what-Seb-did-for-me and Seb-said-this-isn’t-he-so-romantic enough times to where Esteban decided to give Sebastian the very important Best Friend Seal of Approval.
Lance said that when he told Sebastian that, Sebastian had laughed but admitted that he was glad Esteban thought he was good enough for Lance. Which only validated him even more, in Esteban’s eyes. The next time Sebastian saw Esteban in the paddock, he had stopped to give him a fist bump and a grateful smile.
Esteban smiles to himself and kicks back on his couch. Time to stalk Pierre’s socials again.
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Lance feels a little guilty that he’s happy when Esteban kicks him out of his room. He feels awful for how Esteban’s race went, or more accurately didn’t go, but he would be lying if he didn't say that he’s glad Esteban doesn’t want him to stick around. He definitely would have, if Esteban had asked him to, and Seb would have understood also.
After Brad told Lance that Seb went off the track with Kimi, Lance almost hadn’t wanted him to repeat himself, willing himself to have heard the crackly radio wrong. He had wanted to park right away and run over to make sure Seb was alright, race be damned. He was out of the points, anyways. And even as he went to check on Esteban, it was as if his mind knew he was supposed to be with Seb, feeding him what-if scenarios and making him uneasy as he imagined the condition Seb could be in at the moment.
Before Lance knows it, he finds himself at Seb’s door. He raises his hand to knock on it, but before he can, it swings open and Seb pulls him inside.
Lance feels his throat tighten, and he doesn’t say a word before he wraps his arms around Seb and buries his face into his neck.
“Oh, honey,” Seb says softly, and Lance feels Seb’s arms come around his waist and hold him tight.
“I thought you—” is all Lance manages to choke out. He shudders in panic as the possibilities that had first entered his thoughts when he heard that Seb had crashed all flood back into his mind.
Lance makes a noise of alarm as Seb starts to move away, and Seb’s arms tighten back around him. “It’s okay honey, let’s just move over here. Slowly now, that’s it. Good boy.” He leads Lance to the couch, a slow shuffle over until he’s able to sink down onto it, with Lance still clinging desperately to him.
“I’m okay, honey,” Seb gently arranges Lance on his lap until his legs are on either side of Seb’s thighs, face still buried in Seb’s neck. “See?”
Lance feels Seb beneath him, warm and solid and here. He noses Seb’s neck and breathes in the scent of him, woven in memories of warm sheets and summer days and laughter, and so much love it sometimes takes Lance’s breath away. He lets out a deep breath. “Yeah,” he finally says softly.
In the back of his brain, Lance knows that he’s acting a little dramatic. Crashes are a part of the sport, and if a driver is worried about crashing it’s best that they not get into the car. But it’s a whole different story, Lance thinks, when it’s someone you love who’s in the car instead of you. He used to tolerate his mom fussing over him every time he’d finish a race, letting her look him over and turn his head this way and that before batting her shaking hands away, but now. Now, he understands.
He sighs and turns his head until it’s resting on Seb’s shoulder and he’s looking up at Seb. “I just— I’m glad you’re okay.”
Seb smiles down warmly at him and presses a soft kiss to the top of his head. “I’m okay, honey. More okay now that you’re here,” he jokes a little, but the truthfulness of his statement rings true in how his arms tighten around Lance.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, I wanted to make sure Este was okay. I hope that’s okay, I just—”
Seb shushes Lance with another kiss, this time placed gently on his lips. Lance leans into it, melting impossibly further into Seb’s embrace, and when they separate he can feel his face warming with the intimacy of it all. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get sick of this.
Seb leans back and smiles fondly at him, and Lance squirms a little under the intensity of his gaze. “It’s okay, honey, really it is,” Seb says, and he cups the side of Lance’s face, tracing Lance’s blush across his cheek with his thumb until he taps his nose. “I know Esteban needed some Lance Love. DNF’s are never a fun thing to have, especially on the first lap.”
Lance scrunches his nose up when Seb taps it. “Yeah,” he concedes. “I know my Lance Love is highly sought after,” he says cheekily, and something inside his chest unclenches further when Seb reels back as if he’s shocked, even as he keeps Lance close to his chest.
“How many people do I have to duel for your love,” Seb says dramatically.
“I don’t know,” Lance sits back and pretends to think, rubbing his chin with his hand in consideration. “Just about… a couple hundred maybe.” He laughs when Seb puts a hand on his heart as if scandalized.
“A couple hundred!” Seb exclaims. “I should have known you’d be in such high demand. No matter though, I’ll win against them all.” He smiles fondly at Lance’s bright smile.
“Really,” Lance teases, “Are you sure you’d be fighting for me? Or just because you don’t like losing?”
Seb grins sheepishly. “Of course it would be for you, honey. I don’t know why you’d say otherwise.”
“It’s okay, all my Lance love is for you,” Lance says reassuringly. He knows what Seb is doing, distracting him from his anxious thoughts, but he’s grateful for it.
“And Esteban.”
“And Este,” Lance amends. “But mostly for you.”
“Good,” Seb says, and pulls Lance close to him again, burying his face in his fluffy hair. “All mine.”
“All yours,” Lance says softly and sinks into the feeling of loving and being loved, wholly and absolutely.