Work Text:
There are few activities that Lando enjoys more than streaming and being able to interact with the fans in a way that didn't make him feel overcrowded, so is only natural that he can spend hours and hours on his streaming room and lose track of time.
When this happens is usually his normal body necessities that remember him how much time has passed whether it is his stomach screaming for food or because he seriously need to pee, which he feels may be happening soon.
He knows Carlos is just as needy and clingy as he is when they're alone, which is why he convinced him that he was only gonna stream for the time that the Real Madrid was playing because as much as he tried (and god knows he did), he just can't sit and watch a whole match without getting bored and start riddling his boyfriend for attention.
So they decided over dinner that he was gonna be streaming while Carlos watched the match downstairs, which was apparently a flawless plan, both of them got to spend time doing things they loved without the other one getting bored and then they would go to bed and sleep.
As he said, flawless.
He was happily streaming until he felt his phone buzz in his pants, so he took it out, he saw he had a few messages from his mom and sisters and one from Max
"Hey chat look at this photo Max just send me" he said giggling "Wait, I'm gonna open this up in my computer so you can see chat, just one minute" he said as he opened up the Message app on his computer to show his chat the photo of the two of them racing when they were younger and in their karting days "Oh my good I look terrible" he laughed as he opened up the photo
He started sharing his screen so they fans could see the photo and reading the comments they were posting on the chat
" 'You're half of Max's height' Oh shut up... chat please keep in mind that this was over eight years ago, I've grown since then and now I'm almost the same height as him"
" 'Max looks so exited hahahah' He was, his dream of meeting me was finally coming true"
" 'I didn't knew kindergartens were allowed to go karting' I'm not gonna sit here and take this abuse chat" he said as he closed the picture, returning to the COD he had been playing earlier "Okay chat, so wait for a second, I have to go and take a piss... I'LL BE BACK, I SWEAR" he screams as he walked down the hall
When he was coming out of his streaming room he didn't saw any lights on downstair nor did he hear the TV on or Carlos coaching the Real Madrid through the TV, so he figured he must have already gone to bed and once again he streamed for longer than he had planned to, so he made a mental note to end his stream soon so he could go and cuddle with his favorite spaniard.
He returned to his stream a few minutes later, when he did so he saw his phone that he had left on his chair was receiving a call from Max, which he didn't hesitate on answering "Hey Max, I showed my chat the picture you sent me" he said happily when he answered
'Mate, please, listen carefully, don't say anything, just close your microphone, okay?' Max said from the other side of the phone
Lando would usually wouldn't have taken this seriously but he could hear the edge on Max's voice, so he did as he said and he even closed his camera "Okay... done, is everything okay Max?" he asked concerned about his friend
'You know how I told you I was gonna watch your stream because you told me you were gonna share that picture and I wanted to see the fans reaction to it, but then you went to the bathroom and left your message app opened on your computer and while you were gone, some messages popped up'
"Okay..." his brain still didn't get what was wrong, the texts were surely from his mom asking once again for the Netflix password or his sisters wanting to know if he was still gonna take them to next week's GP
'The texts were from Carlos...'
"Oh no..." he said as his mind finally caught up to what was going on "How bad was it?" he asked fearing the answer he was gonna get
'Well, considering he was asking for 'kisses and cuddles' I would say you basically just gained yourselves some prime time interviews next week, some angry team principals and a media circus, maybe even some front page covers but I don't know'
"Oh fuck me" the brit said as he threw his head backwards against the head rest
'Nope, I think Carlos wouldn't like me fucking you, besides you're not my type' he said jokingly
"Oh shut up Max, this is serious" he said as he placed his friend's call on speaker so he could check said messages that Carlos had send him, the last message he remembered sending his boyfriend was asking him to let him know when the match had finished
Just as he was opening the chat with Carlos, an extra message came in
'Lando you're still sharing your screen' Max yelled at him through the phone
"Shit shit shit shit" he panicked "Okay Max I'm gonna hang up, thank tho..."
Without opening his camera, he said to his chat "Okay, chat I'm gonna have to end the stream, it was nice catching up with you as always, but I'm gonna have to end it, so see you next time" He stopped streaming and sat back on his chair contemplating what a mess he had done
Okay, so it was now almost 10 pm, it was late, but not late enough to hope that the McLaren team won't see this until morning. He got up, took a deep breath before exiting his streaming room and starting walking towards their bedroom where his boyfriend was waiting for him
"You jinxed it" Carlos said as soon as he spotted his boyfriend walking into the room "I need you to come and cuddle me please Lando" the older one said as he made grabby hands to his boyfriend and patted the space next to him on the bed.
Lando was quick to get rid of his pants and hoodie, and put on one of Carlos' shirts he loved using as a pajama before climbing onto the bed and practically dropping himself on top of his man for some snuggles. He loves laying on top of him, resting his head on his chest getting to hear his heart beat into his ears and feeling as close to Carlos as he could when he wrapped his arms around his lower back and squeezed him a little bit tighter, bringing him a little bit more up so he could place a kiss on the younger one's forehead and then on his hair.
"I love you" Lando murmurs to his boyfriend, but really it was more for him, for reassurance that Carlos loves him too and that maybe, just maybe they can get through this together
"I love you more, cariño" Carlos answered looking at him and placing a little kiss on his forehead before starting to draw circles on his back with his hands.
They stayed silent, just happily coexisting, being held in each other's arms and enjoying this quiet time they were able to get. But Lando knew he had about a 45 minute window before Carlos' old man early bedtime came around, when he would get up and go to the bathroom, take a piss, wash his teeth and check his phone one last time before going to bed, so he had to stop ignoring the elephant in the room and address the situation
"So, I've been thinking..." he started
"Congratulations, I didn't knew you could do that" Carlos answered playfully
"Shut up Carlos" he said as is hand hit the spaniard on the arm jokingly "As I was saying... we've been together for about a year now and I know we originally agreed to keep our relationship private to not have any extra pressure to see if we could work out together as a couple..."
"Mhmm..." his boyfriend answered hugging him tighter
"I was thinking that I want to be able to properly date you and go out to have nice dinners together when we're on the road or take a vacation without the fear of being spotted and all that, or stop pretending we're just friends when you're the most important person to me in the world" he said honestly, because as much as this had happened because of him being reckless, he had actually been thinking about going public with his relationship for quite some time, he just would have to fast-track it because now he only had about 32 minutes to get Carlos to agree before he needs to go to the bathroom
"Okay..." the spaniard said as he dropped Lando to his side so he could hover on top of him "But we should probably discuss this in the morning and talk to the teams before we do anything irrational, because as much as I love you, there's nothing I hate more than Ferrari's PR meetings and them giving us shit when we do something on social media we shouldn't"
Crap.
Well he would just have to cope with this because as much as Lando himself would've loved to do something more elaborated to announce this, it was Carlos' own fault they were wrapped in this situation, so he would have to put up with Silvia and all her PR meetings
"If we do this, does that means you're finally gonna take my offer on going with me back to Spain and spend our Summer break there?" Carlos asked because he had wanted to introduce his boyfriend to his family for quite some time, and as much as Lando loved his mom and dad and sisters, when Carlos said 'family' he had learned that included a ridiculous amount of cousins and aunts and uncles that seemed to pop out of the ground. But Carlos loves his family, it's one of the most important things in the world to him, so Lando was willing to meet his 100 cousins and come with him to Spain
"Yes it does, I would really like to finally meet your whole family" he said smiling
Carlos answer was just a kiss "I love you Lando"
Minutes later when Carlos finally started yawning, he got up to do his nightly routine, and Lando saw the moment his boyfriend took his phone from the night stand and walked into the bathroom
Carlos took way longer than he usually takes in the bathroom, maybe even double of the time, but Lando heard as he played the video from his stream and send some voice note on Spanish, so when he heard as Carlos finished washing his teeth, so he did the same tying he did when he was 8 years-old, he pretended to be asleep
Once he heard Carlos walk into the room again, he tried to keep a straight face for as long as he could but he knew deep down that Carlos knew he was awake
"So I just saw this really really interesting video that my sister send me..." he started "Me vas a volver loco un día de estos Lando" he said as he turned Lando around "I know you're not asleep"
"Yes I am" Lando answered with his eyes still closed but Carlos saw how he was biting his nails as he usually did when he was anxious.
As much as Carlos had been mad when he first saw the video, he had come to the conclusion that his boyfriend had obviously not done it with any bad intentions, it was an honest mistake and both of them had certain responsibility, he had only wished that what Lando had told him about finally being able to 'properly date him' had been because he truly wanted it to and not because he was basically forced to, but he also knew he loved him very much and that the brit would be beating himself up over this mistake
"I know you didn't mean to out us like that Lando" he said as he reached down to entwine his fingers with his boyfriend's "It was a mistake, and I'm not angry at you, sweetheart" he said as he leant down to kiss his forehead finally getting Lando to open up his eyes and look at him "I just wish you had told me and been honest with me of why you wanted to go public, you didn't have to come up with all that you said"
"I know I should've told you Carlos, I'm sorry" he said as he looked up to his boyfriend "But please believe me when I say that all the things I said to you are true, are things I want... I have been talking about it to George and Alex about how I wish we could go out like they do with their girlfriends and all that..." he said as he kissed the back of Carlos' hand and moved closer to him "I just got a bit anxious about your reaction, that's all"
"I know you did, baby" he said as he hugged the young shaking brit "I love you Lando"
"I love you too Carlos" he replied as he buried his head on the crook of the Spaniard's neck.
They stayed silent for some more minutes before the older one asked "What did Max said when he called you?"
"He basically told me about the media and PR hell we're gonna have to deal with"
"Yeah... tomorrow morning is gonna be a hectic day... so much for me wanting to ditch my PR duties"
"Is it really that bad at Ferrari?" Lando asked, because as much as any driver hated the endless interviews, the McLaren team had always managed to make them a bit funnier and Carlos used to have no problem with them when they were on the papaya team, however he seemed to hate them now
"You have no idea... they're infinite and always so serious and is like... you remember how the dementors from Harry Potter used to suck all you happiness and will to live? Something like that"
Lando was about to answer to him that they could not be that bad when he heard the doorbell ring
After an intense stare game (which Lando lost) he had to come downstairs to answer the door but Carlos had had to come down with him too as he seemed to be afraid of his own house in the dark
When he opened the door, there was a blonde woman with her laptop under her arm, a coffee-to-go on her hand and a will to murder them both
"Hello Charlotte, what can we help you with this on this lovely night?" Carlos said as he let her through. Once she had put down on the table all her things, she took a deep breath and tuned around and hit them both in the head
"Ouch"
"Careful"
"This is what we're gonna do... you Carlos are gonna make me a sandwich and refill my coffee, and you Lando are gonna go get one of the candles I gave you last Christmas and light it up so I can calm down, then were gonna sit down and you're gonna tell me all about how this happened and why you never told me anything about you two" she said as she sat in the couch and pulled out of her bag a blanket as he apparently intended to sleep in Lando's couch “And then we’re gonna came up with a game plan before this explotes even more than it already has… what are you waiting for?? She said laughing
They both just started at her hoping this was just a dream but quickly went to work when their work (or ex-work) mom said so
"So much for waiting till tomorrow to deal with this" Carlos said as he walked into the kitchen