Chapter Text
"We will miss you so much!" Lando's mother had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Even his father did not seem as emotionally stable as usual as he also had to hold back his tears. He came up to them and put his arms around them both.
"Moving out is part of growing up," Adam muttered in a fragile voice, and Lando snuggled closer to his parents. Actually, they had agreed to not make the farewell too emotional, but obviously, they just failed miserably. Well, today they should be allowed to, after all, he moved out to live alone for the first time since he was born 20 years ago. Okay, not completely alone.
He would share an apartment in London with Carlos. They had got to know each other a few months ago and now the older one had moved from Madrid to England because he had been offered a job here. The apartment was too big for him alone, which is why he was looking for a roommate. And since their parents were business partners and Lando was looking for a place anyway, Carlos had contacted him.
He had already met the Spaniard at a gala, to which he had accompanied my father, but they had not talked much then. He knew Carlos was 25, had just finished his studies in Spain, and was working here in London. That's it. To be honest, he also doubted they'd become close friends. They'd be living together, that was all. They would probably live past each other most of the time anyway. Carlos worked, he himself studied and worked on the side. There wasn't much time left to get to know each other better.
Since the beginning of December, the apartment was officially theirs, but they would not move in until today. They had spent the whole last month sorting out their rooms but had never met each other. Whenever Carlos was there, he didn't have time, and when he was there, Carlos was in Madrid.
"Group cuddling!" Oliver suddenly shouted and shortly afterward he felt three more bodies on his back. So his siblings wanted to be part of the farewell too, great...
He still enjoyed being so close to his family for a couple of heartbeats, then he tried to push the others away. "I'm not out of the world, guys. It's barely three hours."
"Yeah you just saw it yourself, didn't you?" his youngest sister pouted. Sighing, he pressed her against him again before he backed away.
"Okay, I have to go. Carlos is probably already there," he muttered. "Thank you for all your help with the packing and setting up. I guess I couldn't have done it without you."
"No problem. Drive carefully and text us when you arrive," his mother asked me. He assured her of this and waved again before getting into his car and driving away.
He spent the car ride singing quietly to the music and driving a little too fast. Therefore, he probably only needed a little more than two hours of the initial two and a half hours. He was really excited about what it would be like to live without his family and be on his own.
Fortunately, he found a parking lot almost right in front of the apartment building. One last time, he took a deep breath, then he got out. It was an old building, plain white from the outside and he found it beautiful. Generally, he loved old buildings – the high ceilings and the style were a dream. So he was all the happier that Carlos had chosen this apartment of all places.
He took as much as he could carry and walked up to the front door, where he pressed the bell a little awkwardly, as he had no hand left. It said Norris/Sainz and inevitably he had to smile. For the first time in his life, 'Norris' was actually just for himself.
A few seconds later, he heard the typical whirring, which is why he opened the front door. Fortunately, their apartment was on the first floor, so he arrived rather quickly.
Carlos was waiting for him in the door frame smiling. His arms were loosely crossed in front of his chest and his hair was slightly blurred. "Hey," he greeted him in a good mood. "Do you need help carrying it up?"
"I won't say no to that, will I?" he returned and squeezed past him into the apartment. Not surprisingly, the hallway was full of moving boxes, which the Spaniard had not yet unpacked. He circled around a few until he reached the end of the small hallway where his room was. With his foot, he knocked open the door and placed his boxes inside.
So far, there was only his bed, several shelves, and a desk in his room. He'd spend the next few weeks putting his things up to make it a little more comfortable. But now he ran back to Carlos, who was still waiting for him at the door.
"How was the drive here?" Carlos tried his best at small talk as they left the stairwell together.
"Well, luckily there wasn't much traffic on my way," he answered, opening the trunk of his car to give Carlos a box. "For how long have you been here?"
"I arrived around 12pm. But so far I have only tried to sort my stuff and fix the chaos a little until you arrived."
Shrugging his shoulders, Carlos took the box from him, which he handed him. He took one myself before they went back.
"I don't mind chaos, don't worry," he smiled.
"Oh, now I'm actually even more worried," Carlos replied laughing. "After all, we're living together now and I don't know what that's gonna mean for our apartment if you don't mind chaos." Carlos gave him a teasing look and he rolled his eyes.
"Now I'm going to make an extra lot of chaos," he fired back cheekily. Carlos laughed lightly at these words and stepped ahead into his room.
"Should I just put the box somewhere?" the Spaniard asked, to which he nodded.
They went a total of three more times before they had carried everything into the apartment and took a break. Carlos took two cups out of one of his boxes while Lando sat down on a chair in the kitchen.
"Do you want some coffee?"
"No, thank you. I'll just have water," he muttered, leaning his head against the wall. Carlos filled a cup of water before handing it to him.
"I tried to set up WiFi earlier, but so far it hasn't really worked. Could you take a look at it later?" Carlos gave him a questioning look. "Maybe you're better at it than I am."
"Sure, I'll do it," he smiled and took a sip. "Can we send my family a selfie? Otherwise, my mother will think I've forgotten her."
"Yeah, no problem," Carlos nodded. Lando then pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the camera. They both smiled and the photo was taken. He sent it to my family with the signature 'we're taking a break now...'.
When Carlos' coffee was ready, he sat down opposite him at the table. "I'll have my first real day at work tomorrow. Shall we order dinner afterwards and maybe play some video games, if we have already set up the TV by then?"
A little surprised, he looked at him but didn't hesitate long before he nodded. "Sure, sounds good to me," he agreed, giving him a light smile.
He hadn't really expected Carlos to actually want to spend time with him and maybe even start a friendship, but somehow it made him happy. Surely it was only beneficial if they got along well.
"Good," he grinned. "Should we go to a furniture store on the weekend and buy everything we need?"
"Oh yes!" he immediately exclaimed enthusiastically. If there was one thing he loved, it was buying furniture. He would like to take everything with him, but for obvious reasons, he couldn't.
"Do you want to organise a housewarming party once everything is ready?" the older one continued.
"Don't think so," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I'll invite my closest friends, but that's all. What about you?"
"Funny," he chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. "All of my friends are in Madrid."
"So you only have me here, huh? I like it," he winked at Carlos, which he commented with a squeaky grin.
They spent the rest of the day arranging their rooms and discussing the furnishing of the living room together. He actually managed to get them WiFi, too.
Later that day, he fell into his new bed satisfied. He texted George and Alex, who had been his best friends for ages, a message saying he arrived well and everything was fine with Carlos before he plugged my phone into the charging cable and tried to fall asleep.
All in all, it was a very successful day. He got along with his roommate far better than he had expected – it even seemed as if Carlos could become a good friend –, he had quickly arranged his room and even when planning the living room, Carlos had gladly agreed with his wishes and ideas
It couldn't get much better than this, could it?