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Daniel was working on his laptop when the sound of the front door slamming shut filled his ears. Several things clattered onto the floor. It was all quickly followed by a second door slamming shut. For a few minutes, Daniel stayed seated. He finished everything he had to do for the team. That simultaneously gave Lando some time to cool down. Even before Daniel opened the door to their bedroom, he could hear sobs coming from inside. He quietly opened the door. With an aching heart, he walked past the bed where Lando was lying face-first. He quickly started drawing a bath. While the bathtub was slowly filling up, Daniel looked for all of Lando's favourite products. He put everything down on the edge of the tub, before closing the tap.
When Daniel walked back into the bedroom, Lando was still lying face down on the bed. His face was buried in between the pillows. His entire body shook with every sob. Daniel swallowed hard, trying to stop his own tears from running down his face. Softly he placed a hand on Lando's back.
"Lan, I drew a bath for you," Daniel said softly. Another sob ripped through Lando. The latter stayed quiet.
"You don't have to talk. Just come into the bathroom with me, please." The second attempt got Lando to look up. His entire face was flushed and topped off with red and puffy eyes. Daniel could see the clear tear tracks on his cheeks. Slowly he bent forward to place a kiss on Lando's forehead.
"Come on." Daniel held out his hand for Lando to take. A soft smile appeared on his lips when Lando took his hand in his own. Lando let himself be pulled into the bathroom. Without saying anything, Daniel helped Lando to undress. Lando's sobs had subdued to sniffles, but it was enough for Daniel's heart to break every time he heard the sounds coming from the person he loved so dearly.
Daniel held out his hand while he helped Lando to step into the bath. Lando sighed softly at the warmth of the water that was now surrounding his body. He looked up at Daniel with pleading eyes. Daniel couldn't hold back the chuckle.
"Do you want me to join you?" Daniel asked.
"Please," Lando croaked out. His voice was sounding raw. However, Daniel didn't need to be told twice. He quickly stripped off all of his clothes.
"Where do you want me to sit?" Lando scooted forward to make space behind him. He didn't need to talk to explain to Daniel where he wanted him to sit, Daniel gladly sunk into the bath behind Lando. He wasn't even fully seated before Lando scooted back to rest his body against Daniel's chest. Daniel gladly wrapped his arms around Lando.
For a while, they sat in complete silence. From time to time, Daniel placed a kiss on Lando's shoulder or on the back of his head. He had used Lando's favourite body wash as an excuse to take care of Lando and massage some of the tension out of his shoulders.
"If you want to, you can talk about it. It's also okay if you don't want to talk about it." Lando nodded against his shoulder.
"Maybe later," Lando whispered.
"That's fine."
It was not even that much later, that Lando finally opened up.
"I -er-" He fell silent again. Daniel placed a kiss on his shoulder as a form of encouragement.
"Apparently there is someone in talks with the teams about a position for next year," Lando said. His breathing started to quicken. Daniel purposefully slowed his own breathing down, in hopes of Lando following it.
"And the team is not sure if they'd let me go or Oscar. And then we had a simulator run and I- I- I-" Lando stopped talking.
"It's alright, sweetheart. Just take a deep breath." Lando's inhale was shaky. He started picking at the skin on his face. Carefully, Daniel took Lando's hand and interlaced their fingers before bringing it down again.
"I did so much worse than Oscar," Lando whispered.
Daniel's first priority was for Lando to calm down. He used his thumb to draw circles on the back of Lando's hand. Softly he was shushing Lando until Lando regained full control over his breathing again.
"I know it sucks to hear the team talk about this. Obviously, they aren't going to say if they'd pick you over Oscar or the other way around. They'll only start to make serious work of that the moment this other driver has agreed to sign a contract for next year. For all they know, this person is still having talks with other teams. I mean, look at what Oscar did last year." Daniel couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the tweet his fellow Australian had put out after singing his first F1 contract.
"The team knows what you are capable of. They know your strengths. Most importantly, they know what you can do on a race weekend. That is the most important thing. A simulator session is not single-handedly going to convince them to pick Oscar over you," Daniel said. Lando nodded slowly.
"And even if they were to pick Oscar over you, you'd find another team. I mean, we thought I was done for last year. And now I am back on the grid. You are one of the most talented drivers currently in the sport. Every team would be lucky to have you as their driver," Daniel said. Lando didn't respond. It wasn't hard to guess for Daniel that his thoughts were currently racing.
"The water is kind of cold. So, what about this? We put on some soft and warm clothes and I'll make you your favourite meal," Daniel said.
"Okay," Lando mumbled. A shiver ran down his spine as soon as he got up. Daniel quickly stepped out of the tub before handing Lando a big and soft fresh towel. As quickly as he could, Daniel dried himself off.
"I'll grab us some clothes," Daniel said. What Lando didn't know was that right before Daniel walked into the bedroom, he had put both of their fluffy pajamas into the drier to warm them up. Daniel quickly got the clothes before grabbing a pair of boxers for both of them.
Lando sighed softly at the way the warm and soft clothes clung to his body. As soon as they were both dressed, Daniel lifted Lando up. Lando immediately wrapped his legs around Daniel's waist and his arms around Daniel's neck. Daniel could feel Lando's smile against his neck. Like that, they walked into the living room.
"Do you want to watch some TV, love?" Daniel asked.
"I want to stay with you," Lando said. Daniel turned around.
"Into the kitchen, we go."
Daniel had put Lando down on the counter while he got all the cooking supplies out. Lando wasn't an adventurous eater by any means. However, they both knew Lando couldn't resist Daniel's infamous pasta with homemade sauce. Daniel started by chopping up some vegetables. He fed Lando some pieces in the meantime. Lando watched the way Daniel was humming along to the music on the radio. He loved seeing Daniel like this. There were not a lot of people who could say that they knew what domestic Daniel looked like. Lando was glad to be one of those lucky people that did.
Daniel stole a quick kiss from Lando while he walked past to grab the pasta from the cupboard. The dopey smile he had on his face was enough to make Lando smile as well.
"There it is," Daniel said while looking at Lando.
"The smile I love seeing more than anything in this world," Daniel said before he softly chuckled to himself.
"I am sorry. You are right, I am probably overreacting," Lando said. Daniel turned back to look at Lando.
"None of that, sweetheart. There is no need to apologize. It is scary and you are definitely allowed to be worried about it. I just don't want you to think this single simulator session is going to tip the scales."
Daniel plated their food before bringing it to the kitchen table.
"You know I meant what I said earlier, right? You are one of the most phenomenal drivers on the grid. And sooner than later you'll be fighting for a championship. Maybe it is with McLaren and maybe it is with a different team."
"Thank you," Lando mumbled while he sat down opposite Daniel at the table. He quickly took a bite of his food to avoid the topic they were talking about. He allowed his eyes to roll back at the taste of the food.
"It is so good," Lando said. Daniel's usual grin appeared on his face.
"Thank you so much."
Later that night they had prepared some snacks before sitting down to watch a movie. Lando was cuddled up at Daniel's side. His head was resting on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel had taken the opportunity to wrap his arm around Lando's shoulder, pulling him possibly even closer. From time to time, Lando would lean forward to take some snacks. He would hold it in front of Daniel until he would open his mouth so Lando could feed the snacks to him.
"Daniel?" Lando asked after a while. Daniel hummed.
"I love you so much," Lando said. Daniel smiled while looking down to meet Lando's eyes.
"I love you too, Lan." Daniel bent down to place a quick kiss against Lando's lips. That left Lando satisfied and he rearranged himself to focus on the movie again.
Near the end of the movie, Daniel felt the head on his shoulder getting heavier. He smiled at the soft snores that left his boyfriend's mouth. He just held onto Lando a little tighter. It wasn't until the credits were finished that Daniel was facing a dilemma. Knowing that Lando was finally peacefully asleep, he didn't want to wake him up. So, as carefully as he could he tried to move himself out of Lando's embrace in a way that allowed him to pick Lando up. He let out a soft sigh of relief when Lando stayed asleep.
The second, Lando's back made contact with the bed, he opened his eyes. His eyebrows were furrowed while he looked around.
"You can continue sleeping, I'll be with you in a second," Daniel said before placing a kiss on Lando's forehead. He pulled the covers up to make sure Lando was warm. Daniel quickly used the toilet and brushed his teeth before walking back into the bedroom. Lando's eyes were focused on the door. He smiled lazily when he saw Daniel reappear. As soon as Daniel got into bed, Lando curled up at his side.
"I love you, Danny," Lando said while placing his hand on Daniel's chest.
"I love you too, honey. Sweet dreams."
"Sweet dreams."