Work Text:
“I’m leaving, Lando! I’ll see you tonight at dinner!”
The door shut behind Charles as he left to go to his work, leaving Lando alone for the day. Today was a big day for Lando, but the dread he felt meant he was glued to his phone, unable to get out of bed. Today was his first day as the assistant of one of the most high profile businessmen in all of New York, Carlos Sainz jr.
It wasn’t that he loved the business world, on the contrary, he found most of the people working in it to be snobs and pretentious. But he didn’t have another choice. He needed the money to support himself and the rent he had to pay to stay in his apartment with Charles. He needed a distraction from everything that had happened the last few weeks.
The memory of standing in the pouring rain, not knowing if the wetness streaming down his face were his own tears or the rain falling over him, whilst George told him everything Lando was insecure about before breaking up with him altogether. George had left him there, standing in the cold to let the realization dawn on him that yet another person had dropped him.
He had come to the realization that he needed change. No more doing whatever an alpha told him to do, no more dressing up to impress his boyfriends friends, no more cooking and cleaning all day to be the perfect trophy omega for someone who didn’t care for Lando in the first place, not really.
And that change, started with a new apartment together with his best friend Charles and a new job.
With a sigh, Lando put his phone down, surrounding himself in darkness as the curtains were still drawn. He lay there for a minute, the dread and anxiety still in his mind as he tried to get himself to go and shower.
Eventually, he managed to slowly drag himself out of bed and into the bathroom. He turned on the shower, stripping himself from his underwear before stepping under the nice, hot stream of the showerhead.
His muscles relaxing under the warm water, rolling his neck as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his worries washing away momentarily. He still had time, so he took it and stayed under the shower a little longer than normally, before stepping out and drying himself off eventually, the steam clouding up the entire room.
He got changed in the outfit he and Charles had picked out yesterday, a perfect example of business casual, perfect for an assistant. He didn’t need to impress, he already had the job, but he needed to look the part of someone working for a millionaire.
Looking in the mirror, the biggest problem became clear; his hair. His curls had always been the bane of his existence, sticking out into every direction, untamable without the right kind and amount of product. He had gotten better at it, thanks to Daniel, but it took some time. Sebastian had always told him he looked cute with them, but right now Lando wished for nothing more than to have easy hair.
After at least 20 minutes, his hair was finally how Lando wanted it to be. He crept downstairs, even if no one was home for him to disturb by being loud. He made his way to the kitchen, prepared himself the most nutritious breakfast by eating a protein bar and an apple, before going back upstairs to grab his laptop and the rest of the stuff he needed.
Not half an hour later, Lando was ready to go, his nerves having subsided strangely now that he felt he looked the part of an assistant. He took a deep breath, taking his keys from the coffee table, and left the house ready for his first day
On the bus ride over he received a text from Sebastian, wishing him well on his first day, and to not let the boss intimidate him too much. Mr. Sainz was an alpha, a big strong one at that, with lots of power and money. Lando was an omega, with little to no money and even less power. Despite Omegas and Alphas legally being at the same level, there still were stereotypes surrounding them, especially Omegas. They were still considered weaker and Lando looking as scrawny as he did, even though he certainly had muscles, made him an easy target for misogynistic alphas who couldn’t help but spew out a few degrading words as he passed them on the streets .
He hoped Carlos wouldn’t be like that, but he had come across only a handful of decent alphas in his life, so he kept his hopes low. He had put on scent blockers in the morning, taking his suppressants the night before, to try and mask his scent, a dead giveaway that he was an omega. When he was hired they told him being an omega was not a problem, but that masking a scent would be advised, for both Alphas and Omegas, just to make the workplace a pleasant place for everybody.
Something Lando was glad about anyway, as some alpha scents were too strong and powerful, and the previous businessmen he had worked for all loved to show off their power through their scent, almost making him nauseous.
He arrived at work right on time to be appropriately early, sending back a quick text to Sebastian with a thank you, before walking through the big glass doors at the front of the office building.
Sainz worked in the penthouse of the second tallest building of New York, his entire company below him as he oversaw everything. He was a busy man, yet Lando would be his first ever assistant, so at least he wouldn’t have to live up to someone’s standard.
Making his way up, following the careful instructions he had been given when he was hired, he made his way up to the second highest floor of the building, right below the penthouse, to get a small tour and schedule for the week. Waiting for him was a tall man, standing at a desk with a clipboard in hand. When he saw Lando his face lit up and he walked towards him, greeting him with a smile and a tight handshake.
"Good morning mister Norris! I’m Esteban, I’ll be giving you a small tour of the penthouse and your tasks for this week. As you are Mr. Sainz’s first assistant, this week will be figuring stuff out for you as well as for us, so we will have a talk every day about how things are going at least this week okay?” The guy was talking so quickly, Lando could only nod before he turned away and gestured for Lando to follow him back into the elevator.
As they rode the elevator up, Lando couldn’t help but fidget with his fingers. The nerves were still there, and they probably would be until he knew what he was doing for the week. Excitement was also bubbling deep in his stomach, hidden away a little by anxiousness but there nonetheless. He needed this job, he needed to get out of the apartment and really make the change in his life he so desperately needed.
He also wanted to show George he was fine without him. And to do that, the first step was being strong in front of a new job with a new boss.
The elevator bleeped, the doors opening once more to reveal a luxurious looking entryway into a huge apartment. The place was big and open, with lots of artwork on the gray walls, but calm enough for it to look clean and sophisticated. Perfect for a rich man living in New York.
Everything about it screamed money and wealth, from the leather couch which must be able to fit 8 people, to the grand kitchen only half separated from what seemed to be the living room by a glass partition. A large kitchen island in the middle, with sleek black cabinets and a light fixture above it which must have cost more than Lando’s and Charles’ monthly rent combined. What grabbed Lando’s attention the most though were the floor to ceiling windows reaching all the way from the living area to the kitchen, giving a gorgeous view of central park below.
For a brief moment, Lando wondered if he could see his apartment from here, and if the people below really did look like ants like they say in the movies, but he was interrupted by a voice coming from somewhere at the back of the penthouse.
“Tell Jacob I don’t care. He better have my money by 12 or I will take action. I am serious”
From around the corner, a tall broad man with the most luscious dark brown hair emerged. He was holding a phone in his hand, an expensive watch on his wrist, talking to the person on the other end with anger.
The man didn’t seem to notice Esteban and Lando until he almost walked into them, his brows furrowing in annoyance and confusion, before his eyes focussed on Lando.
“I don’t want to hear anything. Get it fixed, or I’ll fix it for you. My way” with that he hung up, his eyes never leaving Lando as he put his phone away into his back pocket. His big brown eyes with long lashes blinked at Lando for just a second, his brows still furrowed. lando didn’t know what to say, if this was mr. Sainz, which was highly likely, he had to be professional. But seeing as he was just standing there for who knows how long, that plan failed miserably. Esteban though, knew exactly what to say without that smile ever leaving his face.
“Mister Sainz, this is mister Norris. He will be your new assistant. If you need any help he will be here”.
So it was Mr. Sainz, he certainly looked the part of a multi millionaire in his neat pants with dress shoes. By some miracle Lando managed to reach out his hand to the other man, who seemed to hesitate for a second before he took the outstretched hand and gave it a firm shake.
“It’s good to meet you, mr. Norris. I am busy a lot, so you likely won’t see me often, but you will be an important part of the running of this business. I’m looking forward to work with you”
- Sainz wasn’t cheerful like Esteban, More serious and robot-like. Like he had rehearsed what he had wanted to say to Lando. His eyes looked right at Lando’s piercing through him like daggers when he spoke, only averting his gaze to move back to the office he likely came from, grabbing a coffee from the kitchen as he passed.
“Your job will be organizing the papers. We still do a lot of things digitally, as threats of hackers are becoming more prominent, even here in our company. You will bring Mr. Sainz coffee every hour, and you will keep the space tidy and serene as that is his ultimate work environment. You aren’t a cleaner, you are an assistant, so if Mr. Sainz want’s assistant, you give it to him” said Esteban clearly, looking down at his clipboard.
“Mr. Sainz may look stern, but he is actually not a bad boss” he continued, the big smile turning into a softer one, now clearly not reading from a manual of ‘how to introduce an assistant to their new work’. “He is reclusive, and in the times he does not need you, feel free to make use of anything in the penthouse within reason, we don’t want you being bored here. There's a library down behind the kitchen, The bathrooms are behind the stairs to the deck, and feel free to use any of our computers to do any work” he said, pointing at the laptop bag Lando was holding.
Esteban started walking past the glass kitchen partition, walking away from the living room and into a sort of hallway with multiple doors on each side. “There’s an office space right here” Esteban pointed at the second down down to the left, “specifically made for you to do your own thing”
Something Lando didn’t expect was for his boss to care so much about him not being bored. The small office was about as big as Lando’s entire kitchen at the apartment, with multiple monitors situated on the desk.
“The stack of papers over here needs to be sorted, with more coming in tonight to be fixed and scanned for tomorrow” Esteban turned around, walking back to the living area where he stood in front of Lando. “If there is anything you need, I'm just a call away. same goes for any questions and stuff”
At last, Esteban left Lando in the little personal office, clipboard left on the desk as a sort of reminder of tasks. Now alone Lando sat down in the leather office chair, throwing his head back and closing his eyes for just a second, taking in all the information that was said to him.
apart from the fact that Mr. Sainz was ridiculously hot, everything was as expected. He had expected some 50 year old alpha, but then again that was what came up when you googled ‘sainz’. It only just now hit Lando that that might have been his boss’ father, which is why it felt like he had seen those doe eyes before. Apart from the millionaire being a 20 something, athletically built, force of a man, Lando felt like his expectations were met quite nicely.
He sent a quick text to Charles explaining that his boss was, in fact, hot. before taking one last deep breath and starting his work for real. He had worked with computers before, George always coming to him before they even got together to fix his laptop struggles. Charles came to him when he accidentally ‘deleted’ a photo he needed for an assignment, only for it to be easily retrievable in the bin, but he still always came to Lando. So yeah, he knew what to do.
Lando lost himself in writing over all the files, stacking them in alphabetical order and color-coding the papers themselves in a neat and proper pile. It was oddly therapeutic, though he wasn’t an organized person by nature, to go from some mess of a pile to a coördinated stack. Hopefully he’d be able to do it to himself sometime as well.
After an hour, Lando was fully done. The papers were all entered into the system under a password, ensuring no sensitive information was leaked. He placed the paper files into a manilla folder, placing them into the still empty drawers of the desk, taking a copy of the folder and placing it at the end of the desk to be brought by Carlos later. He sent a quick photo to Esteban to confirm if he did it right, only a little bit of self-doubt present while he did, quickly replaced by pride as Esteban seemed genuinely happy with his work.
Making his way over to the kitchen, he made some fresh coffee, replacing the old cold stuff still inside the coffee pot with the new steaming coffee. He cleaned the general area a little, trying to do some little things, before Esteban sent him another text asking him if he would be able to sort through some more files.
Lando wouldn’t admit to being excited to sort papers, even if they are online, but he did go back to his desk with a good feeling, ready to do some more sorting.
The rest of his first day went much the same, sorting through papers before making more coffee. He could see Carlos drank a lot of it by the volume of the coffee maker being low whenever lando checked. The man himself never came out of the office if Lando was in the living area, probably working hard on some business stuff Lando didn’t understand and probably never fully would.
Around his agreed end time of his shift, Esteban had come back up to thank him for his good work, before sending him off with a list of things he would be able to do tomorrow. He left the penthouse shortly after he was sent off, gathering his stuff before walking past the dishwasher to turn it on. The big windows now let in the evening sun illuminating the entire place in a serene orange, making it look more cozy even with all the gray and white.
Saying bye to Esteban, who stayed to have a talk with Sainz about how he felt Lando did, Lando entered the elevator. Right as the doors almost closed, Lando saw Carlos entering the living area, catching his eyes for just a moment, deep brown staring into ocean blue, as the door shut and Lando went home.
The next day, even the next week, was more or less the same. He would come in, have a slight chat with Esteban about the plans for that day, before Lando was let go and sent off to do his thing. He had gotten more and more tasks over a few days, now not just sorting papers but also making appointments and taking care of Sainz’ agenda.
Speaking of the man, he came out of his room more and more often, the longer Lando stayed. It started with eye contact, followed by a nod of acknowledgement, and now Lando would say ‘sir’ when he saw Mr. Sainz, followed by Mr. Sainz nodded to him with a smile on his face.
It became a routine. He would work, put on coffee, see Mr. Sainz, more work, lunch, coffee for Mr. Sainz, agenda planning, sorting and going home for the night. It was good to have everything be almost the same every day, just with different files, different lunch places where he would go with Esteban.
The best part? not a single part of his day was spent thinking about George. Not a moment was wasted on feeling miserable, sorry for himself after what happened. After work he would get home, have dinner, play a game with Charles and go to bed.
And to him, it was perfectly fine.
That was until his suppressants ran out, and he didn’t know.
He used heavy suppressants, the good stuff that was slightly more expensive but worth it for Lando. He had run low for a while, but the stress of everything combined with his general forgetfulness, he had forgotten to go by the pharmacist to get a new pack.
Of course, in true Lando fashion, he would forget about them altogether.
This meant that he had woken up with a headache and a slight fever, but still wanting to go to work he had texted Esteban for permission to still come to the office. Esteban hesitated at first, not wanting Lando to not care for himself first, but somehow Lando convinced him with some excuse of ‘not wanting to be home alone anyway’.
Now though, sitting at his desk as the world spun and his legs felt like jelly, he felt as though he made the wrong decision and his body was telling him so. He felt bad , the headache had evolved and his skin felt abnormally warm. He was shaking all over, and nausea was taking over his thoughts. Instead of trying to find an empty schedule spot, he was trying not to throw up.
Unfortunately for him, even more unfortunate than being sick in the first place, by the time Lando was ready to admit he should go home, he couldn’t. He could if he texted Esteban, but he couldn't see his phone through his swimming vision as he stood up. The office felt cramped and tiny, closing in on Lando. He stumbled to the door, hitting it with his shoulder before he found the handle by frantically searching with his hands
He was trying to keep the fear at bay but not being able to see anything whilst no one was there to help him was scary. Carlos was working and even now he didn’t want to disrupt his boss’ work. Esteban was downstairs probably, but Lando couldn't even find his phone let alone text him.
As he moved from his office down the hall, or at least he thought so, everything looked the same, breathing became harder and harder, whilst his nausea only became worse. Before he knew it, Lando was stumbling forward, trying not to fall as much as possible, but keeping balance when you can’t see anything was hard. Too hard.
Just as he felt his knees buckle, strong hands grabbed him at his shoulders, before he was lowered on what felt like a chair. Even as he sat down, the hand never left him, muffled voices entered Lando’s ears but he was unable to decipher what they were saying. He was panicking, and it wasn’t helping.
He sat there for what might have been a minute, but could have easily been 10, before the black spots that were swimming in his vision dissipated. He could finally hear his own labored breathing again, which meant he also heard whoever was talking to him.
“You are alright, yes, that's better” whoever was talking had a soothing voice, presumably it was their hand also still on Lando’s shoulder.
Lando looked up, his vision still a little hazy but nothing as bad like before. In front of him, on his knees, sat his boss. Mr. Sainz looked concerned, his brows furrowed much like they had on Lando’s first day, but not in anger this time. The heavy smell of pine had filled the room, together with something sweet Lando couldn’t point out.
They made eye contact for a second, Lando trying to match Mr. Sainz’ breathing pattern as well as possible.
“I’m okay” Lando tried to say, but it must have come out like a muffled whisper as Mr. Sainz’ brows stayed furrowed.
“You are not okay, Lando” He spoke, the hand now finally leaving Lando’s shoulder, immediately making Lando feel more off than he already was. Surprising even himself, he let out a whine.
Both men looked at each other again, Lando embarrassed and Carlos confused at the noise. That moment the elevator doors opened, and Esteban came running in looking out of breath with a medkit in hand. He rushed over to Lando's side, and much like Mr. Sainz got down to be at eye level with him, kneeling on the floor.
“What happened?” Esteban frantically asked, looking between Mr. Sainz and Lando to see who would answer first. Lando felt unable to talk, afraid he would throw up if he opened his mouth, so only a soft whimper left him as he let his head drop forward.
Mr. Sainz’ answer was muffled but became clearer mid sentence, only to be muffled again by the end. It was scaring Lando, whatever was happening wasn’t going over by just sitting down and he doubted he would be able to go back to work.
“You are not continuing to work. You will go home and stay in bed” Esteban said as if Lando going back to work was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. He must have said it out loud without him knowing.
He felt awful, but at least he was okay to go home, the thought of a nice warm bed with a cup of tea sounding like heaven right about now.
“Fuck, I have a meeting with major shareholders in 10 minutes, but I don’t think Lando can wait that long” He heard Esteban say, “I’ll call Caco, he should be able to take Lando home”
As Esteban was reaching for his phone, Mr. Sainz stopped him. “No need, I’ll take him. My work can wait for half an hour so I’ll bring him home”
At the thought of Mr. Sainz bringing him home Lando’s stomach filled with jitters, possibly because of being in the car with his boss, more likely because of his stomach swirling. He couldn’t tell if he was nervous or excited, possibly both, but there was no time to dwell on it as another wave of pain hit him.
The rest happened in a blur, He didn’t remember being brought to the car, not giving Mr. Sainz his address. He did remember the drive being quiet apart from the occasional whimper Lando unconsciously let out, and the concerned glances cast his way from the driver's seat.
Soon, they reached Lando’s home, Lando having half a mind to just step out and walk over to his door, but Mr. Sainz stopped him just as he was about to open the door.
“Let me do it for you, please” His voice was gentle, his eyes soft as Lando looked into them. If he didn’t feel so bad he would have blushed at the attentiveness, but the need to get inside the house was greater than any swooning he might have done.
He may have said that out loud as well, as a small smirk made it’s way onto Mr. Sainz’ face.
He managed to grab his keys from his back pocket, shoving them into Mr. Sainz’ hand, who made quick work of opening the door and helping Lando inside. With Lando’s weight supported by Mr. Sainz, he was placed onto the couch. Charles wasn’t home yet, leaving just Mr. Sainz and Lando, one of which was pretty much unconscious.
The only thing Lando remembers before falling asleep is Mr. Sainz laid a blanket he pulled from somewhere over Lando, as Lando watched with half lidded eyes.
“Thank you Mr. Sainz” he somehow managed to get out, His body fully sagging away in the couch cushions, finally ready to accept sleep.
“Anytime, Lando. And please, call me Carlos”
Apparently, he had gone into heat because he had forgotten his suppressants. And apparently, that meant he was out of work for almost 5 days after just starting his job. Lando felt genuine fear that he might be fired, as nearly passing out and throwing up over your boss must not be a good look. Luckily for him though, Carlos didn’t fire him.
On the contrary, Lando received multiple texts from Esteban asking how he was doing. That in and off itself wasn’t surprising, but what was surprising is Carlos asking about him. It isn't weird to ask about your employees health, but if Lando was to believe Esteban, Carlos had asked about Lando every single day he had been absent. That, to Lando, was a little strange.
But, if he was to believe Esteban, Carlos also had so-called ‘heart eyes’ anytime he spoke about Lando. To not let himself read into it too much, Lando chose to ignore it for the time being.
Charles had taken care of him in the time he was staying at home, with Sebastian also jumping in by bringing homemade soap and other… heat supplies. It wasn’t a normal heat, which was to be expected after Lando irresponsibly stopped with suppressants, but the sickness heat he had wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Now though, Lando wanted to return to work as soon as possible.
His first day back went well, Esteban had come to lunch with him and told him everything he had missed. Turns out, there’s a lot of gossip going around, and Esteban liked to hear and tell all of it.
Seeing Carlos again after he was back was strange, like something changed. The last time they spoke Lando had a swirling stomach due to nausea, now though, the swirling came back as soon as Lando saw Carlos’ smile. It was ridiculous, Lando blushed the second they made eye contact, but if anything Carlos had the same reaction.
He came out of his office more, Which led to Lando and him crossing paths more often. They worked it into their routines at some point, Carlos would go get coffee at specific times, Lando would have set the coffee and would run him through upcoming important dates and deadlines.
Somewhere along, the talks about dates and deadlines became talks about other stuff. About Carlos’ dog, his sisters coming over to visit. Lando’s family, Charles even came up at some point.
After a while of Carlos and Lando getting closer though, Carlos shut down. Or, he shut Lando out.
He wouldn’t come out of his office at his usual times, he almost avoided Lando completely if he saw him walk out of his office, turning around and closing his own office door as soon as possible. It made Lando feel almost as bad as when he had been sick, seeing Carlos actively avoid him like that. Like the feelings Lando felt when he looked at Carlos were one-sided.
He had asked Esteban about it, who looked apologetic when Lando told him. “I wouldn’t read much into it, maybe he just needs some space? keep it professional? I mean you two have been talking and I've heard some rumors”
Whatever rumors Esteban, and likely Carlos, had heard must be bad enough for Carlos to ignore Lando completely, and it stung. What could they be saying about him? Did he not do his work correctly?
When he asked Esteban again, the only response he got was to talk to Carlos, to clear things up.
Which is exactly what he was going to do. He needed to clear the air. If Carlos wasn’t happy with Lando’s work he needed to know, not be avoided like the plague. If he had made Carlos uncomfortable he needed to know as well, but not talking wasn’t going to fix the issue.
As Lando stood in front of Carlos’ office, hand raised into a fist, ready to knock, the door opened in front of him. Like a deer caught in headlights, Carlos stood on the other side, Lando probably looking the same. Instead of freezing, this time Lando cut right through what he wanted to say.
“We need to talk,” he told Carlos, the other just nodding before letting Lando into the room.
“Lando, I-” Carlos tried to say, but Lando interrupted him.
“What is going on? we go from you not speaking to me, to talking to me, to having actual conversations to this? If I did something wrong, I’d like to know so I can fix it, Mr. Sainz”
At the sound of his last name, Carlos’ brows furrowed like they did so many times before.
“You didn’t do anything wrong” Carlos started fiddling with his fingers like he was nervous,
“Lando, that's the problem. You are exactly right, and that’s the issue, I need to stay professional”.
Lando was confused, if he did everything right, why would Carlos struggle with being professional? As far as he could tell those two weren’t linked.
“Carlos, I don’t get it” He started sounding desperate now, he needed answers and so far, all Carlos gave him were more questions.
“You being perfect is the problem, Lando”, Carlos walked forward, closing the distance between himself and Lando slightly, but not enough to trap Lando. Lando who now started to get what was going on. He didn’t back away, so Carlos took that as a sign to step even closer.
“Say it,” Lando told Carlos, encouraging him. He could see Carlos hesitating, a little bit of fear probably still holding him back.
Instead of saying it, Carlos showed Lando exactly what he meant. He leaned even closer to Lando, their noses nearly touching. For one second, Carlos gave Lando the option to back out, his eyes darting between Lando’s eyes and lips repeatedly. When Lando didn’t back out, Carlos closed the distance completely.
Their lips crashed together, Carlos’ hand coming to rest on Lando’s jaw, tenderly caressing his cheek with his thumb. Lando tried leaning into the kidd more, but Carlos stopped him by pulling back.
He didn’t look afraid anymore, instead a smile was on his lips.
“That’s what I meant, how am I meant to be professional when it is you in front of me”
Lando chuckled softly, smiling up at Carlos whose hand had not left his cheek. Lando’s own hands found their way into Carlos’ hair, pulling at the strands softly.
“Who says I want you to be?”
Carlos and Lando kept their relationship private for a while, only Charles and Esteban knowing about it. Carlos and him went on dates together, to some luxury restaurants which were more Carlos’ style, as well as some family run smaller places where Lando loved to go.
They laughed about how they did it the wrong way round, about how normally you buy your date dinner first before kissing them, but they both decided they liked their own way better.
When Lando saw George again for the first time in weeks, Carlos walking next to him, he felt the pain he had felt during their breakup all over again. Before Lando could lose himself in his misery again, Carlos took his hand. He pulled him in, kissing him softly, and when they broke apart George was gone, and so was Lando’s sadness about the other man.
The first night they had spent together was perfect, no alpha had ever treated Lando the same way as Carlos had. Granted, the only other experience he had was George, but Carlos was so much better. He was gentle, and in tune with the omega’s needs. Laying together after they both had come down from their high, after both reaching it at the same time, Carlos was still stuck in Lando, the only thing they felt was bliss.
Eventually they would tell everyone about them, but for now just the two of them were perfect.