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It starts as a joke. Or it’s a joke for the other drivers, at least.
Alex is the first to say it out loud, during the driver’s parade of all places. Coming up next to Oscar, clapping him on the back.
“So you’ve finally slept with Lando!” Alex says, loud but apparently not loud enough to attract the attention of Esteban and Lance talking next to them.
Oscar just groans. He knows that whatever he’s going to answer will only make it worse, so he just shrugs.
“Alex, stop teasing the poor lad!” George intervenes.
“Georgie! We all know you were the one sending the picture to everyone!”
“Picture?” Oscar asks.
“Of course, I did,” George answers without paying any attention to him. “It is my duty to share the information I have,” he adds, even more pompous than usual.
“Picture?” Oscar repeats. What do they mean?
“Hey guys! What are you talking about?”
Of course, Lando has to appear right then. Oscar feels the blush on his cheek increase.
It’s one thing to fall asleep all over Lando during the longest drivers’ meeting known to mankind, but it is something else to realise it was the best nap he ever had!
Oscar is still unsure about what to do with that realization, so he more or less avoided Lando since the day before. And that little incident the whole grid witnessed.
But now, Lando is coming to plaster himself by his side, with that heart-shaped smile of his. Oscar can only smile back.
“Just about you and Oscar finally sleeping together!” Alex answers.
“Finally? You have no idea what we do outside of the driver’s meeting!” Lando answers straight away with a cheeky smile. “Do they, Osc?” he asks, nudging Oscar who chokes on his own saliva but still nods. Because that’s what he does. If Lando starts a joke, Oscar just follows.
“That explains why you both looked so comfy, then!” George nods.
“Not their first ride!” Alex adds and takes out his phone to finally show the incriminating picture.
Oscar feels the blush come back in full force. On the little screen are Lando and him. Lando’s head is on his shoulder, and he’s leaning on Lando, too. They’re snuggled together. One of Lando’s legs is on Oscar’s lap and Oscar is holding it like he wants to prevent Lando from moving away.
This feels so intimate. Way too much for two co-workers falling asleep during a meeting.
“We do look cute, don’t we?” Lando asks, looking at Oscar, big green eyes all sparkly and innocent.
Oscar nods. He can feel his cheeks actually burning. What is he supposed to answer? He can’t think of anything. Not when Lando is looking at him like that. Like he’s not joking, like Oscar is the only thing he can see, like Oscar matters.
Oscar knows he’s looking at Lando with that expression people make fun of on social media. Heart-eyes, they call it. But he can’t stop. He knows he should. He can’t.
Luckily, Lando gets called for the first interview and Franco joins them and starts yapping about something Oscar can’t stay focused on. Way too busy analysing his feelings for Lando. Again.
***
Of course, it doesn’t stop there…
And to make it worse, it’s Carlos who makes fun of him the next time… On the fan stage.
If you could die of humiliation, Oscar would have been lying there, dead, in front of the fans and the world… And Lando.
Lando, who’s laughing at Carlos recounting the falling-asleep-during-the-GPDA-meeting scene. The fans are laughing too, as is Charles. Oscar forces himself to follow, hoping his face isn’t betraying him for once.
“Did you already fall asleep in the car?” Carlos asks then, smiling, with that stupid accent and beautiful brown eyes that make it hard to be mad at him… which only annoys Oscar even more.
“Nah, mate! That’s your thing when I’m coming up behind you!” Oscar answers and the whole crowd cheers.
But the only thing that Oscar pays attention to, is how Lando smiles like Oscar just made the best joke in the world.
1-1 for Oscar now!
***
“Osc! Did you see this?” Lando says as he barges into Oscar’s room at the MTC.
Oscar is way past being surprised by Lando’s random appearances in his room. However, unlike some may believe, Lando tends to knock before entering. Unless he’s really excited, which is apparently the case today.
He plops himself on the little couch next to Oscar and shoves his phone in Oscar’s face.
It takes a few seconds for Oscar to make sense of what he’s seeing.
It’s a drawing. Digital one. Of two people cuddling… Of Lando and him cuddling. In a bed. In a position Oscar is sure they’ve never been in. Outside of his dreams, at least.
“It’s cute, isn’t it?” Lando asks with that excited smile that always does something to Oscar’s stomach.
“I… Yeah. Fans are talented.”
And have a crazy imagination, Oscar adds in his head. How did they even think about him and Lando cuddling like that?
“Yeah, and don’t we look comfy there?”
“I– I suppose.” Oscar is trying hard NOT to imagine how it would feel to have Lando nestled in his arms like that.
“We should try one day!” Lando says, and just like that he’s standing up and leaving the room and Oscar feels like he might die on the spot. Lando didn’t really say that. It must have been a hallucination. He only slept for seven and a half hours instead of eight. That’s it. He’s hallucinating because of the lack of sleep.
***
Oscar wasn’t hallucinating. Because, a few days later, just as he’s getting ready for a long media day, Lando barges into his room without knocking again.
“I’ve found more!”
“More what?” Oscar asks, guessing Lando is talking about Kinder or, less likely, tenths to gain in the first sector.
“Fanarts!”
“Fan…arts?” Oscar repeats as he puts his cap on his head.
“Yeah. Of us. Cuddling and other ones too.”
“Oh.”
Oscar sits down. He feels like he should be sitting down for whatever is coming at him.
Turns out that sitting down isn’t enough.
Not when Lando goes through at least 20 other drawings of them… Being friendly but also holding hands, cuddling some more… There is even one of them as cats and one where Lando is some kind of fox hiding in Oscar’s hoodie… But all of those are nothing compared to the last few ones.
“Look at those! Our fans are so talented!” Lando says as if he isn’t showing a drawing of himself naked to his teammate.
“They–They are.” Oscar manages to answer when it suddenly feels as hot as during Qatar’s race last year.
“I should like a few… To show them my appreciation…”
“I don’t think Sophie will approve…” Oscar notes, trying really hard not to look at Lando’s phone as he keeps scrolling through all the images he saved, including some chibi versions of themselves, movie poster reinterpretations and… more naked shenanigans.
“You’re right…” Lando finally answers with a little pout that makes Oscar want to just give him the moon, or a pony, or ten thousand puppies.
He stands up then and leaves with a non-committal “see you later”, unaware of the state he’s leaving Oscar in. Once again.
***
Oscar’s life is apparently becoming a stupid romcom.
That’s the only explanation for him waking up cuddled with Lando in his driver’s room.
It has been a long day at the MTC. They took turns in the sim, testing the new upgrade. hey were finally allowed a little break while the engineers were studying the data before the debrief.
Oscar had beelined to his room as soon as he had been freed, and he hadn’t been surprised to have Lando follow him. He had just hoped Lando wasn’t in a talking mood as he hoped to take a little nap.
Turns out Lando just came to sit next to Oscar and play on his phone. It was something he had done from time to time. Not during their first months as teammates. And Oscar guessed it was something he did only with people he trusted. Being together but doing different things. Oscar enjoyed that a lot too. It was like being alone but better.
It felt so good that it didn’t prevent Oscar from falling asleep…
And for Lando to follow suit apparently as, when Oscar woke up, he had his arms around the lithe and warm body of his teammate who was nearly sitting in his lap.
It isn’t like the first time, two bodies victims of gravity falling against each other. No, this time, they are properly cuddling. Holding each other in a position they apparently chose, even if in their sleep.
Oscar looks at Lando, still asleep, mouth slightly open, snoring. And if he still had any doubts that he was in love, they would have disappeared then.
Oscar is still admiring his teammate when Lando wakes up. It starts with a flutter of his lids, a little yawn, and some movements.
Oscar knows he should move but he can’t. Not when he’s witnessing one of the cutest things ever. A sight he never dreamed of seeing.
“Hi,” Lando says then, with a little sleepy smile, eyes half-open.
“Hi!”
It takes a few seconds for Oscar to realise Lando is not moving away and that he’s rather snuggling closer. Oscar holds Lando tighter then, by reflex.
“T’was a nice nap,” Lando says, his voice muffled as he is still face-planted against Oscar’s chest.
“Yes. It was.” Oscar answers, hoping that Lando can’t hear his heart hammering in his chest.
What the fuck is happening? Teammates don’t nap together like that. Even friends don’t. Or at least Oscar’s friends.
Oscar’s spiralling thoughts are interrupted by someone knocking on his door to tell him the debriefing is going to start. Oscar is not sure he’s going to be able to debrief anything.
***
Of course, it keeps happening.
Lando comes up with a nebulous theory about Oscar’s pheromones helping him nap better. Oscar doesn’t even try to contradict him. He still wonders how Lando managed to get the word “pheromone” right on the first try, though.
So, they nap. Together. Often. Cuddling.
And as much as waking up with Lando in his arms always causes Oscar to break down, he has to admit he is indeed sleeping quite well.
***
And then, it becomes a joke again…
All that is because they decide to play padel with George and Alex in Monaco. And as they take a break, Lando comes to sit next to Oscar… “Next to” being a bit of an understatement as Lando lets himself plop on the bench and puts one of his legs directly in Oscar’s lap. Oscar reacts by habit and gently strokes Lando’s knee.
“Guys?” Alex asks as George seems to be dying from a stroke next to him.
“Yeah? Impressed by our performances?” Lando asks before taking a big gulp of water.
“Not really but… Since when are you two together?” Alex continues as George is trying to regain some composure.
“To–Together?” Oscar repeats when Lando laughs next to him.
“Don’t mind them, they’re just jealous!”
And with that, Lando stands up and gets ready to get back to play, leaving Oscar there, with his brain frozen.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Alex corners him before he can go shower.
“Whatever is going on between you two, you better not hurt him…”
“I… We aren’t– I won’t…”
“You both are idiots,” Alex says before beating Oscar to the last empty shower stall.
***
They keep being idiots. For weeks.
Lando keeps coming up with excuses to come and nap with Oscar. Oscar keeps accepting those excuses. And they keep not talking about it like it’s perfectly normal behaviour between teammates-slash-perhaps-friends.
And then they’re fighting for wins, there are fights on track, tension and pressure. And napping together becomes a way to show each other that things are okay between them.
It becomes a real part of their relationship and Oscar guesses it’s too late to talk about it then. It would only make things awkward.
***
Napping together is now their new normal and Oscar tries to just enjoy it. The feeling of Lando's smaller body, the warmth of another human being next to him, the sounds of his snores. Oscar loves every part of it. And he knows it’s going to stop one day so he just makes the most of it. He tries not to overthink everything and lives in the delusion that it’s just normal. In their Lando-and-Oscar kind of way.
And outside of that little habit, it’s not like his relationship with Lando is that different from what it was before…
Or at least until Vegas. Vegas and its crazy schedule that makes them all sleepy but unable to sleep properly…
Oscar is lying in his bed, hoping that sleep will finally come, when someone knocks on his door.
He’s pretty sure staff aren’t meant to disturb them so he thinks it might be some kind of emergency. He groans as he stands up.
It’s not an emergency. Not really.
It’s just Lando, dishevelled, eyes half-closed, wearing old Enchanté shorts and a t-shirt with a little hole on the shoulder. It’s a version of Lando that Oscar has never seen before.
“Can’t sleep,” Lando says and Oscar lets him in because he can’t think of anything else to do.
“Yeah, that schedule is fucked up.”
Lando looks around Oscar’s room. As if all the hotel rooms they were sleeping in didn’t start to blur together after a while. His eyes stop on the bed. Unmade and still warm from Oscar's body. A smile appears on his smile. The sleepy version of his gremlin smile.
“What about a nap?” Lando asks, looking back at Oscar.
“We should probably sleep more than that…”
“I know but… We always fall asleep when we cuddle…”
Oscar finally understands what Lando is suggesting. Them. In that unmade warm bed. Sleeping. Together.
There are probably millions of reasons that make it a bad idea. But Oscar is tired and he’s never been good at using his brain when he lacks sleep.
“Ok. But I take the right side.”
“You always take the right side,” Lando answers as he throws himself on the bed and crawls to the unused side of it. He’s right. Oscar always takes the right side of the couch. This is different, though. But Oscar has apparently mastered the ability to ignore things. So he just turns off the lights and joins him.
They fall asleep in minutes.
***
Oscar can only blame himself for it happening again the next day. He asks Lando: “Are you coming over?” when he stops in front of his room at the end of a long practice day.
“Let me grab a few things,” Lando answers.
***
On Saturday, Oscar doesn’t ask and Lando moves his suitcase over.
***
What happened in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. They don’t talk about it. They don’t react to Alex and George’s teasing when they send them a pic of them. Lando keeps showing Oscar fanarts of them kissing. And they keep sleeping together in Qatar and in Abu Dhabi. Lando doesn’t even bother opening his suitcase in his room in Rwanda.
Everything is well.
But, as they fly back to the UK for the end-of-the-year McLaren party, it hits Oscar like a truck.
After tonight, Lando is going to spend a few days with his family and Oscar is going back to Monaco before flying to Melbourne.
After tonight, they won’t nap or sleep together for weeks. And that idea makes Oscar feel physically bad. He feels like a void is opening in his chest, sucking everything in. He’s not going to see Lando for weeks, he won’t feel his warmth and hear his little snore. He won’t close his arm around his body and wake up to his breath in his neck.
He’s done well without that in between the races but now, it’s nearly two months that he needs to go without Lando. Without the guy he has a tiny little crush for.
Nah, Oscar is not an idiot. He knows he’s past that stage now. Probably had been for some time. He loves Lando.
He looks at his teammate, asleep in his arms in the plane bedroom they managed to hide in once everyone else was napping. He looks at the eyelashes leaving a shadow on Lando’s cheekbone. At his lips, his hair, his moles, his eyebrows. Try to commit every detail to memory. To help him survive until they meet again.
And then, another truck hits him. What if Lando didn’t want to keep going next season? What if tonight is their last time?
The void gets bigger and a wave of nausea hits Oscar.
He can’t live with that question looming over him…
***
At first, Oscar had wanted to wait until the morning… But he wants to know if this is their last time. He wants to know if he needs to enjoy it even more, he has to fight and stay awake and look at Lando…
But how are you supposed to ask about something you’ve been doing for months but never talked about?
How to put words on something that stayed silent for so long?
How to name what they have? Sleepers with benefits? Sleepfriends?
Lando comes out of the bathroom and Oscar knows he needs to ask now. Before Lando gets in bed and looks all cute and sleepy.
“Lando.” He starts, easily.
“Yeah?”
Lando comes close and stands just in front of Oscar and Oscar knows he’s smiling a bit dumbly, in the way some fans are making fun of him. That’s the effect Lando has on him.
“There is something I need to ask you.”
“Yeah?”
“I… We… We’re going on holiday tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Oscar feels like an idiot. A real one this time.
“IamgoingtomisssleepingwithyouandIhopewekeepdoingitnextyear…” he finally says without breathing.
And then, Lando just laughs. And laughs… Until he’s folded in half and holding his belly.
“Sorry…” Lando manages to say. “It’s nervous…”
It takes Lando a few more seconds to calm down and then he comes closer and puts his arms around Oscar’s neck. It feels intimate but natural so Oscar puts his hands on Lando’s waist.
“I was so stressed, you know. Didn’t know how to breach the subject…”
“The subject?”
“Of us. Sleeping together. I mean… Really sleeping.”
“Oh…”
“I don’t want to stop, Osc.”
Osc feels a weight being lifted from his shoulders and the void in his chest starts to close.
“Me neither.”
“So… How about we see how we can meet during the break?”
“To?”
“Sleep together, nap, whatever and…”
“And?”
Oscar feels Lando’s body coming closer to his.
“We could perhaps have dinner?”
“Like a date?”
Lando nods. Oscar makes him come even closer.
They’re not doing things in order. They’re idiots. But Oscar doesn’t care.
So he leans in and, as Lando doesn’t move away, he kisses him.
***
“So guys? Still sleeping together?” George asks as he puts his arms around Lando and Oscar’s shoulders in the Bahrain paddock.
“Yep,” Lando answers. “But now we’re also having sex…”
Oscar nearly trips over his feet.
But the way George stops dead in his tracks and looks like a deer caught in headlights might be worth it.
***
It may have started with their friends joking about them. It may have taken them way too long.
But now, Lando is sleeping in Oscar’s bed every night. And Oscar is determined to make that last forever.