Chapter Text
At first, it was nice to see two men with such a strong friendship. Carlos and Lando always managed to wade through the crowds to find one another, bumping fists before reclining against the nearest surface they could find and catching up. They were obviously still close despite no longer being teammates. That was sweet.
Then, Guanyu actually started hanging out with them now and again, and he felt…an odd tension. Between them. Initially, he wondered if it was competition. And sometimes it was. Most of the time though, it was how intensely Carlos looked at Lando. The way Lando licked his lips so slightly when he spoke to Carlos. How neither of them would stop smiling. How sometimes Carlos would talk over Charles just because he wanted to continue a conversation with Lando. How Lando would close the distance between himself and Carlos as the conversation progressed, even though they were, were, standing in a circle with other drivers.
Weird. But hey, who was Guanyu to judge? They were apparently super close. Good for them.
Still, he couldn’t help but think—what if…?
Nah.
But still.
So he kept an eye on them. From a distance. Maybe up close if he ended up organically standing near them. They were good enough at inviting people into the fold; it was just that when people were there, they would kind of…ignore them? It wasn’t purposeful. It was just…well, kind of like they were in a world of their own. Like in the Miami opening party; doing nothing together and somehow making it seem like it was more important than whatever the hell everyone else was doing.
And so Guanyu found that he could not ignore a possible conclusion. But no. He needed more data.
And then that conversation happened.
“You’re weird,” Carlos had said, his voice exasperated, but his eyes…total affection. Adoration. And Guanyu had noticed that while Lando was gesticulating, Carlos had kept his hands close to himself. Pressed against his body. As though he was restraining himself. From what?
From touching Lando. It had to be.
“You’re weird,” Carlos had breathed, and Lando’s face went smug.
“Yeah?”
“So weird,” Carlos said, and the smile spread across his face even as he shook his head. The camera turned away, the personnel filtered out, and it was just Carlos, Lando, and…well, Guanyu. Whom they had forgotten. Evidently. Because then, Lando said, and he didn’t say it so much as fucking purr it (who does that?):
“And you don’t like that about me?”
Carlos exhaled shakily and said, “You don’t want me to answer that question.”
“What if I do?”
Guanyu felt the overwhelming urge to leave. But he was also fascinated. And anyway, it would be super awkward to leave at that point.
“Then I would say that I love how weird you are.”
Lando smirked and walked closer to Carlos. “Yeah?”
Carlos stood suddenly and grabbed Lando by the arms. “Yeah,” he said, and he added, “You drive me crazy.”
“How crazy?”
Carlos stared at him and sat back down. “I will not answer that,” he said firmly, and Lando almost looked disappointed.
He pouted (what the fuck?) and said, “Boring. Anyway. I said I’d go say hi to Charlotte. Wanna come?”
The look in Carlos’ eyes dissipated. He grinned and stood up eagerly, and they walked off like nothing had happened even though something clearly had.
What the fuck.
And they had forgotten Guanyu entirely.
Later, stuck in his thoughts, Guanyu nearly bumped into Valtteri.
“Careful,” Val said, in his gentle, casual way. He held up his little paper espresso cup. “This is so strong it might not come off if I spill it on you.”
“Valtteri,” Guanyu said, “are Carlos and Lando…?”
“Ah,” Valtteri grinned, “so you have been initiated. What was it? Eyes? Hands? Dinner plans? Carlos fixed Lando’s mood? Lando made Carlos break a rib laughing?”
Guanyu stared at him. Then, dumbly, he said, “They. Touched. Lando asked how crazy he drove Carlos.”
Valtteri looked impressed. “Wow. They are getting confident.”
“…does that mean they are…or…?”
“Who knows,” Val said, shrugging. He took a sip of his coffee. Then he chuckled and said, “Probably, they are. Most likely.”
Guanyu kept staring. Then Valtteri smiled a little at him, poked him in the chest with his coffee cup, and said, “Be cool about it.”
Since apparently Carlos and Lando weren’t going to be.