Work Text:
You know that girl who walks into any room
And lights it up, that's what she does, baby, that's you
Oscar had noticed Lando in the back of his General Calculus 1 class.
Of course he did.
Cute guy in the back with his feet propped up on the seat in front of him?
Sign him up.
But don’t, because Oscar doesn’t think he’ll be able to string together a sentence if they’re ever put in the same room.
With all that beautiful wrapped around your smile and
You're 'bout as perfect as your timing
“I got a job!” Liam tells them when he sits down for the eight am class.
“Aw, sick man!” Logan holds out his hand for their handshake.
Front. Back. Bump. Tap.
“Where?”
“The Lion’s Den. It’s that cafe out where Yuki and I live with the coffee.”
“The cafe with the coffee,” Oscar hums.
“Shut up. It’s really good. You should come by, I’ll even give you my employee discount.”
Front. Back. Bump. Tap.
“I’ll think about it.”
“You should,” Liam grins. “It’s actually great. The baker guy—Daniel—is super cool, and it’ll, like, give me something to do when I’m up at ridiculous o’clock in the morning. Then there’s Max—he’s the owner—and he’s, like, super chill. And—oh you’re going to love this—Lando works there too.”
“Lando?”
“Yep.” Liam leans back in his chair. “In ten minutes late for opening is your Lando.”
“He’s not my Lando.”
“He’s totally your Lando,” Logan giggles. “He’s looking at us.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Order me something, will you?” Liam asks. “When you go in.”
“I said maybe!”
Even when the thunder's rolling
Lando isn’t in the cafe when Oscar finally gets around to trying The Lion’s Den after finals.
But that guy is, the one who told Lando that he shouldn’t get a raise when he’d asked during his DJ set on the pier the night before.
Mid defending Lando to this stranger, Oscar finds out that this is Max: Liam’s boss. Lando’s boss.
“You should give him a raise,” Oscar hears himself say.
Stupid.
But Max just grins. “You haven't even seen him work.”
Oscar would like the floor to swallow him up whole, thank you for much.
“He’ll be in tomorrow, if you want to make a third party performance assessment.”
And that clear blue sky's been stolen
Oscar does try again the next day.
Lando is there.
He’s behind the counter: working. He’s talking to some nice little old lady that Oscar has seen walking her dogs when he comes round his end of the Metro Line to visit Liam.
“Hi! Welcome to The Lion’s Den! What can I get you this morning?”
You break through like Heaven shining
Always be my silver lining
“Order for Oscar!”
Oscar has never been more thankful to get a coffee in his life.
He desperately drinks his fill, hoping beyond hope that it will unmelt his brain bits leaking out of his ears.
Glass half full, I try to be
That was a trainwreck, and he can never go back again.
Which is a real shame because Liam was right, the coffee is amazing.
It’s almost like he can trick himself into thinking that he’s going to start making the trek out here every morning for the coffee instead of to see Lando.
Almost.
But when it ain't, you're there for me
“Dude, I can hear your alarm through the wall!”
“Sorry!”
“Why are you up this early?” Logan demands through the wall.
“I need to go get coffee!”
“It’s a five minute walk!”
“No it isn’t!”
“Are you going to see Lando?”
“No!” Oscar pauses. Logan is going to be able to see right through him. He can practically feel the American glaring at him through the wall. “Okay maybe! But the coffee there is really good!”
“You better get me something for the injustice of waking me up at…dude it’s five!”
Bringing sunshine out of hiding
Oscar has the biggest, dumbest smile on his face as he hands Logan his coffee at the beginning of Solid Dynamics: a dark roast with count ‘em twelve sugars.
Always be my silver lining
“And you didn’t get me one?”
Front. Back. Bump. Tap.
“You literally work there!”
“I’m done my coffee by the time I get to campus!”
Front. Back. Bump. Tap.
“And you want more?”
“Yes! Do you want me living off Red Bull?”
Logan laughs. “Is coffee any better?”
“Less sugar.”
You are my lighthouse, you are my way home
No, I ain't never giving up 'cause you're my stay-strong
Somehow Oscar gets a social life this year.
He doesn’t know how that happened either. Logan and Liam had even given up on getting him out the house years ago. Yet here he is: nursing a Monster at Sainz.
Light me up, light me up like you do
“Lando? Lando Norris?” The bartender—Carlos, Lando’s friend from Calc 1—calls into the microphone. “It is time for your set. Where are you? Lando? Lando Norris?”
Fall into me, fall into you
Oscar does not begrudge Logan for laughing when Lando trips on his way up the stairs to the DJ booth.
Oscar snickering as well.
Liam practically falls over cackling.
There ain't no thing we can't get through
Like clockwork, Oscar blacks out whenever he steps through the threshold of The Lion’s Den.
He knows his mouth moves.
He knows he says words even if he stammers.
And he also knows that Lando smiles at him through it all.
Which does not help!
The bell above the door rings, and Oscar is back on the cobblestones outside of the cafe, a tray with three coffees in his hand.
He looks back.
Lando waves through the window.
Even when the thunder's rolling
They’re much older now: all graduated and with real life jobs. Oscar, Lando, Logan, Liam, and Daniel the baker from the Lion’s Den stumble down the street arm in arm with the crowd of fans streaming home after the Leclerc concert.
“I think I need food!” Lando shouts over the din.
Oscar’s stomach rumbles. “Me too! Do you think Sainz is still open?” I would kill for chicken wings.”
“I think so! Daniel?”
“Nah. Liam and I have an early morning.”
“Ugh,” Liam groans. “Can I just stay up?”
“No.” Daniel ruffles his hair. “You have a day job after we’re done. God knows why you haven’t quit at least one of them.”
“I like baking!”
“I’ll make sure he sleeps tonight,” Logan promises. “C’mon Li, let’s go.”
“Fine, but only ‘cause you’re cute.”
“They grow up so quickly.” Daniel wipes away a tear. “I remember when you too were pinning after each other. I’m so glad you guys figured it out.”
And that clear blue sky's been stolen
Daniel Ricciardo is not subtle.
Doesn’t change the fact that Oscar is going to have to let him make a speech at the wedding.
Lando and Oscar don’t make it to Sainz. Instead they find themselves laying flat on the pier looking up at the stars as the waves tumble over the beach below.
You break through like Heaven shining
At least, Lando is looking up at the stars.
Oscar takes a deep breath. He might not be able to string together the best sentences whenever Lando is around, but he can be brave.
Always be my silver lining
It’s the sweetest relief when Lando kisses him back.
Glass half full, I try to be
Oscar has his arms wrapped around Lando’s waist as he grooves in the DJ booth at Sainz.
It's a little late, and Oscar’s social battery is on the way to running dry. He fishes the ear plugs he knows Lando carries around for him from the Brit’s pocket.
He rests his head on Lando’s shoulder.
Lando doesn’t count as people.
Oscar just lets himself sway to music he can no longer hear.
But when it ain't, you're there for me
Oscar sleepily stumbles after Lando, only tethered to the land of the living by the hand tugging him along.
Eventually they fall into Lando’s bed in their shared apartment.
Oscar doesn’t know why he has his own bed? What’s the point of it? Whenever he decides to use it, Lando doesn’t use his.
“G’night,” he mumbles.
“G’night.” Lando pecks him on the nose.
Bringing sunshine out of hiding
The alarm is beeping, and the sun is filtering through the curtains.
“I have to get up,” Oscar informs the lump laying on his chest.
“No.”
“I have a job,” Oscar points out. “You have a job.”
“Why did I decide to take the morning shift?”
“No idea.”
Lando grumbles. “But the bed is so warm. And cozy. And has you in it.”
“It is. I agree. Not for long. I have to get up to make us some money.”
Lando somehow goes even more limp. “Tell Max to give me a raise. He’s got that Leclerc money.”
“Okay. Up you get.”
Always be my silver lining
Somehow, Oscar still cannot string together a sentence when he’s standing in line at The Lion’s Den. Something about the orange apron behind the counter brings him right back to Uni!Oscar who is incapable of talking to his crush.
He doesn’t think he’s even ordered yet.
“Order for Oscar!”
Thank goodness for Max Verstappen.
It's only once he’s outside with his order and his extra breakfast pastry that Oscar realises he hasn’t paid.
Light me up, light me up like you do
Fall into me, fall into you
There ain't no thing we can't get
There ain't no thing we can't get through
“You have a cruuuuuuuuuuuuush,” Logan teases.
Front. Back. Bump. Tap.
“He’s literally my boyfriend.”
“But you have got the biggest crush on him.”
“Shut up.”
Even when the thunder's rolling
And that clear blue sky's been stolen
Oscar is going to pay today, he promises himself.
He pulls his card out and everything.
“The usual?” Max asks before Lando can get a word in.
“The usual.”
You break through like Heaven shining
Always be my silver lining
The stars must be aligning because Lando actually inputs the order and sends it over to Max.
Glass half full, I try to be
But when it ain't, you're there for me
“Anything interesting happening at work today?”
“Not really. Actually, afterwork we have a team event: PowerPoint night. Basically everybody picks a topic, any topic and they get five minutes—so really up to half an hour—to present it. Valtteri is giving us all scoring cards, like it’s the olympics gymnastics finals or something, and we have to score everybody’s stuff. Which is ridiculous and a little scary, but it’s fine.”
“What is your presentation about?”
“My boyfriend and why he’s the best boyfriend ever.”
Bringing sunshine out of hiding
Always be my silver lining
Oscar leaves no poorer with his plain black coffee with a double shot of espresso, a double double, and a large dark roast with count ‘em twelve sugars.
One day he is going to pay for his coffee.
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver lining, lining
“Why Lando is the Best Boyfriend Ever,” Oscar reads. “A presentation by Oscar Piastri.”
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver lining, lining
As soon as Oscar sits down next to Logan, Liam is shooting up begging to go next.
When Liam’s presentation appears on the board, Oscar immediately knows why the Kiwi just had to go after Oscar.
“Why Logan Is A Better Boyfriend Than Lando: He Can Actually Speak Full Sentences At Me. Yes, I am aware that you and Lando can somehow read each other’s minds, but that’s not the point.”
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver
My, my, my silver lining, lining