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It was Oscar’s night.
Or well, Red Bull’s night technically. But, Oscar was included in the celebration.
Even if his first place finish in the F2 Championship was overshadowed by Max’s Driver’s Championship win in F1.
Oscar wasn’t upset about that though. To be quite honest, he was happy to hang around in the background.
He was not very comfortable with being in the limelight, even after two years of being marketed as a “future World Champion” by Red Bull. So, he was more than willing to be in the background as the partygoers rallied around Max.
Oscar can’t help but smile a bit though as he catches a glimpse of the Dutchman on the yacht dance floor.
Max was currently grinning like a drunken fool. He basks in the attention of the crowd, as he clings to the Dutch flag around his shoulders with one hand. His other hand was holding onto his drink, a very on brand Vodka Red Bull.
Oscar can see familiar faces pop up in the crowd. Red Bull team members and team sponsors surround Max, their smiles as bright as the party lights around them.
Of course, there were more than just Red Bull team members and sponsors present. Many drivers on and off the grid had stopped by to join in on the fun, though a certain team was noticeably absent.
Oscar didn’t blame the Mercedes team though. He wouldn’t want to party with Max if he was in their shoes.
But, that didn’t stop the rest of the drivers from joining in on the fun.
Oscar can see some F1 and F2 drivers among the crowd. The easiest one to see was Daniel, who was singing an off key cover of “We Are the Champion” from the top of his lungs near the bar. The former Red Bull driver was happily performing a cover of the song for the crowd, as he sings ‘Max is the Champion!’ for all the guests.
Oscar chuckles a bit at the sight. Daniel may be a McLaren driver now, but it was clear where his loyalties truly lied.
Still, the yacht was in a state of pure chaos. With the flowing drinks, drunken crowd, bright lights, and blasting music, the room was nearly overwhelming for Oscar.
And yet, Oscar still finds himself smiling.
The joyful atmosphere was nothing short of addicting, even for the rather introverted driver.
It had been years since he had celebrated a WDC win with Red Bull, 8 to be exact.
Seeing the delight on everyone’s faces made Oscar feel hopeful for once. He felt as if nothing could go wrong.
Max had won the F1 World Driver’s Championship. Oscar had won the F2 Championship.
And Oscar had a seat for the following year.
Oscar grins at the thought.
Oscar would be driving with AlphaTauri for the 2022 F1 season, the sister team to Red Bull. The team seemed friendly enough, so Oscar wasn’t too worried about the switch from Prema to AlphaTauri.
Besides, everyone knew the seat was only temporary. It was just a way for Oscar to get experience driving in F1 before he ended up in the real team he was destined for.
Red Bull itself.
Oscar bites his lip at the thought.
For years, he had been told that he would surely end up in the Red Bull seat. But now, with that reality quickly approaching, he was unsure about how to feel about it.
He was thrilled to be racing in F1. That had been his dream since he was a child, as he spent countless mornings watching his father race in F1.
And yet…
Suddenly, an arm wraps itself around his shoulders, knocking him out of his thoughts.
“Oscar!!” A cheerful voice practically yells in his ear.
Oscar jumps at the sound and touch. He quickly turns, only to see Christian Horner’s smiling face looking back at him.
Oscar’s shock fades when he realizes who it was.
“You scared me!” Oscar complains.
Christian laughs. “Did I? Sorry about that.”
He doesn’t look remotely sorry, but Oscar just shakes his head, trying to hide his smile.
“Why did you come over here?” Oscar asks curiously.
Christain’s smile only grows as he hugs Oscar a bit tighter.
“Well, I wanted to thank you for coming! I know you hate coming out to parties.” Christian teases.
Oscar shrugs as best as he can. “Well, the party is partially in my honor. Would be pretty rude not to come.”
Christain nods. “It would be.”
Christain pulls away from Oscar and turns his attention to the crowd. The older man’s eyes are filled with nothing but pride as he gazes upon the dance floor. Oscar follows his gaze, only to see that the team principal was staring at the Dutchman.
“Max really did it, huh?” Oscar comments.
Christian nods. “He managed to pull it off in the end. Though not without a few heart attacks over the season.”
“You should be proud of him and the team.” Oscar said, “They finally brought a WDC title back to Red Bull.”
Christian glances over at Oscar. “And I have no doubt that you will help us bring more championships to the team.”
Christain’s eyes were full of pride as he said this. Oscar’s stomach churns at the sight.
“Christian…” Oscar starts
“Don’t ‘Christian’ me!” Christain cuts him off, “I have seen your talent! You’ll do marvelous things Oscar!”
Christian was clearly trying to comfort Oscar. Yet, for some reason, his praise only made Oscar feel nauseous.
“Thank you Christian.” Oscar manages.
“Of course. You know, you should come by my house sometime, meet the family! My daughter has been dying to meet you.” Christian offers.
Oscar could think of many other things he would prefer to do rather than visit the Horner household. But, he still smiles politely for his future team principal.
“I’ll consider it.” Oscar said, “Maybe during the Winter Break.”
“Good.” Christain said, patting his shoulder.
Just then, Oscar notices a certain driver manages to get past the crowd, positioning himself right next to Max. Max immediately wraps his arm around the newcomer's waist and presses a kiss to his lips. The partygoers around them jokingly wolf whistle at this.
Oscar barely holds back a laugh at the sight.
“Looks like Leclerc arrived.” He comments.
Christian glances over at the dance floor. His eyes narrow slightly as he catches sight of the Ferrari driver.
“So he has.” Christain says quietly.
Oscar lets out a small sigh. Here we go again.
“You still disapprove?” Oscar asks.
Christian shakes his head. He was still smiling, but it was now a bit forced.
“I have nothing personal against the man. Charles is a good man and I am sure he can make Max very happy. However…” Christian trails off.
“However?” Oscar echoes.
Christian shakes his head. “However, Leclerc will prove to be a liability to Max one day.”
Oscar frowns at that. “What do you mean?”
Christain shrugs. “Max is a fantastic driver. And Leclerc is definitely a skilled driver. What will they do if they are forced into a championship battle?”
Oscar looks over at the duo. Leclerc had allowed Max to put the Dutch flag over both of their shoulders, much to the champion’s clear delight. Max was now busying him with pressing kisses against the Ferrari driver’s cheek, making Leclerc laugh loudly.
“He’s Max’s soulmate for a reason.” Oscar defends the couple, “I am sure they will be able to handle anything that comes their way.”
Christian raises an eyebrow. “Do you really think they can handle that? Remember how Max was after Austria 2019?”
Oscar winces at the memory. Max had spent weeks moping around after that race. He had only cheered up whenever he was sim racing or on the track.
Though he had asked Oscar to follow Leclerc for him. Just to see if Leclerc mentioned Max at all.
Still, that was two whole years ago. It seemed a bit unfair to hold that over the couple’s head in Oscar’s opinion. Especially when it seemed like the couple had finally made up.
“I think they can. They are both older now and have gotten used to racing each other.” Oscar said.
Christian snorts . “Let’s see what next season will bring then.”
Christian then turns to look at Oscar, a curious expression on his face.
“What about you Oscar? Have you found your own soulmate?”
Oscar shakes his head.
“Not yet.” He admits.
Christian smiles. “They must not be involved in racing then. That will make it easier on you.”
Oscar shrugs. “I guess so.”
Before they can continue down that line of thought, a shout interrupts the moment.
Both men turn, only to see Helmut Marko in the corner of the room, motioning for someone to come over to him. .
“Christian!!” The older man calls out.
Oscar had never been more happy to hear that man’s voice.
Finally, an excuse for this talk to finally end.
Christian laughs and shakes his head. “I should go see what he wants.”
“Good idea.” Oscar agrees.”
Christain pats Oscar on the shoulder. “Enjoy the party, Oscar. You deserve it. One season closer to getting that Red Bull seat.”
Oscar nods, offering him a small smile. “I know. Thank you Christian. And congratulations again.”
“Thank you.” Christain said.
With that, the team principal disappears into the crowd, leaving Oscar alone once again.
Oscar takes the chance to go look for a quieter part of the yacht to hang out at, away from the bar and dance floor. It was a bit hard to find an area without any drunken guests at first. Eventually though, he finds an empty space at the back of the boat.
Oscar makes his way to the edge of the boat and leans against the railing. Then, he lets out a sigh.
It was the first time Oscar had been alone all weekend. Throughout the weekend, he had always had somewhere to be. His F2 race and his rookie test for AlphaTauri had kept him quite busy over the last three days.
But now, Oscar was finally alone.
So, Oscar just lets himself relax and watch the waves below. After a few minutes of this though, his conversation with Christian starts to replay itself in his head.
Truth be told, Oscar hadn’t thought about his soulmate for years now. Before he entered F3, he had thought about them from time to time. Oscar had wondered who they were, what they were up to, and, most importantly, did they enjoy racing?
But after he had been picked up by Prema and the Red Bull Driver’s Academy right before entering F3, everything had changed. His life had become almost entirely focused on racing. Whatever free time he had left was dedicated to his schoolwork, as per his parents' insistence that he complete his secondary school education.
Now though, Oscar could finally relax a little.
He was the F2 champion. He had a confirmed seat with AlphaTauri for the 2022 season. And, with good enough results, he was going to have a place at a top F1 team by 2024.
So, now was the perfect time to think about his elusive soulmate.
Oscar drums his fingers against the railing.
He wasn’t opposed to the idea of soulmates. It was just not a topic that Oscar found particularly important.
After all, his mother had never found her soulmate, yet she was perfectly happy with his stepfather.
It was pretty rare to find your soulmate in the first place. Fernando, his other stepfather, had said as much every time he gushed about the day he met his father.
“I never thought we would end up in Formula 3000 together,” Fernando would say, grinning like a fool, “Imagine my surprise when I nearly got electrocuted when I shook the hand of a rival driver.”
Oscar’s father had always rolled his eyes at his lover’s antics, but he had never corrected him. Even his father knew how lucky he was to have ended up in the same occupation of his soulmate.
Oscar glances down at his hand.
Oscar knew the legend. When you first touched your soulmate, you would feel an electric shock.
Literally. The interaction would cause an electrical shock between the two partners.
The shock would travel through your body and form a mark somewhere on it. The place varied between soulmates, though the most common areas were the neck, either wrist, or your ankles.
Oscar had heard horror stories where the mark ended up in less than ideal placements though. In fact, he heard rumors that one poor soul had ended up getting their mark in their crotch area.
Oscar hopes that if he was lucky enough to find his soulmate, the mark would just show up on his neck.
Admittedly, he did have a pretty good shot of finding his soulmate now that he was on the grid. F1 drivers interacted with people from all walks of life due to media events and fan zones. It would not be the first time a driver found his teammate among the fan crowd.
Still, was Oscar ready to find his soulmate?
Oscar can’t help but frown at the thought.
Having a soulmate was a wonderful thing. But Oscar was not even sure if he was ready to get into another relationship, even if on paper it was the perfect time to.
Romance had never been something that really interested Oscar. He had always loved racing above all else, his family and friends excluded of course.
He would gag as a child whenever his sisters or mother put on romantic movies. The dramatic storylines never really appealed to him. In fact, most of the time he just wondered why the actors seemed like they were idiots for over half the movie.
Could he really handle a romantic relationship? Especially if his partner proved to be controversial?
Oscar’s mind drifts towards Christian once more.
While the Team Principal had been publicly very supportive of Max’s relationship, Oscar knew that the man disliked Charles Leclerc. He had overheard Christain’s occasional whispers to other staff members during his visits to Red Bull’s hospitality area.
According to what Oscar heard, Horner saw Leclerc as a potential threat. A distraction that Horner couldn’t quite predict or subdue.
A soulmate could be very influential.Should there be a situation where Max grew disgruntled with the team, Leclerc could swoop in and make Horner’s life much harder.
It would be easy to dismiss the opinion of a non-driver soulmate. Horner could put up a fight against someone who only was a part of F1 through Max.
But, this would not work with Leclerc, who was currently racing with Ferrari. Leclerc was a driver himself, so his opinions could not be easily dismissed.
Besides that, Leclerc was not interested in cooperating with the team leadership. Even though he was Max’s soulmate, Leclerc’s allegiance was to Scuderia Ferrari and he made that very clear to the higher ups at Red Bull.
Admittedly, Max had done the same with Ferrari. Due to this, the two teams barely acknowledged the fact that their drivers were in a relationship.
Oscar suspects that Max and Charles were both happy about this though. Neither of them complained about the lack of PR around their relationship.
Still, Oscar can’t help but wonder what would happen if his soulmate was a driver. After all, he wasn’t as important to the team as Max was.
Perhaps Christian wouldn’t be as annoyed if Oscar’s soulmate was a F1 driver though, Oscar thinks to himself.
After all, Oscar was just the eventual spare driver.
Oscar bites his lip.
There he was again, thinking the worst of things. And over something so petty as well.
Many talented drivers never received the honor of becoming an F1 driver. Oscar himself had seen the hope die in the eyes of so many of his F2 gridmates, as F1 seats vanished before their eyes.
And here Oscar was, complaining about an offered F1 seat with Red Bull.
But it wasn’t the idea of a seat that bothered him though.
No, there was something else that made Oscar grit his teeth. One other issue that tainted Oscar’s view of his future.
And that was-
“Hey!”
Oscar nearly falls into the sea when the quiet around him is broken by a sudden yell. Thankfully, the railing is high enough to prevent a rather embarrassing tumble into the water.
Oscar steadies himself, then turns to look at whoever had called out to him.
Standing a few feet away from him was a somewhat familiar man. He looked to be about 2 years older than Oscar, and had curly brown hair and warm green eyes. He was dressed casually, with a slightly open white shirt and khakis.
Oscar had to admit that he was pretty cute. And he did have a decent amount of muscle if the exposed part of his chest was anything to go off of.
But still, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had seen the man before. Perhaps on a magazine cover? There were plenty of models on the ship after all.
“Can I help you?” Oscar asks, doing his best not to stare at the open section of the stranger’s shirt.
The man nods, “Yeah, uh, you wouldn’t happen to be Oscar Piastri right? Or know where he is?”
Oscar feels a blush start to form on his face.
Oh. So the cute guy was looking for him?
Looks like it really was his weekend.
“That would be me.” Oscar said, offering his hand politely towards the man. “I’m Oscar Piastri.”
The man sighs in relief. “Oh great! And here I thought I’d have to run around the entire ship to look for you!”
The man cheerfully takes his hand. “I’m L-“
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. An electric shock shot up Oscar’s arm, only coming to a stop when it reached the base of his neck.
Oscar yelps at the sensation. He quickly pulls his hand away from the man.
It seems like he wasn’t the only one affected though. The man jerks back his own hand as well, letting out a pained gasp.
“What the hell was that?!” The stranger demands.
“I don’t know!” Oscar shot back.
The man visibly winces. “Well whatever it was, that hurt like hell…”
The stranger reaches up and touches his own neck. As soon as his fingers touch his skin though, the man lets out a hiss and moves his hand away.
“Ow!! What the fuck?!” The man complains.
Oscar frowns and steps closer. “Here. Let me see?”
There’s an idea forming in Oscar’s mind. An awful idea that makes butterflies form in the pit of Oscar’s stomach.
But it was there nonetheless.
The man hesitates but sighs.
“Fine…” he grumbles, stepping closer to Oscar
Oscar takes out his phone and turns on the flashlight. Oscar then carefully adjusts his phone light in order to examine the man’s neck.
What Oscar sees makes his blood run cold.
There, branded into the man’s skin, was Oscar’s driver logo. The familiar ‘OP’ design glows mockingly before Oscar’s eyes.
Oscar’s heart nearly stops in his chest.
This wasn’t just any man.
This was his soulmate.
There was only one word that Oscar can bring himself to say at that moment.
“Fuck.”
The stranger tenses at his comment.
“What’s wrong with me?” He demands, craning his neck as best as he could to look at the mark.
Oscar just shakes his head as he turns off his phone flashlight and pockets his phone.
“It’s… a soulmate mark.” Oscar says quietly, “It’s my driver's logo.”
There’s a moment of silence as the stranger takes in Oscar’s words. For a second, Oscar actually finds himself uneasy by the stranger’s silent reaction.
Then, the stranger lets out a high pitched yell.
“No way!!” The man screams.
The man quickly moves forward, taking out his own phone and moving to check Oscar’s neck. Oscar winces as his soulmate accidentally directs the light into his eyes in his haste.
“Mind lowering the light?” Oscar requests.
His soulmate gives him an apologetic look.
“Huh? Oh! Sorry.” His soulmate said sheepishly as he lowers his phone.
His soulmate checks the base of Oscar’s neck. A few more seconds pass before the man starts to grin.
“Yep! That’s my driver’s logo alright!” He cheers, pocketing his phone, “LN4!”
LN4.
Oscar ponders the term for a moment.
Where had he heard that before?
Then, it hits him.
LN4.
Number 4. That belonged to the McLaren driver Lando Norris.
The man in front of him, his soulmate, was Lando Norris.
Oscar feels his knees begin to shake.
His soulmate was a rival F1 driver. Just like Max.
Christian was going to kill him.
The smile slowly fades from Lando’s face.
“Hey, are you alright?” Lando asks, reaching out a hand to steady Oscar.
Oscar barely manages a nod. “I’m fine.”
Lando frowns. “You look like you are about to fall overboard.”
The Brit slowly helps Oscar to the ground so that he could sit down. To Oscar’s surprise, Lando sits down beside him, offering him his shoulder.
“Here, you can lean on me for a bit.” Lando offers, “I’m guessing you are shocked.”
“You can say that.” Oscar admits.
Oscar eyes the offered shoulder hesitantly. He wasn’t really good when it came to physical touch, especially with strangers.
But, this was his soulmate. And Lando was doing his best to make Oscar feel more comfortable, so it felt rude to refuse the gesture.
So, Oscar drops his head onto Lando’s shoulder.
For a while, the duo sat there in relative silence. Music from the party drifts over to their side of the boat, but it was more comforting than annoying.
Eventually though, Lando breaks the silence.
“So, I’m guessing you know people with bad soulmate relationships?” Lando asks.
Oscar blinks up at the older driver. “Huh?”
“You looked terrified when you realized I was your soulmate.” Lando clarifies, “So you must have heard some bad stories.”
Oscar shakes his head. “Not really. My mum hasn’t met her soulmate, but she’s happy. And my dad and step-father are soulmates, but they are pretty happy together.”
Lando looks down at him, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. “So why are you so upset to find your soulmate?”
Oscar hesitates.
Lando was not only from a rival team, but also a friend of Max’s. It didn’t seem right to bring up Christian’s comments concerning Max and Charles.
Then again, this was his soulmate. Surely he could trust Lando? At the very least, he could give some sort of truthful answer to Lando.
“Well, I guess I was just a bit surprised. I just talked to a member of my team,” Oscar said, “He told me I was lucky because my soulmate wasn’t in Formula 1. Because if I did, it wouldn’t end well.”
Lando was quiet for a moment.
“Was it Horner?” He finally asks.
Oscar freezes at Lando’s question.
Well, it looked like he couldn’t deceive his soulmate.
“How did you know?” Oscar asks.
Lando sighs. “Max saw you guys talking. He said he was worried about you because you disappeared after talking with him.“
Oscar was surprised. “Max saw us?”
Lando nods.
“He said he was trying to get your attention after that, but you just left. So he asked me to go find you.” Lando explains.
“And that’s why you were looking for me.” Oscar realizes.
Oscar’s lips twitch a bit at the revelation.
Max was not only his future teammate, but also one of his closest friends in the sport. The Dutchman had taken him under his wing in the last two years, offering Oscar tips whenever he asked. He also made sure to keep an eye on Oscar in the paddock, always checking to make sure he had eaten something or was properly resting.
Oscar once asked Max if he was supposed to be his future teammate or his little brother. Max had jokingly replied that both could be true.
Most of the time, Oscar rolled his eyes at Max’s behavior. But tonight, he couldn’t help but be grateful for it.
“I didn’t realize that he noticed. I thought he was too busy trying to eat Leclerc’s face.” Oscar said.
Lando actually snickers at this. “Yeah, I was surprised too. Or well, I’m surprised he’s still somewhat sober.”
“He is definitely having a lot of Vodka Red Bulls.” Oscar agrees.
Lando shrugs. “Hey, he deserves it. He just won a championship.”
“And he’s going to have a massive hangover in a couple of hours.” Oscar points out in amusement.
Lando rolls his eyes. “Oh just wait until it’s my turn. We are both going to be drowning in alcohol.”
Oscar can’t help but laugh a bit at the thought. “You are going to celebrate your theoretical victory with a drinking contest with Max at your party?”
Lando winks at Oscar.
“Actually, I was talking about you, not Max.”
Oscar blinks at Lando in surprise. “Me?”
Lando nods.
“Well yeah. We are soulmates, aren’t we?” The Brit points out.
Lando raises a hand up and brushes his thumb over the mark on Oscar’s neck. Oscar braces himself for any possible pain from the sensitive area. But to his relief, there is no pain.
Seems like the pain was only temporary, Oscar realizes in relief.
Still, the intimate gesture makes heat rise to his face.
Sure, Oscar had dated people before, but he hadn’t had a steady partner since secondary school. And it had been a while since he had last gotten laid.
Yet, the gesture is somehow soothing. Without thinking, Oscar lets out a soft sigh in response.
Lando’s face turns faintly pink. “Does that… feel good?”
Oscar nods, trying to ignore his own blush. “Pretty good.”
Lando stammers. “Right. Uh. Yeah. Good. Meant to do that, totally.”
Oscar can’t help but laugh a bit at Lando’s response.
“Totally suave.” Oscar teases.
Lando pouts. “Oh shut it you muppet.”
Oscar snickers “Muppet?”
Lando huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. “Yes. Because you are definitely acting like a muppet right now.”
Oscar rolls his eyes, but can’t hide the smile building on his face.
This was oddly nice. Comforting even.
Oscar had not realized how exhausted he had been from the last few days. He had been running on adrenaline the second he entered the track on Thursday.
But now, curled up next to his new soulmate, Oscar could feel his exhaustion begin to creep up on him.
Silence falls over the duo again. Oscar lets himself move just a bit closer to Lando, before closing his eyes. For a few minutes, Oscar lets himself be soothed by the distant music, the sound of waves gently passing by the boat, and the sound of Lando’s breathing.
And then, Lando speaks up again.
“So, what do we do about this soulmate thing?”
Oscar opens his eyes and looks up at Lando. “Excuse me?”
Lando looks back at him, a serious look on his face.
“Well, we do need to figure out how we will handle this.” Lando points out, “You’re going to be on the grid next year right?”
Oscar feels as if he’s been dunked in an ice bath.
That’s right. Oscar would be driving for AlphaTauri. Lando would be driving for McLaren.
Meaning they would be on the grid together.
Oscar swallows. “Right. I am.”
Oscar knew that Horner would not react well to the news that Oscar’s soulmate was a F1 driver. A talented driver that Horner had once considered for a seat at Red Bull at that.
It would be another Max and Charles situation. Horner would smile in Oscar’s face but immediately talk shit the second Oscar would turn his back.
And now, with Max bringing Red Bull a WDC title, Oscar was quickly becoming the more disposable one of the duo.
Oscar winces at the thought.
Technically speaking, they didn’t HAVE to come out and say they were soulmates. His father had done that after all.
No one had figured out that Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso were soulmates until one dramatic kiss at the podium in Brazil 2013. Not even their teams had known. They had raced without ever informing anyone of the bond between them.
That was a possible route. Lando and Oscar could just stay quiet about their bond until one of them retired.
But, was that fair to Lando, Oscar wonders to himself. It seems mean to try and convince Lando to keep their bond a secret, just because it would annoy Christian.
However, annoying Christian could lead to Oscar losing his F1 seat. He couldn’t ignore that.
As Oscar ponders their options, Lando clears his throat.
“… Why don’t we take it slow?” Lando offers.
Oscar blinks at him. “Take it slow…?”
Lando nods. “Well, we just met right? Why don’t we get to know each other better before coming out to the world? Might make it easier on us when we do eventually choose to reveal ourselves.”
A wave of relief washes over Oscar. He quickly nods in agreement.
“Right. Let’s do that. Maybe we can discuss coming out during the summer break?” Oscar suggests, “That gives us over six months to work on learning more about each other before we revisit the idea.”
Lando thinks for a moment. “Well.. I guess so. On one condition.”
Oscar gives him a confused look.
“What’s the condition…?” He asks cautiously
Lando grins and holds out his hand. “You have to give me your number.”
“Deal.” Oscar snorts.
Oscar takes out his phone and unlocks it before placing it into Lando’s hand. Lando quickly enters his contact information before handing the phone back with a flourish.
“Here you go!” Lando hums.
Oscar grabs his phone and takes a look at the new contact. Then, he blinks.
“Super Sexy Papaya Soulmate?” Oscar repeats.
Lando winks. “It’s accurate.”
Oscar just stares at his phone, then at Lando.
“I’m suddenly scared to see what name you will give me.” Oscar said.
Lando’s manic grin did nothing to soothe Oscar’s concerns. “That’s for me to know and you to find out later.”
Oscar just sighs.
He decides to just let Lando have his fun. He was doing Oscar a favor by not forcing him to come out right away after all.
“Alright, alright.” Oscar said.
Oscar sends a text over to Lando’s phone in order to verify the number. A quiet ding a few seconds later confirms he had the right number.
“Perfect!” Lando said, clapping his hands together. “By the way, we should head back to the party before Max thinks I ditched.”
Oh right. Max had been looking for Oscar. That’s why Lando went looking for him.
Oscar feels a bit guilty. Max must be worried by now
“Right. We should head back to the party.” Oscar agrees, moving his head off of Lando’s shoulder.
Lando nods and gets back up to his feet. He offers his hand to Oscar to help him up. Oscar takes the outstretched hand and gives Lando a small smile as he gets onto his feet.
“Thanks Lando.” Oscar said.
Lando waves a hand. “You don’t need to thank me. Now come on, we have a party to get to.”
Oscar nods. “Right.”
The duo quickly made their way back to the dance floor. They get a few weird looks, but everyone they came across was too tipsy to really question why the duo were together.
As soon as they get back to the dance area though, Oscar hears someone call out to them.
“Oscar!! Lando!! There you are!”
Oscar looks around. Sure enough, Max was frantically waving at him, grinning. Leclerc was still beside him, an arm wrapped around the champion’s waist.
Oscar chuckles a bit at the sight before entering the throng of people. He mumbles weak apologies as he squeezes past guests, though he tries to get through the crowd as fast as possible.
Oscar does glance back once in a while to make sure Lando was following. Every time he did so though, he always caught sight of Lando’s teasing grin.
After a few minutes of this, Oscar finds himself right next to Max and Leclerc.
The duo were by the bar now, with several drinks resting on the counter beside them. To his amusement, Oscar notices that all the drinks were Vodka Red Bulls.
Max grins and offers him a drink. “Been looking for you. Were you hiding from me?”
Oscar takes the offered drink and shakes his head. “Just needed some time to think. But I’m back now.”
Max nods and gives Lando a thankful look. “Thanks for finding him, Lando.”
Lando waves a hand as he grabs a drink. “It’s fine. It wasn’t hard to find him sulking around.”
Oscar raises an eyebrow at Lando, who only smiles cheekily back at him.
Leclerc offers Oscar a smile as he grabs his own drink.
“Congratulations on your F2 win Piastri. I’m looking forward to seeing your talent on the track.” Leclerc said.
“I will try not to disappoint you.” Oscar assures him.
“I propose a toast!” Max declares. “Everyone has to pick something to toast to.”
Leclerc laughs a bit at that.
“Will you toast to your own win?” Leclerc teases Max.
Max rolls his eyes. “Of course not!”
The new WDC Champion holds up his glass.
“To Oscar’s championship win!” Max declares.
Oscar can’t help but laugh as he holds up his glass. “To the new World Champion.”
Charles raises his glass next. “To the end of the season.”
Lando smiles as he holds up his glass, “To new beginnings.”
Max snorts and gives Lando an amused look. “Are you tipsy already mate? Oddly poetic for you.
Lando shrugs. “I thought it would be a nice toast.”
“I think it works.” Oscar defends Lando.
Max shrugs. “Hey. It’s not bad. Just surprising.”
With that, the champion tips his head back and begins chugging his Vodka Red Bull. Charles rolls his eyes but does take a sip from his own glass.
Oscar raises his drink up to his lips, pretending not to notice the green eyes staring at him as he does so.
To new beginnings indeed.