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Oscar awoke from what he could only describe as the best dream he’s ever had. His eyes were still closed, not daring to open them quite yet and somehow desperately trying to cling to the dream.
The dream in which he was brave enough to confess to Lando, in which Lando told him he felt the same. They ended up in Lando’s apartment with wandering hands and hungry mouths. Mindlessly Oscar licked over his lips. His mind played tricks on him and so he could still taste it. Taste Lando. His lips, his tongue and spit, his smooth skin and… well his cum too.
He sighed happily. Deciding it’s probably too early anyways to get up, he curled further into his pillow and adjusted the blanket. The blanket turned out to be quite heavy and a little harder than Oscar remembered. It was also weirdly shaped. Like, really weird. It reminded Oscar of a starfish. Or a human.
Oh.
Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all. His body did feel a little sore and he hasn’t been training yesterday. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he was truly awake, or if this was still part of the dream.
Half on top of him laid Lando, his black curls soft on Oscar’s bare chest. Lando’s arm slung over Oscar’s waist, holding on weakly but still in a grip as if he was scared Oscar would leave him. As if Oscar could ever leave him. Lando himself was naked too. Obviously. His bare shoulders and back were the most beautiful landscape Oscar has ever seen. One of Lando’s legs was laying over Oscar’s. Basically, Lando clung to him like a koala. Which is quite ironic considering who was the Australian in this… whatever this was. Oscar still didn’t believe this was actually happening right now.
He started to trace patterns on Lando’s back. He started with circles, random lines over his skin till Oscar caught himself drawing a heart. And another. Lando was a tight sleeper apparently, so he allowed himself to draw another just above his tailbone.
Oscar had no perception of time. It could have been mere minutes or maybe already an hour since he woke up. If he woke up. There was still a slight chance that he was dreaming.
He looked over to the bedside table. If he stretched just a tiny little bit more than what was comfortable he could reach his phone without disturbing Lando. He almost dropped it between the little crack to the bed, but caught it at the last second. He turned it on and was hit with several missed calls by all kinds of people and over sixty unread messages. At first he thought maybe a group chat was going crazy. But then he saw that it was from a total of thirty different chats. His parents, his sisters, Logan, Arthur, basically half the grid and a few people from McLaren. What the hell happened?
His stomach dropped reading his moms messages.
Sweetie, is it true?
That video was posted without your consent, right? Can we get a lawyer for that?
I’m here if you want to talk. You can come home, we are all here for you, love!
What video? Why would he get a lawyer? He went back and saw that Logan was typing something. With a total of 23 messages, he had by far the most.
DUDE
OSCAR
JACK
PIASTRI
THE VIDEO???!!!!!
HELLOOOOOO
DUDEEEEEEEEEEE
Shit forgot about timezones
Those people suck whoever posted it
Recorded it in the first place
Hope ur okay
I’m here
I’ll stay awake till u text me
Tell me I’m overreacting
Fuck I hope ur okay
Well looked like it
Looked like u had a good night
Shit probably too early for jokes
I reported the person who posted it first
So many reposts though doubt it’ll do anything
Wait I’ll just report them all
Okay that took sooo long but it kept me awake and it was worth it
ur worth it I’m here buddy
Oscar was getting more stressed with every message he read.
I’m awake
What video?
Logan’s answer came almost in the same second.
There is a video of u and Lando kissing
Like nearly making out on the streets
What? Oscar stopped breathing as his hands began to tremble. He tried to tell himself this was a joke. But over fifty messages. Thirty people. This was happening. Oscar desperately wished he could go back to his dream. Where everything was perfect. Where it was just him and Lando.
Oscar?
I’m so sorry
Here is the video
Screen recorded it for evidence on who posted it
What followed was a forty second long video. The quality was shit. Zoomed in on two figures — Lando and Oscar — first talking and then Oscar went in for the kiss. The person who recorded stayed silent. All you could hear was the rain pouring down. It seemed like it was filmed from an apartment a few floors up through a window. Oscar watched it over and over again with a racing heart. Trying to find any piece that this wasn’t them or AI or anything but what actually happened last night. But even though it was hard to make out who the people were when they were making out, it was oh so clear once they turned towards the camera with huge smiles on their faces, walking down the street. It was definitely Lando’s curls and tan skin and Oscar’s swoopy hair even if it was drenched by the rain still pouring on them.
Fuck.
Oscar immediately went to his socials, and no matter what app he opened, it was right there. Everywhere. Another message from Logan popped up.
U wanna call? I’m here
Oscar didn’t know what he wanted to or more so what he should do right now. He clicked back on the chat.
I’ll call you later
Should probably talk to Lando first, right?
God, I don’t know
Yeah, do that
It’ll be alright, we’ll figure it out
I’ll get some sleep but keep my phone loud just call
You’re the best, Lo
Without waiting for a response, he shut off his phone and let it drop on the mattress next to him. He should wake Lando. But he couldn’t bring himself to. Right now, Lando was perfectly oblivious. He was in dreamland, maybe even dreaming about last night — Oscar hoped so — and didn’t know what would await him once he was back in reality. Oscar granted him to stay there a little while longer. He buried his hand into Lando’s dark curls and started to massage his scalp. Lando curled further into Oscar’s side, tightened his grip and Oscar’s waist. Oscar would say this is perfect. But telling Lando about the video will destroy everything they started last night, he just knew it. He wasn’t ready to be out to the world and he assumed neither was Lando.
Lando grumbled, pressing Oscar close one more time before turning his head and resting his chin on Oscar’s torso. With Oscar’s hand still in Lando’s hair and the tired smile he received, he almost looked like a cat being petted. Again, ironic, considering who the fans called “polite cat” in this… whatever.
“Mornin’.” Lando mumbled, closing his eyes and sighing happily as Oscar’s fingers went down to the nape of his neck, curling the small curls around the tips of his fingers.
“Morning.” Oscar gave him a weak smile. He couldn’t give him his typical smile he has reserved for Lando only, when he knows what’s about to come. But, somehow, they’ll get through it together. Somehow they’ll manage. They have to, right?
“So,” Lando started, opening his eyes again and giving Oscar a mischievous grin. Oscar knew exactly what he was thinking. “Round three?”
Oscar gave him a shy giggle. He’d love to. Love to let his hands roam Lando’s body once more, tease him in all the ways he’d learnt Lando liked it last night. Feel the warmth of his body, the goosebumps on his tan skin. He would love to be taken care of by the Brit, relax till Lando got him to that heavenly moment. Let himself be guided by Lando, till Lando begged him to take back control.
But he had to tell Lando first. He would want to know if Lando found out before him.
“I…” Oscar looked outside the window, the white curtains shielding them from the outside world. From reality . But they can’t stay in Lando’s bedroom, in dreamland, forever. They have to get out eventually. He couldn’t look into Lando’s hopeful, soft eyes when he told him. He couldn’t even tell him like this. “I have to show you something.”
Oscar grabbed his phone from the bed and unlocked it. He opened his gallery and clicked on the video Logan had sent him. Hesitantly, he turned the phone to Lando, indicating for him to take it. With raised eyebrows and a questioning look Lando took the phone. Oscar could see the exact moment that he realised what the video shows. Lando sat up, staring at the screen. Now, Oscar could see where his teeth marked Lando last night. A painful reminder that they are back in reality. Like Oscar, he watched the video over and over again. His brows furrowed and Oscar could see his hands began to tremble.
“This,” Lando started, his voice small and quiet. “This is a joke, right? Someone from our friends filmed this? You’re taking the piss, right?” Lando finally looked up from the screen. His eyes became watery.
“Logan sent it to me. It’s all over the internet. Someone filmed us.”
Lando just stared at him, then back at the screen. He started to bite his nails. Quickly Oscar sat up himself and took Lando’s hand in his. Lando’s other hand was still holding Oscar’s phone, shaking as the video played over and over again on mute.
“Lando? What should we do?” Oscar whispers. Because maybe saying it louder makes it truly real. He knows it doesn’t make sense. But as a kid he always believed that if you whispered what you were scared to say, it wouldn’t be true. Whatever it was, wasn’t happening. Oscar wished he still believed in it.
Lando just shook his head. Opening and closing his mouth multiple times, not knowing what to say. Oscar understands him.
“We have to do something, right? Zak and Andrea texted me, maybe they’ll know?” Oscar’s mind was working over-time right now, trying to figure this whole situation out. “My mom said something about a lawyer. I… I mean maybe? It’s out there already but maybe… I don’t know. Maybe we should-”
“You have to go.”
Oscar stopped his atypical rambling. Lando still started on the phone. His naked chest heaving quickly. Oscar could feel the sweat that started to form in Lando’s palm.
“Lando, I know you’re panicked, okay? I am too. We’re gonna do this, somehow. We-”
“I’m not ready.” Finally, Lando looked up. His eyes were glazed over from tears, a single one trailing down his cheek. Oscar caught it, messaged it into Lando’s skin. Lando leaned into the touch for a split second before pulling away, dropping Oscar’s phone on the bed and standing up. Oscar tried very hard not to stare, to keep eye contact. Lando’s tanned skin, strong muscles and, let’s face it, big dick made that rather difficult. Quickly Lando dressed himself, hurrying around the room. “You have to leave, Oscar. Please.”
“Please, Osc, right there. Please.”
Oscar shook off the memory of the previous night, the high pitch in which Lando begged for more of him. He understood why Lando begged him now. But surely it would be best to work through it together, no?
“Lando, we should talk about-”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Oscar! We made a mistake and now we have to pay for it. Karma fucked us good.”
The words cut right into Oscar’s heart. Just two minutes ago, Lando wanted to repeat that “mistake” a third time and now… now he was throwing Oscar out. Said they deserved what was happening in reality for the filthy things they’ve done in dreamland. Oscar couldn’t do anything but nod and stand up himself. He gathered his clothes scattered on the floor.
“I just,” Lando started, pushing a hand through the curls Oscar had already untangled. “I need to think about this.”
And Oscar understood again. Of course he did. And even if he didn’t, he’d try his best for Lando. Wordlessly he zipped up his pants and put on his t-shirt. From the corner of his eye he could see Lando watching him. Eyeing him up and down and biting his lip. He picked up his hoodie from the floor. It was still a little damp from where it had been crumpled together on the floor. He grabbed his remaining things and headed for the door. Before he left the bedroom, Lando still rooted to the spot by the bed, watching his every move, he looked into Lando’s eyes, those damn beautiful eyes. “I like you, Lando. So so much.” He didn’t wait for an answer, closed the door behind him and headed for the apartment door. Only once he was alone in the elevator, he let himself start to panic. He took out his phone, The other chats still unanswered, he opened his chat with Charles.
“You’re a fucking, idiot.” Max let his head fall into his hands, rubbing violently at his eyes. Lando continued to play with the skin on his right thumb. It was already bleeding. But so was his heart, so what did it matter?
It had only been a few hours (two hours and twenty-three minutes) since Oscar had left his apartment. To Lando it felt like he hadn’t seen him in months. Thankfully, his phone went out of power over the night. He deliberately did not charge it. That didn’t stop Max from showing up at his door, looking Lando up and down and inviting himself in. Reluctantly Lando explained what happened. And here we are.
“I don’t know what to do, Max. I’m,” his skin tore further, blood trickling down his thumb. Max handed him a tissue. “I’m not ready for this.”
“I’d bet all my trophies neither is Oscar. Lando, you can’t push him away.”
The white rag turned a dark red through the layers. It started to look like a crooked heart. Ironic. “Lando, he woke up and saw that shit first. He’s probably trying to fix this shit for you right now.”
A few streets away Oscar was lying on his couch, face pressed against the cushions, arm dangling from it and his hand tracing patterns on the floor.
“He’ll come back to you. I know it.” Charles was sitting in an armchair across from him, a pitiful look on his face. Oscar didn’t look at him, instead kept his empty gaze on a moving box he had yet to unpack. He didn’t even know what’s in it. Maybe his DVD collection. Would now be a good time to watch a sappy rom-com? Probably not. Maybe watch one of the Mission Impossible movies? How many were there anyway? How many missions are impossible for Tom Cruise, honestly one would think he’d give up at one point. Oscar did.
“He’ll come back.” Charles tried again, then sighed in defeat as he realised that Oscar wasn’t listening. Oscar just kept staring at the box, wondering if he got rid of his copy of “The Holiday” during his last move. He hoped not. “Lando’s probably just as bad as you right now.” Charles tried one last time. Oscar didn’t react.
Meanwhile, Max was putting a band-aid on Lando’s thumb, smoothing it against his skin. “Tell me what to do, Max.” Lando whispered, tears threatening to spill again. Lando lost count how often he has cried today.
“Talk to him. And then you go from there, together. None of you can do this alone.”
“What if I lose him?” A tear slipped from Lando’s eye. Oscar wasn’t there to catch it, so Lando reached to his cheek himself.
“Oscar is crazy about you. Why do you think the internet calls him ‘heart-eyes Piastri’? That man has loved you for so long. You were just to dumb to see it.”
Lando curled further on his spot on the couch. “Don’t call me dumb, when I’m already down.”
Max winces. “Sorry, poor choice of words. I’m just saying, he loves you, yes? You love him?” Lando didn’t look at him, instead he started to play with the band-aid now. One of the edges already coming off. Hesitantly he nods his head. Of course he loved Oscar. Has since… well kinda always. Not always, that’s ridiculous. But he’s known him for quite some time now, even before they were teammates. And then they got to spend so much time together. Racing, filming videos for social media and it was just so easy to feel safe around him. And Lando could see Oscar felt safe with him too. His tight lipped smile widening till his bunny teeth showed, his giggles becoming full-on laughs that made him double over even when Lando knew his joke wasn’t that funny. It was so easy to fall in love with Oscar, so why couldn’t the universe just let him be happy for once?
“Go to him. Now. ”
“Have you eaten anything?” Charles was crouched down next to where Oscar was still lying on the couch. Oscar shook his head, eyes still on the moving box. Maybe he’ll just move back to London. “Do you want to eat? I can go get you something.” Charles’ voice was so soft, Oscar felt like a little kid. Like this was his first heartbreak as a teenager or something. It made him feel weak, exposed. Nevertheless he nodded at Charles’ question. With a tied lipped smile and a pad to Oscar’s shoulder Charles stood back up. He grabbed his things and told Oscar he’ll be back shortly. As he opened the door, he was met with Lando, covered in a dark hoodie, hood on his head and shades protecting his eyes from the sun. It was a cloudy day in Monaco. Lando looked taken aback, confused at seeing Charles and not Oscar.
“I- Where’s Oscar?” Charles smiled at him, opening the door further to reveal Oscar, looking up from the couch like a lost puppy. Oscar practically sprung up from the couch as Charles leaned towards Lando and whispered, “I know it’s a hard situation. But you have to fix whatever broke him. This is more than the video getting out.” With a pat to Lando’s back, Charles dissappeared down the hall. Leaving Lando and Oscar to awkwardly stare at each other. Lando took off his sunglasses, fiddling with them in his hands and looking anywhere but Oscar. Oscar, on the other hand, couldn’t look anywhere but Lando. He pulled off the hood from his head, letting his curls spring free again. Those wonderful, beautiful curls that Oscar could spend hours trying to untangle. His fingers traced the shape of his glasses. Those fingers that Oscar could still feel tracing down his body. He bit his lips. The lips that were between Oscar’s teeth just the night before. Amazing how much can change in one night, isn’t it?
“I uhm…” Lando started, taking a deep breath and finally, finally looking at Oscar with those magnificent eyes it was so easy to get lost in. “I’m sorry, Osc.” That damn nickname. “I shouldn’t have thrown you out but I,” his breath hitched, his voice began to shake. He looked back on the floor. “I’m scared, Oscar. I… I don’t know what to do.” Oscar moved towards him, taking Lando’s shaky hands in his.
“Lando, I’m scared too, believe me. I… Everything was perfect wasn’t it? This morning?” Lando gave him a weak smile and nodded, sniffing once. “But this video, it doesn’t mean it won’t be perfect again. We can go through this.” Lando looked up again. Oscar’s heart skipped a beat. “Lando, I meant everything I said last night. I want to be the only one for you. But I understand if you want to play it safe.” Oscar lets go of Lando’s hands and cradles his face instead. Carefully, like a vase that could break anytime. “I understand if you don’t want to continue this and make a statement that that wasn’t you and that you’re not queer, I would understand all that. But Lando, I like you so so much and I know that somehow we’ll get through this. I know that the other drivers will have our backs. I don’t know what will happen next but I want to be by your side, Lando.”
Tears are rolling down Lando’s face as he buries it into Oscar’s shoulder, slinging his arms around his waist and pulling him as close as physics would allow him. Oscar holds him close, breathing in his scent. They’re just standing there for a while. Tangled together like that morning in bed, breathing each other in.
“I don’t want to lose you, Osc.” Lando mumbles into Oscar’s shirt, tightening his grip. Oscar smiles into Lando’s curls. “You have me. I’m right here. I’m not leaving.” Lando nods again, leaning back to look at Oscar. A tired but real smile on his lips. “Okay. Let’s do this.” Oscar’s smile widens before he gives Lando a quick peck on the lips. “We got this.”
“We got this.”
“We don’t got this.”
Lando has been pacing in Oscar’s apartment for a while now, biting his nails. Oscar sits at his deck, checking if everything is set up for the scheduled online meeting with Zak and Andrea.
“It’ll be alright, Lan. We’ve been through it a thousand times.”
‘It’ being the carefully practiced speech they have been working on since Zak has sent both of them an email saying he’d like to sit down with them ‘as soon as possible’. It was then that Lando started pacing, Oscar conducting a speech and Lando making some adjustments. Lando hissed and stopped the biting. Oscar immediately turned around and approached Lando with a tissue in hand, applying a bit of pressure to the small part of Lando’s finger that started bleeding from his teeth. It stopped bleeding after a few pats. Oscar kissed it for good measure. “We got this.” Oscar said with a piercing look into those mesmerizing blue-green eyes of his boyfriend.
That had also happened while they were writing their little speech. They figured McLaren deserved to know what they were to each other and it was then that both froze, avoiding eye contact. Only after a few more moments of silence did Oscar ask, “Do you want to be my boyfriend?” Lando smiled, nodded while blushing. Oscar smiled back and they continued writing their thoughts and feelings on a paper.
“We got this.” Lando repeated, grabbing Oscar’s face and pressing their lips together. Oscar melted immediately in his embrace, slinging his arms around Lando’s waist. He can’t believe that this will be his new normal. For a few seconds he feels like he’s back in dreamland. For those wonderful few moments when they share breaths, their tongues are fighting each other and their hands can’t seem to stop re-exploring their bodies, the outside world doesn’t matter. The thing that does drag them back into the cruelty that is reality is Oscar’s laptop ringing with an incoming call. They break apart and Oscar can feel Lando tense. He pecks his lips once more. We got this. Lando’s hand finds Oscar’s and squeezes once. We got this.
They sit in front of the laptop, Lando’s leg bouncing up and down, Oscar’s fingers hesitating to accept the call. He clicks the green button anyway. On the screen, Zak and Andrea appear. They both look… as nervous as Oscar and Lando. It looks like they’re sitting in Zak’s office at MTC.
“Thank you, boys, for agreeing to this.” Andrea starts more serious than Oscar would’ve liked. Lando nudges his foot. They got this.
“Yeah, we uhm…” Oscar starts, hands shaking as he goes to sit on them. But Lando grabs his left hand before he can do that, entangling them underneath the desk.
“We want to say that we are sorry. We should have thought about what we were doing, or more so, where we were doing it and that we might get caught.” Lando starts surprisingly self-confident. That was supposed to be Oscar’s part, he should’ve said that, they practiced it for god’s sake. But Lando seems determined. Yeah, no, Oscar will just continue. It’s fine. Just as Zak opens his mouth, Oscar rushes to get the next words out.
“But we don’t regret it. The kiss. We feel like you deserve to know that Lando and I are boyfriends now.”
Andrea opens his mouth but Lando is quicker. “But that doesn’t mean that we’ll stop racing each other. We think we can do both. Boyfriends and rivals. We got it.” Lando squeezes Oscar’s hand again and Oscar can’t hide the smile that spreads across his face. He continues, Zak and Andrea don’t even try to get a word in anymore. “It’s who we are and we can only hope that McLaren and, well you two, stand with us. Us being queer.” Oscar nearly chokes on the word. It’s only now that he realizes he never came out. Not really . His parents always had knowing looks when Oscar would facetime them and talk about a new ‘friend’ he made. They probably knew before Oscar did. Logan saw him kiss his first and only boyfriend (well, not anymore) and just patted his back, telling him to be more careful once he is famous. (Oops)
“Boys! Breathe. Please.” Zak finally says, the hint of a smile on his face. “If you think we wanted to scold you, you’re wrong.” It’s a full smile on the Americans face now. Andrea mirrors him. “We just wanted to let you know that, whatever is going on between the two of you, is your thing. You don’t have to tell us anything, but thank you for trusting us.”
This time, Oscar squeezes Lando’s hand. He gets a squeeze back.
“We, as the McLaren team, will post a statement though.” Zak continues. “Saying that we respect the privacy of our drivers and that we have always stood for respect, integrity and visibility. Sophie will send you the final version before we post it.” He takes a deep breath, looks to Andrea who continues with a gentle smile. “You two don’t have to post anything, if you don’t want to.” He takes a deep breath as well before he continues. “We are really happy for you two. You deserve each other.”
Oscar can feel himself start to blush. And even without looking he knows Lando is probably no better.
“Yeah, I always had a feeling, just saying.” Zak says and makes himself and Andrea laugh. Oscar blush increases. “Just,” Zak starts as he calmed down from laughing, “maybe cover up the hickeys when you’re doing media stuff, alright?”
Oscar immediately puts a hand on where he knows Lando sucked on his skin last night.
It’s a few days later, when Lando and Oscar sit on Lando’s couch. Well, Oscar sits. Lando has his head in Oscar’s lap, scrolling mindlessly through social media. On his private account just to be sure. McLaren had posted their statement just a few hours after they ended the call. Lando and Oscar both agreed to it. They didn’t repost it. Didn’t even like it. Lando has logged off on his public account and Oscar hasn’t been on social media at all since the video was posted. They agreed to wait. They weren’t quite sure how the world would react to two queer racing drivers dating each other . Yeah, the world wasn’t ready for that. Even though Lando had read through comments on the McLaren post and only half the people called them slurs that Oscar was sure could get the accounts banned. The other half was a pleasant surprise, though. Fans speaking out for them, queer rights, how it’s their life and as long as the car isn’t shit and they perform, they don’t care what (or who) they’re doing off-track. Still, there was no rush.
“Oh. My. GOD!” Lando practically leaped up from where he was slouched on Oscar, phone in hand, eyes wide.
“What? What happened, Lan?” But Lando didn’t answer. Instead just shoved his phone right under Oscar’s nose. Oscar leaned back to see anything but just brightness and grabbed Lando’s phone from him. It took him a while to fully understand what he looked at.
It was an Instagram post. A collaboration of two accounts. Max’s and Charles’. It showed a picture of the two of them kissing on a balcony, the sun setting behind them. The caption being nothing but a red heart.
Oscar stared at it a while more. Apparently so long that Lando couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Osc, they… they came out. They said they’d be fine living in secret forever but together and now they came out. ” Oscar finally looks up at Lando. He is smiling. Full teeth smile. It’s then that Oscar understands. “They did it for us?” Lando shrugs his shoulders but nods at the same time. “I guess so.” And in that second Lando’s phone gives a little ‘ding’ sound with a notification. Oscar gives Lando his phone back, still not quite processing what just happened. “OH MY GOD!” Lando exclaims again. Oscar doesn’t even have to ask, Lando immediately turns his phone for Oscar to see.
Another Instagram post, this time from Carlos. The picture itself shows a selfie of Carlos with a bi-flag around his shoulders and a wide smile on his lips. The caption reads “smooth operator no matter the gender” with a purple heart.
This couldn’t be happening, right? This wasn’t real. But Lando kept bouncing up and down on the couch and punching Oscar lightly. “I can’t believe they did this.” Oscar can see Lando’s eyes begin to water. And he can’t blame him. This is by far the nicest and most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done. Maybe it’s not even for them, but it still means something to Oscar. That they won’t be alone with the questions about their sexuality through the entirety of the next season. Oscar wants to tell Lando that he is so happy for their friends when Lando shrieks up again. “OMG! Danny!” He shows Oscar again.
Danny’s post is him smiling into the camera with an arm around a man and a woman. “PP - pan and poly. Beat that.” Oscar can’t help but let out a laugh.
Just as Oscar wants to give Lando his phone back, another notification pops up. Lewis, too, has posted a photo. A screenshot from his notes app of a paragraph saying, how important it is to be allowed to be yourself. How the motorsport world and the people in it have a lot to learn. But how he is still proud to see change already happening and wished he was brave enough to take the first step all those years ago.
Oscar’s eyes became watery as he read it, Lando next to him, with his head on Oscar’s shoulder, going silent. “They did it for us.” Oscar whispers and presses a kiss to Lando’s curls. “They’re amazing.” Lando whispers back, dropping an arm over Oscar’s chest, pulling himself closer.
Oscar doesn’t know if he should voice the thought in his head. It’s only been a few days and Oscar never had a public relationship and he isn’t stupid. He knows what that would mean. But these posts? The other drivers outing themselves so if Lando and Oscar decided to say it is them in the video, they aren’t alone? They just wrote history. And Oscar always wanted to be a part of F1 history. He thought it’d be with a championship.
“Lando?” Oscar asks, Lando’s phone still in hand, Lewis’ post still covering the screen.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think we should post something?”
Silence. Fuck. Oscar’s head is spiraling. He shouldn’t have asked that. It’s way to fucking early. Just because the other’s posted does not mean they have to. What was Oscar thinking? A few days ago Lando kicked him out, why was he risking that again? He should’ve just shut his mouth and-
“Yeah. Let’s post something.”
Oscar looks down to Lando, who is already looking at Oscar with what can only be described as heart eyes. “Are you sure? I- I mean I don’t really know why I asked. We don’t have to, I just mphf -” Oscar gets cut off by Lando’s mouth. And tongue. And hands finding their way into Oscar’s hair. Oscar drops Lando’s phone on the couch and his hands automatically place themselves on either side of Lando’s face. When Lando pulls away, he pulls their foreheads together, massaging the skin at his neck.
“I’m ready. If you are that is. We got this, right, Osco?”
Oscar lets out a laugh at the nickname. What was he even worried about a second ago? “We got this.”
And just as they pick out a photo to post (extra couplely and sappy, because they can) another notification pops up.
“GEORGE AND ALEX ARE DATING?!”
Lando posts a picture from the previous date night at his place. The living room was cast in a warm orange candle light, the table decked with two plates of a meal Oscar cooked (Lando helped, alright) and rose petals strewn in a line in the middle of the table. “This is super cheesy.” “Shut up, Lan, you love it.” His picture shows Oscar smiling into the camera holding Lando’s hand in his left and his fork with spaghetti twirled on it in the right. He looks so incredibly soft that Oscar wondered how he managed to keep his crush a secret from most people for such a long time.
Oscar posts a similar picture, showing his point of view with Lando holding his hand and smiling just a bit above the camera, staring straight into Oscar’s eyes. They keep the captions simple. Lando writing ‘date night’ while Oscar simply drops an orange heart.
They post it at the same time. Pulses higher than after a race. But then it’s done and… nothing happens. The world is still spinning on its axis, the waves are still crushing against the shore and the sun starts to set just like any other normal day. And then the comments flood in. At first, they don’t dare look. Lando opens the drivers chat on his phone and thanks them for their support. But they know they have to at some point.
There are a few homophobic comments (they didn’t expect anything else) but the majority of their fans are supportive, saying how it wasn’t a surprise and how after all these posts, the fandom is in complete shambles. They can only laugh about it. And if they both shed a silent tear over the sheer support from fans, friends, colleagues and family, well then the outside world doesn’t need to know that.
It’s Monday evening in Bahrain. The first day of the first race week of the 2024 season. The media day and press conference on Wednesday will be hell. This far, Lando and Oscar got around to long interviews. Simply a few fans or reporters asking them questions in passing. But the day after tomorrow? Lando is scheduled for a conference with Carlos, Max, Lewis, Alex and Fernando. Lando’s only hope is that the reporters will be more interested in Lewis switching to Ferrari than any of their love lifes. Lando knows he is delusional.
But right now, he is content, happy. Sitting next to his boyfriend at a long table with all the other drivers on the grid. It’s nice to see that there were no changes since last season. There’s been enough change over the break already.
It’s loud in the closed off area for them, but Lando doesn’t mind. He takes a look at his colleagues. George has an arm around Alex’s chair, talking with Lewis while Alex is laughing with Logan and Danny. Charles and Pierre are arguing about something in French. Or maybe not arguing. Lando is happy when he can ask for the bathroom in Monaco. Max, next to Charles with a hand on his boyfriend’s thigh, rolls his eyes, but anyone can see the lovesick look in his eyes. Lando wonders if he looks at Oscar the way. Which brings his eyes to his right, staring at Oscar as he is having a conversation with Yuki. Yuki’s attention gets pulled away as Pierre looks like he is about to throw something at Charles. Or maybe hug him. Honestly, Lando couldn’t tell. He takes the opportunity to get Oscar’s attention, squeezing the hand he is holding under the table once. Oscar turns his head to him, his eyes sparkling in the dim light, his lips smiling showing just a tiny bit of the bunny teeth Lando so loved to have dragged over his-
“You okay?” Oscar asks, a little concerned as Lando didn’t say anything. His smile stays though.
“Absolutely perfect.” And it’s not even a lie. Oscar squeezes back, before he brings both their hands to his lips and kisses each of Lando’s knuckles. They don’t realize the other drivers’ conversations dying and them looking at the pair. Danny leans over to Carlos, “They’re gonna be so much worse than Max and Charles.” Carlos nods in agreement.
It’s not till the food comes, that Lando and Oscar realize they were being watched. But they don’t care. They don’t have to hide. Anywhere. They got this.