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Lando was having a shit day even before he walked into the unassuming coffee shop just off his usual running route. He’d woken up that morning with the kind of headache which came only from the pressures of running a shitbox car for the fifth year in a row, even with promises of upgrades as the season progressed, a lacklustre testing had left a bitter aftertaste on his tongue.
Now, back in Monaco, the overhang of early season stresses alongside the general unpleasantness of picking up a regular training regimen again after the winter break meant that morning wasn’t shaping up particularly auspiciously.
Lando ducked into the small shop, expecting to see the usual barista he’d seen on his scarce visits to this particular store, a blonde with a slightly grating American accent who always seemed slightly too upbeat for eight in the morning.
However, as he approached the counter, a different guy popped out from around the giant coffee machine. A cute guy. One with swoopy brown hair and brown eyes and –
“Hey mate, what can I get you this morning” the guy was speaking. Oh god, the guy was Australian. Lando had just been staring embarrassingly at him, wide eyed. This morning was really not turning out the way he wanted.
“uh…” Lando stuttered out.
The guy was still looking expectantly at him with those brown eyes. Lando felt the sudden urge to melt into the ground and maybe never get up ever again. His eyes darted desperately towards the board behind the guy’s head, searching frantically for anything to save this interaction which was very quickly turning into the type of meeting which would keep him up at night, and he really, really did not need anything that would make his insomnia worse.
“Just a latte, thanks.” He finally got out, after what was hopefully on the shorter end of an embarrassingly long amount of blue screening.
The guy was still standing at the till, cheeks now lightly dusted pink under the eyes, maybe from the heat, Lando thought. Lando wanted to lick it off him. Nope, not going down that avenue. The guy tapped the order into the tablet before looking up expectantly again, “name?”.
“uh…” lando said again. Uselessly. The urge to melt into the floor doubled. “Lando?” it came out more like a question. He internally cringed at himself.
The guy slightly raised an eyebrow at him as he finished tapping in the order, as if debating if he’d been given a fake name or not. But he didn’t push it. Thank God, lando didn’t think he would be able to navigate through another verbal interaction with this guy without losing the small amount of dignity he had left.
There was a loud crash from the back of the store, both Lando and the guy turned their heads as the American guy who lando usually saw emerged from the kitchen.
“Sorry, Oscar, do you mind dealing with… this” the American said sheepishly, holding what looked suspiciously like a piece of pipe in his hand, gesturing vaguely deeper into the kitchen as his eyes darted quickly towards Lando before settling on the guy – Oscar.
Oscar just grimaced slightly before turning back to Lando, “This’ll be out in just a moment”, lando just nodded, thankful for the opportunity for a non-verbal response. Before watching him switch places the American and, tragically, in Lando’s opinion at least, disappear into the back, the blonde replacing him in place at the coffee machine.
As Lando stepped back into the streets with his admittedly good coffee, he made a mental note to add the place to his usual route. To make up for the terrible impression he made today he told himself, no other reason. None at all.
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When Oscar turned away to fix what Logan had undoubtably broken in the back, it was with the knowledge that he would probably never see the hot guy that had walked in ever again. The guy had walked in off the street looking like he had gotten lost coming from a vogue shoot or something. And then very endearingly stuttered his way through conversation with Oscar as he took his order. It really shouldn’t have been as cute as it was. Not that Oscar was much better, the blush that he knew he could never hide was quickly rising to his cheeks as Lando ordered.
Hot guys were sadly a common occurrence in 81 café, common because they were based in Monaco and sadly because Oscar couldn’t do much about them, even if he was the type of person to do that… which he decidedly was not, much to the exasperation of Logan, who regularly tried to wingman Oscar with varying levels of success. Read - very low levels of success.
He peered back around the corner as Lando walked out, the bell ringing sadly as the door slowly closed. Logan turned around from the coffee machine, with a knowing look in his eyes, waggling his eyebrows slightly, the bastard.
“I didn’t know you were into the fast type” Logan snickered at him. “if I’d known earlier I would’ve made you watch the races with me.”
“What?” Oscar frowned slightly in confusion. Races?
“You know” Logan gestured vaguely in the direction lando had left in. “formula one drivers?”
Oscar was lost, frowning further “I don’t know what you’re talking about”
Logan just stared at him incredulously. “You live in Monaco, and you don’t know F1?”
“I don’t – mate. I know formula one, I’m just not that invested in the drivers” Oscar weakly defended himself.
Logans eyebrows rose before he got a very concerning glint in his eyes. “Well maybe you’ll start becoming invested” he teased. The blush which Oscar had only just successfully gotten rid of threatened to rise again before the door rang again, signalling a customer. Oscar thankful for the interruption, ducked back into the kitchen, shaking his head slightly. He definitely did not make a mental note to investigate F1. Not at all.
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The season was going almost unfathomably well after early disappointments, bringing in an early podium for Lando, with both him and Daniel dragging the car into Q3 more often than not in recent races.
The next visit to Café 81 was admittedly under much less organic circumstances, a small group of fans asking for a photo with Lando had attracted slightly more attention than Lando had intended, resulting in him walking calmly (read: legging it) towards shelter, to get a break, not to hide. Don’t get him wrong, he loved meeting fans, they were part of the reason he got do to the whole racing part, but sometimes…
He'd noticed two people hanging slightly back as he was taking photos, they followed the same path as him, he tried speeding up slightly to lose them, maybe it was just coincidence. But they managed to stubbornly hang onto his peripheral as he wound his way through the streets, resulting in his slightly harried entrance into the café.
Thankfully Oscar was at the front again, looking up as he saw Lando enter, frowning slightly as he saw the panicked look on his face.
Lando hurried up to the front counter, “can I hide in your back room for five, I think someones following me”, he said lowly. Oscar’s eyebrows shot up slightly before he silently lifted the divider for Lando to duck under as he disappeared behind the dividing wall towards the kitchen.
Lando heard the bell of the door ring out as someone stepped in, followed by a muffled greeting from Oscar. Low tones filtered through the kitchen opening before the door rattled shut again. Oscar peeked his head back through the doorway, a concerned scrunch of his brow appearing as he looked over at Lando.
“They’ve just turned the corner out the front” he said, “don’t think they’ll come back this way”, his brown eyes softening slightly as he took in Lando’s wide eyes.
Lando smiled weakly in response, realising very quickly he had just barged into the back room of a café owned by someone he had met barely once to escape people who were probably fans of his. Not a good look.
He pushed off the wall quickly, brushing off invisible lint on his jacket as an excuse to do something with his hands. “thanks, sorry about the –“ he trailed off, gesturing vaguely around his makeshift hiding space, “didn’t mean to barge in on you like this”, he finished, grimacing.
Oscar just shrugged, face almost infuriatingly passive.
“I’m just gonna…” lando said, somewhat awkwardly, eying the small space between Oscar and the wall in the small space of the kitchen. Suddenly painfully aware of the stack of social faux pas’ he had just violated, the overwhelming urge to become one with the floor tiles rising once again.
Oscar just smiled at him, “are you sure you don’t want a coffee?” he asked? “Otherwise, I might just have to assume you only came in here to hide” he joked. Lando felt his eyes widen slightly.
“No, no, I wanted to- uh- yes. Coffee. Latte.” Lando rushed to correct. God, please take him.
Oscar giggled, bending over slightly at the waist as he took in Lando’s failed attempt to communicate like an actual living human being.
Oh, that was – hm.
“I’m just kidding mate” Oscar replied, a glint of laughter still in his eyes. Lando felt his ears turn hot. “If you want, I can still make you something, on the house. For having to deal with… that”. Oscar waved a hand out in the direction the people had left in.
Lando’s eyes darted out onto the street, he really should leave, he’d made a fool of himself enough as it stood. But something about Oscar’s open expression and the cozy atmosphere of the café, mostly empty as the daylight softened, compelled him to stay.
“That might be nice, thanks”
Oscar smiled again. God he was becoming obsessed with that expression, wanted to see it again and again. Maybe forever. That was a concerning thought.
They chatted lightly as Oscar made the drink, Lando perched on one of the barstools at the counter. He managed to get two more of those endearing folding laughs out of Oscar before he placed the drink in front of him. Score.
Oscar slid a small scrap of paper alongside the cup. Lando picked it up off the counter, looking questionably at Oscar. That flush returned to his cheeks as he reached a hand up behind his neck.
“Just in case you need another hiding spot on the fly”, he said quietly, almost nervously, as Lando skimmed over the line of digits scribbled on the paper. Lando tucked it into his pocket, a grin lighting up his face.
“Thanks, Osc” he chirped, catching that blush darken almost impossibly more before turning and leaving the café with a new spring in his step. It was a very good thing the tiles chose not to take pity on him today, he thought, as he felt the paper burn a hole in his pocket.
As he stepped into the evening, he missed oscar watching him leave, mouthing ‘osc’ almost disbelievingly.
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“You gave him your number?” Logans face was incredulous as Oscar tried his best to use the coffee machine as a shield between himself and the American.
“You–” he took a breath and started again “You gave Formula One driver, Lando Norris your number? And it worked?” Logan’s voice rising in pitch as he quietly screeched his disbelief at Oscar.
“Yes!” he hissed at Logan, whose eyes were still wide and disbelieving. “I’m not completely useless you know” he finished off, turning towards the pastry case to set up the morning specials board.
Logan just watched him; mouth primed for catching flies. Before an idea visibly popped into his head. “Hey, if this works out for you do you think you can introduce me to Alex Albon?”
Oscar threw a chalk pen at him.
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Lando: Hello, Oscar from the coffee shop!
Oscar: Hi, I’m assuming this is Lando?
Lando: you assume correctly
Lando: why are you awake anyways isn’t it like… 3am back in Monaco?
Oscar: Uni work will be the end of me one day
Lando: uni? What’re you studying???
Oscar: Engineering. Though sometimes it feels like engineering is studying me.
Oscar: Besides I could ask the same for you, why are you awake?
Lando: ha!
Lando: I’m in china this week
Lando: yk for the race
Oscar: Ah of course.
Lando: means if I get any weirdos following me around I wont have any conveniently placed coffee shops/hiding spots
Oscar: what will you do?
Oscar: guess you’ll just have to avoid the weirdos
Lando: osc! You’re just gonna leave me to the wolves??
Oscar: I explicitly told you to avoid the wolves.
Lando: well what if I cant? What do I do then?
Oscar: Depends, how well do you swim?
Lando: much slower than I drive
Oscar: there goes my idea of singlehandedly swimming through the Indian Ocean.
Lando: I hate fish that was never gonna happen
Oscar: You wound me, you really do.
“Whatcha smiling at” came a cheerful voice from over Lando’s shoulder, he jumped, just about saving his phone from being launched across the motorhome towards a group of unassuming mechanics in the corner.
Lando turned, coming face to face with his teammate, Daniel. “Uh, nothing, no one. Don’t worry about it” he managed. Great save Lando, really. Not suspicious at all.
Daniel’s grin widened, sensing, correctly, something he could tease Lando about. “You sure about that?”, Lando felt his ears go hot. Goddamn it.
“Just a guy I met at a café” he gave in, knowing Daniel would annoy it out of him at some point. Daniel’s eyebrows shot up, “a guy?” he asked, drawing the word out as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Lando blushed again, “shut up” he muttered.
“Well, tell me more, what’s his name, where’s he from, what’re your intentions with him?”, Daniel wheedled out, rapid fire. “I- my intentions?” Lando sputtered out, “what are you, his dad?” Daniel just laughed brightly at him, before getting up and patting him on the head.
“Ah, young love” Daniel mused as he wandered off in the direction of the Redbull building. God he was insufferable sometimes, lando thought as he tried, fruitlessly, to fix his curls.
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Texting Oscar became a part of Lando’s regular schedule, fitting in weirdly easily between the whirlwind of races, media, and other sponsorship stuff. Days where texts were scarce from Osc left a weird pit in lando’s stomach, something just feeling off about the rhythm of the day.
He also became a familiar face at the barstool counter seat at 81 Café, finding it a weirdly productive place to work through sponsorship emails and other Quadrant related things, easy conversation flowing between himself, Oscar, with the odd comment from Logan, the American who Lando had eventually learned the name of. The recent addition of Ollie, a teenager who’d been hired to help with the inevitable tourist influx as they reached May, the month of the Monaco GP, made for extra entertainment.
Ollie was currently sat just over from Lando, working through what looked like a maths worksheet as lando did his weekly email clear out. Ollie was grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like curses as he stared at the worksheet. Lando just glanced amused at him, before prodding slightly.
“You good?” he ventured.
Ollie mumbled something into the counter before turning to Lando, “what even is algebra and why does it have the audacity to ask me to solve it? Can’t it do it itself?” he complained, sounding all but dead to the world. Lando laughed at him.
“Why don’t you ask Oscar to help?” Lando asked.
Ollie turned back to him slightly “why would I do that?” sounding genuinely confused.
“You know, he’s got like – half an engineering degree…” Lando trailed off slightly as Ollie continued to look at him like he’d grown a second head, or perhaps announced that he would be racing the Monaco GP in a jet ski instead of an F1 car.
Ollie’s eyes grew wide with realisation before he was scrambling towards the kitchen, screeching something about Oscar hiding his ‘secret math skills’ from him for sabotage reasons. He emerged triumphant from the kitchen with Oscar behind him, looking at Lando like it was his fault. It was. Lando regretted nothing.
Ollie herded Oscar towards the maths sheet like he was the only thing that would get Ollie through his final year of compulsory mathematics, he probably was. Lando peeked out over his laptop to watch as Oscar and Ollie huddled over the worksheet, Ollie listening intently as Oscar explained algebraic concepts to him. It was horribly endearing. Lando continued watching them over the lid of his laptop before Oscar twisted slightly to make eye contact with him. Caught, Lando’s ears burned as he quickly flicked his eyes back down to his emails, barely reading the words on the screen.
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Oscar had gotten used to Lando’s presence very easily. So easily that he now had to resolutely avoid Logan’s knowing gaze whenever he caught him looking at Lando. He’d started calling him ‘heart eyes’ beyond Lando’s hearing range, a nickname which had been gleefully picked up by Ollie, the two of them using it to tease Oscar relentlessly. Logan clearly knew nothing. It was with this thought that Oscar began his morning run, because clearly Logan was wrong about how much Oscar chose to think about Lando, which was a normal amount. To be clear.
In a country as small as Monaco, running into people you know in the wild should not be surprising, at all. Which is why Oscar really shouldn’t have been surprised when he almost bowled Lando over on the sidewalk on his morning run, especially with the opening of the summer break, when the principality was practically teeming with drivers.
“Ah shit, sorry!” he yelped as Lando grabbed his arm to avoid falling. Lando gripped his bicep hard to retain his balance, flushing slightly as he regained balance.
“Wow Osc, that’s one way to reward one of your best customers” Lando said drily. Oscar felt the blush rise up on his cheeks. Lando was still holding onto his arm.
Oscar grimaced, “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention” he mumbled slightly. Lando just laughed at him. Oscar felt the sudden urge to bottle up the sound and keep it. He opened his mouth again before he was interrupted by someone trying to get Lando’s attention from across the street. They both turned slightly to find George Russel and Alex Albon crossing the road, coming to a stop beside them. Alex squinted slightly at Lando’s hand still being on Oscar’s bicep before making deliberate eye contact with Lando who blushed brightly before dropping his hand, Oscar inexplicably missed the weight of his palm.
“Ah, you must be Oscar” Alex said decidedly, Lando, if possible blushed even harder. Oscar had no idea what that was about. Feeling slightly caught out by Alex, who somehow knew who he was.
“Yeah, Alex, right?” he settled on a response. Alex just grinned at him, “Yup, heard a whole lot about you from this one” he jerked his head in Lando’s direction. Oscar’s eyebrows rose up incredulously on his forehead as he glanced towards Lando, who was growing steadily redder every second. Maybe he was coming down with something?
George apparently decided this was his time to jump in,
“Lando, mate, we were just about to tell you Carlos flaked on padel, we need a fourth person to play” George had a glint in his eye which vaguely concerned Oscar as he glanced back towards Lando. George continued, addressing Oscar “you know how to play?”
Oscar floundered slightly, eyes darting widely at Lando, who was staring at George in some weird silent exchange Oscar wasn’t even going to attempt to decipher. “Uh- I know how to play?” it came out more like a question, “but trust me I’m terrible”, he said, honestly.
“That’s fine! So is Lando!” Alex responded cheerfully, Lando stopped his silent staring contest with George to shoot a betrayed expression at Alex.
“So, its decided then!” George clapped his hands. Oscar was so, so lost.
“What’s decided?” he ventured, feeling whiplash from this turn of events.
“You’re going to play padel with us, right?” Alex asked.
What?
“Guys!” Lando spoke up, “you know Osc literally has a job, right?”
Oscar desperately tried to act normal in response to Lando’s use of the nickname. But feeling like he probably shouldn’t leave Lando alone to the mercy of the others after their weird silent exchange he chimed in “Actually, I don’t have to work until mid-afternoon”. That caught everyone’s attention.
Maybe Oscar should just sew his own lips shut or something.
Before Oscar could beat himself up about it too hard, Lando looked at him “Yeah?” he said, a hopeful tone in his voice. Oscar just shrugged, returning the eye contact.
Beside them, George and Alex exchanged a knowing look.
Later, after a few matches, Oscar regretted many, many, things. Alex had not been lying when he said Lando was… not brilliant, and Oscar never claimed to overestimate his own skills. That is to say, they were being indefensibly destroyed by the other duo.
Well, looking at Lando in his workout clothes, grinning and out of breath after a string of hopeless matches, maybe Oscar didn’t regret everything.
George rounded them all up at the end for a photo, claiming that his and Alex’s victory needed to be documented, much to the chagrin of Oscar and Lando.
“what’s your Instagram Oscar?” George called over, “I’ll tag you”.
Oscar just shrugged in response before responding “no point really, don’t really use socials that much” George just nodded. He and Alex said their goodbyes, off to meet up for some lunch plans, leaving Lando and Oscar on their own again.
Lando looked over at Oscar, “sorry about them”, he said. Oscar looked over in confusion,
“What do you mean?”
Lando gestured in the direction Alex and George had left, “they can be a bit… much sometimes” he grimaced slightly
Oscar paused for a second before letting a small smile play on his lips.
“Yeah… how did they know about me anyways? Didn’t know you talked about me that much” he teased.
Lando’s eyes widened slightly. Before darting around the now empty court.
“I mean – I” he faltered slightly, meeting Oscar’s eyes as he took a step forward. “I talk about you a normal amount, the same as I talk about my other friends” he defended.
Oscar wasn’t sure where his confidence was coming from, bolstered by this new evidence that Lando talked about him, enough that other people knew who he was at least. He took another step forwards towards Lando.
“Uhuh” he breathed out “sure”.
Lando now had no choice but to look him in the eyes. Breathing now unsteady in a way that didn’t have much to do with the matches they had just played. His green eyes bright as they met Oscars.
Oscar felt like the world had narrowed down to this moment, even the air stilled. They had drifted closer again. Lando’s eyes kept dipping down to his lips.
There was a sudden loud clang, a ball hitting the fencing of a neighbouring court. They sprang apart. The tension dissipating between them. Oscar really tried not to read too hard into the disappointed expression flitting across Lando’s face as they gathered their stuff.
“See you” Oscar offered as he made to leave, already practicing what parts to leave out when Logan inevitably found out his morning plans consisted of hanging out with Alex and weird tension with Lando.
Lando looked up at him again, hesitating slightly before blurting out.
“Do you wanna come see a movie at mine tonight”, he said it so fast the first couple words jumbled together. “I mean– like after work and everything” he continued.
Oscar blinked, before grinning again “I’d like that” he said quietly, holding Lando’s gaze, before turning around and exiting the hall, heart racing in a way that had nothing to do with the padel matches.
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Lando was an idiot. So stupid. He invited Osc into his house, to watch a movie. He was going to have to endure Oscar in his space, in his house, and then Oscar is going to leave. That will be unbearable. Lando is starting to want Oscar to never leave, which is a horribly co-dependent thought, he is fully aware, thank you.
Before his little panic spiral reached truly concerning levels, there was a measured knock at the door. Lando snapped his head towards the door, turning to walk at a calculatedly normal pace towards it, a truly concerning use of his quick response times.
He swung the door open to find Oscar standing in front of the door wearing a dark green hoodie that looked criminally comfortable. Lando wanted to steal it, maybe with the guy inside it as a complementary asset. He grinned, letting out a breathless “hey”. Oscar returned the greeting, that adorable flush painting his under eyes as he entered the apartment, much to Lando’s delight.
As much as Lando had been internally freaking out about Oscar being in his apartment, somehow, he was really, really, not prepared for Oscar actually being inside his apartment. He looked like he belonged there, in Lando’s not biased and totally subjective opinion.
He grabbed Oscar’s attention while he scooped out some drinks from the fridge.
“I haven’t ordered any food yet, wasn’t sure what you’d like” he slid one of the cans across the counter
Oscar turned to him, scooping up the can from the counter, his mouth ticking up slightly in the corner as he cracked the lid. “Really? I was thinking sushi”
Lando whipped around, a horrified look painting its way onto his face.
“I’ve changed my mind, get out of my apartment”
Oscar let out a laugh and folded over at the comment. And.
That was Oscar, doing that fold over laugh that Lando cherished so much, inside Lando’s apartment, in a hoodie that made him look just edible, cheeks pinked in laughter. And.
And. Lando needed to calm the hell down.
They were both grinning at each other over the kitchen counter. Lando countered “I see your sushi and I raise you pizza” eyebrows raising at the suggestion.
Oscar furrowed his brow in mock consideration, before silently conceding to the suggestion, a smile still playing gently on his lips.
Lando tapped the order into the app as he made his way to the couch, Oscar settling down in the other end as they set up the movie catalogue. Lando hovered over the first Lord of the Rings movie, eyes flicking towards Oscar, who was already looking in his direction. Lando made a questioning noise. Oscar flicked his eyes towards the catalogue, taking in Lando’s silent suggestion and hummed in agreement, settling even more into the couch.
Lando clicked play, settling into the opening scenes with the comfort of Oscars presence settling over the apartment. The pizza arrived as the council was taking place in Rivendell, Lando getting up to grab the food and settling down closer to Oscar to open the boxes. Oscar hummed in contentment as he ate the food, Lando’s stomach flipping weirdly at the sound.
After the food was done, they never separated back into their corners of the couch, Lando leaning heavily into Oscar as Oscar settled deep into the cushions. The movie went on and they slowly tangled further and further into each other. The credit roll found them both sound asleep, snuggled deep into the couch and each other.
When Lando woke, from what was weirdly the best sleep of his life, despite it having taken place on a couch of all places, it was to the top of Oscar’s head resting soundly on his chest. Evidently, during the night they had switched around a bit, Oscar ending up cuddled up to the side of Lando, his head buried in his chest.
Lando looked down at the mess of hair in front of him, suddenly hit with the irresistible urge to run his fingers through Oscar’s hair, to see if the swoop was as soft as it always seemed to look, especially now, under the low light of the early morning creeping through the curtains. Barely breathing, lando lifted one hand, slowly placing it on Oscar’s head, carding his fingers through the strands.
Oscar made a small grumble into his chest, clearly not wanting to be awake yet, but still pushing his head into Lando’s hand. Lando stilled, suddenly afraid he’d gone too far.
Oscar made another discontented sound, slurring out “why’d you stop?”, eyes cracking open as he looked up at lando, eyes bleary and fluttering in the brightness of early morning. Lando’s heart started doing gym warmups inside his chest.
Oscar suddenly seemed to come to consciousness, tensing slightly as he rose up on his elbows above lando, balancing against the couch. Lando’s hands slid down, moving to cup Oscar’s face, still tangled slightly in his hair.
The early morning was still, peaceful, finding Oscar and Lando staring silently at each other, as if neither could quite believe how they got there. Lando’s eyes dipped towards Oscar’s lips, raising back to his eyes in silent question. Oscar nodded imperceptibly, head moving ever so slightly under Lando’s palms. Lando brought his face down, Oscar following him down easily.
And then they were kissing, Oscar letting himself be kissed in the early morning light, sleep warm and so, so comfortable. Lando could die happy here. Well, he really hoped he wouldn’t, that would really suck, he wouldn’t get any more kisses, but if he did, he would have minimal complaints.
It was like the world narrowed itself to a single point for just a moment. Parting to breathe, Lando grinned widely against Oscar, opening his eyes to meet Oscar, who was smiling in such an endearing way it made Lando’s chest hurt.
“I’ve wanted to do that for so long” whispered Lando into the morning stillness.
“Hm, you’re not the only one” Oscar mumbled, clearly still in that comfortable just woken up state. He really knew just how to pull Lando’s heartstrings, Christ.
Lando didn’t respond, just pulling Oscar back down into his chest, content with spending the rest of the morning basking in the slowly rising sun, knowing he had everything he wanted right here with him.