Chapter Text
Lando knew he hadn't always been the nicest person, hell he was either a bully or prick the majority of his secondary school life but he'd like to think that he'd changed now, that he'd become a better person. He had one sole person to thank for that his beautiful daughter; Mia. When she appeared on his doorstep in a basket shivering and cold with only a note saying, "Shouldn't have fucked about," He knew that he would have to step up big time, this was his awakening: he wasn't just a foolish teenager anymore he was a dad.
7 years later
Today was Mia's first day of primary school, she was going into Year One. Lando was absolutely gutted that he had to miss it, as much he tried to be a present father his work always got in the way. Obviously he had never failed to show affection to Mia but deep down he wished that he could be the type of parent that attended every, competiton,talent show, parents evening or whatever else the stupid schools would plan.
"Thank god for Cecilia," he muttered as he climbed the stairs to his office. Cecilia had saved his arse more times then he could count showing up to every single school event Mia had ever participated in and yet again today she would drop Mia off at her first day of primary school. He didn't let himself dwell on it for too long, he knew that the guilt would eat him alive if he thought about every time Cecilia had replaced him as a parent to Mia.
Today was one of those days, one of the days where Lando wished he had someone to go home to: someone he could just hug and speak to for hours, someone who understood him fully. He'd tried in the past when Mia was still a baby, there had been countless dates: so many men but none of them were ever right for him. He knew he wasn't completely alone he had Alex and George his best mates since secondary but still they didn't understand how it felt to be lonely they'd been togther since they were 16.
Thinking back to 16 Lando remembered all the times he had been too ashamed to admit his sexuality so instead he would lash out at people and tease them relentlessly for feelings he himself had known too well, there was this one boy where it was especially bad all Lando remembered was that he was openly gay, Australian and very pretty: his name had been blocked out just like all the other things that Lando couldn't face. The most he could do is pray that they never ran into eachother again, he couldn't face the guilt of seeing his face after the horrible things he'd once said to him.
He almost sprinted out of the office the moment the clock hit 5:30 usually he'd stay and linger with his friends but today was not one of those days, today was a cuddle Mia on the couch while eating ice cream until they both fell asleep kind of day. Lando internally cursed himself for even thinking about his secondary school days, now the memory of the Australian boy would plague his thoughts for weeks on end. It used to be much worse, everyday he used to wake up with such gut-wrenching guilt for doing such hypocritical things to people: if only they could see him now.
It had been a couple of weeks since Mia's first day of primary school and from the bits and pieces both Cecilia and Mia had told him it seemed like Mia was off to a strong start she had said she liked her classmates and her new teacher. Mia liking her teacher came as a massive shock to Lando, out of the 5 teachers she'd had in her lifetime this was the first one she had actually liked. So out of curiosity Lando decided to find out a little more about this special teacher, after all he should deserve to meet the first teacher his daughter actually liked, right? Lando started off with little questions here and there,
"So Mia what's your new teachers name? "he'd asked once after dinner,
"His name is Mr Piastri," she had giggled while twirling her tomato pasta on her fork.
Piastri.
Lando had definitely heard that name before he just couldn't remember who exactly it had belonged to. In the coming weeks Lando discovered that Mr Piastri was: tall, brunette, wore glasses, and spoke in a funny way. Each characteristic that Mia described Mr Piastri with was starting to have a slight impact Lando, he knew he couldn't just sit here and pretend that he wasn't beginning to develop a crush on his 7 year old's teacher but he also refused to give up his daily update on what his favourite teacher was up to.
It had been a random Monday a lazy work day, the heat had been getting to everyone. That was when the school or more specifically; Mr Piastri called. It seemed like Cecilia hadn't been able to pick up the phone so they had rang him instead. According to the school Mia had punched someone in the face when Lando heard this he had audibly gasped, his Mia would never hurt a fly let alone punch someone. Lando wanted to ask some further questions but he was cut off by Mr Piastri who had said that he was going to arrange a meeting after Mia's school today, Lando hung up the phone and began to think. He didn't expect this from Mia this was the kind of stunt that he used to pull, he'd tried so hard to make sure none of his temper rubbed off on her, he couldn't believe that he had failed her once again. Refusing to wallow in his guilt, he left work and began his journey home he would probably try and call Cecilia to see if she knew what could have triggered Mia's random outburst of aggression; Lando was in no way a strict parent but if there was one thing he wanted his daughter to know it was that violence was never the answer to anything. He'd learnt that from experience.